So far, she wasn't regretting taking on the quiet Keno and no-nonsense Zephyros--even if a few of her own crew-members didn't seem to take too kindly towards them.

Crank, for one, didn't seem to have the decency to stop shooting icy looks at their two new arrivals. During meals, she made a point of sitting at the opposite end of the table, glaring whenever she got the chance to at them. The other crew members at least were able to contain their response to the sudden addition, even under these high-stress past few days.

Now the captain and her first-mate, Swift, sat at the controls of the Corinthian, navigating the black ship through dark, silent tunnel-ways. They followed just behind the Dragonchaser, moving at a relatively slow pace as they neared their target. Behind them were the dragons, Key and Cel, and making up the hind-end of the mottley caravan, Guardian. The machine was acting even more cautious then usual, if such a thing could be said to be true, and was taking no chances that they would miss anything following them.

The Dragonchaser finally eased down over a semi-flat section of the sewer-way, her operational pads' blue-white light fading as they were powered down. The Corinthian followed suit, settling a dozen metres or so away from the smaller ship. Fire-Eater glanced out the window as several blackened, rusted tentacles flitted directly past: Guardian was ready when they were.

The radio-link crackled on, and Yana's voice burst, static-filled, over the speakers. "Corinthian?"

Swift chuckled, and Fire-Eater shot him a curious look. She depressed the transmitter button, ignoring the old man for now, instead replying, "Corinthian here. What is it, Dragonchaser?"

"Just thought I'd tell you it's time to plug in, folks. We're ready to roll."

The captain could almost hear the grin of determination on her compatriot's face, which caused her to break out into one of her own. "Right. Meet you on the flipside. Corinthian out." She released the button and finally turned to Swift, then, "What are you cackling about, old man?"

He shook his head, and then slowly got to his feet. With a half-grin, he returned, "She really ought to get that thing fixed."

"What, the radio?" The transmission had been pretty shaky sounding...

"No, the ship! I think I saw plating fall off her bumper on the way here!"

"You're impossible!" Fire-Eater burst out laughing as the man turned from his chair to the cock-pit exit. "You're going to get your come-uppins one day, you know that, right?"

"I'm not getting anything. In fact, I'm giving this pertinent information to the rest of the crew. Now, if you'll excuse me." He gave her a final smile, this time one saccharine sweet, and ran away before he could get anything thrown at him.

"...Yes." He withheld a chuckle as the young girl leaped up, like a cat that's been suddenly poked, and throw her hands up in the air with something between glee and relief.

"Finally!" She raced to her own chair and vaulted into it, despite protests from both Tracker at her unruly behaviour, and from the chair itself as it creaked unstably. "Let's get this shindig going, then!" she settled, though her hands still tapped impatiently against the arms of the chair.

When the other two had taken their own seats--Fire-Eater had decided that the rest of the crew should remain unplugged in case they were needed, as Guardian would be accompanying the candidates--Tracker gave the thumbs-up, and Swift went around, plugging them in.

"Good luck, crazy duck," He gave Crank a pat on the head as he came around to her side, and as usual, she stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"Yeah yeah, I know what I'm doing."

And then the real world fell away.

The girl took a moment to check herself over; she was wearing 'normal' clothing, at least--that had been drilled into her head by Torrent. It was only when she went to tuck her hair behind her ear that she remembered that she hadn't thought to change it! She probably hadn't 'toned down' the other aspects of herself, for that matter... not that anything could really be done about it now.

Crank started when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but it was only Guardian. While he didn't 'plug in' the same way that humans and dragons did, he still relied on the signal his crew-mates broadcasted to enter the Matrix or its Veren counterpart. She felt a lot better for his being here, and was glad that Fire-Eater had decided that he come along. If she'd had to do this by herself... well, she didn't really know anyone else very well, and if it came down to fighting, she didn't know how everyone worked. It could be nasty.

Guardian gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze as the dark-skinned Coder approached them. It was a 'you'll do fine,' sort of message, though no words were exchanged.

"Coder," the machine dipped his head as the man drew near, and Coder returned the greeting with a nod of his own. He didn't seem to say much, but what he did say seemed to weigh all the more for it. Guardian respected that.

"You know what we're here to do already," the bronze-rider said. He looked from Guardian to Crank, to the nearby Keno and Zephyros, and then back to the machine. "We're to arrive at the Specus seperately, or in small groups," he continued, restating an earlier lecture, in case any of them had forgotten. With one more glance between the three candidates, his gaze finally fell on the somewhat settled Crank. "You'll come with Key and I, alright?"

Crank stared at him, and then at the towering bronze that sat patiently near the outer edge of the glade. "Really?" she squeaked. The rider nodded, not a hint of a smile playing across his lips. Crank clapped her hands together, then stopped herself before she could start jumping up and down and causing a general racket. A dragon! She'd get to ride a freaking dragon!

Tech's voice cut across the field, interrupting any further conversation. "Alright, people. It's just about time." The Corinthian crew focused on her as she gave each person gathered one last, judgemental look. "If we've been through this once, we've been through it a thousand times, but I'll run through the plan of attack one last time... in case anyone has forgotten."

Crank rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. If she'd heard it twice, then she'd have heard it a million times. They were so close to the Specus, so close to her riding on a dragon... couldn't the silver-rider just hurry it along?

"...This will be difficult, I won't lie to you about that, and there will be Agents, but I know every person here can do his or her part. Especially with our friend Core here to level the playing ground." Crank returned to the lecture in time to catch the last bit of it. She eyed the giant--Core--standing stolidly opposite of Tech, his head slightly cocked to one side, white hair cascading to his shoulders. Weirdo... finally, the red-clad woman drew her speech to a close, "so good luck to everyone, and we'll see you on the sands!" and with that, everyone went into action.

Coder was already heading across the field, where Key stood, and Crank fairly pranced along behind them. "See you on the sands, Guardian!" She turned and waved to her crew mate, grinning like a mad thing, and then turned to listen to anything else the rider had to tell her. The machine shook his head, trying not to smile. Here they were about to begin one of the most risky runs that he had ever participated in, and she was dancing around at the prospect a dragon ride. Optimistic girl, well, that or short-sighted...

"I take it you enjoyed your flight?" the machine arched an eyebrow. Crank nodded rapidly, beaming. "Well... good then. Where is Coder?" He asked while inconspicuously disentangling himself from her.

"He's making sure everyone's got here alright. He said that we should watch out for everyone else, and start going to the sands. The hatching's supposed to start any time." Crank let go of him to rub her hands together, betraying her nervousness.

They did as they were told, wandering towards the great arches of the hatching sands, for the moment listening to the excited babble of the locals, and searching the crowd for familiar faces. "There's Tech," Guardian pointed out, and indeed, there she was, the blonde-haired Phoenix in tow. They changed their course to meet the two women, excitement growing as cries of 'Hatching!' rang out all over the Specus.

The two pairs met up, and Tech immediately launched into a mantra-like set of rules, 'don't talk with anyone unless you've done so already, try to mingle', yadda yadda yadda. They'd reached one entrance to the sands-stands, when the Silver-rider repeated, perhaps for the hundreth time, "Try to mingle with the other candidates, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves until we absolutely have to. Remember, you're not supposed to--"

"We know!" Crank suddenly exclaimed, the woman's set of nerves grating on her own. "We're not even supposed to know anyone else unless we've talked to them while in the Specus." She narrowed her mascara-lined eyes and huffed, fed-up with the fact that yet another person was trying to shoot her head full of rules like it was some kind of empty container. Tech simply rolled her eyes, and turned her attention on Phoenix.

"Calm down," Guardian patted her shoulder again.

"I don't want to," the Corinthian girl muttered, pouting.

Tech returned her attention to all of them after exchanging some words with Phoenix. She looked like she was about to say something, but had to pause a moment, finally, simply, she told both of the girls, "good luck," and hurried into the stadium stands. Guardian shrugged, and followed after.

Crank took one look into the amphitheatre-like, open-roofed stadium with its soft floor and blindingly-bright chrome mother, and hurried down the ramp after Phoenix onto the sands proper. This was it! It would be just like the program; she'd stand, and maybe fight, but she'd get a dragon of her very own... the idea of that was the most exciting thing of all.

He was distracted as the first hatchling was spilled from its egg, and all the grown dragons ringing the upper ledges of the stadium let out mighty roars to welcome it to the world. The dark silver/white-gold dragonet spread her wings, and Guardian blinked, then lowered his silvered shades to get a better look at her wing-membranes. They were black, not dark-black, but the colourless-black that exists when there simply is nothing to be seen... but that wasn't what drew his attention. The code that streamed down her feeble wings like a cascade of iridescant green rain-water, only to disappear before reaching the edge was what caught his attention.

The code was obviously something to do with bonding/awakening the hatchling, at least, if Guardian read it properly. Behind that, though, he could make out the fainter code of the hatching sands, and beyond that... it was like looking through a window.

Tech and Coder had tensed beside him, and both uttered one curse or another. So it was as he thought it was... wonderful. The silence from the shocked inhabitants, and then the worried hubbub that they generated would most certainly bring attention. Hopefully Crank would be one of the first to bond, so that he could get her out before trouble arrived.

Guardian watched the dark silver trot obliviously by the young Corinthianite, settling on another candidate. That was only the first... there might still be time. In fact, three more eggs had hatched.

The machine's hopes dwindled as first a platinum, then another silver bonded--but then the last hatching disappeared.

~Where is she?!~ Guardian shook his head in stunned silence as the voice of the chrome mother screeched, not out loud (no, out loud she was roaring), but inside his mind like a transmission. He looked out across the sands, holding one hand to his forehead as he watched the creature, and listened to her repeated cries of ~Where?! Where?!~. He wasn't so much worried about what she was saying, but of how it was reaching him... he was unaware, for the moment, of the pandemonium raised by the disappearance of the hatchling.

On the sands, Crank might as well have been unaware of the shouts and confusion that reigned around her and the other candidates. She was focused on the hatchlings and the eggs, just as she'd been in the program. At the moment, she watched a blue-silver lash his tail in distress over his suddenly disappeared clutch-mate, and willed him to calm, and then to choose her already. He appeared to calm down, alright, but instead of heading towards her, the dragonet moved off in the opposite direction, paused before another of the Dragonchaser's newly aquireds, and disappeared.

"Dammit." Crank huffed and glanced over another pair of hatchlings, but they were already headed directly for two of the locals, so she focused on the rest of the dragonets that were either hatching, or had hatched and were milling about their mother. Finally, another two solid-coloured dragons broke away from their mother, the bronze away from Crank, and the brass towards her. The girl leaned forwards a little, excited that a dragonet was finaly coming her way. But, again, this hatchling passed her by, moving instead to, of all people, Keno at the end of the line. Crank cursed as she watched the little thing disappear, and turned to see if the bronze had chosen--and it had, to Zephyros! "Dammit!" If she was left standing around, when those two noser-inners had bonded... the girl clenched her fists together and focused very hard on the remaining hatchlings.

'It's just like the program. It's just like the program...'

Meanwhile, Guardian had regained his composure, and was hurriedly taking in the stadium with its new state of chaos. His gaze swept over Coder and Tech, who were now on the sands, and then up into the crowd where they were looking--an Agent. His lip drew back into something nearly a snarl, and Guardian swept the rest of the crowd. Where there was one Agent, there would be more. And, in quick succession, he picked out four more. All of them were heading towards the humans. And the candidates.

The machine was about to vault the railing when he heard something not a shriek, and not a transmission--fax-machine-style--but both, from behind him and a few seats back. A last Agent glowered down at him from the raised bench, expressionless save for a slight frown. Guardian slowly reached down, pushed one flap of his white trench-coat open, and placed his hand on one of his pistols.

"You underestimate me, human." The Agent reached for his own gun, and the frown on his lips twitched into a smirk.

Guardian didn't move at first or speak. He didn't need to. They both drew their weapons at the same time, and in the blink of an eye, there was the loud BLAM of gun-shots, and the Agent was down, shades shattered and a hole through one eye. The machine allowed the recoil of the pistol to bring the weapon back, relaxed for a moment, and smiled darkly. "Who says I'm human?"

She just hoped that what they'd said about the friendly-giant-tinman Core was true. 'Enforcing the laws of the Matrix...' Right. For Tech and Coder's sake...

The two riders were surrounded and didn't look to have much hope, but then a raucious bellow tore down from the upper reaches of the open-air stadium: a dragon! Crank twisted around and watched as Cel, the silver dragoness, plunged towards the circle of Agents, and then with wide eyes as the black-suited men raised their weapons and shot, in tandum. The dragoness screamed in pain, but came around again and, amazingly enough, managed to crush all of them that Crank could see with a sweep of her paw and tail.

The Corinthian candidate blinked, swallowed the lump of fear that had built up in her throat, and gaped as Cel came in for an easy landing beside the chrome dragoness-mother. "Alright," she told herself as she found herself again looking over the quickly dwindling hatchlings, "I am not leaving here today without one of those."

"Hey, you lot!" Tech's voice called out over the general tumault of the stadium, clearly aimed towards the candidates and newly bonded. "Those of you who are standing around doing nothing, get over here! Cel's taking the already-bonded out!" Those who still weren't waiting, moved towards the silver dragoness and her rider. Crank tried to ignore them, though it was getting more difficult to do so.

It didn't matter that now a gold-mottled copper hatchling was barrelling by her, bonding with Phoenix, and disappearing... she could still do it... right? Crank watched the blonde girl with barely concealed envy as she ran after the last of the candidates, and then the lot of them--humans and dragoness--disappeared. There were three more dragonets, after all. Three was a good number.

The riders moved back towards Core and Crank, who were really the only candidates left, here. Tech spoke lowly, urgently, "We've got a few minutes left before the agents..." but here her voice dropped into a growl. Crank swivelled around to follow her gaze, saw more Agents approaching through the far archway. Tech was the first to speak again, "Get ready for a fight, people!"

Crank bit her black lip, hands pulling at the fabric of her pants nervously. Fight? But she was supposed to bond, Guardian was supposed to do the fighting! The thought of him seemed to conjure the machine, as he strode up from the direction opposite the Agents. "Did I miss anything?" he asked, his own voice quiet, reserved.

"Only that hoarde of death that's bearing down on us!" Crank pointed towards the approaching suits. "not much, I know. Only four this time..."

"Only four?"

"Are you going to freaking do your voodoo thing or not? Lookit how close they are! I can see that one's mole from here!" Crank exclaimed, trying at once to vent her frustration, laugh it off, fear for her life, and try to stick to the original plan. Everything was coming out a jumbled mess!

Swift and Tracker monitered the hatching, Swift cheering on Crank every time a dragonet swung her way, and Tracker ranting on about how Core's presence was fucking everything up so that it wasn't working the way it should have. Outside, the rest of the crew were helping Cel and Key with the dragonets, prepared with already dirty rags, but rags none-the-less, to wipe down the creatures.

Mercury was acting the cynic particularily well today: Key lowered a brass dragonet to the cold ground before him before bolting for the next, and the medic shook his fist after him: "Bloody well drop him on his head, why don't you, big lout! Get out of my sight!" he called to the space where Key had been.

"Shit, they're pulling out." From the plug-room, Tracker stabbed at one screen. "Swift, mind doing the honors?"

"Yes, your majesty," Swift grinned at Tracker, who went back to nearly planting his face on the screen. The two young men they'd taken aboard showed signs of waking up, but Crank remained soundly silent. Swift paused by her, patted one bony shoulder, and whispered, "hang in there, kid. You'll do it." He went on to unplug the newly bonded men.

There was a lag in activities, at least, in the real world, as Keno and Zephyros were escorted outside to meet their bonds. Fire-Eater watched from her seat, entranced by the little shining creatures... and saw Yana charging out, waving at one of her two temporary crew-mates. What the hell was she doing?

And then the man, Keno, she remembered, was hurrying inside. "What the hell is going on?!" She shouted, already standing at the exit-door.

Faintly, she heard the man's reply, "Sentinels!"

"Ho-lee shit." She swung back into her chair, depressed the com-unit button, and nearly shouted into the grill, "Tracker, gimme an update down there! How's it going?"

"They're still plugged in!" The operator's voice returned.

"Still plugged in?!"

"Still plugged in!"

"Shit! Tell them to hurry their asses up!"

"They're trying, Captain!"

Fire-Eater gnawed on her lip for lack of anything else to do. Well this was just great...

And then she made eye-contact with one of the last dragonets. Light blue eyes met light yellow, and Crank grinned. This was it! Finally! But the second, larger dragonet who'd been following the first, crowed out a warning. He fanned his wings, and Crank turned around to see what the hubbub was about.

She came face to muzzle with a gun, and behind that, an expressionless Agent. With a yelp and a duck that was reflex more then anything, Crank felt the bullet from the gun whizz only a centimetre above her head, and land in an explosion of sand only a few feet behind her.

She stared at the Agent, amazed with herself that she'd survived. The Agent stared back, amazed with himself for his own apparent lag-time. Before she could really let sink in what kind of miracle had just occured, Crank spun, leg out in a kick that sent the suited man down onto his back. "Hah!" She crowed, "Gotcha, you dog!" She whipped out her own weapon, a gun that half the crew insisted that she take with her.

She was just pointing the pistol at the Agent as he was raising his own. "I think not," he smirked, taking a moment to level the weapon at her head. Crank yelped and fired off multiple shots, but her aim was bad, and the Agent was still quick. All she managed to do was to knick one shoulder, and even then, he didn't look like he was going to back off.

"Guardian!" she hollered, afraid and out of any other options. But again, the machine was already a step ahead of her. With one tentacle, he bashed the Agent's gun-arm, and with two others, picked the black-suited man up and flung him away, as if he weighed no more then a sack of potatoes. "Thanks," Crank gasped, still shaking at the prospect of coming so close to death.

~You are unhurt?~ He asked, his many-eyed machine-personified face turned towards her. Though his voice wasn't exactly the same as a dragons, it reached her mind very similarly... but that wasn't important right now.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." she grinned nervously, trying to slow the pounding of her heart. She looked away, down at the hatchlings. "Hey... there're only two left."

~Of course,~ a silvery voice intoned, and the larger, mottled kit padded over calmly. ~There was one candidate who made up the last of the thirteen, but I believe he must have left along with the spectators. He wasn't right anyways.~

"Oh, Uh... I thought Tech said all Veran hatchlings bond, though," Crank stated, confused. She was the last candidate, after all...

~Oh, don't worry about him!~ Because Crank had been watching the mottled silver, she hadt seen the brass-striped female come up behind her, and now, feeling something twine around her legs, she nearly jumped. ~He can take care of himself. Speaking of which... my name's Ahbreviaka.~ She smiled, and disappeared. Crank burst into a huge smile. She'd done it!

The little silver watched his clutch-mate disappear, intrigued, and looked up at Guardian. ~Where do they go, when they disappear like that?~

~They Awaken,~ Guardian explained simply.

~Ahh. So there is a way out of this dream?~

~Yes.~ Guardian watched the dragonet intently, as it smiled in the way that dragons do.

~Good. You are my Chosen, then, and you can call me Vanar.~ And the silver-mottled hatchling disappeared.

~WHAT?!~ Guardian stared at the indent in the sand where the silver had just been. He held out his hands in front of him as if warding off a physical blow.

"Wow!" Crank cut in, staring at the machine. "You bonded. I didn't know you could bond..."

~Me... neither,~ he replied. But he hadn't known that he could even hear dragon speech a few hours, minutes? ago, and before that, he hadn't known that he could be anything other then a Hunter-Destroyer... he didn't seem to know a lot of things.

Just then, Tech, now looking utterly bedraggled from the forced-rules fight, loped over to the two of them. "We have a problem," she announced urgently, "squiddies."

Over the transmitter, Yana's voice cursed, and then, "There's only one thing we can do, then. You stay here, lie low... we have to make a run for it."

Fire-Eater gave a moments pause, calculating how best to get them out of this situation, "...you're sure about this, Yana?"

"There's no time to talk about it, cap'n," the Dragonchaser's own barked. "Just get all of your people inside. And as soon as you get your people to an exit and out of there, get back to Zion, you hear me?"

There was no arguing... no time to argue, either. "Right, Corinthian out."

A moment later, Tracker was on the intercom, "Captain! The last dragon just disappeared!"

"Then what the hell is taking them so long? Guardian can pull out by himself, why doesn't he just do it?"

"Crank's still in," Tracker sounded grim, "and I think the Dragonchaser's could use all the help they can get."

Fire-Eater snarled, then slammed her hand on the arm of her chair. She glanced out the window, saw the last of her crew boarding, and the Dragonchaser begin to lift off. "Alright, well we're powering down to minimum. You'd better be keeping our signal silent, and hope there's a shit-load of screaming monkeys to distract those squiddies, because here they come!"

"Oh... bugger..." the mascara-lined freedom fighter panted, turning slowly. It was eerie, how the Agents lined up in a perfect circle. There was no way past all of those black shades. If Crank's heart weren't beating hard already, it would be fluttering in her throat.

One of the Agents stepped forward, looking over the group with what could only be classified as disdain. "Your time is up," he announced, drawing his gun with leisurely slowness.

"You'll eat those words!" the red clad, rage-filled Tech retorted, and fired three shots into the Agent who dared to speak. He went down, hard, and in the second of frenzied activity that followed, the rest of the Agents had drawn their weapons. But so had the freedom-fighters. Crank was fumbling with her gun, reloading, and Guardian was just about ready for some target-practice, but the crack of leathery wings and a draconic scream ripped through the Specus, distracting everybody. The chrome dragoness, the mother of the dragonet clutch, swooped down from the blue expanse above, knocking Agents down.

~No matter who they are,~ she bellowed furiously for all to hear, ~my children Chose them, and you will not have them!~

As one, the Agents that remained turned their guns on her. They pelted her with a rain of bullets, not unlike Cel had been bombarded earlier, but the chrome stood her ground. She harried them as long as she dared, but finally the pain was too much. The shining dam screamed and pulled back, enraged but bleeding and afraid.

Another shape, smaller then the chrome, dive-bombed towards the group. It was Cel, and she came in for a hard landing--on top of several agents--clawing and biting the rest with urgent fury. ~Come on, then,~ she shouted to them all, ~We have to move. Now!~

Crank didn't have to ask any questions, nor did Guardian. The group of five dashed to the dragoness' side, and in a second more, they were, all of them, gone.

"Just what I needed to here, boy!" The captain slammed her hand down on the arm of her seat again, this time out of grim determination then out of frustration. "Swift, full power! Get us up, get us outta here!"

The Corinthian lifted off, blasting through the small swarm of sentinels that had gathered above it. Every gun-turret was blazing, and the squiddies fell almost as fast as they came--almost. There were more coming, and the ship would have soon been over-powered, if they had had to stay in one place.

There was one thing that the sentinels were not expecting, maybe because the Corinthian was drawing their attention, or maybe because they hadn't noticed a scrap heap of metallic tentacles up near the sewer's rim. The scrap heap, however, stirred, and thirty eyes blazed to glowing green life. Guardian was awake, and he was in his element.

From inside, everyone felt a massive shudder shake the entire ship. Those who hadn't been aboard long guessed the worst, but the crew heaved a sigh of relief. Thunder, in a voice much akin to his name, called out to the other gunners, "Hold your fire!" And the ship went quiet.

Sentinels flew as Guardian went to work, grabbing them by their central bodies or by their tentacles, flipping them off into the darkness from the ship's surface like he was pulling up weeds. It wasn't long before the remainder of the enemy focused their attack on him, tentacles extended as they aimed to take him out, instead of the ship. It was perfect.

Guardian fell away from the Corinthian, and of course, the Sentinels followed. The ship itself leapt up, free of all of the machines' extra weights, and slung off down the tunnel, leaving their companion behind. Guardian himself had his tentacles full--one of the squiddies managed to rip off a piece of his side-plating before he disabled it, and more were coming at him.

He launched himself upwards, propelled by a hovering element much like his enemies possessed, and shot off in the opposite direction of his ship. For what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, he continued to struggle with the enemy. Then, when he was sure that he had all of their attention thoroughly fixed on him, he pulled his singularly most useful trick. He disappeared.

He was still there, of course, but he had flipped his signal to that of another Sentinel. Like magnets of the same polarity, his enemies backed away from him, and began prowling for their 'escaped' quarry. Guardian hovered along with the rest of them, enacting the same patterns as them, until, slowly but surely, they drifted back into patroling mode. And then he made a hasty exit.