Chapter 28:
First things first, I have an apology to make. I had wanted to get this chapter up during October so that you get at least one chapter a month. Unfortunately, my grandfather had a serious stroke and consequently passed away two weeks later. I went to see him every day at the hospital, and I have been in a dark place. I miss my grandad terribly. If it weren't for him and my granny on that side of the family, I honestly wouldn't be here. His funeral is tomorrow, and I want to get this up tonight whilst I am thinking straight enough to read over this properly and make sure there aren't any hideous errors.
Again, I'm sorry to have not uploaded sooner and thank you for your patience. Xxx
Anywho, on with the story!
Wildwing grumbled to himself as he made his way through the sewers to get as close to the building he was planning to infiltrate as possible. Canard was currently with the others arguing with the police about how they were going to help handle the situation. Canard was helping so much, that he was bellowing at the gunman who was talking to the negotiators. He had tried to get him to back off and let the authorities handle the situation, but Canard had pulled rank and told him to hold his beak. Wildwing could see the situation was going to go south very quickly if something wasn't done, and soon. So, he had slipped away and that's how he found his way into the sewers. Of course, he had a little help.
"There should be a manhole cover coming up on your left." Jessica told him over his comm. "Are you sure you should be doing this?"
"Jess there's kids in there!" Wildwing snapped still angry at his friend and not really meaning to take it out on Jessica.
"I know Wildwing, I'm just worried about you." Jessica replied, not expecting an answer from her stressed out fiancé. Wildwing could hear the tapping of a keyboard over his com unit. "Okay, I've managed to hack into the store's security system and I'm getting the feed, it's not the best but I can see most of what's going on. There aren't any gunmen by the door that will be next to you when you get out. But there is someone keeping look out on a higher level. So, for Pete's sake be careful."
"With you watching my back? I'll be just fine, babe." Wildwing smirked at the growl he received.
"So glad you can joke about this." She responded. Wildwing chuckled and pulled himself out of the manhole and pushed himself against the side of the building, right next to the door Jessica had informed him about.
"I'm going in." Wildwing told her quietly. He kicked in the door and aimed his wrist blaster into the room before him. He moved through the room to the hallway. "Where are the hostages?"
"The majority are being held on that floor." Jessica told him, "Four armed men guarding them. Head down the hallway last room. There are two more on the upper levels on the same floor as the guy Canard is helpfully pissing off." He could hear the sneer through the comm unit and could tell Jessica was just as unimpressed with Canard's behaviour as he was. "A woman and a boy. 10 to 13 maybe? I can't tell from this image, he's young though." Wildwing nodded.
"I'll deal with the ones on this floor first. Then deal with the upper levels." Wildwing told her.
"What's your plan?" Jessica asked.
"Simple." Wildwing replied, "I take out the bad guys one at a time."
"That doesn't confirm how you're actually…" Jessica paused, clearly watching him move closer to the enemy, "What are you doing?!" Wildwing ignored her as he took a quarter out of his pocket and tossed it at the door before ducking back into another doorway. One of the gunmen came slowly out of the room, a semi-automatic assault rifle held at the ready. "Where do they even get these guns from?" Wildwing thought to himself as the man approached. Wildwing held his breath as he allowed the gunman to walk parallel with the doorway before kicking the gun out of the gunman's hands then grabbing him around the neck. One hand was placed firmly over the gunman's mouth as Wildwing got the man in a choke hold. It was mere moments before his opponent was out cold. Wildwing pulled him further into the room he was in and tied him up. He looked up at the sound of a door opening again. He quickly made his way back over to the doorway of the room and peered through the crack in the door by the hinges. Another smaller male was approaching with a second larger male in tow. Both armed and dangerous. A stun puck took out one and a hard punch to the gut took out the other. Both were soon secured next to their friend. That left the last one.
Wildwing snuck across to the door, behind which the majority of the hostages were being held. He listened from his side of the door. He could hear quiet whimpering, and someone was pacing.
"Are the hostages between me and the other gunman?" Wildwing asked almost too quiet for Jessica to hear him.
"No," she replied equally as quiet, "He's close to the door. Looks like he's deciding whether to go looking for his play mates or not."
"How close is he to the door?" Wildwing asked.
"He's getting closer." Jessica told him. "Wing, he's aiming the gun at the door!" Wildwing leapt to one side as bullets pierced through the wooden door. When they stopped he activated his ice shield, before kicking down the door and charging the last assailant on that floor. He was thankful that the hostages were huddled in the corner to the left. The stray bullets were less likely to hit them where they were positioned. The gunman's weapon jammed and Wildwing took the opportunity to lunge for him and land a hard punch to his jaw. The gunman crumpled to the ground and was soon bound as well. He turned just as the hostages were getting up and heading to the front door to escape.
"No!" He stopped them in their tracks, "The gunmen upstairs have a clear shot if you go that way. You and the two upstairs will all be killed."
"So, what do we do." Asked one man who looked ready to cry.
"Follow me." Wildwing waved them to him, "You get out the way I got in." He raised his comm to speak to Jessica, "Jess, I want you to get onto Cleghorn and tell him where to meet these people. I'll get upstairs and try to get the last two out. Unharmed, if I can."
"On it." Jessica replied. Wildwing nodded and showed the hostages where to go. Once they were all safely in the sewers and had been given detailed instructions of how far to go and where to return to the surface, Wildwing returned to the building. He found a flight of stairs and made his way up. "Okay Cleghorn has been informed and he's sent a team to meet the hostages."
"Where am I going?" Wildwing asked her.
"Third floor. Head left when you get out of the stairwell then it's the fourth door on the right." Jessica informed him. "You know I'm kind of curious as to how you guys pulled all this stuff off before, well… you know?" She hoped he understood that she was talking about getting things done without the help she was giving him.
"The mask." Wildwing replied a little distracted with ensuring that he wasn't caught off guard by anyone.
"You know, I'm kind of with Duke on this one." Jessica told him, "You'd be better with that thing than Canard."
"Now isn't really the time to be discussing this." Wildwing pointed out with a frown.
"Yeah well, you wouldn't need me to help if you had that fancy mask on your face. Although I have to admit I prefer seeing your face more." Jessica pointed out, "And you're lucky hacking a simple store security system is within my capabilities."
"Guess I'm lucky those convention nerds rubbed off on you too, huh?" Wildwing smirked.
"For that you are not getting any sugar tonight." Jessica grumbled. Wildwing merely sniggered at her childish behaviour.
"Jess, I need to know where everyone is." Wildwing told got back to business as he was approaching the hostages. As he pressed his back against the wall beside the door to the offending room he waited for her to let him know what he needed to know.
"Loud mouth is still by the window." She told him. The two hostages are behind a table, which is behind him to the right of him. There's one guy by the door and another right by the hostages." Wildwing frowned. This wasn't going to be as easy as the gunmen downstairs.
"One is right behind the door, right?" Wildwing asked to clarify.
"Yeah." Jessica replied, "He's practically leaning on it."
"And there's one other between me and the hostages. Then a table between them and the one talking?"
"Yep."
"Okay." Wildwing moved his head from one side to the other to stretch the muscles in his neck. He kicked the door down hard and made sure to instantly put his full weight on the door before taking aim and firing at the gunman by the woman and child, both of whom began screaming. The second downed he dodged several shots from the one by the window. "Shit." He grunted as a stray bullet tore through the skin on his firing arm. He leapt further into the room and, wrapping his arms securely around the woman and child he rolled the screaming pair further away from danger before activating his ice shield and holding it in front of all three of them as the gunman by the window kept firing. The one who had been behind the door had got up as well and began taking aim.
"Wildwing!" Jessica called over the noise, "Wildwing you have to get out of there! Canard he's…" Wildwing looked up as something flew through the window and clattered to the floor. He barely had time to gasp as the puck grenade blew.
"Wildwing?!" Said duck could just about hear over the ringing in his ears. "Wing are you okay?" He heard again. He didn't really trust himself to answer in that moment and grunted as his arms were threatening to give way to what was left of the roof. "Answer me!" Jessica's panicked voice made up his mind for him.
"I'm okay." He said through gritted teeth, "But I need help, fast!"
"I'm trying to raise Canard, but he won't pick up!" Jessica sounded close to tears.
"Call Cleghorn!" Wildwing whimpered as more pressure was being put on his pinned leg. "And tell him to hurry. I don't know how much longer I can hold this!" Jessica wasted no time in contacting the police captain and informing him of Wildwing's current situation.
Outside Cleghorn stormed over to Canard and the other ducks, making a mental note of the fact that the other ducks also seemed to none too pleased at their current leader.
"You make a habit of burying your teammates?" Cleghorn had snapped then turned to the fire crews, "We got people trapped in there!" He glared at Canard, "You birds have tracking devices in your communicators, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Canard said stubbornly.
"Because your pal Wildwing, is currently buried beneath all that mess and we're working on borrowed time to get him and the last hostages out before they all kick the bucket!" Cleghorn snapped.
"We can…" Canard started, trying to regain control of the situation. He had thought that all the hostages were out and that Wildwing would have left with them.
"Before or after that building collapses on him completely?" Cleghorn pointed out, "Besides, I think you've done enough!"
"Why I…" Canard growled but Mallory grabbed his arm. Her look was unreadable and all she did was shake her head at him. Cleghorn looked up at Grin.
"You might be useful though." He declared, "Just how strong are you, big guy?"
"I am but a pebble." Grin said as he stared at the building, "But even pebbles can move a mountain with the right motivation." A screech of tyres caught their attention and only a moment later Jessica could be heard arguing with one of the officers manning the police cordon.
"Let her through!" Cleghorn called. Jessica stuck her chin out at the officer who had been trying to stop her and walked past him with a death glare in his direction. Her bump clearly visible, earning several raised eyebrows from the police officers who knew who she was.
"What the hell are you doing here!" Canard snapped, he felt Mallory pinch his arm and he glared down at the red head who shook her head angrily.
"Making sure that you don't actually kill my fiancé!" Jessica growled. "He's trapped in the rubble on the third floor. He says his foot is pinned and he's struggling to hold the piece of roof that fell on them!"
"Them?" Canard frowned.
"Yes them!" Jessica threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, "Which you would have known had you bothered to either wait for Wildwing to give you the all clear or had you checked with that mask of yours!"
"There were more hostages?" Canard paled slightly.
"Two to be exact!" Jessica growled, "And Wildwing was about to get them out before you decided to just blow up the bad guys!" She cried out in frustration, "I mean, what were you thinking!"
"I…" Canard was at a loss for words.
"All right, you heard the lady!" Cleghorn bellowed, "If we could borrow you." Cleghorn nodded to Grin. "Not you!" He snapped at Jessica as she attempted to follow after them, "I do not need another civilian wondering around in a building, especially in that condition, and you can keep back too!" He pointed to Canard, "You've done enough!" Canard clenched his fists and looked away.
"I'll go with them." Mallory offered.
"You, I can cope with." Cleghorn said with a dirty look at Canard. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked in the direction of the damaged building.
"Please don't drop it." The little boy begged from behind him. Wildwing grunted as he tried to shift into a better position, but the floor beneath them groaned menacingly.
"Oh god," The woman said through tears, "I don't want to die. I don't want my baby to die!" She held her son close.
"You won't." Wing grunted. That was when he heard someone on the other side of the rubble, "Over here! Help!" He cried as loudly as he could. He got a mouthful of dust for his troubles and coughed until his lungs burned. Part of him wondered if he should be worried that he could no longer feel his leg, mostly he was concentrating on making sure his arms didn't give way. Things began shifting and the floor creaked the entire time. Wildwing had to hope that the floor beneath them didn't give out. He wasn't sure they would survive another fall like that.
"Wildwing?!" He heard Mallory call.
"Mallory!" He called back, "We're here!" The largest part of the roof was lifted away to reveal, Grin, Mallory and Cleghorn flanked by some firefighters and a couple of EMTs. Grin went to move the last piece that was trapping Wildwing's leg but as he lifted Wildwing's eyes went wide and the white mallard let out a blood curdling scream. Grin immediately stopped and allowed Mallory to take a look.
"It looks like a steel reinforcement bar has gone straight through his leg!" Mallory cringed at the bloody mess that was Wildwing's leg. She helped the woman and child up and passed them off to the EMTs before returning to see how they were going to help Wildwing.
"Will the duck be okay mom?" The boy could be heard asking.
"I hope so sweetie." She replied as they were led away with nothing more than a few nasty cuts and bruises to be treated.
"We're going to need to cut the bar from the concrete." One of the fire crew told them. "We remove it here and he could bleed out before we can help him."
"I'll get the cutter." Another of the fire crew said before disappearing. Wildwing groaned and leant his head back. Mallory sat behind him and allowed him to use her as support.
"Jess is going to kill me." Wildwing said quietly.
"She's more likely to kill Canard first." Mallory chuckled bitterly, "I might just help her!"
"Canard took the shot, didn't he?" Wing asked.
"Yeah." Mallory told him. "I wish I could say I told him not too, but I didn't. I have no idea what he was thinking!"
"Why'd he…?" Wing was trying to take his mind off the pain that had made itself known since Grin tried to move the rubble pinning his leg.
"Shoot the explosive puck?" Mallory sighed, "When he heard the hostages were in protective custody, we figured you were close behind. The leader had stopped shouting demands from the window, but he was taking pot shots at anyone close by. Canard lost his temper and just took the shot." She shrugged. "I would have done the same if he hadn't beaten me to it." She placed a hand on Wing's shoulder, "We honestly thought you'd just released all the hostages and were clear of the danger."
"Canard didn't think to contact me or check with the mask?" Wing growled asking virtually the same question that Jessica had outside. Before Mallory could even try to form a response, the fire crew had the cutter and were asking Grin to pull the concrete up a little so that they could get to the bar. Wildwing cried out again, but he was able to control it more this time. Mallory wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him down as best her small frame could. One of the fire crew held a shield like piece of sheeting between Wildwing and the cutter to protect the mallard's face from the sparks as they worked. After nearly 10 minutes they were finally able to move the rubble away from Wing's leg. An EMT fixed a tourniquet around the bar to secure it in place, letting the ducks know that any movement could increase the loss of blood. Wildwing was carefully carried out of the building and was greeted with cheers from the public who had already learned of how he had protected the mother and child.
"Wildwing!" Jessica ran over and hugged him as carefully as possible. "You said you were okay!"
"I thought I was." Wildwing replied and took her hand as he was placed on a gurney and was wheeled towards a waiting ambulance. "Thanks for the assist in there."
"I wasn't about to let you go in alone!" She snapped.
"Where is Canard." Both Jessica and Mallory looked around to see if they could spot the tan Mallard, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Forget about him for now." Jessica said with a shrug, "We need to get you to Alex!"
"Where have you been?" Mallory asked as Canard finally appeared back at the pond. It was 2 in the morning and it was clear that her boyfriend had been drinking and was still three sheets to the wind.
"Out." Canard slurred sounding far too much like Duke for her liking.
"I can see that." Mallory growled. "Aren't you going to ask if your best friend is okay?"
"Is he…?" Canard suddenly looked worried. "Of course, he's okay! He's the guy who can do no wrong and can lead my team better than I ever will!"
"He's not okay!" Mallory snapped, "And the way you've been behaving since Tanya got taken is making me think Duke might be right. This may be your team Canard, but there's something going on with you and unless you let someone help you, you aren't capable of leading this team."
"He's not okay." The tan mallard sat down heavily on the sofa.
"A building fell on him Canard. Of course, he's not okay!" Mallory rubbed her temples. Canard got to his feet again and stumbled to towards the infirmary. "So, help me Canard, if you wake him!" She stormed over just as Canard entered the room and froze. There on one of the medical cots Was Wildwing. His leg was heavily bandaged and was elevated slightly. Jessica was asleep at his side. She sat on a chair and was leaning against the bed, snoring slightly. Canard could see some ugly bruises appearing beneath his friend's pure white feathers.
"I didn't mean…. I never wanted…" He clenched his fists and pulled the mask off his face. He stared at it for some time.
"One of the supporting cables from the building went straight through his leg." Mallory informed him when the silence became too much for her. "It's all patched up, but it will be a week or two before he can get around by himself. Let alone get back on the ice."
"I don't want it anymore." Canard muttered. Four months ago, Mallory would have argued with him, tried to reassure him that he was the better leader and should continue to lead. But now she wasn't so sure. She watched as Canard placed the mask quietly on the table beside Wildwing and left the room. "I understand if you don't want me anymore." He said to Mallory.
"Pft." Mallory rolled her eyes, "I may be pissed at you, but I still love you, you damn idiot." She shook her head at him then walked towards him. She wrapped her arms around his right and led him back to their room, "Come on tough guy, you stink. Time for a shower and to sleep off whatever you've been drinking." She led him to their room and helped him strip before turning on the shower for him. She changed into her night gown and almost jumped as damp arms wrapped around her from behind. "You're all wet Canard." She moaned as he sucked on her neck, "At least…" She allowed him to push her down on to the bed and pull her night gown up, so he could lick her stomach. "dry off…" She gasped as his tongue licked the inside of her thigh. She could already feel herself reacting to him. He pulled away with a strange look on his face. "What… what's wrong?"
"I don't deserve you." Canard said looking away. Mallory snorted as she sat up. She pulled the night gown the rest of the way off so that she sat before him naked and vulnerable. She moved forwards on her knees and sat on his lap, a coy look on her face. Without a word she began sucking at his neck as her hands rubbed up and down his sides. She moved her hips back and forward against his crotch earning a groan and a reaction. With a slight lift she pushed herself down and before long, both were moving in unison with each other.
I hope you like this one, I hope to be uploading another one soon. Again, I'm so sorry this didn't go up sooner. xxx
