The Experiment

Written by Zelda

 

(Author’s note: Hitler reference in here. No I do NOT condone Hitler or any part of that man’s existence. Just a character development moment for Pretorius here, work with me people!)

 

                The museum's entrance hallway stretched before the Ducks as if they were in some kind of nicely decorated warehouse. The ceiling was at least 35 feet high, and the black-painted room had to be just as long. There were hallways that peeked enticingly into other exhibits, flashing with colored lights or reflections.

                "Man..... this place is a bit more cool than I expected...." Nosedive began, eyes scanning the room.

                "And you're going to completely eat those criticisms of yours by the end of the day Nosedive. " Tanya bumped him with her elbow. "I've been here at least 20 times, and it's one of the neatest places around!"

                "Maybe for you." Nosedive snorted. "A hip teen icon like me has no place in a museum." The Ducks all followed Tanya up to the ticket booth. Wildwing picked up a map and began scanning through it.

                "Hmm... the California Museum for Ongoing Science Research and Experiments." Zelda frowned. "That's a name long enough to confuse me, what kind if exhibits do they have here anyway?"

                "Everything!" Tanya grinned as she laid down the money for some tickets.

                "Well well, if it isn't Tanya!" The blonde woman behind the counter smiled. "I haven't seen you in weeks, been busy huh?"

                "Not too busy for me to miss coming here." Tanya joked back. "Anything new?"

                "Yeah, there's the new virtual reality testing room...." the girl started.

                "TIME OUT!" Nosedive cut in. "Did you say virtual reality? As in the coolest gaming experience to hit this crummy planet?"

                "Well you could say that." The girl started again. "We've got several devices that entertainment companies are testing in small markets and--"

                "I've heard enough!" Nosedive snatched his ticket. "Come on Mal, race you there!!" He and Mallory sped off, stopping only to let the guard check their tickets. Wildwing sighed.

                "Well we know where they'll be all day." he shook his head.

                "Yeah, and we know where they'll be all night too." Duke grinned. "In the bathroom with a bottle of Pepto Bismol!" Wildwing chuckled as he took his ticket and had it checked by the guard. Once again he looked at the map.

                "Hmm, well on the third floor they're testing an anti-gravity room, in the left wing there's an experiment about growing plants in water instead of soil...."    

                "Sounds interesting to me." Zelda turned and headed off.

                "I'll join ya for a bit Zel." Tanya caught up with her. "I want to revisit the ultra-magnification microscope lab they set up last month. It's on the way." This left Duke, Grin, and Wildwing standing alone.

                "Well, what do you think Grin?" Wildwing asked. The big duck reached down and took the map from his leader.

                "A hallway dedicated to the play of shape and color on the psyche.... I believe I'll begin my journey there." Duke and Wildwing took one last hopeful glance at the map before they shrugged and followed behind Grin, off into one of the side hallways.

 

                The dragon felt small as she walked through the hallway, lined competely in black with several swirls of neon lighting appearing from time to time. People of all ages wandered past her, laughing children, scientists, crying babies.

                "This place sure is popular isn't it?" Tanya said.

                "Well it's great that it appeals to so many kids." Zelda dodged a pair as they ran down the hall. "But it is rather strange, this place seems more like a testing ground for ideas and products."

                "Well it is." Tanya said simply.

                "Yeah but the subjects are people.... isn't that a bit dangerous?"

                "Puhfff." Tanya humphed with a smile. "You worry too much dragon. They've had jillions of tests and lab rats before they brought these exhibits here. They're just in the final stages of development."

                "Ah, you're right." The dragon admitted as they turned into the plant exhibit. "They have laws, I'm sure everything here's safe."

 

                "YAHOOOOOOOO!" Nosedive screamed at the top of his lungs as his hydraulically powered flight simulator pod dipped slightly, to him seeming like a huge drop. He shot out from underneath a natural bridge and came barrel-rolling out of the canyon, the yellow sun and red earth swirling around him. Mallory approached in her fighter jet on his left.

                "Man is this awesome or what?" she yelled over the roar of the engines.

                "You're telling me!" he screamed back at her. "Race you to that mountain!!!"

                "You've already lost!" Mallory gunned the throttle and went shooting ahead of him. Nosedive growled and pursued her, gaining closer and closer, until they were nearly neck and neck, the mountain looming before them. Suddenly the scenery disappeared and the craft rocked into a level position, the machine giving a whirring noise as it powered down. A beam of light poured into the darkened cabin as the machine operator opened the hatch and glared down at Nosedive.

                "Listen kid, your time's up."

                "Aww..... can't I just put another quarter in there or something?" Nosedive whined. The operator shook his head firmly.

                "You've been on this thing for 20 minutes! You should see the line of kids waiting out here. Get out." Nosedive humphed and unbuckled his seatbelt. As he climbed out of the machine, kids cheered at him. He frowned and met Mallory next to her pod.

                "I think I can safely say.... that was the most awesome thing I have ever experienced in my life!" Nosedive threw his arms out happily.

                "Yeah?" Mallory frowned at him, and cradled her stomach. "Get ready for the most un-awesome thing you'll ever experience in your life." Mallory suddenly darted off into the hallway under the blue sign that read "Restrooms"

                "What's that?" Nosedive called after her.

                "Motion sickness!!!" Nosedive stared at  her strangely for a minute, then felt his stomach start to churn.

                "Awww man.... "

 

                The dragon went about sniffing curiously through row after row of lush green against the bright white and humidity of the greenhouse. A recording played over a speaker, explaining how plants could be grown using nitrogen-rich water, making farming on the moon possible.

                "Curious indeed." she muttered, although not unapprovingly. Tanya smiled to herself. Technology was alien to creatures who had lived off of the earth for millions of years. It was interesting to see Zelda learning, adjusting. They slowly walked out of the greenhouse as a security camera on the wall swiveled to follow them.

                "And next should be the microscope lab." Tanya nodded happily. They looked at a sign outside of the exhibit entrance that read "This week's magnification exhibition: Genetics and Evolution-from past to future" "Ooh sounds interesting." Tanya smiled. "I didn't know they changed their exhibit this week, let's go in!" A guard stood at the entrance to the room, in front of a rope fence that closed it off.

                "Can we get in here?" Tanya asked the tall man. The man looked them over for a split second.

                "I suppose we can fit you two in." he said. "You'd better hurry and take your seats though, the doctor is beginning his demonstration in a few minutes, and the room is already quite full."

                "I didn't know there was a demonstration!" Tanya smiled. "Thanks." The two passed in through the rope fence, and then through a pair of heavy doors to enter a small room fitted with seats.

                "Tanya..." said Zelda. "There's nobody here. This place is empty!"

 

                Grin stood with his eyes closed, humming in low tones to himself as he stood in the black hallway, before a lighted panel of varying orange hues.

                "You know Grin, you're supposed to look at the color." Duke commented, standing next to him. "It doesn't work if you keep your eyes closed."

                "You don't need to see my friend." Grin said after a pause. "You're supposed to feel." Duke shrugged.

                "Yo Wildwing, these colors doing anything to your psyche?" he asked with a smirk.

                "If they are, I don't know about it." he agreed. "Let's see if we can get a good cup of coffee, I'm tired." The two started to walk away and leave Grin, when a guard walked up to them.

                "Excuse me, are you the older brother of Nosedive Flashblade?" she asked.

                "Yes." Wildwing answered as if he already knew what was coming. "What did he do this time?"

                "I'm afraid he and his friend are suffering from severe motion sickness. He wants to see you."

                "Sure, come on Grin, I suppose we'd better stick together." The three followed the guard into the small nurse's office.

                "They're both right in this room. I'll let you three in to see them." The guard opened a white metal door and led them into a room with two beds behind a plastic curtain. The door closed with a click. Duke sat down in a chair against the wall and sighed. Grin sat down on the floor next to him. Wildwing shook his head and went up to pull back the curtain.

                "You never listen to reason, do you little br----"

                "What's wrong Wing?" Duke perked up.

                "There's nobody here." Wildwing replied, perplexed.

 

                Nosedive gasped as he sank down to the floor outside of the men's room. Mallory stumbled down beside him a few seconds later.

                "Toldja." she coughed. Nosedive glared as he saw two little kids leap out of the pods and run off to their parents in the distance.

                "Man.... how come THEY can handle it?" he whined. "I feel awful!" He tried to get up, and found himself too tired. Suddenly, a staff member noticed them and walked over.

                "Are you two okay?" he asked, squatting down to meet their eyes. The two just pointed sadly to the rocking virtual reality pods in the distance. The man smiled. "Don't worry, there's a nurse's station just across the hall. If you can walk I'll get you there."

                "Sure man, you're a lifesaver." Mallory propped herself up and started to follow the man, the swaggering Nosedive after her. He led the two into a white room, and instructed them to sit on the two padded beds.

                "Just relax, there's a bathroom over there. I'll get the nurse." He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Mallory perked up when she heard a click.

                "What was that?" Nosedive asked.

                "He just locked us in."

 

                Zelda sniffed cautiously around her.

                "That's strange... the man said this place was full." she muttered.

                "Maybe the demonstration's already over, and all the people are in the exhibit already...." Tanya started. Then the lights in the room dimmed. A voice came over a loudspeaker.

                "No, no, you're just in time my friends. Take a seat. Tanya sat in the front row. The stage with a lab table on it lit up, but no one was there yet.

                "Genetics," the voice continued. "Is the scientific world of tomorrow, that stretches far into the past. It can be as close as your backyard or as far as another galaxy." A man walked out in a white lab coat, a microphone pinned to the collar. "Today, I'll guide you on a branch of genetics few people have ever seen. It will be the next wave in the evolution of creatures on this earth, and will change the face of science forever. Today, we'll be studying the genetics of alien life." Tanya frowned again. "And you'll ask, how is this possible?" The light shifted to reveal the man's face. He was a bald man, wearing thick glasses and a wry smile. "Well we won't be studying one-celled life that's been discovered on rock from some distant, harsh planet. There is alien life right on Earth.... right here." Zelda looked over to see four guards enter the room, watching the scientist, two at each exit. She growled under her breath. Something didn't feel right here. The scientist took something out of his pocket. He pinned his staff nametag onto his lab coat. Dr. Pretorius. Tanya and Zelda instantly shot out of their seats. Pretorius simply grinned and signaled the four guards to capture the two. Tanya gasped and activated the laser on her Omnitool. She found it wouldn't fire! Frustrated, she banged the device. A guard grabbed her savagely by the arm. Zelda snarled angrily beside her as another guard grabbed her by the wing. She spun around and knocked the man away with her tail, sending him to the floor. Another man grabbed at her again. Zelda withdrew, clawing at the man as she hopped over to the next row of seats. She gasped as she saw no flesh and blood, but metal beneath his shirt. His eyes glowed red.

                "They're robots!" she yelled. "Let's get outta here!"

                "Wildwing! Wildwing come in! We've got serious trouble!!!" Tanya yelled into her com, and her panic increased when she found her com wasn't working either! The scientist simply laughed.

                "I wouldn't even bother, duck." he giggled. "You're in a magnetic field that is jamming both your weapons and your coms. You'll find escape... rather impossible."

                "I don't think so!" Zelda flew up and made a break for the door. Just as she was about to ram it with all her might, the door suddenly swung open, smacking her full in the head. The dragon bounced away and lay still on the floor. A pack of five more guards entered through the door, eyes glowing at Tanya. She frowned and stared hard at the scientist, who stood chuckling at her, leaning an elbow on the lab table. She seethed and suddenly flew at him, jumping towards the table, inches within grabbing him, when something heavy came down upon her back, and she hit the floor hard. She was instantly tackled by the guards, who held her arms behind her back and forced her to stand.

                "Easy." Pretorius ordered, peeking above his glasses at her. "I don't want my subjects too damaged."

                "Subjects?!" Tanya wrenched and spat. "What are you doing Pretorius?" The doctor grinned and walked down to her, nodding to his guards in approval.

                "All in due time, my friend. All in due time." he smiled. "Take them away." Tanya was dragged helplessly out of the black room, down a hall, and out of sight.

 

                Duke felt his beak buckle as he was shoved hard into the wall. He sprung up and swirled around to face the guards who had pushed him.

                "Hey easy on the hardware buddy!" he yelled angrily. The guard made no response as he walked away, a metal door shooting down from the ceiling and crashing to the floor, sealing Duke in. Duke panted until he regained his breath, and noticed all was silent around him. He was in a large room, paneled with sheet metal walls. No weapons, no com. Where was he?

                "Ahh, well I see you're all settled in." a voice came from some unseen source. Duke recognized it instantly.

                "What do you think you're doing Pretorius?!?!" his yell echoed back to him.

                "Temper temper.... I'm simply tying up some loose ends with my research!" he chuckled.

                "You gonna let loose some more of those lobster... things on me?" Duke laughed bitterly. "Bring 'em on."

                "Sorry to disappoint you, but I've got different plans. You see I want to find out just what your limits are. We know next to nothing about your species, I want to see what makes you tick."  

                "Have you talked to my agent?" Duke bit sarcastically.

                "Lab rats don't have agents." Pretorius smiled back. "And you'll rest easy knowing the data that your and your teammates provide me, will help me in continuing my quest for genetic perfection! Think of it! I'll be renown over the scientific world! I'll win the Nobel prize!"

                "For stupidity." Duke mumbled.

                "I heard that!" Pretorius yelled. "And don't think you won't pay!" Suddenly, a small panel of metal slid open in the wall. Duke was about to head for it, when he heard a deep growling, and saw a pair of eyes flash in the darkness beyond.

 

                Wildwing grit his teeth and wrenched his arms out again, pulling will all his might. The metal pieces on the bands tied to his arms unlocked themselves, stretching apart to reveal the thick, twining bungee cords beneath them. They pulled Wildwing's arms like he was trying to pull two elephants. Exhausted, he stopped straining, and his arms were pulled back up as the cords contracted and the metal pieces along them locked together again into a thick band. He stared at the metal clamps as they squeezed his wrists, and similar bands that held each ankle. He lurched to the side, only to find the band roped around his head pulling him back! What was this thing?

                "Pretorius...." he spat. "Whatever you're thinking..... it's not going to work!" The doctor stood about twenty feet from him, leaning against a computer console and smiling.

                "You don't know what I'm thinking." he grinned. "But I know what you are." Wildwing looked surprised.

                "You see there are hundreds of tiny sensors in that head band of yours, measuring everything from body temperature, to heartbeat, to brainwaves. Right now you think you can tear your way out of that restraint." Wildwing froze. "Oh by all means, go ahead! Those bands are measuring your limb strength, and how your escape efforts vary under stimuli."

                "What stimuli? What are you talking about you nut?" Wildwing yelled.

                "Increase in blood pressure...." Pretorius distantly noted. "Ahh yes, the stimuli. If you'll observe the screen in front of you?" Behind the computer console stretched a screen almost wide enough to span the whole room. Suddenly it flashed on, splitting into six pieces. Each one was the view of a camera that panned into a different room.

                "So?" Wildwing asked. He froze again as he saw Duke stumble into sight in the far lefthand corner screen, flattening himself against a wall, keeping a wide eye fixed on something. Then he slowly saw every one of his teammates, all in different rooms. "What? Let them go Pretorius!" Wildwing suddenly yelled at the man. "You have me, what do you need them for?"

                "Do you think Darwin discovered his theory of evolution by looking at one animal? Or genetics is studied using one cell?" Pretorius asked, annoyed at the question. "I'm finally going to get a peek inside your species. I need every one of you I can get!"

                "For what, your crazy schemes of genetic advancement? Superiority? Fame?" Wildwing balked. Pretorius nodded. "Ridiculous." he spat.

                "You may think so." Pretorius started. "But the opinions of lab rats don't count. Each one of you aliens will be subjected to a type of test. I'm keeping tabs on everything, and by the end of this experiment I'll have the key to your whole species!"

                "Tests? What kind of tests?" Wildwing asked.

                "Well, this one here," he pointed to Duke. "Has shown good fighting skills in the past. I'm testing his hand-to-hand combat and survival instincts."

                "By doing what?" Wildwing started. Suddenly, he heard a yell from Duke's screen, and saw a yellow blur tackle the duck, throwing him to the floor. A huge leopard had pinned him to the floor! Duke brought his elbow up to it and knocked it off of him, staggering up only to be tackled again by another big cat! "Pretorius this is insane!"

                "I'm not done yet." he grinned, pointing to Tanya. "She'll be put though a routine of quickly lowering the temperature. I want to see if it affects her blood flow and heart rate." Tanya already was huddled on the floor, shivering in a corner. "The big one," Pretorius referred to Grin. "Seems pretty strong. I'm testing his strength to see how his muscle and bone mass hold up in a contracting room." The walls in Grin's room suddenly started to close in on him, as if he were in a giant trash compactor. Grin panicked only for a moment before he started to brace himself against a moving wall. "The other girl will be exposed to varying high temperatures. The dragon's not useless to me either. As long as I have her here, I'm taking the opportunity to study her species as well. I've put her in a pressure room. I'll raise and lower the pressure to see how high she can fly or how deep she can dive. And your brother..."

                "Nosedive." Wildwing breathed.

                "He'll be run through some oxygen deprivation tests. Just how much oxygen does it take to keep you running, I wonder."

                "You'll kill him finding out!!!" Wildwing yelled. "Let us go Pretorius, we're civilized creatures, you have no right to torture us in the name of science!" Pretorius burst into laughter.

                "You don't know it, but you're conforming to your test perfectly. I'm testing your psychological limits right now. You're the leader, I can imagine you'd be under some stress now about your friends. I wanna find out how far each of you can be pushed." He narrowed his eyes. "I want to know your limits." He suddenly snapped back to himself. "Whoops, time for my coffee break, be right back!" he ran out of the room, the door slamming after him. Wildwing looked at the screen ahead of him in panic, and began to struggle again.

 

                Grin strained himself, growling as the huge metal walls continued to close in tighter around him. Finally starting to fear the danger at hand, Grin stopped pushing against the wall and stood back to think. No door, no window. Easy, he'd make a door. Grin lowered his head and ran at a wall, drawing back his fist and letting it ram into the metal. The wall screeched and dented deeply, but the metal didn't tear and the wall didn't fall down. Pain radiated up through Grin's fist as he stood back again. He slammed the wall again, making the dent deeper. Again he punched it, but the wall was simply bending under his force. It was as if he were trying to cut through water. Grin then felt the awful pressure of the two walls closing in on him, pinching him into an uncomfortable space. Grin punched the wall again, running quickly out of options. He then started punching the moving wall, hoping to create a dent big enough for him to crouch in. But the wall wouldn't bend! He slammed himself into it again and again hopelessly, but it wouldn't dent in. Grin tried to climb into the hole he'd created in the other wall, but found it too small. The moving walls now closed around his shoulders, shoving them together with incredible force. Grin wrenched himself free and positioned himself with his back against one wall and his arms pressing to hold off the other. He locked his arms as the wall continued at him, not slowing. Grin finally let his elbows buckle under the fear that his arm bones would splinter under the pressure. The walls squashed Grin's chest. He choked for air as his ribs started to bend inwards, his spine pressing deeper into his back. Grin saw faded spots before his eyes as the lack of air made him lightheaded. Struggling no longer was possible. Grin closed his eyes and braced for the worst, when he suddenly felt the pressure on him reversed. He opened his eyes again to see that the walls were slowly receding! Slowly, his bones slid back into their normal positions, and he drew in a breath with a relieved gasp, falling to his knees and bracing his arms on the floor. The walls continued to move away, but Grin knew he only had a short amount of time before they'd come for him again.

 

                Mallory felt her breath going out, hot breath. She breathed warmer air back in. Lie still. That's what she had to do, she kept telling herself to lie still, breathe deep. She lay on her stomach, spread-eagled in the middle of the floor. A red light pulsed over her, a huge heat lamp that brought a dry wave of air over her each time it brightened. Her blood literally boiled, her hair felt like it was melting right off of her head! She had to keep still. Movement created heat. She kept running over in her mind her desert survival training. It certainly felt like a desert in here! She breathed out slowly. She could feel her body overheating. A drop of sweat ran off of her beak and evaporated before her eyes. It was torture in here! Why? And what about the others, where were they? She lay alone, thinking, as the silent heat rose, making the metal floor start to burn her skin.

 

                Wildwing couldn't look away, he couldn't close his eyes. He had a front row seat to watch as each member of his team succumb individually to the most unbelievable tests. He stared, wide-eyed, as his brother scrabbled along the floor, panicked and weak, gasping for air, slowly fainting. He turned to see Tanya, swallowing constantly to keep her own saliva from freezing. And yet nothing was happening to him, he was simply being kept to watch it all! He couldn't turn away from his own responsibilities. He wished he could be in there with his brother. He couldn't stand watching. The door to the lab opened again, and Pretorius entered, tossing an empty styrofoam cup into a small trash can. Wildwing put all his anger into strength, and lunged for the doctor, straining at his bands, struggling only a few feet forward. Wildwing continued to try and pull away, snarling from the stress, bracing his legs to push his shoulders out more. The doctor smiled and walked nonchalantly over to a computer.

                "Well well, you're pretty strong! Been working out?" he joked. Wildwing's strength was ebbing from him... he finally gave up and let the bands snap his body backwards, rattling his head. "Awww, don't worry Wildwing. Know that all of this is for the good of science."

                "The good of science? You're going to torture us for the good of science?" Wildwing was in rage, his body just too weak to show it. "You know where I've heard that before? You know who did this before? Hitler. He took people and put them in cages, tore them apart and sewed them together and put them in freezers and pressure tanks until they froze or exploded!!!" He screamed at Pretorius, who now was surprisingly taken aback. "Was THAT for the good of science? Your science is disgusting! It's wrong!!" Silence pervaded the room. Wildwing breathed heavily, letting his knees give out from under him and his arms hang from his bands. Pretorius was staring at a blank computer screen. Wildwing realized he had hit a nerve. Perhaps his work had been criticized before.

                "Hitler was a madman." Pretoruis answered slowly. "He was the devil in human form. He killed millions of people for no reason other than his own madness. And your right, he was wrong. But I am not him. My work is not his."

                "Prove it." Wildwing said quickly. "Let us go."

                "I can't." Pretorius said firmly. "If I let you go, he'll kill me."

                "Who?"

                "Dragaunus. I was lucky enough to get him forgive me for what happened last time..."

                "Why do you even get involved with him?" Wildwing was exasperated.

                "He's like the grant board every scientist wants. All the equipment, all the funding, supplies. It's a dream come true. He's the one that wants this data. If I don't kill you in these tests, that data will help him crush you."

                "So what do you get out of this?"

                "Why, my research! I'll be the first in the world to research an alien. I'll write books, I'll go through every scrap of your DNA, see if your immune to some of Earth's worst diseases, I'm going to find out everything! And I want payback. You nearly ruined me before. It won't happen again."

                "You are mad." Wildwing stared at him.

                "Maybe I am." he mused. "But what would you care? Lab rats don't have opinions."  Pretorius glanced down at the computer. "You're concerned about your teammates..... your brother. Under a great deal of stress... Interesting."

                "I think I'd be under a bit of stress!" Wildwing interjected.

                "Unfortunately your interactions with me are causing a bit of misleading results to your tests. I'm afraid you'll lose your company for a while my friend."

                "Oh gee." Wing sighed sarcastically as he regained his knees. Pretorius shot him a glare and quickly exited the room. Wildwing was horribly disappointed to see him go. Pretorius was a distraction. If he talked to him, he wouldn't have to stare at the screen in front of him. Wildwing sighed, and let his knees give again beneath him again. He was incredibly tired.

 

                Her lungs compacted and flattened, her whole body squeezing to extremes as she scrabbled at the floor. The dragon felt as if she were being hauled into space and then plunged into the deepest sea trenches every five seconds. She gasped for air as the pressure zinged up again, her body crushing tighter, forcing the air out, should her lungs explode. The pressure flattened out quickly, then dipping down and down, compacting her entire frame again. Zelda's skull seemed to squash her brain. The dragon was lost, having before used air pressure to determine her altitude or depth, using it to gauge her environment, basing her sense of placement and direction upon it. Now she hung in panic, trying to convince herself that her eyes weren't deceiving her, and that she was really on terra firma, not in the upper stratosphere. She wavered in and out of intense nausea. The dragon had to keep moving, in order to give her body a reason to understand and cope with the pressure changes.  She scrambled along the floor, flapping her wings, winding her tail like some injured serpent. She couldn't open her eyes for fear they'd flatten or burst. She bumped into walls and prayed to the stars for a way out of this all.

 

                The black, shiny claws felt hot as they slit through the flesh on his cheek. Duke fell back against the floor after heaving himself away from the creature, keeping those claws from slitting his brain and sacrificing his skin. Duke rolled up quickly, ducking to avoid another cat as the heavy creature screamed above him, flying over his head. For all the nature shows he had paid so little attention to, Duke never would have dreamed that these cats could be so big! Leopards, each one of the five of them looking obviously hungry, staring savagely at him with their gleaming eyes. Duke backed up against the wall as another prepared to strike. As it leapt for him, Duke spun and slid away along the wall. He felt it shake behind him as the big cat slammed into the metal headfirst, but a fiery pain followed across his back seconds later. It had caught him! The big cat collapsed on the floor, stunned by the blow to its head. But its claws still remained caught in Duke's back, just deep enough to make it hurt. The duck set his teeth and tore away from the cat's grip, just before another cat pounced on him. Duke felt the force of the animal hit him full on, knocking him over on the floor, the heavy creature landing on him. It snarled at him, curling its lips and revealing the dagger white teeth as it prepared to bite. Duke yelled angrily, bringing his fist up and slamming the big cat right in the side of the jaw. The cat roared as it was shoved off of him, claws grabbing at his suit. Duke pushed himself back up and kicked the cat viciously in the head, knocking it out cleanly. If he was gonna get outta here in one piece, he'd have to take them all out.

 

                Tanya knew it was her absence from the Puckworld climate that had made her so soft to the cold. She knew it. Back home they used to walk around in t-shirts in sub zero temperatures, something that humans could never do. But earth had grown on her. She was now just as weak to the cold as any human. She just knew it. Tanya's brain rattled inside her head as her teeth chattered, her whole body convulsing weakly. Too tired to shiver with full force, Tanya sat huddled in a corner, the freezing metal meeting her back. She kept her hands over her beak to breathe into, at least they would stay warm. Her whole beak was freezing up, she could no longer feel her feet. Tanya sat on the ground and started pounding her feet rhythmically on the floor. Frostbite happened on Puckworld, anyone as old as a hatchling knew what to do. Numbness meant no blood circulating to her feet. She banged them to get some heat into them, to convince the blood back into the stinging cold. But there was a thin science to what she was doing. She had to keep her extremities warm without using up too much energy. Who knew how long she was going to be in here? Who knew what was happening to her? Tanya had to keep her spirits up. She swallowed cold saliva again and blinked her eyes rapidly. In the frigid silence, she tried to keep her mind occupied with staying warm, not thinking about her teammates. But the thought never escaped her mind. Surely they were nearby, perhaps undergoing the same thing she was. But why? What did Pretoruis want with them? She was fearful of the answer.

 

                These data sheets weren't pleasing at all. Pretorius mused over them as they slowly fed out of seven different printers on his computer console. No, this wasn't enough information! It simply wasn't what he wanted. He knew he had to do better.

                "Might I investigate on your progress doctor?" a voice growled through the air behind him. Pretorius nearly leapt out of his seat. The black swivel chair squeaked loudly and spun as he turned to face Dragaunus, towering over him with an unpleasant look on his face. Pretorius took a moment to regain himself, hand over his heart.

                "Don't sneak up on me like that!" he gasped, removing his glasses and quickly replacing them.

                "The results, Pretorius?" Dragaunus was annoyed. "Or don't you have them yet?"

                "The tests are still in progress, but I'm already getting feedback." Pretorius gabbled nervously. "With a little time I can chart computer models, examine some cell and blood samples I've taken..." Dragaunus took a stride to the computer console and tore the seven sheets from their respective printers. He gathered them roughly in his claws and scanned them over with his beady yellow eyes.

                "These tests aren't what I expected them to be." he started in a low tone.

                "Well now it's just rough data." Pretorius started, an uppity tone. He never liked those insulting his work, and he was drawing a line early with the lizard. "I can refine it of course, make it more understandable..."

                "How dare you doubt my intelligence!" The force of Dragaunus's breath nearly blew the frail Pretorius out of his chair! "Foolish human. I meant these aren't reliable results! I paid you good money to push these Ducks to the very edge. If they're not dying already these results are worthless!"

                "Your...Redness, sir?" Pretorius ventured.

                "What?!" the lizard snarled.

                "Neither you nor I know their limits. They could be killed in the process of these tests!" Dragaunus chewed on the thought for the moment.

                "I've no problem with that. Consider them your cadavers if that should happen." Dragaunus grinned as he looked over Wildwing's sheet again. "I have my prize locked safely up. There's no physical harm that will come to him. That's good enough for me."

                "Consider it done." Pretoruis rubbed his hands together at the prospect of the chance to finally dissect one of those aliens. Dead or alive, it mattered not to him. "But sir, I can increase the levels of the tests on every Duck but one. What am I supposed to do about Wildwing?" Dragaunus grinned again, a brow-furrowing, tooth-baring grin.

                "I've got just the thing."

 

                Seeing these spots before his eyes was really starting to get annoying. Nosedive struggled to push himself up on his elbow, to prop himself off of the hard floor. He felt like he weighed 300 pounds! The Duck desperately wavered in mid-action, sucking in another breath. The air was so thin.... it was like he was out in space. Nosedive took another breath and shoved himself up onto his elbow. Jeez this sucked man! He wanted out of this oversized vacuum, he wanted to get his hands around that scrawny scientist's neck! The white spots danced before his eyes again, signaling to Dive he'd have to breathe again. Dive let the air out of his chest, his stomach dropping like a stone as he did. It took all his strength to pull it back up and let him breathe in again. The spots faded, but didn't go away. The air was sharply thinner! Nosedive started to panic. What the heck were they doing to him anyway?! The spots swirled, clouding his vision in a million tiny specks. And his mind even started to slow, even as he was panicking. Nosedive breathed again, the air thinner still this time. Nosedive's elbow wobbled and gave, sending him to the floor with a thud. The spots whirled in his eyes, in his head. And slowly, a blackness came over him.

 

                Panic ensued as soon as he saw his brother close his eyes. Wildwing feared he knew what was going on.

                "Pretorius!!!" he yelled into the room, so loudly the echo came back at the same volume. A door opened somewhere and Pretorius stuck his little bald head into view.

                "Room service?" he asked. "What, you want a glass of water, a mint on your pillow?"

                "Shut up Pretorius." Wildwing snapped. "What are you doing now?"

                "Oh, to them?" He asked nonchalantly. "Nothing much. I've spoken with Dragaunus and he simply wants to kill them, that's all." He enjoyed watching the leader freak out.

                "What?!?" he asked, shocked.

                "That's right, he said the tests didn't reveal enough, he wanted me to push it. I warned him it might kill a few of you aliens off, he didn't really mind." Wildwing's jaw hung open. Pretorius checked his watch. "Well, gotta go! Time for another coffee break. Make sure nothing too interesting happens while I'm gone?" He smiled and darted out. Wildwing turned in the same wide-eyed horror and watched his teammates slowly.

 

                Pretorius walked back into the room chuckling pleasantly. He glanced at Dragaunus who was watching Wildwing on a video screen, also amused.

                "It must be fun to chase them about." Pretorius noted. "You being so good at it and all."

                "Don't patronize me." Dragaunus sighed. "It's no fun when the Ducks are actually the ones chasing you. Now, I've got the feed ready, can you pull this off?"

                "I'm a scientist!" Pretorius sniffed uppishly. He put a tape into a small VCR, and started typing in commands on a keyboard.

               

                "Oh and Wildwing, just before the Overlord and I leave for the evening, we decided we didn't want you to get lonely." The duck snapped violently to, looking for Pretorius's wrinkled face but finding his voice projected from a speaker on the ceiling. "You can now hear your teammates. Not communicate with them, just hear them. I suppose you'd like to be able to talk back though.... a chance to say goodbye." The speaker clicked off. Wildwing froze again. There was no sound coming from the six screens he was staring at. Until suddenly he heard a yell. Duke. The duck struggled miserably under the weight of two cats, a leopard and a tiger. Where did the tiger come from? Wildwing realized it must have been let in when the test levels were upped. How did he miss that one? Duke snarled, trying to shove the two cats off of him. One of them reached up with it's giant paw and cuffed him hard on the head. Duke yelled again and was thrown to the side, blood streaming across his face. Then there was a crackling. That wasn't coming from Duke's screen.... Wildwing looked over fearfully at Tanya. She was trying to stand up, but her clothes had literally frozen in place. They cracked and tore as she tried to move. Finally she tried to stand, tapping her feet weakly on the floor. Frostbite... Wildwing realized what was plaguing her with a shock. She had frostbite so bad her very muscles on her feet were freezing up. She tried to walk, eyes wide with panic, but quickly lost her balance on her numb legs and fell to the ground. Her bare flesh stuck instanly to the metal, her fingers and the side of her face sealing themselves to the floor. Tanya squeaked in anguish, her breath coming out as thick as white smoke. Another yell from Duke. Wildwing looked back to see a streak of blood across the camera lens. Duke had a huge gash across his stomach. He now stumbled weakly along the wall, cramped with pain and frightened by the seven cats that now trailed after him, their muzzles red. One of them paced ahead of the others. Duke readied himself as the cat crouched and sprung. Duke tried to jump back but tripped. He fell to the floor, the cat landing full on him and clamping it's yellow teeth on his shoulder. Duke screamed and twisted. The cat dug its claws into him. Wildwing closed his eyes as he heard another cat yowl and leap at him. Duke screamed again, louder, more panicked. He could hear the duck grunting as he tried to free himself. More cats jumped on him. Duke was fighting and prying to the very end. Suddenly there was a loud gurgling sound. Surprised, Wildwing opened his eyes, and was horrified to see Duke, streaked with blood, a tiger with his jaws clamped around Duke's neck. The Duck's eyes rolled back in his head. Wildwing was in horror. He was dead! His eyes darted back to Tanya. She still lay against the floor, breathing. But each breath was coming shorter... slower.... a smaller cloud fizzling into the cold air. Tanya's heart was freezing up!

                "No.... come on Tanya.... come on stay with me here...." he started to mumble slowly. "COME ON!" he yelled. "IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, STAY WITH ME TANYA!" he screamed angrily at the screen, watching her breath grow shorter. "COME ON!" he yelled at her. He knew she couldn't hear him. She thought she was all alone. Wildwing's knees gave out from under him as he sank back, listening to the cats fighing over their meal. When he looked up, Tanya was no longer breathing.

 

                "How on earth did you do that?" Pretorius was grinning from ear to ear.

                "Hey, I'm a Saurian Overlord." Dragaunus eyed him back. "You think that's good. That's just the beginning. I've had years to plan tests like these out in my head. This is far from over." The big red lizard reached over and began tapping on the keyboard.

 

                Grin let out an exhausted grunt, unusual enough for the duck. Wildwing didn't want to look up. Not him.... not now. He heard the walls squeak in protest as Grin tried to push them back. They were pressing him closer, closer. Grin gave another grunt, twinged with pain. Wildwing squinted his eyes tighter shut, hoping to seal out the mental picture of Grin, alone and slowly realizing that his fate was about to become two red smears on the wall. Grin snarled in anguish. Wildwing listened and felt like a coward, hiding his head in the sand while his teammate was squashed to death. But what was he supposed to do? Chained like some circus animal, Wildwing resigned himself to the horrible fact that he could do nothing, as he listened to Grin as he snarled, his ribs starting to splinter audibly. There was a crunching, an awful crunching that made Wildwing's flesh crawl. He felt sick. And Grin didn't make any other sounds. He snarled and squeaked under his breath as more snaps and cracks sounded. Suddenly the whirring was reversed. Wildwing stopped to listen. Were the walls retracting? Yes they were! Wildwing opened his eyes, waiting for the walls to reced enough for him to see. Maybe... just maybe.... And then the walls slid back to reveal a mound of gray flesh and torn clothes. Bones poked from everywhere, blood oozed slowly from a dozen places. But Grin was still alive. He wobbled and fell to the floor with a crunch, reacting loudly in pain. Wildwing watched Grin twitch and bleed slowly, death closing in quickly over the crushed form, the Duck falling silent in mere seconds. The leader hung his head. And he only knew more was to come. How humiliating.... how much of a defeat to have to watch this. Dragaunus.... he had wanted so many times to see his mortal enemy defeated like this, kept alive only to watch his teammates die before him. How he must be laughing now.... Wildwing gritted his teeth and suddenly became determined to prevent Draggy from that fun.

                "It's not going to work Dragaunus..... you can't win over me...." he started talking to the speaker in the ceiling. "You can kill them all Dragaunus, but you can't win over ME! Not unless you kill ME!" he screamed. There was a loud noise that answered back. Wildwing stopped mid-yell to hear it sound again. Zelda moaned miserably as she suddenly started to thrash along the floor with a new vigor. Her voice was twisted, squashed by the skyrocketing pressure. The dragon smacked her wings against the ground, throwing herself in a seizure to try and get her body to compensate. The dragon bunched herself in pain on the floor, slowly coiling up, slowly succumbing to her fate. The dragon cried out in agony, Wildwing knowing full well what was happening to her.... her blood starting to boil, her body starting to pull itself apart from the immense pressure. She screamed again. But her scream was put into words... actual words. Wildwing craned his neck to make them translatable.

                "Should fate.... have me die... here..... my slayer be damned..... the hell of me ... my kind.... upon him!" Her voice edged higher, weaker, blotted by pain. The dragon suddenly thrashed out in a spasm, and her body tore apart! Tiny pieces spraying everywhere, her body succumb to the pressure and exploded! Chunks of flesh and bone and purple skin lay scattered on the floor, blood oozing out of the lifeless limbs. Wildwing stared in horror. Something landed on the floor near the camera: the upper half of Zelda's skull, blood-filled eyes rolled back widely, white teeth gaping out. Wildwing felt sick to his stomach. This wasn't happening.... it wasn't happening.... Terrified, alone and exasperated, Wildwing's eyes flew frantically to the last two ducks... the two remaining screens. He stared at Mallory hard, watching her carefully. She lay in the same position she always had, skin soaked in sweat with the heat. Wildwing suddenly pulled himself back. There was no moisture from sweat.... the shininess had come from Mallory's skin, melting clean off of her bones like wax from a candle. She had never even made a sound. Wildwing was amazed. This wasn't real... he kept thinking that over and over to himself... it was too awful. Not even in his worst nightmares had he dreamed this. Zelda's last words echoed in his head. And the dread welled up within him, because he knew Nosedive was the only one left.... Wildwing had to muster up all his courage simply to look up at the screen. Nosedive lay on his stomach, still unconscious. He breathed laboriously. Wildwing watched him slowly tiring out, slowly being defeated. Would he have been awake, he would have fought. But he slept peacefully, his body giving no combat to the lack of oxygen around him. Soon there would be no oxygen in the air at all. A tear ran under Wildwing's Mask. His brother looked so peaceful... at least he would not suffer the same pain as the others. Slowly, he watched his younger brother's back rise and fall, a little less conspicuously each time, until he ceased to move at all. He was dead. Suddenly, the shackles that held him in place released with a snap, sending him  to his knees with a thud.

 

                "What did you do that for?" A sudden panic broke the silence in the room where Pretorius and Dragaunus stood, watching Wildwing over a monitor.

                "Take it easy." Dragaunus rumbled. "He may be a leader, but Wildwing isn't made of stone. He's not going anywhere." The two watched as Wildwing slowly lowered his head into his hands, and started to cry. Dragaunus smiled and stood back, tearing out the data sheets from each of the printers, still feeding their information. "You've done well Pretorius." he commented, looking over the sheets.

                "Only what's to be expected from a professional." Pretorius smiled and leaned over on the console, putting his head in his hand and letting his elbow support it. A clicking noise suprised him, he had put his elbow on the keyboard. The six screens in the main room suddenly flashed.

                "YOU FOOL!" Dragaunus boomed, tearing the human aside and pounding at the keyboard. "Now look what you've done! What's the code to get the tape back?" Pretorius panicked.

                "Oh jeez, hang on I know this one....."

               

                Wildwing sniffed miserably. He let one hand slip from his face to support him on the ground. They were dead.... they were all dead... he didn't do anything. He couldn't do anything, could he? If only Canard were here. Another tear ran down his cheek. And Dragaunus would be coming for him next. Wildwing ceased to care. There was a crackling from the monitor. Wildwing didn't notice. And then, something else... a loud snarl... from Duke! Wildwing looked up to see him still in one piece, fighting off the cats. Everyone was still alive! Suddenly the screen crackled again and the images of the squashed and shredded Ducks returned. It all made sense to Wildwing in one sickening rush. His eyes glowed red in rage. Wildwing got up and ran for the door, surprised to find the big metal bay doors unlocked. He opened them and ran out to find himself surrounded by five of the robot-guards. Wildwing lowered his head and charged like a bull, ramming one into a wall. He spun around as a robot punched him in the shoulder. Wildwing picked the light metal robot up and spun it around, releasing it and slamming it into another robot. The other two pounced on him grabbing both of his arms. Just as strong as Wildwing remembered them, they restrained him well. Wildwing swung forcefully to the side, throwing one away from him. He grabbed the other one and threw it into the last robot, defeating all five of them. He knew he had to keep moving. Surely Pretorius knew that he had escaped. He ran further down the hall, curving as it went. Somewhere in this mess, his teammates were trapped. He had to get to them. Suddenly the hall became much hotter as Wing ran through it. He passed by a large metal door and stopped. Touching it nearly burned his hands, even through his gloves. Wildwing frowned. Mallory must be in there. He looked around to see a security access panel on the wall, and went for it. He flipped up the light metal cover to see a series of buttons and a liquid crystal strip above them. Black words popped up saying "ENTER COMMAND" Wildwing quickly ran over the keys, pushing the one that said "DOOR OPEN" he waited while there was a processing of information. "EXPERIMENT IN PROGRESS" the panel flashed "NO ACCESS" Wildwing grabbed at his hair in frustration. If only he had some of his pucks right about now. He took a deep breath and scaled down the keys again. "EMERGENCY OVERRIDE" he commanded. The machine whirred at him "ACKNOWLEDGED" the screen flashed. Wildwing breathed a sigh of happy relief. "ENTER OVERRIDE PASSWORD" His jaw hung open. What was the code? Wildwing looked over a set of numbers and letters as found on a phone. He rubbed his beak and then tried "OVERRIDE" No good. "CODE" nothing! "PRETORUIS" still nothing! Then he slowly grinned and spelled out "PASSWORD". The panel whirred again. "OVERRIDE GRANTED" "DOORS OPENING" Wildwing snapped his fingers, figuring that a brainy scientist wouldn't be able to remember his own access code. After all, what else was there to make this show funny but dumb gags? Wildwing ran back to the door as its two panels slowly started to be pulled apart. A blast of heat greeted him.

                "Mallory!" he called, trying to wedge the doors further apart.

                "Wildwing?" her voice was raspy. "Is that you?"

                "Hang on!" he said, finally squeezing in. The heat from the lamp above him blasted down on the floor. He even felt the rubber beginning to melt on his shoe soles. He knelt quickly down by Mallory, who was still spread-eagled on the floor. "Are you okay?"

                "Gimme a sec, I'm fine." she assured him. He helped pull her to her feet, her entire front side considerably redder than the skin on her back. "Aww man! She whined. "Talk about sunburn. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Is there a water fountain around here?"

                "We've gotta find the others, can you run?"

                "I told you I'm fine." Mallory slipped gingerly out of the room before Wildwing. "But thanks from saving me from the economy sized barbecue back there... how did you get out anyway?"

                "Dragaunus and Pretorius fed me a video image that all of you had died from your experiments. They let me go after that. The tape ran out or something, that's how I knew you were still alive." Wildwing started to run down the hall again. Mallory coughed after him.

                "So Pretorius is behind this! I had a feeling. And the others are in rooms like me?"

                "With different tests being done to them." Wildwing sighed. "And we've got to get them out fast. Pretoruis knows I escaped, he may just try to up the experiments and kill the others before we can get to them." They came to another panel in the wall. "Here." Wildwing told her. "You open this one, I'll keep going."

                "But how?" Mallory coughed again.

                "See that panel on the wall? Hit emergency override to open the door. The access code is 'password'!" Wildwing yelled at her as he continued running. Mallory spotted the panel and opened it.

                "Password. It figures." She muttered, her voice still harsh from her parched throat and her exhausted body. She punched in the code and smiled as the door started to open. Grin looked up from the center of the room at her, kneeling on the floor and bracing an arm to help him stand. The other arm cradled his ribs. Then Mallory noticed the walls were beginning to move! They were moving in like a trash compactor! She jogged quickly in and started to help Grin up.

                "So good to see you safe friend." Grin smiled warmly up at her.

                "Same to you big guy. You still in one piece?"

                "One peace." Grin corrected her. "My spirit and body are little damaged."

                "Good." Mallory eyed him strangely. "Let's get outta here before we become splats on the wall!" She led him out of the room before the walls came within range of crushing them. The door closed behind the two. Grin breathed a sigh of relief.

                "I sense the others are in danger, what about them?"

                "They are... Pretorius has kept us here, he's doing this to get more data on us!" Mallory yelled. Grin simply shook his head.

                "Then we must go." he said, and started off at a reserved jog down the hall. They came upon Wildwing, hauling Tanya out of her respective room as the door closed.

                "Tanya!" Mallory knelt down by the shivering figure. "Looks like you got stuck in the freezer...."

                "I'm..... okay...... realllly....." her beak clacked from the cold. She slowly stood up, ice crystals falling off of her.

                "Maybe you should stay here..." Wildwing began, concerned.

                "No no... I have to get moving... to get warm again...." Tanya insisted, jogging slowly down the hall again. The group picked up and followed after her, Wildwing once again running the lead, until they came up to another door. Wildwing flipped the panel and typed in 'PASSWORD' Mallory leaned her ear to the door.

                "Who's in there?" Grin asked.

                "I can't tell!" she said back, frustrated. 'ACCESS DENIED'

                "What?" Wildwing breathed.

                "What is it?" Tanya shivered.

                "Pretorius changed the password!" Wildwing panicked. He tried to think, started trying the old passwords over again. Suddenly, there were loud clanking noises coming from both ends of the hall. Five of Pretorius's robots burst in from the way the Ducks had come, and five more hunter drones dropped in from the way they were heading!

                "Terrific, talk about the worst of both worlds." Mallory groaned.

                "Tanya! Give this panel a shot while we hold them off?" Wildwing asked.

                "I'll do my best." Tanya walked up as Wildwing ran and sparred with a drone but a few feet away. Tanya tapped at the panel with shaking hands. What was the new password? Mallory struggled as a robot had grabbed her around the torso, squeezing her arms together.

                "Hey buddy, I had enough of you the last time we met!" Mallory yelled, and bent over, sending the robot spinning over her head and onto the floor. Mallory finished it with a kick that punctured the robot's middle, leaving it sparking and convulsing. Mallory hobbled a bit as she looked around again, willing to pick a fight. Grin was currently tackling a robot and a drone. One drone grabbed at his arm, trying to hold him in place, while Grin used the other arm to make a fist and decapitate the drone as easily as one would crinkle aluminum foil. The robot let go of Grin and landed a punch in his middle. Grin suddenly doubled over. The robot raised an arm to punch again when Mallory grabbed it, flinging the robot backwards. Grin recovered and used his foot to flatten the machine's head. He coughed and rubbed his side again.

                "Stick with me." Mallory ordered, putting their backs to each other as three more drones closed in on them. Nearby, Wildwing was tackling two more robots at once, after punching a first out of commission. Wildwing let the robots make the first move, as they both went for the restraint bit again. Wildwing growled and let them grab his arms. He grinned and slammed his elbows together, letting the two robots collide and nearly explode before him. His arms ached as he pulled them away, still sore from his restraints back in the main room. He turned to help Mallory and Grin, but found them dispatching the last hunter drone. "Got that panel yet Tanya?" Mallory panted.

                "Got it!" she shivered happily.

                "What was the password?" Wildwing asked curiously.

                "'Other Password'." Tanya smirked.

                "You've gotta be kidding me." Mallory shook her head. The door opened a crack, and suddenly there was a huge rush of air into the room, catching all four ducks by surprise, knocking them slightly off balance.

                "Zelda must be in there..." Wildwing said as the air slowed, he slipping into the doorway carefully. The dragon was in the room's far corner, still scuffling about on the floor with her wings, twisting miserably. Wildwing jogged up to her and kneeled down, exausted. "Zel... relax girl, it's us." he shook her gently. The dragon slowed her writhing.

                "Wildwing.... thank goodness." she said. "Just give me a minute... to find my bearings again...." Equally tired from all her exertion, it took her a few more seconds to stop twining. She slowly got to her feet and took a deep breath as the others were coming in. "Mallory! Grin, Tanya!" she sighed happily. "What a relief to see you all... I had my worst fears in mind when I saw it was Pretorius behind this deal. You all look like you've been through the Underworld and back."

                "Would be an understatement." Tanya wrapped her arms about her shoulders.

                "You okay Zel?" Wildwing was still looking her over worriedly. Zelda stood fully and paced a bit.

                "Squished up but fine. It's nice to be back at a stable air pressure!" she nodded. "Let's get the others and get out of here." The others turned and ran quickly out of the room, kicking bits of drone metal aside as they continued down the hall. There was a loud animal squeal from behind the next door they came to.

                "Duke's in there!" Wildwing was instantly worried again. "Get ready for a fight when we get in." Tanya was instantly at the panel, tapping away.

                "What did Pretorius do to him?" Mallory looked.

                "He's defending himself against a pack of leopards." Wildwing shook his head, ready before the door to leap in for a fight.

                "Leopards?" Zelda was amazed. "We're talking one of the biggest predatory cats on this planet!" Wildwing nodded grimly as the doors opened with a hiss. A paw immediately poked through, nearly catching Wildwing on the beak. He and Grin helped to push the doors open faster, as Mallory, Zelda and Tanya leapt in. Zelda roared loudly, opening her wings and shooting up to the ceiling. She could see flashes of maroon on the floor in a far corner. She flipped her wings up and plummeted down, slamming into a big cat feet first, knocking it hard against the wall. Duke lay underneath it, torn up but still alive enough to be mad at the leopard.

                "Nice to see you in one piece Duke!" Zelda panted as she spread her wings over him. Duke got up slowly and put his hand over a slash across his face.

                "Same to you Zel." he grunted, standing gingerly. A cat lashed at him, but was pounded firmly on the skull by Grin. The cat fell to the floor and lay dumbstruck. Grin spun around just in time to catch another one in mid pounce and throw it to the ground.

                "Nice kitty." he growled.

                "Let's hope these guys go bug Pretorius when they wake up." Mallory joked. "You okay Duke?"

                "Just a few scratches..." he said, annoyed at himself. Zelda looked him over carefully as he stood.

                "Those look like more than a few scratches Duke, they sure used you for one heck of a cat toy."

                "Good job holding your own Duke." Wildwing praised the duck as he put Duke's arm over his to help him walk. He really was in the worst shape of the lot.

                "Lucky you guys came in here when you did." Duke started. "They were just about to release some more cats from that gate over there...." Wildwing looked over to the closed gate with a gulp.

                "Tigers?" he asked.

                "I dunno, why?"

                "Because I've got a hunch... and if I'm right Dive's life may be hanging in the balance as we speak."

                "Then what are we waiting for?" Mallory was already charging out the door.

                "Go ahead! We'll catch up!" Wildwing yelled after her, dragged down by the hobbling Duke.

                "Would ya mind telling me what's going on? What's wrong with the kid?" Duke was worried as he was hurt.

                "Pretorius." Wildwing seethed. "He's the one who put you though this, some kind of experiments Dragaunus was sponsoring. He locked all of us up and put us under different stresses. Dive's locked in an oxygen deprivation room."

                "Great Mother of ducks!" Duke breathed.

                "Yeah... Pretorius knows we've all escaped, he's upping the level of these tests to try and kill Dive before we can get to him... I hope we're in time..." The two stumbled through the hallway, and then heard loud scrapes and crunches ahead, more yelling.

                "Great... looks like somebody sent backup." Duke shook his head. Wildwing pushed forwards and rounded the corner to see the rest of the Ducks fighting off ten more hunter drones. Tanya was struggling to open the bay door and fight off a drone at the same time. Duke pushed himself away from his support and leaned against the wall, inching along and looking for somewhere to pick a fight. Wildwing ran and punched the drone pestering Tanya full in the back of the head, decapitating it utterly. He jumped in front of her as she immediately went back at the panel.

                "Did Pretorius change the password again!?" Wildwing yelled over the clamor.

                "No! I think we're too fast for him!" Tanya yelled back. Still, something was holding her up. Tanya was suddenly yelled and dodged as a laser blast resounded near her. She rolled onto her back, somersaulting up quickly, ready for a fight. Grin loomed in a smacked the drone that had fired on her away. Tanya turned back to the panel and gasped. It was partially hit by the laser blast! Half of the panel was charred, some of the buttons were melting. Wildwing by now was waiting nervously at the door.

                "What's the holdup?" He yelled.

                "The panel's been hit!" Tanya was starting to panic. She tried to calm herself as Grin went back to fending off the drones and robots for her.

                "How bad? Can it still work?" Wildwing was panicking as well. Tanya frantically scanned the panel. The buttons still worked, the liquid crystal display still partially readable...

                "Gimme a minute!" She yelled back, blotted out by the clamor around her. Tanya immediately went to work. Wildwing was left to stand helplessly at the door. Zelda stood where the bay door cracked in half, scratching at the ends listlessly. She reared back and rammed into the door weakly. It was the only thing she could do. She rammed again and again, thunking her head dully against the metal. Wildwing soon joined her, scrabbling for a place to wedge his hands in and pry the door open. It was hopeless. The fighing was quieting down.

                "The panel Tanya?" Wildwing yelled again. No answer. Wildwing really started to panic. Suddenly there was a loud hiss, the doors parted. Wildwing struggled until he squeezed through the opening. His brother lay on his stomach in the middle of the floor as he had seen on the screen. Wildwing ran for him, coughing violently because of the lack of air. The rest of the Ducks stalled at the door. Wildwing scooped his brother off the floor and ran him out of the room, laying him in the hallway. His face was pale as an eggshell. The Ducks crowded around him, nervous. Zelda flapped her wings to back them away.

                "Give him some air!" She ordered.

                "He's just unconscious..... " Wildwing breathed slowly, still in shock upon seeing his brother, only partially relieved. "Or in a coma..... or..."

                "Wildwing." Zelda placed a paw on his gloved hand. "We've gotta get out of here." Wildwing sat for a moment.

                "Then let's go." Half of the Ducks were already off and down the hall, running cautiously. Wildwing slung his brother in his arms and joined them. They ran down the corridor as quickly as they could, fearful of meeting any more resistance from Dragaunus's drones or Pretorius's robots. But seconds later they exited though a few doors, finding themselves again amongst the screaming children of the virtual reality exhibit. Parents and children alike stopped on a dime in alarm upon seeing the Ducks in their condition.

                "Stay calm everyone, we have an emergency situation on our hands!" Mallory called to all of them. "We need you to gather your children and your belongings and exit the museum as quickly as possible!" Those before her flew into a panic and ran away. "Humans!" she sighed. "Tanya, do you know where the main office is?"

                "Sure do?"

                "Then let's get to a loudspeaker and evacuate this place!" Wildwing turned back and shut the doors they had emerged from.

                "Pretorius isn't going to let us get away this easy...." He started. "Grin.. I need you go to back to the Migrator, take Zelda with you. Duke needs to be taken care of...." Wildwing looked around to see Duke gone! "What the?" he started.

                "Perhaps he went to help evacuate the building." Zelda started.

                "Maybe." he paused, still holding Nosedive in his arms. He reluctantly handed him over to Grin, a hapless look in his eyes. Zelda hopped up on Grin and patted Wildwing on the shoulder.

                "We'll be careful." she promised him. Wildwing slowly nodded and stood back.

                "Go on ahead, we'll all be to the Migrator shortly." Wildwing broke off and ran back down the hall. Grin held Nosedive gently and started out. He went through an emergency exit, ignoring the alarms that opening the door caused. Somewhere over a loudspeaker, Mallory's voice could be heard.

 

                Duke's wounds ached. His head ached. He'd lost too much blood, and he knew it. Still, he tried to concentrate on more pressing matters. He had to find that room Wildwing was telling him about. The control room. He knew Draggy and Pretorius might still be there. But it was likely their gear was there too. He had to get his sabre. He made his way through the halls as a muffled voice came from a speaker somewhere far away. It sounded like Mallory. Maybe they were all out of the building by now, he didn't care. The door before him swung open to reveal a huge room, with a huge screen stretching across it. This must have been what Wildwing was talking about. Duke snuck behind a computer console, got down on his stomach and began crawling along the floor beneath it. He couldn't take any risks, not now. He crawled slowly all the way along the cold floor to the other side of the room, and another set of doors. He opened it to reveal a smaller room, more computers, carpeted in dark shades along the floor and walls. Duke stood up, propping himself up on an office chair. He looked at the computer to see a VCR beneath it, a tape inside. Duke frowned. He continued along the panels, but couldn't find his gear. There was a small safe in the corner of the room. Duke grinned at the challenge. He walked over and sat down next to it, pressing his ear to the lock as he twisted the dial back and forth. In a few effortless seconds, he twisted the handle and the heavy door swung open.

                "I love my job." Duke muttered, seeing his sword gleam at him from inside the safe.

                "Excellent hearing skills..." a voice noted matter-of-factly from behind him. Even Duke jumped a bit in surprise. Pretorius stood in the doorway he had just come through, scribbling on a clipboard. Duke swiped up the Ducks's gear in one hand and his sword in the other, unsheathing it's golden light in the dark room.

                "Let me out sicko." he growled.

                "I would normally of course." Pretorius started. "But I do have a sponsor who would love you to stay." Dragaunus's shadow suddenly loomed over Pretorius, growling in the black.

                "Thank you doctor." he rumbled. "Now go send your robots to capture the rest of the Ducks. I'll handle this one."

                "Try not to damage him...." the scientist ventured.

                "You're lucky after your screw up that this one was dumb enough to come back!" Dragaunus snapped. "Now go!" Pretoruis scampered out, his lab coat fluttering behind him. The Saurian now turned his attentions back to Duke, who was pacing towards him slowly, sword aimed dangerously. "You've got no hope for escape Duck." Dragaunus grinned, eyes blazing in the dark. "You're wounded, you don't stand a chance against me.... not even Wildwing could get past me on one of his better days...." Duke suddenly lunged for the lizard in the dark. Dragaunus roared out at his sword danced across the flesh of his arm. Duke withdrew just in time to avoid the lashing coil of the Saurian's tail. He flattened himself in the corner, wincing from the pain in his back.

                "I'm not my leader." he warned, breathing heavily.

                "But I can deal with you just as quickly!" Dragaunus flung himself at the cornered duck. Duke cooly took his sword in both hands and raised it high, throwing it downward and striking something hard and thick. Dragaunus was thrown to the floor under the blow and Duke leapt over him as he slammed into the corner.  He pulled his sword up from what it had stuck in, probably in Dragaunus's crest. He didn't look. Duke gathered up some coms he had dropped, and took off in as full a flight as he could in his condition. He didn't stop until he had come back out into the museum. Duke panted as he traced his footsteps back to the front hall, and as he entered, lasers threw him back into the hallway he had come from. Hunter drones. Duke looked up to see a line of them coming at him, six or seven of them. He scrambled to his feet, sword before him. Why did he feel more threatened by six hunter drones than one Saurian Overlord!? Duke backed further into the hall as the drones stalked him, ready to find a good place for a fight. Suddenly, the line before him tumbled as drones were flattened left and right! Mallory and Tanya stood dusting their hands proudly. Duke heaved a sigh of relief and leaned heavily against the wall. The two rushed up to him.

                "There you are?" Mallory said. "Where were you, we've gotta spilt!"

                "Getting my sword." Duke said quickly, as he handed Tanya her Omnitool.

                "I'd thank ya Duke, but my first reaction is that you're nuts! You could have been killed!" Tanya scolded him as she lent him a shoulder.

                "I know." he said grimly. The three rejoined Wildwing, who was waiting for them at the front door. "We'd better scoot Wing, I overheard Pretorius's robots plan to give us a going away party."

                "Just great, let's move." They ran out of the museum and onto the waiting Migrator. As the Ducks secured themselves, snaps of laser fire suddenly resounded from the outside.

                "Mallory, ready the mortar guns." Wildwing ordered her. Mallory tapped away at the keyboard.

                "Mortars locked on target, hunter drones, robots and three henchmen to our left!"

                "Then frag 'em. I don't feel like running from them after what they did to us."

                "Mortars away!" Mallory pushed the launch button with a smile. There was a huge explosion from a distance away. Smoke billowed across the windshield of the Migrator, making it impossible to see. Finally it wisped away, revealing a huge crater at the steps to the entrance of the museum. Nothing moved.

                "Target destroyed." Mallory reported with an grin.

                "Then we're outta here. The cops can clean up." Wildwing gunned the motor and sped out of the parking lot. He was quick to set the Migrator to autopilot, and then unfastened his seatbelt. He got up and quickly walked to the back, where two cots had  been set up for Duke and Nosedive. Dive lay on the first, a hand limply over the edge, an oxygen mask over his beak. Grin watched over him guardingly. Zelda was trying to bandage Duke up as quickly as she could, doing her work silently and diligently. She stopped upon hearing Wildwing. She spun around and reared up beside Dive.

                "How... is he?" Wildwing asked, his shoulders sloped.

                "Alive." Zelda started. "He's breathing normally... on oxygen. I think he's just unconscious."

                "Any side effects?" Wildwing ventured.

                "Like brain damage?" Zelda flattened her ears. "It'll be hard to say.... until we can get him back to the Pond... until he wakes up." Zelda slowly turned back, and started to work with Duke again. The brown duck watched, oblivious to his wounds, as his leader turned quietly back and sat down in the driver's seat again.

 

                His chest rose and fell rhythmically, almost as if he was sleeping. His eyelids fluttered from time to time, but he didn't wake up. Duke sat on the edge of a Medicom bed, trying to resist the urge to scratch his many itchy bandages. He was simply too tired. They had gotten back less than a half an hour ago, everyone checking in quickly with the infirmary, then heading off. Probably to take a nap. Duke sure felt like he needed one. The day's events still spun in his head. He hoped the cops had snagged Pretorius. Wildwing had gone to check with Klegghorn on that very matter. Duke's back sloped as he hung his head and sighed. He did just wanna lie down, but he kept his eyes hopefully on Nosedive, in the bed next to him. He hoped the kid would wake up, he was worried about him. Zelda, across the way, was obviously feeling the same way. She watched him with twitching ears and wandering eyes.

                "Nervous?" Duke asked quietly.

                "I don't know if he's okay Duke.... I don't know what to tell Wildwing." Zelda confessed.

                "What about the Medicom?"

                "Well it's telling me he suffered from oxygen deprivation from 5-15 minutes.... that's all."

                "Heavy." Duke sighed. "So it can't tell if there's been any damage?"

                "No." Zelda shook her head. "His brain's been deprived of oxygen... that's bad. But the Medicom doesn't know how long it'll take for a lack of oxygen to start damaging brain cells. It depends on a lot of things. He's gotta wake up soon.... I hope he's not in a coma." Duke sighed and went to lie down, when he heard the door open and sat back up. Wildwing walked in. Zelda shied beside Dive's bed. Wildwing saw it.

                "Feeling better Duke?"

                "Much." Duke nodded. Zelda gulped and came forward.

                "The Medicom can't tell me much about Dive's condition Wing. He could be fine, he could be in a coma. We won't know anything until he wakes up." Wildwing sighed and picked up his brother's hand.

                "I hope he's just sleeping." He closed his eyes. There was a pause.

                "Did the cops get Dr. Nutcase?" Duke asked.

                "I just got off the phone with Klegghorn. They're holding him for several charges of crimes against humanity."

                "Really?" Zelda asked.

                "Not for what he did to us, his mishap with us put human lives in danger. There's no law in the books that concerns us."

                "Then he'll get off lightly." Duke shook his head. "Louse. I hope Draggy kills him."

                "I don't think he'd stoop that low." Wildwing frowned. "But the incident with us will be mentioned as evidence in court. This whole ordeal has caught the attention of local officials. They're considering a few local laws about us, get us some constitutional rights."

                "That's good." Zelda said.

                "Yeah." Wildwing trailed off. That really wasn't what he cared about... not now. He watched his brother carefully. He sure seemed normal.

                "Well Duke, you can go back to your bunk if you can get over there." Zelda broke the silence uneasily.

                "Great." Duke yawned. He shifted slowly off the bed.

                "I'll help you if you want." Zelda said.

                "No that's..." he broke off when he saw Zelda looking at him with pleading eyes. "Umm... yea sure... just in case I trip or something." he got up stiffly, not having to act like he was in pain as much as he thought he would. Zelda trotted at his heels as he exited. She relaxed as soon as the infermary door closed. "That's rather unlike ya sweetheart." Duke looked down at her. "What's got you so spooked?"

                "A lot of things." Zelda confessed slowly. "This incident today has given me lots of concerns. Draggy and Pretorius are still working together, and we have no idea what he'll use those test results for." she started. "And the fact that it wouldn't be considered a crime to kill you guys? I'm glad Wing's working on that."

                "And about Dive?" Duke stopped in the hall. Zelda paused.

                "The whole oxygen deprivation thing scares me. It's not that bad because our kind can hold their breath underwater for half an hour... but... when you were learning to swim... weren't you ever scared of drowning? Staying under too long?"

                "Sure I was." Duke said. "A lot of people are."

                "There was an incident in the Territory several years before I was hatched." Zelda started. "A yearling lion was ice fishing in the winter. He suddenly saw a huge fish under the ice, and dove down to get it. He went right through the ice. He knew how to swim and all, so he went down after that fish, as any of us would." The two started walking again. "Well he gave the fish a chase, but of course it swam faster than he. So after a while he swam back up... and couldn't find an airhole... the ice was too thick all around him."

                "Jeez." Duke said.

                "We found him, it seemed like an eternity but it was only ten minutes. He was alive... but he was mad. He couldn't form words, he couldn't walk. He was dumbstruck. He lived for only a few hours after we'd rescued him... some called him lucky."

                "Not a happy ending." Duke shook his head. "That happens."

                "I just don't like it Duke. If something happened to Dive, it could affect him for the rest of his life."

                "As if the kid wasn't messed up already." Duke said sarcastically. They were at his bunk. "I'm sure the kid's fine Zel, you've always worried too much." Mallory was walking down the hall, and met them.

                "Hey guys." she greeted blandly. "You look like you need a nap Duke."

                "Exactly what I'm here for." he yawned again.

                "Hey... why did you go back there anyway?" she asked him.

                "Wha?"

                "I've been thinking about that. Why did you go back into Pretorius's lab to get our stuff? We could have replaced it... even Tanya's Omnitool."

                "I had to get my sword." Duke straitened up. Mallory didn't understand. "I don't leave this behind." Duke narrowed his eyes, he meant business. "Ever. I made this when I was in the Brotherhood. You had to have a sword in order to get up the ranks of being a theif."

                "Didn't know they had so much honor." There was soft sarcasm in her voice. Duke ignored it, mercifully. He was in no mood to argue.

                "This sword is a part of me. I don't leave it behind." he finished airily. "I'm tired as anything... see you both in the morning."

                "Don't set your alarm." Mallory smiled as she pushed herself away from the door. Duke went in and waved goodnight as the door closed.

                "Feel like coming back to the infirmary with me?" Zelda sighed.

                "Sure... is Dive doing okay?" Mallory asked.

                "We'll find out."

 

                Mallory saw Wildwing sitting at the base of Nosedive's bed, talking to him softly as they both entered the room. She froze in her tracks, flashbacks of Nosedive's near-death experience with his coma when he was shot with the super-laser racing through her head. Wildwing turned quickly to meet them. Slowly, he smiled. Mallory relaxed. Zelda was already trotting forward.

                "Did he wake up?" she asked, rearing up. Nosedive sat up and rubbed his head.

                "Hey, what does a duck haveta do around here for some food?" he asked. "I dunno how long I've been out, but I do know I've missed my daily dose of triple-spicy tacos." He sat up fully in a moment.

                "Oh, he's fine." Mallory joked. Zelda grinned broadly.

                "And am I ever glad. You gave me quite a scare little bro. I had to watch you nearly suffocate."

                "No way... I wasn't suffocating." Nosedive started proudly. "I was just... sleeping.. yeah." his brother cuffed him lightly on the head, and the two fell to joking. Zelda sighed and wiped her brow.

                "Well there's a load off of my mind. I can actually sleep now, so I'll take the opportunity."

                "Go ahead. I'll get Airhead here to his bunk." Wildwing shook his head with a grin. Zelda nodded and turned tail, trotting happily out of the room and back down the hall. She quietly opened the door to Grin's bunk, where her moss hammock had been hung for the past week. The light was off, and she snuck in quietly, trying not to wake him. She leapt up into her hammock and nuzzled down.

                "Is he okay Zelda?" he asked quietly, groggily.

                "He's fine Grin... he's just fine." Zelda whispered back. There was silence. A few seconds later, some sheets shifted in the darkness. Zelda smiled and tucked a head beneath her wing, her eyes closing in seconds. At least, this one was a happy ending.

 

The End

 

Mighty Ducks-The Animated Series, including all logos and characters (except mine) are copyright and property of Disney. You may copy, print, or whatever with this document, so long as it is not altered and I (Zelda) am credited. Thanks!