Ch. 5: Fears Within
Ace groaned as he lifted his head. Where was he? He tried to open his eyes but, for some reason, he couldn't. He sat up, one leg slightly bent, the other one straight out. He raised his hands to his face but there wasn't anything there. He felt his eyes carefully, just to find that they were opened. But that didn't make any sense, if they were open, then why couldn't he see? He got to his feet and began feeling around. Maybe it wasn't that he couldn't see, it was that he was in a room with no light. Yeah, that had to be it. He tried to blast a small fire at his feet to give him something to use, but the normal heat that came to his face when he activated his lazier eyes didn't come. That bothered him even more. He stumbled forward and landed against a hard, rough surface. Feeling around, he felt what he thought was bark. Keeping one hand on the unknown surface, he knelt down and felt the floor. It was covered in dirt and leaves. He was outside, and the thing he was touching was a tree. But, d'at can't be. He thought to himself. If I'm out side, t'en I should be able t'a see. Even if it was night, my sight's bett'a t'en anyone's, I can almost see as well at night as I can in da day.
He lifted his face upward, to where he knew the sky was. He felt sunlight engulf his fur. The reality of the situation finally hit him. I'm blind.
Panic now took hold. He couldn't be blind. It just couldn't be. He had dreaded this possibility even before he gained his 'special eyes' from the meteor. His family had a history of people losing their sight in their old age and he'd always feared that he would be next. Just wake up one day and not be able to see at all. Once he lost his sight, he wouldn't be able to do anything. He wouldn't be able to fight, he wouldn't be able to watch TV, he wouldn't be able to see Lexi. His heart sank as if it was a stone in water. Lexi. Where was she? Where was any of the others for that matter? He called out their names, one by one. "Lexi! Rev! Slam! Tech!" he stumbled forward a little, his hands stretched out in front of him. "Duck! Duck! Where are ya's Duck! Anyones! Help!" that last word had slipped out without his approval. He hardly ever called for help. But his fear was so great. He didn't want to be trapped in this endless darkness, he couldn't, he WOULDN'T be.
Lexi sat up. Where was she? It seemed familiar enough, like a dream that one has one time but never truly forgets. A suppressed memory. She turned her head as she heard a loud crash. She could tell that she didn't have her powers, otherwise the voices she heard would be coming in much clearer. She got on her hands and knees and crawled to the light she saw; noting as she did so that her hands were a lot smaller than usual. She was also aware that she was no longer in her Loonatics uniform, but instead in a pair of light purple PJ bottoms and a short sleeve pink shirt that read Princess in darker pink sparkles on it.
Once she had reached the light, which she soon realized was coming from a door, slightly a jar, her breath caught in her throat.
"Bitch! What did you say to me?" a loud smack was heard as Lexi saw her step father hit her mother so hard she fell to the floor.
No. Please. She thought desperately, her heart beating a thousand beats per minute. Please, not him, not again. Please God, no. Her old fear, her old hatred, it was all coming back again. She sat back, hugging her knees tightly to her chest as tears began falling down her cheeks. She heard her step father yell at her mother to get up, she saw her mother lie there, unconscious. She heard his footsteps, heavy, clumsy, drunken. She saw the door open and saw him standing over her.
"What's with *hic-up* tears?" he asked her in a slight slur. "What's troubling daddy's lil *hic-up* little girl?"
She scooted as far away from him as she could. She tried to remind herself that she was bigger now, she could beat the living hell out of him now. But when he bent over her, she could tell that nothing had changed. She was still that petrified little eight year old she had always been.
Slam groaned as he heard laughter and cheers all around him. He sat up and saw bars in front of him, wicked faces peering through them. He gulped and looked down. Those damned chains were there alright, them, and the small dirty water bowl. He was wearing nothing but shorts, and his fur was all matted, unevenly cut, and he could've sworn he felt gum in it somewhere. He began shaking.
He was in the cage again, displayed as a side show freak for the circus. This had been years ago, even before his wrestling days. Actually, come to think of it, it had been his ass of a manager who had saved him from this horrible place. Buying him for over 1000 dollars from the Ring Master.
He struggled against the chains but knew it was hopeless. For one thing, he felt physically exhausted. For another, he was a lot smaller than usual, he was the size he had been when he was in his youth, a terrified, hurting pre-teen then.
More laughter and cruel cheers came from the heartless people looking in on the devilish freak. He shouted at them to go away, but all this did was make them laugh even more at his speech impediment. Tears of anger welled up in his eyes. "(LEAVE ME ALONE!)" He roared. He twisted, trying to use his powers to get free, but all that happened was him managing to tangle himself up in his chains, causing more cruel sounds from the crowd. He recoiled as specks of food, lit cigarette buds, and anything else that could fit through the cage bars, hit him. He curled in on himself and tried to imagine himself somewhere else.
"Worthless! Annoyance! Dead Weight! Weak!" Duck flinched as each one of his team mates shouted these, and other hurtful names, at him.
"Can't you do ANYTHING right?" Ace demanded of him.
"Are you REALLY as dumb as you look?" cheered Tech.
Duck sat there, all his self-righteous arguments leaving him venerable to their harsh voices. His tears soaked his feathers as he looked at them. "I-I'm not." He croaked out. "I c-can too d-do things r-right. If y-you just ga-gave me a ch-chance." He wept out.
"By all means Duck, prove us wrong!" sneered Lexi, her arms crossed and an unpleasant smile on her face. Duck looked around hopelessly. How was he supposed to do that?
A huge lava river sprang before him, giant igneous rocks floated on them, serving as stepping stones. A huge wall came up in front of that, with a rope hanging down, giving Duck a way over it.
"More things other than that river of fire is behind this wall now, Duck." Tech explained nastily. "If you can make it over without getting killed, then we know you're worthy to be on the team."
Duck looked up, tears still falling, at Ace. He was leader, so if he said go, Duck would. But it would hurt. Duck was always antagonizing Ace, and Ace was always antagonizing him, yet, their relationship had seemed to grow stronger and stronger with each mission. At least that's how Duck felt. He had, over the years, come to view Ace as not only his leader, not only his best friend, but as his brother. Someone who he could always compete with, someone who could always force him to exceed his limits and become stronger and better. But apparently he didn't feel the same.
"Ya have ya ord'as Duck." Ace said coldly.
Duck got shakily to his feet and went over to the wall. As he grabbed the rope, he couldn't help feeling that this wasn't right. And he didn't mean in just the sense of how cruel, inhuman, and un team-like. No, he thought as he started to climb that he shouldn't be here, none of them should. They had been fighting Massive, Weather Vein, Mastermind, Syfer and Sykes. Where had they gotten to? This thought would have to wait however. As soon as he put his foot up on the wall to take another step upward, mud started trickling down and he slipped. He landed on his back, hard. All the wind was knocked out of him. He heard the other's taunting laughter as he got up. Gritting his teeth, he tried quacking to the other side.
"That's-not-gonna-work-Duck." Laughed Rev, reveling in Duck's desperate attempts. "You're-powerless."
Wiping more tears away, Duck once again grabbed the rope, determined to prove them wrong once and for all.
Mastermind cackled as she finished injecting the syringe into Duck's arm. "Love it!" she said through her laughter. A small robotic pen on her shoulder bobbed it's 'head' up and down, as if it was agreeing with her.
As she stroked Pen Drive II, she looked over her shoulder.
Tech was held up against the side of the volcano by stone straps around each wrist and ankle. He was slowly coming to. She hadn't injected him with the same serum as she had with the others.
"Oh good, you're awake." She said. He glared at her.
"What are you up to big head?" he growled as she started walking over to Rev, the only one who hadn't received his 'treatment' yet.
Tech felt his heart skip a beat as he watched, through narrowed eyes, as Mastermind inject Rev with whatever she was using to keep them sedated. He wanted to yell at her to get away from him, but knew he couldn't let her know, or suspect, how close Rev was to him. So instead he swallowed his threats and asked, "What are you doing to them?"
"Oh, this?" she asked him, a twisted smile playing on her lips. "This is just a little serum I've concocted from a few well-chosen experimental chemicals at the lab."
"The bio-electro nanites?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"Well, yes. You have those precious little demons running through your veins now. But this," she indicated the syringe she had just emptied into Rev's arm. "this is a useful little sedative that keeps the victim in a constant state of fear. It releases a hormone that reacts with the part of the brain that controls paranoia and enhances it. They should all be literally living their worst fear at the moment." She cackled madly.
Tech snarled at her. "Why haven't you shown me the same hospitality?" normally, he would be impressed at her fighting style, but not this time. Now, he was just pissed off as he saw the twisted looks of pain and terror on his team mates' faces. His eyes lingered on Duck's a little longer. His face held something mingled in with the pain and terror, but Tech couldn't quite make out what it was. If he had to guess though, he'd say it was determination. He thought to himself what it was that Duck was experiencing. He would've thought that his worst fear was finding out that Misty Breeze was canceled, but that didn't add up to the expressions fixed on the mallard's face.
"Because I wanted to take care of you myself." She said, walking forward.
Tech tried breaking free from his bonds, but they were stone, not metal, and he didn't have Slam's strength or Duck's teleportation powers. "Do whatever you want, Bitch." Tech said fiercely. "Just don't make the others watch."
He was trying to bate her in freeing them, and to his surprise, it worked.
"Oh, I bet you'd just tear up at their tortured faces." Sneered Mastermind, holding Tech's steady gaze. She cackled as she snapped her fingers and Massive, Sykes, Syfer and Weather Vein, who were all holding the Loonatics prisoners, gave each one in turn the antidote.
"Who's there?" Rev yelled, he was shocked to hear his voice was at a normal pace. That's not good.
"Hi ya, Rev!"
Rev turned his head around so fast, he almost snapped his neck. "Oh, Tech. Thank God. Do you know-" Tech had taken his face between his huge paws and was now kissing him passionately. Rev, not really hating it, gently pushed Tech away. "What's with you?" he said. "Aren't you at all concerned where we are? Or where the others are?"
"What does it matter? As long as we're together, that should be the only that really counts, right?" Tech said, holding Rev by the shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes.
"I-I-" Rev slowly lost his voice as he stared back, seeing a strange blue light shine behind the caramel color of the coyote's eyes.
"You want it, don't you? You want to be with me, forever, don't you?" Tech's voice was getting a little deeper with each word.
"I…y-yes….I…" Rev was lost in those eyes, or was it the lights? He couldn't tell. He was memorized, and nothing could snap him out of it. Well, almost nothing.
As Rev began to give into the lights, Tech's form began to shift. He grew taller, a lot taller. His fur vanished, his muzzle retreated into his face, replaced by a human's nose and mouth. His skin became pure white, his ears lost all definite shape and became red tuffs of hair. His mouth looked like it was covered in blood, and his eyes were small, dark makeup circled them, and the lights grew brighter and brighter.
Rev gasped and pushed the clown away, shaking madly. Tears began sliding down as he tried to turn and run, but he soon found that he wasn't running as fast as he should have been. He cried harder as he heard the seven and half foot 'thing' lumber after him. Up ahead a bright, green light slid into sight in the glooming darkness. Rev looked and saw Tech's face through it.
"Rev, come on love, come on, wake up."
Okay, I hate to sound cruel...but I'm really pleased with some of the fears I came up with for them. I really feel bad for Duck though...his was the worst one to write. I'm not really a Danger Duck fan girl...but I do love him and think he his given the short end of the stick the majority of the time...anyhow, don't stop reading and don't forget to review! thanks guys! ^^