“Pushed to the Edge”

Chapter Two

Nosedive awoke to the light glistening upon his face and felt the slight chugging of the ship under his body. It felt nice and relaxing, though the sun in his eyes caused him to groan. He and Mallory had stayed up most of the night, sitting upon his bed and listing everything they knew about the incidents and the “perp.” With Post-Its, they stuck their notes about the room—on the mirror, the picture frames, and even his TV. Darn. How was he going to watch cartoons?

Well, he probably wasn’t going to. Since he was the only one who knew Mallory wasn’t crazy, the redhead now started to seek him out and make him a conspirator, not that he minded. After all, he found it all too much amusing pranking people or in this case, pranking the pranksters.

However, he didn’t remember sticking a Post-It on his forehead. He pulled it off, then sat up in bed to read it out of the glare of sun. “Sick. Gone to see Tanya. Will call later. Have fun.—BB”
So, big bro got sick. Nosedive felt a bang of worry before the door was thrown open to his cabin. He thought Wildwing had returned until Mallory stormed in—with her luggage.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Nosedive combated when Mallory shrugged and threw her suitcase on the empty bed next to the teen. “That’s Wing’s bed.”

“Apparently, your brother gets seasick. Who knew?” Mallory informed shortly, falling to her bed. “He’s going to be spending a lot of time with Tanya, and she thought it would be better if we roomed together. Wildwing agreed.”

Nosedive arched an eyebrow with a saucy smirk. “Weren’t they worried? Me? You? In a room together…alone?”

“Why?” Mallory chuckled.

Apparently, there was no reason to.

“So.” She drew her legs underneath her and pulled out another Post-It note. “We have to conclude that only those on the ship are suspects, right?”

“Which leaves only the crew, right? I mean, unless it’s one of us because no one else was on the ship. Oh! I bet it was Grin. He’s always so quiet! Or Wing! That’s why he’s not listening to me.” He reached over to the room service his brother must have called for but couldn’t eat. Wing’s loss.

“Actually, a few more guests were invited on board besides us,” Mallory interjected, stealing an orange for herself.

“How many?”

She cringed. “A thousand or so.”

“Wonderful, Sherlock. So, what’s our next move?” He snatched the eggs and bacon for himself and stuck his tongue out at her frustration. Unfortunately, unlike Wildwing, who would have just given in, Mallory lunged at him. Needless to say, she won.

“What do you think?” she replied, chewing her bacon with a smile. “We draw him out.”

*^*^*

“It’s pretty simple, Grin,” Duke said, taking a swig of the beer, then showed the burly duck his cards. “In Texas Hold ‘Em, you have two cards which are your own and then five community cards. The person who can make the best hand with the community cards wins.”

Grin nodded and sipped his green tea. “So, what would a pair of aces get us?”

The people around the table immediately tossed their cards into the middle. “I fold!”

“I’m out!”

“Next round!”

Duke groaned and tossed his cards to the dealer as well. “Apparently nothing.”

*^*^*

Tanya cringed as she heard another round of terror for Wildwing in the bathroom—and smelled the stench once more infiltrating the cabin. Oh, he’d been having problems with his stomach since the first day, and it seemed to be only getting worse. Sadly enough, the ship’s doctor had nothing for him, leaving Tanya with the challenge of finding something to give Wildwing before he dehydrated. At this rate, the team leader wouldn’t be able to keep down any fluids.

She started to combine a few herbs, hoping to find a hypericin strong enough to help Wildwing, especially once he dragged himself out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the nearest bed. She mixed the powder into some ginger ale, then slowly made her way to his bed.

Placing a hand upon his head, she met his sweaty and panting face with a smile. “Not doing any better, huh? I guess I should be glad only you have this and not your brother, too.”

Wildwing let out a breathless laugh. “He always got the good genes.”

“Not the good-looking one, I can tell you that.” Before she even finished the sentence, she wanted to hit herself. Why did she say that? She shook her head and handed him the ale. Perhaps that would help him forgot her comment faster.

He took a quickly few swigs, then coughed, spattering the coke all the mattress, before dashing off the bed and into the bathroom again. Tanya cringed at the hacking once more and went back to the drawing board.

*^*^*

Mallory stood at the edge of the balcony of the interior of the ship overlooking the lobby. The glass elevators and chandeliers were beautiful, sparkling with the overhead light, and they couldn’t help but remind her of Duke’s sword when activated.

Come to think of the former thief, she hadn’t seen him around lately—and Grin, too. They had disappeared after the first day, citing the bar as their place of interest, though Mallory couldn’t imagine Grin at a bar. She hadn’t seen them since and figured it might be best to go see them, only to feel the prickling upon her neck of someone standing behind her.

She whirled to see the man—in a coat of the crew’s. He took off his hat, revealing his bald comb-over, then bowed. “’ello, ma’am. How are you today?”

Mallory instantly relaxed and read his nametag. “Doing better, Mr. McCain. I’m just looking out over the beautiful ship and wondering just where my teammates have been. One can just get lost.”

*^*^*
Duke stared down his opponent. The only two players at the table, they had been facing off since the beginning of the morning—or was it night? It was so hard to tell anymore. The beer mixed with sleep depravation and even the cigar in his hand helped to confuse the former thief. Duke, having dressed in a suit and tie to impress the ladies, now loosened his tie. His jacket already hung from his chair, while his shirt’s bottom hem laid across his pants. With a grunt, he flicked back his head, and another shot of whiskey burned down his throat.

The Showdown.

The crowd about the table roared; cameras flashed. Duke flopped over his cards as the last of his chips were gathered by the dealer and given to the other player—a still very poised Grin, though empty glasses of what once were green tea littered his playing area. He stood and bowed to Duke, who growled, “Oh, yeah? The cards just favored you this time. That’s all.”

Where was that bottle of Jack Daniels?

Grin’s eyes never wavered. “If it allows your feelings to be preserved, then you may believe that falsity, Duke.”

“Falsity? Do you know how many cards I—?”

“—counted? Yes, and I do believe the next one would have been the one to make your flush.”

Duke choked. Grin knew how to count cards? Oh, Stars. What had he created? A Texas Hold ‘Em Sherriff?

“You don’t have to decide this now,” the dealer interjected with a haughty smile. “Since you two were the last seats at this table, you’re automatically entered into the tournament.”

“Tournament?” Duke echoed. After all, tournaments usually had huge prizes.

“Yeah. Whoever wins gets a million dollars.”

Oh, Duke loved being right.

Grin bowed. “If I were to win, I would donate the money to charity.”

Standing, Duke seized his jacket off the chair, grunting as the females of the ship gathered about his teammate. “Show off.”

*^*^*

“One can also have problems with the heights, Ms. McMallard.”

Mallory was ready this time. The voice mimicked the one she heard the night prior, and she whirled about to kick the man in the stomach. However, the crewmember seemed to expect and attack, and jumped out of the way. He lunged forward, pushing Mallory against the railing, then over.

She gasped, feeling gravity pulling her down, and everything seemed to slow. As people shrieked underneath her in fear, the Mighty Duck reached out and seized hold of the railing.

“MAL!”

Nosedive. Finally. Where the hell had he been waiting? Back in Anaheim?

The teen was at the railing instantly, but Mallory scowled. “Don’t help me! Get him!”

Nosedive rolled his eyes and failed to comply as he snatched her wrist and proceeded to help her back onto the platform. Rubbing her shoulders, he asked, “Are you okay?”

“No! I’m not okay!” The redhead threw his arms off of her shoulders and fumed, “You were supposed to grab him!”

“And leave you hanging off the railing? I don’t think so. Besides, we got what we need.”

“And that is?” Mallory demanded.

Nosedive smirked. “A name and a face.”

*^*^*

Tanya sighed as she rummaged through the convenience store of The Sea Duck. How could this be? The crew packed for stomach aches, headaches, knee aches, heart burn, rug burn, and even restless leg syndrome! But not for freakin’ seasickness? Guh! This was supposed to be her vacation, too, and all she could think about was Wildwing becoming more and more dehydrated! Soon, he would have to have an IV put in, and she didn’t want to see Nosedive if that happened.

But Stars, what could she do?

“You wouldn’t happen to be in need of something for seasickness, would you?”

Tanya turned at the voice, seeing a man with a horrible comb-over and what appeared to be a suit. Gray with a pink tie—Stars, he looked like an auditor.

“Well, actually, yes.” She smiled and leaned back against the wall. “A friend of mine is quickly dehydrating from all his…uh…”

“Perhaps we shall it call it, ‘Toilet-and-He Times,’ ” the man offered with a gentle grin.

“Yes. Exactly, but as you can see, not even the ship has anything for him.”

“Well, perhaps I can be of service.” The man bowed, then daintily took Tanya’s hand to kiss it. “I am Dr. Vince Omit, a pharmacognosist in the study of seasickness.”

A pharmacognosist? Really? And here she was trying to work with herbs and drugs to make something out of nothing when before her stood someone who regularly “stud[ied] the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well as search[ed] for new drugs from natural sources" (“Pharmacognosy”). If anyone could find a cure for Wildwing, it would surely be Dr. V. Omit.

Wait…Tanya had an inkling she missed something with the man’s name, but for the life of her, she couldn’t place what. Oh, well.

“Have you tried ginger capsules? They have been slated to work once or twice,” the doctor urged.

Tanya shook her head. “I tried that, as well as some pills to simply put him to sleep, but nothing seems to stay down long enough.”

“Well, then come now, Ms. Flockheart, and show me the patient. Perhaps I can wield a miracle here or there.”

As he led her away, Tanya said, “Wait. How did you know my name?”

“Well, naturally as a doctor, I’m a huge fan of your team.”

Just hopefully not like Dr. Pretorius.

*^*^*

“Stunning ship, Captain, truly marvelous,” Nosedive said airily, trying to impersonate a British accent and sound snooty. By the look upon the captain’s face, he wasn’t doing a good job.

“Would you mind if I ask just what brought you to this deck, Mr. Flashblade?”

“Cutting to the chase, I like that.” Nosedive then played his own ace-in-the-hole. “Mallory got attacked again, and the man was one of your crewmembers. A guy with the last name McCain.”

“Did I hear my name?” a man said as he entered the cabin, fully dressed in his uniform and looking fresh from a shower. He took off his hat as he came forward, showing his full, rich blonde hair.

“You’re not the man who attacked Mallory,” Nosedive almost accused, his eyes narrowing, “but the guy definitely had your outfit. What’s the deal?”

“Oh, so that’s where my suit went,” McCain replied, his youthful face relaxing. “I thought I was going crazy, only packing one suit for this voyage. White outfits, let me tell you, so not good for the buffets.”

“Then the person stole your second suit, McCain,” the captain exasperated, shaking his head and putting his finger to his chin. “Apparently, though, we do know one thing. The person has to be on this voyage and won’t be getting off the ship for another two days. That gives us that much time to find him.”

Nosedive watched the captain closely. He seemed to like Mallory; of course, that been obvious when he brought Mallory to Nosedive’s room the night prior. Not to mention, he had been the one to save Mallory after she fell of the ship, but how did he know she had been there?

Unless—bum, bum, bumh!

He was the pusher.

The captain sighed, then rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I shall inform my crew to keep a look out for anything suspicious. In the meantime, would it be all right if I put guards on Ms. McMallard to protect her?”

Or maybe the captain was just smitten with Mallory. It wasn’t the first time, just as Buzz. Nonetheless, Nosedive wasn’t going to take a chance.

“Nah, I’ll look after her. You just find the guy,” Nosedive ordered, then headed out.

The teen quickly made his way across the ship and down the corridor to rap on his brother’s door. As he stood there, a foul odor seeped into his nose holes, and he, himself, instantly almost lost his lunch. Wait. Had he had lunch yet? Hmm…he really needed to ditch this whole Sherlock and Watson thing and get to the buffets. He’d trained his whole life for something like this. He should be enjoying the Olympics of Eating now.

First, he had to save Mallory. Darn his morals.

When he only heard groaning as a reply to his knocking, he opened the door slowly. “Hey, Wing? You still alive?”

Sure enough, his brother rolled over on the bed and looked up at him, and Nosedive saw the full-force of the seasickness. Wildwing’s face looked pale, or at least as pale as it could with an entirely white-feathered drake, and his eyes seemed bloodshot and half-lidded. Nosedive had to smirk, though. He got all the good genes.

“Apparently, Tanya hasn’t been that successful, huh?” He plopped down on what he thought was Tanya’s bed and leaned back on his arms. “Good news for me, though. Mallory and I have been tracking her attacker. He’s on the ship. Who knew he was actually a stalker, huh?”

“Dive, I’m…” Wildwing swallowed hard and finally was able to mutter, “I—I’m really not in the mood.”

“Well, you don’t have to be because when I prove Mal’s not crazy, you’re so going to owe me for the money you saved by not putting her in a mental institution.”

“W—What about…” Wildwing leaned heavily against his pillow but still found the strength to grace his brother with a small smile. “…What about the…*gulp* the money for putting you…*gulp* in one?”

Attacking his brother while paralyzed from seasickness? Was it ethical? Perhaps not, but what the hell did he care? He already gave up the Buffet Olympics!

However, before he could lunge, the door opened, and Tanya’s laughter filled the room. “Oh, Dr. Omit, that is hysterically!”

“Well, my dear, it is simply biology. But if you think the seal and duck equaling a platypus is funny, then what about a bat?”

Tanya turned halfway into the doorway, blocking the man from Nosedive’s sight, though he thanked the Stars. Was Tanya…flittering? Oh, he really didn’t want to be here, but at the moment, she and the doctor were entering from the only exit. Darnit.

“Why, I don’t think I know, Doctor.”

The man laughed elegantly. “A rat and a bird, of course.”

Nosedive almost barfed for the second time in a matter of moments, while even Wildwing looked more queasy than he had in the last few seconds. These were simply horrible, old jokes, and yet, Tanya seemed to eat them up. This was just further proof that she needed to get out of the lab more often.

Indicating for the doctor to follow, Tanya came into the room. She stopped short at Nosedive and grimaced. “Oh, hello, Nosedive. I didn’t expect you to be here. How’s Mallory?”

The teen smirked upward, knowing what she thought and he validated it. He would never let her forget this. “Not crazy, but Wildwing still doesn’t seem to believe me.”

“Well, I do.” She came to kneel before Wildwing and soothed back his hair. Nosedive was tempted to shoot himself now and right there. Again, girls just flocked to his brother. Truly, it was so wrong. He had all the good genes. Did females know that? No, Wildwing had the “boyish charm.”

“Wildwing, I brought Dr. Omit, a pharmacognosist. He might able to help your seasickness.”

Nosedive glanced up at the man at the same moment Wildwing rolled over, and the younger teen’s eyes widened. He knew the man before him, had seen him… but he couldn’t place where. The doctor smiled gently his way, though it reminded Nosedive more of the way Wraith smiled at him, then took a seat next to Wildwing. He checked the leader’s pulse, looked at each eye separately, then felt the neck area. For some reason, Nosedive had a distinct feeling something was wrong, that Wildwing shouldn’t be taken care of by this guy, but darnit, why?

“Take these,” the doctor informed curtly, tearing open two small packages and handing Wildwing the pills. “That should calm your stomach. They’re from my lab, and trust me. They have been thoroughly tested on animals—or will be once you take them. Just kidding!”

As Wildwing placed them in his beak—oh! Oh! The same horrible comb-over, the same body type and build! His hand sprung up to point, and he tapped Tanya on the shoulder madly. “That’s him! That’s the guy!”

“The guy?” Tanya echoed, laughing as she stood and walked toward Dr. Omit. “If you mean the man who attempting to win a Nobel Prize in Physiology, then yes, Nosedive, this is that Dr. Omit.”

“Say what?” Nosedive snorted. “Fiz-o-what?”

“Physiology. Medicine.” Tanya patted the good doctor’s hand. “You must excuse my teammate. If it’s not popular culture, his head cannot take the information.”

“In the room, but that’s beside the point! That’s the guy who’s been attacking Mallory!”

“Oh, please, Nosedive.” Tanya shook her head. “The Good Doctor wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Actually, Dr. Flockheart, I would.”

Tanya turned to the elder man, who smiled somewhat sadly and petted her hand. “You see, I have been working so very hard for a natural cure for seasickness for years; however, no breakthroughs have happened to me.” His hand clenched Tanya’s almost to the point of pain. “Yet, that boy doctor—Buzz Blitzman! He has all but finished one, and he will present it just before the cut-off for the Nobel Prize. He will get all the glory and fame I have worked my entire life for. People on cruises everywhere would have chanted my name—Dr. Vince Omit! I would have saved their vacations like your friend’s here.”

“Seriously?” Nosedive chuckled. “You’re name is V. Omit? Vomit?”

The doctor narrowed his eyes at Nosedive. “Like I haven’t heard that before, you degenerate adolescent!”

“If you’re going to insult him,” Tanya interjected, “you might as well use words he understands.”

Nosedive shrugged effortlessly. “She’s right, you know, but I still don’t understand how this falls back onto Mallory. Why attack her?”

The doctor growled. “Buzz is infatuated by her, so I thought if I could just make others believe her insane, then it would harm Buzz enough for him to give me the formula!”

“Ah. Extortion.” Tanya sighed and looked back at Nosedive. “Blackmail.”

He winked at her. “I actually knew that one.”

“Well.” Tanya tugged at the hand claimed by Dr. Omit but to no avail. “I’m sorry to say, but we can’t help you. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”

“Deal with losing my funding? Being discredited and laughed at while a ten-year-old boy takes what should be mine!”

Nosedive snorted. “Buzz is, like, twelve now, Vomit.”

“That’s Dr. Vomit to you, infantile offspring, and no, I don’t think I will just ‘deal with it!’”

Nosedive looked the man up and down with elevator eyes before giving a long-suffering sigh and standing. He thoroughly thought he could take the forty-something year old, but then, the man pulled something from his pocket and hit Tanya over the back of the head. When the team tech fell, Nosedive reached to hit his comm. unit, but the doctor pointed a gun at the lifeless Tanya.

“Oh, no, no, no, little duckling. You stay right where you are.”

Nosedive felt the need to sigh. “Oh, come on. What do you have with women, man? First Mallory, now Tanya?”

“I have been watching you and your kind, Flashblade, and I know how close Dr. Flockheart is with Ms. McMallard, and thus, how close Ms. McMallard is to Buzz. You have three hours. Get me that formula or else your friend here will be Vomited!”

Then, he threw down what looked like pelts of gas, yet, nothing happened. Nosedive continued to glare at Dr. Omit, while Omit glared back at him.

“Uh, something go wrong there, Doctor?”

Vomit grabbed Tanya and slowly lifted her up and over her shoulder. “Not really. I’ve just always wanted to do something cool. They’re actually chocolate jelly beans. Now, remember—three hours!”

Then, he swiftly left.

Nosedive rolled his eyes. Seriously, this guy needed that screw tightened. The teen hit his battlegear and hurried out into the hallway to shoot the Doctor from behind, but to his surprise, the doctor and Tanya were nowhere to be seen.

Now, that, even Nosedive admitted, was cool.

To Be Continued…

Works Cited

“Pharmacognos.” Wikipedia.org. 6 Jan. 2008. Wikimedia. 10 Jan. 2008.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacognosy>.