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Gerald did not begin working on the passports immediately. He had much more stuff to do which, in his view, was much more important than what Eric and Matt needed to have done. After a nice supper, one which the men severely needed, they went upstairs to Gerald's office. The place was a complete mess, but he still managed to find everything he needed in a flash. There were three laptop computers; the first was for his graphic design software, the second was for storage, and the final one was for every other use one would possibly have for a computer.

He got to work immediately after completing his other projects. To start with, the two handed over their valid passports from their wallets. Usually, people did not carry their passports; however, Matt had planned ahead of time, and Eric was just proud of having one. The second step was to upload the text onto his laptop, where he would find the exact font type the government used to write the text. It did not have to be perfect, since there was a good chance the majority of the security officers at the airport would not even look at it very thoroughly; nevertheless, Gerald tried to grab the most suitable font he could find. He then carefully measured the margins and whitespace of the passport and its information, to make sure nothing would be out of place.

After a considerable amount of waiting, Gerald ultimately announced he had completed the text, and that the next step was to actually paste it onto the passport, making sure all of the security features were present. In order to wait, Matt and Eric began a private discussion.

"So Matt, what's the dragon colony rumored to be like?", Eric wondered.

"I... I'm really not sure", he replied, uncertain of what to tell him. "I imagine it's not on the mountain, since, well, everyone would have seen it by satellite or something. It's obviously hidden inside somewhere. I don't even know if there are many dragons there at all. For all I know, you could be the third or something."

"Well, what if there isn't even a colony - what do I do then? I mean you'll be... uhh, gone, so, what? Do I just escape and stay in a nearby city or something?"

"First off, I'm damn sure you'll find something there. If not, well I'll have... died for nothing. But if that does happen, I'm not really sure what you should do. You could probably find a place to live and get a job, a new name, a new life, and so on - it's all up to you."

Eric shook his head. He did not like the sound of what he was saying. "Matt... Come on. There has to be some other way to get in there. You can't just blow yourself up like that, it doesn't make any sense. If there is nothing in that mountain, I want to have someone to come back to - someone to help me out. You can't just leave me out there, in Russia. I mean, I know you don't want to be stuck with me forever, but please, just long enough so I can blend in, or at least, get used to the place... please."

Matt was surprised with the amount of desperation Eric had put into his plea. It had only been a mere four hours since he had stated he could have made it to where they were without his help. Matt did not quite understand, but he replied to reassure him, nonetheless. "I'll think about it, but I'm certain there will be no simple way to get in. For now, we're sticking with our original plan, alright?"

Eric sighed in disappointment. He was not worried to take care of himself, - unlike what he had led Matt to believe - however he had many, many doubts over the "dragon colony" in Russia. He did not want to see a good friend killing himself over such a rumor. "Alright", he worded. "Fine."

Suddenly, Gerald turned back and closed his laptop's lid, revealing the new passports in his hands. "Alright guys, check it out. I think I really outdid myself this time." He threw the dark-blue books at them and smiled. "I'm sure you guys'll be pleased with the new stuff inside as well."

Eric caught his and opened it, his jaw dropping at the sight of his new information. "Whoa, I'm a few days away from my birthday according to this. 'DOB: 2017/05/25', changed my first and last name, my place of birth - you did a real good job. Christ, they almost look real."

"Thanks. I definitely did not get to where I am without gaining a bit of experience."

Matt got up, along with Eric. "Well, that was all we had to ask from you. Thanks again, but we should be leaving now." As Matt placed his passport under the chair he sat on, he grabbed his wallet from his pocket. "I should also give you the money now..."

All of a sudden, before Matt could make another move, Gerald rose from his seat, with an arm spread out in front of him. "...oh, uhh, Matt. It's been such a long time since we've seen each other, and it's almost nine o'clock; you won't be able to rent a car at this hour. So, why don't you two hang around here for the night?"

Eric thought it was the "Xavier and Julia" affair all over again. Matt realized this as well. "No, Gerald. It's been fun but, we really have to go."

Gerald's smile inverted itself to a frown, clearly showing his disappointment. "Dude - I just risked my whole career for you in these last three hours. I have to admit, I haven't managed to get a date in a long time. I never have the time to hang out with any friends, and it's getting real boring around here. The least you could do for me is to hang out for the night... Come on, Matt! I've got those two extra bedrooms upstairs, and you and I could watch wrestling together. Just like old times, Matt. Come on."

Matt considered the offer for a moment, but Eric had a very bad feeling about it. Something was terribly wrong, but he knew he would definitely have no say. Matt's eyes shut for a while, still thinking.

"Come on man, I've got some popcorn and some booze downstairs. And, I hear there's a great match up on Pay-Per-View..."

Then, the obvious happened. "Alright, alright, just for tonight. But we're leaving extremely early in the morning tomorrow; we've got a lot of distance to cover."

"Awesome, man! Come on, I'll show you guys your rooms."

Gerald soon led the two upstairs in order to set up their rooms, and then allowed them both to take a well-needed shower, while washing their clothes. Matt then subsequently went down to the first floor in order to watch the wrestling match with Gerald; however, Eric was not a big fan of wrestling, so he sat in his temporary room to think over a few things. For starters, he wondered how could Matt could have been naive to the point of allowing Gerald to convince him to stay, when they should have been moving. The government probably had no clue they were in the United States, but he knew it would have been best to have moved as many steps ahead of them as possible.

He looked around the room. Aside from the beige-painted walls, the layout was exactly the same as the one at the wind farm near Thunder Bay - there was a window facing the other house beside him, an empty closet, an empty drawer, and a double-sized bed. In any case, due to the large lack of sleep he had, he decided to go to sleep. Out of the blue, however, he woke up two hours later as a result of the laughs the two drunken men let out while climbing up the stairs. "Great", he thought. "Now he'll be completely wasted tomorrow morning." He later heard Matt jump into his bed, as all of the lights went out. For some reason, he could not sleep after that - he could only imagine how horrible the next day would become.

...

Tom Benson had completed his flight back home to his Virginia headquarters, with yet another surveillance team in front of yet another row of computers. Xavier had officially been released from detainment, as well as his wife. The method he used in order to trick him into spill his knowledge of the case was quite simple; the "deal", the intimidating threats, and the criminal charges were pure textbook examples on how to fool someone into considering one single choice, and he had pulled it off flawlessly.

The team he had at the time was searching the Canadian education database for information on Matt's so-called "close friend". Xavier had told them during the investigation he resided in Fargo, and was a very good friend of Matt's in high school. In light of this, Tom figured there would be no better way to find him than by pulling up the names of his former classmates and locate where they lived at that moment. It was only a matter of time before they would find out. In succession to their discovery, one of his squads stationed in Fargo would then have been ready to strike in a matter of minutes.

The estimated number of students to look through was around 2500 - which was the total number of students in the school during those four years. At the time, they had covered 900 of them, and were eliminating around 150 every 10 minutes. Benson paced around the room, giving insight to some of his team members, while requesting others to re-verify information. Suddenly, his secretary ran into the room, her glasses capturing the artificial light of the room.

"Sir?", she interrupted, shutting everyone's mouths. "We've just received a message from CrimeStoppers International. Someone sent in an anonymous tip about a minute ago on the whereabouts of your suspects. I can play you the transcript of the call into your room's intercom if you'd like."

Tom gave her a nod of approval. "Yes, as soon as possible, please."

The secretary quickly left the room and went over to her office on the other side of the floor. She pushed the intercom button, then the number representing the room in which Tom was in, and began to play the recording of the call into the microphone for Benson and his team to hear.

"MAY 24TH 2034, 12:21, FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA:"

"(Automated Message) Hello, welcome to the CrimeStoppers' hotline. Your call will remain anonymous and all information regarding it will be safely stored. Please hold while we transfer you to a representative who will be able to assist you."

There was a short pause, and then a click.

"(Representative) Hello, Joanne speaking. Could you please state the problem, sir?"

"Yes, hello; I'm calling to place a tip for the case on the dragon... umm, what's his name... oh, Eric."

"(Representative) Thank you very much for your call sir. Before we continue, could you please confirm his identity by describing him physically, based on the last time you saw him?"

"Well, he has black hair, not more than 5'10"... umm, wears a plain black t-shirt, and that's about everything I can describe."

"(Representative) Okay. Where was his last location, sir?"

"Uhh, 145 Damien Crescent, in Fargo, North Dakota."

"(Representative) Perfect. Now, was he carrying any weapons, or anything else to threaten anybody with?"

"Nope, nothing at all."

"(Representative) Alright, we're handling the situation as we speak. We'll have some squads over there to handle the situation. If you are currently anywhere near the area, I'd advise you to back off and allow them to do their work. Now finally, sir, are you absolutely positive it's him?"

"100%. He and his drunken accomplice are sleeping in my house right now."

...

Eric was still struggling to fall asleep. It was much too warm in the room to his liking, and even after opening his window an hour prior, the heat was unsustainable. It was 25 minutes after midnight, according to his watch, and he still had not had any rest since 11 o'clock. He knew it was a bad idea to stay, and he still could not believe Matt had given into Gerald's request. He supposed he would have become useless and exhausted for entire morning to come.

Several more minutes passed before the unthinkable happened. At first, he heard a few cars roar in the street and stop near the house, but he quickly convinced himself it was nothing. He turned onto his right side to try and fall asleep, but jumped up once he heard a loud bang, and people yelling "SWAT! Get on the ground, get on the ground!". Instinctively, he got out of his bed, but his head began to rush with sudden thoughts. "What do I do... what do I do! Do I get Matt? Do I run? Do I fight? Do I hide?" Soon enough, there were more SWAT yells, but on the second floor. He began to panic again, but suddenly, he felt everything being taken over. "Fight back... SWAT... Must... escape."

Subsequently, he began to run for the window, his dragon side gradually taking over once again. "Escape..." He took a large leap off of the window's siding, toward the neighbor's roof, and landed smoothly. He quickly ran over to the southeastern corner of the pyramid-shaped rooftop as fast as he could. "Hide..." He ducked down onto his stomach and scanned the area. It was impossible to see him other than from his back side, which was the house's backyard. "Listen..." He stayed in position as still as possible, listening for any noises which indicated movement. Luckily, the only sounds he heard were those of the invasion taking place inside the adjacent house. All of a sudden, however, he remembered Matt. Eric's willpower soon grew much stronger.

"No!", he interjected in his head. "He's helpless! He's drunk! He's being taken away! I've got to go help him!"

But the will of his dragon side took charge once again, ceasing every attempt at a movement in Eric's body. "No... Listen..."

He stayed still once again and listened even more, with absolutely no control over anything. He heard the SWAT teams come into his room, searching for any signs of Eric, but they found nothing. Frustrated yells, curses, and profanities of desperation filled the home as they completed their thorough search of the home.

"Damn it!", yelled one of the members from inside of the house. "We had the chance and we fucked up! Stupid dragon... Probably flew away for fuck's sake!"

Another member took the initiative to calm his friend down. "Chill out man, we got the other one." He chuckled. "He looked pissed though, so we got him really easily. What a moron."

The discussion ended quickly as the two members walked back down the stairs, leaving the whole house empty after a full 15 minutes. The dragon quickly took action again. "Survey..." He slowly crawled to the summit of the pyramid-shaped roof and scanned the area for any sign of movement. The SWAT cars were still there, and he could make out an officer talking to someone. After careful analysis, Eric soon realized it was Gerald. He did not understand. "Why are they not arresting him as well?", he wondered. Something was terribly wrong, but regardless, the dragon once again ordered him to stay put. The two talked for a little longer, and then Eric saw something which would shock him for the rest of his life - a handshake.

Eric lost total control of himself once more in his head. "It was him!", he accused. "He_ told the cops where we were! That fucking traitor!_" Although even with the frantic yelling in his head, the dragon continued to assess the situation. At long last, the SWAT car, which held Matt as a prisoner, drove off and allowed Gerald to return into his house. Once the front door slammed shut, the dragon got up and immediately shifted into its mid-form. Once again, Eric had no control as the dragon's eyes began to glow, indicating yet another berserk mode. When he completed the shift, he opened his eyes, tightened his fists, and glanced in the direction of the house where Eric's worst nightmare took place.

"Kill..."