A Good Day for a Last Kill

Last battle for some... Last day for many.

A Good Day for a Last Kill

 

Crossing the grey sky with a barely peeking sun on the east, the massive killing machine composed by twenty seven D.D.I. agents, eleven belonged to the named Texas Unit while sixteen belonged to the Missouri Unit, two bounty hunters, the Double Scarred Rider and I, The First Dragon, made its way without leaving trace of shadows on the passing buildings below. Our destiny began to make itself clear for us with each wing stroke as the clouds faded away. It was a two story very luxurious house with both a front yard and a back yard big enough to play two different sports and walled as if to exclude itself from the rest of the world, considering everyone outside a menace willing to take its expensive inners out. On the front yard there were four vehicles I haven’t seen but a couple of times, and the back yard was empty of anything interesting.

 

Patrick quickly reached my mind and said…

 

With space like this I would keep my dragons close, not sleeping at a farm. Don’t you think?

 

I have a bad feeling about this.

 

When we were above the house, around three hundred meters from the ground, Patrick said on the communicator for everyone to hear…

 

-It’s odd they don’t have their dragons around with so much space. Keep it cautious, everyone.

 

-Roger, Alpha 1… -Answered Unit Commander Rainer in a, still low and monotone, but noticeably exited voice.

 

Then we all dived at the house’s surroundings, the riders generating powerfully charged spears on their hands. As the house grew bigger and bigger in my sights, I saw the armored dragons open their wings in a single motion. When I did, I felt as if my body was going to rip itself from my wings. As a racer, I was confident I could endure almost any aerial maneuver, without considering the far bigger weight I was carrying this time with the Kevlar armor. I landed having the house at my left side, as did every dragon, having in front and behind me a Missourian dragon and so on as far as numbers allowed having both units all spread and merged up without repeating.

 

Dissipating the spears, Missouri’s riders jumped down with the assault rifle in one hand, dropping on one knee and generating a Vital Energy shield with the other hand, using it to support the steadiness and weight of the heavily loaded rifle. While Patrick and the rest of Texas stayed on their dragons having generated just a shield to defend their left side; our purpose was to look away from the house and protect our comrades’ backs. Also Missouri’s dragons looked away from the house so if someone attacked from it, it wouldn’t be capable of hitting the dragons’ eyes, for everything else was the Kevlar patched armor.

 

Then Missouri’s riders started to slowly approach the house when suddenly, a rain of bullets started to come from the house as various machineguns roared inside. The bullets hit my side, scratching the Kevlar armored saddle and bouncing off from my scales where there was no armor covering me. The bullets also pierced the membrane of my left wing, not much to count as an injury, but, continually? It felt as if I was being bathed in hot sauce. Using Patrick’s senses I could see the flashing blazes coming from the windows of both stories. The bullets buzzed past him and hit his shield as he leaned down to grab the assault rifle.

 

And it didn’t stop getting worse, since of course… where there are riders… there are dragons. One of the Spotters’ riders yelled… “Fifteen plus hostiles approaching from the west!!”. I withdrew to my senses and looked up to the western sky. Like a band of migrating geese, the dark spots in the grey sky approached at a worrying speed as they roared as loud as they could.

 

Then I heard Elvis say through Patrick’s communicator…

 

-Missouri, we’ll take the sky and leave the ground to you!

 

-Count on us, Texas!… -Answered Unit Commander Rainer-… And good luck up there!

 

Then Patrick yelled… -Look out for the corpse rain, Missouri!

 

That said, I opened up my wings and jumped, accompanied by a strong wing stroke, taking off in a flowed move. Texas followed me up to the approaching enemy’s altitude as the noise down there slowly was muffled by the distance. Once aligned up facing the incoming enemies, Patrick placed his left hand where my left wing born and released Energy into me, healing my punctured wing and getting it good as new in just a second, the sensation tickled as he did. Then he said in my mind…

 

Just like in the old times, eh?

 

Yeah. Just like in the…

 

And suddenly, I saw the dragon at my left quickly lunged upward. Act followed by the shout in Patrick’s communicator…

 

-Guns!!

 

Their fast detonations born as I felt something hitting my shoulder with a small explosion.

 

-Explosive bullets!!

 

Patrick yelled and quickly generated a shield large enough for me and even my wings. Through Patrick’s vision I could see the rider on my right side lifting his hands to do the same, but his body suddenly shook to the right as his left arm blew away in a small pink puff. And without even recovering from it, his abdomen exploded, making him spit a river of blood and other stuff. His dragon shrilled loudly and his flying dropped to a mindless twitching.

 

-Hunter down!... -Patrick yelled as he saw the dragon falling to the void.

 

Looking forward, I saw the explosions on the other side of Patrick’s dark red smoky shield, our enemies growing closer and closer by the second while Patrick told me…

 

These b******s are no joke! I can’t attack without exposing you!

 

I have a plan for the first one in front of us!... I answered him and quickly told him my idea.

 

No way, Furia!! That’s suicidal!!

 

Only on my behalf, and I trust you won’t let me fall! Now there’s no time! I’m going for it!!

 

Not ten seconds later, the dragon in front of me and I were about to crash, just then, Patrick dissipated the shield. The dragon craned back his neck and exhaled fire at me. I quickly dived and suddenly was flying right under the dragon, switching to Patrick’s vision right at the instant. When he was under the dragon’s neck, Patrick generated a long sword and stabbed up with all his strengths. The sword sliced open the dragon’s whole body in a straight line, inners peeking out and blood raining on us. The dragon made a loud horrendous shriek that meant victory. But there was not a single second to celebrate. Suddenly, the rider’s machinegun roared and I felt as if my right wing was being torn apart by acid bathed butter knifes along with a single wave of pain so piercing it made my claws twitch and my jaws snap closed. Roaring the pain out I realized I was in no flight control; I flapped my wings but gained no altitude nor affected my slowly growing falling speed.

 

Switching to Patrick’s vision, I saw he generated a dagger and threw it at the rider whose dragon we just sliced open, they were falling behind us. The dagger pierced through the rider’s shield and hit the middle of his forehead as his eyes went to different directions.

 

Patrick! What’s with my wing!!?

 

Patrick looked at my right wing and the shock almost made me panic to the look. The membrane was torn apart like a burned ragged curtain, and the main articulation’s bones were snapped out of their places, the heads peeking out through a torn and burned hole.

 

You really need to leave the planning to me… Patrick said.

 

He then reached to where my right wing born and started releasing energy. The membrane began to slowly reconstruct itself and the bones slowly moved themselves toward where they belonged. The tendons and ligaments growing like tree roots. Suddenly, I heard a waving sound above me… I looked up only to see this riderless dragon lunging at me. Without wasting a second, I used my left wing to turn and received the dragon’s tackle.

 

Furia!!... Patrick yelled in my thoughts.

 

Keep healing me! I got this!!

 

The dragon’s and mine jaws snapped as we tried to bite each other. Our drop so scribbled that at one moment she was on top, and then I was on top, and so on as the ground and sky swapped behind her. As much as I tried to claw at her belly, she would defend herself pretty well. Actually, if it wasn’t because of my Kevlar armor, she would be gutting me alive.

 

Suddenly, the sky stood a lot of time behind the dragon as she continued trying to bite me. Realizing we were very close to the ground, I exclaimed at Patrick…

 

Finish that s**t already!!

 

My eyes snapped wide open as my wing started to burn as if it was being destroyed again. Taking the pain out on the dragon I started to bite harder and faster, I clawed not only to hurt her, but to reach her spine through her belly. But still the defense of this dragon was too good. Suddenly, I saw a dark red flash behind the dragon, and just a moment later, she groaned in pain as one of her claws was left behind. And I heard Patrick’s voice in my mind.

 

You are up!!

 

My wings felt alright, it was time to finish this. I twisted and put the sky at my back, kicked hard and opened my wings to their full extent, breaking my fall gradually to a hover as I flapped down. Looking down, I saw the dragon plummeting to the ground until she managed to level herself and opened her wings. But it was too late. She straightened her flight and still carried a lot of energy. The dragon crashed on her legs and rolled on the ground, leaving a long red stain.

 

I’ll go finish her… I told Patrick.

 

I’ll cover your back.

 

Flying at a soft pace towards the crashed dragon, she started to awkwardly try to get up without success. Her wings were completely destroyed and only two of her legs moved barely properly. I landed next to the dragon and looked down at her. The right side of her face was completely torn apart and bathed in red. I was sure that if it wasn’t for the blood, I would be seeing directly at her skull.

 

The dragon noticed my presence and got startled, quickly showing off her fangs and hissing loudly with a ferocious look on her face. The dragon craned back her neck and was about to exhale blaze when she suddenly vomited down some kind of dark liquid and after it she just coughed some puffs of smoke… It smelled like burned blood. Trembling, the dragon erased her guard off her face, looked up at me with desperate eyes and said…

 

Thanks God it’s you, Wings of Liberty!... they forced us to this… I have nothing against you, Wings of Liberty… I know you have an honorable heart… I know you’ll show me mercy.

 

I slightly showed off my fangs and hissed as I said…

 

Don’t you mistake honor with cowardice.

 

What? No, Please no!!

 

The dragon started to try to crawl away, but with a quick step forward I bit the dragon’s neck as hard as I could, my mouth bathed with the taste of blood as pain-filled shrieks bathed my hearing. I pulled the dragon’s head up and shook mine with all my strengths, my neck waving along until the dragon’s neck snapped broken with a loud crack.

 

The dragon’s heartbeat faded; there was no more shrieking or even bleeding. I let the corpse fall and it landed on the ground with a solid thud. I licked my fangs clean as I looked up to the raging war; dragons clashed against each other, Vital Energy attacks were launched and the machineguns roared with brief pauses. All while the shouting and yelling on Patrick’s communicator was almost impossible to understand. There was something about the number of dragons with machinegun riders being like just a handful and most dragons being bare, and another team was taken out. I then pulled up my wings and jumped up with a wing stroke, quickly climbing the air to help my friends and comrades. On the way, I asked Patrick…

 

What was that you did, Pat, my wing hurt a lot when you healed it.

 

I powered up the healing to go faster. Didn’t know it would hurt.

 

Don’t mention that, I’m glad you did. How do you feel about energy?

 

I won’t last long while creating such large shields and healing so grave injuries. We need another tactic.

 

I stayed silent for a couple of seconds, watching the dragons above me. Then it struck my brain. As I sped up my climbing, using the respiration techniques and a specific way to flap down my wings that David and Icy taught me, I told Patrick…

 

I got an idea, Pat! Hang on tight!

 

Wait, Furia! At least tell me first!

 

See that rider going around the whole battle picking targets?

 

After a second, Patrick said… Yeah.

 

That’s our target. I’ll hit him from bellow and you’ll use the Chain Blade to quickly take out the rider.

 

Sounds like a plan.

 

As I flew up, the dragon went for another round and was heading straight at my intercepting point. Come on… I thought… Come on… don’t change your ridiculous pathway just now… come on… come on! ... Take this, you f****r!!... And the dragon was then right above me. I opened my jaws and bit the dragon’s neck right in the sweet spot… perfectly behind the head.

 

Dragging the dragon up with me, it didn’t have time to react before I broke its neck with a single shake. I let go of it and hovered, looking at the dragon falling to the ground along with its headless rider. Suddenly I heard a voice in Patrick’s communicator…

 

-Patrick, look out!!

 

I looked around only to have time to hear the row of explosions behind me as Tyranis flew up past Patrick and I, giving us the back and taking the explosions on her chest and belly. Patrick generated a spear and once the path was clear, threw it at the rider with the machinegun. The spear hit the man on the chest and splashed off all of his inners by the man’s back.

 

-Oliver!!... Tyranis!!

 

Patrick yelled and I roared at the very same instant, and without reasoning a single second, we flew at their aid. Tyranis and Oliver started to arch down when Patrick and I reached their side. I kept my wings slightly open and fell at the same speed as our friends. Tyranis was all curled up, bleeding a lot from her belly, where scales are the weakest on a dragon’s whole body.

 

-Oliver! Can you heal Tyranis!?....- Patrick yelled at his communicator.

 

-No! I’m dead on Energy!!...

 

All while I roared at Tyranis…

 

Tyranis! I’m here, sis! I won’t let you fall!!

 

Tyranis then answered me with a weak presence…

 

It hurts… It hurts, Furia… I… I can’t fly… Furia… I don’t want to die…

 

I then located myself directly above our friends so we could execute the emergency rescue procedure. Oliver holding up a fat chain with a large clip in the end, the other end was clipped to a hook in front of him. Then Oliver continued saying…

 

-There should be a hook by Furia’s chest!!

 

I maneuvered and got near Oliver so he could chain Tyranis to said hook. But the answer we got wasn’t very assuring.

 

-What!? Patrick, your emergency hook is broken!! I can’t chain Tyranis!!!

 

I’ll try something then!!... �"I roared before Patrick could even answer Oliver.

 

What do you have in mind?... �"He asked me-

 

I’m going to bite the chain and…

 

Furia, are you crazy!!? What if your fangs break!?

 

Dragon fangs can’t break!!

 

How do you know!?

 

They better don’t.

 

-Get someone who has a hook!!... �"Oliver panicked.

 

Alright then, Furia, let’s pull this off!

 

Then Patrick told Oliver through his communicator…

 

-No time!! You have to throw the chain for Furia to bite it!!

 

While I aligned myself and got my mouth as close as I could to Oliver, he hesitated and looked at my eyes as I opened my jaws. Then, he threw the chain and I quickly snapped my jaws shut. Angling myself up so the weight would rest on my whole under-jaw instead of just on my fangs, I started to flap my wings with whatever energy I had left. The task was proving itself not only tiresome and arduous, but painful as well as Tyranis’s weight started to pull me down.

 

I first concentrated on slowing our fall. The pressure the chain did on the front of my jaw felt as if it was going to rip it off my body. And the fangs it was stuck with, were hurting horribly, as if I was tearing apart my most inner and basic composition with a rusty butter knife. Suddenly, I heard Tyranis hum gravely as she told me, her voice weak and far…

 

Furia…

 

Tell me, sis. Ya doing good?

 

Will Oliver turn to a Double Scarred?

 

It actually never touched my mind… specially the part of me witnessing the birth of one. The Double Scar has always been what separated Patrick from among riders… not mentioning his feats in battle and in the shaping of the world. Its uniqueness is unparalleled and the prestige it means has no match. No one in the whole world hasn’t even attempted to create one, nor have anyone been anywhere close to get one, and suddenly the second Double Scarred Rider in the whole world was to be born specifically within the same group of riders the first one is. The greatness of the question was so high I didn’t even know how to answer, with everything that was to take into consideration, all the things that could go wrong… but I had to at least tell something to my friend Tyranis, whose rider was just about to take the step.

 

He will… -I said-…

 

Suddenly, I heard Oliver through Patrick’s communicator…

 

-We are going to touch down hard! Better glide, Furia!

 

I then started to glide. My wings hurt, my jaw did more, and a second later Tyranis touched ground. I glided over her and landed on my hind legs, but the energy I carried was too much to brake there, I slid for a second, the chain reached its maximum extent and pulled me down hard, crashing my jaw against the ground and snapping broken the chain where I had bitten it. The metallic crushing blast brought a buzzing into my brain and an acute wave of pain in my mouth and my left claw. I roared and hissed as I shouted…

 

AH!! SHITLESS F**K!!! That hurts!!!

 

As Patrick quickly strapped off from my saddle and jumped down, he said… Furia, are you… I interrupted him and yelled… Tend to Oliver, d****t!!... Patrick ran past me without replying and reached Oliver, who had already strapped off and went to Tyranis’s face to comfort her.

 

I tried to stand up and felt a new wave of pain coming from my left claw when I stepped with it. F**k… I broke my arm on that landing… Afterwards, I awkwardly succeeded and hobbled towards Tyranis, Oliver and Patrick while I licked the sore front fangs of my sore jaw… At least none of my fangs broke and my jaw is in its place… I also found some tiny objects stuck in my gums that stung every time I rubbed my tongue nearby… F*****g chain shrapnel.

 

As I made my way forward, I saw Oliver had located himself pressing both his hands against Tyranis’s blood bathed belly. All over her, Tyranis’s Kevlar armor was torn apart, sliced, burned, and in the end it failed to protect her front. Tyranis’s injuries were big shallow holes the size of a basketball ball that spread all the way on her belly and chest. The scales on dragons’ underside are the weakest compared to those of the rest of the body, but luckily still were strong enough to hold the bullets from penetrating before exploding. Tyranis was still alive, breathing slowly, humming gravely in pain every now and then and her whole body trembling.

 

I heard Patrick saying… -Give’er all you’ve got, Oliver, I won’t let you die!

 

Oliver nodded and released his energy as green smoke covered his arms and flowed into Tyranis. The blood stopped pouring out from Tyranis’s injuries as the holes slowly closed themselves. The stream of power, like when Patrick healed my wing, was so strong and reconstructed Tyranis’s body so quickly it made her roar and claw at the ground, continually holding herself from curling up and crushing Oliver and Patrick who were right next to her. I felt my heart skipped a beat to the memory of when Patrick did the same for me. That time, I received an all the way through stab that went in not far behind my left shoulder and came out after the last ribs of my right side, leaving huge scars as memoirs of that day… and the pain of Patrick’s healing. I couldn’t even breathe while my chest went crazy inside… and when it was all over, I suddenly couldn’t reach Patrick with my mind. To think I was going to be expecting at such event this time. I then located myself in front of Tyranis and touched her head with my mouth as I softly said…

 

You risked your life for me, Tyranis… Thank you…

 

Interrupted by grunts, she answered… To Hell I would miss you… putting a cute face to Helios… She then laughed for a moment before another grunt forced her jaws shut. I couldn’t be any gladder she was ok and being her usual self.

 

Suddenly, I heard a roar behind me; I turned back by my left side and saw Helios and Pyro, Alan and Elvis at their backs, approaching to land and along with them the surviving seven Spotters. Their Kevlar armor was all destroyed, burned and torn apart… useless for a new combat. It appeared that we missed to hear another “Hunter Down” reports while rescuing Oliver and Tyranis. Then I heard Elvis’s voice through Patrick’s communicator…

 

-Patrick! Oliver! It’s over! I saw what happened. Oliver, are you and Tyranis ok?

 

Oliver didn’t answer, his breathing was starting to fail and his stance was weak, but the energy stream continued flowing strongly from his arms and into Tyranis. Before Patrick could answer, Unit Commander Rainer’s voice said through the communicator…

 

-Texas, we are done here! Thank you for covering our backs. I’m sorry for the men and dragons you lost.

 

Helios and the Agents landed and approached us while Elvis said…

 

-Good to hear, Missouri! Do you have any casualties?

 

-Four. The other two teams are done too with their assaults, but didn’t find…

 

Suddenly, Oliver’s flow of Energy was cut dry in an instant and Tyranis’s injuries weren’t completely closed. The rider collapsed back and started to roll on the ground, grabbing his chest as he growled. Patrick quickly grabbed Oliver and stopped him, shouting “I got you, man!”, put his right hand on Oliver’s chest and released Energy as his arms emanated dark red smoke that flowed into Oliver. The soon to be Double Scarred Rider started to breathe and calmed down, but giving no signs of consciousness and acquiring the looks of someone being deeply asleep. Tyranis suddenly tried to stand up with a roar, saying…

 

Oliver!!

 

I turned to her and stopped her from daring any struggle…

 

It’s over, Tyranis, it’s ok now.

 

I can’t feel Oliver all of a sudden!… She told me altered… Is he ok!?

 

Yeah, he is. He just lost all contact with you along with all of his Energy. You have now to wait for him to wake up in a couple of days to get back his energy and the mental link with you.

 

Still worried, Tyranis asked me… It was like that with you and Patrick? Are you sure?

 

Yes, I promise you it’ll all be ok. Oliver is going to get his New Scar once he touches you when he wakes up. Now try to relax.

 

Tyranis then let herself fall to the ground, took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. At that moment, Patrick approached me and placed his hands against my neck, then he said…

 

Alright, now I can heal you.

 

Wait… I said before he released any Energy… Please take the chain shrapnel from my gums. I don’t know if they will stay there or be pushed out when you heal me.

 

Ok. Let me tell Unit Commander Rainer about our delay. It’ll give us some rest too.

 

He then said…

 

-What was that about the other teams being done? Did they catch Mr. Prisco?

 

It was Alan who answered him…

 

-No, Mr. Prisco is nowhere to be found, nor is Shawver. Unit Commander Rainer did find and catch the Claypool Twins and their dragons. Also, I called for an emergency pick up for Tyranis and Oliver.

 

I then turned around and lay on the ground while Helios approached us and told Tyranis with a low grave hum…

 

I saw how you saved Furia and Patrick, and can’t believe Oliver will turn to a Double Scarred Rider. You two are the best bounty hunting comrades a dragon could ask.

 

Thanks, Helios.

 

What happened to you, Furia? Are you ok?

 

Yeah… I just broke my left arm and broke the chain when I landed. I have shrapnel stuck all over my mouth. I won’t be able to bite anything with those things there and don’t know if the healing will push them out.

 

They’ll have to be taken out old school…- Concluded Helios.

 

Fifteen minutes later, a team of five riders and dragons arrived. One of them was a Paramedic; his dragon’s saddle had a Red Cross symbol with saddlebags on both sides. The dragon doctor jumped down and inspected Tyranis. “She’ll handle the trip”, he said and proceeded to go back to his dragon. He pulled out a huge white package from which he got medical patches for dragons. The doctor patched Tyranis’s underside completely and went back to his dragon to save the remaining patches in the saddle and then he went to the other side to extract a huge and fat squared net.

 

The doctor and the four other riders spread the net open in front of Tyranis and then clipped an end of a chain on Tyranis’s back of her saddle and the other end on the front of the doctor’s dragon’s saddle. The dragon took off and hovered above Tyranis, the doctor giving directions to him. The dragon lifted Tyranis only enough for her to walk effortlessly onto the net, for if the dragon lifted her completely, it would strain her body too much. Then the dragon landed and the end of the chain clipped on Tyranis’s saddle was clipped to one of the four ends of the net, while another dragon replaced the doctor’s dragon at that end of the net. The other three riders clipped their dragons’ saddles to the net as well.

 

The doctor motioned with his hand at the four dragons that carried Tyranis and these took off a moment later. They rose at the same speed, turned around as if they were a single living being and flew away. After the doctor strapped Oliver to his saddle, Patrick approached him and told him about my situation. The doctor nodded and looked in the pockets of his suit for a flashlight. I laid on the ground and the doctor told me to open my mouth, which I did at the second. I felt him supporting himself on my fangs and maneuvering around my mouth.

 

-I see them… -The doctor said, his voice echoing inside of my head-… I have to pull them out from inside your mouth, Wings of Liberty, otherwise, any sting I cause will make you bite and split me in too.

 

Alan, Helios, Elvis, Pyro and the rest of Texas’s riders and dragons positioned themselves around ten meters away from me to protect me while Patrick accompanied me right at my left side where I could see him. The doctor tied a long rope to his dragon’s saddle and the other end to his suit. Keeping the rope completely tensed, so I don’t swallow him by accident, the doctor slowly stepped inside by the right corner of my mouth and laid down on my tongue.

 

The doctor’s suit felt like a dry sponge and the taste of cloth didn’t help a bit. As he motioned with his boots, which I felt too far in the back of my mouth, to position himself properly, I felt my inners revolting to the presence. I started to tremble and quickly told the doctor through his dragon…

 

Move more to the front!! I think I’m going to throw up!!

 

I felt the doctor getting more to the front of my maw, and he told me… “Breath through your nostrils, not the mouth!”. As the doctor moved to a better position, I put to that of breathing through the nostrils and not through the mouth. It started to work… I was feeling better… I relaxed my muscles… When suddenly, the doctor said, his voice echoing in my head…

 

-Alright, Wings of Liberty, I’m going for the first one… -The doctor took a deep breath and sighed-…if you must know, I’m counting fourteen pieces total; nine on the upper gums and the roof, and five on the lower gums. Whatever you do, don’t snap your jaws shut, even though I made sure the rope can’t be reached by your fangs, I don’t feel like being eaten just yet. You heard me? Ready to begin?

 

Yes.

 

I felt some tickling manipulation and… F*****G SUCKER!!!!!... I couldn’t hold a long shriek and snapped closed my claws. I felt my mouth coming closed halfway when I stopped and felt my nerves reveling against me… waves of pain being launched from my upper gums with each heartbeat. I looked at Patrick, who pat my side and the doctor yelled…

 

-That was good, Wings of Liberty, I’m still here, you are doing great!... The stuff you see in battle, no one will believe me this one.

 

It wasn’t that bad, wasn’t it Furia? One down thirteen to go…

 

I breathed hard for a couple of seconds and with another curse, another shriek and another whole body muscle tension, another piece was out. Isn’t there some kind of anesthesia, for f**k’s sake!?... I shouted with a roar. At what the doctor answered… “Not if you want to bite something afterwards”. This was so embarrassing… me shrieking and showing weakness in front of my fellow combatants… specially the part that the whole operation was on standby… which wasn’t that bad, actually… this served as an excuse to have our riders rest their energy long enough, probably longer.

 

After the longest twenty two minutes and thirty two seconds of my life, the doctor had pulled off the last cursed piece of metal in my mouth. He immediately walked out of my mouth and Patrick proceeded to heal me. I felt tickles in my jaws and my left arm popped back in its place… within a minute I was back good as new, standing up to all fours, licking my whole mouth, glad to feel it as smooth as always.

 

I looked down to the doctor and nodded at him. He looked serious at me and said as he drove his right hand straight as a blade to the front of his forehead in a single flowed move…

 

-Always glad to serve you, Wings of Liberty.

 

Patrick walked at the doctor and thanked him, at what the doctor answered, as well with the same gesture…

 

-My honor, Double Scarred Rider.

 

Without saying much afterwards, the Doctor climbed to his dragon and took off, taking with him our unconscious friend, Oliver, soon-to-be Double Scarred Rider. Patrick then notified the rest that we were ready to go and climbed to my saddle. We then took off and flew back at the twin brother’s house. We weren’t that far, a half a minute flight and we were suddenly above an obliterated, scorched, and completely knocked to the ground house. Not even the uncommon cars survived. There were two individuals handcuffed and kneeling before the cars, which were being destroyed by a couple of joyful D.D.I. agents. The rest of the agents were spread around the area. Not very faraway there were two dragons being held down by other two D.D.I. dragons.

 

Texas had lost three Spotters and one of our bounty hunters couldn’t fight anymore, while Missouri had lost four of their agents. As a result our machine was reduced to twenty two riders and dragons. It was a solid victory, but we had nothing to celebrate.

 

I landed in front of the house… I mean… the expensive pile of debris, while the rest spread around. The two kneeling individuals were the Claypool Brothers without a doubt and were the two we came here to deal with. While Patrick strapped off from my saddle and jumped to the ground, one of the D.D.I. agents was shouting at the Twins…

 

-All the people you two killed to buy these cars, they s**t on you, I s**t on you!!… And now you are going to get what you deserve!! Worthless Scum!!

 

Everyone then saluted for us as Unit Commander Rainer approached Patrick and said…

 

-The cowards tried to fly away, but we didn’t let them reach their dragons. We also managed to get intel from them about Mr. Prisco’s and Shawver’s whereabouts. Then I thought you would like to spend quality time with them, so there they are, all but wrapped like presents.

 

-Well done, Unit Commander.

 

Unit Commander Rainer accompanied Patrick as he walked toward the Twins and I followed them closely. The Twins were kneeling with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, facing their destroyed cars when Patrick was about three meters behind them. Their arms and legs were bandaged and their clothes were stained in blood.

 

Are those dragons the ones who hurt you?...      Patrick asked me.

 

I glanced at the two identical dragons being held against the ground and answered him… No.

 

-Turn them around.   �"Patrick said lowly.

 

Unit Commander Rainer motioned with his hand and two agents walked toward the Twins. They kicked the twins and they turned around, falling to their side to then be pulled up by their short hair by said agents. Now kneeling facing us, the Twins just looked down without saying a thing.

 

-Look at me… -Patrick muttered, loud enough for them to hear him. But they didn’t answer nor looked up; they just stayed motionless, though I could hear their broken respiration… which was disturbingly pleasuring.

 

Patrick then stepped forward and grabbed the hair of one of them and dragged him in front of the other one. He pulled the Twin’s head back by the hair and pressed against his neck a dark red smoky Vital Energy knife. Both Twins’ respiration hardening as Patrick said…

 

-Look at your brother.

 

This time, the Twin in front of Patrick looked up and at his brother, pressing his teeth. Then Patrick said…

 

-It upsets you, doesn’t it? Having a member of your family in this situation… But rather than looking at him as your brother, look at him as yourself… Did you see this in the mirror when you decided to attack my dragon? To hurt her and cripple her for no reason?... -The Twin stayed in silence for a couple of seconds. Then Patrick raised his voice a little… -Answer me!

 

The Twin looked at Patrick in the eye for a moment… then looked down at the ground and said…

 

-No.

 

-No what?... �"Demanded Patrick-… and look at my eyes when you talk to me.

 

The Twin raised his sight and said with a weakened voice… -No… I didn’t see this when I attacked your dragon.

 

-You just thought you could do it… just like that… hurting someone else without consequences… without answering questions… You think the world is in your hands just because you can evade the ones who pursue you… Of course because… If I’m outside of the law, why should I obey it… Why should I fear it?... This is why.

 

And with a swift movement, Patrick slid his blade outwards, ending with his arm stretched out. The unharmed twin’s eyes snapped completely open to the sight of the long cut on his brother’s throat as a river of blood came out from it and this one started to twitch and gargle. The unharmed twin screamed and cried and Patrick pushed his dying brother onto him, this one landed on his brother’s chest and his blood stained his whole torso in a matter of seconds. The unharmed twin cried and tried to touch his brother’s head with his, but just couldn’t reach it. The Last Roar of his dragon was heard shortly after and the other struggled to free himself from the D.D.I. holding him down.

 

Patrick then turned around and walked toward me. He stopped next to me and patting my neck, Patrick said… Avenge your friends… and walked away a couple of steps as I stepped forward and looked down at a broken man, crying his balls out for his dead brother. I stood there, watching him from above with my neck arched up, showing him my shiny white razor sharp fangs and hissing lowly. Although I wanted so much to kill him… a thought born in my mind…

 

If I do this… I’ll be doing exactly what I want to prevent Patrick from doing. He seems alright so far… he even killed one of the twins without falling apart. Yet it could be for the goal… The Mind Poison wouldn’t activate itself for a subordinate… but… what if there is no more Mind Poison?... If I execute this assassin, and then prevent Patrick from executing the leader… wouldn’t that make me a hypocrite?... I wouldn’t like Patrick to think that of me… either would I like the threat to be real and having Patrick turn to a crazy killing machi…

 

Everything ok, Furia?

 

Yeah… -Then I went back to thinking for myself-… Anyway, that’s for the end of this f*****g day… for now… let’s just kill them all.

 

I then took a deep breath and a moment later exhaled fire at the inoffensive lonely twin. The inferno engulfed him as a loud and hear-ripping shriek came from both him and his dragon that could be heard three blocks away. The cries of agony lasted for just a couple of seconds and then I cut the flames, exhaling nothing more than thin smoke. Before me there were two scorched bodies while a vision of David, Icy, Dani, Mantra and I celebrating our victory in the Selections ran my mind… It could have been true… I thought and then stepped on the corpses, obliterating them under my claw.

 

Rage and bloodlust born in my mind to the feeling of weakness and loss as I walked away from the ashes. Patrick stayed behind me and was starting to say…

 

Furia… are you…

 

Yeah… just want to relax… U.C. Rainer is approaching from behind you; he might want to talk to you. I won’t be hearing it.

 

 

On the other side

 

Umm… sure, Furia, you rest, I’ll take care of the rest…  -I told Furia before she blocked herself.

 

I then turned and saw Unit Commander Rainer walking up to me. He stopped his approach and said…

 

-To think the Double Scarred Rider can see behind his back, eh? Anyway, I come to tell you directly about the situation, Double Scarred Rider.

 

-I just heard your steps, Unit Commander. What is it?

 

-Mr. Prisco and the other assassin, Shawver, are trenched in Hotel Frederic, at the far north of Boonville, at the far north of Missouri. It is a four story building easy to defend from both ground and air and is equipped for worst-case-scenarios, such as this is. It’s filled up with gunmen as well, no count provided. Now hear this… There were here eighteen total hostiles, dragons and riders in each count, four riders and all the dragons fought in the sky while the other fourteen riders defended the house. They put most of their resources to the riders in the air, but left on the ground enough forces to defend the house, without mentioning the fact that we prevailed. They were all set to kill us all right here, starting by you and the rest of Texas in the air to then storm the rest of us on the ground. These guys know what they are doing; Red Squad, at Mr. Prisco’s mansion, suffered two times our casualties. It is a fact that this place will have far better defenses and a possibility that we won’t survive another storm like this, even if I call an addition of forty more men and dragons. We have enough time to organize a new attack with the other two Squads while we wait for replacements for our armor.

 

-Let’s put to it then… -I said…

 

I called Alan and Elvis to join us and together we planned out a new approach toward the new target: Hotel Frederic, an exponentially better defended four story fortress which provided sanctuary for the Top Priority Individual, Mr. Prisco, and to one last Elite Assassin, Shawver, who, according to Sanchez, isn’t as smart as the Claypool Brothers, but owns a much more destructive talent with Vital Energy.

 

Fifteen minutes later, as the dragons were being equipped with new Kevlar armor…

 

-Patrick, that’s beyond madness!... �"Elvis shouted- … Alan, are you sure you are up for this plan?

 

-I have learned the hard way to follow Patrick’s instincts.

 

-Is fine by me too… -Stated Unit Commander Rainer-… if the Double Scarred Rider thinks he can pull that off, I’ll abide by it and accomplish my part.

 

-Good… -I said- … Once everyone is ready, we’ll commence our next mission: Operation Total Takedown.

 

-D****t, Patrick… -Cursed Elvis-… Simply d****t.