The stalker's poisoned dart.
A stalker comes into the lives of the Ducks; can they save one of their own from this stalker?
Jesse was scanning the letters that was for Kaladan. The first letter that Jesse saw made her guts twist as she recognized the hand writing and placed the letter aside as Kala looked at her with curiosity. She smiled as she stated that the letters were misplaced in her stack and were meant for Wing. She continued helping Kala with sorting the letters, putting some aside into the pile she had started that was meant for Wing. She knew she had to show the letters to Wing as soon as possible. But helping Kala read over her letters was amusing even interesting as some of the words puzzled Kala. As soon as Jesse was done with helping Kala sort and read over the letters, she headed out of Kala's private office with the letters in hand, heading for the locker room where she found Wing pulling off his pads. "Mr. Flashblade, I need to talk to you. It's urgent."
Wildwing looked over at Jesse as he removed his mask from his face. "What is the problem, Jesse?"
"Uh, we have a problem." Jesse said, as she looked at him.
"What sort of problem?"
"Uh, this sort, Wing." Jesse handed him the letters.
"Fan mail for Kala, why give them to me?" asked Wing, looking at who the letters were addressed to.
"Read them and you will know why I have them here instead of with Kala." Jesse replied.
Twenty minutes later, Wing was standing with a letter crumpled in his left hand and his right hand buried into one of the lockers, Wing turned to look at Jesse, his voice was in a tone that she never heard him speak before. "I'll handle it. Keep the letters from Kala. Don't let her know about them, Jesse."
Jesse nodded as she left the locker room knowing that Wing would probably come out and head for the police station to inform the police about this and Kala will be okay. She headed for Kala's office to see if she needed anything. Just by looking at Kala's face said it all as she sat down next to her and helped her with the word that had stumped her.
Wing took many deep breaths as he looked at the letter in his hand. He knew Tanya and Mallory would blab about this and what Grin would do about it was unknown. He knew he had to find someone who he would be able to help with protecting his future wife; he barely trusted the police with this as they would make it public and ruin any real chance of catching him. The only two ducks he could trust with this information was the only two ducks he could trust with this. He flipped his com open. "Dive, Duke, in the locker room now. I need to talk with you both." And without hearing their replies, closed his com.
Dive was just about to defeat his opponent when his com went off making him lose his game. But he heard his brother's voice on the other end demanding him to be in the locker room. He pushed the button to reply but all he got was static. He turned off the game and walked into the locker room just as Duke entered the room. "Hi Duke," he noticed the dent in the locker and the look of anger in Wing's eyes. "Wing, what's wrong?"
"We have a problem that requires silence to the others." Wing replied, as he went to the doors and closed them.
"Silence, Wing, Dive will blab about everything to Thrash and Mookie, ya know." Duke said.
"I will not!" Dive whined, looking at the old Drake.
"Not with this, Duke." Wing replied. He held the crumpled letter that he had in his hand. "Read this and the others, you will know why we need silence for."
Duke and Dive both read the letters. After the first one was read, Dive looked at Wing with eyes wide with shock. He didn't know that his future sister-in-law was being stalked. "Bro, why not go to Klegghorn? Why involve us when the police should be involved?"
"Because he will take it public and I don't want Kala to find out that she's being stalked. And truthfully, I trust you both more than the police." Wing admitted.
Duke looked at Wing. "But why us, Wing? I'm not a detective, I'm a thief."
"But why me, bro," Dive asked. "I'm not a detective, I'm just a kid."
"Yeah, why the kid, Wing, Dive is not versed in protection," Duke said.
"But Dive does know how to kill, which he may have to do if he needs to." Wing replied. Duke looked at him shocked as he turned to look at Dive. "Yes, Dive killed before. Long time ago, a Saurian Prince was who he slew. The Prince insulted him and Lola Seabird, a friend of ours."
"I can and will kill this . . . stalker if he even gets close to harming Kala." Dive stated.
"But how will we know when he tries to go after Kala? She rarely does any publicity events unless she's asked by Wing. The only time, anyone really sees her is . . . on the ice." Duke said.
"That is why I'm going to be pulling Dive from the ice this week." Wing replied.
"Wing, but I love playing!"
"Protecting my future mate is more important than a game, Dive! You are the only one I can see protecting Kala when she's on the ice." Wing said, as they walked out of the locker room and headed to the bench.
"So where will be he at, Wing?" Duke asked, looking around the stands.
"There." Wing pointed to the rafters. He then, went into details about how Dive should hide himself up there.
Duke looked where Dive would be placed at and then looked at Dive. "Dive, you will be requiring some different clothes . . . darker clothing than what you own. They will give you away, including your armor."
Dive looked at him. "What are you suggesting, Duke?"
"Well, it would be a tight fit but I think one of my burglar suits will fit you and if not, we can get it tailored to fit. My room, we'll start working on seeing if it will fit and then we can plan how to protect Kala." Duke said, as they walked to his room and locked the door.
About half an hour later, Dive and Wing emerged from Duke's room with a bag in Dive's hand. Dive headed to the recreation room to grab the phone book and scanned its business pages for a tailor to adjust something for him. After he called the store, he left the Pond to handle the clothing in question.
Wing looked at Duke before he walked away. "Silence is prudence, Duke."
"Think the kid can do what you say he can do, Wing?" asked Duke, looking at him.
"Yes." And Wing walked down the corridor carrying the letters in hand before he went into his room.
Duke shook his head as he went back into his room to put the other suits and the darker clothing away. 'I hope the kid can do what Wing says and he stops this stalker before he harms Kala.'
Wing decided to go find Kala; first place he checked out was her office to find that she was not there anymore. He headed for the recreation room where he found her reading books that she had in her hand. He noticed the title of one of the books - he wondered why she would be reading children's books. He sat down next to her and looked at the books. "Why read these books, Kala?"
Kala looked at him and then the books. "They help me learn all the words that all of the people of Earth know when they're growing up. It also helps me when it comes time to read to my children when I finally birth my children, Wing."
"We learned from watching TV and Dive learned it faster than we did. He helped us learn everything by putting the Earth words on what is the proper word for that item." Wing said.
"He did that?"
"Yes, maybe you should hang out with him. He'll help speed you up on the language, Kala." Wing replied.
"It would be fun to hang with him again. It had been a while since we did that." Kala said, with a smile. "Maybe you can come too? Get away from being a leader for a change and relax."
Wing looked at Kala. He thought to himself, 'It would be believable if I'm hanging out with them too. I'll have to cut it short though. I could have Duke call me for something, so they can be alone.' He smiled. "Sure, it should be fun. I haven't really had a day off from being a leader."
Kala smiled as she started to stand up and picking up the books that she had on the couch, she watched as Wing headed for the kitchen. She knew it would ease Wing's strain on his mind if he got to drop his leadership mindset for a few hours.
Wing watched Kala through the blinds in the kitchen as she put the books up in the book case as he opened his com and called on Duke. "Duke, in one hour and thirty minutes from now, I want you to buzz me with a question that only I can help you with. I'm going out with Kala and Dive."
"I'll figure something out, Wing. Don't worry." Duke said, as he ended the conversation.
Wing closed his com and walked out of the kitchen, heading to where Kala was standing at. He smiled as he gave her his arm to hold as they headed out of the recreation room and out of the Pond towards Captain Comics knowing that would probably be where Dive was hanging out at. But the moment that Wing stepped from the Pond itself, he went stiff and on high alert as his eyes scanned the area as they walked.
It took them about twenty minutes to get to Captain Comics, to find Dive standing there chatting with Mookie and Thrash. Dive turned to see Wing standing there and then Kala came in behind him. He knew he was now on duty. He smiled towards them. "Hey Wing, Kala, did you two come to ruin my fun here?"
"No, I decided to be a regular person today and hang out with my future wife and my brother." Wing said, he also gave Dive a wink.
"Oh okay, I was about to go have a bite to eat. Hot dogs anyone?" Dive asked, looking at Kala and Wing.
"Hot dogs?" Kala asked, puzzled. "The humans eat dogs?"
Thrash and Mookie chuckled as Dive smiled as he shook his head. "No, Kala. Hot dog is a food product made out of any one of these ingredients beef, chicken, pork or turkey, placed in a long bun and topped with almost anything. I'll show you one at Wiener World when we get there."
"Sounds strange to call it a hot dog," Kala replied, as they started to walk out of Captain Comics.
"I know but they sure do taste good." Dive said, as they walked away from Captain Comics.
They strode towards Wiener World, only stopping a few times to sign autographs and get pictures done with their fans before they reached the hot dog restaurant. Dive held the door open as Kala and Wing entered and then he followed behind after scanning the area. He went to where they would place their order at. "Hey, I would like one extra-long hot dog with chili and extra cheese on it, please. Two hot dogs with everything on it, please. One hot dog with relish, mustard and ketchup, please. And three medium waters, please."
"That will be fourteen dollars, Nosedive." The female worker said, as she smiled at him as she pulled out three medium cups and placed it by Dive's hand, as she took the money from him and put the extra into the tip jar as Dive told her to put the extra from his twenty in the tip jar. "It will be a bit before they're ready."
Dive turned to Wing to see him gathering a few napkins and watched as Kala tried to figure out how to operate the soda machine to get the water. He walked over and took hold of the cups and showed her where the water sprout was located at and how to get the water from it. "It will be some time before you're able to do this alone, Kala."
"What is this . . . thing, Dive?" Kala asked, pointing to the soda machine.
"That's a soda machine, a self serve machine where you push a button and hold the cup under it like so," Dive said, as he held the cup under the water sprout and pushed the button.
Kala's eyes went wide. "It's like magic. How does it work again?"
Dive smiled as he showed her how it operated. The employees watched with amusement as Kala learned about the equipment that they took for granted.
The girl who did their order placed the tray at the pick-up window. "Hey Dive, your food is here."
Dive glanced over his shoulder and smiled. "The food is here cool. Wing, go find a seat for all three of us, I'll be there shortly." He turned to the girl and picked up the tray as he turned to see Wing taking Kala to a window seat and headed there.
Soon, he placed the hot dogs in front of them and dove into his. He glanced up to see Kala looking weird at the hot dog. "What's wrong, Kala?" Dive asked.
"How do you eat them?" she asked.
Dive looked at her and smiled. "Like this." He picked up his hot dog and he started to eat it at the end of the bun. He placed it down and finished swallowing what he bit. "That is how you eat a hot dog,"
Kala looked puzzled by it as she picked her hot dog up and took a bite out of it and started to chew it. She said something as she ate.
"Kala, wait till you are done chewing and swallowing what you have in your mouth before you speak." Dive replied. Kala nodded as she finished chewing. "So what do you think of it?"
"It is very interesting. I never tasted anything so tasty before." She replied, looking at him, before she started to go heavy into eating her two hot dogs that he ordered for her.
Dive smiled at Wing as they dug into their hot dogs, when a beep sound was heard. They looked at their coms to see Duke's face on the view screen. "Yes, Duke?"
Duke didn't really smile. "Wing, I need your help with a project and I don't want to involve Mallory in it because she'll just ruin it."
Dive looked at Kala and whispered. "Looks like he's trying to flirt with her and needs my brother's help with it."
Kala nodded as she understood how it was. "Wing, go and help him. You might be able to give him some hints on how to flirt her to his side. I'll be fine here with Dive."
Wing looked at Kala and smiled. "Are you sure?"
"Sure, it has been a while since Dive and I chatted for any length of time." Kala replied, looking at Dive and him.
Wing looked at his hot dog and then to Duke's face on the com. "I'll be right over. Wing out." He picked up his hot dog as he started to scoot out of the table and kissed Kala before he looked at Dive. "Keep an eye on her, Dive." And he strode out of Weiner World eating his hot dog as he went.
Dive smiled as he looked at Kala. "I guess you probably want to know what the stuff that you see here is meant for, Kala."
"Yes, I am not familiar with them, Dive. They are still a bit strange to me." Kala said, as she finished her two hot dogs.
"Okay, lets' start off with this." Dive pointed to the table and said its name in English and what it does. He continued with the napkins, windows, trash bins, and he went on till they got outside and he started to point out trees and various other things as they walked towards the park where they sat on a bench watching people walk by.
"It is very peaceful here, Dive." Kala said, as she looked at the area.
"Yeah, so what made you be with him?" Dive asked, as he looked at her.
"Who is him, Dive, do you mean Wing?" Kala asked, somewhat puzzled by what he asked.
"No, I don't mean my brother but Drake DuCaine. What made you be with him?" Dive said, sitting on the bench where he could look at her directly.
Kala looked at him before looking away. "I'm not sure why I stayed with him."
"So what was he like?" asked Dive.
Kala looked hard at him. "I do not want to ruin your respect for him by telling you what he was really like."
"You won't, Kala." Dive replied.
Kala looked at him and shook her head. "Dive, yes, I will. The legend about him portrays him as a hero when in real life; he really wasn't one at all."
Dive looked at her. "You mean he wasn't the hero they say he is?"
"Yes, he was not the hero. He was in fact the villain but he believed that he was the hero of the Vendetta." Kala said.
"Okay, tell me everything about the war against the Saurians, Kala." Dive looked at her seriously.
"It actually wasn't solely against the Saurians, Dive but another group of Ducks as well, called The Surfers." Kala said. She proceeded to tell him everything about how the Saurians came to their world after their planet Sauria blew up and they came here in peace, they shared their technology with them as they shared land space with the others. It was only after Drake's father seeing him hang out with a Saurian female turned Scientist and a Surfer Princess turned Scientist did he begin the first war between the races. She told him that after Drake's father was killed mysteriously, Drake continued the war. She didn't know what type of drake he really was, married him and when the night to consummate the marriage he showed her his true self and forced her. He battered her several times during their marriage and most of the times when he was defeated by the Saurians and the Surfers; she would get violated by him. Till the day he finally died, she ended the war but she knew that the war didn't really stop with her, but something else did stop it. She looked at Dive calmly. "Now tell me what do you think about your so-called hero, Dive?"
"I knew that already," Dive said. Kala looked shocked at him. "I have to act like I worship Drake DuCaine when I knew what a butcher he really is, Lady DuCaine, to keep what I knew secret."
"How did you find out?" Kala asked.
"Lola allowed me to read some of her books on Drake DuCaine and I learned the truth about him." Dive said.
Kala looked at him in surprise. "How long have you known?"
"Since a bit before you came back from the Ancients."
"So you knew before I returned?"
"Yes."
"So why did you want to know about him if you already knew?"
"Confirmation, I wanted to know just how accurate the books were. Then again I think the only naive one left among us is my older brother, sounds silly I guess but we need him to use the mask to end this conflict but if he knew the truth it might break his fighting spirit. I'm not sure if you've even noticed, but Tanya has slipped up enough times for me to know she knows, Grin has an off-world accent, he's not native to Puckworld, Lola told me about Duke and the trade negotiations with him in the mountain kingdom, the lord of the mountains is also a king of thieves. As for Mallory, watch her closely and you will see the aspects of a living weapon. I don't think she's Dove but I have to wonder what her ties are to them."
"I try not to be too close to Mallory, she doesn't seem to take to well to me. Duke, I think he hates me just because of who I am, Tanya is aware of who I am before I even said anything about that I am Lady DuCaine. Grin is definitely off-world, he has a tongue that belongs to a different race of Ducks, I'm not sure what kind but it is not any we know." Kala said.
"Tri-Markey region or maybe Rim, there are avian races among both. Every thing considered Kala we are probably the worst group to have fight Dragaunus because push come to shove we probably have the least hurdles with him, it's all a battle of pride which means it won't be over till one side is dead."
"Meaning the Tri-Markey is more dangerous than Dragaunus is if they were our enemies?"
"In a way, Kala," Dive said. "So want to head back to the Pond or talk more here about what I know about our home world?"
"Here, I want to know what you know about our home world?"
They spent the next two hours sitting on the bench chatting about their home world. Kala learned that Dive was not the stupid kid that Canard had spoken about in his letters to her.
"Let's head back before Wildwing worries, he's still a chronic mother hen." Dive said as he got up from the bench.
"I guess he got that way after the invasion hit, he wasn't like that when I was around him, unless he was like this when we were kids and he never got over it,"
"I think it's always been, but I could be wrong."
Kala looked at him as they headed back to the Pond. "I remember Canard and him trying their best to keep the bullies away but till that day, they thought I was nothing but a rich girl gone poor,"
"I wasn't there, what did you do?" Dive asked.
"I burned the main bully's face from what mom told me in one of the letters that he lost all of his feathers on his face and have to wear a face mask or stay indoors for the rest of his life. I seriously doubt that he did remain indoors but I doubt that he would try to bully a girl anymore. I taught him good." Kala smiled.
"Maybe, but it can also come back to haunt you,"
"True, but I told him to back off, leave me be or I'll burn him." Kala said. "And the thing was . . . I didn't know if I could do the spell that they were asking the boys. It was just pure luck that it worked at all."
"No such thing as pure luck, we all exist for a reason, it's more of a matter who's pawns we are or a willing to be in the greater scheme of things."
"I guess so. So let me ask you something?" asked Kala.
"Sure,"
"Have you ever seen him, he whose name cannot be spoken, but are revered by the Necromancers?"
"You mean . . . ." Dive whispered the name to Kala, who nodded. "I have not met him. Have you?"
"I have met his messengers and he is just as misunderstood as the Saurians were during the time of the Vendetta." Kala replied.
Dive nodded silently. He never knew she had encountered him, the one that they called Morningstar. But there was stuff that Kala didn't know about and he told Wing not to tell anyone about it. He knew he needed to get into contact with them soon as they headed across the street towards the Pond.
Wing was waiting for them when they got in, "Dive it's almost practice time, there's the game in a couple night and we have to be at our best."
"Yeah, I know. But I need to do some shopping for something." Dive said.
"Later on today, bro. We need to practice." Wing replied.
"Okay. But only three hours, bro." Dive said, as he headed for the locker room.
"Well, okay." Wing walked next to Kala as they headed into the locker room. Dive was already at his locker pulling out his jersey. Kala grabbed hers and headed for the other room to change. "So what do you need to buy?"
Dive looked to his big brother, "A set of throwing daggers, puck blaster doesn't cut it for this." Dive whispered to Wing.
"That is going to be hard to find here. How are you going to find them?" Wing asked.
"Don't worry about it, I'll find a way to get them." Dive said.
"Just be careful Dive."
"Don't worry, this is the stuff I'm good at Wing."
"I know, just be careful, okay and make sure that she doesn't know?"
"She won't know." Dive replied, as he finished pulling on his jersey and started to strap on his pads. "Hey Kala,"
Wing turned to look at Kala all ready to play hockey. He couldn't help but to smile. "Are you going to try to get some pucks past me this time around?"
"I'm going to try, Wing." Kala said, as they headed to the ice to join the others on the ice.
The practice was not what the others had expected, Wing was awful. It was like he had something on his mind bothering him to the point of big time distractions. Everyone got a puck past him. Dive looked at his brother and shook his head, the stalker threat on Kala got him distracted big time. "Wing, your game is way off, I'm going up onto the jumbo tron so Wing, try to relax, I don't think any of us wants to end practice till you can at least stop the pucks."
Wing shook his head. "Go on, Dive. Keep them coming, guys. I need the practice it seems."
Wing kept attempting to block when he spotted Dive up on the jumbo tron, he hated to admit it but having Dive keep an eye on things from above actually settled his nerves enough that he could stop the pucks from getting through.
Kala looked at him after the two hours of practice made her smile as whatever was bothering him went away and he started to be the team captain that they knew he was. As they were getting off the ice, she looked at him. "Wing, what was bothering you so much that you played so horribly?"
"I was worried about the support cables on the jumbo tron, it gets jostled a lot when we use the Aerowing, that's why Dive went up to there was to double check them and to ease my nerves."
Kala looked at him carefully. He knew she was watching him as in if he was telling her the truth or lying, he pinched his hand to keep from revealing. She shook her head as she walked past him. "Next time, Wing, don't lie to me about that. Tanya always checks the jumbo tron after we come back."
"Not this time, Kala. I remembered while I was on the ice and told Wing." Tanya said, as she walked past them.
Kala frowned, Wing was keeping something from her but so far everything was adding up, maybe it was something to do with Phil, Wing didn't always tell her about those but then again once dealt with it was never of much concern and she didn't read his mind as he knew he liked his privacy there. Wing sighed as Kala went into the girls' locker room, Duke raised a brow. "That was a close one Wing."
"I know, I don't know how long I can keep it silent." Wing whispered.
"Keep what silent?" Mallory asked, as she stood at the door. Wing and Duke turned to look to see Mallory standing there. "You can tell me the truth about this."
Wing looked at Duke. "The doors, Duke." Duke went to the doors and watched for Kala. Wing looked over at Mallory and told her everything that was happening of the past few hours.
Mallory cringed. "Keep her in the dark; she's an Ancient so she wouldn't know how to deal with it. I have to agree though with Dive being off the ice and up there till it's resolved since we can't risk Duke off the ice during a game, despite being a thief he's still a great defense."
"He's the best choice since he can kill if the need arises that it is needed." Wing replied.
"Canard never really told us what he did?" Mallory asked.
"And it is something that Dive will have to tell you as that is his to talk about." Wing replied.
Dive smirked. "I'm sure Mallory has done worse . . . off the military record than I've done Wing."
Mallory jumped out of her spot as she looked at Dive. "I didn't even hear you come into the room, Dive."
"What can I say, I'm sneaky when I need to be," Dive smiled towards her.
"So what did you mean by that comment Dive?"
"Oh come on girly girl, do I really have to spell it out for you? Or can't you tell when others have blood on their feathers?"
Mallory looked at him a bit shocked. "What do you think I have blood on my feathers?"
"Oh yes, you have that look about yourself, Mallory. You slew many in your time," Dive smiled, as he looked at her with his hand motioned to the door as Duke was shaking his head alerting them to the approach of Kala. "Later Mal, I need to do some shopping."
Mallory wondered why he said that when Duke spoke up. "Well, if Wing doesn't get distracted, we'll do great."
"Wing should be fine. I know he's worried about Phil talking her into stunts especially with that last one he came up with, Kala needs to get use to humans before being in the spotlight like that."
"I doubt Phil will try to do any of his stunts, especially after the photo shoot that was done right after the interview and then the day after that, making her go in front of them. She was close to bolting from there or worse letting her secret be known." Duke replied.
Dive shook his head. "But when she got here with him and hidden in our elevator, she pinned him against the wall and chewed him out. I know because he told me what she did and I told him don't bother her or she'll do something very bad to him."
Kala paused as she listened into the conversation, her hunch had been right, Wing's distraction was mainly Phil, and the jumbo tron was just an extra to it all. She smiled, if it was something important they would have told her. She stepped into the room, the talk stopped but the smile that came from Wing and Dive was enough to bypass her worries. Wing looked at her as she walked over to him. "So you were only worried about Phil and his stunts that he tried to pull on me?"
"Yeah, but I told him to back off on you or I'll fire him," Wing replied.
"Wing, you wouldn't dream about firing him," Duke said.
"Phil doesn't know that."
"But the worry about him firing him is enough to keep him pushed back a bit," Dive said, as he started to head for the doors. "I'll be home late, bro."
"Okay, take care of yourself, Dive." Wing replied.
"I will," Dive walked out of the locker room.
TBC . . .