He couldn't see anything in the black void, but he could hear the rumble of thunder.
No, not thunder. Cannon fire.
Gradually, his vision started to return, but he wished it hadn't, for he was back on those arid plains that he had once called home. And there in front of him were the parents he had barely known, in each other's arms and resigned to their fate.
He wanted to yell out how much he loved them, but seemed to have lost his voice. Suddenly, there was the deafening boom of a tank cannon, and in an eruption of dust and blood, his parents were gone.
The scene shifted to a dark alleyway, and a black-furred lupine sitting against the wall, holding a hand over a wound in his side. Standing above him was a shadowy figure. Even so, the voice was all too familiar.
" Where's your nephew, O'Donnell?"
" With any luck, far from here."
" Hmh. Seems like yours has run out."
There was the screech of a blaster and the uncle who had raised him slumped to the ground, never to rise again. A look of defiance was permanently etched onto his face.
The next image proved to be the worst, for it was the woman he loved, slowly falling away from him and begging for his help. He tried to reach out to her, but his body was frozen. He could also hear the sound of babies crying.
His vision went dark again, but he could still hear that taunting voice.
" Know this, boy. There is nothing you possess which I cannot take away."
Wolf woke with a start, breathing heavily. Feeling disoriented, the lupine moved his head about and surveyed his surroundings. He was surrounded by smooth metallic walls and a ceiling of the same material. The only distinguishing feature was a thick steel door.
As for the lupine himself, he was in a kneeling position while his wrists were held up by a pair of manacles on chains that were welded to the ceiling and his feet were shackled to the floor.
Finally glancing to his side, Wolf caught sight of Panther stirring awake.
"Where the hell are we?" the jungle cat growled once he realized the predicament they were in.
"The detention level of a Venomian base," Wolf replied, "Fucked if I know where in Lylat it is, or if it's even in Lylat."
"That's comforting," Panther snarked.
Wolf took another gander at the cell. He'd gotten some brief glimpses inside ones just like it during the Lylat War. No matter how much the enemy POWs within had struggled when they realized they were getting a visit from the one and only Leon Powalski, the chains would not break.
The wild dog then glanced down at his uniform tunic and saw that the stitching on the inside of the left side was still intact.
" Good, they still haven't found it,"
But the lupine was pulled from his thoughts by clicking sounds from the door, indicating that it was being unlocked. Sure enough, the door slid aside, revealing two Remnant troopers in green fatigues flanking a silver vulpine in a black leather jacket and matching dress pants.
"Well, well, well," Simon Zimmerman crowed, "What do we have here?"
Panther simply cast an annoyed glare at the gangster as he walked into the cell, though a corner of Wolf's mouth turned up in a grin, something that did not go unnoticed by Simon.
"Something funny, O'Donnell?"
"Nice shoes," the lupine snarked before rearing his head back and spitting on the vulpine's feet.
"Could use a little polish, though."
The smug smile that had been on Simon's muzzle vanished, quickly being replaced with a sneer.
"A wise guy, eh?" the grey fox growled before delivering a right hook to the restrained lupine, though Wolf smiled in spite of the pain.
Eye twitching, Simon grabbed hold of the lupine's head fur.
"Listen to me very carefully," the gangster snarled, "Marshal Koates said not to kill you two. He did not say anything about feeding you. Couple days without food and water oughta do you nicely."
The silver vulpine let go of Wolf before turning and leaving the cell, the door sliding closed behind him. Wolf let a few minutes pass before turning to Panther.
"Yeah, we're not sticking around to find out what's on the menu."
To the jungle cat's surprise, Wolf leaned down and started to tear at his tunic with his teeth. After pulling the stitching apart, the wild dog felt around with his tongue until he tasted metal.
Closing his lips around the sharpened pin, Wolf brought his head back up and took hold of it with his left hand's thumb and index finger.
From there, the lupine set about attempting to pick the manacle's lock, a task that was neither easy nor quick. Nonetheless, both Wolf and Panther breathed a sigh of relief when they heard a click and the manacle opened.
Now that he had a free hand and could see what he was doing, the manacle on Wolf's right wrist came off a lot quicker. The lupine then sat back and repeated the process on the shackles around his ankles.
After taking a minute to stretch out his cramped limbs, Wolf set about freeing Panther before both of them turned their gazes on the cell door.
"How're we getting out?" whispered the wildcat.
Wolf merely gestured for Panther to follow him towards the door. The lupine then pointed towards a seam in the floor. Nodding in understanding, the jungle cat kneeled down and got his fingers in between the seam and lifted what turned out to be a panel that had a red button underneath.
"Press it on my mark," Wolf muttered as he crouched down with the pin in hand.
A few seconds passed before Wolf said, "Now," and Panther pressed the button.
The door slid aside, and before it had even fully opened, Wolf had launched himself towards the surprised lizard guard outside, tackling him to the floor and burying the pin in his throat.
Quickly covering the reptile's mouth to prevent his gurgles from being heard, Wolf stole a glance over his shoulder and saw that Panther had tackled and snapped the neck of the other guard, a brown-furred jungle cat.
Dragging the corpses into the cell, both outlaws took note of their uniforms.
"Forest fatigues," Wolf murmured.
"Sort of narrows down where we are, but not by much," Panther responded as he started to unbutton the tunic of the guard he had killed.
Seeing Wolf's puzzled look, the jungle cat gestured at their tropical uniforms and elaborated, "Wherever we are, it's probably going to be cold when night falls. We're not exactly dressed for that."
"Right," the lupine before looking down at the lizard and frowning when he realized that the dead Venomian's uniform was too small for him.
Nonetheless, he and Panther scavenged the guards' carbines, sidearms, spare powerpacks, and keycards before leaving the cell and closing the door behind them. They advanced up the corridors, Wolf on point. Suddenly, the lupine's ears twitched at the sounds of beeping and he signaled for them to stop at a bend.
Peering around the corner, Wolf spotted a saucer-shaped shadow on the wall of a cross junction just ahead and quickly got back into cover.
"Drone," he hissed to Panther.
The two outlaws waited with baited breath and their weapons raised as the sounds of beeping got closer. Both of them let out a small sigh of relief when they heard the beeps of the surveillance drone heading down another corridor.
"We need to find a maintenance tunnel. Should keep us out of sight," the lupine whispered.
From there, the two outlaws set off again, keeping an eye open for a tunnel. Finally spotting one, Wolf knelt down and slotted his stolen keycard, grinning slightly as the light turned green and the hatch slid upwards.
"Get that behind you," the lupine commanded as he slung his rifle and switched his digital lens to night vision.
From there, the two outlaws crawled into the maintenance tunnel, Panther doing as he was told and closing the hatch. He kept his yellow eyes locked on Wolf as they crawled through the metal tunnel, not wanting to get lost in a base full of hostile soldiers.
A few minutes passed before Wolf signaled for them to stop at a junction. The lupine switched his lens to thermal vision and scanned for guards on the floor directly above them. Seeing no one, Wolf slowly unlatched and lifted the hatch.
Poking his head through the hole, the wild dog glanced about the store room and then climbed up, signaling Panther to follow.
A quick forage through the supply crates turned up a uniform that fit Wolf and a couple of winter jackets.
"Now to get to the vehicle park."
But as the saying went, 'No plan survives contact with the enemy,'
Elsewhere
"So, I see you got off Macbeth without being hassled by those toadies the Cornerians put in charge," Zeke said as he and his squad walked up the corridor alongside Kurt.
" Yeah," the iguana replied, "Figured it wouldn't be a good idea to be around if somebody found out how many insurgents I turned over to the VSS."
"Like I always say, those who cross Andross will die," Algy interjected with a shrug.
For his part, Heinrich cast a glance at Rena and saw that she had her eyes closed and her index and middle fingers pressed to her temple.
"What's up?" the giant armadillo asked.
The coywolf didn't respond at first, but then her icy blue eyes shot open.
"Sound the alarm. O'Donnell and Caroso have escaped."
Elsewhere
(The Bosskman's recommended listening: Dam (Tweaklab Synthwave mix) from Goldeneye Source)
Panther and Wolf practically jumped out of their fur as klaxons blared and the corridor was cast in a blood-red light.
"Guess our borrowed time's up!" yelled the lupine before him and his cohort broke into a run.
As the two of them sprinted through the base's corridors, a pair of men in casual clothes, presumably hired thugs for the Zimmerman Brothers, stepped out in front of the outlaws and were swiftly cut down.
Loathe as Wolf was to give away their position in the base, the situation was now very much kill or be killed.
"C'mon Panther! The vehicle park can't be too far!"
Both members of Star Wolf continued to run through the halls, gunning down anyone they came across. Soon, the lupine and the jungle cat entered a garage-like area, quickly setting their sights on a 4x4 with a machine gun in the back.
While Panther hopped into the driver's seat and began trying to hot wire the vehicle, Wolf climbed in the back and manned the gun, which proved to be perfect timing as the sounds of pounding boots were fast approaching.
A small squad of Remnant troopers appeared out of a nearby entrance and were forced into cover by machine gun fire. A trio of Zimmerman thugs proved not to be as adept and were cut down, their bodies hardly recognizable.
Wolf cracked a smile as he felt the 4x4's engine roar to life and heard Panther put the vehicle in gear. Letting go of the machine gun, the lupine grabbed hold of the roll bar.
As the outlaws sped out of the vehicle park, Wolf took a gander at the night sky and quickly spotted not one, but two moons.
" Papetoon? What the hell does Koates want here?"
The wild dog had no time to brood on that, for a guard tower was firing on the stolen off-roader. Panther quickly swerved to avoid the laser bolts while Wolf manned the machine gun and returned fire.
The lupine wasn't able to see if he had silenced the enemy machine gun nest since he had to duck down while Panther crashed through the gate. It would seem that he hadn't, for lasers pockmarked the trail behind them.
As the stolen 4x4 rounded a corner and put the base out of sight, Wolf took another look at their surroundings. It appeared that the base was situated in a valley and there didn't seem to be any signs of civilization anywhere.
His thoughts were interrupted by Panther shouting that they had company. Manning the gun again and turning it around, Wolf caught sight of headlight beams approaching the corner they had just turned.
As soon as the other 4x4 came into view, Wolf opened fire and was quickly rewarded with a large fireball as his shots penetrated the engine block.
"Take that, you sons of bitches!"
But the lupine's bravado was tempered as several more headlight beams appeared. His ears also detected the whirring of helicopter blades. Quickly flipping his lens to night vision, Wolf's heart sank when he saw the massive Crocodile-class gunship with its ventral-mounted rotary cannon and wings teaming with rocket pods and guided missiles.
"Oh, hell no!"
There was a whooshing sound and a flash of flame as the Croc fired a rocket at the stolen 4x4. The projectile soared through the air and slammed into the dirt, forcing both Wolf and Panther to duck to avoid the shrapnel.
Standing back up, Wolf took hold of the machine gun and fired upwards at the Croc, only to see his lasers bounce harmlessly off the chopper.
" Damn it! No wonder they call these things Flying Tanks!"
In the meantime, the other 4x4s pursuing the outlaws had rounded the corner and opened fire. Wolf tried to shoot back, but between the fact that Panther was swerving all over the place to keep the gunship from getting a missile lock and the sheer amount of laser bolts in the air, all the lupine could do was lay flat in the truck bed and hold onto the gun mount for dear life.
The Croc fired another rocket, this one striking much closer to the stolen vehicle. As the shockwave picked up the rear end, Wolf lost his grip on the gun mount and the last thing he saw was the front of the truck bed rushing up towards him.
Elsewhere
Up in the air, within the small passenger compartment of the Crocodile, Heinrich and Kurt manned the two machine guns mounted near the doors while Algy, Rena, Zeke, and a brown-furred jackal kept a firm grip on the handholds that dangled from the ceiling.
Major Janek, the jackal, listened intently on his ear piece as the copilot of the gunship updated him on the situation. From there, the wild dog turned and looked over his shoulder.
"We've run the prisoners off the road!" the jackal yelled in order to be heard over the chopper's engine, "Let's fast rope down there, double time!"
After a chorus of 'Yes Sirs', the Venomian commandos clipped onto a fast rope system mounted on the gunship's ceiling before taking up positions near the doors. As they prepared to descend, the jackal major turned to Algy.
"It's good to fight by your side again, Algy."
"Same to you, Ernest," Algy replied.
Elsewhere
At first, all Wolf could see was black, though his head felt like it was on fire and there was something warm and sticky in his fur. Not to mention that it seemed that someone was dragging him by the collar of his jacket.
Cracking his eye open, Wolf caught sight of the forest canopy above him. Reaching up and gingerly touching his forehead, the lupine confirmed that he had a cut when his fingertips came back with blood on them.
"Panther," he croaked.
The jungle cat stopped dragging his leader and crouched down.
"Good thing you're awake. We're up shit creek without a paddle."
"Great," Wolf mumbled as Panther handed him his carbine.
Spotting flashlight beams in the foliage behind them, the two outlaws ran the other way in a crouch. As they crashed through the bushes, Wolf caught movement out of the corner of his organic eye. But when he turned to look, nothing was there.
He thought he saw it again, but before he could get Panther's attention, Venomian soldiers burst through the tree line ahead of the two outlaws.
"Hands up!"
" How the hell did they get ahead of us?"
Wolf had barely finished that thought when a pair of quadruped and reptilian-looking creatures leapt out of the foliage and tackled two of the Remnant troopers to the ground, swinging their clawed limbs and causing fountains of blood to spew from their jugulars.
In the ensuing chaos, Wolf and Panther shot their way through the survivors and kept running, the lupine quickly switching his lens to thermal vision.
What he saw stunned him, for crouched within the bushes were dozens of the lizards, all of varying sizes. A medium-sized one crouched down and pounced towards the duo, only for Wolf to bring up his carbine and shoot it out of the air. The dying screams of the creature made the lupine flatten his ears.
" I hate that fucking noise!"
On top of being grating on the ears, the screams also seemed to rile up the other lizards, for they started to hop after the two outlaws.
Further back in the woods, Rena immediately picked up several primitive thought patterns around them.
" Defensive circle, there's Leapers around us," she mentally signaled to her squad mates.
Algy and Zeke quickly got into position, though Major Janek, who was still getting used to the idea of a telepathic soldier, was a bit slower.
Nonetheless, Rena sensed the first Leaper about to make its move and lifted her machine pistol. As the carnivorous lizard leapt from its hiding spot, the coywolf pulled the trigger and cut the predator down with a burst of lasers.
Even as the first Leaper was in its death throes, Rena was already setting her sights on where the next one would emerge. That one met the same fate as its brethren.
Then, without even turning her head, the coywolf lifted her weapon and shot down a third Leaper that had attempted to get the jump on her.
The Venomian commandos continued to methodically pour fire into the Papetoonian predators until no more jumped from the bushes. Even so, Rena still held up a fist.
"There's more on the way. I'll handle this."
To the shock of her squad mates, especially Major Janek, the coywolf holstered her machine pistol and unzipped her jacket, taking out what appeared to be a silver baton.
Extending her staff, Rena got into a ready stance, just as Lieutenant Warren had shown her. Letting out a breath, the coywolf zeroed in on the thought patterns of the Leapers.
In a coordinated attack, two of the lizards leapt at her from the front while another came from her right.
Rena simply ducked down and swung the sharp end of her staff in an upward arc, bisecting the Leapers.
Ignoring the yellow blood splashing onto her, Rena pointed her staff outwards and shot several fire blasts into the long grass, setting the hidden Leapers alight. Aside from her ears twitching, the coywolf gave no acknowledgement of the dying screams.
Instead, the wild dog turned around and crouched down, her staff held behind her horizontally and her free hand planted on the ground.
Sure enough, more Leapers, these ones larger than their predecessors, jumped from the bush. Rena was undeterred, merely charging into the fray. This time, the coywolf used the jeweled end of her staff, always striking the Leapers in a manner that either broke their necks or drove their jawbones into their brains.
When it was all said and done, Rena planted the sharp end of her staff in the ground and stood there, her breath coming out in puffs in the cold night air.
There was the sound of clawed feet hitting the ground and the whoosh of something large flying through the air. A Leaper, far larger than the previous ones, landed in front of the coywolf, though Rena didn't so much as flinch.
To the shock of her squad mates, Rena merely tilted her head at the giant lizard, after which it started to screech and stagger around. It then flopped onto its back and thrashed its limbs in the air, making some gurgling sounds before finally lying still.
Rena stared down at the corpse, her lips skinning back from her teeth in a wicked smile. But even with her telepathy, the coywolf did not know that she was being watched.
Back at the base, within a darkened set of quarters, Cain and Charles watched the scene play out via a circle of green smoke that was hovering above the elderly hyena's palm.
"Our student has come a long way in such a short time, Charles. The Glidewell bloodline flows strong in her," Cain crowed.
"Yes, Mage Davros," replied the black jackal, "But she still has much to learn."
"Yes," Cain murmured before waving the smoke away and strolling towards the window. Noticing that the dark mage seemed to be in a meditative state, Charles whispered, "What is it?"
At that, Cain opened his eyes and grinned.
"The dead speak of a reunion. One that I've been looking forward to for a very long time."
Elsewhere
Wolf and Panther pressed their backs against a massive tree trunk, both taking a moment to catch their breaths.
"What the hell were those things?" Wolf panted.
"Northern Leapers," Panther replied, "Though I don't know what could've gotten them so stirred up."
The jungle cat then caught sight of the cut on Wolf's head.
"Scratch that, they probably smelled the blood."
"Right," Wolf remarked before hefting up his carbine.
"Let's go, before more of them show up."
The two outlaws zigzagged through the brush in order to throw off any potential pursuers and soon came to a spot where the valley started to elevate. Slinging their carbines, the lupine and the wildcat began their ascent.
Although they had trees to help climb the slope, the process got harder the closer they got to the top, owing to the incline getting steeper. Both Wolf and Panther were feeling very sore by the time they reached flat ground again.
As much as the two of them would have liked to collapse to the ground and go to sleep, Wolf and Panther kept pushing on, determined to put as much distance between themselves and the Remnant base as possible.
The minutes and hours seemed to blur together as the outlaws trudged through the woods. As the adrenaline from the escape and subsequent chase wore off, both Wolf and Panther began to feel the cold. The two of them buried their faces in their jacket collars, but even so, they still shivered.
But then, Wolf spied a pair of lights through the bushes and put out an arm to stop Panther.
"Looks like we've found some shelter. Let's just hope whoever lives here is friendly."
….
Nikos Nalchik let out a yawn and rubbed at his hazel eyes. The Southern Longnose Armadillo was about to tell his ward that it was time to turn in after their current round of beer when a beeping sound came from a tablet on the kitchen table.
"Dash, do me a favour and check the cameras."
"Right. Probably just Leapers." the white-furred primate replied before setting down the two beer bottles in his hands and activating the tablet.
"Holy Shit!"
Glancing around the back of his armchair, Nikos saw that his ward's cyan eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
"Dash?"
The ape didn't reply, so Nikos stood up and joined him at the table.
"I'll be damned," the armadillo murmured when he saw the images from the camera.
….
Wolf and Panther cautiously approached the log cabin in the clearing, both going rigid when they heard and saw the door open.
"Don't shoot!" Wolf called out.
The person standing in the door frame merely tilted their head.
"Why don't you two come inside? You must be frozen."
The two outlaws needed no further prompting, quickly climbing the porch steps and entering the cabin.
In their rush to take off their jackets and sit down near the fireplace, Wolf and Panther failed to really take notice of the cabin's occupants, other than the fact that one was an armadillo and the other an ape.
But now that Wolf was in front of the fire with a blanket wrapped around him and a cup of coffee in his hands, he found that he recognized both of them.
"General Nalchik," the lupine said while nodding towards the armadillo.
Shaking his head, Nikos replied, "You don't need to use ranks with me, O'Donnell. I resigned my commission twelve years ago."
Panther meanwhile, glanced about the cabin and remarked, "Didn't think a guy in the top brass would be such an outdoorsman."
"My father taught me."
Not long after, the ape took a seat next to Wolf and opened a first aid kit.
"Can I bandage that for you, Mr. O'Donnell?" he said while gesturing at the cut on Wolf's head.
Wolf turned to reply and quickly stopped once he got a good look at the primate.
"My God. You're Dash Bowman."
The white ape seemed taken aback, but soon regained his bearings and replied, "That's right, Mr. O'Donnell."
As Dash went to clean the cut, the lupine gently grabbed his wrist.
"You can just call me Wolf, kid. No need for formalities."
"Okay, Wolf."
Once Dash had cleaned and bandaged the wild dog's wound, Nikos decided it was time to call it a night. Panther took the couch while the armadillo dragged out his old army cot for Wolf.
And yet, despite the fact that he was past the point of exhaustion and the fact that his limbs were aching and would probably be even more sore come morning, Wolf could not get to sleep.
It was nothing to do with the cot, for the lupine had slept on far less desirable surfaces. Wolf tossed and turned for a few minutes before finally giving up and pushing his blanket aside.
After slipping on his boots, Wolf quietly walked over to the coat rack and retrieved his jacket before gently pushing open the cabin door, the sounds of crickets and numerous other creatures of the night reaching his ears.
(The Bossk Man's recommended listening: Par Avion by Mike and The Mechanics)
Slowly crossing the porch and descending the steps, Wolf cast his gaze up at the clear night sky, taking in the numerous star clusters and the twin moons. The lupine balled his hands into fists and let out a long exhale. He knew what was twisting him up inside so badly.
For the first time since he had known her, Wolf was separated from the woman he loved for more than a few hours. Worse still, he didn't know if Carmen was hurt, or if she was even alive.
Wolf let out another breath and cast his gaze downwards, his shoulders sagging. Turning around, the wild dog walked back towards the cabin. He stopped at the steps and glanced over his shoulder at the sky.
"Goodnight Carmen."
…..
Carmen stared out of her cockpit at the green hue of hyperspace, head resting on her hand. The only sounds were the steady drone of her Wolfen's engines and the occasional snore from her passenger.
Rubbing her eyes, Carmen turned around and leaned back in her seat. Even though she was dead tired, sleep would not come. All the dingo could think about was Wolf.
Why had the Remnant taken him and Panther to Papetoon? And worse still, what was being done to them?
Letting out a sigh, Carmen glanced upwards. The promise of a future with Wolf was starting to look very far away.
" I have to find him, no matter what."
The dingo exhaled through her nostrils and resumed staring out at hyperspace.
"Goodnight Wolf."