Star Fox 1. A New Job

**Chapter One**

It was a cold, dark night, on the planet of Kew where the Bounty Hunter sat within the Hotel Room. She had just received an incoming transmission on her laptop, which had the capabilities to be used as a Holo-Transmitter if need be. The blue-furred vixen, which came to call herself Kursed, was residing in a Hotel room suite, waiting for her next hit from one of her contacts within the City and it seemed to be that this is the call that she had been waiting for.

She let the transmission through, and spoke to her contact, a Weasel clad in black and a stalky build, about who she was to hunt down next. "I'm assuming that you have work for me, Will?" Kursed said coldly.

"Yes as a matter of fact I do. Before I send over the file with the descriptions of your target and reward, I need to tell you something about this target. He is high profile, and from the person who commissioned this bounty, said to use extreme caution when apprehending him as he was requested alive for the bounty to be paid. It seems he has his own plans for him." Will replied.

"I will take note of this Will, thank you for your warning. I'll contact you when I have captured my target and am ready for you to take him off of my hands or if I have any further questions about my target." She ended the transmission, and downloaded the file that was sent to her directly. There was what it looked like to be a security photo of the man, standing in an alley with his blaster drawn at someone on their knees. His profile said that he was a dangerous Mercenary and was experienced in the Martial Arts, who seemed to mercilessly dispatch his enemies without hesitation or remorse. It stated that the man was cold blooded when it came to his job and has apparently been taking missions from whoever had the credits to support his work. It also states that he rarely misses a shot with a blaster, proving himself to be quite the marksman. There isn't his actual name on file, but everyone seems to call him Jay.

"_No wonder he has a bounty on his head… This could prove to be interesting, as it could be one of my toughest missions yet. To have to apprehend him alive with the skills the profile stated may prove to be extremely challenging."_-Kursed thought to herself with a slight frown.

She flipped to the next page on her touch screen laptop, and read up the physical description of her target. He was a very well built Vulpine with golden and white fur, and is usually seen wearing a black vest, with a white long sleeve with blue jeans and black tinted sunglasses. At the sight of those words, she felt emotions slowly welling up inside of her. When she realized this, she pushed her emotions back down farther, thinking to herself that she was over that part of her life. The thought of what she did to the only person who loved her, made her swell with regret to the point of absolute desolation. It's been long enough however, that she was able to suppress these emotions, and leaving her feeling as if she was just a cold hearted shell.

What had happened several years ago in the Lylat System was most likely the biggest mistake of her life she ever made. Fox McCloud, the one who cared for her so much, had shunned her away from the famous mercenary band of Star Fox. He stated to her that, as long as she was a part of the team, he couldn't stand to see her be put in danger. He forced her off the team out of love, but she took it far worse than he thought she would. She hated him with every ounce of her body at the time, equal to the amount of sorrow as her heart was crushed with the news she was hearing.

She soon then vanished, and later appeared to be a member of the Star Wolf team, and was romantically involved with the pilot, Panther Caroso. She thought she was doing the right choice, but she knew after years of reflection, that she did it to get back at Fox, the only man who truly loved her. This didn't faze Fox the most however, out of all of her deeds. The worst was when he requested the captain of Star Wolf, Wolf O'Donnell, to help him receive a machine that reduces the acidic levels of Venom's inhospitable ocean so that they can successfully launch an attack on the Anglar fortress deep within the waters.

When Fox finally delivered the Coup de Grace on the massive Bio-Weapon on Titania, he soon received an incoming transmission from Wolf. Fox put the transmission through, not knowing that the conversation between them would devastate him completely. Wolf said to him, that they had grabbed the terraforming device and were on their way to Venom to win the war for Star Wolf and take all the glory. He continued saying that it wasn't his plan to begin with, however and that it was Krystal, the cerulean furred vixen that he had shunned away. This caused him to literally break down, not knowing that she was capable to go that far and abandon her long lost friends in such a way.

After the war was over and Venom's forces were finally destroyed, the band of mercenaries named Star Wolf was able to rival Star Wolf in their fame and glory. The people of Corneria loved Star Wolf, but seemed to dislike the blue furred Vixen. Where ever she went, she could hear the thoughts of what people were thinking all around her. Calling her a traitor and an outcast for what she did to Fox. The rumors and gossip soon began to explode throughout the entire Lylat System, and wherever she traveled, she was shunned and called a traitor to her face.

She then disappeared from the Lylat System, to never be seen from again. Krystal died her blue hair to purple, changed her name to Kursed, and started a new life out in the far reaches of the galaxy collecting bounties and even to the extent of assassination, depending on the circumstances of the target.

She only had one rule when it came to her job, and that was to not kill anyone who was innocent or pure. During her years of travel throughout the far reaches of the galaxy, she had much time to reflect on what she did, and hated herself even more and more when she thought about it. It came to a point where it was all bottled up, and thrown to the side to be suppressed for however long she could contain it. She would never forget his face, no matter how hard she would try. It would continue to plague her mind, and would eventually have dreams about the time they spent together, whether It be the first time they met on Sauria, or flying beside him in the invasion of the Aparoids.

She could only hope now, that if she were ever to run into Fox McCloud, the pure hearted, stoic leader that she fell in love with, that he could forgive her despite all she has done. Whenever Krystal's thoughts begin to go in that direction, her logic takes over and she replays the same thought over and over again,."_It's not possible that he would ever take me back, as I the wound I inflicted on him is beyond healing…"_

She snapped out the state of deep thought that she was in and continued to make a plan for how she would take her target in alive. Glancing through the profile that her contact, Will, sent her, she looked to find out what leads she had of his whereabouts. "_This couldn't be any more convenient," _she thought to herself "_If the profile is true then he goes to same bar every day around 20:00 hours."_ The bar also was only a few blocks away, with a complete access to it through a narrow labyrinth of alleys to cover her way back to the hotel she was staying with her target.

It was at that time 23:00 hours so she would wait till the next day and go observe the actions of her target and to familiarize him with her at a distance. She got up and grabbed her briefcase and went into the bathroom to take a shower. It was the only place where she felt at home now, and allows her to block out the minds of everyone around her to and have complete silence to think to herself.

_The Next Day…_

The blue furred vixen woke up at 09:00 hours to prepare herself for the day, grabbing her suitcase which carried all of her tools necessary to take out any target. She opened it and sifted the contents. Her bag held her staff which was given to her before she was sent off a shuttle from Cerinia from her parents, her blaster that was given to her by Fox when she joined Star Fox, and several forms of surveillance equipment. Kursed got dressed in her normal attire, black leather pants and vest, with a black t-shirt underneath. She also had a thigh-strap which her holster was attached, and she held her staff always in her pocket of her leather pants.

She noticed that she still had about 10 hours to get herself prepared for surveillance, so she decided to take a walk out in the town to go find this bar. When she stepped out of her room on the 64th floor of her hotel, she accidently stumbled into someone. She turned around to the person who she ran into and apologized to him while turning to see him. Kursed was taken aback, as she stared at Falco Lombardi who continued to walk and yelled back "Hey watch where you're going!" at the blue furred vixen. She that there stunned, and thought to herself "_Thank god he didn't turn around and look at me, otherwise my identity might be compromised… Everyone thinks I'm dead and I want it to stay that way. But why was he here?"_

The blue furred vixen's heart started to race as she thought to herself, "_Maybe he's…"_ then mentally cut herself off. But she had to know if Fox McCloud was with Falco on Kew, and attempted to reach out and read his mind for information. She hated doing it to good people, as it invaded their privacy, but she had to know. Soon enough, she found the thought she was looking for and gasped.

What Falco was thinking at the time was _"I can't believe Fox told me to come all the way out here, just for a single day… I can't believe I did it too; it was a waste of time trying to bring that man in trying to get a little piece of Intel… Just bullshit is what it is…The only good part was blowing up that convoy… If only we still had Krystal to read minds, then this would all be way easier and we might even still have the team together… But nope, Fox has to run off doing solo missions as he tries to run away from his past. Well at least he paid me 10,000 credits."_

Kursed turned around and went into the elevator to the lobby floor to go take a tour of this Bar that her target would arrive at.

Falco sat down on his couch in the Suite that he was staying at. Sighing to himself, he replayed the events that happened earlier that day. He recalled earlier that Fox asked for his help on a mission to bring someone in so he could interrogate them on the whereabouts of a crime boss that he had been recently tracking for a large bounty that has been commissioned. The man they were looking for was a black rat, who went by the name of Joel. He served as a courier for information and smuggled goods between the Crime Boss and his hired goons, so that they could further enhance the profits of their illegal business and drug trade on Kew. From what Fox had told Falco, it was one of the biggest Crime Mobs in the city that had smugglers from several galaxies. After finding out his next shipment was headed too, Fox and Falco had to clear the base of the drudges, and waited in ambush for Joel and his escorts.

When they finally arrived, Falco and Fox had setup a perimeter of Sensor Bombs that allowed them to block off the convoy on both sides as they drove up to the hideout in the slums of the city. Two dogs dressed in black tuxedo's got out, who were both massive. Falco shook his head as he realized that there were more people getting out of the three car convoy, roughly around the same size of the men who got out previously. He whispered to Fox, "You sure about this? Things could get really ugly, real fast," Falco replied, "And I don't know about you, but I actually want to live to see old age or die flying my Arwing. This shit sucks!"

Fox glared at him saying "Falco, there are roughly around 14 men, and we have sensor bombs surrounding them. Al l we have to do is just fire a warning shot, and then let the fireworks do the rest. "

"Well fine, but if goes awry then don't say I warned you." 

They withdrew their blasters and aimed them at the entrance to the hideout. They waited for about thirty seconds, and then saw Joel, who was dressed in a Tuxedo as well, walked towards the main entrance. As soon as the Rat walked inside of the empty warehouse, he noticed something wasn't right. The door's instantly closed behind him, isolating him with his two personal guards. He turned around and yelled at his two guards in a screechy voice "Something isn't right here, get those damn doors open!"

Fox and Falco shot the two guards directly in the head and watched the Rat's face go from angry, to fear and confusion. Then outside, they heard the magic go off. One of the guards that were outside directed the rest of his team to surround the perimeter, which only set off the Sensor Bombs they had laid out previously. Fox wasted no time to hesitate as he jumped over from the metal cat walk that was around 10 feet off the floor, and did a summersault as he landed to absorb the fall. He instantly pistol whipped the confused Rat, and slung him over his shoulders. Falco followed suit, and they headed for the back door where they setup their hover car as an escape route. They threw the unconscious rat in the trunk, and Fox set his blaster to stun, to shoot him in the chest to make sure he didn't wake up while they were driving. They got in, and drove to a remote alleyway deeper within the slums.

Falco looked behind him and said to Fox "I gotta say, that was a damn good plan back there; I mean that convoy got the shit kicked out of 'em! If only we could see their faces when that first one set off. You can even see the smoke still billowing back there."

Fox didn't reply, he instead stopped the car in the alley and got out to open the trunk. He grabbed the unconscious rat and threw him to the ground with a loud thud.

Fox then looked at the rat on the ground and said "Hey Joel, wake your ass up. I'm in need of some _'directions'_ to the person who sent you."

The rat stirred, and tried sitting up, but only managed an awkward squirm as his legs and hands were bound behind his back. Fox picked up him and set his back against the wall.

"Now I'll ask again, where can I find Juan?"

The rat stared at him in disbelief and laughed "I'm not telling you shit! Even if I told you, you still wouldn't survive confrontation!"

"Falco, shoot his knee"

Falco looked at him and said, "OK now were getting to something!" Falco took out his blaster and put it on the highest non-lethal setting he could, so it would do massive amount of pain, but not entirely destroy the rat's knee. He walked up, and aimed low and shot.

Joel screamed in pain, and buckled over to his side, trying to cradle his scorched knee. The hair and skin was burnt so black, that you couldn't even tell if he was even shot, if you couldn't smell the stench of burning flesh and hair, that is.

"Where is Juan Partino, Joel?" Fox said grimly as he bared his teeth at the Rat, who was still rolling on the ground in pain.

Joel looked up at them and said "Go to hell, I ain't telling you nothing!" He spit in McCloud's face.

"Wrong answer" Fox drew his blaster and shot him the head, leaving a hole the size of a quarter straight through. The laser burn instantly cauterized the wound, leaving a clean entry and exit with only the blood behind the rat where the laser hit the wall. He then searched his body for any useful information. He only found a cell phone, 1,000 credits, and a fake ID with several credit cards.

Fox sighed to himself, grabbed the deceased body of Joel the Rat, and threw it into a nearby dumpster. No one would find it for weeks, due to the lack of law enforcement in these far reaches of the universe.

Falco returned to the car and sat down in the passenger seat. It was 07:00 hours, and light was beginning to shine into the streets now. Fox got in and sighed to himself, as he shook his head in disappointment. "If only he would cooperate… Well anyways I have his cell phone so I can wait for an incoming call and maybe track it to where Juan Partino is hiding. I'll drop you off at your hotel, Falco."

Falco thought to himself "_That was disappointing… I never knew Fox to be the one to kill someone in cold blood like that, even If they are a lowlife scum like Joel was… The years must've changed him when he heard of Krystal's death I guess."_

They arrived at the hotel two hours later, as traffic was heavy throughout the city. Falco got out and walked over to Fox's side of the window. Fox handed him a receipt that showed him he wired the money into his account. Falco didn't know that this was a one day mission and said, "Were already done here?"

Fox looked at him and said with no emotion, as if he was reading lines off a piece of paper "I only required your assistance for that one stake out Falco, if I need your help later, I'll send you a holographic message."

He could see the confusion in Falco's eyes turn to anger, as he walked off without saying a word.

Falco walked through the lobby and said to himself silently under his breath so no one could hear, "God damnit, McCloud…" He got into the lobby elevator and pressed the button for the 64th floor. As soon as it beeped to a stop, he walked over to his room looking down and bumped into someone, he didn't even bother to look up, and yelled back "Watch where you're goin'!" He heard the feminine voice reply in apology and thought to himself, "_Hmm… That's odd, why does that voice sound vaguely familiar?" _he decided to keep walking to his room and opened it with a slide of his keycard. The door lock beeped, as he walked in and sat down on the couch to recall what happened previously that day.

It didn't take him long however to remember where he heard that voice before. On his return to Star Fox eight years ago, he heard the same voice and accent from a holographic message that was sent from Sauria. But he noticed that something was missing in the voice, as if it had no passion it did that day, when Krystal first walked onto the bridge to meet Fox face to face and thank him personally for saving her and Sauria.

His eyes widened in disbelief, as he got up and ran out of his room, looking down the hall where he saw bumped into her. He looked at her from the back as she walked into the elevator and pressed the lobby floor. She turned around and looked at Falco in the eyes, and then she looked away instantly, trying to hide her gaze.

"_Damn, that is definitely not Krystal that girl looks like a bitch and Krystal never gave someone an angry look like that… Man she must be crazy when she's on her time of the month" _he thought to himself as he walked back into his room, laughing at his comment in his head. He got into his king sized bed and fell asleep instantly as his head hit the pillow.


	2. Partial Reunion

**Chapter Two**

Kursed read Falco's mind and frowned at what he thought, but was glad that he threw the thought away that she was actually Krystal. She got to the bottom of the elevator and walked across the lobby. She then picked up on someone's thought patterns that were strangely familiar, yet she couldn't quite place it. It wasn't Falco's, as he was asleep already, and she knew it wasn't Fox's due to the emotions that the person was feeling. She merely just shook her head to the side, and continued walking, ignoring the strange feeling that she had just received.

Fox had just pulled away from the curb of the hotel, and drove into the heavy traffic as people got up for work around this hour on Kew. He decided that it would take about an hour to get to where he was saying, so he decided to turn around and head for the bar to have a drink before heading back.

"_Might as well kill the time and wait for the traffic to thin out," _he thought to himself "_Besides, I haven't had a drink in over two days…"_

It took him no time at all, as the traffic was more directed to the center of town as he drove off towards his favorite bar which was just a few blocks down. He got out and walked into the bar and sat down on one of the counter stools.

"What'll it be this time?" the bartender asked.

"Just give me a shot of tequila, Jonah, I have to drive soon and that's the last thing I need is driving home drunk in this city…" Fox replied.

"Alrighty then one shot of tequila coming up." replied Jonah the Bartender.

"_There it is again… that strange feeling…" _Kursed thought to herself as she walked towards the bar. She shrugged off the feeling again and continued walking. She walked through the alleys to avoid any attention, but she came across two wolves and a husky who were sitting beside an apartment complex. They glanced over at her and yelled "Hey what is a pretty lady like you doing in this part of the neighborhood?"

Kursed obviously deemed this man was the leader of the trio, and sensing their intentions she drew her blaster and aimed it right at the wolf's head.

"Back off, or I'll shoot you where you stand you filthy beast" she replied with a hint of anger in her voice.

Instantly the other wolf withdrew a magnum and the husky grabbed what looked like a crowbar from the ground.

"You really wouldn't shoot me now, would ya?" replied the wolf cockily.

"Try me"

Sensing that the other wolf was about to pull the trigger on the gun he had aimed at her, she quickly fired a shot and it hit him in the abdomen and opened up a hole the size of a fist. He fell to the floor, unable to even make a single sound of agony due to the damage caused by her blaster.

The main wolf took the time when the gun was aimed at his partner to disarm her seconds after she killed the other wolf. He kicked it out of her hand and head-butted the vixen, knocking her back slightly. She recovered quickly, however, and sent forth a series of quick jabs into his stomach, followed by a kick. He doubled over in pain, and she withdrew her staff from her pocket as the husky ran at her with his crowbar in both hands. She easily parried the first swing and followed it up with a counterattack by doing a quick spin, using the momentum of her parry to deliver a hard blow to the husky's skull. She heard a loud crack and watched as he fell to the floor.

She walked over to grab her blaster, and slowly returned to the wolf who was slowly crawling away, holding is stomach in pain.

"Please, let me live!" the wolf said looking up into the cold eyes of the vixen.

"You're never going to take advantage of a woman again."

His eyes widened in fear as she pulled the trigger seconds later, creating a fist sized hole in the wolf's cranium.

She brushed herself off and continued walking towards Jonah's Bar.

_**Ten Minutes Later…**_

She arrived outside of the bar, and again she received that familiar sensation.

"_Whoever's thought patterns I'm picking up are inside here… Maybe it's one of my old clients that Will sent me to receive information from…"_

Kursed took a step into the bar, and was met with a billowing cloud of smoke and the smell of alcohol and sweat. Her face wrenched from the mixture of smells, as she walked over to a table in the corner and sat down. Jonah walked over to her and asked "Well hello there pretty lady, I've never seen anyone with blue fur before."

She smiled at the comment, sensing this man was kind-hearted and friendly natured. "Thank you for your compliment, and yes I get that a lot."

"Well anyways what'd it be?" Jonah asked with a smirk.

"I'll have a glass and a pitcher of water, please" She said with a smile.

"Hmm you're the first person to walk into my bar and ask for water, especially this early in the morning. However, since you're a sweet young thing, I'll be right back."

Kursed's eyes were scanning around the room of the bar, trying to familiarize herself with her surroundings. That strange sensation became stronger when she entered, so she scanned the faces of the people in the bar. Her eyes fell upon a vulpine who sat the bar with an empty shot glass, staring down at the counter. She was partially shocked, after observing the vulpine closer. It was her target, sitting in the front of the bar, having a drink right now. She watched him now closely.

Jonah came back to where Kursed was sitting, and put down the glass and a pitcher full of ice water. She turned her head up to Jonah, but kept her eyes locked on the fox who was sitting at the counter. "Excuse me, but can you tell me the name of the fox with the golden fur up at the counter? I think I've seen him before." She asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Oh him? That's Jay, he has been one of my regular customers for the past few months. He's a damn good fighter too. We had a group of thugs come in here and try to rob my register, and he knocked out all four of them unarmed, and they were carrying blasters, too. Most damn impressive thing I've ever seen."

"Hmm… I've must've had the wrong person then, thanks anyways for the help."

She watched Jonah as he walked away, knowing that he would most likely tell Jay that she had asked about him. She didn't need to read his mind to know of his intentions. He walked right up to the vulpine and told him something that caused him to sit up.

"Hey Jay, that little vixen over there in the black leather was asking about ya, just thought I'd let you know, it's the least I can do since you saved my bar a few weeks ago." Jonah said.

"Thanks Jonah, I'll look into it. "Replied Fox.

When he first left the Lylat system around a year and a half ago, he had to change his name so people wouldn't recognize the name Fox McCloud. So he took up his middle initial J as a cover name to hide his real identity, as not much people knew the face of the famous mercenary from the Lylat system who single handedly destroyed Andross on Venom.

He turned and looked at the vixen that Jonah pointed out earlier. He had his shades on, even in the dimly lit smoke filled room and it made it somewhat harder for him to see, but he still made out key details about her. She had long purple hair that ran down to her shoulders, and was a very slender build. He even felt slightly attracted to her, for the first time since the end of the Anglar war when he lost Krystal. This actually surprised him somewhat. "_Maybe I'm finally on the road to recovery… Yet something about her is strangely familiar, like I've met her before even though I'm sure I've never seen her before in my life."_ He turned his head back to the counter to ponder his thoughts.

Kursed now saw that he turned his head his head away and she looked back at him. She tried to read his mind, but somehow something was blocking her from entering. All she could pickup was slight emotions and thought patterns. "_Damnit, this is going to be tougher than I thought, without my telepathy this will definitely be an interesting case." _She thought to herself.

Kursed still had the weirdest feeling though, that she knew her target. Not just a slight familiarity as if she's seen him, but as if she's met and spoken to the vulpine before. She had to find out why she feels this way, but she decided that she could wait for the time being until he gets up and leaves the bar. Then she would tag his vehicle with a tracking device to find out where he was driving. For now, she would just have to wait and find out where he led her. She was in such deep thought that she didn't notice three canines enter, which were two bulldogs and a wolf. They surrounded her table and withdrew their weapons and aimed them right at her face.

"_Shit, how could I have been so careless to not sense them coming in…" _she thought, scorning herself.

"Hey you pretty lady; I heard that you were the one who killed my brother and two of my most trusted members. Well guess what, I'm going to take your little pretty face and rip it apart, you little blue furred bitch." said the Wolf with a crazed look in his eyes. She could see his intentions, and they weren't good. He was planning on shooting her in the head right then and there. "Now before I kill you, you have any last words before I blow your brains all over the wall?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I do," she stated as she knew that he was going to kill her anyways, "Go to hell you filthy mutt."

She knew that the end was near, and almost nearly had an emotional breakdown then and there. She was the last of her race with no children to recover the sensitive Cerinian population, and she would never hold Fox in her arms again that she had always dreamt about. She regretted ever leaving him, and most of all regrets betraying him like she did. Right when she could sense him putting pressure on the trigger, she felt pain rush through his body as he doubled over. The wolf had a large blade lodged into his spine. The two bulldogs sat there stunned, not knowing what happened; she took this advantage and then broke the pitcher of water on the head of one of the bulldog cronies. The other one however, was able to recover faster and pistol whipped Kursed in the head, knocking her unconscious. She fell to the floor and blacked out.

Fox, who threw his blade that he had tucked into his right boot, saw this and charged the bulldog. His adversary turned to see him charging and he prepared to punch the charging vulpine. As the dog swung at him, using all power with no finesse, allowed Fox to use this as an advantage. He easily evaded the first punch by strafing to the left and sent him a hard punch into his left kidney, causing him to hit the floor. Fox didn't hesitate. He grabbed the blade from the wolf's spine, making a sickening crunch as he withdrew it, and jumped onto the dog's back. Still doubling over from the powerful and well place punch, the dog was extremely vulnerable. The vulpine wrapped his arm around the dog's thick neck, and slit his throat with one clean slice.

He turned to the other bulldog, which was finally struggling to get up and run out of the door, and threw his knife at him. It struck him in the upper left side of his back, piercing his heart from behind. The dog fell to the ground, dead.

Fox walked over and grabbed his large combat blade, and cleaned it off with the dead dog's shirt. He placed it back into its respective sheath in his right boot and ran over to the unconscious vixen.

"Jonah, get me an icepack. She took a nasty blow to the head from the dog's pistol. And also send one of your mates to clean up these bodies." Fox shouted across the bar. Everyone in the bar stared in amazement as all of that unfolded within thirty seconds. Fox acted with enough speed to prevent the one dog from shooting him, and saved this girls life.

"I'm on it Jay, I'll call my contact in the Morgue. He'll come down here and pick them up with no questions asked." Jonah stated as he walked over to Fox and handed him the icepack. He placed it on the girl's head where she took the blow, which left a lump with the diameter of a golf ball.

"Hey, time to wake up," stated the vulpine, "They're dead now, you can wake up"

Kursed stirred and opened her eyes to be greeted with a massive headache. She looked up and saw a gold vulpine with dark tinted shades on staring down at her. She instantly got up, and gasped. This left a slight confused look on the fox's face, and he asked "Why are you so surprised? Never seen dead men before?" indicating the three men on the floor.

She now realized what that faint sensation was coming from. Her heart rate accelerated and she thought she was going to have a heart attack. She wouldn't know for sure, until she looked into his eyes.

Fox removed his glasses and looked at her and asked once more, "Are you alright?"

Kursed looked into his emerald eyes with disbelief. Standing in front of her was the man she abandoned so long ago, and thought was going to never see again. But he was right there, in front of her, and it seems that he didn't recognize the vixen. "_My target was Fox McCloud… and he just saved my life, again."_ she thought to herself.

"Y-yea I'm alright, just a little surprised is all, to wake up in a bar surrounded by three dead men with a migraine." She replied to Fox.

"Well good thing you're all right, you took quite the blow to the head. Come on, I'll give you a ride to wherever your staying."

"N-no it's alright, I can get home, and it's only a few blocks north of here anyhow." She replied. She sensed a tad bit of disappointment in him, but she ignored it.

"You sure? Because you just took a direct hit from the butt of a pistol in the forehead, even I wouldn't be able to walk for awhile after that."

"It's not the first time I haven't been in situations like that. I was just caught off-guard, but you came in just in-time, so for that I thank you." She held out her hand to Fox, and Fox noticing the gesture, shook her hand. She felt her body flutter slightly from his touch, and she hated herself for letting her emotions roam free once more. "_Damnit, I spent so hard blocking him out, and he just shows up randomly and sweeps me off of my feet again…"_

"Well anyways, I don't think I got your name, but I know you have mine from what Jonah told me." He stated with a smile.

"My name is Kr-Kursed" She almost slipped up and ended up telling him her real name. She wanted to keep her identity a secret, for now.

"So Kursed, why is that those men walked in here intent on getting revenge? That's the one quest I have for you." Fox stated bluntly.

"Well, I was walking down here through the alleys to try and avoid any attention, but it seems that I walked past one of their gang hideouts. There were two wolves and one husky standing the back alley, and they came up to me. They tried to subdue me and hold me down, but I ended up defending myself and killing all three of them. I guess that these men right here were their superiors and the brother of one of the wolves I killed in the Alley. I know how to defend myself; I am a well trained bounty hunter after all." She stated with a hint of pride.

Fox stared at her with one eyebrow quirked up. "Well I'm surprised that they caught you off guard like that then, Kursed. I've heard of your exploits on Kew, not much but some. But if you'll excuse me now, I'll have to make my leave. You sure you don't need a ride?"

"Yea I'm fine… My hotel is only a few blocks north of here. I'll make it… and Jay, thanks for saving me. I appreciate it." There was sincerity in her voice that she had never heard in quite a long time. She watched Fox get up and walk out the door of the bar and get into his car. She followed behind him, and subtly placed a tracking device on the side of his vehicle and then she continued walking north to her Hotel, as Fox turned his vehicle on and drove off into the distance. "_I guess I'll follow him and see what he's up to…" _Kursed thought as she continued walking.

She withdrew her PDA which displayed a map of the city, and two beeping dots. One was her, and the other was Fox's car. She noticed something odd, though, it seems that he wasn't going in the direction that he previously said he was, but instead noticed that he was going in the same direction as her. "_What the hell is he doing?"_

Fox was watching the blue furred vixen at a distance from his car. Just a few days ago, he recently acquired information that the leader of the crime mob, an overweight ram only known as Wade, had setup a large bounty on his own head. "_There's no doubt about it… She stumbles into the same bar I'm in, asks about me, and then places a transmitter on my car. That Kursed is definitely trying to bring me in, but I'll let her have her fun for now."_ Before Slippy left the team go to be with Amanda on Aquas, he had given Fox a special tracking device that would not only be able to tune in on the frequencies of any bugs placed around him, but also track the receiver also. "_As long as I have that bug, I can track wherever she goes… Thank god for Slippy's inventions."_

Fox kept following the vixen from a distance, and noticed she was staying at the same hotel as Falco was. The place was considered a five star hotel, which easily costs a fortune just to stay in overnight. Fox's mind instantly turned to Falco, but then remembered that he left the planet around noon. He wondered if it was just coincidence or if she actually planned it out to get closer to him. While he sat there thinking about the hotel, a thought occurred to him. "_If she bugged my car, then she obviously has intentions of tracking me… Maybe I can use this to my advantage…"_

She walked into the lobby, and watched her PDA. Fox didn't stop when she walked in, so she thought that maybe he wasn't actually following her in the first place. Kursed walked into the elevator and went up to the 64th floor where her room resided. She would wait until night, and then follow him under the shroud of darkness to find out the main reason why he was here on Kew in the first place. She walked into her room and sat down on the couch that was adjacent to a flat screen T.V. that was hanging from the wall. She never really liked television that much, so she instead went up and grabbed her gear to lay out a plan that she would use to observe Fox.

_**7 hours later…**_

Kursed laid out all of the gear she had with her on the bed. She grabbed her Tactical Binoculars which allowed the use of Night Vision and Thermal Optics, her PDA for tracking, and wrist-band communicator. In case she needed to contact anyone. As always, she grabbed her blaster and staff before heading out of the Hotel Room and down into the Hotel Lobby. Kursed glanced down at her PDA and saw that Fox's vehicle was stationary around 20 miles east of her location.

Kursed stepped out onto the sidewalk and headed for the hotel's parking garage where her hover street bike was parked. She walked across the first floor and found where she locked up her bike. It resembled a Ducati, fully clad in black and perfectly stream-lined for fast acceleration. She threw her leg over the other side and put on her black helmet with a tinted visor that she pulled out of the small compartment next to her bike.

It roared to life, letting out a fierce growl when she gave the bike a twist of the handle. Kursed backed up, and sped out through the entrance that she came, gliding gracefully between the other hover cars. It only took her around four minutes to come where Fox had his car parked outside of what it appeared to be an apartment. She looked around to find any areas would prove useful in this stakeout. Glancing around the road, she found an abandoned three story factory just a few hundred yards down the road that had a perfect view of the entire apartment. Kursed quietly pulled her bike up to the back of the abandoned factory, and set it up against the concrete wall of the building. She left her helmet on, as it had a built in interface that acted as an invisible flash light that lit up even the darkest areas.

She found the back door, and noticed a thick pad lock on the door. She withdrew her blaster, changed the intensity of the laser and cut a clean line through the lock. The thick lock dropped to the floor with a loud thud and she grimaced, surprised that it made such a loud noise that echoed throughout street. She continued on, and opened the door and stepped inside. It was a complete empty, and barren warehouse, except the metal spiral staircase that led to the roof and several cat walks extending throughout the building. Using her telepathy, she scanned the nearby area, only sensing people on the outside and no one near or in the warehouse.

Kursed continued and walked over to the base of the stairs and made her way to the roof of the building. When she came to the top of the staircase, she was met with another door; however there were scorch marks next to the handle. She placed her hand on the door and thought "_This is still warm… Whoever was here, I must've just missed them." _ She opened the door and scanned the area with her mind, careful not to let her guard down. All she could pick up were faint emotions, too far away to be on the same rooftop or in the same building as her. Verifying that it was clear, she continued over to the edge of the building and withdrew her PDA to check if the car was still parked outside of the building down the street. Seeing that it was, she took off her helmet, allowing her hair to fall back down to her shoulders and withdrew her binoculars. She peered through them, and set the settings to thermal optics and zoomed in on the windows. There was nothing however that showed up. Not even the faintest heat signatures from lights or even electronics. The house was simply desolate of anything. "Alright, where are you hiding?" Kursed said softly to herself. She continued to scan other buildings, but not seeing her target among the other civilians. She decided to wait and watch the car to see what direction he would come from. Then she felt it again. The strange sensation of a distant thought pattern and then her heart almost skipped a beat as she felt a cold steel barrel pressed up against her back.

"Play time is over, Kursed" Said a familiar voice.


End file.
