"Let me know what you think! I'm trying to make my writing more descriptive while simultaneously keeping my word count in check.

"I'll try and post Chapter 12 either today or early tomorrow. It all depends on how much 'real-life' work I get done in the next couple hours…"

- B McC

Star Fox : Re-Genesis

Chapter 11 – Wanted

Wolf saw the bright green flash that signaled Fox's victory out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't help but grin. A bit reckless, don't you think? But it's good to see that last two years haven't left you rusty.

"You bastards…" sneered Wolf's opponent. "First you stole the designs for my flagship, now you've killed my first mate… Your life ends here!" The Black Stars' captain sped his ship straight toward Wolf.

"Do you really think so?" Wolf skillfully dodged the lasers coming his way and shot off the captain's left wing. "Just look around you, buddy. It's time to give up."

The captain watched in shock as Falco finally outmaneuvered his opponent and took him out with a bomb. Then another pirate fell to the heavy firepower of Wally and Pat's ship. When Leon finally tricked his opponent into crashing against a drifting satellite, only one Black Star was left. In utter disbelief, the captain slowly released his controls and forlornly announced, "I surrender."

…

The next day, on the Outer Rim planet Lear

Fox was leaning against the shadiest-looking building in the shadiest-looking town on the shadiest-looking planet he had ever seen. The outer walls of every structure in sight were built with an odd mixture of warped, rotting wood and rusty tin sheets. A strange, sulfurous odor hung heavily in the air, forcing the Star Fox commander to breathe as infrequently as he could manage. He had wanted to abandon Star Wolf and head back to the repair shop after taking care of the pirates, but Falco insisted they at least accept their 40% of the bounty.

After the Black Stars' captain surrendered, Wolf had told them that the "manufacturer" he had lied about was actually a sort of black market bounty post. For just a small fee, they could collect a reward from the manager of the post, who would then turn in the criminal to the Army to collect the real reward. Everybody wins… except for the pirates.

The bell above the post's door rang as Wolf walked out, counting a large stack of bills. He handed half the stack to Fox without looking him in the eye. "Here. You guys take 50%. It's only fair."

"Fair," snapped Fox, grabbing the bills, "is knowing what kind of battle you're walking into. We didn't exactly have the resources to fight a bunch of pirates."

"So you would have refused the job if I had been honest. So I had to lie," Wolf reasoned.

"So you should have left us out of it!"

"Hey, you're alive aren't you?!" Wolf shouted. The two seemed poised to break into a fist fight, but Wolf slowly calmed down and backed off. "Besides," he added, "you can't tell me it didn't feel good to get back in the game."

Fox couldn't respond to that. He couldn't admit it was true.

"You and I are more alike than you'll admit, Fox."

"You and I are nothing ali-"

"We're fighters," grinned Wolf, gazing into the sky. "We might have our different reasons, but at the end of the day, we live for the thrill of battle. We're not the type of people to stay cooped up in crappy repair shops."

Before he could retort, Fox noticed Falco and the rest of the group had returned from the supply shop. "Yo, Fox!" shouted Falco. "We got enough fuel cells to get us clear to – Hey! Lemme touch the money!"

"Here." Fox tossed Falco the bills and started walking down the street. He turned back to Wolf. "We're leaving. You don't need the Great Fox anymore, do you?"

"…No, we'll be fine," Wolf replied. He struggled visibly to get the next words out: "…Thanks."

Ignoring him, Fox continued down the street, stepping carefully over puddles of what he hoped was water.. We'll just get in the Arwings, fly back up to the Great Fox, and be done with them forever, he thought.

"Fox, walk faster. Fuzzball screwed up and gave us 50%, so we should get out before he notices."

Done with Star Wolf. Done with pirates. …Done with flying.

"Woah, what's this about?"

"Huh?" Fox mumbled, clearly not paying attention. Falco pointed to what looked like a tank on legs walking down a street to their right. It stood roughly 10 feet high and was using its two long arms to lift a pile of rubble off the ground. Its armor was pure white and bore the Cornerian Army insignia; Fox also noticed the all-too-familiar label "AIU" on its back. What are they doing in the Outer Rim?

"I guess we should warn Wolf that the Army's here. He shouldn't stick around," said Falco.

"Why?" replied Fox coldly. "He's a criminal. And it's not like he warned us about the pirates."

Falco stopped in his tracks and glared at Fox. "This is a lot of money he just gave us. An' it's not like you to just leave someone hangin' like that."

"… Fine," Fox conceded. "We'll let him know." They turned around and started to walk back, but one of the tanks marched out of a side alley and blocked their path.

"Identify yourselves," it commanded. Somehow, the robotic, droning voice had a hint of bloodlust.

Fox stared at it in confusion for a moment before replying, "Fox McCloud, Commander of the Star Fox mercenary team." Only after he finished did he realize that his title didn't really exist anymore.

Falco was next: "The name's Falco Lombardi. What's it to ya?"

The robot pointed its arm – which seemed to double as a rather deadly gun – at the two of them.

"Reporting to HQ. Team Star Fox apprehended.

"Will now proceed with elimination."