The wind had picked up since she'd been outside last. The military officers nodded to her as she stepped out, and one was prepared to follow her until Mallory politely declined the escort. She let them know the others would be leaving shortly, and after a few assurances that she was armed and would be fine, she pulled her heavy jacket tighter around herself and made the short trek back to their building.
Snowflakes were falling much faster now, and by the look of the skies it was easy to see that the weather wouldn't be friendly much longer.
Nevertheless, once she was out of view from the officers her walk slowed to a stop, and she used the corner of a nearby building to lean against heavily. She wanted to scream, and cry and collapse to the ground, but instead she took a deep shaky breath, angrily wiping at her face when she confused snowflakes for tears.
The only thing that kept her hopes alive was the prisoner undoing what had been done to Wildwing. If they couldn't help him….
She shook her head and sniffed again, forcing herself to stand and continue back to the building.
Perhaps it was her emotions, or the loud howling of the wind combined with the heavy white of snowfall; either way, someone managed to sneak up behind her and grab her.
Despite being taken by surprise, Mallory's instincts kicked in and she elbowed the perpetrator hard, sending them to their knees as their breath was knocked out of them. She reached for her pucklauncher but was stopped by another pair of hands grabbing her from behind.
Her leg went up and she turned quickly, delivering a strong kick into the side of the head of the stranger. This one went down for the count. Mallory opened her COM unit to call for help.
She was far too outnumbered, however, because a third suspect came from her side with a heavy object straight to her head. The blow brought bright stars to her eyes, and as she felt the world begin to spin she couldn't tell which way was up or down.
And then everything went black.
Mallory's eyes squinted open, her head throbbing and pulsating to her agitated heartbeat. She blinked repeatedly to clear the blurriness out of her vision.
When she did finally take notice of her surroundings, she found herself in a dank basement of some sort, chained to a support column via her wrists and ankles. It was dark and wet, with her only source of light coming from a small frosted window near the ceiling of the room.
Multiple sets of footsteps could be heard upstairs.
Shaking the last of her unconsciousness away, Mallory sat up and pulled at her chains to test their limits. The support column was wide, which required rather long chains to reach around it. She could stand unhindered, but she couldn't move a step away from the column without both chains going taut.
She looked up at the ceiling and saw that the support column continued up through to the next story: there was no way she could dislodge it without a hacksaw and a lot of free time.
Sighing in frustration she looked down at her attire. She'd been in battle gear when they'd gone to the temple, but now she was only in her purple unitard. Her jacket, armor, utility belt, weapons and even boots were gone.
Her breath caught in her throat when she realized that whoever had taken her was also now in possession of the Drake DuCaine mask—it had still been attached to her belt in a sack.
The door upstairs opened, causing Mallory to quickly lie down and pretend to still be unconscious. She kept one eye barely open to try and see who had kidnapped her.
Several hooded figures came down the stairs, and as they filled the small room she realized one of them was holding her wrist COM. It was buzzing.
A figure walked up to her and roughly kicked her in the stomach, causing Mallory to grunt in pain.
"We know you're awake, dear," the hooded figure growled. Mallory coughed from the blow to the stomach and opened her eyes, glaring at him.
"I am now," she spat.
"Our ways allow us to see more than your simple unaided eyes, duck. We knew precisely when you awoke."
Mallory shifted slightly in her seated position but did not respond. She brought her knees up to her chest to cradle her throbbing stomach and glanced at her COM when it buzzed again.
The figure pulled back his hood, revealing a black-feathered Raptrin with a detailed scar on the side of his face. Mallory instantly recognized the symbol as the marking of Old Ways magic.
The Raptrin looked to his comrades, who all remained hooded. "Prepare the hazing spell."
The hooded figures instantly separated so they covered all corners of the basement. Facing inwards and forming a slight circle around Mallory and the Raptrin, they began to chant rhythmically in ancient Saurian.
After a few stanzas an eerie smoke began to form around the hooded figures' legs, creating a border around the room. The smoke, almost defying physics, did not dissipate: it kept its thin line, following along the legs of the Old Ways Worshippers. When it had fully formed around them their chanting stopped.
But the smoke remained in place, forming a border around the basement.
The Raptrin smiled down at Mallory. "Time to play," he said to her in a whisper.
An hour after the meditation ended Wildwing, Nosedive and Grin returned with the two military officers to their building, shaking off the snow that had accumulated on them even during that short walk. Wildwing and Nosedive were laughing about a childhood memory and didn't notice Duke and Tanya walk up to them.
"Wildwing?" Duke called out tentatively.
Wildwing and Nosedive stopped, both looking at the former thief.
"Hey, Duke," Wildwing answered, his voice also pretty hesitant.
"How'd, you know, everything go?" Tanya spoke up hopefully.
Before Wildwing could answer Nosedive interrupted, "Maybe I can tell you guys? …In private?"
"Dive, it's okay, I can tell them," Wildwing insisted as he took off his heavy coat. "Grin helped a lot with remembering, well, before the Strike Force."
Duke and Tanya glanced at one another. "Wait, you rememb'a everything except da mission?"
"Well, up to the mission," Wildwing clarified, still looking almost apologetic. "From Dive telling me about it I know kind of what happened, but I don't actually remember it. All I remember is up through the war, and being a prisoner. Everything after that is, well, black."
"Oh," Duke finally breathed after he and Tanya were silent for a few moments.
"Grin thinks that the spell targeted short term memory, which is why that stuff is still gone," Nosedive explained.
"Why couldn't you rememb'a anything before, d'en?" Duke asked, crossing his arms.
"Well, he did get teleported too," Tanya thought out loud before anyone else could answer. "It might, you know, have been real amnesia because of the shock to the body. Then the, uh, meditation would only help bring back memories not destroyed from the spell."
"Destroyed?" Wildwing, Duke and Nosedive asked at the same time.
Tanya realized her choice of wording and blushed slightly. "I mean, well, they can be brought back, I'm sure. You know, just … maybe after they reverse the spell."
None of the male mallards looked entirely convinced by her quick explanation. Duke glanced around and frowned slightly at his observation of the main floor. "Did Mallr'y not come back with you?"
Wildwing looked away from the group nervously while Nosedive looked only mildly surprised. "She came back early, after…." Nosedive noticed Wildwing's sudden interest in the wall across the room and ended his sentence early. "She's probably upstairs," he changed the direction of his explanation.
Tanya frowned this time. "That's weird, we just came from up there. I'll, uh, go check on her."
Duke gave her arm a light squeeze and she smiled at him before heading in that direction. Wildwing, seeing the subject was over, brought his attention back to the group in front of him.
"Is Mallory McMallard available?" an officer spoke up, startling the team at his sudden appearance.
Nosedive shook his head. "No, not at the moment. What's up?"
The officer—a younger male mallard—seemed unsure at Nosedive's slang, especially as a legendary Strike Force member. He seemed to shrug it off, however, and asked, "She is currently second in command, since the leader is currently unable to fulfill his position?"
Even as Wildwing slightly glared at the officer's choice of wording, Nosedive simply answered, "Pretty much."
"She requested that Farrin Hallster, the Old Ways Worshipper, be brought back to base for questioning."
"He's here?" Duke asked, seeing where the conversation was heading.
The officer nodded. "She requested immediate interrogation as soon as he arrived. He'll be in our maximum holding quarters, located in section 3Z."
"Where's that?" Nosedive asked.
"It's the third sublevel below this building. The elevator over there," the officer indicated the area with his hand, "is the only access. He'll be there for the duration of his stay."
"Thanks," both Duke and Nosedive responded.
"We'll let Mall'ry know as soon as she returns," Duke added. The officer nodded in affirmation and walked away, back towards the elevator he had mentioned.
"That's the guy that cast the spell on me?" Wildwing asked with uncertainty.
"We don't know who did, but we're hoping he might be able to undo it," Nosedive replied.
"How come I was the only one attacked?" Wildwing asked, his curiosity stronger now that he had some of his memories back.
"Well, you an' Mall'ry," Duke corrected.
"It was just us two?" Wildwing asked, frowning slightly.
"Yeah. You guys basically snuck out because they'd been hounding us ever since we got back to Puckworld," Nosedive explained. "And Mallory said you both wanted some peace before we all were announced to the world."
Wildwing, still frowning, looked to the ground in concentration. Nosedive and Duke looked at each other questioningly before Duke hesitantly asked, "Are you rem'berin' somethin', Wing?"
Wildwing shook his head slowly. "No … yes. I don't know. When you said that I got this strange feeling, like I'm forgetting something really important. It makes me feel, I don't know … really worried, I guess."
"Maybe you're just remembering feelings from the attack," Nosedive suggested.
Wildwing, still frowning, nodded slightly. "Maybe. It just feels so … real. Like the memory is there, but I can't access it."
Before they could discuss anything further, Duke's COM unit beeped. He opened the face cover and spoke into it.
"Find her, angel?" he asked Tanya on the other end of the device.
"Uh, no. I don't think she's been back here, either. Her, uh, duffel bag is in our room, same place it was earlier."
Duke glanced up at the other three ducks, noticing a growing apprehension beginning to show on each of their faces. "All right, sweetheart, we'll try her COM."
Tanya nodded, though only Duke could see that since the screen faced him. "I'll be down in a, uh, minute."
Duke closed the connection and looked to Nosedive. "You want to do the honors?" he asked.
Nosedive wasn't very keen on contacting his sister-in-law at the moment, especially if she was purposely absent because of the recent events regarding Wildwing's memory. But after the past week, Nosedive knew she'd have to understand their worry, even if just a little.
Sighing, he opened his COM and pressed a couple buttons. "Mal, you there?" he asked into it.
He waited a few seconds, the other ducks watching on. No answer.
Nosedive turned slightly away from the others, a bit embarrassed at having to say what he said next: "Look, Mal, I know this isn't the best time, but just let us know you're alive and well and we'll be out of your feathers, 'kay?"
He again waited for a response, but nothing happened.
He turned back toward the others and opened his beak to say something when his COM beeped. He opened the connection immediately and was greeted with static.
"Mal?" he hesitantly asked.
Instead, the face of a very dark-feathered Raptrin came into view, their eyes bloodshot and an intentionally made scar zigzagging one side of their face.
It was an Old Ways Worshipper.
"Hello," they stated roughly. It was a male, but his voice was hollow and raspy from the effects the dark magic had had on him.
"Where's Mallory?" Nosedive's voice became authoritative as his defenses went up. The rest of the team—including Tanya, who had just arrived—got closer so they could see the screen on Nosedive's wrist.
"She's alive," he replied simply. "For now," he added as an afterthought.
"If you harm ONE FEATHER ON her—!"
"Now, now, child," the Raptrin coolly retorted. "Let us converse like adults, here."
Nosedive was seething, his teeth grinding in a very uncharacteristic fashion. "What do you want," he finally stated.
"Our brethren was taken from us," the Raptrin voiced quietly. "You return our brother and you shall have your sister."
"You're the one that attacked us in the first place!" Nosedive growled, his anger barely manageable. By now they had also garnered the attention of nearby officers, who quickly realized there was a situation at hand. A few of the higher-ranked hurried up to the team, also listening in.
"Our vengeance is for our Dark Lord," the Raptrin responded. "We are no different than you, fighting for our beliefs. And like you, we uphold our blood mallards above all else."
"How do I know if she's even alive?" Nosedive asked, his own voice becoming slightly raspy.
"No better than I know our brother is alive," the Raptrin retorted, his voice maintaining a level calm.
Nosedive snarled, "We can't trust you."
"No, you can't," the Raptrin agreed.
Nosedive glanced over at one of the officers, who appeared to be using a device to try and triangulate the COM's signal. Nosedive quickly glanced back at the screen to avoid giving anything away.
"Let me know she's all right," he insisted. "Then we'll talk about a switch."
The Raptrin smiled, and even on the small screen Nosedive got the chills from the evil that emanated from it. The Raptrin turned his head away and mumbled something silently to someone else. After a few moments of silence a loud zap was heard, followed by a strangled yell of pain.
"HEY!" Nosedive yelled, instantly recognizing the scream from Mallory.
The Raptrin's face again appeared on the screen. "You asked for proof, and I have abided."
Knowing there was no arguing with this bird, Nosedive swallowed his choice words and changed the subject. "What makes you think the Council will let me do the switch anyway?"
Again the Raptrin smiled. "This is one of the legendary members of the Strike Force, is it not? She does carry the legendary Drake DuCaine mask, after all. Surely they'll offer a measly prisoner in exchange for her breath and the return of such a valuable artifact?
"Besides, once they realize our magic has prevented them from locating our whereabouts, they'll have no choice."
Surprised at being caught, Nosedive looked up to the same officer that had been using the device to triangulate a signal. Sure enough, the officer looked at him and shook his head at Nosedive, confirming what the Raptrin had said.
"Only one may bring our brother when the lunar moon is at its highest peak, one mile southeast of the base. We'll be waiting."
The COM connection died before Nosedive could say anything else.
"DAMMIT!" the young duck yelled, slamming his COM cover shut. "I thought you guys were GUARDING the joint?!" His arms waved exasperatedly in the air as he spoke, looking for anyone to pinpoint the blame to.
"We have been, sir," a young officer spoke up, stepping forward. "McMallard refused to be escorted back to the building."
Nosedive glared at the officer throughout his speaking but sighed and looked to the ceiling when he finished. "Considering how pigheaded most military officials are, you'd think they'd maybe FOLLOW HER ANYWAY?!"
The officer looked slightly taken aback by the rude comment but didn't say anything. Rather, one of the higher officials of the Council walked up to Nosedive.
"Mr. Flashblade, I suggest you gain control of your emotions. Our officers have been overly generous to your group since arrival, and we do not appreciate being accused of negligence."
Wildwing came up to his brother and rested a hand on his shoulder. Nosedive looked up to him and sighed, shaking his head slightly as he saw the rest of his team staring at him worriedly.
"It's like I'm taking over your part, bro," he said quietly to Wildwing. Before his brother could answer, he turned toward the Council official. "I'm sorry, your Grace, I did not mean any offence." Only slightly familiar with addressing the Council, Nosedive continued his speaking with the official more normally. "Are we allowed to make the switch?"
The Council official was quiet as he looked at Nosedive and the rest of the team. "We usually do not negotiate with Old Ways Worshippers, especially since they rarely uphold their word. However, in this particular instance I don't think we have a choice. Which one of you will make the switch?"
"I will."
The entire team turned with wide-eyes toward Wildwing, who had spoken.
"Wing, there ain't no way—"
"You have no memory of fighting in the war; you can't possibly be expected to—"
"It is unwise—"
"You're still recovering, I don't think—"
"Look, guys," Wildwing attempted to interrupt the sudden onslaught of arguments aimed at him. "Guys, come on; I know I'm not one hundred percent, but—guys. Guys! SHE'S MY LIFEMATE!"
His last statement caused the team to fall into silence. Satisfied he could speak and be heard, Wildwing repeated, "She's my lifemate, and I think it should be me to make the switch."
Before the group could start protesting again, Nosedive held out his hands to keep them quiet. He turned to look at his brother. "Wing, you are a great leader. You kept us together on Earth when no one else could. And you could fight like the best. But you have no memory of this. You don't remember years of experience that you're going to need out there tonight, bro. …I can't risk losing you twice."
Wildwing's determination softened at his brother's words. "Baby Bro, I know it seems crazy, but it's something I feel I have to do. I might not remember being a leader or taking down Dragaunas, but the fight's still in me, right? Just because I can't remember it doesn't mean I can't do it. Stuff like that should be ingrained in me."
Nosedive was quiet as he stared up at his brother for several silent moments. Finally he said, "I hope you know what you're doing, Wing."
Wildwing didn't respond, but smiled gratefully at his little brother. Nosedive turned to look at the Council official. "I guess Wildwing will be making the trade."
The official, having overheard the whole ordeal, simply nodded. "Old Ways Worshippers usually put a blocking spell on the area they choose for the meet, to prevent any kind of communication between the deliverer and his backup. However, some of our scientists have been working with this style of dark magic to create technology immune to its effects." The Council looked over at Tanya. "Ms. Vanderflock, would you be willing to come with me so we can see if any prototypes might be of value for tonight's swap?"
Tanya, slightly surprised at being addressed, nodded dumbly. She gave Duke's hand a squeeze and followed the older duck out of the room and towards the labs. Five officers followed the two as their escorts.
"Hey, Dive, if we hafta give up the prisoner tonight maybe it wouldn' hurt ta have a go at 'im now, see if he can't help Wing," Duke offered, stepping towards the two brothers. "I mean, 'e doesn't know he's about ta be sprung free, right?"
Nosedive's eyebrows quirked upward and he looked over towards the elevator that led to the lower levels. He then looked up at his brother. "Can't hurt, right?"
Wildwing, only slightly nervous, nodded his head in agreement.