The Electric Dragon
Chapter 8: Hard to Reach Places
Cole paced around the roof of Zeke's apartment, waiting impatiently for his best friend to pick up the phone. This gave the conduit time to think about the recent events. After leaving the basement, he instantly attempted to call Zeke, but he never picked up. After which, Cole headed back down to help everyone get Cynder somewhere safe. It wasn't easy without Zeke's truck, but since Spyro was able to carry her, he flew Cynder to the apartment complex. Right now, Cynder was resting in the garage in the same bed Spyro woke from. Kuo was taking care of her with Nix. The evil conduit wasn't helping per say, more like guarding the young dragoness until Cole and Spyro could find a cure.
Speaking of the purple dragon, he seemed to overcome his grief and was absolutely livid. Not only did he want to find a cure for Cynder, but also kill the man who poisoned her in the first place. Cole did not know how to approach Spyro on the issue; when Kessler killed Trish, revenge was all the conduit wanted. However, when he achieved this, he felt empty, like the kill had no point. Cole determined that day that revenge is never right, but Spyro's case is slightly different. Cynder isn't killed, just poisoned, and the person who did it might be a bit eviler then Kessler was; At least Cole's future self had a good reason to do so.
Finally, Zeke picked up, forcing Cole to drop the issue in his mind for the moment. "Zeke, what happened? You didn't pick up earlier," Cole said, restraining his anger.
"Sorry, brother, but I was at a meeting with the other Militia. If I picked up, they would kind of hear our conversation."
Cole sighed, but understood his position. Still, it did not quench his anger very much. "Right, well, we have a problem. We found Cynder, but she's been-"
"-poisoned?" Zeke finished, Cole groaned with irritation of being interrupted, but his curiosity was heavier. "Yeah, how'd you know?"
"At the meeting, all the militia were discussing tactics and jobs, you know boring stuff, and suddenly one asks about the dragon they were holding." Zeke explained, "Now, this might be a lie, but another member said that she was being studied at an underwater base, or something like that."
Spyro, who was resting on the roof near Cole, raised his head at this, "Underwater base?"
"That's what I heard, anyway," Zeke replied. "I think that is where she was poisoned before she was moved, and where the cure will probably be at."
"Good work, Zeke," Cole congratulated, "Now, do you know where this base is?"
"You mean more specific than being underwater?" Zeke joked, "Yeah, I do, it's just west of Flood Town. There should be some sorta tower right above it. Can't miss it."
"Thanks, Zeke," Cole said before hanging up and turning to Spyro.
"We have a problem," he stated with a worry in his voice.
Spyro was confused, "Isn't it a good thing we found this base?"
"Don't get me wrong, Spyro," Cole hastily said, "I'm glad we found the base that might hold the cure, but that it is underwater... that's another thing."
Spyro gave a look of comprehension, and nodded. Cole would be unable to reach the base without proper transport. His only weakness, water, was what surrounded the base. Spyro thought for a second, bringing a claw to his chin; if he could just think of a way to get Cole to the base unharmed, they could find the cure quickly and leave. They couldn't go through the water, that was obvious, but they could...
Spyro smiled with glee, "I have an idea."
Cole saw his grin and crossed his arms with a grin of his own, "Oh, do you now."
"Of course, they don't call me the legendary purple dragon for nothing!"
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'This might be better than water,' thought Cole, 'but it's still unpleasant.'
Spyro was digging a tunnel right underneath the bay to get to the underwater base using his Earth powers, while the conduit followed behind. The tunnel itself was a bit of a tight squeeze, "Got to keep it small, so they don't detect us," Spyro had said. Cole could only hope that the purple dragon doesn't accidentally dig straight into the sea.
Still, getting to the base would take awhile and Cole was bored out of his mind, so he started a conversation to get things moving. "You never really told me about your world," he said with a tinge of eagerness as to Spyro's reply. "Care to talk about it?"
The purple dragon stopped digging for a second to think of where to start, "Well, I live in the Dragon Realms," he started, "I was raised by dragonflies in a swamp."
"You were raised by dragonflies? Man, that must've been strange."
Spyro continued his digging while also continuing his story, with a smile "Yeah, it was pretty weird, but they loved me, and I loved them." He paused for a second, "You probably think that's corny, don't you?"
Cole laughed at his suggestion, "No, I don't think it is, in fact, I think it's... nice."
"What do you mean?"
Cole looked away from Spyro's gaze, his smile faltering slightly, "I wasn't to fond of my folks, hell, I even became a courier to just to make 'em mad. I don't know if they truly loved me, or even if I did."
Spyro looked back at Cole, "Cole, I know for a fact that they loved you."
The conduit looked back at the purple dragon with wonder, "How would you know?" he asked curiously.
"All parents love their children. Deep down, they did love you, and you do too."
Cole chuckled, "Now that is corny."
Spyro kept digging, and chuckled himself, "Whatever."
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The rest of the time, they made their way to the underwater base in silence. Soon, Spyro could feel that they were close to it, and they prepared for a fight. The dragon charged through the last bit of Earth and crashed through the floor, sending chunks of dirt and debris everywhere. When they emerged, they entered a large dome with windows for walls allowing people to see the sea that surrounded them. For Cole, looking at these windows scared him a little, and somehow made him feel drained.
He shivered, and Spyro noticed this with a raised brow; as long as he has known the conduit, he has never seen him shiver like that. "Don't worry, Cole," he reassured, "We'll find the cure and get out fast."
The electric man nodded at this, and then flinched at the sudden alarm bell that started ringing, as did Spyro. Doors, connecting to who knows where, slid open to reveal heavily armed Militia members. Some including mini-guns, rocket launchers, and snipers.
'I guess Bertrand isn't taking any chances,' thought Cole. The gunfire started flying, and the duo started fighting. Spyro charged at a nearby group of Militia and knocked several back. He then began slicing them with his sharp claws and tail. Once finished, he saw a strange red beam focusing on him. He has never seen anything like it, and didn't notice the sniper about to shoot him. "Get down!," shouted Cole, as he tackled Spyro to the ground. A loud crack swept through the dome as a bullet whizzed by the two. A second late and the purple dragon would be no more.
They went behind a stack of crates to assess the area, "Just a quick hint, Spyro," Cole said rather angrily, "avoid the red beams."
The dragon was taken back slightly, "Right, gotcha."
They left their cover and continued to decimate the members, and after a minute, everyone was either dead or unconscious. "That went well," Said the electric man as he checked out his Amp as if he just got it for the first time.
"No time to pat ourselves on the back just yet," Spyro sternly said, "We need to find that cure. Now, where do we go?"
"Well, here's the directory," Stated Cole as he walked up to the sign near a door. On it, they saw many more circles representing other domes and rooms. "There it is," said Spyro, pointing with a claw to a dome that said 'laboratory'. "Just our luck, as well. It's very close."
"Don't get too confident, let's just hurry and get out of here." Cole said with another shiver. Spyro knew that the conduit was getting worse as long as they stayed under the sea. So they hurriedly made their way to the laboratory. When they got to the entrance, Cole kicked down the door and entered cautiously, not wanting to be ambushed by Militia. The only other being in the room was a bald scientist with a lab coat, goggles, and surgical mask. "You've finally arrived, I've been expecting you."
Cole face palmed, "God, that sounds stupid."
"Give us the cure," Spyro said seriously.
"You mean the one for that idiotic dragoness?" He sneered.
Spyro felt his anger rising, and Cole had to get the cure before the dragon snapped. "Yes, that cure. Now, give it to us or else." The conduit threatened.
"Oh, but I do want that moronic monstrosity to die a slow painful death." The scientist insulted again.
"Shut up, and give it to us!" Yelled Spyro, feeling his sanity slipping every time the man ridiculed Cynder.
Cole began walking toward the scientist, containing his anger a bit better than his fellow hero, "Look, you do not want to see a mad dragon," he said bitterly.
"What does it matter? Once that foolish beast dies everyone will be better off and-"
"Enough!" shouted Spyro; he said this so loud that the glass cracked. The dragon ran past Cole, charging at the man, who made no attempt to move. The conduit then suddenly realized what the mans intentions were, "Wait! Spyro! He's baiting you, he wants you to-"
It was too late, however, as Spyro was to foregone in his lust for vengeance that it was ignored. So the dragon rammed his horns into the man, which went right through him and emerged through the back. The man sputtered some gibberish with blood dripping from his mouth before falling limp in death. Spyro swung his head and the dead scientist slipped off and fell off aways.
'Shoot, we still don't know where the cure is and now the man is dead.' Cole thought to himself as he began to walk towards the purple dragon. "Spyro, we need to search this place for the cure."
The dragon did not move a muscle in response, "Spyro, you okay?" asked the conduit, stopping in his tracks with concern.
Slowly, Spyro faced Cole, who realized something was wrong. The purple dragon was becoming darker, with scales turning black and eyes glowing bright white. "What the hell?" Cole confusedly whispered. Cole knew that something wasn't right; even though he hasn't been with Spyro long, darkness erupting from somebody out of the blue usually means bad news.
Spyro breathed Convexity at Cole; it was so sudden, that the conduit didn't have time to react to it. He hit the floor hard, groaning in pain on his stomach. "Okay, that hurt," he muttered to himself. He began to sit up, and saw Spyro charging at him, with the motive to kill. The conduit put his hands up just in time, to keep his body away from the sharp objects. Cole was now back on the floor with Spyro attempting to kill him. Now, instead of with horns, Spyro was trying to bite him with his pointed teeth. "Spyro, you need to snap out of it!" Cole shouted desperately, afraid to hurt the purple dragon.
It fell upon deaf ears, however, as Spyro continued his attempts to bite him. Then Cole noticed a strange small object on the his neck. While keeping one hand on the dragon's chest to stop him from being chewed up, he used his other to grab the thing and yank it out. As soon as he did, Spyro stopped, and turned back to normal with wide eyes. He stepped back quickly, and Cole slowly got up, holding his stomach. "Cole... I..."
"You can explain later, right now, we need to get the cure," the conduit interrupted, and slowly made his way to a desk to begin searching. With surprising luck, he found a vial full of a bright orange substance in the first drawer he checked. He brought it to his eye to examine it; It had writing on it that said: Handle with care. Antidote to CY virus. Bingo.
"Alright, I got it, let's leave before-" A huge explosion occurred rocking the base along with Cole and Spyro. One of the windows burst open, allowing water to seep into the room. Cole cursed and ran back to the door they came in, with Spyro on his tail. When they got in, they saw many more glass was broken and water already filling up fast. A splash brushed Cole's leg and he yelled in pain. Thinking fast, Spyro flew over to him and picked him up by his arms. They moved to the tunnel they entered from to escape, but it was filling up with water, no doubt already blocked. "I hope there's another way out," Spyro nervously said.
"I think I saw an escape pod on the directory," Cole announced, "to our right."
Spyro turned and flew to the hatch that was open ajar, and quickly got in. Once inside, Cole turned to the hatch door and closed it just as water was about to enter. "I hope you know how to work this thing, because I sure don't," admitted Spyro.
Cole briskly walked to the control panel and took a seat next to it. He began pushed buttons and pulling levers until their pod launched and headed for the surface. Cole cheered, "Rest of the way is smooth sailing!"
However, they failed to notice the torpedo heading towards them. It hit full force, shaking it, and water began to leak in. "Aw, come on!" Cole frustratedly yelled. They both heard a voice speak through the com system; one that the conduit was all to familiar with. "You didn't think you could escape that easily, did you, MacGrath?" Mocked Bertrand.
Their pod was sinking fast, with no way to get to the surface, but by swimming. Cole stood back up, with a look of anger, "Dammit! There's no way out, and we're sinking fast." He leaned his hands on to the console in front of him. "Once the water comes to a certain level, we'll be electrocuted. I can't think of a way around that."
Spyro raked his brain for a solution to their problem. When no rational answer came to mind, he searched for one of his crazy ideas, and it struck him.
"Sorry about this, Cole," he apologetically said.
"What do you mean?" He asked, but before he could face the dragon, he was frozen solid in ice by Spyro's ice breath. "That's what I mean," he stated regrettably.