Choices

"So Canard, care to explain how you ended up on Earth?" Wildwing was glad that his friend had survived, but he had learned over time that what something unexpected happened, it was best to treat it with caution.

The ducks had returned back to the Pond and were now gathered in the infirmary to hear Canard's side of the story. His leg had been bandaged, and the weapon which had shot him had been confiscated by Tanya to be taken apart and studied.

For now, all attention was focused on Canard. Everyone had been so excited about his sudden appearance that no one had questioned it until that moment. Wildwing remained at his best friend's side the entire time, relieved that Canard hadn't met his doom. In fact, they were all so relieved that they failed to notice his change in attitude.

Nosedive had noticed it, however. He was sitting on one of the beds next to Grin, not really apart of the discussion taking place. It wasn't really because he didn't like Canard, even though that was part of the reason, but more because he had noticed something was wrong with this whole thing. Something was different about their former leader, but Nosedive wasn't sure what it was yet, so he kept his beak shut, not wanting to voice his opinion until he was certain of what the problem was. For now he was content with sitting by Grin, listening.

"Well," Canard began, "I'm still not completely sure of it myself."

"Just tell us what you k-know then," Tanya suggested.

Canard nodded to her before continuing, "Let's see. I guess that I've been stuck in limbo for some time, right?"

"About a year now," Mallory informed him.

"Wow, it has been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, time passes differently there I think, but I kept going in and out of consciousness, so I'm not sure. It's sort of a nothing place, like a void. I think I saw someone there, but I don't recall who it was. Then all of a sudden, I found myself outside. I was trying to figure out what had happened when Dragaunus appeared out of nowhere. I sort of remember getting shot, and then nothing again. The next time I woke up all of you were there."

"And that's it?" Duke asked.

"As much as I can remember," he replied.

"That's okay, Canard," Wildwing stood up and stretched. "It's just nice to have you back. Now as for the rest of you, we're having practice in about two hours."

There were several groans, but were easily silenced with one look from their leader, "I know, but we have to perform at our best." He turned to Canard, "I'd say that you could play with us, but I know Tanya wouldn't want you to until your leg is healed. So get acquainted with the Pond if you want, since you'll probably be stuck here with us for a while."

"And don't be, you know, walking around too much," Tanya added.

"Sure thing, Tanya," Canard nodded. He then turned his gaze to the far corner of the room, "What's the matter, kid? You'd usually be talking up a storm by now."

Suddenly all attention was drawn to Nosedive, who had been sitting quietly this whole time. He shifted uncomfortably from the sudden unwanted attention.

"Nothing," he said, attempting to come up with an excuse, "I'm just... not awake yet from before."

Canard threw Wildwing a questioning glance, which the mallard returned with a look that said ‘I'll explain later'.

Wildwing looked back at Nosedive, "Are you sure you're okay, baby bro'?"

Nosedive thought about saying no, but decided to wait on sharing his feelings. He didn't like how this situation was becoming at all, but he also didn't want the others to know that yet, especially Canard.

"Yeah..." the teen nodded as he stood up. "I want to go do some stuff, so I'll see you guys at practice."

With that he left the room, leaving the others in a mild state of confusion of this sudden change in their teammate.

*****

Nosedive walked into the kitchen a little while later, intending to refill his water bottle for practice. Canard was there, sitting at the table glancing through a magazine. He looked up at the teen and smiled, "Hey kid!"

Nosedive felt a chill run down his spine. "Hey..." he said quietly. He had never been very comfortable around Canard, but now, after the mallard's sudden return, he was starting to feel scared of him. Not wanting to stay in the room alone with him, Nosedive quickly went over to the sink to accomplish what he'd come there for.

"So... Dive... We have some catching up to do, don't you think? It's been quite awhile since we've hung out together," Canard friendly noted.

"Um, I guess..." he replied while replacing the cap to his newly-filled water bottle. "I have practice right now, though. There's a game coming up soon."

Canard nodded, "Of course. It's good to hear that all of you are keeping your hockey skills sharp. I'll see you later then, right?"

"Yeah," Nosedive responded unenthusiastically. He turned and bolted out the door, wanting to get out of there.

Canard's smile quickly faded as soon as the teen was gone. "Stupid kid," he muttered.

After waiting for a minute to make sure that he didn't come back, Canard reached down into the pouch at his waist and pulled out a black wrist communicator. He took one cautious glance around the room before activating it.

Lord Dragaunus's face appeared suddenly just above the unit, "What is your status?"

"I'm in," Canard told him. "They're all buying it... except for the kid. He knows something's up."

"Well... we'll have to play him to our advantage then. How does he act around you?"

"Terrified... like he should be," he beamed. "He doesn't like it when I try to be nice to him."

"Perfect," the Saurian beamed. "Just keep it up. Make sure that you're extra nice to him. The others will think that you are a better duck now. If they see you being nice to him, they'll be on your side..."

"Yes, that should work. And Wildwing will be so happy to know that I actually care about his precious baby brother."

"Just remember... keep the charade up for a couple of days. Gain their trust... and then bring one of them back here to me," Dragaunus let out an evil laugh before ending the transmission.

"This should be fun," Canard grinned as he placed the communicator back into his pocket before heading out of the kitchen.

*****

And so things didn't get much better. For the next two days, Canard sort of became a shadow to Nosedive. Every time the teen turned around, he was there. Canard was constantly asking to do things with him, things including going out and having fun. And for as long as Nosedive had known the mallard, going out to have fun with someone of a younger age, such as himself, was very rare, if ever. He tried to shrug Canard off, not trusting the tan mallard, but Canard always seemed to come back, and that was what scared Nosedive the most.

So of course Nosedive was worried about this sudden change in behavior. And when he tried to tell the others they just said that Canard must have changed while in limbo. He seemed to work well with everyone, and Wildwing had even mentioned how glad he was that they were finally getting along after all of this time.

Wildwing was completely oblivious to the situation... at least Nosedive thought so. The team captain had been very busy lately, working on a variety of different things that were not of his choosing, and was kept occupied most of the time. Phil had been working on the youth training camp coming up, and now he was pulling Wildwing along for the ride.

But after two days of dealing with this "new" Canard, Nosedive had had enough. He was positive that something was wrong, so he decided that it was time to have a talk with his brother.

*****

Nosedive finally got his chance the next afternoon. It had been raining outside all morning, and it didn't look like it was going to let up for a while.

Wildwing had been sitting in the Ready Room, filling out some long and complicated form that Phil had begged him to do. He looked up and smiled as Nosedive walked into the room.

"Hey, baby bro'!"

Nosedive gave him a small smile in return as he sat down next to him, "Hey."

"Something wrong?" Wildwing asked.

"Well... yeah."

"Care to talk about it?"

Nosedive nodded, and Wildwing put the stack of papers aside, giving Nosedive his full attention.

"So what's this about?"

"Canard," Nosedive sighed.

Wildwing waited for him to continue.

"It's just... I don't like how he's been acting lately. He follows me around everywhere and wants me to do stuff with him."

"And... you don't like it," Wildwing offered.

Nosedive shook his head, "Not really. I think he's up to something."

"Dive, don't you think that maybe Canard could have changed his mind about you? He's heard about all of the things you've done to contribute to this team; maybe he knows he was wrong before and wants to make it up to you."

"Sorry bro', but I don't think so. He's really starting to give me the creeps..."

Wildwing laughed softly and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Have you even tried giving him a chance? I know how Canard can get sometimes, but I also know that you don't put forth much effort into getting along with him, either."

"No, this is different, I swear. I mean, he's acting a lot worse than normal. He's even been calling me ‘kid'. Wing, only Duke calls me that."

"Dive, I'm sure it's nothing to get so upset over."

Nosedive raised his voice a little, "Nothing to get upset over? Look, I'm sorry, but it is to me. I'm glad you've got your best friend back and all, but I'm telling you I don't like this whole deal. It's reeking with trouble, bro'!"

Wildwing, who wasn't really thinking straight under all of his current stress, replied, "Oh, now I see what it is. You're just jealous because you're not the center of attention anymore, is that it?"

Nosedive glared at his brother, "Of course not! I just think that something's not right about this whole thing!"

"And I know why," Wildwing's voice was bitter. "It's not my fault that you never got along with him, so don't take it out on me!"

"I... I wasn't..." Nosedive was a bit taken aback from Wildwing's sudden change in attitude.

Wildwing was beyond thinking by now, "Yes you were! What's wrong with you, anyway? Nosedive, I'm surprised! My feelings must not mean anything to you!"

Unable to say anything, Nosedive just stared at him in shock, tears starting to fill his eyes.

Wildwing pressed on, "You know what? Just forget it! You should of just let me die back at that pit with Daddy O' Cool. Then you wouldn't have to worry about it anymore!"

Duke chose that moment to enter the room.

"Hi guys," he greeted, and after seeing the look on Nosedive's face added, "Sorry, is there a problem?"

Nosedive finally couldn't take anymore. He stared coldly at Wildwing as the tears starting running down his cheeks.

"How... how c-could you? I would n-never..." he choked.

With that, Nosedive bolted out of the room, pushing Duke out of his way as he went past. He had to get out of there! He ran blindly at first, not sure where he was going. Then he realized he was going in the direction of the bedrooms. So the teen ran into his, collapsing onto his bed sobbing. What was wrong with his brother, to say such horrible things to him?

Wildwing watched his brother leave. He stared at the doorway, a blank look on his face.

Duke walked over and sat down next to his team captain and friend, "Wing? You okay?"

Wildwing didn't seem to register that Duke had said anything. He just continued to stare out into space.

"Wildwing?" the gray mallard gently shook his shoulder.

After another moment of staring Wildwing finally blinked and looked over at the former thief, "Did I really just...? And Dive...?"

"Well, ya certainly said something to upset him," Duke nodded solemnly.

As everything that had just happened began to sink in, Wildwing leaned back against the couch, a hand on his forehead. He couldn't believe it... he had just upset his brother for no good reason at all. After all of the times he had told Nosedive that he could come and talk to him about anything...

He looked up as he felt his shoulder being squeezed.

"I know you didn't mean it," Duke noted, "and Nosedive probably knows it too."

Wildwing sighed, rubbing at his temples, "I just... I don't know what came over me. I must be more tired than I thought." He paused for a minute, "I should probably go talk to him, huh?"

"Well he's your brother, so do what you want, but maybe you should wait a little bit longer. The kid's obviously really upset... he probably wouldn't even wanna talk to you yet."

Wildwing slowly nodded; that was probably the case. "Yeah. I... I think I'll go get something to drink first. Then I'll go talk to him."

"You want me to come?" Duke asked, concerned about how Nosedive would react. The brothers had gotten into fights before, and the teen had a tendency not to react very well to them afterwards.

"No... don't worry about it. I created the problem, so I have to fix it."

Now Wildwing could only hope that his brother would be willing to forgive him.

*****

Canard watched from the doorway as he listened to Wildwing and Duke talking. He slowly started to grin evilly as time went on. Now would be the perfect opportunity to strike. As he walked away from the doorway, a plan started to form in his head. It was time to pay a surprise visit to a certain duck...

*****

Nosedive looked up from his pillow as his comm beeped. He really wasn't in the mood to answer it, but he knew that he had to if there was an emergency of some sort. If it was Wildwing... he could just break the connection. He sighed, wiped the tears away from his face, and then pushed the button on his comm.

"Yeah?" he mumbled, not looking into the screen so that whoever it was wouldn't be able to see that he'd been crying.

Tanya's voice came through, "Hey Nosedive, sorry to, um, bother you, but I'm working on something that's, like, important, and I could r-really use some, you know, help."

Nosedive sighed, "I guess I could come help you."

"T-Thanks. Just come down to my lab in, uh, five minutes."

The teen sighed once more as he shut off his comm. He wiped at his eyes one last time before standing up, stretching his arms out. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. If nothing else, it could take his mind off of what Wildwing had said to him.

Or maybe I'll get really lucky and pass out again for awhile, he thought bitterly as he looked at his brother's empty bed on the other side of the room.

He stopped to look at himself in the mirror and see how bad he looked. His face was a little red from crying, but it was barely noticeable, and he figured that Tanya wouldn't bother him about it. He ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times. Satisfied with his appearance, he sighed as he left his room and headed down the hallway.

Nosedive never noticed Mallory emerge from the bathroom since his back was turned to her. She frowned. Where was he off to? Curious, she decided to follow him. Mallory had heard about what had happened between him and Wildwing; all of the ducks had by now. She knew how upset the teen could get after fighting with his brother, and she wanted to make sure that he wasn't planning on doing something stupid.

She stopped when Nosedive turned and went into Tanya's lab. Something still didn't seem right to her, so she crept up beside the door and listened.

*****

"Okay Tanya, what's the troub-" Nosedive cut himself off as he realized who was standing before him.

Canard smiled at him, but there was a glint of evilness in it, "Actually, Tanya's not here. And she won't be back for a while, either." He held up a little devise and placed it against his beak. "Could you maybe, you know, h-help me?" he imitated Tanya's voice almost perfectly.

Nosedive's blood suddenly ran cold, "What do you want, Canard?"

"Why, to inform you of some things. You've been saying quite a bit about me, you know. None of it is very nice. So I'm going to teach you to keep your beak shut," Canard sneered.

Nosedive backed up when he saw the look in his former leader's eyes. "I-I knew it," he stammered. "But if you touch me, Wildwing will never forgive you!"

"And do you really think I care about Wildwing or how he feels? Well, maybe if he was in pain, but... Anyway, he's a fool, and so are the rest of your pathetic teammates!"

Without warning, Canard lashed out at him. Nosedive dodged out of the way, but tripped on something and crashed to his knees on the floor. The teen started to stand up, but by then Canard was able to reach out and grab him by the shoulders. Unable to break free from the grip he was thrown across the room, crashing hard into a storage cabinet. The wind was completely knocked out of him, and he struggled to get up, now in a daze.

Canard grinned as he moved closer. If he leg was still injured, he was showing absolutely no signs of it. But just as he was about to move in for the final blow, the tan mallard was struck from behind. He lost his balance and stumbled backwards, grabbing onto Tanya's workbench to keep from falling over. Canard quickly turned around to see Mallory helping Nosedive stand up.

"What's wrong with you?" she glared at him. "The kid didn't do anything!"

"You stay out of this, girl," he threatened.

"Oh, no. I don't think so. Nosedive's a part of this team. And if you have something against him, then it's everyone's problem," Mallory frowned.

By now Nosedive had regained his breath and was standing on his own, albeit a little shaky. He couldn't believe it; Mallory was standing up for him? Now that was rather unusual. But he had to admit that he was grateful at the moment. If she hadn't shown up when she did...

"Is that a fact?" Canard's voice took on an amused tone. "Then I guess you have gotten yourself a big problem then."

Mallory took on a defensive stance in front of Nosedive, "Canard, I don't know what happened to you, but you're not going to get past me that easily."

Deciding not to waste the effort in answering, Canard pressed another attack, this time at Mallory. He knocked her to the ground, using his sheer brute strength to overpower her. She struggled against him, but couldn't seem to manage to pull away.

"Nosedive! Run!" Mallory called out, hoping that she could distract Canard long enough for the teen to escape.

Nosedive blinked as her words sunk in. He spun around and headed for the door.

Canard, however, had other ideas.

"You just had to stick your beak in, huh?" he grunted. "You had to come and help the brat, didn't you? Well, you're going to pay for that now!"

In one smooth motion, he hit her full force, her head slamming down on the hard floor. The impact, combined with the precise spot at which he had hit her, left her stunned. Not wanting to take any chances, Canard pulled a tiny injection needle out of his bag, courtesy of Dragaunus, and struck her with it on her arm just below her shoulder.

"Give Wing my best regards when you wake up," he sneered at her, "Hope he won't miss his brother too much, because it'll be a while before he sees him again... and in much worse shape."

Mallory's eyed widened for a moment, but she seemed unable to reply. Soon after she lay unmoving, and Canard was back up again, ready for Nosedive.

The teen hadn't been thinking straight after everything that had happened, so he had headed down the hallway where he had came from, not realizing until it was too late that he was at a dead end. He spun around in an attempt to go in the other direction, but by then Canard was in the hallway, and he'd have to run past the tan mallard if he wanted to escape.

Nosedive decided to risk it, hoping that the speed he had gained through playing hockey for so long would be enough. He took off at full speed, his heart racing with fear of what could happen if he got caught.

It was close...

...but it wasn't quite enough.

Nosedive violently felt himself being pulled back by a strong hand on his shoulder. He tried to push it back, but it was to no avail. Canard pulled Nosedive in close to his body, making the teen's struggles basically useless. He cried out, but Canard cut him off.

Soon enough, however, Nosedive felt a prick of something sharp in the back of his neck. His vision blurred, and he heard Canard's evil laughter echoing throughout his head. He continued to struggle, but his strength failed quickly, and his head started to spin dizzily. Before he could stop it, everything around him became completely black.

*****

"Dive, come on! Open the door," Wildwing exclaimed from the hallway to their room. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. Can we talk about this?"

Getting no response from the teen, Wing sighed in defeat. Normally he could have just punched in a code at the door; after all, it was his room too. But if Nosedive was really that upset with him, he didn't want to force himself on his brother. He was about to walk away when he decided to try to talk with Nosedive again anyway. To his surprise, the door wasn't locked and whooshed open.

He stepped into the room, "Dive?"

But his brother was no longer there. Nosedive's things were scattered about everywhere, which was usual, but something felt very wrong to Wildwing. There was something unnatural about the clutter, something that made a chill crawl up his spine.

With a worried determination, Wing left in search of finding the others. Something was terribly wrong, he was sure of that now. Not knowing which way to head first, he decided to go and check out Tanya's lab.

Wildwing burst through the door, "Tanya, I think that..." he trailed off suddenly at the sight before him.

Instead of finding the blonde duck as he had expected, he had discovered a familiar redhead, who was unconscious on the floor.

He rushed over to her. Suddenly she groaned and opened her eyes.

"Mallory, are you okay? What happened?" he questioned worriedly.

"Canard," she gasped. "He took Nosedive... I tried to stop him... but he's gone..."

"Dive..." Wing whispered. His face had gone pale. How had things so suddenly gone so horribly wrong?