"Lord Dragaunus!" Wraith looked up with an evil smile as the Chameleon bounded into the room, running and out of breath. This would be an entertaining diversion, he thought, his smile widening at the anger twisting his Dragaunus's face. The warlord turned in a swirl of purple robes, the look in his narrowed eyes bringing his minion to a scrambling halt. "Uh--" the smallest of the Saurians cowered, realizing his mistake.

"How dare you burst in like that!" Dragaunus grabbed him by the throat and hefted him effortlessly.

"Bu-but Lord," Chameleon stammered, trying to keep the clawed hands from crushing him. "The ducks are--"

"What?!!" Dragaunus dropped him and he landed with a grunt on the Raptor's metal floor.

"Wildwing and that girl duck are outside the Raptor right now!"

"Which girl duck? The warrior? Have they discovered us?" Dragaunus demanded.

"No," Chameleon said quickly, "The brown-haired duck. They're not looking for a fight, they're wearing street clothes. He's not even wearing the Mask!"

"Brown-haired duck," Dragaunus furrowed his brow, then smiled cruelly. "Ah, the doctor with the perfect memory."

"I figured, you know, we can take 'em out while they aren't prepared," Chameleon grinned eagerly.

"Excellent," Dragaunus ignored the groveling lizard at his feet, stepping over him easily and disappearing down the corridor. Wraith and Chameleon followed him to the command chamber. "Our pretty little doctor will be easily dealt with," he commented with a pleased chuckle, "And Wildwing will be much more compliant when he has her safety to consider." The display screen lit, displaying the alleyway outside the condemned building that was in reality the disguised Raptor. Fading in and out of the streetlights were indeed two ducks, as content as though they were on the streets of Puckworld, light-years away from any danger. Dragaunus allowed an anticipatory grin to twist his lips upward.

***

"So anyway, we still spent a lot of time off-world, but dad figured that a twelve-year-old--even one with an exceptional memory--needed to have friends of her own kind, and her own age. I was kind of nervous at first, but it took a lot less time than I expected for Drakewind Heights to feel like home."

"Didn't you miss court life?" Wildwing asked, looking skyward. "Growing up in a royal palace must have been something."

"It was," Lila assured him, taking off her windbreaker and tucking it under one arm. "But all the rules, the protocols, the etiquette . . . It felt good to be a normal kid--although I honestly can't remember anyone else ever referring to me as normal."

Wildwing grinned at that. "I suppose it was always exceptional, or special--"

"Or rich, or spoiled, or pampered," Lila added in disgust.

"You're joking."

"I'm not. I can count sixteen different times when teachers or other adults applied those adjectives to me. The kids thought of worse things." There was a little pain in her voice, mostly hidden but still audible. Wildwing couldn't think of anything to say. "Anyway," she continued, "Once I got used to the fact that I had a lot more freedom that I used to, I was able to be more--me. I made some friends, and got used to life at home again." Lila looked at him with a self-conscious smile. "So now that you know my whole life story, let's talk about you."

Wildwing shrugged. "What's to talk about. I'm an average guy from an average family on an average income living on an average street in DuCaine City."

"Well, then we'll see to it that you get an average funeral," a familiar and unwelcome voice chuckled as a cloud of smoke materialized in front of the two ducks.

"This is gonna be so much fun," Siege growled in anticipation, teleporting in behind them.

"Run," Wildwing barked, shoving Lila toward a side street and away from the two goons. Wildwing felt heat at his back just before Lila slammed into his side, throwing him to the ground so that Wraith's mystic fireball flew harmlessly overhead. In a moment they were up again and moving, dodging Siege's blaster bolts and turning blindly around the first corner they came to.

"Don't stop," Wildwing gasped, but Lila needed no encouragement. Together they ran, in too much of a hurry to pay attention to where they were going. They flew around corners and down the deserted streets, and it occurred to Wildwing to wonder how they had wandered into such a desolate part of Anaheim without noticing. He clenched his teeth, glancing at the girl running beside him. Her eyes were wide but calm, and she showed no signs of panic. Still, he didn't know how long she could handle this. But he didn't dare stay and fight while she was with him.

Finally he stopped, braced against a wall. "I don't know how they found us," he panted, "but now that they've got us it's going to be a long road back home."

"Here," Lila pulled a pucklauncher similar to the one Dive carried out of the leather pouch that never left her waist. Wildwing looked at her in surprise but took the weapon gladly. Lila produced her metal wristguards from the bag as well, slipping them on while she glanced around.

"I think I know where we are," she said shortly. "Come on!"

Wildwing didn't question her as she took off down one of the alleyways. He concentrated on watching for Saurians, following her on autopilot. He didn't bother to wonder if she knew where she was going, trusting her indelible memory to guide them home.

She slowed suddenly and caught his arm. "The way gets really narrow down here," she whispered, "If they're trying to trap us they'll do it here."

"I'm going in first, then," Wildwing told her. "Stay back until I check it out." Lila frowned but she didn't protest, and Wildwing moved slowly into the cramped corridor between the two brick buildings.

Lila watched him go until the shadows consumed him, then glanced around at the courtyard she stood in. She felt exposed on the open ground, and she flicked her left wrist to trigger the release in her metal guard. The small compartment opened and a palm-sized cylinder dropped into her hand. Lila gripped it tightly, scanning the courtyard again.

Her only warning was the unmistakable whine of a Saurian teleporter. She depressed a hidden button on the cylinder's edge and it extended into a metal quarterstaff. She barely dodged the Wraith's fireball, only to find herself faced with a six-foot muscle-bound giant. The Chameleon grinned at her, grabbing her by the wrist and lifting her into the air. Somewhere off in the alley she heard blaster fire, and the answering shots from Wildwing's pucklauncher. She swung upward, her staff still gripped in her free hand, and kicked out at the Chameleon's face. He yelped and dropped her, jumping back to avoid her hard-soled boots. Lila dropped toward the ground, barely managing to get her hands down in time to avoid crashing headfirst into the cement. She landed on her stomach and immediately rolled to the side, taking the staff with her. She lunged up and swung the metal rod in front of her to catch the Wraith in the side, knocking the Saurian wizard to the ground. Lila leapt over him and ran for the alley, twisting to throw a gas puck straight into the Chameleon's face. He gagged and choked as she darted into the narrow corridor. Wildwing was firing blindly up toward the rooftop, but dodging the blaster bolts that rained down on him made it difficult to track his target. Lila flicked her right wrist and the handle of her stiletto dropped into her palm. The blade flicked out and Lila hurled the weapon upward. The blade buried itself in Seige's blaster, and the power pack exploded. Lila swore, displaying a command of invective that Wildwing would never have believed her capable of.

"My father gave me that blade," she griped as she reached Wildwing's side. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Wildwing panted, leaning against the wall of the alley. "But we shouldn't stay here."

"Right. This way."

"What happened to Wraith and Chameleon?" he demanded as they took off again.

"I took care of them for the moment, but they won't be out of action long."

"Indeed, my dear," the eerie voice echoed as a plume of smoke erupted in front of them. They skidded to a stop just as a fireball crashed to the ground at their feet. "I believe," Wraith snarled, "that this is yours."

He hurled Lila's blade at her, but she stepped aside and snapped it out of the air.

"Thank you for returning it," she said calmly, replacing it in her wristband. Wraith hadn't expected that, and Wildwing took advantage of the distraction to whip his puckblaster up. His first shot hit his target, the second went wide. Lila pulled him toward another side street and they detoured around the lizard.

"Uh oh," Wildwing muttered, increasing his speed. The sidewalk was shaking beneath them slightly, which meant Siege was following.

"Just keep running," Lila panted, "We're almost there."

'Almost where?' Wildwing wanted to ask, but he couldn't spare the breath. Running full speed, they turned another corner and burst out into the open. Wildwing suddenly realized that they were in the mall, headed for Captain Comics and beyond that, the Pond. With their goal in sight, they put on an extra burst of speed. Wildwing heard the angry Saurian spit an oath behind them, but he didn't dare follow them into the range of the Pond's defense systems. Even so, Lila and Wildwing didn't stop running until they were safely through the doors of the hockey rink.

Lila collapsed into one of the spectator seats, trying to catch her breath. Wildwing leaned over and braced his hands on his knees as his vision went starry for a moment. Finally he felt the pulse beating in his ears subside, and he sat down on the floor of the rink, looking up at his companion.

Lila was still out of breath, but she looked none the worse for wear. "Well," Wildwing finally sighed when he was able, "You, Miss LaGlace, have certainly displayed a talent for thinking on your feet." She shook her head.

"It's all a matter of training," she told him. "My father was afraid that I would be targeted because of his position, so he made sure I was prepared. These," she held up her wrist, "Aren't exactly standard military issue. Daddy gave them to me. He was right, too." She twisted where she was sitting and pulled her shirt up so that he could see the scar that started in the middle of her side and disappeared into her jeans. "Terrorist," she told him.

"What happened?" Wildwing wanted to know.

"Apparently, he took exception to the fact that his world was going to have to compete with the Shardrians because of the new trade treaty. He tried to use me to force my father to reconsider."

"And?"

"And she twisted herself onto his blade." Duke walked up, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at the young doctor. Lila shrugged.

"As long as he threatened me, my father might have done what he wanted. Once I was hurt, I was useless as a hostage."

"And you were damned lucky that wound wasn't fatal," Duke pointed out. "As it was, it took an awful long time for you to recover."

"We've had this discussion before," Lila reminded him. "Why must you keep harping on me about something that happened years before we met?"

"Because I know you'd do it again if you thought it was necessary," Duke informed her.

"If it was necessary nothing you could say would talk me out of doing it." Lila stood and sighed. "Enough. I'm going to go take a nice shower and get reacquainted with my television set. I've had all the excitement I can stand for one night." With that she turned and headed for the elevator.

"Excitement?" Duke looked at Wildwing. Wing grinned and gave him the whole story.

"I was surprised," Wildwing admitted when he was finished, "I would never have believed she could hold her own in a fight, but she was more prepared for that than me."

"It's kind of sad, but she's had to deal with the possibility of unexpected attack for a lot longer than the rest of you," Duke commented. "I'm glad she's learned to deal with it."

Wildwing looked in the direction his teammate had gone and wondered what else he didn't know about her.