Chapter 11:

"Why the hell didn't you call me?!" Wildwing bellowed at a guilty looking Canard the next morning. Duke leant against Drake one with his arms crossed and merely glared at his leader angrily, clearly on Wildwing's side in this particular argument.

"Because you were busy, and we could handle it." Canard replied calmly.

"Yeah you handled it perfectly Canard!" Wildwing seethed, "So well in fact my brother is in the infirmary with busted ribs and a cracked skull!"

Wildwing had returned home with Jessica and Molly just before his teammates. He had just carried Molly to bed and tucked her in before he and Jessica had gone to the kitchen to make a warm drink. They had intended to retire to bed themselves shortly after. When he'd arrived at the kitchen he and Jessica had heard the others return but it sounded like they had rushed to the infirmary rather then going to drake one or disbursing their own ways as normal. The pair had looked at each other and had rushed to the infirmary themselves to see what was going on. When they arrived, it was to find Tanya hooking Nosedive up to the medicom unit. Nosedive had insisted he was fine as he normally did but it wasn't long before the medical equipment had reveal the true extent of his injuries. He had a hairline fracture in his skull where he had been slammed into the ground by Siege. All but two ribs were damaged, and it would be a while before Nosedive would be going anywhere.

"Hey, what happened was not his fault!" Mallory snapped from where she had been listening. "They were caught off guard. Right Canard?"

"Which we wouldn't have been if the pair of us hadn't been arguing." Canard admitted his guilty conscience not allowing him to let that slide.

"Great, so you can't even get on with him long enough to function in a battle situation?" Wildwing rubbed his temples.

"I'm sorry Wing. I kept him with me to look out for him, but it made it worse." Canard clenched his fists and looked away from his furious friend. Wildwing glared at Canard then spun on his heels and began to leave. "Where are you going?"

"To blow off some steam before I hit you!" Wildwing snapped. "Again!" Canard winced as his friend left.

"Well let's hope he blows off steam in time for the game tomorrow." Tanya sighed then also left to check on her patient. All but Mallory left as well, Duke giving Canard a disgusted look beforehand and the red head placed a hand on Canard's upper arm in comfort.

"I screwed up big time." Canard sighed. Mallory moved closer still and cupped his cheek with her right hand.

"You did what you thought was right." She told him firmly, "This is a war. People get hurt. We can only do so much to prevent that."

"Come on Mallory," Canard wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder for some comfort, "I should never have taken the leadership back. Duke was right. Wildwing is a better leader than me."

"Can that noise." Mallory pulled away and punched him in the arm. "This was always your team. Wildwing knows that, you have no idea how long it took him to accept that you were gone, and he had to take over. He never wanted to be leader, he just did it because he was the only one who could. Believe me, we found that out the hard way." Mallory snorted remembering the fiasco when Wildwing had given up then immediately had been kidnapped, leading them to think he had deserted them. "You brought this team together. You deserve to lead us, and you are every bit as good as Wildwing."

"You're bias." Canard chuckled at her.

"Maybe a little." She grinned leaning in and nuzzling him deeply. "But I can live with that." She nuzzled him again before pulling away once more, "Nosedive will be fine, he's tougher than he looks. And it's not like we're a man down any more. So, the game tomorrow is covered."

"That doesn't make my best friend any less mad at me." Canard sighed.

"You ask me, Wildwing is being an idiot. Dive could have been hurt regardless of who he was with." Mallory tried to reason with her lover.

"But he got hurt with me. And because I couldn't keep my emotions in check I didn't notice the saurians had spotted us." Canard pointed out. "I…" He looked up as someone came into the command room to see Jessica. She looked at the pair but didn't seem to bear him any ill will.

"Have you seen Wildwing?" She asked them, "Nosedive wants him to pick up something for him and won't let me do it."

"He went somewhere to blow off some steam." Mallory informed the woman.

"Oh, um, thanks." Jessica said and went to leave.

"Hey, do you think this is Canard's fault?" Mallory asked ignoring Canard's attempt to shush her.

"Excuse me?" Jessica turned to face them again.

"Dive getting hurt. Do you think it's Canard's fault?" Mallory asked insistently.

"Why does my opinion matter?" Jessica frowned.

"Just answer the question." Mallory rolled her eyes.

"Listen," Jessica put her hands on her hips and glared at the pair, "I don't know exactly what happened last night, nor do I particularly want to. From what I understand the two of you," she indicated to Canard, "were arguing instead of paying attention." She sighed, and her posture softened, "At the end of the day, no one was killed. Everyone came home alive. And trust me, that is the only thing that matters." She sighed, "I'm going to find Wildwing, or do you have any more burning questions to ask me?" She added with an exasperated tone. The pair shook their heads no and Jessica left.

Jessica shook her head as she wondered towards the hanger to see if Wildwing's jeep was still parked there. If it was then he had probably gone to the roof or for a walk nearby. When she realised his jeep was in fact present she made her way to the roof, hoping to find the tall mallard there. When she reached the roof, he was sat there staring at the morning sky.

"Hey." She said as she approached. He hummed a greeting but didn't actually look at her or really voice any words. "Canard seems pretty upset."

"He should be." Wildwing growled angrily.

"Nosedive is tough." Jessica tried to reassure Wildwing, "He'll be ok."

"But if Canard had been more careful he wouldn't be in the infirmary with a busted skull and ribs." Wildwing snapped staring angrily out at the cityscape.

"If the pair of them hadn't been arguing things probably would have been different." Jessica agreed, "I don't like seeing him hurt either. I know I would be freaking out if it was Alex."

"As leader, Canard should be making sure the team gets back safely." Wildwing clenched his fists.

"Wildwing," Jess placed a hand on his shoulder and waited till he finally glanced at her, "If this was one of the others. Would you be as angry?"

"Of course!" Wildwing looked at her properly now, but she gave him a look that clearly showed she didn't believe him. He sighed then admitted, "No I guess I wouldn't. I mean I would still be angry that he didn't call us, but…"

"But you would probably be reassuring him that these things happen and there was nothing he could do about it now?" Jessica finished for him.

"Still doesn't mean I'm not pissed at him." Wildwing replied stubbornly. Jessica chuckled at him and leaned into his shoulder. A smile graced her features as his arm instinctively wrapped around her shoulders. "This is going to put a damper on his birthday party huh?"

"I'm sure we can figure something out." Jessica rested her head on his chest. "I was talking to Mookie the other day and she said Dive had mentioned something about going to a comicon or something. Maybe we could just take him to that. She mentioned there was an after party if you forked out for tickets."

"A comicon?" Wildwing looked down at her, "You mean like nerds and costumes?"

"Don't forget the video games and geeks." Jessica replied innocently at him. Wildwing just laughed at her.

"Do I detect that you might want to go too?" Wildwing asked her curiously.

"I don't know what you mean." Jessica replied very unconvincingly, "But I am sure Molly would love to get all dolled up in a costume and spend the day looking at all the stuff there too."

"Are you a closet geek?" Wildwing mocked shock.

"Wildwing, I'm a history teacher by profession." Jessica rolled her eyes, "I'm more of a nerd. But I have to admit to having attended the occasional convention in cosplay when I was in high school and college. It was fun at the time." She realised Wildwing was looking at her in an odd fashion.

"Please tell me I'm not dating a female version of my brother!" Wildwing laughed at the thought.

"Hey! I haven't picked up a comic for years!" She objected then realised that probably wasn't helping when Wing just laughed harder, "Well that's just rude!" She pulled away and got up with a pout, a little embarrassed.

"Don't be like that Jess." Wildwing realised he had upset her and stood up to apologise. He placed his hands on her shoulders. Her back was to him and she had her arms folded in a very closed off posture. "It was just a surprise is all. I never thought you would be into that sort of thing."

"Is it a problem?" Jessica asked as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Why would it be a problem?!" Wildwing started, "Jess, I…" He stopped for a moment to consider his response, "I care about you a lot. That you have so much in common with my brother is a bonus." He smiled at her when she turned to look at him properly, her posture was still a little closed off though. "I'm sorry I upset you Jessica." She looked at him suspiciously as if considering whether or not he meant his apology or not then smiled.

"You mean the world to me Wildwing." Jessica admitted, "To Molly too. But if Molly and I are going to be living here permanently, I have to know that you like me. The good and the bad parts of me. And seriously too."

"All right." Wildwing brushed her chin with his right thumb, "Then show me, tell me. I want to know everything about you Jessica. And I don't want to lose you if I can help it." Jessica seemed to consider his words for a moment before replying.

"Well, after Eric died I developed severe depression and anxiety. I still have bouts of it every now and again. I'm not fun to be around when they happen. I can get panic attacks in the worst cases." She paused to see if he said anything, "I can't sing to save my life, but I can play the guitar. I am known to drink too much, when I actually start drinking. Particularly if I am down. I also don't speak to my parents nearly enough despite knowing that they worry about me. I didn't even tell them until after I moved, that I was moving down here to California."

"Anything else?" Wildwing asked honestly wanting to know.

"Yes." Jessica chewed her lip and squeezed her eyes shut before spitting it out, "I used to be really, really into cosplay and had a really stupid name that I went by. I stopped when I got pregnant with Molly and never went back. But I kind of miss making and wearing the outfits."

"You can make stuff?" Wildwing asked, "Like what?" Jess looked up at him and pulled out her phone and after a few moments she passed it to him. He found an album had been brought up and he swiped through the pictures electronically stored within it. He found several pictures of a younger Jessica. She was in a variety of costumes from gowns to armour. "You made all this?"

"It was years ago and there are people making way better stuff than anything I ever made these days, but yes. I made all that." Jessica had gone quite red. In truth she rarely admitted that she took part in something so geeky in her youth. She preferred to focus on the hell raising she got up to with her best friend Charlie when they were racing cars that Charlie had fixed up. Eric had known her from childhood and he had encouraged her diverse hobbies. Charlie would often join her, finding the geeks a nice crowd to have fun with, although her friend didn't cosplay. But a lot of her friends from both worlds had teased her about the opposing hobbies. After Eric had died, she'd pulled away from both. She was a new mother that no longer had a husband to support her. So, she concentrated on Molly until she was able to go back to work. Then she moved to Anaheim to be closer to her twin and to get away from the memory of Eric. His memory haunted her in Chicago and even regular meet ups with Charlie weren't helping. When Alex had suggested the move, she had barely thought twice about it and had easily sold her house in Chicago then stayed with Alex until she had found her own place.

"That's actually really cool." Wildwing smiled as he handed her back the phone, "You should ask Dive about the con. I'll pay for the tickets."

"Really?" Jessica was genuinely surprised.

"I'll even go with you." He leaned forward with a grin.

"You might regret that." Jessica smirked.

"You think I'm going to let the three of you loose on all those poor defenceless geeks alone. You're going to need someone sane to stop you from terrifying them." He winked.

"Funny."

"I try." Wildwing chuckled. His face turned serious though, "Thank you Jessica."

"For what?"

"For cheering me up." He replied.

"That's what girlfriends are for right?" Jessica wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest once more. She breathed in his scent as Wildwing rested his beak on her hair.

"I should probably check on Dive." Wildwing said before pulling away slightly but still keeping his arms loosely around her waist. Jessica leaned into him with a smile then took his hand and they both went inside.

"Oh yeah," Jessica suddenly remembered, "Nosedive wanted you to pick something up for him but wouldn't tell me what is was. Even when I offered to pick it up for him.

Somewhere across the galaxy.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Draganus asked dubiously as he eyed the scientists on the other side of the glass. Limburger had put him in contact with the high chairman of the Plutarkian government. The leader of the fish like race had informed him that they would like to combine their teleportation technology. This, they informed him, would allow him to bring his forces from dimensional limbo and all that the Plutarkian leaders asked in return was for the resources of earth to be made theirs. It was the same deal he had offered to Limburger and he was more than willing to agree. Of course, he had no intention of keeping his alliance with them once the pungent race had outlived their usefulness. After all, the human technology was not advanced enough to rebuild his dimensional generator, but theirs was. The scientists and engineers behind the glass were not all Plutarkians and many wore collars around their necks showing that they were prisoners of the Plutarkian race. There were even one or two humans mixed within the slaves.

"We have, at our disposal, some of the most brilliant minds in the galaxy." The high chairman told him from the video screen to his right. "It shouldn't take long to combine our technologies to achieve our goals."

"Most interesting work, Camembert." Draganus admitted looking at some of the notes on the computer before him. If the new research relating to the combination of his own dimensional teleportation technology and the Plutarkian's teleportation technology worked, he would not only have access to his forces in limbo but access to every dimension in reality. He could finally begin working on the growth of the saurian empire once again.

"I also wish to present you with a new ally to assist you in your endeavours. He will be able to advise you on how best to deal with your enemies." Camembert told him. Draganus' anger rose.

"I am quite capable of dealing with those meddling mallards myself." Draganus' eyes glowed slightly and his nostrils began to smoke.

"Very well. But if at any point you wish for assistance, Ikaru will be at your disposal." Camembert told the temperamental saurian, "I can assure you that you will not be disappointed in that regard. He has already been assisting Limburger on Earth with certain… jobs."

It was at that point alarms began blaring and Draganus raised an eyebrow.

"Problems Camembert?" He did his best to his hide his mirth. Camembert glared at him over the monitor then bellowed to someone behind him. Draganus looked to the room full of scientists. The lights suddenly dimmed and only the blue emergency lights provided any lighting in the room behind the glass. The main doors were blown off their hinges, throwing the guards there across the room, unlikely to ever move again. A figure with purple hair emerged from the smoke and took out the remaining guards like lightening. The figure stopped next to a group of scientists huddled in the far corner. Draganus was surprised to see a young woman. She was of very short stature, with an incredibly athletic build. It was clear that this young woman was a warrior of some kind. She had her long purple hair tied in a high pony tail, with bangs of varying lengths framing her face. She wore an outfit that consisted of black pants with knee high boots. A low-cut crop top covered her chest and fingerless gloves that extended nearly to the girl's shoulders offered some protection to her arms. Finally, a blood red scarf was wrapped around her neck enough that it made difficult to discern her facial features. The girl held a deadly energy sword in each hand, and a small laser weapon was in a holster on her belt and resting in the small of her back. It looked like the holsters for her swords were either side of the gun so that the hilts would form a cross beneath the gun. One of the scientists jumped up and embraced the young woman before they had a rushed conversation that Draganus could not hear. The purple haired woman led the small group of scientists out of the room and they disappeared. Draganus scoffed and used his wrist teleporter to return to the raptor. He had no doubt the Plutarkians would come through with their offer. Of course, he had no intention of lifting a claw to assist them against any enemy who was not a threat to him. He did however, make sure to make note of the young woman in case she ever became a nuisance to himself or his plans. All he intended on doing was ensuring that the leader of the fish like people had other facilities working on the plans he and Camembert had made.