A/N: The Bossk Man's recommended listening-Weathering Heights from Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex
Aquas
Raindrops streaked across the canopy of the Xanadu Blood as the Rogue-class starfighter and the four Wolfens descended into the atmosphere of the watery world that reminded Bane of such planets in the known galaxy as Mon Cala and Glee Anselm, the latter being where he had kidnapped a Force-sensitive infant on behalf of Lord Sidious.
"Besides our client, does anyone live on this water ball?" the Duros asked over the comms.
"Aside from a few settlements and some Cornerian military outposts, not really," Algy replied.
"That said, this planet used to look a lot like Corneria, till the polar caps melted and flooded the place," the lemur continued.
Bane grunted in acknowledgement and then brought his attention to the Xanadu Blood's scanners. It seemed that the quintet were approaching a dome-shaped structure supported above the waves by four columns at each corner, not unlike the floating cities of Kamino.
The Duros listened over the comms as Wolf was hailed, presumably by the base.
"State your business," a canid that Bane knew to be called a Rottweiler said in a gruff voice.
"We're delivering Mr. Galtieri's prize," Wolf calmly replied.
There was a pause before the Rottweiler replied, "You're cleared for landing. Proceed to Docking Bay 4."
From there, the six outlaws followed a waypoint that had been sent to them, eventually landing within a spacious hangar. A group of armed men greeted the arrivals as they dismounted from their fighters, along with the salamander who had hired them the day prior.
"Welcome aboard, Star Wolf," Carlo Galtieri curtsied.
Wolf gave the lizard a toothy grin before holding up the Moonstone.
"As promised."
One of Galtieri's men took the jewel from Wolf and then handed it to his boss. The salamander turned it over in his hands, carefully inspecting it. About a minute passed before the reptile was satisfied.
Handing the Moonstone to one of his men, Galtieri ordered, "Put that with the rest of the collection, and then organize an auction on the dark web."
"Yes sir."
Suddenly, a felid with a datapad in hand came running into the hangar.
"Sir, we've got a problem."
Galtieri's blue eyes narrowed as he saw the hologram of the old Cornerian carrier. He also let out a hiss when three fighters appeared near it.
"Looks like Star Fox and the Fire Birds have joined forces," the lizard mused before turning towards Star Wolf and Bane.
"I'll gladly pay you fifteen thousand for every one of them that you can kill.
Wolf smiled at that prospect, though his enthusiasm was quickly tempered by Algy.
"Eight against five. Not exactly great odds."
"I'm with Algy on this one, Boss," Leon added.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the hangar, one that was broken by Bane.
"Perhaps we can even those odds by letting them come to us."
The corners of the bounty hunter's mouth turned up in a wicked smile.
Aquas orbit
Boosting out of the mothership's hangar, Fox and his team got into formation, soon being joined by the Fire Birds.
"Been a while since we had a mission together, hasn't it Fox?" Fara said over the comms.
"It has," replied the vulpine.
As the small squadron entered Aquas' atmosphere, Krystal hailed the Fire Birds.
"It's nice to finally meet all of you, though I wish it was under better circumstances."
"Same here," Miyu replied.
As the mercenary fighters began their approach to Galtieri's base, Fox took note of Louise seated behind him.
"You ready for this, Agent Dortmund?"
"Ready as I can be," the jackal replied.
Nodding, Fox continued, "Okay, when we're down there, I've got one simple rule; I'm in charge, and when I'm not around, Falco is."
"Duly noted."
Fox's attention was brought back to his console by the communicator beeping.
"State your business. This is a private settlement."
Fox let out a huff before replying, "This is Star Fox and the Fire Birds. We understand that your boss hired Star Wolf to steal the Moonstone."
"They ain't here. Now beat it, or we'll fire on you!"
Shaking his head, Fox switched to the team's channel.
"They're lying through their teeth," Krystal growled, "Star Wolf and Cad Bane are waiting for us in that base."
Processing that information, Fox began forming a plan.
"Falco, Amanda, Fay. I want you guys on air support. Everyone else, we're going in and showing these people who they're dealing with."
"Good, I prefer the sky anyways."
Anti-air fire greeted the mercenaries as they approached Galtieri's base, though they jinked and weaved to evade and barrel-rolled to deflect the shots they couldn't dodge.
Falco, Fay, and Amanda boosted ahead and returned fire on the surface cannons, quickly reducing them to scrap metal. The others landed in a hangar and dismounted from their fighters.
"Eyes and ears open, guys," Fox said as he raised his Cornerian CX-4 carbine.
"Krystal, do you sense anything?"
The vixen put a hand on her temple and closed her eyes.
"They're just ahead," she mentally signaled to the others.
The group of mercenaries advanced into the next room, which had its lights switched off.
Not for long, as the lights soon turned back on, revealing a group of armed men, a certain gang of outlaws, a certain minuscule robot, and a certain alien who dressed like a cowboy.
"Welcome, Star Fox," Cad Bane taunted, "We've been expecting you."
"Now you're dead, pup," Wolf put in.
"Kill them!" Galtieri screamed over an intercom.
The mercenaries were already moving into cover as Star Wolf, Bane, and the gangsters opened fire. Fox dove behind a metal crate and then popped up, downing one of Galtieri's men with a burst from his carbine. The vulpine was then forced to duck back down when Bane and Algy turned their weapons in his direction.
Louise took aim from behind a column and put down two gangsters before noticing that Star Wolf and Bane were retreating.
"We need to wrap this up quickly," Krystal mentally signaled to the others, "Give me some covering fire."
The others did just that while the cobalt vixen readied her staff and then jumped out from cover, slamming the jeweled end onto the ground and creating a shockwave that staggered the gangsters, rendering them easy pickings for her comrades.
Though the mercenaries were able to clear out the gangsters, save for one, Star Wolf and Bane were nowhere to be seen.
Leaving cover, Fox began issuing orders.
"Slippy, see to him," the vulpine said while pointing at a gangster nursing a leg wound.
"You got it, Fox," the toad replied as he took out a first aid kit.
Turning to the remaining four members of the group, Fox asked, "Krystal, do you know where they went?"
Once again putting a hand to her temple, the vixen replied, "They've split up."
Nodding, Fox said, "Point me in Bane's direction. The rest of you, split up into pairs and find Star Wolf."
"Fox, I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Krystal protested, "You've seen how dangerous that alien is."
"Don't worry, Krys. Bane won't have his way with me."
"Alright," the cobalt vixen said before giving her boyfriend a quick peck on the lips, "Just be careful, okay?"
"Yes dear," Fox replied with a grin.
Elsewhere
Bane ran through the corridors of Galtieri's base, having split off from Todo and the Star Wolf team. The Duros took note of the numerous alcoves in the hallway.
"Almost as if he was expecting a raid."
Coming up to a door, Bane pressed the open button, only to be greeted with a beeping sound and a red light.
"Access denied."
Frowning, Bane brought up his wristcom.
"Todo, I need you to slice a door for me."
"I'm on my way, but it might take a while."
"Just get here."
Bane was about to take a crack at slicing the door controls himself when he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps. The Duros quickly drew his blasters and ducked into an alcove. Peering out, Bane caught sight of an orange vulpine in green. The Duros opened fire, forcing his foe into cover.
Bane ducked back into the alcove as a burst of lasers zipped past where he had just been standing and pockmarked the door.
"You're a bold one, Fox McCloud. Coming to face me all by your lonesome."
The bounty hunter leaned back out to return fire, catching sight of his pursuer doing a combat roll into a closer alcove. Bane's lasers barely missed Fox, and he ducked back into cover to avoid the vulpine's response.
"Go on talking about that empire who hired you, Bane."
Realizing that he needed to change up the moves of this dance, Bane holstered one of his weapons.
"Son, that's confidential information," Bane retorted while grabbing a smoke bomb off of his belt.
"But take your best shot, if that tickles your fancy," he added before tossing the bomb around the side of the alcove.
After hearing the telltale poof of the explosive going off, Bane left cover, both blasters extended in front of him. The Duros worried little about the smoke, knowing that his breathing tubes would filter out some of it.
Bane whipped around the corner of the alcove where he had last seen McCloud, only to find nothing there. Grunting in annoyance, the Duros turned around, only to be met with the business end of Fox's carbine.
"Drop em," growled the vulpine.
Bane did as he was told and let his LL-30s fall to the floor.
"Hands up."
Bane made a show of putting his hands in the air, only to reach out and grab hold of Fox's weapon. Catching the vulpine by surprise, Bane yanked the weapon and it's owner towards him. Fox lost his grip and crashed to the floor.
But in the time it took for Bane to turn the CX-4 around the right way and aim it at the vulpine, Fox was able to draw his blaster and fire off a shot that knocked the carbine out of the bounty hunter's hands.
Undeterred, Bane extended out his arm and fired a flamethrower at the leader of Star Fox. The vulpine was barely able to scramble out of the way, the flames slightly singing the white fur on the tip of his tail.
"Running away, eh?" Bane taunted, "Some hero you've turned out to be!"
Elsewhere
Louise and Miyu stacked up on opposite sides of a door leading to a hangar. With a quick nod, both women leaned out, carbines at the ready.
"Hands up!"
The two men in the room, Galtieri and a mountain gorilla henchman, snapped their heads towards the duo in surprise. The ape, who was holding the Moonstone, raised it up in the air and yelled, "I will break this!"
To everyone's surprise, Galtieri held up a hand.
"Put it down, man," the salamander stated in an almost bored tone.
"But sir…"
The gorilla stopped mid sentence and cocked his head towards the shuttle they had been preparing to board. Galtieri simply shook his head.
"Doesn't matter. The lawyer will have us out by suppertime."
As the gorilla set the Moonstone down, Louise shot a glance towards Miyu, who had her muzzle curled back in a snarl. Undoubtedly, the lynx had dealt with people like Galtieri before. People with enough money and connections to ensure that they never spent a day in jail.
"Time to put the fear of God into these assholes," the jackal thought.
"I'd wipe those stupid grins off your faces, cause you're not gonna be able to call your lawyer."
"How's that?" Galtieri retorted.
"Because," Louise said while narrowing her eyes, "You've aided and abetted an extraterrestrial who's mapping the Lylat system for a foreign power. In the eyes of the Cornerian Republic, that's treason."
The jackal allowed herself a small smirk as the two gangsters stared in disbelief.
"Needless to say, you two won't be going to the Corneria City Supermax. More likely, you'll be carted off to a blacksite in the Fichinan Wastes."
Louise was about to go on when Fara entered the hangar. Noticing that the fennec was by herself, Miyu asked, "Where's Krystal?"
"She went to help Fox," Fara replied.
Elsewhere
Cad Bane advanced up the hallway, sweeping his blasters left and right and listening intently for the elusive vulpine.
"You can't hide forever, hairball," the bounty hunter taunted.
As if in response, an orange blur appeared in Bane's peripheral vision and a fist connected with the side of his head, staggering the Duros and making him drop his weapons.
"Make this easy on yourself, Bane."
The bounty hunter responded by whipping around and batting Fox's blaster out of his hand. Bane then went in with a right hook, only for Fox to duck under it and reply with one of his own. The vulpine connected and followed up with a left hook. He went in for another right, but Bane was ready this time and caught the punch.
With a firm grip on the vulpine's wrist, Bane reached over with his free hand and depressed a button on his gauntlet, watching with glee as electricity crackled over Fox and he screamed in pain, his fur standing on end.
Bane finally let the stunned vulpine fall to the floor, giving him a kick in the gut for good measure before stepping over him.
"Like I said over Eladard," Bane remarked as he picked up one of his fallen blasters, "I've taken down so many young upstarts over the years. You're no different."
The Duros lifted his weapon, only to feel a tremor that knocked him to the floor. Rolling onto his back, Bane caught sight of the Star Fox team's telepath pointing a gold coloured staff in his direction.
"I beg to differ, bounty hunter," Krystal growled.
As fate would have it, Todo chose that moment to appear. The techno-service droid boosted up behind the cobalt vixen and grabbed hold of her, one of his metal hands tugging at her hair.
"Ahhhh!" Krystal screamed, "Get off me, you little bugger!"
"You didn't say please," Todo taunted.
Bane, now back on his feet, took advantage of Krystal's momentary distraction and fired a grappling hook from one of his gauntlets. After the cable wrapped around Krystal's staff, Bane jerked his arm back and yanked the weapon from her grip.
Seeing that Bane had a blaster pointed in their direction, Todo released his grip on Krystal and flew towards his master while the vixen ducked into an alcove and drew her sidearm, firing blindly around the corner and forcing Bane into cover
After Todo handed him his other blaster, Bane opened fire on Krystal's position, pinning her down.
"Not so impressive without your stick, are ya, little lady?"
The Duros broke cover and kept firing to keep Krystal's head down. As Bane walked backwards, he felt something hit his heel, causing the bounty hunter to fall on his back.
Snapping his head up, Bane caught sight of Fox with Krystal's staff in hand.
"She's not the only one who knows how to use it," the vulpine growled.
Bane responded by kicking Fox in the face and then doing a backwards roll, bringing himself back to his feet. The Duros brought up his blasters, only for Fox to slam the sharp end of the staff into the floor. A white aura enveloped the vulpine, one that simply absorbed Bane's lasers as they struck it.
Quickly determining that this was some type of shield, and that Krystal wouldn't be able to fire through it, the bounty hunter glanced at his metallic sidekick.
"Todo, get that door."
"Right away, Mr. Bane."
Bane kept up his fire as Todo flew off to slice the locked door. Eventually, the Duros put one of his blasters away and ran after Todo, dropping a thermal detonator behind him.
After the explosion and the shower of shrapnel, Fox lowered the barrier and stood up. Hearing Krystal approach, Fox handed her staff back and then picked up his downed blaster.
"Let's get this fucker, Krys."
The cobalt vixen merely tightened her grip on her staff and let out an angry growl.
From there, the couple took off after Bane, both quickly ducking into alcoves when the alien leaned out and fired at them.
Ducking back around the corner, Bane shouted, "Todo, are you about done?"
"Just a moment. Ah, there we go."
"Access granted."
Bane and Todo barely waited for the doors to start sliding apart before charging through. Hearing the sounds of approaching footsteps, Bane stopped on the other side and turned around.
As the two vulpines came into view, Bane lifted his blaster and shot the door controls on his side, which caused the doors to slam shut.
Smirking, the Duros gave his pursuers a two-fingered salute and taunted, "So long, Star Fox."
As their quarry turned tail and ran, Krystal found herself nearly losing it at his sheer cheekiness.
"You're not getting away that easily, you bloody arsehole," the vixen snarled as she charged up the jeweled end of her staff and then did a two-handed swing at the doors, knocking them off of their railings.
Bane frowned as he threw a glance over his shoulder and saw the two metal doors flying into the hallway.
"Persistent little karkers, aren't ya?" the Duros muttered to himself as he tossed another thermal detonator behind him.
Much like before, Krystal made use of her staff's barrier ability to protect her and Fox from the explosion. Seeing that his pursuers still hadn't been deterred, Bane threw a glance towards Todo.
"Get the ship ready."
"As you wish, Mr. Bane."
The techno-service droid went down another hallway while Bane kept going forward. Looking over his shoulder, the Duros caught sight of the two mercenaries. Ignoring the laser bolts cracking past him, Bane activated his rocket boots.
Fox and Krystal kept up their pursuit of the alien, though that proved difficult with his rocket boots. The couple soon lost sight of Bane and eventually found themselves on a platform overlooking the ocean.
"Damn," Fox grumbled as he brought up his wristcom.
"Falco, any sign of Cad Bane?"
"Not sure, Foxy. We've got our hands full with Star Wolf up here."
"Great," Fox said with a roll of his eyes.
Krystal meanwhile, was searching for Bane's thought patterns and soon picked them up. It seemed that he was approaching at a high speed. The vixen's blue eyes snapped open as she put two and two together.
"Fox! Get behind me!"
The vulpine followed his girlfriend's lead as she threw up another barrier. And not a moment too soon, for Bane's starfighter decloaked and began strafing the platform. Red lasers tore up the metal, but had no effect on the staff's shield.
All the while, the green starfighter kept barreling towards the platform before pulling up at the last possible moment. The result was that the jetstream picked up and tossed the vulpine couple, sending them sliding across the deck. Krystal was able to stop herself with the sharp end of her staff, but Fox had no such luxury.
Rolling along, the vulpine barely managed to grab the edge of the deck. But Fox's troubles were far from over as the sound of rending metal reached his ears.
"Oh, not good."
Fox struggled in vain to climb back up as the part of the deck that he was holding onto began to break off. Catching a glint of gold out of the corner of his eye, the vulpine reached out and grabbed it just as the portion of the deck tore free and plummeted towards the Aquan ocean.
Under different circumstances, Fox would have noted that this situation was much like their first meeting on Sauria, just with the roles reversed. As it was, the vulpine was more concerned with getting back onto solid ground.
Pulling her boyfriend to safety and helping him stand, Krystal wrapped Fox in a tight embrace, an embrace that was readily reciprocated.
Breaking apart, the two of them noticed five ships flying out of Aquas' atmosphere and quickly realized that their targets had once again gotten away.
After letting out a frustrated huff, Fox asked, "I don't suppose you gleaned anything more from Bane's mind."
"As a matter of fact, I did," the cobalt vixen replied.
Upon receiving a curious look from Fox, Krystal elaborated, "As cliche as this sounds, it's a very big galaxy. Turns out that Lylat is located in what the Empire calls the Unknown Regions."
"Unknown to them, I guess," Fox mused.
"That's not all," Krystal elaborated, "The Empire's only been in power for about a year. The whole reason they sent Bane instead of their own scouts is they're still consolidating their grip on that part of the galaxy. He's expendable in their eyes."
With a nod, Fox turned his gaze back to the horizon.
"We've got one advantage," Fox stated.
"The more planets Bane maps for the Empire, the easier it will be for us to pin him down."