“Echoes”
Chapter Five
The firefight reached its crescendo, yet Wildwing knew the battle was far from over. Blasts illuminated the dark lower level of the Pond, while resistance members fired back, albeit not without screams of terror and shrieks of death. Wildwing tried to drown them out, tried to keep focused at the goal at hand—keeping alive so he could do the same for his brother.
If only he knew where Nosedive was.
He lost
track of his brother not too long after Nosedive’s realization in the
“No choice?” Nosedive scoffed, ripping his arm from her clutches. “What? Dragaunus held a blaster to your head?”
“No! They took Dnias!” She retreated back to her son and held him tightly, afraid that her father would tear him away once again. “When Varkais found out that Dreg was the traitor, he came back to me and stole Dnias. That’s why I sent him back into the past, or you know I wouldn’t have. You have to believe me, Nosedive. I never wanted to put you or yours in danger.”
Silence reclaimed Nosedive, and Wildwing saw in the ricocheting of his brother’s eyes and the softness within them. He wanted to believe her, wanted to know that no matter what, he could trust the female Saurian before him. But he just didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“And the base?” he demanded.
Syra collapsed to the bed, rocking her son back and forth in her lap.
“And the secondary base?” Nosedive fell to his knees, clasped her by the shoulders, and shook her fiercely. “Syra, the secondary base! Did you tell them where it—”
He knew the answer before he even finished the sentence by her shaking and crying.
“DAMNIT!” He let her go and pressed his communication unit. “Canard, come in.”
Only apprehensive silence met his fear.
“Canard, for the love of the Stars, answer me!”
He didn’t.
Nosedive’s breathing sped up, and he shook his head over and over and over again. His world slowly collapsed about him, and he didn’t know what to do. The American Resistance was either under attack, or at least communications were being blocked. He needed to get to the forces and get the team into the past.
“Syra, you’ve damned us all!” he screamed. Then, he shot off the ground and dashed toward the door. “Look, I don’t care who you use as long as they’re not innocent. Use Wraith! Use Siege—I don’t care but send them back!”
“No!” Wildwing grabbed his brother’s shirt as he passed and fought the slightly older drake’s struggles. “We have to think of a plan, decide the best course of action—”
—that
won’t result in your death.
Nosedive shook his head and kicked, slamming his brother against the wall, freeing himself. “The time for thinking is done. Now all that is left is action, which I fear might not be enough.”
He fled.
“Let him go,” Syra proclaimed through Wildwing’s shock and the haze of pain. “He is too headstrong to listen to anyone.”
“You—TRAITOR!” Mallory snarled and took out her puck launcher, pointing it at the Saurian princess. “You—”
“Yes! I know I was wrong, but what would you have done in my situation?” Syra demanded, holding her son close. “You have a child. Would you have risked his life for anything?”
Wildwing exhaled loudly and felt his headache once more coming on. No, nothing was worth the life of his child, but this…This should never have happened. If Nosedive knew of Dnias, then he should have…but that was in the past. Wildwing couldn’t change it, and wishing it so only kept his team inactive. Massaging his temples, he attempted to catch his bearings.
“Okay, let’s deal with the here and now. Syra, do you know where your father’s forces are?”
She nodded. “On the way to engage
the American Resistance in the Sierra-Nevadas as well as in
“Capture?” Duke echoed. “You mean kill.”
Syra shook her head. “No—capture. My father wants to kill him before the entire Resistance later. Y—You don’t want to know the details.”
“We have to get to the base—now.” Wildwing slammed his fist against the wall.
“You can’t! Nosedive wants me to send you back, so we must—”
Wildwing glared over his shoulder as he headed toward the corridor’s entrance. “Sorry, Syra, but I don’t listen to my little brother’s orders.” He turned back to her. “Are you coming?”
Syra’s eyes glowed. “You still want me?”
“If we’re going to get back to the past and have a chance of saving this future, we’re going to need you.” Then, he shifted to the two female ducks, and a tiny, devious smirk appeared upon Wildwing’s face. “Any chance you two remember where the center power core is?”
*^*^*
“Whoa…Dive was right on the mark, but then again, he usually is,” Thrash commented, his usually jovial voice riddled with concern when the team emerged from the tunnel. Loud explosions rocked overhead and rumbled from aboveground.
“What is that?” Mallory shouted, holding onto the side of the tunnel. Stars, she hoped it wasn’t a sewer before. Not only was the future being destroyed, but also her hand could have touched something that had been excreted from another. Gross.
Tanya
glanced down at her omnitool, reading the radar. “Looks like battle cruisers.
Dragaunus must have started to attack the
“Don’t worry too much.” Mookie flipped her hand. “Klegghorn should have had most of the members already evacuated. What we need to do is get you guys to safety.” Her blue eyes caught sight of the amber ones glowing in the darkness, and she immediately pulled her blaster.
“No!” Wildwing objected, stepping in front of Syra and Dnias. “They’re on our side—mostly.”
“But she’s a—”
Obviously, Dreg was right. No human or Puckworlder would ever trust a Saurian—except he and his brother.
Wildwing glared at Mookie. “We need to get to the main resistance base—the new one. Can you take us there?”
“Nope,” Thrash said too easily and with a flippant wave of his hand. “Nosedive gave us strict instructions not to let you guys follow him, so we’re going to take you—”
Wildwing raised his gauntlet’s end to Thrash’s eye level, and the former comic book geek sputtered, “—directly to the base. Totally. Absolutely. Not a problem.”
Smirking, the leader lowered his weapon. “Didn’t think there would be.”
Of course, there was. As they reached the sewer entrance to the Pond once more, three guards once more met them—laying upon the ground, motionless and crimson-stained. Thrash, Mookie, and Tanya ran to their sides, but Tanya immediately pulled back her hand and shook her head mournfully.
Wildwing saw the blast marks singeing the sides of the door into the Pond, and he instantly knew what happened. Cursing loudly, he darted forward, his team on his heels, and once they turned the bend and entered the main corridors of the Pond, hell met them full force.
The leader hardly raised his ice shield in time to block the blasts ricocheting off of the Saurian shields and the walls. Bodies—human, Saurian, and droid—littered the hallways, while combatants continued their fighting over them.
“Take them down, team!” Wildwing ordered, but he needn’t. The Mighty Ducks were already moving.
Duke sliced through a drone ready to blast off a woman’s head, while Mallory fired several shots from the corner of the corridor, picking off those enemy forces setting up for deadly shots. Tanya moved to the hallway panel, and though Wildwing had no idea what she did, he knew it must be important. Grin began to tear drones apart bit by bit, while also keeping Syra close to protect her and Dnias from both the Saurian forces and the resistance. This left the team leader jumping over drones and firing shots to save those around him. Thrash and Mookie, Wildwing briefly thought about, were doing their own thing, moving as one as they watched each other’s back and attacked the Saurians and drones. There was no doubt now. Mallory was right; they had grown up.
So had Dive.
Though they tried to engage and become “one” with the battle, the resistance members wouldn’t allow the Mighty Ducks.
After Wildwing saved a teenage boy from certain death, the teen refused to thank him or acknowledge him with a nod. Instead, he urged, “You can’t be here! You must get the hanger!”
“We’re here to help!”
“The only way you can is by not getting hurt!” an older man, perhaps in his sixties, replied sharply, coming to Wildwing’s side to protect him, despite the fact that the leader had armor and the man wore nothing more than a T-shirt and jeans.
“But—”
The man grabbed Wildwing roughly by the arm and pulled him close. “Don’t you see? If you die, then we’ll never have a chance at survival.” The man whispered lowly, “You are our only hope.”
He expected that line from Thrash or Mookie, maybe even Dive but not from the humans. They seemed to understand the ramifications better than Wildwing did. If the Mighty Ducks died now, then this future would only be worse.
“If you’re going to be of any help, though,” the man said offhandedly as he shot another drone and Saurian with the same blast, “this isn’t the battle you should be fighting. The commander needs you and reinforcements at the Main Resistance Base. Here…we’re lost already.”
The man was right, as much as
Wildwing hated to admit. This close to the
If they turned the tide before leaving, they couldn’t do it here, but Wildwing just couldn’t leave. How could he turn his back on people and know they were going to die without at least helping them?
The man before him made the decision for him. “RETREAT!” Then, he dug into his pocket and pulled out three small balls, rolling them upon the ground. Once they smacked into a wall or perhaps a drone’s feet, smoke filled the corridor, covering the resistance members’ escape.
Wildwing saw through the eyes of the Mask the others being led by resistance members, all but Tanya and Mallory. Tanya once more seared a few wires together, and then, with a cocking and the bright flashes of lasers, the Pond’s defenses came online to destroy those Saurians and drones still left in the corridor.
Once everyone alive and with the Resistance was accounted for, the elderly man slammed the corridor door shut and locked off the Saurians. “We don’t have much time,” he informed those underneath him shortly. “Right now, we cease to become fighters and now are guardians. We need to get these ducks to the hanger now, or else we’re all lost.”
There was no point in arguing, so no one did. Getting to the hanger, however, proved to be a problem. As the Mighty Ducks dashed through the hallways, the small group about them, starting at over twenty, waned to fifteen, then twelve, and fewer as the guardians engaged Sauriasn or blood pooled upon the floor underneath their bodies. Wildwing cringed at each sight, loathing the people for dying for his team and him. He still fought, still attacked, but he knew as the blast came toward him and a body intercepted it—at least one had taken a shot meant for him.
When Thrash thumped upon the ground, Wildwing met the boy upon his knees, seeing the pain filling Thrash’s bright eyes. Not a man, Thrash was a child no older than Wildwing’s own baby brother. The boy looked up at him with hope for a mere second, as if the death and mayhem about them might actually never exist, and he muttered, “You’re welcome,” before his eyes glazed over and his suffering ended.
Wildwing ducked his head and tried to his best to understand why this happened, why war and vengeance and destruction ever occurred. What had he done in his life to deserve this? What had this boy, who was so pure in intention that he gave his life for the hope that this might not occur, do deserve such an end?
Mookie collapsed to her knees, crying hysterically, and she only was able to be pulled away when Duke and Mallory took her by the arms.
A hand fell upon Wildwing’s shoulder. Grin’s. “Come. We must persevere for his sacrifice not to be in vain.”
For once, Wildwing actually understood the burly duck.
He allowed himself to be pulled away, as well, but the mental image of the boy never would leave his mind.
As they reached the hanger, apparently someone alerted the members there, for they closed the doors and sealed the room the moment after the ducks and crew entered. Wildwing first collapsed, bloodied hands upon bloodied knees, before straightening to see the heads of the hundreds of members packed in the room along with a single Aerowing—theirs, awaiting their arrival and stopping the evacuation out through the Migator’s ramp. Before them, children came forward and lifted up supplies to them, towels and water to wash out the blood, new clothing—jeans, long-sleeved T-shirts with the logo of the American Resistance on them—the Mighty Ducks’ logo—and to Wildwing, a wrist gauntlet much sleeker than his now—a simple silver clamp that reached from his wrist to this elbow. Behind them came adults bearing blasters and the last remaining puck launchers on Earth.
Klegghorn walked forward, glanced at Syra but said nothing, and motioned to the Aerowing. “Please, change, then go. It is time.”
“You can’t be serious,” Mallory disputed, taking a towel from the child before her. “We can’t just leave you here.”
“You have
no choice. War calls for difficult decisions, Ms. Mallard, and I knew when
Nosedive asked me to take this job what it would entail.” He urged them to
clean and ready themselves, especially after the blasts rocked the hanger’s
door. “As the closest cell to the
“But you’ll be slaughtered!” Tanya sputtered, then retracted at the sight of the children.
Klegghorn sighed. Another blast resounded through the room. “If you are successful, you will give us more time.” He paused, then turned to Wildwing. “Sacrifice is a part of war. Some call it honorable; others call it stupid. I call it necessary when the cause for which you are sacrificing and the people for which you decide to sacrifice are the ones who mean the most.
“You came to this planet nothing more than six revolutionaries, and instead of abandoning us to the lord who took over your planet, you decided to save ours as well. Please, do so now.”
Wildwing took the wrist gauntlet from the adult before him and slipped it on. Though he saw himself as nothing more than a person thrown into a situation because of his best friend’s love, he realized how the humans envisioned them. While Varkais attempted to make them examples and demoralize the resistance, he created martyrs, and by Wraith sending them into the future, they became saviors.
The ducks looked to Wildwing, who took the blaster from the resistance member and strapped it to his right leg. Then, he nodded. In turn, the rest of the ducks quickly grabbed the weapons handed to them and readied themselves for the final battle. They took a step forward, and the crowd parted to allow them access to the Aerowing. Explosions pounded the top of the base, rumbling the frame, but the ducks never faltered in their step.
As they passed, people reached out their hands in attempt to touch the great Mighty Ducks, and Wildwing patted children’s heads, clasped forearms, and nodded to those he couldn’t reach. They others did the same down on the line until they reached the Aerowing’s base. Wildwing ushered the others on board before turning and nodding once to Klegghorn, who nodded in return. Stealing his eyes from the others, he walked on board and took his usual position in the pilot’s seat. The seat where Nosedive usually sat Mallory took, and she readied the thrusters.
“Ready, team?” he asked, and after he received affirmatives, Wildwing opened the top panels of the base.
Just as they were about to lift-off, the door of the hanger blew open, allowing the Saurian forces and hunter drones access to the hanger. They concentrated the majority of their firepower onto the Aerowing but still engaged the resistance members.
“Duke, get ready to fire on the Saurians!” Wildwing ordered, but the former thief shook his head.
“No can do, Wildwing. I can’t get a lock on the Saurians! They’re too mixed with the resistance members!”
“We can’t just leave them,” Tanya shouted.
Wildwing growled and smacked the console before him. If they didn’t leave now, they might not get another chance, and if they stayed in the fight, there was a good chance they would die and damn the resistance. He cursed but stopped when Grin’s large hand encompassed his shoulder.
“Though their path is one of agony and suffering, it may be cleared by the light of hope.”
As much as Wildwing hated to admit it, Grin was right. If they left now and reclaimed the past, this might not exist. Wildwing glanced back at Syra, and the half-breed in her arms, and the tearstained Mookie.
None of this might exist.
“Turbines to speed,” Wildwing ordered somberly, “and get ready to fire upon the tanks.”
Clumps of
dirt fell into the hanger as the roof opened to allow the ducks exit. Though
the Saurians tanks fired upon them as they lifted up into the air and Duke
returned it, they hadn’t lost to fight. As the Aerowing soared toward the outskirts
of the city, the
*^*^*
“Sierra-Nevadas, dead ahead,”
Mallory informed curtly.
The time grated on the team leader. The longer they took, the less time Nosedive had to live and the world had hopes of winning back its freedom.
Boots clicked upon the metal floor, and Wildwing glanced over his shoulder to see Syra approach. She tore most of her dress off, leaving only a shirt at her knees. He now noticed the blaster upon her leg and the intensity in her eyes.
“Are you going to join us in fighting?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.
She nodded. “My father has no love loss for anyone but his power. If I wish my son to have a life free of his grandfather’s influence, then I must side with the resistance and your team.”
“What about the kid?” Duke asked curtly, nodding back to the now slumbering half-breed, who used his mother’s dress cloth as a pillow and blanket. “Are you just going to leave him on the ship?”
“I cast a spell upon him long ago, which allows my life to keep him alive. If he is attacked, he will not be harmed until all my life force is drained. That will give me enough time to get to him if need be.”
“I don’t know, Syra.” Wildwing’s hands clenched the controller of the ship until the plastic whined. “I don’t like you leaving a child on board in the middle of a battle.”
The Saurian princess’s eyes glowed, and even her claws seemed to flick dangerously. “He is of no concern to you. Why do you care?”
“…as the boy’s uncle, I have the right to—”
A high-pitched laugh, followed a snort, sounded throughout the cabin, and Syra had to lower her voice before she woke her son. “Wait. You think that Dnias is Nosedive’s—oh. OH!” A gasp sucked the air from her snout, and she slowly lowered her hands from her mouth. Sighing, she closed her eyes, disheartened. “He told you, I take it.”
“…Yes.”
The pain in each’s voice resounded more than their words, and Wildwing kept his eyes focused upon the horizon, while Syra gripped the back of his seat.
“Nothing ever came of our time together,” Syra finally divulged. “Either the gods or the Stars felt we could not handle the baby or the circumstances in which the child would have been conceived were too grave…it matters little. After about eighteen months, the sheer torture of the experiences left us both mentally and emotionally—and in Nosedive’s case—physically scarred.” She wrapped her arms about her body, as if to cover herself up, even though she was sufficiently dressed. “No. Dnias is my son from a human slave. I took one as my lover to harm my father.”
Duke smirked. “I’m sure Dragaunus would love a half-breed ruling after him.”
“Exactly, Mr. L’Orange.”
Though Wildwing felt the man for who was Dnias’s father, he almost collapsed against the steering wheel at the news that Nosedive hadn’t fathered a Saurian child.
“Wildwing, we have a problem!” Mallory yelled.
His eyes focused upward and out the Aerowing’s windshield to see the Saurian fighters coming toward them. “Duke, arm the missiles! Tanya, get ready to stabilize cabin pressure if need be. Syra, you might want to take a seat and strap Dnias in, too.”
“Thank you, Wildwing. I will do so.”
He glanced back at her, realizing that, perhaps, not all Saurians were evil, like all ducks weren’t good. Then again, as he thought of Lucretia, he remembered Reth. Perhaps not all ducks were good, but even the worst had the capability of doing good—undoubtedly.
Thus, exhaling loudly, he prayed the Saurians rushing toward him weren’t like Syra.
*^*^*
As soon as reached the ledge of the mountain, Nosedive looked down at the forces below, firing at the base secured inside the rock. It would definitely take more than just a few rounds of TNT and other explosives to sufficiently damage the base. Of course, once they cracked open the front door and scattered inside, there would be no doubt.
The American Resistance would be destroyed.
The amount of Saurian forces and hunter drones numbered in the hundreds of thousands, if not into the millions. With a little bit less than 250 thousand troops—Nosedive decided not to count the figures. He would do better by not being paralyzed by fear.
Sighing, he hardened his resolve, then drove his motorcycle back from the cliff for a few yards. Bracing himself, he thought of Reth and Crease; he though of Canard and the Mighty Ducks, and Syra and Dnias; he thought of Dreg; of those in the resistance whom he had come to know.
He thought of his brother, whom he doubted was in the past yet. He knew Wildwing, and if his brother could find a way to help in the future, then he would. Nosedive had to stop the war now.
Revving the engine until he was sure he had sufficient enough speed, Nosedive tore off the cliff and entered the fray.
*^*^*
“Duke, tell me where those fighters are!” Cloaking shields. Stars, how Wildwing hated them.
The former thief shook his head. “You’d be better at telling me! I can’t seem to find them!”
“You can’t,” Syra replied swiftly as the Aerowing went into a corkscrew. “My father’s mages long since have cracked the mysteries of the Mask—a mixture of technology and magic. There is no way it can detect my father’s fighters.”
Wildwing gave control of the Aerowing to Mallory and whirled about in his chair. “Then, what do you suggest?”
A blast shocked the side of the ship; Dnias screamed and hid his face in his mother’s bosom.
“Engine one—burning!” Tanya reported, her voice more than intense.
Syra met Wildwing’s eyes, then shook her head. “Any spell I could do wouldn’t be sufficient enough. My advice—head for the resistance cell and hope to outrun them.”
A blast cut off Wildwing’s reply, and as if the Aerowing heard them, it shrieked toward the ground below.
*^*^*
“Everyone in one piece?” Wildwing grunted, though other than a mild headache, he felt relatively normal. He clapped his shoulders, stomach, then legs. Yup. Everything seemed to be in there and rather unharmed.
“Roger that, fearless leader,” Duke reported from the side.
Mallory sighed, and he breathed just a little easier at the sight of her flame top appearing from her crumpled area. “10-4…barely.”
Mookie remained silent, in shock, but Wildwing didn’t expect any less.
“My physical vessel is in fair condition, though I cannot say the same for mental state,” Grin said rather straight forward, but Wildwing took it nonetheless. Perhaps even this situation reached Grin’s usually unbreakable exterior.
With Grin’s help, Tanya emerged from under her collapsed chair and pushed her bangs out of her face. “Whoo. Yeah, I’m here, too, but we have to stay away from those kinds of fighters from now on, eh?”
“I agree.” Syra already stood by the door, her son perched upon her hip, and kicked at the Aerowing’s door. “We must flee while we are able. My father’s forces will seek out the ship and look to burn it to make sure we are all dead.”
“Even you?” Tanya questioned.
Syra let out a dry laugh. “Especially me.”
Part of Wildwing tore at the sight of the ravaged and uttered dented plane. The nose had completely come off when they collided with the ground, and while the wings’ fire rose in the slowly darkening dusk sky. He took a deep breath to catch his bearings—It seemed that was all he was doing—and ordered the others ahead.
“How much further to the base, Syra?” Wildwing asked.
The Saurian princess muttered, “Too far.”
*^*^*
Wildwing hated when those about him were right about something he didn’t want them to be right about.
They walked for over four hours by the time they reached the ledge overlooking the valley below, where the battle raged. Like they saw the last time they fought, fire raged from tanks, but instead of the remaining tanks firing upon the resistance members, they seemed to have long stopped. Crimson stained the entire valley, Saurians’ and humans’ alike, and they still fought bitterly and brutally.
Somewhere amongst the hell waged his brother. He knew the boy still lived; he would have felt differently. However, it pained him to know that his brother fought and killed and battled alone. The commander of any forces took a toll upon the bearer of the title, as Wildwing knew, but he never had to fight alone. He had people there who understood his position and offered support. Other than Canard, who hopefully sought refuge somewhere else, Nosedive stood alone.
And now, so would Wildwing.
“Syra, I hate to order this, but…I need you to take a Saurian solider and use him or her for the blue fire. Send my team back in time.”
She obviously knew him well, even if they hadn’t met often. “Without you, you mean.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
“No!” Mallory disputed, grabbing hold of Wildwing’s arm and turning him toward her with a hand upon his cheek. “What are you doing? We fight as a team or not at all.”
“Mallory, it’s a slaughter down there. Don’t you see that?” He grabbed her hands and held them tightly. “I cannot—I won’t ask you to come with me. It’ll mean the death of all of us, and someone must go back and change the past, so this doesn’t happen.”
“And what about Nosedive?” Tanya asked, her voice callously ringing true. “He’ll be losing you earlier than he did in this lifetime.”
“I—I know,” Wildwing stammered, looking back down at the carnage, “but I can’t just leave him down there alone. I need him to know that no matter what, there is someone out there who is coming for him, who loves him and will always be there for him. I need him to know that, and he won’t unless I go down there.”
“And you can’t leave the kid, either,” Duke interjected.
Wildwing closed his eyes and nodded. “I can’t, but I won’t ask you to understand or put your lives on the line for my responsibilities and needs, so please. Just go.”
Duke sighed loudly, stretched his arms over his head and allowed them to drop with a slap. A moment later, a bright light shone as he activated his blade and came to Wildwing’s side. “So, shall we?”
“But—”
“We are one,” Grin offered, cracking his knuckles. “Where you must go, so shall we.”
“He’s right.” Mallory curled her arm about Wildwing’s waist and nuzzled him on the cheek. “And if you were die, then I would lose my lifemate and my son, and neither could I handle.”
Wildwing closed his eyes and held her tightly, his beak upon her flame crown. Somehow, he seemed to draw strength from her embrace.
“Not to mention, we’re Nosedive’s team, too. We can’t just leave him here to deal with this.” Tanya turned to Wildwing with a smile. “We have to clean up after him.”
Nodding, Wildwing pulled out his blaster, then turned back to Mookie, who for the first time showed emotion—vicious anger. “I will avenge my husband.”
Syra uttered a few words to put Dnias to sleep and tucked him safely behind a tree with brush. Then, she stood and nodded rigidly. “Let’s go save your brother, Flashblade.”
*^*^*
Carnage bloodied Wildwing’s shirt as he shot another Saurian soldier, kicked a droid in the chest, then lunged into a forward roll. He came up behind Mallory, and together, they fired opposite each other to save one another. While embracing, they whirled to save their each other with a kick into Saurians’ groins. As he turned once more, he saw the blaster focused on his back, followed by the flash of blue that saved him from its wraith. The shields Klegghorn’s people gave him worked almost better than his original one.
When he
first came down into the chaos, that’s what the situation was—utter chaos.
Wildwing always thought—and with the way Canard spoke—that Nosedive would be a
master strategist. Apparently, that must have been so with the number of drones
on the ground and the need for the Saurian soldiers to come out of the tanks.
However, unlike the first battle, where the resistance members worked as one
entity, the human forces worked independently, which cost many their
lives—until Wildwing began to shout orders. After seeing the faith the other
resistance members had in
To his left
side, Duke ran through Saurian after Saurian, while Grin preferred to knock
them out with his fists. Tanya used her omnitool laser to take out her
combatants as did Mookie with her blaster, and they made their way through the
battle and into the entrance of the resistance compound. At first, Wildwing
felt this base didn’t seem as sleek and up-to-date as the one in the
As he made his way along the corridors, lit only by the red flashes of the blasters, he kept constant look out for his brother, to see him somewhere among the fighting—or among the dead. Luckily, he appeared neither at the moment.
As they came to a metal door reaching from the ground to the ceiling, Wildwing realized no one invaded the place as of yet. The steel door acted like a fortress, keeping the Saurians out and whoever remained inside safe.
Mallory noticed it immediately and nodded. “Go! We’ll cover you!”
Wildwing smiled his thanks, nuzzled her head, and ran toward the doors; lasers, pucks, and blasts keeping him alive. As he stopped at the door, the team gave him a protective barrier which allowed him to glance at the digital lock for more than a second. What could the combination be? Then, he remembered Varkais’s words when they were back in the past—no, wait. His present. Stars, it started to sound like he was from this time, too.
“You should have
changed your code, Flashblade. It was too obvious, even to me.”
Crease’s hatching day.
“ACCESS GRANTED.”
The doors slid open.
“Duke, stay here and keep the Saurians from getting into this section. I’m going in to find Dive!”
Duke saluted without ever turning. “Gotcha, Fearless Leader.”
If only he was.
His arm had begun to ache long ago, but thankfully, adrenaline kept him alive. Blood practically dripped off his body, and his nerves had been shot since he took his first shot. There was no doubt he would scarred by this whole affair, but this…Stars, it was emotional suicide.
Once the doors locked shut behind him, Wildwing noticed the eerie silence that greeted him. The corridor seemed like nothing more than personal quarters—several doors that led to bedroom and offices—but he ignored them all as he dashed forward, seeing the rooms empty. Instead, he focused upon the strained silence, the words unspoken, that called to him, and he pivoted on his back leg to bring his right one forward and slam open the last door of the hallway—leading to the Ready Room of the base.
The green overhead lighting gave way to natural light since the room had been blasted open to the outside, which resulted in the lost of most of the equipment, though the electric globe sizzled in and out, while rock dangled down from the ceiling. The radar seemed to still work, and the results upon the screen alarmed the leader.
Not as much as the tan mallard sprawled across the console underneath it, blood running fast down the electronic panel. Wildwing quickly averted his eyes and closed his eyes, though his heart was torn from his chest. He found Canard returned to the team—to him—just to see his best friend ripped away. Again. Stars, why did this happen? How—?
The wind blew in from the gaping hole, blowing the tears from his cheeks and urging him to look out—where Nosedive stood, his glistening eyes concentrated upon the field of battle.
His brother said nothing as Wildwing came forward and reached out to touch his shoulder. “…Dive?”
Nosedive never turned from the carnage and only laughed softly, “It’s over. It’s all over.”
“What?” This, from his ever hopeful little brother? “Nosedive, I know Canard’s…but we still have a fighting chance. The Saurian forces only outnumber us four-to-one. We’ve seen worse before.”
Their friends back on Puckworld—their parents…
“No…don’t you see?” Nosedive whispered, his voice wafting so calmly and ghostly into Wildwing’s ear. “There is no more reason to fight. It’s over. They’ve finally won.”
No. Wildwing wouldn’t stand there and listen to this. He had fought his way to his brother’s side, was covered in a substance that would never come out of his feathers, and smelled death from his own best friend. There wasn’t much doubt they wouldn’t survive, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t go down fighting.
He stepped in front of his brother to block the battle from Nosedive’s vantage point and grabbed the commander’s shoulders to shake him—until he saw the blood. It soaked what had been the far shoulder from Wildwing, drenching the entire right side of Nosedive’s once teal shirt and slipping down to his jeans. His icy, blank eyes never met Wildwing’s, only stayed focus on the point where he stared. Even when Wildwing removed his hand from the wound, Nosedive only blinked and replied, “It’s over.”
The boy had been so shocked, not even pain reached him now.
“Damnit, Dive!” Wildwing pushed his brother away from the edge and forced him down upon the top of the console of the flickering globe. Thankfully, it held, and he went in search of bandages to stem the bleeding. He found some gauze in a cabinet to the side, along with a few towels and a bottle of water. He would have liked some kind of liquor, but obviously, his brother didn’t drink. Damn.
He worked his brother’s shirt off with little difficulty, then pressed down hard upon the wound. He hissed when he lifted the towel to see the blown out tissue, then repressed. “Stars, little brother. You can’t tell me this is all just from the fight. You slaughtered Saurians. You’ve directed other battles. This can’t all—”
“I told you before,” Nosedive murmured, but it still cut off Wildwing’s tirade. “This isn’t me. I—I can’t do this. Not anymore. I tried. I gave this everything—everything I am, everything I was, everything I wanted to be. I…” His eyes never shifted, never even blinked. “I have nothing left to give.”
“You’re still alive,” Wildwing professed, wondering just how much of his brother was left, and doused the wound with water. “We can fix this. We’re going to get out of this battle, then—”
“What did I do? Tell me, so I can understand.”
“W—What do you mean?” Wildwing wiped the excess blood away and while still pressing down upon the wound, attempted to wrap it tightly.
“What did I do to deserve this? What did any of us do? It couldn’t have been that bad, right? I couldn’t—”
“You did nothing, Nosedive. Nothing,” Wildwing soothed, detaching one hand to run a hand through his brother’s hair. “I promise you. This won’t happen again. I will stop it, no matter what it takes.”
The commander finally turned to Wildwing, but his eyes—Sweet Stars, they were void of any emotion. “They’re gone.”
“W—Who…No…” A pain more horrible than any before stabbed his heart, stealing his breath, and leaving him immobilized other than to say, “Nosedive, please…”
“They have Crease, I think. They took Reth’s body after…I can only guess what they will do to it.” He moved ever so slowly to stare back out at the battle. “And Canard couldn’t take it. He attacked them and took out the majority of them, but…he just…and now…”
Wildwing staggered to the desk and collapsed upon it, his arms hardly strong enough to keep him erect. He tore the Mask from his face, dropping it hopelessly to the desk, as the tears flooded from his eyes. He couldn’t—Oh, Stars, no…They couldn’t let this happen. The future couldn’t be this painful, this horrid. His nephew…his son…his best friend…They needed to do something, not then—Now.
He pushed himself to stand, taking a step forward and wrapping his little brother in a bear hug so powerful his body shook the younger’s. He allowed his tears to flow under restricted from his eyes as he held his brother close, and he didn’t know how long he stood there, wrapping his brother with his embrace and waiting for a response. His pain tore his heart and gushed over to Nosedive until the boy responded.
Nosedive’s didn’t for the longest time—until his arms crept up, his face buried into his big brother’s shoulder, and wept.
They held onto to each other’s as their pain magnified and wracked each’s heart, and the only broke when a sudden explosion burst from the corridor, invading the room. Wildwing broke their embrace and cupped his red-eyed brother’s cheeks. “We need to take revenge. Now.”
Nosedive nodded, and emotion finally showed his eyes—intense longing, unfathomable sadness, and pure hatred. “Let’s.”
As the ducks, Saurians, and drones entered the room, Tanya shooting her omnitool, Duke slashing with his sword, Mallory with a blaster in each hand, Grin pounding drones and Saurians alike, Mookie stabbing one after another with a Saurian blade, and Syra tearing through flesh and metal, Wildwing and Nosedive leapt into the action, blasters blazing. Duke rolled under an attack from a Saurian and regained his footing next to Wildwing, uttering, “Sorry, Fearless Leader. We couldn’t hold them off that long.”
“Understandable.”
Nosedive kicked a Saurian in the groin, then fired a shot in the lizard’s chest. Even before he fell, the commander moved onto another. “Ready?” he shouted to his brother, who blocked a blast with his shield, then returned it.
“For what?”
“The Saurians attacked Unbridled Technologies to get a new energy the scientists created. Once they have it, they supercharge the gateway generator and bring their fleet through. You can’t let them.”
Now that attack made sense. Wildwing made a mental note and listened to his brother while firing more shots and covering both Mallory’s and the boy’s backs.
“Grin is
the first, just outside out
“There were two?”
Nosedive stole enough time to spare a glance. “What do you mean, ‘were’?”
Wildwing smirked evilly. “You heard me.”
“Well, thank the Stars for that. At least that should cut down on the reinforcements,” Nosedive muttered. “Varkais killed Duke next, during a battle at the Pond just before its destruction. Um…after that, you and Mallory…y’know, and Crease is hatched nine months later.”
“And when do I die? On his hatching day?”
Shock brightened his brother’s eyes. “How did you—”
“Your password.”
“Ah.” Nosedive nodded and kicked a Saurian in the face. “It’s a pretty horrible battle. Trust me. You’ll know it, and Varkais knocked me out while we were fighting.” He grunted, then flipped over a drone before turning and firing. “When I awoke, I was in a cell, and Varkais pulled me out to the desert, where you were and…”
“And Mallory…?” Wildwing pushed.
Nosedive took out a Saurian aiming at Mallory, then another going for Duke. “Trust me. You’ll never let that happen.”
Wildwing asked for no more information, and he didn’t need to. He collapsed against the wall as the last Saurian fell to the ground, and the ducks, along with Mookie and Srya, remained standing, breathing heavily.
“Did we win?” Duke inquired, blood tripping from his golden sword.
“Far from it.”
Two shots rung through the air, and Mookie slammed against the wall, holes blown through her chest. Nosedive’s eyes widened, his heart hardened, and he turned, along with the ducks, toward the door, weapon leveled to fire. A large, crimson lizard sauntering into the room flanked by guards hardly surprised Nosedive. He stood taller than the others, his silver armor shimmering in the dim overhead light. A purple cape still flowed behind him, and his fingernails curled about his thumbs. His amber eyes, though still glowing, showed his age, while wrinkles contoured his face.
“Welcome, Mighty Ducks. I have been expecting you.”
“Really? Could’ve told me,” Nosedive snarled, firing a single shot at Dragaunus’s chest. He doubted it would hit, and when Dragaunus blocked it when a shield, he tried a few more. Really, it was in vain, and when a solider knocked the gun from his hand with one shot and forced his own blaster into Nosedive’s neck, the commander growled.
Dragaunus regally came before his daughter, looking down at her with baneful eyes. “I see you are just as traitorous as your brother, and I will see to it that your son becomes the ruler neither of you were.”
“My son is out of your control, Father. You will never find him.”
“You should have taken him farther than the cliff overlooking the battle, and trust me.” He stepped over to Wildwing, crossing over dead bodies and never actually touching the blood. He glanced at his adversary with a disinterested glare before smirking. “Dnias will have a personal slave all his own—a little hatchling with flame hair.”
“Never,” Wildwing vowed. “We’re going to stop this future from ever occurring.”
Dragaunus shook his head. “Doubtful. You have to say, Flashblade, the past and future have yet to converge, but at least, I remember asking Wraith to send you into the future. Apparently, I have the pleasure of killing you more than once.”
“Fat chance of that,” Duke challenged, leveling his sword. “I’d rather die by your soldiers than by your hand, Lizard Lips.”
Dragaunus shrugged. “You may, Mr. L’Orange. I have no reservations about your death. It is only the Flashblades whose deaths I wish to choose.” He smirked at Wildwing before walking over to Nosedive. With a snap, Saurian guards flanked the boy and seized his arms and his neck. As Dragaunus neared, the Saurians forced the boy down to his knees, much to Nosedive’s discomfort.
“Hello, Flashblade. Long and hard I have searched for you, and now that I have you, my dream of torturing you in front of the American slaves must not become a reality. Instead.” He cupped the drake’s beak. “I will kill you in front of your brother. Finally, I will be the one to utterly and completely destroy the greatest hope this world ever had!”
“No!”
“Don’t worry, Wing,” Nosedive said offhandedly, grunting as the Saurians refused to allow him to stand. “Dragaunus can’t finish me yet. Not without my nephew here. After all, that’s the only way to break me before killing me to break you.”
Dragaunus chortled, rubbing the boy’s cheeks with his thumb claw. “Oh, please, Flashblade. Do you believe I would be stupid enough to steal your nephew and then allow you to manipulate me to bringing him here in some plan to redeem him? No, dear boy. He is mine, and I will use him how I see fit until I decide to kill him.
“Not to mention, Flashblade. I have already broken you. Your resistance has all but been destroyed, and who has yet to surrender will do so imminently. Your base is scheduled to be destroyed by my fleet in less than ten minutes, and your lifeless and maimed body will be hanged for all to see!”
Not at all fazed, Nosedive let out a small laugh, his eyes flickering upward. A rueful smile etched upon his beak. “So, let me get this straight, Draggy. You’re going to kill me, kill my brother, and the rest of ducks, and that’s it? What about Varkais? Where does he fit into your insane plan?”
The braying laughter echoed through the corridor. “Oh, Flashblade, everyone is nothing more than a pawn to me. I have no worries about Varkais. I hired him, and when you are dead, I will fire him. It is that simple.”
“Really? Is it?”
Wildwing furled an eyebrow upward. What was Nosedive trying to—Then he saw it. Nosedive was wasting time for the bloodied figure behind them who picked himself up from the console and reclaimed a weapon upon the ground. Then, he turned and aimed. Simultaneously, a leg kicked out a panel from behind Nosedive, and two shots echoed through the confinement. Canard’s blast, too fast for Dragaunus to turn and block, tore through the overlord’s back, while a second met its heat from the front. The Saurian guards let Nosedive go to scatter, and the commander rolled out of the way of the overlord’s fallen body just in time to allow it to smack onto the ground. Down from the rafters dropped the aforementioned mercenary, a devious smirk upon his face, while Canard’s eyes rolled back into his head. He crashed onto the floor, unconscious, blood leaking from his chest.
“No, Dragaunus, I am not another one of your pawns. Flashblade is mine to kill.”
Nosedive scoffed, “So you say.”
The elite Saurian guards, furious that they let their leader die, lunged at the Mighty Ducks, Nosedive, and Varkais. To Nosedive’s utter disgust, he moved back-to-back with Varkais and began to attack the Saurian guards.
“So, now, the mercenary who killed us, is working with us?” Mallory yelled in disbelief as she shot another Saurian aiming at her lifemate.
“Only for the time being,” Nosedive replied, claiming a blaster from a Saurian and then shooting a guard. “You have to go!”
“What do you mean?” Duke pulled his saber from a Saurian’s chest. “We have to finish the fight!”
An explosion soared through the sky and pounded the mountain once more, rumbling and shaking the floor, unhitching many of the fighters.
“Nosedive is right!” Syra upheld, once more regaining her footing and tearing through one of her own’s before moving onto another. “You must leave now. The base will be destroyed shortly and you with it.”
“I’m not leaving—”
Nosedive rolled underneath a front of soldiers, then came up to his brother’s side. “Yes, you are. I have to finish this. Varkais—” He glared directly at the mercenary who took out more soldiers than Nosedive could count. “I’m sorry, Wildwing, but there is no happy ending.”
“But you’ll die!”
“No…” He grabbed his brother’s hand, then pulled Wildwing into a brief embrace. “I won’t.”
Nosedive essentially was telling him to leave and change this, and Wildwing, now with the knowledge he needed, would.
“You have nothing to prove,” the older brother affirmed, as the last Saurian guard fell. “Not to me and especially not to Varkais. Just because he—”
A second blast tore into the side of the mountain.
“No, nothing to prove but everything to avenge.”
Varkais began to strip himself of his weapons, and Nosedive simply flung his blaster to the ground.
“And no matter how you tell me it’s not worth it,” the little brother murmured, his eyes never leaving Varkais, “you have no idea how much it is.”
Wildwing did, for he knew he would feel the same way. However, if the circumstances were different, if they didn’t have to go back in time, the older brother would have knocked his little brother out and took him out of the fray by throwing him over his shoulder. But now…this?
He would change it. He had to.
Wildwing turned to his teammates and family, his head ducked. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“You can’t be serious,” Tanya interjected, only for Nosedive to nod as he stared down Varkais.
“Hurry back, will you?” the boy almost pleaded, and once more, he seemed like nothing more than a little kid.
“We will.”
“No! You are mine!” Varkais tugged a dagger from his vest and threw it effortlessly at Wildwing’s chest. The leader hit his shield, but it wouldn’t have been fast enough. Thankfully, Nosedive was, and he caught the dagger by its handle. He quickly sent it back, though Varkais ducked it. Nosedive gave him no room and lunged at the mercenary.
“Go!” he shouted. “NOW!”
“But we still need a soul,” Syra reminded. She gasped as a hand grasped her ankle, and she looked down to see Canard upon his elbows, a trail of blood smeared upon the ground behind him.
“Use me….please…”
Tanya shook her head and knelt by his side. “No! We can’t!”
“Please…” He focused upon the ground, and though his eyes weren’t visible, the tears seeped into his voice. “My son…I want to be with my son.”
“You will be,” Wildwing promised, then looked back at Nosedive as Varkais slammed a fist into Nosedive’s bleeding shoulder. A shriek of agony broke through his beak, but the boy shared the present by kicking Varkais in the groin.
Another blast slammed into the resistance base, but this time, it hit too close to the room. Rock and the structure rumbled and began to rain down, and the mystical words flowed effortlessly from Syra’s mouth. Blue fire lit the room, and Wildwing turned once more to see his brother vault off the wall and wrap his arms about Varkais’s waist to bring him down. As they crashed to the floor, so, however, did the ceiling.
“NOSEDIVE!”
Before he could lunge, blue fire consumed him.
*^*^*
Wildwing saw the metal ground rushing toward him and braced himself at the last moment. Unlike before, he only fell a few feet, along with for the rest of the ducks who crashed down upon him. He groaned at the pain wracking through his back, and decided, especially with Grin above him, it was probably best not to move.
“There has got to be a better way to travel,” Mallory complained, alleviating some of the weight upon Wildwing.
“Yeah. Even Phil’s time machine was more pleasant,” Tanya agreed.
Barely held-in chuckles broke through Wildwing’s aching, and he raised his eyes enough to the see the familiar white boots in front of him. He hoped, prayed, and wished the person in front of him was the right age, and at the glorious sound echoing in his ears, he knew they had, in fact, gone back in time.
“Man, there you guys are,” Nosedive, with his long hair and jovial expression, announced, smiling down at his brother with relief. “Where’d you go and forget to bring me?”
If only that was so.
Wildwing fought through the ducks on top of him to stand and engulfed his baby brother—truly his baby brother—in a suffocating embrace. He didn’t care that the blood upon his shirt now saturated his brother’s clothes or his quivering body startled Nosedive. He simply held onto his brother, hoping to erase the last few days from his memory.
Slowly, Nosedive’s shock wore off, and he returned the hug almost as tightly as Wildwing gave it.
“Wing…?” he finally asked, but Wildwing just replied, “Not yet…just not yet.”
And Nosedive allowed his brother to indulge himself, knowing instinctively Wildwing needed it.
Wildwing, however, closed his eyes and remembered as his shaking only increased, the exploding resistance base and the ceiling falling upon his brother and the mercenary.
Stars, Nosedive might be dead, and yet, here he held the boy in his arms.
“I promise,” he murmured, his voice intense and true, “I promise I will save you this time. The future—it will never happen. Not like that.”
“…Wing? What are you talking about?”
Exhaling loudly, Wildwing pulled back to see his brother’s eyes without releasing the teen. “Nothing. Thanks the Stars, nothing at all.”
*^*^*
Nosedive lifted his head, dust and rock and tiny pieces of metal littering his hair. Crimson trickled down his cheek. The ceiling continued to collapse as another blast wracked the building’s core. He kicked off the miscellaneous pieces of the metal structure that had landed upon him, which weren’t too heavy. He wrapped a hand about his torso as his shoulder burned and blood soaked the bandage Wildwing had given him. Adrenaline kept him alive, but pain kept him conscious.
About him lay what was the ceiling, and he knew, without a doubt, Varkais had to be alive. The mercenary was too stubborn to die that easily, and with the shrieking of metal, a red figure emerged from the mangled heap of steel. A rubar stuck out of his leg, but he still managed to dive at Nosedive, knocking the boy flat against the ground.
Heaving in deep gasps, Nosedive flipped over onto his back, then rolled out of the way as more of the roof collapsed into the Ready Room. As he pushed to his feet, his ribs protested along with his arm, and he barely stood when a kick sent him smashing into the radar screen. The glass shattered behind him and fell in his hair and over his shoulders. Little slivers cut into his back, but with the console’s help, he somehow made it to his feet.
A hand gripped his neck, cutting off his air supply, and a body overpowered his, arching his back against the console.
“What’s the matter, Flashblade?” Varkais rasped, his face bloodied and torn, as he leaned in close to the commander.
Nosedive clawed at the hand, choking and gasping, trying to spare any breath.
“Seeing your life flashing before your eyes? You know, I must say. I’m rather disappointed. I thought you’d at least get in one good hit, Flashblade.”
One of Nosedive’s hands drifted down Varkais’s arm, then his body before grabbing the rubar and tearing it out. The Saurian shrieked in pain, and his hold upon Nosedive slackened. The commander used the moment to kick Varkais in the knee, then jumped back on the console to slam his feet into the mercenary’s chest.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I usually don’t try to impress my brother’s killer.”
Heat pooled sweat upon his brow as the fire from the blasts burned from the outside and down from the ceiling—or where it used to be. Another round of blasts rocked the base, even as Varkais struggled to his feet, holding his leg. He slightly leaned over as he breathed deeply.
“Death is imminent, Flashblade. Can you feel it?”
Nosedive inhaled sharply, “Can you?” before the blasts finally broke through the back and sent the drake flying toward the mercenary.
Varkais pulled the dagger he’d thrown toward Wildwing and aimed it directly at Nosedive’s chest; however, the drake grabbed onto Vrakais’s wrist and slammed his knee into the mercenary’s stomach. When Varkais’s head shot backwards, Nosedive brought his elbow down upon the mercenary’s neck and quickly moved his leg to allow Varkais to fall flat against the metal floor.
“Like metal? Get ready to eat dirt—six feet under!”
When Nosedive removed his belt—his brother’s belt—to strangle the mercenary, Varkais moved swiftly and kicked out Nosedive’s shins, sending the commander down next to him. Nosedive fought past the pain, thanks to the adrenaline high, and remained conscious, pushing onto all fours, but a swift and forceful kick sent him into a heap of steel. As he rolled onto his back, a heavy weight pressed down upon his shoulder—and he hardly kept awake. The searing pain paralyzed him against the ground, and all he could do was squirm and whine lowly as Varkais laughed haughtily.
“Beg, Flashblade,” he cajoled, applying more pressure with his boot heel. Nosedive fought to keep his beak shut and his shriek inside his chest, though his mind swirled at the pain torturing his maimed body. “Beg for me to stop, Flashblade. Tell me you want out of your misery, and I will grant you relief.”
As the mercenary pulled out a blaster he hadn’t taken off, Nosedive knew he would die today. However, not like this, not without his revenge. His hand barely brushed against two objects, one smooth like metal, one grooved like wood, and he realized at the last moment what they were—a blaster and a wood dagger shaped to a point. He snatched the wood, unsure if he would be able to pull the trigger as Varkais cooed, “You are mine, Flashblade. There is no escape. Tell me to end it. You know you want to. You know this can all be over—the pain, the misery. You just have to give me what I—guk!”
“This what you wanted?” Nosedive rasped with a slight chuckle.
The wooden spike plunged into Varkais’s leg, and Nosedive somehow found the strength to kick the older Saurian. He snatched the blaster. Twirling upon the ground, the drake aimed precisely as Varkias brought his to bear, and Nosedive compressed the trigger. He felt the pain, felt the wetness upon his right side, as the crimson thickened on Varkais’s chest.
The Saurian tentatively touched his wound, a surprised expression upon his face, before he turned it upon Nosedive. A satisfied grin formed upon his face. “I knew you would always be the greatest…”
His eyes rolled back into his head; he collapsed upon the floor—dead.
Nosedive knew he would soon follow. A fresh wound bled torrents from his stomach, oozing with the intense agony, and gradually, Nosedive sunk to his knees. His strength refused to allow him to stay erect, and he fell onto his side.
The missiles came in rapid succession, and pieces of the ceiling—metal and rock—slammed into the floor next to him. Nosedive blinked back the sweat, his hands upon his wound, but he knew the truth. In a matter of seconds, the resistance base would crumble, and he would cease to exist. Of course, if he survived the blast, he would eventually bleed to death.
And there was no one to come for him.
Canard…Reth…Crease…and Stars, even Syra probably…everyone was gone, but at least he could take some comfort in Varkais’s death. His loved ones’ deaths were avenged, and he could die knowing he’d finally taken down an even worse enemy than Dragaunus.
He tipped his head back and closed to his eyes. He practically felt his blood slowing and his heart easing. Stars…this was how he was going to die? Alone among the dead bodies of his greatest enemies, as the world, itself, came to an end.
At least he knew one thing.
I’m
coming, Wildwing. Wait for me.
“NOSEDIVE!”
Nosedive’s eyelids, though feeling heavy, fluttered open, and a warm, familiar touch grasped his hand. A hard and unrelenting pressure weighed down upon his wound, and his tired eyes found a way to look up.
Nosedive gasped.
Wildwing smiled down at him. His brother was older than him now, worry lines contouring the space under his eyes, though his warm presence still lived in his blue orbs. He squeezed Nosedive’s hand reassuringly.
“You said to hurry back. Sorry it took so long.”
To Be Continued…