The Rematch, part 4

Written by Zelda

 

                Duke was moving slowly, it was almost beginning to annoy Mallory. She tried to look around him and down the hall, hoping to see an end to this tunnel. It was dark and musty and she didn't like it. They had been walking through here for at least ten minutes, doing nothing more interesting than laboring up a flight of stairs. There had to be another door here somewhere. And slowly Duke stopped again, gesturing to his side. There was a door there, looking like something from a naval ship, with a ring-shaped handle.

                "What about this?" he asked.

                "I say it's worth a shot." she shrugged.

                He let her take the rusty handle and slowly wrench the door open and back.

                It swung open with a hideously loud squeak, making Mallory cringe. She slowly peeked out. The room was large, walled with metal and lit with a red eerie glow. Some light was blinking red somewhere. Mallory looked around and saw nothing. She slipped into the room, with Duke behind her. Looking at a wall behind her, there was a large red chair in front of an even larger computer screen. That was where the light was coming from. Two words were blinking on that screen.

 

TARGET LOCK.

 

Mallory stared in confusion. And then she saw the chair swing slowly around. From the shadows that hid the figure in it, a pair of eyes blazed yellow. A blood red tail curled slowly into the light. Mallory closed her eyes. She heard Duke sigh behind her. She was quick and yet reluctant to realize what he wanted her to do. In one swift move, she darted out from in front of him and into the doorframe she had come through. Leaping back into the musty hallway, she slammed the metal door closed and wrenched the wheel to lock it again.

                Duke watched her go. He slowly drew in a breath and turned back to Draguanus with a little smirking twinge in his brow. Suddenly, he gasped as the door was suddenly sent flying across the room, punched from its hinges.

                Seige stomped into the room, carrying Mallory by the collar, and threw her at Duke's feet.

                He looked up helplessly, only to meet Dragaunus's burning yellow eyes again, looming close to his own.

 

                Tanya's hand hurt. Her hand hurt and her head started to ache again. It was a bad omen, she knew it. Something terrible was going to happen or had happened or was happening right now. She wanted to find her Omnitool. No sooner did she finish her thought then Wildwing halted from his brisk walk ahead of her. There was another hallway. It lead off to the left.

                Wildwing looked down it cautiously. "What do you think?" he asked the others.

                "Our gear could be down there." his brother sounded.

                "It could also be down there." Grin pointed down the hallway they were already in.

                Wildwing sighed.

                "Should we split up?" Tanya asked.

                "No." his answer was quick. "We have no way of contacting each other... I don't want us to get captured...." he thought over his options. "Let's take this hallway."

                The team turned to the left and began to walk again.

 

                She gritted her teeth to the locked fangs before her. She wouldn't say a word, she promised herself she wouldn't say a word to him.

                "I'm asking you one more time Duck." Dragaunus snarled, ivory teeth glinting beneath his scaly lips. "Tell me where they are now."

                Mallory remained silent.

                Dragaunus let out a roar so loud that it shook the room.

                "I don't know where they are now." she bit back at him in a mocking tone. "And even if I did you'd have to pull the answer out of my throat yourself."

                "Careful, I just may." he snarled, edging anger in his voice.

                He turned away from her, thank goodness. Mallory looked around her in relief. She was suprised that he was keeping them in the control room. She thought he would have taken them back to the cell, perhaps he'd be smart enough to leave a guard there. But instead she found her hands and feet bound, sitting uncomfortably on the floor in a corner. She looked over her shoulder to see Duke trying again to work at the ropes. He was having a tough go at it. Mallory could see it was hurting him. He finally gave up and glanced at her with a helpless and pained look. Mallory turned back to watching Dragaunus pacing by the console.

                "I'm not suprised you'd be so stubborn about your comrades." Dragaunus spoke as if he suddenly decided to continue the conversation from before. "But you see your information isn't really necessary anyway. You see this?" he pointed to the blinking TARGET LOCK on the computer screen. "That means every one of Baron's hunting machines on this whole island is honed in on your little friends. Believe me, I'd be quite impressed if they made it even close to here alive. But just in case...." he gestured to Seige, who patted the muzzle of his trusty laser.

                Mallory didn't need further explanation. They were trapped like rats. Great.

 

                They had taken the wrong hall. Wildwing knew it from when he had set not three steps down it. There was just something wrong about it, bad and foreboding. It got darker and darker as they went down it. Wildwing couldn't see more than 15 feet in front of him. The team had crowded closer as they walked. And yet something kept telling him that this was the right hall. Something was pulling him down this way.

                "Hey bro." It was Dive who spoke. "Do you have ANY idea of where you're going? I'm washed out!"

                "No." he admitted. "But do you?"

                "I got a bad feeling about this place."

                "Me too little bro. You just wait, we'll get outta here yet."

                Suddenly there was a red light down the hall. The light was strange, as if it was blocked off into little pieces along the top of the ceiling. They approached it carefully. It could be a security camera... a scanner, some kind of alarm. But then they got close enough to make the words out. It was an exit sign! Wildwing suddenly saw a metal door in the wall, with a crack of white light coming though a slit at the bottom.

                "Whoopee! FINALLY a way out!" Nosedive jumped for joy. He was about to turn the handle, when his brother grabbed his arm.

                "Hang on little bro, this thing could be boobytrapped.

                Immediately Tanya shifted to inspect it. She felt the doorframe and tried to get as good a look as she could at the lock in the light. "Looks clean to me." she said, and twisted the handle. Suprisingly, the door was actually unlocked! It was heavy and opened slowly, letting a beam of crisp sunlight in. It was blinding to the Ducks, who all had to shade their eyes. Daylight. It must have been around noon. How many hours had they spent in here? When they could see clearly again, there was a picture perfect view of the outdoors sprawled before them. On the right was the jungle, on the left was the entrance to the house. Off in the distance, sky blue waves broke against the beach.

                "Woohoo!" Dive celebrated again. "We've got our way out!"

                "And yet we can't leave. We've got to find Mallory and Duke... and get our gear." Wildwing sighed.

                "So what do we do?" asked Tanya.

                "Dive. You, and Grin go out and scout around. See if you can't find a boat or something. We'll need to get out of here ASAP when we can."

                "That's a roger bro." Dive gave him a thumbs up and Grin nodded.

                "Take Zelda with you too."

                The dragon tried to stir and plead her case at the remark, but Wildwing had already started off. The dragon sank back against Grin's shoulder as he stepped out and left the door closed behind him.

 

                Sun, heat, humidity and the smell of sea air. It sifted into her lungs and soaked through her scales. Zelda wished she could welcome it... she wished she could feel as she usually did when great golden rays would grace her scales and fill her whole body up with warmth. Now that warmth was oppressive. The sun beat down on them as if they were in a desert, strong and directly overhead. Zelda let a long, hot breath out of her throat in a gutteral growl, breathing the smell of her own fever back in a moment later.

                Grin was already heading for the jungle though, he gently bent the foliage away as he searched along the shoreline for some kind of a boat.

                "Man this is great!" Nosedive breathed from the beach not too far away. "Freedom! I felt like I was in a dungeon in there!"

                "We may soon wish we were imprisoned again, little friend." Grin muttered in his low voice.

                "Come again? I think you got too much mud in that head of yours Grinster." Dive walked up to him.

                "I believe he's right." Zelda sighed. "We shouldn't be separated.... not now."

                "This whole land just feels evil... bad vibes." Grin stared warily ahead of him into the jungle, his neck stretched to see over the leaves.

                Nosedive shook his head and turned back to the beach. Weirdos... but maybe Grin was right. He and Zel had a way with these things. But he didn't want to go back inside, heck no! He wanted off this crummy island. He wanted to be back home. He walked right up to the water and looked down the shore in both directions. No sign of a boat... Nosedive thought of the ferry that had taken them from the airport on the main island to here... but it probably wouldn't come back unless he hired it. Nosedive stooped down to take a handful of seawater, his stomach reminding him of the hit he had taken last night as he did so. He scooped up a handful of water and dumped it on his head. Man that felt good. He was suddenly thirsty, and hunger came to him rather quickly as well. Too bad Zel wouldn't go foraging for coconuts or something, huh. The Duck turned back to the jungle and walked slowly along the shoreline. A big white seagull squawked out as it landed near him, webbed feet sinking only slightly in the hot sand. Man that bird was pretty big. He'd seen some like it in California. But Dive had never seen a bird like this one. It moved weird... jerkily. And then he realized it wasn't a bird... it was a machine. Heck. "Yo guys...." he called slowly.

                Grin poked his head out of the foliage about 20 feet away.

                "Check this out." Dive smiled at the bird as it stood cocking its head. "What, you think this one goes out and fetches seashells for the Baron?" he joked. More squawks came from overhead. Dive glanced up to see three or four more gulls, he couldn't tell with all the sun. "At least I know they won't poop on me!" he laughed.

                Suddenly, one swooped down and grabbed his hair, pulling it before it let go and flew off.

                "What the heck!?" he yelled angrily, pulling his hair back into place and waving at the birds.             They squawked again.

                "I'd get back here Dive..." Zelda started to get up.

                Another one of the birds made a swoop at Nosedive.

                He ducked underneath it, when the one in the sand jumped at him and grabbed at his arm with its beak, tugging his skin.

                "Owch!" he yelled, standing up to shake the bird off.

                It held on like a vice.

                Two more dove in, suddenly clamping to Dive's face and mud-stained shoulder.

                Nosedive started to panic, he could hear more of those things overhead. The pain started becoming more intense as those birds pinched harder, and suddenly he felt pinpricks along their beaks, like little teeth stabbing in. He wheeled around in sudden pain and smashed his arms down into the sand.      By this time Zelda and Grin had reached him.

                Grin took hold of one on his shoulder and tried to pull, but when the bird wouldn't let go he simply crushed it instead. Birds were starting to land on him too, Zelda was doing her best to shoo them away from them both.

                Dive finally managed to yank the last bird off of him and crush it under his foot. "What is this!" he yelled angrily. "Some kind of Alfred Hitchcock movie?!?!"

                "Easy my friend, let's try not to attract attention." Grin patted him on the shoulder.

                Nosedive shook himself and turned away from the beach.

                Zelda was standing near them, sniffing curiously at one of the crushed machines. "Look at this guys." she pointed.

                "More trouble?!?" Nosedive was exasperated.

                Zelda lifted up the machine to reveal a clear green liquid dripping out of a smashed compartment. "Looks like it. This isn't oil, this is some kind of venom."

                "Did any of those things bite you Grinster?" Nosedive asked.

                "No, but they did get you..."

                "Just my arm..." Nosedive held out his left arm to reveal a row of tiny tooth marks, each bearing a trace of blood on the feathers.

                "Great, just great." Zelda signed and wiped her muzzle. "Gimme your belt Dive."

                "Whoa... what for?"

                "We've got to stop that venom from spreading... we'll have to make a tourniquet on your arm." Nosedive slipped his belt off, taking off the holster for his puck launcher and leaving it on the sand.

                Zelda fastened it around his arm and yanked it tight.

                "Yow!" he snarled, pulling his arm away. "Does it have to be that tight?!"

                Zelda nodded grimly as Grin picked her up and put her back on his shoulder. "Try not to move it... we've gotta keep looking for some type of a boat..."

                They moved quickly back to the jungle.

                "And who knows what other animals Baron has out here." Grin said.

                Nosedive was only half listening. He was getting tired, sleepy even... he was getting tired fast.

 

                This was the end... they both knew it when they saw it. The recognized it from the time they had been here before. The hallway melded into the great room, with its great computer screen and console, its walls hung with animal heads and furs. This was it... the main room. Wildwing and Tanya looked at each other for a moment. Now what?

                Wildwing started thinking quickly. There had to be someone in there. A henchman, maybe even Draggy or Baron. Maybe their gear was in there too. Wildwing stepped beyond the doors at the end of the hall and slowly crept into the room, blinking in a pulsing red light. He slunk along the wall, into the far corner.

                Tanya was about to follow when suddenly they both saw something out of the corner of their eye. Seige. At the far end of the room, he was stalking to the console of the computer. He removed a laser gun from it and walked back to the middle, disappearing behind the giant chair that stretched to the ceiling. He started talking to someone.

                Wildwing sensed his tone of voice even though he couldn't make out any words. There was something bad going on.

                Tanya looked at him and shrugged.

                How would they find out without actually peeking around the chair? Wildwing reached over and took out the Mask from his pouch. Maybe, just maybe it would work for him. He slipped it on his head, closing his eyes as he pressed his hands to the side of it. Please...please... Tiny electric shocks raced through his skull. Wildwing flinched but kept his hands held to it. It had to work... he had to try... And suddenly the Mask fell silent. Wildwing opened his eyes again to see red before them. Relived, he scanned the area. Four life forms... Seige was one... Dragaunus another, and the rest... Wildwing froze.

                Tanya glanced at him worriedly. What was it?

                Wildwing removed the Mask from his beak and stowed it, slinking back out of the room.

                Tanya followed him quickly as he huddled in the corner of the hall. "What?" she whispered as softly as she could.

                "Duke and Mal, they're in there. I think they've been captured." he sighed softly.

                Tanya looked around. "Wait a sec... look there." she pointed. A few feet back down on the other side of the hall, there was a door with "Emergency Exit Only, Alarm Will Sound" painted on it. "Diversion?"

                "Good thinking... If I can activate that alarm.."

                "I'm going." Tanya said.

                Wildwing looked at her. "Are you sure? Once Draggy knows where you are..."

                "I know. But you're probably going to face worse getting those two outta his claws." Tanya gave him a smirk. She stood up and crept over to the door. She drew in a deep breath, then wrenched the handle and threw the door open. A blaring siren suddenly exploded the silence. Tanya waited, frozen in terror like a deer in the headlights of a car. And suddenly a laser beam shot down the hall.

                Wildwing crumpled himself in the corner as he heard Seige yell and his footsteps grow thunderously close.

                Tanya fled, slamming the door behind her.

                Seige arrived at it not more than a few seconds later, busting it in with a single punch and diving into the black space beyond. He didn't see Wildwing slipping into the control room behind him.

                It was pulsing and red as Wildwing retreated to the far corner again. He gritted his teeth and slowly tiptoed along the wall, daring to leave it and trek across the room. He finally reached the back of the chair, flattening himself against it nervously. As he approached the edge of it, he was suddenly presented with a problem: How was he to peek around the corner without getting his beak into view? He sighed to himself, and cut his breath off as he heard voices.

                "I'm getting tired of putting up with you." It was Dragaunus. "You'd better talk now, before I decide to get violent."

                "Gee." Mallory answered in a wry tone. "With a brain as small as yours, I'd assume violence was second nature!"

                Suddenly there was a muffled yell, and Wildwing retreated further behind the chair as something rushed past him, landing on the floor with a thud. Wildwing squinted in the dark red light to see that it was Duke!

                Bound tightly, he slowly rolled up onto his side, teeth locked.

                "Duke!" Mallory called to him.

                He didn't respond, trying to breathe.

                Wildwing crept to the very edge of the chair, crouching on the floor, trying to get Duke's attention.

                But he didn't open his eyes.

                Dragaunus started chuckling. "Now be a good little Duckling and talk, before you end up worse off than your friend!"

                "I told you before I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE!" she yelled back at him.

                Dragaunus growled. "It matters not." he shrugged her off.

                Wildwing froze as he sat in the chair.

                "You know I'm actually disappointed that whoever tripped the emergency door alarm didn't just come in here instead." he mused. "I would have simply loved dealing with them. Perhaps your friends were looking for a way to leave this island without you. Oh well, they're at the mercy of Seige's laser now, and he doesn't miss very often. I'll be here when they're brought back, in one piece or in pieces. Believe me, I'll be waiting." Suddenly there was a whoosh from above, and Dragaunus was flattened as something dropped down onto him.

 

                Wildwing landed a punch somewhere in the lizard's shoulder before gravity took them both to the floor. He'd remind himself never to jump from that height again, from the chair above. He rolled up quicker than Dragaunus did, who was holding his crested head.

                "Mallory! Where's our gear?" he called out behind him.

                "I don't know!" she yelled back.

                Wildwing shook his head. He wanted his pucks for his launcher back. And worse yet, Draggy was up and charging again.

 

                Nosedive stopped and propped himself up with his arm, bracing against a mossy log. Man he was tired... too tired to think almost. He heard Grin stop ahead of him and turn around.

                "You trip back there Dive?" Zelda called to him.

                It took a minute for the Duck to process what he had heard. "I'm just tired..." he trailed off. He heard Grin returning to him.

                Zelda jumped on the log beside him, looking into his face. "You've been slowing down... I hate to say it but I think that's the venom. It must be some sorta tranquilizer..."

                "Great... it's sleepytime for me." Dive faltered as he tried to stand again.

                "This is inconvenient." Grin said softly. "We have to keep looking for a boat."

                "But we can't stray too far from where we came, or the others won't find us." Zelda said. "And Dive...."

                "Stay with him." Grin told her. "I'm going to keep looking."

                Zelda nodded and watched him walk off alone.

                Dive sat down beside her, head bobbing sluggishly.

                "This isn't good." Zelda told him. "We can't keep splitting up. He's all alone out there Dive. If something happens to him... we're not much better off ourselves, and who knows about the others...." Zelda turned back to see that Nosedive had faded off to sleep.

 

                He couldn't think clearly. His mind was all fuzzy, faint. He could hear... he heard the voices of angels, singing down to him. Duke froze up with weak fear, trying to breathe. He forced his eyes open, and saw nothing but pulsing red and a bluish light above him. He slowly recognized what he was hearing... Wildwing's shield. The goalie was crouched behind his head, holding his shield over him and wincing as laser fire glanced off of it. Duke tried to move, tingling running up his limbs. He wasn't breathing right... he had to get off of his ribs... Wildwing suddenly ran away from him. Duke froze, unprotected. There were thunderous noises resounding near him. Dragaunus was running, full flight, the 600 pound dinosaur flashing teeth and claws as he leapt at least 7 feet in the air and landed with a crash into Wildwing. The two rolled on the ground before they both tired out, got up, and locked arms again. Duke gasped as Wildwing took a huge slash and was thrown to the ground. This time, he stayed down. Duke closed his eyes as Dragaunus paced towards his fallen leader, panting and grinning. Suddenly there was a loud yell and a thwack. Duke opened his eyes again to see Wildwing viciously kick Big Red's knees out from under him, knocking him to the floor. The Duck sprang up and landed another kick right in his head. Dragaunus gave out a final snarl of pain before he sunk into unconsciousness. Wildwing stood over him, panting in effort, eyes closed and a hand gripping his right shoulder. He removed it to reveal a deep gash in his armor. Wildwing walked quickly back to Duke and kneeled down by him.

                "Is he okay?" Mallory's voice came from the corner.

                Wildwing started to untie his ropes. "Duke? You still with me Duke?" he asked.

                "I'm okay..." he breathed sharply.

                "Take it easy.... we're in the clear now." Wildwing looped the rope from around his body and slowly sat him up.

                Duke held his ribs and was able to breathe more easily.

                Wildwing stood up and walked over, untying Mallory.

                She stood up and stretched. "Where's everyone else?" she asked, rubbing her wrists and walking back for Duke.

                "Grin, Zel and Dive are outside."

                "You found an exit?"

                "Yes, hopefully we can get to it. But Tanya was the one that got Seige to run off... who knows where she is...."

                Mallory stooped down and gently helped Duke off of the floor, sitting him in the main chair.

                Wildwing looked up at the screen. "What's this?"

                "It's a target lock sequence." Mallory snapped to as if she suddenly remembered it. "It's got all the machines on this island locked in on each of us!"

                "Jeez what is he in league with Dr. Droid now?!" Wildwing sighed. "I'm going to see if I can't break the sequence. See if our gear's in here Mal."

                Mallory walked off and started looking around the room.

                Wildwing rubbed his chin and stared down at the keyboard. Why didn't he go instead of Tanya?

 

                Why didn't he stay inside? Grin shook his head slowly as he crouched low in the wet jungle foliage. The heat was getting to him, making him dizzy. He wished he was back in the dark again. He didn't like it at all out here, in this jungle full of unearthly machines waiting to rip him to pieces. Grin snapped himself back to. This was not like him at all. He'd never get off this island thinking like this. Nay... he needed to regain his link with the land. Being trapped in that mansion for so long had made him nervous. The threat to him was still real, but there was no use in cowering in fear, so tense that he'd leap into the air at the snap of every twig. No, he needed to become one with the forest itself, to gain its sight and its touch. He needed to feel what it felt. He would know of his enemies before they knew of him. He would gain their own sight. Grin closed his eyes and crouched lower, feeling his fingers sink into the wet, loamy earth. He took in a deep breath and sighed, pushing himself mentally down into the earth, seeping into it and spreading through it, filtering out into the plants, up into the trees. And Grin remained this way when he felt something else depressing its paws into the soil near him. Slowly, quietly, he stood up and clenched his fists. Grin suddenly spun around and slammed his fist into the hot metal plating of a mechanical hyena as it leapt. The animal screamed in metallic protest and was flung into the brush, throwing greenery up around it. Grin turned calmly around to see two more of the hyenas leaping at him. He grabbed one around the neck and swatted at the other, but he missed. The machine landed on his arm, locking its jaws dumbly into his shoulder padding. Grin plucked it off and smashed the two machines together, rendering them to pieces. He snarled as the first hyena leapt on him again, claws scraping up his back, tearing his shirt. Grin simply fell to the ground, crushing the machine beneath him. He got up, looking beyond the bushy leaves to see five more machines waiting to spring at him. Grin crouched and snarled, but the animals suddenly sat back. Suprised, Grin didn't let down his guard. The animals just sat there. Grin frowned. Slowly, one of them got up and started wandering away from him. The other four followed, meandering away in a crooked path. Grin stood up and watched them until they had disappeared, and the forest was once again peacefully silent. Grin dusted himself off slowly, and started walking again.

 

                                                                                To be continued....