Chapter 64
Haley had been doing a wonderful job at keeping her dragon under control, but when Boris felt the searing pain of a bullet passing through the leathery fabric of his right wing, nothing was going to stop him as he fired back at the loud weapon that had attacked him. Sage's pistol went flying from his hand as he fell back to the floor, grimacing in agony from a severely burnt hand and two broken fingers. The aptly named Monstrous Nightmare growled menacingly as it advanced on the shivering man until Haley pulled back on the reins.
"Well well well... as I live and breathe, look who it is" Haley smiled as she dropped to the ground.
As Sage continued to crawl backwards, the young lady walked slowly towards him, a broken rifle with a bent barrel in her hand. More screaming and another gunshot echoed behind her as a spinning Gronckle passed by in the main passage, its rider yelling like he was at a rodeo.
"Go help that moron please Boris, I got this guy right where I want him."
The Nightmare snorted gruffly at Sage before turning and going after Shifty and the Gronckle, while Haley continued to take advantage of her position.
"I bet you don't even remember me, but I remember you" she continued.
"D-don't take it personally, I-I don't remember a lot of people" Sage shrugged, wishing this girl would stop smiling at him.
"East of San Francisco, Sacramento River, under a flag of truce, you stated a gunfight and the result of it was THIS!" Haley sneered as she brought her artificial leg down onto Sage's chest.
"What do you want me to do about it... apologise?" Sage replied defiantly.
"No no, of course not" Haley smiled sweetly again before scowling "I want my leg back you sonofabitch!"
As soon as the words had passed her lips, Haley suddenly felt a shocking blow to the back of her head and she fell to the ground unconscious.
"Sir, are you alright?" Joshua Cook asked as he offered his hand to Sage.
"Of course I'm not alright you idiot; what's happened, where did that dragon come from? I can't believe I just said that."
"There's more than one" Cook answered "They've over run the base sir; our forces have been mostly disarmed and scattered; so with respect sir, we've got to get out of here."
Cook pulled his leader to his feet by his left arm while Sage continued to nurse his right one.
"Give me your pistol and open that door" he ordered.
Bursting back into the room, Sage motioned the guards to back away from their prisoners so he could more easily threaten them.
"Which one of you can switch launch control to the lead capsule?"
"Err, I can sir" one of the technicians reluctantly replied.
"Do it!" Sage demanded.
The technician stepped forward and typed a simple command into the computer and turned a power diversion switch two places to the left.
"Done sir" the man said, hoping he had done enough to placate the angry man with the gun.
"If you had to, how long would it take you to switch it back again?" Sage asked.
"Less than a minute sir."
"Pity" Sage shrugged and fired at the man.
Gasps and cries came from the other prisoners as Sage then shot the computer several times before rushing out of the room with Cook and the guards close behind. Sarah rushed to her injured colleague as he gasped on the floor in an expanding pool of blood.
"You are so lucky Sage is a dreadful shot with his left hand" she said as she tried to stem the flow of blood coming from the technician's right upper arm.
Further down in the complex, the dragons had finally met up in the staging room and had confronted not only a few guards, but a small cluster of technicians still waiting to send off the next three capsules. The Terrible Terrors had developed quite an effective disarmament strategy that consisted of running in behind the larger dragons and climbing the back wall, before flying above the hanging lights and dropping on top of anyone with a firearm. Their system worked again here so with Sage's men out of action, it fell to the leader of the Dragon Riders to bring some calm to the room. Slipping down from the saddle, Blue held out his hands to the people he knew so well.
"It's okay guys, it's only me" he told the cowering technicians.
"What the hell Blue, when did you get back? More importantly, where did you get those... whatever they are?" one of them demanded to know.
"They're our dragons" he explained bluntly, "with their help we've re-taken the complex, but we need everyone to sweep the base and take every remaining raider into custody. Almost all of them are now unarmed and greatly outnumbered so when we leave, stay behind us for cover and help us to mop up; okay?"
"Are you sure about this Blue?" another asked.
"Trust me... this is happening and it's happening now" he smiled as he removed the sword from his back.
The various scientists, engineers and technicians of the railgun complex were not cowards, but they had been following Doctor Spencer's policy of 'Don't Make Trouble' for so long, it was hard to change their way of thinking. But eventually they all looked to each other for courage, took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Lead on" they all agreed.
Blue smiled and nodded to his friends before he got back onto Speedy. It was only now, with the arrival of the rest of the dragons, that Blue realised he had gained an addition to his charges.
"I thought I told you to help Saffy at the tunnel entrance" he barked at Shifty.
"Well... I figured I could do more good here... also me and Spud have been getting on great" Shifty said eagerly.
"Spud? Oh alright, follow me and keep close" Blue shrugged "Hey... where's Haley?"
For the first time everyone noticed the saddle on Boris's back was empty and their concern was obvious.
"Blue we've got to find her" Gage said was everyone was thinking.
"Don't worry, we will" Blue replied firmly.
Leaving the defeated guards tied to a storage rack, the Dragon Riders started the journey back to the entrance. This time they moved slowly, stopping at each junction to check every room along the way, both for the enemy and for Haley. As the Dragon Riders headed out, Sage and his men made their way in the opposite direction, but the flow of frightened people running the other way, gave Sage a very clear indication of what was coming.
"Grab the next one of our men to run past" Sage ordered the others.
This was an easy request to fulfil as there were several to choose from. The unlucky one soon found himself up against a wall being rapidly interrogated.
"Where's the dragon" Sage barked.
"Which one?" the frightened man asked.
Sage had not expected this response. Not long ago, he had not even considered the existence of any dragons, and now he was told there was more than one running around the complex.
"How many are there?"
"I-I've seen three big ones and a few little ones" the man replied.
Sage stopped and thought for a moment, but was brought back to the present when they all heard a distinctly non-human roar come from a nearby intersection.
"Quick; in here and lock the door" Sage ordered everyone.
Not long after they had disappeared, a number of dragons passed by at the end of the corridor, but only one dragon turned down it.
"Come on Spud; if we do a good job checking these rooms, Blue may let me keep you... or you keep me, I don't know how it works with dragons" Shifty chatted away to the Gronckle happily hovering along behind him.
The first several rooms were all totally void of all human life, but eventually he came to one he could not enter.
"Hmm... locked. Well I suppose if we can't get in, then nobody else could have either" the young man shrugged.
On the other side of the door, one of Sage's men listened intently. As soon as he was sure Shifty had well and truly moved on, they opened the door and kept on going towards the railgun at the end of the complex. A few corridors away, the rest of the Dragon Riders were following Boris as he sniffed about for Haley's scent.
"There she is!" Calla pointed as they rounded a corner.
Dragons and riders all ran over to the young woman lying face down on the floor.
"She's still alive" Abigail said after checking her pulse "Judging by the lump on her head, I'd say she was pistol whipped."
"She may have a concussion" Blue offered a thought.
"Almost a certainty" Abigail agreed.
In a perfectly timed coincidence, two of the control room techs suddenly appeared from a far corridor carrying a stretcher. As soon as they saw the dragons though, they skidded to a halt.
"It's okay guys, they're with us" Blue said calmingly.
"Blue... Calla... when did you get back?" one asked the question that seemed to be on everyones lips.
"Not long before the trouble started" Calla replied.
"I think we brought it with us" Gage added.
"Bring the stretcher over here; one of our riders has been hurt."
"Sorry Blue, but we've got a gunshot wound in one of the rooms behind you, but we'll help your friend too of course."
"Oh... your Mom is in there too" the other tech revealed.
As soon as they heard the news, Blue, Calla and Abigail hurried back to the room in question and threw the door open.
"MOM!" Abigail cried out and threw herself into April's arms.
"Abby... y-your back... and Blue... where did you come from?"
"We flew back" Blue smiled "Prepare yourselves for a shock."
It seemed like everything was happening at once. The injured man was put on the stretcher and taken to the medical centre, while Haley was carried by one of the other technicians. April and Sarah were lead out of the control room where they saw several waiting dragons. Now for the first time in her life, April finally had confirmation that the stories her grandfather would tell her as a little girl, were more than just stories.
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"I had him... I really had him" Haley lamented soon after from her hospital bed "and then someone hit me and everything went black."
"Try not to get too upset" Doctor Quill Vieira ordered "you've had a serious knock there."
"What happened to Sage?" she asked.
"We never found him" Blue admitted.
"Oh... he had launch control transferred to the lead capsule; he's probably on his way to the staging area" Sarah informed them.
Without a word being said between them, Calla and Blue looked at each other, nodded and ran out of the room.
"LET HIM GO; IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" April called out, but to no avail.
The medical centre was far too small for dragons, so Gage and Shifty had been dragon sitting in the nearest passageway wide enough. Blue and Calla leapt onto their dragons, leaving only one departing order for the newest rider.
"Stay here!" Blue barked when Shifty pulled himself up on the Gronkle.
Calla was sure she could find the staging area if she needed to, but Blue knew the complex like the back of his hand; so she and Windstorm just stuck to Speedy's tail and followed them deeper inside. The few people who had not run off outside were slowly becoming accustomed to seeing the boy they had known since he was a baby, now flying through the complex on a creature that should not exist.
They moved with such velocity, that they arrived in the staging area only a minute after Sage and his men, still marching towards the railgun.
"SAGE!" Blue called out as he and Speedy flew forward.
Clearly upset over seeing dragons again, Sage turned and fired with the gun in his left hand before he and his men all sprinted the last few meters to the capsules ahead of them. Speedy and Windstorm ducked and rolled to avoid the flying slugs; they both fired back but had to move so erratically to avoid getting shot, their fireballs all missed the mark.
"TAKE THE GUN" Sage shouted at Cook "AND KEEP THEM AWAY."
Free to move at last, Sage dove into the lead capsule and started to power up its systems, hitting the control to close up the railgun. Outside, Cook and the other raiders kept the dragons at bay until they heard the door motors spinning up, they then retreated and joined their leader inside before the door closed behind them.
"Dammit" Blue cursed.
The electric hum of the railgun got louder and louder as the capsules started moving down to the end of the tunnel.
"Can you get it open?" Calla asked as she and Blue landed next to the door.
"Yes but it would be a disaster if I did. Not only would Sage and his men die a rather horrid death, but the escaping high pressure air would destroy this entire room and everything in it, including us."
"Okay the first part doesn't bother me, but I'm not too keen on the second bit; so don't open the door" Calla agreed.
The entire base started to vibrate as the single capsule with Sage and the last of his raiders shot up the railgun tunnel and rocketed off into space.
"Hmph, I just realised something" Blue laughed "They are gonna be stuck in that capsule for almost a day with no food, water, or toilet facilities."
"Why?" Calla asked.
"The MTV isn't in the correct orbital position; it will take forever to rendezvous with it."
"Good; it couldn't happen to a nicer guy" Calla nodded.
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Oh man, the end is so close.
The worst thing about finishing a story, is having to say goodbye to everyone for a few months.
Surprised you can think clearly first thing in the morning Draco, my brain is like overcooked porridge till I've had time to get moving. Afternoon naps though can be another matter completely. Sometimes I just rest, but other times it's like this; Shutdown Vision, Shutdown Hearing, Switch Unconscious Mind into Overdrive. And then the ideas come.
Boo Cat demands sustenance so I'll see you all in a few days, Marty.