The Great Secret, part 2

Written by Zelda

 

 

                Tanya watched the hunter drones carefully. Three of them stood in a line opposite the cell, looking stock still and exactly alike, almost asleep they were so still. But Tanya knew better. They noted every movement with a mechanical accuracy, watching for anything suspicious. Machines never slept. Tanya leaned helplessly back against the wall. She wished she could be out of here, at least know what was going on. She was worried about the others. There hadn't been a peep out of the henchmen though, so maybe they were still off chasing the rest of the team. Kay had gotten so worried she gave up and fell asleep, still shaking in the corner. Wildwing might have been asleep as well. Celyna and Erin were asleep. Duke sat alone at the edge of the cell, staring into space. Tanya suddenly saw something around the corner. She started tapping her finger against the floor, rapping with her nails. The drones clicked to life. Duke turned around to look at her. Wildwing raised his head. Suddenly a drone exploded in flames, pieces flying. Stivz ran out from the hall, brandishing his launcher in his good hand. The two remaining drones turned and fired on him. He leapt out of the way and started to run. The drones were about to follow suit, when something dashed out from around the corner. Zelda roared and leapt up, landing on the head of one of the drones and lashing out for the other. But she missed. The drone ignored her and ran for Stivz. He leapt aside as a laser hit near him, and landed hard on the floor, rolling over. He pulled his launcher again and shot off the arm equipped with the laser. The drone reeled back. He crawled away to get far enough when the drone exploded. But it didn't explode. Stivz turned in alarm, just in time to see a huge mechanical foot slam into his side. Pain raced up through his ribs. Stivz couldn't breathe for a moment. The wind had been knocked out of him. He lay on the floor gripping his side and trying to regain himself. The drone turned away and back to Zelda, who was still struggling with the other drone. Zelda yelped and suddenly tumbled to floor as the wounded drone hit her. Instead of firing, the first drone picked her up and tried to restrain her. She roared and struggled, then bit down hard on one of the hands of the drone that was holding her. The metal sparked hotly in her mouth, and she let go in pain. The other drone quickly clamped it's last hand over Zelda's jaws, holding them together like a vice. The other drone let go for a second, to raise its hand and draw the laser. Zelda gasped in terror. She quickly took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and blew. Two plumes of fire shot from her nose, engulfing the drone holding her. It hit the weak armor of the neck, soon heating the wiring. In a second the drone exploded, flinging debris in all directions. Seconds later the second drone exploded as well. The smoke faded slowly, and when it did, the team saw Zelda rolling amongst the debris slowly. The hand of the wounded drone had held intact around her snout. She tried miserably to pry it off, wheezing for air.

                "Stivz! Stivz get up!" Celyna pleaded. Stivz staggered to his feet slowly. "Get that thing off of Zel's head!" Stivz went for her, while Duke bent down out of the cell and picked up a piece of curved, smoking metal.

                "I'll get us outta here." he said. He reached out, putting the metal to the panel next to the cell, and pressing a few buttons. The bars quickly retracted. The team came out quickly and stood over Stivz and Zelda. Stivz finally managed to get the thing off of Zelda's head. She violently coughed out a thick smoke, smelling of charred flesh.

                "Easy Zelda... just breathe... you'll be okay." Tanya said, patting her gently on the back. Her jaws gaped open, half gasping and half coughing. Finally she started to calm down, panting for air. Blood started to drip from her nostrils, tainted with black soot.

                "What happened to her?" Wildwing asked.

                "Dragons evolved over time to breathe fire out of their esophagus." Tanya said. "Their nasal cavities just aren't built to take that kind of heat anymore." Zelda lay on the floor now, breathing steadily. She slowly opened her eyes.

                "Owwwww." she whined. Slowly she staggered to her front feet.

                "Easy Zel, you sure you're okay?" Kay asked.

                "Yeah." she coughed, wiping the blood off of her nose. "Remind me never to try that again." She got up slowly and nuzzled Stivz. "Thanks for that."

                "No problem." he coughed, and slowly rolled up.

                "We've gotta get both of them outta here..." Tanya sighed.

                "I wouldn't mind taking a rain check on this fight either." Wildwing sighed. "But we've got a mission." He placed Zelda gently on his shoulder. Kay lifted Stivz up and put him to ride her like a horse. The team went over to a space in the wall where their weapons and coms had been stashed, and recovered them.

                "Talk to me Ducks." Wildwing called.

                "Bro!" Nosedive said. "Where were you?"

                "Captured. But we're okay now."

                "Good, better start running. My unit and Candy and QJ are accounted for, and we're gonna light the fireworks."

                "Wait a sec, what about Gretchen and Mal?"

                "We haven't seen 'em..." Dive stared.

                "They've been captured, I think..." Stivz said a little weakly.

                "Dive, we're going to go look for them, wait for us to set the bomb."

                "Ummm... I think we're a bit more pressed for time..." Dive started. His voice quivered. Wildwing frowned.

 

                Seige stalked into the room, the other two henchmen trailing his tail.

                "So, you thought you'd try and blow us up again huh?" he laughed bitterly.

                "The same way we busted your tails on Puckworld ya losers." Lindsay bit.

                "But there's a factor you didn't count on..." Wraith snarled. "US!" He raised his hands and a bright light filled the room. The Ducks screamed as they were blinded. Suddenly the light faded. Matt saw in green. Suddenly something hit him across the back hard. Wraith's staff. Matt fell and hit the ground with a thud, rolling up and drawing his launcher, waving it blindly. As their vision started to come back to them, the Ducks got up to see that about 15 hunter drones had joined the henchmen.

                "Greeeaaattt." Quacker Jax said. "So when's Dragaunus going to join the party?"

                "Right now." a voice behind them boomed. Quacker Jax was thrown aside as the huge red lizard stormed through. He hit the wall and slumped down.

                "Dive!" yelled Wing over his com. "Set the timer and get out of there! Now!"

                "You found Gretch and Mal?"

                "We're close, now GO!" his brother yelled. Candy yanked her bomb from her pouch and slammed it against a computer console. Quacker Jax got up again and muttered something. A huge, transparent blue wall formed, sealing the Ducks off from the Saurians. Quacker Jax strained.

                "Hurry! That won't hold!" he snarled, buckling down on one knee to hold it up. Destiny grabbed the other bomb and strapped it to the console next to her.

                "Remember to throw THE SWITCH!" Matt reminded.

                "Go, now!" Nosedive ordered. The two girls threw the switch, and the timer went off. 15:00. Fifteen minutes to get their butts out of the tower, and far enough away so they weren't killed in the explosion.

                "Start runnin Bro!" Nosedive yelled into his com. The Ducks turned their backs and ran for the back entrance to the room. Quacker Jax finally let down the shield, caught his breath for a moment, and darted off.

 

                Wildwing helped Gretchen up off of the floor.

                "You okay?" he asked.

                "I'm fine. Let's cut outta here!" she yelled. Mallory nodded and got up too.

                "Come on, we've got 13 minutes! Get the Aerowing over here Wing." Duke said. The Ducks turned and ran for the exit.

 

                Nosedive tripped and fell in the sand outside of the tower. Lasers from the tower itself were coming down on them again. He got quickly up and ran off into the coming night. The others trailed behind him, faltering in the sand.

                "How much time?" Matt asked.

                "2 minutes and counting!" Desinty yelled back. They kept running.

                "Where are the others?!" Lindsay yelled. Suddenly the roar of engines sounded overhead. Six ropes dropped down out of the Aerowing and down to the sand.

                "They never make this easy, do they?" Nosedive grunted, as he gripped the rope and began to climb. Up and up, he'd barely heaved himself over the edge when the ship started off.

                "Get up Dive, we gotta be outta here!" Kay barked.

                "30 seconds!" yelled Destiny. The ropes were withdrawn and the hatch closed. Everyone was in and the ship took off at full throttle. Suddenly, flames shot past the windshield, and a huge explosion rattled the Aerowing.

                "Keep going! Heat shields can't last!" Tanya yelled. The ship sped off until the flames curled away from the window and the flaming tower was left behind. The team sighed heavily in relief. Suddenly a ship zipped past them.

                "What the?!" Candy yelled.

                "Why it's a Saurian scout ship!" Mallory said.

                "Looks like those guys got away again." Wildwing sighed, as the ship disappeared into the clouds. "Come on, we've got two more to pick up. Where's that monastery Zel?"

                "Umm... should be just over there... there, that's it." Zelda pointed down to a small brown building among the sand. The Aerowing swooped down and landed.

 

                "Again, I must thank you for all that you have done." Zelda said, as Grin and Lindsay walked slowly onto the ship and sat down.

                "You have purged a great evil from our lands. Our thanks are with you." the man replied. The dragon climbed aboard the ship and it took off and away. The man watched it go slowly, then turned back and closed the great wooden doors behind him.

 

                The four injured sat in the infirmary with dull, tired eyes and drooped heads. Grin's eyes were dry and bloodshot. His burns had been bandaged in wet cloth the day Zelda had left, and were already healing. Linds's shoulder wound wasn't that bad. She was up and about as if nothing had happened. Stivz's laser burn was a bit worse. The wound had been ground with sand, he wasn't exactly thrilled to have Tanya clean it out, gently as she did it. The tired Duck now was trying to get some sleep. Zelda had rubbed her snout down with a paste of raw aloe vera and hickory tree sap, that soaked into her skin and was supposed to help her respiratory system. Still, she breathed through her mouth. Her neck muscles ached and her wings were still cracked. She sat watching her teammates. Duke entered the infirmary and sat down with her.

                "Shame Dragaunus got away huh?" he asked.

                "Well yes. Now I understand what you had to go through when you blew up the tower on Puckworld, and you were only six then!" Zelda smiled.

                "But Dragaunus expected us this time." Grin said slowly.

                "Well." Duke grinned cunningly. "At least his expectations were fulfilled."

 

The End

 

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