Once we were all aboard, Gramps sped onto the road and drove through the less affected part of town. This went on for a good while when we eventually crossed into the manufacturing territory of the undercity. And shortly thereafter, we rolled up to a nondescript building that was on the rather rough side of things.
"Alright, we're here, youngins, get your butts out my truck."
The four of us looked at each other with a look that said, what the fuck kind of shithole is this? Regardless of our reservations, we held off on opening our mouths for the time being and alighted from the vehicle. The second I stepped off the truck and got a good look at the place, I found an old rusted beat-up sign that read Old Joe's Hole.
Finding the establishment's sign somewhat comical due to the missing watering bit from Old Joe's Watering Hole, I continued approaching the eatery alongside gramps and the boys and soon entered the business. As soon as I stepped foot into the place, a dimly lit restaurant lined with simple but nice leather booths came into view along with a bar right in the center of the space with an old, rough around the edges sort of character manning said bar.
Looks can be deceiving, I thought before the old fogey manning the dark wood bar counter spoke. "How's it going, John? It's been a minute since you've last visited my establishment."
Gramps shrugged his shoulders and replied to the old Italian, who appeared to be in his late 60s to early 70s. "Not too bad now that the fighting across the city has stopped."
"Hmm, I presume the governor and his faction have maintained control?"
"Mm, that they have."
"Good, the last thing we need is for a new upstart to start messing with the good thing we got going on." The older man commented nonchalantly as he continued drying the line of freshly washed glass beer mugs with a spotless white washcloth.
Looks like these two old fogeys have known each other for a decent while.
Making a mental note of that, the proprietor, who I guessed was Old Joe, continued for a handful more seconds before directing his attention to the boys and I. "So, who are these young men?"
"This one here is my grandson, Dom." The old fart told the bartender proudly. "And these are his friends, Bob, Takeshi, and Tom." He added with a similar amount of pride, likely due to the large role he played in their development.
"You don't say... Yea, I can see the resemblance." The man thought aloud as we took our seats at the counter.
"I would hope so since he's my daughter's kid, after all."
"...Anywho, the name's Old Joe; it's a pleasure to meet you youngsters." The barman said.
"Nice to meet you, Old Joe." I said, followed by my companions.
After shaking his hand with a firm grip by normal human standards, he presented us with four menus. "So what can I get you youngsters and this young-looking pensioner?"
"I'll have the usual." My granddad rattled off while us youngins quickly found something appetizing from the variety of meals on offer.
...
Our party had worked up quite the appetite from the dozens of battles and fights we took part in over the past several hours, so once the plates full of food made it to the bar top, we quickly dug in and speedily filled our empty stomachs, that had been crying out for nutrients for hours now. The lot of us were so ravenous that the generous piping hot meals provided by Old Joe, who I came to find was the sole owner of this establishment, disappeared in a matter of a few minutes.
The squad's hunger was clear as day to Old Joe... Or anyone with eyes and a half-functioning brain, so he kept ferrying orders to and from the kitchen and delivering a constant stream of piping hot meals. And in between those bits, my brothers and I chatted the spry senior up as we ate and took in the bar's old-timey feel and vintage atmosphere.
We kept chowing down hungrily on the simple but delicious food, and the minute we couldn't fit anymore, not even another bite, we took the opportunity to rest for a few dozen seconds. After letting the food settle, I asked what I owed the man since I was in charge of covering food expenses for today.
"That's alright, sonny. The food and drinks are on the house."
"You sure?"
"Positive, the meal's on me."
"Ohh, that's a mighty kind gesture, Old Joe… How come you never let me off scot-free." Gramps quipped.
"Well, how bout you try saving the city like your youngster did, and then I'll consider it." His longtime buddy shot back before the bunch of us broke out into hearty laughter.
Following that bout of chuckling, I and everyone else thanked the older gentleman for his generosity and once we finished sharing a few more words with him; we said farewell to the old-timer and departed the hole in the wall restaurant with plenty of good food and drink in our bellies. From the restaurant/bar's exit, we wandered over to our mode of transportation and piled into the spacious armored truck.
"Where to now?" My grandpa John asked aloud.
"We've pretty much handled our part in this matter, so it's time to head on back to the base."
"Wouldn't it be better to assist the undercity in their cleanup efforts?" Bob spoke up.
"I'm sure our help would be of great use to them, but we got bigger fish to fry."
"And that is?"
"That being you, gramps, and the rest of the boys getting some rest whilst the girls and I head off to Fort Kern to perform that operation I told you about previously. I don't know how big of a job it's going to be afterward, so we may need some assistance from you four, meaning I'm going to need you guys to be well rested and full of energy, just in case."
"You're finally making your move on that place?"
"I was planning on taking control of that military installation before all this chaos took place, so yes, today's the day. And besides, it's not like the undercity can't do without our help, right?"
"The city will be fine without us now that the fire has been smothered." The old fart piped up, ending the conversation there.
As the old fart was about to throw the vehicle into drive and begin making his way to the exit, I had one last destination I wanted to add. "Hey, gramps, can you drop me off at the Genesis Foundry?"
"What for?" He questioned.
"Vritra's habitat was finally completed the other day, so it's time to finally let him loose and have him join us out in the wasteland."
"Ohh, you're letting that beast out, huh... I'm sure he'll be jumping for joy once he hears the news."
"I bet." I said last before we began traveling in the direction of my first base of operations.
...
A short drive later from Old Joe's, we rolled up to the facility. "Okay, you guys go gather up with the robots at the undercity's entrance and head on home."
"You're not coming with us, bro?" Big Tom asked?
"Nah, I'm going to use the mine and cave tunnels connected to the foundry and make my way up to the surface with Vritra and meet you guys at the Cornerstone Stronghold since the city already has enough to deal with without me introducing a big drake into its war-torn streets."
"If that's what you wanna do, kid." The old man chimed in.
"Alright, we'll meet you back at base then. Good luck out there, Dom." Big Tom said, followed by my other two friends.
"See you guys there." I responded with a wave prior to heading inside.
After waving them off, I spun around and went right on into the facility, and the instant I made it past the doors; I checked the place with my perception field.
Everything appears to be going alright over here.
Sure that things were being handled well over here at the Genesis Foundry by my skeleton crew of robots and machines, I moved deeper into the industrious site. I had a lot on my plate to deal with later today, so I raced through the place and quickly arrived in front of my scaly friend's large sealed-off enclosure. The moment I opened the door, I found a massive four-legged reptile that would've scared the life out of any normal person, eyeing me, while happily wagging his incredibly large and wide tree trunk-like tail behind him.
I would've been surprised with his detection abilities if my pet was a normal run-of-the-mill creature. However, Vritra is anything but and is of the magical variety, so him detecting my presence long before I arrived at his door is none too surprising.
Paying no mind to the mighty swishing sound his massive tail was producing, I went up and greeted my jubilant friend with a handful of chin scratches and pats. "So how've you been, Vritra?"
"Great, now that you're here, Master."
"Oh, I'm glad my presence could improve your day, big guy."
I showed my pet Drake a few more affectionate gestures when I decided to inform him of the good news he'd been waiting to hear for quite a long while. "And you know what, Vrita, you're going to have an even better day once I tell you the good news."
My scaly friend remained silent at my words and responded with a tilt of his head to the side, telling me to continue nonverbally. "You know how we were waiting for your home away from home to be completed before you could join me and the rest of the gang out in the wastes?"
"Yea." He replied, beginning to get excited again.
"Well, here's the thing: everything is finally finished being prepared, so now it's time for you to leave your cave and come join me in adventuring the wasteland."
As soon as my words entered the Juvenile Colossal Monster Drake's ears and registered with him, he roared deafeningly with palpable excitement, so loudly in fact that the surroundings rumbled slightly.
I let him express his joy for several seconds before I had to reel him in. "Easy, boy, we don't need you bringing the place down."
"Oh, sorry, Dom." The giant reptile apologized abashedly.
"Don't worry about it, buddy."
Following that burst of excitement from Vritra, I filled him in on a number of details, and once we were good and ready, I led him out of his habitat, which had become his second home after he outgrew the home I shared with my parents. From there we navigated the expanded tunnels and dug-out cave system that were widened mostly to accommodate my gargantuan pet here. The two of us continued through the massive, lengthy network of tunnels and soon enough arrived at an equally massive blast door, which possessed more than enough room to allow the colossal drake to pass.
"This is it, Vritra you ready?" I asked from atop the saddle that was equipped to him prior to our departure from his enclosure.
"Of course, I've been waiting for this moment to come for a really long time."
Hearing the word, I used my powers and sent a signal to the blast door with | Mechanical Domination | and began the opening procedures. The instant I activated it, the rotating lights mounted around said door came to life and started blaring, signaling those close by to back up and get out of the way. But there was no one here besides the two of us and the many turrets mounted all around the exit, so we just sat there and waited patiently for the door to finish opening.
Seconds later, the massive blast door moved and slowly but surely revealed the outside world to my draconic friend for the very first time. His eagerness to depart increased exponentially as it widened more and more, and when the massive door had ground to a halt, I looked to Vritra and said the magic words. "Let's go."
Right as I uttered those words, my mount took off like a rocket and shot out of the underground, finally stepping foot into the great unknown outside and craving to explore the world at large.