The first thing SteelStar had to do was treat his injury, the bent metal on his side. Valtarian doctors had invented a magnetic device to repair such injuries, but with oversight from a Valtarian Doctor, Andy had practiced using his own magnetism to do so. It wasn’t easy, and it took a few minutes, but SteelStar managed to pull the bent metal at his side back into its proper shape, making it safe to turn back to his organic form. He groaned in pain as he did it, but he did it. A quick wash with a fire hydrant, and his metal body was cool now as well. Fortunately, the unconscious Draego didn’t wake up in that time.

With his injury treated, he looked at Draego, who was now breathing steadily.

“I can’t believe he survived that,” said SteelStar.

“I can’t believe I survived that,” said Centurion.

SteelStar intended to ask him about that later, for now, he just looked at Draego laying there. The young hero couldn’t believe he’d been put into a position where he had to go all out again to prevent people from dying. The only reason Draego had survived was because a dragon was just that tough. SteelStar hoped it didn’t become a pattern that he’d have to use lethal force frequently.

Fortunately, the Military arrived soon to contain the supervillains. Since they didn’t have contingencies for every superpower, Deathstare and Draego were kept sedated. After about an hour and a half, Scarlet Ghost and Blacksting arrived to take them away, bringing with them equipment from U.H.E. headquarters. For Deathstare, they used a similar suit to the one that contained him at New Tartarus, covering up his entire body and preventing him from using his eyes. They also brought an enchanted chain covered in glowing red runes, a donation from the wizard superhero Madame Mystic. With Draego wrapped in those chains, he wouldn’t be able to transform.

SteelStar, wearing his grey skinned, organic form, watched the two villains put into the back of an armored car, their arms bound behind them, as Scarlet Ghost got in behind them. Scarlet ghost’s body was made of red energy, and she had no discernable mouth, but her eyes were so expressive that SteelStar could fill in the details easily. She wore a leotard made of darker red energy and sported long hair that flickered like red fire.

“Dealing with a dragon already?” she said, looking back at SteelStar. “I don’t envy your luck.”

“You kidding?” asked Blacksting, standing just outside the armored car.

Blacksting was covered head to toe in black armor resembling insect chitin, and he carried the cylinder containing the fugori crystal under his arm. To talk, he slid back a piece around his lower jaw to reveal his human mouth surrounded by tan skin.

“The greater the adversity,” said Blacksting with a strong yet raspy accent. “The stronger you become when you overcome it. Keep dealing with problems like this, and you’ll both be forces to be reckoned with before too long.”

He gave a thumbs up and grinned. SteelStar and Centurion stood just outside the armored car, feeling exhausted. However, the two of them gave a thumbs up back.

“Oh!” said Scarlet Ghost suddenly, waving. “And good work on dealing with Deathstare! Great job on your first day, Celerity!”

Celerity sheepishly waved back.

The back of the van was closed, and the armored car drove off, followed by a military escort. Blacksting, nodding to them once more, closed the chitin around his mouth and opened two pieces on his back to reveal insect wings. He buzzed the wings, the air blast making dust blow away and shaking signposts, then leaped into the air, flying away.

“I better get home,” said Celerity. “My mom’s gonna be worried about me…and I really need a shower.”

SteelStar tried to ignore the sewer smell, “You deserve it. Good job today.”

“Thanks, you too,” and Celerity zipped off.

Centurion turned to leave, but SteelStar put a gauntlet clad hand on his shoulder.

“Hold on,” said SteelStar. “I need to talk to you.”

Centurian gave an exasperated groan, “I suppose you wanted to know how I survived your lightning while enhancing it.”

Centurian turned to face him.

“I have multiple sets of armor,” said Centurion. “A jack of all trades and specialized suits for different occasions. They sent me a suit that’s designed to resist electricity. Enhancing that, I was able to resist the enhanced lightning.”

A shock resistant suit. SteelStar grimaced at the implications and clenched his fists in anger.

“If it’s any consolation,” said Centurion. “I wanted the heat resistant suit. But hey, we couldn’t have taken down Draego with anything less, so I guess it worked out.”

SteelStar looked away, “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Centurian turned and flew away. SteelStar stood there for a moment, feeling frustrated. All around him, he started to sense the electromagnetic signatures of people leaving buildings. Now that the crisis was over, people would soon leave the locked buildings. Not wanting to face an angry public, SteelStar turned to metal and flew away.

###

Attorney Garrett Stone entered the office of the E.H.O.D. agent working the SteelStar case and threw a folder on his desk. The agent, who had been typing at his computer, looked up with a raised eyebrow.

“What’s that?” asked the agent.

“See for yourself.”

The agent, annoyed, picked up the folder and gazed at the contents. His face paled when he saw photos of himself at a military base.

“How did you get this?”

“It doesn’t matter where I got it,” said Garrett. “What does matter is that an E.H.O.D. agent visited the military complex housing the fugori crystal, and a day later, the crystal is moved through a route right through Partition city. The fact that this happened the same day as SteelStar’s review raises a few questions I’m guessing you would rather not answer. It’s almost as if you were asking for a supervillain to show up.”

The agent glared, “You can’t prove anything.”

“True,” said Garrett. “But have you checked Noteline lately? People are already starting to ask why they took the fugori crystal through such a big city in the first place. This photo suggests that you were setting up SteelStar to fail his review, placing Partition City in danger to do it. I go public with this, and there’s a good chance the public outcry will trigger an investigation. If it’s discovered that the E.H.O.D. pressured the military to move the crystal, whom do you think your superiors will blame for it?”

The agent glared, tapping his fingers, “What do you want?”

###

“Unbelievable,” said Andy, shaking his head.

Having changed out of his SteelStar outfit into a shirt and jeans, Andy sported his human form as he sat at the kitchen table looking over the photos. His mother and father, John and Amelia, sat beside him while Garrett Stone stood over them.

“The agent folded like a cheap suit,” said Garrett. “I convinced him to…reconsider your review. I doubt you’ll get more than a passing grade, but it should get them out of your hair for at least a little while.”

“Shouldn’t we…I don’t know…” said Andy uncertainly. “Take him to court or something?”

“If we go to court,” said Garrett, “The E.H.O.D. will use their field agent as a scapegoat, and nothing will change. I’ve seen it before. Trust me. You’re more valuable working as a superhero than stuck in a courtroom for who knows how long.”

“I guess,” said Andy.

“I’m just glad they’re off your back,” said Amelia.

John put his hand on Andy’s shoulder, “Me too. And you should be out there, being a hero. I mean, you took on a dragon today and won! Andy, I’m so proud of you.”

Andy smiled. He supposed it was true, but he had gotten help. He couldn’t have beaten that dragon without Centurion’s help and wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Still, it did feel good to actually do real hero work for once, and he really wanted to do that instead of being stuck in a courtroom.

A moment later, Garrett excused himself. He left out the front door and went to his car. A moment later, he was driving out of the Valtarian Neighborhood. As he drove, the city going past him out the windows, he glanced to his right.

“Thanks again for the dirt on that agent,” said Garrett. “It worked like a charm.”

The Silent Wraith decloaked in the passenger seat, appearing as if from thin air.

“How did you know I was there?” he asked.

“I didn’t,” said Garrett. “I just figured you’d show up eventually, and I’ve been saying that every time I’m alone.”

“Well,” said Silent. “That’s one way to do it. Anyway, good job spotting the subversion. I swear, these E.H.O.D. types make me sick.”

They rode in silence for a moment.

“There’s just one more thing I want to know,” said Silent. “Someone had hacked the military base to keep the walls up and Celerity out. Now that Draego and Deathstare are in custody, where’s their accomplice?”

###

Cipher drove his van through back roads, hoping to avoid any police or military patrols. This job had gone worse than he could have imagined. He just hoped he could get away. Draego would undoubtedly be sent to the Dragon Isles for judgment, but Deathstare would probably expect Cipher to break him out of New Tartarus on his own. He could do it, but at this point, he wasn’t sure it was worth the trouble.

Suddenly, he got an alert on a laptop in the passenger seat, a secondary screen on his dashboard giving him a view. He kept his drones in the sky, keeping an eye out for any superheroes in the area, and one of them had picked up movement. It wasn’t a plane or a helicopter, and it was too fast to be an ordinary bird, so it had to be a superhero.

Cipher’s mind raced, thinking of the superheroes in the area. SteelStar was likely to stay behind to protect Partition City, which was good since Cipher hadn’t thought of a countermeasure for his powers yet. If it was Centurion, he could use small drones to hack his suit and disable him. He could form a mixture to weaken Blacksting’s chitin armor if it came to that, but Scarlet Ghost had no known weaknesses.

Then, looking at the screen on the dashboard, he saw a hawk moving far faster than a hawk should move, its wings flapping as fast as a hummingbird’s. Morphic Man, then. That had its own problems, but Cipher figured he could deal with it. Morphic Man was a shapeshifter. He could imitate any lifeform he’d seen, control hairs on his body like tentacles, and change his body density. He could make his body light to move incredibly fast or dense for enhanced strength and near invulnerability. He could make himself small to avoid detection, and even if you could damage him, he could regenerate near instantly.

He had two weaknesses. If one could burn him faster than he could regenerate, one could destroy a shapeshifter like him, the heat destroying his cells direclty. The better strategy, and the one Cipher intended to use, was freezing. Once he was frozen, it would prevent him from shapeshifting and put him into a coma, leading to death if he wasn’t thawed out. That’s why Cipher had chosen this route, bringing him very close to a cryogenic research facility.

“Initiate protocol hard freeze,” said Cipher.

His computer ran a sequence he’d prepared ahead of time, hacking the cryogenic research facility and triggering a coolant leak alert. By the time he reached the facility, it would be evacuated, and he’d have control.

A minute later, a bunch of very confused scientists stood outside a gigantic building, right before a van burst through the gates around the facility. The poor scientists dived out of the way as Cipher approached, a garage door opening for him. Once inside, the program automatically closed the door, and Cipher slammed the brakes on the van.

Morphic Man arrived a moment later, flying as a hawk with his wings flapping like an insect or a hummingbird. He didn’t bother to explain himself to the scientists. He simply turned into a beetle and flew into a vent on the roof. A moment later, Morphic Man flew out, landed in a hallway, and turned into a wolf, sniffing the air. It didn’t take long to catch Cipher’s scent, and he ran to follow, keeping his body density light to move fast.

He found the room Cipher was hiding in, and paused. Morphic Man expected Cipher to hide in a room with liquid nitrogen or some other coolant, but this room, closed off by a steel door, was marked ‘equipment storage.’ Surely there were better rooms in this facility to ambush him with a freezing agent? Morphic Man considered his options and entered slowly.

He left the door slightly ajar as he looked around, seeing shelves filled with various scientific equipment. Morphic Man increased his body density in case of an ambush, not that it would help with a freezing agent or excessive heat, but he couldn’t speed up his mind like a true speedster, so low density wouldn’t necessarily help him dodge an ambush. He sniffed the air but sensed the pungent odor of cologne everywhere, on the walls, floor, and even the ceiling, covering up any other scents. Cipher had done his homework. Soon Morphic Man walked through the area, still in the form of a wolf, his wolf eyes scanning the room. He shifted his vocal chords slightly so that he could talk like a human.

“Come on, now,” said Morphic Man. “It’s over. We already caught your buddies. You think a normie like you can escape? I know you’re particularly smart for a normie, but think about what you’re up against. It’s only a matter of time before we catch you.”

We’ll see about that, thought Cipher from his hiding spot in the corner of the room. He saw Morphic Man in the center of the room, then tapped his smartwatch. Small spider drones he’d sent up a moment ago unleashed explosive charges in the floor above, targeting weak points in the room. Liquid nitrogen tanks then fell through the destroyed ceiling, and Morphic Man looked up just in time to see more spider drones explode on the tanks and spread the icy liquid everywhere.

Morphic Man turned and tried to run out of the room just as the liquid landed on him. Vapor exloaded throughout the room as the liquid nitrogen spread out, covering the shelves and equipment with ice. Cipher, still hiding, stood on a metal stool to keep the liquid from touching him. Once everything settled and enough vapor cleared from the room, Cipher saw Morphic man still in wolf form, frozen solid in mid-run.

“Ha!” cried Cipher. “How do you like that?!”

Cipher didn’t waste time after that. He began climbing over the shelves to keep away from the liquid nitrogen, dropping to the floor where the ice stopped.

Unbeknownst to him, a line of flesh like a thin tentacle extended from Morphic Man’s back. As frozen as his wolf body, this tentacle went down to the floor and ran through the shelves. It reached back to the entrance, past where the liquid nitrogen had fallen and went out the door. The unfrozen part of this tentacle eventually disconnected from the frozen part, like a gecko severing its tail. That piece slithered away, going out the door Morphic Man had entered.

Cipher strolled through the facility, feeling pleased with himself. He grabbed the bag that he’d carried the spider drones in and prepared to leave the facility. As he was about to turn a corner, he looked up and noticed something odd. A security camera in the corner had been destroyed. Just as he was wondering what happened, something lashed out at him from around the corner, and he felt a stabbing pain in his gut that made him stagger back.

Holding his gut, he looked up to see Morphic Man in human form saunter around the corner with a pleased grin. He had formed his purple and orange bodysuit, and behind him, a scorpion tail waved menacingly.

“What?” Cipher asked. “How…how…”

Cipher suddenly felt weak and fell to his knees as his vision blurred.

“You know,” said Morphic Man. “You’d be surprised how useful secret powers can be. I have this betting pool with other E.H.O.D. superheroes on how many heroes and villains are hiding powers. Any bets before you…you know…die?”

“P…please…” Cipher begged, his breaths becoming strained. “I…I can be…useful…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Cyphie,” said Morphic Man, kneeling. “But you managed to hack the E.H.O.D.’s most powerful weapon, and that makes the higher ups just a tad antsy. You understand, right?”

“You…piece of…”

Cipher never got the chance to finish his insult but fell over, dead.

Morphic Man sighed, then pushed Cipher over. Reaching down into Cipher’s shirt, he moved his hand around for a little bit, and when he pulled it away. Now one could see smooth skin where the scorpion stringer had left a wound before. No one would ever know he’d been stabbed with something.

Morphic Man picked up Cipher’s body, hefted it over his shoulder, and then walked out of the facility, whistling a cheery tune as he did.

###

SteelStar got a message on his smartwatch from Centurion that he had the E.H.O.D. review results. SteelStar met him at a café where Centurion, with his helmet off, snacked on a pastry. Given the time of day, not many people were there, which was fine with SteelStar. He didn’t want a repeat of what happened the last time he was here. SteelStar had looked online, and enough people saw SteelStar shoot Centurion with lightning that it was becoming its own controversy. It wasn’t as extreme as Spectramancer since they took down a dragon, but it gave the people who hated SteelStar more ammo to keep hating him and call him reckless. The few people at other tables were already giving SteelStar nasty looks.

“Hey, kid,” said Centurion. “It’s right there.”

Centurion pointed to a folder on his table. SteelStar, changing to his organic form, picked up the folder and looked through it. There were two evaluations; one from the agent, and one from Centurion. The agent’s score was about what SteelStar expected. He got the bare minimum needed to pass. Centurion’s evaluation, on the other hand, made SteelStar wonder if he was seeing things.

“You…you gave me full marks?” he asked in disbelief.

“Sure,” said Centurion. “You performed as well as can be expected, given the circumstances. I’m surprised the higher ups let it slide, to be perfectly honest.”

SteelStar’s astonishment faded a little.

“And if they hadn’t let it slide?” asked SteelStar.

“I would have done what I’m told,” Centurion said bluntly. “Sorry, but a man’s got to eat, and my contract locks me in with them. It’s nothing personal.”

SteelStar felt like he shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course, Centurion would put his own wellbeing first if push came to shove. A part of SteelStar was tempted to rip up the evaluation and throw it back in his face. What held him back was the knowledge that Centurion didn’t have to give him full marks, even considering what Garrett Stone turned up.

“Look,” said SteelStar. “I know we weren’t exactly on the same team, but I couldn’t have taken down Draego without you, so whatever else happens, it was nice working with you.”

SteelStar offered his hand. Centurion looked surprised, but lifted his own hand for a handshake.

“Sure thing, kid,” he said. “Next time I run into a dragon, I’ll give you a call.”

SteelStar laughed nervously, “Well, maybe don’t make me the first person you call.”

Centurion laughed boisterously.

Nearby, someone had started recording with his phone, expecting Centurion to chew SteelStar out for shooting him with lightning. The video he later uploaded showed something very different.

###

SteelStar and Celerity found a secluded area in Partition City’s biggest park to plan their superhero schedules. They sat on the ground with a map of the city and surrounding areas between them as the sun twinkled through the leaves above them.

“So the way I see it,” said Celerity. “Partition City is fairly centrally located with the cities in this area. With two of us, we can handle the crime in Partition City, and if there are any big emergencies in the surrounding cities, the one whose closest can help deal with that.”

“Provided we’re both awake,” said SteelStar. “I try to get up early.”

“So do I,” said Celerity, frowning. “I like an early jog.”

“That’s alright. I can produce some light with my electricity, and my ability to sense electromagnetic signatures means I don’t have to rely on my eyes as much. I’d probably do better on the night shift anyway.”

“Works for me,” said Celerity.

They shook hands, SteelStar picked up the map, and they stood.

“So,” said Celerity, “How are you handling the ongoing controversy?”

“As well as I can,” said SteelStar. “At least that video of Centurion and me shaking hands has diffused things somewhat. It’s harder to say I recklessly attacked him now.”

Celerity said, somewhat reluctantly, “Have you seen the latest Patrick Powell segment?”

“No,” said SteelStar irritably. “But let me guess, he’s outraged that I passed my review?”

Celerity nodded.

“Typical,” said SteelStar spitefully, walking away. “The man who constantly complains about there not being enough superheroes wants a superhero out of the way.”

SteelStar stopped and looked up at the sky.

“You know what’s really ironic about this?” he asked. “I don’t even disagree that if you have power, then you should use it to help people, I just don’t think it’s always that simple. And I’d never point a gun at someone’s head and tell them they have to do something.”

Thinking of something, he turned around sheepishly.

“I’d hate to think that you became a superhero because you were forced into it.”

Celerity smiled and looked down, “That’s sweet of you, but I’m fine.”

She looked up, “Really, dude, I’m fine. I mean, if deathstare had gotten away with that crystal, and someone figured out how to use it, a lot of people would get hurt, and I’m the one who stopped him,” she pointed her hand on her chest. “Me!” she spread her hands. “I feel great!”

SteelStar smiled. “Well, I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” said Celerity. “And hey, don’t let your detractors get you down. It can be overwhelming at first, but over time it’ll just sound like background noise.”

“Maybe,” said SteelStar doubtfully, looking away.

“Look,” said Celerity. “I saw your Noteline page. You gave up on explaining what happened pretty quickly. Why don’t you just live stream a video and explained what happened that day from start to finish? I think people not hearing from you is doing more damage than you realize. You can’t let your detractors make you afraid to say anything.”

SteelStar sighed, “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea, thanks. See you around.”

“See you.”

Celerity ran off, while SteelStar turned to metal and flew away.

###

Later that day.

“Laura!” shouted Laura’s mother. “You’re laundry’s done!”

Laura Landry still lived in Partition City, but she took the name Laura Daniels these days. By law, power users were entitled to anonymity whether they engaged in hero work or not. This was because it wasn’t uncommon for people to use their family members as hostages and coerce them into using their powers for nefarious purposes. For some power users, it was like holding the family member of a nuclear warhead hostage.

That’s why Laura’s family changed their last names and appearances. Laura managed to get her hand on the color changing hologram module. A bit expensive, but a necessity. As she folded her laundry, she had the appearance of a young blonde woman with her hair down and freckles on her face. It only took a few seconds for a speedster like her to put her hair in a braid, and this, combined with a different hair color, was enough to throw people off. She’d walked past ex-friends the other day just to test the disguise, and they hadn’t recognized her.

As Celerity knelt in her room folding laundry, her walls filled with posters of athletes and Olympic gold medalists, she opened the bottom drawer of her chest of drawers, and noticed something.

She reached in and pulled out her old running uniform, from when she was still a runner at her school. She looked at the purple suit with a white stripe and felt sad. This thing brought back some unpleasant memories.

She remembered her friends screaming at her in the school’s locker room, “Happy you won, cheater?”

“I didn’t cheat!” Laura had protested. “I didn’t have powers before!”

“Liar! You won every time since the year started! You must have been using powers!”

“I wasn’t!”

But they wouldn’t listen. All the girls she called her friends had chanted cheater at her over and over again. Celerity had run, zipping out of there and finding a quiet corner of the school to cry. She’d sobbed until her parents came looking for her.

And now, looking at this old uniform, Laura sighed and put it back at the bottom of her drawer.

###

SteelStar stood in the woods with his phone, taking a deep breath as he prepared to stream on VidVoyage.

“Hello, I’m SteelStar. You probably know who I am, that I and the one who was forced to stop Spectramancer, and was ultimately the one who killed him. I want to make clear that this was the last thing I wanted, but Spectramancer was a danger to himself and everyone in Partition City. I want to explain exactly what happened that day and why I made the choices that I did. Once you have the whole story, you can judge for yourself whether I did the right thing or not.

“It all started when I got the alert…”

###

The E.H.O.D. agent walked through the facility feeling exhausted. How had everything gone so wrong? He really hoped he wasn’t blamed for any of this. He was just doing what he was ordered to do, after all.

He opened the door to his office to see someone sitting in his chair. Morphic Man sat there with his feet on the desk as he ate a b.l.t. sandwich. The agent gaped at him.

“This sandwich is great,” said Morphic Man. “Did your mother make you this sandwich? Because this sandwich tastes like something someone’s mother made for them. With love, you know?”

“Why are you eating my lunch?” the agent asked, incredulously.

“Because I wanted to,” said Morphic man, who paused, suddenly looking at the agent intensely. “You got a problem with that?”

The agent felt a cold shiver run down his spine, “No. Help yourself.”

“Awesome,” said Morphic man, standing up. “Oh, by the way, I’ll be hanging out here in Partition City for a while.”

“Why?” asked the agent. “You’re not…replacing me…are you? I did exactly what I was told.”

“That you did,” said Morphic Man, standing up. “We just got outmaneuvered, that’s all. I’m not here to replace you. I’m here to keep an eye on our new superhero.”

“SteelStar? Why is HQ so interested in this kid?”

“Silly agent,” said Morphic Man, grinning. “It’s not about the kid, but about what he represents. He’s against the power user draft, and for better or worse, he’s become a battleground for that conversation. If the E.H.O.D. is going to get all these super powered people under control, then we need the draft, which means we need to make an example of people like him. The more people hate him, the less they’ll listen to him and people like him. It’s as simple as that.”

“What about Centurion?” said the agent.

“Yeah, he pulled a fast one,” said Morphic Man. “But his power was instrumental in taking out a dragon. He just proved how valuable he is, so we can’t afford to get rid of him while he’s on our payroll.” Morphic Man pulled out a phone and started scrolling. “He did throw a wrench in the works, didn’t he?”

Suddenly, Morphic Man noticed something.

“Well, well, well,” he said, grinning. “SteelStar started streaming a few minutes ago, telling his side of the story on what happened the day Spectramancer died. Patrick Powell’s already reacting, I see. That should stir up some outrage. Still, we better stop that live stream. Can’t have people sympathizing with a hero killer, now can we? I’ve got the numbers for the CEOs of Noteline and VidVoyage right here. Call them up.”

“What should I say?” asked the agent.

Morphic Man grinned.

###

“I saw Spectramancer using his blasts to propel himself through the forest,” said SteelStar. “This red vortex surrounding him. That vortex kept getting bigger and bigger, and by the time he was close to the city it…”

Suddenly the stream cut out.

“No, no, no!” he cried. “Come on!”

He fiddled with his phone for a moment, trying to get the stream up, but nothing happened. Then he noticed a notification and tapped it. On that notification, he saw this message:

“Your account has been suspended for breaching our policy on the slander of public figures. You will not be able to post videos or live stream, and…”

He couldn’t bring himself to read the rest, but started trembling. He quickly checked his noteline, which he’d used to inform people of the live stream, and saw a similar notification. His arms fell to his side as he shook with frustration and anger.

They wouldn’t even let him explain himself.

Epilogue

The military met with a group of dragons, all in their half human, half dragon forms, in an empty field. Most wore loose fitting clothing, but one of them wore golden armor, with an open face helmet that let his horns through the top. Draego was brought out of the armored van, still wrapped in chains. Scarlet Ghost stayed with Deathstare, who would be taken back to New Tartarus. Draego would be imprisoned on the Dragon Isles.

“I always wondered,” said Scarlet Ghost. “Why is he called Draego? Isn’t that like calling a human humano?”

“His mother named him,” said Deathstare. “She didn’t know anything about dragons when she met Draego’s father. I don’t think she knew the man was a dragon until she was pregnant. I doubt the awkwardness of such a name ever occurred to her.”

“I wear my name with pride, hero!” Draego shouted back.

“Huh,” said Scarlet. “I didn’t know he had such good hearing.”

Dreago was put in front of the dragon’s leader.

“Scorchwing,” said the ranking military officer. “Here’s Draego, as promised.”

“Thank you,” said Scorchwing, the armored dragon’s voice deep and guttural. “I would have dealt with him myself, but I was fighting a kraken near Singapore. Exhausting work, that.”

Draego glared at him, and Scorchwing looked back at him sternly.

“You’ve caused a lot of trouble,” said Scorchwing. “We’re going to have a little talk about where you learned the full dragon transformation.”

Draego didn’t answer.

Schorchwing sighed, “If you haven’t been told already, your friend Cipher was caught. They say he swallowed a poison pill rather than be captured alive.”

Draego was surprised at first, but then his eyes grew dark, “No. He would never have done that. He feared death too much. They killed him. Mark my words.”

Draego, his eyes filled with rage, looked up at the sky and screamed. After a moment, his scream turned to a dragon’s roar, the runes on his chains flaring up as he roared in anger.

End of Episode Two