Advanced Robotics, Part 2

Written by Zelda

 

                “So there you are!” Mallory scowled at the young Duck as he sat alone at the galley table. “I thought you said you’d gimme a ring when you got back?”

                “Erm… too hungry to do it?” Nosedive garbled, beak full of half-chewed pizza.

                “You pig.” Mallory shook her head, grabbing the box away from him. “You’ve already eaten like, half! You know Duke and Grin wanted in too. Eww… and you put anchovies on it?”

                “Yeah, so what’s the big deal?” Nosedive swallowed.

                “I’m allergic to anchovies.” Tanya answered for him, pouting, as she walked into the galley. “Looks like it’s a cheese sandwich for me again.”

                “Sorry girl.” Nosedive sighed. “Keep forgettin’ that one. You gotta narrow down your list of allergies!”

                “Ugh, if only I could!” Tanya rolled her eyes, pulling bread and cheese out of the refrigerator. “I’m outta here, as long as the anchovies get to stay.”

                “Heh, you leave that pizza with Nosedive, and the room’ll be clean in seconds.” Mallory joked, waving after Tanya as she left.

                A few seconds later, Duke and Grin came in from an opposite corridor.

                “Heya guys.” Duke greeted. “So the party’s down here eh? Gimme a slice Dive.” He pulled the pizza box away, and flashed an unhappy face at the contents. “We’ve gotta send someone else out for pickup, the kid’s getting too sneaky.” he lamented to Grin.

                The four settled into seats around the long galley table, and the three who hadn’t eaten split the remains of the pizza.

                “Kinda nice to have a break tonight, isn’t it?” Mallory commented. “As long as Drake 1 doesn’t interrupt, I might actually get to have a decent beauty rest for once.”

                “Not that you’d need it, sweetheart.” Duke raised an eyebrow at her, grinning.

                “I’d refrain from counting our chickens before they hatch.” Grin shrugged. “We never know what happens in the future. Rest may yet elude us.”

                “Chill out Grinster!” Nosedive put his feet up on the table and tipped his chair back. “We’re resting right now, aren’t we? I say live for the moment, big guy.”

                “Kid’s got a point, Grin.” Duke nodded. “Although it’s hard to relax on an empty stomach.” He started munching away, when Zelda trotted in, yawning.

                “Naptime already?” Mallory looked over, amused.

                “Just woke up, actually.” Zelda replied sheepishly.

                “You sleep too much girl.” Nosedive shook his head.

                “Look who’s talking!” Zelda laughed. “Blame it on the metabolism, Dive. Nobody’ll call me lazy if they know what’s good for them.”

                “Wanna bite?” Duke teased, dangling a pizza crust before the dragon’s snout.

                Zelda cringed and stuck out her tongue. “Bleh, human food! Don’t know how you stand the processed stuff. Anyway I was just passing through on the way to the lab. Do you guys know if Tanya’s in?”

                “Yeah, she just left here a second ago, to escape the anchovies.” Mallory nodded.

                “Wait a minute.” Duke frowned. “She was here just now?”

                Mallory nodded, chewing. “Yeah, why?”

                Duke’s frowned deepened, and he looked up at Grin. “Grin and I just saw the droid upstairs by the front archway, like, minutes ago.”

                “You guys sure? I don’t think she’d be running a test without actually watching…” Nosedive started.

                “That was definitely the droid, lookin’ like Chameleon. Bumped into a wall and everything.” Duke nodded.

                “Well that’s odd…” Zelda spoke. “I’ll go ask her about it when I see her. Maybe the thing is just running on its own?”

                “Maybe.” Grin rubbed his beak. “Perhaps I’ll go back upstairs and find it again. I hope it isn’t malfunctioning.”

                “Alright, I’m sure Tanya’ll let you know what’s going on in a sec.” Zelda and Grin both headed out of the galley, in opposite directions.

                “They saw what?!” Tanya nearly fell over, listening to the dragon who stood in her doorframe.

                “That’s what Duke thought.” Zelda nodded, tail beginning to swish back and forth nervously. “Are you sure it’s working right?”

                Tanya held up a TV remote. “I have the controls right here, I never ordered it out of storage…” She scrambled to her feet and went over to a panel along the wall. Pushing in a code, a closet panel was pulled aside, to reveal the thin droid standing silently in its designated space. “See, see? It’s right here! It never left since the test run against Dive and Wing earlier! So what was Duke talking about?” Tanya turned back to the doorway to see that the dragon’s eyes had paled noticeably, and her ears had flattened.

                “Grin went upstairs to try and find the thing, we’d better contact him, as well as the rest of the team---“

                “Right.” Tanya raised her wrist and clicked her com in to Grin’s frequency. “Grin, come back down here at once, the droid’s not up there!… Grin…?” Tanya frowned as there was no response at all. Her gaze went quickly back to the dragon, as she silently waved the animal off.

                With a sobered nod, Zelda was off like a shot.

                But before Tanya could register that she was truly gone from the lab, the corridor outside blazed in red light, and the dragon skidded into view again, on her back, with a smoking hole in her flank.

 

                The ragged cry had all three Ducks in the galley to their feet in an instant.

                “That’s Zelda!” Mallory started, staring into the corridor down which she’d run just a few minutes earlier.

                “What’s goin’ on?” Duke asked.

                “I really, really don’t like this.” Nosedive closed the pizza box hollowly.

                Duke pulled up his com. “Wildwing, you there?” He paused as there was no response. “Our coms aren’t working…”

                “This is sooooo not good.” Nosedive pulled out a launcher.

                Duke mirrored him by tearing the sabre from his shoulder. “Where do we go? Should we go after Zelda or Grin, or to the Ready Room to activate the defenses?”

                “I say we split up.” Mallory frowned.

                “We don’t know what we’re up against here.” Duke looked back at her.

                “All the more reason why we gotta account for the team.” Mallory argued.

                Duke looked back to Nosedive, who merely shrugged. The elder centerman let out a defeated sigh. “Alright, just don’t get killed or anything, ‘kay?” He watched as Nosedive bolted for the stairs, and Mallory for the lab, before took off running for the Ready Room. He heard little except for his feet clanging on the floor, saw little but the whirl of sheet metal as the corridor whizzed past him. But his mind was on overdrive. How could he have been so stupid back upstairs? How could he have not even checked? Stupid Chameleon, when he found him, he’d wring that little gecko’s neck. But for now, his prime concern was getting to the Ready Room. Where on Puckworld was Wildwing? They couldn’t put up much of a fight without their leader. Duke saw the doors to the Ready Room hiss and open before him, and he skidded in. He was instantly cloaked in darkness. Not a single light in the room was on, save for Drake 1’s screen, blaring in the bright blue of a fatal error message. “Not good.” Duke hissed to himself. The glow of his sabre wasn’t nearly enough light to see by in this huge room. Out of the corner of his eye, Duke caught movement, and it made the feathers on the back of his neck stand on end. He looked up to the massive frame of Drake 1, and saw a strange shadow there. Two lights suddenly appeared from within it. Two burning red eyes, casting a glow over Dragaunus’s purple robes, and a golden Mask he had lanced in the talons of his right hand.

 

                “Zelda?!” Tanya was half startled, half in the process of dialing up her laser blaster on her Omnitool. She was in the doorframe by now, feeling terribly vulnerable despite her armory. Whoever had shot Zelda was probably still lurking silently out in the hall, waiting for either member of the team to attempt an attack. And the dragon could do nothing more than churn around her wound like a piked eel. From the few quick glances she’d given it, Tanya didn’t think the hit was too bad. But Zelda had taken it fully, at close range. What on Puckworld was going on here? “Come on girl, over here!” the Duck signaled, not taking her eyes off of the hallway.

                Slowly, Zelda managed to haul herself into the safety of the lab, grunting. Her eyes opening, she turned back to the door and growled, trying to regain her feet.

                “You stay there.” Tanya ordered gently. “Until I get rid of the roadblock.” Suddenly, there was the familiar sound of puck fire from the hallway. Reinforcements! Tanya picked her opening and jumped into the hall, to find Mallory blasting away at a scrambling Siege.

                “Come here you!” she threatened. “Don’t think you’ll get very far in these tunnels!”

                As Wildwing and Nosedive had done in the practice fight beforehand, Tanya raised her laser and sniped right for the orange lizard’s head. He went down with a howl, his armor unable to resist the blast. But he rolled quickly to  his feet again, the back of a hand out to shield his eyes, and started to run off. Barreling past Tanya, he staggered down the hall, and disappeared behind a corner.

                “Leave him.” Mallory growled. “Something big is up, we definitely have Saurians in the building.”

                “Zelda was telling me!” Tanya nodded, waving her back into the lab and shutting the door behind her. She quickly knelt to examine the dragon’s wound as Zelda stood with a bowed head. “She let me know about the robot, we didn’t have time to react before Siege showed up.”

                “What a mess, how did the Saurians even know about the droid?” Mallory threw up her hands. “And is Zel gonna be okay?”

                The dragon responded with a sharp nod, and Tanya concurred. “I think she’ll still be able to run, let me just bandage this up…”

                “Hurry, I’ll contact the guys…” Mallory raised her com and started to dial in a frequency, when she frowned. “The coms aren’t responding at all, I can’t even track the others.”

                “This is bad…” Tanya shook her head. “Means they’ve gotten to Drake 1 and shut the system down!”

                “Duke went to the Ready Room…” Mallory started. “And that’s where we’re heading next.”

 

                “Grin?! Come on Grinster, answer me!” Nosedive yelled down the hallway. The sun was streaming into the room through the archway, blinding him. Nosedive raised an arm up to shade himself, and peered cautiously around, launcher out just in case. He heard something shuffling off to his right, and spun, only to face Grin coming towards him from down the concourse. Upon seeing Nosedive, he instantly put up his hands halfway, in a gesture of peace.

                “Easy, little friend, it’s only me.” he nodded.

                Nosedive sighed and lowered the pucklauncher. “Yeesh Grin, don’t sneak up on me like that!”

                “Is there something wrong?” the big Duck asked, coming closer.

                “Me and the others down in the galley thought so, we heard Zelda scream!”

                “My goodness…” Grin started. “But I don’t think anything’s the matter, Tanya’s droid is up here, down the hallway.” he pointed.

                “You saw it?” Nosedive blinked. “Phew! Well, that clears things up I guess. Dunno what Zelda was yelling about then… that’s odd.”

                “It must have been a false alarm.” the big duck shrugged. “The droid looked like it was heading downstairs. What’s say we finish lunch then?” he put his hand on Nosedive’s shoulder.

                The younger duck chuckled. “If there’s any pizza left after that commotion!” But the smile dropped from his beak as he glanced at the hand on his shoulder, and saw that it was covered in dark spots. Nosedive’s hand didn’t have time to reach the handle of the launcher in his belt, before he felt a thunderous blow to his bottom jaw.

 

                The sizzling clang of metal rang loud throughout the hollow darkness of the Ready Room as the three girls skidded in. The light from the doorway did little to help them see, but Zelda immediately flared her scales and let out a high, keening pitch. The others knew what that meant by now: one of their own was in deep trouble.

                “Duke!?” Tanya called out into the darkness. More clangs of  metal, more flashes of golden and red light.

                “Up here--!” came a struggling reply. The three could see the lights coming from the raised console area of Drake 1. There, bathed in the blue light of the giant screen, they could make out the quickly moving forms of Duke and Dragaunus, darting about as they tried to outmaneuver each other. “Could use some help--- he’s got the Mask!”

                “How?!” Mallory immediately broke off running for the console.

                “Wildwing’s here.” Zelda growled, loping after her and Tanya.

                “Find him Zel!” Tanya ordered. “Make sure he’s okay!”

                The dragon wheeled off to the left, and Tanya charged after Mallory, up the ramp and onto the platform. They found Duke standing alone, panting with exhaustion. The light of his sabre marked a number of cuts across his body.

                “You alright?” Mallory asked quickly.

                “Yeah, he’s hiding.” Duke snarled, his eyes darting along the top of the big screen, and up in the rafters.

                “How did they get into the building without the alarms going of?” Tanya wondered aloud.

                “We’ll get our answers.” Mallory snorted. “By force, if I get my way.”

                “Come on back out, sleazeball.” Duke challenged, his voice ragged. “I don’t think you’re done with us yet.”

Only silence responded, combined with the dull hum of Drake 1. The three ducks backed together, unnerved by the emptiness around them. Only light was their cue now, and they had to wait for Dragaunus to be lured back into it. From the lower floor of the room, close to the ramp to the console, lights came. Two red lights, narrowing into the shape of a pair of very angry eyes. And as soon as the team could snap their launcher sights to it, there were a set of matching lights, peering up beneath the red ones, blazing blue.

                With a howl, Zelda opened her jaws and let a blast of fire send shadows jumping all over the place, the flames curling around one very angry Saurian Overlord.

                Dragaunus stumbled back, cursing, his eyes shut against the pain.

                Zelda roared again and leapt in front of something, wings spread around it. The three ducks up on Drake 1’s console platform all had their stomachs drop as they realized that something was Wildwing’s body, unmoving on the ground.

                “We’re comin’ girl!” Mallory announced, charging with Duke down the ramp and back for the fight.

                Tanya remained where she stood, laser sights carefully trying to stay trained on the Saurian. If they needed another sniper shot, she’d be the one to deliver it.

                Zelda stayed guarding Wildwing’s body as Dragaunus leapt backwards, anticipating the oncoming Ducks.

                “Go Zel!” Duke started, kneeling by her. “You can see him better!”

                Growling, she ran off after Mallory, who was shooting randomly and using the light to find the Saurian for just a split second. “Ten degrees right Mal!” Zelda shouted, and Mallory obeyed, connecting a shot to the Overlord’s outstretched arm.

                Realizing that his plan was no longer working, Dragaunus spun on his heels and charged for them, surprising the duck and the dragon. He tackled Mallory to the ground, claws digging into her padded shoulder. She let out a yelp and struggled to get her launcher around to find its target.

                Zelda pounced onto his back and tried to rip him off of her, teeth digging into the body armor around his ribs.

                The Saurian elbowed the lizard clear, but suddenly arched up and howled as he felt a burning shot tear into the armor of his opposite flank. It was Tanya who was doing the shooting, and the frustrated Dragaunus let go of Mallory’s shoulder to fire a few shots back at her from his own wrist laser. He followed Tanya as she ducked and rolled, but lost his aim as he felt the butt of a pucklauncher slam into his lower jaw. With the combined force and pulling from the jaws of the returned dragon, Dragaunus was forced to roll away. No sooner was he clear of the duck than he found jaws close tightly around his hand, claws tearing into the robes that secured the Mask. “Oh no you don’t!” he snarled, using his free hand to dig into her neck, pulling her away. Zelda cried out, and he sneered in bloodlust. But the Saurian had his vision scatter into stars as he felt Mallory’s boot drive into the side of his head, and pucks rip across his back at point-blank range. Zelda tore from his grasp, and ripped the Mask free as well. As Dragaunus rolled back to his feet, trying to clear his vision, he made her out as she limped a safe distance away with the prize in her jaws.

                “Game’s over Dragaunus!” Mallory announced, her launcher aimed for his head. “Time to take your little servants and teleport out of here!”    

                “Like the old one said.” The Overlord grinned. “I’m not done with you yet!” Raising his wrist and pressing a button, the giant lizard suddenly vanished!

                “He’s cloaked!” Tanya yelped.

                “Zelda, where’s the Mask?!” Mallory spun, looking for the dragon in the shadows.

                Zelda was at her feet, whining as she reared up and put the Mask in Mallory’s hands. The dragon had obviously been weakened by the fight.

                Mallory took the Mask from her quickly, and tried to fit it on her face. But Dragaunus had crushed it too much, it wouldn’t even fit, let alone activate. “It’s not working!” she stammered, banging on it to see if that brought about results. Her eyes flew back to the console platform, though, as she heard a startled cry from Tanya, and saw the duck go flying, rolling down the ramp to the lower floor. “Tanya!” Mallory tossed the Mask back to Zelda and was running for the stunned duck.

                Tanya started to get to her feet as Mallory approached, only to be slammed back to the floor again.

                Mallory skidded to a stop and locked her launcher on target as Dragaunus materialized again, his foot planted firmly on Tanya’s back, his 700-pound weight pinning her down.

                “One step closer, and I crush her.” he snarled angrily. “Give me back the Mask.”

                “Not a chance!” Mallory stomped a foot, still keeping him in her gunsight.

                “You’re in no position to be defiant…” he grumbled, flexing his toes and digging his talons in.

                Tanya did her best to stifle a pained response.

                “And don’t bother sneaking  up on me again, dragon!” Dragaunus warned, glancing back for a moment into a shadowed corner. “I can smell your blood.”

                Eyes flaring blue in frustration, Zelda emerged from her cover, holding the Mask. “You want it Dragaunus?” she asked. “Come take it from me.”

                Obviously angry, Dragaunus raised his wrist laser and aimed, but didn’t have time to fire. A blue laser grazed his shoulder, as Tanya was doing her best to twist her arm around and get a better shot. The Overlord seethed and dug his talons in deeper, glaring down. “Impudent little--- oomph!”

                Mallory had charged at him, shoving him with all of her weight. It was just enough to catch Dragaunus off of his balance, and to make him stumble back off of Tanya. She bent quickly and pulled the duck out of harm’s way, before she felt the thick rope of Dragaunus’s tail slam into her, throwing her clean away.

                Tanya found herself unable to stand, and hobbled, kneeling, raising her wrist to shoot as well as she could at Dragaunus. Almost ignoring the shots that glanced off of his armor, he stormed angrily for her, before being roped firmly around the arms and legs. Duke was tossing his bola pucks from a distance, and they were still as accurate as ever. Dragaunus tripped and fell to the ground with a loud thud, roaring.

                Zelda answered his protest, pacing towards him slowly, mustering as much display and bravado as she could into her tired limp. By now, she had abandoned the Mask in the relative safety of a shadowy corner. “What do you want here?!” she demanded.

                “Your hide.” The lizard answered, bringing his arms around to fire on her with his wrist laser. But he didn’t get the chance, as Mallory was there, smashing her foot down on his hands. The Saurian howled and curled, as Mallory shoved the barrel of her pucklauncher against his head.

                “Answer the lady.” she threatened, squeezing the trigger. But a strange green glow was coming from beneath her, and by the time she realized the Saurian Overlord was transporting out in retreat, it was too late to stop him. He vanished into thin air, and she threw her launcher on the ground in frustration.

                “Easy sweetheart…” Duke chided distantly, as he turned from watching Dragaunus, and looked down at Wildwing who lay just beside him. His leader still hadn’t moved.

                “Little help here?” Tanya wobbled, trying to stand but being met with a pained grimace every time. Mallory offered a shoulder, and the two ducks straightened each other up. “Is Wing okay? Did he wake up?”

                “Not yet…” Duke answered, sounding distracted.

                Mallory and Tanya limped back across the Ready Room floor, with Zelda catching up after she’d retrieved the Mask.

                “We have to regroup.” Mallory started, still seething in anger. “Dive and Grin are still in here somewhere, for all we know the Saurians are still crawling around here too.

                Tanya half knelt and half fell to her knees beside Wildwing, breathing out a heavy sigh as she watched Duke tap him lightly on the cheeks, trying to get their leader to wake up.

                With a reluctant grunt, Wildwing blinked, then winced, then opened his eyes. “Wha—?”

                “You okay, fearless leader?” Duke asked.

                “What happened?” Wildwing started, sluggishly rubbing his head as he leaned up. “One minute I was fighting Dragaunus and the next---“ He snapped fully awake with the realization of what had occurred, and the fact that the Mask was gone from his face. “He must have hit me with a concussion blast! Did you guys drive him off? Are you alright?”

                “I think we’ve taken some serious damage points…” Tanya started, rubbing her back to try and stop the bleeding.

                Snorting gently, Zelda pushed the Mask into Wildwing’s drowsy hands. “We don’t know how, but they got past the defenses. Dragaunus retreated, we hope.”

                Tucking the Mask in a hip pouch, Wildwing gingerly rolled up on the balls of his feet, and pushed himself to stand. He took a moment to shake the stars out of his head, and assess the dents in his armor. Then, he realized something else. “What about Dive and Grin?”

 

                The first thought that came to him as he woke up was that something was squeezing him. A lot. Slowly, Nosedive cracked his eyes open to find darkness around him, his entire head feeling sore. What on Puckworld happened to him? Did he take another bad hit out on the ice? He tried to bring his arm up to rub his head, when he found he couldn’t move either of them. That’s what was squeezing him so badly, he was tied up! Suddenly, everything came back to him, and his spine snapped stiff. That was Chameleon that had sucker-punched him! He’d pay for disguising himself as Grin. And if it wasn’t Grin that had punched him, that meant the big duck could still be around somewhere! Nosedive squinted in the darkness to try and see, hope rising as he heard a rattling noise nearby. Just to be safe, he shut his eyes and slumped to the side, thudding quietly into a wall. There was the noise of an opening door, and then an unmistakable growl. It wasn’t Grin.

                “Still asleep? Filthy animal.” Wraith grumbled. “Fine, stay asleep. You’ll have a real nightmare on hand when you wake up….”

A door slammed, and Nosedive was left in silence again. After a few seconds, he opened he eyes to darkness once more, and let out a sigh of relief. Okay, so he wasn’t dead, but this wasn’t the greatest situation either! Here he was, tied up in a storage closet, with Saurians in the building! If Nosedive could only erase the past half hour or so of time, he’d be back in the galley with his anchovy pizza. Sighing louder than he probably should have, he started working at the ropes around his wrists, hoping to loosen them enough to get at a puck-shaped pocket knife in a back belt pouch.

 

For once, his stature was going to be disadvantageous to him. Grin crouched behind the measly cover of a garbage can, huddled in a corner. The situation was turning worse by the moment. He had long since given up on using his com, but he knew that he needed to find the others. Something big was happening around him, and he was powerless to stop it on his own. He’d been powerless from the start, right when he came upstairs and found the ‘robot’. By then, it was wisecracking and sneering into its com like the actual, living and breathing thing that it really was. How could he have missed that the droid actually was the Chameleon? Frustrated with himself, he’d charged in to stop the solitary lizard, and he quickly managed to engulf the tiny thing in a bear hug. What he hadn’t expected was danger to come from somewhere else. Grin winced as he reached up to his shoulder and felt the charred mark of a fire ball that had nearly gotten through the padding there. Wraith had attacked him, and he’d been too easily overwhelmed. The pain of the blast let Chameleon get away, and then add his laser fire to the danger. So Grin did the only thing he could; he ran. And as he crouched behind the garbage can, he had to keep telling himself that he’d made the wise decision. One could not fight effectively against insurmountable odds, that was what he had learned. It was good strategy that would have to see him through. But that strategy, for now, included the other Ducks. He had a very bad feeling about what was transpiring in the floors beneath his feet. Refusing to hide in the corner any longer, Grin stood, and carefully shuffled out into the hall. Somehow, he had to get back downstairs. The closest way down was a very rarely used freight elevator. Trying to be as stealthy as his large body would allow, he crept down into a little-used corridor, and punched a security code into a panel on the wall. Across from him, a door slid open, and he gratefully ducked into the large elevator car and shut the door quickly behind him. He felt the car start sinking downwards, bleeping as it passed decreasing levels. He cracked his knuckles and waited, waited until the car slowed and finally stopped. The door slid open to reveal Tanya’s lab, lit as if it were occupied. He looked around for a moment, keeping quiet. Nobody was here, but there were signs that something was out of place. An open first aid kit lay on the ground beside the door, contents hastily arranged on the floor. Grin frowned. He took a few steps towards the hallway and suddenly had his foot bump against something. He picked up a small remote control in his hands, and recognized it to be the TV remote for the galley. But wait… this wasn’t just for the TV. Grin remembered that Tanya had reprogrammed this to be used for the holographic droid, which meant… He turned his head to see the droid sitting in a recharging bay, in the back of an open closet. The droid had never been released in the first place, the Saurians had used it as a tactic to gain entrance to the Pond! But how could they have known about it? Grin shook the question out of his head, trying to focus more on the present. The remote was still in his hand, and suddenly, the big duck had a very enlightened idea.

 

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!