Dragonclaw: Intro

It was a bright sunny Saturday morning, the weather was ideal for the middle of august and there was a weak but pleasant wind.

Four people met in a park in Madrid, one woman and three men. All of them looked rather worried, despite the nice and warm weather. The place they were standing was hidden from direct sight, but open enough to look for possible pursuers. They all had business suits on, except the woman, who was wearing clothing appropriate for the weather conditions. All of them were at least past their sixties, featuring at least a few white straws in their hair. They all nodded to each other as they met.

"I'm glad you made it, considering how the others are searching for us at the moment" The oldest man started, who had his left arm missing. He pulled a few papers out of his suit and handed them to the others, who distributed them among themselves. They contained various information, including a sheet about a flight that left an hour ago and was listened as PDG-894.

"We don't have much time before we get discovered, so I'll make this short. The flight we were waiting for started an hour ago from Munich Airport and will arrive at the planned Destination in about seven hours. How are the preparations going, is everyone ready?" He asked.

"Most are on their way and should arrive in less than two hours, if the others don't interfere. I set up a few distractions across Europe, so they should be occupied at the moment, if they react as I assume they should." The woman answered "I'm glad that we gathered so many for arrival, we lost to many since the last. Let's hope that enough of them agree to join us, so we can fill the gaps that were made in the last three years."

"Our psychologists presume the normal quote, but that would be more than enough. I'll cheer when we have exact numbers, especially for the section D. They have the fewest  members and are focused on by the Others." The second man said "I still don't get how they managed to find even our most hidden posts and hideouts all of a sudden."

"Me neither and I'm the person, who should know." Replied the third man "We only know that their pattern changed dramatically one and a half years ago. From that point on, they knew where our hideouts were. Even the security codes, which only could have been known by inhabitants. The other thing we don't know is, why they're concentrating on hideouts which contain members of section D. They may be good with the things they do, but aren't enough to have any larger impact. We found a few..."

"We get your point and we will continue with that topic on our way back." The old man interrupted "For now, all of you got lists with the presumed number of new people and where we'll house them. Tower one has to many occupants at the moment, while tower three is almost empty. Therefore we'll move some of them towards tower three."

"I know that you hate it to share your tower with new people," He said, while looking to the woman, as she wanted to say something "but we have to keep a balance, there simply aren't enough rooms for all of them. So we'll move some to your tower, even if it angers some of the older inhabitants. Those who decline to the offer are housed there too and will be handled like guests."

"Give the information I handed to you to your second in command. After that, travel to the tower and prepare for the arrival." The old man explained and looked to the third man "We both have to talk about the Others, so wait a moment. You both can go and be cautiously about pursuers, I spotted a few on the way here."

They started to walk towards the south exit of the park, as the third man noticed a small group of people who were following them in a distance. He looked to the old man, who nodded briefly in return, to signalize that he saw them too.

"Excuse me that I interrupted you earlier, we have a new arrival coming and I don't wanted them to panic. How bad is it?" The old man asked, while directing the other man towards a small road

"We lost three hideouts in America and five in Europe last week. Two in Africa and one in Asia went silent, but the groups I sent to search after them confirmed that they made it out in time." He replied with a worried tone "And the Others are preparing something big. My informant sent me notes about a meeting in a week, but he has no information what they plan exactly. Whatever it is, nobody knows anything, only the time of the meeting."

"That doesn't sound good at all. The attacks are bad enough, but to know that they plan something big is alarming. Good that the tower is safe from the outside, an attack on it with all the fresh people would be disastrous." The old man replied, while looking at their pursuers "Make your way to your hideout and inform the others, we'll meet at the tower later. I'll cover you and deal with them."

"Good luck" The third replied, as he walked away, leaving the old man behind

"I'm not the one who needs luck." He grinned, as he slowly approached the pursuers