"DADDY!"
Raleigh doubted he would ever tire of hearing his daughter yelling his name when he came home every evening. He barely managed to drop his things on the table next to door before Gipsy came hurtling down the hallway toward him. He easily caught the little girl and tossed her in the air as she screeched with delight.
"Hey, baby girl, how was your day?" he laughed as she squeezed his neck.
Gipsy suddenly went quiet and buried her face in Raleigh's shoulder. He softly shut the front door with his foot as he worriedly held his daughter closer.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" he quietly asked while he rubbed her back.
"Miss Ashley doesn't like me anymore," she sniffed.
"Why would you think that?" he prompted when she wasn't forthcoming with more information, silently hoping that they weren't about to go through yet another babysitter.
"Because she says I'm a liar," she cried as sat up and looked her father with tears in her eyes. "But I'm not a liar! I did see them! I DID!"
"Who did you see, sweet pea?" he questioned worriedly while he got a sinking feeling in stomach.
"The fairies," she quietly admitted as she cuddled against his chest. "We went to the park and they were hiding in the bushes watching. I told Miss Ashley, but she didn't see them and then she told me not to lie."
Raleigh couldn't have spoken at that moment if his life depended on it. What had Ruby said? That the creatures from fairytales were reawakening and things were going to get interesting. God, he hoped his daughter's overactive imagination was to blame.
"You believe me, don't you, Daddy?" Gipsy sadly whispered.
"After the day I've had, honey, I would believe just about anything," he answered as he headed down the hallway, still carrying the girl.
He found Mako in the kitchen using very precise movements as she prepared dinner and her back was ramrod straight. Great. His wife was mad about something. He hoped it wasn't the thing about the fairies since that could be written off as the overactive imagination of a little girl.
"Mako?" Raleigh called from the doorway, knowing it wasn't wise to surprise his wife.
He had gotten quite the shock when he had accidentally startled her shortly after they met. If he hadn't been trained in martial arts, he would have had a broken nose. After that, he made sure to warn her that he was there from a safe distance.
"He's out," Mako tersely replied in Japanese.
It took Raleigh a few seconds to shift the gears in his brain to figure out who 'he' was.
"Kevin finally moved out?" he confirmed, answering in her native tongue. "That's a good thing, right?"
"Wait until you see what he did to the condo," she snarled.
Raleigh sighed. It was bad enough that the guy they had been renting one of their condos to hadn't paid rent in several months forcing them to evict him, but to find out that he had trashed the place wasn't what he needed to hear. He hated it when they misjudged a renter.
"It's going to cost an arm and a leg just to clean the place," she continued as she took her aggression out on some poor veggies.
"Was there any structural damage?" he questioned as his brain tried to figured who on his crew could use some extra cash.
"Some drywall was damaged, the toilets were all backed up, flooding the bathrooms, and the carpet has several burn holes in it," she answered. "Mostly it's just trash everywhere and graffiti on the walls. We'll probably have to replace the refrigerator and stove. I don't even want to think about what he used to write on the walls. The place reeks to high heaven, too."
"Ok, well, he didn't burn the place down, so that's good," he soothed as he shifted Gipsy from one arm to the other.
"Not for lack of trying," she grumbled. "It was pure luck that what he stuffed into the oven hadn't caught fire."
"I'll go by later and see how bad it is," he assured her as he stepped into the kitchen. "It's a ground floor unit and the carpet is right on the foundation, so there can't be too much damage from the water."
He could see some of the tension leaving Mako now that she had told him about Kevin. She still wasn't happy, but at least he knew he wasn't going to have to duck. He gave her a kiss and she sighed. He gave her a one armed hug as he felt his wife lean against him and her arms wrapped around his waist. He had all the riches in the world in his arms at that moment.
"I need to finish making dinner," Mako stated in English as she gently pushed him away. "You should go get cleaned up."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied with a lopsided smile.
He headed out of the kitchen and back down the hallway. Whenever Mako told him he should get clean was her way of saying he stank. Considering what he did for a living, it wasn't a surprise that he was less than fresh by the end of the day.
"Don't worry, Daddy," Gipsy chimed in as they started up the stairs. "You don't smell as bad today as you usually do."
"Thanks, sweetie," he laughed as he dropped her off in her room and then headed off to make himself more presentable.
The Migrator rumbled down the street as it slowly passed the Anaheim Motel. Tanya was furiously typing away at her station. The others didn't say a word and Wildwing held onto the steering wheel with a death grip.
He didn't want to go after Ruby, but they needed answers. Why did she attack the Pond and then run away? What had caused her to be so angry and then scared?
More importantly, they needed to get the mask back. He never realized how much he wore the thing. It was like it was part of him and now that it was gone, he almost felt naked.
"The energy readings are still there and they haven't faded from the first time I, well, took a reading," Tanya confirmed as they drove past the motel. "I'll have to get closer to, you know, find out which room she's in."
"How covert do we want this operation?" Duke asked. "Do we want people to know that we're tracking Ruby?"
"Who cares if the humans know we're going after her?" Mallory demanded, still very irked about the windows.
"If we go in there now, we might as well call in the press," Duke pointed out. "Phil is still having fits about us shooting up the mall. We start something at a motel filled with tourists and we might as well move to Tibet."
"Duke's right," Wildwing stated before Mallory could argue. "We don't need to make another scene. We'll come back later tonight to find out which room she's in."
"Then we can kick her tail feathers," Mallory stated forcefully, refusing to believe that their previous losses were anything but a fluke.
"Because that's worked out so well for us so far," Duke shot back with a smirk.
"We're just looking to get the mask back," Wildwing put in before an argument could start. "We don't need another confrontation with Ruby, just the mask. If we can determine when she leaves the room, then we can go in and retrieve it."
"No fuss, no muss," Nosedive added. "Right, bro?"
"Right, baby brother," Wildwing confirmed.
"What will stop her from coming after the mask again?" Mallory asked, not liking that she wouldn't get another crack at that blue beak.
"Nothing, but once we have the mask, we might be able to reason with her," Wildwing answered. "At the very least, we'll be better prepared if she does come after it again."
"Reason with her?" Mallory scoffed. "How do you reason with someone like her?"
"At the very least, we'll let her know that we can find her and will keep coming for the mask," Wildwing replied.
Mallory gave a dissatisfied snort but said nothing else. Wildwing felt some of the tension leave his shoulders as he turned back to the Pond. While he wanted answers about Ruby's attack, the knowledge that they'd soon have the mask back was enough.
Raleigh stared into the darkness, trying to figure out why he couldn't get to sleep. Mako had already done what she could to help him relax and was now cuddled up beside him, sound asleep. Something was bugging him and it was driving him crazy.
His thoughts turned to his daughter. She claimed she had seen fairies in the park and from what Mako told him, it wasn't the first time Gipsy had supposedly seen something no one else could. Magic was real and it could be affecting his daughter. That didn't make him a happy camper.
Ashley was getting tired of trying to pretend that whatever Gipsy saw was real. Today, the young woman just wasn't in the mood for Gipsy and her imagination and had snapped at the girl. It didn't help that the young woman had gotten accepted to an Ivy League college back east and would soon be getting ready to move.
At least they had a couple weeks to try and find another baby sitter, unlike the last couple times. He hated doing interviews and background checks. That was provided they actually got any responses to their ads. He didn't want to ask his mother to watch Gipsy all of the time. His mom was busier now that she was retired than she had been when she was working. While the older woman was willing to watch her granddaughter, Raleigh always felt guilty for asking.
Then his thoughts turned to the other headache in his life. He had gone to see the condo after dinner and Mako was right. It was going to cost an arm and a leg to fix everything. Kevin had done quite the number on the place. The carpet was going to have to be replaced, not just from the burn holes and the water damage, but also the suspicious stains. Then there was the water damage done to the linoleum in the bathrooms.
At least the holes in the walls weren't too bad and just needed some patch work. A few cans of coverall paint should take care of the graffiti. By some miracle, none of the windows were damaged. However, the guy had left rotting food in the fridge and then left the appliance's door open.
Kevin had even crammed a bunch of trash into the oven and then turned it onto its lowest temp before leaving. It was a miracle that it hadn't caught fire. Raleigh hoped to never get to experience the smell of cooking garbage again and that had been hours after the oven had been turned off.
The things written on the wall made him glad that neither he nor Mako had taken Gipsy with them. Who taught that guy to spell? What words Kevin had spelled right were words that he didn't want Gipsy seeing, even if she couldn't read very well yet.
What trash hadn't been stuffed into the oven had been left everywhere else. Some had been stuffed down the toilets which caused them to overflow. The place was a disaster area. He was going to need a magic wand to set everything to rights.
Raleigh suddenly gasped.
"What's the matter?" Mako asked, instantly alert thanks to her military training.
"I have the answer to our condo problem," Raleigh replied, almost laughing with glee.
"Which is?" she questioned.
"Ruby!" he exclaimed.
"How are rubies going to be any help," she grumbled as she tried to get comfortable again. "Unless you know where some are stashed."
"Princess Ducky's real name is Ruby," he clarified. "She needs a job and a place to stay. She could clean the place up and stay there afterwards."
"Raleigh, don't you think cleaning that place would be a bit much for one person or duck?" she asked.
"How about we can ask her?" he returned and she sighed. "I saw her today and she really needs a place and a job. Who knows, maybe she could watch Gipsy from time to time or she could help me deal with the paperwork at the office."
"Fine," she sleepily grumbled as she rolled over. "Can I go back to sleep now? Your son takes a great deal of delight in waking me up at odd hours. You're not helping."
"Sorry, sweetheart," he softly replied while he spooned her.
He didn't tell his wife about the magic; sure she would axe the whole thing before he had a chance to explain. Sometimes, it was best to avoid certain battles. If Mako found out about Ruby's abilities later, then he'd figure out what to do. For now, he had an answer to both his and Ruby's problems.
He closed his eyes and felt his wife slowly relax in his arms. A minute later, he was joining her in dream land.
Scene change
When Duke, Wildwing and Tanya had returned to the Anaheim Motel shortly after midnight, there wasn't a soul around. That fit them just fine. It took Tanya a few minutes to find the room Ruby was staying in and they didn't need witnesses to their late night activities.
Fortunately for them, it was a ground floor unit which meant they didn't have to go up any stairs that may or may not have alerted someone that they were sneaking about. Once the room was located, Duke and Wildwing kept a lookout while Tanya put up a small camera that was easily hidden so they could see who was coming and going. It also alerted them when someone went through the door.
Wildwing wasn't happy with all of the sneaking around, but he knew they couldn't take Ruby in a straight on fight. He refused to think that maybe, just maybe, he didn't want to see Ruby get hurt. She was the enemy and he did his best to remember that. Why was he worried about her? What was wrong with him?
He silently followed his team mates as they sneaked back to the Duckcycles once the job was done. He really needed to get his head on straight. He was sure that once he had the mask back, he would be able to distance himself from his feelings for Ruby.
Raleigh had picked Ruby up from her hotel bright and early Monday morning to take her over to the condo. He hoped some of the smell had dissipated during the weekend, but he doubted it since all the windows were closed. He hadn't told Mako about Ruby's abilities and he silently hoped that it wouldn't come and bite him on the backside.
As soon as he let the blue beaked duck in the door, the smell hit them like brick wall. Ruby gagged a bit as she carefully stepped into the unit and looked around with her jaw hanging open. How could one person do this much damage by himself? She tried not to breathe through her nostrils as the smell in the condo was something else.
"How…Why…" she tried to articulate her shock.
"He had a month to pay up or get out and he decided that this was preferable," Raleigh told her as he stood near the open door. "Are you willing to clean it?"
"Unless I want to live on the streets within the next couple weeks, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" she asked.
"I didn't mean to put you in such a spot," he said apologetically. "But it seemed like the perfect solution to both our problems."
"It is," she agreed, still stunned by the mess in front of her. "The carpet and walls…"
"I'll pay to replace the carpet and fix and paint the walls," he assured her. "The linoleum in the kitchen looks fine, at least what I can see of it, but I'll probably have to replace it in the bathrooms. It's the picking up all of the trash that's going to be the most time consuming."
"What about the toilets that he clogged?" she questioned.
"I already had a plumber out to snake both of them," he answered.
"I'll need cleaning supplies," she stated.
"They're under the sink," he replied, indicating the kitchen that was to the right of the front door. "Amazingly, that was one of the few places he didn't trash. There's extra garbage bags under there as well as gloves."
"Thanks," she said as she carefully stepped over a bunch of fast food bags that cluttered the floor. "I might as well get started."
"Great!" Raleigh nearly shouted with joy. "The garbage bin is in the parking lot behind the gate. I'll pick you up around five and take you back to the hotel. Call if you need anything."
Raleigh beat a hasty retreat out of the smelly place and Ruby had to smile to herself. He was a funny human. She wasn't sure if he skedaddled because of the smell or because he was afraid she'd change her mind. Then she wondered how she was supposed to call him since there didn't appear to be a phone anywhere around.
Using her magic, she opened all of the windows and doors to the condo and then created a spell that would push air through to try and get some of the smell out. Once that was done, she pulled the cleaning supplies out and looked them over. She gave a snort at the gloves that were made for human hands and tossed them back under the sink. She opened the package of trash bags and got to work. This wasn't going to be fun, but at least she felt like she had some purpose in life, even if it was only temporary.
The Mighty Ducks were slowly staggering their way into the kitchen when Drake One let off a series of beeps.
"What was that about?" Nosedive groggily asked, still trying to focus on something past his beak.
"It was an alert to let me know when Ruby's using, you know, magic," Tanya answered as she headed for the control room.
The others stumbled along in her wake as the tech quickly made her way through the labyrinth of corridors. She was typing away when the rest of the team finally got up onto the platform with her. A moment later, a map of southern California came up.
"That's weird," Tanya muttered as she started to zoom in the map.
"What's weird?" Mallory questioned just before she let out a huge yawn.
"I wonder what she's doing out there," Tanya mumbled as her fingers continued to fly over the keyboard.
"Tanya, what's weird?" Wildwing nearly demanded while he stretched to get the blood flowing.
"Well, this reading," Tanya replied as she waved at the screen which was showing city streets. "She's never gone out that far before. I know she, like, was all over town, but she's never gone beyond the borders."
"Where is Ruby?" Wildwing almost growled.
"She's in Long Beach," Tanya finally answered. "She's not too far from the university, maybe a mile or two."
"Why is she in Long Beach?" Nosedive inquired of no one.
"Who cares?" Mallory snapped. "If she's in Long Beach, that means she's nowhere near the Anaheim Motel."
"You couldn't ask for a better time to check out her room," Duke stated.
"You're right," Wildwing said and the others started to reach to activate their armor. "But only Duke is going."
"What!?" Mallory squawked in indignation.
"Why?" Nosedive demanded.
"We're not going into battle," Wildwing reminded them. "Duke's the best one to get in and out without anyone knowing."
"Guess those jewelry thieving skills have some use," Mallory grumbled as she crossed her wings over her chest.
"Just bring back the mask," Wildwing instructed and Duke smirked.
"Not a problem," Duke replied as he headed for the garage. "Be back in a bit."
Wildwing watched the former thief go and felt a huge weight start to lift off of his shoulders. They would soon have the mask back.