When among Dragons... Chapter 2 To a new future

by Machara and Chryos Stormwing

Special thanks to
my love Chryos who creates this with me,
Gabe as my editor and friend
as well as Sammi for ideas

After two more weeks in which they emptied out the house, sold furniture and guided Hera’s sister on the management of the house, they finally sat on the plane to Vancouver. Their visa had also been authorized by then, even though that did not, at least for now, include a permit to work. The check-in had been more stressful than they remembered, each passenger had been subjected to a pat down and medical scan. At last, the plane was just rolling up to the runway and preparing for acceleration.

“Not that I think that it will be necessary, but I don’t understand why we can’t work right away. I’m afraid I have to familiarize myself with Canadian law and take some additional English courses first, anyway.”

Hera wondered, and then turned to Garrus beside herself.

“Do you have plans for what you want to do in the near future?”

Garrus looked at her questioningly for a moment.

“You have not caught up yet, have you?
The liberal Canada from a few years ago does not exist anymore. I have read up on it in the last days.
Since all that mess with the mutations started, there were some particularly nasty manifestations, especially in Canada. More rigorous medical checkups were able to prevent or at least anticipate some manifestations. Those are now especially done before long flights, explaining what we had to go through, just now. If such a scan shows genetic change, you have to acquire a clearance certificate for it within three days, or you are contained or deported, especially if you are there just on a visa. They don’t handle this much differently in the US, I hear. Fortunately, manifestations have not been so bad in Germany.”

“Ah, that all sounds rather familiar, but it does not explain why we can’t work, yet.
I’m already excited to learn about the details of Canadian law and its recent changes. Maybe I can encourage something concerning work if I know more. I so look forward to seeing Marian again. It seems like an eternity has passed since I last saw her.”

Garrus nodded slowly and tiredly. He felt like falling asleep but would have to wait until they had lifted off.

“Well, you do know that incubation can take days, weeks or sometimes even months between the trigger and actual manifestation? They don’t want unknown mutants and desperately try to avoid new outbreaks of variations of the retrovirus. They are also especially careful when it comes to a permit for employment. That’s why it usually takes three or four months until you get such a permit.”

Garrus yawned.

Hera looked sideways at her son.

“Incubation period? I thought we were already checked for transmitted illnesses by those Bio Mutants when we were scanned.”

She noted his sleepiness and some unrest.

“You look tired. Don’t worry, I’m sure the flight will go smoothly. I don’t really understand why flying makes you so nervous. Maybe you can have a nap.”

Garrus rolled his eyes.

“I’m not nervous. But turbulences during takeoff and landing and all those announcements annoy me. That’s why I wait. As to incubations… well, not all are detected right away, and many manifestations have no discernible trigger.
Almost all manifestations require the person to possess dormant mutant genes passed on from their parents. Almost all of those stem from the outbreak of the mutant retrovirus of 1981, but some come from smaller more recent outbreaks stemming from persons already bearing the mutant genes. The majority of manifestations are random and without a discernible trigger, but some are triggered by injury, illness, strong emotions or other external influences. They can also be triggered by catching an infection, the common cold or another strand of the retrovirus.
Aside from the manifestation that I just described that require dormant mutant genes in a person, each person that already possesses mutant genes bears a small risk to cause the outbreak of another often mutated form of the retrovirus, typically caused when they catch some normal contagion, such as a common cold.
So, they just want to make sure. I can’t wait for those confirmatory checkups…”

After reaching traveling altitude, the flight proceeded normally and Garrus managed to sleep for a few hours.
As the plane was flying over Canadian soil, a local news station was brought up after the credits of an in-flight film. A news moderator was seen below the title ‘Super-Fight in Calgary’s Zoo’.

“A fight between a local Super-Hero team and a yet unknown group of Asian fighters on and over the grounds of the Calgary Zoo led to the evacuation of all visitors of the Zoo. Apparently, the attacking group held some grudge against the local team. Unfortunately, two people from the Zoo staff were killed, and one visitor was wounded. Part of the Zoo was destroyed. We have some live footage, for you.”
Some pictures from a Helicopter were shown.
“The Zoo has been forced to close down for the next couple of days, and some of the animals have to be relocated. The Vancouver Zoo is offering at least a temporary place for the animals, transportation is in progress. Next on the Agenda…”

Hera turned to her son.

“Wow. I hope such altercations won’t become commonplace. Back home, I have only heard of two larger ones over the years… and this one did not look like a trifle. I hope this is not a bad omen. What do you think, Garrus?”

She nervously grabbed after his hand and held it.

Having awoken and following the news, Garrus was not nearly as worried as her.

“It’s hard to tell how this will develop. It is not an order of the day, considering we only had one such incident while I was with the police where mutations played a role. Maybe that is because we barely have any ‘superheroes’ like the U.S. or Canada, however. Vigilantism of untrained citizens usually backfires. I don’t know what they taught them except ‘those are the bad guys, hit them’.”

Garrus looked at her questioningly, and possibly somewhat annoyed. While he was not really annoyed with her, the topic that did seem to have become more and more present recently.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure everything will be fine, we already had enough excitement with our relocation.”

Garrus looked at his mother, smirking.

Hera chuckled.

“I’m with you there. I did not expect it to be this much work with so many details. Finding tenants brought more complications, too. For now, we’ll have some time out and a chance to get to know everyone and the country. Well… after moving in that is.”

The plane landed, and after an eternity at immigration, another health scan and waiting for their luggage they entered the arrival hall which was full of humans with searching glances – well, besides one or two exceptions where their humanity seemed doubtful.
After a few long moments, Hera’s face lit up and she indicated two individuals to her son.

A good-looking woman in her mid-forties stood there, moderately tall brunette at just below 180cm, with hair in a flapper-esque french girl cut that reached just to the bottom edge of her roundish face. Fashionable clothes – a white blouse and snug jeans that widened towards the feet – showed off her feminine and curvy figure.

To the right beside her, Hera saw a young man whose face reminded her somewhat of Garrus, however in the much more soft and roundish manner of his mother. He stood just about as high as his mother and had lightbrown slightly curly hair that reached down to his shoulders. His figure also somewhat followed that of his mother’s, even if it was not quite so curvy or feminine. His clothes were on the androgynous side with tight jeans and a male shirt, that seemed, however, inspired by his mother. Both Garrus and Hera noticed his reticent nature even though he stood straight and did not seem shy. It was just his somewhat feminine face and androgynous body language that made you wonder.

Hera left her suitcases and hurried to Marian to embrace her. The half-siblings heard a “Hi, my dear” before she stepped back again.

“Garrus, this is Marian my Girlfriend and this is Drew, her son.
Marian, Drew, this is Garrus, my son…”

Garrus looked at Drew in confusion.

“Drew? I thought Drew…”

He eyed him up cautiously, feeling abashed by his misconception that he chose not to articulate, fearing it might either embarrass him or Drew.

“Hi! I’m Garrus. Umm… as you’ve just been told anyway.”

He extended a hand as he moved towards the two of them, curious who would shake it first.

Meanwhile, Garrus’ mother was somewhat giddy with excitement about the situation, probably hoping it would go smoothly.