The Drake Six

by JNKing

Episode Twenty: Wings of Hate Arc - Finale

Diamondback had mentioned that she had trained her dogs in a variety of skills, but even then, Spike was not prepared for just how many skills they had.

Cutting through the dirt like water, the dogs tunneled deep down underneath Verko’s base. The mole man had set his base far underneath the granite of Kludgetown, but Diamondback’s dogs still found a way to go deeper than him.

Carefully, with the stealth skills of commandos, the dogs dug into one of the corridors of Verko’s base.

“Two guards on patrol,” Darius reported.

Myst nodded, signaling Luke with her. The two tunneled under the corridor, and Spike got to watch alongside Darius as they opened a sinkhole underneath the guards.

The guards went in, and Luke and Myst came out. Clean as a whistle.

“Wow, DB,” Spike mumbled, as the dogs opened the tunnel into the base. “I knew your dogs were good, but I didn’t think they were this good.”

Diamondback smiled at Myst, who puffed her chest up with pride. “We had to free other dogs from tyrannical dragons just like this. Speaking of which…” the diamond dog sniffed the air. “The slaves should be just above us. Move out.”

The dragons followed behind the diamond dogs; Night Fire creeping right alongside the dogs, with Swift and Spike in between and Jackknife reluctantly taking up the rear. Diamondback and Phoenix stayed by the exit, ready to either bring freed slaves away from the horrible place, or to shut up the hole should any more guards try to cut them off.

As Spike moved next to Swift, he kept an eye on the griffon-dragon hybrid; Swift’s blue eyes were dead-set ahead of him. His entire body was as tense as a stretched rubber band.

“Swift,” Spike asked gently. “Are you okay?”

Swift shook his head. “Not a good time to ask me that,” he said. “I just… I need to see her. You know? I need to know what kind of fate she got.”

Spike looked up as Myst and Night carefully opened a door. “I think we’ll find out soon enough,” Spike admitted, as the doorway opened to the first slave holding.

Two rows of cages stood out to them, all of them holding slaves. The slaves were quiet, only faint whimpers emanating from a few of them.

Moving like a cohesive unit, the dog pack struck. The guards patrolling were tackled to the ground and silenced, while Myst herself broke open the first lock.

“W-Who…?” the slave inside whimpered as Myst opened the door.

“Allies,” Myst said, seizing the slave. “We’re getting you out.”

“N-No, it’s a trick,” the slave insisted. “A trick! I-I’M…”

Spike flinched as Myst clocked the slave upside the head, knocking him out and hoisting him onto her back.

“What the…?” Spike demanded.

“I know, harsh thing to do,” Myst admitted. “But slaves that have been broken that badly won’t come otherwise.” She handed the unconscious slave off to Luke, who carried him back to Diamondback and Phoenix. “Trust me, kid,” she added to Spike. “He’ll thank us later.”

The other slaves who witnessed Myst’s act seemed to realize as much. That or they feared being hit enough to be silent. As Myst, Luke and the others broke open the locks, Night, Spike, Swift and Jack gently moved the slaves out and back to the corridor.

Yet, at the same time, there was no sign of Hawke.

“Hey,” Spike asked one slave, who winced at his voice. “Did you see a griffon? Female with gray feathers?”

“I don’t know, sir, I don’t see,” the slave said. “B-But they have three levels of us; one’s for breaking us in, the second’s for conditioning us, and the third’s… well, here.”

Spike’s heart dropped into his throat. He turned to the others. “Guys, there’s more slaves than just here.”

Jackknife frowned, while Night and Myst exchanged somber looks.

“Well,” Myst said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.” She nodded to her dogs. “Get the rest of these guys out of here and then head to the next level. We don’t leave a single slave behind.”

Spike nodded with a grin, before looking for Swift. “We’ll find her, Swift… Swift?”

Swift was staring at one of the last cages with the same look he had while gazing at his childhood home.

Walking over, Spike saw what had caught his attention:

They had found Hawke.

Or rather, what used to be Hawke. The griffon was almost unrecognizable from the aggressive bird that had menaced Swift in the past.

Angry lashings turned what few gray feathers she still had red. Chains dug into her wings and talons, pinning her back to the cage wall. Her beak was bent at an odd angle, like someone had tried to make her beak spin like a cartoon duck. And her legs…

Night immediately pulled Spike away. “You’re far too young to know what that is,” she insisted. “Besides, we have others to help.”

But Spike pulled himself free of her. His main focus was on Swift.

“Swift, buddy,” he said, reaching out for his friend.

“S-Swift…?” a rattling croak emanated from the cage. With what looked like the last of her strength, Hawke managed to turn her head, and her blue eyes - so similar to Swift’s, and yet also so dead inside - landed on her nephew.

Swift’s talons clenched, scraping small trenches into the stone beneath. His feathers bristled like an angry wolf. If he had teeth, Spike was certain they’d be trying to clench in rage.

But it was hard to be angry at something that looked so pathetic.

“Swift, remember what we…” Spike tried to say, but Night placed a hand on his shoulder. When he looked into the black dragon’s green eyes, she only shook her head at him, before turning to Swift.

“Do what you think is right, Swift,” Night said. “No one should judge you for it.”

Swift lowered his head by a fraction, his eyes shutting with a sigh. When he finally opened them…

“Save the rest,” he said. “I won’t be far behind.”

Nodding, Night pulled Spike away from his friend. As they ascended to the next level, Spike looked back one more time.

Swift and Hawke were still staring at each other. Spike couldn’t discern the emotions flying across Swift’s face.

And a part of him wondered if even Swift knew what emotions he was feeling at the time.

Unfortunately, Spike didn’t have long to ponder. Halfway through freeing the second batch of slaves… an alarm began to ring.

Night sighed. “Yep,” she muttered. “They had to use their brains eventually.”

Myst cursed. “We’re not finished yet,” she insisted. “We still have a level and a half to go.”

“Then get on it,” Night said. “I’ll entertain our hosts until you’re done.”

“Alone?” Spike asked.

“No way,” Jackknife insisted. “I’m coming with you.”

“Myst will need you to get the slaves home,” Night insisted. “Besides, I’m the fastest.”

“That’s up for interpretation,” a voice replied.

The others turned as Swift joined them. Spike gave him a wary look.

“Swift?” he asked.

Swift just shook his head at Spike before turning to Night. “You and me,” he said in a voice that struggled to remain firm. “Let’s get these guys the time they need.”

Night grinned. “You got it, partner.” She gave him a fist bump before the two ran off to head off any approaching guards.

Spike glanced at Jackknife. “You think he’s okay?”

“I dunno,” Jackknife admitted. “I just hope whatever he did with Hawk gave him peace.”

“He’s not the only one,” Myst reminded them. “Let’s go!”

Working fast - especially as dragon roars battled against the sound of chains and slaver shouts - the dragons and dogs freed the rest of the second level, and moved onto the third.

Whatever Swift and Night were doing, it kept the cell blocks free of guards. And before Spike knew it, they were escorting the last of the slaves down to the exit.

“That’s the last of them,” Myst said with a grin, before turning back. “Someone should get Swift and Night.”

“On it,” Spike and Jackknife said at the same time. They exchanged grins.

“Jinx,” Spike noted.

“I’ll get ya some soda ‘r something after this,” Jackknife replied.

Together, the two dragons raced off to find their friends.

At first, it seemed pretty easy; they just had to follow the unconscious bodies. And in time, they came across Night as she choke-slammed one guard before catching another around the neck with her tail and throwing them into a wall.

However…

Spike grew pale. “Where’s Swift?”

Night leaned against the wall, panting raggedly. “Too many…” she mumbled. “So many guards… Swift… he said he’d… distract… buy me time…” She leaned over. “Holy crap…”

Jackknife cursed. “She’s outta it,” he noted, gathering her up in his arms. “I’ll get her back. You find Swift.”

“Got it,” Spike agreed, racing down towards hopefully wherever Swift was.

“I’ll come after ya if ya don’t show up soon,” Jackknife added.

Giving a quick salute of affirmation, Spike ran down the corridors, looking for some sign of his bird-dragon friend.

Without unconscious bodies to follow, it proved a lot more difficult. However, Spike’s ears soon picked out the sound of bird caws.

“Swift,” he thought, running towards the sound.

However, his heart dropped as he heard just how riddled with pain Swift’s cries were. They also fought against ugly laughter.

“Hang on, Swift,” Spike wished he could call out. “I’m coming!”

Unfortunately, as Spike finally reached the source of Swift’s cries… what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks.

Swift had been overwhelmed; what looked like all of the remaining guards in the base had dog-piled him, pinning his wings and arms down until he couldn’t move an inch.

Verko stood over the bird dragon with a smug grin, already favoring a red-leathered whip.

“I gotta say, I’m impressed, boy,” Verko noted. “If anything, Hawke wasn’t accepting enough money for what you can do. Dumb as a bag of rocks, I’ll admit, but I can handle dumb.” He uncoiled the whip. “Makes it easier to make you do what I want.”

Swift cawed defiantly up at the slaver, but there wasn’t much else he could do. And as the whip rose, Spike remembered what had happened to Hawke, and got a horrifying vision of the same fate befalling Swift.

“NO!” Spike roared, blasting a stream of green fire. Verko’s whip disintegrated, but the mole-man jumped back, several of his guards quickly moving between Spike and the slave driver.

“Spike?” Swift stammered. “No, get out of here!”

“Not without you!” Spike insisted, preparing another fire blast even as the slavers grinned lecherously down at him.

Verko laughed. “Well-well,” he noted. “Looks like Hawke’s assumption about you was incorrect. Loyal enough to follow him into the slaver pits. I can respect that. In fact, I love it.” He nodded at his guards, who began to move in on Spike. “Once I get you loyal to the right people - me, namely - I imagine we’re going to do some great things together.”

Spike snarled and spat fire, but the guards were smart enough to leap back and avoid the flames. Spike could keep them back forever. And in the meantime, Swift was already getting dragged up. There was even less time before they used him as a hostage.

Spike didn’t know how to handle this. How was he supposed to get Swift and himself out of this?

“Come on, come on, you lot,” Verko said, unaware of a pair of eyes opening in the shadows behind him. “These two aren’t the only slaves we need to recover. I want the rest of their friends. And…”

Suddenly, his commands were cut off into a squeal of agony. Every guard turned, and Spike’s heart leaped into his throat.

Hawke had leaped out of the shadows, and was wildly smashing Verko’s head against the ground. A wrathful scream bubbled out of her bent beak as she drove his skull into the concrete. Again and again.

The guards moved to yank her off him. But before they could touch her, a red light lit up behind her.

Spike’s breath hitched. “Explosives!”

“Swift, look out!” Spike yelled, before the explosives went off.

The shockwave threw Spike into a wall, sending him dazed and disoriented to the ground. As more explosions echoed around him, Spike pulled himself back up… only for talons to close around his shoulder.

As he was pulled up, Spike feared for a moment that Verko’s guards had caught him. But his fears were allayed as he gazed into the blue eyes of his friend Swift.

“We have to get out of here!” he said as another explosion knocked some of the ceiling down onto the ground.

“What the heck did Hawk set off?” Spike demanded as they fled.

“I don’t know!” Swift admitted.

Unfortunately, as another explosion rocked the base, the ceiling ahead of them collapsed. Their way out was buried under a ton of rock and stone. Spike doubted that Diamondback or her dogs would be able to dig through to them in time.

Spike jumped backward as another stone tried to crush them both. But as he looked back…

“Hey!” he noted, pointing upward.

Swift followed his gaze, and spotted Hawk. The ceiling collapsing had opened up a small hole with light shining down. Like a mouse in a flaming bucket, Hawke was clawing away at the sand and dirt, opening a path for herself.

“And maybe for us,” Spike realized, hopping onto Swift. “Up,” he said. “Help her.”

With more stone and rock collapsing before Swift could argue, the bird dragon shot up to the possible exit, and rammed into Hawke with his shoulder.

Spike almost yelled at him for keeping his grudge… until he saw his shoulder check throw Hawke through the hole, pushing both her and themselves out to freedom.

The trio barely got the chance to catch their breath before they felt the earth start to sink below them; Verko’s base flooding with the rock, sand and stone from above.

Spreading their wings, Hawke and Swift took to the sky, Spike hanging onto Swift for dear life. Safely in the air, the three watched as Verko’s slave base was destroyed, the last fires and smoke being suffocated by the overwhelming sand.

Spike breathed a sigh of relief before looking over to Hawke. The griffon hovered in the air, hugging her scars and trying not to look at Swift.

“I…” she mumbled, trying to look at her nephew. “You…”

“Save it,” Swift said. His eyes hadn’t left the sinkhole. “Don’t ever let me see you again. Not near me or my people.”

Hawke flinched at his words, but as she gazed back down at Verko’s pit… something of an understanding came over her.

She nodded solemnly, and turned away, flying over the horizon and out of sight.

Swift took another slow, solemn breath, letting the desert air fill his lungs. Spike pat his shoulder.

“You did good, Swift,” he said. “That can’t have been easy… but you did good.”

“We’ll see,” Swift replied. He turned as he saw their friends coming out of the tunnel they had used to burrow to Verko’s, slaves in hand. “There’s a chance that she will come back to hurt us.”

Spike blinked. “After you saved her life?”

“Like I said,” Swift replied. “Some see kindness as a weakness. They’ll take advantage of it. Concepts of mercy? Compassion? All just things to take advantage of.”

Spike touched Swift’s shoulder. “You’re not like them,” he reminded him.

Swift breathed again. “No,” he admitted. “I’m not. But there are still plenty of people like that. With Hawk as one of them. And I want to be prepared for when they - or she - try to take advantage of me again.” He grinned faintly as Jackknife and Night spotted him, whooping and hollering in glee. “I’ve got a great thing going with you guys,” Swift said, smiling for the first time since they had started searching for Hawke. “And I don’t want to lose it.”

Spike smiled at his friend and hugged him. “You won’t,” he promised.

“YOU TRICKSTERS!” Night screamed, cannoning into them and enveloping her friends in a bear-hug. “Do you have any idea how much you scared us.”

“I was ready to run right back in there to get you!” Jackknife protested. “Didn’t I tell you that, Spike? Didn’t I?!”

“You two really are foals, you know that,” Diamondback chastised, even though she was grinning.

Phoenix didn’t say anything, merely hugging the two with a smile. And as Spike saw Swift light up as he was embraced by his friends - no, his family - Spike could already envision his next letter to Twilight.

My friends Princess Celestia and Twilight,

The world outside of Equestria isn’t always about harmony and friendship. It’s about survival and selfishness too. And oftentimes, elements like kindness and generosity can easily be considered weaknesses to exploit, especially when they are given to the wrong people.

My friend Swift struggled with this when a surprise family reunion sent us on an adventure outside of Equestria that has now resulted in the freedom of several former slaves, including Swift’s aunt Hawke.

Even now, Swift partially believes that his act of kindness towards Hawke will go unappreciated. That she will come back and try to hurt him again. But without her aid, I fear that we would have become slaves ourselves. And I truly hope that Swift turns out to be wrong about Hawke.

That the next time we see her… maybe… just maybe… she’ll be changed by the kindness he showed her.

After all, no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted. Because if we want to change the world, we can start with one random act of kindness at a time.

Your faithful dragon friend,

Spike

Comments

[AstralFlare42]

I'm glad that the situation is under control.

I wonder how the next arc will go. Hopefully some slice of life stuff.

[JNKing]

11605488
Unfortunately, I figured out something that can go well with Equestria Girls.

I look forward to sharing it. 👍

[Comickook]

Sorry I took a while getting back to you. I quite literally JUST got my computer back a few days after I moved to another adult foster care home. Anyway, really good work on the exchanges, characterizations, action, arc wrap-up and future chapter set-up in all the right places. REALLY liked the teamwork that went into the rescue of all those slaves as Swift made the understandably hard decision to rescue his cruel aunt after all (but warning her that he never wanted to see her again, which is also very understandable).

Definitely looking forward to more of this.

[JNKing]

11608455
No worries. Sounds like you're going through a lot.

I appreciate you still finding the time to read and comment on my story.

Also glad you enjoyed Swift's decision with Hawke, as I was worried about whether or not he got the right balance between being kind and still remembering what she had done to him.

I look forward to sharing more soon.

Until then, thanks as always for your feedback.