Chapter 5: To Hide the Pain Inside.
It was cramped and stunk of fear as her fellow prisoners whimpered and cried. Dragonis growled in frustration as she shook the bars of the cage. Unfortunately, these were not ordinary steel bars that she could simply tear apart. These were made of some sort of alien metal that she couldn't even bend. Soon, one of the aliens came back, holding a set of shackles in his hands. Dragonis felt her stomach churn as the blue, fang-faced freak looked over the captured humans like so much cattle. Licking his lips, the alien opened the door and slapped the shackles on Dragonis.
Dragonis' first instinct was to fight, but figuring she'd only be swapped for some unfortunate normal human, decided to play the sneaky card. She let herself be led to what she assumed was the kitchen. The place was awful. There were three fire pits and six ovens, all working full blast. Dragonis could hear the screams of creatures being roasted alive and the stench of burning hair, feathers, and flesh was stinging her nostrils.
The alien tugged on her chains and led her to one of the fire pits, where he then secured her to a spit. "You'll make for a tasty meal, my pet. I've never seen a human that looked like a Bolka Lizardman before. My two favorite dishes all in one tasty package," the alien chuckled as he prepared to shove Dragonis into the flames.
"Wait! What is your name? I want to know before I die," Dragonis demanded, her eyes blazing almost as much as the fire meant to roast her.
The alien paused and considered a moment. "Eh, why not. I am Frectar Lecbun, human. Remember that name, for it is the last you shall ever hear. Mwahahaha!"
Dragonis gasped, bolting upright and panting. She had no idea why the dream always effected her like this. She'd beaten Frectar and escaped with most of the other humans he and his crew had captured. Her dragon powers made her fireproof and she had somehow managed to pick the locks on the shackles and escape the fire pit. She'd then managed to free the other humans, commandeer one of the smaller scout ships, and somehow make it back to Earth. She still didn't know how she pulled that one off, but she had and now Frectar and his kind would no longer trouble the Earth, now that she was a giant and all.
Still, Dragonis couldn't shake the feelings of fear the nightmare stirred up in her. She curled back up into a ball, wrapping her wings and tail securely around herself, like she always did when frightened and trying to comfort herself. Eventually, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
In the next room, Susan stirred and woke. She wasn't sure what had woken her, until she heard and felt her stomach rumble again. Susan glanced at the clock on her wall, noting the time was 2:34am. She rolled back over and tried to go back to sleep, but her stomach refused to be ignored and growled again. Sighing, Susan crawled out of bed and headed out into the common room. After half-blindly stumbling across the room to the intercom, Susan pressed the button for the kitchen.
"Hello?" the cook asked in his sleepy Southern drawl.
"Hey, Jackson? It's Ginormica. Sorry to wake you, but…"
"But you've got a case of the midnight munchies? No problem, big G. I'll whip ya up somethin' ta chew on," Jackson replied.
"Thanks, Jackson. You're the best," Susan smiled.
"Aw, shucks. Just doin' my job," Jackson said, before getting to work.
Susan stretched, then settled down to wait, knowing full well it'd be a good fifteen minutes or so. She was soon startled however, by a scream from Dragonis' room. Concerned for her friend, Susan ran to her door, praying that it was unlocked. It was, and Susan wasted no time running to her friend's aid. Dragonis was thrashing violently in her sleep, her face twisted in a grimace of fear and pain. She rolled out of her nest, still screaming and thrashing on the floor. Susan was at a loss as to how to help her friend, for Dragonis' thrashing wings, arms, tail, and legs were powerful and unpredictable. Still, her friend was in trouble, so Susan threw caution to the wind and leapt on top of her.
"Dragonis! Dragonis, wake up!" Susan exclaimed, trying to pin her friend's thrashing limbs, while trying to wake her.
Dragonis let out one final scream before jolting awake panting and covered in sweat again. With a tired moan, she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. "S-susan? What… what happened?"
"I was gonna ask you the same thing. This is the third time you've had this bad of a nightmare that I'm aware of. What's going on, Dragonis? What's hurting you?" Susan asked, her gentle blue eyes looking concerned.
Dragonis looked away, closing her eyes, but remaining silent.
Susan sighed. "Dragonis, you can't keep shutting us out like this. We're your friends, you can trust us. We want to help you."
"You can't help me. No one can. Please, Susan, just drop it," Dragonis said, still refusing to look at her friend.
"No, I won't drop it. Not anymore. Dragonis, ever since you got here, you've been… distant. Something's bothering you, hurting you, and as your friend, I insist on knowing what it is so I can help you. Look, I know what it's like to have secret fears. Nightmares that just won't quit and leave you alone. My friends helped me get through my nightmare, so please, let me do the same for you," Susan said gently.
A rough, humorless laugh escaped Dragonis. "You know what it's like? Really?" She turned to look at Susan, causing the white-haired giantess to gasp at the haunted look in her eyes. "Tell me, Susan; do you know what it's like to be kidnapped by aliens who intended to cook you alive? Do you know what it's like to be dragged into a kitchen and hear the screams of other unfortunate creatures as they're slowly being roasted to death? Have you ever smelled the stench of hair and flesh burning? Have you ever had your captor boast to you that you were going to die and there wasn't one blasted thing you could do about it?"
At that last one, Susan's face grew hard. "Yes. Yes, I have had my captor boast to me that I was going to die and that there was nothing I could do about it. I may not have experienced the other things, Dragonis, but don't you dare ever say I don't know what it's like to wake up screaming and sweating after a nightmare about my capture by Gallaxhar!"
Dragonis blinked, shocked by Susan's sudden outburst. "I'm… sorry. I didn't know."
"How could you? All you've done since you got here two months ago was try to hide your pain from us. Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I guess I'm still not over the whole Gallaxhar incident yet," Susan replied, rubbing the back of her head.
Dragonis sighed. "You never 'get over it'. You just… learn to live with it I guess. I'm sorry for shutting you and the others out, Susan. I just didn't want to burden you with my problems."
Susan pulled the dragon-woman into a hug. "You could never be a burden, Dragonis. Like I said before, we're your friends here. We want to help you. Please, don't shut us out."
Dragonis sighed again. "It won't be easy, but I'll try to be more open with you. Maybe, together we can learn to put the past to rest."
"Yeah. Maybe," Susan replied, standing. "Meanwhile, I think Jackson should be about done fixing my snack. You want something? It might help take your mind off things."
Dragonis shook her head. "Nah. I can't eat when I'm stressed or worried. A hundred gallons or so of chamomile tea might help though."
"I don't know if the base has that much on hand, but I could ask Jackson if you like," Susan offered.
"Nah, it's ok. I'll just lie still and try to calm down. I doubt I'm going to be able to sleep anymore tonight anyway," Dragonis replied.
"Ok. I'll see you at breakfast then," Susan said, leaving her friend to crawl back into bed and try to rest.
At the training session later that day, Dragonis was a furious fighting machine. She roared, lunging at a holographic enemy soldier with her tail, impaling him through the chest with the spike at the end. Looking up she saw another troop transport heading their way and took off, flying straight towards it, claws outstretched.
"Dragonis! Wait! You're supposed to provide cover fire!" Susan exclaimed.
Dragonis wasn't listening however, and pounced on the transport, tearing the top off in fury. She then picked up the transport and hurled it as far as she could. Just then the simulation was cut and Monger flew in on his jetpack.
"What in the Sam Hill is wrong with you, Dragonis? You broke formation and refused to follow orders. If you were a soldier, you'd be court-martialed," Monger said, looking displeased, but also worried.
Dragonis roared and smashed her massive fist into the wall, damaging some of the hologram projectors. After a moment, she exhaled heavily through her nose, snorting smoke. "Sorry, General. I'm just… I don't really know what I am right now. Angry, frustrated, worried."
Monger got an understanding look in his eyes. "I know, kid. I was wondering when this was gonna happen."
Dragonis looked up at the general, a confused look on her face. "Excuse me, sir? I don't understand."
"I knew from the first you were holding something in. Bottling up something you didn't want to burden others with. I've seen it before. Soldiers go through a traumatic event and try to brush it off like no big deal. They feel they should be able to get over it, to move on, but it gnaws away at 'em till they just can't take it anymore and they crack. Then, one of two things happens. Either, they get the help they need or they go off the deep end. Which will you do?" Monger looked at the fifty-foot dragon-lady keenly, but not unkindly.
Dragonis looked at the general, then around at each of the faces of her friends. Hanging her head, she sighed. "I know I can't do this on my own anymore. I shouldn't have tried in the first place. I see that now. I'm willing to let you help me."
Monger smiled. "That's good to hear. That's enough training for today. We'll have to shut the battle room down for repairs anyway, thanks to someone smashing three of the projectors."
Dragonis chuckled. "Ok. I deserved that one. I still can't believe M.O.I. actually got off the ground and built this."
"Yeah! I never knew mutants existed until the group from the Mutant Organization of Innovation showed up and built this. Not to mention providing us with the MF1 and a few other things. You mutants sure have some awesome tech," Susan commented, looking over at Dragonis.
"Yeah. Due to our unique powers, we mutants have the capabilities to build new technologies that are beyond normal humans' current abilities. I thought about joining M.O.I. once, but…" Dragonis suddenly got quiet, a sad look in her eyes.
Dr. Cockroach looked up at her. "But what, my dear?"
Dragonis sighed. "I promised I'd be open with you guys, so I guess I should tell you. Several years ago, a group of mutants got together with the idea to form an organization to design, build, and create technologies that would help better mankind, among other things. However, they couldn't quite agree on what to focus on. Some wanted to focus on the medical field and earn normals' good graces that way. Others wanted to go through the military with weapons and transports.
"During that time, I was seven or eight and staying with an older mutant, Silas Bale. He was one of my first teachers, but he was also a mutant of some importance in the 'underground' community, since mutants were considered to be monsters at the time. Anyway, Silas held several meetings at his house to discuss the matter between the various founders of M.O.I. and hopefully come to a compromise. I was fascinated by the proceedings and wanted to join M.O.I. in the hopes of one day getting normals to see mutants as people too. Unfortunately, there was a traitor in the group. At one of the meetings, a team of black ops showed up. Most of the group were captured for government experiments, but there were deaths as well. Silas was killed in the fight and his last words to me were orders to run. I did, but I looked back and saw the traitor pull a knife out of his back."
Susan blinked. "But, I thought mutants couldn't be killed with weapons."
"Normal weapons, no. It's almost impossible to overload a mutant's natural heal factor, but it is possible. The most efficient way, is by coating a weapon with a certain type of synthetic poison that only a handful of mutants have the necessary abilities make. It's called the Ultimate Death, since it's the only poison that can kill mutants. Not much is needed and the antidote is as rare as the poison itself," tears were flowing down Dragonis' face now.
"It's not your fault. You would have been captured or killed too if you hadn't run," Susan said, wrapping her friend in a hug.
"You don't get it! I could have saved him! I can make the cure for the poison!" Dragonis exclaimed, twisting out of Susan's embrace. "I could have cured him, but instead, I ran like the coward I am."
Susan held Dragonis' shoulders at arm's length, looking her hard in the eyes. "Now you listen to me, Dragonis. You are not a coward. I know you feel like you could have saved your friend and it's all your fault for running, but it's not. You were just a kid and you were outnumbered. There's nothing you could have done."
"NO! I could have done something! I know it!" Dragonis pushed Susan away and ran from the room, her footfalls thudding down the passages.
Susan tuned to follow, but Monger blocked her path. "Let her go, Ginormica. Let her go."
"Yes, Susan. It will take some time for Dragonis to come to terms with the truth, but at least now, we know what's going on with her. Don't worry, my dear. We'll help her through this yet," Doctor Cockroach said, perching on Susan's shoulder.
Susan turned to him with a weak smile. "I know, but I still feel useless. I want to help her, but it feels like I've only pushed her away."
"You didn't, my dear," Cockroach smiled.
"The Doc's right. Dragonis has a lot of survivor's guilt to work through, but I'll be darned if we don't help her through it," Monger said, nodding stiffly as he about-faced and flew out of the room.