Chapter 6:
Wolf hailed the base. Leon`s face appeared over the communicator.
"Bout time you showed up, Wolf. I was begging to think you ran away."
"Bite me, Powalski." He said. "Open the landing bridge."
Leon chuckled and pressed a button on the mainframe. Then, he looked at another monitor.
"You the new recruit?" he asked, and Wolf`s screen split and Miyu appeared.
"Yeah. Name`s Miyu." She said, quite upbeat, Wolf noticed. Leon scoffed.
"All right. Panther`s going to have a wonderful day when he discovers this."
Wolf disengaged communications. The hangar bay doors opened and he aligned his Wolfen with the landing strip, Miyu following close behind with her Arwing Interceptor. The gravity locks on the strip guided the ship back towards the hangar. He could see a large crowd of his subordinates clapping and cheering in the hangar. He smirked. A little self indulging wouldn`t hurt.
As his Wolfen stopped, it`s cockpit opened, and he flipped himself to the ground, raising his arms in triumph. His Wolfen sunk into the ground, to it`s docking bay. Miyu`s ship also docked. When she jumped from the cockpit, however, she received quite a few distrustful looks from the crew, and Wolf even saw a few monkeys reach discreetly for their guns. He raised his hand and sent a stare their way. The monkeys immediately released the tense position.
Suddenly Leon appeared from within the crowd. He came near Wolf. After a second, he broke into a smile. He offered Wolf a handshake, which he gladly took.
"We`re back in business." He said. Wolf smiled
"Yes we are." Wolf said. He looked back to their newest member. "And with one more good pilot on our team."
Miyu was looking around the hangar. A few monkeys were examining her. She had her hands in her pockets, looking uninterested. Upon noticing Leon, she strided over to them both.
"So, you`re Leon." She said. Leon released the handshake and crossed his arms.
"Yes. You are Miyu Lynx, correct?" he asked. She nodded. Then, Leon turned to Wolf. "I don`t think this was a very good move from our friend here, but anyone he considers good is good in my books too. Welcome to Star Wolf. " he offered her a handshake as well, though it wasn`t nearly as attached as it had been when he offered it to Wolf. Miyu gladly took his hand and shook. His chameleon eyes seemed to pierce through her, and she almost immediately felt that this was one hell of a dangerous man.
"Thank you. I`ll do my best." She almost slipped a 'sir', but stopped herself before it left her throat.
"You`re welcome. Now, if you excuse me, I still have a rifle to check."
With that, he turned around and left the hangar, heading to the armory, where he had stashed had left his rifle in the middle of the process of reassembling. Wolf crossed his arms and looked at Miyu.
"Don`t worry. He`ll end up loosening up a little bit." He looked around. "I have absolutely no idea where the other one is. Come on. I`ll show you your quarters; you must be tired."
She nodded. However, before they both went out of the hangar, Wolf barked an order to the monkeys:
"Listen up! This here is our new member. I want all of you to treat her with respect and dignity. She`ll need a new ship. There`s a broken Wolfen in Hangar 15. I want that Wolfen repaired in the smallest amount of time possible. Got it?!"He barked. Some monkeys nodded and a few even gave off a salute, to Miyu surprise.
Nodding to the monkeys, Wolf signaled her to follow him. She did, and they exited through the same door Leon had gone through.
Her footsteps echoed through the large base. A lot of the crew was probably asleep, she guessed. After all, it was late in the Galactic Standard Time, and she was feeling rather tired herself.
Wolf took her to an elevator. She climbed in after him.
"Now`s as good a time as any." He said, pressing the button to the higher level. Miyu looked at him. "Let`s set out some rules right now."
She leaned into the elevator`s wall. She crossed her legs.
"Shoot." She said, with a smirk.
"First of all, you obey strictly my orders. No one else`s. Second, we will begin to do training exercises to keep you in tune with the rest of our team. You`ll begin tomorrow. Got it?"
Miyu sighed. She thought she was done with training exercises.
"Yes, sir." He raised his paw at that.
"That won`t be necessary. There`s no need to call me sir. I just call the shots. Third, you will earn the same as the other two. Don`t be greedy or try to take advantage of any of us: I`ll know." He said, and his eye got sterner for a second. Miyu sensed some history there. She was about to ask, but decided against it, not willing to push her luck.
The elevator opened. A hallway with five doors was presented to her. Wolf signaled her to follow him. There were three doors on the left of the hallway and two others on the right. He took her to the farthest door on the left and punched in a code.
"The code is set to default, but you may change it anytime you want." He said.
"Great. Wouldn`t want that Panther fellow, whoever he is, creeping inside when I`m taking a shower."
"On that…" he said, turning his head to her. The door opened. "We can agree."
He signaled her to go inside. She found a very spacious room. A bed and wardrobe took a lot, but there was still enough room for a desk, a small TV screen and various drawers. She even saw a gun rack in one of the walls.
"This is your room. You may outfit it in any way you like. Just please… From the door out, we`re supposed to look professional."
She laughed at that. He allowed himself a small smile, and made to leave.
"I hope you like it. My room is the second door on the other side. Leon`s in between you and Panther, just to make sure." He was about to leave when he stopped and remembered. "Reunion on the lounge in 30 minutes. It is located on the floor below. The big door, it`s impossible to miss. I suggest you come."
With that, he was gone. The door slid back to closed and she heard a lock clicking into place. She breathed in relieve, and her shoulders slumped.
She threw herself in the bed. Then, she noticed that there was a small bathroom in the room. She went to check it out. She found that it was pretty similar to the one she had aboard the Longshot. She decided to freshen up a little. She had gone, after all, about almost a full day without a bath.
00000
Wolf`s office was the door next to his room. He looked back at his desk. The broken glass from earlier was still there,the antique clock was still ticking… But the whole atmosphere of the room was just different.
It didn`t hold nearly the same amount of dread it had been holding the past few days. It was just his place of work now. Not his cell.
He went to his table. He liked to call the room his "Antique Room": besides the watch, the table was made out of wood, there were some ancient weapons in displays on the walls, and there was even a bullseye on the wall. He picked one dart and threw it at the target.
"Bulseye." He said to himself, as the dart embedded itself on the centre of the object.
He ran his hand through the table, feeling the wood. Then, he brought his hand to his missing eye, covered in his technological computer/eye patch. He removed it and placed it over the table. Not looking at how the wound was closing, he picked his leather eye patch and strapped it on. Maybe the other one was more comfortable and helped him more, but, while with just himself for company, he preferred his old, traditional eye patch.
He sat down heavily on the chair and picked up another glass from his drawer. Then, he picked the same bottle from which he was drinking earlier and poured some whiskey to himself.
Leaning back and taking a sip, he reflected on the day. He really didn`t expect to be getting another member so soon. Hell, he hadn`t even thought about having someone else since Andrew went out to make his Venom Coalition and Pigma betrayed them. To accept Panther he had taken months into analyzing his personality, his skill and his overall character. This time, he simply blinked and found a good pilot.
He had heard of Miyu, of course. Never having fought against her before, he really didn`t know what to expect. However, he did NOT expect her taking out both Panther and Leon in almost a single, swift maneuver. And besides, he had also liked her style. Not that they needed any more cockiness on the team, Leon and Panther could hold their own on that account, but something about her just seemed… perfect for a fit in the team.
"Now you are just making excuses, O'Donnell." He thought to himself, chuckling.
Wolf looked at the clock on the wall. Half an hour had already passed. Time really did flew by. He stood up and unzipped his jacket. Under it, he was wearing a brown simple shirt. He changed his eye patches and headed out to the mess.
One elevator trip later, he was stepped into the small lounge that was private for Star Wolf. The room was very spacious, with a bar, a pool table and a big TV set. It was off at the moment, as Panther was playing pool with a bunny. They didn`t notice Wolf come in. Panther was behind the bunny, helping her assume the position.
"Now now…" he said, lowly, into her ear. She was bent over the table in concentration, and he was glued on her back, his arms helping her lift the cue stick to the right position. Her eyes were sharp on the white ball. "… hit."
She did, and the white ball hit the 8 ball at full speed, sending it careening towards the other side of the table, where it pocketed. The bunny skipped of joy, and Panther smirked.
"You play well…" he said, whispering to her ear. She smiled and leaned back into him. "Maybe later we can play another game…" he said, suggestively. Her smile widened.
Wolf cleaned his throat. The bunny`s head snapped to him, but Panther just smirked and gave him a sideways glance.
"Hi boss." He said. The bunny turned to him and whispered something to his ear. He smiled wider, and then the bunny quickly exited the room, walking past Wolf, who was still standing by the door.
"Who is she?" Wolf asked, walking toward the table. Panther was wearing a black tank top and blue cargo pants.
"Someone I`ve been stalking for quite some time now. About the Eye, I`ve placed it in the safe. I ditched the tracker long before we arrived."
Wolf grabbed a stick from the rack on the wall.
"Panther, I need to talk to you." He said, positioning himself to hit the cue ball. In one swift strike, he managed to pocket two of the remaining balls.
"Shoot."
"We have a new member."
"Do we now?" he asked. Wolf had the impression he was smiling, but he was too concentrated on hitting the cue ball to notice. "That means I am not the new guy anymore? Finally."
Wolf smirked and turned to look at him.
"Well, technically, you are still the new guy."
Panther raised an eyebrow. He was about to ask, when the door opened and Miyu strolled in.
The reaction in Panther`s face was immediate. His mouth opened slightly and his eyes widened. His ears stood still on top of his head.
"You must be Panther, right?" Miyu said, walking to him and extending her hand to him. "Nice to meet you."
Panther dully shook her hand. Wolf sniffed at the air. She must`ve taken a shower, because the aroma around her was very sweet.
"Oh, a pool table." She said, grabbing a stick.
"This is the new gal, Miyu."
"I can introduce myself, Wolf." She said, as she picked the balls from the pockets and arranged them in a triangle.
Panther turned to Wolf. Wolf could see the smile inside of Panther`s eyes. As Miyu leaned in to aim the cue ball, Panther stood behind her. Wolf rolled his eye.
This was not going to play out well for Panther.
00000
Miyu concentrated on the cue ball. Suddenly, she felt something behind her. She bit her lip and smiled.
"Hm… if you managed to impress Wolf, then you must be a very sharp pilot…" she heard, in a sultry voice.
"I like to think so."
Panther got closer.
"And I bet you are sharper in… other areas as well…"
Miyu almost laughed out loud. But instead, she brought her elbow back, as if getting enough room to strike the cue ball. The elbow, not so accidently, managed to hit Panther in the ribs. He hissed, and quickly stepped back. Miyu hit the cue ball, and scattered the rest of the balls through the table.
"Sorry. Didn`t see you there." She moved to the other side of the table. Wolf chuckled and leaned into the pillar. Panther stopped rubbing his chest, but his expression was still strained. He gulped down the pain as best as he could, and leaned into the table like nothing had happened. He made the sensible thing this time and stayed opposite to her.
"No problem. Now where was I?"
"About my skills." She said, as she leaned in for another hit. "I assure you they are better than most, Panther."
She saw from the corner of her eye that Wolf was shaking his head, chuckling. She smirked again.
"Well, I was just thinking that, since we are going to be teammates, we should…" Panther lowered himself further on the table and directed both of his yellow orbs to Miyu."… get to know each other a little better."
"Stay just like that, pleae." Miyu thought. She rapidly struck the cue ball.
It hit one ball, slammed against the wall of the table, shot up…
… and striked against Panther`s nose with force.
"Yes!"
Wolf suddenly burst out laughing. Panther clutched his nose in pain. Miyu put the stick against the wall.
"I guess not, Panther. We`ll get to know each other, but not in the way you are thinking." She released the stick.
Wolf stopped laughing. Leon entered through the door. He looked at the smirking lynx, the chuckling wolf and at the panther cluctching his nose in pain and sighed.
"Why do I miss all the fun?" he said, walking to the bar and grabbing bottle of Vodka for himself.
Wolf, having regained his composure, walked to the television and turned it on. The news channel quickly came into the image.
"Why did you call us, Wolf?" Leon asked, pouring himself a glass. Wolf turned the volume up and walked back.
"I think I broke something…"Wolf whispered to himself, before shooting a death glare to Miyu and raising his voice to an audible tone, still muffled by his hand. "That is, besides introducing the lovely new member of our team."
"I just thought…" Wolf said, turning to Panther. "We might do good in observing the backlash of our most recent operation."
Th rest of the team focused on the TV. The news anchor, the same Lion from earlier, was finishing the last bit of news.
"… and that`s all for the Zonessian Resort Scandal. Now, the big news of the day. The Carrier Longshot, while crossing the system, was attacked and destroyed, and it`s cargo, a valuable jewel from Katina, was stolen. Initial reports told about a pirate, but information has confirmed it was far, far worse."
The scene shifted to the opening of the Longshot`s sealed cockpit. Wolf recognized one of the forms clambering out of the metal case- the pilot with whom he had briefly talked to.
Then, the reporter, a white cat, begun interviewing the pilot, who didn`t look at her at first.
"Mister, are you the pilot of the carrier?" she asked, shoving the mic on his face. AT the raccoon`s almost unnoticeable nod, she continued. "What happened? "
"We were travelling, you know. Doing nothing special. Then all of a sudden, we`re battling. I can`t remember much, just that… that…!" he said, before cowering.
The reporter, without as much as flinching, continued the questions.
"Sir, who do you think did all this?"
The raccoon looked at her for the first time. His eyes were filled with fear.
"I don`t think someone did this. I know someone did this."
"Yes, but who did it?"
The raccoon gulped. He was sweating.
"Star Wolf."
The cat stumbled on her step. The guards around them looked at him like he was insane.
"B…But sir, Star Wolf disappeared one month ago. T… They were killed, weren`t they?"
"You hoped we did, didn`t you?!" Leon said, forgoing the glass and instead raising the entire bottle. He brought his lips to it and gulped down.
Miyu looked around for the other`s reaction. Panther had stopped rubbing his nose and was smiling to himself. Wolf was leaning on the bar, his face stern but with a smile playing on his lips.
"I don`t know… but I`m sure it was them. I saw them, clear as daylight."
The guards started looking between themselves. No one on the hangar was believing what was being said.
"I missed those faces." Panther said. "Like they just think we are ghosts of some sort…"
"They might as well." Wolf said, loosing interest in the rest of the interview. "We were pretty much dead to the lot of the Lylat System. Now that we`re back, they`ll start dreading and fearing. They might think that poor sod is crazy…" Wolf turned and looked at all of them. "…but we`ll see about that after a few more jobs."
Miyu smiled. This was going to be very fun.
Suddenly, the news feed cut off. Wolf quickly turned to the TV as the sound vanished and was substituted by white noise. Instead of the interview, the screen displayed a white eye in a black background.
"Is the TV supposed to be doing that?" Miyu asked.
"Not that I know off." Leon said.
"It was working just fine a few minutes ago."
A booming voice sounded from the speakers.
"How… disappointing, Star Wolf…"
Miyu felt every hair on her neck stay on it`s tip. The voice was deep, with the distinct sound of a distortion device.
"You could have disappeared. Stayed out of sight. Lived the rest of your filthy little lives in peace…"
Miyu saw Wolf tense. His eye narrowed.
" Instead, you chose to come back to your life of dirt. You chose to return to the civilized world, to terrorize the lifes of innocents…"
Leon grabbed the remote and tried to change the channel. The screen stayed the same.
"... We`ll hunt you down, and reap your corrupt lives from this world. Letthis warn every other criminal in the Lylat System. Everyone who thinks they can make a living through the disgrace of others…"
The eye started to fade. Miyu clenched her fist. Wolf was snarling.
"We are watching…"
I am sorry about the lack of chapters. My schedule was hectic this past month, and it will probably stay this way. I`ll TRY (remeber, TRY!) to keep the updates fairly paced, but cut me some slack, please...
BTW, I want to thank every one who left a review You guys are pretty damn awesome!