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Chapter -20-

Jailbreak

Macbeth...

Krystal paced the cell. "I don't trust Shears."

"Did you sense something?"

She shook her head. "No. He doesn't intend to hurt us. He intends to use us to assassinate Andrew so he doesn't put Andy's forces in a lather. After that, he intends to abscond with Andrew's ships, dash away into hiding, and, after some time, emerge on Venom at Dash Bowman's side."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," she replied with a firm nod. "Shears assumes Dash's youth can be used against him, allowing him to manipulate Dash."

"So ... Shears has an agenda..."

"Come off it, Fox, doesn't everyone to some degree?"

Fox feigned a grin. "Fair point."

Krystal wrapped her arms around herself, as if crossing her arms, but with her forearms over her belly instead of her chest.

To Fox, her stance made her appear to be cold. He picked up a thin blanket from the wall-mounted bed and brought it to her.

She smiled at the way he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders but shook her head. "I didn't even realize I was standing this way. I ... guess, subconsciously, I am being a might protective of this tiny zygote. I'm just ... so excited, yet so afraid. What if I overdo it, and cause a miscarriage? I don't know. We have no reception here, and I want nothing more than to look up all my gestation questions. I want to start looking for Mespelgardths."

"Mespel...gardth?"

"Women whose entire career is based on helping other women through pregnancy and childbirth."

"Oh. The Lylat equivalent term is 'midwife' in Cornerian."

"Ah.Midwife. Sounds posh." She continued her pacing, from bulkhead to bulkhead. "In my language, the direct translation is guardians of fire, because the act of labor is both burning for the woman and gives her a temper hotter than any flame. Husbands, in times of antiquity, before modern medical understanding of child birthing, would sometimes grow frustrated with the woman's hot temper, and it was the job of the Mespelgardth to stand up for the mother-to-be, and be her guardian, should the mother-to-be say something churlish ... childbirth can sometimes be intense and full of hormones and pain."

"Sometimes, Krystal?"

She replied with a firm nod. "On rare occasion, birthing can be quite simple and lacking in drama or pain. Must be nice, right? Well, surprise, it's rarely that easy for first time mothers, but it has happened on occasion. For my aunt, it was a bloody bee sting; a burning like a bad cramp, a rush of adrenaline, and then it was over. She was in labor for roughly forty-five minutes, and the child came out blinding, just like that. She had three total, and only the first one was difficult, but not very. Little runt was ten days late."

"You sound like you're envious."

"Ah, yes, my tone of voice. My aunt Solveig had very wide hips. Much wider than my own. Solvey, as everyone called her, was my paternal aunt, and the women of that side of the family were built for birthing. The gorgeous bint." Krystal looked down with a sigh. "She was too nice, too sweet. I shouldn't be spiteful of the dead, she was a classy lady. Never a spat with anyone. Yes, I was jealous, heh."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Krystal smiled softly. "You're a good man, y'know that, Fox McCloud? Anyhow, I take after my mother ... petite in frame and height. Small in thigh and chest. That was considered ugly on Cerinia."

"It's considered beautiful on Corneria."

"Lucky me, then, right?" She chuckled softly. "I've always loved that you find me so attractive. Moving on, then." She turned back the other direction, continuing to pace the deck. "My mother suffered for seventy hours in labor, and her birthing experience? That lasted nearly ten of those hours ... counting from the time that the birthing canal opened fully, 'til the moment the umbilical cord was cut. I was stubborn from the moment I came into this universe."

Fox chuckled at the way she ended her statement on a bit of dry humor. "I won't lie, I've said your name more than once with a clenched fist."

"I know, love." She flashed him a soft smile. "Truth-be-told, I'm glad I had an emotional effect on you." She lifted a finger to keep him from replying just yet. "However ... I'm sorry I went out of my way to hurt you and betray your trust. Even when you bottled your emotions at the sight of me with Panther, you chose to trust me, and at that time, I misled you on purpose. More than once. And I look back on my behavior with disgust."

"Krystal, it's fine..."

"No, it really isn't. Having you back in my life has been a boon, and having your forgiveness has been a bunce."

"A bunce?"

"A bonus. Some Cerinian words are surprisingly similar to Cornerian words, some are similar to older root Lylat words, upon which Cornerian was based. Bunce and bonus are such words. Fox, I have wanting nothing more than to experience motherhood. I wanted to know I wasn't to be the last of my race. But now that it's happening, I'm terrified of losing it. I'm ... I expected to be so excited, and I imagine I will be once I have time to process it, and confirm it with a doctor I trust. But right now? I'm bloody scared out of my wits. I'm scared of doing something to lose this child. I'm scared I'll mess things up. I'm scared of change. Most of all, though, I'm petrified at the very notion that Reginald Shears was mistaken. And I'm doing my damnedest to keep it all together."

"You could've fooled me."

"I'm faker than a chav, right now, Fox. Beneath this cheeky exterior is a little girl standing atop a glass ladder of hopes and dreams, praying it doesn't crack ... wondering if I'll fall to my death should it crack. Not literally, of course, but my inner child-like heart cannot seem to tell the difference, defying all logic and reason."

"Being the last potential member of your race is extremely stressful. You won't feel any better when our child is born."

"I won't?"

Fox shook his head. "Not in the least. You'll stand at the bottom of a slide and look up at a toddler who feels confident and excited, and look at you in confusion because he or she will sense that mommy is scared that they'll fall and get hurt. The first time they get on a bicycle, even with training wheels, you'll be afraid they will fall. The first time, even the hundredth time that they climb into a cockpit, if they chose to fly, you will be petrified at the thought of something going wrong ... you'll be afraid at the smallest possibility of them getting in over their head."

"Just ... bringing that up makes my stomach drop more than I could have ever expected. How did you know?"

"Because I remember what it felt like a few years ago ... scared shitless of losing you in a battle."

"You don't seem to dread it anymore."

"I'm not an academic genius, but if I were to ask one, they would have this long, drawn out explanation how every time I was depressed about Fara's death, I was filled with cortisol or whatever those hormones are when we're angry, grieving, and ... you know ... the downers. I'm guessing the Krazoa broke those neural connections and freed me from being held back by my fears."

"It sounds like you understand it as much as an academic genius, love."

"I understand that we can program ourselves to be held back my anxieties and fears and panic and all that crap. I did that to myself. The Krazoa freed me of those feelings. I'm afraid to lose you, but I'm able to handle it, now."

"How did you know I'd feel that way about the mere notion of losing a child I've never met or bonded with?"

"As afraid as I was of losing you, because I never properly processed losing Fara Phoenix, I can't even imagine what you will feel about trying to protect a baby that you birthed. Someone you'll have bonded with. Not just chemically, but because you've made a telepathic connection with them. That's something no one else in Lylat could ever understand. You'll be afraid of being the last of your race again. You'll be afraid, and rightfully so, of the idea of burying your baby. That's just ... unnatural. It's why my mother used to freeze with a look of terror when I climbed up on the kitchen table as a kit. I didn't get it back then, but I understand now. She was afraid to yell at me or dash toward me, because she was afraid that if she startled me, I'd fall. She waited until she pulled me off the table, then she let me have it."

Krystal chuckled, experiencing the memory through Fox. "You were a bratty boy."

"I had my moments, yeah. But now I'm starting to think that's all boys."

"Oh, mercy, is it?"

"Yeah. Why, you think you'll have one?"

"According to the oracle, I'll likely mother a boy. I was excited. Girls are drama and emotional work, and trying to placate phases of vanity, and..." She shrugged half-heartedly. "But now I'm wondering if I wasn't premature to worry less."

"I get it. But, yeah, uh ... boys climb on your kitchen table and work up the courage to jump down and land on the floor. Why? To prove the feeling of invulnerability we feel at that age. Some of us grow out of that, some grow into it at a later age, but once we feel invincible, it's hard to make us grow out of that mentality unless we break an arm or a leg, heh. Or, like, if we see loved ones die, and become aware of our mortality. Or if we grow old and feel frail."

"You've seen more death than most during the Lylat Wars. You're very aware of the fragile nature of mortality. But you feel very confident in a cockpit. How do you do it?"

"How do you?" Fox chuckled with a shrug. "I've seen many girls who worry about what could go wrong, but not you. You worry about what could happen to me if you are not around."

"Well ... that's true. Star Fox has a better chance of surviving if I'm there to watch your backs. I'm ... I suppose I'm more confident in my telepathy than I am of your talent as a team. Ironically, you're one of the most elite squadrons in Lylat. Natural talent. Even your weakest link in battle is as good as a fairly accomplished fighter pilot because he's trained with the best."

"That 'weakest link' is still better in a tank than anyone else I know. And he's good with a gun, great with grenades, and he knows how to stay in formation, and he watches my back. He watches our shields, he watches the status of our ships, mechanically, and he punches up some sort of algorithm that determines, with ninety percent accuracy, how close we are to defeating difficult enemies."

She smiled. "You think highly of Slippy, don't you. Even when Peppy was grumbling at him for not being focused, and even when Falco was shouting at him for not pulling his weight in an offensive attack ... you still put a great deal of stock into Slippy's abilities."

Fox chuckled. "Hell yeah. Everyone thinks Falco is my best friend, but those are the people that don't know me. Slippy and I grew up together. We're like first cousins."

"Really? Cousins? Not brothers?"

"No, Falco is my brother ... we argue about everything, especially when he eats all the best junk food snacks in the pantry. Slippy is the cousin I'd start a gang with."

"Well, technically, you did. But every team is as good as their weakest link, or so the saying goes. While that was not exactly a philosophy on Cerinia, it most certainly is throughout Lylat, so what do you see in him that Falco still does not?"

"You know how I found your staff in Thorntail Hollow, back before we met?"

Krystal nodded. "Yes, of course."

"Slippy barely got to look at it. I scanned it with my gauntlet. I only returned to GreatFox to refuel before going on to my next section of Sauria. So, Slippy didn't get very much hands-on time with it. Yet, he created a holo-emitter that worked with the power supply built into the staff. He mixed Cerinian and Cornerian technology simply by working with scans of it. He worked with a virtual hologram of it, and still managed to make two technologies work together. The dude is friggin' brilliant. Peppy sees it, which is why Peppy was hard on him ... because Peppy knew his potential. The only other person who sees Slippy's worth is Amanda. She's like ... a physical..." He rolled his paw, looking for the right word.

"Embodiment," Krystal said, sensing the word that Fox was searching for.

"Exactly. She's like a physical embodiment of Slippy's confidence and machismo. Those two are a packaged deal. And she really surprised me, I won't lie. I've never seen so much raw untapped talent."

"How so?"

"She was flying transport ships to pay for her higher education, right? Well, how many transport ship pilots do you know that managed to hold her own against the Anglars? You know who trained her to fly that well? Slippy. He showed her everything he learned from flying with Star Fox. The first time I saw her clear several squadrons of Anglars, then blast right through an area boss, alone, without help ... I was impressed. And those two are inseparable. So, Star Fox benefited."

"That's very open-minded of you, Fox."

"I was humbled during the Anglar invasion."

"Were you, now?"

"You brought me down a few pegs. Then Lucy..."

"Lucy impressed you, did she?"

"She was like my little sister, growing up. After my dad died, Peppy and Vivian raised me. And because Peppy and dad were best friends, I'd seen Lucy grow up from a young age. She's only eighteen months younger than me. She's _always_wanted to join Star Fox. I never entertained the idea. Not once."

"But she impressed you."

"She_single-handedly_ rescued Fichnia. She chased the Anglar out of the entire Parlak sector."

Krystal smirked. "Yes, I know."

"What?"

"Fox, Peppy took me under his wing when we broke up. Yes, I was dating Panther, but I was not living with Panther. I didn't try that until after I went back to him, post Anglar occupation. I lived on Corneria. I flew with Bill, and Peppy and Vivian took me in. I went everywhere with Lucy. We became like sisters. And Star Wolf wasn't the only team I moonlighted for."

"Wait, what?"

Krystal laughed softly, still keeping her forearms across her tummy. "I was in the early stages of starting a team with Katt Monroe."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yes. I was also flying in my spare time with Lucy. I picked up where Peppy left off, and trained her in Star Fox tactics. I was thinking about starting a team with her and Katt. But everything changed, I went to live with Panther for a short time, then I came back to Corneria, and couldn't fly for the military because of a new law about moonlighting ... Katt and I had talked about going into business and bringing Lucy on, but my heart wasn't in it at the time. I was upset and frustrated about my love life, and became a bounty hunter. When I took jobs in Lylat, Katt was my partner. When I took jobs outside of Lylat, it was just me."

"If you and Katt have chemistry, maybe we could audition her for..."

"No, that's all right."

"But her and Falco are in a relationship again."

"Yup. They're talking about Star Falco. Let it be."

"Let it ... be? What's that supposed to mean."

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Krystal, c'mon. Remember? I can't read your mind, so you said you'd never keep something from me."

Krystal grimaced.

Fox furrowed his brows. "What's going on? Why are you acting like you're ashamed of something?"

Krystal looked away. "Fox, just drop it."

Fox stood up from the wall-mounted bed and stepped in front of her pacing path. "Krystal, do you trust me?"

"...Yes."

"Are you trying to keep something from me because you're afraid I'd be upset?"

In a softer, quieter voice, she said, "...Yes."

"Don't. I won't be upset."

"How can we know that for sure until I tell you? And then? It's too late?"

"Did ... you ... get pregnant with Panther and something happen?"

Krystal blinked, then stared at him with wide eyes. "OH my God, Fox, why would you ever think that?"

"Because I have an active imagination. And even if that happened, I wouldn't be upset. Your past with Panther is your business, and it's in the past."

"Oh, good heavens, no. I don't even know if I'm genetically compatible with Panther Caruso. My God, Fox, you jumped to the worst possible thing, didn't you."

"Well, what else am I supposed to worry about when you won't tell me? I imagine the worst possibilities."

She brought a paw to her forehead and sighed softly. "I briefly had a physical relationship with Katt Monroe, okay? It was brief, it was something we both had_no experience_ with, and it's part of the reason I avoided Lylat for the last eight months of my time as a bounty hunter, leading up to crossing paths with you on Kew."

Fox relaxed. "Oh. That's all? Big deal."

Krystal blinked at him, shocked. "Big deal? Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously. Look, on one hand, if you dated Katt for a while, that's your business. Falco might somehow feel like his masculinity is scratched, but I doubt he'd be bothered by it, either. But if anyone was bothered by it, it'd have to be him."

"And on the other hand?"

"Hm?"

"You said, 'on one hand,' Fox. What's the other hand?"

"If you and Katt didn't date and then break up, and if you hadn't avoided her, there's no guarantee you'd have been on Kew at the moment when I needed you most. You saved my life that day."

Krystal gave pause for a moment. In a soft voice, she said, "I ... suppose you're right. It's almost as if everything happened for a reason. How is it that some occurrences in life make things feel as though life is part of someone's plan, and other times it feels like life is chaos with no predestined outcome?"

"Hey, if oracles can foretell that you and I will wind up together and that we'll have a son, then ... well, let's face it. Major events have been foretold and can only be changed with a lot of work. It's easy to let events unfold the way they're supposed to. Oracles probably foretell the most likely path of events in a series of possibilities or something. Probably outcome on a larger level that we can't understand."

"That ... was deep."

"Was it?"

"Yes, Fox. It really was. So, you're not liable to chunder at the notion of my being ... physical with Katherine?"

"Nah. Doesn't bother me. Are you going to avoid Katt forever, now?"

"I'm kind of nervous to face her again. I just up-and-left for a job, and never came back. It's how I left things with her. Then, suddenly, she's here with Falco, and they're physical, and we nod and smile and pretend everything is fine. But I never asked her if I upset her."

"She didn't even say anything. You let her and Falco hang out in your ship. Can't you sense if she's upset?"

"We're both pretending like what happened between us never occurred. And we're both, well, rolling with it. Like it's some clanger we swept under the carpet. Neither of us can bring ourselves to discuss that cock-up that lasted over two months. And it's not like we copped off with one another every day. It happened a handful of times in ten weeks. It wasn't ... ugh. I don't know."

"How'd it even start?"

"I was referring to her as my partner, and people thought we meant we were dating, but we were talking about being business partners. People kept assuming. One day, with the seed planted, we just ... yeah. Then we didn't talk about it for a while. We both avoided it. Then, two weeks later, it happened again. She asks, 'Are we actually a thing now, or what? I don't even know what to say.' I told her if she wants to be, we could give it a try. She said it was up to me. I said we'll see how things progress, but there was no use rushing it. It happened a few more times, then I took a job in another system - a hunt to bring in someone. She took a local job. We said we'd meet up when I was back in Lylat. I never went back. Eight months later, I ran into you."

"Just like that, huh?"

"Perfectly bugged as you like. I never sorted things with her. We both stopped in the hallway on Great Fox. We afforded one another a smile. I sensed that she had no animosity. We did that fake hug thing girls sometimes do. We never talked about it. Should I?"

"If it's bothering you."

"I'm worried it bothers her, but that she's repressed it. I just don't want any weirdness between us later."

"It sounds like she's in the same place as you ... it happened, she's into Falco and just glad you're not making things weird."

"You really do read people well."

Fox grinned. "SO, let's talk about the real elephant in the room."

"Oi ... and what would that be?"

"How we're going to escape, of course."

Krystal laughed softly. "Now you're talking my language. By the way, you don't think she told Falco, do you?"

"Probably. So what?"

"I just don't want him imagining it."

"Falco only imagines what benefits Falco, not what other people do behind his back."

"Fair enough."

"So, you ready to get out of here, shut down Andrew, and make our way to that little plot of land, so we can build our cabin by the sea?"

"You're really looking forward to that, aren't you?"

"I am."

"I'm the one who's pregnant, and you're nesting."

Fox laughed. "Am I?"

"Seems like it."

"All right. If you say so. Ready to break out?"

"What's your plan?"

Fox pulled the thin sheets off the mattress and threw them into the electrified bars. They immediately set fire, burned away to nothing, and silence resumed.

Krystal furrowed her brows.

Fox grinned back at her. A moment later, the doors at the end of the hallway opened, and Shears walked up to the cell. He turned to face them and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked down at the pile of smoldering ash on the deck, then lifted his gaze to McCloud. "That's one way of getting my attention."

"Yup. So. You want to hire us to kill Andrew, is that it?"

"It's one option." Shears nodded firmly.

"What do you want me to do? Jump on a feral bore and run him through with a sword?"

Shears smirked. "That's how I would do it. But feel free to come up with your own plan."

"Once this is done, you're going to lay low?"

"Yes. We're not partners, McCloud. This is a one-time situation."

"I figured that much. So ... let's talk about options, and move on with our lives, already."

"As you wish." Shears shifted his weight, keeping his gaze locked with Fox's own. "Have any ideas?"

"You could deliver us to Andrew in caskets. When he goes to inspect his trophies, we stomp his ass. Then, you take control of his ships and lay low."

"That ... could work." Shears smiled brightly. "I like that plan. What will you need?"

"Not much, actually. A few faked transmissions for him to scan and then you deliver us in some sort of casket used for dead crew, and we'll line it with sensor blocking tech from Slippy, and put a little DNA, like fur and a shirt and maybe a few drops of blood into a layer closer to the outer layer, and some carbon ash to look like we were vaporized."

Shears rubbed his palms together. "That's fantastic."

"He's clever like that," Krystal said. "A brilliant man, for sure."

"Oh, she speaks," said Shears. He turned to Krystal. "You've said so little, except when I brought up that you're pregnant. I figured you don't speak to the enemy." Shears smirked at the vixen, then, in a slightly softer voice, he added, "or perhaps you simply know your place as a woman."

Krystal scoffed. "Oh, heavens, you're one of those men."

"What? The kind of man that appreciates a woman who knows her place is in the kitchen?"

Krystal rolled her eyes. "Men who believe our place is in a kitchen simply doesn't know what to do with us in a bedroom. And, for the record, the average woman has a fundamental understanding of thirty percent more vernacular than a man of equal intellect."

"Yes. I know," said Shears. "That is so a woman can understand the babbling of a toddler to anticipate the needs of her child. You can also see color hues better to tell when they are pale under their fur, you can also smell and taste better, especially when pregnant and for about a year after the pregnancy, in order to test their food and avoid dangerous foods that would affect your breastmilk. I'm not an idiot."

"No, apparently you're just closed-minded."

"Traditional. Far more so than your betrothed, young lady. Now ... where were we, McCloud?"

"I was letting my future wife help me make a plan of action to beat Andrew."

Shears smirked.

Krystal grinned at Fox.

Fox kept his eyes on Shears and his arms crossed over his chest. "Or we could always just shut him down for you."

"You're not doing anything without my say, McCloud."

"Who says we need your permission?" Fox kept his face blank, free of any emotion. Not even a grin. Just a smoldering gaze of resolve and confidence.

Shears grimaced. "You're sort of my prisoners. Until I receive some sort of guarantee that you're not going to attack me."

Fox eyed Shears.

"Yes," the older man said with a firm nod. "That look in your eyes. That's why I haven't let you free. Look, McCloud, I may have been involved with Andross for a very long time, but I had nothing to do with his day-to-day operations. I didn't know about your parents' crossing his path right away, either. Yes, he grew to trust me quite a bit, and I learned a great deal about him when putting together a profile for the clone I grew of him, years ago, but let me be very clear, here ... I saw him as the best chance of stopping this future threat. Was I supposed to put my faith into a group of teenagers and a slightly-above-average-pilot close to retirement age? Did I know that pilot would go on to become the fleet general that kept the rebellion alive in the Anglar occupation of Corneria?"

"There's always another way, 'Reggie.' You could have taken the information you learned from Andross and brought it to Corneria's attention."

"And what would they do? Corneria has a long history of ducking into a system of cave and hiding. It's always been their thing. It's in their blood."

"Well, when I beat Andross, you could have reached out to me. If system-wide preservation is important to you, fine ... I just beat the guy who was apparently 'brilliant enough' to save Lylat. I saved it. Then I saved it again. Then the Aparoids came, and I wiped out way more than an army - I wiped out an entire race of bionic-augmented enemies. I'm just a mercenary fore hire. When the Anglars came, I started that job without a team. I had to put my team together while handling the Anglar invasion. Why did it take this long to tell me you need my help?"

"Goddammit, Fox, when this started, you were just a teenager with no name. Then you pushed into the heart of Andross' armada, yes, but you didn't fight the entire armada at one time. You penetrated the offensive and defensive lines, and you were difficult to track. I had no way of knowing you were good enough to defeat Andross, not once but several times, and without backup. And when you did, what the hell was I supposed to do then?"

"Hire me with the information you had."

"It's not that easy! Most of Andross' translated information never surfaced when he died. I was a traitor, so I couldn't just go and convince Corneria to go to Venom and study the ruins. I don't even know where Andross found the information. There's an entire planet to start on, and for all we know, Andross stumbled on the right ruins at the right time because ... I don't know ... reasons!"

Krystal groaned softly. "Sod that, governor. You could have reached out to Fox anonymously and let his team figure out where Andross found his information. If these boys could put an entire planet back together, then they could have tracked Andross' exile footsteps. You're a desperate man filled with ambitions and excuses. Where has that got'cha after all these years?!"

Shears cut his gaze back to Krystal. "Know why the removal of a woman's uterus is called a hysterectomy? Because it cured the mania and hysteria caused by a woman's hormones, which create outbursts like the one you just..."

Krystal thrust her staff through the electrified bars, activated the spear tip to open, exposing the blaster lens within. She used the opened tip to catch the fabric of his uniform collar and pulled him close enough to the bars that his fur stood on end, attracted to the soft glow of the bars like hair to a balloon from static electricity.

"Tell me this isn't an emotional outburst!"

Krystal spoke in a very soft, very calm voice. "No, this is a threat. Treat me like a mercenary who has saved Lylat from the Aparoids and Anglars. When Fox beat Andross, it was impressive. When Fox beat two entire races, it was because he had my help, and my telepathy at his disposal. I have earned_the respect of Lylat. Not because of what I have in my pants, which is _none of your business, by the way, but my respect was earned and hard-fought for, because I kept my boys airborne by anticipating the move of every enemy that came at us. Did you know they're building a goddamn statue of Star Fox? Falco, Peppy, and Slippy at the back, pointing guns outward ... while Fox and myself are posed side-by-side, arms crossed, in front of the others. Why? Because Fox and I are equals."

Shears pulled hard until his collar ripped away from her staff. He staggered back two paces, then opened his stance and glared at Fox. "The media has _never_mentioned Krystal's equal involvement in your recent successes."

Fox grinned with amusement at the way Shears looked terrified from nearly being pulled into the softly glowing bars. "You know what they say, 'Reggie.' Behind every successful man is the woman that got him there."

"So, you're telling me she's right?"

Fox nodded. "Before Krystal, I could overthrow a dictator. After Krystal, I could topple entire alien races. The only reason I was able to beat the Anglars and fight them on their own turf is because, one, I had Yaru's starfighter, which was capable of fighting under water, now, and ... two, because Krystal knew where to find Andross' device on Titania. But I wouldn't have made it that far without Krystal keeping me in the air against the Aparoids."

"Fine," Shears muttered. "So she's a good pilot. Fine." He turned to Krystal and said, "I stand corrected."

Fox laughed. "Oh, no, she's the most balanced member of Star Fox. She went down to the surface on the Aparoid homeworld. We fought them with blasters, on foot. And, no, we were not back-to-back. We were on the offensive. She hunted for the infantry in the area, and I focused on taking down the shield generators. Then we met up, got into our ships, and flew right into the heart of the planet to fight the Aparoid Queen. This girl can pilot a tank, a fighter, a ship, and she can handle any weapon I've put into her paws."

Shears pursed his lips firmly. "Fine. Sing her praises. I expect no less from a man who is in love and wishes to marry her. But she's still my prisoner, as are you, and I won't fall for being in range of her ornate walking stick a second time."

A wry grin tugged at the corner of the blue vixen's muzzle. "Oh, Reginald. I was never your prisoner. I was biding my time."

"Oh, is that so!"

"You fancy a demonstration?" She opened fire, shooting the staff's blaster function. The glob of fire passed between two bars and hit Shears in his armored vest, beneath his uniform, throwing him back against the bulkhead.

Shears' eyes went wide. He slumped to the deck with a grunt, while quickly patting his burned shirt, to keep it from igniting.

Krystal pointed her staff downward and used the freeze function on the bars, where they met the deck plating. She froze the emitters. Once they fizzled out, she struck the bars with a quake-strike, shattering them. She stepped out of the prison cell and put the spear-tip against Spears' neck before he could stand up. She kept him pinned on his backside. "See? I did that without 'getting emotional.' I've been waiting to do that since we arrived. But we weren't going to learn what we needed from you unless we were patient."

Fox stepped out through the broken bars and crossed his arms over his chest, like the pose of his statue under construction back on Corneria. "So, I'm going to keep this base from being reopened, 'Reggie.' Then I'm going to hand Andrew his own ass, and, finally, I'm going to talk to Dash about stepping down from being the Ranger of Venom, at least until the reptiles have a shot at running their own world. Since we're all on a first-name basis, apparently, I guess it only makes sense that I should inform you ... you're my prisoner."

Shears looked up at Fox, licked his lips, and sighed softly. "Fine. I yield."

Krystal chuckled. "You don't say..."

Shears thudded his head softly against the bulkhead. "What do you want from me?"

Fox bent at the waist and met the canine's gaze. "Your unconditional surrender. No, I don't blame you for what happened to my parents. But you're still a traitor to Corneria, and there's a bounty on your head."

"I'll hire you!" Shears exclaimed.

"You don't have any money. I had Slippy and Amanda freeze your assets, electronically."

"What?!"

Krystal bent at her waist, similar to Fox, but kept the staff against Shears' neck. "I reached out to them telepathically. It goes both ways. I can pull _and_push thoughts. But the bounty on you is still good, Reginald Shears. Guess you're about to foot the bill for my wedding, governor. Ta for that, then." She pulled Shears to his feet. "Up, you."

Shears drew back his fist.

Krystal tossed her staff back at Fox, brought up her free arm, deflecting his jab, and struck him once, firmly, in his gut, using her people's ancient technique of Dahn Daju.

The chi-powered strike launched Shears into the air. He glanced off the bulkhead, flew to the deck, and rolled three times. He was dazed and sucking wind in an attempt to breathe.

Krystal grasped both of his wrists, lifted them above his head, and dragged him to an adjacent empty cell. She left him on the deck, beneath the wall-mounted bed, and pulled the cell bars shut behind herself. "Now, behave, prisoner. And you'd better hope we don't forget to let you out before burying this base deep enough Andrew will never try to use it ever again." She spit on the deck in front of Shears, adding, "That's what I think of you leering at me the way you were. I told you I'm a telepath, yet you had those disgusting thoughts anyhow. Bloody sick mental images."

Shears finally recovered his breath and dashed to the bars, screaming. "You won't get away with this!"

Fox furrowed his brows. "We beat Andross, the Aparoids, and the Anglars. Who the hell are you? You're just an asshole that likes riding feral bores and fencing. You're nothing."

Shears gripped the bars, screaming in anger and frustration. "I was going to let you help me stop Andrew! But now! Now I will kill you! I will kill your entire team! Star Fox will all die! You will rue the day you crossed me!"

Fox thrust Krystal's staff outward, catching Shears' gut between the bars, causing him to drop to his knees with a groan.

Krystal moved close to the bars, put her palms between her knees, and bent down a bit. "Aww, should we cut off your balls? Some closed-minded chap once told me that the genitals have an affect on mood. You're acting a bit hysterical, Reginald. Need help with that? After that, I'll put you to work building my cabin by the sea, because apparently a man's place is doing labor. At least, you know, according to your logic."

Shears looked away from her, so that she wouldn't see the look of defeat in his eyes and on his face.

"Humiliated? Why? I'm only treating you how you treated me." She turned away and said, "Ready?"

"You hit him pretty hard."

She turned away from the cell with a chuckle. "Oh, Fox, that's because I wanted to make sure his personal communicator was broken. Can't have him calling for help." She crossed the hall and approached Fox. She paused and stared at a control panel on the bulkhead. She reached out and touched a few switches. "There. His cell's camera is deactivated, and now?" She flipped one more switch, electrifying the bars of the second brig. "Now he'll have the same hospitality he showed us! Let's move, love. We have a lot of ground to cover, and not nearly enough time to shut down Andrew."

"Right behind you."

"You're staring at my arse again, aren't you..."

Fox grinned inwardly. "Every chance I get."

"You cheeky dish."