Chapter XX
Shattered
Chapter XX
He was throttled out of his sleep by the calamitous shaking of his small prison cell. The man was unsurprised to find himself chained to the wall, he had been so for several days. These chains were of a much better quality then the last ones, he would not break them this time. As he hung there, he couldn't help but wonder...who was he? He had faint memories of some strange animal people, they seemed to be friends. But then again, that ape thing was also an animal person and he was the one who tortured him.
So the nameless man had a dilemma, should he trust anyone? Could he even trust himself? After all the entity at the back of his mind had many voices, not all unknown. Was he, even now, making this decision with its influence? There were too many variables for the unnamed man to try to solve. For how could he solve them if he didn't even know who he was? The questions were endless and they seemed to loop around in his corroded mind.
How could he know if he was doing the right thing if he didn't know himself? What was his name again? Daniel....Santiago....Joseph....Briggs..........Alex? There were so many names, so many dead people. Maybe he was dead and this was some twisted hell he had to go through for the evil he had done. The whispering was growing louder, almost deafening as it reached a crescendo. WHAT WAS HIS NAME? He cried out in his mind, silencing the whispering voices infesting it. He had bought himself some time to think, about his next step. The few voices he heard began to deliberate.
After a brief internal debate with himself he decided not to trust anyone in this foul and dark place, no longer will he fall prey to these vicious animals! For now he would bide his time, and prepare himself for a window of opportunity. And when it came, he would not let anything stand in his way. The broken man tensed against his metallic binds, and readied for action. But he was quickly losing his determination, as he waited in the dark, his taunt muscles slackened and he hung low in the air. His defiance was running out, soon he would not be able to even hold his head high.
The gates exploded in a flash of green cannon fire. The huge landmaster battle tanks created the hole with a concentrated barrage as they steamrolled into the base. Utilizing the opening, Starfox ran in. They were greeted with a wall of defensive fire. They would have to hold out until the ground troops arrived to reinforce them.
Fox laid down a lethally accurate slurry of red pulses from his trusty heavily modified blaster. This allowed his team to seek cover amongst the debris. Falco and Miyu then used their guns to get Fox into cover. They used this method to piggyback closer to the enemy. The landmasters rolled in behind them leveling structures and destroying entire squads in bright beams of green death.
As the tanks covered them from the majority of their enemy, Starfox took the fight to the guards defending the entrance to the underground base. As they approached, he howling of engines entering the atmosphere signaled the entrance of the soldiers who would be assisting the team in the raid. The heavy cornerian dropships landed a few meters away. The bay doors opened to disgorge the might of the CDF. The compounds guards although skilled, could not stand up to the superior marksmanship of the team, and the overwhelming power of the vengeful rescuers. Each team member was worth over a dozen commandos.
Peppy was a campaigner, having fought in hundreds of battles. His experience dwarfed the entire team out together, even in his old age he was a fearsome warrior. He had participated in the first Lylat Wars having earned a reputation for his skill, when he served alongside James Mccloud.
Slippy on the other hand, was not a fighter. His value lay in his mechanical knowledge and his ability to fly an Arwing without getting shot down. But down here, in this fight to save his friend, he shined just as bright as the others. His usual bumbling replaced with a stalwart determination that was...inspiring.
Falco had a certain...flare, if you will, his combat style was entertaining. He acted as if he was a gladiator from Cornerian's ancient past. His moves were always showy, acting like his battle was being observed by a crowd roaring its approval. That didn't mean that he was careless and fake, on the contrary his boastful martial prowess, belied a serious and wrathful anger. The avian's rage at the ensnarement of his brother in arms was changed into the excessive, but also amazing feats he accomplished.
Fara had found herself sticking close to Slippy and Pepper, the two were still the only ones, besides Alex, that she felt comfortable around. The russet furred vixen was a decent combatant. She had been top of her class in the academy and she was glad that her skills had not diminished since then. She fought hard, harder then she had in any out of time before. This was a personal vendetta, they had stolen from her, a nice guy. Nice guys were hard to find nowadays, and she would be damned before she let him die.
Miyu and Fay the interceptor pilots, however, were not crack shots or skilled CQC experts. But what they did have was daring and bravery. Even though they knew that they were not the best, they tried all the same. And for their efforts, they were rewarded. Both had already claimed several of the enemy, and as they fought, their prowess visibly improved. Soon they were just as good as any other person on the team. Yet all their might was eclipsed when Krystal moved.
When they got to a certain range, Krystal began to unleash her fury. The smoldering vixen leaped over the barricades and fell among a squad of guards and destroyed them utterly. Her expertise with the staff superseding any of their hand-to-hand skills. As she stood over the wrecked foes she saw another group approaching and launched a trio of fireballs from the tip of her cerininan weapon. The fools never made it into cover.
The balls of flame exploded amidst them, the lucky ones were killed in the blast. The less fortunate were alive long enough to burn. As the others regrouped with the enraged vixen, none had the heart to put them out of their misery. "Well Krystal....shit." Falco muttered in awe as he took in her grisly handiwork.
She stood their, her purple and black bodysuit miraculously untarnished by the fires of war, and looked to the doors of the base. That is where her Alex was, and no one and no thing would stand in her way. Fay watched her friend with apprehension, she was not the same vixen she used to be. Fay just prayed that they would soon get Alex back and Krystal could go back to normal.
She missed him desperately to, but she couldn't act so angry, it just wasn't her. The collie was a kind soul, too innocent to truly become so furious. But she was glad she had a friend like Krystal, someone who could be strong enough for the both of them.
"All right guys, this is it." Fox said grimly as he walked to the massive metal doors of the underground base. He turned to look at all his friends. "He is here, down there somewhere, in the depraved hands of that horrible ape. We will go down, and we will bring him back home."
As the legendary orange vulpine spoke, the base around him was being subdued by the CDF soldiers. They fought with awe inspiring vigor, they had all heard of the human, and his work to keep the people of their home system safe from the terrible undead menace. Each soldier knew that they would give it their all, whatever it took to save the one who had done so much. This had been an all volunteer mission, and they had answered the call. So many had come that they couldn't take them all. In the end Pepper had decided on who would go. Fourteen tank crews and two hundred and fifty cornerian regulars. It was they who had finished the mop up and came to witness the end of Fox's speech.
The vulpine saw the crowd and upped his ante. "Alex, the human, who did everything he could, for a people he did not have any connection to, needs are help. And I ask all of you, WILL YOU ANSWER THE CALL!" He shouted that last part, and raised a closed paw in the air. The answer was deafening as Starfox, and the CDF roared in response. "Well then let's go get him!" Fox moved a paw to the side panel activated it. The doors to the base slid open.
Inside lay the defenders, the poor sods had no idea of what they would be facing. And as the doors to the base opened, they, in their final moments, saw.
The man, or whatever was left of him, could hear weapons fire outside his door. It seemed that something had not gone in his captor's favor. He chuckled grimly at that. No matter what happened to him now, he would know that his jailer had been foiled, his vile plotting prevented. The only wish left to the broken man was that before it was all said and done, he would be the one to end the bastard.
There was a particularly loud explosion and then silence, someone had won the fight in the room before his. He could only hope that whoever it was, they could finally put him out of his misery. The door to his chamber slowly began to open, the tangible light of either freedom, or the ending of his suffering lanced in from the cracked door. As it slowly slid open, the man without a name raised his tired and beaten head, and looked to see who had come to him. The light blinded his deprived eyes, turning the approaching figures into silhouettes.
They only thing he did hear was a female voice cry out in glee and sorrow. "ALEX!!" The at odds tones rang clearly in the smoggy thoughts of the stranger. It sparked something in him. There were women he knew, Krystal...Fay. And then there was a name, the one she had shouted.
Was that his name? After all this time, did he finally have a title to address himself? Or perhaps it was another trick of the many whispers in his diseased mind? In any case, it was too early to tell. He could hear growls of male rage and female wails as something activated the restraints. The chains that had been holding him up for what seemed like his entire life, clanked as they lowered him to the floor. Yet before they could hit the ground, he was grabbed by a unknown number of hands. These hands held him aloft, carrying him out of the darkness and into the light.
The defenders of the facility fell like harvested wheat before the might of the pissed of cornerians. One of their heroes had been captured and they would fight like beasts to get him back. Starfox led the charge into the underground depths. Fox in front, Krystal steps behind, both blasting away in concert with staff and blaster. The duo was the most dazzling, their familiar friendship allowing them to work so closely together. Right behind them was Fay Miyu and Falco. The three were amazing in their own regards, having been baptized in war, Fay and Miyu fought as hard and well as the great Falco himself. Lagging behind them was the aged hare and out of shape amphibian Peppy and Slippy. The two were not tough but they managed to keep up, pushing themselves beyond what they believed they could.
And finally, behind them were the rest of the soldiers, even the tank drivers had left their vehicles to join in the fighting below. They kept the majority of the enemy off Starfox so they could delve deeper into the compound and recover their missing man.
As Fox and Krystal ran, punishing any foolhardy enough to stand in their way, they kept a look out for the scientist responsible for this entire mess. They had to leave the soldiers behind to keep the extraction zone clear, as they went deeper inside. Starfox found an elevator and used it, the guards were no match for them inside they took a guess and headed for the deepest part of the base. The doors opened to a nightmare. There were numerous doors along both sides leading out from the opened elevator. Half way down the hall, a squad of guards had erected a haphazard barricade of chairs and a table.
Seven apes were lying in wait, as they rose up to attack, the team responded faster then the apes anticipated. They fired a salvo of blaster bolts into the simians, wounding several of them. In response, a trio of bolts hit Fox in the chest sending him to the ground in a heap.
Enraged, Falco dove forward and let loose a withering volley of powerful bolts. The strength of his handgun tore straight into the cover and out of the apes. Four of the seven were killed, cauterized holes blasting into their torsos. As the team covered her, Krystal rolled closer and launched a huge fireball that hit the apes position and consumed them in a raging inferno.
Not giving it a second look, they rushed over to Fox. As Miyu turned him over the vulpine groaned. There were three burn holes in his white ribbed flight jacket. He pulled it aside to reveal the armored bodysuit that Alex had given him, the suit had absorbed the trio of deadly lasers. "Lucky bastard!" Falco exclaimed happily.
"Don't feel like it." Fox moaned, clutching his now sore chest.
"Oh man up." Fara barked and nudged him with a boot. "Its not bad, you'll survive."
"Starting to regret letting you stay on." The orange vulpine mumbled jokingly as he was helped up by Slippy.
"Yeah well now your stuck with me." Fara teased, sticking her long tongue out at him.
"Whoo!" Fox muttered half heartedly, waving his arms in fake cheer.
"All right enough playing around, we've got a human to rescue!" Peppy stopped their bantering, reminding them of the solemness of their mission and making them nod, continuing to look for their lost man.
As they walked down the corridor they could see into the cells from the one sided windows. Inside lay the broken remains of the ape's own people. Most huddled in corners and whispered madly to themselves. It seemed that the scientist had experimented on his lackeys. That made them hate the vile ape even more, sadly they had not found him in the attack up to this point. They could only assume that he had jumped ship and abandoned his men, another deplorable act.
At the far end of the corridor laid a door, faraway from the others. It seemed to have been purposefully placed away from the hallway ceiling lights. It was the only one left to check, so with thumping hearts they opened the door.
As the light filtered in, they could see its occupant, he was not at all in good shape. Krystal ran forward, her body was trembling as she cried out in happiness. "ALEX!" Yet soon her shout turned into a mewl. The man they had come to rescue was hanging from giant metal chains, a meter and a half off the ground. But that wasn't the worst part, his left arm had been sewed up by what must have been a sadistic surgeon, his face was a bruised wreck, left cheek sagging, his right shoulder hung limply from an obviously dislocated socket, and his legs and torso trickled a dark crimson river, cascading down the tattered black body suit he wore. The only thing that was going for them was the fact they could still see his chest move, signifying he still lived.
Fox snarled and growled like a caged beast as he saw his friend. The orange vulpine's paws clenched and unclenched, his dagger-like claws flexed in anger. The sheer outrage on his muzzle was mirrored on the other men's faces. This injustice could not stand, they would find his kidnapper and subject him to the righteous fury of the Starfox team. But before that, they would have to get Alex out of here.
Falco paced in the doorway, his anger had not been sated, in point of fact it had been inflamed. This was not how he wanted it to be, Alex should have been waiting for them, with a hilarious quip and a laugh. He SHOULD NOT be hanging almost lifelessly off the chains of some underground hellhole. The avian muttered to himself, the words "vengeance" and "retribution" were the ones he repeated the most.
Peppy, the usually emotionally contained hare, had a few undetectable tears rolling down the grey fur of his muzzle. He had known that it would not be easy, when they found him, but this was unexpected! The damn ape doctor had really done a number on him. If he wasn't shattered before, he definitely was now.
As Slippy numbly stumbled over to the button that would lower Alex down, he could hear the keening wails of the women as they saw what had been done to the kind and brave man they had all grown to know and love. As he slammed the vile controller for the contraption Slippy felt a dark feeling manifest in his gut. The toad was usually easy going and, he had to admit, a little of a pushover. But when he saw the man who had pledged himself to the rescue of his father, the little amphibian found an inner strength begin to grow. He would find the ape responsible and bring him down to his knees.
The button pressed, the chains clattered as they strangely, almost softly lowered the one they had been holding, to the ground. Before he could even touch the floor, Fay ran up and grabbed his body. Krystal Miyu and Fara soon joined her as they lowered him and released the confining steel contraptions.
Krystal brought a shaking blue paw to his head and gently trailed it down the ruined side of his face. She was beyond the point of tears, she was so upset she couldn't even produce them. She gasped when he moaned "Krystal...Fay." And brought his only remaining hand to her paw. The other arm moved subconsciously, but lacked the appendage to hold out. She grasped the hand and held on tightly Fay had grabbed it also when she heard him call her name. His eyes opened for a brief moment, golden and wild, and he mumbled out one sentence that chilled her blood as his eyes locked onto hers. "W-who am I?" He then fainted, and went limp, breathing turning shallow and a disturbing gurgle resonating from his chest.
With unbelievable speed, they took him away from that dark place. When the soldiers had seen him they let loose animalistic howls of rage and anguish. This should not happen to good people, especially one who had given much for them. With grim resolution they helped Starfox get him off the planet. Taking him up in a gunship as the team took their fighters back.
Once back on The Great Fox, they immediately carried him to the medical bay. They set him on a cot and wired him up to the machine. It didn't look good, it was even worse then they had guessed. In addition to the obvious wounds, he had several broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and his leg bones had been cracked. It would take at least a year of rehabilitation before he could even being to return to normal. The only light shining in the darkness was that they had fixed him up some and should be able to make a replacement robotic limb for his left arm. But they would need to do it on Corneria, as they didn't have the facilities in The Great Fox to do that. Lupa had done what she could before she left to go get Penelope. All that was left was to hope that he awoke from his coma.
Fox walked over to the comatose human and placed a orange paw on his left shoulder. "Alex, I will see you get better, I swear it." He turned and walked out of the infirmary, he had to set the way back into the ship with ROB's help.
Falco stood sentinel at the foot of the bed, even though their was no need he had taken up the job. It was a surprising move from the otherwise stone cold avian. Slippy and Peppy sat in a couple of chairs at the side of the cot. They talked quietly amongst themselves, occasionally looking back to the bed.
Krystal had crawled onto the bed with Alex, snuggling up to his beaten form. She refused to abandon him, no matter how bad a condition he was in. Fay also got on the bed, laying on his other side. Miyu and Fara had pulled up the last two chairs in the room to the bedside. They all watched over the man who had become so much to them.
An hour later, after Krystal and Fay had fallen asleep, the doors opened and a nervous Penelope and Lupa walked in. The young child seemed to understand what was going on as she didn't enter with her usual playfulness. She was actually rather subdued as she plodded to the side of his bed, her shoeless hindpaws pattered with each soft pad hitting the ground. The pup clambered onto the bed and snuggled in-between Krystal and Fay to lay on his chest. Luckily, they had been able to reset his ribs and inflate and patch his lung. Otherwise she would have worsened his condition.
Lupa moved to stand by Falco, and turned to him. "How bad is it?" She saw him with a doctors eye, but wanted to get his opinion as well.
The avian sighed and replied heavily. "Pretty bad, but I know he'll pull through, the bastard is tough." He turned to her, blue eyes glowing with suppressed rage. "You should have seen what they did to him." Falco's feathers stood up straight, signifying his anger. "If I find that ape son of a bitch I'll kill him!"
Lupa patted his shoulder, calming him. "Give him one for me will ya?"
"With pleasure." Falco grunted, turning his focus back to his assumed charge. Lupa stood next to him quietly, waiting for the moment that either Alex woke up or they got back to Corneria.
Fox sat on the bridge alone. The vulpine was staring at the star charts, watching the emblem depicting The Great Fox as it neared Corneria. As he pondered the recent events, he growled to himself.
The only other time he could recall being this upset was when he was told his father was gone. This monster, Liedman, needed to be out down like a rabid animal. This orange vulpine would be the one to carry out the sentence. There would be no trial for the ape, just swift justice by the barrel of a gun. His bracer vibrated and released a tune. "Fox."
"This is General Pepper, how did the operation go?"
Fox exhaled loudly and leaned back in his padded chair. "It was a success, but it wasn't as great as we hoped."
"What's the problem?" The old hound's voice was concerned.
"Well we got Alex, but I don't know if he will recover." The orange vulpine began rubbing the bridge of his muzzle. Why couldn't life be easier?
"Care to elaborate?"
"I think it would be better to see for yourself sir." Fox replied sadly, he didn't think he could go in detail over the line without breaking down.
"I...see, meet me at Cornerian Medical then." Pepper ordered.
"Copy that sir." The communicator went dark, making the bridge quiet again, but the silence brought thinking. Fox did not want to think, it was not happy thoughts.
As it turned out, Alex did not wake up before they landed. They had to wheel him aboard the gunship, the same one from last time, and fly him down to the planet. Once more they found themselves on the roof, the same team of doctors as before. Fox couldn't help but feel a dark irony in it all. They even almost had the same room, but went to the one adjacent to it instead.
All they could do now was wait. Soon Pepper arrived with his bodyguard entourage. He walked in and took in the state of the team and the incapacitated human in the bed. He went over to Fox. "What happened?"
Fox and the others then filled him in in the events prior to their arrival, telling the story up until that point. Pepper looked thoughtful, rubbing the bottom of his muzzle, deep in contemplation. He was deeply concerned for Alex; but even more so about this mad scientist. For all he knew, the crazy ape was trying to make those godawful markers somewhere.
Suddenly Alex shot up from the bed, startling everyone. He cringed and held his stomach with his remaining hand. Then he froze and slowly looked up to the people arrayed around him. "Who the fuck are you guys!" He growled.