"Hey Captain," Elez smiled smugly, stepping slowly into the kitchen while he placed down the many bags of food he had collected, while also ordering shipments of supplies that would arrive at the docks shortly.
"Afternoon Elez!" She smiled, jumping up from her seat at the table and bouncing over towards him. "Where's Zenith?" She asked, peeking around his shoulder and expecting the other boy to be there.
"Oh yeah," Elez hummed, turning around to sarcastically check his absence as well. "He got captured." He admitted, turning back towards his captain with a shrug.
"WHAT!?" She screamed, her eyes full of a dangerous mix between rage and sadness. Elez stumbled back due to the volume of her shout alone, before regretting his decision to wait so long to tell her. "We need to go now!" She ordered, rushing towards the door while Elez dropped the last of his bags and quickly ran after her.
"I know where they took him, follow me." Elez said, reaching out to take Madison's hand as soon as he caught up to her. Instantly, she grabbed onto him, before they began running close together down the many crowded streets and busy market squares. "Dammit I'm sorry," Elez admitted, watching as the Navy building appeared up ahead, before he began slowing down to a calm walking pace. "It was just a dumb competition. I shouldn't have been so happy about it." He sighed.
"It's fine," Madison hummed, looking up at the massive armoured building before them. "But no matter what we need to get Zenith back." She said, turning to look at Elez with a cold and determined glare. The Angel boy knew that this was one of the times when Madison was not messing around. Her crew meant more to her than anything else in the world; they were family to her, and she would do anything to protect them.
"Ok, I trust your lead." Elez nodded, preparing his fists for a battle. Madison nodded back at him before turning once more towards the building, surveying every wall and window for a potential entrance point.
After far too long of staring blankly at the concrete walls, Madison's impatience shone through her determination, as she transformed into her Dragon form and senselessly rammed into the wall with her body, shouldering into the concrete and shattering the bricks with brute force alone.
"A Dragon has breached the facility!" A soldier screamed, before being whipped into a nearby wall by Madison's powerful armoured tail. Slowly, she stepped through the shattered remains of her entry point, before roaring loudly into the halls of the building, signalling to Zenith that she had come for him.
"That's one way to do it." Elez laughed, stepping up to her side and raising his fists for battle. Thankfully the room they had busted into was pretty much empty, so Madison had a brief moment to transform back into her human form before soldiers began rushing into the room.
"Where's the Dragon!?" One of the soldiers yelled, looking over at their knocked out comrade before the entire group turned to look at Madison and Elez.
"You took my friend! A man who is also my crew's swordsman!" Madison growled. "Prepare to face the wrath of his Captain!" She yelled, causing all eyes to turn towards Elez, since most of the soldiers assumed that he was in fact the Captain she spoke of.
"Hey, don't look at me." Elez chuckled. "She's the Captain." He smirked, stepping back and covering himself with his wings as Madison raised her hands and allowed electricity to zap all the way around her body.
"Earth-shattering Thunderstrike!" She yelled, blasting the room full of powerful lightning and causing every single soldier in the room to shake and convulse due to the electricity that coursed through their muscles. Screams of fear and pain erupted from every single member, as the walls of the building shook and crumbled from the force of her power.
Eventually, the light died down. Madison huffed and lowered her hands, before looking up and witnessing the destruction she had caused. The entire room was shattered and destroyed, with rubble scattering across the floor and covering over many of the soldiers who had passed out or perished during her attack.
"Damn, nice job." Elez smiled, carefully stepping over the fallen bodies as he approached the hallway nearby. Slowly, Madison followed his lead, peeking around the sharp corner and watching as the corridor lay empty and lifeless ahead of them. "I guess that was most of them," Elez grinned, picking up the pace as he ran down the desolate hallways, occasionally ducking behind a corner when a panicked soldier ran past them.
"He's this way," Madison whispered, running towards an iron barred door nearby.
"How do you know?" He asked, stepping up to her side as she struggled to open the securely locked dungeon door.
"I can sense his magic," she explained, pulling on the door handle with all her might, but without her dragon form it would not budge. "This hallway is too small, I can't transform without collapsing the building."
"Step aside," Elez smiled. "I've got this." He hummed, understanding that she didn't want to crumble the building that they were all still trapped inside of. Thankfully, Elez had a better idea.
As soon as Madison had stepped back and positioned herself at Elez's side, the Angel boy turned towards the door and held his arm back, stepping forwards slightly as he slammed his knuckles against the door and sent it flying off its hinges. Madison gasped in surprise and amazement, looking up to Elez with a victorious grin while the boy chuckled in embarrassment and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.
"Perfect!" She giggled, rushing inside through the open doorway. Naturally, she failed to realise that guards were still roaming the halls of the holding cells, but as soon as she even caught sight of a gun aimed towards her, Elez zipped past and began slamming the prison guards into the walls all around them. After barely a few moments, Elez had knocked out at least twenty men, before he finally turned towards the man they had been searching for.
"What took you so long?" Zenith groaned, standing up from the floor as he walked towards the metal bars that separated them.
"If you're going to be an ass about it, maybe we should leave you here." Elez hissed, crossing his arms over his chest before noticing the strange squealing sound which Madison had begun making. "Are you alright Ca-"
"CUTE!" She squealed, reaching her arms through the bars and attempting to grab onto Pip. "Gimme the baby!" She giggled, aweing at the child as Zenith pulled Pip away from his chest and carefully passed him to Madison through the bars. Thankfully, he was small enough to easily slip through them, and his sparkling glassy orange eyes mesmerized and entertained the Dragon girl for many awe-filled moments.
"Welp, see you later Zenith." Elez chuckled, jokingly walking away while Zenith growled and shook the bars that were holding him captive.
"Don't you dare leave me here!" He yelled, rattling his cell like an angry caged animal. Within all of the noise though, Elez and Zenith were oblivious to the sound of a loading gun, allowing Madison to be the only one who heard the click.
"Move!" She gasped, leaping towards Elez as she tackled him to the ground, her ears filled with the ringing of a gunshot. Both Elez and Zenith were left speechless and scared, looking towards their Captain as she shakily held Pip close to her chest, while also protecting Elez as he lay in shock on the ground.
"My my," Captain Rettio chuckled, stepping out of the shadows nearby as he looked down upon Madison, Pip and Elez. "I was hoping to kill the Angel first, but this is far better." He smiled, noticing the blood that dripped from Madison's shoulder.
"You bastard!" Zenith yelled, punching the bars of his cell as he stared forwards at Rettio with a steely glare. Slowly, the Captain turned towards him and laughed.
"What are you going to do about it?" He asked, bursting into evil and continuous laughter. "You're trapped in a cage like a common animal, and I already threw away the key." He smiled, watching as Zenith drew his mother's sword and aimed it towards the bars of the cell. "Come now, those cells are made of the finest steel, only the King himself or the great swordsman Zorin could slice through them." Rettio laughed, watching as Zenith's blade began to glow a soft and magical red.
"Execution!" Zenith roared, swiping his blade over the bars and sending out a large shock wave of magic, only for the room to barely shake in response to his actions.
"Useless!" Rettio bellowed, bursting into fits of overwhelming and earth-shattering laughter. "You're trapped here and I'm going to kill you all!" He smiled, looking down and wiping a joyful tear from his eye, only to watch as the walls began to shake and crumble from Zenith's swipe. Overwhelming fear struck the Navy Captain, as the bars of Zenith's cage split seamlessly in half, allowing him to easily kick them down.
"You shot my Captain!" He yelled. "Now you will pay with your blood!"