"Yes, the dragon on deck seems to know who you are.  He said both your name and Simon's."

Dave frowned and glared up at the ceiling of the hangar.  "Well, I guess we should have expected something like that to happen, but as long as he doesn't ever see Simon or me and we're careful, we should still be able to pull it off cleanly.  Just make sure you keep him under control, because we're probably going to be pretty loud down here, and if he hears it..."

"I understand, sir.  So everything below is working fine?  The service crews and pilots don't know we're here and are locked below, the target's ready for you to go to work, and so on?"

Dave glanced over at one of the men in the hangar with him.  "Is everything set up properly, Marco?"

"Yes, Dave, we'll be ready to begin as soon as he wakes up.  Shouldn't be more than ten minutes or so."

He tapped his communicator again.  "Yes, everything down here is going according to plan.  And you're good up there, including the captain and the driver on duty?"

"We've got a few men up on the bridge to watch them, and the rest of us are on deck to keep an eye on the dragon.  He let us chain him up peacefully enough, which surprised me considering how angry he was when he figured out we're here for his kid...  And you're sure this mutant won't do anything?  He is Class Six, after all, and a few of the other guys up here are a little nervous."

"Show the tiniest bit of force and you won't have any trouble with him, like I said.  Either way, he'd have to change forms to be any sort of threat to you, and you'll have at least a minute of warning if he tries that.  He won't cause any problems, but watch the dragon closely.  He may be trouble once he figures out what we're doing down here."

"All right.  I'll let you know if anything unusual happens up on deck."

Dave turned off the communicator.  "Simon, are you ready with those claws yet?"

The other man was standing over in the corner of the hangar, looking at the ground, but he turned and walked over when Dave called his name.  "It's all ready.  Just tell me when it's time..."  He rubbed his hands together.  "I can't wait to get started."

"Neither can I."

Marco walked over from where Carnoc lay.  "We should kill the two hostages on deck," he said.  "If they know you and Simon are involved, they could trace it back to you, and to my business.  They're putting this whole operation in jeopardy."

"No.  I count Sean and Nesleh as friends, and as long as they don't see us and we clean up properly after ourselves, they won't be able to prove a thing.  Maybe we'd be suspects for a little while, but they wouldn't be able to prove it in court and I'm more than willing to exchange a little time under scrutiny for this."

Marco shrugged.  "Fair enough, as long as this doesn't lead back to me."

"Good.  Now is everything ready for us to begin?"

"I've checked everything again, and he's ready for you to start as soon as he's awake...  Unless you want to wake him up yourself, in which case we can start now."

Dave shook his head.  "No, we'll let him come to on his own.  I want him to dread what's coming...  I was thinking, and I know that we already know exactly what we're going to do--"

"We can't really make any changes to our plans, either, considering how long the custom equipment took to build."

"I know, I'm just saying that maybe if we discussed possibilities between steps anyway, just to make him fear all of what we could be doing to him, instead of just what we're going to do...  It would have more of an effect on him, which of course is what we're trying to do here."

Marco grinned.  "You have the right mind for this sort of thing.  I could use someone like you in my outfit, you know, to help plan all our projects."

Dave laughed, but said, "I already have a job, Marco, but after this I might retire anyway; I have enough money to last a long time, and after Jim died..."

"I know that feeling," Simon said, looking at the ground again.  "I felt like quitting after what happened, and it was hard going back to work for a while, especially when they brought him back and had me looking after him."  He glared over at Carnoc.

"At least you were able to get at him some before they fired you.  I've had to just sit around and plan this thing for months."

"Yeah, yeah.  Just one last question: how far are we going to take this?  What's going to tell you it's time to finish him off?"

"It's not going to end until he begs for death," Dave said, letting his hand fall to the pistol at his hip.

One of the other men in the room shouted, cutting off their conversation.  "You might want to get over here, boss; he's starting to wake up."

Carnoc stiffened and groaned, opening his eyes slowly.  All his senses felt cloudy, and thoughts were slow to form; he could barely remember that a man had shot him sometime recently.  He could tell his legs were fettered, but he was standing somehow...  His chest and belly were propped up from beneath, he realized eventually, though there was a collar and chain around his neck just behind his horns that forced to keep his head at floor level.  Stranger still, whoever had done this to him had left his snout free...

"He's still too groggy.  Marco, do you have any re-stimulators?"

"Well, pain can do that, but one of those would be better, yes.  Give me a moment; Cesar, get one of the green syringes from my pack.  ...that one, yes.  Thank you."

The first voice had sounded familiar, but Carnoc couldn't place its owner.  Someone was here, someone who didn't like him...  He forced his eyes open just as he felt a pinch and prick in his foreleg.

"Simon!" he roared, locking eyes with the human in front of him.  He thrashed in his chains and thrust his head forward, reaching with fangs and claws, but he could barely move--nowhere near far enough to reach the hated human before him.  He tried to fire a bolt, but he never felt the fluids flow into his mouth and he couldn't light one.  He wasn't sure if he had even opened his sacs.

"Not just Simon," said the first voice again, and Carnoc tore his eyes from the dark-skinned man to see Dave there, as well, holding a thick cord in one hand.  "You've hurt a lot of people on your rampage through this world," Dave said.  "Now it's our turn to set things right."  He stepped closer and pulled with both hands on the cord.

Carnoc felt something tug at him and looked back, only for his vision to flash white with pain as something was torn from his paw; he bellowed and bucked against his chains, then collapsed.  Dave laughed and held up the cord, dangling one of Carnoc's own claws before his nose--ripped out of his paw and still dripping blood from its base.

"You like that?" he shouted.  "Do you like how that feels?"

He roared back, blood flaring, but struggle and thrash as he might he couldn't escape from his chains, couldn't reach either of the men with his fangs or claws.  He couldn't crouch to put more force against the chains and shackles, he couldn't move forwards or backwards, he couldn't even swing his tail...  All he could do was watch helplessly as Simon took the cord from Dave and wrapped it tight around his next claw, then tapped some sort of metal wedge between it and the floor.  The man braced himself, then tugged hard and tore off another of his claws.

Carnoc bellowed again, blood leaking from the stumps where his claws used to be.  "You have no idea the sort of pain we've been through because of what you've done," Simon said, voice low.  "How much our lives have changed because of you, how things will never be the same.  We could have brought more people here with grudges against you, but then we would barely have enough room in the hangar for you."

Then it was Dave's turn again.  "You killed my brother while he was apologizing to your clan.  Is that any way to forgive him for his actions?  If that's the way you like to do things, then you can consider this--" he tore off another claw, "me showing my forgiveness for the apology you gave me back in Nepal.  Like you even meant what you were saying."

He roared and tugged at his restraints.  "I'll kill you, I'll kill you both and anyone else who comes near me!  You humans don't know what I'm capable of!"

Simon bent down to set up his fourth claw, then stood and looked him in the eye.  "Allison was one of the nicest human beings on this planet," he said.  "You never deserved the kindness she showed you, but she gave it to you anyway; she thought she could make you happy where you were.  You didn't return her kindness at all, and you killed her just for giving you a little pat on the chin."

He tore out Carnoc's fourth claw, and the dragon cried out again.  Simon glared at him, and he shrank back as far as he could in his restraints--the hatred and the cold determination on the man's face unnerved him.

"I wonder if dragon claws grow back?" Dave said absently while he prepared to remove the final claw of Carnoc's left forepaw.  "Maybe it's like declawing a cat; since we're tearing out the root, there won't be anything left to make them grow again...  Suppose we won't find out, or not from you, anyway," he shrugged, and tore the last claw from his foot.

Carnoc howled at the pain, clenching his remaining claws and straining to find some means of escape, some relief from the pain, some way to make himself safe again...  He tried again to light Vidac's bolt, but he couldn't do it.  The fluids just wouldn't come.  "Help!" he roared in dragontongue; Nesleh was on this ship somewhere, he must be able to hear him!  "Father, help!"

There was no response, just the clicking of metal as Simon set the first claw of his right forepaw.  "You could probably get a good price for dragon claws if you looked in the right places," he said, then looked up at Carnoc again.  "All of your victims catch up to you sometime.  Everyone has someone who cares enough about them to avenge their death, but of course you're too arrogant to think they could stand a chance against you.  What do you say to that now?  Still think you're the strongest creature around?"  Simon tore out the claw and smiled at Carnoc's scream of pain.  "Or will it take a little more work to realize that two little humans were able to bring you to your knees?"

He snarled, but didn't fight back--not yet.  He waited and watched while Dave knelt to set up the wedge and the cord for his seventh claw, and at the moment the human was in the reach of the claws he had left...  He lashed out with all his strength.  The shackles and chains kept him from catching Dave's head, neck, or chest, but blood spurted from a gash on the man's arm and he jumped away with a curse.

"Got you!" he snarled again, but Dave just smiled grimly.

"It'll close soon enough," the human said, wiping a droplet of blood from his cheek.  "Your claw, on the other hand..."  He braced himself and pulled on the cord, tearing out another claw.  "Marco, you have any bandages?"

One of the other men helped Dave bind up his arm while Simon moved forward for another claw.  Carnoc watched him carefully and tried to catch him, too, but the man was ready and dodged around his reaching claws.  "A little scratch doesn't mean you're still powerful.  We have you beaten, bound and bleeding, you beast.  You're nothing," he said savagely, and pulled out his next claw.

Dave was back for his next.  "Not so tough now, are you?  Easy to be so violent when you've got a whole clan to protect you whenever you do something stupid, but now that you're alone...  You get hurt, you get scared, you wish I would go away so you can curl up in a corner and cry without me seeing you.  I can see it in your eyes; you're afraid of me."  He laughed and tore out the ninth claw.

Carnoc screamed and clenched his useless claw-stumps together.  "What do you want from me?"

"We'll suffer for a long time because of what you did," Simon said when Dave handed him the wedge and cord.  "We've suffered while you lived your life, like nothing was wrong..."

"You tied me down every night for a week and shocked me as badly as you could, too; wasn't it enough for you?  It wasn't enough to throw me in a cage, and tie me up and hurt me whenever you felt like it?"

Simon shook his head and tore out his last remaining foreclaw, bringing with it another scream of pain.  "You think a few moments of electricity can avenge Allison, that making you sleep in a harness will let Dave feel better about Jim?  You never felt any real pain while I was in charge of you... and you still haven't."  He tossed the claw into the pile with disgust.

Dave and Marco joined him in front of Carnoc, where he couldn't help but see and hear them all.  "Well, what next?" Dave asked.

"No more claws," Marco said.  "He's getting used to it, and it's having less of an effect.  I was thinking some sort of stabbing next, assuming we brought something strong enough to get through his scales..."

"We could try doing something to his wings," Dave said.  "The membrane doesn't look very sturdy, and I'll bet they're sensitive, too."

Simon shook his head.  "There's one thing I've wanted to do to him ever since I heard his opinion on it.  Marco, do we have anything you could use as reins, and a saddle?  Dave, remember your idea, because we could still use it as... encouragement."

Carnoc whined in the back of his throat and tugged at his chains again, but to no avail.  The way he was forced to stand kept him from getting the most leverage he was capable of, but the arches of metal forcing his chest and belly in the air prevented him from crouching down at all to get a better angle at them.  He couldn't move his head to bite at the chains, and there was something forcing him to keep his tail in the air, so he couldn't use that, either...  His wings were free, but they were useless.  He shuddered as some lingering pain in his paws ran up his forelegs and collapsed against the metal propping up his chest and belly.  Whatever Dave and Simon were planning to do next, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
 

Nesleh couldn't stand it.  Another scream rang up from the hangar and he attacked his bonds again, but he was trapped.  His son was in danger and in pain; he had to escape, had to come to his aid!  He snarled and rolled onto his back, fighting to tug his legs free, but the shackles holding his paws just a claw's width apart were too strong for him to break.  He couldn't use fire or his teeth, either; he was muzzled, his head was chained to his ankles, and he could barely move.

"Stop rolling around over there!" one of the guards shouted, standing up and reaching for his rifle.  "Quit struggling and leave those alone, or I'll put you out for a while, you hear me?"

He groaned and flopped back down onto his side; he couldn't help Carnoc while he was chained and muzzled, but he would be even less help if he was unconscious.  What am I going to do? he thought.

"Help!" came the faint cry from below.  "Father, help!"

Nesleh picked his head up from the deck again.  None of the guards seemed to have noticed this cry was different from the others; they all sat around some sort of table and weren't paying too much attention to him aside from the occasional glance.

He looked around and spotted Sean sitting against the side of one of the jets, head in his hands.  "Shhmm!" Nesleh grunted through his muzzle, and the mutant looked up, surprised.  He grunted again, gesturing with his head the little that he could and hoping the human would understand.  Sean stood, unsure, and watched the guards carefully for a few moments before creeping over to the bound dragon's side.

"What?" he whispered.

Nesleh winced as Carnoc screamed again.  "Mmm..."  He growled and tugged at his muzzle; he could barely speak.  "Thmff thmm mff," was the best he could do, and he hoped Sean somehow understood he wanted the muzzle taken off.

Apparently he did.  "How?"

The human really didn't know how to take apart a buckle?  Or did he think it was locked?  Either way it wasn't like Nesleh would be able to spell things out clearly for him.  "Jff mpmm mmt."

Sean paused a moment, looked over at the guards again, then said, "try to shift around a bit so your head's out of their view."

He went and ducked behind Nesleh's flank while the dragon squirmed against the deck, managing to turn around so the guards couldn't see his head any more.  Once he was still again, Sean came back and took off the muzzle.

Nesleh growled and spat out the bit.  "Thanks," he whispered, looking at the deck worriedly when his son screamed yet again.  "We have to save him."

"How?  They have guns, and you can barely move.  We wouldn't stand a chance."

"But they aren't paying much attention, either.  We could manage something."

"Like what?"

He snarled.  "You can fight them!  They haven't done a thing to you, and you act like you're useless.  If you would just turn into a dragon you could handle them all easily, especially with Vidac's bolt to help you.  Just slip off into the darkness, change, and attack them when they aren't expecting it!  Then we can break into the hangar and save my son."

Sean shook his head.  "They have guns.  I...  I can't do it."

"Yes you can!  Stop worrying about what might happen and believe in your own abilities!  You have no idea what you're capable of if you're too worried about what could happen if you fail to find out.  Why, if Carnoc were here..."  He shook his head and trailed off, then froze and looked over Sean's shoulder.

"What?"

Someone behind him coughed, and he spun around to see three guards standing there, all holding rifles.  "What are you doing?" one of them demanded.  "Why have you removed his muzzle?"

Sean had frozen in apparent panic, so Nesleh stuck his tongue out and grimaced.  "Do you have any idea how bad that thing tastes, or how uncomfortable it is?  I felt like I was going to throw up, and then choke on it all since I couldn't open my mouth to spit it out."

"...right," the guard said after a moment.  "Well, don't try anything," he prodded Nesleh's flank with the tip of his rifle.  "We'll be watching."

Sean didn't move until the three guards had left again.  "Now what?  You heard them, they'll be watching our every move," he whispered.  "There's no way I could do anything to them."

"You have to try!"

"Why do I have to put myself in danger, again?  They just want us out of the way; they aren't going to kill us."

"But Dave and Simon are going to kill Carnoc!" Nesleh snarled, baring his fangs.  "Do you really think you can tell me to just sit and wait here in shackles and let them kill my son?"

"For the last time, I can't do it!" Sean said, stepping back.  "I don't stand a chance against them, and they'd knock me out as soon as they saw me shifting."

Nesleh reached up and touched his nose to a strap running over Sean's shoulder: he still had his backpack with him.  "Isn't there anything in there you can use?  That cube of yours that creates darkness for you to change in?"

Sean groaned and set his backpack down in front of him.  "That and a couple of other things, but..."

"There has to be something useful in there."

"There is...  My cell phone!"  He jammed his hand into his pocket and pulled the phone out, only to sag after a moment.  "No signal," he sighed, "so I can't call for help.  Other than that..."  He emptied his pockets.  "Wallet, useless.  Mini-drive, useless.  Car keys..."

"Isn't that jet of yours somewhere on this ship?"

"Yeah, my CJR's on deck, but...  It's right next to the guards.  There's no way I could use it."

"You're right, for once; they're too close for you to get to it.  What about your backpack?"

He opened the largest pocket.  "Not much...  My radar transponder can't do anything useful, these mutant files are no help...  I do have my blackout cube, but that's it."

"It keeps out light so you can change without anyone seeing you," Nesleh said, reaching over to sniff at the tiny cube.  "Does it keep out other things, too?"

"Yes...  Yes, it does have a shield function, but that can only last a couple of minutes before it runs out of power."

"That's all the time you need to change, though!  And is it two-way, or does it only work in one direction?"

"It only keeps things out, why?"

The old dragon shuddered; Carnoc had just screamed again.  "Because I think I have a plan."  He looked around to see if any guards were sneaking up on them again, then brought his head close and whispered, "now listen to this and tell me what you think..."