Dozens of men lined the benches on both sides of the car—same uniform, same build as eX-0281. They had the same task: neutralize the threat.

The train car rattled about it as it sped down the railway, carrying them to the battle zone.

All men had shifted into their sub-dragon forms. The serrated wings folded around their shoulders, hunkered over. No one's face could be seen, as the shielded helmet would protect their heads where the scales thinned out. Claws rested across their knees, calm over the guns specially designed for them.

“We are arriving to the west side of Reactor Central.”

eX-0281 listened to the commando’s words over his earpiece, much like his own voice if he had any tone of authority. All soldiers sounded about the same too.

“Unit, deploy.”

The rail had carried them to their destination, so the soldiers got up accordingly. eX-0281 moved with the stomping feet of his comrades onto the platform. Their boots clattered down the stairs one after another, careful not to step on each other’s dragging tails.

A bridge connected the train station to the reactor and the facility adjacent to it, but they needed to get to the ground level. Some drop-down ladders had been placed up here for this sort of purpose, so they unlocked them and slid down the sides like a firepole.

No bullets ricocheted as they made their descent, immediately making eX-0281’s adrenaline spike. The bodies of fallen guards were strewn about. When they all rushed into the lot, blasters at the ready, they saw the threat.

A regular human swaggered about with a rapier.

Whenever some tool used a sword instead of a gun, eX-0281 knew that they were in for some trouble. There was a reason why the target had caused a ruckus in front of Reactor Central. She had the skills to back up her ego.

Even so, a disco tech fencing mask covered her face. The woman was not so bold as to let her identity be readily known.

With his visor, eX-0281 analyzed the target and enabled the [Lock-On] mode. A red box floated around his target to help him stay focused on her. Meanwhile, some data lined the left-most edge of the screen from the [Scan].

Target: ??? [Human]

Vitality: 100%

Discrete Parts: None

Mana Reserves: 1,750 Mu

Element: Thunder

eX-0281 felt his pupils constrict as he stared at the screen. The intel was not kidding when it had stated that she was a mage. Based on her mana reserves, this could be a long fight if she had some decent abilities.

Swinging her rapier in a wide arc, she taunted them but also displayed her physical prowess.

“Looks like the party is about to begin!” the target hollered. Taking on a forward guard with her rapier, she rushed ahead in a [Charged Dash]. Blue electricity sparked all around her, and the first soldier that she impaled started to shake in electrocution.

When she pulled out the blade and leaped back, the soldier slumped for a moment before shaking himself off. The eX series of soldiers were ice-based elementals, thus having some resistance to thunder based attacks.

Electric shocks would still hurt, but more so, they had to worry about her deadly speed.

They had known that she was a thunder mage going in, but it was always difficult to predict the exact skillset. Regardless, they fired. eX-0281 held his claw steady on the trigger, fighting back the constant recoil with the help of one wing.

The target withdrew before the onslaught of bullets could reach her. She was dodging the projectiles left and right by zigzagging with [Charged Dash] after [Charged Dash]. Even though the entire squad was spraying and praying, the enemy could twist like a ballerina to evade every single shot.

Dang, eX-0281 thought. Thunder mages were common in Grandesia, but this gal never seemed to run out of battery.

An updated [Scan] told him how her mana reserves were doing.

Target: ??? [Human]

Vitality: 99%

Mana Reserves: 1,530 Mu

It looked like they would have to keep at this a while, but things only got worse before they could get better.

While she dodged, the target moved between their soldiers.

Friendly fire broke across their armored plates. Between the enhanced aramid fiber and their scales, the bullets did not penetrate at most points of impact, but they still had the wind knocked out of them. A few unlucky shots hit vulnerable limbs, and at least one life monitor went flat as he probably got struck in the neck.

eX-0281 held his fire and dropped to the ground. Some bullets zinged past his helmet—a near miss.

His eyes flitted to manage the integrated interface of the helmet and opened up a channel of communication to the squad members nearest to him. “Watch it,” he spit. “Don’t fire unless the coast is clear—!”

The broadcast from eX-0281 was cut-off in favor of the commando’s message.

“Disengage fire. Employ claws.”

Heck no. The last thing that eX-0281 wanted to do was stick his claws in the human electrical outlet.

Nevertheless, he always followed orders like everybody else. It was the surest way to go home sooner save for the one unlucky bastard who zapped himself to oblivion. If it meant taking out the target and securing the area, it seemed like a fair enough trade.

At the same time, the woman did a cartwheel into the center of their group and leaped up. A surge of power released from her, knocking out all of their electronic systems with an [Electromagnetic Pulse].

The unit had already received the order, however. Each sub-dragon soldier strapped his gun to the holster between the shoulder blades, out of the way of the wings. Too small to fly, their wings could still propel them forward at breathtaking speeds.

eX-0281 flapped and ran fast, passing by the target as she used a [Charged Dash] to get out of the way. Since he knew that she would dodge, eX-0281 had been eager to take the first attack.

When the next soldier went in for his strike, she bounded over his shoulders and used him like a springboard. “Missed me, missed me,” she cheered. “Now you have to kiss me!”

This girl ran circles around them, occasionally stopping only to do a supercharged dance in accordance with her disco theme. Blue sparks flew off of her as she hustled and picked some apples, sword point to the air. She was having fun at their expense.

About half their squad was cut down and zapped by her rapier.

The remaining members twitched their wings and fidgeted with their claws, unsure who would dive in for the next attempt. eX-0281 huffed hard from exertion.

Fortunately, no one else had to lose their life because the woman ceased the assault.

“It was fun playing with you all, but I’ve got to go now. Toodles!” She gave a little wave and teleported with a [Glitch] out of existence.

Two sets of blinks crossed over eX-0281’s vision; he had double eyelids in sub-dragon form. Admittedly, he was not quite sure what he had just experienced. The woman had felt as surreal as a fever dream.

Looking all around, he stared at the carnage of soldiers that looked exactly like him.

In the end, the threat had been deterred. eX-0281 had no idea why that maniac had bothered to dance around the front lot of Reactor Central. He did know that he looked forward to going home once he had helped clean up after his fallen comrades.

Atop the breastplates of their armor, some silvery energy glimmered beneath the spotlights.

When life attempted to dissipate from the corpse, something about sub-dragons had bound their essence to the realm of the physical. With no body to contain it any longer, the souls condensed themselves into a crystalline structure.

Some of these blue-tinged diamonds clinked onto the bloodied concrete where their bodies had slumped over. In the proximity of every single corpse, a shard had dropped.

Component: Dragon Soul Shard

A fragment of a dragon's soul. In the right hands, perhaps it could become something more....

The remaining soldiers were always ordered to collect them after a bloodbath. What Grandesia Power Company did with the remains, he had no desire to wonder.

***

Alone in his quarters, the doors snapped shut with their electronic locks after eX-0281 walked in. This was the one room where eX-0281 spent most of his life per regulations, and it had everything that he could want.

“What a day….” Letting out a hard sigh, he morphed into his human form. The wings disappeared from his back, as did the horns recede from his helmet. Armor for the sub-dragon species was designed to be taken off like that.

He had a second helmet tucked under one arm—the new one that had been issued to him after the [EMP] ability had shorted out the one on his head.

In his human form, eX-0281 lifted up his helmet and let it drop into the trash chute. Once he had popped on the new helmet, he let his horns grow back through his head which secured it in place.

The interface lit up as he reconfigured his account. "There we go!"

After the welcome screen flashed to life, the visor displayed his status screen.

Name: eX-0281 [Sub-Dragon Shifter (Dragon Form)]

Vitality: 98%

Discrete Parts: Right Wing (100%), Left Wing (100%), Tail (100%)

Mana Reserves: 10 Mu

Element: Ice

From there, eX-0281 powered off his helmet, shifted back into human form, and unsnapped the larger pieces of armor with ease. He left his gear in its dedicated closet which automatically sanitized everything.

Then, he walked to the back of the room and flopped down on the low bed. His body shifted and enlarged, the wings sprouting from his back once more. The tail grew out from the base of his spine, and with a flick, he hit a button along the wall.

The heat lamp lit up above him, instantly beginning to warm up his scales.

“Ah,” he sighed, closing both sets of eyelids. After a stressful day on duty, eX-0281 desired nothing more than an evening spent basking under his heat lamp.

Though he had humanoid qualities in many respects, he was nothing but a glorified, lazy lizard who just wanted to sleep beneath a lamp all day. Light and warmth on skin felt nowhere near as good as it did on scales. eX-0281 could just doze off and drool like this.

For some background noise, he turned on the TV—another one of his favorite things in the world.

Movies and TV shows taught him just about everything that he knew about real, human interaction. Despite a drama filled existence, it always made eX-0281 happy how everything turned out well for the good people. Briefly, he wished that he could go on an adventure and do something heoric.

Instead, the public always gave him dirty looks and steered clear of him like some kind of monster.

eX-0281 sighed heavily, smacking his jaws. While the stigma around his species and occupation frustrated him, he reminded himself that he was just following orders.

At the very least, he wished that the regulations allowed him to interact with the other sub-dragons outside of missions.

It must be nice to have a friend....

Almost instantly, the thought left eX-0281's mind. He became distracted and absorbed by the TV screen.

Last time, he had left on the news. Some footage of the earlier ordeal flashed onto the screen.

"A mysterious woman danced outside Reactor Central today," the newscaster declared, "killing twenty-seven private soldiers of Grandesia Power Company."

eX-0281 could pick himself out of the swarm of sub-dragon soldiers and see himself dodge beneath the friendly fire.

I looked pretty good back there, he decided, even compared to his identical comrades. Though they had undergone the same training, they did not perform identically. eX-0281 liked to think that he was a bit superior to the average gecko.

"It was believed that the woman was coordinating with a group, and she caused a diversion. Additional patrols have been added around Reactor Central and other GPC facilities. The company would like to assure all residents of Grandesia that the situation is under control."

A big yawn stretched from his jaws, and eX-0281 scratched at some flaky scales that would soon shed.

A diversion was a pretty smart explanation for the weird, retro dance that the target had performed earlier today. If he had been hired to think, maybe he would have come to that conclusion himself.

The incident bored him by now, so eX-0281 flipped the channel.

Some classical synth music played from the surround sound, and he closed his eyes once more. He was drifting in and out of a pleasurable nap. A bang like a bomb went off in the distance though eX-0281’s sleepy mind dismissed it as part of the music.

His eyes flashed open when he suddenly felt cold. The lights had gone off, leaving him in the dark. The TV was reduced to quietude.

“What? My lamp….” eX-0281 looked up to the dark ceiling above. His body, which had just started to heat up to his liking, felt colder than ever.

Most horrifically, his heat lamp had gone out.

A few times, he tried thumping his tail against the button. The lamp would not turn back on.

“Stupid power,” he grumbled. "I work for the freaking electric company. These things aren't supposed to happen." eX-0281 shifted to human form, the one which generated heat naturally from within.

Luckily, the electrical locks on the doors disengaged in the event of a power outage. Electricity must have been cut-off to this wing of the facility, and he planned to investigate.

Although it broke regulations for anyone to leave their rooms in human form without their gear on, eX-0281 was too peeved to care.

If the fat cat on top thought that he could save a couple bucks on their own electrical bill by cutting the sub-dragons off the grid, the entire unit would stage a coup! That was how much a sub-dragon liked their heat lamps.

For now, he walked into the hall where the generators had kicked into gear.