Star Fox: The Mimic

[Ris Grestar]

Tyr's ear twitched at the announcement, but he didn't panic.  His expression didn't really change much either, nor did his internal conditions.  The wolf figured it was best to remain calm in cases like these, and besides, things like this happened from time to time.  They always ended up being fixed before any permanent damage could be done to those on board.

Still, though, the silver-furred wolf decided to follow after the group, his worn leather boots silent as he padded along behind them.

[Redeemer]

Freya gave a short snort of laughter at Anna's clever remark. It wasn't far from the truth either. Freya was the kind of person who had one of those metaphorical "comfort bubbles". She liked a familiar and stable routine, and no nasty surprises. Needless to say, this was growing to become a nasty surprise, and it unsettled her.

She clutched Anna's paw, absorbing the security from the simple action, and took Gearhart's large paw on her other side. The eerie red glow was starting to get to her, and the distant sound of panic was echoing in her mind.

"There's something really wrong here, can you feel it?" she uttered to whoever was listening.

The double door to the Docking Bay were around the corner. This section of the Great Fox was silent for some reason, which was odd because surely the security staff would have flocked there to check Star Fox was alright. Why was it so quiet and still here?

As they got closer, Freya could see through the glass panels on the doors. An inside was a... ship-wreck?

"PEPPY!" she cried, the threw herself through the doors.

[Fluxy]

Freya gave a short snort of laughter at Anna's clever remark. It wasn't far from the truth either. Freya was the kind of person who had one of those metaphorical "comfort bubbles". She liked a familiar and stable routine, and no nasty surprises. Needless to say, this was growing to become a nasty surprise, and it unsettled her.

She clutched Anna's paw, absorbing the security from the simple action, and took Gearhart's large paw on her other side. The eerie red glow was starting to get to her, and the distant sound of panic was echoing in her mind.

"There's something really wrong here, can you feel it?" she uttered to whoever was listening.

The double door to the Docking Bay were around the corner. This section of the Great Fox was silent for some reason, which was odd because surely the security staff would have flocked there to check Star Fox was alright. Why was it so quiet and still here?

As they got closer, Freya could see through the glass panels on the doors. An inside was a... ship-wreck?

"PEPPY!" she cried, the threw herself through the doors.

Gearhart's ears twitched as he too felt something was wrong. He scanned around before Freya's incident.

But at that time, Gearhart lunged, attempting to pull her back. "No! Freya, that isn't safe!" He exclaimed as he tried to grab Freya in a hug, and pull her back. He wasn't sure of the events that lead to this, but knew if it was so well done to make this be the scenario, that no one was safe, and going into that room head first by yourself would make her the least protected of the group.

[Milkyway64]

"Freya!" yelled Anna, making a similar effort to Gearhart in grabbing her. She wasn't sure what was going on, but a looming dread was certainly present, making the news clear. At least one person was dead in this room.

[Guest Mr. Mario]

"What is going on?" Norman asked, looking around in confusion.

He looked at Freya a bit and he noticed something a little strange but he probably didn't have the guts to ask her what it was that happened. Norman could only guess that either someone was dead or Freya wanted to grab some attention. Norman stood by the door, tilting his head downwards a bit, focusing on the floor, he didn't feel upset or anything, he was just trying to find out what was happening recently...it couldn't be something good by the volume of Freya's voice.

[Redeemer]

Freya was horrified by the sight that met her. Star Fox were there alright. On the floor, on the walls and on the ceiling. The place was coated in blood, slush and uniform. Their ship was in bad shape, a few fires here and there. A muffled coughing sound reached her ears.

"Peppy? Peppy!" she called out, her voice quivering as her body went into shock. She staggered to the source of the noise.

"Freya..." another cough. She glanced around franticly, and finally caught sight of a boot under a dismembered pilot's chair. She threw the obstacle aside. It was indeed her old friend.

"Peppy..." she uttered, taking in his condition. He was bleeding, and one of his front teeth were broken. His ears were shredded, and judging by the angle his arms were in, so were his elbows.

"Freya..." the old hare spluttered, "Get everyone off the ship. There was something wrong with..."

"Lean on me Peppy, we'll get you to the doctor."

"No! Argh... No, don't, I may already have it..."

"What? Come on, stand!"

"No Freya! Listen, you need to go, now, get in an escape pod and go, before you get hurt."

"Peppy..." Freya's dark brown eyes filled with tears, "What happened here?"

"Star Fox... the crew," another blood-filled cough, "They went mad. Something got to them. Falco... He tried to kill us, he wasn't Falco anymore..."

"What do you mean...?"

"Take the black box, listen to it... We all turned on one another... But you have to... go... before... thing..."

The hare's final breath left his body, and he slouched, eyes still open. Large, watery tears escaped the cat-girl's eyes as she closed them. Her ears sagged with sadness, and she buried her face in her friend's chest.

[Ris Grestar]

Coming up from the rear of the group, the silver-furred wolf was able to catch most of the scene unfold.  His expression remained unchanging for the most part.  Occasionally, Tyr's ear would give a quick twitch, his icy blue eyes flashing briefly at the mention of such a betrayal.

When the scene began to die down--along with the old wounded hare--Tyr began to quietly gaze around the room, his eyes traveling over the various spatters of blood and broken furniture, destroyed objects.

'So it's -not- an ordinary mistake...' he calmly thought to himself, already beginning to ponder over possible solutions.  'But by how he spoke, he and that Falco were good friends...Why would one turn on their friends so suddenly...?'

Unless, of course, they weren't really friends.

[Milkyway64]

"Freya..." Anna gasped quietly, watching the gut-wrenching scene unfold. She fell into a shocked silence, and finally freaked out. "W-what the HELL is going on here?! What do we do?! They're dead!!! I want off this ship, now!"

[Guest Mr. Mario]

"Ugh, no...I can't believe this is happening. And we've been here for...how long?" Norman asked.

He looked left and right to see if anymore members of the team were still here or were coming towards him for a warning. So far there isn't anybody yet. His look on his face changed from normal to a little bit of anger.

[Ris Grestar]

Hearing the hyeness begin to freak out, Tyr's thoughts suddenly turned to the escape pods Peppy had mentioned.

'They can't be far.' reasoned the wolf, slowly backing away from the rest of the group, watching them carefully.  Once he was far enough away not to attract immediate attention, Tyr turned around, starting off down the reddened halls.

[CrypticQuery]

(I'm terribly sorry about being out for so long, as I'm sure you've read in the discussion thread Redeemer, time is incredibly limited for me at the moment .  I may be a little more active after this weekend)

Upon watching the tragic scene unfold before him, Zeke quickly turned his head to the side, scanning the room.  To say it was an utter wreck was a complete and severe understatement.  He began to walk around slowly, taking in details around the blood-spattered walls and floors.  "They went mad......", he repeated over in his mind, continuing to glance over what was left of the docking bay. 

[Redeemer]

(No problem Crazy, I read the discussion before coming to this thread. Sorry, I didn't know you were busy. I've barely got time to myself either, University started on Monday. )

Freya rose to her feet and turned to her companions.

"Guys," she croaked, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Do you know where I can find the black box? I don't know much about ships and we need to find it. I don't... know what's happening. I know you want to leave, and I'll come with you if you really want. I just... want to know what happened here. What happened to Peppy."

She picked her way over the debris to the double doors, and pushed the large, red "EMERGENCY" button to the right. Usually, an alarm would go off and guards would come running, but nothing happened this time.

The system must still be down... That also means the ventilation isn't on yet either. Damnit, Freya wondered to herself, Why has no one started the emergency protocol? I've seen fire drills handled better than this - wait a sec... She wandered over to a torn jacket on the floor. It was drenched in blood, but she could still make out the badge.

"Great Fox Security Team..?" Why is this... Oh god. She took a proper look around. There were more of these jackets, in fact, enough to supply a squad.

"ANNA," now it was Freya's turn to start freaking out, "LOOK AT THESE! The guards were already here! Do you think...?"

[CrypticQuery]

(Thanks )

As Freya's frantic calls began to reverberate through the room, Zeke quickly turned his head to find what was causing the ruckus.  "Some security team, eh?", he muttered under his breath, slowly making his way toward more of the jackets around the room to take a look at them.  Most of them had several things in common, from the rips and tears, to the soaking of blood and remnants of fur.  There was quite a bit of blood all around the room, some much more fresh than others.  It didn't take a genius to figure out a struggle of great scale took place there.  He began to walk over toward the remnants of the Arwing ships that had docked moments earlier.  The exteriors and interiors were hideously disfigured on all of them, but the black boxes had to survive.  Out of four ships, there had to be at least one that made it out in acceptable condition.  He hadn't worked with any ships meant for space before, but knew enough about planetary aircraft to know where the black boxes could've been.  "Probably should check under the seat first...."

[Milkyway64]

Anna's ears went back at the sight of the badges, piecing things together. She turned her wide, green eyes to Freya's.

"Freya." She said almost calmly, saved for her vibrating body. "We have to go. We have to go right now. It's not worth looking for ANYTHING, we have to leave. A crash didn't kill these guys, Freya..."

[Ris Grestar]

Tyr had turned around and started heading the other way, wanting to grab his cloak before finding the escape pods.  His ears perked up, however, as panicked shouts echoed throughout the halls.  The wolf paused for a moment, thinking over his options.

He could just ignore the shouts and keep going, get his cloak, and then find the escape pods.  That would pretty much guarantee his safety.

On the other hand, he -was- rather bored, not to mention curious.  These situations hardly ever came up.  Overall, it seemed like it would have been a waste to leave so soon.

His ear giving a quick twitch, the wolf nodded to himself, turning and hurrying back to the devilish scene.

When he had made it back with the others, Tyr continued to remain silent, continuing to pore over the many surprising and rather gruesome details.

[Fluxy]

Gearhart stood in shock by this all. He knew this was a dangerous situation, but seeing as he might have been the only one with some medical training, even if his great skill was all self taught, he should at least be one to look at it. He quickly took out some gloves, put them on, and went to the scene. He examined everything, using his great senses to try and tell how the scene went down. "Yeah.... Everyone is going to want to have some type of protection from disease when here... And a weapon just in case..." The unarmed wolf said, fully calm, and knowing he used his hands much better than any other weapon.

...Just... Just what is going on here? I have never seen anything like this before...

[Guest Mr. Mario]

"Well...anytime soon if we don't get out of here, we'll end up like...Peppy and maybe...everyone here." Norman said while looking around for a bit.

There was clearly something wrong that was there in front of Norman's eyes, though he didn't have any weapons armed on him, especially his watch.

"Perhaps we'll find ourselves a weapon soon, standing here ain't gonna do anything." Norman said.

[Milkyway64]

"Weapons?" Anna repeated, turning her attention to Norman. "How about we just leave?! I dunno about you, but I want nothing to do with this ship anymore. These guys are trained professionals, and... look!"

[CrypticQuery]

Zeke was transfixed at the task at hand, finding at least one of the Arwing's black boxes.  He quickly jogged up toward the nearest, and most intact one, and stepped up toward the cockpit, attempting to avoid broken glass and jagged metal.  "Probably under the seat", he mused, climbing farther into the cockpit and attempting to get a view underneath the chair.  The interior was in terrible condition, as most of the instruments and other interior amenities were in disrepair.  After having the flight recorder in sight, he climbed into the permanently grounded ship, and attempted to pry it loose from it's moorings.  After some exertion, he sat back to take a brief respite, and realized how bloody the cockpit was.  "Looks like someone was in a damned blender in here", he joked, in attempt to lighten the mood. 

[Redeemer]

Freya curled her tail around her legs. She was getting nervous. She knew that Anna and Norman were right, they all needed to leave as soon as was possible. But Zeke was already releasing the black box, and it would only take a few minutes to take it to a control room, hook it up and listen to Star Fox's last few moments. But maybe those minutes were a few too many.

"Anna..." Freya muttered, "I'll make a deal with you. Let's grab the black box, then we head to the escape pods and we can listen to it on some solid earth. What do you think?"

She approached Zeke as he was catching his breath.

"Need a hand?" she asked, managing a faint smile.

She planned an escape route in her head. Down the corridor, through the next two sets of sliding doors, then a right turn, taking the elevator down two floors; and then it was a simple job of following the directions on the signs to the Pod Bay.

[Guest Mr. Mario]

"Well, ain't much I can do right now other than to find a way out." Norman said, walking to the hallway and looking for a bathroom to go in, he tried to flick the lightswitch on but it didn't seem to work, all he could do was walk in the dark...unarmed with a flashlight or a source of light.

He opened the bathroom door and closed it, once he was done using the toilet, he got out the bathroom door and saw some lights flicker...strange activity indeed.

'I think somebody might be here. Better find 'em quick!' He thought, walking back to the group.

[CrypticQuery]

"Need a hand?" she asked, managing a faint smile.

"You read my mind there", Zeke replied in a joking manner, sliding over toward the side to give her some room.  He wedged himself into a crevice between the seat and dashboard of the vehicle, and firmly grasped the recorder, attempting to dislodge it once again.  With their combined efforts, it slowly began to loosen, but not by much.  "There has to be something holding it in place....", he thought to himself, trying to look for a bolt or any blockage.  From his current perspective, he couldn't see anything that may have been a problem.  "There wouldn't happen to be a crowbar or something around, would there?", he asked Freya, hoping that there was some type of tool near.

[Redeemer]

Freya looked around the wreckage.

"There should be a crow bar in the hardware box, but we don't have time for that," she stated, and gave the loosened black box an almighty kick. It flew out from it's bolted place, and tumbled down towards to rest of the group.

"Alright," she cat-girl huffed, "Let's get to that Pod Bay!"

[CrypticQuery]

Freya looked around the wreckage.

"There should be a crow bar in the hardware box, but we don't have time for that," she stated, and gave the loosened black box an almighty kick. It flew out from it's bolted place, and tumbled down towards to rest of the group.

"Alright," she cat-girl huffed, "Let's get to that Pod Bay!"

"Well...I can't say that wasn't efficient loosening of the black box", Zeke chuckled aloud, slowly hopping down from the ship, eager to examine the box.  It's hard, metallic, outer shell only disguised the incredibly valuable information that was contained within.  It was quite a sturdy box, even with the survivability of an aircraft crash in mind.  "...How far is the room with the playback equipment exactly?", He asked to no one in particular, wary of what else may be lurking aboard the Great Fox's now darkened interior.

 

[Guest Mr. Mario]

'Boy it sure is dark in here...I need to find a flashlight somewhere.' Norman thought to himself while looking around a bit. He wondered if somebody was still here and also still alive. He decided to head to the break-room to find a flashlight. The room was pretty warm, it made him wonder if the AC in the Great Fox was busted or he wore so much clothing, he only weared a tux.

His ears twitched a bit while looking around...he should be able to find a flashlight somewhere before he got lost in the dark....