Shattered

Chapter 20

He was throttled out of his sleep by the calamitous shaking of his small prison cell. The man was unsurprised to find himself chained to the wall, he had been so for several days. These chains were of a much better quality then the last ones, he would not break them this time. As he hung there, he couldn't help but wonder...who was he? He had faint memories of some strange animal people, they seemed to be friends. But then again, that ape thing was also an animal person and he was the one who tortured him.

So the nameless man had a dilemma, should he trust anyone? Could he even trust himself? After all the entity at the back of his mind had many voices, not all unknown. Was he, even now, making this decision with its influence? There were too many variables for the unnamed man to try to solve. For how could he solve them if he didn't even know who he was? The questions were endless and they seemed to loop around in his corroded mind.

How could he know if he was doing the right thing if he didn't know himself? What was his name again? Daniel...Santiago...Joseph...Briggs...Alex? There were so many names, so many dead people. Maybe he was dead and this was some twisted hell he had to go through for the evil he had done. The whispering was growing louder, almost deafening as it reached a crescendo. WHAT WAS HIS NAME? He cried out in his mind, silencing the whispering voices infesting it. He had bought himself some time to think, about his next step. The few voices he heard began to deliberate.

After a brief internal debate with himself he decided not to trust anyone in this foul and dark place, no longer will he fall prey to these vicious animals! For now he would bide his time, and prepare himself for a window of opportunity. And when it came, he would not let anything stand in his way. The broken man tensed against his metallic binds, and readied for action. But he was quickly losing his determination, as he waited in the dark, his taunt muscles slackened and he hung low in the air. His defiance was running out, soon he would not be able to even hold his head high.

The gates exploded in a flash of green cannon fire. The huge landmaster battle tanks created the hole with a concentrated barrage as they steamrolled into the base. Utilizing the opening, Starfox ran in. They were greeted with a wall of defensive fire. They would have to hold out until the ground troops arrived to reinforce them.

Fox laid down a lethally accurate slurry of red pulses from his trusty heavily modified blaster. This allowed his team to seek cover amongst the debris. Falco and Miyu then used their guns to get Fox into cover. They used this method to piggyback closer to the enemy. The landmasters rolled in behind them leveling structures and destroying entire squads in bright beams of green death.

As the tanks covered them from the majority of their enemy, Starfox took the fight to the guards defending the entrance to the underground base. As they approached, he howling of engines entering the atmosphere signaled the entrance of the soldiers who would be assisting the team in the raid. The heavy cornerian dropships landed a few meters away. The bay doors opened to disgorge the might of the CDF. The compounds guards although skilled, could not stand up to the superior marksmanship of the team, and the overwhelming power of the vengeful rescuers. Each team member was worth over a dozen commandos.

Peppy was a campaigner, having fought in hundreds of battles. His experience dwarfed the entire team out together, even in his old age he was a fearsome warrior. He had participated in the first Lylat Wars having earned a reputation for his skill, when he served alongside James Mccloud.

Slippy on the other hand, was not a fighter. His value lay in his mechanical knowledge and his ability to fly an Arwing without getting shot down. But down here, in this fight to save his friend, he shined just as bright as the others. His usual bumbling replaced with a stalwart determination that was...inspiring.