Most people think the hardest part of Halo City is surviving superheroes.
They're wrong.
The hardest part is cleaning up after them.
At Junction Station, another day begins with stolen breakfast burritos, malfunctioning coffee machines, and Deputy Nyla running through the halls with something she definitely shouldn't have.
Big Moe is cooking.
Chef Pulse is yelling.
Sketch is asleep somewhere he isn't supposed to be.
And rookie Andre "Rook" Walker is about to discover that nothing about City Aftercare Department is normal.
Gray's voice echoes through the station.
"Junction Crew, respond."
The room immediately changes.
Everybody listens when Gray speaks.
A giant dragon has fallen asleep across six lanes of freeway traffic.
And somehow...
that's not even the weirdest call this month.
Rook expects terror.
He expects destruction.
He expects fire.
Instead he finds a massive ancient dragon snoring loud enough to shake traffic signs.
The creature is enormous.
Ancient.
Powerful.
And sleeping like somebody's oversized pet.
Everyone gives the same warning:
"Do not feed the dragon."
Rook feeds the dragon.
Immediately.
The dragon loves it.
Now it refuses to leave.
The entire department blames Rook.
While everyone argues about dragon relocation procedures, nobody notices Nyla slipping away.
Again.
The gray blue-nose pitbull pup follows a scent toward an abandoned maintenance tunnel hidden beneath the freeway.
A tunnel that shouldn't exist.
Nyla discovers an old doorway buried behind debris.
The entrance is partially hidden beneath the dragon's tail.
Strange symbols are carved into the walls.
One of them resembles a stitched circle.
A symbol nobody recognizes.
At least...
that's what everybody claims.
After hours of failed plans, accidental feeding incidents, and increasingly desperate ideas from Glitch, the dragon finally opens one eye.
Everyone prepares for disaster.
Instead...
the dragon calmly stands.
Stretches.
Yawns.
Then walks directly toward Nyla.
The dragon lowers its head.
For a moment it seems to be studying the little pitbull.
Then something falls from its mouth.
Metal strikes pavement.
Clink.
A strange folding key.
Not brass.
Not steel.
Not any material Glitch can identify.
The key shifts shape when light hits it.
And engraved on the surface is the stitched circle symbol.
Back at The Junction, everyone crowds around the object.
Glitch scans it.
Nothing.
Signal stares at it.
Sketch stops drawing.
Even Big Moe looks concerned.
But Chef Pulse goes completely silent.
Because she's seen that symbol before.
Inside a recipe book that nobody knows she owns.
That night, after everyone leaves, Chef Pulse opens the mysterious Recipe Book.
Between two pages is an old sketch.
A sketch of the exact same key.
Beneath it are five handwritten words:
"If found, the path remains open."
And underneath...
the stitched circle.
Final Picture
To Be Continued
Across the city, hidden somewhere in the darkness, an old mystery begins to wake up.
And for the first time in decades...
Harmony Row may be finding its way home.
