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Eric did not understand. Why would Xavier have come back after confessing everything he knew about him? How did he find him? He did not have much time to process those questions for very long, because before he even managed to speak another word, he was pulled up and placed back onto his feet. Xavier did not seem very confident fighting Tom because of his size, but he knew it was necessary to make up for his mistake, and since Eric had too little energy left to even fend for his own. Tom, who was surprisingly down for around ten seconds, got back up, wiped a smudge of blood off of his muzzle, and laughed.

"Ah, hello Xavier. It's a nice pleasure seeing you once again."

Xavier's eyes opened wide. "How does he know my name?", he wondered. He turned his head slightly towards his left side, where Eric was barely standing. "Who - or what - is this guy?"

Eric did not turn his head due to the loss of strength. "It's the head of the CIA. He took me over here after I was caught by his squad."

Xavier turned back toward the monster, still smiling, and listening to the conversation. "The man who interrogated me? The man who threatened my wife in Winnipeg? This guy?"

"Yup", Tom interrupted. "It's me. Come here and I'll give you a big hug."

Xavier continued. "Damn, this guy is more of a freak than I thought."

Eric let out a chuckle followed by a painful cough. "Tell me about it."

Tom grew impatient once more. "Well? Are we going to spend the rest of the day gawping at me, or are we going to fight?"

Eric got into a battle stance, but Xavier blocked him from moving by placing his arm in front of him. "No, Eric. You're much too tired. I'll handle this myself. I have some personal business of my own to take care of with him."

Xavier began to run toward Tom, shifting into his full bear form as he went along. Eric tried his best to stop him; however, he was not fast enough. "Xavier! Don't!"

It was much too late. Xavier was already lunging for the beast, claws out to grab him. Tom did not skip a beat as he snatched the leaping bear by the arm, spinning, and letting go to allow gravity throw him into the wall beside them. Hitting it sideways, and sliding to the ground in pain, Xavier was met with the beast once more, which held him in place as it threw multiple punches to the face and to the stomach. Once he was satisfied, he picked the bear up once again, pulling him up into the air and over his head, to finally throw him into the ground. A snap was subsequently heard in his leg, which was met with yells triggered by his pain. Half of a second later, Benson was rammed into by Eric, who knew nothing good would come from staying back and allowing Xavier to fight alone.

Tom was taken down by the hit, while Eric slowed his motion down with his wings, and used them to initiate a sharp 180° turn. While Benson was recovering from the last attack, Eric returned to launch a large kick in his back, once again sending him to the ground. He noticed most of his attacks to the area seemed to have issued the largest amount of damage, compared to every other attack he launched. This did not cross his mind immediately, since his primary concern had shifted from Tom to Xavier, who had shifted back into his mid-form, and was still trying to recover from the last attack.

He flew over to him, who had his hand on his head, and pulled him a bit farther into the sidelines. There, he asked if he was okay, and when Eric received a slight nod, he turned around once more to face Benson, who was up, and ready for the next series of moves. However, because of the sudden stop, Eric felt the fatigue flood back. Tom began to advance, as well as Eric. They both sped their movement up, closing in on each other. Once they encountered each other, Eric tried to launch a punch, but his opponent blocked it, sending another. The weary dragon did counter this, and was sent back a bit, as Tom gained the upper hand again.

After a few seconds, Eric managed to grab his opponent's forearm and block one of the punches, allowing him to deliver an uppercut to the jaw and an elbow to the stomach, but Tom launched a quick slash in his direction to create some space. Using it to his advantage, Benson charged Eric yet again with his shoulder, hitting him in the chest, and sent him to the ground once more. Irritated and tired, Eric dodged a kick destined to the ribs by rolling to the side. On his roll, he attempted to trip the beast with his leg, but a simple jump was required to avoid it. Out of ideas, and with very low energy, Eric leaped up and dodged another punch from Tom, backing away 20 feet.

"This isn't going to work...", Eric thought, trying to contact the dragon. "I'm too tired, and he just seems to be getting stronger and stronger. What do we do?"

Eric received a response he did not wish to receive. "Nothing. We do nothing."

...

When he reached Viele Avenue, Alan quickly noticed the two police vehicles stationed near the building his surveillance team had told him about. He and his crew exited the vehicle, and walked a few dozen yards to the front entrance of the building. Parker was the first to look through the windows of the abandoned doors, which were clearly in bad shape, while the other crew members looked around the place. After a few moments, Alan noted no one seemed to be near the entrance, so he attempted to open the door slowly. Unfortunately, they did not budge, forcing him to find the cause. A few glances across the glass at various angles showed the door was barricaded from the inside thanks to a durable chain.

He thought of breaking in, however that would have made far too much noise and attracted people they did not want to attract. He did not have much time to spare, so he glanced at the numerous five feet high windows along the side of the building. He pointed at one of his employees.

"Break that window. This door is locked and breaching it would be too loud."

The crew member replied. "Of course."

The member advanced toward the target window, studying it closely, before finally turning away and slamming his elbow into it, shattering most of the glass. The rest of the team helped remove the excess pieces out from the siding to prevent injury, crossing it one-by-one once the job was complete. The room was small and resembled a small and compact office, which seemed to have supported Alan's decision. Quietly, he opened the door leading out of the room, and once confirming the coast being clear, he signaled his team to closely follow him through the halls.

The inside of the building showed signs of rot and water damage, which clearly supported its "abandoned" qualification, however the beige paint was remarkably well-preserved, as well as the tiled flooring, which shined as if it had been waxed. They headed east to avoid following the main path across the lobby, which would have placed them in a bigger risk of being caught. The whole building seemed to have been based on a simple corridor which circled the whole establishment, cutting through the middle to face a large computer room, as well as stairs to the second floor. Once they reached the west end of the building, Alan prevented everyone from making another move. He glanced over to the middle of the hallway, where three guards stood alert, weapons available to their usage.

He discussed a plan with his team, and walked casually through the corridor. They easily caught the attention of the guards, who took precaution; however, once Alan showed his badge from afar, they lowered their weapons back into their former positions. The guard to his left spoke immediately.

"Access is restricted to this area due to an investigation. What do you need?"

Alan pretended to show stupefaction. "Why is this restricted to us? We should be able to access this location, since I am, in fact, in charge of the investigation which is taking place in that room. I presume CIA head Tom Benson is in there."

"Sorry. Access is forbidden due to strict orders. We aren't even allowed to enter the premises."

Alan took a step back, and gave a signal to his team, who were prepared for such a response. They shifted into their mid-forms, grabbing one man each, with the remaining team member helping to gang up onto the largest guard. Parker backed away, waiting for the slashing and thrashing to stop, in order to get through and confront Tom.

...

To Eric's delight, Tom retracted from his battle stance, and laughed, signaling yet another pause. "You look beat, Eric", he stated. "Come on, I'm just getting started. I don't want to fight a sandbag; I want to fight a dragon."

Eric was breathing as much as possible, wondering when the fight would end, and if it would have done so in his favor. He glanced toward Xavier, obviously hurt, and disappointed for not have being able to have done much more. He was out of options, and it was not the situation he wanted to be facing with a 300-pound beast staring at him. He needed to buy as much time as possible. "I don't see how you love this so much", he exclaimed. "Fighting a minor like you're doing right now. It's cruel."

Benson let a chuckle escape his throat. "I don't think you're in the correct position to accuse me of being cruel."

"You don't consider your millions of murders cruel?"

Tom got back into his stance, seeing what Eric was trying to pull. "Well, I'm done talking. I want to fight that dragon now, if you don't mind."

Before Eric was forced to launch himself into another hopeless battle, which would have caused his demise sooner or later, the dragon spoke again. "Eric... I have an idea, but you have to trust me on it. We might kill ourselves attempting it, but that would happen either way if this keeps up."

Eric was intrigued. Any idea was good for him, but on the other hand, the death warning imposed by his counterpart made him cringe - what could he have been thinking of? He decided to give it a whirl either way. "Alright, go for it, I suppose."

Eric was suddenly pushed out of his controlling position, and once again placed into a secondary state, where the dragon activated berserk mode. A moment of silence prevailed across the room, as the dragon shut his eyes in concentration. His energy was still very low, and that grew in appearance as the seconds passed by. Finally, the dragon snapped out of his meditation state, gave Tom a hard look, and spoke. "You want a dragon? You've got one."

The dragon clenched its fists and concentrated. Eric had no clue what was going on, but suddenly, he felt his whole body begin to tremble. Never had he felt anything like it, and soon enough, he would find the cause. The dragon fell on all fours, clearly unable to stand any longer, as his feet grew in width. The bone separating his foot and his leg began to lengthen, which rendered them useless for the moment. His claws were next, growing to a considerably bigger size - two times the original, to be precise. His arm muscles grew in proportion as well, giving him much needed strength. The dragon fattened up quite a bit, which was a large change from the regular thinness Eric was used to seeing. His muzzle then lengthened around ten inches, with his nose widening in unison with his teeth. The plate which protected the dragon's abdomen spread farther around his chest, reaching up to his sides. The amount of concentration the dragon was placing into the transformation was very surprising to Eric; however, his energy was far too low.

The shifting process continued with the dragon's neck growing much longer and wider. Still unable to stand, and officially qualifying as a quadruped, the dragon's spikes across his back matured to a considerable length, one by one. When this process reached the barbs by his tail, the former grew in width and in length, clocking in at over two meters long, and half a meter in thickness. Finally, the wings on his back grew larger, updating the original wing span from two meters to three and a half meters.

When the transformation concluded itself, Eric stared in awe over what had happened; he had shifted into his full form. He immediately remembered Matt's statement, informing him of the median time span of a year for a TFR to reach its full form. For Eric to have seen it after a mere four days was an amazing accomplishment. Benson had noticed this as well, as he posted a frightened expression on his face. Xavier was incredulous; never had he seen anything as large as what he had seen at that moment. He took around a third of the room's width, a fifth of its length, and half of its height. The dragon was still in control, but Eric would not disturb him. The dragon let out a large roar, which boomed across the room, forcing a few walls to tremble. The power Eric felt was enormous, but the energy was far from it.

Tom applauded his accomplishment. "Impressive. That must have taken a lot of effort, but you pulled it off quite nicely. Kudos to you." He noticed the excessive panting, as well as the strain visible in his opponent's eyes. "You don't look very healthy, however."

The dragon's opinion differed. "I'll give you some time to rethink that later." Advancing forward toward him, he delivered a massive strike to Benson without effort, which sent him soaring across the room. The immense attack left Tom astonished, but before he could recover, the dragon issued a slash dead on, scarring his adversary across the abdomen. Clearly powerless to the constant assaults, Tom tried to move out of the way to avoid yet another blow, seeing the decrease in strength time seemed to inflict on his adversary. Every passing second seemed to tire the winged giant in large intervals. Eric caught on, seeing they would not have been able to keep up the strategy for very long.

In an eleventh-hour attempt, the dragon took one final charge at Tom, grabbing him into his claws, trapping him from moving completely, and slamming him furiously into the ground. In succession, he threw him all the way to the entrance at the far right side of the room. Benson landed awkwardly to the floor, sliding all the way to the wall, and severely crashing into it. The dragon was in peril. Everything began to shut down, with no way to prevent it. He was barely able to stand up, the trembles slowly becoming unsustainable. Blurry vision impaired his sight. His lungs gave way to the burning sensation caused by the lack of oxygen. Saliva disappeared from his mouth and throat in large amounts. Body parts were numbing. The dragon made contact with Eric as soon as it was possible.

"Eric, it’s over. We have no more energy, and we might kill ourselves simply by shifting back. But, I don't want you to breathe your last breath in this form."

Without further approval, the dragon fell to the ground in lethargy, slowly shifting into his mid-form and relieving control back to Eric, who immediately felt the suffering. Unable to get up, and incapable of trying to, he laid onto the floor, gasping for air, which became an extremely painful process. When Benson elevated again, blood beginning to stain most of his leg thanks to a cut, he immediately noticed the powerless TFR, and laughed demoniacally.

"I thought so", he remarked with a smile. "You gave me a beating there, Eric, I'll admit it - but it seems it hurt you more than it hurt me." He slowly approached the body, with Xavier watching anxiously from the sides, unable to alter the outcome. "It's a shame it has to end like this, you know? I was really hoping for a mind-blowing battle, with each of us covered in sweat and blood, attempting to claim victory against the other." He stopped in front of the red, scale covered dragon, and moved its arm across the floor with his foot. Eric grunted, obviously displeased with his amusement. "What a shame."

He cracked his fingers, only to hear a door open behind him. When he turned around to view where the noise originated from, he saw Alan Parker sidestepping toward him, gun gripped in both hands. The former began to yell at the monster he was suddenly twelve feet in front of, as he hid his fear behind his orders. "Tom! You make the slightest move, and I shoot everything I have into you!"

"Parker!", Tom yelled in a strange form of a greeting. "Hello, my friend! I see you found our little hideout. Care to join us?"

Parker cocked his gun, further augmenting the tension residing in the situation. Xavier's eyes were glued open, watching both the new arrival, as well as his target. "I'm serious, Tom! Shift back into your human form, and put your hands up!"

"Now, what purpose would that serve? We're having so much fun right now." He took a step forward, clearly showing dominance, however Alan remained calm, backed up a step as well, and repositioned his hands on his gun. He quickly licked his lips in anxiety.

"I mean it, Benson. One step is all it takes..."

"Oh yeah?", Tom interjected, suddenly irritated. "And if I gave in? Then what would happen? I would get jailed for at least 20 years for assault using an alternate form, as well as attempt at murder. I'm 61, Alan, and I won't survive for another ten years in this mess of a body. My life is fucked up, and always has been ever since I was a child. If there's no use for me to live," He pointed at Eric. "then this little dipshit doesn't deserve to have one either."

He began to back up toward Eric, foot near crushing his muzzle. Alan lost it. Shots were fired directly into the skull of the beast, which was shuck following each hit. Benson fell sharply to the ground, just beside Eric, barely avoiding his inanimate tail. After the loud thud, a large silence prevailed over the room as a pool of blood gushed out of Tom's head, his face badly disfigured. Xavier's eyes closed, impaired over the shots he had been a witness to. When Alan finally realized what he had done, he dropped his gun, and rushed over to Eric's side, pulling him away from the expanding red puddle, wondering whether he was okay.

Parker checked his pulse, which was clearly irregular, but glanced toward the bear in mid-form at his left. "You okay?"

"Yeah, broken leg, shook up, but I'm fine."

"Alright. I'm sending an ambulance here right now to pick both of you up. Eric will probably need some critical medical attention, but other than that, I think he'll be fine." He got up, and glanced at the lifeless, fur-covered body on the floor a few meters from him. "It seems his immaturity finally caught up to him..."