The Cyber Dragons split off around the squad of Barrel Dragons and hit them with a constant barrage of Strident Blasts. The Barrel Dragon's armor was proving a little too tough. Zane was distracted by this and didn't see Bandit Keith rushing towards him. He raised his fist and smacked Zane hard on the chestplate. Zane slid a dozen feet and used his heels to brake to a stop.
Jayce, cowering behind Kara, was amazed when he saw this. "Wow! Incredible power!"
Kendrix ran back towards them and slid under the table. "What is that?" she shouted. "What's going on?"
"That's Bandit Keith!" cried Kara. "Stay down! Let Zane take care of this."
"I don't know," said Jayce. "He's doing a really crappy job. If we had one of my weapons, this wouldn't be happening."
Bandit Keith cracked his knuckles and then shot Zane with his Ion cannons. Zane knelt down and slammed his fist on the ground, creating a hexagon-tiled bubble shield that stopped the attack. When he quickly deactivated the shield, his iridescent cybernetic wings formed and he rocketed towards Bandit Keith. He smashed into him and tackled him to the ground. Zane was ready to punch him, but Keith held up his wrist and activated a holographic green shield. When Zane touched it, he felt his energy being drained. Alarms beeped in his HUD and his suit's limbs displayed in a large window. It revealed that his left arm, the arm he used to strike Keith, was turning red. The rest of his suit went from green to yellow.
"What's happening to him?" asked Jayce.
"He's losing power!" Kara cried out. She ran for her backpack, hanging on a rack in the wall of the bar. Quickly, she opened it and pulled out a steel-encased laptop, which she unlocked with a passcode.
"What's that?" Jayce asked.
"Plan B," she said. "Oh, Zane's gonna kill me for this."
Something underneath the waves started glowing and slithered towards the beach. It finally breached and revealed itself. Kara's pet project was finally active. Cyber Dragon Sieger. The crowd shouted and pointed at the new beast coming out from under the water. It flew over the waves, water dripping from its smooth, metallic form. When it roared, neon blue lights and circuit board patterns lit up. Another metallic screech echoed from the sky. Another Cyber Dragon flew down from a blanket of puffy, white, clouds. Cyber Dragon Nachster. It fired a laser from its mouth, striking Bandit Keith and sending him flying towards the dunes at great speed. He smashed into the ground, sending a column of sand into the air.
Sieger immediately soared towards the squad of Barrel Dragons. The Barrel Dragons roared when they noticed it. They fired, but Sieger seemed to teleport here and there. He appeared behind one of the kinetic cannon Barrel Dragons and squeezed it with its coils. It then fired a laser down the Barrel Dragon's mouth, melting its insides and turning it to scrap.
A Barrel Dragon with photon cannons scurried towards Sieger. The new Cyber Dragon saw this and threw the scrapped Barrel Dragon at it. The force was strong enough to cause the Barrel Dragon to explode.
Zane stood up and typed something into his wrist-mounted computer. A tower rose from his shoulder and started glowing bright blue. The two Cyber Dragons flew towards him and hovered under the tower, which shot out a stream of blue light. The dragons then melded into one.
The crowd whistled and cheered, finally feeling a sense of safety when Cyber Twin Dragon materialized into the world.
"There it is!" shouted Jayce. He looked at the massive, two-headed Cyber Dragon. It fired its beams at one of the Barrel Dragons and atomized it with one blast. Kara, again, typed something on her laptop. From their yacht, docked a mile from where they were, something launched out of the cargo hold.
"Photon Generator Unit is active!" she said. "Sieger! Use the Pharos and merge with it!"
Cyber Dragon Sieger roared and flew towards Zane and he stood under the light of the tower, which Jayce realized was a travel-sized model of the Cyber Pharos that Zane created many months ago when he fought Aldric. The Photon Generator Unit flew towards Sieger and then hovered in front of him. Zane smashed his fist against his palm and the two machines fused, creating Cyber Laser Dragon.
"Nachster, it's your turn!" shouted Zane. "Attack Reflector Unit! Engage!"
Mirrors flew out from the cargo hold of Zane's yacht. They hovered over Zane and then Nachster flew towards them. They fused together to create Cyber Barrier Dragon.
"Three new Cyber Dragons!" cried Jayce. "You've been busy. Do you have my card? Do you have my number? Please say you'll work for me." He went down on his knees and wrapped his arms around Kara's waist, his face was uncomfortably close to her belly. "Please! Please! Please! I need you!"
"Get off me you creep!"
Bandit Keith fired his Ion Cannons at Zane. But Cyber Barrier Dragon flew down and activated a pinkish force field that deflected the attack and bounced them back at him. Keith dodged, rolling out of the way, but he was still too close to the blasts, which caused him to fly through the air. He flipped a few times and smashed into a picnic table.
"I should have continued my work...in America," he moaned in agony.
Cyber Laser Dragon and Cyber End Dragon worked together to destroy the last remaining Barrel Dragons. People crowded around them and cheered, some young ones were even bold to take quick selfies with the dragons fighting behind them. Cameras flashed like lightning, reflecting brightly on the Cyber Dragon's metallic surfaces.
Zane flew towards Bandit Keith and ripped out his exoskeleton's core computer and smashed it. When he did, a squad of officers swarmed towards him and arrested him. Another round of applause thundered around the beach.
When the night fell, Zane and Kara retreated to the yacht to rest. Kendrix followed to join them for dinner. She said Jayce was starting to act odd and retreated back to his starship and flew back to Domino, leaving her. Kara disappeared for a while, leaving Zane alone with Kendrix, who was tending to Zane's wounds. She placed an ice pack on Zane's shoulder. He cringed from the sting and bit his lip to fight it back until his body relaxed and got used to the chill.
"He hit you hard, huh?" Kendrix said, still clad in her bikini. Though she was safe, she was still shaken by what had happened when Bandit Keith attacked and didn't think to change, nor dress her wounds. She was covered in sand and had a few scratches on her arms and minor burns on her legs.
"You should get that looked at," Zane said, pressing his hand against the ice pack.
"It's nothing," Kendrix said. "You were...you were really impressive out there. Your Cyber Dragons sure are something special."
"Thanks. I wonder who gave Bandit Keith the funds to build those things? And his own exoskeleton."
"I know. I am worried about this as well. What if someone else builds those things?"
"That's what I'm afraid of. The leaker who exposed my stuff to the public a few weeks ago has made things difficult for me. I wouldn't be surprised if the Senate will use this attack to try and take my Cyber Dragons. If a lowly criminal like Bandit Keith can build these things, who knows. Imagine if someone more capable built something like this."
"It's disturbing, yes," said Kendrix. "But you must rest now. I'll get dressed and order us some food. Want anything?"
"I'll pick myself," said Zane. "You go clean yourself up and head to the medical wing so you can have those burns looked at."
"Thank you, Zane. If you could drop me off at Port North Star, I would greatly appreciate it."
"Sorry about Jayce," chuckled Zane. "You should have known better than to date him."
"Meh, it's not like I was into him. Had to do it for the publicity after all. But let me tell you something, Zane. It's not wise to always look down on him. Jayce is a creep, but don't underestimate him. He's smarter than you think and is very resourceful. He always has something up his sleeve."
"I know," said Zane. "Off you go. See to those burns."
"Yes," Kendrix said, walking towards the bathroom to change into some clothes Kara left her.
Zane left her room and went to go look for Kara. He went to her quarters, but she was not there. Odd. She was usually in bed at this hour. It wasn't like her to stay up too late into the night. He looked around the yacht and still couldn't find her. He entered the lounge, hoping to find her there. Nothing. Now he was getting worried. Then, he heard something that filled his heart with fear.
A loud thump followed by a blood-curdling scream. "Kara?"
Another scream followed by a crashing sound. It came from upstairs in the master bedroom. His room. Zane hurried up the spiral staircase. The crashing and screaming continued. Once he got to the top of the stairs, he heard nothing. An eerie silence followed. Zane drew the pistol he had holstered on his waistband and waited to hear the noise. Nothing. He kicked the door open. What he saw horrified him. The room was a helter-skelter mess. He then saw that there was someone lying in his bed. A young man saw Zane and screamed. Zane screamed as well and aimed his weapon at him.
Just then the door to the bathroom opened. It was Kara. She was damp and had a white towel wrapped around herself.
"Zane!" she cried. "Zane, wait! Don't shoot! This...uh...woo. I have a lot of explaining to do."
"Damn right, you do! What's going on here?"
"Zane, come on. This is my fiance, Derek."
"Uh, hello," Derek said, holding out his hand. He wrapped the sheets around his waist. "Uh, nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you."
"Yeah, nice to meet you," Zane said, tucking the gun away before he shook his hand. "What are you doing here in my room?"
"Come on, Zane," Kara whined, jumping into bed with Derek. "You know that small shack doesn't fit my needs. You got everything in here and we really want to use your jacuzzi."
"I can't imagine why." Zane scratched his chin. "Scratch that. I don't want to."
"Oh, I could use your kitchen as well," said Derek.
"You can cook?"
"He owns a five-star restaurant in the Dragon Garden's District," Kara said, tracing his bicep with her finger. "And he was once a chief engineer at Paradias."
"The place run by Dartz?" Zane asked. "Hmm. Why did you leave?"
"Too much crunch time," said Derek. "It was getting uncomfortable. They were building a massive warship or something. I don't know. Not long after we started putting it together, the head of the project vanished with his family and were never seen again. The project was put on hold and I quit afterward. I met Kara not long after it was revealed you two were in cahoots in this Cyber Dragon project. I just had to get on board."
"Is he qualified?" Zane asked, looking at Kara with disdain.
"Of course, he is," Kara said at once. "How do you think we got Cyber Laser Dragon and Barrier Dragon to work at maximum efficiency?"
"You mean he's the one that did that?"
"Yes. Come on, Zane. Let him stay. They are geniuses! You won't regret it, I promise."
"Well...so long as you don't employ any more people without my knowledge, Derek can stay. I'll interview you personally when we get back to Domino."
"We're leaving?" Kara asked in disappointment. "But we just got here. I thought we were on vacation."
"As of now, it's canceled. We've got work to do, Kara."
Jayce
He waited for quite some time in the ballroom of his luxury towers for his guest to arrive. He had a dinner planned for him and everything. The candles he had lit a while back were now the size of a child's finger. The butlers he had standing in line ready to serve them, had to change shifts because they were getting tired of standing.
The hour was of late and Jayce was afraid this meeting was too good to be true. He dug into his golden up of ice cream covered in caramel and ate it with one gulp. He looked at his watch. Still, there was no sign of him.
Just then, the door opened. One of his butlers opened the door. He was quivering in fear as a figure walked into the ballroom. He wore black and red armored robes and his face was concealed behind a red-visored mask that was flashing with a HUD displaying information to him.
"There he is!" Jayce said standing up. "The man of the hour. Come, come. Have a seat."
The masked boy said nothing and stood still for a moment. Jayce eventually sat down thinking that he probably wanted to stand and talk, but then the masked figure walked forward, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
"Help yourself," said Jayce. "Let's see what we've got here. We got lobster, scalloped potatoes, steak, burgers, roast chicken. Of course, you're welcome to order anything you want. My cooks can get it for ya."
"I'm not hungry," the masked figure said. He sounded young, but he had a low, scratchy voice, which sounded even more distorted through the coms of his helmet.
"Of course, of course. But it's all there in case you change your mind. Will you ever take that thing off?"
"No."
"I can respect that. Now, you said you want to do some business with me. You got something that will make Zane run up a tree like a frightened cat, eh?"
"Yes. But let me ask you this. Are you capable of creating such a weapon?"
"Of course we are. You know I've got all the contracts in the Department of Eredian Defense. My tech has allowed men and women in uniform to combat the Orcs attacking our colonies in the Terminus Islands. We aided the farmers outside the wall with bandit raids and…"
"Are you capable of handling a weapon such as this?" the masked figure interrupted.
"You betcha," Jayce answered at once, digging in for more ice cream. He spoke with his mouth full. "We are capable of building any weapon you can think of. We've got something in development that can take down those Kaiju monsters roaming around Dragonheart City to the north of here. My baby is gonna send those oversized beasts packing, you'll see."
"You are sure of yourself," said the masked figure. "Very well. I will give it to you. But we warned this is no ordinary machine."
He held out his palm and showed him a puck that displayed a purple hologram of a strange, dragon-shaped beast.
"Allow me to introduce...Cyberdark Dragon."
"Ooo, me likey!" said Jayce.
"This is not a toy," the masked figure said, displeased with Jayce's child-like attitude. "This creature not only has the power to challenge Zane but the Dragon Summoner as well."
"No kidding? This thing can take on Lady Avi's True Dragons? You sure about that?"
"Yes. True Dragons are powerful, but they can still be killed. She is your main target. Eliminate her and you will be rewarded. However, you must deal with Zane first. His Cyber Dragons are proving to be a matter of great concern to my client."
"I'll take him down and more," said Jayce, taking the puck so he could get a better look at the design for the Cyberdark Dragon. "Just leave everything to me."
