Angels with Newfound Hope
Act 2 Chapter 4: Repeat
Alex's Apartment - Day 2, 9:30AM
Alex Thompson sat once more on his sofa. Both of the wine bottles stood in front of him, completely emptied. Any attempts to sleep the night prior resulted only in nightmares of the incident. They just couldn't be shaken no matter what.
The doorbell broke him from his half-drunken numbness. He had a gut feeling he knew who was outside. Yet, something stopped him from answering the call. His condition wasn't difficult to miss in the slightest. What if he saw just how disheveled he was? How would he react to that?
Not like the male cared much anymore. He knew how he felt on the inside, and for now, his outward appearance would be reflecting that.
"Good morning, Ambassador. Are you alright from last night?" Bryce greeted with a concerned pleasantry. Alex knew he was staring at his crusted-over bullet wound. How could he not? Not a single thing had been done last night aside from emptying out that cheap wine.
"Yeah... I'll be fine. Would you... like to come in? Get out of the heat? It doesn't feel all that pleasant from here." The brunette offered, stepping aside.
"As much as I'd like that, I'm afraid I'll have to decline. Something's happened..." The fiery dragon trailed off as his gaze turned intense.
"Reza?" Alex had a gut feeling he already knew the answer. Events were lining up all too perfectly not to be him.
"I'm afraid so. But it's nothing we can't discuss on the way over. How about we take a walk?" Bryce offered, to which his current company automatically joined.
The walk to the station was quiet, awkward, and dragged on much longer than either of the two wanted to admit. It was when they reached the gate that the tense silence was finally broken.
"Look, I'm sorry again about last night." Bryce began. "I should've taken your current predicament into consideration before messing with you like that." That stunned the adjacent human. Why was his dragon apologizing when he himself said he didn't mind?
"Bryce, what are you apologizing for? I said you did nothing wrong. I'm just... not in the best frame of mind." Alex explained somewhat vaguely. He knew it wouldn't be very satisfactory, and the larger male's expression gave it away.
"I just feel like I did something. You even ran away from me and Sebastian earlier yesterday as well, and that worried me." The chief glumly addressed everything. This... didn't make his company feel good about himself.
"It wasn't you. It's just something I'd rather not talk about at this moment. Maybe I'll cover it later, but for now, it's just too fresh in my mind." The smaller male trailed off as they continued walking. That silence didn't last long due to another question his dragon had in mind.
"Then why don't we lighten the mood after this?" He proposed, garnering some attention.
"What do you mean by that?" Alex cocked a brow suspiciously. Surely, he couldn't be trying to set up a date already? It had only been a day since the incident.
"Not much. There's just this bar I go to. I was thinking we could unwind over a beer or two later tonight, if you want." That was exactly what he was doing. And that would've been much appreciated if it wasn't the exact same thing as their first date.
"I... I don't know. There's a lot going on with me right now. I'd say just wait for me there. If I show up, great. I'll even cover the tab. But if I don't..." The brunette trailed off as the offer sank in. He wanted to spend more time with his dragon, despite his current condition. But at the same time...
"It's not like you have to decide here and now. I'll give you my number after we're in the station so you can call ahead." The larger male stated simply. And with a silent agreement, the two delved into that horrible silence once again.
It wasn't until they left the park again that it was broken. Bryce's rumbling voice startled the smaller man beside him as he picked the conversation back up.
"So what's with that thing on your leg? It looks like what Reza carried." The stocky dragon addressed Alex's pistol with as much finesse as a rhinoceros.
"It's like his in the sense that it does the same thing. This is a pistol I brought for personal defense." The ambassador held his weapon gingerly.
"And why did you need one to begin with? You've seen what happened to Maverick." Bryce escalated his questioning to his injured coworker. It was still kind of him to do so, despite everything.
"Self defense was the only reason for this." A pregnant pause formed for just a moment before being broken smoothly. "A friend and I experimented once before with the portal privately. It led me to another world that didn't exactly carry friendly inhabitants. Most of them would try and kill me on sight. Didn't matter if I did anything or not." Alex explained in slightly less detail. Better to shorten a story as much as possible from his reasoning.
"Ah, so that's why." The chief seemed a little taken aback from the other world thing. "That still doesn't answer Maverick's suspicion of you two planning something. Did he tell you anything at all before what went down last night?"
"I'm afraid not. The only thing he mentioned was something happening in the near future, but I still know exactly fuck-all about it. It's really starting to frustrate me..." The human pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did he have to go through all this twice? Why couldn't he have just died with Bryce in that lab explosion?
"That just means we have to find him as quickly as possible. Would you mind giving us a formal statement as to what happened? All we have is Maverick's, and that alone isn't exactly reliable for the investigation." Bryce requested with a light of hope in those stunning ambers.
"Anything to help you guys out." The brunette accepted grimly. If all this was going to happen again, then it was going to go his way. He didn't care what he had to do.
"Thanks millions. Speaking of Maverick, I guarantee you his behavior yesterday won't be taken lightly. He had no right to be following you around like that. That was completely out of line for him. He'd honestly be suspended right now if he weren't already on sick leave." The massive officer promised, pissed with just... everything.
"I hadn't a shadow of a doubt. You... seem like someone who makes good on his word." Alex uttered solemnly. This got the attention of his company, who took a suspicious glance at him.
"Hey, you don't have to do this if you're not comfortable. Nobody's forcing you." The chief reassured him with a genuine smile.
"I know. It's why I'm forcing myself. I've got some experience from helping friends back home." The smaller male tried changing the subject, some hope retained that his company would just go with it.
"You have friends in the force?" The stocky dragon cocked a brow at the mention.
"Uh, yeah: the Chief and one of his sergeants. Is that a big deal?" The brunette unintentionally deadpanned. He only hoped his companion wouldn't take it poorly.
"Not really. I was only curious." Bryce shifted his tone to match. Meanwhile, Alex shifted his gaze to the ground.
"Sorry..." He couldn't even look up in fear of the thought of his dragon being annoyed with him.
"It's fine. Just be more careful with your tone from now on, alright? I don't want anyone getting angry for how you said something." The chief placed a paw on his shoulder to stop him from going ahead.
"O-okay..." Was all the poor man could say. This dragon was far too good for someone like him. The two walked silently for a moment more before another question came to mind.
"So, how does your police differ from ours anyway?" Bryce spoke up first, curious as to how his companion would answer.
"It doesn't, not by much. I'd say the biggest difference is the equipment. Where you hardly keep any around, they've got loads at all times. There's even two different outfits, one of which is straight up armor." Alex explained after some slight hesitation. In the very least, he had a nice distraction, the memories diverting back to his home momentarily.
"Armor? Now you're just yanking my tail. Nobody uses that stuff anymore." The chief chuckled, giving his companion a well-intentioned slap on the back.
"I'd show you if I had some, but I'm obviously not a cop myself." Alex weakly defended. His remaining lack of good attitude really brought the mood back down.
"You would make a good replacement for Maverick, though." Bryce joked in an unsuccessful attempt to revive what he could. That man just didn't want to be helped.
"You don't know the half of it." The human murmured under his breath, trying not to break down again.
"Anyway, try not to go missing yourself before this crap is done. I don't think things will end well if we have two missing humans to account for." The stocky reptile warned half-jokingly.
"Right. Maybe we should keep quiet about things as well. People won't react well if they find out." The smaller male proposed, to which they both shared a nod. They headed inside the police station in silence. The cool tones of Bryce's office soothed the human again to a degree. It reminded him of better times...
He was asked once again to give his statement about the incident, about Maverick and Reza, and what preceded his arrival. He could give just a little more pertaining to the former pair from his past experiences with them. During his questioning of the mysterious catastrophe, he had to play dumb to keep his cover. He didn't want anyone to go into a panic or call him crazy because he talked about a comet wiping them out. The larger officer went to file the statement like before, with his company silently mourning as the door shut behind him.
Alex sat in a deathly stillness. All these things happening all over again felt like a fever dream. One that he couldn't wake up from no matter how hard he tried. He contemplated just what he did to make this happen. That was cut short with his dragon's return, along with an urgently speaking officer. The voice sounded less feminine than before as their chatter reached the door.
"I'm afraid there's more bad news now. Reza's officially become a murder suspect." The chief informed as soon as he walked back in. Alex stood up with a hardened look.
"Son of a bitch, not again..." The human muttered. "Wait, how come you're telling me? I don't think I'll be of much help. Not without any of the gear I had." He argued without confidence. Granted, he did before, but even something like his sunglasses would be of much more use now.
"Whoa, back up there. What do you mean by 'not again'?. Are you saying he's done this before?" The dragon's dull copper scales darkened as shadows enhanced his already intimidating figure. The brunette questioned whether it was a coincidence or not that the lighting was like that. He stood up with a grim, yet determined glower.
"I'm afraid so. That asshole can't keep himself out of trouble. There's always some charge he's got for random mischief. Let's go kill his bad habits once and for all." He raised a tight fist to his chest. There was a fire in his dull eyes that Bryce found spreading to himself. The two joined up and started toward the crime scene...
"You know, I'm glad you said yes to this. We're busy as-is making sure things stay smooth for the summer festival. I guess you can see how that's going to go now. But regardless, you've really shown your trustworthy side today, Alex. Thank you." Bryce was beyond grateful with the help he'd be getting. He didn't know what he'd do without... anyone. Every officer in that department was precious to the dragon, and right now, he worried for every last one of them.
"It's the very least I could do after... everything. Part of me feels responsible for this somehow." Alex exchanged a soft look with his dragon. "I'll admit, things have been like that ever since the night before last."
"I had a feeling something happened before you came here. Can I ask what it was that did this?" The reptile stopped with a sorrowful look.
"I'm sorry, but I just can't. It still hurts too much." The brunette glanced back with those pained, misty eyes...
