We Didn't Start the Fire
Author's Notes and Disclaimer:
This was written just after I got my learner's permit, so I
had driving on the brain. Dive's driving (or flying?) experience at the end
might even ring a bell with a few of you. This is set on just an ordinary day,
maybe a few months after Puck Fiction. And yes, I wrote Duke's accent
in. It's just a really cool accent and I like it! Okay, the usual disclaimer
stuff. The Ducks, friends and foes all belong to Disney. "We Didn't Start the
Fire" belongs to Billy Joel. (I think.) Oh yeah, and all trademarks are respective
of their owners. The title will make sense, I promise.
Dive felt empty occasionally, and it wasn't because he
wasn't on Puckworld. Temptation was all around him, and he couldn't reach out
and take what he wanted. He'd seen all the other ducks, Thrash, Mookie, and
even Phil be able to do it.
He wanted to really learn how to drive a car.
When Wildwing heard this, he automatically had thoughts of
getting woken up by the police telling him his brother'd been in an accident or
was getting his license revoked. He shook his head. "No."
"Aw, why
not, Wing? You can drive the Migrator, the most advanced thing Tanya has
created short of Drake One, and I can't drive Phil's rusted out old Pinto?"
Phil happened to walk in then. "Hey, bubbe, get it right. It's a clean,
reasonably new Pinto, a work of art!" Duke chuckled. "Yeah a Picasso, de way
dat you've slapped it togetha'."
"So I'm
getting a newer, nicer car soon. An antique, a '57 Chevy."
"Great!
Wing, Phil's selling his car, I need one." Tanya shook her head. "Uh, Nosedive,
you're forgetting one thing. California and American laws declare that anyone
who wants a driver's license has to be in some form of drivers' education."
"Okay,
that's not a problem. Thrash or Mookie'll know how to show me..."
"NO!" Dive
looked startled at the negative that had come from all in the room. "What am I supposed to do then?"
"You're not
driving, Nosedive. That's final. I'm your brother and guardian. I don't think
you're ready yet." Dive gave his brother a rather dirty look that screamed
'teen defiance' and walked off. "I can't do anything around here!" Wildwing
sighed. "He'll never learn." Tanya
and Duke looked slightly embarrassed to have witnessed the fraternal scene and
excused themselves to respective duties and left Phil and Wing alone.
"Wildwing, he'll learn one way or another. Besides, on Puckworld, you might
have been able to get around without much mechanical transportation, but here
in America, driving is a way of life. If you change your mind, I'll teach him
cheap. He's more mature than you realize."
"Do you
understand what would happen to us if he was injured or killed? He's the one
thing that kept me alive in the mines on Puckworld."
"I see your
point. You're right; he's your ward and your responsibility. But the idea of
wrecking and getting hurt is the absolute-worst-case-scenario. Anyway, I'll be
in touch, bubbe. Press conference at 8, wear nice clothes and no armor this
time!" Wildwing sighed as Phil walked out, leaving him with his thoughts. Phil has some good points for once, but I
can't lose my brother as well as everything else. Does anyone understand that
or am I paranoid?
In a different part of town, the last Saurian overlord and
his three minions had been hatching yet another plan to overthrow the world.
Dragaunus' mind worked like a steel trap. Simply from fighting with them for a
few months, he had an idea of what each duck's strengths and weaknesses were.
And of course, the one overall weakness of the team. "That blond male duck, the
youngest one. What was his name again?"
"Nosedive
Flashblade, my lord" came Wraith's eerie voice.
"Yes,
that's it, Nosedive. He's the brother
of Wildwing and his most important reason for staying alive."
"Are you
thinking what I think you're thinking, Lord Dragaunus?"
"Indeed I
am, Wraith. Siege, find a way to lure that duck here. Chameleon, infiltrate the
Pond as this Nosedive. Wraith, prepare a trap for our guest and one for his
rescue party. We might have vengeance at last!" Chameleon morphed into a
remarkable copy of Nosedive for practice, complete with voice. "Man, Wildwing
is really going to regret letting me out of his sight!" Siege handed
Chameleon/Nosedive a transporter. "Now remember, act like this kid and not like
this kid as a lunatic."
"But I'm so
good at it!"
"I know that nobody's perfect and all, but Wing should stop
treating me like I'm still just a hatchling, you know? He's a great leader and
the best goalie on Puckworld, but as a
brother, he's abysmal."
"Don't
sweat it, Dive. He'll give in eventually."
"You really
don't know Wing, do you Thrash?" Thrash rolled his eyes and rang up the latest
edition of Zortron for Dive.
"You wanna
grab some triple-spicy tacos?"
"Nah,
Mookie and I have to hold down the fort till 10. Just play it cool, man. I was
convinced my old man would never teach me, but he did." Mookie walked in and nodded.
"Yeah,
which explains the current condition of our latest car." Thrash laughed and
agreed with Mookie about the quality of the old Yugo. "Oh man, Dive, my first
car actually broke in half when I drove over these railroad tracks once!"
"You're
kidding!"
"No,
seriously! I was doin' 80 at the time and caught air, but, still..." Dive shook
his head. "I'm never getting close to a car with you two." He checked the clock
on the far wall. 7:30. "I've got something with the team at 8. Wing's probably
mad at me already because I just left them a note. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Thrash and Mookie said goodbye to Dive before he set out for the Pond. As he
walked back, the youngest member of the Mighty Ducks thought that his brother
actually had a good point in a few things. For instance, he did need to... what the heck is that? A little old lady
was hobbling around painfully and struggling with something in her hands.
People brushed up against her roughly, knocking her around. "Hey, lady! Wait!
I'll help you out!" She stopped and looked over at him. "Oh, thank you, sonny.
I'm trying to walk to the service station. I'm having tele- uh, transportation
problems."
"Really?
What kind of problems? I bet I can help. Is it the engine or did you run out of
gas?"
"No, it's
something else."
"You've got
an idea?"
"Yes, I
do." The old lady hit him on the head and morphed into Chameleon. "It's your
brother." Chameleon hit the cloaked transporter set for the Raptor and they vanished. The only thing
left was Dive's comic book.
Wildwing paced. When he finally felt his legs wouldn't hold
any longer, he paced a little more. "He's hurt or in trouble, I know it."
Mallory eased off one of her painful dress shoes and shook her head.
"Dive's a
tough kid, Wildwing. He'll probably come in right about now and want to go out
to eat."
"Yeah, that
sounds like him, but he's always been good with coming in on time for these
meetings as much as he hates them. Look, it's already 7:45. If he isn't in here
in five minutes, I'm calling him and I won't be happy with him." Duke and Tanya
entered along with Grin and Phil. "It's time to go, bubbes. The reporters are
starting to arrive."
"Hey,
Wildwing, where's de kid?"
"I don't
have a clue, Duke. I'm calling him now, and is he in for it."
"Wildwing,
you can't really do that." Wildwing looked up. "Why not, Mallory? He needs to
be here for this."
"It's not
going to respond. He turns it off when he needs quiet time." Wildwing sighed.
"Great. We're going to have to either wait for him or go find him. Phil, can
you stall for us?"
"I can try,
bubbe. I'll manage to put it off for thirty minutes max."
"8:30,
then. We'll find him. Grin, Duke, you check the mall and Captain Comics.
Mallory, you try the local taco restaurant. Tanya, see if you can get a
possible trace on Drake One. I'll stay here and be base of communications."
"Uh,
Wildwing, aren't you uh, over- over... taking this too seriously?"
"No. My
little brother's out there, a storm is brewing, and Dragaunus has been too
quiet lately. He's up to something. I know it."
Dragaunus and Siege were waiting when Chameleon arrived. He
was now a massive bodybuilder with an Austrian accent (take a wild guess) who
tossed Dive to the ground. "Ohh, he's not a heavy fell-low. Still needs to cut
baa-ck on those taa-cos." Siege rolled his eyes and dragged the unconscious
duck away. "He's going to have the mother of all headaches when he wakes up."
Dragaunus turned to Chameleon. "You know what to do. Anything you can to crush
the ducks." Chameleon morphed into Nosedive and hit the un-cloaked transporter.
"This is going to be some cooella fun!"
Duke and Grin had already covered the mall and had just
questioned Thrash and Mookie, who told them that Dive had left about 15 minutes
ago. "I'm startin' to think like Wildwing, Grin. Dis just isn't right.
Something's...odd. He would have been back at de Pond by now."
"Nosedive's
aura is not near here. It might be too clouded."
"I'll just
agree wit' you and say nothing." Duke sighed and happened to look down an
alleyway where he saw a limp form propped against a wall. "Grin, look down
there! Is dat him?" They ran to where the form was and saw "Nosedive," who
looked like he was in the middle of a nap. "Well, he isn't reekin' of Schnapps,
so I guess dat's a good thing. Here, can you life 'im, Grin?"
"He is
light. Wildwing will want to know what has happened."
"Yeah? Well
I'm wantin' to know what's happened 'ere. I'll call Wildwing and tell 'im we
found Dive."
Wildwing closed his com. "Duke and Grin found him, Tanya. On
the corner of Beach and 5th."
"Uh, that's
an alleyway, Wildwing. Was he in a fight?"
"They don't
know. They said it looks like he hadn't been there long. Check for any teleportations
there in the last ten minutes." Tanya ran it through the computer and nodded.
"Yeah, there was one. Says it came from the park next to Beach and 5th."
"Which
means that Dive must have seen them and got ambushed!"
"But we
can't go after them because Dragaunus could be anywhere by now. I think you
should put him in bed and I'll check him out after the conference. You heard
what Mallory said earlier. Dive's a tough kid."
Chameleon hated playing unconscious people. He had to stay
perfectly still and keep his breathing normal. As soon as the big duck put him
on the bunk bed, in what he assumed was the young duck's room, he waited for
the swish of the door. He jumped out of bed and changed from the armor to the
kid's street clothes. It wouldn't matter if someone noticed that he didn't have
a communicator or those weapons -puckblasters?- with him; they would assume
that he lost them to Lord Dragaunus. Checking himself out in the mirror, he had
to admire the realism of his current form. Chameleon heard a noise. Footsteps
approaching. Quickly, he jumped back onto the lower bunk and closed his eyes so
that only a slit was open and not visible. The door opened and the leader
stepped in. It was the first time that Chameleon had seen him without the mask
on. The duck and his brother bore no strong resemblance to one another, but the
beaks and eyes were the same. "Hey, Dive" the leader said. "Guess you're still
out of it. I'm sorry about what I said today. But you didn't have to go out and
get yourself half-killed proving that you're up to the challenge. I know that
you've had a rough life, and without Mom and Dad, and with all that we've been
in..." Oh brother, Chameleon thought.
Cue the sappy music. Wildwing kept on
talking to his unconscious 'brother.' "...And it has to be hard coming straight
from the mines to the limelight of Earth. Phil and I will try to teach you how
to drive, if it will make you happy. Speaking of Phil, he got us out of the
press conference. The others had to go, but he told the reporters that you and
I had a cold or something like that." This
is getting old. "Nosedive" stirred a little to let Wildwing know that he
was coming out of it. "I guess I'd better let you get some rest. Good-night,
little brother. Duke picked up your comic book for you." Wildwing pulled the
sheets over him, laid the book by his feet and left. When he was sure he was
alone, Chameleon hopped out of bed again and checked for hidden cameras or
mikes. There were none, obviously. He reverted into his normal form and pulled
Dragaunus' com out of his pocket. "Lord Dragaunus? I'm in and they've bought
it!"
"Excellent
work, Chameleon. Now, just twist the thorn and do whatever you must. Also, find
a way to disable that computer of theirs and find the ingredients to bellerium
crystals."
"If they
don't have any?"
"Just do as
much damage as you can." Chameleon hid the com in his pocket, reverted back
into the duck's form and took in Dive's room. "These are pretty good digs. I
could get used to this." He picked up the comic book and started to read it.
Pushing it away a moment later, he asked "What thorn?"
Dive woke up with a killer headache, as predicted. He didn't
know where he was at first, but then remembered in a rush. The argument between
him and Wildwing, the old woman who turned out to be the Chameleon, the threat
against his brother, everything. "Oh man," he moaned, "this is seriously bad!"
Siege lumbered up the hall and shoved something on a tray toward him. "You're
awake, huh? Eat somethin' before Lord Dragaunus meets with you."
"No way!
It's probably poisoned!"
"If you
want to starve, suit yourself." Deciding that eating it was the lesser of two
evils, Dive tasted the goop on the plate. It was disgusting, worse even than
his own cooking, but was still food. It left a moldy taste in his mouth
afterward. Popping out a box of Tic-Tacs, he choked down the entire carton.
"Minty fresh breath. If I'm going to die at the hands of the last Saurian
overlord, I might as well have fresh breath. And they're only a 1/14 of a calorie."
He sat and thought about various ways to escape until Dragaunus arrived. He
smirked and looked well pleased with himself. Uh-oh. Rule numero uno: It's not good when baddies smirk and look
pleased. That means my head's probably going to be above his mantle before Wing
and the team can come and bail me out. "So duck, how do you like my prison
sector?"
"Service is
great, the food sucks."
"Defiant to
the last. That's very brave of you. Your brother has no clue you're here."
"He'll
come. I know Wildwing. He won't forget about me." Dragaunus laughed for a full
thirty seconds. "No, he won't, because he thinks that you're safe at home."
Nosedive squared his shoulders. "You…you're crazy! You just laid a trap for him
and expect him to waltz right in it? No, he'll notice. Nothing gets past him.
He'll see I'm not there, and…"
"But that's
the beauty of the plan! You are
there." Dive gave him a confused look and then caught on. "Your goon is doing
your dirty work for you? That's low."
"I'm a
villain. What do you expect? We've been planning this trick for a long time."
"That nutty
Chameleon will screw up somewhere; he'll eat Velveeta straight out of the box
or chug canola oil in front of Wing or do an impression in front of somebody.
He can't fully impersonate me…because Wing and I have a code." Of course Dive was stalling, and it wouldn't be long until
Dragaunus found that out. Dragaunus, much to his credit, raised an eyebrow.
"That's far too desperate to be believed. Chameleon will find it out, if there
is one. Have no fear. Your teammates will join you soon." Dive felt his heart
sink, then decided to play it cool. He sat down on the floor and pulled a tube
of Mentos out of his pocket. This is
going to be an extremely long night. Unless…
Mallory shuddered when she saw what "Dive" was doing. He
loading up one of those blasted triple-spicy tacos of his with even more hot
sauce and chunks of Velveeta cheese. "Mmmmm, uf's be-ah lak 'is, Mal."
"What are
you drinking?"
"Wa-ah.
Uuurp, scuse meh."
"You are so
disgusting, Nosedive. How does Wildwing put up with you?"
"Brofferwy
wuv. Ooh'd ern 'oo, uf Ah wus yor broffer." Wildwing walked in. "What's going
on, guys?"
"Wanna see
wuf's in muh mouf?"
"No thank you,
Dive. What are you planning tonight, Mallory? The others want to go to a nice
restaurant." He quieted his voice. "I'm passing on the invitation; someone has
to take care of Dive." He gestured over at his brother, who was now gargling
the water and trying to play out TV theme songs with it. "He's…not quite himself since the other
night."
"I see your
point. Can you handle him alone?"
"Of course.
You and the others go out for tonight and when Dive's feeling better, we'll
join you."
"Er ooh doo
dalkin' bout me?" Wildwing turned and smiled at his brother, who had just
finished the Brady Bunch theme and was now starting on Hogan's Heroes
with another gulp of water. "Of course we are. Tonight's plans. You and I are
going to spend some time together more from now on, and give the others more
breaks." Dive finally swallowed what was in his mouth. "More of that 'brotherly
bonding' junk?"
"Fraid so.
We can watch Pay-Per-View, play video games, try to cook something… just like
the old days." Dive considered this and shook his head.
"Thanks, but no. I'd rather listen to Van Halen, water my
plants and watch water seep through the roots than spend happy time with my big brother." He gave a goofy grin and walked
off. Wing sighed heavily and turned to Mallory. "He didn't use to be like this.
Ever since he was hurt, he doesn't want anything to do with me. Can I really be
that bad of a brother to him?"
"No,
Wildwing, of course not! He's just being a sulky himself. He'll get over it,
I'm sure." He didn't seem to hear her. "It's not that I don't trust him, I
don't trust the world around him. Am I suffocating him or something? Skies, I
sound like my father."
"Maybe it's
better for him this way."
"Maybe
Dragaunus did something to him. He knows by now that the best way to me –and
the team- is through Dive. The weirder he acts, the more sure I become of
this." Duke rushed in and stopped short of Wildwing.
"Wing, you'd bedda' come quick! I think dat Dive's tryin' to
eat 'is sea monkeys!"
Dive had figured out a plan that relied on Siege and his
not-too-high IQ, and it was now time to set it in motion. If all went well, the
Saurians would lead him to the other Ducks just like Klegghorn to a donut. "Hey
Siege," he called, "do you get cable here?"
"Pirated."
"Yeah, but
you get it, right?"
"Premium
packaging. Why?"
"I was just
wondering if you've seen the Bernie cartoons."
"Bernie the
Bear?" Dive snapped his fingers. "Yeah! That's the one! Grin- the big duck
who's my teammate- and I, we kinda had a bet going on about whether or not
Bernie was a bear."
"Of course
he's a bear, you nitwit!" Dive tried to remember Grin's arguments.
"Yeah, but
he drives a car and has a dog! What kind of bear gets to drive?"
"It's a
cartoon, moron! He has fur!"
"Come on
man, he wears a polka-dotted bow tie and a big goofy hat! He goes 'Dum-te-dum-dum' when he walks down the
street and usually into a lightpost!" Siege glowered at him. "You crazy duck!
Of course he's a bear! Just shut up and don't bother trying to argue. Lord Dragaunus
is stopping by later."
"Oh,
rapture. My day just doesn't get completed until I get a visit from Dragaunus.
And Bernie was not a bear. He was a… big human who needed to shave or
something."
"Bernie was
a bear, for the last time!"
"Oh, yeah?
I'll prove it to you. Show me your TV. It's about time for Bernie to come on.
Show me your TV, we'll find out what species Bernie is, and then I'll shut up
and not bother you again about it. Deal?"
"In order
to make you shut up…deal." Dive smiled as the clink of the force field shutting
off echoed. Let's see if I can make it
out of here alive to brag to Grin that Bernie is a bear. He felt something
sweat-sticking to his left arm. Hey, I
didn't wear my watch today…
Wildwing rested the back of his head against the couch thing
Dive had parked in front of his TV and flipped through channels. After the sea
monkeys incident, he had asked Tanya to give Dive something strong to knock him
out. Dive had protested so loudly that Wing didn't have the heart to force him out.
So Dive was lying in bed and Wing was trying to find a music channel for him. Maybe there's nothing really wrong with
him. Maybe he's just adjusting to Earth. Dive's voice came out, tired
sounding but awake. "Hey Wing? You know what would be really cool?"
"What's
that?"
"If I could
play the concert French horn and juggle at the same time."
And then again, I
could be wrong. Maybe he finally got pushed off the edge. But what happened?
Time to find out. "Hey Dive?"
"That's
me."
"What happened
that night when you fought with Dragaunus?"
"You mean
the other night?"
"Yeah. What
gives? Why are you acting so weird?" Nosedive took his time answering. "Well, I
was walking home when I saw the Raptor
appear in that park. Just mindin' my own business when the four Saurians jumped
me. Next thing I know, they're trying to drag me away and I jump to fight with
them. I drove them off but I collapsed in the alleyway where Duke and Grin
found me."
"Wow, Dive.
Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought
you'd get all big-brothery on me. Y'know, like in that book, 1984. 'Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is
Knowledge,' stuff like that." Wildwing stared at him oddly for a moment. Hold
on a minute… That's not right…He got up and put a hand on his puckblaster.
"I don't know who you are, but my brother's never heard of 1984, let alone read it.
"I…uh,
looked…it…up. I got curious one night. And I have heard of it; Capri mentioned
it in number 3 of the Far Wars Saga."
"Far Wars,
huh Dive? Never heard of it."
"It's pretty
cool. It's about this writer who gets sucked into her computer with four of her
closest friends and her characters and have to fight this evil overlord in
another dimension."
"Sounds a
little like us." Chameleon/Dive looked at Wing for a long time. "I'm getting
tired. Could you hit the lights for me?" Wing heard the 'goodnight' in his
voice and killed the lights. "Night,
Dive. Sleep well. Sorry about the 1984
thing." Chameleon couldn't respond much. "S'ok." I will not get attached to
these ducks!
Dive, the real Dive, was sure that he had some signs of
fatigue showing by now. But, he reasoned, that was what Dragaunus wanted; him
to get worn down and off guard. Siege and he were still having their "argument"
over Bernie. The Saurian jabbed his finger at the cartoon bear waltzing down
the street on the TV. "See? That is a bear. That is Bernie. Bernie is a bear.
Happy?" Dive leaned up against a console and demagnetized the cuffs binding
him. "Man. I guess you're right. I was wrong about that. It's just a little
weird that he'd drive and have a house and eat steak and stuff."
"It's
called a cartoon."
"I figured
that much out, thank you." Just keep
talking, you moron, I need a few more minutes with the demagnetizing. "Hey,
wait! What's his girlfriend like?"
"Bernie
doesn't have a girlfriend."
"You
absolutely sure? Who's that then?"
"That's his
neighbor. She dates the gopher down the street." Got it! Sayonara, Dragaunus and thank you Duke! "Well, thanks for
clearing that up, Siege. Y'know, you're a lot less stupid and fierce in real
life than in battle."
"What did
you say? Whyioughta…" Dive held up his unbound hands. "Talk about your bad
days, huh Siege?" He actually managed to pick up the Saurian and throw him into
the cell Dive had just resided in for the past few days, knocking him out. "See
ya round, Siege!" Thinking quickly, he spotted a laser gun and a communicator.
"Oh look; Tanny gets some new tinker toys!" Popping a Mentos, he had a sudden
idea about what to do while he was stuck onboard the Raptor. Now, if these cuffs aren't demagnetized too badly, I think I
can get this plan to work… I wish I'd paid more attention when Tanya was
telling me about alternate energy sources!
Tanya, Duke, Grin and Mallory had just sat down at the
restaurant and received menus. "What are you getting, Tanya?"
"Uh, I've
always liked shrimp scampi. What about you Duke?"
"I dunno.
Prob'ly somethin' like a quiche. 'Bout you, Mal-Mal?"
"A nice,
big Caesar salad. With extra cheese and dressing." Shouts came from the other
patrons. "I guess they don't like your idea of a salad, Mal."
"Uh, that's
not it guys. That is." Tanya pointed to a flying beauty parlor. "It's the Raptor!"
"Who's piloting
that thing? Someone who's blindfolded and spun around a couple of times?"
"We've
gotta call Wildwing!"
"You're
right; he probably needs a break from Dive. Besides, it's not everyday you get
to see a flyin' beauty parlor!"
Wing was asleep. He liked sleeping. Especially in all these
stressful days worrying about Dive and the team and Dragaunus' inactivity. He'd
been dreaming of the old days back at home on Puckworld when he was teaching
Dive how to block shots and how to stay up on his skates and didn't have to
worry with keeping their heads on their shoulders and staying alive. Was it really that long ago? No matter
how much he wanted to stay behind with the pleasant recollections, he had to
take the call. "Wildwing here. What's going on?"
"Wing, it's
Mallory. The Raptor's plowing into the countryside. We're at Chez
Pecunia."
"I'll be
right over." Changing into his armor, he quickly went to Dive's room. No, he's still too unpredictable. Better
just let him sleep. The bundle in the bed had the sheets pulled up over his
head, judging from the hall lights. He shut the door and headed out with the Aerowing. Landing a few minutes later,
he picked up the other four ducks, who were already in battle gear. "What's
going on? Dragaunus lost control again?"
"We can't
tell. It looks that way."
"Tanya? Any
clue?"
"Ah, well,
it would look that maybe he tried another energy source or someone really
inexperienced is flying it."
Dive struggled to keep the Raptor above the ground and tried not to hit anything. Dragaunus
rushed in and surveyed the damage, not noticing it was Dive flying it. "You
fool! You have no clue on how to pilot the Raptor!"
"That's
right! I'm more used to the Aerowing,
thanks."
"You're the
duck!"
"Correctamundo
again! Look, you're going to have to help me with this; I still can't steer."
"I'd rather
rip you to pieces right now." Dive turned his eyes away from the viewport and
toward Dragaunus. "Hit me and we blow up
together," he told him through gritted teeth. Dragaunus, the Saurian overlord,
and Nosedive Flashblade, a duck who by all rights deserved to be back in the
mines, gripped hands for a moment in a very uneasy alliance for survival.
Dragaunus began to give him driving instructions.
"You're not
DMV certified, Draggy, but you'll have to do in a pinch!"
Chameleon tried to turn on Drake One without success. "That
duck must have taken something from it. There's gotta be some sort of alternate
power switch." After a few minutes of searching, he became frustrated and gave
up. "No way of turning on the computer, no way of finding bellerium
ingredients. Might as well head back." He reverted into his old self and pushed
the transporter for the Raptor-
-just as Dive half-crashed/half-landed it into a field.
Chameleon landed with a thud next to Siege, still locked up in his cell.
Meanwhile, Dive wiped his forehead. "Best parking job yet." Dragaunus grabbed
his collar and held him up "Errk..lemme..go…"
"You've
just wrecked my ship. I should do what I intended to do. But would you be worth
the exertion of killing?"
"Uhhhh,
no." Chameleon hurried in and assumed a rather penitent pose. "I couldn't find
any ingredients for bellerium crystals or find anything on their computer.
Before the lead duck left, he shut down everything."
"You mean you
couldn't find our box of Reddy-Bellerium Tanny has hidden away in the kitchen?"
Dragaunus tightened his grip on Dive's collar in response. "Nevertheless, we
still have a duck with us. Chameleon, distract the ducks when they arrive. I'm
going to get rid of this one and I'm going to enjoy it." Chameleon morphed back
into Dive and took up a residence outside the Raptor.
Wildwing's heart sank when he landed the Aerowing near the Raptor. "Oh Dive," he whispered, "why didn't you stay in bed? And
how did you get here?" Tanya rushed out. "He's alive, Wildwing." She looked up
at him. "Do you want us to put him on board."
"Is he out
for a long time?"
"No
telling."
"Put him on
board then." Mallory and Grin carried "Dive" into the Aerowing. "This kid is a glutton for punishment. Ever seen anything
like it, Grin?"
"No, but it
is odd that he is not wearing his armor. His aura is…cloudy, to say the least."
"Something
is definitely wrong here."
On the battlefield, Wildwing, Tanya and Duke headed into the
Raptor to find Dragaunus happily
choking the real Dive, who was about three feet above the floor.
"Hey,
Wild…wing. Glad…you could…make it… help me….please?" Wildwing was almost
disappointed that he was wearing the mask. The red fury in its eyes came no
where close to even rivaling the cold glint in his eyes. "Put my brother down."
"As you
wish." Dragaunus pitched Dive toward them. Dive managed to alter his course in
midair so that he wasn't going to be the ball in duck-bowling and crashed into
a bulkhead. He stood, shook himself off, and put his armor on. "That was
seriously not cool, lizard-lips! You may be my driving instructor, but this
time it's really personal!"
"Driving
instructor? Dive, you didn't have to switch sides on us to learn how to drive a
car! Phil and I are going to teach you."
"Really?
That's great, big bro, but right now Draggy isn't too happy with me because I
crashed this rusty piece of junk a minute ago."
"You were
de pilot? Kid, we have got to work on your takeoffs and landings." Grin and
Mallory ran in, holding a squirming Chameleon. "Wing, we've got problems…and
you've got the real Nosedive?"
"Me in the
flesh, girly-girl."
"Yeah,
that's the real Nosedive." Dragaunus merely chuckled at the Ducks' reunion.
"You can celebrate now, but I can blow us all sky-high with the flick of this
button."
"What do
you mean?"
"I mean
I've taken the liberty of strapping explosives to your brother's left wrist. I
alone can deactivate it." Wildwing checked; that was the thing that had stuck
to Dive's arm. "He's right, Wing. I found it earlier."
"What do
you want in return?"
"The
Chameleon and a return to a new hiding ground."
"For my
brother's and my team's lives? I'll take it."
Three days later, when Dive and the others had recovered
from the shock of the past few days, he started his long awaited driving
lessons. With Phil in the passenger's seat and Wing in the back, Dive set out
in what he had christened "his rusty Pinto."
"Great job
getting the learner's permit so soon, bubbe. You're a real quick-study. Now you
can chauffeur me around."
"Don't bet
on it, Phil."
"Okay,
Dive. Turn left here."
"Right,
Wing."
"No, left."
"Right. I
mean, uh, gotcha."
"By the way
Dive, how did you get your learner's permit
so easily?" Dive looked at Wing slyly in the rear-view mirror. "I don't just
read comic books, you know." He cranked up the radio and let the music drown
out his manager and big, worrywart brother. It was a song he actually liked.
We didn't
start the fire
It was always burning,
Since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
Well we didn't light it,
But we tried to fight it…
Finis.
