“We’re closing on the office. Let's start there, then sweep to the mechanic bay. The agriculture wing might also be a candidate, but I'm not as sure on that one.” Nick presses forward at a brisk pace, and stops briefly to point at a camera. “Not active. Strange. Maybe they only keep them on during the day?”

“Or maybe, they turn them off at night to run their shady activities,” Drenar suggests. “The school admin has to be in on this, or they're laughably incompetent. The number of skulls I need to slam together is getting pretty long.”

“Really gonna break your pacifist playthrough there, Drenar?” Julia grouses just before the intersection at the main office.

"I said slam skulls together, not make meat piñatas. Sheesh. That's what our adversaries do. Oh, and I prefer a healthy helping of justice, too."

"It's still admirable that you think we can beat the fight out of these guys, and not kill a soul."

"I'm not quite at that level of proportionate response yet Julia, and I hope it never comes to that to defend myself, or others." Drenar keeps peering around the hallways like he's expecting an ambush. "Besides, you're a living stun rod, and can give me the ability to knock 'em out of the fight non-lethally. You can buff me."

"Drenar getting buffed. There's an image that I'm relishing in my head," Angela practically purrs, and he looks wonderfully frozen in awkwardness for a second.

"You know what I meant. I can channel Julia's plasma energy, which means you can, too. Kelly teaching me that trick was mighty helpful. Funny enough, I don't think I can actually generate it on my own. I haven't tried," he admits after a second, and shrugs before glancing down at his hand. "Maybe I just have to get angry."

"If you ever get pissed off to that level, our adversary's bodies aren't going to be hitting the floor in whole-number units," Julia grouses. She peers past the glass of the admin area and gives a dip of her snout. “It's clear. Rogue me.”

“Um…that was a tad suggestive,” Angela sighs.

“The lock, Angie.” Julia tries not to laugh, and Nick watches the hallway while she gets the basic tumbler lock open.

Amateur hour. They really gave no thought to security? What an invitation to disaster, I should leave a note of all their security vulnerabilities. Once we've had all these sleeper creeps arrested for a long list of making kids into flying avian-lizard hybrids, and sanctioning violence against those who don't sign up on the Talons’ dotted line.

“Got it. Check the office. But like, try not to break anything?” Nick suggests. Julia tears open a cabinet with wrenching strength, and she peers at him, face scrunched in a low-burn fury.

“We don't have time to be subtle. They're probably already on the way, and we need to be gone. Ah, shit sticks, it hurts,” she groans while holding her ribs. There are gold scales now growing on her arms and up past her neck, and little sparkles of silver scales are mixed in. It's very alluring–

Um, Samarina, why did I just think Julia was kinda hot for a second? Actually, you know what, don't answer that one.

Care for her...sister? Or friend?

Maybe both. This crisis is clearly playing havoc with my perception and thoughts on the world. I need a healthy dose of normal after this, to figure out what I really feel.

She bold. Caring. Good friend.

Angela notices something she hasn’t noticed before, when she says that. Samarina’s vocabulary has improved significantly. Not full sentences, and not following any logical progression, but smaller phrases. Words that cut straight to the point. Nick, too. Lonely. Brave.

And Drenar? She steals a glance at him watching down the hall, his hand drifting to his sword out of instinct. She can feel that long pause when Samarina renders the words.

Sad eyes. Soul hurt. Long healing. Guardian of good.

She's glad she's not the only one to see it. I don’t know if he can be healed back to what he was. I don't know if I can. It took me this long to get Julia and Drenar back to this, and there’s so much of his spark missing. I don't know if he will ever be the same.

Someone heal. Share hurt. Heal as one. It's the most cryptic thing Samarina has said. It's almost as if she knows something deeply hidden, but either doesn't have the words yet to describe it…or she simply can't reveal it now.

Samarina, I don't know what that means yet…but thank you.

Focus. Stop fiends. Help others.

That part is all too crystal clear. Julia has patches of scales on her cheek now, and she's ripping through the filing cabinet locks with a furious look. “Gonna kill these creeps for making us into a lab experiment. This was so irresponsible, what if this had hurt someone, or worse?” she fumes aloud.

“Julia, we are here now. We can stop future experimentation, but we can't change the past,” Drenar states firmly, even as he pops open a lock without any effort. “Besides, I think you like being a draconic superhero or something.”

“Oh hell yes, I’ll keep the plasma kinesis, beastly strength, and scaled beauty parts, thank you very much,” she beams.

“Let’s keep digging,” Angela suggests with a smile before popping open another lock. Nothing but useless paperwork. Julia perks up and circles around, looking at a wall with intensity.

“Hey uh, Nick, does SAF carry hazard insurance?” she asks as she pulls her boots off to reveal her emerging draconic limbs now forming. She steps carefully to test her new stance. Having seen Drenar go through this, she quickly adapts, and rests on her new clawed feet steadily.

“Yes, we are covered for uh…property damage and liability, as a function of our activities. Why?”

Julia tenses, eyes focused like she’s in a sparring match, and her stance becomes coiled. “Because there's a safe buried in the wall with mana radiating at the seams, and I can see the outline. I'm not going to dig around for where the safety catch is.” She recoils in one fluid motion and kicks an open section of the wall, and the concrete cracks. Nick groans before she kicks it again, making a bigger hole, and she tears out a couple of loose bricks with her fully-formed claws. She snaps her fingers to summon a spark of light, and points inside.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Um, Julia, hazard insurance covers when bad stuff happens, like bad guys shooting at us. Not kicking in a concrete wall, for the record.” Nick presses his fingers against the bridge of his nose, as if he knows this is going to add to the paperwork pile. Luckily, Julia doesn’t come up empty-handed.

She turns her head, and she's got the biggest child-like grin from half-formed dragon teeth. She grabs a dusty lockbox from the hidden enclosure and presents it like she just found a treasure chest in The Legend of Zelda. “Ta-daa! Who’s the bestest girl here?!”

“Oh stop showing off, we're on a clock!” Nick huffs in mild protest, but doesn't hesitate to get the casing open. Angela sees motion in the corner of her eye, but when she focuses on the hallway, it's gone. Julia also sees it and frowns.

“Did you see something just now?” she asks.

“I saw motion,” she whispers. “It's gone now. Was it some kind of drone?”

“Or, we’re on an overdose of adrenaline for the day,” Julia suggests. Nick opens the casing with Drenar prying it open with his dagger, and looks inside, stunned, and distinctly not happy about the contents.

“Well, crap. The school admin knows the story of what's going on. There are listings to what I'm guessing is a very flush offshore bank account for their silence.”

“So let's steal it, as compensation for ruining our lives,” Drenar suggests deadpan. It's a little uncharacteristic of him, but he's got a wolfish grin on his face a second later. Or dragonish? The similes are just not working anymore. “Nick, what else do they have?”

“Names. Four men were assigned to the bunker. And the ‘renovations’ were supposed to continue for as long as needed until their ‘experiment’ was completed. With a per diem payment for covering the subterfuge too, nice clause. This is actually…quite binding Arcanist contractual law, that is enforceable. Anyone who signs this and breaks it voluntarily, could suffer a financial or health collapse.”

“A literal contract with the devil?” Julia narrows her eyes. “This descent into madness just doesn't let up. What else?”

“Dossiers of all known kids with draconic blood. My records are cleansed, so, that's fine, but…ah crap, all of your guys are on here. I wish someone hadn't offed Jimmy,” he mutters.

“Offed?”

“Yeah, dead. Five minutes after he signed a contract for cooperation with law enforcement, he got a shiv in his throat. By the time they noticed, he was gone. Don't ever sign contracts in the magic world, that's for sure,” Nick warns. Everyone exchanges anxious looks, including herself.

Hide behind words.

You got that one right, she thinks worriedly.

“Nick, bag the evidence. Anything special about us?” Drenar always sticks to the serious business, at least.

“Yeah let me…oh.” It's a telling ‘oh’ that fills Angela with dread. “Oh, this is bad. Your file also includes a psychological file. And genetics work beyond the…baseline? What in the hell is this?”

“Is this…bad? Or worse than bad?” Drenar asks hesitantly. “What's it say about me?”

“From a five-second glance? You have a rare strand of draconic DNA that they want more data on. Same with Angela.” Both of them stare at one another.

“Nick, you better tell me that we're not related. Because that statement just made me super anxious.”

“You're not related. Awkward reveal averted,” Nick says with annoyance. Angela breathes out a sigh of relief. “But, your draconic genetic makeup does probably stem from a small group of clans somewhere way up the line. They didn't have complete data. Cripes, getting this data at this level of fidelity couldn't have been cheap.”

“That's…still not great, Nick,” Angela says uneasily.

“Let's bag the evidence and head to the mechanics bay, either way. I’m raiding that lab to send a message,” Drenar growls. “Nick, Valosterla and King are going to torch and burn the lab, we have to get in there now. Hopefully, we figure out what they’re trying to study with forcing these Awakenings, and how they're doing it. I’m not going to let these guys keep screwing with everyone's lives like we’re a lab experiment. Them, or Crosomer."

“Or we repurpose it and use it against him! Dragon science!” Julia chimes in, even as she grits her teeth. Wings emerge from her back in a plumage of gold and seafoam-colored feathers that are absolutely gorgeous to her artist's eye. “Owie. Miiight be a little preoccupied for a bit,” she winces as she pinches her index and thumb claw together. Miraculously, her armor vest conforms around the wings. Magical garments are quite handy. “Hey uh Nick, thanks in advance for the form-fitting wear, really was not looking forward to a naked jaunt through my school.”

“Um, you might wanna hold up for a second Julia, this could take a bit–”

“Nick, we have trouble. Two large vehicles just pulled up at high speed to the school. They’re unloading by the far side from where you guys are. Jonaleth Winters, some of his cronies, and two Talons soldiers in black body armor. The soldiers are armed to the teeth and at the front door. They’ve got a ton of gasoline tanks they’re unloading now. Drone feed is going to be useless in a few minutes.” Levine instantly alerts everyone into high gear.

“Ah great, the party’s about to get hot,” Drenar groans. “Literally, in this case.”

Angela sees the motion again, and she hears a whir of a small electric motor. Julia snaps a scintillating spark into her hand. “Hey! Show yourself! We're teenage dragons with attitude, and we're mighty dangerous!” She says in a bit of a roar. It's mildly intimidating, even though she's been used to Julia’s ferocity for almost her whole life.

A small device with four limbs seemingly shimmers into vision, and Nick levels his bolt pistol at it. Drenar kneels and observes the small device waving a mechanical three-fingered 'hand' at him, with a small electric chirp. “Nick, this looks like a construct with a mechanic's dream lab of spare parts! What is this thing?”

“Doesn't look like Talons, that's a custom-engineered golem. Might be operating on remote,” Nick muses, but doesn't lower the weapon.

“Hey, it didn't start shooting at us, so maybe it's not hostile?” Angela asks as she gently tugs at Julia's arm. A spark of energy still stings her hand, but Julia nods with her increasingly draconic head, along with a short set of silver horns that sweep backward. It's very pretty, and she will need sketches later. “Hello! We'd very much like to not have more hostile people chasing us today!”

What catches everyone off guard is when the golem thingy starts talking in a slightly spicy feminine tone. “Um, I think we can manage that. Hey Nick, it looks like you've got some new friends! By the way, you still owe me a home-cooked meal, and I'm calling it due!”

Nick almost drops his bolt pistol and Angela sees him recoil in surprise for the first time since she's known him.

“Josephine?!”

“It's Joey, my favorite feathered iguana with wings! I think the names’ been earned.”

This is too much for Angela, and she glares at him with all her draconic fury. “How many women want to jump your bones, exactly?!”

“Really now, it’s not that kind of relationship.”