Lonegunmen "Direct Deposit" The ancient Volkswagen van ground to a sputtering halt a few miles down the road from the Pentagon. The trio, all garbed in black, grabbed at their bulging bags, heaved them over their shoulders and grunted with the weight. All their best spy equipment was stored in these very large and bulky carry all's. When they determined the road clear of cars except for their own behemoth parked on the grass on the side of the road, they leapt over a ditch on the passenger side of their van and dashed off over the terrain, not planning on going through the front door. They managed not to trip any of the exterior alarms and found the way in that Skymouth had shown them. Langly set up a bypass that would shut off all the interior cameras, but had the skills to make it look like the problem was at another terminal on the other side of the building. Frohike kept look out as Byers set up his laptop and brought up a map of the place, specifically, the area where Skymouth would be found. Once that was found, he waved everyone over and pointed to the blueprint. One of the rooms on a lower level was filled out in blue. "Skymouth is there." Byers said. "Then let's go." Frohike replied and tugged on his fingerless gloves. Byers clapped the laptop shut and shoved it into his bag. The three made their way through the high security maze with a minimum amount of difficulty. Eventually, after several hours of dodging about and by passing security systems, they reached the end of their search. The blast doors were locked tight. Langly shrugged and nonchalantly broke out a specialized mechanism that could read the electrical pulses of the computerized lock. It took only moments and the bolts slid undone at last. "Moment of truth, boys." Byers said. Grabbing onto the flywheel, Frohike rotated the latch until the heavy doors slowly inched open wide enough for one person to slip in sideways, which they did one by one until the three of them were inside the forbidden room. Frohike whispered to Langly, "Get out your flashlight so we can see where the Hell we are." It was pitch black within the room, except for the ambient glow of a few computer screens near the back wall raised up on what looked like a steel platform. You could hear Langly shuffling around in his bag, searching by feel for his flashlight. But almost before Langly laid his hands on the elusive torch, another rustling from across the room reached their ears. It was eerie. It sounded like stone against stone and the boys couldn't fathom what it could possibly be. A light suddenly split through the darkness and splashed down on a massive form beside the computer platform. Langly shrieked, "Oh my GOD!" Frohike swore, "Son of a bitch!" Byers yelled, "Let's get the Hell out of here!" "We're gonna die!" Langly shouted pitifully. They had turned back around to escape through the door only to find that it had been sealed shut from behind. They ran up to the door and began pounding on it futilely. "OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD!" Langly whimpered and pummeled the door with his fist with all his might. "Shit! It's locked!" Frohike punched the door with his gloved fist. The answer was a dull, metallic thud for his efforts. A woman's voice cut through their tantrums, "Will you cease your ravings? It's all right. Please turn around." Her calming voice gave them the courage needed to do as she requested. They bravely turned around to face the unknown. And then wished they hadn't because not less than three feet was the blue muzzle of something that belonged to nightmares. It sniffed them intently while terror threatened to overcome them, turning their legs into an undefined mass of gelatinous goo. Langly was whimpering something unintelligible. "Calm yourselves. It is I. Skymouth." The female voice seemed to come from everywhere. "Where?" Frohike bleated, though he couldn't take his eyes off of the terrifying image right before him. "I am she. The blue dragon before you." The boys, if they hadn't been shocked out of their wits already, would have been taken aback by this news. As it was, they just looked at the massive blue dragon in front of them stupidly. It was then Frohike noticed something besides the monstrosity right under their noses. Behind the flap of a giant ear ran a huge cord that seemed to be attached to the computer terminals on the platform. "That is correct. I am linked up to the computers." There was a slight chuckle, "I am the worlds first cyber dragon." "The computer is augmenting your voice?" Frohike asked. "Yes, my implants allow me to navigate as easily through a network as my wings allow me to navigate through the air." Skymouth told them. "That is, when they let me out." Langly found his voice again, "You. They cut you up?" Skymouth nodded slightly, "Part of a contract signed between the Vatican and the Pentagon. I am allowed to live as long as I submit to any of the tests preformed on me by the General's people." "What is going on here?" Byers asked, "How can you be here? A dragon in modern civilization and there have been no sightings." "Several people know." Skymouth said. "The Pope, the President of the United States, the leading members of the U.N., General Andrews and his tech team, and the people who stole a vile full of my DNA." "That's what this is about, isn't it?" Frohike asked. "You wanted us to get the vile back." Curious, Byers asked, "Who knew enough to find you here to steal the vile?" Skymouth mulled this one over for a moment before she answered, "It was someone within the Pentagon. Andrews wanted to create a true halfling, a half human, half dragon, eventually. The General was particular in whom he would select to become what he called the `perfect being.' There were some on his team who were less than finicky, however. Impatient, they were able to pilfer some of the data and one of the vials so they could create their own `perfect being.' It is still not known what would happen to a human if they were infused with dragon DNA." Frohike shook his head, "Do you know who took it?" Skymouth replied, "It has to be Avery and his ilk. They were unusually enthusiastic for this newest project of the General's. They have not been seen for sometime." Byers sighed. Langly, gathering up some courage, approached the dragon's large head on her left side and gently pushed the huge ear back to inspect the cord that seemed to be plugged into her brain. "So, you can manipulate any system with a thought, huh?" He touched the connection. Skymouth answered, "I can. Hands free. Of course, I don't have hands." "How can you joke at a time like this?" Byers asked. "I could use a good joke." Frohike mumbled. Skymouth chuckled again and the omnipotent female voice continued, "I have discovered that life is a joke, especially when you live as long as I have." Frohike asked, "And how long is that?" "Umm, five thousand four hundred and forty two years and counting." She told them. Langly looked thoughtful, "That's impressive." "A drop in the lake, in draconic time." Skymouth shrugged which made her wings rustle. Byers, however, was insistent, "But that is getting away from the problem." "The problem, gentlemen, is what we are going to do with you." The deep voice came from behind the Lone Gunmen. The trio spun back around, startled. "General Andrews. I have called these men here to help us." Skymouth said to the impressively garbed man that was flanked by two sharpshooters who held high-powered rifles. General Andrew's scowled as he inspected the three hackers, "I did not give you permission to hire out help. We'll solve this problem on the inside." Skymouth shook her horned head angrily, "The problem came from the inside!" Frohike, hands in the air as were the rest of the Lone Gunmen's, said, "We already know what the problem is. You want to bring in more people to find out your little secret? You might as well use us. We got the skills and the know-how. We can retrieve your goods and we can do it with our hands tied behind our backs." "Hands tied behind your backs. That might not be such a bad idea." General Andrew's responded and nodded to the two officers beside him. The two sharpshooters approached them menacingly. But Skymouth wouldn't have any of that. A wave of hot, sulfuric air wafted past the trio and they all heard a warning- rumbling growl emanating from the dragon. What looked like a huge blue, multi-headed snake came curving around the Lone Gunmen from behind. It was Skymouth's tail, tipped with several flail-like appendages. Frohike couldn't help but to think of a cat-o-nine-tails when he looked at it. It coiled gently around them in a protective embrace. "They are here at my request. They are going to help us. I have been observing their activities for over five years now and believe they are capable of helping us. I would not have enlisted their help if I did not think they could do it. You should know me better than that, General. Like that time when you sent me to `Nam, I took care of everything for you even though we couldn't communicate with each other. I have my ways, and the Lone Gunmen are mine!" Skymouth snorted. The General was silent and the two sharp shooters stood by, looking uncertain as to what to do next. General Andrew's scowled then conceded, "Fine. I will trust your judgment on this. What have you told them so far?" Skymouth relaxed her tail grip, but did not remove it completely away, "I have told them I suspected Avery and his team members have taken a vile of my DNA and some of our files. I have also told them of your plan for a `perfect human.' That is all." Andrew's nodded sagely, "I want to know how you even knew how to contact these… people." Skymouth shrugged again, "I've been monitoring their activities on their computer lately. It is amazing some of the stuff they can do." Langly gulped. Kimmy had been right. She had been there, watching them, waiting to see if they could break through, "Ummm, do you know anything about backdoors?" The computer voice laughed outright, "Did you like my little test? You passed with flying colors. I was very impressed." "How can you do something like that? That's amazing!" Langly gushed suddenly excited. Frohike stopped Langly's blathering, "Whoa, there, Tex. Ease up on the Kung Fu. You and Skymouth can talk shop later. Right now, we gotta find out where Avery and his buddies went." "But," Skymouth said, "I already know where they are." END PART 1 Part 2: Melvin the Terrible forthcoming