Disclaimer: READ THIS!!! I do not own any of the StarFox characters or any
other names that are Nintendo related or found in any of the StarFox games.
Authors Note: Oh geeeeeeeez! This certainly took me longer than expected. I'm sorry I haven't been able to write much at all, I hope you all haven't forgotten what this story was about. =/ Sorry I just had to add one slight fix to this regarding what happened to ___'s mother. I don't want to ruin it for those of you who haven't read this yet. ^_^
CHAPTER 9
Shadow on the Son
It was five minutes to eleven; Falco and Krystal stood in Fox's room and watched him as he sat on the edge of his bed and slid his knife into a small sheath he had sewn on the inside of his vest.
"I'm going with you!" Falco protested.
"No your not..." Fox answered back without looking up.
"I can't believe you're going to trust some guy who tried to kill you before!"
"He didn't try to kill me, he tried to tell me something but I ignored him..."
"Why don't you say something, don't you care at all that he's going to get himself killed?" Falco said turning to Krystal.
"Of course I care and I'm just as worried as you are, but...I trust that he's not going to let anything happen," Fox paused hearing her words. There was an eerie silence when Fox's eyes met hers, he wouldn't ever let her down.
"You know what? Fine...but when he throws another knife and it catches you in the face, don't say I didn't warn you," Falco said before turning and storming out of the room.
Fox got up off his bed and walked over to his desk in the corner of the room looking at his gun he had placed in the middle of it. He picked it up, examined it for a moment, and slipped it into its holster on the side opposite the knife. Krystal came over and held his arm; Fox turned his head to meet her gaze. "Please be careful...promise me you'll come back to me in one piece," she said.
Fox turned all the way around and hugged her tightly, "I promise," he said and then pressed his lips to hers. She closed her eyes wallowing in the feeling of shared love, Fox pulled away and his grin brought a feeling of comfort to her worried heart.
She followed Fox out of the room and walked up to the bridge. Krystal stood silently and watched as Fox approached one of the hover cars and opened the door. Fox stopped when he got that all too familiar feeling that he was being watched, he looked up to the bridge catching sight of Krystal who once again had that worried look on her face. Fox looked directly at her and winked which brought the smile back to her face. Fox got into the car, drove out of the hanger, down the driveway, and out onto the desolate street. Tapping his thumb and index finger on the steering wheel he carefully avoided the craters left by the bombs. "She's going to give herself an ulcer worrying about me so much," Fox thought to himself, "I'm the one who should be worried..."
Fox parked across the street from the park gates, got out and stood looking into the ruins of the common ground. The park was in even worse shape than it was before, the walls which were already covered in graffiti and gang tags had taken several hits from the bombs and were blown apart in some parts. Fox pushed open one of the large gates which was now reduced to a twisted shard of iron. It creaked for a second before falling off of its hinges and clanging to the ground. The park had once displayed many pieces of sculpture art where anyone could come and look at the beautiful creations of arcs, figures, and statues of great animals of the past. That beauty was decimated into a pandemonium of fallen idols and crushed heroes and heroines. Fox stumbled through the maze of debris and rubble until he got to something that seemed peculiar. In the northwest corner of the park there was a clearing. There were no small rocks or pieces of statues, only large chunks of stone that were too heavy to be moved by hand, including the top half of a twenty foot pillar. In the corner of the walls, there were two slabs of stone leaning up against each other creating a lean-to like shelter. Fox stared at the little opening in the shelter which was shrouded in darkness; he noticed a park bench which seemed to have been moved in front of the aperture. He was starting to get the idea now and took a seat on the bench and awaited a visitor.
He stared out at Fox with mixed emotions; a malicious delight with a wry compassionate expression; it had been a long time since he met with him. "Now might be a good time to exact some revenge...no bad idea, he's one of our only hopes, killing him might lead to more trouble, and trouble is something I don't need. Still it would be fun to kick his furry arse around here a little bit...he deserves to die for what he did to me, my pride, my honor...ah what the hell, I'll let him decide," he argued in his thoughts. "I'm going to have to move quickly, I'm losing my rage..." he thought again. He looked down to his left hand which was twitching profusely. Every movement sent an itch throughout his body making him stronger; it sent streams of liquid fury to his brain commanding him to give into violence. He tightly grabbed his left wrist and held it to his chest as if trying hopelessly to get it to stop. "You are late!" he reprimanded Fox from his shadowy veils.
The voice from the darkness caught Fox's attention immediately; "I know," Fox answered back.
"Is there anyone else there with you?"
"No, I've come alone as implied."
"Good..." He took a couple of steps forward out of the shelter and let the moonlight unmask his identity. "So...the fox has finally come out of his hole..." he said giving a trivial smile.
"Yes...and I see the wolf has finally come out of his den...." Fox said to him returning the smirk.
"It truly has been...too long, Fox McCloud"
"I was beginning to think you were dead, Wolf O'Donnell"
Wolf looked up to the moon admiring its beauty; it had been a long time since he openly exposed himself to another person on this planet. He was dressed in the same attire as the stranger who bumped into Krystal the time they went to The Celestial Sciences and Planetary Archives. Black combat pants, black muscle shirt, under a black trench coat minus the hood, and of course his trademark eye patch covering his left eye. Fox stood like a stone, trying to read Wolf's emotions and movements, a single wrong move was what he was looking for. Although Fox knew him, he did not know him all that well and was afraid he might try and pull something, he wasn't an individual to be trusted. Wolf's arm resting by his side gave another violent twitch; that was it! Fox quickly reached inside his vest, drew his gun and pointed it at Wolf's head! Wolf's reactions were just as quick as Fox's, drawing two smaller pistols from their holsters behind his kidneys and held them level to each other, each front sight covering Fox's heart. Wolf raised his eyebrows, "I'm getting the feeling that you're not willing to trust me, Fox, even after I tried to help you...no, Corneria get prepared for the onslaught."
"Oh and I'm sure YOU of all people would trust someone who has always set his sights on your head and even came close once or twice!" Fox said forcefully. "Hey, three times a charm, feeling lucky tonight?"
"It's a shame, Fox; I was hoping you'd be the first one to pull the trigger, so we wouldn't have to have a standoff like this for hours."
"There's still time, should I?"
"I don't know, should you...or should I?" Wolf said, his eye piercing directly into Fox's forehead trying to read his thoughts. Fox's finger tightened around the trigger of his gun, he wasn't afraid to let one slip, possibly to remove one less thorn in his side but he felt Wolf still had some part to play. "I'm going to give a choice, Fox, we can go guns away and settle this like gentlemen, or we can play who's got the itchier finger."
"Well if we were to go with the second option I don't know if you would be able to hit me with your trembling hands."
"Never mind my hands!" Wolf snapped back.
"What's wrong, are you afraid?" Fox mocked.
"Nowhere near as afraid as you were that night in the alley, I could smell the sweat pour from your skin; hear the beat of your heart grow louder and more rapid with every second."
"Shut up, I oughta' put out your other eye right now!" Fox shouted.
"Oh really, do you dare try it Fox? Will you have time to dodge my two shots which could possibly sever the relationship with you and your precious girlfriend?"
"Leave her out of this!"
"My, my, aren't we a little hotheaded this evening. I guess we only have but one choice then don't we Fox," Wolf said. He stood up getting out of his defensive stance and spread his arms pointing each muzzle in opposite directions. Fox looked at him suspiciously and then lowered his gun to his hip. They both tossed their guns away in opposite directions from each other. Wolf cracked his knuckles, "I hope you still have fight left in you, you let love get in your way and make you soft."
"We'll see, I hope I didn't hurt you at all when I shot you down over Venom eight long years ago," Fox said with a sarcastic grin.
Wolf's eye narrowed, "You are going to feel this Fox, I am going to make you feel the stinging pain I go through everyday. Be ready to be force fed anguish; be ready to shit your pride out your arse when I'm through with you." Fox was ready, while preparing to fight he stood in a back stance. Wolf, who was taking his time, cracked his neck and tossed the trench coat aside. Wolf took an aggressive stance and lowered himself to the ground, the way the two leered into each others eyes was quite unusual. There might have been a passionate hate between the two, one cannot be sure. But one thing was for sure, neither of them had the will to lose.
Wolf growled through his teeth as he charged at Fox going for a clothesline across Fox's throat. Fox quickly tucked and rolled underneath Wolf's massive arm, he jumped back to his feet and anticipated the next attack. Wolf again showing his aggression threw several punches at Fox's head, which he nimbly avoided, ducked and gave Wolf a fierce blow to the stomach. Fox's fist stopped as it collided into Wolf's abdomen. He looked down and grinned at Fox who was stunned that his punch did not hinder his stamina one bit. Wolf brought his fist back and gave a short uppercut connecting perfectly with the center of his jaw.
The blow sent Fox backwards onto the heels of the feet. He groaned and stumbled a little, the park was shaking around him. He clenched his eyes shut and opened them wide to make the blurriness go away. Wolf stood with a twisted smile of pleasure, "Oh...I'm sorry Fox, do I hit too hard? Do I play too rough?"
Fox spat on the ground, "I'll give you 'rough' you bastard!" he screamed; his heart filled with hate, his mind full of fire. He charged at Wolf and delivered two spin kicks, both of which were effortlessly blocked by Wolf's left arm. Wolf grinned, he spun quickly and retaliated with a kick of his own; Fox went for the similar block. Wolf's fierce kick smashed into his shoulder causing his blood vessels to burst and sting like flesh teased by a flame. Fox cringed in pain and took two skips backwards out of range from Wolf's blows.
Fox felt the blood start flowing in his upper arm again; it hurt terribly to move his arm up or down. "Definitely going to get a good bruise there," Fox thought to himself. "How could he have possibly gotten so strong?" Fox tried to remember what little Jujitsu he knew, he cupped his fist in one hand before extending his arms out and stood sideways to Wolf making him less of a target. Fox closed his eyes, channeling his energy as his instructor in hand-to-hand combat would tell him when performing martial arts. Fox felt better after the short meditation and was able to block out the pain he had in his arm. "Got that out of the way," Fox thought to himself again, "Now step two, get inside your foes head...shouldn't be hard." Fox opened his eyes again and put a devious look on his face, "I'm curious Wolf, how is it going to feel to lose again?" he said.
Wolf surged forward attacking with several punches and kicks with all of his might. Fox nimbly dodged all the incoming blows and did a back hand spring to get away. He thought it was a bad idea to try and go toe-to-toe with Wolf since he was obviously a lot stronger and had a larger build then he did. "I'm afraid you are mistaken my friend...it is you who going to be the one to fall this time."
"I wouldn't count on it; remember those days at the Academy? Always second best, your scores could never beat mine. Of course you remember Wolf, 'second place IS first loser'...I thought you would have learned your lesson by now, especially losing to me again on Venom." Wolf snarled again and charged Fox with a jumping high kick; Fox was able to avoid the attack by inches, tucking and rolling out of the way before squaring off again. "See Wolf, you were and still are unable to fight never mind pilot while you're angry. Stupid bastard, I've pulled the same move on you for so many years and you never seem to learn. I get you angry; you get me another top score.
Wolf's muscles pulsed with hatred, his heart pumping the rage-filled blood throughout his body and his mind. His hands curled into fists exposing his rock hard knuckles under his skin, "ANGER IS A GIFT!!!" Wolf howled out loud and bared his teeth protruding out from his drooling mouth giving him the appearance of a rabid animal. Wolf charged again throwing random punches and kicks with enough force to stop an oncoming truck but were so sloppy he wouldn't have been able to hit it. Fox side stepped one of the punches and slammed his elbow into Wolf's chest and rolling his arm up giving him a hard back knuckle into the center of Wolf's face. It didn't faze him. Wolf grabbed Fox's arm and twisted it over his head and then flipped him hard to the ground over his back. Fox grunted when he landed flat on the ground, his eyes focused on the incoming fist at his face. He didn't think, just reacted; tilting his head to one side Wolf was only able to catch him in the corner of his ear. He rolled to the left twice, and quickly sprung to his feet. Wolf dove at him again, getting his massive hands around Fox's neck. Fox shoved his thumbs into the little sockets above Wolf's clavicles. Using Wolf's own force against him, Fox rolled back, and put one foot in the center of his sternum then kicked him off into the air. Wolf flew through the air upside down before crashing into the side of one of the stone walls and sliding down onto the back of his head.
Wolf rolled over and rubbed his head. When he got to his feet, he looked up and saw that Fox was on the offensive this time. Wolf got into a defensive stance and prepared to ward off an attack, but his senses were still weak and his head still throbbed. His eyes deceived him and gave the illusion that there were three Foxes instead of one. As Fox jumped through the air, Wolf put his hands in front of his chest, hoping to be able to soften the incoming blow. But what Fox did was completely unexpected. With great speed and precision, Fox ran up the front of Wolf and perched himself on top of Wolf's shoulder with one foot. Fox swung his opposite leg back, Wolf gasped as the boot toting an enormous amount of force and momentum swung like a pendulum towards his face. It all happened so fast that Wolf was only able to get a hand in front of his face, and turn his head to avoid a direct shot between the eyes from Fox's monstrous kick. A millisecond later, Wolf's head snapped back and his face exploded in pain. He found himself careening backwards, his body flying parallel to the ground before smashing his cranium back into the pillar. Fox still following through with his kick flew into the air before back flipping and landing gracefully on top of the wall.
Fox stood still as he watched Wolf slowly recovered from the blow. He stumbled to his feet holding the top of his head; the corner of his jaw now had a huge cut on the side of it. He held the side of his jaw before spitting out a tooth and a lot of blood with it. Even more angry then before, Wolf reached down to the side of his boot and pulled out his knife. "What are you waiting for; it's time to finish this once and for all," Wolf said as his blood slowly trickled down off his chin from the open wound.
Fox reached into his vest; as he pulled it, it made that distinct cold steel on leather sound...a sliding of silent death. He stood poised on top of the wall gripping the knife in his fingers in the stabbing position close to the side of his head. His opposite hand outstretched as if to try and pull his prey in close and go for the sweet spot along the rim of the throat. There was a gleam in the blade of the knife from the moon, it caught Fox's eye, and looking into it he could see his reflection in the polished metal. The knife gleamed again; it was no longer his reflection he was starring into...it was his father's. Fox's expression changed into a look of awe as he saw his father staring out at him, James did not look the least bit pleased. He was, to say the least, a bit disappointed and shook his head miserably. The knife gleamed once more and he was gone. Fox got the message his father was trying to send, he stood up with the knife by his side. "C'mon! Fight! Kill me! I've been waiting for this pain to go away for the longest time!" Wolf shouted at him.
Fox looked down at himself again, and back in his reflection in the knife, "no Wolf...I can't..."
"WHAT! Why not? You have to! You don't have a choice, KILL ME!"
"Wolf...I'm sorry, I came here for a meeting, not commit murder. I would be very ashamed that such an esteemed pilot and fighter as yourself would drop down to that level. Murder just isn't my game Wolf...it's too bad that you're willing to make it yours." With that, Fox tossed the knife to Wolf's feet and turned to hop off the opposite side of the wall.
Wolf's defiant stare faded into a stoic look, "Fox wait...hold on a minute," Fox looked down on Wolf with a side-long glare from over his shoulder. Wolf tried to speak again but the words couldn't come out, his jaw, along with every other muscle was frozen in place. He clenched his eyes shut in pain as he tried to move; he knew what was happening and tried desperately to fight it. "Oh God no...not now...not in front of him," he begged in his thoughts, the cold sludge in his throat built up, there was no stopping it. His body finally loosened up and he was able to quickly spin away from Fox dropping his jaw open, he spewed a thick white liquid from his maw.
Fox jumped down from the wall and took a few steps closer to Wolf with a look of disgust on his face, "What the hell is the matter with you?" he asked.
Wolf did not reply but instead held up one finger shushing Fox from speaking again. Wolf fell to his knees and held his gut, his throat burned like acid as his body ridded itself of all its contaminants and poisons it had consumed. He panted over the stinking white pile of vomit and wiped his mouth with his arm; he then reached into one of the pockets on his cargo pants and pulled out a little vial with a syringe secured in place with a rubber band which he then tossed over to Fox.
Fox caught it and read the label, "Rage...Formula 326?" Fox read aloud, "what is this shit-in-a-can you got?"
Wolf was a hideous sight, he was still lying on his knees holding his stomach and was coughing and hacking up more vomit. "...A steroid," he gurgled, "it's serious stuff...makes you a little volatile though..." Wolf's lips twisted and he began to gag up yet another painful stream of the awful fluid.
Fox glanced down at the vial again, "May cause discomfort when affects begin to wear off...heh, let me guess this isn't exactly what you would call prescription now is it? Here let me lend you a hand," Fox placed the vial and syringe on a rock and stomped hard causing the glass container to shatter and the deadly toxin to seep into the ground.
Wolf was exhausted from all of his vomiting, he dragged himself to the wall that Fox was once standing on and leaned against it. Wolf spat on the ground again and dabbed his cut with the sleeve of his shirt. "Sorry Fox....I never wanted to fight you. I did at one point but...I've had some time to think about myself...to look at what my life has been."
Fox leaned against the wall next to him, "Wolf, it's not all your fault, I jumped the gun. I can hardly trust anyone anymore. I swear I thought you were dead. Wolf...tell me what happened...what has your life been?" Wolf swallowed hard, "I'll tell you everything Fox, and I'll start from the beginning," Wolf said closing his eye. He opened it again and he was back to the land of happiness he remembered from so long ago. He was with his father, mother, and brother once again, sitting down to their dinner. They all lived in a small house on Corneria in the lower district. Nothing big and nothing special; just a family who lived together. What could possibly go wrong? "My father and my brother, have always been in my thoughts, I loved them...I loved them all. I looked up to him and my brother; they both served in the Cornerian National Guard. Military service was the bloodline of all males of O'Donnell's, which is why I decided to become a pilot. Ten years ago, I don't know if you remember, but there was that protest in the upper district in front of the capitol building, the one about the development of the Rifter weapon?"
Fox nodded his head, "Yea I remember, tell me about your father and brother a little more."
"Well," Wolf continued "I can't describe the way I used to feel about my father, Ark, he was just so...cool. He had a different style of fur than the rest of us had, it was the same color gray as mine but his had unusual black patterns like lines and swirls, kind of like veins. I can't describe it, but it was all natural. Unfortunately my brother and I didn't get that trait from him when we were born and had all gray fur like my mother's. His eyes were another thing, they weren't pure sky blue like the rest of ours; they had a blue iris which faded to a deep red before hitting his pupil. Lupall was twenty-two, I guess he was a lot like me, pretty quiet, never talked much; but he was my brother and I loved him...that was all that mattered.
"Both my father and brother got called to keep the peace at the protest, it was supposed to be friendly no need for violence, or so they thought. I remember watching it on the news at home; my father wore his captain's uniform and stood next to my brother protecting him. They were all equipped with batons, riot shields, and some fully auto carbine rifles. They assumed they wouldn't need them, but carried them just to keep the protesters from getting any bad ideas. Some fat badger who was the developer of the weapon made his speech over the booing crowd and it was my father and brother's job to get him safely away from the area when he was through. They both escorted him to his car, that's when it happened...the image that would change my life forever. A protestor pulled a small pistol out and fired at the developer. He ducked suddenly then ran to his car unharmed. But, Lupall disappeared, my dad found him on the ground breathing heavily with one hand over his heart. My dad picked him up and held him in his arms the crowd was yelling and gawking at him. He was bleeding all over the place, my dad started applying pressure to the wound but Lupall just pushed his hands away, he pulled my dad close and whispered something to him I but couldn't tell what it was. Lupall let go of my father and he fell onto his back still clenching at the hole in his heart. My father had a mixed look of tears and fears. Lupall's breath grew short until it stopped all together. His face opened into a look of shock before he eyes rolled back into his head. The pool of blood spread beneath him, my father slid his hands off of Lupall's shoulders, he was gone. Although I was already in enough shock, I was even more horror-struck by what happened next. A German Shepard, who was my father's friend, put an arm around him; my father reeled around and back fisted him sending him to the ground. He grabbed his rifle, slapped the cell and cocked it. A wild look was in his eyes, he fired it from the hip directly into the crowd with a look in his eyes as if possessed by the devil. The crowd was thrown into pandemonium; several protestors dropped in pain when struck with the fiery bolts of energy. The Shepard got back to his feet and tackled my father to the ground, and was screaming something like 'ARK! ARK! CONTROL YOURSELF! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!' but it was too late my father had lost it. The live broadcast then cut off and the station put up some connection interrupted sign. I turned off the TV and walked up to my room and lay down on my bed, I cried and prayed that what I had just seen wasn't my father and Lupall. How the hell was I going to explain this to my mother?
Wolf paused and rubbed his head with both of his hands, "If this is too hard, you don't have to tell me," Fox said.
"No, it's alright..." he sniffed, "this is one of those things that I really need to get off my chest"
"My mother had found out while she was at work, she came home in tears and tried to explain to me what had happened, but I told her I already knew. My father came home that night he didn't say anything to any of us, he just put his stuff into a closet in his room and went to bed. The next morning he told all of us that he had gotten court-martialed and would be awaiting court in a week, more specifically on the day after my seventeenth birthday. Well during the course of that week my father became really irritable, to the point where my mother and I were afraid to talk to him for fear of being hit. He gave me a swat knife as an early birthday present and told me that he was sorry for the way things had been going. That night however when he got back from the bar, he beat me and my mother again. He had been doing a lot of drinking lately so I kind of felt sorry for him. I forgave him and tried my best to just not get him angry, but I soon discovered that wouldn't be as easy as it sounded. On the night of my birthday my father came home drunk again, he was ranting and raving about something calling my mother a bitch and kicked her several times while she was on the ground. I couldn't stand to see my mother being treated that way I jumped onto my father's back and tried to restrain him...I hope you're ready for this part....what he did next haunts me to this day," Wolf paused and rubbed his eye patch. "My father grabbed a beer bottle from the counter and smashed it over my head then with another quick thrusting motion he sank the jagged bottle into my eye. All I remember seeing was a red flash and then that side went completely dark. Satisfied with what he had done, he turned around and continued to work on my mother. I crawled along the ground, the pain was too much to bear and so was the all the screams and cries coming from my mother. Remember that knife I told you about? Well...I gave it back to him. I got back to my feet and pulled the knife out of my pocket where I had clipped it. I stumbled over to my father with the knife held high above my head, and brought it down and sunk it deep into his back. The slashed arteries began to spurt out from the entrance and exit wounds. My father stopped shouting; he looked down and felt the tip of the gray colored blade protruding through his left pectoral muscle with his fingers. He didn't make a sound, he didn't turn to look at me, he just fell...and quietly bled. My mother continued to cry still holding onto her bruises and scars. I didn't know what to do, I grabbed a dish towel from the table to stick in my eye socket...and then I ran.
"You killed your own father!?" Fox nearly screamed. He was speechless, completely sickened by the act. "How could you?"
"Here's how," Wolf lifted the patch from his left eye revealing a twisted rotten brown meaty flesh-like covering in which the eye had created to heal itself.
Fox's expression changed into a compassionate look, he felt sorry for him now; it was easy to hate someone who you didn't know any thing about. The putrid eye formed a tiny red bubble which popped a second later and sent a tear of blood along the side of the bridge of his nose to the corner of his muzzle. "What's it doing? You're bleeding," Fox pointed out.
"I know, it's trying to cry...but it can't...I can't," he put the eye patch back over his eye, trying to hide his physical and emotional decay. Wolf cleared his throat and started again, "I ran for a while not really knowing where I should go. I ran down this dark alley so I could catch my breath. Just then I was approached by some swine asking me if I was interested in disappearing and making a little money at the same time. I was intrigued by his offer so I accepted. He told me his name was Pigma Dengar, I knew exactly who he was at that point and honestly I couldn't have cared less about this whole brewing war between Corneria and Venom; I needed to find a way out. So I agreed, he took me to Venom and explained that they were in need of an elite fighting squadron and he was lucky to have found one of best upcoming pilots pouring his heart out into the street. I hated him, he was fat and cocky...Andrew as well, I hated him too.
"What about Leon? I remember you two growing up together as friends at the Academy"
"Ah yes, Leon...he was a dear friend of mine, my only friend in fact. He arrived about two weeks after my extensive training on Venom began, I was actually very happy to see him. He brought me news from Corneria, and about my mother. He said that my mother was found dead in my home lying next to my father's corpse holding onto the knife which she had jammed into her chest. The police had come to the conclusion that it was murder- suicide. Supposedly she accidentally killed him for beating her before killing herself when she saw what she had done. The report concluded that I had disappeared without a trace after seeing her kill him. But I knew what really happened, and now so do you."
Fox's eyes lowered, "...sorry about your mother, and I'm sorry for killing Leon."
"Don't worry about it; I would have killed you and your teammates at that point. Well after I went down along with the rest of my team I went unconscious for a while. I awoke out of a coma about a week later, they told me that the war was over and Andross was dead, so basically they kicked me out the door with nothing."
"So what did you do?"
"Well, I didn't exactly just leave, I snuck around the base just killing a few of them and stealing things like money, weapons and then finally a ship. With that ship I flew here and I've been hiding out for a while now." Wolf sat up and brushed himself off, "Follow me, I'll show you what I've been doing nowadays."
Wolf led Fox into that little lean-to shelter that he was hiding in after picking up all the things they had either dropped or thrown away before the fight. There was little room inside the refuge mostly because of a rock the size of an over-inflated basketball. "Have you been living under a rock all this time?" Fox asked.
"Eh, you might say that," Wolf put his hands in two grooves each located on opposite sides of the stone walls. The rock in the middle of the shelter split suddenly and opened up revealing a large hole with a ladder running down the side only large enough for one person. Wolf climbed down first and then was followed by Fox; it was too dark to see anything. Wolf hit a switch next to the latter which caused the rock to contract and create a seal back over the hole. A moment later, there was a dull hum of an electric generator which grew louder with every second. Several florescent lights flickered on overhead revealing a subterranean bunker with metallic floors and walls, along with two hatches seen on most submarines each sticking out of a different wall. Twelve flat screen computer monitors protruded from the wall before flipping around revealing their screens spread evenly around one big green and black map of the Lylat System. Near the back of the room was a large computer terminal with a desk and several keyboards all arcing a hundred-eighty degrees around a leather rotating armchair. Surprisingly the place was very neat, not a spec of dust was on the floor and not a piece of trash or junk was carelessly strewn anywhere, the room was in better shape than the Great Fox was before they took it into the shop. Wolf sniffed damp metallic aroma air and exhaled out loud, "Ah....home sweet home!" he declared.
Fox was very impressed with what he saw, "Quite a nice place you got here, and you did all this yourself?"
"Yes, I've been living underground here for about two years now," Wolf said reclining back in the black leather chair. "Basically what I have here is a large compound where I do all my reconnaissance, hacking, and monitoring frequencies. As of right now I can pretty much break into any channel whether it be Ally or Enemy and listen in on conversations."
"Which would explain how you where able to send me that little message on my PDA," Fox said crossing his arms and giving him a sly look.
"Careful Wolf...he catches on quick," Wolf joked.
"So what else have you got here?" Fox asked.
"Well in there," he said pointing the hatch behind him, "is my weapons cache and ammo dump; basically it's my own little personal armory. I'm sure you've got one on the Great Fox," Fox nodded back. "In that other room," he said pointing to his right, "is basically my room, and kitchen. I'm the only one who's living here so I figured what the hell, roll them all into one." Wolf got up and turned the on the door valve, the heavy hatchway door opened with a creak. Inside were two large refrigerators with a sink and several counters and cupboards next to them. A large pantry, a bed, a laptop resting on a wooden desk with many drawers, chair similar to Wolf's computer room, and two bookcases backed with a several books and data disks. In the middle of the room was a small table round metallic table along with it was only one chair. In the corner was a small room with a normal door leading to his bathroom.
"You know, for someone who lives alone you've got a pretty nice pad," Fox complimented.
"Thank you, I try," Wolf said giving a toothy smile. "Oh yes, and before I forget," he went over to his laptop and ejected a data disk out from the back. "That's a pretty interesting looking vixen you've got hanging all over you. I wanted to know more about her so I borrowed this, but I'm through with it."
Fox took the disk and placed it in his vest pocket before shaking his head, "seems you've gotten pretty good at pick pocketing."
"Unfortunately I've had to kind of creep around at night knocking out rich folk and steal funds, as I would prefer to call them, for my little hideaway."
"Crime's really not a good way to go y'know, Falco could probably tell you a couple of stories about the trouble he's gotten into."
Wolf looked down at the floor, "Yes well...I'm trying to get money so I can hopefully buy myself some citizenship here. I don't know whether you've noticed or not but because my body was never found, the Cornerian government has put a large price on my head. I've been thinking about trying to clone myself, kill the clone and putting him on the doorstep of Cornerian Intelligence Agency along with instructions on where to drop my cash," Wolf laughed.
Fox didn't laugh, he gave him a serious look in the eye, "what do you want me to tell my teammates when I leave?"
"Tell them you didn't meet anyone, but just exchanged conversation on your PDA. You are the only one who knows I exist on this planet and I'd prefer to keep it that way for now. Alright that's enough talk of the crap that's going on, care for a belt of scotch Fox?"
Fox chuckled, "sure, I'll take a glass."
Wolf opened up one of the refrigerators and pulled out a bottle filled with a coppery brown liquid and placed it on the table before getting two glasses out of one of the cupboards. He poured each glass evenly half-full with scotch; Fox took his glass and held it up next to Wolf's. "Cheers Fox."
"To a new and everlasting friendship!" Fox cheered.
"Here, here," Wolf said clinking his glass with Fox's, they both downed their drinks. Wolf cleared his throat before pouring them each another glass, "one more word of warning and I do suggest that you take this one seriously."
Fox gave him an intrigued look.
"...Beware of unexpected gifts."
Authors Note: It's good to see new friendships blossoming isn't it? I'm very concerned about what will happen next and I fear the length of time that it may take to get my plot straight. I'm walking blind along the edge of a knife people! Any and all reviews are welcomed and appreciated.
Authors Note: Oh geeeeeeeez! This certainly took me longer than expected. I'm sorry I haven't been able to write much at all, I hope you all haven't forgotten what this story was about. =/ Sorry I just had to add one slight fix to this regarding what happened to ___'s mother. I don't want to ruin it for those of you who haven't read this yet. ^_^
CHAPTER 9
Shadow on the Son
It was five minutes to eleven; Falco and Krystal stood in Fox's room and watched him as he sat on the edge of his bed and slid his knife into a small sheath he had sewn on the inside of his vest.
"I'm going with you!" Falco protested.
"No your not..." Fox answered back without looking up.
"I can't believe you're going to trust some guy who tried to kill you before!"
"He didn't try to kill me, he tried to tell me something but I ignored him..."
"Why don't you say something, don't you care at all that he's going to get himself killed?" Falco said turning to Krystal.
"Of course I care and I'm just as worried as you are, but...I trust that he's not going to let anything happen," Fox paused hearing her words. There was an eerie silence when Fox's eyes met hers, he wouldn't ever let her down.
"You know what? Fine...but when he throws another knife and it catches you in the face, don't say I didn't warn you," Falco said before turning and storming out of the room.
Fox got up off his bed and walked over to his desk in the corner of the room looking at his gun he had placed in the middle of it. He picked it up, examined it for a moment, and slipped it into its holster on the side opposite the knife. Krystal came over and held his arm; Fox turned his head to meet her gaze. "Please be careful...promise me you'll come back to me in one piece," she said.
Fox turned all the way around and hugged her tightly, "I promise," he said and then pressed his lips to hers. She closed her eyes wallowing in the feeling of shared love, Fox pulled away and his grin brought a feeling of comfort to her worried heart.
She followed Fox out of the room and walked up to the bridge. Krystal stood silently and watched as Fox approached one of the hover cars and opened the door. Fox stopped when he got that all too familiar feeling that he was being watched, he looked up to the bridge catching sight of Krystal who once again had that worried look on her face. Fox looked directly at her and winked which brought the smile back to her face. Fox got into the car, drove out of the hanger, down the driveway, and out onto the desolate street. Tapping his thumb and index finger on the steering wheel he carefully avoided the craters left by the bombs. "She's going to give herself an ulcer worrying about me so much," Fox thought to himself, "I'm the one who should be worried..."
Fox parked across the street from the park gates, got out and stood looking into the ruins of the common ground. The park was in even worse shape than it was before, the walls which were already covered in graffiti and gang tags had taken several hits from the bombs and were blown apart in some parts. Fox pushed open one of the large gates which was now reduced to a twisted shard of iron. It creaked for a second before falling off of its hinges and clanging to the ground. The park had once displayed many pieces of sculpture art where anyone could come and look at the beautiful creations of arcs, figures, and statues of great animals of the past. That beauty was decimated into a pandemonium of fallen idols and crushed heroes and heroines. Fox stumbled through the maze of debris and rubble until he got to something that seemed peculiar. In the northwest corner of the park there was a clearing. There were no small rocks or pieces of statues, only large chunks of stone that were too heavy to be moved by hand, including the top half of a twenty foot pillar. In the corner of the walls, there were two slabs of stone leaning up against each other creating a lean-to like shelter. Fox stared at the little opening in the shelter which was shrouded in darkness; he noticed a park bench which seemed to have been moved in front of the aperture. He was starting to get the idea now and took a seat on the bench and awaited a visitor.
He stared out at Fox with mixed emotions; a malicious delight with a wry compassionate expression; it had been a long time since he met with him. "Now might be a good time to exact some revenge...no bad idea, he's one of our only hopes, killing him might lead to more trouble, and trouble is something I don't need. Still it would be fun to kick his furry arse around here a little bit...he deserves to die for what he did to me, my pride, my honor...ah what the hell, I'll let him decide," he argued in his thoughts. "I'm going to have to move quickly, I'm losing my rage..." he thought again. He looked down to his left hand which was twitching profusely. Every movement sent an itch throughout his body making him stronger; it sent streams of liquid fury to his brain commanding him to give into violence. He tightly grabbed his left wrist and held it to his chest as if trying hopelessly to get it to stop. "You are late!" he reprimanded Fox from his shadowy veils.
The voice from the darkness caught Fox's attention immediately; "I know," Fox answered back.
"Is there anyone else there with you?"
"No, I've come alone as implied."
"Good..." He took a couple of steps forward out of the shelter and let the moonlight unmask his identity. "So...the fox has finally come out of his hole..." he said giving a trivial smile.
"Yes...and I see the wolf has finally come out of his den...." Fox said to him returning the smirk.
"It truly has been...too long, Fox McCloud"
"I was beginning to think you were dead, Wolf O'Donnell"
Wolf looked up to the moon admiring its beauty; it had been a long time since he openly exposed himself to another person on this planet. He was dressed in the same attire as the stranger who bumped into Krystal the time they went to The Celestial Sciences and Planetary Archives. Black combat pants, black muscle shirt, under a black trench coat minus the hood, and of course his trademark eye patch covering his left eye. Fox stood like a stone, trying to read Wolf's emotions and movements, a single wrong move was what he was looking for. Although Fox knew him, he did not know him all that well and was afraid he might try and pull something, he wasn't an individual to be trusted. Wolf's arm resting by his side gave another violent twitch; that was it! Fox quickly reached inside his vest, drew his gun and pointed it at Wolf's head! Wolf's reactions were just as quick as Fox's, drawing two smaller pistols from their holsters behind his kidneys and held them level to each other, each front sight covering Fox's heart. Wolf raised his eyebrows, "I'm getting the feeling that you're not willing to trust me, Fox, even after I tried to help you...no, Corneria get prepared for the onslaught."
"Oh and I'm sure YOU of all people would trust someone who has always set his sights on your head and even came close once or twice!" Fox said forcefully. "Hey, three times a charm, feeling lucky tonight?"
"It's a shame, Fox; I was hoping you'd be the first one to pull the trigger, so we wouldn't have to have a standoff like this for hours."
"There's still time, should I?"
"I don't know, should you...or should I?" Wolf said, his eye piercing directly into Fox's forehead trying to read his thoughts. Fox's finger tightened around the trigger of his gun, he wasn't afraid to let one slip, possibly to remove one less thorn in his side but he felt Wolf still had some part to play. "I'm going to give a choice, Fox, we can go guns away and settle this like gentlemen, or we can play who's got the itchier finger."
"Well if we were to go with the second option I don't know if you would be able to hit me with your trembling hands."
"Never mind my hands!" Wolf snapped back.
"What's wrong, are you afraid?" Fox mocked.
"Nowhere near as afraid as you were that night in the alley, I could smell the sweat pour from your skin; hear the beat of your heart grow louder and more rapid with every second."
"Shut up, I oughta' put out your other eye right now!" Fox shouted.
"Oh really, do you dare try it Fox? Will you have time to dodge my two shots which could possibly sever the relationship with you and your precious girlfriend?"
"Leave her out of this!"
"My, my, aren't we a little hotheaded this evening. I guess we only have but one choice then don't we Fox," Wolf said. He stood up getting out of his defensive stance and spread his arms pointing each muzzle in opposite directions. Fox looked at him suspiciously and then lowered his gun to his hip. They both tossed their guns away in opposite directions from each other. Wolf cracked his knuckles, "I hope you still have fight left in you, you let love get in your way and make you soft."
"We'll see, I hope I didn't hurt you at all when I shot you down over Venom eight long years ago," Fox said with a sarcastic grin.
Wolf's eye narrowed, "You are going to feel this Fox, I am going to make you feel the stinging pain I go through everyday. Be ready to be force fed anguish; be ready to shit your pride out your arse when I'm through with you." Fox was ready, while preparing to fight he stood in a back stance. Wolf, who was taking his time, cracked his neck and tossed the trench coat aside. Wolf took an aggressive stance and lowered himself to the ground, the way the two leered into each others eyes was quite unusual. There might have been a passionate hate between the two, one cannot be sure. But one thing was for sure, neither of them had the will to lose.
Wolf growled through his teeth as he charged at Fox going for a clothesline across Fox's throat. Fox quickly tucked and rolled underneath Wolf's massive arm, he jumped back to his feet and anticipated the next attack. Wolf again showing his aggression threw several punches at Fox's head, which he nimbly avoided, ducked and gave Wolf a fierce blow to the stomach. Fox's fist stopped as it collided into Wolf's abdomen. He looked down and grinned at Fox who was stunned that his punch did not hinder his stamina one bit. Wolf brought his fist back and gave a short uppercut connecting perfectly with the center of his jaw.
The blow sent Fox backwards onto the heels of the feet. He groaned and stumbled a little, the park was shaking around him. He clenched his eyes shut and opened them wide to make the blurriness go away. Wolf stood with a twisted smile of pleasure, "Oh...I'm sorry Fox, do I hit too hard? Do I play too rough?"
Fox spat on the ground, "I'll give you 'rough' you bastard!" he screamed; his heart filled with hate, his mind full of fire. He charged at Wolf and delivered two spin kicks, both of which were effortlessly blocked by Wolf's left arm. Wolf grinned, he spun quickly and retaliated with a kick of his own; Fox went for the similar block. Wolf's fierce kick smashed into his shoulder causing his blood vessels to burst and sting like flesh teased by a flame. Fox cringed in pain and took two skips backwards out of range from Wolf's blows.
Fox felt the blood start flowing in his upper arm again; it hurt terribly to move his arm up or down. "Definitely going to get a good bruise there," Fox thought to himself. "How could he have possibly gotten so strong?" Fox tried to remember what little Jujitsu he knew, he cupped his fist in one hand before extending his arms out and stood sideways to Wolf making him less of a target. Fox closed his eyes, channeling his energy as his instructor in hand-to-hand combat would tell him when performing martial arts. Fox felt better after the short meditation and was able to block out the pain he had in his arm. "Got that out of the way," Fox thought to himself again, "Now step two, get inside your foes head...shouldn't be hard." Fox opened his eyes again and put a devious look on his face, "I'm curious Wolf, how is it going to feel to lose again?" he said.
Wolf surged forward attacking with several punches and kicks with all of his might. Fox nimbly dodged all the incoming blows and did a back hand spring to get away. He thought it was a bad idea to try and go toe-to-toe with Wolf since he was obviously a lot stronger and had a larger build then he did. "I'm afraid you are mistaken my friend...it is you who going to be the one to fall this time."
"I wouldn't count on it; remember those days at the Academy? Always second best, your scores could never beat mine. Of course you remember Wolf, 'second place IS first loser'...I thought you would have learned your lesson by now, especially losing to me again on Venom." Wolf snarled again and charged Fox with a jumping high kick; Fox was able to avoid the attack by inches, tucking and rolling out of the way before squaring off again. "See Wolf, you were and still are unable to fight never mind pilot while you're angry. Stupid bastard, I've pulled the same move on you for so many years and you never seem to learn. I get you angry; you get me another top score.
Wolf's muscles pulsed with hatred, his heart pumping the rage-filled blood throughout his body and his mind. His hands curled into fists exposing his rock hard knuckles under his skin, "ANGER IS A GIFT!!!" Wolf howled out loud and bared his teeth protruding out from his drooling mouth giving him the appearance of a rabid animal. Wolf charged again throwing random punches and kicks with enough force to stop an oncoming truck but were so sloppy he wouldn't have been able to hit it. Fox side stepped one of the punches and slammed his elbow into Wolf's chest and rolling his arm up giving him a hard back knuckle into the center of Wolf's face. It didn't faze him. Wolf grabbed Fox's arm and twisted it over his head and then flipped him hard to the ground over his back. Fox grunted when he landed flat on the ground, his eyes focused on the incoming fist at his face. He didn't think, just reacted; tilting his head to one side Wolf was only able to catch him in the corner of his ear. He rolled to the left twice, and quickly sprung to his feet. Wolf dove at him again, getting his massive hands around Fox's neck. Fox shoved his thumbs into the little sockets above Wolf's clavicles. Using Wolf's own force against him, Fox rolled back, and put one foot in the center of his sternum then kicked him off into the air. Wolf flew through the air upside down before crashing into the side of one of the stone walls and sliding down onto the back of his head.
Wolf rolled over and rubbed his head. When he got to his feet, he looked up and saw that Fox was on the offensive this time. Wolf got into a defensive stance and prepared to ward off an attack, but his senses were still weak and his head still throbbed. His eyes deceived him and gave the illusion that there were three Foxes instead of one. As Fox jumped through the air, Wolf put his hands in front of his chest, hoping to be able to soften the incoming blow. But what Fox did was completely unexpected. With great speed and precision, Fox ran up the front of Wolf and perched himself on top of Wolf's shoulder with one foot. Fox swung his opposite leg back, Wolf gasped as the boot toting an enormous amount of force and momentum swung like a pendulum towards his face. It all happened so fast that Wolf was only able to get a hand in front of his face, and turn his head to avoid a direct shot between the eyes from Fox's monstrous kick. A millisecond later, Wolf's head snapped back and his face exploded in pain. He found himself careening backwards, his body flying parallel to the ground before smashing his cranium back into the pillar. Fox still following through with his kick flew into the air before back flipping and landing gracefully on top of the wall.
Fox stood still as he watched Wolf slowly recovered from the blow. He stumbled to his feet holding the top of his head; the corner of his jaw now had a huge cut on the side of it. He held the side of his jaw before spitting out a tooth and a lot of blood with it. Even more angry then before, Wolf reached down to the side of his boot and pulled out his knife. "What are you waiting for; it's time to finish this once and for all," Wolf said as his blood slowly trickled down off his chin from the open wound.
Fox reached into his vest; as he pulled it, it made that distinct cold steel on leather sound...a sliding of silent death. He stood poised on top of the wall gripping the knife in his fingers in the stabbing position close to the side of his head. His opposite hand outstretched as if to try and pull his prey in close and go for the sweet spot along the rim of the throat. There was a gleam in the blade of the knife from the moon, it caught Fox's eye, and looking into it he could see his reflection in the polished metal. The knife gleamed again; it was no longer his reflection he was starring into...it was his father's. Fox's expression changed into a look of awe as he saw his father staring out at him, James did not look the least bit pleased. He was, to say the least, a bit disappointed and shook his head miserably. The knife gleamed once more and he was gone. Fox got the message his father was trying to send, he stood up with the knife by his side. "C'mon! Fight! Kill me! I've been waiting for this pain to go away for the longest time!" Wolf shouted at him.
Fox looked down at himself again, and back in his reflection in the knife, "no Wolf...I can't..."
"WHAT! Why not? You have to! You don't have a choice, KILL ME!"
"Wolf...I'm sorry, I came here for a meeting, not commit murder. I would be very ashamed that such an esteemed pilot and fighter as yourself would drop down to that level. Murder just isn't my game Wolf...it's too bad that you're willing to make it yours." With that, Fox tossed the knife to Wolf's feet and turned to hop off the opposite side of the wall.
Wolf's defiant stare faded into a stoic look, "Fox wait...hold on a minute," Fox looked down on Wolf with a side-long glare from over his shoulder. Wolf tried to speak again but the words couldn't come out, his jaw, along with every other muscle was frozen in place. He clenched his eyes shut in pain as he tried to move; he knew what was happening and tried desperately to fight it. "Oh God no...not now...not in front of him," he begged in his thoughts, the cold sludge in his throat built up, there was no stopping it. His body finally loosened up and he was able to quickly spin away from Fox dropping his jaw open, he spewed a thick white liquid from his maw.
Fox jumped down from the wall and took a few steps closer to Wolf with a look of disgust on his face, "What the hell is the matter with you?" he asked.
Wolf did not reply but instead held up one finger shushing Fox from speaking again. Wolf fell to his knees and held his gut, his throat burned like acid as his body ridded itself of all its contaminants and poisons it had consumed. He panted over the stinking white pile of vomit and wiped his mouth with his arm; he then reached into one of the pockets on his cargo pants and pulled out a little vial with a syringe secured in place with a rubber band which he then tossed over to Fox.
Fox caught it and read the label, "Rage...Formula 326?" Fox read aloud, "what is this shit-in-a-can you got?"
Wolf was a hideous sight, he was still lying on his knees holding his stomach and was coughing and hacking up more vomit. "...A steroid," he gurgled, "it's serious stuff...makes you a little volatile though..." Wolf's lips twisted and he began to gag up yet another painful stream of the awful fluid.
Fox glanced down at the vial again, "May cause discomfort when affects begin to wear off...heh, let me guess this isn't exactly what you would call prescription now is it? Here let me lend you a hand," Fox placed the vial and syringe on a rock and stomped hard causing the glass container to shatter and the deadly toxin to seep into the ground.
Wolf was exhausted from all of his vomiting, he dragged himself to the wall that Fox was once standing on and leaned against it. Wolf spat on the ground again and dabbed his cut with the sleeve of his shirt. "Sorry Fox....I never wanted to fight you. I did at one point but...I've had some time to think about myself...to look at what my life has been."
Fox leaned against the wall next to him, "Wolf, it's not all your fault, I jumped the gun. I can hardly trust anyone anymore. I swear I thought you were dead. Wolf...tell me what happened...what has your life been?" Wolf swallowed hard, "I'll tell you everything Fox, and I'll start from the beginning," Wolf said closing his eye. He opened it again and he was back to the land of happiness he remembered from so long ago. He was with his father, mother, and brother once again, sitting down to their dinner. They all lived in a small house on Corneria in the lower district. Nothing big and nothing special; just a family who lived together. What could possibly go wrong? "My father and my brother, have always been in my thoughts, I loved them...I loved them all. I looked up to him and my brother; they both served in the Cornerian National Guard. Military service was the bloodline of all males of O'Donnell's, which is why I decided to become a pilot. Ten years ago, I don't know if you remember, but there was that protest in the upper district in front of the capitol building, the one about the development of the Rifter weapon?"
Fox nodded his head, "Yea I remember, tell me about your father and brother a little more."
"Well," Wolf continued "I can't describe the way I used to feel about my father, Ark, he was just so...cool. He had a different style of fur than the rest of us had, it was the same color gray as mine but his had unusual black patterns like lines and swirls, kind of like veins. I can't describe it, but it was all natural. Unfortunately my brother and I didn't get that trait from him when we were born and had all gray fur like my mother's. His eyes were another thing, they weren't pure sky blue like the rest of ours; they had a blue iris which faded to a deep red before hitting his pupil. Lupall was twenty-two, I guess he was a lot like me, pretty quiet, never talked much; but he was my brother and I loved him...that was all that mattered.
"Both my father and brother got called to keep the peace at the protest, it was supposed to be friendly no need for violence, or so they thought. I remember watching it on the news at home; my father wore his captain's uniform and stood next to my brother protecting him. They were all equipped with batons, riot shields, and some fully auto carbine rifles. They assumed they wouldn't need them, but carried them just to keep the protesters from getting any bad ideas. Some fat badger who was the developer of the weapon made his speech over the booing crowd and it was my father and brother's job to get him safely away from the area when he was through. They both escorted him to his car, that's when it happened...the image that would change my life forever. A protestor pulled a small pistol out and fired at the developer. He ducked suddenly then ran to his car unharmed. But, Lupall disappeared, my dad found him on the ground breathing heavily with one hand over his heart. My dad picked him up and held him in his arms the crowd was yelling and gawking at him. He was bleeding all over the place, my dad started applying pressure to the wound but Lupall just pushed his hands away, he pulled my dad close and whispered something to him I but couldn't tell what it was. Lupall let go of my father and he fell onto his back still clenching at the hole in his heart. My father had a mixed look of tears and fears. Lupall's breath grew short until it stopped all together. His face opened into a look of shock before he eyes rolled back into his head. The pool of blood spread beneath him, my father slid his hands off of Lupall's shoulders, he was gone. Although I was already in enough shock, I was even more horror-struck by what happened next. A German Shepard, who was my father's friend, put an arm around him; my father reeled around and back fisted him sending him to the ground. He grabbed his rifle, slapped the cell and cocked it. A wild look was in his eyes, he fired it from the hip directly into the crowd with a look in his eyes as if possessed by the devil. The crowd was thrown into pandemonium; several protestors dropped in pain when struck with the fiery bolts of energy. The Shepard got back to his feet and tackled my father to the ground, and was screaming something like 'ARK! ARK! CONTROL YOURSELF! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!' but it was too late my father had lost it. The live broadcast then cut off and the station put up some connection interrupted sign. I turned off the TV and walked up to my room and lay down on my bed, I cried and prayed that what I had just seen wasn't my father and Lupall. How the hell was I going to explain this to my mother?
Wolf paused and rubbed his head with both of his hands, "If this is too hard, you don't have to tell me," Fox said.
"No, it's alright..." he sniffed, "this is one of those things that I really need to get off my chest"
"My mother had found out while she was at work, she came home in tears and tried to explain to me what had happened, but I told her I already knew. My father came home that night he didn't say anything to any of us, he just put his stuff into a closet in his room and went to bed. The next morning he told all of us that he had gotten court-martialed and would be awaiting court in a week, more specifically on the day after my seventeenth birthday. Well during the course of that week my father became really irritable, to the point where my mother and I were afraid to talk to him for fear of being hit. He gave me a swat knife as an early birthday present and told me that he was sorry for the way things had been going. That night however when he got back from the bar, he beat me and my mother again. He had been doing a lot of drinking lately so I kind of felt sorry for him. I forgave him and tried my best to just not get him angry, but I soon discovered that wouldn't be as easy as it sounded. On the night of my birthday my father came home drunk again, he was ranting and raving about something calling my mother a bitch and kicked her several times while she was on the ground. I couldn't stand to see my mother being treated that way I jumped onto my father's back and tried to restrain him...I hope you're ready for this part....what he did next haunts me to this day," Wolf paused and rubbed his eye patch. "My father grabbed a beer bottle from the counter and smashed it over my head then with another quick thrusting motion he sank the jagged bottle into my eye. All I remember seeing was a red flash and then that side went completely dark. Satisfied with what he had done, he turned around and continued to work on my mother. I crawled along the ground, the pain was too much to bear and so was the all the screams and cries coming from my mother. Remember that knife I told you about? Well...I gave it back to him. I got back to my feet and pulled the knife out of my pocket where I had clipped it. I stumbled over to my father with the knife held high above my head, and brought it down and sunk it deep into his back. The slashed arteries began to spurt out from the entrance and exit wounds. My father stopped shouting; he looked down and felt the tip of the gray colored blade protruding through his left pectoral muscle with his fingers. He didn't make a sound, he didn't turn to look at me, he just fell...and quietly bled. My mother continued to cry still holding onto her bruises and scars. I didn't know what to do, I grabbed a dish towel from the table to stick in my eye socket...and then I ran.
"You killed your own father!?" Fox nearly screamed. He was speechless, completely sickened by the act. "How could you?"
"Here's how," Wolf lifted the patch from his left eye revealing a twisted rotten brown meaty flesh-like covering in which the eye had created to heal itself.
Fox's expression changed into a compassionate look, he felt sorry for him now; it was easy to hate someone who you didn't know any thing about. The putrid eye formed a tiny red bubble which popped a second later and sent a tear of blood along the side of the bridge of his nose to the corner of his muzzle. "What's it doing? You're bleeding," Fox pointed out.
"I know, it's trying to cry...but it can't...I can't," he put the eye patch back over his eye, trying to hide his physical and emotional decay. Wolf cleared his throat and started again, "I ran for a while not really knowing where I should go. I ran down this dark alley so I could catch my breath. Just then I was approached by some swine asking me if I was interested in disappearing and making a little money at the same time. I was intrigued by his offer so I accepted. He told me his name was Pigma Dengar, I knew exactly who he was at that point and honestly I couldn't have cared less about this whole brewing war between Corneria and Venom; I needed to find a way out. So I agreed, he took me to Venom and explained that they were in need of an elite fighting squadron and he was lucky to have found one of best upcoming pilots pouring his heart out into the street. I hated him, he was fat and cocky...Andrew as well, I hated him too.
"What about Leon? I remember you two growing up together as friends at the Academy"
"Ah yes, Leon...he was a dear friend of mine, my only friend in fact. He arrived about two weeks after my extensive training on Venom began, I was actually very happy to see him. He brought me news from Corneria, and about my mother. He said that my mother was found dead in my home lying next to my father's corpse holding onto the knife which she had jammed into her chest. The police had come to the conclusion that it was murder- suicide. Supposedly she accidentally killed him for beating her before killing herself when she saw what she had done. The report concluded that I had disappeared without a trace after seeing her kill him. But I knew what really happened, and now so do you."
Fox's eyes lowered, "...sorry about your mother, and I'm sorry for killing Leon."
"Don't worry about it; I would have killed you and your teammates at that point. Well after I went down along with the rest of my team I went unconscious for a while. I awoke out of a coma about a week later, they told me that the war was over and Andross was dead, so basically they kicked me out the door with nothing."
"So what did you do?"
"Well, I didn't exactly just leave, I snuck around the base just killing a few of them and stealing things like money, weapons and then finally a ship. With that ship I flew here and I've been hiding out for a while now." Wolf sat up and brushed himself off, "Follow me, I'll show you what I've been doing nowadays."
Wolf led Fox into that little lean-to shelter that he was hiding in after picking up all the things they had either dropped or thrown away before the fight. There was little room inside the refuge mostly because of a rock the size of an over-inflated basketball. "Have you been living under a rock all this time?" Fox asked.
"Eh, you might say that," Wolf put his hands in two grooves each located on opposite sides of the stone walls. The rock in the middle of the shelter split suddenly and opened up revealing a large hole with a ladder running down the side only large enough for one person. Wolf climbed down first and then was followed by Fox; it was too dark to see anything. Wolf hit a switch next to the latter which caused the rock to contract and create a seal back over the hole. A moment later, there was a dull hum of an electric generator which grew louder with every second. Several florescent lights flickered on overhead revealing a subterranean bunker with metallic floors and walls, along with two hatches seen on most submarines each sticking out of a different wall. Twelve flat screen computer monitors protruded from the wall before flipping around revealing their screens spread evenly around one big green and black map of the Lylat System. Near the back of the room was a large computer terminal with a desk and several keyboards all arcing a hundred-eighty degrees around a leather rotating armchair. Surprisingly the place was very neat, not a spec of dust was on the floor and not a piece of trash or junk was carelessly strewn anywhere, the room was in better shape than the Great Fox was before they took it into the shop. Wolf sniffed damp metallic aroma air and exhaled out loud, "Ah....home sweet home!" he declared.
Fox was very impressed with what he saw, "Quite a nice place you got here, and you did all this yourself?"
"Yes, I've been living underground here for about two years now," Wolf said reclining back in the black leather chair. "Basically what I have here is a large compound where I do all my reconnaissance, hacking, and monitoring frequencies. As of right now I can pretty much break into any channel whether it be Ally or Enemy and listen in on conversations."
"Which would explain how you where able to send me that little message on my PDA," Fox said crossing his arms and giving him a sly look.
"Careful Wolf...he catches on quick," Wolf joked.
"So what else have you got here?" Fox asked.
"Well in there," he said pointing the hatch behind him, "is my weapons cache and ammo dump; basically it's my own little personal armory. I'm sure you've got one on the Great Fox," Fox nodded back. "In that other room," he said pointing to his right, "is basically my room, and kitchen. I'm the only one who's living here so I figured what the hell, roll them all into one." Wolf got up and turned the on the door valve, the heavy hatchway door opened with a creak. Inside were two large refrigerators with a sink and several counters and cupboards next to them. A large pantry, a bed, a laptop resting on a wooden desk with many drawers, chair similar to Wolf's computer room, and two bookcases backed with a several books and data disks. In the middle of the room was a small table round metallic table along with it was only one chair. In the corner was a small room with a normal door leading to his bathroom.
"You know, for someone who lives alone you've got a pretty nice pad," Fox complimented.
"Thank you, I try," Wolf said giving a toothy smile. "Oh yes, and before I forget," he went over to his laptop and ejected a data disk out from the back. "That's a pretty interesting looking vixen you've got hanging all over you. I wanted to know more about her so I borrowed this, but I'm through with it."
Fox took the disk and placed it in his vest pocket before shaking his head, "seems you've gotten pretty good at pick pocketing."
"Unfortunately I've had to kind of creep around at night knocking out rich folk and steal funds, as I would prefer to call them, for my little hideaway."
"Crime's really not a good way to go y'know, Falco could probably tell you a couple of stories about the trouble he's gotten into."
Wolf looked down at the floor, "Yes well...I'm trying to get money so I can hopefully buy myself some citizenship here. I don't know whether you've noticed or not but because my body was never found, the Cornerian government has put a large price on my head. I've been thinking about trying to clone myself, kill the clone and putting him on the doorstep of Cornerian Intelligence Agency along with instructions on where to drop my cash," Wolf laughed.
Fox didn't laugh, he gave him a serious look in the eye, "what do you want me to tell my teammates when I leave?"
"Tell them you didn't meet anyone, but just exchanged conversation on your PDA. You are the only one who knows I exist on this planet and I'd prefer to keep it that way for now. Alright that's enough talk of the crap that's going on, care for a belt of scotch Fox?"
Fox chuckled, "sure, I'll take a glass."
Wolf opened up one of the refrigerators and pulled out a bottle filled with a coppery brown liquid and placed it on the table before getting two glasses out of one of the cupboards. He poured each glass evenly half-full with scotch; Fox took his glass and held it up next to Wolf's. "Cheers Fox."
"To a new and everlasting friendship!" Fox cheered.
"Here, here," Wolf said clinking his glass with Fox's, they both downed their drinks. Wolf cleared his throat before pouring them each another glass, "one more word of warning and I do suggest that you take this one seriously."
Fox gave him an intrigued look.
"...Beware of unexpected gifts."
Authors Note: It's good to see new friendships blossoming isn't it? I'm very concerned about what will happen next and I fear the length of time that it may take to get my plot straight. I'm walking blind along the edge of a knife people! Any and all reviews are welcomed and appreciated.