The Great Secret

Written by Zelda

 

                "What?" Wildwing said. He blinked at the screen, almost not believing his eyes.

                "That's what it is Wing, Dragaunus is there. Right smack dab in the middle of Tibet." Tanya replied simply.

                "Why the MONKEYS would he be there?" Lindsay said. Stivz frowned at Drake One's pulsing screen.

                "Yeah... we haven't heard from him in months! Is that where he's been hiding?" he asked.

                "Possibly." Zelda said.

                "Tanya, can you zoom in, scan the area?" Wildwing asked.

                "Lemme see, there's too much heat to try infrared.... maybe just plain view..." An image came up on the screen, of nothing but rolling tan sand and high, jagged brown mountains in the distance. Tanya sighed. "Switching to ultraviolet." she said. Still nothing came up. Wildwing took off his Mask. He couldn't scan an image, but Drake One could do it for him. He went over and pulled a rubber-coated wire from Drake One, inserting the output cap into the Mask. Something fuzzed faintly on the screen. "Ahh, there's too much interference." Tanya sighed.

                "Well, two masks are better than one." Grin reminded. Stivz activated his mask as well. It flashed silver over his beak, then solidified. He took it off and plugged it in. The image was frighteningly sharp. Off in the distance, there stood a huge tower, jagged and red. Mallory gasped.

                "That's a..."

                "A master tower." Quacker Jax finished.

                "Why that little sleezebag..." Nosedive growled. "Thinkin' he can just go ahead and build another tower..." Wildwing put the Mask back on his head, the wire still plugged in.

                "I'm trying an internal scan." he explained. Data fed out onto the screen quickly.

                "Whoa, this one's loaded... looks just like the tower on Puckworld." Tanya said, reading the output.

                "What do you mean?" Celyna asked.

                "Well look at this!" Tanya said. "Radar for starters. Full range scanners in infrared, motion detection, ultraviolet, everything. Lasers, big ones too. Well built defense systems."

                "But it's built like the one on Puckworld, right?" Duke asked.

                "Yeah."

                "Well that's just stupid right there." he laughed bitterly. "Then we can destroy it the same way." The Ducks nodded.

                "If the defense systems are so well built for a tower in the middle of Tibet, then old Draggy must be scared we'd find it." Zelda said.

                "Well we have." Erin said triumphantly.

                "And now we get to take it down!" Matt hissed gleefully.

                "Something tells me it's not going to be easy." Grin said. Candy nodded.

                "What we need is a strategy."

                "You're right." Wildwing sighed. "Any suggestions?"

                "Okay, get this." Lindsay started, jumping into the middle of the group. "We get some cola, I mean a lot of cola. Then we go and dump it ALL over Draggy and his lousy henchmen.... and they'll get so sticky and we'll leave a lot of camels to lick them clean! HA!" Mallory regarded her nails in thought.

                "Well they've got good scanners and radar." she started. "Do we have any stealth vehicles?"

                "Well the gliders would do for that, they're small enough." Tanya said.

                "Yeah... if we split up they won't be able to see us until... well, they can actually see us." Stivz said.

                "But do we have enough?" Turbulance asked.

                "With our backup gliders we'll have enough for everyone." Tanya said.

                "Excellent." Wildwing smiled. "Then let's get going. We can work out the details on the way." As the team ran for the hangar, Phil appeared in the hallway.

                "NOW where are you going?" he yelled after them.

                "Tibet." Candy grinned. Phil groaned and smacked his forehead as the team disappeared out of sight.

 

                Zelda paused at the open hatch of the Aerowing. The tan sand whizzed past below in a wild blur. Behind her, the team was suiting up in their gliders.

                "Okay team, remember always to stay in visual range." Wildwing reminded. "And NO joyriding." he snorted to his brother. Nosedive sniffed and turned towards the hatch.

                "Everyone's radio com system works the same way." Tanya informed. "All of your cockpit noises will be relayed without any button pushing, so everyone can talk at once... but let's try not to." The team nodded. Wildwing handed Zelda a small radio with a velcro strap. He tied it firmly around her left wrist.

                "There." he said. "Kay's got one too, keep in touch."

                "Got it." she smiled.

                "Okay team." he called back to the rest. "The Aerowing'll land on autopilot. Now let's move out!" Zelda dove out of the plane, and into the wind. Fortunately it was at her back. She heard the gliders rumbling behind, until they whizzed past her in a flash. She flapped and kept up.

                "Alright team." Wildwing came over the radio. "Any problems to report?" Silence followed. "Good. Now you know what to do. Siege the tower and meet at the main entrance once you're inside the cloaking shield. Good luck!" he called, and they were off. They eased into a formation much like a V. The outer gliders would wrap around the tower and approach it from the back, entering the shield by the time the last of the line did in the front. They darted agilely up and down. Zelda herself kept close to the middle of the V formation on the left side. The radio clicked.

                "Wing, you see the tower?" Stivz asked. He was flying at the front of the right branch of the V, while Wildwing remained at the point at the end. They were both to act as navigators, they were the only ones to see the tower now.

                "Yeah, a ways off still." Wildwing answered. The V spread out a little wider. Suddenly, something flashed in the sky ahead of them for a split second. Gretchen yelled in alarm over the radio.

                "You okay up there Gretch?" Lindsay called.

                "Yeah, stupid laser fire." she snorted.

                "Hit you?" Wildwing asked.

                "No, scared me to death." Suddenly a laser streaked underneath Matt's glider.

                "Yowch, torch me why don't you?" he snarled.

                "Guys, the tower's not too far off from here." Stivz said.

                "They've locked onto us!" Tanya suddenly yelled.

                "Break formation!" Wildwing ordered. Instantly the gliders split and swirled off like a cloud of disturbed flies. Lasers slit the air quickly. Stivz looked behind him as he swooped around the cloaking shield of the tower.

                "Everyone follow me! Veer left on my signal!" he yelled. Gretchen, Quacker Jax, Mallory, and Candy followed him in a distorted line. Nosedive was at the head of the left wing in the V.

                "Dive, coordinate your movements with Stivz's line! Careful up there!" his brother called.

                "Watch your own glider Bro.!" Nosedive said back. At that moment, a laser raced inches above Wing's windshield. Wildwing continued on as Grin, Zelda, Tanya, Celyna, Kay, and Erin remained behind with him. Suddenly a flurry of lasers barraged them.

                "Ahh, I'm hit!" Erin snarled. Smoke curled up from her glider.

                "Bad?" asked Tanya.

                "Right wing. It's holding up, I'll be fine." she insisted, and shot ahead. Suddenly, Zelda yelped over the radio and flew strait up to avoid being hit by a laser. It shot directly behind her. Grin yelled as he saw it coming and swerved up. The shot hit his glider under the nose, causing an explosion. Wildwing saw it and veered off.

                "Grin, Grin you okay?" Wing yelled. There was no response as Grin's glider tipped and fell out of the sky. It landed out of view, but was followed seconds later by a huge explosion.

                "Grin!" Kay sobbed.

                "Zelda, go after him!" Wildwing ordered. Zelda followed him down and disappeared. The team flew on, the tower only a few hundred feet away. They dodged fire wildly as they listened to the crackle and yelling over the radio.

 

                Zelda looked at the flaming glider in a panic. Her eyes darted among the torn metal. Suddenly she dove into the flames, gripping a piece of metal in her jaws. It was hot. She ignored and tore it aside. She grabbed something soft. It was Grin's arm. She gripped it with both paws and wrenched backwards. Grin shifted forward a few inches. She hauled him back again and again, until he was finally out of the wreckage, about eight feet away. Zelda stood panting over him. His clothes were singed all over, especially on his right side. She reared back and started flapping her wings over to cool him. She yelled out.

                "Guys, Grin's out of the wreck, at least he looks better than the glider." she reported quickly. Then she looked at her wrist and realized that the com had fallen off. Zelda sighed and stopped flapping. Grin was coming around. "Grin... you okay?" He groaned and blinked his eyes. "Come on Grin, what hurts?" she asked.

                "Everything." he moaned.

                "Looks like you got some burns on that side of yours." She sighed. She looked up. Lasers still shot out of midair now and then and hit the sand. Otherwise nothing unusual had happened. She couldn't see much beyond the dunes and the flaming wreck. The sun floated up on her back, still rising. "Huh, why couldn't you have crashed and burst into ice instead of flames?..." she sighed.

                "What's that?" he grunted, trying to get up.

                "No no, you lie still. We're going to have a time keeping ourselves out of the sun." she said, looking down at him. It wouldn't be great to move him, and if she could, where on earth would she move him to? Zelda spread her wings out as far as she could, trying to create as much shade as possible. "We're just going to have to wait until the others get back."

 

                And so they waited. Grin slept, or just didn't speak and lay panting. Zelda knew she wasn't doing a good enough job, but there was nothing more she could do. Grin's side was still burning horribly. Soon the pain started to get to him. He drew in shallow, sharp breaths, hand over his chest. His eyes were squinted shut.

                "Oh come on Grin... you can make it through this." Zelda said.

                "I... I can't..." he panted.

                "Yes you can, just hold on Grin." she pleaded. Grin lay back and didn't protest further. Zelda's wings were burning from the sun. She stretched them out further and snarled. "Remember... how you used to complain you got so cold on the ice back in the Pond?" Grin chuckled lightly, which was soon taken over by painful coughing. Finally he settled again in the hot sand. Zelda looked up. The sun was directly overhead. Zelda sighed. It was going to be a long day. She too was breathing rather heavily by now. Time passed agonizingly slow. Zelda thought she could feel the skin on the back of her wings bubbling in the heat. But the sun was receding. What on earth was taking the other Ducks so long? Were they captured? Killed? She gulped. The sun was only a few inches over the dunes closest to them. She sighed and finally stepped back. She tried to fold her wings and heard them crinkling like parchment paper. The pain came a few seconds later. "Yowch!" she growled slowly. Finally, fighting the effort to yelp or growl, she folded her wings and set them against her sides carefully. "Dried out." she sighed. She paced back to Grin and lay down beside him. "You feelin' okay?"

                "No." he uttered quietly. A line of shade started to creep up from the dune as the sun continued to set.

                "It's okay Grin, soon the sun will set and we'll cool off." She perked up as she heard a far of sloshing in the sand. She crouched behind a dune and growled. If it was one of those henchmen come to finish Grin off, he'd have to get through her first. Suddenly someone called her name.

                "Zelda?" the voice was tired and cracked. Lindsay stumbled up over the dune.

                "Linds? What happened to you?" Zelda said, coming up to her. Lindsay gripped her shoulder as she kneeled down in the sand.

                "We all got past the shield and regrouped to attack, but I dunno what happened... I thought some got captured... all these drones came pouring out and the only thing I could do was run, they trashed my glider..."

                "There there, relax... come on, let's get you over here." Zelda led Lindsay up and over the dune, past the smoldering wreck, and sat her down near Grin. "Here, lemme see your shoulder... yowch L, what happened?"

                "Drone hit me with his cola-loving laser, that's what." she snorted. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket and tied it over the wound. The white cloth slowly colored red. "How's Grin?"

                "He got burned... there's nothing more to do until we can find the others." Zelda sighed. "Do you know where the Aerowing landed?"

                "Haven't a clue." Linds flopped on her back in the cool sand. Suddenly they heard a soft sound, almost like chanting and bells. Grin stirred a bit. The chanting became nearer. Zelda looked up over the dune to see a line of bald men in dark red robes staring down at her.

                "Well whadda ya know?" Lindsay said.

                "Tibetan monks!" Zelda smiled. "Looks like we're saved."

                "Do you speak in their language?" Lindsay asked.

                "I know a little." Zelda said. She walked slowly up to the curious little men and started to talk.

                "Please.... friends... we are... hurt... need... help." The monks stared at her strangely. Zelda sighed and pointed. "There is... evil thing there.... we fight... we hurt... please. More, other... friends... fight now." One of the men came down and looked at the two Ducks. Soon more followed. They helped Lindsay up and struggled to carry Grin over the sand. Zelda followed them quietly as the monks carried the two off, into the coming night.

 

                "I wonder if they have cola here?" Lindsay pondered, as she sat in a large room next to Zelda, and Grin who was lying down on a cot. "And how come they won't talk to us?"

                "These men may have taken a vow of silence." Zelda said. Slowly a man they hadn't seen before opened the door and came in with a bowl of water and some cloth.

                "Good evening my friends." he spoke in heavy English.

                "Thanks to you and your friends for taking us in sir." Zelda said.

                "It is nothing." the man replied. "I am the head of this monastery. I also am the only one who can speak here, all other are committed to silence." As he kneeled beside Grin, Zelda came to help him. "What happened here? Who are you?"

                "There is a great evil not too far from where we were found. You can't see it, it's inside a cloak. But we came to battle this evil. More of our friends are still fighting."

                "I do not understand." he said sadly.

                "It will all be explained, I hope."

                "Yes, now you all need rest. I will leave you."

                "Thanks again." Zelda called, as he slipped out and shut the door behind him. Zelda sighed and took up a piece of cloth, dipping it in the water. She spread it out and lay it gently over Grin's side. He groaned and started to curl up. "Easy Grin..." she steadied. "He should be okay for now." Lindsay's wound was also cleaned and bandaged. Linds took up some water in her cupped hands and spread it over Zelda's burned wings. Settled comfortably, Lindsay lay down on a bench, and Zelda on a floor, to sleep. But they didn't close their eyes for a long time that night.

 

        Duke snarled and pounded on the wall angrily. Captured! Dangit he hated being a prisoner. Kay was curled up in a corner, muttering about Grin. He could tell she was really worried sick. At least Tanya was there to comfort her.

                "Yeah, nice attack plan." he complained. Wildwing raised his head up from his position against the wall like a defeated jackal. He stared at Duke for a moment and sunk back down. Yeah, the attack had been a failure for their branch. The henchmen were waiting for them at the main entrance, but fortunately the other two groups got in. At least Wildwing thought they did. The minute the henchmen had thrown them in the cell they were off again. All Wildwing wanted now was to ice down his back. Siege had hit him right smack on the spine, jeez it hurt. He listened to Kay. What if she was right? What if Grin was dead? And where was Zelda then? He sighed and hoped he would get out of here soon.

 

                Stivz grabbed Candy and threw himself behind a crate as an explosion ripped up next to them. Candy got up off of him and started firing immediately back. Drones in front of her exploded, the debris flying everywhere. This was no regular battle in the Raptor. It was much harder. Drones were everywhere. Lasers slit the earth inches from their feet, with deadly precision. Candy felt the pouch at her side and sighed with relief. She still had the bomb. Three bombs were distributed, one for each unit. Quacker Jax rolled up slowly beside her. He raised his hands and yelled something, and two energy balls shot from them, destroying five drones.

                "QJ, go with Candy and set that bomb! I'll cover for you." Stivz yelled. "And make sure you let the others know what you're doing!" Candy turned and ran, QJ right behind her. They both ran out across the open sands, Stivz following. As the two dove into the entrance to the tower, Stivz perched himself at the entrance and fired. He felt a burning pain rip through his shoulder, and he fell to the ground.

 

                Nosedive stood panting, beyond the entrance. Matt stood close behind him, leaning over to catch his breath with his hands braced on his knees for support.

                "Is... that all of them?" asked Lindsay.

                "Yeah... I think so." Nosedive replied.

                "You still got that bomb Destiny?" Matt asked.

                "Yeah... yeah... I got it."

                "Man those drones are tough... come on, let's hope we don't meet any more." Nosedive said. The Ducks picked themselves up and started off into the tower, hoping to relocate the master computer.

                "Dive? Guys? You still in one piece over there?" Quacker Jax asked over the coms.

                "QJ! Yeah we're whole here, going to set that bomb now." Matt answered.

                "So are we. Meet up with ya in the master computer room?"

                "You bet."

                "How was it getting in?"

                "Just a few drones here."

                "Lucky." Candy said. There was something in her tone that shut the others up. They ran on.

 

                Zelda felt the cool stones against her side and awoke slowly. Remembering where she was, she got up quietly and went over to Grin. Rearing up, she saw that he was better already. She sighed and leaned back down. Lindsay was getting up.

                "Feeling better?" she asked. Lindsay nodded and yawned. Zelda sighed again. "I wonder what's up with the others... maybe I should help them..." Lindsay rubbed her eyes, looking worried.

                "They weren't heard from during the night?" Zelda shook her head.

                "I think I will go. Maybe I can help...."

                "If you wanna go, go. I'll stay with Grin." Lindsay said. Zelda nodded and peeked out the door. She saw the man who could talk coming down the hall. She walked out.

                "How are your friends?" he asked.

                "Much better, thanks to you and yours. But I must be heading out. I have to find the others. As long as I can fight, I will."

                "Then luck to you dragon. I will take care of your friends until you return."

                "Many thanks." she said, and continued walking. Finally, she reached a set of great wooden doors, one which stood slightly ajar. The rhythms of chanting monks filled the room. She slipped out, into the desert, and took off. The sun was just rising over the horizon, casting a gold gleam over the sand. She soared high into the warming air. As she flapped, her wings started to hurt again. The cracked skin reopened and burned. Zelda ignored it and flew on. She finally spotted the wreck of Grin's glider, still smoking a little, and flew down beside it. She then headed in a strait bee line. She couldn't see the tower, but she remembered the way she flew the day before. Soon she felt a wave of cold wash over her, and she was inside the shield. She swooped violently upwards, as to avoid suddenly crashing into the tower. She caught herself and landed on the ground beside the main entrance. Bits of metal and wreck were strewn about. Some glider, some hunter drone. Zelda snuck into the tower quietly. The thing was huge, how would she ever find the Ducks? She wondered how the original six of the team felt entering here on Puckworld. Bits of metal were here and there, some still smoldering. She heard whirring and metal clicking. Hunter drones, and not far off. She retreated out of the tower. Maybe the main entrance was guarded. She ran to the right, galloping through the sand. Finally she neared the side entrance. Here were stacks of blasted crates and containers. Maybe this was a port for incoming supplies. She started to head in, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Behind a crate, a hand loosely grasped a corner. Zelda approached it cautiously.

                "Stivz?" she gasped. The Duck lay on his side against the crate, a large laser burn through his shoulder. He looked up at her.

                "Zel... how did you?"

                "Shhh." she said, glancing around. "Stivz what on earth happened here?" Stivz propped himself up with one hand and sat, forgoing his cover.

                "I don't know... we all started fighting and Candy and QJ got through with the bomb. I got hit and I crawled here... I think the others got captured..." he was tired. Zelda ripped the sleeve off of his shirt and wrapped it over his wound. It still burned.

                "Huh, next time we do this kinda thing, let's all bring along our own first-aid kits." she said sarcastically.

                "What about Grin? Is... is he...?"

                "No, these monks found him and Lindsay, took us back to their monastery. It's not far, maybe two or three miles. She's got a shoulder hit, he's just burned a bit and really dehydrated." Stivz nodded. "Come on, we need to get outta here. Linds says she thinks Wing and his unit were captured too. What about Dive and those guys?" Stivz shook his head.

                "Haven't heard a thing. But my com's busted, so that doesn't help."

                "I have to see where they are."

                "Well I'm coming too. Don't feel like staying here to be hunter drone bait." he said, slowly getting up, grunting because of the pain. He and Zelda slowly walked into the tower, and out of sight.

 

To be continued......