|
|
The Blood of the Chosen shall bring us hope, and vanquish from within the Darkness, yet the Chosen shall fall before the onslaught if the Heralder does not hold true. - excerpt from Sons of the Power
Chapter Two: The Blood
"Let me get this straight," Duke said skeptically. "You expect us to believe that our ancient ancestors predicted all this? That we're living out a prophecy?"
"Well... yeah. So to speak." Tremaine steepled her fingers and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. The monitors and screens of Drake One flickered with ever-changing images behind her, giving her an appearance of surrealism. "Ten thousand years ago, before Drake Ducaine's ancestors were born, Puckworld was embroiled in a war with the Saurians. Puckworld was young, barely a united world, with technology less than what Earth has today. When the Saurians came, with their weapons and ships and robots they thought to find a world ripe for conquest. Fortunately for all of us, your ancestors were a bit more resourceful than Dragaunus gave them credit for. They matched the Saurians' thirst for conquest with a fervent desire to remain free."
"But there was more to it than that, wasn't there?" Tanya asked. "You can't win a war just because you want to."
"That's where yesterday comes in." Tremaine took a deep breath and focused on the steeple of her fingers. How to explain this? "What happened yesterday was the Old becoming New."
"Meaning?" Mallory asked.
"Meaning... Yesterday's battle was a smaller, shorter version of the battle that occurred millennia ago. After the Puckworlders defeated the Saurians they recorded the whole thing, so that following generations would know the danger the Saurians represented. But over time and centuries it became a religion, then a myth. And by the time the Saurians returned thousands of years later, in the time of Drake Ducaine, practically no one believed in any of it, and most of it had been forgotten.
"Including the power," Tremaine continued. "By then the power had been all but forgotten. Only a few could reach it, even fewer understood what it was they did. It was mostly concentrated within a few families; the upper class, rich people who could afford someone to train them in the old ways. They no longer had the strength they'd used to defeat the Saurians the first time. So Ducaine invented the Mask to help make up for it.
"There was more than one Mask. Several hundred actually. But Ducaine's was the first, and the best. He'd created it himself, keeping in mind what he'd learned from his studies and knowing what he'd need to find and defeat the Saurians while they were cloaked. He tested it himself, in much the same way Canard did, leading a small group of rebels inside the command center of the local overlord. It worked, they escaped alive - after doing some real damage, of course - and Ducaine became the leader of the official rebellion. The Mask became the only reliable weapon they had, and enough were made for each cell of the resistance. But necessity called for haste and the regular masks were somewhat less than Ducaine's. They did the job, but this one-" she gestured and a transparent image of the Mask appeared before her in the center of the conference table. "-This one was always the strongest. Obviously, since it was the only one to survive the millennia. Anyway," the image vanished, "Ducaine and his resistance defeated the Saurians just as their ancestors had done. Only this time, instead of just chasing them away, Ducaine gathered together the most brilliant men and women alive and devised the ultimate prison. A gateway into the dimensional limbo.
"The gateway was opened and the Saurians were sent through, accompanied by their guards - the BRAWN units, such as the one you encountered a few months ago - never to return. Well, that's what was intended. It didn't work, as you know. Dragaunus, one of the last of his kind, forswore the ways of his ancestors and his people, gave his soul to technology and accomplished what his ancestors had attempted for generations - he broke through the barrier and returned to Puckworld to seek vengeance for what had been done to his people."
"Okay," Wildwing said slowly. "You're saying that whatever it was Dive and Dragaunus did yesterday, this power you keep talking about, used to be a common trait amongst our people?"
"I kind of glossed over that, didn't I? Sorry. Uh, yeah. Not on this degree of course, very few people have that kind of strength, but the power was a universal characteristic among the Puckworlders and the Saurians. In case I wasn't clear, that's how the Puckworlders defeated the Saurians the first time, despite their lesser technology."
"What exactly is the power?" Mallory asked. "I saw what happened yesterday, but I don't understand a word of it."
Pausing a moment, wondering how to explain what she didn't completely understand herself, Tremaine glanced around the room. She, Wildwing, Mallory, Tanya, Duke and the so far silent Grin were seated around the conference table in the Ready Room, just as they had slightly more than a week ago. Behind her stood Drake, decidedly unhappy with the way things had gone, and even less unhappy with their next step. Canard was down in the infirmary with Nosedive and the Mighty Ducks manager, Phil Palmfeather - that was a man Tremaine wouldn't wish on anyone, even Dragaunus - keeping an eye on Dive's progress. Everyone looked none the worse for wear considering what they'd been through the day before, except for Dive, who was almost totally healed. Even Wildwing looked to be fully recovered. But Tremaine had her suspicions about that.
"Let me explain it this way: It's a part of you. When you use the power you're actually using your own internal energy. You take energy from your surroundings, also, and some people even learn to siphon energy from their enemies, but you'll always be using a part of yourself. That's why Dive collapsed," she added. "It was the first time he'd used that kind of power; it was a hell of lot of power, and he didn't know how to siphon energy from his surroundings or his enemies other than the basic instinct that pretty much anyone has. The sheer force of the power he was controlling drained him of so much energy that he passed out. That combined with the injuries Dragaunus gave him, worked to weaken him. With time, he could learn to do just as much, more even, without breaking a sweat."
Tremaine shifted slightly, leaning back into her seat. "The shock of using that kind of energy causes a trauma. It's like when you're injured; your body needs everything it's got to heal you so it just shuts you down for a while until it gets what needs doing done. While the power doesn't hurt you, it does take so much out of you that it throws your system into shock. Sometimes this can last for weeks or even months, gradually lessening in severity until it just stops happening. Some people are affected only once or twice and it never happens again afterward. I think that's what'll happen to Dive.
"The power itself is whatever you want it to be. Telepathy, telekenesis, teleportation are all normal enough, although teleportation is so complicated and requires so much precision that very few can manage it anymore. Healing used to be a component of the power, but that too has died out. I don't know of anyone alive who possesses the ability to heal an injury without throwing the body into even worse shock. It's something of a lost art, I'm afraid. Those fireballs or 'mystic bolts,' however, are easy enough, practically anyone can create those and that energy thing," she cast Wildwing a sympathetic glance, "hurts like hell. It's sort of like electricity, but not. We don't know what kind of energy it is, although the common theory is that it's psionic in nature. What we do know is that it's extremely easy to create and that it's incredibly dangerous if not used with the utmost caution. People who meant only to stun or overwhelm an enemy have found themselves murderers because it got out of control.
"Some people," she continued, "can even control the weather. I'm not sure how exactly, it's not something I've ever been able to do, but I'm told that they just adjust the flow of things so that the clouds and wind currents and temperatures all come together the way they want it to in order to create a hurricane or tornado or even do something as simple as make it stop raining. Needless to say, this can wreak havoc with the environment."
Tremaine wet her lips nervously before continuing. Here was where she pushed her luck. If this didn't go right, if he reacted wrong, it could totally throw things completely off-balance. "The power usually develops between the ages of 14 and 25, with no particular rhyme or reason. Some people develop the power on their own, others need to be 'triggered' by someone with the power who reaches inside their minds and unlocks the part of them that holds the power. That's sort of what I did to Dive. I knew he had the power, it was obvious to anyone with the ability to see it and he did manage to use it on occasion. He scanned my thoughts at least once since I've been here, subconsciously and with no real knowledge of what it was he was doing, and I've no doubt he's used it in other ways, equally simple and unobtrusive."
"So that's how he manages to live through all those stupid stunts he pulls," Tanya muttered.
"Exactly. That's how he survived Dragaunus's attack. I didn't stop it. Dragaunus sure didn't stop it. The only person left was Dive. If Dragaunus had half a brain he would have realized that too. So technically, I didn't really trigger him, I just took what he'd already managed and pushed him a few steps further.
"It's all rather hit and miss. We have no way of knowing who will develop the power, who has it but needs to be triggered, when they'll develop. There's only one thing about this that's even slightly reliable as far as predictability goes: If someone has the power, without being triggered, then the odds are about 98 times out of a hundred that one or more of their siblings will also have the power."
Total silence greeted her announcement as everyone stared at her, then slowly turned to stare at Wildwing.
The object of their attention uttered only two words: "Oh, great."
The Mighty Ducks infirmary was one of the most highly advanced medical facilities on the face of the Earth. Broken bones, torn ligaments and burns could be healed in days. Fevers, viruses, allergic reactions and reactions to poisons and toxic chemicals could be treated quickly and thoroughly. But for all the technology within the infirmary, it still held no cure for boredom.
Fortunately for Nosedive, his companion was an authority on the subject.
"My brother," Canard Calex said conspiratorially, "is the stiffest person alive. Seriously. Even when we were kids he had this serious attitude and he was always lecturing me on being more responsible and taking better care of my stuff. We had to share a room, and my side was always pretty messy - typical for a kid, right? - but his would practically sparkle. It was weird. He was only four years older than me, but he acted like our father. Except Dad knew how to have fun."
Dive grinned. He was still confined to the infirmary; Tanya's orders. Tomorrow he could leave, she'd told him, but for now he wasn't even allowed out of bed. And she'd made sure the rest of the team knew it. Faced with the limited options of sleeping all day versus staying awake and being bored all day, he was glad for the company. And Canard was a decent enough guy, despite his misfortunate name. "Sounds like Wild," he said. "He wasn't always like that though."
"Really?" Canard asked. "What did he used to be like?"
Dive shrugged a little. "Sorta like me actually." He smiled fondly. "When he was sixteen he blew up our parents entertainment center and wrecked Mom's car. It was the first time I can ever remember when I was the good son."
"I'm convinced that Drake's never done anything even remotely rebellious or wrong in his entire life," Canard said. "I remember once, when we were still really little, Dad sent us to stay with our uncle's for a couple of weeks to keep us out of the way of the fighting. He figured it'd be good for me, teach me responsibility, don't you know, and maybe get Drake to loosen up a little. I became the wondrous example of humanity you see before you-"
"You're not human," Dive felt compelled to point out.
"-The wondrous example of Puckworlders you see before you, and Drake spent the entire time picking up military techniques from our aunt. When we got home my father officially gave up trying to get him to have fun. Tremaine thinks there's still hope, though."
"Is there?"
"You kidding me?" Canard asked. "He's been like this for 23 years. He ain't gonna change now. But hey, he's Drake, you know?"
"Yeah. Every now and then I say the same thing about Wildwing."
Canard grinned and reached for the soda he'd set on the floor beside his chair. Dive watched, vaguely amused, as Canard suddenly froze, slowly raising his eyes to start at Dive. "How-?"
"How did I know you're not human?" Nosedive grinned. "As if the name wasn't a big enough clue."
"How did you see through the disguise?" Canard asked. "We went to a bloody great deal of trouble to make sure you didn't find out until it was time!"
"It flickered," Dive explained. "When Dragaunus grabbed Tremaine, her disguise flickered and I saw a Puckworlder in her place, for like, half a second. Less even. I wasn't sure what I'd seen until later when she helped me control the ah... power. Then I could see her clearly." Dive shrugged. "And since she introduced you two as her cousins..."
"And I fell right into it," Canard said disgustedly. "Didn't I?"
"I wasn't sure," Dive said easily. "Weird stuff's been happening lately. I wanted to be sure."
Canard sighed and slumped down in his chair. "Just great. Drake's gonna have a fit." His eyes glittered and the shadow of a smile crossed his mouth. "I'll wait to tell him. I want to see the look on his face."
Nosedive laughed. "The one disadvantage to telepathy, eh?"
"Exactly. Nothing quite beats delivering bad news in person. Well, except when the other guy tries to deck you." Canard studied Dive carefully, and Dive returned the gaze steadily. "How much do you remember?" Canard finally asked. "About yesterday?"
"Not much," Dive admitted. "It's all rather... distorted, I guess. I can remember what I did, but the how and why completely escape me. I'm not all that clear on the what sometimes, either."
"No surprise. You took a pretty good blow to the head there. A couple of them actually. And the power plays hell with the nervous system the first few times. Watch me." Canard raised a hand and held it flat, palm up. Above the surface of his palm an image appeared. Nosedive grinned as he recognized the sight before him. "The X-Men?"
"That my friend, is not merely an image of the X-Men. This is today's episode. It's on TV right now. Check the clock."
Dive didn't bother. "How do you do that? I can see the way the light bends to form the image, but how can you tell what's on TV right now?"
"That's the hard part." Canard shook his hand slightly and the image vanished, as if waved away. "It's called clairvoyance. It means seeing something that's happening right now, somewhere else. It's my strong point. I just 'see' the programs - or, more practically, an enemy's position when they're out of sight, or maybe I can use it to see where I'm going on a dark night. Comes in great during an emergency landing in the middle of a forest at two o'clock in the morning, believe me. So anyway, I 'see' what's on the television, then just copy the image to wherever I want. In this case it was the palm of my hand. But it works just as well on walls, ceilings, computer screens, whatever. You seem to have the idea of copying down pat. You said you could see the light bending?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"Good. That's the easiest way of doing it, and it's what I'll teach you first. That is," Canard added, "if you want to learn."
"After what happened yesterday," Dive said, "I think it's a rather moot point, don't you?"
"There's more."
"Why am I not surprised?" Wildwing asked rhetorically.
I know this isn't going to be easy for all of you," Tremaine said. "But you have to know what you're going up against. Wildwing was right when he guessed that I'm from the future. Thirty-four years to be exact.
"The battle you fought yesterday was what we call a turning point. It was a major event in history. Like the Civil War or the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It could have gone any number of ways. Yesterday, you won.
"In my time, the future time-line that I come from, you lost that battle. Dragaunus was given a go-ahead to conquer the world. Since Nosedive didn't learn to control the power until several years later, there was no one to realize what Dragaunus was doing, and there was no way to stop him from controlling people from the inside out. Dragaunus gained control of the world's nuclear arsenal, and slowly forced the world into submission. Those who wouldn't surrender were obliterated.
"The battle was far from over. You continued to fight him as best you could, but it was a loosing battle. And once Dragaunus used the Dimensional Gateway to bring his army to Earth..." Tremaine sighed. "Frankly, Earth didn't stand a chance. A shipful of Puckworlders had arrived only a few weeks before Dragaunus brought his army through the Gateway. They'd been sent by the Puckworld government to aid you in capturing Dragaunus and to bring you home. They had no idea how bad things had gotten on Earth. They joined the resistance, totally dedicated to bringing Dragaunus to justice."
"Dragaunus finally decided that even the minor amounts of damage you guys and the rest of the resistance were causing was too much. He led an assault that struck directly into the heart of your center of operations. We call it the Final Battle. Almost a hundred people died. Wildwing, Duke, Nosedive, Mallory and Grin were killed, and Tanya was seriously injured. It was months before she was on her feet and fighting again.
"Tanya became the leader of a resistance group based in the Rockies. About two hundred strong, it was one of the largest and most effective rebels groups in North America. Oh and you'll love this. The three highest ranking members of the group? Officer Klegghorn, and two people you know as Mook and Thrash." Tremaine grinned. "Weird huh?"
"Mook and Thrash are leading the insurgency against Dragaunus?" Mallory asked incredulously.
"Yepper." Tremaine replied.
"Can we get back on track?" Wildwing asked.
"Of course. Anyway, as I was saying. Tanya's group managed to get inside the Raptor and get back out with enough information to piece together a plan. A way to change the past. Dragaunus would never know what hit him. Tanya had constructed a machine that would send the three of us back in time. The entire purpose of our being here was to make sure that you didn't lose yesterday. Nosedive's powers developping early was an unexpected bonus. An important one though."
"Why did Tanya send you three?" Wildwing asked. "Why not - no offense - someone older? With more experience?"
"None taken," Tremaine said. "I admit we are pretty young. But what I told you about the power is true. It is almost gone from amongst our people. The three of us happen to come from a family that is still very strong in the power. Except for Dragaunus, we have more control of the power than any other person on Earth."
"You said the power was a characteristic of both Puckworlders and the Saurians," Tanya said. "Do humans have this ability too?"
"Not that we know of," Tremaine said carefully.
"Then how can you have the power?" Wildwing demanded.
"We're not human," Tremaine said. She gave Drake a slight nod.
The Mighty Ducks stared as the young human girl before them seemed to shimmer, and fade away. In her place was a young woman; undeniably a Puckworlder. Her feathers were a pale tan in color. Dark brown hair fell to her waist, and light blue eyes glittered with amusement.
Behind her, Drake had undergone a similar transformation. His blond hair and blue eyes were unchanged, but instead of skin he now had feathers of nearly pure white.
"The deception was necessary," Drake explained. "You are the only Puckworlders on this planet at this point in time. While we more or less blend in with the crowd in our own time, in your era we would have been noticed immediately."
"We didn't want to trick you," Tremaine added, "but we wanted to give you the whole story all at once. If we'd just told you part of it back at the beginning you may not have believed us."
"Point taken," Wildwing conceded. "What happened next?"
"We planned this for months, although the three of us never knew just what would happen until it was time to put everything into action. The idea was to keep all this quiet so Dragaunus wouldn't hear of it and try to stop it. Except it didn't work out that way."
Tremaine sighed, and a brief flash of sorrow crossed her face. "A member of our cell, Kirin, is also pretty strong in the power. Nowhere near the level we are, but she does have some telepathic ability. According to Dragaunus, she warned him of what we planned to do.
"We didn't even know Dragaunus had been warned until we got back to this era and realized that there were two Dragaunuses and two Raptors. We began to piece together what must have happened."
"Dragaunus of your time realized what he stood to loose if you succeeded," Duke said. "And rather than take the chance that his past self would be able to defeat us on his own, he came back in time to aid him."
"Exactly."
"So Dragaunus learned how to control the power by himself?" Wildwing asked. "If you're right, the future Dragaunus defeated us without any help."
"Bingo." Tremaine approved. "Although he wasn't as strong as he was this time, he still had sufficient strength and skill to trap you in the same energy field he used yesterday. But the amount of energy needed to hold you all drained him, and you were able to break free."
Mallory sighed. "I'm getting a headache."
Tremaine tried not to smile. "You're going to hate me then."
"There's more?"
"You ain't heard nothing yet."
Mallory moaned and dropped her head on the table.
"What else is there?" Wildwing asked.
"Remember when I said that Drake Ducaine was one of the few Puckworlders who still knew the power?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well, there was a reason for that. Something in the Ducaine family's genetic matrix makes the power a dominant trait, whereas for almost everyone else, it's recessive. That's why it was so easily lost."
"There's a point in there somewhere, I just know it."
"Wildwing, you - and Nosedive - are the last living descendants of Drake Ducaine."
"This is totally whacked."
Wildwing smiled slightly. "Not the word I would chosen..."
"But it is," Nosedive said wearily. "This whole thing. I should have slept through the last week or so. I would have died happier."
"Oh, but you would have missed all the fun!" Duke teased.
"You have a twisted idea of fun."
"Be serious, guys," Mallory scolded. "This is important."
"Mallory's right," Tanya agreed. "We need to talk about all this."
"What's there to talk about?" Dive said bitterly. "Sounds like everything's been decided for us."
"We don't know half of what's going on here," Mallory said. "Psychic powers, time-travelers, Drake Ducaine... Does anyone honestly doubt that there's a whole lot more going on here than any of us understands?"
They were gathered in the main room sprawled across the couch and chairs. Even Dive had been released from the infirmary to join the impromptu discussion.
"I didn't think so," Mallory said when there was no reply. "Maybe Tremaine's not lying, maybe she is. Either way it doesn't matter. We work with what we have."
"Nice speech, kid," Duke said. "What exactly do you have in mind? I'm still trying to swallow this story."
"This thing about Wildwing and Nosedive being the descendants of Drake Ducaine," Mallory said. "That's the sort of thing a family would certainly know. Stars. They'd probably take out an announcement in the bloody news." She turned to Wildwing. "Did your folks ever mention anything like that?"
Wildwing shook his head. "I don't know anything about that, Mallory. I always thought Drake Ducaine was a legend until Canard found the Mask."
Mallory frowned. "So much for that idea. There isn't any way to verify what she's telling us!"
"I don't know about the rest of it," Dive said, "but she was telling the truth about the three of them having the power. Canard taught me a few tricks before Drake called him."
Tanya looked fascinated. "I'd love to get a good look at just what it is you're doing. Do you mind if I run a few tests later?"
Dive grimaced but shook his head. "Knock yourself out, Taunny."
"Don't call me that."
"Okay, I think I see where this is headed," Wildwing stood. "There's not much we can do right now other than take everything Tremaine says with a grain of salt. In the meantime, I'm tired. Let's get some sleep."
"And on a bright side," Mallory said, "we may wake up to find out that this has been a really weird dream brought about by eating too much junk food before bed."
"I wish it were than simple."
Dive finally rolled out of bed at quarter of ten, according to the clock in the infirmary. There was a change of clothes sitting on the chair beside him. Thanks, bro. There was a small bathroom on the far side of the infirmary; he grabbed a shower and changed quickly. He noticed, to his surprise, that the gashes Dragaunus' claws had caused on his chest and shoulders were almost completely healed. The power, he thought wearily. He stubbornly pushed the thought from his mind and pulled on a t-shirt. He ran a hand through his hair and turned to leave. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and had to grin. The shirt his brother had left for him read in block letters across the front: All of us are weird - some of us are proud of it. Appropriate. In more ways than one.
The kitchen was deserted, much to his relief. The last few days had completely upset his understanding of the way the world worked and he wasn't in the mood to be faced with idle chit-chat. Especially not with the people at the very center of this whole fiasco. What he wanted was a bowl of Raisin Nut Bran and twenty minutes to eat it in peace.
What he got was Cheerios and twelve minutes.
Close enough.
Dive leaned back in his chair, propped his feet against the back of another chair and tuned out the voices coming from the next room. Tanya was talking about something, probably the tests she'd run on him last night. He had to smile as he remembered her long technical explanation of what he had done. She was like a kid with a new toy, and she wouldn't let go until she understood every little bit of what made the power what it was. He wished her luck. Maybe when she was done she'd explain it to him. He heard a much calmer voice answer her, maybe ask a question. He recognized Wildwing's voice.
If Tremaine was right, then Wildwing was caught up in the middle of this too. Considering how twisted his own world had become in just two days, Dive couldn't help but wish that fate had left his brother out of this one. No matter how relieved he was to discover that he wasn't in this alone, he couldn't work up any enthusiasm for the idea of someone else having their life turned upside down.
That battle the day before yesterday hadn't been anything important at first glance. Dragaunus was breaking into another scientific lab. Whoopee. Then Dragaunus had jumped out of that building... What was it? Ten floors straight down? Talk about a sinking feeling. Tremaine had just dropped that bombshell about time-travel and then this... Dive didn't know about the others but he was beginning to consider the possibility of going to another team. The Polar Bears hadn't found a good replacement forward since Strazinski had left.
His joking attitude had pretty much died when he first felt that energy slamming through him, like every nerve and synapse had been simultaneously set on fire. And when he'd seen the same thing happen to Wildwing, he'd been deadly serious. And by the time Tremaine had reached into his mind and 'triggered' the power within him, by then he'd doubted he'd ever see anything funny again. Course, by then he'd also doubted he'd live to see the next sunrise.
The first thing he'd done had been to break Dragaunus' hold on his teammates. He could still remember the rush he'd gotten as he stood to face Dragaunus. He should have been afraid. But he was only angry. And exhilarated. Even when Dragaunus had him at his mercy he hadn't been afraid. That lack of fear itself should have scared him. It hadn't.
Thinking about the power reminded him of something else: the three hours Canard had spent trying to teach him that clairvoyancy trick. He'd finally gotten it, to Canard's relief. Tanya had been pretty happy about it too, if those tests were any indication.
Dive tipped the chair on its back legs, his cereal temporarily forgotten. He concentrated on the surface of the table, not really seeing it. Instead his mind was scanning the frequencies that permeated the air, finding the one he was looking for. Channel 26. Fox. And right now Darkwing Duck was showing.
It took relatively little concentration, compared to the trouble it had given him the day before. He found the frequency he wanted by scanning through all of them at a speed he couldn't even begin to calculate. Once he had it he just copied the image by taking the rays of the light that filled the room and bending some of them so that they formed the images being played out on the frequency he'd chosen.
Once he had the frequency he wanted, and he'd begun to twist the light to form the images he wanted he set the process on 'autopilot' - which had taken most of the three hours for him to learn. That way, instead of taking the information from the frequency - which was just knowledge, without images or sounds - he could see the image itself.
Sound gave him a little more trouble because he was having trouble getting the voices just right, but Canard had promised that with practice the information from the frequency would become as easy to read as any other language. Then he'd be able to get the voices of the characters right. In the meantime, Darkwing and LaunchPad were sounding dangerously alike and Gosalyn and Megavolt were completely indistinguishable.
"Nice trick."
Dive jumped, coming dangerously close to spilling Cheerios all over the kitchen floor. His distraction caused him to lose control of the 'autopilot' and the picture flickered out of existence. He twisted around in the chair to see Duke standing behind him.
"Didn't mean to startle you," Duke apologized. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out an orange soda. "And don't start about it being too early for so much caffeine," he warned. "I already went through that over the coffee."
"Tanya or Wildwing?" Dive asked.
"Both. And wipe that grin off your face, boy." Duke pulled out one of the chairs and swung it around, sitting backwards with his arms resting on the back of the chair. "What was that you were doing?"
"Apparently I clairvoyantly sensed the frequency of the television channel and manipulated the sound and light waves to fit the information I took from the frequency."
Duke shook his head. "I'm clueless."
"So am I. I just... do it. The words don't make any sense, but I understand it."
"I'm glad you do," Duke said. "You're the one who has to deal with it."
"Thanks for the reminder."
"Seriously," Duke had dropped all pretense of nonchalance. "You okay with all this, kid?"
"With all what?" Dive asked sarcastically. "Finding out that everything I've ever known about the history of my planet is at the least distorted? Or maybe the part about how I'm the long lost descendant of some guy I barely believed existed? Oh, no, you must mean the bit where I find out that my own mind is a complete mystery to me." He stood and emptied the bowl, no longer hungry.
"Dive-"
"And I'm not angry at you." Dive gave the dish washer a particularly dark glare. "This has just been a really bad couple of days and there's no end in sight. I admit this whole power thing is pretty cool and I could really get used to it, but the responsibility is something I don't want to deal with. Plus the vision of the future that Tremaine's showing us is the most depressing thing I've heard in a long time and that just comes with more responsibility and I'm a teenager for stars' sake! I don't do responsibility!"
Duke grinned. "Try that on someone else. I happen to know better."
"What do you think of Tremaine?"
Duke rolled his eyes at the apparent non sequitor but answered anyway. "I don't like her, but then I don't really know her."
"You can trust her," Dive said absently, "but there's an awful lot she's not telling us. And Wildwing and I are right at the center of whatever it is she's hiding."
"Personal opinion? Or did you ask your phone psychic?"
Dive grinned at him. "Both."
"I dare say that's the truth." Duke made a face at his soda. "I get that impression, too. I don't have anything to back it up but intuition, but I'd say she's hiding something from us."
"Fat lot of good it does us," Dive said. "I could've told you that before all this started."
Dive's comm signaled before Duke could answer. "What is it?" Dive asked tiredly. Tanya's face appeared on the screen. "Tremaine wants to see you," she said.
"When, where and why?"
"Now, the gym and I don't know."
"Why not?" Dive asked rhetorically. "Tell her I'll be right down." He switched off the comm and headed for the door. "Thanks for letting me rant, Duke. I'll catch you later."
"Hey," Duke shrugged. "What else am I here for?"
"I've often wondered the same thing myself."
Dive dodged the empty soda can that came flying at his head and slipped out the door.
Dive found an audience of two waiting for him when he arrived in the gym. Tremaine and Wildwing stood a good deal more than an arms length apart and seemed to be doing a good job of ignoring each other. Dive crossed the room to stand at his brother's side. They exchanged a quick glance; Dive had a bizarre feeling for a second that they were in some sort of face-off with the time traveler.
Tremaine didn't miss it either. She smiled at the both of them as disarmingly as possible and ran a nervous hand through her hair. Nosedive got a certain twisted pleasure out of realizing that she was as unhappy with the situation as they were. But Tremaine managed to throw him for a loop with what she said next.
"Ready to learn?"
Back to The Blood of Ancients
Back to The Mighty Ducks Fan Fiction
Back to The Mighty Ducks Page