Angels with Newfound Hope
Act 1 Chapter 21: Pressure
Abandoned Building - Day 9, 9:59PM
Alex and padded through the unfinished hallways of an old storefront. The cautious determination on his face could tell everything. Someone else was here, and he was hunting...
One hour Ago
"I'll bet Bryce is passed out at the bar again." A feminine voice came through on Alex's phone. He didn't have much to do in his apartment besides read, so there he lay, listening to the police scanner he hacked instead.
"I can guarantee it. Hey, did we get a follow-up on that weird report?" Another more mature voice answered. He cocked a brow. What were they talking about?
"Not yet. Naomi should've been back by now. It's been a good couple hours." The younger of the two seemed more weirded out now. So was Alex.
"That's... strange. She's usually in-and-out with these kinds of things." There was a pregnant pause between them. Alex listened in more closely.
"I'll go check it out. There's clearly something wrong here. Can I get the address again?" The younger requested.
"It's 1126 Stag court. Be careful. Witnesses reported seeing some creepy black figure inside." That was it. Alex had something to do this evening...
Present
The pitch blackness was no match for the human's night vision, though he wished Mongoose made it full color beforehand. Seeing nothing but green was a bit of a pain.
He pushed it away as he crept further into the building. His boots weren't even audible anymore to the naked ear, not until a hint of movement startled him. The light clicking became fierce scratching and an echoing gasp. A flashlight flicked on and darted to where Alex once was.
"Police, show yourself!" A female voice commanded. As if that ever worked with most anyone. He ducked further behind his cover: a large crate labelled 'clothing' as the officer stalked closer. Whomever was here had clearly made some impact on her, as the light itself shook violently.
The brunette got a better look once she padded near his crate. It was the officer from the other nights. Her mauve scales and warm navy uniform stuck out like a sore thumb. The only thing missing from it was her cap. She was still quivering from her jump-start. That was when he noticed something across the room.
Viper sat crouched behind some standing mannequins, possibly waiting for the officer to leave. Alex's rifle still lay across their back with surprisingly great care taken. It seemed his suspicions were correct that they were the disturbance.
Their visor flashed white whilst they looked around, showing him his objective again. He needed that rifle and the rest of his gear quickly. And there was no doubt Viper had all of it. He ducked further into darkness as Naomi crept by again, this time noticing the bright visor fading out. She brought up her flashlight and flicked it on. The barely distorted air where the light was still signalled their position.
Whilst the officer was busy, Alex climbed to a rafter for better cover. He watched as she got right next to Viper, yelping as she was hit with a dart. They stepped out of the darkness with his rifle aimed at him.
"I know you're up there. Come out or she gets hurt." The predator now aimed the rifle for Naomi. Fuck, Alex was in deep trouble. Maybe a fake surrender would get him out of this? But that may put him in more danger than he expects. It could also give him a chance to take them out too. He's already proven himself to be superior to this faux version of himself.
"You have three seconds. One." That amped up the pressure ten-fold. If he used his gun, Viper may just take the bullet and kill her anyway.
"Two." There wasn't any time left. He'd have to wing it from here.
"Fine! I'm coming down. Just don't shoot her." Alex called. Dropping off the rafter, he was met with a vascular restraint and a gun to his temple. It seemed Viper was careful not to use their left arm for the actual restraint. Maybe they knew of his past mistakes.
"Sleep tight, Viper." Was all the brunette heard before the impact...
Two blurs stood talking amongst themselves just within Alex's vision. Their voices were just barely audible through his grogginess. He remained still and honed in as well as he could.
"Make sure he isn't going anywhere. Wake him up, and make him talk. Find out why and how he came here." A distinct female voice caught his interest. She sounded somewhat like the person trying to kill him this past week.
"Understood. What will you be doing in the meantime?" The same voice, presumably Viper, responded bluntly.
"I'll be keeping an eye on things. Thanks for hacking the city's security mainframe. Finding Reza should be easier now." The first gratefully addressed the predator.
"And after this, we take him back like I said. He's already established relationships with the dragons. It won't be good cover if we have two missing humans, and third suddenly shows up." The faux-vigilante addressed. They made a good point. Bryce and the others would be looking for him if he suddenly went missing.
"Unfortunately, you're right. It wouldn't be good at this point. Just knock him out once we're finished." With that, the hunter left for another room in... wherever the hell this was. Viper turned to the brunette with seemingly malicious intent.
"I know you're awake. How about you act it?" They chastised Alex with his own trademark bluntness. Whomever this was, knew him well.
"What do you want?" The human coldly glowered. His gray pierced into his adversary's visor.
"Take it easy, Viper. I'm not your enemy - yet." A dangerously familiar voice rang out from behind that helmet. Maybe he would humor 'them' for a moment longer.
"Says the bitch who's been trying to kill me, alongside another similar bitch." The brunette's glare only worsened with each word.
"Stop it. Just answer some questions and we'll let you go. I already ensured your safety, as I'm sure you overheard." She switched over to Alex's voice again. No wonder Chris hated when he did that.
"Take that helmet off first. I know who's under there now anyway." Alex coerced the person in his armor. It seemed they were in thought for a moment before their stance changed, and the helmet separated itself from an ever familiar face.
"Now get answering, Alex. What are you doing here? Why did you follow me through?" That smooth-as-silk voice finally hit the brunette's ears once more. Unfortunately, now there were more questions.
"You tell me, Mongoose. You're the one who followed me through. And you even took my suit and weapons. I thought I could trust you." Alex growled. He was disgusted with what his friend did, but still needed to keep her on his side.
"What do you mean? You offered for me to go through, saying that last time was more than enough." Now the man was even angrier. Putting words in his mouth like that was one thing he wouldn't tolerate.
"So now you're painting me as a coward? You know damn well I wouldn't back away from our project like that, especially since things are so dire now!" He raised his voice, only to be slapped.
"Shut the fuck up and tell me!" Mongoose yelled. Alex wondered if she'd been working out for the last week.
"You've gotten stronger. Unfortunately, that won't save you. When I get out of this chair-"
"You'll do something scary you'd normally do to criminals. I know the drill from when you were caught by that forensics guy and interrogated." And yet another question popped up.
"The one we took out back in 2016?" Alex cocked his head a little, to which Mongoose nodded.
"Yeah. Why, are you making something else up?" The hispanic snarled. That was... weird. He was never caught and interrogated, just killed the guy and his goons.
"No, just... tell me what happened to Macy." The vigilante suddenly grew quizzical. If she was remembering things differently, then...
"You don't remember? She was killed in the ensuing fight. Chris took her body somewhere in the catacombs below town." Mongoose herself adopted the same demeanor. That was odd: he remembered specifically that she didn't interfere.
"That's impossible. She was too scared to disobey my order, and kept herself hidden." Something wasn't right, and Alex was beginning to suspect what exactly.
"Now look who's mind is fucked. She was disobedient the whole time she was alive, especially to you." Now that was just wrong. Macy was never disrespectful in that regard anymore. Not since they finally started bonding.
"Wait, what do you remember me looking like before this?" The brunette queried.
"Why does that matter?" The woman in front of him cocked a brow. He just gave her a look that screamed 'just do it'. "Fine. You had shaggy hair and a full beard, and your clothes were more disheveled..." She trailed off, as if something finally clicked.
"Wait. You never keep yourself this clean cut. I rarely even hear you speak outside of giving orders." Mongoose seemed stunned. It's almost as if Alex completely lost his sanity, dedicating himself completely to his dirty work.
"There's our ticket. I think I might know what's going on now, but there's only one way to find out." The trapped man contemplated.
"Spit it out then. I want to know just as bad." His companion fired off. She was definitely a lot pushier to him.
"This may sound crazy, but we both could be from alternate universes. Different versions of Terra with different versions of what's familiar. For one example, my Mongoose is less harsh due to me never losing Macy." Alex explained. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing he had going.
"That would explain your calmness and different memories. I guess I'll have to take it for now. We'll see once the portal is fixed. But there's still one thing. If you're from an alternate universe, how did you end up here with me?" Mongoose questioned. Finally her more familiar side was showing.
"I actually don't know myself. Maybe the coordinates we put in just took us to the same place? Quantum shit was always a headache to me." The brunette shrugged the best he could. Some explanation was always better than none.
"In that case, we'd better make the best of this. There's something I need to tell you when we get outside. Sorry about this." With that, Mongoose punched her friend hard enough to echo throughout the room. "Play possum." Her order was abided by swiftly. His hunter came back in and inspected everything, noting something the male couldn't see.
"He really didn't need much, did he? What did he say?" The masked female queried coolly.
"I'll have to tell you later. This one needs to go back before he wakes up, and we're a ways away from his residence. I can guarantee you he won't be happy when that happens." The hispanic countered, untying Alex from the chair and hauling him over her shoulder.
"Fine. Make it quick. We still need to discuss what you found out." The hunter seemed to usher them off, as Mongoose began walking.
Alex didn't dare open his eyes until he was set down. The sound of crickets and the occasional nocturnal bird filled the air they now experienced. It would've been serene, if not for the immediate tension.
"So what's going on that you couldn't tell me before?" The vigilante finally spoke up. His companion only pointed skyward.
"You see that red star? That's a comet that's on a collision course for this place. It'll strike two weeks from now, making what we do all the more important. If we fail: everyone we've ever met will die." The hacker gave everything she could to him. This was beyond imperative now.
"And this comes back to Reza how?" Was all her friend asked.
"He's stealing the generators we need to stop it. There are two more he'll be going after, but I forget which ones." Mongoose mentally slapped herself for losing such vital information.
"So we keep him from taking them and blow up the comet or something. How do we convince the dragons they're in danger without mass hysteria?" Alex asked sullenly, still looking at the comet.
"We don't unless we have all the generators. Every last bit of power is needed in order to do this. Without it, we're fucked." The hacker exposed. Something was taken off her back and handed to him. The familiar feeling of steel and plastic graced his hands once more. His rifle was back in his possession, and it never felt better.
"Thanks for taking care of it." The male caressed its foregrip with his thumb. He really missed his faithful weapon.
"Don't mention it. Now go stop Reza, Viper. Lord knows these dragons need a happy ending." The hispanic urged with a reassuring smile. Alex nodded back and started walking back into town. He had never been more determined than now, nor had the threat been greater...