Nosedive peeked around the corner of the hall. The path to his room was clear. Good. His vest was balled up and tucked under his arm. He hurried to his room, trying not to jostle it too much. He was just about to put in the passcode when the doors to Mallory's room opened. She and Duke came out, arguing about something. Nosedive froze.

"Come on, I totally won," Mallory was saying.

"I still think I'm better. Just a little bit," Duke said. "Hey, kid."

Nosedive put on his best innocent smile, which wasn't very convincing. "Hey, guys."

"You can have your karaoke machine back now," said Mallory.

"Oh, okay," Nosedive replied casually. "Uh, so which one of you is the better singer?"

"I am," they said together. Then they glared at each other.

"Uh, okay. Well, you guys can keep the karaoke machine as long as you want. I don't need it right now." Nosedive quickly entered the passcode and the doors opened.

"What's in your vest?" Duke asked suddenly.

"Nothing," Nosedive answered, probably too quickly. "I just spilled soda on it. And I need to wash it now, so if you'll excuse me..." He went into his room, the doors closed, and he sighed in relief.

"Well, that's not suspicious at all," Duke said sarcastically.

"Yeah..." Mallory paused. "So, karaoke rematch?"

"Yep."

Hours later, at which point no one had seen hair nor feather of Nosedive, Duke was napping on the couch in the rec room. He was woken from his peaceful slumber by something tapping his eyepatch. He opened his good eye, saw a white ball of fluff with a beak standing on his chest, then tumbled off the couch in surprise. He looked up in time to see a very fluffy chicken running toward the doors, clucking wildly. Now thoroughly confused, Duke chased after it, but it ended up disappearing in the corridors.

It was Wildwing who found it. Or rather, the chicken scurried past Wildwing, and Wildwing just stared at it. Then Duke suddenly came running around the corner.

"Do you see the chicken?" Wildwing asked him.

"Is that what that is?" Duke said, panting. The chicken continued on its way, observing the strange, metallic environment.

"How did it get in here?" said Wildwing.

"I have an idea about that," Duke replied. "But let's catch it first."

They followed the chicken, who apparently had no intention of being captured. It led them through the corridors, flapping and squawking, and every time they came close it managed to dodge them. This continued on for some time until they eventually passed Mallory, who watched them in bewilderment.

"What the– Chicken?" she said, running after them. "Why is there a chicken in here?"

"Take a wild guess," Duke responded.

"Nosedive," Mallory muttered.

The three ducks continued their pursuit. After being chased for a solid five minutes, the chicken ended up running into Tanya's lab. It stopped in front of a very confused Tanya and clucked at her. The other ducks stopped in the doorway.

"Uh, is that a chicken?" said Tanya.

"Can you grab it?" said Wildwing.

Tanya squatted down. The chicken backed up but didn't run, and Tanya gently picked it up. "What is going on here?" she asked them, cradling the little bird in her arms.

"I think we should ask Nosedive," said Duke.

The four ducks, with the chicken in tow, found Nosedive in the mess hall. He was sitting at the table with Grin, munching on a sandwich.

"He's Bernie the Bear," Nosedive was saying. "It's in his name!"

"Bears do not wear suits," Grin replied.

Nosedive was about to respond, but an indignant 'Ahem' from Wildwing turned his attention to his glaring teammates and the chicken Tanya was holding. Nosedive dropped his sandwich and said nothing.

"What's with the chicken?" Grin asked simply.

"Dive?" said Wildwing.

Nosedive got up. "Okay, this is Ollie..." he said slowly, taking the chicken into his arms.

"Nosedive, I told you we can't keep animals in here," Wildwing said. He wasn't angry. In truth, he had expected Nosedive to sneak a pet in sooner or later, but he hadn't expected it to be a chicken.

"I know," said Nosedive, stroking Ollie's fluffy head. "But the guy at the pet store couldn't get anyone to take him and he was just gonna get rid of him, so... I couldn't help it." He was quiet for a moment and looked at the floor. "I was just gonna take care of him until I found him a good home."

Ollie chirred and nuzzled Nosedive's feathers. Wildwing sighed. Curse his brother's tender heart and that adorable chicken.

"Okay," he said. Nosedive looked up. "You can keep him until you find him a home."

Nosedive grinned and held Ollie up to his face. "You hear that, buddy? Uncle Wildwing is letting you stay. Yes, he is."

"But you really have to try to find him a home," said Wildwing. "Soon."

"I know," said Nosedive.

"And he has to stay in your room."

"Well, yeah."

"'Cause we just had a heck of a time catchin' him," said Duke.

"What? How did he get out?"

"I don't know," said Wildwing. "It doesn't matter. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."

"I will. Don't worry." Ollie clucked in contentment as Nosedive scratched his back. "Oh, you like that? Who's my little buddy-boy? You are. Yeah."

"Hey, uh, he is a chicken, right?" Duke asked, noting Ollie's gray, five-toed feet.

"Yeah," said Nosedive. "He's called a silkie."

"'Course he is."

"Well, I'm gonna go put him back." Nosedive started for the doors, turned back to pick up his sandwich, then ate it as he left. "What were you doing running around the Pond, you crazy fluff ball?" he said to Ollie. "Did you get lonely? Want some sandwich?"

Once he was out of hearing range, Mallory voiced what everyone was thinking. "So we're just letting him have a chicken."

"Temporarily," said Wildwing.

"Do you remember what happened last time Nosedive had a 'pet'?"

"Well, unless Ollie is a mutant chicken from outer space, I think we'll be fine."

The rest of the day passed without incident. But early the next morning, Nosedive was startled awake by a peculiar and obscenely loud crowing sound. With his heart pounding, he peered down at Ollie. He had made him a temporary living space under his bed, consisting mostly of a box turned on its side and lined with towels. Ollie had been sleeping in it when Nosedive went to bed, but now he was standing on it with his neck stretched out and his hackles raised.

"What are you doing, buddy?" Nosedive said. Ollie looked up at him and clucked softly. Nosedive watched him for a minute, but nothing happened. Then, just when he was beginning to think he had imagined it, Ollie gave a garbled (but still extremely loud) crow, and Nosedive mentally slapped himself. Roosters crow, he thought. Duh! How did I forget about that? Wait, but aren't they only supposed to crow at dawn?

He looked at the clock. It was six in the morning. So the sun would just be coming up, but Ollie didn't know that, right? He couldn't know that. They were underground and only the dim emergency lights were on. All the same, Nosedive climbed down from his bed, put Ollie back in his box and started petting him. The last thing he needed was his 'buddy-boy' waking up his already peeved teammates.

"Go to sleep, Ollie," Nosedive said quietly. Once Ollie laid down, Nosedive got back into bed and waited. All was quiet. Satisfied, he closed his eyes...

Then there was another crow.

Nosedive sat up with a shriek. He half-climbed, half-fell back onto the floor (a drawback of having an elevated bed with no ladder) and stared down the stubborn rooster. He was still in his box, but standing up proud and tall.

"Ollie, shh!" Nosedive said. Then he tried and failed to stifle the crow that erupted from the little beak. "Shh! Okay, that's it." So he picked up the ball of fluff, climbed back into bed, and made himself comfortable with Ollie in the crook of his arm. Ollie immediately nestled down and started chirring. Nosedive stroked him absently and yawned. "There. Finally," he murmured. "Good night, Ollie."

It wasn't long, however, before Ollie gingerly made his way to Nosedive's head and planted himself right on his face. Then he tucked his head behind his wing and went to sleep. Nosedive sighed. "Whatever keeps you quiet, you crazy bird."

And that was how Nosedive slept. Yes, there was a chicken on his face, but it was a quiet chicken.