StarFox: HailFire
Corruption
Chapter 3: Possible Disaster?
Finally charging themselves as if they were mad hyenas into General Pepper’s conference room, Demian, Ricky, and Lana tripped over each other and toppled onto the carpet floor, face first before the intolerant General Pepper, Demian being crushed under Ricky and Lana. The General had developed impatience as he waited for them and was disappointed at their display. Kaiser chose to give up the thrash about half way and just entered the room when the three got back onto their feet.
“And I thought this team was one of the best in our military,” General Pepper shook his head as he placed his hands behind his back.
“Sorry about that, sir,” Lana rubbed the back of her neck and beamed a grin in embarrassment.
Xetak finally entered through the doors, huffing and puffing and finally slumped against a wall in exhaustion. The General looked at the worn-out lizard then at the shoddy squad consisting of two wolves and two raccoons. The four looked back at him in silence, standing there apprehensively and waited for what he had to say.
“Looks like you all drained the boy,” he said as he quirked his brows, turning to the screen behind him. Coughing shortly, he shook his head and began to show images on the screen. “Anyway…on the topic of your new mission. Your duty is to go and observe the area, Sector X. Strange activity has been reported there and I want you to be sure that you take care of the dilemma. With some investigation at hand, scanners show that several warp holes have been appearing in the area. Numerous sightings of eccentric looking spacecrafts and fiends have also been spotted coming from within the warps. We assume that they are exceptionally dangerous and must be stopped,” he turns to look at them once more. “Are you up for the challenge?”
“Why don’t you just send out that Star Fox team to handle it, huh?” Demian questioned in a rude manner, tapping his foot on the floor and whipping his tail side to side.
“They are undertaking different manners,” General Pepper glared at him. “This is your responsibility, team Hail Fire.”
“Peh…fine. What’s our payment if were accomplish this?”
General Pepper sneered lightly as he pushed a button on a remote and the reward flashed on the screen which made Demian gaze like a drooling zombie. Over one hundred thirty billion in cash. Billion. One hundred thirty billion. Demian was completely stunned by the ridiculous amount of money for such a feeble mission.
“Ooooooh…look at all those numbers…”
“Good enough for you, Kezlat?”
“Yes…yes, Pepper…it is…”
“You really are like your Venomian father, aren’t you?”
“Afraid so…ooooh.”
Demian had begun to babble in a tone an automaton would have spoken in. Kaiser and Ricky looked at each other then went next to him at each side and embarked on a series of pushing him back and forth to put him back into his senses, but it was no use. His robotic speech of nonsense continued while his eyes were utterly fixed on the screen. Lana addressed them to stop and directed a firm slap to the black wolf’s face. Finally, he blinked a few times and went silent once more, yet he was still virtually not all there.
“Why have you called me here, sir?” Xetak asked, one eye twitching at the sight of the quartet.
“You will be accompanying them,” General Pepper retorted, growling at the four. “Another team member will hopefully do them good.”
“You mean it? I am now part of Hail Fire?” The winged flaps had spread out behind the frilled neck lizard's head suddenly as he stood straight up. “I’m honored, General Pepper!”
Demian finally shook his head a howled out his response, being more aware of his surroundings. “Wait! You can’t do that, Pepper, old dog! I’m the one who approves whether a pilot is worthy or not to be in our team!”
“And what an excellent job you’ve done, Demian,” General Pepper said in a sarcastic approach.
“We may argue a lot, but we’re serious on our missions,” Demian made fists with his hands and clenched his teeth together. “Are you sure that Xetak is up for it?”
“We will see in time,” a mocking grin curved the General’s lips, handing a folder to Ricky. “You all are dismissed. Your errand will take place first thing tomorrow. That document you hold in your hands, Delvaunt, is a written version of the details for this mission. See to it if you encounter any problems.”
“We’ll be sure to, General,” Ricky replied.
Pepper nodded to him and everyone bowed their heads politely before exiting the conference room except for Demian. He was growling at the General and Ricky had to drag him out the room. The black wolf snarled in an emotionless fit until the tan wolf whispered the amount of money they were going to receive in his ear, silencing him completely and then they were gone.
“Peh…enigmatic wolf,” General Pepper shook his head as he watched them leave the room. “I fear that this will be a calamity…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Once the five reached the engineering room, Demian was cartwheeling his way past large heaps of machinery in a sudden blissful mood. A few technicians backed away from him and jumped for cover due to how close he was to them. The rest of the Hail Fire team just stared in humiliation.
“Mitri! Mitri!” He called out as he did a few more cartwheels and backflips. “Hey, shrimp! I’m here, baby brother!”
In almost an instant, Demitri could be seen running towards Demian, staring at him with wide eyes from under his goggles from hearing the word baby. His older brother finally stopped his parade of acrobatic nonsense and grinned, putting his younger brother into a headlock playfully.
“Hey! There you are!” Demian exclaimed as he began to rub his knuckles quickly against his brother’s hair in a mischievous noogie, “Took you long enough to respond to me!”
“I…I just don’t…li-like it…” Demitri began to develop tears in his eyes as he tried to speak. “…when…when you call me…bah-baby broth-Demian! Please! KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY! IT’S STARTING TO HURT!”
Demian slowly stopped the torture with a childish grin seen on his face, but kept his hand on Demitri’s head. The younger wolf commenced a sequence of struggling, whimpering, and whining as he tried to break free from his brother’s headlock. Xetak stared in concern for his colleague and himself, slowly stepping behind Kaiser in Ricky since he was just barely older than Demitri. He wasn’t sure of Demian’s actions all too well just yet and feared for himself. The two he hid behind simply chuckled amongst themselves at both Demitri’s sudden outburst and Xetak’s fear.
“Eheh heh…Relax, Xet,” Ricky laughed out. “Demian only does this to Demitri.”
“You sure…?” Xetak questioned.
“Don’t worry,” Lana giggled. “Think this is how Demian expresses his joy. After all, he was drooling like an idiot about our payment earlier. At least he’s actually doing something instead of jabbering about what he’s going to do with our money.”
“Hahaha…This is certainly better than Demian’s hollering in anger, that’s for sure,” Kaiser smirked.
Finally breaking free from Demian’s grasp, Demitri dusted himself off and looked at the others as he ran his hands through his hair. Timidly, Xetak walked over to him while Demian walked over to a counter to examine the weapons that were placed there.
“Why are you guys here anyway?” Demitri asked, eyeing his brother worriedly.
“I’ve been looking through the papers on our assignment,” Ricky replied as he flipped through pages in the folder General Pepper had given him. “I heard that you were designing a new Cornerian fighter. Looks like we’ll be needing new weapons for our ships. This mission sounds harsh.”
“To you,” Demian boasted as he picked up a pulse cannon and aimed at a random direction. “It’ll be a breeze! You’ll see!”
“Umm…I don’t know about this,” Xetak said nervously, uneasy with the fact that Demian was armed with a gun and was fooling around with it. “I’m only fourteen years old. I’ve never been farther than Katina let alone near Sector X.”
“I’ve been there a few times and I’m only thirteen years old,” Demitri said as he looked at Xetak, taking off his gloves. “I was there to rummage around for parts with the older engineers.”
“Of all things!” Ricky said as he lightheartedly nudged Kaiser. “These two are way more advanced than we were when I was their age.”
“I presume that I can do nothing but agree with you,” Kaiser replied, rubbing his shoulder. “They still have school and they already work for the Cornerian military.”
Xetak turned to give the two unsure stares until Demitri poked him to get his attention. When the lizard looked back at him, he smiled in an assuring behavior. Slipping his gloves and goggles into his apron, he began to explain.
“Lana and my older brother, Demian, are both eighteen years old,” he started. “Demian’s three months older than Lana. Kaiser is a two months older than Demian, so he’s currently nineteen. Ricky is eight months younger than Lana and is currently seventeen. Understand?”
“Err…uh…” Xetak looked as if he were a bewildered deer caught in the headlights of a moving car.
“You confused him even more, Demitri,” Lana’s laughter erupted softly from hearing Demitri’s words. “Basically our ages go in this order…Kaiser’s the oldest in out team, Demian’s second, I’m third, Ricky’s fourth, you’re fifth, and Demitri’s the youngest.”
“Um…okay,” Xetak said faintly as he twiddled his thumbs.
As the others spoke to each other, Demian found himself getting his hands on a shock rifle, placing the pulse cannon back on the counter. A malevolent grin slowly materialized onto his face. He gripped the rifle with both his hands in the way he would in combat. He pretended to aim at Xetak, jokingly. Making sure that the shock rifle was off and his finger away from its trigger, he moved a few steps closer to him.
“Oh, Xetak,” Demian said softly in a mischievous tone. “Turn around, kid.”
Once Xetak turned his head to look at him, Demian roared out a sound to imitate the sound of a fired gun. Xetak fell back onto his back, heart pounding. His eyes opened widely as he clutched his chest as if he saw his young little life pass before his eyes. Laughing sinisterly, the jokester held out his hand to help him back onto his feet, putting the gun to his side.
“Sorry about that,” Demian’s vile expression seemed to vaporize the meaning of his words. “I didn’t expect you to react that much.”
Xetak slowly took his hand and stood up quickly, feeling nervous with the way Demian smiled. Dusting himself off, he looked at the others. Demitri’s ears had drooped down and he had a startled look on his face. Ricky seemed to have been holding in a concealed laugh with a ludicrous smirk on his face. Lana gave the impression that she was not impressed as she positioned her hands to her hips. Kaiser looked as if he were both baffled and enraged at the same time.
“Stop fooling around, Demian,” Kaiser said decisively. “I think we should be focusing on our mission more than goofing off.”
Demian shrugged ingenuously with a sheepish smile, placing the weapon back onto the table. Turning to look around the vastly sized engineering room, he noticed that most of the individuals who were working on new ships and robotic equipment were staring at him in silence, all staring with fear. A vaguely mortified chuckle passed through his lips until he turned to look at his younger brother and team members.
“Alright, alright!” He said as he flung his arms into the air. “It was just a joke, but…I’m sorry! Happy?”