Anna was falling in and out of consciousness and her vision was blurred. Somewhere behind her, she could hear Wildwing calling for her, but it was difficult to make out exactly what he was saying. She looked back down the hallway, hearing footsteps. Three figures approached.

"Oh, sweetheart." she undoubtedly heard Duke's voice. She squinted her eyes, trying to focus.

"Wildwing!" she heard her brother call. Before Anna could even grasp that Duke was there, he held up his arm, firing a grappling hook and disappearing from sight.

"Anna," seeing Duke was getting Wildwing, Canard was able to turn his attention back to his sister. She felt his hands on her face, turning her head in different directions, looking for damage. Honestly, it was hard not to find damage and Canard didn't even know where to start.

"Anna!" Wildwing landed with Duke and ran over, kneeling next to Canard.

"Wildwing!" she exclaimed, throwing herself into his arms. With her back to Canard, Canard could see streaks across Anna's back.

"That was stupid, Anna! That was so stupid!" Wildwing scolded, hugging her carefully while resting his head on hers, "I was so stupid." he added. Canard shot him a questioning look.

"Dragaunus wanted to know the location of the base," Wildwing explained, "Anna wouldn't say. I wouldn't either. She paid the price and I barely got a scratch," Wildwing looked down, "I should have done something more. Fought harder." he blamed himself for Anna's injuries.

"You did the right thing, buddy." Canard rested a hand on his shoulder. Wildwing was shocked. Anna was beaten to a bloody pulp, and he was being automatically forgiven.

"He's right," Anna added, "this was a long time coming. Dragaunus has wanted me and Canard for a long time. I... this would have happened either way." she explained breathlessly.

"She's not wrong," Canard admitted, "we've become a sort of brother/sister duo. A force to be reckoned with and Dragaunus knows it."

"If Canard would have been the one that showed up, I'll guarantee he'd have been beaten senseless too," Anna added before gritting her teeth again and squeezing her eyes against the pain. She groaned and Duke stepped forward.

"Anna, what hurts?" Duke asked.

"Everything." came the sarcastic yet pained reply. Duke kind of shook his head at her. He couldn't lie to himself. He saw the full damage that had been done to Anna, and he noted how much blood stained her spandex; he was worried about the baby.

"Come on, let's get you out of here." Wildwing said, wrapping his arms around Anna and helping her to stand.

The base suddenly shook around them as Tanya and Mallory ran up on the scene. Anna lost her footing and fell back to her knees. She hated being so weak.

"Grab your socks, troops! In 30 seconds, we're all going to be toast!" Mallory announced.

Wildwing dropped down next to Anna and Duke and Canard moved closer, in case he needed help getting her up.

"Alright, let's try that again," he said, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and wrapping his arm around her waist. She glanced at him and he gave her an encouraging smile.

Another loud boom rocked the base and Tanya and Mallory dropped from a blast that exploded the wall next to them.

Canard ran over, looking out to the spot he swore he had parked the aerowing.

"The aerowing's gone!" he exclaimed as the ducks crowded around him. He turned back, looking at Wildwing. He pointed an accusing finger at him.

"That kid brother of yours, he-" he was cut off by the sound of engines and the aerowing dropped down. The door opened and Anna shot her brother a glare.

"He did what?" she snapped at Canard. He ignored her. She was injured, and he didn't feel like opening this can of worms right now, though he knew she did have a point. The kid really came through just now, proving how smart he really was. He had just self-taught himself to fly a military-grade jet, and that wasn't an easy task to accomplish even with an instructor present.

Everyone hopped on except for Wildwing and Anna. Duke turned back, reaching out his hand. Wildwing helped her keep her balance as she reached out to Duke. The base shook again and she and Wildwing nearly lost their footing. She fell forward into Duke's chest and he caught her.

She glanced up and gasped, seeing a rip in his shirt. some blood stuck out and she glanced up at him.

"Just a little burn, sweetheart," he promised. He looked at her with pity as she felt his hand trace gently on a lash across her back. He didn't have time to say anything about it as Wildwing landed beside him.

"Come on," he ordered as they all crowded into the aerowing. The door closed behind them and the aerowing took off, barely clearing the explosion.

Duke helped Anna over to the gurney that was strapped into the back. She protested against it, but she was too weak, and Duke forced her to lay down. There was no easy way for her to lay down, having damage to her front and back, but Duke figured her stomach would be easier if just barely, to lay on. Canard came over, placing a hand on Duke's shoulder. Duke looked back at him and Canard just nodded, giving Duke the ok to sit down at his rightful spot. Canard sat in the chair that was bolted next to the gurney. He lifted Anna's shirt, and she cringed as the fabric peeled away from her skin. He examined the cuts and saw how deep they truly ran. He silently worked, pulling out a first aid kit and quickly cleaning the wounds.

"Canard I-"

"Shh, don't say anything sis. I'm the one who's sorry." he did that thing again where he could read her mind. "I should have let you come. This wouldn't have happened if you would have been with the team," he admitted, quickly working to tape gauze to the first cut.

"What the heck is that?" Wildwing exclaimed from the front, and Canard glanced up, seeing what the rest of them were seeing. Anna craned her head to see, but flinched again, having moved wrong. Canard forced her to stay down as he got to work patching up the second big lash.

"The ship seems to be generating some sort of dimensional gateway," Tanya informed. Wildwing leaned against Nosedive's chair.

"Then we'll follow them!" he paused, looking at Dive, "come on, baby bro, punch it!" Nosedive nodded.

"Hold on!" he announced as the ship entered the portal following the saurians. Canard finished up covering the last huge gash. He had to admit, he was trying to work fast before they engaged Dragaunus again. He was definitely going to force her to stay on the ship once they did catch up to the raptor, but he didn't want to risk leaving her to bleed out while they fought Dragaunus for the second time that day.

He knew it was going to hurt but he motioned for her to roll over. She hissed and groaned as she rolled slowly from her stomach to her back. He said nothing as he peeled back the spandex around her stomach.

"Your ribs are bruised," he muttered, grabbing some gauze and a bigger wrap. He was going to wrap the gauze around the bruising to cushion it.

"Bruised, or broken?" she muttered,

"Possibly both," he said, taping the gauze just beneath her bra. She sat up slowly and he wrapped the gauze around her abdomen. He just pinned the bandage into place when the ship started shaking. She fell back and hissed in pain as he leaned against the gurney for support. He and Anna both looked up to the window. Some electric blue mass had connected with the ship.

"Tanya, what is that!" he heard Wildwing ask.

"Well if I didn't know better, I'd say that's an electro-magnetic worm!" Tanya exclaimed.

"Hey, if that thing gets big enough, it could swallow the entire ship!" Duke added as the ship shook.

Canard saw the worry on his team's faces and glanced back at his baby sister. He leaned over, pulling her into a hug. She was startled at first but returned the hug. He kissed her forehead and she looked at him hard. He took a breath and took his dog tags off, handing them to her.

"I'll be back for these," he promised, moving away from her towards the side door.

"Wh- wh-... wait." she finally found a word she could grasp onto.

"We're gonna have to jettison something!" Wildwing ordered, glancing around the ship.

"Well, like what? Everything is bolted down!" Tanya didn't seem to have any answers that Wildwing wanted, and his face showed it.

The side door slid open and the wind howled through the ship. Wildwing glanced back, but any anger from before suddenly disappeared as he ran over to the door.

"Canard, what are you doing?" he asked, putting his hands up.

"You heard, Tanya. I'm gonna shut that thing down!" he said, moving to jump.

"Canard, stop!" Anna screamed from the back of the ship. She moved to get off the gurney but lost her footing and fell on her stomach. She gasped, squeezing her eyes against the pain. She glanced back down, seeing a huge gash up her leg. No wonder she couldn't walk.

"Are you crazy!" Wildwing echoed Anna's concerns as he grabbed Canard, turning him back to face him. Canard looked at him hard before taking off the mask.

"It's the only way. Take it, Wildwing." Wildwing shook his head, backing away from the mask. "Take it!" Canard ordered before suddenly the worm wrapped itself around Canard's ankle. Canard let out a surprised yelp as the worm dragged him out of the aerowing.

"Canard!" Wildwing and Anna both called at the same time, and Anna started pulling herself across the floor.

Wildwing latched onto Canard's arm and Grin moved to grab onto Wildwing's waist. Canard's arm began to slip from Wildwing's grasp until soon, he was only holding onto one end of the mask while Wildwing gripped the other end.

Canard looked frightened at first, but then his gaze hardened at Wildwing.

"Take it, you're team captain now," his gaze softened, "take care of my baby sister," with that final command, Canard let go of the mask.

"Canard!" Anna screamed, seeing him release the mask.

"No!" Wildwing matched Anna's anguish as he and Grin fell back. Anna tried to crawl faster, heading right for the door. Duke closed it and Anna glared up at him before she started pounding on the door. Tears were already wetting the feathers around her cheeks.

"No! No, no, no! Not my brother! Take me!" she screamed at the door where she had watched her brother disappear. Duke dropped down beside her and pulled into a hug. She didn't fight him as she just fell against his chest, bawling. He glanced back over at Wildwing.

"He sacrificed himself, to save us." he recapped.

"Truly an evolved soul," Grin added.

Wildwing was numb. He didn't cry, and hardly let any emotion show as he stared at the mask.

"Uh, guys? Those dino creeps are getting away!" Nosedive called from the pilot's seat. Tanya walked up.

"Oh no, they must have passed through the other end of the gateway!" she informed him. That seemed to pull Wildwing from his shock. He lowered the mask into his side pouch then stood up. His eyes narrowed, and suddenly he was hell-bent on revenge.

"Then that's where we're going!" he growled, "punch it, Nosedive."

They came out of the gateway and were suddenly surrounded by blue skies and green trees.

"Ugh! Where's the raptor!" Mallory growled. They passed a sign that read "Welcome to Anaheim, Home of the Mighty Frogs."

Wildwing just glanced over at her. "More to the point, where are we?"