Wolf's Weakness

Chapter 1

"Wolf, another backup squadron entering the fight, eight o'clock."
"Yes I can SEE them Andrew."
"W-what do we do now?! We're outnumbered three to one!!"
"We're NOT leaving. Get your head on straight you filthy pig! We stay calm and we fight them."
"Boss, if we stay much longer we're putting ourselves at significant risk... Our lives aren't worth-"
"Don't be fools, our reputation is our best asset. What kind of message do you think it sends if we retreat?"
"We can't fight 'em all, Wolf. That ain't happening. They'll swarm us like flies."
"Do you need me to spell it out for you idiots? You know your roles. If we retreat, I'LL tell you to. For now, you do what you're paid to. Leon, run your diversion. I'll be supporting you. Pigma, keep focusing their aces. Andrew, go greet the new squadron head-on. They won't expect-..."
"Boss..?"

Wolf snarled gutturally and hammered his fist on the dash as his comms channel was cut offline, disconnected from the rest of his teammates. The Wolfen was rocked from a well-placed (or perhaps lucky) pair of shots from a flanking K-9 unit, appearing to have accurately pierced the junction point between two pieces of armor. It wasn't the first time he'd been hit this fight, but it was certainly the first time he'd felt it. There were about a dozen enemy fighters engaged and it was proving to be a challenge to keep track of all of them. The captain grumbled to himself as he tried to bring his backup communicator online. "Come on you hunk of junk let's go..."

Waiting for it to boot itself up, Wolf slammed on the brakes and hung a deep left bank to reorient himself behind his assailant as they passed overhead, wanting to make sure that they paid for their actions. His ship was much more compact, agile and better equipped than the standard issue K-9 fighter so outmaneuvering wasn't often much of a problem. The Wolfen was created by Andross's engineers for the sole purpose of providing Team Star Wolf an edge on the opposition and they were allowed to keep them after the war; the ship's presence alone was enough to strike fear into most Cornerian hearts.

Coming out of the bank, Wolf released the brake and depressed the trigger to ignite the boost... But nothing happened. A red light on the instrument panel began to frantically blink, signaling that the secondary engines had been taken offline. Wolf gritted his fangs and slammed his fist on the tempered glass of the canopy, swearing loudly to release frustration. Without the secondary engines, he knew he wouldn't be able to recover his lost speed very quickly, making him an easy target. The K-9 ships in the area didn't take long to notice either. Despite having inferior hardware and training, it was tough to say that they weren't well coordinated. A few broke formation and began to move to sideswipe the struggling Wolfen.

Before he could consider any evasive actions, a loud explosion rang out over the airspace and interrupted the fight, violently rattling the cockpit- this time it didn't feel like a hit. Hopeful that it was one of the Cornerians, Wolf quickly scanned the visible area around him with his sharp purple eye before spotting a thick black cloud off in the distance. Flaming hunks of metal dropped from the sky, trailing smoke in every which way with three K-9 ships in tow. It looked like a ship had taken a direct hit to the fuel tank.
"B-BOSS! BOSS!" Andrew's face lit up the screen as Wolf's communications channel popped back online; the backup unit having just finished booting.

"What?! What the hell was that?"
"Leon! H-He-!" Wolf inhaled sharply, it felt like a bucket of ice had been poured over him as his blood drained out of his face.
"W-what happened? Where is he?!" He barked out.
"You were supposed to have his back, Wolf!! What the hell did you do?! You sent him to draw their attention then let them walk all over him!!"
"We're gettin' out of here, Wolfy. This is just like Bolse all over again and I ain't goin' down like that."

Under normal circumstances, that kind of insubordination would have been met with quick retaliation, but Wolf was stunned. He stared up at the remnants of Leon's Wolfen, wide-eyed and open jawed. He didn't know how to react. They always had close calls, but he never had an appreciation for how lucky they actually were. And as with everything else, he was now finding that even their abundance of luck eventually runs dry.

The sudden fatality had caught the captain so off guard that for the moment he had forgotten that he was in the middle of an uphill battle. At least, until a follow-up strafing run brought him back to reality. Shots riddled the partially-disabled Wolfen as it desperately tried to regain speed; the integrity of the cabin pierced by a particularly well-placed ion shot. Blood painted the interior of the cockpit as the shot connected directly with Wolf's gut; he couldn't stop himself from yelping in pain- letting go of the flight sticks to reflexively grab at his wound.

Nothing like this had ever happened before. Wolf could no longer focus, the flashing lights, controls and warnings all became a foreign language to him as he clutched his injury, blood pouring out between his fingers. "I-Is this the end?" The captain thought to himself as the Wolfen began spiraling out of his control. He held his bloodied up paw to his face and looked it over. "Just a normal job gone wrong? No rivals, no blaze of glory... Just shot down like the disgraceful dog I am? No... I don't- I won't..." He begrudgingly forced himself back into the fight, grabbing one of the flight sticks and getting a heaping amount of blood on it. He tried to wrestle control of his vessel again, but at this point it was already too late. He was way off course and too much was offline, it was beyond the point of recovery.

Try as he may, Wolf was unable to change his fate. Instead he continued his careening descent, watching the ground get closer and closer, until...

"Boss... Come now. Wake up."

Wolf bolted upright and tossed the covers aside, flinging them over the body of the crewmate relaxing next to him. He was panting something fierce.
"I-... I-..."
"Shh... You're fine, Boss. You've been twitching and growling all night... Bad dreams again?" Wolf took a moment to reorient himself. There he was, in his room like always. Metal walls of the mothership protecting him. He let out an aggressive huff as reality came flooding back to him.
"What did I tell you about sneaking into my room, you snake?"
"Oh I'd hardly consider it sneaking, Boss."
"...How do you keep getting in here anyways?" Wolf glanced over at the door, it was still locked.
"I have my ways." Leon responded, devilish grin growing from ear to ear. "Besides, it looks like you've had another nightmare. Would you like to talk about it?"
"Maybe what I'd LIKE is one night where you don't break into my room."
"Tsk tsk, you know I can't have that. What if someone were trying to kill you?"
"Then maybe I'd have a bit of peace and quiet for once in my life."
"Oh don't be like that." Leon's three-fingered chameleon hand trailed its way down Wolf's chest, tracing lines in his long grey fur. "Your heart rate is off the charts... You sure you don't want me to at least... Take care of you?" He punctuated the sentence by gripping the captain's semi-hard morning wood. Wolf huffed and let out a quiet growl, but didn't oppose it.

If you told him years ago that he would be having what could be considered regular intercourse with his best, and arguably his only, friend- Wolf would have clawed your face off in an instant. But... Circumstances change. After the Lylat Wars, Team Star Wolf spent the vast majority of its time drifting from planet to planet, taking small job after small job to stay occupied. While he wouldn't admit it to himself, years of being alone in space accompanied only by his crew of men made him more desperate and lonely than he'd ever been before. The lines between what he wanted to do and what he would be willing to do blurred more and more until the invitations of his shockingly perverted teammate began to intrigue him.

It didn't hurt that Leon was built in a very... Visually appealing way for him too. Lithe, effeminate and submissive- the combination could be very intoxicating. While he was always momentarily reluctant and rarely initiated, he found himself drawn to Leon more and more with each time- becoming closer than he would normally allow himself to be with anybody.

Moments into their intimacy, Wolf's sensitive canine ears picked up the on-board communicator ringing again and again. He considered that it may be important... But found that he was enjoying Leon's mouth too much. Whoever was calling would have to wait.