Silver let out a tired yawn, feeling a little dreary as she glided silently through the night sky. The full moon was at her back, illuminating the task force of dragons in her wake. There were almost a hundred of them, all completely silent save for the sound of wing beats. On many of the dragon's backs were numerous humans, low and silent with grim faces. It was an unusual site, but Silver was getting used to it. It was a necessary part of this operation.

In the distance, along a flat plain in an isolated corner of Iran, was their target. An A.O.D.H base. It was a relatively simple structure, looking like small army base with three main buildings above ground. But as all bases like this, there was much more to it. The main body had been tunnelled deep underground, reinforced with thick steel walls, just like any other base. This make gave the dragons of Sky Mountain, or Silver particularly, a massive advantage.

"Okay, hacked into their security systems!" Tyler yelled from the dragoness's back, "They'll never see us coming! Now, land at that small rise down there. We will begin our attack then."

Silver nodded her head, turning and gliding her way down toward the ground below. The other's followed her lead, descending onto the rather barren landscape. They had been preparing a week for this, going over the plan over and over again until it was drilled into their minds. Silver and Tyler, with a bit of Krita's help as well, had worked tirelessly with making the small 'Mind Breaker's' they had become so fond of. It was a surprisingly difficult procedure. Silver used her metal to make the separate pieces of each device, and Tyler then put it together by hand. They then used Krita to make sure each of them worked.

Overall they had managed to build one hundred and fifteen Mind Breakers. They hadn't slept much, which Silver didn't mind at all. When she did find the time to sleep, she was always plagued by nightmares. While she knew it was Eldawin's doing, it didn't make it any less terrifying. Each one said something to her, something designed to break her down, from speaking to her failures, shaming her, and everything in between. She had tried to control her dreams, like O'hen had suggested, but against a master of mental manipulation, it was incredibly difficult. So, she had used the times when she couldn't sleep to train, and it wasn't uncommon for her to be up all night either building devices or practicing with her metal.

The ground below them was surprisingly soft, her paws sinking into the sand easily. She shivered softly at the feeling against her scales. Sand was another annoying material that always got into any dragon's scales. Tyler was quick to slip off her back, making sure not to drop the laptop he was carrying, open, in one hand. Many of the other humans followed his lead, quickly moving off the dragons they were riding.

Silver let herself take a deep breath and sat down on her haunches, the anxiety of the battle about to erupt forth pushing out the tiredness that often accompanied her. She found the tip of her tail nervously flicking back and forth and her claw tapping against the ground. Tyler moved up the small rise hiding the army of dragons, placing a small set of binoculars to his eyes.

"You feeling alright?" asked Retrix, moving up from within the ranks to sit by her.

"Yeah," she shuffled her wings a little, "Just wanting it to be over as quickly as possible I guess."

A lot of pressure was with her for this attack. If Eldawin or Raize showed themselves, then it was up to her to defeat them, or at least hold them back. Firefly had stayed behind at the mountain to protect it in case of an attack directly against them while their forces were out. Eldawin undoubtedly knew about what was going to happen. From the amount of times he broke into Silver's mind she was surprised he hadn't mounted a counter already. But there would be some trap waiting for them, one they hoped to counter before it was sprung. The problem was... it was difficult to counter an enemy that knew what you were going to do and when you were going to do it.

"You know, you don't have to do this if you don't want to," said the void dragon.

"No... no, I need to do this. I'll deal with the consequences afterward," she sighed softly, "I need to if we're going to rescue the dragons there."

He nodded, "Just trying to make sure you're confident in this choice."

"As confident as I can be," she gave him a wain smile.

That was the other part of the plan, as a lot of it rode on Silver's power, and her ability to control her equilibrium. There had been other, more dangerous ways, of taking the A.O.D.H base, other alternatives, but Silver decided that it would be best for them to make the most of the power she had. She would use her equilibrium to break into the base, taking out the humans within, and then allowing the rest of the army to raid it. There were around one thousand dragons captured inside this specific base, a massive number compared to most. But sometimes, it was good to start big.

Silver turned to look back at the small army behind her. A number of her friends had decided to join in this battle as well. West gave her a snark grin, seeming to be far too excited for the fight. Blaze was sitting next to him, and snorted at the wind dragon's smile. Zepos was there as well, and she could see him hesitating about whether to go up or not, glancing at Retrix with an unreadable expression. She gave him a comforting grin, which he returned nervously. Celestia had chosen to stay behind, saying that she wasn't needed for this battle, and would rather stay behind to look after her hatchlings. Reha had also opted to stay, not confident in her ability to do well in a battle.

The dragoness let out a small sigh and looked back up as Tyler moved from his position, walking down from the hill. Liam was standing at the bottom, screwing a silencer onto the massive sniper rifle he had in his hands. He had a stoic frown of concentration. This sort of thing wasn't new to him. Diana was also there, along with one of her former co-workers. She seemed nonchalant to the whole thing, holding an assault rifle lightly in her arms. Silver didn't know if she was feeling guilty or excited.

"Okay," spoke Tyler, "There is a group of them on the outskirts. They seem to know that we are in the vicinity, but as far as I can tell they have no idea where. And without their sonar they won't be able to track us. So... now would be the time Silver."

Everyone looked at the dragoness. She shuffled softly before nodding her head again. No more being afraid of it. Besides, if she did it now, while she was in control and calm, then the effect it would cause would be far less. She just hoped it wouldn't drain an enormous portion of her strength. Firefly had told her that it was rare to fall unconscious after using equilibrium, but with lack of sleep and higher exhaustion, she doubted she would make it extremely far afterwards.

"Okay... step back," she told the dragons around her.

She took another deep breath, forcing her heart rate to slow and abating her nervousness. Then she closed her eyes, reaching deep inside her being for the power that was begging to be let free. It wasn't the first time she had reached for this power, and wouldn't be the last, but this time she was doing it consciously, and it wasn't just for threatening. With a slight hesitation, she tugged at the pit of unlimited potential. Almost immediately there was an effect, and she let out a small growl of surprise.

Around her the dragons took a step back a sudden wave of power rushed outwards from the dragoness. Silver, before she could stop herself, pulled hard at the pit once more, and this time wasn't frightened as more power stormed through her, pushing out the tiredness, the nervousness, the wariness. It was like being washed in water after a hard day. Refreshing one could say. She grinned, letting a small rumble of satisfaction leave her as the power continued to well up through her body like a hurricane.

The space around Silver began to warp and shiver, like on a hot day. The air smelt and tasted like metal, and waves of power rushed across the landscape so that even those guarding the base felt them. Slowly Silver's shell began to move through her, running down her legs, along her underbelly and through her bloodstream, combining with flesh and bone. Her eyes opened, glowing a radiant silver as she once again became one with elronium.

The others stared in awe, hesitating as the waves of power continued to radiate from the still equilibrium. Zepos took a hesitant step forward, tilting his head in concern.

"Silver?"

She looked at him, causing him to step backwards and gulp, "I'm in control. Don't worry."

There was a collective sigh of relief. It was true that most dragons had control on the second time with such power, but there was an occasional occurrence when one didn't, though with Silver, it would have been incredibly unlikely. The equilibrium looked over herself in interest, feeling the thrumming of power still running through her. It was like her metal want to push free from this body.

"Is that it?" asked West with a snort, "You don't look as though you could destroy an entire base."

Silver simply tilted her head, before turning to Tyler, "I will signal you when I'm done."

Then she let the metal have its way. She leapt into the air... and her body melted, becoming a stream of elronium like what she breathed. It felt strange, but so wonderful at the same time. She was no longer confined to the limitations of the body... she could finally be free. She pulled on her power, the metal rippling like water as it snaked its way through the sky.

Silver felt as though she were floating, like a dream. She could almost watch the metal as it changed and shifted, responding to her every thought. If she wanted it to change into a certain shape... it would change. If she wanted it to move faster or slower, it would do that. It was an unexplainable joy, to be truly one with the element. To be in perfect balance. It was like everything that she couldn't do before... she could do now. There was no fear, no shame, no rage. It was the peace of mind she had been looking for. All that she could feel was the metal's mindless determination, a determination that she guided.

Remembering what she was supposed to be doing, she melded the metal into the smallest amount that was possible, until it was but a tiny slithering thread. A string of elronium. It whipped over the wire fences designed to keep intruders out, and found its way through the stone walls of the outer buildings and inside, where metal dominated. Without hesitation the small thread of elronium shot downwards toward the floor, and entered it.

Suddenly... everything became alive. Silver let out a mental gasp as the world around her was opened up even more. The whole base... suddenly hers. The equilibrium moved through the walls, gaining in size and strength, the steel becoming shinier and more lively, and stronger. And she could see everything. She could feel the electrical currents running through the walls. She could see the dragons sitting around in their cages, bored and sad, the red devices blinking in their heads. She could see a group of humans in a training room with a number of dragons running through an obstacle course. There were a number of white robed scientists working on a many separate inventions. There was an ice dragoness enjoying a nice bath with her handler. Silver grinned, this day would likely be the best of their lives.

As a human crossed over a portion of the area, Silver pulled a rope of metal from the wall, coiling him up in thick elronium. He let out a cry of alarm, dropping the clipboard he had been holding and struggling as much as he was able as he felt himself dragged and stuck to the wall. With a grin Silver turned, pushing metal outwards from the many walls within the compound. Surprised screams echoed throughout the base as she trapped human after human within the metal embrace.

She didn't want to kill them. It would be too easy to do so. Instead she simply prevented them from being able to move, trapping their arms and feet to the floor and walls. It was extremely simple, just sending out a metallic rope of elronium and they couldn't do anything but cry out in surprise. The best part about it was the surprise on many of the dragon's faces. They watched in utter horror, and joy, as their trainers were tied up and strapped to each wall. They couldn't do anything, the mind devices made sure of that, but that didn't make it any less satisfying.

One trainer ordered his earth dragon to break the metal, but no matter how hard he hit the rope with his tail he couldn't break through it. It wasn't even dented. Silver grinned, and continued through the base. When she got to a room full of gadgets and different inventions, she changed tactics. She let a large spike erupt from the wall, spearing through a number of the benches and expensive looking items. The scientists within let out cries of surprise, quickly leaping up from their work and trying their best to rush to the door. But Silver quickly trapped them as well, spirals of metal curling up their legs and across their arms, wrapping them in ropes of elronium.

It wasn't long before every single human within the base had been immobilized, leaving a number of stunned and surprised dragons behind. Using her control of the base, Silver began to open doors and pens, allowing for easy access into every single corner, and allowing dragons who had no orders to wonder out. She smiled to herself, watching from within the walls.

One dragoness caught her attention immediately, and at first look she couldn't quite tell what species she was. She was a smaller dragon, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, with a slender neck and tail. But instead of scales running across her flanks... she had feathers. It caused Silver to take a second look, for she had no idea dragons could have feathers. She assumed this other dragoness was a light dragon, considering the pale yellow colouration and the familiar orange patterns, but other then that... she looked completely different to any other dragon Silver had ever seen. The dragoness made a mental note to speak with this dragoness when everything was over.

Silver began to move her conscious through the base once more, rising toward the top. She gathered a piece of metal in one of the hangers, and with a thought launched that part of herself high into the air. She waited a moment, before it exploded, much like fireworks, the full moon illuminating the shattered pieces of elronium in the sky sending the signal for the rest of the army to join in.

The humans still on the outside, not touching the metal that Silver controlled, started in surprise. Silver didn't give them much of a chance to respond however. Using the shattered pieces of metal she guided them down towards the humans. Right before they hit they rapidly expanded, becoming long streams of metal elronium, wrapping the humans up expertly and sending them tumbling into the floor, and once again the dragoness grinned. Within moments, the entire human force of this A.O.D.H base had been defeated.

There was a small problem however, one that Silver failed to notice immediately. An order passed through the devices within the dragons, and slowly they all began to move toward the exit. It was almost as though they were in a trance. Silver watched them with a small frown, wondering what was happening. It was only after the first few got into the air did it suddenly dawn on her. With a mental growl she moved the metal under her control again. There were a few cries of surprise as it cascaded down over the dragons, trapping many of them under it. Unlike humans, she made sure to rope their jaws as well, making sure they weren't able to get out of their metallic cacoon, or harm anyone as they freed them. But she wasn't able to stop over a hundred of them as they flew into the air.

Deciding it would be best to chase after the escapees rather than simply let them take out a number of their forces Silver launched herself into the air, letting her metal body become one of a dragon again. But she was larger then usual, and she flew through the air at a far faster rate then she usually did. The A.O.D.H dragons had grouped into a large fighting force. In front of them was another group of dragons rising into the air to face them.

The equilibrium sped through the sky at rapid speeds, becoming a formless liquid mass again. As the stream got closer it began to split up, separating into a hundred tiny streams narrowing down on different dragons. They didn't even have time to react as the streams hit, quickly moving over each of them much like a metallic shell, though this time it stopped them from being able to move. Silver made sure that they stay in the air however, not liking the idea of dropping them from the sky.

There were many roars of surprise and elemental blasts as the A.O.D.H dragons attempted to free themselves from the sudden cool embrace. One fire dragon managed to twist out of the way, bathing the stream of metal in fire, but Silver barely felt it. Sure, there was heat, but this fire dragon was nowhere near as powerful as a number of other fire dragons she had fought. So she twisted the metal, spearing through the flames and coating the fire dragon's muzzle and body.

She wasn't able to get all the dragons in time however. A few of them managed to break away from her attack, twisting and diving into the ranks of the other army. She watched with a snarl as a shadow dragon slammed into one of Sky Mountain's earth drakes, instantly killing the human on his back and sheering off a number of scales. But that was all it managed to do.

The human nearest to the attack pulled out a Mind Breaker and hit the button. Almost instantly the red light beeping on the shadow dragon's head went out, leaving it stunned, hovering in confusion, suddenly freed from the urge to attack its own species.

The other dragons from A.O.D.H were quickly taken down in a similar way. As soon as they were in range of the Mind Breakers the devices on their heads were disabled nearly instantly. Silver couldn't help but be glad, stopping her assault and simply watching as the last few dragons were quickly disabled.

Sky Mountain's army continued forward toward the dragons trapped in metal and still floating in the air. As each one had their mind freed, Silver let their body free as well, allowing them movement. It didn't take them long to realise that they were no longer being forced by the devices, and a chorus of joyous roars echoed throughout the sky.

They moved through the dragons in the sky before moving into the base. Silver followed them, opting to stay in her equilibrium form for now. It was easier to get around, and she was quite sure that once she returned to normal, she wouldn't be much help. So instead she moved around the large group of dragons as they entered the base.

They ignored the many wide-eyed and struggling humans that were present. Tyler led a group of humans inside and began to free the rest of them, moving rather quickly throughout the base. Silver followed through the walls, letting go of the dragons that had been freed. They moved as quickly as possible, seeing as though it was possible that the base may have called for reinforcements.

At one point an acid drake they had freed tried to attack the human that had freed him. Silver intervened, quickly coiling him up in metal again and preventing him from doing any more damage. He roared out with a snarl and struggled, trying desperately to get free, but it was rather easy for the equilibrium to hold him.

"Calm down," Silver said from the walls, causing the drake to freeze, "These humans are here to help you. You are now free? And this human was the one that freed you. Why would you attack the one that saved you?"

"Whatever you are... you have no idea what those creatures did to us. What they forced us to do!" he roared out, opening his maw to spit acid, but Silver clamped it shut before he could.

"I know all to well. I'm a dragon as well, and I have been through a lot with humans. If you try to attack this one again, I will be forced to take greater measures in order to stop you. Do you understand?"

The drake hesitated, before slowly nodding his head, "Good, now I'm going to let you go. Get to the surface and join the rest of the dragons we have freed."

The metal wound away from the acid dragon, and he snorted angrily, glaring at the human, before turning and padding down the hallway. A sigh of relief left the young female that had freed him, and she nodded in thanks to the walls around her. Silver chuckled, before continuing on, seeing if there was anything more she could do.

Two hours later the base had been cleared of dragons. Some of them had left already, getting as far away from A.O.D.H as possible, but most had stayed around, talking with the dragons and humans that had helped free them. Silver pulled herself into a dragon form once more, and deciding it would be safer for them, knocked the trapped humans unconscious with a single thought. It meant when she returned to her normal form, they wouldn't be able to get up and chase them once again.

Letting out a deep breath Silver felt as though she had done all she could. Regretfully, she let the power drain out from her. All the metal she had created while in equilibrium melded off the unconscious bodies of the many humans in the base and moved toward her, snaking across the ground and absorbing back into her body.

Almost immediately Silver staggered, blinking as the power retreated back into her core. The metal retracted from her legs, revealing her scales underneath. It formed back into a shell on her back, and she staggered, before collapsing to the ground with a groan. The world had gone dizzy and she couldn't see straight. An overwhelming tiredness had enveloped her.

"Silver!" came an almost distant voice as Zepos quickly rushed over to her, "Are you alright?"

She groaned again, "Hey... yeah. I think this is normal."

Her vision cleared and she found herself looking up at the concerned lightning dragon. With a small grunt she forced herself to her feet, staggering slightly again. He was quick to her side, and she gratefully leaned on him with a small sigh. She smiled tiredly at him before looking over the dragons they had managed to break from Eldawin's control. The devices were still in their heads, but without Eldawin, they were useless.

"Come on, I can carry you," said Zepos.

"No... no I'm fine," she tried to push herself onto her own feet, but almost immediately found herself leaning against his side again, "Okay... you can carry me."

He chuckled and lightly nuzzled her neck, "This was easy!"

"I know," nodded the dragoness, "Almost a little too easy."

She had expected Eldawin to at least put up some sort of a fight for this base, but the fact he didn't made her suspicious. What was he up to? In the end however they had succeeded. All that was left was getting these dragons back to Sky Mountain.

There was a movement as the dragons began to take off into the air. Retrix looked to be leading the group. The moon was still in the middle of the sky, meaning that dawn was still a way off. They would likely get back to the mountain just before dawn. With that in mind Silver allowed Zepos to move her onto his back, too exhausted to attempt to stop him. The lightning drake flapped his wings a couple of times and lifted into the air after the group of dragons. Her eyes slowly began to drift closed, the exhaustion of equilibrium and the sleepless nights getting to her, and with a small huff she let darkness take her.

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Hey guys! New chapter for you. Sorry it took so long to get out, but this is the longest chapter yet in the series! So I hope if made up for it :) Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it. See Ya!

Pennator^^