WARNING: This story has been written and posted free of charge solely for entertainment purposes. Fox McCloud Jr, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, Venom, Corneria, Fara Phoenix, General Pepper, Andross, and all other principle characters and places created by Nintendo are copyright (C) 1993 Nintendo of America Inc. Used without permission. Star Fox is copyright (C) 1993 Nintendo of America Inc. Used without permission. All characters and places created by me, Theodore P. Perrotti, are copyright (C) 1995 Theodore P. Perrotti. (However, feel free to use all of this story's characters, events, and places as you wish as long as you abide by the conditions described in the next paragraph.) This story may be redistributed, stored, or archived in any way just so long as it is unaltered, this entire disclaimer remains with it, and such action is taken free of charge. In short: DON'T SELL OR ALTER THIS STORY! Also, please give me credit if you use any of my creations. Parts of this story were based on characters, places, and events in both the Star Fox video game and the Star Fox comic which appeared in Nintendo Power. You may also notice a "Star Trek" influence in this story. This is no coincidence. Specifically, this story has been influenced by the original series episode "Mirror-Mirror", the Next Generation two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds", and the Next Generation novel "Dark Mirror". I welcome your comments. Please e-mail them to me at author@galaxycorp.com. _________________________________________________________________ Chapter 9: The Escape Fox and Andross stood face-to-face, neither of them making a move. Fox, sensing the security guards inching toward him, warned, "Take another step closer and I'll throw this thing, and who knows where it'll land!" Andross, still unsure of what Fox was thinking, waved them back. General Pepper was right about one thing: Fox hadn't been ready for Andross' mental attack before. But he wasn't about to give Andross another chance to take control of him. He pressed the button in fully, whirled around, and heaved the grenade into the Supernova room. Andross concentrated his power on the grenade and tried to return the handle to its safety position, but could not because of the button wedged underneath it. But then the grenade struck a control panel, dislodging the button. Andross mentally forced the handle into its safety position and smiled devilishly. Fox, realizing something was wrong, charged forward with all his strength. Andross, not being prepared for the charge, was bowled over by the much smaller Fox. The gun slid along the floor, and Fox grabbed it as he got up and ran, hoping to get out of Andross' range. One of the guards emerged from the Supernova room clutching the grenade; nervously squeezing the safety lever with his hand. Andross, feeling thoroughly humiliated, let go of the grenade with his power and yelled to the guard, "Get that grenade out of here! I don't care what you have to do with it!" The guard quickly turned and ran down the hallway with the grenade in hand. Andross then screamed at the other guards, "Idiots! Don't just stand there! Go after him! I want Fox McCloud DEAD!" As Fox ran down the corridor, he heard a siren blaring all around him. That too, he noted, had been curiously absent during their sabotage attempt. He knew that guards would soon be after him, if they weren't after him already. Andross would never let him escape. He hated Fox too much. He raced around a corner, trying to piece together from memory the route to the docking bay and his ship. Unfortunately, the only time he had been in that docking bay, he was too full of sedative to retain much of what he saw. He reached an intersection, and a laser blast zipped by, just missing the back of his head. Without looking back, he knew that the guards had found him. He picked up his pace, hoping fervently to see a sign saying "This Way to the Docking Bay" or something else to that effect. From somewhere behind Fox came a loud BOOM!, and he realized that the grenade had finally gone off. He felt half disappointed that they had failed to detonate the Supernovas, though he also felt half relieved that he was still alive. THE DOCKING BAY'S PROBABLY SOMEWHERE ON THE SHIP'S LOWEST LEVEL. I'VE GOT TO GET DOWN THERE SOMEHOW! Fox knew of no way off this level other than the lifts, but they had probably been shut down to trap him and Gen. Pepper. GENERAL. DAMN, WHY'D YOU HAVE TO GO AND GET YOURSELF KILLED? Fox took a sharp left, hoping that would take him toward the shaft they had climbed up earlier. It didn't. Instead, Fox found himself in a dead-end hall. No other corridors intersected it. To Fox's left was a railing, beyond which was at least a forty-foot drop. Fox heard the guards coming, and decided that there was only one way to go: down. He climbed up onto the railing, grabbed onto it with his paws, and quickly panned around for a relatively soft place to land. The guards charged into view, and Fox closed his eyes and jumped. I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS! The other Falco, like the guards, was looking for Fox. He was seething, just wanting to kill Fox. Six months earlier, this Fox had fooled him into thinking that he was, in fact, the other Fox. Falco did not like being fooled. He saw it as a deliberate insult to him, and all insults to him must be severely punished. Thus was his state of mind as he ran out onto the floor of Main Engineering, thinking Fox might come this way on his way to his ship. He was right. The other Falco stopped when he heard people running on the walkway several levels above him. Just as the other Falco looked up to try to see what they had found, he heard a scream, and Fox landed right on top of him, knocking him out cold! Fox was stunned for a minute, but then recovered. He heard the other Falco groan and looked over at him. He patted the other Falco on the head and jeered, "Thanks," all the while grinning from ear to ear. He looked up at the guards and saw them stop and peer over the railing in disbelief, then turn and run in the other direction. Fox knew that he was out of the range of their weapons right now, but also that it would not take long for them to reach him. They knew this ship's layout better than he and had access to all the lifts. He had to keep moving. Fox saw that he was in the ship's engineering room, and inferred from that that the docking bay was probably also on this level. After all, where better to keep the ships than near those that maintain them? He looked around the long, cavernous room for an exit. What he saw was an open door at the opposite end of the area. He then took one last look at the other Falco to make sure he was still unconscious. He was. PERFECT! Hoping that the door would lead out of Engineering, Fox walked cautiously toward it. He was fully aware that engineering rooms in large ships like this one were generally teeming with activity. That this one was not made him feel uneasy. As he approached the door, Fox prepared to defend himself from attack. He paused at the door and quickly glanced back at the other Falco. STILL OUT COLD. GOOD! Fox returned his attention to what lie ahead. It looked like a conference room for the Engineering staff. At the end of the room was another doorway. Perhaps one leading to the docking bay. Sure that there were hidden cameras and microphones in the room, Fox moved along the wall quietly, to avoid being seen or heard. The chairs were strewn about, and there were several pieces of paper scattered on the tabletop. It was as if he had just interrupted a meeting. Fox walked up to the door and tried without success to open it. The panel display showed the message "Enter 4-digit access code for passage." Fox, of course, didn't know the code, and didn't have time to guess at it, either. From underneath the table, the other Moe Sloane peered nervously up at Fox, taking aim with his blaster. He drew the trigger back to fire, but then Fox bent over, spoiling his shot. The other Sloane was terrified. HE'S LOOKING UNDER HERE. WHY IS HE LOOKING UNDER HERE? HE'S LOOKING FOR ME, BUT HE WON'T GET ME! His eyes followed Fox's every move, and his hands shook. I THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD! THEY TOLD ME HE WAS DEAD! I WON'T LET HIM KILL ME! He then felt the barrel of Fox's gun quickly knock his own gun to the floor and heard Fox's voice ask, "You like to play games?" Sloane whirled around just in time to see Fox blast the door controls with his gun, trapping the rest of the staff behind it. Fox then pointed the gun at him once again. "There, now we won't have any interruptions from your colleagues. First, we'll play twenty questions," Fox said evenly, "What were you talking about in here? What was so important that you didn't come out when the alarm sounded? Either you were hoping to ambush me, or you're all cowards." Sloane said nothing. "Answer, or I swear, I'll shoot you!" "All right!" Sloane yelped, "Andross wants us to run a complete check on the energy-absorption systems! How...? I thought you were dead, I swear. Andross told me that..." "Never mind that," Fox commanded, "Why the check? Does it have anything to do with the field flickering when the arwings exploded near it?" But then, they both heard guards coming. Fox grabbed Sloane by the collar and said, "Lead me to the docking bay, NOW!" Sloane gave Fox a quizzical look. "That's right," said Fox, "I'm not that Fox McCloud, but I will kill you if you don't do what I tell you, NOW! Sloane led Fox out of Engineering and down a long corridor. Much to Fox's surprise, the final distance to the bay was relatively unguarded. They knew the ship better than he did, so it was doubtful that he (even with a forty-foot fall) would have been able to beat them all here. Were he in Andross' position, he felt he would have sent security to the docking bay area immediately. Yet, there was no one there, not even the two guards that guarded against ship thefts even in his own SpaceForce. It was almost if they wanted him to reach it. Then again, there seemed to be no guards near the Supernova launchers either, Fox reminded himself. He was going to have to be even more careful this time. He peered around every corner and into every nook and cranny, weary of guards that may be in hiding. After what seemed an eternity, he and Sloane finally approached the docking bay door. Sloane stepped forward and touched his hand to the wall panel, and the door slid open. He then stepped inside, with Fox a few steps behind. Once inside, Sloane quickly turned and touched the inside wall panel. The door started to close. Fox, who was just passing through the doorway at the time, swiftly aimed his body for Sloane and lunged forward. He crashed into the engineer, sending the two of them to the floor. Somehow, Fox managed to hold onto the gun. "Don't ever try anything like that again, or I will kill you!" Fox warned, picking himself up off the floor. He then walked to the wall panel, all the while eyeing Sloane, and pushed the "Lock" button. Fox then took a quick glance around the bay to locate the ship. TOO BAD ACCESS TO THESE OTHER SHIPS IS PREVENTED BY SECURITY CODES. WE REALLY COULD USE THEIR ADVANCED WEAPONRY NOW. But then he reminded himself of what these ships stood for, greed and callus cruelty, and found he'd rather have his own ship, anyway. Fox motioned for Sloane to stand against the wall as he headed for the docking bay door controls, watching Sloane out of the corner of his eye the whole time. Even his own people kept a few weapons stashed in their docking bays in the event of an emergency. He didn't want Sloane to catch him off-guard. Suddenly, he saw the image of the shadow before him. It lasted only an instant, then was gone. He then heard a screaming sound from behind him. He whirled around and saw Sloane lying dead on the floor. Fox looked for his chest rising and falling, listened for the sound or the feel of hot breath. Nothing. He then checked for a pulse. Still nothing. Sloane had no visible wounds or weapons, but was dead, nonetheless. Fox looked up at the door through which they had entered. The wall panel still read "Locked". ANDROSS! Fox quickly moved to the docking bay door's control panel and pressed the button to open the door. Nothing happened. He tried again with the same result. He took his gun in both hands and started searching among the ships. GOOD GUESS, JUNIOR, the shadow's voice told him, BUT CAN YOU GUESS WHERE I AM NOW? "You're very close," Fox replied aloud. CORRECT. YOU KNOW, IT'S AMAZING JUST HOW POTENT THOSE LITTLE PAIN CHIPS OF MINE ARE. DON'T YOU THINK? JUST ONE BLAST AT THE HIGHEST SETTING KILLED SLOANE IN A MATTER OF SECONDS. "You killed him because he was with me, and would just get in the way of your revenge," guessed Fox, "Once he had gotten me here, he was no longer of any use to you. But you can't kill me that way because I don't have one of those implants." He swung around to survey the area between two arwings. Nothing. CORRECT AGAIN. BESIDES, PAIN CHIPS ARE FAR TOO IMPERSONAL FOR THIS PURPOSE. I WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE WHEN I KILL YOU. OH, AND BY THE WAY, DON'T TRY BLASTING YOUR WAY OUT OF HERE. I'VE TELEKINETICALLY FROZEN YOUR SHIP'S CONTROLS, JUST AS I DID THE DOOR'S. I DO LOVE HAVING THESE ABILITIES AND MY TELEKINETIC AMPLIFIER TO AUGMENT THEM. I COULD HAVE LED YOU HERE USING THOSE POWERS OR MADE YOU KILL YOURSELF, BUT THIS WAY IS MUCH MORE FUN. LET YOU THINK YOU'RE HOME-FREE, THEN KILL YOU IN THE ULTIMATE GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK. "If you want me so badly, then why don't you come out and get me?" Fox asked, "I hate playing games like this." Fox then remembered how Andross had almost made him kill himself back in the cell, and removed the firing circuitry from his gun, then closed his eyes and threw them both across the room. The docking bay extended up into the next level, and Fox peered up at the catwalks up above. There was still no sign of Andross. He then tried to look into an arwing, but could not see through the one-way glass of the canopy. THE BETTER TO HIDE IN, Fox thought, then cautiously moved on. Finally, Fox's eye fell upon a familiar object: his own ship. As he had suspected, the left wing was damaged. He approached the ship cautiously, knowing that Andross might be lying in wait nearby. He saw a boarding ladder nearby, and pulled it over to his ship. As he climbed the ladder, Fox continued to glance around but concentrated on the cockpit and the small space behind the pilot's seat. He saw no one. He reached the top of the ladder and threw the canopy open. As he started to step into the ship, a hairy hand covered his mouth and jerked him back. Fox and Andross both came crashing to the floor. Fox shook off the shock and readied himself. "I knew you'd come here, Junior," Andross declared, "So I came directly here after you escaped." He then turned his head toward the gun Fox had carried. It and the firing circuitry came together and flew towards Andross. Seizing the opportunity, Fox charged the giant ape and tackled him. Andross toppled over, crushing the gun beneath him. "You're slipping, Andross!" Fox said, "That's the second time I've caught you by surprise!" "All the better to do this!" Andross screamed. Suddenly, Fox was knocked back against the bay wall. Blood streaked his hands. He looked up and saw Andross charging. Waiting until the last second, Fox rose and sidestepped Andross, at the same time sticking his left foot in Andross' path. Andross doubled over in agony. For once, Fox was glad that he had lost his natural left foot. Glad because that foot had been replaced with a metallic artificial one. "Where were you hiding?" Fox demanded, trying to shake off dizziness caused by the blood loss, "I looked everywhere." "Not everywhere," Andross countered, "I was hiding in there." He pointed to an arwing to the left of Fox's ship and slightly in front of it. "I know the security codes to all my ships. So, I hid in there until you drew near," he continued, "I was able to quietly open the hatch and lower myself to the floor using my telekinetic powers. Like this." Abruptly, Andross flew through the air and crashed into Fox, pinning him against Fox's ship. He put his hands around Fox's neck and squeezed. Fox started pounding on Andross' arms, but found that Andross was just too strong. The world quickly faded from Fox's view. He began to feel light-headed as he desperately struggled for breath. The shadow appeared, but was then replaced by the familiar young woman. Fox felt a surge of strength in his arms. His fists once again connected with Andross', this time breaking Andross' grip. Andross fell back. Without so much as stopping to breathe, Fox brought up his left leg and kicked Andross in the face. He felt possessed, as if someone else were in control of his body. He kicked a second time, and then a third. Andross fell to the floor, unconscious. At the same time, Fox fell to the floor, finally trying to catch his breath. His breathing finally back to normal, Fox got to his feet and looked at Andross. I DID THAT?! A pounding on the door reminded him of what he had to do: Warn those battleships. Fox quickly boarded his ship and pressed the "open bay" button. Nothing happened. THEY MUST USE A DIFFERENT FREQUENCY. Smiling, Fox realized there was only one other way to open those bay doors quickly. He reached for the "fire" button. The guards finally got the door open and rushed into the docking bay. The scene they saw stunned them. Sloane's body lied on the floor to their right and, in the distance, Andross rose and groaned. Beyond him was a large hole where the bay door had been. The ship had modified the energy field to prevent the bay's air from rushing out into the blackness of space. "Stop gawking!" Andross yelled, noticing the looks on their faces, "And fix that blasted hole!"