An Author's Note: To Pearl484: Hi, thanks for all the reviews you send. I'm not sure how to reply to guest accounts other than this way.
As for your many very good questions regarding Fenton, in the words of the great River Song: Spoilers.
Chapter 23
The World Breaker
Somewhere far away in deep space, a single planet orbited peacefully around it's bright blue star, as planets are known to do. It wasn't a very important planet, the people there had only just learned that those bright lights in the sky were sun like their own. Still, life teamed on the planet, a planet well past the age where tectonic plates shifted to form landmasses and volcanoes ripped through the earth into the sky. A planet with intelligent species. There were three, living in conflict, but if given the chance they all might have ended up in peace with each other one day. None had yet reached the point of industrialization, the land still untouched by pollution or waste.
She had no idea why they were there.
The bridge of the star ship was silent, deathly silent. No one wanted to speak to their captain, not after what had happened to their last leader. His screams were still nice and fresh in the small crew's memory, and for a while no one was going to speak up for fear of bothering the new leader.
However, if she was ever going to get answers as to why they were all apparently staring at some insignificant blue ball then she would probably have to say something.
She hated that.
"W-w-w-why are we h-h-here? I thu-thought we-" She attempted to speak but was cut off.
"Stop it, engineer. I can't stand to listen to you when you do that." The captain glared at her, and she tensed, half afraid he'd decided to shove her out an airlock or something.
She settled for pointing at the blue planet. "Why?"
"You built that thing to mine, didn't you? There's a lot of energy in that planet's core." The captain grinned at her, and she gaped at him.
"I-i-it's not b-built for-" and again she was cut off.
"Shut up. Learn to talk right or stay silent."
"Th-th-there's billions of-" She grunted in pain as one of the crew came up behind here and punched her in the back of the head. She rocked forwards and turned to glare behind her.
"Oh stop throwing a tantrum. Honestly, you think the interrogators in basic training would have beaten that weak streak out of you. You're supposed to be one yourself and you can't stomach a little minor terraforming?" The captain sighed and looked away from here to another. "Bro, punch the button and let's get on with this. I'm getting bored."
She was about to shout another stuttery protest, but it was too late by then. A massive beam of light shot down from the sky and drilled itself through the crust of the planet before them. From space it would have looked tiny, almost like a surgical pinprick, but anyone on the ground would have seen a red light the size of a mountain drill into the earth. A few moments later the beam began to draw out energy from the planet's core, like a child sucking out a drink from a straw.
It only took ten minutes for the core of the planet to be utterly destroyed. To say it had been sucked out like a piece of candy at the bottom of a bag would be a gross oversimplification of the actual process. The engineer had, after all, spent months developing the device and testing it. She had only used that analogy on the captain because she knew that the technical aspects would elude him, and the thought of attempting a long scientific rant with her stutter would never had gone over well. So she had left it to a short explanation. This was supposed to be a field test.
She hadn't expected him to do this! It wasn't designed for inhabited planets!
She could hear the others happily congratulating the captain for his victory, if such a slaughter could be called that, but the engineer couldn't say a word, even if she could speak clearly. It was impossible to see the billions of bodies from their ship's viewscreen, but that didn't matter.
Her mind filled in the blanks well enough.
As did her nightmares.
The people of St. Canard were in a state of what Megavolt liked to call 'controlled panic'. Everyone was running away from the epicenter of whatever the crisis was today, but were also doing their best to keep the trampling and pushing to a minimum. That was good, as it meant less work for the local hospitals later. It also meant the Four could follow the line of people running away from the horror so they could run towards it.
Megavolt was almost glad for the crisis, whatever it was. They had been hitting the library for the past week, attempting to look up any information on the strange robotic creature they had met in the greenhouse. So far, nothing had come up, even in the weird occult books that Quackerjack had found or on the obscure websites Megavolt had managed to dig up. Megavolt had even, after three days of absolutely nothing, decided to look up old legends and myths for some clue.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was driving Megavolt crazy.
And Negaduck also seemed to be doing a whole lot of nothing as well. Despite the crime spree there had been nothing from the lunatic and that made Megavolt have some pretty interesting nightmares so far. At least when he could sleep he had nightmares. He spent a lot of time in the past week when not researching robots keeping an eye out for Negaduck's new plan to take shape. It had been so quiet that one could almost think that Negaduck didn't exist at all. It was worse than if Negaduck had launched an attack. The anticipation was making Megavolt feel twitchy and paranoid. Maybe that was the point of the attack all along? Make a fuss so they would lose sleep and waste energy? It was starting to look that way. Maybe Negaduck was somehow responsible for the metal deer creature, a ruse sent to spout cryptic nonsense and send them chasing ghosts?
Except for the fact that it didn't seem Negaduck's style. Guns, chainsaws and dynamite was Negaduck's style. Psychological warfare was not. Megavolt also couldn't figure out how the creature had just vanished like that. There hadn't been any lights or sounds or any sign of teleportation and it hadn't flown away. It was simply there one moment then gone the next. That scared Megavolt for some reason. Some sort of light or sound could indicate some sort of technology, and he knew that if given enough time he could figure it out. Just not being there anymore? That Megavolt couldn't explain.
However, now was not the time to think about that. Now they had to find what was going on that everyone was running away from. He sincerely hoped they were running towards a fight. He could use a good fight to blow off some of the nervous tension he felt.
Megavolt scrambled to a halt as he finally turned the corner and stared at the thing that the populace was running from. It had been obscured by the buildings around it, but now all four of the heroes could see what it was.
It was a fairly large looking ship, sort of shaped like some sort of red dragon. Whoever owned the thing had parked it next to a statue in the middle of town, a statue depicting the first great battle, which a huge beaver warrior standing dominating his foes. The red ship loomed over the warrior statue, making it look small and almost insignificant. There were several large holes on the sides of the ship, as if it had been in some sort of firefight.
"...well, you know, it's weird that this is only the second time we've had aliens." Megavolt said nonchalantly.
"You sure it's aliens again?" The Liquidator asked. "Could just be some invading countries' new superweapon?"
"Who would casually park their superweapon in the middle of town?" Bushroot tilted his head as he stared at the ship. "And it looks like someone shot it down."
"What alien parks their spaceship in the middle of town? Even if it was an emergency landing you'd think they'd try to be subtle." Megavolt asked. As if in answer to the question a ramp emerged from the side of the ship, and a gangplank extended to the ground. Megavolt edged closer, the other three following him, alert just in case this turned into a firefight. Megavolt was vaguely aware of a pair of cars pulling up. He turned his head to see both Steelbeak and Bulba arriving, both eyeing the ship with as much suspicion on their faces as Megavolt felt.
"Let us go first, okay? Can you guys be backup in case this thing goes south?" Megavolt asked. IN the past he would have been slightly annoyed at Steelbeak's presence, but at this moment he was glad the federal agent was there. At the very least he could call on reinforcements. To his relief Steelbeak nodded and gave them a thumbs up. Bulba snorted, but didn't move from his car.
The four arrived at the end of the gangplank and were absolutely shocked at what emerged. Poking their heads out of the ship's airlock like a pair of nervous teens about to walk into the prom were a pair of the tallest individuals that Megavolt had seen. He had expected to see a pack of weird looking monstrous aliens like they had before, but these two looked like a perfectly normal duck woman and a perfectly normal falcon man. The only difference was they somehow managed to be taller than even Morgana Macawber. But other than that they looked normal. Okay, the long purple hair on the woman was a bit odd, but if she crouched down a bit then Megavolt wouldn't have been able to tell she had emerged from a red spaceship looking thing.
But the height did make Megavolt believe they were aliens. They weren't just tall, they were towering. Even Bulba was shorter than them. His skull, minus his horns, would have just reached their jawlines. For more normal sized people like Megavolt he only reached their chests.
"Umm, hi." The purple haired woman smiled and waved at them. "Ummm, can you understand us?"
"Yep." What do you say to an alien that just landed in the middle of town? Megavolt wasn't sure. Wasn't 'take me to your leader' for when you arrived on an alien planet?
"Oh good, the translator's working." The woman gave them a bright smile. "Hi, my name's Lucretia, most people call me Lucy..."
"...okay, seriously, what?" Quackerjack looked at Megavolt. "Is this a dream? This is just…what?"
"Let's just see how this goes." Megavolt whispered back. There was something just surreal about this encounter. He wasn't sure what, but it felt like something wasn't fitting right. It was an odd feeling and Megavolt didn't like it, but he wanted to focus on what was going on. He could think about the weird niggling feeling in the back of his head later.
Meanwhile, the giantess was continuing with her introductions. "This is my friend, Falcone, and…ummm, you guys are being invaded."
Immediately the Four of them bristled. Megavolt sparked lightning from his whiskers and prepared to fight the invasion.
"Wait! Sorry, not by us!" Lucy shook her head. "Sorry, I'm really bad at this, but we didn't want to scare you…" She sighed.
"...to be fair, it is your people coming, Lucy." the falcon said. "But she's on our side. Look, how about you come in and we take you to the captain. He can probably explain better."
Megavolt looked behind him at Steelbeak and Bulba. Bulba had ducked his head back into his car and was apparently talking to more cops on the radio. At least Megavolt assumed he was talking to more cops. Steelbeak, however, was talking into his own radio, eyes trained on the four. If something went down Megavolt was fairly confident that they would have reinforcements.
"Alright, we'll go talk to your captain." Megavolt said.
Lucy grinned at them and ducked back into the ship, while Falcone swept his arm to the side like some sort of knight inviting his lady into the tower. Megavolt wasn't sure about him. He wasn't sure about any of them, but he wanted to know what was going on. And if there was an alien invasion coming, they would have to know about it.
"Likky, if they do anything to us, get out of here." Megavolt whispered. "Get to Steelbeak and warn him. I don't trust him, but you can probably get out without any trouble."
"Contract signed my friend." The Liquidator nodded in agreement.
The interior of the ship was oversized, or at least it looked oversized to Megavolt. He felt a bit like a kid wandering around a boiler room, everything just a bit too tall for him. It was rather worrisome. He was even more concerned with the fact that the ship seemed to be almost empty. It didn't seem like there was anyone here aside from them and their escorts. It was a fairly large ship, or at least it looked that way from the outside, so why was it so empty?
Thankfully he didn't have to wait much longer for the answers to several of his questions.
The room they finally ended up in looked like some sort of bridge. Megavolt had seen enough science fiction to recognize a bridge. Honestly, he wanted to get a closer look at the interesting computers and displays all over the place, but even his curiosity was quenched by the sight of the tallest being that Megavolt had seen in his life.
The first thought that Megavolt had was 'oh look, a giant red dragon person.' Aside from the lack of wings the title of dragon person was probably the most accurate way to describe the gigantic figure before them. Red with a large bony crest of some kind, wearing sinister looking armor and with a long tail lashing behind him and smoke streaming from his nostrils, the captain of this ship looked like the kind of person who would start throwing fireballs and screaming about world domination at any moment.
Either that or warn them to stay away from his hoard of shiny things.
This impression was further helped when the creature turned his head and looked down at them. Way down. His eyes widened slightly and he unfolded his arms. Megavolt noted the large hooked claw on his thumb and wondered how the in the world the dragon alien held spoons and forks with that thing. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he just swallowed food whole.
"...the natives are…very small." The dragon said. He then crouched down so he could meet Megavolt's eyes a bit better. He was so tall that his own head loomed above the other two alien's heads, but that might just be because he had a longer neck.
There was a slight cough from the side, and Megavolt turned to look at the other figure lurking off in a corner. This creature was almost as tall as the red dragon, but more slender. He wore robes that made Megavolt think of wizards, and the thought of an alien wizard made him want to groan in exasperation. When did magic start infecting everything in his life? The slender dragon even had a long staff, with what looked like a flowering vine creeping up and circling around the polished wood until it ended in a large flower of some kind at the top. It looked silly and almost childish, but Megavolt wasn't about to underestimate this new (probably) magic user. They all were quickly becoming pains in his tail and his frustration was amping up to new heights.
The wizard spoke again. "Son, perhaps you shouldn't greet our potential allies with an insult upon first meeting?" There was a bit of gentle, but humored chiding in the wizard dragon's tone.
"...wait, he's your kid?" Quackerjack asked.
"Quackerjack!" Megavolt hissed. Great. Wonderful first contact.
The red dragon laughed gently. "No, but he was my tutor. He might as well be my father." The red dragon gave his fellow alien a smile, then turned back to the Four. "I'm sorry, I just didn't expect such tiny looking creatures such as yourselves."
"To be fair, everyone is short when you're in the room, Draggy." Falcone laughed.
"True." The red dragon shrugged. "Impossible to find a chair that fits, but we didn't come here to talk about that." The dragon's tail lashed again in agitation. "My name is Dragaunus. You've already met Falcone and Lucy over there, and that over there is Wraith." Dragaunus pointed at the wizard, who gave the four a polite nod. "Our other two companions are in the engine room at the moment, trying to see if they can get our ship repaired."
"Right, I'm Megavolt, this is Quackerjack, Bushroot and the Liquidator. Not that I'm trying to be rude here, but your friends mentioned invasions." Megavolt folded his arms and tried not to be intimidated by the unfamiliar surroundings and looming dragon people. "Mind getting to that part?"
"Are you authority figures here?" Dragaunus asked, mildly puzzled.
"Let's just say we do a lot of the local crime cleanup." Megavolt replied, and the dragon nodded.
"Very well, let me show you something." Dragaunus stood and punched a few buttons on a keyboard. Megavolt stood on his toes and peered at it. He had no idea what the letters were. They seemed to be a blocky, almost glyphlike script that Megavolt assumed was alien.
"For thousands of years my people have been hunted by theirs." Dragaunus nodded at Lucy, who looked away as if embarrassed. "Ever since the overlord Drake and his mask, their people would capture mine and force them into slavery. They committed horrific crimes and experiments on my people, but even all of that was not enough. Eventually, the Overlord's descendants would even start to kidnap and enslave their own kind. They take them as children barely into adolescents and condition them to be soldiers and enforcers, and make them commit the same acts upon others. That was until five years ago." The computer brought up the holographic image of a male duck. "This is Canard Thunderbeak, leader of the Freedom Alliance, and dedicated to not only fostering peace between our people, but freeing all slaves and brainwashed ducks from his own kind. He now leads from our mutual homeworld." Dragaunus sighed. "I will admit that he is one of my best friends."
The dragon alien pushed another button and a different holographic image of an unfamiliar planet appeared. "While we have managed to free our world, the followers of the Overlord still wander the galaxy. Now, without a home, they seek resources and planets to conquer. But they have no true central government anymore. They have started to break away into small groups, spreading like pests everywhere they go. But now one of them is trying to reunite his kin and start over. And he has a way to gain unlimited resources."
The image on the screen shifted a bit to show a large ship hovering over the image of the planet. It almost reminded Megavolt of a giant hockey puck. To Megavolt's horror the puck ship fired a beam of light from the bottom to the image of the planet. Within moments the planet was reduced to cinders.
"They call it the World Breaker. It mines energy from the very cores of planets. With this weapon he hopes to not only strip as much power as he can from as many planets as possible, but he also hopes to convince the other disciples of the Overlord to follow him. Perhaps even to declare him as the new Overlord.
"And he's coming here, right?" The Liquidator narrowed his eyes at the images. "That's why you are here."
There was a long sigh from Wraith's corner. "We attempted to stop him in orbit above your planet, but we were shot down."
"Hey, I at least took out their engines." Falcone grinned. "They can't maneuver into position unless they fix it." He gave a little smirk. "They're sitting ducks up there."
"Oh ha ha." Lucy gave him a little punch to the arm. "Funny."
"I had hoped that we could take care of the problem ourselves but…" Dragaunus finally turned his body to fully face the four. "But your kind deserves to know what might be coming your way. Perhaps if you warn your people you can flee this planet-"
"We don't really have spaceships like that." Megavolt said. "Can't we go to that ship and take them out?"
Dragaunus blinked. "I wasn't going to ask you to risk your lives to-"
"This is our planet, and our city." Quackerjack grinned. "Why wouldn't we help?"
"But-" Dragaunus started, but was suddenly interrupted.
"They should go. So should Lucy and Falcone." Wraith smiled gently. "I have a good feeling about it."
Dragaunus grinned. "Well I suppose if Wraith has a good feeling then that's what we should do."
"You get these feelings a lot?" Megavolt asked Wraith, who nodded with a pleased expression.
"I am rarely wrong." He said.
"...if you have time I'd like to have a word with you after the world ending crisis is over." Megavolt said.
"I'd be pleased to help."
Meanwhile, Dragaunus had pushed a few more buttons, and several images of six alien ducks appeared. "I'll give you four a brief run down of our enemies." He pointed to the first duck image in line. "This is their captain. Wildwing Flashblade."
"...now that's the name of either an action hero or a midnight movie star." Quackerjack laughed.
"He's no hero, but I do admit it's a…well I'm not sure what his parents were thinking." Dragaunus chuckled and pointed at the next one. "Either way, it must be a family thing, because that's his little brother. Nosedive." And to the next. "This one is called Duke. He has more weapons on him than most armories."
"I'll say." Bushroot snorted. "I'm counting two swords, a battleaxe, and how many daggers are you guys spotting?"
"Too many." Megavolt snorted.
"Not enough to deal with you or me, my friend." The Liquidator grinned at Bushroot. Megavolt made a note to make sure that one of them ended up facing the weapon guy.
"The big fellow is called Grin, don't ask me why." Dragaunus snorted. "I've never heard him say more than two words. Mostly he screams in rage and charges at you. Not sure what's wrong with him. Anyway…the red head here is Mallory. Not much of a threat. Kind of a bad fighter. Not sure why they keep that one around. Maybe Flashblade fancies her. I don't know." Dragaunus suddenly took a deep breath. "The last one is-"
"Tanya, that's Tanya." Lucy suddenly spoke up, her eyes fixed and narrowed on the last female duck image in line. Dragaunus looked at her, an odd little frown spreading across his face as he once again began to smoke from his nostrils.
"Yes." He said gently.
Megavolt eyed Lucy with some suspicion. There was something going on here, some story that he didn't have any context for, and he didn't like it. However, a few seconds later Dragaunus had cleared his throat and was walking towards them.
"I'll be going with you. If there is one thing I know that I can depend on, it's Flashblade's need to have it out with me. He hates me, and the feeling is mutual. I can distract him while you find the World Breaker and disable it. If we are lucky we can capture them all and take them back with us. Imprison them for life so they can't threaten any other innocent planets."
"While you are doing that, I'll find that weapon and take it out." Lucy said firmly. "I can figure it out."
Dragaunus looked at her. "...you are certain?" He asked.
Lucy's eyes darted to the holographic images of their enemies. "Yeah. Nothing she can build that I can't break. You know that."
"I don't want-"
"I can handle it, boss." Lucy said as she gave him a small glare.
Dragaunus sighed. "Very well."
"Hey, if you don't mind, Bushroot and Quackerjack can go with you." Megavolt said to Lucy. "They don't know us, so they have no idea what we can do. And Quackerjack is good with machines."
"I mean, building em yeah. But I can probably break them just as easily." Quackerjack suddenly gave a vicious grin. "Sounds like fun!"
Bushroot leaned towards Megavolt and muttered to him. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"If you are thinking that there's something Lucy isn't telling us about that last one? Yeah. You made Gizmoduck back off once. Figure out what's going on there if you can, okay?"
Bushroot nodded in agreement. "I'll do what I can."
"Alright, how are we getting to where these invaders are?" Megavolt raised his voice, looking over at Dragaunus.
"I will get you there. I'm a Saurian sage, and I have…well for lack of a better term magic." Wraith's hands began to glow as he approached the group. "You will have to be near one of us if you need me to bring you back, though. I can pull you back if you contact me."
"Noted." Megavolt grinned and let some sparks dance off his whiskers. "Let's go then."
With a flash of light and a brief tugging sensation the four and the aliens were suddenly no longer on the red spaceship. Now they were standing in a steel room, what looked like some sort of cargo hold. Megavolt noticed a large tank-like vehicle of some kind. It sort of looked like a giant armored van with a duck shaped hockey mask on the front. He blinked at it.
"Do these guys have some sort of thing for hockey or what?" He asked.
"What's a hockey?" Dragaunus asked.
"It's a game where you skate on ice and hit a puck at each other with sticks." Quackerjack provided helpfully.
"...what is a puck?" Falcone asked, at the same time Lucy blinked at them.
"Why on ice? Sounds awful."
"Well I mean you can do it with rollerskates on the street I guess, but I've been told it doesn't count-" Quackerjack started, but Megavolt shushed him.
"I know I brought it up, but we should probably pause the sports talk until after the mission." Megavolt said.
"He is right." Dragaunus nodded to Megavolt. "Let's go. We are going to fight our way to the bridge, like we intend to take control of the ship. When the ducks get-"
At the moment the doors to the cargo hold slid open and three of the six aliens that Dragaunus had pointed out to the Four on his ship charged in. Megavolt instantly recognized the leader, the big one and the redhead. He noticed that Dragaunus sort of moved his huge bulk to block the alien duck's view of Lucy, Bushroot and Quackerjack.
"Looks like we have a lizard infestation." The leader's eyes darted to Megavolt, who had gone up to stand next to the big dragonic alien. "And a vermin infestation. Did you bring them up here to watch me turn their planet into rubble?"
The Liquidator surged forwards with a small chuckle. "Welcome to our home, giant aliens." The Liquidator grew a few inches, spreading his arms wide and further blocking the view between the duck aliens and their friends. He was now almost totally embraced by the salesman persona he sometimes used "The Liquidator is pleased to introduce and welcome all you lovely new customers…" Suddenly the Liquidator made a fist with his right hand and slapped the redhead woman all the way back into the hallway behind the aliens. "To Paintown!"
Flashblade roared out a command, and the cargo hold was suddenly swarmed with robots. They sort of reminded Megavolt of jellyfish, with mushroom shaped tops and dangling limbs with lasers that they fired at the group. Megavolt grinned and started to blast a few with his electricity, managing to take down a few with his powers. The Liquidator sloshed over the robots, and Megavolt aimed for them, making his electricity dance over the robots. Dragaunus blinked at him and grinned.
"Remind me never to underestimate the small ones." The big alien's tail lashed as he took out five robots at once.
Megavolt grinned and spotted the big alien duck, Grin he thought, who was attempting to stomp the life out of the Liquidator, who was now in the form of a puddle on the floor. Megavolt laughed a bit as the Liquidator would pop his head up out of his puddle. Grin would then attempt to punch him. The Liquidator would splash over the fist, then pop his head up out of the puddle in another spot. It was like a game of wack a mole. Grin was clearly getting frustrated at the Liquidator, who was also very clearly enjoying himself. Megavolt sent a bolt of electricity for the back of Grin, who yelled as the shock tore through him. Unfortunately for Megavolt the big alien was made of sterner stuff, and Grin turned to charge at Megavolt. Megavolt yelped and dodged to the side, letting Grin crash into their own hockey themed armored van tank.
To Megavolt's relief he didn't spot the 'go break the superweapon team' anymore. Good. That meant they had sneaked out while they distracted the bulk of the alien forces.
He hoped they would be alright.
Bushroot was learning a lot of interesting things today. He did know that aliens existed, but he never knew that they could look basically like any other person aside from being unreasonably tall. He also now learned that, in addition to being unreasonably tall it meant that, when following someone into a ventilation system, that meant that he didn't have to crawl in the vent.
It was very convenient.
"So, just out of curiosity, do you have any idea where we are going?" Quackerjack asked.
"I have a general idea." Lucy said. "It's a fairly big ship, but I can figure it out. There are only so many places they could have put it."
"How do you know so much about this place?" Bushroot asked gently. He noted the way that Lucy sort of twitched.
"I'm…sort of a spy for Dragaunus and Canard." She laughed gently. "And a bit of a hacker. I've sort of been following Tanya's work for a while."
"Any particular reason?" Bushroot asked, keeping his tone mild and without any hint of accusation.
"Umm, no, no reason." Lucy said, not looking at either of the smaller ducks.
Quackerjack tilted his head and looked at Bushroot with a puzzled expression. Bushroot gave him a reassuring nod and mouthed 'I got this.' Quackerjack nodded at him.
"You know her, don't you?" Bushroot asked, keeping his focus on Lucy as he tried to read her. He knew from the way that Quackerjack's eyes were wandering around the sides and ceiling of the vent that his jester friend was letting Bushroot worry about what was going on Lucy while Quackerjack made sure nothing popped up at them from the vents. Which was good. One of them had to watch out for surprises while Bushroot focused on Lucy and the alien's strange behavior when it came to this other alien woman.
"I thought I knew her." Lucy said gently, almost too quiet to hear, but Bushroot heard it.
"What happened?" He asked, trying to draw her out and open up to him. He wasn't sure if this odd behavior was a threat to the mission or not, but honestly he didn't care. There was something going on here and he could practically feel the alien's emotional pain. She was trying to hide it, and doing a good job of it, but Bushroot was sure there was something there.
"It was a long time ago, and we don't have the time to-wait." Lucy turned a corner in the vents and peered down at the room in front of them. "That's a lab down there. I see a terminal. I can hack into it and get some more direct…well directions to where we are going." Lucy pulled out a tool and fiddled with the edges of the vent cover. She then pulled the vent cover off and pulled it into the ventilation system. She then crawled out and slipped to the floor.
Bushroot shrugged and followed, Quackerjack right behind him.
"Wow, I think Megs would have a field day in this place." Quackerjack grinned at the lab before them. While a scientist himself Bushroot had to admit he had no idea what the metal bits and bobs scattered about the tables were for. Maybe it was because he was a botanist, not a mad scientist. Or an alien mad scientist. He did think he recognized a few of the chemicals on one side of the room, but he wasn't about to go over and fool around with them. For all he knew they were alien compounds that would further mutate him.
Speaking of not touching things.
"Quackerjack, don't touch the mad science!" Bushroot hissed as Quackerjack picked up what looked like a laser gun from a pile of what looked like some sort of trash bin.
"Oh come on, it doesn't even look finished and-" Quackerjack blinked as the gun hissed like a teakettle in his hand and started to shake and jump in his hands.
Lucy looked over and blinked. "Toss it!" Quackerjack threw it over at a door. The gun exploded in a shower of metal, accompanied by a rather impressive boom.
"What was that?" Someone said from the other side of the door.
"Hide!" Lucy hissed at Bushroot and Quackerjack. Quackerjack, for his part, was smart enough to turn back to the vent, leap up and scramble back into it faster than it took Bushroot to blink. Bushroot, not nearly as acrobatic or able to jump as high as his friend, extended his arms and pulled himself up to what looked for all the world like a normal everyday bookcase of some sort. He curled himself into a ball and peered over the edge. People in horror movies never looked up. Maybe that was true for aliens as well?
He spotted Lucy ducking behind a large, half finished machine of some kind as the door to the lab opened.
"...usually has that engineer of thiers come along, but he wasn't there according to the captain. Might be in here trying to mess with your equipment." Bushroot recognized the tall gray alien as the one that Dragaunus called Duke. The man had just as many weapons as his holographic depiction did. Bushroot counted two swords at his sides, a battle axe slung on his back, and what looked like several daggers on his belt. Bushroot would bet his best fertilizer there was probably more hidden about Duke's person. He didn't really want to test that out, but if they found them he might have to. The one with the stabby pointy choppy things would do more damage to his animal companions than it would to Bushroot himself.
"Might even have some of those midgets running around too." the weapon wielding alien commented. "Did you see that little rodent shooting lightning at your dumb robots? Wonder if they all can do that here. Must be a riot at parties."
Bushroot turned his eyes to the other two aliens that followed their companion into the lab. One was the one that Dragaunus had identified as the leader's elder brother. The other was the mad scientist who owned and built all these weapons. The one that Bushroot was fairly sure had some sort of history with their new pal Lucy.
Bushroot tensed his vines and roots, waiting to see what would happen next. He was fairly sure that they wouldn't find Quackerjack in the vent. Bushroot himself had a fifty fifty shot of being found. But Lucy? She could easily be sniffed out. If she was, Bushroot would go for Duke first. If he could tangle Duke in enough vines he could probably immobilize him, taking out the biggest threat. He was fairly sure that Quackerjack would follow his lead, taking out one of the other two, and together they could take the third. It would be loud, but with the other three aliens and their robot security dealing with the main group Bushroot thought it was doable.
"I kinda want to keep one of the little ones, if we can." the brother laughed. "I can practice on them. You never let me have any fun these days." the brother shot a glare at their scientist, who sighed at him.
"I-t-t-tt's not s-s-s-supposed to be f-f-fun, yo-"
"Oh shut up, you need to relax." Duke snorted at Tanya, who did indeed shut up, but not without a small glare aimed at the ground as she turned her head away from him as he berated her. "Honestly, if you were better at your job we wouldn't need to train him to do it for you."
"J-just because I d-d-d-don't turn t-t-t-t-the machine on high like y-y-y-y-"
"You're way too soft on prisoners, it's pathetic. Honestly." Duke shook his head. "And everything here blows up when we least expect it. You're useless, why we keep you around I have no idea…"
"If you're just going to whine about-" Nosedive interjected as he started to root around the lab and it's stuff, headless of Tanya's attempts to tell him to stop. He continued to complain as he ruffled through what Bushroot assumed were the alien scientist's things, like they belonged to him.
By now Bushroot couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It was hard enough watching the poor alien woman struggle to talk with that stutter, but it was even worse watching the other two constantly cutting her off. He could see the visible frustration on his face as she struggled to get her point across, but the other two didn't even try to give her any time to talk. It was a kind of petty bullying that made Bushroot want to reach down and smack them both, particularly Duke, but he wasn't going to give himself and the others away.
And he had to remember the fact that this woman, regardless of the way she was being treated right now, had apparently built a superweapon that was now aimed at his home.
Growing up in the criminal underworld, Bushroot had seen this sort of thing before, but never in his father's gang. Ace had run his gang with the rule that, while the rest of the city was a mark, your fellow gang members were to be relied upon and trusted. A unit was stronger than an individual, and Bushroot firmly believed that was the reason his father's gang had persisted for so long until Negaduck. For the most part you could depend on Ace and his minions to have your back if you were a part of the gang, and that inspired firm loyalty. For many, Ace was the only option they had. Why betray the gang for someone who would stab you in the back in turn, when staying and being loyal gave you a network of support?
And the price of betrayal was rather extreme, of course, but that went without saying.
But there had been other, less successful gangs. And while Bushroot never did anything truly illegal, he had heard his father's stories and even seen a few incidents himself.
These aliens weren't an army of invading conquerors, they were a gang of low level thugs with delusions of grandeur. They had even found the one weakest member of their gang, a person with a clear speech impediment and singled that one out as the gang punching bag. It wasn't that hard to make that one person believe that the gang was their only option, and then treat them however they wanted.
Bushroot found it disgusting.
But he couldn't focus on that right now, as the object of his scrutiny had decided to stop trying to argue as the other two complained about her. Instead she just sort of turned around and started to examine the area, as if looking for the source of the noise. Bushroot noticed she was the only one attempting to even try to find the source of the commotion that brought them in here. The weapon moron spent most of the time leaning on the table and throwing degrading comments and the kid just laughed along with him and messed up whatever organization the lab had been in before.
Before Bushroot knew what was happening Tanya had turned a corner and was staring directly at Lucy. There was no way she could not have seen Lucy, they were staring into each other's eyes. Bushroot tensed and got ready to lash out with his vines.
Instead of calling an alert or shouting a warning the alien turned and headed for the door.
"I-i-if you t-t-t-t-t-t-two are just going t-t-t-t-t-o bitch than-"
"Don't tell me what to do." Duke drew one of his swords and pointed it at Tanya's throat. "I don't take orders from you."
"No one h-h-h-h-h-here. If you r-r-r-r-r-really want to g-g-g-g-g-rab a midget, you b-better find one-"
"Before Grin turns em into paste, ya I get it." Duke snorted and turned for the door. "Just shut up. Dammit it's so annoying."
Tanya just grunted at the both of them and marched for the door, the other two following.
After a few moments of the three aliens being gone, Quackerjack emerged from the vent and dropped down. Bushroot also dropped from his hiding place and Lucy came back from around the corner.
"Okay, what was that? She was staring right at you, I could see her doing it." Quackerjack gave Lucy a suspicious look, and the alien sighed.
"I'd like a bit of an explanation as well." Bushrood added.
Lucy sighed. "Okay, it's like this…" She leaned on a table, rubbing the sides of her head with her fingers. "Tanya and I grew up together on our home world. She was always smarter than me, but we got along. Where we are from, if you show enough aptitude in any subject, you get recruited in the army. Neither of us wanted that. The things they do there are…well it's not good. They train you to follow orders no matter what, and they use interrogation techniques and torture to keep the students in line. They are pretty much brainwashed to obey. It's not really talked about, but every adult is kinda aware of it." She sighed again. "I learned a lot about what they do there when I started my spying work for Dragaunus, but I didn't know how bad it was when I was kid. But, both of us knew that we didn't want to be recruited. Unfortunately, Tanya couldn't help but tinker with technology. She loves it…or loved it, and we kept all of her stuff hidden. Her parents found out, and they sold us both out to the recruiters. We tried to run away, but they cornered us. We split up…I made it and she didn't. I joined the resistance that night as a teenager and have been working for them since but she…" Lucy gave another deep sigh. "I tried to look for her, but by the time I found her she was put with these lunatics and is now apparently making planet destroying weapons with them." There was another long sigh. "I probably shouldn't have come. I just…I can't believe that she'd make something to kill all those people…"
Bushroot came over and put a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "People can change, especially when they've been trained. But from what I saw they don't exactly treat her like an equal partner in this. Maybe there's more to the story than what we see."
There was the sound of the door opening again, and Quackerjack turned with something clenched in his fist. Probably a toy of some kind, and he was primed to throw whatever was in his hand at the person coming in the door. Bushroot was not completely surprised that it was the subject of Lucy's story, this time alone and staring past Quackerjack as if he wasn't even there to glare at Lucy.
"Lucretia, what the h-h-hell are you doing here?" Tanya glowered at Lucy, still not giving Quackerjack or Bushroot any attention at all as she stalked over to her former childhood friend. Instantly Lucy went from slightly depressed and sorrowful to glaring right back in righteous fury.
"What am I doing? What are you doing? You're going to destroy an entire planet full of intelligent life?"
"N-not that intelligent."
"...excuse me, chopped liver here speaking. Nice of you to glance our way." Quackerjack grumbled.
"D-d-do you have any idea w-w-what they'll do to you if they catch you, Lucy?" Tanya continued to argue.
"I can guess."
"Can you? C-can you really?"
"I'm not an idiot."
"Could have f-fooled me."
"And what about you? You've been making weapons for these bastards and blowing up planets and-"
"It's not supposed to do that!"
"Then why did it! We all saw what Flashblade did, and we know you built it. I just don't understand why you would-"
"I don't have a choice!"
"Yes you do! Everyone does, you just chose to go along with them!"
"You have no i-i-idea what you're talking about. You g-g-got to run off and leave us all behind. I didn't have that luxury! You can talk on and on about choice bu-"
"Do you have any idea how many people-"
Tanya suddenly slammed her fist on a nearby table. "Don't you interrupt me too! I-"
"I do not think we should be standing here shouting at each other because…" Quackerjack spoke up, but before he could elaborate on the thought the door opened again. Apparently Duke and the kid were back. "Or shit like that happens."
"Oh look, you found em!" Duke grinned and drew his axe, grinning at Quackerjack. "Great!" He suddenly charged forwards, weapon raised.
Quackerjack rolled his eyes and stepped to the side, sticking out a foot and tripping the taller alien. "Might want to stop projecting your own actions, a blind man can see you coming." Quackerjack sighed and ducked a swing from the axe. "Or, you know, ignore me. That's fine."
Bushroot was about to entangle Nosedive, but the little twerp pushed a button on the side of the wall, and about four of the robots from before poured into the room. Now slightly outnumbered, Bushroot and Quackerjack began to dispatch the robots.
Before Nosedive could call in more robots Bushroot slid a bit closer to the young alien and lashed out with his vines. He managed to catch Nosedive in his vines and, with a hard flick, slammed him against a wall. He hoped he didn't scramble the kids' brains too badly. Sure he was a bully and an invader, but Bushroot hated to permanently damage someone unless there was no other way to stop them.
Bushroot heard a yell from behind him, and turned to see Duke attempting to take Lucy's head with his axe. To Bushroot's mild surprise it was Tanya who was yelling and grabbing for the axe's shaft and pulling it away from Lucy.
So she does still care about Lucy…maybe…
Duke suddenly let go of the axe with one hand and pulled out one of his daggers. Before anyone else could react he had plunged it into Tanya's side. With a yell Quackerjack leaped on Duke's back as he pulled the dagger out. Lucy extended her arm, and for a moment Bushroot thought she was going to punch Duke in the bill, but instead something in her hand emitted a small gas cloud. Duke stumbled and fell with a loud snore.
"Tanya!" Lucy raced to her friend, who was attempting to stop the bleeding. An idle part of Bushroot's brain noticed that their blood was apparently the same color as his own before he became a plant mutant. That was interesting. But he couldn't think of that right now. Bushroot glanced around the room, hoping to spot anything that might be used to stop the bleeding.
To his mild surprise Quackerjack pulled out a small roll of gauze from what looked like a can of surprise snakes, or at least at one point the can had been used for those spring loaded snakes that were supposed to pop out and surprise people. How he kept it separate from the can of robotic surprise snakes that Bushroot knew he had the plant mutant didn't know. He was grateful that apparently Quackerjack had stored that sort of thing on his person.
"Lucy, can you hold her up? Reggie, help me out here." Quackerjack said, his voice becoming slightly gentler than normal.
Tanya blinked in surprise as the three of them worked to wrap the wound. It was as if she only now noticed the two small ducklike creatures before her. "W-w-w-what are you doing?"
"Well I don't know about giant world, but here on our planet we like our insides in our insides." Quackerjack chuckled.
"...that sentence made no s-s-s-sense."
"Yes it did, you just have a bad case of the normals." Quackerjack laughed. "All scientists do."
"Uh…you know what, n-n-n-never mind. Not w-w-w-w-what I meant. Why are you helping me?"
"Why not?" Bushroot asked.
Tanya gaped at him. "We're b-b-b-blowing up your planet!"
"Why would you want to do that?"
Lucy was about to say something, but Quackerjack elbowed her and whispered something to her. Probably asked her to let Bushroot handle it. Quackerjack had just as much faith in Bushroot's ability to reason with lunatics as Megavolt did.
"Because it seems to me." Bushroot continued. "That you have no real reason to be doing any of this. Why do you work with these morons?" Bushroot nodded at the two on the floor unconscious. "They don't respect you, clearly. You clearly hate being here. Why keep doing it?"
"D-d-d-did you m-m-m-miss the weapon aimed at y-y-y-your planet's core?" Tanya growled.
"No, but I also heard you say that's not what it was for. Let me guess. You made it, but you didn't make it destroy worlds, did you?"
"...yes, I did. B-b-b-but not i-i-i-inhabited ones. I didn't know Flashblade would use it for that u-u-u-u-until he had…"
"Tanya, I've been looking for you for years." Lucy finally spoke up. "I knew you couldn't really be responsible for this!"
"B-b-b-ut I am. I may n-n-n-n-ot have made it for w-w-w-w-what Flashblade wants it f-f-f-for, but I did build it for him. I knew he w-w-w-wanted it for resources. Even if he didn't use it on an i-i-i-i-nhabited world, I k-k-k-knew what he's g-g-g-going to do with w-w-w-w-what he steals. I'm just as culpable as the rest of them." She snorted at Lucy. "What do you want me to do, go with you?"
"Yes, dammit!" Lucy shouted.
"I think we b-b-both know it's too late for that. H-h-h-ow do you go back from mass genocide?"
Bushroot took a deep breath. "I think what you should be asking yourself, is long before you stop caring?"
Tanya turned her attention back to him. "...what?"
"I know villains. Real villains. Down there on our planet there's a villain who would happily slaughter as many people as he could for the fun of it. He doesn't even need the excuse of stealing something. He enjoys seeing people suffer because he's a madman." Bushroot leaned forwards, making sure he had her attention. Her expression was almost impossible for him to read, but he pressed on. "At some point, the deaths will stop being people to you. You will get used to it. At some point you'll stop caring. And that is the point where it really will be too late."
Before Tanya could react to this, there was a buzz from a communicator on her wrist. Almost on reflex she pushed it, and Flashblade's voice came from it.
"Tech, that lizard has us pinned down. Go turn that thing of yours on. Now!"
Tanya looked from the communicator and then back up to Bushroot. He simply watched her, doing his best not to show a hint of accusation or judgment. He simply waited to see what she would do.
"Understood." She spoke into the communicator. Still staring at Bushroot, she took it off her wrist, stood and then dropped it. With a slight frown she crushed it under her boot.
"Follow me. We're going to end this."
Bushroot smiled.
For a few precious moments, the hallway was calm and quiet.
Then a giant red dragon alien broke through the wall the old fashioned way, with a flash of claws and a loud dominating roar. Dragaunus skittered on all four limbs, tail lashing back and forth as he galloped down the hall, quickly followed by Megavolt and Falcone. The Liquidator lagged behind, flooding the hall to make it harder for their pursuers to follow.
"Caution, tripping hazard!" The Liquidator laughed as he turned to follow the others, leaving Flashblade and his crew to slip and slide a bit.
"That won't slow them down for long, you know that?" Megavolt turned and sent a bolt of electricity into the water. "There, let them chew on that!"
"Hopefully Lucy and your friends will be there." Dragaunus was fiddling with a device strapped to his right wrist. Megavolt could see a tiny screen on it, but he couldn't really see what was on it. It looked almost like a radar of some kind, but he couldn't be sure. "If we follow their signal we can meet up with them and get out of here."
"Sounds good to me." Megavolt looked back over his shoulder, ready to shock anyone that followed. Fortunately it seemed they had indeed managed to slow their pursuers down.
One more turn and they found themselves in front of a door. Dragaunus simply lowered his head and slammed the large bony crest on his head against the door like a battering ram. To Megavolt's delight it popped open like a tin can.
Megavolt knew that, if given a few days of study, he could probably have figured out what all the buttons and knobs and dials on the big computer terminal in front of him did, but he simply didn't have the time to study alien technology. As it was he wouldn't need to. To his surprise he found not only his two missing teammates and Lucy, but one of Flashblade's crew, apparently typing away at a screen. He sparked and was two seconds to zapping her when Quackerjack landed next to him like one of his jack in the box toys and put a hand on Megavolt's shoulder.
"It's cool. Bushroot got her to help us."
Dragaunus did a double take. "What, but…how?"
"He's good at that kind of thing." Megavolt shrugged.
"To be fair he's only done it twice." the Liquidator chuckled.
"I mean if you're rolling twenties both times you do it that should mean something." Quackerjack laughed, and the others just stared at him.
"...what?" the Liquidator blinked.
"I'll tell you later." Quackerjack promised.
With a roar of anger Flashblade lept into the room past the ruined door. Apparently, the rest of his crew had not recovered from their various ailments in time to catch up with him. He blinked when he saw the last of his crew typing away, apparently unimpeded by the foes surrounding her.
"Do it, blow up their planet!" He bellowed at her.
Tanya looked over her shoulder and snorted. "No."
"What did you just say?" Flashblade growled in a low dangerous voice.
"You deaf? No." Tanya said. Deliberately. Carefully. Slowly.
"If you know what's good for you-" Flashblade started, but for once he was the one interrupted.
"S-s-s-see this wire?" Tanya pulled out a wire. "I'll going to p-pull it. When I do, the World Breaker blows up. Which, by the way, will send a reaction through the rest of your ship. If you are lucky, you'll crash on the planet below. If not, you get to enjoy being flung into space."
"You wouldn't-"
"W-w-w-watch me…Dragaunus. Plant g-g-g-guy's friends. You should probably get c-c-c-closer if you want us all to teleport out. I know that's what you are going to do. You've d-done it enough times."
Dragaunus laughed as he and the others joined her. "Well, this is a welcome surprise! Welcome to the resistance, Tanya."
Bushroot smiled, managing to catch a brief ghost of a grin on Tanya's beak as Flashblade fumed in front of them.
"You'll pay for this, you stuttering worthless traitor!" Flashblade bellowed.
Tanya gave him one last look. "Screw you, captain." She pulled the wire.
"Alright so, we got a problem."
Megavolt, once they were teleported back to Dragaunus' ship, looked up to see a new Saurian enter the bridge. This one was a giant red, round looking guy, with huge spikes on his shoulders that looked frankly silly to Megavolt. He wasn't going to say anything though.
"The crystals are all shot to hell. No way to get us off the ground and back into our space without them, and I have no idea if they even have the kind of…" The new Saurian looked up and finally noticed the collection of four strangers and one former enemy standing awkwardly on the bridge. "...the hell is this?"
"Siege, these are our new friends. The natives of this planet." Dragaunus smiled at the Four.
"I don't mean the midgets, I mean her." Siege glared at Tanya, who shifted uncomfortably.
"She's on our side now." Lucy said, stepping slightly in front of her old friend as if to shield her.
"You sure about that." Siege snorted, and Dragaunus raised a claw.
"Later. What's this about the engines?"
"The Raptor's totaled. I might be able to limp it a few miles, but forget getting it off the ground, much less into orbit." Siege folded his arms, tail slamming into the ground. "We're stranded here."
"I-i-i could probably look a-a-at them?" Tanya asked, but Siege shook his head violently.
"There is no damn way I'm letting you touch my baby!"
"Siege!" Lucy glared at the engineer, who snorted at her.
"The Raptor may be Dragaunus' ship, but I'm responsible for her. I'm not letting anyone other than me mess around in her systems! No way."
"We'll talk about it later, Siege." Dragaunus said, attempting to get the conversation back on track.
"But-" Lucy interjected, but Dragaunus shook his head.
"Please. Later. We can't just park our spaceship in the middle of these people's city, you know. We are going to have to move it somewhere to repair it!"
"...you know, I bet there is something we can do about that." Megavolt said thoughtfully.
"So these are the guest rooms, you guys can stay here as long as you need, as long as you don't start probing people or eating pets or laying your eggs in awkward places!" Steelbeak grinned at the aliens as they examined their new temporary quarters somewhere in the secret base that Steelbeak had brought them to. He had been thrilled to take the aliens in (to Megavolt's suspicion). They had moved the Raptor into the government base, with a sincere enough sounding promise from Steelbeak that they wouldn't examine the ship without Siege's permission.
In fact, the big dinosaur alien was the only one who was still sleeping on the ship. He was very protective of his ship, and wasn't about to let the tiny squishy natives rub their tiny little hands and paws all over it.
Tanya herself managed to get a room away from the rest of them. Still in the same general area, but away. To be fair she wasn't sure what to do with herself right now. Siege had made it clear that her presence was unwelcome on his ship, and after the initial welcome it was clear that Dragaunus was not sure what to do with her either. As for Lucy…
As much as she had missed her friend, for some reason at this moment she didn't want to talk to her, or be around her.
So for now she was attempting to get used to the strange new surroundings she found herself in, among a race of tiny aliens, the only familiar person she knew was a girl she hadn't seen in almost ten years and a crew of her former enemies.
Maybe this was a mistake. At the time the plant duck's words made sense. The look in his eyes had been so gentle and kind that she just couldn't think of anything to say to dispute him. Or at least nothing that sounded right to her at the time. Now, alone and stranded on a strange planet, she wondered if maybe she had made the wrong choice. Maybe she was as weak as her former team had said, and this was a huge mistake…
There was a knock on the door.
"Lucy, g-g-go to bed." Tanya yelled at the door.
"It's not Lucy." The deep voice of the Saurian sage, Wraith, called from the other side of the door.
She sighed. Was the spooky magic slinging lizard coming to interrogate her?
Surely it wouldn't hurt as much as the duck method of interrogation? The Saurians were supposed to be the good ones after all. Or maybe they were just as bad as her people were, just less loud about it.
Either way, best to get it over with.
She opened the door and stared up at Wraith, who was giving her a gentle smile. Almost as gentle as the plant native's smile.
"I ask this to everyone I meet, regardless of if they are duck or Saurian." Wraith said. "And the rest of the team don't want what I offer, for various reasons."
"...um…what?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself." Wraith tilted his head and stared at her. "The ancient ways of my Saurian ancestors are fading. My people rely more and more on technology, as yours does. This is natural, as all societies want to progress forwards, forgetting the ways of the past. But, I would like those old ways to remain, as much as I can. I have had only a few true students in my life. Since Siege seems unwilling to let you use your technological skills to aid him, perhaps you would like to explore a different path while you wait to utilize your current skills?"
Tanya just stared at him.
Wraith sighed. "I'd like to teach you magic, if you would like to learn?"
Tanya stared at him, expressionless for a good five minutes. She wasn't sure how to take the question, or even what she should say.
"L-l-let me t-think about it."
Wraith nodded. "Take all the time you need.
He did his best not sigh to heavily as the door was shut in his face.
"So, boss, we got at least two possible angles this can go. At least I think so." Steelbeak grinned as he leaned forwards, putting his folded arms on a well polished desk.
"Honestly, I think of a few other ways this could go. Once they fix that ship of yours they all might leave you high and dry." The buzzard directly in front of Steelbeak rubbed his beak. "You want this to be permanent, Steelbeak, and there's no guarantee that this will pan out."
"At the very least, it will be a proof of the concept. Especially if I can lure that scientist to work for us." Steelbeak retorted. "Ya know, she'd be a good recruit for it." He grinned and leaned back. "Especially if she takes that sage's offer. Someone who can use both technology and potentially learn magic? We could use that."
"You won't force her to join if she prefers her own kind." the buzzard replied.
"Of course not, boss. But as it stands now her only choices are Draggy and his gang, or going back to her old team. Now, we don't want her going back to the old team. But if she feels too ostracized by the Saurians, then this." Steelbeak pointed at a folder on the desk. "Can be a safety net. And I got my first teammate. It's a win win, boss."
The buzzard sighed. "Very well, Steelbeak. You have permission. But if I find out you harassed this alien into doing your dirty work…"
"Why, you sound like you don't trust me!" Steelbeak said, as if he was offended.
"I know you." The buzzard slid the folder back to Steelbeak. "You mean well, but you get carried away. You never got those four mutants to join you, after all. You drove them away from us, and now we can't use them for…this."
The buzzard's eyes landed on the folder and he sighed in exasperation. "I give you a lot of freedom, Steelbeak. Don't screw this up.
"Boss, I got them all right where I need them to be. Even the Four." Steelbeak rose with a grin as he turned and headed for the door.
The buzzard watched him leave, then picked the folder up and ruffled through it.
"Hmmm." the buzzard hummed to himself. "F.O.W.L…"
A/N: So my mother had open heart surgery this month. I have no idea if this chapter is any good or not. But I needed to write it as a form of therapy. I feel like it's a bit rushed, but there were things I needed to happen to get some ideas for this story on the table.
So yeah, the animated Mighty Duck's characters are going to be somewhat important. Like, Fenton and Scrooge level important.
I have no idea why I latch on to the characters I do, I just do and weird shit slides out of my word processor.
I was having some struggles coming up with ways to incorporate this and Gargoyles into the story, since they both deal with the human world, while most of the rest of the Disney afternoon stuff was set in what could be sort of described as an anthro version of our world. Well, not Rescue Rangers, but we already covered that.
But then I remembered that the MDA characters came from another dimension originally so there we go.
Gargoyles has a plan in mind as well, but that will be later. Much later.
Nega Tanya's speech patterns are different than her normal universe ones. The reasons for this will also be explored later.
Lucretia Decoy in the Negaverse prefers a shortening of her name instead of using the full version or using an alias. She's still a spy, just more double o or a Kings Man (woman?)
Something that really struck me when I was a kid watching the episode where she's featured is that, instead of attempting to use a death trap she instead just ties Tanya to a rafter and just…leaves. No sign of any impending doom she just stores the one person who can id her up in the roof and doesn't seem to be planning anything to kill her, like she tries to drown the others. Even as a kid my mind was like 'why though?' I mean, obviously it's because you can't kill a main character like that on the freaking Disney channel, but I still wondered about an in-universe reason for it. My mind came to the conclusion that they must not only have known each other, but it was probably something more than just a casual meeting. And so, years later writing this I decided to use it that idle thought from when I was…what ten?
And I mean, it's not like the original show gives us any information about Tanya other than: Smart person. Scared of dinosaurs. You give me that kind of lack of information and my brain needs to fill it with something.
Anyway, yeah. Hopefully more soon.