"What was that?!" Mallory exclaimed. She, Nosedive, Duke
and Grin were all in the Ready Room when they heard the sound.
"It sounded like someone screaming," Nosedive answered her.
"But who? And why?" she added. They all looked
in the direction which the scream came from.
"I don't know, but we should go find out," commented Duke.
The others nodded in agreement and soon, the four of them were off.
In the meantime, Jess had managed to dodge Angelwing's blow
by jumping to the side. Then, she ducked and spun around, kicking Angelwing and sweeping her off her feet. Jess
backed away and quick-changed into her battle gear.
"Alright, who are you and what did you do with Angelwing?"
she demanded as she pulled out her pucklauncher and aimed it at the female duck.
Angelwing slowly stood up and glared at Jess. "Nothing,"
she answered her, "I am Angelwing." She returned her saber to it's place and replaced it with a lazer gun.
When she caught Jess about to call for help on her wrist com, she set off a shot near her, just nearly missing Jess's head.
"Uh, uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Angelwing threatened, shaking her finger.
Jess looked up in horror. "Angelwing, please, don't do
this," she pleaded with the beligerent duck. "I don't know what happened to you, but this isn't like you at all."
"Awe, it isn't?" Angelwing remarked in a sarcastic tone.
"Good."
By now, Angelwing's eyes were glowing red and her voice
was different, which frightened Jess to death. She didn't want to hurt Angelwing, but her own life was at risk too. If
she could just find a way to get Angelwing's lazer gun, without hurting her. Maybe she could knock her out
again, but it was easier said than done this time. However, Jess decided she would give it a try anyway.
"Now, if you don't mind," the duck's voice cut through Jess's
thoughts. "I have orders to carry out, and my orders are to kill you."
"Uh, could I get a rain check on that?" Jess squeaked.
Then, she leapt out of the way as Angelwing lunged at her. She turned around and tried to re-aim her puck launcher,
but it was shot out of her hands by a blast from Angelwing's lazer. "Yeowch!" she cried out, holding her singed hand.
Suddenly, Jess had an idea and she made a quick, last minute decision. While dodging more lazer shots, she ran directly
towards Angelwing, charging at her, and she tackled her to the ground. Then, Jess went right for the gun.
As the two wrestled for the weapon, another blast went off.
During the scuffle, Jess had hit Angelwing with the barrel of her puck launcher. Somehow, she had managed to knock the
duck out just as the blast went off. But, when the lazer was fired, it sent Jess flying back several feet, throwing
her into a wall.
She knew she was still conscious, but she felt groggy.
Jess sat up slowly, wincing in excrutiating pain. Looking down at her mid-section, she realized why she was in so much
pain. Jess had been hit in the side with the lazer shot!
Not too far away, Angelwing was starting to come around.
She too, sat up slowly, holding her head where she had been hit. "Ugh, wha- what happened?" she groaned as she looked
across the way and noticed Jess. It was obvious that Jess had been shot, but, by who? Angelwing looked down and
realized she was still holding the lazer gun. "Oh no!" she gasped, when the reality of the situation hit her.
"I shot her!"
Angelwing shook her head and tried to ignore the pain as she
crawled over to her friend. "Jess, Jess," she called to her, trying to get her attention. "Are you okay?"
Jess looked up at Angelwing and her eyes widened in fear and
confusion. "No, please don't. You're not - How could -? Why did -?" she rambled on in incomplete sentences,
looking distressed.
Angelwing went to put a hand on Jess's shoulder, to calm her,
but she drew back when she saw her shake, fearfully. Then she glanced down at Jess's bloody wound. "What have
I done?" she quietly asked herself. "Was this the work of the Spirit?" she thought.
A voice in the back of her mind chuckled evilly and answered
her. "Of course it was, with your help." Angelwing shooke the voice away and looked back at her friend.
"Oh Jess," she looked at her sadly, "I'm so sorry. I
didn't mean to. I mean, it wasn't me."
Suddenly, they heard voices in the distance, the Ducks' voices,
drawing closer by the minute. Angelwing looked up and in the direction of the voices.
"I better go," she said. Standing up, she walked over,
picked up her lazer and returned it to it's holster. Before leaving, she turned back to Jess with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, but if I stay, I'm afraid I'll hurt someone else." She turned and started off, but stopped briefly and glanced
back. "Please look after Ariana for me." In the next minute, she was gone, running down the hall and disappearing
around a corner.
"Jess! Jess! Are you alright?!" Duke asked her
as he, Mallory, Nosedive and Grin came running up to her, from the opposite direction.
"We heard a scream, then we heard shots being fired, so we
ran to see what all the commotion was," Nosedive added. He glanced over at Grin who was stooped down beside Jess.
"Our friend has been hurt," he told his fellow ducks as Duke
and Mallory turned to see.
"Jess! What happened?!" Mallory exclaimed.
"Who, or what, did this to you?" Duke questioned her.
"Angelwing," she muttered quietly. The girl was still
in a lot of pain, but she was starting to come to her senses as to what had happened.
"I knew it!" Mallory shouted angrilly. "That traitor!"
"No," Jess interrupted her, weakly. "She didn't mean
to."
"What?" Mallory felt very confused.
"Something's wrong."
"Well, yeah," remarked Nosedive.
"No. She can't control it," Jess explained. "Almost
as if she's possesed." She tried to stand up, but the pain was unbearable, and she cried out as she crumpled to the
floor.
"Hey, easy there sweetheart," Duke told her. He helped
her sit back up again. "You're gonna hurt yourself even more if you keep that up."
"So where's Angelwing now?" Nosedive asked curiously.
"Don't know," the human replied quietly. "She ran off
and disappeared. Said she couldn't stay, on account of she didn't want anyone else to get hurt."
Nosedive threw his hands up in the air. "Oh great!
So now we have a psycho killer on the loose!"
"Well, can't we track her com signal?" Mallory suggested.
Jess shook her head and winced in pain again. "She destroyed
it a few days ago. Ah! Ow!" she seethed as she shifted her weight.
"We should get her to the infirmary," Grin commented to the
others. With that, he carefully picked up Jess, and carried her to the infirmary, with the other three ducks in tow.
"We've gotta tell Wildwing what happened," Duke said.
"He's not gonna be too happy 'bout this," Nosedive added.
"Yeah, but if anyone can find Angelwing, it'll be Wildwing.
He'll have better luck with the Mask."
Jess commented, overhearing the conversation. "Let's
just hope when we do find her, it's not too late to save her."
Grin hushed her. "Save your strength, my friend.
Let's hope it's not too late to save you."
A short while later, they arrived at the infirmary to find
Tanya and Wildwing still there. Wildwing gasped when he saw Grin enter, carrying their human friend.
"Jess!" She had fallen asleep and was resting her head
on Grin's shoulder.
"Bring her over here," Tanya called out to him. She was
motioning to the medicom. So, Grin walked over and layed Jess down on the bed under the medicom.
"Guys, what happened?" Wildwing asked the other three when
Duke, Mallory, and Nosedive walked in. They explained to him what they knew and what
Jess had told them about Angelwing. Wildwing scratched his beak in thought. "We'll have to wait for Jess to wake
up to get the whole story," he commented. Then he turned to Tanya, who was tending to Jess and her wounds. "How
is she Tanya?"
"Well uh, she's wounded very badly. But I think she'll
live," replied Tanya.
"Well, at least she's safe now," the captain sighed.
"As for Angelwing...." he trailed off sadly.
"We'll find her," Grin assured him.
Wildwing nodded. "We will. But for now, we should
make sure she's not still in the Pond. Then we should change the entrance codes and reset the security system.
I hate to lock her out like that, but until we find out what's going on, I'd rather be safe than sorry."
To be continued..........?
Disclaimer: All original characters are owned and copyrighted by Disney, all others
are owned by me.
