"Once upon a time, not so long ago, on a world far, far away, there lived a girl duck. She lived with her mommy and her daddy and her little sister. They were a very happy family and they loved each other very much."

"Mommy's having a baby brother for me!"

"Is she now? Congratulations!"

"His name's Yancy just like Daddy's brother."

"Your uncle must be very happy about that."

"No, he went away a long time ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Can we get back to the story now?"

"Ok."

"Then one day, big, evil, nasty lizards came to their world and started causing a lot of trouble. They took away the girl's mommy and daddy and knocked down their house. She was very frightened and her sister was hurt.

"Suddenly, the magic came to her and she had the power to keep her sister safe. A strange duck came and got her sister to safety, but the house collapsed and she was trapped.

"But the magic kept her safe until another duck like her could rescue her. He took her to a special place filled with magical and wonderful things. There were underground gardens filled with all sorts of strange and beautiful plants and animals. Only magic ducks lived there and they taught her how to control the magic. There she was safe from the mean lizards, but she couldn't forget what they had done.

"It was a wonderful place were magical objects made the walls glow and kept the place warm and even helped keep the place clean. There was one very special object there that they kept hidden away. When she saw it, she knew what it was.

"It was a special mask that would help chase those nasty lizards away. The magic ducks couldn't use it and they didn't want to let anyone else use it either. They were safe in their hidden home, so they didn't care what the lizards did."

"That's not right."

"No it wasn't. May I finish, please?"

"Ok."

"Now she did care and so, when no one was looking, she cast a magic spell. This spell went all around the world until it found the one duck who could use The Mask to make those mean lizards go away. He came to that secret, hidden place.

"In order to get to wear that special Mask, he had to take several tests to prove he was the one meant to wear it. And while it was hard and he almost gave up, he kept going until he made it to the end. When he finally finished, he found her there."

"Did they fall in love and have a baby?"

"No, sweetie. Let me finish please."

"Sorry."

"He had passed all of the tests, but there was one more thing he needed to do. He had to promise the girl that he would only use The Mask for good, that he would give it to no one else, and that when the lizards were gone, he would return it.

"Did he make the mean lizards go away?"

"He did."

"GOODIE! And when he returned the mask, then did they get married and have babies?"

"No, because he never returned The Mask."

"What!? But he promised! You should always keep your promises!"

"Yes, you should. Do want to know why he didn't return The Mask?"

"Why?"

"Because he had disappeared."

"What happened next!? Want more!"

"Sorry, that's another story for another day," Ducky said with a smile on her beak. "Lunch is here."

Sure enough, their server arrived with their food. Wildwing noticed the people at the surrounding tables suddenly going back to what they were doing before she had started telling the story. He had to admit, that he had been completely captivated by her tale too.

He wanted to ask her questions about it, but not in front of the humans. As his food was placed in front of him, he caught her eye and she slightly raised an eyebrow at him. He gave a slight shake of his head and turned his attention to his food.

"That was a wonderful story," Mako said while she picked up her fork and knife and cut up Gipsy's food.

"Are you sure we can't adopt you?" Raleigh added with a grin and Ducky lightly laughed. "I've never seen her so captivated by a story unless it was something on TV."

"I'm sure that would go over well with the adoption agencies," Ducky chuckled as she started in on her salad.

At that moment, Raleigh's hip made an electronic chirp. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at the screen.

"Ok, my friend texted me the information," Raleigh told them as he put the small device away. "I'll get it to you after lunch."

"That would be great, thank you," Ducky replied as she hungrily ate her food.

"Not a problem," Raleigh responded as he started to eat his own food.

Wildwing wondered what that information could be, but wasn't sure how to ask. Before he could figure out a way, Ducky started to ask questions about Earth. It finally hit him that she wasn't planning on leaving and even when he got the mask back, she would still be around.

"So, what do you think?" Mallory asked as they exited Cholesterol on a Stick. "FashionPalooza or Shoes B Us?"

"I don't know," Duke replied, wondering if that last cheese stick on a stick was such a good idea. "I was thinking more along the lines of The Book Depot."

"You want to go to a book store?" she demanded.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with a good book," he retorted as they turned a corner.

"Hold on," she said as she grabbed Duke and pulled him into the shadows. "Do you see what I see?"

He looked to see where she was pointing. That extra cheese stick suddenly felt like a lead brick. Yup. It was a bad idea.

"What is he doing?" she hissed in justified aggravation.

"Looks like our illustrious leader is having lunch with the blue beak," he quietly growled.

"Who are those humans that are with him?" she questioned.

"Not a clue," he answered.

"I wish I brought my blaster with me," she softly stated.

"So you can shoot into a crowded diner during the lunch rush?" he asked in near horror. "Oh yeah, that'd look good on the evening news."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" she demanded heatedly.

"We wait and watch," he said, doing his best not to give into his growing dread. "I'm sure Wildwing has his reasons for going out to lunch with her and the humans."

"Looks like they're leaving," she whispered several seconds later as she pulled him further into the shadows.

It took the humans, the blue beak, and Wildwing a couple minutes to come out of the restaurant. There didn't seem to be anything amazing about the humans and the two ducks couldn't figure out what their part in all this was. The blue beak wasn't carrying the mask making Duke wonder if the tree's strange energy reading had been more than a weird coincidence.

The woman said her goodbyes to the ducks and then turned to the man and child. From the affection she was showing them, it was obvious they were a family. The woman stood hugging her husband for several seconds and they could see she was saying something to him. Though from the distance they were standing, they couldn't tell what she was saying.

Whatever it was didn't take long and the woman left with one last wave goodbye. Duke and Mallory pulled further back into the shadows when she passed not too far from them. They never realized that they had been spotted.

"I need to get back to work," Mako announced as soon as they stepped outside.

"Ok, let me get Ducky the info Stacker sent me," Raleigh started.

"Don't worry about it," she assured her husband. "I can walk from here. It'll be good for me and Yancy."

She said her goodbyes to the ducks and then to Gipsy. A big hug and kiss were given to the little girl before she stepped into her husband's arms. He knew something was up by the fact that she cuddled up to him instead of just kissing him and stepping away.

"Please watch out for her," she said softly in Japanese. "Something is not right between them."

"I will," he assured her.

They exchanged a quick kiss and then she was on her way. She betrayed nothing when she spotted the other ducks. She just kept walking as she pulled out her cell phone.

He realized that Mako was right. Wildwing wasn't acting the least bit happy about a new duck being in town. In fact, he was borderline hostile towards her.

"Come on," Raleigh said as they headed through the mall. "I've heard of the guy Stacker suggested. He makes greased eels look easy to catch."

"How did you and Mako meet?" Ducky asked while they made their way through the crowd. "No offense, but a neurosurgeon and a construction worker seem like an odd combination."

"Mommy beat Daddy up," Gipsy told her as she gleefully held one of Ducky's hands.

"We were both in the military," Raleigh quickly clarified. "Some friends and I were having a friendly sparring match with staffs in the gym one day. A point for every hit and four points won the match. I was doing pretty well against the guys and then this little slip of a thing walked in asking if she could join us."

"And then Mommy kicked his butt," Gipsy happily announced.

"She did not," he objected with a laugh. "She did win 4-3."

"That must have been quite the surprise," Ducky chuckled.

"She had me pinned to the mat and I fell for her right then and there," he admitted with a lopsided grin as his phone beeped.

He did a quick check and then put it away.

"If you need to get back to your company, we'll manage," Wildwing stated, not sure why the human was still hanging around or where they were going.

"I've got my top guys running things for today," Raleigh explained as he started checking out store windows. "Our baby sitter canceled at the last minute this morning and my mom had plans for today, so I took the day off. It's good to be the boss."

"What are you looking for?" Wildwing asked.

"I'm checking the store numbers," Raleigh replied just as he spotted the ducks following them. "Here we are."

He lead them into an Asian herbal apothecary shop. The smells of all of the different herbs made it pleasant and headache inducing at the same time. Raleigh headed straight toward the counter, leaving the ducks and his daughter by the door.

"Why are we here?" Wildwing softly asked her.

"Just making sure I'm not a burden to you," she replied with a smile.

He frowned at her, but before he could ask for clarification, Raleigh returned.

"Ok, I've talked to the guy behind the counter," Raleigh told them as he picked Gipsy up. "He said he'll see if Chau is busy. If he is, we're out of luck. But if he's not, then only one of us can go in."

"That's fine," Ducky assured him.

"Are you sure?" Raleigh questioned worried.

"I'm a big duck, Raleigh," she replied before throwing a sly look over her shoulder at Wildwing who frowned at her before looking back at the human. "I think I can handle whatever he throws at me. Besides, how often has this guy had to deal with a girl duck? I might throw him a bit off of his game."

Wildwing narrowed his eyes at her, but she said nothing else. Raleigh witnessed the exchange and started to wonder what more he could do. Before he could think of anything, the man he had spoken to came out from the back room and walked up to them.

"Mr. Chau will see you now," the man said to Raleigh.

"Actually, I'm the one who wants to see him," Ducky stated.

"You?" the man asked in disbelief.

He looked between Raleigh and Ducky a few times before settling on Raleigh.

"Are you sure you want to send this tender little morsel in there?" he inquired.

"Don't let the soft feathers fool you," she told the man. "I'm a lot tougher than I look."

"Very well," the man sighed as he lead her to the back of the store. "Good luck."

She gave him a smile and disappeared through the door. Wildwing didn't like it, but there was no way to stop her. He had the feeling that Raleigh wasn't believing that he was hanging around because he was worried about a fellow duck.

"I'm going to go get some fresh air," Wildwing stated as he headed for the exit.

"I'll hang out here for her," Raleigh replied as he shifted his now sleeping daughter in his arms.

Wildwing stepped outside and took in a lung full of clean city air. He tried not to sneeze as he headed toward a nearby bench to sit and wait. Just before he could sit down, he saw them.

He headed over to where they were standing, knowing that they were going to want some answers. Duke and Mallory were doing their best to blend in and failing spectacularly. After all, two ducks in a world of humans just weren't going to cut it in being sneaky.

"What are you two doing?" Wildwing asked.

"I think that's something we should be asking you," Duke shot back.

"I'm trying to get the mask back from the only person who knows where it is," Wildwing stated.

"Care to tell us how you found her?" Mallory questioned.

Wildwing spent the next several minutes explaining what he had been doing since he got Klegghorn's call and his hope to get the mage back to The Pond.

"We should call in the rest of the team," Mallory said forcefully.

"Oh yeah, that's real subtle," Duke replied sarcastically. "Why don't you bring in a marching band while you're at it?"

"Duke is right," Wildwing quickly responded. "Ducky isn't going to be easy to catch."

"So, why did you come to this shop?" Duke asked.

"I'm not sure," Wildwing admitted. "She said she's making sure she's not a burden. I don't know what she has planned, but it's probably not good. I can't do anything with the human hanging around. We're just going to have to wait her out."

"We'll just ambush her and take her back to The Pond," Mallory insisted. "Once she gives back the mask, we'll let her go."

"And how do we explain why we're attacking someone from our own planet?" Wildwing questioned. "She's been surrounded by humans ever since she was found. We're going to have to go slowly on this one. Have the team on alert, but I don't want them moving in until they're called. Duke, cover the back of the shop to make sure she doesn't try to slip out the back. If we're lucky, we'll have the mask back soon."

"I don't like it, but you're team captain," Mallory grumbled as Duke quickly moved off.

"Just let the others know what's going on," he instructed. "I need to get back."

"Will do," Mallory replied while Wildwing turned and walked away.

He watched the duck through the plate glass window of the shop and saw Wildwing go talk to a couple of his team mates. When he had gotten the text from Mako he had hoped she was just being paranoid. Sometimes he hated it when his wife was right.

He wondered what he could do to help Ducky. At some point, he was going to have to find out what her real name was. There was a tension between her and Wildwing that couldn't be explained by them being strangers. Something else was going on and he wanted to know what it was.

At that moment, his phone rang and once he answered it, the problems of a couple alien ducks was put on the back burner.