The Black Dragon

Chapter Nine: Turning Tides

"speaking"
'thinking/thoughts'
((sign language))
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Third POV

James pouted from where he was resting, the scientist had left the room a few hours ago and has yet to come back. He sighed and hopped down from the supports. He stretched his arms and wings before shaking. James looked around the room to see if his notepad was anywhere in plain sight. Sadly it was not which meant James had to look for it. He began to search around the room to see if he had missed it but after looking around for a few minutes he was unable to find it.

James put one hand beneath his chin as he tried to remember where he had placed his notepad. He suddenly turned as he remembered placing his notepad on the scientist's desk. James quickly walked over and opened the top right drawer. Lo and behold his notepad was sitting on top of a bunch of other papers. He quickly grabbed the notepad and held it above his head like a child who just found a shiny rock. James sat down in a nearby spinny chair and began to draw as well as wonder why there was a spinny chair in the first place. He spun around as he drew and his wings trailed behind him as he spun. About an hour later, James had used almost half of the notepad for little sketches and doodles.

He set the notepad down on the desk and spun around in the chair a little more before looking at the desk. James scooted closer to the desk and looked at the top right drawer that he had opened earlier. He looked through some of the papers before quickly getting bored and dropping the papers back into the drawer. James closed the drawer and opened the one beneath it just to find office supplies inside. His wings drooped a little as he closed the drawer and opened the one below it, sadly this drawer was empty. He closed the very bottom drawer and scooted over to the left side of the desk. The top left drawer seemed like it hadn't been opened in a long time so it opened with a screech. It had a few books inside as well as some notebooks. James closed the drawer in disappointment and opened the drawer below it.

This time it had something of interest. A heavily reinforced metal cube, each side was about four inches long. James picked up the box and examined it, the box itself was a plain grey with various combination locks on it. He quickly looked around to check if the scientist was nearby before hiding the box in his overcoat. James closed the drawer before looking through the others to find out if there was any information on how to open the box. He found a small slip of paper in the top right drawer that had various codes and numbers written on it.

James stood up and slipped the paper into his pants pocket before closing all the drawers and making the desk look neat. He quickly left the room and walked through the base before exiting through a side door. James flew to the top of the base and sat down before pulling out the cube and paper slip. He looked between the codes and the box before turning some dials. There was a quiet release of pressure followed by a small click as part of the box slid outwards a little. James continued to turn various dials, parts, and other pieces of the cube for what seemed to be two hours. He turned one last number disk and the box shuddered a little before returning to its original form. James stuck his arms out to the side to express his frustration and anger. The box shuddered again after a moment before the sides peeled away and slid down to make the bottom of the box thicker. When it was done it revealed a chip that rested on a thin metal rod. James carefully picked up the chip and held it up to examine it.

He turned it over a few times before he saw a small cameraman sigil on one side of the chip. James tilted his head before lowering the chip. He looked at it for a little longer before a slot on the back of his head opened on command. James slowly slid the chip into the slot before his systems took over and pulled the chip inside for processing. Various files were on the chip, none of which James understood. He opened one file labeled 'Good times' and began to look through the photos within the file. Most of the photos were of a scientist cameraman but the dates on each one showed that they were taken earlier in the war. One photo was of a black cameraman taking the photo of themself in the mirror. James could tell they were a black cameraman despite all the various colors of neon paint that seemed to cover most of their body and head. The cameraman was giving themself the classic cameraman thumbs up as the same scientist cameraman laughed in the background of the mirror's reflection.