Perry doubled over in pain, winded, before moving quickly and delivering an uppercut to Peter's jaw.
Pinky stared nervously as a fight broke out between the two animals. "Guys? Guys…please settle down…!" The chihuahua yelped and scrambled backwards as the fighting intensified.
"What is going on?!" a female voice snapped finally.
Pinky gulped; he recognized that voice. He looked to it and saw Juliet, arms crossed, glaring at the platypus, dog, and panda- although mostly the former two.
When she got no response, Juliet stormed into the middle of the fight and physically pushed the two animals apart.
"J-Juliet!" Perry gasped, immediately backing down.
Peter, however, got up off the ground, wiping his bloodied nose. "Juliet-."
"What on Earth was going on?!" she snapped again.
"This platypus was out of bounds," snapped Peter. "He shouldn't be here."
"You don't own this place!" Perry snapped back.
"We as good as do," Peter snarled, gesturing round at the almost exclusively Archangel patrons.
"It's not exclusive to you!"
"How many other OWCA agents do you see in here?" Peter demanded.
"Alright, that's enough!" snapped Juliet. "Both of you!"
Perry and Peter fell silent, glaring at each other.
Juliet grabbed Perry's arm and dragged him to the door. "Outside. Now."
"Why me?!" he hissed. "Peter's the one who started it!"
Juliet almost threw Perry outside and let the door close. "I know Peter started it, but you retaliated."
"Alright, fine…"
"Why did you come?" Juliet demanded.
"Because we're allowed to!" He sighed. "But I wasn't completely willing… My friend brought me. You remember Pinky?"
"I remember him." Juliet narrowed her eyes. "So HE brought you here? Where he knew Archangel agents would be?"
"Because he was being a good friend." Perry sighed. "Listen, I was feeling down, okay? He brought me here to help."
Juliet growled. "You OWCA agents are so arrogant."
"You say it like you think you're better!" Perry retorted. "Who's the one practically kicking anyone who's not in your organization out of a bar for everyone?!"
"Who's the one who agreed to come to a bar where Archangel agents all hang out, knowing full well that most of them still blame you for our base's destruction two months ago?!" Juliet snapped back.
Perry growled at the ground and didn't answer. Juliet growled as well. "You're so infuriating!" With that, she began storming off.
"Well, you're no better!" Perry snapped, watching her leave. But deep inside him, he felt his heart ache. He sighed, wishing these feelings would stop. He needed to think of Juliet as a rival, nothing more.
Just then, he heard another argument. Perry watched as animals came outside, yelling at each other. Pinky and an Archangel agent. An Archangel agent he didn't recognize.
"Take that back!" Pinky howled, trying to attack the fox agent, who was holding him back with one paw.
"Alright, what's going on?" Perry asked, trying to calm himself down after his own argument.
Juliet, who was still in earshot, froze. She wasn't sure why she did; she knew exactly who Perry would pick to blame.
"He made fun of you!" Pinky snapped angrily. "I heard it!"
Perry exhaled. "Okay, let me hear both sides of the story."
Juliet raised an eyebrow. He didn't automatically turn on the Archangel agent? THAT was interesting to her. Personally, she wasn't expecting him to not immediately blame the Archangel agent, let alone actually want to hear both sides of the story.
Pinky seemed just as surprised. "Seriously, Perry?"
"Yes," Perry replied firmly.
"Don't… Don't you trust me?"
Perry narrowed his eyes. "I'm trying to be fair, Pinky. Just tell me what happened."
"Fine," Pinky sighed.
Perry tapped his foot impatiently. "NOW, please, Pinky."
"I can explain," the fox Archangel agent snapped. "I was chatting with my friends about the fight and you getting kicked out by Juliet, and this little dog decided to eavesdrop and attack me for simply talking about you."
Perry hesitated. "Pinky, what's your side?"
"I didn't just 'decide' to eavesdrop!" Pinky snapped angrily. "You were talking really loudly! The whole BAR heard you!"
"But you could still have chosen to ignore it," Perry said sternly.
Juliet listened quietly with interest, and she slowly turned back around to watch.
Pinky bowed his head. "I-I guess I COULD have…but…he was insulting you…!"
"No, I wasn't!" the fox snapped. "Unless talking about someone now counts as insulting them!"
"It kinda does when you talk about someone in a negative way," Pinky snapped back.
"Pinky, what did he specifically say about me?"
"You just had a fight with an Archangel agent," Pinky snapped. "What do you THINK he was saying about you?"
Perry sighed. "Pinky, can you not defend your reasoning any more than that?"
Pinky stared at his friend in dismay. "Perry, why don't you believe me? I'm your best friend!"
"Because of how they treated us. Now we're not being very different from them."
Pinky just scowled and shook his head. "You don't have to make excuses," he snarled. "You just want to look good in front of HER." He threw his paw out towards Juliet, who stared back in surprise.
Perry blushed but shook his head firmly. "N-no. I don't. I-I didn't even know she was still there."
"Don't lie!" Pinky yelled angrily. "All you can do is think about her! I'm sick of it, Perry! SICK OF IT!" With that, he turned and stormed off.
Perry sighed and stared at the ground as the fox agent walked back into the bar. Juliet awkwardly edged closer to him. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm impressed," she said quietly.
"I thought you hated me," mumbled Perry.
"I still don't like you," Juliet said, arms folded. "But…I admire the way you didn't automatically assume your friend was innocent and the Archangel agent was guilty."
Perry shook his head. "I'm not like that."
"You're not like that?" Juliet repeated. "No offense, but you seemed that way two months ago."
"I'm….. I'm sorry I did."
Juliet sighed. "I heard what you said to Peter in there, and you're right. We could have helped. We SHOULD have helped. It's just as much our fault that the base was destroyed as yours."
Perry blinked. "You've had quite the epiphany, haven't you?"
Juliet glared at him. "This isn't easy for me to say, Perry. I've been blaming you for two months, hating you. And yet…" She hesitated. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you, for some reason."
Perry blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Y-yeah… It's been the same with me…."
Juliet's glare faded into a look of surprise. "Really?"
Perry nodded. "That's actually why Pinky brought me here in the first place."
"To see me?" Juliet asked dubiously.
"N-no!" Perry quickly shook his head. "To try and get my mind off of you."
"So to take your mind off an Archangel agent, he takes you to an almost-exclusively Archangel bar?" Juliet laughed. "A great plan, to be sure."
"Yeah…"
Juliet hesitated. "I probably shouldn't be doing this, but…since your last drink was interrupted, do you want to come with me to a non-Archangel bar to get another drink?"
Perry blushed again. "R-r-really?"
Juliet attempted a smirk. "Since my friend is responsible for you not enjoying your last one, it's the least I can do."
"A-alright."
Juliet took Perry's paw and led him down the street, towards another bar. This one was called The Crown.
"I didn't even know this one existed," Perry admitted.
"Nor did I until two months ago." Juliet seemed awkward. "I…I was crying in the street, which I'm embarrassed to admit, but I felt really lost. I had gone for a walk but my sadness had just overwhelmed me and I was wandering around and just crying. I happened to stumble into this place. It's got a really nice atmosphere, and hardly anyone at Archangel even knows about it, let alone comes here, so it should be okay."
Perry hesitated. "Was it... Was it after the..."
Juliet sighed. "I thought it was tactless of me to say that, so I left it out. But…yeah. It-it was."
"I'm really sorry," Perry said for the hundredth time in the past two months.
"I've-I've moved on," Juliet said, wiping her misty eyes. "I have. Let's go in."
Perry hesitated, then followed the white platypus into the building.