Angels with Newfound Hope
Act 1 Chapter 9: Second
Bryce's Favorite Bar - Day 2, 10:03PM
Alex Thompson had been through so many drinking games with his friend Chris. Of course, experience didn't matter when going up against someone easily five times your size. The poor human hit the tiled floor like a sack of bricks. Bryce's face was the first thing he saw when he woke back up.
"Hey. Are you okay? You fell over, and look kind of messed up." The stocky reptile stared down at the aforementioned man, who looked up blearily at him.
"Y-yeah..." The human trailed off. His companion let out an entertained huff.
"Good. I was worried for a second. You ready for another round, or do you give?" The tipsy chief asked. Both of them already knew the answer. Once you're on the ground, you're out. Alex had effectively lost.
"I think we both know the answer to that one. I know my limits, and I just hit them." The brunette muttered as he picked himself up. The reptile's jovial attitude returned in full.
"Well done Alex. I didn't think you could keep up like that." Bryce cheered. Now that his company was clearer-headed, he noticed the bar had mostly emptied. The bartender came up to them with a bemused look.
"Well done indeed. As fun as watching you two was, I think you both have had enough for the night. You should probably get going soon." He chided. Alex turned to the chief as the barkeep left. It seemed he passed out in the time that their little friend had so politely kicked them out.
"You poor thing. Now how will I wake you up?" The smaller male thought aloud. He noticed the black and white blurs he presumed were salt and pepper shakers. 'Perfect.' He thought with a mischievous smirk.
Alex grabbed what he hoped was the pepper and began shaking. Nothing happened after about five shakes. Upon closer inspection, he realized he'd accidentally grabbed the salt. The salt was replaced with pepper and shaken once again onto Bryce's nose. The reptile sluggishly peeled himself off the table.
"Alex? That you? Where am I?" He sniffed a few times. "And what did you do to my nose? Did you shove something up there while I was out?" He finished, mildly annoyed. The man facing him was a little disappointed he didn't end up in a sneezing fit.
"We're still at the bar, and I just put pepper there to wake you up." He explained. The massive officer rolled his eyes so hard they'd probably fall out of his skull.
"That's the best you could come up with?" The chief taunted. Alex waved him off, dismissing the question.
"Like you could've done any better in your state. Come on you big wuss, let's get you home." Alex shot back. Things became nothing more than a blur after they left the bar...
? - Day 3, 8:40AM
Alex awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling, his head throbbing and all last night being fuzzy at best. What little environment he saw through his squinted eyes helped him remember the basics of the night before. He sat up from his temporary bed on the floor and stretched. His hand ended up on something rather warm and scaly.
A glance over revealed none other than his new favorite cop, sleeping peacefully on a pastel blue armless sofa. The early morning sunlight reflected perfectly on his scales, making them that gorgeous fiery red he'd become familiar with. The brunette couldn't help but smile along with the slumbering reptile. He was far too adorable in that state.
The peace unfortunately came to an end when Alex realized he still had to wake him up. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture as a memento. Now all he had to do was wake slumbering beast.
"Oh Bryce, good morning sunshine." The human murmured softly to him. The larger male let out a groan and stretched in a very satisfying way. That came to another unfortunate end when he gripped his head. It seemed both of them were going to have crappy days today.
"Ugh... my head. What are you even doing here?" The chief grumbled. That confirmed it, both of them were officially screwed.
"I guess I passed out after we got back here. We were both pretty much plastered." Alex explained weakly. Bryce let out his own weak chuckle before grabbing his head again.
"Oh right. After our little game..." He trailed off. The human chuckled as softly as he could, so as to not incur the wrath of their hangovers.
"Yeah. You remember who won at all? My mind's pretty foggy right now." Foggy was a massive understatement. The brunette could barely think with the pulsating pestilence ravaging his entire body.
"Can't say I do, but you stood your ground and I respect that." Bryce's gentle smile turned to a frown of suspicion. "I hope you didn't do anything funny while I was out. I'd hate to have to punish you." He smirked as well as he could. Unfortunately, his body didn't like the notion and punished him instead. The smaller male caught him right as he was about to hit the coffee table and lay him back on the couch.
"Maybe you should lay back down. We're both going to need time to get over this before we do anything." Alex said, concerned for his new friend. The massive reptile just got back up without even batting an eye.
"Just overdid myself a little. I'll be fine. Maybe you should head back to your place. I've still got work soon and they're going to miss me there." Bryce waved him off as he stood. It was pretty clear the human wasn't taking that lightly, but wasn't going to get in his way either.
"If you say so." The brunette sighed. "Just please don't do anything terribly stupid. I don't want you hurt because your hangover didn't agree with something." He placed a hand on the larger officer's shoulder. The motion seemed to get his attention long enough to catch his companion's worried expression.
"Alright. I promise I won't for your sake. On another note, let's just pretend that game never happened." Bryce offered. The smaller man smiled gently when their eyes met.
"Start over?" Alex held his hand out to shake.
"Start over." His hungover companion firmly took the gesture with his own paw.
"Thanks, by the way, for telling me about Reza. That information could very well come in handy for the case. Maybe I'll invite you over next time. Show you there's more to the Chief of Police than getting absolutely shit-faced." The reptile joked lightheartedly. Alex's smile grew into an ear-to-ear grin.
"Maybe we'll find out the exciting conclusion to our game then. Maybe I'll even show you some of my cool human technology too." He declared with a little flair. The two of them outright laughed at the stupidity until their headaches flared up again.
"I guess we should get going. I'll see you around, okay?" Bryce said on their way out the door. The mid-morning heat was already pounding down on them as they ended the conversation.
"Alright. See you later." The man waved to him as they went their separate ways. He seriously hoped that scaly horse wouldn't get himself hurt at work...
After taking the entire day to get over his hangover: that, and find a sewing kit to no avail, Alex prepared for the night's activities. It was his responsibility to help catch Reza now- even if that meant letting Viper out for a little while. He made sure the little equipment he had was in place before sneaking out a window.
He crept around the back of his building and up a drainpipe leading to the roof. Since Sebastian was still technically on duty, The human had to make sure he wasn't detected in any way during his night out. Maybe there was something he could distract his security with.
Or rather, someone. It seemed as though another dragon stopped to say hi. The shadow-cloaked man shrugged and hauled himself over the complex wall. A distraction was a distraction, and he wasn't about to complain.
The pitch black alley he found himself in was a good enough hiding spot for the time being. After letting his eyes adjust, he started infiltrating the city. There had to be something going on in the background at least so his night wasn't fruitless.
A couple of runners cut him off right as he was about to step out of the alley. Their sudden appearance startled him behind a trash can. Alex checked for more people oncoming. Unfortunately, there was a smaller group heading his way. Now would've been a good time to hack the street cameras if he had his suit.
The human instead waited for them to pass by and blend in at the back. His stepping in thankfully went unnoticed. Some of them were chatting about his and Reza's visit, so he decided to hone in.
"I wonder why they needed two human ambassadors for this thing?" A runner ar the front asked. Another anthro closer to him shook their head complacently.
"Dude, you really need that spelled out for you? One's the actual ambassador performing the trade, while the other is overseeing the whole thing and reporting back to their leaders." The anthro explained smarmily.
"And what if they're just sizing us up to take over? I think you guys have heard about Victor's murder by now." The whole group went silent. Alex guessed this 'Victor' was a friend of theirs.
"Maybe it was just some random attack, Chris. We don't know the details of this whole thing." The anthro finally spoke up.
"I'll bet Naomi knows something. She's a police officer. And didn't she say she had to handle something around Tatsu Park last night?" There was that name again. Maybe there was something to this Naomi girl that Alex didn't know. He settled upon asking Bryce about her later.
Someone hiding around a corner caught his eye. Their garb looked like that of the person who attacked him the other night. If they were planning another round tonight, then he'd just have to ensure his security. Maybe he'd be able to get his stuff back too. The human checked his surroundings for anyone before making a beeline for the building they were at.
Rounding the corner, the man noticed first that some street lamps were out. At least there wasn't anyone around that he could see. He drew his pistol and began methodically pacing down the sidewalk. That person was here somewhere, and they clearly wanted him dead.
Adrenaline pumped through the human's veins as he stalked forward. He knew the odds were highly stacked against him. If this was his attacker, and if they had his rifle, he was dead in the case of a firefight. This situation had to be handled with tact and extremely careful planning.
Some movement on a ledge caught his attention. Further inspection revealed it was just a wyvern peering down at him. The brunette put a hand to his eyes and shook his head. Maybe they would understand and go back inside. He continued forth with renewed caution. He wouldn't be able to easily use lethal combat now without someone noticing. Not without hiding himself first, anyway.
Passing by a clothing store, Alex was dragged under the awning. The attacker shushed him with a knife to his throat.
"One false move and you're six feet under, ambassador." The attacker whispered. "Return to where you're from or else." There was little choice about how to go about this. The shadow-cloaked man didn't have a way back to Terra that he knew of, nor did he even have his equipment anymore.
"Give me back my stu- Ack!" The brunette yelped as the knife plunged into his thigh. He took the killer by the neck and threw them over his back like last time. Thankfully, his regen augment always killed the pain enough to still be mobile. They both took aim for each other again. He noticed their revolver had been upgraded to a bullpup rifle: his rifle.
The other human carefully stepped back. Alex matched it with a step forward. They tried going into shadow, but he followed. The tension was even thicker than ever before now. One false move and either one of them could end up dead.
"Just give me my stuff back, and I'll leave." The stormy-eyed man growled. The attacker put a bullet next to his skull and began running. His recoiling from the impact unfortunately left him unable to return fire. The human swore as they got away again.
He checked to see what kind of weapon they had from the bullet casing. Picking it up, he noticed it was a non-ballistic 5.56 round. Only one gun possibly in this world could fire that kind of bullet: His rifle. He was beyond pissed now. That person had his equipment and was using it against him. Worse yet, he didn't even know who they were.
The human trudged back to the storefront to look for any more evidence. Aside from some of his blood and his night vision sunglasses, there wasn't much. He picked up the shades and activated them. At least he had one piece of his equipment back now...