Title: Deepening Roots
Summary: A series of events leads Bushroot to start doubting himself as a villain, wondering if it is truly what he wants to be. Unfortunately, as he's trying to figure what all he wants, it seems his plants have other plans for him. Will he be able to stop mother nature from destroying St. Canard?
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, but Disney. Only the story and its plot line is mine.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
It was a peaceful evening, though rain clouds were starting to roll in. The quiet of the night was interrupted when there was a small explosion on top of one of rooftops in uptown St. Canard. It was nearing midnight, a time of night where everyone should be sleeping or working their night shift. However, the time of night did not matter to the Top Most Wanted Criminal: Negaduck.
"We're TRYING to SNEAK in, you clowned freak!" snarled the yellow clad villain as he glared at the jester in question.
Quackerjack, the crazed toy maker that he was, gave a dramatic gasp and look at Negaduck as though he was highly insulted. "Well, excuuuuuuse me, Mr. Sour Puss! You ask for a way to break the lock, you said nothing about subtlety!"
Negaduck chose not to comment. Instead, he addressed all four of the villains surrounding him. "Alright boys!" he began. "Now that we've broken the locks, let's begin!"
Quackerjack giggled with glee as he brought out Mr. Banana Brain. "So, what's your plans, Stan?" the ventriloquist spoke in a high pitched voice.
The Liquidator stood beside him. "Are you anxious? Are you at the edge of your seat in anticipation!? Stay tuned and you'll hear our leader's master plan!"
Megavolt was too busy looking up at the sky which was filling up with more and more clouds by the minute. "It better not rain again!" he grumbled nasally. Bushroot stood several feet to the left of Megavolt, his hands wringing together in front of him and looking both nervous and sullen.
Negaduck ignored the jester's glee and Liquidator's comment, his eyes searching out the resident mutant plant duck. "Bushy, you know what to do" he ordered. "The lock might be broken now but the metallic door still needs some work." He then added darkly, "This is what I get for trying to steal from a S.H.U.S.H. protected laboratory. Gotta have high quality doors even on the rooftop!"
Without a pause, Bushroot walked up to the door, analyzing it carefully. He then looked down at the rooftop below his rooted feet. "Hmmm..." he said quietly. He brought out a brown sack and tossed a fair amount of seeds in front of the door. "Come on, my darlings. Reach for the sky! Show me what you've got!"
Immediately after saying these words and after a few gestures towards the sky with his arms, the small seeds started to sprout. They started out small, but then began to grow enormously. They crept on the wall of the doorway and towards the door knob, sliding in through the tight cracks of the sealed entryway. Several moments past before the wall around the door began to crack and break under the pressure of the plants. Suddenly, the large metallic door fell in towards the stairway inside.
"Impressive. You managed to do something right for once, Bushy" scoffed Negaduck with a wave of his hand. Bushroot just frowned in reply.
Clearing his throat, Negaduck stood before them and announced, "It's like this boys, we get the machine by sneaking into this door, which leads through the stairway. Liquidator!" At the call of his name, the ex-salesman looked up in earnest, his dog ears perking up. Seeing he had the canine's attention, Negaduck continued." As I told you back at the hideout, I want you to cover all the pipes, and be sure to watch out for Dipwing Dork. He's bound to-"
Negaduck was cut off by a large puff of thick purple smoke. All the villains, minus Liquidator, began to cough heavily. Negaduck stumbled away from the door in an attempt to clear his nose from the smoke. Due to this, a certain masked vigilante managed to get between him and the doorway.
"I am the terror that flaps in the night" said a voice. Negaduck rolled his eyes and grit his teeth in anger. "I am the burnt toast you had this morning! I -" The blue smoke vanished to reveal the purple-caped hero. "Am DARKWIIIIIIIIIING DUCK!"
With a half lidded sneer, Negaduck said, "Wow, I'm impressed. You haven't tripped or fell flat on your face yet."
"Ooohhh! Mr. Banana Brain and I wager this is gonna be fun! That purple-caped party-crasher is gonna be fun to crush!" giggled Quackerjack.
Megavolt smiled and rubbed his hands together. Sparks of electricity shot between the gloved hands. "Maybe he'd like to feel the power of electricity as it fries his brain! Heh heh heh!"
"Not tonight, boys!" cried Darkwing. "Suck gas evil doers!" He brought out his gas gun as he said these words.
"Unable to have a good robbery without hassle? Are you constantly bothered by purple cloaked pests? That's okay! Drown it away!" called over Liquidator, moving towards Darkwing threateningly.
Negaduck sighed and looked away, agitated. "Why don't you get it through you thick skull, Dipwing? We Five will always overpower you" With this, he gave Darkwing a great shove in his rib cage, sending Darkwing pummeling to the wet cement of the roof. His cape went over his hat and face.
By the time Darkwing removed his cape from his line of sight, the Fearsome Five had already managed to get through the doorway he had been trying to protect. He noted that Negaduck was no where in sight.
"Drat!" sneered Darkwing. He pushed himself up off the cement and glanced over to see that Quackerjack and Bushroot where still standing there to the side of the door, as though they were guarding it. They were both watching him closely.
Bushroot stepped forward. "Maybe Darkwing would like to play a game, Quackerjack." he suggested in his baritone voice. He looked over to his jester companion. "How about if you show him a game he can play?"
Quackerjack seemed thrilled at this notion, his eyes lighting up with glee and the bells at the end of his hat jingled. "Ooh! Yes! That would be fun!" The jester clapped his hands and bounced on his feet for a moment. He then brought out from behind his back a teddy bear, or at least, what appeared to be a teddy bear. Experience with the villain allowed Darkwing to know that his toys were never a good sign for any of Quackerjack's foes and always meant getting hurt in some way or another.
Just as Quackerjack was about to throw the teddy bear at him, the clown cried out in pain and shock as someone tugged hard on his jester hat, tugging hard at his head. "OWW! Hey! No fair! No fair!" Quackerjack frantically tried to free himself from the hold with his long nimble fingers.
Darkwing grinned to see his large sidekick, Launchpad, behind the two villains, taking the teddy bear and tossing it aside. "Nice one, LP!" Both of them ignored the small explosion where the teddy bear had landed when Launchpad tossed it.
The pilot shrugged modestly. "Just doing my job, DW!"
Bushroot was now trembling in worry and fear as he watched the heroes get the better of his fellow convict. The green villain never seemed to have a backbone in these situations, if he ever had one at all. Unbeknownst to him, a small red headed figure appeared out from behind him.
"Yeah!" shouted Gosalyn as she stepped beside Darkwing and placed her hands on her hips. "You boys are asking for trouble!"
Quackerjack, still being held by his hat, gave a snicker. He reached into his pocket and brought out a handful of little toy robots. He let them loose and they all clattered to the cement before buzzing with life. With little whirling sounds, they started advancing on Launchpad, who cried out in alarm. The pilot's grip on Quackerjack's hat loosened and the jester took his chance to spring free and dive in towards the stairway Negaduck and the others had taken.
The robots turned their attention on Darkwing and Gosalyn next. Father and daughter began whacking at the robots with their webbed feet and causing the toys to fall on their sides and become immobile.
Darkwing didn't waste a second in pursuing the colorful clown, knowing Gosalyn and Launchpad could handle Bushroot. "You guys handle, Bushy, I'll get Negaduck and the others!" he called behind him.
Bushroot was about to follow after the others when he heard a grunt of alarm from Gosalyn. He looked over to see that all the little robots had managed to right them up and combine themselves all into one large menacing robot. With all of them together, the robots were able to shoot out little sparks of electricity at the young mallard.
The same thing had happened to the robots that had been chasing Launchpad. More sparks of electricity were being shot out from both of the now large robots.
Bushroot couldn't help but ponder just how many of those robots had Quackerjack let loose.
Gosalyn tried stepping away from the robot as it got closer and closer, driving her further and further towards the edge of the building. Then, as Gosalyn took another step back, she lost her balance. She hadn't realized how close to the edge she had been. Gosalyn looked down to see she was going to fall. She screamed as she instinctively tried grabbing onto the ledge, but the cement was slick and she missed her chance.
"NOOO!" cried someone's voice.
It happened so fast that by the time Launchpad had managed to defeat the robot and turn to Gosalyn, Bushroot was already at the edge of the building. Safely in his thin vine-like arms was a a panting and shocked Gosalyn being held under his arms.
Bushroot turned around just in time for Launchpad to come up and grab her, holding her close. Gosalyn normally wouldn't allow herself to be handled in such a way, but the shock of her near death experience had left her too stunned to fully function.
The tension that filled the air afterwards was thick enough to be cut with a knife. Bushroot awkwardly stood there wrapping his arms around himself and moving his gaze down to the cement.
Gosalyn was the first to speak after she wriggled out of Launchpad's arms. "Y-You...saved me..." Her voice was a coarse whisper.
Bushroot didn't reply at first. He seemed nervous and unsure of what to say. "I couldn't just let you fall..." he finally said quietly.
Gosalyn stepped closer to the mutant plant duck. "But... we're enemies."
Bushroot frowned, looking away with a shrug. "So? That doesn't mean I want to see you fall..." He was answering in such a small voice, but they heard him perfectly, as though he were shouting it. They stared at him, not believing their ears.
Was Bushroot, a member of the Fearsome Five, really saying these words?
Silence filled the air for a what seemed like ages, until a great amount of blue smoke started coming out of the stairway door and a victorious cry from Negaduck was heard. Launchpad went to see if the vigilante needed help. Gosalyn followed, but not until another long stare at Bushroot, who was standing there staring into space.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()