The Electric Dragon
Chapter 11: Catch & Release
Cole opened his eyes to see utter darkness from all around. He got up slowly watching to see if something would pop out. When nothing did, he ran through his thoughts and groaned, 'I was knocked out again,' he thought to himself, 'give me a break here.'
He looked around a couple more times before walking in a random direction, hoping it'll take him some where. 'I'm dreaming again,' Cole thought, 'but the last time, that Malefor guy was here.'
"You called?"
Cole had just enough time to give a surprised face before a flash of bright light forced him to cover his eyes with his arms. When it dimmed, he lowered his arms back down and gasped at the spectacle.
He was on top of a volcano, with molten lava flowing past him. In the distance, he could see a meadow, reasoning that was where he was before. Still, he was confused not only from the voice or this place, but what he felt. For reasons unknown, Cole could not feel the heat from the magma; It was as if he never left the garage.
"There's a reason for that, you know," the voice spoke.
Cole recognized it, and really didn't want to face it, but he turned around anyway to face Malefor once again. The Dark Master was still as evil and untrustworthy as ever, and seeing him again made Cole wish he could jump in the lava to escape his rambling.
"I really wish you would stop reading my mind," Cole said irritability, crossing his arms.
"Now where's the fun in that?" Malefor sneered, the conduit could only furrow his brow.
"What do you want now?" Cole growled, getting straight to the point.
"Ah, yes, do you remember our previous conversation?"
"I wish I couldn't," Cole let out. If Malefor was offended by this, he didn't show it, and continued.
"As you recall, I said that the young Spyro was only using you to meet his own goals of destruction."
"Yeah, yeah," Cole said, rolling his eyes, "Then I made you mad, and I woke up. Do I have to do that again or something?"
This time Malefor was angered, exposing his sharp teeth, but then his mouth became a toothy grin, and muttered, "Who do you think called in those men who attacked you, hmm?"
Cole turned his back on Malefor, "Highly doubt it's Spyro, seeing as Bertrand wants him very badly." He tilted his head to face Malefor with a grin of his own, "Besides, don't you remember me telling you I don't trust evil people?"
Malefor roared, slamming his feet on the ground, 'whoa, Déjà vu,' Cole thought as the Dark Master leveled his head with his own.
"Must I stand up to your erratic behaviour?" He snarled
Cole could not believe this; he threw his arms in the air in disbelief. "I don't know! You're the one who keeps dragging me to this place!" Cole shouted, gesturing to the area round them.
Malefor stood back up with a shake of his head, "You are too considerate to turn to evil, and to think Spyro was far easier."
Cole raised a brow in confusion, while the Dark Master turned around and began walking away. "Wait! What do you mean by that?! Hey!" The conduit shouted, but then he stopped himself in realization.
Back in the underwater dome that the Militia had, he saw Spyro turn against him with that dark appearance. Did Malefor force Spyro into that state? And if he did, when did he do that? Did he get help from Bertrand? Many questions flooded his mind, and he was struggling to come up with even one theory to any of them.
The conduit then realized that the world he was on was fading and disappearing like before, "I really should talk to Spyro about this," he mumbled under his breath as everything went pitch black again.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Cole kept his eyes shut as he regained consciousness; he hoped that he was back in his own world again. However, something did not feel right. He could feel metal straps around his wrist and ankles, and also the hard table he was laying on. His curiosity got the best of him, and he opened eyes to a shocking scene.
He was back on Earth, but the room he was in was awful. He was strapped down to an operating table with his arms held above him connected to the table, the legs also being connected to the same table. Looking around, he saw many scientists in lab coats and masks, examining screens and clip boards. Further study of his enviroment showed two other familiar people in the room; Kuo and Nix were in the same condition he was in, but they were still unconscious. His growing anger jumped when he saw that they were hooked up to machines, he later found out that he was as well.
One of the men at a monitor yelled at another, "He's awake! Quickly! Inject more anesthesia!"
Another man jumped up from his seat and grabbed a needle near a table, coming closer to Cole. The conduit knew he had to get out, and he did the only thing that came to mind: release a bunch of electricity.
He did this, putting everything he had into it. Currents were jumping from his bodies to the monitors, turning their screens to static while smoke and sparks errupted from them. The men surrounding him jumped back in surprise, and the man in charge spoke again, "Hurry! Before he destroys everything!"
The scientist with the needle nodded hastily, and continued jogging towards Cole. It was too late, however, as the chains holding the conduit down opened, just as the man was about to inject the serum.
Cole grabbed the man's hand, who looked up with a terrified face. The electric man let his rage out, and tossed the scientist into a monitor, shattering it, and knocking him out. Cole leapt up from his table, and began shooting bolts at the other scientists, each one being either killed or knocked out cold. Some were able to get some weapons and started shooting at the conduit with assault rifles.
Cole ran up to the nearest one, jumped up, and brought his Amp down on his head. He then dodged some more gunfire before running up to another gunner; this time he slide underneath him, sending him into the air. Before the man could hit the ground, Cole turned around and smacked him like a bat to a ball. A group of them began to charge at the conduit, guns blazing. Cole simply shot a kinetic shockwave, sending them flying to the ground.
Cole was breathing hard while looking frantically around in case there was more. Seeing none, he went towards where Nix and Kuo were being held and released them. With nowhere to put them, he let them rest on the tables; he still had to find Spyro and Cynder.
Checking around again to make sure no one was here, he ran to the nearest double doors and charged through them. Glancing around, he learned that he was on some sort of compound with many other buildings like the one he came out of, and a fence surrounding the whole area. He let a sigh slip out, 'Guess I'm going to have to search one by one,' he thought. Before he could take a step, an explosion occurred right beside him sending him in the opposite direction. He got up moaning and looked up to see a helicopter. It was charging up its mini-guns, as it flew closer to Cole's position. "Can nothing ever be easy?!" he shouted to no one in particular.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
"Spyro!"
Spyro could hear someone speak, but it felt distant.
"Wake up! Spyro!"
He recognized it as Cynder's voice, and immediately went towards her voice. 'Hold on, Cynder, I'm coming,' he thought subconsciously. Next thing he knew, he was laying in a cage, chained to the ceiling allowing it to hover above the ground.
"Thank the ancients," Cynder murmured from his right.
Facing that direction, he saw Cynder in another cage like his. She had a worried and frightened look on her face, and Spyro knew that he was the one to make her like this.
He gave a reassuring smile and spoke, "It's alright, Cynder, I'm not going anywhere."
She smiled sadly, and nodded. No more words were exchanged, as the doors flew open, they gazed at it and saw Bertrand walk briskly towards them, cigarette in hand, and looking angry. He stopped a few feet away from their cages; the dragons giving him dirty looks. 'This must be Bertrand,' Spyro thought, 'The one who experimented on Cynder.' With that thought, the purple dragon gave a low growl.
"You're finally awake, you freak," Bertrand spoke sourly, not holding back at all. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me?"
"Trouble that you brought upon yourself," Spyro responded coldly.
"You think you're better than me? That I have no control? You're wrong to think that," Bertrand exclaimed, and then speaking to himself, "That dragon was right after all."
Spyro raised an eyebrow; dragon? There was another dragon here, one that helped Bertrand with who knows what. The only dragon that came to Spyro's mind that would do that was gone, at least, that's what he hoped.
Cynder spoke up this time, "So now what? Are we going to be experimented on?"
Bertrand inhaled another puff from his cigarette, and shook his head, "No, I already have all the data I need from you. However... a little dissection wouldn't hurt anybody."
"Don't you dare touch her!" Shouted Spyro angrily; he wouldn't let Bertrand do anything to Cynder again.
"Are you saying you'd rather be examined, Mr. Spyro?" He asked.
The purple dragon looked at Cynder, who had a worried look again. She shook her head in disagreement, but Spyro had already made up his mind. "Yes, just leave her alone," he said stiffly.
"No! Spyro!" Cynder yelled, jumping to the bars on her cage. "Don't do this!"
"I don't have much of a choice," he mumbled.
"There has to be another way!" She couldn't let Spyro do this, especially for her.
"I'm sorry, Cynder, but if this saves you, I'll do it," he said heavily
Cynder gave one last attempt, "Please", she whispered, beginning to cry again, "I love you."
Spyro gawked at her with mild surprise; he was hoping that she had loved him, but having her say it lifted his spirits. His heart did not feel heavy, and he could feel hope growing inside of him. He turned to face Bertrand, who had an unamused display. Spyro smirked at him, knowing now that he had to survive.
"You know what, Bertrand?" He asked, his voice steadily growing louder, "I change my mind. You won't experiment on any of us!" He breathed a large dose of fire that instantly melted the metal bars holding him, and forcing Bertrand to jump back in shock.
The purple dragon jumped out, and stalked towards the man, growling menacingly. Cynder realized that she could also use her breath powers again, and used shadow to slip out of her cage and join Spyro by his side. She, too, growled, ready to tear the Militia leader apart.
"You really think you can beat me, huh?" Bertrand chuckled, "Very well, You will taste-" A sudden rumbling from outside stopped the man from continuing his monologue, and made everyone look around.
The doors, which had remained closed the whole time, burst open. The doors broke from their hinges on the door frame, and hit Bertrand right in the back of the head, knocking him out cold. The dragons stared at the man before looking at what had caused it. Cole was standing there, breathing heavily and looking beat up, but all in all intact.
"Finally, found you guys," He said with a smile, he glanced down, noticing Bertrand on the floor, "Did I do that?" he asked honestly.
The dragons held back their laughs with their paws before Cynder asked a question, "Did you find Kuo and Nix?"
The conduit nodded, "Their back in the other building," talking with a serious tone, "we need to go get them and get out of here."
"Right," Spyro and Cynder said simultaneously.
The dragons followed Cole through the doors and outside, where their was a downed helicopter in the middle of the compound. They ran past it and into the building where Cole woke from. Following him further revealed where the other two female conduits laid, unconscious.
"Are they okay?" Cynder asked, concern etched on her face.
"As far as I can tell," Cole replied. "Is it alright if they catch a ride?"
The dragons nodded without hesitation, and the electric man picked up Kuo, who was closest, and settled her on Cynder. Repeating the process with Nix, he placed her on Spyro and the group made their way back to the entrance. When they exited, they were met with Militia troops jumping out of trucks that arrived a minute before. They noticed the group exit, and began firing on them.
"Go! Get out of here!" Shouted Cole, the dragons gave a quick nod, and took flight. The conduit followed behind on foot, scaling the fence that surrounded the compound. He then jumped on a vertical launch pole, which sent him straight to the roof of the building. He continued after the dragons as they flew back to Zeke's apartment.
'Where is Zeke anyway?' Cole thought. He wasn't at the compound; he searched every building before finding Spyro and Cynder, and when he attempted to call him, he didn't pick up. 'Must be at one of those Militia meetings,' Cole concluded. Still, he had to deal with the problem at hand: getting Kuo and Nix to a safe location, then get to the crater to get the dragons home. Cole could only hope they weren't too late.