Reticence Saga
Wings of Change
Chapter 5: Chloe's Culmination
Chloe hated business meetings, especially ones where she had to dress up. She was bored out of her mind, she wasn't even particularly noticing what the other people were talking about. Or who they were for that matter.
"Hey. Hey, Chloe," said a voice, a claw poking her.
"Eh, what?" asked Chloe sleepily.
"This is important. We're going over how much red meat you should be eating," said the voice.
"Ah, of course," said Chloe absently.
She looked up to see several female lifeforms around the table. The one that had been poking her looked a lot like Chloe when she was the winged raptor, Dakota. Sitting next to her was the yellow, lupine version of She-Hulk that she had been calling Moonshock. Then there was the black, red-eyed version of Moonshock that she got when she absorbed that hellhound magic. And at the far end of the table was someone who was completely in shadow.
"You know...hiding Silvia in shadow doesn't make me not know who she is," yawned Chloe, the shadow vanishing to show Silvia, bound and gagged and rolling her eyes.
"Hey, it was her idea," said Dakota, pointing at Moonshock.
"So I assume this is a dream?" asked Chloe.
"I think it's clear now," said Moonshock.
"Ok, I'm gonna find out what happens when you nod off in a dream," said Chloe, laying her head down.
Moonshock threw a cup at her head at that. Chloe yelped, a dragoness, clearly her dragon form, sniggering in the back.
"Ok, how many of you are there here?" asked Chloe.
"Us," said Moonshock, the red eyed werewolf rolling her eyes.
"Ok, is there a reason for this bored meeting?" asked Chloe sarcastically.
"Hey, we need to work out who's in charge and when," said Dark Moonshock, Silvia making a muffled noise, everyone yelling "Not you!"
"Hmm, well, for starters, you're not even a form I use anymore," said Chloe, pointing at Dakota.
Dakota frowned. "I'm still in you...form and all. You gotta admit, it was fun being me," she said, Chloe glaring.
"But rather redundant, if you ask me," said her dragoness self.
"At least I fit in a room, fat ass," snarled Dakota.
The dragoness stood up with a snarl. "Hey, hey, no fighting in my head," said Chloe.
"This is why we need a timeshare," snapped Silvia, having managed to force her gag down.
"Or why I need a very good head shrink," said Chloe.
There was some thought before the others shrugged, Dakota saying "Oh yeah." before lunging at Chloe.
Chloe set up with a yelp. "Ugh...eating nachos before bed really does mess with your dreams," she groaned.
She stood up with a groan, hearing her sickle claw click on the tiles and her feathers rustl-hold on, time to rewind. Ok...hands, check, feet, check, feathers, check...ok, there's the problem. She ran to her mirror and stared at Dakota's face, not helped when it said, "Told you..."
"Ok, I think I need to see a doctor now," said Chloe, "Either a medical doctor or a psychology doctor."
The doctor shone a scanner over the embarrassed anthro raptor, before checking. "When were your nanites checked for glitches, honored Shar?" he asked finally.
"Uh...I guess I forgot to do that when I got back," said Chloe.
"Have you ever debugged your nanites?" said the doctor in shock.
"It's not like there's a main menu for them," said Chloe.
"It's genetic corruption. Nothing can get rid of them," said the doctor with a sigh.
Chloe twitched, mostly as she'd seen her reflection filled with all her forms in a crowd, silently laughing. "Er...can it effect the mind?" she asked.
"That depends, have you experienced personality changes in the past?" asked the doctor. Chloe sighed, taking out a list and handing it to the doctor who stared in horror. "My word..." said the doctor.
"You should see my brother," said Chloe, "Not as many different personalities, but boy has he been a lot of things physically."
"I'm gonna refer you to a special facility where you'll be fitted for a toggle implant," said the doctor with a serious expression.
"Toggle implant?" asked Chloe.
"It'll allow you to switch between the new programs in your nanites," said the doctor.
"Oh, like an Omnitrix," said Chloe.
"A what?" asked the doctor.
"Never mind," sighed Chloe.
The doctor passed her a data chit, "Get this signed by the shar order then take the next transport. But first, also sign this."
"Great, more paperwork," said Chloe with annoyance.
She read down the list before looking up. "Hey. this just says 'does this smell like chloroform to' oh crap," she muttered, seeing the doctor and his assistants wearing Atlantean filter masks before everything went dark.
Chloe slowly awoke with a foggy head. If she ever dreamed about that boardroom in her brain again...
She knew where she was. Her implant hadn't exactly given her a good night's sleep. This transport ride had been the best sleep so far.
She rubbed the sore spot on her clavicle unconsciously. To other people, it may seem like an embedded jewel, a topaz to be precise. There was a beep from it and, with a flash she was in her human form, Chloe groaning. Hopefully the specialists could lower the sensitivity so putting on a shirt didn't cause her to shift forms.
Her mind was still hazy from the operation and she wondered where she was supposed to be. Just then, she spotted a water bottle floating by and grabbed it. She tried to squeeze some water into her mouth, but it ended up floating away.
There was a moment before she shot her face to the porthole and saw Avalar's artificial moon approaching. "Aw no," she muttered.
"Please resume your seat as we shall be landing shortly," said a voice over the intercom.
Chloe stumbled a little as she exited the ship, her sense of balance thrown off by the artificial moon's gravity. Blizarra was waiting for her. "Greetings, sister," she said.
"Hey, Blizzara...where's your brother hanging out?" Chloe asked with a yawn.
"Oh, he's off somewhere," said Blizzara, "I told him to leave you alone for a while since you need the rest."
"Yeah. Need to learn to use this," said Chloe, pointing to the gem, while being careful not to touch it.
"What does this do?" asked Blizarra, poking at the gem.
"NO!" screamed Chloe a little too late, before she was suddenly in her dragoness form.
"Huh, that's interesting," said Blizarra.
"I'm going to have enough trouble keeping Morph from poking this thing," grumbled Chloe.
"So you're probably here to learn how to use it. Some of us who caught that mutagen disease had to have one fitted," said Blizzara, adding, "Though not in gem form."
"Well, it's for more than that 'disease'," said Chloe.
"Yeah. I can bet," said Blizzara, the two walking along. Chloe hadn't been to the moon since their last time, when following to stop Malefor. It seemed more the same though there were Atlanteans walking around now, two walking towards them.
"I'll show you later," said Chloe. She thought to herself, 'I wonder how my werewolf form will be affected when inside a moon.'
She shrugged before concentrating, before wincing as she heard the two Moonshocks saying in happily eager voices, "LetmeoutLetmeoutLetmeoutLetmeout."
"No, that's not gonna get annoying," she groaned before she heard one of the Shar talking to her. "Shar, Lynch...are you ok?"
"Uh...still got a little anesthesia in the brain," said Chloe.
"Of course...this way. My name is Shar Anetha. I'll be your tutor," the Shar said, shifting to a male shadow dragon, showing a similar gem on his chest. "I had a small accident in a gene therapy machine," he said, tapping his gem and his scales changing to that of an earth dragon.
"Huh, that's probably useful," said Chloe.
"Not that much," said Anetha. This could seem like a lack of creativity on Anetha's part, but Chloe didn't comment on that. "It is hard enough to master one element. To master more than one without being a purple is impossible. I am assigned to this moon as a result," said Anetha, with a hint of bitterness.
"Really? Cynder doesn't seem to have a problem. Or Therma for that matter," said Chloe.
"How many started as humans?" said the other in a cold voice, having shifted to a gray-scaled wind dragon.
"Does having a mother who was formerly human count?" asked Chloe.
"Huh...we should have culled the city when the virus was released," muttered the gray dragon.
Anetha glaring at him, "My apologies...my companion's partner was killed by a Virked-up Avalarian."
"I'm sorry about that," said Chloe, "At least we're able to do treatments now."
"Of course. It's surprising you're still sane. All these forms. It would drive anyone feral," said Anetha.
"I guess I'm just adaptable," said Chloe, though her tone was getting a little frosty.
"Well I will be teaching you how to control that device in your chest," said Anetha calmly.
"Good, let's start with making it not trigger everytime it's touched," said Chloe.
"Ah...a simple problem," said Anetha, pointing to a glowing pad before stepping on it and vanishing, the gray dragon nudging her into the pad...before she found herself in an island in the middle of the moon's small sea. Chloe tried not to look at the horizon. The way it curved upwards was terribly disorientating.
A second later, something hit her across the back of the head.
Blizarra couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong. Why did they take a teleport pad when the institute was only a short flight away? Granted, flying within the moon can be disorienting for some, but it wasn't that far.
She paused before heading back to the spacedock, pausing as she smelled something. She ran to a small hut and opened the door, yelping as she saw two Shars, out cold. "Oh crap," she muttered, running for the teleport pad and jumping on.
After the rush, Blizarra found herself on an island in the Sea of Secrets, or Mare Secretorum as she heard it often called. She also saw one of the Shars Chloe had walked off with getting ready to slice Chloe's head off with an ion blade. "OI!" she yelled, the two turning in surprise before Blizzara breathed a thick white smog over them, the fog clearing to show them frozen, though it wouldn't be long. "Chloe! Chloe!" she snapped, nudging her before pausing, breathing on her claw and putting it at the base of her neck.
She felt a strong pulse. It seemed Chloe was only knocked out. She sighed before breathing cold air on Chloe, whose eyes shot bug wide and she yelped. "I'M UP!" she screamed before her brain caught up. "What am I doing here?" asked Chloe.
"Nearly getting executed," said Blizzara, "Let's go."
Chloe turned and yelped as she saw the frozen Shar, his ion blade ignited. "Definitely time to go," she yelped, seeing cracks forming.
The two dragonesses rushed over to the teleport pad. But they failed to go anywhere when they touched it. "Crap," muttered Chloe, before the earth began to rumble and she remembered Anetha was still in earth dragon mode.
"I think we should take our chances on the sea," said Chloe.
Blizzara shook her head just as Chloe saw...something peer out the water. "Sea serpents, you don't wanna swim with them," gulped Blizzara before pulling Chloe in the direction of the treeline.
"Does this island have any habitation on it?" asked Chloe.
"Not much," said Blizzara, an angry reptilian howl heard. "That we know of," said Blizzara lamely before a sharpened stone embedded in the tree trunk between them. "That said, you want the alternative?" she snapped.
Chloe sighed and said, "Fortunately for you, I've had plenty of wilderness training."
Anetha was not happy. This was risky enough to deal with the chimera Khan but the longer it took, the more chance someone would find them.
But this had to be done. A Khan that allowed herself to become infected with so many variants couldn't possibly be stable. Those wolf forms weren't even close to what a dragon should be like. And the other Ekta female found a way to be bred. What would happen if this one were able to have whelps?
No...no, the order would understand, even if Torno was a bit...dim. The mutant had to die, and unfortunately so did this ice dragoness who had seen too much.
Still, he had the advantage here. They would not be able to fly across the sea. It was too far if they stayed near the water and the sea serpents could grab them. If they tried to fly high, the inverse sphere would completely disorient them, perhaps make them fall into the artificial sun. And the teleport pad wouldn't take them anywhere without his code.
"Torno!" he snapped, the gray dragon turning to glare. The story about several Virked avalarians killing his partner had been completely true of course, perhaps the only way Anetha had gotten him on his side. That and Torno had served as a detachment on this island. Apparently some of the first Shar nanite tests had happened here.
"What do you know about this island?" he asked Torno.
"It's wild and natural, as close it gets here," said Torno, "No one else lives here."
There was another reptilian howl at that, Anetha raising an eyebrow. Torno said, "Nothing sentient that is. There was a nanite leak before Malefor's rise and the moon sealed itself. We'll be fine but that ice dragon's a ticking time bomb. She'll probably do the job for us."
"I'm not leaving things to chance," said Anetha, "The Lynches have astonishing good luck and an uncanny knack of surviving."
"Ok...if they're smart, they'll head for the old nanite factory," said Torno, pointing to a small hill peeping out of the forest in the distance, one that seemed a little...too even in its shape.
"That factory is completely inactive, right?" asked Anetha.
"What do you think is leaking nanites all over the island?" said Torno.
Chloe and Blizzara had paused at a small clearing, Blizzara seeming jumpy. "Hey...you ok?" asked Chloe. To be fair, it had made Blizzara jump when Chloe had turned into Dakota.
"I've just...never been this far from the city before," said Blizzara nervously.
"It's fine. Between us we can handle anything in this forest," said Chloe cheerfully, another of the angry cries making them jump, this time answered by one to their right. "What exactly is in this forest anyways?" asked Chloe.
"No...No idea…" managed Blizzara, the roar having made her head feel like it was full of bees.
"Ok, I think we need to move to higher ground," said Chloe, "It would at least give us a better view of this island and what we can work with."
"Yeah...move," said Blizzara, the buzzing lowering in volume, before following.
The walk was hardly peaceful, both of them sure they were being followed, sometimes sure they saw eyes watching.
"You know, I'm thinking; this whole moon is artificial. Why would they have an island like this in the middle of the sea?" asked Chloe.
She paused, seeing something, before walking over, using her claws to clear away some vines from a crystalline sign, covered in dirt and grime but still readable. It said, according to her translator, 'danger: nanotech'. "Ah shit," she muttered.
Chloe looked at the plants around her. They didn't seem different from the plants on Avalar. It wasn't like circuit lines became visible depending on how the light is cast on them.
She turned and screamed, a small thin almost snakeline dragon hissing in surprise before vanishing into the canopy. "Oh, I hope there's something else on the island for them to eat," she whimpered.
Blizzara managed "Like us?" before Chloe saw what she was looking at, several far larger serpent-like dragons were circling into view. They reminded her alot of eastern drakes, if only for the nanotech lines in their eyes.
However, compared to eastern dragons, their limbs looked weaker, more atrophied. What little remained of their wings could never have gotten them into the air. Still, there was a lot of dragon coils to make up for them.
Chloe slammed her hand into her gem, hoping she'd get something useful. It was a little disappointing that she became Dakota again. "This is not the time for self-advertising!" she snapped.
Something blurred out of the undergrowth and tried to coil round her, while one of the others was stalking towards Blizzara, who was staring in horror, the buzzing now deafening.
Of course, Dakota's form was actually adept at jungle survival. It helped that her wings were functional. She noticed Blizzara staring hypnotically before the dragon's form twitched...and began to elongate.
"Hey! Snap out of it!" yelled Chloe.
The 'dragon' giving Blizzara the stare hissed angrily before breathing almost-scarlet flame at her, Blizzara's form continuing to extend.
"Oh, this just keeps getting better," said Chloe sarcastically.
Blizzara turned to snarl at that, one of her eyes with the same 'circuitry' around it. "Of course they're fucking contagious!" snapped Dakota before running, Blizzara running after her, howling almost exactly like the noises heard before stalking them.
Another advantage of Dakota's form was that she was built for fast running, which Chloe certainly did now. Those drake snakes will probably be less concerned about attacking her now that she is alone. "I could really use some backup," muttered Chloe as she ran.
Chris meanwhile came into Matt's quarters, Matt looking up. "Er...you ok?" he asked.
Chris glared, "Have you heard from Chloe? The people at that institute she was going to said she never turned up."
"She hasn't?" asked Matt with concern, "She is not the type to skip appointments."
"No, we need to go up there. I'm more than a little worried," said Chris.
"Yeah, I think so too," said Matt. He groaned loudly as he started getting up.
"You ok?" asked Chris.
"Yeah...Yeah, I'm fine," winced Matt.
Chris frowned, "Yeah, right."
"If you think I'm going to let a little soreness keep me from helping my sister..." started Matt.
"If Chloe's in trouble, then I don't need to be stuck with watching over you as well," said Chris.
"Just...just go get Chloe," managed Matt.
"I'll be back," said Chris.
Matt watched him go before coughing.
Dakota screamed as the mutated Blizzara snapped at her heels. "BLIZZARA, YOU TOSSER! STOP TRYING TO EAT ME!" Dakota screamed.
Thankfully, Blizzara didn't seem able to breathe ice right now. Though her teeth would more than make up for it if they ever got around Dakota.
"Blizzara, come on. Tell me some of you's in there," snapped Dakota.
Blizzara seemed unable or not inclined to listen to Dakota. So Dakota had to focus on running. She was aware that she had been running uphill for a while.
She took a step and the grass gave way, only having been a small layer covering an open tunnel, Dakota yelping as she rolled down some rusty stairs into the darkness, hitting her gem on the way down.
Lights slowly came on, as Chloe groaned...and screamed as she saw some sort of robotic dog in front of her. A few rapid heartbeats later, she realized the robotic dog wasn't online and wouldn't ever be coming online again.
A howl from up the stairs reminded her of her problem, before she noticed a flashing emergency light above her, an arrow pointing left and a scrolling line saying "Please follow emergency paths."
"I'm too panicked right now to argue," said Chloe before heading in the arrow's direction.
The lights led her deeper in some sort of sign or hint always pointing her deeper in, Blizzara's howls heard behind her. "It would be helpful if these halls became too small for her," muttered Chloe.
She turned the corner and slid to a halt just in time, the walkway ahead eaten away and down below, a silvery...goop. Nanotech. A lit arrow pointed down into it. "Ok, now I'm going to argue," said Chloe.
Blizzara slid into view at that, growling before charging. "Ok, maybe I should make my stand here," said Chloe.
Blizzara growled. Chloe said, "Blizzara, come on. You're basically me. You gonna let some nanotech control you?"
Blizzara paused, before her growl vanished, before she said in a metallic voice, "You are broken."
"Ok, that's your opinion and it's coming from an unreliable source," said Chloe.
"Your nanites scream. You must be repaired," said the nanites in Blizzara. Chloe noticed she seemed indistinguishable from an eastern dragon now, her eyes glowing blue.
"Yeah, that just sounds like a euphemism for something really bad," said Chloe.
Blizzara took a step forward. "You must be repaired," she intoned, lunging.
Chloe yelped and tried to throw lightning, only for a spark to flash out. "Really?!" she snapped.
Blizzara tackled, the two sliding to the edge, Blizzara trying to push her in. "Blizzara, I really don't want to hurt you, but you're not leaving me much choice..." grunted Chloe. Then the walkway started to buckle beneath them. "Or chance," added Chloe. She concentrated, managing a spark before Blizzara yelped, staggered, and to Chloe's horror, fell down into the nano-goop which swallowed her.
"BLIZZARA!" yelled Chloe. She hesitated on the edge. Was she really going to dive into a pool of gray goo which would surely disassemble her molecules like a giant amoeba?
She looked in horror before more voices were heard of 'you must be fixed'. This wasn't a moment she would look back fondly of. But right now, it seemed like she needed to run for her life and Blizzara was probably already dead anyways.
More creatures lunged out at her, snapping at her or trying to grab her. This time, the only signs said things like 'stop' or 'u-turn' before she was tackled down by three of them which were drooling silver, before one was stabbed from behind by an ion blade.
Chloe sighed and said, "Boy, am I glad to see..." Her relief was short-lived when she saw it was Anetha holding the ion blade. "You..." she said with disgust.
"Get up!" snapped Anetha, eyes glowing threateningly.
"What is your deal? You drag me to this nano-cursed island, you tried to kill me, and I've never even met you before," snapped Chloe.
"You're dangerous. We Shar were never meant to..." began Anetha.
"Wait, wait, wait, this is all because I'm also a werewolf?" asked Chloe.
"Not just a werewolf...all the others!" snapped Anetha, Torno walking into view too.
"Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'variety is the spice of life'?" asked Chloe.
"Not for us," snarled Anetha.
"Oh great, purists. I would have thought I'd be murdered over something more meaningful," said Chloe flatly.
"Don't you get it? We're dangerous enough!" snapped Anetha.
"Oh, this is about what happened to your mate. Assuming that wasn't just a sob story to lower my guard," said Chloe.
"Oh no...it happened," said Torno with a dark gaze, adding, "We shoulda fried the building rather than let those infected out."
"Ok...I think there's some deep-seated issues that require some professional help," said Chloe, "But I don't think killing me is going to make you feel any better."
"It'll keep the multiverse safe. First you, then your brother and his mate," said Anetha.
"Ok, taking me out is fine. Taking Matt out, frankly, I'd be surprised if you left him alone. But Kala has nothing to do with your vendetta and I'm not letting you hurt anyone," snapped Chloe.
"We were made sterile for a reason," snapped Anetha.
"I'm sorry, I think you're counting this 'we' thing wrong," said Chloe, "Me and Kala are sterile because we're the first Shar-Ekta. What's your excuse?"
"And it's for a reason. We're not supposed to spread," snapped Anetha, Chloe catching movement out of the corner of her eye.
"If you're talking about the Shar-Virk, that's partially agreeable. But the genie's already out of the bottle. We just have to adapt to these new times," said Chloe.
"No, I refuse!" snapped Anetha, raising his blade, only for Torno to hear something.
"Stay here," he said, walking off, a 'gurk' heard.
"And here's another chink in your purist platform," said Chloe, "I have people who will back me up."
Anetha turned in time to see a snarling werewolf Chris, several troopers with him, Torno out cold behind them. "Oh...your mate. I don't think anyone will miss you," he said, before throwing some sand into the air, the sand turning into a spike that stabbed one of the troopers and into another as Chris lunged with a snarl.
"Chris, you are getting massive esteem points for this," called Chloe.
Anetha just rolled his eyes before dodging the lunge and chopping the back of Chris's neck, before drawing his ion blade and aiming a slash that narrowly missed Chris.
"Hey! That's my mate!" snapped Chloe before lunging at Anetha.
Anetha span his ion blade and slammed the handle into her forehead, Chloe staggering back before he aimed and slashed Chris across the chest "This is who you'd create more monsters with?" sneered Anetha, "Even if it weren't for the impurity he'd brought, he'd still be a pathetic choice."
"You're insane!" snapped Chloe, before yelping as Anetha turned the ground under her feet to quicksand.
"And here I thought you were going to be the hard one to cull," said Anetha.
Chris tried to get up but his chest was still healing, so he noticed when what looked like a humanoid eastern dragoness went past, and grabbed Anetha's wrist as he prepared to stab, ice and frost spreading from the touch.
It might have been painless, considering the coldness spread so fast it must have killed his nerves as it went. But apparently some of the burning cold was able to reach some pain receptors because of the agonized look on Anetha's face before it froze solid.
The dragoness glared before kicking Anetha over, where he shattered like glass. Chloe stared at the naked anthro dragoness before it said in Blizzara's voice, "Can someone tell me what happened?"
"So, instead of going to this institute for simple recovery from a medical procedure, you got kidnapped by purists and taken to a lost island of nanotech horrors?" asked Matt in annoyance.
"You make it sound like I wanted to go," said Chloe.
Blizzara, wearing a blue jumpsuit snapped, "What about me? I got antlers and...chest bumps." She gestured to her figure.
"Honestly, it's the antlers part that's the most puzzling," said Matt.
"Eastern dragon DNA, apparently. The docs say the nanites were some sort of failed Shar prototype that got loose," said Chris.
"Yeah, had a too-close encounter with them," said Chloe.
"I fell in it apparently," snapped Blizzara, the temperature in the room falling.
"And I'm very grateful you didn't take me with you," said Chloe with a shiver.
"Well, I could be saved, they might too," said Blizzara.
"Those poor dragons there. All the drakes who must have ended up on the island..." said Blizzara sadly.
"And you were the lucky one," said Chris, "I doubt the rest can be saved."
"That might be a bit of a stretch," said Chloe, "We don't even know how you were saved instead of being disassembled by those nanites."
"I dunno...maybe it just needed more nanites," said Chris.
"I think we shouldn't mess around with nanites until we have a better idea of what their programming is," said Chloe.
"Meaning I'm stuck like this," groaned Blizzara.
"It's not really that bad," said Chris, "Some might see it as an upgrade."
"Yeah...you remember your first visit to my home. You think the clans there seem accepting of that?" sighed Blizzara.
"You guys really need to get out more," said Matt.
Blizzara glared, an icy wind circling around her.
"Hey, if this bauble in my chest can make me switch my forms, it should be easy for them to whip up something for you," said Chloe.
"No...no more. Look, I don't blame you but I need to think about this myself," sighed Blizzara.
"Ok, just know we're there for support if you need it," said Chloe.
Blizzara nodded, before leaving.
"I didn't just ruin her life, did I?" asked Chloe.
"Hey, it wasn't your fault," said Chris, "Blame those bastard purists who put you in that situation in the first place."
"There'll be more...there always is. Torno escaped," sighed Chloe, head in her hands.
"Anetha was obviously the brains of the operation," said Chris, "But I doubt they'll strike again at another public figure."
"Yeah...when have we ever had smart people after us?" said Chloe.
"For a given definition of 'smart'," said Matt.
Torno frowned, looking at a blank screen. She would not be happy. Of course, if Anetha had stuck to a simple assassination plan like he suggested, Miss Lynch wouldn't have gotten away.
Tenebra's image appeared at that. "Tell me good news. Tell me my poor godfather's heartbroken and vulnerable," she said calmly.
"Sadly, I cannot," said Torno, "Anetha went off the rails and gave Chloe Lynch the opportunity to escape."
"I expected that...but it will make them paranoid. My spies in the Avalarian medical organizations say my godfather is ill. Do you know anything of that?" said Tenebra calmly.
"Nothing but general say," said Torno, "Whatever's going on with him, it's being kept secret."
"Means it's serious. My godfather would rather eat compost casserole than worry his friends. Find out what you can. If you have a shot at any of his friends, take it. At least tell me you have a sample of the nanotech," said Tenebra.
"Will this do?" asked Torno, holding up a dragon's tooth.
"Perfect..." sneered Tenebra.
This chapter got a little delayed, but it's an interesting one. I hadn't thought something like this would happen, but I supposed with as many alter egos that Chloe's had over the years, they would build up. The next chapter will be out soon so keep an eye out for it and please review.