XVII

Everything's Peachy Until it Isn't

"Medic!" Fox howled as blood dripped into his eye. He wore a set of tactical goggles around the top of his brow but it was more of a fashion accessory than anything of use. In truth, he just liked the way they looked. The goggles had gotten hit by that shot of acidic ink and it was slowly melting the plastic into a gooey mess. He ripped the strap and chucked them, leaving them to dissolve into a puddle on the floor. The blood stung his eye and blinded him. His ears twitched as Mario slammed the door behind him. "Where's that medi-gel?" he asked in a low voice as he pawed at his eye. Laboratory Delta was dark and deserted, at least, on the face of it. A hand sheathed in a pink glove emerged from the shadowy recesses holding a small canister of medi-gel and sprayed it on Fox's cheek and the ridge of his brow. The wound began to heal in an instant, the soft tissue and skin knitting itself back together, leaving a patch of new pink flesh behind. It would be another few weeks before the fur grew back. "That's better," he said, relieved.

"Is everybody oh…" Mario began as he turned from the door but the sight of her stopped him dead. She emerged from the darkness but wasn't wearing her lab coat from the holo message. Instead, she wore a form fitting pink sweater dress that stopped just above the knees. Her pink gloves were not her usual princess gloves that went up the arm. They were simple and wool to keep her hands warm and stopped at the wrist. Her stockings were dark and her heels were the same vibrant pink as her dress. Her honey blonde hair hung to her shoulders in messy tresses. To Mario, she looked very unprincesslike but was more of a wild thing of nature that shined like a star in the darkness. His mouth fell open as she pushed her hair from her forehead. "Mama mia." The words escaped him as a whisper and he regretted them immediately.

She noticed him then and her brilliant blue eyes were wide and quizzical. He was short and round and his nose was bulbous but he wasn't altogether unpleasant. And he had a fantastic mustache. It was only a moment but the silence seemed to grow as old as the hills. Then, her face grew hot and red. And she laughed, not a playful giggle or a nervous chuckle, but a hearty laugh. She didn't think of herself as beautiful even though she was and the concept of someone being struck by her struck her as altogether ridiculous. Still, it was nice to be noticed. He scratched his head, studied his feet, and waited for the moment to pass.

"Awkward, bro," Luigi whispered in his ear, which did nothing to ease his embarrassment.

"Sister!"

"Daisy?" She was shocked to see her baby sister standing there with a humongous rifle slung over her shoulder. She was jealous that Daisy looked like a badass in her soldier garb while here she was standing in science chic. Daisy dropped the rifle and threw her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug around the ribs, which made Peach stick out her tongue and make a "bleah" noise. Daisy gave her several kisses on the cheek and eyes. With one eye closed and giggling, Peach pushed her baby sister away. "What're you doing here?" she asked, wiping the saliva from her eyelids.

"Saving you," said Daisy, who proceeded to surprise Peach by licking her on the tip of her nose.

"Gross!" she squealed. "Gah, you're such a weirdo." She wiped her nose on the palm of her glove and noticed Luigi. "Is this the boy I keep hearing about?"

"I hope so." He had been watching the display in bafflement. This was the first time he was meeting a member of Daisy's family. He had heard somewhere that family is one's natural habitat so it seemed to him that he was meeting the real Daisy for the first time, as well. "Luigi," he added and extended his hand. Peach rejected it and threw her arms around his neck instead and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"I've heard so much about you," she said as she withdrew. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name."

"I wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"Ah, that reminds me," said Peach, rushing to a small computer console. "We don't have much time. Those doors won't hold for long."

"We led them right to you," said Falco. He rolled his eyes as he kept tally in his mind. This was another ding against their new commander.

"Unfortunately, yes," she said as she typed furiously.

"But it had to be done!" Daisy protested, picking up on Falco's tone and throwing him a dark look. "What next, my sister?"

"This is the observation deck for Laboratory Delta," she said, still typing. The fluorescent lights blinked and whined and came on. In the bright lighting, they could see they weren't in a lab at all but rather some kind of small office. In front of the computer terminal was a large metal door that was toothed where it went into notches on the floor. Across it, lettering spray painted caution yellow spelled out "Danger." "Beyond this blast door, is a container."

"A container containing what?" inquired Fox, not missing a beat. Without an answer, the blast door began to open. It shuddered to a halt, leaving only the metal teeth exposed. Beyond the door was the laboratory proper, which was the size of a small hangar. Centrifuges, fume hoods, and various chemical equipment lined the walls on chrome tables. In the center of the room was a massive containment field with a pylon in all four corners. Within that field was…

"The Rachquid Queen," said Peach to answer Fox's question.

She was the size of a small freighter and translucent white like the rest of the rachquids. Her tentacles were like tree trunks and were coiled in tight knots from the confines of the forcefield. With so much mass, it was much clearer to see through her pallid skin and they could see every organ as it worked: the churning of her bowels, the soft rhythm of her lungs as they inflated and deflated. They could even see the beating of her heart. As her heart beat, theirs stopped. It felt like a gut punch. She had led them to the belly of the beast.

"Stuff me with cheese!" said Toad. "What the hell were you doing out here?"

"The Onion-folk had a plan to use the rachquids as beasts of war. They said the rachquids had no mind of their own. I thought it could minimize casualties in conflict."

"Oh, Peach," said Daisy, her voice cracking.

"They're living things," said Luigi, trying to hide his disgust.

"Well, those living things want us dead," said Falco.

"Right," said Peach. "We made a mistake. The rachquids communicate via a hivemind originating with her. We can flood the chamber with acid. That will stop the attack."

Mario had stopped listening and approached the containment field. Her anatomy fascinated him and he wanted a better look. The Rachquid Queen noticed his approach and reached out with her thoughts. He could feel her consciousness around him, in him, through him as if one her massive tendrils held him and dove down his throat. He doubled over from the shock, the wind knocked out of him.

Her voice echoed off the wall of his skull. It was high and melodic. "Brittle biped, I can see into your mind. Mario of the Odyssey." She trailed the last words in a malevolent hiss. Writhing on the ground, he pulled at his hair and screamed.