Star Crossed [an old and terrible Star Fox fanfic]

C15 - Let Not Light See

"And what was the holdup, O'Donnell?" Andross gravely inquired as he sat at his throne of sorts. The bleeping computer monitor behind him showed the rapidly incoming dots, each representing a Star Fox member. Wolf walked into the imperial room, now quite a bit more decorated. He looked around, and was equal parts impressed and disgusted. Andross must have hired an artist to paint a mural along the now-domed ceiling of the room, and it depicted an armada of his army interacting with the people of various planets of the Lylat system. Peace and prosperity were visible in every planet except Corneria, which looked like a hellscape. It must have been this egotistical ape's goal.

"Nothing, my Emperor," Wolf tried to excuse, seeing his other teammates stand steadily beside the primate, whose face wore an expression of omnipotence. "I was just overseeing the confrontation at the system star."

"The likes of which failed miserably," Andross truthfully said.

"There surely must have been a programming error, Emperor," the wolf expressed.

"That much is clear," the monkey smiled, and snapped his fingers. Leon smirked, and brought out a skull, which Andross observed, and snatched away. "And this was the person responsible. Disposed of, thanks to your teammate here." He then rolled it away, and let it land at Wolf's feet.

Wolf took a step back, as it really set in that this was a maniac of a monkey he was dealing with.

"Do you not think that's what he deserved?" Andross asked.

"I sure thought so!" Pigma squeaked with a proud smile.

"I had him with some fava beans," Leon chittered.

"Shut it, you fools," Andrew quietly tried to prod.

Now Wolf couldn't tell which was more shameful: the obvious tyrant he was serving, or the team he was leading, of which was worthy of cringe in a multitude of ways. "I didn't realize that this encounter was such a big deal."

"Not specifically, no... at least, not for me," Andross shook his head. "But you made your blunder in Fichina, and you failed to assemble your team at Lylat. Star Fox is edging closer and closer, and no less stronger," he described, pointing. "Takeover of our system is very likely, but if you eliminate them, it's certain."

"And how so?" Wolf asked.

"It all depends... upon Fox McCloud," Andross eventually said. "He is Corneria's little poster boy, and he knows it. Even more of a figure than Sergeant Bill Grey, and, really, much more respected. Hard to think that they were all only posh, spoiled little schoolboys before all this."

"Well, so was I," O'Donnell raised an eyebrow.

"No. No you weren't, not even close," the Emperor shook his head as he dissented. "You are a man. You are a hard-bred wolf, whose family suffered the consequences of speaking up against a merciless, unholy dictator, whose life has been plagued by Corneria's faults. Don't you hate them, Wolf?"

"Hm?" Wolf lifted an ear at this quick question.

"Don't you hate them with every fiber of your soul?" Andross more elaborately asked, standing. "You simply have to. This is why I chose you. You have the proper fire I need, the likes of which not even Fox has. You are skilled, yes, but motivated, too. With my orders, we can do ANYTHING! We can ALL do ANYTHING, with the FREEDOMS given in my new EMPIRE!"

Wolf nodded. "I understand this importance."

Andross smiled. "Then kill him, Wolf."

The words seemed to explode like a bomb against the wolf's ears. "What?"