AN: Well, it's midnight, so no long speeches tonight. Just the post. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: *zzZZzz*
Part four: Betrayal
I Quit
Duke felt sorry for Nosedive. Three days into his grounding and the kid had already done just about everything there was to be done in the Pond twice. He was now so bored he was cleaning his room, which was a testament in and of itself. He had taken to showing his communicator to Wildwing and Canard every time he passed them in the hall, but whether it was in spite or because he was trying to nonverbally talk his way out of the grounding no one knew.
Wildwing had been ready to let him off his punishment by the morning of day two. If he'd been by himself, Nosedive would be away doing whatever it was he did, probably without his com. Canard, however, was determined to see the grounding to its end, all two weeks of it.
To fill the empty time, Nosedive threw himself wholly into his practice, spending hours on the ice after everyone else had gone. Though initially Canard had toyed with the idea of grounding the teen from video games as well, it became apparent that would have been inhumane. Even with his video games he was bored.
Duke found the teen sitting upside-down on the couch in the living room facing the TV, his head on the floor and his feet thrown over the back. A video game controller was held pointlessly in his right hand; the TV was off.
"What's goin' on?" the ex-thief asked, taking pity on the still figure.
No response.
Duke sat by Nosedive and pushed the teen's feet off the sofa, effectively dumping him onto the floor. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.
"Do you think it's possible for life to get any worse than it is right now?" the bedraggled younger duck asked, blinking slowly at the dots on the ceiling.
"What'd ya mean?"
"Look at us. We're stranded on an alien planet trillions of miles from our home, fighting a galactic invader whose race has no greater desire than to enslave us. We might not ever get home, and if we do it might still be under their control. For all we know, Puckworld is under total Saurian domination by now. And, personally, I'm grounded on top of all that. Can it get any worse?"
"Sure," Duke assured, shrugging, watching the kid stare at the roof. "It can always get worse."
"That's what people say, but how? I mean, eventually it's gotta get as bad as it can, right? That's when the saying switches to 'there's nowhere left to go but up.' So when is enough really enough? What's the bottom of the barrel?"
The ex-thief considered. "When all hope is lost," he said finally. "When you've done everything you can and it's still not working. Then it's time to either give up or pick a different line of attack. That's called survival."
"Who defines hope?"
"The individual. Hope for you and hope for me are two different things."
"Why?"
"Because I've seen more and done more. As a thief, I was in a lot of situations when the cops were outside waiting for me and all my equipment was breaking. Being caught for a thief is the end of hope, unless you're really good at escapes, then it's the evolution of hope instead of the abandon of it. Actually," he continued with a thoughtful glance at the teen, "I don't think I've ever truly given up all hope. It seems a little like losing, doesn't it?"
Again, no reply. Then Nosedive sighed and asked, "What do you do when the world gangs up on you?"
"Gang back," was the easy response. "There's strength in numbers, but only if the numbers are friends." There was another heavy sigh from the floor. Duke stood and stretched, prodding the teen's side with the toe of his shoe. "Get up," he ordered.
"Why?"
"You ask too many questions. But if you must know, we're going to go work out."
Nosedive, still sprawled on the floor, arched an eyebrow at the ex-thief. "I've already worked out twice today."
"So make it three."
"Why?"
"There's that word again! C'mon, kid, you don't got anything better ta do, right?"
"I guess not," he admitted, standing. "What're we gonna work on?"
A shrug. "Whatever we feel like, I guess."
"Ok, then. Just asking."
"Naturally."
"Has anyone seen Nosedive?"
Mallory looked up from cleaning her puck launcher to shrug at Wildwing's question. "Not for the past few hours."
"Duke?"
He shrugged as well. "We went our different ways after practicing."
Wildwing checked his watched. "That's an hour and a half ago. What did you practice?"
Duke winced, massaging a sore calf muscle. "Everything."
The mask-wearing leader chose to leave it at that. "Well, if you see him, tell him I'm looking for him, ok?"
"All right."
"Why do you need him?" Mallory asked as Wildwing left the room.
"Canard finally broke and said I could take him to see a movie."
"That's nice. What're you going to see?"
"Lord of the Rings."
Duke stared at him. "That's a three-hour movie."
"Yeah." He grinned. "I know."
The ex-thief shook his head in disbelief. "Why would anyone want to sit for three hours?"
"It's supposed to be a classic book made into a really good movie. Dive's been saying he wants to see it."
"Dive's been saying he'd see anything as long as someone would take him," Mallory muttered, turning back to her puck launcher. Duke snickered. Shaking his head, Wildwing left to continue his search for his little brother.
Soon after he'd gone, Duke stood and slipped through the opposite door.
Nosedive surveyed his discovery, feeling a touch of pride. This would work perfectly.
Skating forward, he did two laps around his obstacle course to gain speed before actually attempting the tricks.
Duke made it just in time to see Nosedive, skating at brake-neck speeds along the edge of the roof of the Pond, leap into the air, turn a full one hundred eighty degrees, slide on the frames of his skates along the corner of the tiny wall, and leap off again to turn another one hundred eighty degrees, landing on the roof and continuing to skate.
The teen cheered softly to himself, completing another lap around the roof.
Finally he noticed that he wasn't alone and threw on the brakes, skidding to a horrified halt. "Duke!" he exclaimed. "What're you- I mean…uh, hi?"
The ex-thief arched an eyebrow at the teen. "I think it's safe to assume that's not something you picked up from your brother."
Nosedive winced. "Kinda…"
"What's it called?"
"The move or the actual sport?"
"Both."
"Well…the sport's known as inline skating or street skating and the move—a 180 into a grind into a 180—is known as a Louie-Louie. Well, kinda. Usually it's done on a curb or something, but you work with what you've got."
"Of course."
Nosedive fidgeted a while as Duke examined the makeshift street course. Rails for grinding, the high-sided stairwell to bounce the more complicated moves off, a relatively low wall…it was, in essence, perfect for the teen's purposes.
Not that his brother would see it that way.
"Don't tell Wing," Nosedive burst out suddenly, startling Duke. "He thinks inline skating is only for juvenile delinquents, but it's not. It takes talent and determination. If that makes a teenager look like a punk, well, then, that's just a stereotype. Wildwing won't understand that, though, not at first, and Canard won't let me practice up here any more. Please don't tell anyone!"
"Is this what you've been doing all this time?"
"Um…yeah, kinda."
"Kinda?"
Nosedive sighed. "Yes, this is what I've doing the last couple of weeks. Learning to inline skate."
"You any good?"
Surprised, the teen looked up at Duke, who was actually grinning.
"Kid, come on, look at who you're talking to here. Doing the things that others wouldn't got me into the Brotherhood. Not that you're in a gang, but seriously. Do you think I'm gonna rat on you?"
Almost immediately Nosedive visibly relaxed. "Thanks, Duke."
"Hey, no sweat. It's not like you're doing anything illegal, right?"
"Right. Exactly."
"So, how bout it?"
Nosedive blinked at him. "How bout what?"
"You any good?"
The teenager grinned slowly. "Maybe."
"Wanna show me?"
"Definitely."
"It's all a lot cooler on half- and quarter-pipes," Nosedive assured, walking beside Duke as the duo made their way back into the Pond. "I'm just a recreational skater; it's the aggressive skaters that do the really great stuff."
Thoroughly impressed, Duke only shook his head. "I can't imagine it being more amazing than what you just did. In fact, anything else would seem physically impossible."
"Are you kidding? Duke, you've got to meet Justin and his friends! They do the most totally mind-boggling tricks! Hand plants, 360s, 540s, Alley-oops, corkscrews…you've just got to see."
"Corkscrews, huh? Kid, you make me feel very old and outdated."
"That's because you are old and outdated."
"Show some respect or I won't tell you why your brother was looking for you."
Nosedive's eyes widened in surprise. "Wing was looking for me? Am I in trouble?"
"No," Duke laughed, "actually just the opposite."
"What?"
"He talked Canard into letting him take you to Lord of the Rings."
"What?"
"Yeah. He was looking for you about an hour ago. Hope you didn't miss your showing."
Nosedive dashed away, somehow knowing instinctually where his brother would be, and Duke's laughter echoed after him.
Canard suppressed a smile at the exuberance displayed by the youngest member of his team. It was amazing what a single three-hour movie could do for the half-pint's disposition.
Nosedive scrounged through the cabinets, totally oblivious to the figure watching him from the corner. When he turned, armed filled with fixings for a sandwich, and found Canard standing silently behind him, he yelped and almost dropped the food.
"You scared me!"
Canard cocked a small half-smile. "I noticed."
"Why're you hiding in the corner, anyway?" A little irritated, the teenager dropped the food on the counter and began hastily making a snack.
"I wasn't hiding. I was actually waiting for the coffee to finish." Duke's coffee addiction had been one of the very first earthen things Canard picked up. He arched an eyebrow, pouring himself a cup of the liquefied caffeine. "A better question would be: Why are you so jumpy?"
"We cannot get out," Nosedive quoted darkly. "They are coming."
"What are you talking about?"
"You haven't seen Lord of the Rings yet, have you?"
"No. I haven't."
"Man," the teen sighed pityingly, "you're missing out."
"Watch it, squirt," Canard warned, stirring inordinate amounts of sugar and cream into his coffee, "you almost missed out too. I wasn't going to let you go."
"Speaking of which." Nosedive pulled himself onto the counter, squishing his sandwich between his hands and settling himself for what might turn out to be a long talk. "Why did you?"
"Wildwing."
"All by himself? Dude, that was pretty decent of him…"
"Decent isn't the word I would have used. More like generous. You're grounded. You really shouldn't have gone."
Nosedive frowned slightly, picking at the crust of his sandwich. "Well, if you were so against it, why'd you buckle? Why not just tell Wing to stuff it?"
Canard arched an eyebrow at him, sipping at his coffee. "Obviously you have never been on the receiving end of his petitions. He doesn't quite beg, but he presents your case well enough that it's almost illegal to refuse him. It was either let you go or be debated at all day. Honestly, it wasn't worth it." The teenager was still frowning a little, looking mildly concerned as he nibbled his snack, so Canard added, "He really loves you more than anything else in existence. He knows you hate this punishment; that's why he worked so hard to get you a temporary jailbreak. You're in his debt now; you should find a way to thank him." The leader left quietly, still drinking gently from his hot cup.
Nosedive sat on the counter a long time, no longer hungry, thinking of the inevitability of his situation and the pain it would undoubtedly put his brother through. He had to find a way to distance Wildwing, for his own good. Then again, the process of distancing would probably hurt the older duck anyway. In the end the question was one of many shades and depths of meaning.
In the long run, which was kinder: pushing Wildwing away and saving heartache in the future or allowing him to remain close and knowing that he would self-destruct?
To be or not to be…
Nosedive stormed away from the Ready Room and Mallory and the questions she had been demanding he answer.
What was he doing with his spare time, how angry was he with Canard, what had he been doing before he was grounded, who had he been spending all his time with, why, was he really that afraid of Dryden, why, hadn't he been in a camp, what was its name, what did he mean he didn't remember?
All he'd wanted to do was find Tanya and offer some assistance. Even being electrocuted was better than doing nothing all day again.
Why was Mallory so interested, anyway? She'd never shown any interest in his life before, except when he'd played a prank on her, and then she'd only been interested in his life to end it.
"It's because I'm grounded," Nosedive growled to himself, flopping on the bed of his immaculate and reorganized room. Everything was either in alphabetical or numerical order. If tomorrow ended up being anything like today, he'd re-reorganize. Maybe order of use or color or something…anything to take up time.
There was a soft knock on the door. "Nosedive?"
The teen sat up, confused. "Tanya?"
She came in hesitantly, holding something behind her back. "H-hi."
He was immediately worried. She only stuttered if she was pressed for time or really nervous. "Hi."
Silence. Finally she gathered her courage and rushed, "I came here to see if you wanted something to do here are the upgraded blue prints to the Migrator do you want to help?"
Three sentences mushed into one, but he got the general point and smiled, taking the offered papers and spreading them over his perfectly made bed. (To entertain himself he'd bounced quarters off it; he bet Mallory's bed couldn't bounce quarters.) "Wow! Sweet! Check it out, do you know how fast the Migrator's gonna be able to go now?"
She shrugged, looking pleased. "Somewhere around two hundred fifty miles an hour once we get this upgrade in. You wanna give me a hand?"
"Usually I'd make a stinging sarcastic comeback before agreeing, but this time I'll skip it and just say: sure! Let's get working!"
The work on the Migrator took up the rest of his day, which was wonderful. Wildwing found it entirely too amusing when he strolled into Tanya's workroom to find the genius sipping tea and reading a magazine while his baby brother lay on a creeper under their land-bound vehicle, working diligently as Tanya called orders to him.
The two exhausted every subject possible at least twice. Tanya was able to find out more about the teen's out-of-Pond activities than anyone else by asking simple questions and just listening to him talk and talk. He loved what he did and had been subconsciously looking for someone that would listen to him without judgment. Just as Nosedive finished with his work on the Migrator, Tanya's innocent questions took a bad turn.
"So how do you feel about Canard being back?"
Tightening a bolt on the underside of the vehicle, Nosedive froze. After a moment he continued to work, not replying.
"I'm only asking because you, y'know, started disappearing from the Pond right after he got here. Inline skating must take up a lot of time, but you could've started it as soon as we got here. It's been two years, though. Why just all of a sudden?"
"No reason," the teen stated shortly.
"But doesn't Canard's presence have anything to do with it?"
He'd didn't want to lie if he didn't have to; instead he settled for silence again.
She pressed on almost blindly, as though unaware that they were on a topic he didn't want to pursue. "I mean, I know that he's taking up a lot of Wildwing's time now, but is that why you're outside so much now? Or, at least, why you were?"
Yes. In all honestly, that was one of the main reasons he'd been spending so much time outside. To wean his brother so when the inevitable finally happened he wouldn't be shattered. Someone would be able to help, someone who had always been more like a brother than a friend, anyway. But of course Nosedive couldn't say that to Tanya. So he replied instead, "Not really. I just wanted to be out."
"Yeah, but-"
"I was just out!" Nosedive pulled himself out from under the Migrator and wiped his greasy hands on a dirty rag he'd tossed over his shoulder earlier. "There's nothing more to it than that."
Tanya blinked, surprised at the outburst. "Sorry, Dive, I was just asking."
He frowned at his hands, still scrubbing. "Everyone's just asking. All the time, they're just asking. Why did you do this, what made you act like that, how come you've just started this now? There's no reason other than because I felt like it. I'm a teenager; teenagers aren't supposed to do things for a reason. I never have before. I'm impulsive, remember? Wildwing and Canard tell me that all the time. So now I'm supposed to be impulsive on the surface with a multidimensional purpose underneath? I don't think so."
Now the genius frowned slightly, concerned. "I'm sorry, Nosedive, I didn't mean to, y'know, get you all ir-irri…worked-up. I wasn't trying to upset you."
"Yeah, well…I guess it's the boredom. I seem to be irritated a lot. It's not your fault. Look, I…I gotta go." He tossed the rag into a bin of the same by her desk and left the room, calling "Bye" as he went.
Tanya stared at the door a long time after he'd gone, thinking about the wonderful time they'd been having and wondering how it could possibly have been that easy to drive him away.
"It was only one question," she muttered, turning back to her deck.
"What was only one question?"
She looked back at the figure that had materialized by the Migrator.
"Oh, hi, Canard."
He looked very serious, as he usually did. "What question?"
Tanya told him.
Nosedive landed hard on his back and sighed, glaring at the ceiling. "I've gotta get outta here!" Hauling himself to his feet, he switched his skates back to blades and slid onto the ice. He did a circuit of the ice, gaining as much speed as possible before cutting across to zip toward the break in the Plexiglas above the wall at the door to the player's bench. Right before he would have slammed into the barrier, he leapt into the air, simultaneously grabbing his skates and changing them into inline skates as he spun a full three hundred sixty degrees. He released the skates, setting up for a perfect landing.
Then his hair blew across his face and he was blinded.
I can't see where I'm going! Panic!
Once again he slammed into the ground and bounced.
Cursing, he rose.
"I've got to get out of here!"
Three more times he attempted the trick and three more times he failed.
"Let's try once more," he encouraged himself, flashing around the ice. "Just one more time, and if I don't get it, then I'll try again."
He flew across the rink, leapt into the air, grabbed his skates as he changed them, spun three hundred sixty degrees, released the skates, set up for the end, and nailed the landing.
"Yes!" he cheered, rocketing into the greater Pond area. "Yes!" Then he plowed into a figure and crashed to the ground. Whoever he hand run into ended up getting squashed beneath him. And the trick was ruined. "Damnit!" Nosedive cursed, pushing himself into a sitting position with a little help from the person who had destroyed his victory lap. He finally got a look at the figure and gulp. "Eep!" he yelped, scrambling back. "Wildwing!"
The older brother frowned, propping himself up on his elbows. "What did you just say?"
Oops. "Uh…hi?"
"Strike one. What'd you say?"
Canard was standing behind Wildwing, snickering. He mouthed the word busted.
Nosedive winced. "Dangit?" he offered.
"Nosedive!"
"I'm sorry! You just messed up my trick!"
"So you cursed?"
"Everyone else curses sometimes!"
Wildwing sighed, standing and hauling his brother up as well. "You're not everyone, you're Nosedive, a teenager who shouldn't be using swear words, even if they are from an alien planet."
"But you ruined my trick…"
"That's not the point."
Nosedive crossed his arms, eyes slightly narrowed. "Then what's the point?"
"The point is, you shouldn't cuss."
"No matter what?"
"No matter what."
"You curse."
An uncomfortable pause.
"It doesn't matter if he cusses," Canard interjected when Wildwing would have lost his momentum.
"Why not?" the teen demanded. "Why should it be one way for me and another for everyone else?"
"Because everyone else can take care of themselves and you are still a minor."
"Oh, so being a minor makes me less important?"
"Not less important," Canard corrected, "just different. None of us are still in the growing process."
"I thought people grew every day of their lives."
"Maybe, but this is a fundamental thing."
"And everyone else has their fundamentals down?"
"Yes."
"Were you there as they grew up?"
"What? No."
"Then how do you know?"
"I…Nosedive, that's not the point!"
"So what's the point?"
"The point is still that you shouldn't curse!"
"Well, damn," the teen said, glaring, "wish I'd figured that out sooner."
Wildwing winced, knowing that had been a bad idea. If there was one thing Canard couldn't stand, it was anything he perceived as insubordination.
"You're treading on dangerous ground, Nosedive," Canard hissed in warning.
"Oh, I'm scared." All of Nosedive's pent-up tension and energy and disappointment was bubbling to the surface in the form of obstinate, rebellious sarcasm, which was one of the worse things he could do. "What're you gonna do? Ground me? Been there. Done that."
"You little punk!"
"Well, thank you, Canard. That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me!"
In about five seconds, the older duck was going to lose his temper. Wildwing saw all the signs of a total explosion and knew that something had to be done. He'd stepped back and out of the way of Nosedive and Canard's verbal volley, but now he approached Canard, gripping his arm tightly. "Nosedive," he began calmly, looking at the glaring teen, "why don't you head to your room for a few hours?"
"No thanks, Wing, I like it here. I've got to try my trick again anyway."
"I wasn't offering."
"Of course not," Nosedive exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air as he stalked off.
"I am going to put him in chains and throw him in the brig!" Canard exploded as soon as the teen was gone. "I'll lock him in there until we defeat Dragonius, then I'll drag him home and let your parents yell at him a good long time! Then I'll yell at him a good long time! Then, just for good measure, I'll make you yell at him!"
"Calm down," Wildwing soothed. "Let's go hit some pucks around to blow off some steam."
"Wanna know what would really make me calm down? Watching your brother do some hard, manual labor, that's what." But he followed his friend onto the ice anyway.
Wildwing didn't hold anything Canard had said against him, knowing that he wasn't thinking. Normally, he would never have wanted to subject the youngest member to manual labor. When he was thinking rationally, he was totally aware of all the hard work Nosedive had done in the camps and never wanted to see him do anything remotely like it again. They had both been there when the teen was doctored after being saved. Canard had been most adamant about his hate of the Saurian work camps.
If he'd been thinking, he also wouldn't have mentioned their parents. He knew very well that Nosedive and Wildwing's adopted parents had been killed in the invasion, even though Nosedive didn't. Two slipups he would kick himself for later, once he'd calmed down.
Of course, first he had to calm down.
Canard approached Nosedive's door almost hesitantly, glancing back at Wildwing uncertainly. "Do I have to do this?"
The white duck shrugged. "It was your idea. You're the one who felt awful, not me."
After a sigh, Canard straightened his shoulders and knocked. When no one answered, he knocked again, then said, "Nosedive, it's Canard. I just…I wanted to…apologize for earlier…Look, can you open the door?" Still nothing.
Trading confused glances, Wildwing stepped past his friend to knock on the door himself. "Dive? You there?"
"Where else is he gonna be?" Canard whispered.
Wildwing frowned at him, then turned back to the door. "Dive, I'm coming in, ok?"
There was no answer, so Wildwing keyed in his brother's code and peeked in the room.
Canard saw him wince and close his eyes in disappointment. "He's not there, is he?"
"No. He's not."
"Well then, where is he?"
"I don't know."
"Does he have his com?"
Wildwing sighed. "Probably." He checked for his brother's location and winced again.
"Not in the Pond, is he?"
"No."
"Well, then. Let's go get him."
Two teens standing at the top of a half-pipe clapped as their friend landed a beautiful Indi Grab. "So anyway," the stranger of the teens said, continuing a previous conversation, "Canard—my bro's best bud—blew the whole thing out of proportion."
"What's the final verdict?" Justin asked, putting on his helmet.
"Two weeks."
"Aw, dude," the human teen sighed in compassion, "that sucks. How far are you into it?"
"Five days."
"Sucks to be you."
Nosedive snorted. "Tell me about it."
The third skater, Tiger, landed by the alien and arched an eyebrow at him. "You gonna skate or what?"
"Or what," he assured. "I'm already dead if they realize I'm not in my room."
"Come on," Justin urged, handing Nosedive a helmet, "one final farewell session, then you can go and be all grounded for as long as you want."
"Well…"
That was how Wildwing found his precious baby brother, escaped from his punishment, inverted on the far end of a spine ramp. Nosedive dropped back onto the ramp and flew down and up, performing a corkscrew that he'd only just mastered over the space between the two half-pipes and continuing down. He finally spotted Wildwing half way through his fakie 360, which, naturally, royally screwed up a landing that would have been simple otherwise.
Tumbling to a stop at the base of the half-pipe, he stared in mute horror at Wildwing and Canard.
Tiger stood on the top of the pipe, laughing. "You blinded again, Dive?" she called, not yet having noticed the other two ducks. She and Justin skated to his side. "That was a serious fall."
"Bacon in the pan," Justin agreed, helping Nosedive stand.
The Puckworldian teen never took his eyes off his brother.
Finally Justin noticed and winced. "Uh…Wildwing, I presume?"
"Good job, Watson," Tiger muttered, backing off.
"What are you doing?" Wildwing demanded, eyes narrowed at his little brother.
"I was just explaining why I had been missing the past few days."
"In the air?"
"Uh, no. That was…um…a farewell session?"
"A what?"
"Dude, he was just skating one last time," Justin offered.
"We actually made him do it," Tiger added.
"That's not the point," Canard bit out harshly. His tone of voice was just the type that riled teenagers and made them feel very rebellious. For a moment, the three teens stood united against him, irritated at what they all saw as an Adult.
Then Nosedive realized what was about to happen. He and Canard were going to get into another argument that would escalate into a screaming match. There was no way he would suffer through humiliation like that.
"Come on," Wildwing interrupted quickly. "Let's go back to the Pond. We can work through this there."
"Fine," Nosedive hissed, furious for no apparent reason. He pushed past his brother and Canard, stalking angrily to the Migrator.
Justin and Tiger traded a concerned glance. They'd never seen Nosedive so irate before.
They had the distinct impression that whatever had been bad before was about to get much worse.
"What were you thinking? Stars, Nosedive, you're grounded!"
"I know," the teen sighed.
Wildwing glared at his little brother, sitting at the table looking properly meek. "You know? Then why'd you leave?"
"I had to tell them what happened. They're my friends, I couldn't let them worry."
"Your friends? You haven't even known them a month!"
Nosedive frowned at a spot on the table. "That means they aren't my friends?"
"Not good enough friends for you to be skipping out on punishment to explain things, no."
The teen's attention shifted to Canard, who had made this statement. "And you're supposed to be the expert on friendship?"
"Nosedive!" Wildwing cried, horrified. "That's not-"
"That's not what? Nice? Well, it's the truth!"
"I don't care if you don't like me," Canard told him flatly. "You can hate me if you want to. But you will obey my orders and you will respect me."
"Respect is earned. You haven't done anything to earn my respect since you got here!"
"Nothing?" Now the older duck was beginning to get mad, which was never a good sign. Not that Wildwing noticed. This time, Wildwing was easily as angry as Canard, if not more so.
"Do you know what he's done for you since he got back?" Nosedive's brother demanded, glaring, hands clenched into fists.
"Grounded me," was the flippant response.
"More than that! He's watched out for you on missions, checked things out to make sure you're not in danger, taken care of you whenever I can't-"
"I don't need to be taken care of!" Nosedive yelled, jumping up from his chair, hands balled into fists exactly like his brother. "I'm not a little kid anymore!"
"You're acting like one!"
"Oh yeah? I'm not arguing by myself, so what does that make you two?"
"Babysitters," Canard growled, glaring. "It makes us babysitters, watching out for a little ducking who wants to be grown up but isn't and won't be until he can get his act together and pull his head out of the clouds!"
"My head isn't in the clouds!"
"Yes it is! If it weren't, you'd know something about what we're facing now, which you obviously don't because even you aren't dumb enough to cause internal problems when the team is up against the worst evil we've ever faced in our entire lives. If your head weren't in the clouds, you'd put some effort into solving this problem instead of adding to it. If you paid even a shred of attention to what goes on around here, you'd realize that our entire existence is in jeopardy and all you're doing is…is helping that psychotic maniac! But you don't care, do you? You don't care that we're going up against Dryden and all you can do is sputter in fear and tremble whenever we see him!"
"You bastard," Nosedive breathed, shoulders shaking. "You don't know anything—anything! Not about me, not about what's going on, not about D-Dryden, nothing! And if that's all you've got to yell about, you can stuff it! I'm out of here!"
"I'm not done!" Canard shouted, springing forward to stop the teen.
"Well I'm done with you!"
"Nosedive," Wildwing scolded, grabbing his brother's forearm as he passed, "wait."
"No! Let go, Wildwing!"
"Stop struggling!"
"No!"
"You're grounded! You can't go out!"
"Watch me!"
They scuffled briefly, Wildwing finally grabbing both of his much shorter baby brother's arms. "Listen to me!" he demanded.
"Why should I? You never listen to me!"
"Yes I do!"
"No, you don't! You never have, never!"
"Would you just stop struggled and listen!"
"No. I'm getting out of here!"
"Nosedive, you can't leave!"
"How much longer am I stuck here?" the teen hissed.
"The rest of your natural life," Canard growled back.
"Give me a break!" He tried to pull away from his brother, but Wildwing wouldn't let go.
"Nosedive, you have to stay!"
"Why?"
"Because you're grounded!"
"Damn the grounding and damn you!"
Wounded, Wildwing's grip on his brother slackened.
With a growl Nosedive wrenched away and ran from the building.
"Dude. I can't believe you did that."
Nosedive scowled at his helmet, sitting on top of a half-pipe, his legs hanging into it. "What else was I supposed to do? Canard doesn't know anything."
"Yeah," Tiger observed, sitting between the two boys, "but what're ya gonna do now? After a show of backbone like that, it'll be hard going back to the way things were. Adults don't like backbones. I should know; I'm always standing up against Adults. Gets my parents kinda upset, but hey. Sometimes they're Adults, too, so I stand up to them."
Adults (with a capitol A) were a group of people for Tiger. They were the ones responsible for the bad rap teenagers got for no apparent reason, the ones who refused to give the benefit of the doubt, the ones who assumed all teens were punks and trouble.
Right now, Wildwing and Canard were Adults, and Tiger was proud of what Nosedive had done, though the duck himself was actually feeling rather sick.
At least he'd finally made up his mind.
"I don't want things to go back to the way they were," he insisted, still frowning, thumping the half-pipe with the heel of his skate. "I want things to change. I'm not a duckling anymore and I think it's time they all realized that."
Justin knew where the conversation was going before it got there. His eyes narrowed slightly as he wondered if Nosedive knew where it was going.
But of course he did. That was the point.
Tiger, for her part, seemed excited. "So what're you gonna do now?"
"Actually, Tiger, I need your help for what I plan to do."
"Yeah? What'd ya need?"
He needed Wildwing a safe distance away. He needed Canard to already be placing himself between the brothers when the final tragedy happened. He needed…
"I need you to help me rebel."
Wildwing was pacing the interior halls of the Pond, yelling at himself. Whenever Canard was in range, he yelled at him about what they had done.
Canard was smart enough not to take it to heart. He knew the older brother was beside himself with worry and a very guilty conscience.
Truthfully, Canard wasn't feeling too pleased with himself either. How could he have let things escalate like that with the small fry? Picking at his terror of Dryden had been a low blow. Especially if he'd spent any time at all in the Hell camp. It was downright cruel to bring it up if that was the case.
"I'll apologize as soon as he gets back," the leader told himself, now reduced to pacing in Wildwing's wake. "I'll tell him I was wrong and I'm sorry and I'll revoke his grounding and I'll call the battle between us off and-" His sentence was cut short as he plowed into Wildwing, who had stopped his pacing suddenly and without warning. "Ow!" he complained. "Wing, why'd you-"
The answer was standing defiantly framed in the doorway.
"Nosedive," he gasped, "what happened?"
"Don't you like it?" came the dismissive response.
The answer to that was obvious. Wildwing's face was twisted in betrayed pain and horror.
Canard peeked over his friend's shoulder and felt a shock run down his spine.
He was wrong about their battle being over. A proclamation of war was standing before him.
Nosedive had changed his clothes. Presumably his Mighty Ducks gear was in the backpack held lightly in his left hand. The only thing he wore that had once been given to him were his shoes, which could alternately be ice or inline skates. Those he probably would never give up. But his clothes…He wore baggy jeans and a tight white long-sleeved shirt that sported the logo of some company called 'Fox Gear'. Sunglasses held strands of hair away from his young face, which was cold and detached. The biggest change was his hair. He'd cut it, or had it cut, to his chin. It was slightly ragged at the edges, as though whoever had done it hadn't taken the time to tidy everything up.
Nosedive flipped the sunglasses down to hide his indifferent eyes. "They're Oakley's," he said flatly. "Nice, aren't they?"
Wildwing was hurting, and Nosedive knew it, and he didn't care. Canard counted to ten very, very slowly.
"Nosedive," the white duck began in a strangled, pained voice, "what did you do?"
"Something I've wanted to do for a while."
"Why?"
A shrug. "Because."
Finally it was too much for Canard, who strode forward angrily to grab a handful of Nosedive's new shirt. "What's your game, Nosedive? Are you trying to hurt your brother because you're mad? You're getting even at the wrong person. I'm the one you have a problem with, not him!"
"Get a life, Canard."
"What's the matter with you?" He shook the teen for emphasis.
Nosedive gripped the older duck's wrist until he almost winced. "Back off."
"Not until you tell me what's going on here!"
"You're smart." He pushed Canard away. "Figure it out." Brushing past the irate leader, he headed toward the interior of the Pond.
"Don't walk away from me!" The teen continued as though he'd never spoken. "Hey! Get back here!" Canard lunged forward, grabbing the back of Nosedive's shirt. "As long you're on my team, you'll listen to me!"
With a growl the teen whirled, jerking out of the older duck's hold and chucking the bag into his stomach, knocking him off balance. His sunglasses clattered to the ground. "I'm not listening to you ever again! There's your gear. Now stay out of my face."
Canard, sitting on the floor, stared dumbly at the bag in his lap.
As Nosedive stalked past him, Wildwing asked in a dying voice, "Why did you give him back your gear, little brother?"
For a moment, the teen almost broke, almost threw himself into his brother's arms and babbled everything that was wrong, everything that was happening. Then his resolve kicked in and he smirked, bending to pick up his dropped glasses. "Haven't you figured it out yet, O fearless co-leader? Or is it fearless ex-leader? Guess I haven't gotten it straight." He slipped the glasses over his eyes. "Not that it matters."
"Nosedive…what are you saying?"
"You're so slow. Here, I'll spell it out for you."
Duke, followed by Mallory, Tanya and Grin, appeared through the door for a newly instated afternoon practice in time to hear Nosedive's final declaration before he sauntered past them:
"I quit."
AN: You're gonna kill me, aren't ya?