Chapter 12
Elisa opened her eyes as the net of light disappeared over her, and she blinked as she looked up at the night sky. A massive shape leaned over her.
"Goliath?"
"Yes, I am here. How do you feel?"
Elisa sat up as she put her hand in his claws.
"Better, but what happened? I thought I was going to lose you."
"Xanatos found a cure, but do not ask me to explain more at this time. It is enough that we are safe… you are safe, and the rest of the city will soon recover."
"But you're not going to tell me how?" Elisa asked with a skeptical gaze.
"I will, but not tonight."
Bronx walked up to Elisa and nuzzled her until she patted his head.
"Well, I guess it's just good to feel like myself again. Where are the others? Or is that part of what you're not going to tell me?"
"They are working with Xanatos tonight. We have to be sure that this plague does not attack us again."
"You mean it could return?" Elisa said in surprise.
Goliath turned his gaze towards the city with a grim expression.
"That is what we must prevent."
At the top of one of the arches on Chrysler Building's crown, Grace stepped away from the gargoyles and gazed out over the city. At her request, Owen, who had met them at the Chrysler Building, transformed into Puck and cast clouds over the city so that no one could look up and see what Grace was doing at the top of this building.
"Care to explain your plan?" Xanatos asked her.
"I think it will be easier to show you," Grace said with a smile. "But don't interrupt me. And don't let me fall if I start to get tired."
Instead of holding out her hands with the palms facing up, Grace stretched out her arms and raised her hands in front of her. Her eyes blazed with light as energy shot forth from her hands. The energy was drawn into seven distinct pillars of light that floated out before Grace in the air. Drawing on all of her concentration, Grace caused the pillars to surge with massive amounts of power. They grew brighter and brighter, flashing with sudden charges and almost electrical pulses.
Each pillar began to grow taller until they were about twenty feet high and looming over them. Grace continued to feed them with her power, and for several moments, Duke felt mesmerized watching the pillars, but when he did look at Grace, he saw her start to sink to her knees, and he rushed forward and caught her.
She felt so warm in his arms; it almost felt uncomfortable to hold onto her, as if she might burn his hands and arms. But Duke wouldn't let go, fearing she might topple forward and fall. Yet, he had to close his eyes and look away as the pillars grew unbearably bright.
The gargoyles came closer and held onto Duke to keep him and Grace from losing their balance. The others hid their eyes, but not before they saw the pillars began to spin around the tower. And Grace thrust out her hands again, and the pillars were flung to the far corners of the city. Then she sank down, and Duke drew her away from the edge.
"Grace, are you all right?" he asked as he laid her down.
"I will be," she said wearily. "And I think New York will be safe now. Look out there one more time."
She raised one hand and pointed.
Duke and the others saw the gleam of the pillars as they appeared on the edges of the city.
"They're like watchtowers, guarding a border," Lexington said.
"Aye, like sentinels," Hudson said.
Grace looked up at Puck, and said, "I can't do more at the moment to make them invisible, but you can."
"That's easy enough," Puck said, and he exerted his own power to hide the pillars from view.
Duke picked Grace up in his arms and looked at Xanatos.
"She needs to rest."
Grace slept until the next night, and the gargoyles came to Xanatos to speak with her again. They continued to feel strong, and they had been able to sleep in their usual stone forms. But they noticed that other people in New York appeared to feel weak.
"I'm not quite strong enough to help them yet," Grace sighed. "After one more day, perhaps, and then I should return to Anaheim with Duke. I've kept him away long enough."
"These pillars you've created. Some explanation is still owed there," Xanatos said.
"I can't keep those at OtherEarth, Inc. from drawing power from New York completely," Grace admitted. "The city's far too big. But the reason why you were growing sick and weak before was because they were just taking as much as they wanted. There was no limitation on their theft of energy."
"And the pillars will enforce limits?" Duke asked.
"Yes. When outsiders begin to steal too much for too long, one of the pillars will become active, and it will act much as the dome does in Anaheim. The outsiders will get pain in return for abusing their power. They'll have to stop taking so much."
"What if we still grow weak over time because of what they are able to take?" Xanatos asked.
"I can return and replenish what is needed. I shouldn't think you would need my help more than a few times a year. They won't be able to take much, and it will never be like it was before."
"And if anything happens to you…" Xanatos began.
"The dome over Anaheim, the pillars here, it will all go away," Grace said. "I can't maintain anything if I'm dead."
Xanatos cast a look at Duke.
"Are you certain you and your team can protect her? I'll admit that I would still prefer to keep her here under our care."
"She's safe with us," Duke insisted.
After another day passed, Goliath glided with Grace over New York with a few of the other gargoyles, and she let her power fall down upon the city to revive its people. When they returned to the Eyrie Building, Grace didn't feel as tired as she had the night before, and she felt it was time to return to Anaheim.
"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" Xanatos asked.
"You won't need my help again for some time," Grace insisted as she moved to stand beside Duke. "I'm glad to have met you all and helped restore your city, but I want to go back with Duke to the other Mighty Ducks."
"We will never forget what you have done for us," Goliath said as he clasped her hand in his claws.
"Come back and visit us, okay?" Brooklyn said.
"Yeah, we didn't even have time to share a Manhattan pizza with you this time," Broadway protested. "Or there's this place that has the best waffle fries with bacon and cheese…"
"You eat everything we order before the rest of us get to enjoy it," Lexington scoffed. "She's probably better off eating with the ducks."
"I do not!" Broadway argued, and they grew distracted with their debate as Grace smiled and said goodbye to Angela and Hudson.
"Take care of yourself, lass," the older gargoyle said warmly. "So much depends on you."
When they had finished talking, Xanatos agreed to give Duke and Grace a ride in his helicopter back to his private jet.
"If you must go, I'll give you ride back to California."
"Don't try to draw from New York," Golott warned as he walked into Chase's office at OtherEarth, Inc.
"Why not?" Chase asked.
"You know what happened to Anaheim? Well, something like it is defending New York too. Me and the other defenders got zapped trying to glean energy."
Chase looked up at him.
"Is Anaheim still cut off from us?"
"Yeah, we tried that too."
Chase stood up from his desk with a cold light in his gaze.
"It's happening. This rival of ours is spreading defenses to our other locations. We don't even know what the extent of this power is!"
"We can't be cut off from everywhere," Golott said doubtfully.
"The more we are limited, the more at risk we are for exposure," Chase said darkly. "Anaheim and New York were ideal places to draw from. There is more energy to be gleaned in the places where these strange beings like gargoyles and ducks live. Unless they have been touched by magic, the humans of this world offer us a pitiful amount of power."
"Well, we can't get to those ducks or the gargoyles now," Golott said grimly.
Grace stood by Duke's side as she watched the Xanatos' jet disappear in the night sky. The moon shone full and bright above them, and Duke turned back to the city of Anaheim in the distance.
"The others should be here soon to pick us up," he said glancing at his com. "Guess Xanatos didn't feel generous enough to pay for a cab to take us back into town."
Grace smiled as she kept the hood of her jacket pulled up over her head.
"He's just eager to return home."
Duke smiled.
"Yeah, me too."
He started to walk towards the highway, but all at once, he fell to the ground as if someone had struck him. Grace rushed forward.
"Duke, Duke!"
She put her hands on his arm to move him, but the moment she did so, she could feel an awful power seize her in its pull. The desert vanished, and Grace saw Vivian Rykks sitting in her office in New Haven.
Grace felt she had been drawn into some kind of strange vision, but apparently Vivian could see Grace too, for her eyes suddenly locked on Grace.
"You're the one," she said angrily. "I knew there was someone with those ducks."
"What are you doing?" Grace asked, still holding onto Duke.
Vivian rose from her chair and walked towards them.
"It's his own fault for wandering outside your little safety net. I didn't expect to find anyone out in the desert, but now that I have, I'm going to drain him to his core."
Grace's eyes blazed, and she flung her hand up at her adversary. Vivian was knocked back against her desk as a ray of light struck her. Grace rose up and stepped around Duke as her hands tightened into fists.
"Do you want to know what it feels like to be powerless? To have someone strike…and strike at you again, and never be able to act?"
Trying to move away, Vivan put her hands up and tried to thrust Grace away. Grace could feel Vivian trying to break the connection between their minds, but Grace's own power was locked onto Vivian now.
Grace reached forward and seized Vivian's wrists.
"You should have left the area around Anaheim alone."
Vivian cried out in pain as Grace's grip burned her arms with the rage boiling up inside of her.
But suddenly, Grace heard another a voice calling her name, and she looked back at Vivian, who was begging to be released.
Grace let go as her eyes widened.
The office scene disappeared, and Grace awakened to the desert. The other ducks were gathered around her and Duke. Wildwing was shaking her shoulders, and Tanya was checking on Duke.
Grace gasped and stood up suddenly, backing away as the cool night air struck her face. Duke stirred on the ground, but he didn't wake up.
"Wildwing, I think we should get him back to the Pond," Tanya said.
Grin picked up Duke and carried him back to the Migrator as Wildwing rose and turned back to Grace.
"Grace, what is it? What happened?"
"Vivian found Duke," Grace said, looking back at him wide-eyed. "And I attacked her."
Chase entered Vivian's office after he heard her crying out in pain. Upon opening the door, he found her sprawled on the floor. Both of her arms were scalded with bright red marks and the skin was badly disfigured in some places on them. Her nose was bleeding, and her face looked very pale.
Kneeling down, Chase leaned over her and put one hand to her face.
"Vivian, what happened? Can you hear me?"
Her eyes opened a little, and she seemed to recognize him.
"I saw her."
"Her? You mean the one who's been blocking us?"
Vivian looked up at him with a pained expression.
"She's more powerful than we realized."
"Did you recognize her? Have you seen her before?"
Vivian's eyes closed a little.
"No, don't know her."
When she seemed to slip into unconsciousness, Chase dialed for an ambulance. He couldn't see that Vivian appeared to be hurt other than her arms, but the sight of them was alarming enough.
Back in the Pond, Tanya and Grin took Duke to the infirmary. Nosedive asked why Grace didn't just heal him, but Grace seemed to be in shock and wouldn't talk at first.
Wildwing and Mallory sat down with her when they returned to the Pond to try to learn what had unsettled her, but at first, she just sat with her head in her hands.
"I've never lost control of my powers," Grace finally said, fearfully. "I've never worried about anyone's safety around me."
Wildwing and Mallory shared a look, and then Mallory said,
"Can you just tell us what happened? We received the message that Xanatos had just dropped you off, and we came as quickly as we could to get you."
Grace nodded.
"I was waiting with Duke when he just collapsed. And I rushed over to him, but he didn't answer me when I called to him. So I put my hands on his arm to turn him over, and I was pulled towards Vivian by her own power. She was seeking a someone to steal energy from, and she found Duke, but she also found me."
"Then what happened?" Wildwing asked.
"I asked her what she was doing, and she was so smug about hurting Duke. Anger just burned inside of me when I saw her face."
"You said in the desert that you attacked her," Mallory said.
"Yes, I did," Grace admitted. "I wanted to hurt her, and I didn't stop to think about what I was doing. All I could see was my rage."
Wildwing waited until she stopped speaking to ask,
"Did you kill her?"
Grace looked into their faces.
"No, but I could have. And I might not have stopped if I hadn't heard you calling me back. It's the first time I've ever felt like I lost control."
She lowered her head and covered her face with her hands again.
"You were angry because she was hurting Duke," Mallory said. "You just wanted to protect him."
Grace shook her head.
"This isn't the like the time I struck that defender with the bolt from the dome. I had restraint there. I was protecting you in that moment. But just now, I did more than protect Duke. I've never attacked anyone out of anger like that before."
Wildwing and Mallory sat with her in silence, and Grace finally said,
"I've asked you to keep my secret, but if I really am dangerous …if I can't control this, then I can't ask you to help me anymore."
Mallory moved closer to her and put her hand on Grace's.
"Everyone has moments where they get angry and do things they regret. It's true that having powers like yours means there's more at stake when it comes to controlling your anger, but you can put yourself back in control."
Wildwing nodded.
"This was the first time you've been confronted with one of them when they were hurting a friend of yours. Any of us would have been outraged. It was right for you to stop her from doing more to Duke, but this can't be about revenge."
Grace nodded.
"We all have to remind ourselves of that. I have to admit that part of me is kind of glad you gave that snake a taste of her own venom," Mallory said and then sighed. "But it's also good that you realize you went farther than you should have."
"I'm afraid that if I use my powers like that again. They'll turn …or I'll turn into, something poisonous and destructive. Then I'll be the monster everyone thinks I am."
Wildwing stood up and pulled her up to her feet as well.
"Come on, I know how to remind you who you are."
He led her to the infirmary with Mallory following behind. When they entered, they saw Nosedive and Grin sitting off to one side as Tanya stood over Duke, who was lying on a bed.
"How's he doing?" Wildwing asked.
"He's stable, but he won't wake," Tanya said sadly.
Wildwing turned to Grace.
"What if I end up hurting him?" she asked.
"You don't have to be afraid of your powers. I trust you," he assured her. "Just remember what you want to use them for."
Grace took a deep breath and walked up to the bed. She raised her hands over Duke and closed her eyes. Light slowly fell down onto him, and after a moment, Duke opened his good eye and saw her.
"Hey, kid," he said, smiling. "Where'd you go?"
"What do you mean?" Grace asked.
"You were with me when I got attacked. I could see and feel you beside me."
Grace listened quietly, still reflecting upon her actions.
"You saved me," Duke continued with a grateful tone. "I thought she was going to kill me, but you stopped her. And then you were gone, and I was just lost. It was like I couldn't find my way back."
"I'm sorry. I think I got a little lost too."
"Only for a few minutes," Wildwing said. "Grace's anger got the better of her for a moment."
"Really? I'm sorry I missed that part," Duke said.
"It's nothing to be proud of," Grace protested. "I can't lose control like that."
"It won't happen again," Mallory said confidently. "We can help you with that."
Grace looked at her in surprise.
"Mallory's right," Wildwing said with a nod. "You haven't been trained how to deal with these types of situations. It's easy for someone who's inexperienced to lose control. But we'll train you, and next time you'll be able to keep yourself in check."
"Discipline and focus bring enlightenment," Grin said with a nod.
"But training with my powers could put you all in danger here," Grace said hesitantly. "I've always told myself that I must only use them when they were needed."
"Sweetheart, my saber is dangerous, but if I never trained with it, I'd never be able to use it well when it was needed," Duke said.
Grace looked around at the other ducks.
"Well, if you all approve, I'll give it a try."
Chase sat in the hospital waiting room, drinking bland coffee as he waited for news from the doctors. It had been a few hours, but at last someone came out to him.
"How is she?" he asked.
"Your friend is going to be fine, though there may be some scarring on her arms. Those burns were quite severe."
"Is she awake?"
"No, she's very weak for some reason. We're letting her rest while we monitor her vitals, but there doesn't appear to be anything to worry about."
"In that case, I'll wait until tomorrow to try to speak with her," Chase said, grabbing his coat.
"I have to admit that I was surprised you brought her here instead of letting one of your healers help her."
"We're limited with what we can do for each other," Chase said.
"Before you go, can you tell me what caused the burns?"
"As I said, I just found her like that. I'm not sure what happened before I arrived."
"Well, they're rather odd. Around her wrists, there's almost a burn pattern in the shape of handprints, and then it just spreads from there."
Chase listened quietly for a moment before saying,
"If she wakes or you learn anything more, let me know."
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