A Dragon's Tale #Watty's2015

San Francisco

It would have been a smart thing to sleep for at least part of the 10 hour fly to California, but Taro and I didn't. We were awake the entire way talking to each other. I could tell that there was something he knew that he wasn't telling me, and when I asked about he told me just to trust him. I didn't argue. The old dragon was up to something, I wasn't sure what, but I knew it was important to him. Important to the point that he was willing to die for it.

Greyson set down our 22 in a forest that was close to the Golden Gate, which was a little more than a pile of scrap metal and bricks. The 22 gave a lurch which was followed by the engines priming down as the hatch opened. Taro and I stepped out. We were hidden by large Cyprus trees all around us. The only way to see the craft was to fly over it and even then you had to be looking for it. Greyson exited the aircraft and began throwing camouflage nets over it. My HUD began going nuts.

“I'm getting all kinds of red blips Taro”, I said, “this area is crawling with Draco and RDH forces.”

“I see it”, Taro said, “come on son, where are you and Nina hiding?”

I sighed to myself and pulled up a LiVE sat image of the area. I could see several tanks at each entrance to the bridge and more RDH forces than I cared to try and count. There were two F-91Qs on a runway at a local airport and soldiers were going from door to door and searching people's houses. Come on Nina...where are you?

My HUD suddenly pined a green blip. When I brought up the locator, I saw that it was Nina's vest. When I turned my 105 sight in the direction of the GPS, I saw her on thermals, she was hiding in a basement with one way in and out, her 50's pointing right at the door.

“I found Nina Taro”, I said, “she's in a condemned building at the edge of 35 Avenue right behind a 4-way intersection.”

“I'm going for her”, Taro said, “find Shadow.”

He took off as opened the coms.

“Nina?”, I said, “it's Tyro, do you copy?”

Static.

“Nina”, I said, “it's Tyro, do you copy?”

There was static, but she replied, “Tyro? Oh thank god. I had to turn off my radio, RDH is everywhere. Where's Shadow? Is he with you?”

“No, but I'm, looking for him right now”, I said, “ Listen to me, Taro is coming to get you, stay put right where you are. I can see you on FLIR. I gotta go, Taro will be there soon. Out.”

Satisfied that Nina was safe, I turned my attention back to locating Shadow. The LiVE sat was showing me more and more red pings in an other wise friendly free area. I growled at myself. I hoped that Shadow's locator wasn't messed up. Come on Shadow, where are you?

“Tyro come in”, Taro called, “I've got Nina, gimme an update.”

“Nothing to report”, I said, “LiVE said is going nutso with red blips, but I can't...”

My HUD pinged a green blip, right cross from the river.

“Hold that thought Taro”, I said.

I pulled up the identification and saw that it was Shadow's vest. I turned my sight in his direction and saw that he was swimming across the river. I could just barely see him on FLIR. From the way he was swimming, I guessed that he was going to try to climb up on a ledge near the support pillar. Shadow's V22 was well concealed just up the hill from where he was, I could make out a heat signature inside the 22 and assumed it was Talon's pilot. I could also see a group of dragons in a clearing that were pining red on LiVE sat. One, a huge, brown Mountain, looked so much like me I was nearly certain that Shadow would think that he was me.