Strut and Swagger

This is a WoF fanfic that takes place in the Wingblade AU

They were in a dark, eerie lab. There were dark shapes everywhere. *Why* were *they there?*

Because of the rumors. Because of the shapes moving in the windows. Because of the screams in the night.

"Shush." Eam ordered.

"Why are *we* investigating this?" Hissed Fisher. "Shouldn't we be living normal lives?"

"We saved the world, normal isn't an option for us anymore." Wolf joked.

Eam remembered their *epic quest* to defeat Midnight. It wasn't really *that* epic, it was kind of a flop till they killed him. But his followers were still out there. *They could be here right now!*

"I don't belong here." Eam muttered. "I should be in the Sand kingdom."

"Bzzt, wrong answer." Wolf teased.

"I was talking to myself." Eam growled.

"Bzzzt!"

Eam punched him in the snout.

"Yow!" Wolf yelped, and jumped away from Eam.

"Stop fighting... please?" Walnut asked them.

Angler looked at them helplessly.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Cheered Fisher.

"Why don't you go fish for fish, fisher?" Eam suggested, knowing how much it annoyed her.

"I am named AFTER THE FISHER CA-"

"NO MORE YELLING!" Lantern yelled.

"I don't even know what's going on anymore!" Angler said in a submissive voice.

"YAAAAH!" Pyrotechnic bellowed.

"WHY ARE WE ALL YELLING NOW?" Wolf yelled.

"YOU STARTED IT!!" Eam yelled at him.

Something moved in the shadows. Eam froze.

But apparently she was the only one that saw it.

Pretty much every dragon there except Eam and Corkscrew was screaming.

"SHUT! UP!!" Eam bellowed at them.

Silence.

Eam turned to Corkscrew. "What are you lookin at?"

Corkscrew said something in binary code.

"What the fu-"

"NOPE!" Angler exclaimed. "NO CUSSING AROUND WALNUT!"

Eam turned around. She shadows were still. *Must've been my imagination...*

"Let's all stop yelling, and search this pace like sane dragons." Lantern ordered.

They all stopped yelling and looked at Lantern. Wolf shrugged then walked away.

"Does it feel like something's watching us?" Topaz muttered.

"*I'm* watching you." Wolf suggested.

"I'm talking about something that's not part of our group."

Wolf shrugged.

"Something smells.." Eam muttered. A horrible stench had filled the air, like rotting scales.

Lightbeam sniffed. "Eeeeeeeeyuck." She snorted. "Smells kinda like Angler's morning breath."

"Hey!" Angler accused.

"I'm kidding, Ok Boomer?"

"Hey!" Angler accused once again.

Eam sighed, and followed the scent. For the first time in her life, she wasn't very grateful for her nightwing nose because HOLY MOLY THAT WAS PUTRID.

She rounded a corner, and the smell became so overwhelming she wanted to run away. Then she looked up.

In the middle of the hall was a dead, armless Icewing with his heart ripped out of his chest.

"YAAAAAH!!!" Her friends all shrieked in sync.

"What in the world-?" Pyrotechnic exclaimed.

Eam walked over and poked the body. The Icewing's face was a twisted mess of terror. His chest was now a mangled opening, covered in dried blood and guts. It was quite hard not to gag, or vomit, or run away screaming.

Pyrotechnic, in fact, did all three.

"Really?" Lightbeam scoffed as she watched her tail disappear around the corner.

Wolf peered at the body. "It looks like someone reached inside and pulled his heart right out." He whispered.

"And, what's with his arms? Icewings, have four legs, don't they?" Topaz looked at Wolf, and then back at the body. "Yep, they do!"

Wolf scoffed.

"What? Just makin' sure!"

"You've been with me long enough to know that all Icewings have four legs." Wolf scolded Topaz.

Then, Ea heard a sound. A tapping, clicking sound. She perked up her ears, and listened. Well, tried to listen over Topaz and Wolf talking loudly. "QUIET!" She boomed, and they went silent.

It seemed like the other dragons heard it too, because they all went stiff, perking up their ears.

Lightbeam concentrated with her sharp Icewing ears. "It's coming from here." Lightbeam said, and started walking towards the noise.

Eam hesitated. *What if it's a monster, waiting to catch us in a trap?*

*What if it's what killed that Icewing?*

Eam warily walked forward. As she did, she noticed a different stench. Much worse than the Icewing's. And then she saw what Lightbeam heard.

It looked like a tank. The glass around the cylinder-shaped mystery was shattered, and some sort of liquid oozed from it. Lightbeam was staring at something on the side of the tank. Eam walked over to see it.

It was a black screen, with a green line moving in patterns. She had seen these before. Where? She couldn't remember. "A heartbeat monitor." Eam said.

Pyrotechnic walked over to the tank. "But there's nothing in there..."

"It must not be maintaining the tank... but then what is it?"

Suddenly, there was another sound.

The sound of Talonsteps on metal.

"Someone's coming!" Eam hissed loudly at the other dragons. Fisher jumped forward and camouflaged herself, and spread her wings to hide the others while Eam hid in the shadows. Another Nightwing power she inherited, one that she was quite grateful for at the present.

Eam stared at the corner, wondering what was going to appear. "I don't think anything's here." Eam whispered, barely loud enough for the others to here.

And then something stamped on her tail. Eam never really freaked out, because she was much too *dignified* to run around flapping and screaming.

This time, however, was an exception.

"EEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" She shrieked, then ran away. Fisher jumped away, revealing the others a they all panicked.

They all hid behind the cylinder with the broken glass, and watched the monster emerge from the shadows. It was a Nightwing. They had metallic armor covering their arms, forehead, chest, and tail. But Eam noticed that one of their arms was armorless, and it looked as if it wasn't complete. They surveyed the scene with slitted, snakelike eyes. "Jackrabbits." It said in a snake-like, scoffing voice.

Eam gasped, they all did. Their voice was snake-like, vile, and barely recognizable. But they recognized it all the same.

The Nightwing had the voice of Midnight.

### Chapter 2

Memories flashed through Eam's head. Memories of their adventure. She remembered that Midnight, the evil Nightwing. He had been after them for a long time, but what really boiled Eam's blood was that he had sent his minion, not brave enough to go himself, and nearly killed Prickly Pear! She would not stand for that, never had, never will. Eam would never, *never* feel sorry for Midnight.

And now he was dead. How did that Nightwing sound like him?
But then she remembered his blood seeping into the ground, Angler pitying him in his last moments.
And the Nighting didn't *really* sound like Midnight. Not *that* much, anyway. Just if you took Midnight, made him feminine, and shoved him in a metal tube.

At this point Pyro was hyperventilating, and Lightbeam slapped her talon over her mouth to keep her quiet. The NightWing's ears pricked up, and she tilted her head upward. "I can hear you, cowardly jackrabbits. Show yourself, our blood will be spilt. But maybe blood will be spilt *either* way, i can't guarantee." The NightWing said as she stalked closer.
Eam was now hiding behind Fisher, as far as the NightWing was concerned, she vanished into thin air.
The NightWing flicked her black tongue, gazing across the lab. Then hr jaws opened wide, and she sent a huge fireball screaming towards them.
They all shrieked and scattered, revealing themselves.
The NighWing hissed in satisfaction and lunged towards Wolf. Topaz was quicker, and shot venom towards the NightWing. And NightWing swerved around, and the venom hit her forehead, and sizzled out of existence.

*What?* Eam wondered. *Why didn't it effect her?*