War for Freedom

(Chapter 13.5)/Bounty Hunters, Mayhem, and a Dystopian Hellscape

Third person POV:
The city of Debaru:

Inside a futuristic apartment, a male grey wolf, wearing a t-shirt and pants, sat on his bed, watching the news on his holo-television while drinking a margarita. Hearing the door of the room open, he turned his head before seeing a female grey wolf walk in, his wife. As she approached, she sat on his lap before nuzzling his face, saying kindly,

Female grey wolf: "Dinners just about ready, Clive decided to make us some steak to help us celebrate our anniversary."

Male grey wolf (smiles): "Remind me to get him something nice for his birthday. It felt like yesterday we had that damn kid, now he's sixteen, and his grades are getting attention from the Empires executive board."

Female grey wolf: "I'm sure he'll work a non-combative job honey; you don't have to worry if you didn't prepare him enough."

The husband grumbled afterwards but otherwise said nothing. He was nervous, as he knew the Empire almost never cares about individuals unless they've excelled in certain programs. His son did excel in those programs, and there were many executives that wanted him.

However, most that he knew would use his son as cannon-fodder for the war against the Gecko Legion on the other side of the world. Still, having the company of his wife at this moment helped ease his nerves greatly. However, as they got comfortable in each other's grasp, a buzz was heard from a nightstand by the bed. Both turned to the source, which turned out to be a phone device, a blue blinking light glowing at the side of it.

As the husband got up and started walking over to it, the wife asked,

Female grey wolf: "Work?"

Male grey wolf (doubtful): "Shouldn't be, I called in vacation ahead of time, so they shouldn't have called me."

Picking up the phone, he pressed a button on the side of the phone, which projected a hologram that gave the message,

-COM-LINK REQUIRED

The husband immediately stiffed up, immediately growling in annoyance. Noticing this, the wife asked,

Female grey wolf: "Is everything alright?"

Male grey wolf: "That Damn Empire should know that I'm retired from that line of work."

Female grey wolf (surprised): "You mean, they'll demand your skills from when you were a-"

Male grey wolf (slightly annoyed): "Please don't finish that sentence babe."

The wife immediately went silent as the husband walked over to a section of the wall at the far corner of the room. He pressed a part of the wall, that section sinking in before the entire wall began opening up. After some mechanical whining, the wall transformed into a small armory, holding weapons, armor, and military grade gear. Walking to one of the stands, he took out a com-link from it before placing it on his ear. Afterwards, he heard a familiar voice say,

??? (Male) (coms): "Ted, you copy? I know I'm not supposed to contact you, but-"

Ted (Male grey wolf): "Give me one good reason I shouldn't go down to that building your playing guard leader at and kick your ass, John."

John (coms): "Look at the news Ted, you're going to find it important."

Ted immediately raised his eyebrows before turning around, seeing his wife looking at the TV in surprise. Walking next to her, he saw what she was seeing. Behind the TV was Director Melissa standing behind a podium with two bounties on the side of the screen suddenly appearing. He immediately raised the TV volume, hearing Director Melissa say,