Chameleon's Corruption

7

                 Nothing else mattered right now except for Lars. Every single neuron in the young chameleon's brain was firing off, blocking out anything not contributing to finding his brother and commanding him off into the night. The outside sky was pitch black, to the point where without the vibrant street signs lighting the way one would hardly be able to see. He pushed through the pedestrians who were still out and about, refusing to let any crowd get in his way as his high-top boots pounded down on the sidewalk over and over, sprinting in the direction of the Brazen Vixen. Who knows at what point Lars had left during the night and if he'd set out to do what Leon thought he might have, then it could already be too late.

"LARS!" The skinny, panicked reptile shouted at the top of his lungs. It wasn't until now that he realized how complicated and poorly lit the city blocks were; the streets twisted and turned into convoluted masses hardly able to be differentiated from one another, there were a nigh infinite amount of places somebody could be hiding and too many side roads to count. He got weird looks from others as he raced by helplessly crying out his brother's name, but their opinion was irrelevant here. None of them knew the kind of fear that he was feeling. Not once did he pause to catch his breath as he sprinted through NuVenom at full stride, adrenaline pumping through his body and keeping it going far past the point where he should have stopped. It wasn't until he'd rounded the final turn into the alleyway their bar was on that he finally slowed down, taking just a moment to slump over against the brick wall and pant before he burst in. Something which proved to be a good idea because in those few seconds that he recovered, he just so happened to notice something standing out of place.

A shadow on the far end of the dark alley; at first glance it could be mistaken alongside any of the rest of the debris but with careful consideration and a second glance, one would be able to make out the barely visible silhouette of somebody trying to stay out of sight, partially obfuscated behind a collection of trash bins. Leon stared up at it as he huffed air in and out of his raspy throat, deciding if this was just a hallucination or not. If his mind was just playing a trick on him then it was doing a good job because whatever this was, it appeared to be holding something in its hand that it was staring at with great intent. Leon collected himself, standing upright again.

"LARS? IS THAT YOU?!" He'd been shouting so much that it pained him to do so again but it seemed that his perseverance was to be rewarded. To his surprise, the figure perked up and cocked their head in his direction.

"What the- Leon? Oh c'mon, get out of here! What the hell are you doing following me?!" That was all that he needed to hear, the annoyed sound of his older brother's voice forced a renewed surge of energy back into Leon's exerted muscles. So it wasn't too late after all.

"Following you? Following you?! What do you think you're trying to do here?!" He pressed as he promptly ran over to meet him, unsure if he was supposed to be feeling elation that he'd shown up on time or disbelief that he was actually being asked a question like that. He was able to see better as his eyes adjusted to the dim light and the intensity in Lars's face was more apparent now than ever. The item he was holding in his hand was, predictably, his knife; steel blade unfolded and the only thing that shone brightly. It wasn't hard to do the math of what he intended to do with it.

"It's none of your business and you need to get the hell out of here. Go back to the apartment!"

"You couldn't have made your intentions any more obvious." Leon made a grab for the blade but Lars quickly pulled it back out of his reach. "If you think I'm letting you kill somebody then you're insane."

"I wasn't looking for your permission." He let out a surprising little hiss, stepping forwards to get directly in his brother's personal space. They were so close now they were almost touching heads. "I'm doing it for you, Leon. For US."