Chapter 8
Isle of Draco, Council Palace, Audience Antechamber
He couldn't believe that he had come back here of his own free will, Jake hadn't been here since his Grandfather had died and if things had gone the way he wanted them to go, he would have never returned her again. Being here, on this island, in this Palace, in this chamber, it all reminded him of his Grandfather Lao Shi, and the thought of someone else being the De facto ruler of the Dragon State made him want to retch. Alyssa, Johnny and Rose were all talking a distance away from him, while he stood and stared at the massive twin doors of the Council Audience chamber. Somehow they knew that he wanted to be left along, and he was grateful that they had that force sight, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Daddy, can we talk?"
His daughter had walked up beside him and she wore a concerned look on her face, he looked over at her and smiled. "Of course we can, you know you can always talk to me if you want"
"I didn't ask for a father-ish add on Dad," Alyssa quipped. "I was just wondered how you were doing with everything that has happened today? Aunt Haley, The Dark Dragon and now this"
Jake actually wondered how he was doing, he had allowed his emotions to go blank after even hearing the words 'The Dark Dragon' and to be honest he felt bland. He knew from the moment that he first transformed into a Dragon that he would be fighting for the rest of his life, but as of late that life didn't seem all that great to him, it certainly wasn't a life that he wanted.
"Lyss I don't know how I'm feeling, but somehow when your aunt even said the word Dark Dragon, I knew that I would be back here in a matter of time," Jake said quietly. "And as far as she goes, I'm happy that's she back here, but it was made clear in the car that we have some bones to pick with each other, but that'll have to be after this Dark Dragon matter is settled"
She didn't know how to react to her Aunt, she didn't even know her, and to be frank after everything that her father had told her about Haley, she really wasn't that fond of her. "I can't believe she had the nerve to come back here after what she did to Grandma and you…"
"I could tell that by the way you acted around her, and as a matter of fact Alyssa, you need to treat her with a little respect, and be polite," Jake said folding his arms behind his back. "You may not be sixteen years old anymore and you may not have to do what I say anymore but I'm still your father and you are still my daughter, and Haley is your Aunt and you will treat her as such"
For the first time in years, she had been chewed out by her father, it felt strange. "I didn't know the way I acted would affect you so strongly, sure I'll try to be polite when I see her again"
"That you will," Jake paused. "I had meant to tell you that, she has a son"
Alyssa's mouth opened. "So you mean I have a cousin? Never imagined I'd have one of those"
"And I never once imagined that I would be an Uncle" He smiled turning back to look at the door.
The moment that they had been waiting for had arrived, he knew what the two guards approaching him meant, one that was the poor man who had the duty of ushering and the other was the man who was responsible for announcing those who saw the Council. Jake would want to kill himself if he ever got piddled with either job, which never would happen.
"General Long," The Usher said. "The Council will see you and your family, but there's a change of plans?
Jake narrowed his eyes. "What kind of change?"
"The Council has been moved into the Underground Bunker," He responded. "The entrance is through the Audience Chamber"
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Isle of Draco, Underground Dragon Council Bunker, Situation Room
Imagine Grand General Iverson's surprise when he saw the man whom he succeeded walking through the entrance to the Situation Room, he had respected and feared Jake Long and even though he had not seen the man in years, he still felt that way. At the sight of him, he dropped that paper in his hand and delivered a sharp salute to him. "General Long, it's good to see you, how are you sir?"
"…Iverson? Well I'm fine, a little tired though" Jake said reaching forward and shaking the man's hand.
He nodded. "Well I'm sure the Council would like to brief you now, it was good to talk to you sir"
"Likewise" Jake bowed and made a motion with his hand for his wife, daughter and son in law to follow him.
The Council followed Jake's every step as we walked forward with his company in tow, he came to stand at the end of the rectangular table, the opposite of Dragon Pro Tempore Edward Keeler. He did not acknowledge the other Councilors, just Keeler, he wanted to rip the man in two for calling him and his family here in the middle of the night, or hell early morning. Straightening his posture, he narrowed his eyes at Keeler and put a dry smile on his face. "Pro Tempore Keeler, how long has it been?"
"Three and a half years General," Keeler responded matching the dry glare. "And I wonder do you know why you have been summoned here and such a late hour?"
Jake nodded. "Well of course I do, you want me to pull your ass out of the fire with this whole Dark Dragon fiasco, now forgive me for my bluntness, but I am tired, angry, and to be frank disgusted to be here while you are in that seat, so debrief me, assign me, and I will go"
Yes, his bluntness had gained him looks from the other councilors, some disapproving, some of them trying to stifle a chuckle or a giggle. Edward narrowed his eyes. "As Pro Tempore of the Dragon Council, I am recalling you back into active duty, it is your only objective to stop the Dark Dragon"
"Oh and you were expecting that someone else could do it," Jake grinned. "You know that I am the last Dragon alive that has ever faced him one on one and lived and now you're thinking I can do it again, and I'm the only one who could"
Keeler nodded.
"And you also think that this will save your ass?" Jake asked sarcastically.
The Pro Tempore shook his head in disapproval. "Ah your bluntness is not appreciated General, anyway, do whatever you need to do, but I want him stopped before he can do any damage or in a worst case scenario exposes us"
Jake nodded his head. "As you wish Sir, it will be done once I get some sleep"
With that Keeler made a motion for Alyssa who was standing at her father's right, she perked her head up and raised her eyebrows. Even thought she didn't like the man, he was still her superior.
"American Dragon," Keeler began. "Your one and only objective is to assist your father in anything he needs, and do as he says, all other concerns are secondary"
Alyssa nodded folding her arms across her chest. "Understood"
Then Keeler looked to Jake's left, where Rose and Johnny were, years ago they would have thought being in this room was a nightmare. But now they knew that the Dragons needed them, and they ate it up. "Mrs. Long, might I say that the dress you're wearing is beautiful"
She snorted and nodded shallowly. "Thank you Mr. Pro Tempore"
"So, you being General Long's wife and also being the former Huntsgirl, you do know who the Dark Dragon is?" Keeler asked.
Rose nodded and crossed her arms around her chest. "Yes, for a few years before we knew about him, he was thought to be a myth, but when he began to work again, he was considered a great enemy and in times that he threatened both worlds, magical and human, his destruction was our first priority, even over the destruction of this Council"
"Oh," Keeler said wide eyed. "So did the Huntsclan develop weapons that could destroy him?"
She nodded with a flat look. "A lot of them, chemical and biological weapons, guns that fired bullets enhanced with special designed acid meant to dissolve Dragon scales on contact, rocket propelled grenades that when fired, released an airborne pathogen that eroded the central nervous system of a Dragon, and there was one more that was a device that I myself designed"
"I would like to know about it Mrs. Long, but first a quick question, why is it that none of these weapons were ever used against us?" Keeler asked putting a forceful tone under his words.
"Eh…the weapons had a very bad side affect," Rose began looking down at the table for a moment and then back up at Keeler. "The three agents that we developed, the acid, the pathogen and the biological pathogen itself somehow eroded through the weapon that we deployed it from, and it affected our testers, with five minutes of firing the weapon, they began to have seizures, in twenty minutes every blood vessel in the body broke, which caused them to have a cerebral hemridge and die"
That sounded like a gruesome fate, and all Keeler did was nod. "So they were deemed a bad risk?"
"That's correct," Rose said. "The only weapon that we developed that worked, was the one that I co-designed, we found a material that was strong enough contain the weaponized pathogen"
Keeler cocked his head at her. "So you designed the one weapon in this arsenal that worked?"
"Co-Designed it," She corrected. "Two other people also helped designed the prototype, and we tested it on a Dragon that we captured, the test was very successful, and my Uncle gave me authorization to build another one, and then the project was scrapped shortly after, I don't know what happened to the one we built after we detonated the Prototype"
The heads of all of the Dragon Councilors turned look at Rose in that moment. "What? I didn't capture him an extraction team did, for good measure do you want me to tell you how we got the test subject, he's been dead for years but if it makes you feel better"
She looked to her Husband who giving her the same look as everyone else in the room, the only that didn't have that shocked look was Johnny, but he wouldn't have for obvious reasons. Rose scoffed and put her hands on her hips. "Fine, it took three months to find a material to contain the Nerve Gas Pathogen, it took another two to draw up the designs of the device, and six months for an extraction team to survey a dragon and capture him we did it and he died rather quickly after we tested the device"
"And who was this dragon?" Keeler asked drumming his fingers on the surface.
Rose shook her heard trying to recall the memory. "Well the Dragon that we captured was…if I can remember it correctly, he was from Australia, I think his name was Nerk or something like that…"
Her husband to her side snorted, oh he remembered Fred Nerk very well, and he couldn't have wished that fate on anyone. And how ironic it seemed that his wife had a hand in the man's death, he was curious to know what he had done in the last moments of his life. "The Australian Dragon Fred Nerk…?"
Jake had seemed more surprised than angry, she simply looked over at him and shrugged. "Was he really? Oops, we really didn't care what he was, he was just a Dragon and we needed to test the device"
"Alright," Keeler said holding up a hand with an impatient look on his face. "Enough of this, Mrs. Long can I trust that you and your son in law can procure anything that the Huntsclan developed for him?"
Surprised that he had even ventured through that entire line of questioning, Rose simply nodded her head and laughed. "Sure I can, and I can guarantee that Johnny will happily go along with this…"
"Very well Mrs. Long," Keeler said. "And might I ask a favor of you?"
She nodded. "Of course you can sir"
"Do you have any other people that can help you? Not Dragons or magical creatures? Ex-Hunters?" He asked.
Rose slapped her hands together and smiled at him. "I'll do you one better, I can get two, one of which helped design the nerve gas device, and it just so happens that they are my son in law's Mother and Grandmother…."
His eyes widened and turned to Johnny was at Rose's side. "Mr. Sindacco, are you comfortable with all of this?"
Johnny shook his head. "It might be a little awkward, but sure, I can work with them"
"Very well," Keeler said leaning forward. "I am ordering that these two be brought here to be debriefed, if so possible, I want it done tonight, and frankly I don't care if you are all tired, we'll all be dead if you don't do this, General do you have any objection to brining them in"
Jake sighed. "Well of course I do, I would much prefer to get some sleep but…"
"Let me put it this way then General, if neither you nor your wife wants to get these Hunters back here to the Isle tonight," Keeler began turning to Alyssa. "Then American Dragon, I am ordering you to bring them in by any means necessary, are we clear?"
Rose leaned forward and put both of her hands on the table. "That won't be necessary, I'll bring them in, if my husband wants to sleep then fine, I know how to talk to them, I know them, and I can guarantee you that I less than three hours, I will have both Jackie and Erin Hutchinson standing here in front of you and they will be as cooperative as I am with you…"
"Somehow," Keeler said with a sneer towards Jake. "I find that your word is much more valuable than that of the good General, so if you would please get going and bring them in"
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Manhattan New York, The Long Family Apartment
Jake was still surprised the way that Rose had taken charge in front of the Dragon Council, it embarrassed him Rose wasn't complaining about sleep even though she was just as tired as he was. When they had returned to the apartment, he immediately separated himself from her and watched as she moved into action. She was right to guarantee them, because if anyone could, Rose sure could.
The closet in their living room held a secret, sure in all appearances it looked like a closet, but in the back behind the jackets and coats, a chrome keypad was on the wall that opened a sliding door into another room. In that room was where she held all of her weapons. Everywhere that she had lived in the past twenty years had one of these rooms, Los Angeles, The Isle of Draco, here, she had designed and built those rooms herself and she had done just the same with this. As she was loading a magazine into one of her guns, she heard the sound of footsteps coming through the entrance when she turned and saw her Husband, Sister in Law, Daughter and Son in Law she smiled at them. They had never seen this room, sure they knew about it, but she had never let them in it and this was the first time. "Alyssa did I ever tell you that your mom is a lunatic?"
"No Daddy," She said looking around at the various weapons. "I came to that conclusion myself, so Mom what are going to do when see them?"
Rose cocked the gun and walked over a few steps to set it on the table in the center of the room. "The Gun isn't for Erin, mainly it's for Jackie, but if either of them decides to start shooting, I really don't to get caught with my pants down, so I can hope that you'll understand"
"You're going to shoot my mother?" Johnny asked standing next to Alyssa.
She shook her head. "Of course not, I might have to clock her one maybe but I'm not going to shot her, will you get one of the staffs off of the shelf behind you?"
Johnny turned around and saw what she was talking about, his heart rate increased when he saw what she meant by staff. The entire shelf that she was referring too had Huntstaffs from small to large on it. He reached for the largest one and gripped it, and the familiar excitement that he felt whenever he touched a Huntstaff coursed through him. The feeling was interrupted when a hand was placed on his shoulder. "Relax Johnny, I know what you're feeling right now"
"What is that exactly?" He asked as Rose took the staff from his hand.
She smiled and ran her hand over the cylinder of the handle. "You miss the staff, for the most of your life, you're taught that the staff is an extension of yourself and when your parted with it, it feels like your being parted with an old friend or a family member"
"I think you nailed it," Johnny said. "But the Dragons destroyed mine when I tried to kill Jake"
Rose snickered. "Well if it makes you feel any better, this is my oldest staff, and do you know how many times I've smacked my Husband over the head with it?"
"For some strange reason, that does make me feel better" Johnny grinned.
She looked back to Alyssa and Jake who were talking amongst themselves and then she looked back at him. "Whenever I'm mad at him, so do I"
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Brooklyn New York, The Home of Mark Harrison and Erin Hutchison
Her married life, she had been skittish about noises that came from outside in the middle of the night, but until not it had been just a paranoid reflex, and it was one that she was not ever going to let go. She had to pry herself out of the arms of her husband and get dressed, it had been less than an hour since they 'consummated' and they were in the middle of a heavy sleep. But the sounds of a car pulling up into their driveway had somehow jerked her up, now dressed in her pajamas she padded into her living room gripping the gun that she had shown Mark earlier. It being the only gun in the house that she had, it was the only defense she had besides herself. Gripping the gun in both hands she preceded the front door and moved the curtains aside to peer out of the window.
A black LS Mercedes was sitting in her driveway and she could see two people in it, one was a women that was oblivious by her long dirty blonde hair, and the other was a man with hair so black that she had a hard time distinguishing it between the color of the car and the night sky. She cocked the gun and reached forward and turned the door knob, taking in a deep breath, she opened it and went outside.
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AN:/ This will be my last update with this story –maybe- for a while, I think I'm leaving you a good enough cliff hanger. Leave a review please.
