Resolution: Engineered Rebel, #6

Chapter One

Gus 

Nyssa stared at their attackers for a long moment. "I’m sorry, the what? "

The large Wyvern on his knees before her – an effect of Nyssa’s powers as a Dragon Priestess – hissed as he answered. The Last Great Dragon. The Priestesses have tasked us with their protection. That means eliminating anything that would indicate a large Dragon presence on Earth. Including your beacon.

Nyssa frowned. You came here to destroy our beacon? But we have nothing to do with you.

It is not my place to explain. Only the Priestesses can do that. We were sent to destroy your beacon and escort you to them.

No, Nyssa said simply.

You cannot refuse their orders.

"Yes, I can. They are not my Priestesses. I am not sworn to them, and they sent armed warriors into my domain without warning. These hatchlings are under my protection and the Priestesses have threatened them. So, no, I will not adhere to their wishes. You will tell me where they are, and we shall address them when we feel like it. Understood?"

The Wyvern growled, but clearly knew that he didn’t have a choice.

He was sworn to Nyssa as much as the others.

Only someone with the correct portal can enter the city.

"Then draw me the portal."

Nyssa handed him some chalk and he did just that. After he was done, Nyssa examined his handiwork, and seemed to decide that it was up to standard before turning to him and the others, who were still kneeling on the ground.

"Leave here, Nyssa told them. And never return."

They shifted out, leaving Gus, Hell and Nyssa alone in the room.

Nyssa sighed as she moved over to the pool of lava in the centre of the room.

What are you doing? Hell asked as zie approached.

Deactivating the beacon.

Why? You told them to leave and never come back.

The beacon was what attracted them here in the first place. As much as I will stand up to them, antagonising them further doesn’t seem smart.

Yeah, but why did the beacon attract them? And why didn’t you want to go with them to straighten this out? I mean, if it was a misunderstanding, surely talking to them would be the best way to avoid antagonising them further.

Nyssa sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Hell, I wish that I had answers to your questions, but I do not, and that is why I will not bow to these Dragons. I do not know them. I did not even know that they existed until today. And the things they were saying did not make sense... There were only two Great Dragons when the Vulcan Plains were cut off from the other realms, and as far as I know, they didn’t make it to Earth. Except now there’s apparently one here and the number of Dragons needed to protect them... Hell, there would have to be a lot of them. And all I know about them is that I didn’t know about them until today. That’s not enough information for me to trust them.

Is it enough to distrust them?

Gus suppressed a sigh. It was clear that his sibling wanted to reach out to the other Dragons, but he was with Nyssa on this one. They didn’t know enough.

Nyssa gave Hell a sympathetic smile. Hell, I grew up in the Vulcan Plains, and serving the Dragons was the only way out of the Human communities. But if I hadn’t wanted that, it wouldn’t have mattered. As far as the Dragons are concerned, their children exist to serve them. If we go to them, you might not have a choice, either. With all of the work you’ve done to escape the Enhanced, do you really want that?

Hell looked away. Of course not. I just thought...

I know. But this will have to be handled carefully. Nyssa sighed. I will have to go, at least. I may have ordered away the ones who came here this time, but there will be others, and we cannot count on being so lucky every time. While I am gone, you and Gus should stay at the base. The shielding should protect you.

No, Hell protested. We’re not letting you go alone. Zie turned to Gus. Right?

Right, he agreed, though he wasn’t sure that Hell was grasping the gravity of the situation. Still, if it was as dangerous as Nyssa seemed to think it might be, that was even more reason for her not to go alone. He turned to Nyssa. We may not be sworn to you, but we’re in this together.

Nyssa regarded them for a moment, and he was sure that she was going to continue to try to talk them out of it, but then she nodded. Fine. But either way, you should tell the others.

Hell smiled. Then I guess it’s a good thing that we’re almost late for a team meeting.

Chapter Two

Mia

Mia paced up and down the meeting room, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

You’ll do fine, Z-0X said, for what felt like the thousandth time.

No, I won’t. No one will like the plan – especially not Alex because she’s still mad at me about going after you – and everyone will side with her, just like always, and I’m going to be left looking ridiculous and all of this hard work will have been for nothing...

Z-0X moved over to Mia before placing a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from pacing. Mia, breathe.

Mia nodded, doing as she was told.

Once she started to calm, Z-0X continued. Your plan is a good one. You don’t need to worry about that. You need to have faith in yourself to do this right. And you also need to have patience with the others. Yes, they may not agree with your plan right away, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t, given time to consider it properly.

I... You’re right. Okay. You’re right. Mia gave her a weak smile. She wanted to thank her, to say that she was glad that she was there, but... That felt like too much.

Z-0X still hadn’t talked to her about the fact that she was her biological mother since she had acknowledged it, and Mia didn’t want to seem like she was pushing for a relationship that Z-0X didn’t want.

Still, it seemed rude not to say anything, so she settled for, Thanks, Z-0X. She gave a wry smile. I know you think our names are silly, but your number is kind of a mouthful.

Z-0X looked away. I... I used to think that they were silly. But now? Now, it seems silly to use a number when outside of the Enhanced. As if I’m the odd one out. The odd one out in the world...

Mia had to stop herself from grinning. She had wondered how well Z-0X would adjust to joining them, and this seemed like the best indicator she could have hoped for. Well, have you thought of a name?

I... Many of them seem not dissimilar from your numbers.

Mia shrugged with a small smile. Yeah, well, like I said, they’re kind of a mouthful, and when we were little, everyone struggled with them. So... the names were similar.

Well, I was thinking that perhaps ‘Zara’ would be appropriate. It’s simpler, at least.

Mia’s smile widened. I like it.

Zara smiled back before frowning a little. Though, I do wonder what to do about a surname... Do you also have those, or...?

Mia shrugged, mirroring Zara’s frown. You know, I have never had a use for one. Though I think Ty uses ‘Free’. She rolled her eyes. It’s a little on the nose, but I suppose he’s allowed to have it be whatever he wants.

Zara gave her a slightly sheepish look. Or at least, as sheepish as the stoic woman could ever look, and that really just looked like her shifting her weight slightly. Everyone else here seems... Well, they don’t yet seem comfortable with me. I remember everyone’s numbers from their files, but it hasn’t been easy for me to learn names. Who is ‘Ty’?

Mia then found herself the sheepish one, realising that she too had shifted awkwardly, though her movement was far more obvious than Zara’s had been. He... He’s my brother.

She hadn’t spoken to Zara about her siblings since Zara had acknowledged being their mother.

And she hadn’t told Ty about their connection, either.

He was the one who... The one who had the accident, right?

Mia nodded. He’s not often at the base anymore. She decided to leave her own involvement in that out of it. He lives in town with Gus. Alex’s brother.

Zara frowned in thought for a moment before finally asking, Is he happy, at least?

Yeah, I think he is.

Zara just nodded as other people started to enter the room.

Mia cursed that fact, desperately wanting their conversation to continue. Did her asking about Ty mean that she cared about them? More than just anyone on the team cared about anyone else on it?

Still, she needed to refocus if she wanted to convince anyone of her plan.

She took a deep breath and smiled slightly as Hell entered the room. Zie, Gus and Nyssa were the last ones to arrive, and Mia knew that Hell would be on her side, at least.

And, well, she worried that if she opened her mouth to talk about her plan, she might throw up, and Hell entering meant that zie and the others must be done with activating the beacon.

Which meant that she could stall for at least a few minutes while she composed herself.

How did lighting the beacon go? she asked the Dragons brightly.

The look Hell gave her was not reassuring, and all thought of her plan to finish the Enhanced once and for all left her mind.

We were attacked, Hell said, turning to face the room as a whole as Mia approached to take zir hand.

Attacked? Alex asked with a frown, stepping closer to her siblings. By who?

Nyssa was the one to answer. Wyverns. There is apparently already a large Dragon presence on Earth. One that wishes to remain secret, by any means necessary. Including destroying all evidence that any Dragon community exists on Earth at all. They were not happy that we activated a beacon.

So, what happened? Did you get them to see reason? None of you seem hurt... Alex turned to Gus. I would have thought, with our connection, if you were seriously injured, I would feel it.

I wasn’t hurt, Gus assured her. None of us were. Apparently, Nyssa being a Priestess means that she can order about anyone sworn to the Priestesses. That included the Wyverns.

Nyssa nodded. I have held them off for now, but they will likely return. They requested that we go to speak with their leaders, and I don’t think we will be given a choice in the matter. So, I am going to go and talk to them, to figure out exactly what is going on, and make sure that we are left out of it if it’s nothing good.

Do you think that’s likely? Mia asked, her question mostly directed at Hell.

Zie shrugged. We don’t know. But Gus and I are going to go with Nyssa to find out.

Mia frowned. And what about the rest of the Enhanced? Hell already knew her plan, so zie would know if their plans would conflict.

And it sounded like they might...

Hell squeezed her hand tight. Mia, I swear, I will be here when you need me. No matter what happens with the Dragons.

Mia wanted to be reassured by that promise, but she knew that Hell had no idea what would happen with zir task. There was no way that zie could guarantee that zie would be back when Mia needed zir.

But then Mia also knew that there was every chance that if Hell, Gus and Nyssa didn’t go to confront the Dragons, the Dragons could arrive to attack them at any point.

Including when they were helping her, potentially ruining her plans.

Alex turned to Nyssa. Do you need any more help with this?

No. And if you need your siblings here, I can do this myself.

Gus turned to his sister with a look that meant nothing to Mia, but apparently conveyed exactly what he wanted to Alex, who nodded before turning to Nyssa.

If they want to accompany you, then they should. The Dragons do appear to be a very real threat that as many capable hands should be on for now. She turned to Mia. But we should make sure that everyone is aware of your plan, so that we can decide if it’s viable while working around the Dragon issue.

Mia bristled at Alex questioning the viability of her plan so quickly, but she took a deep breath and reminded herself that everyone was here for the exact purpose of questioning the viability of that plan.

And it had to be up to that scrutiny. Not least because if it wasn’t, people could be seriously hurt.

Still, the way Alex’s jaw clenched as she regarded Mia was far from reassuring.

She had been nothing but civil since everyone else had voted to push forward against the Enhanced instead of taking it slow, as Alex had wanted, but it was clear that Alex still wasn’t happy about it.

And still considered Mia at fault for engineering the situation by going against a previous vote.

Mia wasn’t necessarily proud of having done that, but if she hadn’t, Zara would still be trapped with the others.

Alex knew that as well, and Mia was convinced that that was the real reason why she hadn’t continued to rake Mia over the coals for her actions.

Alex hadn’t exactly been ready to trust Zara at first, but then Chloe had unexpectedly come to see Zara when Mia had been showing her around and had assured her that she had spoken to Alex, reminding her that she, and her lost partner Jay, used to be just like Zara, and Alex had learned to trust them.

Alex hadn’t questioned Zara’s loyalty since, but that didn’t melt her frosty demeanour with Mia.

We need to start with the satellite bases, Mia blurted out, cursing her anxiety. Her words had sounded blunt, but hopefully not rude. She was aware that her nerves could make her abrasive at the best of times, and that was the last thing she needed here. She took a deep breath before