[҉]

Chapter II — Draining the System [PT 2]

[҉]

London Elektricity — "The Plan That Cannot Fail" {YouTube, Spotify}

[҉]

Comparing the difficulty for Fox to open his eyes after lying unconscious for over two hours to trying to push a fully equipped tank up a steep incline would not be a bad comparison. His eyes felt like two heavy hatches preventing water from gushing into a sewer spillway with how they refused to obey his mental commands to open. However, unlike his eyes, his ears were awake and attentive, and it wasn't long before he started picking up sound. Yet, due to the burning sensation he discovered on the side of his face, his hearing was slightly numbed. Trying to shove the searing pain in the back of his mind, his ears twisted, swiveled, and pointed in the direction of the voices he was hearing.

"Oh, believe me, I wanted to bring him along," a voice he could have sworn he had heard before spoke up, only vaguely distinguishable with the distance he had. "He's great with management and all, but I don't think he would have been a good addition."

"What do you mean?" a female voice asked.

"His skills were great, but his personality would have been too conflicting. Would've slowed us down. You know he wanted to invest until he saw Kajær?"

A faint, sarcastic sounding laugh replied, followed by a different voice saying, "Wait, what?"

The first voice sighed. "Don't be offended, but when he saw you for the first time, he thought you were Cornerian."

"Why would you think I would be offended by that? He's Cornerian, no?"

"Yeah, but you're not. You're from Katina."

"So? Actually… the very fact that you think this might be offensive to me, is offensive. You're the one being racist."

"No," the first voice argued, starting to become inpatient. "Look, I'm not the one that called you a Cornerian. I'm bending over backwards to not be racist."

"Okay, well, what did he say when you told him I wasn't Cornerian?"

"I didn't."

"Why not?"

"Because I wanted him to invest so that we would be able to upgrade the tech without dipping into our fallback."

An awkward pause followed, finally broken by the second voice saying, "I… genuinely don't know how to respond to that."

"Fine," the first voice abruptly growled. "Just get back to work. I'm gonna check on the runt."

The footsteps creaking the wooden floor started to become louder until Fox thought he was going to step on him. Apparently the person noticed Fox's ears swiveling as he approached, because as soon as the footsteps stopped he felt a meaty paw clamp down on his muzzle. Fox's eyes immediately snapped open, only for his heart to practically stop as he saw Wolf's frame surrounded by the sunlight seeping in through the window behind him, giving him the illusion that he was just a silhouette with how vague his features were distinguished.

Fox tried to cry out, but Wolf kept his vice grip on his muzzle that prevented him from speaking out. The next thing he tried to do was fight back, but quickly realized that he was bound tight, unable to move, and only able to squirm like a helpless victim. Gloating over his capture, Wolf snickered and shot Fox a sinister smirk.

"Long time, no see, eh pup?" the lupine sneered, loosening his hold around Fox's jaw enough to let the vulpine speak through his teeth.

"What are you doing here?" Fox snapped.

"Aww, I missed you too," Wolf taunted, playfully shaking Fox's muzzle.

"I mean it!" Fox yipped. "I thought we were on equal terms!"

"Hey, hey, hey, no need to be snippy," Wolf chuckled. "I'll talk if you promise me something."

"Sure, I'll promise not to cave your skull in when you untie me," Fox retorted.

"I need you to give me your word," Wolf growled back. "I gave you mine after you took out Andross; I.E: my only source of income prior to my new contractor, meaning that I'd stop getting on your tail as long as I wasn't being paid to do it. Hell, your PMC is nothing but a memory now, so…"

"Fine," Fox grunted. "I'll give you my word. But on what? What's this about?"

"It's about our new contractor," Wolf explained. "My team and I were hired to do a multi-step deal, with a promise of a massive payout should we succeed. Believe me, runt, I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to, but those three commas under the payout margin of our contract are quite an influential piece of info."

"Three?" Fox echoed in disbelief. "Your contractor promised you over a billion credits for this? Who?"

"According to our signed contract, I'm not allowed to give away our contractor's name and information to personnel outside of the Star Wolf PMC team," Wolf responded. "But would you like to change that?"

Fox shot him a quizzical look.

"Don't look at me like that," Wolf spat. "You heard me."

"Wait, what are you saying?"

Wolf growled impatiently. "I'm offering you a job, McCloud."

Fox scoffed almost instantly. "You really think I'm gonna join your sorry excuse for a mercenary team? Even after you've given little to no information to convince me otherwise?"

"Well, considering that we have over a billion credits coming our way once we complete this job, I don't see why you'd turn this down," Wolf said confidently, crossing his arms. "You can't tell me that you're not as greedy as I am."

"I'm not," Fox countered, sounding more like a little kit than a thirty-two year old vulpine.

"Tell that to the PMC you folded up because it was costing you more than it was making," Wolf responded. "Face it, McCloud, you had a damn good team, with damn good equipment and a damn good reputation. You had it all, but boxed it up because you couldn't be patient enough to wait for a new job. If I was like that, you'd've been fighting a different team during the war with Andross."

"So what? Even if we were getting steady jobs with steady income, we would've exhausted our savings in ten years with repaying the massive loan we had and constantly paying our suppliers."

"We would have done the same thing," Wolf told him, sticking his paws into his jacket pockets. "Before our new contractor came aboard and paid us a portion of the promised amount up-front to get us back on our feet, we'd have been completely out in two months. With that up-front, we got our equipment up to date, we hired some new faces to make sure that the terms to our end of the contract were met, and even at that we have enough to get us by for another five years, maybe more if we're efficient. You see what I'm getting at, pup? You caved too soon, and now you're missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime."

Fox shook his head slowly. "And what is your job? Black market trading? Assassinations?"

Wolf chuckled with mock sincerity. "I'm a changed guy, McCloud. I realized that getting into the darker side of merc work doesn't pay as much as getting into diplomatic merc work. You want to know what our job is and who had the balls to call us for it? Senator Victor Muzzin."

Fox's jaw unhinged, fell off of the couch, and then clattered to the floor. "THE Senator Muzzin?"

"Senator of Macbeth, and a candidate for the upcoming Homeland Coalition election," Wolf elaborated. "He's got ambitious plans, and coming from me, they're damn good. Yet, he's almost dead last in the campaign because of his plans, and the election is quickly approaching."

Fox's eyebrow rose. "What did he go crawling to you for?"

"He's providing us with those big numbers because he wants us to help him," the lupine smirked. "I don't blame him. With his plans, it'd be hard to get behind him and support him right off the bat. There's a bit of sacrifice at first, but what's a big plan that will change and evolve us as a technological race without a bit of sacrifice? That's what he needs is the support, but nobody will give it to him. Not unless we make people give it to him."

"How do you think that's better than the darker side of merc work?" Fox about snapped. "That's incredibly illegal, and cheap! How do you think this is a good idea?"

"Benefits, McCloud," Wolf grunted. "Three commas in rewards will go a long way. Before you say that my team and I won't be getting anywhere with the bounty over our heads, Muzzin promised that if we can get him to the Prime Minister seat, he'll personally pardon us and clear us to active legal mercenary work. So, that huge blemish of assisting Andross, and all of the other things we've been accused of, will be nothing but a faded memory. Pretty soon you'll see Star Wolf as the top PMC in Lylat."

Fox paused for a few seconds before contorting his muzzle in a strange, disgusted expression. "You're insane."

"Who says I wasn't?" Wolf chuckled, standing up off the couch. "Now, here's where I need you, as strange as it sounds. You're still registered with the CDF, right?"

Slowly, Fox answered, "Yeah," with an overwhelmingly apparent tone of hesitance and caution. "Why?"

"We need your CDF registry information to bypass the security bullshit in the CDF servers," he answered. "This way we can avoid getting caught right away by a stupid little security bug and go straight into the mainframe."

"Wait, whoa, whoa, what?" Fox stuttered, gently sitting himself up to relieve the pressure he was inadvertently putting on his arms tied behind his back. "You're hacking into the mainframe?"

"Nobody says hack anymore, runt," Wolf said with such a deadpan tone that Fox wondered if he was being serious or not. "We're simply taking notes of the intel locked up, and taking what we can to ensure that my team and I do a stellar job, as Muzzin requested we do."

"Intel of what?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Wolf about scoffed. "Muzzin wants to win, and there is a lot of things stopping him from doing it. His competition, the voting population, and—believe it or not—other mercenaries. We're just taking care of everything he needs to launch a campaign that will make the other runners look like commoners."

"You can't be serious," Fox blurted out.

"As a heart attack," Wolf grunted, taking the cheesiest retort to his statement out of the book. "Think about it, runt. Fortune beyond your wildest dreams. Remaking a name for yourself. Getting back into the profession you were born for. I may sound like a motivational speaker right now, but you can't tell me that doesn't sound good."

"May sound good, just doesn't mean it's right," Fox responded.

"When have you ever cared about things being right?" Wolf questioned, donning a bit of a scowl. "You're involvement in the Lylat Wars was based solely on the reward General Pepper promised. Your father may have egged you on. I would know, my father did the same to me when he was still alive, but that main reason is the credit value of the job."

Fox still shook his head. "There's a lot more than that."

"Honestly, McCloud, what else have you got to lose?" Wolf damn near growled. "You don't have a team. No job. No fortune or any sense of savings. No family besides your parents, and what are they to you right now? I don't mean to be a dick, but that's not much."

"I still have my honor; something you lack," the vulpine retorted through clenched teeth. "You'd do anything for a quick credit."

Wolf donned a knowing smirk and backed up slightly, then outstretched his arms in a gesture directed at Fox. "…And you wouldn't?"

"No, I…" Fox started off strong, then hesitated, giving Wolf all the ammunition he needed. "I wouldn't."

"If I told you what Andross truly stood for before he went off the deep end, you'd regret siding against him," the lupine blurted out. "You'd regret taking that money to fight against him. Tell me you wouldn't, and I'll tell my team to pack up and set up shop somewhere else; never to bother you again."

Fox didn't have anything to say.

"Andross and Muzzin may have different ideas, but they both had one common characteristic between them. They both were ambitious, with huge plans that would benefit everyone, yet people were scared of the drastic change they promised and sided against them. Andross' name and ideas were warped by the people that opposed him because they feared change. They wanted to believe that what he was doing was wrong, to avoid that change. Muzzin is last in the polls because the people don't want to accept that radical change is the future, and trash his name and reputation by calling him a revolutionist to keep him out of a seat of power."

Fox struggled to come up with the words to say, but eventually replied in a soft, feeble voice, "This can't be right…"

"You know who else was a revolutionist?" Wolf questioned, then pointed to a picture hanging above the couch he was lying on, directly at a family portrait of the McCloud household. "Your father reinvented the term "mercenary". You know that people hated him for the longest time, because everyone thought he was just doing dirty jobs for a profit. It took someone else's trust to drive that misconception out of people's heads and spread the true meaning of what mercenary work meant."

Wolf shifted his stance and shut his eyes, letting a breath out of his nose. "In a way, Senator Muzzin is like James McCloud. His ambition gets him recognition as a revolutionary, but that change is what people dread. His name is trashed, and his ideas are stepped on in favor of more… concrete ideas, like the ones who supported an organized military. The CDF—heard of it?—wouldn't be as strong as it is now without mercenary companies covering their asses when they don't have a clue as to what they're supposed to do in time of conflict and peril. Nobody knew that, except for General Pepper. Someone the people could trust… put trust in something the people couldn't. And what happened? Star Fox flourished. The whole goddamn private mercenary company marked flourished. Just imagine what would happen to Muzzin if that trust was there."

Wolf reestablished eye contact with Fox and shook his head. "People are ignorant. They always see change as an evil that needs to be put down before it even starts. Mercenary work was considered an evil thirty-plus years ago, and now look at it. It's one of the biggest strings keeping the Lylatian Homeland Coalition's economy together. It keeps tensions at a minimum. You're father stopped a Katinian revolution before it could spread throughout the system and compromise the LHC. How did all of this happen? Ambition. …People don't understand."

The lupine took a few steps forward and outstretched an arm to Fox—as if he could accept it with his hands tied together. "But we do. We understand all of that ambition. Why did we side with Andross before the frustration he had pent up with everyone trashing his reputation came out in a full-scale invasion and war, and sided with him in that time? Because he was right, being the visionary he was, and everyone was too naïve to see it and accept it, which made him snap and flip his research into weapons and an army. Taking that argument into consideration, why are we siding with Muzzin? Because his ideas are going to take the LHC in a completely different direction, and I think I can speak for him when I say… it's going to be amazing."

Fox blinked. "Okay, who are you, and what did you do with Wolf?"

Wolf snickered. "Like I said, McCloud: once you get into the political side of mercenary work, there's really no going back. Politics are really about persuasion; appealing to a particular audience; convincing them that there is more than just a nasty outer shell to a big plan. You don't need a degree in psychology to figure this out. Hell, you don't need any education… but don't let me talk to the kids at home, for their sake."

"So is this just a scam to get me to support your cause?" Fox spat.

"Quite the opposite, actually," Wolf answered, smirking again. "Everything I told you is true. What I'm asking you is to think about whether or not you believe it is true yourself."

"In all honesty, why should I?" Fox questioned.

"I seem to recall giving my word," Wolf responded with a hint of disappointment at Fox's supposed ignorance. "I'm not out to kick you while you're down. I'm offering you a second chance. A chance to reestablish yourself in the profession your father pretty much perfected. It may not be your cup of joe, but it's merc work. You do what you need to do, and if you do it right, you get paid. Simple as that."

Fox hesitated for all but a split second. Wolf's presentation was indeed brilliant. Hell, it made him seem like a college professor in the way he eloquently described the situation, but it was such a flip in Fox's previous mentality that kept him from agreeing to Wolf's proposition. He? Join Star Wolf? That just seemed too much of a culture swing for him to accept right away.

Yet, the more he thought, the more those commas appealed to him more and more. The more change seemed great. It may be crazy… but butter his ass and call him a biscuit, it might just work.

Fox smirked and looked at Wolf dead in his eye. "One condition. If what we're doing here goes belly-up, I'm telling the feds I was held hostage and you can kiss freedom and your three commas goodbye. If this works… …Guess you've got another member to account for."

"I knew you'd agree," Wolf shot him a toothy grin filled with satisfaction. "And don't worry, I've got the best in the business working on—"

"Shit!" Adam's voice resounded from the kitchen. "Did we just crash?"

Wolf growled and harshly lifted Fox to his feet, damn near stumbling over due to the force being applied to him. He then held Fox by the scruff of his neck and led him into the kitchen where the blue jay was furiously searching the servers set up on the kitchen table, while Patrik and Sheila were looking at him.

"Dude, what the hell?" Wolf snapped, thrusting Fox forward with an unceremonious push to which he almost fell over due to the lack of balance his bound arms provided.

"The power is out," Sheila pointed out, poking a digit at the servers. "The servers are off."

Wolf immediately looked over at Adam, glaring daggers while the avian looked completely terrified.

"Ok, fine," he blurted out, throwing up his wings. "I wanted to set up one more CPU—just one—to bump up the processing speed, so I turned on the power, and then the whole system lit up, and—"

"Yeah it did, you dick," Patrik interrupted, the deadpan of his tone making Sheila giggle slightly. "Because I bypassed the meter and went directly to the feed to cut time. That surge just fragged the whole fucking system."

"How was I supposed to know that you bypassed the meter?" Adam squawked. "You never tell anyone what you do!"

"And what do you do?" Wolf shot. "Besides balls everything up."

"I happen to be your best hacker and coder, thank you," the avian answered scornfully, sitting back at his station. "You should be asking Dahlstrom what he does."

"What do I do?" Patrik echoed, blankly staring at the bird with an admittedly intimidating stare despite his tone implying that he did not care whatsoever, which, evidently, was the complete opposite of the case. "Besides being a gunner and ground soldier when you need me to, I also do system architecture, networking, and security."

Fox's head immediately craned over to the mountain of a canine. "Wait, you—"

"And I'm damn good at it too," he continued, keeping his level-headed and calm tone. "While all of you were busy minoring in gender studies and game development, and playing fourth or fifth string in college sports, I was getting direct access to the CDF's servers without anyone knowing that I was one click away from starting a Fichinian revolt."

Sheila awkwardly raised her paw. "I actually studied—"

"I prevent our firewall from being penetrated, I monitor for security attacks and faulty transaction handlings, and I keep this PMC above water. Do you have any idea how all of this data gets transferred without any issues? Do you have any idea how all of this technology seems to synchronize together like one of those choreographed musical numbers that you were most likely a part of in your college career?"

"Here he goes again…" Natalia muttered under her breath.

Not losing any steam in his tirade, Patrik continued, "All of those tiny ones and zeros streaming directly to those shitty little smartphones in your pockets? All of those twelve-year-old dipshits who shit their pants if they can't get the latest sports scores in under ten seconds? All of that pornographic material of underage vixens stripping for a bunch of horny dumbasses with malware that seamlessly seep through the best antivirus software to steal everything from bank account information to your entire retirement fund? Do you really understand how that happens? It's not some ludicrous know-it-all putting a bunch of letters, numbers, and symbols together in a long string of nonsensical garbage that somehow manages to deliver your erotic selfies to your significant other to turn them on before you get home at night to bang them until the sun comes up. It's called talent, something I have that none of you seem to possess."

After a momentary pause, Patrik continued, "So, my job on this team right now is to make sure that one bad configuration on one key component doesn't blow our cover and jeopardize this mission. That's what the fuck I do."

Fox would have applauded had his paws not been incapable of doing so. Instead, he continued down the line to look over at Sheila, involuntarily freezing up as soon as his gaze met her beauty. Fox immediately felt a dry tickle at the back of his throat, as well as an unnoticeable accumulation of saliva building at the corner of his muzzle, threatening to drip out and slowly descend to the ground like a spider building a web. Sheila met his gaze with a melodramatic twist of her head, flailing her voluminous locks behind her, doubling as the final strike to send Fox into a trance-like state.

Which was interrupted as a hard elbow contacted the back of his head.

"Hey, get your own," Wolf grunted, prompting another rough shove as well.

"Be nice to him," Sheila whined, bolting forward to stop Fox from staggering forward any longer. Fox felt his cheeks warm up as a result, since Sheila was Wolf's height, and with how he tumbled forward and bent his knees to keep himself from falling flat on his face, he almost ran nose-first right into the light copper husky's cleavage. Only by sheer willpower and the desire to avoid making a scene in front of Wolf did he managed to balance himself before he involuntarily went swimming in her chest.

Sheila smiled when Fox mustered the courage to look up at her. "Hi, I'm Sheila. I'm Wolf's part—"

Wolf coughed to stop her, giving her a scowl as he shook his head.

Sheila cocked her own and shot him a quizzical stare. "Gir—"

Again, Wolf growled to interrupt her.

"Mat—"

Wolf huffed impatiently and took a few steps forward, stepping forward to separate the two. "Sheila's my third string pilot, behind Leon. She's got a lot of skill, but she's got a lot to learn."

"I guess I owe him," the husky admitted, drooping her ears as if her balloon of energy and hyperactivity were unexpectedly popped right then and there. "There was a mission that went belly-up years back while I still was employed by the CDF. Had Wolf not come down to save me, I would've died."

"And you're damn lucky I did," Wolf grunted, stepping back towards Adam. Sheila watched him walk away, and glared at his turned back, but just faded into a sad and defeated expression after a moment or two. She sulked over to the kitchen table and sat down on one of the seats, laying her muzzle down on the table with an expression of vague longing and overall sorrow.

"Don't you think you were a little harsh on her?" Fox questioned, sparing a glance in the husky's direction, to which she let out a miniscule grin at the concern.

"She's my property now, McCloud," Wolf snapped back at him. "She's in my debt, and basically owes her life to me. What's it matter to you?"

Fox tried to retort, but noticed Sheila wave her paw in his direction and gesture for him to not speak back. Fox cocked an eyebrow in her direction, to which she just nodded her eyes in Wolf's direction and gently shook her head. The vulpine sighed, nodded, and then attempted to chase after Wolf, only for a pair of paws to wrap around his chest to prevent him from moving.

"Hey, there's my favorite hero!" Natalia said happily, putting pressure on his chest.

Fox immediately broke away and started glaring daggers at her. "You! What—"

"I suppose you want an answer to why I put on that whole charade only to completely take advantage of you?" Natalia giggled, swaying her hips while batting her eyes.

"Well, kinda," Fox scoffed.

Natalia's giggle increased in volume. "I'm Wolf's operational weapon, so to speak. I've got a little bit of everything hidden up my sleeve."

"So you're his agent," Fox blurted out.

"You could say that," she smirked, a devilish smile plastered on her muzzle. "Con artist. Assassin. Spy. Slipping through enemy lines is my specialty."

She bit her lip and slowly approached Fox, using a clawed digit to trace a line down the exposed part of his chest, speaking in a blatantly seductive voice, "You don't know how easy it is to take advantage of people by either teasing them into submission, or doing something they never expect and exposing their weak points that way."

Fox growled and bared his clenched teeth at her. "So, what whore house did Wolf pick you up at?"

"Careful," the coyote breathed, and before Fox knew it he was staring at a reflection of himself in a small, handheld blade aimed directly at his throat. "I can tell you how long it will take for you to bleed out if I cut any major vein of my choice. Think twice before you decide to run your mouth to a girl who gets paid to do this kind of stuff."

"She's a beautiful, lethal weapon, runt," Wolf snickered. "Even I wouldn't get on her bad side."

"Note taken," Fox grunted, the tip of her blade nicking away a few centimeters from his neck fur.

"Natty and I met at a bar on the outskirts of East End Corneria City, for your information," Wolf commented, gently peeling her lean and rather toned arm away, therefore pulling the metallic blade away from puncturing his neck. "This bartender here was only sixteen when I let her tell me her story. Father took off with all of the family dough, and her mother tried to make ends meet, only to get into trouble with the authorities when she took a job that promised a payout. I felt like doing a good thing that day."

"That's a first," Fox remarked under his breath.

"I offered her a job with increased pay so that she could provide for her family," Wolf broke right back in, a glare finding its direction towards Fox. "But, like Sheila, I was saving her ass, so, in essence, I bought her. But I trained her myself. I was never good at blending in, but she learns well. Now she's my field operator, for the most part."

"Who else did you buy?" Fox questioned, a hint of sarcasm finding its way into his tone.

"Kajær and Dahlstrom had their own merc company, specializing in the technological side of the profession. I only had pilots and assassins, and in our day and age, with technology becoming more and more mainstream, I needed to evolve. It took a bit of convincing on my part, but I did manage to buy up their company if they came to work for me. We also… had to eliminate one of their competitors, but if that decreased the price tag on their small team, then it was no small order for me to do."

"I assume Leon, Pigma, and Andrew are still following you around," the vulpine commented.

"What can I say?" Wolf chuckled, a smug grin creasing his bearded muzzle, gesturing for Natalia to leave, which she did after quickly pecking his muzzle as she walked away. "Leon is my most loyal, and one of my best assassins. Flies just as good as you and I too. Pigma betrayed our team just like he did to your old man's team, and luckily, just like your father, didn't kill anyone. But, because of that instability I lost Andrew, but I couldn't give two shits about where he is now. So, I guess you could say that Star Wolf got a bit of a facelift in your absence."

Fox nodded his head. "Just as long as I get what I deserve here, and don't get treated like one of your expendable soldiers you pick up off the streets, I think we'll be on equal terms."

"For the record, pup," the lupine said, lowering his voice as he approached him. Setting a paw on his shoulder, he continued, "I'm really stoked to have you on this team. We had our doubts, but, eventually, we all agreed that getting you on board would benefit our team in the long run."

"It's gonna get some getting used to," Fox admitted, a goofy looking smirk plastered on his face. "It's gonna be weird working for a team that was at my throat years back."

"I'm willing to push that under the rug if you are."

Fox nodded, outstretching his paw, to which Wolf accepted in a firm, strong handshake that would have crushed a normal man's hand in an instant.

"Deal."

[҉]

A/N: Had this done for a few days, but FanFiction's review servers were apparently not synchronized with the rest of their servers, and I didn't want to miss out on you guys' reviews. The only issue I had was Elarix's long-ass reviews to both this and Veria that I couldn't see all of, so... yeah... But, anyway, I made sure to check every other opportunity I had to see when the reviews were coming back up, and as soon as they were, I popped this in the oven of proofing and finally updating.

Glad to see you guys like this so far. I've got a lot of plans for this story, and I do look at suggestions should anybody have them. I hope to hear from you guys on this chapter as well. Take care, and enjoy!

~Sheppard