I don't own the Mighty Ducks.

Mallory woke up in her cell to find herself in a bad state, her wounds had still not been cared for and the chains on her wrists were far too tight, making them bleed a little. She was not surprised by this however, she just killed their emperor after all. In fact what she was surprised about was that she was still alive. Though the routine beatings she received certainly seemed like they were trying to kill her.

Her cell door opened suddenly and blinding bright light filled the room for a moment. Once the door closed, all was dark again and there was the after image of light stuck in her eyes. It slowly started to fade as her eyes adjusted to the dark. Someone was in her cell with her but she couldn't tell who.

"Whose there?" She rasped out. Her throat parched from not having any water or food for the past two days. The figure walked closer, they were covered by a cloak and moved silently. Bending down to her level she was able to make out a beak. She thought she was hallucinating again until water was bought to her mouth. Mallory drank it down with relief, giving her parched throat some reprieve. The person slowly took it from her mouth, reaching out their hand and slowly ran it through her hair. She was too tired to turn away from their hand and just hung by her chains.

"Who are you?" She asked, looking back to their face. The person pulled their hood back to reveal Wildwing. "Mallory, I'm here to get you out." She just stared at him, not believing that it was really him.

"Fuck off Chameleon."

Wildwing seemed shocked at first but then his face changed from sad to angry in seconds. "What have they been doing to you?"

"You should know. You helped." She glared at him. "I know what your doing. Your pretending to be members of my team here to save me in order to make me hopeful only for you to break that illusion apart in order to mentally tear me down. Well it won't work."

Wildwing continued to look horrified. "Mallory..."

"CUT THE FUCKING ACT CHAMELEON!" After saying that Wildwing stayed frozen in his spot until he's face changed to that of the smirking Chameleon. He dumped the rest of the water over her head.

"Looks like we can't fool you anymore." He laughed and stood up, knocking on the door twice. It opened and he left Mallory to her dark and lonely prison.

She knew they were doing this to play with her head and that they wanted her to suffer, but she promised herself that no matter what they did that they wouldn't break her. Well... that almost did. Unbidden tears came to her eyes and slowly dripped down her face, luckily they blended with the water still dripping down her face. She hated that she was crying but seeing his face, even if it wasn't really him, had inspired hope for a moment. But it was instantly dashed when he spoke. He sounded the exact same but he didn't react like the Wildwing she knew would have reacted. Wildwing would have been more business and less sad moments. He usually saved that for later when they weren't fighting their way out of life and death situations. Like this would be if he had really been here.

"They can't fool me. I know my team."

…..

Three days later; the door opened again interrupting her thoughts and this time it was Orgg who walked in. "Comfy?" He asked mockingly. Stepping forward on what used to be his injured leg. He grabbed her neck and squeezed. "You really hurt me when you stabbed me like that. I own you some pay back." He growled at her. Mallory just stared straight at him with cold, distant eyes. He tightened his hand even more. "Scream for me now." He dug his claws into her open wounds on her stomach, they burned like crazy but Mallory ground her teeth and refused to cry out. "I said scream for me!" He ran his claws down the path that they had originally taken cutting deeper and reopening anything that had healed on its own. That made Mallory scream. She cried out, feeling like she was being filleted.

Orgg laughed. "Well, well, we can learn it seems."

The cell door opened again and Orgg turned to find Weasel standing there. "Orgg your needed."

Orgg let Mallory's neck go and walked out. "I'll be back." The door closed and Mallory was left in darkness again.

…..

A couple of hours later her cell was opened once more. Guards came in and opened her chains, only to cuff her bleeding wrists together. She was dragged from her cell and taken to another area of the ship that she had never been before. Maybe they were going to kill her now.

Mallory was surprised to find herself shoved into a elegant bathroom with a large tub. The doctor came around the corner and shooed the guards away. They waited outside the door as the doctor lead Mallory into the room.

"I paid for your time. This was the only way I could treat your wounds and get you proper care." The yellow skinned doctor announced. "Go on take a bath."

Mallory didn't have to be told twice. She jumped in without a second thought and enjoyed the warm water. It smelled funny though. "Why does the water smell funny?"

"It's the minerals and medicine in it. It will heal you while you bath." The doctor said pouring Mallory a glass of water. Mallory nodded.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do this but I appreciate it." Mallory said. Trying to remain strong and not to breakdown in relief at someone being kind to her again.

"Your welcome. I wish I could do more but..."

"This is plenty."

The doctor offered her the glass of water and Mallory drank it down greedily.

"Here eat this." Mallory took the offered food with a nod and ate it slowly. She hadn't had food for four days. Her stomach was sensitive and if she ate too fast she might get sick. Mallory contemplated whether or not this was a dream too but feeling the food fill her stomach told her no.

Once Mallory was finished bathing, she was giving back her now clean but still destroyed clothes.

"I'm afraid I wasn't allowed to buy you new clothes but these are at least clean now."

Mallory took them back and dressed quickly. She looked at her purple suit, it was destroyed. The fabric across the stomach had slashes all over it. The breast plate had dents and scratches in the armor. But it still covered her body from eyes so it would have to do. "Why are you here? Your actually a nice person. Why surround yourself with these scum?"

The doctor smiled at that. "Like you, I didn't have a choice. Chargg took me from my home world. I was basically his slave. He took me for my skills in healing because he wanted his fighters to have the best healer possible... well now that he is gone... I can leave." The doctor looked at her meaningfully.

Mallory nodded. She understood. "When do you leave?"

"Right after this." The doctor turned away, not wanting to look Mallory in the eyes.

"What's your name?"

"You wouldn't be able to pronounce it in your tongue but you can call me Lily. Everyone here does."

Mallory nodded. "It was nice to have met you Lily. Thank you for all you have done." She finished putting her clothes on.

"Take care of yourself Mallory." Lily's eyes looked shiny, as if tears were coming.

"...You too."

…..

Mallory was shoved out onto the ice, still cuffed. Crowds booed at her, seeing as she killed the emperor, she was probably one of the most hated players in the games. Looking up she found Weasel sitting where Chargg used to sit.

"Great. Plucked one weed for another to grow in it's place. This one might actually be worse." She muttered to herself.

Weasel brought his hands up to silence the crowds. "What shall we do with this duck that killed our Emperor?" People started booing again, getting louder and angrier as he talked. "I say..." The crowd went silent. "...we execute her!" The crowds screamed for blood. Pumping fists into the air, chanting 'execute' while others continued booing. Mallory couldn't tell what they wanted and she looked up to see Weasel couldn't either. He held up his hands to silence them again. "Very well. Since a unanimous decision cannot be reached then I will chose... Execution by games! RELEASE THE ICE HOUNDS!" Crowds screamed and cheered his decision.

Mallory prepared herself. With no weapons and her hands cuffed, she was in a bad spot. Seven doors around the rink opened, releasing large wolf like creatures that looked as if their fur was made from ice. Their teeth were like a sabertooth tiger's back on Earth, except they had two long canines right next to each other on each side of their mouths instead of one long tooth. Their nails were long and curled, meant to grip ice and give them better traction. Their hide quarters were much smaller then their front, showing that they depending on their front legs for running and fighting, like a gorilla. They were meant to hunt on ice and Mallory stood no chance of winning this... not with seven, not by herself and unarmed, not to mention cuffed.

They were held back from attacking by chains around their necks, which was breaking from the icy fur freezing the metal. They were so cold the air around them developed small snowflakes from the moisture, the snowflakes floated up before disintegration from the warmer air away from the fur. They were actually beautiful creatures, too bad they were going to tear her apart.

Speaking of tearing people apart one unlucky guard got to close and just lost an arm. The ice hounds muzzle was covered in red, the arm and blood in it's mouth froze over completely before it could finish eating it. Frozen blood fell in bloody icicles from its mouth, the arm shattered and it ate the red ice chucked from the ground. Judging by the thinness of this animals, they were clearly starving. It is not unheard of. Starving the animals to make them that much more vicious.

It didn't matter, she would fight until her last breath. Mallory breathed in and out and focused her mind. Time to die with dignity. The chains broke around the hounds neck and they charged her, some reaching her faster then others. She ducked and rolled away from their teeth and claws. Barely avoiding death. These hound were smart though they separated and surrounded her from all sides. Slowly they moved in on her. This was it. She closed her eyes just as the hound started to charge again.

Several shoots rang out all at once, making Mallory duck her head. The ice hounds dropped all around her, blue blood spraying across the ice and freezing over quickly. The crowds scattered and screamed afraid of being hit. Mallory searched arena wondering who had saved her. In the crowds several stepped forward, covered in hoods. The first to pull his hood back was Kazor. He was holding what looked like a long high tech rifle. The next person made Mallory's heart stop. Wildwing pulled back his hood, holding the same kind of rifle Kazor was. One by one her team stepped forward carrying rifles and revealing their face. She wanted to cry but held it together. The guards on the ice were surrounded by resistance members lead by Kazor. Weasel was cuffed and dragged off kicking and screaming.

"THESE GAMES ARE OVER!" Kazor screamed at some of the frightened crowds. Resistance members raised their weapons and cheered.

It finally was over. Mallory sunk down to her knees, mentally and physically exhausted. She didn't even notice that Wildwing had made his way to the rink, skating forward he grabbed her up in his arms. Dropping his rifle on the ice he hugged her to him. Mallory flinched at his touch still trying to register that someone was coming at her to hug her, not to kill her. The others approached slowly, not wanting to upset her, seeing that she still seemed confused.

She wondered if this was real, was she really safe or was this a dream. Maybe was Dragaunus messing with her again. She looked over to were Dragaunus should be and found him missing. Searching her eyes went up to Kazor, seeing him standing there watching her sadly. She knew what he was thinking, that she was now a scarred and broken person, she had done things that she never would have imagined in order to stay alive. That kind of thing left a mark on you. He carried it now too. In this they were companions.

Her eyes drifted over to his shoulder were she found the Chameleon sneaking up on him with a knife and Dragaunus holding her collar remote behind him. Mallory's grabbed Wildwing's rifle and took quick aim. Shooting the Chameleon right through the hand holding the knife, the bullet continued on and hit the remote for her collar as well. Chameleon screamed, dropping his knife and Kazor turned just in time to see Mallory had saved him from being stabbed. Dragaunus and his goons used their teleporters to get out before they could be captured.

Mallory was harshly snatched from Wildwing. The resistance thought she fired at Kazor and attacked her. Grabbing the rifle from her, they grabbed her arms and pulled Wildwing from her. Thinking she has lost her mind from the fights they threw her to the ground and pointed their weapons down at her, preparing to fire. Wildwing was fighting off the resistance members holding him while her teammates did the same, trying to stop the resistance from killing Mallory.

"HOOOLLLLDD!" Everyone paused and Kazor approached. "Let her up! She saved my life just now." Mallory and the other ducks were released. Kazor bowed to her. "Thank you again Mallory. That's twice now that you saved me." She nodded not sure she trusted her voice at the moment. She was still reeling that her team was actually here. Mallory was surprised when many arms surrounded her again, only this time they were the arms of her teammates. They were hugging her, she wanted to cry but refused to let the tears come.

"We missed you Mal." Nosedive said

"I'm so glad your safe Mallory!" Tanya was choked up.

"We are whole again." Grin added.

Duke whispered. "We're here Sweetheart. Nothing like this is gonna happen again."

Wildwing was the last to speak. "Your safe now and we're taking you home."

Mallory's knees buckled and she almost collapse but Wildwing was fast and picked her up. Carrying her bridal style out of the arena with Kazor and the rest of the team following after. Mallory buried her face in his neck, still fighting off the tears.

Wildwing looked down at her neck glaring at the gold collar there. "We're going to get that thing off of you." He said sounding angry. It looked like it hurt but he wouldn't know what it did until they got it off. Kazor took them to the infirmary where the doctor kept all of her old tools. Wildwing laid her down on one of the beds and allowed Tanya and Kazor to look over the collar. Her cuffs were removed and Wildwing tended to her chaffed wrists. Mallory was very quiet during all of this.

"We have to be careful removing it. If we do it wrong it will kill her." Said Kazor sounding grave. Tanya and Wildwing looked up in surprise and worry. "Alright here is what we are going to do." Kazor explained how the collar worked and the procedure to taking it off without the remote, since it was destroyed by Mallory stopping the Chameleon.

While Tanya and Kazor worked, Wildwing was clenching his fists in anger but it was when Tanya was able to finally pulled the collar away from her neck that Wildwing had to stop himself from punching a wall. The collar was a cruel tool for sure. The spikes inside it had been deep in Mallory's neck, spilling blood as they were pulled out. With the tools the doctor here used, Mallory's neck was healed quickly. Leaving no sign of injure but she still had to endure the pain and that pissed Wildwing off. It was a shame the fat alien was dead... Wildwing wanted to beat him to death with his bare hands.

After checking her over, the only signs that Mallory had been a fight was the faint cut on her side. It was clear that it had been too big to heal with the doctors tools so it had to be stitched. In his mind Wildwing couldn't help but wonder what she had been through but he would never know unless she told him.

Seeing Mallory staring off like the dead, Wildwing moved forward and grabbed her hand for comfort. "What are you thinking about Mallory?"

Mallory laid on the table just staring up at the lights above her. Her thoughts were on Ashley, the young duck who she wanted to bring back with her. Survivors guilt was hitting her hard and images of the young duck in her final moments kept flashing through her mind. "It should have been me." She whispered to herself, not realizing that she had spoken out loud. Wildwing looked at her in concern and Nosedive moved forward to take her other hand. "Mal what should have been you?" She didn't answer, only kept staring off. She didn't want to look at Nosedive. Seeing him only reminded her more of Ashley but she squeezed his hand to show her affection. He squeezed back and didn't let go, the young duck had been worried for his friend. She and Grin where the only ones who ever went to the comic shop with him.

Once Tanya was finished checking her over for injuries they grabbed some of the technology in the doctors office and started walking to the teleporter. They all surrounded Mallory, acting like an escort.

"How did you get here?" She finally asked Wildwing. He looked over at her with a neutral face, glad she was speaking but still worried for her mental health. "We stole Wraith's, Siege's, and Chameleon's teleporters. However we couldn't get a fixed location on you. So we continued to search until Kazor found us. He took us to Alture 4 and we planned our attack."

"In the crowds when I was walking back to my cell... I thought that Duke had spoken to me."

Wildwing nodded. "He did. We had been sending Duke in to gather information on planning an attack. We wanted to give you some form of comfort in knowing that we were coming. It took us so long to find you..."

If Wildwing was going to say something else then it would have to wait seeing several of Kazor's guards approaching with a struggling Weasel in their hands. "Let go of me you fiends."

"Weasel. Perhaps this time I should teleport you to a place that you can't come back from. Like the sun." He growled at Weasel who shivered in fear.

Mallory stared at him hard, wanting nothing more then to finish him where he stood for orchestrating some of her misery here. Mallory approached him to the surprise of her teammates. She leaned forward and whispered the question that had been on her mind. Kazor and Wildwing walked up and listened in on it. "Who came up with the idea to sell your champion's bodies to the highest bidder? It wasn't Chargg. He didn't come up with ideas, others did that for him... others like you." Wildwing's eyes widened in horror then changed quickly to anger, Kazor just stared, wanting to know the same thing since he had been sold himself. He shivered thinking about what he had to go through.

"I uh.."

"It was you wasn't it." She stared him down, waiting for him to admit it but Weasel kept him mouth shut. She leaned away from him. "Kazor, can we eject him into deep space."

"Gladly."

"NO! No wait! I know who came up with the idea for selling the champion's bodies!"

The others ducks gasped in horror. Tanya covered her mouth, feeling sick to her stomach at the thought that Mallory was subjected to being sold for sex. It was one of the worse things imaginable for a Puckworldian woman. They took woman's right very seriously on Puckworld. There was no discrimination so when these kind of thing happened it was dealt with swiftly and cruelly to set examples. This kind of thing was unheard of for them and the fact that her friend went through it, infuriated her and broke her heart all at once.

"WHO!?" Mallory was in his face now. Weasel stuttered out his shaky answer. "I-it w-wa-was Orgg."

"You expect me to believe that meat head is the one to come up with that?"

"Yes! He is more clever than he lets on! He did it cause he wanted one of the previous champion's. He e-even tried to buy you." Everyone tensed, the news of this making them wonder who this Orgg was.

"That disgusting saurian tried to buy my body." All the other ducks put their hands on their weapons. A saurian wanted to have sex with a duck! This went beyond disgusting. Ducks hated saurians with a passion. The thought of one being forced to be with a saurian, especially their teammate was unthinkable. Wildwing was clenching his fists so hard he felt like he was going to break a finger.

"He actually did buy you but you killed Chargg before he could get you for a night. By the rules since he is Chargg's personal body guard he cannot be seen buying the killer of his boss. It would look bad. Like he paid you to do it. Please I'm just the messenger."

"Where is Orgg?" Wildwing turned to Kazor, he wanted to deal with this saurian himself.

"He escaped in the fight by using a teleporter to get out. We are currently trying to track his location."

Duke punched a wall. "So he made a clean getaway!" He ground his teeth, angry that his teammate had been treated like an object.

"No. We will find him. It will just take more time. He will face a intergalactic tribunal for his crimes." Kazor looked to Mallory. "And he will be punished. I promise you that." Mallory nodded her thanks to him.

"So what now?" Grin asked.

"Now... you go home and heal from your ordeal. If you wish to join us later in hunting Orgg, then you are more then welcome. All of you." Kazor held his hands behind his back as he spoke.

"Kazor. There was another duck. Ashley Bossier. She died in the rink saving my life. What do they do with the bodies?" Kazor looked at Mallory sadly.

"They send them off for incineration immediately. There would be nothing left."

"Not even her tags."

"If they were metal then they are probably still in the incinerator. I will have them search it for you." He turned to three of his guards. "Go search it. Find those tags." The guards were off running to find the incinerator. "Would you like to wait for those or would you like me to bring them to you."

"I'll wait." Mallory said quietly.

"What would you like to do with Weasel?" Kazor looked over at the red alien in disgust. Mallory looked at him as well. Trying to decide if she wanted to kill him or not. Wildwing placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her to him.

"Your not a monster like he is. Don't do what your thinking. You'll regret it."

"I've already taken so many lives here Wildwing. What's one more?" She looked at him hard, daring him to give her a reason to let Weasel live. Wildwing stared at her a moment processing that she just told him that she had taken many lives. Mallory wondered if he, if her team would ever see her the same again. He surprised her and slowly pulled her to his chest. "This is a life that you can avoid taking. It's understandable that you had to fight to survive Mallory but your not in that situation anymore. If you kill him, you will be exactly what they wanted you to be... and a part of you will truly be lost forever." "And I don't want to lose that part of you Mallory. You'll be out of my reach for good." He thought that last part to himself.

Tears started coming no matter had hard she fought. They slipped from her eyes and down her cheeks, leaving shiny trails on her soft feathers. Wildwing stepped forward and blocked her face from view. Taking her face in his hands he wiped her tears away with his thumbs and looked into her eyes. "We'll get through this and move on but don't be like them."

Mallory nodded and looked down, felling a little ashamed and cheated at the same time. "Kazor. I don't want anything to do with Weasel. Do what you want with him. Take him to be judged before an intergalactic tribunal for all I care." Mallory's voice was strong and she stood tall before Wildwing, not looking anywhere else but his eyes. He smiled at her and hugged her to him. Mallory slowly wrapped her arms around him, her hug was unsure. She felt a surge of anger. Angry that she wasn't going to be the one punishing Weasel and that he had stopped her. "I've already killed Chargg Wildwing. What do you have to say to that?" She asked coldly.

Wildwing just hugged her tighter. "That it's my fault. I wasn't there. I should have been there." He nuzzled his face into her hair, a form of affection that he showed no one.

"Bull shit. I wanted him dead. I killed him so all of this would stop." She pushed away, her eyes cold. The others stared at her, surprised by her outburst. Wildwing just watched her with a neutral expression. "Stop painting me as a picture of a good person. No matter what you say or how many times you say it. What's done is done. I killed him because I wanted to. Would a good person do that?"

"If it stopped him from killing many others... then yes." Wildwing didn't hesitate in his answer. Mallory stared at him, not sure what to say. All of her anger sizzled out and she just felt tired, emotionally and physically. She started to slump forward when Wildwing grabbed her again in a hug. Holding her up. Not matter what she said to push him away, he would bare the weight of this burden with her and together they would get through it.

Kazor gave them their privacy, seeing that Mallory was a little emotionally unstable from her ordeal, anyone would be but she was handling it better then most. He had already gone through this but it still haunted him in his sleep. Late in the night he would wake up thinking he was still in the rink fighting for his life. Oh yes, the nightmares, he even had waking nightmares. Moments when he was mentally pulled back into the rink. A couple of people were unfortunate that they chose then to speak to him. He almost strangled one of his own men to death. Seeing the resistance guards coming back from the incinerator he shook off his thoughts and pushed his mind towards business. "Well?"

"Here sir." They handed him the tags found in the incinerator. 'Ashley Bossier Puckworld Special Forces' was written on the tags. He walked forward to Mallory, waiting for her to pull herself up out of Wildwing's arms to acknowledge him. She did quickly and held out her hand. Kazor placed the treasured tags gently in Mallory's hand and closed her fist over them. "Remember her well." He removed his fuzzy hand from over hers and stepped back.

Mallory clutched the tags to her chest, saddened that this was all the remained of Ashley. This was the only thing left of her friend. She looked over to Wildwing, as he watched her. Then it occurred to her, that he had gone through something like this already. She thought about how he must have felt when Canard died. He had known him all his life, grew up with him and the only reminder that he had of his good friend was the mask that he wore on his face every day. It must have been hard. Not to mention at the time he was surrounded by strangers except for his brother. It truly had just dawn on Mallory how much he had already gone through. He didn't deserve her anger, which she was taking out on him earlier. He even was trying to shoulder the burden for her... No he had shouldered enough.

"I'm ready to go home." She told Wildwing solemnly. He nodded and swallowed the hump in his throat. From her conversation with Kazor it sounded like she had lost a friend while here, something he understood too well. It didn't matter how much she tried to push him away, he would help her through it whether she liked it or not.

"Alright team. To the teleporter." He hesitantly reached for Mallory again, waiting to see if she would push him away. Instead she leaned into him and let him guide her to their ride home. She promised herself right then and there that she would not let this ordeal make her a broken person. She still had her team and she still had people to protect. Ashley was gone but she would be remembered. Her memory would be cherished and Mallory would keep her tags with her until the day that she could give them to her family.

Mallory and the others listened as Weasel was carted away, shrieking about how he was a victim in this. Arriving at the teleporter Mallory realized it was the one she used to escape after she sent off Kazor. It brought back memories of her feelings at the time. While Tanya put in the code back to Earth, Mallory looked at the door, seeing the damage from the lasers they fired at the door, trying to stop her from leaving. It was badly damaged.

"Man what happened here?" Nosedive voiced his thoughts out loud.

"I escaped and used this teleporter to get way." Everyone looked at her surprised. "I didn't realize how lethal the lasers were at the time." She looked at the horrid burn marks in the metal. If one of those had hit her, they would have taken a limb. "This door closes far too slowly." She mumbled to herself, still the others heard it. Tanya finished putting in the codes.

"Alright we're all set." Opening the door everyone walked in and Tanya hit the activation button running in to join them. The door like Mallory said closed slowly. Finally the beams powered up and hit them all, the familiar feeling of her feathers standing on end almost made Mallory gasp. Instead she twitched as if reaching for a weapon, just slightly. No one but Wildwing noticed this. Kazor raised his hand, saluting them goodbye. Then everything was bright and the air smelled clean. The bright light faded to them being back on Earth.

Birds chirped and wind blew Mallory's hair around. The blue sky was over them and the sun beat down on their feathers. Mallory breathed in heavily, enjoying the scents of Earth, it was a beautiful place. She didn't think she would see this place again.

Looking her her right, there stood the Aerowing. Sitting out in the middle of the grassy field, with the mountains behind it. She looked over at Wildwing, raising an eyebrow. Silently asking why the Aerowing was out here. "We met up with Kazor out here. Away from the humans." Wildwing answered. Mallory nodded again and everyone piled into the Aerowing, ready to go home.

…..