Chapter 7

Chase Farrow sat behind the wheel of the sports car with Vivian beside him. In another car behind them, the burly figure of Golott Noyse, the skilled defender, followed them down the highway towards Anaheim.

"Have you tried to draw energy again from the city?" Chase asked.

Vivian glared at him, but she closed her eyes. She gasped as they shot open a moment later.

"Yes, and it still hurts. At least I know to make less of an attempt now."

"Perhaps you should try harder and see if you can overpower this barrier," Chase replied coldly.

She answered him with a scornful laugh.

"You can attempt that if you think it's such a wonderful idea. Only a fool would suppose this kind of power is vulnerable when it can repulse us from miles away."

"We will find a weakness," Chase said confidently. "I don't know how this came about, but we will put a stop to it."

"Of course, we must," Vivian agreed. "We can't start losing ground after all we've accomplished."

"We'll lose everything if the truth gets out," Chase warned.

Vivian only responded with silence.

"There it is," Chase said as he gestured ahead to a city in the distance.

They continued to drive over the highway as the distance to the city decreased mile by mile. At last, they entered the city limits, and Vivian waited for something to happen, but she felt nothing as they left the highway and drove along the streets in the city.

"Where should we start?" she asked.

"That duck who came to see us not long before this happened, he was from Anaheim," Chase said with a narrowed gaze. "We should talk to him."

"Didn't he leave empty-handed?"

"That was what we thought. The fool wanted our help without paying for it. So I'll play the part of someone who's changed his mind and come to help after all. Only we need to know where to find them first."

A police car was parked on the side of the street ahead, and Chase pulled over behind it and stopped. Vivian stepped out of the car and sauntered over to the police vehicle.

"Officers," she said with a nod of her head and a seductive smile. "We're looking for the Mighty Ducks. Could you give us directions?"

The two policemen in the car frowned as they listened to her.

"Our hockey stadium isn't big enough for you that you need to ask directions to find it?" one said.

Vivian tried to mask her surprise at their coldness.

"I'm from OtherEarth, Inc. Your town's just new to me and my friends."

"Sure it is, and you can just keep driving on out of it," the other office said.

Vivian glared at him and turned away as she strode back to Chase's car. He noted the angry look on her face as she got in.

"Something wrong?"

Before she could answer, he heard a tap on his window, and Chase lowered it when he saw one of the officers standing outside his car.

"Hey, you didn't use your blinker when you pulled over," the officer said, and he handed Chase a ticket.

"You can't be serious," Chase said, not taking it. "Do you know where we're from?"

"You're not from here," the officer scoffed as he thrust the ticket inside the car and walked off.

"Something is wrong with this place," Vivian said. "They wouldn't give me directions, and they said we should drive right on out of town."

Chase grew quiet as he looked at the ticket.

"They can't know, can they?" she asked.

"We need to find out what they know, but first, I want to see that duck."

"The only information they gave was that we should be headed for a hockey stadium," Vivian said impatiently.

Chase took out his phone.

"The Anaheim Pond, I've got it."

They drove away, leaving the police car behind and made their way to the hockey stadium. When they reached it, they saw that the parking lot was empty, but they parked anyway and stepped out.

"If there's no game, there may be no one here," Vivian said with an impatient sigh.

Golott got out of his car and joined them.

"Let's see if we can get inside. Maybe they're here practicing," Chase said.

The doors were unlocked, and the three of them walked inside. Once entering the main part of the stadium, they could hear skates on the ice and saw several ducks moving about on the ice below.

"They don't appear sick," Vivian noted.

Chase said nothing and led the way down the stairs. When the ducks saw them, they stopped their practice and left the rink to meet them on the stairs. Their expressions did not appear welcoming.

"Well, Wildwing, your friends appear to have recovered, and here I came down to see if I could be of assistance," Chase said.

"Is that why you came?" Wildwing said with more of the tone of an accusation than a question.

"Yes, I realized you hadn't been offered a fair deal," Chase persisted with a warm and friendly tone. "But you must have found another healer after all."

"I left your headquarters alone, but when I returned, everyone seemed to get better," Wildwing said with a shrug. "I can't explain it, but I'm glad it happened."

"Oh, then I hope there's no ill will between us. After all, I came to show you that I was willing to help."

"Well, there's no one here to help now, so don't feel like you need to waste your time."

"But it's so strange, the mysterious recovery of your friends, I've not heard of such a thing before. Aren't you curious about it?" Vivian asked.

"People get sick all the time and get better," Tanya said with a huff.

"Yeah, usually the question is more about how they got sick in the first place," Duke said. "And what kind of sickness is it?"

"Some kind of flu, probably," Wildwing said nonchalantly. "At least that's what we've decided."

"Have you taken any kind of measures to prevent this sickness from overtaking you again?" Chase asked.

"What like flu shots?" Nosedive said with a scornful laugh.

"Sure, anything," Chase persisted, trying to maintain his patience.

"No," Wildwing shook his head. "We haven't done a thing."

"Well, since we're in town, perhaps we can catch a game."

The ducks held back their laugher.

"What?" Vivian asked.

"It's not hockey season," Grin said bluntly.

"Then let us take you out for dinner," Chase said, forcing politeness and a smile.

The ducks turned back towards the ice as Wildwing said,

"No thanks. It might cost me too much. Have a good drive back to New Haven."

The three humans stood on the steps for a moment before walking back out of the stadium. Once they were out of the building, Chase's expression darkened.

"It's hard to tell what they know," Vivian said angrily. "Do you think that one is just bitter about our price for healing?"

"Possibly, but it felt like they were a little too confident," Chase said fuming. "They know they don't need us. But how?"

Vivian stopped and closed her eyes. Chase paused for a moment, and then grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

"Not here, not now. If they don't know, then let's not raise their suspicions."

"Nothing was stopping me this time," Vivian told him. "I can draw power again."

Chase considered that as they returned to the car.

"So this barrier must only work to keep us from drawing power outside the town," he said. "Still, that doesn't help us much. We need to get rid of it entirely."

"Well, first we have to find it," Vivian said.

"We'll look tonight," Chase decided. "For now, let's find a hotel."


Grace came out to the ducks after the other humans had left.

"You should stay below, sweetheart," Duke said.

"They're driving away," Grace said confidently.

"Like leaving town?" Nosedive said hopefully.

"No, not yet unfortunately. They still want answers."

"They won't be in Anaheim for long," Wildwing assured her.

"Are you going out tonight?" she asked.

Mallory nodded.

"We need to keep an eye on things out there."

"Just be careful. That big guy behind them was a defender. I think they came expecting trouble."

"They'll have to be careful too. They don't want their secret getting out," Wildwing reminded her.

"Still, I wish I could go out with you," Grace said. "They couldn't do anything if I was nearby."

"We can't risk them seeing you," Duke insisted. "We'll be all right, kid."


When night fell and the streets became less busy, Chase, Vivian, and Golott went to a park near the center of Anaheim. They walked around under the dark night sky as if searching for something.

Finally, Chase looked up at the sky and eyed the bright moon shining down on them.

"Perhaps there is something here that we can't see."

He turned to Golott.

"Send up a blast as high as you can."

Golott created a ball of energy in his hands and tossed it up towards the sky. It hit something and scattered.

"That's it," Chase said. "The barrier is over the city."

"But how?" Vivian asked. "What's keeping it up there?"

Chase looked around the park.

"Or who."

"You're saying there's someone here with powers is doing this?"

"Only another human would know how we operate," Chase said impatiently. "But it would take someone with great power to block us."

"Isn't this something the people from Anaheim could have developed?" Vivian asked.

"I don't see any devices large enough to maintain such a shield. And again, how would they know to block us?"

He turned back to Golott.

"Can you get any kind of readings on this barrier?"

Golott looked at him skeptically.

"I strike things. I don't analyze them."

"Try hitting it again," Vivian encouraged. "Maybe you can destroy it."

Golott started to gather his energy again, but then other strange figures appeared in the park around them.

"Well, look at the tourists!" a green creature with bulging eyes said with a laugh as it drew out a blaster.

A great orange dinosaur-like soldier thumped his tail and raised his fists. And an eerie ghoulish being appeared out of a mist with a staff. They were all accompanied by robots.

"We're from OtherEarth, Inc. I don't who you are, but you have no business in interfering with our affairs," Chase demanded.

The orange tank and the green lizard laughed.

"We're villains," the ghoul said. "Ruining people's lives is exactly our business."

Fire ignited in his hands, and to their great astonishment, he began to throw it at them. The little green creature was shooting at them, and the orange one started picking up park benches and throwing them.

The three humans ran back to their cars, but Chase halted when he saw the ducks watching from the other side of the street. He and the other humans started towards them.

"These are your villains, aren't they? Why are you dealing with them?!" he demanded.

"'Cause we don't get paid enough," Duke said, leaning back against the Migrator. "You willin' to make us an offer?"

"It probably wouldn't be enough," Mallory said.

Chase turned to Wildwing angrily.

"You're just going to stand there and do nothing while they try to kill us?"

"Leave town, and they won't follow you," Wildwing advised.

Chase's face grew even more red with rage.

"You will explain what is going on here," he insisted, and then he faced Golott. "Do something with those reptiles, or what did we bring you here for?"

The big defender ignited a large ball of energy in his hands and threw it at the approaching Saurians. It struck them and knocked them all flat.

"Ask them about the barrier," Vivian demanded spitefully.

The ducks were silent until Wildwing said, "We don't know what you're talking about."

Chase gestured to Golott, and he threw another burst of energy up at the sky where it hit the dome.

"Where did it come from?" Chase demanded. "Or the next one of those comes at you."

Golott readied his blast, but from the top of the dome, a streak of energy like lightning came surging down and struck Golott. He was thrown the ground, and Vivian shrieked as she darted beside the car.

Even the ducks stood back in surprise, but Wildwing quickly recovered from the surprise and walked towards Chase with a stern gaze.

"You haven't been welcome in Anaheim since you arrived. It's past time for you to leave … go now, and don't come back."

Chase's gaze was still full of rage, but he also looked pale in the moonlight. He finally stepped back and pulled Golott over to his car. He ordered Vivian to get in it and drive the unconscious thug before walking back to his own car.

"This is not over," Chase threatened, but he got in his car and drove away with Vivian following in the other car.

The ducks watched as they headed east out of town. Duke looked up at the dome and said,

"That was a sight."

Wildwing gestured to Mallory and Nosedive.

"Get the duckcycles and make sure they leave town. We have to know this isn't a trick."

They nodded and rushed off.

Wildwing and the other ducks walked over to the Saurians, who were groaning and just beginning to get up.

"This is what you wanted to happen," Wraith said as he winced.

"We didn't know they were bringing a defender when we talked to Dragaunus," Wildwing said.

As if overhearing his name, Dragaunus teleported to the scene and ignored the state of his henchmen.

"That human has information that I want," he reminded the ducks.

Wildwing sighed and turned back to Grin and Tanya.

"Take the Migrator and bring Grace back here. Make sure she's not seen by anyone."

Several minutes later, Grace arrived with them wearing her jacket with the hood. When she saw Chameleon, Wraith, and Siege, she spread her hands out to them and her power healed them of any pain or bruises caused by the defender.

"Yeah, I can see why we wanna keep this one around," Chameleon said, stretching happily.

"But she certainly took her time," Wraith said grimly. "Not like when it came to helping the ducks."

He gestured towards the dome with his staff. Grace said nothing in reply and just turned to Dragaunus.

"The location of those crystals," he demanded.

She drew out a piece of paper and held it out.

"These are the coordinates."

Wildwing took it from her quickly and carried to Dragaunus before the Saurian overlord could approach her.

"That's what was agreed upon. Don't ask for more."

Dragaunus snatched the paper, and steam rose from his nostril as his eyes flashed greedily.

"She's done quite a bit for you. She can do some things for us if she's going to stay."

"Grace's here to heal and protect the city," Wildwing insisted. "That's enough."

Before Dragaunus could speak again, Klegghorn's car drove up to the park, and the captain stepped out and walked towards them. The Saurian overlord looked from Klegghorn to Grace, turning his gaze to Wildwing's nervous expression.

"Grace go with Grin back to the Migrator," Wildwing said in a low voice.

But Grace seemed dazed as if she didn't hear him, and Klegghorn was getting very close. Duke swept Grace behind him as Grin came up alongside him.

Dragaunus moved his hand away from his teleporter and suddenly stepped out in front of Klegghorn's path much to the ducks' surprise.

"So you're here too," Klegghorn said suspiciously as he halted. "You know how many times you've destroyed city property?"

"Not enough," Dragaunus said coldly.

Wildwing stepped forward.

"Klegghorn, what is it?"

"Two of my officers radioed in to say they saw those jerks headed out of town. I thought you might want to know."

"Yes, we might have had to use some intense persuasion," Wildwing said. "But they won't be able to bother the city now."

"Good, just keep that dome powered up that you all made. Though I still can't see it," Klegghorn said as he looked up.

"Cloaking technology is nothing new to those of us from other worlds," Dragaunus said with a sneer.

"Another crack about how primitive Earthlings are and I'll arrest you for being in the park after hours," Klegghorn said gruffly.

Wildwing raised his hands.

"All right, Captain. We're all leaving. And you'll know the dome is working by the fact that everyone's staying strong and healthy. That's proof enough."

Captain Klegghorn huffed and walked back to his car.

Wildwing cast a surprised look at Dragaunus as the captain drove away.

"I won't have these pitiful Earth-dwellers jeopardizing this," Dragaunus said gesturing to the dome. "If you can't keep the girl hidden, then we will."

And with that he and his henchmen teleported away, and the ducks breathed easier when they were alone. But Duke turned back to Grace.

"What's wrong, sweetheart? Why'd you freeze up?"

She looked worried.

"We have to get to the far side of town right away. It's Nosedive and Mallory."

Wildwing's eyes widened, and they hurried to the Migrator.