I'M NOT DEAD.

^ahem^ That out of the way, here's another chapter of Duke's origin. I wanted this to be longer, but I'm having a bit of a dry spell in creative writing. So you're just gonna have to deal with what I did manage to get out. Sorry it's not longer

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


"Tell me again why we're just standing here?"

Duke rolled his eyes. "See that ov'ah the'ah?" he asked, pointing from their position in the bushes to an air duct on the side of the museum. "We gotta sneak in through that. And since the guards that do the'ah rounds are almost done with this set, we wait until they're finished to get in so we don't get caught."

He lowered his arm and went back to studying the museum map layout that had been given to the duo before they had left. Thus far, they had been sitting there half an hour and Falcone was proving to be annoying. He looked like he was ready to just pounce on a guard and tie 'em up, but Duke had been told by Sapphire that (if they could) the two thieves-in-training were to avoid contact with any personnel and to only use force if absolutely necessary.

So when they had arrived, Duke had scanned the outside and figured out that the guards were on a trade off system…and Falcone had done next to nothing to help.

And he was still being useless by acting like an impatient hatchling.

"Just wait another few minutes," Duke continued. "They should be done in a coupla' minutes, so we can sneak in then."

"Fine, fine," Falcone said, obviously bored. He leaned back against a nearby tree and closed his eyes. "Wake me up when we finally do go in."

Duke frowned in annoyance. Great Mother of Ducks, WHY did I hafta get stuck with Falcone? Wasn't there SOMEONE that was a bett'ah match for me as a partn'ah than HIM?

But Duke continued to do his work, despite how annoyed he was. He rolled up the small map and tucked it into one of the pouches on his belt, turning his head in the direction of where the guards had been a moment ago.

It might be best just ta' go now, the gray teen thought. If my obs'ahvations have been right, then we won't see the guards for at least anoth'ah twenty minutes or so.

"Get your butt up, we're goin' in," Duke told Falcone, standing from his spot.

The other yawned and stood up. "Finally," he said. "It's so boring out here."

Remaining in the shadows, the duo carefully made their way over to the air duct. Once they were in front of it, Duke took a miniature screwdriver out of one of the belt's pockets and began to loosen the screws in each corner of the vent.

It took a few minutes, but the gray drake managed to quietly remove the two main screws that held the vent in place and remove the metal so that they could enter. "Alright, go first so I can put this thing back on after we go in," Duke said.

"No, you go in first," Falcone said. "I can put a vent back in its place."

Duke scowled. "Ya sure ya can even do that?" he asked.

"Of course I can! I learned from the best."

Sure ya did. That's why everyone thinks you're a terrible thief and we 'aven't even gotten halfway through this mission yet, Duke thought. But since this was supposed to be a partnered heist, he had to let Falcone do something. "Fine, I'll go first," the gray drake agreed.

Pulling himself up using the duct, Duke managed to make himself fit. Maybe malnutrition was a good thing for me, the teenager thought as he began to crawl through the duct, hearing his partner coming in behind him. If I were any bigger, I prob'ly wouldn't be able ta' fit in he'ah.

Then a thought occurred to him. Can Falcone fit through he'ah? He's bigg'ah in body frame than I am. He mentally slapped himself. Great Mother of Ducks, why the puck didn't I think of that BEFORE comin' in?

Duke looked over his shoulder (as best as he could in the small duct anyway,) trying to see if he could get his partner's attention. "Ya doin' alright back th'ah Falcone?" he asked.

The teen was only slightly surprised when he didn't get an answer.

Eith'ah he didn't follow me in or he's goin' slow'ah because of his size, Duke concluded, turning to face forward and ramble onwards towards the area the two were meant to go to. Wait, he was behind me when I came in. Did he get lost somewhe'ah along the way?

...Oh well. He knows whe'ah we're supposed to end up, so it should be alright.

So Duke continued through the vent, trying to find his way to the place where he and Falcone were supposed to find their artifact. Supposedly, there was a new display in the museum, but despite that, the security was still lax. Or perhaps the majority of it had been moved to the main exhibit, Duke wasn't sure which. He himself had never been to the Museum of National DuCaine History, but it should prove to be interesting. Heck, he was even getting a souvenir.

Finally, Duke found a vent that he managed to pry open that led to the room that he and Falcone were supposed to be in. After removing the metal object and placing it next to him in the vent, the skinny teen managed to quickly (and quietly) jump down from where he was to the floor. He surveyed the area, noting that his partner hadn't gotten there before him. So that meant that either Falcone actually had gotten lost in the vent system or had taken another way in and it had only sounded like he had followed Duke in.

So what do I do now, just wait for him? Duke pondered. …well, no guards are he'ah, and this place has got plenty'a places to hide in case I need to.

So Duke sat on a nearby bench and began to wait.

RVRVRVRVRVRVRV

"Sorry boys, Royal Flush. I win again."

Baron smiled a little as he heard the groans from other members of the guild who had decided to play Poker. "Anyone wanna play again?" he asked innocently, gathering and shuffling the cards.

The only answer Baron got was the dropping of money on the table before the five others left the Infirmary room.

When the older drake had gotten back to the room that Doc had isolated him in for the past week, some of the other Masters (whose apprentices were also on their assigned partnered missions) showed up and asked if he wanted to play cards with them. So the six Masters played the gambling card game at the round table in the corner of the room.

And now here he was, nearly an hour later, with about three hundred dollars in his possession when he heard the door open. Baron looked up to see Rose.

"Hey Rose," Baron greeted, placing the money on the smaller table next to the bed. "What're you doing here so late?"

Rose just looked at him with a somewhat disturbed look on her face. "I…we need to talk."

Baron looked at her, slightly confused. "Alright," he said, while climbing back into bed. "What about? Worried about the kid?"

"Actually…yeah, I am," Rose admitted, coming to the bed and sitting in a chair next to it. "Something's going to happen, but I don't know what."

"What do you mean 'something's going to happen'?" Baron asked. "Don't you mean that you only think that?"

Rose shook her head. "I-I overheard some talk…Ace was speaking with another Master, though I don't know who," she said. "He was talking about what Falcone had in mind for Duke…during the heist tonight."

The older drake froze. "When did you hear this?"

"…not too long ago. I was on my way here to see you when I was about to pass the room I overheard this from," Rose said, eyes still cast downward. "I thought I should tell you first."

Baron let this information sink in for only a moment. "What was it that Ace has in mind?"

Rose took a breath and let it out. "Falcone's going to - "

RVRVRVRVRVRVRV

"Finally! I was wonderin' when ya'd show up!"

Falcone looked at Duke, who was still sitting on the bench he had found nearly twenty minutes earlier. "Sorry, took me longer than expected to get through the system," the Raptrin answered simply. He pointed in the direction that he had just come from. "The vent was a bit smaller than I thought, and I ended up in another vent."

Duke just stood up from his seat and walked over to his "partner". "Alright, you're he'ah now, so let's get this show on da' road," he said, starting to go through the pockets of his belt.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm lookin' for a glass-cutt'ah," Duke answered, still digging through the various pockets. Finally, he found what he was looking for and pulled it out. "Seems we're gonna get some jewel-encrusted hockey puck from back in tha' day," the teen said, looking around to see if he could see the case in which this thing was supposed to be in.

A few minutes of searching passed when Falcone and Duke finally managed to find the case that the assigned item was in. After making sure that there weren't any tripwires or anything of the sort, Duke began to cut through the glass of the case. The shard he had cut fell out and Duke caught it in his hand. "Here, take this," he said, handing the glass to Falcone.

He didn't notice when he was pulling the exhibit item out of its case that Falcone was putting the glass into a pocket on his own belt…or when the falcon reached slowly for something behind his back…


ZOMG! What's Falcone gonna do?

Tune in next time! 8D