His head was spinning as he walked back towards the elevator. He pushed the button for the elevator, pinching the bridge of his nose. New York...the Creator was in New York? How was that even possible? All the signs had pointed towards him being in Britain. Didn't they? What had he missed? He had missed something important. There was a detail, an earlier clue that he had missed that would have hinted at it. The whole thing gave him a headache.
There was a ding as the elevator opened. It was empty. Copper almost thought nothing of it, but remembered the diamond dog and stopped, staring into the empty elevator. He stepped backwards until his back was against the opposite wall. He waited until the elevator doors closed before looking back and forth down the hallway. There was another detail he was grasping at. Something Doctor Vonzinzer had said. “Secret contacts...” he muttered. “Letters that frequently got into a high security facility...” There was a dim sign that caught his attention, a stairs sign.
He ran, mentally registering that all the rooms were empty as he passed. He quickly checked that his passport was still there as he came to a stop at the door to the stairs. He paused for a fraction of a second, noting that it swung away from him, before pressing himself to the wall beside it. There was an odd twitch in his fingers before he reached over, knocking on the door. He listened, waiting for a sound. He wasn't sure if he was imagining the sound of shifting on the other side of the door, or if it was actually there.
Something metal peeked out from underneath the door and Copper quickly stepped in front of the door and kicked it in. There was a meaty thump as it hit something, that something then cascaded down the stairs. Copper moved back to the side as machine gun fire pelted the wall and floor where Copper had been. “Hah! I thought you'd go for the stairs.” The door swung shut again, but Copper heard the familiar voice say, “Get back up here.”
Copper shoved the door open again, coming in low. A hail of gunfire whizzed over his head as he tackled the pony into the railing. He gave him two hits to the face, one of which was returned as the pony tried to fight him off. A knee to the groin caused the pony to double over and Copper seized hold of the machine gun before kicking the pony down the stairs after his comrade, who was making his way back up. He caught the falling pony and struggled to get something in his coat a moment before Copper shot him in the leg.
There was screaming as both ponies tumbled down the stairs. He recognized one of the moving heaps at the bottom of the stairs as the pony from the front door. Copper spat out a bit of blood from the hit he'd taken and ran up the stairs, pointing the machine gun up ahead of him. “Never liked machine guns. Too inaccurate.” Copper slipped up a few steps, staring around. It had sounded like he had spoken, but he hadn't.
He looked down at the machine gun before he began running back up the stairs. ”Don't do this to me now,” he muttered. “Not when I'm fighting for my life.” But it was silent all the way up. He paused at the floor before the first, noticing that the door on the main floor up ahead was propped open. He panted, trying to catch his breath. He couldn't hear anyone coming up the stairs after him.
The silence was annoying him as he slowly made his way up the stairs, stopping once he got to the point that he could see through the open door. He could see the elevator off in the distance; he could see the hulking mass of the diamond dog waiting beside the elevator. There was the secretary griffon still sitting behind the desk, but there was something off. She wasn't moving. He remembered that she had been writing when he came in, but now she was not even doing that. Copper walked slowly up the stairs until the diamond dog spotted him. “And here I was hoping you'd take the elevator.”
“You're clip is empty,” the voice said from behind him. Copper tossed the machine gun to the side, much to the confusion of the diamond dog. That would have been nice to know earlier...
“Gonna fight me pony to dog, hm?” The diamond dog cracked his neck, followed by his knuckles, as he approached him. “Not smart on your part.”
“No.” Copper held up his fists, spreading his feet slightly. “Not pony to dog. Dog to dog.”
“I used to box back in the military,” the voice continued. Copper noticed how the diamond dog adopted a similar stance.
“So what's the deal, hm? Creator got you in his pocket?” The diamond dog swiped at him, but Copper easily dodged, making a halfhearted swing at him as well, which he batted away. They were testing each other, feeling each other out. A few more exchange of swings, either dodged or blocked. “Not talking to me?”
“Nothin' to say to you,” the diamond dog responded before laying into Copper. It had caught Copper off guard, a straight hit to the jaw that sent him skidding across the floor and bumping into the wall.
Copper had to shake himself a bit as he got up, apparently play time was over. His lip had split and he could taste blood. “Shame. You seemed like a smart one.” He dusted himself off slightly as he shifted into a different stance. He charged at him, ducking under the diamond dogs swing before pelting him in the gut several times; it was like punching Emily again. Copper blocked the knee and shifted around, giving him a hard strike to the jaw.
But the diamond dog rolled his jaw slightly, smirking slightly down at Copper. “You're quick, I'll give you that. But you can't hit for shi-” Copper socked him in the jaw again before the diamond dog gave him a hearty hit to his gut. The blow lifted him quite a distance up off the floor.
He coughed and threw up, heaving and trying to breath. “Guess I'm rusty,” the voice said and the smugness of the tone annoyed Copper immensely.
“Dog to dog, hm? Well you sure grovel like a dog.” Copper skidded across the floor up into the wall as the diamond dog kicked him. “And here I thought you were going to be difficult. I warmed up and everything.”
Copper struggled to get back up, coughing as he gasped for breath. “Still tough, though,” the voice said as Copper managed to get back on his feet.
“Sics...” Copper said as he leaned against the wall, trying to get the taste of bile out of his mouth.
“What?” The diamond dog hesitated, staring at Copper.
“You're name's Sics.” Copper was trying to work out what to do. The diamond dog was tougher and stronger than him.
The diamond dog looked down at himself for a second before pulling out his I.D. card from his pocket. “How did you know that? I don't know you.”
Copper shook his head, chuckling softly. “No...you don't...” He couldn't beat the other Sics, either. He used his terrain to his advantage in that fight. He hurt, but now at least he had some semblance of where he was standing. “But you have five brothers...which is why your parents named you Six.” There was quite a puzzled look on the diamond dogs face now. Copper made a dash in and up the stairs while Sics was distracted. He took the stairs two at a time as Sics rushed in after him. Copper was faster than him and once he got to the second floor he pulled open the door and kept running up the stairs. He spotted Sics hesitate a moment and then, spotting Copper a flight ahead of him, continued to run after him.
“Stop running and fight!” Sics yelled after him.
Suddenly he stopped running and waited till Sics got up to his level, before he jumping the railing and dropping down, grabbing the lower level and hoping back over, running down the stairs now. He kicked out the little block that was holding the door to the first level open and ran towards the desk. The griffon was motionless, propped up in the seat. Copper wasn't sure if she was dead or unconscious, but didn't have time for that. Instead he went through the drawers of the desk. Sics kicked the door clear off it's hinges.
“I said stop runn-” Blam blam. Copper panted heavily as Sics dropped to the ground trying to clutch both his leg and his shoulder.
Now Copper checked the griffon, finding that she was unconscious. He pushed the button on the desk and leaped over it. He heard the buzzer that unlocked the door, throwing the pistol to the side as he rushed out the door. He was outside and out of breath, looking around. There was no guard there, but he saw Scootaloo sitting in the back of the car still, talking with Chrysalis. He walked towards the car as he wiped blood from his chin and spat to get rid of the taste of blood and bile. He opened the door, getting in the car. “We need to leave, now. Where's Nightingale?”
“She's- what the hell happened to you?!” Scootaloo practically jumped on him as she turned his head from side to side.
Chrysalis leaped up as well, nearly losing the cigarette she was smoking. “What happened?”
“Apparently the Creator owns most of the people in this place. Chrysalis, now. Leave. Go.”
She started the car and it jerked backwards, swinging around as she gunned it. “What happened in there?” But she had to come to a stop as they approached the large door.
“I'll explain in a bit.” He held his stomach. “Ugh...after we get going...I think I broke a rib...”
Nightingale was walking towards them with a smile, coming out of some sort of guardhouse with quite a saunter. She rushed the car when she saw Copper doubled over in pain. “What happened?” she said as she hurried into the car, practically crawling from the front seat to the back.
“Sit down,” Chrysalis snapped as she gunned it through the now open door.
“That was a heck of a fight...” Copper said, taking deep breaths as he leaned back in the seat.
“It's just a bit bruised,” Scootaloo said as she examined Copper. “But you've chipped a tooth. Did Doctor Vonzinzer do this to you?”
Copper laughed and regretted it immediately as he bent forward. “Ah- ...no...some of the people working there work for the Creator...and apparently he doesn't like me at all. Diamond dog named Sics gave me a rough time on my way out. And I put a bullet in his shoulder for his effort.” Copper closed his eyes. “It was honestly a pretty good attempt but these people keep underestimating me...which is good for me.” He waved his hand in the air in a sort of victory celebration. “Woo...”
“But what happened with Doctor Vonzinzer?” Nightingale asked, still turned around in her seat to face Copper.
“I said, sit down,” Chrysalis said again.
“Actually pretty well. He tried to kill me at first, but I think I earned his respect in the end.”
“What the hell is it with you and people trying to kill you?!” Scootaloo said as she gave him a shove.
“I've been trying to figure that out for quite a while now...” He took a deep breath. “Can we go somewhere to get something to eat?” Taking deep breaths hurt, but felt good at the same time. “Afraid I lost my lunch...”
“What lunch? You've eaten like, eight doughnuts, and four cups of coffee,” Scootaloo said, folding her arms at him.
He chuckled softly. “All the more reason...” He shook himself, realizing that he had almost lost consciousness. “Must you smoke those? You know I don't like that brand...”
“I can only ever find this brand here in London, Copper. You know it's not that often-” Chrysalis stopped, glancing back at him in the mirror. “Copper?”
“Hm?” His eyes opened, he had not realized he had closed them. “What?”
“You...are you all there?”
Copper stared blankly at her a moment and covered his face with his hands. “Ugh...there are...I don't know...fragments...from the old Copper...things that are forcing their way up... A voice...” He took another deep breath. “I don't know, something scratching at the back of my mind, seeping in through the cracks...” Another deep breath. “I feel like I'm going insane.”
“Too late for that,” Scootaloo said as she sat back, and Copper couldn't help but smile.
“Yeah...” he said as he relaxed in the seat. “Too late for that indeed.”
“I know a place a good distance away...I'll have to speak with my associates about what exactly happened in there...” Copper noticed how how tightly she was gripping the steering wheel. “I didn't even hear gunshots...” she muttered.
It was oddly comforting, all the concern he received on the trip to the small restaurant, though he got a lot of odd looks from the other patrons as he looked over the menu. He was doing his best to not get blood on it. His fingers hurt from punching the brick wall that was Sics and even holding the menu was some difficulty. “Iiiii don't recognize anything on here,” he said as he placed the menu down with a smile.
Scootaloo pointed at one of the dishes, without even looking. “You like that.”
“Fish and chips?” Copper said as he examined the menu. It was the first time he had actually looked at a menu since he got here. A lot had happened in the last month and he found it interesting how simple things were so alien to him.
Copper looked over at Nightingale, who was signing autographs again. Despite what she said she was apparently a fairly famous actress. Perhaps he could actually see how a movie was made... “What's your plans, Copper?” He looked at Chrysalis when she spoke.
He gave a slight shrug, knowing that she was just asking to try and pull his attention away from Nightingale and back to her. “I do the job, and go back to New York. Start searching again.”
“Are you sure Vonzinzer's information is credible?” She had ordered a small glass of wine and Copper was oddly fascinated by the way she slowly swirled it in the glass.
“Fairly sure. If it's just an attempt to throw me off, he went through quite a roundabout way of doing it.” He leaned back in the chair, catching himself a moment as he felt a slight lapse in consciousness. “I suspect a trap to be waiting for me, but I wont know until I get there.”
She was giving him quite a concerned look. “Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?”
“Don't bother,” Scootaloo said, still going over the menu. “I couldn't get him to go when he'd been stabbed, I doubt he'll go just cus he took a few punches.”
Copper chuckled softly, nodding in agreement. “It'd just be a waste of time.”
“Honestly you're not even recovered from that stabbing,” Scootaloo continued. “I'm not surprised you got the snot beat out of you.”
This time he laughed. “Yeah. I'm a bit worse for wear.”
“And yet you seem entertained,” Chrysalis said with a frown. She practically glared at him over the wine glass.
He had to shrug again, this time it hurt but he ignored it. “I guess. There is a certain part of me that enjoys it, but for the most part I'd rather it just...” His gaze wandered down to the menu as he spoke. “I don't know. Stop.”
“Like you'll ever stop,” Scootaloo piped in, setting down her menu. “Not unless you were dead.”
Copper chuckled softly. “Yeah...probably.” He ran a finger around the rim of the glass of water in front of him. “But I'd rather not do that.”
Nightingale dragged herself away from the people wanting her attention in order to order food. Copper was fascinated by the fact that she was so popular. Scootaloo had been right about his taste in food and his mind wandered to how much she actually knew about him. He was watching her as she spoke with Chrysalis and Nightingale, discussing things that were quite normal. All of them seemed very adept at pulling themselves away from things and talking about things that Copper would think normal. It was something Copper had never been able to get the hang of; being normal. This was not normal. Here he was, eating strange food in a strange place in a strange body. “Hm?” Scootaloo had pushed a bottle of something towards him.
“Ketchup,” she said as she went back to her food. “Put some on your plate and dip stuff in it.”
He chuckled softly as he followed her instructions and they went back to their conversation. Copper was not paying attention to what they were talking about, something about clothes. He was trying to focus on eating and remaining conscious, though the later seemed easier now. Eventually he had to stop, his hands simply hurt too much to do the simple task of picking up anything. He pressed his knuckles to the cold glass of his drink, sighing softly. Fingers were another thing he was still getting used to. “Are you all right?” It seemed Nightingale had noticed his odd behavior.
“My fingers hurt...I'm not used to that. Fingers are...weird.” Everyone at the table was looking at him now. “I mean, they're useful and all but they seem really fragile at the same time. I can see why there are such advanced pieces of weaponry here. You have the dexterity and necessity to build intricate things.”
There were suddenly two chips, as they were called, held up in front of him. He looked past them to see Nightingale and Chrysalis glaring at each other; each one holding one up. He laughed and then doubled over slightly in pain, coughing. “Are you all right?” This time it was Chrysalis voicing concern.
“Yeah...fine...” He took a drink of water and leaned back in his seat. “I'm not completely helpless.”
“Yet,” Scootaloo added, which got her two glares from the other females at the table.
Copper chuckled, shaking his head. “Yeah, I guess yet is a good way to put it...” He took a slow, deep breath before looking at the two who were still holding up chips and glaring at each other. “But...thanks, for your concern,” he said as he went back to eating.
The rest of the meal went on as normal as Copper could guess. There was an argument over who would pay the bill, Chrysalis or Nightingale, until Scootaloo suggested they split it and that ended it. Copper was sitting in the back of the car with Scootaloo once again. Chrysalis had gone to talk to the other Interpol agents in the car that was following them, while Nightingale was once again signing autographs.
“So which one do you like more?” Scootaloo said as she watched Nightingale.
“Hm?” He looked at her, realizing that he'd not given it much thought. “I dunno.” He relaxed more in his seat. “Honestly I don't think it really matters right now...I'll worry about that when I have time to think about things like that.” There was a certain edge that he felt at the back of his mind, as if once again something was pushing on him.
“Yeah, I guess so,” she said, still not looking at him. “But they're both very pretty...”
Again he looked over at her, and then past her at Nightingale. “Yeah, they are. But there's more to it than beauty.”
“You were together with the Chrysalis in the other world, right? And you knew this...Nightingale there, too?” Copper realized that they had not discussed it as he had promised her he would.
“Yeah, her real name, if you could even call it that, is Nightmare.” Scootaloo finally looked back at him, confused. “Technically she's a...well, I suppose a monster would be the best way to describe her. She goes around, traveling the world of dreams and feeds off the fear of death. The more people that fear death, the more powerful she is.”
She gave him a look that she didn't exactly believe what he was telling her, before she looked back out the window. “Then she must be really powerful...”
“I'm not too sure...so far, I haven't seen her do anything more than some minor magic, things any unicorn could do.” Scootaloo shrugged in response. He looked at her as silence began to creep back in and he laid his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, what's wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh don't give me that,” Copper said with a chuckle. “You may have been able to lie to the old Copper, but I'm good at knowing when somepony is fibbing.”
“I didn't lie to him,” she snapped.
Copper looked at her for a little longer before he sighed and pulled his hand away. “Then why are you lying to me?”
She didn't answer and Chrysalis opened the door to the car once more. “Okay, so we have some leads on Gilda. She's known to hang around the warehouse district, there's a big night club down there and- am I interrupting something?”
He shook his head. “No, I think we were done talking. For now.” It was bothering him that Scootaloo was not telling him something.
Chrysalis looked between the two of them a moment before she sighed. “All right then...well...so we'll head down to the warehouse district and see if we can pick up any leads down there.”
“Oh the warehouse district? I've not been there in years,” Nightingale said as she got back into the car. “There are some quite lovely little places down there.”
“Why does that not surprise me.” Chrysalis was glaring at her out the corner of her eye.
“And what does that mean?” Nightingale didn't even look at Chrysalis.
“Oh nothing, just not surprising that a person like you would skulk around those types of areas.” Chrysalis was fiddling with something that Copper could not see.
Nightingale made a tisking sound and turned away from Chrysalis. “I do not skulk. I leave that to people like you, miss Interpol.”
“Both of you knock it off,” Scootaloo snapped and then looked at Copper. “Are you just going to sit there and let them argue?”
He blinked and looked at her. “Hm? What?”
“You weren't even paying attention?” Scootaloo glared at him.
“No, I heard. Warehouse district.” There was still the extreme look of annoyance plastered on Scootaloo's face. “What? They're going to argue. I'm mostly tuning it out.” He took a deep breath and winced. These bruised ribs were going to be an extreme problem, as well as fractured knuckles, several cuts on the inside of his mouth and his eye hurt. Even his legs hurt. He hadn't realized it at first but some of the bullets had grazed him and he had several cuts. They were arguing again but Copper couldn't be bothered to listen. “All right, that's enough of that,” he said and they both went quiet.
“Ugh. Finally.” Scootaloo sat back in her seat with a huff.
Copper was thinking now. “Nightingale...or Chrysalis, I don't care which one.” Nightingale looked back and Chrysalis gave him a perplexed glance. “I need one of you to heal me.”
There was a moment of silence from all of them. “Copper...” Scootaloo was looking very concerned at him.
Nightingale turned a bit back to face him. “Copper, we can't do that. If you're feeling that bad, we should go to the hosp-”
“No. I don't have time to sit and recover. If you don't remember, there are people trying to kill me.” He closed his eyes. “The last thing I can afford is to sit still for a few weeks, or months.”
“It's too dangerous, Copper,” Chrysalis said. “Healing takes years, maybe decades off your life.”
“I don't think that that's going to matter. If I don't get some kind of healing, the next attempt on my life is going to succeed.” Chrysalis had pulled over and was looking back at him. “Frankly, I'd rather lose a few decades then die in a few hours.”
“He does have a point...” Nightingale said and both Scootaloo and Chrysalis glared at her.
But it was when Scootaloo gave a sigh and leaned back again with her arms folded that he knew he had won. “Fine.”
Copper smiled and ruffled her hair softly, and she batted his hand away. “I'll be sure to take it a lot more careful. I understand the limits of this body a lot better.” Even if there are still a lot of things I don't understand. “And as soon as I can do some work, I'll have plenty of surprises for them.”
“If you're sure,” Chrysalis said, though she was still frowning.
There was the immediate shift of both Chrysalis and Nightingale towards him and they bumped into each other, immediately turning and glaring at each other. “And what do you think you're doing?”
“I am going to heal him,” Nightingale snapped.
“Like hell you are. I'm going to heal him.”
“Both of you shut up and heal him,” Scootaloo snapped. “He's going to pass out.”
Copper chuckled softly. “Well, maybe...almost lost it a few times, but hey. I'm still up for now.”
Copper had been healed before, mostly before he knew of it's detrimental effects. Of course they were just little bruises and cuts, a few serious ones, but the loss of life had never bothered him. He had never thought he would live very long anyways. He guessed that his other self would probably wouldn't even live half the average span of a regular pony, but he was fine with it. Of course, this was nothing to say of when Madam Raven had had him.
But being healed by someone who cared for you was one of the best feelings he could think of. It was the pleasant feeling of being caressed by something hot that left trails of an odd bubbling sensation deep inside the bones. It did not take very long with the both of them healing him. He shuddered when the feeling had abated and he could not help but check his tooth, which was whole once more. “Thank you,” he said and smiled.
They were both still glaring at each other. “You're welcome,” they both said.
Chrysalis turned back and began driving once again. “Now you better not get hurt again.”
He smiled slightly. “No promises.” Scootaloo punched him in the shoulder, rather hard.
Hard enough that she had to rub her hand. “Don't even joke.”
His expression softened as he looked at her and ruffled her hair again. “All right. Sorry.” He relaxed in his seat, taking a deep breath and glad that it didn't hurt. In fact he felt really good, better than he had since he got this body. That caused him to think. “Scootaloo?”
“What?” She glared at him.
“Was I...” He paused. “Was there something wrong with me?”
She arched her brow at him. “You mean more than mentally?”
He chuckled softly. “Yes. Besides that. I feel...good.” The other two looked back at him. “Like...there was something wrong before...like I was sick. Perhaps I had some sort of disease?” He was more thinking out loud now. “Or maybe there was some sort of injury...” His mind wandered back to what Death had told him; the Copper in this world is dead and he is just in his body.
“If you were...you never said anything to me...but...maybe your liver? You did drink a lot,” Scootaloo suggested, looking quite concerned.
He nodded slightly, taking a deep breath. He had died of alcohol poisoning, so a damaged liver is not far out of the question. But that didn't feel like exactly what it was. Surely any liver problems he had were gone, but it felt like something worse. “Everyone always told me the drink would be what got me in the end...but there are worse things that were killing me.” Copper blinked, it was the voice in his head.
“That must have been it. But it's gone now,” he said and smiled at Scootaloo. “Good thing about healing magic, is that it'll heal things that you don't know about.”
There was a general agreement throughout the car.
~
It was hard to tell any building apart, all of them looked the same. Just dozens of large warehouses. The only way Copper knew where they were going, was the line outside. There were several different leads and places that Gilda could be, but Copper knew she would be here. Of course, he didn't tell anyone he knew where to go and let Chrysalis and Nightingale go and check out other places.
Of course, he couldn't shake Scootaloo, but then again he didn't want to. He wanted her nearby. “Well, this looks pretty exclusive...” Scootaloo muttered as she saw the line and the three bouncers who sent quite a few people away.
As Copper paid attention, about half of the people were turned away. “Yes. I'm trying to figure out how we're going to get in.” He had already scanned the line of oddly dressed ponies and griffons, but didn't see her, so either she was already in there, or not here yet. He had the feeling she was in there.
“Well, we could wait in line and try to get in that way, or just force our way in.”
“I thought about that. But those two diamond dogs'd probably kill me.” She gave him a slap on the arm and he laughed. “That's why it's not a plan. There's always sneaking in, or trying my passport thing.”
“I think they wouldn't let you in if they saw the badge on it.” Scootaloo was frowning at him. “This place doesn't look like a place that likes police.”
They were standing on the other side of the street and Copper was aware of the many in line that were looking at them. “I don't think the bouncers like us already, with the looks their giving us.”
“What about sneaking in?”
“Doors are probably locked, or there'll be someone big watching the door.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Think Burrasca could get us in?” he said with a vague gesture.
“I dunno, maybe? I mean, it would be difficult to- oh. Someone's coming over.”
Copper's focus returned from the building to the griffon coming across the street. “Can I help you?”
“Maybe. A friend of mine said she'd be in here, and invited us to come but we were debating whether it was worth waiting in line.” Copper was good at coming up with things like this. “Honestly I think it's not worth it...”
He pulled a pad out from his coat. “What's her name?”
“Gilda.” He was flipping through pages of the little notebook. “Gilda Crosswing.” They had come across her whole name.
“Well, there's a Gilda on the list, but she ain't Crosswing.”
“Told you she wouldn't use her real name,” Scootaloo said with a frown.
“Well she didn't give us any other name she was using,” Copper retorted. He was glad that she was so fast at picking up on things and improv. “I guess we'll just head home then.”
“Forget that. Night's still young, we can go to a bar or something.” Her attention turned to the bouncer. “Know any other clubs nearby that aren't so...exclusive?”
The bouncer looked at her a moment and then at Copper before glancing back. “Uh...give me one moment.” He headed back towards the other.
“Think that will work?” Scootaloo muttered to him.
“Maybe?” He watched the griffon talk with one of the other griffons while the two diamond dogs continued to turn people away. After a moment the griffon waved them over. “Looks like it's working.
The two of them crossed the street towards the griffons. “You know Gilda?”
Copper nodded. “Yeah. Friends of the family.”
That seemed to make the griffon nervous. “She don't talk about family, except how she can't stand them.”
“Well we're not part of the family,” Scootaloo said with a frown. “We keep out of the mucky stuff.”
The griffon looked hesitant, Copper was guessing that he was working out the pros and cons of letting two American's in when they weren't on the list. “All right, go on in. But only cus you know Gilda's full name, she don't give that out to people. And please, don't cause any trouble.”
Copper smiled. “Of course not, what kind of trouble would we even be able to cause?”
The two diamond dogs eyed him as they walked in. Scootaloo nudged him once they were out of ear shot. “You're nothing but trouble.”
“I do try.” She shook her head as they walked past the coat check. The female griffon eying them with heavy suspicion. The place was dark, lit oddly and there was loud music. Copper had never seen a club like this. “What would you call this place?”
“It's a night club. A grungy one, not like Burrasca's. It's a rougher place.” He could see a lot of people who were not dancing. “I don't think we'll find her in this.” He was following her around the outside edge. There were dozens of people leaning against the wall and there was a walkway that was barely clear before it became the dance floor. Though Copper could hardly call it a dance floor with the mass of people packed together to the point where it would be impossible to get through without shoving people. “Great. So even if she is here, we wont be able to find her.”
“Well, let's ask the bartender, or a waitress,” he suggested, looking around.
“What bartender? I don't even think this place sells alcohol for pities sake.” They came to a point where stairs led up to a sort of balcony and Copper followed Scootaloo up. She was thinking along the right line, getting a vantage point. But there was an angry looking diamond dog at the top, blocking the way.
“Where do you think you're going?” he snarled.
Scootaloo beat Copper to the punch, “We're lookin' for Gilda. You seen her?”
The diamond dog hesitated. “What you lookin' for her for?”
Scootaloo glared at the diamond dog. “Do you bloody know, or not? We're in a hurry.” To Copper's surprise, she actually pushed past the diamond dog, who actually just got out of the way, but it looked like she had shoved him.
“I...uh...she's across the way,” the diamond dog said and pointed, a very confused look on his face as Copper followed after Scootaloo.
Sometimes Copper forgot the sort of life Scootaloo had had. She was raised by Burrasca and was used to dealing with the more grimy side of the world. She was a lot tougher than she looked, even if it was an act for the most part. He saw how she was when she thought no one was looking, but she was always quick to put on a tough act. It was how she'd gotten by. When in the court room he had seen the fear in her eyes at the charges being placed against her, and the relief that was on her face when he stood up for her. Even though she would never admit it, there were times when he had seen her crying. Burrasca had betrayed her, and- wait, where were these thoughts coming from? He had to pause a moment as he again thought of the court room. But he hadn't been there. “Are you coming?” Scootaloo was glaring at him but her expression turned from annoyance to confused when she saw him. “What's wrong?”
“Things are...bubbling up again.” He rubbed his head, trying to chase away the beginning of a headache. “Just...give me a moment...” His head was spinning again and he leaned against the railing, staring out over the crowd of people trying to catch his breath.