The Cosmic Dragon: Chapter 13

Alice had her memories back. After Isaac had shot Donnovan and ran into the room housing Shadowscale, Donnovan had gotten back up and touched her forehead. She had felt all of her memories returning; how she always hated her family and how she had burnt down her house in an effort to kill them. She also remembered how she worked for Donnovan Gaver in his evil schemes.

Recently, she now remembered, Donnovan had hand-picked her to be the first super-soldier in his army he was planning to build. Though the process would give her super strength, super reflexes, and a heightened focus, it would also temporarily remove her memories, he had told her.

She was glad he had stopped her from getting fake memories from Shadowscale. What had she been thinking? For some reason Shadowscale seemed more trustworthy. Though I suppose Donnovan did warn me that the dragon was extremely tricky and good at manipulation, considered Alice.

She stood in the room behind her boss ready to assist him in defeating both the large black dragon in front of them and the rebel, Isaac. Shadowscale loomed up high and his blue slitted eyes glinted.

“Donnovan,” he growled angrily. “I remember what happened in that room now that these cursed tubes are no longer stuck in me. I also feel my mind connecting with energy again like it’s supposed to.”

“Hm,” was Alice’s boss’ reply. “Well, if you remember, I beat you in this room before. I can beat you again.”

“You are the same species as me. How did you get here on this planet? In this galaxy even?” asked Shadowscale.

Donnovan laughed. “Never you mind, little wyrmling. Anyway, after I kill you, I shall conquer this planet with an army of super soldiers, using my DNA like I did with this girl here.” He pointed at Alice. “Who’s going to stop me? You?”

“I have to. I will not let you terrorize humanity. They are almost as intelligent as us,” replied Shadowscale.

“Don’t be a fool, Shadowscale. Their intelligence is much lower than us. Look around you; look at how terribly they are managing this planet. They are destroying themselves. I will enslave them and force them to realize how completely weak and pathetic they are as I restore this planet to equilibrium.”

“This planet can be fixed, but cruelty and force is not the answer,” protested Shadowscale.

“Don’t be foolish. Anyway, I will crush you now.” Donnovan leapt at Shadowscale with his hands and eyes blazing with energy and light, but Shadowscale disappeared in a flash of lightning along with Isaac before Donnovan could hit him.

“Where did they go?” asked Alice.

Donnovan closed his eyes. Then he opened them. “Not very far. Come, Alice.” He grabbed her wrist and they disappeared in a flash of lightning.

***

“Ow…” moaned Isaac, his hair sticking straight out from static electricity. Not that it was that noticeable at night.

“I apologize for the painful trip, Johnson. However, the alternative of leaving you there would’ve been worse, I assure you.”

“I know, I know…” the boy looked up at Shadowscale, and the dragon saw that Isaac didn’t quite trust him yet.

“We must leave. Your boss is another Cosmic dragon, so he can also teleport. The girl, I’m afraid, he has brainwashed.”

“I know,” squeaked Isaac. He looked quite terrified.

“You do?” asked Shadowscale.

“Yes. Donnovan had the same color glowing blue eyes as you which most likely wasn’t a coincidence, and Alice was standing behind him and her body language said that she was on his side.”

“You seem fairly observant,” noticed Shadowscale.

“I’m an investigator. What did you expect?” answered Isaac.

“Correction: you were an investigator. I’m pretty sure that you’re going to be fired.” Shadowscale looked him up and down. We really need to get away. Fast. I can sense Donnovan, well, sensing me. Or, more specifically, my location… realized Shadowscale. “Isaac… how do you feel about riding a dragon?”

“Um, well, sure,” Isaac looked like he was either terrified or excited. Probably both, thought Shadowscale. Then he sensed a blast of electricity as Donnovan teleported towards him. He telekinetically scooped up Isaac and dumped him on his back, right above his wings, and he leapt off the skyscraper that they were sitting on, and like a shadow, flitted through the air under the stars.

The sky was briefly illuminated as a lighting bolt brought Donnovan and Alice to Shadowscale and Isaac’s former location. Shadowscale heard Donnovan speaking to him telepathically. You can run, but you can’t hide. Not anymore.

Perhaps, but I’ll find a way to defeat you. Nobody is invincible, thought Shadowscale right back at him. He flew through the air for about an hour in complete silence, until it was broken by Isaac.

“What happened to Alice?” asked the young I.S.U.E. investigator, who was lying on Shadowscale’s back.

“Two things, maybe more happened to her. First, she was genetically modified. How, I don’t know, though I suspect, from what Donnovan said, she has some of Donnovan’s genes implemented into her somehow. Secondly, her memory was wiped. Donnovan probably did that, since he is another Cosmic dragon like me and we can do stuff like that to mentally flimsy creatures such as humans,” Shadowscale replied.

“I thought you said we were “almost as intelligent as you,” noted Isaac.

“Your intelligence may be remarkably high, but your neuron stability and strength isn’t. Can you move things with your mind, Isaac? Or read people’s thoughts? And are you immune to mental diseases?” challenged Shadowscale.

“I suppose not,” Isaac admitted. “Also, is “cosmic dragon” what you are actually called?”

“No, we aren’t actually called that where we come from. Since our species don’t have a name on this planet, I just made up that name since I came through a portal from my home galaxy. As for calling myself a “dragon,” I’m sure that that’s obvious.”

Isaac looked thoughtful, as if he was putting some pieces together. However, he didn’t say anything, and he fell asleep. Shadowscale looked up at the moon and sighed. He missed his home planet. Humans were good and all, but he wanted to interact with his own kind. He supposed that there was Donnovan, but he didn’t really count. I hope Melissa can rebuild the portal when all this is over, he thought.

As Shadowscale contemplated things, he realized with a jolt that Melissa and the other scientists were still back at the I.S.U.E. base. I’m going to have to turn around, he realized. First though I’ll take Isaac to his parents.

Shadowscale flapped his wings and changed direction, flying towards Chicago.