Jump the Gun

Written by Zelda

 

 

                Zelda crouched close to the ground, spreading her wings as she landed. Suddenly, a laser blast shattered the ground before her, and she leapt back in fear, as the Chameleon came running through the smoke. Zelda scampered back to the rest of the team, who were being quickly backed against a wall by Dragaunus's forces. The team had pulled out their puck launchers, and were trying to hold off the Saurian advance, but they were losing ground. Siege had brought out a good deal of heavy artillery with him, and the advance of them was so strong that those without puck launchers had turned idle, while the others had to keep up defense. Finally, Wraith smashed through and sent Nosedive's launcher flying. He then hit the wall directly behind him, sending a pile of bricks toppling down onto Grin.

                "We've gotta get back to the Aerowing!" snarled Mallory, as she reloaded her launcher.

                "Come on!" yelled Wildwing, and he started to make a break for the open hatch. Duke paused to help Grin up, and ran onto the ship as Wildwing strapped himself in, grabbed the controls, and blasted away. They were safe.

 

                Dragaunus laughed from the safety of his ship as he watched them go.

                "Foolish Ducks!" he snarled. "That broke their spirit!"

                "So boss, what now? Do we get to destroy some lab, or raid a factory? Huh?" asked the Chameleon eagerly.

                "Wait." said Dragaunus. Something white had caught his eye in the rubble of the fallen wall. "What's that in that pile of bricks?" Siege unearthed Nosedive's puck launcher from the dust and mortar. Dragaunus grinned. "Bring it back here! NOW!"

 

                "Man, this is terrific." snarled Nosedive as the team walked into the Ready Room. "I can't believe we actually ran from those cold-blooded cowards!"

                "If it keeps us safe, Nosedive, it's worth a bit of dignity." sighed Duke. Never mind that, the Ducks were all slightly depressed that they had been forced to retreat.

                "Tanya, where are Dragaunus's goons now?" asked Wildwing, more than ready to get another go at those lizards.

                "Well, they musta gone back to the ship or..ya know..something, cause Drake Ones' not pickin' up anything."

                "Oh well, good defensive job today, team." praised Wildwing, as he walked over to a chair and sat down. For now, the battle was over.

 

                Dragaunus held the puck launcher with a kind of malicious happiness.

                "With this, we can analyze what makes those pucks tick." he snarled. Quietly, he took a screwdriver, and pried the launcher apart, the inactivated pucks spilling out. Now, perhaps one should know how the explosive pucks work in the first place. When the pucks are shot out of the launcher, they pass through a small transmitter at the barrel of the launcher, which passes a sound wave through the pucks, activating them. As the pucks near their target, the sound frequency, which is too high-pitched to hear, intensifies, causing the puck to explode on impact. The entire weapon itself is powered by an element called belonium. Now, Dragaunus held the disabled transmitter high in the air, like a prized treasure.

                "And what do you plan to do with that?" asked Wraith. Dragaunus took out a small black box with a transmitting dish on top, and placed the transmitter inside, connecting a few red and green wires to the device.

                "Oh believe me, it's going to be explosive!"

 

                The Ducks were relaxing in various places about their headquarters, when the blazing echo of Drake One's alert siren rang through the metal halls. The team ran into the Ready Room to see a giant red dot glowing on the big screen.

                "Looks like Dragaunus has broken into an old construction site!" yelled Duke.

                "Okay team, ready for a rematch?" yelled Wildwing. "Let's rock!"

 

                The Ducks, taking the Aerowing, landed with a screech and shudder of the braking thrusters in the empty construction lot. Once the site of now cleared buildings, there was nothing left but a few piles of

bricks, some old machinery, and the walls of the alleyways nearby.

                "Keep on you toes, team." advised Wildwing, as they all stepped warily off the ship. Suddenly, a long line of hunter drones appeared in a great green shadow before them, and came out firing at once. The team leapt agilely back, and Grin and Zelda charged forwards. Siege, Wraith, and the Chameleon appeared behind them as they marched forward. Grin and Zelda swiped away as many of the drones as they could before they started receiving fire from the others, and had to try and pull back. Unfortunately, the fire was so surprisingly strong and heavy, that Grin was caught up, and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Wildwing and Tanya covered for him, firing their pucks to try and hold the Saurians back. As the Ducks started firing their weapons, Zelda saw Siege pull out a black box with a dish on top. Knowing it was obviously nothing good, Zelda tried to make a break for it and get to it herself. Zelda bounded up and through the line of drones. She landed heavily and skidded to a stop, roaring in threat at Wraith. Zelda pounced forcefully on him, but he countered her with a fireball, which knocked her flat on her back. Zelda staggered up as Duke ran in to help, and she saw Siege start to crank the knobs on the box.

                "What is that thing?" asked Duke. Little did he know, his question was to be answered all too soon.

 

                Suddenly, Zelda heard Nosedive scream, which was choked out abruptly by a series of loud explosions. Looking back in surprise, she saw Nosedive lying, charred and shaken, in a thick cloud of smoke.

                "Nosedive!" cried Wildwing. Suddenly, Tanya's puck launcher exploded in a fireball, and the force of the searing winds was so great, that it slammed her against a brick wall she was standing near. She sank to the ground with a groan. Zelda, by this time, had run over to Nosedive, to find him badly scorched and unconscious on the ground. Suddenly, Duke disappeared in a cloud of thick, black, sulfurous smoke, as the smoke pucks on his belt went off. Zelda looked over in alarm to Wildwing, just in time to see the armor that protected his left arm explode. Wildwing was thrown to the ground, whereas he immediately gripped the hole in his smoking armor, where his built-in puck launcher had once been, in pain.

                "Wildwing!" she cried in panic. Mallory, who was standing closest to Zelda at the time, realized bleakly what was going on, and threw her puck launcher away from her. It exploded in mid-air, but wasn't far enough from her. The blast seared her all along the side, forcing her to collapse underneath the powerfully hot winds. Looking around in terror, Zelda saw she and Grin were the only ones who had gone unscathed! As if this weren't enough, the Saurians and their line of hunter drones once again picked up their deadly advance.

                "Five down, two to go." snarled the Chameleon gleefully. Zelda circled protectively around Mallory and Nosedive, when she noticed Duke slowly getting up, doubled over coughing. He came along with Grin, and stood in front of Tanya, while Zelda shifted over to see Wildwing. He still lay crimped on the ground, lying on his side.

                "Wildwing! Wildwing listen to me." she whined desperately in his ear. "You have to get over with the others. Can you walk?" Wildwing forced his eyes open, and squinted in pain. Slowly, he staggered into a crouch position, holding his arm tightly. With Zelda standing protectively in front of him, he crawled painfully over to the vicinity where Tanya lay, and collapsed on his side. The injured were now in a group where they could be defended more easily.

                "Zelda!" yelled Grin. "Look out!"

 

                Suddenly the old pavement below Zelda's claws exploded. The force and surprise threw Zelda backwards, and she landed flat on her back, hitting her head hard against the cracked old pavement. Duke was beside her as she slowly got up, shaking the debris off her head.

                "You all right?" he asked, as the lasers cut through the air.

                "I'm fine. Stay behind." she panted. "Now it's my turn!" Zelda launched herself forwards, and

darted behind a pile of bricks. From there, she raised her wings and flew up, landing on the back of a hunter drone. She jumped down to Grin's defense, and started working with him to smash the drones. When there was a bit of a break, Grin turned to her.

                "We have to get the others to safety!" he yelled.

                "I'll distract them!" Zelda snarled in reply, and Grin ran back to help Duke load the wounded onto the Aerowing. As a blast of lasers snapped across the ground, Zelda pumped her wings and flew high into the air, swirling around the few remaining drones.

                "Hey! Up here ya ancestral antagonists!" she yelled in mockery. Siege, Wraith, and the Chameleon turned to the skies to blast her, and Zelda was forced to retreat higher up, swirling and darting constantly to avoid the blasts. Looking over by chance, the Chameleon saw Grin carrying the badly limping Nosedive into the open hatch of the Aerowing.

                "Hey! They're getting away!" he yelled in distress and anger.

                "Zelda!" called Duke from the closing hatch. "Come on!" Zelda dove down quickly, through a hail of fire, towards the hatch. It looked as if she was going to make it, when a laser hit her in the hindquarter, and sent her falling instead. Fortunately, she was in a good enough position, for Grin leaned out and caught her as she fell. The wounded lay in a haphazard pile on the far

floor, and Duke was strapping himself into the controls.

                "Duke, you think you can fly this thing?" asked Zelda.

                "Ha!" he laughed in reply. "Hold on!" As the Aerowing was coming under fire from the Saurian lasers, it powered up with a forceful blast, and shot off into the sky.

 

                Zelda whined as the four had been plunked hastily onto the Medicom, and scanned for damage. Now that the data was feeding out, was the real extent of their injures known. Wildwing and Mallory had the most serious injuries, with bad bruising besides their burns. Nosedive and Tanya were still in an unconscious stupor, and lay doggedly on the Medicom tables. Grin and Duke could do nothing but stand by as Zelda raced back an forth, settling everyone in. She tended to Wildwing first, gently removing his damaged armor and wrapping his forearm. Mallory could only be bandaged in some places, and was left alone otherwise. The same went for Nosedive and Tanya. Duke himself had to take it easy, since he was coughing raggedly from inhaling so much of that smoke. Only Wildwing had stayed in a painful half-consciousness through the whole affair. When all was finally said and done, it was exhaustingly late at

night, and the injured were comfortable. That night, Zelda lay in a moss-padded corner of the infirmary, and Grin and Duke slept on spare beds. But none of them could really sleep, and lay awake for a good time after settling in, rethinking the hazy events of the long and weary day.

               

                It was the middle of the night when Zelda awoke slowly, now well accustomed to waking shortly at this hour, to check and see if everyone was okay. As she swayed her head slowly and drowsily about the darkened room, she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Duke was leaning slightly up in bed, and saw her as well. Zelda smiled broadly. She was never alone here. Blinking, she saw Duke sink back down, and did the same as well. Nestling slightly into the folds of her moss, she sighed deeply, and fell back into a realm of dreamless sleep.

 

                Now, when one is struck in battle, the thrill of valor and the surge of adrenaline dulls the pain,

even if only slightly. But in the time of a post-loss slump, the injury becomes even more prominent, and when the Ducks awakened slowly in the morning, their injuries came back to them ten-fold. Stiff and sore from the blows, Duke, Grin, and Zelda were happy enough to lie still in their warmth and comfort, save for occasional attempts at rising. As for the others, they were much worse. Drowsy from the shock and heat of the explosions, heads throbbing and eyes stinging, they lay where they were, knowing the pain couldn't get any worse if they didn't move. Phil, quite surprisingly, had stayed away from the Ducks since Grin dimly reported the events of the battle to him the night before. Finally, Zelda staggered up, feeling the pain run up through the right hindquarter that had been previously hit, and walked as best as she could over to Wildwing.

                "Hey Zelda." he smiled, lacking for company, and raised his burned arm to rub her gently on the snout, as she lay it sadly on the side of the bed. Zelda whined softly, also lacking for company, as Grin slowly rose from his place.

                "So, how're you feeling?" he asked tentatively. Wildwing sank back and sighed.

                "I think I can justify for everyone." he said. In the next hour, Duke got up, and Tanya came out of her concussion-induced stupor.

                "Whoa, I mean, can you imagine how Dragaunus found out how to sabotage our weapons?" she sighed as she sat slowly up in bed.

                "No, how?" asked Duke.

                "Well, our pucks are activated by a certain sound frequency. It practically never occurs in nature, and it's too high pitched to hear, but there's a frequency transmitter band around the barrel of all

of our weapons."

                "Hey, that box that Siege had, I saw it. It had one of those transmitter dishes on top of it!" snorted Zelda.

                "But how did he know?" asked Tanya, still puzzled.

                "Didn't Dive lose his launcher in that last battle?" asked Wildwing.

                "So that's how he did it!" snarled Grin. "He must have found it and rewired it."

                "Tanya, can you readjust that sound frequency on our weapons, so that Siege can't use that box anymore?"

                "Whoa, that's a steep job." sighed Tanya. "I mean, you'd have to adjust every weapon and puck we have, it would take months!"

                "So the only other option we have is to readjust Dragaunus's box." started Zelda.

                "Which is not gonna be an easy job either." sighed Grin. But it was an idea. For the next two hours, the team sat, brooding over an idea. In this frame of time, Nosedive had reawakened, and Tanya had gone off to begin repair on Wildwing's armor. It was a daring plan, but Duke was working one out thoughtfully in his head, until it was finally ready to be announced. The others listened tentatively as Duke described to them his plan. He would have to get inside the Raptor itself, locate the box, destroy it, and get out. Steep demands, yes, so he would take Zelda with him. Anyone else who felt strong enough to come could act as distraction.

                "A decent plan, but we have a few problems." started Zelda. "First, we haven't the first clue where the Raptor is. Secondly, we haven't the first clue where the box is, once we find the Raptor." Wildwing tried to sit up, but he was so badly hurt that he was forced to sink back down. Both he and Mallory would not be able to help.

                "Maybe not." he coughed. He pressed his hands to the sides of the Mask.

                "What do you mean...you can look for the Raptor?" asked Duke. Wildwing closed his eyes in concentration. The team could hear the gears and circuits swirling and flashing inside the Mask.

                "I'm performing a sweep of the city for any strange or unusual structures.." he muttered distantly. Zelda whined. She could see he was having trouble as he squinted in effort. Finally, he opened his eyes. "There's an unregistered structure on the west side of town." he said.

                "May be worth checking out." Zelda nodded slowly. Wildwing sank back down. That effort, whatever it was, had seeped up his energy like a sponge. Zelda sighed. The blasts that had seared her scales the night before still echoed dully in her head. She didn't feel like fighting at all, and what was worse, she knew the others felt the same. "Are we all ready to do this?" she asked hesitatingly.

                "Look Zelda, right now, our weapons are useless." replied Tanya.

                "Yeah, Dragaunus can attack any time he wants, and we can't do anything about it." added Mallory. Zelda smiled and turned for the door.

                "I'll take that as a yes."

 

                The Migrator screeched to a halt in an empty parking lot in front of a large, abandoned storefront

in the business district of Anaheim. Zelda stared up at the long, flat, two-story building.

                "You sure this is it?" asked Nosedive, coming slowly out of the doorway. Duke tentatively went up to the edge of the building, and brought his sword forth to the concrete. A few inches below the gap the sword created, lay the thick glow of red metal.

                "This is it." he confirmed. The team stood thoughtfully in front of the store for a minute, thinking up a plan of attack again. For a moment, Zelda thought back to previous battles the Ducks had had in the Raptor. The force that met them, the firepower, and the injury lists. This was not going to be fun.

                "Okay, according to the schematics of the Raptor, the doors are right up there." said Tanya, tapping away at her Omnitool's little screen. She then pointed to an area a few feet off the ground.

                "Then we should enter through there, and create the most ruckus we can." replied Grin slowly.

                "As for you two, there's a ventilation port in

the alley, located just above that dumpster." said Tanya, turning to Zelda and Duke. The team hesitated

again, and Zelda glanced up at Duke's tired face.

                "Look you guys, the Migrator's right out here. If the situation calls for it, just get out of here. Don't worry about us." she said slowly. Grin nodded. He knew what this meant. They were going to go in and meet an incredible resistance, while Duke and Zelda would have to crawl on their bellies throughout the Raptor until they found that box. It very well might be their last fight.

                "Come on, lets go!" said Duke, and he and Zelda ran down into the dark alley. Grin marched steadily up to the wall, found a grip with his hands, and started to pry the doors open.

 

                Duke perched on top of the dumpster, looking at the brick wall, with Zelda standing behind him. Finally, he slashed a great square out of the wall, and pried it away, revealing the burning glow of the red metal interior of the Raptor's ventilation tunnel. He turned to Zelda, who was gazing curiously at the square tunnel before them.

                "Okay, let's go."

 

                Grin pried open the doors to find a hail of lasers shining through. Dragaunus must have spotted them beforehand! Ducking low, the team darted into the Raptor, leaving the doors half-opened, and the Migrator just behind them. Nosedive darted off to the side, and ran in front of a hunter drone, coaxing it away from the door.  The drone followed, as Grin pounded three up against a wall. Tanya brought out her sonic metal-cutter and stated cutting any drones she could reach into submission. The three tired easily, and regrouped for protection as the drones slowly closed in around them.

 

                Duke crawled silently through the square tunnel, with Zelda behind him. Finally, they approached a grating, and Duke peered through.

                "What is it?" she growled quietly.

                "No good, let's keep moving." he grunted, and started crawling away. Suddenly, there came a loud explosion that rocked the walls. Zelda whined softly. The others must be in trouble. They would have to hurry...

 

                Tanya was thrown hard against a wall as a searing blast shook the room. She felt her head pounding as she sank to the floor. Looking up as the smoke from whatever it was dissipated, she could see Nosedive and Grin had been hurt as well. Worse yet, she heard Siege, Wraith, and the Chameleon coming up quickly behind her. The explosion must have been one of Wraith's fireballs! Through the wavering smoke, Tanya could still see the Migrator, waiting for them outside.

 

                Duke had started to move faster since the explosion. He suddenly came to a point where the tunnel ended, revealing an open hallway below them.

                "I don't like this." muttered Zelda. Duke took hold of a long, black wire that ran from one side of the tunnel, across the room, to the other side, where the tunnel continued. As Duke slid fully out into the open, hanging from this wire, Zelda leapt out, hovering as best as she could, hoping the wire would hold his weight. Duke was slowly inching his way across, when the wire suddenly snapped, sending him and Zelda crashing to the floor. Zelda fell to the floor with a loud thud, just as Duke landed heavily beside her. She got up slowly and nuzzled Duke quickly.

                "Are you okay?" she whimpered. Duke leaned up,

rubbing his head and coughing.

                "Yeah...yeah, I'm okay." he snarled, looking up at the ventilation port tunnel above him. "Looks like we're gonna have to do this on foot." he sighed, standing up. Zelda trotted quickly beside him, as he started off through the halls, peering off into the various rooms.

 

                After what seemed like an eternity of hasty searching, Duke and Zelda peered around a corner to

reveal a heavily guarded room.

                "That must be it!" said Zelda nervously, withdrawing behind the corner.

                "Okay, do you think you can create a distraction while I get the box?" asked Duke.

                "Consider it done!" snarled Zelda, and she bounded around the corner. She flew high up, and

landed behind the two hunter drones which were guarding the door. "Hey you hunks of inefficient scrap metal! Down here!" she yelled, swishing her tail teasingly. The hunter drones immediately turned and fired upon her, as Zelda yelped and ran down the corridor. As soon as the drones had turned away, Duke scrambled into the room. The box sat on a pedestal in the center, and Duke drew his sword out as he neared it.

                "Just perfect." he grinned.

 

                Suddenly, Grin felt an incredible force smash into the side of his skull. Siege had swatted him right in the side of the head with his tail! Seconds later, he felt his back smacking into a wall. He sank

helplessly to the floor, left with an incredibly painful ringing in his head. The next thing he felt was

Siege's fist, right in his stomach. Grin could do nothing but double up in throbbing, numbing pain on the floor. As Siege loomed in further, Tanya's laser suddenly cut between the two in a feeble shot for Grin's defense. Tanya herself was way in over her head. Pinned in a dead-end corridor by three hunter drones, Tanya was barely able to at a shot in-between her dodging and ducking of lasers. Nosedive was currently being chased through the endless corridors and hallways by the Chameleon and Wraith, who were easily overtaking him with numerous lasers and fireballs. Nosedive was hopelessly lost, skating on his rocket-powered jetblades, sped by panic and a loss of the sense of direction. The one fact that kept haunting his mind, was that he had lost the others, and the Migrator.

 

                Duke brought his sword down mercilessly upon that little black box. It suddenly exploded, and left a huge cloud of smoke that blinded Duke, and choked him with the fumes of the rupturing wires. Suddenly, he heard noises coming from the hall, and someone calling his name. He felt a breeze across his face, and the smoke was slowly blown away. Zelda, exhausted and panting, was flapping the smoke away with her wings. Duke stumbled forwards.

                "I got the box!" he coughed raggedly.

                "Yeah." panted Zelda. "But we got another problem!" Suddenly, a hail of lasers sliced through

the air, causing the two to duck. "And that would be it right about now!" Knowing that they didn't stand a chance in that small room, Duke and Zelda scrambled out of the smoke-filled space and into the corridor, with three hunter drones hot on their heels. Zelda bounded forward, half running, half flying, with Duke skating furiously behind her on his jetblades. Looking back, Zelda noticed that Duke had suddenly started to slow down!

                "Duke! What's wrong?!" she cried, slowing down as well. Duke nearly came to a stop, doubling over in ragged coughing.

                "I think...that smoke is catching up with me." he wheezed, panicking. Duke was losing ground! Suddenly, the metal panels underneath him exploded in a flash of hunter drone laser fire, throwing Duke backwards. He landed hard on his back, sliding to a stop as the hunter drones marched up to him.

                "Duke!" yelled Zelda. Swiveling around, Zelda leapt off the floor, and slammed into the front hunter drone, knocking it away from Duke. Another hunter drone slapped her backwards, sending her flying. Panting heavily, Zelda struggled up, and ran over to Duke, who was still gasping for breath under a small pile of debris.

                "Zelda!" he wheezed, squinting in pain as he struggled to get up. "Go! Leave me! I'll be okay."

                "What are you, nuts?" snarled Zelda, positioning herself defensively in front of Duke as the remaining two hunter drones advanced in closer. If this was it, they would be in it together...

 

                Suddenly, the piercing shriek of screeching metal resounded through the halls. Looking up in panic and surprise, Zelda saw a blur that was later identified as Nosedive slam the two drones into the wall.

                "Nosedive!" yelped Zelda, overjoyed at finding her comrade.

                "Whoa, what happened to you guys?" he asked, helping Duke, still gasping for breath, out of the rubble.

                "Long story." sighed Zelda.

                "But we got the box." grinned Duke, dusting himself wearily off.

                "What about the others?" asked Zelda, suddenly, dismayed again.

                "We got separated! I left them back in the main room with all those bezerko drones!" Nosedive answered.     

                "Well then, let's go!" yelled Zelda, and charged off down the corridors again.

 

                Tanya nearly collapsed on the floor, the hot blasts searing her feathers. As a last-shot attempt to

protect Grin, who was still lying helplessly on the floor, she had tried to distract the drones, and lead

them away. Instead, she found herself backed up in the same dead-end corridor she has barely managed to crawl from before. Last shot it was, yes, for Tanya had failed to drag him out of the Raptor, and load him onto the Migrator. He simply wouldn't cooperate. Now, however, Tanya was down to fearing for her own life. Her laser couldn't get her out of this now, as three hunter drones entered the corridor. She backed closer up against the already charred walls, and waited.

 

 

To be continued.......