Author's Notes: Thank you all for your reviews and encouragements. I have been requested to do more of Jake and a fight scene. 'So you have wished it, so shall it be' (sorry, been reading too many Danny Phantom fics). It will be done in the next few chapters.

Thanks to ArkansanDragon for being my beta and offering ideas.

Disclaimer: I don't own… please don't sue. If I did, it would still be running with the original animation and the guy that came up with the idea for Homecoming (the ending at least) would be looking for a new job. I only own the characters I made up.

Previously on A Race to Protect

She rubbed the condensed salt off the glass and pressed her face against it. The three men in the room were too interested in their card game to notice prying eyes. They wore black and had masks on the back of their chairs. The most telling clue was the guns that were on the table and lining the wall.

Hayley grinned. She beat her wing harder to gain altitude, turning in the direction her grandfather should be.

A Race to Protect

Chapter 12: Standoff

On a police boat in Hudson Harbour, 3:10am.

Sergeant Baker couldn't help herself from glancing at the pink animal perched on the bow of the vessel. Although Johnson had been right about no one laughing at her, she still wasn't comfortable calling it a dragon. Dragons were in books and movies, fairytales to entertain children. They WEREN'T supposed to be sitting on a boat eating an officers lunch…err, early breakfast, in New York City no less!

What was almost as odd was that the Lieutenant seemed completely at ease with it being there. He was the one that made room on the deck when he saw it close in, and handed over the roll when its stomach growled. Since their commanding officer treated the new arrival as nothing to be concerned about, the rest of the team acted the same…mostly. After a hesitant query, it was learnt that he had know about their existence for years. When asked why he didn't tell anyone about them his answer should have been obvious. "Would anyone in their right mind believe me? Besides, I'm a cop, not Animal Control. They weren't bothering anybody so why make a fuss?"

After a few minutes, word came back that everyone was in position. Baker got out of the way of the dive team as they hopped out of the boat and dropped into the ink-coloured water. Since the perps were armed and had at least one hostage, the plan was to sneak onto the ship and take the sentries down before they knew what was going on.

Too bad plans that required good timing, stealth and luck normally went down the proverbial drain.

A bang, a pained cry and a splash were the first signs that they were in trouble. Baker hit the deck when the gunman started emptying rounds from his semi-automatic into the much smaller water-bound craft. She could hear the motor's hum as the driver gunned it to get out of range of the hail of bullets. Another splash reached her ears and against her better judgement, raised her head to see who had fallen overboard.

The policewoman had to blink a couple of times to assure herself her eyes weren't deceiving her. The dragon was paddling towards the large ship…No, not the ship. Baker realised as she strained her eyes in the dark. It's heading for the divers. With the man on the ship focused to the police boat, the divers had a chance to help their injured comrade. But once we're out of range they'll be sitting ducks. The woman watched the pink beast reach and grab the floundering cop, letting him cling to its scaly back. With the extra weight gone, the others swam as fast as they could after their fleeing transportation.

Fortunately, when they reached the relative safety of the blockade the sentry either didn't feel like firing on the divers or was too pleased with himself to notice them. Once the injured man was on board and waiting for another boat to take him to receive medical treatment, the team crowded around the animal – any uneasiness forgotten – and showered it with praise, affection and a thorough rubdown. For its part, the dragon looked content to soak up the attention while it panted from exhaustion.

On the ship, 3:15am

It had been agreed that they would let the police handle the rescue if they could. With the media attention this was getting – and going to get in the near future – Lao, Huntsgirl and Sun decided the less they had to interfere, the fewer tracks they had to cover up. So when the cops' plan backfired (knowing a standoff could take hours – even days) the teenager took the initiative and snuck aboard while the thugs on deck were occupied by the police.

Her Huntsclan training served her in good stead as she posted Sun on deck with instructions to take out anyone that tried to go below. With her back guarded, Thorn led Lao, #88 and #89 to the nearest air-vent. The dragon was too big to fit, so his main job was to clear the hallways and rooms between them and Jake after the adolescents scoped the place out. Thank you for the wireless headsets, Uncle. The kit had been her 16th birthday present. With her training going so well, it wouldn't be long before she was put in charge of her own unit (the boys didn't count) and Steven wanted her to be well trained in the equipment she would be using. And to think I wanted a car.

Due to the fact that the ageing dragon had the advantage of surprise, he quickly and quietly rendered all he crossed unconscious and took the ammunition out of their weapons. If they woke up before the police breached their stronghold, at least they were helpless against the dragons or Thorn.

Thorn climbed out of the vent at a T-junction and spoke quietly to Lao. "He's in a cage down that hallway", indicating to the right, "but there's a guard at the door that will see you before you can reach him. You might be able to take him if someone makes a distraction in the room. I think I'll have to get Clarkson in on it for it to work. I'll leave the boys in the vent so they can tell you when to move in."

Huntsgirl jumped back up into the vent, told the boys what to do – even though they should have heard over the wireless – and crawled over to the vent in the roof of the desired room. In a bid not to scare the doctor, the young woman tapped on the vent.

By the fact that no one had come in, Jake had come to the conclusion that the cops had failed to storm the ship. The young dragon briefly wondered what the Dragon Council's reaction to all this was. Would they take his powers away? They had done it once before, if only temporarily. After all, he was still under 21 – for some odd reason they physically couldn't take a dragons' transformation power if they were older than that. Hence the reason for Chang still having hers after the thing with the Dark Dragon.

He shook his head. There was no use making himself depressed. The scenario required him surviving… There I go again. I'll end up like my mom's second-cousin-once-removed, the one with alfoil on her head to jam alien transmission. I need ta…

TAP, TAP, TAP.

His ears perked at the unfamiliar sound. Looking at Clarkson – who was still trying to see out of the salt-encrusted porthole – didn't seem to acknowledge the strange noise. Maybe he had imag…

TAP, TAP, TAP.

Jake scanned the room. Being a creature that could travel in three dimensions, he was quicker than most humans to look in the one direction that most large land-based animals would not consider – up.

Using his dragon-sight, he could see beautiful cerulean eyes framed by a charcoal coloured mask and a long golden braid staring back at him.

Author's Notes: I'm sorry. I just had to make up an excuse for Chang still having her powers after being in prison while the Council took Jake's away due to a prank. I'm anal like that with plot holes you could drive a tank through.