Iliria’s Curse
by Vixey
Reinard
WARNING: This story was written and posted for
entertainment purposes only. Fox
McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, Fara Phoenix,
General Pepper, Corneria and all other characters and places created by Nintendo
are copyright and TM 1993 Nintendo of America Inc. Used without permission.
Iliria, Andromeda and
all other principle characters are copyright 1996 Vixey Reinard. This story may be redistributed as long as I
receive credit and this entire disclaimer remains with it. Please do not sell or alter it.
I welcome your
comments. Please e-mail them to me at
madchatter@msn.com.
ILIRIA’S CURSE
Andross shivered in the night air.
It wasn’t the darkness of the cold of Tekrane 2 that made him uncomfortable, or even the deathly silence. It was the mystery. He suppressed an urge to look behind him and make sure his body guards were still there.
One of them shifted uncomfortably and cleared his throat. “It’s been two hours, sir,” he said.
Andross narrowed his eyes. “If I wanted a clock then I would have brought one, now wouldn’t I?”
“Y-yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
That’s right. Take it out on your men, you miserable coward. The Emperor stifled a gasp as the voice made it’s way into his mind. He would have known if he thought it himself, and especially in a woman’s voice. The fact that it had been happening ever since he got the message was even more disturbing. He took out the slip of paper (whoever sent it didn’t even bother to use a hologram!) and looked it over.
Emperor Andross,
I understand you have a battle of personal nature with one Fox McCloud. Meet me at the southern edge of Aryn plain on Tekrane 2 exactly 48 hours from the moment you read this. You may bring two guards if you like.
A Friend
How could they possibly know when he’d read it? This whole thing was probably just a joke. Andross turned to his guards.
“Let’s go. We’ve waited long enough.”
“Emperor Andross, I presume.”
Andross whipped around to face the newcomer. An Iririan in her late forties, the speaker wore a black cloak and a curious comlink attached to her left temple. “I’ve been watching you for the past two hours, Andross. You’ve proven your hatred for Corneria, and so proven you’re worthy of my service.”
“Worthy?” Anger boiled into Andross’s voice. “Who do you think you are, anyway? Is this some kind of game? Come, men, we’re leaving.”
Who am I? I am your greatest asset and your worst nightmare. I am the person who will win this war. And I am Corneria’s enemy.
Andross reeled with the force of the voice and grabbed his head. “What-how-what is your name?”
The Iririan came closer. “My name is Iliria.”
Andross straitened up while his men gawked. “So tell me. How can you do what I haven’t been able to for the past 7 years?”
“Easily,” Iliria whispered. “We simply... persuade him to switch sides. We make him loyal to you.”
Loyal to me? Andross stared at her for a moment, then let a smile slide across his face as he thought about it. Loyal to me. Whatever that means, I like it.
I thought you would.
Faster. Stronger. Better. The words echoed in Fox’s head as he rocked the ship wildly back and forth, narrowly missing being vaporized by two lizards at once. Snapping into a sharp vertical turn, he watched as the enemy fighters continued on their path to where he had been. They crashed into each other and exploded.
“That was tidy, Fox,” a voice said over the radio. “But what if the lizards’ IQs didn’t begin with a decimal point?”
“Then I would have been screwed, Peppy.”
“I figured you’d say something like that.” The hare signed off.
Fox looked at his console. They had been attacking Andross’s space station for what seemed like hours on end but to no avail. The thing was as armored as a Narconian cave turtle. He clicked the comm. “Falco, any progress on the shield generators?”
“None. It keeps reinforcing itself.”
“I’m joining you, okay?”
“Roger.”
Fox pitched around and sped toward the far end of the station. He hadn’t gone far before he was greeted with a new barrage of blips on his radar. He groaned. “Enemy squadron coming in! All ships regroup in attack formation!”
The rest of his squadron, minus Falco, flew in behind him in a triangle. They accelerated towards the enemy and began to fire. The console beeped and Fox glanced at it.
Falco had been killed.
Fox slammed on the comm angrily. “Weapons on full charge, team! We’ve got to take out this station!”
The enemy squad began to fire at the team, red bolts of energy piercing the blackness of space. Fox, Fara, Peppy and Slippy raced against each other to strike them down. Peppy swooped out of formation and destroyed one of the ships.
“Yeah! Come on, we can-” He was cut off as his ship cracked out of existence.
“What happened?” Slippy cried.
“There’s more behind us. Watch your six!” Fara slammed the stick to the left, dropping below the others. She began to chase a fighter, weaving and dodging debris from Peppy’s ship.
Fox took advantage of the distraction and made his way towards the station. His eyes narrowed as another beep told him Slippy no longer existed. His heart raced as he neared Andross’s fortress, preparing to send the tyrant to oblivion. Fara rushed up beside him and together they flew side by side. They didn’t notice, however, the two cloaked fighters that raced behind them, charging their weapons.
“Dammit!” Fox tore off the VR unit and threw it on the floor. “Do you realize how close we were? We were right there and I blew it!”
Peppy took a sip from a water bottle and shook his head. “Calm down, Fox. It’s just a simulator.”
“Well, what if it wasn’t?” Fox said. “We just got slaughtered. That can’t be happening, guys. We’re better than that.”
“At least we all lasted longer,” Fara pointed out. “Last time Slippy was killed in ten minutes.”
“Thanks for r-r-reminding me.”
“If you ask me,” said Falco, “The simulator’s harder than the real thing.”
Fox eyed his
team as they gathered around him. “All I
know is that we’ve got to work harder.
Even if it means virtual reality training for hours on end. The empire’s getting stronger and stronger
now that they’ve teamed up with the Iririans.” The squadron nodded and Fox looked at the
clock. “Come on, it’s
The five headed out of the simulator room and began to walk down the hall of Corneria City StarForce Base, their moods slowly lightening on the way to the cafeteria. They had begun to chat cheerfully when Fox’s comlink beeped.
“McCloud, Pepper here.”
Fox motioned for them to be quiet and pushed the button at the base of his comm, just above his jaw. “Yes sir?”
“Would you come to my office, please? It’ll only take a moment.”
“Uh-yes, sir. I’ll be right there.” Fox sighed and signed off. “You all go ahead. General’s office.”
Falco smirked. “General’s office? Busted-”
“Yeah, I’ll bet you know what that feels like!” Fox grinned. “I’ll catch up in a few minutes.” He turned and went in the opposite direction as Fara, Slippy, Peppy and Falco’s conversation faded.
“He’s n-n-not missing much anyway.”
“Yeah,” Peppy agreed. “With the food they serve here I’m glad I’m a vegetarian...” Soon Fox walked in silence.
As he walked, Fox casually slipped the comlink off his head and rolled it back and forth between his hands, humming softly. Almost 20 years old, it was practically more of a helmet than a communicator, compared to some of the newer, sleeker models. It had been his father’s, though, and no matter how bulky it was Fox would never give it up. Taking the lift to sector H2, he reached the upper level of the base. Hard metal corridors gave way to spacious offices and portraits of past military leaders, including Fox Sr. Junior glanced at it in respect as he walked past.
Stopping in front of an office marked GENERAL PEPPER, he knocked and after a faint “come in” entered the office.
“General Pepper, sir!” Fox said, straightening up and giving a smart salute.
Pepper nodded. “At ease.” Fox went to a parade rest.
The general sat back in his chair and picked up a small envelope. “Commander. McCloud, I have to admit that this is sort of a unique situation; otherwise I would have just forwarded this to you. You’ve heard of ‘World,’ right?”
Fox chuckled. “Well-yeah. It’s the most respected magazine on Corneria. Why?”
Pepper looked at the envelope carefully. “Well, along with this I received a letter asking permission for one of their journalists to interview you.”
Fox’s eyes widened. “World magazine wants to do an interview with me? Why would they want to do something like that?”
Pepper smiled. “McCloud, whether you realize it or not I’m afraid you’re becoming quite popular with the general public. Especially with the war on.” With that, he handed the envelope to Fox, who opened it and perused the paper inside.
He shook his head. “Sir, tell them no. I don’t want to.”
Pepper raised an eyebrow. “May I ask why?”
Fox gestured to a chair. “Can I...? Thanks.” He sat down. “Sir, personally I think people have better things to do than listen to me rattle on about my life as a pilot. And I have better things to do than narrate it. I’m only doing my job when I fight the empire.”
“You know what your problem is, McCloud? You refuse to believe that anyone has the slightest interest in you. Why, you’re one of the best men the Force has ever had. And I’m not flattering you!”
Fox stared at the floor, thinking.
“Junior.” Fox looked up as the general addressed him in a more personal tone. “Just do the interview. Make the people happy, and for Fortuna’s sake, enjoy yourself.”
The pilot stood up. “I’ll think about it, sir.”
Pepper smiled. “You do that.” Fox nodded once, then turned to walk out the door. “Oh, wait! You forgot your-” The door shut, leaving him in silence. “-comlink.” Oh, well. He’d realize he’d left it soon enough.
Two Iririans pushed a menacing looking device out of the ship and, spurning help from lizard troopers, began to haul it to Andross’s base. The emperor watched the lizards mutter among themselves and turned to Iliria, who was checking something on a data pad.
“Is this all really necessary?”
She looked up. “Hmm? Why, yes. Of course it is. All necessary for my plan.” She smiled curtly and went back to the pad.
Andross persisted. “And what is your plan, anyway? All I’ve heard from you is that you’re going to switch McCloud over to our side and suddenly you’re moving in. What do you mean by that?”
Iliria sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. A hare walked off the ship. “Tell me, Andross. What species is this man?”
Andross looked at the soldier. “He’s Pandoran.” He noticed that the man’s eyes had a peculiar vagueness about them, as if he didn’t know what was going on. He abruptly turned and left.
Iliria turned back. “Andross, everyone has a weakness. Whether it be a secret, a flaw, a memory, everyone has something that will be the death of them someday. That’s where I strike. That’s how I lure them towards me.” She looked at him seductively. “And I can assure you that Fox is no different.”
“Are you talking about brainwashing?”
“You could say that. But please, let us turn to the matters at hand. We must attack his home.”
Andross nodded. “Corneria then. I’ll gather my fleet and we’ll be battle ready in no time.”
The emperor walked briskly down to Central Control and addressed the entire base. “Attention. All units report to battle stations at once. Repeat, report to battle stations at once. Prepare all ships to move out.” Unlike his enemy, Andross never bothered with silly details such as mission briefings. His pilots lived to fight and were expected to live to fight. That done, the emperor made his way through the sudden flurry of lizards rushing in all directions amidst a glaring alarm to Iliria. Together they made their way to the Praetorian, the flagship of the Empire. “We’ll leave in two hours at the latest.”
Iliria smiled. “You’re very sudden. I like that; no waiting.”
“I haven’t launched an attack on Corneria for a while now, only the outer provinces. I wouldn’t want them to...forget about me.”
Fox accelerated over the runway and squinted as the afternoon sunlight flooded his cockpit. The arwing soared out away from the city and over the surrounding countryside. He savored the feeling of flying high above the world, in perfect freedom from the confines of gravity. Behind him, the StarFox squadron followed.
“So, what do you guys want to do today?”
“Formations!”
“The rings.”
“L-l-low level st-t-tunt flying over a d-d-densly p-populated area!”
“Come on, you guys. I meant something hard.” Fox chuckled. “Although, the stunt flying does sound tempting.”
“Want to go to Beyer’s Rift and do some target practice?” Peppy asked. “We could even stage a dogfight or two.”
“Sounds good. We can get there in about 15 minutes anyway.” The team altered their course.
“Hey, Fox?” Fara asked. “Why does your voice sound different?”
“I’m using the ship’s comlink. I can’t remember where I left mine.”
“Oh, I thought you looked different. Just wondering.”
They reached the canyon and decided to fire at a large boulder in the middle of an abandoned quarry. While the others hovered about a mile away, Fox began to race along the ground. He made sure his weapons were on the lowest setting and, scrutinizing the boulder through his targeting computer, released a forceful barrage of lighting bolts on the stone. In a few seconds it was riddled with charred holes. Fox flipped his fighter into a loop and sped away. Falco began his run next, pushing his ship to the fastest speed possible and attacking the rock, pulling up at the last possible second. Peppy delicately laced it with a lethal ballet of lazer fire, while Slippy recklessly shot and missed twice. Fara let out a whoop as her final shot caused the boulder to shatter.
“Big deal, Phoenix! You were the last one up and our weapons are hardly charged!” Despite Falco’s scornful words, the others could tell he was smiling.
Fox clicked on the comm once again. “That was good, guys. Except for-”
“N-n-not one word!”
“Okay, okay! Sheesh! Now let’s go and-” Fox was cut short as the comm beeped twice, signaling an emergency. Cmmr. Ventura’s voice was urgent.
“Base to StarFox team, do you read!”
“This is StarFox, what’s going on?”
“Return to base immediately! Repeat, return to base! We’re under attack!”
Andross can’t keep his paws off us, can he? Fox thought sourly. “Acknowledged. We’re on our way.”
The team sped towards the city once again and could soon see a fleet of warships hovering over the planet’s capital. Fox watched as squadron after squadron was dispatched, flying out of the base’s four launch tubes. His eyes narrowed angrily as he imagined all the people far below, running in terror for air raid shelters. “All right, team, go for it!” he shouted.
Andross sat in the command chair, watching the battle on screen. “Any sign of the StarFox team yet?”
“None, sir. They haven’t shown up yet.”
“Well, keep centering your fire on commercial and industrial buildings. We simply want to get what we want and leave. I’m assuming that will be your responsibility,” he said, turning to the hare.
Iliria smiled. “Leave everything to me. He’ll find his way here soon enough.”
Fox raced away from his team and spotted Andross’s flagship. Suddenly feeling an uncontrollable urge to attack, he addressed all the ships around him. “Someone cover my wing. I’m goin’ for the jackpot!”
“McCloud, are you nuts?!”
“You’ll be killed!”
“Did he say what I think he said?”
“Just cover me, okay? I have a good feeling about this!” Fox nodded in satisfaction as three ships gathered behind him, and pulled the arwing into a steep climb. The ship neared menacingly as he began to fire at the underside, targeting gas vents and electrical circuits. He was rewarded with nothing but a few explosions, but to him they seemed enormous.
Fox... He shook his head. Fox, come to me...
“Wha...?” Was Peppy playing around or something? Unconsciously, Fox let his fighter drift toward the ship.
“McCloud-you’re in tractor beam range!”
Fox jerked and quickly looped his ship around, hitting the thrust to speed up. “Man, that was clo-”
Suddenly, he was thrown forward as the arwing stopped, the world outside turning an eerie blue. Despite his engine running at full power, the ship began to move slowly backwards.
Inside the ship, one of the helmsman faced Andross triumphantly. “Sir, we’ve seized one arwing. Scanners confirm it’s McCloud!”
Andross stared at Iliria. It was only the day after he had met her and already she was actualizing his wildest dreams! He nodded to the helmsman. “Inform Sick Bay. They know what to do with prisoners.”
Fox shrieked in horror. “No! They’ve got me in a tractor beam, help! Somebody help me!” He stopped and thought. Panicking wouldn’t solve anything. He gulped and looked back at the docking bay that opened to let him in.
“Fox, we’re coming! Just hang on!” His squadron flew in formation and broke around him, firing madly at the base of the beam.
But they knew it was too late.
Peppy stood in the center of his apartment, eyes closed, swaying slightly with emotion. He slowly poured a sweet, sad song out of his shey-ran, a small Pandoran stringed instrument. The pilot finished his song and let the melody reverberate throughout him, not noticing the figure that came to the door and watched him.
“Very pretty,” she said.
Peppy started and turned around. Seeing who it was, he smiled and put the instrument down, walking over to hold her in his arms. “Hi,” he whispered. “I was getting a little worried.”
Andromeda smiled. “I had a little trouble with transportation, with the attack and all. But I made it.” The two moved closer, the fur on their faces brushing together.
“Any progress with your book?”
“Well, the publisher said that it’s good, I’m good, everything’s good, but he wants to think about it still.”
“Oh.” Peppy sighed and walked to the window. He pulled the shades and looked at the base, about half a mile away. “Sorry, but I don’t think I’m going to be very good company tonight. The attack just...shook me up a little.”
“I see.” Annie followed him and sat on the couch. For a few moments she was silent, then put her head on his shoulder as he sat down. “So what’s going to happen to Fox?”
Peppy looked at her. “How did you...? Oh, you sensed it, didn’t you? My fault for asking.” He held his head in his hands. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. They’ll probably interrogate him. They might torture him if he doesn’t talk, which he’s not likely to do. But after that...” Suddenly Annie cringed as anger poured from his psyche. “Dammit, why did he get himself into tractor beam range anyway? That’s one of the first things you learn in the academy, never ever get too close to an enemy battleship!” He shook his head. “It’s so strange, though. As soon as they got him they started to retreat. It has to be the shortest battle in the history of Corneria.”
“Maybe they figured that it didn’t matter if they attacked; they could just get our secrets and hit even harder.”
“Maybe. But let’s not talk about it any more tonight, okay? That’s all we discussed all afternoon and then, when I got home, Falco called up and we talked about it some more.”
Andromeda nodded understandingly.
Fox awoke slowly, like a seal coming up for air. It took him a few moments to remember what happened, and when the memory hit him he closed his eyes in fear and anger. God knew what was going to happen now.
The scene replayed itself in his mind. After his fighter was aboard the ship, he had had a welcome of about ten lizards opening the hatch and pointing guns at him. They roughly removed his helmet and life support system, throwing them on the ground like useless garbage. Fox had been led to a small area of the ship which he took to be sick bay, where a lizard was busy preparing a brain wave scanner. He had felt a prick as someone injected him with something, and then...and then-
Fox shook his head. The memory ended there.
Opening his eyes, he saw in the dim light that he was strapped to some sort of table, which was tilted at a 45% angle. He was stripped from the waist up. The room was small and confined, with a few pieces of equipment attached to the walls. Fox couldn’t help wondering what Andross used them for.
Speaking of Andross, where was he, anyway? If Junior knew him the tyrant should have been practically sitting on the floor waiting to gloat over his victory.
As if on command, the door to the room slowly opened. Fox turned away as the harsh light pierced his eyes, catching a glimpse of the shadow in the doorway. Andross walked in and closed the door behind him, returning the room to it’s original state. He laughed softly.
“Did I startle you, Junior? I’m sooooo sorry,” Andross said melodramatically.
“Actually, I’ve come to expect sudden entrances. Especially from overindulgent, oppressive, cowardly dictators.”
The ape put on a sad face. “Oh, come, Fox. We haven’t talked face to face in so long I was hoping you might have missed me.” He smiled. “But never mind that. I have a feeling we’re going to become great friends.”
“You’re so pathetic,” Fox sneered. “You actually think you’re scaring me by standing there acting big? Go on, do what you will with me. I’ll never talk.”
“Oh, I don’t want to hear about your stupid little military secrets. I have much bigger things in store for you, McCloud.”
Fox stared Andross in the eye as Iliria walked in the room. The emperor acknowledged her presence and turned back to him. He continued. “You see, I’ve acquired a...secret weapon.”
Iliria walked up so she was face to face with Fox. Her red eyes shone a devious spark, almost as if she was consumed with lust.
“I’ve heard much about you, Fox. Tales of your skill, your cunning, and your quest for revenge have reached far and wide.”
“Glad to see I’m popular.”
She nodded. “Your life’s going to change drastically, McCloud. In ways you can’t imagine.” She leaned even closer. “Over the next few weeks, I’ll warp your reality so much you won’t know which side to call home. Your mind will be mine, and your heart will give itself to the Empire.”
“If you’re talking about the telekinetic amplifier, we defeated it once and we’ll defeat it again!” Fox spat out. “This’ll never amount to anything! Why, my team will have me out of here before you know what hit you.”
“We don’t need the telekinetic amplifier,” Andross hissed. “All we need is you. That will do quite nicely.”
“You wanted to see us, sir?”
General Pepper hastily put away some papers he had been looking at and looked at the squadron standing before him. StarFox looked haggard and wary, as if they hadn’t slept in a few days. Pepper couldn’t help thinking that they looked worse than when Peppy had been in intensive care for little under a month. At least they knew where he was, he thought. He cleared his throat.
“Yes. As you know, it’s been a week since Fox’s abduction,” Pepper explained.
Fara looked at him suspiciously. “Sir, has something-”
“No, nothing’s happened, good or bad.” The vixen looked down. “The reason I called you in here was to get your advice on a certain matter.” Pepper got up. “I’ve been receiving an increasing amount of phone calls regarding McCloud’s disappearance. Somehow rumors have started going around that he’s... deflected to the Empire.”
“They p-p-probably saw his ship fly into the p-p-Praetorian,” Slippy said.
“Yeah, but backwards? And how could they tell that-”
Pepper shook his head and interrupted Falco. “Soldiers, I didn’t call you here to discuss how the rumors came about, but to deal with the fact that they exist. I’m considering issuing a statement to the public.”
“What would you say?” Fara asked.
“I wanted to ask you. Would you considerate it the lesser of two evils to admit that he’s been captured and ensure them that we’re doing all we can to get him back, or to deny everything?”
“Fox always says he hates it when people make a fuss about him,” Peppy said thoughtfully.
“But if we deny it then they’ll demand to know where he is.” Falco shook his head. “We’ve got to tell the truth. I guess they have a right to know...shoot. This feels like the banishment all over again.”
“Well if it helps any, I can sense him and he’s doing just fine so far,” Peppy said. “We can start
worrying when he starts to have trouble. I-” Suddenly the hare stopped and closed his eyes.
“p-p-Peppy?”
“What is it?”
“Something’s happening,” he murmured. Through his eyelids, a picture began to form, wavering and shimmering in his mind. Fox was in the center, surrounded by waves of pain while another figure stood by. “They’re torturing him,” Peppy said finally.
“AAAAARGH!” Fox cried. “STOP! STOP, PLEASE STOP!”
Iliria cruelly pushed the button on a small controller, making the pilot scream louder. Fox tried in vain to shake off the headband that sent jolts of pain throughout his body. “Tell us,” she sneered. “Tell us who he is!”
“AAH-AAAARGH! NEVER!”
“Tell me, Fox! Tell me and it will all be over!” She pressed the button again.
Fox, tears streaming down his face, held out for as long as he could before howling in agony. “IT’S-IT’S-PEPPER! GENERAL PEPPER!”
She turned the headband off. “There,” she said while Fox slumped over. “Now was that so hard? All I want you to do is name some names for me.”
“Who know..knows what you’ll u...use them for...”
“Fox, I don’t care about your pitiful little friends. All I care about is finding out who they are.” Iliria turned away so he wouldn’t see her frown. She could tell already that he was going to be tough, considering she had had to torture him for ten minutes just to get the name of his commanding officer. Perhaps she would have to move on to stage two... Iliria turned around and signaled the guards.
“Take him to his cell. I don’t have anymore use for him.” Although Fox stayed slouched over, she could feel relief emanating from him. The guards unfastened him from the chair and dragged his limp form down the hall.
They had reached Iliria’s small base on the southern hemisphere of Iriria, which was always in darkness. Andross had returned to Venom, with the understanding that Fox would be returned to him once Iliria was finished.
He wondered why he trusted her so much.
Fox let himself be dragged to a small cell in which one other prisoner sat. The Varisite watched as the Iririans let him crumple to the floor and walked away, the force field as they went. He went over to the young pilot and rolled him onto his back.
“Fox,” he whispered gently. “Hey Fox. You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, Steren...just...let me lie here.”
Steren nodded. “I told you she was tough. You were only gone for about twenty minutes.”
Fox smiled weakly. “Maybe she took pity on me.”
“No, It’ll be a cold day in Hell when she takes pity on someone. She must have other plans for you.”
Fox closed his eyes and rolled onto his side. “I don’t know what she has in store for me, but I’m beginning to think it’s not pretty.”
Steren remained silent for a moment. “Just remember, Fox. Whatever she does, remember your loyalty. Remember the war, and how incredibly important it is that we defeat Andross. Because she’ll try to take everything you have, and after that there’s nothing.”
Fox was tortured three more times before the guards brought a syringe to his cell.
Iliria stared out the window stonily, arms folded. “So you say she was killed?”
Fox nodded drunkenly. His eyes were dilated and he stared off into space. “She-she was killed, Andross killed her. He killed her but he was trying to kill Dad, but he killed her and then he killed him too.”
“Andross killed both your parents? How did you feel about that?”
“He-he killed them and I was all alone, I was all alone and no one knew how I felt, no one cared how I felt and I was all alone...”
Iliria snickered as she imagined a therapist leaning over him, saying, oh of course we care how you feel! You know we’re there for you. We care about you, Fox. She turned back to the captive. “Do you still feel you’re all alone?”
Fox stared at the floor, a thick stream of drool making it’s way from his mouth to his shirt.
“Fox, are you still alone?”
“No, my team’s there and they care. They care about me cause we fight together and they care. They care about me.”
Iliria smiled. This was where the fun began. “They care about you, eh? Then why are you here?”
“Cause you captured me and you’re gonna try and break me, but I won’t let you, ha ha, I won’t-”
“Yes, yes--but if they cared about you, wouldn’t they have rescued you by now? Don’t you think they would at least have started searching?” Iliria knew that the drugs prevented him from thinking, making him open to any logic. No matter how bizzare.
“They-they just can’t find me, that’s all. They don’t know where I am.”
“Ah, Fox, that’s where you’re wrong. They know you were captured by Andross, therefor the logical course of action would be to attack Andross’s base. But, dear me! Lt. Orsino! Has Andross been attacked within the last few weeks?”
“No, ma’am.”
Iliria spread her arms wide. “You see, Fox? They haven’t lifted a finger to help you. What kind of friends are those? Surely not ones that I would trust.”
“They-they don’t know where I am, they don’t know where I am.”
Iliria shook her head and spoke in a motherly tone. “Fox... your friends aren’t coming. I’m afraid you’re here for good.”
Fox looked up slowly until he met her eyes. For a long minute he stared at her, his face wondering. Suddenly his eyes narrowed and he began to shake with rage.
“You...you...” Iliria backed away as his hands balled into fists. “Why you dirty, filthy wretch! You awful, lousy... how dare you! HOW DARE YOU!” With that he screamed in fury and threw himself at her, forgetting the restraints that kept him against the wall.
Iliria gritted her teeth and turned away again, seething. This one was going to be very hard to break. There was too much honor in him...but there was loneliness, too. Loneliness was a good tool.
General Pepper looked himself over once more before walking out into the room, taking his place behind the podium. About a dozen Cornerians and a few journalists from other planets were gathered together with sound recorders and holo-scanners, anxiously awaiting his statement. In a few seconds the StarFox squadron filed in behind him.
He cleared his throat. “Many of you are aware of the rumors that Fox McCloud Jr. is no longer with us at the base. I won’t lie to you. Yes, he was seen flying into an enemy battleship, but not of his own accord. McCloud hasn’t deflected to the other side, he’s been captured and is now being held as a prisoner of war.”
A journalist raised her hand. “General Pepper, is the StarForce doing anything to find him?”
“We’re currently awaiting communication from the Empire to discuss hostage negotiations.”
“But sir!” Another reporter stood up. “What if they don’t send any transmissions? Haven’t you thought of the possibility that Andross might plan to execute him?”
Pepper glanced at the squadron behind him before answering. “I have thought of that possibility. However, it does no one any good to sit around wondering what if this or that. We can only wait and see.”
“One more question. You four are his closest friends in the world. How do you feel about McCloud’s situation?”
Fara hesitantly moved forward to the podium. “I think I speak for all of us when I say that all we want is for him to come home safely.”
The journalists began to turn to their holo-scanners, speaking rapidly. As Falco walked out of the room, he heard a reptilian female address the public.
“And there you have it. This is Charlyne Janeway reporting live from Corneria City StarForce Base, echoing the StarFox squadron’s plea to bring our beloved Fox McCloud home safely...”
Fox sighed and leaned against the wall. It had been two weeks since Iliria had ceased interrogating him, and now all there was to do was to sit and wonder what she had in mind next. Steren sat on the other side of the room.
“What time do you think it is?” Fox asked.
“Who knows?” Steren shrugged. “Once you’re in here long enough, you learn to do without time. It becomes pointless.”
Fox looked at him. “How long have you been here, anyway?”
“A few years. Longer than anyone else who’s found themselves here.”
Fox raised an eyebrow. “What happens to them? I don’t think I’ve gotten a strait answer to this question since I got here.”
Steren sighed. “Have you seen Col. Romulus? Pandoran, about 5’8’’?”
“Yeah...”
The prisoner looked down. “He was once my best friend. We fought together for a long time.” He closed his eyes. “A few snap under the torture, but it took about five drug treatments to get him.”
Fox felt his stomach turn to ice. “You’re talking about brainwashing.”
Steren nodded.
Fox shook his head. “Well, it takes more than pain and narcotics to make me question my sanity. I’ll die before I let her--well, whatever she plans to do!”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Fox. She’s very powerful.”
Yeah? Well maybe I’ll prove myself just a little more powerful than her.”
The food was a dark brown color, and couldn’t seem to decide whether it was a solid or a liquid. The small bowl the stuff came in did little to prevent it from dripping onto the floor and creating small, stale-smelling lumps. As Fox poked at it disdainfully with the spoon, it became stuck inside and had to be yanked out with a loud sucking noise.
“I still can’t eat this stuff,” he muttered.
Steren looked up from his own bowl. “It’s just grains and water, Fox. It won’t kill you.”
“Yeah, I’ll leave that to Iliria.” He sniffed the food and grimaced. “Besides, I think she’s putting something in mine.”
Steren smiled. “Now you’re being paranoid.”
“Hmf.” Fox ignored the bowl and walked over to the force field. For a few minutes he scrutinized the hallway, then picked up his spoon. He casually tossed it at the field and watched it bounce back.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Steren asked.
Fox shrugged, picked up the spoon and hesitantly jabbed it into the forcefield. He jumped as it gave him a shock, then rubbed his hand and again retrieved the utensil.
“Fox,” Steren said, “Don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about breaking through that thing.”
“I have to admit, it crossed my mind. But it’s stupid, I agree.”
Steren looked at him in concern. “Fox, stronger men than you have been killed seconds after breaking out of their cell. If you try to escape, trust me--you won’t make it.”
“Yeah, well it’s better than sitting in here waiting for her to send for me!”
“Just listen to me, Fox. There are some things that are just impossible, no matter how hard you want it. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid!”
“I promise,” said Fox absently.
Steren was about to reply when they heard the voice of a guard in the hallway.
“Omega 3-2-5 to central command, no apparent disturbance. I’m investigating the cell.”
“Now we’ve done it,” Steren moaned.
“Ssh!” Omega 3-2-5, omega 3-2-5... Fox said the phrase a few times to make sure he had it memorized.
The guard approached. “What was going on in here a few minutes ago?”
Steren smiled nervously. “N-nothing, Fox here just dropped his spoon, didn’t you Fox?”
“Yeah, it slipped. Sorry.”
The guard scowled. “Haven’t even touched your meal, I see. Guess our food isn’t good enough for you.” He took out the small key used to deactivate the forcefield.
Steren saw Fox tense up. Oh, he isn’t, he can’t be serious- he thought frantically.
The guard turned the key. The force field disappeared, and he turned to get the two bowls.
Fox pounced.
The guard fell over sideways with a grunt and immediately reached for his gun. Fox snatched it before him and cried out as the guard smacked it out of his hand. The weapon skittered across the floor.
Fox and the guard wrestled for a few more seconds before the guard managed to get up and get a hold of his hand comm. Fox realized that getting caught would surely mean getting punished. With renewed strength he attacked again. Before he knew what he was doing Fox had his arms around the guard’s neck, and an awful sickening crack emanated from it as Fox twisted with all his might.
Steren gaped in horror as the guard crumpled to the loor.
Fox quickly picked up the hand comm and activated it. “Omega 3-2-5 to central command, no disturbance here.”
“Omega 3-2-5, say again?” a suspicious voice said.
“What? I can’t hear you.” With that Fox turned the dial between frequencies, causing static. He turned it off.
“Fox! What are you doing? You’ll never get out of here alive!” Steren cried.
“I’ve got to try.” Fox picked up the blaster, set it to stun, and aimed it at Steren. “Here. So they won’t suspect you of helping.”
Steren blinked, then nodded. “It’s the lesser of two evils, I suppose. Fox, you have to be the bravest man I’ve ever seen.”
Fox nodded. “I’ll come back for you, Steren. I promise.” Steren fell to the ground as Fox shot him and raced away from the cell.
Ducking out of view of a couple of soldiers, Fox crept along the silent hallway. Keeping the gun raised, he made his way down the corridor, searching for something-anything-that would aid his escape. A transport caught his eye.
Fox darted inside and swore as he realized the control panel was in Iririan. Guess I’ll have to go by what I learned in upper secondary school, he thought. Looking at the letters, he pieced together the word “close,” then “ground level.” The transport began to move.
After a few moments of thought, Fox let out a groan as he realized what a stupid and absurd idea this escape was. Even assuming that the ground level was as deserted as the prison, which he seriously doubted, what made him think that he could get anywhere on the dark side of Iriria? The pilot shivered as he neared his destination.
“ATTENTION ALL PERSONNEL. CODE 3 ALERT. REPEAT, CODE 3 ALERT. MALE FOX; AGE-26. HEIGHT- 5’9’’.” The announcement was accompanied by a red flashing light.
“Shit!” Fox slammed his head against the wall of the transport as the announcement began to repeat itself. Code three. A prison break, of course.
Fox cocked his gun as the transport came to a stop, then leapt out, prepared to fire. The corridor, however, was quite empty. The pilot searched for a security cam, and, finding none, started to walk quickly down the hallway. The red light and monotonous drone continued.
“There he is!” A bolt of energy whizzed past his head.
Fox jumped at the sound of the voice and returned their fire, breaking into a run. He was met with more troops coming the opposite way, who wasted no time in opening fire. Fox looked frantically for a way out, locking onto a small hole in the wall.
Hey, it worked in the movies...
Without a second thought he dove into the opening, which opened into a small tunnel slanting downwards. He slid for about twenty feet, then set off at a furious crawl as the tunnel straitened out. He pulled himself up a small ladder into a subsection, and found himself under the floor boards of a different area. Fox cautiously pushed the trapdoor open.
The starlit sky shone outside a open vehicle door.
Nearly laughing with the fever of victory, Fox made his way towards the exit. He giddily prepared to take on any guards or fences waiting outside. Nearing the door and seeing only open plains, he broke into a run.
Iliria waited until he was about to leap through before she fired her blaster.
Fox hit the ground in front of the door, his body throbbing. He tried to pull himself up, only to find his motor skills had deserted him. The pilot listened as footsteps drew nearer and he was hoisted up by guards.
“You foolish, foolish little man,” Iliria said. “Did you actually think you could escape me? Do you actually think you’re that powerful?”
Fox painfully raised his head, narrowed his eyes, and spat in her face.
Iliria controlled herself enough to wipe it off, and began to quiver with anger. “I’ve had enough of you,” she hissed. “Believe me, Fox McCloud, this is the last time you will dare to defy me, I’ll make sure of that!”
“What do you plan to do? Inject me with drugs and try to make me cry? Or satisfy yourself seeing how loud I scream in your little torture chamber? Why don’t you tell me now, and maybe I’ll pretend a little to take the edge off-”
“RAAAAGH!” Iliria screamed in rage and jabbed the gun to Fox’s head. The guards looked on in surprise.
The pilot grinned. “Pull that trigger...and I’ll have won.”
The two stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment before Iliria brought the gun down. She turned to one of the guards.
“Lt. Verges, do you remember when section 874 was evacuated after the earthquake?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And do you know of a particular maintenance shaft that was compressed in the process?”
“Yes. It gets smaller and smaller the further down it goes.”
Iliria smiled sweetly at Fox. “Guess where you’re sleeping tonight.”
Fox strained against the restraints that bound his arm around his back as a guard attached a cord around his leg. He silently applauded himself for keeping a stone face as Iliria put her hand on his neck, forcing him to look down into the pit before them. They were in the depths of Iliria’s home, where the hallways were adorned with rusty pipes and electrical circuits, and a dank smell permeated everything. Sections of the walkway had fallen through to reveal holes like the one Fox stared into.
Iliria smiled and looked at him. “Maybe this will teach you to bow before your superiors. Sweet dreams, Fox.” With that she nodded to a guard. He kicked the unsuspecting pilot’s feet out from under him while giving a hearty shove to his back. Fox shrieked in surprise as he suddenly found himself sliding down the almost vertical shaft, head first.
He fell for about ten seconds, more intent on maintaining bladder control than noticing that the walls were slowly becoming closer and closer together. Suddenly the cord caught and jerked him still, laying at a terrifying angle. His shoulders softly brushed the sides of the now narrow pit. After catching his breath, Fox looked up to the bottom, far below.
“Where is he? How far did he go?” Iliria’s voice floated down.
“Twenty or thirty feet, ma’am. Pretty far.”
“Cut the cord.”
Another heart stopping second, and Fox found himself wedged between the sides of the shaft. He began to wriggle about, trying to free himself, but to no avail. He was stuck tight.
“If you don’t mind me asking, ma’am, how are we going to get him out?”
“By crossing that bridge when we come to it. Come, let’s leave him to his punishment.” Fox heard footsteps walk away until he was engulfed in pitch black silence. Her words echoed in his head. Did she mean to say she didn’t know how to get him out? What if there wasn’t a way? He would be trapped down here, maybe even die down here-
Fox shook his head. She knew how to get him out. She just wanted to scare him. The pilot willed himself to be silent as the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes to hours, and managed to drift into a light doze.
The light shone brightly, too brightly. Fox tried to cover his eyes, but realized he couldn’t move. A few muddled shapes that could be people slipped in and out of his line of vision, one of them coming closer. The light dimmed, and Fox saw that he was surrounded by pipes, wires, and tunnels. He looked again at the figure, and realized it was his father.
Fox tried to speak, but could only croak out a few sentence fragments. His father held up a hand to silence him, and smiled softly. With that, he slowly began to change and warp, until Junior was face to face with Andross.
Fox awoke with a start, and shuddered in revulsion as something crawled across his face. He hesitantly tried to move his body, and was rewarded with stabs of pins and needles. A drop of cold sweat fell to the bottom of the shaft.
Iliria slowly opened her eyes and smiled. The fox was getting nervous. She rose from the couch she had been resting on and walked to the center of her room, where a large circle was painted on the floor. Iliria laughed softly as she sensed McCloud suppress his growing paranoia and will himself to relax. The Iririan laughed harder as he began to cycle through nightmare after nightmare, each more bizzare and terrifying than the last. Taking a deep breath, she lay down on the circle and spread her arms out until they touched the sides. Iliria began to mutter in Iririan.
Fox fought to control his shivering. The pit had grown unbearably cold in the last half hour, and the pilot could only hope he’d be rescued before frostbite set in. His back and shoulders were in agony. Fox shook his head violently as another insect crawled on his ear.
“Ugh!” His whimper echoed as the parasite held tight, found a vein to gorge itself on, and then invited a friend to join it.
Fox growled and tried to rid himself of the bugs, but to no avail. They began to swarm around him, creating a huge, repulsive cloud about him, biting and invading, sucking him dry-
Fox blinked. The pest had gone, leaving a small sore bump.
He looked around, suddenly finding himself short of breath. What if the air was running out? What if he suffocated? Fox could feel his hands and feet beginning to freeze up, turning black and falling off as the cold spread throughout his body, slowly making it’s way to the center-
Stop it! he told himself. You’re just getting nervous, calm down!
Fox struggled to breathe. The walls had begun to press against his chest, no wonder he couldn’t get any breath, he was being crushed slowly and steadily. So that was what Iliria had in mind, she was going to kill him right now.
The bugs came back.
Fox twisted in the chamber, beginning to utter a low moan. He thought wildly about how she’d find him in the morning (however they decided when morning was here,) chest crushed, riddled with frostbite, covered with insects...
The pilot let out a yell and fled into the depths of unconsciousness.
He awoke in a small room, lit only by a few candles. Fox thought about speaking, but decided it would ruin the peaceful silence. He lay with his eyes closed until a soft voice began to hum, laying a cool cloth over his head. Fox looked over and saw his mother.
“...Mom?”
She smiled. “Ssh, don’t try to speak. Just lay still, Junior.”
He let his eyes drift closed, then abruptly opened them again. “But how...you’ve been...”
“Dead?” She smiled. “Oh, dear, don’t say that. No one ever dies, they just wait for you until it’s your turn to join them...”
Fox suddenly remembered the phrase, something he had repressed ever since his mother’s death. He had lost faith in it’s validity and, being such a small kit, had had no problem in dismissing it from his mind. Memories of his parents rushed back as he let Vixy sing softly to him.
Iliria watched the whole scene from her own mind, and slowly glided into Fox’s subconsciousness. She stood beside Vixy as she looked at her son lovingly, then touched the woman’s shoulder. Vixy glanced up and silently moved away while Iliria took her place. She whispered in his ear.
“Fox, time to get up.”
Fox opened his eyes and looked at her. He gasped and sat up.
Iliria held his gaze. “Hello, I thought I’d drop in. I know how much your parents like visitors, especially now that you’re home. I’m sorry to see that you’re feeling under the weather, though. Is there anything I can do?”
“He just needs to relax, that’s all.” Vixy smiled tenderly. “You’ve had a very rough experience, Fox. If you’d only learn to put the past behind you, you would be so much happier.”
Fox couldn’t see that Iliria was silently mouthing the words along with her.
“Wha...what are you doing here,” he finally managed to gasp.
Vixy frowned. “Junior! That’s no way to talk to a friend.”
“Friend?”
Iliria smiled again and the room dissolved into nothingness, leaving her and Fox standing alone. She began to pace around him.
“Fox, you seem to be having some trouble telling friends from enemies.”
“I know who my enemies are.”
“Am I an enemy? Is that why I was with your mother just now?”
“You-” Fox stopped, suddenly seeing how illogical that was.
Iliria continued. “If your parents are your friends, and I was with your parents, wouldn’t that mean that I was your friend?”
“N-no.”
Iliria calmly repeated the statement until he gave the answer she wanted.
Now, we know that I’m your friend. And Andross is my friend. What does that mean, Fox?”
“That...Andross is my friend?”
“But you wouldn’t attack a friend, would you? What would your parents think?”
Fox stood, eyes wide.
It was amazing how easily someone could come to trust her...
A few hours later Fox was pulled out of the tunnel, through an almost invisible door just below him. The soldiers checked for any serious injuries and, finding only a slight fever and some insect bites, backed away and let Iliria through.
“Fox?” She said softly, leaning over him. “Fox, can you hear me?”
The pilot groaned softly, stirred, and focused his icy blue eyes upon her. They had a stare-down for a few moments before Fox smiled.
“Of course, mistress,” he whispered.
A sodden trio made it’s way through the streets of Corneria, hurrying to get to their destination and out of the rain. It fell in torrents, accompanied by crashes of lighting and thunder which illuminated the ground cars and mag-levs containing huddled people who had found a way to stay dry. Two of the three held a heated argument over who’s idea it had been to walk, while the other simply paced quickly with his arms folded. After a while of putting up with the storm they reached the StarForce Base and, showing ID cards, made their way inside.
“Aw man,” Falco moaned, pulling back the hood from his baggy black sweatshirt. “What the hell were we thinking? It’s gonna take hours for my feathers to dry.”
Slippy and Fara began to peel off layers as well. “Well, it wasn’t my idea to walk,” Fara muttered unhappily.
“Oh, yeah! And that’s why you told us to avoid the mag-lev, huh?”
“Well Annie told us we could take her car but nooooo, you had to be the big man and-”
“Oh, sh-shut up b-b-both of you! Jeez!”
The three continued to bicker as they stormed down the hall, and were still at it as they opened a door labeled “rec-room” and went inside. A few lounging soldiers looked up from couches and game tables as they closed the door behind them.
Cmmr. Nolan Ventura stood up and addressed them quizzically. “Well? Where is it?”
Fara glared at him darkly. “We walked for nearly twenty minutes, both ways, in the rain, and when we got there the damn place was closed. Do not ask us where your stupid food is.”
The leopard scowled. “Well, it shouldn’t have been.”
“Well, it was,” Fara shot back and flopped down in a chair. The other pilots, including Nikki McCallister, a pretty young squirrel, Sydney Canberra, a kangaroo, an elk named Buck and other members of Nolan’s squadron were visibly disappointed.
Nikki sat down beside Fara and tossed the abnormally long fur that grew on her head, the result of a rare genetic condition. She had pulled some of it back, while putting other portions in braids, beads, and dye. “You guys, let’s not fight. So they didn’t get the food.”
“But I’m still
hungry,”
Slippy and Falco drifted to a Sackers table and invited each other to play, each picking up the short, thick paddles sitting on top. They began to bat around a small ball, trying to get it into the other’s net. Those who didn’t go to the cafeteria resumed watching holo-vision or talking.
Nikki gazed at the HV for a while before glancing at Fara again. The pilot was staring off into space with a listless expression on her face, as if she didn’t care whether she lived or died. Nikki put a hand on her shoulder.
“Girl, are you okay? I’m sorry we yelled at you guys, we’re just-kinda edgy, I guess.”
Fara laughed grimly. “Yeah, I guess we all are. Andross hasn’t made a peep for over a month. And the fact that he has Fox isn’t helping, either...”
Nikki frowned. “But you know he’s alive, right? According to Peppy?”
“Well, that’s another thing.” Fara shifted position uncomfortably. “Peppy’s been awfully silent the last few days. He-he just sits there with this expression on his face like death itself and refuses to say a word.” Nikki gulped as Fara continued. “He would tell us if Fox were dead, wouldn’t he?”
“Peppy? With him it’s hard to tell.”
Fara sighed. “Well, I just hope something happens soon. If we have to keep waiting like this I’m gonna have a nervous breakdown!”
Nikki nodded and together they watched a comedian on HV make a fool of himself for the next hour.
Looking at the clock, Buck rose and stretched. “I’m gonna hit the sack now. You coming, Nikki?”
“Yeah, I guess...Nolan left already, didn’t he? Well, ‘night, Fara.”
“Good night. You guys, we’d better go too.”
“Sacked ya!” Falco crowed, smacking the ball into Slippy’s net. “Now we can go.”
Fara rolled her eyes and couldn’t help thinking that Fox wouldn’t have been beaten so easily.
Pepper yawned and rubbed his eyes.
Even though the screen had been silent for weeks, he had insisted on staying at Central Command until late at night, hoping to receive a transmission from anyone who would tell him how to retrieve McCloud and bring him home. Even if it was Andross offering a dare.
The officers who worked the night shift had told him countless times that he would be notified as soon as such a transmission was received, but he ignored their words.
With a sigh, Pepper slowly resigned himself to the fact that this would be one of those nights where not even a false alarm would arouse the base from it’s stupor, and got up from his chair.
“Tell me if anything happens,” he mumbled.
“Of course, sir.”
The general walked through the silent, dark base, appreciating the chance to be alone with his thoughts. Many of the pilots had begun to slack off on their practice schedules, becoming more and more sure that Andross had given up. Even worse, the rumors that Fox was now on his side were starting to return.
Pepper was about to start contemplating how people could think that he could be a traitor from a force that they didn’t think existed anymore when he was snapped back to reality by quick footsteps.
Peppy Hare, dressed in black pants, a white shirt, and a brown vest covered with a long dark green coat, was hurrying so quickly he almost didn’t see his superior before bumping into him. He was soaking wet.
Peppy looked up and saluted. “General, sir.”
The general frowned. “Lt. Hare, you’ve been off duty for hours. Did you come back?”
The hare glanced at his clothes. “Yes, sir. If you’ll excuse me.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Pepper exclaimed, grabbing Peppy’s arm as he tried to go past. “First tell me what you’re doing here this late. And in civilians, no less.”
“Sir, forgive me for speaking frankly but I don’t have time for this! I need to get to Central Command right away!”
“Well, I just came from there and nothing’s happening.”
“Well, something’s going to happen. Follow me. And call my squadron. Tell them to come too,” he called, continuing on his way.
Pepper snorted indignantly at his rudeness, watching him rush down the hall. He suddenly stopped to think. If a captain has the nerve to order a general around, it must be important. Especially if the captain is someone like Peppy Hare. He slowly took out his hand comm, contacted the StarFox squadron, and made his way to Central Command.
“Peppy, he called you here too? What’s going on?” Fara asked, coming in the room along with Falco and Slippy.
“We’re waiting for him to tell us.” Nolan leaned back in his chair. “I saw him practically running here and decided to follow. But he’s not answering any questions.”
Falco walked up to his teammate. “Peppy, what is it?”
The hare shook his head. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
Falco looked back at Fara and Slippy, who shrugged.
“Sir?” All heads turned as Zyro Ethington stared in disbelief at his monitor. “We’re-we’re-”
Pepper prompted him. “Well? We’re what?”
The sergeant gulped. “We’re being hailed--from Venom.”
His breath caught. “On screen, activate the audio.”
The main screen lit up, fizzled for a moment, and then glowed with the image of someone they always hoped they would never have to see again.
Andross smiled. “Too afraid to activate your visual, I see.”
“The last thing we want is you staring us in the eye. Now get on with it.”
The ape scowled. “For years now we’ve been fighting this war, losing far too many lives in our battles. I think it’s time to stop. That’s why I’m giving you a chance to surrender.”
“Not on your life, Andross!” Falco said hotly. “I’d rather die than surrender to the likes of you!”
Andross donned a small evil smile. “So be it. I suppose I’ll sign off now.” He motioned to someone off screen.
“No! Wait!” The emperor stopped abruptly as Pepper blurted out the words.
“Did I forget something, General?”
Pepper swallowed the anger he felt boiling up inside him. “I think you know what you forgot.”
Andross looked confused. “Well, let’s see...I turned on the visual, I made sure you were listening, I remembered to tell you to surrender so that couldn’t be it-”
“McCloud, Andross! Tell us what you’ve done with McCloud!”
There was a long, deathly silence as Andross stared at them in hatred. “Maybe you’d like to see for yourself,” he said quietly. He moved off screen, and there was a unanimous gasp as the next person placed himself in front of the camera.
Fox was dressed in a sleek black uniform with a small cape on one shoulder. His face was expressionless and he had a small comlink attached around his left eye, extending to his ear. Peppy and the others felt their fur prickle as he spoke.
“I am Cmmr. Fox McCloud Jr. of the Venom-Iririan united military league. If you do not give us your unconditional surrender immediately, we will be forced to destroy your base and take control of Corneria. I must have your answer now.”
The pilots stared at him in disbelief.
“Fox,” Nolan said, rolling his hands into fists, “You tell that ape that he’s never going to get his hands on this planet, so he’ll just have to make do with the one he’s already destroyed. And you also tell him that we’re gonna get you out of there as soon as possible.”
Fox closed his eyes for a second as if in pain, then continued to stare at them. “Since you have refused to cooperate, we will begin our conquest immediately. May God have mercy on your souls.”
“Sergeant Ethington, end transmission,” Pepper said. The screen went black as Fox raised his chin in surprise.
“Venom-Iririan united military league,” Falco said bitterly. “Andross really thinks he’s hot shit.”
“They probably had a gun to his back,” Fara said. “Or that metal thing on his head. A pain implant or something.”
“That was no pain implant.” Everyone in the room turned as Peppy spoke softly. “I’ve seen those before. I hoped I’d never have to see them again.”
“What do you mean, Peppy?”
The hare was silent for a moment. “In the Pandirian wars,” he continued, “There was one military leader who was more ruthless than every other Iririan combined. Her name was Iliria.
“My group only saw her once, but what we saw was chilling. She would single out Pandoran soldiers and somehow--I have no idea how--she would get them to let themselves be captured, sometimes in minutes.”
“J-j-just like the way f-f-Fox was...” Slippy murmured.
Peppy nodded. “There would be no word from her for days, sometimes weeks. Then, out of the blue, whatever Pandoran she had captured would suddenly reveal himself on one of her ships, as an officer! They would be fanatically loyal to her, sometimes shooting themselves or destroying their ships to avoid capture. A few we managed to get back, though.
“Now, you’ve got to keep in mind that I still can’t understand this. The victims would have no memory whatsoever of their past, and would act as though they were purebred Iririans. They would stand firm through regressive hypnosis...drug treatments...they would stare at their own families as if they were enemies!”
Nolan’s brow furrowed. “Didn’t any of them ever remember?”
“Well-yes.” Peppy closed his eyes. “A few of them eventually regained their memories, but were no better off than they were before. The men would slip into catatonic states, or go insane, or simply die in their sleep...their conditions were so bad it came to be known as Iliria’s curse. The lucky ones got off with severe emotional scarring.”
“And something tells me that the last thing a guy with both parents dead and his mortal enemy to thank for it needs is emotional scarring.” Fara bit her lip. “What happened to Iliria?”
“She disappeared after the war ended. The ‘metal thing’ you saw was actually a comlink which she uses to communicate telepathically with her...subjects. Some say, though, that it’s used to ensure that her hold on them doesn’t weaken.”
“Peppy,” Falco said slowly, “From listening to this story, I can only draw one conclusion. You’re nuts.” Peppy balked. “I, for one, refuse to believe that Fox could be hypnotized into even being in the same room with Andross, let alone serve under him. He’d rip the ape’s throat out the moment he saw him.”
“I agree,” Fara said. “I just don’t buy it.”
Peppy looked at them. Normally he was the one calming and reassuring them, not narrating bizzare war stories. No wonder they didn’t believe him. He stopped to think. Maybe I’d better tone it down a little. “Well, we’ll just see what he does when we meet up.”
“Speaking of m-m-meeting up.” Slippy turned to Pepper. “Sir, are we g-g-gonna do something?”
The hound nodded. “Mission briefing at 08:00, all squadrons. We can figure out what we’re going to do then.”
The pilots who had not been at the confrontation the stormy night before were clueless as to the reason for the sudden action, and were still skeptical when they heard about Fox’s strange behavior. One look at Pepper, however, brought them soberly to the graveness of the situation. The general brushed off their salute and told them to sit.
“Soldiers, if you aren’t already aware, we have learned the whereabouts of Cmmr. McCloud. He’s on Venom.”
“Well, I could’ve told you that,” A pilot in the back scoffed.
Pepper looked for the culprit, gave up, and continued. “Now, although I’d like to launch a head-on attack on Andross’s base and retrieve him, I’m afraid such a rash plan for only one hostage just wouldn’t be practical.”
Natha Sarris frowned. “But he’s the best pilot we’ve got. We have to get him back!”
Her statement was met with cries of agreement and argument.
“She’s right. I say we bomb the bastard and get Fox back.”
“Are you kidding!? We’d all be killed! It’s not worth it!”
“If we launch an attack then maybe he could escape! Then we could just go home!”
“Oh, that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard-”
“Hey! Settle down! SETTLE DOWN!!!” The room dropped to silence as Pepper shouted. “Now listen! A direct attack is out. I don’t want to risk many lives for one.” Even if he is the son of my closest friend, he thought. “We’ve got to-” he suddenly paused as a sergeant rushed in and handed him a data pad. The general looked at it for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and addressed the pilots again. “Well, it looks like we’ve got a plan after all. Andross has dispatched a fleet and is now headed toward Titania.”
Falco practically jumped up. “Then let’s attack him!”
Pepper continued to look at the pad. “Titania is making itself battle ready, so we may not be needed. But then again, I don’t want to take the chance.” He scratched his chin and thought for a moment. “Maybe...yes, I think that’s it. Here’s what we’ll do. While Titania prepares for the attack, we’ll dispatch a few ships and squadrons and cut him off. Hopefully he won’t be prepared for us.”
“Well, th-that’s all well and g-g-good, but what about f-f-Fox?”
“I’m sending a rescue ship along. You’ll need to engage in battle, then try to pull it away from the Praetorian so a search and rescue team can look for him. And knowing Andross, Fox is more than likely on that ship.”
Nolan leaned over to the StarFox squadron as Pepper began to go over the details of the mission. “You think this’ll work?”
“I don’t know,” Peppy said. “I really don’t know.”
Fara strapped the life support unit to her chest, fastening it around her waist and back. Making sure the metal box was working properly, she put on her comlink and picked up a flight helmet. A moment after she finished, Falco, Peppy and Slippy made the finishing touches to their own flight suits and looked at her.
Fara nodded. “Let’s go.” The team walked out of the locker room and headed out towards hangar 2, joined by Red Leopard and Taurus squadron. In a few minutes the hanger surrounded them, stretching high above their heads. It was filled with ships being serviced and prepared for launch by workers and various robots. Sounds of take-off and landing filled the air, and flight controllers looked down on them like gods from behind glass in the flight tower, positioned in the top center of the base. As the announcement was broadcast throughout the hanger, the squadrons ran to their arwings.
Fara sighed. “Okay. All ships check in.”
“Be sure not to forget you’re the leader now, Fara. Two is go.”
“Three’s operational.”
“Four’s g-g-go.”
Fara rolled her eyes at Falco’s sardonic pep talk and positioned herself beneath the launch tube. “This is StarFox squadron. We’re go for launch.”
“Roger, StarFox squadron. You may proceed.”
Fara deactivated the anti-grav system and was caught in the tractor beam, placing her ship into the tube. She activated the main thrust and began to move faster and faster until she shot out of the base, leaving it far behind. After a moment of flying in the raging storm, they rose above the clouds and atmosphere and into the brilliant starlight.
Fox strode down the hall of the starship, back strait and looking stonily ahead. His tail, usually either swishing happily or lashing angrily, was limp, and he ignored the stares and whispers from Lizards as he walked past them. After a few minutes of walking he reached the bridge and went inside.
Two figures turned around at the sound of his entrance. Iliria merely smiled and nodded, but Andross scowled darkly.
“Did I tell you to report here, vulpinian?”
Fox opened his mouth to answer but was silenced by Iliria. “Of course you didn’t. I did. Come, Fox, sit next to me.”
Fox wordlessly walked over and sat down at a computer terminal.
“Now work.”
He turned towards the monitor and began to type.
Iliria looked back at Andross. “You see? He’s simple to control. I can’t understand why you still hate him so much.”
Andross stared at Fox. “That’s none of your business. I’ll treat him as I please.” Iliria was about to respond when Fox spoke for the first time.
“Mistress, I am detecting a fleet of starships approaching Titania. Three galaxy-class vessels, one rescue ship and three arwing squadrons.”
Andross walked over, shied away from Fox and stood behind him. “I see they responded to our little challenge. All hands to battle stations!” He sat back down in the captain’s chair as the lizards rushed to their ships.
Fox continued to type and speak into the comlink, eyes darting back and forth between the screen and the keyboard. Iliria watched him for a while, then shifted her gaze to Andross. The ape was watching the ships on the screen intently, eyes revealing eagerness and blood lust. Iliria raised an eyebrow and scratched her chin.
“Andross,” she said candidly, “Why don’t we let Fox take a ship out? I’m sure he’d just love to be in on the action, wouldn’t you, Fox?”
Falco came out of hyperspace, his head spinning from the rush. He let out a long held breath and clicked on his comm. “So, when do we start smashing things?”
“Right now,” Fara said ominously. “All ships in attack formation, weapons fully charged!”
The four ships maneuvered into formation and Fara’s comlink came alive. “All squad leaders report.”
“This is Taurus leader standing by.”
“Red Leopard leader standing by.”
“StarFox leader standing by.” Fox always sounded so heroic when he said that... Fara suddenly realized that she was thinking and shook her head.
From Central Command on Corneria Pepper looked at the interstellar radar. “Roger. Now remember, I want you to get Andross’s fighters on your tail and then move away from the fleet! Do you understand me? Do not attempt to attack the main ship!”
“Sir, what about McCloud?”
“That’s what the rescue ship is for. You’re there to distract them long enough to give the S and R team time to board. Good luck.” With that, he signed off and stood where he could see all the work stations.
Fara looked around at her teammates’ ships. “Well, you heard the general. No fancy stuff.”
“Fine.”
“No fancy stuff.”
“Uh, what’s S and R ag-g-gain?”
“Search and rescue, stupid!”
“Oh. ‘K-k-kay.”
The arwings sped closer and closer to Andross’s ships.
Suddenly, a flurry of fighters whirled out of the docking bays to greet them. “Here come the fleas!” Peppy shouted.
Fara shouted out an order to fire at will, and the teams spread out to do battle. She pulled her stick to the right and pulled the ship into a sharp turn. Locking onto a lizard, she aimed and let loose with a burst of laser fire. The flea darted out of her way, then looped around in back of her. Chuckling slightly, Fara pulled up sharply and played the same trick on her adversary. He didn’t live long enough to realize what had happened.
Taking her lucky start as an omen, the vixen turned her attention towards the other fighters. She sped up to pick another fight.
“Yee-hah!” Falco cried as he dodged hits from a lizard and destroyed it. “Kidnap MY pal, will ya? Take that!” He sped about and began to pursue another attacker. The avian almost grinned with rage.
“Falco!” Peppy scolded. “Remember why we’re here! We can’t lure the lizards away when you’re flying towards Andross’s fleet.”
“Right. Sorry.” Falco fired a warning shot and turned his ship around, the lizard following him once more. On his radar he saw that the cloaked rescue ship had secretly attached itself to Andross’s vessel. Falco imagined the ten or so soldiers, dressed all in black, moving quickly through the corridors. Now, that sounded like fun.
Fox walked quickly to the solitary flea that was waiting for him in the docking bay. Without help he boarded, made a final systems check, and shot out of the launch tube.
“It’s w-w-working! Th-th-they’re coming after us!”
“Good!” Fara said. “Keep’em hopping as long as you can. Preferably until the rescue ship withdraws.” As she barked out orders, the Miamisburg majestically moved in beside her, making her arwing seem puny in comparison. Along with the other warships, it began to shoot out beams of light at the fleas that threatened the Cornerian pilots. The dogfight gradually began to move away from Andross’s fleet.
Inside the ship a search-and-rescuer ran back to the airlock and activated a comm. “Triumph one to base, we’re pulling out. No sign of McCloud. Over.”
“Roger, Triumph one.”
The soldier waited for the others to return, then hastily ducked through the passageway and ran to his ship. They punched in the code for the airlock, which closed behind them as their ship broke away and moved out among the stars.
A second soldier pulled off her gear. “Well, that was a bust.”
“Oh, well. Can’t say we didn’t try.” He grabbed his own gear and started to remove it when the sight of a lone flea darting out of the docking bay caught his eye. “Huh. Guess they have a late comer.”
“Too bad for him, or her, or whatever it is. We’re leaving anyway.”
Falco balked as he heard the announcement to retreat. “What? Did they find him? Is he okay?”
“I don’t know,” Fara said, clearly as frustrated as he. “But we gotta go. Prepare to jump to hyperspace.”
As Fox flew, he saw that the ships were starting evasive maneuvers. He was about to inform High Command when he saw an arwing bearing the title LOMBARDI-2. Fox, the voice said. Attack that ship. Destroy it. The pilot’s eyes became glassy as his mind went blank, and he obeyed.
“What the-” Falco exclaimed. “Oh, I see we’ve got a stubborn one here. If you’ll excuse me a moment!”
“Falco...!” but Peppy’s cry was too late. He was already far off, taunting the flea.
The avian flew in complicated patterns around the pilot, laughing. “Hey, come on. You wanna take a shot at me? Come on! Come on, lizard!” As if in response, the fighter let off a round of lasers. Falco dodged and sneered. “Is that the best you can do?! Ha ha! You’re nothing!” He shot past the enemy and pulled the stick into a steep climb. Shoving it down and around, he felt the centrifical force push him into his seat as he raced towards the flea while executing barrel rolls, and shot off a round of plasma balls. “Let me see you do THAT, you stupid reptile!”
The fighter pulled up into a loop while the ball shot off into empty space. It straitened out and again attacked with lasers, this time flipping upside down and speeding away in a second loop. Falco narrowed his eyes.
That maneuver, He thought, didn’t Fox do that the day he was captured? What if- could it- nah. It couldn’t be. Falco set his jaw and again prepared to attack.
As they battled, Falco began to notice more and more tricks and tactics that Fox had come to call his own. A sick feeling found it’s way into his stomach as Falco realized the identity of the pilot he was fighting. With shaking hands he turned his comm to a hailing frequency. “Fox. This-this is Falco. Do you read me?”
The flea paused for a moment, then began to fire again.
With renewed strength Falco once again hailed him. “Fox. I know it’s you in there. What are you doing?”
The bogy pulled away and tried to take advantage of Falco’s peaceful actions by pushing his ship into a sharp dive, then coming up beside Falco and bearing down on him from above.
“Oh no you don’t, Fox, I taught you that trick!” Falco darted out of the way of Fox’s fire and came up underneath him. “And remember? You pull this move every time I try it.”
“I have not flown with you.” Falco’s breath caught as he finally got an answer from the flea. It was Fox.
“Of-of course you have! We’re buddies, remember? You helped me get into the academy, we were on Papetoon together, dammit Fox, don’t you remember?!” Falco choked out the last sentence in fear that Peppy’s morbid warning had been right.
The flea continued to fly about him, ripping out laser fire. Falco angrily dodged his beams and refused to return them. “Fox! Answer me, will ya? Do you or do you not know who I am?”
He flew in silence for a moment. Then: “No. I do not.”
“FALCO! FALCO LOMBARDI! My God, Fox! What’s the matter with you? How can you do this? What the hell is going through your head right now?”
Fox determinedly tried again and again to silence the pilot with his guns, and bit his lip in frustration as he dodged them. Almost as if he had seen these techniques before. His pulse quickened and and his stomach turned to ice as Falco hailed him yet again.
“Fox-just-I-come on, think! Think back! To a month ago! We were practicing, remember? REMEMBER?!”
Fox! The voice screeched. Destroy the ship immediately. That is an order.
“I am trying, Mistress. It’s difficult.” The pilot’s voice crackled over his comm one last time.
“Fox, just remember this. I could kill you right now, but I’m not going to. Because friends don’t kill one another when one’s not in his right mind.” With that, his ship pitched around and shot into hyperspace.
Fox blinked and squinted. “F...Fal-co...?” Something was wrong-very, very wrong. Before he could ponder it more, thought vanished as Iliria abruptly wrested control away from him again and forced him to pull his ship into the docking bay. He got out of the ship in a daze and vacantly made his way to Iliria’s private chambers.
Falco wearily took off his helmet and slid out of the cockpit. His eyes were weary and hateful.
Fara and the others hesitantly walked up. “What took you so long?”
Falco simply stared at the ground as he walked away, shoving his flight gear at the nearest worker. He skipped the locker room, making his way to the sleeping quarters.
The avian was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice General Pepper until the hound spoke.
“Lt. Lombardi.”
Falco stopped and turned around. “Yes, sir?”
Pepper’s tone was harsh. “I heard the entire transmission from your ship.”
“Oh.”
“I’m very disappointed in you, Falco. I thought you would have had more common sense than to be fooled by an enemy ship.”
“Oh.”
The general frowned. “You were so eager to believe that you had found Fox that you wasted a perfectly good chance to rid us of another lizard. I know he sounded like Fox. But I also know how easy it is to disguise a pilot’s voice. Especially if you tell them who to sound like!”
“Oh.”
The two stood in silence for a minute before Falco asked for permission to leave. “Sir, I know that was Fox. He had all the moves. He just doesn’t remember anything.”
“Then go. Go and spare every single lizard that knows how to do a loop or a barrel roll and ask them if they’d like to be pals. See how far you get.” Pepper stared at the pilot as he once again began to walk away. “And Lombardi-” Falco turned around. Pepper took a deep breath and looked down. “I-I probably would have done the same. You’re a good friend.”
“Yeah, well, I wish someone would remind Fox of that.”
Fox stared at the Emperor as he stood before him, pacing back and forth angrily.
“Too difficult? Too difficult? Is that what I heard you say? That it was too difficult to destroy one fighter?”
“Yes, sir-”
“Do you know what I think?” Andross roared as he reeled around to face him. “I think you didn’t want to destroy him! That’s what I think!” Fox backed up a step as the ape began to scream in fury. “Well!? Speak up!! What is it? What is it? WHY DID YOU LET HIM LIVE?!”
Fox continued the wide eyed, emotionless stare. “I apologize, I’ll try harder next time-”
“Oh, I bet you will. Now get out of my sight.”
“Thank you Emperor, I assure you it’ll never happen again.”
Fox quickly made his way to the door and let himself out. Again he felt the sense of dread and anxiety, and narrowly avoided having Andross see the tear of confusion that made it’s way down his cheek.
Three months passed.
The StarForce was both excited and bitterly disappointed as the war picked up and was once again in full swing, and the citizens’ interest in Fox soared to a new high. Falco, Fara, Slippy, and Peppy found they couldn’t step outside the gates of their home without being mobbed by a plethora of reporters. Each time, the journalists were told the same thing-Fox was still Andross’s captive, and none knew what had become of him.
As Slippy received his clearance to land, he couldn’t help but look over at the front of the base. He shook his head. “Holy Fortuna, are they ever g-g-gonna leave?”
“I doubt it,” Sydney said from the arwing behind him. “Wow, I wish I was as popular as Fox. And he’s not even here to enjoy it.”
Slippy entered the base and couldn’t help chuckling as the deafening sound of the ship’s engine made the journalists slam their hands over their ears. “I shoulda used my l-l-lasers on ‘em. And t-t-trust me, Sydney. If Fox knew about this, he wouldn’t like it one b-b-bit.”
The two slowed down over the runway and came to a stop as the tractor beam caught them and placed them on ground level. The pilots parked their arwings and headed towards the locker rooms as their ships were serviced. “Well, maybe,” Sydney said. “But I know him too. Remember Nikki went out with him for awhile.”
Slippy looked at him. “What? I d-d-didn’t know that!”
“You didn’t? Come on, you remember! ‘Bout a year ago...two or three dates...and they called it quits? Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”
The frog pouted. “Well, I d-d-didn’t actually. Thanks fer fillin’ me in.”
Sydney shrugged apologetically as they took off their flight suits, revealing the plain white pants and shirt underneath. After putting on uniforms, they headed towards the cafeteria, where the others were waiting.
Nikki waved them over to a table. “Over here! Where were you guys?”
“Escort mission,” Slippy said, sitting down next to Peppy. “I told you g-g-guys yesterday. See, I let my friends know when something’s g-g-going on.”
“What?” Fara asked, raising an eyebrow.
“T-t-tell ya later. What’s for d-d-dinner?”
Falco grinned. “We saved you guys some of the barf buffet. Although I don’t know if you want any, seeing as I saw it move a couple of times...”
Slippy smirked and wordlessly reached for a plate.
* * *
“ATTENTION. ALL INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS REPORT TO THE GENERAL’S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY. THANK YOU.”
Fara looked at the speaker as the announcement sounded. “Wonder what that’s all about?”
Nikki, sitting on Fara’s bunk, cocked her head. “I dunno, something intelligent. So where are your guys?”
“I told them that I desperately needed the room for myself tonight and then pulled the martyred, suffering, oh-why-must-you-question-a-woman thing when they complained. I suppose they’re occupying themselves somehow.”
They both laughed. “Men,” Nikki mused. “They’re like big dumb animals. Powerless against a little charm.”
“Well... come to think of it, it wasn’t really that easy. Slippy came after me and demanded to know why no one had told him about you and Fox last year. He was mad, too! You should have seen him--’how come this! How come that! Blah blah bu-bu-bu-blah!’” She rolled her eyes.
“Oh, he probably just forgot. You know how he can be about those sort of things.”
“Yeah, I guess.” The two drifted into silence. Nikki looked at various pictures Fara had taped to the wall, mostly photos of her family and squadron. The squirrel smiled as she spied one of herself.
“Nice pictures you got here.”
Fara ceased picking at her shirt and looked up. “Oh, thanks. I got the one of you there-”
“Yeah, I saw it. I like my hair in that one.” Nikki sat up and undid a braid, then took a small bead from her pocket and began to weave it into the fur. “What’s Fox got?”
Fara, who had been sitting on Fox’s bed, rolled over to look. “Mmm...not much. A few photos of us, and one of Nolan and you guys at the air show. And his parents.”
“Oh,” Nikki said quietly. She fidgeted. “Does...doesn’t he have any family? Aunts, uncles, second cousins once removed?” Finishing the new braid, she reached behind her to grab her huge, beautiful tail and laid her head upon it.
The vixen sighed. “Not on his father’s side. I don’t know about his mother, but he never gets letters or anything.”
“That’s so sad, though! I couldn’t imagine going through life without anyone-”
“Well, now that’s not true!” Fara sat up and looked at Nikki accusingly. “He has us, and I think he takes that pretty damn seriously. Well, that is, he did...until...you know-” Fara put her hands to her head.
“Until that pesky little Iliria thing. Which will probably come to an end any time now.”
Fara nodded. “Yes, that’s it. Any time now.”
“Any day now!”
“There you go, any day now!”
“Yep, he’s probably on his way back right-” Suddenly Nikki stopped and frowned. Reaching over to Fara’s pillow, she pulled out a partially hidden picture from underneath. “Now what’s this?”
Fara’s breath caught and she snatched the picture away. “Nothing-huh! How’d that get under there?”
Nikki stared at her. “Girl, that was a picture of Fox.”
“No it wasn’t.”
She laughed. “Fara, I saw it! That was Fox’s picture!”
Fara turned the photo over in her hands. It was a pocket sized portrait of their commander in his dress uniform, a tiny wry smile on his face. He had been reluctant to have it taken but had given in after they pressured him enough.
Nikki leaned forward. “Well? I’m waiting for an explanation.”
Fara read what Fox had written on the back: “Well, YOU talked me into it, but I suppose it turned out okay after all. Thanks for being a friend. Fox”
She smiled. “He gave it to me a little while ago, but I was afraid that he’d get the wrong idea if I put it above my bed.”
“Oh, I see!” Nikki giggled incrediously. “So that’s why you put it under your pillow. THAT won’t give him the wrong idea!”
“Well, he doesn’t know it’s there.” Fara fidgeted. “No one does.”
A new look came into Nikki’s eyes as she watched her friend. “You know, he-he’d like to see you as more than just a friend. That’s one of the reasons we called it quits last year.”
Fara shook her head. “I know that. The whole base, the entire planet knows that! How would I possibly not know that?”
“So why do you treat him like a little kid?”
She was silent for a moment, then shrugged. “I...don’t know. I’m not sure I have feelings for him, you know? I mean, I think I do, but I don’t want to go out with him just to fill some hole he has from losing his parents. Besides, I just don’t think I’m ready for a relationship with him, and...” Fara bit her lip. “And I’m afraid that he’ll think of me as his-his mother!”
Nikki nodded. “I can understand that. You DO look like her.”
“Well, it’s probably totally stupid. But, you know...”
“Yeah. I know.” The two continued to talk.
A little while later the couple was interrupted by a knock at the door. Fara was visibly annoyed. “Who is it,” she called.
Peppy’s voice floated through the wall. “It’s us.”
The pilot frowned. “It’s only 21:00! You said I could have the room for another hour!”
“Fara,” Falco said. “Open the door. It’s important.”
Nikki rolled her eyes while Fara got up and let them in. She stood in front of the group, hands on her hips. “This’d better be good, guys.”
“Oh, it is.” Peppy looked around and nodded to Nikki. “Did you hear the announcement a little while ago? The Intelligence meeting?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah...”
“Well, guess who they’re talking about.”
Fara’s eyes widened. “After all these months? What are they saying?”
Slippy sat down on his bunk. “Fara, this is b-b-big. Someone overheard them d-d-discussing p-p-plans to spring Fox!”
Nikki sat up. “But how? He’s not a prisoner!”
Falco snorted. “Well, that’s sure as hell not stopping us. Come on, Fara, we’re gonna go up and check it out.”
A few minutes later Falco, Fara, Peppy and Slippy were pressed against the door to Pepper’s office, listening intently to the conversation inside. Nikki had politely declined going with them.
On the other side of the door Pepper sat at his desk, surrounded by arguing personnel. The general sighed and put his hands to his head as they continued to debate heatedly.
“But I’m telling you, Andross is not going to budge until we make a good, solid statement!” A mole cried. “Like a, a, a head-on attack or, or, a, oh-I don’t know!”
“No, that isn’t going to do any good. We must try to infiltrate the base, that’s the only way to get McCloud back-” The badger was cut off by an angry-looking iguana.
“We can’t get him back if he thinks he’s on Andross’s side. He’ll fight us every step of the way. No, we have to restore his memory, then get him outta there and blast the place!”
“Gentlemen,” Pepper said quietly. They stopped talking and looked at him. “I called you in here nearly half an hour ago and we haven’t even gotten to what I needed to talk about.”
One of the officers shifted position. “Sorry, sir. I guess we got a little carried way.”
The general stood up and walked over to a shelf. The men tried to look over his shoulder as he picked something up. Turning around again, he produced a small metal disk.
Pepper sat back down. “You know,” He said thoughtfully, “I would have expected somewhat of a reaction from you. Didn’t you think it was strange that after three months of fighting against Fox, I was suddenly interested in retrieving him again?”
“Well...not much.”
“I mean, everyone likes him and all-”
“And he’s a great pilot!”
The hound waved his hand as more began to agree. “Well, I was just curious. Anyway, the reason I called you here is this.” He held up the chip. “Meet ST-807, a breakthrough in neurological technology.” The officers leaned forward in intrigue. “This chip was developed by researchers at the most advanced lab in Corneria, especially for us. They’re the only others that know of Fox’s...condition. When attached to the base of someone’s skull, it emits a high frequency shock that stimulates the synaptic nerves, creating a temporary state of mind where the person is exposed to repressed memories. Basically, if we capture Fox and stick this on his head, he’ll be cured.”
“Amazing,” A rhino said, taking the object from his hand.
Pepper continued. “Now we’ve got a means of reversing the effects of Iliria’s mind control, but this is worthless without a way of getting to him. We need a plan.”
They began to argue again as the StarFox squadron sat listening outside.
“Did ya hear that?” Falco hissed happily. “This is it! This is the end of the whole mess!”
“A chip that could reverse Iliria’s doing? That’s astounding!” Peppy stroked his chin, eyes wide.
Fara waved them silent and listened more. “Ssh! This is incredible. The idiots, they couldn’t come up with a plan if their lives depended on it!” She shook her head as the officers proposed to Pepper everything from taking the base by storm to bribing a lizard agent. “Some intelligence department we have.”
“Aw, just g-g-give them awhile. They’ll come around.”
They stood up. “You know what I think,” Falco said.
Peppy smirked. “My greatest fear is finding out how you think, Falco.”
The avian scowled at him. “I think that if the General wants the job done, then he should be smart and send us to do it. If he’s smart, that is.”
“Rock on, Falco. Now let’s get out of here before the general sees us.”
“Before who sees you?” The four spun around as the door opened and General Pepper stood before them. “Why, you weren’t eavesdropping, were you?”
Peppy laughed nervously. “Uh, no sir, we were just passing by!”
“Yeah! B-b-but we’re leaving now, so...”
Fara waved a hand while Falco saluted, and they walked quickly down the hall.
A few days later the team was changing out of their flight uniforms and arguing over whether that one bogy could have been Fox or not, when a sergeant walked up and presented them with four folders. Written on the front of each were the words OPERATION: AWAKENING.
Iliria was bored. Sighing, she wondered how things were getting on back on Iriria. She hadn’t taken much with her to Venom; only her clothes, a few books, the prisoner that she kept alive with the feeling that he might come in handy one day, and her shey-ran. But it didn’t matter. She knew she wouldn’t stay here long; her plan was almost complete.
Andross was slowly but surely slipping under her control.
Wandering around her quarters, Iliria stopped at the stand which held up the shey-ran. She shrugged, picked it up, and tied the instrument to her left arm. The Iririan lifted her arm until it was parallel to the ground, and, taking a long slender bow, tucked the shey-ran under her chin and began to play. The song was quick, complicated, and delightfully angry. It was better than those awful Pandoran pieces, which put her to sleep.
Come to think of it, while under the influence of her drugs McCloud had said something about a Pandoran friend who also played the instrument. And Fox liked it when he played.
Those Cornerians! What fools!
Actually, the fox was getting better these days. His sense of loyalty, while no doubt strong when he was in that StarForce of his, was almost fanatical when combined with her methods. Iliria felt sure that nothing could tear him from her grasp now. She rewarded him for that, easing up on her control and even allowing him to go unmonitered for short lengths of time. Perhaps one day he might even serve her under his own will.
Iliria stopped playing for a moment and laughed. Oh, come now. Where was the fun in that?
Fox closed his eyes and, for the first time in months, actually smiled. His head felt wonderfully clear and sharp, and he was alert and active. Most of the time when Iliria didn’t need him, he would stay in the small room he was given, sleeping or looking out the window at the barren landscape. However, now that he was allowed to think for himself, Fox found that he liked to take walks around the base. Of course, his independence ended when it was time for battle. Then he would let Iliria take over once more.
The pilot strolled along the dismal corridor, thankful that he didn’t meet up with any of the lizards. They were on the same side, he knew, but Fox didn’t like the feeling he got when around them. Almost as if he was in the presence of enemies. Perhaps, he thought, he should tell Iliria about this. But that would mean rehabilitation, which was an arduous and painful process. He had gotten confused once before and went through it, only, thinking back he couldn’t remember what he had gotten confused about. Something about another pilot.
Fox stopped as he heard soft music echoing through the hall. Hmm, that instrument sounded familiar...reminded him of a hare...oh. Iliria, of course.
Anyhow, Iliria said it was a good sign that he didn’t remember. It meant that he was cured of his confusion. She said confusion was a bad thing, and unquestioning loyalty was a good thing. And of course he believed her.
After all, she was so very kind, letting him think for himself when it didn’t pose a threat...
Fara stood looking at the ship in front of her as supplies were loaded. In her hand was a data pad, and she checked off items on the list as the workers called out to her what they were carrying.
Operation Awakening had was going smoothly so far, but then again, the team hadn’t even left the planet yet. Phase one was complete; the spy probes had sent all the information possible and had self-destructed as planned. Fox was indeed on Venom, alive and well. The satellite, giving off the radar signal of a meteorite, was powerful enough to pick out the pilot’s bio-rythems and confirm them. Fara could only hope that no mistake had been made.
Now phase two was in progress. Doksu, a lizard living on Corneria, had volunteered to infiltrate the base ahead of time and act as a spy. He was given the armor of a Venomese soldier and sent in an ejected cockpit to Andross’s space armada, sending out an S.O.S. signal. If all went according to plan, they would believe him when he told them that he was a pilot who had been shot out of his ship and left behind.
All had gone according to plan.
Fara realized that the supplies were all in the ship, thanked the workers and activated her comlink. “Phoenix to Pepper. Our ship’s loaded and ready to go, sir.”
“Thank you, lieutenant. Now get some rest. Tomorrow’s a big day.”
“I can’t wait, sir. Phoenix out.”
Fara walked out of the hanger and went to the StarFox team’s quarters. She changed out of her uniform and into baggy pants and a tight fitting shirt, and, grabbing her coat, headed out of the base. The rain had gone on for a little while and let up before coming back as a miserable drizzle, light enough to permit daily life to go on as usual but heavy enough to be depressing. Within a few minutes she was at Peppy’s apartment building, ringing the bell at his door.
“Door’s open,” Andromeda’s voice rang out. She opened it.
“Well, everythings ready,” she said, walking in to find her squadron sitting on the couch. Annie was at the computer, typing. “We leave 05:00 tomorrow morning.”
“Five o’clock in the morning!” Annie looked at them in disbelief. “Peppy, you’re going to have to leave around four thirty! Shouldn’t you all be sleeping by now?”
“Yeah, we should,” Falco admitted. “But we’re not.”
“See, we’ve g-g-got to leave early c-c-cause it’ll be night around Andross’s b-b-base.”
“We just wanted to talk before leaving. You know, bonding thing and all...” Peppy gave a lopsided smile, then sat up. “Say, does anyone want something to drink? We’ve got water, soda, Pandoran ale.”
Fara shrugged. “I’ll just have water.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“G-g-good for me.”
Peppy nodded and began to get up, but was stopped by his wife.
“Here, Peppy, sit back down. I’ll get the drinks.” Annie began to walk towards their small kitchen.
“Oh, no, you’re working on your novel! I’m not busy.” The two met at the door to the kitchen. Annie smiled and tapped a finger lovingly on his nose.
“I’ll get the drinks. You stay with your team.” With that she flounced inside. Peppy turned around, shrugged as if to say, “well, if you insist!” and sat back down.
Fara watched them in amusement and couldn’t help thinking how nice it must be to live with someone you loved like that. She cleared her throat. “Well, this is it. By this time Tomorrow we’ll either have Fox back or give up hope for good.”
“Do you think that thing will work, Peppy?” Falco asked.
The hare stared at the ground and shrugged. “Hard to say. I looked at the technical information and couldn’t decipher a word of it. Guess you have to be a neurologist to understand it.”
Slippy sighed. “Well, the imp-p-portant thing isn’t how it works, b-b-but if it works. All I want is for f-f-Fox to look at us and know who we are!”
The others nodded their agreement as Annie came back in with a pitcher and glasses. The five sat for a while, reminiscing about their leader.
The picture was old and tattered. Pepper held it up to the light, chuckling as he remembered the day it was taken, a long time ago. It showed him at age thirty in a commander’s uniform, looking younger, thinner and just a little more dashing. However, his looks were paled by the figure standing next to him. Fox Sr. had his arms folded and was giving the camera a wry smile, as if to imply that nothing could stop him.
But something had.
The general sighed as he once again thought of Junior. Fox was a great pilot and a strong leader, not to mention a noble and caring man. Even if he did let his anger get the best of him sometimes. Pepper couldn’t help but wonder if, perhaps, Junior was just a little too intent on avenging his parents’ deaths. Revenge was an ugly thing.
Of course, Fox would probably never think of his father again if this didn’t work. Pepper shook his head in silent rage. Memories were practically all that he had left. To take those away was simply heinous.
Pepper looked around his office, thinking that he really should finish cleaning it. He walked to his desk and picked up an object he had found a little earlier, after weeks of lying under papers and folders. The hound put it into a bag and wrote a short note, then set it aside for the next day.
“If only you were here, Fox,” Pepper whispered as he put the photo back with others of his wife and grown children. “You’d have your son back home in no time.”
Doksu stood in line with the other lizards as they were given the next day’s assignments. Getting his, he walked quickly to his sleeping quarters, looking at and speaking to no one. After a week on Venom, nobody suspected a thing and let him go about his business. Now, why didn’t Corneria do this a long time ago? He thought. This spy stuff is easy!
He looked at his watch and felt a small prickle of apprehension as he realized that there was less than an hour until the StarFox team was scheduled to contact him. Doksu was to wait for their signal, then go to Central Command and deactivate a portion of the planet wide sensor shield. He would only be able to do it for about thirty seconds before it was noticed, so if it took them longer than that-
Well, then all of them would be out of luck.
Falco looked out the window as their pilot glided the ship into orbit around Venom. A few minutes passed before the Titanian turned around and nodded at them. “I’ve contacted the lizard. Be ready to bail out when the coast is clear.”
They nodded, checking the parachutes strapped to their backs and the oxygen masks hanging around their necks. Falco had done high altitude jumps before, but could never get past the fear that something would go wrong. But then again, he liked that fear.
Suddenly a light blinked on the pilot’s control board and he began to move closer to the planet until they flew through the atmosphere. “Alright, this is it. We’re giving you one hour to find Fox and get him outta there. You’re going to have to rely on him and Doksu to provide a way out of the base.”
Fara gave him a nervous look. “Doksu should have already set aside a ship.”
“Well, yes, technically. I’m just warning you.” The light blinked again and was accompanied by a beep and a countdown. “Okay, go for it!”
The team opened the hatch on the side of the ship. Fara was the first to jump, followed by Peppy, then Slippy. Falco was about to hurl himself out of the opening when he was stopped by a call from the pilot. He looked back to see him reach under the seat and pull out a black bag. The pilot threw it to Falco.
“WHAT’S THIS?” Falco shouted over the roar of the wind rushing by.
“FROM THE GENERAL!”
“WHAT?”
“THE GENERAL! NOW GO!” Falco quickly tied the bag to his arm, then shoved the breathing mask over his beak, put on his goggles, and leapt.
As soon as he was clear of the ship Falco wondered how he could have possibly thought the wind was loud inside. It deafened him as he fell through the night sky. Strangely, it almost seemed as if the avian wasn’t moving at all, although he knew that the ground was rushing up at a terrifying speed. Suddenly he was jerked upwards as the parachute opened and he got a good look at the terrain they were headed for. It was rocky and lifeless for miles all around, marked only by Andross’s base a little ways away. Falco squinted, then reached up to his goggles and flicked a small switch. Instantly the night vision activated, showing him the compound in detail, plus the small crags and crevices of the landscape and his teammates below.
Venom continued to rush towards him and Falco braced himself for impact. In a few moments he slammed into the ground and kneeled for a few moments, trying to catch his breath. The avian got up, staggered, and began to fold up the parachute. Wordlessly, Fara came up behind him and took the bundled cloth, throwing it into a pile with the others. She then took out her blaster, aimed, and vaporized them. She started to walk towards the base, but stopped when she saw the bag around Falco’s arm.
“What’s that?”
Falco looked down at it. “The pilot gave it to me before I jumped. Something from the general.” Slippy and Peppy gathered around as he opened the bag, reached inside, and pulled out Fox’s comlink. He stared at it for a moment, then let out a laugh. “We...we’ve been looking for this ever since Fox was captured! Pepper had it the entire time!”
Peppy leaned over and picked up a piece of paper that had fallen out. He unfolded it and read aloud. “While cleaning my office the other day, I found this. Maybe it will give you good luck on your mission. Sincerely, General Pepper.” He looked up. “Hey, it can’t hurt.”
Fara smiled. “Falco, you want to hold it? We’ve got to get going.” Falco put the comlink back in the bag, then put the bag into the small backpack he wore, and they started towards the base.
As they reached the outer scanners, Fara held up a hand to stop them and looked at Slippy. The toad took out a small box and, twisting a few dials, set it on the ground next to the sensor. After a few moments the glowing laser blinked, dimmed, then disappeared altogether. Slippy gave a thumbs-up and they quickly ran across the compound, hidden by darkness.
Reaching the building, Fara motioned for them to get closer and began to whisper. “Okay, we’ve got one hour to find Fox and get out of here. If we split up then we’ll find him faster. Since I’ve got the chip, you’ll need to contact me if you see him, and I’ll get there as soon as possible. Got it?” They nodded. “Let’s go then. Meet here, with or without Fox, and we’ll find Doksu and get out of this place.” With that, she pried open a window and crawled inside, followed by the others.
“Up so late? I thought you valued your quiet time.” Iliria casually leaned against a computer terminal, giving Andross a snide, lazy grin.
The ape simply glared at her. “I was called here with the message that we were under attack. I suppose I was wrong,” he said sourly, surveying the skeleton crew that worked quietly in Central Command.
His partner got up and walked toward him. “I decided that you needed some practice at late night calls. You’re slipping, Andross. Sulking in your quarters for nine hours out of a twenty hour day is not what I’d call healthy warlord habits.”
Andross balked. “What-what are you talking about!?” He sputtered. “You called me down here to talk about sulking?”
She sighed. “No. I was just bored, that’s all.”
“Oh, I’ll show YOU bored, you filthy conniving little-”
Andross, don’t be angry with me. You are not angry with me.
The Emperor held his fist in the air for a moment, then sighed and dropped it. “I...suppose I’m not angry with you, though.”
Iliria smiled. “I didn’t think you would be. I-”
Suddenly, a loud alarm went off at one of the work stations. Both turned to look at it, along with the other lizards. The station’s worker quickly began to investigate. “S-sir, I’m detecting a security breach in sector five. Someone’s tripped one of the hidden alarms.”
Andross immediately forgot his tangle with Iliria and ran to the station. “It’s an avian, six feet tall! Falco Lombardi!” He whirled around. “They’ve come for McCloud! Where is he? Get him here right now!”
Iliria peered over his shoulder, and suddenly giggled gleefully. “So they have! Let’s let them wander around a bit, see what happens!”
“WHAT? No! Call security...” Andross paused as Iliria gave him a quiet stare behind his back. “On second thought, let’s let them look. They can’t escape, anyway. But get McCloud up here all the same.”
Pepper bit his lip as the sun slowly rose over the western mountain range. This was a stupid idea, he’d known it from the start...
No. It was now or never.
The general turned as he was called by a sergeant. “Sir, we’re being hailed. By Venom.”
Ice settled in his stomach. Oh, no. They’d been captured, he just knew it. Now what would they do? Damn it, he thought, I KNEW this would turn out disastrous! “Put-put them on.”
Fox McCloud appeared, glowering angrily. “We are not impressed, Corneria. Please remove your soldiers from our base or we will be forced to take defensive measures.”
Pepper blinked. “You mean-you haven’t captured them?” A foolish statement, he knew. But this was Fox, after all. Right?
“I’ll say it once more, Corneria. Get your men out of our base. Or else.” With that, Fox switched off the camera.
Iliria came up and put a motherly hand on his shoulder. “Very nice, Fox. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
The sergeant sat back in his chair. “Sir, what do we do? If they know they’re there, the lizards are bound to catch them sooner or later...sir? General Pepper, sir?”
The general stared at the screen for a few moments. “Ready a ship,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“Ready a ship. I’m going to Venom.”
Peppy tried to tell himself that he was all alone and there was nothing to fear as long as he kept in the shadows. Of course, his paranoia might have been a little easier to assuage if he wasn’t in the system’s most heavily armed base. A half hour had passed in the wink of an eye, leaving him with a sinking feeling that their commander wouldn’t be found in time. Peppy could no longer sense Fox. Iliria had full control.
Click. Peppy jumped at the noise, then whipped out his gun, furiously probing the area for the minds of possible intruders. Nothing. Then-click. The Pandoran jumped again and bolted down the hall. Unfortunately, he didn’t see the pipe that lay across it.
He took a nose dive into the floor.
Peppy lay still for a few seconds, waiting to be discovered and captured by lizard guards. After realizing that by some remarkable chance he had not been heard, he slowly rolled over onto his back and sat up. His left leg had hit the ground hard during his fall, and was now throbbing. Peppy pulled up his pant leg and took off the calf guard he wore, revealing a small metal brace. Within, underneath his skin, a bionnium implant had replaced the kneecap and bone. Time and meditation had allowed him to get past the resentment that he had to be one of the pilots that were injured at the Battle of Narconi, but it couldn’t make him enjoy the implant.
Then again, whenever Peppy was frustrated or annoyed at the daily hassle of wearing the brace, he simply reminded himself that he was lucky to be alive.
Peppy checked his leg for damage, found none, and got up with a grimace. You stupid bunny, he thought sourly. Nice, panicking at nonexistent noises. Shaking his head, Peppy continued down the hall.
After a few moments of creeping along, checking the doors, Peppy heard another, definite noise. The sound of someone walking towards him. His gun was pulled once again-
-and replaced as he sensed Falco’s mind.
“Psst! Falco, over here!”
A shadow hulked next to him. “Peppy, is that you?”
“Yes, be careful of the pipe. How’s it coming? Have you found him?”
Falco shook his head. “I’ve searched this entire section and he’s nowhere. And we’ve only got twenty minutes left!”
“I know, I know. Come on, let’s keep looking.” The two resumed their search. Suddenly, Peppy held up an arm and kneeled down on the ground. As Falco watched, he took a small mirror and placed it beside the wall.
Falco cocked his head. “What in the hell are you doing?”
“Motion sensors.” The hare pointed to a small square set into the wall. “If you walk past, it’ll set off a silent alarm. The mirror reflects it’s beam. Have you come across any?”
“I...don’t know.”
“Falco-” Peppy closed his eyes. “Well, let’s just hope you haven’t. Come on.” They checked their watches and continued.
There was another pipe.
Falco was the one to trip this time, doing a hop-jump-stumble as his foot hit it. He managed to remain upright, but reached out to grab something anyway. The panel he came in contact with seemed to hold at first, but then ripped out of the wall with a tremendous screech!
“Setrans keday?”
“Doner forand ko ternera. Dost te yo!”
Falco and Peppy looked at each other in horror as they heard Venom’s native language, then wasted no time in taking off down the corridor. The lizards heard their footsteps and followed.
“They’re gaining on us,” Falco panted.
“Less talking and more running! We’ve got to get out of here now!”
The pilots continued to run from the guards until Falco stopped, pointed at a ladder in the wall, and began to climb. Peppy followed him, and within seconds they were ten feet up, opening the trap door set into the ceiling. Falco climbed up and reached down to help Peppy.
The bag around his arm came untied, releasing it’s contents.
“No!” Falco cried as Fox’s comlink fell to the floor and landed with a clang, rolling into the shadows.
“Forget about it! Help me up!” Peppy was hoisted into the room and replaced the trap door, wiping his brow. “Damn, that was close. But the comlink...Fox will be heart-broken...” His voice trailed off as the hare heard the click of a blaster’s safety. They slowly looked behind them, at a squad of lizards. Peppy and Falco had stumbled into their barracks.
Fox wondered why he had made the broadcast. He had been called to Central Command in the middle of the night with no explanation-but then again, why would he need an explanation? He knew everything Andross did was for the greater good. Once there, Iliria had taken control, programming words to come out of his mouth and emotions to appear on his face. He had finished, and been instructed to go back to sleep.
Before he could ponder it any more, a noise from a little ways down the hall made him stop in his tracks. It was footsteps, the sound of someone clumsily trying to be stealthy. The vulpinian’s ears rotated to face behind him as he listened closely. The stranger continued to make his way towards him. Fox’s fur prickled as he realized that this person was not venomese. Heart beating, he drew the small blaster tucked in his belt and turned the corner.
“Who are you?” He asked, pointing the weapon at a short, fat toad dressed in black. The amphiboid looked up at him and dropped his jaw in surprise.
“f-f-Fox?!” He cried. “It-it IS you! This is g-g-great! Wait right th-th-there!” He took out a small transmitter and pushed a button. Slippy then pocketed the device, then looked up at Fox and grinned.
Something told the pilot that he had nothing to fear from this soldier. Fox slowly lowered the gun and gave him a condescending look. “What are you doing here? And what did you just activate?”
Slippy sighed and shook his head. “Wow, it is t-t-true. You d-d-don’t remember anything, d-d-do you?”
“I remember that there are no Cornerians in our prison. Which means you’ve broken in,” he said calmly, raising the blaster once again.
“No, no, n-n-no!” The toad waved his hands in front of him, trying to stop Fox from shooting him. “Just, uh, oh! Oh, ow, ow, ow!” With that, he suddenly collapsed to the ground, clutching his leg.
“Wha-what’s the matter?” Fox asked perplexedly, coming forward a step.
“Oh, my l-l-leg!” The toad moaned melodramatically. “It hurts so b-b-bad...just let me sit here before you c-c-cart me off to p-p-prison!”
Slippy could see by the confused look in Fox’s eyes that his plan was working. Peppy had told them that Iliria’s subjects could be easily fooled and manipulated, due to their weakened mental states. Thank you, Iliria! He thought joyfully.
Fox stepped forward, then back, and looked around uncomfortably. Iliria wasn’t controlling him--he was on his own. Where was she? He didn’t know how to think for himself.
Fara felt the alert buzzer vibrate against her leg and nearly gasped with excitement. Taking a quick look at the tracking device, she began to run toward the signal. They only had a few minutes.
She skidded to a stop as the signal led her to a solid wall. The vixen stood back, scratched her chin thoughtfully, and turned into the corridor to the right. She broke into a run again, keeping close to the wall on her left until another hallway opened up. Fara’s heart raced as she saw that she was once again on the right path, heading towards Fox.
“Ow-ow ow ow! Oh, it hurts!” Fara suddenly halted as she heard Slippy’s voice. Had he been injured? What happened now? But then again, his cries did sound a little fake. Of course! He was stalling! Fox was there and he was stalling him! Fara took a deep breath and slowly crept down the hall. As the two figures grew clear in her line of vision, the pilot slowly took the chip from her pocket.
Slippy saw her approach and began to tremble with adrenaline. Anytime now...
Fox, seeing that the toad had stopped his wailing, motioned with his gun. “Come on, get up.”
Slippy slowly made eye contact. “Um-it-it still hurts.”
“I don’t care. Get up.”
Fara continued to creep, giving Slippy an a-okay for his performance. The toad saw it and continued to complain while Fox told him to get up in frustration. She slowly raised the chip.
Slippy tensed.
Fox raised an eyebrow.
Fara pounced.
Pepper ducked under the beam, and ran across the compound. He was a little surprised that he had managed the jump, and the run across Venom afterward, and still managed to get to the base and get in before the StarFox team was scheduled to leave. He couldn’t fully explain his reasons for following the team--well actually, he couldn’t explain them at all. The general simply knew he had to come.
Once inside the base, Pepper looked at his watch and began to move through the corridors. He cursed as he realized that he was out of breath. Of course, he hadn’t done this sort of thing in years... Pepper shook his head. No time to make excuses. Fox was at stake.
The general paced through the halls until he came to a door marked “Security Control” in Venomese. He stopped. If he took out the security system, all their lives would be made easier. Pepper drew his gun, took a deep breath, and kicked the door open.
Two sleepy looking lizards jumped up at the sound of his entrance. The first was stunned instantly by Pepper’s blaster. The second, seeing the danger, ducked down and threw himself at the general. The hound dodged, sending the lizard into the hallway along with a kick in the tail. The soldier got up, shook his head, and began to run down the hall. Pepper didn’t let him get far.
That taken care of, the general sat down in the chair and began to type on the keyboard. Luckily, he knew more than a little Venomese. It took a few minutes for Pepper to get the hang of using an enemy computer, but it took him only a few seconds to find the command labeled “disengage base-wide security.” He put his finger on the execute key.
“Planning to use that, General Pepper?” Pepper froze at the sound of the voice, and slowly turned around to face Andross. “I wouldn’t recommend it, you know. Practically all my soldiers know of your presence. They’re just waiting for my command to apprehend you.”
“Why didn’t you capture us when you first found out?” Pepper asked quietly.
The ape laughed. “Now where’s the fun in that? My colleague and I were enjoying watching you run around like idiots searching for your precious McCloud.”
“Your colleague?” Pepper sneered scornfully. “By that, do you mean that Iririan warlord Iliria? Hardly a business partner, if you ask me.”
“Business is doing well, though, isn’t it?” Andross suddenly brightened, as if remembering something. “Would-would you like to see him yourself? He’d be more than happy to come visit us, I’m sure.”
Fox sensed the attack before he felt it, in the toad’s eyes, in the quiet of the hall, in the rush of air behind him. He felt someone tackle him and slam cold metal on his back.
He could tell they had been aiming for his neck.
Lucky for him they had missed.
Fox threw off his assailant and ripped the chip from his shirt. The female flew a few feet and landed with a thud next to the toad, then sat up and put a hand to her aching head.
Fara slowly looked up just in time to see Fox inspect the device, then throw it onto the ground and stomp on it.
“NOOOOO!” The vixen cried in despair.
“Neither of you will ever see the light of day again!” Fox spat out. “Now get up-” Suddenly he stiffened and grabbed his head. A few seconds passed as he listened intently, and then turned to look at them. “I’ll-deal-with you-later.” He turned and walked away.
“Fara, w-w-what do we d-d-do?” Slippy moaned.
Fara lowered her head and saw it was time to leave. She then slowly looked at Slippy. “We take him back with us--even if we have to drag him on a ship kicking and screaming.” The two got up and began to follow in the direction they thought he went.
Pepper drew his focus away from the gun that Andross held to him as they heard a third party approaching the door. His own gun had been thrown down on the ape’s command.
Fox McCloud walked in the room. “You called, your highness.” Pepper shuddered.
“Yes, Fox. See this man? He’s broken into our base. I want you to kill him.”
“Yes, your highness.” Pepper nearly choked at the ease at which Fox took the gun and flipped it to kill. A lump in his throat formed. Oh, junior, he thought, what has this monster done to you...
Fox held the blaster up and took aim. Andross watched in glee as his eyes narrowed and his finger tensed on the trigger.
As the shot zipped across the room, Pepper ducked to the side and lunged at Junior. He hit the pilot’s legs, knocking them to the floor and sending the gun skittering across the room. There was a brief wrestling match that Andross unsuccessfully tried to get involved in; when it was over Andross and Pepper were on one side of the room, while Fox ended up next to the gun. He picked it up and quickly went to finish the job.
And hesitated as he and the general made eye contact.
Pepper gasped. Could he possibly remember? The hound spoke. “Junior. Don’t do it. You’ll regret it someday.”
Andross balked. “Fox! What are you doing, shoot him!”
“No! Don’t you remember me? I’m not your enemy!”
“Don’t listen to him, Junior, you’re on my side! Kill the dog NOW!” Andross balled his hands into fists angrily.
“Fox! I want to help you!” Pepper grew encouraged as Fox’s eyes began to dart nervously back and forth. His hands were trembling slightly. “Fox.” The pilot started and looked at him. “Fox, trust me. I can help you. You don’t want to shoot me, I know that deep down you don’t want to shoot me.” Pepper made his voice soft and reassuring, and held out a hand.
Fox stared at him in fear, fidgeted nervously, and looked back at Andross. “Well? What are you waiting for? Kill him now! NOW, McCLOUD!”
Fox continued to hold the gun apprehensively. Looking at the two men shouting instructions at him, he whimpered like a kit and quickly knocked the ammunition tube out of his blaster.
“What did you do that for?!” Andross looked ready to explode.
“I-I don’t know-” Where, oh where was Iliria?
Right here. Forgive my absence, I’ll take over now.
Fox felt her presence invade his mind, and let it take him until he realized that he didn’t want it. It didn’t feel good anymore. Something was hideously wrong.
WHAT? What do you mean, “you don’t want it?” How dare you question me! Fox cried out as her voice flooded through his brain, numbing his senses and making the world spin. He staggered, then looked up at Pepper. With an expression of childlike bewilderment, he slowly walked to the waiting hound...
...and punched him with all his might.
Pepper was knocked to the ground with the force of the attack, then promptly began to get up. He had barely propped himself up on one elbow when Fox ran to him and sent a vicious kick to his stomach.
And another, and another.
In between grunting in pain and trying to regain the breath knocked out of him, Pepper managed to get a glimpse of Fox’s face. It was angry yet frightened, strong yet helpless. Behind him Andross laughed quietly and slipped out the door.
Fox continued to kick the general until he was sure he would not be getting up, then slowly backed up towards the door to take care of the others.
He wasn’t at all surprised to find that they were gone, but it angered him all the same. Everything was going wrong tonight-he’d been forced out of bed to broadcast a message without knowing what it was for, he’d lost two enemy soldiers who had broken in...well, actually, that explained the message. But worst of all, he’d gotten confused. That would mean rehabilitation for sure.
Fox continued down the hall, fuming and quivering at the same time. What had happened in that room? That hound, he’d looked so familiar, and the way His Highness had become a psychopath when he hesitated... Fox could swear that he’d seen the emperor like that before.
Iliria’s control seemed different now.
“Fox?” Fox stopped and turned at the sound of his name.
“Fox, is that you? In here!” The vulpinian slowly realized he had wandered into a prison chamber, and walked towards a cell. Inside was a lone prisoner. He spoke.
“Fox, do you remember me? It’s Steren, do you remember?”
Remember...Everyone wanted him to remember...
Fox stared at the man for a moment, then reached a shaking hand to the computer terminal. He slowly pushed a switch to the highest position, causing the force field to expand until it engulfed Steren, vaporizing him. Fox ignored his screams.
Composing himself, he continued searching.
The pilot almost didn’t hear the quiet clunk as his foot kicked something on the darkened floor. He was tempted to send the object flying out the window and be done with it, but after watching it roll a few feet into the light Fox took a closer look.
It was a Cornerian style soldier’s comlink, a model outdated by at least fifteen or twenty years. Something about it was strange, but he couldn’t put his claw on it-
It was then that he saw the name printed on the bottom. Fox McCloud. And afterwards, in red ink, someone had scribbled “Jr.”
Oh, no. The confusion again.
Fara peeked around the corner cautiously, then beckoned for Slippy to follow. She looked around them.
“Do you think this is the way he went?”
Slippy gave her a flat look. “I th-think we p-p-passed this p-p-place a few times already.”
“Fine!” She scowled. “You wanna lead? I’ll let you make the decisions.”
“I wasn’t sayin’ th-th-that, I just p-p-pointed out-” Suddenly he stopped and put a hand in the air. “Wait. D-d-do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Fara listened for a moment, then gasped. “That sounds like...” She ran to an open door down the hall and looked inside, then ducked back out and motioned for Slippy to join her.
When Slippy reached the room, he saw Fara leaning over General Pepper, who was groaning softly. “Sir?” She asked. “General sir, can you hear me?”
Pepper grimaced and raised himself painfully. “If-if you’re ever tempted to compete with Fox in a fight, don’t. He packs quite a wallop when he’s angry.”
Slippy’s eyes widened. “You mean f-f-Fox did this to you?”
“Under Iliria’s control, no doubt. I take it you haven’t found him yet.”
Fara looked down. “Yes, we found him. But-I attached the chip in the wrong place and it didn’t do anything.”
“Where is it now?”
She sighed and held out a small twisted piece of metal. “It had a rendezvous with Fox’s boot.”
Pepper shook his head in dismay. “Well, it’s not your fault, Phoenix. It could have happened to anyone. Now what we’ve got to do is find Fox and get him out of here before it’s too late. If we even can get out, that is. Andross knows I’m here.”
“He’s not the only one.” The three spun around at the sound of a lizard’s voice. “We’ve known about all of you from the start. Your other friends have already been apprehended, and Iliria wants to meet you, too. Come on.” With that, Fara, Slippy and Pepper were forced up and led down the hall to a large chamber containing two people, Andross and Iliria.
“Ah, I see you’ve arrived.” The Iririan clapped her hands in pleasure. “I must say, I had quite a bit of fun tracking you through the base. Although it was dampened a bit when our troops ended part of the game.” With that she nodded to a lizard standing in the corner, who went out for a second. When he came back he had two others with him, along with Peppy and Falco. Peppy mouthed the words ‘I’m sorry’ while Falco gave Iliria a stony glare.
Iliria continued while Andross looked on. “Believe me, I’ve heard so much about you. Fox would talk about you all the time, you know. Before he switched to my side.”
“You’re insane,” Peppy murmured.
“And you’re mine,” Iliria retorted. “It was clever, getting a lizard spy into our base. But I weeded him out in a second. Doksu, I’m sorry to say, is no more.” She kept a smile on her face, masking the alarm bells going off in her head. No-she had to keep control of him, no matter how hard it got.
It was getting hard.
Fox held the comlink tightly in his hands, sweat beginning to break out all over his body. This was his comlink. But it was Cornerian. Corneria was his enemy. But he had a Cornerian comlink.
He remembered it, it was his.
Fox dropped it, and ran a hand through the fur on his head. The confusion, it was back, but stronger, where was Iliria?
No! Iliria was his enemy!
What? Iliria was his friend!
The hound had said he was a friend. Pepper was on his side. But how did he know his name? The hound hadn’t told him his name, had he? Fox remembered the general’s name.
Uttering a low cry, Fox dropped to his knees and began to rock back and forth. The others, he knew their names, too. Fara, and Falco, and Peppy, and Slippy, they were his friends. He remembered now.
Oh my God, he thought, what have I done...
Fox, stop this right now! You are mine, remember that! You are mine! Her presence filled his head again. With one tremendous mental push, Iliria’s carefully woven dreamworld crumbled, and Fox, now free, held his head and screamed in anguish.
Andross, seeing that Iliria didn’t want to talk anymore, stepped forward while she sat down, a worried expression on her face.
“Of course, I already know what I’m going to do with you all. It’s one thing to have one Cornerian under your command, but six including the director of planetary defence? Now that would break your planet’s spirit, wouldn’t it? I’m sure Iliria would be more than happy to turn you to our side.”
Iliria didn’t respond. She was too busy rubbing a hand on her comlink.
Andross laughed cruelly as the prisoners tried in vain to break free, fear in their eyes. They knew that if Fox could be broken, anyone could. The emperor was about to speak again when they heard a voice at the back of the room.
“Stop right there,” Fox said, holding a blaster.
Ignoring Iliria’s terrified intake of breath, Andross smiled. “Ah, Fox. Don’t worry, we’ve got it under control now-”
“No.” Andross blinked as Fox brought the blaster around to point it at him. “I meant you, Andross.”
Andross frowned and backed up while Pepper and the StarFox team gasped in disbelief and hope. “Wha-what?”
“You killed my parents,” Fox whispered, coming towards them. “You forced me to live as a thief on Papetoon. Then you started a war that’s cost thousands of lives.” He stopped and tore off the comlink, replacing it with his own. “Then you decided that taking everything that was ever important to me wasn’t enough. You wanted my mind, too.”
Andross continued to back up, looking around for an escape. “How...how can this be? Iliria! What’s happening to him? I thought he was under our control!”
“Stay right there, Iliria. You’re next. And I wouldn’t try anything,” he added, looking at the guards. “One move and I’ll kill him right now.” He turned back to Andross. “You’re being used, too, you know.”
Andross came up against a wall. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, yes. Everyone here could see it. Iliria had you under just as much control as she had me. Did you ever notice how her ideas always seemed better than your own? Or how you always trusted her no matter how reckless she was? I’ll bet you in a matter of days the empire would have been hers.”
The emperor turned to Iliria, who shook her head rapidly in defence. He realized Fox was right. “You have ten seconds to get the hell off my base, McCloud.”
Falco’s jaw hung. “What? You’re letting us go?”
Fox continued to point the gun in his face. “I’m not getting off this base until you and Iliria are dead.”
“Oh, that might be a problem. You see, my troops won’t let you get far after killing me and besides, Iliria’s mine.”
The pilot’s eyes glittered in quiet fury. “I don’t think you deserve to kill her. Not after what she did to me.”
Iliria looked nervously around her and realized that there was no escape. Looks like you’ll finally be paying for your crimes, Iririan, Peppy thought.
Pepper was let go and quickly came up beside Fox, gently pushing the blaster down. Fox didn’t resist. “Fox, I know you’re angry. We all are. But I suggest we take Andross up on his offer, no matter how strange it may be. Let’s get out of here.”
They did.
A five year old kit slowly wandered through the darkness, looking around him in despair. Daddy was missing. Junior sniffed back tears, cupped a hand around his muzzle and called for his father, but received no answer.
Suddenly, the ground he had been walking on slipped into oblivion, leaving him standing on thin air. Junior tried to scream, but his voice never made it out into the thick, viscous air. He slowly began to fall.
He fell...
and fell...
crunch...
Junior opened his eyes and saw that he lay in a pool of blood. It seemed to leak from everywhere, but especially from his mouth, nose, and ears. The boy knew his neck was broken, but oddly enough there was no pain. Only sadness, and guilt.
“Daddy,” he cried pitifully. “Daddy, help me, please?”
“Junior, don’t worry. I’m here.” Fox looked over and his eyes filled with tears of love and relief.
“Daddy, help me...Daddy? Look-look out, look out behind you!”
Fox Sr. looked behind him, but it was too late. The darkness swallowed him, then began to move outward until Junior saw that it was an eye.
A black hole of an eye.
“No, don’t take him away!” The eye continued to move back, and the face of Andross flashed for an instant before disappearing into the darkness.
“No, don’t take him away! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, don’t take him away! Please don’t take him away from me!” Junior sobbed in anguish, holding a hand out, waiting for someone to come for him, waiting for a release from the suffering. “Please, don’t take him away...please...”
“No, don’t...don’t take him...I’m sorry, so, so, sorry...don’t...take him away...NO!” Fox awoke with a start, trembling as the nightmare throbbed around him, fresh in his mind. The vulpinian sat up, struggling to calm his racing heart. Slowly, carefully, he succeeded in suppressing the panic that threatened his sanity.
His sanity. Fox sighed as the events of that day came back to him. It was as if he had awoke from a dream, finally looking back and realizing how unbelievable the events it contained were. Upon his return his friends and colleagues had given him a joyful but somewhat awkward welcome; Nolan, Nikki, Sydney, Buck and the other members of Red Leopard squadron crowding around the StarFox team and thanking God they were all home and in one piece. No one could quite understand why Andross had let them go, although Peppy had gently explained that his mind was probably still a little muddled from Iliria’s curse. The others had cast quick glances at Fox, thinking maybe the same was true of him.
He knew he was in his right mind. Then again, he had thought the same while serving Andross.
Iliria had, after all, taken his mind and replaced it with that of a child.
Fox felt the anger and humiliation rise up within him and clenched his fists. He looked over across the room at his teammates, who were sleeping peacefully, then out the window at Peppy’s apartment building. He relaxed slightly. As word got out that Andross was planning some sort of revenge against Iliria, many realized that this meant the chances that he would ever work with Iririans again were slim. The alliance was over; now all Corneria had to worry about was the Venomese Empire. Amidst all the celebrating and congratulations his team had stayed with him, seemingly wanting to be with him every moment, trying to make up for the months lost. Especially Fara.
He sighed again and lay back down in his bunk, eyes drifting closed. They had plenty of time to be together, and--who knew?--maybe he and Fara could be alone for a little while. Fox suddenly found that he couldn’t wait for tomorrow to start, even with that stupid interview he had promised the press he would give. He couldn’t wait to be with his friends. They would always be there for him; that was what friends were for.
Iliria stalked the empty halls in a rage, choking screams fleeing from her throat every once in a while. She had managed to escape Andross, but to what? Her plan to take over Venom was spoiled and her base was abandoned.
She had gotten careless. It was all her fault.
Tripping over a stray wire, the hare let out a shriek of frustration and tore it out of the wall, sending it flying across the room. Her mental hold had vanished. On everyone. Every soldier in the base had fled, leaving her alone, all alone. Iliria was ruined.
She continued to race through the halls, stopping only to maliciously kick debris out of her way. She went deeper and deeper into the base until the light was almost non-existant. The passages became increasingly twisted and dirty, but Iliria kept going as if she could never stop.
Then she fell.
Iliria screamed as she hurtled down an abandoned maintenance shaft, pipes and wires zipping past her in a mad palette of dark terror. Suddenly her fall was stopped as the shaft closed around her. She heard a sickening pop as her shoulders became wedged tight. Iliria moaned in pain, then realized that this was the same pit that she had sent McCloud into. Iliria began to scream and cry for help, shrieking and crying and twisting in an insane rage. No one heard her.
Except the insects.
They were no hallucination.