Chameleon's Corruption

6

"I can't believe it, Leon. I just can't." The door to the Powalski's apartment slammed shut behind the pair as Lars entered second to his younger sibling. He was fuming, the lush green normally found in his cheeks was flushed pale and his body language was far more animated than usual. "There's just absolutely no way that he's not our guy! Every single thing that we were told fits him like a glove, it's too convenient! I mean look; he's a dog, he's only got the one eye, his tail is blue-grey with white at the end, he's pretty tall... It just all fits - he's even hanging out at the Vixen! You can't tell me that alone isn't sketchy enough!" His arms swung out wide in his disbelief. Their entire walk home had been uncharacteristically quiet, it was assumed that he might have just been moping at the loss of their lead but now it was apparent that he'd been holding back frustration until they were in privacy. "I just don't understand how you can make a call like this."

"Well it's not him, Lars. That's all I can really say, you just have to trust me on this one." Like always, Leon was trying his hardest to remain resolute and not let the emotion of the situation take advantage of him. Putting his only remaining family member in such grief gave him no pleasure but he knew that backing down from this job was in their better interests. Whoever this mysterious young lupine was, he was a savant at his craft and he knew it. Not only did somebody with that caliber of budding skill not deserve to be put down by a bunch of bottom-feeders like themselves, Leon's other fear was that if they tried to kill him, they'd end up getting hurt – or worse. After all neither of them were murderers; fighting wasn't exactly their forte and the only real possession they owned that could be called a weapon was a knife. It was a nice knife, no doubt, but it was still just a simple knife.

"I don't think you understand how big this opportunity is for us. This is possibly the luckiest we've ever been, in our entire lives. Do you have any idea what that kind of money could do for us? Not even to mention the respect we'd gain, at the very least there'll be a promotion. Can you imagine? We wouldn't have to scramble around with these bullshit jobs anymore!"

"I know that and I wish I had a different answer that I could give you, I really do." Leon's vibrantly colored chameleon head hung in shame but he still didn't hesitate to double down on his lie, arms crossed in a protective manner.

"I just can't accept that as an answer, not with everything else that I've seen. You're not even putting up a very good argument. Go ahead and go over it all again for me, why exactly do you think we got the wrong mutt?"

"...It was a lot of things." He had to take a moment to consider a list of ambiguous, non-physical qualities that might have been noticed in their limited interaction. "His demeanor, the way he talked... I agree with you that he looks a lot like the description but that's not who we're after. He's a dead end." The elder stepped in close and took his brother's chin between two gentle fingers, angling his face up so they could look into each other's eyes. Watching his sibling's anxious struggling for reasoning made Lars come to the realization that there might be something a bit more serious afoot, this behavior was far from anything normal.

"Did he threaten you, Leon? Us? I saw his little gesture over towards me, is that what this is all about? He scared you?" His voice was serious now, irises quivering as he stared. "Please, just be honest with me. If he made a threat at you then I should be the first to know. Remember that we're in this together, like always." The younger sibling's hesitation was apparent. He momentarily refrained from speaking as they locked gazes with each other, the creeping tendrils of doubt that he wasn't going about this the right way starting to crawl through him. Regardless, it was too late to go back now.

"No, it's not like that. He didn't threaten me or you or anybody really... He was just... Kind of a nice animal. We talked for minute or two before I asked about his job, he's just a salaryman Lars. Sure he's got a gruff appearance and might have ended up on the wrong side of town, but it sounds to me like that's all just coincidental." Intently, Lars stared into his face to try and read the subtleties in his expression. They'd been together for so long that doing so wasn't exactly hard anymore.