Chapter 1

Wildwing stood outside the Pond as he waited for the police captain, willing the short man to arrive soon. The wind was beginning to pick up and his beak detected the distinct smell of rain. Klegghorn had called and asked him to meet up with the goalie, no one else, in the Pond's parking area about half an hour ago but he had yet to show up. Apparently, there was something urgent he needed to inform the team captain about, however, if it wasn't important enough for the cop to be on time for then Wildwing could not understand why he had ordered the drake to wait outside in such weather--part of him wondered why he even bothered staying.

Finally, a disheveled old police car turned into the Pond's parking lot and crawled up to the large structure, stopping a few feet away from the white drake. The small, potbellied police captain climbed out of his car and strode over to where Wildwing was standing. "What kept you?" the mallard questioned in a demanding tone.

"Eh, don't ask." the red head grumbled. The duck glared down at the man but let it go.

"So tell me, what's this all about?" Klegghorn cast a suspicious glance through the glass doors behind his comrade before giving him an answer.

"It's about the DarkWings."

"You mean Aaron don't you? Look, I know how you feel but he's already proven to us that he's our ally. We have no reason to doubt him."

"No, no, it's not that. I've seen the guy in action, I know what you're talking about but I really mean the entire clan." Wildwing gave the man a surprised look and urged him to continue. "Lately, we've been getting reports of robberies all over the city. The culprits attack at night, fly, there're eighteen of them, and…well, their style looks very familiar if you, uh, know what I mean."

"Klegghorn," Wildwing sighed, "The DarkWings are not thieves. They have no initiative, no reason, to steal anything."

"Hey, I'm not saying they are but the things that were stolen do seem rather peculiar."

"Why? What was stolen?"

"Well, one video game system, a telescope, satellite dish, and shelves upon shelves of shampoo and conditioner."

"Huh," Wildwing muttered, "That is peculiar. And you have proof that these robberies were all committed by the same group of people?"

"They were caught on camera each time but we can't make much of the images." the officer sighed, "The lights were put out before the criminals came into view."

"I see." The hockey captain rubbed his chin in thought before continuing. "Klegghorn, could you take us to the scenes of these crimes?"

"Just you birds, no Sirens?" The drake nodded to confirm this. "Yeah. Round up the others and I'll show 'em to you."

"Fine." the white mallard agreed then, lifted his comm to contact his teammates. Half an hour later the six aliens were looking over one of the several crime scenes. The place was completely trashed. Shelves had been knocked over, merchandise was littering the floors, and no less than half the windows were shattered.

"Hmm." Duke murmured, observing the damage, and shook his head. "It just looks like mess to me."

"Well, yeah." Nosedive commented, "Don't all thieves do this?"

"No." the older drake grumbled, glaring at his younger comrade.

"Oh, sorry Duke." he apologized. "I, uh, meant human criminals." The blonde gave him a sheepish grin. Duke muttered something under his breathe and let it go.

"He does have a point, baby bro." Wildwing put in, "There's just no point in making the place a mess. I mean, if they knew what they were going to steal they could easily find it without having to ruin anything."

"So, why'd they do it?"

"Cover." Mallory replied.

"What?"

"They're trying to hide something."

"There aren’t any fingerprints." Klegghorn added, "Our theory is that these folks could have gotten in and out of here without anyone noticing--if there were no camera's the missing items would have just been excused as incorrect inventory. But these people trashed the place and set off the alarm. They probably had what they came for before they did all this."

"So, who do you suspect? I mean, if you have any suspects at all at this point." Tanya asked.

"Well," he sighed, "I've already told Wildwing about my suspicions."

"Yeah and-?" Nosedive pressed.

"They think this style looks familiar to the DarkWings'." Wildwing answered.

"But it can't be!" his younger sibling protested, "Why would they do this?"

"That's the problem." Klegghorn put in. "There's no reason they would."

"Yeah," Duke interjected, "But I agree, this does look like Siren work. They didn't even try to hide the fact that this mess is all just for show."

"Wait, why'd they do it then?" Nosedive asked in confusion.

"So it's harder to find any evidence against them. Plus, there are some amateur criminals who do their job this badly and they're pretty easy targets."

"Right, but we have evidence that they look like the DarkWings and that they have just as many members in this group they've put together." Klegghorn added.

"There's no way we can be sure since the lights were out and they moved quickly." Wildwing commented. "I suggest we have a stakeout tonight. Maybe we can find out exactly what these things are."

"Your best bet is the mall. Judging by what they've stolen so far there's no telling what they'll steal next but the mall is the one place that has it all." the police captain suggested.

"Hey, that's a great slogan, capy!" Nosedive exclaimed, "Maybe you should be their mascot."

"Nosedive." Wildwing warned.

"I'm just sayin'-"

"Don't." The blonde drake stared after his brother, whom was exiting the store along with the rest of his teammates, while growling something under his breathe.

"Man, why do people keep telling me that?"

* * * *

Duke yawned as he leaned up against the brick wall of one of the stores in the mall. It was half an hour past midnight and nothing had happened. The gray duck was beginning to wonder why'd he'd agreed to this stakeout in the first place when a nearly incoherent giggle fell from the roof of the store. His vision snapped upward but he saw nothing. "Yo, Wing." he whispered into his comm, "I think somebody's here."

"Where?" Wildwing asked. He was positioned across the courtyard and could probably see the intruders from where he sat, but when his eyes panned up to the roof he, too, saw nothing.

"On the roof. Can't you see them?" Duke answered.

"No. Maybe they know we're here." The older drake muttered in agreement before breaking the link.

Pushing himself away from the wall, the duck climbed up to the top of the store, using the fire escape at the back instead of firing his grappling hook. However, when he reached the top whatever had once been there was gone.

"Wildwing." he murmured into his comm, "There's nothing-" The sudden shattering of glass below interrupted him. "What the heck?" He slinked over to the edge of the building and looked over just in time to have a large, shadowy creature zip past his face, skimming his beak. Startled, he took a few steps back and looked up at the creature. Although the moon was out, there was not enough light to see what it really was but it did have wings, a tail, and fangs.

The being grinned down at the duck mischievously and Duke could see that it was grasping a microwave to it's chest as if it were the most important thing in the world. "Hold it right there!" he ordered, and would have called it something but he couldn't think of a good nickname for it. Aiming carefully, the former thief fired a couple bola pucks at it. Unfortunately, the wires passed directly through the creature.

The drake would have reacted to this but he had no time. Two more of the creatures burst out of the roof top, dragging a refrigerator out with them. Upon seeing the duck, the pair stopped what they were doing and looked at each other. One whispered something to the other in a raspy voice and they both smiled at Duke wickedly.

"That can't be good." And, indeed, it wasn't. Even before the drake turned to run the pair of beings charged, raising the refrigerator as if to strike him with it. They missed, thankfully, when Duke leapt over the edge of the building and disappeared.

* * * *

"Well?" Nosedive pressed at the kitchen table the next morning. "Did you see anything?"

"Not really." Wildwing sighed, "Well, I didn't anyway. Duke did see something."

"And?"

"And they look a lot like the DarkWings."

"No way!"

"Cool it, Dive!" Mallory interjected then, turned to his older brother. "So, what are you going to do about it? I mean, do they even know what we suspect yet?"

"No." the captain replied, shaking his head. "But I think I'll tell Aaron about it today. There's no reason we should be keeping him and the others in the dark."

"When?" Grin quizzed.

"Maybe later." He took a bite of his breakfast and looked back up to find everyone present staring at him. "What?" They kept staring. "Oh, fine I'll do it now." The mallard stood and stalked out of the room. Nosedive smirked.

"We should do that more often." Mallory slapped him, Tanya rolled her eyes, and Grin meditated--what else?

* * * *

"Uh, excuse me, Aaron?" Wildwing stated, knocking on Aaron's open office door. The Siren looked up at his friend in surprise.

"Wildwing!" he greeted, "What brings you here?"

"Well," he began, stepping into the office. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Gee, the last time we talked about something our younger siblings ran away, got captured by a pair of power hungry maniacs, and when we went to save them after uniting our forces were saved by a couple of six-year-olds. Please, tell me this isn't that kind of something." Aaron gave the mallard a crooked grin and awaited his response. Wildwing frowned.

"No its not, but that might be better." The look on the Clan Leader's face fell. "You see, there have been some strange robberies taking place. The items that were stolen are very odd and, even though the criminals were caught on camera, we can't decipher exactly what they look like."

"I don't see why this concerns me." the Siren stated. But Wildwing could read him like a book and he could see in his eyes that he knew what Wildwing was suggesting. The drake sighed.

"Yes you do." he objected, "These creatures look very similar to Sirens and their numbers are the same as your clan's, minus Elise."

"So, you think we committed these crimes?" Aaron asked, cautiously.

"That's not what I said, Aaron-"

"That's what you meant, though"

"Aaron, I just want you to tell me, outright, whether you and your clan committed these robberies. All I need is your word that you didn't and I'll be satisfied." The Siren glared at the drake coldly for a moment or two before responding.

"I give you my word, Wildwing, that me and my family had nothing to do with those robberies. Are you happy now?"

"Yes, thank you." The mallard turned to walk out the door but stopped and sighed. He looked back over his shoulder at the Clan Leader. "I'm sorry. I never believed you'd do anything like that but I had to know the truth and I knew you'd be honest with me if I asked. Don't take it personally." The two remained silent and still until Aaron's crooked smile broke through his gloomy features.

"Don't worry about it, Wing." he reassured his friend, "It's all forgiven and forgotten." The drake smiled at him thankfully and walked out the door.

* * * *