Slayer x Pyre 1x1

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey and Kaito Iwasa​

A small grin grew on Tahra's face when he decided to still show her the scale despite not having it complete; as much as she was opening up to him in particular, he seemed to be doing the same. At least that was what she imagined since it was a sign of trust to show off the scale. As he took a moment to pull his shirt off, she did something similar so she could pull her pants back up. It'd be a bit awkward if the others were to walk in on such a thing and truthfully, Tahra didn't really want to show them her heartscale. It wasn't anything personal against them, she just felt more comfortable with Niko for whatever reason. The thought came and went as her eyes traveled down to where his scale was and there was a mix of emotions that grew in her; pity, sorrow, and anger for the fact that he had to go through such a thing in the first place and be in the predicament he was in. Also hope and more determination than she had earlier to make sure he got his scale back. There was no doubt in her mind that she'd do whatever it took to help with that. "Hey, Niko-"

"Guys, dinner's ready." A glare was sent to Kaito when he had come out, interrupting whatever it was that Tahra was going to say. With a sigh, she got off of the couch and headed to the kitchen without saying anything else. Kaito had watched her for a moment, wondering if maybe he had done something wrong before shrugging his shoulders. Once Niko joined them in the dining room, they went about eating with very light chatting. Simple comments of the food being good or questions about Tahra's housing -which she didn't always answer- but overall it was fairly uneventful. Kaito and Sophie went about doing the dishes afterwards, mostly because Kaito actually wanted to see if they could do what they had talked about earlier. Tahra left to box herself in to her computer room to do a bit more research and didn't come out until it was very late. Which had been the point since she didn't want to deal with Sophie or Kaito at the moment. Plus it gave her the chance to upload the schematics to her phone about the research facility as well as some access codes she got her hands in not too long ago. Those hunters wouldn't know what hit them when they got there. She had changed into an all black outfit: form-fitting pants, a tank top, a zip-up sweater with a hood, and combat boots. Some tools she thought she'd need were hidden in her boot and her phone was tucked into one of the pockets.

Seeing as she was basically ready, Tahra roamed her house to the guest bedroom and peeked inside. There were two beds in the guest room, one occupied by Kaito and the other Sophie; seeing as she had never expected to have company, she never thought it was a good idea to keep the room but a part of her always told her to. So she supposed now it actually worked out that she had kept it. Her room had been offered to Niko but it wasn't for the moment since the two of them were going out; it was for when they returned...if they returned, then she could sleep on the couch or in her computer room like she did every now and then. She didn't mind but she was also getting ahead of herself. With a glance to her phone to find the time, she wandered the house again until she found Niko. "Are you ready?" Tahra asked him quietly from the doorway she stood in, keys now pulled out and twirling around one of her fingers. She was more than ready to go; not only to find his heartscale but also information on a very sensitive topic for her.

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina and Sophie Stolts​

"What?" Niko blinked, confused as Tahra was cut off by Kaito. Whatever she was about to say, she apparently didn't want to finish in front of the other dragon. In fact, she appeared downright annoyed as she went into the dining room. Sighing, he pulled his shirt back over his head, covering his scale once again. Ideally, next time he showed it off, it would be whole again. Dinner was a bit tense, but Sophie's cooking was as delicious as ever, a fact Niko reminded her of as he polished off his plate in a matter of minutes. The conversation was polite, occasionally one sided as Tahra didn't always answer the questions asked of her. That didn't bother Niko much, and since Sophie was content to chat with Kaito, things went over pretty well. After the meal, Kaito and Sophie volunteered to do dishes, though Niko did help clear the table some, just to help a little. He left the two of them alone to flirt, and went back to the living room. Tahra disappeared into her computer room, he debated bothering her there but decided against it. She was probably preparing, because the two of them would be leaving soon.

Niko spent the rest of the day taking a nap, snoring softly on the sofa, and he didn't wake up again until he heard footsteps go by, but that was just Sophie and Kaito heading to bed, Sophie had paused to toss a blanket over the sleeping dragon before heading to the guest bedroom. The gesture made Niko smile, and then he fell back asleep. Next time he awoke, it was to Tahra, who was all decked out in black like a spy. Well, he supposed she was a spy.
Sitting up, the fire dragon yawned and stretched, popping his back in the process. "Ready as I'll ever be" he said as he set the blanket aside and stood. he looked down at his ratty attire and chuckled. "Though I do feel a bit under dressed" he smirked at Tahra.

There was no sense in putting this off any longer, the sooner they left, the sooner they could come back. Though, before they went, there was something bothering Niko. "But before we skip out...what were going to say earlier, before Kaito walked in?" He cocked his head to the side. "you seemed a bit annoyed and all, so it got me curious"

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey​

Tahra stepped closer and eyed the other dragon a bit as if she was trying to assess whether he was actually ready or not. He claimed he was though so it caused a small grin to form on her lips. "Don't worry, there's something for you to change in to in the car we'll be taking." Tahra spoke with a chuckle, although it was half teasing. She had only grabbed a sweatshirt that she thought might fit him since it would help when they were outside to blend in a bit more. She was about ready to head to the door when Niko stopped her with his question; she hadn't expected him to bring it up and for a moment, her cheeks flushed as she looked away. It only lasted a second though before she looked back to the other dragon with a grin. "You shouldn't be so curious, you know." Tahra shrugged her shoulders, implying it wasn't a good idea to ask her questions at all. If she had to, she'd repeat again that the less they knew the better. Yet despite having that thought she couldn't help but to add, "Tell you what. When we make it back after getting the scale, I'll tell you then." A wink was added at the end of her teasing tone before she turned and made a motion for him to follow her. She didn't want to tell him that she was actually worried about him, more so after seeing the way his heartscale was. That it caused a pang in her chest to see the scars. It brought about some unpleasant memories of hers and on top of that, she shouldn't even be feeling the way that she was. She had to try really hard not to let these dragons in because she knew by the end of this all, she'd have to leave for their sake.

Tahra realized she was about to sigh so she clicked her tongue instead as they neared the door. A bag of her favorite chips that was half eaten was right by the door and she grabbed that before opening not the front door but the side door. "Follow me." It was obvious he'd need to since she knew where they were going but that was besides the point. They walked down a few steps to the garage, where three different cars sat comfortably: an all black, fully restored 1967 Shelby GT500E Super Snake, a pearl white LaFerrari, and a midnight blue Porsche 918 Spyder. All expensive cars and all her babies. "We're taking that one." She pointed to the Shelby even as she walked over to it and hopped in to the driver's seat. It was the one that was less likely to draw attention out of her babies so it was the most logical choice to use it. Only she got out after starting the car when she realized she forgot something. On the other side of the door was a long table with stacks of boxes; Tahra ended up digging through a couple of them until she found the sweat shirt she had wanted to give him. "You can take it off once we're inside but until then, it'll be better for you to wear this. Or you can dig through those boxes to find something else to where if you want. All of those I was going to donate to some charity...eventually. If my job ever lets me have a break." She spoke with a sigh towards the end and ran her fingers through her hair slowly. "Take a peek if you want but when you're ready, hop in the car." Tahra tossed the sweat shirt towards him as more of a just in case type of deal before getting situated once more in the car.

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina

Niko arched an eyebrow as she dodged his question. Such a strange woman, one minute she was open and the next she slammed the door shut. He chopped it up to a life of crime and secrets, he could relate to wanting to keep things close to the vest. However, he wasn't going to let this go so easily. He chuckled. "Alright, but I'll hold you to that Tahra" he said as he followed her. When this was all said and done, he'd get his answer. After that, who knew what was going to happen, he supposed that depended on Sophie and Kaito as much as he and Tahra. Staying together was a logical choice, however Niko knew Tahra didn't seem to want that. Perhaps when this was said and done that would change. Following Tahra down the stairs and to the garage, he whistled when he saw the cars. "Jesus Tahra, how the hell did you..." Wait, she probably wasn't going to answer that question anyway. Shaking his head, he switched topics. "You just keep getting more and more interesting don't you? A beautiful, computer whiz, earth dragon who also likes cars?" He grinned teasingly. "Exactly the kind of girl Mom said to bring home"

He chuckled. Truth of the matter was Niko had never known his mother or father. He'd never known any family. Approaching the Shelby he looked the classic car over for a few minutes, clearly impressed with the work done to it. His attention switched to Tahra as climbed into the car, and then back out. He took the sweatshirt she offered him and chuckled. "I suppose we ought to match..." he said as he pulled the thing over his head. It was a little tight, but it fit well enough. Niko wasn't exactly picky, and he was to eager to get going to find a different sweater. He climbed into the passenger seat. "...So what's with all the extra clothes then?" He asked, looking to her. He figured she probably wouldn't answer, but it was worth a try.

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey​

It was hard to admit that the compliment given was still lingering in Tahra's head. The grip she had on the steering wheel tightened slightly before she had to take a quick breath and calm herself down. It wouldn't do her any good to start letting her thoughts run wild...a little too late to try to tell herself that though. This day marked not only the day she opened up slightly to someone, even going so far to show her scale, but also the fact that she felt something she hadn't before. Embarrassment and some shyness that she tried very hard to play off by burying it before it could spread too far. Her eyes looked him over as he got in the car only briefly before heading right back to the front. A button was pushed near the wheel itself that allowed the garage to begin to open up for them. Another click of her tongue happened out of reflex more than anything when he asked about the clothes. Of course he would ask, who wouldn't when there were a bunch of boxes and the clothes certainly weren't Tahra's. She stayed quiet for a little bit as she pulled out of the garage, the door closing only moments after they had left it. The GPS had been put on as a precaution but she was fairly confident about not needing to use it. It wasn't until they were on the main road that she knew she couldn't just leave the question hanging in the air; she also couldn't avoid it either since she'd avoided a bunch of other questions. Maybe...maybe it wouldn't be so terrible to open up about something. Just this once.

"They were my brother's." Tahra started in a soft voice, her eyes fixated on the road and a stoic gaze on her features. The word 'were' would hopefully be enough of a hint to say that her brother was dead for some time now. Just the one sentence was enough to bring back the memories of when he was killed and it caused her gaze to drop. It didn't stay in her lap long though since they were driving but the moment was long enough to collect her thoughts. "I can't tell you any more than that. I'm going to say this again since I don't really know if it's clicking or not: you really shouldn't be involved with me any more than you have to. After we get your scale back, you should just take Kaito and Sophie and leave. It'll be much safer for you all to not be involved with me." Despite saying that, it was really the complete opposite of how Tahra felt; she wanted to stay with them, to actually open up for once properly and not just tiny little tidbits of herself. To actually have someone that she could call a friend and...shaking her head, the sigh that left her lips buried the thoughts that she had just been having before her imagination could run more wild. "The organization I work for can be just as bad as the hunters in some ways. You'll be safer if you aren't near me." She added more quietly, then turned down the road that would eventually lead them to the research facility.

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina

Tahra seemed to be, nervous almost, which was odd, given the red head had remained as cool as can be throughout most of the day. Perhaps she was just nervous about the mission? Perhaps it was something more...embarrassing? Niko smiled to himself as he settled in the car. The fire dragon had developed a talent for reading people, a useful ability when you grew up on the street. He had a few ideas as to why Tahra was acting the way she was, but he wasn't going to push it. There was no reason to, seeing as he wasn't trying to make her nervous or uncomfortable on purpose. Maybe, just maybe she'd been grossed out by his scale and didn't like being around him...the idea was dismissed as soon as it popped into his head, but Niko couldn't help the tiny bit of doubt that formed in his mind. He'd scared others off before with it, it was just that ghastly. Just thinking about it made the scars ache, he scratched at his chest as Tahra pulled out of the garage. Or maybe she was jsut annoyed with all the questions... This idea was less upsetting, so Niko decided to roll with it. She'd made it clear she wasn't going to open up too much with them, she was convinced that once this was done, Niko and the others should be on their way. While he didn't agree with that, he wasn't going to try and force her to change her mind on the matter.

Lost in his thoughts, he was caught off guard as she spoke, and answered one of his questions. He arched an eyebrow. "Your brother's...?" It dawned on his pretty quickly that she'd used past tense. Looking ahead, Niko sighed. "...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to bring up something...painful". It was clear he had though, given that she was repeating herself again. He crossed his arms behind his head. "I know, I know...I get it Tahra...really I do..." he looked to her and then back to the road. "...You got yourself involved in some pretty heavy shit, because that was the best way you knew to get by. And now, your not certain you can have anyone, let alone three dragons close to you..." he sighed again as thoughts of his own murky past came to mind. "...I was like that...still am in some regards... I never had a family...I have no clue what happened to any of my forgotten clan. I was on the streets and took so some...less than savory activities in order to get by". Being so young, Niko used his gifts as a dragon to his advantage mainly his inhuman strength and endurance. Eventually that was what got him caught. He'd spend the next six years of his life in a cage, being poked and prodded.

And now he was returned to that place, the idea made a shiver run down his spine. He crossed his arms and shook his head before looking out his window. "...When this is said and done...We'll be gone...the last thing I want is for something bad t befall you because of us..."
That was assuming nothing went wrong tonight, but as they made their way to the place Niko had been tormented for several years, the fire dragon felt his heart start to race. To say he was scared would've been an understatement, but he wasn't scared for himself. He was scared if something went wrong, Tahra would take the fall for it.

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey​

Out of the corner of her eye, the earth dragon eyed Niko a bit suspiciously as she wasn't so sure he really got it. Yet the more he began to talk about her lifestyle, the more she realized that maybe he did actually understand where she was coming from. It hadn't been a choice to become a hacker when she was younger, it was exactly as Niko said: it was the only thing she could have done in order to get out of a nasty predicament. If there had been another choice....no, there wasn't a point in thinking about the what if's since it hadn't happened that way. When Niko spoke a bit about himself, Tahra glanced his way for a moment...a few moments really, since it had been to him then back to the road and then back to him again. The process repeated itself a couple of times before finally she fixated on the road again and nibbled lightly at her lower lip. The only family she had ever known was her brother so in a way, she knew how Niko felt not knowing his clan. It made her wonder if the stupid things he had gotten into was the reason why he got caught in the first place. Tahra got into stupid things as well, she just knew how to cover her tracks well at this point.

"Hey." Tahra again glanced his way when he looked out the window, finding it a bit harder to not try looking him in the eye. "Nothing is gonna happen to me if we stay together. I'm a hacker and so long as I get my job done then things will be smooth sailing. But hackers don't deserve to have friends, let alone a normal life. We live in the shadows and stay there until...well, we die. One way or another." Tahra's focus again was solely on the road, having not even realized she was speeding until just now. The research facility was already in sight even though it was still a few miles away from them but they'd be there very shortly. Seeing it made her swallow down some words she wanted to say about the matter. Only her mouth opened again like she was going to say something but then closed promptly again after that. It was better to push her thoughts aside again and just let the topic go for now; she said her peace and she just prayed that they'd understand when she had to part ways. It wasn't that she wanted to but it was for their own protection; the organization she currently worked for was relentless and callous to those not going the way they want. One slip up and they'd try to kill Tahra; the key word being 'try' but it would end up being too much of a hassle to stop it from happening. So she'd rather just avoid it outright. Although she felt herself caving a bit and when she glanced over again to Niko, another sigh left her lips.

"I know..." Tahra started quietly, a bit of nervousness hanging on the edge of her tone. "In a way, I know how you feel not knowing any family. My brother was the only one that I knew of and he never once mentioned anything about our clan to me. I don't know what happened to my family or them but...I can imagine." She just assumed at this point that it had been a massacre on the hunters part, with the hunters winning of course. I started studying computers as a past time when I was really young and just picked up on things quickly. I was offered a chance to work as an agent for a different company and due to circumstances of how we were living, I took the chance. I had to leave everything behind though, my name, my life, my brother. Everything, just...gone. To make a long, boring story short I found out some years later that my brother had been killed by the hunters while looking for me. The agency had lied saying he was just fine, so...things didn't turn out so well for them. I've done a lot of things that should be regretted in my life but not being able to see my brother is the one thing I regret the most." There was a long pause as Tahra pulled up to a light, two lights before they'd have to turn in to the facility. "I don't want a repeat of what happened to him to happen to you all too. My suspicion is that there was a hunter or a group of hunters that worked in that organization but I can't be a hundred percent sure either. The hunters are like cockroaches, they just pop up out of no where in swarms and take over shit. Um...sorry, just forget I said anything okay? I don't want anything to happen to you." It took a moment to realize she just mentioned Niko only so she quickly added, "You all. Sorry, my mind's a little flustered seeing the facility coming up." Not. It wasn't the facility at all but it was a good excuse at least. All this talk of her own past made her feel vulnerable and nervous about how things would play out; two feelings she hated to feel and it was hard to just bury them like she wanted to.

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina

Niko could feel Tahra's gaze switching from the road to him and back, it seemed she had a lot on her mind, and wasn't sharing it. He knew how that felt, it had been really hard for him to grow comfortable with being around Sophie. At first it had been dreadful, dealing with her bubbly personality, but the girl had offered him a helping hand when no one else had. Given how Niko was back then, he was lucky Sophie had been so kind. He doubted he would've lasted long had he not met her. He could see their destination looming in the distance, the sight was enough to make him squirm in his seat. The structure hadn't changed much on the outside, it was the same alabaster white, and it was lit up like a Christmas tree, thanks to all the security lights. "There it is..." he muttered softly, he was only half paying attention to Tahra at that point, as his mind was torn between the present and the past.

He remembered being dragged through those doors and tossed in a cage, the fact he was going back willingly had his shaken. He felt his chest tighten, and hoped and prayed he wouldn't suffer an attack while they were working. They couldn't afford any mistakes. Those would get them caught, and that was the same as dying. Tahra's voice was enough to draw Niko from his thoughts, shaking his head he turned to the driver as she spoke of her past. The two had a lot in common, both ha chosen a risky path in life at an early age out of need. Niko had done it for himself, Tahra for her only living family, who she later lost. Niko sighed and shook his head. "You don't have to tell me about the hunters...they always have a way of finding us..."

Which was why sticking together was a good idea...however he wasn't going to bring that up again. At this point, he couldn't help but feel she was trying to convince herself that they needed to separate. Niko looked Tahra in the eyes. "...I get it Tahra...you don't have to repeat yourself. When this is done, you'll never have the displeasure of seeing us again" It came out harsher than he'd meant it, but the fire dragon was nervous, and when he got nervous, Niko tended to lash out at people. As soon as the words were out he regretted them, and his harsh features fell. "...Look...I'm sorry...I just..seeing this place..." he looked toward their destination. "...Brings up unpleasant memories..but trust me...I get it..." he chuckled humorlessly. "When we're done, we'll be gone, and you can go back to your life. Let's just focus on getting this done"

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey​

Displeasure? The thought repeated in her mind as her brows scrunched together with the words Niko said. Tahra never said it wasn't fun or that she didn't enjoy spending time with them; only that it wouldn't be safe for them to stay around. So how did he come up with that? As he was trying to cover it up with an apology and blame it on the facility, Tahra pulled the car into a parking spot along the street just out of camera shot from the facility. "Let's go." Tahra didn't say anything else, her face becoming unreadable as the car was turned off before she got out. He wanted to focus on this so fine, she'd focus. It was things like these moments that she didn't like opening up to people. Even just the slightest bit was too much and she had to live with that. The whole point was to get them to hate or, or at the very least not like her, so that way they wouldn't try to stick around. Maybe it worked with Niko at the very least, even if he claimed it was because of the building they were walking towards. Although...damn it all, why was she still thinking about it? Now wasn't the time to let her mind keep wandering; one slip up and it'd be over for the two of them and she couldn't let that happen.

"Follow me closely so you know where to go when there are cameras nearby. I'll signal you at times when it's safe for you to follow but while we're outside it's fine. Getting in will be the easiest part." Tahra forced her focus back to the work at hand, then pulled out her phone to check something. Not too far away along the side of the building was an entrance reserved for some of the chefs and personal trainers that the facility owners hired for the researchers. All to make sure they had a healthy balance in their lifestyle since the researchers were stuck staying in the building likely all the time. There was a code box on the left hand side, along with a card reader that was meant for some kind of badge. Well that was easy enough to get past. Tahra pulled out a small cord attached to a key card and hooked it in to her phone; the phone was then brought to the code box and a program on the phone brought up a black screen with light blue letters and numbers dancing across it. It took a few seconds to find the password but when she did, she punched it in to the code box and then slid the fake card through the card reader. A green light appeared on the box followed by a click of the lock on the door. It was easy and untraceable, just like the rest of the work she did.

"We won't have much time so we'll have to make it fast. There's no way to avoid the cameras in the building but we'll be going the quickest route to your scale. Stay alert." Tahra whispered the words out before motioning for him to go in first. She'd take the lead again once they were inside but she just wanted to make sure the lock wouldn't close off after them. They had to have some kind of escape route and this was their best bet without blasting a whole through the entire building; that'd cause way too much attention to be put on them but it was a decent last resort at least.

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina

Niko half felt he should keep apologizing, but there was no time for that now. They were here, and it was time to go to work. The fire dragon took a breath to steady his nerves before getting out of the car. He had to focus now, or else everything would fall apart. His chest tingled, and he scratched at his scale, unconsciously tracing the scars left behind. They were so close now, he would finish apologizing when he had his scale back and they were home safe. Once this was taken care of, they could decide on what to do next. Niko nodded as Tahra said to follow closely, and did as he was asked, moving quickly and silently.
He had no idea how Tahra was tricking the id scanner, and he didn't rightly care, all that really mattered was where to go once they got inside.

When the green light showed, he took another breath. "Alright...let's make this quick then...I want to get back before Sophie and Kaito realize we're gone" he offered the other dragon a shaky smile, and silently hoped once again that he'd be able to keep it together. However, he could feel an uncomfortable amount of tightness in his chest, and that was almost always a sign of some sort of attack. He was just going to have to deal.
"We should move quickly...I'd rather not faint in the middle of this"

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey​

A nod was given silently, knowing that it would be for the best if they could make it home before either of the other dragons woke. Somehow Tahra doubted that very much but it was still a possibility. The fact that Niko was worried about having an attack now of all times just drove the fact that they needed to hurry more to home. Another nod was given before she slid past him and began to lead the way further into the facility. Her phone stayed out and the blueprints of the building were left up so that she could easily guide them to the fastest route. The pace she picked was fast and stealthy, always keeping an eye out for any scientist that might be passing by or in rooms that they passed; she also glanced back now and then to Niko just to make sure he was able to keep up, as best he could anyway. There were a couple of times that they had to practically crawl past a room that had a half glass wall just to avoid being seen. Overall though, it was only a few different halls that they had to go to before they reached their next and final target: another key code with an id scanner and a big fat 'restricted' plaque hanging on the side of the door.

"This is it." Tahra didn't dare say the words louder than an inaudible whisper so she made sure to mouth the words more so he could understand. If he paid attention. Whether he did or didn't, Tahra wasn't sure as she went straight to trying to crack the code. This one turned out to be a bit more difficult than the first couple they had passed; must have been because of that one scientist friend of Niko's or something. Still, she kept at it and after a couple of minutes finally managed to crack the code. A triumphant smile crossed her lips as she slid the card through the reader, the green light popping up shortly after. As the door slid open, Tahra took a deep breath before she made a motion to the room beyond the door. "Your scale is in here. The sooner you get it attached, the better you'll feel." Tahra did her best to sound as indifferent as she could and avoided looking at him all together. "There's sensors running along the tiles of the floor but so long as you're tiptoeing it, you should be fine. I already disarmed the other precautions they put in the room."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ​

Nicholas sat in his room, a cigarette hanging lazily from his mouth and his eyes fixated on the handgun on his desk. He had been cleaning it out of habit more than anything but there was something gnawing at the back of his mind. Something wasn't right, he could feel it in his gut and his gut was usually right. Taking a drag of the smoke, he glanced towards his door for a moment before deciding he'd actually get up to check it out. The handgun was placed back into his holster at his side and his shotgun was set to rest against his back. Once he was sure he was armed, he left the room and headed down the hall. Everything seemed normal. The scientists were working, Mai was where he left her, Sahara and Livia were in their rooms. So why did he have that feeling? Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he continued down the halls for a few minutes until he finally made it to the security room. The officers in the room were quick to stand up and greet him but he ignored them in favor of looking over the monitors.

"Everything's fine sir, nothing's been triggered or anything. And those girls have been in their room too." One of the officers stated lazily as he plopped back down in his chair. All Nicholas did was grunt as an answer, his eyes glued to the screens as he looked them over. His eyes narrowed when he thought he saw something run across one of the screens but by the time he zoomed in to see, whatever it was had been gone. A bug? Or perhaps...

"Hey." Nicholas snapped his finger to get the men to be at attention, their eyes focusing on the screens like the hunter was now. "If everything's fine, what the hell do you call that?" The hunter had finally noticed it, the two people right outside of one of the most secured places in the entire facility: the one housing the heartscale the scientists were working on. Yet as secured as it was, whomever that redhead was...wait. Nicholas' eyes narrowed even further when he recognized the woman's face as the one from the picture they had. "Get in contact with the senior researchers, just tell them it's an emergency. Do not tell anyone else of what is going on, do you understand?" Nicholas spoke sharply, a glare sent to the officers until they quickly nodded their heads. His gut was always right but he was cursing himself for not listening to it earlier. If something happened to that scale...no, this was a good opportunity. Those dragons were idiotic thinking they'd get away with taking the scale so easily. Turning on his heel, he left the room quickly and pulled out his cell. He dialed both Sahara and Livia by doing a three-way call and waited until he heard both of them answer. "Gear up and meet me at the stairwell. Now." It was all he ordered but the urgency in his tone should be enough to get them to know they needed to be quick.

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina

Niko followed after Tahra, moving as quickly as he could. However, the more he moved around, the sicker he felt. The room started to tilt as they snuck through the halls, so he wasn't moving as fast as he would've liked. However, it seemed the security in this place was a lot more lax once you were inside, they didn't come across any guards or anything. They did however, come across a few glass walls, which they had to crawl under to avoid. Moving to the floor and back made his stomach twist, but Niko forced himself to move forward. Stopping now would mean capture, and that meant death. Not only for him, Tahra was risking her life to help him, he refused to get sick now. By the time they reached the security door, he was looking paler than normal. Shaking his head, he only half hard Tahra as she spoke. However, he could sense his scale beyond the door, and he fidgeted, waiting for her to open the door. "Just a little further, keep it together..." he said softly under his breath.

And then, the door was open. Niko looked to Tahra and grinned. "Thank you" he mouthed the words before heading in, being careful to tiptoe to avoid setting off the sensors in the floor. He could feel his scale was close by, it felt like it was calling to him...
Walking through the door, Niko found himself in a large, dim room. There was a monitor station on the left side, the right had a large glass window, which served to divide the room in half. On the other side, sitting on a pedestal, was his scale half. His eyes lit up when he saw it, moving as fast as he dared Niko made his way to the other door. Grabbing the handle he swore as he found the door was locked. "Fuck!" he looked back toward where Tahra was and shook his head. Fuck it, he thought.

They were bound to be noticed by now, he wasn't leaving without that scale...

_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
Mai Acantha

Mai looked up as her monitor started to blink. Someone had opened a security door, leading to the... Her eyes went wide as she saw a familiar face slip past the door. "..Niko?" she mouthed the name softly as she stood, abruptly. What was he doing here? How did he even... Then she saw the other face, instantly recognizing it as the dragon who had escaped earlier. Mai paled. Oh no, oh no oh no oh no... She wanted to rush to the scene, but knew better. She was being watched...as per usual. Everyone in the research room was being watched, and Mai wasn't supposed to have access to the security feed. She liked to monitor the scale however, as she was one of the heads on it's study. She also liked to ensure no one who wasn't supposed to be around it got in. If she were to react. She took a breath to calm her nerves. There was nothing she could do right now, but watch, wait, and hope. Hope Niko and his friend would be able to escape in one piece. She would do what she could to aid them. Perhaps triggering a few security details? She could always blame it on the girl's hacking later on...

Mai watched on her laptop as Niko moved into the observation room, where the scale fragment was kept, safe behind a glass wall, which kept the room clean and cool, preserving the fragile scale. The door was locked, it seemed his friend hand't opened it yet. Mai looked around for a moment ensuring no one was paying her any mind. She typed for a few seconds and the door went green and swung open.
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
Sahara Cephres

Sahara grabbed her phone off the bed, seeing it was their boss, she answered it with a non nonchalant "What's up?" Upon hearing her orders she jumped to her feet and grabbed her gear. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she had a feeling it was pretty big. Excitement rushed through her veins as she raced out the door.

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey​

Tahra waited until Niko was in then looked around the hall to make sure no one was around; only once she knew it was just them did she follow him in to the room itself. A quick glance showed that they were taking extra precaution to preserve the scale as long as they could. Truthfully, the fact that it was still intact was still surprising given how they seemed to be researching the hell out of it. Shrugging the thought aside, her attention was drawn to the curse falling from Niko's lips. The glass door was likely locked but it would be pretty easy to break that considering how easy the rest of it had been so far. Tahra waved her hand towards him, silently telling him to calm down as she made her way over to the card reader once more. Right as she was about to connect into it to break the code, the red led turned green and the door swung open. Green eyes narrowed as she stared at the door before glancing up towards one of the cameras in the room.

"Someone knows we're here." Tahra spoke quietly with an edge to her tone since she didn't really like the idea that someone was keeping their eye on them. Yet despite that, not a single guard had come to stop them. Maybe whomever it was was trying to help? Like that Mai person...or it could be a trap. Tahra mentally debated with herself for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Whether it's a trap or not is irrelevant. We're taking back that scale." After the redhead spoke, she stepped through the now open door and looked around. So far so good. A couple more steps in and she realized nothing was happening, so she quickly waved towards Niko. "Hurry, we need to leave as soon as possible."

⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹

​

Livia Hayes
​

The moment that Livia had gotten the call, she had lazily rolled over on the bed to answer it as she'd been trying to sleep. A quiet 'hello' was given since she was still trying to be polite even though she didn't know who was on the other end of the call. She just forgot to check but the moment she heard their mentor's voice, she bolted up right. "Yes, sir." Livia answered before tossing her phone to the bed and going to grab her gear. In record time she was decked out with everything she thought she'd need -which mostly consisted of her weapons- then she was out the door. Her phone had been grabbed of course as a precaution in case it was needed. Jogging slightly, she made it to the stairwell in time to see Nicholas standing all geared up with several of the guards decked out with weapons as well. Her brows furrowed slightly but Nicholas raised his hand towards her to keep her from asking anything. At least not until Sahara showed up and only then did he make a motion for the girls to follow him.

"There's been a security breach." The first words he spoke caused Livia to straighten up a bit more, momentarily wide-eyed before her brows furrowed together. Who would dare try to break in to this place? It was the most secured of all the research facilities. "Two dragons. One is the redhead that was almost captured earlier and the other is currently undergoing scanning as we speak. We'll know who he is soon enough. They're going after the heartscale though so we're going to put a stop to them before they leave this place. Do not-" Nicholas paused in their walk down the stairs to stare sternly at each of the women. "-I repeat, do not kill them. They are to be captured alive, per orders of the Director. If you have to use your regular gun, go for a spot on their body that will keep them down. The legs would likely be the best spot in this case." Once he had finished that, he turned back to leading the group down the stairs. Waiting for them at the end of the stairs was two researchers, one of them holding a gun that Livia didn't recognize. It looked far too advanced for something that could be gotten out on the streets so she had a feeling she knew what it was.

"It's still in the works but....after hearing there was an emergency from security, we thought this would be a good way to test the weapon. We need to know if it functions or not and I can only imagine that something is going on regarding the heartscale. You don't need to tell us if you don't want to, just take this as a just in case." The female researcher spoke while the male held out the weapon to Nicholas; the very weapon that they'd been spending so much time on trying to perfect despite all the bumps along the way. Nicholas eyed it for a moment, then slowly nodded his head and took the gun from them. "Let's go." He made a motion towards the group, mostly to Livia and Sahara then turned on his heel to head towards the room that the scale was in.

 

[StarryKnights]

Mai Acantha
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
​

Mai watched as a group advanced on the room, and she paled when she saw the weapon one of the, the senior hunter that had arrived that day with Sahara, was carrying. "No..no no no" she whispered softly to herself. Not that, anything but that, no no no. One hit from that thing could kill either one of them...but especially Niko. Given it was developed from his scale. She had to stall them...somehow. She typed furiously on her keyboard, she couldn't access the gun from her laptop, but she could manipulate the security doors. The one outside the scale's containment room slammed shut and locked, the system registered a foreign threat and went on lock down. Mai was able to hide her tracks, when this was all said and done, it would look like the hacker from before, who they were pretty certain was the red head, was behind it. "Hurry up you guys..." she muttered to herself as she typed a few more commands, this time she opened the container the scale was in.
Niko didn't have time to waste trying to break it open. The door would only hold for so long, but if they were quick, they could escape through the ventilation shaft in the room.

Sahara Cephres
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
​

Sahara jumped the stairs, she was too excited to simply walk, and she came to a skittering halt beside Livia a few moments after the other hunter arrived. Looking over the men and their gear, she could tell something big was going down. And boy was she right. "Oh this is so..." she chuckled. "...Exciting" she smirked, looking to Livia as they followed after Nicholas. As the senior hunter was handed the weapon, the group was approached by a different researcher, this one was a woman, who looked to be in her mid forties. She had jet black hair and stern blue eyes. "We have an identification on the second dragon..." she spoke as she walked along side the group. She held a tablet in her hands, which she used to pull up an old file. "From what we can tell...this male dragon was once held here. It's the dragon we took the scale off of in the first place" she skimmed a few lines before looking to Nicholas.

"Our tests were showing that with the scale damaged, the dragon was severely weakened, before we could test the full extent of its abilities, it escaped" The escape had left half the research center a charred pile of rubble. "Needless to say, is you are aiming not to kill, you will have to be careful with that one, it is already weakened. Should it be captured alive, we'd have access to a complete heart scale" Her eyes flickered to the weapon Nicholas held. "...Which would allow us to complete the work my niece has been doing in her father's stead" she looked to Nicholas and then to Sahara and Livia. "So, as I'm sure your aware...it is imperative that we capture these two alive...and if you can" she looked to Nicholas. "...Use this, but ensure you have a clean shot, as the ammo is very expensive". She smiled, they were approaching the door, behind which two valuable test subjects were holed up. So long as the security system held, they wouldn't be able to get to the scale.
Sahara grinned, to say she was excited for her first encounter with an actual dragon was an understatement.

Niko Medina
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+​

Niko looked back as Tahra spoke, but then, there was a beeping sound from the pedestal the scale sat on. *Security Locks Released* A mechanical voice sounded over the intercom. Niko grinned, the dragon was hardly stable on his feet. "I can take a....guess" he chuckled. It seemed their eye in the sky was looking out for them. "It's probably just Mai..." he said softly as he moved toward the pedestal. Sitting on top of a small clear stand was the scale fragment that had been stolen from him all those years ago. It was the same tarnished red color that Niko's had, but the edges were much darker,, and small fragments appeared to have fallen off over time. Separate from its's dragon, the scale had slowly been dying, and the experiment done on it hadn't helped. There was a small portion missing entirely, but Niko didn't care. Reaching out, his fingers brushed the scale, only to recoil as the edge turned to dust at his touch. He blinked and took a deep breath as a wave of nausea washed over him. He couldn't afford to get sick right now... His chest ached, it was as if his scale could sense it's other half was nearby.

Carefully, ever so carefully, Niko cupped the scale, lifting it from it's perch he just stood there, holding it in his hands for a moment. He could hardly believe he was here, holding it after all this time. A wave of emotions hit him. Happiness, anger, regret, rejoice. But there was no time for celebrating. With his free hand, he pulled up his shirt, revealing the mangled mess of his heart scale. The fractured scale pulsed gently with an orange light, Niko moved to hold the scale up to his chest, but a searing pain hit him like a flash, sucking the air from his lungs. Niko slid to the floor as the effort of standing became too taxing for him. he leaned against the pedestal and held the missing portion up to his heart scale, the closer the two got, the more it burned. Normally heat didn't bother him, but the searing sensation was akin to how he'd felt the day they'd removed it. his breaths came in short pained gasps as he looked up at Tahra. "..I-I can't...you...do it..." he held up the scale fragment toward the other dragon. "...Please"

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey​

A suspicious glare was sent to the lock surrounding the heartscale when all of a sudden it opened for them also without them having to do anything. As much as Tahra and Niko both felt it was Mai doing it to help them, a part of her couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. It was too easy. She kept the thought to herself though and stayed where she was to more keep a lookout than anything. She ended up glancing Niko's way as he was getting the scale but quickly turned her gaze away again. She actually felt happy, really happy in fact that he was getting his scale back. Maybe it'd help his own confidence come back and he wouldn't keep thinking so negatively about himself. But why was she worrying about that right now? Out of annoyance, Tahra blew a puff of air to move some of her bangs that were bothering her eyes. She just needed to focus on getting them out of her and- the sound of something dropping to the ground caused her to jump a little and turn her surprised gaze back to the other dragon. "Niko?" She dared to call his name a bit louder than she normally would have on any mission. All too quickly she hurried over to his side and dropped to her knees with a look of concern on her features. It didn't take long for her to piece together that it was too difficult for him to attach the scale by himself.

"A-all right, all right." Tahra took the scale as she nibbled slightly on her inner lip, not quite liking the idea of this at all. The pain must be excruciating but the sooner it was attached again, the sooner he'd end up feeling better. "Hold my hand, okay? You can squeeze if you want to but don't focus on the pain." As she said this, her free hand reached out to take the one of his that had just been holding the scale. Taking a quick breath to steady herself, she gave Niko a nod to show she was going to do it. Her hand squeezed his in an attempt to be reassuring while her other hand moved to set back the scale against his chest. She could feel the heat burning against her hand from the scale and it made her wonder just how much more amplified it would be for Niko. Biting back the pain, she pressed on until she could set her palm flat against his chest. A bright glow began to emit from it and a smile grew on her lips. "Niko-" Tahra had wanted to congratulate him on getting his scale back despite how they should probably start focusing on getting out of here. Maybe she was even thinking about admitting that she was scared to stay with them because of her job. Yet all those thoughts she was having died away when searing, sharp pain shot into her lower back. Tahra cried out from the pain and doubled over on the floor in front of the other dragon; what looked like a scorching burn mark was spread along the whole of her lower back, smoke rising up from it. From her blurred vision, she could see a large group of armed people enter the room and her eyes widened when she saw one in particular.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹
​

Livia Hayes
​

Nicholas eyed the tablet, glancing over the information of the dragon as the other scientist was explaining about who he was. The very dragon that the scale belonged to survived this long with only a partial scale. How interesting. "Should either one of them be captured alive, you'd have a complete scale to work with. The female would have one also." The male scientist remarked, just to get the point across that they wanted both dragons alive and well for testing purposes. Livia eyed the man for a moment but the thought she had been having was set aside. It wasn't her place to wonder about what kinds of experiments they did on the dragons; it shouldn't matter since they were just beasts anyway and the hunters needed to know the best way to kill them. So then why was she feeling like they weren't being told the whole truth? There was a nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't quite get rid of so she just chalked it up to being nervous. Shaking her head, she stood a bit straighter and focused more on what was being said.

"I'll only use this if there's a perfect shot. Don't worry your pretty little head." There was a bit of sarcasm in Nicholas' tone as he eyed the woman that explained things before waving his hand slightly. "Stay out of this though. Keep your distance until I tell you it's safe." One of the guards with him paused in his step so that he could stop the scientists from continuing to walk with them. Only once he managed to convince them to go back to their rooms did he turn and run to catch up with the rest of them. It didn't take long before they reached the room where the scale was being held but much to his annoyance, the door was on lock down for whatever reason. Nicholas stared at it for only a moment before one of the other guards with him stepped up to the plate. They pulled out a card reader with several keys on it and punched in a few different codes to get the door unlocked. The man wa far from being as clever as this dragon seemed to be but he had access codes to the entirety of the facility as a just in case scenario. Which just so happened to be this one. With the door now open, Nicholas stepped in first and readying the new weapon in his hands. He crouched a bit and stealthily walked over to the door of the glass partition; he could see the redhead's body covering the male's so she would have to do. With a carefully aimed shot, the experienced hunter fired off a round of the new weapon. A bright blue ball of what looked like energy shot from the gun and managed to catch her right in the back. Smoke billowed out from the gun now, which likely meant it had to have time to recharge. Or something. Nicholas didn't particularly care and hooked that weapon to his back in favor of having his shotgun now.

"Well, well. Niko Medina, is it?" Nicholas kept both his attention and his weapon aimed at the male since the female was on the ground now. "We would have found you regardless of where you ran, so you did us a favor with your idiocy by coming back. You have no place to run, so there isn't a chance for you to escape this time. Surrender quietly and we won't have to be forced to bring you in." In truth Nicholas hated the idea of having to capture them alive; killing them was so much easier and so much more rewarding. Still, he had his orders and he'd stick with them. The redhead moved slightly, tugging on Niko's sweat shirt.

"The ventilation shaft." The word was whispered out so that only the other dragon could hear thanks to their enhanced hearing. "Get out through there. I'll follow you, I promise. I have a plan." Tahra was forcing herself to sit up, though she doubted she'd be able to keep the promise. The pain was one of the most excruciating she had felt in her life and walking -let alone crawling- didn't seem like something she could do right now. If Niko didn't listen though, she'd just have to force him to.

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+​

Niko handed off the scale fragment, wincing as a wave of pain hit him. It felt like it had back then, as though someone had a jack hammer over his chest. He could sense the scale's presence, but the closer it got, the more extreme the pain became. If Tahra hadn't been there, he probably wouldn't have been able to reattach the scale. His green eyes were focused on Tahra as she spoke, as that was all that was keeping him coherent. He nodded as she spoke, and squeezed her hand as she took his free one. He squeeze as hard as he could, and the scale wasn't even attached yet. God this sucked, he cursed the fuckers and the place that had taken his scale. He cursed the hunters for putting him in this position, and putting Tahra at risk. No doubt someone had to be coming by now...Mai would probably do her best to buy them time, but there was only so much the kid could do. If she stepped out of line, then she would be in danger as well.

"J-just do it" Niko whispered softly, he locked eyes with Tahra and took a deep breath. The sooner this was over with, the sooner they could escape. He closed his eyes, wincing, as the scale got closer, the burning sensation grew stronger. His eyes flew open and he gasped as the scale made contact with his chest. he fidgeted where she sat and his grip tightened on Tahra's hand, so much so his knuckles started turning white. Tears formed in his eyes as he sucked down a breath, but there was no stopping now. He felt as though the pain would burn him from the inside out, it was a surreal and terrifying experience, to feel as if his own element might kill him. However, just when he felt he might not hack it, he felt Tahra's hand against his chest. Niko's breaths came in labored gasps, slowly the burning pain ebbed away.
It was replaced by a warm, comforting feeling, and Niko felt his strength returning to him. He grinned, looking down to his complete scale and then back up to Tahra.
"Tahra-"
He'd wanted to thank her, to hug her, hell maybe even kiss her, but then, he spotted the hunters sneaking in. But it was too late, one got a shot off, a bright blue energy ball, which felt familiar to the fire dragon struck Tahra in the back, ripping a cry from her lips before she fell into his lap.
Niko's eyes went wide as he reached out toward Tahra. "T-Tahra...?"

Sahara Cephres
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+​

Sahara couldn't believe what the other scientist was telling them, but apparently, the dragon that had escape some years ago had returned. She couldn't help but peek over the woman's shoulder to get a glimpse, but what she saw made her do a double take. She knew that face...she knew... She blinked, rubbed her eyes and looked one last time to ensure that it was indeed the face she remembered. It was, she would never forget the face. Those cold green eyes. Sahara's hands balled into fists, she grit her teeth in an effort to keep from shouting. She would recognize that face anywhere. How could she ever forget the face of the man who'd killed her younger sister?
It had happened some time ago, Sahara had been out with her younger sister, Lillian, who was her little shadow. The two did everything together, despite the four year age gap between them. They'd gone to the movies, and were walking home, it had gotten late, as the movie had been longer than they'd expected. Sahara had decided t take a shortcut, and the two turned down an ally, walking through it cut their distance in half. Everything had been fine, until they were approached by a couple of shady looking dudes wearing dark, ratty sweatshirts.
Everything had happened so fast, one second they were demanding her purse, and the next....
There was a bright flash of light, as one of them hurled a ball of fire at them.

Sahara had done her best to shield her sister, and had the scars to prove it on her back, however. Lilly had died some time later due to complications from her burns. Sahara had lived, and soon was questioned by the company she now worked for. Turns out, there was a special unit that existed solely to investigate and cover up any attack a dragon made on a human. After everything had been squared away, or in this case, paid off. Sahara had demanded a chance to work as a hunter. That day, she'd lost the lost precious person in her life. And she was going to learn everything she could about the monster responsible., so one day, she could watch the thing suffer and die. Her mother the socialite was blissfully unaware of Sahara's line of work, and her father didn't care. The woman could hardly believe her luck, shed never expected to find the dragon so quickly. She chuckled darkly, and smiled at Livia. "...This just got a whole lot more interesting" she said softly before following Nicholas to the room where the dragons were hiding.

Mai watched as the group made their way down the hall, despite her best efforts, the door was opened within a matter of moments. She looked from one camera to another, watched Niko and his friend. Then Nicholas moved into position and lined up the shot. She winced as the gun fired, hitting the girl in the back. She slumped to the floor, and Niko sat there, frozen for a second, Mai could practically hear the gears turning in his head as he pieced together what had happened.
"Y-you bastard" he growled, looking up at Nicholas, who now had a shot gun trained on him. "You fucking..." Niko growled and slowly, moved to get to his feet. He was shaky but with each passing second he could feel his strength returning. Truth be told he couldn't remember the last time he felt so...secure.
His eyes jumped from the man at the center, to a taller woman at his side as she stepped forward and trained a pistol on him. Now she...looked familiar, and from the angry look in her eyes, Niko guessed, somehow, they had met. He grinned.

That probably hadn't ended well for her. "...I'll kill all of you" he growled lowly, his hands balled into fists. The temperature in the room started to rise as it reacted to Niko's powers. "Starting with you" he glared at Nicholas.
The only thing that prevented him from leaping for the guy's throat was Tahra, who grabbed at his sweater as she pushed herself up. "Tahra...I, I won't..." he said, low enough so only she could hear. he wasn't going to leave her... But...
Logically, he knew he couldn't take these people on, he knew that was a fight he was going to lose. But Tahra was lying, she didn't have the strength to follow him. The seconds ticked by, the air was tense as Niko struggled to make a decision. Fight or flight?
Fight and lose, or flee and leave her behind?

Suddenly, the lights flickered, and then went out. That was the only thing Mai could think of that might've helped. Her screen went dark, and sense the security system didn't pick up sound, she had no idea what was happening.
"What the FUCK" Sahara swore, and Niko ducked as she fired, blind at where she thought he was. A bullet grazed his shoulder, causing him to hiss in pain.
Thanks to his dragonic heritage, he could see just fine in the dark. Looking to Tahra, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer so he could whisper in her ear. "I'll come back for you...so don't you dare die on me, got it?" Pulling away, he took a breath before forcing himself to his feet. Clasping his hands together, he pulled them apart, and produced a bright ball of flame which illuminated the dark room. In the instant before the hunters had a chance to react, he tossed the flames at their leader, before bolting toward the ventilation shaft. By the time Mai had the lights back online, he'd pried the grate off and was gone, leaving behind a ring of flames, which for the moment prevented the hunters from getting to Tahra.

 

[pyreshadow]

Tahra Casey and Livia Hayes​

The reaction from the male dragon was expected and Livia was quick to have her handgun aimed at the one Nicholas called 'Niko'. It was starting to get hot in the room, which made her think that the dragon before them was a fire dragon. She didn't see the report that Nicholas had looked over so she couldn't be a hundred percent sure but she was pretty sure. The threat of him killing them all caused her to glance over to the experienced hunter before instantly bringing her gaze back to the dragons. The chuckle from Nicholas made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up some and she certainly didn't like where this was going. It seemed like the redhead was stopping Niko from doing anything though; Livia could see the lips moving but the angling prevented anyone from reading what she was saying. "Sir." Livia glanced over to Nicholas again, silently asking him what they were supposed to do at the moment. He gave her a nod, indicating it was time to take them out. Right as Livia aimed once more at the male, the lights faltered then shut off all together. It was completely dark in the room but the sound of Sahara's shouting followed by gun shots made Livia jump slightly. She shot off a couple of rounds randomly in the direction she had been pointing to but had a feeling it was pointless. She wasn't the only one though, several other shots were made as well despite no one being able to see. Maybe at least one would hit its mark?

The sudden movement of being pulled close to Niko elicited a small gasp from Tahra as well as her cheeks turning a shade of red. She had been so caught up in trying to figure out what to do after Niko left that she hadn't been paying as much attention as she should have to her surroundings. Not that it mattered since the warmth that she felt could only be caused by Niko; he was a fire dragon after all but...maybe there was something more to it than just that. There wasn't much time to think on it though as her head quickly shook. "D-don't...! Just get out of here and be done with it." Tahra wasn't sure if he heard her or not but a part of her doubted he did. Her eyes followed him as he pulled away, being one that could see in the dark as well. Not all dragons could but the majority of them could. The flames brightened the room suddenly and in a flash of heat, Niko disappeared into the ventilation system. Tahra eyed it for a moment, swallowing down the nervousness she felt before she bit back the pain as much as she could. She attempted to force herself to a proper sitting position but even the slightest of movements brought about more pain; that shot really did a number on her by getting her in such a spot. The lights turned back on a few seconds later, right as the flames died away leaving nothing left between Tahra and the hunters. A fierce glare was on Nicholas' face when he realized it was just her.

"Go. Search the perimeter, do not let him escape." He ordered and three-fourths of the guards left in a hurry to begin searching for Niko. He made a motion for Livia and Sahara to wait though, then turned his attention to Tahra. Stepping through the door, he walked a few more steps before bending down to be at eye level with her. An intense glare of her own was given to him but little did he know that she was already working on something; vines and roots were growing rapidly beneath the building and trying to force their way through the concrete even as they stared at one another. "You...." There was a sudden realization on Nicholas' features before he got up quickly and stepped backwards. Without waiting another second, he pulled out the tranquilizer gun and shot Tahra twice with it. There wasn't anything she could have done since she couldn't move and the connection she felt with the earth faded quickly. "Take her to the cell but tie her down. Only use plastic, nothing metal." Nicholas ordered and despite the questioning look on their faces, the remaining guards nodded and moved in to surround the dragon. Out of instinct, Tahra lashed out with her claws extended and managed to nip one of the guards' arms. It was so hard to stay awake but she'd be damned if she wasn't going to go down without a fight. Yet even as the thought crossed her mind, her vision blurred as the drug was taking effect and it was becoming harder to focus. Nicholas stood off to the side to give them room and only after a couple minutes of struggling were the guards finally able to get her in their grasps. They picked up her limp body and started making their way out of the room.

"Hayes. Cephres." Nicholas called their names and almost instantly Livia straightened up. "I think I might know something about that one. I have to report to the Director about my thoughts so I'm leaving the two of you in charge right now. Find out what happened with the lack of proper security and see if it was tampered with in any way. This is the most heavily secured facility in this city, I want to know how it got hacked into so easily. Report to me as soon as you find out anything." With that said, he left the two of them in a hurry with the new weapon in hand; he'd also need to report the fact that it worked better than they hoped as well. Livia watched him walk off for a moment before she bit her bottom lip slightly. Something just felt...wrong about this whole thing but she couldn't quite place what it was.

"Well...I guess we should check the security feed first? I'm not really tech savvy like that so I don't know how I'm going to help with it."

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina and Sahara Cephres
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+​

Niko was kicking himself for running away, but there was no way he could take an entire group of hunters. Maybe if he'd been outside, and able to transform. Although, transforming so soon after getting his scale back probably wasn't a good idea. Though he was feeling stronger, Niko could feel he wasn't at one hundred percent. That fire ball had exhausted him more than it should have, and his crawling speed was suffering because of it. Pausing, Niko panted, trying to catch his breath. As he started to move, there was a quiet voice, which seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. "You need to move faster" Niko blinked as Mai's voice sounded in the vent shaft, it seemed there were speakers all over this damn place. "Tahra has been caught, and if you don't make it outside before the guards do, you will to", Mai spoke. Niko coughed and did his best to speed up, within a few minutes he reached the end of the ventilation shaft.

"I will do my best to help Tahra, but that requires you not doing anything stupid. Be careful, Niko" Mai's voice cut out, as she saw Sahara and Livia were heading her way. No doubt Sahara was going to ask her to look into the hacking. Mai, being two steps ahead, had replicated a similar virus that Tahra had used before, so it appeared that it was all her doing. She was safe, fr now, but everyone was going to be under a tight watch in light of this mess. And Tahra...would most likely be slated to die...slowly. Mai sighed and rubbed her eyes. They'd gone and shot her with the experimental weapon, which was designed to erode a dragon's heart scale. It had never been tested before, and now, there was a perfect subject. Somehow the idea filled Mai with disgust rather then excitement. Shaking her head, Mai took another breath, she would need to appear calm when Sahara and her partner arrived.

Sahara swore in what was actually Arabic as the lights came back on and Niko was gone. "That fucker" she growled lowly, she'd missed it seemed. or maybe not, she spotted what looked like blood splatters leading toward the ventilation shaft. She couldn't be sure who hit the beast, but Sahara liked to think it had been her. As Nicholas gave them their orders, she nodded, saluted, and then turned on her heel. "Mai can help us check the feed..." She said in an uncharacteristically cold voice, she didn't look at Livia, she was angry, and it was very apparent. "I cannot fucking believe that monster got away, FUCK". Sahara stomped her foot, now the two of them were outside of the room Mai had said she'd be working in. They technically weren't cleared to enter, but protocol was nothing more than an inconvenience right then. So, Sahara banged on the door, and it was opened by a startled looking man in a lab coat. "I'm sorry your no" 'We need to talk to Mai Acantha, now" she snapped at the man, who jumped at her venomous tone. He blinked and looked to Livia, and then back into the room. "One moment" he shut the door, Sahara sighed, running a hand through her hair she bit at her nails.

​

With a groan, Niko punched out the vent cover at he end of the shaft, the cool night air made hair on his skin stand on end. It didn't appear the guards hadn't made it to this portion of the perimeter, and the car was parked not far from here... Unless someone's had found it... That would be troublesome, he needed to get back to Sophie and Kaito, let them know what had happened. Everything had gone wrong, so fucking wrong. Niko slid head first out of the shaft, and landed with a thud on his back. "Owww, fuck" he sat up slowly, rubbing his now sore back. His left shoulder smarted, and there was a small blood trickle from where a bullet had grazed him. Sighing, Niko staggered to his feet. There was nothing left to do but to start running, he needed to get to the car and go before someone caught his trail. "Hang on Tahra, we'll be back for you" he looked back to the building, nodded, and took off running, toward where the car was.

 

[pyreshadow]

Livia Hayes​

Livia's brows rose from the way Sahara was suddenly acting, almost like she was a completely different person than before. This male dragon, Niko, clearly he got under the other hunter's skin for some reason. As curious as she was about it, Livia didn't say anything since her own thoughts were a jumbled mess as well. She'd always wanted to fend off the beasts from what the organization claimed to be taking over. Yet so far, she hadn't seen anything but the dragons fighting for their own lives. Or in this instance, taking back what already belonged to them. Outside of that, they weren't bringing any harm to anyone except for those that attacked first. So then why did the hunters bother them so if they were choosing to live as humans? The resolve that she had felt before taking on her first mission was starting to dwindle into thoughts of doubt and worry. Her father had always said that it was the dragons that took her mother and her baby brother away from them; yet there wasn't any concrete proof of that every time Livia tried to look more into it. She didn't say her father was a liar by any means but....the pieces didn't all add up. Even now, after witnessing what she did, they still didn't add up. Chewing on the inside of her lip, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe they were the ones in the wrong.

Hearing Sahara's cursing grow louder brought her out of her thoughts and she turned to glance the woman over again. Whatever that dragon did to her, she wanted revenge enough so badly that she was going to hinder her work. Part of the hunter's job was to remain calm and collected so they could gather the intel that they'd need easier. Sahara was letting her emotions get the better of her though. Even scaring the scientist that had answered the door by practically demanding Mai to come. "Sahara." Livia called out the other woman's name quietly, her own voice calm and her expression stoic. "Whatever happened between you and that dragon is between you but you need to calm down. If one of the higher chains of command see you, you'll be reprimanded in a heartbeat. I'm not saying let go of it or anything, just...on the outside, be calm about it." Livia was trying to still keep a friendly air about her when she spoke, trying to look out for the other woman even. It would be Sahara's own fault if she didn't listen though and Livia would report her if she continued to act the way that she was. With a glance to her phone to check the time, a small sigh left her lips before she knocked loudly on the door. "Maaaiiii! Come out already!" Livia shouted as loud as she could as more of a reminder that they were under a time crunch here; going back with no results or having Nicholas check on them with no results wouldn't be wise. A quick look around the hall showed a camera right at the edge of the door so she approached that. "Come on Mai!"

⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹ ⊹​

The guards carrying the dragon were huffing by the time that they had reached the cage she would be housed in; not because they were out of shape or anything but this sort of work was beyond their pay grade. The redhead was tossed in to the cell and rolled over near the edge of the other side due to the momentum of their throw. "Do we really have to tie her down?" One of them asked, shame filling his tone as he looked her over with an almost sorrowful expression. "She...she looks like my daughter's friend."

"Get yourself together, man. She's a freaking monster." Another guard hissed and threw his bleeding arm up in the air to emphasis his point.

"But wouldn't you do the same thing if you were trapped in a corner surrounded by people trying to hurt you?" The first one continued, not liking the idea of this at all and it was starting to aggravate the one that had gotten injured.

"Listen, pansy. You knew what you signed up for when you first got hired here, it was in the contract. Quit talking shit and help me tie her down on the mat." It could hardly be called a bed since it was practically on the ground and the mattress itself was as thin as a futon. It looked old and used even though Tahra would mark the first dragon to actually be in this cell. The third guard came back with the restraints so they tied down her wrists and legs to the edges of the bed as tight as they'd go. "All right, let's get some food or something. I'm hungry after all that work."

"No, you're going to get yourself checked out. You can't go bleeding all over the place, idiot." The third one spoke in a joking manner and caused a small sigh to come from the one that was injured. With one last look over the dragon, they locked up the cage and left while talking about what they'd be doing the rest of the day.

 

[StarryKnights]

Sahara Cephres
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+​

Sahara jumped as Livia spoke. Looking down at her partner, she glared at her for a moment, as if she was angry Livia had interrupted her brooding. Then, she sighed. "...yeah...I know" Sahara sighed and leaned against the door. "...Its so fucked up...you know" she chuckled, humorlessly. "...For all intensive purposes..we hunters are the bad guys, chasing down a species on the brink of extinction" She picked at her nails with her teeth. "And then there are those like that one" she hissed, but didn't say the dragon's name aloud, though it was obvious she meant Niko. "Who deserve all the hell we wind up putting them through" She shook her head and looked to Livia. "...Why did you become a hunter Livia...? I did it out of anger, spite and a desire for revenge...but also because I...wanted to learn more about these...things" Sahara couldn't lie, it had been so long since her sister's death, that she had given up hope on ever getting hr revenge. And then, suddenly the dragon responsible fell into her lap, tearing open a old would that had been festering in silence for years. Up until then, Sahara had been more curious about meeting a fighting a dragon then she was about having to capture or kill one.

She looked at Livia now with conflicted eyes. One the one hand, she was bitter and angry and wanted blood, but on the other, she knew that not all dragons should suffer due to one's action. Humans were supposed to be merciful creatures and yet.. They hardly acted like it. It was here Mai stepped out of the room, she looked a little pale, which made Sahara arch an eyebrow. "You look a little tired there Mai", she spoke as the girl rubbed her eyes. "I'm always tired" Mai replied in her usual dead pan tone. Thinking about the increased security she'd have to by pass in order to help Tahra was giving her headache, but she'd have to do it soon. The weapon would start attacking her scale within the day, and if Mai didn't do something about it quickly, Tahra could die, rather quickly. However, Mai couldn't voice these thoughts to Sahara and Livia, she looked to the both of them and sighed.

"...So...I heard there was a security breach?" She looked to each girl, questioningly. Sahara blinked. "How'd you know, none of the scientists were notified" Mai looked to her. "...I'm one of the project heads for the fancy gun your mentor used, the fact it was tested is the reason I was informed..." The gun had been developed using Mai's father's research. Research he had wanted destroyed, but Mai couldn't do that without drawing serious attention to herself. She did have all his work backed up on a drive, and a virus that would burn it from the company's systems, if she ever felt she could use t safely, she would.
"We need you to analyze the security system, it was malfunctioning, and the higher ups would like to know what caused it" Sahara stood upright and looked down at the girl.

Mai yawned and rubbed her eyes again, god was she tired. Sahara had never seen her looking so run down before. "...Maybe you should get some sleep kid, when this is done"
Mai chuckled at that. "...A lovely thought, but there's far too much work to be done"

 

[pyreshadow]

Livia Hayes​

What Sahara was saying should not have been said out loud even if they were all thinking it; they were hunters and they had to deal with the consequences of being a hunter. If the world knew of what they really did, then more than likely they'd call them the bad guys just like Sahara said. Endangered species were protected by the entirety of the world and dragons were endangered; only those beasts knew how to fight back and cause a hell of a lot more problems than say, a polar bear or a jaguar or something. Her eyes darted to the side when she was asked about her reasoning for joining the organization. Sahara had a real reason, one that drove a lot of people to become hunters she imagined. Hers...wasn't quite like that. "I joined...well, let's just say it's complicated. I'm not really at liberty to say." There was a coldness to her tone as she scoffed at the words, almost hearing her father say it again and again. If anyone knew about her being the daughter of the head of the hunter's organization, it could just cause a slew of problems. Yet despite that, he had still wanted her to join. There was a disdain for dragons also but it was no where near as bad as some of the other hunters. The look in the other woman's eyes made Livia furrow her brows for a moment; was she thinking something similar to what Livia had earlier? No, that was highly unlikely. Those types of feelings were taught to be buried real quick during training, it just so happened that it didn't quite leave Livia. Not that she knew until today.

Livia's thoughts stopped when the doors opened and Mai finally came out, looking busted to say the least. "Whoa." Livia couldn't help the word as it left her lips. Scientists really didn't sleep it seemed when there were things to be done. As Sahara and Mai talked, Livia looked over the shorter woman more curiously than anything; project head or not, no one should have been told about what happened except for the bare minimum people. Well, whatever; it wasn't Livia's place to question her own people so the thought was discarded. "I agree that you do need some sleep. It's not good to be skipping out on it no matter how much work you have. Just like you shouldn't be skipping meals either. Have you been eating properly?" Livia questioned with a bit of worry hanging in her tone. Before she could hear the answer though, her attention was drawn to the laughter and chuckles of the same group of guards that had taken the dragon away in the first place. They were leisurely walking down the hall, almost as though none of what transpired happened at all. Chewing on the inside of her lip again, Livia watched them and began to wonder a bit more about the dragon they had captured. Was she going to be killed? Experimented on? Studied?? All sorts of possibilities crossed her mind and none of them were any good. "Hey Mai." Livia brought her attention back to the shorter woman before continuing. "What exactly is going to happen to the dragon?" Her tone remained calm as did her demeanor, trying very hard not to show that she wasn't agreeing with how things were playing out. She was a hunter but she didn't like the idea of hunting as much as she thought she would now that she actually had a proper taste of it. Earlier when they were just following the dragons was like an adventure itself since she'd never seen one before but this....this was something else entirely.

 

[StarryKnights]

Sahara Cephres and Mai Acantha
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+​

Sahara chuckled at Livia's answer to her question. "Complicated?" she shook her head. "Everything in this line of work is complicated. The job, the risk, the rewards...and the things we have to live with" she sighed. It was all so terribly complicated. However, that was here nor there, much like Livia Sahara was worried that Mai wasn't eating or sleeping properly. Mai didn't seem to be nearly as concerned however, as she brushed off Livia's comment about her eating habits. "I am fine, I merely wish to complete my work" she said with a sigh. When that was done, she would have to contact Niko and his remaining allies and figure out a way to gt Tahra to them. This wouldn't be an easy feat, security was going to be doubled due to the live dragon in the facility, that meant in both numbers and online. Luckily for Mai, she was one of the people in charge of online security, so she could cheat the system pretty easily. She'd just have to watch out for her aunt, Dr. Main, who would be looking for any excuse to have her removed from her projects and confined to her room. The woman had been out to get Mai ever since the girl took over her father (and Main's brother) position in the company.

Mai knew the next few days would be crucial, she'd have to observe Tahra, and hope that her weapon wans't working properly. However, Mai was a brilliant young woman, so she doubted that. Lost in thought, it took her a moment to realze that Livia had asked her another question. She arched an eyebrow, as no hunter before had ever asked such a bold question. "...I'm certain your aware your not cleared to know what procedures dragon subjects under go"
Sahara rolled her eyes. "How about you just give us a little hint" Mai looked to the taller woman and then back to Livia. "...Imagine the most painful thing you can. Imagine having acid splashed into your eyes and left to seep and eat its way into your brain. Imagine having open heart surgery while conscious...imagine being held in a cage, strapped down all day" She blinked. "...What we do to these creatures is far from humane...but we are all told, repeatedly, that it is for the best and key to our survival" Lies that Mai had never believed. She looked to each hunter. "...However, I can't help but wonder how much of that you two believe"

 

[pyreshadow]

Livia Hayes​

"Yes, I'm aware that our rank doesn't permit us from knowing what's happening in classified research like this. But..." Livia trailed off as she tried to find the right words of how she was feeling at the moment. Sahara asked about a hint and Livia found that she was nodding her head in agreement. Just a little hint would be enough to satiate her curiosity. Yet despite having that thought, the more that Mai spoke the more that Livia felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach. Was that really what they were doing to the dragons? Her father approved such a thing?! Livia couldn't understand why he'd want such things done, even if it was for the sake of learning about the beasts. Maybe blood work or skin graphs or something but to go to those extremes was insane. Livia's hands balled into fists at her side as her gaze dropped to the ground. What else was her father hiding from the people? She was starting to think there was a lot that she didn't know; a lot that the whole of the organization didn't know. Her thoughts paused when she heard Mai ask about what they believed and her gaze went to the side. That was a good question; she wasn't so sure what to believe at this point.

"I think...we should get back on track." Livia's voice was quiet as she tried to hide the disappointment she felt towards the organization. In just a span of a few minutes everything she thought she knew just shattered; she didn't know what the truth was and didn't think she'd find it so easily here either. Slowly shaking her head, she made a motion to the direction of where the security office was on this floor. She needed to stop thinking about this stuff right now. "Um...how long will it take you to figure out about the breach?" Livia tried to keep the conversation back to what they were originally told to focus on in the first place. She didn't regret asking though, now she knew what really went on. She knew what that male dragon had gone through when he had been captured and what this female would end up going through too. Was this really a place she wanted to be? Ah damn, she really needed to stop thinking right now. A sigh left her lips before she began to lead the way where they should have been going. "Come on."

 

[StarryKnights]

Niko Medina and Sophie Stolts
_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+
​

Upon finding the car, Niko scrambled to get inside, Tahra had, by some miracle, left the keys in the car. Maybe it had been a precaution, maybe she'd just forgotten. Either way, he could see them, sitting on the driver's seat. Now to get into the car.
What followed was several minutes of swearing as Niko tried to break into Tahra's car. The diver's door was locked, and after about five minutes, he realized that he wasn't going to be getting it open. He stood there, huffing, glaring at the car, when he saw it. He hadn't locked his door.
Niko face palmed, walked around the car, and opened the passenger door. He was glad no one was around to see how stupid he'd been, however he was frantic. He needed to get the fuck out of here, before some of the guards arrived.
Somehow, the idiots hadn't tracked him down, and that was with the blood trail he had left by accident.

Once he climbed into the driver's seat, Niko grabbed the keys, put them into the ignition, and pulled out onto the road. He wasn't sure exactly how to get back to Tahra's place, he was hoping if he followed the road he'd get close enough to track Sophie or Kaito by scent. If not, then he was going to be lost for a while...

Sophie awoke sometime in the middle of the night, with a bad feeling. She couldn't escape the bad feeling that had hit her. Sitting up, she yawned, and stretched. Tahra had been nice enough to offer her one of her spare beds, Kaito was in the other one, on the other side of the room. She frowned, something just didn't feel right. "Kaito...are you awake?" she called, softly.

 

[pyreshadow]

Kaito Iwasa​

Kaito had been awake for some time now and just laid in the bed, hoping that sleep would come to take him. The hope was dwindling away pretty fast though since he knew it was just him and Sophie in this house right now. At first, he just got up to use the restroom and then he figured he'd go back to sleep. The silence hanging heavily in the air peeked his curiosity though so he went to Tahra's bedroom to see if Niko happened to be awake. The other male wasn't in the room at all and it looked like it hadn't been used in a little while either. That was the first red flag. A search of the house showed that neither Niko nor Tahra were anywhere to be found; he even tried to get into that computer room of hers -to no avail- and listened on the other side for any kind of movement. Just like he thought, even after several minutes there was nothing. By the time he had gotten back to the spare room they were using, he knew there was no way he'd be getting any sleep tonight. Sophie seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough and maybe that was the reason why he had hoped he could fall back asleep. No doubt some hours had passed since them with him staring at the wall or the ceiling, cursing his luck. The rustling of sheets caused him to roll onto his side and look towards the other bed; a good distraction from his wandering thoughts but not good at the same time because of who exactly it involved.

"No, I'm awake Sophie. I've been awake for some time too." Kaito breathed out a small sigh before shifting to sit upright. "Niko and Tahra aren't here." He added after a moment of silence though he figured he probably shouldn't have. Sophie and Niko were close so if she knew he was gone... well, it was too late anyway since he had already said it. "I searched the whole house for them when I first woke up but there's not a single trace of them. There isn't even a note for us or anything to say where they went." Which was a bit upsetting since he didn't want any harm to come to his fellow dragons, whether Tahra wanted to stay with them or not. He knew there were reasons for her trying to keep them away and he respected them. If it put her in danger of the hunters though, it would have been much better to stay together than to be a single dragon. "I'm starting to get a little worried. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up like something's wrong. I don't want to think something is but...I can't shake the feeling." Being a water dragon, intuition and gut feelings were what guided him in everything -even mundane day to day tasks. Intuition was key and so far in his entire life, it had never been wrong. A part of him was really hoping this time it would be but he highly doubted that.