StarFox: HailFire
Corruption
Chapter 4: Mission Begins
Demian’s gloved palms were damp with sweat as his gripped onto the controls. His breathing could have been heard deeply over his team members’ communicators. He narrowed his eyes from under the visor of his helmet and began to speed up his Arwing. He flew past large masses of space fragments in attempts to get away from an attack. There were four mechanical beasts just behind his ship. Even with the speed he was in, he somehow could not shake them free.
“I need some backup for once, you guys!” Demian yelled through his com, “Someone help me out of the jam!”
There was no response. He growled faintly to himself, thinking that something around Sector X was interfering with the communicators. Finally reaching a bare region of the area, Demian decided to do a somersault to get behind his attackers to blast them with his red twin lasers. With a sly grin curving his lips, he pulled a lever to slow down once he was behind them. Setting one hand to a trigger at his left side, slipping his thumb to its switch, he gradually pressed the button as he took aim.
“Heh heh heh…Eat this!” Demian cried out, pushing the trigger forward while holding down the switch with one hand. With the other hand, he pulled a knob on his control panel, releasing it as if he were playing a game on a pinball machine.
Discharging a rapid amount of ammunition at the four androids, he thought he had them where he wanted them. Blasts of his red lasers flew onward through space. Missiles and bombs spiraled towards their targets in whistling screams. All attacks had hit target in a thunderous explosion. Demian howled a victorious laugh before he saw the flashing blaze clear up. His jaw dropped to see that the motorized creatures were still intact. In fact, they were going back towards him as if nothing happened. A curse passed through his lips concurrently with a hurried vertical U-turn of his aircraft.
“Where are you guys? Ricky? Lana? Xetak? Kaiser…? Anyone! I hate to admit this, but I need your help! Quickly!”
Before he could say more, a larger ship appeared in front of him as if out of the blue. As if it were being camouflage for a prolonged amount of time. It was dark, yet had many small windows built on it emitted great quantities of light. It was massive. It seemed to hold many types of artillery for its offense on its outer shell. Who knows what was inside. Demian stopped his Arwing hastily, forgetting about the ones who were following him. The enormous hunk of a cosmos weaponry just before him seemed to be charging one of its immensely sized cannons at him! He lost control of himself and panicked.
Twisting two levers then subsequently pulling them towards his chest, the wings of his ship folded back and he motioned his Arwing to sharply fly upwards, increasing the speed like mad. Without prevail, he failed. The superior spacecraft detonated a blinding flash of energy, hitting the back of his ship. With the increasing temperature within the cockpit, Demian shrilled as he flailed his paw-like hands to cover his face, shutting his eyes tightly. His dark fur absorbed the heat of the damage, burning his interior. Thoughts of his ends swam inside his head. He was going to die. He could feel it. He was a goner and no one could hear him. No one…
“Demian!” A familiar voice could be heard in his head, exclaiming in fear. “Demian! Wake up! Wake up!”
Demian’s eyes shot open. Exhaling deeply, he woke up by a hard shake to his shoulders. Cold sweat covered his entire body. Sitting up rashly, he looked to his side to find his younger brother sitting there. A concerned face washed over the young wolf’s eyes for his older brother.
“You were having a nightmare, weren’t you?” Demitri inquired as he clutched the sleeves of his own velvet nightshirt. “Demian? Are you alright? I woke up because you were hollering in your sleep and a pillow hit me on the face. My bed is on the other side of the room! Dang, bro. You have good aim…even in your sleep.”
It was…only a dream? Demian thought to himself, shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth in a perplexed behavior. I can't believe this…ugh…a stupid dream…
Demian went silent, his breathing slowed to a normal pace. Opening his eyes, he looked down at his own bare chest, slowly clutching the moist fur around his neck. His bushy tail swayed behind him in a twitchy demeanor. Abruptly, he jerked his head momentarily to every direction to examine the room. He was in his bedroom in his own home. Not in a ship at all. The room may have been dim, but he could perfectly see the silhouettes of his brother and his own belongings placed neatly on their personal halves of the entire chamber. Everything's normal. This isn't another dream. Pulling the covers over his legs with his free hand, he slowly looked back at his younger brother.
“What time is it?” He responded, paying no attention to Demitri’s questions.
“Five hours till your mission,” Demitri informed. “You still have time to rest.”
Narrowing his eyes, blinking a few times in an arrogant manner, Demian shook his head and shifted himself to one side of his bed and stood up. Running a hand through his platinum hair, he sighed, heading for his wardrobe. Once the automatic doors opened, he reached out for a clean red folded shirt, a pair of gray hanged pants, and quickly chose a pair of boxers from a pile on one shelf.
“I said that you could still rest,” Demitri said, standing up onto his feet, turning to watch his brother leave into the bathroom, mechanical door closing behind him. “You still look tired. You need your rest if you want to stay focused on your mission today. It’s still too early to be getting ready! Brother? Are you listening to me?”
“You sound like our deceased mother,” Demian called out inside the bathroom, turning on the shower. “You are not Shanra, Mitri, yet you sound just like her! You take our mother’s persona since we have no sister. I don’t need your concern. I am the one who should be taking care of you now that our parents are gone. Remember that.”
“Demi…don’t…don’t say that as if you don’t care…”
“I do care, Mitri. I just do not want your concern, kid.”
“I…I meant the part when
you…mentioned our parents…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Flashing a grin as he leaned against the side of his remodeled Arwing, Demian watched as Kaiser, Ricky, Lana, and Xetak all arrived to the port together. All seemed to be phased to see him already there except for Xetak. Demian leisurely rested his hands behind his neck and leaned farther back onto the front of his ship.
“Took you long enough, guys,” He said egotistically, looking upward with his tail twitching to one side. “I was waiting for you to finally show up. Well then, shall we get a move on?”
“When did you get here?” Ricky asked him, slipping his hands into his coat pockets.
“How long have you been waiting?” Kaiser added, smirking. “You usually make a late entrance.”
Demian stood straight, stepping away from his ship, dropping his arms to his sides. Shaking his head, he sarcastically threw his head back and laughed. Gradually stopping, he gazed at the four in an anomalously tranquil manner. Turning around, he pressed a in a code on his transmitter, the cockpit hood opened and three steps unfolding in font of him. Stepping up into the cockpit, he sat down and slowly glanced back at his companions.
“There is a first time for everything,” He finally answered the two, placing on a headset. “I’ve been here for quite some time now, but that doesn’t matter. Let this mission commence onward! I already spoke to Pepper, so there ought to be no problems if we were to leave now.”
Everyone stared at him unusually. Staring for a moment, Xetak and Lana slowly turned to head directly for their ships. Ricky gave an expected groan while Kaiser rolled his eyes, both proceeding to their own aircrafts soon after.
Flicking switches on while the top to his Arwing closed over him, a rather strange benevolent expression washed over Demian’s face as he watched his friends get into their own aircrafts. Tightening his gloves, he started the engine then reached over to two levers.
“Alright, guys. I’ll go on ahead. This is going to be a long trip, so sit tight. If there is anything you all need first, tell me before I get too far.”