The early morning dawn rose over the polluted skies. A breeze picked up as the wind howled, picking up the dry dirt from the ground. The city hadn't gotten much rain lately as the breeze died down. Trees held minimal leaves as other plants that sustained the current land lived just fine, the birch grove just to the edge of the city looked nearly leafless in the dried terrain. Soft chirping racked the ominous silence—the only sign of some kind of animal life.
A loud boom filled the air as the bird chirped in alarm and flew away. The air slowly shifted to an ozone-like feeling as it crackled with energy, leaving a young huntress looking back at the large building behind her. "Damn it, what did Victor fuck up now?" She murmured as she turned on her heel and ran back to the building.
Her strides carried her far as her blonde hair whipped out behind her. The dry dust kicked up behind her with each stride as the loud boom occurred again as she looked up at the towering building of her Corporation. "I swear to fucking God, if he's destroying his lab right now…" She growled as she darted closer. The huntress's green-ish hazel gaze narrowed as a voice called out.
"Halt! Who goes there!?" A man shouted.
"At ease General!" She hollered back.
Jasper looked toward the huntress, his tense brown gaze relaxing just a faction. "Ava, why are you back already? Did you not follow my orders of finding a sign of a nearby dragon?" He challenged. "I just heard the noise as well as feeling the bioenergy crackling, sir." Ava responded, her posture turning very rigid. He searched her gaze for any signs of a lie, his cybernetic eye reading "clear" leaving him sighing. "Care to walk with me for a moment?" He asked as he stood facing the opposite direction next to her.
"Yes, sir." She murmured.
Ava turned around as she heard his footsteps leaving her side, her posture never relaxing as he flicked the occasional glance in her direction. "You might not be my apprentice, but I still have no choice but to care." He growled, his cybernetic eye glowing an ominous red. She nodded briefly towards his gesture, glancing at him every now and then. "The Director wants answers Ava, and you know that don't you?" He questioned, his eye scanning for a lie.
"I know that sir, but amongst the midst of other governments it's become more—tricky to find these beasts, sir." She murmured.
"How true, how true." He responded with a head shake.
She glanced over to Jasper, seeing the purple heart glittering in the musky sunlight that beamed through the polluted skies. "Don't forget though, those governments are in further regions than you think they are. So don't expect to find one anytime soon." He hissed. "I know that, sir." She remarked.
The two stood outside the city's border, scanning the horizon. "Y'know what Ava? I was a bit like you once. I didn't always obey my own orders when I was just a rookie. It's something that still haunts me now, I just think about other things." He admitted with a sigh.
"Like what, sir?" She murmured, looking at him.
"I just think about protecting the Corporation, my brother that I have left. Just the little things that mean something to me."
Ava nodded in response, she knew Victor was his only living brother. Rumor about his second brother, a man she never knew about, being dead for years now. "Think about protecting your own brother, Blitzer. Just think about what might happen if you lose him if you don't protect your loved ones." Jasper nodded, his fist clenching.
His arm trembled as he shook away the thought of loss. She hesitated before brushing his arm with the pads of her fingers, trying to get him to relax. "You're always the kind one Ava, use that to help yourself and us." He reminded her. "Of course, thank you sir." She murmured.
The General stood there for a moment longer before turning around and starting back for the Corporation. "Don't you also care about your mother, sir?" She asked. "Nah, that woman doesn't give a rats' ass what happens to me really." He snorted in response.
"My apologies, sir." She whispered.
She knew about Victoria Thorne, Jasper and Victor's mother. Victoria had always thought of her as a daughter she should've given birth to. A silent tension falls between her and Jasper, her gaze narrowing as the smell of bioenergy filled the air. Before she entered the building, Jasper laid a hand over her shoulder, restraining her for a moment. "Don't ever let your guard down Ava, don't ever betray this Corporation, or you'll regret it very much if I find out." He growled in warning to her.
"Sir, yes sir!" She responded just as a figure approached from behind.
"Ava, Jasper." A voice responded.
Ava whipped around to face the person behind her. His slick jet-black hair laid there as his ice blue gaze locked on the two. "Director Blackwood." Jasper nodded in acknowledgement. Lucius nodded back firmly, glancing at Ava. "Well, did you find anything?" He asked her. "My apologies, Director, I couldn't find anything along our borders except for broken branches near the outskirts." She informed him.
"You went where I told you to not go?" He growled, his gaze hardening on her.
She hesitated to respond, her gaze lingering elsewhere. "Well?" He snapped. She winced at his voice, briefly locking eyes with him. "Y-Yes." She sighed. Jasper shook his head with a sigh. "Director, her loyalty still lies here I can see it. She probably just didn't remember where she could go." He murmured. Lucius narrowed his eyes at The General, his gaze soon relaxing briefly. "No more patrolling for you Ava, for the rest of the day. Do I make myself clear?" He snarled at her. Ava nodded in response as she passed the Director by, not willing to challenge him more.
The huntress notices two others of the Corporation, Seraphina and the Director's daughter, Lucy—looking her way. She quickly diverted her gaze as she pressed on, soon reaching the elevator. She stepped inside of the wooden interiored elevator, pressing the button to ascend to Victor's lab. She glanced down at her watch, seeing it was only nine in the morning. A small, short sounding ding sounded in the elevator as the doors opened, letting her step out. "No, no, no!" A man sighed, slamming his fist on a metal table.
"Is something amiss Dr. Thorne?" She asked.
The Architect glancing up, seeing Ava approaching his position. "Ah, Ava. Good to see you this morning," he sighed before continuing on, "everything is fine right now. Just a small difficulty of extracting the bioenergy out of the new project."
She glanced up at the massive beast that towered behind him. A silver scaled dragon stood there, certain sections of the monster, like its wings, were replaced by mechanical parts. Its dark brown gaze glowered at her as she shrank back faintly. "Project Cerulean has the most bioenergy we've ever seen in our hunts. Just the beast doesn't want to cooperate entirely, but we will get it out eventually." Victor sighed. She nodded as the monstrous creature roared in protest. "Never thought I'd see one of the beasts." She murmured. "Oh this? You'll get used to seeing these damned monsters on your hunts, although most hunters use this to control the beasts." He replied as he tossed her a large arm-band. She looked at the enlarged band, seeing a red led light blinking. "Seraphina is used to snapping one of these on them and just riding them back here."
"Really?" Ava asked, her eyes twinkling in surprise.
"You know it. This is one of her largest catches we've ever really seen!" He laughed.
She approached the massive cage that held the dragon inside of it. Cerulean growled as she got closer, its wings unfurling to make itself look bigger than it originally was. "Tell you what, you get that beast to calm down, I'll be able to extract the energy a little easier." Victor told her.
Her hands slowly pressed against the metal bars, the coldness of the steel sending chills down her spine. She glanced behind her at Victor, seeing him nodding as she opened the cage door and stepped inside. Cerulean snarled at her, its massive claws batting her into a cage wall. "Shit, Ava get out of there!" Victor cried. The beast loomed over her fallen form, its claws slowly going down above her. Her eyes slowly blinked open as she felt the weight of the dragon's claws over her. "Ava!" He hollered again. "Victor, help!" She shrieked in alarm.
The doors to his lab burst open as General Thorne, Seraphina, and Evelyn step into the lab. "Where's Ava!?" Seraphina gasped. "She went in the cage, but she's in trouble." Victor explained quickly. Evelyn noticed her trapped form immediately and gasped, growling. The guard grabbed her tranquilizer gun and attempted to hit the monster from afar, only to appear unsuccessful. "Damnit! The monster isn't going down!" Evelyn cried. "Shit, if Ava dies it's all my fault!" Victor protested in panic. "Wait, where's that armband? I have an idea." Seraphina murmured. Victor tossed her the arm-band as Jasper rushed to the cage. "Ava calm down, we're getting your ass out of there." General Thorne murmured, crouching down.
"Hurry!" Ava pleaded.
Seraphina reacted quickly to her plea and darted into the dragon's cage, slapping the arm-band over the monster. The dragon immediately stopped itself from killing her once the band was on its arm. "Evelyn, now!" Seraphina hollered. Evelyn immediately shot the tranquilizer again at Seraphina's order. Ceruleans' eyes closed as the beast collapsed onto the cage floor, leaving Ava still trapped under the monsters' claws.
Victor, Jasper and Evelyn hurried into the beasts' cage quickly. Seraphina grabbed the claws, her weight not enough. "Evelyn, Victor give me a hand." She ordered. The two come on both sides of her as they manage to lift Ceruleans' claws off of Ava, leaving Jasper grabbing Ava's unconscious figure. "She's just unconscious, but she'll be fine. Let's get her to the healer." He murmured as the three put down the claws and walked out of the cage and the lab.