Last chapter so you don't really need these... but here you are anyways... :D

Warnings and Headsup!

1) this story does contain mention of abuse, and full out present day abuse. It got a little detailed in one of the chapters and though nothing is stated specifically, for those of you who are smart enough to know what 2+2 is... you'll be able to understand where the train of thought was going. I will mark which chapters are the bad ones... If you skip... you wont really miss anything important, just an awesome rescue attempt!

2) this gets depressing and a little dark... but it comes out cheerful and rainbow and butterflies in the end, I promise!

3) THIS IS NOT A LOVE STORY! Duke does NOT fall in love with the OC and the OC does NOT fall in love with him! Sorry if I've made it sound like it was going in a different direction.

4) its not that good at the end... but like my last story... it gets better as it goes on I promise!

5) It may seem that my OC has a few things to realize before this is all said and done... and there are... I've tried to keep it organized... but if you have trouble basically she needs to gain self-confidence, trust, and a belief that there are heroes out there who wont fail her... kinda ties in with the whole trust thing...

6) THE END NOW READ!

Ch. 9: Home

"How's she doing?"

"She's still out, but they said she'll live."

"She is stronger then most of us."

"Yeah, I don't think I could've gone through what she did and still have the strength to talk back like that."

"Is she going back to her home world?"

"No."

All their voices merged together and I could only make sense of a little of what was being said.

"How long has Duke been asleep?"

"About an hour. I asked if he wanted me to take his spot but he's dead on determined to be here when she wakes up."

"We should at least move him into the chair."

"He said he wants her to able to see him the moment she wakes."

"Yes, but still..."

I had managed to remember how to twitch my hand. They all fell silent, I could feel pairs of eyes looking at me. I tried moving my head, opening my eyes, talking. All took me several tries. I finally managed to open my left eye half way. Why just my left eye? I wondered. The first thing I saw was a grey faced duck, head on the side of the bed I was laying in, bill slightly opened, a little drool coming out. I could feel it seep into the sheets.

"D-Duke?" I was so happy I could croak out his name. He jerked awake as suddenly as if I had splashed cold water on his face.

"Kathlene!" he yelped. He examined me closely. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been... better." I said thickly. "What happened?"

"Later." Wildwing said, stepping into view. "You need rest."

"I thought I was resting." I said. "Or was that me on vacation?"

"No, that was you out cold, for two days." Nosedive said. I turned my head to look at him. He was standing by the door.

"Where am I?" I couldn't make sense of anything.

"The hospital." Mallery said. She was on my other side, sitting on my bed. "Everyone's fine. And you're safe."

"And, Dragonis doesn't have control of the world." Tanya said brightly.

"But the..."

"I kinda blew them to bits." Nosedive said a little proudly.

"Try blew them to dust." Tanya snapped at him.

"Hey I said I was sorry." Nosedive shot back.

"You could've blown us all up!" she retorted.

"Hey, you two. Knock it off." snapped Wildwing.

I tried to say something else, but my tonge was getting heavier.

"Whers... Grin...?" I managed.

"He went to get a nurse." Wildwing said. "We were to alert someone when you woke up. They said you would be a little incoherent for a while, from the medication."

I got scared. "No!" I managed to shout out weakly. "No, no med, no..." I couldn't get anymore out.

"Kat, it's okay. It's helping you. It's making it so you don't feel any pain." Duke said calmly, stroking my hair. "It's okay, we're here. We wont let them give you any more then is necessary." he smiled.

I nodded, my eyelid getting really heavy. I needed to tell him something. Or was it Wildwing. Or maybe Mallery? But I couldn't think.

"She's awake?" an unformilar female voice asked.

"I don't know. She was, about two seconds ago."

"She's drifting again. That's normal for people on morphine. She will be comming in and out for a while. Let me or one of the other nurses know if she wakes up again."

Wildwing nodded to the nurse who walked away. "Duke." he said, approaching his friend who was staring at Kat's calm, pale face. "She'll be alright. But you wont be if you don't go back to The Pond and get some proper sleep. You've been here for over 18 hours. Let someone else take the watch."

Duke seemed relugtant. He needed to be here to tell her that he too was sorry and give her his reasurence that she was needed. But he concented when Wildwing put pressure on his sholders and started leading him out of the room. Duke didn't look away until they were passed her room and he could no longer see her through the window.

"Duke." Wildwing said. "You're not... falling in love with her? Are you?" he sounded a tad curious.

"Of corse not." Duke said wearily. "She's like a younger sister to me. I can't explain it, but we've got similar pasts, similar scars. We are the only one in the entire cosmos who truly knows what the other has been through."

"You know that's not true. You just haven't found any others yet. But you two are not one of a kind." Wildwing said. He wasn't trying to put either one of them down, he was just simply stating a fact.

"Yeah, well..." Duke cleared his throat. "What made you ask?"

"I wanted to make sure you knew that she doesn't seem to be in love with anyone on the team. I just wanted to keep you from getting too... attached." he replied, choosing his words carefully.

"I'm not blind Wildwing. I know that." Duke said a little sharply. "Hang on a minute, I need some coffee." he started heading to the cafe but Wildwing stopped him.

"No. You need to get to bed."

A few days later and Duke was sitting in the living room, running a piece of cloth absentmindly over his sword. He wanted to be at the hospital but Wildwing again had made him go back to The Pond and get some rest. He had spent another 22 hours with her after he had recharged from his first post duty. She was getting better. Waking up long enough to carry on a five minute conversation without loosing focuss. She even started eating solid food about an hour before he was kicked out, although they were still going to keep her on a feeding tube because she was unable to hold it down.

As more time passed, she progressed to where she was sitting up. Then she was walking. Then she was yelling to be released. She argued with the doctors and nurses constantly on the subject.

"I can eat, walk, take care of myself." she told them. "I don't need to be in here anymore."

"Can you go longer then an hour without loosing focuss?" one of the doctors asked for the unteenth time. Unfortunately her hour of carrying on the argument was almost up and you could see that her eye had glazed over.

"Presicely my point." the doctor sniffed as he walked out.

"He can be a little more polite about it." said Tanya irritably to Grin as she watched him leave. "I mean he would loose focuss like that too if he had 15 volts of electricity frying his brain."

The fact that Kathlene had even survived that much was a mirical. Especially sinced that was the amount that they had hit her with about four times, making that a total of 60. And that wasn't counting the smaller volts she had gotten before the ones the ducks had whitnessed.

I stirred. Wildwing and Mallery were there. "Hey, wasn't Grin and Tanya here?" I asked.

"They left about two, three hours ago." Wildwing informed me. "You blacked out again. We were actually wondering if we were going to get to talk to you today. Duke and Nosedive should be here in about five to ten minutes."

"Oh." my face fell. "I'm sorry guys. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Don't beat yourself up." Mallery told me fermly. "You had lord knows how many volts running through your body. You probably were charged enough to light up The Pond."

I nodded. That led me to a whole new train of thought though.

"Wildwing, you've yet to explain." I told him, looking right at his unmasked face. (Everytime they came to visit me they were in theire 'casual' clothes)

Wildwing tensed up. "You don't really need to know."

"Tell me."

He sighed. "Grin had you. You had passed out. We had all the guards on our tail feathers." he explained. "Tanya and Mallery were guarding Grin, trying to get him back to the teleportation device. We, Nosedive, Duke and I were holding off the other guards. Actually, it was just Nosedive and myself. Duke was locked in a fight with Gorg. None of us had ever seen him fight like that before. Soon, both sides, us and the guards had stopped firing at each other and just watched them fight. Gorg, though he might not look it, is one of the top notch swordsmen in the cosmos. It's lucky that Duke was better them him. It looked like Gorg was going to win for a moment, but then Duke kinda snapped."

"Sounds like he had already snapped." I cut across him.

Wildwing gave a small smile and nodded slightly. "Yeah, but, he went even more off the deep end if that was possible. He held his sword steady, stopped blocking and thrusting altogether. He waited for the moment when Gorg moved his hand a certain way, then in one swift movement, Duke disarmed him, flung him to the ground, and..." but I held up my hand to stop him. I knew what Duke had done. He had used the disarming move I had used on him. The move that disarms and kills at the same time.

"We were just able to get away after that." Wildwing continued, obviously aware that I put two and two together. "All the guards were after us after Duke performed his most finest dule ever."

"How did you get out of Dragonis's ship?" I asked.

"We didn't have to go back there." Wildwing said. "We zapped you right here and then, as you were in sergery, and Duke, Nosedive and Grin stayed behind to be here when you got out; Tanya, Mallery and I went to find Phil. Apparently after we left, Dragonis got so disgusted that he litteraly threw Phil out. Apart from a broken arm and shattered nerves, he'll live."

Duke and Nosedive came in right when I was laughing.

"What's that sound?" Nosedive asked teasingly. I looked at him and after thinking about it, I really hadn't truly laughed infront of him, or the others for that matter, before.

"Sorry." I said, blushing.

"For what?" Duke asked, comming over and giving me a hug.

"I... don't know." I replied, wrapping my arm around his neck and squeezing back.

"Well, I'd say you're fine to come home anytime you want." Mallery said. Apparently she figured if I started appologizing for no reason, I was back to normal.

"Try telling that to the thick skulled, arogent, morons." I said, refering to the doctors.

Wildwing and Mallery laughed softly as they got up to say goodbye.

Duke watched the other two ducks leave as he and Nosedive sat in the two seats where Wildwing and Mallery had just vacated.

"Actually, Nosedive do you mind letting me talk to Kat alone for a minute. I'll come and get you when I'm done." Duke said, striking up nerve.

Nosedive, who had the latest eddition of his favorite comic under his arm, looked puzzled but shrugged and headed for the door. "Don't you kids get too crazy while I'm gone." he said, then laughed as he walked out of the door. Duke could've hit him. But then he figured he'd just put worms in his shoes later. Kinda give the kid a taste of his own medicine.

"He's so imature." Kat said. Duke nodded.

"Yeah, he is." he said outloud remembering that she probably couldn't see him clearly. He glanced at his watch nerviously. He didn't know how long she had been talking with the others before he and Nosedive had come in, and he didn't know how much longer she could keep her concentration. He wanted to get what he wanted to say out before she blacked out again.

"Kat." he began.

"Yes."

"When we rescued you. I didn't say a word to try and comfort you or get you to see reason or anything."

"I know."

"I wanted to say I was sorry for that and say what I would've said then, now."

"Okay."

"First off, I'm sorry I didn't join the others. I was beyond furious that Dragonis had sent you to the Mulkers. Working for them a few times in the past I knew what a dangerous, sick, twisted race they were. I didn't want to sound unconvincing when I spoke to you." he took a deep breathe. She looked at him, her face twisted as if as she was trying to keep back tears.

"I wanted to tell you that I would, nor am, nor ever WILL tell you to go back to the place where you were neglected, abused, ignored, exiled. I want you to know that I, we, want and need you here with us. You fit in perfectly here, and plus, I think Mallery and Tanya are happy that there's another girl." he smiled.

She didn't respond at first, and he wondered if she had heard the last part of his monolouge. "Well." he said. "At least I told you, and I hope that some of what I said got through."

All I could do was sit there. I didn't black out again, or at least I don't think I did. Duke's words just seemed to take a moment to sink in, and when they did, I felt love and effection for him, and the team, well up inside me. I swung my legs out of my bed and stumbled towards him. He immideately got up and cought me as I fell forward. I looked up at him, my hands resting on his sholders.

"Duke, thank you." I had to think for a moment before my own words regestered to me. I looked up at the duck who I had gotten closest to. He was like an older brother in the way he was always worring over me, protecting me, listening to me and understanding perfectly everything I'd been through. Though probably not the most recent abuse I'd undergone.

"Your welcome." he replied. He helped me sit back onto my bed.

"Here, I brought you something." he reached into the inside pocket of his one peace suit and brought out something small and black.

I took the eyepatch from him, smiling wide. As I unraveled the strap I realized that he had also handed me a hair twisty that I had not previously seen. I took it and tied my hair back before putting the patch on.

"I wish I could get out of here." I said after he had gone and fetched Nosedive.

"We know." Nosedive said. "I can go and try to persuay the docs for ya if you want me too."

I smiled. "No, that's alright. But thank you."

It had been a month since they had rescued Kathlene from the Mulkers and Wildwing was releaved to hear, at last, she was comming home. She still spaced out temperarily, but the time in which she did so was a lot shorter and far between episodes. He smiled to himself as Nosedive ran passed him yelling at him to hurry up. He, Wildwing, and Duke were going to go get her while the others, including Phil, finished putting up the party decerations.

After they left, Tanya cursed loudly. She was trying to hang the "Welcome Home Kat" banner and she had slammed her thumb between the nail and hammer.

"Pain is just an illution." Grin told her as he walked by, carrying a few presents that he had bought Kat, over to the gift's table.

"I'll show you an illusion." she muttered and he smirked.

"Well, I think that's all." Mallery said. "PHIL!"

Phil jumped. He had tried to sneak a piece of the cake that Nosedive and Tanya had picked up from the store earlier that day.

"What?" he said innocently, but stepped back from the table.

"I'm fine, Wildwing, honest." I said as he put a hand out to steady me. My balance was extremely off, I flinched whenever something electic gave off a spark, I was constantly reminding myself that no one was my master, and I refused to whear anything but jeans and courter sleves or long sleved shirts (doubled layered if possible). But other then that I was okay. I couldn't even remember the last time I had lost focuss, and I was actually walking a little more straighter then I did a half hour ago. Needless to say my hair was tied back and I had Duke's eyepatch.

The doctors had told me that I still needed to get plenty of rest, don't over do anything, and they told the team that under NO cercumstances was I to be out in the field until I stopped having black outs all together. But I didn't want to hear all that. All I wanted to do was get back to The Pond and maybe skate around a little. But the doctors told me that if they cought wind of me doing that before they gave me permision, they'd drag my butt back to the hospital and keep in intensive care for another month.

When I stepped out of the elevator, I gasped. The first thing I saw was a banner with letters on it that was big enough for me to read. "WELCOME HOME KAT!" I couldn't stop it, I broke down. I'm such a cry baby. I stared at the word, HOME. After thinking about it, this place had felt more like home to me then any place in my old world had ever done. They all seemed to understand. I got a lot of pats on the back and hugs from Duke and Tanya, and even a few from Mallery, Nosedive, and one from Wildwing.

"Come on Grinster. Your turn." Nosedive said grinning.

Grin came up to me, and gentiler then you'd expect from a guy his size to manage, he gave me a quick hug. It was clear though that he was scared of hurting me, and actually I was quite glad for his hesitation. Just the few hugs I had recieved were making my head swim. But then of course they all got Phil to give me one to.

"Glad you're feeling better." he told me. "Now, if you could just let me know when the docs'll let you do your regular stuff... You know how much we could make with a blind warrior celebrety?"

"NO PHIL!" All the ducks said in unison. Phil looked slightly crest fallen, but didn't argue. I chuckled weakly. Even though the idea of being used for anything gave me the urge to run to my room (Wildwing said I could have his room and he'd stay with Nosedive) and plaster layers of blankets on me, I knew deep down that Phil meant no harm by it. He was just an anoying, greedy, movey loving, slightly insensitive air head who you couldn't help but love.

"We got you gifts!" Nosedive announced as if he was a little kid who wanted to show his parents the card he had made at school. I was overwhelmed when I saw a stack of wrapped packages on the kitchen table.

"You guys..." I started but Mallery cut across me.

"We're officially welcoming you in, even Phil, and we wanted to get you them so don't even try to feel guilty cause that's just gonna make me hit you."

I swallowed the rest of my sentence and smiled. "Thank you." As I sat at the table, unwrapping gifts, expressing my delight and graditude, for real because I now knew that I could trust them all to be there for me; to be my friends; I felt happier then I had ever felt in my life. And something hit me that was so unexpected, I almost didn't regester what it was. You are worth something. Let the past go. Those people didn't hurt you because you weren't worth anything, they did it because they couldn't see your worth. But these guys do, hold on to them. Move forward. And it was true, I concluded, that no matter where you were in the cosmos, you were worth something to someone, somewhere.

"Hey Wildwing." I said as we sat around eating the chocolate cake that Phil had tried to steal a peice of earlier.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Heroes. They exist." That just seemed to hit me also. After thinking about it... the ducks, Duke, Grin, Mallery, Wildwing, Nosedive, and Tanya... they were all heroes. They kept their word, and they saved me. They don't have any special abilities, but that's what made them even more heroic.

"And you are one of them." he said.