Confession
By: Maria a.k.a. Ylla
Continued from: A New Friend

	As the night creeped down on two lonely travelers, and the moons came out, the girl became scared. She was a tall, pretty, but scared out of her wits and dirty from travelling, Duck in her early teens. She and her friend have been traveling for a week, already.
	"Come on, Cuz-Gus, I can't walk anymore," she whined.
	"Listen, Humming Bird, we have to get there by morning, and we still have a long way to go."
	"Can't we sit down for a minute?"
	"And allow the police to hunt us down? I don't think so. Listen, Mal, I am your only relative left alive, and I am going there. Now, if you weren't coming with me, I would have been there yesterday morning, but I have to wait for you. You can go your own way, but you will get caught the moment you step out of my sight. Do you want that?"
	"No."
	"Okay, then follow me."
	They walked another couple of miles, while the girl thought of what her cousin had said.
	"Guz-Gus?"
	"Yes, Mallory?"
"Why did those police ducks kill my parents?" she asked with a sob.
	"Because they had secret information that the government needed."
	"And where is that information now? Did the cops get it?" she inquired, crying now.
	"No, it's now lost somewhere."
	"Where?"
	"That's a question that will never be answered…"
	"Do you miss them?"
	"Yeah."
	"Do you cry?"
	"My mother once told me that whatever happens, we must be strong and go on."
	"So, if I'll be strong, I won't cry either?"
	"Yes, you will, but you will not show it or do it for pity."
	They walked for another hour, and another, and more, until they lost track of time. The moons rose and disappeared with the light of a new day. Mallory started to think that they were going to spend the day walking, but suddenly her friend stopped. Right in the middle of the street? Thought Mallory, and what about all the cops he's been talking about? She looked around. The place looked deserted. Before, she didn't even know that this place existed, but now she was there and what next? She turned back to look at what her cousin had been looking at, but found that he wasn't there. She ran to the other end of the street.
	"Gus? GUS!!" she yelled, first not so loud, but then, remembering that the place was deserted, she screamed very loud. She started walking back, yelling his name, for time to time. As she was almost where they stopped, she was pulled in a narrow alley by a strong hand. She tried to scream, but the stranger put his hand on her beak to shut it. She made an undistinguishable noise, in pain. Then he put a finger to his own beak.
	"Shh. I know it hurts, so I will let you go, but you have to promise not to scream. Promise?" asked the stranger. Now, she had a better chance to take a look at him. He was about as old as her cousin, wore a maroon outfit, and had some thing that looked like a triangle with a stick sticking out of it, on his shoulder. "Promise?"
	"Uhm-huhm," she tried to say through her closed beak. He nodded and let her go.
	"Gus!!!" she screamed the moment she was let go. She didn't trust this guy. The Duck tied to grab her beak again, but she put her hand in front of her beak and he grabbed her wrist. Young Mallory punched him, but missed and knocked off the weird yellow thing on his shoulder. He let go immediately, so Mallory grabbed the object and ran out of the alley… only to bump into Gus.
	"Gus, please, you gotta help me. Some weird creep is running after me…" she turned around and gasped as the stranger was approaching.
	"Well," the stranger started. "She has absolutely no skills, she doesn't listen, but for a city girl, who had never had to defend herself, that punch, even though she missed, would have hurt if it hit the target. Oh, and, give me back my sword," he said turning to young Mallory.
	"Do you trust him?" Mallory asked Gus. Without her noticing it, the stranger shook his head. Gus looked at Mallory, making a scared look and shook his head. "Then I don't trust him either… So this is a sword, huh? Where's the blade?"
	"Listen, girl, give me back my sword or I'm gonna have to shoot you," he said taking out his gun.
	"Are you in the Brotherhood of the Blade?"
	"Why?"
	"Mallory, if you are gonna attack him, do it now," said Gus
	"What? Listen, I watched enough movies to know that this is a setup," she said looking at the stranger, then she held out his sword and he took it.
	"Okay," said the stranger. "You pass. Come on." He walked to the dark alley and pushed a stone. A number pad was revealed, and, after he punched in the correct code, a secret door opened. He signaled the others to follow, and Gus followed him, while the girl stayed behind on the street.
	"C'mon, Humming Bird, we have to go. Forget of what I said about not trusting him. We were just testing you. Come on!" Mallory looked at him, sighed and followed the guys. They entered a strange room with no lights and the door behind them closed, leaving them in total darkness. Mallory listened as the stranger was moving around doing something. Then she felt something on her beak. Like a towel, but wet. She tried to smell it and faded, falling on the rock floor.

	Young Mallory woke up on a warm couch. She got up and looked around. The room was small and would have looked more familiar if it was set on one of the little moons. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a brush. She brushed her long hair and got up. There were no windows, some furniture, the couch, a mirror on the wall, and something that remotely reminded her of a door. It was actually a dark panel on the lighter wall. She pushed that panel, but it didn't move. She tried to pull it, with the same results. Then, just out of curiosity, she walked to the mirror. She examined herself, looked around, and, finding no other way out, walked to the couch and sat down. She waited, looking around listening, waiting again. Then, her eyes caught the mirror. Something was strange. It reflected the panel, the furniture around it and Mallory. She turned back to look at the originals and realized what it was.
	"The panel in the mirror has a keyhole," she said out loud. She put her finger on where there was a keyhole in the panel and realized that they keyhole was not on the panel, but on the mirror itself. She looked around for a key. In about half an hour she had looked over every drawer, under all the furniture, inside all the furniture, but found nothing except a strange piece of metal. It looked like something in between a needle, but thick and about two inches long and a piece that came off of a old watch.
	"What if…" she thought out loud. Mallory walked to the door-mirror and put the piece of metal in the keyhole. She turned it. Nothing happened. She wanted to pick the lock, but didn't know how. She searched the inside of the lock with what she became certain of was a pick, until she found a small button-like structure. She pushed it and the door flung open.
	Beyond it was darkness. She turned the lights in the room off, to get used to the darkness. She stood absolutely motionless, listening. When she did not hear anything, she bravely stepped into the darkness. Immediately, the door shut itself behind her and the lights went on. Inside, the room looked like a large metal warehouse, with some technological equipment spread out all over the place. Some ducks were working on it. She recognized two of them. They were Gus and the stranger on the street. They turned around.
	"Ahh," started the stranger. "You have finally found a way out of there."
	"What's going on? Where am I?"
	"You are in the Brotherhood of the Blade headquarters," answered Gus. "Does she fit?" he asked turning to the stranger.
	"Well, our leader agrees that she is of no use now, but if we train her properly, she may prove to be a grand help in the future. By the way," he said turning to young Mallory. "My name is Duke L'Orange."

	It was a sunny day, just the kind when it's the middle of summer and even roller blades are of no use. It was four years after Mallory had joined the Brotherhood of the Blade, and she was a full time member of it. At first, she hated it, but after her first assignment  of breaking into a safe and retrieving a diamond out of it, she loved it. The only part she didn't like is that she was a girl in the "Brotherhood" of the Blade. The others have explained it to her that if the organization was called Brotherhood, it would seem unlikely to the authorities that a girl is part of it, so she would be like a covert, secret weapon. She looked at the building in front of her and took a deep breath of sweet air. The sign on the building read "Police".
	"Just a normal day," she said in her sweetest voice. "Yes, indeed."
	With those words she started skating towards the entrance. She had a nice purple dress on, which complimented her long red hair and her beautiful face. She turned off her blades and stepped into the door. As she walked through the hallways, filled with criminals, she could not help thinking of what she was going to do. She came here to bail her old friend Duke out, but seeing the number of cops present, thought against it. She walked to the door leading to the jail cells, and stared at it for a second. Then, putting on a curious look, she opened the door and looked inside.
	"Wow," she said looking the row of cells, with criminals in them. Then, she saw Duke, but pretended not to notice him. She walked down the row of cells staring at each convict…
	"Miss," said a male cop. He was just checking on the convicts, and saw a pretty girl looking at them. She turned around surprised and then smiled.
	"Oh, I'm sorry," she started. "I was just… just…"
	"It's okay for a first time, but don't come here again without a permission," he interrupted her. He liked her, he liked her smile, and he liked her face. As they walked out of the room, he thought he should make himself useful. "So, what brings you to the Police?"
	"Oh, I just lost my purse and…"
	"Oh, we'll find your purse and everything in it will be intact," he said staring at her figure.
	"Oh, thank you, thank you!" she said walking out.
	"Sure, of course, anytime, always at your service…"
	She walked out of the Police station and turned on her roller blades.
	"Rookie," she said looking back at the station. An evil smile appeared on her face.
	That night…

"That's enough!" yelled Wildwing. "I don't want to hear any more."
	"Fine," said Mallory in a cold voice. Wildwing turned to Duke.
	"You knew she was a traitor all along and you didn't tell us?"
	"A. It was not my secret. B. If you listened to the end, you'd know that she double-crossed a lot of people, but she usually had a cause. I think that she was on Dragaunus' team only because it somehow was profitable for us, ducks."
	"You don't know that though."
	"No, but I do know Mallory, and for her entire life after she was brought to BOB she never did anything to hurt her friends. But she was a good actress, using that gift to get us out of jail, and if she can say that she betrayed anyone, she is lying. That's because she is strong enough to say it, only if she knows it's not true."
	"What about that time when she accused you of stealing jewels?" asked Wildwing.
	"I knew it was not his style to slice doors and leave trail, but I didn't know whether or not he was trying to put Falcone in jail, or go for the temptation," explained Mallory.
	"But still, you are a traitor."
	"I would do anything to prevent any of you to think that I am, but if you really want to strongly believe that  I am, I'll leave," she said and walked out of the room.
	"She'll be back," said Duke. "Humming Bird always comes back when she is done."
	"Done with what?" asked confused Wildwing. "Putting on a scene?"
	"No, proving that she is not a traitor."
	"And how's she gonna prove that?"
	"She has her ways. She has her ways…"

	The remaining ducks tried to search for Nosedive, but didn't have any luck. Wildwing thought of yelling at Tanya and kicking her out, but had second thoughts. They are going to need a team tech, and until he finds a replacement, would be nice, not to piss her off.
	The night fell. Wildwing was lying in his bed. He couldn't sleep. He was thinking of all the events of the day. He thought of how much the kidnapping of his brother hurt him. All the events of his life with his brother ran through his mind. Wildwing started to cry. Then, an image of Mallory appeared in his head. He tried to throw it out, but couldn't. He realized only now, how much Mallory's betrayal hurt him. He could remember every line she said, every look she gave him, every event that had to do with her. Maybe, Duke was right, he thought. Maybe, Mallory was trying to doublecross Dragaunus, for our benefit. Maybe the end of her story would have answered all of my questions. He got up and turned on the light. He picked up his com and put it on. The com turned on and opened. A green map of California appeared on the little screen. The blue dots represented the cities. A red dot appeared where a second ago was the blue dot for LA. What would she be doing in the City of Angels?

To Be Continued