The Ducks, a Girl, and Paintball… Oui!
***
This is my answer to Dracana Luna's challenge. I hope you find it interesting Dracana. If you're all wondering about my other fic that I'm trying to finish… don't worry. I am working on it. I just needed a break and this was just a moment of inspiration. That and… There are just times when I *can't* pass up a challenge. ^-^
Please enjoy and let me know what you think. Tootles.
***
Mighty Ducks belong to… the penguins. No, actually they belong to Disney, but they *could* belong to the penguins… but they don't. Thank goodness…
***
Nosedive sighed as he plopped down on the couch in the ready room and rested his head on the back of it. Another boring day…
"In other news, Professor Thomas McGee of Anaheim Scientific Research Facilities has been given permission to do research using the cells of animals. Though many in the Animals Rights Activists groups are clearly against this, McGee and his colleagues feel that this work will be beneficial to all people if perfected. According to many researchers, if their theory is correct, they may find a way to re-grow lost limbs." Nosedive looked up and blinked in surprise, only to realize that it was Tanya who'd turned on the television and was at that moment sitting on the opposite couch watching the broadcast intently, Wildwing leaning over her from the back of her couch.
"Wow. That's something I'd like to see." Wildwing muttered.
"Yeah right. Sounds Sci-fi to me." Nosedive muttered, causing the two to look at him. "I can just see it now. Humans going around with like five or six legs or something. Maybe an extra head…" at that thought his eyes widened and lit up. "Hey! Now that's something *I'd* like to see!" he grinned. Wildwing chuckled and shook his head.
"I bet you would." He said, pushing himself up and walking over to the stairs to Drake One. "I even bet you'd offer yourself up for testing so that you could get an extra head." He called over his shoulder.
"Hey, maybe then you'd actually get a brain this time around!" Tanya teased, causing Nosedive to roll his eyes.
"Everyone's a critic." He muttered, stretching himself out completely on the couch. "You people just don't realize real talent when you see it." He told her with a yawn.
"Tired baby bro?" Wildwing called from where he stood at Drake One, Tanya standing to go and join him.
"It's been a boring day!" Nosedive whined, grabbing a pillow and throwing it into the air. "Mallory's not here, so I can't prank her, Grin's off meditating, and you know how he gets when he's doing *that*… and Duke's, well, you know." He shrugged. "I've nothing to do."
"How about clean your room?" Wildwing asked, as Tanya began typing something on the keyboard.
"Done that." Wildwing blinked in surprise. "Twice."
"You have?"
"Yeah, but I messed it up again because I couldn't figure out who's room it was after I walked out to get a snack." Nosedive answered casually, gaining a snort of laughter from both Tanya and Wildwing. "What are you two doing up there anyway?" Nosedive asked, missing the laughter completely and flipping onto his stomach to look at them.
"Dragaunus has been hitting the research facilities for the past week and a half. We're wondering if it has anything to do with that report we just saw on TV." Wildwing told him. Nosedive made a face.
"Why would he want… whatever the heck it is those guys are playing with?" he asked.
"Think about it." Tanya told him. Nosedive rolled his eyes.
"I would, but because this day has been so dull, my brain has temporarily shut down and is now lying dormant until there's actually something to do." He told her.
"There's lots of things Dragaunus could do with their research." Tanya told him, stopping what she was doing and turning to look at him. "If he really can make a new limb with just a simple little cell of a living creature, then you can probably make a copy of that creature as well. A clone as they say." She told him.
"Oh." Was the only reply she got from him before he turned and sat up, stretching. "Sounds like just another headache to me." He told them, yawning once again.
"Do you ever take anything seriously?" the blonde technician asked unhappily, her hands on her hips.
"I take hockey seriously." Nosedive told her, tossing her a grin. Tanya rolled her eyes and Wildwing shook his head.
"Let's just see if we can find out anymore about this new project, and Dragaunus." He said calmly.
"Well, if we wanted to do that, why don't you just go by and see him?" Nosedive asked. The doors to the Ready room opened with a swish as he said this, Duke coming in and gaining a confused look on his face.
"Go by and ask whom about what?" he asked, looking around.
"Some scientist doing freaky works of horror." Nosedive said in a wavering voice as if he were talking about scary ghosts. Duke grinned.
"Ooh. Sounds like fun. Can I be a part of it?"
"Sure! Maybe they can grow you a new eye!" the teen exclaimed. Duke gave him an odd look.
"Grow me a new eye? What are you talkin' about kid?" he asked.
"There's a group of researchers that think they can use cells of animals and grow new limbs. This is just on animals for right now, but you know how humans are." Tanya said coolly. "If it doesn't kill the lab rats it's good enough for them." Duke shrugged.
"New limbs, new eyes. That's just what everyone needs. An extra arm to pop out in your chest, or even a new eye in the middle of their forehead." He said. His eye widened and he grinned. "Ooh! Can I get one of those in the back of my head? No one could sneak up on me then!" he exclaimed. Wildwing looked at him for a moment and then at Nosedive, pointing at the two of them.
"You two have been hanging out together, haven't you?" he asked. Duke snickered and shook his head.
"He and I share a love for sci-fi and horror movies." He said, walking away with a shrug. Nosedive grinned, then a look of concentration crossed over his face.
"You know, if their idea worked it would be really cool." He said suddenly. "I know a guy that lost a leg in a biking accident." He told them, gaining attention. "It's a shame too because he has all these trophies all over his house. He used to be really big on sports and ran track, played baseball and basketball… stuff like that. I think he told me that football was a favorite, but he can't really play it anymore. I bet he'd be one of the first to try that limb re-growth thing if it really works."
"Huh. How'd you meet this guy Dive?" Wildwing asked him as Tanya got back to typing.
"He's Thrash's dad." Nosedive replied. He looked as if he were going to say something else when Drake One suddenly went off. Tanya stopped what she was doing and began typing to see what the disturbance was.
"It's Dragaunus! He's attacking the Anaheim Research Facility!" she exclaimed.
"Man… does he ever take a day off?" Nosedive exclaimed unhappily as he leapt up and followed his teammates out to the Migrator, Grin meeting them there.
"Someone contact Mallory, tell her the situation and tell her to get over there as fast as she can." Wildwing ordered.
"Already on it Wildwing." Duke said, looking at his comm. Mallory was glaring at him and he grinned. "Ya hear that sweet heart?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll meet you guys there." She muttered unhappily. "Just great. My one day to go shopping and that stupid lizard has to ruin it." She growled before turning off her comm. Duke snickered and looked at Nosedive.
"I do believe that she is bitter." He grinned. Nosedive snickered.
"I pity Draggy. Never get in between Mallory and her quality shopping time."
"I hear ya kid."
They arrived at the research facility at the same time as Mallory. They quickly hurried out of the Migrator and into the gray building, only to find the saurians blasting things left and right, the human scientists hiding beneath the lab tables to keep from getting hit. The ducks immediately fired at the three saurians present, Wraith, Siege, and Chameleon, only to dodge as shots were returned.
"Get that formula of theirs and lets get outta' here!" Siege yelled as Wraith called in the hunter drones.
"NO! It hasn't been tested yet!" One of the scientists cried, standing up.
"GET DOWN!" Wildwing yelled to the human. The man didn't listen, hurrying over to a computer terminal. "SOMEBODY STOP HIM!" Wildwing cried as he began taking out drones. Duke leapt up and slashed a drone in half, hurrying to the scientist with a curse. He grabbed the man by the back of his white lab coat and pulled him back and around.
"Listen, if you don't…" he stopped as something hit him in the back and he fell into the man, his vision growing hazy. He heard someone cry out for him and saw the human staring at him in shock as he fell backwards onto the terminal. A shot went over their heads and hit the computer screen before them, sending glass flying. He thrust his hands in front of him to grab the counter and keep himself from falling but he missed and hit some petri dishes filled with… something. He then felt searing pain in his left arm and the darkness overtook him. Neither he nor the scientist noticed his blood dripping into the liquid that was now in the metal tray that held the petri dishes.
O.O
His vision was blurry as he came to, bright white being the only thing he saw. He blinked a few times before his vision became normal again, Tanya leaning over and smiling at him.
"Hey Duke. How're you feeling?" she asked. He groaned and rubbed his head.
"Like I've been run over. What happened?" he asked.
"You were shot in the back by a hunter drone." She told him. "And you also got cut up a little from the glass that flew everywhere when they destroyed the computer. Those scientists have to start from scratch now." She told him.
"So Dragaunus didn't get anything?" he asked wearily. She shook her head.
"Not a thing." She grinned.
"Bet he's not too happy about that."
"Neither are those human scientists. They've been working on that project for weeks." She suddenly stood and walked away. "I'm going to go get Wildwing and tell him you're awake." She called over her shoulder. Duke nodded, then sat up a little.
"Hey, if I start sprouting any new appendages, we're gonna have to go have a nice little talk with those guys!" he called. "I fell in some liquid junk of theirs." He told her. She snickered as she stood in the doorway.
"Yeah, but it only got on your hands and wrists. Didn't get anywhere near your cuts so it didn't get into the blood stream. We made sure." She told him. She started off again, only to be stopped by him calling out to her once more.
"Hey… how long have I been out?"
"Just the night. You only had a laser burn and some cuts. Nothing too bad." She told him. Then she left Duke to lie back down and sigh as he fell back asleep.
^-^
Calista Avery sighed as she threw her shoulder length brown hair over her right shoulder, her right hand wrapped tightly in gauze as she helped clean up the lab after the attack. At age sixteen, she was part of the clean up crew that worked to clear out any project whose funding had either been dropped or the research had been moved to a new location. For this project, all research had been moved all the way to Virginia. The scientists had been frightened terribly by the attack and wanted to get as far away from this facility as they could without going out of country. Virginia was the best option available for them.
"Hey Cal! Get that tray over there will ya?" a large man in a dirty blue uniform called, his mouth full from the doughnut he was eating as he sat in a corner. Calista frowned at him, her green eyes dark from anger.
"Do you think maybe you could help me?" she snapped at him. He shrugged.
"I'm taking my break." He swallowed. "And I can't eat while messin' with chemistry junk." He told her. "Sides, you told me you wanted a little extra money so…" he didn't continue and she sighed again, chucking a bag of broken glass and ruined papers into the large garbage bin that was sitting just outside one of the windows.
"Well, what do you want me to do with the tray?" she asked, stalking over to the counter holding the destroyed computer and the tray with a reddish brown liquid and petri dishes floating around in it.
"There's a bio hazard drain over there. Dump all that stuff in it and leave it for those little science nerds. They'll figure out what do with it." He told her carelessly. She rolled her eyes and picked up the tray, carrying it across the room to the drain he'd told her about. She'd just gotten to the sink when she tripped on something on the floor, spilling liquid all over her right hand and dropping the tray as searing pain came from the wound. With a curse she backed away, holding her hand in the other and bending over with her eyes squeezed shut. The large janitor in the corner stood and looked at her with a frown.
"Hey kid, didja hurt yourself?" he asked.
"No." she spat at him.
"Then get back to work!" he told her, picking up a magazine and opening it to read. Calista sighed again and looked heavenward for strength to deal with the crude man. Then she went back to work, shaking her hand in hopes to relieve some of the burning pain. A few minutes later it had disappeared completely and she completely forgot about the incident as she went about her work.
O.O
Calista counted the bills in her hands as she sat in a back alley near the hockey rink, the only place that nobody really hung around much since those alien ducks had moved in.
"Two hundred dollars." She muttered. "This should last me a while. Maybe now I can get out of this stupid town." In the distance a cat screeched and the sound of something falling reached her ears. She looked up and stuffed the money into her jean pocket, pulling her denim jacket tighter around her small frame. It was time to leave. Slowly she began walking away, looking around carefully when a sudden pain ripping through her made her stop and wrap her arms around herself. She gasped from it and tried to walk away again, only to cry out as it came again and caused her body to convulse. She fell to the ground, writhing and let out another wail of pain, tears forming in her eyes as she suddenly began to itch all over, her face and mouth becoming painful. The last thing she was aware of were footsteps running on the pavement over to her and someone telling someone else to come help them. Then the darkness overcame her.
o.O
Mallory made a face and covered her beak with her hand as she looked at the disfigured… what ever it was in Duke's arms. After leaving for a walk, he'd immediately made a call for help. Wildwing and Nosedive had been the first to respond and had then ordered the others to stay behind and help Tanya ready a medicom bed in the infirmary. Now the dark feathered mallard was rushing whatever it was he'd found in the parking lot inside with Wildwing and Nosedive following, the younger of the three looking mighty pale beneath his feathers.
"Oh stars…" Mallory muttered as they lay the… thing… on the medicom bed. "Wha… what is… is *that*?!" she exclaimed.
"It was a human a few minutes ago." Duke muttered. "At least she was when I first saw her anyway."
"Tanya, what's happening to her?" Wildwing asked, turning to the blonde tech as she looked the girl over.
"I… I don't know! I'll have to get a blood sample." She told him quickly, turning away and hurrying over to a table near them. Nosedive made a face and turned away, looking completely devoid of color save for what his feathers gave him.
"I'm gonna' leave the room." He said weakly. Wildwing frowned and walked over to him, putting an arm around him.
"Come on baby bro. Let's go wait for Tanya's analyses in the Ready Room." He said. Nosedive could only nod in reply. Mallory snorted as Grin followed them out, having been standing by the door in shocked silence.
"I thought he would have been interested in something like this." She muttered.
"You weren't there when she went from having a skin and a mouth to a beak and feathers." Duke told her darkly. Mallory shook her head and looked at the girl on the medicom bed carefully. It was true. Instead of looking human, she now looked more like one of them which dark feathers and a beak. However, the feathers were sparsely placed on her arms and face, skin still showing while several more feathers grew in steadily. She shuddered as she watched the change occur and wandered how it could have happened and if it hurt as Tanya walked back over with a needle. She took the blood sample and had Duke hold a piece of gauze over the wound as she turned and went straight to her computer. Mallory was watching her when Duke got the two females attention.
"Look at this." He told them, lifting the girls right hand and showing them the gauze already wrapped around her hand. It was discolored, almost has if she'd dipped it in some kind of liquid. Tanya frowned as Duke showed them his discovery, then turned as her computer beeped. Her eyes widened as digits began running across the screen and her jaw dropped.
"This… this looks like that project those scientists were working on at the research facility Dragaunus attacked the other day!" she exclaimed. "And…" she scrolled down a little, then turned to Duke in shock. "It has your DNA in it." She said quietly.
"Oh stars." Mallory muttered as Duke froze in place. "How did this happen?" she asked.
"I don't know, but *she* might." Tanya said, turning to look at the girl on the medicom bed. Duke merely stared at her in shock with his jaw dropped.
O.O
When she came to, she was laying on her side on a bed, curled up in a blanket and shivering. She looked around the strange room that was covered with machinery and saw one of the Mighty Ducks sitting in a chair with his arms folded and his head resting on his chest as he slept. He was slumped in his chair with his legs stretched out, one resting over the other. His feathers were dark in color, and he was wearing a maroon outfit. He had an eye patch over his right eye, a large bang of gray hair with a white streak going through it hanging over his face. She sniffled and went to rub her face, only to gasp when she saw her hand. It was covered with dark gray feathers.
"Oh man…" she moaned. 'Am I dreaming? This has to be a dream… no, a nightmare!" she thought, her hands flying to her face. She nearly cried out when she realized that she was now the owner of a duckbill. "Oh gosh…" tears were coming to her eyes, her breath quickening from fear. "What… what happened to me?!"
"That's a good question." Came a new voice. She turned and saw a white mallard with a golden hockey mask on his face standing in the doorway. He nodded at her, his expression a little unfriendly. "Good morning miss." He told her. "Mind telling me what you were doing in our parking lot sprouting feathers?" he asked. She merely stared at him in shock with her jaw dropped as she slowly shook her head.
"I… I…" she had to stop there as no words could be formed at the moment, her mind slowing to nearly a halt as questions filled her completely. The white mallard merely shook his head and pressed something on the body armor he wore.
"Tanya, the girl's awake. You might want to get down here before she passes out again." He said into his arm.
"On my way." Came a disembodied voice. The mallard then looked up at her as he let his arm fall back to his side.
"What's your name?" he asked. She blinked a few times, then sat up shakily.
"Calista Avery." She told him softly. He nodded at her.
"I'm Wildwing." He said. Then he walked over to the mallard in the chair and shook him. "Duke. Wake up." He said softly. The older mallard inhaled deeply, then blinked softly before looking up at them. He nodded at Calista when he saw her.
"Hey. You alright kid?" he asked gruffly. She nodded slowly, staring at him in shock. "What's your name?"
"Calista." Wildwing answered for her as the door opened with a swish. A tall female duck with large blonde hair walked in and smiled when she saw Calista.
"Good morning." She said. "I'm Tanya. How are you feeling?" she asked. Calista stared at her.
"Is this… am I dreaming?" she asked softly. Tanya shook her head slowly.
"I'm afraid not. Sorry." She answered quietly. "But I do have a few questions for you. Have you ever been to the Anaheim Research Facility near here?" she asked. Calista nodded, leaning on the ring around her bed and wrapping her arms around herself.
"I did some work there, yeah." She whispered.
"What kind of work?" Wildwing asked.
"Janitorial. They hired me to clean up the mess you guys made the other day." Calista answered him. The three ducks looked at each other, Duke and Wildwing frowning.
"Do you know what they were working on?" Duke asked. Calista shrugged.
"Some cell thing. I wasn't really paying any attention to that. I just needed the money." She told him almost bitterly.
"What did you need the money for?" he asked her quietly. She shrugged again.
"To get out of town. Get a life maybe?" she muttered. Wildwing's frown deepened and Tanya cleared her throat.
"Did you happen to drink anything they had in the lab?" she asked. "Spill anything on yourself?" Calista looked at her for a moment, then nodded.
"Yeah, I did." She stated in realization. "I spilled some stuff in a tray on the cut on my ha…" she stopped when she raised her right hand to her face. "…and…"
"What cut?" Tanya asked.
"Yeah, we unwrapped that gauze you had but we didn't see anything wrong with your hand." Duke told her, standing. Calista stared at her hand, shocked.
"But… I'd cut my hand on some glass before I went to work…" she mumbled, her eyes wide.
"Thought so." Tanya muttered, turning away and walking over to a computer. Calista looked up at her, startled.
"Huh? Wha… what do you mean?" she asked.
"Those scientists were working on creating a way to re-grow lost limbs using some kind of cell re-growth process. However, our enemies the saurians attacked the lab and kind of ruined it." Tanya explained. "I did a blood test on you last night when Duke brought you in and found that you had something like their cell experiment running through your blood, along with some of Duke's DNA. They've all merged with your DNA, hence your current appearance and the fact that your hand is healed." She said, turning and looking at Calista. The girl stared at her, then shook her head.
"Is there any way to reverse this?" she asked. Tanya shook her head.
"I'm afraid not. A change like this is permanent." She said sadly. Calista slumped and looked down at her hands unhappily.
"Great." She muttered. "Now I'm a freak of nature." She sniffled, tears falling down her cheeks. Wildwing, Tanya and Duke remained quiet for a moment till Wildwing cleared his throat.
"Calista." He said quietly. She wiped her face and looked up at him. "You're welcome to stay with us if you want." He offered. She blinked at him for a moment then shook her head.
"I just want to sleep right now." She whispered shakily. He merely nodded at her and backed away.
"That's fine." He told her. "One of us will stay here with you in case you need anything." He said. She nodded and lay back down, turning so that her back was facing them and covering her head with the blanket. Wildwing, Tanya, and Duke all looked at each other and shrugged.
"I'll stay." Tanya offered. Wildwing nodded, then looked at Duke.
"You should go and get some sleep." He said. Duke frowned, then nodded.
"Alright. Let me know what's goin' on though will ya?" he asked. The two younger ducks nodded and he walked away. When the doors closed behind him, Wildwing looked at Tanya.
"This is bothering him, isn't it?" he asked softly. Tanya looked at him.
"Probably. According to the lab tests, he has a kid now." She said.
"Because of his DNA?"
"Yeah. Now there's just the matter of how his blood got mixed with the chemicals at the lab."
"Who knows?" the two quieted and under the blanket Calista sobbed quietly, praying that this was just some nightmare and she'd wake up soon. Sadly, lady luck was not on her side.
O.O
She'd been at the Pond for a week now, and as hard as she'd tried she couldn't get away from the ducks. They were keeping a close eye on her, and they had her join them for each of the meals. They all ate together and it was something that she wished she could just skip, for she didn't want to go anywhere near the duck named Duke. She'd met the other three, Mallory, Nosedive and Grin, and she didn't mind them. But none of them had their DNA flowing through her veins.
The media had found out about her accident and had been all over the situation, trying in vain to get into the Pond and interview her. She was stuck either way now. She didn't want to stay in the Pond and she surely didn't want to go topside and deal with the press. So, she was stuck… and she was not happy. The ducks manager Phil found this out when he tried to get her to do some publicity stunt for him and she'd cussed him out up and down, saying words that even surprised Duke; and he'd thought he'd heard them all. So, in light of the situation, he'd taken it upon himself to put a stop to it.
That's how Calista ended up on the roof of the Pond on a warm summer evening, laying on her back and staring up at the stars above. The last duck in the world she wanted to deal with was lying next to her with one leg crossed over the other and his hands behind his head. They'd been on the roof for maybe an hour in complete silence, probably because neither really knew what to say or because neither really wanted to start the conversation. Motion made her look at him and she found that he was pointing one hand up at the sky and moving it around.
"What are you doing?" she asked. He looked at her, then grinned sheepishly with his hand still in the air.
"I've always tried to connect the stars, see if I can make them form the shapes of the old constellations I used to see back home." He looked back up and finally let his arm fall sadly. "But it never works." He said unhappily. Calista looked at him for a moment, then sighed.
"Do you miss your home?" she asked. He looked at her.
"Don't you?" he asked her. She shifted a little, moving the collar of her white tank top a little.
"I don't have a home." She muttered. Duke gave her a look of confusion and she continued. "My dad was killed in a shooting right before I was born and my mom died of cancer when I was three. I've been living with different family members over the past years. They kept moving me around when they got tired of dealing with me, so I just up and left one day. That's why I was doing janitor work at the lab. I wanted to get enough money so I could move away from here and maybe start over. Find someone who loved me." She told him. Duke frowned.
"Well, won't they come looking for you now? I mean since you're famous and all?" he asked. Calista looked at him and smirked.
"No." she answered unhappily. "I changed my name." She explained. Duke had to smirk at that.
"What's your real name?" he asked. Calista made a face.
"You don't want to know that." She told him, looking back up at the sky and suddenly wondering what the stars on his planet looked like.
"Sure I do." He said, nudging her shoulder. She shook her head and he grinned. "Oh come on. It can't be that bad." Calista made a face and looked at him.
"Wanna' bet?" she asked.
"Come on. Try me." She sighed and looked heavenward.
"My real name is Hester Diana Juanita Rebecca Thompson." She heard a snort and looked to see Duke staring at her, trying not to laugh.
"That's…your name?" he asked. She looked at him, smiling weakly and nodded.
"Uh-huh." She said quietly. He shook his head.
"Man, I would have changed my name too." He admitted.
"Is Duke your real name?" she asked him. He looked at her, then nodded.
"Yep." He told her, putting his arms behind his head again, once more looking up. That sat in silence for a moment, then;
"Is it true that you used to be a thief?" Calista asked, causing Duke to grin.
"An honorable thief. And no matter what Mallory says, I am *not* no good. I am very good at my profession thank you very much." He stated. Calista giggled.
"I don't think she means it like that." She told him. His grin merely widened and turned cheeky.
"I know." He told her. She laughed at him, then calmed as she looked upwards.
"I'm sorry I've been acting like I have." She told him quietly after a moment. "It's just… it's hard to deal with all of this. I don't want to be a duck and I definitely don't like being trapped in a place without windows." He looked at her.
"If I could find some way to change what happened, I would." He admitted. "If it makes you feel any better, this whole thing kind of weirds me out too. Everyone, press included, considers you as my kid now. And I can promise you I am *not* father material." He said, causing her to look at him. "As for the window thing… I understand completely. I also don't like the fact that they always want to know where I am. I'm used to roaming around freely." He admitted. Calista nodded.
"Me too." He smirked and she grinned. "Think you can show me how to sneak out of here maybe?" she asked. Duke snorted and mussed up her hair.
"Yeah right kid. Maybe one day after they get used to you running around the place. I think Mallory would have a heart attack if I started rubbing off on you." He told her as she cried out and tried to grab his hand. She made a face at him, causing him to laugh at her due to her hair making her look comical. He regretted it a moment later when she attacked him, going straight for the hair. He cried out something about 'his do' and grabbed her wrists and sitting up so he could protect his hair. Calista merely laughed at him, still trying to get to the top of his head so he let go of one of her wrists and went right for her waist, causing her to squeal and try to get away. But he held fast to her wrist, and grinning like a fool he tickled her unmercifully. The teen girl tried her hardest to get away from him, neither noticing that Wildwing and Nosedive were up near the door watching them. It was only after Calista cried out 'mercy' did they find out.
"Aw! Look bro! It's a bonding moment!" Nosedive cooed, Wildwing laughing at him.
"That's just sweet." The white mallard grinned. Calista and Duke looked at each other, then grinned evilly and took off after the two mallards who immediately ran back through the door and down the stairs, Duke and Calista hot on their tails.
After that night Calista was easier to get along with as she and Duke had come to an understanding. After a while the group merely accepted how things were and began showing her how things worked around the Pond and telling her about their home world Puckworld. It was about a month later that Nosedive and Calista had been joking around in the Ready room with the others, and Calista jokingly called Duke 'Dad'. After that the title stuck and it wasn't a joke anymore. It was something serious and important to them both. It wasn't much longer after that when Calista showed them something the saurians couldn't stand anymore than hockey. Paintball.
^-^
It was the fourth game of the season and the ducks were up four to two against the Polar bears. Not wanting to deal with the crowd, Calista had taken to watching the game downstairs on Drake One. The crowd was going wild and the ducks were taking over out on the ice, when an explosion rocked the building and nearly flinging Calista from her seat. She looked up at the screen, startled, only to see the teams out on the ice trying to pick themselves up from where they had fallen as smoke came in from one of the doorways. A moment later hunter drones filled the place, shooting over peoples heads and aiming at others to keep them from moving. The ducks immediately changed into their battle armor and returned fire, trying to get the people out of the hockey dome safely, and get rid of the robots. It wasn't happening easily, and the saurians showed up in enough time to make things worse. Even though they couldn't teleport into the Pond, there was never anything to stop them from just walking right in.
Not knowing what to do, but knowing that the team would need some help, Calista jumped up and ran for her room. She was going to need some artillery, and even though she couldn't fire a puck launcher as well as the others, she did have one ace up her sleeve.
O.O
Nosedive kicked Chameleon in the gut, then cried out as a hunter drone wrapped its arms around him from behind and lifted him off the ground.
"Man! Don't you guys have any respect for a sports event?" He asked, kicking his legs in hopes of getting away. He let out a yelp as the hunter drone suddenly exploded and he was dropped to the floor. He looked to see Duke toss a wave at him, then turn and locking blades with Wraith, the old saurian laughing at him.
"I've found some new duck recipes. Would you like to be the first I try them out on?" he asked. Duke merely glared at him.
"You know, that really gets old after a while." He grunted, flinging Wraith back and then turning and slashing a hunter drone in half. Not far from him, Grin slammed two drones together, causing them to short circuit and slump down as he turned and smashed another hunter drones face in. In the stands a group of kids suddenly started cheering as if they were at a wresting match. The humans, though in danger, were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Wildwing merely rolled his eyes and blasted the hunter drones back and away from a fallen hockey player from the opposing team.
"Get to the locker room!" Wildwing called to him. The man behind him merely grunted and shook his head.
"No good. I sprained my ankle!" he exclaimed. Wildwing frowned and fired at three more drones before turning.
"Mallory! Give me some cover!" he called as he helped the man up and away.
"Right!" she answered, firing on the hunter drones gleefully as Wildwing moved away. Tanya was next to her, the two women keeping the saurians away from their team leader as he basically carried the human to the locker room. After firing for a while on the drones Tanya stopped and looked around, her eyes widening.
"Where's Siege?" she asked. Mallory looked around quickly, searching the chaos for the large saurian. Chameleon was fighting with Nosedive, and the Wraith was fighting with Duke, but Siege was no where to be found. They turned when they heard a cry come from the visitors locker room, then had to leap aside as hunter drones attacked.
"Dang it! This is not good." Mallory hissed, firing back at the drones. Tanya couldn't even nod in agreement, as she was too busy trying to keep from getting hit. All she could do now was fight a pray Wildwing would be alright.
She didn't have much to worry about fortunately, as the cry had been from Siege. He'd tried to fire at Wildwing while he was helping the man to safety, only to get hit over the head with a couple of hockey sticks, the players not ones to just sit back and watch as their teammate was turned into a meal for the large lizard. Four of them used their sticks and hit him over the head, then backed away to allow five others to run forward and plow the saurian into a wall, gaining a cry of pain from him.
"You sorry excuse for luggage!" one man growled. "You ruined a good game! We were going to make a come back, but no! You have to come in here, blasting up this nice building and endangering the lives of all our fans!" he said angrily as he and his teammates surrounded the saurian angrily.
"Yeah! My wife and son are in the stands you freak!" one man shouted. "And I swear if you hurt them… I'll skin your sorry hide and nail it to my wall as a trophy!" While the human hockey players duked it out with Siege, Wildwing merely helped the injured man sit, then turned and watched with his arms crossed and a grin on his face.
"You better leave Siege, and take your buddies with you." He warned. "The humans aren't going to just stand by and let you destroy their world anymore than we let you back on Puckworld." He stated coolly. "You're out numbered here." He pointed out when Siege growled at him. The saurian merely chuckled at the observation, then with one hand he sent four of the guys on him flying away to land in a pile on the floor. Wildwing started and raised his puck launcher, only to cry out as he was hit in the chest with Siege's laser blast and sent flying backwards.
"I may be outnumbered, but you fools are no match for me no matter how many of you there are!" he boasted. Wildwing sat up with a hiss of pain as a grating noise came from somewhere. A popping noise followed soon after as well as a cry of pain from Siege, the saurian finally dropping his weapon. One of the hockey players used his stick and hit it away to his team captain, who leaned over and picked it up, pointing it at Siege and then grinning as another popping sound came and Siege scream, yellow paint splattering in his eyes. Wildwing stared in shock. What was that? Where was it coming from? Siege on the other hand howled from pain and searched his arm for this teleporter. Finding it, he disappeared in a flash of green light. A sigh sounded and Calista leaped down from the ventilation shaft.
"He's no fun." She pouted, a strange looking gun in her hands. Wildwing stared at her, then at the gun.
"What in the world is that?!" he asked. Everyone turned to look at him, then grinned.
"A Paintball gun." Calista told him happily. "I bought it the other day." At Wildwing's look she grinned cheekily. "Dad's been teaching me a few of his tricks." She informed him. Wildwing nodded slowly, then stood with a grunt, two of the humans helping him up.
"I can tell." He told her. He walked over and took the gun from her. "I've never seen anything like this before." He exclaimed. Calista grinned at him as some of the hockey players snickered.
"You'll have to take them to play a game of Paintball sometime kid." One of the men said with a snicker. Wildwing shook his head and handed the gun back to her.
"We'll have to save that for some other time. Right now we've got to get rid of the saurians." He told them.
"Can I help?" Calista asked. Wildwing looked at her with a frown, then shook his head.
"Just be careful." He told her. She grinned and followed him out of the locker room, the hockey players following while the coach stayed behind with their wounded member.
^-^
Duke frowned as he pulled red paint out of his hair, Nosedive and Calista laughing at him happily, both of them covered with splotches of paint themselves. They were standing in the Ready Room, waiting for Tanya, Wildwing and Mallory to return from finding Grin. He'd gone to the crystal store while the rest of the team had gone to play a game of Paintball for the first time. For some reason he hadn't been very interested, so they hadn't tried to force him to go.
It had been about two days since the attack by the saurians, the humans having helped turn the tide by turning around and beating the saurians into the dirt instead of fleeing. The opposing hockey team had even followed any orders Wildwing had given and had at one point even check Wraith into the boards. After that, Wraith and Chameleon thought it best to leave, taking their hunter drones with them and sporting plenty of paint splotches on their bodies. The humans had loved it, even sticking around to help clean up so the game could be finished. In the end, it was called as a win for the ducks, as neither side had enough strength left to continue playing. No one really minded, and the people had left with no hard feelings between each other. Only a deep respect and new jokes about how to deep-fry an alien megalomaniac.
Now Duke looked at Nosedive and Calista as they went into great detail about how they'd gotten the drop on Mallory and covered her with paint before high tailing it as she ran after then, promising a slow and painful death. He shook his head and snickered at them as Nosedive took Calista's gun from her and looked at it.
"I wonder if Wing would allow us to use this against the saurians?" he asked. Duke shrugged, then shook his hand as he tried to get paint off of it. He sighed when he realized how futile the attempt was and looked at the two teens before him.
"Who knows?" he shrugged. "But I do have to warn you two. If Mallory's promising revenge for that little stunt you pulled today, you can bet you'll regret it." He warned. Nosedive and Calista merely grinned impishly.
"Oh we're not really worried about that." Nosedive grinned.
"Yeah, we've got big plans for her room." Calista grinned cheekily, causing Duke to look heaven ward for strength.
"Do I really want to know?" he asked wearily. The two teens shook their heads violently.
"Nope!" they exclaimed as one. Then with a whoop of laughter, the two took off for the bedrooms. Duke watched them go, then snorted. Mallory was going to be in for a surprise. He then shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away, whistling some odd tune carelessly as he headed for the shower. With Calista here, it had been double trouble as she and Nosedive had banded together for the 'sacred' cause of pranks. And as annoying as it could get, he wouldn't have it any other way.
When the rest of the team arrived back at the Pond they were startled to see Nosedive and Calista running from an angry, wet, Duke as they laughed gleefully and said something about hot water. Wildwing snickered as Mallory rolled her eyes with a sigh. Just another normal day at the Pond.
END