Wildwing's breath came out in a grunt as he landed on the mat. Stunned and more than a little surprised, he lay there staring up at the ceiling for a moment. Concerned dark eyes came into view as Lila leaned over him.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked, frowning.

"No," Wildwing answered, not making a move to get up. Lila knelt at his side, folding her slender legs beneath her. "How'd you do that?" he asked her, turning his head to look at her. She shrugged and pushed one of many loose strands of hair out of her face.

"Training," she answered, straightening the white tank top she worked out in.

"I'm twice your weight, Lila."

"Which meant you had that much more momentum to help me take you through that throw. You don't seem so surprised when Mallory does it."

"Mallory," Wildwing grunted, rolling onto his side and pushing himself up into a sitting position, "is a Special Forces commando. You're a doctor." Lila shrugged again.

"I'm also the daughter of one of the most respected, successful, and powerful ambassadors on Puckworld," she pointed out. "As such, I'm a target for terrorists and extremists and every other kook who takes it into their head to try and blackmail my father."

She rose on her knees and turned, pulling her shirt up slightly to show him a faint scar along her side, just above her hip. "This guy decided he didn't want a trade treaty with the Massatti, for example."

Wildwing grimaced. Lila sat back down. "The world of politics is a dangerous one," she sighed.

"Well," Wildwing got to his feet and offered her a hand, "I pity the poor sap who marks you as an easy target." Lila grinned and let him help her up.

"Come on," she slapped his shoulder, "Let's get cleaned up and I'll make us something to eat. I'm starving."

***

Wildwing was already waiting when Lila got out of the shower, and the two headed toward the kitchen.

Lila stopped and frowned as she noticed that the "No Entry" sign was lit outside Tanya's lab.

"Has she been in there all day?" Wildwing asked with concern.

"Looks like it," Lila commented. "Maybe we should see what she's up to. She forgets to stop and eat when she gets excited about a new project." She rang the door chime and folded her arms as she waited for Tanya to open the door. After a moment the "No Entry" sign went off, and the two ducks stepped through. Into a war zone. "Good grief," Lila said, looking around at the mess. "T-Bird, what have you been DOING in here?"

"Uh, hi guys," Tanya said guiltily, grinning slightly. "I was just--working."

"On what?" Wildwing said suspiciously, folding his arms with a frown.

"Well, I kinda wanted to see if I could make a controlled rip in the space-time continuum that would connect two points separated by extreme distance and/or dimensional barriers."

"What?"

"I'm trying to build a dimensional gateway."

"WHAT?" Lila and Wildwing exclaimed together. Tanya winced.

"Well, I got a pretty good look at it the last time we were in the Raptor, and the theory itself isn't all that complicated, so I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't want to tell you guys because I didn't want to get your hopes up. I've been, uh, testing it--"

"Testing it?" Wildwing cried. "You're doing experiments with dimensional technology and you didn't even bother to tell anyone what you were up to? Tanya, do you have any idea how dangerous that could be?"

Tanya flushed and fidgeted. She *hated* being yelled at, and Wildwing knew it, but she was playing with fire here and he was too angry to be reasonable.

Lila put a restraining hand on his arm. "Really, T-Bird, you should have warned us. You could have been hurt or worse if those experiments went wrong."

"I know," Tanya confessed, "but I got excited, but I didn't want to wait for you guys. I was afraid you'd tell me it was too dangerous. I'm sorry, really. I just--I just wanted a way to get home in case something happens and we can't get Dragaunus' gateway." Lila smiled and put her arms around her cousin.

"We know you meant well, Tanya," Wildwing sighed. "But next time, let me know ahead of time what you're going to do so we can make arrangements for the proper precautions." Tanya nodded. Wildwing paused. "Do you think it could work?" he had to ask, and the two girls sighed inwardly, knowing he was thinking of Canard.

"Well," Tanya said, turning to examine a control panel. "I don't really know. I've come close but I haven't been able to open a gate yet. I think part of it's that I'm not sure about the coordinates--I've got the coordinates for this one set in my saferoom--" she indicated a part of the lab blocked off with a shatterproof glass wall, "--so that if anything went wrong on this end, it would be contained. But I'm still not really sure where exactly our universe is in relation to Earth's so I don't know where to fix the other end."

"I think it might be a good idea to figure that out before you continue testing," Lila frowned. "If you don't know what's on the other end, there's no telling what that portal could be doing over there."

"I didn't think about that," Tanya's shoulders slumped. "I just got so caught up in the idea that we might be able to go home whenever we want to..." She trailed off, looking forlornly at her equipment.

"It's a good idea," Wildwing told her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "We just need to get the kinks worked out before we start testing."

"Yeah," Tanya sighed. She abruptly turned a bright red as her stomach rumbled loudly. Lila giggled.

"Come on, let's go get some food." The three turned to leave the lab.

Suddenly there was a noise like a thunderclap, and the ducks whirled, Wildwing morphing into battle gear on instinct. Four figures seemed to appear out of thin air, falling to the floor in the saferoom.

"Uh-oh," Tanya moaned.

"What happened?" Wildwing demanded.

"I don't know," She cried, "All the equipment is off!" Lila moved quickly to the glass wall and knelt beside it, surveying the four prone, unmoving bodies. Her eyes widened.

"Wildwing," she said shakily.

"Yeah?"

"You're still behind me right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you're in front of me too."

"WHAT?"

Wildwing was at her side at an instant. Three ducks and a human lay unconscious on the saferoom floor. As he stared, they began to stir, and he found himself looking into the eyes of his exact twin.

***

Wildwing moaned and opened his eyes, then immediately shut them again, wishing he'd been wearing the Mask to protect his eyes from sudden bright light. And the pounding headache that came with it.

It didn't make sense. One second, they had all been in Tanya's lab as she had showed them what she had *hoped* would be a dimensional gateway--as soon as she figured out how it worked--and they had been trying to persuade her to take a break and come for food.

The next, he had felt himself dropping through nothingness. It had to be a dimensional gateway. He had grabbed for Mallory with one hand and for Nosedive with the other just before loosing consciousness completely.

Where was he now? That was the real question. Well, that and how many of his team was with him? And how badly were they hurt? And how did they get here?

Battle gear. He realized that he would be safer in battle gear. Wishing he didn't have to move, he touched his com and morphed to battle gear before raising his head reluctantly, trying to ignore the migraine that was just *waiting* to attack the minute he stopped paying attention to fighting it.

He got one really good look at where he was, and stopped thinking about it all together. He didn't even feel it. He had more important things to worry about.

Like the fact that he was making eye contact with his exact double. "Alternaverse," he muttered. "Perfect. Great. Wonderful. Uh, hello," he tried in as normal of a voice as he could manage. They just gawked.

Behind...himself...he could see Tanya, and a female duck he'd never seen before. No one else. This just kept getting better by the minute.

He risked a glance over his shoulder to see whom, if anyone, else had come with him. Mallory, Nosedive, and Rebecca. The only thing that could POSSIBLY be good about that was that that meant that their Tanya was still in their dimension, working on getting them back. Or so he hoped.

"If you don't mind my asking," the other Wildwing was in the process of saying, "who are you and how did you get here?"

"I'd love to know that myself. You didn't bring us here?"

"No!" Tanya gasped. "I mean--at least not on purpose," she added somewhat lamely, unlocking to door to the glass saferoom to let the newcomers out.

Wildwing sighed and looked at the equipment around him. "Let me guess. Dimensional gateway, right?"

They blinked and stared some more. "That's right!" Tanya gasped. "But how'd you--"

"Simple. That's what *our* Tanya was working on."

Rebecca appeared at his side. "On, great, don't tell me we're in *another* universe where I don't exist! This is getting old. I mean, it's all right for you guys, you always *exist* wherever we end up!"

"Who are you?" the as-yet unnamed female asked curiously. Rebecca returned her curious gaze.

"And I'd like to ask you the same question! Okay, before this goes any farther--" She was cut off by two low moans behind them. She turned and began to help Nosedive and Mallory up. "Took you two long enough to wake up! I swear, Dive, you could sleep *anywhere*!"

"Hey, I wasn't sleeping! I was *out cold*!"

"Sure you were," she responded patronizingly, then smiled and winked at him. "This is going to get confusing, I can see," Mallory sighed, appearing next to Wildwing's side and placing a hand in his. He squeezed her fingers gently to reassure her, then turned his gaze back to his 'double.' "We *are* going to have to find away around this."

"Simple." Rebecca shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the word, then pointed to each of her teammates. "Wing, Dive, Mal. The others get their full names." Mallory frowned unhappily. "Hey, Mallory, I *know* you don't like being called Mal but it's the only way! Unless of course you'd prefer 'Mally'--"

"No, no, that's okay!"

"Well then. Problem solved."

"Too many years hanging out with Tanya, that's your problem," Nosedive grumbled, earning a light slap on the arm.

Tanya moaned. "This is insane!"

"And it'll only get worse from here, I assure you," Rebecca half-smiled, then looked at the only unfamiliar face in the crowd. She smiled invitingly and offered her hand. "Hi, I'm Rebecca Flashblade."

"I'm Lila LaGlace, the team doctor." They shook hands as Wildwing raised his eyebrows.

"Flashblade? How can you be--"

Dive put his arm around her waist and lifted her hand to show the wedding band on it. "And nobody faint, we're gettin' tired of that reaction!"

Wing demorphed out of battle gear, trying to look less threatening. "Look, we're sorry to be dropping in on you like this--"

Wildwing waved it off. "It's not your fault, accidents happen. Besides, we can always use a few extra hands against Dragaunus."

"Dragaunus?" Mal's eyebrows shot up. "You mean you haven't defeated him yet?"

"You mean you have?"

"Years ago!"

"Years? Ok, skip it, I'm not sure I want to know..."

"You'd think all the universes we've been dumped into slash visited with we'd realize that Draggy is just *never* defeated!" Rebecca sighed. "He's like a cockroach--you stomp him and stomp him but he just keeps coming back."

"I'm sure he'd love *that* comparison," Mal observed dryly.

"I'm sure he would. Remind me to add that to our list of insults."

Wildwing sighed. "We've got a *lot* of explaining to do, and we might as well do it in the Rec Room. We'll have to get everyone there; no sense in going through it all twice."

***

"Please, sit down," Lila motioned to the couch and chairs, watching the new arrivals with mixed curiosity and caution. "Can I get you anything?" Four variations on 'No thanks, I'm fine' answered her, and she took a seat across from them. Tanya flopped down in a chair and put her head in her hands.

"Nosedive is, surprise surprise, at the comic book store," Wildwing told them as he came in. "He's supposed to be heading back. Duke's on his way up."

"This should be interesting," muttered Wing, looking at Mal. She smiled sympathetically and took his hand. Lila felt her stomach drop suddenly as a glint of gold caught her eye. She stared at their joined hands.

"You're married too?" she asked, dragging her eyes from the rings to their faces.

"Yeah," Wing frowned, looking at Wildwing. "You aren't?"

Wildwing snorted. "Only in the tabloids. Of course according to those, Duke's mad for Tanya who's in love with me, Mallory's cheating on me with Nosedive, and I'm seeing Lila on the side."

Mal and Wing exchanged a look. Both were frowning.

"Well, in our dimension, Duke's still mad for Tanya," Rebecca commented. "They're married as well."

"I'M married to DUKE?" Tanya yelped in disbelief.

"Say what?" Duke walked in. He took in the scene before him, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. "Ah, is it me, or do we have an extra Wildwing here?"

"More than that, old friend," Lila smiled. "We've got an extra Mallory and Nosedive too."

"Terrific," Duke muttered. "And don't call me old."

"And this is Rebecca, Dive's, ah, wife," Wildwing introduced, obviously trying to keep a straight face. Duke looked at the human girl.

"Oooohhh-kaaaaay," he said. "I assume somebody's going to tell me what's going on?"

"We're just waiting on--"

"Whoo-hooo!! I hit the jackpot to-day!"

"Never mind," Wildwing sighed.

Nosedive's arms were loaded with comic books. "Man, what a haul, I--" He stopped and blinked. He looked back and forth between Wildwing and Wing. Then he saw Dive, and the comic books fell to the ground. "Wildwing, is there--"

"Yep."

"And there's two--"

"'Fraid so."

"Ah." Nosedive picked up his comic books and set them carefully in a neat pile to one side. Lila wisely covered her 'ears' as he turned.

"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON??" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Dive clapped his hands over his ears. "GEEZ, you don't have to SHOUT," he glared at his double. "Chill, will ya?"

"Great," Nosedive grumbled. "Now I'm telling MYSELF to shut up."

"Are you finished?" Wildwing asked dryly. Nosedive crossed his arms.

"For now."

"All right, then we'll explain. Or try to, anyway. Oh, and to avoid confusion, they're Wing, Mal, and Dive until we find a way to get them home. And," again he fought a smile, "This is Rebecca, your, er, Dive's wife."

"WIFE?" Nosedive yelled. "I'm MARRIED?"

"No," Dive said coldly, putting an arm around Rebecca's waist. "We are."

"It gets better," Tanya grinned. "Wing and Mal are married too."

"MALLORY? My SISTER-IN-LAW?"

"Nosedive, will you please try to keep a handle on the volume," Wildwing said, beginning to get annoyed.

"I'll try not to be insulted by that," Mal grumbled, folding her arms and glaring at Nosedive. "For now."

"Apparently," Lila grinned at Duke, "Your double's married to Tanya's."

"You're kidding," Duke said flatly.

"I'm not."

"You must be."

"She's not," Rebecca informed him.

"And," Lila added, "They've defeated Dragaunus."

"No kidding?" Duke said in surprise.

"My, you're articulate this evening," Lila said dryly. Duke glared, but there was no malice in it. Lila rolled her eyes at him and turned to her cousin.

"Tanya, do you know what happened?" Tanya shook her head.

"I'm not sure," she confessed. "All my equipment was off. Unless their Tanya's stuff was up and running, I just don't know."

"Well," Lila stood, "Then we might as well wait until after dinner to figure it out. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still starving."

"Man, you said it," Dive rubbed his stomach. "When do we eat?" Rebecca rolled her eyes at him. Lila smiled. 'Some things transcend dimensions,' she thought, and immediately wished she hadn't as her glance was drawn back to Mal's ringed hand.

"As soon as I get the food cooked," she said, looking away again. "Why don't you guys get the rooms set up for our guests while I go do that? Tanya can room with me until we get you guys back, so Mal and Wing can have her room. That okay with you, T-bird?"

"Sure," Tanya answered.

"Nosedive can bunk with me, and Dive and Rebecca can take his room," Wildwing offered. "And I don't care whether YOU like it or not." He grinned at Nosedive, but it was clear he wasn't kidding.

"Aww man," Nosedive pouted. Dive smirked.

"Come on, guys, let's get started," Wildwing stood up. "Call us when dinner's ready," he smiled at Lila, and she touched his face before he left, followed by Wing, Mal, Duke, and a still complaining Nosedive.

"Hey, you coming babe?" Dive paused at the door, looking back at Rebecca.

"I'll give Lila a hand in the kitchen," she told him. Dive raised an eyebrow and looked at Lila.

"You guys have ample fire insurance, I hope?" He barely made it out of the room in time to avoid the cushion Rebecca sent flying at him.

Lila giggled. "Come on, we better go get started; I'm not used to cooking for this many."

***

"Here," Lila handed Rebecca a rubber band. "Better tie that hair back."

"Thanks," Rebecca said, pulling her hair into a ponytail. Lila flipped her own dark braid back from where it usually hung over one shoulder, and got to work.

"If you don't mind me asking, Miss LaGlace--"

"It's Doctor, actually," Lila corrected, as she put some water in a pot on the stove, "but you can call me Lila. Unless you prefer to be addressed as Mrs. Flashblade?"

"Nah," Rebecca grinned, "Just don't call me Becky and we'll get along fine." Lila smiled.

"I'll remember that. What were you asking?"

"Well, you kinda don't exist in our dimension, I was just wondering, what's your story?"

"Ah," Lila's smile was tinged with something even she couldn't identify. Bitterness, maybe, regret; definitely pain. "Command assigned me as the field medic for this mission at the last minute. Canard wasn't very happy about it, we never got along too well."

"Why you?" Rebecca asked, "Why not someone a little older?"

"Because if the mission failed, and we got out alive, I'd have been able to give them a detailed description of the Master Tower and anything else I saw along the way. I have a perfect memory, that's how I got through med school so quickly."

"I wondered about that," she commented, "You don't look any older than Wildwing."

"I'm not, actually, we're the same age."

"Really."

Something about the way she said it made Lila toss her a sideways glance, but the now-boiling water was demanding her attention.

"May I ask how you became a part of the team?" she asked when she had a free moment again.

Rebecca grinned. "I was always a big fan, and I entered this contest as a joke for a free trip to Anaheim. I was walking by Orbital Industries and I heard some weird noises on the other side of the fence. For some reason I decided to check it out, so I sorta jumped the fence. I dropped in on the Saurians on accident. I was holding my own when the guys showed up. They took me home and after much mistrust and mayhem, I joined the team on right D."

"That's Grin's position," Lila commented.

"Grin?" Rebecca looked sidelong at her.

"Big grey guy," Lila elaborated. "He doesn't exist in your dimension either?"

"Nope," Rebecca shook her head.

"Huh. Well. Sounds like you've had quite a few adventures."

"You too."

"Mind if I ask you another question?

"Shoot."

The cheerful banter went on as they prepared the dinner together. Lila found herself liking this young woman. 'Too bad she's not from here,' she thought to herself, 'We could have been friends. Then again,' she amended as she giggled at her companion's jokes, 'No reason we can't be, now that she's here. If just for a little while.'

"Sounds to me," Wildwing commented as he came in, "Like you two are having way too much fun in here. If I didn't know better, Lila, I'd say you cook for us just to get out of the heavy labor." He aimed a mock glare at her. Lila grinned back at him. Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"*Men.*"

"What, you don't think cooking for six--on second thought, make that ten, with Grin and Nosedive to feed--is heavy labor?" Lila demanded. "Maybe I should see how you measure up to the task sometime." She faced him, her hands on her hips, with an evil grin.

"Ahh...then again, maybe it is kind of rough handling all of us by yourself," Wildwing amended quickly.

"Thank you," Lila turned back to the food, somewhat placated. "We're almost done, the table needs to be set, is all."

"I'll do it," Rebecca volunteered cheerfully, retrieving a stack of plates from the cabinet. Lila tried not to be disturbed at the way she knew where everything in the kitchen was. For one thing, Lila'd set the kitchen up herself when they'd moved in, and it was unnerving to know that someone in the other dimension had followed her organization so exactly.

"Well?" Wildwing asked.

"I trust her," Lila responded immediately. "She's a sweet, fun person and I've seen nothing to indicate she's hiding anything other than a painful past and some self-esteem issues."

"All right," Wildwing nodded. "I'll trust your instincts, especially since mine agree. I think they're who they say they are; I can read them as well as I can read any of the team after all this time. It's actually kind of creepy," he admitted. "We even gave simultaneous orders at one point. Weird."

"Very," Lila smiled. "Frankly I wouldn't want to face someone who knows as much about me as I do." Wildwing looked confused.

"Ah, right. Anyway." He cut off as Rebecca returned.

"Table's set and the troops are hungry," she said brightly.

"Well, let's not keep them waiting," Lila smiled. She turned to the stew she's made and began ladling it into bowls, which Rebecca promptly carried out to the team.

"Funny," she commented as she came in for another set. "We keep our table in the kitchen."

"We were set up like that originally," Lila replied, "but it got too crowded in here while I was trying to cook, so I made them move the table out."

"Sounds like a good idea. I should recommend it to my team. No--uh, Dive, is always bugging whoever's on KP."

Lila chuckled and picked up the last two bowls herself. "Let's eat, shall we?"

"We shall!" Rebecca grinned.

***

"This is new," Duke commented, looking at the bowl in front of him.

"It was the easiest thing I could think of to make for this many people," Lila said almost apologetically.

"I hope it's good, I've never made it before."

"I see. Well, here goes," Duke dipped his spoon. Lila waited anxiously. Duke raised an eyebrow. "Not bad, angel."

Lila smiled with relief. Duke realized that Rebecca, Dive, Wing, and Mal were all looking at him. "What?" he asked defensively.

"Uh, nothing," Wing said as they all looked away again, embarrassed.

"It's just that our Duke only calls Tanya 'angel,'" Mal explained. "I guess we were just a little surprised to hear it applied to someone else."

"Yeah, well don't get any ideas," Duke swallowed another mouthful of stew. "This duck's got no ties to bind and he likes it that way."

"Hey!" Tanya exclaimed, "This tastes exactly like Aunt Irena's--"

"Iceplant and snow bison stew," Lila finished. "That's what I was trying to copy. I miss Mom's cooking."

"Well you did a good job," Tanya grinned, "I doubt even Uncle Deke could tell the difference."

Wing looked back and forth between them. "You two are related?" They nodded.

"Lila's, uh, father, is my mother's brother," Tanya explained.

"We're cousins," Lila clarified.

"Ah," Wing said, and Lila could almost see him taking mental notes. 'So he's a little suspicious of us too. What a surprise. Rebecca probably wanted to help me in the kitchen for the same reason I was so willing to have her there. We're still checking each other out.'

***

Wing kept a tight eye on everyone, not only his team, but his double's as well. He noticed a significant lack of redheads in the group, but since they obviously at least *knew* Mallory....His heart jumped to his throat at the thought that she might have been lost.

He managed to maneuver himself next to Wildwing and lowered his voice discreetly. "Where's Mallory?"

Wildwing blinked. "She's out of town for a publicity stunt, she should be back late tonight. Why?" He realized suddenly. "You thought we lost her?" he asked just as softly.

Wing nodded guiltily. "I just had to make sure."

"We haven't lost anyone--except Canard--and we won't." Wing was nodding again when he sensed rather than heard someone come up behind him.

"Wing?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Rebecca? Got a report?"

She nodded and jerked her head toward the kitchen as she began to clear the table. He picked up a few plates and followed.

"Well?" he asked softly as she loaded the dishwasher.

She gave him a quick synopsis of their earlier conversation, then smiled. "I think she's cool, I trust her."

He smiled fondly. "You trust *everyone*."

"I do not!" she objected, then, under his gaze, glanced away. "Well, maybe sometimes...."

He grinned as they went out to get some more scraped-clean bowls.

***

Wing looked around at the three other members of his team as they sat in Tanya's room, having a quick pre-bed conference about the day.

"Anyone have anything new to report? Questions, comments--"

"Ideas, theories, brainstorms, money...." Rebecca took it up for him, grinning. Dive smacked her in the head with a pillow and she gave him a death glare. "Okay, seriously though, I already tried to put a call through to Tanya, to see if our coms would somehow connect, and I made a discovery. Actually, I made two. One) com links don't reach across dimensions. I know that's kind of a 'duh,' but I had to try. Two) Our com links only connect to each other's."

"Meaning?" Mal asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Meaning I couldn't raise *this* dimension's Tanya, or anyone else on this team."

Wing whistled softly. "That could be bad."

"How could it be bad?" Dive asked, looking up.

"If there was an emergency, we could only contact each other--"

"I doubt that'll be a real problem," Mal spoke up. "Why?"

"If we got in a fight with Dragaunus, do you really think they'd just let us go off by ourselves? They'd be nice about it, but you *know* Wildwing will make sure one of his team is with every one of us. And don't look so insulted," she added to Wing, "because you would too."

"And that's why *he's* doing it." He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. "Does anyone else find it unnerving to be dealing with yourself?" Only Dive nodded.

"I guess I'll find out tomorrow," Mal muttered rather sourly. Rebecca picked up on her tone.

"Not looking forward to it?"

She snorted. "Of course not!"

Rebecca frowned. "Well, it's all very well for you to say, but...." She got a look on her face that indicated she'd said more than she'd intended and promptly shut her mouth.

"But what?" Dive asked immediately, sitting up and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing. Forget it."

"No, come on, Becca. Or should I say--" he got a devilish gleam in his eye--"*Becky*?"

She growled and raised her hand to smack him, but he dodged and promptly fell off the bed, earning a laugh as he picked himself up and, grumbling loudly, jumped back on the bed.

"*Anyway*..." He looked over at Rebecca. "You were saying?"

She sighed noisily. "You aren't gonna let this go, are you?"

All three shook their heads.

"Okay, fine, all I'm saying is that you have every right to complain, I know, but at *you* guys always *exist* wherever we go," she pointed out. "I mean, this is our, what, like fifth alternaverse we've had contact with, and I *never* exist in *any* of them! How do you think this makes me feel? It makes me wonder what's different. Did I just not join the team? Was I never born? Am I....dead? What? What's the difference?" She frowned. "I'd *like* to deal with myself once in awhile if it meant that alive and part of the team at least!"

Stunned silence.

"You were in the Negaverse...." Dive offered softly after a moment.

"Yeah, as Caro. That was fun, I'm sure. But....just forget it."

Wing tapped his beak thoughtfully. "No, I see your point. I suppose it would be a bit disconcerting."

"A *bit*? Yeah, I'll have nightmares for months," Rebecca remarked dryly. "But *not* if I never get to sleep!" She slid off the bed and stood. "We're in all probability going to have a verrrryveryvery busy day tomorrow--and staying up all night analyzing whether or not we'll be murdered in our beds will hardly be a help when we're facing Dragaunus after having no lizard fighting practice for years." She finally paused to take a breath and stood facing them, hands on her hips.

Much to her confusion, they all laughed. "What? What'd I say?"

"Woah, stop to take a breath before you pass out, babe!" Dive laughed, standing up as well. "I gotta hand it to her, though, she's right."

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right. I'm a female, after all."

Mal grinned, agreeing wholeheartedly.

Wing rolled his eyes. "If you two fuming feminists would like to follow your own opinions instead of male bashing all night, we might be able to get some sleep," he suggested mildly.

"Well, I certainly know when *I'm* not wanted! Good night!" Rebecca turned on her heal and marched out jokingly, followed by Dive.

***

Lila opened her eyes and blinked at the momentary disorientation she always felt at times like these. Her eyes tried to focus and found they couldn't, it was dark. She was in her bed. Tanya lay breathing evenly (or as evenly as she could breathe, poor stuffed-up thing) on a pallet on the floor. Lila sighed. Only one thing woke her like this. She slid over and pressed an ear against the wall. She could hear someone snoring over there, all right, but it wasn't the deep, resonating baritone she was used to.

She stood and picked up her robe, stepping carefully over Tanya, slipped out into the hall and down toward the kitchen.

Wildwing looked up and smiled ruefully as she came in. "I'm going to have to tape myself one night so I don't keep waking you up by not snoring," he joked.

Lila smiled and sat down across from him at the small round table that still sat in one corner of the kitchen. He pushed a cup of hot tea over to her. Lila's smile widened to a grin. He shrugged.

"You haven't failed me once," Wildwing said with a crooked smile. "I figured it was probably my turn to make the tea."

"Thanks." She took the cup. "So what is it this time?"

"I don't know. It's just--weird. This whole situation, I mean." He stared down meditatively into his tea. "Do you think--is there something I could have done different?"

"How do you mean?" Lila asked, blinking at him.

"When we took Dragaunus down the first time--when we thought he was gone for good. In their dimension he was. Is there something I could have done differently, that would have kept him gone for good?"

"Oh, Winger," Lila sighed, shaking her head. "It doesn't really matter if there was. And it's just as possible that Dragaunus could have done something different that would have saved him in their dimension. 'What if' is a lousy game to be playing with yourself. You know that."

"Yeah," Wildwing sighed. "I still wonder, though..." Lila reached over and squeezed his hand.

"It doesn't matter," she told him firmly. "Past is past. No one blames you for anything. We can't fault you for a decision we weren't willing to make ourselves. You are a good, leader, Wildwing, and none of us would trade you in for anyone, even another you." He grinned. Lila smiled and reached up to touch his face.

"Where did you pick that up, anyway?" he asked, catching her hand.

"Pick what up?" she asked.

"That," he said, reaching out and brushing her cheek with his fingers. "I've seen you do it to Tanya and Duke, too."

"Oh--I don't really know." Lila frowned, thinking back. "I think it's from when I was an intern. One of the doctors used to do that to her patients. They seemed to be comforted by it, and I thought it was sweet. I can stop if it bothers you."

"No," Wildwing grinned, shaking his head. "It doesn't bother me. You're right, it is sweet." Lila blushed a little and took a long draught on her teacup. After a moment, she spoke again.

"That's not the only thing bothering you, is it?" she said quietly, searching his eyes. He looked away.

"Well--that whole thing about being married to Mallory is kinda weird too," he admitted. Lila's heart froze. "I don't think I'll ever look at her the same again. I mean, I'm not interested in her that way, but--they look so right together--it's just--I don't know." He fell silent, and Lila searched for words.

"It is kind of odd," she heard herself saying. "You'd think love like that wouldn't be bound by space and time."

"Yeah," Wildwing said, "At first I thought that they must be wrong for each other, and they just didn't know it. But watching them--they really do fit together, in a way I would never have believed Mallory and I could."

"Are you thinking that maybe you and Mallory were meant to be as well?" Lila asked, locking her feelings deep inside. Wildwing had to do what was right for him.

"I can't believe that could be true," Wildwing shook his head. "We're just too different. I can't even think of her that way."

"Then why does it bother you?" Lila inquired.

"Well--I don't know, exactly. I always thought," he looked at her. "I always thought I would find that perfect someone, and it would be so right--" He shook his head and stood up. "I'm just running myself in circles, I guess." Lila smiled sympathetically and carried her cup to the sink.

"Come on," she sighed, "We should get some sleep."

***

Wing groaned and cracked his eyes open reluctantly. What a night....More correctly, what a day--yesterday had been *exhausting*. Ah well, time to be up and about, even at this unholy hour there had to be something to be done.

He sat up, the action causing Mal to open her eyes. "Is it time to get up?" she asked, still half asleep.

"Yeah."

She pulled the covers over her head. "Too early."

He got up and stretched. "Up. Now."

"Is that an order?"

"Yes."

"Fine." She sat up grudgingly and stretched as well, then started to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To get ready." She left.

He got ready himself, then strolled up to the kitchen, thinking eagerly about some breakfast. He walked into the mess hall, then stopped, surprised, to see that Mal had beat him there. She was standing with her back to him, fixing herself something to eat. Smiling slightly, he walked softly up behind her, his boots making no noise on the tile. He moved right behind her, gathering her hair up gently and planting a tender kiss on the back of her neck.

She screamed/yelled and whirled to face him. He caught just a glimpse of flashing blue eyes--BLUE eyes? Mal had *green* eyes!--before a fist landed in his face.

Lila entered the kitchen from the dining room just in time to see Mallory follow up the right hook with a left kidney punch. Wing crumpled to the ground, his expression one of horror and pain. Lila's hand flew to her mouth as she realized what had happened. Unfortunately, Mal had entered at the same time as the doctor, and she launched herself at her double with a cry of fury.

"No! Wait!" Lila cried, but the two redheads were already at it. Wing still lay on the floor, trying to get back the breath Mallory's blow had driven out of him.

"PRIVATE MCMALLARD!!! FRONT AND CENTER!!" Wildwing's voice boomed across the kitchen.

Immediately both Mallory's left off the fighting and leapt to their feet with a reflexive salute. Then, Mallory got a first good look at who she'd been fighting. Her hand dropped in surprise. "Wha--" Mal glared at her and knelt by her fallen husband, who was finally beginning to recover somewhat.

"I'm sorry," Lila sighed, moving to Wildwing's side. "I didn't realize she was back yet, I would have caught her and explained. Usually I'm the first one up."

"It was my fault," Wing managed, getting to his feet with his wife's aid. "I thought she was Mal." Mal looked up at him.

"What do you mean, you thought she was me?" Her eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"Uh--" Wing flushed, but was saved from having to reply as Mallory's shock gave way to embarrassment, anger, and frustration.

"Will somebody tell me what is going on?" she demanded, glaring at the couple. Lila took her arm.

"Come on," she said in what she hoped was a soothing voice. "Let's go in the Rec room, and I'll call Grin and explain it to you both."

The agitated red-head let herself be guided out of the kitchen, and Wildwing quickly exited as well, leaving a very sheepish Wing with a very annoyed wife.

Mal crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "Well?"

"Well...you see....well...well....well..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well WHAT? Stop stalling!"

"I thought that she was you! Honestly I did! From the back there's no difference! I didn't know!" he blurted, hoping for mercy. She took a menacing step forward.

"Tell me what you did. NOW."

"Well...I came into the kitchen, she had her back to me, and..." He did a quick replay of his action. Mal's face flushed, both from embarrassment and anger.

"You....did...WHAT?!?!"

He winced, half expecting a punch from her as well. "I thought she was you! You *like* that!"

She glowered at him, hands on her hips. "I can't blame her for attacking you."

He hung his head, feeling very like a naughty three-year-old with his hand caught in the cookie jar receiving a lecture from his mother.

"*Nothing* else like that better happen while we're here!"

He risked a smile. "What about you and--"

"DON'T even THINK it!" She raised her hand and he ducked automatically. Reluctantly she put her hand back down, contenting herself with smacking his arm. "Be good."

He nodded, relieved to have escaped that easily, and they left for the Rec Room to join the others for the piecing together of their story. Wing winced a little, not entirely happy about the thought of everyone else knowing about what had happened.

***

Lila sat back, measuring her teammates reactions carefully as they let what she had just told them sink in. Mallory was straight backed, rigid in her seat. Wing and Mal came in. Wing was an interesting shade of red.

"I, ah, just wanted to apologize for the confusion," he said with a nervous smile.

"You two--are really married?" Mallory stared at the rings. Mal nodded. "But--but what about Skystrike!" Mallory blurted, her eyes wide.

Wildwing paled, all trace of the flush that had colored his face gone. Mal looked stricken. "You--you're still in love with Skystrike?" Wing said, his voice hollow.

"Yes!" Mallory cried. "I would have married him if it hadn't been for Dragaunus!"

Mal gripped her husband's arm, but he turned and left the room speedily. Mal ran after him. Lila frowned, looking after them, and looked at Mallory. The hardened commando was closer to tears than Lila had ever seen her.

Rebecca and Dive chose that moment to walk in. She looked around and raised her eyebrows. "Why do I have the feeling that we missed something big?"

***

Mal finally caught up with her husband in the middle of the hall. "Well...uh...at least we know that some things are the same here," she offered hesitantly.

Wing sighed heavily. "I can't believe this." He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. "This universe is completely...wrong."

She slid a hand into his. "Only to us. To them...we're probably the ones that seem strange."

"But..." He cupped his hand around her cheek. "You never even got over Skystrike here."

"And you're in love with someone else."

He blinked.

"What?"

Mal snorted. "Men! You haven't even *noticed*?" Wing shook his head. "It's obvious. In this dimension...." She squeezed his hand nervously, "you have feelings for Lila."

Wing groaned. "Terrific. I'm with someone who doesn't even *exist* in our dimension, and you're still in love with someone you haven't seen in years! *Perfect*!" He stopped suddenly. "Mal?"

"Yes?"

"You don't...still have any feelings for him, do you?" He took both her hands in his. "Would you rather have been with him? Do you regret marrying me?"

Her eyes widened as she squeezed his hands tightly. "Wing! Oh, Wildwing, NO! I'm NOT still in love with him! I would NOT rather have been with him, and no I do NOT regret marrying you! I'd take you over a thousand Skystrikes! Just because that's the way things are in this dimension doesn't mean that our dimension is wrong!" She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a passionate kiss. "And that PROVES it," she announced when she finally let him go.

He finally gave her a small smile. "I'd better hope you're right. If traveling across dimensions makes love null and void, then we're all in a lot of trouble!"

She sighed. "Now you know how Dive usually feels when he gets dumped in other dimensions."

"Well, at least we can be sure that Tanya--both of them--are working around the clock to get us home. Hopefully we'll be back soon, and maybe we'll even be able to help them defeat Dragaunus while we're here."

Mal grinned evilly. "And I'm enjoying seeing Nosedive go nuts over his double being married!"

Wing laughed. "You're cruel!"

"Of course!"

They wrapped their arms around each other and kissed deeply.

"Ahem..."

They broke off their passionate kiss reluctantly and looked over--at Wildwing. He coughed quietly, probably trying not to laugh. They exchanged horrified and embarrassed glances. 'Oh...just...*perfect*.'

Luckily for them, Drake 1 chose that precise moment to go off. In the general scramble to get to the Ready Room, personal worries and embarrassments were put aside and forgotten.

"Well, Tanya?" Wildwing demanded as she shut off the alarms.

"Well...it looks like..." She studied the printout. "These readings aren't normal...they're...uh..."

"Let me see." Rebecca reached over her shoulder and took the print out, scanning it rapidly. "Power readouts. Generator. Not electric--something else. Not big enough for the Raptor. But still pretty big. Location: Down by the wharves. Harbor and Main." She looked up expectantly, her eyes flicking from Wing to Wildwing, awaiting orders.

Wildwing raised his eyebrows. "Well, then...come on! Everybody to the Migrator!" They raced to the vehicle bay and everyone who could grabbed seats. Everyone else sat on the floor and hung on to whatever they could to stay in mostly one spot.

"Boy is Draggy in for a surprise," someone commented, and Lila was inclined to agree. Somehow, though, she had an uneasy feeling about this.

They pulled up at the corner Rebecca had specified, and the ten ducks and human jumped out of the vehicle. Anyone who wasn't already in battle gear did a quick change, and they began to advance.

"They should be through there," Tanya motioned at the locked fence in front of them.

"Either we pick it, we go over, or we go through. What's it gonna be?" Wing asked. Wildwing shrugged.

"No point in doing more damage then we have to."

Duke stepped forward, but Rebecca was faster. He raised an eyebrow and watched her pick the lock.

"Nice job, kid," he commented, impressed. Rebecca grinned at him.

"I had a good teacher."

Duke would have asked her what she meant by that, but the others were already heading through the now open gate. They looked around, moving almost instinctively into a circle so that they were facing all directions. Wing and Wildwing both activated their Masks, scanning the buildings.

"Over there!" They said simultaneously, pointing to a warehouse to the left of the group.

"They're going to be expecting us," Mallory pointed out. "They have to know that we'd see a power surge that big."

"Which means they'll have the doors booby trapped," Mal finished.

"So we'll take a side entrance," Duke smirked, igniting his saber.

***

"Relax, Wraith," Siege grumbled, trying not to tap his foot as he waited for the generator to charge. "The energy wave distorter will keep them from finding us for a while."

"Guess again, dragon breath," Duke's saber cut through the wall of the warehouse like it was paper, and the ducks piled in. "Ducks Rock!!!"

"You were saying," Wraith moaned, raising his hand. The fireball never formed as Rebecca's arrow pinned his sleeve to the wall behind him. "Ha--" his eyes widened and then narrowed. "Who are you?" he growled. Rebecca smiled tightly.

"Someone who's already kicked your scaly hides once!"

Wraith jerked the arrow out of his sleeve and darted to the side just in time to avoid Rebecca's net arrow. Siege barreled into the crowd, fists and tail swinging. Grouped together as they had been, they were a perfect target. Mal was knocked into the wall by the Saurian's club tail, Wing was thrown to the other side, Nosedive lost his balance and was nearly trampled before Dive jerked him back out of the way. Wildwing just got his ice shield activated and feet planted in time to take the Saurian's rush head on. The two rolled to the ground, fighting hard.

Chameleon backed into the corner, having noticed what the other two hadn't had time to. He activated his communicator. Dragaunus's face appeared on the screen.

"Boss! We got trouble!"

"You've had trouble since the day you were hatched, you pathetic excuse for a warrior!" Dragaunus snarled, smoke billowing from his nostrils.

"No, Boss, I mean we got REAL trouble! I'm seeing double! Two Wildwings, two of that red-headed chick, and two of the annoying blond kid!!"

"What??" Dragaunus scowled. "You can barely hold your own against six ducks--Bring one of them back here for questioning!"

"Y-you got it boss!" Chameleon looked around for an easy target, and spotted Lila kneeling by Mal, who was holding her head. He grinned and began to slink towards them.

Lila pulled Mal's hand away from her head and examined the bruise that was swelling on her temple.

"Do you feel dizzy?" she demanded.

"No," Mal shook her head and pulled away. "I'm all right, we've got a battle to--" She gasped but didn't even have time to shout "Look out!" before Chameleon's shape-aided blow threw Lila forward. Now a musclebound giant, he grabbed them both, one under each arm, and activated his teleporter.

"Siege! Wraith! Report back to base at once!" The two henchmen quickly obeyed, leaving the ducks battling nothing.

"Man," Dive groaned. "I'd almost forgotten how frustrating that was." He kicked some debris out of his way and went over to Rebecca. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she sighed, looking around. "Everyone all right?"

"Mal?" Wing called worriedly, looking around.

"Where's Lila?" Tanya asked, frowning. Wildwing suddenly felt his stomach turn to ice and he activated the Mask.

"She's gone!" He looked around. "There's no sign of her anywhere!"

"Mal's gone too!" Wing looked on the edge of panic.

"It was Chameleon," Duke panted, shoving to himself to his feet. He staggered, steadying himself against the wall. "I saw him grab them and teleport away. I couldn't stop him in time." He pressed a hand to his forehead.

Wildwing surveyed the scene, frowning. Nosedive was holding one arm close to his body, obviously in pain. Grin also looked injured. "Everybody back to the Migrator," he decided finally. "I don't know where they went but we're not going to find them standing around here."

The ride back was silent and brooding. No one said much of anything, except for murmured questions as Rebecca and Tanya looked after those injured. Dive stayed by his brother's side, not saying anything but lending mental support. Mallory was driving, which was probably just as well, because Wildwing obviously was in no shape to handle the Migrator.

***

The crowded elevator was silent as they descended toward Drake 1, and everyone was tensed as they watched their two leaders. Wildwing made it half way across the room before he hit the ceiling. "I don't BELIEVE this! We outnumbered them three to one!! HOW did we lose those two?"

"Half-way across the room," Rebecca muttered under her breath. "I'm impressed. I would have bet he wouldn't have made it that far."

"Here it comes," sighed Tanya. As if on cue, Wildwing's anger seemed to vanish and he sat down heavily in front of Drake 1's console.

"I shouldn't have sent so many of us in there at once. It was too confused, I couldn't keep track of everyone..."

Wing sighed as well. "It was my fault too. I should have kept better track of my team, we haven't fought lizards in years."

"Who saw what happened?" Tanya wanted to know. "How'd they get nabbed?"

"I didn't see much of it," Wing confessed. "All I knew was that I looked around and realized she was gone. Duke, didn't you say you saw what happened?"

"Yeah," Duke answered. "Chameleon knocked Lila into the wall and grabbed Mal, then he got Lila under the other arm and teleported out." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Actually, I don't think he was really interested in Lila, he paused for a second and then picked her up, sort of as an afterthought."

"A hostage from both sides then," Rebecca sighed, brushing back her hair. "Perfect."

"It had to have been an accident," Dive put in. "No way Chameleon could have done something that smart on purpose."

"Not unless he was under orders from someone else," Mallory pointed out. "Maybe somebody noticed we had a surplus and Dragaunus wanted someone for interrogation."

"Great!" Rebecca moaned. "This day is just keeps getting better and better!"

"Oh, Lila," Wildwing sighed, closing his eyes. "She'll never talk, no matter what he does to either of them." He tried not to think about his trip to that horrible dimension where he was dead, and Lila insane. It had been interrogation by Dragaunus that had driven her over the edge.

Wing looked sick. "Mal won't either. She'd die first." 'Let that not be prophetic,' he prayed silently.

"It's possible he won't hurt them," Mallory commented. "They're not much good as hostages dead. Even if he did originally take them for information, he's not going to let the opportunity pass to try and use them against us."

"We can't give into demands like that, even for the safety of our teammates," Wildwing shook his head.

'For YOUR teammates, maybe, but not for OURS,' Wing thought angrily, but just barely managed to keep from saying it out loud. "Right, of course," he heard himself saying.

"SO, let's get a plan together and go for it!" Dive urged impatiently.

"We can't go rushing into this," Wildwing protested. "What are we going to do, go blast half the city apart looking for them?"

"Not a bad idea, but we could probably do better." Rebecca attempted a dry smile but failed utterly.

Wildwing was not in the mood to be amused. "There's no way we can find the Raptor in time to do them any good, Dragaunus is bound to be blocking their coms and scanning the city with the Mask isn't going to do us any more good than it has for the past year!"

Startled, Rebecca took a step back. "I'm sorry." Searching for a way to clear herself in his eyes, she racked her mind for something that might help. And hit the nail right on the head. "Wait...wait...WAIT. I got it!"

"Got what?" Wildwing demanded, despair making him irritable.

"Our coms! They don't connect! They must be on different stations or something, there's a chance that Draggy COULDN'T block Mal's com!" She looked to Tanya for support.

Tanya's eyes widened. "She's right! Wildwing, that could work! We tested the coms earlier, theirs don't connect with ours, they just don't work the same way! If Dragaunus hasn't figured that out yet, we could set up the sensors to track their frequency instead of ours!"

Wing jumped to his feet. "Then do it! Now!"

This time it was Tanya that jumped back a step. "Hey," Wildwing got to his feet, annoyed. "Who's giving the orders here, anyway?"

Wing looked contrite for a moment, then his expression quickly changed. "Whose WIFE is on the line? Who lost his team to begin with? And I was only given the orders to MY team, anyway!" He was surprised at himself, but too angry to apologize.

Wildwing knew he shouldn't have snapped, but he was worried and angry and not thinking too clearly. "I may not be married to Lila but she's still part of my team, and she means just as much to me as Mal means to you! Don't EVER imply otherwise!" Everyone was so worried about the argument that no one, not even Wildwing, realized the full meaning of what he'd just said.

"I'm not IMPLYING anything beyond the fact that you should take better care of your own team before you yell at me for commanding mine!"

That did it. Wildwing snapped. He started to move forward with a growl, but Duke and Nosedive quickly got in front of him.

"Whoa whoa woah, take it easy," Duke cried, struggling to hold back his enraged leader. Wildwing was larger and heavier, but between the two of them, they managed to get him immobile.

"Let go of me," Wildwing said, his voice dangerously calm. "Right now."

"Not until you start making some sense," Duke said slowly, his own expression darkening as he looked the younger man in the eye.

"That's not--" Wing began, but he was cut off.

"STOP IT! DANG IT, JUST *STOP*, BOTH OF YOU!" Rebecca yelled suddenly, moving between them, her eyes burning dangerously. "Are you both so selfish that you are going to stand here fighting when your teammates are in danger!? And don't DARE give me that CRAP about being separate teams! As far as I'm concerned, Lila is as much a part of my team as Mal is! Get yourselves together and start acting like the leaders you CLAIM to be, or step down and let *us* get them back!"

Wing looked stunned, but not so much as Wildwing when Tanya moved to Rebecca's side. "That's right! How dare you act as if you're the only ones with the right to be worried! That's my cousin out there, in case you've forgotten, and she's the only family I have left on this world, or for all I know she's the only family I have left PERIOD! And if you think that I'm going to stand here and let you WASTE TIME when her life is in danger you haven't got the brains to be leader in the first place!"

"So," Rebecca finished for those who were standing between the two leaders, "are you going to shape up and stop fighting, or are we going to get the others, without you?"

Wildwing sighed, letting his head hang. "You're right, I'm sorry. Let me go, guys." Duke glanced at Nosedive, who nodded. They let go.

Wildwing straightened, and offered a hand to his double. "I'm sorry. I had no right to speak to you that way."

Wing sighed and clasped his double's hand. "I had no right, either. I--"

"Acted like Mallory," Rebecca put in for him, smiling.

"Hey!" Mallory protested, folding her arms.

"OUR Mal," she corrected hastily, blushing. "I hate when that happens."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Duke waved his hand dismissively. "She's like that too and she knows it." He quickly jumped away as she went to smack him.

"I see you have the same sense of unity that we do," she remarked dryly.

"Natch," Nosedive grinned.

"Anyway, so like, what are we waiting for?" Tanya demanded. "Let's go, you know, get them back!"

***

Mal winced as she was tossed carelessly to the cold metal floor of the cell. "I'll never tell you ANYTHING you lizards!" she yelled angrily, struggling against her bonds.

Lila stared the warlord in the eye coldly as he held her up by her dark blue Healer's vest. "Last chance," he said, his nostrils smoking. He narrowed his eyes. Lila could feel the heat of his foul breath on her face.

She lifted her chin and continued to glare defiantly at him in silence. Dragaunus roared and flung her in the cell. She hit the floor hard on one shoulder and slid. She heard the door slam as the infuriated Dragaunus went to cut a deal with their teammates. Lila rolled over and lurched up on her knees, glaring at the locked door.

"That didn't go well," Mal commented dryly, maneuvering into a sitting position. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Lila sighed, looking around the room. "Not much for fancy decor, are they?"

"Yeah, ever since they had to let the cleaning lady go this place is becoming a dust trap." Mal shook her head. "Oh, no, I'm starting to sound like Rebecca."

Lila allowed a small smile at that. "It does sound like something she would say. Then again, that comment about the decor was strongly reminiscent of Duke, so maybe we should just forget the comparisons."

Mal snorted. "Wise decision. Now..."

"Now..." Lila frowned. "They're either going to torture us or use us as bait."

"I'll take option number one."

Lila smiled grimly. "Me too. Trap or no, Wildwing'd walk right into it if there was even a chance of getting a team member back."

"They'll all go in firing. They'd walk right into the trap with their eyes open." The fond exasperation was evident in her voice.

Lila shook her head. "They're impossible aren't they."

"Yeah. But we love them anyway." Her poor choice of words hit her as soon she finished her sentence.

Lila looked away, silent.

***

"Anything showing up on the radar?" Wing asked anxiously, leaning over the back of Rebecca's seat.

"The answer's the same as it was the last time you asked, Wing," she replied calmly. "Nothing. Now try to wait more than five minutes before asking again this time."

"Actually, I think it was me that asked last time," Wildwing admitted.

"It doesn't matter," Mallory said sourly, "One of them's going to ask again within the next five minutes anyway."

"Undoubtably." Rebecca was cut off as her com beeped. "What the?! HELLO?!" She flipped it up eagerly as her team crowded around her.

The picture was none existent, the voice statically, but the connection was there. "Uh...guys?"

"Tanya! You all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine here. The universal gateway isn't quite fixed, but I'm working on."

"Great," Dive mumbled, "we'll be here for twenty more years." Rebecca promptly smacked him in the head.

"Ignore him and continue. How are you connecting to us, I tried earlier and couldn't get through."

"Well, there's not much to tell, really. And I'm using a new design of more- powerful com unit I've been working on, that's why it's connecting. Now, you all okay over there?"

"Oh, yeah," she replied calmly, "we have doubles here, nothing's the same, and Mal's been captured by Dragaunus. We're great!"

"Well, that's good--*WHAT*?!"

"Great," the resident Tanya said dryly. "Give the poor woman a heart attack."

"She should be used to it by now." This time Dive managed to duck the slap that came after him.

"ANYWAY..." Rebecca turned her attention back to her com. "We're gonna get her back, don't worry."

Duke picked up on his com. "Tell us she's been captured and then tell us not to worry. You're as much of a handful now as you ever were nine years ago."

"Well, thanks, I'll take that as a compliment."

All present rolled their eyes.

"Well, at least we know Tanya's close to getting us home," Wing sighed as the connection was cut.

"Yeah," said Wildwing. "Now if we could just get the girls back, maybe our Tanya could crack the code from our end."

***

Lila glanced sidelong at her companion. "I have to ask," she said finally, turning her attention back to her bonds as an excuse not to look at Mal. "How...how long have you guys been married?"

Mal stared at her own bonds as if they were the most fascinating things she'd ever seen. "About....eight years."

"I see."

Uncomfortable silence reigned again.

Mal finally glanced up. "How...long have you been here on earth?"

Lila met her gaze for an instant and looked away again. "Almost two years. You?"

Mal hesitated for a moment. "Nine years, about."

"You got married pretty soon after coming here, then."

"Yes." Mal glared at her bonds as if she could melt them from the intensity of her stare.

Lila closed eyes that were wet with an emotion that she'd never come so close to admitting before--even to herself. She willed the moisture away, forcing her dark eyes open again, setting her jaw and shifting as well as she could.

Mal looked over at her suddenly. "Lila?"

Lila glanced up. "Yes?"

"How long have you...I mean...." Mal hesitated, unsure how to phrase her question. "How do you feel about--"

Lila blushed and looked away. "I--" The flushed deepened and she closed her eyes again. "Yes," she said finally, meeting the other woman's gaze.

"Oh." Mal wished she had something else to say, but her vocabulary had failed her. She fussed vainly against her bonds, wishing there was something she could do.

Lila shifted again, trying to come to terms with what she had just acknowledged. Unbidden and unwelcome, a fragment of an earth song she'd heard somewhere invaded her mind. 'Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dreams...Red gold and green,' She glanced at Mallory's green-eyed double as the words echoed again. 'Red gold and green...' Vainly she searched for the control she had cultivated over the years--this was not a situation where personal feelings could be allowed to interfere. She found herself unable to summon even a shred.

"I didn't mean for it to happen," Lila whispered faintly.

Mal glanced up sharply, and almost demanded, "For what to happen?" but she caught herself in time. "I..." She took a deep breath, considering what she was about to reveal. "I didn't either."

Lila shook her head, looking down at the grimy metal floor. "I was all set for a replay of Canard. We fought all the time, I-I didn't expect Wildwing to be so different..." She swallowed hard.

Mal stared off into the distance. "I was military all way. Parents were in it too, I just grew up that way. Having feelings for your commanding officer? Practically basis to be kicked out. You just DIDN'T do it. But..." She glanced over at Lila. "What you do and don't do doesn't always play a part when you meet..." She let her thought trail off.

Lila smiled weakly. "Looks like we both got caught." She glanced at their surroundings. "Bad choice of words," she muttered.

Mal finally managed a smile. "But an understandable one."

Lila giggled nervously. "Is it like that for everyone, I wonder, or is it just--" she stopped and blushed.

Mal gave her an understanding smile. "I see. When you fall, you fall *hard.* I think a lot of us do..."

Lila shrugged. "I don't know, it--I've fallen before, but, not like this. This time it was just--it really snuck up on me. I always had some warning, before, this time it was like it happened so slowly I didn't even realize..."

Another understanding nod from her companion. "You're on the same team, taking orders, working together...and then, suddenly...BANG. And you never even saw it coming."

Lila smiled fondly. "One day you realize how much those little talks mean to you, how much better a compliment sounds when it comes from him, how important it is that he needs you, but how touched you are when he understands that you need someone too."

"And that hand on your shoulder suddenly means so much more."

"And that smile of encouragement is all you need to feel like you've done a good job."

"And even a hint of disapproval and you feel like a failure."

"And you start wishing he would say something, wondering if he'll ever feel anything for you."

"And even though you *know* you should keep it professional, rules and regulations just don't seem as important."

"And everything you were taught about putting others first is suddenly much harder to remember, even though you know you could be creating a very dangerous situation, you keep hoping he'll decide it's worth the risk."

"And if he does seem to be acknowledging it...well..."

Lila looked down at her bonds again, shifting uncomfortably for the third time.

Mal sighed, tired of just sitting around. "Are we going to try and get ourselves out of this or are we just gonna sit here?"

Lila grinned in spite of herself. "Well, I don't know about you but I'm not one to sit around and wait for a man to come solve my problems."

Mal grinned back. "As we should both know by now, men don't solve problems, they only create more."

Lila laughed out loud at that one. "Isn't that the truth. Well then, shall we see what we can do about this predicament?"

"Of course. Now, do you know what these bonds are made of?"

Lila delved back into her flawless memory. "They're some kind of energy bonds. Last time Dragaunus used these, Tanya said they drained the charge with a ground strap from Drake one."

"So...." Mal matched that up with her rather limited knowledge of electronics and technology. "So, if they come in contact with something electrical they're deactivated?"

"Mmm...I think we can use something with the opposite charge, or something that's used to ground electrical equipment--I'll know one if I see it."

"So, you're telling me to get free we have to find something to drain charge, and to find something to drain charge we have to get free, is that it? Why didn't you *say* it was that simple?"

Lila winced. "Does seem kind of impossible, doesn't it? Then again, I think that's the idea." She looked around the cell they were in. "If there's an electrical panel in here somewhere, it might have what we need." She began to push with her bound feet and hands, trying to scoot over to a wall.

Mal nodded and rolled over on her stomach. "You check that way, I'll go this way." She began to inch her way along the ground. "You know," she commented as she squirmed along on her stomach, "we should be glad that no one else is here to see this."

Lila giggled. "Especially Nosedive. I don't know about yours, but ours would laugh himself sick at us crawling around like inchworms."

Mal grimaced. "Nosedive is Nosedive, no matter what dimension he's in. Unfortunately."

Lila grinned as she lurched up to her knees and began to study the wall. "Out of sheer morbid curiosity, does your Wildwing snore as loud as mine?" she asked, running her bound hands over the metal wall in front of her. "I can hear him even though he's in a different room."

Mal had to laugh. "Mine doesn't snore that loud, or that often. Just when he's really tired. Now Duke.....*there's* our snorer. He sounds like a rhino with a head cold, I swear I don't how Tanya stands it."

Lila grinned. "T-bird always was a heavy sleeper. Actually don't tell her I told you this but she snores a little too."

Mal laughed again. "My, this *is* certainly an interesting conversation. Our Tanya doesn't either, at least not much, unless she's really *really* stuffed up. And in case you're wondering how I know all this," she added hastily, "there have been times on missions when we've all had to bed down in the Migrator."

Lila smiled and opened her mouth to reply, but she stopped and leaned closer to the wall. "I think I've found something." She traced the tiny groove in the wall with one finger

Mal begin to scoot herself over toward Lila. "What is it?"

"Look," Lila moved aside a little. "There's a crack in the wall here, it's about a six-inch square. Think it could have some electrical equipment behind it? They'd have to be pretty stupid to put anything vital to the security system back there, but it might have something we can use on these." She held up her hands.

"Okay...good....sounds great." Mal started at the crack. "Now, how are we going to get that open?"

Lila grimaced. "Good question. They took my wristguards; I don't have my dagger." She paused. "Wait a second," she muttered, flipping her dark braid forward over one shoulder. She pulled out the tie that on the end and shook her head, loosening it. "Oh," she said in frustration, realizing that she couldn't get her hands into a good position for what she was trying to do. "I've got some hairpins that may be small and strong enough to work into that crack," she said, "but I can't reach them like this."

Mal sat up suddenly. "You can't, but maybe I can. If you really think that'll work..."

"I'm not sure," Lila admitted. "It's the only idea I've got though. They're pretty strong--they kinda have to be to hold up all this hair. Besides, it works in the movies."

"Even better, because in the movies the good guys never die." She worked into a sitting position and leaned up, grasping for Lila's hairpins. "Lean back....just a little further..."

Lila leaned back as far as she could without falling over, tilting her head back. "You realize how filthy we're going to be when this is over with?" she muttered as her now-loose curls brushed the ground. Mal sighed. "I'm the one who's been crawling around the floor on her stomach, remember? But I'll just be happy to get out alive."

"Good point," Lila conceded. "Better dirt and--whatever else is in here--than blood."

"Exactly." Mal stretched forward a little more. "All most....all most....GOT IT!" She lifted her bound hands, revealing a small pin tightly grasped between her fingers.

"Whew," Lila sat up straight again. "Well that was fun. Any idea how much time we have until the guys are supposed to show up?"

"They're men," Mal felt duty-bound to point out. "They're going to be late, they'll probably get lost and refuse to ask for directions until some sensible female takes the wheel."

Lila burst out laughing again. "We're so evil. Stuck in a life-threatening situation, and what do we do? Make fun of men. Still, it's lucky for us Tanya, Mallory, and Rebecca are still with them."

Mal allowed herself one evil smile. "Lucky for us...or them?"

Lila snickered. "Come on, we better get out of here. You know they're going to fall apart without us."

"Of course. We're the backbone of the team. Now..." She held out the pin. "You want do to the honors, or shall I?"

Lila looked back at the panel. "You have any experience picking open panels with pins?" She promptly made a face. "Nice tongue twister. I can't believe I said that."

"Very nice. And no, I don't have any experience 'picking open panels with pins'. Do I look like Duke to you?"

"Well, I don't know, there is the hair--"

"HEY!" Mal raised her bound hands. "Oh, just WAIT until I get free..."

Lila gave a sly grin and cocked an eyebrow. "Mallory's temper is Mallory's temper, no matter what dimension she's in. Unfortunately."

Mal growled something under her breath and glared at her. "Just OPEN THE PANEL ALREADY!"

Lila hid a smile as she turned back to the panel. 'Now, they've got to be able to open this some how, so there should be a place where they stick the tool in to pop it off. Somewhere there's got to be a--ah.' She found a place where the groove was slightly wider, and worked the pin into it. She held her breath but the pin didn't break. She worked it sideways a little then back the other way, separating the panel from the wall in both directions. The pin started to bend.

And the panel popped off and fell to the ground with a clang that made them both wince.

"You think anyone heard that?" Mal whispered anxiously.

"I don't know, but we better hurry," Lila whispered back, turning to hurriedly examine the inside of the wall. "Keep an eye out, I'll see if we can use anything in here."

"Oh, yeah, like I can see anything!" Nevertheless, she worked into a sitting position and faced the door, stretching up.

Lila poked through the wires in the panel, trying to find something that looked familiar. 'We mess this up and we're going to fry,' she thought grimly. Her eyes widened. 'There!' "I found a ground strap," she said hurriedly, delving down and trying to get a grip on it while avoiding the live wires that surrounded it. She gritted her teeth and grabbed the strap. The panel sparked and she jerked back quickly, still holding tightly to her prize.

"You got it?"

"Yeah," Lila sighed in relief. Those sparks had come awfully close to her face. She dangled the ground strap above her ankles and lowered it until the ends touched her bonds. The glow faded and the energy bonds fell to the floor.

"All right!" Mal barely remembered to keep her voice down. "Hurry up, let's go!"

Lila got up and freed Mal, then Mal used the strap on the bonds tying Lila's wrists. "All right,"Lila said, throwing the ties aside with distaste, "we're not tied anymore, any ideas how to get past a door locked from the outside?"

Mal looked around the room and suddenly got a devilish light in her eyes. "Well...since you just compared me to Duke..."

Lila stepped back a pace or two, alarmed.

Mal pointed to a ventilator shaft high above both their heads. "It's too high for us, but if I stood on your shoulders I think I could reach it. I think we could use it to get out."

Lila glanced at Mal's boots and winced inwardly, but she nodded. "Now I'm really glad the others aren't around to see this," she said, pulling her hair back with the tie that had been on the end of it so it wouldn't get stepped on.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with the idea," Lila pointed out, "I'm merely saying that we're about to look ridiculous."

"Of course. What else is new? Now bend down so I can get on your shoulders."

Lila sighed and sank to one knee, praying she'd be strong enough to get up with Mal on her.

"I'll try not to step on your hair." Mal somehow managed to stand on her shoulders without kicking her overly-hard or yanking on her hair. "Now...stand up very...slowly..."

Lila rose as steadily as she could, holding Mal's ankles. 'I have REALLY got to get back in shape,' she thought to herself in disgust as she felt her leg muscles burning. 'Maybe I'll talk to Phil about getting a coach and getting back in the skating circuit.'

"Hey! Steady down there!" Mal swayed back and forth a little, trying to get balanced. "Okay. Better. Start toward the duct."

"Which way?" Lila managed to ask. "I can't look up very well."

"I'll navigate. Walk to your left."

Lila followed Mal's directions as best she could, and with only one near-disaster, they reached the duct.

"Thank you for not dropping me," Mal remarked sarcastically as she grabbed at the grating over the duct. "Hold still while I try to pull this off." She wrapped her fingers around it and tugged back as hard as she could. The grating finally loosened, then fell out, landing on the floor with a disconcertingly loud *clang.*

Lila just barely managed not to wince at the noise, which was fortunate, since Mal was already off-balance from tugging on the grate. After an unsteady moment, Mal managed to recover and pull herself up into the ventilation shaft.

Mal managed to turn around in the narrow shaft and lean out, down toward Lila, extending her hands. "Okay, here's the plan. When I count three, jump as high as you can and grab my hands. I'll pull you in, got it?" Without waiting for a reply, she started counting. "One...two...THREE!" Lila took a step back and leapt as high as she could, just managing to grab Mal's hands.

Mal grunted at the almost unexpected weight and braced her legs against the sides of the shaft for support, then began to squirm backward, pulling Lila up. "Hang on, almost got there!"

Lila gritted her teeth and held tight until she was up to her waist in the shaft. Then she let go and pulled herself the rest of the way up. "Okay," she panted, "Now what? We just crawl and hope we come out somewhere convenient?"

Mal lay back and relaxed. "Hey, I did my part. I got us out of the cell. You get to deal with the plan from here."

"Oh, thanks," Lila said sardonically. "Who got us untied, hmm? You're the commando, I'm just a doctor. You need heart surgery done, call me. Strategy is supposed to be your department." She sighed. "Let's follow this for a while, if we can get to a room that I recognize, I can get us out from there."

Mal looked at her curiously. "How well do you know the Raptor?"

"Well enough," Lila said in distaste. "I have a perfect memory; I could draw you a perfect map of anywhere I've been to."

Mal sighed. "Well, in most cases I'd say a perfect memory was a good thing, but now I'm not so sure."

Lila shuddered. "It's as much a curse as a blessing," she sighed, pain flashing across her face. "I've seen too much that I'd rather not recall." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Let's go."

Mal gazed at her sadly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Will you lead?"

"Yeah." Mal flattened herself against the side of the shaft, and Lila squeezed past her. She stopped whenever she saw a grate, and looked cautiously out. Then she'd shake her head slightly and keep going. "Here," she whispered finally. "I've been in here before. I can get us out from--" She froze as Siege's voice became audible.

"Oh, no..." Mal froze behind her. "What's he saying? I can't hear."

"You mean besides 'shut up you little cretin'?" Lila whispered sardonically. "The guys are on their way. They're planning a trap." She frowned. "We really need to get out of here and let them know we're ok." She reached for her com and groaned quietly. "I forgot, they took our coms and equipment."

Mal groaned as well. "Then keep crawling. Fast. We've got to get out of here!" She gave Lila a gentle push forward.

Lila hesitated just a moment, then moved on, going as quickly as she could. She paused a moment when the shaft branched, then swerved left.

"I really hope you know where you're going," Mal called up softly, "or I'm ripping the knees out in my battle gear for nothing."

"Trust me," Lila whispered. "I think I know where I'm--Ah, that should be it!" She paused for a quick look out, then carefully removed the grate, pulling it in and leaving it in the shaft as she jumped down.

Mal took a deep breath and jumped after her. "Where are we?"

"Not far from the main command chamber," Lila told her, "This is sort of an arms room, I think. And if I'm--there!" She rushed over to a table lying on the room and tossed Mal her pucklauncher.

Mal twirled her launcher around her finger appreciatively. "Much better. I feel a lot safer with some weaponry on my side."

A quick search revealed their coms and Lila's wrist guards, weapons included. Unfortunately, Lila's com had been smashed during the battle and was useless.

Mal fingered her com anxiously. "Well, here goes nothing." She flipped up her com. "Wing, come in?"

A moment of fuzzy static, then some scratchy sounds. "Mal? That you?"

Mal grinned at Lila. "It works. Yes!" She pulled the com closer to her face. "Wing, yes, it's me. Can you me?"

"Yes! Are you okay?" he asked, deep concern in his voice.

"Yes, I am...but don't come here! It's a trap!"

"You really think I'll just leave you there?!"

"For now, please!" she begged desperately. "It's a trap. We can get out, just....wait for us, I'll com you when we're free, all right?"

"But--"

"Mal out." She clicked the lid shut.

"Let's get out of here," Lila said worriedly, "before they come crashing into that trap after us."

"Yeah. There's no way they'll stay back now. How do we get out?"

"Follow me." Lila headed for the door, and the two began skulking down the halls of the Raptor. Left, right, right, left, right, down that hall..."It's not much farther," Lila commented.

Mal froze suddenly. "Uh...Lila?"

"Oh dear," Lila murmured back, looking up at the Saurian hulking in front of her. "Houston, we have a problem." She turned and shoved Mal. "Run!" she screeched.

"CAN'T!" Mal pointed at the Saurian coming up behind them.

Wraith grinned wickedly, raising his hand. A fireball flared, as if the eight drones behind him weren't intimidating enough. Lila looked back to see Siege grinning and rubbing his hands, his club tail swinging menacingly. "I think we're in trouble," she said, flicking her wrist. Her staff dropped into her palm and she extended it, wondering how long the two of them could hold off the lizards.

"I think you're right," Mal agreed, tensing her muscles for a combat and cocking her launcher. "But, hey, we can hold our own, right?"

"They're only men," Lila replied tightly. "Just uglier than most," she added under her breath.

Mal heard her. "Oh, you should have seem some of my blind dates in high school," she joked, trying to lighten the mood, even though her heart was pounding.

Lila smiled grimly. "I know what you mean," she answered truthfully, trying to decide who she should go for first.

"You want to take walking beach ball or shapeshifter?" Mal whispered.

"Who gets the living fire hazard?" Lila muttered back. "We can't take all three at them. Plus the drones." She got a better grip on her staff. "But we can go down fighting, I guess. I'll take Wraith and the Drones, my staff and ice shield can handle their fire at least. Think your martial arts can handle the other two?"

Mal smacked her fist into her open palm. "Not a problem. It's been years since I've handled Saurians, I'll look forward to the challenge. Ready?"

"Always," Lila said curtly before sending her knife flying into one of the drones.

Mal blinked, a little surprised that a doctor could handle herself so well, then quickly launched against Siege, sending him a flying snap kick.

Wraith's first fireball splashed against Lila's shield, but the shield weakened visibly. Lila dropped it and used her staff to deflect the second fireball back toward the wizard. The drones fired at her, and a laser bolt whizzed by her shoulder. The Chameleon barely leapt out of the way in time to avoid being hit by it.

"Hey, watch it!" He yelped.

A hand tapped his shoulder, and he turned. "WATCH *THIS*!" A solid punch to his eye sent him flying into a wall. Mal grinned and dusted off her hands before attacking another drone.

"I haven't done that in years. I'd forgotten how good it felt."

Wraith had ordered the drones back to avoid any more friendly fire. Lila managed a tight smile before he pulled his fire sword on her. "Somehow I think I could live without it EVERY DARN WEEK," she shot back as she just avoided getting her feathers roasted.

"It does tend to loose its novelty after awhile," Mal admitted, ducking a blast from a drone. She whipped out her pucklauncher and managed to destroy five drones before a lucky shot blasted her weapon out of her hand. She dove to the side just in time to keep the same lucky shot from *removing* her hand, as well as the rest of her arm. "Great." She rolled to her feet, grimly crouching to a defensive position.

Lila managed to leap away from Wraith to the drone she'd fried earlier. She pulled her dagger free and flipped it into the floor next to Mal. "Yeah, I'd say once a month or so would be just perfect," she grinned, bringing her staff up as Wraith came after her again.

"Just enough to keep you in shape, and it never gets boring, but you never end up missing sleep over it," Mal concurred, slamming two drones together as they exploded.

"Yeah. And it really lets you work off some of that, ah, extra aggression that comes along about that often," Lila kicked Wraith into the wall and flipped herself backwards.

"Better to kill them then one of your teammates." Mal backhanded a drone that was trying to sneak up on her, in the same motion driving Lila's dagger deep into another' circuitry.

'We're not doing too badly,' Lila made the mistake of thinking just before another legion of drones poured into the room. "Um..." she breathed. "Any ideas how we're going to deal with those?"

"Get back to back and let's just try to get out of here!" Mal yelled, placing her back to Lila's. "It's our only chance!"

"Great," Lila panted, starting to tire, "Back to back's not a problem, getting out of here could be a snag."

"One thing at a time."

"Right."

"If we can just stay alive long enough, the others will get here. I know it."

"Been nice knowing you," Lila grunted, getting her ice shield up again as the laser fire intensified.

"They'll be here, all right? My team's been through worse than this, and they ALWAYS come through. I KNOW they'll be here! They have to be," Mal added more softly. The perfect confidence and love she had for her team was evident in her voice.

"I know," Lila sighed, a little ashamed of herself, "It's not them coming I doubt, it's my ability to stay alive until they get here!"

"That's different then." Mal managed a small smile, then glanced around to gauge their odds. Chameleon was still out cold, but Siege and Wraith were directing about 20 drones at them. Dragaunus wasn't there yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time. "DUCK!" she yelled, pulling Lila down as a fireball shot over their heads. Lila yelped and rolled on top of Mal, getting her ice shield up in time to stop the laser bolts raining down on them.

"I think we're stuck," she cried.

"I think you're right!" 'Oh, Lord, we're gonna die! Help us!'

Lila gritted her teeth as she felt the telltale warmth against her arm that meant the shield was failing.

"We're dead if we just stay here!" Mal called. "We have to get out!"

Lila risked a glance up as the shield began to melt. Her eyes widened as the drones near the rear began exploding into brilliant fireballs. "Mal?"

"Unless you're telling me we're safe, can it, because I already know we're gonna die."

"We're saved!" Lila responded jubilantly as she caught a flash of white feathers through the smoke.

"WHAT?!" Mal jerked up.

Lila tumbled off her and rolled to her feet, unable to restrain a grin at the sight of the two teams cutting a swath through the horde of drones. "You know," she commented as Mal got up next to her, "I suppose we should be flattered that they used this much firepower to try and take us down."

"Be flattered later, right now let's just get out of here!"

"Fine by me!" Lila agreed wholeheartedly, and the two women began fighting towards their teammates.

Rebecca appeared next to them. "You know, I'm getting awfully tired of savanna' your butt Mal!" she grinned, kicking a drone away from them.

"Remind me to smack you for that later."

"Will do."

"Miss me, Duke?" Lila grinned as a familiar gold flash cut through a drone in front of her. He grinned back as the droid fell in a heap of scrap metal.

"We got 'em, Wildwing, let's go!" he called back.

"All right," Wildwing called. "Wing, we're moving out!" He relayed the message. Wing flashed a hand in the air to indicate he'd heard before blowing the processor out of another drone.

"Dive, time to go!" Wing yelled over the hubbub. Dive looked up just as he fired into another drone.

"Ah, man, it was just gettin' fun!" he joked.

"NOW!"

"Coming, coming," he grumbled jokingly, following his brother back toward the others.

The members of the two teams fought, battled, and blew their way to a rallying point near the hole that had been blasted in the Raptor's side. Wildwing did a quick head count, then nodded in satisfaction. All eleven were there. "Everybody out! Now!" The two leaders stayed till last, making sure everyone was out before leaving.

***

Wing bounded into the Migrator and grabbed the first redhead he saw, pulling her close for a passionate kiss. *SLAP!*

He pulled back, rubbing his sore cheek, and looked into Mallory's furious blue eyes. "Ouch....I did it again."

"Yes, you did," she growled tightly, hands on her hips. Someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around to see Mal behind him, looking faintly amused. He took one look and really how stupid he'd been not to recognize the difference.

Mal's clothes were torn and scorched, her face was smudged with grime, her hair was sticking out in every direction, and she smelled of sulfur from the battle.

He gathered her up in his arms and kissed her deeply. "Are you all right?" he asked softly, as soon as they were forced to come up for air.

"What do you think?" she asked a trifle sarcastically.

"Well, for starters--"

"Don't even THINK about it." She gave him a warning look.

Wildwing shook his head and grinned, turning away from the couple. Tanya was enthusiastically hugging her cousin, and Duke hovered, ready to take his turn as soon as Tanya let go. Wildwing waited patiently until Lila extricated herself from her other teammates. He hardly recognized the usually meticulous doctor as she offered him a tired smile. Her cream bodysuit was grey with dust and dirt, her hair was in a messy ponytail, straggles of it hanging around her face, her feathers smudged and stuck together in places. Wildwing smiled back, thinking of the day they'd met. She'd been in even worse condition then.

"Are you all right?" he asked her as she walked up, searching her dark eyes.

"Yeah," she sighed, "None the worse for wear. A few bruises and I'm going to be awful sore in the morning, but all in all, minimal damage."

"I'm glad," he said, carefully wrapping her in a gentle hug. He'd seen her wince when Duke grabbed her. "You scared me, Lai-Lai."

"Me too," Lila replied softly, closing her eyes and hugging him back. "As much as I want to yell at you for risking your necks like that, I'm glad you showed up when you did."

"Selfless till the end," he smiled affectionately, holding her back from him to see for himself that there was no permanent damage. She made a face.

"Don't look at me, I'm filthy. I look like I've been attacked by the killer dust-bunnies from outer space, and I smell like a dynamite factory."

"I believe I've said this before, Lila," he said with a touch of dry humor. "You're beautiful, no matter what you look like. All the dirt in the world couldn't hide your light."

All the dirt in the world couldn't cover the flush spreading across her face, either. She reached up and touched his face, leaving a smudge across his white feathers. She giggled, and he looked confused until she pointed him toward the rearview mirror. Then he grinned and reached over to ruffle her already-mussed hair. She shoved him away, glaring playfully.

"Come on," she scolded, "Let's go home and clean up."

***

Lila breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the shower, thankful to be clean again. Her left forearm stung; she looked at it and sighed. The shield had caused some mild burns on her arm as it failed. She grimaced and pulled on a pair of shorts, easing a shirt on over the burn and numerous bruises. She heard Mal groan somewhere behind her as the she also discovered minor injuries that hadn't been noticed earlier.

Mal finished painfully inching her shirt on and limped over to Lila. "You all right? I don't know about you, but I've found out that I'm not as fine as I swore I was earlier.

"Yeah, me too," Lila said, cradling her damaged arm. "I can't believe I didn't notice this. Argh. And I've got at least three bruises the size of Duke's ego."

"You have bruises that are bigger than Puckworld?" Mal grinned wickedly.

Lila laughed. "Feels like it!"

"Come on, we'd better get bandaged." Mal gestured to the cuts along her arms. "I'd hate to get blood on the floor."

"Yeah," Lila began moving painfully to the door. "Those stains are impossible to get up sometimes."

Mal followed her, limping painfully. "How is Tanya on medicine? She know what she's doing?"

"Basic first aid, but that's about it. T-bird's a lot better at fixing machines than people."

"Great. As if I didn't dislike machines enough already." She rotated her shoulder slowly, assessing the damage. "Rebecca knows some first aid, too, she's learned a lot from Tanya-- our Tanya that is. As long as it's not too bloody, she can usually handle it."

"Good," Lila sighed, "because I'm in no condition to fix us up myself. You realize we're going to get heck for telling them we were fine."

Mal managed a smirk. "What are they gonna do? Yell at us? While we're injured?"

Lila grinned. "One puppy-dog look and they'd be feeling the guilt for months."

"Right. They'll be too busy being happy we're okay to yell at us."

"So should we tell them now, or wait till we walk into the room swathed in bandages?"

"Do you think we'd look more pathetic and weak bandaged or bruised?"

"Bandages it is," Lila smiled. "I'll call Tanya, you call Rebecca, and we'll all meet them in the infirmary."

"At least they won't lecture us," Mal pointed out, walking--or rather limping--toward Rebecca's room.

"Much."

"I hope you're right," Lila commented as she went to fetch her cousin.

Mal knocked on the door to Nosedive's--Rebecca's for the time being--bunk, and immediately rubbed her knuckles painfully. 'Shouldn't have used the hand that almost got blasted,' she thought ruefully. A few seconds later the door opened and Rebecca walked out. "Well, I was wondering when you'd fall out of the shower and come see about some medical help!"

"Shut up and let's go to the infirmary," Mal snarled, though there was no real anger in her voice.

"I see you're in as good a mood as ever," Rebecca grinned, not minding her sharp tongue. "Let's go get you fixed up so Wing can yell at you."

"He wouldn't *dare*."

"Considering the mood you're in right now? I'd certainly hope not!"

Lila and Tanya met them in the infirmary. "This is so embarrassing," Lila grumbled as she sat down and prepared to be fussed over. "I'm supposed to be the one giving the 'Be more careful or next time I'll kill you myself' lectures."

"Just be thankful the others aren't here to see this," Tanya pointed out. Lila looked over at Mal. "Funny how that keeps ending up as the bright side of things," she said sardonically. "I can't remember the last time I was so thankful so many times in one day that the rest of the team wasn't around to see me looking ridiculous. OUCH!" she yelped as Tanya touched the burned spot. Lila glared. "You could have WARNED me."

"Sorry," Tanya grinned sheepishly. "You know I don't know that much about this kind of thing."

Rebecca turned from where she was wrapping Mal's arm. "You don't?" she asked, her eyebrows arching in surprise.

Tanya shook her head. "No. Why should I? We have her." She pointed at her cousin. "Besides, I'm a lot clumsier when I'm working on people than machines. I get nervous, heh heh." She blushed. "Machines don't scream if you hurt them," she explained lamely.

Rebecca quickly covered the surprise that had shown on her face. "And machines may die if you mess up, but you can always kick them until they come back to life. And they don't look really GROSS on the inside. Unlike some things I could name." Mal rolled her eyes and held out her scorched arm to be bandaged. "The way you always gripe about it, it's a wonder you ever learned anything at all."

"Oh hah. She wouldn't have let me not get it."

Tanya was looking worriedly at her cousin's burn. "I'll talk you through it, T-bird, it's not that hard," Lila encouraged.

"Uh, I don't know. This looks kind of bad," Tanya hovered.

"Dear heart, don't you think I would know if it were so bad you couldn't handle it?" Lila said patiently.

"Have you even looked at it?" Tanya asked pointedly. Lila blinked, suddenly realizing that beyond a cursory glance she really hadn't. She took a closer look. "Oh, great," she muttered. "There's some feather fragments that are going to need to be removed from the burn area before it can be treated." Tanya looked sick. Lila didn't look to happy herself; this was bound to be pretty painful.

Rebecca hurriedly finished tying off the last of Mal's bandages. "Okay, you're as fit as I can make you. You’re on your own now." She turned around and faced the other two, taking a good look at Lila's burn. "Well, you sure did it to yourself this time, didn't you?" She sighed heavily.

"Tanya, if you don't think you can handle it, I can try."

Tanya looked extremely relieved. So did Lila, for that matter.

"Sorry," Lila smiled sheepishly.

"Not that she knows what she's doing," Mal remarked as she left.

"Oh, really INSTILL confidence in then!" Rebecca shouted after her, before turning to her patience. "Let's get a look at this." She took a closer look and paled.

"Let's not." She cleared her throat and swallowed hard. "Well, this is gonna take awhile."

Lila didn't look like she was having fun anticipating it. "There's more antiseptic under the counter there, along with some instruments for dealing with this sort of thing. Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all. I seriously doubt you did it on purpose just to annoy me."

Lila grinned, then something that the human had said earlier came back to her. "Hey, you said you'd been to other universes? I mean, when you first came here, you said 'Oh, great. Don't tell me we're in *another* universe where I don't exist!"

Her companion suddenly paid a lot more attention to the wound than even Lila could have deemed necessary for something not-life-threatening. "I...have. This is the...hmm.." She paused to do some mental calculations. "Fifth universe that I've ever visited of been visited by. I've only existed in one of them--the Negaverse. So to say that 'I' existed there is rather a stretch."

"I see." Lila studied the girl's face. "Have I?"

A moment of long silence. "No. In all the dimensions--except two--there was someone with the team that wasn't with mine. Evidently only the original five are constant in every line."

"Really," Lila looked thoughtful. "How many of the other places had Dragaunus been defeated in?"

Rebecca thought for a moment, going through all of her various experiences in her mind. "Well...just...mine."

"Really." Lila raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you should stick around for a while, seems you have quite an impact."

A faint blush crept over her face. "It...was just luck."

"We could sure use some of that luck here," Lila commented, her voice strained. She tried not to yelp as Rebecca started work on the first piece of feather shaft.

"I'm sorry!" She pulled back for a moment, then leaned toward the wound again. "This is going to hurt, I'm being as gentle as I can."

"I know," Lila managed a tight smile. "I tell the guys the same thing all the time."

There was silence for a bit as Rebecca worked. Lila blinked back tears. "I wonder," she finally said, to take her mind off what was going on. "I wonder how much difference one person can make. If--If I weren't here, would Mallory and Wildwing be together, or would things still be the same..."

Rebecca stopped work immediately and met her gaze. "Don't start with that. I get enough of that crap from Wing and I don't need it from someone as sensible as you. Now, romances are like team members--forgive the analogy--they tend to vary from place to place." She ticked the universes she'd been to off on her fingers. "Negaverse--everything different. Next one, can't give a name--everything the same except for lack of me, those lucky dogs. Kala'sverse--Wing was with someone who doesn't even exist here and Mal was with Duke. Jade'sverse--everyone except her, she doesn’t exist anywhere else, and Dive were dead, but Mal and Duke had been together when everyone was alive." She sighed painfully and shut her eyes as if trying to block something out. "Couples don't appear to be constant," she began slowly, as if weighing every word before she said it. "I think what's right in one 'verse might not be necessarily what's right in another, like...like...." She paused, her gaze on the ground. "Like you and Wlidwing," she finally managed.

Lila's face lit with a blush, and she glanced quickly at the door to make sure no one had heard that. "Am I that transparent?" she finally muttered with a half-smile. "Word seems to travel fast around here. My OWN teammates don't even know I like him." She paused. "Listen to me," she said in disgust. "I sound like a silly teenager."

"There's nothing silly about loving someone. Besides, as for being transparent..." Rebecca allowed herself one smirk. "It's evident you don't know me that well. Ask any of my teammates about my inborn ability to sense couples from a mile away. I am the queen of Hopeless Romantics--I can watch one episode of show and pick the couples. I can match people up from the first five minutes of a movie. And..." She paused. "I can see when something like this comes up," she added gently.

Lila found herself smiling. "I suppose that could come in handy on occasion."

Rebecca sighed thoughtfully. "I'm not so sure about that."

"It bothers you that I care about him?" Lila sighed with relief as the last sliver of feather was removed. "It bothered Mallory, too, but I think we've reached an understanding. They're really two different men with the same face..."

"I know. Besides, it doesn't bother me--not really. I've gotten used to it by now." A slightly bitter laugh. "Well, that looks like you're about done. How do you feel? Not that it's not a stupid question, but I feel obligated to ask it."

"Hey, they pay me to ask it," Lila grinned. "Not as much as they pay the guys to do something that comes as naturally as breathing, but still. I did manage to wrest a decent salary from Phil. It may not feel that great now, but at least it will heal properly. Thank you."

"You're quite welcome." She smiled for an instant, then abruptly turned away and began to clean up the infirmary.

Lila moved to help her as best she could with one good arm.

She was quickly stopped. "Don't even think about it," Rebecca ordered firmly. "The injured do NOT help with chores."

Lila grinned. "Well, whoever makes the rules about that kind of thing in your HQ is certainly more lenient than me. I take any kind of help I can get around here, as long as it won't hurt them any worse."

"Hey, *I* make the rules around my HQ, no matter what Wildwing or any of the others would like to think." She grinned wickedly, then shook her head and laughed. "Well, we don't have injuries *that* often anymore, so we can usually afford to have casualties take it easy."

"Yeah, I can see how that would work," Lila sighed, leaning back against the table. "I'd love to have a little more free time--although I wish I could spend it on Puckworld, with my parents. I really miss my mom and dad."

Rebecca gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Homesick, aren't you." It was a statement, not a question.

Lila blinked, surprised. "Well--yeah, I guess I am. My family was always really close, I miss them very much. I don't usually talk to the others about it..."

Rebecca sat next to her on the infirmary bed. "Aren't you all homesick?"

"We are, to varying degrees. Tanya's the most blatant, it took me forever to talk her out of her depression when we first got here. Wildwing and Nosedive miss their parents, but they've got each other, and Wildwing was so hung up on losing Canard when we got here that he didn't even give much serious thought to it at first. As for the others, they don't show it, but--" Lila stopped and grinned.

"What's so funny?"

She shook her head. "Do you know, in all the time we've been here, that's the first time anyone's ever asked me if I was homesick. Wildwing knows, but not because he asked, I just sort of broke down one day...I think you're the first one who's actually seen through me enough to see it. I really didn't want them to, I suppose, I'm supposed to be the strong, unshakable support that everyone goes to when they need a shoulder."

Rebecca blinked, unable to keep a shocked look off her face. She quickly managed to get her expression under control and merely nodded slowly. "I....see."

"Lemme guess," Lila shook her head, still smiling. "You're stuck in the same role. Tough, isn’t?"

"It's not like that....I mean...." Rebecca sighed and brushed her hair back. "Sometimes, I guess it's that way." She ran her hand along the smoothness of the wall, her expression far off. "It's not so bad, I suppose....really."

"It's not bad," Lila agreed. "But it does make it hard to know where to go when you need help, doesn't it? I mean, they've obviously got their own problems, and enough trouble just dealing with those, they don't need to hear mine. And I don't have it so bad, really, when you think about it..."

"No...I suppose we don't...." Lila noticed the "we" in the sentence. "We can solve our own problems."

"Really, we should feel proud that they feel they can come to us when they need someone. Isn't that what friendship's really about? At least they know they can depend on us..." Lila switched carefully to the plural, watching the young woman without seeming to.

Rebecca leaned back against the wall. "Yeah, it's true, I know it is. And," she added, a bit of a sardonic tone creeping into her voice, "if I ever decide to blackmail anyone, I'll know everything about everyone."

Lila laughed. "Yeah, I don't know about you, but I could sure turn some faces red. I'm sometimes surprised they tell me as much as they do, knowing that I'll remember every single word. I think they forget sometimes, though, you should have seen the look on Wildwing's face once when he was late to practice. He'd given Nosedive this huge lecture about being late the day before, and I thought it was kind of unfair. I repeated the whole thing word for word for him."

Rebecca started laughing, unable to stop herself no matter her hard she tried. She covered her mouth with her hand and tried to stop giggling, finally managing to cough the rest of her laughter out. "I'm sure he was thrilled!"

"It was priceless," Lila managed to get out, trying to keep from laughing. "But he was considerably more lenient the next time Dive was late!" She burst out into another fit of giggles.

Before they were sufficiently recovered, the door slid open and both Wing and Wildwing walked in. Seeing the two females still helpless in the throes of giggles, they exchanged dubious glances. "I'm....not sure I want to know," Wing sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Should I be worried?" Wildwing raised an eyebrow at Lila. Her face turned red as she bit her lip, trying vainly to stop laughing. The two men turned simultaneously and left. Lila looked at Rebecca. The laughter didn't stop for a good ten minutes.

***

"Almost...almost....almost...." Tanya adjusted the knobs a fraction of an inch more. Dive snorted.

"We've been 'almost' for the past three hours--how many more 'almost's' is it gonna take to fix that hunka junk?"

Rebecca pushed her safety goggles back and gave him one of her bone- chilling glares. "For your *information,* Dive, this 'hunka junk,' as you so politely named it, is our only ticket home, so you would well-advised to treat it, and those of us working on it, with more respect, *if* you ever want to get home. Now either shut up or get out!"

He winced. "I'm shutting, I'm shutting!"

"Good." She nodded curtly, then readjusted her safety goggles and went back to work. "You got it, Tanya?"

"Almost. Just need to fix a few more wires and you're ready to go."

"Excellent!" She typed a few more codes. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Let's do it!"

"I hate it when she says that," Dive muttered, but, fortunately for him, no one heard it.

Tanya flipped a switch and the two techs stepped back as the machine began to rumble. Rebecca punched a button and crossed her fingers hopefully. "We....have...." The lights came on, indicating that the machine was back. "LIFTOFF!! WOO-HOOOOO!! Houston we do NOT have a problem! YESSSS!!!" Dive caught her around the waist and they whirled around the room happily. "YES YES YES! WE DID IT WE DID IT WE DID IT!!"

"No kidding," Duke observed dryly, coming into the lab. Both reddened slightly and Dive set Rebecca back on the ground.

"Well, that's it then," Rebecca sighed, running her fingers along the console. "We're going home."

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence before Tanya pointed out, "Hadn't you better call your team?"

"Of course." Rebecca quickly flipped up the lid of her com. "Guys, it's Rebecca. The gateway's ready to roll, get down to the lab on the double. Over and out." She clicked off the connection. "That's that then."

"Nice tongue twister," Dive remarked teasingly. "I'm proud of you."

"Shaddup, dork," she replied fondly, squeezing his hand, and the slight awkward moment was gone.

The rest of both the teams filed in quickly. "Ready to go?" Wing asked, earning nods from his whole team. Rebecca quickly hugged Lila, who returned the embrace.

"See you around sometime."

"How?" Lila pointed out.

The young human shrugged. "I dunno. But never underestimate the weirdness we go through."

"Too true," Lila grinned. "Take care of yourselves."

"Will do."

Mal waited for the last possible moment, then gave Lila a quick hug as well. "Sorry for what we had to go through. And...I hope it all works out for you."

Lila blinked, surprised, but grinned returned the hug as well. "Well, I'm sorry for it too. And thanks. I hope so too." She smiled as Mal went to join her team and Tanya prepared to send them home. "Good bye!"

Whatever their answers would have been, they were cut off as they suddenly disappeared, leaving the team alone in the lab.

"Well that was fun," Nosedive finally commented, to break the silence.

"Certainly was." Wildwing seemed to consider for a moment, then turned to Tanya. "Oh, and Tanya--no more dimensional experiments!"

She nodded vigorously. "Right!"

The End