THE SOUL CAGES
Copyright 2008 Q Illespont
All characters trademark their appropriate owners
Chapter 1


Darkwing sighed as he leaned back in the side seat of the Thunderquack. 'Another villain vanquished to verify the validity of virtue,' he mused, tipping his hat over his eyes.

Launchpad chuckled from the pilot's seat. 'Great work, DW! We sure made one heck of a team that time! You should'a seen his face when "Darkwing Decoy" came through the wall for him!'

Darkwing smiled. 'The plan was technically for you to use the door.'

'Yeah, I know. It's hard to hit those from 30,000 feet!'

Darkwing chuckled. 'I'm sure you're working on it. Just don't do it if we're in here.'

'Aw,' a brash voice moaned from behind him, 'I wanna practice ramming buildings too!'

Darkwing shook his head. 'You're too young to become a kamikaze, Gosalyn,' he admonished. 'Besides, you weren't even supposed to be here in the first place.'

'What? I wanted a chance to fight evil, too! And you would've been in trouble if I didn't sabotage the missile controls, anyway.' Gosalyn stood behind the seats, arms folded, before continuing. 'You know Steelbeak was more than happy to blow up Siberia, anyway.'

'Fine, fine. Anyway, we just have to stop for a check-in at SHUSH's offices for the debrief.' He groaned at the image of meeting Grizzlikov, who he knew would be on hand to personally insure that each and every form is filled out. He never actually filled them out, preferring to just tell them about his exploits, but it was still a bother. 'Where are we now?'

'Crossin' over the date line, on our way over Alaska,' Launchpad reported. 'Good to be back in our hemisphere.'

Gosalyn leaned forward, looking at the console of the Thunderquack. She tapped a light that had started flashing with a buzzing tone. 'What's this mean?'

Launchpad chuckled. 'Aw, don't worry,' he said. 'That just means we're being picked up by NORAD. I keep forgettin' about that.' He flipped a switch on the panel, and the buzzing stopped. 'Now we just look ordinary.'

'Keen gear,' she said. 'I always wondered how we could fly around the world without all those radar things going off!'

'Yeah,' Launchpad replied, 'otherwise we'd have to keep dodging SAMs and stuff.' An explosion rocked the plane, and Launchpad nodded. 'Like that. Wha--hey!'

Gosalyn felt the Thunderquack start to spin into whatever damage had happenned while Darkwing held onto his seat. 'I thought you'd made sure the jammers were working!' he yelled, holding his hat with his other hand.

'They were!' Launchpad yelled as he wrestled with the controls. 'Hold on tight, guys, this is gonna be a bad one!'

Darkwing and Gosalyn gulped at the pronouncement; Launchpad had built up something of an immunity to crashes, so seeing him worried was frightening. Darkwing reached for Gosalyn to hold onto her as the plane flat-spun on its way to the ground.

And then time came to a dead stop.

Darkwing tried to turn his head, but couldn't. His eyes darted around, and he saw Launchpad straining, yet statuesque. Gosalyn's eyes were wide but he could not feel her grip on his wrists. He tried to speak. 'What's going on?' OK, his jaw worked.

Behind him, he heard a smooth deep voice, and he noticed a faint whiff of brimstone. 'Oh no,' he thought.

'I think we need to have a talk, Mr Mallard,' the man behind him said.

--

'Who are you?' Darkwing tried to yell. It sounded hollow.

'I am a man of wealth and taste,' the new arrival said. 'I'll leave it to you to make the other connections.' He walked around, and Darkwing could now see his new guest. Unlike Launchpad and Gosalyn, he seemed to be an actual being rather than a statue. He stood as a tall tiger, in a neatly tailored dark business suit, the blue tie contrasting with his orange fur. 'I also have many names and forms. This one I think suits our needs at the moment. While I am not Mr Khan, he did have a style I and those I work with ... admired.'

Darkwing grumbled. He remembered learning about him in history class, back in school. The sort that wouldn't break a law ... but would inspire them. 'What do you want?'

The tiger chuckled. 'What do we always want?'

Darkwing thought, then remembered. Someone like this was apparently able to exist outside of time--everything else was frozen. And the familiar scent brought back memories of what he thought was a nightmare. 'If you think I'm trading my soul to get out of this, you're mistaken. Go to hell.'

'I know better than that, dear Drake,' the demon chuckled. 'I have something more precious than just that, though. You see ... currently, if nothing else happens, you will live, and so will Launchpad. And your darling daughter, too.' He smiled. 'Too bad about her, by the way.'

'What about her?'

The demon reached into his suit coat and withdrew a small video player. 'We don't have huge amounts of power available, Mr Mallard, but we do have a slight amount of foresight. And this is what I see in your future.' He tapped the play button, and the screen flicked to life.

On the screen, he could see himself, Launchpad, and Gosalyn, as they were now. After a few moments, the action started. He saw the sky outside spinning, with ominous views of the ground below. The sound was chaotic as the engines whined.

As the spin continued, he saw himself being pulled from his seat. He'd been hasty in buckling in, and he also had Gosalyn on his arms. The combination was threatening to send the both of them to the far wall of the plane. Only by holding a strap between his feet was he able to prevent it.

After a few agonisingly slow moments, the screen shook and the speakers let out a horrible crash; with his experience, Darkwing could tell they had finally hit ground. He then gaped as he saw his arms and legs twitch, with both letting go, not from the amount of force but the shock of impact loosening both grips.

At this point, the video slowed, and he got to see what else was going on. He saw that the force built up in the spin was sending both himself and Gosalyn across the main console. A few levers seemed ready to impale, but he saw the twin arcs clearing them safely. 'So where's the horror part?' he quipped to his guest.

'Right now,' was the reply as the scene focussed on Gosalyn. Darkwing gaped as he saw her flying away from him, tumbling towards the canopy in slow motion; he followed, although on a slightly different trajectory.. He remembered they'd reinforced it, and feared she'd be injured ... then gulped as best he could in the no-time that was going on around him as he saw what was going on behind her.

The canopy had failed. Cracks formed, and one part came inward just right. He saw he was sailing towards a part that had not failed, but as for Gosalyn ...

Darkwing clenched his eyes shut as he then heard what sounded like a horrible crack, followed by a crash. 'I thought you said she lived,' he grumbled.

'Amazing, is it not?' the tiger demon said. 'Such a young one as she, and yes, she did survive. Well, mostly. Open your eyes, Mr Mallard. This is important information for you to know before we discuss any bargains. You need to know what you currently have before you can negotiate for something better. And as a hint ... well, you know who and what I represent. Let us say that I would have to object to the principle of her being entirely killed in this crash.'

Darkwing snarled and opened his eyes. He saw Gosalyn lying in a bed, eyes blankly staring forward. Bandages were around her head. He gulped as he saw what looked like a point coming out and pushing the wrappings on one side of her head.

On one side of the bed stood Darkwing, Morgana, and Launchpad. Darkwing was in his costume still. On the other were a wolf sighing as he closed his notebook, and J Gander Hooter. Hooter let out a sigh and walked over. 'I'm sorry, Darkwing. Our doctors have done what they can for her.'

'No,' he heard his future-self on the screen say. 'Do more!' He couldn't tell if Morgana was holding the future self back, or if he was clutching her like a lifeline.

The wolf spoke up. 'It's one of those freak chances. The shard did too much damage to her. She's ... responsive. She's mostly healthy; it didn't affect her involuntary systems. But she won't be Gosalyn anymore. She can't act. She's on a feeding tube because she doesn't respond if food is put in her mouth.'

Hooter spoke up. 'We had some of our psychic staff come in to try to get in touch with her, Darkwing,' he said sadly. 'All they found was fragments of her mind. They weren't able to make contact. Her body's alive, but the girl you knew ... if God is merciful, she died in the crash and all that's left are echoes that will fade.'

'And if not?' he heard himself say angrily.

'If not ... then she'll spend the rest of her life in that shell, unable to see, to hear, to move, to live.'

The tiger switched the device off. 'I think you now know what I mean.'

Darkwing grumbled. 'My soul for her life, then?'

The demon nodded. 'Indeed. Obviously, we are not able to exert a lot of force on the material world, but with the strength of the souls of the damned, we can make ... changes to events. And your soul could be tapped for enough power to not loose your grip on your daughter.'

'And how does that end? You said you were gonna be honest about things.'

'Indeed. It will cost more than your soul, Mr Mallard.' He flicked the player to show a menu, and selected another scene. This one had him keep his grip on Gosalyn's wrists as they hit. His feet still had let go, but with the fact they were one solid mass, it altered their trajectory slightly.

Gosalyn's mouth flew open as she slammed into the control panel, and he was sure he could see a red spot growing under her thigh. But what he noticed most of all was the same jagged point form in the windscreen, and Gosalyn now serving as a pivot for the two of them.

'That too, huh?' he said. 'Why not make sure my legs hold on?'

The tiger laughed. 'Because I do not want to. This is your choice, Darkwing. And the only offer you will get.'

Darkwing cringed. A devilish dilemma, he though to himself, without his sparkle of wit. Either he could consign Gosalyn to a fate so bad a devil would prefer that for her over just killing her, or he dies and is condemned to a fate equal to Hell.

'If this helps,' the tiger said, letting his voice trail off as he brought the scene with Gosalyn in the hospital bed back up.

Darkwing found himself forced to stare at the reality for her, and that steeled himself for what he had to do for her, one last way he could keep her safe. 'Sold,' he said through his teeth.

'Splendid. And now I will do as you asked. I will see you very soon, Mr Mallard.'

As the tiger disappeared with his infernal contraption, time returned. He cluched tighter, tighter, and tried to will his legs to hold on. If he can do that, he can cheat the vision he saw!

The plane then smashed into the ground, and the shock travelled through the taut belt he held between his feet. He felt his thighs slacken, his arms twitch, but then he felt a surge through his muscles, a wave of heat. He felt his hold on Gosalyn's wrists stay firm, but the surge stopped short; his legs had let go of the belt.

They spun to the console, and Gosalyn howled; he saw it was the radar warning light she had hit in irony. The short indicator still stuck out enough to wound, especially with the forces involved. He tried to whisper, 'Goodbye, Gosalyn,' as he felt fate finish the scene.

Then everything went dark, the last sounds he remembered hearing being a soft feline laugh.


And thus begins another story. More to come as I ... um, write it.