#dukexoc

“Rise and shine sweet heart!” Duke shouted as he pulled the blanket off Rhynie’s curled up body.

She flinched at the sudden brisk breeze, “Not. Funny. Duke.”

He grabbed her arms and pulled her up and got her to her feet. He pushed her towards their bathroom and sat her on the toilet. Rhynie rubbed her eyes, the bright lights stinging them until they watered. She heard the water squeak to life and could automatically feel the heat radiating off of shower door.

Duke lifted her arms, but she left them collapse on to her lap—chuckling at her own prank. “C’mon raise your arms.”

Rhynie kept giggling as she followed Duke’s orders, “You know if you wanted my shirt off, you just needed to ask.”

“Ha. Take your pants off and get in the shower. Make it a long one okay?” He kissed her on the forehead, got up to leave, but at the door he turned towards her. “I’ll be checking on you.”

“You could just join me.” She shouted after Duke closed the door.

Duke laughed, “Don’t tempt me.”

Thirty minutes later Rhynie left the bathroom, feeling somewhat refreshed. She was expecting  Duke to be waiting for her in the little living room he had set up after making Earth his adopted home, but he wasn't there. Unlike the rest of his room, which was marble flooring, this medium square was black carpet. In the middle of the plush rug was a large television stand with a flat screen T.V bolted to the wall above. On each side of the T.V stand were bookshelves filled with movies, books and music. The typical entertainment center.

On the dark brown coffee table was food and a note. Rhynie lifted the lid to the hot bowl, not recognizing whatever the soupy stuff was inside, but it was sweet smelling. She flipped the note over, automatically knowing Duke had written it.

“Join me on the ice after you finished eating.”

                            -Duke

Rhynie forced herself to eat the sweet, grainy breakfast and changed into the clothes that she arrived in. Duke had left her a pair of skates on the bench in the locker room and while she strapped herself in she wondered if they were going to have her participate in another training session. The last thing she wanted was to have were those flash backs again, she didn’t like how she felt like she couldn’t breathe and how every moment of her torture rushed her. It was like Wraith took her sense of control away from her. When she had come to in the infirmary after her fit, Grin was the only one watching over her. He had apologized for checking her like that, but Rhynie smiled and told him that it wasn’t his fault.

Sliding out on the ice, Rhynie was a little shocked. The goal posts had been removed and an obstacle course had been set up. Duke stood in the middle with his arms crossed over his chest, wearing a mischievous smile.

“I asked Wildwing if we could have the ring to ourselves today.” Duke lazily skated towards her, grabbed her hands and led her around the pond.

“Why does this look familiar?”

“This is how we trained the Brotherhood recruits, remember?” Duke questioned.

How could she forget? Each obstacle course led to a podium with an object on top, if you could get through and to the object without knocking over the podium you won. It was simple looking, but it was actually difficult. It taught all of them how to control their speed—their body, to remain balanced in their core and how to move effortlessly both on and off the ice. When Duke and Rhynie entered the gang at the same time, they were the only ones to completely master the course in such a short amount of time. They challenged each other and even when one of them came out as the loser they were happy. And then Duke became the new leader and immediately he made Rhynie his Lieutenant.

“I’m going to destroy you.” Rhynie bolted away from Duke and took her position at the start.

Unbeknownst to Duke and Rhynie, the rest of the team was watching their game up in the announcer’s box. They knew Duke was skilled on the ice, he could easily evade their opponents like they were nothing, but Rhynie was unbelievably swift. Even though she was quick, she made it seem effortless—elegant. She skated like a professional ice skater, not a hockey player. Duke could barely keep up with her, he was either doing it on purpose or he just couldn’t catch up. When Rhynie reached the end they all thought she was going to crash into the podium, but she did something that surprised them all. She jumped, executing a flawless front flip, grabbing her object and landed on one foot.

“She is definitely not a hockey player, man, not a hockey player.” Nosedive managed to utter words after he picked his jaw up.

           Practice didn’t go well. It did at first. Rhynie kept the pucks away from Wildwing, rocketing majority of them down the rink. Her defense was the toughest they had ever seen, her mind games confused Nosedive to the point where he lost the puck several times. When Duke and Rhynie faced off everyone though Duke would take it easy on her. Surprisingly enough, the two went at each other like old enemies. Trash talking each other without remorse. At one point, Mallory thought she was going to die from laughing so hard. Rhynie and Duke were fighting for the puke, she batted her long eye lashes at him, puckered her lips and called his name in a seductive tone—catching him off guard. Before he knew it Rhynie had slapped the puck so hard and so fast, it had nearly missed the other goal. Wildwing and Rhynie high fived and decided that one play should be good for the day.  

           The opposing team regrouped for a moment, coming up with a plan to attempt to get a score, but their hopes weren’t set high. They had forgotten what it was like to play against another duck and realized how weak humans were compared to them.

           Wildwing recognized the look of determination in his brother’s eyes, “Be prepared for anything Rhynie. They’re up to something.”

           The grip on her stick tightened as she took his words to heart, her eyes locked on to his little brother’s and saw what he saw. A plan that was about to boil over that could either fail miserable or finally get them a point. Tanya and Grin advanced first, hoping to grab her attention, but she was glued to Nosedive. Mallory and Duke kept pace with each other, skating circles around Wildwing and his net. It was just Nosedive and Rhynie, she stayed out of Wildwing’s way, sensing that the youngest drake would take a shot no matter. They clashed sticks as one fought to gain the puck and the other fought to keep it.

Rhynie broke free, taking the black disk and was about to spank it down the rink when Grin came out of nowhere and checked her into the boards. Compared to his other body slams against actual opponent, it felt like nothing, but the simple act sent Rhynie into a trembling fit. When she fell to her knees, gasping for air and her fist clutching the uniform where her heart was Duke rushed to her aid. He slid off her helmet, her hair falling to cover her face.

           “Rhynie talk to me, what’s wrong?”

           She couldn’t speak, it felt as if she were being strangled. Rhynie peeked at Duke and his heart nearly burst. The pain was evident in her glossed over eyes, tears soaking her feathers. The one eyed drake was at a loss, he had no idea what to do. Panic was beginning to set in as he tried to figure out how to help her, but his mind was a blank slate. Wildwing placed a hand on the thief’s shoulder, ordering him to take her to the infirmary. Duke collected her in his arms, as if she weighed nothing with all the gear on and followed Tanya to the medical room.

After everyone removed their gear and took a quick shower they waited outside the infirmary to hear anything from either duck. Duke’s voice could barely be heard through the thick doors, it was calm—peaceful—trying to talk her down from whatever was happening.

Wildwing glanced over at the muscle bound defenseman, he appeared to be unaffected by the whole thing, but the leader knew better than to trust Grin’s stoic expression.

Walking over, he patted his large bicep and smiled. “This isn’t your fault Grin, you know that right? We couldn’t have known Rhynie would react that way.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Wildwing.” Grin meant to add onto his thought, but Tanya walked out still in full gear, minus the skates and gloves.

“How is she?” Wildwing asked.

“I knocked her out with some uh heavy duty sleeping pills. But Duke was able to uh calm her down enough for it to, you know, work.” Tanya ran her hand through her blonde hair, “Still though. I’ve never seen a panic attack like that before. I need to do a little more uh research on the subject.”

“I can help you with that. A lot of my military buddies had them because of their P.T.S.D.” Mallory offered as she followed Tanya to the lockers so she could change.

           Wildwing half asked, half ordered his little brother to go pick them up some food before he and Grin walked into the infirmary. Just like before Duke was at her side, wiping away sweat her fever produced with a damp wash cloth. He had taken off most of his gear, except the under armor and neatly laid it all in his chair.

                       “You should go get cleaned up. We can watch her.” Wildwing offered softly.

                       Duke shook his head, “I’m not leaving her, Wing.”

                       “You want to tell us why?”

           Grin approached the sleeping duck and placed a hand over her forehead. His brow furrowed as the big guy sensed the anguish inside her, “Her aurora has darkened. A storm that she has fought to hold back has finally erupted.”

                       “That’s why.”

                       Wildwing sighed, rolling his eyes. He hated how stubborn Duke could be sometimes, “Take a shower for Rhynie’s sake. Your B.O will probably put her in a coma.”

           Their leader had a point and Duke took it more as an order than a suggestion. He made them promise to call him immediately as soon as she woke up, but they knew that wouldn’t happen because Tanya gave her enough sleeping medication to knock out a horse for two days.

~ ~ ~

           It had taken months for Rhynie to fully recover, but that didn’t stop the lizards from using her whenever and however they want. Every time she refused a mission to spy on her people they’d torture her until she complied. Those sessions lasted for days, the longest ran for two weeks and every time the duck she met with to pass along information offered her medical help. But Rhynie refused, saying that if she went back to the Saurians patched up that they’d suspect her.

           The day the general of the Saurians found out about Rhynie’s double agent status they threw her into a cell. They didn’t feed her for days and when they finally came for her she thought they were finally going to put her out of her misery. She was wrong, however, so very wrong. They had chained her to a cold, steal bed, the clasp rubbing her feathers the wrong way and over time—raw. Their tortures varied from burning her feathers off, electrocuting her, water tortures, sleep deprivation, starvation—all in order to find out who she told their plans to, but she never gave a name.

           When the general couldn’t break her, he sent her to Dragaunus with the help of one of his magical advisors. The general reported to Dragaunus that their methods weren’t working on her and that they should try a different approach. With a diabolical smile and smoldering eyes Dragaunus happily gave Rhynie to Wraith. His tortures were more in the mind than physical, he zapped her a few times with a couple of bolts of lightning, but within a few months Rhynie was broken. She didn’t care how long they tortured her, she didn’t feel anything.

All of her hopes were lost until she heard Siege complaining about the Mighty Ducks. She didn’t know where she was, but if there were other ducks fighting against the Saurians, then she needed to escape.

With a new found fire Rhynie was able to escape after Wraith left her alone. In the midst of escaping and using Chameleon as a meat shield, she swiped his teleporter and disappeared to the location he was locked on.

Rhynie slept for three days, Duke was never far and Tanya visited frequently to play doctor. The scientist reported every other hour that Rhynie’s injuries were healing nicely, which gave everyone a sense of relief. The team didn’t want to get their hopes up, but they hoped Rhynie would join them in their fight against Dragaunus.

           “You can’t be serious?” Duke was frustrated. Rhynie had just woken up hours ago and was currently with Tanya in the showers. She still hasn’t wrapped her head around her situation and Wildwing was already preparing for war.

           “She has insider information about the Raptor, she can get us inside and we can finally finish off Dragaunus. We can go home.” Wildwing was anxious to get home, they all were, but Rhynie needed more time.

           Duke scowled and spoke through clench teeth, “My answer is no.”

           “I’m not trying to take sides here, but isn’t this Rhynie’s decision?” Nosedive asked. The arguing teammates glared at their youngest member and then back at each other.

           Mallory sighed and scratched the back of her head, “I hate to side with Nosedive, but he is right. All of this is Rhynie’s decision and I can tell you right now, from a soldier’s point of view, she’s going to have some serious P.T.S.D.”

Wildwing temporarily dropped the subject, especially when Duke walked out in the middle of their meeting. He passed Tanya on the way and asked to talk their fearless leader out of his crazy plan for the time being. She couldn’t promise anything, but she agreed with Mallory’s theory of the possibility of Rhynie having P.T.S.D.

He walked into his room, half expecting Rhynie to still be in the shower room, but when he looked up from the stats of their next hockey game opponent he nearly jumped out of his skin. Rhynie was standing before a bunch of newspaper clippings of thwarted crimes, victorious hockey games and battles against Dragaunus. She was ringing her hair dry with a towel, while a short white towel clung to her body.

           Paper fluttering to the ground caught her attention. She beamed up at him, “How’d your meeting go?”

           Duke stuttered, his cheeks flushing, “N-n-not exactly good, but we can talk about that later. Let me find you some clothes.”

Rhynie followed Duke around while he searched for something for her to wear, he could hardly think with her being unable to keep herself covered. He managed to find one of his jerseys and a pair of shorts, giving up on finding anything that would fit her. He could have asked Mallory, but even her clothes would have been a tent on his love. She was skinner than he remembered, he couldn’t remember if she was that tiny when he last saw her or if she lost that weight during her year of torment.

He kept his back turned to her until he felt her nimble fingers grasp his shoulder. Duke turned around and Rhynie walked right into him, her arms wrapping around him; burying her face in his chest. He was a little shocked at first, but he eventually embraced her, his arms holding her close—never wanting to let her go again. He could never get used to holding her, to feel her warmth as if she had never died. The grip around her back tightened as Duke shifted his arms to her shoulders and lower back, his face hiding in the nook of her neck. They fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor.

           “Duke…” Rhynie struggled to move her head to look up at him.

           “I’m sorry,” Duke apologized, “It’s still a little hard to believe that you’re alive.”

           His hold loosened, Rhynie positioned herself to sit sideway in his lap; her back resting against Duke’s propped up knees while her legs towered over his right leg. Her head rested against his shoulder while she looked up at him. Duke could see that she was tired; the bags underneath her blue eyes and hazed expression gave her away. She leaned into the hand that caressed her face, her long eyelashes tickling his dark grey skin and placed one of her hands on top of his.

           “I know the feeling.” She whispered as she leaned in to kiss him, but Duke stopped her by turning his head away. “What’s wrong?”

           “It’s nothing…I just…” Duke swallowed the lump in his throat. “You’ve been through a lot. I don’t want you to do anything that you’re not ready for.”

           “What would make you think that?” Rhynie pouted.

           “Well for starters, you’re shaking.” Duke held up her hand to prove his point.

She angrily pulled her hand out of his, her glare burning a hole in the carpet, “I’m just excited, that’s all.”

Duke was shocked, she had never lie to him before and he had never seen her look so hateful. He cupped her face and forced her to look at him, but she still avoided his gaze.

           “Hey, would you look at me?” Duke pathetically begged, but she refused him.

Rhynie stood, walking away from Duke before he caught her by the wrist. He immediately released her when she yelped in pain. She turned her back towards him while rubbing the sensitive flesh. Duke sauntered up to her, holding her from behind and gave her a cheek a quick peek.

           “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” Duke whispered in her ear, “I’m used to chasing harden criminals and Saurian losers. I guess I have to relearn how to chase a hot tail feather like you.”

           Rhynie rotated around in his arms, laughing. “While you’re at it, learn some new pickup lines because that was terrible.”      

           Duke placed a hand over his heart as if he had been shot, “That hurts Rhynie. I’m trying to comfort you and you just shoot me down.”

           Rhynie grabbed him by the cheeks and smooshed them together, “I forgot how much of a drama queen you are.”

There was a loud ponding on the door, “Yo Duke! Phils’ here, he wants us to start practicing.”

“Who’s Phil and why does he sound disappointing?” Rhynie asked sarcastically.

Duke held in his laugher long enough to tell Nosedive that he would there shortly and as soon as the youngest duck was gone Duke broke out in boisterous laughter, leaning over and using Rhynie for support. The one eyed duck talked Rhynie into coming to their practice and the moment she met their manager she leaned over to Duke who had just finished putting on the rest of his gear to tell him that she was right. He entered the ring snickering, leaving the rest of his teammates wondering what he was one.

Wildwing approached Duke, “Can Rhynie skate?”

“That depends on what you had in mind.” Duke replied vaguely.

“Just a little game of two against five. What position does she play?” Wildwing and Duke skated towards Rhynie, but they kept their voices hushed.

“She’s a great defenseman, she can either play offense or defense. But it’s really up to her.”

“What’s up to me?” Rhynie asked bright eyed.

“How would you like to shake things up?” Wildwing asked mischievously.

Rhynie beamed, “I’m in for shaking things up. What did you have in mind?”

Wildwing informed her of his plan while they ventured back to the locker room to find her some gear. Duke and the others practiced their slap shots while the two were away.

“So what exactly are we in for?” Mallory asked apprehensively.

Duke chuckled darkly, “Let me put it to you this way Mal. She’s a rare defenseman, she play both offense and defense and can switch between the two at the drop of a hat. She can defend the net as if she were defending someone’s life, but her offensive is brutal. I have never seen anyone match her skills on the ice.”

             Wildwing had to talk to Mallory before they could ask Rhynie any questions. Giving Duke enough time to calm Rhynie down from her panic attack.

       “I can understand your frustrations Mallory, but you need to back off.” Wildwing warned.

        “She’s a spy, Wildwing!” Mallory shouted. 

         Wildwing’s patience finally snapped, “We have no proof that she is!”

        “We don’t have proof that she’s not!”

      Wildwing and Mallory were moments away from tearing into each other when Tanya and Nosedive appeared before them.

             “We’d hate to break up your predictable fight, but Tanya found something.” Nosedive said, as he pushed Mallory away from his older brother.

      Wildwing took a couple of deep breathes before turning towards Tanya, “What’d you find?”

     “Something that I didn’t even consider until I saw some markings on Rhynie’s wrists and ankles.” She pulled out a photo and held it up to the light. “Do you see these markings and how each of them are different color? Those indicate levels of healing at different times.”

    “Yea, what about them?” Mallory asked.

     “Well I’m not expert, but these are signs of being restrained more than once for hours at a time. Days even.” Tanya explained.

          “You can’t be serious? Tanya are you saying Rhynie was being held as a captive by Dragaunus?” Mallory asked, suddenly feeling like crap.

       “Not just as a captive.” Tanya held up an x-ray of her rib cage in place of the photo, “I didn’t want to show this in front of Duke. But this tiny faded cracks are just like her scars on her wrists and ankles. They indicate a year of abuse, so Rhynie either got into a lot fights or…”

    “Or Dragaunus was torturing her. There’s your proof.”

      “And I feel like a jerk.” Mallory’s shoulders sunk.

     Nosedive wrapped an arm around her shoulders, “Its okay Mal. It wouldn’t be a day if you didn’t jump to conclusions.”

    “Thanks…I think.” Mallory said, pinking Nosedive’s hand until he released her. “I promise to keep my beak shut while we’re in there. And I’ll apologize to Duke…later.”

Wildwing shrugged, smiling meekly as they walked into the room, “Good enough.”

 Duke was sitting next to Rhynie, leaning forward on his knees with his hands clenching together. He was glancing up at her with love in his eye as she finished drinking her water. When she was done, Duke didn’t kiss her forehead or called her Sweet Heart when he took the cup away to fetch her another glass. The others were a little surprised because Duke always seemed like a helpless romantic, but Duke knew something was wrong. He had seen the scars on her body and just by looking into her eyes he didn’t the confident glow her blue eyes once held. Instead, he saw someone who was broken and scared.  

“Rhynie, if you’re up for it, we’d like to ask you some questions.” Wildwing spoke calmly.

“I was a double agent.” Rhynie admitted freely, catching everyone off guard. “I worked for Dragaunus and the PSF. I gave Dragaunus’s forces faulty information while telling the military everything. But the enemy found out somehow and sent me straight to Dragaunus.”

 Rhynie clutched one of her wrists, rubbing the sore skin, and opening and closer her hand. The other’s understood her situation immediately.

 “He did this to you for a year?” Wildwing asked. “We’ve been inside the raptor several times and never saw a sign of you. Not even in the dungeons.”

 “Wraith kept me locked away inside a pocket dimension, so I’m not surprised. When I saw my chance to escape, I took it and grabbed Chameleon’s teleporter. I don’t know or why it brought me here.”

 Duke took one of her hands into his and peered into her eyes. “I need to know how you escaped.”

 Rhynie took a moment to collect her thoughts. “I’m not really sure myself, one minute I’m lying on the ground dying, expecting the explosion and then I’m suddenly inside a Saurian ship with droids all around me.”

 “They must’ve heard about your plan to blow up the base.” Nosedive suggested.

 “Then someone in our group tipped them off.” Rhynie and Duke glared at each other and then said in unison. “Falcone.”

“I told you we couldn’t trust him.” Rhynie gloated.

 “Yea and you never stopped reminding me.” Duke chuckled, “It’s probably a good thing that he’s locked up in a London jail.”

 “I think we have all the answers we need, so we’ll leave you two alone.” Wildwing stated as he pushed his teammates out of the room. “Rhynie if you need anything just let Duke know.”

 “Let me show you around.” Duke held his hand out and when Rhynie reached for it—flashing her scar—he cringed.

 “What’s wrong?”

 Duke swallowed hard, “It’s nothing. I just…do these hurt?”

 He held the back of her hands in his palms as gentle as possible. Rhynie clenched her hands shut, “Not really. They’re just disgusting to look at.”

 Duke stood and wondered over to a cabinet full of gauze and ointment and began to treat each of her injuries. She winced a few times when finished tying up the protective material.

 “Sorry, my hands have gotten a bit rough.” He apologized quietly.

 “They always have been.” Rhynie retorted, “But I’ve never really minded them.”

     Duke beamed up at her, ready to say something witty and sarcastic, but that quickly faded when he saw the tears in her Rhynie’s eyes. He cupped her face, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears that fell. He joined her on the bed, laying all the back with her resting in between his legs—her head on his chest. His arms wrapped around her tightly when Rhynie’s sobbing shook the both of them. He thought that he would have broken down as well, but the shock had finally passed and he was able to think clearly. Duke couldn’t even imagine what kind of hell Rhynie went through for the past year, but he knew one thing for certain. He needed to be strong for her for episodes like these.

       After Rhynie fell asleep, Duke carried her to his room and tucked her into his bed. He sat on the floor beside her and watched as she peacefully slept for the first time in months. Duke caressed her cheek until she sighed deeply and smiled a little at the warmth. He left her when he knew that she was deep asleep and walked into the kitchen to find Mallory and Nosedive sitting across from each other—talking. For the last few months the two had gotten close and even though Nosedive was open about it, Mallory was still denying the reality of their relationship. Not that any of them cared that they were dating, if anything Nosedive’s laid back demeanor smoothed the female’s stubborn edges and Mallory had the same effect on the hot dogging duck.

 “Hey.” He greeted quietly, pouring himself a tall glass of coffee; knowing that he’s not going to be able to sleep at all.

 “How’s Rhynie?” Nosedive asked scooting over to make room for his buddy.

 “Asleep, finally.”  He leaned back into the cushioned bench.

 Nosedive kicked Mallory from across the table and tilted his head towards Duke, who wasn’t paying attention to the two.

 Mallory quickly dropped her glare and turned towards Duke. She cleared her throat to gain his attention, “Listen Duke, I’m…I’m sorry.”

 “About?” Nosedived said as he glanced to the side and pretended to take a swig from his cup.

 “I’m sorry about jumping to conclusions about Rhynie.”

 “And?” Nosedive was smirking as he pushed Mallory along.

   “And I’m happy for you. I hope that she thinks of this place like home and…” She paused to glare at Nosedive before he could interrupt, “I’ll try not act hostile towards her or you...anymore. You’ve earned my trust a long time ago, I was just too stubborn to admit it.”

  The male ducks gawked at each other and then at Mallory, “You feelin’ okay Mal-Mal?” Duke leaned forward and touched her forehead with the back of his hand.

She shoved his hand away and glared at the two jokesters before getting up and storming out of the kitchen. The buddies glanced at each other through the corner of their eyes and broke out in boisterous laughter.

             While Tanya and Wildwing looked after Duke and Rhynie, Nosedive shared the story about them. Explaining why Duke went into shock when the love of his life, who he thought had died over a year ago, suddenly appeared before them.

           Mallory held up the teleporter that zapped Rhynie into their base. “So how’d she get her hands on one of Draganous’s teleporters?”

           Nosedive opened his beak to reply, but then snapped it shut. “I actually have no idea.”

           “She could be a spy.” Grin offered calmly.

           “Like Lucrecia.” Tanya added, as she held a scanner over the girl’s body. “From what I can tell she’s not under any spell or a mind control chip.”

           “So what are the chances that she is a spy?” Wildwing asked.

           “Slim.” Duke suddenly spoke, sitting up in his bed. “Rhynie would never work for that monster.”

           “Up until a few hours ago, you thought she was dead. So how can you be sure?” Mallory asked.

           “Because I’ve known Rhynie for years. She’s always put the needs of others before her own, how do you think she ended up dead? She may have been one of the best out laws, but she never hurt anyone, not unless she was defending herself.”

           Duke and Mallory were inches away from each other, glaring each other down until Wildwing and Grin forced them apart. “Knock it off, both of you. We can’t be sure about anything until Rhynie wakes up. Until then everyone watches her in shifts. Grin you’re first.”

           “Wildwing there’s no need for that, I can watch her.” Duke offered.

           “I’m sorry Duke, I know how much you want to be with her right now, but there are some things we need to discuss.” Wildwing noticed Mallory glaring in Duke’s direction, “Alone.”

           “Wildwing you can’t be serious.” Mallory objected. Wildwing approached the red headed duck and whispered in her ear, “I understand.”

           Mallory left the infirmary, followed by Duke and the boys, leaving Tanya and Grin to look after Rhynie. Eventually Tanya left when she couldn’t find anything medically wrong with her. Duke and Wildwing went drove around until they found a secluded location, a few miles out of Anaheim, to talk.

           “Are you positive Rhynie would never work Draganous?” Wildwing asked.

           “Just gonna soft ball it in there?” Duke replied sarcastically, “I’m positive Wing.”

           “You were positive that she was dead, but now she’s back. Why would Draganous save her?”

           “We’re not sure if he even saved her at all.” Duke retorted angrily.

           “She had one of his teleporters.” Wildwing loved playing the devil’s advocate, maybe a little too much.

           “She could have been one of his prisoners.” Duke suggested.

           “So then she survived getting shot and blown up? How?”

           Duke paused and then sat on the ground in defeat, “I don’t know Wildwing. I honestly don’t have a clue.”

           Wildwing sighed and took a seat next to his comrade, “I don’t mean to be so harsh, Duke. I’d just hate to see you get involved with her again only for her to work for the dark side and get your heart broken again.”

           “Dark side? You and Tanya have been watching Star Wars again, haven’t you?” Duke chuckled, but his light mood quickly switched to a depression vulnerability that he had never shown before. “I had such a hard time letting her go, Wing. I don’t know if Canard told you anything, but when he recruited me I was a drunken mess. If he hadn’t talked me into joining I probably would have died weeks after meeting with him. And honestly I would have welcomed it.”

           Wildwing was at a loss for words, but he knew where his friend was coming from. Watching Canard die before his eyes helped him understand Duke’s point of view even better than their teammates.

           The leader gripped his friend’s shoulder, “For right now, we’ll just keep an eye on her. The last time we trusted someone we almost drowned.”

           Duke groaned, remembering the fight he and Nosedive had over Lucrecia, only to end up in a tank and almost drowning in it. “Don’t remind me.”

           When the boys returned Nosedive sprinted up to them, “She’s awake and I don’t know how much longer Grin and Tanya can keep Mallory from interrogating her.”

           The three ran for the infirmary where they saw Grin pick Mallory up and toss her over his shoulder after apologizing. She struggled to get free while Tanya and the others went inside and locked the door.

           “What’s going on?” The four turned on their heel to find Rhynie standing, aiming a gun at them.

           “Take it easy Rhynie, you’re safe.” Wildwing spoke quietly with his hands up.

           Rhynie panicked and locked her gun onto the fearless leader, “Who are you? Where am I?”

           “We’re from Puck World just like you, but we’re on Earth now fighting Draganous.” Wildwing stopped moving towards the scared girl when he heard her take the safety off.

           Duke stepped in front of Wildwing, Rhynie’s eyes widened in shock. “He’s telling the truth Rhynie. We’re not going to hurt you.”

           “Duke?” Her voice was barely a whisper, “What’s going on?”

           “We’ll get to that, okay? I just need you to put down the gun, so we can talk, okay? I promise you, no one is going to hurt you, sweet heart.” Duke spoke gently as he slowly approached the shaking girl. He gripped the trembling gun and slid it out of her hands, handing it backwards to Wildwing and as soon as the gun was gone Duke embraced Rhynie; tucking her head into his chest while his arm wrapped around her back. Rhynie crumbled into him, letting go of her fear and hooked her arms underneath his arm pits—clutching the material of his uniform in her hands.