Disclaimer--- Don’t own ‘em, don’t profit off of them, but I would love to do either!

Author’s note--- This story is another chapter in my long-running Dragon Chronicles. Not every story in this series will be listed on FF.net, but all of them are listed in chronological writing order on my webpage. If you’d like to find out more about Zelda or other characters that will appear later in this series, visit my website at http://members.fortunecity.com/zeldathedragon and go to the information page. The rest of my stories can be found in the fanfiction section.

Another note: Starrfire’s character isn’t mine, she’s the esteemed head of the Puckworld Communications webring and mailing list, woohoo! Go to my page to see her profile as well.

 

 

 

Lies, Waking Nightmares, and a Fugitive part 2

Written by Zelda (With more help from Starr!)

 

 

                The bricks were damp and cold. The asphault was damp and cold. It was too dark to see much, but the rancid garbage overun the place. Duke's nostrils cringed from the stench. He felt his way up the brick wall, and looked out across the alley to see another brick wall on the other side. Boxes and rusty old garbage cans lay everywhere. Duke thought he could hear mice scuttling about. Yuck! He wanted outta here. Duke stepped out from the wall, and noticed his feet were much smaller than usual. And he wasn't wearing any shoes. Duke froze as he felt the musty cold against his bare feet. He looked down at his small, skinny arms, his clothing dirtied and torn in places. There was no comforting sabre hanging at his shoulder. He wasn't as tall. Suddenly the harsh screeching of tires resonated through the alleyway. Every muscle in Duke's body seemed to contract at once. That feeling again. This was another nightmare! He crouched down on his stick legs and peeked out from behind a garbage can. He could see a long, black car waiting at the edge of the alley. The passenger doors hinged open, and suddenly two black figures stepped out. They were tall, huge and bulky. They turned to face the alley, and Duke felt their eyes slit through him like lasers. In simeltaneous movement, they stepped towards him. Duke's body shivered. His tiny body was gripped by fear. In a fight-or-flight instinct, Duke shot up, vaulted over the cans, and was gone. He ran, his heart pounding, gasping for breath. He could almost hear the ground shake as the two figures behind him started to run. They were running after him. Duke pounded the ground with his feet, shoving himself farther and father along the wet, filthy ground. The alley closed in tighter around him as he could hear the men getting closer. He could feel their hot breath on his back. Suddenly, Duke slipped in the blackness, and tumbled to the ground. He felt the wet pavement smack him painfully in the chest. He rolled over and over in the muddy blackness as his inertia kept pushing him on. Finally he stopped. Duke opened his eyes. He opened both eyes. He looked to see a wall, another wall, three walls. A dead end. He looked up, lying there in the mud and garbage, to see the two figures looming over him. Their eyes burned red. Lighting clawed through the sky, flashing down to reveal Duke's terrified little face.

                "No...." he started, struggling for air to supply his aching lungs. "No... I didn't do anything.... leave me alone!" he yelled at them. The two figures reached out for him. He felt a vice grip closing around his neck, another around one of his legs. "Get away from me!" he choked. The figures ignored him. They picked him up and carried him to the end of the alley, back to the black car. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!!!!" Duke screamed at them. It made no difference. A third dark figure got out of the driver's seat and opened a passenger door for the two and Duke. The little duck tried with all his might to kick and punch, but his arms and legs seemed to be floating, motionless in the cold, thin air. He could only watch as he was lifted back in the frame of the door, and hurtled through into the car.

 

                The minute she entered the Pond, she knew something wasn't right. The Duck rubbed the back of her neck and set her duffel bag on a chair in the Ready Room. Where was everyone?

                "Hey Starr!" The Duck turned to see Mallory entering the room with a towel wrapped around her neck. "Back already? It's only like 9 in the morning!"

                "Are you kidding?" Starrfire said, walking to meet Mallory. "You can never get out of one of Phil's publicity stunts fast enough!"

                "I'll second that, I can't believe he let you go." Mallory grinned.

                "Who says he let me?" Starr sneered back. "A few explosive pucks can be quite convincing if you use them right...." Mallory burst out in laughter.

                "Didn't know ya had it in ya Starr." she said.

                "Heh. Where is everyone?" she asked.

                "Down in the Rec. Room. Well most of them anyway." Mallory shrugged. "Duke's not out and Nosedive's probably not even up yet." she turned around and started walking. "Why am I not suprised?" she smirked. "Coming?"

Starrfire shouldered her bag."Sure I'll join you, just lemme put my stuff away."

                "Sure! Seeya in a few." Mallory waved her hand as she exited.

Starrfire walked off, and left through another door.

 

                As she hung up a few dresses that she had taken along on the trip with her, Starr kept shaking her head. She still had that biting feeling in the back of her mind that something was wrong. Seeing the others would help. Maybe there was a fight or something while she was gone, maybe someone got hurt. Regaardless, she could feel the lightest twinge of fear in the air. Starrfire wrapped a towel around her neck and picked up a small pair of hand weights, walking out of the room and shutting the light off behind her.

 

                Zelda stopped running laps around the Rec. Room to wave hello to Starr as she wandered over to the leg lifting bench, next to the workout cycle Tanya was riding at the time.

                "So Mallory filled us in on your escape Starr." the blonde Duck chuckled, the wheels of the stationary bike whirring and creating a breeze beneath her.

                "Yeah, pretty slick there girl." Nosedive complimented, swinging freely like a monkey from the chin-up bar on the wall.

Starr smiled and looked around the room. Grin was juggling weights like beanbag balls near the corner, Wildwing was slamming a punching bag along the wall. Mallory was doing some leg lifts. Starr started to warm herself up with her small hand weights. "So where's Duke?" she asked.

                "He got some nasty bump on the leg." Wildwing huffed, before jabbing a gloved hand into his bag. "Another one on the head too. I dunno how he got that one."

                "And that adding to the bruised up arm he was talking about at practice yesterday?" Zelda jogged, shaking her head. "He's not going to be up to snuff for tonight's game unless he gets some rest."

                "Well that's what he's doing now." Wildwing said. "You checked him out yesterday Zel, what do you think about that arm of his?"

                "Well I think it should hold up if he takes it easy tonight. Still, I don't see how falling out of bed and spilling some coffee could batter up an arm like that." she shook her head again.

                "Falling out of bed?" Tanya asked, slowing her cycling pace. "That's weird... he told me he'd pulled it by lifting too much weight with it. And he never told me it was burned..." she thought for a moment.

Zelda stopped jogging and stared at her strangely.

"Huh...." Mallory put in. Her tone was rather bland.

                "Maybe his wound is deeper than he cares eyes to prod." Grin said calmly.

Zelda nodded thoughtfully and continued to jog.

Tanya resumed a normal pace again.

But Starrfire stayed thinking for a moment.

 

                Duke saw her coming through the hall and walked to greet her. But he stopped a bit short. He knew of her 'abilites'.... could she sense his nervousness? She didn't seem to, however, as she smiled and approached him.

                "Hey, feeling better?" she asked warmly.

Duke rubbed his neck and smiled. Could she see the bruise on it? "Yeah I guess so anyway, I hope I can get the go for tonight's game."

                "Well, you know I'm always here just in case." Starr smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

His good shoulder, Duke noted. She looked down sheepishly and continued on her way, back to her bunk Duke guessed. He knew he couldn't play in the game tonight. He had already discussed that with Wildwing, and his leader had understood. Thank goodness. He needed to get out. He'd wait until tonight. Something was wrong here. Things like this just didn't happen. And Duke had a suspicion as to why. He walked towards the Ready Room, wanting to watch some TV and relax. And suddenly he felt a wave of cold envelop him.

 

                He looked around the hall. It was cold, way too cold. It was like he'd just walked into the galley freezer. But he was still in the hallway. Suddenly, red little slits of laser fire shot through the room. Duke turned, alarmed, to see Seige running up to him! How on earth did he get in here!?! Duke immediatly used his better hand to yank his sabre from his shoulder, letting the golden metal unsheath itself and gleam in the cold. Seige was very close to him now, grinning. His cold and beady eyes gleamed like those of a bull. One of his shots deflected off of Duke's sword.

                "IT'S TIME TO PUT YOU ON THE SPIT, DUCK!!"

Seige's voice hurt Duke's ears as it boomed with an unheard of volume. Duke's arms and legs seemed to turn to rubber as the huge orange lizard came charging up to him. Seige seemed to have grown ten feet!

"Wildwing! We've got Saurians in the building!" he yelled into his com, trying not to panic.

Suddenly, Seige stopped, and erupted into laughter. High, bloodcurdling laughter. It gripped Duke's stomach. Seige laughed so hard he dropped his laser.  "You idiot....they're not going to help you now!" he pealed. "They're dead. They're all DEAD!" he roared in high victory. He let something drop out of a clenched fist.

Duke gasped in sheer horror as the Mask, barely recognizable, fell to the floor. It was crushed, sparking and sputtering. And it was covered with blood, from eyes to beak. It was covered with blood and feathers. The next thing Duke saw was Seige reeling around and punching him right in the gut.

 

                Warmth. He felt warmth all around him as he gasped and sank to the floor, sliding down from the wall. He thought it was blood. Surely Seige had shot him and he was bleeding to death. Duke reached up for his stomach... but it was whole. He opened his eyes and Seige was nowhere to be found. There was no blood, the warmth was air. The air wasn't cold anymore. Duke blinked. Had that been another nightmare? That was impossible. He had been wide awake! That was impossible. Duke lay there for a moment, trying to calm himself, slow his breathing. Finally, after about a minute, Duke finally decided to stand up. What if someone saw him? He rolled up quickly, and a huge pain ran up through his guts. Duke nearly cried out. The pain faded slowly. The Duck slowly turned up his shirt to see black and blue all over his stomach. This was unreal. Duke sat for a moment, thinking and thinking. This wasn't normal at all. He pondered and pondered how on earth this was happening.

Then, he knew.

 

                Starrfire sat tapping drowsily at the computer console. She was so bored. She wondered when, or if, Phil was gonna get back. As she grinned to herself, she heard the door open. She looked over her shoulder to see Duke walking into the room, very stiffly.

                "Hey Starr.... " he said slowly. "I'm going out for a ride... I'll be back in a bit." He sighed a bit and continued out.

Starr raised her eyebrow. Suddenly, an intense feeling ripped through her. An instant sensation of pain and fear sliced through her mind. Her abilities were telling her something. She looked back to Duke, the door closing behind him. That. He was the cause. Something was desperately wrong with him. She knew it and she knew she had to help him. Starrfire shot out of her chair and ran out of the room.

 

                Zelda stood up by the little handles in the floor of the Migrator she would hold onto while they were driving. She sniffed the air curiously.

Wildwing steered gently around a corner.

                "Man, it's a good thing that they had so much bad weather in Detroit and those loser 'Wings couldn't fly down, I'd HATE to forefit to them." Nosedive sneered, securing his seatbelt.

                "Tanya, can you get a fix on Duke's Duckcycle?" Wildwing asked, ignoring his brother.

                "It's heading up Cypress, for the highway I'm guessing." she said, tapping at the Omnitool on her wrist.

                "I just know something's wrong with him..." Starrfire shook her head.

                "Well I know he's not been himself lately." Zelda shook her head as well.

                "I still don't know why he would lie to us." Mallory hissed from her seat. "If something was wrong, why wouldn't he tell us?"

                "Duke has lived a shadowed past." Grin noted deeply. "Perhaps the memories are too shadowed for his own dignity."

                "Whatever." Mallory dissmissed. "But if he can't tell us, who can he tell? What if he's in cahoots with Falcone again?"

                "Falcone's nothing but trouble man." Nosedive turned around to put his two cents in. "I think Duke learned his lesson last time."

                "Hey." Wildwing broke it up. "Despite the suspicions we've had about him, there's really no reason to doubt him."

Mallory didn't reply, and sat back in her chair.

They turned another corner, and drove alongside the freeway.

"He didn't get on yet, did he Tanya?" Wildwing asked.

                "He's not going to..." Tanya said. "He just passed the ramp. He's stopping or something.... just... underneath the freeway?"

                "Underneath eh.." Zelda shook her head. "The black little stripe that Anaheim wears. It's the worst part of town."

Indeed, as the Ducks drove down the road in the night, they looked to the side, to see a tall, rusted fence, wreathed with barbed wire. On the other side of the fence, were old and rundown houses, hung with rags and old tarps, forever shadowed beneath the dark strip of the freeway. People still lived there, but it certainly was no 90210. Finding a road leading into the area, Wildwing turned the vehicle again.

 

                Duke staggered into the alleyway. He had no clue what he was doing, but he knew he had to face what lie beyond him. Somewhere in his head, something was telling him that he needed to be here. He'd find out here.

                "Well it certainly took you long enough to show up, old friend." a voice hissed good naturedly from within the alley's darkness. "It's not like you to be late." The voice was sneering.

Duke could picture the beak the voice came from, grinning. He straitened himself against the wall. "Well I'm here." Duke snarled back into the alley. "What the hell do you want?"

                "Temper temper!" the voice smiled. In the darkness, Duke could clearly see an electric swath of silver metal unsheath itself from the black. The sword's edge danced playfully. "What's the matter old chum? Haven't been getting enough sleep?"

Duke's sword was out to challenge Falcone's, the golden metal pulsing with light in the black. "You idiot, YOU'VE been doing this to me, haven't you?" Duke raised his voice.

                "Who else did you expect?" Falcone sneered back. "I wanted a way to humble you, it looks like I did."

                "So why the secrecy?" Duke shot back at him, pushing away from the wall. "You're still afraid to face me? Afraid I'm going to beat you again eh?"

                "Hardly old chap." Falcone's voice grinned at him again. Duke didn't like this. "This fight takes place my way. And when you go my way, you don't win."

Suddenly, Duke cried out and dropped to his knees. The brick buildings suddenly sprang higher, sharpening themselves into great black thorns. The Anaheim moon, barely visible between the gnarled spires, suddenly burst into flame. And suddenly he could see. The alley was flooded with some sort of light with no source. He coud see Falcone standing in the corner, his huge sword gleaming like pure light. His eyes were a cold, pitch black. Duke gripped his stomach and leapt to his feet. "Not another nightmare!" he said out loud.

                "Oh yes dear friend." Falcone suddenly started towards the maroon-clad duck. His footsteps seemed to shake the ground. "Another one. Your last one."

Suddenly, the great beam of light blinded Duke, and he felt and intense pain rip across his shoulder. Duke tumbled to the ground, rolling in the dirt. He looked up, feeling the warmth of blood flow over the lip of the gash. Duke brought up his sword and staggered to his feet.

Falcone just smiled.

 

                The falcon grinned from the corner of the alley. This was simply to easy. He saw his aggressor swatting at an imaginary form in the darkness ahead of him, and couldn't help but chuckling to himself. That idiot. He might as well give up now and get it over with without much more pain. Finally he could get his revenge. Puckword only knew how much he wanted it. Falcone stared at him, a sneer emblazoned on his beak. Somewhere far off, there was a screech of tires. The falcon ignored it as he saw his antagonist suddenly fly five feet through the air, landing on his side. The Duck lay for a moment. Falcone held his breath. Duke slowly started to drag himself again. Falcone clicked his teeth and leaned back against the damp bricks. Drat, he was going to be a tough one to kill. But, the falcon thought to himself, as long as he could watch and enjoy.....

 

                Starrfire was out of the Migrator in a flash. The team ran after her as she darted off into the network of dark streets.

                "Hey girl! Wait up!" Nosedive yelled after her. Starrfire stopped by a corner, gasping for breath. Her eyes darted wildly down the streets.

                "Whoa whoa Starr, what's wrong?" Mallory was the first to reach her, grabbing her by the shoulder to restrain her as the team caught up.

                "Something's wrong..." the Duck shook her head. "Something's really wrong. We have to find him."

                "Easily said as done." Wildwing was already analyzing his AutoTracker. "He's in an alley two blocks up from here. Follow me team!" The leader in the golden Mask waved his arm and ran down the street. The rest of the team took off after him, a sudden tenseness and urgency in the humid night air. Wildwing skidded to a stop as he reached the alley. He raised his shield, the armorment giving off a high sound. He peered around to corner as the rest of the team reached him.

Duke leaned heavily against a far brick wall, panting.

Wildwing looked harder and saw dark blood staining his outfit in several places. The team charged into the alley.

                "Hands up street scum!" Mallory barked into the darkness, her launcher at the ready.

A very familiar chuckling came from deeper down the alley. A silver blade suddenly hovered over Duke's bent back.

                "Get away from him Falcone!" Zelda roared, recognizing him immediately.

                "Very well." the bird grinned, backing away ten feet or so. "But that's not going to save him now."

Suddenly Duke cried out as he was seemingly struck in the back, and fell to the ground, crumpled against the wall. But nothing had touched him!

                "It's in his mind...." Grin muttered.

                "Starrfire, Zelda, get to Duke now." Wildwing ordered.

The rest of them turned their guns on Falcone. The bird was sadly outnumbered and outgunned. Still he showed no sign of even breaking a sweat as the Ducks backed him further and further away from Duke.

                "Whatever you did to him Falcone, you're gonna pay buddy." Nosedive growled.

                "Well I'll have to give a raincheck old chap." Falcone grinned. "Because the next time I'll see him will be at his funeral!"

Suddenly the bird was gone! Four Ducks lit up the alley, shooting pucks everywhere. Wildwing barely missed the bird as he caught him slipping over the rooftop, and out of sight. Nosedive was already at the fire escape ladder of the building, ready to go after him. Wildwing lowered his arm and launcher.

                "Let him go... we'll tag that bird later."

Grin and Mallory were already heading back, and the brothers quickly joined them. Towards the edge of the alley, Starr and Zelda were still huddled over Duke.

                "What happened to him?" Nosedive asked, trying to peer through the crowd.

No one answered him.

Zelda was holding Duke by a shoulder, shaking him gently.

The Duck trembled, twitching in spazms of pain. His eye was closed as if he were simply sleeping, but he kept shaking and rolling.

                "Can't you get to him Starr?" Zelda asked, panicky and worried.

Starrfire quickly closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to hone in on Duke. All that would register was intense fear. "Duke, it's us.... you have to wake up Duke... it's all a bad dream, you have to open your eyes...."

Suddenly the Duck gasped, the eye flying open and the body releasing the last of it's energy in one pent up thrash. Duke nearly sat strait up in the alley.

                "Whoa whoa easy Duke." Wildwing restrained him gently. "It's us, you're okay now."

The Duck slowly started to wake up to the pain he felt, and leaned back against the brick. He felt the warm blood oozing over his suit. He was absolutely terrified, hanging in an exhausted limbo between reality and nightmare. But he was so tired. Fear passed from him as he surrendered to his injuries, and closed his eyes.

 

               

                                                                                To be continued.....