HELLO THAR A-GAIN. Here's chapter two! I hope none of you come after me as you read the story. I don't wanna die!

P.S. I did more research for this story. Y'know the phrase "so angry I'm seeing red"? Explanation at the end

Disclaimer: I don't own MD:TAS. If I did, I'd be rich.


"…what?"

"It's the kid's blood. He got hurt pretty badly."

Wildwing just stared at the blood on Duke's scrubs, feeling numb. He couldn't remember his brother getting hurt.

Shouldn't he remember something like that?

Then he noticed a stretchy, purple-colored looking bandaged wrapped around Duke's left elbow. "You gave him blood?" the leader asked.

Duke looked at the bandage, having completely forgotten about it. "Yeah, earli'ah I did," he answered. Looking back up at Wildwing, he said, "Since the kid's a Type O, I'm the only one that can donate. So I did."

"And you helped Tanya?"

"For awhile," Duke admitted. He went from kneeling on the floor to just sitting. "Aft'ah I gave up some blood, Tanya still needed help. So I changed into these and helped her until Mal came and got me."

"…how bad is he?"

Duke just looked away.

Near panicking, Wildwing finally asked, "What happened? What happened that he got so hurt?"

No one answered.

His panic was beginning to border insanity as he looked at Duke, Mallory, and Grin. "Guys, tell me!" he exclaimed. "What happened?!

"Does the phrase 'it's a brothah's job to protect their siblings' ring a bell?" Duke asked his leader.

Wing's eyes widened. "…where'd you hear that?"

"Nosedive said it sometime on the way back here," Mallory answered, placing a hand on Wing's shoulder. "We thought he was just out of it, since he was hurt so bad-"

"No, he wasn't," Wildwing said. "It was something our parents used to say to me. I didn't think Dive had ever heard it; guess I was wrong."

A moment of silence among the group. Then Wildwing dared to ask, "What happened in the fight?"

"The last thing you rememb'ah was tellin' everyone to be careful, right?" Duke asked.

The leader nodded.

"Well, we were all waiting for Chameleon and Siege to come out of the fog that Wraith had conjured up," Mallory said, taking her hand away from Wildwing's shoulder. "We heard you yell to everyone to keep up their guard since the fog was pretty thick. Then Siege came out of nowhere…"

The usually fiery red-head found she couldn't continue. Her eyes began to fill with tears as Grin picked up from where she left off. "Siege came out of the fog behind you. You had your back to him when our young friend yelled for you to get out of the way."

When he didn't continue any farther, Wildwing felt like his heart hit his stomach. "Then what?" he asked, afraid to know.

Grin didn't answer for a moment. Then, he looked at Duke. "You saw it best," the larger drake said. "Tell him."

Duke took a breath before he started, Wildwing's heart sinking lower as he looked from Grin to the older drake on the floor.

"The kid yelled for you to look out," the ex-thief started. "You started to turn around as Siege was comin' at ya. But then, it seemed outta nowhere Dive was in front of you. It was like frickin' Houdini; one moment he was elsewhere, the next in front of you, or rath'ah, at your back.

"Then…Siege smacked him with that tail of his. Nosedive had made it just in time to get cuffed with that tail and sail across the room and into a concrete wall." Duke hid his good eye in his hand, the red eye beginning to slit the eye patch on his other eye. "It…it was like watchin' in slow motion. Where ya try to do somethin', but ya can't move and everythin' slows down. And believe me Wing, I tried to get the kid after Siege hit him, but…he went too fast. I couldn't even get my arm up to use my grapplin' hook so I could keep him from hittin' the wall."

When Duke didn't continue, Wildwing could only guess what happened next. "Then what?" he asked, surprised that he found his voice to speak and feeling tears beginning to spill over.

Duke rubbed the hand that had been covering his eye through his hair/feathers. "Siege started laughin', actin' like what he'd just done was the funniest thing ev'ah," he said. "Tanya and Grin ran towards Nosedive and Mallory and I were about to come at Siege when suddenly…you snapped.

"The eyes of the mask stah'ted glowin', and you went after Siege. We yelled at you not to, but you didn't listen to us, or rath'ah couldn't hear us…and you started beatin' him up like he was a stuffed animal."

Wildwing looked stunned. "…I did that?" he asked.

"Yes," Mallory answered sadly. "Tanya says she thinks you hit that point of rage where a person can't focus on anything other than whatever made them mad."

"Whateva it was, you still went crazy," Duke said. "You got him pretty good too, at least until the three of them teleported away. When they were gone, you were still blood-crazed. You were wantin' to go aft'ah them with the Mask. But before you got anywhere, Tanya got you with a tranq."

"We got you both onto the Migrator and came back here," Mallory said. "You've been out until now and Tanya's been working on Nosedive."

Wildwing was silent for awhile, staring at the floor in disbelief at what he had just heard. "Great DuCaine," he finally muttered. He then looked at Duke. "How hurt is he?"

"…it's pretty bad," Duke said. "When Siege cuffed him, that alone broke a few ribs. But Nosedive hit a solid concrete wall, and the impact left a spider web of cracks in tha' wall. Tanya and I had to open him up to work on some internal bleedin' too."

"Did he go into shock?" Wildwing asked cautiously.

"Yeah," Duke answered. "He did. On our way back, we were tryin' to keep Dive awake by talkin' to him, but he was really out of it and started coughin' up blood."

"…anything else you can tell me?"

Duke shook his head. "I think Tanya would be a better choice at tellin' ya," he said. "I only know a few injuries, and she told me to stay out here with you until she came and got everyone."

"Why stay with me?"

"You fainted, rememb'ah?"

"Oh…yeah."

So for a long time, the four ducks sat outside the doors of the Infirmary, lost in their own thoughts.

How could this have happened? Wildwing thought, staring at the floor between his feet. I don't remember anything about that, just everything before. Why did Nosedive even do that? I don't get it!

Mallory sighed, sitting cross-legged next to Wildwing. What was the point of trying to take out Wildwing? Did Siege just try for kicks, or was he actually hoping that someone would come and defend him?

Grin crossed his arms over his chest and laid back a little against the wall. Things that happen in which we do not understand. I wonder if the philosophers of Earth are right; like Georg Hegel with his saying, 'Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.'

Duke got up and moved to the bench seat across from the others, sitting down. He hadn't felt this exhausted in a long time, and he felt his years starting to come down on him.

The kid did a noble thing tonight, the gray mallard thought. But it was stupid at the same time…or I'm sure that's what Wing's thinkin'. He then sighed. Nosedive doesn't deserve to be battered around like that. He's just a kid!…But a noble one at that.

RVRVRVRVRVRVRV

Five year old Wildwing looked into the room that served as the nursery.

He was starting to get worried. His almost year old brother was sick, but he didn't know what it was that was making him sick. His parents had been up almost every night for a few days with Nosedive, sleeping in shifts while trying to make the child feel better.

From the doorway, Wildwing could see Mama Flashblade sitting with Nosedive, who was wrapped up in a blanket as she tried to ease a coughing fit the younger one was in.

"Mama?"

The young mother looked to the doorway to see her oldest standing there in his pajamas. "What are you doing out of bed sweetheart?" she asked. "It's late."

"I heard Dive coughin'," he said. "What's wrong with him?"

The mother sighed. "Come here sweetheart," she said. "Maybe you can help him feel better."

So the young duckling walked over to where his mother and brother sat, crawling up into the rocker with her. Nosedive had just stopped coughing, and it looked to Wildwing like he was having a problem or two breathing. "What's wrong with him?" he asked again.

"He's sick," she simply said, running a hand over Wildwing's short, fluffy hair.

"With what?"

"It's something a lot of ducklings get. It's called the Croup. He's trying to concentrate on breathing right now."

Wildwing looked at his younger brother, really worried now. "Is it really bad?" he asked, a bit scared.

His mother smiled a little. "Right now, it's not," she said to him. "A lot of kids your age and younger get like this. Nosedive just needs to rest and concentrate on getting better."

As the older duckling watched his brother, his mind wandered about a lot of things; why his brother was sick, how bad it was that his parents took turns sleeping, etc.

He was so lost in his own thoughts that he even didn't notice when the baby's eyes opened.

But Mama Flashblade did. She smiled and said, "I think someone wants to see you Wing."

This snapped the elder duckling out of his thoughts. He looked at Nosedive to see that he, in fact, was awake and was concentrating on Wildwing. "Dive!" he exclaimed excitedly. He leaned over closer. "Are you o-"

RVRVRVRVRVRVRV

"-kay Wing?"

Wildwing woke up hearing someone's voice. "Wha?"

"I was asking if you were alright," Mallory said. "You were talking in your sleep."

The leader rubbed his eyes, trying to rid himself of sleep. "I'm alright."

"Then you might wanna - uh - listen up."

The drake's head snapped up to see Tanya standing right in front of him, Duke beside her.

"Tanya!" Wildwing exclaimed. He stood up real fast, only to be caught by Grin as he nearly fell back down.

"Whoa there Wildwing, take it easy," Tanya said as the leader stood back upright. "You've been through a lot too, so you need to - uh - rest too."

"How's Nosedive?" Wildwing asked, Grin and Mallory at each of his sides to help him stay upright.

Tanya took a deep breath, then began her answer.

"It's pretty bad Wildwing. The impact from Siege's tail alone broke several of his ribs on his right side, as well as getting stabbed by one of those spikes on the end. Then I guess everything else came from when he hit the wall."

When she paused, Wildwing noticed something. Tanya wasn't stuttering or using what he called 'filler words' as she spoke.

So he knew that it could only get worse.

"He's got a concussion, and it's pretty bad. We won't know until he wakes up if there's any permanent brain damage. A few ribs on his left are cracked, the bone in his right leg was sticking out, but Duke helped me repair that. His left arm is broken as well. And…"

"And what?"

"…he had a few 'bouts of ventricular tachycardia when we were in surgery."

The three in front of her just stared at her. "What does that mean?" asked Grin.

"It means that the 'electricity' that keeps his heart beating was out of whack and it needed to be shocked back into the proper rhythm."

She let the news sink into everyone's mind. Wildwing staggered backwards to the bench seat, his head in one of his hands. "Great Mother of Ducks," he whispered. He could feel the hint of new tears in his eyes.

Tanya could feel his pain. Problem was, she hadn't allowed her emotions to come in the way of Nosedive's treatment and she sure as puck wasn't going to until the job was fully done. "Do you want to see him?" she asked Wildwing.

The leader looked up at her. "Can I?" he asked cautiously.

She nodded.

Wildwing stood up and started for the door.

"Just…be prepared for what you see Wing."

He looked back at Duke. "Why? I've already heard how bad off he is."

The ex-thief just looked at him sadly. "Sometimes it's worse to see than it is to he'ah," he answered.


Like I said at the top, there is a point of rage that some people can reach. I believe it happens when the person in question's blood pressure reaches a certain point, though usually I hear it happens when they are angry (like Catherine Zeta-Jones says in the Chicago movie, "Well, I was in such a state of shock, I completely blacked out, I can't remember a thing. It wasn't until later, when I was washing the blood off my hands, I even knew they were dead.")