24 Hours to Live

"Son of a bitch, I don't believe it!!" the members of the BOTB looked up in suprise, as usually Duke was quiet, sarcastic, and RARELY PISSED. Duke clutched a letter in his hand, fury in his eyes. Even Arimus looked confused, increasing the other members' discomfort. "Um, who wrote what?" Chase quietly asked, hoping Duke wouldn't explode in anger again. Duke shook his head, angrily, glaring at the letter. Sighing, he looked towards the BOTB. "I just received a letter... from the Guild," he said quietly. By the tone of Duke's voice, every one knew that there was a problem. "Apparently, Exar Drako has laid his feathers on the Chaos Emerald." The ducks all went pale, with the exception of Jake, who was still new to the Guild. "But Duke, why does this concern us?" Randall asked, confused. Duke sighed, "Because each gang in the Guild must send one of their members to retrieve it." "So, what's the big deal? You could easily get that..." Jake questioned. Duke turned back towards Jake, "This guy's one of the worst wannabe mobsters ever! Drako used to be part of the Guild. He's developed more traps and tricks than imaginable...every one who's gone to raid against him... never came back in one piece. Even if I was as good as you think I am, I couldn't get past his traps." Duke sighed as Jake stared at him in disbelief. "Tomorrow, I'm leaving for San Drako by train to retrieve the Chaos Emerald and if I don't..." Duke shook his head and sullenly walked off towards his room. The ducks looked at each other. There was silence. "San Drako? What'd they do? Name it after Exar?" asked Dak quietly. Randall shook his head, "No, just the opposite, he changed his name when he adopted San Drako as his base of operations." Arimus put a hand to his face. "This is suicide, what is the Guild coming to? And of course there's no way in hell to send someone else. Maybe I can talk to the Guild, there has to be another way..." Arimis mused outloud as he took out a pen and some paper. Usually, he could find solutions to such problems, but this was practically hopeless. Even Chase, who was usually calm, and very optimistic, looked worried. Jake, getting fed up with the Guild, couldn't take the silence anymore and pulled out a saber. "That's it! If Duke's going, I'm going!" "Jake, what are you crazy?!" Dak yelled in suprise. "The Guild said only ONE, sending two ducks would be defying the Guild..." "If it's a one person suicide... then it might be a two duck win," Jake replied. "I could help watch Duke's back, that way, he would still be the one retrieving the Chaos Emerald, I'd just be helping him and on the lookout... it would work!" Jake spoke aggresively, as usual. "No," Jean Paul spoke up, "Duke would say no. His conscience would NEVER allow another member take that risk for him. Just let it go, Jake. We can probably talk him out of it... if it's a suicide mission, we should send some one unimportant out." John Paul looked at Jake threateningly, causing Jake to pull back his saber. "Yeah, I guess that'd work too..." Jake murmured. Every one paused and looked towards Jake. Jake and John Paul, on the whole, didn't get along and Jake hated it when people doubted his ideas. "Would anyone here miss Falcone?" Jake asked darkly. Peals of laughter burst out among the Brotherhood. Hector and Dak were laughing so hard that they were on the ground. "Well?" Jake laughed, continuing his act, "Would you?" "Jacob!" "Hey, who called me..." Jake turned around to see Duke behind him, a sly smile on his face. "Now Jake," Duke chided him, "that wasn't nice... just funny..." Jake paused, noticing Duke's slightly happier face. "So Duke, what's with the change of attitude? Besides the thought of sending Falcone to his death..." Chase laughed, slightly. "I read the letter again. For safety, they have divided the groups up in different weeks. I have at least 2 weeks before I have to go and in those two weeks, the Black Rose and other groups will be working to retrieve the Chaos Emerald. With that amount of people, I calculated that there's a slight chance I might not have to go." "YES!" Everyone shouted. Duke seemed pretty confident that he wouldn't have to leave, although the others seemed slightly wary. "I hope that he doesn't have to go," Dak whispered to Hector. "Yeah, that'd be bad, but hey, with the option of sending someone else, Duke might not have to anyway!" Jake remained silent through the laughter as the group headed over to Chase's Place. He turned around, walking down the hallway, a determined look in his eyes... he didn't quite believe Duke's change in attitude, but then again, he never did. Walking over to Duke's room he put his hand to the door knob. It was locked, which was very unusual. Jake quickly pulled out a wire from his pocket and began picking the lock. The door swung open and Jake walked in warily. Quickly scanning the room, he found nothing out of the ordinary, but with a theive's eye he had already begun to accquire he quickly caught sight of the paper. Sinking to his knees, he carefully pulled out the leather writing book it was in. Opening it up, he found tons of maps and notes scribbled in it. Flipping through it, he found a letter. He read it outloud, "We are requiring each group in the guild to send their best members to retreive the Chaos Emeralds. They must leave for San Drako in one week." Jake wondered why Duke had told them he had another two weeks, but then realization dawned on him. Duke had recieved orders 2 days before this letter was dated to rob some big museum. Leave it to the Guild to screw up like that. He saw another letter. Reading it outloud, he gasped. "You're week is nearly up. Send your member to San Drako immediately, or suffer the consequences." Why hadn't Duke mentioned anything sooner? Jake read one more letter. "If you do not send your member on their way to San Drako by tomorrow, drastic measures will be taken." Jake fell back, shocked. Duke had been hiding this and must have been planning to leave tonight. Jake struggled between telling the others or leaving it be. Finally, he closed the book, and ran out with it, accidentally dropping the last letter. He ran into his room and started packing up his backpack. The BOTB would suffer without Duke, and Jake was ready and willing to sacrifice his services to save him. He wouldn't be missed. Looking back one last time, he climbed out of the window and jumped out. When he touched the ground, he took off running, hoping that he wouldn't miss the train. "HEY JAKE! JAKEY!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Dak yelled, walking into their bunk. He immediately saw the open window. "Hmm, funny that's open... and funny that there's a spot of dirt on the... JAKE! You muthafucker! NOW I HAVE TO GO OUT IN THE COLD AND FIND YOU!" Dak climbed out of the window, pissed off at Jake. He didn't understand why Jake had to take off so much. "Duke's gonna be pissed when he- what the...?" Much further ahead, Dak saw Jake, sitting next to a set of railroad tracks. Dak walked towards him. "Hey Jake?" Jake jumped up. "Dak! What are you doing here? Get back to the base now!" "Why?" Dak asked, seeing the leather book that Jake clutched. Dak ran over and picked up Jake, grabbing the book. "HEY! THat'S MINE!!!" Jake yelled as Dak opened the book. A map was in the front with an X on San Drako. "Jake... but Duke said..." Dak asked shocked. He let Jake to the ground and handed Jake back the book. A train whistle blew. "Dak, the team needs Duke more than they need me. Tell the others that... I'll miss them." Jake said quietly. "I'm coming with you." Dak said firmly. "What? Dak you can't! You're life is too valuable! I've made so many mistakes that this is perfect." The two could see the train from around the corner. "I'm going Jake." "NO!" Jake took off running next to the tracks. When an open train car came by, he leapt onto it. Catching his breath, he turned around. Dak was hanging half inside/half outside the car. "DAK! JUMP OFF!" "NEVER!" Dak yelled. "I'm not helping you in!" Jake looked up and gasped. There was a tight tunnel straight ahead. "Dak, please..." Jake pleaded. "AHHHH!" Dak yelled, seeing the tunnel. Jake leaned over and pulled Dak in, seconds before they went through the tunnel. The two caught their breath, still in shock. "Thank you," Dak gasped. Jake looked on sadly. He doubted that they would survive... Duke walked into his room. Throwing his stuff across the bed, he wondered where the hell he put the map. Shaking his head, he walked towards his desk. He heard something crinkle under his feet. " What the..." Looking down, he saw a ripped paper. Turning pale, he read it. "Oh no..." Duke ran to the boys bunk and knocked on the door. Hearing no answer, he ran in. There was a light footprint on the floor and an open window. "NO!" Running outside he looked around, but the snow had covered any possible tracks... Duke ran back inside infuriated... the wrong ducks left. "ARIMUS!!" Arimus rolled his eyes. Despite who the leader was, that angered yell always remained the same. Arimus silently wondered what had happened now. "Duke?" Arimus asked curiously, finding him pacing in the young boys' room. Duke turned to face him. "Jake and Dak. Gone. They left for San Drako." Arimus looked up in shock. He would expect such rebellious action from Jake, but not Dak as well... "You're sure they went to San Drako?" Duke nodded, "Yes, my writing book's gone, so's the map, I found a letter from the Guild on the ground. My door was locked when we left, now it's wide open." "Locked?" Arimus turned to face Duke suspiciously, "You never lock your door, even when you're not there." Duke hesitated, "Do you think that's really relevant to this?" Arimus shook his head with a sad smile, "Duke my boy, you could fool anyone in the Guild with your act, including me, but not Jake. You didn't have two weeks, did you?" Duke shook his head, sitting on Jake's bed. "I was planning on slipping out tonight. This was just the reaction I'd wanted to avoid. I thought if I could leave without him knowing..." Duke sighed, getting up. "Well, there's nothing you can do about it now." "Is that so?" Duke said sharply, "Let's find out." "Duke?" Arimus asked cautiously, recognizing the look in Duke's eyes, "Where are you going?" "WE're gonna take a little trip to the Guild." Duke grabbed Arimus by the arm and dragged him along behind him. "Well, here we go again." Arimus said with a sigh. Porthos yawned and stretched, walking to the doorway. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been this bored...and Aathos was late for their lunch appointment. Porthos shook his head as he saw Aathos walk slowly up to him. "12:30. You said 12:30. It's 1:45! What's your brilliant excuse THIS time?!" Aathos shrugged, "I was busy." Aathos noted with some satisfaction that Porthos had gone red in the face. Aathos just loved getting a rise out of him. "20 years...for the life of me, I can't figure out why I haven't killed you yet." Aathos laughed, "That's simple. Who else would you have to boast to?" "Arimus." Porthos said, his eyes widening. "Yeah, I guess you could annoy Arimus with..." "No!" Porthos exclaimed, pointing behind Aathos, "Look at Arimus!" Aathos turned around to see Duke L'Orange approaching them dragging Arimus behind him. "Uh oh..." Aathos murmured silently. Aathos had met Duke a few times in the past on his visits to his old friend Arimus. Aathos had never seen Duke in such a rage. "Master Porthos," Duke snapped quickly, noticing him trying to escape,(evidently Porthos had never seen him quite this mad either)"If I may take up a moment of your precious time?" Porthos nodded calmly. Duke released Arimus, trying his best to keep his temper in check. Arimus rubbed his neck and noted glumly that Duke wasn't doing a very good job of it. "Exar Drako, you know about him?" Porthos nodded. "Last week I recieved orders from the Guild That I was to rob the Thorndyke Museum in one week's time. Two days later I recieved a notice that I was to report to San Drako IN ONE WEEK'S TIME! THEN I recieved MORE threats on San Drako, so after I finished the museum run YESTERDAY, I was getting ready to leave when my young apprentice and his best friend found one of the letters AND TOOK IT UPON THEMSELVES TO STOP EXAR DRAKO!!" Duke yelled. He paused and took a deep breath, turning back to Porthos, "Now, this is just a wild guess, but is it possible that the Guild may have, oh, I dunno, MADE A MISTAKE?!" Porthos nodded gravely,"You're right, Duke. It was our mistake, and something tells me that nutbag Jake and his accpomplice Dak won't last long in San Drako. We'll send someone out to find them." "I want to come too." Duke said calmly. Porthos nodded, "I thought you'd say that." They all walked down the hallway into the Guild's hangar bay, where they kept most of their rigs, planes and cars made from stolen army designs and parts. "Lestat!" Porthos yelled. A boy of about seventeen popped his head from the top of one of the cars. "Whaddaya want Porthos? I'm busy!" "Get down here!" Porthos yelled. The boy jumped off the rig with a sigh and walked towards the group. Duke looked at him and turned towards Aathos. "HIM?! Isn't he a bit young? He's just a kid! The last fucking thing I want is another stoned, teenage apprentice!" Aathos laughed, "You're one to talk, Duke. No, just wait and see." Porthos smiled and pointed to the boy, "This is Master Lestat Xander Riviero." Duke nodded in suprise, "I've heard of him." Lestat folded his arms as he approached. "So Porthos? What is it you wanted?" "Well," said Porthos, "We've got a situation here that I need your help with-" Lestat cut him off, talking in Corellian to him (the language used by most thieves, especially in the Guild for talking in secret. Conveniently translated into Basic for all of you people that don't speak the language ;-P) "Look Porthos, you're nuts if you think I'm gonna train another dumb rookie for you! Get someone else to deal with him." Lestat jerked his head towards Duke as he spoke. Porthos smiled broadly, answering him in Basic (known to you human types as English) "Oh yes, where are my manners. Lestat, allow me to inroduce Duke L'Orange." Lestat went pale. Arimus and Aathos began to snicker. " Nice to meet you, Sir." Lestat squeaked. Duke smiled at him and replied in Corelian, "My pleasure." Both Aathos and Arimus burst out laughing. Blushing, Lestat looked at Porthos. "Let that be a lesson to you Lestat. And you too Duke!" Porthos said with a laugh. "Yeah, you're right Porthos, I'm sorry." Duke muttered, "Do you really think he can help though?" Lestat nodded enthusiastically. "Sure I can! Just gimmie a job! Anything! You name it!" "Alright," said Duke, "Can you get me to San Drako?" "Nothing doing!" Lestat said quickly, walking back to his car. "So much for anything." Arimus said with a sigh. "Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant!" Dak sighed and continued to watch the scenery go by through the open door of the train. Jake had been yelling at him for three hours straight. "Yeah, I'm an idiot, I'm crazy, I get it! Would you just shut up already?!" "What the hell posessed you to follow me?!" Dak turned to face him, offended. "You were going to face life threatening peril...You could've at least invited me to come along! You KNOW I love life threatening peril!!" Jake stared at him for a minute, and then began to laugh. Pretty soon both the boys were laughin hysterically. "Can't argue with that, Man. Truce?" Jake said good naturedly. Dak slapped hands with him, "Why not? 'Sides, you couldn't last two days without me." "The hell I couldn't!" Dak laughed, "So, when's our stop?" Jake looked at Duke's map with a sigh. "I can't understand what Duke put down here...he wrote everything in a language I don't know, but there's an arrow pointing to a landing bay with a circle around it...and it goes right to San Drako!" Dak nodded, "Sweet! Looks like it's only an hour or so away. I just hope Drako doesn't murder us." Jake laughed. "You think that's FUNNY?!" Dak said in shock. Jake shook his head, "No, but I think there are a lot of worse things that could happen to us." "Like what?" "Like Duke catching us." Dak nodded soberly. "We'd better got some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow." Dak said quietly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Goodnight, Dak." "Goodnight Jake." "He'd murder me. I won't do it!" "Lestat, you're the only one that knows your way around San Drako!" "And that's why I won't do it!" Lestat walked past Porthos to examine the next car. "He IS scared, isn't he?" Arimus said quietly to Porthos. Lestat turned to face him, "I served under Drako for two years; he was my master. I thought his ideas were too radical so I left to take a private study here at the Guild itself. If he saw me he'd murder me, chop me into little pieces, and blast me into oblivion. It's not that I'm scared, death just really isn't me, you know? And I'm not ready to throw away my entire career just to help the Brotherhood get a pay raise." Lestat glared at Duke quickly and walked out the door. With a wave of his hand, Duke stopped Porthos. "Don't bother getting him, Porthos, I understand." "So you won't go then?" Aathos asked him. Duke shook his head, "I have to go." Arimus turned to stop Duke, alarmed, "Duke, there's no way you'll survive without a guide!" "Better me than Jake and Dak." Duke snapped. Quietly, he continued. "Give me a map. If they are where I think they are then I can get to them and send them home before I get caught by Drako himself." Porthos reluctantly handed him a map. "There's nothin I can do to stop you, Duke," Porthos quietly spoke. Duke took the map and turned to head out the door. "Wait." Duke turned to see Lestat approach him. "Why do you want to go to San Drako?" He asked quietly. Duke shifted his eyes to the ground before replying quietly, "My 13 year old apprentice and his best friend, also in the Brotherhood, found out that I had to go to San Drako for this Chaos Emerald thing and, thinking it was a suicide mission, took it upon themselves to go in my place and get the jewel back. Lestat nodded thoughtfully, walking up to Duke, "I admit, I did you wrong twice already... C'mon, if Drako's gonna take you down he has to get past Cool Shoes first." Duke raised an eyebrow suspisciously. "Cool Shoes?" Lestat turned back to Duke glaring. "What? You got a problem with it?!" Lestat challenged. Duke sighed quietly... by the looks of it, he and Lestat weren't going to get along well. Lestat walked into the back of the shop with Duke trailing closely behing him. "Voila! So, ya like it?" Duke's jaw dropped. He carefully examined the multicolored car. It was the coolest car he'd ever seen...Duke whistled in admiration. "Sweet rig you got there." "Yeah, I know. My little Cool Shoes!!!" Lestat said proudly, "C'mon, hop in. Let's take this "rig" on a little joyride." Duke hopped in the passenger side as Lestat took the wheel. Immediately, loud rock music blasted out from the speakers. "Uh, nice stereo system," Duke muttered, hoping Lestat would take the hint that Duke hated this type of music. "Yeah, I know. I mean, it's Cool Shoes ya know?!" Lestat reved up the engine and took off. Duke gazed out the window at the speeding traffic. Although Lestat probably was traveling 90 mph, the ride seemed pretty smooth. "You, you're L'Orange eh? Nice work for the BOTB...you seem to be doing well. Your increase surpassed the Black Rose, I think. Not too bad for some kid like you." Lestat mentioned, swinging his head to the beat. Duke looked at him, "Gee, thanks." he said sarcastically. "Feeling like a Freak on a Leash," Duke turned to Lestat who began singing loudly to the music. Duke blocked it out as best he could, looking out the window. "Something takes a Part of me, You and I were meant to be, arching fuck for me to lay..." After ten minute or so of it, Duke finally shouted "LESTAT! What the hell are you doing?!?!" Lestat turned to Duke. "Something takes a part of me," he softly finished. Duke shook his head. This was going to be a long night. Lestat sighed, quickly changing the radio station. "Sorry, I've been having a REAL bad day." Duke murmured, watching the speeding cars beside them. "So, eh, what type of music do you like, L'Orange?" Duke looked back towards Lestat with suprise. Lestat actually looked like he cared. Fat chance..."Doesn't matter." Duke said quietly. "You don't seem to like heavy metal or alternative, hmm, maybe R&B." Lestat quickly changed the channel, getting a soft R&B station. Duke turned back to Lestat amazed. "Hey, look, if you don't like this than..." "What? Just because I'm a skater doesn't mean that I only like punk." Lestat looked at Duke. "That's not what I meant." Duke said coldly. For a moment there was total silence, save for the sound of the car's motor. Lestat broke the silence, pulling off of the road. "They couldn't have gone much further... and we need rest. You can take the back, more space there." "Thanks." Duke said, preoccupied. It was pretty obvious to Lestat that he didn't want to stop yet, but L'Orange didn't put up a fight. Lestat waved his thanks off quickly, "Forget it.". "G'night," Duke muttered. Silence. "Uh, yeah, same," Lestat answered. Quickly he turned to Cool Shoes. "Sweet dreams precious," he murmured to the car, stroking it's dashboard. Duke supressed a smile, wondering if this guy was close to anything but his car. Lestat seemed to think himself superior to just about everyone, but Duke didn't care as long as he could help him find Dak and Jake. Lestat looked back towards Duke, making sure he was asleep. Duke was older than him, that was a fact, but not by more than maybe two years. At least Duke didn't push his weight around like many others in his position. Duke didn't even seem to realize who he was. Lestat wondered if L'Orange was actually as good as him. Shuddering, Lestat realized that he just might be... Feeling kind of sorry for him, Lestat opened the dashboard to pull out a blanket. Lestat threw it over Duke lightly, trying not to disturb him before he leaned back in his seat, feet on the dashboard, trying to fall asleep. 'One shred of decency,' Duke thought to himself, still wide awake. "Thanks Lestat." Duke said quietly. Lestat fell off of his chair in shock. "By the way," Duke added, not bothering to open his eyes, "I'm not a kid." Later that night, Lestat lay awakein the front seat. Closing his eyes, he muttered a curse... Lestat had tried so hard for so long... he was the best master in the Guild, or so they said. "Lies," he whispered. Turning back, he focused his attention on Duke, who was now fast asleep. "Why do I bother helping you?" he snapped quietly,"So you can take my place?" Lestat turned back around, looking out the open window. He jumped out of Cool Shoes, not even bothering to open the door and softly walked around the area. "I was trained earlier than he was," Lestat paced back and forth, out of Duke's hearing range. "I was first! I was better! I was the child prodigy! Everyone from the guild knows my name, Master Riviero... Master Lestat Riviero... I was The 11 year old genius, Lestat Xander Riviero!!!" Silence. Lestat pulled a hand to his head, he started wobbling on his feet and the world seemed to blur. ***** "Xander, come here," the voice boomed. The young boy quickly ran over. "Yes, my lord?" "You see this?" The man waved his hand encompassing the surrounding area, "All this... all this you see here that I've created, someday it will be yours." The young boy's jaw dropped as he stared at his surroundings from the small porch. Suddenly, flashes of light broke out. The boy covered his head, trying to block out the deafening sound of the sirens. The two took off running as they realized they were under attack. "FREEZE!!! THIS IS THE POLICE!!!" The two ran faster through the building. Dodging bullets, they ran towards the advancing train. The man jumped into one of the carts on the locomotive. The boy grabbed onto the side. "MASTER!!! Help me!!!" He cried out. The man looked at the boy pulling out his saber with his metal arm. "Now you see, Xander, there's only room for one... never trust anyone." The man quickly thrust the saber down, slashing the boy's right eye. "No!!!!" He screamed as he fell back off of the train, onto the hard rocks.***** Lestat put a hand to his right eye. The damage had been done, leaving a white vertical scar running down his eye and around the skin near it. He shook his head, remembering that night. "I was sitting on top of the world," Lestat murmered. Lestat looked towards the sky and then back towards Cool Shoes. "L'Orange... the only duck considered an adversary to my skill... a rookie, no experience whatsoever, when I try so hard... Duke's better than me..." Lestat's voice trailed off. He softly leaned against a tree, letting himself sob. The next morning, Duke woke up to find the car already in motion. "What the fuck?!" Sitting up quickly, he saw Lestat turned around. "What? I thought we'd be better on the run, if you're so into finding your 'apprentices'." Duke relaxed slightly, wondering why Lestat had suddenly become so moody. Duke yawned, crawling into the front passenger seat. Lestat was very quiet. "Sleep well?" Duke asked, deciding that Lestat must still be upset that Duke had suprised Lestat by being awake. "Didn't sleep." Duke was sure that was the cause now. Lestat pulled the car over. Hopping out he motioned for Duke to stay. Duke leaned back uneasily, looking towards the dashboard. He wondered which button was the radio. Reaching out a hand towards one of the knobs, he stopped to hear, "DON'T TOUCH!!!" Duke drew his hand back. "Sorry, just looking for the radio..." he muttered, wishing that this trip was over. Lestat slightly relaxed, pulling a trigger. A new dashboard flipped out in front of Duke. Lestat turned one of the knobs, turning the radio on. "There, make you happy?!" Lestat snapped, tuning back to the building. Duke shook his head and closed his eyes. "What a way to start the morning." Duke looked after Lestat who had not yet reached the building. This wasn't the way to get Jake and Dak back...He walked out of the car and ran next to Lestat. "I told you to wait in the car." Lestat said sternly, not bothering to look at him. "I'm coming with you." Duke said quietly. "Listen-" "No you listen." Duke snapped, "I don't know what your problem is, but all I want is to find my friends, and I can't do that sitting in your car. If you don't like me, then you shouldn't have offered to help me, and you can still pull out if you want to. I don't care anymore. I'm just getting sick and tired of your bullshit, so you're gonna have to learn to deal with me!" "That all?" Lestat asked warily, still not looking at Duke. Duke nodded angrily, "Yes." "Then watch out for the Hatshake lady." "What's the-" Duke ducked, narrowly avoiding being hit by an airborn wooden chair. "THAT'S the Hatshake lady." Lestat said calmly. Duke looked at Lestat frowning. "Oh well," he muttered, heading for the door. "You'll be sorry," Lestat yelled out. Duke spun around to face Lestat once again, hands on his hips. "You got any better ideas, asshole?!" Lestat stepped back, slightly stunned at Duke's offensive attitude. Lestat decided that it was time to teach the 'new kid on the block' a lesson. "As a matter of fact... yes." "Oh, and what would that be? Blast through the front door?!" Lestat smiled back at Duke and politely replied, "Exactly." Duke looked at Lestat with disbelief. "You gotta be kidding, right?" "Why not? It's better to barge right into a noisy bar and not be noticed than encounter the hatshake lady." Duke looked at Lestat and shook his head, turning back toward the back door. Lestat shrugged his shoulders and walked the other way towards the front door. "Nice knowin' ya, I'll make sure you get a nice funeral," Lestat yelled arrogantly. "Go to hell!" Duke replied, continuing through the door. Lestat brushed his bangs out of his forehead and continued to the front door. Duke walked into the room... it was empty. He felt a tap on his shoulder. A beautiful duck stood behind him. Duke smiled sheepishly as she shook her blond hair behind her and winked at him. "Why did you come into my door, hotstuff?" She slowly sat down in a chair, stretching her legs out infront of her. "I, well, I just wanted to figure out where some friends of mine were." The lady smiled, leaning forward. "Was one of them blue?" Duke looked at her with amazement. "Yes, did you see them?" "Oh, he was here half an hour ago." "Was any one with him?" Duke asked anxiously. The lady paused, "Oh... yes, unfortunately... young sprout, car thief..." "Car thief?" Duke asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, yes, yes, the brat had a car with him. " Duke shook his head, "Well, thank you for your time, Miss." "Wait just a second." Duke turned around. "Where's your hat?" "What?" "You don't have a hat? Oh my, that really is a shame..." the lady's voice trailed off. Duke tilted his head to the side, "Why might that be?" The lady smiled, locking the door to the exit behind her and pulled out a gun. "You're mine." Duke gulped, backing up to the wall. "Uh oh..." Lestat sighed, looking at his watch... it had been too long... and too quiet. Finally, he had enough of waiting around and marched into the front door. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the sign, "Tekisi Meeting".

Intensity

PART II: 24 Hours to Live
Back to Thieve's Tales
Back to the Mighty Ducks ALL ACCESS Zone