Angels with Scaly Wings

Chapter 2

Welcome to Our World

I nearly choke on my tea, this can't be real, this just can't." You OK over there, Zack?" Andri asks. We made it back to his surprisingly cozy apartment this world's government was keeping him up in and that's when the questions started rolling out, from both myself and Andri. Most of the dragon people stayed except for that Maverick guy and Sebastian. But now the realization that the fucking multiverse actually exists hit me like a ton of bricks to the head.

" So, your telling me that you're from an alternate version of future Earth that got struck by some sort of Solar Flare?"

" Yep. But I could ask the same thing to you. So your telling me that you're from a version of Earth that is not so futuristic and is still standing, technology and government wise?" I nod and take another sip of tea. Remy suggested tea to calm any stress that I may have, and he was right." So now we're both in a third completely alternate world filled with intelligent talking dragons?"

" Yep! So I guess this is welcome then!" Adine seems very random.

" Yeah some welcome then, being nearly crushed by your own house." Bryce snorts. I laugh know its true." Yeah. I have no clue how or why that thing out there," I point out the window to the big portal device that stands on top of a hill. Thing looks massive out there." Decided to rip my house apart...and nearly shred me with it."

" There's a lot we still don't know about the portal. Maybe this could be a learning experience for all of us." Remy states while he sips on his own cup of tea.

" Its most likely a malfunction of some kind in the portal's computer programming, if it runs like a computer and not some form of magic. Even a single number missing or changed in the codding could spell disaster." I throw out my only logical solution, it's probably wrong however." And how would you know?" Andri asks like I've got all the answers in the world.

" Don't know, it was just a guess. I used to help design websites and computer programming before everything so it was my only guess."

" I'll agree with him." Anna speaks up, she's been the most quiet out of everyone here so far." Medical equipment operates the same way and if one of the technicians screws up its a pain in the ass to fix. So maybe the portal is malfunctioning, which could also explain why you can't get in contact with your world, Andri." Andri nods and that reminds me of something." So what's the reason for your visit here, Andri? What are you, some kind of ambassador?"

" Technically I am. Me and my...err 'colleague', if I should even call him that, were here to exchange knowledge for power. PDAs for generators. My home is running low on power to keep places like our hospital running smoothly so my main mission is to restore as much energy to my home as possible while forging new diplomatic ties here."

" But now Reza has gone and fucked all of that up." Anna snorts, chuckling to herself." Err yeah, thanks Anna. But now Reza is jeopardizing everything and taking matters into his own hands."

" He's already killed someone." Bryce sighs. Damn dude is already going for people just for some generators, dumbass." Damn, sorry to hear that Bryce. Someone should hunt Reza down and beat him or something." No brain don't fucking joke now.

" I'm down with that! Take brick to his head or something!" Anna, goddammit Anna. I can't hold in my laugh." My god, that's funny!" Everyone kinda stares at me, though Anna has an obvious grin." Hey get used to it, my sense of humor is terrible." Well way to ruin the mood dumbass. Before anyone says anything there is a knock on the door. Andri gets up to get it and standing in the doorway is a big green dragon, like Bryce, wearing pear necklaces, earnings, a bracelet, and its claws are painted red." Oh um Emera I didn't know you would be stopping by." Andri holds the door open so Emera can walk in. I guess these buildings are big enough for bigger dragons, I dunno.

" So what brings you over here Emera?" Andri asks as he closes the door." I came here to check up on the new human the portal spat out the other day. I ran into Sebation earlier who filled me in that you were awake. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Emera, Minister of Art and Culture." Ok time to put on my formal pants and not fuck this up.

" I'm Zackary, or Zack for short. Its uh a pleasure to meet you, Minister." I bow slightly from my chair.

" Please, Emera is fine. I was hoping to hear your side of the story. So tell me, Zack, do you have any recollection of what happened?" I shake my head no." Not much sorry. What I can clearly remember is looking out my window, seeing a big blue vortex, then waking up in a field bleeding, then waking up again in a hospital. Anything else is nothing but a blur." Emera nods.

" I see. Well its very unfortunate that this happened to you, Zack. seeing there is no way to send you back through the portal, I'd like to formally welcome you here. Luckily you have Andri here to help guide you, as well as everyone else here will be willing to help. I unfortunately must take my leave now. Remy remember our 5'o'Clock appointment." With that she leaves rather quickly. I break the silence rather quickly." Well that was random as all hell." Everyone kinda nods in agreement." So what now?"

" Well we could go to the Police Station and get some of your stuff back." Bryce suggests and that actually sounds like a good idea. But before I can agree, Anna speaks up." First things first, I need to change your bandages, Zack." Bryce and Andri laugh. I groan." I can do it myself, not my first rodeo being hurt."

" Sorry Doctor's orders. Come with me." I look back and Andri, the motherfucker, has a big smirk on his face and waves me off. Anna leads me to the rather large bathroom that already has an open medical kit ready for use." Stand here, take your shirt off." OK now kind of controlling. I don't take my shirt off but I do lift it up and exposing my wrapped stomach and abdominal region." You seem prepared for this."

" I've worked hard to get to where I'm at today. Something someone like you probably won't understand. Now hold still." She pulls out some scissors and cuts away the fabric wrappings, exposing a large slightly tinted red bandage. She reaches down and ho god her claws are cold!" Gah! Your claws are cold as ice!" I move and Anna growls at me, that is.

" Quit moving you fucking idiot, not sorry about my claws being too cold for your 'sensitive' skin. Now hold still before I 'accidentally' cut you with said claws." OK well played Anna, well played. She peels off the blood soaked bandage and takes a new one out of the med box." So how long have you been a doctor?"

" Oh I'm not a doctor. I actually work at the production facility. Mostly in the Biology department."

" So you lied about being a doctor for what reason exactly?"

" Information. I wouldn't expect you to understand at all. Basically I'm using you for my own gain. Don't feel bad though, its for the greater good." Wow never expected such...honesty." Well I'm am at the same time am not used to being used. If anything it would be for money. Not biological needs. But if you need sex all you need to do is ask." I get clocked in the stomach, which extremely hurt.

" I'm not your 'friend' OK. I'll admit that I like your attitude but I'm not interested. Now hold still." She pulls out this weird device from the box and slams it into the back of my hand. A needle prick and blood fills a vial in the center. OK that hurt but I'm more curious than anything. Granted that I switched college majors from the biological feild to computers but still I'm always interested in new things." What was that?"

" I took some of your blood as payment."

" Payment? If anything you should be paying me for me letting you take that, WILLINGLY." Anna glares at me and I give a smile." Argh! Fine, how about this. If I ever get any time off from work, and that is a theoretical if...meaning no, we'll go out. How does that fucking grab you?" She looks borderline pissed...heheh.

" Deal."

" Good, it'll be the only thing you EVER get from me. Now you can do the rest yourself." Anna packs up the medical box and leaves the bathroom, leaving me confused.

-Later-

After that weird bathroom conversation I walked back out into the living room and wee all left to the police station. It was really sunny outside and there were several dragons walking about. But we ran into Lorem along the way who tagged along. Anna tried to stay as far away as possible from me. I talked her into taking me out on a date for ltting me giving her my blood. I like how not even a day here and I'm already trying to score. well actually its to be a total ass to Anna because she's a bitch to me. Eye for a fucking eye. Finally we made it to the police station." Well we're here, follow me." Bryce waves us inside and we are greeted by Sebastian." Hey Bryce nice to see you again. Andri you too." He greets." I'm assuming you guys are here for his stuff?" He points at me.

" Yeah hey to you too." Dick.

" Oh sorry, I forgot your name actually." Sebastian looks embarrassed." Its Zack. Now about my stuff?"

" Yeah right this way." Sebastian waves us in passed several desks and several officers. Its been awhile since I've been in a police station, and its not me being the one arrested, thankfully. We reach a large door, I'm assuming its the police lockup." Here's the Police Archives. We found alot of stuff in the rubble, most of it was saved and not damaged as bad as you might think. There's still alot of rubble near the portal. Maybe you'll look through the rubble later if you'd like." Bryce looks back at me and I nod. The door opens and holy shit they found alot of my stuff. Everything from bookshelves, to my three expensive TVs, my PS4, Xbox One, computers, everything. Even my fucking collection of swords and knives, surprisingly." Wow, wasn't expecting this." Andri chuckles

" Why? What were you expecting?"

" I dunno. Not all of this." Everyone starts shuffling into the large room and start looking at everything on display like its a museum. The technical stuff attracted the attention of Remy and Lorem mostly, but I did notice Anna glancing through it. However my more...dangerous stuff caught the attention of Andri, Bryce, and Sebastian." Is that a shotgun?" He points to said weapon.

" Yup! Mossberg 12gage pistol grip with a full stock. Why, jealous?"

" Not its because your firearms are dangerous." Bryce speaks up." Reza used his 'handgun' and shot Maverick in the chest. He wasn't hurt badly but still, tools like that are dangerous. I don't think you should be allowed to have that while your here." Well...can't argue with a dragon that can BREATH FIRE.

" How about a compromise?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

" Go on, I'm listening."

" How about this. I'll give up my guns for the time being, even let you use them in the search for this Reza guy. But whenever I'm able to return back home, I take them back no questions asked. They'll stay here till then unless absolutely needed." Bryce seems to ponder it for a minute or two." Deal. Better to leave them here under lock and key than let Reza rob you of them."

" If history proves me correct, is that a 18th century rapier?" Andri points to the sword in question. Its a pretty simple sword built for thrusting rather that slashing. Not elegant but was worth the 300 bucks for it." Keen eye. It is but sadly its a reproduction. Wish it was the real thing though." I take the sword and unsheathe it and take a proper fencing stance.

" Really? I take it you've practiced?"

" Imma get my fencing trophies and ram'm through your skull. 5 years state champion, suck on that." The look Andri gives me is priceless. Adine pops up like a fucking ghost." I heard something about champion. What sports are you into Zack."

" Hitting people with swords." I smirk and Andri laughs.

" Like the best description for fencing I've ever heard." I sheath the sword and I start looking over my electronics, making sure nothing was severely the only thing really smashed to shit is only my tablet." Oh no your tablet is broke." Lorem says with sadness in his voice.

" Eh, I'm not very worried about it. I'm just glad my computers and consoles are fine." I toss the tablet aside. Lorem lights up like a Christmas tree." Like video game consoles!? Can I try one out!?"

" Sadly not right now. Maybe later. If not hopefully tomorrow." Lorem nods though I can tell he's a bit upset by it." Do you really need three computer monitors?" Andri looks at me puzzled.

" Why? Jealous because the solar flare took yours out?" That comment pierced Andri's very fucking soul. Anna looks up from the book she was looking through, actually that was one of my computer programming textbooks." Wow even I found that in poor taste."

" I realized that now. Sorry Andri. If you want to slap me once, I'll let you." Andri walks over and gives me one good slap in front of everyone. That stung for a moment." You good now dude?"

" Yeah, thanks. I need to get that out. So how are we going to get everything you need out of here? I don't think there are enough bags to carry what you need."

" There is the that one cart we have in storage." Sebastian pipes up.

" That defiantly could work." Bryce says." Sebastian, can you give me a hand with the cart. In the meantime, Zack you can gather up what you absolutely need. I'm not making more than one trip."

" Alright, I can live with that. Just let me know when your ready to load up." Bryce and Sebastian leave and I start grabbing cords and my gaming consoles, hey old habits die hard." Need any help?" Remy just so happened to be standing behind me." Yeah could you grab some of the books over there?" He brightens up." Sure, any recommendations?"

" Any textbooks you find would be great. If any book that really catches your eye, grab that too. Just don't grab them all." Remy immediately goes to work and starts to collect a few books here and there. Andri helps me move one of my TVs, a large 55" one, over to the general area to take with me, though he started complaining about it. Lorem collects the few disc based games I still have, most of mine are digital on either external hard drives or in the computers and consoles respectively. Anna and Adine, although not really wanting to work together, help gather any cloths that survived. I'll wash and wear what I can. Within ten minutes or so we have a good collection of electronics, cloths, and books. Bryce walks back into the room." Ready whenever you are."

" Alright. Is there like a back door or something you've parked at?"

" Err no. We'll have to carry everything through the station." Oh great." Well Andri I hope you like moving things."

" I have a bad feeling about that."

" Man why does this gotta be a 55" TV!? Why pick the big one!?" My TV was an awkward bastard to fit through a door that can fit Bryce easily but not a TV. Dragon police officers watching two humans carrying a TV out of the Police Archives, a great audience. Thankfully this would be the last thing we would have to load up in the cart." Desk." I state but there's an audible thump and then Andri groaning." Thanks for that warning."

" Your welcome!" Sarcastic response is sarcastic. We make it outside and gently set the TV down on top and strap it down. Bryce opted to drive the cart." Is that everything?" Bryce looks back at us.

" Yeah that's everything. I really appreciate everyone's help. Kinda wish I had my wallet with me." As if on cue Andri reaches into his pocket." I think this might be yours." I give him a dead glare. I snatch it from him abd start looking through it." If any of my cards are missing, I'm beating your ass."

" I can assure you that I didn't steal your credit cards, Zack." Andri shakes his head. With that we leave the station rather slowly due to the cart being loaded up with stuff. No one really talks about anything which is fine. Thankfully Andri's apartment wasn't very far from the Police Station. The processes repeats itself with unloading everything again. Within a good half hour or so Andri's apartment was partially mine now." Thanks guys for helping."

" Its no trouble at all, Zack." Bryce says. I reach for my wallet in my pocket but Sebastian stops me." No need. Always happy to help." Alright I'm not going argue with that. Everyone starts to shuffle out claiming they need to work tomorrow or they need to do something. Andri shuts the door after Adine leaves finally, only after getting a hug from both of us. She seems like a sporty yet bubbly person...dragon...thing.

" Great, now I'm stuck with you." Andri groans.

" Already plotting against me huh? You'll get a pillow over the face later."

" Funny. You've only been here a day and already my apartment looks like a gamers fucking shit hole den. Look Zack, I'm sorry that you've been dragged her against your will and all but making this place yours is a bit far. Like why need a fucking TV!?" Ok lets play this gamre then.

" Because you don't! This place is bland as hell. Just trying to spice up everything. Now could you give me a hand with setting everything up?" I can tell Andri is just not into this." No you can do it yourself, I've got a headache so I'm going to go lie down. Goodnight." Fine be that way asshole. I sigh and start setting my computer up again. Wires, wires, and more wires. I'm actually surprised that this world has technology like computers and TVs and shit like that. I keep thinking back on what Andri said. I guess out of need for technology. Andri explained to me earlier why too much technology was the cause of his world's downfall. Still I worked hard for what I own, paid everything upfront and no loans taken out to pay for it. Fuck I spent over a grand on my computer alone so my need to keep it running is kinda reasonable. My TV though...I dunno exactly. Just gut feeling that I need it. My consoles is because I have hundreds of dollars spent in all the games I've bought. Boiling down to me just being me and trying keep as much of my Earthly possessions as possible. I could try to work here, like I remember Lorem said something about video development, I could ask to see if he needs any help with that. I'm just kinda at a loose for words right now. My head still hurts and I've got to come up with a plan.

I just hope tomorrow goes better than today.

(I feel like this chapter could have been better but I kinda rushed it so I apologize for that everyone. I probably messed up Emera's little cameo there. I promise things will start to get better and things will start to pick up speed soon, in a few chapters or so. Let me know how you think I'm handling these characters . I feel like the only character I'm really good at is Anna due to her sarcastic and blunt no bullshiting attitude. Anyway please leave a comment if you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns. It'll next time guys-AJ)