Sides of a Coin By Chance The passing cars looked on in horror, screeching to a halt, as the Migrator jack-knifed, flipped, and skidded, still upside- down, to the side of the road. It balanced on the edge of a hill, then tipped and rolled down the side. Finally, it came to a jarring halt. "Oh, man...." commented one of the bystanders. "Nobody coulda survived that..." The Migrater was a mess. The road was dark, the result of friction from the hood of the super-vehicle. The Migrator itself bore battle scars, and in places the metal had been torn away in strips. As the smoking vehicle sat, ruined, at the foot of the hill, it's single occupant hung, upside down, in the driver's seat, eyes wide, his breathing sharp. "I can't. Believe. I survived that." Nosedive, struggling to steady his nerves, realized the gravity of the situation as he was momentarily blinded in one eye, due to blood dripping from his shoulder to his face. "This," he decided aloud, "could be a major problem." His communicater erupted into life. "Having a little problem, 'Dive? Where are you?" asked his brother's voice. "Currently? Uh, about two hundred feet off the freeway. Upside down. With blood running down... er, up.... my face." "Oh, that could be a tiny problem. You alright?" "No. I'm upside down. Weren't you listening?" He sliced through the seatbelt that held him, using a pocket knife he carried. As he landed on the hood, he realized his vision was starting to darken and blur on the edges. All he could hear was a dull roar. "Aw, man." he muttered, as his body suddenly decided, without his permission, to give out. He slipped into a coma, oblivious of the urgency of his older brother's voice, which contienued to speak in the empty room. *** The smell of exhaust and smog and a thousand other odors reminescent of burning or rotting flesh assaulted him. Annoyed, he coughed to clear his lungs of the filth, which sent a searing pain through his skull. "Argh," he groaned, propping himself up on his elbows slowly and opening his eyes. Overhead, through a thin slot of sky left visible by the alley he was lying in. The sky was dark with grayish purple clouds. Nosedive looked himself over quickly, searching for any hint of the injuries he had sustained from the wreck earlier. "Nothing," he murmered. "Absolutely nothing. Weird." The alley was dark, and claustrophobic. Nosedive noted, with distaste, that his arm was lying in a puddle too dark to be water. He finally gathered enough resolve to stand, and, brushing himself off as he did so, he walked towards the nearest end of the alley. The streets weren't much cleaner than the alley, and pieces of trash skittered across the almost empty road. Some wit had written, on a nearby wall, 'Welcome to Anaheim. Have a nice stay.' Puzzled now, Nosedive looked around at the people wandering the sidewalks. A pair of young adults, his own age, were harassing a group of passing nuns, who looked unimpressed. One of them was Thrash. Nosedive stared at the red haired punk, stunned. Thrash had a gun, and was waving it at an elderly nun, an act he had never even considered his friend capable of doing. As he watched, too horrified to even move, the nun he was bothering pulled a gnarled walking stick from beneath her habit and waved it at him. Thrash, or the evil cyborg who Dragaunus had replaced Thrash with, in turn with the nuns' apathy, ignored this effort. A small nun, the youngest of the group, drew an uzi out of her skirts and told the two punks that if they didn't shove off, she grant them an extra navel. Thrash and the other wretch hastily took off. The nun calmly replaced the gun in her habit. Nosedive shook his head. "This is weird. Thrash being violent? I really have to go ask somebody what's going on..." He turned to go look for a place to find out the information he needed, and collided, hard, with Duke L'Orange. Actually, if you cared to get technical, which he wasn't, it wasn't Duke. For one, the missing eye was on the wrong side, and was covered with a pair of dark sunglasses. Also, instead of the saber he usually carried, in his hand he held a large, dangerous looking gun. That, of course, was only delving into the physical aspects of the situation. Nosedive found himself slammed into an ungiving brick wall, and the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against his throat. "This'll teach ya to watch where yer goin', ya- oh." snarled a voice that was too familour for comfort. Nosedive felt himself let go, and a faintly disgusted Duke shoved him away. "It's only you. I nearly killed you, ya stupid punk." Duke walked a few steps away. "Maybe I should've. It would save yer brother the trouble. You've been gone for two bloody months, freak." "I was busy." he shot back, prickling at 'Duke's' tone. The sincerity of his offer of homicide was way too credible for comfort. "Oh," the older Duck said knowingly. "Getting your fix." "What?" "I see. You finally blew what science claims to be your mind." Choosing to ignore that dig, Nosedive asked "What were you doing here, anyway?" "Getting a job done. I think my aim was good." Duke gestured over his shoulder at a still body in the street, three gunshot wounds on it's face. "He hasn't moved." Nauseated by the appearance of the corpse, Nosedive turned away and asked numbly "You're... an assassin?" "Yeah, yeah, I'm an assasin." Duke looked at Nosedive, once again disgusted. "Where have you been? Anyway, we'd better go find your brother." Nosedive felt an overwhelming urge to bolt. If Duke had lost all honor and become a murder, he didn't really want to see what had happened to Wildwing... It was too late. Duke already had him by the arm, and was dragging him through an alley, ignoring his protests. Nosedive, trying to break his wrist free of Duke's tight grip, pondered his situation. "Wake up. Hello." Duke smacked the youngest Duck over the back of the head to get his attention. Nosedive, slowly beginning to realize exactly how much trouble he was in, snapped "What?" "We're here." "Oh, joy- hey!" Nosedive dodged a chair, which had flown through a nearby window. Moments later, there was the distinctive sound of jagged shards of broken glass striking the road. "Hmm. Quiet night." Duke commented calmly. Nosedive shot him a look, then once again jumped aside as a middle- aged human fell onto the glass, also tossed through the window. "You disgusting pile of- that's it!" howled the man, getting up, face twisted with hate. "Then again, maybe not." Duke noted. "C'mon, let's go. We've wasted enough time." The apparent assasin shoved Nosedive roughly through a close door, causing him to trip. "Nosedive!" squealed a high, sugary voice. Next thing he knew, he was against a wall, someone latched to him passionately. Nosedive flinched. "Mal?!" Mallory looked adoringly up at him. "Hi." >Something is so wrong here.... oh, man. Wish I had a camera...< The anti-Mallory turned to face a shadowy figure sitting at the bar. "He's here, Wildwing, just like I said he would be!" The shadow rose to it's feet and stepped into the light. The Mask glinted soullessly in the dim light. "See?" Mallory smugly told Wildwing, then gave a pathetic shriek as a cruel punch laid her across the floor. She cringed, wiping at the bruise spreading across her cheek. Sickened, Nosedive turned away from his brother and knelt beside her, helping her to her feet, all the while his mind whirling. >That's not my brother. It's a monster. To strike her for no reason...< "You okay?" he asked quietly. Mallory regarded him with wide, brave, achingly pained eyes, and nodded. A third joined Wildwing at his side, leering. "You're back. Too bad." rumbled Grin, still smirking. "I'd hoped you were dead." >Oh, this is veryveryvery bad.< "So." Wildwing said, looking at his younger brother coldly. "To deal with you." Nosedive glanced behind him at the sound of a slamming door. The customers had slipped away hastily, leaving the aliens alone. Mallory turned away, eyes closed. "You were gone for two months. That deserves some punishment." Tanya giggled mindlessly. "Like, cool!" Nosedive had only a split-second warning, before Wildwing pounced. *** >Oh, man, am I in trouble....< Nosedive desperately dodged behind table, trying to avoid his brother's wrath and the short blade he held. >C'mon, Nosedive. Concentrate. Try to remember what Duke taught you....< Wildwing swung out with the blade, missing his brother's face by inches. >Watch the chest, that's the first indication of which way they're going to move.< Nosedive knew he had no chance of winning, even in a fair fight. Wildwing had experiance. However, he didn't have nearly enough speed. Nosedive hastily glanced at the others, to see if they were going to get involved. Mallory was hiding her face. Duke, Grin and Tanya were too interested in watching. The blade finally bit across Nosedive's chest. The young Duck held back a yelp of pain. >That's it. I have to find a weapon. This isn't Wildwing, it's a demon.< Nosedive's fingers fell upon an empty beer bottle on a table behind him. He brought it out front, eyes narrowed. "Ooo. A bottle." Wildwing jeered sarcastically. "I'm terrified." The bottom of the bottle crashed against a wall, leaving behind a jagged weapon. "Impressed yet?" Nosedive asked. "I'm gonna kill you." Wildwing spat, edging back. "Do you think you can.... catch me?" Wildwing howled as the bar door slammed. "That little..." He turned to face Duke and Grin. "Well? Are you going to help me find him or not?" "Why should we?" asked Duke bluntly, leaning casually against the bar. "He's not our problem. Besides, the scavengers out there," Duke gestured widely to indicate the area beyong the door, "will take care of him." "I don't care." Wildwing snarled. "I want to kill him personally." "Well, then, that might be intersting." Duke affirmed with a nod and a smirk. Mallory winced and shrank into herself, hoping to protect herself from notice. Her ploy failed. "Hey, you." Wildwing narrowed his eyes at her. "You're coming too. Wouldn't want you warning him." Pained by his bloodless laugh, Mallory obeyed reluctantly, and couldn't suppress a whimper as her leader picked up a semi- automatic and walked out the door. *** Nosedive doubled over, gasping for air, the pain in his side agonizing. He couldn't run anymore. It was hopeless. They were going to catch up, and he was going to die. Odds were that they had a car. A hand clamped over his mouth and dragged him backwards, into an alley. Nosedive let out a muffled yelp, and drove an elbow into his attacker's ribs. "Shh!" warned a voice near his ear. "They're coming. Hold still, keep quiet, and you'll live." He struggled for another moment, then surrendered as his captor's grip tight. A group of four people ran past. Grin, like an insane, leering, ugly freight train. Tanya, skipping and smiling vacantly at the promise of shed blood. Duke, casually following the mob, smirking nastily. And finally, Wildwing, his face twisted into a bloodlusting sneer. Nosedive shuddered. Another moment passed, then Mallory, trailing far behind the others reluctantly. She didn't notice the two shadows in the already dark alley. The captor released him once Mallory had passed, and Nosedive whirled. "Canard?!" he yelped. *** His brother's best friend looked down at him. "Yeah, it's me." "But you were... I thought...." "You actually thought I was dead?" "Everybody thinks you're dead. What's with them, anyway?" "I'll explain once we get somewhere safe. And you're welcome." "For what?" "For me saving your life, that's all." Canard grimaced and rubbed his ribs. "Nice aim, by the way." "Thanks." "You're welcome, again. Now, let's go." "Whoa, wait a second." Nosedive resisted being dragged for the second time that day. "Where are we going, and why should I trust you anyway?" Canard turned with a smile. "Very smart. Exactly what your brother would ask. We're going to my current residence, and you should trust me because.... well, would you rather trust me, or those jerks out there who tried to kill you and are most definately not your versions of the real thing?" "Um, I think I'll go with door number two." "Smart. Very smart. Now, come on." "I take it you're forming another Resistance." Canard turned around, startled. "How....?" After a pause, he laughed. "What have you been doing since the last time I saw you?" "Listening to Tanya's intelliectual speeches." Nosedive returned the older Duck's gaze steadily. "Can we go now?" *** Nosedive stood in the hall of the large, abandoned, dusty mansion, looking in respect at the architecture. "Canard!" cried a slimy, nasty voice from behind them both. Nosedive whirled, puckgun already drawn. Lord Dragaunus skipped around the corner, smiling brightly, his eyes blue, innocent, and large. Nosedive fired several pucks into the wall beside the Saurian Overlord. Dragaunus yelped and dived beneath a table, cringing and cowering. Canard pushed Nosedive's puckgun to the side before the young Duck's aim could improve. "What are you doing?!" they both demanded of each other in unison. "Dragaunus is the one who killed you, remember?!" "Kid, relax." Canard warned. "This Dragaunus is on our side, like your brother isn't." Bristling at the reminder, Nosedive stepped back while Canard walked to the table where Dragaunus was cowering. "C'mon, Draggy. It's okay." "'Draggy'?" Nosedive quoted with a smirk. Ignoring him, Canard pulled Dragaunus out from beneath the cabinet. The Overlord looked up at the young Duck that had tried to kill him moments before, and smiled. "Hi, I'm Draggy. Would you like to sing a happy song?" >Now, I want a camera.< *** Mallory walked behind the others, her steps becoming increasingly slower each time she heard Wildwing's muttered vows to kill his brother. She didn't doubt the sincerity of the snarled threats. Wildwing and Nosedive had never gotten along, often attacking each other. Wildwing had once stabbed his own brother in the stomach, sending the boy into a coma that lasted a week. She had guarded him alone, watching for any signs of waking. It was because she loved him. Even more now, though. Before last night, before he had disappeared for two months without warning, he had been cruel, often merciless, causing pain for the fun of it. Nosedive had also been a hopelessly addicted drug junkie, uncaring of anything but his next 'fix'. Mallory grimaced in disgust. He had been a mess, and had only a year before his body simply shut down, at most. However, in her own self-abusive away, she had fallen in love with him anyway. "I bet he joined up with Canard." Wildwing said abruptly, halting. He turned and pointed at her. "You. Go find Canard, and drag them both back to be executed." Wildwing smiled chillingly. "I won't tolerate disobidience." *** Nosedive sat across the battered metal coffee table from Canard, quietly regarding the cup of coffee the latter had supplied and waiting for the explanation of the situation. "I thought you read stuff on alternate dimensions." Canard commented, his gaze on the moniter of a computer sitting nearby. "I'm sure I saw you reading one, once...." "Ye-ah, but I don't remember half of it. What does that have to do with this?" "Okay. We are currently in a place called the Negaverse, an alternate universe where personalities are the complete opposite of what thay are in your dimension. Those people," Canard grimaced, "you ran into that claim to be Wildwing and the others are complete psychopaths. This Tanya is a total ditz, which is usually your job..." "I saw that one coming." "The Duke here is totally lacking in mercy or honor, Grin is a murderer, and Wildwing is.... I'd rather not discuss it." "What about Mallory?" "What about her?" Canard replied with a snort. "She completely under Wildwing's control." "That still doesn't explain what I'm doing here..... or you, for that matter." "Well, I've been here ever since I got free from dimensional prison. Did you know there are portals in dimensional limbo?" "How would I?" "Yeah, neither did Dragaunus, apparently, if he left me in there unguarded. Anyway, each dimension has a 'cast' of people. My 'soul' gets transmitted into this dimension's version of my body every time I step through a portal." "What if you happen to be dead in that universe?" "Then, I can't go into that dimension." "So that's why you haven't come back!" Nosedive narrowed his eyes. "Wildwing really thinks you're dead." "And you didn't?" "There's a differance. I barely knew you." "Oh, right. I only knew you since you were eight." "Can we get back to the subject at hand, please?" Nosedive demanded tensely, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going. "Right. Anyway, I heard somewhere that serious bodily trauma can result in soul switching. It's not a commonly supported theory. I suppose that's what happened to you." "You mean I'm dead?!" Canard pushed him back into his seat. "Not necessarily, so calm down. What could you have done to be thrown out of your own body?" "Um..... minor car accident?" "How minor?" "Possible head injury minor." Canard looked at him, clearly concerned. "You know, you really ought to learn to drive." "Hey, I know how to-" "Was there anyone else hurt with you?" "No. I was driving it alone." "Who authorized that?" "Why didn't this happen the last time I had a head injury?" "Because you're incredibly lucky. Now, we have to get you back to your own dimension, because I am not willing to spend an indefinately long period of time in your company." "I'm touched." replied Nosedive, mild hurt unconsciously reflected by his face. "And it would hurt Wildwing, seriously. Bad enough I 'died'. He doesn't need the Negaverse version of you trapped in your body, creating who knows how much havoc." "Right." Nosedive watched Draggy, who was skipping around the kitchen, then returned his gaze to Canard. "This's been bugging me since I got here. If our Dragaunus is the ultimate evil, then would that make Draggy the ultimate good?" They both looked over at Draggy, who was warbling cutely. "Sing a happy happy happy happy happy happy song, sing a happy happy happy happy happy happy song...." "In some opinions, Canard, that would be the ultimate evil." "I agree, his isn't that.... pleasant..... to live with, but I couldn't just leave him out there to get killed-" He was cut off by a series of harsh knocks on the door. Both of the Ducks froze, Nosedive gripping the table edge so hard his knuckles turned white beneath his gloves. "They found me?" "Not necessarily." Canard responded. "Calm down, kid. Even if it is 'Wildwing', we can probably fill him full of lead- or not." he backpedaled, seeing Nosedive suddenly pale and grip the table even harder. "Look, it's not your older brother. You should know that by now." "That doesn't mean we have to fill him full of lead." gritted the younger. Canard, ignoring this, got up and, holding a dangerous looking gun, edged to the door, wincing at the second series of knocks. Nosedive followed at a distance, ready to move out of view, holding his own gun tightly. "Did you.... tell anyone else about this address?" "Not that I know of. If it really is 'Wildwing', get out of sight. You hear me?" "I heard you, I heard you. Geez, and I thought 'Wing was bad about that protective thing." Canard shot him a look, reminded him to shut up, then opened the door, gun drawn. *** "Hi." nervously greeted Mallory, twisting her hands and looking up at the two males hopefully. Recognizing her, Canard slammed the door in her face. "Great." he muttered. "We're dead." The door opened, and Mallory stepped inside timidly. "You left it unlocked." she informed Canard, who blinked. "You're going to turn us in to your boss?" he asked wearily. Mallory frowned and shook her head. "I wouldn't. Not after you," she pointed at Nosedive, "treated me better than anybody else in that... pack." Nosedive felt a quick twinge of guilt. It appeared that she had fallen in love with him, and, if what Canard said was true, it was unlikely that he would stay in the same universe with her. Once he left, the former personality would take over again, and he had no guarantee of his alternate self's good intentions. Canard looked at Nosedive sternly, coming to the same conclusion, then back at Mallory "What are you doing here, then, if not to kill us?" She toyed with a loose strand of hair as she admitted slowly "I'd like to join you." "You would." "Mmmhmm." "Do you even know what we're doing?" "Don't insult my intelligence. I'm not Tanya, after all." Nosedive nearly doubled over in a coughing fit designed to hide his laughter. After a moment, Canard grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back up. "Tell me, then." Canard contienued, as if he hadn't just nearly hauled Nosedive off the floor, "What are we doing?" "You're trying to get rid of Wildwing, right?" "Among other things." Canard's smile was even wearier than the previous one. "Why shouldn't I toss you out the door right now? You could be a spy." "If I was a spy," Mallory retorted in exasperation, "I would've killed you as soon as I stepped through the door." Canard was unmoved. "Wildwing could've ordered us brought in alive to kill us." "Then he would've killed you himself! He doesn't take prisoners." "Sounds like the opposite of Wildwing." Nosedive commented. "Maybe we ought to give her the benefit of the doubt." "Giving people the benefit of the doubt usually ends with someone getting killed." Nosedive narrowed his eyes at Canard. "You gave me the benefit of the doubt." "My point exactly." After a moment of intense glaring, Mallory cleared her throat. "Are you going to let me stay or not?" Canard sighed. "Well, you found this place anyway. Why not?" At Mallory's squeal of joy and Nosedive's quickly covered wince, he added "But you don't leave." "Of course not!" Mallory protested. "Uh huh. You'd both better get at least an hour of sleep before tommorow. Semi-consciousness won't help the plan any." "We have a plan?" Nosedive inquired. "I have a plan." "Gonna spill it?" "No." "Okay." Nosedive shrugged and wandered out of the hall. Mallory followed eagerly, leaving Canard alone. He heaved a sigh of both relief and fatigue. Sleep would be a long time in coming. *** The last book on soul transition hit the library table with a thump, and Canard sat back, glaring at it as if it were to blame. "Only one solution." he muttered. "I hate this." He cast a glance out the nearest window, where the stars seemed to be burning brighter, judging him. "This isn't my fault." he snarled. "It's not my fault if the kid doesn't know enough to keep out of this situation. I don't care if the only way to get him out of my life and back into his own body is to..." The stars contienued to shine. "Okay," Canard admitted, "maybe I do care about it. But only for Wildwing's sake." Despite his words, pain was twisting sharply in his stomach. He shoved himself away from the table and walked to the window. "I'm sorry." *** Morning rose slowly, languidly, streatching out a sunrise over the horizon before settling down into the day. Of course, the glorious streaks of red and orange weren't visible through the clouds of smog around the city, but it would have been of little comfort to the individuals living there anyway. Canard reluctantly entered the kitchen that morning, exhausted but as alert as ever. Seated at the shaky metal card table was Nosedive, who was staring down into a cup of coffee looking bemused. It was nothing short of reminescent for the other Duck, and Canard would have preffered to think about it for another few minutes before chaos was bound to erupt. However, Nosedive chose to look up. He shot Canard a quick grin, before lapsing back into profound study of the coffee again. "What are you doing?" Canard asked, crossing the room to stand behind Nosedive and study the coffee as well. "I'm trying to figure out if this stuff is actually solidifying. Looks like it. How much caffiene is in this?" "It's been in the coffee pot since I first found this house, so it probably did... age." With a grimace, Nosedive pushed the coffee carefully to the side, and turned to look at Canard with narrowed eyes. "Okay, what?" he asked,suspicious. "What do you mean?" "The last time you looked at me like that, I was about to get thrown into a foster home. What is it this time?" Surprised to find that his expression was that readable, Canard sat down at the table across feom Nosedive. "I told you that you have to get back to your own dimension within the next few days, right?" "Uh-huh, I know, and it's okay. Sorry I was a jerk about it yesterday, it had just been a really bad day." Canard winced. "It's not going to be as simple as you think." "Right, so what am Igoing to have to do?" "I explained how you got here, through phsyical trauma?" "Yeah." "To get out of this dimension you'll have to go through another trauma." "Meaning...?" "That someone is going to have to hurt you, severely, in the next few days. Either this dimension's version of Wildwing, one of the others, or, I am." With a sharp motion, Nosedive pushed himself back from the table and stood, as if Canard was going to shoot him then. Quickly, Canard went on "It has to be serious trauma for soul transportation to occur, which means there is a chance your mind might die during the-" "Canard, if you think I'm just going to let someone, including you, shoot me and possibly kill me, you're wrong." "And suddenly you know this city better than I do? You think that you can dodge Wildwing, the others, and me as well?" There was an uncomfortable silence, during which Canard couldn't tell for sure if Nosedive was going to ignore his warnings and bolt for the door anyway. Finally, Nosedive cursed and stalked out of the room, headed for the library. After he was gone, Canard cursed as well. "That didn't go well." *** Only a room away, Nosedive threw himself on to the couch, staring at the library's ceiling. "Why does this crap always happen?!" he snarled to the room in general. Struggling with the pain in his throat, he closed his eyes against the overhead lights, while his mind searched desperately for a way out. "There's always a deux ex machina." he muttered quietly. his mind helpfully reminded him. With a wince, Nosedive closed his eyes tighter, concentrating on his breathing- anything to distract him from thoughts of death and sacrifice. "Shut up." he said angrily, hoping to silence the thoughts circling in his mind. He sat up on the couch, eyes wide open now, startled by his own subconscious thought although he was known it was there since landing on Earth. Nosedive shuddered at the barb- Canard was right, no matter what he thought. Canard was always right. Nosedive put his head in his hands. "No, no, no...." he murmured. "No..." Someone in the room cleared their throat, and Nosedive looked up sharply. Canard was watching him, expressionless. Smiling bitterly, Nosedive rose to his feet. "I'll let Wildwing shoot me. Not you." "He'll shoot to kill, 'Dive." The use of his nickname by Canard would have been a cause of minor shock, had Nosedive been paying attention. But he hadn't. Nosedive walked to the door, then paused and turned. "You would, too." With that, he was gone. *** Gary's Bar and Grill, located on the worst side of town in the Negaverse's Anaheim, was a grimmer placce than usual. That wasn't saying a lot, however. Half of the people in the bar were huddled together on one side, nervously silent and regretting coming to the bar in the first place, casting wary glances at the other side of the bar. About one fourth of the establishment's current population was slumped in various places on the floor, unconscious or dead. This left only the other four residents, who were at the serving area. Dangerously angry, Wildwing stared at the table. Occasionally, a high pitched, hysterical giggle would escape Tanya, causing Wildwing to look up at her and snarl. This silenced her immediatly, although it caused Duke to smirk slightly. Duke had long since ceased fearing Wildwing's fits of destructive fury, once he realized that he had both the better aim and the better gun. Meanwhile, Grin was seated at the bar, absently twisting and straightening a crowbar he had found under one of the tables. If he noticed Wildwing's mood, he gave no indication. This, however, changed, when the door opened, admitting a familor figure who fairly slinked to Wildwing's side. "Bro?" the figure said, hopefully, pitifully. For a moment, Wildwing failed to react. Then, in one swift motion, he grabbed his younger brother by the throat and threw him across the room. The other half of the bar, those who were still conscious and alive, bolted in a united fear for their lives. Nosedive lay on the wooden floor of the bar for a moment before struggling back to his feet. "Okay, I deserved that." Wildwing rose to his feet, shoving a table out of his way in the process. "I'm going to kill you." "Right. Okay." Desperately, Nosedive backed away, towards where the kegs of beer were kept. He wrenched off one of the valves, sending a spray of alcohal into the air. Wildwing laughed. "You're still not impressing me, little brother." The sarcasm in the words almost made Nosedive wince. "Nah." commented a voice from the doorway. "That's my job." Wildwing turned to face Canard, snarling. "Stay out of this, it's none of your concern. You're the one who got him hooked on drugs, turned himn against me.... this is your fault!" While Wildwing was distracted by his growing anger against Canard, Nosedive contienued to pull off the valves on any beer keg he could find. Soon the scent of alcohal in the small room was overwhelming. "Now is not the time to get a beer!" hissed Mallory's voice at his shoulder. "That's not what I'm doing. By the way, you might want to go help Canard." As they spoke, Wildwing broke a chair over Canard's back. Unfazed, Canard shoved a table in fropnt of him, causing him to trip. Mallory gave a strangled little squeak and ran to the fight. Heaving a sigh of relief, tinged with regret, Nosedive started towards the last three kegs, which were shoved in a corner. The sudden click of a gun being cocked forced him to freeze. "Don't move, punk, or I'll blow your head into several pieces." Duke. "Tempting offer. I think I'll take you up on that." Bracing himself for a bullet, Nosedive whirled to face his attacker. There was a tense moment of silence, which Nosedive spent looking into the barrel of a .44 Magnum, wondering if he would see the bullet, wondering if it really mattered. Duke lowered the gun, shook his head, and muttered "Idiot." It was never clear exactly who Duke was referring to, because he walked out of the bar, ignoring Wildwing's demands that he return. Not one to ignore a possible advantage, Nosedive wrenched off the final three valves, and looked up just in time to see Grin throw a table, which had previously been attached to the ground, at him. Across the room, Canard dodged Wildwing's fist and punched him in the stomach, following that by a knee to the groin. Wildwing doubled over with a low groan over pain, and was quickly knocked out by Canard's knee connecting with his face. Smirking, Canard turned back around to see that Grin had Nosedive in a death grip, trying to squeeze any semblance of life from the younger Duck's body. Even then, he could hear a rib cracking. Canard hovered for a moment, part of him demanding that he go over and forcibly remove Grin's arms from his victims body, or possibly altogether, until he remembered his plan. Trying to ignore the wrenching pain in his throat at the reminder, Canard cast a glance towards where he thought Mallory was. The loud 'clang' of an iron pan connecting with the back of Grin's head alerted him to her new location. Canard cursed, realizing that he had never informed her of the need for Nosedive to 'die' in the fight. Cringing under a table, Tanya whimpered as Canard stalked past. She had seen the others fall, and knew that the strangers would come for her soon. She hated Wildwing, was glad to watch him die at the strangers' hands, but she was his flunkie. And soon, she would die too. Tanya wondered vaguely, as the strangers stood together near her table, if it would hurt. Nosedive stepped over Grin's prone form, into a pool of beer. He glanced down at both the body and the amber liquid, frowned, and inquired without looking up "Canard, do you have a match?" "What?" "He said, 'do you have a match?'." Mallory supplied, and he was hard-pressed to tell if she was being sarcastic. Canard scowled briefly at her, then reached over to the table Tanya was hiding under and picked up a matchbook, which the table's earlier occupants had abandoned. Placing it in Nosedive's hand, he commented "You picked a bad time to start smoking, kid." "So did they." Nosedive replied calmly, gesturing at Wildwing and Grin, who were still unconscious. His voice held an undercurrent of tension. "Maybe you guys better go outside for a minute?" Realizing that in moments there was a great possibility that Nosedive would die at his hands, Canard shrugged and complied, dragging Mallory behind him. Once they were across the street outside, Mallory inquired. "Um, Canard?" "Yeah?" "Doesn't beer explode if you light a match too close to it?" Canard froze. Inside the bar, Nosedive lit a single match and stared at it. Then, turning his face away, he closed his eyes and dropped the match into a pool of beer at his feet. The bar exploded. *** Wildwing sat in the Medlab and watched, as he had been for what seemed like an eternity.. Weariness, resulting from three days without sleep or rest, pounded through his mind. Despite that, he refused to leave, only stood in the background, usually a silent guard that Tanya had learned to disregard as she worked. While Tanya took one of her few breaks for sleep, Wildwing waited, still watching the seemingly lifelress form on one of the Medlab beds. His younger brother hadn't awoken since they'd found him, two days earlier, in the remains of the Migrater. From what anyone had been able to tell, the brakes had gone out. The pure stupidity of the accident was what bothered Wildwing. After all the attacks from the Saurians, almost falling into a pool of radioactive waste, jumping out of an airborn jet, falling at least thirty feet off of a cliff after hang- gliding in a snow storm, and probably several other things of which Nosedive had failed to inform him, the thing that pushed him to the brink of death had to be an accident involving one of his major skills. Nosedive stirred suddenly, derailing Wildwing's train of thought, then flickered awake. Startled, Wildwing stood up. "Don't sit up." he warned, guessing that his brother was only semi-aware. "What...?" Disoriented, Nosedive shook his head and winced as the motion send pain tearing through him. "Where's-" He cut himself off, sharply, starting to realize through the pain. Apparently, Canard wasn't there. Wildwing wasn't trying to kill him. He wasn't in the Negaverse. It was possible that he could've been sent to the wrong universe. He could sit up to discover that Mallory was a Saurian, or that Duke was a cop, or even that he was no longer male..... "You've been out for three days." Wildwing was explaining, sounding concerned. "You were in a car accident. Your head and arm hit the windshield, and cracked it.." Wildwing grinned slightly, although shakily. "You've got to have one of the hardest skulls on this planet." "Oh, thanks." Nosedive shot back, managing a weak smile. "How messed up is my arm?" "According to Tanya, you'll be up to speed by hockey season. Much to Phil's relief, I might add. He nearly drank himself into an alcohalic coma before Tanya confirmed it." The mention of alcohal brought back the explosion of the bar. Nosedive asked "Hey, 'Wing? Did my vital signs freak out anytime yesterday?" With a wince, Wildwing turned away. "Yeah. You..." Casting a look ceilingward, Wildwing searched for the word, "... flatlined. Tanya never figure out why, but it straightened out before she could do anything anyway. I swear, 'Dive, it scared me half to death. One second, you were fine, then you just stopped breathing..." Wildwing closed his eyes and looked down for a moment. Nosedive glanced over at him, concerned. Canard had obviously been right- in part. The Negaverse Nosedive had died, momentarily or otherwise. He could only hope that the other Wildwing was dead in a permanant way. Realizing that Wildwing wasn't likely to continue, Nosedive faked a smile. "So where's Tanya? She's normally paranoid about concussions." Wildwing looked up, and messed up his younger brother's hair. "You're judging from one incident?" "Whatever." Nosedive studied his older brother with an experianced eye and immediatly saw the exhaustion in his eyes. "Did you get any sleep since I was hurt?" Wildwing shook his head and grinned, guiltily. "Go t'bed." Nosedive commanded. "I'll be fine." Realizing that any protests he made would be ignored, Wildwing laughed. "Okay, I'm going. And I thought I was the leader..." "Nah. What gave you that idea?" Waiting until after the door shut, Nosedive sighed. He was starting to regret his anger towards Canard. There really hadn't been another choice. "Must be the painkillers." he muttered, and closed his eyes. His last thought before sleep overtook him was that he hoped Canard knew he was all right. From beneath the ruins of a bar, something began to stir. A severely burnt and tattered young man rose from the ashes, hovered unsteadily for a moment, then tilted his head back and howled triumphantly at the smog-filled night sky above. ________ Author's Notes- Sorry it took so long for this thing to get written, guys! I hope it was worth the wait. I'd like to thank Lindsay, for posting this, Sandie Beaches, Turbulence Ducane, and Ree for their help, and the nice people down at the Jolt factory, who provided me with (what else?) CAFFIENE!!! Coming soon- Defiantly (and yes, I MEAN defiantly): The sequal! (Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.) Along with two, count 'em, two, side stories (if Lindsay'll post 'em. I hope.)!