Chapter 8: Bad Company

One year ago

Ozzy climbed up onto the fuselage of Wolf's Wolfen, looking down at the grey canine. It had been years since he had seen him, and he looked much different. For one, he was missing an eye. It was not a complete shock to Ozzy, as he had seen his face on bounty posters and other such things, but he remembered when he had both eyes. Wolf's fur was matted and unkempt, which did not surprise Ozzy. Still, the otter worried about him.

"Hey Ozzy." Wolf said as he turned his head to look at him, his eye widening as he did. "Holy shit, you're so grown up!"

"Well, it has been what, like eight years?" Ozzy replied. Wolf looked back at his ship's controls.

"I guess you're right. It's been so long. Hey how's your family doing?"

"They're doing good. My brother's about to graduate college. Mom and Dad are doing fine." Ozzy said.

"That's good. Anyways, hop in and get yourself strapped in." Wolf said, adjusting his seat so Ozzy could get in. The otter lowered himself down into the cockpit of the ship, sitting behind Wolf's seat. As he buckled himself in, Wolf lowered the cockpit lid over them. Ozzy's legs began to tremble and his hands produced sweat. Wolf looked back at him to see if he was comfortable, noticing the otter's nervous body language. "You alright back there? Comfortable?" Wolf asked, moving his seat forward to give Ozzy more room.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay."

"You nervous?"

"A little, yeah."

"I'm gonna ask before we take off, you okay with doing this? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I'm fine. Let's go."

"Very well." Wolf nodded his head and started the takeoff procedures. The Wolfen lifted up off of the ground and hovered for moment before Wolf held the control stick forward. The ship began to move forward, picking up speed before Wolf pulled the stick back to make the ship ascend. As he left the atmosphere and entered space, Ozzy's stomach churned.

"So... um...is there anything you can tell me before we get there? About your teammates." Ozzy asked, uncertainty settling in.

"I suppose I talk about them. Obviously I've made it clear to them they are not allowed to touch you in any way. Except handshakes and whatnot. But if any of them make you uncomfortable, you NEED to tell me, okay?"

"Got it."

"So we'll start off with Leon. He's well... on the reserved side. Don't expect him to be very talkative. Now, you might find him to be kinda creepy. That's just how he his. That being said he is the most loyal man I've ever known. And I know that if anyone were to do something to you, it would not be him." Wolf adjusted pointed his ship in the direction of their destination and kept it going forward. "Next is Pigma." Wolf shook his head. "He's a fuckin' disgusting slob. A greedy bastard. But he's also competent at what he does. It wasn't necessarily my choice to have him, he was assigned to me by Andross. He worked for Andross for a few years after he betrayed James McClousd. Then the ape insisted I work with him. He might test your commitment in ways I don't approve." Wolf took a breath. "Finally there's Andrew, Andross' nephew. He's roughly your age. Now this little fucker gets on my nerves. Whiny little bitch with no talent. Obviously, Andross pawned him off to me. I have a feeling one of two things will happen. Either you two will get along, or he might try and establish some dominance over you. If that's the case, I want you to put that little bitch in his place."

"Um... okay? They seem like a delightful bunch. Why do you work with people you hate?" Ozzy asked.

"That's just how it is sometimes." The two flew to Wolf's base, catching up on the years since the had last seen each other. The Wolfen carefully made it's way to base, bobbing and weaving through the asteroid field that hid the base. Wolf pressed a button on his controls, and Ozzy figured it was to open the base up for them to land. They flew through a energy field to enter the hangar. Wolf extended the landing pads and slowly parked his Wolfen down next to those of his teammates. After turning the engine off, he opened up the cockpit lid and got out before Ozzy. The wolf stood up around the cockpit and reached his hand in to help Ozzy get out. Using Wolf's hand to get out of the cockpit, Ozzy got a good look around at the large hangar and the other ships that resided in it. The ships looked like they had seen better days and that StarWolf did not have the funds to properly maintain them. They had rust and blackened spots from laser fire. Wolf hopped down off of his Wolfen and Ozzy followed suit. Wolf escorted Ozzy down the halls of the home base. The metallic walls were rusted and the fluorescent lights above were irritating to the eye. Overall the place gave Ozzy the impression that they were experiencing hard times.

The reached a door that led to the recreation room. Before opening the door, Wolf turned to Ozzy.

"They're in there." Wolf stated. "You ready?"

"I am."

Wolf opened the door and inside awaited his three teammates. Leon sat at the bar, examining a small knife. Pigma was at the nearby pool table, playing by himself. Andrew was sitting on the couch facing the tv, but had his phone in his hands. As the door opened, each of them turned to face them. They all shot Ozzy a glance, that made the otter feel slightly uncomfortable. First impressions are everything, and he was not sure how they felt seeing a small, weak kid. This kid would be the one to help them?

"Guys, this is Ozzy." Wolf pointed to each of the members of his team. "That's Leon... Pigma... and that's Andrew." Ozzy waved to each of them, and the three began to approach them. Leon was the first to reach them, and the chameleon stuck his hand out for Ozzy to shake. Ozzy grabbed his hand to shake it, hoping he wouldn't notice how terrified he was. Ozzy looked up into the chameleon's eyes and all he saw was a void.

"Nice to meet you...Ozzy." Leon spoke softly. The chameleon was not one to smile very often, but he forced himself to do so. Leon walked to the side to allow the others to greet him.

Next one up was Pigma. Ozzy's nose wrinkled at the smell of the pig. He reeked of unwashed clothes and intense body odor. The pig stuck his hand out to shake. Ozzy was even more reluctant to shake his hand than he was with Leon's. Regardless, the otter grabbed his hand and could feel the sweat on it as he shook hands.

The final one was Andrew, who was not too much taller than Ozzy. The fact that he was not much older made Ozzy feel slightly more comfortable.

"Wassup?" Andrew said and made a fist with his hand and put it out in front of himself. It as clear that he was going for a fist bump rather than a hand shake. Ozzy balled his hand into a fist and hit it against Andrew's.

Wolf looked at Ozzy. "Tell them about yourself Ozzy, let them get to know you."

"Umm well... obviously I've known Wolf. Anyways, I'm an actor, and a pretty good one at that. Wolf and I have been got into contact and he said he has a plan that I can help with." As he spoke, he began to feel more comfortable and confident. "Oh also, don't worry about me saying anything to the Cornerians or anything, okay I'd never do that to Wolf. My lips are sealed." Ozzy looked at them to see that none of them seemed to be impressed. It was going to be difficult to get them to like and trust him, but he was going to do that.

Wolf spoke up, "Alright, introductions out of the way, let's head to the bridge." Wolf directed Ozzy out of the recreation room and led him to the bridge. The others followed behind, but kept themselves a distance away from Wolf and Ozzy. Ozzy could hear them talking to each other, but he couldn't make any of it out. All he knew was that they were talking about him.

Wolf led Ozzy into the bridge, followed by the others. They stood around a table that StarWolf used to devise plans.

"So what's the plan Wolf? What exactly are you asking of me?" Ozzy asked.

Wolf sighed. "Lately StarFox has been screwing over. Taking out our contractors. And the ones that are still left aren't giving us contracts ever since they... defeated us. No contracts means no money."

"So how can I help with that?"

"Well, we need someone to help us with a little infiltration, somebody to get in with StarFox and sabotage."

"How am I supposed to do that, I'm a sixteen year old nobody." Those words made Wolf slightly mad.

"You know Lucy Hare, right? Peppy Hare's daughter?"

"Um yeah, what about her?"

"She's gonna be your way in. My informant on Corneria tells me she attends Corneria Central University. I need you to attend that school, pull some strings and get close. I need you to...form a relationship with her. Gain her trust, and use it to get access to StarFox."

"A relationship? You know I'm- Well, there's a lot that could go wrong."

"I need you to use your acting skills buddy. I know you can do this."

"Okay... but this is gonna take some time." Ozzy looked around at each person to make sure they were understanding. "This isn't something that will happen quickly."

"We know. We can keep scrounging for money for the meantime. But if this works, we'll be living good, no longer picking at bones just to get by."

Ozzy nodded his head and looked down. "I'm gonna do it. We're gonna hit those pricks where it hurts. Put them in their fucking place." Ozzy said , his last words spewed venom.

"Woah, what did they do to you?" Wolf asked.

Fire raged in Ozzy's eyes. "What they did to you. What Lylat did to you. Labelled you a terrorist when they DON'T EVEN KNOW A FUCKING THING ABOUT YOU!" Ozzy spat. "I've always hated them."

Everyone looked at Ozzy, stunned by his pure hatred of them. It didn't make sense for a Cornerian youth to be so against them. Everyone in Lylat saw them as heroes, but Ozzy was different. The otter took a second to calm down and sat down on a chair.

Pigma exchanged glances with Leon and Andrew, "Wolf... can we speak to you for a moment?" he asked.

"Yeah sure. Ozzy, we'll be right back." Wolf responded. Wolf turned to his teammates and they all walked to another room. Ozzy began to fear what they were discussing in the other room.

"What's up?" Wolf asked.

"Wolf... I always trust your visions, but are you sure about this?" Leon spoke, hoping to not piss off his boss.

"Yeah, you sure that little tail-raiser out there isn't gonna fuck things up?" Pigma said. Wolf walked up to the pig and forcefully grabbed the collar pf his shirt and pulled him close.

"Use your next words very fucking carefully." Wolf spoke with furious breaths between each word. "Besides, wasn't this similar to your idea."

"My idea was to kidnap Peppy's daughter. Hold her hostage and get a ransom."

"I get that you and Peppy have beef, but that will only paint targets on our backs. What we need to do is get them to stop fucking shit up so we can get back on our feet. We have Ozzy plant a tracker on their ship. Sell that information to our contractors, and get paid. All the while, we don't draw attention. They've been a thorn in our side for too long, and we use the kid to pull it out silently. That's how we'll get back to where we one were.

"You're putting a lot of faith into someone who's younger than me Wolf." Andrew spoke.

"I know. You'll just have to trust me. We should spend some time with Ozzy to help drive in the nail. He seems dedicated.

"Boss... I trust you. The kid seems dedicated." Leon said.

"Thanks Leon." After Leon agreed to the plan, so did Andrew and Pigma. They walked back to the room that Ozzy was in. The otter looked up at them, expecting them to change their minds about this whole thing. "Hey Ozzy, do you know how to play Poker?" Wolf asked. Ozzy's brow furrowed at such a bizarre question.

"Um...no." Ozzy answered

"We're gonna teach ya."

Present Day

Glasses clanked together as Ozzy, Wolf and the rest collectively downed a shot. To celebrate their successes, they played some poker at Ozzy's request. They all sat at round metal table, which was too small and barely fit all of them. They were a bit too close together, which was not ideal for poker. Ozzy sat between Wolf and Leon, with Pigma sitting next to Wolf and Andrew next to him.

Whenever Ozzy visited, they would usually play poker, which explains how Ozzy became so good at it. He could easily read them, though it was not very hard for Ozzy. Andrew had the worst poker face in Lylat. Pigma would always take risks that would backfire on him. Leon had a great poker face, but the poor guy would involuntarily change colors upon seeing his cards. And with Wolf, Ozzy always knew what was going on with him.

Leon began dealing out poker cards. The chameleon slid them across the table to each person with perfect precision and a small amount of decorative flair. Ozzy picked up his cards and looked at them. They showed a two and a seven of different suits, the statistically worst poker hand. Ozzy thought about attempting to bluff, but it was too early to play that risky. He decided to fold instead. Unfortunately, he was small blind, so he still lost a chip.

"Out already?" Wolf asked.

"Shitty hand, not playing it." Ozzy responded. The game continued and both Leon and Andrew folded. Wolf and Pigma kept raising the pot until they finally had to show their cards.

"Look what I got." Pigma said with his typical shit-eating grin. The pig set his cards out for all to see, showing two pair of aces and eights. Everyone looked at Wolf to see if what he was going to be able to win this hand. The wolf grew a smile.

"I got something for ya." Wolf said as he slammed his cards down to reveal two aces, giving him a three of a kind. Pigma's grin turned into a sour expression. Wolf reached over and grabbed all the chips from the pot.

"Well you know what Wolf, I got something for you too." Pigma lifted his right leg, leaned to his left, and farted at Wolf.

Wolf sniffed and groaned, "Ugh what is wrong with you Pigma." Andrew started giggling and Pigma looked over at him.

"You want one too, Andrew?" Pigma asked with devilish intent.

"No, but I think Wolf wants another." Andrew replied quickly to avoid getting Wolf's fate.

"Oh? Very well." Pigma said as he leaned back over and farted on Wolf once more.

"I'm gonna kick your fucking ass!" Wolf growled as the smell assaulted his nose for a second time.

The game continued on and Wolf and Ozzy found their luck to be rather against them. Ozzy was continually dealt bad hands and when he was given a good one, somebody else had something better. Wolf on the other hand had a great first hand, but kept getting dealt terrible hands after that. This bad luck made them sloppy, which led to more losses. This was odd, since usually they would dominate at this game. But this time, they were the first ones to bust out. Ozzy wondered how he was doing so bad. He was always the one to win, how could he be doing so bad? Pigma on the other hand was having a great game. The hands he was dealt were never spectacular, but he was able to leech off the bad luck of Wolf and Ozzy and use it to his advantage. Wolf started to suspect that Pigma rigged the game, but that couldn't have been the case. Seeing the hog so happy with his winnings made Wolf's blood boil.

"Well well well, looks like I won!" Pigma squealed with joy as he took the last chips from the pot. Everyone had a sour expression, nobody liked to see Pigma win. The pig himself could not be happier.

"What happened with you Ozzy? Usually you win." Leon spoke.

"I dunno. Just had a bad game I guess." Ozzy replied.

"Same here." Wolf said, bluntly.

"You know who didn't have a bad game? This guy!" Pigma pointed to himself. Everyone yelled some variation of the words 'Shut Up.' Nothing like a bad game of poker to ruin the mood. They cleaned up and checked the time. It was late and everyone decided it was time for bed. Wolf let Ozzy sleep there for the night.

Wolf and Ozzy walked down the halls to one of the spare bedrooms. While it never saw much use, Ozzy would sleep in this room every time he met up with them. Ozzy opened up the door and turned around to face Wolf.

"Goodnight Ozzy. You did really good, I'm proud of you. Now we'll be getting back on our feet." Wolf said.

"Thanks Wolf. Things are gonna get better for us. Goodnight." Ozzy turned around but immediately turned back around. "Wait, I forgot to give this to ya. It's the flash drive. Pretty awesome that all I had to do was put it in for a few seconds and it did it's thing. Who designed this?"

"That would be Andrew. Kid's pretty smart, used to help is uncle create all kinds of shit back in the day." Wolf replied. "So what are you gonna do now? You gonna keep being with Lucy?"

"That would be for the best, all sorts of stuff I can learn by still being with her. Ways to screw them over."

"Do you love her?" This question made Ozzy think for a bit, finding it hard to formulate a response.

"I don't know Wolf. Part of me says yes, part of me says it's all just a façade. We've been in a relationship for quite a while now. It's just well... it will never progress from here."

"What do you mean?"

"Like... I'm not attracted to her."

"Well you're only eighteen, Ozzy. You still have time to figure that stuff out. That stuff can wait."

"I suppose so."

Wolf put his hand on Ozzy's shoulder and gave him a nod of understanding. He knew that this was probably hard for Ozzy to talk about and he understood why.

"I get it. Just well, let's keep this information away from Pigma. Asshole already thinks you're a tail-raiser."

"That would be best. Anyways, goodnight Wolf."

"Goodnight Ozzy."

Ozzy waited for Wolf to turn around and walk away before closing the door. He walked over to the bed and flopped down on it. As he laid down on the bed, he pulled his phone out to check on it. There was a missed call and multiple texts from Lucy asking him how he and his family were. He didn't receive those due to the poor connection in the desert of Papetoon. He began to type a reply, but ended up deleting it and turning his phone off. He set his phone on the bedside table and plugged it into a charger. Ozzy felt off. Whether it was from the game of poker or not, he felt like things could go bad for him. What if they find the tracker? What if Lucy starts to suspect something about the people he surrounds himself with. He was stupid to tell her any of that. To him, it does not matter if he faces hard times, as long as things get better for Wolf.

A/N: Wow, it's already been over 100 days since chapter one was posted. Anyways I hope this story is making sense so far, more will become clear soon. Any feedback is appreciated, and I'd love to hear from some new people as well. Shoutout to NadaYNadie though, thanks for providing me great feedback so far :)