Earth
The Ducks were heading back to the Pond after an evening at the movies. They had all gone to separate ones and met with each other after they were over. The only one who wasn't there was Tanya, who stayed back at the Pond to work on a few things.
"That movie I saw was really cool," said Nosedive.
"The one I went to see was really good," agreed Mallory.
"Well, don't expect that to happen very often. We'd get swamped with fans, like what we were tonight. Not only that, we should be keeping an eye on Dragaunus' activities. We should know when he attacks again," Wildwing told them.
"Ah, come on Wildwing. First of all, the fans weren't that bad tonight and secondly, we destroyed Dragaunus' gateway generator almost two weeks ago. He's at the bottom of the ocean and I don't think he's going anywhere too fast because of the fact his engines are destroyed as well," Duke slowly explained.
Wildwing paused for a moment, unsure how to answer.
"We also don't have to worry about him bringing anyone else here from Puckworld. Not like Lucretia or Falcone," Nosdive put in, remembering the incidents with them. "Even though we can't get home."
"I've always wondered if they had any other allies from on Puckworld besides those two. If they did, if we could've met them before the gateway was destroyed," Mallory sighed.
"Why would you want to meet any others who betrayed us to Dragaunus?" Wildwing wondered.
"How we would have fared against them, that's why. I mean, Tanya knew Lucretia and Duke knew Falcone. Would any of us have known any other allies they had?" Mallory explained.
"I doubt it," Duke interrupted.
He soon had four sets of eyes on him. He could feel them burning into him but he wasn't worried about it one bit.
"You doubt what? Doubt that we would have known them or doubt that he had any others helping him?" Nosedive wondered.
"I know of two others who helped Dragaunus back on Puckworld but I doubt that the Saurian scum would have ever brought them here. The things we deal with here, aren't their type of work. They're a team, flat out. What could Dragaunus have ever possibly planned that deals with teamwork?" Duke replied with a slight laugh.
"Well, would we have known them?" Wildwing reluctantly asked.
"No, none of you would have known them, I'm sure. Falcone and I knew them through the Brotherhood. They were a bit reclusive, even by thief standards," Duke told them, glancing over at Mallory. "The chances of them showing up here are about as slim as us getting home again."
Suddenly, a bright light filled the night sky and the Ducks watched as three figures fell to the ground.
"What was that all about?" Mallory wondered.
"Don't know but let's check it out. Let's get moving Ducks!" cried Wildwing.
The Ducks drove to where the three fell to the ground.
00000
"That's right, we brought you here so you could help us fight those do-gooders called the Mighty Ducks," Chameleon told them. "They've been giving us problems since we got here."
"I'll help. Sounds like a challenge to me. What about you Rene?" said Patrick.
"Yeah, I'm in. There was nothing to do on Puckworld anyway. The routine was getting boring," she agreed.
Patrick gave her an angry look as Sanyo walked up to them, appearing a bit nervous of the whole situation.
"I hate to interrupt everybody, but I'd like to go home," he whined.
"Not yet we can't Sanyo. These are our friends and we have to help them in a time of need," Patrick told him.
"Well, what do we get to do first?" wondered Rene, sounding excited. "Even better, when?"
Sanyo and Patrick both stared at her with 'I don't believe you' looks.
"Hey, I'm a teenager. I need excitement. Being a thief is one thing but getting excitement is another. Like I said, the routine was getting boring. No offense Sanyo," she protested.
The ducks drove up to them and jumped out of the Migrator. They stood ready as Duke looked at the two and began to laugh quietly.
"Oh yeah, I should have known you Saurian scum would bring them here. It's Patrick, the one who nobody knows anything about and Rene, the young brat without parents. No surprise at all," Duke smirked.
Duke thought about what he said for a moment. He gave a small laugh.
"Let me rephrase that, it is a bit of a surprise. I never expected to see you here," Duke replied.
"Hey, who're you calling a brat? You don't know where I've been," demanded Rene, stepping forward.
Patrick grabbed her arm, preventing her from going any further. She glanced back to see that he was shaking his head.
"Okay everybody, attack," ordered Wildwing.
Mallory gasped as Wildwing gave this order as she stared at the new arrivals, the sight of them triggoring long forgotten memories.
"No!" she cried as she quickly moved in front of Grin.
"Mallory, what's wrong?" asked Grin, becoming slightly concerned.
She glanced over at Rene, who was glaring at Duke with an evil look, before finally looking back at him with a sad face.
'It isn't her. My mind is playing tricks on me. I guess I just want to see her again so badly, it seems like everyone is reminding me of her,' she sadly thought to herself, backing away.
"Nothing. I thought I saw someone I knew along time ago but it isn't her," Mallory lied.
"Sorry, but we've got to go right now. We've more pressing matters to deal with so see you another time," Chameleon told them before they disappeared into thin air.
The Ducks looked at the spot at where they once stood.
"How the heck could they bring those three here? Didn't we destroy their gateway generator?" Wildwing muttered.
"That's the problem. We did," Tanya replied.
00000
Back at the Pond, Tanya was looking at Drake 1. On the screen before her, were the pictures of Patrick and Rene. The other ducks stood around her.
"Rene and Patrick. They're well-known thieves and one of the best, if not the best, teams on Puckworld. This could be bad Wildwing. They'll be just as good as Falcone or even Duke," Tanya finally said. "I recognize the other duck as Sanyo, though it'll be some time before I find anything on him."
"Could have Dragaunus brought them here with his generator Tanya?" wondered Wildwing. "Is it possible that they did fix it?"
"I really doubt it Wildwing. He didn't have the time to fix it nor does he have the proper technology here," replied Tanya, looking at him.
"Then how did those three come here if Dragaunus' generator is not fixed yet?" Grin curiously asked.
"That is the million dollar question. It's impossible," Tanya replied, before turning back to the computer. "Who knows what they're going to be planning with them here?"
00000
Dragaunus paced back and forth between the three.
"I'm glad both of you could make it. Your friend is welcome to stay as long as he stays out of trouble and out of the way. Although he could also help you if it a situation comes up that could use his expertise," he told them.
"What expertise? I'm an historian," Sanyo argued with a small laugh.
He received a barrage of stares from the others. He looked between them and stepped back a few steps.
"What?" he asked, lifting up his hands.
"What would you like us to do, my Lord?" asked Patrick.
"We are flexible, as you already know. What you want, we can probably do," Rene added.
"This is my idea. Siege, Wraith and Chameleon will be there to help if it's needed, which I know isn't going to be necessary since you're so much more competant than they are," Dragaunus said.
Siege growled as Dragaunus began to tell them his idea. Rene smiled as she glanced over at Patrick, who had a hand placed on his chin.
"Hey, I like it. When do we start?" Rene eagerly asked.
00000
"Duke, it's obvious you know these two. What can we expect from them?" asked Wildwing.
"Anything we should know before we see them again?" asked Nosedive.
"Well, they are very unpredictable. Kind of like me and Tanya is right; they are just as good as either Falcone and even myself, the only difference is that they work as a team and neither of us did. Rene is smarter than she looks, despite the fact that she's in her late teens, and Patrick has a lot, and I do mean a lot, of hidden tricks and trade secrets," Duke started.
"Anything about their past we should know about?" wondered Mallory.
"I don't know their past. You could try and find out but Patrick has kept his past to himself. No one ever could, or can, pry it out of him, no matter how hard they tried. Don't even try to bother if you come face to face with him. You'll just get a brick wall if and when you do bring up the subject," Duke replied. "Ever since Rene came into the Brotherhood when she really young, around the tender age of four or five I think, they've been an inseparable team. I find that extremely strange because before she became a thief, Patrick was always solo, like me. Ever since, they've always kept an eye out for each other and they do pretty much everything together. They are rarely ever seen apart."
"Everything? Don't they ever get tired of each other? I'm surprised her parents aren't involved at all," Nosedive mused.
"That's the problem. Rene doesn't know who her parents are since she was so young when they died she was told. She doesn't even remember them and no one around her knew who they were so she'll never know. Also, be warned, she can be a bit of a brat every once in a while. At least that's the impression she tends to give everyone. It's probably a tactic of hers to keep everyone away from her and possibly Patrick. Only thing I can figure is that they want their privacy about themselves," Duke explained.
"So they can be very dangerous. We have to do something about them then," Wildwing told the ducks. "Let's go."
He started off only to find the others had not moved. He glanced between everyone before finally coming to Tanya.
"Uh, Wildwing, how are we supposed to find them? They aren't exactly on our doorstep and there's no way to track them down unless they do something," asked Tanya.
He deeply sighed and shrugged his shoulders.
"To be very honest with you, I haven't got a clue," he replied. "All we can really do now is wait and see what happens."
He didn't take notice until that moment that Mallory had suddenly left the room.
"Where's Mallory? I thought she would've stayed here with the group," Wildwing wondered.
"I'll go see what's wrong," Tanya offered. "She's probably headed to her quarters. She seems to be upset about something."
Wildwing nodded and he watched as Tanya headed after Mallory.
"I wonder what's gotten into Mallory?" Duke mused. "Ever since Rene and Patrick arrived, she hasn't been quite herself. Is it possible she might know them after all?"
00000
Mallory walked into her quarters and soon sat down on the bed. She grabbed a book from off the the nighttable. A book that she had brought from Puckworld. It was the only book ever written about Thief au Combat, with what little information was known about him. She opened it up to reveal a photograph of herself and a small child.
'Could it possibly be you Rene? It has been so long since I saw you,' she thought to herself.
She quietly gasped when she heard a knock on her door. She hid the book underneath the pillows before slowly walked over to it and opened it up to reveal Tanya.
"Mallory, we're worried about you. Would you like to talk about what's bothering you?" wondered Tanya.
"No, not really. It's nothing, really. It's something I wish stayed in the past. At least part of it," Mallory replied.
"Remember that we're all here if you want to talk at all," Tanya told her.
Mallory nodded as Tanya left the room. She walked over to the bed and pulled the book back out.
'Where are you now Combat? I'd love to know what you ever did with her. If you ever harmed her, I would make you pay. Maybe...' Mallory thought to herself. 'If you had ever harmed her in any way Combat, you will hear from me.'
Mallory growled to herself as she walked over to the wall and punched a hole in it.
TBC...