A sharp stab.
"Good night, Number 28. I'm afraid we might not see each other for quite some time—depending on today's outcome."
A powerful rumble.
"Yes, those are the dogs. They're coming for us—and they're coming for you."
A leap of her heart, before the sedatives suppressed it.
"Don't be so quick to rejoice. If you think freedom is within your grasp, you are sorely mistaken…"
Voices shouted; alarms wailed.
"Those curs are beasts: dumb animals who walk upright. If you think us cruel and cold-blooded, wait till they get ahold of you."
Arms lifted her up when her own limbs couldn't.
"Every day will be a living hell at their hands, much worse than our… pleasant sessions. You will beg for death, but they will not give it."
A mask over her face; a glass cage closing around.
"With us you have a future; you will become a powerful asset to serve the Emperor. With them you will be but a plaything to endure pain."
A rain of bright blue from above, pooling around her feet.
"So sleep, and in your dreams—if you still dream in there—pray for our victory."
The fluid rose, submerging her ankles and legs.
"If we fall and they capture you, do not hesitate. If you won't use your powers for us, at least use them to spare yourself."
She struggled to stand on shaky limbs, keeping up with the rising liquid.
"Kill any who try to take you—at least long enough until you may kill yourself; for death is preferable to the life they intend for you."
She stood on the balls of her feet but couldn't keep her head above the mounting blue.
"Sleep now, Number 28. Sleep…"
She went under.
Mission No. 9
Venom
Lab Section 009
"A Diamond in the Ashes"
ㅤ⨶ㅤ
"Fuck…"
Seeing the carnage and unnatural destruction up close, Fox suddenly felt sick. He tried to angle his flashlight beam away, but it was too late; the gore was burned into his memory.
Every part of his anatomy screamed at him to run. His stomach objected in particular, summoning a tidal wave of bile. You don't need your lunch, it told him. Nothing can weigh you down. You just need to run.
When it became too much for Fox he keeled over against the wall, barfing little but rancid stomach acid into the corner.
He felt lighter now, like he could sprint a marathon without breaking a sweat; his queasiness already began to subside. But he sure as hell wasn't going to run.
Placing a finger to his headset he said in a quiet voice, "Fox here. I found three of the missing scientists. All of them… dead. Something just tore them to shreds like they were paper. I'm guessing whatever did it has claws or some other type of appendage. Be sure to protect your throat and vital arteries."
"Fox, can you tell us your position?"
Well, he couldn't just tell them he was sneaking towards Section 9, could he?
"Afraid not, Commander; I was just taking a little guided tour before shit hit the fan. I don't have any maps of the compound or any way of determining my location. It's a secret laboratory, you know."
"Ugh, you're right. Well, try to be careful. Anything that could create the carnage you saw would tear you to pieces in an instant. Don't travel alone! Wait till someone finds you—or, better yet, double back and meet up with us."
"Roger that, I'll head back," he confirmed. In all honesty, he intended to stay until he found out something about Section 9—but maybe he could find a safer route after this blew over.
Fox let his arm swing back down to his side and grimly stared at the mangled corpses scattered around him. With just one laser pistol, he hadn't come prepared.
Before he turned to leave, he shone his flashlight down the hall. He had to make sure the monster wasn't still lurking a few feet away, waiting for him to turn his back. To his relief the hallway was empty—but as he slid the beam down he noticed a set of red pawprints leading away from the carnage, into the darkness.
"What the…?"
Fox gingerly stepped over the bodies and puddles of blood at his feet, trying to ignore the slaughter. When the bile rose in his stomach again, he shoved it back down, praying he wouldn't vomit a second time. He really should be getting back where it was safe, but he may have stumbled on a lead. So instead he sprinted forward, boots splashing in the blood.
Once he reached the other side of the carnage, he bent down to examine the footprints more closely. The person's feet must've been soaked in blood: thus the telltale tracks. They weren't just any nondescript pawprints, though…
The prints belonged to a vulpine—same as him.
Fox shook his head, mouth slightly agape as he stared down at the bloody marks. The only explanation he could come up with was that a female scientist had taken off her heels to run better; the prints were certainly small enough to be female, too. But if that was the case, the woman was likely running right into the monster's jaws. If he didn't go after her…
Briefly Fox debated turning around and meeting up with the soldiers, but he brushed the idea aside. He had to save the woman before the monster got to her. And if he showed up too late, at least he could kill the beast himself. After all, he'd confirmed its only weapons were claws and maybe teeth. Why give up the chase now?
Mustering up the courage, Fox resumed his venture into the labs. He alternated the flashlight from following the prints at his feet to checking the hallway and passages ahead, making sure he didn't walk head-on into… anything. Every step he worried his beam would sweep across the body of the fallen scientist he was after.
Making things worse, his migraine had returned in full force, rendering it hard to continue. Oh how he longed to be out of these foul, cramped halls and get his hands on more of those pills—even some cheap aspirin would do. His head hadn't hurt this much since the very end of the war, when his ship almost crashed…
Before he continued though, Fox realized he better update the security detail. They'd be worried when he never met with them.
"Sergeant Clayton, this is Fox. I won't be joining up with you for a while. I found a civilian's pawprints and am currently tailing them. I think I might be able to save another researcher before the experiment thing gets them. At this rate I should catch up soon."
"I'm worried about you McCloud; you should really wait for backup. Whatever it is, it's highly dangerous, and you heard… whatever happened to Private Aimes."
"I'll be fine," Fox reassured him. "I should have no trouble dealing with the monster if I ever run into it. Aimes' mistake was letting his guard down. I'll just subdue it before it tries the same thing on me. I assume they still want it alive?"
Clayton snorted. "They say you'll be lucky to get out alive. Ultimately yes, they'd like to preserve as many specimens as possible, but unfortunately that doesn't seem likely with this one. It's kill on sight, McCloud."
He whistled. "Got it. Fox out."
The todd jogged for a few more paces only to realize the footprints were rapidly fading. The blood had mostly dried, the pair of feet now only leaving rusty red flakes behind. The trail was growing thin.
Eventually the markings ran out completely, save for a few specks that were hard to see—unless he got down on his hands and knees, which would totally be a good idea with a monster prowling around in the dark. He found himself left in another pitch-black hall, the warning lights shattered and sirens torn from the walls like all the ones before. If only there were some way left to trace the scientist, or the beast stalking them…
His flashlight beam suddenly swept across a pair of broken, mangled doors. They were effortlessly crushed to the side, as if by a strongman or construction mech. Fox shone his light above the door, spotting a plaque which read "Section 009".
With a chill he realized this was it: the specific lab mentioned on the back of his mother's photo. At the same time, a nagging thought dawned on him; what if it was a trap? What if his mother had nothing to do with Section 9, and this whole thing was just a ploy to lure him to the lab and release the monster on him?
Fox shook his head. That didn't make sense; if they wanted to kill him they would have rigged the box with the photograph to explode as soon as he opened it. Liza—or whoever that girl was—would never do that to him… right?
Turning off the flashlight to mask his presence, Fox wedged himself through the pair of broken doors. His eyes hadn't even adjusted to the dark when they noticed a soft blue glow filling the room.
The lab was sparsely populated with upright, cylindrical glass tanks: five deep, eight across. While half were filled with some kind of liquid, the rest had been emptied out completely—sometimes even shattered open, spilling their contents onto the floor. In fact, the ground was treacherously slick with the stuff.
Fox knelt and wiped a finger pad through the liquid, then brought it up to his nose to sniff.
Cryofluid: a semi-organic compound meant to indefinitely preserve a body in stasis. The rest of the experiments here were probably kept suspended in the stuff.
Fox's nose wrinkled; it was still cold. He frantically waved his hand to flick the cryofluid off his finger, then wiped the remainder on his pants.
The todd switched on the night vision function in his eyepiece. Scanning the room, he noticed several bodies littering the floor, all lying completely still. The monster must have slaughtered its Cornerian handlers hiding in the room, then took the rest of its wrath out on the other cryochambers. At least it seemed long gone by now, off to stalk other parts of the lab.
But what had the cryotubes contained? What did his mother have to do with them? What if she was still…
Suddenly Fox's ears picked out a beeping noise from somewhere within the ranks of containers. The persistent high pitch sounded quite frantic, so he set out to investigate.
Switching off his night vision, Fox held his gun to his cheek and slipped between the rows of cryochambers. His vulpine ears homed in on the noise, till he narrowed its source down to one particular tank in the middle. A panel on the side simply read "#28". The glass column towered over him, pulsing with the ghostly blue glow of an aquarium. But the liquid paled in comparison to what was actually inside the tank.
As Fox raised his eyes, his jaw hung open.
It can't be…
For the briefest of moments Fox saw the ears and muzzle of a familiar vixen, and his heart leapt in his chest.
…But his moment of joy wasn't to last.
The fleeting vision escaped him, giving way to disappointing reality. It wasn't his mother at all, but someone—or something—else entirely.
Floating inside was a vaguely Lylatian creature: an extraterrestrial alien possessing a rather… mystic beauty. It was unfair to compare it to a vulpine like himself, for its coat of fur made it seem like a different species altogether. It floated in the liquid unclothed, which fully displayed its cobalt pelt and ivory undercoat. The creature seemed around Fox's age but as lithe as a willow—if it did age.
As if staring down a gorgon, Fox found himself frozen, rooted to the floor by its mysterious aura—and that was with its eyes closed. Only its muzzle was covered: some sort of oxygen mask that supplied air during its stasis.
Fox lost all track of time standing there. It wasn't that his heart had stopped beating; time had merely frozen between two beats. He felt like he could stare at the creature's unfathomable beauty for the rest of eternity. All worries of the monster were gone; those of completing his primary mission as well.
Then as soon as the moment came, it passed, and Fox felt himself wake from his stupor back to reality. At once a torrent of sense came crashing down on him. He didn't know who or what it was. This wasn't a girl; it was something else entirely. It could be anything: a captured prisoner Andross tested his experiments on, an android he'd created to mimic a Lylatian, even a bioweapon deceptively clothed in the fur of a vixen.
Now all the fear and anxiety Fox had previously defeated came rushing back. For all he knew, this could be one of the most dangerous specimens in Andross's labs—not an innocent girl. If it were to break free, it might kill Fox and everyone else in the compound without hesitation, and then they'd have two powerful enemies on their hands. After all, Space Dynamics thought it best to keep the creature suspended like this. They must have some reason for not releasing it.
Suddenly the vixen's eyes fluttered open, as if from a dream. Fox took a frightened step back—but once again, he soon found himself staring. Its eyes seemed to sparkle with a light of their own, like a kaleidoscope of sapphire stars.
The being glanced around, confused at its present state. Then it caught sight of Fox, and the young todd gulped.
They stood still for a moment, eyes locking together.
No, that's ridiculous; it can't possibly be one of Andross's monsters, Fox told himself. He could never make something as perfect as this. It's too innocent to be evil. Too frail. Too… beautiful…
Without warning the creature's eyes went wide. The vixen began struggling inside the tank, gasping into the oxygen mask and clawing at the tubes that connected it to the life support system. Every frantic movement it made frightened Fox, putting him on the defensive. He shined his light at the base of the cylinder in front of him, checking on the life support system. Sure enough it lay in a scrap heap like most of the lab, a red warning light blinking for attention. Something had damaged the life support beyond function—possibly the other monster that had been through here. Cutting the power source must have ended its suspended animation, waking it.
With no source of oxygen, the creature began to choke. Its eyes widened, silently screaming. If nothing intervened, it would surely drown in there.
Well, at least that made his choice easier, Fox thought as he stood by and watched, feeling sick.
In that moment his heart went out to the poor creature; it was like any other bioweapon he'd fought during the war. Each one was a tortured and mutated creation of Andross. They had nothing personal against Fox or any of the people they terrorized; they were merely beings of aimless chaos the mad scientist used for his cruel purposes. In his nightmares he often saw his father dying this same way. If there was nothing he could do to save the monster, this was probably for the best.
…Still, he couldn't stand by and do nothing, so he decided to at least put it out of its misery—like every other unfortunate creature Andross hurled his way.
Gritting his teeth and trying to keep a stiff upper lip, Fox raised his blaster and primed it. He set it to eye level and stared down the sights at the being floating in the tank, aiming for a quick and painless shot to the head… but he kept glancing back at its confused, frightened eyes while trying to line up the shot. In fact, he couldn't take his own eyes off them. The crystal blue gems seemed to reach out to him, pleading for help. She didn't even know what he was going to do; she probably didn't know much of anything, really, and could never understand all the suffering she endured at Andross's hands. Her life up to this point had been only net pain; at any point death would have been preferable to suffering even an instant longer under his scalpel. Her whole life, a tragedy culminating in this moment.
But somewhere in that trail of thought, all instances of "it" had suddenly become "she".
Fox's blaster shook in his paws; tears escaped his eyes. Clenching them shut, he flicked the safety back on and holstered his gun. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't kill her. The girl's story couldn't end this way.
I hope I don't regret this…
Springing into action, the todd raced over to the side of the tank and pressed his palms against the smooth glass. From inside, the vixen did as well, laying her paws against his own, but a cold, cruel wall still separated them. She tugged at him with anguished eyes, begging him to free her before she drowned or suffocated in the solution, while Fox could only look up at her helplessly. The oxygen mask drifted off and she tried to speak to him, but bubbles escaped her lips as the cryofluid rushed in to replace them.
Still, even with her mouth beginning to fill, he could've sworn he heard a voice crying, 'Save me…'
Going into full-on panic mode, Fox leapt to the control unit on the side of the tank. He tried every knob and lever, but nothing seemed to work. He couldn't locate the drain button anywhere, and even if he could he knew it wouldn't function without power.
Fox stumbled away from the unit, palms empty and turned upwards, at a loss. The girl's eyes rolled back, and the last few bubbles floated from her mouth, leaving none behind.
She began to go limp.
"NO!"
Fox found a crowbar on the floor and dashed towards the tank. Rearing back, he swung the iron tool with all his might at the glass.
A loud CLANG rang through the room, but he only left a small scratch; the crowbar bounced off.
Fox wound up a second time and swung with a blow even more powerful than the first.
This time hairline fractures raced along the cylindrical wall like spiderwebs, accompanied by a sound like ice cracking.
Infused with new confidence, Fox brought the crowbar crashing against the glass for a third and final time.
At last the tank gave, and large shards of glass fragmented in all directions. The cryofluid erupted from the tank like a tidal wave, descending as a wall on top of Fox. It knocked him to the floor and soaked his clothes in chilly slime, sending him onto his rear.
Once Fox had rubbed the oily solution from his eyes he lifted them to discover the girl had fallen from the cryotank as well. He rushed over to her side, nearly slipping on the drenched floor. The fluid around her was stained red with blood; she must have cut herself on the fragmented glass while falling from her prison. The vixen lay facing away from him, so Fox pulled her over onto her back. When her head rolled around her eyes were still shut, mouth slightly open. Her chest didn't rise or fall at all.
Fox urgently lay a hand over her muzzle, but his heart sank when he felt no air. Fearing the worst, he placed an ear against her damp, matted chest, but felt no heartbeat.
"No-no-no, come on!"
If there was one valuable thing Fox learned at the Academy (besides how to fall in line), it was CPR. He hurriedly went through the motions, trying not to panic and rush each step.
First he lay both his hands on her breastbone, pushing down firmly and letting her chest rise back up. He tried doing this a hundred times but was so anxious he lost count around fifty. He checked for breathing again, yet still came up empty.
"No! You can't die after all this," he whimpered.
Tilting her head back Fox pinched the bridge of her muzzle and placed his mouth tightly against hers. This was the part that always made him uncomfortable during training, but the instructors assured him when the time came to save an actual person's life, he wouldn't even hesitate.
They were right.
Making sure the connection between them was airtight, Fox inhaled through his nose and exhaled into the girl's mouth. He did this a couple times before switching back to chest compressions. After a few dozen he alternated trying to breathe life into the vixen and forcing her lungs to move, nearly gagging at the bitter taste of the cryofluid coating her lips.
Once ten painstakingly-long minutes had passed—just when Fox was sure it was hopeless—the vixen jolted and spat out a mouthful of stasis fluid—right into his unfortunate face. Fox reeled back, wiping at his muzzle before jumping off her and putting some space between them.
He primed his blaster again, unsure of what to expect. If she was indeed one of Andross's many bioweapons, and could do the same thing to him the other monster did to those scientists…
The girl continued coughing up fluids until she was dry-heaving on the floor. Finally she managed to take in several large breaths, rejuvenating her starved lungs. With her chest heaving, she propped herself upright and looked around the room, confused. Finally her eyes alighted on Fox. She bore a rather suspicious expression.
Tentatively, Fox took a step toward her.
"Um, hi there. I'm Fox McCloud, a mercenary working for the Cornerian—"
Her eyes suddenly widened and she snarled at him.
"Whoa, whoa!"
While Fox preemptively trained his blaster on her again, the girl struggled to her feet with weak limbs. After a few shaky steps she slipped on the cryo-soaked floor and fell to her haunches with a yip of pain. With her eyes trained on Fox she limped away on all fours, unintentionally backing herself into a corner.
When she turned to face him again, she frantically tried to cover herself with her hands—but some of the places she chose to hide, Fox noticed, seemed completely arbitrary. At the expense of hiding her nakedness, she instead chose to conceal strange white patches on her fur: splotches that Fox couldn't make out in the dim light.
The todd didn't know what to do or even think for that matter. Moments ago he had effectively resurrected her from death, but she was probably unconscious for the important part where he broke her free and resuscitated her. From the dual look of fear and hatred in her eyes, she probably thought he was another one of Andross's minions come to torment her.
But he had to do something; her slashed leg and side continued to drip thin rivulets of blood onto the floor. Cowering naked in the corner, she shivered, reminding Fox just how cold it was in the underground lab—doubly so considering the frigid cryobath she'd escaped from. And yet in her weakened state, she still managed to stare Fox down with defiant eyes, challenging him to try something.
Cautiously holstering his blaster, Fox determined to help her. He couldn't just abandon her down here, especially with a monster running about murdering everyone in sight. So to that end, he began searching around the room.
The vixen never took her wary eyes off him. She sat in the corner, shivering, but trying to conceal her pain and discomfort from him.
Fox located a set of metal lockers along one of the walls. He rooted through each compartment for a spare lab coat or change of clothes for the vixen, but came up empty. Briefly he considered looting some off the bodies of the fallen scientists in the room, but quickly shot down the morbid idea.
Sighing, Fox returned to the corner she'd backed into and scratched behind his head. With nothing left to do, he shrugged off his own white jacket and slowly approached the blue-furred fox. He held out the garment like a peace offering: a makeshift white flag of truce. She glanced confusedly between the jacket and Fox, who did his best not to appear threatening.
Once Fox reached her side he knelt down. This caused the girl to gasp and try backing further into the corner, making herself as small as possible.
"Hey, hey!" Fox said in a calm voice—though in truth he felt anything but calm, as he feared at any minute she might summon super-Lylatian strength and bite his head off. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to help. I… I saved you, remember?"
He held his jacket out to the vixen, but she flinched and tried to retreat more.
Fox thought about putting the jacket on her himself, but realized he couldn't do it by force. Knowing how trapped she must feel he decided to give her some space. Instead he backed away several yards until the girl could escape on either side if she so desired.
Fox sat down on the floor, the seat of his pants unfortunately landing in spilled cryofluid. Drawing his legs to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, he rested his chin, studying the girl. He'd let her make the first move instead.
Time dragged on, and she didn't so much as twitch; just stared him down with wary eyes. The todd sighed, disappointed at how his little venture into Section 9 had turned out. He'd come all this way, just for… this.
"Well, you weren't exactly who I was hoping for, but I guess I'm stuck with you now."
His voice fell on deaf ears; the vixen continued to look confused at him.
"If you don't want my help, what are you going to do? How are you going to find your way out of here by yourself? Especially in that condition…"
She probably didn't even speak Cornerian, he realized. But at least his gesture was getting somewhere. The girl seemed to expand from the corner a bit and loosen up, now that Fox took up less territory. When she judged he was far enough away and didn't present any immediate threat, she finally shifted her attention back to herself. She drew her legs in close and frowned at the blood soaking the right one. Bowing her head she began licking the blood off, but kept an eye on Fox the whole time, watching him distrustfully.
His heart ached. He wished he could make it easier to bear her suffering, but she wouldn't let him come anywhere near her yet.
When she finished with her leg she moved on to licking the small cuts on her hands, still watching Fox from the corner of her eye. Finally she gave up on her wounds and lay still, the two vulpines sitting quietly on the floor, locked in a war of attrition. Would Fox give up and leave first, or would she get curious and approach him?
For the first time that day, Fox found peace in the labs. Surely the monster was still out prowling the halls—somewhere, but not here. The blue glow from the remaining tanks cast a calming hue over the room, in stark contrast to the urgent red warning lights from before. The room was silent besides the quiet drip of liquid from the girl's recently-shattered tank. The sound proved comforting. In fact, the overall effect was one of soothing tranquility for Fox—and, of course, for the strange vixen.
As the seconds wore on, Fox's opponent lowered her guard. She set to work squeezing the slimy fluid from her azure crop of hair and bushy tail. She tried brushing the gross solution from her fur as well, wiping down her shoulders and arms with her paws as if bathing. The ritual was enough to make Fox blush and look awkwardly away. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to care.
Eventually after sitting with nothing to do for so long, the vixen grew restless. Fox's stubborn will could keep him still indefinitely, but her curiosity was much stronger than her own resolve. Cocking her head, she began approaching him on all fours. She continued at a slow, cautious pace, inadvertently making it impossible for Fox to take his eyes off her. Now only a few feet away from him, she halted. Her tail swung to-and-fro like a cat's. She studied him without coming any closer, continuing to hide the white markings on her body.
Then Fox got an idea. Like he had done when she was in the tank, he raised his opened palms to face her.
At first the girl started back; then a look of recognition came over her face. Glancing between his eyes and hands, she timidly crept towards Fox until she was close enough to reach out and touch him.
Which she did.
Taking them off her markings, she raised her own paws and lay them, trembling, against Fox's. She opened her mouth and gasped, finally making the connection. The longer she felt his reassuring touch, the less her hands shook, until Fox intertwined his fingers with hers.
"See?" he said. "I'm not a threat. I'm not going to hurt you; I just want to help."
She glanced between his face and his raised hands. Then in a timid, hoarse voice she coughed, "C… Corneria?"
Fox nodded. "Yes, I'm with the Cornerians."
The girl flinched again, hurriedly letting go of Fox's hands to cover the markings on her fur. She shrank back, hugging her knees to her chest and hiding any spots that showed.
Now that she seemed more docile, Fox's courage returned. He unfurled his jacket again and draped it around her shoulders.
"Here, this will keep you warm, and… covered."
She grimaced when he approached, closing her eyes and bracing for the inevitable, only to relax when she realized the coat concealed her strange markings. Gratefully she accepted the garment, clutching it tightly about her shoulders. Fox helped guide her arms into the sleeves, then connected a few of the clasps in front. When he was finished and stepped back, she seemed relieved.
Next Fox needed to stem the flow of blood from her leg wound, by far the worst of her lacerations. He removed his red bandana, reasoning the blood wouldn't show up as much, and gingerly wrapped it around her wound.
"You better take good care of that," he mumbled. "It was my father's, you know. My mother gave it to him."
She just stared at him apprehensively, as if she couldn't believe what he was doing for her.
"Andorf?"
Now it was Fox's turn to flinch, pausing his work on her leg.
"Andross is dead. I killed him a year ago."
Her eyes widened. "W-Watchers? Benomians?"
He didn't know what she meant by the first word. "All gone. The Cornerians freed everyone in the labs now—well, except for you, apparently."
Suddenly most of the fear seemed to disappear from her visage. She sighed in relief, her shoulders decompressing.
Fox looked at her in surprise. "You… you mean you didn't know that? It's been almost a year since Venom fell and we claimed the labs. Have you not been out of that tank yet? No one let you out in all that time?"
The girl stared up at him blankly, shrugging.
Fox sighed, realizing he'd probably given her too many words to process at once. At this point he didn't know if she spoke a different language, was loopy from a year in suspended animation, or simply hadn't learned to speak yet, but either way communication between them would be an ordeal.
Biting the inside of his lip, Fox looked around the interior of the lab. He'd come to Section 9 to find information on his mother, and her potential connection to Andross, but all he'd ended up with was a strange, alien girl demanding his care. He wanted to stay and search the computers and filing cabinets for evidence, but each second they remained risked the monster coming back to find them—and he now had someone relying on him: a person he couldn't just abandon. Was he really going to throw away his only chance of finding out about his mother to help some girl? The choice was tearing him apart.
Sighing, Fox stood up and offered his hand. "Come on, we have to leave this place; it's not safe."
Recognizing the gesture, she warily took his paw and let Fox raise her to her feet. Once in a standing position though, she cried out. Her legs shook and nearly buckled again, but Fox caught her before she fell.
"Uh-oh, can you walk?"
Gnashing her fangs, she pushed Fox away and tried to stand on her own. But when she nearly fell again, she didn't resist Fox's help a second time, accepting that she couldn't stand without him.
"That's it, power through it," he said encouragingly. He knew she couldn't understand him but assumed she might find solace in the tone of his voice.
"Well, now we have to find a way out of here…"
With some difficulty Fox helped the vixen out of Section 9. He took her back the way he came, hoping to run into some guards instead of the monster along the way. Like before he used his free hand to shine a light on the floor, hunting for the trail of bloody footprints he'd followed. He didn't want the girl to have to see the same corpses he saw—and honestly he wasn't exactly looking forward to them either—but he knew no other way back for sure.
"Hey, so… who are you?" he asked. "Are you one of Andross's experiments?"
Her head snapped up to face him.
"Experiment?" he repeated. "Uh… research subject?"
"No—no experiment!" she insisted. "Pris… prisoner! Capture!"
"Okay, okay! I believe you."
—But he didn't really, and the girl seemed to sense it. It didn't follow that Andross would go to such trouble to keep her in a cryotank if she was just another prisoner. The fact that he put her in suspended animation—in the labs, no less—definitely meant something else was going on.
"Well, what's your name?" he asked.
The girl only gave him a blank look as she walked by his side—but the hem of the oversized jacket kept flapping about her legs, the length insufficient to cover the markings there.
Out of curiosity, Fox kept trying to steal glances beneath the garment. Eventually he managed to glimpse a white number 28 tattooed on her thigh—but the girl caught him peeking and self-consciously tugged the jacket hem over it.
"That was the same number written on your tank. Do they call you Number 28?"
Her ears seemed to perk in recognition.
"28, huh?" Fox's shoulders slumped. "I guess they took your name away when they imprisoned you—or maybe you never had one to begin with. That must suck. Everyone has a name. Take mine, for example. It's James, like my father. I know it's not unique, but it's special sharing a name with your parent. Gives you a responsibility to carry on their legacy. It lets their name live on, even when they're… gone…"
Fox trailed off. He realized by the sad tone of his voice he was causing her undue worry.
"You probably don't have any parents, either," he continued, trying to fill the eerie silence. "Or maybe you were just separated at an early age. I wonder which is worse? To have had parents and lost them both, or to have never known parents at all?"
Still, the girl remained silent, seemingly growing frustrated that she couldn't understand or answer him.
"Sorry for… getting so depressing down here. I'll figure out what your real name is when it's safer, okay 28? And you can just call me Fox." He tapped his chest, repeating, "Fox."
"Foxsu?" the girl echoed timidly.
"Yes! Well, almost there. Just 'Fox'."
"Foxsu…"
He sighed. "Well, I guess that's good enough."
Deciding to update the Cornerian sergeant again, he reported in.
"Clayton? Foxsu here. Damn, I mean—!"
"Did you find the scientist?"
"No, but I found someone else. She's a…" He trailed off, glancing at the vixen. Test subject? Prisoner? …Alien? If he told the sergeant she was an experiment out loud, he would immediately destroy her trust in him.
"She's a survivor: maybe a civilian. I don't really know, she can't speak much Cornerian. Right now we're headed back the way I came. How goes it with the monster… thing?"
Clayton's end went silent for a moment. "Well, to be blunt, the situation's pretty fucked, McCloud. We're sending in a larger unit and evacuating the last of the scientists as we speak, but several more of my men have gone MIA—specifically the scout teams. At this point I don't think you'll even have a chance of killing it. My advice is, don't engage under any circumstances—even if you think you can get the drop on it."
"Well, now that I've got an innocent with me, I'll keep my distance if I can help it. Hope to meet up with you soon."
"I'll have my men keep an eye out. Uh, sorry this had to happen on your first time here, McCloud. I swear it's not like this every day."
"On the contrary, I'd be a little disappointed if something didn't go wrong like this; it feels good to be back in action."
Clayton gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, well, stay safe down there. I'd hate to have the hero of Lylat die on my watch…"
The two had been joking together, but when Fox switched his mic off he felt anything but reassured.
It seemed like the farther the two foxes moved together the less 28 needed his support. She felt lighter and lighter until she didn't have to lean on him at all. Fox was amazed at how fast she'd recovered, but he was careful not to immediately attribute everything odd about her to Andross's genetic tampering. Either way she was strong enough to walk on her own.
Fox kept them moving at a brisk pace, careful to check behind them every once and a while for… it. At any moment that creature might gallop up behind them or jump out from another corner up ahead.
His fears were not unfounded.
The instant Fox rediscovered the trail of bloody pawprints he heard an otherworldly, blood-curdling scream come from up ahead.
28 flinched, growing panicky beside him. She shrank away, cowering lower and stepping backwards.
Fox held his arm in front of her. "Don't worry, I won't let it hurt you." To emphasize his point, he drew his blaster and readied it, aiming down the hall.
As the monster's growls drew closer, the girl's fears only grew. "No… no, stupid!" she said with a strange accent. She clutched at his green flight suit, tugging him backwards.
Fox looked over his shoulder in surprise. "What's wrong?"
28 gnashed her teeth again, fixing him with pleading eyes. She shook her head emphatically. "No… no fight. Run!"
The creature behind him screamed again, and Fox felt his neck fur stand on end. Perhaps she knew what she was talking about, so he pushed her forward. "Alright, alright. Let's run…"
Turning, they scurried back the way they'd come. Fox didn't know the layout of the labs, but each floor was so big there had to be another way to loop around and reach the main stairwell. If they could kite the monster behind them without letting it cut them off, they'd have a chance. But every new hallway Fox turned down risked bringing them to a dead end.
By now he felt a little more apprehensive about taking the creature head-on. On his own he might prove a match for it, but if he had to protect the wounded vixen during a fight it would be a lot more difficult. Plus getting dismembered in front of her would prove really embarrassing…
"Shit!"
By the time Fox identified the dead end it was already too late. The hall eventually ran out, opening onto a small observation balcony fenced in with a metal railing. Fox looked over the side, hoping they could simply jump over the rail. His heart sank; in the scant red light, he could faintly make out a wide, spacious atrium as large as a football field. It was so dark below the ledge it seemed like the precipice had no bottom at all: just a hole that led all the way down to hell—or worse, Venom's core.
Fox grabbed the girl's arm. "Come on!" He turned to double back, but the monster's shadow appeared at the end of the hall, stretching the entire length to their feet. The dim red emergency light casting the shadow, however, quickly winked out, accompanied by the clamor of shattering glass. All that was left was inky blackness—but the sound of erratic breathing and claws scraping the floor like chalkboards steadily drew closer.
Well, there's nothing else for it now, Fox decided. Gritting his teeth, he primed his blaster again and raised it with his free hand.
Suddenly 28 wrenched her arm free from his grasp. Fox's heart stopped when he turned and found her climbing onto the railing. She pivoted around at the top, facing him while precariously balancing. She extended her hand.
"Come, Foxsu!" she simply said.
Only half-trusting her, Fox approached the railing. His boot happened to knock a chunk of plaster over the side, and in the ensuing quiet he heard a splash far below—though it was several long seconds later. A reservoir! he realized.
Taking the girl's hand he climbed over the railing to join her, hanging onto the other side. While flying miles above the ground eroded his fear of heights years ago, there was something far different about jumping into a black abyss.
"Can you swim?" he asked.
She shrugged and shook her head.
"Well, I've seen you float pretty well. Just hold onto me and don't let go."
Fox wrapped an arm around her side while she begrudgingly clung to him. As the monster's screeches drew closer, Fox pushed off the railing and fell into the abyss, plummeting together with the strange vixen till the rushing darkness swallowed them.