Nervous. That is what I was.
I sat in the passenger seat of Elias's Mustang. It was 6:30am, and we were heading to Drake's Lair.
Everyone else was on their way too, but we were each taking a different route there.
I sat wordless as Elias drove. We were both wearing black suits that fit tightly on our bodies. Alex had said that they would help protect us, but I was a doubtful that they would.
"Hey, don't be so nervous, Anada. We'll be alright." Elias reassured me.
I smiled, but it wasn't a real smile. There was a bad feeling forming in my gut, and I've felt it before. When I feel it something bad usually happens.
But Elias might be right. Maybe I'm just nervous.
I breath in deeply and say, "I hope this turns out well."
He nods and turns on the radio. The music helps settle me some.
When we're half a mile from Drake's Hide-out we get out of the Mustang and grab our rifles from the trunk. We don't plan on killing anyone, but we need self defense.
I strap it around my shoulder and tell Elias, "I don't know why Reina gave me one. I already have plenty of my own natural weapons."
Elias shrugs, "Well, Alex said to not shift until we're inside the compound. I guess the rifle is your protection in the mean time."
We then set off toward the enemy. The woods were quiet except for a few birds singing happily. A breeze was coming toward us and I could already smell the hide-out. The scent brought back a flurry of memories, but I shoved them back like a tree branch in the way.
A while later Elias and I crouch down to look at the large building in front of us. I finger the earpiece wrapped around my ear. Alex's voice suddenly comes from the earpiece and I accidentally jump from the abrupt sound. Elias is trying to hold back a laugh while I'm listening to Alex.
Alex says to us, "I will tell everyone when to advance. So be ready."
I touch the silver dragon dagger strapped to my leg. I had brought it just incase I needed it.
A few seconds later Alex  says, "Now!"
Elias and I speedily run to the building with our heads lowered. The weeds and grass helped to cover us. We didn't want to be seen so we stayed low.
A second later we reach a small door. I turn the handle, but it's locked.
"I forgot to bring the lock pick. I can't believe it!" Elias said in a whisper.
"I can do it." I said.
I then let my talons grow from my finger tips.
"We won't have time. It'll take too long with your talons." Elias says.
"I've got another way."
My talons then heat to a blistering red color. I then dig my talons into the door and melt a hole large enough for my arm.
"Whoa, how did you do that?" Elias says surprisingly while I reach inside and turn the handle.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you about that. I just found out that I could do that." I say quietly as we go inside.
He whispers back, "When did you find out, and how can you forget to not tell me?"
"I found out when I was trying to escape this place." I say.
Elias nods and Neil's voice comes from my earpiece, "You know what to do now that your inside. Sweep the place for anyone and anything."
I finally decide that it's time to shift to my dragon form. When I'm done shifting I stretch my wings.
"Ready?" Elias asks from next to me.
"Ready." I reply as I grip the rifle that's still slung on my shoulders.
We then go down the hallway. At first we're hesitant and look around ever corner, but we soon gain determination.
Like we were told, we check every room for Drake or Drake's men.
We continue for a few minutes, but we find nobody.
"This is fishy." I say, but not a second later a man throws himself out a door and tries to shoot us with his pistol.
I shove Elias into a nearby room before we can be hit by a flying bullet.
I quickly glance around the room and realize that it's the same room I was held in when I was kidnapped.
I growl deeply, "I hate this room."
It took a second for Elias to understand what I was talking about. Before he can answer I shoot at the man who is still out in the hallway.
I hear him fall to the floor with a cry. We then leave the room and find the man holding his wounded leg.
I quickly melt his pistol and throw it down the hall. Instead of hitting the far wall the pistol hits another man coming around the corner. That man falls to the floor unconscious.
"What should we do with these two? This guy can't walk and the other one is unconscious." I ask Elias.
"We could put them in that room for now." Elias pointed to the room we were just hiding in.
We then dragged the men into the room and locked it. I slashed my talons across the door so we could remember which room they were in.
We then continued down the hall. A minute later we found five of Drake's men standing around. Before they could draw their weapons we surprised them and made them surrender. One of the men tried to tackle Elias, but I punched him before he even got close to either of us.
We then made them drop their weapons and go down the hall with their hands above their heads.
About five minutes later a roaring sound comes from down the hall. Then suddenly three scared men run around the corner and a huge angry grizzly is chasing them.
The five men we have captured start to turn around fearfully, but they stop when I shoot a stream of fire up in the air.
Keith, the grizzly bear, stops near us and says, "I can take these men of your hands if you want me to."
"Thanks, that'll help." I say.
We then let Keith take the men, and we continue down the hall checking rooms.
I start to see deep dark scuff marks on the floor, and I immediately know what they are. They're the marks left from heated talons when I was trying to escape.
We're close to Dr.Vindu's lab.
The next door we open is it. The lab. The number one room I hate.
I go inside first. I'm not afraid anymore. I feel triumphant instead.
The room hasn't changed at all. There are still scorch marks from when I used my fire. The room where I was put in as a dragon still had a melted door on it.
Then Dr.Vindu came out of another room. He immediately saw me and turned to run, but he was too slow. I blocked his exit and roar in his face menacingly. He stepped back fearfully. Then his scared expression turned into a smirk.
"Have you come back for me to study you more, freak?" He asked in his evil voice.
I snapped at him, and my talons and spines started to heat involuntarily.
"Who is this man, Anada?" Elias asks me.
I growl, "Dr.Vindu is his name. He also used me like a lab rat!"
Before I can blink Elias runs over and punches Dr.Vindu square in the face. The mad scientist then falls to the floor with a bloody nose.
"What else did he do, Anada?" Elias asks me.
A stream of smoke escapes my nostrils, "Nothing more than that, but he would've done more if I hadn't escaped."
Elias raises his fist again, but I grab him before he moves.
"Don't. We're not like Drake." I said to him.
He lowers his fist and nods understandingly, "You're right, Anada."
We then take Dr.Vindu down the hall. Elias then asks on his earpiece where the other teams were at. A few minutes later we meet up with Alex, Natalia, and Olivia. They have all of Drake's men lined against the hall wall.
We briefly tell them about the two other men we had left in the room. Then Alex sends someone to go get them.
"Something isn't right. This was way too easy." I say to them.
Olivia nods, "You're right. Nobody has found Drake. I've already asked these men where he was. All they said was that he's not here."
I growl deeply and turn to look at the men lined along the wall. I'm about to start an interrogation of my own, but a single voice stops me.
"I can tell you where he's at."