Disclaimers: The Mighty Ducks and all related characters are the property of Walt Disney. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made. The songs "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "Synchronicity 1" belong to Metallica and The Police, respectively.
This story and all original characters and concepts are the property of the author except for McBill, which is the property of Majik of Chaos Central (.)
To understand parts of this story I recommend you first read Majik's "Giving Thanks" (.)
The following is rated PG for violence and discussion of child abuse.
Paranoia
A Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series Fanfic
By JonathanDP81
Chapter One: Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Build my fear of what's out there
and cannot breathe the open air
Whisper things into my brain
assuring me that I'm insane
They think our heads are in their hands
but violent use brings violent plans
Keep him tied, it makes him well
he's getting better, can't you tell?
The blasting sounds of lasers and puck launchers echoed throughout the large and crowded warehouse on the outskirts of Anaheim. The ducks had responded to an alarm given by Drake One that teleportaion energy had been detected in this building. Sure enough, when they arrived in the Migrator, they found Siege, Wraith and Chameleon stealing boxes of electronics equipment. When the trio had seen the ducks they had spilt up, making it extra hard battle as all these tall packing crates were set up like a maze. This call had turned into a cat-and-mouse game.
Nosedive had found himself separated from the rest of the group and lost. There didn't seem to be a way out of this labyrinth. Coming to a corner, he slowly poked his head around the corner of the crate. Nothing. He made his way down slowly down between the rows. The sounds of blasting came fewer and farther between as each side searched for the other.
As he was about to turn another corner, the hairs on the back of Nosedive's neck stood straight up. He never got a chance to turn as suddenly everything went black.
Nosedive's eyes flickered open. Oh man, this had to be the worst headache he'd ever had. As his vision focused, he could make out the face of Wildwing, leaning over him.
"You feeling alright, bro?" A look of great concern was on his face.
"You catch the guy who dropped the Volkswagen on my head and I'll feel better." Nosedive said a bit groggily. Wildwing smiled.
"I see at least your sense of humor wasn't damaged. We'll be back at the pond in minute." As Wing said this, Dive realized he was on the floor of the Migrator.
He slowly rose to a sitting position and gingerly felt the large painful bruise forming on the back of his head.
"Looks like somebody doesn't like me." He said with a bit of a grimace as he looked at his hand to check for blood.
As Dive laid his head carefully down on his pillow, he quickly realized he was going to have to sleep on his side tonight. This bruise of his was rather tender. Dive was going to bed far earlier than he usually did, but he was dead tired and Tanya said some extra sleep would be good for healing. As he closed his eyes, he wondered for the fiftieth time that evening why whichever one of Dragonius' goons who had knocked him out hadn't gone and ahead and killed him.
The lighting in the Pond was dim and the place seemed like no had lived there for years. Cobwebs were everywhere. Dive slowly walked down the corridor. It was cold and he shivered. Where was everyone?
"Hello? Guys? Where are you?" he called out. He received no reply but the echo. He was starting to get scared.
Suddenly the doors at the end of the corridor opened. Out stepped Wildwing. Nosedive took a step towards him before something stopped him. 'Run.' Said a voice in his head. Dive quickly turned and started to sprint as fast he possibly could. He heard running footsteps behind him, getting closer and closer and closer and then a hand was on his shoulder and then…
Dive awoke with a gasp. After a few moments of terror, he realized that he'd been dreaming. He sighed. That had been some nightmare. He was breathing heavily, his heart was going a mile a minute, and there was a covering of cold sweat all over him.
He turned his head slightly and found the growing red numerals of his bedside clock. 5:30 AM. Oh well. He might as well get up, he really didn't feel like trying to go back to sleep.
As he dressed, he thought about the dream. He had never been able to remember nightmares, but this one was as clear as if it had actually happened. It was rather odd, too. Why was he running from Wildwing? After a few moments of pondering, Dive shook his head. It was only a stupid dream.
Dive walked into the empty kitchen. Wildwing and Mallory would have both been up at least a half-an-hour ago, but the rest probably wouldn't be up for another forty-five minutes. Dive grabbed a leftover ham sandwich from yesterday and a bottle of apple juice and walked toward the gym, eating as he went.
He had nearly finished as he went in. Mallory was working with the weights. She threw him a questioning 'you OK?' sort of glance at him after noticing him. Dive smiled, gave her a wink, and popped the last of the sandwich in his mouth.
"You feeling okay?" said a voice behind him. Dive turned…and froze. Terror seized him. He ran like mad out of the room.
Wildwing was extremely puzzled as he and Mallory jogged after Nosedive. When Dive had turned and saw him on treadmill in the corner, Dive's eyes had gotten as big as saucers and he'd gotten out of there quick as a flash. It was like he'd scared by something. But what? Both of them had thought it odd enough to go after him.
The two of them came to point were the corridor split. "You go left, I'll go right." Wildwing told Mallory, and they went their separate ways.
Mallory hadn't gone very far when she thought she heard something. She stopped by a storage closet and put your ear to the door. Yes, she could definitely hear a noise. She opened the door and stepped carefully inside.
There was Nosedive. The room had been pitch black, but she could see him by the stream of light coming through the doorway. Dive was sitting on the floor in a corner, his legs curled up to his chin. He was breathing so hard and fast, it sounded like he was nearly hyperventilating. He didn't seem to notice Mallory, and his eyes were unfocused.
Mallory walked over quietly and kneeled down next to him. "Dive? What's wrong?" she said in the tenderest voice she could muster.
It was a couple of moments before Dive seemed to hear her. He then gave a little jump and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Mallory! I was certain it'd got you!" Before she could answer, he then saw the open doorway, leaped up, rushed over and shut it, plunging them both into darkness. There were a few quiet moments before Mallory spoke.
"Dive, what on Puckworld is going on?"
"We have to hide, Mallory, otherwise it will get us!" His voice was nearly hysterical. "It's probably already gotten the others! We could be the only ones left!" There was pause before he continued, slightly calmer. "How did you escape? I don't know how you could have possibly gotten away…." Dive's voice faded away.
The lights switched on. Mallory found herself looking down the barrel of Nosedive's puck launcher. The look in his eyes and his voice were both cold as he spoke. "Unless you're working together."
Suddenly the doors behind him opened. Nosedive swung around. Wildwing was standing there with a slightly puzzled look on his face.
Almost instantly, Dive's hands began to shake. The puck launcher clattered to the floor. Dive, eyes wide, shaking like a leaf, began to back slowly away from the doorway, but soon sped up so much he hit the wall with a crash.
"Nosedive? What's wrong?" Wildwing started toward his brother.
"NO! GO AWAY!" screamed Nosedive. He started to slide down the wall. Tears were streaming down his face. Mallory, standing unseen beside him, reached out a hand and lightly touched his shoulder.
Dive flinched and fell over sideways. He stared at her in utter terror.
"You're in it with him. All of you. You're all out to…" Before he could finish, his eyes rolled back and he fainted.
"It doesn't make sense. Why would Nosedive be terrified of his own brother?" asked Tanya, incredulously.
The group was gathered in the ready room, except Grin, who had volunteered to watch Nosedive in the infirmary.
"All I know is that the sight of me was enough to send him into a blind terror. He nearly shot Mallory because he thought she was 'working' with me." Said Wildwing wearily.
"Could it have something to with that bump he got yesterday? You know, jumble the works?" asked Duke.
"No, something of that sort we'd have seen some problems last night." Replied Tanya. "I would rather doubt that Dive could have received a psychological shock severe enough to cause him to fear Wildwing in the space of last night."
"Then what is it then?" asked an impatient Mallory.
"I suppose it might to possible to chemically alter the functioning of Nosedive's brain. But to implant a specific phobia in his head, that's something no one on Earth could do…" Tanya trailed off as she and everyone else in the room realized the ramifications of that last statement. Dragaunus.
Nosedive was strapped securely to a table. The room he was in was hot and so stuffy he could barely breath. It was filled with a dark red light. Stream seemed to be coming out of cracks in the floor. He could see instruments of torture all around him. He was nearly out of his mind with fright.
The heavy wooden door to this hellish place swung open and in stepped Wildwing.
"Wildwing!" cried Nosedive joyously. "Quick, untie me!"
"Wildwing is dead." Replied the figure flatly. The voice sounded a lot like Wildwing, but it was much more sinister and cold. He walked over to side of table, staring at Dive. "And now all your little friends work for me!" He pulled off the Mask of Drake Ducaine and showed the face that was underneath. And Nosedive screamed.
Nosedive awoke with a start, but not with the unpleasantness of this morning. He kept his eyes closed as he thought. This time he was thankful for the dream. It showed him what he knew to be the truth. Wildwing was gone, replaced by that 'thing' and the rest of them now worked for it. All of them, plotting against him and the world. He had to stop them. Somehow.
He opened his eyes and found himself lying in a bed in the infirmary. A slight turn of his head and saw Grin, sitting in a chair next to the bed, staring at him.
"Welcome back to the world of the living, little one." he said softy. Through the terror started to grip him again, Nosedive gulped, held it in check, and decided to lie.
"Grin, what's going on? What am I doing here?"
"Do you not remember this morning?" replied Grin with one eyebrow raised.
"No, what happened?"
"Wildwing and Mallory say you had a…fit. You seemed terrified."
"Really? I don't remember a thing." Dive lowered his voice to a whisper. "Grin, could you come closer for a moment?"
Grin leaned forward and Dive's hand flew to his neck, quickly finding the nerve that Duke had showed him a few weeks before. He gave it a pinch and Grin fell out of his chair to the floor, unconscious.
Nosedive leaped out of the bed and rushed out of the infirmary. He had a plan, but he would have to hurry.
About ten minutes later, Tanya and Wildwing walked into the infirmary. Tanya had a theory about what was causing Nosedive's fear, but she would need some of his blood to prove it and work out a solution.
The two of them stopped in their tracks upon seeing Grin on the floor and Nosedive gone. They rushed over to Grin who was just coming to. He groaned and held his shoulder with one hand while using the other to lift himself up. His eyes looked straight into Wildwing's.
"Your brother is quicker than one would think."
Grin did not time to elaborate as suddenly the Pond's alarm system went off, blaring deafeningly. The three of them all rushed to Drake One.
Mallory and Duke were already there when they came in. Tanya began to quickly access the megacomputer, typing furiously.
"The main reactor is critical! The cooling system has been shut down! Ten minutes to a complete meltdown!"
"Can you turn the cooling back on?" asked Wildwing, trying to stay calm.
"No! Someone has set up a password on computerized reactor controls! I can break through it, but not in time we have! You would have to go down there and shut it down manually!"
"Let's go do it then!" Wildwing led the group as they ran out of the room.
To Be Continuted In Chapter Two…