“Paradox”

In the past year, Nosedive became accustomed to the exasperated glares his teammates sent him when he pulled stunts he shouldn’t have or disobeyed any of their orders. However, the ferocity of their glares reached a new level as he sat upon the edge of the Drake One’s console, taking in deep breathes and watching as Mallory kept her hand upon her puck launcher. Duke’s hands remained close to his own weapon with his arms crossed, while Canard, standing directly in front of him, condemned him with his hard stare before Nosedive even opened his mouth. Tanya stood, her hand scratching up and down her omnitool. She tried to act nervous, but Nosedive knew that was a ploy from their time together. She kept her hand on her omnitool, so she wouldn’t be caught off guard.

Lucretia DeCoy had not helped the team’s trust issues; that was for sure.

Grin, to Nosedive’s disconcert, was the only other one who seemed to accept his appearance—except for Wildwing. For Stars’ sake, Wildwing only looked at him with placidity. Not a bewildered glance. Not a prolonged meeting of their eyes where everything clicked and Wildwing would save him from this interrogation. Nothing. It was as if Wildwing never saw him, as if the last seventeen years were nothing more than a dream.

After all, they were.

“Well?” Canard pressed suddenly, stealing Nosedive’s attention.

He studied Canard’s tense face, attempting to remember the questions asked. How did he get in the Pond? How was he in the Resistance being so young? Did he work for Dragaunus? They would know if he’d lie—Grin, the ever wonderful karma tester, would figure it out. For Nosedive, a creative mind working overtime, he could come up with a hundred answers for them without a single contradiction and would fool Grin easily.

Only he never lied to Wildwing.

Even though his big brother remained more or less out of the interrogation, Nosedive loathed the idea of lying to Wildwing. He lied to his parents. He lied to best friends. He lied to most of the ducks at once in their time together—even if it was just to get out of Mallory’s clutches—but in his seventeen years, he had never lied to Wildwing.

Under the circumstances, he had no choice. Wildwing wouldn’t believe him. None of them would. If he attempted to tell them what really happened, they would take him as a spy and lock him in the brig. He had to gain their trust first, and to do that, he had to lie.

Raising his head, he met Canard’s icy eyes. “My name is Nosedive Frostfeather.”

“Nosedive? What kind of name is that?” Mallory scoffed.

Nosedive normally would have snapped at her, but under the lack of recognition in Wildwing’s passive exterior, Nosedive shrugged. “My father dropped me right after I was born, and they said I took a ‘nosedive.’ My mother thought it was a perfect name. It seemed to work out that way.”

“How’d you get in the Resistance?” Canard demanded again, shifting so his hands clasps over his chest intimidate. “Kids as young as you weren’t allowed in.”

Well, at least he got to tell the truth here. “My big brother was a civilian the higher ups had an eye on. When someone came to recruit him, he refused to go without me. He was important enough that the recruiter took me, too.”

Mallory drew her weapon and pointed it at Nosedive. “I don’t remember any Frostfeather.”

Nosedive’s eyes widened, but a gloved hand quickly covered the weapon and forced it down to the ground. “Let the kid speak, Mallory. As far as we know, he could have been a victim. We don’t want to make it worse.”

Nosedive smiled slightly, but his frown once more darkened his face quickly. Wildwing stuck up for him as he would anyone, not because they were related. “Look, we didn’t make a spectacle of ourselves. We did what the higher ups told us, and that was it.”

Which, more or less, was true.

Duke let out a sigh. “How’d you get here, then? If you weren’t on the front lines, then how’d you engage with Saurians?”

The answer was instantaneous. “My brother and I were tracking someone. He—We didn’t make out of the forest before we were attacked by Saurians. A whirlwind occurred, and I landed here.”

“In our headquarters?” Duke said skeptically, arching an eyebrow.

“Hey, I didn’t ask where to sent,” Nosedive spat, and that, too, was the truth. “It just kinda happened.”

“Your story mimics one already to told to us.”

Ah, so they were finally at Lucretia. He knew eventually the conversation would get there. Nosedive turned to Grin, who only spoke factually not maliciously. If admitting it only to himself, his story did sound like Lucretia’s, but what else could he say? He needed a story that was believable, not one as complicated as hell.

And his was more complicated than even hell.

“Whose story?” Nosedive tried to act calm, and by Duke’s tensing and clearing of his throat, he doubted he succeeded.

“Lucretia DeCoy,” Tanya snapped, her omnitool still powered, to his disconcert. “Do you know her?”

He tried to date her. “Of course I’ve heard of her.” He tensed his muscles and moved for his own puck launcher for show, but his hand hit nothing but air. Then, he remembered the puck launcher Mallory had pointed him was his own. “She was the worst traitor on Puckworld. She almost took down my resistance cell, but she simply vanished while my brother and I were tracking her.”

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid thing to say. He should just shoot himself and be done with it.

Mallory raised her puck launcher. “You could have let her go, allowed her to escape and come here to kill us!”

“You’re right.”

The entire room froze, then from them all escaped a gasped, “What?”

“You’re right,” Nosedive replied sharply, meeting Mallory’s shocked gaze with a smirk. “I allowed a traitor to our planet escape, and when she didn’t succeed, left my home planet, which I love, left behind the only family I have, to come here and try to kill six people whom my older and more skilled partner could not. Yeah, right. And on top of that, I’m going to confess that to you while you pointing my own launcher at me. You’re right, Captain McMallard. Congratulations.”

A few chuckles cut through the air, and Duke dropped his crossed arms to thumb toward Nosedive. “I like the kid.”

Mallory growled. “Shut up, Duke.”

“Well, that about says it.” Canard sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Mallory, since you are so against our guest, why don’t you escort him to the guest quarters so he can relax and clean up? Is that okay, kid?”

Nosedive rolled his eyes and gratefully accepted the puck launcher handed to him. “Sure.”

As he started to follow Mallory out of the room, he turned once more to Wildwing. There was nothing—no recognition, no realization.

Damnit! I’m your brother. Remember me!

*^*^*^*

As soon the doors swooshed shut, Canard whirled to Duke. “Find whatever that kid is hiding. I don’t know what, but he’s not telling us the truth. If there is something on him, I want you to get it.”

Duke let out a flat laugh. “You really think he could be one of Dragaunus’s goons? He’s hardly out of puberty.”

“He is troubled,” Grin agreed, squinted as he sighed, “sad, lost, but I do not feel an evilness in him.”

“We still have to be careful.” Tanya finally powered down her laser and turned toward Wildwing. “What about you? You haven’t passed judgment yet.”

Canard switched his gaze. “Yeah. You haven’t said anything about the kid, Wing. What do you think?”

Wildwing crossed his arms and looked back at the door where the boy left. After a few intense moments, he leaned back on Drake One. “I don’t know what to say. He knows me from somewhere. I must have met him somewhere because he keeps looking at me, but I can’t remember seeing him before.”

“That…really says nothing,” Duke said as he headed toward the exit.

Wildwing sighed and looked down at his open palms, as if the answer was written up them. “I…don’t really know what to say. I think he’s innocent, but I don’t know that.”

Tanya cocked her head to the side and cast Wildwing a sideways glance. “How do you figure that?”

“His eyes.” They’re mine.

*^*^*^*

Nosedive flopped down on the bed and pushed the wet hair from his face. Even though he wore an old sweat shirt and T-shirt of Duke’s—Couldn’t they have gotten him Wildwing’s stuff?—he still felt on edge. Everything whirled into a one mind-numbing ring in his head. He knew why he wasn’t here, and so should Wildwing—if Wildwing was still his brother. He made a choice. It was either he or Wing, and like all the times before, Wing chose him. Now, he chose Wing.

He gladly would have died for his brother. He would have rather died than been left alone, and he thought made that choice. He only had one shot before Dragaunus teleported away and used it to release his brother. That allowed Dragaunus to take him—Why would Lizard Lips want him, anyway?—and kill him. He thought when the time-porter ran out of energy, he would cease to exist.

But he didn’t.

Nosedive wound up here, in the Pond, with two puck launchers, one gauntlet, a sword, and an omnitool, pointed at him, and one burly duck ready to rip off his head at his neck.

“Man, Wing, how do I get myself out of his mess?”

He rolled over to grab his wallet on the end table. Seeing the pictures would make himself feel better. The one he cherished the most was just of he and his brother holding up the cup after their game seven win. A huge smile lit both their faces, and the memory brought a smile to Nosedive’s face. Two seconds after the picture was taken, Wildwing had squirted a water bottle in his face, and a chase to drench his brother ensued.

But his wallet wasn’t on the end table.

Nosedive opened the draw. Nothing. Maybe it dropped to the floor—nope. He refused to allow panic to set in as he launched over the bed and opened the draw, his shaky hands feeling the inside of the draw frantically. How could he have lost that? No one pick pocketed him—

“Oh, shit.”

Nosedive vaulted out of the room. Oh, Stars. If Duke showed that to the others—

He raced down the hall toward the elevators.

—Maybe he could stop the former thief. Maybe he could somehow convince Duke not to show the team, and then he could explain the whole thing at a later time. Yeah, that would work.

But Duke wasn’t on the elevator, and Nosedive knew as soon as the doors to the Ready Room swished open that the team saw.

The entire team whirled toward him with looks ranging from angry to shock to outright bewilderment. Wildwing, however, held the wallet, his hands shaking, his mask-less face moving through the aforementioned emotions. Anger eventually won out, and he threw the wallet at Nosedive, hitting the younger duck in the shoulder.

“What is this?” he demanded. “Who are you?”

Wildwing had never thrown anything at him—ever. Nosedive tried to compose himself and rubbed his shoulder absently before bending down and picking up the object. Of course, his license fell out, and that really spelled everything out, didn’t it?

Nosedive Featherburn.

“I’m sorry,” Nosedive croaked as he tossed the wallet onto Drake One’s console and fell into the seat in front of it. He rubbed his face and tried to wish this all away. If only Someone above would answer. “I never lied to you before, but…I didn’t think you’d believe if I told you the truth.”

“And just what is the truth?” Canard snarled.

And into the depth of hell he went.

“My name is Nosedive Featherburn, and my older brother did get me into the Resistance. I wasn’t lying about that. Your superiors didn’t want someone as young as me in the Strike Force, Canard, so you had Wildwing say he would secure my safety if they allowed me in.”

“That never happened!” Wildwing yelled, startling Nosedive when he grabbed the teen’s hands and forcing them away from his face. “I don’t have a brother.”

“Yes, you do—or did.” Nosedive smirked up at him. “He was taken by a Saurian the day he was hatched, right?”

Wildwing’s hands immediately relaxed his grip, and they slipped from Nosedive’s. “H—How…”

“It wasn’t like that at first,” Nosedive said plaintively, then shook his head. “At least I don’t think so. We grew up together, and I was your tagalong little brother. You used to take me everywhere with you, and when Canard came to save us from the camps, you refused to go without me.”

“This is insane,” Tanya exasperated. “None of this makes any sense.”

“Yeah. If Wildwing had a brother, I would know,” Canard replied sharply.

Wildwing’s shocked voice, even soft, pierced the air. “How? I never told you.” He lowered himself to his knees. “On the day he was hatched, a Saurian came and tried to take us. My parents fought, but…” He gasped, and his hand pushed back Nosedive’s slick hair. “It was you that day. You were the one who grabbed me, but let that lizard—”

Nosedive nodded solemnly. “You lead our team, not Canard, so Dragaunus stole a time machine or made one or whatever! He went back in time to kill you, and instead, he…” Gulping, he forced himself to meet his brother’s questioning eyes. “Throughout my entire life, you’ve looked after me. I figured I should at least repay the favor once.”

“Wait.” Duke rubbed his forehead furiously, then dropped his hands to his sides with a slap. “Let’s say that you were really part of our team, and somehow you went back in time and got yourself erased.”

Yeah. Only something like that could happen to him.

“Then, how are you still here?”

Nosedive laughed. “I’m not the genius here. How can you expect me to know the technicalities of the space-time continuum?”

“I still don’t believe this,” Mallory grumbled, her puck launcher still tight in her hand from when Nosedive entered. “Hey, Tanya, isn’t there anyway to check this story?”

“Well.” The blonde ruffled her springy hair. “I can’t do anything about the time paradox, but I can check their genetic make-up. If they’re from the same family, they should have similar DNA.”

Canard nodded. “Do it.”

*^*^*^*

“So, what’s with the hair?”

“You could never let it go, could you?” Nosedive smirked and shook his head, even while laying back on the medibed. “Our parents went through a long divorce and years of custody battles. They blame my hair as a silent rebellion against both of them.”

Wildwing stared straight up at the ceiling. “Yeah. They broke up right after you disappeared.”

Nosedive blinked and looked over. “What? They didn’t happen until I was five.”

“I guess that’s also when I got the friska.”

“Wait.” Nosedive threw off the holdings over him, despite Tanya’s sputtered protests and Mallory’s weapon, and glared directly at his brother. “They replaced me with a pet? Are you freakin’ serious?”

Wildwing shrugged and finally met Nosedive’s gaze. “If it makes you feel any better, it didn’t work.”

Nosedive blushed and sat back on the table. “A little.”

With a shrill beep, the medicom stopped whatever scan it had become, and Wildwing sat up as well. Tanya read rather slowly in Nosedive’s opinion, and his nerves felt on end. He didn’t know why. He knew he was Wildwing’s brother—unless he was adopted and no one told him—no, wait. He saw his own hatching! He knew he was his brother’s brother. Oh, Stars, what was taking her so long?

“Well?” Nosedive prompted, perturbed.

Tanya arched her eyebrow toward just to annoy him, then gave him a small smile. “You were right. You are brothers.”

Nosedive flashed his hundred-watt smile toward his brother. “See? Told you.”

“So, that is why your aura seems similar,” Grin rumbled as he stepped forward.

“Like I haven’t heard that before.”

Wildwing sent him a skeptical expression, and Nosedive conceded. “Okay, so I haven’t, but—”

“So what now?” Mallory interrupted.

As Nosedive opened his mouth, Drake One’s alarm blared through the Pond.

“You had to ask, didn’t you?”

Mallory sent him a surly glare, but he ignored it as followed the team to the Ready Room. He hit his comm. unit as he rounded the bend, then skidded to a halt in front of the monitor.

“Drake One is picking up teleportation energy at the docks,” Tanya informed curtly before turning to Canard. “It has to be Dragaunus.”

“Then let’s kick some tail,” Nosedive replied, cocking his puck launcher. His excitement dwindled at the unsure looks at his teammates’ faces before they turned to Canard.

“I…I don’t know if it’s such a great idea for you to come,” the leader finally said.

“What?” Nosedive rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me ‘I’m too young.’ ”

“No. Wildwing’s brother or not, I don’t know how much I trust you yet.”

Oh. Well. That was different.

A hand laid on his shoulder, and he glanced up to see Wildwing laugh. “And I’m telling you, you’re too young.”

“Ah, let the kid come,” Duke offered with a twitch of his shoulder. “After all, he is a traitor, we’ll know in Dragaunus’s reaction.”

“Wait a minute!”

“That is true,” Canard thought over Wildwing’s protest.

“But Canard, he’s only—”

“Works for me!” Nosedive replied, dashing toward the Migrator before anyone could tell him differently.

*^*^*^*

“I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I,” said Mallory.

Nosedive ignored her and kept his puck launcher pointed downward as he had been taught by the Resistance. Over his shoulder, he gave Wildwing his causal grin. “I’m going to be fine. Really. You taught me how to fight, and so did the Resistance.”

Wildwing didn’t look any more reassured, and he kept close watch on his brother’s back, as Nosedive did his.

The docks appeared mostly abandoned this time at night, and the shadows of night cast an eerie feeling about the pier and boxes from the port. Nosedive walked close to his brother, as Tanya led them to the sight of the teleportation energy. She whirled underneath a box lifted on a crane, her eyes plastered on her omnitool.

“Drake One says it came from exactly here.”

Nosedive stopped and looked up at the crane. “Uh…does anyone seeing that box falling, or is it just me?”

A shadow cast over them, and Duke shouted at Tanya to move as Dragaunus came into view. “Now, it is how it should be,” the snarling lizard hissed before he started. His amber eyes immediately focused upon Nosedive. “No…it is impossible!”

“Why does everyone say that like it was my idea to cheat time?” Nosedive shook his head.

“Well, it is no matter. Soon, you all will be destroyed.”

Confusion swept through Nosedive. This wasn’t right. Where was Siege or Wraith or the Chameleon? The other noticed their disappearance, too, because Duke and Mallory went back-to-back and glanced about the room. Canard kept his entire attention on Dragaunus, and as he turned to look at Wildwing, a force slammed into his back and knocked him to the ground. Less than a second later, a blaster shock hit directly in the pavement to the side of him. He glimpsed over his shoulder the best he could with the weight pressing down upon him and gasped at the blaster shot coming toward him. A glimmering blue shield flashed before him just in time to absorb the blast.

“Allow me to introduce you to the best of the Saurian Assassins,” Dragaunus chortled, then disappeared in a shimmer of green.

“I could do without his presents.” Mallory flipped behind a box before bringing out her puck launcher to return shots.

The blasts diverted their attention from Nosedive—Why did they attack him?—and toward the others, causing them to scatter. The weight upon him lifted instantly, and a hard hand on his armor hauled him to his feet. Wildwing pushed him behind a row of boxes, and Nosedive instantly flattened his back against the wood next to Canard.

“What is it with you?” Wildwing shouted over the blasts. “Why are you so popular?”

“Damned if I know!”

“That’s beyond the end line!” Canard raised his comm. unit to his beak. “Duke! You’ve got the closest skill to an assassin’s. Think you can take him down?”

“Sure, give me the easy job.”

Nosedive leaned forward just enough to watch as Duke appeared from the shadows just behind Mallory. He jumped up on the boxes, flipping to avoid the attacks by the unknown foe. Mallory returned fire to cover the former thief, and Duke took the opportunity by jumping forward and firing a puck line. Though the darkness of night covered the assassin in a blanket, Duke must have followed the direction of the shots. He landed on a row of boxes towering above the others and ducked a shot. With a swipe of Duke’s sword, a flash of lightning—no, electricity—flashed in the night, and the particles of the Saurian blaster showered the ground. He levered his sword against something unforeseen, then looked down at the row of boxes. Canard shot around Nosedive, and Wildwing followed his sight. With a shot of his puck launcher, he sent a puck boa flinging toward the middle of the pier. A flicker of a shadow jumped in the air, and Tanya grunted as she fell to the ground, tied.

Mallory dove into a forward roll before kicking out instantly before back flipping. She moved to the side, but a force connected with the side of her hip, sending her flying to a crate. Opposite Mallory, Grin brought both his arms about something, and a moment later, a trail of blood trickled from his side, causing whatever he held to be freed.

Nosedive looked about frantically, his eyes wide, his puck launcher firm when he felt a hard hand clasp about his neck. His lungs immediately fought for air, and in an impulsive move, he shot out directly in front of him. Wildwing followed suit, this time his boa wrapping about an invisible form. Canard strode forward instantly, his puck launcher out and pointed at something at the ground.

Gasping for air, Nosedive felt a hand upon his shoulder, and he looked up to meet Wildwing’s worried face. He offered a rather shaky smile and raised his puck launcher up to be even with Canard’s.

“You okay, Grin?” Wildwing asked, to which the burly duck nodded.

“And what about you?” Canard fired one shot, and in a moment, a shimmering of green faded to reveal a figure. Dressed in a black vest and pants, the assassin’s peach arms were exposed from his shoulder to his forearm gloves to show multiple tattoos, representing the various houses of the Saurian Royals. Blood soaked many of them from his shoulder wound, the one he received from Nosedive. His belt showed more than one weapon, but the bloody knife remained his shaky hand in protest.

The one Nosedive thanked the Stars wasn’t in his throat.

Grin freed Tanya, and together, along with Mallory and Duke, the team formed a circle upon the assassin.

A black mask concealed face, and Canard turned to Grin. “Would you like to do the honors?”

Grin bowed his thanks. As he slowly pulled off the cover, a long, blonde braid flopped from the back, and dulled, ice blue eyes met Nosedive’s.

His own eyes.

“Oh, Stars.”

And cliffie!