Mission 38 – The Duel

Falco dashed through the quite Cornerian industry streets with his jet black hoverbike, a luxurious craft of power and elegance. His dark, inconspicuous clothing flattered in the rushing wind. His trustworthy pistol blaster hung snugly in its holster, while a submachine gun clung to his back. It was the first time he dressed like this in several years. In this outfit, he was a raptor, ready to kill. The predator glanced at the luminous clock that adorned his dashboard: 1:03 a.m. He was late. A good strategist like Leon would have arrived hours ago.

His mind wandered aimlessly as his sleek machine raced through the streets. He had considered telling Fox or Sirus about this unique circumstance, but after much consideration, he had decided against it. Although the support of his teammates would be a great asset to this mission, the stakes were far too heavy. Fox and Sirus had families to look after, children to nurture. If something happened to either of them, Falco would never forgive himself. Unlike them, Falco knew he was different. He was free, bonded to neither love nor families.

Or was that true? Thinking about love, Kat inevitably surfaced in his thoughts. He could see her through his memories: her beautiful eyes, vibrant fur, perfectly feminine body and lustful attitude. The avian had met with her many times, both before and after the Lylat War, accounted and unaccounted. Through out his history of a mercenary, the one person who watched his back the most, besides Fox, was Kat. If only Falco knew how to express his feelings to her, she'd be his girl. Falco grinned at that thought, ". . . maybe not."

He then thought about his teammates, from Peppy the old-timer to Slippy the genius. No matter how many times they've crossed with each other, they still remained together. During the war, they knew perfectly that they may see each other in one moment and be worlds apart in the next. Yet, their bond was strong: Strong enough to tie them together, through toil and peril. If Falco met his end tonight . . . "Then I hope you guys will forgive me, because I have a score to settle."

That's right, a score that none of you are qualified to settle it.

Leon glanced at the arena that was once an abandoned warehouse. He arrived here two hours ago, studying the area. By now, he knew the entire building by heart, down to the smallest nail. Such knowledge was essential to his victory. Falco was no pushover, and Leon knew that perfectly. In the air, Leon knew Falco was on par with him. On land, that's a whole different story. The lizard had little experience fighting on foot with the avian, and the lack of experience may be a weakness, or an asset, depending on the situation. Falco had never fought him like this either.

Firepower-wise, Falco had and edge over Leon. The military issued weapons that Slippy modified are by far the best weapons of the entire Lylat. Leon knew for sure that he could not defeat Falco in a head-on gunfight. The lizard would have to resolve to stealth weapons, traps and strategies. All around him were different booby traps, all lying in wait for the bird's presence. On the ground, among the debris were numerous small coin-like devices, each with a small triangular hole in the middle. If the bird was careless enough to step on any of them, a needle would instantly pierce his footwear and inject an incapacitating dose of venom into his bloodstream.

Being the masterful strategist that he was, Leon had several more tricks up his sleeve. Placed behind some of the less conspicuous locations were hologram projectors. These projectors, when activated under Leon's control, would display an animation of Leon falling lifelessly to the ground. When the care-free bird decides to "investigate", he would find only more holes in his feet.

There was another, more drastic measure that Leon could take if things took a bad turn. However, since Leon had intended this to be somewhat of a duel of honor, at least by his standards, so there was no reason to consider that for now. But if that measure was taken, the chances of Falco winning were minimal. But then again, what's the fun in that?

Come, fool.

"Leon! Show yourself!" Falco barked in the open doors of the warehouse. With his avian eyes, he could see quite clearly within the darkness of the building. However, knowing that Leon was a master of traps, he knew that it was to his benefit to stay outside . . . for now. The bird already drew his submachine gun, ready to fire at any sudden movement.

"You are early, bird." Leon's voice answered from within. "I haven't finished setting up yet."

"Come out and face me like a man, coward." Falco barked, his eagle eyes scrutinizing the details with in the building. Everything seemed normal. Littering the floor were broken boxes, planks, rusted beams, barrels, nails, nuts, and a few weird looking objects that he did not recognize as standard "warehouse" equipment. Among them were small rounded coin-like objects that seem to lie on the ground in random clusters. The closest cluster was only a few feet away from him, dotting the entrance sparingly.

"You have a big gun, I don't." Leon's voice replied, "It's not fair now, is it?"

"You are pushing it, lizard!" Falco's reply reflected his disgruntled attitude. "Are you going to fight or not?"

"Bird, you have such a temper." Leon's devious laughter suddenly filled the room, "Come in, but watch your step. I am waiting for you . . ."

Falco took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, taking his mental self into a battle stance. It had been many years since he needed to fight this seriously, and perhaps this may be his last. Once ready, Falco made a tremendous leap into the warehouse, rolled, and then scanned his surroundings with his sharp, unmatched eyes. To his surprise, Leon was nowhere to be found.

"Lizard, let's get serious." Falco demanded, "Your little tricks sicken me."

"Oh, do they now?" Leon's voice was audible, but he was still nowhere to be seen, "Being a chameleon and all, it's always nice to play stealth."

"As far as I know, chameleons change colors because of emotions, not for stealth. So, I'd say you cut this nonsense and duel me." The falcon's eyes continued to scan his surroundings, seeing them in the dark almost as well as in the day. Metallic support beams and crates scattered around the warehouse, but for the most part the large structure was clean . . . or so it seemed. The only plausible place for the lizard to hide was behind the supports near the perimeter of the cleared area, which would put Falco in a bad position.

A small, rubbery pellet, similar to a rubber bullet, zipped through the air with immeasurable speed, towards Falco. The bird caught it in the corner of the eye, and attempted to dodge it. It skimmed across the skin of his neck, causing a burn as if it was a bullet. It was a tranquilizer pellet, designed to penetrate and explode under the skin of its victim. Such a weapon was usually used only to disable or capture, but seldom to kill. Luckily, the capsule did not explode when it skimmed Falco's neck. Instead, it simply made a small cracking noise when it a wall, where it exploded in the fashion of a paintball round.

The trail of the shot provided Falco the location of the lizard. Almost instantly, the bird fired a three-round-burst with his machinegun at the general direction. Two red-hot holes instantly appeared when the lasers collided with a rusted beam, while another stray one bore an indent into the concrete wall behind. It was then that Falco registered the fact that Leon was not here to kill him. This wasn't a duel. "What are you doing Leon? This is a supposed to be a duel!"

"You'd have a hole in your neck if I used a real blaster, fool." Leon answered, "I never wanted to kill you, but I guess challenging you to a made-up duel is the most insured way to capture you."

"Too bad that's not happening." Falco fired another burst of machinegun fire at Leon, who was apparently hiding behind one of the rusted support beams. "Give up Leon, there is no way you can do it with a tranquilizer. Besides, I've got you cornered."

"Have you now?" Another voice, similar to Leon's suddenly made itself known, except this time it was behind Falco. The lizard laughed, "Oh by the way, there are several of us in this little arena. You are outnumbered, bird."

"I'll just kill the whole lot then!" Falco drew his blaster as well, aiming it at the shadowy figure behind him. He fired a few shots, forcing both figures to retreat behind the support beams.

"Oh my, rather heartless of you, don't you think?" Leon chuckled, "Only one of us is the real Leon. The rest are poor, helpless, civilians who unfortunately fell under the control of my CIIs . . . Would you kill them too? Think about their families, their wives, children . . . Would you kill them?"

"Try me." Falco replied coldly, "Anyone who is too weak to protect himself doesn't deserve to live."

Leon chuckled, "I am surprised to hear that from you . . . true, very true. I am impressed. I will never kill you now . . . I want you."

"Hey pervert," Falco fired both his blaster and his machine gun simultaneously. Being a bird of prey, his eyes allowed him to cover a large area with his peripheral vision. He witnessed both figures falling from their positions, and landed on the ground in harsh, audible thumps. "Shut up."

Then there was silence.

The bird watched, scanning his surroundings carefully. No signs of movements present. That was too easy. There was no way a master criminal like Leon would go down without a decent fight. Falco lowered his weapons and approached one of the corpses, but kept an eye on the surroundings for sudden movements. Falco knelt beside the fallen body, and then reached down to check the lizard's pulse. To his surprise, his hand went right through the person's neck.

It was a hologram. It was indeed too easy to be true. Almost instantly the bird was on his feet again, his weapons drawn, ready and waiting for Leon's next move. "Fighting me with holograms? You've got to be kidding me!"

With his attention split in so many different directions, the bird was bound to make a mistake. This was a calculation that Leon had made long before the fight began. The lizard was not in the warehouse, but above it, watching everything from a crevice too small for Falco to notice. He had indeed enslaved a few unfortunate souls to commit his foul acts. Unfortunately for Leon, his attention was also split among many. For each person that he enslaved, a piece of attention was needed. To control several people's full body movements, especially in combat, was no easy task. That was one of the reasons why the lizard missed his first shot: He miscalculated the speed of the pellet.

"Now, now, don't be annoyed." Leon commanded one of his puppets to speak for him, through the usage of his mechanical eye. "Say . . . do you feel a slight tingle in your leg?"

Falco rubbed his feet idly. His left foot felt somewhat numb, but it was unnoticeable until the lizard mentioned it. He looked at the source of the voice and found another reptilian man standing next to a pillar, holding a tranquilizer gun at him.

"Your leg should be "falling asleep" soon." The shadowy figure said with a smirk, "And eventually, your whole body will be disabled. Don't worry though, the drug won't kill you."

"You cheap son-of-a . . ." Falco cursed under his breath. To his surprise, his knee suddenly gave in and collapsed, bring him to a crouching position involuntarily. By now he could feel the induced numbness slowly creeping up his body, following his fast flowing bloodstream.

"On the battlefield, there is only winning and losing." The dark figure raised his tranquilizer and aimed it at Falco, "And this time, you lose."

Falco felt a stinging pain in his chest. Almost immediately, darkness closed in around his eyes. . .

"Crap."

Falco woke with a sharp headache. Leon had apparently shot him with the tranquilizer, and the effects were only starting to fade. He was lying in a simple, yet clean cot, his arms and legs tightly cuffed to the railings. No longer was he wearing his suit, but was stripped down his boxers. A soft white feather quilt covered his aching body, its warmth almost invaluable to the defeated bird for a moment.

The bird glanced around. Judging by the lighting, Falco safely assumed that he was underground. However, the room that he was placed in was very pleasing to the eye, almost like a hotel suit. However, he failed to see anything below the level of his bed, since his arms and legs were stretched tightly bound to the four corners of the cot. The bird struggled for a moment, wondering what kind of cuffs Leon was using. From the slightly elastic feel of the bonds, Falco concluded that the cuffs were electromagnetic, similar to the ones General Scales once used to enslave the dinosaurs on Sauria. If so, then that means the controls for these indestructible bonds were elsewhere. The blue avian cursed again, knowing that there was nothing he could do about his current position. His only hope was for Fox to find him soon.

"Good morning." Leon's devious voice marked the lizard's entrance, "How are you feeling?"

"Like a horrible hangover." Falco replied unenthusiastically, "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing much, you're just someone nice to chat with." Leon said with a cheerful grin. His face almost looked peaceful, too peaceful for such a notorious criminal. "By the way, I already planted a CII in your head."

"Oh, how swell." Falco answered sarcastically. That would explain the headache, too. "So, freak, what are you going to do?"

"Persistent one, aren't you? I'm going to use you to destroy StarFox, of course." Leon answered, "And many other "bad" things too. Mainly to increase your infamy, you know?"

"If I am not chained down right now, I would so beat the snot out of you." Falco threatened. The thought of him becoming a villain was almost unbearable, let alone destroying StarFox. "First you cheated in the duel, now you want me to do your dirty work, hell no!"

"With that CII in your head, I don't think you have a choice." Leon said with a devious grin. "No worries though, just think about it this way . . . 'those who can't defend themselves do not deserve to live.' If you think like that, you'll feel much better when you kill Fox and the rest of his crew."

Falco fell silent. That was what he said last night, and the worst part was he actually believed in it. Now, if the same statement applied to Fox and the others, would it make a difference?

"But, since my ultimate mission is to make a friend out of you, let's drop silly talks like that. There isn't much you can do about it anyway." Leon smiled warmly again, "So, want to eat breakfast?"

"And if I say no?" Falco asked, turning his head away. He felt filthy and dishonored. There must be away to stop the lizard . . .

"Then I'll use my CII and MAKE you eat." Leon said with the same smile on his face. "But that won't be fun now, would it? Besides, we can have a nice conversation while we eat. Pigma is already waiting upstairs."

"I am surprised that you haven't killed him yet." Falco said sarcastically as Leon exited the room, presumably going to unlock his bonds. There was no reason to even try escaping though, because at any given moment the lizard could just take over his body. All the bird could do now was follow Leon's orders . . . or requests. Falco felt the bonds suddenly disappear, so he sat up, rubbing his wrists idly. "That guy is the greediest, clumsiest, fattest piece of crap I know."

Leon came back with the bird's jumpsuit, and his boots, folded neatly in his arms. The lizard threw the items on the bed, and waited at the door. He watched the bird, half curiously, half mindlessly. "He may be greedy, clumsy and fat, but he is still my teammate. The only reason why I killed Andrew was because he double-crossed me. If Pigma was to do the same thing, I would make sure that he suffers every bit of the pain that Andrew suffered."

"An unforgiving one, aren't you?" Falco smirked. For some reason he was able to put aside his hatred for the lizard for a moment. Perhaps it was the lizard's hospitality, or something else . . . something intriguing. The bird grabbed his clothes and slowly put them on, while keeping an eye on the strange, seemingly emotionless lizard at the doorway.

"None of you are forgiving either." Leon replied, "You killed Wolf, I kill you, things are as simple as that."

"But we didn't kill him. Heck, Fox was all riled up and trying to save Wolf too. When you guys attacked him on Dinosaur Planet, he flew all the way back to Corneria just to save the poor guy." Falco continued, remembering the incident. "He spent nights writing up a speech, trying to convince the public so they won't kill Wolf."

"It doesn't matter. I should kill them for just locking us up for so long." Leon answered, "We were soldiers, not criminals. We joined up with Andross because he paid us good money. You joined up with Pepper because he did the exact same thing. We killed people, you killed people, but I go to jail, you celebrate. For that alone I should kill the lot of you."

Falco shook his head. Perhaps Leon wasn't a psychopath. Perhaps he doesn't like killing people. Perhaps, just perhaps, he was just bent on revenge. Maybe the lizard just wanted to show the world the kind of pain he endured. He felt cheated, he felt helpless. Now, he felt angry. The bird quietly slipped on his boots and stood up, "So, breakfast?"

"Hmm, I am surprised that this is going much easier than I though." Leon smiled again. The lizard was obviously happy. "But just to let you know, I can see what you see, hear what you hear, and smell what you smell. Don't even try escaping, or I'll make sure the rest of your short and pitiful life is short and pitiful."

"Oh stop it already. You know you need me to destroy Fox and the others, so quit giving me death-threats. Let's be "friends", eh?" Falco said with a smile. Leon simply shrugged before leading the bird out of his room. Neither of them trusted each other, but they both needed each other for their own purpose. Falco needed to survive, and Leon needed to revenge. From that need, a mutual relationship had inevitably formed between the two.

After breakfast, Leon had locked Falco back on the cot once again. The breakfast was somewhat boring for Leon, who was observing every single movement that Falco made. No one said a word to each other, not even Fourteen, who was usually talkative. Pigma was simply wolfing down his food, disregarding Falco's existence.

Falco ate quite a lot though, probably because Leon was such a good cook. Besides, the bird knew there was no reason for him not to eat, nor go against Leon's will. It was to his best interest to keep himself alive anyway.

"So what are you going to do now?" Falco asked. His arms and legs were locked tightly around the bed, thus leaving his head the only mobile part of his body. However, the locks were arranged in such a way that they were not hurting him in any way, so at least that was something to be grateful of.

Leon simply smiled and sat next to Falco on the cot. "Invade your personal space, of course."

"Get the hell off you pervert." Falco demanded, his body shifting uncomfortably to avoid contact with Leon.

Leon simply chuckled, "You know, I can make you do anything I want, anything. Say . . . if I want you to give Pigma a backrub, you cannot disobey my commands. . . Just imagine those sexy flabby layers of blubber . . ."

"I hope you are joking." Falco said, his eyes were wide with disbelieve.

"Maybe I am . . . maybe I'm not." Leon simply stared back with emotionless eyes, "But there is one thing that I have to make you do. . ."

"What?" Falco asked.

"You don't want to know."