Chapter Text
It was nearly time to go.
Wolf smiled to himself as he watched Fay put the finishing touches on the Flea's engine. She had worked nonstop for ten hours to get everything done, and she did it. The little canine actually finished the second Flea.
And it had only taken them about a week to do it.
The lupine hoped to God that the time in the other universe was faster than their own. If anything, he hoped it was slower, so Fox wouldn't suffer as much as he had.
"Told you it'd work out in the end," Panther remarked from his side, the feline's arm wrapped around Falco. Sometimes, Wolf forgot that they were together. He guessed he just never bothered to notice. He was dealing with his own demons at the time.
The lupine nodded. "You were right, Panther. I'm glad it has. This will all be over soon enough," he stated, crossing his arms.
"We'll have Fox back, yeah," Bill said, smiling. He was sitting up on a lab table, kicking his legs. Marcus was sitting beside him.
The kid seemed to like everyone he met, which was good. Wolf was trying to spend a bit more time with him, just so he could understand what Marcus liked and didn't like. He was a kid, after all. The little vulpine seemed to have taken a great liking to Fay, though.
"Almost done with this!" Fay called from the ship. "I've just gotta put the finishing touches on a few things, and then we're good to go!"
Wolf smiled. It was almost ready.
He would get Fox back, and soon.
-o0o-
"Teleport is almost ready. Run the system checks!" Bill called from his seat. Fox nodded, checking a readout on a screen near the captain's chair.
"Heat sinks are nominal," the vulpine said. Bill nodded, looking over to Miyu.
"Mag flux at 58.4 percent, reading a static output. We're all good here," the lynx said.
"Teleporter on the hull is still reading strong; no damage," Fara said.
"Everything is as good as its gonna get, Bill," James called, crossing his arms. The hound nodded, grinning.
"I guess we're ready to go, then, dudes. Start the teleporter up, Panther!" Bill exclaimed nervously.
Panther gave a thumbs up, tapping at a few keys on his console. Fox heard a distinct humming sound, which must've meant that the teleporter was warming up. Oh boy.
"Do you think the process will be uncomfortable?" Fox asked worriedly. Bill hummed to himself.
"Well… we're ripping into space and creating a wormhole, so I'd imagine it'll feel weird, dude. Maybe like you're being stretched or something. We'll just have to find out; the orbital gate was slightly different than this, dude," the hound explained, sounding a hit too calm for his own good. Fox sighed stressfully.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Fara said, cutting in. "That isn't even the real problem. Focus on stopping the aparoids and finding our missing friends. That's the most important part," She said, trying to sound reasurring. It wasn't working very well, though.
"I'll… try to focus on that," Fox replied, rolling his eyes.
"Teleporter is all warmed up. Strap yourselves in, boys. It's going to be a wild ride!" Miyu exclaimed. Fox nodded, doing as the lynx instructed. It seemed that everyone took that advice, as well.
"Alright, we're going to teleport in three…" Bill started. Fox swallowed.
This was it.
"Two…"
The last stage.
"One…"
Go time.
"Teleporter engaged! Hold on, dudes!" Bill exclaimed, slamming a button on his console to start the teleport.
Fox looked out of the bridge to see purple bolts of lightning crackling in front of them. They gained number and intensity until it formed a huge circular mess of purple bolts. The vulpine guessed that the teleporter had done it's job. The portal looked absolutely terrifying.
"Moving!" James exclaimed, and the ship lurched into motion, edging towards the purple mass. Fox swallowed, tightening his restraints even more. He had a very strong feeling that he wasn't going to like what was going to happen.
The Lone Wolf came into contact with the portal, and the entire ship was sucked inside the vortex. All Fox could see out of the bridge was purple, but he felt like he was being stretched out like a rubber band being pulled back. The mothership must've been moving incredibly fast for the sensation to be so extreme. That was why it was called a teleporter, after all, Fox supposed. He was too busy trying not to puke to care that much.
Almost a full, agonizing minute later, the ship lurched back into regular motion, ejecting everyone from the teleporter. Fox sighed in relief, but it was too short to last. The bright green and purple sphere of the aparoid homeworld was looming ahead of them.
"Miyu! Are we cloaked at all?" The vulpine questioned sharply.
The lynx nodded. "I put up our radar jammer, as well as camouflage. The aparoids can't see us. Now we just need to make a game plan before we go all in," She explained, sounding apprehensive.
Fox nodded, unstrapping himself from the captain's seat and walking over to the circular table that was located in the center of the bridge. Everybody else followed suit, surrounding the table, and a hologram of the aparoid homeworld appeared above it. Fox stared at the sphere with growing apprehension.
"What's the plan? What are our options here?" Fox asked, placing his hands on the table.
Bill scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well… we need to find our friends before we go in to destroy the planet. Problem is, we don't know where they are, dudes," he pointed out.
Panther seemed to perk up slightly. He started to tap out in Morse on the table. 'Aparoids aren't alive. Biometric scanners?' It read. Fox nodded in understanding as everyone else looked on in confusion.
"What did he say?" Miyu questioned.
"He suggested that we use biometric scanning to find your friends, as aparoids aren't alive. The only people with life signs are your buddies," Fox explained.
"That's very smart," his father started. "Nobody else would be on this planet, so the search would be narrowed down immensely. I think it'll work out for us," he said, nodding.
"I'll set them up for use," Fara said, walking over to her console and starting to tap keys on its screen. Fox turned his attention back to the hologram as little red dots began appearing on it. They seemed to be concentrated on one small area near the planet's equator.
"That's where everyone is," Fox said, pointing to the spot. "Let's see… Leon… Fay… Katt… Falco… Slippy… and Wolf. That should be it, right?" The vulpine asked, staring intently at the point on the map.
Bill nodded. "Yeah, dude. Should be. Now that we have the location, we need a plan of assault," he remarked.
Fara scratched her chin for a moment. "Wouldn't that be one of the most guarded areas on the planet?" She asked.
Miyu nodded at her. "It would, actually. We don't have any information on that spot, so improvising is the only possible thing we could do there. But who would go and rescue them?" She asked.
"Obviously we would rescue them before trying to break into the planet to use the virus on the aparoids. So, as much as I don't like this, I think Bill and Fox should go get them while we stay up here," James said after a moment of consideration.
"Sounds like a smart plan. Keep it quick. But with the amount of people down there, how would we get them out, dude?" Bill questioned. Fox swore.
"We don't have enough fighters for everyone. The only thing to do is clear the area and hope for the best. Lone Wolf needs to stay up here," Miyu said begrudgingly.
Fox nodded. "If you keep the cloaking up and don't fire any weapons, the aparoids won't know this is up here. Sounds like we have a real plan now," he replied.
"One more thing," Fara started, looking slightly concerned. "Remember you're wearing tons of tech strapped to your bodies. If an aparoid gets its hands on you, you're done. Be careful," the female vulpine stressed, looking at Bill and Fox.
"Very true. We will be," the vulpine replied. Bill was busy scratching his chin, staring down at the holomap.
"Uh, dudes. Problem here. How are Fox and I going to sneak out everyone without alerting the aparoids? It seems kind of impossible," the dog said, raising a good point.
"Very true… shit. What can we do about that, then? Any ideas?" Miyu questioned, looking annoyed. James cleared his throat, wanting to speak.
"I've dealt with these kinds of scenarios before. A diversion nearby wherever the group is being held could take all of the aparoid presence away from you two and give enough time to get them out," the older vulpine explained.
Panther nodded, as did everybody else. It was a very good idea, but who would provide the distraction, exactly?
"I've can do it. I'll be the distraction for you guys," Miyu said, raising her hand. Fox nodded grimly. As much as he didn't want her to, it was the only way.
"If that's our best shot, then we'll go with it," Fara said with a sigh.
"We may have to work out a way to get the Lone Wolf down onto the surface of the planet if we want to get everyone back alive without making trips, dudes," Bill pointed out.
"I'm guessing you don't have transports, then?" Fox questioned, resting his hands on the table in front of the holographic projection. The canine shook his head.
"Unfortunately. However, we can hold three extra in my Arwing, dude. There's a small cargo bay in our models for getting supplies. You should take one of ours as well so we can get more people back," Bill replied. Fox nodded in agreement.
"So I suppose we have our plan all hammered out, then?" James asked, glancing at everyone for confirmation.
"Yeah, I think so. All that's left is to carry it out. First, I think we need some reconnaissance of the area where our friends are being held. The Wolfen has a cloaking device on it," Miyu explained, switching off the holomap.
Panther looked up just then. 'I'll go. I'll do it,' he tapped on the table. The vulpine nodded, relaying what he had said in Morse to everybody else.
"Are you sure this is a risk you are willing to take?" Fara asked, looking at the feline with a dubious expression. Panther nodded grimly.
"Yes. Wolfen has visual sensors. You can watch," he tapped. Fox relayed the message, and the crew seemed to understand at this point.
"Alright. You should go right now. We don't have any time to lose at this point. The fate of this entire system hangs in the balance here," Miyu said, looking at everyone and crossing her arms.
Panther nodded, and started to briskly walk out of the bridge. Fox hoped he would be alright out there. The vulpine didn't want these people to lose any more of their friends.
"Do you honestly think Panther will be okay out there?" James asked once the feline had left the bridge. Fox shrugged.
"I don't know, honestly. In our universe, he's a badass. I'm sure he can take care of himself just fine, but this Panther seems much more broken than ours. His tone is much more solemn and forlorn here, as well," the vulpine explained, crossing his arms.
"He lost his vocal cords and a few people he loved in the process. He has every right to be like that," the older vulpine replied with a sigh. Fox nodded gravely.
"It's just time for us to wait and hope he'll be alright out there. The pressure is on for all of us now. No turning back from here," the younger vulpine said, touching his cybernetic eye unconsciously.
Another few hours, and the fate of the system would be determined. That was a weight on the group's shoulders.
Fox just couldn't let these people go and leave without a second thought, no matter how badly he wanted to see Wolf again. They all had to make sacrifices in this fight.