I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. The room was chilled just right, it was quiet and Adelind was still curled against me. The ache that had taken up residence in every scale on my body was now light to absent and the sores were slowly scabbing over and healing up. The chips in my horns were healing nicely and my sore throat was gone. After a near month of continuous combat and searching, it was nice to be home. I stretched a little and then nuzzled Adelind awake. She batted her eyes, yawned cutely and smiled when she looked at me.
“Morning my love”, I said kissing her.
She kissed me back, “morning my boy. Did you sleep well?”
“Of course I did”, I said pulling her close to me, “you were beside me.”
She blushed. I smiled.
“Why, even after 22 years do you blush every time I say that?”, I asked.
She smiled, “because it's like were 4 and 2 again.”
“Ah, I remember those days”, I said, “I still remember the day I got my first real kiss from you.”
She smiled and put her arm around me and lay her head on my neck, “you made all the other Alpha females so jealous and made my life a lot better.”
Adelind gave me a light, teasing lick. I smiled and purred at my mate's affection. I couldn't think of a better dragoness I'd want to spend my life with. I closed my eyes as Adelind continued to tease me.
“You know we got five kids already”, I said through my smile.
“What makes you think I care?”, Adelind whispered into my ear.
I smiled and purred contently.
“Stop teasing me”, I said.
“Make me”, Adelind said licking my neck. She pushed me onto my back and lay her head on my chest.
“Do you want me to stop?”, she asked.
“Not really”, I answered pulling her into a kiss.
“That's what I thought”, she smiled.
We played around for at least another hour before I heard the TV come on.
“Sounds like the kids are awake”, Adelind said.
I sighed, “that means they'll be hungry. Why don't you get dressed and I'll get breakfast started?”
She sighed and rolled off of me, “not as good a plan as I would have liked, but I guess it works.”
I smiled at her antics and got out of bed myself. I grabbed my tags off my night stand and hung them around my neck before walking into the living room. The Dusk and Helix were watching TV, Tyson was playing with Kayel and Ace was laying in the corner starring off into space. I could have guessed what he was thinking about. I smiled at myself and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a package of bacon and sausage from the refrigerator and a pan from the cupboard. I placed the pan on the stove and then added the bacon and sausage to it as Adelind came out of the bedroom.
She was dressed ion a white T-shirt and blue jeans with a tail sleeve. She had her tags hanging around her neck and her scales polished.
“You look beautiful”, I said.
She smiled at me smoothed her crest, giving me her big, cute eyes as she did.
“Are you trying to make me go insane?”, I asked.
“Maybe”, she said.
“Well stop it”, I said, “the kids are here.”
She smiled and winked at me. I shook my head and turned back to the stove. The bacon was beginning to brown and the sausage with it. I consulted a cook book that Emelia had given me as a moving in present and promptly added eggs, peppers and pepper to a separate pan. The food sizzled and fried, attracting Tyson in the process.
“Food?”, he asked, pretending as if he were a cockroach. He was crawling low on his shins and had his crests down in front of his face expect for two long strands that he had gelled to stand up.
“I didn't know my son was part cockroach”, I said flipping the sausages over.
Tyson laughed, “what are you cooking Dad?”
“Bacon and sausage”, I said picking him up, “would you like a sample?”
“Yessssss”, Tyson hissed, sticking his forked tongue in between his lips, “very much.”
I grabbed a long strip of bacon from the pan and handed it to Tyson. He purred contently as he chewed on it. He stayed on my back as I made breakfast. I didn't mind it to be honest, I just kinda of wished he didn't keep his claws so sharp. Just old ring conditioning I guess.
Breakfast was ready in about a half hour. Once it was ready, Adelind gathered the kids around the table while I went and got dressed. I slipped on a white under shirt and a red button shirt which I left open and blue jeans. I was growing quite accustomed to the way dragons at Romeo lived. It was a far cry from Tacoma and if I was honest with myself, I'd take Tacoma over Romeo any day. I walked back into the kitchen where the others were already sitting down and eating.
“Eating without me huh?”, I asked, “last I checked, your mother and I were criminals if we did that.”
“Were little Daddy”, Helix said grabbing sausage in her mouth, “so it's okay.”
I smiled and kissed her. Tyson was so busy eating I wondered if he was cutting breathing time and little Kayel was copying him. I was worried that they, especially Kayel, were going to choke, but that could only be dealt with if it happened. Ace wasn't eating much at all, he was starring into space.
“Earth to Ace”, Dusk said waving his paw in his brothers face, “helloooo, anyone at home in there?”
“What?”, Ace asked.
“You were just valiantly starring into space”, I said smiling, “think about your girlfriend?”
“DAD!”, Ace shouted, “she's not my girlfriend!”
“Is too!”, Helix howled, “I've seen you kiss her!”
A hush fell over the table.
“Ace kissed her did he Helix?”, I asked leaning in.
“I didn't kiss her”, Ace said,
“Yes he did too!”, Helix said, “I watched him”
“Helix!”, Ace said, “you swore you wouldn't tell anyone!”
“So you did kiss her?”, I asked.
Ace's cheeks went red.
“Is...am I in trouble?”, he asked looking down at his paws.
“No”, I smiled, “of course not. I'm proud of you.”
“I am too”, Adelind smiled, “way to go son!”
Ace's cheeks were crimson red now, he was embarrassed beyond belief.
Adelind smiled again, “my baby's first kiss...my god your only three.”
“Mom!”, Ace whined.
“I am not looking forward to my first kiss”, Dusk said, “no wonder Ace didn't want a mate.”
I laughed, “your Mom and I are going to do this to all you boys.”
Dusk and Tyson looked down at their paws as Ace snickered.
“Not so funny now is it?”, he asked.
We laughed and began eating again, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Tyro!”, Hudson shouted, “John open the door!”
I looked at Adelind. She shrugged. I got up and walked to the door and swung it open.
“What's up Hudson?”, I asked.
“Nolan needs you down at the command tent right now”, Hudson said, “I don't have time to explain, just grab your gear and come on.”
Before I could even ask, Hudson took off down the hall. I looked back at Adelind and then darted into my room for my 105. Adelind followed me.
“What was that all about?”, she asked.
“Dunno”, I said pulling my uniform from my drawer, “but I've never seen him like that before, it's gotta be serious so I'm gonna go see what's up.”
I gave Adelind a kiss and then hurried down to the command tent. It was empty expect for me, Taro and Nolan. Taro was sitting the corner, dressed in jet black and crimson red equipment. There was also a metal mask on the table, it matched the paint job on Taro's gear so I assumed it was his. It was made of what looked like aircraft grade aluminum. There were holes made in it for his horns and they way the eye slits had been made, it didn't seem like there was anyway you could look into the thing from the outside. The mask's two crimson red stripes started at the horn holes and ran all the way down the front. Once they reached the bottom, they curved around and gave the thing a creepy smile.
“Thanks for coming Tyro”, Taro said. The tone in his voice was slightly off.
“What's going on here?”, I asked.
“Tyro”, Taro said, “have you heard the legend of Razgriz?”
I sat back on my haunches, “Ator mentioned that in the barracks on night. He said that he had seen him, but I don't believe the rumors are true.”
“They are”, Nolan said. He didn't seem right either. It seemed like he knew something he would rather not.
“I'm Razgriz”, Taro said.
I sighed. I wasn't sure weather to believe Taro, or to call him mental, but something about the tone in his voice told me he wasn't lying.
“Okay...”, I answered, “so you called me here to say, “Hey Tyro, I'm a demon?”
“Not quite”, Taro said, “I called you here because while you guys were out in Somalia, we picked up this transmission.”
“Nina”, The radio was full of static, “it's Shadow, do you copy?”
There was no reply to Shadow's message.
“Nina...if you can hear me, I'm coming for you.”
“Where did this transmission originate?”, I asked.
“San Francisco California”, Nolan said.
“But...how?”, I asked, “we looked there.”
“It doesn't matter”, Taro said, “it's what happens now that matters.”
I just looked at him, not having the slightest clue what was going on here.
“Tyro”, Taro said, “I've been tracking someone who has valuable intel for the Resistance. Problem is, he's sitting in jail right now.”
Now I was just confused, “not sure I follow brother.”
“You don't have to follow”, Taro said, “here's what you need to know. I'm going to rescue my son and my daughter and law. Your coming as back up. You and ONLY you. You will stay hidden until I tell you otherwise and you will not fired unless you are fired upon. Once I retrieve Shadow, we will fly on their V22 to Boston, New York, you will NOT follow us do you understand me?”
I was officially clueless as to what was going on. Nolan pulled up a map.
“Here's where we'll be going”, Taro said pointing to a entrance just before and old car tunnel, “you'll be posted in this skyscraper to provide over watch for us as we enter this car tunnel.”
“I'm really confused here Taro”, I said, “one, that car tunnel is collapsed and two, that area is crawling with Draco forces. Your asking to get captured.”
“Yes I am”, Taro said.
Okay...
I shook my head, “have you completely lost your mind?”
“No”, Taro said, “a couple of weeks ago, one of our predator drones spotted a cargo ship thirty miles off the coast. The drone sent back several videos of dragons being led onto the ship and a few more being tossed over broad, dead. I've a sneaking suspicion that this is a place where captured, rouge dragons are brought, tortured and executed. All you gotta know is that I need to get abroad that ship.”
This was just too messed up. I could tell Taro knew that he was essentially telling me that he was going to commit suicide and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why.
“You better explain to me why your laying out your suicide plan in my face”, I growled shoving my snout into his.
“Prisoner 0!”, Taro shouted, “Prisoner 0! That's all you need to fucking know got it!?”
“No I don't got it!”, I protested, “you are sitting here telling the dragon you helped RAISE that your going to kill yourself! Do you have any idea what that's going to do to me! To Shadow!?, To Nina!? To Adelind!?”
Taro sighed and gave me a vacant stare, which caused me to instantly stop and drop any anger I had. His eyes told the whole story.
“What...are you...dying?”, I asked.
“They gave me two weeks”, Taro said holding his paw over his heart, “my heart is falling apart.”
“There wasn't anything they could do”, Nolan said placing his head in his hands, “Taro was too old a dragon. The formula for the mutation has changed too many times in the past 20 years.”
I felt tears coming to my eyes.
“Taro I...”
“I understand”, Taro said, “but I'm checking out. And...as crazy as I'm sure this sounds, I have got to get onto that ship. I have one last thing I need to do before I can rest. Tyro please, I'm ready. If I can't get it done, you can. Please, help me see this through. I can't do this alone and I don't want anyone other than you at my side. Once you find Prisoner 0, trust me, everything will make sense.”
I nodded, “I'm with you till the end brother.”
“Taro's mask has a GPS in it”, Nolan said handing me a small flash drive, “install this software into your vest and you'll be able to track him once the V22 starts for Boston.”
I nodded and took the flash drive from Nolan as Taro picked up his mask and placed it on his head.
“Razgriz and Major Johnathan Alexander Mason”, Taro said, “a match made in hell.”
“Let's do this”, I said Taro and I grabbed each others paws.
I quickly changed into my uniform and strapped on my 105. Taro and I gave Nolan a salute and left the command tent. Starting for the 22 that was waiting on the jet pad. When we got there, I found Adelind waiting.
“What's going on?”, she asked walking up to me.
I sighed, I didn't want to tell her, but I certainly wasn't going to lie to her face. Not in this lifetime.
“Taro's last mission”, I said.
'What?”, Adelind asked quietly. I saw the color drain from her face.
“It's true Adelind”, Taro said, “I have a heart problem. They gave me two weeks.”
I saw Adelind was starting to cry as she and Taro hugged.
“Please don't cry Adelind”, Taro said, “you know I hate it when you do.”
“Please Taro”, she begged, “don't do this.”
Taro let her go, “I have too. Goodbye Adelind.”
Adelind was sobbing now, “goodbye Taro.”
“Let's get this bird in the air”, my friend said turning to the 22.
“Why is he doing this”, Adelind asked as she leaned into me.
“I don't know”, I answered, “all he would tell me was a name, Prisoner 0. He said everything would make sense once we found him.”
Adelind only cried.
“Hey”, I said, “please make sure the kids don't find out about this. I want them to hear it from me.”
She nodded, wiped her eyes on my jacket and then went back towards the barracks. I sighed and stepped into the 22 and lay down across from my friend. I could tell he was doubting himself, but we both knew that now, there was no turning back.