Survivor

Part 4

Written by Zelda

 

                They settled in without any protest whatsoever. Both Zelda and Nosedive had been so thoroughly exhausted by all that had happened to them, they hadn’t even retained consciousness for most of the trip back. Not until the Foil pulled into its dock beneath the Pond, did the others even start to relax. They’d been watching the clouds chase them all the way back to Anaheim, and now Mallory and Grin were up checking all sorts of satellite reports on Drake 1. Duke was off getting some good antacid medicine from his medicine cabinet, and Wildwing and Tanya stuck with the remaining two down in the infirmary.

                “Are you absolutely sure that they’re okay, Tanya?” Wildwing asked.

                “I swear, these two are practically indestructible.” she smirked slightly, watching the Medicom’s data feedout. “It’s alright Wing, they’re going to be okay, even with all of the extremes they went through. They just need a lot of rest and plenty of fluids, get their immune systems to recover from the strain. I hate to say it, but I think it’s kinda lucky that they went over together. They would have had much tougher chances if they were separated.”

                Wildwing nodded, watching the sleeping pair from his position, leaning against the nearby wall. “They’re lucky, that’s for sure.”

                “Have Grin and Mallory come up with anything yet?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.

                “Not yet.” he shook his head. “Dragaunus is learning from his mistakes, he disguised the energy signature we used to find that weather machine last time around. Now, it’s not going to be as easy.”

                Tanya put a hand to her beak in thought. “I have a few theories that I’d like to test out, but it can wait until these two are settled in for good.”

                “Theories, like what?” Wildwing was curious.

                “Well… we said earlier that this time around, the machine can only control weather over a small area. At least we won’t have to deal with a city-wide ice age again. So I’m thinking that because the machine has a smaller effect, it would need a weaker power source, which is probably why Mallory and Grin can’t find it. It wouldn’t stick out any more than any big industrial plant.”

                “I see.” Wildwing nodded. “So how do we find it then?”

                “There’s got to be something else, dewpoints or temperature gradients, something like that.” she mused aloud. “The area closest to the weather machine would be the first to be effected by the changes in the atmosphere it was causing. I’ll just have to go up there and tune the sensors to lock into that sort of thing.”

                “Sounds good.” Wildwing nodded. “If you wanna go on up, I’ll stay here and watch these two.”
                “Really? Thanks.” she smiled. “This shouldn’t take me long at all. I’m sure we’ll net them with a few adjustments.”

                “Don’t mention it.” he waved as she exited. Looking around, he spotted a rolling desk chair, wheeled it over to his brother’s bedside, and sat in it. The chair was turned backwards, so he could fold his arms on the back rest, and slump over to rest his chin on them. Even in his sleep, Dive looked to be plain worn out. The seawashed hair and feathers didn’t help either. Zelda, on the other hand, seemed to look more at peace, curled up on her table with the Medicom circling around her head. At least one of them was resting, anyway. He couldn’t help but yawn himself. All of that time out on the water had been stressful, and something was telling the leader that the real fight was still just ahead. As he stared aimlessly into the wall, he thought long and hard about what Dragaunus had been up to lately. There were a thousand different ways that he could have reconstructed the weather machine that had plagued them in the past. Although he wanted to think that they didn’t have the smarts or resources to recreate the machine exactly, he knew that probably wasn’t the case. Dragaunus had some sort of purpose, most likely what Tanya had hinted at earlier. A smaller machine would only have a small range, but it would need a smaller power source, and would be easier to hide. It was already obvious that the machine had a great range, so that wouldn’t be a source of any clues for them. His pondering was interrupted by a sneeze, and movement from the dragon on the table a few feet in front of him. “Awake already, hm?” he joked. Zelda was notorious for being slow to come fully back to reality.

                “.. I’m not a morning type…” she muttered, amusement in her dry voice. “Sue me. Are we back?” She opened her eyes as if to reassure herself.

                “In Anaheim, yes.” he nodded. “You two are both going to be just fine, if you get some rest.”

                “Good.” she closed her eyes again, wincing as she stretched. “Only caught bits of what you guys were discussing on the trip back… but I got the gist… Dragaunus rebuilt the weather machine… didn’t he?”

                “Hit the nail on the head.” Wildwing sighed. “But from what we can tell, it’s not an exact copy. He’s got a miniature version, something with an extended range but a smaller power source. We’ve having trouble picking it up on Drake 1’s scanners.”

                The dragon nodded, thinking things over. “…We’re in for a good fight again…” she finally noted.

                “You think so?”

                “Think for a sec…” she started. “And assume… he’s basing the machine out of Anaheim… The farther the range, the less control the Saurians have. Even as far south as we were… they could still create extreme conditions… on a small island. At a closer range, that machine would have even greater power….”

                “So you think Dragaunus could create more severe weather? Like a hurricane or something?”

                “I… hope not…” she started. “But… there’s another thing. The Saurians couldn’t just create weather out of nothing. If they want rain, the machine has to gather water vapor, form clouds, and then the rain comes. If he plans on something big… we’ll see it…”

                “Like a big atmospheric power surge.” Wildwing nodded. “I see your point, exactly. But I’m afraid it still won’t help us find the machine itself. That surge would only occur where the weather was happening, not where the command originated from. Hmmm…” he rubbed his beak, musing. “This one’s a doozie of a puzzle.”

                “At least we’ll have some warning… of a strike. I don’t like this… but at least the weather’s only been targeted at us. Imagine… what this could do to the city….”

                “All of these people.” Wildwing sighed. “Amazing, isn’t it? I like to think that we’ve had the Saurians under some kind of control since we chased this fight from Puckworld. But then Draguanus pulls something, and I just see that we’re almost powerless. We can’t protect all of these people in a situation like this.”

                “Don’t be so negative.” Zelda tisked him. “You remind me of a good handful of old friends… ran into a lot of doubt… following a vigilante path.” a smile crossed her face. “I’ll tell you what I’ve told them… we’re heroes for a reason… superheroes, not because we’re super strong, or can leap tall buildings…” she stretched again. “But we can deal with these things, together. Think of what would happen if Dragaunus attacked, and we weren’t here. Think of the chaos. We do help these people… we’re really their first line of defense… even if it’s only symbolic at times.”

                “I guess you’re right.” Wildwing blinked, wondering just which ‘old friends’ she was referring to. “Not to cut you off girl, but you’re talking too much. If Tanya were here, she’d be yelling at me for not making you rest up.”

                Zelda’s smile broadened slightly. “I’m not too badly off…” she muttered. “Just glad to  be out of the cold.”

                “SoCal is the place for being warm.” Wildwing chuckled.

                “Do me a favor though…” Zelda started, closing her eyes and laying her head back down on the table. “Relay what I said to Tanya… I don’t have half the smarts she does about machines…”

                “But any idea is a good one at this point.” Wildwing finished for her. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell her. Just be sure and ring if you need anything, or something’s wrong with Dive.” Zelda nodded, curling up again, before Wildwing turned and walked out of the infirmary. It was a relief to see Zelda up, and with a sense of humor still intact. Hopefully his younger brother would fare just as well as she had. He tried to shake off that kind of thinking as he stepped into the elevator tube. Right now, they had a much bigger problem to tackle.

 

                “She makes a good point…” Tanya started, her fingers flying at the keyboard. She never broke her gaze at Drake 1’s massive screen. “But it’s still gonna be tough to smoke Draguanus out on this one…”

                “What do you mean?” Duke asked her, leaning on the back of her chair.

                “Well, I said that we just needed to make a few adjustments to Drake 1’s scanners, which is true.” Tanya started. “But that means widening the search parameters. We’re coming up with too much data, too many little things that aren’t important. Making our search less specific is the only way that we’ll find him, but it also means that we’re turning up more stuff that just isn’t what we’re looking for.”

                “And it will be a time-consuming matter to weed through all of that data.” Grin nodded.

                “Exactly.” Tanya said. “I think this is where Zelda’s point comes in, that Dragaunus is capable of doing something really big.”

                “I’m not sure I follow you.” Mallory frowned.

                “In order for Dragaunus to do something really big with the weather machine, he’ll have to gather up the atmospheric resources…”

                “Yeah, but Zelda said that it wouldn’t help us find him, because that would only happen at the site of the storm.” Wildwing interrupted.

                “She’s right, she’s right, but let me finish.” Tanya brushed him off. “My point is that Zelda missed the other end of the equation: Dragaunus also has to build up the power resources for a big move. In order to gain real control over the atmosphere, it’s gonna take a lot of juice. We weren’t able to tell how much went into all those storms out on the water, because we had no link to Drake 1.”

                “Now I get it!” Mallory started. “You’re saying that if we wait until Dragaunus makes his move, then he’ll build up enough power to trigger the normal alarm net.”

                “Yup!” Tanya nodded. “I know that waiting isn’t the greatest thing to be doing, especially when this machine has such a destructive capability. But if we do wait, and we net an alarm, we know that it’s him. 99% sure of it.”

                Wildwing mused over that for a moment. “I think that we can live with those odds.” he nodded. “It’s better than having us run around to check every lead we’d turn up in a more general sweep. And it’ll give our two in the infirmary a little more recovery time.”

                “So it’s settled.” Grin nodded.

                “Great.” Duke rolled his eyes. “Time to start twiddling our thumbs.”

 

                Man, did he ever feel awful. The last thing that he remembered was fogging out under the canopy of the Foil. As he blinked to try and clear his vision, he could tell that he wasn’t there anymore. The air was much less humid, and he couldn’t hear the ocean. He did hear a humming noise though, right around his ears. Nosedive continued to blink, looking up to recognize the object that the noise was coming from: the Medicom, which meant that he was back at the Pond! Smiling despite himself, Nosedive gripped the sides of the table bed he was laying on, and sat straight up, only to be met with a dizzying wave of nausea a few seconds later.

                “Whoa, easy there…” A familiar voice rumbled softly. “You swallowed a bit too much seawater for your own good.”

                Conceding to lay back against the table, Nosedive shut his eyes against the queasiness for a moment, and then turned his head to look at Zelda, blinking at him and smiling a little.

                “It’s good to see you up.” she nodded.

                “How… how long was I out?” Nosedive asked, surprised at how worn his voice sounded.

                “It’s only been about six or seven hours since we got back. But you need to stay put for now, rest up.”

                “Well wait a second.” Nosedive cleared his throat before protesting further. “What’s going on? Who or what turned the weather on us?”

                “A combination of both, actually.” Zelda shook her head. “Dragaunus, and a rebuilt version of the weather machine.”

                “From the ice-planet guys?” Nosedive raised an arm to smack his head. “I don’t believe it.”

                “Believe it.” A deep voice sounded from the hallway, as the infirmary door hissed open.

                “Grinster!” Nosedive smiled and sat up a little. “Man, is it good to see you again.”

                “As it is good to see you awake, little friend.” Grin nodded and smiled. “Are you feeling alright?”

                “I think I’m gonna kick it here for now.” Nosedive grudgingly admitted.

                “A wise decision.” Grin praised.

                “So what’s going on in the Ready Room?” Zelda asked, perking her ears to the big duck.

                “All is calm, for now.” he replied. “We have decided to keep our scanners on regular patrol, and wait for Dragaunus to gather up the energy he needs for an attack. That way, we will find him out when he does.”

                Zelda mused over the idea for a moment, nodding slowly. “I guess we’re stuck here waiting again.”

                “I hate waiting.” Nosedive growled, pulling a blanket over his head.

                “Looks like you’re in luck then.” The three in the infirmary heard Wildwing’s voice coming from down the hall. “We’ve got some pretty weird weather out there already.” He walked in and switched on a small TV that was suspended in a corner ceiling, dialing it in to a weather channel. Several hundred miles off of the coast, familiar circular winds were starting to swirl.

                Zelda flattened her ears in anger. “He’s revving up a hurricane.” she growled. “And looking to bowl it right into the coastline.”

                “That’s what we thought at first too.” the leader nodded. “But Drake 1’s picking up some really odd energy readings right in the same spot. We can’t be sure, but it could be the weather machine.”

                “Out in the Pacific?” Nosedive sat up slightly again, pulling the blanket away. “That’s nuts, the Raptor would have to be out there too! Last time I checked, that thing sank like a stone.”

                “Drake 1 can’t analyze the source of the energy.” Wildwing sighed. “Even with the boost of the Mask, there’s too much interference from the storm clouds.”

                “So what do you plan on doing?” Grin asked.

                “We’re splitting up. Half are taking the Aerowing to check on the energy source, and the others are staying here. Grin, I need you to come with Mallory and I.”

                The big duck nodded.

                “What about us?” Nosedive asked.

                “You two are staying right here, no matter what.”

                Zelda was on her feet in a show of disapproval. “I can fight, Wing. If you’re talking an assault on a sea-going Raptor, you’ll need more than the three of you. No offense.”

                The leader considered this for a moment, and relented with a sigh. “Alright, you can come. Nosedive, you stay here just in case. If something does come up, you don’t leave this room unless Tanya gives you an okay.”

                “And the dragon gets an automatic clean bill of health!?” Nosedive protested.

                “Sorry kiddo.” Zelda apologetically ruffled his hair before jumping to the floor. “Needs must. Heal up fast!” She waved to him with a wing and ran out into the hall with the two others.

                Nosedive, who was left alone in the infirmary, could do nothing but cross his arms and pout. “Momma said there’d be days like this…”

               

                The Foil raced out over the waves, bouncing through the surf beyond the breakers. Zelda bounced along with the boat, quickly discovering that she hadn’t entirely gotten over her seasickness from earlier. The water was definitely choppy. The dragon swallowed hard and ignored it, keeping her eyes locked on clouds that were gathering on the far horizon.

                “You sure you’re up for a fight girl?” Mallory turned and asked her, as she was standing at the dash.

                “Don’t you worry.” Zelda nodded back. “Any Saurians out here are turning into fish bait.”

                “Speaking of which…” Wildwing leaned over from the wheel to open a panel in the boat, handing out lifejackets to the other two Ducks. “Nobody from this team’s becoming shark food on my watch.”

                Grin struggled to get his vest to fit, finally clicking all of the buckles in place with a little grumbling. “Have we had any updates from the Pond?”

                “No.” Wildwing retook the wheel and shook his head. “Tanya told me we may lose contact with them altogether if we run into a storm, the signal just won’t be able to get through.”

                “That’s nice.” Mallory sighed. “You know, I hate splitting up like this. I can’t help thinking Dragaunus has something up his sleeve here. Couldn’t we have called the Coast Guard in on this or something? What if he springs a trap on the others while we’re away?”

                “I think we’re the ones in the greatest danger here.” Zelda started. “I mean, why would Dragaunus attack the Pond when the four of us are out here in just a boat? We’re definitely the easier target, unless this is all a plot to get to the resources we have inside the Pond.” The statement ended with a shrug.

                Mallory smacked her forehead. “Great. We’ve just provided them with options!”

                “Better than doing nothing about it.” Wildwing said, as the Foil bounced over another choppy set of waves. “Because this thing ahead of us is definitely a hurricane.”

                A particularly large wave pitched up around the boat, tossing the occupants back into their seats.

                “Duke is gonna be very happy he decided to stay onshore…” Mallory gulped, patting her own stomach. More waves, even higher ones, were beginning to rise around them.

                “I do not think this is normal even for a hurricane…” Grin started, as the Foil was tossed even more violently.

                “It’s not, I don’t think!” Zelda yipped, holding on as tightly as she could. “The waves shouldn’t  be this big, this far offshore! Some sort of pressure ridge is building up!”

                “What does that mean?” Mallory started.

                She got her answer in the form of an earsplitting blast of thunder overhead. The ducks all looked up to see the thick gray clouds suddenly flash black, puckering in the middle and swirling around like water going down a drain.

                “They’re bringing a funnel cloud right down on us!” Wildwing called out. “Everyone hang on!” He gunned the motor and raced off, trying to get out of the path of the descending waterspout. He could feel the surge of wind and sea spray as the funnel hit the water behind him, actually helping to push the Foil farther out of danger.

                “They’re trying to form the hurricane right here!” Zelda yowled over the noise. “Trap us right in the eye!”

                “They won’t get that chance…” Wildwing growled, taking a hand off of the wheel only long enough to activate his Mask. “Look, look!” he pointed up into the sky.

                “What?!” Mallory called over another roll of thunder. “It’s too cloudy!”

                “Past that!” Wildwing pointed insistently. “There’s something, I think it’s a scout ship!”

                “That’s what the weather machine could be on!” Zelda concluded.

                “Then how would it be powered?” Grin started.

                A swell of pounding rain interrupted any would-be reply. With the canopy down, the team had no shelter from the downpour.

                “Get your cannon ready Mallory!” Wildwing yelled to her. “I’m going to try and get in close, you need to take the ship down!” He steered the Foil sideways, trying to plow away from the now dissolving waterspout. Unfortunately, it put the ship right into the path of an oncoming wave, with the Foil tilted in the wrong direction. Orders to hold on tight were literally drowned out as the wave crested and thundered down against the Foil, the push of the rolling water suddenly flipping the occupants up into the air. They whirled helplessly for a moment, some flinging free and some holding on, until they all came crashing down into the water again.

                Grin shook his head free of water as he surfaced, paddling to keep himself steady, looking out over the water. There was nothing but waves, rolling waves as far as the gray clouds would let him see. It was like being in a watery desert. And then out of the corner of his eye, came the flash of metal. He quickly recognized the Foil, turned upside-down, bobbing like a cork among the waves. But where were the others.

                “Grin!” Came the call overhead. “Up here!”

                He glanced overhead to see Zelda flapping against the pouring rain, trying to keep herself steady in the wind. “Where are the others?”

                “Mal’s with the Foil!” Zelda pointed. “Go, I’m going to look for Wing!”

                Grin dipped his head closer to the water, taking a deep breath, and set off for the Foil. It was surprisingly rough going, the wind and waves kept pushing him back. He heard Zelda yelp out somewhere close by, as lightning clawed its way overhead, and thunder blotted her out moments later. As the thunder faded, he could hear Mallory shouting as well. Putting new energy into his swimming, Grin kicked until he finally came up on the Foil. Zelda was back in the water, supporting a rather dazed looking Wildwing with two paddling wings.

                “You sure you’re alright?” Mallory called to him, climbing up on the keel of the boat.

                “Fine, fine!” he insisted, his voice sounding frustrated. “Boat hit my arm on the way down---“ Thunder scrawled out over their voices again, so loud and so close that it hurt their ears.

                “We must get the boat back up again.” Grin started. “Otherwise we are stuck out here.”

                “With a hurricane-wielding Saurian putting us in the crosshairs!” Mallory concurred. “I’ve got an idea. Grin, I need you to stay over on that side of the boat---“ Mallory was cut off by a high wave that nearly rolled on top of her. The redhead resurfaced quickly, shaking herself off. “The rest of us push up from this side, you push down! We’ll flip it!”

                “Sounds good!” Wildwing called. He and Zelda floundered for a moment as a wave barreled over them. They resurfaced and paddled over to Mallory’s side of the boat. “Quicker the better!” Lightning scarred the sky momentarily, landing frighteningly close in the water. All of the Ducks cringed as they felt a slight surge of electricity sizzle around them.

                “Come on!” Mallory shouted. “Start now!”

                Grin reached up, grabbing a handhold on the ribs of the keel, and hauling down.

                On the other side of the boat, Zelda pushed Wildwing’s injured arm from around her neck, and dove under the water, under the deck of the boat, bracing her arms and head up near Grin’s handhold and using her wings to plow upwards while he pushed down.

                Back up on the surface, Mallory and Wildwing were trying their best to lever up their side of the Foil. The boat was much larger and heavier than it seemed before. Wildwing hissed through his teeth as he put his injured arm into the effort as well, kicking with his feet.

                “Wave!” Mallory called, sucking in a quick breath before a wave crested near them, washing a crushing volume of water down over the keel.

                “This isn’t working…” Wildwing snarled.

                “We have no other options!” Mallory argued back. “We can make this work!”

                More lightning clawed down, striking even closer than the last bolt had. Zelda bubbled up beside the Foil with a yowl.

                “You okay?” Grin looked over.

                With a high yip she spun downward, smacking the rain-pelted water with a wing to signal  the others to put their backs into it. She was diving again, and moments later Grin could feel her pushing back up, underneath the boat. Slowly, Wildwing and Mallory were able to pull their arms up, and their side of the Foil started to rise out of the water.

                “Good, good!” Mallory shouted over the din of the rain and the thunder. She peeked under the deck to see Zelda poke her nose up for air, then go back to pushing. “Grin, be ready to dive on my count, if a wave pushes this over then---“

                “Dive now!” Wildwing interrupted, looking back over his shoulder to see a large crest rolling towards them. “Mallory, push up!” The two ducks strained to get their side of the Foil as high in the air as they could, watching and holding their breaths as the wave came up around them, the force picking up the Foil and twisting it over. The crest rolled beneath one side of the deck, and the wave crashed down, catching the half-righted Foil and pulling it down to the water again, finally right-side up. Panting with effort, Mallory and Wildwing clung onto the side, waiting until they saw Grin and Zelda pop up to the surface nearby.

                “Everybody in!” Wildwing waved, and the soggy and exhausted team clambered  back on board. Ignoring his throbbing arm and the massive dent that the Foil had left in his wrist armor, he stumbled back up to the wheel of the boat, and tried to get the engine to start.

                “Are we good?” Mallory panted, sitting down on the deck for a breather.

                Wildwing withheld his reply until the engine finally turned over, and the propeller chugged back to life. “It’s an improvement!”

                “Now we’ve got to find that scout ship…” Grin started, an arm up to shield his eyes from the pouring rain.

                “Get any weapons you can find.” Wildwing ordered. “I’m going to get us as close in as I can…” The Foil churned for a moment in the water before Wildwing could turn it to face the oncoming waves, and then start plowing through them to try and move forwards.

                “What’s our trajectory?” Mallory asked, shaking water out of a puck cannon she’d recovered from a storage compartment.

                Wildwing paused for a moment to reactivate the Mask. “Hard to say…” he started. “75-80 degrees up from here… can’t tell the distance, we’re getting closer…”

                “That’s good enough.” Mallory growled, bracing the cannon against her shoulder. “I’ll call it a warning shot…” She started firing, the soggy cannon chuffing out smoke with each puck she fired. “Can you tell if I’m hitting anything?”

                “We’ve gotta get in closer…” Wildwing replied, twisting the Foil slightly to try and get a better angle through the waves. “Zelda, go scout!”

                “Watch the lightning!” Grin cautioned her as the dragon shook herself off and darted skyward, battling upward against the rain. The three ducks in the boat were silent, watching the sky nervously. Mallory had paused in her shooting, reloading and letting the acrid smoke around her clear. Suddenly, there was a loud roar overhead, and Zelda came plunging back into view.

                “What is it?” Wildwing called out.

                “A hologram!” Zelda howled. “They’re not here at all!”

                “What?!” Mallory echoed, incredulity in her voice.

                Wildwing was instantly checking the Mask again. Normal visuals revealed the scout ship floating right there, it was even on infra-red scans! But an x-ray… he couldn’t see anything. They had been fooled the entire time!

                “She’s right.” he snarled. “All of this interference, I couldn’t get a clean scan… I can’t see it under x-ray!”

                “We’ve gotta pull out of here then!” Mallory turned. “If the ship is a hologram, they’re controlling it on land!”

                “Which is how they got the power for it, they couldn’t get a power source all the way out here.” Grin reasoned.

                “And which means the guys back in Anaheim are probably in for some real trouble…” Zelda shook her head, landing back in the Foil. Another wave bobbed up around them, spilling over onto the deck.

                “First thing’s first, we get out safely…” Wildwing started, delicately turning the ship around when the wave had passed. “Mallory, keep at your com. First good transmission you can get out, try and alert the others to the situation. As long as there’s a hurricane out here, at least there are no big storms back there. Let’s just see if we can outrun this one…” Wildwing turned back to look at more approaching waterspouts behind him. “Everyone just hang on…”

 

 

To be continued…

 

 

 

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