Helloooo, don't plagiarize or sue me. Otherwise, (glares) you don't wanna know!!! Um, this fic is a little something different. It was an odd dream I had, that's the last time I eat five slices of pepperoni pizza before going to bed! The characters of Tanya, Duke, and Falcone aren't' mine, but the rest are and this story! ^_^ Enjoy my first truly evil fic, not suitable for hatchlings! MWUHAHAHA!!!!!

In Captive Wings

Part One: Stop At Nothing

It was dark outside, Puckworld had suffered through a great many blizzards and this city was no exception. It was dark inside, Duke l'Orange, notorious leader of the mob known as The Brotherhood of the Blade, paced along the floor of his chambers. The hideout was buried inside the depths of the high tech city. Duke shifted his gaze from the floor to the doorway as another bird with brown feathers and a menacing smile entered his chambers.

"Ah, and how are you holding up old boy?" Falcone inquired.

Duke sneered, he knew the guy was no good, it escaped him how he'd ever made it into the Brotherhood to begin with. "I've just received a hot tip that there's this new formula out that can produce real crystals, top quality gems."

"Really?" Falcone's eyes took on a greedy look that was all too familiar to the mob leader, "And where would one obtain such a formula?"

"It was created by this scientist down town at DuckTech Industries. She's supposed to have created it to form gems to use in rays and stuff, weapon technology. My sources tell me that it's saved on the laptop that she carries to work with her." Duke explained.

"Fascinating," Falcone smirked, "so when do we get it?"

Duke glared darkly at the thief for a moment before replying. "Tonight. She's working a late shift."

******

In DuckTech Industries a tall blonde duck was busily working on the new formula she'd discovered for creating genuine crystals and gems for use in ray guns and medical equipment. Her lab partner, Ruby Dunshap was smiling at her friend from the next counter over. "I bet we're the only two ducks in this entire building who actually volunteer for the late shift!"

Tanya looked up from her laptop, "Can't help it Ruby, you know me and science." she laughed a little nasally, she'd gotten quite good at disguising her voice that way.

Ruby smiled and shook her head, "Only you would come up with a formula like that. I'm glad you're not auctioning it off like some of these other hacks would. Think of the damage it would do to our economy. No one was meant to own such riches."

"Except the Brotherhood!" a menacing tone announced as two figures swung into the lab from an open window.

Tanya and Ruby swirled around and came beak to beak with the intruders. "Duke l'Orange and Falcone!" Ruby gasped.

"Charmed, I'm sure." Duke said as he bowed down and inspected the two ladies with his good (and only) eye.

"What do you want?" Tanya demanded, as if she didn't already know.

"You lookin' to put all us jewel thieves outta business Sweetheart?" Duke asked, flashing Tanya a dazzling smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about but if you don't get out of here right now the guards are gonna come and haul you out!" Tanya lied. Falcone followed the blonde's gaze to the security camera in the corner.

With a quick swipe from his sword the camera crashed to the floor and the wires poking out of the wall were left sparking. "Malfunctioning cameras are hardly something to get a security guard's attention."

Backing away from the two outlaws Tanya and Ruby searched for something to defend themselves with. Grabbing a beaker and breaking it against the countertop Ruby waved it defensively in front of herself, "Stay away from us or so help me I'll-"

"Whoa kid," Duke smiled, "we're not after you," turning to Tanya he added, "we just want that formula."

"Never!" Tanya snapped, "That formula is for scientific uses only, not to tampered with by common thieves!"

"Oh now that hurts Angel," Duke faked sadness, placing a hand over his heart, "ya cut me real deep."

Tanya sneered, "You're not getting that formula."

Growing tired of all the charades Falcone grabbed Ruby's wrist and spun her around to face Tanya, his blade at the brunette's throat. "Look, we can do this the easy way, or my personal favorite," the blade was pressed firmly against Ruby's pearl colored feathers, "the HARD way!"

Duke looked over at Falcone wearing an expression that let him know he was not pleased. No backing out now though, with a sigh he turned to Tanya, "What's it gonna be Sweetheart? The formula or your friend here?"

Tanya glanced helplessly at her friend, "Don't give these creeps anything Tanya!" Ruby was silenced by the pressure Falcone applied to his blade.

"Alright!" Tanya shouted as a thin strip of blood lined Falcone's blade.

Rushing over to her laptop she pulled up the file that she had been working on before the thieves had swung in. Then, in a flash of inspiration, she opened another smaller file in the corner of the screen which was out of the thieves' view. It was a virus that would delete anything Tanya tried to save to a disk, the catch, the 'file has been successfully saved to disc' message would still appear.

Ejecting the disc and handing it to Duke she spoke, "Now let go of my lab partner!"

Duke nodded to Falcone who released Ruby.

"Thanks for your cooperation Sweetheart," Duke smirked and then went back over to the window, motioning to Falcone, "C'mon, let's get outta here."

Falcone took a step towards Tanya and then reactivated his sword, with a well placed swing he split her laptop in half, "Have a nice night." he jeered.

When the two crooks were gone Tanya sighed and stared at Ruby who was rubbing her throat. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Ruby muttered, "I just wish you hadn't given those two that formula."

"What makes you think I did?" Tanya smiled. "Turns out, my computer had a little virus."

Ruby grinned widely at her friend, she knew all about that virus. "Tanya, you amaze me. But look what that other jerk did to your work."

Tanya shrugged and tapped her head, "No problem, I got it all up here."

******

Once back at the hideout a few hours later there was a meeting of the Brotherhood. "Alright guys," Duke announced, holding up the disc so that all the other members could see, "this is our ticket to the big time jewels. We're talkin' perfect gems!"

There was a slight murmur through the crowd as Duke slipped the disc into the drive of a computer that had been sit up in the middle of the dimly lit room. The screen came up with the filename, "FormulaT10". Duke opened the file and was horrified at what he saw…'this file did not download properly, please try to download the information again'.

Duke tried at least a dozen more times before ejecting the disc and stomping it to pieces on the floor, "That scientist back at the lab, she tricked us!" he said it more out of shock than anger. He hadn't expected such a thing from her.

"So why not just go back to the lab and steal her laptop?" another member, Ricochet, asked.

"Because FALCONE SLICED IT APART!" Duke replied, glaring at the bird who was sheepishly grinning at him. "Bad break old boy."

"No," Duke held his beak in his hand for a moment, "there may be one way to get that formula…"

"What's that?" Falcone perked up.

"That scientist might know it by heart, if we can kidnap her and get her to talk…" Duke continued to form the details of his latest plan out loud and then turned back to the other members. "Ricochet, Blake, Hardiron come with me. We're gonna pay this blonde a little visit."

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