The man walked sullenly down the side of the street, taking little drags from his cigarette as he went. His eyes were concealed by a pair of dark, round glasses. The thin, sleeveless, fur jacket he wore did little to take the bite off the cold evening air. The man was mostly alone that night, as it was nearly two in the morning. Sleep had been hard to come by lately, but he found that late night walks calmed him down.
Suddenly, he heard the scuffing of hurried footsteps behind him and turned to see a small hooded figure run and turn sharply into an ally. He was immediately followed by two much larger pursuers.
"Huh, now what do we have here?" The man mused out loud, running his fingers through his short, spiked hair. The evening was no longer so quiet, it seemed. With his curiosity peaked, the man flicked down his cigarette and took off towards the ally, following the assailants. He ran after the three, staying back just far enough as to not be seen. Suddenly the person being chased tripped and dove to the ground. He quickly pushed himself up only to back up against the wall. The two larger men loomed over him.
"P-please d-don't!" The hooded figure said in a high, stuttering voice. One of the men let out a short, bark-like laugh which made him shrink back into a cower.
"Things like you should all go die!" Said the man that laughed.
"Go to hell, you disgusting freak!" The other attacker said pulling out a gun. Right as he took aim, the man hiding in the shadows stepped out in front of the cowering hooded figure. The assailant pulled the trigger, reacting late to the intervention. But shockingly, the bullet did not blow a hole through the man's stomach. It simply ricocheted off. He stared down upon the two attackers with an awful grin.
"Disgusting freak huh? Clearly you haven't looked in the mirror in a while." He advanced toward them and grabbed at the gun. The attacker fired twice in a desperate attempt. One bullet bounced off the man's shoulder but the other was a dead on shot to the middle of his forehead. The man's head flung back because of the force, but snapped back into place just as fast. The wound the bullet had left began sizzling with tiny red sparks. The man's grin grew wider. "You know, that would have killed most people." He wrenched the gun from the attackers hand. "Good thing I'm not most people, huh." The two attackers stumbled back, their jaws dropped in what could have been either awe or horror.
"You-you're one of those freaks too!"
"That's right. I am one of those freaks. And I suggest you better get moving or," the man raised the gun, "you're gonna end up looking pretty freaky too."
It was defiantly terror in their eyes now, the man decided as the two tripped over each other trying to get out of the alley. He laughed watching them scramble, admiring his work. A sudden snivel reminded the man why he'd run down the alley in the first place. He looked down at the petrified form on the ground.
"Now what the hell do we have here?" He mused. Upon a closer look, the man noticed the reptilian features of the person on the ground. He had a wide face, long nose, scaly skin, and fear in his eyes. He's a chimera, the man realized.
"Hey are you okay?" He held out a hand, but the lizard-like person just shrunk away. "Hey, now I'm not gonna hurt you. That would be stupid considering that I just saved your life." Tentatively, the chimera reached up and took the outstretched hand. "The name is Greed. Greed the Avaricious." He smiled. "I'm Greedy."
"Th-thank you m-mister Greed. Thank you for saving me."
"No problem, uh...what's your name?"
"It's Bido."
"Well Bido," Greed went to light another cigarette, " how would you like to be my friend?" Bido's eyes lit up.
"D-do you really mean that, Mister Greed?"
"Sure, you know I'm always looking for some new, ah, followers."
"Oh, I wonder if I should take you to see Martel then. I'm sure she'd want to see you." Greed raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah? Who is this Martel? Is she cute?"
"Miss Martel is so nice to us. She helps us find food and places to stay. A-although I wouldn't go calling her cute. She m-might not like that." Hm, us he said? Greed thought to himself.
"Well okay then Bido, why don't you lead the way!"
"A-alright! But mister Greed, I have one question for you."
"Hngh? What's that?"
"U-uh, w-why are you wearing sunglasses at night? Does that make it hard to see?" Greed stroked his chin thoughtfully. It was an honest question.
"Well...it's because they look cool."
"T-they do look cool." Greed laughed and clapped Bido on the back, making the little chimera fall forward a bit.
"Bido, I think we're gonna get along just fine."