Strellen, Fichina
It was midnight in the sleepy town, meaning that there were no pedestrians on the streets. Save for the man in the duster and the wide-brimmed hat.
Bane walked along at a leisurely pace, though he remained on high alert. Stopping at the address he'd been given by the Star Wolf team, the Duros threw a glance over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed.
Satisfied that nobody was there, Bane climbed up the porch steps of the house and then wrapped his knuckles on the front door. There was the muffled sound of voices and footsteps from within before the door was opened.
A vulture, if Bane remembered the names of Lylatian avian species correctly, stood on the other side and beckoned, "Come on in, man. It's fuckin' freezing out."
Bane needed no further prompting, quickly entering the house and walking towards the living room, where the Star Wolf team was gathered.
"Well Bane," Wolf remarked as the Duros took a seat in an armchair, "Was your trip to Fortuna productive?"
"Fairly," Bane replied before being passed a beer bottle by the vulture, who introduced himself as Zeke Cairns.
Bane was halfway through a second beer when a knock sounded at the front door. Seeing the Duros reach towards his blaster, Zeke held up a hand.
"It's okay, they're friends," the avian said as he got up to answer the door.
The three people who entered the home were two males, an iguana and a giant armadillo, and a female coywolf. They were introduced respectively as Kurt Lowe, Heinrich Zoll, and Rena Mouradian.
Now the group was gathered around the kitchen table, glancing at a hologram.
"So basically, while we're in Fichina City robbing Quentin's Diamonds, you guys are gonna be in Calhoun," Wolf explained.
"And just what will we be doing there?" Bane asked.
"Distracting the pup and his pals," Wolf replied before changing the image to a pink-furred hare.
"Hare's daughter," Panther said with a pur, "She teaches Astrophysics at the university."
"I see," Bane mused before sticking a toothpick in his mouth, "We're hitting Star Fox where it hurts."
"Right," Algy put in, "Now let's go over this."
The hologram changed to a 3D map of the University of Fichina. Pointing to a nearby water tower, the sportive lemur glanced over at the coywolf and said, "Rena, I want you up here providing overwatch."
"Can do," the wild dog stated.
Algy then brought his attention to the rest of the campus.
"Kurt works for campus security. He's our way in."
"Won't they fire you for that?" Heinrich asked, to which Kurt rolled his eyes.
"It's worth it," the iguana replied, "I swear, if I have to attend one more anti-harassment seminar, I'm gonna stick my blaster up that instructor's ass and pull the trigger."
"That would probably make him fall in love with you," Zeke snarked, prompting a bout of laughter from everyone in the room.
The next morning
Calhoun, Fichina
As had been discussed the night before, Rena had posted up on a water tower overlooking the university. Peering through the scope of her Venomian Sorozen Mark 5 sniper rifle, the coywolf soon spotted her friends and allies sneaking across the campus grounds.
"So it begins."
Down on the ground, Bane, Algy, Heinrich, and Zeke slipped through the shadows towards a side door. Said door was opened by Kurt, allowing the group inside.
From there, Heinrich set down and opened the gym bag that he'd been carrying. The giant armadillo passed VAR-77C carbines to Zeke and Kurt before taking a VAR-77SS squad support weapon for himself.
There was the brief sounds of whirring as powerpacks were loaded into weapons, followed by Algy taking out and activating a miniature holoprojector.
"Kay," the sportive lemur said in a low tone while looking at the layout of Professor Hare's classroom, "Bane and I will take the north entrance. Heinrich, you have the east entrance. Kurt, Zeke. Take the west."
After a few murmurs of agreement, the group of criminals set off towards their target.
Meanwhile, within her classroom, Lucy Hare had just finished her opening lecture for her freshman class.
"Okay guys, any questions?"
The pink doe frowned when just about every one of her students raised their heads. Shaking her head, Lucy asked, "Does anyone have a question that doesn't involve the recent activities of the Star Fox team?"
Lucy allowed herself a small smile as the number of hands dwindled down to just a few. But before she could start taking questions, the doors on the north side of the classroom burst open and two men entered.
One was a sportive lemur and the other was the man who had been giving Star Fox so much trouble lately. There was a deafening scream from the students as the alien raised his weapon in the air and fired twice.
Another noise grabbed Lucy's attention as two more men, one in the uniform of Campus Security, burst through the western entrance and another came in from the east side.
"Morning, class," the alien gloated, "You should all consider yourselves to be under my power."
Bane smiled as he looked about at the frightened students. He was reminded of the time that he had taken a group of Galactic Senators hostage in order to secure the release of crime boss Ziro The Hutt.
"This is kids play compared to that," the Duros mused before clearing his throat.
"If you would please remain calm, my coworkers and I will relieve you of any communication devices."
And so it went for the next few minutes as Bane, Algy, and their cohorts went around the room, collecting commlinks from the students and putting them into a bag.
As the group reached Lucy's position in the room, Bane shot a look towards the hare.
"Ain't you awful young and pretty to be a professor?" The Duros snarked.
Scowling, Lucy shot back, "You're not going to get away with this."
All that did was prompt a wicked smile from Bane.
Great Fox II
On the bridge of the old carrier, Fox gazed at a hologram of Fichina, his hand cupping his chin.
"I know you're down there somewhere, Wolf," the vulpine mused, "But where?"
Fox's thoughts were interrupted by the blaring of the bridge comm. Shaking his head, the leader of Star Fox walked back to his command chair and plunked himself into it before answering the call. He was greeted by the sight of an Arctic Fox in a police uniform.
"Oh thank heavens you picked up," the man said.
Raising an eyebrow, Fox replied, "What can I do for you, Officer?"
The vulpine on the other end of the line took a moment to collect himself.
"Please excuse my haste. I am Chief Coleman of the Calhoun Police Department. We have a bit of a hostage situation at the university."
Fox's eyes widened at the mention of the university. Nearby, he could hear Peppy fidget at the navigation console. Collecting himself, the vulpine asked, "What's going on?"
The snow fox put a hand on his chin and seemed to consider things.
"It would be far easier if I showed you,"
Footage from a security camera was uploaded to Fox's console, footage that made the vulpine's blood boil, for it showed a certain alien menacing Peppy's daughter.
"We're on our way,"
Calhoun
From her perch on the water tower, Rena sipped some coffee from a thermos and watched as Calhoun PD cordoned off the university. Suddenly, a new sound reached the coywolf's ears, causing her gaze to turn skywards.
Bringing a pair of binoculars up to her eyes, Rena's suspicions were confirmed as she saw several Arwings descending into the atmosphere.
"Guess it's time to move on to phase two."
….
The tense silence that hung over Lucy's classroom was broken by chiming from Algy's wristcom. Answering the call, the primate said, "What's up, Rena?"
"Star Fox is on approach."
Hearing that, Bane glanced around at the rest of the group and ordered, "Set 'em up, just like I showed you."
Following the Duros' directions, Algy, Zeke, Kurt, and Heinrich each walked to a different corner of the room where they proceeded to remove a rectangular object from their backpacks and attach it to the wall.
From there, the crooks pressed some buttons on the devices, causing red laser beams to crisscross the classroom.
"Now pay attention, class," Bane spoke in a mocking tone, "If one of you so much as breathes on these beams, you and this room are gonna get blasted sky high. So I suggest that you sit still and breathe easy."
The Duros then grabbed Lucy by the arm.
"You're comin' with us, little lady."
…..
Outside the university, most of the members of Star Fox and the Fire Birds had joined the police cordon. Krystal had her index and middle fingers pressed to her temple as she used her telepathy to scan for the criminals.
Soon picking them up, the cobalt vixen turned to Chief Coleman.
"They're coming out," she quickly explained, "They have a hostage, and they've planted bombs in the Astrophysics classroom."
"Guess I'd better call the bomb squad," Chief Coleman lamented.
Shaking her head, Fara interjected, "Leave the bombs to us. They teach defusal at the academy."
Just then, Bane and his cohorts exited the university. The alien, who had a gun to Lucy's back, glared around at the police cordon.
"Holster 'em!" he growled.
Leaning over to Chief Coleman, Krystal whispered, "Let them through. The rest of the team will deal with them."
As the group of crooks walked past the blockade, all the mercenaries, particularly Peppy, shot them a glare. Bane glared right back and growled, "What're you looking at? It's a nice hat."
As the thugs continued on their way, Krystal detected a thought from Peppy that conveyed the same sentiment that she was feeling.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Fox."
….
Once the quintet of thugs had put some distance between themselves and the university and linked up with Rena, Bane stopped and had them gather around.
"This is where we split up," the Duros explained.
"What about the girl?" Rena asked while gesturing to Lucy.
"She's coming with me," Bane replied, "Once I'm offworld, I'll leave her in an escape pod for her friends to find."
From there, the group went their separate ways, with Bane using his rocket boots to fly himself and Lucy onto the roof of a high rise. Once they had landed, the doe growled, "You're going to jail for this, asshole."
Bane ignored her and typed some commands onto his wristcom. Suddenly hearing the sound of a jet pack, the bounty hunter grabbed hold of Lucy and drew one of his blasters.
Despite furtively scanning the skies, Bane didn't see anyone. Hearing the sound of something landing nearby, the Duros pressed his blaster to Lucy's temple.
"Show yourself, or the girl gets it."
There was a whirring sound, and Fox McCloud seemed to appear out of thin air.
"It's over, Bane," the vulpine snarled before leveling his blaster at the alien.
For his part, Bane began backing towards the edge of the roof, Fox advancing and keeping his weapon trained on the bounty hunter.
"Last chance, Bane. Let her go!"
All that prompted was a wicked grin from Bane.
"Son, that's a very poor choice of words," the Duros snarked before he threw Lucy off the ledge.
Bane made no attempt to stop Fox as he ran up to the ledge and jumped after Lucy, activating his jetpack mid fall. Putting as much power to the thrusters as he possibly could, the vulpine managed to get underneath the falling hare and catch her in a bridal hold.
Once the duo had gotten back down to solid ground, Lucy threw her arms around Fox.
"Thanks Fox! I owe you one."
"Nothing to it, Lucy."
The pair's attention was brought skywards as they heard and saw Algy's Wolfen and Bane's starfighter soaring out of the atmosphere. Shaking his head, Fox grumbled, "Damn, I really hate cutting these things so close."