“Oh, absolutely not!”
Kiera is pacing in her temporary office at Nick's house, and fuming at this new request, while DeShandrea stands there, looking far too relaxed. The nerve of this young drake, really now!
“You asked me to train them. We have. Now, Levine and I agree that downtime is essential for continued growth. You've had them working on their high school work–which is trivial because they are all good students–and you have had me work them to the bone, night and day. They need downtime after a month and a half of this.”
“Valkyries don't take breaks,” she argues. “Did Julia come up with this? I'm not playing favoritism here.”
“Kiera, it's their birthday coming up. It's a coming-of-age moment for most mages. And dragons,” he adds in a shrewd bit of draconic culture. She tenses her fingers on her desk and misses her one in Valhalla. Working out of here has been out of an abundance of caution, even if it's somewhat inconvenient. And now, this bold agent thinks he can convince her by using–
She throws up her hands in frustration. “You know I can't deny her an 18th birthday party. And Drenar,” she adds as an aside. “Alright. You have one day, Nick. Then it's back to training.”
“Are my munitions requests being prepared? Because I made some pretty specific requisitions,” he adds with a smirk. She taps at the list, and it's odd.
“You want another M82A3, factory stock? Why?”
“And the conversion kit. Plus adamantine round stock. Kyle has some…ideas…about some upgrades.” She has a dreaded idea of what he's going to do.
“You're building her a rifle. A very dangerous rifle. These runes are difficult to get, not to mention the raw materials. Is this a worthy investment?” She asks with a raised eyebrow.
“We need a counter to dragons when it is not favorable to have excessive munitions or golem constructs. It needs to be small enough to be portable for lengthy field excursions, and powerful enough for effective armor scale and barrier penetration. Shape charge munitions present weight and encumbrance issues. Barriers are also effective against this sort of attack, to an extent, and will bleed off the impact.” She hates how rehearsed this is. He knows his stuff, and has excellent rationale.
And giving Julia a deadly weapon is stressing her limits of tolerance. “This is a very dangerous weapon you are cobbling together.”
“It is. And we need to be ready. Drenar is basing the team on a mobile response. Fast and quiet, but able to hit hard with limited encumbrance. Hit-and-run tactics against a slower, more entrenched foe. He expects an asymmetrical battle in most encounters.”
“And he's been taking lessons from Levine. Smart.” She taps the logs and approves the request. “Now, I plan on being at my daughter's day off, so please, do tell them to be…responsible adults?”
“They're teenage dragons, Kiera. With respect, all bets are off.”
She can't hide a smirk that crosses her face, for a brief moment. “Careful, now. I am quite aware of someone else who is of age very recently.” It's a delight to watch him cough awkwardly–very little breaks his composure.
“Yes, James and his twin did recently celebrate a birthday.”
“Oh just say it, Nick, Angela has a thing for you. Though I do question the age gap.”
“It’s…somewhat challenging. But for dragons, less notable. Now, shall we try to have a little relaxation, before the entire Talons army comes back out of hiding?”
“One day.”
Nick lets out a contented sound once they're past the teleportal gateway, and a warm tropical breeze comes up to greet him, with a fragrance of salt spray, tropical tangs of various plant life, and a blazing sun above him that accents that brilliant turquoise water. Everyone else is behind him, even Levine has tagged along. But he has a dad bod, and sticks to wearing swim shorts and a water shirt, and a floppy hat accents his head, and a pair of sunglasses hide his gruff expression. Everyone else is ecstatic, including Angela, who takes in the wonder of this wonderful retreat from the world.
“Cheer up Levine, it's just a day in the sun,” he assures him with a gentle nudge of an elbow. He makes a grunt deep from his throat and adjusts the bag on his back. “You'll be fine.”
“This is not how an intelligence officer spends his day off,” he grouses. “I’ll take it with a grain of salt that Val has gone to ground. The Talons haven’t been up to anything after their disaster of a smash and grab.”
“Hey, this isn’t a work day,” Nick cautions him. “Everyone needs a day off.” Levine grunts, and adjusts his sunglasses–this old wolf could be encouraged to have a good time, if persuaded.
“A teleportal by the beach. This is the best day off ever,” Drenar says with a grin, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and bathing trunks already. After a few weeks of solid training, he looks like he's back in peak athletic form again. “Hey, what are the rules for going in dragon form out here?”
“No flying past two hundred meters, and no cannonballing into the ocean. For your own safety, and for the sake of not making a mini tsunami,” Nick relays. “Why, exactly?”
“Ehmm…he made a promise to a certain someone.” Joey is edging beside him, wearing a modest blue swimsuit with a breeze shirt covering it, and her bright red hair is tied back tightly while wearing a pair of decidedly unstylish sunglasses. “Really, Drenar, first chance you get to go to the tropics, and you want to stretch your wings?”
“Yep! Gotta keep in shape! Plus, they also help with swimming.” He’s sure sounding confident, more than usual of late during downtime. “Besides Joey, this is our chance to actually hang out!”
“We do that all the time. Usually, in the lab.” A coy smile crosses her face while she peers at him with a devious expression. “Alright then, mister hot shot! Promise not to dump me in the ocean, I'll consider it!”
“Done!” He practically skips to the ocean with Joey in tow. “So seriously, it’s considered a…courtship thing when a dragon offers a lady a flight?” She laughs in response, and pokes him in the nose gently.
“Oh, you hopelessly naive kid. I must scold your elders for not teaching you proper dragon etiquette. I can teach you a thing or two! I don’t know just dragon biology, I know the culture, too!” Nick can’t help but smile at these two as Drenar takes his dragon form and Joey hops on without a second thought. She lets out a sound of delight as he takes off in a plume of sand from the beach, and tests his wings.
Those two bonded fast. Nick is far more surprised that Joey had taken a massive plunge to reveal her kitsune form to him, Angela, Julia, and the rest of them. He’d known for a long time of her true form, but he knew that if anyone was going to make that reveal, it had to come from her. He peers at the rest of the beachgoers, not even bothered by the few dragons taking flight, skimming the waves, and he can hear Joey cheering him to go faster, even at this distance.
Well, it’s one less thing to worry about.
Julia is grinning from ear to ear in her two-piece tank top and swim gear, all lean muscles and a sun hat covering her. She's as pale as anyone here besides her mother and has a generous portion of sunscreen on. “Yes, I am an adult now! Time to make dumb decisions and never regret them! Best birthday ever!” Angela laughs at this and is wearing a one-piece swimsuit, with a loose shirt covering her top. Even dressing modestly…she can turn heads, he catches himself thinking. Better to not let that cloud his thoughts. She still spots his gaze lingering on her for a split second too long
“Hey mister, aren't you the chaperone on this one?” She says with a playful smile.
“Hah. You're all adults now, remember? I'm here in an…advisory role. Also, some young woman wanted me to tag along. Brown hair, freckled skin, angular features that suggest old nobility…wouldn't happen to know anyone like that, would you?” He throws a sharpened smile right back.
“Get a room, you two!” James yells from behind them. He and the rest of the crew are here, including Kelly, Jackie, and Evan. Kyle takes up the rear, with his golems getting their gear loaded. Kiera is busy trying to look incognito, which is quite impossible because she's a pale-skinned titan of a woman. Her Nordic heritage is not helping her blend in, and she tilts her head at the young adults shuffling to the beach and the boardwalk set up for mages.
“Remember, no booze! You're all underage, don't even try it!” she shouts out.
“We're not,” Levine says with a light smile. “I think it's time to see if the winged iguana can settle a small bet.”
“Hah! You realize the alcohol tolerance of a dragon, right?” He laughs at this attempt to gin up a contest. “Nah, besides, I have some plans for some team activities.” He pulls a volleyball out of his bag, and Angela peers at it with interest.
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“Hey, you said it's a day off!” Her protest is lighthearted–she’s looking forward to it.
“If you're having fun with it, does it count?” He poses with a light toss of the ball. She catches it mid-air with a snap of her wrist and a telekinetic grapple, and tosses it up in the air with a smirk.
“Sure. But it's on my terms. You're on my team.” He tilts his head in skepticism.
“Stacked teams. You and I need to be on opposite teams to keep it fair. Well now, shall we get this underway for our birthday duet?”
“Alright then. Julia, go smack Drenar’s tail to get his attention, we’ve got sports to play!” She proceeds to do just that, and a gold-scaled tsundere dragon gives chase to Drenar. Joey pouts at the flight cut short, but Julia also promises it’s an opportunity to settle a bet. Nick has no idea what that means.
A short while later, the teams had been formed and Nick stood with Drenar, Evan, Julia, and Joey against James, Kelly, Jackie, Angela, and Kyle–all in human form because spiking a ball as a three-meter tall dragon might stack the odds just a little bit. It proves to be a tense match because he swears Angela has developed uncanny dexterity in the past few weeks, beyond her normal grace.
It’s not just her athletics, though. Ever since the day in the power core, her other powers have magnified. Her telekinetics are through the roof, and she was able to keep pace even with him on their outdoor field treks. And he is not pulling punches on the training floor. She’s excelling at everything thrown at her.
“Match point!” She declares as she serves the ball. There’s a scrabble of golden sand as the teams keep the ball in the air. Drenar lands an amazing save, and Julia is an utter beast with spiking that ball. But Angela is there to keep the ball in the air, along with Kelly and Jackie making admirable plays. Eventually, Nick dives for the ball and just comes up short, and there are cheers from the other side of the net. Angela joins the group hug with the others, cheering triumphantly. But only for a second, and she steps over to give thanks to the others after hugging him. It had been a tense match the entire time, and as far as he was concerned, they all won. They’re all covering each other's backs, if this exercise is any indication.
“So, there is a side of Nick Deshandrea that isn’t all dry humor and stoic to a fault,” she says with a beaming smile. “Or, you’ve got a twin and just gave Nick the day off. To do monster hunting or something.”
“Hah. I don’t think the world could handle two of me,” he retorts and points to the team. “Alright ladies and gents, post carnage report! Drenar, tighten up on the defense, you guys missed a few easy saves! Don’t let good positioning go to waste! Julia, spend less time orbital impacting the ball at people, and aim at off-position individuals! Jackie, I saw you gravitation lens the ball, don’t think I didn’t see that!” he adds with a grin. She kicks the sand and sulks for a bit. “Good tactic for real danger though. That can turn a shot from a deathly experience into a near-miss.”
“Always a positive side for you, Double-O dragon,” she grumbles. “Man, how did I end up with you misfits?”
“Easy. Your psycho ex-boyfriend duped you, and put you into the middle of a giant war. We’re here to knock heads together, and put a stop to that.”
“Hey, that's my line!” Drenar protests, and Joey more than subtly nudges him. “Alright, alright. But it sounds cooler when I say it!”
“Sheesh. Absent life-and-death encounters, you’re almost alright,” Joey teases. “So, what’s next?”
“I got this one! First to the buoy way out there and back, gets treated to dinner! And maybe something extra from me!” Julia beams with a lecherous grin before pointing further out into the lagoon. “And no cheating with dragon form! Gotta keep it fair!”
“It’s still not fair, I am still limp spaghetti muscle mass,” James complains. He’s busy snapping ice into existence with mana control, and placing it into his water bottle. It’s not entirely true–James has been whipped into shape a little bit, and his magical control is surprisingly composed.
“Keep working, Shalinde Junior! We need to be lean, mean dragon machines! And you’ve gotta work twice as hard!” she says firmly, hands on her hips and dipping towards him lightly. “I’ll make it worth iiiit,” she sings. He sets his bottle down and stretches his limbs.
“Alright, you know what, challenge accepted.”
“I’ll bet I can beat you out there,” Angela says confidently and gently wraps an arm around Nick’s shoulder while pointing. “And be back to shore before you’ve even gotten to the buoy.”
“You’re on.” He doesn’t even think before accepting, and everyone else shares their enthusiasm.
The splash of the warm water in that impossible azure shade is like swimming in a bath, but utterly pleasant. It's far from his first time having to swim competitively, especially against some of his peers from his SAF deployments. Julia and Drenar also take part along with everyone else, though after a while, it’s clear who is in the lead. And it’s not him.
It’s Angela, powering through the water like she’s been doing this all her life. Drenar and Julia are close behind–even Joey is keeping up, unwilling to let Drenar beat her. Angela is setting the pace, with smooth, controlled strokes through the water that barely disrupt the surface. Nothing is lost to inefficiency–she is powering through this and even he’s straining his muscles a bit this time around.
“Julia, I’m built for sprints, not endurance!” James gasps somewhere a little bit behind them. “How the hell are you all so strong?!”
“Not because we’re half-dragon, that’s for sure! Then again, have you ever seen a lazy dragon?!”
“Once, in a movie! And it’s kinda the trajectory our lives are taking!” Nick would point out that he could be spending time swimming rather than bantering, but it doesn’t slow down Julia, a length or two behind him. They’re swimming around the buoy and Angela dives in, flutter-kicking and practically gliding through the water. She is graceful in an almost ethereal way.
And he’s not about to be beaten by someone younger than him, no way. He thrusts forward with powerful strokes, keeping to a controlled rhythm and catching the scent of salt spray when he inhales. A beautiful coral reef in a palette of colors is below him, distorted by the splash of the water and the puffy white clouds reflected from above, but he’s not here to take in the sights.
He’s here to win. He catches up, neck and neck with her, and she makes it almost look easy. Is she holding back? He swears she’s holding back. That’s when he notices something that catches his eye. There’s a slight glow from her that he thought was a trick of the light, and when he dives in, he realizes it’s not. There’s a slight glow coming from her chest, and she’s still a blur of limbs, gliding through the water as easily as she can the sky when she’s in her Maridian form.
He takes a second too long to appreciate the moment because they’re at the beach now, and she swims to the surface before standing proudly, putting her arms up in exultation. “Nick, why so slow my fellow dragon? I think that you might just be lagging!” she says in a small bout of verse, and wrings the water out of her hair.
He blinks. That glow is gone. Had he imagined it? She tilts her head out of curiosity. “Uh, Nick you’re staring. Finally see something you like?”
“I–um…well yes, minus that ‘finally’ part.” He focuses back on her small smile, hands on her hips as she takes a few deep breaths. Maybe it’s better if he asks her about it, later? “You didn’t lap me, though.”
“You did pretty good, for an old guy,” she ribs playfully while gracing her arms around his back. He smiles faintly at that. He’s not out of shape, she’s just that good. “I don’t know how we crossed paths sometimes, Nick, but…I’m glad we did.”
The others are just behind them, and Joey is busy riding on Drenar’s back, and he’s being a good sport about it even as she pretends he’s in his dragon form. Julia is also making sure James hasn’t collapsed from exhaustion and is busy whispering something in his ear that immediately causes him to blush. Nick regards his fellow teammates and commends them for their excellent pace.
“Alright guys, don’t wear yourselves out too much! We’ve got dinner coming up in a couple of hours! I fully expect you guys to work on your aerial maneuvering, Joey, spot for them, and make sure Drenar doesn’t fly circles around the rest of them!”
“Done! C’mon, I need to see if you can fly faster than you can swim!” she jests, and he growls playfully. Nick heads up to the beach while Angela lingers with the others. He’ll regroup with them later, and he spots Levine sitting with Kiera, sipping some drink.
With what they’ve got ahead of them, they need all the downtime they can get.
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