Dragaunus beamed as he finished listening to Canard’s report on what had happened. It was amazing; time and time again his henchmen continued to fowl up his plans. He had taken one of the ducks and brought him to their side, and now things had been working right from the start, which was proven by the unconscious duck that was locked up in the containment unit down the hall.
He should have thought of doing this a long time ago.
Now that things had gotten rolling, he could start breaking the ducks apart one by one, starting with the youngest down the hallway. And what would be the best way to do that? The answer was rather obvious, at least to him. What was the one thing that meant more to the young duck than anything else? All that Dragaunus needed was a way to take that one thing away from him. And if things worked so well with Canard, then...
“Lord Dragaunus?” his thoughts were interrupted by Siege.
The Saurian overlord blinked, reorganizing all of his thoughts and ideas into his main plan before answering.
“I want you to go stay with the duck. Make sure that you inform me the moment he’s awake,” he began.
Siege nodded before leaving, not bothering to stay and listen to the rest of the Saurian’s plans.
Dragaunus watched him leave; he would fill Siege in on the plan later. He continued, “Canard, you already know what your next assignment is; I’m sure that there will be no real problems with it. As for the two of you,” he gestured to Wraith and Chameleon with his claw, “I have a very special assignment for you... something that I shall enjoy watching greatly...”
The evil laughter that echoed down the corridors of the Raptor could have made chills go down the spine of even the bravest.
*****
Wildwing simply stood in the infirmary in a daze... Nosedive was gone?
He had brought Mallory here after he had found her lying on the floor, only to find Duke already in the room helping Tanya; apparently the redhead hadn’t been Canard’s only victim. Both of them were okay, just a bit stunned from the effects of whatever had been in those needles Canard had stabbed them with.
And there was one thing that he was still confused about. Why? Why would his best friend even think about turning against them? After all Canard had gone through to find the mask and bring a strike team together against Dragaunus in the first place... Why would he just suddenly throw it all away? None of it made sense, but apparently Nosedive had noticed that something was wrong...
Nosedive... The mere thought of his younger brother’s name flooded him with emotions: fear, worry... but guilt most of all. The last thing Wildwing had said to him had been terrible... What if he never got the chance to tell his brother how sorry he was, that he never meant any of it? If only he had been thinking straight, then he would’ve listened to Nosedive’s cautions and doubts. If only he had been there to stop Canard from taking away the person he loved more than life itself. If only...
Wildwing felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around. Mallory was standing there, a look of concern showing her normally well-controlled emotions on her face.
“Mal, you should be laying down,” he frowned at her.
The redhead sighed as she lightly squeezed his shoulder, “I told you that I’m fine. I know you too well... It’s not your fault, okay?”
“Yes, but...” he started.
Mallory cut him off, “But nothing, Wildwing. You’re going to have to push your feelings of guilt aside, or we’ll never get Nosedive back. He needs you to be a leader right now... We all do.” She lowered her head slightly, “Yes, he was right about Canard, even though something still isn’t right about that, and we should have listened, but now the only thing that matters is getting him back, right?”
Wildwing stared at her for a minute before answering. “Yeah... You’re right. I...” he shook his head, clearing his thoughts, “We’ll get Dive back... We have too.”
“I know,” she replied quietly, “and we will. As long as you lead us as a captain and not as a worried older brother.”
Wildwing was about to say something else, but Duke and Tanya had walked over to join them, so the words were lost.
“So what’s the plan, Wildwing?” Duke asked.
Wildwing took a deep breath to collect himself before replying, “Well, the first step is to locate the Raptor, and then we’ll come up with a plan to get Nosedive out of there, since that’s the most probable place for Canard to have taken him.”
“Right,” Mallory agreed.
Just as he was about to continue, Drake One’s warning alarm started to blare throughout the Pond. Without another word, Wildwing took off running towards the supercomputer, the others, including Grin who joined them shortly after the alarm, close behind him. His mind was suddenly racing; was this a sign of his brother? He hoped so.
He was the first one there, so he quickly punched in a bunch of commands into the computer system, desperate to know what the problem was. After playing around with it for a minute, he was about to step back and let Tanya handle it when the huge screen suddenly went blank.
What..? I wouldn’t have crashed anything, he thought.
Just as he was about to ask what could have happened, the large monitor almost instantly came back to life. But now, a familiar face filled their view, suddenly filling the members of the team with various emotions, but mostly anger and confusion.
It was Canard.
It was Mallory who managed to speak first, albeit rather hot headedly from her previous engagement with the tan mallard, “Alright, you creep. What did you do with Nosedive?”
Canard gave them a smug look directed mostly at Mallory as he started to speak, “And why should I tell you that? You barely put up a fight against me. It’s a wonder that Dragaunus hasn’t been able to stop your pathetic attempts at saving Earth until now, since you seem so weak.. ”
Grin had to grab onto both of her shoulders tightly to keep the redhead from destroying Drake One’s monitor.
Wildwing frowned, trying to keep his own anger under control, “Canard, explain yourself. Why would you... take Nosedive?”
The tan mallard on the screen shrugged nonchalantly, “It was Dragaunus’s orders. Why should I argue?”
Tanya watched him closely with interest. Something was definitely not right about him. She could tell it in his eyes. If she only could’ve ran a few tests. . . The look in his eyes sort of reminded her of when..
“So you’ve switched sides, huh?” Duke said coldly. “And I used to think you were a great leader.”
“I’ve simply seen the way of things,” Canard replied. “It’s pointless to try and stop Dragaunus. Now, as for the reason for this little chat.. If you want this little brat back, you’re going to have to listen to me. I’ll contact you again another time and tell you specifically what to do. Until then... Live with it.”
The screen suddenly went blank before any of them could do anything about it.
“His mind has been clouded,” Grin said after a moment of silence, “and he is not thinking clearly.”
Wildwing stared blankly at Drake One’s now normal monitor, “...That’s not Canard. I-It can’t be.. I’ve known him since we were kids.”
Tanya looked over at their leader sadly, “Wildwing, I think that, uh, Dragaunus might have hypno.. hyp.. uh, brainwashed him. He sort of looked like Phil had when he, you know...”
Wildwing suddenly blinked in realization. It did sort of seem that way. And if it was possible to do it with one person, then maybe...
“We’ll have to get to him,” Wildwing stated as he turned around and faced the others. “There’s a high chance that that’s what happened, so we’ll have to try to snap him out of it to get Nosedive back.”
“Well, I did, uh, put a tracker on him while I was fixing his leg,” Tanya told them, “A-And as long as he hasn’t found it..”
“Do it, Tanya,” Wildwing nodded in approval.
The blonde scientist was soon quickly typing away at the supercomputer. It beeped a few times, and then after a moment or two showed a blip on the map on the outskirts north of Anaheim, in what looked to be a park.
“Then that’s where we’ll start looking,“ Wildwing stated. “We’ll take the Migrator. Let’s move, team!”
We’ll get you back, baby bro’... I promise.
*****
Nosedive moaned softly as he slowly opened his eyes. Where was he? Hadn’t he just... Then it hit him; Canard. Canard had turned against them and had taken him somewhere. So now what?
As he tried to sit up he was overcome with a sudden feeling of nausea. He closed his eyes again and waited for the feeling to pass. What kind of stuff did Canard inject into him anyway? When he was sure that he could move without getting sick he once again tried opening his eyes and finally managed to get a good look at his location. He was on the Raptor; he could tell that much. But other than that, he really didn’t know what was going on.
Still rather disoriented, Nosedive blinked as he looked over and saw Siege’s looming form through the bars of the “cage” he was currently being held in. The Saurian had his back to him, so maybe Siege didn’t know he was awake yet. Maybe he could use that to his advantage. He closed his eyes again and forced himself to relax. If they thought he was still unconscious, perhaps they would reveal something in front of him.
He might have dozed off for a while, but he didn’t know for sure. He couldn’t really remember. A door swooshed open, and he placed all of his efforts into not reacting. Not moving other than his shallow breathing, Nosedive listened to see what he could find out about his current situation.
“What’s his condition?” he heard Wraith say.
“The duck hasn’t moved since we brought him here,” Siege growled.
“I see,” Wraith replied, looking over at Nosedive somewhat strangely, even compared to his usual looks. “Lord Dragaunus has been hoping he would be awake by now to offer his condolences.”
Condolences, Nosedive thought. What was that supposed to mean?
“Yeah, it’s too bad,” Siege sneered, “I was really hoping that we would’ve been the ones to finish him off after all the trouble he’s caused us.”
Nosedive swallowed to keep himself from reacting; they had killed someone? It couldn’t be... these lame-o Saurian sleazoids couldn’t get away with robbery, much less murder.
“Lord Dragaunus wishes for you to go take care of the body. It’s basically useless to us now.”
“What about him?” Siege asked, gesturing to Nosedive’s motionless form.
“I’ll be staying with him. Dragaunus shall be arriving personally any time now.”
Siege nodded, taking his leave.
As soon as the larger Saurian was gone, Wraith sighed and shook his head, “You can stop pretending now, duck. We’ve known you’ve been awake for quite some time now.”
Nosedive decided to remain where he was; maybe they were just testing him. And even if they knew he was awake, maybe he could convince them he had passed out again.
“Very well,” Wraith continued, “If you want to pretend you can’t hear us then go ahead... It’s not going to bring him back, you know.”
Dragaunus came into the room with a rather pleased look on his face, “Well?”
“He’s awake, my lord. He thinks he can deceive us by not moving around.”
The Saurian overlord raised an eyebrow as he walked up to the “cage”, an evil smile already starting to form across his face, “Oh really?” He tapped the bars lightly with the back of his claws, “Well duck, you just might want to listen to what I have to say... I’m sure that you’ll have great interest in it... considering that it’s about your brother...”
Nosedive involuntarily tensed up at that comment. They weren’t talking about Wildwing... were they? No! he decided. They were just messing with him this whole time since they knew he was awake. That had to be it! There was no possible way that his brother could be...
Dragaunus noticed the teen’s slight movement and his smile widened; this was working perfectly. And as long as his henchmen did what they were supposed to, this duck would soon be nothing more than a broken child, easily disposed of.
He continued, “Yes... you’re really close to Wildwing, aren’t you? The one thing he couldn’t live without... You should’ve seen the look on his face. He came after us as soon as he heard that Canard had brought you here.” He paused again as he thought of his newest “creation” and all that he had already accomplished. “The others don’t even realize what happened to him... they think we have him locked up in here with you. But Canard is taking care of that little misinterpretation right now...”
A hiss from the doorway interrupted him. Dragaunus turned around and smiled when he saw who had came in. Now the fun would truly begin.
Siege’s rough voice seemed to boom in Nosedive’s ears, but in reality wasn’t very loud at all, “Sorry to bother you my Lord, but I need to know what you want me to do with the body.”
Unable to resist, Nosedive slowly opened his eyes halfway...
...and shut them again almost instantly, all of his remaining energy suddenly going towards fighting the urge to vomit. He hadn’t looked for very long, but the image was now very clearly imprinted in his mind, and he wouldn’t have to look at it any longer to see it.
Draped over Siege’s shoulder was the lifeless form of Wildwing.
He looked much different than the last time Nosedive had saw him. He had been stripped of his armor, and his body suit had been torn in many places. He was also covered in dried blood stains, mostly on the upper parts of his body; he’d obviously been slashed up pretty badly.
But the worst part was his face. Whether the mask had been taken off or if Wildwing had never put it on he couldn’t tell. But for that brief instant, Nosedive saw the terror that had been on his brother’s face, frozen forever into his features as well as in Nosedive’s mind. The face alone was what made Nosedive’s heart shatter into a million pieces.
Unable to pretend any longer, his whole body started shaking, his breaths coming in shaky gasps. How had this ever happened? How could the Saurians have gotten their hands on his brother anyway? He hadn’t been asleep for that long, had he? And if they had done this, then… what else had they gotten away with by now?
The Saurian overlord’s evil smile grew largely as he noticed the change in his prisoner, “Oh… There’s no more use for it now. Canard did a very good job of damaging him before he died, didn’t he? Why don’t you just take it and dump it in the ocean or something?”
“As you wish,” Siege replied.
Canard? Canard was the one who had done this? Stars, how could he have ever killed Wildwing? Nosedive knew he had been acting strangely since he came back from limbo, but.. He had never dreamed that he would be able to.. Be able to...
The doors swooshed open again and Nosedive heard the large Saurian’s footsteps slowly fade away, but Siege’s horrible laughter took much longer to disappear.
“And Wraith,” Dragaunus added, “I think that our prisoner is going to want to be alone to grieve.. When Siege gets back, tell him to take the duck down a few levels into a holding cell.”
“Of course, Lord Dragaunus,” Wraith answered.
With one last evil look at his now dishevelled prisoner and a nod to the mystical Saurian, Dragaunus took his leave. Now only Wraith remained with Nosedive, whom by now had stopped paying attention to everything going on around him.
Wraith watched him silently for a minute, then he closed his eyes and began to chant something in the ancient Saurian language very softly, not loud enough for the Puckworlder to notice.
And now it would begin...
*****
Dragaunus grinned evilly as he rejoined Siege in the Raptor’s main chamber, the large Saurian still carrying the limp form of Wildwing.
“You can put him down now, Siege,” the Saurian overlord commanded.
Siege immediately complied, dropping the figure onto the floor a little harder than he probably should have. Without warning, the unmoving form shimmered for a brief time, then suddenly shape-shifted into a smaller green figure who was groaning softly.
“Hey! Watch how you’re handling me!” the now normal Chameleon glared at his companion as he sat up and brushed the dirt off of himself. “It’s hard enough pretending to be dead! You don’t have to make it any worse.”
Siege ignored the complaint, turning his attention back to Dragaunus, “So I take it that the plan worked?”
Dragaunus sneered, “Of course it worked! That duck has seen the ‘evidence’ to prove that his brother is dead, and now Wraith’s magic should be enhancing that belief even as we speak. His spirit should be completely broken any time now...”
With that thought, the Saurian overlord began to laugh again. Why did it take him so long to come up with this idea in the first place?
*****
Nosedive curled himself up into a tight ball as the tears he had been holding in finally began to fall, his sobbing becoming harsher with each passing moment. This couldn’t be happening! He didn’t want to believe it, but it was true. Wildwing was gone, and he was never coming back...
Wildwing... after everything they had gone through together, all the hardships they had faced and overcame... And in the end he had been taken away by his “best friend”. But what hurt him more than anything was that he hadn’t even been awake to know it had happened... Nosedive had hoped he would be there if something ever happened to his brother.
Then another thought came to his mind... maybe this is what Wildwing had wanted...
The last conversation he had shared with Wildwing came flooding back to him in a rush. Was this really what he had meant? That he wanted to die so Nosedive wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore? Or maybe it was the other way around... Wildwing probably didn’t want to put up with him anymore. And now he wouldn’t have to...
Suddenly overwhelmed with emotions, as well as the pain and fear of what he dreaded Wildwing had been thinking, everything around Nosedive just disappeared into darkness. He thought that he was losing consciousness again, but his mind continued to stay awake, so he wasn’t quite sure what had happened.
Voices started to fill his head, powerful and manipulative ones. The teen had no way of knowing this, but they were, in fact, basically the same ones that had clouded Canard’s mind not too long ago.
“This is all your fault..” they whispered to him. “If it wasn’t for you, your brother would still be alive...”
“But it wasn’t me,” Nosedive argued back in his mind, “Canard was the one that killed him!”
“Canard killed him because of you... It all comes back to you in the end...”
“No! Canard is the one that brought me here and did this to me! He took my brother away! I didn’t do anything!”
“He wouldn’t have done it if you hadn’t been in the way... You forced Canard to let you join the team..”
“What? No! Wing was the one who wanted to bring me along!” Nosedive was screaming inside of his head by now. “He didn’t want to leave me behind!”
“Or so you think..." the voices continued to manipulate him. “But none of that matters now.. You are all alone now, right..?”
“I.. I am all alone..” Nosedive was getting weaker, and the voices seemed to be feeding off of that weakness.
“That’s right... You are completely alone now.. So why don’t you just forget..? Forget about everything, and the pain will fade away...”
“It.. It will?”
“Yes... You want to be with your brother again, don’t you..? So just rest, and stop worrying about everything else.. Soon you will be with him again... And maybe he will forgive you for everything you have done..”
“I... I’m sorry, bro’...”
“That’s it.. Now just rest.. Nothing that happens in the physical world matters anymore.. Don’t even think about them... Forget everything, and you will be with your brother again shortly..”
“Just.. forget..”
“Yes... Then everything will be okay again...”
And that was the last thing that Nosedive remembered before he plunged into complete nothingness once more.
To be continued...