Mallory came to, unsure of what had woken her up. Then she heard it again. A quiet sniff. Disentangling herself from Wildwing's arms, she sat up straighter.

"Airika?"

The crying immediately ceased.

Next to her, Wildwing opened his eyes and listened with her. They exchanged glances, both unsure of what to do. Finally Wildwing shook his head and pulled her back down.

"We can't do anything for her," he whispered in her ear. "She'll be alright."

Mallory begged to differ but didn't have a proper plan of what to do. Reluctantly she shut her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

…

Next morning 8:00am

Duke looked up to see Mallory enter the galley with Airika in tow. During the night he had come to really regret what he had said to the girl. What Wildwing had said made sense. The only thing she knew was beatings and neglect. Why would she cater to people being nice to her when she wasn't used to it; though in Duke's opinion she should.

The red head shot him a death glare before pulling cereal out of a cabinet and two bowls, one for her and one for Airika.

"The milk's over here," he murmured pushing it towards them.

"BOOBIES!"

"Oh dear god," Nosedive grumbled from his seat across from Duke.

"Guys, listen I have a stunt for you. Perfectly safe, no threat of concussions, no exploding golf courses…." Phil rushed in, waving a flyer. "And it will promote her."

"Her who?" Mallory snapped.

"Her, what's your name again?" Phil jabbed a finger towards Airika.

Mallory and Duke both said no at the same time.

"Aw, come on. You haven't even heard what it is yet."

"We don't need to Phil," Wildwing appeared, pulling on a tank top.

"Wing baby."

"No Phil," Wildwing repeated. "She's not a bargaining chip."

"Well obviously. But she's a Mighty Duck isn't she?" Phil's question brought the ducks up short. Until the human mentioned it, none of the ducks had really given a thought as to what exactly Airika was to them.

"Listen I got agents asking if she knows how to play hockey. Think she could join your team, boom bucks man, bucks I'm telling you."

Wildwing looked over at Airika. It wouldn't hurt to see what she was made of on the ice. Who knew it might bring her out of her shell.

…..

"I have an extra pair of skates," Mallory said, pulling them from her locker. Putting her foot next to Airika's she judged their size was roughly the same. "Come on."

….

Nosedive was already shooting pucks at his brother, a few of them getting through Wildwing's defenses. Duke was sitting out on the bench. He glanced up to see the three females enter the bench area.

Mallory ignored him, making Tanya take the seat next to him. He watched in interest as she pushed Airika's feet into the skates. Due to their alien biology, the ducks healed faster than humans; so Duke experienced a quiet joy at Airika's self-inflicted foot injury being healed.

She stood up awkwardly, catching herself from toppling over against the boards. She glanced at him or at least he thought she did. Even so he gave her an encouraging smile. If he could ever get her away from Mallory he'd express his deep apology to her for being an ass the night before.

Carefully she stepped out onto the ice, still holding onto the boards for support. The last time she had skated she was 16, just shy of 6 years ago. Again Lu told her how she sucked and everyone knew it. And how she couldn't play hockey. Now at 22 years old, she was stepping out onto the ice again.

"We play professional hockey on the side and help out with crime." He answered her unasked question.

"You're on TV?"

"Most times. Not tonight though…I'm with you."

She considered him for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face. Then she looked down at her food.

"You must have played on Puckworld."

She felt her face redden. "No," she murmured. "I didn't."

"No?" He sat up straighter. "Why not? It was a past time of everyone's as far as I know."

She glanced at him, all traces of any progress he seemed to have made vanishing in her eyes. "I wasn't allowed. I-I wasn't good enough."

He sat back in his chair. "Someone tell you that? Doesn't sound like you talkin' sweetheart."

She wasn't mad at Duke like Mallory was. She was smart enough to realize her admittance of how she felt better being in the company of her abusers hurt him. And she didn't blame him for lashing out. She'd make it up to him, them. She did like being with them. They were after all the same species; they had more in common than she did with those lizards.

"You ready?" Mallory asked, breaking up her thoughts. "You can take your time if you want.

Not waiting anther moment, she pushed away from the boards and skied gracefully across the ice. Carefully she pushed herself further out until she was in the middle of the stadium's logo. Nosedive appeared next to her with a hockey stick, grinning. "I'll go easy on you."

She took it, feeling the smoothness of the stick. Maybe she had a shot at being with these ducks. Being apart of their family.

…

Nosedive was zipping across the ice, the puck zigzagging with him when it suddenly disappeared. Startled, he abruptly braked and watched as a duck with shimmering brownish-blonde hair skated towards his brother with the puck.

"Damn." He said.

"I know what you mean," Grin watched the girl with him. Interested to see if she'd get the puck past Wildwing, Nosedive moved around Grin to get a better viewing angle. She glided behind the net and just as she came around the left side, jerked her stick.

….

Wildwing saw Airika coming, surprised that she had managed to take the puck away from his brother so easily. She's a natural. Readying himself, he waited for her to take a shot. However again she surprised him by gliding by him to behind the net. Okay, she's going to try to fake me out…I've had hundreds of players try to pull that on me.

Then she came up on his left side and skated away, the puck missing. Did someone take it from her? No Duke's sitting on the bench, Tanya and Mallory are with him. Dive and Grin are in front of me…. what the hell?

He turned and saw the puck sitting there like a black hole in the ice. How in the hell did she do that? He had been watching her the whole time.

A grin lit up his face. "Good shot."

A tentative smile was returned as she watched him. Nosedive gallantly let Airika have the puck several times during the 3 hour practice. And every time she got the puck past Wildwing.

…..

Phil was sitting in the stands, freezing his arms and legs right off. Lazily he watched the new girl as she skated around innocently at first. Then as Nosedive grabbed a puck and began to skate towards Wildwing, Phil saw her demeanor change. It was almost like she was studying her prey. He sat up straighter, watching her. Then she shot after the teenager like a bullet and stole the puck right out from under the league's best left wing player.

A smile crept up on the human's face. He found a gem and it was his. Knowing he was getting ahead of himself a little, he waited with bated breath to see what would happen next. She skated by Wildwing who was ready as ever and then simply drifted away nonchalant with no puck. Phil jumped to his feet, searching the ice for the puck. Then he found it, behind Wildwing, who had turned and was staring dumbfounded at it.

Immediately Phil was on the phone. "Yo Monty, it's Phil. I'm gonna need the details on drafting a new player."