For a few months now, the new team, Algy, Wolf and Leon, had made a considerable living selling money by doing their numerous drug runs across the Lylat System. So much so, in fact, they had gotten a reputation amongst their peers as someone to look out for, but that attention was starting to wear on Wolf, who couldn't help but notice that the more successful they became, the more riskier their operations were becoming.
Soon the people the new team were selling their materials to were becoming shadier and shadier; the most shady customer yet got in touch with Algy, calling his communicator while Wolf and Leon were resting at their base as usual. Not one to turn down a business opportunity, Algy quietly left for a bit, before returning with a giant grin on his face.
"This one's the biggest catch yet," Algy boasted.
"Do tell," Leon replied, his eyebrow raised in intrigue.
"We got a really simple mission, boys. Our next target is the arms depot on the outskirts of Corneria City."
"Simple?" Wolf shook his head in exasperation. "That place is heavily guarded! How the hell are we supposed to get in there?"
"The contact I just got off the phone with says he can create a distraction for the majority of the fleet keeping watch there. In return, he expects a large chunk of the profits - but the amount he's giving us will be considerably substantial. And it's definitely worth the risk."
"You trust this person?" Wolf asked.
Algy sighed. "There's no trust in this business, Wolf. The only thing we can do is go through with this. Besides, we can't turn this opportunity down. I mean, imagine if we manage to break into the arms depot - the Cornerian Army will be laughing stocks if we succeed!"
"Fair point," Wolf chuckled, knowing deep down he couldn't turn down an opportunity to get one up on the Cornerian Army.
"Not to mention," Algy continued, "This guy will pay 10 times more than any drug run we've ever done before. We've already gotten a good deposit on the job already!"
"10 times?" Leon's eyes widened at the figure. "Sounds like a plan to me!"
"We need to plan this carefully," Wolf interrupted. "We can't afford any mistakes. One wrong move could end us up in the brig for good. And I'm not planning to spend the rest of my life in prison."
Leon nodded in agreement. "We'll likely need a distraction of our own in case the first one doesn't work. And we need to make sure we have a quick getaway plan in case things go south."
The three of them began to work, making the necessary arrangements for the mission. They gathered the supplies and gear and prepared it inside their ships, then headed outside into the air, out for what seemed like a routine job.
As they flew in the air, heading towards the arms depot, it seemed eerily quiet.
"Where is everyone?" Leon shouted on the intercom. "Did everyone leave already?"
"They're probably all at the depot," replied Algy. "I'll check with my contact to make sure the distraction is going as planned."
Algy sent out a quick message to the contact, not getting an immediate reply. But in the distance, a large rocket could be seen flying in the distance, sending an alarm roaring in the distance.
"You think that's a bit excessive?" Wolf shouted.
But there was no time to react. The fleet guarding the arms depot had flown out to intercept the rocket, leaving their radars bare and their opportunity open.
"Perfect," Algy said to the team. "That's our chance. That son of a gun pulled through!"
Wolf wasn't one to argue with results, and he flew ahead with the other pilots over to the depot, landing nearby as there was hardly anyone nearby to greet them.
"This is too easy!" Wolf joked to himself.
"Be quiet," said Algy, as the trio stuffed as many weapons as they could inside their storage containers. "We haven't got much time to waste."
Running back to their ships, they took off without checking back to see if anyone had been following them, and blasted off without a trace, again seeing nothing but emptiness on their radar.
"Any word on that rocket the contact sent over?" said Wolf, looking over his shoulders. "Surely there would have been an explosion by now, either at the target or if the fleet managed to get rid of it before it reached its destination."
There was silence over their intercom. Wolf checked down on his radar to make sure it wasn't malfunctioning, but there wasn't anyone around him for miles.
"Looks like we're in the clear," said Leon. "Can't wait to see the looks on their stupid faces!"
But Wolf was still on edge, something nagging at the back of his mind. He felt a presence nearby that refused to go away, no matter what the radar might have told him. And then he heard it - the faint yet familiar engine noises of the Arwing closing in on the trio, their sleek and unmistakable design visible even from a distance.
"...What the heck?"
The Arwings then moved closer, zeroing in on their target. Algy was in disbelief as he shouted on the intercom. "How could this happen? There wasn't anyone in sight!"
Wolf could see one of the Arwings line up directly behind him, close enough that he could make out the shape of the pilot, their sunglasses hiding their smirk. "Who do you think was the one that made the distraction luring you guys in there to begin with?"
"Damn..." Algy slammed his fist onto the dashboard of his ship.
"You cadets have much to learn," said James. "Now surrender, in the name of the Cornerian Army!"
"Never!" Leon shouted over without hesitation. "We're not going to give up this easily!"
Two more Arwings lined up alongside the trio, one piloted by a rabbit, the other by a pig. Within moments, everyone started shooting at will, attacking anyone they could. The pilots didn't pair off against another pilot, they all shot without coordination, furiously blasting away everything at sight.
The flurry of laser fire and missile blasts whizzing by his head all caused a stir inside of Wolf. It wasn't anything like the simulations he had done beforehand at the Academy, and at times he could have sworn he felt the heat of the explosions occurring all around him. It was a complete cacophony of chaos, the lasers darting around and narrowly missing his ship each time, each call more closer than the other.
All this made Wolf completely disorientated, as he kept shooting at random, not knowing where to fly to or where to shoot at. It was as if the Star Fox team were flying completely different machines, seemingly flying in circles around the inexperienced trio.
Wolf finally managed to lock onto a target, and didn't hesitate to fire at it. Leon then shouted on the intercom. "Hey! Watch where you're firing at, dummy!"
Wolf didn't realize he had been firing at Leon's ship!
"Shit! I'm sorry! I didn't realize..."
"Never mind! You're damned lucky the damage wasn't worse than it is!"
Within a moment, Leon had more troubles of his own, being tailed by one of the Arwings as it took a few more shots on Leon's already damaged shields. So much so, that one of his wings started to crumple as they went lower towards the rocky terrain.
"Damn it!" shouted Leon. "My wings are down!"
Wolf's mind was racing as his shields were reaching a critical point, every alarm on his ship blaring out in unison as sweat started to pour from his head. He hurriedly scanned his head, searching where the rest of his teammates had went. "Algy? Leon? Where are you?"
Algy had his hands full, being followed mercilessly by James, despite Algy's best efforts. He could move his ship faster and more agile than the other two pilots on the team, but James was able to match every move, no matter the circumstance.
Algy gritted his teeth, clutching onto the controls as hard as he could, ignoring everything around him but the battle in front of him.
The other two Arwings closed in on Wolf and Algy, both of them swerving furiously, desperate to get away from their grasp, even for a moment.
"You don't stand a chance against us!" shouted James. "This is your last chance to surrender!"
"NEVER!" Algy shouted defiantly. "I will never surrender! Not even to you!"
The air was filled with sparks and smoke as lasers and missiles were being shot in all directions. Algy started pulling out every trick in the book, maneuvering his ship so fast that he seemed untouchable at times, even managing to impress James a little.
"Pigma! Get after him with me!" James commanded, targeting Algy. "Peppy, go after the others!"
With Algy now outnumbered two against one, he had more difficulty dodging the attacks from the Arwings, and had taken more damage onto his shields. Wolf, meanwhile, had his hands full with Peppy, with Leon going as fast as he could to join in on the attack, though his ship was too disabled to be of any use.
Wolf could see Algy be swarmed by the other two pilots, as it swerved uncontrollably, desperately defending itself. James, however, managed to lock onto the spinning ship, firing at it dead on target, as the engines exploded and started plummeting downwards, the explosion sending a shockwave through the air, as Wolf could only look on in horror.
"NO!" Wolf's mind was in a frenzy, as his heart started pacing hysterically. He took his mind off Peppy behind him, speeding towards the crash site in the hopes of helping out his friend, even to the detriment of the battle going on behind him. Peppy took this opportunity to fire directly at Wolf, breaking apart one of Wolf's wings as it, too, careened towards the ground.
"FUCK!" Wolf tried steering his ship as hard as he could, but by then it had lost all control, barreling downwards as the alarms were now starting to blend into Wolf's mind. Wolf had barely enough time to align his ship parallel to the ground before it made impact into the hills, smashing into the glass of his cockpit as everything around Wolf went all quiet.
He woke up a few moments later, still strapped into his ship. He opened his eyes, as he gasped for air, seemingly in a daze and unaware of where he was. He scanned around him to see what had happened - his dashboard was completely destroyed, the hum of the engines were now replaced with smoldering flames, and the air around him had gone completely still. Worse yet, his vision started going red, feeling a throbbing pain on the left side of his head.
Wolf slowly brought his hands towards the source of the pain, feeling the blood dripping down from the side of his face. He could also feel some kind of mushy substance as well, bringing more fear into Wolf's mind. Then an explosion rang out in the distance, seeing another ship blown to pieces not far from where he crashed. Even in his disoriented state, Wolf managed to undo the seatbelts and fall out of the cockpit, feeling more blood drip down from his body. He stumbled towards the other wrecked ship, his heart and mind racing more than ever.
When he arrived to what remained of the wrecked ship, Wolf started to panic, searching frantically for his teammate. He looked on in disbelief as the cockpit was completely destroyed, and Wolf dreaded what state his comrade had been in. He shuddered as started scanning the nearby area for anything in sight, and saw his teammate lying motionless not far from where the wreckage had occurred.
Wolf ran towards the lemur, as he laid on his side, his eyes gazing into the distance. There was blood everywhere around him, and there were gashes all over his body. He got near to Algy, and saw his whole body completely mangled, broken, and with a giant gash across his head, showing off parts of his skull that shouldn't be seen.
"No... this can't be real..."
He knelt towards the ground, propping up Algy's head as he felt for some kind of pulse. It was simultaneously weak and erratic, and his breaths were short. He could see more blood coming from Algy's neck and chest, causing Wolf to tremble at the sight.
Their eyes met. Algy's eyes twitched, lazily looking at Wolf as his face shone in the sun. He moved his mouth, looking like he was trying to speak, but only managing a weak gurgling sound, as more blood dripped down from his mouth.
"Algy... please..."
Algy looked at Wolf one last time, then slumped his head towards the side, his eyes halfway open in a haze. His pulse became non-existent, his breathing a standstill.
Leon saw Wolf kneeling over and ran towards him, but stopped when he saw the sight unfold in front of him.
Wolf could only hold Algy's lifeless body in his arms, feeling hundreds of emotions flow through him all at once; Shock. Despair. Guilt. Anger. Rage. He broke down sobbing, as Leon's heart sank in an instant, only able to place a hand onto Wolf's shoulder for comfort. He started to cry, too.
In a few minutes, Wolf gently laid down Algy's body onto the ground, shaking as he stood up from the ground. He breathed heavily in and out, grunting through each breath. Leon said nothing, knowing that no words would be able to save Algy now. But Wolf had words of his own, not for comfort... but for revenge.
"McCloud... Will... Pay..."
