[ WP ] Man can bond with any creature , be it dog , cat , dragon or butterfly .

Man can bond with any creature – dog, cat, dragon or butterfly, you name it and we can bond with it. The process is quick, easy, and confers to the animal partner a whole host of benefits, the most important being increased intelligence. In return, they become our eyes and ears, almost like an extension of us. 
 
 A lot of people in the New York settled for something small, domestic, easy to travel around with. Dogs and cats were quite popular, though you occasionally saw people with something more exotic, like a bird or a reptile. Personally, I was thankful that dragons were rare and you didn ’ t see many of them day to day. Dragons were capable of speech, already wicked smart, easily able to maul or burn someone to death – I had had my fair share of run-ins with them and I wanted to keep my distance as much as possible. The only good thing I could think about dragons was that they were significantly smaller these days than the ancient stories described them as. Thank goodness. Could you imagine if someone bonded with something the size of a jet plane and decided to go on a rampage? Everyone here was already freaked out about Godzilla. 
 
 Do you know who really liked bonding with dragons though? Russians. Russians were crazy about dragons, especially those in the mob. It was a sign of their money, power, and viciousness. Whenever the boys in blue dredged up a victim that had been savaged and burned beyond recognition, it didn ’ t take a detective to figure out what probably happened to them. 
 
 I ’ m rather fond of my life, strange enough. One way I try to prolong it is by avoiding the Russians and all jobs associated with them. But life has its own strange twists and turns, and I was behind on my rent and owed Jimmy a favor. Jimmy ran an antique store and some of his shipments had gone missing. He didn ’ t really say what was stolen, and I knew better than to ask. Besides, he didn ’ t even mention the Russians at first. 
 
 It ’ s rather unbelievable what happened over the next few days of investigating, and the next thing I knew, I was hiding up in the rafters in some giant storage warehouse crammed full of stolen artifacts, praying to every god I could think of that I could escape this place alive. I had found the place through some luck and sleuthing, and I couldn ’ t believe that a place like this would even exist in my city. Why would the Russians be stockpiling artifacts of dubious quality anyhow? I was finishing taking photos and collecting all the evidence I needed to bring the cops down on this place when I heard voices. 
 
 There were two men walking, talking softly in Russian. I tensed as I recognized them. Alexi and Bogdan. Their last names escaped me, but I knew the NYPD probably had a giant file on each of them. They were brutal men, and I knew Alexi had it out for me after the last time I had the misfortune to meet him. They stopped right beneath where I was hiding, and I held my breath. It was just a coincidence, they were going to keep on walking and – 
 
 The rafters shuddered. I looked up and saw Alexi ’ s dragon leering at me from several feet away, once of its eye sockets empty after I had stabbed it last time we meet. To be fair, I think it had been trying to turn me into dinner. From the sound of it, Bogdan ’ s beast was behind me. 
 
 “ Joe, ” Alexi boomed from below. “ It ’ s been too long. ” I didn ’ t bother looking at them; I was too focused on their beasts. “ Yaegar has missed your company. He ’ s been hoping to repay you for your gift last time we met. ” The dragon in front of me began to chuckle, a human sound that was quite unnerving to hear from a 200 pound lizard. 
 
 “ You ’ re right, ” I said. “ It has been too long. ” I whipped around and hurled a bag of powder that exploded in the second dragon ’ s face, and as it choked on the ghost pepper powder. For a killing machine that could breathe fire, dragons had humorously delicate diets, part of the reason why their numbers had been dwindling for years. Also, I knew from experience that stuff was blinding when it hit the eye. A very painful personal experience. I heard Bogdan collapse as well, choking as his beast stumbled off the rafter. 
 
 I leapt off the rafter myself, tumbling gracelessly onto the ground and running as fast as I could, which really wasn ’ t fast enough as I quickly found myself knocked into a container bin. Stunned, I couldn ’ t move in time to stop Yaegar from pinning me, sharp claws digging into my skin, empty eye socket right in front of me. I saw Alexi not far behind, a wicked looking knife in hand. 
 
 “ I ’ ve been waiting for this, ” Yaegar hissed, its claws now dangerously close to my eye, “ for a very, very long time now. ” I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable, but it never came. Instead, I heard a gagging sound, I felt a wrenching feeling come through me, as a part of me was twisting dying. Yaegar rolled off of my, grabbing at its own throat as Alexi hit the ground, gagging and desperately trying to breath. I myself felt sick, dangerously so, but I rolled to my feet and staggered out of the warehouse. 
 
 In the end, my client ’ s merchandise was recovered and the rest of the warehouse was processed and secured by the NYPD after an anonymous tip. Alexi and 
 Bogden were nowhere to be found, of course, but that was to be expected. I had to take a couple days off to recover. People like to bond with cats and dogs, probably because their fluffy or make great social media posts. Others, like the Russians, choose dragons out of sheer strength and power. I like flies. You bond with them, give them an increased lifespan and intelligence, and suddenly you can listen to or see things that you would never be able to otherwise. Tony XXIX had been a brave soul, to fly into Alexi ’ s mouth like that, choking him, but I owed him my life probably and it would take me a couple days to recover from his death before going off to find Tony XXX. Until then, I had the money to pay off my rent, kick back, and dream of finding a girlfriend who wouldn ’ t dump me the moment she found out that I bonded with flies. Hey, a man can dream, right? 

