Hello folks, and happy Friday! This chapter, Watts moves to plan B.


112. Exit Strategy


Something had changed.

Quake wasn't sure what, but the hybrids were different. They hadn't exactly been squeamish about collateral damage before, but... well...

Lava oozed through the upper windows of the Council Headquarters, streaming down the walls and making them buckle and crack. His ears flattened against his skull. Wasn't the Council inside that building? What were they doing?

"Come on," Salty barked, and charged towards the molten tide. He blasted it with water, forming weird fantastical shapes of shining black glass. Quake spent a few minutes breaking down a nearby wall, and as he'd suspected the next room was already oven-hot.

It was definitely a lab. Quake shouldered his way through several tables before he froze, his tail going stiff when he realized that the walls were lined with incubators. He didn't think it was hot enough inside to kill an egg, yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"Tempest!"

She darted in right behind him, her head fins bristling at the wave of hot air and the smell of sulfur. Without any other prompting she charged towards the back of the room and tugged at one of the incubators. It was bolted to the wall, so she opened it and trotted back outside with the egg cradled in one paw.

They went on like that, limping three-legged out of the building one egg at a time. It was hard, sweaty work... and they weren't doing it fast enough. The temperature rose second by second, and the metal door turned from cherry red to bright orange and buckled inwards. An ominous glow began at the seam between door and wall, and the first drops of lava oozed through.

Salty abandoned the front of the building as a lost cause and worked to keep the gap sealed, but there was only so much he could do. He was already exhausted, and wouldn't be able to keep his powers going forever—and every blast of water turned into steam which soon made the air difficult to breathe.

What they really needed was someone who could withstand the heat, maybe put a shoulder against the door where it was starting to fold inwards... but Phoenix wasn't there. Raven had directed her over the building, where she'd started skirmishing with some of the airborne hybrids, and where she could make sure none of the enemy got away.

Almost half the eggs were out, now. A few nearby retiree dragons had noticed what they were doing and come to help, and one of them even knocked a hole in the ceiling so the heat and smoke would have somewhere else to go. Quake could finally breathe again.

Tempest barked in alarm. He thundered outside, and found her crouched protectively over the pile of eggs, her wings fanning frantically in an attempt to slow the river of lava that had burst through the outer wall. He flexed his powers and slammed his paws down on the ground, cracking it open and forming a long, curved moat for the lava to fill.

It just. Kept. Coming.

There was a crash. Quake wasn't sure at first where it had come from, until he heard a dragon's scream and one of the Atlas students smashed through a nearby window with a scorched tail. It's in the hallways, now.

Everyone in the building—the Council, the dragons and riders hunting for them, the hybrids hunting the hunters... they'd all be in danger unless they could get whatever hybrid was doing this to stop. If it could stop. Surely the Council would have turned off its powers if they knew how.

More ruptures in the room containing the worst of the lava. Quake couldn't be sure, but he thought it was coming faster now. He growled and lifted another egg out of its incubator, handing it off to other dragons who helped to carry them further away.

Unfortunately, their efforts had caught the attention of the other hybrids. Quake stood up on his haunches, ready to intervene if they started to interfere with the work. Because, surely, the Council wouldn't want to damage their own eggs.

Except that the Council knew they wanted to protect them.

Quake lunged just in time to catch an earth and water hybrid before she could slam into the clutch. There was a frantic clash—none of them had been expecting an attack on the eggs, and half of them were still caught up in keeping the lava from spreading. Tempest threw herself into the path of three of the small hybrids, letting them bite her to buy time for Salty to cover several eggs with his body.

The last egg was carried out of the building. Lava gushed through the door and into the lab, now that no one was bothering to keep it at bay. Quake caught a satisfying flash of Watts' equipment burning. The tide started to turn again, with all the adults carefully defending the eggs. The hybrids were numerous, but they were all only middling size with powers that weren't particularly destructive.

Until they weren't. Another dragon crested the top of the building—old by the hybrid's standards, but still not quite fully grown. A water elemental.

Quake lunged for her. His shoulder slammed into the elemental's head, snapping it to the side and ruining her aim. The blast that would have struck the center of the egg cluster hit Salty's chest instead. It only knocked the wind out of him—but the eggs would have smashed.

Dark blue eyes met his, staring blankly at him as her claws dug into his sides and back. She pumped her wings, sending them spinning through the air. A sudden flush of heat was the only warning Quake had before she flipped them upside-down. Then, she folded her wings and let them fall—straight towards the hole in the roof, and the lava below.


"There!"

Raven tugged on the reins, directing Phoenix's attention towards a small office building across the street from the Council headquarters. She landed on the opposite side, directly in the path of anyone who might try to escape the fight.

Phoenix crouched on a roof like a gargoyle, staring down at the building below. If there was someone still inside, she couldn't tell.

"I saw something in the window," Raven said. "Might be them, might be one of ours. Probably not one of the hybrids."

Her ears drooped at that. No—the devices wouldn't let any of the poor hybrids escape this fight. Except, maybe, for the giant. Phoenix had caught a glimpse of her a minute ago, with the metal helmet on her head pried open and billowing smoke. There was no sign of her now, and with how big she was that had to mean she'd run away.

Movement in the building below. Phoenix's hackles rose as she spotted a tiny head poking out from behind a set of blinds. Too far away to see much detail, but there was a telltale glimmer of metal at the hatchling's forehead.

"It's them," Raven said. "They must have lost their nerve when the big one got free."

Phoenix mantled her wings, poised to jump down and attack the warehouse. But before she could move, her rider stiffened in the saddle and snarled, "Fuck!"

She lifted her head from the office building to see what had upset Raven. It was Quake—tangled in one of the enemy dragons, falling wings-first towards a gap in the headquarters' roof. A glowing gap.

The Council might escape.

"Go!" Raven shouted.

The fight will drag on for weeks or months or even years.

Phoenix launched herself into the air without an instant's hesitation, streaking through the air towards her brother.

They might even get away with everything they've done.

A last, frustrated blast of fire crashed through a second-story window. It would force them to move again, at least, and maybe someone else would see them. Maybe... but Phoenix couldn't worry about that now.

Closer. The dragon grappling Quake was a pure water elemental. No fire in the mix to protect her from what she was trying so desperately to dive into. The metal plate on her forehead clearly didn't care. Phoenix was only halfway across the lawn when they both disappeared into the eerie red light. They roared.

A metallic rasp, as Raven drew her knife and cut herself out of the saddle. Phoenix only had time to shout, "Salty!" before she jumped. It was a good thing, too, because he had been poised to charge in after Quake—but instead he skidded to a stop and snatched Raven out of the air. Phoenix shot past them and down into the building.

The roaring had already stopped. Quake lay on his side, with Tai limp in the saddle, tangled up with the water elemental. A tiny grey hatchling struggled to pull its head up out of the lava... but there was no other movement. No sound.

Phoenix howled.


Their search for the missing Watts had just gone from frantic to desperate when Fang spotted something out of the corner of his eye. A flash of fire in a nearby office building—he couldn't see who had done it. He wasn't even sure which side they'd been on.

He almost ignored it altogether, until a long, sinuous shape slipped out a gaping hole in one wall. Metal glinted on the hybrid's head, but this one had a rider.

"It's him!" he shouted, and charged. Pit and Specter were right behind him—then his stomach twisted as he realized.

"Go!" Storm barked, and gave Ruby a push towards Jade with her nose. She went.

Fang didn't have to look to know that she was following them from the ground. But there was no time to worry about it—the hybrid was already in the air, and he wasn't alone. An even bigger one followed right after him, with two tiny dragonets trailing behind her.

Now that they were fully in the light, it was obvious that it was Watts on the lead hybrid's back. But there weren't many people around who would recognize him—and they were already away from the heart of the fighting, with only a few allies nearby scuffling with other hybrids. None Fang recognized. None that could join the fight without bringing at least two enemies with them.

So the four of them flew alone, as quickly as they could—which wasn't quick enough. Fang couldn't tell exactly what elements the hybrid in the lead had in him, but his wings were oddly-shaped. Huge compared to his body size, like a wind dragon's, but long and thin in a way that theirs usually weren't. Whatever it was, he was obviously holding back to let the other hybrid keep up, even though he was smaller and carrying Watts. In a fair chase, there was no way they'd catch them.

Good thing this wasn't a fair chase. Pit's freckles started to glow, and the hybrid's wings stalled. He swerved hard to the left, then to the right, as he fought to keep flapping. The distance between them halved.

Watts turned in the saddle. The bigger hybrid mirrored the motion, twisting her neck around in midair and flying backwards so that she could look at them. Her eyes were bright scarlet, with narrow slitted pupils.

Her mouth opened. A spark shot towards them. They all dived out of the way, with Fang left the closest to it when it started to glow red. He flipped in midair to shield Yang, and an instant later the spark exploded.

Wind rushed through his wings as he plummeted, upside-down, towards the city below. He righted himself just in time, wincing a little as he did. The fire hadn't hurt at all, but he was pretty sure there'd be a huge bruise on his chest later.

They definitely had Watts' attention.


Four on four—not fun, as it turned out.

Yang yelped and ducked against Fang's neck as another explosion went off. He was getting better at dodging them, but that one had been close enough that she could feel the wash of heat from it. Her ears were still ringing from the first blast.

That was bad enough. Worse was the one Watts was riding—it didn't even look at them, just sped up and darted away. Only Pit kept it from escaping them. He weighed it down until it was flying only a little faster than they were, but that was all he could do while he was still using his powers to dodge attacks.

Even so, that still wasn't what Yang was worried about. Her eyes were on the hatchlings. One was a gleaming snow white, and made darting passes at everyone but Specter. Whenever it came too near, ice crystallized and spread over Fang's scales and her riding leathers. He melted them away, but Ruby and Blake didn't have that luxury. And if it came closer than that... one near-miss to Jade's tail left her scales cracked and bleeding, and she couldn't seem to move it afterwards. They wouldn't survive a direct hit.

The other didn't seem dangerous at all at first glance. Its was thin and drawn-looking, its flight wobbly and slow, but Yang recognized the tiny drops of silver that trailed from the corners of its eyes. Goodwitch had been sick for hours after one touch. Maybe dragons would fare better... but she didn't want to risk it.

"Weiss!" Ruby pointed towards the icy hatchling. Then she gestured from Blake and Pit to Watts, and finally nodded at Yang and then waved a hand towards the slit-pupiled hybrid. Nobody was going to try to fight the silver hatchling.

Taller buildings rose up on either side, as Watts and the quick hybrid dived down lower. Yang urged Fang to speed up, hoping she could get them in biting range of the slit-pupiled hybrid. Ruby followed right beside her, the others just behind them.

The slit-pupiled hybrid shot off another spark. Fang tensed, ready to dive out of the way—but it wasn't aimed at them. It struck the lower floors of a building on their left, blowing out all the windows and shattering most of the walls. The whole thing groaned and started to tip sideways.

Pit pulled up so sharply that he almost flew into the killing cold radiating from the icy hatchling. His freckles glowed silver, and the trajectory of the falling building shifted—it went left instead of forward, until it knocked into its next-door neighbor instead. Alarms went off, and the other building started to make alarming groaning noises... but at least it hadn't had a full swing across the street to build up momentum first.

It only took him a few seconds, but that was enough for Watts to put several hundred more feet of distance between them. Fang snarled and threw himself forward, sweeping low over the streets below in order to dodge the silver dragonet. At the last second Yang spotted a flash of silver—a droplet that had fallen from the hatchling's muzzle. She tugged on the reins and directed him sideways to avoid it, and he barely recovered in time to avoid smashing into an overpass.

Yang only caught a glimpse of the tail, and was so preoccupied she hardly noticed. By the time she did a double-take and turned to look at it, there was nothing there.

Underneath the overpass, six silver eyes fixed themselves on the sky.