Hello readers! Today, I decided to take a break from Beast Wars and work on something different. Recently, I saw The Bad Guys and completely fell in love with the cast of characters and beautiful animation that shined through the entire movie. However, the difference to this story is that half of the fanfic will take place before the plot of the film and mostly be told from the perspective of my OC. Hope you enjoy this new fanfic that I am sharing with all of you. I do not own The Bad Guys. The Bad Guys movie is owned by Dreamworks while the books are the property of Aaron Blabey.
Chapter 1: New Recruit
Heavy pants echoed throughout the night as a woman ran down the underpass. Wrapped in her arms was a small bundle of a blue blanket that wailed in fear. On the blanket was a name stitched in cursive: Daniel. Frantic, the woman's eyes darted into every direction she could look.
Eventually, the woman stopped behind a minivan parked on the side of the road. She pulled the keys out of her pocket and pressed the button to unlock the door. With a beep and a click, the woman quickly flung open the door and placed the crying baby inside. Once the infant was settled, she quickly stuck her head up to look to the left and the right of the underpass.
The small infant continued to wail as the woman shushed him and reached out a hand to stroke his head.
"It's going to be alright, sweetie," whispered the woman. "I have to go back and get Daddy. You be good and stay here, okay?"
The baby's crying softened into whimpers as he stared into the eyes of his mother. Her own eyes reflected worry and sadness. She didn't want to leave her baby alone for even a second, but the mother had to go back and find her husband.
A single tear ran down the woman's eye as she kissed her child on the forehead. "Mommy loves you."
With that, the woman ran back up the road, leaving the baby alone in the van with the door open.
Meanwhile
An armored truck swerved through the freeway as a large group of police cars chased after it. Strips of one-hundred-dollar bills flew from the sides of the vehicle as gleeful laughter could be heard from inside. The Bad Guys rejoiced at the latest heist they pulled off. Wolf was at the wheel with Mr. Snake in the passenger's seat. Mr. Shark, Mr. Piranha, and Ms. Tarantula (a.k.a Webs) sat in the back, tossing the money around like children in a kiddie pool.
"This was probably one of your best plans, Wolf! I wouldn't have thought of it better myself," said Mr. Snake.
"Did you see the looks on their faces when they realized it was us who took the truck?" asked Mr. Shark. "Any lower and their jaws would have hit the floor."
"One thing is for sure, they need to beef up their security systems. I mean, come on! It wasn't even a challenge for me," said Webs.
"We're rolling in the green now, amigos!" cried Piranha.
"Yep, this is sure to put us all on the news tonight," said Wolf.
A sly grin spread across the canine's muzzle but shortly deteriorated when he noticed the flashing blue and red lights in the rearview mirror. "But we still got to complete phase two. Ditch the cops and the truck then switch the money into the car."
"You remember where you parked it?" asked Snake.
"Of course! You think I wouldn't remember where I parked my own car?" replied Wolf.
"Guys, I don't mean to interrupt, but the po-po are gaining on us!" cried Webs.
Wolf adjusted the gears on the truck and slammed his foot on the acceleration. The truck sped faster down the freeway, dodging other vehicles in its path. Sirens wailed as the squad cars struggled to keep up with the intense driving skills of the five criminals. Some of them even crashed in the congested traffic, unable to move. Once the Bad Guys gained enough distance from their pursuers, Wolf made the next turn into the underpass below.
The leader parked the truck and climbed out saying, "Alright, all cash in the trunk. We need to be out of here before the chief and her boy scouts catch up to us."
The Bad Guys quickly opened the back of the truck and hauled out large sacks of money. Wolf walked up to a tarp and pulled it down, revealing his familiar black muscle car.
"You guys checked for ink bombs, right?" asked Snake.
"Relax, baby, we tossed out all the phonies and made sure not to set any of them off," replied Shark.
However, while carrying the money to the car, the large predator noticed an abandoned minivan across from them, with the driver's door open. He thought Wolf's car was the only one here. What was a minivan doing in this dark and dank underpass in the middle of the night? Curious, Shark dropped one of the money bags and wandered towards the vehicle.
"Shark, what are you doing?" asked an annoyed Snake.
"We don't have time for this, we need to move!" shouted Wolf.
"Someone left their ride here with the door open," replied Shark.
"So? It's not our problem!" said Webs.
"We got to beat it before the policia find us!" said Piranha.
"It'll only take a few minutes. Besides, they might have some good stuff in there. I can go for some new headphones," said Shark
Snake facepalmed himself with his tail. "This isn't a field trip, Shark! We need to be gone before the cops catch up!"
But the reptile's warning fell on deaf ears as Shark continued to walk towards the minivan; a money bag still wrapped under one arm. The rest of the group groaned and followed their disguise expert to the abandoned vehicle. As they got closer, the Bad Guys could hear high squeaky babble from inside the van. All five of them peeked inside and in the passenger seat was a bundled blue blanket.
A small round face popped out of the soft fabric, with pudgy cheeks, a small button nose, and big round eyes. It was a baby! The little child smiled and giggled as he reached his hands out toward the five strangers.
Wolf, Piranha, and Webs groaned in disappointment at the infant.
"It's just a baby," said Wolf.
Snake's eyes widened and immediately recoiled crying, "Yuck! Gross! Get it away from me!"
Wolf turned to Shark and said, "You happy now? Let's get the rest of this cash in the car before his parents show up and tell the cops where we are."
The large fish watched as the rest of his group walk back to the car to finish packing the trunk with stolen money. Shark switched his gaze between his friends and the baby. He couldn't explain it, but something felt off with a baby being all alone inside the van with no one else in sight. They were supposed to be the Bad Guys. Why would they care if a baby was all by itself in an underpass? Tarantula was right, it wasn't their problem. Still, what if no one was coming back? What if the child was deliberately left here because no one liked him, just like how everyone else didn't like them?
In the distance, Shark could hear the faint sound of police sirens and his friends calling for him. After debating with himself, he made his final decision.
Shark came back to the car with the only sack of money he held under his arm; the trunk was nearly overloaded with the green strips of paper.
Wolf pointed to the trunk and said, "Alright, put that last bag in the trunk and we'll-"
But the canine was cut off as Shark pulled the bag away saying, "NO!...I'll hold onto it."
The rest of the group stared at their fishy friend with cocked eyebrows, confused by his suspicious behavior.
"Okaaaaaaay, no need to get your gills ruffled," said Webs.
Without further debate, the Bad Guys closed the trunk, jumped in the car, and drove off. Shark sat in the back with both of his hands securely wrapped around the money bag he kept. His eyes were nervously wide as he glanced at all of his friends, none of them paying mind to the strange behavior of their master of disguise.
Eventually, the car drove down into a dried ditch under a bridge, where a large sewer pipe protruded from the concrete. The pipe was large enough to fit the car as Wolf slowly drove the vehicle into the tunnel and reached a large elevator. Once the car was parked inside, Snake shut the door behind them and Piranha pushed a button, making the elevator descend. The Bad Guys remained quiet throughout the whole ride down. Shark sweated bullets as his grip grew tighter around the bag; his friends were still oblivious to his behavior.
The elevator came to a stop and the door slid open to reveal the Bad Guys' hideout. A large area was cluttered with small piles of money, gold, jewelry, and other priceless objects that were stolen. The wall was all brick with a few metal columns holding the ceiling in place. The far wall was aligned with tall windows that were covered by old raggedy curtains. A small kitchen was in one corner with a fridge covered in various photographs of the Bad Guys. In the center was a round table with five chairs. A flat-screen TV was placed in front of an old, large corner sofa with springs and stuffing sticking out.
Wolf stretched his arms and let out a sigh, "Another successful heist by the one and only Bad Guys. Let's unload the loot."
But the group was startled by the sudden giggle that emanated from the bag that Shark gripped in his hands. The large predator gave a sheepish grin and giggled nervously.
His friends narrowed their eyes as Piranha asked, "You okay, hombre?"
Nervously, Shark replied, "Me? Oh yeah, I'm cool…just…laughing with glee that we stole this money, which is all that's in this bag and nothing else."
"You know, for a master of disguise, you have a terrible poker face," replied Snake.
"You've been acting weird since we left the underpass. What's going on?" asked Wolf.
There was another high squeaky giggle, followed by some ruffling in the bag.
Webs crossed two of her front arms and asked, "Okay, Shark, what is in the bag?"
The large predator's arms shook and sweat poured down his face so much that it looked like Niagara Falls.
Wolf cocked a knowing brow at his friend. "Shark?"
Shark stuttered to find the proper explanation. He didn't think this far ahead with how he was going to explain it to the rest of the crew. But it was too late, as the small head of a baby popped out of the bag and giggled at the entire group.
Wolf, Snake, Piranha, and Tarantula reared back in shock.
"Are you kidding me?" shouted Webs.
"Ay caramba!" cried Piranha.
"You kidnapped the baby?!" cried Wolf.
"What is the matter with you? Get rid of that thing, right now!" said Snake.
"Oh, come on! I'll make sure he gets all of his shots and keep him on a leash," said Shark.
Shark gently pulled the baby out of the bag and placed him on the floor for the rest of the team to see. The whole time, the infant giggled as he reached out toward the four bad guys who stood in front of him.
"It's a baby, Shark, not a pet," retorted Webs.
"What are we even going to do with a baby? It's not worth anything," said Piranha.
Wolf rubbed his temples. "I know I said we need to try harder to build our reputation as bad guys, but stealing toddlers isn't the kind of reputation we need!"
"Plus, babies are the more disgustingly cute than guinea pigs. With those pudgy bodies, soft skin, and big eyes…blech!" said Snake, sticking out his forked tongue in disgust. "And don't get me started on the crying."
"So? He can be our new little mascot. Plus, I've been meaning to find myself a model to test all of my new disguises," said Shark.
"We're not making a baby our mascot," replied Wolf.
"And you're not turning it into your own fashion model," said Webs.
"I say, as soon as the heat dies down, we dump him in front of an orphanage before they start adding kidnapping to our records," said Piranha.
Snake smirked and said, "Or I could just eat it."
"NO!" shouted the rest of the team in unison.
While the Bad Guys continued to argue, the baby crawled towards Wolf's feet. Once he was right beside the leader, he gripped the canine's plant leg and crawled up like a tree. It wasn't long before Wolf felt something small and soft grab one of his legs and looked down. Wolf yelped and hopped on one leg while trying to shake the baby off the other.
"Get it off! Get it off!" cried the leader of the Bad Guys.
"That's it! I'm eating it!" said Snake.
"No!" cried Shark.
The large fish tackled the reptile as the two wrestled each other on the ground.
Piranha picked up the grappling hook and said, "Hold still, hermano!"
Webs gripped her head with two of her legs screaming, "Piranha, what are you doing?!"
But the tiny Colombian fish had terrible aim as he fired the gadget and hit Wolf square in the muzzle with the hook.
The leader cried in pain and covered his nose with both paws yelling, "Piranha!"
"My bad!" replied Piranha.
At that point, the baby was up on the canine's chest, gripping his white blazer and suit vest. The child was oblivious to the chaos around him.
Piranha reloaded the grappling hook and fired again. But this time, the line wrapped around Wolf's leg. Before the leader could tell the Colombian fish to stop, Piranha hit the button to reel in the line. Wolf was pulled to the floor and dragged across the hideout with the baby still clinging to him. At the amount of speed the line pulled them, the leader and the baby were flung in the air and flew over Piranha and Webs's heads. Wolf landed on a hard pile of solid gold bars with the baby safely landing back on his chest.
Shark and Snake wrestle each other on the ground, knocking over furniture and what loot they possessed.
"The baby has got to go, Shark!" shouted Snake.
"You're not going to eat him!" retorted Shark.
The reptile paused for a moment and said, "Wait, him? How do you know it's a boy?"
"His blanket is blue, that's how," replied Shark. "Blue for boys, pink for girls."
"That's not going to stop me from eating it," said Snake.
"Not if I eat you first!" shouted Shark.
The two continued wrestling and making a mess of their hideout.
Piranha and Webs ran over to Wolf's limp body with the infant clapping and laughing on top of him.
"I told him to hold still," replied the crazy little fish.
It didn't take long for Wolf to regain consciousness and sit up. He pulled the baby off of his chest and brought it up to his eye level. Wolf barred his fangs in anger and growled threateningly at the infant for all of the trouble it caused; his yellow eyes filled with rage. The baby only stared back at the scary canine for a few seconds before he continued to giggle and reached out to touch his muzzle.
The leader's threatening scowl melted away and his eyes widened in disbelief. Most of the time, everyone would scream and run away from the Big Bad Wolf when he was out in public, even small children would cry in fear. How could this baby not be afraid of Wolf even after he used his predatory growl?
Piranha and Webs were just as baffled, realizing the infant has not shown any sign of fear since Shark smuggled him into their hideout.
"Woah! He didn't even flinch," said the arachnid.
"No one has ever stood up to your cara de miedo before," said Piranha.
Wolf continued to stare at the fearless infant as he padded the soft fur and the nose on the leader's face. The canine couldn't explain it, but the soft touch of the baby's pudgy hands gave him a weird feeling inside. It was faint, but it stuck out like a real diamond in a chest full of fakes.
Wolf, Webs, and Piranha's attention was redirected towards Snake and Shark's wrestling match. Wolf put the baby back down on the floor as all three of them went over to break up the fight.
The leader placed himself in between the two saying, "Alright, break it up!"
"Wolf, please tell this giant walking piece of sushi that we're not keeping that gross mole rat," said Snake.
"Easy for you to say, you don't care about anyone but yourself!" retorted Shark.
"I'm a bad guy, it's what I do. We're all bad guys!" shouted Snake.
Wolf turned to Shark and placed a paw on his shoulder, "Sorry, big guy, but Snake is right. The kid is just too much trouble to keep around.
Snake gave a smug look, knowing his closest friend would always pick his side over anyone else.
The leader walked back to his car and reached into his coat pocket for the keys. "So we're just going to get back in the car and take the little tyke where we…"
Wolf paused to dig deeper into the pocket where he usually kept the keys to his car. They weren't there. He checked a different pocket, and still no keys. Eventually, the canine patted himself down to find any trace of the keys needed to start his car, but they were nowhere on his person.
Wolf turned around and narrowed his eyes at the rest of the crew saying, "Very funny, guys. Who has my keys?"
"Not me," said Webs.
Piranha shook his head and said, "Not me, hermano."
"You know I can't fit in the driver's seat," said Shark.
"Don't look at me. I know better than to mess with your car," said Snake.
Suddenly, the Bad Guys heard the baby giggle again, followed by the jingling sound of metal. The group turned and were dumbfounded to see the baby playing with Wolf's keyring. Everyone's eyes widened and their jaws dropped in disbelief. An actual baby just swiped Wolf's keys from under his nose without him realizing it.
Piranha pointed and said, "Dude! That baby just pickpocketed you and you're supposed to be the master of pickpockets."
But that wasn't the only thing the baby took. Dangling from the infant's diaper was the shark tooth that Shark normally wore around his neck. The large predator checked his neck to confirm his suspicions. Sure enough, his shark tooth necklace was gone and was now in the baby's possession.
The Bad Guys continued to stare in disbelief at the infant. The wheels in Wolf's mind began to turn, realizing the hidden potential they just uncovered with this unexpected circumstance.
Snake broke the silence. "Who cares? Let's just take the keys from the brat and drive him back to the underpass."
The reptile began to slither forward when Wolf reached out a paw and held the reptile back without taking his eyes off the baby.
"No," he said.
Wolf slowly walked towards the infant and knelt in front of him. The baby sucked on the keys until he turned his gaze to the canine in front of him. The child dropped the keys and giggled, reaching out with his hands again. Wolf's sly grin slowly returned as he picked up the baby with both paws and turned to the rest of the group.
He walked forward and held the baby in front of them. "Everyone, meet our newest addition to The Bad Guys."
"WHAT?!" shouted the group in unison.
Shark was the only one who was ecstatic out of the rest.
"You can't be serious!" cried Snake.
"Wolf, we don't know anything about taking care of a baby!" said Webs.
"The right way, yes. But what about the wrong way?" asked Wolf with a devious look in his eyes.
"What are you saying?" asked Piranha.
"We train this little guy to be as bad as us," replied the leader.
"Okay, now you're starting to sound as crazy as Piranha," said Snake.
"This little tyke just swiped me and Shark without either of us noticing. On top of that, he hasn't screamed or cried even once at the sight of us. Everyone in the city practically does it," said Wolf.
Snake slithered up and poked Wolf's chest with his tail. "That doesn't mean he's official Bad Guy material. Look how long it took us to get where we are."
"But that doesn't mean we're at Crimson Paw levels...yet. The little guy will learn to catch up with us as we continue to rack up our own reputation," said Wolf.
"It's a baby, Wolf! He can't hack like Webs, fight a hundred guards like Piranha, disguise himself like Shark, or crack safes like me. This thing is completely useless!" retorted the reptile.
"But what can be a better distraction than a cute little baby?" said the leader. "Think about it. For now, we exploit our little friend's cuteness to draw everyone's attention while we pull the heists. After all, nobody can't resist the adorable pudgy face of a baby. It's the perfect distraction!"
"He's got a point. Statistically speaking, babies are just as cute as puppies, kittens, and guinea pigs," said Webs.
"And, when he gets older, we teach him our ways and groom him into learning that being bad is the only way to go. Who knows, with a sixth member in our gang, we can pull off the heists we couldn't before," said Wolf.
"Or he can make things worse and get us all thrown in prison!" said Snake.
Webs rubbed one of her shoulders saying, "Yeah, Wolf, I don't know how I feel about this. Plus, who's to say this kid's parents aren't looking for him right now."
"He was alone in a car, Webs. What kind of parent would do that?" asked Shark.
The arachnid became silent, understanding the weight of Shark's words.
Wolf said, "Look, if it makes you all feel any better, we'll give it a week or two. If the rugrat proves himself useful, then we keep him. If not, then we drop him off at an orphanage, and it's back to just the five of us. What do you say?"
Shark, Webs, Piranha, and Snake were silent in thought, going through Wolf's most peculiar plan he's ever had. If the baby proved to be a good distraction, for the time being, they could make the city their oyster with the number of jobs they can pull off. Was it also possible to raise a baby to be bad? Can a baby even learn to be bad? These thoughts weighed heavily on the Bad Guys as they pondered over their leader's words.
Shark, Piranha, and Webs smiled.
"I'm in," said Webs.
"Alright, let's teach this niño how to be bad," said Piranha.
Shark didn't even need to answer for his large toothy grin said it all.
Snake was the only one who had yet to give his answer. The reptile expressed his usual sour scowl at Wolf. To him, this was a bad idea, taking in a baby like a stray and raising it to become a Bad Guy.
Wolf stared down at his best friend and said, "Come on, Snake. You said it yourself, I always come up with the best plans."
"You sure I can't just eat him?" asked Snake.
"No," said Wolf in a deadpan tone.
Snake rolled his eyes and sighed. "Against my better judgment…I trust you with this, Wolf. But if I even hear one hint of crying from this brat, it's over."
The canine smiled down at the reptile, thankful to have such a great friend.
Shark bent down to the baby's eye level and tickled his tummy saying, "Did you hear that, little guy? You're one of us now."
The baby giggled from the giant hand on his stomach until Wolf pulled the baby away saying, "Don't do that."
"Well, if he is going to be part of our crew, he needs a codename. We can't just call him Mr. Baby. No one will take us seriously," said Webs.
Snake picked up the blue blanket with his tail and looked at the name stitched on the fabric. "Well, we're definitely not calling him Daniel. It's not intimidating enough."
"Oh! How about Hammerhead!" cried Shark.
Webs gave a deadpan stare and said, "Seriously?"
The large predator just shrugged. "What, it was my cousin's name."
"I know! What about…Chupacabra!" said Piranha.
"Chupacabra?" repeated the arachnid.
"How about…nuisance," said Snake.
"You're not funny," retorted Shark.
Wolf pondered over the many possible names they could give their newest addition to The Bad Guys, but none of them stuck. He began to think back on some of the greatest thieves and criminals that existed before them. Eventually one came to mind.
"What if we call him…Billy," said Wolf.
The rest of the group stared at their leader.
"Billy?" repeated Piranha.
"Yeah, as in Billy the Kid," said the canine.
Tarantula scratched her chin in thought, "Billy the Kid…Yeah, it has a nice ring to it."
"I like it! It's got some zing," said Shark.
"That name definitely gives me chills," said Piranha.
"I still think Nuisance would have been better," grumbled Snake.
Wolf's smile grew wider as he held the baby up saying, "Welcome to The Bad Guys, Billy the Kid."
So began Billy's exciting and dangerous life of crime and thievery. But little did The Bad Guys know that this child would ignite the spark in all of them to become something more than criminals.
So starts Billy the Kid's new life with his new family, The Bad Guys. Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and feel free to leave a review on your thoughts so far.