Mighty Ducks-The Second Line


D.U.C.K.S.

Stivz then suddenly appeared in the doorway of the elevator and stood there. The guard saw his movements and looked up. He saw a tall masculine Duck, with a silver beak blazing on his face and firey red eyes. There was no doubt that the guard was intimidated. Still, the intruder was a Duck, and a threat to the Authority. The elite soldier sttod up and made an advancement towards Stivz. The Duck casually stepped out of the elevator and waited. The large soldier yelled as he charged Stivz and drew for his blade. Stivz flinched, and he blocked the knife-weilding arm coming to him, and gave the guard a hard knee to the stomach. When the guard crouched over himself, Stivz gave him a blow to the back of the head. The elevator doors were beginning to close, so Stivz threw the guard at the doors. With the impact of the soldier slamming against them, the doors once again opened up. Stivz pushed the guard into the elevator, and the doors finally closed. Stivz then brought out his puck rifle and fired at the doors. The huge metal doors were knocked away, revealing the cables that suspended the cabin. He fired at the cable, and it snapped as the pucks cut through it. The cable disappeared and the elevator began to fall towards the bottom of the shaft.
Stivz turned to face his unknown enemy, Corban.
"You are responsible for years of blood and torment, and the deaths of over half a million Ducks!" Stivz growled. "You have ruined millions of lives, including mine."
Corban calmly tapped the ashes off of his cigar. As the ashes found home in the clear ashtray, he could hear the sound of the elevator finally reaching the bottom of the shaft with a violent crash. "I don't know who you are," Corban said. "but you are obviously not sent by the military."
"I'm here on business." Stivz replied. "A personal matter."
"You shouldn't have come here alone, Duck." Corban warned.
"Can you back that up?" Stivz egged him on.
Corban made a gesture and his guards beside him and on top of the elevated platforms charged their weapons and aimed them at Stivz.
"Such a brave one." Corban said. "But do your emotions of hatred contribute to your courage?" Stivz simply stood there with his hand waving over his rifle. Corban called to his elite.
"Kill him."
Sara screamed as the guards opened fire with their lethal tachyon blasters. Stivz jumped to his left and rooled toward a box to block the fire. As he rolled, he grabbed his puck rifle and held it against his back. He stopped rolling when he disappeared behind the safety of the metal box. Blaster fire ricocheted off the front and sides of the box. Stivz took his rifle in his right hand and pointed it over the top of the shelter and fired blindly into the air. The pucks ripped through the bottom of the plank, but missed their targets. The guards continued to fire when they suddenly stopped. Stivz heard pieces of metal fall to the ground, and then Corban's voice.
"What are you idiots doing?" Corban yelled. "Keep firing!"
"Sir," said one of the guards. "We have to reload."
Corban rolled his eyes. "All of you at once!?" The soldier shrugged.
This was what Stivz was waiting for. He stood up and walked out into the open, hiding the rifle behind his back again. As he was between the the elvevated planks, he revealed both hands:the rifle in the right, and Dusty's puck launcher in his left. He raised the weapons up towards the reloading soldiers, and fired back upon them. The rapid-firing rifle sent a set of pucks blazing through the room, pelting the soldiers in the arms, legs, and stomachs. The accurate puck blaster sent pucks directly at the heads of the guards on the left, knocking them out cold. There were five soldiers on each side, Stivz had taken out the five on the left, but he still had Corban and the others.
As the remaining guards began staggering to their feet, Stivz caught Corban in the corner of his eye running for the door. Stivz fired a puck at him, but he missed and hit the EXIT sign instead.
Stivz then heard a shout behind him.
"Stivz, look out!" Sara yelled. As he turned around, he was met by more blaster fire. The rest of the guards had finished reloading. Three Authority soldiers held Stivz at bay with their fire, while the other two snuck up behind him with the knives drawn.
"Behind you Sara called again. Stivz responded with a hard elbow jab to his right behind him. His elbow connected with the stomach of one of the soldiers. The guard staggered over and dropped his knife. Stivz then grabbed his arm and flung him around, right into the other soldier on the other side of him. After they smashed into each other, they fell to the floor.
"They checked each other." Stivz laughed.
He then felt the heat of even more tachyon blasts exploding around him. Through the smoke and fire, Stivz could make out the outlines of the soldiers ambushing him. He picked up the knife beside him and threw the knife blindly into the smoke. He heard a groan, and saw one of the three soldiers fall from the plank and onto the hard floor. The knife had found home in the guards shoulder. The wounded layed on the floor, moaning in agony as he tried to reach the knife to pull it out.
The other Authoirty soldiers grew more aggressive and sprayed Stivz with blasters. Stivz ducked behind a beam and turned to his puck rifle. He pulled an explosive puck from his pocket and loaded it into the cannon from the back. He charged the rifle and listened to the engine. He breathed deeply, he had to be careful not to hit Sara, and he had to shoot the pucks directly in between the two guards. Stivz shook off his concentration and held his breath. He spun around the beam and fired. Stivz closed his eyes behind the mask as the puck headed for Sara's prison. He heard the puck bounce off of the plexiglass wall and head for the upper platform. Suddenly, Stivz heard something he did not plan on. The puck bounced off a steel pole on the guardrails of the plank and was deflected somewhere else. Stivz opened his eyes to see one of the soldiers keel over onto his knees, holding his stomach. The other guard rushed to see what was wrong with his partner. The fallen soldier stood up and the puck dropped from his midsection onto the floor. They both looked at it confused.
"He shoots." Stivz whispered.
A huge explosion rocked the entire top of the Authority headquarters. The force of the blast made the box Sara was held in swing on its chain rope. The blast blew a large hole in the corner of the ceiling, and the wind from the outside gusted in. The air was cold from the high altitude, and it blew papers from Corban's desk all about. The elevated platform was a mangled mess of steel and metal, and flaming wreckage was strewn about the place.
"He scores." Stivz added.
He walked through the pieces of burned metal as he made his way towards Sara's transparent chamber. He drew Dusty's blaster and fired at the metal joints that held the walls together. After he shot off two of the joints on the bottom, the floor fell out from under Sara. Sara slid down it and fell into Stivz's arms, which was the place she most wanted to be more than anywhere. She carefully removed Stivz's mask from his face and stared into his dark eyes.
I didn't know you cared." she said. She then leaned into him and kissed him. Stivz returned her kiss, and they shared a long embrace.
After their reunion, Stivz swung a parachute pack off of his shoulder and handed it to Sara.
"Put this on." he said. "We're not going down the way we came."
Sara nodded as she buckled the pack around her waist and over her shoulders. Stivz pulled a strap to tighten his own pack.
"It's time to bring this war to an end." Stivz glared outside. Sara moved close against him.
"Then I guess you'll need this." she told him, holding up his silver mask.
Before Stivz would answer, he reached to his belt and grabbed Dusty's puck launcher and two explosive pucks. He handed them to Sara as well.
"When we make the jump," Stivz said. "there may be leftover Authority soldiers on the ground. You can clear them out with these."
Sara nodded and took the shiny weaponry. She loaded the two pucks into the gun.
"And try to land away from the building," Stivz added. "It's coming down. Please be careful."
Sara looked up at Stivz and almost came to tears. She threw herself into his arms, and they held each other once again. Sara rested her head on the soft Mighty Ducks logo on his jersey, and caressed his back.
"I love you Sara." Stivz whispered out of nowhere.
"Ditto." she replied.
Sara stepped back and looked into Stivz's eyes one more time, then she carefully placed the mask back onto his beak. The eyes lit up a mild light blue, and Stivz grabbed his rifle. He turned towards the door, took Sara by the hand, and charged the rifle with one hand as he headed for the exit. He had a little smile on his face.
"Independence day has arrived."

"What do you think is going on up there?" asked Street. "Did you hear something?"
Warstrike scratched her head, looking up at the tower standing over them, lost in the clouds.
"Who knows?" she replied. "I just hope that that Stivz guy and his friend are all right." She listened quietly to the stillness at the edge of the moat. The two girls had been going trough the remains around the headquarters, running out leftover soldiers fleeing from the besieged building. Warstrike could hear faint clinking of glass hitting the pavement on the street. She then heard crashes of glass being broken. Small chunks of glass hit her and Street on the tops of their heads. She looked up and saw larger pieces of glass, and parts of stones falling towards her.
"Incoming!" she yelled. Street looked up and saw stones crashing into the glass windows of the building across the street.
"Crap!" hollered Street. "Duck and cover!"
Both of them ran for the bridge that led into the building over the moat and jumped over the railing. They flew over the water as they fell. They straightened out their bodies as they entered the water feet first. As they splashed deep into the moat, they started swimming even deeper. Street turned around and looked up at the surface through the air bubbles. Large, half-ton stones and bricks fell into the water, causing a huge split in the moat. Street and Warstrike quickly swam out of the way of the tumbling rocks.
After a few moments and a few more stones, the two emerged from the moat and took in deep breaths.
"What the hell was that?" called Warstrike, shaking the water out of her feathers and ears.
"That came from the top of the building!" Street explained. "Maybe Stivz was killed."
Warstrike clasped her hand over her friend's mouth and gave her a stern look. There was fear in her eyes, but also transgression.
"Street, do not say that." she barked. "This war has gone on for too long for it to end like this already."
Street nodded and took her friend's hand away from her beak. "Alright." she said quietly. "I believe you."
Warstrike smiled at her younger friend. "It's okay." she reassured her. "Now, let's go find the others and see what's up."
The two left their post at the moat and armed their weapons. They headed off into a vacant building a block away, where the rest of the Second Line was waiting, and the officers, including Street's older sister, Mallory, had arrived.

Stivz carefully turned the wheel handle to open the ceiling hatch that led to the roof. Sara was on the ladder right behind him, looking on. The hatch suddenly clicked, and there was a hissing sound.
"There." Stivz grunted. He pushed the door a little. It was open at last. He turned back to Sara. "Keep your head up." he told her. Sara again nodded and showed him the puck launcher he gave her.
"I'm ready."
Stivz grinned and looked back up to the door. He readied himself as he pushed open the hatch and jumped out onto the roof of the tower. The wind was cold, and it blew his hair around. He armed his puck rifle and quickly scanned his surroundings. He couldn't find any sign of Corban. Everything checked out all right, and he stuck his arm back down through the hatch. Sara grabbed his hand, and Stivz pulled her up to the roof.
Stivz once again activated his mask and scanned the entire area of the roof. There was a large air conditioning unit on the top. Stivz looked through the metal unit with his mask and saw the figure of Corban. His figure seemed to be adjusting a large weapon of some sort. Stivz immediately turned back to Sara.
"Get to the edge of the roof and stay low."
Sara obeyed and rushed to the side of the roof, where a 3-foot wall protected her from falling over.
Stivz raised his rifle to where Corban might show up and prepared to fire. He waited patiently. Beads of sweat began to appear on the cold metal plane of the mask. Would this be Stivz's last stand? Could he let just one man destroy him?
When he shook these ideas out of his head, an explosion sent him reeling backwards. Corban emerged from behind the smoke. He was carrying a much larger weapon now. He looked at Stivz dead in the eyes, and spoke.
"Do you feel any power or strength when you hold that little cap-gun of yours?
Stivz raised his rifle again. He looked carefully at what Corban was holding. A huge tachyon cannon, so heavy that a strap was used to carry it around the shoulder. Instead of a trigger, the cannon was equipped with a handle. Corban continued.
"This baby just rolled out of the research and development department yesterday. It's much more powerful than the standard tachyon blasters, and definitely much more lethal than your inferior pucks!"
Sara looked on to see how Stivz would react. But, Stivz just listened as Corban went on.
"You may think you know what power feels like, my aggressive adversary." Corban grinned. "Power is being able to crush thousands of people with merely a gesture."
Stivz frowned as he thought of all the Ducks of PuckWorld who had fallen under the hand of the Authority. Corban kept Stivz with the cannon, and went on and on.
"After I destroy you and your pathetic, worthless resistance, I'll be off back to Earth with my dimensional gateway, and use my power to rub out all the Earth's resources and population. Then, I will rule all."
Stivz stopped Corban's bragging by firing a shot into the air. He growled at him.
"You forgot one thing." Stivz said. "What exactly is the source of your power?"
Corban raised an eyebrow.
"It sure isn't your charisma or charm." Stivz added. "You're nothing without your army. My force of Ducks have wiped them out or sent them running out of town."
Corban smiled. "I can build a new army. As long as I have my headquarters, I could always recruit more after I destroy you. I'll bounce back!"
Stivz was just about to tell Corban about the explosives he planted when they both felt the ground under them rock beneath their feet. The super-explosives had detonated, and the main support beams were buckling. Corban saw the roof under him begin to shake violently, and he looked back up at Stivz. Stivz had his rifle aimed at his head.
Corban ducked and rolled to his right. Stivz followed him with blazing pucks from his rifle. When Corban was straight he returned fire with his cannon. Stivz jumped out of the way and ducked behind a small weather station booth on the roof and returned fire. Corban retreated behind the AC unit again. A shootout had begun.
Meanwhile, Sara heard a high pitched humming noise coming from behind her. She curiously stood up and peeked over the guardwall. She suddenly saw the top of Sunrise's AeroWing! The large hatch on the top of the jet was open, and she could see the rest of the Second Line: James, Dusty, Blade, Nylessa, Erin, and Betsy. Also with them were Street and Warstrike. They all were waving for her to jump in. She hesitated, and then turned back to Stivz and waved for him.
Stivz noticed her waving and looked over at her while dodging tachyon blasts. He saw her standing on the guardwall, waving for him to come to her. He looked on as Sara jumped over the edge and began to fall. His eyes grew wide and he had to make a run for it to get to where she was where she jumped, but he had to take care of Corban first.
Stivz charged his puck rifle again and aimed for the center of the AC unit. He fired, and drilled high-speed pucks into the main compartment of the huge metal box. The large bulk of metal had begun to emit sparks and small bolts of lightning of electricity. The unit suddenly exploded into a large fireball, and Corban was sent flying from it.
Stivz took his chance and hurried to the wall to where Sara jumped over. He had trouble walking straight because of the rocking roof and the building shifting all over. He made it to the spot and put one foot on the guard wall and looked over, hoping to see the top of Sara's parachute floating towards the ground. Instead, he saw the large, powerful AeroWing, rising up to the roof with the hatch open. Stivz smiled. It was good to see his friends again, when ten minutes before he thought he had seen them for the last time.
"Arrgghh!!" yelled Corban over the sound of the AeroWing's mighty engines. Stivz turned around and saw Corban on his hands and knees, with a bloody face and cut hands.
Corban lifted up his head and stared at Stivz through eyes covered with hair and blood. He saw the figure of the Duck, and suddenly a gigantic hovering jet appeared from behind him. The front of the jet opened and a gangplank appeared with 5 mother Ducks, standing, armed with puck cannons.
Stivz holstered his rifle and shouted out to Corban.
"Corban!" he yelled. "You forgot! You can't have power if you aren't alive."
Stivz then turned to the gangplank of the AeroWing and got ready to jump. Corban, meanwhile, was struggling to aim his cannon.
In the AeroWing cockpit, Sara called over to Sunrise, who was piloting the jet.
"Charge all weapons and aim right underneath that asshole!" she said. "Fire as soon as Stivz is on board."
The gun and blaster turrets on the AeroWing turned and shifted position. Stivz watched as the team hollered for him to jump. Corban steadied his weapon and took aim.
Stivz leaned forward and pushed off with his leg. As he soared in the distance between the edge of the roof and the AeroWing, Corban fired one last shot.
Sara watched as Stivz jumped and then stared at Corban with a smoking blaster.
"Fire."
The blasters of the AeroWing pulsed with fire, and the blasts impacted with the weakening floor under Corban. The concrete collapsed and Corban diapered into the dark hole.
Stivz landed onto the gangplank and squinted when his feet hit the floor. The rest of his team backed up to give him room.
Stivz shook his head, and walked past them and went towards the back of the jet. He sat down and leaned up against the wall, and let out a deep sigh.
Sunrise turned around in her pilot's chair and called for Stivz.
"Great news!" she cried contented. "The headquarters building is going down as we speak, and all Ducks are accounted for back at the bases."
"You mean," Dusty whispered. "the Authority is finished?"
Sara rushed over to where Stivz was sitting and put her arms around him. She hugged him as hard as she could, and Stivz winced with pain.
"I love you so much." Sara said.
Stivz grunted out a "ditto" and gave out another sigh. Blade could tell something was wrong.
"Stivz?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
Stivz was silent, and Sara brought her hand out from behind Stivz's back. There was dark red blood.
"You've been hit!" she cried. "We gotta get you to a hospital, fast!"
Stivz took off his mask and breathed heavily.
"It's too late." he groaned. "The tachyon has already done it's damage."
All the Ducks looked on as Stivz's condition became worse. It was true, there was nothing they could do.
Stivz grinned a small smile and slowly put his hand over the Mighty Ducks logo on his chest.
"At least I finally did some good in PuckWorld as a hero, and not a convict."
Some of the Ducks started to cry. James and Dusty looked on with sorrowful eyes. One of their team was dying, and it was their leader.
Stivz placed the silver mask on his chest facing him. He held it as he closed his eyes and whispered to his team.
"Keep Diablo and his phonies busy while I'm gone." he said. "And take care of yourselves."
He rubbed his silver ring a little and he breathed in a quick short breath.
"I'll be on the ice again soon." he said softly. "Look for me there."
With that, Stivz let out one last long breath, and his hands fell off of the silver beak of the mask.
All the Ducks lowered their heads as Stivz laid there, lifeless.
Sunrise saw as the Migrator headed up the wide dirt landscape to the cliff outside Bauertown, carrying the officers. The AeroWing then started to move, and headed for the camp back on the cliff, to tell Ice and the soldiers of the bittersweet victory.

Finale

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