It's Another Dragon

We rode the elevator to the roof of the Horikita Sky Museum, which was an exhibit in and of itself.

It was just as wide and spacious as the rest of the building, dotted with large potted plants, a few sculptures, and what was arguably the museum’s crown jewel.

A celestial azure Drake.

A hyper-realistic statue of a blue dragon standing at attention, dominating the center of the courtyard. Its legs were lean, long, and powerful. Rock-hard scales ran up and down its body, from the front of its skull to the base of its tail. Two giant wings were neatly folded on its back. Even from that distance, it loomed over us, standing at least three times the height of a tall man. It gave off an eerie feeling just looking at it.

“Captain, ze hostages!”

Aki pointed to a corner of the roof where a group of people lay unconscious. We rushed over. Just like the guards down on the ground, they all appeared to be in a magically induced deep sleep. From the corner of my eye, I caught a patch of red hair among them. I knew instantly.

Kaori.

I hurried over and turned her onto her back. Like the rest of her team, Kaori was covered in bruises and injuries. She was fast asleep, unable to respond. She didn’t even let out a groan when I tried shaking her awake.

“Well ah do declare. Fancy meetin' you here, Cap'n. Didn't reckon our paths would cross again so soon.”

That voice.

That accent.

I spun around with my agents to come face-to-face with the mastermind, stepping out from behind the dragon statue. The robber herself. Voluntina B. Widow.

“It's a pleasure seein' you again, captain.”

Without even waiting to talk, Miko immediately fired three rounds from her ice blaster.

But the spiderwoman was fast. In a blink, she’d crouched and launched herself into the night sky, landing on top of the blue dragon statue.

“Hey now, we're all friends here, li'l darlin'. Don'tcha wanna sit a spell an' talk? Have y'all plumb forgotten me?”

This time, Aki fired.

“Now, hey... jus' hold on a second, sugar. How abouts we have ourselves a li'l talk, alright?”

Voluntina dodged all of Aki's shots, simultaneously shooting back balls of silky web from her hands. Before I knew it, both girls beside me were stuck in place, glued to the ground.

“Aki! Miko!”

I moved to help free them—a single step—and then I was hit. Probably a bad idea to turn my back on the criminal while she was still directly in front of me. Not my brightest moment.

Crap.

***

“Now that ah have y'all's undivided attention, and you ain't tryin' to kill me, let me explain everythin'. So you can see ah am not what y'all think ah am.”

Voluntina paced casually in front of us, arms crossed. The sight of her many legs moving back and forth made me a little queasy.

“Ha!” I forced a laugh, part of my face still glued to the floor. “You are a wanted woman, Voluntina.”

“Ja!” Aki jumped in. “Not to mention you tried to blow us up four veeks ago.”

“And you are actively robbing a museum right now,” Miko concluded, straining against her binds. If experience had taught me anything, these webs were practically unbreakable without Aki's fire.

“Alright, ah admit,” Voluntina said, stopping her pacing. “Me leavin' y'all to die with mah homemade bomb was a bit of an oopsy on mah part.” She placed a hand on her chest as if remorseful. “But ah promise y'all, ah'm not fixin' to hurt anybody this time.”

“Big words coming from someone who brought an army of stone creatures to life with illegal magic,” I said, struggling. I was so uncomfortable. At least last time I was hanging from the ceiling. Now I was stuck to a very cold floor.

“That was mah employer's notion,” the spider-woman said. “Not mine.”

“Oh, so now you have an employer?” I taunted. “I thought your whole thing was being an entrepreneur. A solo businesswoman.”

I wasn't even sure what I was doing. She had the upper hand again, and I hated that we were out of the fight this early. Maybe I could keep her talking. Maybe someone from HQ would show up.

“Ah am still mah own woman, captain, don't you mistake that,” Voluntina continued. “But every entrepreneur requires capital. This here is jus' one of mah many sources of capital.”

“Tell yourself whatever you want, but you are still a criminal. You put these employees' lives in danger with those things you created.”

“You ain't listenin' to me, captain. Like ah said. The li'l monsters were mah boss's idea. Whah do you think none of these folks right here behind y'all have a scratch on 'em? That's 'cause ah hit every one of 'em with a healing slumber spell so the li'l monsters would leave 'em be. Same with the guards down on the ground. When ah finally entered the museum, ah left the critters in the lobby and brought every employee up here with me for their safety. So ah could keep an eye on 'em. But they were all bein' such drama queens, refusin' to come along, 'specially that red-headed woman over there. So ah had no choice but to put 'em to sleep.”

Wait, a healing slumber spell? I guess that explained the complete absence of blood on the guards and officers, despite their bruises and scratches. The magic must have sealed the wounds as it put them to sleep. But her claim about protecting them... Was she actually telling the truth?

“Anyhow, ah've talked too much. Ah gotta get goin' 'fore more of y'all show up.” Voluntina turned and began skittering towards the dragon.

“Hey!” I shouted. “What are you planning on doing?”

Ignoring me, the spider woman reached into the cross-body handbag she was carrying and pulled out a small container.

“Whah does it look like ah'm doin', captain?” she replied, reaching over to sprinkle a shimmering powder onto the head of the statue. “This scary boy is gonna serve as mah bargainin' ticket outta here. You know, for when that other officer of yours finishes breakin' free in a second an' tries to arrest me.”

This was not good. She was trying to wake the statue up using the same method she’d used on the stone gremlins. But what was she even talking about? Break free? The three of us were still stuck. Which of my officers were…

“Captain!”

At the sound of Aki shouting my name, I turned and found the blonde girl already on her feet, weapon aimed at Voluntina. Clumps of the spider-woman's webs were slowly dripping down her body.

Of course. Aki's internal temperature was still spiking from the demon trying to force its way out. Voluntina's webs couldn't hold her in that state; they’d simply melted.

A smile tugged at my lips. I couldn't believe it. We might actually have a fighting chance.

Grrrr.

Or not.

A low, guttural growl rumbled through the courtyard, shaking the air and vibrating the stone beneath our feet. I turned to Voluntina and found her slowly backing away from the statue she had just doused with an entire container of Petra-grant magic.

A thunderous crack of stone separating from stone soon followed as the beast came to life, pulling its massive legs free from the ground. Glowing blue veins rippled and pulsed with color throughout its body. The hollow sockets it once had for eyes now burned with a menacing light. Its tail lashed out, cracking like a whip. Its monstrous wings gave two great, shuddering flaps before settling back into place.

The drake, one of the museum’s most eye-catching jewels, was alive.

Aki reholstered her weapon and quickly bent down to free both Miko and me. The entire time, my eyes never left the dragon's. Not when it stretched its front legs and roared into the night—a terrifying, ear-splitting shriek loud enough to wake the dead and scare them back to death. Not even when it snapped its head in our direction and, with a single command from Voluntina, began moving towards us like an apex predator stalking its prey.

The three of us were back on our feet, thanks to Aki, but we had a new problem. A problem that was moving toward us, jaws slowly opening to reveal razor-sharp teeth and glowing blue fire.