Grin glanced from side to side to see if he could see what the source of the thief's anguish. When he saw nothing around him, he began to head towards the kitchen. There, he was greeted by the five ducks that were already there. His stare came to Duke and Rene, the latter not appearing too well.
"Are you sure you're going to be fine?" Duke wondered.
Rene nodded her head, despite the slightly blank look in her eyes. Grin wondered what was wrong with her given that she hadn't appeared this 'depressed' since her arrival on Earth. He didn't want to say she was sick but she certainly looked like it.
"What is the matter with Patrick?" Grin wondered.
Duke shrugged his shoulders as Wildwing stepped forward.
"Shouldn't we try and find him?" he wondered.
"He'll be fine. He's done this before. Patrick will be back," Rene said.
She climbed to her feet as an alarm sounded throughout the room. All wondered what happened as a small circle lifted off of Wildwing's armour to reveal Klegghorn.
"Klegghorn, what's going on?" wondered the masked duck.
"One of your old friends escaped from prison. Falcone's on the loose. You guys, particularly Duke, know how he works," the captain told him.
Wildwind nodded before turning to the others. Duke's beak was almost in a snarl at the mention of Falcone. He slowly closed his eyes and gave a deep sigh.
"Remember that we aren't going out after revenge or anything like that," Wildwing quietly reminded him.
"I know Wildwing but you don't know the half of it," Duke said.
They allowed the others to pass by them before Wildwing decided to continue talking to Duke.
"What's wrong Duke? First, it's Patrick having bad nightmares, then Rene's not feeling well and you're acting strange with this news about Falcone. What's wrong? You didn't act like this the last time we came across him," Wildwing pointed out.
Duke gave a small sigh before shaking his head giving the leader a slightly sad glance.
"I'll tell you later Wildwing, when I'm in a better mood to talk. Now I'm going to go find Patrick to see if he's in a mood to help," Duke replied.
Wildwing nodded as the former thief ran off to find his comrade. The first place Duke looked was Patrick's quarters, only to not find him there. He hurried to other places of the Pond before arriving at the locker room and began to make his way towards the ice
"Where could he have gone? I guess for all we know, he could have left the base by now," he muttered to himself.
Duke stepped out into their bench when he heard a gasp coming from behind him. He turned his head enough to see Patrick standing in the middle of the rink, slowly backing away from him.
"Patrick, what are you doing out there?" wondered Duke.
Patrick didn't answer as he slowly turned around, as if looking for something or someone. He gave a sigh of relief before heading over to Duke.
"It's nothing Duke. I just thought I heard something," he said.
Duke carefully watched him, unsure whether or not Patrick was indeed telling the truth.
"So, what's the matter?" Patrick wondered.
"Falcone's escaped from jail…" Duke started.
The name of their former comrade caught Patrick's attention. He intently began to listen, hoping Duke would explain.
"So this is where he came to? When he disappeared, I thought he was killed but his body never recovered," Patrick said.
"Believe me; he's still alive and well but his ego's just as bad here, if not worse as on Puckworld," Duke warned him. "Now let's go!"
The two ducks hurried out of the rink, hoping to soon catch up with the others.
00000
Falcone stepped lightly over the sidewalk, passing through the alleys and streets of Anaheim like a ghost in the shadows.
"These jails are so pathetic. No match for an artiste like me," he muttered to himself.
He came to the entrance of an alley and glanced from side to side, wondering where to strike first to catch the attention of Duke and the other ducks. After his last encounter with them, he was determined to humiliate his former comrade. He silently walked up to a nearby building and grinned. He gently placed a hand on the outside before glancing around the area.
"Good, there's no one around. Time to make my move," he hissed.
Falcone slowly made his way to the roof, where he found a door leading into the building.
"This is too good to be true," he said.
He slowly made his way inside and began making his way down the stairs. When he arrived at the bottom, he grinned at the safes sitting on the ground before him.
"And it's all mine for the taking, with no one to stop me," Falcone mused.
He stepped toward one of the safes and began with his work.
00000
Nosedive and Rene were the first two to step out of the Migrator. He glanced over to her, a worried look crossing his face once he saw that she was indeed not doing well. He didn't want to say anything for fear of retaliation. They headed towards the building as the others followed. Rene placed a hand on the wall as Mallory stepped up behind her.
"I still can't believe that Falcone would be stupid enough to try and aggravate us," she mused.
"Falcone's always been the type to aggravate anyone. He's tried to overthrow my father's power for years and he's even annoyed Patrick and me about how we work together. He's even made several false implications about us," Rene told him.
Mallory leaned in towards her, hoping that none of the others would hear her.
"You know you should be resting. I can see it's affecting you again," Mallory told her.
"I'll be fine. I've lived through it once, I can do it again," Rene retorted.
Mallory was inwardly stunned by the reaction as Wildwing walked up behind the two. When she took notice of him, she hoped that she didn't he didn't hear anything.
"Rene and Nosedive, you two head inside first. Try to figure out where he is but do not confront him until we get there," Wildwing told them.
They nodded before Rene led the way inside. Wildwing watched them, hoping that nothing would go wrong. Mallory carefully eyed Rene, worried that something might happen and it would quickly happen.
00000
Rene and Nosedive made their way further into the building, hoping to find Falcone fast. Nosedive grew nervous with each passing step, remembering what happened the last time the thief.
"I don't like this at all. Falcone is a thieving bastard. I know he'll try and kill us," Nosedive muttered.
"He can be harmless if you find his weak point but it's not his ego. It's something else, I never figured out what it is," Rene barely said.
They walked further into the building when they came to a doorway. They peeked inside to find Falcone hovering over the safes, trying to pry them open.
"There he is, now let's call 'Wing!" Nosedive quietly said.
Without answering, Rene barged into the room, grabbing her saber along the way. Nosedive tried to grab her arm but she was just out of reach. He began to run after her, hoping to stop her before she hurt herself.
"Rene!" he cried out.
That caught Falcone's attention and he turned to face the two young ducks. He smirked once he saw who it was.
"My, my Rene, it is so nice to see you again. I'd love to know how you got here but I can't worry about that. You and your pitiful friend will die soon enough," he told them.
"But not before you," she snarled at him.
She lunged for him and the sabers connected. Rene gritted her teeth before Falcone grabbed her wrist. He lifted her enough so that she dropped the arm holding the saber. Rene made a hopeless grasp at his arm to free herself but she soon drooped her head. Falcone smirked as he watched her fall into unconsciousness and dropped her to the ground.
"Rene!" cried Nosedive.
00000
Patrick and Duke drove up to the scene on the bikes. They climbed off and stepped up to the others.
"What's going on?" Duke wondered.
Wildwing, Grin and Tanya all glanced in his direction, giving a sigh. It was at that moment that Patrick realized that neither Rene nor Nosedive was around.
"Where are the kids?" Patrick asked.
"They're in there. They were supposed to contact us with some sort of news but they haven't yet," Tanya told them.
Grin carefully watched Duke and Patrick. He could see the fear still lingering in Patrick's eyes and the anger slowly welling up inside Duke.
'What did happen to them? There has to be more in their history than what they're letting on,' Grin told himself.
A small beeping soon filled everyone's ears. Wildwing opened up his communicator to see his brother's face.
"Baby bro, what's going on in there?" he demanded.
"We have a problem bro. We found Falcone but Rene decided to attack," Nosedive reported.
"Perfect. What else could go wrong?" Wildwing sighed.
"I can tell you what else bro. While fighting Falcone, Rene fell unconscious. She needs some help in here and soon," Nosedive said.
The colour drained from Mallory's face once she heard that news. Her stared turned towards the building and began to step towards it. Duke managed to take a few steps, unsure what to think.
"No!" cried Mallory.
"Rene!" yelled Duke.
TBC…