With the tip of his friend's tail almost flapping in his face, and concentrating fully on the mission, the rage within him threatened to spill over. It was all he could do to keep it under wraps. What on earth had they been thinking, joining up with this merry band of suicidal delinquents? DomCon was a dragon who found it hard to express his feelings, instead relying mainly on his friend to speak for them both. But what he lacked in coming forward, he more than made up for in fight. Although he found it hard to make new friends, he was fiercely protective of those that he regarded as such and would, without question, lay down his life in an instant to keep them safe. Now was not just one of those times, but the mother of all those times if these beings were to be believed, and he could see no reason why they shouldn't. But going into the compound almost blind didn't sit well with him. What he did know though, was that his friend and comrade, Jar Man, was going to go with or without him, and that was the crux of the matter. Honour, pride, friendship and a sense of duty wouldn't allow him to let his buddy go on his own. So here he was, about to descend into goodness knows what, in the hope of taking on a ridiculous human shape, in an effort to fool a collective enemy into thinking he was one of them. Brave or stupid, he had no idea which, he just longed for things to be over and return to normal. Part of him even missed the flamingo jokes, but there was no way he'd ever let anyone know that.
Trying their best to walk softly across the debris from the destruction that had taken place during their capture of Fleet Street itself, both ape shaped infiltrators tiptoed around some of the bigger stuff, eager to show those beneath them in the chain of command just how guard duty should be done. In all honesty, they preferred it out here, to being back in the temporary headquarters they'd set up, right next to the main crystal node. It was quiet, peaceful even, and they didn't have to deal with any of the complaints from the other dragons (let me tell you, there were quite a few) as well as those otherworldly serpents, the nagas who were... well, strange to say the least, and that very frightening woman. The further away from them, the better, as far as they were both concerned. Slinking around what remained of a humungous bronze statue, of who they couldn't have cared less, the strangest feeling of imminent doom encompassed both of them. Only then did it occur to them to look up. And so they did.
Poking through the thick, dark layers of cloud caused by the many fires blazing all around them, they could just make out a calculating prehistoric head, followed rapidly by a matching belly and a razor-sharp set of talons. About to reach out with his mind and raise the alarm, abruptly they were both hit by a barrage of psychic energy that Steel had unleashed the instant he'd spotted them. And a good job too.
Crushed firmly to the ground momentarily, disorientated, the two stumbled to their feet, much quicker than the laminium ball captain had anticipated. Worried about the sound from the scuffle travelling and the arrival of reinforcements, Steel landed softly between the pair of them, readying mantras at the forefront of his mind, knowing exactly how to silence them both. Before he had the chance they were upon him, using some kind of shared magic to pin him in place, battering him mentally with an array of unrecognisable spells. Unable to combat such despicable teamwork, Steel dropped clumsily to his knees, all the while trying to block out the telepathic onslaught that was currently aimed in his direction. Although not ideal, the situation had turned into something of a blessing, because both of the human shapes, having more than a degree of success against their one lone attacker, had forgotten all about summoning any help, clearly of the belief that they were more than a match for the kamikaze dragon that had dropped in upon them from above. And their overconfidence allowed Jar Man, and DomCon to sweep down from behind and take each of them out in one swift move, both catching the human shaped bodies before they even thought of touching the ground. Changing from dragon to human on the run, all the time still holding on to their prisoners, Jar Man and DomCon retreated as far into the darkness as possible, ably followed by Steel who was still struggling a little from the attack that he'd just suffered. Close to one corner of the compound, the trio had little choice but to take the lives of their two adversaries. It wasn't pleasant, and there was a long, awkward pause in the run up to doing it. In the end, it was DomCon that stepped up, garrotting both of the infiltrators' throats with a finely sculpted piece of wire he'd acquired from the master mantra maker before they'd left.
"Where the hell did you get that?" whispered Jar Man, stunned at what his friend had just done.
"Does it matter? Let's just move on," was the frank and rather dour reply.
"It had to be done," chipped in Steel, placing his hand firmly on DomCon's shoulder. "Good work, but there'll be worse to come if we're to get through this."
Both dragons nodded in agreement as they hurriedly changed into their victims' clothes. Sixty seconds later and it was done. The corpses had been hidden behind what was left of a wall, the surrounding rubble used to cover them up completely. It wasn't perfect, but someone would have to get awfully close to notice anything out of place. And so with DomCon wrapping the garrotte around his neck, firmly out of sight below his newly gained jumper, the two put the fake binders Gee Tee had somehow come up with around the wrists of the mighty Steel and, as one, they set off in the dark towards the headquarters, knowing that scores of their enemies lay in waiting.
With his mind reeling, and having had only a few precious hours of sleep, the youngest member of this eclectic group, the young hockey playing waiter from Salisbridge, Taibul, excused himself from the human contingent, deciding that now was the time to take a leak. He'd been warned that they would soon be on the move once again, this time taking on a force they might well not be able to defeat. Gee Tee had, however, stressed just how important taking back Fleet Street was in relation to the much bigger picture. It wasn't all doom and gloom though. The humans, all of them here, had great faith in not only the master mantra maker, who'd worked absolute miracles back in the Salisbridge market place, but in the dragon they called Steel. He'd been a natural leader, and despite his surprise at finding a contingent of humans, here underground, had welcomed them with open arms after hearing about their heroics from the previous day. So winding his way through darkened, rubble filled corridors that your average family saloon would have no trouble traversing, the youngster searched for some suitable shadow in which he could relieve himself.
"Brave lad... that one," whispered Angela, nodding in the direction Taibul had taken off in.
"He's a team sports player. That about says it all," ventured Emma.
Eyes closed, head leaning back against the hard rocky exterior wall, Sam nodded in agreement.
They were all missing not only their homes, but their respective sports and of course their friends, who were somewhere else below ground, involved in goodness knew what kind of shenanigans. It was Emma who voiced what everyone was thinking.
"I hope they're okay!"
Sam lazily opened his eyes.
"You mean the others?" enquired Angela.
"Richie, Tank, Hook, Janice, Peter, and all the others that we've met since being down here... I hope they're all okay."
"It stands to reason that they'll be okay," Sam said.
"How so?" both of the women responded.
"Think about it. They had an experienced fighting force alongside them, and more importantly... the element of surprise. Manson, whoever the hell he is, and the rest of his contingent, fully assume that Tank is dead and that any kind of resistance has been nullified. He and his force will be overconfident and unprepared, certainly not on the lookout for any kind of confrontation. If they can sneak in without being seen, then just maybe it'll all be over before it's started. That's what I'm hoping for, because anything else just doesn't bear thinking about."