Lord Dragaunus raised a brow at the ship landing several yards from the Raptor. It was red, about half the size of his own, and didn't appear to be built exclusively for battle. He'd expected something more impressive considering the one who'd contacted him. Maybe he shouldn't have bothered with Sparrowe after all.
"Chameleon!" he bellowed, "Teleport down there and bring our guest to me."
"Why do I have to have escort duty?" he whined.
"Now!"
The order didn't need to be repeated a third time.
The female falcon tried not to look impressed at the vast interior of the Raptor. The video-communications she'd had with the Saurian overlord hadn't given her anything near a decent idea of its size. The décor however... that wasn't impressive. More like atrocious. She glanced at her short canine companion.
The female dog from the planet Canus was gazing about with wide, curious eyes, but staying by her mistress as she'd be trained to do. When Dragaunus' intimidating form lumbered into the room, she moved behind Sparrowe a bit, looking startled.
"Well, your Lordship, where is my baby brother?" Sparrowe wanted to know. "He came to assist you three months ago, didn't he? I haven't heard a thing from him since, and he promised to contact me after completing his mission."
"I would imagine that the prison in London doesn't allow for such long-distance calls," Dragaunus mused casually, glancing at a curled talon.
"Prison?!" Sparrowe repeated in disbelief. "Tell me the truth, Dragaunus! My baby brother's too skilled to be captured by these barbaric humans!"
"Don't get upset at me," he continued, still quite collected. "A former ally of his from Puck World is here. A duck by the name of Duke L'Orange. You have him to blame for Falcone's predicament."
"The cute ones are always trouble," she sighed. "I should have known my baby brother couldn't do this alone. So where can I find Duke?" With a short glance around the room, she realized something. Her faithful companion was gone. "Forget the duck for now... where's Unit 023?!"
While Sparrowe had been discussing her brother's situation with Dragaunus, Chameleon had been entertaining her little friend with some shape-shifting. Not that he had been terribly interested in the she-dog, but had been bored out of his skull and annoyed at being forgotten about. At least someone had been paying attention to him.
But Wraith had been standing behind Dragaunus and noticed him. Chameleon had wisely decided to evacuate as a result of the warning scowl the wizard had given him. Unbeknown to him, however, the dog had trotted after him a few steps. Unfortunately, just enough steps to be closed out of the room her mistress was in.
She turned to try and open the door. It didn't budge. She could try something else but... Mistress had told her not to touch any computers. The best alternative seemed to be returning to the ship outside. But, where was the exit? She rushed off in the direction the small, green Saurian had gone in.
She rounded a corner and found him. It looked as though he was about to teleport, like when he had brought her and Mistress into the ship. She ran up and grabbed his arm, surprised when he yelped in shock.
"What are ya tryin' to do?!" he demanded once they were outside, not far from a city 023 had never seen before. "Give me a heart attack?! Yeesh, you'd think a guy could get some fresh air in peace!"
"I wanted to go back to our ship," she told him.
"It ain't far," he mumbled. "You're a dog, I'm sure ya can find your way to it. Now leave me a lone, will ya? Creepy dog-girl..." he walked off, still muttering to himself. Something about "no respect" it sounded like.
023 looked around in confusion. This didn't look like the area they'd landed in. All she could see was that city. Perhaps she could contact her mistress from one of the video phones there? She started in that direction.
Duke glanced at his communicator to see the digital time-reading. Just half an hour until their scheduled practice. He sighed as he looked up and at the city he was coming up to on the duck-cycle. It seemed as though he'd barely left for a little quiet-time...
He screeched to a halt when he noticed something odd about the "Welcome to Anaheim" sign. Or more specifically, the ground in front of it. It appeared that someone was laying there. Judging by their curled-up position, they were... sleeping? He pulled off his helmet and stepped off the duck-cycle.
The sleeping form was a female dog Canus. Her fur was a sandy tan with cloudy white accents on her nose, arms, legs, and tightly curled tail. Her chestnut hair hung down over her forehead a bit, but the length of it (that seemed to be to her waist) was pulled into a ponytail. Her attire wasn't anymore outstanding than her appearance – just a simple blue dress and what looked like a black choker. A pair of glasses was clutched in one of her slender hands. She didn't have any shoes. The only indication to her being alive was the rhythmic rise and fall of her middle as she breathed.
Well, he couldn't leave her there. Any weirdo could come by and grab her if she was sleeping heavily enough to not have been awakened by his cycle. But carrying her and driving at the same time was a bad idea. Small situation though it was, he decided that back-up was in order.
He couldn't believe she was still sleeping as he took a seat in the Migator. She was still in his arms, as he didn't want to set her somewhere and risk her falling as they were rounding a corner or stopping. Mallory was driving.
"So, what is she?" Duke asked as Wildwing scanned her with the mask.
"She's not a robot..." he concluded, "but darn close."
"A cyborg?" Duke guessed.
"Looks like it," the team captain mused. "But how in the world did she get here? Dragaunus' dimensional gateway generator?"
"She doesn't look like anything he'd use," Duke commented.
"Neither did Nosedive's 'baby'," Mallory pointed out.
"We'll have Tanya take a closer look," Wildwing decided. "She should be able to tell us the origin of her metal parts."
Since the mask hadn't detect a tracking device on the dog, it was agreed that she could be brought into the underground part of the Pond. Duke was still carrying her and his arms were tiring. She was starting to feel like a warm, fluffy rock.
"Just uh... set her on the table, Duke," Tanya told him when he entered the infirmary. She didn't even look up as she was busy preparing various scanners. He gladly complied and then stepped back, rubbing his sore arms. Was she still sleeping?! He shook his head.
"Hey Tanya, aren't you allergic to dogs?" Nosedive asked. "That's why you said we couldn't get a puppy!"
"Well, she's a hypo-allergenic breed," the female duck answered. "An basenji."
"You mean that dog from the movie?"
"No, not 'Benji' – Basenji." Tanya corrected. "Her fur is short enough that it's not shedding all over and bothering me. Anyway. her the energy-levels on her cybernetic parts are low. That would account for her heavy nap – she's probably re-charging. As for where they came from... well, this is mostly Puck World technology. Her right arm, both legs, and a lot of her organs are metal, covered with some really nice fake fur. That's not from Puck World. I mean, come on, no one on Puck World has fur..."
"Is she dangerous at all?" Wildwing asked, stopping her tangent.
"I'd mostly say 'no'," Tanya informed him. "I'm kinda curious about that right arm, though. It seems to have the capability of becoming a weapon, but it has to be triggered by something – something not inside her. Someone else probably has that. Whatever it is..."
"Someone like Dragaunus!" Mallory concluded.
"Why does ole' Lizard Lips keep using such cute critters on us?" Nosedive lamented. "First Baby and now this dog-chick?"
"I sense no evil about her," Grin commented.
"Well, how do we find out for sure who she's with?" Duke wanted to know. "Nothin's woken her up so far..."
Almost as if on cue, the dog girl mumbled drowsily and sat up, rubbing her eyes, which widened greatly when she realized she wasn't outside anymore. She scooted back in fear on the table, not sure what to make of the six ducks looking back at her.
"Take it easy," Wildwing suggested, holding up his hands to indicate he meant her no harm. "Duke found you outside and we decided to bring you in here where you'd be safe."
She calmed considerably. Duke raised a brow. She had a young face... maybe she hadn't aged beyond being extremely trusting. But at least she didn't look to be in a hurry to attack or run away.
"May I use your videophone?" she asked in a rather automatic tone. "I am lost and need to call Mistress so she can retrieve me."
"Who's your mistress?" Wildwing asked. "And if you can give us an idea of where she is, we can probably find her for you." He didn't like the idea of this strange guest contacting another stranger with their equipment. What if her "mistress" was bad news and could trace the call?
"Others call Mistress 'Sparrowe'," she answered. "We landed on some green turf outside of your city."
"Drake One did pick up a signal of a foreign ship earlier," Tanya commented. "But it was only a civilian ship – not designed for battle and not large enough to hold any other ships. That's why we didn't go after it right away."
"That's right..." Wildwing recalled. "Maybe that's the one."
"Sparrowe?" Duke looked uncertain. "What does she look like, Sweetheart?" he asked the dog. She tilted her head and gave him an odd look. She seemed more puzzled than anything.
"She is a falcon," she finally answered.
"She could be Falcone's sister," Duke mused. "Dragaunus could have brought her here for some reason."
"Falcone is her baby brother," the dog told him. "She wanted to ask Dragaunus where he is. We have not heard from him in three months and Mistress is worried." Her tone was quite casual didn't indicate that she knew how wicked Dragaunus was, or that he was the ducks' mortal enemy.
"Tanya, where did that civilian ship land?" Wildwing wanted to know.
"About five miles east," she answered.
"Team, we're moving out!"
"So, what's your name, Sweetheart?" Duke asked the little she-dog as the Migrator rolled away from the Pond. Not knowing how to address her was becoming bothersome.
"Name...?" she tilted her head at him again, confused. "I don't have a name. I am not Sweetheart. Mistress has designated me the title Unit 023."
Duke blinked. "Unit? You're a living being like the rest of us. You can't just be a number."
"How 'bout 'Lassie'?" Nosedive suggested from the driver's seat. He glanced back to see several odd looks. "Oh come on. I was going for the 'classic' feel!"
"Let's see..." Duke murmured. "I found you under the Anaheim sign... How 'bout Annie?"
"Careful, Duke," Wildwing warned. "I don't like her just having a number instead of a name, either. It just isn't right. But when we find Sparrowe, she'll probably be going back with her. Just... don't get too attached."
Duke sighed and glanced down at the little she-dog. He knew Wildwing was right. But he couldn't help but feel like returning "Annie" to Sparrowe was wrong. He'd met the female falcon before. He didn't consider her trustworthy with someone as vulnerable and innocent as the little she-dog seemed to be.
It wasn't that he was attracted to her – not as he had been to Lucretia. Perhaps it had come from being the team's oldest member but he'd grown to feel like he was responsible for keeping an eye on his younger teammates. Even though Annie wasn't a teammate, she was still young. Still someone who needed protecting.
"You WHAT?!" Sparrowe thundered at the trembling green suarian. "You idiot! She doesn't have any self-defense skills!"
"Don't ya have a tracking device on her?" Chameleon wanted to know. He glanced to Dragoaunus for help but was met with an uncaring stare. In fact, he seemed to be amused.
"I'm not supposed to need one!" she continued. "She's hardly ever left the ship and is trained to stay within three meters of me at all times!" She spun away from Chameleon and to Dragaunus. "I'm going to look for her. Hopefully I'll run into those ducks while I'm at it." A grin dared to flash across her beak. "Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak."
"Yo, Wing!" Nosedive called from the cockpit. "Someone's trying to contact the Migrator! It ain't Lizard-lips..."
"Go ahead and allow contact, Baby bro," Wildwing answered.
"Hello, this is the Mighty Ducks hotline! Please name your extension!" the younger Flashblade sibling greeted over the speaker.
"Duke L'Orange is on that craft, is he not?" the sharp, female voice demanded.
All eyes fell on Duke, except those of 'Annie'. Her attention was fully on the speaker. "Mistress?" she murmured curiously.
"I imagine that she's kinda ticked about where her brother is..." Duke muttered.
"That's right, Handsome," the voice sneered. "Park that heap of unfashionable crap, will you? I'd love to chat beak-to-beak."
Tanya's eyes narrowed at the slander against the vehichle that she worked hard to keep in excellent shape.
"Well Duke, you know her. What's your call?" Wildwing asked the older mallard.
"Go ahead and park her, Nosedive," he sighed, massaging his temple. "We gotta give Annie back to her, anyway."
The team stepped cautiously out of the Migrator, except for Tanya who was waiting in the driver's seat in case an emergency drive-away was needed.
Annie padded alongside Duke, and then looked up at him questioningly before gazing at Sparrowe. He sighed and told her she ought to go back to her mistress. Though he couldn't help but feel that he wasn't doing the right thing. From what he'd noted thus far, Annie was a mere pet – or worse, an object – to his old acquaintance. He watched the little dog dash off with growing unease.
"Mistress!" she squealed. "Chameleon brought me outside and I didn't know where to go, so I went to the city to-"
A rough smack across the muzzle cut her off, followed by her own high-pitched yelp. She sank to her knees, a hand pressed to her throbbing face.
The ducks, especially Duke, tensed. A silent shock seemed descend.
"Well, I suppose I ought to thank you for returning my disobedient servant," Sparrowe began rather casually. "However, one favor can't cover great wrong, Duke L'Orange." She drew her pink saber as she spoke.
"If you're referring to bringing that pup back to a witch like you, I agree," Duke snorted as he drew his own weapon. He turned briefly back to his team. "I'll take care of her. We'll be back at the Pond practicing in no time."
"If you're sure..." Wildwing agreed with obvious hesitation.
"Wing, are you crazy?" Mallory wanted to know. "We're a team! We can't make him fight alone!"
"Duke still has shards of his past to dispose of," Grin stated with a sage nod. "We must let him conquer this himself."
"Besides, she doesn't look so tough." Nosedive pointed out. "He took out Falcone, didn't he? I'd say the Duke-man's got this one in the bag."
"We'll be here if he needs us," Wildwing reminded them. "For back-up. And to keep an eye out for any clues to this being a trap..." with that he activated the mask. Nothing.
"How could you treat another living creature like that?!" Duke wanted to know as the pink and gold blades clashed. "Where's your conscience? Back on Puck World?"
"Thieves don't need a conscience," Sparrowe snorted with a smirk. "Falcone assumed you'd gone soft when you joined the resistance. I didn't want to believe that, but now I see he was right."
The blade's clashed again, with more force behind Duke's. He'd gone silent, his focus transferring to the battle. Less talk, more fight. He noticed that Sparrowe was starting to sweat. She'd always been more impatient with the fencing lessons than him.
Annie was crouching in the entrance of Sparrowe's ship, watching with uncertainty of what to do. Of course, she had to wait and make sure that Mistress didn't need her help. Her face still hurt, but it would be okay. She had obviously done something wrong and had deserved being hit. But what exactly was it? She tried to think of it...
She yelped again in surprise when Duke landed on the ground in front of her. Sparrowe was on him in the next instant, her sword plunging towards his head. He rolled just in time to avoid losing his other eye.
As Annie watched the duel continue, she was further complexed. Why did Mistress wish to kill Duke? That was the name the other ducks had called him, wasn't it? He had been kind to her, given her a name... Annie. It was easy to say and sounded nice. He had brought her back to Mistress. So why did she wish him harm? Mistress had taught her to repay others when they helped her. That was why she was with Mistress – she had saved her life, after all.
She was startled out of her train of thought once again by the sound of one puck-blaster firing followed immediately by another, and somewhere in the midst of that a familiar voice crying out in pain. She raised her head with wide eyes.
Duke was doubled over gripping his side, sinking to his knees on the ground. His other hand still stubbornly clutched his saber. A smoking puck-blaster was on the ground not far from Sparrowe and she seemed to be nursing her hand a bit.
"You couldn't beat me without cheating..." Duke coughed as he glared at the female falcon. "You honorless b-"
"Now now, mind your language in front of my young servant," Sparrowe teased, though as she spoke she backed slowly towards her aircraft. One of Duke's teammates had shot her weapon out of her hand, and the ducks were now charging towards her and their fallen comrade.
Annie found herself darting away from the craft and over to Duke. Mistress had hurt someone who had helped her. That didn't make any sense!
"Unit 23!" Sparrowe snapped. "Come back here!"
"I think it's in your best interest to leave her here," Mallory informed her, puck-blaster aimed at her head. "In fact, if you aren't on that ship and out of here in ten seconds, you're not going to have a beak to yell at her with."
"Wait, shouldn't we take her to keep her baby brother company?" Nosedive asked.
"Let her go," Duke coughed as Grin carefully picked him up. "We have to duel again..."
"Nosedive's right," Wildwing pointed out. "She's dangerous." His puck-blaster's sites hadn't left her.
"Too late, losers," Sparrowe snorted as she dove safely into her ship. She heard several pucks striking the exterior after, and hit the door as it slid shut.
In seconds the ship was departing rapidly, with Annie staring after it. Mistress had just left without her. Perhaps the one who had saved her a few years ago no longer needed her or cared about her. What was she to do? Wait for Mistress to return? Go with Duke?
"Yo, Dog-girl!" a voice called. Annie turned to see the young blonde duck... was Nosedive his name? He was motioning for her to come to the ducks' vehicle. Without another thought she hurried over.
"It's a good thing you have sharp reflexes," Tanya told Duke as she wrapped the bandages around his middle. "If you hadn't moved when you did, there'd be a hole in your stomach."
"How encouraging," he mumbled groggily. The pain medication was starting to kick in. "Hey, when you're done I'd like to talk to Annie for a sec."
"Sure thing," she answered. "Just as long as you lay down and stay put for a while. Lucky for you it's the off-season. I don't know where we'd get another player."
Tanya finished and left the room. Duke heard her speaking to Annie, who must have been waiting outside the door the whole time. She told her not to stay too long – Duke needed his rest.
Annie padded in a bit hesitantly, but seemed to relax when she noticed Duke was smiling at her.
"Are you okay, Kid?" he asked.
She answered with a nod. "I am sorry that Mistress hurt you..."
"She's not your mistress anymore," Duke told her with a slight shake of his head. He reached a weakening hand up to the collar around her neck. It had her old number, Sparrowe's name, and a means of contacting her. He unsnapped it and let it fall into Annie's hands.
"You belong to yourself," he continued. "You can stay with us if you want to – we can protect you and teach you to protect yourself. But only if it's what you really want."
"It is," Annie answered almost immediately. "I want to stay with you and your friends. You're all very kind. I think you're kinder than Mis- er, Sparrowe. I want to find a purpose here."
Duke smiled again, his eye half-closed. "Glad to hear it... why don't you ask Mallory and Tanya to take ya clothes shopping? You'll need something else to wear... I'll pay 'em back..." He was nodding off.
"Tanya said you need rest," Annie reminded him as she rose, her old collar still in hand. "Thank you, Duke. Thank you for making me my own."