Once everyone from both teams, excluding Mallory, was situated around the table JC motioned for Duke to begin.
"Well, first, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we don't have much time. As you can see, Mal is missing..."
Wildwing spoke up. "Yes, she never reported back after patrolling the previous night. We are trying to track her down."
"Well, that's sorta the reason I came back. I was doin' a bit of spying on Emeral and received a message from him this morning. It was rather gruesomely delivered but I guess ya don't need the details, now do ya? The long an' short of it is, Emerel is ready to start the war."
Lance protested, "But we aren't ready yet!! We're still expecting several more hunters from the North and they haven't been properly trained to fight as a team..."
"Sorry, but I'm guessin' we have no choice now. He's given us an ultimatum."
JC was confused. "What is he threatening to do? I mean, he'd have to be pretty serious to get your attention wouldn't it? The Ducks, I mean."
"Well, he's made it impossible to ignore 'im. At midnight tonight, we might have to meet him at this address." Duke slipped a sheet of paper across the table. "He's been basing himself from these headquarters. He must be pretty confident that he will win to just hand over the address to his home. It's very fishy if ya ask me. It's like Dragaunus giving us a birthday invitation."
JC looked down at the paper and frowned.
Lance thought, Josh, what's wrong?
JC shook his head to let Lance know he'd tell him later. "So what happens if we don't show?"
"He's going t' send his troops out on a killin' spree. Anyone not in their homes will die. We don't have enough forewarnin' to warn the people of Florida an' a lot of them still don't believe in Saurians.. as ludicrous as that might seem."
"Oh shit!!" Chris yelled. "They're having that huge outdoor concert tonight too, Music Mania or something like that. It will be a massacre."
JC nodded. "Now I see how he got your interest."
"Wait a minute, there's still somethin' I haven't mentioned. His first threat was not as serious to us as this second one but it's somethin' that will probably be of extreme importance to ya. In fact, I believe Emerel only used th' second threat as a back-up because he knew you guys would respond to the first one."
Lance frowned, "I don't understand. What could he possibly do that would affect us more than killing hundreds or thousands of innocent people?"
"In other words, Lance, if you don't show up, he plans to kill Mal."
"Excuse me?" Lance said, startled.
Nosedive jumped up. "He can't do that. She'd turn him into a saurian shish-kebob - it'd be even worse for him if I were there." He spun his Pucklauncher on one finger and pretended to aim at the lizard, "What makes that Saurian slime-ball think he can even beat the Ducks?" Putting the pucklauncher away, he sat back down.
Duke reached inside his jacket and pulled out a Polaroid and threw it on the table. "Because he already has."
JC snatched up the picture and, sure enough, there was Mallory locked in a cage dangling from the ceiling. He passed the picture to Lance who in turn showed everyone else.
"He knew that was just the bait he needed to trap all o' us. He knew that we would go out there and rescue 'er."
Calista snarled. "Your comments are unwanted and uncalled for. Just because she no longer works for Puckworld Special Forces does not mean she doesn't work hard and well at what she's doing here on Earth. She's a friend of mine and I would know her better than you do."
"That might be true. She works so well that she took it to herself to take Emerel on without any help. This is where pride gets ya, Cali."
"Stop it you two!" Wildwing ordered, trying to maintain sanity. "This is MALLORY we're talking about here. We can't just let Emerel have her. We have to go rescue her, we're a team remember? If we can bag Emeral on the way it will be for the better." Wildwing looked at Lance. "I know you guys don't know her very well, but she IS one of us and a darn good fighter too. We have to help her. Your help would be greatly appreciated."
JC looked at Wildwing. "It doesn't seem that we have any choice anyway. He made certain of that when he threatened the city. I guess the war starts much sooner than we planned."
Everyone looked at the one human whose decision it was. Lance felt a horrible weight on his shoulders. He didn't feel that they were ready for this yet. He had hoped to have a couple more months to prepare. Now all he had were a few hours. It was too big a risk to take lightly. If they were to fail...
"It's really yer decision now, Lance." Duke said impatiently, eager to take on the Saurian that was causing so much chaos over the past months.
Lance looked around the room at the faces of his friends and the worried glances of some of Wilding's team. They cared for her very much. He knew that if it were one of the guys he would not have hesitated to say yes. He looked at Chris, Justin and Joey and saw approval in their eyes. They were ready. They had been ready. He looked over at JC.
I think we have to have faith and just go for it Lance. He heard JC's voice in his head, reassuring him of his decision. There was really no other course of action to take.
"And so it begins..." He said and began to talk strategy with his team.
***
The guys spent the rest of the afternoon preparing. Chris and Justin were in charge of checking and testing the weapons that had been sent by some of the newer hunters. Lance was conducting last minute battle and weapons training to anyone who was interested. Joey was working on morale and well as last minute recruiting. He called all the hunters his family had ever fought with and urged them to hurry to Florida, anyway they could get here. JC walked around and talked to the hunters, reassuring them even if he was not convinced himself that the outcome would be positive. The Ducks were collecting research and brushing up on their fighting skills. Calista lightened Lance's burden by showing some of the newbies her own fighting skills. This time they would have to go into the fight without Mallory.
This is really it. Lance thought to himself. Tonight the war I've prepped and waited for so long is going to happen. Everyone's looking to me to win this thing.
He was so nervous. I wish Nicolette were here and still my fiancee`. We should be fighting this fight together. But he knew better. They would be fighting together no more. Instead now he had to fight against her. He drove himself to excel everyday. It had gone beyond the point of revenge and into a crusade. He had to do it. He had to do it for her. To save her at least. He knew he'd have to use every ounce of strength to finally get the guts to kill her.
"Nik..." he said despairingly. He didn't think he had ever missed her so badly before. "What if I lose? What if I let everybody down?"
He knew what her answer would be. She would say 'well then, don't lose'. "If it were only that simple..."
"I think it IS that simple, Lance. We have too much at stake for it not to be."
Lance smiled when he heard JC's voice behind him. "You always seem to know when I need someone to talk to. I'm just glad no one else is around so that we can actually TALK instead of think it."
Josh chuckled. "It is still a little weird."
"A little? It's wacky, dude." Lance smiled, trying to cheer up his friend.
"Lance? I think I need to tell you something.. about the Prophecies... I know I said I didn't want to discuss them, but.."
"I talked to Wildwing earlier. I know about them. Are you worried about tonight? The third death?"
Josh huffed. "It's really too weird to have you know what I'm about to say before I can even say it."
"I'm sorry. I was just trying to make it easier to talk about."
"I know and, yes, I am worried about that. I mean, the first two deaths were no big deal because I didn't know they were coming... but this one? How do you prepare to die?"
"I'd think you'd be pretty good at it by now."
JC smiled, "I should be, huh?" Lance nodded.
"It says you're going to live on though."
"Yeah, but does that mean I die tonight and we lose and I live on to fight the fight again? I don't think I could handle that. If we have to do it tonight, I need it to be over tonight. I'm tired, Lance."
"I know, me too. This is not how I pictured I would spend the rest of my life."
"Oh, Lance, there's something else."
"What?"
"Did you get a chance to see where Emerel's quarters were located?"
"No, but I saw the look on your face."
"They are 2 miles from where Kara is buried. We've been sooo close to him all this time."
Lance frowned. Emerel had been 2 miles away when Kara was killed, 2 miles away when Lance had found JC in the cabin, 2 miles away every time they had visited 's grave and 2 miles away when Nicolette had killed JC.
"He's always been so close."
JC nodded. "Doesn't that weird you out?"
"Well, at least we'll get to finish it where it started."
"You've got a point there."