Unusual Allies.
Chapter Six:
Roxy felt someone gently shaking her and she opened her eyes slowly to find herself staring at a worried looking Canard. She didn't remember how she'd gotten into the small dark room she seemed to be in, or in fact where this small dark room was but she couldn't quite help thinking something was missing. She could see Duke at the doorway looking left and right and glancing at her every few seconds. Then she placed it;
"Wildwing." She said getting up and using her right hand to steady herself on Canard's shoulder, "Where is he."
"That's what we were hopin' you could tell us kid." Duke replied still keeping some of his attention outside of the room she was in.
"You don't know?" She stated the obvious.
"We picked up the distress signal of your com link and followed it here as soon as we could," Canard told her, "when we got here we just found you in this closet and no one else, we thought maybe you guys had separated to loose some drones or something."
"No! I . . . well we found a place to rest and. . . ." Roxy stopped and ran through what she could remember, "We were being chased and there was an explosion, I don't remember anything else, not even how I got here! Where is here anyway?"
"You're in a school kid," Duke answered, "Wildwing's com ain't receivin' an there's a whole heard o saurians around so I say we get outta here and use Tanya's new computer ta find fearless leader."
"But what if the saurians outside already have him!" Roxy said in shock.
"Then there's nothing we can do for him on our own right now," Canard said as he grabbed her wrist and lead her out of a back exit and headed towards the desert., "once we get to the new base then I promise we'll find him but we're no good to him if we're captured ourselves, regardless of whether he's a prisoner or not."
"I know but. . ." Roxy tried to argue.
"But nothin' kid," Duke grabbed her other wrist, his drawn sabre in the other hand, "Wing'd want us to make sure you're safe an' that's what we're gonna do!" Roxy didn't reply but instead took one last look behind her and sighed and then she reluctantly followed the others.
Tanya was starting to worry, she'd tried again every hour but still no success, then she tried for their individual coms, she picked up Duke and Canard's on the west side of the city and moving towards Roxy who was closer to their side, but Wildwing's was nowhere to be found. She tried everything but there was no signal coming from his com, she could only hope that his com had simply broken or fallen off. She couldn't, wouldn't think about the other possibilities.
"Something wrong Tanya?" Angel asked as she walked into the room, now out of her blood soaked battle gear and into a pair of jeans and a baggy jumper.
"Oh no nothing." Tanya lied, badly.
"Are the others back yet?" Angel asked as if she hadn't noticed.
"N . . . no n . . . not yet, I . . . I'm sure they'll b . . . Be hear soon." She stammered. Angel walked up to the console and had a look.
"Tanya, why are there only three comm.'s responding out there?" Angel felt a small pang of worry, "shouldn't there be four?"
"Um . . . well you see. . ."
"Something's gone wrong hasn't it?" Angel didn't really mean to ask; she meant to say it more as a statement.
"I'm not sure it seems they separated into two and since then Wildwing's com has stopped r . . . res. . . Giving out a signal." Tanya said not trying to mask her worry.
"Does anyone else know?" Angel asked.
"No just us." Tanya flushed feeling a bit guilty.
"Good," Angel stood back and pressed the button on her wrist band and a new, clean battle outfit.
"I must get round to getting swapping notes with you on that thing," Tanya said smiling weakly, "ours can't regenerate the outfits like yours can."
"You bet Tanya," Angel winked, "and I'll find him." With that Angel ran down the hall and got into the elevator and down to a vehicle bay on the lower levels which followed along an underground tunnel and out of a concealed door at the bottom of the cliff, where she then made her way down to the city. Angel pulled up and left the cycle on the outskirts of the city and slowly made her way to the centre which was where many of the soldiers had been the day before and from what she could see were still there. Thankfully for the saurians one of them was talking very loudly about Wildwing and how their illustrious lord managed to catch the 'cursed duck' and was still considering what to do with him. She moved in closer to make sure she would hear everything.
"Our great lord cornered the feathered demon and he's taken him to the master tower," Angel had no idea how they could have built a tower so quickly but she knew from personal experience that they were not the easiest to penetrate, but at least she could blow something up soon, she grinned at the thought. She kept listening in case any of them let slip where the tower was but all she got was that it was being cloaked so the rest of the strike force couldn't find it. She silently huffed and desperately tried to resist the urge to blast each and every saurian until one of them told her, there were things she could do that would certainly make them squeal like pigs going for slaughter. The loud saurian kept exclaiming about how great his lord was and it was really starting to get on her nerves so she reached into her boot and produced a small silver ball no bigger than the palm of her hand and had a thin band around that was thinner than the ball itself. She gave it a slight squeeze and slipped away sighing in pleasure when she heard a large explosion.
Wildwing struggled to free himself to no avail, he was still feeling his previous injuries and he just wasn't strong enough. To make matters worse Draganus had kept sentries hidden at the school where he'd left Roxy and he planned to follow them back to their new base then use him to get them to surrender. He felt sick that he would be the one to get them all killed, his worst nightmare was coming true. Wildwing bit back a yell as his head was pulled up roughly by the hair.
"It won't be long now duck," Draganus spat, "I will have the rest of your kind and I will slaughter them one by one, slowly so that you may watch them die." Draganus laughed punching Wildwing hard in the stomach when it looked like the injured duck might say something. A soldier entered at that point, "What do you want!"
"Three of our targets have been spotted leaving the school," he told his master, "they have arrived at their destination my lord."
"Prepare the troops for an attack, but I want them alive do you understand me?" Draganus began to unshackle Wildwing who renewed his struggling only to be back handed across the face. Wildwing felt everything swim as he felt himself dragged along the floor then everything went black. When he came to he found himself looking at most of his team outside their base all were armed and they were pointing their weapons at the saurians holding him but they were also looking unsure, Roxy in particular was being held back by Canard. "You are out gunned and out numbered ducks surrender to me now and I will make your deaths painless."
"Let him go Draganus he can't fight back!" Duke yelled at him.
"Then you should make this quick so that I may finish you all and he may have his release." Draganus chuckled Wildwing looked over at the group and noticed that Nosedive wasn't there, Angel was missing too along with Thrash Mookie and Phil. The three humans he could understand but where were Nosedive and Angel. Canard sighed and threw down his puck bazooka, the others followed suit. "Go inside and flush out anyone else that might be in there," Draganus told his troops, "where is the boy?" he then asked his new captives.
"Like we'd tell you." Canard spat as he felt the shackled tighten around his wrists and a clawed hand shove him forward to Draganus' airship.
"No matter," Draganus replied, and then spoke into his communicator, "rig the facility to blow on my command then leave."
"No you can't!" Wildwing yelled.
"Oh I can," Draganus smiled and was satisfied to see Wildwing eyes glossy, "just to see your heart shatter, Wildwing?" Draganus laughed again and Wing was dragged into the ship along with the others and they were placed in a cell with a monitor that flickered on as they felt the ship take off.
"Please tell me he's not in there!" Wildwing begged Canard who looked away.
"I left him in there with the humans," Canard told him, "I thought he'd be safe in there. I didn't think they'd bother with a couple of kids and our fat manager." Canard went to say something else but stopped as the screen showed the base blowing up and he closed his eyes to shut out the image.
"No." Wildwing felt the tears fall and didn't care anymore he was vaguely aware that he was in someone's arms and guessed it was Roxy so he cried himself to sleep.
"What do we do now?" Roxy asked stroking Wildwing's hair, "If we stay here we're dead."
"What can we do?" Tanya said, "There's no way we can slip past all of the guards on this thing and they took our weapons, plus the mask was in the new base."
It wasn't long before they reached where ever it was they had been taken and they were roughly dragged to a cell block, Canard and Duke let Wildwing lean on them as they went along. As they got to the cell they were supposed to go to they were confronted with two female saurians.
"My mother wishes my aides and I to escort these prisoners to her personal cells," one of the saurians with dusty pink hair told the guards escorting them, "she desires some fun with them before my fathers has his way with them." All five duck looked shocked at the realisation that Draganus had a daughter but kept quiet. The soldiers merely nodded and allowed her and the other saurian to lead them away.
"So what's your mom going to do with us?" Canard spat.
"Nothing it was a lie." The pink haired one stated.
"What?" Tanya spoke up.
"I had to tell them something to get you away from them," she told them, "what did you think? We're all blood thirsty animals?" She turned her head back to them and raised an eyebrow but none of them replied, "I should have known." She sighed, "Anyway I managed to save two of your friends a while back, Mallory and Grin?" They all looked at her shocked and pleased but carried on after her, "And as your resistance on Puckworld has managed to force our forces there into submission you are going home and I will personally get rid of any coordinates recorded of your planet's existence on all of our computers. The saurian race will no longer be of your concern." They turned a corner and found Grin and Mallory waiting.
"Guys!" Tanya exclaimed happily.
"Not now Tanya we have to get out of here!" Mallory hissed. Tanya looked hurt but nodded in reply. They carried on down the corridor and along another one until they came to a room with a dimensional gateway device inside.
"Quickly you must go before we are discovered!" The white saurian told them.
"What are you names?" Roxy asked curiously.
"I am Alicia," the pink haired one told her, "and this is the priestess Saria."
"Thank you." Roxy smiled as Saria started up the generator.
"What about Angel?" Canard asked looking at the floor.
"We could not find her," Saria informed him, "but she is a resourceful child and has beaten the odds time and time again. Do not worry boy she will be fine." Canard looked up from the floor and at his best friend who was sitting on the floor staring off into space, eyes still red from his crying.
"I can't go." Canard stated and all looked at him.
"What do you mean you can't go!" Tanya asked.
"I have to make sure Angel's okay," he explained, "she saved me so I have to take care of her."
"Are you crazy!" Duke asked glaring at him.
"Canard Wing's just lost his brother you really think he wants to loose his best friend too, again!" Roxy hissed loud enough for only him to hear.
"This war's not over and she'll need help if she's still alive." Canard said looking away from his friends and avoiding the hurt look Wildwing was giving him, "she's just a little girl I can't leave her to the saurians no matter how good she may be. I'm sorry." A growl from behind them was the only warning they had when Alicia was grabbed by the neck by Draganus.
"Traitor!" He yelled as his daughter gasped for air.
"Set it now!" She managed to get out before her father tightened his grip.
"I'll kill you myself you little brat!" Draganus growled and Alicia's struggling began to cease. Canard shook his head to get his senses back and along with Grin body checked the saurian and held him down.
"Hurry up!" Canard yelled to Saria. He helped Grin secure Draganus and then went over to help Alicia who was still on the ground, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She replied her voice sounding strained, she went to get up and nearly fell down again if Canard hadn't caught her.
"You were saying." Canard helped her over to the console.
"We must hurry," Saria told them, "soldiers will not be far behind."
"All the more reason for you ta come with us Canard." Duke said placing a hand on Canard's arm.
"I can't Duke," Canard looked back at Wildwing, "I'll find my way back though you'll see." He smiled then looked ahead where a portal was forming, "go guys, live long and happy lives, you don't have to worry about this any more." Tanya was the first to go after giving Canard a hug and ran through the portal, Mallory did the same, then Duke and Grin both shook his hand and went through. Wildwing stared at him wanting desperately for it all to be over but he didn't want to loose his friend again, Roxy was by his side waiting for him. "Go you two; take care of each other okay?"
"You really set on this?" Wildwing asked quietly.
"I can't leave without Angel she's been through enough. Guess I finally found out how you felt all those years about Dive huh?" Wildwing smiled and gave his friend a bear hug.
"If you think this is over Wildwing you are sorely mistaken!" Draganus spat, "I will return to Puckworld and I will make you and your kind suffer like never before!"
"Sleeping!" Saria said calmly pointing a clawed hand at the overlord who almost instantly fell asleep. The room's occupants stared at him for a while then Roxy too gave Canard a hug and she and Wildwing walked through the portal together.
They materialised just above one of the cities, Tanya was crying, Mallory was rolling in the snow with Duke, Grin was simply smiling. They all looked up when Roxy and Wildwing appeared.
"We're home." Wildwing said smiling, but the smile did reach his eyes. His brother would never share his world again.
THE END, or is it.
He he am I mean or what! So what do ya think? Is Divey dead, what happened to Angel and Will Draganus go after Puckworld again? Guess you'll just have to wait and see. Toodles Angel xxx!