Chapter 4 – Friends reunited

Wolf peeked around the corner of another alley, out of breath with his heart pounding. He'd been running from the police, who were after him for trespassing at the military headquarters. None of them believed that he was really leaving Andross either. Wolf wasn't about to start shooting cops, since they were only doing their jobs, so he ran for his life. Eventually the police were forced to give up the chase after being called to handle an emergency and now they were gone.

"If only I'd stayed with Kyle." Wolf said, remembering the day they parted, "But noooo, I had to run the other way. I had to let Andross find me and use me like he did."

Wolf's past still continued to haunt him. He pulled out his blaster.

"I might as well end the torment now." he said.

He pointed the blaster at his chest, ready to end his life once and for all. But before he could pull the trigger, he suddenly caught a familiar scent.

"That scent!" he said, "Is that…? Can that be…?"

Holstering his blaster, he ran out of the alley and looked around until he heard a voice.

"Wolf?"

Wolf turned to face the voice and couldn't believe his eye.

"Kyle? Is that really you?"

Kyle and Wolf ran towards each other and hugged. Wolf hadn't even noticed Fox standing next to Kyle.

"Wolf, I'm so glad to see you again! I really missed you!" said Kyle.

"Me too, Kyle."

It wasn't until they let go of each other that Kyle noticed Wolf's eye patch.

"Good God!" he said, "How did you lose your eye?!"

"Well, I don't like to be reminded," said Wolf, "but you may remember when we were chased by those thugs, right?"

"Yeah. Those assholes!"

"They certainly were. I ran to another alley to hide, but they eventually found me and… well, let's just say I wound up looking at the wrong end of a gun."

"You're kidding!" said Kyle.

"I wish. Anyway, I blacked out from the pain and next thing I knew, I was in a medical bed with my eye bandaged. I found out later that Andross had found me and brought me to Venom with him. Long story short, he convinced me to fight for his cause and made me the leader of his mercenary team, Star Wolf. But I don't want to talk any more about that. What happened with you?"

Kyle told Wolf his story. Wolf sighed.

"You always were the smart one." he said, "Always knowing the best places to sleep and where to find food. I really wish I'd stayed with you."

"So do I." said Kyle.

Wolf then noticed Fox standing in front of him. For a few seconds, they just looked at each other. Finally, Fox spoke.

"Well, Wolf, I'm here. If you want to kill me now, you'll never get a cleaner shot."

Fox kept his eyes on Wolf's hands. He was waiting for Wolf to go for his blaster, so that he could disarm and overpower him. But to his surprise, Wolf's hands went nowhere near his blaster.

"Fox," he said, "I assure you, that's the last thing I want to try again."

Fox couldn't believe his ears. This meant that the letter was true. Wolf really had changed his ways.

"Listen. All those times I tried to kill you…"

Fox held up his hand.

"I know, Wolf." he said, "General Pepper showed me your letter. I was just testing you."

"Finally!" Wolf said, "Someone believes me!"

"What do you mean?" asked Kyle.

"The police wouldn't believe my story." he said, "They even thought that I was faking my wingmen's deaths."

"So you really did kill them?" asked Fox.

"I didn't have much of a choice. They would've done the same to me if I just left them. None of them really cared for me that much either. I even overheard Pigma say that if he'd been shot down one more time, I would be his next kill. As for the police, they're also after me for trespassing in the military headquarters. But how else was I going to get my letter to the General? If I tried walking in, the guards would've shot me on sight."

"Tell you what, Wolf," said Fox, "If you help us out, I can talk to the General and see to it that you're pardoned."

"You would do that for me?" asked Wolf.

"If you can help us out."

"Fine. What do you have in mind?"

Fox told him everything that happened to them.

"So, Andross' brother did this to you?" said Wolf.

"You know him?" Kyle asked.

"Never met him in person, but Andrew spoke highly of him."

"So, what do you say?" asked Fox. "Help us, and I'll make sure the charges against you are dropped."

"Okay. It's a deal." Wolf said, shaking Fox's hand.

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End of Chapter 4