Wildwing paced back and forth as the others watched him. It had been several days since Sanyo, Patrick and Rene showed up on Earth and so far, the two thieves had been eluding their best efforts.

"You'd better stop that Wildwing," Duke told him.

The leader stopped and turned to face the ex-thief, a slightly angry look on his face even from behind the mask.

"And why is that now Duke? What are you going to tell me to do?" Wildwing demanded.

"That you're going to wear a hole in the floor if you keep that up," Duke simply replied.

Wildwing sighed as he turned towards Tanya, who was sitting next to the computer.

"What are we doing wrong with these two?" Wildwing wondered.

"Doing wrong?" she asked, slightly confused.

"We haven't been able to catch up with them yet. They always seem to be two steps ahead of us. It seems like they know what we're plaaning. What we're about to do next," Wildwing sighed.

Duke glanced around at everyone before his stare came to Mallory. He found that she seemed quiet during this type of conversation. He glanced over at Nosedive and sighed. Duke stepped away from the group, hands behind his back. The five watched him carefully, wondering what was going through his mind.

"Where do you think he's going now?" Nosedive wondered.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I want to know," Wildwing said.

"Sometimes, in order to find answers to a problem, one must go the source," Grin told the group.

The group stared at him with disbelief in their faces. Wildwing raised his eyebrows.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Mallory asked.

"It means in order to know why something has happened, one should ask the one who did it in the first place," Grin replied.

"You mean if we want to know why Rene and Patrick are doing this, we have to ask them?" Wildwing wanted to make sure.

Grin nodded. The team leader wasn't believing what he was hearing and neither was his brother. Nosedive snorted, crossing his arms.

"Like that's going to happen. I doubt they will talk. They're not to be trusted," he quietly said.

"There's not much we can do until they do something else. There's no pattern to what they're doing so we can't figure out where they're going to be next. Get some rest everyone," Wildwing told the group.

Nosedive watched both Tanya and his brother leave the room. Nosedive began to follow them but stopped in the shadows just past the doorway, noticing that Mallory and Grin stayed behind for a moment. He had placed a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from leaving.

"Mallory, is there something wrong?" Grin asked her.

"There's nothing wrong. What makes you think something is wrong?" Mallory wondered.

"The way you've been acting whenever these two, this Patrick and Rene, have been mentioned. That's why. Now is there anything you would like to tell me?" Grin replied.

Mallory sighed as he stepped away from Grin. She crossed her arms before looking back at him.

"It's because I might know them. Well, at least her. I don't know about Patrick," Mallory finally told him.

Grin was a bit surprised by this. Up until now, they all believed that Duke was the only one who knew the two thieves. He walked closer to her.

"You said you might know them? You think you might not believe it is who it is?" Grin asked. "Or is it something else?"

"It's just that it's been thirteen years. I don't think I can be certain it is her until I talk to her face to face. Something I don't think I'd be able to. If it is her, I don't know if she remembers me or not. She was so young at the time before being taken by him," explained Mallory.

She almost spat out the word and Grin raised his eyebrows when she did. He wondered who the duck was that she just spoke of.

"And I can't even be certain the duck with her is actually him either! That's the frustrating part for I never saw the duck's face! I wish I had," Mallory told him. "This isn't going to leave me alone and I cannot find out anything. I don't think we'll ever catch up with them. Not if they keep this charade up."

"At least not for a while. They can't keep running from us forever. They soon have to make a mistake somewhere. Then we can ask them," Grin told her.

"I hope you're right. If it is her, I just don't want anything to happen to her," Mallory barely said.

Grin gave a slight nod and smile before they started to head out of the room. He decided not to push the matter further before they started to head right to where Nosedive was hiding. The young duck saw them coming and immediately headed for his room. The two heard the footsteps. hurrying away from them.

"Who was that?" Mallory wondered.

"I do not know. I could not see their face," Grin replied.

"Well, whoever it was, I hope they didn't hear our conversation. I'd be humiliated," Mallory said.

00000

Nosedive hurried into his room and sat on his bed. He thought about what he heard Mallory say about the two ducks.

'Mallory might know the younger duck personally? But how she could know Rene? How? Duke knows her from being a thief,' Nosedive wondered.

He laid back on the pillow, hands behind his head. His mind went back to Rene. He didn't want to think about her but he found he was anyway. He had noticed that she was indeed around his age. He couldn't imagine how she became a thief in the first place.

"Where have I seen her before? All of them before. I know I have seen them face to face before," he asked out loud.

He bolted up in the bed, remembering where he had seen the three faces before. Somewhere other than in the news.

"Digit San. The one duck works there and Patrick and Rene have helped him for years now. But why is the question? How did they first meet?" Nosedive wondered.

He climbed off of the bed and headed for the door, grabbing his jacket along the way.

00000

Rene stood across the street from the Pond. She was glad she wore a trenchcoat since it was a chilly night. She stared at the building, giving a small sigh in the process.

"Why am I drawn to this place? Why?" she wondered out loud. "Or is it because of someone inside? I guess I won't know for a while. I'll have to curb my curiousity for the time being. I don't intend to have any peace talks with them anytime soon."

She began to step away from the building, heading to meet Patrick. She heard voices nearby, causing her to see who it was. She found it was a few fans of the Mighty Ducks.

"Look! There's one of them! We should get an autograph!" cried one of them.

'Oh no! They've seen me! I have to get out of here! I knew I shouldn't have come here!' Rene thought to herself.

She began to run away from the people, who began to follow her. Rene ran into a nearby alleyway yet they still followed her. She came to a dead end and she growled.

"All this time here and I am still not used to these streets. Puckworld's streets, I'm used to. Not here. At least not yet," she muttered.

"There she is!" cried one of the people. "After her!"

Rene watched as the few hurried towards her when suddenly, a rope dangled in front of her face. She glanced up to see a duck standing on the roof above her. She grabbed the rope and began to climb up the wall.

"Great, she got away. Too bad. We'll get an autograph someday," one of the people said.

Rene sighed as she climbed to the rooftop. She glanced at the cloaked figure beside her out of the corner of her eye, figuring it was Patrick.

"Thanks Patrick. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along," Rene said, barely looking at the duck.

"You're welcome," replied a different voice.

Rene paled at the voice, realizing who really was standing next to her. Her stare turned towards Duke, who was watching her from underneath the hood over his head.

"Duke," she finally said.

"Yeah. Last time I checked, that's my name," Duke told her. "Now do you mind telling me why you're here?"

Rene gulped as she stared at the older duck, standing before her, unable to answer him.

TBC...