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Gev, Rax, and Xath try to find out what happened to Kai and Amon, but are stopped by a large protest on their way. Their changing nature leads them to take drastic action...



The sound became clearer as Gev walked down the street with Xath and Rax. The distant roar of angry voices was sharply contrasted by the empty streets that surrounded them.

The three Dragons were in the heart of downtown, flanked by dizzyingly tall skyscrapers on all sides. Parked cars lined the sides of the road. Most of them looked expensive to Gev’s eyes, but their owners were nowhere to be seen. This was one of the wealthiest parts of the city, with luxury boutiques and high end cafes lining the ground floor of every building. Gev hadn’t seen a single Human for at least the last two blocks.

The sound of angry sound voices in the distance steadily grew clearer as the Dragons made their way down the street. It was clear at this point that the cacophony was coming from some kind of protest or demonstration.

Decades ago, people regularly made their voices heard by blocking traffic, making noise, defacing monuments, or even rioting and looting. Such actions were seen as the only way to make positive change in the face of oppression.

Today, protests and demonstrations were practically unheard of. Corporate power had escalated to the point that nobody wanted to risk themselves at a protest unless it was absolutely necessary. Private security forces typically broke up demonstrations quickly, arresting protestors for days or even weeks at a time without trial. Serious injuries, and even deaths weren't unheard of.

People had rights, in theory. In practice, the power of corporate security and legal forces vastly outweighed that of the government. The law was whatever the owner of a particular property wanted it to be.

In this case, that property turned out to be a Humanitech Genetic Modification Clinic. The same one Kai and Amon were supposed to be at.

The sound of angry voices only got louder as the three of them got closer. They turned the last corner and found the source of the noise. A huge crowd of protestors had gathered in front of the clinic. Most of the streets that surrounded them were closed in on all sides by towering skyscrapers, but the Humanitech clinic had a large open plaza in front of it that was as large as the footprint of an entire building on it's own. The crowd of Humans filled it and spilled out into the streets beyond.

Gev stopped as soon as he laid eyes on the crowd, his companions halting beside him.

"What do you think that's about?" Gev asked.

"I'll give you one guess…" Rax growled. He nodded toward the edge of the crowd half a block from where they stood at the corner. Some of the protestors at the edge of the swarm had noticed them, and a few pointed in their direction, shouting insults and moving in their direction. None of the protestors carried signs and they weren't chanting anything, only yelling their rage at the massive structure in an ongoing incoherent roar.

Gev quickly checked is phone. "Still nothing from Kai… You guys think he's safe?..."

"In the middle of that?" Rax replied. "Hell no."

"Kai is a strangely capable man, there's more to him we don't know I think…” Xath said. “Even so, I wouldn't want to be caught alone in the middle of that. Amon is still in there somewhere too. We can't leave him. Either of them." The determination in Xathlor’s tone grew stronger as he spoke that last.

"Can we even get through though?" Gev asked worriedly.

"We're gonna have to." Rax replied, determined. "It looks like they're not going to leave us any other option but to fight." He finished with a growl.

Gev looked back at the crowd. Moments ago, it had filled the entire road leading up to the clinic half a block from where they stood. Now, a crowd of angry Humans was striding quickly in their direction. Some of them were yelling in their direction.

"You fucking freaks won't get away with this!"

"You better start running!"

"No more of you modified trash!"

Rax met Xath and Gev's eyes in turn. "We can’t leave another Dragon behind."

Gev had expected him to lose control again, to unleash his hatred and rage at Humans which would inevitably lead to disaster. To his surprise, Rax seemed to channel those feelings. Directing them toward the goal of protecting Kai and Amon.

"We get through this with shock and awe. Scare the shit out of them and push through. Got it?" Rax wasn’t just determined, he was… Commanding. Despite being the smallest of the three with his modifications still taking effect, he exuded a strange sense of control over the situation in that moment.

Gev nodded. It was… Well it was a bad plan. But it was all they had, and Rax’s attitude gave him a sense of confidence. They could probably outrun these Humans, being larger and stronger than they were. But that would mean abandoning Dragons in the middle of that. Running wasn’t an option, they had to fight.

Rax began striding forward towards the crowd at a determined pace. Gev and Xath followed just behind, the three of them forming a wedge to drive into the crowd.

As their tiny formation met the edge of the crowd, the Humans began to pack around them, bellowing and shouting.

In that moment, Gev began to understand some of Rax's feelings towards Humans. He was a good foot taller than most of them, and probably twice their weight in sheer muscle mass. These Humans were small, weak, and fragile. Even still, they shouted, bellowed, and raged at the three Dragons, heedless of their fragility.

To his side, Rax let loose a bestial roar at the leading edge of the crowd. Rax wasn't yet as tall or as heavy as Gev and Xath, but the effect was still immediate. The enraged Humans momentarily gave way to their baser primate instincts, shying back and allowing the three Dragons to advance a short distance. There was no way that strategy would get them to the clinic, however.

The crowd continued to flow and press in all around them. It was only moments before one Human decided to take a swing at Rax. He regretted it almost immediately as his punch merely glanced off Rax's scales. Rax snarled and decked the man as hard as he could. He went down hard, knocked out cold. Some of the other Humans hastily dragged him away from the epicenter to give him aid. That left another small pocket that allowed them to advance.

Another Human threw a punch at Rax. This one connected solidly on his arm, but Rax shrugged it off and returned the punch with a slug of his own at the Human's head. He staggered back into the crowd, glaring daggers at the three of them, but still retreating.

This wasn't going to work. The crowd was getting more and more riled up. They probably only had seconds before the crowd would press in and try to tear them to pieces. Rax was bigger and stronger than the average Human, but not by much. Xath was larger still, but didn't have the bulk Gev did. If they were going to get through, Gev needed to be the tip of the spear in their tiny formation, and they'd need to move fast before they were overwhelmed.

Gev placed a hand on Rax's shoulder and gently pulled him back. Rax glared back at him for a moment, probably thinking a Human had touched him, but nodded quickly after meeting Gev's eyes. He knew as well as Gev did that he couldn’t punch through the crowd.

Gev fully understood the choice he was about to make. He was about to deliberately and violently assault multiple Humans if the three of them had any chance of getting through to Kai. It wasn't fully logical. Kai probably had the means to keep himself and Amon safe. Maybe.

Even still, something within Gev wouldn't let him take that chance. Other Dragons were in danger, and the three of them had the ability to make a difference. They would do so, even if it was at great risk to themselves.

As he stepped forward into the head of their formation, Gev took off his heavy jacket. The Humans surrounding him bellowed and yelled obscenities. They rolled off Gev's psyche like water off his scales. These beings were beneath him. Their words were meaningless.

Next, Gev removed his tank top, revealing his powerful, muscled, scaled physique. Let these humans see exactly what they were dealing with. He stood up straighter, his lips curling back in a vicious snarl, and let out a low growl. Deep within his chest, a warmth, a heat began to swell. Rage at these Humans for threatening his friends? Gev wasn't sure, and it didn't matter.

He embraced it. Let it flow through him, out from his chest, through his core and limbs and head. He took a deep breath and bellowed a ferocious, reverberating roar into the crowd. Two similar bellows from Rax and Xath echoed at his back.

The enraged shouts and obscenities from the crowd turned to cries of fear as those at the front tried to back away, only to find themselves corralled by the horde behind them.

It still bought them enough space to advance a few more steps. The Humans' fear quickly turned back to rage, however. The space before them began to compress again.

Despite the Dragons' ferocity, the fervour of the crowd only continued to grow. There was a solid wall of Humans all the way to the clinic, and behind them as well. One of them in the back threw something towards Gev's head. A glass bottle. He ducked it easily, his enhanced reflexes trivializing the threat. It sailed past him and smashed into the face of a Human behind the three of them. He staggered back into the crowd clutching his wounded face, a trickle of blood seeping between his fingers.

The injury only seemed to rile the crowd further. Gev's distain for them grew further as they raged at the self inflicted wound. More objects began to sail over the top of the crowd towards him. His height did make him significantly more intimidating to fight hand to hand, but it also made him an easier target for those throwing things from afar.

Gev ducked left and right to dodge more thrown objects. Most of them missed. A glass bottle shattered against the side of his head. The impact was discomforting, but the shattered glass simply glanced harmlessly off of his scales.

They needed to make forward progress if they were going to reach Kai and Amon. Gev took a step towards the nearest Human at the front of the crowd, glaring down at the man and snarling viciously. The Human’s anger was quickly replaced by fear as he staggered backward and tried to melt into the crowd. He was quickly replaced by more angry men, however.

One of these carried a heavy piece of metal. Gev wasn't sure where he would have found such a thing, but the sounds of glass shattering nearby indicated that the crowd had grown so enraged that they'd begun looting nearby shops. Perhaps he'd pulled it from one of those?

Gev's thoughts were interrupted as the man prepared to swing. The other ducked low and threw a jab at Gev's abdomen. Both men were strong, perhaps even modded themselves. Gev reflexively tightened his core, enhanced abdominals forming a solid wall of muscle that absorbed the punch, then snapped his hands forward and caught the bar as it was swinging towards his head.

He then wrenched the piece of metal as hard as he could, twisting it from the first man's grip, and pulling it sideways so the end of it connected with the second man's head hard. He crumpled to the ground in a heap, blood trickling from the wound. The other protestor who'd now lost his weapon looked at his compatriot on the ground, stunned. He wasn't moving.

It didn't matter. They needed to keep moving forward. Gev swung his newfound weapon at it's original owner's shoulder, his goal simply to break his will and create more space to move forward. The swing connected, and Gev felt the sensation of bones breaking under his weapon. The Human bellowed in pain at the impact, clutching his arm and staggering back. He knew he was outclassed by the Dragons before him.

Gev began striking as hard and fast as he could at the crowd before him. He used his improvised weapon to create space, force back the Humans who thought they could get close, and simply frighten those that were merely part of the crowd into retreating.

The protest was obviously not well organized and had probably formed organically. The crowd was varied, and only a few of them could physically challenge the trio of Dragons. Now that Gev was armed, most shrank back from him for fear of being injured, especially now that he was actually injuring them instead of simply being a passive object to be angry at.

Hurled objects sailed over the crowd towards the three of them. Gev continued to duck them here and there, and occasionally bat one out of the air with his bar. He did so dramatically, avoiding the glass objects as raining the broken shards onto the crowd would only enrage them further. The will of the crowd at the moment seemed mostly fruitless anger. They shouted, raged, and threw things. But few stepped forward to fight the three of them, and those that did were quickly forced backward.

They continued forward, slowly but inexorably, the crowd reluctantly giving way until they were in the plaza that fronted the clinic. Here, they started seeing a few hastily crafted signs held by protestors directly in front of the clinic. Slogans like "Regulate Dangerous Mods Now!" and "Keep Humanity Human!" were sloppily emblazoned on scrounged pieces of cardboard and cheap poster paper.

Kai's lack of contact, the location of the protest, and the crowd's immediate reaction to their presence had already hinted to Gev that modded individuals like them were the reason for the protest. These crude signs just confirmed that. The fact that the very existence of Dragons was what these Humans were protesting deepened Gev's anger and disdain for these Humans.

He began to hear the wail of sirens over the sound of shouting from the crowd, but ignored it. They were almost to where Kai and Amon must be in some kind of danger, and these Humans wanted that. They must have instigated it in the first place.

He swung the bar hard into the head of the closest Human, throwing him violently to the ground. Those at the front tried to shout and rally the anger of the others, but he didn't give them time. He swung again and again, no longer trying to avoid seriously injuring them. He simply made them move before they had a chance to gather themselves and retaliate.

Gev felt the sensation of warmth within him surge. It swelled into sense of power unlike anything he'd felt before as he drove his way forward through the tide of Humans. It was like the sense of rightness that he still couldn't put a name to, but more. It was power, strength, and purpose rushing though him, pushing him forward.

A few of the Humans tried to resist as he fought his way toward the clinic, but soon they began falling back before him, the crowd parting as the three Dragons were finally able to move toward the clinic. Gev kept his weapon raised and ready to strike, just in case there were any last Humans foolish enough to try and stand in his way. He glared at them as he strode forwards. Here and there, some of the Humans looked as they might try to confront him for a moment before wisely stepping back with the rest.

It wasn't long before they reached the front doors of the clinic where the protestors had formed a tight ring around the entrance. All of the glass was shattered, and there was debris from thrown objects strewn about the ground.

The roar of the crowd continued in the background, but those at the front were silent. They knew there was nothing they could do, their hatred would find no outlet today. Some of their faces were contorted in rage, but Gev saw other emotions. Some were simply afraid, some terrified, some outraged. Some looked dejected, as though they’d tried everything they could, and now that they were beaten back they had no option left but to simply give up.

Gev let the bar, now thoroughly soaked in blood clang loudly to the ground. Only then did he notice that he was covered in sprays of blood himself. That feeling of power he'd rode to get himself here left him in a rush, leaving him exhausted and horrified at the same time.

Rax handed him a rag to wipe the blood from himself. It had a half finished message scrawled in black marker on it. One of the Humans had probably intended to fly it as an improvised flag. There was a strange sense of irony in using the half-finished symbol to wipe their own blood from his scales. Gev found no comfort in it though. The man he'd hit back there. He wasn't moving… And the others. He hadn't even paused to look at them. Were they…?

No. No time to think about that. The sound of sirens was growing louder. Humanitech security had likely organized it's response and was on the way to disperse the crowd, as was always the case on corporate property.

Amon and Rax were already moving into the building. Gev followed after, still panting, trying to control his breathing. He stepped through one of the closed doors, passing through the space where it's glass used to be.

Rax had a few scrapes along his face and arms, some of which were bleeding. Xath appeared unharmed. Rax's scales were probably not as resilient as theirs due to his mods not being as progressed. He'd grow stronger in time, but for now he was still more vulnerable than the rest of them.

Despite his horror at what he'd done, Gev was glad he'd taken point as he was relatively unscathed. There was something strangely comforting about the thought of coming to the defense of another dragon. Rax was safe, and hopefully Kai and Amon would be too. The feeling of horror receded as Gev realized that.

Once more, Gev was struck by how quickly his feelings could change on things like this. He couldn't deny that in this moment, not being bound by remorse was the best way to help Kai and Amon. Some part of him was still disturbed by the realization. His physical exhaustion didn't fade along with those feelings, unfortunately. He couldn't recall the last time he'd felt this worn down.

Gev resolving to keep moving forwards and push through regardless, he'd be able to rest soon, hopefully. He looked around the expansive lobby of the clinic. It was nearly empty. He was used to these spaces being packed with people receiving all manner of treatments. Now, there were only a few Humanitech security officers talking quietly in one section of the room where some of the seats had been ripped from where they'd been bolted to the ground.

Gev had hoped to see some sign of Kai. He felt as though he should be able to see him. Like Kai was in the room and all he had to do was turn and look at him. With his size, he'd be impossible to miss even in a space as large as this.

The three of them approached the officers. It probably wasn't a good idea, but they'd gotten this far and fighting their way back out through the crowd was obviously a terrible idea.

One of them noticed the three Dragons approaching. "What the fuck?..." He looked at the three of them in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing in here? Clear out of here! Now!"

"Into that?" Xath gestured towards the doors. "You know we aren't safe out there. Besides the two of us" he gestured at Gev "are regular customers. You're not going to do us such a disservice are you?" Xath tactfully left out the bit about them literally beating their way through the crowd to get in here.

"We have a couple friends here, one is receiving treatment. We need to know they're okay!" Rax exclaimed.

The three guards looked at one another in utter confusion. They probably knew the protest was against mods such as theirs. The fact that they made it in here at all was bizarre. That they did so when the clinic was obviously not open even more so. They were quite obviously paying customers at some point with their extensive modifications, so the guards made no obvious indications they would use violence to force them back into even more danger.

One of them spoke quietly into his earpiece for a moment, then gestured to a section of seats nearby. "Sit down over there, don't move, and for your safety don't go outside."

The three of them sat down. Only Rax was able to more or less fit in the small seats, so they spread out across a few for at least some measure of comfort.

"So… No Kai. No Amon… What now?" Rax asked.

"He should be here…" Gev replied. "Maybe they got taken inside for safety, or escorted out the back?"

"They should have been able to contact us if that were the case… This is still strange, it worries me…" Xath said quietly.

Gev and Rax nodded. There wasn't much they could do though. The guards were all armed and wearing body armour. They wouldn't be able to fight their way through. Even if they did, where would they go? They had no idea where within the clinic Kai and Amon might be, if they were together or separate, or if they were even here at all. Something in the back of Gev's mind still told him Kai was here. He dismissed that as wishful thinking and fatigue as his body began to protest more and more, demanding that he rest.

He slouched down in the seat and tried to relax, but before too long he heard the security officers approach. Several more of them had emerged from deeper inside the clinic, all of them armed with automatic rifles.

The officer in the lead gave them a stern look, holding his weapon, though not pointing it at them. "You're to come with us."

"You're gonna take us to our friends?" Rax asked hesitantly.

"Get up and follow me. Make no sudden moves or you will face consequences."

Gev sighed, then got up. Hopefully this meant they would find out what happened to the others, but this obviously didn't bode well. He had to question what logic had driven him to fight his way through an entire crowd to come this far. It seemed obvious now that the Kai wouldn't simply be relaxing in the lobby while a massive protest was happening outside.

He could hear the sounds of sirens, yells, and even the occasional crack of a flashbang or gunshot outside as Humanitech security began to violently disperse the crowd. It seemed they'd made the most foolish possible choice. Even so, part of him knew they had to find Kai and Amon. They had to protect one another, stick together, and stand strong as one.

That feeling helped pushed him past his fatigue as the officers marched the three of them deeper into the building. Into an elevator that descended down into the depths of the structure…