Good Intentions

Part 5

Written by Zelda

 

                “Where’s Wraith?” Wildwing narrowed his eyes at the orange Saurian.

                “Ehh, around.” Siege answered with a beady-eyed grin, taking his time to mash his weight down on Duke. He had managed to get a foot planted in the Duck’s back, and he wasn’t willing to move.

                “Tell us or we’ll blow your head clean off.” Wildwing took a few steps further towards Siege, so that the multi-puck launcher came into the light.

                “Oooh, I like yer big gun.” Siege chuckled back. “But I got somethin’ even better.” He waved the remote in his hand right back in Wildwing’s face. “You really wanna blow this thing up too?”

                “Drop the controller Siege.” Mallory changed the team’s demands. “Then we’ll blow your head clean off.”

                The Saurian took one long look at the four Ducks who had all of their weapons locked on him, and cackled again. He ground his heel into Duke’s back, who was trying not to show the pain it was causing him. “But we’re havin’ so much fun, the old bird and me! You know, I’ve got to talk to Dragaunus, he may just have a few more spare chips for the rest of you.”

                “You know.” a bloodlust growl grew from the shadows behind Wildwing. “It’s funny that you mention that Siege. I believe that I just may.”

                Wildwing spun, raising his shield, to face the Saurian who’s red scales clashed in the blue light. There was another light though, a burning orange that suddenly shot out from the extended palm of the Saurian’s hand, striking Wildwing’s shield with enough force to send the Duck flying back several feet, rolling to a clumsy stop and scuttling back to his feet. He had managed to keep a hold of the multi-puck launcher, but it took him too long to reshoulder it and aim. By the time he had, all hell had broken loose as the two Saurians vanished back into the shadows, Siege dragging Duke roughly behind him.

                “Let him go!” Mallory yelled, firing blindly.

                “Follow them!” Wildwing pointed in the direction that the two had withdrawn. “We can’t lose track of Duke!”

                And with only the light from Tanya’s Omnitool to go by, the three Ducks plunged into the darkness after the Saurians, weapons held ready in front of them.

                “What if they teleported?” Tanya asked.

                “No.” Grin said simply. “They are still among us.”

                “How dreadfully unfortunate for you!” another voice boomed behind the group. Wraith loomed out of the darkness, sending smoke curling out in all directions. “You’re more idiotic than we thought, we are ALWAYS among you!”

                “Wraith!!” Mallory spun, locking him instantly in her gunsight. “You’re mine!!”

                “No!” Wildwing grabbed her shoulder and kept pulling her along with the chase, the Mask flashing. “Keep running!”

                “What are you doing?!” she yelled back, still trying to get a lock on Wraith.

                “That’s Chameleon!” Wildwing explained to her quickly. “They’re trying to distract us! We’ve gotta keep after Duke or they’ll put a chip on him too!”

                Mallory looked back to see the Saurian suddenly start to glow green, shrinking in size and morphing back into it’s normal form, cackling like a hyena.

                “You ain’t gonna make it in time, Duckies!” Chameleon cheered, waving as the four Ducks disappeared down the black corridor.

                “I can still hear them up ahead.” Tanya panted. “Maybe they’ve stopped?”

                Wildwing frowned a little, not slowing his pace as he ran. There were definitely noises up ahead, loud ones. Maybe they were too late… But the team skidded around a corner, and Wildwing was relieved to find that Duke had managed to get free of Siege’s meathook hands, and had started to fight back. The orange Saurian already wore a huge gash down one of his arms, and was leaning back against the wall, trying to recover himself. But Dragaunus was there too, and caught Duke’s sabre in his claws, wrenching it away.

                “You think you can outlast me on your own?” Dragaunus hissed, grabbing the Duck around the neck and lifting him high into the air. Reaching into a pouch in his belt, he produced something in his other hand: another chip, just like the ones he had put on Zelda and Nosedive before. “Now, you’re not going to be alone. You’re joining the others, Duck. Have fun being a slave.”

                Suddenly, a streak of blue light cut between the two of them, striking Dragaunus’s hand and causing him to drop the chip, howling in pain.

                Duke wrenched free and dropped back to the floor, sweeping the Overlord’s legs out from under him and sending him crashing down, as the rest of the team ran up behind him. Duke went scrambling through the darkness to try and find his sabre again, as Wildwing and the rest of the team rushed Dragaunus.

                “You’re going to tell us how to fix this, NOW!” The leader Duck yelled out as he threw all of his weight against the Overlord.

                Stumbling back, Dragaunus was holding his hand in pain, but his eyes were laughing. “You idiots, there is no ‘fix’. We never designed those chips to have one!”

                “But you never used magic to control them either!” Mallory jabbed hard for his stomach with her elbow, but the Overlord blocked her by grabbing her with his massive taloned hand, and shoving her backwards.

                “Well if you have all the answers, you don’t need us!” he chuckled back. “Still, seeing as you’re already here, we’ll take our opportunity and kill the rest of you off. Shame you found out about those chips, we could have had our brand new little puppets do it for us!”

                “We’ve got you surrounded Dragaunus.” Grin snarled at him, pointing to the five Ducks that stood, weapons all drawn, in a circle around the Overlord. Wildwing had his multi-puck launcher aimed right at the back of the lizard’s skull.

                “Not quite, Ducks.” They heard a loud growl from behind them, and suddenly Siege’s club tail rammed into the small of Wildwing’s back, causing him to hit the ground hard on his stomach, the launcher spilling onto the floor and ammo rolling everywhere.

                “Nail ‘em both!” Tanya yelled, and the room lit up in blue as the four remaining Ducks tried to gun down the two Saurians in a hail of pucks. Unfortunately, they had to get stuck with the two lizards with the heaviest body armor and the thickest skin, and despite the rain of fire on them, the two Saurians backed against each other and began to lash out at the surrounding Ducks one by one. Wildwing was just starting to wobble to his feet, a hand to his back to check and see if all of his vertebrae were still in their proper place.

                “We know how you did this!” Duke yelled towards the two Saurians. “You tell us how to fix it, we just might let you live!”

                “You’re forgetting where you are.” Dragaunus snarled back at him, pausing for a moment to speak into his wrist com. “Chameleon, bring in the reinforcements now!”

                The five Ducks spun around as at least ten hunter drones teleported in around them, in a circle. They responded by simultaneously spinning to face the new threat, easily gunning down the drones before they had a chance to fire their blasters. However, this was just what the Saurians wanted, and they both broke ranks and took off down the hall.

                “They’re getting away!” Grin pointed after them, kicking a drone’s carcass out of his path.

                “Come on, we can’t loose them!” Wildwing waved the team along to follow, hobbling slightly. That shot to his back was still sending little electric sparks of pain up his spine. Sensing the desperate nature of the situation, the others took off ahead of him. Quickly losing sight of them in the darkness, Wildwing rounded a corner after them and suddenly found himself lost, alone in the Raptor’s darkened belly. Wincing a little, he drew his shield out for a little light, and proceeded down the hallway at a slower pace, with his back to one wall. In the back of his mind, as he was thinking and trying to calm his racing heart, Wildwing didn’t blame his teammates for going on without him. He wasn’t sure that he could have kept up anyway, and it was important that they keep most of the team focused on following the Saurians. Maybe while he hung back and tried to get his bones realigned, he could do a little snooping around, see if he could weasel Wraith out from wherever he was hiding. But he looked down at his feet to see a fog slowly rolling over the floor, and Wildwing knew he wouldn’t have to look much farther.

 

                “Open fire!” Mallory commanded, and her three teammates responded with another barrage that further slowed the two Saurians, bringing the Ducks a few feet closer to catching up. Who would have thought that Siege could run so fast? Although the hail of fire had brought them a bit closer, and it looked like the two embattled Saurians were beginning to tire, Mallory knew that this had to come to a head soon. If they kept chasing Dragaunus like this, they’d run out of ammo. And even with Grin in tow, they couldn’t beat both Siege and the Overlord in hand-to-hand combat.

                “This is pointless…” Duke growled as he gained the lead from her. “I’ve got an idea!” Loading a fresh clip into the launcher he had pulled from his belt, he fired a trio of bola pucks low to the floor, blindly into the hall ahead. They achieved their desired effect in the form of two yelps and two thuds far ahead. “Got ‘em!” he cheered, drawing his sabre in his other hand and running on.

                “Alright!” Tanya nodded. “We go in with launchers blazing!”

                “Going somewhere boys?” Duke asked, the light of his sabre illuminating the two Saurians as they lay on the floor in the darkness, struggling to detangle their legs from the bola pucks. “Allow me to pin you down!” And with that, he held his sword pointed downward in both hands, and stabbed into Siege’s arm, where he had cut him before. The blow went bone deep, and the Saurian responded with an angry howl of pain. It only took him a few seconds to react and club Duke aside with his tail, the Duck hitting the wall and nearly dropping his sabre.

                “Neither one of you move!” Mallory yelled, pressing her puck cannon to the side of Dragaunus’s crested skull. “Or we’ll turn you into living Swiss cheese. Now answer us: WHERE IS WRAITH?!”

                “Hey!” A new voice chirped behind them. “That last part rhymed!”

                Grin and Tanya both spun around to have their necks grabbed and squeezed by a massive pair of hands, decked out in liver spots.

                “Don’t tell me that you forgot about me!” Chameleon sneered, emerging into the dim light of Duke’s sword in his bodybuilder form.

                Tanya choked, swung an arm up, and shot a puck into his bicep, causing the Chameleon to yelp in pain and promptly drop her to the floor. Landing on her feet, Tanya sprung right back up and landed a kick to his lower jaw, before the Chameleon got a shot in by slamming both she and Grin into the wall, letting him go as well.

                “OW!” he growled, almost losing his German accent. “You flabby ducklings ahr going to get zee walloping of your puny lifetimes!”

                Grin gingerly peeled Tanya from the wall and helped her to stand, growling back at Chameleon. “I think not. This ends here and now. Your leader…” he pointed to Mallory as she was securing Dragaunus’s hands with leftover ropes from the bolas that bound his feet. “Is out of options, as are you. Surrender now.”

                “Surrender? Zat word is not in my vocabulary!”

                “You’ll have to learn fast.” A rough growl came from further down the hall.

                Grin and Tanya turned to see a pair of burning red eyes cutting through the darkness, and suddenly, a wooden staff with a duck skull adornment came clattering into the light.

                It was Wildwing that emerged from the dark, armor charred and smelling of singed feathers. He still had a slight hobble. Behind him, he dragged a bound and nearly unconscious Wraith. “It’s OVER, all of you.” he spoke gruffly. “If Wraith doesn’t talk, you’ll all die.”

                “Good luck getting it outta him!” Siege grunted, glaring back at the Duck.

                Wildwing’s response was to jam his arm launcher right into the side of Wraith’s skull, an irritated groan escaping from the half-conscious Saurian. “I don’t need luck.” He frowned. “Give me my answers now. I’m tired of playing around.”

                Mallory wedged her foot under Dragaunus’s shoulder and gave him a rough shove, rolling him onto his back so that he could see just how high the stakes were.

                Chameleon giggled a little, causing both Tanya and Grin to raise their launchers and make it far more evident that they were trained on him.

                “And what’s so funny?” Tanya glared.

                “How STUPID do you think we are?” he smirked, morphing back to his normal form.

                “Do you really want us to answer that?” Duke shot.

                Chameleon was unphased. “You think we didn’t know you were coming? You think we didn’t prepare?!”

                “What are you talking about?” Wildwing baited Chameleon by shoving his launcher deeper into Wraith’s baggy face.

                “Oh I’ll tell you!” Chameleon giggled again, narrowing his eyes at the surrounding Ducks. “You remember those controllers that Siege and I had back in the main room? Just because we put them down doesn’t mean they’ll stop working!”

                “What are you saying?” Tanya snarled at him, pushing her launcher up underneath his jaw. “What have you done?”

                Chameleon hadn’t lost his sneer, not for a moment. “Those two may not be able to get off of those treadmills, but that didn’t mean our fun ended! We’ve set those two controllers to make our poor little puppets move in any way they possibly can. They’ll seize themselves to death, if they have to. As long as those chips have any sort of control, they’ll make every muscle fiber in their bodies revolt until they refuse to work anymore.”

                “You monsters!” Mallory hissed, trying to hide the true shock in her voice.

                “Don’t hate me because I’m evil, babe!” Chameleon laughed back.

                Grin shoved him hard against the wall, causing the lizard’s laughter to be cut off by a yelp and a cough.

                “Well then, there’s only one thing we can do.” Wildwing spoke, his face grim and his eyes narrowed. “We’ll get Wraith to reverse the spell right here and now.”

                “----Fat---chance—“ the old Saurian growled, wriggling a little in his captor’s hold.

                Wildwing responded by squeezing his neck tighter and pressing the launcher further into his face. “You’d better do it now Wraith. I will kill you. How does an explosive puck to the skull sound, hm? It wouldn’t hurt me, I have armor. But you’re nothing now Wraith. You know the one bargaining chip that you have for your life.”

                The look on Wraith’s face had gone from defiance to fear, and the change was obvious to all who were watching. Another shove from Wildwing’s launcher was all it took for the old Saurian to finally crack.

                “Alright, alright!” he choked loudly. “No use—in wasting my life—over a few corpses anyway…” He raised a pair of shaky arms, closing his eyes to try and concentrate. As he begun to mutter something under his breath, the eyes of the duck skull on his staff, which still lay on the floor, began to glow. The staff itself started to clatter, as if it had a life of it’s own. Wraith’s voice gained volume, and his own eyes started to glow as well. He cupped his talons, and a ball of energy started to form between them. And suddenly, with a rather violent motion, he parted his hands and the energy dissipated, scattering all over the room. Looking weakened, Wraith dropped his arms to his side, hung his head, and made no further protest. “It’s done…”

                “Good.” Wildwing answered sharply, and shoved Wraith to the floor, leaning back a little himself. He closed his eyes for a moment, and braced a hand on one knee.

                “How can we be sure that did it?” Duke asked.

                “You’ve got no choice!” Dragaunus suddenly broke in. The team spun around to see the Saurian had cut himself free from the bolas with his claws, and was started to teleport away! Seconds after he disappeared, the three henchman followed.

                “Great!” Mallory growled.

                “They’ll teleport in reinforcement drones!” Tanya started to panic. “We should get out of here!”

                “But we can’t trust the Saurians!” Duke argued. “How do we know Wraith’s hocus-pocus worked?”

                “He had the chance to attack us.” Grin stated. “And he did not. We have no choice but to trust him.”

                “I’m afraid I have to agree…” Wildwing sighed, standing again. “Let’s go.”

                “Hey…” Tanya started. “What happened to the multi-puck launcher?” She looked Wildwing over, remembering that he had it last.

                “Let’s just say… that Wraith didn’t take to kindly to it.” he coughed slightly, and waved them on. “We’re done here team. Our main concern now should be whether Chameleon was bluffing or not. Let’s get home.”

 

 

End of part 5