CHAPTER ONE

Growing Up on the Edge of Hell

May 12th, 2016

Brimstone Quarry B-1, Planet Macbeth

The young lupine's eyes slowly fluttered open at the sound of crunching gravel, and he sat up to reach for the light switch. Even when he managed to find it and flick it on, it didn't illuminate the stone room very well. If it were nighttime, you would only be able to see the outlines of everything in the room unless you had your face pressed up against it. One might consider this horrible, but the boy and his family had lived in the house for as long as he could remember, so he'd gotten relatively used to it.

He looked around and saw that he was the only one in the dingy little excuse for a house. Again, he'd gotten used to this. His parents needed to get up at ridiculously early hours to make it to their jobs on time. They often never even got the chance to say goodbye to him before they had to leave. That said, there was nothing preventing him from going to see his father at work since the place where he worked wasn't too far away, and that was even part of his daily routine. He got plenty of exercise this way and it managed to get him out of the house so he could see what was going on at the time.

"Well, Wolfie Boy, what's up with you?" he muttered to himself with a quick smirk. "Eleven years old and nothin' to do but go see Dad? Sounds good to me."

The boy vaulted himself off of his bed and ran out the door into the hot and dusty air. He shielded his eyes from the sun for a brief moment until they adjusted, then picked up his pace and continued running. He didn't like this planet. He didn't like that he'd lived here all his life, he didn't like that he'd probably grow up to have the same exhausting and boring job his father did, and he absolutely loathed the thought of having to work for the same man his parents did. Nonetheless, he didn't complain. He couldn't, really. There wasn't anywhere else his family could go.

Finally, after climbing the last of the rocky hill, he arrived at the quarry he'd been looking for with several middle-aged men either chipping away at the stone walls of the trench they stood in or loading the rocks they uncovered into mine carts that zipped away seconds afterwards. One of the men looked up and smiled.

"Well, if it isn't little Wolf O'Donnell!" he beamed.

"Good morning, John. Is my dad around?"

A pair of strong hands grabbed Wolf from behind and heaved him up onto the shoulder of their smiling owner.

"I'm always around for you, my boy." Rodrick O'Donnell said.

"Good morning, Dad!" Wolf replied happily.

"Good morning to you, too, son."

Rodrick knew of the dangers of letting an eleven-year old boy come to a mining facility, but it more than made his day to see his son's smiling face. It was one of the two things he could really look forward to, the other being his wife coming home from her job that was arguably worse than his.

"Didn't really pick a good day, though." he said suddenly. "The Big Cheese is coming down for an inspection in a few hours."
"You didn't do something bad, did you, Dad?"

"Of course not. No one has, but we all know he'll find something and really tan our hides for it."

What he meant to say was "That snotty son of a bitch is bound to sniff something out and have our asses for it." He resisted saying it because A: he didn't want to curse in front of his son, and B: he and the rest of the B rank workers were constantly monitored, so anything they did and said would be seen and heard by someone in a higher position at the end of the day, and they all knew what that led to. They were watched from the minute they started working to the minute they stopped, and they only got a break during lunch hour or when they had to go to the bathroom. Top it off with a dictator-like boss, and boom. You had one of the top five shittiest jobs this side of Lylat.

"Dang it…" Wolf muttered. "Can I help?"

Rodrick laughed.

"You sure? We're doing diamonds today, and I still remember you collapsing from exhaustion that day we did the emerald excavation."

"Yeah, but I've gotten stronger since then! I can do it!"

"Well, alright, but the second you start getting tired, you stop, okay?"

"Okay!"

"John, throw me that spare pickaxe, would ya?"

Once Wolf found the pressing yet bearable weight of the pickaxe in his hands, he jumped down into the trench alongside his father and slammed one end into the rocky surface, somehow managing to work at the same pace as the more experienced and actually paid workers.

"Look at that, boys." John chuckled. "This job's so mindless that a kid can do it."

"Hey, Max!" called another worker named Fergus. "Flip on some tunes, yeah?"

The younger-looking worker Fergus had called kicked the radio by his foot to get it started (since any efforts to talk the boss into getting them a better one were either ignored or threatened with a pay drop). It flickered to life once he had done this enough times, and what lovingly greeted the workers with none other than the legendary Earth rock band Aerosmith and their song "Livin' On the Edge". Once it had kicked up, the men started working not only harder, but also happier. They even began to sing once they had gotten into it, and they were surprised to see that Wolf was indeed up to the task that he had volunteered for.

Digging deep into the rock, Wolf pulled his pickaxe loose and caused a small hunk of glittering rock to drop into his hand. He tossed it up to one of the other workers and kept going, not even stopping to take a quick breather. It was not only impressive to the more experienced workers, but amazing, and that was to say the least of it. When empowered enough, a child could do something an adult would need an immense amount of experience to do simply because they believed they could do it. Perhaps it was this kind of thing that the workers needed to get through each individual day.

Of course, there had to be something to break this happy mood, and it ironically seemed to happen just as the song was ending. A pickup hovercraft sped across the barren landscape towards the trench, and the second the workers saw it, they scrambled out of the trench.

"Stay down!" Rodrick quickly hissed to Wolf.

Wolf obeyed, dropped the pickaxe and crouched down into the shadows of the trench, though not before seeing what his father had warned him about not even a full minute after he had arrived. He caught a split second glance of the driver of the vehicle and then pulled back down.

Out of the hovercraft stepped Kodek Ramero, the owner of the Macbeth Quarries and probably one of the most respected businessmen in the Lylat System…well, respected and feared, at least. Feared by his workers and enemies, respected by just about everyone else.

Wolf knew very little about this man, but he knew enough to know that he was nothing short of a bastard. The funny thing about it was that physically, he was a twig compared to a lot of his workers. Take, for example, Wolf's father. Rodrick was thirty-four years old and clocked in at a height of 6'1" and a weight of 172 pounds. Ramero by comparison was in his mid-to-late forties, weighed about 160 pounds and was 5'11". To conclude, Rodrick could have Ramero on the ground in about two minutes…at least, Wolf believed so since his father was like a god to him. The issue was that Ramero never went anywhere without at least two of his A rank workers, who were not only paid more than B rank, but also weren't monitored and had much nicer living quarters. Therefore, they could slack about all day and not get any work done, and yet still make over twice as much as someone in B rank who worked their hands to the bone. Relating back to Ramero, despite looking somewhat threatening (with a chiseled face, short goatee-like beard and muscles the size of softballs), he didn't do any of the dirty work and simply let his cronies handle the situation. Wolf already hated him from this knowledge, but it got even worse when it came down to his parents.

The workers all stood in silence and without expression as Ramero walked by them. He sneered at them as though they were the scum of the ground he stood on, with them thinking that it was the exact opposite. The two A rankers with him both gave the B rankers haughty grins as if saying "You're in deep shit now, vermin." Needless to say, these looks made a few of them want to step forward and give all three a good shot to the face, but they resisted. Then Ramero stopped in front of Rodrick.

"O'Donnell?" he said suddenly. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"What do you mean?" Rodrick replied, doing his very best not to sound angry or scared.

"I mean you know better than to bring a little kid to a place like this."

Rodrick only had time to growl "Son of a bitch…" under his breath before Wolf was violently pulled out of the trench by one of Ramero's cronies. Wolf himself thrashed all about in his grasp to try and get loose, but despite being strong for a kid his age, he wasn't a match for the mindless drone that dragged him out by the collar of his shirt.

"Let me go! You're hurting me!" he yelled.

Ramero smirked.

"Little Wolf, I presume. I must say you're nothing short of a chip off the old block if I may be so blunt. Seems to be muscle over mind as is the case with all O'Donnells."

Wolf bit his lip and angrily pulled his captor's hand off of him. From the way he often overheard Rodrick come home grumbling under his breath sometimes, he could only imagine that this was the subject matter that made Rodrick hate Ramero the most. Even worse was that the scrutiny of Wolf and his family didn't stop there. It just shifted to his father.

"This is your last warning, O'Donnell. If he ever shows up and impedes your work again, your salary's getting halved, you got that?"

"Haven't you done that a billion times already, you old geezer…" Rodrick grumbled quietly.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Good. I don't need the little rat getting hurt and you missing a day of work bawling over it."

"Little rat?!" Wolf shouted. "Why, you…"

Before Wolf could step forward and start taking futile swings at the man who had deliberately insulted him, Rodrick stepped forward and jabbed his finger into his superior's shoulder.

"Alright, look, Ramero…"

"Get your filthy paws off of him, B ranker!" one of the A rankers started as he advanced on Rodrick with a standard-issue nightstick raised.

John and Fergus stepped forward and blocked the way.

"Zip it, pretty boy. This ain't any of your business." John said menacingly.

With a quick nod to his friends, Rodrick turned his attention back to Ramero.

"I can put up with you calling me one of the worst workers you have and docking my pay so much that I can barely survive, but I will stand to here you call anyone close to me a rat, especially not my son. So help me, if you call him that again, I will snap your neck where you stand!"

Ramero scowled at being threatened by one of his lowly workers.

"Maybe you've forgotten that I'm your boss. Talk to me like that again and I'll have you and your wife booted out of your jobs before you could say 'police brutality'."

"Bad comparison, mac!" Max called from a good distance away. "Even the most corrupt cop in the world isn't as sadistic as you!"

Ramero shot him a glance of pure venom.

"I happen to own one of the most profitable companies in the System and you think you can call me lower than a worthless gumshoe that gets paid to strip search hobos and crackheads?"

"And you consider that a pervert?" Fergus chuckled. "Your head whore is half your age, bro!"

All the workers and even Wolf began laughing hysterically while Ramero gritted his teeth and flushed bright red. The A rankers were about to step forward when he blocked them with his hand.

"Don't bother." he said aloud to make sure all the workers heard him. "We'll see how they like it when their salaries are halved."

"Pfft!" John scoffed. "We're already miles below the galactic average. What have we got to lose?"

"Plenty. Pray I don't decide to take that, too."

Ramero turned on his heel and motioned for his cronies to follow, both of whom gave the workers evil glares before following their boss. They drove away the instant they got back into the hovercraft, leaving the men to get back to work.

"Yeah, you and what army, asshole?" Max muttered.

"Dude, come on. That's just wishful thinking." Fergus shot back.

"Why's that?"

"He has an army!"

"You mean those little sticks that sit on their butts every day while we actually get work done and could fuckin' bench-press them?"

"…you got it, man. You got it."

Rodrick sighed and beckoned to Wolf.

"I think you oughta go home now, sport. Kodek is certainly the last one I'd take advice from, but he's at least right this one time."

"But Dad, I wanna help!"

"Hey, just coming to see me today helped me. It helped all of us. Now help us some more by going home and staying safe, okay?"

"Dad, why do you put up with him if all he does is treat you and the others like crap?"

"Where did you learn that word?"

"From Max."

Rodrick smirked and rolled his eyes. Max was probably the most immature out of all the B rankers, but then again, that seemed to be the trait that made him so lovable Nevertheless, he looked into Wolf's eyes with the sternest gaze he could have given.

"We'll talk about when I get home tonight, okay? Run along now."

Wolf hesitated, wanting to help Rodrick and his friends with at least some of this backbreaking work. However, he also didn't want to disobey his father and probably get him in trouble again. He heaved a sigh and trudged back the way he came, never once letting Ramero slip from his mind. Why did that man enjoy making these guys' lives miserable, his father in particular? Was it some kind of personal vendetta? That may have been it. After all, Rodrick was apparently the only B ranker that was married and had a child.

No…Wolf wasn't stupid. He could figure it out easily. While it was true that Ramero always paid B rankers very poorly, it was a special case with the O'Donnell family. It wasn't what Rodrick had done to make Ramero loathe him. It was what Wolf's mother Nina had done.

Nina worked as one of the several female attendants in Ramero's private quarters, and while she was paid better than Rodrick, her job was arguably worse having to constantly deal with Ramero not only calling her a bitch about every other minute, but also badmouthing Rodrick. This had seemingly stemmed from Ramero offering Nina the chance to sleep with him since she was one of the prettiest of all the attendants despite being in her early 30s. She had refused for three reasons. The first was that she was already married, the second was that he was also already married, and the third was that she found him utterly revolting, especially in comparison to Rodrick.

Wolf smirked. Those were the exact words since he had heard Nina tell this story to Rodrick one night when they thought he was sleeping…except there had been a great deal of cussing to go along with it.

"Hey, if a sleazebag like him made that kind of offer to any other girl, I bet they'd be pretty pissed off, too."

Later that night…

Rodrick had arrived home a little earlier than usual, though still was back long before Nina. He sat down on Wolf's bed and the two began to have the talk he promised earlier, and it got quite heated.

"I know you don't like Kodek, sport. Heck, me and the rest of the boys wish the guy would just up and die already, but that's just wishful thinking on our parts. The truth is that your mother and I need these jobs because there's no alternative. There aren't any other paying jobs on Macbeth and we can't afford to leave. We can't even afford to be put in a cargo hold."

"But he treats you and the rest of the guys so unfairly! What's wrong with him?!"

"He's just given in to one of life's biggest flaws: greed. He wants to make as much money as possible and give as little as possible. He's just one of those people that you can't get through to sport. A lot of people say that no one is truly evil, just misguided. Unfortunately…that's not true. I guess he's trying to convince himself that he's doing everyone some good, and that seems to have taken effect. No one can touch him."

Wolf looked down at his feet in sorrow.

"It's not fair…we work hard and get the most done. Why do we get treated like this? I don't want to live like this, and neither do you and Mom!"

Rodrick sighed, but acknowledged that Wolf was right. This was a horrible way for them or anyone to live. The fact that they didn't have any other choice but to live this way made him both angry at himself and sorry for his wife and son who had to live in it with him.

Thankfully, an idea had suddenly sprung into his head, forcing a clever grin onto his face. Wolf adopted a look of confusion before his father turned to him.

"What is it, Dad?" Wolf asked.

"I think I just came up with the most ridiculous idea ever." he replied. "But don't worry about it. You get some sleep now, alright?"

"Okay. G'night, Dad."

Rodrick hugged Wolf once last time before tucking him into bed.

"Don't worry. Your old man's gonna make sure you get a better life than this." he whispered before getting up and leaving the room.

Wolf turned over and stared out the nearby window at the starry sky. What did Rodrick mean when he said "the most ridiculous idea ever"? Whatever it was, it was sure to get him into a heap of trouble with Ramero, but then again, standing still for a nanosecond too long would get you in trouble with him.

Nevertheless, Wolf stayed awake to ponder these thoughts, though his ears pricked up when he felt someone gently place their hand on his cheek. He smiled and turned over to hug his mother who had just returned home. Something strange Wolf found about Nina was that she never seemed to walk into a room. She just appeared in it when you weren't looking like an angel or something, further emphasized by her beautiful face. Either way, it was still a brilliant way to greet her loved ones, especially Wolf.

"So what happened today, sweetheart?" she asked in her soft and misty voice.

"Ramero really let Dad have it today."

"Yes, he seemed a little extra angry with me, too. He called me the B word about…hmm, I think it was eighteen times today. A new record, if I'm right."

Wolf laughed while Nina gave him an adorable smile.

"Why aren't you asleep, darling? Is something wrong?"

Wolf's happiness faded away and he looked away from his mother's eyes for a brief moment.

"I…I hate it here. It wouldn't be so bad if Ramero would stop bullying you and Dad all the time."

Nina stroked Wolf's cheek and lay beside him.

"Would you like me to sing for you?"

"…okay."

Despite Wolf being eleven and was thus a little too old for it, he still loved to hear his mother sing him lullabies, and that was precisely what she did. Her singing voice was as calm and soft as her speaking voice, but Wolf didn't care. She still sounded wonderful, and just as they had both hoped, Wolf eventually found himself drifting off to sleep. Once she had finished singing, Nina smiled and kissed her son's forehead.

"I'll always be with you, dear one."


Not really an explosive start, I'll admit, but let me assure you that'll change next chapter...you can probably guess how.

I have a question for the fans of my previous Star Fox stories. After playing some Nintendo and Capcom games I haven't tried before (EarthBound, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, DmC: Devil May Cry, Mega Man 2 and Okami just to name a couple), I've come up with some great ideas. So here's the question: would you guys like it if I did a Nintendo and Capcom crossover story similar to something like Marvel vs. Capcom? I think I've found a way to even link it to my Star Fox stories, so be sure to leave your thoughts in the reviews if you have something to say about it.

And yeah, I like DmC: Devil May Cry. Problem, officer?

SOUNDTRACK SO FAR (yep, doin' this again)

Perking up the workers' spirits- "Livin' On the Edge" by Aerosmith

Nina's lullaby- "Shenandoah" by Hayley Westenra