G2
The Story Begins — Original Pilot
By Marzena
Chapter 2: Prisoners
The pale young blonde girl was shaking badly, her big deep blue eyes blurry from crying and her long blonde hair an unkempt mess. The woman next to her at least tried to hold herself together. There were no tears in her blue eyes and she was comforting the girl and at the same time trying to keep both of them warm for in the dimly lit cell the temperatures were rather frosty.
"Don't be afraid, Duffy. You know your father will come back for us. And in the meantime, we will do our best to stay alive," the woman finally spoke, hugging the young girl even tighter.
"But how?" the girl called Duffy whined. "I mean, how can he rescue us? He doesn't know where they brought us – he'll never find us down here! And even if he does, he won't make it past all those guards and... and then he'll... he'll..."
"No, he will not!" her mother firmly assured her. "This is your first ever mission, Daphne. You haven't seen your father in hopeless situations like this one as often as I have. You haven't been his partner on dangerous missions for many years. But I have. He's Flash Gordon, honey. He will have us out of here in no time, you'll see."
"It's a trap, Mom," Duffy cried, wiping her eyes. "Ming will wait for daddy to come back to rescue us. We're nothing but pawns in his evil plan. And even worse – this whole mess is totally my fault!"
"Duffy, it's not," Dale Gordon said, smiling at her daughter who looked a lot like both her parents with her mother's thick blonde hair, dimples and cute nose and her father's chin and eyes.
"Yes, it is," Duffy insisted. "I wanted to have a go at the ship, I crashed it, we got caught and were taken prisoners! Tell me again how this is not my fault?!"
"It was risky of Flash to let you fly the ship when we were so close to Mongo. And besides that – you were doing a fine job, Duffy, until Ming's forces were after us. And they could have damaged the ship and forced us to crash in the icy wastelands of Mongo even with your father as the pilot. There is nothing you're to blame for, darling. If anything, I'm very proud of how you were trying to put the ship down and how you were helping us to fight of the ice robots and frostmen. If you hadn't brought her down so nicely, your father wouldn't have been able to escape for then the ship would have been nothing more than a pile of junk."
"Maybe." Duffy bit her lip, like she always did when she was either very nervous or thinking very hard. "But if I had better control of my powers, I might have been able to do more."
Duffy had been born with a special ability – she apparently was a psychic, most likely due to the fact that she had been conceived right after Flash and Dale had been prisoners on a certain planet in a far away corner of the galaxy where the overlords had tried to create an army of supersoldiers, using a special serum that could be found in a rare blue flower. Both Flash and Dale had been victims of the experiment, but the effects hadn't lasted very long. But their daughter had been born different and special. But Duffy being Duffy, she only experimented with her powers when she felt like it and apart from that she hadn't shown much interest in them at all, especially after being labeled 'Freak' now and then at school.
"If you're seriously interested in learning more about working your powers, we will get right onto that as soon as we're back at home," Dale replied. "But right now, I can only tell you again and again that none of this is in any way your fault, Daphne. And..."
She stopped, suddenly hearing the heavy steps of the approaching ice robot guards. Maybe this was their chance to escape. Dale hadn't said anything to Duffy so far, but she wouldn't put it past Ming to separate the two of them for some kind of cruel revenge. Maybe it was time to save themselves before things got worse. And save Flash from being forced to surrender by Ming. After all, Ming had two hostages. He had the upper hand right now, and he knew it.
"Mom!?"
"Stay where you are, Duffy. I've got a plan!"
Her teeth clenched together, Dale hurried over to the shadows and pressed herself to the icy walls of their uncomfortable prison cell. She'd dealt with those robots before. They were just dumb and did what they were told to do. There were a few, like Ming's commander in chief, Garax, who truly were somewhat intelligent and those you had to look out for. But the rest of them – if Garax wasn't with them, she felt certain she could handle them and, more importantly, trick them.
Thankfully, it wasn't Garax. Three or four robots gathered outside of the icy cell, seeing nothing but the pale and weeping Duffy.
"The woman escaped," one of the robots announced in his rather strange, monotonous voice. "There's just the girl in here. How did this happen? We need to notify the Emperor at once!"
"Search the cell!" another robot said. "If she's only hiding, there's no need to upset the Emperor!"
One of the robots unlocked the cell and Dale knew she had to do something quickly or she wouldn't have a chance to do anything at all. She ran and tackled the robot, sending his laser gun flying right across the cell.
"Duffy! Get the weapon!" she cried, wrestling with two large ice robots at once. Maybe she wouldn't be able to get away, but she would make damn sure that Duffy would!
Duffy whirled around and threw herself at the weapon. One of the robots did the same but Duffy was a lot more agile and reached it faster, pointing it at the surprised robot. But at the same time, the other robots pointed their laser guns directly at Dale.
"Mom!"
"Run, Duffy!" Dale shouted over to her, and her ton of voice made it very clear that she expected her daughter to obey without questions. "Run!"
For a moment, Duffy just stood there, frozen, the heavy gun in her hands, her big blue eyes wide open. "I'm not going without you, Mom!" she finally shouted back, staying exactly where she was.
"You have to save yourself for now, Duffy. Please, there is no time for discussion! I can take care of myself! But you need to get out of here! I love you, Duffy, and I beg you, for once, just do what you're told! Go!"
Duffy was still hesitating but then, finally, she gave in. "But I'm going to get you help, mom, I swear I will!" she cried before taking a shot at the nearest robot.
There was a struggle and the robot blew to bits and Dale, at the same time, did her best to keep the other ones occupied so they would concentrate on her rather than trying to chase her daughter or force Duffy to come back by using Dale as a hostage. And while Duffy ran out of the cell and down the icy corridor, firing laser shots left and right at the robot guards, Dale was forced to watch her go and a rather weird sensation overcame her. As if she wasn't ever going to see her daughter again...
Ming had Dale strapped to some kind of machine, and from the look on her rather white face she was already going through some immense pain. Horrified, Duffy stood at a small side entrance. She'd found this place by accident, having been lost in the enormous icy maze downstairs for ages. Probably more than a day had passed by now, and she was hungry, tired and just really, really exhausted from all the worrying and constantly being on the run, often being chased down by Ming's troops and if not being chased down, then being terrified, hiding out somewhere in the cold. And now she'd found her mother again, but also the evil Emperor Ming and quite a lot of guards and...
"Either you're going to tell me where I can find your husband or I'm going to force you to tell me what I want to know, Dale Gordon!" Ming snapped at his prisoner, his dark eyes cold and cruel, and his voice without any kind of emotions. It was the first time Duffy had actually ever seen Ming in person, and she didn't like the green-skinned Emperor one bit.
Dale didn't speak up although Duffy secretly urged her to. Keep talking to him, mom. Keep talking to him until I can figure out how to get your out of there!
"You're not going to talk, are you, earthling?!" Ming spat at poor Dale. "Well, that's very honorable of you, but it won't save your precious husband. With this machine, I can force you to tell me everything I want to know!"
And without giving any further warning, Ming suddenly pressed a button and the machine Dale was strapped to came to life.
Dale started to scream, her blue eyes wide open in horror, her whole body shaking, blood running out of her nose. It was the most horrifying thing Duffy had ever seen. She started to scream too, paralyzed with fear, panic and terror. But all Ming heard were Dale's screams, and then, suddenly, those stopped, and her lifeless body collapsed in the seat of the machine. Within less than a minute, Ming had taken Dale Gordon's life.
Duffy sank to her knees. She felt sick, like she was going to have to vomit any second now. She was shaking badly and she had to put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from making any noises.
"Maybe I shouldn't have used the inquisitor on full power," Ming said to the tall robot next to him in an horrifying non-caring voice. "But never mind. If this doesn't bring Flash Gordon to his knees, then nothing will. Make sure she's really dead, Garax, and then come with me. Flash Gordon will be back soon, and we've still got work to do!"
When they all had left the room, Duffy stumbled out of her hiding place and towards her mother's lifeless body, dropping on her knees in front of her, gently touching her face and then grabbing her wrist, trying to feel for a pulse. But there was no pulse. There was also no heartbeat, and Dale Gordon didn't react to anything Duffy did or said anymore.
If anyone had come in here, Duffy would have been done for, but nobody came. Later Duffy realized why – they were too busy fighting Flash and his friends. But back then she didn't know her father was close. In fact, she'd never felt so alone in her life. And so she just sat there, hugging her mother's body, trying to sob as quietly as possible. That was how Flash, Mandrake and Lothar found her.
"Duffy! Dale!" Flash ran towards them but suddenly paused, taking in the whole situation – the lifeless Dale with blood smeared on her face and Duffy kneeling in front of her, hysterically sobbing. No. No, no, no. Just no. No.
"Dale! DALE!"
"Dad... Daddy, she's... she's..."
Slowly, Flash sank down on his knees too, right next to his daughter, who was now desperately clinging to him.
"Dale, no, no..."
Carefully taking his dead wife into his arms, Flash was now crying too. And although the Gordon family was together again, things would never again be as they had been before. Because with Dale Gordon, the heart and the soul of the family just had left them.
Author's Note:
I had to take the liberty to explain Duffy's powers. I hope it sounds at least somewhat plausible. It's easier to explain Jedda Walker having powers because the Phantom does have powers too. But Flash and Dale don't, so I needed a reason for their daughter being so powerful. And she must be powerful, Astra states that in "The Revenge of Astra". But she's also inexperienced – in those few episodes where it's clear that Jedda Walker is still based on Jedda Gordon, the others often have to tell her to use her powers, and in the original pilot scene Jedda Gordon nearly faints after using telekinesis and needs to be supported by both Kit and LJ.
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Chapters
Flash Gordon seeks to reach his wife and daughter, who are being held by Ming the Merciless.
A sulking Duffy endures the horrors of captivity.
The Gordons gather wth their new friends amid tragedy.
Flash and Duffy turn to each other.
Just as she's getting to know them, Duffy witnesses her friends being abducted.
A team is created.
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