A Dragon's Tale #Watty's2015

The Next Morning

I slept well for the rest of the night. Adelind always did have this way of calming me down after I'd have a nightmare. I suspect that it's a product of how long we've been together. The next morning, I was stirred by the laughter of my kids. I cracked open one eye to see them all wrestling with each other, looking like it was a free for all.

“Morning my love”, Adelind said.

“Morning to you too”, I said smiling.

“How'd you sleep?”, Adelind asked.

“Didn't have another nightmare”, I replied, “so that's good.”

She smiled as I turned my attention on the kids. The had managed to pin Tyson onto his back, but Tyson was able to slide out from under them like they weren't even there.

“No, no, no”, I said sliding over to them, “that was all wrong.”

“What was wrong Daddy?”, Helix asked.

“When you pinned Tyson”, I said, “your supposed to pin him on his stomach, that way he can't strike.”

I reached out and gently pushed Tyson onto his stomach. He fought hard to try and escape, but went no where.

“See?”, I replied letting him up, “He couldn't move.”

“Well it's not fair anyways because he's so tiny and slippery”, Dusk noted.

“Hey!”, Tyson squealed, “your one to talk! Your a runt!”

“Don't call me that!”, Dusk said leaping at him.

Tyson reared up on his hind legs and smacked Dusk to the ground, pinning him on his stomach. Dusk struggled against Tyson's grip, but didn't get very far.

“Apologize”, Tyson said.

“Never”, Dusk whispered evilly.

I laughed, “that's enough boys, let's go eat.”

Tyson let Dusk up as we started for the mess hall. On the way there, Nolan met me.

“Tyro”, he said, “I need you to come with me.”

“Why?”, I asked.

“The informant you rescued said he'll speak only to you”, Nolan replied, “trust me....you need to hear what he has to say.”

Something in the way he said “you need to hear what he has to say” hit me like a bucket of ice water. I knew something was up. I turned to Adelind.

“You go ahead, I'll catch up.”

“Okay”, Adelind replied entering the mess hall.

Nolan and I walked to the command building. It was a 4 story brick building with a granite floor and a stainless steel inlay that looked like a compass. There was a Romean flag hanging on the central coulom and that was flanked by four windows that housed a cascading waterfall and Ivy which was growing up the glass. Nolan led me up stairs to a door at the end of a long hallway with his name on it. He unlocked it and led me inside where Teovanth was sitting on his haunches with his parents, Hudson, Wyatt and Issac were there too.

“You must be Tyro”, his Dad said, “thank you, for saving my son.”

“Just doing my job brother”, I replied, “I can't imagine what it feels like to lose your kids, so I made sure you didn't. Now, I'm told your son wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah”, Teovanth said, “right before they captured me, I over heard a conversation about a prisoner they thought they might be able to use to lure a team named Raven out into the open. Apparently he's a former member and he has intel on Project Draco that could crack it open like an egg.”

The bucket of ice water dumped itself on my head. “lure Raven into the open. Apparently he's a former member.”

“Did you by any chance happen to hear a name?”, Hudson asked.

“Frank I think they said”, Teovanth.

“Do you have a location?”, I asked.

“I over heard one of them mention Scotia Island, Yemen”, he replied, “I don't have anything else.”

“We put a whisper drone over the area as soon as he told me”, Nolan replied, “this came in this morning.”

A video of several Yemen militia men dragged a man who had shaggy blonde hair and brown eyes into a building and shut the door. The man had Marine Ink on his neck and a Raven on his arm. I couldn't believe my eyes. Hudson had told me Frank had died in the helo crash that had killed me as well. Now he'd turned up in Yemen. How was that even possible.

“That's him”, Issac said, “that's Frank. “

“He's alive”, Hudson said shocked, “can't believe it.”

“The drone has since relayed more information”, Nolan said, “every day, at 6AM and at 6PM, there's a guard change. The switch takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes and it's the same six faces every time. Problem is, we have no location, so you'll have to apprehend one of the guards to learn Frank's location.”

Nolan produced six pictures, “now I have spies in the Militia group in question, The Red Vyper, chomping on their bits to grab these people. But I know this hits you guys too close to home to have anyone else do it.”

“When are we going?”, I asked.

“Your not”, Nolan replied.

“Come again?”, Hudson said, “bullshit he ain't. Raven's don't fly without their leader.”

“Straight up”, I said, “I belong on the front lines.”

“Tyro”, Nolan said sharply, “that island is a active war zone, think about it for a minute. The US labeled you the greatest Marine who ever lived. Someone of your tactical background should know that the hiding places for a 15x50 foot mountain dragon are zip. Plus, even if you were able to find a hiding spot, you'd be unable to support your team as the sound of a 105 or even a suppressed MK-11 will send the local militia into hysterics, on top of that, Frank could get caught in the cross fire and then not only will you lose your friend, we lose what could be the final nail in the coffin for PD. Anything you wanna add Major?”

I gritted my teeth, “no sir.”

“However”, Nolan replied, “if you still want to go, there's another option. But we haven't tried it before, at least, not on this scale.”

“What's that?”, I asked.

“Some lab technicians have developed a machine they believe can switch the genes of HDR dragons.”

“Out with it old man”, Wyatt said.

“They believe”, Nolan said, “and my as well, that they could transform you into a human and a dragon at your own will.”

Hudson, Issac and Wyatt looked at me as I locked my eyes with Nolan's.

“What could that do to my brain?”, I asked, “I don't claim to be smart about science, but couldn't effectively switching species hurt me?”

“At most it will leave you with a migraine”, Nolan said, “the machine has been tested on other HDR dragons, just not on any so big.”

“If it means getting a brother back”, I said, “let's do it.”

“Very well”, Nolan said, “follow me.”