There is perfection is disorder, meaning in the random nature of things, and beauty in chaos.
The beauty of chaos was lost on Fox, Wolf, and Andrew as they focused on safely piloting their ships through the mayhem of discarded equipment and abandoned spacecraft. They were deep within the bowels of Sector Y.
"Shit, this place really took a beating, didn't it? There's nobody left." Andrew said over the commlink. "Oh shit." He added again without much alarm, narrowly avoiding getting clipped by debris.
"It looks more deserted than it is. And at least there aren't any Cornerian patrol ships."
"There aren't any right now, Wolf, but those bastards always show up at the worst possible time. I just don't feel comfortable here." Andrew shuddered. Then a thought struck him. "Hey, what are we calling ourselves, anyways? Star Wolf, featuring Fox? Star Wolx? Star Folf? The Sargasso Space Studs? The Peppy Gang?"
"Oh my god, Andrew, shut up." Fox laughed. "But good question. We'll talk about it with the rest of the crew later. For now…well, I guess Agrius technically hired Star Fox? We'll go by Star Fox."
"Okie dokie, almighty captain. Hey look, we're here! These are the coordinates."
"Here" was a dark spacecraft that, despite being able to melt into the background of junk, commanded no small degree of respect. Underneath massive discolored splotches there was evidence that it had once been a beauty, and with some heavy duty repair work, it could sell for a huge sum of money. As it was, it just crouched quietly, unnoticed, in the dirtiest segment of Sector Y.
"Agrius, this is Star Fox. We have arrived at the coordinates." Fox hailed the ship.
Agrius replied immediately. "Team Star Fox! You've finally made it! Come in, come in, I've been waiting an eternity!" The frequency cracked and sputtered before closing, and a large hatch slid open on the side of the dark ship, revealing a docking bay.
Two wolfens and an arwing entered the docking bay, which was empty, save for Agrius' personal flier.
"Whoooo, nice place. But very…empty. We must be the first ones here!" Andrew noted using the team's personal frequency.
"Of course we're the first ones here. What kind of idiot would tell his body guards to show up after the shady clients are scheduled to arrive?" Wolf scoffed. "And the place isn't his. He stole it."
"How do you know?"
"Just do." Wolf disengaged his wolfen's G-Diffusers, landed, shut down the engines, opened the cockpit, and hopped out. The landing dock was unusually empty, even if Agrius lived alone, which was unlikely for a ship this size. Unless his crew was purely mechanical. Wolf scratched at his piloting visor thoughtfully.
"Welcome, Star Fox!"
Agrius gripped the steel railing, leaning over from above as he shouted down. "Fox, and Wolf, and Andrew! Oh, this is wonderful. I'm so glad you made it. Welcome! Welcome! I'm afraid you've a bit of a wait until my clients arrive. Please, make yourselves at home until then. Come on up – the ladder is the quickest way. Elevator takes a goddam eternity, need to get it fixed. This way!"
They did make themselves at home. At least, as much as they could. It was hard to feel completely comfortable with the questionable stains fading on the walls and the sickly sweet odor emanating from the ventilation system. Andrew had climbed a stack of rusty boxes and was perched at the very top, relating a story to Fox and Wolf. They had simply kicked trash aside to clear a spot on the floor, not trusting their climbing abilities quite as much as Andrew did his.
"So then I said to the guy, 'No way in hell am I touching that. Do you even know how gravity works?' He then looks at me, I kid you not, and he says 'Come on, it's just a little b-'"
"Star Fox! Come in here, please! The clients have arrived!" Agrius yelled from another room. He had disappeared shortly after ushering the team into what he called the "living room."
Andrew leapt down from his precarious perch. One of the boxes fell with a loud clatter that was quickly eaten and silenced by the piles of trash lining the room. "I'll have to tell you guys the rest later."
"I can't wait."
"Come on, Wolf, don't be an asshole. I know you're curious about how it ends."
Fox pushed himself off the floor and brushed the back of his pants off; he picked something sticky out of his tail and grimaced. "Let's get this over with. Tell us on the way back."
They found Agrius standing in an empty (and surprisingly clean) room. Andrew took his left, Fox and Wolf his right.
"Aren't you going to conduct your, ah, business somewhere more…comfortable?" Fox asked Agrius.
"I like to keep these kinds of things as short as possible. The more comfortable they are, the longer it takes for them to leave. Now quiet, please."
"You don't want us to escort them in, then?"
"I said quiet!" Agrius snapped at Fox. "They know the way!"
Fox shrugged. "Alright."
Before long, the heavy sound of footsteps on metal was discernable, and the automatic door they stood facing stuttered a bit before sliding open to reveal the clients: a short, dappled lynx, and a spaniel with stunning white fur that looked like it took at least several hours to style every morning. These were the shady clients that Agrius was worried about.
"Fay, Miyu, what a pleasure it is to finally meet you! What a pleasure, ladies!" Agrius thrust his pudgy paw out.
The spaniel Fay stepped forward and, with a disdainful smile that displayed all of her perfectly white teeth, briefly shook his paw. "Agrius. The pleasure is mine. Ours." She gestured back at her silent companion. Miyu glowered at Agrius, but made no motion towards shaking his paw.
Agrius continued unperturbed. "Ladies, as you can see, I have what you asked for." He pulled a small box out of his musty jacket. Neither Fay nor Miyu so much as glanced at it. They were sizing up Agrius' bodyguards. Fay took the box while staring at Andrew, opened the lid, and briefly studied its contents.
"Agrius," she said, "something is missing."
"But the most important part is there. So you will pay full price." Agrius shifted his weight to his other leg. "As agreed."
Fay thought for a flicker of a second. "We will pay. Not full price."
"But I got the most important part! Surely the missing part isn't so important."
"Not full price." Fay repeated.
Fox, who had been standing professionally up to that point, suddenly noticed the red ribbons tied above Fay's ears. It struck him as absurdly funny that a tough smuggler took the time to tie tiny ribbons in her hair. He snorted.
Wolf gave Fox a shove, but it was too late. Fay fixed Fox with a cold glare.
"Nice scarf, Foxy. Really ties the whole homeless look together."
"Thanks, sweetheart." Fox laughed, although he pulled subconsciously at the tattered red scarf around his neck.
Andrew pointed at Fay. "Hey, was that really necessary?"
"Was the War your Uncle started really necessary?" she retorted.
"What the fuck? Where did that come from?! Are you fucking kidding me? My Uncle wasn't the sole reason the War started! And what does it even fucking matter, bitch?"
"Oh please, Andrew Oikonny. You are just as disgusting as your Uncle. In fact, your whole family was a bunch of disgusting, filthy, mangy maniacs."
Andrew snarled and lunged. At that, Miyu leapt forward and had Andrew on the floor before he could reach Fay. She twisted his arm behind his back with one hand and started grinding his face into the floor with the other. Andrew screamed in rage.
Andross was everywhere, everywhere, nowhere but everywhere, and the horrible screams screaming it hurt his throat his ears make it stop it gets closer trapped in here forever make it –
Fox jolted back to reality. He could still hear screaming; he realized it was his own voice. The sound died in his throat, collapsing in on itself in embarrassment. He was shaking, his blaster gripped firmly in both hands and pointed directly at Fay's head.
Everyone, including Andrew (still pinned to the floor) regarded Fox with a mix of disbelief and shock. A pin dropped in the next galaxy could have been heard in the room.
Carefully, Wolf grasped Fox's arm and pushed down until the blaster was pointed at the floor. "Woah. Woah. Everybody take a deep breath, take a step back, and relax. Deep breaths, everybody."
Fay sniffed. "Hmmph. Let go of the monkey, Miyu. You'll get fleas." She turned to Agrius. "I transferred the credits to your account. We're not paying for the missing part."
Miyu shoved Andrew's face into the floor one more time, stood up gracefully, kicked him in the side with her heavy boot, and began to follow Fay out the door. Before exiting she turned and finally spoke. "Next time, hire some mercenaries that aren't complete idiots." Her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.
Their footsteps echoed, softer, softer, until they disappeared completely.
Andrew was still huddled on the floor. When silence again enveloped the room, Fox, still shaking a little, stiffly helped him up. Andrew winced and rubbed at his face. His nose was bleeding.
"Well, I think that went pretty well." Wolf broke the silence. "Nobody got shot."
"Pretty well? Pretty well?! That was a complete shit show! What even happened? Are you really professional mercenaries or just...just…AGH!" Agrius clutched his head and hissed in anger. "You let them get away without paying full price!"
"You didn't get hurt. We did our job." Wolf pointed out.
"Just, get out, all of you! Go!"
"We'll go. After we've received our payment"
"I'm not paying you idiots for what just happened!"
Wolf casually pulled a blaster out of his jacket and pointed it at Agrius' head. "Really now."
Agrius sneered at Wolf. "You can't kill me."
"You're right. I can't. That wouldn't be nearly fun enough." Wolf lowered the blaster to Agrius' leg. "I'll cripple you instead. Do you think I should shoot the left leg or the right leg, Andrew?"
"Both." Andrew wiped his bloody nose on his sleeve.
Agrius rolled his eyes. "I'm not falling for that trick, boys. You think that with a little intimidation you can rob me? You will have to try harder th- FUCK!" Agrius fell to the ground, clutching his leg. He patted at his thigh, where Wolf's blaster had nicked it, and looked at his paw. It was sticky with blood.
"That was a warning, not a trick. Give us the money."
"Fine, fine, alright, okay, alright," Agrius pulled out a small electronic pad and quickly tapped its screen. "There, take the credits. Just please, don't hurt me."
"That's what I thought." Wolf checked the new alert on his visor – a payment from Agrius. Satisfied by the amount he found there, he tucked his blaster back into his jacket and smiled. "Thank you for doing business with us. We'll be going now. We know the way out."