Author's Notes 4/10/02:
Hey Guys! Miss me? I'm sorry I took forever and a day to get this next chapter out...it's very Technical, what can I say! I just about had to research this, but I think it makes the story far better. I hope ya'll enjoy it. I'm hungry for Reviews!!!!!
~Windresss
Disclaimer: *opens her wallet and a moth flies out* If ya'll can catch it, ya'll can have it!
Never Say Forever.
Chapter 6: Forever Started Yesterday.
"I-I don't know what you're Talking About!!"
Shaking with rage, the leader of the Mighty Ducks tightened his grip on the scientist until the smaller man choked.
"I would rephrase my answer if I were you..." Duke's comment was as offhand as his casual figure, which leaned against the wall alongside the struggling man, but his expression rung with lethal intent.
The flailing scientist rasped, desperation in his eyes, "...I-I..Can only...co-combine creatures.....I can't.. re..turn l-life!!"
WildWing fairly snarled, "No! That's not true! I -saw- you kill that man! I SAW IT!"
He shook his head, and then the human in his grip, fiercely, feeling the final vestiges of his shattered hope bleeding from his resisting form.
'Stars, had it been this cold when Nosedive was in this world?'
"There -has- to be a W-"
The white headed duck was cut short by a familiar shimmer of emerald light. It's incandescence slowly took shape into an overly sized bulk every team member knew too well. Siege.
The barrels of four puck launchers welcomed the massive Saurian, their blunt ends jammed against his snout. Never the quick one, he failed to grasp the situation at first.. "Hey!"
Nonetheless, the distraction Siege offered gave Chameleon all the time he needed. The scientist's pasty visage melted away to reveal spotted olive skin and grotesquely bulging eyes.
The small shape changer brought his legs up, just as Wing's startled gaze returned to him, realization sparking a fresh anger in his eyes, and slammed the duck under the jaw.
WildWing's head snapped back, relinquishing his grip on the oily Saurian as he stumbled backward from the vicious kick. Chameleon fell in a less than delicate heap on the packed dirt floor, wailing in only the way he can, "SIEGE!!!"
But the fellow henchman was way ahead of him. Already, bright crimson drones were appearing in flashes of emerald lighting.
'How surreal,' Duke's chipped beak quirked a wry grin before his blade neatly sliced one of the machines in half, advancing to catch another before it had the opportunity to aim.
~~~~~
Filled with the sudden need to revenge Nosedive, Mallory barreled into the fray, her puck bazooka heavily loaded.
She shot down the advancing drones until her ammunition supply went dry, then hurled the heavy artillery into the next two machines.
A war cry welled within her chest, bursting free as she high kicked the next of many drones, using the momentum found from the creation's fall to take out two more.
'I keep at this, and I just might....forget...at least for a little while...'
~~~~~
Burly arms slammed a pair of drones together, their figures crumpling into the growing heap of metal at Grin's feet.
He fought with a fierce quality unparallel with his nature. His immense strength tore at the machines with surprising zeal, as if he enjoyed each act of destruction more than the last.
In his mind's eye was the laughing face of his young friend, the child that was so much an adult, at times...
The large duck's breath hitched slightly on the silent tears raining inside him, while his hands instinctively shredded yet another one of Dragaunus's weapons.
~~~~~
Tanya watched the growing carnage before her, unmoving from her position. She attacked the drones that ventured too near, but otherwise remained as she was, crazily falling locks of blonde hair curtained orbs that slowly eased tears. Their wet light slid down the length of her beak, licked away before they could fall.
And still she stood there, fists clenched, omnitool poised. Glistening eyes shifted over her shoulder, to the still form of NoseDive Flashblade
After all... '-someone- has to protect him...'
*****
'Pointless...pointless...pointless...'
The living Flashblade stared at the dirt ceiling, unmoving from where he had fallen after Chameleon's punch. His limbs felt like deadened weight, a hollowed cavity in the region of his heart.
It was then that the upper half of a drone fell upon the leader, forcing him into an upright position with a muffled "oomph!"
Reaching to lift the wreckage off his stomach, WildWing glanced up and watched the battle raging around him, his self-induced isolation stealing the privilege of subjectivity from his thoughts...
'Warriors.....they are all Warriors. Like you.' NoseDive's words from so long ago rang in his head, confided to him in the privacy of their room during their first night in the Pond.
WildWing could see his brother's wistful expression, lit by love that had never faded, never tarnished...
'I wish I could be a Warrior like them....like you...'
The Mighty Duck's leader closed his eyes tightly, desperately holding onto the picture of his lost sibling.
"So do I, Dive....so do I..."
The Duck surged to his feet, plowing a path through the clashing armies, his eyes on Tanya.
*****
"Tanya!!"
WildWing crouched by NoseDive's body, gently slipping his arms beneath the smaller duck's shoulders and knees.
The purple suited duck watched his actions, a question write clearly on her features. She pivoted, her omnitool shooting another explosive at an advancing drone, shrapnel flying when it connected. 'WildWing, what are you -Doing?!-"
The white duck cradled the body of his brother to him, his light weight only adding to the sense of hopelessness resting in the pit of the team captain's stomach. He fought it's beckoning depths.
"Tanya, I need you! We have to get to the Laboratory!"
A sharp glance was cast over the female's shoulder, unsure.. "Why?!"
The leader issued a short sigh, "Look, I need you to trust me in this! I know a way! There's a machine and..." Wing shook his head impatiently, "All that matters is that we can save him, Tanya..but if we don't hurry..."
His words Faltered, lost in the din of the battle. He slowly gathered himself, looking into her eyes, quietly beseeching "...please... We have to try..."
Tanya hesitated, then merely nodded, her expression grim.
*****
They dodged the fray, seeing that the other members were easily holding their own against the dwindling numbers present to them.
WildWing jerked his beak towards the descending stairs in the far side of the room, leading Tanya back into the dank bowels of the sunless prison. A short search proved fruitful as both the ducks stepped into the laboratory.
Wing shifted his brother's weight to one arm, pointing, "That machine right there...it brought a man back to life...only he was a monster."
Tanya advanced quickly on the unusual looking contraption, a coil of guilt lodging in her chest for the excitement she felt at seeing an unknown mechanism. She set those thoughts aside..
'I need to get this thing working if we're to save Dive...' The female carefully thrust the thought of failure from her mind, fingers touching hurriedly over the controls.
The white Duck tried to remain quiet and allow the technician the time she needed to understand the machine, but the effort cost him. He was so sure that every minute counted...
"Ok, I think I've got it..."
Tanya's words allowed WildWing to breath again, and he stepped closer, still holding his brother, "Yeah?"
The female duck nodded, her expression deep in thought..
"..You see, this machine manipulates stem cells for its own purposes..." WildWing nodded slightly at that, remembering the scientist...or was it Chameleon all along?...mentioning that.
"Stem cells live even after the body dies, and they are universal in all creatures, so if the cells of different origins were placed together, they would combine and alter each other, creating a hybrid." Tanya paused, a faint moue on her beak.
"So, This process -can- return life to...to Dive,.. but how do we do it without mutating him?" WildWing look to Tanya expectantly.
The purple suited duck's frown deepened, "...well.. I haven't quite answered that question, yet.
"WHAT?!"
Tanya winced away from her leader's tone, and WildWing instantly quieted, "Tanya, Stars, I'm sorry...I'm just-"
"I know, Wing...I would be the same way.."
WildWing eased a weary smile for the female's benefit, touched by the sincerity he heard in her voice. A question nudged him..
"So...putting NoseDive in the chamber alone wouldn't make his cells just mutate off themselves?"
She Seemed to consider his question for a long moment before replying, "I don't believe the machine is built to work off a single set of stem cells...someone else must also contribute."
An idea begins to slowly formulate in her mind, "..Now, were we to locate something with unique stem cells but the exact same DNA structure as NoseDive, then the machine would work as intended..."
The Might Duck's leader's eyes sharpened, meeting his companion's, "..I understand...and you know there's no question."
She nodded, continuing, "We'll need a sample, then we can attempt returning him to..er, us...with minimal mutation"
WildWing had grown more and more excited with Tanya's slow revelation, but his energy deflated at her final words. "...only...minimal?"
The female duck lifted her gaze to Wing, realizing the effect she had on his hopes.. "..I'm afraid it may be all we can wish for..."
"It's enough...if he's alive, then its enough.." Despite his firm words, WildWing felt a quiver of apprehension.
'What if he becomes like that creature? ..What if...What if I have to kill him?' The white duck shut out those disturbing thoughts, shaking his head,
"lets get this done with, I want to take my brother home.."
***Wahhoooie! Finally, I got the next chapter out! And there is HOPE!!! Did ya'll REALLY think I was so cruel as to just kill my little Divie Duck off?? heck, no! See ya'll in a few!***
Hey Guys! Miss me? I'm sorry I took forever and a day to get this next chapter out...it's very Technical, what can I say! I just about had to research this, but I think it makes the story far better. I hope ya'll enjoy it. I'm hungry for Reviews!!!!!
~Windresss
Disclaimer: *opens her wallet and a moth flies out* If ya'll can catch it, ya'll can have it!
Never Say Forever.
Chapter 6: Forever Started Yesterday.
"I-I don't know what you're Talking About!!"
Shaking with rage, the leader of the Mighty Ducks tightened his grip on the scientist until the smaller man choked.
"I would rephrase my answer if I were you..." Duke's comment was as offhand as his casual figure, which leaned against the wall alongside the struggling man, but his expression rung with lethal intent.
The flailing scientist rasped, desperation in his eyes, "...I-I..Can only...co-combine creatures.....I can't.. re..turn l-life!!"
WildWing fairly snarled, "No! That's not true! I -saw- you kill that man! I SAW IT!"
He shook his head, and then the human in his grip, fiercely, feeling the final vestiges of his shattered hope bleeding from his resisting form.
'Stars, had it been this cold when Nosedive was in this world?'
"There -has- to be a W-"
The white headed duck was cut short by a familiar shimmer of emerald light. It's incandescence slowly took shape into an overly sized bulk every team member knew too well. Siege.
The barrels of four puck launchers welcomed the massive Saurian, their blunt ends jammed against his snout. Never the quick one, he failed to grasp the situation at first.. "Hey!"
Nonetheless, the distraction Siege offered gave Chameleon all the time he needed. The scientist's pasty visage melted away to reveal spotted olive skin and grotesquely bulging eyes.
The small shape changer brought his legs up, just as Wing's startled gaze returned to him, realization sparking a fresh anger in his eyes, and slammed the duck under the jaw.
WildWing's head snapped back, relinquishing his grip on the oily Saurian as he stumbled backward from the vicious kick. Chameleon fell in a less than delicate heap on the packed dirt floor, wailing in only the way he can, "SIEGE!!!"
But the fellow henchman was way ahead of him. Already, bright crimson drones were appearing in flashes of emerald lighting.
'How surreal,' Duke's chipped beak quirked a wry grin before his blade neatly sliced one of the machines in half, advancing to catch another before it had the opportunity to aim.
~~~~~
Filled with the sudden need to revenge Nosedive, Mallory barreled into the fray, her puck bazooka heavily loaded.
She shot down the advancing drones until her ammunition supply went dry, then hurled the heavy artillery into the next two machines.
A war cry welled within her chest, bursting free as she high kicked the next of many drones, using the momentum found from the creation's fall to take out two more.
'I keep at this, and I just might....forget...at least for a little while...'
~~~~~
Burly arms slammed a pair of drones together, their figures crumpling into the growing heap of metal at Grin's feet.
He fought with a fierce quality unparallel with his nature. His immense strength tore at the machines with surprising zeal, as if he enjoyed each act of destruction more than the last.
In his mind's eye was the laughing face of his young friend, the child that was so much an adult, at times...
The large duck's breath hitched slightly on the silent tears raining inside him, while his hands instinctively shredded yet another one of Dragaunus's weapons.
~~~~~
Tanya watched the growing carnage before her, unmoving from her position. She attacked the drones that ventured too near, but otherwise remained as she was, crazily falling locks of blonde hair curtained orbs that slowly eased tears. Their wet light slid down the length of her beak, licked away before they could fall.
And still she stood there, fists clenched, omnitool poised. Glistening eyes shifted over her shoulder, to the still form of NoseDive Flashblade
After all... '-someone- has to protect him...'
*****
'Pointless...pointless...pointless...'
The living Flashblade stared at the dirt ceiling, unmoving from where he had fallen after Chameleon's punch. His limbs felt like deadened weight, a hollowed cavity in the region of his heart.
It was then that the upper half of a drone fell upon the leader, forcing him into an upright position with a muffled "oomph!"
Reaching to lift the wreckage off his stomach, WildWing glanced up and watched the battle raging around him, his self-induced isolation stealing the privilege of subjectivity from his thoughts...
'Warriors.....they are all Warriors. Like you.' NoseDive's words from so long ago rang in his head, confided to him in the privacy of their room during their first night in the Pond.
WildWing could see his brother's wistful expression, lit by love that had never faded, never tarnished...
'I wish I could be a Warrior like them....like you...'
The Mighty Duck's leader closed his eyes tightly, desperately holding onto the picture of his lost sibling.
"So do I, Dive....so do I..."
The Duck surged to his feet, plowing a path through the clashing armies, his eyes on Tanya.
*****
"Tanya!!"
WildWing crouched by NoseDive's body, gently slipping his arms beneath the smaller duck's shoulders and knees.
The purple suited duck watched his actions, a question write clearly on her features. She pivoted, her omnitool shooting another explosive at an advancing drone, shrapnel flying when it connected. 'WildWing, what are you -Doing?!-"
The white duck cradled the body of his brother to him, his light weight only adding to the sense of hopelessness resting in the pit of the team captain's stomach. He fought it's beckoning depths.
"Tanya, I need you! We have to get to the Laboratory!"
A sharp glance was cast over the female's shoulder, unsure.. "Why?!"
The leader issued a short sigh, "Look, I need you to trust me in this! I know a way! There's a machine and..." Wing shook his head impatiently, "All that matters is that we can save him, Tanya..but if we don't hurry..."
His words Faltered, lost in the din of the battle. He slowly gathered himself, looking into her eyes, quietly beseeching "...please... We have to try..."
Tanya hesitated, then merely nodded, her expression grim.
*****
They dodged the fray, seeing that the other members were easily holding their own against the dwindling numbers present to them.
WildWing jerked his beak towards the descending stairs in the far side of the room, leading Tanya back into the dank bowels of the sunless prison. A short search proved fruitful as both the ducks stepped into the laboratory.
Wing shifted his brother's weight to one arm, pointing, "That machine right there...it brought a man back to life...only he was a monster."
Tanya advanced quickly on the unusual looking contraption, a coil of guilt lodging in her chest for the excitement she felt at seeing an unknown mechanism. She set those thoughts aside..
'I need to get this thing working if we're to save Dive...' The female carefully thrust the thought of failure from her mind, fingers touching hurriedly over the controls.
The white Duck tried to remain quiet and allow the technician the time she needed to understand the machine, but the effort cost him. He was so sure that every minute counted...
"Ok, I think I've got it..."
Tanya's words allowed WildWing to breath again, and he stepped closer, still holding his brother, "Yeah?"
The female duck nodded, her expression deep in thought..
"..You see, this machine manipulates stem cells for its own purposes..." WildWing nodded slightly at that, remembering the scientist...or was it Chameleon all along?...mentioning that.
"Stem cells live even after the body dies, and they are universal in all creatures, so if the cells of different origins were placed together, they would combine and alter each other, creating a hybrid." Tanya paused, a faint moue on her beak.
"So, This process -can- return life to...to Dive,.. but how do we do it without mutating him?" WildWing look to Tanya expectantly.
The purple suited duck's frown deepened, "...well.. I haven't quite answered that question, yet.
"WHAT?!"
Tanya winced away from her leader's tone, and WildWing instantly quieted, "Tanya, Stars, I'm sorry...I'm just-"
"I know, Wing...I would be the same way.."
WildWing eased a weary smile for the female's benefit, touched by the sincerity he heard in her voice. A question nudged him..
"So...putting NoseDive in the chamber alone wouldn't make his cells just mutate off themselves?"
She Seemed to consider his question for a long moment before replying, "I don't believe the machine is built to work off a single set of stem cells...someone else must also contribute."
An idea begins to slowly formulate in her mind, "..Now, were we to locate something with unique stem cells but the exact same DNA structure as NoseDive, then the machine would work as intended..."
The Might Duck's leader's eyes sharpened, meeting his companion's, "..I understand...and you know there's no question."
She nodded, continuing, "We'll need a sample, then we can attempt returning him to..er, us...with minimal mutation"
WildWing had grown more and more excited with Tanya's slow revelation, but his energy deflated at her final words. "...only...minimal?"
The female duck lifted her gaze to Wing, realizing the effect she had on his hopes.. "..I'm afraid it may be all we can wish for..."
"It's enough...if he's alive, then its enough.." Despite his firm words, WildWing felt a quiver of apprehension.
'What if he becomes like that creature? ..What if...What if I have to kill him?' The white duck shut out those disturbing thoughts, shaking his head,
"lets get this done with, I want to take my brother home.."
***Wahhoooie! Finally, I got the next chapter out! And there is HOPE!!! Did ya'll REALLY think I was so cruel as to just kill my little Divie Duck off?? heck, no! See ya'll in a few!***