"Mallory, you've got to seriously be wrong here. How could she have cancer? Out of all the times I've seen her, she's been fine," Nosedive wondered.
"It was most likely in remission. Rene was one of the lucky ones when I saw she had this strain," Mallory told him.
Nosedive narrowed his eyes, confused to what she meant. Mallory saw this and proceeded to explain.
"She has tytoxia, one of the more rare types of cancer. The thing with this strain is that it attacks anywhere and progresses from there. It happened to strike her left arm first and I guess it's affecting her again but I can't tell where. All I can figure is that it's progrssing from her arm again," Mallory explained.
Before Nosedive could open his beak to say anything else, the sound of loud voices was heard outside the Migrator. Scuffling could be heard before the back hatch opened and Wildwing ran inside. Grin soon followed him, trying to hold down Patrick. Tanya and Sanyo soon followed with Duke.
"What happened out there bro?" Nosedive wondered.
"Something's wrong with these two. Patrick tried to run from Falcone and Duke tried to kill him. I'd like to know why," Wildwing explained.
Nosedive kept quiet as he watched his brother and the others tie the still struggling Patrick and the unconscious Duke to chairs. He wondered what really happened between all of them. All were confused as they headed back to the Pond.
00000
Duke slowly opened his eyes, the view carefully coming into view. He glanced to one side to see Patrick sitting on a nearby bed, a shocked look on his face. Duke soon realized where they were and understood why it was to be that way.
"I see you're down here again," Duke mentioned.
There was no response from Patrick, making Duke wonder if the thief slash former murderer had even heard him.
"I could say the same to you," Patrick suddenly said. "I see the feud between you and Falcone took a turn for the worse."
Duke gave a sigh, not wanting to say anything about that. Patrick watched Duke out of the corner of his eye, wondering how deep their feud went.
"Duke, the way I see it, I think I started the hatred between you and Falcone," Patrick barely said.
The thief stared at Patrick, unsure what to think of this 'confession'. Duke turned his stare to the other wall, unsure how to answer it.
"You didn't start it Patrick. It was simmering underneath the surface for a long time before you came along. It finally came out the night you killed Alicia and I thought Rene was dead," Duke told him.
They soon heard a noise coming from nearby and saw that Grin and Mallory had stepped into the room.
"So the Mighty Ducks have come to see us. I wasn't expecting visitors," Patrick said with a small smile.
"Can it Patrick. This is serious. Rene's life is on the line and you know it," Mallory retorted.
Patrick immediately shut his beak, knowing what was coming: he had gone to the treatments and fittings with her for so long it had become routine for him. Duke was extremely worried for he also knew what she was going to say.
"Rene's cancer has returned. We are going through our limited options since this cancer is foreign to this planet," Mallory explained.
The thieves glanced at each other, giving sad looks to each other before turning back to the two ducks standing outside the cells.
"It just had to be around the time for Rene to head back for her checkup. We both thought we'd be back to Puckworld before now," Patrick mentioned.
Mallory sighed before she headed out of the room, not wanting to stay away from Rene for so long. Grin remained and pulled up a chair, sitting in it.
"Do you care to tell me the story?" he asked.
"What's there to tell?" Duke wondered.
Grin began to think of what he remembered of the story Sanyo said happened around the walls of Digit San. As much as the red-haired knew about the story, Grin now felt there was something missing. It was something that Grin felt wasn't going to come out very easily. As the names began to emerge to the four fleeing Thief au Combat that night, the story began to make more sense and confusing at the same time.
"Patrick, Duke, when the two of you confessed to being around Digit San the night Rene's mother died, many questions lingered between the others and I," Grin told them.
"Like I said, what's there to tell? It happened," Duke replied.
"Something serious must have happened between you and Falcone in order for you to attack him like you did. You were there Patrick, what do you feel about it?" Grin posed.
Both remained quiet, not wanting to look anywhere else but at the floor. It was Duke who decided to speak up first, breaking the silence he kept for so long.
"If you must know, Falcone was one of the two that was with Alicia and me. He abandoned us when we needed help the most. My daughter could have been with me this whole time if it wasn't for him or the other duck," Duke explained.
Grin was inwardly happy for it was a start. He turned towards Patrick, hoping to get an answer out of him.
"When Rene first came to stay with me, I thought about the night that she first escaped my grasp. She reminds me of everyone, Grin. Of every single duck I ever attacked and killed," Patrick sighed.
Grin carefully eyed both of the thieves, wondering if all of their feelings were going to come out with the recent events. When it appeared they weren't going to say anymore, Grin silently stood up and began to walk out of the room.
"Grin," Duke called after him.
"Yes Duke?" Grin said.
Grin turned enough to see the duck, who silently stood at the front of the cell.
"You will let us know about Rene, right?" he barely asked.
Grin smiled and nodded before heading towards the infirmary.
00000
Mallory held a hand up to her beak, the worry evident in her eyes as Grin stepped up to her side. She never looked in his direction as they watched Tanya look over the computer, Wildwing by her side. Sanyo and Nosedive were on either side of the unconscious Rene.
"Did you get anything out of them?" she suddenly asked.
"Yes, I did but now is not the time," Grin replied.
Mallory nodded before heading over to Tanya and Wildwing.
"Anything yet?" she wondered.
"Not yet. I've analyzed the medication that you gave me Mallory. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do with that. Some of the ingredients are only found on Puckworld and I don't know if we should use the only does we had," Tanya told her.
Mallory didn't say anything, mentally reprimanded herself for forgetting such a detail. Wildwing placed a hand on her arm, and she barely flinched.
"Mallory, do you think any of the methods on Earth would work?" he wondered.
"I'm not sure if they would or not but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try," she barely said.
Wildwing nodded before starting to head towards the door leading to the cells. Mallory twirled around, slight confusion in her eyes.
"Well, the doctors will have to get Duke's consent since she's under their age of majority and unable to speak for herself even if she weren't," he told her.
Mallory nodded, completely forgetting yet another detail in her grief. She watched Sanyo out of the corner of her eye. She closed her eyes before heading out of the room. Both Sanyo and Grin watched her leave both following her.
00000
Mallory stepped up to the door of her quarters and stopped, hearing the footsteps of two others behind her.
"Sanyo, I'm not in the mood to talk to you," growled Mallory.
"I'm not asking for your permission. As far as I've known, I've never had it," Sanyo angrily replied.
He stepped up behind her, crossing his arms and obviously angry. Mallory noticed Grin not too far off and was tempted to ask him to leave them alone.
"I'm not leaving just yet Mallory. We need to talk," he told her, as if sensing her question.
Mallory gave an angry sigh, shaking her head before placing a finger on Sanyo's shoulder.
"Sanyo, just because you're my older brother, that doesn't mean you can tell me how to live my life either! If you did, Rene would be dead right now whether it was from Thief au Combat or the cancer!" Mallory yelled at him.
"And for your information, Sis, Duke wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for me! I was the one who found him lying in the snow that night!" Sanyo yelled right back.
TBC…