Fatal-fame here with another chapter of Everyone Wants a PAYDAY.

Last time they robbed a jewelry store.

Now they're working with Vlad.

We all caught up? Good.

Moving on.

Fatal-Fame does not own PAYDAY or Starfox. This is for entertainment only, not for profit.

Everyone Wants a PAYDAY

Ch.2 Barely Moving up in the World.

"Ya' know." Aces said as he leaned against the wall off a computer store. "I joined this crew to do some real heisting, not continue this petty robbery bullshit."

"It's what Vlad wanted." Lynx replied as he pulled out a cigarette, offering one to both Aces and Venom. After a moment of decision, Aces took one.

Vlad was a Ukrainian Borzoi. He seemed friendly enough and just wanted them to do some small favours. After being in prison for eight years because an accomplice sold him out. He sought out a way to regain his power back in the criminal world.

Aces was sure the fucker was insane.

However, he was paying them, so he got a pass.

The job was to steal some money from four stores in the middle of town.

There was a cafè, electronics store, china shop and a convenience store.

"I just want something to happen." Venom remarked as he adjusted his bag. "This waiting is killing me."

"We sent Kew to case a few minutes ago." Aces commented. "She should be back by now."

"I am." The cat popped up behind him, mask on and weapons drawn.

"Holy shit!" Aces exclaimed as he raised a paw to his chest. "The hell, Kew?"

"Keep it down." Kew quickly reminded him. "If we're seen, we'll have a lot of shit to deal with."

"So, how's it look?" Venom asked as he pushed himself off the wall and prepared to grab his mask.

"Already done." At the blank looks she received she elaborated. "We only needed fifteen thousand, so I just robbed an ATM."

The men just stared at her, then turned to each other.

"I fucking hate all of you!" She screamed as she fired at the approaching cops from the china store.

"That's nice." Venom replied as he fixed up the drill by the backdoor safe. "But I don't think the cops care."

"I wasn't talking about the cops." She was beyond done with the smug monkey, who she was sure was smirking behind his mask.

"I swear to god I'm gonna beat the..." She was cut off as Aces voice filtered over their coms.

"Stop talking about spanking the monkey and tell me what's going on over there." Aces' tone was serious, but you could hear the slight mirth in his voice.

"We're still trying to get the safe here open." Kew's voice was calm as she took aim. "Which we wouldn't have to deal with if you guys hadn't alerted the cops!"

"And If we had just left, there would be less loot." Lynx reminded her as he and Aces defended the drill on a safe they found in the convenience store. "And we all like more money, right?"

"Just hurry the hell up." she grumbled as the comms went silent. Aces and Lynx shared a quick laugh before they both got serious agan.

Lynx flipped around the corner of the door and fired two shotgun blasts at the approaching swat. Aces kept in the back, in case he needed to patch the dog up.

"The safe is open over here." They heard Venom over a hail of gunfire. Causing Aces to check the safe he was working on.

"This one's open." He yelled out as the door came loose. Reaching inside he bagged the jewelry set.

"Okay, one more in the cafe on the counter!" Kew yelled as they fought their way out of the china store. Meeting up with Aces and Lynx, Venom started to work on the safe while they provided cover.

"How long is this gonna take?" Aces asked as he took out a few more cops.

"I was thinking..." The monkey pulled back as the shape charge went off, blowing the safe open. "Couple seconds."

"Heh, nice." They heard Bain over their radios, just as the van pulled up in the alley between the cafe and china shop.

Shattering the window between them and their getaway. All four got out of the building and made their way to the van, shooting at the cops as they did so. As they got into the van, Venom started to lay down trip mines.

"Wouldn't recommend crossing the line." Venom warned them in a jovial tone as he hopped into the vehicle, which sped off as they sat down and the doors closed.

"Well, that was fun." The monkey took off his mask, smiling as he did so.

"That was nice." Lynx replied as he got his mask off, followed by both Aces and Kew.

"Oh and boys?" They all turned to the only female, who gave a soft smile as she slapped all of them across the face.

"Spanking the monkey!?" She yelled at them, much to their amusement.

"Now that that's done." Bain interrupted them. "Vlad has another job if you're interested."

"What's the job?"

"Well, it involves going to a mall..."

'Y'know, I understand starting small, build a rep, get better equipment.' Aces thought for a brief moment. 'But I figured that being on a robbery crew would have more...robbery in it.'

'But, on the other hand…' Aces pulled back the bat he was holding and smashed another glass window. 'This way more fun than I thought it'd be.'

He figured vandalism was one of the weaker crimes out there. Damaging or defacing someone's property didn't seem that great.

But then he tried it.

And he knew the appeal.

Smashing shit was fun.

"Hey, Aces!" Looking towards Venom. Aces pulled up the bat as the monkey wound up. Throwing the ball at the fox, Aces swung the bat and hit it out a skylight.

"That was awesome." The monkey jumped in excitement as glass rained down to the floor.

Followed by a SWAT with a rifle and a red laser attachment.

The sniper aimed down his scope as he found his first target. Finger wrapping around the trigger as he lined up the headshot.

"Sup, bitch?" He heard right before a shotgun blast threw him away from the skylight.

Loading another shell into his Predator shotgun, Lynx casually aimed at the escalators, where more Basic SWAT were running up.

Before their heads were turned to red mist, courtesy of semi-auto buckshot.

"They are making this way too easy." He muttered to himself as he started to reload again. Stock against his shoulder, he prepared for the next wave as a sudden rush of heat came from behind.

Kew dusted off her hands as she stepped through the large broken window of the gym that was now on fire. Calmly pulling her pistols out, she proceeded to put a bullet in several SWAT as they rappelled through the skylight.

"Glad to see you're feeling better." The dog spoke as he fired on more cops coming up the escalator. Shaking his head as he ducked behind cover, he calmly pulled the pin on a grenade and gave it a good toss.

"Meh, I'm just glad this job is gonna be done soon." Picking off several more cops as they came up the escalator, she dropped to reload as the grenade exploded. "We did get everything we can steal, right?"

"As much as we could carry." Not counting the loose necklaces and cash bundles, they managed to score a good load of square sets, with a nice bag full of cash as an added bonus.

It's the little things that make it worth it.

"Thank God." She muttered as she rose to fire as the sound of a hover engine drew her attention.

"I'm here, let's go, people!" They heard over their headsets.

"Right, Venom and Kew, you two go first, me and Lynx will cover you guys!" Getting a nod from the monkey, both shot up from cover as they made their way to the small bridge in the center of the third floor. While Lynx and Kew did the same.

Monkey and cat latched onto the cables, letting themselves be pulled onto the aircraft. Followed by the vulpine and dog.

Pulling the pin on another grenade, Venom let it fall from his hands as he and Kew helped their fellow gang members onto the craft.

"People, that was well handled." Bain complimented as they all sat down, bags of loot in the middle of them. "I know it wasn't the best job in the world, but you guys seriously showed them who's boss."

"It's what we got paid to do." Shrugging his shoulders, Aces dropped the mags from both his guns, where he loaded them with fresh mags.

"Either way, you all did good." As they started to descend, they all pulled off their masks. "We might as well lay low for a bit and let the heat die off, it'll give Vlad time to make sure he gets his protection money."

"Fine by me, I got orders I need to get on anyway." Venom said as they touched down. Stretching his hands above his head, he cracked his neck. "You guys wanna go get wings?"

"Oh yeah, it's Wednesday." Kew thought about it as she brought a hand to her face. "I could go for a pint."

"I could go for several." The dog agreed as they got off the hovercraft, turning to Aces, he gestured to him and the pilot "You two in?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Pulling off his suit jacket as they walked into the hideout, he ran a hand over his face. "Shower first, though."

"None for me, gotta get home to the missus." The pilot said as he started to take off again, this time flying towards another part of the city.

As Aces watched him fly off he snapped his fingers.

"I forgot to get his name."

Everyone Wants a Payday

Stepping out of the shower back at his place, Fox looked into the mirror to make sure all traces of dye had been washed out.

No sense in being blood red if he was gonna lay low for a while.

Slipping on some underwear and a pair of pants, he threw himself onto the couch and grabbed the tv remote. Turning to on, he found himself watching a game show.

"Pizza." He said out loud as one group was asked what foods would kids choose if they could decided what was for dinner.

"Chicken." Fox shrugged as the answer came up on the board, still wasn't the top though.

Stretching out, he noticed the red light of his answering machine flicking on and off. Turning down the tv, he hit the button.

"Hello, Fox. It's Peppy." Hearing his old mentor's name, he sat up and looked towards the machine. "I'm calling to let you know about a meeting that'll be held on Friday. While it's not mandatory you come, I would feel better if you did."

Raising an eyebrow at nothing, he regarded the message for a sec.

'Why me?' He thought as he leaned against the couch, kicking up his feet so that he was laying down. 'Shouldn't Wolf or Falco be dealing with whatever it is?'

"And, before you ask, yes Falco, Wolf and their teams will be there." Because of course they would, and of course the old hare knew what Fox was thinking of. "Simply put, this meeting will be about some minor threats, and you're our expert on threats."

"Damn straight." He chuckled as he cracked his knuckles, leaning further into the couch as he did.

"Once again, you don't have to show up if you don't want to, but please call me to let me know your answer." Hearing the beep, the vulpine reached over to delete the message and grab the phone. Punching in Peppy's number, he raised it to his ear as it started to ring.

'Sorry, old friend.' He thought as the phone continued to ring. 'But this McCloud has other things to do than get into a pissing contest he can't win.'

And even if he was there, it wasn't like all the threats could be that bad. He hadn't heard about a new empire or alien race trying to take the Lylat system.

The only real trouble these days were him and his...crew.

'Shit.'

"Hey, Peppy, it's me." Hearing the older man answer, Fox let out a sigh as he brought a hand to his face. "About that meeting, what time will it be?"

Getting the info he needed, he wished Peppy a good night and hung up the phone. Throwing a hand over his face, he groaned as he felt a headache come on.

In two days, he would be in a room with people he hated, people who hated him and some who were neutral.

And he couldn't forget about the woman who hated him that could read minds.

If it wasn't for the fact he had to know If the PAYDAY gang was considered a threat or not, he probably be checking out that Gage guy Bain keeps talking about.

But, sacrifices have to be made.

Now how to go to this meeting without getting himself caught by miss mind reader?

Chapter 2 of Everybody Wants a PAYDAY

So read and review, please.