Tobias dusted off his leather jacket and spat at the unconscious falcon through the broken bar window. He pulled a stack of credits from his pocket and tossed it to the stricken bartender. The pudgy panther's eyes widened even more when he noticed how much money he had in his hands. "B-But sir. I don't need this much for the window!"
The wolf drew a blaster revolver from his jacket and looked at the bartender. "I'm not done here yet," he growled. The panther gasped and hunkered down a bit behind the counter. Tobias strode to the back of the bar, passing silent patrons who quickly averted their eyes. They didn't want a free flight out the window from the wolf like the falcon unfortunately received. He passed the dirty bathrooms and stopped outside a door with a rusty door handle that he quickly jiggled. Locked. "Open the door, Slither. Let's have a nice friendly chat." Silence responded. Tobias pounded the door the butt of his pistol. After another stubborn silence, Tobias sighed.
He reared back his jeans and black boot clad leg and slammed it into the door, swinging it open to a smokey, dimly lit room. There was a crumbling desk in the center of the room, with various cheaply made dirty drugs wrapped in plastic bags littering the surface. Behind the desk was a ratty leather chair supporting a shaky lizard in a yellowing shirt and stained gray sports jacket. In his quivering green hands was a shotgun pointed at the invading wolf. Tobias mentally noted how Slither's fancy clean watch contrasted greatly with everything else in the room as he leaped to his side, barely missing a fistful of plasma buckshot that melted into the dirty wall. As he sailed through the air, Tobias fired a round into Slither's shoulder before hitting the ground in a quick roll. Immediately he sprang up and leaped over the desk towards the wounded reptile who had dropped his weapon to clutch at his shoulder.
Tobias slammed his feet into Slither's body as he vaulted over the desk, throwing the creature into his disgusting leather chair. "Have a seat buddy," grunted the wolf as he threw a fist into the lizard's leathery mug. "You haven't been answering my calls, man!"
Slither's scratchy and high pitched voice was quivering with fear and pain. "C-C'mon Tobias! I can't talk to you...I mean-I..." He clutched his tender shoulder and winced.
Tobias raised his eyebrows, expecting a heartfelt answer. "Hmmm?"
The reptile looked him distressingly. "You're supposed to be fucking dead!" He screamed like a banshee when the wolf thrust the hot barrel of his pistol into the shoulder wound. "Shit-shi-! Stop! To-Tobias! Fucking stop!"
The wolf grabbed Slither's scummy collar and pulled him forward. "Listen you grimy little shit," he hissed. "You know who I'm looking for? I bet you do, you're a smart guy."
Despite his obvious lie and painful shakedown, the pathetic animal attempted to play dumb. "I don't know who you are talking about. I-I work for a lot of different guys. I don't know nothin'."
Tobias shook his head disapprovingly. "Oh Slither, my dear friend of mine. You shouldn't lie to your friends...you could get hurt." He proved himself correct after slamming the reptile's head into the side of the desk.
"God-Ahh!" screeched Slither. His migraine he recently developed now doubled. He looked up at the determined wolf with scratchy yellow eyes and tried to play one more card. "Fuck you, Tobias." It was all he could think of. Tobias shrugged and without hesitation pressed the pistol to Slither's head. "Wait! Waitwaitwait-okay!" he stuttered and threw his trembling claws into the air.
"Too late." Tobias cocked the revolver.
Slither lost it, he even started to cry. "No! You're looking for Jamarco, right? Right!? Shit, don't kill me Tobias! C'mon!" Tobias smirked and lifted the gun off Slither's temple a bit and leaned forward. The lizard's tongue flicked out and nervously licked his greasy thin lips. He know he was done, he had to tell him where the man who murdered his family now resided. He had two choices: be silent and let the pissed-as-all-Hell wolf blow him away, or tell him and take his chances with Jamarco. He decided to go with the better odds. As ruthless and terrifying Slither knew Jamarco was, he also knew that he was too small-time to have this betrayal traced back to him. At least he hoped. He attempted a steadying breath and almost muttered, "Fichina. Jamarco is on Fichina."
Tobias lowered the revolver and gave his best buddy a friendly grin that shook Slither to his core. "Thanks, pal! I knew I could count on you." He savagely kicked the lizard in the chest and watched his eyes bug out from their sockets as he gasped for air. "Well, I'll be off now. I have business to take care of," he knelt down on one knee and brought his muzzle close to Slither's filthy skull. "And Slither if I find out you were lying to me..."
"T-Truth! I...ack...swear, Tobias!" coughed the wretch, now in a fetal position on the scummy floor. The wolf stood up slowly, holstered his pistol, and straightened his leather jacket. He walked around the desk and exited the room, almost closing the door.
"But if it isn't the truth, I know where to find you." He glowered at the terrified lizard who was now attempting to use his good arm to lift himself to the desk and onto his feet. "See ya, Slither." And he was gone.
Tobias lay on the rumpled motel bed, surrounded by empty bottles and painkiller containers. A cigarette dangled loosely from his mouth as he gazed at the ceiling for a few minutes, scanning at random patterns in the ceiling's speckled surface. He looked for his wife's face in his mind, a beautiful wolf with model-quality red hair that spread all around her sleek muzzle and lit up her piercing green eyes. He looked for his son in her capable arms, a small kit with a unique yet adorable white stripe that ran down one eye. Just like his dad. Yet instead of bright yellow eyes, he had the fierce green eyes that his mother had graciously passed down. He loved the two more than anything and anyone else in the world, and he honestly felt that way. He would have died for them without a second thought. Tobias rolled around to his side and through tear-blurred vision, studied the picture of his family on the nightstand. Not only would he have died for them, he wanted to. No such luck however.
Tobias began to relive the nightmare as he drifted off into an alcohol induced sleep. The nightmare that started three months earlier, while Tobias and his family were enjoying a chilly October afternoon in their cabin deep in the Cornerian forest reserve. The explosively colored leaves scattered like snowflakes all around the cozy home. Tobias and his wife cuddled close on the couch as they watched their son play with a toy Arwing, cute little muzzle scrunching as he made sound effects. He finished his mission and padded over to the warm nest of his parents' embrace. His kit peered up to his father and squeaked, "Papa, when I get older, can I be a hero just like Fox McCloud?"
Tobias ruffled his little ears and said, "When you grow up you will be an even bigger hero and you will save Lylat as many times as he did, probably more!" The kit's emerald eyes widened with excitement. He couldn't believe his ears, if his father knew he could do it, then there was no question about it!
"Your father's right, darling. As long as you work hard and always follow your heart to do the right thing, you will be the next hero of Corneria." Tobias' wife smiled warmly at her child and then beautifully at her husband who didn't realize it was possible to love her any more than when they first met. He was officially proved wrong when she grasped his hand in her delicate yet firm fingers and rested her head on his shoulder. The intoxicating scent of her fiery hair enveloped his nose and lungs. It was just another perfect moment that he had the privilege of experiencing.
Yet the world of peace and love came crashing down in a terrible explosions all around the small family as the front door caved in, the windows showered into tiny shards upon the sleek hardwood floor. Hostile goons of all types immediately began to crawl inside the home from all directions. Tobias flew off the couch and ran at the nearest rat who was charging them with a small shotgun. The wolf disarmed him quickly and efficiently, but also broke the vermin's arms in the process. The two other invaders raised their weapons but were smacked down by shotgun fire from the wolf before they could process it. Tobias spun around and reached a hand to his cringing family. "C'mon! Stay close to me!" The son and wife were both terrified but they reacted quickly. As a city cop, Tobias had drilled his family many times in case there was a break-in, but this was different, he could feel it in a deep pit in his stomach. He knew the intruders were in the house in every room and his only hope was to get them all out. The method the goons had broken in whispered a dark purpose, one that Tobias wished to avoid at all costs.
Yet his hope and his face were smashed as the butt of a rifle slammed into his right eye as he rounded a corner to the kitchen. A giant muscular bull with a smoldering cigar protruding from his gritted teeth strode into the living room as the wolf fell onto his back. Before he could do anything else, a black panther clad in an expensive purple suit appeared from the kitchen and kicked the shotgun away. More goons flooded the living room and surrounded the family as the panther produced an exquisite looking desert eagle model blaster and pointed it at Tobias' wife and son.
When the panther spoke, his voice was deep and on a certain level soothing. It had just the slightest spin of a tropical accent referring to some far away home he left behind for his life as a crime boss. "Do not move from that position on the floor or I will kill them." His purple eyes stared down the anger and fear ridden orbs of the defeated wolf. After the panther acknowledged Tobias' compliance he nodded towards the bull. "Tie him up."
The bull started with Tobias who did his best to sit still as his hands were bound behind his back. Suddenly he realized what this was all about. A few weeks earlier Tobias and his partner had been in a shootout with Jamarco's brother, Roman in some warehouse during an undercover drug bust. Backup was a long ways away and the two cops were outnumbered greatly. After wasting enough of his muscle, Roman lost his cool and sprung out from his cover to scream threats and expletives. His nanosecond of bad judgment was all Tobias needed and in an instant he had unloaded half a clip from his blaster into the young thug. He was branded a hero at the station and got a month of paid vacation for taking down one of Corneria's biggest menaces in crime. The wolf chose to spend it in his home with the only thing that kept him alive on the job. Now he realized he made a huge mistake and he greatly underestimated Jamarco's retaliation.
"You want me, Jamarco. Not them. Your beef is with me, not them. Please, don't touch them. Take me away, I'll go peacefully." Tobias spat out as he strained to keep his voice level. "It was either your brother or me. I had no choice, I was doing my job!"
Jamarco let out as deep murky chuckle and spoke as if he was speaking to a young kit. "You're right Tobias, my beef is with you. You sent my brother to the world beyond this one, you killed a deeply loved family member of mine." As the panther cocked his weapon, Tobias suddenly felt like screaming, throwing up, and killing untold millions as knew what was going to happen next. "Trust me Tobias, I plan to retaliate swiftly and justly, however we won't need to bring you anywhere. Everything we need is right here in this room." Jamarco pointed the blaster at Tobias' wife who shouted his name before a jagged blaster slug pierced her brain. Her perfect body flopped back on the blood stained couch. His son began sobbing uncontrollably, drenched in his mother's blood and brains. Tobias' sobs joined his as the wolf wildly tried to worm his way towards his son on his side through the sea of broken glass.
"Papa's right here, buddy! It's okay son, it's okay!" The kit scrambled over to his father and buried his face into his neck, holding on to the last figure of hope the little one had left. Jamarco didn't try to separate the two but instead let them be together for a few more moments until he decided it was time. It made him feel so good. "Jimbo, take the child." The bull nodded and without hesitation grabbed the kit from the scruff of his neck and began to pry him off Tobias.
Tobias cried harder than he ever had in his life and uselessly thrashed about as he watched his son be lifted away from him, his tiny pleading arms outstretched. "I love you! I love you! I love you!" screamed Tobias repeatedly as the kit begged for his father back. The bull backhanded the kit across the face stunning him before handing him to Jamarco.
The panther looked at the child and grinned. "You're father is about to learn a lesson about what happens when he kills someone you love." The child stared at the crime boss terrifyingly and without comprehension. The panther tossed the kit onto the couch on top of his mother's still body. The child hugged his dead parent tightly, hoping that she would get up an make everything bad go away like she had always done.
Jamarco nodded at the bull again, and the giant animal took a can of liquid hovercar fuel from a nearby weasel. The giant beast poured it's contents onto the couch without emotion as the kit cried harder, sputtering and coughing from the fumes. Tobias screamed again and managed to bring his feet underneath him and attempted to stand. However, the ruthless panther sent a diamond studded shoe into the wolf's stomach, quickly sinking him onto his knees. He turned to the bull, plucked the cigar from the bull's mouth and took one last look at Tobias. In that moment the husband and father roared like no one had ever heard before. It was a roar of despair, defeat, rage, and impending disaster. It continued and escalated to higher levels of horrible emotion as Jamarco casually flicked the cigar to the couch. As his son burned alive over his dead wife's body Tobias saw someone place a case of explosives in the center of the hellish inferno of the room. The fire quickly spread around the cabin as Jamarco and his henchmen exited.
The panther was the last to leave, and he chuckled at the sight of the beaten, bloody, and hopeless wolf who gazed into his eyes with the hollow sockets of a tortured ghost with all of his world literally burning around him. "Goodbye, Tobias. Say hello to my brother in Hell."
He wasn't sure how it happened exactly, but somehow the wolf cut his binds and vaulted out the window right before his home and family erupted into debris and embers. Maybe he a section of the log wall protected him from the initial blast, maybe he was damn lucky. When the fire department and police finally arrived, the only thing Tobias remembered clearly was rolling his head to the side in the crunchy autumn leaves and seeing a half-melted Arwing toy in a pile of ash and splintered wood. Then blackness.
Author's Notes: Hey guys. I'm back with a brand new story, and I actually plan on keeping this one going. I just started college and so far it's going pretty good. So even with that and my job at Walmart, I feel confident we can enjoy this series just fine. Leave a review, if you got any questions, message me. Thanks for reading!
Tittehs.