Operation Slaughter House

Furia and the group had finally reached the end of the line for the preparations of Missouri's assault. It was time to fly toward the red skies once again.

Operation Slaughter House

 

This was the day… This was the day it would end. And this was the day I would say that for the second time in my life. Steel sliding over steel and metallic clicks could be heard in the dark early morning as everyone ammo-checked and cocked their weapons. I saw Elvis, Alan and Oliver getting their gear ready and putting on bulletproof vests over dark grey D.D.I. uniforms.

 

I was lying on the ground with my neck arched up, looking at the scene. At a moment I looked down in front of me at the saddle I was going to use. It was like a harness, with extra clips and straps for the heavy Kevlar-patched armored second skin.

 

What do you think about the saddle?

 

Patrick said as he put a cartridge inside a pistol and cocked it, to then put it in its holster by his right leg. He wore too D.D.I.’s standard gear.

 

I want to wear my sports saddle.

 

Patrick looked back at me with confusion, and then he said… This one will have more armor.

 

And mine is lighter… I replied firmly… I’ll feel more comfortable if I can fly fast and avoid impacts rather than holding them off.

 

That I’m not going to argue; my combat style is more about agility than defense as well. But what would protect me if I’m not fast enough to block a bullet?

 

My scales are completely bulletproof, Patrick.

 

Not fang-proof, though.

 

I grunted and turned my head to the left, flashing my fangs, cornered without an argument to answer with. A moment later I looked down to the saddle and told Patrick…

 

I just thought it would honor David and Icy and all who died that day.

 

Patrick stepped forward and pat my shoulder as he said…

 

You’ll honor them enough by avenging their deaths.

 

I thought you were going to avenge my injuries.

 

Patrick chuckled, then said… Well that’s my motive to go there. You can have your own too.

 

Thinking about it in a different way… it was awfully selfish from me to think about leaving this event unanswered. David, Icy, Dani, Mantra, David’s wife, her dragon, and simply everyone who died that day did deserve to be avenged. They earned my respect not only by teaching me so well the disciplines that made them stand out of the crowd. Despite all of my achievements, all the titles I was given by the public: “The First Dragon”, “The Strongest among the Living”… I learned to look up to them for their persistence and discipline.

 

These racers, who I met because of mere necessity from them towards me, they taught me so much and we got to know each other so well, I started to appreciate them as more than just colleagues. They offered me a way out when I couldn’t go any lower on the matter of Patrick’s coma… they showed me that I could have fun on my own, that life didn’t end where I thought it had ended, they showed me that I was still able to help others. They showed me that I had never lost it all… and they gave me new strengths to take on the world again… and then… right after our moment of glory… All of my new friends died in the blink of an eye. Such an idiot I was to think about forgiving those who killed them, just because, by mere chance, they “helped” Patrick to come back.

 

And it seems I still am, going into a real war and I insist on using a sports saddle instead of a properly armored combat saddle. What am I f*****g thinking?... Now that same stupidity was about to get my own rider killed. Then I told Patrick…

 

Alright, Pat. I’ll wear the Kevlar and avenge my friends.

 

That’s my girl! Now let’s get you saddled up.

 

He then turned and called out for Alan, who was nearby doing the last tweaks to his gear and making sure it was all well set. Not very far from him was Helios, who was already set and saddled. Alan came by and helped Patrick with my gear.

 

Eventually I was all set, I was standing up and moving all my limbs, stretching up in every way to test Patrick’s and Alan’s job. They did a pretty good one… after a bunch of readjustments. Then Patrick took the assault rifle and the sniper rifle and strapped their holsters to my saddle.

 

Suddenly, Oliver and Tyranis walked up to us and Patrick asked Oliver…

 

-Are you ready?

 

-Yeah… -Answered Oliver as he tucked his thumbs behind the bulletproof vest and pushed it away for a moment. Then he let if off and it stood in place as Oliver then signaled back with his right thumb and continued saying-… The rest seems to be too.

 

-Good.

 

Patrick then walked up to the porch of the house and called out everyone…

 

-Listen up!!... �"As humans and dragons turned to Patrick and raised their heads over their riders, he continued saying-… We still have half an hour before the assigned departing time. Double check your equipment and we’ll take off once the last one is all clear, commencing Missouri’s Incursion: Operation Slaughter House. Targets: The fuckers who dared target Furia’s friends and then dared hurt her. Resistance to be expected: Medium to Heavy. We’ll show them what falls upon those who mess with a Texan Dragon!

 

Then everyone cheered and screamed “Yeah!”, “They won’t know what hit them!”, “We’ll kill them all!!” among other stuff I didn’t understand that was muffled up by the dragons’ roaring.

 

Elvis and Pyro then approached me and the first one said as he located himself by my side…

 

-D****t, I was the one supposed to introduce the mission. Even though I told him not to, he went on and said it… Operation Slaughter House…- Chuckles-…  Patrick sure has a way with words.

 

A couple of minutes later, after checking his gear and ammo, Patrick started to climb onto my saddle and eventually everyone else followed him onto their dragons. Then Elvis yelled, as the properly military-experienced one here…

 

-Start communication check!

 

Suddenly, each Rider spoke very lowly to their headsets on their left ear, so low, like a whisper, no one would have heard them if not because of the headset, and by using Patrick’s senses I could hear whatever he heard through the headset. That way we could all share immediate important information in the middle of a battle.

 

One by one the Agents said: “Hunter 1, check”… “Hunter 2, check”… “Hunter 3, check”… and then it came Oliver’s and Alan’s turns, who had a new identity for the incursion… “Actual 1, check”… “Actual 2, check”… And Patrick too had a code name… “Alpha 1, check”… and last was Elvis… “Alpha 2, check”.

 

Elvis then yelled…

 

-Synchronize timing to four hours and thirty eight minutes in five… four… three… two… one…

 

And in the exact same moment everyone pushed a button in their watches, which produced an unison “bip”. And then there came the moment we were waiting for when Elvis yelled again…

 

-Ready for take-off on Spread Formation on my mark!...

 

Then all dragons got ready for take-off; we pulled up our wings and tensed up our muscles as we looked up and waited for the signal. I remembered the perfect take-off preparation technique David and Icy taught me and involuntarily performed it as I started to feel a curious urge for Elvis to give out the take-off signal.

 

-Now!!

 

Right at that instant, as if the command released me from a psychological chain, I took off using all my strengths as I left everyone behind. Then I made a backflip and finished in a stable flight, heading straight towards Missouri. Suddenly a joyful scream born from my back…

 

-WOOOOOHH!!! That’s right!!!

 

How do you like my new take-off?

 

No wonder you won the Dragon Sports! I thought you had showed me everything!

 

By far I haven’t.

 

Images of the targets’ locations, from when Patrick studied them with Elvis on the computer, drifted in my head with each wing stroke. Today it’s over… Today it finally is! Then I heard a roar from far behind. I looked back and saw Elvis waving at us from Pyro’s back. I guess we have to slow down… I thought as I dropped my speed and saw our comrades getting nearer and nearer. At a moment they were passing me by and I sped up once again, but this time to keep a place next to Helios, keeping him at my left.

 

Feeling good, Furia?    -Said Helios.

 

You can bet I am!

 

It’s nice to see you like this again. Will you wear Kevlar? It’s much heavier than the sports saddle you are used to.

 

I will. It’ll slow me a bit, but I know I have the endurance to handle it.

 

Well then... Anyway, stick to me; I’ll watch your back.

 

Damn the f*****g heat on my head… I not only skipped a wing stroke when my brain suddenly stopped working, I also looked like an idiot trying to frantically catch up and pretending nothing happened… only to see Helios looking kindly at me. Would he had noticed my feelings?... I thought, then I said…

 

You’ll be too slow for me to look for your back, though.

 

You think so, huh?

 

Helios then quickened his pace and got ahead of me. I roared playfully and, as I was setting myself to catch up with him, Patrick touched my mind. He didn’t say anything, he just touched my mind as if to remind me of his presence. I turned back and saw Patrick, placing straight in my eye a sharp look. Then he said… You know I’d hate to be “that guy”. So, please, Furia… To what I answered… Sorry, Pat… I’ll focus.  Patrick then smiled at me and patted my back.

 

Just a moment later, Helios slowed down and matched my pace, saying…

 

What’s wrong, Furia? I thought you were up for a challenge.

 

I am… but I decided not just now. We have to concentrate on the mission.

 

You are right there… -Helios said before putting on a fierce look on his eyes-… But once all this is over, you’ll owe me a race.

 

I answered with a sharp gaze as well and said… Agreed.

 

Then we stayed silent for a while. The landscape for me to admire was limited due to my half sight; so it didn’t take long for me to get bored and I then proceeded to ask Patrick…

 

Hey, Pat… How did it feel like? Your first love?

 

My first love?… I think I told you about that.

 

Yeah, you told me about that, but not with details, how did you feel?

 

I don’t think you want my first love story for reference, Furia. She left me shortly after I was changed from school because I wasn’t a popular guy in the new one. Both my obliviousness about her and she herself still find their way to haunt me.

 

Um… That wasn’t, by far, what I had expected. Of course… I would have if I would have first thought out the question and remembered that Patrick’s love life has never been a…well… a happy one… except for me and I don’t count anyway. I had to concentrate… I was letting Helios get too into my mind and all this love thing was starting to make a fool of myself, which could prove fatal where we were heading to. After swallowing my embarrassment and finding the guts to talk again to Patrick, I said… I´m sorry, Pat… I should have remembered that… I…

 

It’s a good thing you forgot about it… And don’t mind it either, promise me you won’t. I don’t want to be the reason you don’t tell Helios what you feel.

 

Next then was a warm touch from Patrick’s mind to what I had no other answer but… I promise.

 

Later on we just flew forward into Missouri with no further interesting conversation nor fooling around with Helios. Yet I did think of him, especially when Tyranis told me he wasn’t very loosened up… But he was being loose and fun right here with me… Oh, that must mean he likes me! That disturbing heat on my head again! I just found myself evading a collision with some dragon at my right. Then, using Patrick’s senses, I heard the rider talking through the communicators. He spoke with a grave disturbingly monotone voice… like a machine…

 

-Hunter 2 here. Alpha 1 is having some issues. I suggest we take a break. Over.

 

Then Patrick answered…

 

-This is Alpha 1. No need for a break. It was nothing worthy of any delay. Over.

 

Then Elvis was the next one speaking. His tone was harsh and straight, it made Patrick feel awfully embarrassed…

 

-Alpha 2 here. Alpha 1, your visual state can put us all, plus yourself, at stake at this rate and the mission hasn't even started. I suggest you fall back and leave this to us. Over.

 

Holding his composure the best he could, Patrick said...

 

-Alpha 1 here. The issue is completely unrelated to our visual state, I can assure it. Over.

 

Then Elvis raised his tone even more and growled...

 

-Cut the games then!

 

Patrick didn't answer, the embarrassment burned too hard in him to reply. It was my fault, I knew it and received the comments as if they were directed at me personally. But I still had to apologize to Patrick, I should have received the corrections alone, not through him...

 

Patrick, I... I'm s...

 

D****t, Furia, get a hold of yourself!! Not only are you making an idiot of yourself, but of me as well!! Do you have any idea of how embarrassing that was!? And not being able to even defend myself? Because what was being lectured at me was true? Like any of us, you and I, needs a lecture on how to manhunt properly. We invented this!! And you should behave like so!!

 

This time you did f**k it, Furia... I thought for myself...

 

For a while later, like almost half an hour later, I had thought out many things, most of them regarding to Helios and how I should keep myself in control, for we were getting closer and closer to a place where a miss-thinking like my earlier one could not only ruin the mission, but kill us all as well... without mentioning upsetting Patrick to a whole new level. Suddenly, Patrick exclaimed with the same harsh tone he was lecturing me before...

 

And I'm sorry, Furia!.... Even though he was apologizing, the strength of his mental lunge was so strong and sharp in so little time it even physically hurt in my head. As if my own brain had been stabbed with a needle, I grunted and closed my eyes as I answered...

 

Ah! Patrick! You hurt me!! Calm down! What... what are you talking about? It was I who...

 

Then he quickly interrupted me, talking in a notably lower tone. Still, it was a very charged one, as if he was containing into himself a powerful rage...

 

I shouldn't have yelled at you... I swore I'd never do again after that time in the Bermuda Triangle. You were just being happy after all... how could I blame you for that when I myself was even worse than a mad goat about my first love... My father just told me one day to be careful about girls and I told him to f**k himself... He punched me in the face for that... not because of... involuntarily expressing my happiness... And now I find myself trying to take that away from you... telling you not to enjoy the few silly delights this s**t of a world has to offer... And forgetting that... you are just... six... no, seven... you don't even reach seven years old and I'm asking you to handle things as if  you were my age... I'll be hitting the thirties any time... S**t, time just flies by...

 

It does, Pat...

 

I wanted so badly to ask him what was bothering him so much. But rather than bothering Patrick with a question to answer, I decided to just converse with him and try to cheer him up... So I continued saying...

 

... Just the Bermuda Triangle seems like it was yesterday. You remember when our fellow Dragon Society members' dragons born?

 

I'll never forget that... �"Patrick said with a sigh-… it was like a first glimpse to what the world was going to become like...

 

Patrick started to loose himself. His tone became slightly calmed and chilled... at least it was a start as he continued...

 

You remember when we sailed back home and revealed the truth? You drove everyone crazy every single time they saw you in public. It was so annoyingly fun... and then they would draw their cameras like they were guns and saturated the media. Your name became the most looked up word in the internet.

 

I remember... Most of all when they started to trust being around me and they crowded my way and didn't allow me to even take-off. And then I would roar and scare the s**t out of them!

 

Patrick laughed... due to the circumstances, his laughter felt so enjoyable as he said...

 

Yeah! and you had to do it every time! They just wouldn't learn! And we could admire their shitless wide open eyes right before running away!

 

At least what was bothering Patrick was pushed aside. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be bad enough to prevent Patrick from enjoying a casual chat with me. That, of course, until Elvis said through the headset with a low monotone robotic voice...

 

-Alpha 2 here. Prepare for landing, Linear Formation, Spotting status: Alive. Actual, Alpha 1, follow my lead.

 

Looking down, I saw a big group of dragons and riders, a few trucks and something stashed behind the trucks. The riders were on their dragons’ back and they were formed in a straight line and the trucks behind them. Both dragons and riders looked up to us and stayed put as we started maneuvering for landing. I followed behind Pyro and suddenly he started to spiral his way down to the ground, and behind us did the bounty hunters and the rest of the D.D.I. agents. Then, on the last spiral, Pyro’s flight straightened up and he hit the ground fast pacing past Missouri’s D.D.I. agents, as well big, strong and intimidating dragons and riders wearing Kevlar armor that didn’t make them look any friendlier. When I landed and fast paced past them, both dragons and riders greeted me with the same respective gestures Texas’s D.D.I. agents greeted me with: the dragons lowered their heads and the riders quickly drove their straight hands in front of their faces.

 

When the rest of Texan agents landed, making a parallel line in front of the Missourian agents, a male voice rang strongly as it yelled… “Rest!!!”… It came from the rider that was right in front of Elvis, the Unit Commander of Missouri’s D.D.I. agents that were going to help us in this operation. After his order, the riders relaxed and lowered their hands and the dragons lifted their heads and arched up their necks.

 

Looking at Missouri’s D.D.I. Unit Commander’s dragon, it was a female dragon, with finer and smoother curves than the rest of the dragons. She was larger, taller and stronger than me. The same as the dragon in front of me, I had to look up just to see his eyes. I looked slightly to the right and saw five more agents, all of them bigger than me. I didn’t want to turn my head any more to avoid showing off how blind I was, but I knew there were more Missouri D.D.I. agents. So I reached toward Patrick’s senses and told him…

 

Pat, look at the line of agents.

 

He did, and I could see that there were fifteen dragons and riders, plus the Unit Commander. Patrick and Elvis strapped off and jumped to the ground and were approached by Missouri’s D.D.I. Unit Commander, as this one greeted them. He was somewhat around forty years old and his face was squared, with a big chin. His voice grave and hard as he spoke…

 

-I am Unit Commander Clifford Rainer, and this is my dragon, Preacher… -Shaking Patrick’s hand and then looking up to me, he continued-… Double Scarred Rider Patrick Darst, Furia “Wings of Liberty”. It’s an honor for me to assist you in this mission and a shame for me to know that your tragedy came from my state. I assure you that our enemies will get what they deserve.

 

I nodded and told him and his dragon… Thank you.

 

Then he continued, greeting Elvis and shaking his hand…

 

-You must be Unit Commander Elvis Darst from Texas’s D.D.I. Delta Unit.

 

-The one and only. Nice to meet you Unit Commander Rainer.

 

Ending the handshake, the Missourian continued saying…

 

-I’ve heard about you. You served in the L&SDO back in the day. The only Rider alive to have a D.D.I. commanding rank without previous Guardian service. Hardly saw myself in the same operation with both Darst Brothers. So, to get things done already, we brought your equipment, let your men gear up and mine will help. We’ll review the details of the mission while your dragons get ready as well.

 

Elvis then ordered…

 

-Break formation. Get yourselves armor ASAP.

 

And then Pyro and I, along with the ten Spotters and also the bounty hunters, along with their riders, started to walk our way around Missouri's D.D.I. agents when Unit Commander Rainer said in an equal way as Elvis spoke to his men...

 

-Assist them.

 

Then the fifteen Missourian D.D.I. agents under Unit Commander Rainer’s orders dismounted from their dragons and merged with Texan D.D.I. agents as they helped them armor the Texan dragons. The Kevlar patched armor was a second-skin, like my specialized sports saddle, that was attached to the harness saddles the dragons already had. It covered the whole chest, abdomen and the first three quarter parts of the neck. They were pretty heavy and a team of four men was needed to saddle each dragon.

 

In the meantime, Patrick and Elvis were left alone with Unit Commander Rainer and they started discussing the whole scale situation of the mission. There were two other teams waiting for us to start the assault at all three stations Mr. Prisco’s forces were arranged. Thinking of it… Patrick couldn’t have named the operation more properly.

 

The sun was starting to reach us with the first sunrays of the morning when all dragons were armored and ready for battle. When I reached Patrick and lowered myself for him to climb the saddle, I saw Unit Commander Rainer, who vigorously climbed to Preacher’s back and strapped himself to his saddle. To then yell…

 

-No one is to be left alive! Only Red Squad has to deal with the only target to be captured, Mr. Prisco. So get ready, men and dragons to kill every living thing your eyes catch!! Operation Slaughter House is officially starting, weapons free!!

 

I guess at some point of their conversation Patrick told Unit Commander Rainer about his denomination for the mission, and did not bother questioning it. Did it have some kind of psychological effect? I mean… these were military professionals! I was kind of expecting more technical terms like “Take Out”, “Engage at discretion”… NO! We were going to kill everything that moves in the f*****g place!

 

Yes, I wanted to avenge my friends, but that doesn’t mean I would enjoy doing so. It was ironic to think I used to feel that eager to hurt someone.

 

The lethal killing machine of thirty armed and dangerous riders and dragons then raised into the barely lit sky like a black cloud… a bloodlust powered swarm.