Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Mighty Ducks Animated Series franchise, if I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfic.

Chapter 1:

Counterattack

Wildwing stopped at the end of the hall and turned back to look at the bunker doors lining the long hallway. He thought he heard someone scream, but that would be a difficult feat since all the bedrooms were built to be sound proof. He hadn't wanted to submit any of his then new teammates to his brother's ear shattering levels of music and video game binges. The tall drake stood motionless, straining to hear anything. When nothing was forthcoming, he shrugged, figuring he had just imagined it.

As he turned to leave once more, a muted crash and the sounds of thrashing reached him, followed by another muffled scream. He definitely hadn't imagined those.

Wildwing raced down the aisle trying to figure out which room the racket was coming from. His heart quickened to realize it was his brother's room. With a heightened sense of urgency, he entered the code to open the door and raced inside. "Nosedive?!"

The young duck in question was standing atop an ottoman, hacking a baseball bat hysterically at the sides of the piece of furniture he was standing on. He was cursing a long string of curses that their mother would have had his tail feathers had she heard her little duckling utter such words. The bookshelf that usually stood next to the sofa was on the floor, a small mountain of books, comics, and trinkets scatter in every direction.

"Nosedive! What's wrong, baby bro!?" the elder sibling made a grab for the baseball bat, yanking it out of his brother's hand. "Are you crazy?"

Nosedive leapt off the ottoman, making a mad dash for the door of his room and nearly knocked Tanya down in the process.

"W-w-what happened?" she fought to keep her balance, holding on to Nosedive worriedly.

"They're everywhere! They were in my boots!" Nosedive yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Who?" Wildwing looked around the room and located a pair of boots lying next to the toppled bookshelf. He looked back at his little brother, fearing that he'd finally lost his mind.

"THE SPIDERS!" Nosedive yelled.

"Spiders..?" Wildwing returned his attention to the boots. He carefully stepped around the fallen bookshelf and peered at the footwear in question, kicking it. Sure enough, a spider raced out making its way to the downed shelf. The white drake quickly reached down to catch the bug. While his brother seemed to be terrified of the insect, he found these earth creatures to be curious. He placed the spider in a cup, trapping it with a book before looking around for more. He'd take them outside and release them in the plotted plants of the south entrance of the arena.

"It's just a, um, you know, harmless s-s-spider," Tanya tried to sooth the young drake.

"Maintenance man Ryan said they're deadly poisonous!" Nosedive shot back.

Wildwing stopped dead in his tracks. Oh, crap. He'd forgotten about that. These tiny creatures were apparently venomous enough to kill a full grown human adult weighing more than he did. He didn't want to find out if their poison also worked on ducks.

"Those are the black ones with the red triangles on them," Tanya reminded. "These long legged ones, um, well, they don't do anything."

Wildwing let out a heavy breathe he wasn't aware he had been holding in. He shook his head clear and returned to capturing the spiders once again. If he didn't find them all, chances were that Nosedive would be bunking with him tonight. As much as he loved his little brother, he also loved the notion of sleeping.

"Though, I w-w-wonder why there're so many of them in, like, um, one place," Tanya ventured to pick up a shirt from the floor, shaking it out. She wasn't afraid of the small creatures, but she also wasn't as brave as her captain to just go and pick one up. "I thought they were solitaire cre-cre-, um, bugs."

"Mallory…" Nosedive barely whispered as a choir of angels sang in his head with sudden revelation.

"What?" Tanya tossed the shirt at the young drake rather confused.

"Oh, she's good," Nosedive caught the article of clothing and crumpled it up in his hands, looking over his shoulder to the hallway. "Two can play at this game."

"Weren't you the one who put worms in her boots a week ago?" Wildwing sat up, his brows furrowing. The redhead had made life rather difficult for both brothers afterward. Wildwing's leadership was tested as he tried to keep the peace between the two bickering teammates. "Besides, you don't know it was her." He looked around for more spiders. Satisfied that there were no more, he stood and walked over to his brother.

But the blond youth wasn't listening anymore. His gaze was distant as his mind plotted. She would regret the day she crossed him. Oh, he would make sure she regretted it.

"NOSEDIVE!" Wildwing raised his voice, getting his brother's attention. "Unless you want me to release these on your bed, you will not do anything to Mallory," the white drake held the clear cup full of spiders up to his brother. His brother's reaction was satisfying to say the least. He retreated back a few paces, slamming into the wall behind him and shaking his head feverously.

"Alright! Alright!" Nosedive relented. "Just get them out of here!"

Wildwing nodded. He knew his brother too well to know that he would actually keep that promise. It'd be a few days, a week at the most, before his little brother made a move. That was ample time to at least warn Mallory of the impending doom heading her way. He exited the room, Tanya close behind him, and paused. "And clean your room. It's a mess!" he threw his brother one last hard look before the door closed.

0-0-0

Mallory doubled over in laughter, almost falling out of her seat as Tanya reiterated that morning's events. She would have loved to have seen Nosedive's face when those spiders crawled out of his boots. And to imagine, he shrieked loud enough for two ducks to hear him through the sound proofing. Priceless.

"Kinnda harsh, ain't it, sweet'eart?" Duke's hand didn't slow in chopping vegetables. He'd seen something on TV and wanted to try his hand at making it himself.

"Harsh!?" she slapped an open palm on the countertop. "Don't think for a second that I've forgotten you helped him gather the worms."

"I mean, you ain't 'fraid of no worms," Duke cleared the cutting board's contents into a large bowl before reaching for another Italian squash. "Ain't Dive and Grin scar'd of spiders? It ain't fair dat y'd be gettin' even with somethin' he's 'fraid of. It's like stealing a puck from a ducklin'."

"So saids the criminal," Mallory brushed him off.

"Former," Duke pointed the knife in her direction. "I ain't stole a thing since the Invasion," he reminded as he returned to his task.

"Ya, ya," Mallory turned to Tanya excitedly again. "And then what?"

"Wildwing collected the spiders and we left," Tanya answered simply. "Oh! And Wildwing also said, to, um, you know, watch yourself. Nose-, um, Nosedive is gonna get back at you."

"Please," she waved the engineer off. "He couldn't possible do anything worse than what I've been through." She'd grown up with three older brothers and had faced everything they could throw at her. If they couldn't crack her, what could one younger sibling that wasn't even related to her do?

"Careful what ya wish fo', sweet'eart," Duke didn't even look up.

A/N: I suppose I'm not good a long form writing and this is a prime example. I guess I'll just stick to short stories and be happy with what I can do. ENJOY!