Dwaine was beyond confused.

After waking up in the hospital on the 6th of September, almost 48 hours after his last work day, he had been quite worried. He had several broken bones and a severe concussion with moderate to severe bruising all over his body. *Plop-plip* said the morphine drip directly next to his bed, pumping him full of the pain-killing substance at a steady rate. 

Being worried was a completely natural response given his situation.

He had no recollection beyond firing Zeff on the 4th of September for being a completely insubordinate tool and now he was in the hospital, handcuffed to his hospital bed.

‘Did Zeff try to kill me after I fired him?!’ He laughed inwardly. ‘Idiot!’ Dwaine was already seeing dollar signs, imagining how he would play this up in the media for free publicity and how he'd sue the pants off Zeff for even attempting to hurt him. He couldn’t quite understand why he was hand-cuffed but in his concussed state he decided it was likely due to the fact that he had beaten that twerp so bad that the police thought he was a danger to society or something.

‘I guess my Wing Chun lessons are paying off.’ He thought with a smug snicker. ‘You thought you could kill the great Dwaine Pricksson?! Ha! It’ll take more than a dragon to beat—… me?’

At once his memories returned with such force and suddenness that he would have fallen from the hospital bed if not for the hand-cuffs.

He could only stare blankly into space hardly even breathing as images played through his mind of a boy turning into an ACTUAL dragon. The more his mind and his recollection of that night became more clear, the more he doubted his own sanity.

He had heard 3 loud sounds like gunshots and so went to investigate. But as he looked out of the window he had seen his tubby, X-employee transform into a dragon right before his very eyes.

‘Zeff? Turning into a dragon?!’ He thought with as much denial as there was disbelief. ‘I gotta be crazy!’

Zeff was a nobody. A burger flipper. A college drop out. There were pickles that were more exciting and dangerous than him. But he couldn’t deny what he had seen with his own eyes.

Naturally, he had to be suffering from overwork or PTSD from having to deal with idiotic customers and knuckle-draggers all day. That had to be it.

“Ugh…” Came a pained voice from the bed next to Dwaine’s, causing Dwaine to jump with fright.

In the hospital bed directly next to him, a man was stirring as he began to awaken. As he stirred Dwaine gasped again. He recognized the man instantly upon seeing his face. ‘The man in the park!’ He thought, terror seizing him by the throat. ‘Sh*t!’

Dwaine was not scared of the man because he had seen him with a gun. He wasn’t even scared because this man had jumped several feet into the air TOWARDS a dragon firing said gun. He was scared because if this man was real then maybe he wasn’t crazy after all! Maybe Zeff really was a real, live, dragon!

That put everything into a new perspective. There were a few cameras in the park, so maybe the authorities had seen the dragon, too. Maybe the whole country was in a panic and Dwaine and this guy next to him were the only ones with information.

“Could you please… Shuttup, mate!” He paused. “Hey, Leo, If you’re going to kill him just do it and save us both the headache.” said the man in a slight British accent.

Dwaine was caught off guard for two reasons. Firstly, it was that the man, much like Dwaine, was covered in casts and bandages. It seemed like everything besides his mouth was covered up yet he didn’t seem to be too bothered about it. Secondly, the man had told him to shut up even though Dwaine hadn’t been speaking.

“Sorry, Zayn.” Came the husky yet boyish voice of someone likely in there late teens. There was an endearing, yet apologetic tone to his voice that might have made Dwaine like him, if he hadn’t just been told to kill Dwaine himself (presumably)…

“Hey, Zayn! You can’t talk to him like that! Show some respect!” ordered a female with a voice that was only slightly higher than the boys.

“Silence, Yessica.” Responded the teen curtly, his voice dropping in depth, with a touch of anger. “The way Zayn speaks to me is none of your concern. But the way you talk to your senior...” The last sentence seemed to Dwaine to be a threat somehow and, if the woman's silence was any indication, it likely was.

“Oh, lighten up and get me outta here.” responded the one called Zayn.

Dwaine, now extremely curious, tried his best to sit up so that he could see who it was that was talking, but to know avail.

“Help the man up, Rendall. It’s the least we can do for the poor fellow.” said the teen to someone.

Blue light filled the air accompanied by the sound of white noise as Dwaine’s hospital bed instantly began to adjust itself, bending Dwaine at the waist so that he could sit up and see what was happening.

He caught his breath as he was finally able to survey the room. He hadn’t noticed before, but there were five other people all spread out across the room: one nurse to his right and four other people to his left, each standing in a line directly before Zayn’s hospital bed.

One of the four, a shorter female who was, in Dwaine’sexpert opinion, a "hot momma", was obviously a cop. She was wearing her uniform and had a gun on her hip. She had full lips, long brown hair, and the look of a latina, though he couldn’t be sure.

Before he could get a good look at the other three, he heard a gurgling sound coming from the nurse who was standing just by the entrance to the room.

As he looked at the female nurse, he couldn’t be sure what he was seeing at first. The nurse was frozen in place, mid-stride, her jaw moving sporadically to the left and right as though she was trying her absolute hardest to speak and grind her teeth at the same time.

“Are you alr—” He stopped short with a gasp. The woman’s eyes were rolled back into her head so that you couldn’t see her irises.

“What do you think we’re here for.” the teenager replied to Zayn with a laugh, completely ignoring Dwaine and the nurse. “But as you know, there are consequences for failing a miss—”

“Hey! Do you idiots not see this?! Something is wrong with th—”

“Be silent, worm.” Commanded the teenager without even turning his head to look at Dwaine.

Dwaine opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He tried again, and again, and again. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t say a word. He panicked and began to kick his legs and struggle as best as his casts and bandages would allow, making a horrible racket.

“Be still.”

Dwaine’s body instantly froze in place just like the nurse.

A lot of things were going through Dwaine’s mind as he lay there frozen like an ice sculpture but one thing was for certain: he was about to die. He had watched enough movies to know that he had already seen too much to be kept alive. And whoever this boy was, he even had a police officer on his side.

“As I was saying…” The boy continued, as though nothing was wrong. “You failed to bring back the escapee. You failed to get the dracoRex. You failed utterly and completely at protecting your men. The last we will have for some—”

Zayn scoffed disparagingly “You give me a bunch of Normies to babysit, then act surprised when they—” Began Zayn, but as he had begun to speak, the teenager, who Dwaine now realized was also Zayn’s superior, had casually walked over to Zayn’s bed and leaned over him.

“Bite your finger off.” Commanded the boy.

Zayn without hesitation lifted his bandaged right, middle finger to his mouth and bit down hard with a loud and disgusting *Crunch-splat* like he was biting into the world’s juiciest candy bar. Much to Dwaine’s surprise, Zayn didn’t even wince or react to having bitten off his own finger (which was likely due to the morphine). But he did display a strange and frightful level of nonchalance that terrified Dwaine.

Zayn simply spit the finger onto the floor, blood and all, and smiled devilishly.

“It does not matter whether you were given a squad of Normies to command or an army of alpacas.” growled the boy with a stern and furious expression. “A ‘Leanders’ doesn’t fail. Period.”

He stood to his full height and added, “However, your failure has presented the Rings with an amazing opportunity. And as such, it will be, to some measure, overlooked. Yessica!” He called, beckoning the female cop, who came forward obediently. “Yessica-here was also given a mission which she failed spectacularly. But, much like you, brother, she will be given a chance to redeem herself.”

Yessica dropped her head in shame.

Zayn was quiet for a second as he focused on Yessica. But after a moment, rather inexplicably, he suddenly burst into hysterical laughter which was directed at Yessica. “Are you kidding me?! Your squad got their a**es rocked by this slab and you, rather than making a difference, *actually* fainted?!” He laughed even louder. “I took a right hook from a flippin’ dragon and you don’t even get touched by the guy and faint like one of those goats on WhoTube!”

Yessica’s face turned a curious shade of red as she was ridiculed, but she didn’t dare talk back after what had happened earlier.

“No wonder.” Zayn said, using his non-bloodied hand to wipe away a tear. “You cast-aways are hardly good for anything.”

At that Yessica bit her lip hard, her shoulders rose, and her eyebrows furrowed deeply. Her eyes burned with a rage that Dwaine had never seen in all his life.

Zayn, noticing her rage, seemed strangely taken aback and fell silent until suddenly, one of the four, a tall asian man with long, shoulder-length, jet-black hair and a tablet in his hands with a hoodie on, chimed in. “I’m glad you two are getting along. Because you’ll be working together from now on.” He flicked his long bangs from his eyes.

Yessica turned to the man in surprise but said nothing. Zayn was not so agreeable. “You can’t be serious, Rendall! You want me to work with *her*?!”

“You will do what you are told, brother.” Came the teenager.

Zayn fell silent with a huff.

“For your failure, we will only heal you partially.” He snapped his fingers and the fourth and last person, another quaint female with deep green eyes and a pixie cut, stepped forward. “Heal his entire body except for his left arm.”

The woman, pointed her palm at Zayn from across the room. At once a thick light-green mist shot out of it with a soft *Shoohw* and enveloped Zayn’s body.

Dwaine caught his breath as he noticed Zayn’s middle finger begin to grow back at an alarming rate, clicking and clacking all the while.

After a few moments Zayn flexed his right arm with his newly grown finger and then ripped off his casts. He got out of the bed with a soft grunt and then stretched his body like he was about to go for a run. “Ah. That’s much better. Thanks, Matea.”

Matea, the one who had healed him, inclined her head in response and said, “I merely did as Master Leanders commanded.”

“Then, I should thank you, Leo.” said Zayn after turning to his brother with a oddly warm tone and matching smile.

Dwaine could have sworn he saw the smallest smirk touch Leo’s lips. But he concluded as the boy turned to face Yessica that it must’ve been his imagination.

“I will brief you on your new mission once we are away from this place.” He turned to Rendall. “Rendall, how is he looking?”

Rendall looked down at his tablet and then replied, “He’s at 8.02% and stopped moving about 26 hours ago. Because of Error:035, however, I can hardly even pinpoint his general location.”

“That’s fine. As long as— Please, do shuttup, brother!” Leo said to his brother (who hadn’t even opened his mouth) with an exasperated eye roll. “I’ll explain everything in due time.” He then turned his attention to Dwaine. “In the mean time—” He began, looking at Dwaine with a deviously cold and smug expression, “I have to gather some information from our friend Dwaine.”

“Please, no!” Dwaine yelled. He had no time to celebrate the sudden and inexplicable return of his voice. He was only concerned with extending his life even a few minutes. “Look. I don’t know who you guys are or what you want, b-but I can help you.”

“You certainly can.” retorted Leo.

“Y-yeah. I have management experience! I—ugh… I could join you guys!”

“Oh, could you, now?” responded Leo.

“Yeah!” Dwaine responded, not realizing he was being mocked. If he wasn’t so conceited, if he hadn’t been such an inconsiderate prick his whole life, he might have known to shut his mouth and beg for his life.

Shutting his mouth, however, was a skill that he had rarely, if ever, exercised.

“This is about Zeff turning into a monster in the middle of the park, isn’t it? You guys are probably a group of ancient dragon hunters or something, working in the shadows, am I right?!” It was a question but his tone and desperate smiling face made it seem more like a statement of fact or a plea for help.

Nobody spoke. They just looked at Dwaine with a strange blend of disgust, contempt, and, in the case of Matea, pity.

Dwaine went on, “Look, Zeff is a nobody. He’s as pathetic as they come, trust me. Any dragon that he turns into would have to be one of the weakest, wussiest, and wimpiest dragons you guys have ever seen. I can—”

“Stop breathing.” growled Leo as his eyes, full of rage, suddenly shone bright purple.

“—Ahh!” was all Dwaine could say as his breath got stuck in his throat. He gasped for air, grabbing his throat in a futile effort to force air into his lungs.

“Funny. The guy looking down his nose at others can’t even breathe on his own.”

“Master Leanders.” Rendall began, an apprehensive look on his face. “We can’t kill him. The police believe he is partially responsible for what happened. If he dies they’ll be suspicious.”

“I may do whatever I please, Rendall.” stated Leo through clenched teeth, as he shot Rendall a look that could cut through steel.

The Fade was already fast approaching as Dwaine's eyes began to water. He wanted to beg for his life. To plead that they spare him. But there was no hope of that anymore.

Rendall, Matea, Leo and Yessica gathered themselves up and headed for the door past the frozen nurse, leaving only Zayn behind. Down the long hallway Dwaine could see that there were several more people including nurses and doctors, all frozen in place, their eyes rolled back into their heads.

“Sleep and forget.” Commanded Leo loudly. At once all of the nurses and doctors and civilians that had been frozen fell to the ground. He could hear the sounds and reverberations from further away of many bodies hitting the floor as they collapsed.

Dwaine, however, did not lose consciousness. Fate, it seemed, would not be so kind to him…

He turned to Zayn as the Fade began to close in on him. ‘Please!’ he wanted to scream. ‘Save me!’ But to his horror Zayn only began to smile the most demented and terrifying smile Dwaine had ever seen in his life. He appeared to be even aroused by Dwaine’s pitiful state.

“Sorry, mate.” Zayn said turning to leave. Then over his shoulder he added, “You shoulda kept your mouth shut.”