It was 10 in the morning, and the Ducks had just finished practice for their game that evening and all six were in the Ready Room relaxing. The sounds heard were only those of the TV, soft in the background and the laughter of Duke, Mal and Nosedive as they watched the show. Tanya typed her log into Drake One and Wildwing hovered over her, checking the files out on the process. It had been a full week. Dive had started on school, Phil had scheduled about a million photo-shoots, a few hockey games here and there and the three more break-ins by Dragaunus.
They'd managed to stop all of those break-ins and anticipate the Saurians next moves, but that was all because they'd been receiving strange, anonymous information left in Drake One's database. Tanya and Wildwing were first shocked to see that someone had managed to get into their system, when she was sure it was impossible to do so. After giving Drake One a complete virus-scan they had viewed the message as a whole. It was evident that their 'friend' was female and a computer-expert-borderline-hacker. She'd sounded so professional and yet seemed like an old friend as they read her messages.
Duke had commented that the sender was probably harmless, but Mallory had interjected that it might be a Saurian spy, or someone who simply wanted them down. They'd given the sender the benefit of the doubt and had followed the instructions and clues and had easily stopped all the attacks. Their battle maneuvers were improving too, since their informant had also stated their mistakes and improvements that could be made for their benefit.
For the past few days though, no messages were left from Mysterious Eyes, as they'd nicknamed her. Everything seemed so normal and peaceful, it was getting to them. Wildwing paced and wondered why their informant's next message was taking so long. It wasn't that they needed her anyway... but he just wanted to find out who the heck she was... is. She was being a big help.
Blip.
"Wildwing. A message just came in. And it isn't the letter kind. She's online and asking to chat with us in a private room." Tanya turned to him and the others turned away from their activities. Wildwing was at a loss, what was he supposed to do?
"Go for it bro." Dive said from the couch.
"Who is she looking for, Tanya?" He asked, bending over.
"For you, Wing. For you." And the blond duck stepped away from the chair and let her captain seat himself. "Here," Tanya clicked some buttons and got Wildwing into the said chat room.
A message scrawled on the screen.
Angelbaby: A note of warning, my friend. Even if it's just you and I here, I still don't trust this place. You can't be too careful. Use a code name, it's the best way of seeing that no one traces you and I.
Wildwing inhaled for a moment and thought over the handle he was going to use.
Bay: Who are you? Why are you helping us? You seem to know a lot about the group, we hardly have anything to base you on.
Angelbaby: I'm just a friend, an informant willing to help you. Do you need to know anything other from that?
Bay: Actually, yes... Some of us still are on the borderline of trusting you and ignoring you.
Angelbaby: I understand. But here's all I have to say. Lizard-lips is laying low and trying to figure out how you guys seem to know where they're hitting next. We're on the borderline here.
Bay: WE?
Angelbaby: We're a team. There's six of us plus our own informant, working for an upper man. Don't worry. The boss means well. He wants you guys to win this thing.
Bay: Why? Why would anyone want that, besides the obvious that... that reptile has to go?
Angelbaby: All he says is that 'he remembers the honor'. And the rest of us do too.
The six ducks glanced at each other. "Remember the honor..." Dive mumbled, his eyes lit up in recognition, "Hey, isn't that one of the lines DuCaine said in the books?"
"Yeah. But Angel here says that it's her upper man who knows that." Mallory frowned, there were shadows in her eyes as she remembered the one person other than Canard who had memorized those books. Could it be that he's the upper man? No. Couldn't be. He left and I'm not even sure he survived getting here.
"It seems as though the child wishes us only safety."
"Child?" Duke asked, turning to the seven-foot tall duck beside him.
"Is it not obvious?"
"What do you mean Grin?" Tanya asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Our informant's a teenager." Wildwing spoke and leaned on the console.
"A teen?!" Dive exclaimed and peered in. "How can you tell."
"Just a feeling." Wildwing motioned for Tanya to do something with the keys and a file opened at the side:
Private Chat Information
User: Angelbaby
- 16/f
Angelbaby: I have to go, Bay. I'll just send in the information when we get any.
Angelbaby has exited the chat.
"Wow, she sure got out of there fast." Duke crossed his arms as Wildwing closed the connection.
"I know." Wildwing said softly and as the rest went back to their activities, he clicked on the icon of the saved messages to reread.
* * *
"Do you think they believe us now?" Dee asked as Nyre shut off her connection and sat solemnly on the bed. "I hope so Dee..." She hugged her pillow and buried her face on the cushion, sniffling.
"Nyre?" Dee's concerned voice floated over to her and she felt two arms encircle her and Dee pulled her close, cradling her gently. "Nyre, what's wrong? Tell me girl..."
"I don't know what to do Lav..." ebony eyes looked up at lavender ones, "This whole thing is depressing me." She sat up, undid her braids and pushed away the stray bangs that fell into her eyes. She glanced back up at her best friend, who smiled thoughtfully and rubbed the back of her back. Nyre blinked twice, thrice and then the tears fell softly. "I'm such an idiot. But I wish I could..."
"Speak no more 'gel." Dee held a hand up and pulled up from the floor the small paper bag she'd brought in with her. Reaching in, she pulled out two tickets for the next Ducks' game. "You've never had the time and you've never been able to afford the good tickets before, so I took the liberty of demanding to Drake that you need this and I bought these for you." She tilted her head to one side and closed one eye, a lopsided grin on her face, "of course, you can't go without me!"
Nyre's face instantly broke into a smile and she squealed with delight, wrapping her arms around the younger girl. "Thank you..." She whispered and gave her foster sister a light kiss on the cheek and stood, beginning to dance around in delight.
* * *
"There goes the buzzer, and as we end the final period the Ducks lead six to four! DUCKS WIN AGAIN!" The cheers came louder from the sidelines.
"Whoa, those guys play a pretty mean game!" Mallory breathed and drank from her water bottle.
"But at least they're no softies." Tanya laughed taking a drink as well.
"Whatever," Nosedive dismissed the subject and glanced to the stands. "Hey Nosedive!" He looked up and saw Nyre and Dee smiling down at him. "Yo! Nyra-angel!" He moved over and gave Dee a grin. "You made it!"
"Thanks to Lav here." Nyre laughed. "Great game!"
"Thanks."
"Yo Dive, who're your friends?" The trio glanced to see Mallory and Tanya making their way over, hockey sticks and gloves put away.
"Oh, uhm, Mal, Tanya, this is Nyre Leviste, she's the girl who showed me around school."
"Hi!" Nyre smiled and gave a little wave.
"And that's Deanna Kerse, they're best friends."
"Hiya!" The two female Ducks smiled and nodded, standing beside Nosedive.
"DIVE!" Wildwing called from the goal, "Dive!"
Nosedive shook his head and waved for his brother to come on over, "I'm havin' a conversation here bro!"
Wing skated over and caught sight of Nyre. "Uhm, hi!" He gave her a grin.
Nyre nodded softly and semi-blushed. "Hi!"
"You watched the game?"
"Uh-huh, nice saves there. You're a good goalie. I'd never be that good," she mentioned.
"You play hockey?" Mallory asked.
"Yeah, I do. I play forward though." She explained. "But we basically do street hockey more often."
"We?" Tanya put in.
"She means the Wolverines." Deanna interjected. Tanya raised an eyebrow. "The Wolverines?"
"They're our team." Nyre explained further, "We've been together for three years."
"Oh, the local street team. I heard you guys were good," Duke said, as he came over overhearing the conversation.
"Hey Duke, where's the Grinster?" Dive asked the older duck.
"Up back. Wanted some rest."
"Oh."
"Anyway," Mallory laughed, glancing back to the girls. "Why don't you guys come with us, I have a growing interest in this group of yours."
* * *
Dee and Nyre went into main room, Nyre was flushed pink and Dee was laughing at her. "Hey, it isn't my fault I slid right into the goal."
"Oh yeah, as if!"
"LAV!" Nyre burst out, her face a little more than just crimson.
"I'm kidding!" Deanna pinched Nyre's cheeks, "But y'know, I don't think he noticed you were crimson..." Nyre's smile slowly disappeared. Dee smiled again. "Because he himself was kinda flushed under his feathers." Nyre gave her a quizzical look. "He was blushing too, Nyre, and he couldn't even look you in the eye after that little collision." Nyre shook her head and looked away.
"My, my, aren't you two late." Marri teased as the two took notice of the rest of the team. "Had fun at the game, Nyre?" The wilder twin smiled slyly. "Yeah." She blushed and looked away, switching on the TV. "And in sports, the Mighty Ducks beat the Panthers by two goals in the game this evening--"
Click. Nyre shut it off.
The team began to make teasing noises and Nyre turned away, covering her face. Hacker hugged her, "So what's this I hear about you crashing into the goalie huh?"
"It was nothing Hack, I messed up," Nyre said off-handedly.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Drake teased. "Looks like Wildwing did some cushioning."
"Yeah, Nye!" Ace said from the couch. "Any guy who wouldn't notice how gorgeous and sweet and incredibly cute you are needs a brain transplant, human or otherwise."
"Thanks guys." She smiled and sat down, listening to Dee tell the whole story to the rest.
* * *
Wildwing sat on the couch and switched on the TV set. He placed his mug of coffee on the side table and laid his hand on his stomach, remembering the events earlier that evening after their victory over the Panthers.
Dive had introduced his two schoolmates to the rest of the team. Dee turned out to be Nyre's foster sister other than her best friend. The resemblance between the two was shocking, for aside from the smaller frame, slightly wavy blue-black hair and lavender eyes, she looked amazingly like Nyre. One would assume that they were sisters. Nyre, Wildwing knew from their first meeting. She was her same cheerful self and joined in the fun naturally, she was a speedster on the ice, which led to the incident...
"NYRE, WATCH IT!" Dive had called out, but she'd already slipped and crashed into the goalie's net... with the goalie.
"Hey Wing! Nyre! You guys okay?" Mallory asked as she skated over.
"Fine Mal." Wing replied and sat up, in a sense cradling the tiny figure who'd just collided with his chest. "Hey, you okay Nyre?" He'd asked lifting her chin. Her ebony eyes trembled as they looked into his. She nodded and took off her helmet. She was flushed crimson and breathing hard. She smiled up at him and tilted her head to the side apologetically. "Sorry. I messed up."
"It's okay." He reached over and pushed aside her ebony hair and stood. "C'mon." He gave her a hand and she took it. He helped her up.
Wing smiled to himself. She's got great eyes. He remembered how soulful and yet... sad those eyes were. The light in them looked dimmed though. They were shining so bright when she was playing the game in full strength.
"Wildwing." He looked up to see Tanya motioning him over to the computer console.
Incoming message...
Bay,
Need to talk. Same room -- Now. I'll be waiting.
-- Angelbaby
"Okay." He sat down and zipped into the chat room.
Bay: Anyone in here?
Angelbaby: Here. Reptile is planning a raid on the power plant on 7th Avenue, be careful, drones are accompanying the two idiots, Chameleon and Seige. From what my other comrades have gathered, they're to grab some kind of chemical that's gonna help fuel a generator or something.
Bay: Thanks.
Angelbaby: No problem. I'm out.
* * *
"Okay, Seige, get the hell outta here!" Wildwing boomed. The orange lizard knew that there was no use in staying anyway and teleported out of sight.
"Seems like everything else is okay, Wing," Mallory told her captain as she went up to him.
"Let's go home then." And the others nodded.
Duke was the last to enter the Migrator and noticed the black van parked a few meters away. Where have I seen...? He took note of the plate number and went in, closing the door behind him.
* * *
Two more raids were prevented after that, and Duke always noticed the black van parked a few meters away. On the third assault, Duke noticed two females entering the van after the fight. Both wore black all over and seemed to be hiding something in a medium sized duffel bag. The grey duck dismissed the idea and walked off to join his team.
* * *
"Mirror, mirror hangin' on the wall... you don't have to tell me, who's the biggest fool of all... Mirror, mirror, I wish you could lie to me and bring my baby back... Bring my baby back... to me..."
"Mirror, mirror lie to me, show me what I wanna see, mirror, mirror lie to me..."
Applause rippled through the air as STROBE finished their song.
"That's some band, Mook." Nosedive smiled at his friend.
"Yeah, but wait 'til you hear who they are."
"Whadya mean?"
"They'll be, like, sitting with us for the next hour, Dive."
"What?!"
"Hey Dive." He glanced up to see the female lead singer of the band approach him. Her eyes smiled down at him with recognition.
"Uhm, I'm sorry, have we been introduced?" he asked, slightly surprised that she approached him like an old friend.
"Forget it 'gel. You look totally different, he couldn't possibly recognize you." The next female voice sounded surprisingly like Dee's.
"Nyre?!"
"Yup!" She did look different. Her hair looked longer and straighter and she wore a pair of slightly loose flare pants and a shimmery silver-blue blouse. She smiled at Mook and introduced the band. "Dive, you've met Dee, she plays the piano-guitar, those are the twins Marri on base and Mel on keyboards. Marri's the one who dyed her hair black and had it straightened chemically."
"Nyre!"
"Sorry, but it's true! That's our male lead and main guitar Hack and our drums, Ace." The two boys nodded and smiled at Dive.
"So you're?"
"Female lead vocal and the dancer of the bunch. They wouldn't dance for million bucks."
"That's not true, Nyre." Hacker said raising a finger.
"And how are you s'posed to dance with that guitar? Believe me, Hack, forget it." The group broke out in laughter and they sat down and began talking.
* * *
"If you guys sing so well why not sing for us?" Dive asked as he walked Nyre to the group's van.
She walked slowly, hands placed behind her back and glanced up to the stars. "What do you mean sing for you?" She asked.
"For the team. At a game. I mean, they have people singing the national anthem and cheering the other teams on. We rarely get any of that. If you guys would consider, you'd be the first and I'd really appreciate it." Dive smiled.
Nyre tilted her head to one side and thought it over. "Sure. I'll talk to the guys if you're sure we can."
Dive smiled and pushed her to the van. "I'll talk to Phil, the others will agree. You just come okay?"
"Okay Dive, bye!" And the van drove until it was out of site.