"No Phil."
"Aw, Wing baby. C'mon. It would be a waste of her potential."
Behind the human's back, Wildwing saw Mallory roll her eyes. "A waste of her potential or a waste of chance that it can do something for you?"
Phil feigned hurt or at least Wildwing thought it was fake. "Mallory. I'm hurt that you'd think something like that."
"Oh that ain't a thought."
No one had noticed Duke appear at Phil's office door.
"No offense Phil." The ex-thief flashed the manager a smile, one that didn't entirely reach his eye. The human pouted.
"Look." Wildwing crossed his arms. "One, even if I said yes she wouldn't be ready for a year or more, physically. She's a twig still. She's doing so well because there's no 200+lbs guys coming at her, ready to slap her into the nearest board."
Phil stared at him blankly for a second and then rotated his chair to look at Mallory.
"What?" She asked brusquely.
Wildwing guessed his thoughts. "Mal's a lot stronger than Airika and Tanya is too for that matter. If you want to watch a massacre, put her out there and see what happens."
"Alright, alright." Phil waved a hand. "Fine. I won't draft her, but if she expresses interest-"
"She won't." Duke interrupted and disappeared as quietly as he had appeared.
….
Later
Nighttime
The metal building was filled with choking smoke. Even close to the ground she couldn't breathe. Her eyesight was blurred and each flash of light blinded her. Dazed, she stumbled to her feet and drifted unsteadily towards the commotion and then tripped.
The breath left her painfully as she landed hard on the concrete. Twisting around to see what she had tripped over her stomach flipped and the bile rose, threatening to spill her stomach contents. The blonde duck had died with her eyes open, the glazed expression haunting. "T-T-Tanya?"
She reached out and shook the female's shoulder, even though deep down she knew it was no use. In a state of shock she found she couldn't even grieve, she pulled to her feet robotically and started towards the firefight again. To her right there was what looked like a bucket of blood had been upended in one spot. No limbs…just blood. "Grin." She didn't even know how she knew it was the large gentle duck but it seemed inductively accurate that that much body fluid wouldn't have come from any of the others except him. Near the area was Mallory on her side, facing Airika, her once beautiful face charred. Airika forced herself onward.
She reached the edge of the row of boxes to see Wildwing, Dive and Duke all in a raging battle with the Saurians and drones. She wanted to call to them, but no words would come. Duke was closest to her and she thought he saw her; he turned back to the drones before spinning back to stare at her in shock, like he thought she had died. An explosion's shockwave spread out around the warehouse, slamming into Duke's back and sending him clear across the large room. She watched him crumple behind some heavy equipment.
"NO! Wing!"
Dive gave a harsh cry of rage and grief and unleashed a volley of explosive pucks at the advancing drones. He killed a few with amazing accuracy before a well-planted headshot knocked him backwards, the blast landing him by her feet. She could only stare down at him. Mechanical thuds of the approaching drones made her look up to stare into the cold un-relinquishing gazes of Dragaunus's machines. She didn't feel the shot that ended her life…
Airika shot straight up; her t-shirt stuck her from the sweat. The dream had felt so real and left her feeling sick. Every one of them had died. Well she didn't know if Duke did, but she had to assume from the way the sound of his skull hitting the metal beam echoed, he had.
She had managed to calm herself and was just drifting off to sleep when a loud alarm ripped through her silent room. She levitated off her bed, her heart slamming against her ribcage. She glanced upward to the speaker in the corner of her room. Drake 1. For Drake's sakes…. She grabbed the nearest article of clothing, which happened to be a large hoodie, and pulled it on.
….
"It's an energy reading coming out of the warehouse district…" Tanya paused. "Again?"
"Well what we waiting for?" Nosedive slapped a fist into his palm. "Let's go kick some scaly tails."
"It's just odd." Tanya remarked. "They've never returned to an area we've stopped them at."
"Maybe they're running out of places to hit, figured they'd rerun their itinerary." Nosedive was undeterred.
Airika quietly climbed up to Drake 1 where the others were standing around the computer. She didn't announce her presence; instead she remained silent and listened to their various plans of actions.
"So we're good then, right? Excellent." Nosedive spun around, almost into her. He jumped, possibly higher than she had when Drake 1's alarm blasted across her head in her room. "Jeez A. Warn me next time."
She didn't respond to him. "Don't go to the warehouses."
Tanya narrowed her eyes in concern and then she, like everyone else glanced at the leader to see how he would take the plea.
"We have to Airika, if there's a chance we can get Dragaunus I'm going to take it."
She didn't answer, just stared at him blankly then she lowered her gaze and left the large dais.
"What was that?" Nosedive asked, scratching his head as he and everyone else watched the petite duck disappear into the darkness of the hall that led their rooms.
"I have no idea." His brother answered slowly.
"I'll be back." Mallory pulled her blaster off her back and set it by the controls of the computer. She started down the stairs.
"Where you going?" Nosedive asked.
"To powder my beak." The redhead's sarcastic answer floated up somewhere below them. "Where do you think Dive?" She added once she was on solid ground and moving across the rec room.
….
"Airika?"
A soft knock on her doorframe didn't make her turn around; instead she stayed seated on her bed, facing the wall. She could hear Mallory drawing towards her. Then the redhead was within her peripheral vision.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Her tone sounded robotic, even to her.
Mallory glanced around the room and then back at her. "You and the rest of us know that isn't true. You made that very clear a few minutes ago."
The dirty blonde duck looked down at her hands. "Do you know what a mundane is?"
Mallory tilted her head. "A mundane?" She sat next to her. "Yeah…I guess. You mean our mundane, not the human word?"
"On Puckworld." Airika said quietly. "A mundane on Puckworld."
"It's…I don't know." The redhead was taken back. "I guess I'm what you'd call a mundane, why?"
"I'm a transmundane."
"A trans-?"Mallory abruptly trailed off. She rose off the bed as if in a trance. "What are you saying? You can see the future?"
"It comes and goes." Airika retorted, not necessarily mad but visibly upset. "You can't tell them…Tanya. You can't tell Tanya."
"Why not Tanya? What am I supposed to tell them?" Mallory studied the girl. "We aren't going to study you if that's what you think." Then it hit her. "Oh my god."
Airika looked away.
"Your sister didn't just give you to Dragaunus because she's a heartless bitch…she handed you over because…. because you can read the future?"
Airika didn't respond.
"Holy shit. Airika."
"That's why I was beaten like I was and not fed, not-not clothed." She whispered the last part. "I'd lie."
"Lie about what?"
"You. The Mighty Ducks. And the Lord knew it so I was punished. I lied about where Canard hid the last Aerowing."
For some reason it didn't surprise her the duck knew Canard's name without having ever met him. "Wait you said or at least alluded that you've only been with Dragaunus for about a year. Canard had that plane hidden longer than that."
"I lied. I've been the Lord's slave for three years."
Mallory sank down on the bed again, staring at Airika. "The entire time of the Invasion."
"Every Intel I knew of, I never told him. Lu said enough for the both of us. Why do you think she started spying? We were holding our own until she and a few others became spies. After that Dragaunus didn't trust me. I didn't care though. I continued to give false information. I'd rather the beatings then betray my home." Airika glanced at her. "I knew you were coming to the monitor tower. I didn't tell him. When we reached here, he almost killed me."
The two sat in silence for several minutes.
"Why don't you want us to go to the warehouse?" Mallory asked, not able to look at the girl.
Silence.
"You die."
…..
"It's about freakin' time." Nosedive had his arms crossed, looking very much like his brother in the way he was standing. "They've probably emptied nine out of the ten warehouses by now."
Mallory ignored him. "Tanya how big is the energy reading?"
"Uh…." Tanya looked taken back by the question. "Not as big as usual. It's usually a five, the max, but this is a two."
Mallory was quiet for a moment. "I say we stay in."
"Huh?" Nosedive dropped his arms.
She only stared at her leader and best friend. "That's my vote."
For once Wildwing wasn't wearing the mask; in fact he hadn't worn it nearly as much as he had before Airika came into their lives. His blue eyes studied her hazel ones, contemplating.
"You're sure it's a two reading Tanya?" He asked without looking away from Mallory.
"Yes." The tech always got a little indignant when her expertise was challenged.
Wildwing finally moved, turning lackadaisically to see the time. 1:25am. "Well I'm tired." He brushed by Mallory and waited for her below.
Tanya craned her neck to see how close Wildwing was in earshot, satisfied at the distance she hissed, "what's going on Mal?"
Mallory half shook her head. "It's late. Just…not now." She grabbed her blaster she had left and turned, following Wildwing back to their room.
His gears once rearing to go, Nosedive had settled fairly quickly. "Well then. Gents… milady. Night." He left too, hopping the last few steps, landing lithely and disappearing too into the dark hallway.
"I don't get it." Tanya said after a moment. "Mallory's never protested to going out."
"A No uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." Grin murmured.
"Is it bad that I understand quantum physics and yet I have no idea what you just said?"
Grin smiled. "Maybe she is seeing that not every fight needs to be faced immediately." He then left too, pausing by the stairs. "Are you coming?"
Tanya groaned. "Yes, yes I'm coming. Duke?"
The grey duck gave a jerked nod and followed his friends out of the rec room.