"All right, so that's what we'll do.  You two get that muzzle on him, but be careful; he's far from broken."

Carnoc growled as two of Marco's assistants approached him, holding a muzzle between them that looked a lot like the muzzle Simon had forced him to wear so many times...  Only the plastic bit had been replaced by a smaller metal one, and there was a large loop near the back that looked long enough to wrap all the way around his chest, if not farther.  The two humans held it up and made to put the bit into his mouth, but he growled again, clamping his jaw tight, and pulled his head up as far as the collar at his throat would allow him to.

"What do we do if he won't let us?" one of them asked.

Marco tossed something metallic to Simon.  "Not sure if it will hurt him much, which is why it wasn't part of the main plan, but pull some scales out until he obeys.  Try the underside of the neck, I'll bet he's sensitive there."

Simon nodded grimly and approached him, opening the object in his hand: a pair of tongs.  "Be ready, because he may not open up much, or for very long," he said to the men holding the muzzle.  Carnoc thrashed in his chains and tried to get out of the man's reach, but with the collar around his throat he could barely get his neck off the ground.  Simon knelt down, took a scale in the tongs and pulled.

It hurt, but not a lot; he shut his eyes tight and hissed through his teeth, but no more.  "Open up, or I'll do it again," Simon said.

"No," he snarled, making sure to keep his jaws closed.

"Good to see you haven't lost that fighting spirit already," the human said, "because I can't wait to break it."  Then he pulled out four more scales in quick succession, and even though he knew it was coming he couldn't help but howl at the pain that shot down his neck.  He recovered quickly and shut his mouth again, but he wasn't fast enough, and his back teeth closed against the cold, hard metal of the bit.  He couldn't stop them once that was in place, and soon they had his snout strapped tightly shut.

Simon pulled out one more scale for good measure, making him howl again--much more quietly this time, now that he was muzzled.  "You only have yourself to blame for that.  Disobedience leads to pain; it's that simple."

He snarled at the man, but could only watch as Marco's assistants closed bracers over his neck and tail, forcing him to hold them out straight, then they detached his collar from the floor of the hangar.  He lifted his head immediately, not that it mattered; he could barely turn to look as a crane lifted some sort of leather contraption off the deck before it passed out of his range of sight.  He growled uncertainly for a moment, then the hunk of leather was placed on the center of his back.  More of Marco's men swarmed over him, working to position the object and strap it tightly to his back--cutting slits where his wings met his body when necessary and drawing grunts of pain each time they did--before they finished and retreated again.

"There," Marco said.  "Does that work for you, Simon?"

The man nodded.  "Yes, as soon as you disconnect his shackles from the floor, but obviously that should wait until I get on.  Well, Carnoc," he laughed, "I told you wouldn't be able to keep me from riding you.  You said you could stop me, and look at where we are now."

Carnoc stiffened at the sudden realization: they had saddled him, and that long loop that had been added to his muzzle...  Reins.  He howled with rage, bucking and thrashing in his bonds, but nothing gave, and the saddle didn't shift an inch.  How dare they! he snarled.  First they ambush me, then bind me, tear off my claws...  And now this?  This can't happen! he snarled again, straining; it can't, and even if they try, they can't make me do anything!  He waved his head, growling, wishing he could roar, bite, claw them apart, kill them all with Vidac's bolt, but...  Everything held firm, and there was nothing he could do but stand and wait.

"As I was saying."  Simon climbed up to the top of a ladder and jumped from there to Carnoc's back, then settled into the saddle as Marco's assistants unhooked the manacles on his ankles from the chains pinning them to the floor and removed the bars beneath his chest and belly.  He bucked again and tried to throw Simon off, but he could barely get his feet off the ground and the man held on easily.  "Now that's a bad horsie," he taunted, tugging on the reins and making the bit dig painfully into Carnoc's lips and gums.  "One would think you would have been trained not to do that by now.  Well, I guess I'll have to teach you to behave."  He took a knife from his belt, reached out and sliced a line through his wing membrane.

He shuddered, but his howl of pain was muffled so much by the muzzle it was almost inaudible.

"That's what happens when the beast disobeys its rider," he said.  "Now walk, horsie, walk a circle around the ring."

"No," Carnoc growled past his muzzle, turning his head as far as he could to glare back at the man.

Simon cut another hole in his wing.  "You'll do as I say!  Walk!"  He kicked at his sides like he would a horse's and tugged on the right rein, forcing him to face forward again.

"No!" he growled again, sitting back on his haunches.  It was bad enough the man was on his back and he couldn't get him off; to actually carry him somewhere was unthinkable.

"You're no better than a horse anyway," Simon said.  "Should I send you off to the slaughterhouse, then, or will you listen to me?  Walk!"  Another slash of the knife, and another tear in his wing membrane.  Carnoc whined past his muzzle and a spasm ran through his wing, throwing droplets of blood on the floor, but he still didn't move.

"Fine, then.  One would think that after we tore your claws and scales out you'd pay more attention to what we told you, but I guess you need some more training."  The man carved a large hole out of his other wing.  "I can do this as long as you want to make me, and if you run out of wing I'll just start cutting through your scales instead.  Now walk, or you'll lose even more of these wings!  If I have to cut them much more you won't even have enough left to fly with, you stubborn beast."

"Lll kllmm oomff," he snarled past his muzzle, but it sounded nothing like the death threat he'd tried to make.

"What's that?" Simon laughed.  "You have something to say?"

He snarled again, temper flaring, and bucked as hard as he could.  He managed to whip his back this time and forced Simon to cling desperately to the saddle, but still he couldn't dislodge the little human.  He bucked again, spread his wings and fanned them at his back, trying to knock him off with his wing-fingers or what remained of his wing membranes, but he couldn't reach, and he couldn't turn his neck or tail far enough, even if he bent his back sideways...  He growled, then rolled onto his side.

Simon jumped in the other direction as soon as Carnoc tipped over, so when the dragon rolled onto his back, his other side, then back towards his feet, all he crushed was the very top of the saddle.

But now he was stuck on his side; his paws were bound too close for him to stand again, and no matter how much he strained he couldn't get his legs back under him.

"Weak and predictable," Simon laughed, climbing back into the saddle.  Carnoc started to roll again, but Simon got out of the way again and he only rolled over his own torn-up wings, leaving smears of blood on the floor as he shivered in pain.

"I didn't think you were actually dumb enough to try it twice, but I guess you're even more of a stupid animal than I thought," Simon said, getting back in the saddle again.  He struggled a moment longer, then the crane in the corner of the hangar hooked into a loop in the front of the saddle and hoisted him back to his feet.  "Now walk, before I lose my patience."

"No!"

A flash of steel and more of his wing membrane was cut off, and he whined again.  He wouldn't walk...  It was bad enough the human had strapped itself to his back, but he wouldn't walk, he wouldn't carry the little thing around like he was an animal.  But the pain!  If it lasted much longer his wings could get so badly damaged he would never be able to fly again.  And that...  He groaned, but didn't move.  I won't do it, he thought.

"Walk," Simon demanded, and after another few moments of refusal he sliced through another section of wing.  Carnoc howled, temper peaking, and he bucked again, throwing himself against his restraints.  Chains, shackles and bracers all held, along with Simon, and his desperate attempt to light Vidac's bolt failed again.  Then there was another slash of the knife and the anger disappeared, leaving the pain to hit him again, full force.  He screamed through locked teeth, and without his temper to help him resist...

He took a step forward.

"That's right," Simon said, "walk.  Just one circuit around the hangar, you beast, and you'll get your reward."

Without his blood-raised fury to drive him he couldn't even consider fighting any longer.  Head down, defeated, Carnoc shuffled around the outer edge of the room while all the humans watched, the weight of the laughing man on his back dragging at him.  At least there were no dragons there to see him humbled like this--the only thing he could think aside from the humiliation of his defeat.

"Very good," Simon said once he had returned to their starting position.  "Good job, good horsie.  Now you can have your reward."

He looked up weakly.  Reward?  What could the human possibly give him in return for this sense of shame?  He didn't have much time to think about it; Simon had tossed his reins to another of the humans, and now he had to follow that man back to the chains that had held him in the first place.  He sobbed and sank down onto the metal arches when they were placed under him, letting his head fall to the ground, letting the tears flow.  Whatever was next, whatever Dave and Simon had in store for him, they had done enough.  They win, he thought, sobbing again.  I can't fight them any more.

"Your reward," Simon said icily, "is that you'll never have to carry anyone on your back ever again, not for the rest of your life.  Of course, the rest of your life...  That will only be as long as you want it to be."

"That's right," Dave said as Simon climbed down from his back.  "We are going to kill you, I'll say that much, but we aren't going to do it until you do something for us.  The only thing is, you have to figure out what that is for yourself."

Carnoc noticed quite suddenly that the saddle and all of his restraints had been removed--for the moment--but he didn't have the strength or the will to attack the humans who taunted and tortured him.  He just laid there while they came forward and secured his neck, paws and tail, like they had before.

Marco joined the other men.  "Well, what now?  I don't have to look any farther than the victim to see this is almost over."

"That's right, and we've saved what we know works the best on him for last: electroshock."

Marco rubbed his hands together.  "Yes, of course, an excellent method," he grinned, winking at Dave.  "Now there are certain... locations on a person--or a dragon--for the electrodes that work best when it comes to pain, psychological aspects and the like.  Either of you know what they are?"

"I'd imagine something on the head," Dave said; Simon just looked away when Marco glanced towards him.

Carnoc tried to pull his wings forward, to lick at his wounds, but they couldn't reach where his head was chained.  "Water," he gasped, his voice hoarse, but the humans ignored him.

"The first location is the--"

"Just put them on his neck," Simon cut Marco off.  "I know from my experience with him that it hurts him a lot."

"But the plan..." Dave raised an eyebrow.

"Forget it.  We've already broken his spirit; whatever we do now is just going to be for our benefit, not to make him feel any more humiliated.  He can't feel any worse than he does now, so there's no need to torture him like that.  Just put them on his neck and we'll go until it's time."

"What do you want?" Carnoc whispered.  "Haven't you hurt me enough?  What else do you want from me?"

"Fine, we'll do it your way," Dave said.  He turned to glare at the dragon and continued, "if you can figure that out, we'll finish this."

Marco collected this latest batch of equipment, then he and the men working for him walked over to Carnoc's neck, right behind his head.  He turned his head to try to see what they were doing, but Marco punched him and shouted, "face forward and do not move!"  Carnoc quivered, then sighed and laid his head down on the floor again as the men went to work.

He couldn't sense anything for a moment, then he felt something cold and slimy being rubbed onto to the scales on each side of his neck, just behind the collar.  That went on for a little while, and once the humans were done they stuck things to him, one sticky object on each of the slimy spots they'd made on his neck.  "What are you doing?" he said, and tried to pull away, but the sticky things stuck to him, and as he moved he could see wires trailing from those spots on his neck at the very corners of his vision.

"Everyone clear?" Marco asked, and all the men answered affirmative.  "All right, then," he said, and handed a control box to Dave.  "Go ahead."

Dave pushed the button and Carnoc braced himself for the pain, but all he felt was a strange tingle, as if bugs were crawling beneath his scales all up and down his spine.  But then, "check the power level," Marco said, and Dave twisted a dial on the controller.

The feeling shot from a mildly uncomfortable pulse to wave after wave of pain; it felt as if his back and tail were on fire.  He bellowed at first, but then he could only twitch in his shackles and wheeze, barely able to take a breath as the electricity coursed through him.  It kept going until he was sure his heart would explode, then...  Nothing.  The pain ceased and he collapsed, gasping for air, against the arches propping him up.

Dave handed the controller to Simon.  "Your turn.  This seem more powerful than what you did to him?"

He nodded and pressed the button, and Carnoc screamed.
 

"I just can't do it.  I've never killed before, you know that; even if I can somehow convince myself that it's necessary..."

"It's the only way!" Nesleh snarled, slamming his tail into the deck.  "I can't fight for myself until you get the keycard to unlock these shackles.  I mean, I have my fire, but I can't really move and they'd just shoot me before I could get all of them."

"If you hit any of these jets right you could blow them up, and that could take them out..."

"All fifteen of them?  Sean, I can't do this on my own!"  He paused for a moment and took a deep breath, then said, "you have to, Sean.  We can't let them kill him.  Torturing him like this..."  He shuddered and fell silent as Carnoc bellowed at some new pain, the lights on deck flickering for a moment.

"I don't know if I can take this any more..." he said, tugging at his chains and looking up at the dark sky.  He muttered something in dragontongue, then said, "I can't believe they'd even consider doing something like this.  We have to stop them, now!"

Sean looked at the ground.  "I can't do it."

"Stop saying that, you idiot human!  The only thing that's ever limited you is your own fear, and fear of what?  Of failing?  All that will happen if they shoot you is you'll be knocked out for a while, and where's the harm in that?  Look, none of them are watching either of us.  Slip away, circle behind them, use the cube and change.  Now."

"But..."

The lights around the deck flickered again, and they heard Carnoc scream, his voice higher but quieter than it had been before.  Nesleh shivered again, then bared his fangs at Sean.  "If you won't listen to reason, I guess I'll have to try something else: go over there and change, or I'll kill you myself."

Sean's eyes went wide, but he picked up his backpack and crept away behind one of the jets without arguing any further.  Once he was out of Nesleh's line of sight, he sighed and sagged against the side of the fighter, hands shaking uncontrollably.  Men with guns...  And all of them would be aiming for him.  Was the old dragon right?  Would they really only shoot to stun him, even if they knew he was trying, however reluctantly, to kill all of them?

No time left to question it now; any more delay and Carnoc could be dead before he and Nesleh would be able to help.  He took out his blackout cube and gripped it tightly in his hand, then glanced around the side of the fighter.  The men had looked up at the first flicker of the lights, but now they were just sitting around their table, joking with each other and drinking...  Many of their rifles weren't even within arm's reach.

He hesitated, forcing himself to calm down as much as he could before he stepped out away from the jet so he would have enough room to change, then put down his blackout cube and turned it on.  He waited for a moment, listening, but there were no confused shouts of alarm, just words and laughs from around their table.  He stripped down as quietly as he could, then started to change as another scream of pain rang up from the hangar.

Sean held his fingers--or soon, claws--as close to the control buttons of the cube as he could while he shifted, waiting for the guards to notice so he could activate the barriers in the cube's walls.  He grew larger and larger, falling onto all fours, sprouting a tail and wings, growing fangs and claws...

"What the hell...  Sarge, what is that behind you?"

One of the men at the table turned around, reaching for his rifle.  "I don't...  Wait, that's a blackout cube!  Do you have any idea how expensive those..."  The man shook his head and stood.  "Whoever you are in there, turn that thing off right now, or I'll shoot!"

Sean flicked the cube's shield button with a claw and stepped back from the barrier, concentrating for the final meter of growth from his shift while the guards all went for their guns and stepped towards the cube.  He took a deep breath, tail lashing, then fired a bolt into the crowd of guards.

Four of them fell, two of them missing limbs, the other two on fire, while the rest spread out for cover and brought up their rifles to return fire.  The shields in his blackout cube held and he fired again, this time striking one of the parked jets.  It exploded, killing three more guards and bowling the rest over--though his barrier kept the shockwave from reaching him, as well.

He heard a snarl behind him and swung his head around to see Nesleh strike forward with fangs out, catching one guard in his jaws and knocking two more over with his tail, then pulling them into the reach of his chained claws.  Sean turned back to the rest and fired again, sweeping the bolt in an arc across the deck to kill two more of the guards.

Three left, and the power in his blackout cube gave out.  He quickly pulled his wings up around his body to shield himself from the remaining guards' rifles, but no shots were fired.  He hesitated, then looked around to see the three of them crouching on the ground in front of him, without their guns.

"Enough, enough, we give up!" one of the men shouted.  "What do you want, dragon?"

He paused; he had expected to have to go checking the guards' pockets for the keycard to Nesleh's shackles after all of them were... dead...  Oh, god, he thought, I've killed.  He froze for a moment, then Nesleh yelled, "he wants you to let me out of these!"

The old dragon's roar snapped Sean back to the situation.  "Yes, let him out, quickly!"

One of the guards located the keycard on their dead Sergeant's body, and under Sean's watchful eye he took the keycard to Nesleh and swiped it through the shackles at his ankles, releasing them.

"Good job, Sean!" Nesleh said, pressing the end of his snout against the mutant's neck and getting his paws back underneath him.  "I knew you could do it, didn't I..."  He paused; the air had grown oddly silent.  "We have to hurry; he could be killed any minute now if we don't stop them.  Come on, one of you open the hatch to the hangar so we can get down there."

The guards stood firm, suddenly.  "We can't jeopardize the operation," one said, and the other two backed him with nods and gestures.

Nesleh stood and snarled at them.  "Fine: help us or I'll eat you."

They faltered, but didn't move.  Nesleh lowered his snout and sniffed at them, as if smelling his prey before a feeding.  "Then I'll bite off body parts until you agree; I only need... most of one of you to open the hatch."  He watched them carefully; they had gone pale, but still didn't move.  "I haven't had human meat since I was just a hatchling," he said, licking his lips.  "I'd love to try it again, so if none of you mind..."

He had barely opened his mouth to snap at one man's arm before they gave in.  "Stop!  All right, all right, we'll let you in, just..."  They walked over to the hatch leading down to the hangar as quickly as they could.  "Should I call the lift up?"

"Just open the hatch so we can get inside; we have our wings."

The guard swallowed, but obeyed.

Carnoc lay gasping as he recovered from another bout of electricity; he didn't even have the strength to scream anymore when the pain hit him.  Why were they doing this?  What more did they want from him?  At least their friends' deaths had been quick and probably mostly painless...  "What..." he whispered.  "What... waiting for?  If..."  He ran out of strength and fell silent, gasping for air.

Dave offered the controller to Simon to shock him, but the other man waved him away, so he pressed the button again himself.  Carnoc didn't scream, didn't thrash, he barely even gasped when he was shocked again, and a second time, and a third.  "Come on," Dave muttered, touching a finger to the gun at his waist.  "Ask for it.  Just ask for what you've had coming since you killed him, and let me finish you off once and for all."

Two more shocks followed, then Simon pushed his hand away.  "Dave, that's enough!  Look at him; he barely has enough strength left to breathe.  He probably can't even feel it any more."

Marco nodded.  "You've done enough; whatever you're waiting for, you aren't going to get it.  I'm surprised he's still conscious."

"Fine."  Dave pulled the gun from his belt and stepped over to Carnoc's head.  The dragon looked up towards him, but his eyes were glazed over, his jaws hung open and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth; Dave could barely hear him breathing.

"Marco, there's something--"

Marco grabbed at his communicator.  "What?  Sarge, was that you?  Do you copy?"

"No, it's Nikki, I'm up watching the driver," said another voice.  "The mutant down on deck turned into a dragon and he's fighting the guards there."

Dave turned away from their captive.  "Sean?  Don't tell me that coward's actually worked up the nerve to try something."

Marco glared at him and tapped his communicator again.  "Does anyone up on deck hear me?  What's going on?"

The only response was an explosion up on deck.

"Nikki, what just happened?  Anyone?  What the hell is going on up there!?"  But she didn't respond either, and a moment later a blaring alarm sounded from all around them.

Marco swore.  "The driver must have gotten the better of the guards we left with him.  Dave, finish him off so we can get out of here as fast as we can, because our exit is not going to be easy."

"He's right," Simon nodded.  "Just kill him so we can leave!"

Dave turned back towards Carnoc and brought up the gun, looking down the barrel and into the dragon's dark eyes.  Carnoc stared back at him, wheezing, and his eyes slowly focused on the gun pointed at his face.  He groaned and flopped forward, but could barely raise his head.  "Fi...  Finally..."

Dave re-gripped the gun and aimed again, setting his stance.  "For Jim," he said, and--

There was a roar and a dragon dropped through the hatch from the deck, then a second.  "Watch out!" Marco shouted, and Dave looked up to see a fireball headed his way.  He dove out of its path, rolled and came up firing at the dragon diving towards him.  The first two bullets missed, but the third caught the dragon's shoulder, and the fourth...

Nesleh roared and slammed into Dave claws-first, tearing through him and crushing him beneath his bulk as he crashed into the floor.  A few of the other guards turned to fire on him, but he breathed a jet of flames into them while Sean kept the rest distracted.

Simon crouched next to Carnoc's head, putting the tortured dragon between him and Nesleh.  "I saved you from some pain, so you'll shelter me now," he whispered with a hand on the dragon's jaw.  "Keep me hidden and you'll gain from it."

Carnoc growled weakly.  The man who had hurt him so much was there, right next to him, but with his head chained, and all the pain he was in, he couldn't move his jaws far or fast enough to catch him...  But he had to, or Simon would hurt him again, or hurt his father, or escape, and he couldn't let that happen!  If he got away he might come back later to torture him again, and...  To go through something this horrible again...

He braced himself, then thrust his right wing forward, striking Simon in the back with its foremost joint and knocking him forward hard enough to make him stumble and lose his balance.  Before the man could recover he flung his head as far to the right as the collar around his throat would let him and opened his jaws wide, then twisted his head and bit down, hard.  His teeth closed on human torso and he twisted his head again, in the other direction this time, ripping through muscle and bone and tearing Simon apart.

He groaned and spat out the man's remains, panting from the effort, then slumped again and looked up at his father.  "Father, you...  You came..." he rasped, voice barely audible over the alarms.

Men with pistols and rifles burst into the hangar from all sides, wearing naval uniforms that stood out from the plain clothes of Marco's men.  "Drop your weapons and get on the ground!" they shouted.  The few men who were left obeyed instantly; Sean had killed Marco with a bolt, and without a leader they didn't seem interested in fighting anymore.

"Someone call for help!" Nesleh roared.  "We need doctors for Carnoc, and for me, too."

He looked up.  "What..."

His father winced, blood dripping from his neck and shoulder.  "Dave put a couple bullets in me, that's all.  Scratches, really.  You just stay awake until the doctors get here..."  He reached down and nuzzled at Carnoc's neck.  "It's all right, all the bad humans are dead now.  You're safe, nobody here will hurt you..."

"You came..." he said, and tried weakly to return the nuzzle, then closed his eyes and collapsed.