Unusual Allies.
Back again I hope you enjoy this one and please review.
Chapter Three: More Bad Times.
Wildwing opened his eyes and squinted at the bright lights. He looked around and saw Nosedive on his right asleep in a chair and Tanya on another by the door. He sat up hissing at the pain in his back but carried on. He could tell it wasn't the infirmary so he figured he must be in a hospital. He looked around to see if there was anything that would tell him how long he was out that didn't involve waking his brother or Tanya up. Over in the corner he spotted a paper, but it was too far to reach from his bed, there was nothing else so he threw his covers off and got out to get the paper, but as soon as he did his head spun and his back felt like it was on fire and he collapsed to his knees.
"Wildwing!" A familiar voice yelled, "It couldn't be?" He tried to get up again and a black feathered hand was on his arm and another around his back, "Roxy?"
"Hey," She smiled, "you know we have got to stop meeting like this."
"Wing you're awake man!" Dive yelled and nearly lunged at his brother but was held back by a tan feathered duck.
"Not so fast there Dive," Canard grinned at Wildwing's shocked expression, "I think Wildwing could do without anymore pain today."
"How long have I been out?" Wildwing asked as Roxy sat him down on the bed again.
"A couple of days." Tanya piped up.
"How did you guys get here?" He asked Roxy and Canard, "And how?" Wildwing reached out and touched Roxy's face.
"I was found by a team from one of the havens, by the time I woke up you guys had already gone," Roxy explained resisting the urge to fall into Wildwing's arms and cry her heart out, "then a lot of crap happened and I came across Canard who told me he'd been in dimensional limbo and he'd been saved by Angel."
"Who's Angel?" Dive asked.
"Oh that's right you haven't met her yet." Roxy said to him.
"She a kid a bit younger than you who I swear is crazier than you Dive." Canard told him, "She's at the pond helping Duke with . . . something."
"Mallory . . . and Grin," Wildwing muttered, "they were in the warehouse are they . . ?" He didn't bother carrying on he could tell from their faces what had happened.
"From the look of things it would have been very quick for the both of them." Tanya said bursting into tears and running out of the room and quickly followed by Canard.
"It should've been me." Wildwing said clenching his fists.
"Don't say that!" Dive yelled and ran out as well.
"My and I thought I was over emotional." Roxy said staring after them.
"I failed Roxy."
"What?" Roxy asked looking back at him.
"Canard put me in charge and I failed," Wildwing looked away from her ashamed, "we've been here nearly two years and we're still no closer to catching Draganus and I've just got two of my team mates killed!"
"Oh Wing baby," Roxy put her hand on his cheek and forced him to look at her, "you did your best, Draganus isn't ruling this planet and I'm surprised none of you have been seriously hurt before now. After all that I'd say you did a brilliant job."
"I missed you Roxy, when I thought you were dead," Wildwing sighed, "I stopped feeling I hid behind that damn mask and I became this cold unfeeling soldier, the things I said to Dive, the stupid things I did . . ."
"Are in the past now." Roxy leaned towards him and kissed him, "I missed you too Wildwing." She leant over to kiss him again and he lay back on the bed where they stayed for the rest of the night wrapped in each others arms.
"Wildwing Stop fidgeting or you'll loosen those bandages!" Tanya scolded as they drove back to the pond. Wildwing sighed and sat back in his chair wishing he could scratch his back, his wounds were on the mend and they were annoying the hell out of him. He glanced up as they pulled into their secret entrance and Tanya parked the migrator in the hanger. Dive got out of his seat and walked over to help him as Tanya powered down the migrator. "You still need a lot of rest so Dive, help him to his room."
"Tanya that doctor said I could walk around!" Wildwing said irritably, whilst feeling as if he were his brother.
"I don't care I'm the medic at the pond and I think you still need rest!" Tanya stormed off to her lab.
"Wow what crawled up her but and died?" Wildwing looked around for the owner of the unfamiliar voice and was met with a purple haired girl who looked human but had red eyes, who was dressed in a pair of dungarees (I have no idea what you guys call them in the states!), and a short sleeved top underneath.
"Hey Angel," Dive greeted her like he'd known her for years, "what'ya upgrading now?"
"Just a few things on the airowing." Angel replied.
"So you're Angel," Wildwing put in, "I was starting to wonder if I'd ever meet you, thanks for helping Canard and Roxy, I owe you big time."
"Forget it, things were getting boring back home anyway," Angel shrugged and walked back to the airowing, "a girl like me needs a little excitement every now and again."
"What a space pirate you mean?" Duke asked as he walked into the hanger.
"Now just what would you be implying old man?" Angel asked sweetly.
"Just that pirates aren't the type of people I like ta mix with kid." Duke folded his arms and glared at Angels back as she worked on the airowing.
"Then Don't." Angel said before anyone else could butt in, "I'll steer clear of you if you steer clear of me, I'm not too fond of common thieves myself old man."
"Why you. . . "
"Duke stop that right now," Canard yelled from the door, "welcome back Wing," he added to his dumbstruck friend, "and that goes double for you too Angel so wipe that smug look of your face." Canard spun round and walked off shaking his head followed by Wildwing and Nosedive who was desperately trying not to laugh.
"I'm guessing Duke and Angel don't get along huh?" Wildwing asked when they arrived at his room.
"You don't know the half of it buddy," Canard answered rubbing his temples, "and here I thought they'd get along the best."
"I like her, she's cool." Dive said enthusiastically.
"You were the one I thought she'd hate." Canard said offhandedly.
"You should see her man," Dive switched his attention to his brother, "she totally lost her temper with Duke the other day and they went all out, she's got this cool sword and man can she use it and she fights like the guys on my video games and. . ."
"Whoa calm down Dive," Wildwing placed a hand on Dives shoulder, "is she really that good?" he asked Canard.
"Oh yeah, she's been a real help back on Puckworld," Canard paused and seemed to be hesitating; "there's one problem."
"What?" Wing asked suspiciously.
"I'm not so sure we should let her help us." Canard said looking toward the door as if to make sure it was shut.
"Why not!" Dive shouted.
"Shh keep your voice down," Canard scolded, "how old do you guys think she is?"
"I don't know," Dive replied, "my age I guess."
"Yeah I would have said about eighteen." Wildwing said still giving Canard a look.
"Well Roxy was talking to her the other day and found out she was a little younger than that," Canard took a deep breath, "she's only fifteen."
"No way!" Dive yelled again then remembered he'd been asked to keep his voice down, "And she can do all that stuff?" Wildwing said nothing.
"I don't know where she learned it from but it just doesn't seem right to ask a girl that young to help us."
"You said that about Dive and he's been pretty helpful." Wildwing said looking straight at his best friend.
"I know but, Dive's different and if you remember I didn't particularly want him tagging along either."
"I don't tag." Dive said quietly but the older ducks ignored him.
"Dive was the same age as her when we joined this team if she wants to fight then I think we should let her." Wildwing told Canard.
"If you say so but from the sound of it she's been fighting saurians since she hit puberty if not longer," canard went to leave, "I don't think she knows anything else and I don't want to be the one taking her childhood away from her anymore than it already has been." With that he left.
"Have you spoken to Angel about her past?" Wing asked his brother.
"Not really, I asked her about her folks and she clamed up on me so I didn't ask again."
"You like her right?" Wing asked and carried on when Dive nodded in response, "so why don't you show her how to be a kid you're good at that."
"Very funny man."
"I'm serious! We'll see about the fighting side of things but for the moment, make sure she has a little fun okay."
"Okay bro, on one condition." Wildwing raised an eyebrow, "You get some sleep or Tanya'll have my hide!"
Dive switched off the lights before he left and walked down the hall back to the hanger where he found Angel still working on the Airowing. Now he thought about it that's all she'd done since he'd met her was upgrade things and help Tanya with her experiments. "Maybe she doesn't know how to have fun?" he thought to himself.
"Hey girl!" he yelled, after which he heard a bang and a small 'ow' coming from Angel's direction.
"Next time warn me okay blonde boy?" She said rubbing her head. "You want me to fix something?"
"Nah," Dive looked at her filthy clothes, "but you could take a shower," Angel went red and he could have sworn she was growling, "cause I'm goin' ta the mall and you're going with me."
"Oh I am am I?" Angel replied looking in the wing mirror of Duke's new convertible.
"Uh huh, so get moving girl," he walked up behind her and pushed her towards the bedrooms, "I'll go wait in the rec room, don't be long now bye." He jogged off before Angel could say anything. Angel shrugged and went to take a shower; she wanted to see a mall in any case.
Angel clipped on her arm band and pressed the secret button on the palm side of her wrist starting from her head a ring of light passed over her body revealing one of two outfits. She decided against her battle outfit with the mini skirt as this planet seemed a little too conservative for that, instead she went for a long silver coat, pants and long sleeved top with heeled boots to finish the look, finally she brushed out her hair and braided it, she grabbed her gun and sword belt before she left to meet Dive.
Dive looked up when Angel entered the room and smiled, he really couldn't believe Angel was three years younger than him. He took her to Captain comics first and introduced her to Thrash and Mookie and then he took her to a couple of clothes shops where they tried on some clothes. Dive bought Angel a skirt that finished just below the knees, a top to go with it and some shoes after that he took her to a pizzeria and they went to a park nearby.
"Why are you doing this?" Angel asked looking up at the sky.
"Wildwing thought it'd be a good idea," Dive said wolfing down another slice of pizza, "I had fun didn't you."
"So you only did this on your brother's say so?" Angel sighed.
"Sorta I guess, But it was my idea to take you shopping, why?"
"People don't tend to do things for me very often so I guess I'm a little suspicious."
"Why?" Dive asked.
"Why what?" Angel looked at him confused.
"Why don't people do things for you?"
"Well they usually want to either kill me or use me." Angel picked up another slice of pizza for herself.
"You pissed off a lot of people huh?" Dive asked then noticed Angel's wide eyed expression.
"Does your brother know you swear?"
"No and no telling, besides I bet a pirate like you swears all the time."
"Well yeah," Angel blushed, "but I don't have any family to disappoint when I do, you're lucky on that count."
"What happened to your family?" Dive asked with a sinking feeling in his gut.
"I don't want to bore you, it's ancient history now," but Angel saw the genuine look of concern on her new friend's face and sighed, "don't tell Canard cause he'll probably lock me in a room an never let me out, I swear that guy can be like a mother hen sometimes!"
"I won't."
"Well Your planet wasn't the only planet the saurians hit; they originated from my planet which oddly enough used to be called Earth and was very similar to this one with a few subtle differences. Anyway over three maybe four thousand years ago a new race was rising that had evolved from the dragon race. . ."
"Whoa hang on, dragons?" Angel glared at him and he shut up.
"As I was saying, there were the dragons and the saurians, for the first few hundred years the saurians were a peaceful race that were gifted in both science and magic. However, there were certain groups of saurians who had a particularly elevated view of themselves. It would be these saurians who gave birth to Draganus and the current generation of overlords. They began to build armies in secret and develop their technology faster than ever before, thankfully they were discovered but not before these saurians had gathered enough strength for a war. That war raged for a thousand years until they were defeated and banished from our planet. What the people of my planet didn't know was that those same overlords would simply attack other planets. The histories are pretty fuzzy on the subject from there until they came back ten years ago to claim what they thought was theirs, namely my planet. They attacked and . . ." Angel hesitated and decided on the shortened version, "my parents were killed along with a large majority of my own race, the other races were put into slavery and to my knowledge are still there. I've been fighting back ever since I've been good enough to do so."
"Man, sounds pretty lonely."
"I guess, but you get used to it." Angel stared off into space making Dive think there was a little more to the last part than she'd told him but he wasn't going to ask her when it was obvious she didn't want to tell him about it. Dive jumped when a high pitched beeping went off, he watched as Angel took one look at her wrist band and changed into her battle outfit. She then took out a device from her belt and pushed a couple of buttons.
"What is it?" Dive asked as he peered over her shoulder at the tiny device with a screen and symbols he didn't recognise.
"We have to go," Angel said then grabbed his wrist, "Now!"
"What's wrong Angel" Dive asked again as he was practically dragged in the direction of the pond.
"If I'm right something's coming and we do not want to be out in the open when it comes." Angel took a sharp left and kept running whilst Dive sprinted beside her.
The sky went dark and emerging from the clouds was a huge space ship, it was easily four times the size of the raptor and it was descending. Everybody stopped including Nosedive and stared at the ship. Angel noticed and ran back to him.
"Come on!" She grabbed his wrist again.
"What is that!" Dive yelled.
"Maleficent's star ship."
"Needin' more girl!"
"The owner of the ship is Draganus' mate and if you thought Draganus was bad she is far worse."
"What is she doing h . . . .?" Dive spun around when he heard an explosion and screaming, "ah hell they're attacking!"
"What did you think they wee going to do land and have a friendly chat with the locals?" Angel yelled, "come on if they see us we'll be sitting . . . well you know what I mean."
"Yeah I get ya." Dive and Angel ran as quickly as they could. As they passed Captain comics Thrash and Mookie ran out to meet them.
"What's going on man?" Asked Thrash.
"No time to explain," Angel said quickly, "you guys had better come with us back to the pond."
"Will your brother mind?" Mookie asked not quite grasping the severity of the situation, Dive simply shrugged.
"Would you rather risk Wildwing being a little put out or getting fried by an invasion force?" Angel asked raising her eyebrows feeling more than a little frustrated..
"Good point." Mookie laughed nervously. They ran through the store and across the parking lot to the pond where they met a terrified Phil running to the door, they all got to the elevator doors just as they heard an explosion that rocked the building.
"Isn't there a rule about using elevators in an emergency like this?" Phil said to no one in particular and received a kick in the butt from Angel. Dive pressed the button and the elevator started to move, then he heard his comm...
"Dive you okay!" Wing's worried face appeared on the screen.
"We're on our way down man." Wildwing's relief was evident. Everyone in the elevator looked up as another explosion caused the lights to flicker on and off.
"Dive where are you, and please don't tell me you're using the elevator." Wildwing looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack.
"Um, well. Funny thing." Dive laughed.
"I told you," Phil yelled, "but does anybody listen to the loveable manager, oh no!" Another explosion plunged them into darkness and the elevator stopped.
"Dive, you okay?"
"Yeah we're . . ." just as he was about to finish the conversation there was a groaning sound coming from metal above them and a large bang followed by the elevator car dropping a couple of feet.
"We're going to die!" Phil cried.
"Oh shut up, and don't anybody dare move." Angel shouted there was silence for a few moments then another groaning sound followed by the elevator dropping again but this time it didn't stop. He heard everybody screaming, Angel yelled something and then they hit the bottom of the shaft and everything went black.
Hey guys I'm soo sorry it took so long to get this next one up but I've been training my young horse so by the time I get home it's bed time and this girl needs her beauty sleep believe me. Hope you like it please review (good or bad), toodles Angel xxx.