Chapter 2 - Broken Glass Boogie
Drayk the cunnyboy is copyright to himself. (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/drayk) Story is copyright to me.
Many have speculated as to when the 1st Gadelican war began. Many trace the starting point to the day that the elder vampire Phant, one of the original Guardians, defected to Argamor, the only one of the five Gadelican nations to decline membership in the elder council at the end of the Katamor civil war. The war in Katamor, the nation of the dragons, almost caused global conflict right then and there. There had always been contention between two of the three dragon races; the Darkon and the Falzil. Ideology, prejudice, religious beliefs, past grievances and a host of other factors I'd rather not go into length about led to the short lived nations of East and West Katamor. The discovery of a mother-lode of etherma, the crystalline source of the gun cores that now replace conventional metal ammunition, within the divided nations' De-militarized zone, only exacerbated the situation, sparking the civil war proper. The republics of Dimerel and Obsidia, neutral to the conflict up to that point, stepped in with their joint military forces soon after the discovery to quash the rising guerrilla forces and oversee possible negotiations. Predictably, this caused criticism of the allied nations on all sides, citing a desire for the etherma as their true goal. No wonder that, amidst all the unrest, a shrewed businessman such as Ernesto Mortinson could so easily worm his way into garnering the trust of many Falzil guerrillas. The nationalist group Crimson Taurus, or CT, that he spearheaded, were merely pawns for his plans to smuggle the precious energy gems and sell them on the black market, similar to the blood diamond trade plaguing other parts of the planet. Unfortunately for him, a certain quirky reptilian working with us has always been a good outlet for such intel...
_-_Karen, Grand Guardian Saiza, Journal Entry, date unknown
Chapter 2: Broken Glass Boogie
A single window into a darkened room on the 20th floor of one of many cookie-cutter apartment complexes decorating the urbanized 8th district silently rose halfway. Eric's obscured form, normal white robe replaced by black boots, pants, body armor, and bandanna, slinked through the narrow opening, stealthily rolling on the carpeted floor. He adjusted his headgear, tucking his full fern of white hair back under it, and quickly assessed the tiny room from his crouched vantage point.
The apartment was fairly modest in size, with two other windows to Eric's right, both obscured by dusty venetian blinds. To the left of the window sat the doors to the bedroom and bathroom. Directly in front of the shadow-cloaked guardian was a full sized sofa, an easy-chair offset to its left. The television imprinted it's soft glow on the furniture, images of late-night re-runs quietly projecting forth.
Hmm...TV's still on, volume's low. He's probably asleep. If he's alive...
Eric held his breath in anticipation. A glance over the sofa in front of him debunked his suspicions, sighing in relief as he found his target.
A sleeping, silver colored lizard lay lazily draped over the couch cushions, a neon orange tank-top outlining his muscular, blue-tinted torso. The only bottom piece he wore was a pair of equally loud pink panties that hugged his otherwise masculine form suspiciously well.
Yikes. With that get-up, he obviously wasn't expecting company. Oh well, business at hand takes priority.
"Hey, Drayk. Get up." Eric whispered, nudging the lizard's shoulder. "Come on man, this is serious. Wake up." Growing annoyed, Eric fell back behind the couch.
Damn, i forgot. He could sleep through a freaking meteor shower. I could be louder, but these walls are paper thin; i don't want to wake anyone else-
Eric's mind switched instantly from logic to instinct as the raucous of shattering glass behind him filled his ears. He dove to the wall on his left and silently bolted behind the lounger, grabbing his M9 combat pistol out from its holster on his right leg. Pressing back-to back with the chair, he quietly unlatched the safety and tightened the silencer. Turning around in the ready position, he caught a glimpse of the intruder.
It was a pale green dragon, cloaked in red leather armor, and short, equally red spikes of hair atop his head. Eric quickly ducked behind the furniture again, desperately trying to avoid detection, as the flip and click of a switchblade rang clear in the dim silence.
Jack the Knife!? What the hell is that Falzil doing here? He must have figured out who the spy was...
Intent on his goal and not noticing the other shadowy figure in the room, the dragon loomed over Drayk's snoozing form and raised the knife over his head.
"Good riddance, you son of a-what the-Ack!"
A high-pitched grunt met with the visceral sound of sharp implement slicing into flesh. Fearing the worst, Eric bolted up and took aim.
"Hold it!" Eric shouted. Then he saw the assailant stumble towards the window, clutching his face. The blade fell out of his hands as he turned to see Eric's weapon pointed at him. Jack's eyes bugged before he ducked and beelined for the entrance he created. Eric squeezed off a few shots, his split-second aiming job drilling glowing holes in the wall, missing the dragon as he dove out the window and onto the fire escape.
What...just happened?
Looking back to the room, he saw Drayk's arm stretching straight up, a pale white, blood spattered spike protruding from the base of his palm. Looking down, he saw the now awake and smiling lizard, bright yellow eyes piercing the dim light of the room.
Eric once again sighed in relief, "By the Falcon, I thought he had you."
"Hee hee...you actually thought I was asleep." He said through his toothy grin, lowering his arm.
"Well, yeah...hey wait a minute! That guys escaping! Come on, move it!"
Rolling his eyes, Drayk tumbled off the sofa, and the two ran out onto the outside platform in pursuit.
Eric gazed up at the multiple floors of fire escape, and how the falzil was scaling them, swinging from support bar to support bar as his altitude rose rapidly.
"Damn, that guy's quick." Eric said, running over to scale the fire stairs.
"Oh what, you can't do that? That's nothing. Watch and learn." Drayk replied sardonically, before leaping gracefully to the next floor, giving chase.
"Show off!" Eric yelled back, running up the metal steps as fast as his humanoid form could take him.
The red-cloaked dragon finally reached the rooftop after 10 stories of ascension. He huffed breathlessly as wiped the blood from the rough gash on the side of his face, his pallid red eyes frantically scanning the rooftops for his next move, a wide-bladed bowie knife now clutched in his claw.
"That stupid lizard was one thing, but of all the days to have a guardian on your ass..."
A flash of grey and orange jumped out from the fire escape and joined him on the rooftop.
Drayk broke his rapid pace and lazily strolled toward the dragon, shaking the blood off his palm-blade.
"Jakay Martel...or should i say, Jack the Knife, what a pleasant surprise."
"Grr...fuck you, you two faced cunt."
"Hey, that's not very nice. Besides, I'm all man, Jackie."
Jack snorted. "Still can't be serious even when your life is on the line?"
"Oh, i can be serious." Drayk's gaze narrowed bitterly as he held his handspike in front of him, ice instantly permeating his tone of voice.
"See?"
"Too late now. I'm gonna expose you to every freedom fighter on the continent!"
"You won't live long enough to do that."
Both reptiles lifted their respective blades, poised to strike each other down...
...and Jack barreled away in the other direction, leaping to an adjacent rooftop, throwing his body through a side window, disappearing into the shards of glass.
"Ha! Scared to fight me, Jackie!?" Drayk shouted after him.
And then came the knocks. Loud, hard punches to every door and window on that floor, the cacophony of angry, awoken voices and barking pets mixing with the splintering, shattering material.
"You have got to be kidding me." Drayk groaned as he ran after him, Eric finally catching up.
"What took you so long, master?"
"Not everyone's an acrobat, Drayky." Eric replied crossly as the two jumped the next rooftop, following the Falzil's noise-making.
Eric gritted his teeth at the noises that now broke through the night. "What the hell is that guy doing!? Adding destruction of property to his list of felonies!?"
"He's trying to wake up as many people as he can. Duh."
"Why doesn't he just use the fire alarms?"
"Simple. If a fire alarm is pulled, people are more likely to be panicked, and we could all easily avoid detection amongst the chaos. But if he makes a lot of noise, especially at this ungodly hour, people will be pissed off, and more likely eager to find who's doing it."
"So he's hoping the angry citizens will see us and think we're doing it, which in turn could also compromise your identity."
"Bingo, master. Add on top of that the number of legally possessed firearms in the 8th district..."
Eric's eyes went wide. "Shit...your right."
"Why do you think the crime rate is so low here?"
"In that case, hopping around just following this bastard won't do. We gotta cut him off somehow...I got it. Make yourself scarce and try to get ahead of him." Eric fished around in his pocket and tossed Drayk an small earpiece.
"I'll stay on his tail and keep you updated on his position."
Nodding lightly, the lizard dove off the side of the rooftops and out of view. Turning his attention back to Jakay, Eric affixed another receiver to his ear, once again producing his handgun. The continued percussion below him immediately caught his attention as Jakay flew out of another shattered window and onto a nearby balcony.
"Okay, can you here me, Drayk?" Eric said into his microphone, quickly eliciting a "Loud and clear." from the other side.
"Alright, he's on the move Northeast through building D3. Looks like he's cutting a staggered line through the middle of the district...wait a minute. He's stopped at C3. Hold your position, I'm going in.
Eric traced Jack's path through his trail of cracked doors and angry shouts. Rounding a corner in the small hallway, he found him, hunched over, gasping for breath.
"Freeze, Martel!" Eric shouted, aiming his sights at Jack's head. "Turn around, hands up!"
Jack slowly stood up, raised his arms in the air, and turned to face the guardian. He was grinning slightly as Eric slowly stepped toward the dragon.
"There, i did what you asked, now do something for me." Jack said, a facetious air in his tone.
"Yeah, sure, I'll start taking requests from you, the moment you stop being a wanted criminal. Murder, rape, assault and battery, armed robbery, terrorism, and this little stunt you pulled just now; you sure get around, don't you?"
Jack suddenly grew angry, his gaze going wild with ferocity.
"All i have done has been in the name of justice! You and that damned lizard are the criminals here!"
"Humph. Tell that to the children you blew up in Augusta last month. Or that Bank in Llarwel you and the CT raided. You slashed the throats of everyone in there yourself, as the report went."
"All disposable lives, necessary for the-DIE GUARDIAN!!"
And Jack violently flung his right arm backwards. Eric caught a slip-second glint of a clear wire around Jack's wrist, as he realized the trap set for him. He dropped to a crouch and lunged toward the dragon as the switchblade on the other end of the wire flew through the air, slashing Eric's left shoulder as it returned to its master, who was already sprinting towards the next window. He swung his arm out again, shattering the pane with the flying blade, as more bolts from Eric's weapon cracked and carved the walls, a single shot landing on the back of Jack's body armor, staggering him, but not stopping him, as he somersaulted over a 10 meter expanse to come down hard on the fire stairs on the other side.
"Son of a bitch..." Eric growled as he jumped out the same window, the muffled screech of his pistol ringing again, more shots streaking toward the fleeing dragon.
"Drayk, It was a diversion. He's still on the move, headed for the warehouse, building 5A. Can you stop him from there?"
"Already on it."
The red-armored Jack stumbled on the warehouse roof, struggling to his feet as he paused to catch his breath for a third time, clutching the charred laceration on his back, ignoring the bits of glass that dotted his leather coverings and scaly hide. His rest was short lived, however, as Drayk's form hopped out from the side of the building, deftly landing right next to him.
"Why...won't...you...quit..."
Jack produced his bowie knife again and swung, but he was too drained to be effective. Drayk grabbed his hand and easily wrenched the blade out of it. Jack was barely able to hold his stance as his left hand reached into his coat, yet another wide blade now in his grasp. Drayk pulled Jack's arm closer and threw out his fist towards Jack's face. Jack juked to the side and went in even closer to strike as Drayk's exposed abdomen. Drayk had to release his grip on Jack's arm as he tumbled backwards, missing a devastating stab wound by mere inches. Feeling a second wind coursing through him, Jack ran in close and double-handedly slashed down toward Drayk. He spun out of the blade's path and connected his right foot with Jack's skull, aggravating the gash on his face. A splash of crimson caught Jack in the eyes as he faltered, frantically wiping the burning red from his eyes. Drayk quickly grabbed both of the dragon's paws, his last knife clanging to the ground.
Drayk gazed pitilessly at the beaten husk of an assassin, and grinned.
"Now, let's make sure you're not going to use anymore weapons."
The sound of blade piercing flesh resounded once again as Drayk's palm-spikes appeared once again, skewering the dragon's hands. Jack screeched in agony as blood seeped out of his impaled claws. He struggled to escape his tormentor's grip, but he was too weakened. Drayk's grip held firm.
"Are you quite done, Jackie-boy?"
"Not...by a...Long shot..." Jack wrestled with the words.
"...you're...still...exposed..."
And with his last ounce of strength, Jack roared, swinging his Right leg back as far as it would go, and bringing it back forward with pendulum force, resulting in a formidable boot to Drayk's groin.
Nothing. Drayk just laughed.
"What...the..." Jack murmured, confusion and exhaustion mixing as he fell to his knees, Drayk throwing him off his clutches. The Dragon's form collapsed onto a nearby sunroof, glass spidering beneath him, still holding its shape.
"Oh yeah." The lizard chuckled. "About that whole 'I'm all man,' thing. I lied."
The surreality of the statement hit Jack's frayed mind, more confusion accenting the pain in his eyes.
Two gunshots came out of nowhere, One cracking Jack in his damaged chest armor, the other shattering the sunroof supporting him. Jack could barely make a sound as his body disappeared into the building, a visceral thud soon echoing from the warehouse floor.
"You killed him." Drayk sighed, as Eric walked over to the gap in the ceiling, holstering his pistol.
"No, you cut him up, I shot him. Wounds and the fall killed him."
The both of them peered down into the sunroof, the broken corpse of Jack the Knife visible below.
"Maybe we should report back to the elders; tell them why I dropped of the face of the planet for a few weeks."
"Maybe you should get some pants on first. That neon pink number you've been jumping around in isn't exactly flattering." Eric replied, plucking his cellphone from his pocket.
"Oh...shit."Drayk huffed, only now noticing his trouser-less state.