Chapter 10:

(Okay, so I understand if I was a little lacking in the last chapter. I was just trying to make Zeke angry and voice it somehow, but didn't really know how. So I apologize for the unnecessary dialogue. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!)

The Bad Guys were sent over to S.U.C.M(Super. Ultra. Crazy. Max)Prison, which was somewhere off the shore from the city. Most of them were downtrodden, but Snake looked angry about something.

"I can't believe we got double-crossed by a tiny rodent." Shark said, still not processing what just happened.

"Oh, we got double crossed by a rodent, all right. But, uh, not a tiny one." Snake glared at Wolf, "This was supposed to be US conning Marmalade. It turns out, it was Wolf conning us." They searched and make Snake puke out all the things he had in his mouth.

"Does that sound familiar to you, Wolf?" He asked, accusingly.

"Why would you think that?" Wolf asked, still upset. He had lost his everything the minute. He lost his freedom, and his son. Having his friends accuse him was the last thing he wanted to hear. "Oh, I don't know, maybe because you just sabotaged the biggest heist of our lives?" Snake asked, sarcastically. "I think you owe us an explanation, buddy."

He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Okay, you're right. This is what happened. Back in the museum, I just tried to steal an old lady's purse." He explained, before taking his mugshot.

"'Tried to'? Since when do you try to steal something and not just steal it?" Webs asked. He was handed the orange clothes. "I was trying to steal the purse, when old lady fell and…I kinda helped her." He said. Snake aggressively shouted "What?!" As his mugshot was taken.

"I kinda helped her." Wolf said, again. Piranha blinked as the bright light of the camera flashed his eyes. "But then you stole the purse?" He asked.

Wolf had changed into the orange clothes, "I saved the old lady, and she hugged me, and my tail wagged, and I didn't know what it was, but it felt, uh, you know…good." Wolf explained. The other gasped in shock, Snake stood with silent fury. "Aah! But THEN you stole the purse?" Piranha thought he put it together, they all shouted "No!" at him!

"You know, I heard what the pig said to you about cutting us loose." Snake said.

"Wait, like 'us' us?" Shark asked, confused.

"But I'd never thought you'd actually do it, man." Snake said, feeling betrayed. "Hey, hey, hey…I w-I would never…I was trying to…I was trying to find us a better life." He said, "Our life was perfect until YOU decided to ruin it." Snake said, blaming this whole thing on Wolf. "I didn't. You guys felt it at the gala. The clapping, the cheering. We were more than scary villains. They loved us." Wolf said, thinking of his son. "Heck, Zeke wasn't afraid of us and he was only two years old when we found him." Snake wasn't having it, "Oh yeah? If they loved us so much, how come we're in prison for a crime we didn't commit? And right now, Zeke caring about us doesn't matter since no one's gonna listen to him, since he's YOUR kid!" They all pouted for a second…worried for the boy's safety, but Snake went back to being angry. "You know what? I'll give Marmalade this, at least he sees the world for what it is. A place where some people are scary and some people are scared." He said, Wolf grew angry.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm tired of being scary. I'm…I'm tired of being an outcast." Wolf said, "Maybe I don't wanna be a—" Snake cut him off.

"What? A bad guy?" He asked, "Don't wanna be a bad guy anymore, huh? Say it, Wolf!" Wolf only stood there, silence speaking volume. "Yeah, I thought so. And us? Your lifelong friends? We're just holding you back?" Wolf shouted at Snake, "Yeah, maybe you are!" This left the others worried. Snake's anger was at the point that he lunged toward Wolf. "Take it back!" Snake shouted! "Apologize!" Two guards tried to break them up,

"Prison is no place for fighting." One guard said, while a man was screaming as he hit the floor. "Tell that to him…" he said. They looked up.

A mysterious figure wearing all black jumped from above the higher floors. "What?" Wolf asked, wondering who this was. Some guards came in, bursting through the doors, the figure dodged any attack with grace. Sending all the guards into one cell and hit the ones trying to hold Wolf and Snake with a shoe. The mysterious helper walked up to the Bad Guys. "Whoa, whoa, hold on." Wolf tried to reason with them, hoping they weren't here to attack us. The figure took off their mask to reveal…

"Diane?" They asked, "But how do you know how to do all of that kick-kick-punch-punch?" Piranha asked. Wolf came to the realization, "Wait a sec, you're the Crimson Paw?" She had a cheerful expression on her face. "The Queen of Cons, Acrobatic Swiss Army Knife, who stole the Zumpango diamond twice, once for profit, second time just for fun. Never identified, never caught." He said, Diane chuckled and put on a sly look.

"Guess I'm still the best bad guy the world has ever seen." She said as she looked at a tear in her jumpsuit. "Unh, at least I used to be." The alarms went off, the entire prison had a whole army of guards. Diane jumped in the air and then…The next thing that happened was that she and the Bad Guys were leaving the prison by boat.

"Nope, I am still the best. Just like riding a stolen bicycle." Diane said, proudly. Explosions went off near the shore of the prison, and Piranha's fin was on fire. "Oh. Uh, you got a little…Ouch!" Diane put out the flame. "Diane, where's my son? Is he okay?" Wolf asked, hoping they haven't done anything bad to Zeke. "He's fine, he's back at the car." Diane reassured him, "Hey, why…why did you save us anyway?" He asked. "After the gala, I knew something wasn't right. So I did some investigating, and that meteor…" Wolf put his hand up, "I know. Some kinda cosmic-mega-super-antennae thing." Diane nodded, "Right. If conducted through an array of ionized crystals, it will generate a massive psychokinetic field the size of a city." She explained, condescending. "Oh, my gosh, did I interrupt you? Were you gonna say that?" She asked.

"Uh…I was gonna be a little more technical, but you got the gist of it." Wolf said, his classic smooth-talking attitude returning to him. Diane just laughed.

The boat came ashore, Zeke noticed his family were saved. "Dad!" Zeke shouted, getting out of the car and jumping to hug his father. Wolf hugged his son super tight, "Zekey! I'm so glad you're okay." He said, brushing the back of his head gently. "You guys are okay, right?" Zeke asked, looking at everyone, seeing that they were upset, Snake was still angry. "Marmalade needs to be stopped, you know his compound better than anyone." Diane said, "You can count on us. Right, guys?" Wolf asked, the others were already walking away.

Snake looked back, "There is no 'us.' We're through, Wolf. Done. Finito." He said, Zeke looked at them, upset. He knew why they were fighting, but he didn't want them to.

"What? Because of that little tiff back there? Come on, man, that's what we do." Wolf said, casually, "You serve, I volley. That's our little dance." Snake didn't change his position, "Not this time." He then looked at Zeke.

"Should've known. You were goin' soft the minute you took in THIS runt." He said, pointing at the rabbit. The others looked at Snake with shock "Excuse me?!" Zeke asked, Wha-Don't say that. Come on, you know you love Zeke. We all do." Wolf said, Snake just side-eyed him. Zeke started tearing up, feeling a big hurtful feeling in his heart.

"Piranha?" Wolf asked, which the small fish only glared and walked away. "T-Tío…" Zeke muttered. Webs?" He turned to her, "Sorry, Wolfy. Sorry, Zekey." She apologized. "Shark…" He asked, hoping he'd have at least someone agreeing with him.

"Uncle Lou, too…" Zeke muttered, wiping his tears as they kept coming.

"Guys?" Wolf asked, "Guys?" He was growing worried.

"You wanna know why I hate birthdays, Wolf?"Snake asked, "When you grow up a snake, nobody shows up to your party. Birthdays are a constant reminder that out there, I'm just a scary, good-for-nothing monster." He explained, everyone looked at Snake, saddened.

"Yeah…But nothing compares to having the one guy, the one guy I thought I could trust, stab me in the back." He said, Zek looked annoyed.

"That's stupid…" He said quietly, the turned their attention to the kid. "What's stupid, kid?" Snake asked, annoyed on what the boy would say.

"That's a stupid reason to hate your birthdays, Uncle Hubert! 'No one shows up to your party', yeah right." Zeke said, "WE show up to your party! Dad and the others go all out to make it special. I go out and buy presents for you! You guys AREN'T monsters!" He said, voice trembling as he was crying. "I DON'T ask you for those presents, Zeke! And we ARE monsters, you're just a stupid kid!" Snake just slithered away, Zeke started whimpering, not expecting that response. The others looked upset when they saw Zeke crying openly, but continued to walk away. Wolf picked up his son and hugged him tightly. "Let's go, kiddo." Diane comforted the two as they got in her car.

(Well…A lot of stuff happened. So, I hope I didn't make Snake too hateful here. Adding Zeke to the mix of this dilemma is hard, tbh. Still, I hope I did a good job. Stay strong and awesome! Remember that He works for the good of those who love Him!)