Early Bird Gets the Worm
"So, taking the day off on Friday, huh?" Duke winked at Wildwing as he checked over the sheet clipped to the last numerical locker in the decent sized locker room. Wildwing glanced up to the elder drake as he shoved some gear into his locker from his position sitting on the bench.
"Yeah, I figured we could all use the break. Not to mention we've got that press conference on Saturday, we should be looking our best." He slammed his locker shut and swung a steel gray gym bag over his shoulder, which contained some documentation Phil was having him look over before signing. Which, knowing their manager, it undoubtedly had something to do with making money.
Duke chuckled before turning around and placing his stick into his locker, closing it, and turning to him. "Well, don't work too hard, kid. Ya could use the break." The grey mallard flashed him a quick smiled before turning and heading out of the room and down the elevator to the base.
Wildwing stood up and sighed, knowing that wasn't about to happen. He'd be buried in work until he died or they left Earth, whether it was from taking care of the Pond or his team, he had to do it. Glancing around the locker room one last time, he sighed again and walked out of the locker room the opposite way, heading into the arena. There was no way he was going to get his work done under the Pond. Too many distractions named Nosedive and other "anonymous" people trying to stuff him with his own feathers hanging out around. Ah well. At least Phil had his office redone after the copier incident. Now he could work on his paperwork without anyone bothering him. He hoped.
The next morning...
It was almost unheard of to see Wildwing Flashblade, team captain, not to mention the best goalie in the NHL, sleeping past six am. Yet here he was, head resting on a white pillow and his body lay unconsciously, mangled in the sheets from the looks of it, dressed in boxers and a t-shirt. The peaceful smile on his face was something also never seen, as he was usually downing aspirin from malcontent teammates, and the taking late nights just to sort out simple arguments. But as long as he was asleep, nothing seemed to haunt him. He was a trouble-free drake, a duck of no worries.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-
SMACK!
Was. Wildwing groaned and rubbed his eyes, but nothing cleared. He turned over from lying on his stomach to eye the alarm clock before rolling his eyes and then rolling over. He had stayed up way to late working, and he was definitely paying the consequences. The only the he could take solace in was the fact that the team had the day off, and he had no appointments, no schedule, and best of all, he was going to be able to finally catch up on the rest he'd been lacking the past few weeks. He smiled barely consciously before burying his head in the down feather pillow in front of him and falling back into the realm of the overworked and overtired.
It wasn't long, however, until something unexpected--and not to mention irritating--happened.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-
WHACK!
He hit the clock quicker and harder this time, though it was only a few short minutes later until it started again. He hit it, and it stopped, then it started again in a few minutes, he hit it, it stopped, and the cycle went on for nearly twenty minutes until he finally got peeved--which wasn't easy, as many people knew--picked it up, and in one swift motion it--as Grin would put it--became one with the wall.
But a few minutes later, ever the vigilant clock...
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Wildwing raised his gaze, narrowing his eyes at the digital nemesis. Now he regretted having Tanya make him a clock that could live through anything. Forget about earthquakes and all form of natural disasters, this was more annoying than going shoe shopping with Mallory or trying to talk to Grin while he was meditating. At least when a natural disaster struck he wouldn't have to worry about changing the darn things batteries. Maybe if he was lucky, and concentrated real hard, an earthquake would hit and swallow the thing whole, never to be seen again.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Forget earthquake, where was the nearest volcano! He'd hop in the Aerowing and fly the thing to Hawaii if he had too!
Wildwing pushed himself out of bed before grabbing a hockey stick leaning against the bed post, walking over to, and trying to smash the living daylights out of, the clock. But to no avail, the titanium time-giver wouldn't give way. It stood--or whatever clocks do--like a stone in a cemetery, not cracking or smashing. At that moment, Wildwing finally realized what made Mallory have such a short temper. His was starting to like the idea of a dozen explosive pucks, the park, and that clock. It'd be a date to die for, and however cliché that was, he couldn't give a care.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Wildwing glared at the sturdy little instrument before scooping it up into his free hand and heading out of his room, the sound of exploding pucks lingering in his brain. "You are going to pay for messing up my one day off!" He shouted at the mechanical battery-operated device as he left his room and headed towards the gym.
It didn't take long for him to make it to the gym, and as he entered his eyes targeted the small door across the room. He eyed the clock. Two minutes and counting until it went off again, and he lost his mind. It was a fairly large gym, but still it wouldn't take long to cross it. It was destroying it that would take time. He crossed the hardwood floor as fast as possibly, haste being top priority. It wasn't long before he had his fingers curled around the brass doorknob of the closet, and he was swinging it open.
He stepped inside and flicked on the light, only to groan at his faulty memory. What had been the storage closet for all the excess and prototype weapons that didn't fit in the ready room had stayed here. Until last week when Tanya built a storage cabinet by Drake One, eliminating the need for them to store weapons here. He sighed and glanced around, though he knew it was no use looking for a weapon among the various balls, sticks and other sports equipment shelved on the racks and leaning against the walls.
Wildwing quickly turned the light back off and stepped out of the not-quite-a-room before shutting the door and heading out of the gym as quickly as he came in. He now had two choices. Either a, head to Tanya's lab and ask for help on destroying the mechanical menace, or b, head to the ready room and look for something to annihilate it with. He sighed and turned left at the fork in the hallway, figuring Tanya would have some idea on getting rid of the thing. After all, she had made it, right?
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-
Tanya jumped, startled by the sudden noise, then spun around to see an aggravated Wildwing holding a rather noisy alarm clock. A noisy clock she'd made him a couple months ago for the worry-wart leader of their's. "Oh, hey Wildwing!" she smiled, her voice it's usual gravelly, deep tone. She was leaning against a table with a few different prototype inventions set up on top of it, a few of them were marked with index cards either labeled "Finished" or "Needs more work" printed on them in Tanya's neat handwriting.
"Kill this please." He said, extending his arms towards her with the still-beeping clock in them. The white-feathered leader looked like he was about to pull his mohawk off in frustration as it beeped in at them without relent.
"But why?" she asked, puzzled by his strange behavior. "Didn't you want an indestructible alarm clock?"
"That," he started, "was before I realized I can't destroy an indestructible alarm clock."
Tanya couldn't argue with that logic, especially with someone who hadn't been awake for long, so she shrugged and grabbed the clock, turning it upside down and pressing in a three digit code, turning it off. "Alright. I'll put it in storage, then." She said, pulling open a drawer underneath the table and dropping it in.
Wildwing sighed with relief, turning on his heels and heading out.
"Wildwing, one more thing-"
"Later, Tanya. I'm going to get some sleep." he sighed, walking out of there as fast as he could.
"But-"
He was already gone, though, and Tanya just shrugged, turning back to her work. He'll be back, she thought to herself, a knowing smile on her face. He'll be back.
Five minutes later, a more exhausted Wildwing staggered back into his room, barely making it to his bed before passing out on it. "Finally." he breathed into his pillow. "Sleep. Undisturbed sleep." He yawned and turned over, staring at the back wall. Something caught his eye, however, in the reflection of the sparkly clean wall. A back-up clock sat atop a shelf incase something happened to his first one.
Curse his over planning.