Dragon-Man #4

Drake Fires woke up in the middle of the night in the bed of his mom’s house. As he sat in his bed seeing in his room all of his old Energizer posters and piles of comic books, he was confused. All of this stuff should’ve been all burnt up in the fire that happened a few months back. He was confused but also relieved to see all of his possessions again. The door to his room was left opened as a faint whisper could be heard from the dark hallway. The screen saver on his laptop, which was an epic battle between Energizer and Synergy turned into a glitch. A golden horned skull with glowing red eyes appeared laughing on the screen before the laptop shuts down. Bottling up his fear and anxiety, he hops out of the comfort of his bed and goes to the door.

He peeks out of his door as he checks both the left and right side of the hall. Drake steps out into the darkened hallway seeing a light shining through his mom’s door. He tried calling out to her but he could not speak. As he stepped closer he could feel a cold shiver run down his spine. A skeletal hand covered in shadow crept up behind him and touched his shoulder. He gasped and turned around only to see that nothing but darkness was there. Only that wasn’t the case.

Strange black fog came out of the darkness and crept its way toward Drake’s bare feet. Drake looked up toward the ceiling as the shadow was in the shape of a very tall being cloaked in a black robe. He backed up frightened of the shadow as the mysterious black fog past his feet. The black fog seamed into Drake’s mom’s room as the door slammed shut. Drake pounded and slammed his hands upon the door as he hears his mother’s screams. Drake looks back at the tall shadow in the hall as a skeletal hand rises up and shushed him. A sound came from behind the door which sounded like blades stabbing into flesh.

Drake looked down at his feet as blood was running from beneath the door. Drake tried breaking the door down with his shoulder but it wouldn’t budge. He then backed up and kicked the door down. He rushed in only to see his mother’s bloody corpse on the bed. The room was up in flames as he was surprised and shocked to see a demonic looking version of his alter ego Dragon-Man at her bed side. His mother’s rich blood stained and smeared all over his claws dripping on the floor. The demonic Dragon-Man paced toward him as Drake ran the other way. He ran down the darkened hallway as the walls materialize. The floor collapsed in front of him and trapped him.

Nothing but darkness was down below as the demonic Dragon-Man stood behind him. Drake turned to face him as he looked up at him. The demonic Dragon-Man towered over him menacingly. Drake standing in his shadow took a few steps back as he came close to falling off the edge. The demonic Dragon-Man slashed his chest as Drake fell into the eternal darkness below. He woke up gasping from the terrible nightmare. He screams and yells out ‘MOM!’ A knock came to his door. He gets up from his bed and opens it. On the other side of the door was Detective Wydock. Drake asked him before if he could stay with him for a while to help cope with these recent nightmares and his mother’s death.

“I heard screaming Drake. Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Just another nightmare.”

“Well okay. Well, you better get dressed before you’re late for school. I can drive you on my way to work if you like.” As nice as his neighbor was to offer him a ride and take him in, Drake refused the ride.

“That’s okay, I’ll walk today. Maybe some fresh air will do me some good. Thanks though.”

“Alright then. If you need me you have my number.” Michael walks away. He walks downstairs as Drake gently shuts the door. He checked his alarm clock and realized that he had no time to take a shower. He just put on some deodorant and some fresh clothes. He opened the window to his room and jumped out. While in the air, Drake transformed into Dragon-Man and flew up into the sky. He was lucky that nobody saw him transform.

“WHOOOO!” He shouted with excitement. Detective Wydock heard the yell of excitement and looks up behind him. But he see’s nothing but the clouds in the sky. He shrugs and turns back to his car as he gets in and drives to work. Drake flew with such grace doing tricks in the air, spinning and doing flips. Flying with such incredible speed, he flies next to an airplane. A passenger looks out his window and see’s Dragon-Man outside. Drake waves and smiles as he flies past the plane. The passenger blinked his eyes as if he didn’t know what the hell he just witnessed. Drake flies on until he heard someone crying out for help from below. He uses his dragon sight and sees a woman being mugged in an alley way below. He decides to swoop down and help the woman like a superhero should, protecting the weak.

“Just give me the damn bag lady!” The thief said as he held a gun to her face. The woman was scared and backed into a wall. Dragon-Man lands as he stomps the ground getting the thief’s attention. Both their eyes widened.

“What the hell!?” He turns the gun onto Dragon-Man as he paces toward the thief who was shaking like a leaf. He fires his gun as the bullets did nothing but bounce off his scales and breastplate. Dragon-Man grabbed the thief by the collar of his shirt and lifts him up taking the gun right out of his hand. He gives the thief an imitating look.

“P-Please don’t eat me!” He lets the thief drop as he points his sharpened claw at him. Scared for his life the thief runs away. Dragon-Man turns to the woman who didn’t seem scared at all. Just surprised and curious.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-You can talk?” Dragon-Man walks up to her.

“It’s okay ma’am. I am not here to hurt you.”

“Y-You saved me. I mean wow, a real life dragon! My friends are never gonna believe this! Can I get a picture with you?” She asked with excitement in her voice. Dragon-Man smiles at her, he was overwhelmed.

“Of course.” He said smiling. He thought that maybe the picture would go viral and on newspapers everywhere. Then perhaps everyone will see that Dragon-Man is here to help. It may even open up the crime bosses eyes to what he is really about. The woman took out her phone from her bag as Dragon-Man gets close to her and poses for the picture by smiling and making a peace sign. The woman snaps the photo. Dragon-Man then leaves her side.

“I’ve gotta go. Have a nice day.” Dragon-Man spread his wings and took to the skies.

“Thank you!” The woman called out.

Dragon-Man landed on the ground behind the school as if no one could see him in his current state. He transformed back into Drake as he steps out of the shadows casted by the trees. All his fellow students getting off the busses holding onto their binders and book bags. It felt weird not seeing Alison Embers get off the bus at this time. He couldn’t help but think of her. What could’ve happened to her? The bell rang for morning classes to begin as Drake walks up the stairs and into the school, King Darkoss High. His first period class was history with his teacher Ms. Tenchi, Koruka Yumi Tenchi. Except that wasn’t the case this time. Ms. Tenchi wasn’t in today. In her place was a fit balding man with professor-like glasses sporting a brown jacket and orange necktie.

“Where’s Ms. Tenchi?” Asked Drake.

“Ms. Tenchi couldn’t make it in today. You must be Drake Fires, she’s told me all about you. She said that you were the top of her class and I’m impressed. Let’s see if she’s right. Please take your seat.” Drake did as he was instructed to do and sat at his desk alongside his fellow students.

“Hello everybody. Ms. Tenchi took sick leave today so I will be your substitute for today. My name is Walter Miller, but you may address me as Mr. Miller or Mr. M. if you prefer.” He said as he wrote it on the giant chalkboard behind him.

“Now, I understand that Ms. Tenchi was teaching you about historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., JFK and Plato just to name a few. However, there is one historical figure that I want to talk about with you. Now, who here knows of the 300 Spartans?” Drake raised his hand and spoke up.

“The 300 Spartan soldiers who rebelled and fought back against the invading Persian empire. Led by the Spartan King, Leonidas.” Walter was impressed by Drake’s answer.

“Very good Drake, that is correct. As he once said, ‘I was the son of King Anaxandridas II. He succeeded his half-brother King Cleomenes I to the throne in c. 489 BC. His co-ruler was King Leotychidas.’ At the legendary Battle of Thermopylae in Ancient Greece, King Leonidas and a small number of soldiers – including 300 of his warriors from the state of Sparta – died making a heroic last stand against an invading force of around 100,000 Persians....” As he was rambling on about King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans, Drake started to hear a voice in his head.

“Drake.... Drake..... Can you hear me...?”

“Thorax?”

“Oh thank Dragnar, the spell worked.”

“Thorax, how can I hear you?”

“I am speaking to you by telepathy. It took me years to master this ability. No one else can hear me, only you. Now listen closely. There’s been a security breach over at Iron Halls Prison. I want you to go check it out.”

“I can’t, I’m in class.”

“Well, find a way to get out of it. This is urgent! Most likely it’s one of your enemies and is looking for you for a rematch.” The voice in his head stopped. Drake needed to think of a way to get out of class and go check out the crime scene. He raised his hand as Mr. Miller acknowledges it.

“May I be excused to use the bathroom?”

“Of course Drake.” Drake gets up from his desk as Mr. Miller gives him a hall pass.

“Thanks, I might be a while. That breakfast burrito isn’t sitting quite right.” He leaves the classroom and heads to the roof of the school. He transforms into Dragon-Man and flies off to Iron Halls. He perches himself on one of the outer walls of the prison where he see’s Detective Wydock and his partner surrounded by police investigating the crime scene. A huge gaping hole was made in the solid concrete wall.

“A bomb maybe?” Asked one of the police.

“I don’t know, there’s a huge ‘gap’ in that story.” Dragon-Man joked. The police turned around and saw Dragon-Man. Their first instinct was to immediately pull out their guns on him as Dragon-Man used his wing to hide behind as if it were a shield.

“Hold your fire men!” Commanded the detective. They did as they were told and lowered their guns.

“It was just a joke guys, calm your tits.”

“It’s alright dragon, my men won’t hurt you. Why are you here?” Dragon-Man jumps down as he walks up to him, towering over the detective. His partners jaw was dropped, he was at a loss for words.

“I am here to help. What happened here?”

“Well as you can probably tell dragon, the wall has been breached by someone or something. It couldn’t have been a bomb because there are no signs of scorch marks anywhere. And this prison is on an island which means that it would be impossible to drive a wrecking ball here. And also whatever made this hole, they broke it from the inside.”

“Hmm, inside job maybe?”

“That’s what we’re thinking. Maybe someone of your size dragon.”

“That’s possible. And he would have to be Hella strong to break through solid concrete.”

“Chief, a word please?” His partner spoke up. Detective Wydock and his partner, Detective Berman at the time, went away from Dragon-Man. But of course that didn’t help because of Dragon-Man’s advanced hearing. He heard everything.

“I don’t trust this.... Thing. It just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Berman, don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“That thing is a monster! It cannot be reasoned with! Do you really trust that thing?”

“As a matter of fact I do. He’s helped us with Clayton and Jacob Chills. Don’t be short sighted.”

“Well, Jacob managed to escape even before he got to Iron Halls.”

“Wait, what!? Why wasn’t I informed about this?”

“It was probably that thing that broke him out. Do you know what his kind is capable of, have you not read fairy tales before? Dragons are known to terrorize, burning everything in their path with their fire breath!”

“Berman, this one’s different. He’s not like the dragons in those fairy tales. Just give him a chance, you’ll see.” Dragon-Man notices something shiny on the ground. He walks over and picks it up. It was a small silver stud. He gives it to the detective.

“This is a stud from one of Hot-Shots bracelets. Whoever or whatever was here, they broke Hot-Shot out.”

“Good work dragon. Will you require some back-up?”

“I’ll be fine. He’s no match for me. I’ll have him back before dinner.” He joked as he took to the skies.

“I was talking about the big guy!” But Detective Wydock spoke too late. Dragon-Man flew off faster than a jet fighter going supersonic speed. As he was flying, he heard Thorax’s voice in his head again.

“Drake, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Good. What did you find out?”

“Well someone of my size broke Hot-Shot out of prison. Also I overheard that Jacob Chills is still out there somewhere.”

“By the gods! I thought they’ve captured him.”

“They did. But he must’ve escaped by the time they could get him to Iron Halls. I’m going to search for Jacob first. He’s more dangerous on these streets.”

“Good. I’ll do what I can to track down Hot-Man and our mystery brute.”

“It’s pronounced Hot-Shot.”

“Whatever. I’ll tell you what I find.”

Night had fallen onto the city and Jacob Chills or Hot-Shot were nowhere to be seen. Blue-Flame was walking down the streets looking for places to rob until she came across a missing persons poster. The poster showed the face of Alison Embers who is claimed to be missing according to the P.C.P.D. She examined the poster very carefully as she sees the resemblance of herself and Alison. Both had red hair and shared the same eyes. Looking at the poster almost makes her remember but she didn’t want to. She uses her blue fire to burn the poster. Dragon-Man sees her down below and swoops in.

“Late night stroll?” He asked as he lands behind her. Blue-Flame sees him as he walks up, towering over her.

“Or just looking for places to rob?”

“Oh come on Dragon, can’t a girl have her fun?” She asked him playfully. As Dragon-Man walked, a piece of the flyer that Blue-Flame tried to burn up got stuck onto his foot. He notices it and picks it up. Staring at the picture of Alison Embers, a tear tried to escape his eye. Dragon-Man looks at Blue-Flame and confronts her.

“Why did you try to burn this?” She says nothing about it as Dragon-Man walks closer to her. But just then, he sensed a cold chill on his back and could tell that danger was near.

“WATCH OUT!” He yelled as he grabbed Blue-Flame and shielded her from the ice blast that was behind him using his wing as the shield.

“Whoa, that was a close one.” She looked deep into Dragon-Man’s eyes as he looked into hers.

“What? You expecting a kiss or something?” She asked him playfully.

“That was Jacob’s freeze gun.” He responded. Jacob Chills was flying through the air with an upgraded jetpack and lands in front of the two.

“I finally found you dragon! I’ve been looking all over the city for you! And now it’s time to put you on ice!” Jacob aimed and pulled the trigger of his ice gun. Dragon-Man flew up as Blue-Flame jumped the opposite direction as the ice blast missed the two. Jacob looks up at Dragon-Man.

“What, no silly nickname for me this time?” He mocked.

“All out of puns?”

“I’m working on it. The puns will cometh.” He responded. Dragon-Man let out a stream of fire as Jacob created a barrier around himself. While Dragon-Man was busy dealing with Jacob, she sought the opportunity to escape. But before she could escape, Blue-Flame was stopped in her tracks by Hot-Shot who landed right in front of her blocking her path. She backed away as he drew closer to her.

“Well well. What’s a sweet thing like you doing out here at night?” She said nothing. She just ignited her flames getting ready for a fight.

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you to not play with fire?” Hot-Shot grinned as he ignited his flames as well. He looks at her sinisterly.

“Funny, I was going to ask you the same.” He threw the first fireball at her but she avoided it by ducking. He threw another one as she jumped over it. While in the air, she blasted blue fire at him as he leaps back. She landed on her feet as Hot-Shot flew in the air.

“What’s the matter? Can’t fly?” He chuckled mocking her. She just stared up at him.

“I don’t need to fly to beat you!” She ran and leaped off of Dragon-Man’s back as she fire punched him so hard that he fell right out of the sky. He impacted hard onto the pavement that it created a small crater. Jacob fires his ice gun and hits Dragon-Man’s back getting his attention.

“Hey! Your fight is with me!” He fired again as Dragon-Man flew upwards missing the ice blast. Hot-Shot got up but was caught in the crossfire and was put on ice. Dragon-Man swooped down trying to punch him, but Jacob leaped back missing his massive fist. He went in for a spin kick but Jacob ducked under his leg. He tried to freeze Dragon-Man’s head but he grabbed Jacob’s gun by the barrel and bent it upwards. Jacob’s freeze blast went up into the clouds above as it began to snow. Jacob’s eyes grew large as Dragon-Man pushed him back. Hot-Shot unfroze himself as he became angry.

He shot a fireball at Jacob as he was sent flying through the air, flipping before hitting the ground. Blue-Flame ran up to Hot-Shot. He saw her coming and back-slapped her as hard as he could while he was enraged. Dragon-Man turns to face them as Blue-Flame lays there playing the innocent woman.

“How could you? I’m a woman! You were always such a hot-head!”

“What did you say?” He walked up to her enraged until Dragon-Man calls out to him.

“Zachery no!” Hot-Shot turns to him as Blue-Flame runs away.

“Great, you let her get away!” Dragon-Man walks up to him.

“Don’t you know who that is, haven’t you figured it out by now?” He said nothing. He just stared up at him and turns away.

“Tch, whatever. I’m outta here.” Dragon-Man lassoed his leg before he could fly away causing Hot-Shot to trip and fall flat on his face.

“Don’t you walk away from me!” Drake wasn’t playing games anymore. He was done playing the class clown. Now it was time to get serious. He had his tail wrapped tight around his leg as he stares at him upside down.

“You’re going to tell me who broke you out of Iron Halls and you’re gonna tell me right now!” Zachery chuckled.

“Oh look at you Drake. When did you get so serious?”

“ANSWER ME!”

“And why should I answer to you!?” Drake yanks him in closer.

“I’m losing my patients!” He draws one of his sharpened claws closer to Zach’s face as he presses it against his skin.

“You better tell me now or I’ll spill more than just hot-sauce on your vest, or maybe even your hair!”

“HEY HEY! NOBODY MESSES WITH THE DO! You know how long it would take to wash the blood out of my hair!?”

“Then I suggest you start talking!”

“Ok ok fine. He’s only known as Terror. He’s a big guy, close to your size. You’re going to have a hard time beating him.”

“Where can I find him!?” Zach just smiled.

“Oh you’ll meet him soon enough. He’s so eager to meet you!” He grins. All of a sudden, lava started to flow out of Zachery’s eyes and mouth as Drake drops him and backs away in shock and awe. Everything around him started to go dark as he could hear a loud screeching in his ears. Dragon-Man covered his ears and collapses onto the ground. What was going on? Was that really Zach or just a decoy...?

TO BE CONTINUED.....