\n "Your ID card, please."  Chris passed his card through to the teller, who ran it through a card swipe, then passed it back.  "There you go, you're paid.  You can head on in.  Next?"

\n Sean stepped up to the window.  "One for the afternoon, please."

\n "Yes, sir.  Your ID card, please."  The teller swiped Sean's card, paused, then swiped it again.  "I'm sorry, sir, but the system seems to be rejecting your card.  Are you sure you have enough deposited funds to pay the admission price?"

\n "Definitely."

\n The teller swiped his card through one more time, then said, "wait, the system was told... not to accept your specific ID, for some reason.  I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot let you into the zoo."

\n Sean raised an eyebrow, then said, "can I speak to a manager?"

\n "I'll call him for you, sir.  Please step out of line, and he will be right with you."

\n Sean nodded and backed out of the line.  On the other side of the gate, Chris pointed and gestured towards the gate, but Sean shrugged and spread his arms, then made a sweeping motion with his hand.  Chris and Dave didn't have to wait for him; he could settle this on his own.

\n After a couple of minutes' wait, Sean spotted a man with a tie and a name tag walking towards the gate.  After a moment's conference with the teller, the man walked over to him.

\n "Mr. Nelson?"

\n "Yes, are you a manager?  I was, um, wondering why I'm not being allowed into the zoo."

\n The man glanced over a sheet of paper in his hand.  "According to this, you entered Disney World's Animal Kingdom and the St. Louis zoo one day before each of those dragons was stolen, and that gives our security reason to think you were involved.  The police don't seem to agree--yet--but you're not getting into the park."

\n Sean sighed and tapped at his mutant's badge.  "Do you know what my ability is?"

\n "Are you threatening me?"

\n "No, sir.  The point I'm trying to make is that I can turn into a dragon.  That's my mutation.  Now, don't you think it would only be natural for me to want to see the creatures that I've been able to imitate for most of my life?"

\n "That doesn't mean that you didn't have anything to do with the thefts."

\n Sean bit his lip.  "I was explaining my reasons for visiting each of the three zoos that has a dragon.  I assure you, I...  I did not free the dragons.  Now, can I please enter the zoo?  I'd like to be able to see what I came here to see."

\n "I can't let you do that.  There are also reports of a radar transponder bearing your signature traveling from each of these zoos before disappearing in southwestern Montana, starting not long after the approximate time of each theft.  It's not enough to arrest you, but enough for the police to flag you and tell us not to let you in."

\n "Maybe I was just flying home."

\n "Your ID says you live in Minneapolis."

\n He paused.  "I could have been taking relatives to the parks with me."

\n "Regardless of the possibilities, it is the zoo staff who chooses who is or is not allowed to enter.  I'm sorry, but we cannot admit you to the zoo."

\n "I can make this an anti-mutant discrimination case, if you'd prefer.  That's a mess you don't want to get into."

"Now you're threatening me.  You may not enter the park.  Have a nice day, elsewhere."  The manager turned and walked away.

\n Sean glared at the man's back for just a moment, then groaned and turned away from the gates.  On his way back to the parking lot, he pulled out his cell phone.  "Chris."

\n "Hey, where are you?"

\n "They wouldn't let me into the park because they suspect I had something to do with breaking out Carnoc and Vallen.  I guess I'll just go into the city for the day, and you two can call me when you need me to come back and pick you up.  I'm sure the two of you can plan without me, anyway."

\n "All right.  We'll look around here as best we can, and let you know when we're ready to go.  See you."

\n "Bye."

\n Chris closed his phone and pocketed it.  "They wouldn't let Sean in," he told Dave.  "We'll meet him at the end of the day...  For now, though, let's find Aithsa.  Oh, look, he'll be performing at 2:00!  If we hurry, we should make it in time to watch."

\n They rushed all the way across the zoo to Aithsa's habitat, where sections of theatre seating had been constructed in a semicircle around the front of the habitat.  The interior wasn't visible, as the barriers around it were presently set to keep anyone from seeing inside.  Dave checked his watch; the show was scheduled to start in just a minute or two, so he and Chris found seats in the stands and settled down to watch.

\n (AN: Please don't comment about how bad the play is.  I'm already well aware of that.)

\n They were just in time.  As soon as they sat down, the barriers flashed twice, then dimmed and returned to their normal transparent state.  A small, open lawn stretched back and up to a cave entrance, where Aithsa sprawled on top of a pile of gold, jewels and other shiny objects.  Next to the hoard a woman stood in a small cage, and as the audience took in the scene, the woman started screaming.

\n "Help!"

\n Aithsa stirred on top of his hoard, yawned and looked over at the woman.  "Be quiet, will you?  Nobody can hear you, and even if they could, they couldn't possibly free you from me.  And besides, waking me up from my nap will only get you eaten sooner."

\n Chris had to suppress a laugh; it could have been a reasonable threat for a full-grown dragon to make, but the thought of a dragon who didn't even come up to the woman's shoulders trying to eat her just seemed ridiculous.

\n "The people will not let that happen, dragon," the woman said.  "Any minute now I'm sure one of my father's knights will come to rescue me, and then he will slay you and free me.  Help!"

\n Aithsa climbed down from the top of his pile treasure, reared up against the side of the cage and reached through the bars to stroke at her face with a claw.  "Drawing other people here will only get them killed, too.  I don't care who your father sends, princess; he will feel my wrath just as those before him have.  But now that you've woken me up...  I suppose now would be as good a time as any to eat you."

\n "Stop, dragon!" said a man's voice, and the crowd gasped.

\n Aithsa spun around, dropped back down onto four legs and snarled; a human had stepped out onto the grass leading up to the cave, wearing a few pieces of armor and holding a sword.  "Release her and leave this place, and count yourself lucky that I am willing to spare your life, beast."

\n Aithsa laughed.  "And if I don't?"

\n The knight raised his sword and pointed it at him.  "Then I will slay you."

\n "You dare to challenge me?"  Aithsa reared up onto his hind legs, spread his wings wide and roared.  Not as loud or reverberating as an adult dragon's roar, but the sound was impressive nonetheless.  "I will tear you apart and eat you first, fool!"

\n The knight changed his grip on the sword and settled into a fighting stance.  "Then come and fight me, dragon, if you dare!"

\n Aithsa roared again, then crouched and sprang forward, fangs and claws extended.  The knight rolled aside, however, barely managing to dodge the attack, and swung his sword at Aithsa's leg.  Aithsa deflected the blow, then lashed out with his claws, catching the knight on the arm.  His claws tore off the piece of armor there, and some members of the crowd cried out when red fluid spurted from the spot.

\n The knight clutched at his arm with a free hand, then glared at Aithsa and charged, sword held high.  Aithsa leapt forward to meet him, but the knight jumped aside, shoved Aithsa away from him and stabbed forward with his sword, appearing to pierce him in the chest.  Aithsa bellowed and clutched at the sword with his claws, falling onto his side and lying still after just a few moments.

\n The knight smiled and laid a hand on Aithsa's forehead.  "Victory is mine."  He stood there a moment, then walked up to the hoard and picked up a crown from the pile of treasure.  He paused, then opened the cage and let the woman out.  "My princess," he said, bowing, and presented the crown to her.

\n The woman took the crown and put it on, then the knight rose to his feet and the two of them walked arm in arm back down to where Aithsa lay.  "And the knight married his princess," the knight said.  "With the wealth brought by the slain dragon's hoard, they were able to build a beautiful kingdom around what had once been a place of despair, terrorized by the fearsome dragon.  Thank you!"

\n The knight smiled and raised his hands to the audience, prompting sporadic applause.  "I think I've seen better productions at the twins' elementary school," Chris muttered, but he and Dave clapped anyway.

\n An announcer's voice rang out from a collection of speakers placed around the edge of the habitat.  "Playing the knight, handler Zach Burnett!"  The knight bowed.  "As the princess, handler Sandy Meyer!"  She bowed, as well.  "And, playing the dragon, our very own Aithsa!"  Aithsa pushed the sword away and stood up, then bent his front legs and lowered his head in a dragon's bow, tail flicking back and forth; the crowd had cheered the loudest for him.

\n After all bowing together once more, the two humans turned and started to clean up the props, pushing the hoard and the cage back into the cave and out of sight.  Aithsa, meanwhile, jumped into the air and started doing tricks for the crowd, diving, looping and wheeling around the edges of his habitat.  Chris and Dave got up, walked down as close as they could and leaned against the railing to watch, and to plan.

\n "What do you think?  Can we just duplicate what we did in Orlando, or St. Louis?"

\n Chris shook his head.  "No way.  Authorities are already suspicious of Sean; if he goes into the air within fifteen kilometers of this place there will be police jets everywhere."

\n "Hmm...  I've been here at night before, when I was still in college, and it seemed then that it would be easy enough to get into the zoo at night, as long as you could stay away from the security guards.  If we could somehow sneak in, and maybe find our way through the access halls to the back of the habitat...  We could get him out without even having to worry about cutting the power."

\n "And they would just let us walk out of there with a dragon?"

\n "Well, we'd have rifles, of course.  And Aithsa could just fly out once he got outside his habitat."

\n "Maybe.  But we can't send him home through the air, like before...  Not just because people are getting suspicious of Sean, but because he's so young; at his size he wouldn't be able to pass for Sean in the air."

\n "Do you think he could just fit into Sean's jet with us?  As you said, he's pretty small, and there's probably enough room for him to sit on the floor without getting in Sean's way."

\n "We'd have to ask him about that.  But I like this plan...  Pretty basic, easy to remember, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of using a rifle now.  I say we do this tonight."

\n "Sounds good to me.  But for now, I could use something to eat...  Where's the nearest food court?"
\n  

\n
\n Aithsa picked up his head from the pool and looked over to where Sandy guided a large vacuum cleaner along the ground, sucking up the remains of his meal.  "Do you think we should add anything to the show?" he called over the sound of the vacuum's motor.  "It felt...  It felt short."

\n She shrugged, turned off the vacuum and left it by the door leading from the cave to the habitat access halls.  "Well, if you're up for something more elaborate, I suppose we could try it, but we'll have to come up with a new direction to go in.  The story we have now can only be expanded so much."

\n "Then you can write a new story for us to act out.  Besides, I'm getting tired of pretending to get stabbed three times a day."

\n Sandy laughed.  "I don't think I would like that much, either.  Tell you what, I'll talk to Zach tonight and see if we can come up with a new idea to work off of.  Something with more than just three characters, maybe, or that has you as the hero."

\n "I'd like that," Aithsa said, walking over to her side.  "And could it be more... modern?  Swords, knights, treasure and princesses are all so boring."

\n Sandy knelt down and patted him on the forehead.  "I'll see what I can do.  You all set for the night?"

\n The little dragon nodded and nuzzled her hand, purring.  "See you in the morning," he said, then turned away and prowled over to the cave entrance, pausing to glance up at the rising moon before he spread his wings and took off.  He didn't have much room to fly, but he still flew as many laps as he could around the edge of the pen--he had to work up his stamina as much as he could for the flight to the dragoness' clan, and as his father always said, a young dragon needed his exercise if he wanted to grow up big and strong.  He flew until his lungs burned and his wings ached, then he stilled his wings and glided back to the ledge outside the cave, swallowing a few times and wincing at the dryness in his throat.

\n He walked into the cave and dipped his head to drink from the pool there, but he had to wait almost half a minute for his breathing to regulate before he could manage to gulp down some water, and even then he almost choked on it.  He coughed a few times, then growled and drank some more before he laid down on his belly to rest, wings spread out on the ground to relax his flying muscles.

\n His mind wandered while he rested.  As Sandy had told him, Vallen had disappeared from the St. Louis zoo a few nights ago, when a power outage disabled the barriers long enough for him to get away.  Now he was the last dragon still in captivity, so when would Chris come for him?  It wouldn't be long, he knew, considering that Carnoc and Vallen had been freed within a week of each other...  So Chris would have to be here soon.

\n Aithsa wondered what he should do.  Was there something he could do to help Chris get him out faster?  As much as he liked Zach and Sandy and his other handlers, he missed his father, his brother and the rest of the clan, and being able to speak to and see Vallen the morning of Vallen's escape had only made it worse.  He had more than enough humans if he wanted the company, but no matter how much attention he got he still felt alone.  Hurry, Chris, he thought.  I miss them all so much.  He sighed and laid his head down on his front paws; he was tired, and wishing wouldn't make Chris move any faster.

\n "Hey!  You aren't supposed to--"  The guard's shout was cut off by the low zap of a laser.

\n Aithsa snapped his head up and looked towards the door that led back into the access corridors.  Was it Chris?  He hurried to his feet and started to walk towards the door, only for it to burst open before he had even taken two steps.

\n A group of black-dressed humans walked into the room, each of them carrying a gun.  Aithsa faltered and sniffed at the air; there were six of them, and none of them looked or smelled like Chris--the black cloth covering all of their heads but the eyes made it hard to tell, but none of them looked wide enough to be him.  "You aren't Chris," he growled.  "Who are you?"

\n "Shut up, dragon," one of them said, and they all trained their weapons on him.  "You're coming with us."

\n He took an involuntary step back.  "Who are you?"

\n "It doesn't matter," another man said, taking three coils of rope from his backpack and passing them to other men, who started to advance on him.  "You're coming with us, and if you know what's good for you, you won't cause us any trouble."

\n Aithsa snarled and crouched, baring his fangs and fanning his wings out.  Just because he was young didn't mean he couldn't fight.  "No."

\n He laughed.  "Maybe I wasn't clear: you are coming with us, dragon, whether you want to or not.  You can come along quietly, or we can do this the hard way...  Hard for you, anyway."

\n "Oh, why don't we just kill it here, Nick?" one of the other humans said.  "It'll be spectacle enough when they come back in the morning to find it lying dead in its cave.  It'll save us a load of trouble, too."

\n "No.  What I have in mind will be much more effective, so we will stick to the plan.  Now, dragon, hold still while my friends tie you up--we can't have you misbehaving while we transport you."

\n The men with the ropes stepped towards him again, but before they could get close, Aithsa identified which human had been speaking and leapt forward, roaring and pouncing at the man's chest.  But he calmly stepped aside, adjusted his aim and fired at his hindquarters, and Aithsa bellowed with pain as the bullet struck him, burying itself deep in his tail and splashing his blood on the ground.

\n "That was your first warning, dragon.  I'm putting the next one in your leg."

\n He wanted to look fierce, but at the same time he wanted to walk into a corner, curl up and lick at the wound on his tail, which hurt horribly.  His indecision froze him while he stared up the barrel of the gun, and when he failed to suppress a whimper, the men all laughed.

\n This time when the men with the lengths of rope stepped forward, Aithsa didn't move; he just looked up at the man pointing the gun at his face while another tied a rope around the midpoint of his mouth, forcing it tightly shut.  The man left about half the rope free after tying the knot and walked away still holding one end, as a sort of leash.  Another man tied a rope around his midsection, pinning his wings to his back, and a third tied his ankles together--leaving some slack so he would still be able to walk--to keep him from lashing out at them with his claws.

\n "Now," the man who had shot him said, "let's go."  He and the other humans turned to leave.

\n Aithsa crouched and dug his claws into the ground, defiant, and when the man tugged on the end of his leash, he couldn't get him to move.  "Eric," the man who had shot him said, and one of the other men shot him in the chest with a laser.  Aithsa cried out at the shock and took a step forward, but growled and refused to go any further.

\n The man kicked him hard in the ribs.  "If you don't come quietly we'll hurt you until you do."

\n He whimpered again, lowering his head, and obeyed.

\n Dave froze as a sound echoed across the empty zoo.  "That was gunfire!"

\n "Sounded more like a bullet-gun than a laser weapon...  That's odd.  Didn't know you could still get the old kind of gun."

\n "Only illegally.  Tell Sean; we might end up needing his help."

\n Chris took out his communicator.  "Sean, we heard gunfire.  Can you be ready to help us?"

\n "There's no way I could get in without being seen."

\n "Well, be ready to help anyway.  We may not be the only ones here."

\n Dave paused as a door leading into the habitat access halls came into view: the door was propped open by a guard who lay facedown in the doorway.  Then he heard talking from inside, and hurried for cover behind a nearby kiosk, Chris close behind him, and both of them peeked around the side to watch the doorway.

\n After a few tense seconds, the first man walked out onto the path, then two others followed, one tugging on the end of a rope.  Next came Aithsa, then three more men; all of them were armed.

\n Chris gasped and pulled his head back behind the kiosk.  "We'll have to fight them," Dave whispered.  "Hard to tell what they plan to do with him, but whatever they have in mind, we can't let it happen.  Come on, we have to take them out, and quickly."

\n Dave laid down on the ground and poked his head around the corner of the kiosk, then pulled it back.  "Can I have your rifle?"

\n Chris placed it in Dave's hand, and he adjusted its settings, then leaned around the corner and fired off six shots.  Four of the men collapsed, but so did Aithsa; the two errant shots must have hit him instead.  The two remaining men crouched, using Aithsa's body for cover, and aimed at the kiosk.

\n Dave pulled back.  "Chris, take this rifle back.  Go to the other side of the booth, and when I say to, lean out and shoot the man on the right.  Got it?"

\n He nodded and swallowed, then crawled to the other corner of the kiosk.

\n "Ready?" Dave asked.

\n "Ready."

\n "Good.  Three, two, one...  Fire!"

\n He leaned around the corner and looked down the sight, but he didn't have a very clean shot to make.  If he missed...  He didn't want to hurt Aithsa.  But Dave was already firing and he could see his target aiming, so he adjusted his aim again and fired.

\n The shot had no visible effect, and the man he was targeting switched his aim from Dave's side to Chris' side.  He fumbled with the gun and started to aim again, but the other man fired first.  The shot struck him in the right arm and he dropped the rifle with a cry, clutching at his arm as it went numb; the shot must have been partially absorbed by his gun or the side of the kiosk, because--fortunately for him--it wasn't strong enough to knock him out.  The man shouted with triumph and started to rise for another, cleaner shot, but then Dave fired again, his shot finding its target, and the man collapsed over Aithsa's side.

\n "Chris, you all right?" Dave asked.

\n "He shot me in the arm!"

\n "...does it hurt?"

\n "Well, I can't move my right arm at all, but...  I guess I'm all right."  Chris groaned, picked up the dropped rifle in his left hand and stood up, but he had to lean against the kiosk as a bout of dizziness struck him, brought on by the stunning blast.

\n "You sure you're okay?"

\n He closed his eyes.  "Give me a moment."

\n Dave nodded and started to walk over towards Aithsa, rifle still raised just in case any other men came out of the hallway.  He made it to Aithsa's side and knelt down to remove the ropes, then saw the blood dripping from the dragon's tail and swore.  "Chris, get over here!"

\n Chris picked up the rifle in his left hand and came as quickly as he could, staggering a little on his way over.  
\n "What is it?"

\n He pointed.  "That.  He's been shot."

\n "Ooh," he winced as he saw the wound.  "I guess that's what we heard...  Well, we'd better wake him up, and quickly.  Someone's bound to have called the police by now; these men can't have disabled every guard in the zoo."

\n "What about the wound?"

\n "There's a vet up in Polson I call whenever one of the dragons is hurt badly enough to need medicine or a cast or whatever else; he can treat him, once we get him up there.  For now...  I don't know, just tie it up with something so it'll stop bleeding."

\n Dave undid the rope around Aithsa's snout, then took a piece of cloth from his pack.  "Here, put the cloth over the wound and tie it tightly in place with this."

\n Chris took the cloth in his left hand, then said, "I can't tie knots one-handed."

\n "Oh, sorry."  He took a syringe from his pack and injected a small portion of the re-stimulator into Chris' bad arm, then shot half of what remained into Aithsa's neck.  Chris went clumsily to work, his bad arm slowly regaining its feeling, while Dave untied Aithsa's wings and legs.

\n Aithsa stirred and opened his eyes only moments later, then he raised his head, locked eyes with Dave and growled.
\n "Aithsa, calm down, he's a friend!" Chris said, removing his ski mask so the young dragon would be able to recognize him.  "We're getting you out of here, so let's get moving.  Sean," he spoke into his communicator, "we have Aithsa, so get the jet ready.  We're coming out."

\n Aithsa got back to his feet, then winced.  "Ow, my tail hurts."  He looked at all the men lying on the ground around him, then said, "Chris, did you knock them all out?"

\n "With help," he said, nodding towards Dave and pulling his ski mask back on.  "We'll talk later.  Let's go!"

\n Dave shouldered his backpack and led the way back to the outer wall of the zoo; there were no guards in sight, and they made it out into the parking lot without any trouble.  Sean was waiting for them there, the car's engine already running, and opened the doors so the three of them could get in.  Dave and Chris sat down and strapped themselves in, while Aithsa curled up on the floor and started licking at his wound.  Sean glanced back to make sure they were all settled, then shifted into first gear and started to drive out of the city.