Shockwave

Written by Zelda

 

                "Be careful!" he snarled.

                Siege leaned up to wipe his forehead with a greasy wrist, and turned around. "I'm being careful!" he argued.

                "Not careful enough." Dragaunus loomed closer, menacingly.

                Siege withered under his blazing eyes.

                "I've told you Siege, we have very limited materials. I won't allow you to bungle things up this time!" Furious, Dragaunus turned away and stalked out of the room. Siege breathed a heavy sigh of relief, before a drone clanked up to him with a tangle of wires and thick cables.

                The Saurian glared at the machine. "No fair hiding, you little whimp." he snapped.

                The drone leaned up, and suddenly vanished in a green shadow, melding back into The Chameleon. "Eh, I wasn't hiding!" the green lizard brushed himself off and threw the cables in Siege's face. "I was just... avoiding. You'd do the same if you were as small as I am."

                "And as yellow." Siege grumbled. He pulled out one cable and shoved his head back into the framework of the machine.

                Chameleon ignored his comment and went to work on the other side of the spherical frame, with a wrench. "Man, we've been working for days! How many more of these are left to go?"

                "Just one... shame we didn't have enough parts for all six."

                "Puh, Dragaunus can make due with only three." Chameleon shrugged. "I don't see why he didn't just send some drones to the junk heap to look for more."

                "You can't find this stuff in a junk heap, you idiot." Siege rolled his eyes. "Do you even remember what we're gonna do with this?"

                "A little respect here!" Chameleon's face twisted into that of Rodney Dangerfield. "I got more intelligence than ya think!"

                Siege ignored him and continued working. "If one was enough to nearly bring the city to the ground," he started. "Three should send it to the center of the earth."

 

                Tanya had flipped through nearly half of the book already. Why didn't they index this thing properly? She would have liked to use Bill Gates as a punching bag at that moment. She fiddled a bit more at Drake 1's keyboard, peering into binary code and endless programming as if it were a tangled thicket. Finally, she gave up with a sigh, and tossed the heavy book over her shoulder.

                "YEOOOOWWWW!" Nosedive squealed like a girl and leapt away, holding one of his feet and hopping up and down in agony.

                Tanya nearly jumped out of her seat with surprise. "Nosedive!" she gasped, quickly steadying him by the shoulder. "By Puckworld, you scared me! I didn't even know you were there!"

                "Too bad for me!" Dive yelped, pulling off his boot and continuing to hop around.

                Hearing all of the noise, Duke poked his head into the Ready Room, curiously. "Jeez kid, I wanted to give you some pointers on how to sneak up on people, but this wasn't one of them..."

                "So you're responsible for this?" Tanya put her hands on her hips.

                "This coming from the Duck who just dropped the dictionary on my foot!" Dive wailed.

                Duke chuckled and walked up the stairs to the computer's console. He picked the book up and hefted it onto Tanya's seat. "Jeez Tanya, what is this thing?" he opened it and scratched his head.

                "A programming book." she waved it away in annoyance. "I've been working on updating the scanners---

                "Excuse me!!!" Dive yelled. "Fellow Duck in extreme pain here!"

                Tanya laughed as he hopped around. "That's good balance Dive."

                Duke nodded with a smirk.

                Taking some final sympathy, Tanya helped to steady Dive again, and lead him off to the infirmary. "Jeez you're fussy!" she sniffed, smiling. "Just a bruise! I respect Wing for what you must have put him through as a hatchling!"

 

                His beady eyes were stung by the bright Anaheim sunlight. Wraith had gotten quite used to his cloak, looking down from the roof of the high-rise and upon the trivialities of human life below. They were like ants, simple and easy to crush. Still, he didn't like being out here.

                "Any sign of the Ducks?" Siege called.

                Wraith spun around and put a wrinkled old claw to his lips. "You'll bring them here with all that yelling... if they aren't already on their way."

                "Don't tell me ya got another bad feeling..." Chameleon started, shaking his head.

                Wraith turned away from the two and peered over the building's high roof again, a worried frown on his face. "I just hope we're ready for trouble..."

                "You just quit your whining." Siege cut him off. "You don't even have to do any of this work!"

                At that moment, Chameleon morphed into his version of a body builder, and they both hefted up a huge, spherical metal machine. "Careful!" Chameleon yelped, as they wobbled to place it on top of an air-conditioning unit. The two backed off gratefully from the heavy machine.

                "Now all that's left is to conceal it from prying eyes..." Wraith floated over and attached a small device to the mechanical hull. In seconds, it was as invisible as they were.

                Siege dusted off his hands and grinned. "This is the last one." he nodded. "And we were able to get them all right where the boss wanted 'em. He should be happy, for once." They all turned to go, raising their coms. "And now, just to set the trap."

               

                Tanya again was nearly startled out of her seat as alarms blared in her ears. Why hadn't she turned those off? She hoped it wasn't a false alarm... but checking the half- updated scanners, she saw that it wasn't!

                Wildwing skidded into the room and came running up to her. "What is it?" he asked.         

                "Teleportation energy!" she said, checking the map. "In the subway!"

                Duke came up behind them, followed by the rest of the team. "Hey, that station's been closed down for weeks, they've been doing construction in there." he frowned.

                "A construction site again?" Dive frowned. "Sounds like a trap-ola to me."

                "Me too." Mallory seconded. "I don't like this Wing."

                "Regardless, we've gotta go and stop them." he shook his head. "Whatever they're doing in there can't be good. The Saurians are never one to start a confrontation willingly."               

                "Without the advantage of surprise." Grin corrected.

                "Right. So let's not give it to them." Wildwing nodded. "Let's go." The team turned and started off for the Migrator.

 

                The subway reeked of dust and dampness. The need for remodeling the old station was obvious, even as the team descended down the steps and into darkness. The place was silent.

                "Trap city." Dive whispered.

                "Stay behind me." Wildwing ordered, as he activated his Mask in the shadows. At the far end of the platform, almost in the tunnel, Seige waited, laser drawn. "Now! In the corner!" Wildwing yelled. Tanya snapped a flashlight from her OmniTool, shining right at the Saurian, his eyes glowing like a lion's in the beams.

                Blinded, he shot at them haphazardly, hitting the walls.

                Wildwing raised his shield and charged.

                "Flank out team!" Mallory ordered. "Tanya, get a light in these other corners!"

                Tanya swung around, but nothing else could be seen.

                Chameleon suddenly jumped up from the pit of the tracks and surprised them.

                Duke flattened and rolled as he shot out the windows on the old ticket booth. "Guess I'll have to do a little turnstile-jumping." he growled, vaulting one to get closer. As he started shooting, he suddenly was hit on the head, and fell to the floor!

                The others gasped as Wraith materialized above the lone Duck, his staff held high like a club.           Zelda charged, sped by her wings, and tackled him before he could strike again.

                "Cover fire for both of them, now!" Mallory ordered.

                The rest of the team tried to hold of Siege and Chameleon while Duke staggered up, and Zelda tussled angrily with Wraith. The hobbling old Saurian finally broke free and disappeared into a puff of smoke. He reappeared, seconds later, behind all of the Ducks! As the team spun around to try and face him, he turned away from the attack and ran up the stairs.

                "He's getting away!" Tanya yelled, running after him. But there was suddenly an explosion, and concrete from the ceiling came crashing down before the entrance, totally blocking it off!

                "Fools." Grin snarled, punching one fist into the other. "You have just sealed yourselves in."

                "Don't think so featherbrains, you've just been had!" Siege stood, shaking off a hail of pucks, and teleported away.

                "Hah!" Chameleon snapped his fingers in glee. "We really did it! I'm gonna get to try my Duck a  new way tonight, pressed!" he morphed into a very accurate Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, clicked his heels together three times, and disappeared into a green shadow.

                The team regrouped quickly.                            

                "Man..." Duke went up and kicked the wall of debris. "We're sealed in."

                "Pressed Duck?" Nosedive gulped.

                "We'll get outta here." Wildwing remained cool. "Rig up our explosive pucks with a time delay, we'll blast our way out."

                "I've got some." Mallory volunteered. But as she walked up to the blockage, there was a rumbling around them. It disappeared as quickly as it had come.

                "A train?" Dive asked.

                "Not through here..." Duke pondered.

                "No... it is a greater disturbance." Grin closed his eyes.

                Zelda put her ear to the ground and listened, then leaned up and shook her head.

                Suddenly, the rumbling came back, stronger this time. It shook the very station beneath them!

                "What the heck!" Dive stumbled, losing his balance.

                Tiles started to fall from the sides of the walls, and concrete to crumble from overhead.

                "It's an earthquake!" Tanya determined. "We've gotta get outta here!"

                The very mention of an earthquake caused a wave of panic through the team.

                "Guess that's what he meant by pressed Duck!" Dive wailed.

                "Keep your heads, all of you!" Wildwing ordered. "Tanya, get the team into the safest place you can find. Mallory! You're with me, we'll set those pucks!"

                "Are you crazy bro?" Dive yelled, concrete starting to crash down around them.

                "You wanna stick around?!" Wing yelled back.

                Tanya waved the others onto the track, under the frame of the tunnel. They huddled together as Grin took a flimsy sheet of plywood and held it over his head.

                Wildwing raised his shield, holding it above he and Mallory like an umbrella. The two crept up to the debris blocking the stairs, and Mallory set the pucks as tiles popped out of the wall next to her.

                "We've got ten seconds!" she yelled. "Let's go!" She and Wildwing dropped their guard and ran for the others, nearly tripping over the third rail.

                "Everybody duck!" Duke warned, as Wildwing poised his shield in front of the group.

                He closed his eyes and wrapped and arm around his head as he heard the explosion, and felt a wave of heat rush past him. Debris and concrete peppered his shield like horizontal rain. He opened his eyes to find the station full of dust, the only light coming in from the stairs. "Out of here, now!" he shoved his teammates up to the platform.

                Zelda bounded out first, stumbling over the pebbles of concrete as she made it above ground. The rest of the team followed quickly, coughing from the dust. But the earth was still shaking, she could feel it! She looked around her as buildings swayed, actually swayed! The bricks of the one next to her started to crack at the base.

                Wildwing pulled Nosedive out into the center of the street, and the team followed him. They could only watch as windows started to break, car sirens howled, and the buildings swayed terrifically, as if they were the trunks of palm trees in a storm.

                "What's causing this?" Duke yelled over the din. "It can't be natural... the trap!" But as he shut his beak, the shaking suddenly stopped. The noise the earth gave up slowly quieted, fading into an echo. The buildings curved back into place and stayed there. It was over!

                The team stood stock still for a few seconds after the quake stopped, Zelda still bracing her legs against untrustworthy ground.

                Wildwing shook bits of concrete out of his hair, trying to steady his racing heartbeat. The others looked like they were doing the same. Tanya was especially panicked. He looked at the Migrator, parked on the corner, standing as if nothing had happened.

                "We've gotta get back." he breathed. "Hopefully the Pond is still standing."

 

                It was, thankfully.

                Tanya felt the doorframe of an entrance to the Ready Room as the team walked cautiously in. They all looked up at the ceiling, down at the floor, checking for cracks. Zelda didn't look happy to be back underground.

                "Wow." Duke muttered. "Guess we should have taken Phil seriously when he went off ranting about earthquakes, when the Pond was built?"

                "Good thing Disney decided to invest..." Dive nodded.

                Tanya dashed from one level of importance to the next, as she ran up to Drake 1's console. As          Wildwing followed her up, she turned, a look of relief on her face.

                "I don't believe it, still running." she nodded. "All systems check in as fine."

                "And power must be out in half the city." Wildwing added. "Thank goodness the fusion generator wasn't knocked out as well."

                Tanya sat down and started scanning the readings from the screen. "That's not a bad guess." she told him, bringing up a map of the city's power grid. More than half of the city glowed in red, a sign that the power was out.

                "What was that quake, on the Richter scale?" Zelda asked, curiously.

                "Almost a 5, that's pretty serious." Tanya answered. The dragoness rumbled nervously. "But the waves, they're coming... from three different sources.."

                "That's impossible." Mallory sniffed. "It's gotta be the San Andreas."

                "But it's not." Tanya swiveled around in her chair. "These sources are much more local."

                "Then where are they?" Wildwing asked. Tanya went back to typing.

                "That's going to take me a while." she shook her head. "The waves from these quakes have bounced off of certain things, flaws in the earth, bodies of water... It'll take time to sort things out..."

                "I guess we should check the rest of the Pond..." Wildwing turned around.

                "My meditation crystals..." Grin muttered. "I'll check the bunks." He walked off, and out of the side door.

                "My stash of tacos!" Nosedive gasped, and darted out after him.

                "I'll see if things are still in one piece in the lab for you Tanya." Duke waved and stepped out as well.

                "Thanks Duke!" Tanya called back, not taking her eyes off the screen. Data was beginning to feed in from the government's geological station nearby.

                Wildwing squinted at the screen. "Makes me wish I took geology a bit more seriously in school." he nodded.

                "This isn't exactly my specialty either." Tanya shook her head. "But I do understand some of it. What I don't get is why these sources are so close, and why they're centered right in the city."

                "There aren't any faults there." Zelda shook her head. "Not any that are known, anyway."

                Tanya turned to Wildwing. "See, here's how earthquakes work, on this planet anyway. Ever have tomato soup with those little crackers in it?"

                "I love those little crackers." Wildwing smiled.

                "That's like the earth. Those little crackers are continental plates, and they move around. The soup is like the earth's molten interior. But the crackers bump into each other, they push against each other."

                "That's what causes earthquakes." Wildwing said.

                "It's a theory called plate tectonics." Zelda nodded. "At the edges of the plates, earthquakes and volcanoes happen. It's called the Ring of Fire, most of its located on the landforms that edge the Pacific."

                "Like here." Wildwing said.

                "Okay, here's another analogy for you, this time about the San Andreas." Tanya looked over at him. "An earthquake is a lot like a zipper on a fat guy's clothes."

                Wildwing raised an eyebrow and started laughing.

                Tanya was a little embarrassed. "Hey, I'm right!" she argued with a smile. "Each zipper has tings on it, and the zip. Let's say the zip is a piece of land, and the tings are two sides of a fault line. The tings are pulled apart by pressure, causing the zip to go down. How far the zipper unzips depends on the pressure put on it."

                Zelda giggled. "I get it, the tings are much like the folds in the fault line. They act like safety switches, in that a snap could occur at one point in the fault and not another. But one snap puts pressure on all the other points, until they all snap at once."

                "And that." Tanya nodded. "Is what topples cities."

                "Or ruins pants." Wildwing smiled.

                "All joking aside." Mallory said. "You said the sources of the quakes aren't on the fault."

                "Miles from it, you're right." Tanya nodded. "It's possible that we've just discovered a new crack in the fault line, like a branch off..."

                "Impossible." Zelda reasoned with her. "It would have to have existed before, if it just formed now, the shock would be so great, that Anaheim would have been wiped off the map."

                Tanya rubbed her beak in silent agreement.

                "Hello?" Mallory broke in again. "Are we forgetting the Saurian factor here? Big Red had to have been involved, what about that trap back in the subway?"

                "Certainly seems like it couldn't have been a coincidence." Wildwing mumbled.

                Overhearing the conversation, Duke stepped back into the Ready Room, and rejoined the group. "I agree with Mallory, remember what Chameleon said? They have to be causing this somehow, or else he couldn't have known."

                Nosedive entered the room again, munching a taco. "All is well in the kitchen!" he cheered.

                "Your lab too." Duke nodded.

                "Ah, good." Tanya smiled. "I guess we'll have to thank Phil for his foresight... the first occasion of it anyway."

                Wildwing stood, musing quietly. "Okay, so I think we can all agree that the Saurians were involved. But how? They don't have the power to create controlled earthquakes like that, or the technology."

                "Yes they do." Grin said darkly, as the door closed behind him. The others looked at him curiously. "When you were sucked into Borg's dimension, remember?"

                "That's right!" Dive remembered. "And while we were away, you and Phil were the only ones here!"

                "I remember now." Tanya chimed in. "We came back just in time to stop that machine..."

                Grin nodded. "The shockwave. I think that Dragaunus has updated his plans."

 

                Night fell as the team worked out the complications of the three points of origin for the earthquake. As time passed, they began to get more nervous. Dragaunus had the shockwave machines in his possession again, three this time. And it was just a matter of time before he used them again. Wildwing in particular didn't like it. He had the advantage, and still wasn't taking it. The Saurian had a plan, and it frustrated him not knowing what it was. He stood over Tanya's shoulder as she finished pinpointing the locations of the machines.

                "I've been working with the data from the USGS." she said, typing. "They've actually done most of the work for us, and they agree these are not natural earthquake sources."

                "Well at least we've got something established." Mallory noted.

                "Yeah, not only that, but according to their data, this is like no earthquake they've seen before. Instead of coming from deep inside the earth, it seems to be radiating down from the air, like from some kind of channeling pillar."

                "A pillar." Duke mused. "Or a building."

                "Who would notice a machine like that on top of a building?" Wildwing nodded. "And they've probably cloaked them as well, just in case."

                "That doesn't matter now, we have the locations of those three machines." Tanya brought them up on screen, three glowing red dots overlaid on a map of the city.

                "Alright then, we'll have to split up." Wildwing determined. "And take out the machines all at once. If they know we're on to them by destroying them one at a time, they may start the quakes up again."

                "Sounds good to me." Duke nodded.

                Zelda looked up at the screen. "There's gotta be a reason why the Saurians arranged them like that... so close, and in a triangle."

                "Maybe they were pressed for time?" Nosedive asked.

                "No... Dragaunus must have done his homework." Tanya shook her head. "They're so close for a reason. It'll make it easier for us to destroy them, but it must make the earthquakes stronger or something."

                "We can figure that out on the way." Wildwing ruled. "We'll take the Migrator to a central location, maybe on the corner here." he pointed on the map. "If anything goes wrong, we can retreat back there and we should be well protected. But hopefully nothing will go wrong." he looked at his team. "We'll also need to split up, and stay in close contact so we can destroy those machines all at once. They may be guarded."

                "A henchman each." Mallory nodded.

                "So Mallory and Duke, you'll take this one on the smaller building here." he pointed. "Tanya, you're with Grin and me, we'll take the one on the skyscraper, over here. Dive and Zel, you'll take out the last one."

                "I'm game." Dive nodded. "Let's go already!"

                The team turned with him, and began to run for the hangar.

 

                "It's quiet." Duke whispered.

                "Too quiet." Mallory nodded. She looked up with him at a six-story brick building, right in the middle of a tree-lined neighborhood. A lot of people weren't home, scared out by the earthquake. Their cars were gone as well. Few lights were on in the building's apartments.

                "There's little damage to the building." Duke knelt down and examined some cracked bricks at the base. "That's pretty interesting."

                "They were designed that way." Mallory told him. "But I hope this one won't have to go through any more stress tests."

                "I agree. Let's take the fire escape up."

                They both walked into the alley to the right, and started to climb up the ladder. As they climbed up and up, past floor after floor without incident, it began to make Mallory nervous. Was one of the henchmen just waiting for them at the top? Why hadn't they been attacked yet?

                "I know." Duke whispered down to her. "It's weird."

                Mallory took out her launcher and began to climb with it. They wouldn't be caught off guard.            Duke let her catch up before he ascended to the roof. He took out his sabre.

                "I'll cover for you, go ahead." Mallory waved him up.

                Duke peeked above the roofline, and frowned.

                "It's clear."

                "What?" Mallory poked her head out of safety as well.

                Duke climbed onto the roof and started searching around. It was a small and relatively bare roof. There was a water tank, a ventilation unit, and a door to the stairs, but that was all. Duke circled it quickly and shrugged. They were alone!

                "Keep your guard up." Mallory advised. "I'll check in with Wildwing." she scanned the roof one more time before she opened her com. "Mallory checking in."

                "How are you guys doing?" Wildwing asked.

                "Fine. We're on the roof and nobody's here."

                "No guards?" Wildwing looked surprised.

                "Not so much as a drone. I don't like this." Mallory shook her head.

                "Stay low." Wildwing advised. "You may want to get off the roof for now, and find cover just in case."

                "You're not in position yet?"

                "Not quite." Wildwing shook his head. "We're on the elevator up now. Zel and Dive are just reaching their building. We've gotta do this all at once, so wait up for us."

                "Can do. We'll let you know if there's trouble." Mallory nodded. She closed her com and looked up at Duke, who was looking intently at something.

                "Found it." he remarked quietly.

                "The shockwave?" she asked.

                "Yeah, it's right here." he pointed to the top of the ventilation unit.

                Mallory raised an eyebrow, impressed. "But it's cloaked! How did you find it?"

                "Heh, I bumped into it." Duke smiled sheepishly.

                "Pure genius." Mallory smirked. "Let's hang out back on the fire escape for now, we're here early."

 

                "This is highly unusual." Tanya pushed back her goggles. She was crouched behind Grin as Wildwing scouted farther up the stairwell with his Mask. "The Saurians aren't ones for being late to a party they're hosting."

                "Unless it's a surprise party." Grin said darkly. "I have a bad feeling about this."

                Wildwing dropped his arms and turned back to his teammates with a shrug. "We'll they're nowhere around here." he said. "In fact, I was able to spot the shockwave itself, and not them."

                "So where is it?" Tanya asked.

                "Right in the center of the roof." he pointed through the ceiling.

                Tanya rubbed her bill. "Yeah... that would make sense I suppose... the structure of this building means it would serve as a conductor for earthquake waves if they came from the center..." she reasoned.      Wildwing turned back to the stairwell and slowly headed up, for the door to the roof.

                "I have a bad feeling about this." Grin repeated nervously.

                "So do I." Wildwing replied. "But we can't just wait around for the Saurians to show up. It's a race against time before they can use those machines again." He looked up at the ceiling again and frowned. "Let's go." he decided. "We'll flank out and see if there are any security measures set up. Tanya, maybe you can figure out how the Saurians are controlling these things. That way, we can just wait for the others to catch up." His com suddenly beeped.

                "Did someone say ketchup?" Nosedive grinned. "I'm hungry!"

                "Guess this means things are going well, little bro?" Wildwing asked.

                "Ready to rock, Zel and I are nearly on the roof now. All's quiet too, this is weird!"

                "Same thing here." Wildwing shrugged. "Just watch your step up there, we'll be waiting for your signal."

                "Roger that bro, go ahead!" Wildwing nodded.

                "Alright team, this is go time. Open com links for everyone from now on. Duke, keep an eye out for any sort of security they might have on these things. "

 

                The breeze was strong up so high. Grin stalked out onto the roof, followed by Tanya. He looked around nervously, staying on guard. He did not like this. There was just something wrong about this whole situation. The Saurians had too many advantages to not take any. He felt as if they were walking right into a trap. He looked over as Wildwing pointed to the center of the roof.

                "It's right there." he said, hands to the Mask. "And I can't find any sort of system around it... no wires, no cameras or trip alarms..."

                Grin was completely on his guard, and he could tell that Tanya was nervous as well.

                Wildwing ventured closer to the machine, slowly. "I can reach the cloaking device..." he mumbled. "Keep your eyes open." With a sudden, swift move of his hand, Wildwing grabbed at something, yanked it away and crushed it in his hands.

                And the shockwave materialized before Grin, just as he had remembered the machine from before, high atop the roof. It startled him a little, up close. But it was silent.

                "Well." Tanya said. "Whadda ya know."

                "The Saurians know the cloak is offline now." Wildwing nodded, and raised his com. "Mallory, Duke, fire away! You're the first in line!"

                "Copy that 'Wing!" Mallory responded, and the others could hear as she pulled her launcher. It was only a split second before an explosion sent cracking over the airwaves.

                "Ducks one, shockwave zero!" Duke celebrated. "Go ahead guys, it's no trap!"

                "That's our cue." Wildwing smiled. "We're next. Everyone ready their weapons, get back towards the edges..."

                Grin started to back away, when slowly, a bad vibration crept its way into his head, and then his body. Grin stumbled as he saw the shockwave whirr, the frame vibrating. The whole building began to shake.

                A wave of panic spread through them all.

                Wildwing jumped back to the edge of the roof. "Our cover's blown, waste it!"

                Tanya used her laser from her Omnitool, melting and shearing right through the metal hull of the machine. It shuddered slowly, rocking with impact and sparking with malfunction. And it quickly fell silent. Tanya was gasping for breath as she knelt on the roof.

                "Thank DuCaine..." she blinked. "I was really scared there for a second."

                Grin and Wildwing remained silent, staring at the machine. Grin shook his head. "Something's wrong." he said ominously.

                Wildwing frowned. The building hadn't stopped vibrating... there was still something shaking it. But the shockwaves had all been destroyed by now, unless... Wildwing looked at his teammates and activated his com.

                "Dive, Zelda? What's happening over there?" he asked.

                "We've got problems bro!" There was a loud cracking over the end of the line.

                "What's the matter?"

                "The shockwave! It isn't here!" Nosedive yelled back.

                "Impossible, it's gotta be---"

                "They teleported it!"

Wildwing froze as he heard his brother's panicked words. They teleported it.... how simple... how could they not have expected that?! The shaking was slowly growing more severe beneath his feet. "Nosedive." He said loudly. "You and Zelda get out of that building! We're on our way." He shut his com and looked up at the others, waving them back for the door. He had made a serious mistake.

 

                The building rocked beneath her, swaying gracefully and terribly. The machine had to be somewhere nearby. The shaking, the noise was horrible, all around them. Bricks were crumbling, glass was snapping. Zelda instinctively leapt off and to her wings, the air being the only stable plane left. She swiveled around, looking for Nosedive.

                Panicked, he was backing towards the middle of the gravel-covered roof, scared that he was now alone on the shaking building. He suddenly changed his mind and made a dash for the edge, but there was a cracking, a tearing of metal and concrete.

                The dragon's eyes widened as she saw cracks forming in the building beneath her, around the edges, and suddenly racing right through the middle of the roof. In a few breathless seconds, half of the building buckled backwards, like some gracefully falling tree, and collapsed onto itself.

                Dive was on that half.

                Zelda gasped as she saw Nosedive sucked into the wave of the collapsing building, disappearing under the dust and concrete. She cried out in alarm, flapping back down, and landed on the remaining half of the roof. Through the rising dust and earsplitting noise, she found her way to the edge, balancing on rusty steel wires that had held the roof in place before. Her panic increased as she couldn't see Nosedive anywhere. The building beneath her was starting to crumble as well. "Dive! Dive?!" she cried out into the chaos below her. There was no answer. The noise was overwhelming.

                "Zelda!" Wildwing's voice crackled over her com, through the rising dust.

                She spun about to find the rest of the team running up the block, towards them.

                "Zelda! Get out of there before---"

                He was cut off by a violent rumbling, a snapping, racing from some unknown point and throwing the earth up before it. The dragon lost her balance as the building swayed again in its wake, and she fell. Flailing, she snagged the support wires of a floor below her. An aftershock?! Her eyes darted around the rubble below her as she tried to climb back up, fearing the whole building would collapse. Then, suddenly, a huge chunk of concrete broke from the roof, falling only inches from her. Loud snaps sounded as the support wires gave way. Zelda raised her wings to escape, when another chunk crushed her tail, and pulled down her left wing beneath it.

                Wildwing heard her scream in fear as the team skidded to a halt on the corner. "Zelda!?" he yelled as loudly as he could into his com. "Get out of there now!"

                She was unable to pull herself free before a large part of the ceiling came down, sending up a huge cloud of dust. The shaking grew more severe as Zelda felt the ground split away beneath her, and she was sent tumbling, concrete blocks slamming down on her. Totally buried beneath the rubble of several floors, the dragon let out a cry as something thundered down against her skull.

                The shaking slowed, and the rubble fell silent, leaving only two walls of the building standing.

 

                Grin tripped over a girder in his haste, not seeing it through the thick dust of powdery concrete.

                "Here!" Mallory called out.

                "You sure this is it?" Duke looked around nervously. "Everything's so twisted around."

                "This is where I saw her last--" Mallory broke off, eyes flying through the wreckage. "Zelda!!" Her voice echoed over the silent destruction.

                There was no answer.

                "Dive'll find us." Wildwing took a moment to scan the site, and then kneeled down to shovel away concrete with his hands. "We've gotta get her outta here..."

                Grin joined Tanya as they made their way to where the others were working.

                Tanya was waving her arm in wide arcs, her OmniTool having a built-in x-ray scanner.

                Grin pushed a huge slab back as Tanya also brought out a florescent light.

                "Come on Zel..." Duke grunted as he pushed aside a heap rubble. "Where are you?"

                Mallory snarled as a rusty wire grated her arm. But something caught the corner of her eye, just beside the wire. Covered with dust and barely visible, the tip of Zelda's snout peeked from the concrete. "Zelda?" Mallory asked loudly, the others looking over.

                The only response was a snorting breath, stirring up dust.

                "You were right Mal." Wildwing patted her shoulder. "Come on, all of you!"

                They went quickly to shoveling the chunks and slabs of concrete away. They dug out her tail, her body, her legs, and finally Grin and Tanya hefted off a huge slab from over her head, exposing her at last. Covered with dust, her twisted and crushed body was barely breathing. The team stared, as if they had dug up the skeleton of some dinosaur, or a mummy. Lying on her left side, her wings still lay twined in the concrete. A wire stabbed into her head, above her right eye, which was closed and coated in blood and dust. Her left eye was barely open, glazed and gray. Blood oozed from the corner of her mouth, from her distortedly crushed snout. Her ribs had caved, her right leg snapped midway down the shin. Scales had been torn from her flesh on her shoulder and hip. The team stood in shock.

                "Do... we move her?" Wildwing asked.

                "No... not yet." Tanya knelt beside the dragon. "Zelda? Come on girl..." she encouraged.

                Zelda's left paw twitched, and she let out an anguished squeak.

                Tanya took the dragon's trembling claws. "Can you squeeze my hand?" she asked.

                It took a few seconds for her to comply.

                "Good girl." she nodded, not changing her solemn face. Tanya scanned her over quickly with her light. "By DuCaine himself. "she breathed. "You're in bad shape." She leaned back and thought for a few seconds.

                The team looked on in anxious silence.

                Tanya took up Zelda's paw again. "Zel, squeeze my hand again in you think we can move you."       But the dragon didn't squeeze.

                Tanya frowned.

                Zelda suddenly sucked in her breath, distending her flank. She squinted and choked something out.

                "What?" Duke squatted beside her head.

                The dragon repeated. "No...nos--" she faded into a squeak.

                "She said no." Duke stood up. "Now what?"

                "Wait a minute." Wildwing took Duke's place, kneeling down. There was something more to what she was saying. She'd normally never talk, not in a state half this bad.

                Zelda's left eye opened a little to focus on him. She let out another squeak, frustrated. "Nos--dive." she wheezed.

                "Dive?" He asked.

                The dragon tried to open her shattered jaw wider. "Find--- him." she insisted, her voice rattling, staring desperately.

                Wildwing's eyes widened. "He's here?"

                Zelda closed her eyes in a nod, letting out a dry whine from the back of her throat.               Wildwing knew what that meant.

                "---Find him..." she repeated.

                Wildwing stood up and opened his com. She was right! Dive was only a few hundred feet away, buried. He tried to keep calm. "Grin, with me." he ordered. "The rest of you, do what you can to get Zel back to the Migrator. We'll meet you there." He and Grin quickly disappeared behind the mounds of concrete.

                Tanya turned back to the dragon. Her concern was getting her back safely. They'd have to get her out of here on a stretcher, that much was clear. But the dragon could very well have injured her spine. "Duke?" she asked. "Come back to the 'Grator with me, we'll need the stretcher and a med. kit."

                Duke silently rose from Zelda's side and followed Tanya off, leaving Mallory alone with her.

                The dust-covered dragon shifted slightly and let out another high whine.

                Mallory knew that she was subconsciously calling for help with that sound. She took up her twitching paw and rubbed it reassuringly.

                The pain was slowly starting to consume the dragon.

                "Don't worry Zel, we'll get you and Dive back safe and sound." As she spoke, the slight tremors of an aftershock made her question her words.

 

                Wildwing grabbed a chunk of concrete to steady himself as the rumbling beneath him slowly quieted. It made him very nervous. His brother's com signal came from right before him-or rather, beneath him.

                Grin walked ahead cautiously. "I sense the earth is unstable here..." he mumbled. "Let's be careful."

                Wildwing nodded and took a few steps forward, when suddenly the concrete shifted beneath him, his leg plunging down!

                Grin turned around and reached back to help his leader, but Wildwing sunk too quickly, falling in completely.

                He hit his back hard against concrete, and opened his eyes to see darkness all around him.

                "What the--bro?" Nosedive called to him!

                His eyes adjusting to the dark, he saw Dive standing at the other end of a cavern formed by the rubble.

                Dive pulled for his older brother, but couldn't move.

                Wildwing stood quickly, rubbing his back. "Are you okay?" he jogged over to Dive.

                "Just a little scraped up." his brother admitted. "But I can't move, a wire's got my leg."

                They both froze as another aftershock rattled them, stronger this time, and dust fell from the ceiling.

                "Then let's get you out of here."

                They both went to digging around the hook-shaped wire that had snagged around Dive's ankle.      Wildwing sneezed in the growing dust. "You don't know how relieved I am to find you like this." he snuffled. "I was afraid you'd be in the same shape as Zel is."

                Dive stood. "She didn't get out?" he asked quietly, surprised.

                Wildwing looked up, shaking his head solemnly.

                Dive smacked himself in the forehead. "She stayed because of me." he sighed angrily.

                Frustrated, Wildwing tugged at the wire. "Now you're getting like her." he grumbled. "Can you move now?"

                Nosedive yanked his foot free. "Free bird!" he celebrated. Suddenly, another aftershock rumbled under them. Dust fell like snow, and Nosedive yelped as a small chunk of concrete hit him on the bill. More pieces started to fall as the whole cavern shook.

                Wildwing brought up his ice shield. "I think we'd better get outta here."

 

                Tanya saw Zelda open her eye again as she stumbled down beside her, another aftershock tripping her.

                "Well, I'm back!" she said with synthetic cheer.

                Zelda shifted and whined in reply.

                Duke set down the stretcher.

                "Now, how are we gonna get her in?" he asked.

                "Reeeally carefully." Tanya answered. She opened the kit and started to rummage around. Zelda's injuries could be patched up more effectively in the Migrator. They'd have to tranquilize her in order to get her back, otherwise the dragon would have a fit when they lifted her. But what to use was the question. She was in such a bad state that a simple painkiller would probably knock her out. But Tanya didn't want her swallowing anything. She tapped a pre-filled syringe and decided the injectable tranquilizer would have to do.

                Zelda found new energy and squeaked, pulling feebly away from the needle.

                "Great time for ya to get needle shy Zel." Mallory sighed.

                Tanya ignored the dragon and emptied the syringe as gently as she could manage into her neck. Another aftershock rumbled beneath them.

                "They're getting worse." Mallory noted. "We've gotta get back."

                "Go see where Wing and Grin are." Tanya suggested. "And we can meet you back in the Migrator."

                "Good idea, they may need help." Mallory looked at her AutoTracker and walked off quickly.            Tanya turned back to find Zelda already sound asleep. She sighed, and took out the metal cutter from her OmniTool to get the wire out from above her eye.

 

                Stone hailed down around them. His shield held like an umbrella over their heads, Wildwing dragged his brother towards the open hole in the ceiling. The cavern was collapsing too fast! As they reached the hole, they found that it too was crumbling.

                Grin reached a hand down.

                Wildwing gave Nosedive a boost, and Grin hauled him out. The ceiling started to cave audibly at his back, and Wildwing started to panic. Wildwing jumped up to try and pull himself out, but only fell back down. He found Grin's hand on the second jump, and was pulled quickly out. He stood to watch the whole cavern collapse, exhaling dust.

                "Whew!" Nosedive stood and started to shake the concrete out of his hair. "Do I ever owe ya one Grinster!"

                "We both do." Wildwing nodded. He dusted himself off and looked around him.

                Mallory was approaching from the distance, waving. "Hey! Everyone okay over there?" she called.

                "Thank goodness, yeah." Dive rubbed his head as she met up with them. "Can we get back now?"

                "Yes." Wildwing sighed. "Let's get back home. It's been a long day."

 

                He shut the hatch and it locked with a loud click. Wildwing raised the dusty cloth, to brush his own fingerprints from the Migrator's side. He had finished cleaning and stowing the extra puck cannons, and a small pile of launchers still lay at his feet. Purely busy work, he waited alone for Tanya to patch up his brother, and Zelda. He needed a distraction terribly. There was too much on his mind. Not only was that shockwave still out there, still ready to level the city at the push of a button, but Zelda had nearly been killed. He didn't want to think about it at all. All he wanted was to clean these launchers. There was nothing else he could do. As he flipped the dirty cloth to a clean patch and picked up a launcher, the hangar door opened with a hiss.

                Nosedive walked up to him, limping slightly.

                Wildwing noticed. "What happened?" he pointed.

                "I twisted my ankle in that wire." Dive shrugged. "Nothing bad."

                "Good, and how about Zelda?"

                "Asleep, I think." Nosedive answered. "Tanya's still working on her." He stood idly for a moment, looking at the hangar around him. "I can't believe she stayed 'cause of me." he said quietly, shifting his gaze to the floor.

                Wildwing got out of his chair and patted him on the back. "You know her." he said. "Come on, let's see if she hasn't woken up yet." He put his work down and walked out, Nosedive slowly following.

 

                Surprisingly enough, a hairdryer was going as they opened the door.

                Tanya, hovering over Zelda's head, turned the machine off and walked up to meet them. "Just using this to dry the casts." she explained.

                Zelda was still sleeping, stretched out belly towards them on the table, nearly as she had lain in the rubble. The casts, one around her leg and one nearly capping her snout, were made of moss and hardened with a shell of still-sticky pine resin. The second one nearly covered her entire head, wrapping the upper jaw.

                "I thought she'd like that better." Tanya shrugged at the materials she had used.

                "So how is she?" Wildwing asked, a little apprehensive.

                Tanya shook her head. "It's hard to say." she answered. "For all that fell on her, she didn't break too much. But it will be touch and go for a while." She sighed. "I need her to wake up, she'll be the one who can tell me what's wrong." She went back to the Medicom console, clapping two x-rays to a light panel on the wall. "The leg's a clean break, see?" She pointed to a thin blue line through her white bone. "That should heal well. But her snout..." She pointed to the other x-ray. "That's another story." The picture looked more like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle, jagged white bone floating in a blue background.            Wildwing cringed.

                "I managed to set most of it, but I had to nearly cast up her whole face. I don't know how she'll eat."

                "I'm sure she'll be fine." Wildwing reassured her. "A job like that doesn't look easy."

                As Tanya inspected the x-rays from a closer angle, Zelda began to twitch. Slowly, she was coming out of the sedative.

                Nosedive noticed and sat in a chair next to her bed, watching as she slowly opened her left eye. The other was still swelled up, a bandage covering the wound above it.

                Seeing only a pillow for orientation, she let out a low whine.

                "Hey girl." Dive said softly. "How ya feelin?"

                The dragon slowly cracked a smile upon hearing him, and Dive was surprised by her mood. "Peachy." she joked, the cast slurring her dry, soft voice forcing her to speak slowly. "You?"

                "Zel, I'm sorry." he shook his head. "I shoulda gotten outta there, you were right."

                Zelda shifted slightly on the bed to try and look him in the face. "No fault of yours... that I stayed." she told him, the words coming with effort on her part.

                Wildwing and Tanya came up around her, as she tried to look up at them.

                "Wow, it's great you can talk Zel." Tanya smiled. "I'm surprised."

                "Good... casting." the dragon credited. She drew in a deep breath and winced.

                "Well, it looks like my work isn't finished yet." Tanya frowned. "It's late, you two should get some sleep."

                "I'll stay here for a while." Wildwing replied. "But you..." he patted Dive's shoulder. "It's past your bedtime."

                "Awww Wing." Dive pouted and slowly stood. "You stay well girl." he told Zelda, and turned to go out, hobbling.

                The dragon tried to follow him with her eyes, but was unable to. She gave up and settled back against her pillow. She looked instead at Wildwing, her gray eyes making her wistful. "Looks bad... doesn't it?" she asked.

                Wildwing looked her over and decided to be frank. He nodded slowly.

                Zelda closed her eyes and cracked a grin. "Hurts worse."

                There was something unusual in how Zelda was handling all of this. Wildwing frowned.     Breathing made her wince again, which Tanya  noticed. She walked over and frowned at Zelda's distended torso. "Something's real wrong in there Zel. Can you bear with me?"

                The dragon looked doubtfully up at her. "Guess... I don't have a choice..."

                Tanya gently rubbed a hand over Zelda's ribcage, eliciting a restrained response. Worried, Tanya pointed her fingers and kneaded her upper flank.

                Zelda drew quickly back, crying sharply in pain, and then reacting again from the pain in her open jaws. She slowly twisted and tried to hold her breath in.

                Tanya tried to calm her down. "Steady girl, what was it?" Settling slowly, the dragon breathed normally again. "Lungs or ribs?" Tanya cringed. "Please tell me it's not the lungs..."

                "Ribs... I think." Zelda managed.

                Tanya shook her head and went back to the Medicom console. She'd have to take some more x-rays.

                Feeling rather useless, Wildwing took up Zelda's hand, sitting down. "You'll be fine." he assured her. "I mean, you're in pretty good shape for someone who just had a building fall on them."

                Zelda huffed and smiled again. "Yeah, never saw... what hit me."

                Wildwing found her jovial nature very unusual. She normally wouldn't talk at all. Something must be very wrong with her. "This never should have happened Zel." he shook his head regretfully. "We didn't even destroy the machine. I should have never ordered you and Dive in there."

                The dragon breathed slowly again. "Not like... you knew..." she said.

                Wildwing sighed. "Doesn't matter, not when you and Dive get so battered up."

                She smiled again, her eye bloodshot from the smashed bones of her face. "You... are too much like me..." she breathed. "Dive... is safe. And these..." she waved a paw over her flank. "They are only bones..." Her voice was slurred horribly by the cast. "Bones heal... no matter..." She was purposely cutting her sentences short.

                "I wish that I could think that way." Wildwing sat back and shook his head.

                Zelda fell silent, closing her eye, perhaps trying to sleep. But a moment later she spoke again. "You shouldn't..." she said. "It is my place..."

Wing leaned up and frowned. "What was that?"

                "Nothing." she smiled a bit again. "Don't worry..." she dragged her words. "Be healed in a month... tops..."

                "You sound pretty sure of yourself Zel." Tanya came back from the console. "For your sake, I hope you're right."

                "What about her ribs?" Wildwing was concerned.

                Tanya waved her hand. "Not as bad as I thought." she answered. "Just a few cracked ones on her right side. It's all that bruising that's hurting your lungs Zel. That should clear up in a day or so."               Zelda rumbled lowly in agreement.

                Still, she looked weak, and still in pain. Wildwing felt bad to leave her. But he was tired. The day's events had been hard on all of them, and who knew what earthquakes would come later on? Wildwing sighed inwardly. He had quite a few hours of work on hand with Drake 1. He didn't want to drag Tanya into it either, after all the work she had done with Zelda, but he would probably need her help. He patted Zelda's shoulder and stood up. "You sleep, you hear me?" he said gently. "This ordeal will end yet." Zelda's eye followed him as he nodded to Tanya and stepped out.

 

                Mallory sat musing over the data feedouts from Drake 1. She should get to bed... she was incredibly tired. But this situation was too big to just sleep on. She looked up as Wildwing joined the remainder of the team, in the Ready Room.

                He blinked back into her stare, and shook his head.

                "How's she doing?" Duke asked.

                "Well she's talking at least." Wildwing shrugged. "That's something. But she's in bad shape."

                "She will heal." Grin said deeply, nodding. "There are deeper wounds than mere physical form can show."

                Duke turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, as long as she's still breathin', I'm happy." he remarked. "We've got bigger problems right now."

                "Duke's right." Mallory stood up. "The Saurians still have one shockwave."

                "With teleportation capabilities." Wildwing nodded. "That's dangerous."

                "The others might have as well." Duke noted.

                "Well they've been destroyed." Mallory said. "That doesn't matter now. But one's enough to cause real trouble... If left unchecked, it could really damage the city."

                "Or at least part of it." Duke started. "What if they go for here?"

                "Tanya has already taken care of that." Grin piped up. "She expanded the teleportation shield to about a half-mile radius around here."

                "Gotta hand it to her." Wildwing smiled a little. "She sure does plan ahead. Okay, that takes care of us. Still, we can't allow this machine to go off again. Human lives could be in danger if any more buildings fall down."

                "But we can't do anything more for now." Duke sighed. "I mean, it'll take time to calculate where the waves were coming from, but even then the Saurians just coulda moved the machine again."    Wildwing shook his head.  "I hate being caught in a bind like this. Look you guys, there's not much use in sitting around here. Sleep if you can." With that, he turned and headed for his own bunk.

 

                Wildwing was taken aback upon entering the infirmary and seeing her.

                She still lay on the bed, the same as the day before, yet her entire face had swollen radically. An ice pack drooped over her head.

                He walked in quickly, then spotted Tanya working at the Medicom.

                She waved him to a stop, understanding.

                He came over to the console.

                "What happened?" he whispered, assuming the dragon was asleep. 

                "A complication." Tanya shook her head. "I didn't expect there to be this much swelling, her face wasn't that bruised."

                "What do you mean?" Wildwing asked. "Bruising isn't that dangerous."

                "Not by itself." Tanya nodded, and clapped the x-ray of Zelda's head back onto the light panel. "But this is worse than I expected. Her snout's already compressed by that cast. When skin swells up, it means that blood is rushing to that area to heal the damaged parts. That's good. But not when it comes to the head. That cast is actually channeling the pressure to the tip of her snout and the back of her skull. Her eyes and nostrils have swollen shut."

                Wildwing took a glance over his shoulder at Zelda.

                Tanya pointed to the x-ray. "But that's not the part that I'm worried about. We're dealing with minor trauma, only minor because that concrete block fell on the end of her snout. She's very lucky, you know. A few more inches back, and Zel wouldn't even be conscious... perhaps not even alive."

                "Wow." Wildwing cringed.

                "All the pressure caused by that swelling has to go somewhere. And some of it's going here." she pointed to a lump of bone around Zelda's brain. "The braincase is being subjected to some of that pressure. Hence the ice pack."

                "That's bad." Wildwing knew enough about concussions and head injuries to see that this was indeed trouble.

                "Right." Tanya nodded. "We can't stop the swelling, or the skin and bones wouldn't heal right. But we can't let it go, I'm already seeing slight delays in reaction to stimuli."

                Wildwing frowned.

                "I don't mean to alarm you, because it's nothing permanent or very dangerous." Tanya quickly added. "But it's a concern."

                "Yeah." Wildwing agreed. "But you're right, she is lucky. We've seen much worse from simple hits out on the ice."

                "Awww Wing... don't worry about me...." Zelda sighed softly. She had been awake this whole time!

                But with both of her eyes now forcibly closed, there had been no way for him to tell. He sat in a chair beside her, as Tanya went back to work.

                "I'll be fine..."

                "You sure don't look fine." he said, smiling. "Your head looks like a beach ball!"

                "Thanks." Zelda slurred, cracking a smile herself. But the swelling was obviously squeezing her crushed skull even further. She was still hurting. And her reaction was a bit slower, only a bit. She had to open her mouth to breathe now.

                "It's alright, I won't make you talk." he nodded. "It's gonna be rough for a few days."

                Zelda rumbled in reply. "Nothing bad... " she shrugged. "Just... don't let Dive.. see...."

                "He does still feel guilty." Wildwing nodded. "Although I don't see you as the greatest source of advice on how to solve that."

Zelda huffed. "Too much.... like me...." she repeated.

                "He'll live." Wildwing assured her. "All you have to worry about is getting better."

                "And... the shockwave..." 

                "We'll fix that." Wildwing said sternly. "We've already taken out two of them."

                Zelda rumbled again, this time out of concern. "Too... dangerous." she shook her head.

                "I told you to stop worrying!" he grinned. "You are much too stubborn."

                The dragon frowned and lay her head back on her pillow. She was tired, Wing could see that easily. But according to Tanya, it was nothing that a little sleep wouldn't heal. He patted her flank gently, and stood. As he left, he beckoned Tanya with him.

                Curious, she followed him out into the hall.

                "What's wrong Wing?"

                "Nothing Tanya, I just wanted to thank you. Looks like you've done a really great job with Zel."

                "Just picking up the pieces." she joked.

                "Can't be easy work." he nodded. "This and working with computers all day? You've got some patience. She's alive thanks to you, I think I can say that."

                "Say what you want." Tanya sighed. "I'm just glad that she's alive."

                He nodded, and walked away.

                Tanya stayed out in the hall, watching him as he disappeared around the corner. She hung her head, let out a heavier sigh, and walked back into the infirmary. Zelda was, by now, asleep. Tanya sat in her chair and rested her beak in her hands. She hated this job, she never looked forward to this. Everybody needing patching up, all of the blood. It wasn't that she didn't like healing her team, it wasn't that it was unrewarding, but she hated to see them need that help. She hated to see them hurt, looking to her, needing her so badly. And right now, Zelda needed her. Tanya knew that they both felt the same about injuries. But Zelda was more intense, more dark about things like this. Her altruism wasn't purely instinct anymore, Tanya had gotten that feeling ever since she had come back from her spiritfall. She knew that Zelda was grateful that Nosedive was alright. She felt that her own injuries weren't of consequence. Maybe she even felt that she took them for Dive, in his place, giving herself to spare him. It was crazy, a complete lack of regard for herself. And, when Tanya thought about it, it scared her at times. Nowhere in her right mind did Zelda have any want for martyrdom, but still.... Tanya shook it off and stood up, looking back at the sleeping dragon. No, she was wrong. Zel was just so gloomy because she wanted to be up and running again. She probably just wanted to be outside, to boardrun, and not to be cooped up in the infirmary. Tanya looked at her com and saw that practice would begin in just a little while. Thank goodness Wildwing would still keep practices running, even in the middle of a crisis like this. Without that routine, the team would fall apart. And she'd go to this one, Zelda was asleep and needed to sleep for a good few hours. She stepped out of the infirmary and decided not to think about it anymore. As long as practice was running, hockey was the only thing that mattered.

 

                Duke ruffled his hair back into place, and threw his towel onto the bench. What a way to work out some negative energy. He finished stowing his gear in his locker, shut it, and left the locker room. It was amazing how quiet everyone was. The location of the shockwave had been finally determined, but it was useless to go investigate. The police had already been through the whole building, and found nothing. The whole situation made him feel sick. That machine could be anywhere in the city, with the exception of right on top of the Pond, and they hadn't a clue. Dragaunus had his trump card, and he could do anything with it, like hold the city for ransom, or destroy some key sector of commerce. Or, just because of his sick mind, he could just level the place whenever he liked. He walked down the corridors until he came to the Ready Room.

                Wildwing was already there, seated at the console of Drake 1, eyes watching the screen expectantly.

                Duke walked up behind him.

                "He's gonna make his move Duke, sooner or later."

                "I'd pick sooner." Duke nodded, and sat on another chair. "You know him."

                "I hate this." Wildwing confessed quietly. "It's just a waiting game. If he does make a move, there goes another building. I don't see how we can stop him beforehand."

                "We'll find ourselves a way." Duke growled. "We've been good at that."

                Wildwing looked up to him and nodded, thinking.

 

                Empty... thankfully Tanya hadn't come back yet. But she would, she practically lived in here, in times like these. Nosedive sighed with relief and slipped in, the door to the infirmary closing behind him. He was also thankful that Zelda was still asleep. Nosedive gulped and walked towards her bed, sitting down in a chair beside it. He took a few minutes just to look over her. It hurt him to do that. He could remember disappearing under the rubble, and seeing her diving down to get him. It was the last thing he remembered before the concrete came slamming down over him. Why did it always have to be that way?

                "Why do ya have to be such a good guy?" Dive whispered sarcastically to himself.

                "'Cause it's what I do." Zelda whispered back, a smile forming on her face.

                Nosedive started up, not realizing she had been awake the whole time.

                "No fair acting asleep!" he started.

                Zelda swung her head up, trying to open her eyes to look at him.

                He patted her back gently.

                "What do you mean no fair?" she slurred, amused. "I thought I was such a good guy."

                "Yeah, whatever." Dive smiled back. But the smile quickly faded, looking at her battered face. "You shouldn't have stayed."     

                Zelda sighed at him. "I had to Dive." she muttered. "I wanted to..."

                "And have a building fall on you? Like I'm gonna believe that." he shook his head. "You gotta stop acting like that girl, you'll get yourself killed."

                Zelda was quiet for a few moments. "Dive... I'm serious." she started. "That's just the way I am..."    

Nosedive frowned a little at her. "You don't have to be. Not all the time. I... I just don't like it..."

                "Deal with it kiddo." Zelda swung her head as if she were looking at him. "I'm not the kind... that changes easily. It's... the way I've always been." She paused for a moment again. "You guys, keeping you safe... is the most important thing to me. Same thing... back home. It's my place."

                "Zelda." Nosedive stood up. "You don't have to have a place! I mean... " he sighed, lost his train of thought, and sat down again. "I mean you act so purposeful about all of this, like this is what you're supposed to do, throwing yourself down in front of shots and all."

                Zelda breathed in to reply, but Nosedive cut her off.

                "No, it's been worse than normal. Ever since... " he sighed again. "Ever since you got back, since I saw you up there in the arctic... you've changed. I dunno Zel, but I just don't like it." He looked over at her, trying to read in her swollen face as to whether or not he had hurt her feelings.

                But she stared back at him blankly, almost pensively. "I'm sorry." she started. "You are right... to a degree."

                He nodded.

                "I have changed. I don't know... whether for better or worse... but I don't judge." She paused again. "I do what my heart... what my instinct tells me to do. I learned that..."

                "But why? Do you really haveta go to those extremes all the time?" Nosedive asked.

                "It's not extreme for me." Zelda sighed. "If I follow my heart... I will always do what I feel is right... And never feel as though... I could have done more."

                Nosedive realized that she was actually right, in her own way. It was never hard for her to get in touch with her impulses. To rationally deny them, and then regret it later, that must be what made her so guilty. Dive sighed and patted her back again. "Whatever makes ya happy girl." he said. "Sometimes I just don't understand you."

                "You don't need to... not that part anyway." She cracked a smile at him again, and Dive smiled back.

                "You need your rest. Want anything? I'll get you somethin' off of the palms outside."

                "Can't eat." Zelda shook her head. "In no mood, anyway... Thanks though."

                Dive nodded and stood up. She settled back against the bed and lay still, and he opened the door to leave, taking one glance back at her. But as he set a foot outside, she called back for him. Nosedive turned and looked back. For one who couldn't even open her eyes, she looked straight at him. He could feel her gaze. He walked back and sat down beside her again. "What is it?" he asked.

                She looked like she wanted to talk. Zelda somehow managed to lean up and put a paw on his arm.

                He could tell it hurt.

                "Just... wanna tell you something." she said simply. "Just... something." She paused a little, and Nosedive let her gather her breath, through her dry jaws. "With that last shockwave... things'll get scary... I know... I can feel it, just little aftershocks... wake me up sometimes."

                "Scares you, huh?" Nosedive asked. "I would be scared too..."

                Zelda breathed again. "Just at first... then I remember... what my ancestors told me, a story."

                "Is that what you wanted to tell me?" Nosedive asked. He had never been really interested in her stories before, and he wasn't really now. But she was telling him this for a reason. He would listen.

                Zelda nodded slowly. "I was very frightened... of thunderstorms... as a hatchling. We are all like that... at times. But Emerald..." her voice suddenly softened at the mention of the name.

                "Wasn't he the old dragon leader?" Nosedive asked, completely unaware of her tone.

                It took her a moment to answer. "Yes... he was." she breathed. "But the story... is the most important thing. He told me of a time... long ago, when the world was young.... And the four elements of nature fought over the new planet." Her voice strained a little to end the sentence.

                Dive looked over at her. "Look, I can tell that you're tired. Maybe you should just---"

                Zelda reached out and nipped the edge of his shirtsleeve, holding on despite her smashed jaws, pulling him into his seat. She released him gently, wincing. "No, it's not a long story." she pressed. "It's got a good moral... hear me out."

                "Alright, only if you wanna." Dive relented.

                "Anyway... these four elements... they warred for years." she slurred. "The sky scrawled with lightning... dashed sea and earth with wind, blew out fires. The sea... battered the land with waves... drowned the sky. Fires consumed everything... vaporizing sea and blackening earth... And the earth, it cracked itself asunder... let magma out that invaded sea and sky, blotted out flames."

                "Yeah, earthquakes, I get it." Nosedive said.

                "Well, out of the war that these elements raged... came all life, the creation of nature... each living thing with a piece of those four elements... to it's own. According to the story... these elements were harmonized through life... and have since existed in peace."

                "Yeah, so what happens during an earthquake, or a flood or something?" Nosedive quipped.           

Zelda cracked a tired grin. "A game." she said simply. "Meant to instill fear... meant to inspire... meant to divide the elements within you. You're afraid of quakes... as am I."

                "So?"

                "You are no earth native..." she breathed. "Hard to tell. But the earth is not your element. I already know mine to be the sky."

                "But how is that?" Nosedive asked. "I thought you said that you were afraid of thunderstorms."     

Zelda smiled drowsily again. "So I did." she slurred with a lethargic grin. "Then... I learned to fly..." She slowly withdrew her paw from Nosedive's arm, and lay back down on her pillow.

                Nosedive looked down curiously at her.

                "So what did your story mean?" he asked. "What's the great moral?"

                The dragon stirred again, but her face was strained. She might have tired herself out, just talking to him. "Just... don't be afraid Dive." she said simply. "It's a game... even if it is... Dragaunus's game."

He stood up, still quite a bit confused. "Thanks girl." he patted her flank gently, and walked out.

                As the infirmary door closed with a hiss, Zelda cursed herself. She'd never do justice with that story to those beyond her own kind. It was just this place that was tiring her, or she was tiring of it. The infirmary was getting old, fast. What she wouldn't give to be home... and it would be a long time before she could get back again. Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden impulse... a rumbling beneath her that was painfully familiar. As she fought down a race of fear, she closed her eyes and lay her head down.

 

To be continued...

 

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!