My Story
Chapter 7
"Bonding Moment?"
By Me, Mirage (the flashback scene is by Elfy though. She wanted to write something.) (A/N from Elfy, sorrry for any inconvience, but there was some problems in transmitting this from my compter to the school computer then to ff.net. Hopefully all has been fixed.)
Later that day Duke confronted me about the necklace. I was in my room going through my very sparse possessions when he knocked at my door and let himself in.
"Hello, Mirage," he said sarcastically. I ignored the connotation and continued what I was doing.
"Hey, Duke."
"Gotta minute?" he asked casually as he sat down on my bed.
"I guess."
"Mal tells me that you don't have ANY family members alive."
"I told her that my mom and brother were dead," I said as I turned my back to him. I intended to keep it that way. I really didn't want to talk to him at the moment.
"Not so."
"How would you know! You abandoned us!"
"First off, I did not abandon you," he said, keeping his tone level. "And secondly your brother is still alive."
"How would you know?" I scoffed.
"You like repeating yourself, don't you?"
"So what!"
"Vadie, I was with your mother when she died. When the Saurians attacked, the first thing I did was check on your mother and brother. I would have checked on you, but I didn't know where you were." You should have!"
"You ran away. Your mother and I looked for you."
"Then why didn't you find me?"
"Vadie, you're not an easy person to find when you don't want to be found."
"If you did go to check on Mom, why didn't you save her?"
"I got there too late," Duke hung his head.
"See."
"See what? Your mother was mortally wounded defending your brother. All he had were a few bumps and scratches. Vadie, trust me, I didn't leave her alone," he choked on his words as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
I turned to face him and for the first time in my life I saw how much he cared. He was suffering just as much as I was. The old memory was torturing us both.
"I. I didn't."
"It's okay, honey," he cooed as he took me into his comforting arms and held me close. Finally!
We embraced for a good length of time; I didn't want it to stop. He pulled back and looked at my face fondly. I did not notice that I had been crying, but he had. He wiped away a tear as he spoke. "Did you know that she was proud of you?"
"Yeah right," I scoffed. "I made her life a living hell."
"Vadie."
"Face it, Duke, everything I did annoyed her."
"Actually, it annoyed your grandfather."
"Huh?"
"Your mom's dad."
"Oh, him. Of course it would. He never wanted me to be hatched."
"Your mother loved you very much, Vadie. She wanted the best for you."
"They why couldn't she let me be me?"
"Because this isn't you."
"Yes it is. If I'm not me, then who am I?"
"That's a good question?" he laughed. "Who are you and what have you done with my little girl?"
"Dad!"
"Seriously, Vadie, we meant for better things for you."
"My point exactly. You won't let me be myself in order to get those better things. Don't start. I can't be someone I'm not. I'm me, take it or leave it."
"Do I have much of a choice?"
"No," I laughed.
"Ah well, a little miscreant is better then not having one at all. I'll keep ya," he smiled as he gave me a noogie. "Now, what I really came to talk to you about was a small piece of jewelry of mine that's been missing."
"It's mine!"
"Vadie." he said in a threatening tone. "No it is not."
"It was Mom's."
"I know, I gave it to her the day you were hatched."
"Why should you have it? Men don't wear jewelry like that."
"Vadie, give it to me," he extended his hand out to me.
"NO!" I screamed at him as I pushed him away from me.
"Vadie, I'm not kidding around."
"Neither am I."
"Vadie Airella L'Orange!"
"My names Mirage! Can't you get anything right?!"
"Vadie, give it back!" he barked.
"It's all I have," I whispered as I looked at the pendent.
Duke snatched the chain and attempted to pull the necklace away from me, but I held tight to the pendent.
"Let go!"
"No! Why do you care if I have it?"
"Vadie, it's mine."
"No, it's mine!"
"Your mother gave it to me before she died."
"Why? So you could give it to your new ugly girlfriend?"
"Tanya's not ugly. And she's not my girlfriend. She's my wife!"
"She's a fat, pimply, nerd. She's the epitome of ugly!"
"Don't start judging other's, Vadie," Duke said as he finally was able to wretch the necklace from me. "You're not perfect." He turned to leave as I fell to my knees and cried.
"Take it! Take whatever you want! After all, you always got what you wanted."
I didn't hear him stop or turn around, so I was surprised when I felt him place the necklace around my neck. He didn't say anything more and left my room. My words and actions embarrassed me. I know better then to have yelled at him. I should honor him, considering that he IS my father. Even if he has rejected me my entire life.
I quickly got up from the floor and ran after him to apologize. He was right, I did have a family. I caught up with him in the computer room. He was standing on the Drake One's platform with his arms crossed across his chest. I climbed up the platform steps and was about to call his name but I stopped myself when I saw the rest of the team. I approached the group slowly as to not attract attention.
"Okay team, Tanya's been detecting some strange energy signatures on the outskirts of town," Wildwing informed.
"Is it Dragaunus?" Mallory asked.
"I'm not sure, but we need to check it out?" Tanya said.
"So who's going to baby-sit the little thief?" Duke asked with venom in his voice.
Wildwing cast Duke a questioning look and Nosedive cleared his throat and pointed at me. Duke turned and looked at me and shrugged. It appeared that he wasn't phased by the fact that I had heard him degrade me.
"Um. well."
Drake One sprang to life at that moment with sirens and lights blazing. Wildwing quickly turned to Tanya who keyed in commands to the keyboard. "What is it?"
"It's."
"Greetings Ducks!" Dragaunus growled from the huge monitor.
"Dragaunus," Wildwing seethed. "What do you want?"
"Dragaunus?" I whispered. I wanted to run, but I was held to my spot with fear. I guess Duke saw me shacking with fear and grabbed my hand.
"Don't worry he can't hurt you," he soothed.
We turned our attention back to the main screen.
"I have a gift for you. It appears that a friend of yours came to visit us for dinner. I'm afraid the meal wasn't to his expectations and now he's. *clears throat* (he stepped out of the cameras view and panned it around the ship) sick."
After scanning the dark room the picture landed in a corner where a figure was strapped to a torture rack and had three lizards looming over him. The duck had been severely beaten.
"Jack!" I screamed running forth.
"What?! I thought you fools said she was dead!" Draggy bellowed
"Dead? What are you talking about you disgusting, vile piece of trash?" I spat, outraged that someone would mistake me for carrion.
"Ah well, that's simple my dear." Dragaunus said to the camera. "Your friend." he returned to shot of Jack.
"Jack!"
Jake looked up and instantly recognized me. "Mirage! Don't listen to them! OOF"
"Why you!"
"Why yes, I do believe that . HE DIES!"
Siege and Chameleon stepped up and began to pound Jack relentlessly. I tried to attack the image, but Wildwing and Duke held me back. The image disappeared, leaving Dragaunus' evil laughter in my ears. I continued to fight Wing and Duke. I wanted to kill that lizard for daring to hurt my friend.
"Jack! NO! JACK!"
"Mirage, calm down."
"Jack!" I sobbed falling into Wing's arms. "No."
Wing helped me to a seat and sat me down before kneeling beside me. "Mirage, tell us what's going on."
"Jack." I mumbled.
"Who is Jack?"
"My friend."
"How did you get to Earth?"
"And what did 'ol Lizard lips mean about you being dead?" Duke asked.
"I don't know."
I looked up and found everyone staring at me. They thought I was lying, but I wasn't. I really didn't know how I got there.
*Flashback*
"So Jack, what now?"
"A hot bath, and something to eat."
"Your funny."
"No I'm an old man. I need special accommodations in my old age."
"You're not old."
"Mirage, I'm not exactly young."
"Does that really matter?"
"In this business it does."
Jack and Mirage reached their destination and Jack held open the door for Mirage. They went in and found three Saurians in their private hideout. A battle insued and the Saurians activated a portal, but even they were not expecting what happened next. Instead of being able to teleport away the portal turned into a vortex and started to suck everything into it like a black hole. Jack quickly grabbed a pole and Mirage tired to hold onto the doorframe. The suction soon overcame her strength and Mirage was ripped from the wall. Jack thought quickly though, and reacted just in time to save her from being swallowed by the vortex.
"Hold on, Mirage!" Jack screamed over the noise.
"Jack I'm slipping."
"HOLD ON!"
"Jack look out!"
Jack turned and found a large wooden desk flying straight at he and Mirage. He tried to pull Mirage out of the large object's path, but he wasn't strong enough. The desk slammed into them and everything went black.
***
I tired to shake the old memory from my mind.
"Mirage, tell us," Wildwing begged earnestly. "We can't help you or Jack if you don't tell us."
"I don't' know," I whined. "All I can remember is being attacked by Saurinas and something went wrong, terribly wrong. Jack and I were separated. I don't know how I got here or what Lizard lips is talking about me being dead. I didn't even know that Jack was here. This is all my fault. I should never have fooled around, I should have been out looking for him."
"Don't be hard on yourself kid," Duke winked. "You didn't know."
"But I should have."
"That's enough!" Wing barked. "Tanya, did you get a fix on where that broadcast was coming from?"
"Sorry Wing, they were triple encoding it."
"Great. Don't worry Mirage. We'll find out where Dragaunus is holding him and we'll get him back."
"I'm coming with you."
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because that's an order. You are to stay here."
"But I want to help."
"You'll help us more by staying out of the way."
"Fine!"
Wildwing had my under constant surveillance for the rest of the night. He even placed a guard outside my bedroom door so I wouldn't try to run off in the middle of the night to save Jack by myself. I'm so sure! Like I would do something that stupid! I mean come on, every thief knows that if your trying to escape without being seen you use the ventilation system not the door!
If you couldn't tell I did attempt to leave that night through the ducts, but Duke caught me. I was crawling along this one shaft when I heard him clear his throat behind me. "Going for a moonlight crawl?"
"Shut up Duke."
"Listen sweet heart, Wildwing said no."
"SO. He's your leader not mine."
"I can't let you go."
"Watch me."
"Nope. Wildwing said you were not to go anywhere without someone."
"So what are you going to do? Tell him I'm leaving? If you are then you had better hurry up and tell him."
"Nuh-uh."
"What?" I asked looking back at him.
He removed his bathrobe and smiled at me. "I know a quicker way out of here."
"What?"
"You want to save this friend of yours don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Then lets get going."
We crawled in the cooling ducts until we were in the garage where Duke kicked out the grate and jumped out. *I hate it when he does that.*
As I lowered myself to the ground I heard someone hiss "not so loud. You'll wake up the others."
Duke helped me out of the vent and set me on the ground. I turned and found Tanya in the shadows. "I'll stall them as long as possible, but if you're not back within three hours I'm going to send them after you. Keep in constant contact."
"Don't worry sweet heart we'll be in and out before Draggy knows what hit him. Just get the medicom bed warmed up for our arrival okay."
Tanya left us and Duke prepared the ducks cycles. The entire time I had been staring at Dukes maroon and black jump suit.
"What are you wearing?" I asked.
"What every master thief does."
I had to laugh. We sure did make an awkward pair in our matching tight fitting outfits (except mine was all black). Father like daughter, right?
"So, where do we go now?"
"Grab a duck cycle."
"I don't know how to ride one."
"Just grab one. I'll show you how to use it outside. Don't start the engine in here!"
We walked the bikes outside where Duke started them up and showed me how to drive the stupid contraption.
"Can you remember where that dumpster was?" he asked me as we raced down the poorly illuminated streets of Anaheim.
"Well let's see. I was only there once and that was several months ago."
"Don't get smart," Duke remarked before revving his engine and speeding away.
"Wait! Duke! I'm not good at this yet!"
When I finally caught up to him we were across town on the wrong side of the tracks.
"Took you long enough," he smiled.
"Very funny. You know I'm new at this."
"Live and learn. Did you find it yet?"
"What?! I was trying to find you. I can't believe you expected me to find. there it is!"
"Huh?"
"There! That's the building."
Duke looked the building up and down and whistled. When he was finished admiring the façade he turned to me. "How'd you make it to the Pond?"
"I walked."
He rolled his eyes. "You do know that this is the bad part of town."
"Funny, I grew up in one."
"Vadie, I'm serious. You could have been hurt."
"Life's a dangerous business. Let's go get Jack."
We parked the duckcycles half a block away and walked back to the alley where my body had been dumped. Revisiting the place with that new knowledge sent shivers up my spine. If Dragaunus had had his way this would have been my final resting-place.
"You okay?"
I looked up and found Duke holding his arm out to me. "Yeah, fine," I said with a shaky voice.
"Okay, lets go." Duke fired his grappling puck up to the roof, made sure it was safely fastened before extending his arm to me.
"What?"
"Come on."
"I looked at the vertical edifice. He wanted me to scale the wall?! I already told you about my fear of heights. So I faced them when I climbed up the fire escape after Jack on Puckworld. This building didn't have one!
"Come on, Vadie."
I swallowed hard. "That way?"
"Of course this way."
"Can't we just use the front door?"
Duke glared at me. "Vadie, come on. I thought you wanted to save your friend."
"I do, but it's just that. I don't have one of those," I said pointing at his grappling puck.
"That's okay, we'll use mine."
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other nervously. I was uneasy about the concept.
"Come on, Vadie."
"Would it hurt you to call me Mirage?"
He chuckled softly. "If you were a figment of my imagination, I might."
"Very funny," I said stepping closer to him.
"Besides would it hurt you to call me dad?" I was about to say something to the effect of 'I thought you didn't want anyone to know', but I was cut off when he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulled me tight and said "hold tight". The next thing I knew we were up, up and away. And holding tight, you bet I did! So tight that he had to tell me to loosen up.
As we flew upwards the cool rush of air forced my loose hair to fly around, inadvertently tickling our faces. Duke stopped and looked at me.
"Kid, mind tying your hair back?"
"As soon as I feel something below my feet," I cowered with my eyes tightly shut.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Open your eyes."
I complied and looked at him. It was funny to see him like that. It was like a scene from one of Nosedive's Spiderman comics where he's rescuing 'Mary Jane'. I smiled at him and looked down. BIG MISTAKE! I flipped and resumed my death hold on Duke.
"Vadie, your nails!"
"Don't drop me," I begged.
"Why would I. oh come on don't tell me that your. you are. You're afraid of heights.
"So, what!"
"Ooh hoo, this is too funny. My little girl, the wannabe thief is afraid of heights."
"So!"
"You'll never make it in the family business."
"I will too!"
"Really? Then open that grate."
I turned and looked at what he was referring to. Great he wanted me to perform the simplest task ever as we dangled a gazillion whatever's above the ground with only one tiny thread supporting us.
"Come on, Vadie. I can't do it."
"Why not? I thought you were a master thief?"
"Cute, but if you hadn't noticed, I have my hands full."
"Oh."
Duh, Mirage! Man I can be stupid at times. Talk about missing the obvious. Now was the time my 'special' skills came in handy. I forgot about (or at least I tried to) my current predicament. I got the grate off in no time flat and quickly hauled my tender booty into the shaft. Thank the Lord I had something solid under me again. A minute later Duke was next to me and removing the grappling puck from his wrist.
"Not bad."
"Not bad?!"
"Okay, so you're better then a few crooks I know."
"I'm better then ALL of your so called 'brotherhood' friends."
"Don't let it go to your head, come on."
We crawled through the ventilation system just a few paces when I realized that this system wasn't like the ones the humans built.
"Duke," I hissed.
"What?"
"Where are we?"
"In the Raptor. Good job, now lets get Jack and get out of here."
Duke led the way. I didn't know anything about the 'Raptor', As we crawled along I noticed the stench that reached my nostrils. It was a stale putrid odor. Dirty socks, mildew, rotten carcass' and sewage rolled into one, yuck! On top of that there was a heavy scent of sulfur (rotten eggs) and a stifling heat. Lovely place, really it is. I think I may go there on my next vacation. if I wanted to kill myself! Duke stopped dead in his tracks and because I wasn't paying attention to him, but the smell and heat, I ran into him.
"Do you mind," he hissed.
"Sorry, I'm a little busy."
"With what?"
"Keeping my internals in their proper places."
He gave a mirthful snort. "Noticed it did you?"
"Who wouldn't?"
"Okay, we can't go any further in the vents. This is where we go on foot."
He opened the grate and before it fell to the floor with a loud clatter he grabbed it and pulled in into the shaft. He poked his head down in the corridor to make sure the coast was clear before rolling out of the shaft headfirst. *Show off.* I slid out of the vent feet first, as Duke stood below with his arms stretched up to me. As soon as I was low enough he grabbed my waist and helped lower me to the floor. (I do not need help!) Once we were safely on the ground we carefully made our way through the corridors.
The ship was dimly lit and if you thought the stench was bad in the vents the corridor was ten times worse. It smelled like armpits and smelly feet with a side order of decomposing rats. The heat in the vents was horrible, but out here in the open it was just as bad, just not as confining.
I walked casually behind Duke through the ship contemplating ways of cleaning up the stench. I was thrown off guard when Duke pulled me, not too nicely I might add, into a little crevice that was hidden by the shadows.
"What are you?" I began, but he clamped my beak shut so I could not continue.
A minute later I heard the approaching footsteps of three saurians.
"Not so Chameleon, Lord Dragaunus has plans for him."
"But Wraith, I thought he told the ducks that we were going to kill him?"
"We will, as soon as they come for him. Lord Dragaunus wants to see their faces as he rips his head from his shoulders."
"But he's already half dead!"
Siege shrugged, "whatever makes it easier. There will be less blood though."
"Oh I can't wait. Mmm, mmm, mmm duck delights. What can we make with duck?"
Their footsteps receded and Duke removed his hand from my beak. I let go of the breath that I had been holding (I did not realize that I had been holding it till this moment) and relaxed my tense body against Duke. I could feel him relax as well in the tiny shadow that concealed us. It was a good thing that the ship was dimly lit, otherwise they would have easily seen us hiding there.
"Come on, but this time pay attention!" Duke whispered angrily.
I feel stupid! I know better then to let my guard down when sneaking about in unfamiliar surroundings, but I guess my mind was on other things. We again resumed our search for Jack. We headed in the direction that the Saurians had come. Duke was betting on the fact that they must have just come from torturing him. I kept an extra eye over my shoulder, just in case I missed their sudden approach again. Besides I didn't want to be caught off guard again and have Duke ridicule me. Some thief I was turning out to be huh? I must have made a bad impression with that major mistake.
Anyway the ship was a disaster. There were piles of garbage and debris lying all over the place. The rooms that we passed were dark, hiding whatever horrid secrets within. Each room had a different odor. Some smelled like the Saurians, others smelled of rotting flesh and others still of decomposing garbage. How can anyone live in such a fetid condition I do not know! Duke continued to cautiously lead us forward. He seemed to know where he was going, but I had my doubts. We passed another dark room, this one smelled of fresh blood. Maybe the Saruians hadn't just finished beating Jack, but finished a grotesque meal on live human flesh. I did not want to know, but then I heard something from within the room. It sounded like something slid against the floor.
"Duke," I hissed.
"What?"
"Something's in there," I pointed at the room.
"Leave it there. Who knows what Draggy is hiding in his ship."
"What if it's Jack?"
"He'd be in a torture chamber in a remote part of the ship."
I heard the noise again.
"We should check it out."
"No."
"But."
"Vadie."
"Please Duke."
"Oh, fine."
We cautiously walked into the room and activated a flashlight. Duke scanned the room with our tiny beacon. The sound came from a corner and he flashed his light in the direction. A rat came crawling out from under a pile of garbage and scurried into a hole in the wall.
"Happy. It's a rat."
"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't Jack."
"Next time listen to me," Duke harshly spoke and walked out of the room.
"It could have been him," I mumbled.
We went deeper into the ship and down towards the dungeons. Do ships have dungeons? Or are they called the brig? I guess it would be the brig. But Duke said that Jack would have been held hostage in a torture chamber. Where would a torture chamber be held on a ship? I don't know. I was just getting tired of slinking around in this disease-ridden ship. Who knows what I could catch in that squalor!
We continued on as I contemplated ways of rendering Duke unconscious so I could find Jack on my own. His cautious antics were driving me up a wall. I wanted to move and fast, but all Duke did was go and stop, go and stop. AH! The Saurians were behind us not in front! I was about ready to beat him over the head with the hilt of my saber when we heard someone cough in the room on our right.
"Hurry, Vadie."
Duke rushed ahead and hid in a shadow filled alcove. Curiosity had the best of me. I wanted to know what was in the room that smelled like garlic. Yeah I know. Funny how I smelled garlic in that ship, but I did.
I rushed in and found my self completely immersed in complete dark abyss. I heard Duke call my name (not too loud though). I was surprised to find him behind me the next moment. He started to pull me out of the room when the lights came on. A hunter drone stood nearby and leveled its blaster at us. Duke quickly pushed me to the side and demolished the blasted machine before it could get a shot off. Duke pulled me to my feet and pushed me toward the exit. "I thought I told you to listen to me!" he growled.
"But, Duke."
"Not another word from you!"
"Look, it's Jack!"
Duke turned and found Jack slumped over strapped to the semivertical medieval torture device. He moaned and tried to lift his head. I ran to my battered friend's side. I took his head in my hands and helped him to look up. His injuries were many and the wounds infected.
"Jack? Can you hear me? Jack?"
He opened his eyes and looked at me, but they held no recognition. This freaked me out. I had known Jack for six years; he should have instantly recognized me. "Jack?" I whispered.
He closed his eyes and let his head fall to his chest. His entire body had gone limp and I was afraid that he had just died.
"Jack! Duke Help!"
Duke was already there trying to untie his right arm. "Quickly, Vadie, untie him."
I didn't hear Duke. Instead I grabbed Jacks jaw and gently lifted his head again. "Jack, wake up. Jack, please don't die on me now," I pleaded earnestly. "Come on Jack."
He opened his eyes and looked at me. I nervously searched his face for any sign that he recognized me, but I didn't get anything. "Jack, it's me, Mirage." His head began to fall again, but I refused to let him go. "Jack, look at me. Damn it Jack don't give up!"
"Vadie, help me," Duke said as he untied Jack's right leg.
I looked down at Duke, noticing him for the first time. I wanted to help him, but if I did Jack's head would have fallen down and I had to keep him up and alert. I looked back at Jack and found that he had taken his free right hand and was attempting to touch my cheek. He smiled at me and petted my damp cheek. I grabbed his hand, holding it to my cheek and held onto it for dear life. I didn't care that I was in mortal danger at that very moment all I wanted was to have Jack know that I was there for him.
"Mirage," he said weakly.
"Yes, Jack, it's me."
"Run. Leave me."
"No," I shook my head. "What are you saying? You know that I can't leave you."
"Do it. I'm already dead."
"Jack. Duke."
Duke stood up and started to untie Jack's last restraint. Jack turned and looked at him. "Duke?" His voice was filled with confusion and befuddlement.
Duke looked at him and practically fell over backwards.
"POP?!"
"Duke, please. get her out of here."
"Hand on old timer, one more rope and.. You're free!"
Jack practically collapsed onto the floor when his last bond was broke.
"Duke!"
"I've got him," Duke said as he slid an arm around Jack's back and held him upright. "Lead the way Vadie."
"No, I'm helping Jack," I protested.
"You'll help him out a hell of a lot better if you look out for Saurians."
He was right. If we ran into trouble, Jack was dead. I led the way out of the cell and up the corridor back to the open grate in the vents. After a few feet of struggling, Duke had me come back and help him carry Jack. It was taking forever to get him back. We finally made it though. I went into the vent first so I could half pull as Duke half pushed Jack into the vent. Once Jack was halfway in the duct I had to do all the pulling.
"Vadie," Duke hissed.
"What?"
"Hurry up, they're coming back."
I worked double time trying to pull Jack's unconscious form into the vent. I tried everything but I couldn't seem to budge him. I could hear the approaching footsteps as if it were an army of soldiers running at me with bayonets flashing. Now I could hear their conversation and I could smell their body odor. If I didn't pull Jack up soon we were all dead! And Duke was still standing below the open grate watching me struggle. Even if I did get Jack into the shaft, Duke was a dead duck. I finally rolled Jack onto his back and was able to pull him in. Just in time I might add.
Once the Saurians were gone, I looked down. I don't know why, but I did. Duke wasn't there. Great! He ran off and I was all alone with a half-dead Jack! What was I to do now?! I leaned back and watched Jack breath shallow breaths. There was no way I was going to get his battered frame back to the Pond by myself. I gave up. You heard me, I gave up. I had nothing left. No plan, no spirit, no nothing. I closed my eyes and cried. I heard something hit the shaft but I didn't care. I heard the sheet metal vibrate slightly and felt it bend, but I took no further notice. The Saurinas had found Jack missing and had just found me. I was dead too.
"Vadie!"
I opened my eyes and crawled to the opening in the vent. Duke was clinging to the edge. Give me a hand."
I immediately helped him into the duct. If it had been any other situation I would have started clapping.
"How is he?"
"Out cold."
"Good, let's get going. And next time don't forget to pull his feet in. They were dangling there like tinsel on a Christmas tree."
"Tinsel? Christmas tree? What's that?"
"Never mind, let's go."
Duke carried Jack on his back to our exit. When we got there Duke lowered Jack gently off his back.
"What now?"
"You go down first."
"But what about Jack?"
"I'll deal with that."
"Don't hurt him!"
"I'm not going through all this trouble of rescuing him to hurt him Vadie."
"Mirage?" Jack whispered.
"Jack, you're awake!"
"Mirage, I knew you'd come."
Jack lifted his chin and looked up to find Duke cradling his head in his lap. "Duke?"
"Hiya, Pop."
Jack looked back at me and shook his head in disapproval. "Couldn't you have found someone else?"
"Beggars can't be choosers," Duke remarked with mild venom in his voice. "Your first Vadie, Hold on tight. When you get down push this button and it will come back to me."
"But."
"Mirage, do what he says and stop being such a coward."
"I'm not a coward."
"The only way you're going to get over this fear of heights is if you face it."
"I have!"
"Just go!" Duke ordered.
"WHAT!!!" Dragaunus bellowed. The exclamation shook the entire ship.
"They found me missing," Jack laughed with labored breathing.
"Won't be too long before they find us, go, Mirage," Duke said coolly.
I took the grappling puck and lowered myself to the ground. As I made my descent the last thing I heard from Jack scared me.
"Is she gone?"
"She's going."
"Good. Leave me. I'm already a goner."
"Don't say things like that."
"Duke, don't argue. For once in your life will you do what I say!"
"Nope." You're as bad as your mother."
"You married her."
"And to make matters worse you had to marry a rich girl."
"Dad."
"Duke, I know I've never told you this, but seeing as I'm not going to make it." Stop that! You'll make it."
"I'm proud of you son."
"Thanks, Pop," Duke choked back a tear. "Looks like our rides here, ready to go?"
"Now I know where she gets her stubborn streak from." Duke laughed, "Just remember I get mine from you."
"I thought you got that from your mother?"
Duke attached the grappling puck to his belt and lifted Jack into a fireman's carry before swinging himself out of the vent shaft. I watched nervously from the ground as they slowly made their way towards me. Duke slipped a couple of times, thankfully he didn't drop Jack.
"Oof, Duke, didn't your mother, oof, ever teach you, uh, to treat your parents with respect?"
"Of course she did Pop."
"Since when is treating me, ugh, like a sack of potatoes is, oof, respectful?"
"Since you refuse to carry your own weight."
"Will you two stop arguing?" I hissed.
"Who said we were arguing?" They smiled at me.
"Men!"
"Go warm up the duck cycles," Duke nodded to me.
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
I quickly ran off completely unsatisfied that they were anywhere near speaking terms. They have been on 'you die the next time we meet' terms since I can remember.
"Duke, go easy on her."
"Since when do I need help with your parenting skills?"
"Since you're failing miserably."
"And you were father of the year?" Duke scoffed.
"I never said that. I did what I thought was best, but I guess the L'Orange curse will never end."
"It should have ended with Vadie." Mirage is too smart for that. Do you really think that she wanted to be known as the daughter of the best jewel thief on Puckworld and not be able to follow in your footsteps?" You've got a point there, Pop, but what kind of life has she chosen?"
"The same one we chose."
"You know as well as I do that chicks like her get raped and killed." That's why she has never had the unpleasure of having such experiences. and never will."
They sure did take their time coming to the cycles. Duke insisted on taking Jack on his. He said something about my riding skills were outrageously infantile. What's that suppose to mean? Well he did it again. He took off without me as soon as we were a block away from the Raptor. Hey the Saurian's could have caught me and tortured me! Even after his 'this is the bad part of town' speech he left me. Uh! He makes me so mad at times. When I finally got back to the Pond Wildwing met me in the hanger. Nosedive stood quietly behind him.
"Where have you been?" He barked.
"No time to talk, where's Duke?"
Wildwing grabbed my arm and forced me to face him. "Answer me."
"Where's Duke?"
"Mirage!"
"We went to get Jack."
"I thought I told you no!"
"You say a lot of things I never listen to, where's Duke?"
"He ran to the infirmary," Nosedive informed.
"Dive, stay out of this."
I smacked Wildwing and raced to find Jack. Sure enough Duke had taken him to the infirmary. Tanya and Duke were hovering over him and Mallory and Grin were standing a few paces back watching them work. I ran past all of them and pulled Tanya away from Jack. "Jack?" I was wondering when you were going to show up, Mirage?" He said with a weak smile. You idiot! Stop scaring me!" I playfully slapped his right shoulder.
He groaned in pain and grabbed his arm. I immediately felt sorry for my actions and tired to rectify my mistake. Tanya glared at me and tired to get me to back off, but I didn't want to leave Jack alone. Luckily Jack smiled and drew Tanya's attention back to him when he asked, "What's the verdict?"
"Well, if they had waited any longer I'd say you'd never had made it."
"What's wrong with him Tawn?" Duke asked impatiently.
I actually think that I detected a little tint of concern in is voice and a tear in his eye.
"He'll be fine as soon as all of the cuts and bruises heal. Not to mention all the broken bones and infection."
"Jack, what happened?" I asked.
"I got caught on the bad side of town princess. My luck wore out."
"Mirage, can I please finish?" Tanya asked as she pushed herself between Jack and I. She looked hooked Jack up to a ventilator and an IV.
"What are those for?"
"He's dehydrated and this will help him breath easier."
"They broke several ribs," Mallory pointed out.
I felt horrible. Jack was in such terrible shape and pain and I could not do anything to help.
"Mirage, why don't you get out of the way so Tanya can work?" Wildwing asked. I never noticed that he and Nosedive had come into the room.
"Mirage," Jack said. "Come here I need you to do something."
"Sure Jack."
He extended his bandaged hand to me and took a hold of my hand. At least this time I wasn't the one to be disobeying Wildwing. I pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. The ducks watched me carefully as I held onto his hand and stoked his battered cheek. I had him back and that's all that mattered.
"I don't get it!" Nosedive finally exclaimed.
"Get what?" Jack asked.
"I thought Jack was your boyfriend, Mirage. This guy is old enough to be."
"Her grandfather," Duke finished.
"Yeah."
Jack started to laugh, but he stopped and clutched at his battered chest.
"Jack," I said helping him lay back down.
He started to snicker again and looked at Nosedive. "You are a funny one kid. Mirage isn't my girlfriend. She's my granddaughter." He reached up and caressed my cheek then softly traced my beak line with his index finger. I leaned over and kissed his forehead, careful not to touch the open wounds.
"Guys, as you guessed this is Jack, Jack these are the Mighty Ducks."
"Bravo Duke, marvelously done," Jack sarcastically applauded.
"Do you think you can do better?"
"Of course. You don't make introductions like that."
"Oh really?"
"You introduce the lovely ladies first and by their names."
I frowned at the term 'lovely' and 'ladies'. He must have been using them loosely when referring to Tanya and Mallory.
"Would you like to introduce them to me Mirage?" Not particularly."
He gave me a hard look. "Mind your manners. You're their guest."
"Oh fine," I huffed. "This is Tanya (I overly did the pronunciation and added an immense loathsome tone), Mallory, Grin, Nosedive, and Wildwing. You'll meet Phil later and when you do, run!"
"Eh, better then Duke's, but still rude."
"Forgive me, I forgot that I was suppose to have manners," I rolled my eyes.
"Well I guess I'll have to introduce myself then. Mighty Ducks permit me to introduce myself, Jack L'Orange, at your service." He added a small awkward bow and extravagant hand gesture to emphasize his name.
"L'Orange!" Mallory gasped.
"That means." Tanya trailed off.
"Ah, ah, ah, you're assuming too much my dear Tanya."
"So you have other children?"
"You're assuming again."
"So."
"I'm afraid your assumptions are correct, but my point is that you shouldn't judge someone by first impressions. You may be missing their best features."
"Wait a minute!" Mallory yelled. "Mirage is Duke's daughter?!"
"Her name is Vadie Airella L'Orange, Mal," Duke corrected.
"No, my name is Mirage. Jack gave it to me," I smiled smugly.
I looked at each of the ducks to see their full reactions. Mallory, Tanya, and Wildwing all had looks of shock plainly painted on their faces. Nosedive was wrestling with the concept and Grin looked like someone had beaten him up. I guess he was hurt because I never told him. Duke was a little upset; I could see it on his face.
After the immediate formalities were taken care of everyone left Jack and I alone. I was so glad that someone finally told them that I was Duke's daughter. He finally didn't have any excuses from ostracizing me.
"That went well," Jack sighed leaning back.
"Thanks."
"Vadie, he hadn't told them, had he?"
"No, and he wasn't' going to either."
Jack sighed again and closed his eyes. "This little feud is never going to end. Why didn't you tell me? I would have kept my beak shut."
"But."
"He must have had a good reason for keeping the truth from them."
"And keeping me at an arms length away."
"Vadie, your hormones are ruling your emotions."
"So!"
"So think! Duke's not stupid. He's a genius in some respects. If he wanted to keep the knowledge that you are his daughter a secret then maybe you should have respected that."
"If he wanted to keep my existence a secret he wouldn't have let me been hatched or to be branded with the mark of the 'Brotherhood'".
"Are you ashamed of your heritage? Are you ashamed of your special marks?"
"No! I earned these," I gestured to the tattoos I received when I joined Jack's organization. "I don't want this." (referring to the 'Brotherhoods' mark on my right pelvic girdle.)
"It's there to keep you safe. No one would dare try and rape you if they knew that you are Duke's daughter. And you didn't earn the one on your other hip. I gave you that to you for the same reason."
"So my entire life as a thief has been a lie!"
"No. You are a great thief. You're better then I was or Duke is. Unfortunately the L'Orange curse will still go on."
***
Tanya knocked on Duke's door and waited for a reply. She knew he was in there and when she did not get a reply she let herself in. "Duke?"
"What?" he asked from where he sat on the floor in front of his closet.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Duke was going through his socks. He had three piles, one for good socks, one for those with minimal holes and a third in the garbage can that were completely destroyed.
"What are you doing?" Tanya laughed.
"Going through my things. Until Jack gets well enough and gets a chance to go to the mall to get some things of his own he needs a few changes in clothes. I'm getting a few of my old stuff together so he can."
Tanya put her hand on top of his and made him face her. "What's going on?"
"I said I was."
She clamped his beak shut. "Duke why didn't' you tell me Mirage was your daughter?"
She released his bill and waited for a reply. Duke sat for several minutes with his shoulders slumped forward and head down. "Tanya," he mumbled. "Would you have believed me if I had?"
"Of course I would have."
"She's not illegitimate," Duke snapped his head up to look Tanya in the eyes. "Her mother and I were married for seven years before we had her."
"Duke I'm not accusing you of."
"Oh Tanya, I miss her."
Tanya blinked at Duke.
"Vadie doesn't understand. You probably don't understand. When I lost her I lost the best part of me. I couldn't stop stealing. I wanted to, really I did, but how was I suppose to support a wife and kid if I went to prison? If I tired to get a real job like Ava wanted me to, the instant they did a background check I would have been in the slammer. I did the best I could with what I had."
"Duke I don't condemn you for your past actions," Tanya soothed as she hugged Duke.
"But Ava did and Vadie still does. She hates you because we are married."
"It takes time for children to get use to new environments."
"She's not a child Tanya, she's eighteen. She's practically a woman."
"Then you have to let her go."
"What?"
"Let her mature into the woman you want her to become. Let her make mistakes and be there for her when she needs you."
"Tanya."
"Duke, trust me. All she wants is for you to accept and love her. She wants you to be her Dad."
"But how can I? I haven't been there."
"I don't believe that for one instant Duke L'Orange!"
Duke chuckled, "how can you know me this well?"
"It's not that hard."
"So, how are we going to make this into a happy family?"
The End.
I hope you like. Thanks again to Elfy for letting me take up her valuable space. And now a friendly reminder from your neighborhood Elfy.
Reminder: Our choices influence our actions and our actions influence whom we become. Who we are has a direct reflection on those we love the most. If we choose to follow the crowd and get messed up with smoking, alcohol, drugs and sex we loose the best thing we ever had, ourselves. Don't fall into temptation, make the correct choices. Now not all temptation is bad. Ice Cream is a very enticing temptation. It doesn't have any terrible consequences (so long as I eat some protein afterwards, stupid hypoglycemia. Thanks Lily for the helpful hints. Everything is going great now! =) ). Now the only drawback to ice cream is the few extra inches that get packed onto my waist line and the extra padding on my butt, but isn't that there for a reason? Oh yeah it's a bumper when I check people into the boards. Speaking of ice cream. I think I'll go have some, bye. (With a few peanuts for protein *winks*.)
Smile, Live, Laugh, Love and God Bless.
Chapter 7
"Bonding Moment?"
By Me, Mirage (the flashback scene is by Elfy though. She wanted to write something.) (A/N from Elfy, sorrry for any inconvience, but there was some problems in transmitting this from my compter to the school computer then to ff.net. Hopefully all has been fixed.)
Later that day Duke confronted me about the necklace. I was in my room going through my very sparse possessions when he knocked at my door and let himself in.
"Hello, Mirage," he said sarcastically. I ignored the connotation and continued what I was doing.
"Hey, Duke."
"Gotta minute?" he asked casually as he sat down on my bed.
"I guess."
"Mal tells me that you don't have ANY family members alive."
"I told her that my mom and brother were dead," I said as I turned my back to him. I intended to keep it that way. I really didn't want to talk to him at the moment.
"Not so."
"How would you know! You abandoned us!"
"First off, I did not abandon you," he said, keeping his tone level. "And secondly your brother is still alive."
"How would you know?" I scoffed.
"You like repeating yourself, don't you?"
"So what!"
"Vadie, I was with your mother when she died. When the Saurians attacked, the first thing I did was check on your mother and brother. I would have checked on you, but I didn't know where you were." You should have!"
"You ran away. Your mother and I looked for you."
"Then why didn't you find me?"
"Vadie, you're not an easy person to find when you don't want to be found."
"If you did go to check on Mom, why didn't you save her?"
"I got there too late," Duke hung his head.
"See."
"See what? Your mother was mortally wounded defending your brother. All he had were a few bumps and scratches. Vadie, trust me, I didn't leave her alone," he choked on his words as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
I turned to face him and for the first time in my life I saw how much he cared. He was suffering just as much as I was. The old memory was torturing us both.
"I. I didn't."
"It's okay, honey," he cooed as he took me into his comforting arms and held me close. Finally!
We embraced for a good length of time; I didn't want it to stop. He pulled back and looked at my face fondly. I did not notice that I had been crying, but he had. He wiped away a tear as he spoke. "Did you know that she was proud of you?"
"Yeah right," I scoffed. "I made her life a living hell."
"Vadie."
"Face it, Duke, everything I did annoyed her."
"Actually, it annoyed your grandfather."
"Huh?"
"Your mom's dad."
"Oh, him. Of course it would. He never wanted me to be hatched."
"Your mother loved you very much, Vadie. She wanted the best for you."
"They why couldn't she let me be me?"
"Because this isn't you."
"Yes it is. If I'm not me, then who am I?"
"That's a good question?" he laughed. "Who are you and what have you done with my little girl?"
"Dad!"
"Seriously, Vadie, we meant for better things for you."
"My point exactly. You won't let me be myself in order to get those better things. Don't start. I can't be someone I'm not. I'm me, take it or leave it."
"Do I have much of a choice?"
"No," I laughed.
"Ah well, a little miscreant is better then not having one at all. I'll keep ya," he smiled as he gave me a noogie. "Now, what I really came to talk to you about was a small piece of jewelry of mine that's been missing."
"It's mine!"
"Vadie." he said in a threatening tone. "No it is not."
"It was Mom's."
"I know, I gave it to her the day you were hatched."
"Why should you have it? Men don't wear jewelry like that."
"Vadie, give it to me," he extended his hand out to me.
"NO!" I screamed at him as I pushed him away from me.
"Vadie, I'm not kidding around."
"Neither am I."
"Vadie Airella L'Orange!"
"My names Mirage! Can't you get anything right?!"
"Vadie, give it back!" he barked.
"It's all I have," I whispered as I looked at the pendent.
Duke snatched the chain and attempted to pull the necklace away from me, but I held tight to the pendent.
"Let go!"
"No! Why do you care if I have it?"
"Vadie, it's mine."
"No, it's mine!"
"Your mother gave it to me before she died."
"Why? So you could give it to your new ugly girlfriend?"
"Tanya's not ugly. And she's not my girlfriend. She's my wife!"
"She's a fat, pimply, nerd. She's the epitome of ugly!"
"Don't start judging other's, Vadie," Duke said as he finally was able to wretch the necklace from me. "You're not perfect." He turned to leave as I fell to my knees and cried.
"Take it! Take whatever you want! After all, you always got what you wanted."
I didn't hear him stop or turn around, so I was surprised when I felt him place the necklace around my neck. He didn't say anything more and left my room. My words and actions embarrassed me. I know better then to have yelled at him. I should honor him, considering that he IS my father. Even if he has rejected me my entire life.
I quickly got up from the floor and ran after him to apologize. He was right, I did have a family. I caught up with him in the computer room. He was standing on the Drake One's platform with his arms crossed across his chest. I climbed up the platform steps and was about to call his name but I stopped myself when I saw the rest of the team. I approached the group slowly as to not attract attention.
"Okay team, Tanya's been detecting some strange energy signatures on the outskirts of town," Wildwing informed.
"Is it Dragaunus?" Mallory asked.
"I'm not sure, but we need to check it out?" Tanya said.
"So who's going to baby-sit the little thief?" Duke asked with venom in his voice.
Wildwing cast Duke a questioning look and Nosedive cleared his throat and pointed at me. Duke turned and looked at me and shrugged. It appeared that he wasn't phased by the fact that I had heard him degrade me.
"Um. well."
Drake One sprang to life at that moment with sirens and lights blazing. Wildwing quickly turned to Tanya who keyed in commands to the keyboard. "What is it?"
"It's."
"Greetings Ducks!" Dragaunus growled from the huge monitor.
"Dragaunus," Wildwing seethed. "What do you want?"
"Dragaunus?" I whispered. I wanted to run, but I was held to my spot with fear. I guess Duke saw me shacking with fear and grabbed my hand.
"Don't worry he can't hurt you," he soothed.
We turned our attention back to the main screen.
"I have a gift for you. It appears that a friend of yours came to visit us for dinner. I'm afraid the meal wasn't to his expectations and now he's. *clears throat* (he stepped out of the cameras view and panned it around the ship) sick."
After scanning the dark room the picture landed in a corner where a figure was strapped to a torture rack and had three lizards looming over him. The duck had been severely beaten.
"Jack!" I screamed running forth.
"What?! I thought you fools said she was dead!" Draggy bellowed
"Dead? What are you talking about you disgusting, vile piece of trash?" I spat, outraged that someone would mistake me for carrion.
"Ah well, that's simple my dear." Dragaunus said to the camera. "Your friend." he returned to shot of Jack.
"Jack!"
Jake looked up and instantly recognized me. "Mirage! Don't listen to them! OOF"
"Why you!"
"Why yes, I do believe that . HE DIES!"
Siege and Chameleon stepped up and began to pound Jack relentlessly. I tried to attack the image, but Wildwing and Duke held me back. The image disappeared, leaving Dragaunus' evil laughter in my ears. I continued to fight Wing and Duke. I wanted to kill that lizard for daring to hurt my friend.
"Jack! NO! JACK!"
"Mirage, calm down."
"Jack!" I sobbed falling into Wing's arms. "No."
Wing helped me to a seat and sat me down before kneeling beside me. "Mirage, tell us what's going on."
"Jack." I mumbled.
"Who is Jack?"
"My friend."
"How did you get to Earth?"
"And what did 'ol Lizard lips mean about you being dead?" Duke asked.
"I don't know."
I looked up and found everyone staring at me. They thought I was lying, but I wasn't. I really didn't know how I got there.
*Flashback*
"So Jack, what now?"
"A hot bath, and something to eat."
"Your funny."
"No I'm an old man. I need special accommodations in my old age."
"You're not old."
"Mirage, I'm not exactly young."
"Does that really matter?"
"In this business it does."
Jack and Mirage reached their destination and Jack held open the door for Mirage. They went in and found three Saurians in their private hideout. A battle insued and the Saurians activated a portal, but even they were not expecting what happened next. Instead of being able to teleport away the portal turned into a vortex and started to suck everything into it like a black hole. Jack quickly grabbed a pole and Mirage tired to hold onto the doorframe. The suction soon overcame her strength and Mirage was ripped from the wall. Jack thought quickly though, and reacted just in time to save her from being swallowed by the vortex.
"Hold on, Mirage!" Jack screamed over the noise.
"Jack I'm slipping."
"HOLD ON!"
"Jack look out!"
Jack turned and found a large wooden desk flying straight at he and Mirage. He tried to pull Mirage out of the large object's path, but he wasn't strong enough. The desk slammed into them and everything went black.
***
I tired to shake the old memory from my mind.
"Mirage, tell us," Wildwing begged earnestly. "We can't help you or Jack if you don't tell us."
"I don't' know," I whined. "All I can remember is being attacked by Saurinas and something went wrong, terribly wrong. Jack and I were separated. I don't know how I got here or what Lizard lips is talking about me being dead. I didn't even know that Jack was here. This is all my fault. I should never have fooled around, I should have been out looking for him."
"Don't be hard on yourself kid," Duke winked. "You didn't know."
"But I should have."
"That's enough!" Wing barked. "Tanya, did you get a fix on where that broadcast was coming from?"
"Sorry Wing, they were triple encoding it."
"Great. Don't worry Mirage. We'll find out where Dragaunus is holding him and we'll get him back."
"I'm coming with you."
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because that's an order. You are to stay here."
"But I want to help."
"You'll help us more by staying out of the way."
"Fine!"
Wildwing had my under constant surveillance for the rest of the night. He even placed a guard outside my bedroom door so I wouldn't try to run off in the middle of the night to save Jack by myself. I'm so sure! Like I would do something that stupid! I mean come on, every thief knows that if your trying to escape without being seen you use the ventilation system not the door!
If you couldn't tell I did attempt to leave that night through the ducts, but Duke caught me. I was crawling along this one shaft when I heard him clear his throat behind me. "Going for a moonlight crawl?"
"Shut up Duke."
"Listen sweet heart, Wildwing said no."
"SO. He's your leader not mine."
"I can't let you go."
"Watch me."
"Nope. Wildwing said you were not to go anywhere without someone."
"So what are you going to do? Tell him I'm leaving? If you are then you had better hurry up and tell him."
"Nuh-uh."
"What?" I asked looking back at him.
He removed his bathrobe and smiled at me. "I know a quicker way out of here."
"What?"
"You want to save this friend of yours don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Then lets get going."
We crawled in the cooling ducts until we were in the garage where Duke kicked out the grate and jumped out. *I hate it when he does that.*
As I lowered myself to the ground I heard someone hiss "not so loud. You'll wake up the others."
Duke helped me out of the vent and set me on the ground. I turned and found Tanya in the shadows. "I'll stall them as long as possible, but if you're not back within three hours I'm going to send them after you. Keep in constant contact."
"Don't worry sweet heart we'll be in and out before Draggy knows what hit him. Just get the medicom bed warmed up for our arrival okay."
Tanya left us and Duke prepared the ducks cycles. The entire time I had been staring at Dukes maroon and black jump suit.
"What are you wearing?" I asked.
"What every master thief does."
I had to laugh. We sure did make an awkward pair in our matching tight fitting outfits (except mine was all black). Father like daughter, right?
"So, where do we go now?"
"Grab a duck cycle."
"I don't know how to ride one."
"Just grab one. I'll show you how to use it outside. Don't start the engine in here!"
We walked the bikes outside where Duke started them up and showed me how to drive the stupid contraption.
"Can you remember where that dumpster was?" he asked me as we raced down the poorly illuminated streets of Anaheim.
"Well let's see. I was only there once and that was several months ago."
"Don't get smart," Duke remarked before revving his engine and speeding away.
"Wait! Duke! I'm not good at this yet!"
When I finally caught up to him we were across town on the wrong side of the tracks.
"Took you long enough," he smiled.
"Very funny. You know I'm new at this."
"Live and learn. Did you find it yet?"
"What?! I was trying to find you. I can't believe you expected me to find. there it is!"
"Huh?"
"There! That's the building."
Duke looked the building up and down and whistled. When he was finished admiring the façade he turned to me. "How'd you make it to the Pond?"
"I walked."
He rolled his eyes. "You do know that this is the bad part of town."
"Funny, I grew up in one."
"Vadie, I'm serious. You could have been hurt."
"Life's a dangerous business. Let's go get Jack."
We parked the duckcycles half a block away and walked back to the alley where my body had been dumped. Revisiting the place with that new knowledge sent shivers up my spine. If Dragaunus had had his way this would have been my final resting-place.
"You okay?"
I looked up and found Duke holding his arm out to me. "Yeah, fine," I said with a shaky voice.
"Okay, lets go." Duke fired his grappling puck up to the roof, made sure it was safely fastened before extending his arm to me.
"What?"
"Come on."
"I looked at the vertical edifice. He wanted me to scale the wall?! I already told you about my fear of heights. So I faced them when I climbed up the fire escape after Jack on Puckworld. This building didn't have one!
"Come on, Vadie."
I swallowed hard. "That way?"
"Of course this way."
"Can't we just use the front door?"
Duke glared at me. "Vadie, come on. I thought you wanted to save your friend."
"I do, but it's just that. I don't have one of those," I said pointing at his grappling puck.
"That's okay, we'll use mine."
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other nervously. I was uneasy about the concept.
"Come on, Vadie."
"Would it hurt you to call me Mirage?"
He chuckled softly. "If you were a figment of my imagination, I might."
"Very funny," I said stepping closer to him.
"Besides would it hurt you to call me dad?" I was about to say something to the effect of 'I thought you didn't want anyone to know', but I was cut off when he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulled me tight and said "hold tight". The next thing I knew we were up, up and away. And holding tight, you bet I did! So tight that he had to tell me to loosen up.
As we flew upwards the cool rush of air forced my loose hair to fly around, inadvertently tickling our faces. Duke stopped and looked at me.
"Kid, mind tying your hair back?"
"As soon as I feel something below my feet," I cowered with my eyes tightly shut.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Open your eyes."
I complied and looked at him. It was funny to see him like that. It was like a scene from one of Nosedive's Spiderman comics where he's rescuing 'Mary Jane'. I smiled at him and looked down. BIG MISTAKE! I flipped and resumed my death hold on Duke.
"Vadie, your nails!"
"Don't drop me," I begged.
"Why would I. oh come on don't tell me that your. you are. You're afraid of heights.
"So, what!"
"Ooh hoo, this is too funny. My little girl, the wannabe thief is afraid of heights."
"So!"
"You'll never make it in the family business."
"I will too!"
"Really? Then open that grate."
I turned and looked at what he was referring to. Great he wanted me to perform the simplest task ever as we dangled a gazillion whatever's above the ground with only one tiny thread supporting us.
"Come on, Vadie. I can't do it."
"Why not? I thought you were a master thief?"
"Cute, but if you hadn't noticed, I have my hands full."
"Oh."
Duh, Mirage! Man I can be stupid at times. Talk about missing the obvious. Now was the time my 'special' skills came in handy. I forgot about (or at least I tried to) my current predicament. I got the grate off in no time flat and quickly hauled my tender booty into the shaft. Thank the Lord I had something solid under me again. A minute later Duke was next to me and removing the grappling puck from his wrist.
"Not bad."
"Not bad?!"
"Okay, so you're better then a few crooks I know."
"I'm better then ALL of your so called 'brotherhood' friends."
"Don't let it go to your head, come on."
We crawled through the ventilation system just a few paces when I realized that this system wasn't like the ones the humans built.
"Duke," I hissed.
"What?"
"Where are we?"
"In the Raptor. Good job, now lets get Jack and get out of here."
Duke led the way. I didn't know anything about the 'Raptor', As we crawled along I noticed the stench that reached my nostrils. It was a stale putrid odor. Dirty socks, mildew, rotten carcass' and sewage rolled into one, yuck! On top of that there was a heavy scent of sulfur (rotten eggs) and a stifling heat. Lovely place, really it is. I think I may go there on my next vacation. if I wanted to kill myself! Duke stopped dead in his tracks and because I wasn't paying attention to him, but the smell and heat, I ran into him.
"Do you mind," he hissed.
"Sorry, I'm a little busy."
"With what?"
"Keeping my internals in their proper places."
He gave a mirthful snort. "Noticed it did you?"
"Who wouldn't?"
"Okay, we can't go any further in the vents. This is where we go on foot."
He opened the grate and before it fell to the floor with a loud clatter he grabbed it and pulled in into the shaft. He poked his head down in the corridor to make sure the coast was clear before rolling out of the shaft headfirst. *Show off.* I slid out of the vent feet first, as Duke stood below with his arms stretched up to me. As soon as I was low enough he grabbed my waist and helped lower me to the floor. (I do not need help!) Once we were safely on the ground we carefully made our way through the corridors.
The ship was dimly lit and if you thought the stench was bad in the vents the corridor was ten times worse. It smelled like armpits and smelly feet with a side order of decomposing rats. The heat in the vents was horrible, but out here in the open it was just as bad, just not as confining.
I walked casually behind Duke through the ship contemplating ways of cleaning up the stench. I was thrown off guard when Duke pulled me, not too nicely I might add, into a little crevice that was hidden by the shadows.
"What are you?" I began, but he clamped my beak shut so I could not continue.
A minute later I heard the approaching footsteps of three saurians.
"Not so Chameleon, Lord Dragaunus has plans for him."
"But Wraith, I thought he told the ducks that we were going to kill him?"
"We will, as soon as they come for him. Lord Dragaunus wants to see their faces as he rips his head from his shoulders."
"But he's already half dead!"
Siege shrugged, "whatever makes it easier. There will be less blood though."
"Oh I can't wait. Mmm, mmm, mmm duck delights. What can we make with duck?"
Their footsteps receded and Duke removed his hand from my beak. I let go of the breath that I had been holding (I did not realize that I had been holding it till this moment) and relaxed my tense body against Duke. I could feel him relax as well in the tiny shadow that concealed us. It was a good thing that the ship was dimly lit, otherwise they would have easily seen us hiding there.
"Come on, but this time pay attention!" Duke whispered angrily.
I feel stupid! I know better then to let my guard down when sneaking about in unfamiliar surroundings, but I guess my mind was on other things. We again resumed our search for Jack. We headed in the direction that the Saurians had come. Duke was betting on the fact that they must have just come from torturing him. I kept an extra eye over my shoulder, just in case I missed their sudden approach again. Besides I didn't want to be caught off guard again and have Duke ridicule me. Some thief I was turning out to be huh? I must have made a bad impression with that major mistake.
Anyway the ship was a disaster. There were piles of garbage and debris lying all over the place. The rooms that we passed were dark, hiding whatever horrid secrets within. Each room had a different odor. Some smelled like the Saurians, others smelled of rotting flesh and others still of decomposing garbage. How can anyone live in such a fetid condition I do not know! Duke continued to cautiously lead us forward. He seemed to know where he was going, but I had my doubts. We passed another dark room, this one smelled of fresh blood. Maybe the Saruians hadn't just finished beating Jack, but finished a grotesque meal on live human flesh. I did not want to know, but then I heard something from within the room. It sounded like something slid against the floor.
"Duke," I hissed.
"What?"
"Something's in there," I pointed at the room.
"Leave it there. Who knows what Draggy is hiding in his ship."
"What if it's Jack?"
"He'd be in a torture chamber in a remote part of the ship."
I heard the noise again.
"We should check it out."
"No."
"But."
"Vadie."
"Please Duke."
"Oh, fine."
We cautiously walked into the room and activated a flashlight. Duke scanned the room with our tiny beacon. The sound came from a corner and he flashed his light in the direction. A rat came crawling out from under a pile of garbage and scurried into a hole in the wall.
"Happy. It's a rat."
"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't Jack."
"Next time listen to me," Duke harshly spoke and walked out of the room.
"It could have been him," I mumbled.
We went deeper into the ship and down towards the dungeons. Do ships have dungeons? Or are they called the brig? I guess it would be the brig. But Duke said that Jack would have been held hostage in a torture chamber. Where would a torture chamber be held on a ship? I don't know. I was just getting tired of slinking around in this disease-ridden ship. Who knows what I could catch in that squalor!
We continued on as I contemplated ways of rendering Duke unconscious so I could find Jack on my own. His cautious antics were driving me up a wall. I wanted to move and fast, but all Duke did was go and stop, go and stop. AH! The Saurians were behind us not in front! I was about ready to beat him over the head with the hilt of my saber when we heard someone cough in the room on our right.
"Hurry, Vadie."
Duke rushed ahead and hid in a shadow filled alcove. Curiosity had the best of me. I wanted to know what was in the room that smelled like garlic. Yeah I know. Funny how I smelled garlic in that ship, but I did.
I rushed in and found my self completely immersed in complete dark abyss. I heard Duke call my name (not too loud though). I was surprised to find him behind me the next moment. He started to pull me out of the room when the lights came on. A hunter drone stood nearby and leveled its blaster at us. Duke quickly pushed me to the side and demolished the blasted machine before it could get a shot off. Duke pulled me to my feet and pushed me toward the exit. "I thought I told you to listen to me!" he growled.
"But, Duke."
"Not another word from you!"
"Look, it's Jack!"
Duke turned and found Jack slumped over strapped to the semivertical medieval torture device. He moaned and tried to lift his head. I ran to my battered friend's side. I took his head in my hands and helped him to look up. His injuries were many and the wounds infected.
"Jack? Can you hear me? Jack?"
He opened his eyes and looked at me, but they held no recognition. This freaked me out. I had known Jack for six years; he should have instantly recognized me. "Jack?" I whispered.
He closed his eyes and let his head fall to his chest. His entire body had gone limp and I was afraid that he had just died.
"Jack! Duke Help!"
Duke was already there trying to untie his right arm. "Quickly, Vadie, untie him."
I didn't hear Duke. Instead I grabbed Jacks jaw and gently lifted his head again. "Jack, wake up. Jack, please don't die on me now," I pleaded earnestly. "Come on Jack."
He opened his eyes and looked at me. I nervously searched his face for any sign that he recognized me, but I didn't get anything. "Jack, it's me, Mirage." His head began to fall again, but I refused to let him go. "Jack, look at me. Damn it Jack don't give up!"
"Vadie, help me," Duke said as he untied Jack's right leg.
I looked down at Duke, noticing him for the first time. I wanted to help him, but if I did Jack's head would have fallen down and I had to keep him up and alert. I looked back at Jack and found that he had taken his free right hand and was attempting to touch my cheek. He smiled at me and petted my damp cheek. I grabbed his hand, holding it to my cheek and held onto it for dear life. I didn't care that I was in mortal danger at that very moment all I wanted was to have Jack know that I was there for him.
"Mirage," he said weakly.
"Yes, Jack, it's me."
"Run. Leave me."
"No," I shook my head. "What are you saying? You know that I can't leave you."
"Do it. I'm already dead."
"Jack. Duke."
Duke stood up and started to untie Jack's last restraint. Jack turned and looked at him. "Duke?" His voice was filled with confusion and befuddlement.
Duke looked at him and practically fell over backwards.
"POP?!"
"Duke, please. get her out of here."
"Hand on old timer, one more rope and.. You're free!"
Jack practically collapsed onto the floor when his last bond was broke.
"Duke!"
"I've got him," Duke said as he slid an arm around Jack's back and held him upright. "Lead the way Vadie."
"No, I'm helping Jack," I protested.
"You'll help him out a hell of a lot better if you look out for Saurians."
He was right. If we ran into trouble, Jack was dead. I led the way out of the cell and up the corridor back to the open grate in the vents. After a few feet of struggling, Duke had me come back and help him carry Jack. It was taking forever to get him back. We finally made it though. I went into the vent first so I could half pull as Duke half pushed Jack into the vent. Once Jack was halfway in the duct I had to do all the pulling.
"Vadie," Duke hissed.
"What?"
"Hurry up, they're coming back."
I worked double time trying to pull Jack's unconscious form into the vent. I tried everything but I couldn't seem to budge him. I could hear the approaching footsteps as if it were an army of soldiers running at me with bayonets flashing. Now I could hear their conversation and I could smell their body odor. If I didn't pull Jack up soon we were all dead! And Duke was still standing below the open grate watching me struggle. Even if I did get Jack into the shaft, Duke was a dead duck. I finally rolled Jack onto his back and was able to pull him in. Just in time I might add.
Once the Saurians were gone, I looked down. I don't know why, but I did. Duke wasn't there. Great! He ran off and I was all alone with a half-dead Jack! What was I to do now?! I leaned back and watched Jack breath shallow breaths. There was no way I was going to get his battered frame back to the Pond by myself. I gave up. You heard me, I gave up. I had nothing left. No plan, no spirit, no nothing. I closed my eyes and cried. I heard something hit the shaft but I didn't care. I heard the sheet metal vibrate slightly and felt it bend, but I took no further notice. The Saurinas had found Jack missing and had just found me. I was dead too.
"Vadie!"
I opened my eyes and crawled to the opening in the vent. Duke was clinging to the edge. Give me a hand."
I immediately helped him into the duct. If it had been any other situation I would have started clapping.
"How is he?"
"Out cold."
"Good, let's get going. And next time don't forget to pull his feet in. They were dangling there like tinsel on a Christmas tree."
"Tinsel? Christmas tree? What's that?"
"Never mind, let's go."
Duke carried Jack on his back to our exit. When we got there Duke lowered Jack gently off his back.
"What now?"
"You go down first."
"But what about Jack?"
"I'll deal with that."
"Don't hurt him!"
"I'm not going through all this trouble of rescuing him to hurt him Vadie."
"Mirage?" Jack whispered.
"Jack, you're awake!"
"Mirage, I knew you'd come."
Jack lifted his chin and looked up to find Duke cradling his head in his lap. "Duke?"
"Hiya, Pop."
Jack looked back at me and shook his head in disapproval. "Couldn't you have found someone else?"
"Beggars can't be choosers," Duke remarked with mild venom in his voice. "Your first Vadie, Hold on tight. When you get down push this button and it will come back to me."
"But."
"Mirage, do what he says and stop being such a coward."
"I'm not a coward."
"The only way you're going to get over this fear of heights is if you face it."
"I have!"
"Just go!" Duke ordered.
"WHAT!!!" Dragaunus bellowed. The exclamation shook the entire ship.
"They found me missing," Jack laughed with labored breathing.
"Won't be too long before they find us, go, Mirage," Duke said coolly.
I took the grappling puck and lowered myself to the ground. As I made my descent the last thing I heard from Jack scared me.
"Is she gone?"
"She's going."
"Good. Leave me. I'm already a goner."
"Don't say things like that."
"Duke, don't argue. For once in your life will you do what I say!"
"Nope." You're as bad as your mother."
"You married her."
"And to make matters worse you had to marry a rich girl."
"Dad."
"Duke, I know I've never told you this, but seeing as I'm not going to make it." Stop that! You'll make it."
"I'm proud of you son."
"Thanks, Pop," Duke choked back a tear. "Looks like our rides here, ready to go?"
"Now I know where she gets her stubborn streak from." Duke laughed, "Just remember I get mine from you."
"I thought you got that from your mother?"
Duke attached the grappling puck to his belt and lifted Jack into a fireman's carry before swinging himself out of the vent shaft. I watched nervously from the ground as they slowly made their way towards me. Duke slipped a couple of times, thankfully he didn't drop Jack.
"Oof, Duke, didn't your mother, oof, ever teach you, uh, to treat your parents with respect?"
"Of course she did Pop."
"Since when is treating me, ugh, like a sack of potatoes is, oof, respectful?"
"Since you refuse to carry your own weight."
"Will you two stop arguing?" I hissed.
"Who said we were arguing?" They smiled at me.
"Men!"
"Go warm up the duck cycles," Duke nodded to me.
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
I quickly ran off completely unsatisfied that they were anywhere near speaking terms. They have been on 'you die the next time we meet' terms since I can remember.
"Duke, go easy on her."
"Since when do I need help with your parenting skills?"
"Since you're failing miserably."
"And you were father of the year?" Duke scoffed.
"I never said that. I did what I thought was best, but I guess the L'Orange curse will never end."
"It should have ended with Vadie." Mirage is too smart for that. Do you really think that she wanted to be known as the daughter of the best jewel thief on Puckworld and not be able to follow in your footsteps?" You've got a point there, Pop, but what kind of life has she chosen?"
"The same one we chose."
"You know as well as I do that chicks like her get raped and killed." That's why she has never had the unpleasure of having such experiences. and never will."
They sure did take their time coming to the cycles. Duke insisted on taking Jack on his. He said something about my riding skills were outrageously infantile. What's that suppose to mean? Well he did it again. He took off without me as soon as we were a block away from the Raptor. Hey the Saurian's could have caught me and tortured me! Even after his 'this is the bad part of town' speech he left me. Uh! He makes me so mad at times. When I finally got back to the Pond Wildwing met me in the hanger. Nosedive stood quietly behind him.
"Where have you been?" He barked.
"No time to talk, where's Duke?"
Wildwing grabbed my arm and forced me to face him. "Answer me."
"Where's Duke?"
"Mirage!"
"We went to get Jack."
"I thought I told you no!"
"You say a lot of things I never listen to, where's Duke?"
"He ran to the infirmary," Nosedive informed.
"Dive, stay out of this."
I smacked Wildwing and raced to find Jack. Sure enough Duke had taken him to the infirmary. Tanya and Duke were hovering over him and Mallory and Grin were standing a few paces back watching them work. I ran past all of them and pulled Tanya away from Jack. "Jack?" I was wondering when you were going to show up, Mirage?" He said with a weak smile. You idiot! Stop scaring me!" I playfully slapped his right shoulder.
He groaned in pain and grabbed his arm. I immediately felt sorry for my actions and tired to rectify my mistake. Tanya glared at me and tired to get me to back off, but I didn't want to leave Jack alone. Luckily Jack smiled and drew Tanya's attention back to him when he asked, "What's the verdict?"
"Well, if they had waited any longer I'd say you'd never had made it."
"What's wrong with him Tawn?" Duke asked impatiently.
I actually think that I detected a little tint of concern in is voice and a tear in his eye.
"He'll be fine as soon as all of the cuts and bruises heal. Not to mention all the broken bones and infection."
"Jack, what happened?" I asked.
"I got caught on the bad side of town princess. My luck wore out."
"Mirage, can I please finish?" Tanya asked as she pushed herself between Jack and I. She looked hooked Jack up to a ventilator and an IV.
"What are those for?"
"He's dehydrated and this will help him breath easier."
"They broke several ribs," Mallory pointed out.
I felt horrible. Jack was in such terrible shape and pain and I could not do anything to help.
"Mirage, why don't you get out of the way so Tanya can work?" Wildwing asked. I never noticed that he and Nosedive had come into the room.
"Mirage," Jack said. "Come here I need you to do something."
"Sure Jack."
He extended his bandaged hand to me and took a hold of my hand. At least this time I wasn't the one to be disobeying Wildwing. I pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. The ducks watched me carefully as I held onto his hand and stoked his battered cheek. I had him back and that's all that mattered.
"I don't get it!" Nosedive finally exclaimed.
"Get what?" Jack asked.
"I thought Jack was your boyfriend, Mirage. This guy is old enough to be."
"Her grandfather," Duke finished.
"Yeah."
Jack started to laugh, but he stopped and clutched at his battered chest.
"Jack," I said helping him lay back down.
He started to snicker again and looked at Nosedive. "You are a funny one kid. Mirage isn't my girlfriend. She's my granddaughter." He reached up and caressed my cheek then softly traced my beak line with his index finger. I leaned over and kissed his forehead, careful not to touch the open wounds.
"Guys, as you guessed this is Jack, Jack these are the Mighty Ducks."
"Bravo Duke, marvelously done," Jack sarcastically applauded.
"Do you think you can do better?"
"Of course. You don't make introductions like that."
"Oh really?"
"You introduce the lovely ladies first and by their names."
I frowned at the term 'lovely' and 'ladies'. He must have been using them loosely when referring to Tanya and Mallory.
"Would you like to introduce them to me Mirage?" Not particularly."
He gave me a hard look. "Mind your manners. You're their guest."
"Oh fine," I huffed. "This is Tanya (I overly did the pronunciation and added an immense loathsome tone), Mallory, Grin, Nosedive, and Wildwing. You'll meet Phil later and when you do, run!"
"Eh, better then Duke's, but still rude."
"Forgive me, I forgot that I was suppose to have manners," I rolled my eyes.
"Well I guess I'll have to introduce myself then. Mighty Ducks permit me to introduce myself, Jack L'Orange, at your service." He added a small awkward bow and extravagant hand gesture to emphasize his name.
"L'Orange!" Mallory gasped.
"That means." Tanya trailed off.
"Ah, ah, ah, you're assuming too much my dear Tanya."
"So you have other children?"
"You're assuming again."
"So."
"I'm afraid your assumptions are correct, but my point is that you shouldn't judge someone by first impressions. You may be missing their best features."
"Wait a minute!" Mallory yelled. "Mirage is Duke's daughter?!"
"Her name is Vadie Airella L'Orange, Mal," Duke corrected.
"No, my name is Mirage. Jack gave it to me," I smiled smugly.
I looked at each of the ducks to see their full reactions. Mallory, Tanya, and Wildwing all had looks of shock plainly painted on their faces. Nosedive was wrestling with the concept and Grin looked like someone had beaten him up. I guess he was hurt because I never told him. Duke was a little upset; I could see it on his face.
After the immediate formalities were taken care of everyone left Jack and I alone. I was so glad that someone finally told them that I was Duke's daughter. He finally didn't have any excuses from ostracizing me.
"That went well," Jack sighed leaning back.
"Thanks."
"Vadie, he hadn't told them, had he?"
"No, and he wasn't' going to either."
Jack sighed again and closed his eyes. "This little feud is never going to end. Why didn't you tell me? I would have kept my beak shut."
"But."
"He must have had a good reason for keeping the truth from them."
"And keeping me at an arms length away."
"Vadie, your hormones are ruling your emotions."
"So!"
"So think! Duke's not stupid. He's a genius in some respects. If he wanted to keep the knowledge that you are his daughter a secret then maybe you should have respected that."
"If he wanted to keep my existence a secret he wouldn't have let me been hatched or to be branded with the mark of the 'Brotherhood'".
"Are you ashamed of your heritage? Are you ashamed of your special marks?"
"No! I earned these," I gestured to the tattoos I received when I joined Jack's organization. "I don't want this." (referring to the 'Brotherhoods' mark on my right pelvic girdle.)
"It's there to keep you safe. No one would dare try and rape you if they knew that you are Duke's daughter. And you didn't earn the one on your other hip. I gave you that to you for the same reason."
"So my entire life as a thief has been a lie!"
"No. You are a great thief. You're better then I was or Duke is. Unfortunately the L'Orange curse will still go on."
***
Tanya knocked on Duke's door and waited for a reply. She knew he was in there and when she did not get a reply she let herself in. "Duke?"
"What?" he asked from where he sat on the floor in front of his closet.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Duke was going through his socks. He had three piles, one for good socks, one for those with minimal holes and a third in the garbage can that were completely destroyed.
"What are you doing?" Tanya laughed.
"Going through my things. Until Jack gets well enough and gets a chance to go to the mall to get some things of his own he needs a few changes in clothes. I'm getting a few of my old stuff together so he can."
Tanya put her hand on top of his and made him face her. "What's going on?"
"I said I was."
She clamped his beak shut. "Duke why didn't' you tell me Mirage was your daughter?"
She released his bill and waited for a reply. Duke sat for several minutes with his shoulders slumped forward and head down. "Tanya," he mumbled. "Would you have believed me if I had?"
"Of course I would have."
"She's not illegitimate," Duke snapped his head up to look Tanya in the eyes. "Her mother and I were married for seven years before we had her."
"Duke I'm not accusing you of."
"Oh Tanya, I miss her."
Tanya blinked at Duke.
"Vadie doesn't understand. You probably don't understand. When I lost her I lost the best part of me. I couldn't stop stealing. I wanted to, really I did, but how was I suppose to support a wife and kid if I went to prison? If I tired to get a real job like Ava wanted me to, the instant they did a background check I would have been in the slammer. I did the best I could with what I had."
"Duke I don't condemn you for your past actions," Tanya soothed as she hugged Duke.
"But Ava did and Vadie still does. She hates you because we are married."
"It takes time for children to get use to new environments."
"She's not a child Tanya, she's eighteen. She's practically a woman."
"Then you have to let her go."
"What?"
"Let her mature into the woman you want her to become. Let her make mistakes and be there for her when she needs you."
"Tanya."
"Duke, trust me. All she wants is for you to accept and love her. She wants you to be her Dad."
"But how can I? I haven't been there."
"I don't believe that for one instant Duke L'Orange!"
Duke chuckled, "how can you know me this well?"
"It's not that hard."
"So, how are we going to make this into a happy family?"
The End.
I hope you like. Thanks again to Elfy for letting me take up her valuable space. And now a friendly reminder from your neighborhood Elfy.
Reminder: Our choices influence our actions and our actions influence whom we become. Who we are has a direct reflection on those we love the most. If we choose to follow the crowd and get messed up with smoking, alcohol, drugs and sex we loose the best thing we ever had, ourselves. Don't fall into temptation, make the correct choices. Now not all temptation is bad. Ice Cream is a very enticing temptation. It doesn't have any terrible consequences (so long as I eat some protein afterwards, stupid hypoglycemia. Thanks Lily for the helpful hints. Everything is going great now! =) ). Now the only drawback to ice cream is the few extra inches that get packed onto my waist line and the extra padding on my butt, but isn't that there for a reason? Oh yeah it's a bumper when I check people into the boards. Speaking of ice cream. I think I'll go have some, bye. (With a few peanuts for protein *winks*.)
Smile, Live, Laugh, Love and God Bless.