After Leon had left, Mariko asked, "Bill, how long before this thing kicks in, and what is it suppose to do?"
"About an hour," replied Bill, "It twists your memories into nightmares, you know it's not real, but you can't stop it." Bill's voice began to crack.
"Leon must be getting desperate," swallowed Mariko, "I have no idea how this thing is going to do to me, other than it not going to be as planned."
"Best case scenario?" asked Fox from his cell.
"No effect at all." replied Mariko.
"Worst case?' asked Bill.
"It completely fries my brain and I die." muttered Mariko. A sharp pain lanced between her temples, Mariko yelped.
"Mari?!" yelled Fox.
"I think it's kicking in." she gasped.
"It's only been ten minutes!" gasped Bill.
"Oh the joys of being a Knight." growled Mariko, her powers were lashing out trying to fight the effects of the Brain Mess and then were blocked by the special cell she was in causing feedback, and the pain in her skull. The only plus right now was that the Brain Mess's waves were too busy fighting her powers to effect her memories, but it hurt! "Keep quiet gang." she gasped, "My powers have a mind of their own right now and if I can't hear you, you should be safe." She yelped again and another dose of feedback hit her.
Fox swallowed and began to pace, wishing he had asked Bill how long the effects of the Brain Mess lasted. The day came and went, Mariko's cell had been deathly quiet overnight. Fox sighed and hoped that she was all right.
Early the next morning the New Atlantis was undercloak and gliding towards the convoy as it made it's way to Venom. As they got closer Boomer's eyes widened as she scanned the small unit of escort fighters that circled around the two freighters. "Hello."
"What's up?" asked Ariel looking over Boomer's shoulder. She noticed two ships out of the fifteen patrolling the convoy were highlighted.
"All of the fighters are Invader II's and III's, good ships but not the best at least when compared to others. Except these two, they are Wolven II's, the Wolven Class is flown by only one unit in Lylat, Star Wolf."
"Great," grumbled Ariel, "Andross's group of Star Fox Wanna-Be's, this is not good Boomer, why are you still grinning?"
"There are four Star Wolf pilots, the two out there are the weakest ones." snickered Boomer, "Andrew Olkonny, Andross's nephew, and I think you know the other since you knew James McCloud, Pigma Dengar."
"That low life, two bit traitor." growled Ariel, "Your right Boomer, this could be fun." Ariel then began to give Delphi instructions for the battle ahead, as she worked she stated "Just leave Pigma to me and I'll be happy."
"No prob." chuckled Boomer and she darted down to the hanger bay to run a final check on the ships before launch.
Mariko slowly open her eyes, that number with the Brain Mess was something that she did not want to repeat anytime soon. She held both sides of her head and winced, she had a killer migraine, on top of her body's protests on moving. Her nose caught to scent of something smoking, she looked up and noticed what looked like part of her cell wall had been blown out. Closer examination revealed parts of what was the blocker that kept her powers in check. A slow grin spread across her face, the constant pounding by her out of control powers must have blown the thing up! She had her powers back, she was about to call to the others when she picked up somebody coming to the area. Her now working powers told her that it was Wolf O'Donnell and he was coming to see her. She grinned evilly, and reached under the steel bench she was lying on to pull out his dagger. She had it all along, and stashed it in the cell when she was captured, but it wasn't much use against stone and lasers. Now it looked like it would be very useful indeed.
Wolf O'Donnell, was whistling a tune as he entered the cell block, he couldn't wait to see what the Brain Mess had done to Mariko. As he walked by Fox's cell he paused, "Morning." he chuckled, "Did you sleep well?"
Fox fought the urge to reach through the laser bars and rip that smug grin off of Wolf's face. He didn't reply, just glared at Wolf with hatred.
"I'll take that as a no." continued Wolf, "Let's see how your girlfriend slept." As he made his way to Mariko's cell.
Fox exploded, "Haven't you done enough to her?!?!"
Wolf smiled darkly, "We've only just begun." He then punched in the code that would temporarily shut down the bars, they reactivated as he stepped inside the cell. He smiled as he spotted the bloody battered heap of a Knight on the bench. He pulled out her saber from under his jacket and tapped it on the bench, "Wakey, wakey," he chuckled.
Mariko decided not to respond just yet. Wolf snorted, "And here I was prepared for a spitting fury when you saw that I have your precious saber, looks like I'll never get my dagger back, looks like this will have to do."
"Wanna bet?" muttered Mariko. Then quicker than Wolf could follow Mariko pulled out the dagger and threw it at Wolf with all the power she could muster behind it. It drove through his shoulder and the momentum carried him across the cell and the dagger embedded itself into the wall. Wolf's howl of pain got everybody's attention.
"How?" he choked out, trying to pull out the dagger with his free hand.
Mariko slowly picked herself up and grabbed her saber from where Wolf had dropped it. "The Brain Mess had an interesting side effect." she hissed, "My powers went haywire and blew out all the safeguards in this cell. Later Wolfie!" Using her saber she killed the bars and darted out.
"Mari!" yelled Fox as she came out.
"Hang on." she muttered, "I'll have you out in a sec."
"No way!" hissed Fox, "There's no way we could all get out in our current state, your the only one who can, get going!"
"You expect me to leave you here?!?!" she gasped.
"It's the only way and we both know it." replied Fox, "Wolf's yelling is bound to get somebody's attention, so get moving!"
Mariko nodded and tore off before the adrenaline rush wore off and the pain from her sessions with Leon kicked in. Leaving Wolf in her cell with the dagger she had so thoughtfully returned.
Pigma was hungry. That was no surprise to anybody, Pigma was always hungry, therefore the only thing on his mind was getting back to Venom in time for his mid-morning, after his morning snack. Though that thought soon fled from his mind as several high-powered lasers hit his wings and a customized black fighter roared by his Wolven II.
"What the...!!??" he gasped.
At almost the same time Andrew yelled "Pigma! We have a problem!"
"I know!" he answered as he spotted several of the Invader II's shot down. "A black fighter just winged me, care to give me a hand to send this fool to crashing down."
"Black?" replied Andrew, "I'm being nailed by a blue and white...." Andrew never got to finish, static filled his com link. He whimpered, then cursed and attempted to take down the blue and white fighter.
Boomer yawned and did a few barrel rolls to dodge Andrew's shot. "Bill was right." she muttered, "Andrew is pathetic." She clicked on her com-link to see how Ariel was doing, she was greeted by a few chuckles, "Having fun?" she asked.
Unlike the communications of all the Venom ships, their's were still working. "Oh a blast." snickered Ariel, "I was able to notify Pigma who I was before Delphi knocked out all the communications, I swear I can see him sweat from here."
"You have that bad of a rep?"
"No. He's just seen me in action before." At that moment Pigma scored a direct hit on the Blackfire. Ariel swore a blue streak and tore after Pigma, no longer amused, but down right furious.
Boomer sighed as she spotted Pigma running for his life with Ariel in close pursuit. She continued to hammer on Andrew until he ran off with smoke coming out of his engine. She then contacted the New Atlantis for the next phase of the plan. Earlier they had programmed Delphi to not only knock out the communications, but to take out most of the Invaders and damage the freighters. She was about to hail one of the two freighters when it exploded.
"What the heck!!!" screeched Ariel. She had just finished Pigma and left him to follow Andrew when to explosion occurred.
"Self destruct program." answered Boomer, she began to click on the small keypad on her console, "I'm trying to stop the other one from doing the same, " After a minute ticked by Boomer swallowed, "Too late, the destruct has been activated, we've got get out of here Ariel."
"Why? The first explosion wasn't so bad."
"Well, " answered Boomer "Looks like they found Alpha Base's bunker."
"With all the explosives in it?'
"Yep." squeaked Boomer, "I was able to pull up a list of the cargo, several experimental weapons plus a whole mess of nova bombs, and that's just the top of the list."
"Last one outta here's space dust!" yelled Ariel.
"Right behind you." answered Boomer, "We've got three minutes." Both women turned to where the New Atlantis was waiting and gunned it. Three minutes later, both small fighters shook with the force of the explosion.
"Whoo.." breathed Ariel looking back at the fading fireball.
"What you said, " swallowed Boomer, "Double." As she leaned back in her chair to catch her breath the console beeped. "Now what?' As she clicked a few buttons the answer popped onto her screen. "Ariel, your not gonna believe this but we've got a squadron of Invader III's heading our way."
"Delphi, care to clarify?" asked Ariel.
"Affirmative," after a few moments Delphi came back on, "Scans of transmissions show a recent escape from Venom. Squadron lead by Leon Powalski dispatched to capture prisoner."
Boomer whistled, "Leon is the third member of Star Wolf, gotta be somebody pretty important to dispatch him for a re-capture."
"Then it's somebody I want to save." answered Ariel, she looked at her console, her shields were down to about 75%, she would be okay. "Delphi, can you identify which ship the escapee is flying?"
"Affirmative."
"Good, as soon as that ship comes into range, lock on with a tractor beam and pull it into the New Atlantis. Whoever is aboard can't be in good shape, we'll cover until it's in the hanger. Shall we do our good deed for the day Boomer?"
"Lemme at Leon and I'll be happy as can be." growled Boomer. Both fighters boosted toward the squadron.
Mariko was flying her stolen Invader II and wishing it was her arwing. The injuries she had sustained from Leon were catching up with her. As she fought to keep her vision clear another shot hit her wing. "Damn." she hissed, and then made the mistake of looking at her shield gauge, 10% left.
Leon smiled as he lined up a final shot on Mariko's ship, "I'll be sure to describe to Fox exactly how you died next time I see him dear." Leon got a rather unladylike response from Mariko. From out of nowhere laser shots rocked Leon's Wolven II. "Hey Leon!" snapped an angry female voice, "How about picking on somebody who can fight back!"
Leon looked around until he spotted a blue and white fighter on his tail, "If you insist." he hissed and gave the order for the other Invaders to take Mariko down. No answer, he then saw a black fighter cutting through them like a knife through butter. He was snapped back to reality by a few more lasers striking his ship. Giving his full attention to the dog fight he attacked the blue and white ship with a vengeance.
Mariko finally realized she was not dead, there were explosions all around her, but she was all right. A female voice came over her com-link, "Believe it or not, we're the good guys. Sit tight and we'll have these guys mopped up soon. Oh, and don't mind the tractor beam."
A ship about the size of the Great Fox uncloaked and shot a tractor beam at Mariko's battered Invader and slowly pulled the ship inside.
Leon swore as he spotted Mariko pulled to safety. The female's voice broke over his com again, "What's the matter Leon? Lose your new toy?"
"Who the heck are you?" he snapped, "I want to notify your next of kin when I slowly torture you to death!"
Boomer was seeing red as she snapped back, "Beatrice Gray."
Leon smiled, "Any relation to Bill Gray? I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."
Boomer growled.
"I'll take that as a yes." Leon continued, "Did he ever tell you what I did to him? Shall I describe his screams to you?"
As Leon continued to describe what happened to her brother Boomer's hand reached for the switch to the E-M Pulse, she set it to low and fought the urge to crank it all the way up. "Shut up." she hissed in a deadly voice.
"But I've just started." smiled Leon.
"No." hissed Boomer, "You just finished." By then she had locked on to his ship and let the pulse go.
The next thing Leon knew almost every electrical system on his Wolven II was either exploding or shorting out. He howled in surprise and pain as sparks from the console jumped around the cockpit. Luckily he was able to turn the failing jet back to Venom, the few remaining Invaders followed.
"Boomer." asked Ariel, "You okay?"
"No." hissed Boomer, "but I will be." She then sighed, "Let's get out of here before anything else happens."
Without another word both jets returned to the New Atlantis just before it recloaked and glided away from the battlefield.
The second the hanger bay doors were shut both Boomer and Ariel made a beeline for the Invader, or what was left of it. "Yow." remarked Boomer as one of the wings fell off and nearly hit her. Ariel had made it to the top of the jet and was opening up the canopy to see how the pilot was doing. The pilot was slumped over the console, whoever it was must of finally passed out. Ariel gently helped the person back in the seat to better access the injuries, when the pilot's face appeared Boomer did a double take. "Holy!!" she exclaimed.
"You know her?" asked Ariel looking at the young woman, she was a Knight, Ariel could tell that much by the red tattoo over her right eye.
"Mostly by reputation, Bill and I have met her a few times, her name is Mariko, and she's a member of Star Fox." answered Boomer.
"Right now she needs serious medical attention," replied Ariel, "Looks like she's been worked over with a shredder."
"A shredder named Leon." scowled Boomer, "About a year ago Leon had captured my brother and tortured him for a week, he's never really recovered." Her voice cracked, "Sure he looks fine, but it's the mental part that he's never gotten over."
By then Ariel had gotten Mariko out of the cockpit, "Sorry." murmured Ariel, "We'll get him back, and Mariko here might be able to help. Let's get her to the medical bay and clean her up a bit."
Leon finally made it back to Venom. He fumed as he climbed out of his badly damaged jet and stalked to Star Wolf's living quarters. On his way there he noticed Pigma and Andrew standing by a repair hanger as their Wolven II's were being pulled in. Both ships looked like Swiss cheese. "What happened?!" scowled Leon.
Pigma swallowed, "A pair of fighters attacked us and the convoy, they must have had back up, though we couldn't see it."
"Cloaking device." muttered Leon. "What did they look like?"
Pigma started to sweat, "I knew one of them, Ariel Triton, a mercenary that I knew when I was with Star Fox. She wasn't to thrilled to see me." he motioned to his jet.
Andrew butted in, "The other jet was a blue and white fighter.."
"What!" snapped Leon, "That little witch just took me down!" Pigma and Andrew looked at Leon blankly, then they saw his jet being ushered into the repair bay. "Ow." both said in synch.
As all three made there way back to their quarters Leon explained what happened.
"Uncle Andross is not gonna like this." whimpered Andrew, "The convoy is gone, Mariko escaped and got away, all caused by a pair of fighters."
"There are several more convoys enroute to Venom," answered Leon, "Hopefully we can make up for what happened to the first one, it's Mariko's escape that going to cause problems."
Pigma stuck his head out of the fridge and asked, "Meaning?"
"If Wolf didn't go down there alone to taunt her, she never would have escaped." swallowed Leon.
"Uh oh." muttered Andrew, "Where's he now?"
"In the medical building," stated Leon, "Mariko returned his dagger by driving it through his shoulder and into the wall, he was half dead from blood loss when he was finally freed. We figured out what happened through the surveillance tapes." Leon then swallowed, "Andross has stated that he wants to talk to Wolf when he recovers."
"Uncle Andross never wants to talk." swallowed Andrew.
"I know." replied Leon.
Meanwhile a dark figure slipped into Andross's private living quarters. Andross himself was reading over some reports on a small hand held vid-pad. The figure smiled, if this was how Andross handled his personal security, no wonder he needed help!
"You rang Emperor Andross?" drawled a female voice.
Andross dropped his vid-pad in shock, he spun around pulling a laser pistol from under his robe and pointing it at the intruder. Before he could fire the pistol flew from his hand and landed in the hands on the cloaked figure. Andross smiled, "I thought you were not going to come my dear."
"You called, I answered." replied the figure, "Especially when I heard that little Mariko was involved, pity she escaped."
"Pity." answered Andross, "That's also part of the reason I called you here Vixen."
The figure pulled off her hood and smiled, she was a female cat with off white fur and blood red, almost burgundy hair. A black tattoo identical to Mariko's covered her right eye. It marked her as a Rogue Knight, she wore tight fitting black pants and black leather tank top that laced up the front. A dark red hooded cloak swung around her a laser pistol and a saber hung from her belt. "What? Mariko herself, or her escape?"
"Both actually." replied Andross, "I sent the word out that I wished to employ a Rogue Knight and you were the only one who accepted. I need you to act as a counter to Mariko herself, originally I needed your skills to crack that witch and tell me what she knows."
"But now that she's escaped? What do you need me for?" remarked Vixen.
"I need you for two reasons." stated Andross, "The first should be obvious, I need you to hunt her down."
"And the second?" drawled Vixen.
Andross smiled as he explained exactly what he wanted Vixen to do.
Mariko slowly came back to reality. She ached all over, but at least she wasn't on that steel bench anymore. She quickly remembered that she had been rescued, but by whom and where she was now was still a mystery. She opened her eyes and looked around, she appeared to be on a ship, the medical area to be precise. "Ow." groaned Mariko.
Boomer peeked in at the noise. "Good. Your awake." sighed Boomer, "How are you feeling?"
"Awful, but grateful." replied Mariko, trying to get up, "Oh man, I'm gonna pay for my smart remarks to Leon for the next week at least." her eyes widened when she saw who was looking over her, "Boomer?"
"It's good to see you again Mariko, though I wish it was under better conditions."
"Me too, it’s good to see you again, and I finally got Fox to tell me about the pillow trick."
Boomer laughed for the first time since she discovered that Lylat was taken over by Andross, and her brother had been captured. "He's never figured out how I did that." Boomer quickly sobered, "How's Bill doing?"
"Last I looked, all right considering." Mariko replied, "Leon hadn't gotten a crack at him yet, though that might change now that I'm not there to distract Leon."
Boomer swallowed, Mariko touched the other woman's hand, "We'll get him out."
"You got that right." remarked a voice from the door. Both Boomer and Mariko looked up to see Ariel standing at the door. After the introductions were made, Mariko agreed to help out with the effort, as if there was any doubt.
"First thing is to get you a new ship, after you get back on your feet that is." stated Boomer, "No way we can repair that Invader you flew here."
"Good riddance." grumbled Mariko, "Compared to an arwing, that thing was useless. I may be able to help there, can you open a channel to the Imperial System?"
Ariel looked confused, "Sure. But why?"
"Time for me to call in a few favors." replied Mariko.
"Mariko! Thank the Gods!" exclaimed Commander Miyamato Usagi, ever since word had reached him about the state of the Lylat system about a month ago, he had been almost on the verge of panic. His twin sister, Mariko, was not only in Lylat but she was also a member of one of the most hated teams by Andross. After word of Star Fox's capture had reached him, he had waited for either word of her death, or word from Mariko herself. As a high ranking samurai of the Imperial System, his hands were tied until she called him. He stared at the video monitor with a mixture of relief and shock. Mariko looked awful. "What happened?"
Before he could launch into a further tirade, Mariko interrupted, "I'm all right Usagi. I was captured but I got loose, and I need to call in a few favors."
"Whatever you need I'll try to help, you know that." replied Usagi.
"I'm gonna hold you to that Brother." replied Mariko, she took a deep breath, "I need the prototype jet I helped test last time I visited you at White Star."
Usagi's jaw dropped open, he quickly regained his composure and replied, "Before I agree or disagree, dare I ask why you need it?"
"The Great Fox and all the arwings were captured, if I'm going help kick Andross out of Lylat and free the rest of my team I'm gonna need a ship with a bit more punch than your typical fighter. I believe that prototype fits the bill" stated Mariko.
Usagi sighed, he was hoping that Mariko would try to escape to the Imperial System, but she was as loyal to the Star Fox team as he was to his lord. If she was going to stay in Lylat, he might as well help her as best he could. If that meant giving Mariko the prototype of their most advanced jet, then so be it. "I'll have to clear it with Lord Kiyoshi first, but since you'll the only person who could actually fly that thing, I doubt that he would object. Contact me in a few days, I'll get it out of storage and figure out how to get it into Lylat."
"Thanks Usagi, I'll call you soon." replied Mariko before signing off.
"Okay," stated Boomer, "since that entire conversation was in the Imperial language, would you care to translate Mariko?"
"That was my twin brother Usagi," began Mariko, "occasionally I visited where he was stationed at White Star Castle. On my last visit I was asked to help test a new type of fighter. It was a mix of the maneuverability found in Cornerian jets, the heavy weaponry and advanced shields found in Imperial jets. It worked to a degree, most Imperial Pilots couldn't handle the advanced maneuverability so I was asked to help out."
"Since you had experience on one of the top Corneria fighters, the arwing."
"You got it." replied Mariko, "After the test phase, I left to go back to Lylat. Now that I need a ship I decided to call in a few favors and see if I can get that prototype jet. As Usagi said, I was the only person they could find, and trust enough, to fly it, so getting Lord Kiyoshi to give it to me shouldn't be a problem"
"Is it that good?" asked Ariel.
Mariko just smiled and replied, "You've got to see it to believe it."