Grown to Love

Chapter Twenty-Three

They had reached the door to General Pepper's office. The guard placed his hand on the door handle and opened it for the three. Peppy walked in immediately. General Pepper, Falco, and Slippy looked up when the door opened and saw Fox at the door, just behind Peppy. "Fox." Pepper said. "I though we ordered you to stay away from the base until we dealt with our current situation." Fox took a deep breath in and stepped to the room. "Actually General, I've come to seek help and maybe even end this hunt." Pepper raised a brow and sat up in his chair. "And what is it you're implying Fox?" The General asked. Fox bit his lower lip and sighed heavily. He motioned for wolf to enter the room and with hesitation, Wolf walked in, pulling the hood off his head. General Pepper stood in shock and Falco and Slippy's jaws fell open. The guard who stood next to the door quickly reached for the gun on his belt and his sudden movement had Falco and Slippy reach for theirs as well. General Pepper, still wounded from earlier, summoned the strength to pull out a gun from under his desk. As all the guns were aimed at Wolf, Fox immediately ran in front of him to shield him. Wolf was stunned at the sudden action everyone took to his existence in the room. He felt his heart race as he swallowed the knot that quickly built up in his throat. "Fox," he leaned over and whispered to him. "Maybe this was a bad idea." Fox shook his head. "No. They've got to listen to us." With that, Fox stepped forward. "General please, hear us out." "Move aside McCloud. You've brought what we've been looking for. Let us take care of this. We'll have him cuffed and he'll be talking whether he wants to or not." His aim grew tense as he adjusted his hand on the trigger of his gun. "General I will NOT allow you to hurt Wolf." "I won't, I'm simply taking precautions." Fox huffed heavily. "General Pepper! We can for help. We think that there's got to be some way of reversing Wolf's brainwashed mind. We thought that if anyone could help that it may be you. Please. Can't you see if there's any way to help him?" Pepper sneered. He brought the gun closer to his eye level. Wolf and Fox gasped, Fox stepping back closer to Wolf. Peppy's heart raced and he quickly spoke. "General Wait!" Pepper suddenly lowered his gun. "If you can prove to us that Wolf has a way of being manipulated then maybe we can see if there's anything we can do. Johnson, escort these men to our lab. Find Dr. Hanson. She's our smartest scientist there. She may be helpful. I'm going to go get cleaned up and I'll meet you there." The guard brought his hand to his head and saluted. "Yes sir." He opened the door and motioned for all of Star Fox and Wolf to follow him out. They were escorted down several halls before finally reaching a large room. The room was large and bright. Many large machinery sat around and various small glass rooms with heavy equipped looking chairs sat in the other side of the room. "Stay here while I go get Dr. Hanson." Johnson said after they came to a halt. He soon left and the room grew quiet. Slippy looked up at Wolf nervously and he cleared his throat. "Wolf. I uh...I wanted to apologize about drawing my gun earlier. With everything that's been going on and seeing General Pepper beaten badly, I got scared and my instinct got the best of me. I-I'm sure you do t remember me though but I feel like I have to apologize to you." "Slippy," Wolf knelt down and Slippy jumped in both shock and fear. "Of course I remember you. You, me, Fox, and Falco all went to school together. You think I'd forget that?" Slippy came to a more relaxed feeling and smiled slightly. "You really do remember me? Wow." His smile faded slightly. "Where'd you go all these years?" Wolf stood and cleared his throat. "It's a long story." The doors opened and General Pepper walked in with Johnson and a woman behind him. "Fox says it's brainwashing but I'm led to believe that it's an act." Pepper lowered his voice as he got closer to the group of men. "Anyway. This is him." He gestured to Wolf. The woman was a y'all and lean hyena. She wore long, black, leather gloves that matched her black, leather boots. She wore a turquoise shirt under her unbuttoned lab coat. Her eyes were covered by large goggles that wrapped around her head and under her hair. She walked over to Wolf and observed him before getting close to him, taking her goggles off and poking wolf in certain areas. She stood straight and leaned close to his face. Wolf's ears went back and he stepped back ever so slightly. She reached over and placed her hand on his eyepatch. "May I?" "Uh. Sure." She lifted it and observed the scar the reached the top of his brow and just slightly under his eye. She then observed the color of his blind eye. She stood back and smiled as she placed her hands on her hips. "He's a beautiful specimen. He'll be fun to dig through." She stuck her hand out. "Dr. Hanson. I'm the psychologist and engineer here at the Cornerian base. General Pepper says that you're searching for help." Fox stepped in as soon as she mentioned it. "Yes. It's going to sound crazy but Wolf's been brainwashed. I'm not really sure what it is but I can break him from it and he'll come o be himself again but he can be reverted back into manipulation with a certain set of words. We were wondering if you could maybe see if there's a way to help him with this. Get him to be himself again." She clasped her gloved hands together and smiled largely. She pulled the goggles back to her eyes and giggled. "Oh yes yes! I'm sure we can find out what's wrong and surely find a solution to this whole mess. Pleas, this way!" She led them to one of the smaller see-through rooms on the other side of the room and opened one of the doors after punching in a code to the keypad. The door opened and she walked in, motioning for Wolf to enter. He hesitated but slowly made his way into the room. She shut the door and all the noise from the room was cut off from the outside. Fox neared the window and watched carefully. Peppy walked up to him and placed his hand on Fox's shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be alright. It seems like General Pepper is giving him a chance after all." "Right." Wolf was then seated in the large chair that sat in the middle of the room. Various machines sat around it and had all sorts of cables and cords connected to the chair. Dr. Hanson then grabbed two metal rods from a table and had them stick to the temples of Wolf's head. She then pulled over several cables with sticky pads on them. "You wouldn't mind if I put these on you, would you? These'll help me measure your heart rate and the electricity your heart produces. I want to know if anything changes when you act up." Wolf nodded. "No not at all." She smiled and pulled Wolf's hoodie and shirt up and began to place the sticky pads on his chest. She released the clothing, having it fall into place, and moved over to a machine. "I'm going to ask you a few questions that the General wants me to ask and we'll see if that triggers anything in your brain. I'll also be able to tell if you're lying or not. Please answer honestly." She then turned to face Wolf and her time changed immediately. "When you crashed on Venom, who found you?" Instantly, Wolf got anxious and caught in his words. "I was found...by some Venomians who worked for Andross." "Who were these Venomians?" "Those that found me I don't know but...I did come to know three of them." From outside the room, Fox and Peppy stood right at the glass watching the monitor that sat next to Wolf carefully. Falco stood behind them and sighed as he looked away. His eyes came to find General Pepper watching Wolf carefully. He saw him move his hand close to his mouth but not cover it. He had his hand hover just close enough to his chin that he able to whisper something to himself. Falco grew suspicious but ignored it and looked back at Wolf. The monitor remained at a steady pace, peaking slightly every time Wolf was asked a new question. He'd been seated and questioned for about five minutes now and he grew annoyed. "How much more questioning do you have to do? Can't you just scan my brain and see what Andross put into it?" Dr. Hanson sighed. "I'm afraid not, dear. I can't do that unless I've concluded my hypothesis. I need to ask you a few more questions and maybe we can move on. She looked at General Pepper, her eyes hidden behind her goggles, and watched as he gave a slight nod. She took a deep breath in and turned her attention back to Wolf. "How long will you keep up this act?" Wolf looked at her confusingly. "What do you mean?" She stomped her foot and leaned forward, placing her finger against Wolf's chest, and raised her voice. "Don't play stupid O'Donnell. How long will you keep your cover? You're clearly in here to retrieve information that Andross needs and you're simply playing innocent. Give up the act and tell us everything you know about Andross' plan!" Fox and Peppy's jaws dropped as soon as Dr. Hanson stepped forward. The monitor was clearly changing rapidly as Wolf's heart rate started to go up. Fox placed his hands on the glass. "Whats going on. What's she doing?" He looked at the door and ran to it. He began to punch in randomly at the keypad. "Fox don't." Peppy quickly walked over to Fox and placed his hands on his shoulders and tried pulling him aside. Fox looked up anxiously but didn't remove his hands from the keypad. From inside, Dr. Hanson continued to push her words towards Wolf. Wolf grew irritated and placed his hand in her shoulder and pushed her back. "I'm done. I'm leaving. Get this stuff off me and step aside Doctor." Hanson pushed him back down to the chair and grew serious. "I'm sorry Wolf but we need you to spill Andross' secrets." Wolf's patience was growing short and he began to growl. "Move." He pushed her back and Hanson stumbled back. Metal cuffs suddenly came out from the arm rests of the chair and wrapped around Wolf's wrists. Two more came out as well and wrapped around his ankles. This shocked both Fox and Wolf. Fox slammed his fist against the wall and repeatedly slammed it against it. "Wolf!" He turned his head to General Pepper and felt his blood grow hot. He walked over to him with anger. Falco stepped in and held him back but struggled to hold him back firmly. "What did you do? General Pepper What did you do?!" "You wouldn't tell us the truth so we had to make him talk. It's clear that he's still keeping Andross' secrets." "Pepper you said you'd help. Let him go. You're not helping. He's not in the right mindset to be put into a situation like this. Please!" Pepper walked right pass him and made his way to the wall. He placed his hand close to his mouth once more, only this time he spoke much more clear. "You're clear Hanson. Get him to talk. I refuse to let him go again." Falco's grip failed for a split second and Fox was able to sprint away. He took hold of Pepper's sleeve and had him pulled him to look him in the eye. "Let him go right now Pepper!" General Pepper quickly spoke into hand again, Fox now realizing there was a mic attached to his sleeve. "Send backup." A group of guards then walked into the room and two guards took hold of each Star Fox member. Wolf looked over Hanson and saw the guards holding Fox. The monitor began to beep and Hanson looked over at the screen and her expression changed. She stepped back and watched as Wolf struggled to pull his arms up from the arm rests. She stood farther back and turned to General Pepper. Hanson pushed a button on one of the various machines in the room and the sound from outside the room finally came in. She then spoke. "Sir?" She sounded concerned. Pepper frowned and slammed his fists against the glass. "Knock him out. We'll get him to talk." She nodded and walked over to a machine. She pressed a button and a sudden shock ran through the cords and began to electrocute Wolf. He screamed as his fur puffed as the shock ran through him entirely. Fox pulled away from the guards for a split second but was grabbed once again. "Pepper stop!" Fox cried out as he continued to try and pry himself away from the guards. The general ignored him and looked back at Wolf as he continued to get shocked. "Continue to resist O'Donnell and we won't be given a choice but to exterminate you. Talk and we'll let Fox go." The shock came to a haunt and Wolf breathed heavily. He glared up at General Pepper and then to Fox. Fox, now on the verge of tears, shook his head. "Damn You General. DAMN YOU! You've done nothing but hurt me and my team. You've caused me nothing but anger and pain. Because of you I lost my dad and you dragged Wolf from me at a young age. I won't let you do it again." He swallowed the knot in his throat and clenched his fists with anger. "Deprivation! Seven!" General Pepper turned around slightly and raised a brow. "What's He blabbering about?" From inside the room, Wolf felt his heart sink and he began to cry out. "Fox no! Don't!" He began to frantically pull his arms, trying to get them free. Pepper looked at Wolf and back to Fox and rubbed between his eyes. "Shut him up!" He pointed to the guards holding Fox. One of the guards placed his hand over Fox's mouth and with anger, Fox took a hard bite at the guard's hand. He then kicked the other in the knee and was quickly released. "Nation! Twelve! Incantation!" He hesitated and whispered to himself before saying the last word. "I'm sorry Wolf...Seventeen!" With that final say, Fox stepped back and watched as Wolf went limp in the chair. The guards took hold f Fox once again and General Pepper stepped towards Fox angrily. "What was that about?" Fox smirked slightly and got close to Pepper's face. "You wouldn't believe me the first time, I'm giving you proof." General Pepper frowned and turned to look at Wolf again. The monitor had slowed down when he went limp and when General Pepper took a look at the monitor's screen again, the indication of Wolf's pulse began to pick up.