Wow. I have to say that all of your generous reviews truly surprised me, and that they are the primary reason that you've gotten this chapter so quickly. Keep it up, and you'll see the third part to this story out even quicker. Alrighty, so, here is the middle chapter in this little trilogy, which, unlike the other parts of the story, takes place from Wolf's point of view rather than Fox's. Wolf is essentially the Boba Fett to Fox's Han Solo, so I tried to make him as cool and developed as I could in this rather adult take on StarFox. In this chapter, you'll see a bunch of things, such as just how much ass ROB (and Wolf) can kick, as well as how, in some ways, Wolf is just as alone as Fox in this story. Enjoy -Tobias Umbra
Every wolf's got his vice. My mom's was food. Damn, she was fat as a house. My Daddy's was sex. He's the reason I had so many brothers and sisters. I stopped remembering all their names after Daddy started naming them after cities and types 'a kitchen appliances. You might ask yourself, how's a wolf end up with a name as trite as, well, " Wolf"? Lets just say, when you're the middle child in a family 'a twenty-six, you get shit on in all sorts 'a ways, the least of all bein' the originality of your name. But I digress. My vice is fightin'. Always has been. It's why, out of the twenty-five brothers and sisters I had, only twenty-one made it to adulthood. I didn't kill 'em on purpose, though.
Honest.
Corneria says I'm maniac and a murderer, but that's a load of horseshit. I don't try to kill people. It's just that it kinda comes with the territory. I fight hard because it's the best rush you can get. It's better than sex or gambling or booze or any drug in the galaxy (trust me, I tried them all). It aint' my fault that the people that fight me sometimes end up hurt or killed. They took that risk when they made up their minds to start fightin'. I don't make an effort to make sure that they're dead, just to make sure they don't get back up and ask for seconds.
Even when I'm flyin', I always give people a chance to run. I'm not like Leon; chasin' 'em down and jerkin' 'em around all just to kill 'em. I'll only shoot at 'em as long as they're shootin' at me. I don't try to kill 'em, it's just the consequences of getting into a space battle are pretty lethal for the most part. If I'm paid to kill someone, then I'll do it 'cause I hafta. It's just business at that point, nothin' personal. I think there's little that you can get done by killin' someone that you can't get done by knockin' them out. Every now and then, there's an exception or two, but by and large I do my best not to kill people. There's no re-match if they're dead.
Now, McCloud, on the other hand…McCloud's an exception. There's a couple 'a reasons for it. First off, there's that whole issue with his daddy that he holds against me. That just pisses me off, 'cause that just ain't true. The truth is, when I was a pup, I thought StarFox was the dream life. It's why I started up StarWolf, 'cause I just wanted my own taste 'a adventure. It was just me an' Leon back then; we were young, an' we needed money, so when this fella' by the name of Andross comes along an' offers us a job, we told him yes. He was the one that forced me to take on Pigma and that candy-ass nephew 'a his, Andrew, as part 'a StarWolf. He made me watch what they did to James McCloud.
And I hated watchin' it, 'cause that was almost like my hero right there. Then McCloud's got the brass balls to say that I had somethin' to do with it. That's a big touch 'a disrespect, there.
Next, it's just that whole 'him vs. me' thing. I flew for Andross 'cause it was a job. It's not like I believed in the shit he was tryin' to do. McCloud flew for Corneria 'cause it was a job. He wouldn't 'a done it if he wasn't getting paid. And yet, he's a hero and I'm a murderer, just because of the sides we were on. Yeah, I'll admit, I got a past as an outlaw. It's why Corneria wouldn't hire StarWolf. They never gave us the chance. They treat us like criminals, how do they expect us to turn out? McCloud had all 'a them things that I had to deal without. And for them to be sayin' that I've only done bad things an' that he's only done good, well that pisses me off, too.
Finally, theres another reason that's gonna have to stay between us. I hate to say it, but McCloud's better than me. And the real thing that crosses me is that he knows it. As long as McCloud's alive, I'm always gonna be number two.
Which is why McCloud has gotta die. It's why I've gotta kill him, and it's why I gotta make it good.
Every wolf's got his vice. And mine's fightin'.
And it won't be satisfied until I got a fight to the death, with him.
The sun peeked low over the horizon, a passionate crimson color that set fire to the skies over Temple as it began to hand over dominion to the twin moons that hovered with ghostly stillness in the clouds above. With the abandoned cityscapes of Temple completely still and silent, an observer could almost see the sun in motion as it sank further and further out of sight. Though the surreal, almost picturesque view out the window would've captivated almost anyone else, Wolf O'Donnell could hardly care less.
Sitting on a barstool, hunched over a worktable with a cornucopia of assorted wires, screws and other tiny bits of metal, Wolf's gaze was locked onto the project before him. In his right hand, he delicately held an arc-soldering prod, gripping it like an artist would a paintbrush.
Through his one remaining eye, Wolf stared down at the flashlight-sized metal cylinder on the table before him; it's covering opened to expose several layers of complex circuitry. Through his optical implant, Wolf looked at the cylinder as well, however digitally drawn over it was a set of schematics, and everything seemed to have just a vaguely blue tint.
Wolf's implant proved so useful that part of him was glad to have lost his eye. The implant helped him with targeting and provided a heads-up display whilst he was flying his Wolfen, it functioned as a video communication channel without the need for carrying a comlink, it could digitally magnify anything he saw up to twenty times normal magnification, and it could also see in the infrared spectrum.
With the schematics constantly in one eye, Wolf carefully prodded a final part of the cylinder's circuitry, the arc-soldering prod emitting a vague crackle and a spark as it forged a pair of tiny circuits together. Wolf promptly set the prod down and plucked up the covering for the cylinder, putting it over the circuits that he'd just worked on and patiently tightening the bolts by inserting the tip of one of his claws into the screw heads and twisting carefully.
As soon as every part was fastened, the schematics display on Wolf's implant faded away as he straightened his back. Pointing the end of the cylinder away from him, Wolf thumbed a small button on the side of the cylinder, listening as the metal stick hummed to life.
Suddenly, a four-foot long blade of glowing blue plasma grew out from one end of the cylinder, crackling with energy as the internal magnetic field stabilized it. The plasma blade was energized enough to cut through just about anything.
Wolf's father had taught him how to make a plasma cutter, and the basics of electronics in general. Wolf had taught himself how to turn a plasma cutter into a plasma sword, as well as how to build other things that his father hadn't taught him. Wolf could build bombs, hack electronic locks, and even repair his Wolfen on the fly if the situation called for it. It may have been the nerdiest of all of Wolf's skills, but it was also one of the most useful.
With a faint smile of pride, Wolf pressed the activation button again and watched as the plasma blade disintegrated.
He calmly set the deactivated plasma sword down on the worktable, next to the other plasma sword he'd completed previously, and arched backwards, giving off a growl of pleasure as his back cracked. He'd been working on both of these nearly all day.
A look around the room revealed a rather sparse but clean den, made up of a portable computer, the workstation he was sitting at and a bare mattress lying on the floor. A set of stairs against the wall led up to the roof, where his Wolfen lay inactive.
The planet of Temple was a well-known hideout for people that didn't want to be found, and though Wolf was sure that he was the only person for perhaps twenty kilometers (except for Fox McCloud, of course), he was equally sure that there were probably hundreds of others taking refuge in the abandoned cities of Temple for one reason or another. Wolf didn't make a habit of coming to Temple often; really because he didn't feel the need to, however he'd made an exception in this case. The rumors had said that Fox McCloud could be found wandering around Temple's orbital garbage fields, and contrary to what Wolf had told his adversary, he'd actually been intending to challenge Fox for a while. If what they said was true, that Team StarFox had disbanded, then Wolf could finally challenge Fox one-on-one without any of his friends interfering.
There was a beeping in his ear as an orange dot appeared in the lower left corner of the heads-up-display of his implant.
The dot was a symbol that he had an incoming transmission.
"Accept transmission", Wolf said aloud, his implant recognizing his voice and initiating the communications channel.
The orange dot in his HUD expanded into a small digital window, in which a green skinned reptile with a triangular head and bulbous eyes stared out at him with a vague amount of coldness.
"Hey, Leon," Wolf said with a tired smirk.
"Wolf," Leon Powalski greeted in his manic, high-pitched voice, "How are things going down there?"
Since Wolf wanted his fight with Fox to be one-on-one in the strictest sense, he had asked Leon and Panther to remain on StarWolf's mother ship, the VenCom Nostromo-class space cruiser Lone Wolf. Panther had been all too happy to remain on the ship and laze about.
Leon wanted to come, and it had taken a while to make him stay out of it all.
Even then, he was constantly calling to check up.
"Things are just fine, Leon," Wolf growled with a roll of his eye, "You've got nothin' to worry about. You're not even missin' anythin'. Just got finished up buildin' the plasma swords."
"How's the Dalianide working?" Leon demanded anxiously.
"Last time I checked, it was workin' just fine. Looks to me like McCloud's got his hands full, wherever he crawled off to," Wolf explained.
"When was the last time you checked?" Leon inquired.
"Five minutes ago, Leon," Wolf droned, "I'm actually a bit worried he's gonna end up killin' himself before I can get to him. You sure it's not gonna work him over too much?"
"It was the smallest dose I could find," Leon responded defensively.
"Don't mean nothin' by it, Leon," Wolf intoned, "Just looks like McCloud's goin' through an awful lot down there."
"That's what you wanted, Wolf," Leon retorted.
Wolf smirked just a bit more.
"Leon, why ya' gotta keep buggin' me like this? Don't you got somethin' better to kill time on?" Wolf growled.
"I'm bored up here." Leon moaned, "More bored than usual."
"Why's that? You runnin' out 'a small animals to torture?" Wolf sneered.
"No…" Leon sighed.
"Well, how come I 'aint hearin' Panther complain? What's he up to?" Wolf shrugged.
"What do you think?" Leon intoned, rolling his bulbous eyes in opposite directions, leaning back in his chair, "Playing cyber-stalker on just about every singles site on the InterLink."
"So why don't you join him?" Wolf teased, "Bet ya' could meet some cold-blooded little female right up your alley…"
"Because I'm not…" Leon snapped, his voice cracking, and then he paused, "…Never mind."
Leon then began to grumble, and it was then that Wolf noticed, at the bottom of the transmission window, Leon was running a thin, metal blade-like object back and forth over the tips of his bare fingers.
Wolf's brow furrowed in confusion and awkwardness.
"Leon…" Wolf inquired slowly, "Are you filin' your nails?"
At that moment, Leon froze, and his eyes slowly glanced down at his hand, which then slowly lowered down past the edge of the window so that it was no longer visible to Wolf.
"…No," Leon answered quietly.
"Allll-right," Wolf drawled, "Have yourself a good one. Tell Panther that if he doesn't stop clogging up the InterLink with his skirt-chasin', I'm gonna post up on every singles site I can find some of the stuff he's tested positive for. He knows what I'm talkin' about."
"Of course, Wolf," Leon replied.
"An' stop callin' me all the time, Leon," Wolf growled, "I 'aint gonna answer next time."
Before Leon could respond, Wolf cut the transmission.
The digital window vanished as Wolf leaned back and stared at the ceiling, giving some thought to his two comrades in low planetary orbit hundreds of kilometers above.
Leon Powalski had been with Wolf since the beginning of StarWolf. They'd learned to fly together, and Wolf could say that he trusted Leon, at least to the degree that he knew what to expect from him. At the same time, Leon definitely had a cold, sadistic edge that Wolf was proud to say he himself lacked. As much as Wolf disliked killing people, he still wouldn't hesitate should the situation call for it, but Leon seemed to prefer killing people to a fault. Leon liked to play with his victims, he liked to cause as much pain and fear in someone as possible before finally killing them, which made him both a good wingman but nonetheless also made Wolf cautious of him. If Leon could deal out so much mayhem and destruction with such mechanical disconnection, what was to say that he couldn't just as easily turn his sights on Wolf should the opportunity present itself? Despite his apprehensiveness, however, there was a distinctly different vibe that Wolf got from Leon, just below the surface. It was almost as if Leon had an overriding desire to be close to Wolf, as if he was committed to showing just how loyal to Wolf he was. In many ways, this part of Leon made Wolf even more uncomfortable than his cruelty.
As for Panther Caruso, Wolf could not deny an undercurrent of dislike towards the cat that Panther vaguely reciprocated. They were polar opposites, the two of them. Where Wolf was practical and unpretentious, Panther was arrogant and conceited. Wolf preferred to let his actions speak more than his words ever could, whereas Panther loved to talk all the time. And Panther's whole 'rose' thing just really got on Wolf's nerves for some reason. They hadn't actually gotten into a fistfight (yet), but they had come close multiple times. Perhaps it might've just been the ancient myth about cats and dogs ringing true, but the relationship between Panther and Wolf clearly had almost as much hate as respect.
Despite the fact that Wolf didn't completely trust his fellow pilots (and he was sure that they felt the same), they still worked well together, capitalizing on each other's strengths. All three of them were great pilots, though Wolf still believed himself the best out of the three. Wolf was an expert saboteur and soldier, Leon a skilled assassin, and Panther made an excellent spy. Together, they made StarWolf the galactic underworld's premier mercenary service.
Here and now, however, was not StarWolfs conflict. Wolfs engagement with Fox on Temple was not about StarFox against StarWolf, though it may have begun that way.
It was about him and Fox, who was better, and nothing more; which meant that Leon and Panther had no business interfering.
Wolf turned and scooted off of his barstool, his boots hitting the hard wooden floors of the room with a scrape. He walked over to the portable computer and sat down, crossing his legs inwards as he pushed the monitor open and pressed the power button with a single clawed finger. The monitor flashed to life, revealing multiple digital windows displaying live feeds of surveillance footage from all around this area of Temple.
In preparation of his encounter with Fox, Wolf had rented a compliment of twenty HAL-6700 spy droids from the Cosmolabs firm. After leaving Fox in the grips of his Dalianide-induced delirium, Wolf had spread the droids out with the intentions of being able to monitor Fox's activities as well as keep an eye on this part of the city in general, in case any uninvited guests should wander in. At present, six of the droids were monitoring the building McCloud had wondered into, two were keeping an eye on the building that Wolf was currently occupying, while the other twelve were monitoring the various streets outside for signs of movement.
Carefully scrutinizing the screen, Wolf called up the droids assigned to monitor Fox's building. The screen was promptly filled with six windows depicting various areas of the building. Wolf selected the third window, which received the footage from the droid programmed to most closely follow Fox.
The window expanded and dominated the screen, showing a dark, rather messy-looking bedroom with what appeared to be pieces of paper strewn about. The spy droid had switched over to night vision in order to better monitor the goings-on in the room. Currently, Wolf could see McCloud sprawled out on the floor, lying on his chest, motionless.
"Check vital signs," Wolf growled, worrying that his opponent might not have survived his latest dream.
A series of graphs and lines appeared in the bottom right corner of the screen, showing the active pumping of Fox McCloud's heart. Below, there was a comment section, in which the droid's observations were recorded in regards to anomalous body activity:
Abnormal central nervous system activity detected. Subject experiences periodic episodes of highly elevated cardiovascular activity, accompanied by abnormal electrical neuronal phenomena vaguely approximating an epileptic seizure.
Wolf smiled, and decided to let the Dalianide do it's work.
Just as he was about to turn the screen off, he saw Fox McCloud's arm extend, as if he was reaching for something, then pitifully fall limply to the ground.
Wolf exhaled, almost feeling sympathetic.
"What're you seein'?" Wolf whispered, smiling faintly.
A sudden beeping and the appearance of another transmission dot in his implant's HUD broke Wolf's concentration. With a sigh, he accepted the transmission.
"Leon, what did I just tell ya', I--" Wolf began, only to be cut off by a cold, synthetic voice projecting the words, "Lord O'Donnell".
In the transmission window in Wolf's HUD was not Leon, but the robotic operator of the Lone Wolf, IG-N 96. A black-coated Chang Robotics Enterprises AK-220 Automaton, IG's rather insectoid head and scratchy voice sometimes made Wolf think about getting a different, less creepy android. IG's effectiveness and unique hint of personality almost always proved more than enough to put Wolf's thoughts to rest in the end.
"What's goin' on, IG?" Wolf inquired, knowing that IG wouldn't have called unless there was a reason.
"Sensors have detected the launch of a medium-sized shuttle from the Great Fox. At current trajectory, the shuttle will have entered the atmosphere of Temple and entered within a twenty kilometer radius of your location in approximately nineteen minutes," IG responded.
Wolf stood up at full alertness, shutting the monitor of the computer with his foot.
"Shit," Wolf growled, "Who's on it?"
"Scans of the shuttle reveal no life forms aboard. In all probability, the pilot of the shuttle is the Team StarFox robot, ROB-64," IG informed him.
"Today's just full 'a surprises, 'aint it?" Wolf scowled, rushing towards the stairs at the end of the room, taking off at full sprint.
As his boots stomped into each of the steps, Wolf barked to IG, "I thought that robot was supposed to be operatin' the Great Fox. What's he doin' playin' search 'n rescue?"
"ROB-64 could be able to control some functions of the Great Fox by remote. It is fundamental programming in all robots that the welfare of one's owner takes priority over all other orders," IG informed in a matter-of-factly tone.
"Fan-fuckin'-tastic," Wolf grunted, reaching the top of the stairs and kicking open the door as he cut the transmission.
The sun had fully set by now, the skies of Temple above teeming with stars and the grey, rocky fields of massive debris that floated above in orbit. The space junk melted all together from so far away, appearing as a solid, rough strip of grey that split the sky in two.
He stepped out into the cold night air, his boots crunching on the gravel covering the roof of the building.
Under the bright, pale light of Temple's twin moons, his Wolfen awaited him like an impatient lover, her four wings currently joined in the middle into two wings at either side. As Wolf stepped closer to his Wolfen, her proximity sensors detected both his approach and his identity, and she hummed awake as her cockpit glowed with the light of activating instrument panels. The Wolfen's canopy opened up with a quiet hiss, allowing Wolf to grab the rims of the cockpit and hoist himself up over the edge of her black fuselage and into the pilot's seat.
Wolf slumped into the comfortable seat and began to strap himself into the safety harness, watching as the HUD on his implant changed in response to him entering his fighter, the center of his vision being taken up by a targeting crosshair.
Wolf pressed the canopy button, looking up to watch as the canopy smoothly hinged down and locked over the cockpit. Wolf looked around as the Wolfen's four powerful engines roared to life, and caught a look at the twin moons over Temple.
For a moment, Wolf was mesmerized.
His parents had been obsessed with the moon. They'd always take him and his siblings out every full moon night just look at it for hours.
It had been so long since Wolf was actually on a planet's surface instead of in space, and the moons actually gave him an overriding feeling of haunting nostalgia. In that split-second, the moons dominated his senses, and Wolf felt just like a pup again, nervous and short of breath as his jaw went slack.
'ENGINES ON-LINE', the computer flashed on his heads-up display, shaking Wolf out of his trance.
He dismissed his reverie with a quiet scoff. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about the past.
It wasn't as if there was much happiness to be found there, anyway.
Wolf gripped the control stick of the Wolfen with his clawed hands as he engaged the Wolfen's G-diffusers for a vertical takeoff.
There was a rumbling as the Wolfen hovered into the air above the roof, her landing gear retracting into her body. With a final press of a button, the Wolfen's wings unfolded and separated into their distinctive wicked x-shape.
'S-FOILS LOCKED IN ATTACK POSITION. ALL SYSTEMS GO', the computer displayed for Wolf to read.
"Let's make some noise," Wolf growled, slamming the throttle from completely down to completely up, hearing the deafening shriek as all four of the Wolfen's engines screamed to life in a blast of green fire.
Wolf felt that first pounding of g-forces before the inertial compensators kicked in, that striking, paralyzing feeling that vibrated every inch of his flesh and bones and brought out the animal inside.
He laughed with pleasure as the Wolfen rocketed off into the night, almost feeling the urge to howl as gravity pressed him back into his seat.
With anticlimactic suddenness like a premature ejaculation, the inertial compensators activated and robbed Wolf of the exhilarating feeling of going from zero to one thousand kilometers per hour in 14.64 seconds.
Wolf sighed and looked down as the ground fell further and further away from view until all he could see out of the canopy was the endless night sky.
Wolf's love of flying was second best only to his love of fighting, probably because he couldn't let loose like he could in a fight. An out-of-control fighter was scary; an out-of-control pilot was sloppy.
"Archives have matched the registry data of the shuttle, Lord O'Donnell," IG's voice rasped over the comm. channel,"Ship is registered as the Pleiades, a Cosmolabs Maia-class shuttle. The ship possesses no registered weapons, however it does possess the heavy armor and shielding that comes standard on the Maia-class."
"Registered weapons, huh?" Wolf inquired, scratching the grey fur below his muzzle softly before returning his hand to his control stick.
"I am not prepared to rule out the possibility of Team StarFox installing certain after-market upgrades to the Pleiades at this point, Lord O'Donnell," IG replied.
"It's definitely what we woulda' done," Wolf smirked.
"My point, Lord O'Donnell, is not lost on you," IG retorted, in a tone that was almost sarcastic.
Wolf smiled at how IG's unsettling qualities contrasted with his occasional bouts of sophistication.
"I have plotted the current course of the Pleiades on your radar," IG offered.
Wolf glanced down at the radar display on his HUD and saw a red dot appearing on the rim of the circular radar.
"Thanks, IG", Wolf responded, piloting the Wolfen in the direction of the dot.
"My purpose is served, Lord O'Donnell. Fare well against my StarFox counterpart. It would be a shame to see the great Wolf O'Donnell bested by a robot," IG saluted graciously.
Wolf's furry eyebrow raised, but he dismissed the comment, focusing instead on the sky ahead of him.
Far off in the distance, Wolf could just make out the orange glowing shape of a large object entering the atmosphere of Temple.
Wolf throttled down and held a clawed thumb over the red firing button on his control stick as the glowing object grew closer and closer, his eye narrowing.
As the object came within two kilometers, Wolf stabbed his thumb into the firing button and held down, hearing the lasers charge up and finally peak in power.
The targeting crosshair on Wolf's HUD turned red as it locked onto the re-entering spacecraft.
Wolf released the button and saw as the glowing crimson ball of energy spat out from between the split fuselage of the Wolfen, tearing through the air and searing its way towards the flaming shuttle.
The charged shot smacked into the re-entering starship, which leapt through the air and performed an uncontrolled downwards loop as it attempted to regain control.
Taking fire while in re-entry was probably the hardest thing to deal with for any pilot, a combination of the two biggest dangers of flying a star fighter.
The flaming shuttle tumbled through the air and Wolf gave off a crooked smile as he banked the Wolfen back around to get a better view.
Perhaps this would be easier than he thought, and the shuttle would just break apart after being knocked out of it's safe re-entry position.
As if on cue, there was a massive flare of orange as the shuttle's gravity brakes engaged full blast and the re-entry fires dissipated and cleared.
The Pleiades swerved through the air, a large grey strip of wings with four small engines grouped around a fifth larger one, connected to an arrowhead-shaped front section. Wolf frowned and positioned the Wolfen head-on with the Pleiades, opening a public comm. channel as he sped towards the starship.
"Turn it around, tin man," Wolf snarled, "Stick to flyin' that oversized garbage scow you call a mother ship."
"Your objection is noted," ROB-64's synthesized voice came over the comm. unit.
Without another word, the Pleiades' five engines blasted to life and the shuttle roared past Wolf, diving further down towards the unnamed city of Temple.
Wolf hissed indignantly and shook his head in quiet fury.
"You do not disrespect me," Wolf growled.
He throttled fully up and heard the Wolfen's engines roar as he pushed the stick forward and dove after the shuttle.
The clouds and skies streaked past Wolf's canopy as the Wolfen tore after the Pleiades, the ground getting closer every second.
At almost the exact moment that Wolf aligned his crosshairs onto the shuttle's largest engine, the gravity brakes engaged once again and the Pleiades pulled up swiftly out of its nosedive, taking off over the city skyline and narrowly missing a full-on collision with a massive towering skyscraper.
Wolf engaged the Wolfen's gravity brakes, pulling easily out of the dive and continuing in pursuit of the Pleiades, guiding his crosshairs onto the ship and firing as he flew just over 200 meters behind the shuttle.
The Wolfen's powerful laser cannons barked and sent hissing streams of red through the air, punching into the back of the Pleiades with a loud electric crackle.
Wolf could see the ghostly blue outline of the shield bubble over the Pleiades make an appearance each time the laser blasts hit, never growing fainter no matter how many times he fired.
"Tough little bastard," Wolf muttered, holding down on the firing button to charge up another shot.
"Cornerian guidelines recommend a one-kilometer minimum following distance, to reduce likelihood of mid-air collision," ROB informed him indifferently.
Just as Wolf began to absorb the android's words, the Pleiades came to a full mid-air halt, a massive, heavily-shielded obstacle just begging for him to smash into.
Wolf didn't even breathe, just jerked the control stick back and pulled up sharply, just barely clearing the top of the Pleiades as the Wolfen closed the two-hundred meter distance in a half-second.
Wolf heard a rough, odd grinding sound as the defensive energy shields of his Wolfen and the Pleiades scraped against each other, creating a strong repelling effect that sent the Wolfen upwards like a stone skipping across water.
Wolf yelped in surprise, trying to regain control of his ship as she wobbled through the air, speeding towards a monumental stone skyscraper. He pulled the throttle down and yanked the control stick to the right, performing a lightning-fast barrel roll that sent the Wolfen speeding past the skyscraper, barely perhaps twenty meters or so from smashing into the side.
Wolf brought the fighter around in the sharpest turn that he could, gritting his teeth in anger as the Pleiades soared over the buildings away from him.
He noticed that he'd kept his thumb on the firing button the entire time; the charged shot still gathering energy from the laser cannons. As of right now, the power levels for the shot were as high as they could go.
Wolf put up a devious smile and throttled up hard, pushing the Wolfen back on course with a scream of the engines, the fleeing Pleiades coming closer and closer into view.
The crosshairs turned red as the targeting computer locked on to the shuttle, and without a word Wolf released the button and let the shot go.
There was a blast of red and a surge of energy as the charged shot exploded from the Wolfen's laser cannons, the light almost blinding him as the fat bolt of energy streaked across the sky like a comet. The charged shot hit the Pleiades right under her main engine, smacking into the shuttle's underside and exploding in a massive flash of crimson light.
The shields held, but the ship could not withstand the massive impact of the laser blast, rolling once through the air and then swerving off path, speeding uncontrollably into a massive curving tower of glass and steel.
The Pleiades slammed into the corner of the skyscraper's curvaceous façade, the gargantuan crash of glass and stone being shattered and crumbled echoing throughout the city, so loud that even Wolf could hear it in the cockpit.
The Pleiades swerved through the air, trailing debris as it continued to glide after taking a massive four-to-five story chunk out of the skyscraper's corner, it's rear wings visibly warped from the impact. Wolf laughed triumphantly as the Wolfen flew past the wounded skyscraper, trailing the Pleiades on her erratic flight path.
"Ain't nobody a badass after that…" Wolf chuckled, bearing down on the Pleiades and tapping the firing button with his claw.
Being sure to keep a safe distance this time, Wolf throttled down and continuously pelted the shuttle with repeated laser blasts, watching the blue shield bubble beginning to grow fainter.
Wolf grinned roguishly, pressing the firing button even more frequently, constantly whittling away at his prey's resolve.
"IG," Wolf demanded, "How far away is McCloud from here?"
"He has not moved from his previous location, which is approximately twelve kilometers from your current trajectory, Lord O'Donnell. At present, both you and the target ship are moving away from his position," IG-N 96 informed him.
Good, Wolf thought.
If McCloud couldn't be injured by any collateral damage, then Wolf was free to destroy as much of the city as he saw fit to stop the Pleiades from reaching him.
"Lord O'Donnell," IG's voice came over the comm. channel, "Comrade Powalski requests permission to launch his Wolfen in order to assist. What should I tell him?"
"Fuck no!" Wolf snapped, continuing his barrage on the weakened shuttle.
A moment passed, and IG's voice came back over the channel.
"Comrade Powalski respectfully objects, Lord O'Donnell," IG informed Wolf in an indifferent tone.
Just under IG's synthetic words, Wolf could hear Leon's high-pitched voice screaming several vulgar obscenities at both him and the robot.
Wolf simply ignored them and switched off the comm. channel for the Lone Wolf, returning his focus to the trespassing shuttle.
The Pleiades' shields appeared to be weakening, the blue glow from her leftmost engine flickering hesitantly as she continued to speed over the rooftops.
Wolf guided the crosshairs over to the engine and resumed taking his pot shots; the Wolfen spewing her red laser bolts again and again in rapid succession.
The shields crackled and faded out of view temporarily, and Wolf felt a rush of pleasure as he fired one more time and saw the red laser blast impact the exhaust of the Pleiades engine, exploding with a red flare as the engine backfired and died.
The Pleiades wavered as her engine stopped spewing blue jets of engine fire and began to leak sparks and a trail of black smoke.
Wolf tapped the firing button again, the lasers this time being absorbed by the shields. They must've regenerated after a moment or two. Or maybe ROB-64 was more resourceful than Wolf would've given him credit for.
Either way, the shields on the Pleiades couldn't take much more than what they'd already absorbed before failing again.
Wolf held down the firing button for another charged shot, the power levels whirring upwards.
He couldn't resist the urge to let out a snarl of triumphant malice as the targeting computer locked.
Wolf released the charged shot, which zapped out of the Wolfen's laser cannons and punched through the shields of the Pleiades, bursting apart right above her engine clusters, visibly cooking the shuttle's durasteel hide.
She lost about a hundred meters of altitude, scraping the rooftop of a low building before rising back up unsteadily.
Wolf checked the ammunition readout for the Wolfen's bomb magazine, smirking with pleasure as he saw that he had one smart bomb left.
A direct hit would blast the Pleiades to fiery metal bits.
Throttling almost all the way down, Wolf armed his smart bomb and locked onto the Pleiades, allowing the ship to pull further ahead of him.
"Hope you've got your seatbelt on," Wolf sneered, and then fired.
The cone shape of the smart bomb launched from the Wolfen, leaving a bright red trail behind it as it streaked into the air.
Just as the bomb closed the distance between itself and the Pleiades, the shuttle banked hard to the left in a desperate evasive maneuver, avoiding the oncoming smart bomb as it shot past and detonated in a brilliant blue and orange flash that turned night into day.
The explosion tore through the city, blasting apart a small skyscraper in a massive falling pile of debris and dust, creating a domino effect that collapsed several buildings around it into rubble.
Immense clouds of dust rose up into the sky as the explosion dissipated and the light of the nova bomb faded away, obscuring vision as they floated to the low altitudes that Wolf had been flying at.
As he banked the Wolfen to the left, Wolf saw the Pleiades weaving through the air and coming in for a landing in a moderately clear stretch of urban territory, surrounded by small, multistory structures with broken, empty windows.
This part of the city was clearly in less favorable conditions than the part he and McCloud had touched down in, though this was possibly because of the recent nova bomb detonation.
Wolf selected the building that looked the most stable and entered in the landing protocols, the G-diffusers rumbling for a vertical descent.
The Wolfen's landing gear extended and her four bladelike wings joined back into two as she slowly dipped through the air, settling down on the rooftop with the slightest jolt.
He clicked the release of his safety harness and opened the Wolfen's canopy as the thick clouds of dust from the collapsed buildings began to billow into the area.
Thinking quickly, Wolf opened the emergency panel next to his seat, withdrawing a small portable rebreather with a miniaturized oxygen tank. He slipped the mask over his muzzle and pressed the button to activate the rebreather, feeling the rush of clean air into his nose.
With the dust and debris this thick in the air, suffocating from the particles in the air was a serious issue, one that ROB wouldn't have to deal with. Wolf promptly hopped out of the cockpit.
His boots hit the surface of the roof hard, resounding slap, and he looked around cautiously as he yanked his blaster out of its holster.
Wolf blinked repeatedly from the thick, dark grey dust swirling around him, and closed his eye to prevent from being blinded, letting his implant perform all of his visual needs. Even through the blue tint of his optical implant, Wolf could barely see through the dust.
"Infrared," Wolf growled quietly.
His implant recognized his voice and switched from the visible to the infrared spectrum. The vision in his implant flickered once or twice before the world he saw became a ghostly mix of black and white. The fog was invisible, and any surface that radiated a small amount of heat appeared brighter shade of white. The colder an object was, the darker it appeared.
The advantages that his implant's infrared function offered were invaluable, allowing him to see even when there was no visible light at all, navigating by the heat that an object put off. At high enough sensitivities, Wolf could see through walls to a limited extent. The dust, which consisted of particles smaller than the wavelength of the infrared spectrum, was completely invisible.
The downside of all of this was the lack of detail that could make it difficult to tell just who you were shooting at. The fact that ROB-64's metal shell wouldn't radiate as much natural heat as a living body normally did also worried Wolf a bit, and he hoped that the dust would clear soon.
Sucking down another lungful of air from his rebreather, his blaster clenched in his right hand, Wolf traveled carefully down the stone stairwells from the roof to the top floor of the derelict building.
The grayish white walls of the building had a disturbing, sterile feel to them in the way that they appeared in infrared vision, everything looking mixed, blended. As Wolf began to walk down the hallway he'd found himself in, he looked out one of the open, bare windowsills to see the Pleiades resting in the clearing in between all of the nearby buildings, unmoving.
In the infrared spectrum, the shuttle was a bright, virgin white, reflecting the amount of heat that it had absorbed from Wolf's laser shots.
He continued on, traveling down the hallway.
Wolf turned a corner to find that the hallway just dropped off, an entire section of the building having collapsed some time ago, with a large hole in the wall leading to a massive pile of rubble that sloped down all nine floors of the building, giving easy access to the ground.
Wolf hadn't noticed this when he'd come in for a landing, and considered whether or not the building was still stable.
He decided to risk it and focus instead on his robot problem.
Ducking out of the hole, Wolf hopped down the improvised ramp of debris, catching himself a few times and nearly falling or slipping.
He managed to make it to the ground safely in a quick enough fashion, seeing the nose of the Pleiades just around the corner of the building.
Wolf waved his hand through the air, no longer feeling the thick, vaguely tickling sensation that the thick clouds of dust had created.
"Visible," Wolf whispered.
With another hesitant flickering, Wolf's implant switched to the normal visible spectrum again, showing that the dust had settled for the most part, which was good enough for him to see through.
Wolf carefully opened his eye, which had begun to ache, and no longer felt it stinging from the dust.
Now seeing with both his eye and his implant, Wolf took off his rebreather and set it quietly on the ground, intending to pick it up later.
His claws dug into the handle of his blaster, holding it close to his body, as he peeked around the corner of the building.
Extended from the underside of the Pleiades was a boarding ramp, upon which was a humanoid robot with a single red optical sensor on the top of it's head. A large, jaw-like grille dominated the bottom side of its head, whilst the flying-fox symbol of Team StarFox adorned the top of its chest.
ROB-64 didn't look so tough.
Wolf extended his hand, bringing the blaster's sights to bear on the robot, which still hadn't noticed him.
His implant's targeting program automatically drew a large crosshair on the android as he lined up his shot.
Without a word, Wolf squeezed the trigger, and the blaster let out a shrill, crackling pop as it spat a large glob of green plasma that sped towards the robot and the ship.
Almost too fast to see, ROB leapt backwards into the ship, dodging the plasma bolt, which smacked into the Pleiades' hull and disintegrated.
"Who're you tryin' to kid, tin man?!" Wolf called out, "Ya' can barely fly that ship you got there, not to mention the Great Fox. If you think a protocol droid's gonna take me on head-to-head, you must've short-circuited!"
There was a few moments of silence as Wolf stayed still, aiming his blaster at the ramp, waiting for something to happen.
A series of heavy metal footsteps from inside the Pleiades made Wolf's ears prick up in alert, and his tail went stiff.
There was something different about the robot this time, but Wolf couldn't be sure.
"Correction: I am a versatile protocol and engineering droid, fluent in verbal translation, starship operation and repairs," ROB's synthetic voice responded loudly, "However, should needs prove more practical, I am also programmed with direct fire support in mind".
Wolf was caught off guard as ROB quickly leapt out of the Pleiades, the robot's optical sensor glowing a malevolent bright red, a heavy repeating plasma cannon mounted on it's shoulder.
Wolf was halfway through uttering a surprised gasp when ROB fired, unleashing a rapid stream of orange plasma bolts that sprayed out of the cannon and began to saturate the building.
Leaping back as the dozens of plasma blasts began to tear into the building's masonry, Wolf snarled in anguish as he dove into one of the empty windows and took cover under the windowsill.
The roar of the plasma cannon continued as the rapid-fire energy weapon fired an endless barrage of particle beams that quickly pockmarked the entire side of the building.
Silently cursing himself, Wolf's eye darted around as he tried to figure out what to do, and suddenly the firing stopped.
"Priority one: Protect shuttle Pleiades," ROB intoned, "Priority two: Terminate hostile subject Wolf O'Donnell".
You just had to piss it off, didn't ya', O'Donnell? Wolf thought to himself grimly.
Baring his teeth in a maddened snarl, Wolf leapt up from his hiding spot and began to sprint through the building, firing a shot from his blaster out of another window blindly as the plasma cannon began to fire once more. Wolf felt the building shake as his boots scraped on the stone floors and his open blue vest began to flap against the sides of his chest.
He stayed as low as he could as he continued to run through the building's ground floor, passing several windows and just barely missing a large plasma bolt as it seared through the air and blasted a hole into the wall behind him.
Wolf then threw himself into another corner, shoving his back into the walls and trying to make himself small, breathing hard through his mouth.
His metal shoulder plates were feeling heavy now; sweat beginning to form on his chest.
Wolf's jaw hung slack and he began to pant in tiredness and fear, his tongue resting on his bottom front teeth.
He reached inside his open vest and felt the black sleeveless shirt he wore underneath, opening his palm and feeling his heart punching into his ribcage.
"Comm. channel, Lone Wolf," Wolf breathed.
His implant complied and re-opened a communications channel to the StarWolf mother ship.
There was a moment as the implant's internal comlink began to initiate the transmission, then a small digital window appeared in the lower left corner of Wolf's implant.
In the window was a lithe feline with golden yellow eyes and midnight-black fur. Below his right eye was a curving, crescent white marking that contrasted greatly with his otherwise dark coat.
Panther Caruso's gaze was off to the side, however he quickly noticed the open transmission and faced Wolf with some measure of unawares.
"Oh, Wolf," Panther purred in his distinct, velvety voice, "How are things going?"
"Panther?!" Wolf demanded, "Where's Leon and IG?"
"They're arguing right now. IG won't release the docking clamps for Leon to take off. Why Leon wants to go out now, I have no idea. What are you up to?" Panther inquired in a bored tone.
The stress of the current situation, coupled with Wolf's hint of dislike of Panther in general, made the cat's slow, lazy manner of speaking all the more infuriating.
"You prick, I'm gettin' SHOT at!" Wolf snarled.
Panther was clearly taken aback and blinked slowly once or twice. The baffled look on Panther's face seemed to suggest that Wolf had asked him the square root of pi rather than informing him of the situation.
"Oh…" Panther stammered, "…I suppose you'll be wanting…help or something then… right?"
"Oh, fuck you!!" Wolf roared, severing the transmission in a fit of rage.
If his teammates were going to be this useless, then Wolf was truly on his own.
It was then that Wolf noticed that the plasma cannon had stopped firing, and instead Wolf could hear ROB-64's steps growing closer and closer.
Wolf wrapped the fingers of his left hand around his blaster, in order to keep a steadier aim as he pointed the business end of the particle beam weapon down the dark hallway.
"Continued aggression will only prompt aggression in response. Your surrender, coinciding with your relinquishment of Commander Fox McCloud, is the only action that may guarantee a non-lethal response," ROB's voice offered.
"Over my dead body," Wolf barked.
"Your proposal is acceptable," ROB replied in an eerie softness.
With alarming suddenness, ROB sidestepped through one of the open windows at the end of the hall, bringing its plasma cannon to bear on Wolf.
Wolf squeezed off one shot and dived out of the way, lunging around a corner as the plasma cannon rained down hell on the hallway.
As Wolf ran through the building and approached a crumbling set of stairs, he glanced over his shoulder to see that the space he had occupied barely a second ago was now a gaping, burnt-out hole in the wall.
He dashed towards the stairs, hitting the eroded steps hard as he began to ascend, more jumping up the stairs than running.
Near the last step before the stairway landing, Wolf's heavy boot smashed through the stone as it crumbled underneath his weight, and he gave a small yelp as he fell forward into the landing.
The wind knocked out of him, Wolf was slower to pick himself up as he wheezed and gasped in the efforts to catch his breath.
The plasma cannon roared again as ROB turned the corner and fired at Wolf, blasting apart the stairs and walls with a spray of orange plasma.
A single plasma bolt caught Wolf's shoulder plate and threw him across the landing, slamming him roughly into the wall as ROB ceased firing and began to approach.
A dazed Wolf stood to his feet just as the edge of the plasma cannon appeared upon the landing, with the rest of ROB quickly climbing what was left of the stairs.
With a canine snarl, Wolf leapt forwards and swiped with his claws, hearing a squeal of scratching metal as his razor-sharp nails scraped into the metal shell of ROB's torso.
The android teetered to the side as it tried to regain balance, and Wolf growled as he grabbed a hold of the plasma cannon and shoved forwards, forcing ROB to take a step back to keep itself steady.
Wolf hopped backwards and twisted, extending his foot in a vicious crescent kick that bashed right into the StarFox logo on ROB's chest and sent him falling down the stairs.
The android collapsed onto the floor just as Wolf fired another shot from his blaster with a feral grin on his face, the bright green plasma bolt darting from the end of the firearm to ROB's left elbow, exploding with a shower of sparks.
Wolf dove to the side just as ROB unleashed another stream of plasma from the cannon, the bolts pounding into the walls and ceiling as the robot frantically tried to find his target. Wolf sprinted up the second set of stairs that broke off from the landing, heading up to the second floor.
As quickly as he'd been able to catch ROB off guard, Wolf wasn't willing to press his luck. Not when the opposing robot had a heavy repeating plasma cannon that it was just itching to fry him with.
Wolf continued up the stairs to the second, third, and fourth floors, working up a sweat and panting slightly as the stairs took a toll on his legs. In spite of his body's pleas to take it easy, Wolf continued on his way up the stairs.
He had a plan in his mind, but he would need to be well ahead of ROB in order for it to have any chance of success.
Wolf had seen how unstable the building was, and ROB's constant shooting had only weakened the structure. If he could get to his Wolfen, fire her up and blast the place from the air with her powerful laser cannons, he'd bring the whole building down on the android.
The rush of adrenaline got to Wolf as he sped up the stairs, his heart rate pumping and his mind racing, and he grinned from ear to ear with the thrill of it all.
He only wished that McCloud would put up this much of a fight when the time came.
The animal in Wolf came out, and he bounded up the stairs, clawing against the walls with the fur on his tail standing on end and saliva dripping from his jaws as he tore up the steps.
The floors of the building seemed to fly past, fifth floor, sixth floor, seventh and eighth, and finally leading up to that last ninth floor and the short flight of stairs that led to the roof.
Wolf let out a wild yell as he flew up the stairs and onto the roof, bathed in the pale light of Temple's twin moons.
His Wolfen responded beautifully to his approach, opening the canopy and humming to life as he leapt through the air and climbed inside of her.
He didn't even bother to strap himself in, quickly firing up the engines and diverting power to the G-diffusers as fast as he could.
'ENGINES ON-LINE', the computer responded as the four engines whistled in screaming ignition.
Wolf's claws flew over the control panels of the Wolfen, demanding that she take off. The G-diffusers rumbled to life faster than ever before, shaking the roof of the building and lifting the Wolfen into the air. It wasn't until Wolf heard the unusually loud roar of the engines lighting up and the rush of wind on his fur that he even realized that he'd forgotten to close the canopy.
Pressing the buttons at the same time, Wolf watched as his ship's canopy closed over his head while her four wings simultaneously divided into their distinctive x-shape. Automatically, the Wolfen's landing gear retracted as the wings secured themselves into position.
'S-FOILS LOCKED IN ATTACK POSITION. ALL SYSTEMS GO', the computer informed him silently.
His implant's heads-up display finally changed to accommodate for the Wolfen's targeting systems and readouts, and Wolf pulled back on the stick to get as far away from the building as possible.
Operating fully on G-diffusion, the engines throttled completely down, the Wolfen merely hovered backwards softly through the air, sliding away from the building more and more with every moment.
"C'mon, you bastard," Wolf growled as he targeted the roof.
Wolf pressed his thumb into the firing button on the control stick and held down, charging the laser cannons just for good measure.
As the power levels of the laser cannons surged upwards, he saw a small grey figure leap up onto the roof and let loose a concentrated volley of orange blasts from it's repeating plasma cannon.
With a rattling growl of surprise, Wolf jerked the control stick to the side, feeling as the Wolfen lurched to the right and glided through the air slowly.
Since the engines weren't engaged and she was traveling at essentially zero speed, the Wolfen could barely perform any of the aerial maneuvers that she could at her astronomical operating speeds, nor could she move anywhere near as fast.
However, since her engines were currently unused, it meant that there was tons of power left to spare.
Acting quickly, Wolf called up the power distribution display, diverting 75 percent of the power from the engines, leaving them with the bare minimum 25 percent they needed in order to adequately function. He then gave 25 percent of the extra power to the Wolfen's already powerful laser cannons, pumping the final 50 percent of power into the shields.
The Wolfen's shields glowed with massive amounts of energy, easily absorbing the repeated hits from the plasma cannon without breaking a sweat.
Wolf steadied the fighter and once more targeted the roof, ignoring the plasma shots coming from ROB as the Wolfen's hyped-up shields blocked them.
"My turn!" Wolf roared, tapping the firing button.
The Wolfen's laser cannons barked, unleashing rapid-fire blasts of red that blasted into the roof, chewing the stone and ferroconcrete up in dozens of small crimson flashes.
The plasma cannon stopped firing as Wolf watched ROB-64's small outline running for cover.
Wolf smiled and continued firing, inundating the roof with more and more laser blasts, watching as chunks of masonry flew in the air with clouds of dust. He couldn't tell if ROB was still on the roof, if it had jumped, or if the Wolfen's lasers had blasted it apart.
He didn't care, too absorbed in the mayhem of destruction as he held down the firing button for the coup de grâce.
The lasers charged up with a glorious hum, their power levels reaching the maximum.
"Try takin' note of this objection, tin man," Wolf hissed.
He released the firing button with a rush of pleasure and adrenaline, listening as the laser cannons belched out a massive glowing oval of red that burst forth from the Wolfen's laser cannons and plowed into the roof.
There was a tumultuous tremor as the building appeared to swell outward slightly for a split-second, almost like a balloon, then the entire structure promptly collapsed in a massive avalanche of debris that appeared to be half-explosion and half-implosion.
Another dark cloud of dust began to rise up from the structure's collapse, enveloping the Wolfen.
Wolf threw his head back and began to laugh to himself as the dust began to block out the stars, but not the moons.
As Wolf's eye caught the moons over Temple, he was once again enthralled, captivated by the bloodless twins in the sky.
He finally understood why his parents were so obsessed.
The moon brought out something in a wolf. Something sublimely primitive and basic, but undeniably powerful.
No longer really thinking straight, Wolf inhaled deeply and craned his head straight up, letting out a piercing, echoing howl that reverberated all around the tiny cockpit.
As soon as all of the air was gone from his lungs, Wolf's head drooped and he laughed in an adrenaline-drunk haze.
McCloud had better put up this much of a fight. If his damned robot could inspire such a thrill, then the fox himself was expected to stop Wolf's heart. Wolf wouldn't tolerate any less. He wouldn't just kill McCloud; he'd drink the fox's blood if he didn't live up to expectations.
Just as Wolf was regaining himself, his laughter dying down to a chuckle, he looked up to see, just barely visible through the dust, a distinctive grouping of four blue engines beginning to fly away in the night.
Wolf gritted his teeth in fury as the Pleiades began to disappear into the distance.
"For fucks sakes!" Wolf snapped.
It appeared that even ROB-64 was privy to Team StarFox's famous luck.
Wolf grabbed the throttle, preparing to slam it forwards and tear after the Pleiades and blow it out of the sky, just as the orange dot of an incoming transmission appeared on his heads-up display.
Since he was in the Wolfen instead of on the ground, he would only receive audio transmissions to minimize distractions, which made it even slightly more frustrating to not know, up front, who he was talking to.
Wolf accepted the transmission with a growl.
"What is it?!" Wolf ordered.
"I just wanted to inform you, Lord O'Donnell, that the Pleiades should be heading back to the Great Fox as we speak," IG-N 96's voice came over the channel.
"Why's that?" Wolf rumbled.
"Keeping in compliance with your orders, I prevented Comrade Powalski from launching his Wolfen to assist. However, I also recognized the difficulties that ROB-64 could pose, and I brought the Lone Wolf around to fire several shots on the Great Fox's forward shields. Knowing that ROB-64's primary function is the maintenance and operation of the Great Fox, it was logical to assume that he would retreat should it be threatened. Comrades Powalski and Caruso agreed," IG answered.
"Why'd you do that?!" Wolf interrogated.
"I told you before that it was fundamental programming in all robots that the welfare of one's owner takes priority over all other orders," IG coolly responded, "Comrades Powalski and Caruso were also concerned for your safety, in their own ways".
"I don't NEED your fuckin' HELP!!" Wolf roared.
"To be quite frank, Lord O'Donnell, I don't think you quite know what you need. That's why you've gotten so convinced lately that some epic duel with Fox McCloud is going to clear up all of your self-esteem and trust issues. Neither myself nor Comrades Powalski and Caruso are so arrogant as to assume that we know what you need, but until you figure that out, we will be there to help you, regardless of your willingness to admit it," IG retorted.
The robot's statements only infuriated Wolf more, to the point that he considered flying his Wolfen right up to the Lone Wolf and personally dismantling IG-N 96.
"Next time you feel like giving life advice, keep in mind you're a piece 'a property," Wolf snarled, "And the next time you disobey my orders, in any way, I'm gonna' come up there and rip you the fuck apart."
"It's been a pleasure talking to you, Lord O'Donnell. As always, one is glad to be of service," IG responded politely, ending the transmission without another word.
Wolf was gritting his teeth so hard he thought they were going to shatter in his mouth, his blood boiling in rage.
IG and Leon and Panther had all tainted his victory, leaving the possibility open that, had they not interfered, the fight might have gone on. Which meant that Wolf hadn't really won the fight that he'd just put so much effort into.
He struggled to calm himself, and found that nothing would settle the beast inside of him.
In a last desperate effort, Wolf strapped himself into the safety harness and changed the power settings to their default level, restoring the engines to full power. He then slammed the throttle all the way up, hearing the engines scream as the Wolfen shot forwards.
Wolf yanked the control stick backwards, and the Wolfen pulled up and pointed straight at the moons over Temple as the massive g-forces pounded into him and forced him to the back of his seat. Wolf let out a bloodcurdling yell of fury that seemed to vibrate the cockpit itself and threatened to deafen him.
Just as Wolf felt the charge of acceleration, that sensation of speed that made him feel like he was going to fly right into the moons themselves hit his very core, the inertial compensators kicked in and once more robbed Wolf of his rush.
Breathing hard as he glared into the moons, Wolf knew that there was only one thing that could make this all go away: McCloud.
All of this was because of McCloud, and only McCloud could offer Wolf the challenge that he needed to rise up to in order to appease his thirst for combat.
It wouldn't be much longer now. The Dalianide was only enough to last for about twenty-four hours. After that, Wolf would see just which one of them was truly better.
Tomorrow, Wolf would have his fight to the death.
Tomorrow, one way or another, it would all be over.
After a few moments, Wolf finally calmed down and pulled the Wolfen out of it's upwards climb, throttling down and directing the fighter back towards his makeshift den about twenty kilometers away. Dawn was still hours away from now, and even though he still had some preparations to make, the excitement tonight had drained Wolf.
He needed rest for what was to come.
To be concluded. The more reviews I get, the faster it shall be updated. I hope you all feel refreshed enough for a concluding chapter filled with more angst, delusions, and ass-kicking.
