And who chose that very moment to show up and make things extra complicated? I'll give you just one guess. Riiight. Goddamned Darkwing Duck. Whom I had never met, but kind of adored. See, we had a history. He'd saved my adopted father in a bank robbery/shootout, and old Hal, (my bear dad. Yes, my adopted parents are bears. Long story) had never stopped talking about him since. I was about 5 at the time, and very impressionable. So we followed his career together. Watched all the news stories. Read his comic books, saved paper clippings. The works. I even have his autograph on a 5X7 glossy. I really dig those smug AF eyebrows he's got.

But really, the right time for him to show up was totally not then. Scarlet and I had managed to survive the brunt of the blast, but we were deaf and scratching around in the rubble like little baby chicks. So yeah, we could have used a hero right now. But I was looking for Negaduck. Because… REASONS. The face that he'd made right before he'd let go of the bowstring was burned into my mind. Along with that strangled gasp he'd made. I swear I'd heard the word "No" riding on it. So… "No" because he'd been about to blow away his own flesh and blood? Or because he had a daughter to begin with, and the very idea revolted him to the core of his being? I'd go for the second one, though it pains me a bit to say it.

Anyway, while we were scrambling around, bleeding and pretty useless, (and I'd just got a glimpse of Negaduck's black cape) there was a crash as the glass door banged open. Really, dude? The windows had NO GLASS. And he used the DOOR. Dramatic license much? But there was no blue smoke. No "I am the Terror…" He was looking for his little Gosalyn. Not that I knew that at the time… I just thought he'd seen the explosion and wanted to investigate. That and the little matter of his arch nemesis, Negaduck. Exploding things and stuff. He scurried around, making himself rather useful. He used his cape to put out the flames, propped up parts of the wall that were falling down, and even pushed some records out of the way. The guy is a wizard. I tried to stay hidden. I wanted to get out of there, but not as bad as I wanted to find Negaduck. I wasn't sure what I would do or say to him, but there it was. I crawled along the wooden floor, glad to know that the entire place hadn't blown up. Scarlet was behind me, but when she saw Darkwing, she was distracted.

"Darkwing!" She pushed herself onto her feet.

"G...Scarlet!" He glided towards her, wrapping her in his billowing cloak. Whoa, I thought. Partners is right. Are they as close as Batman and Robin? Because… I shook my head in wonder, thinking of the term "daddy" in a much less innocent way that what it really was. I was too deaf to hear their whispered conversation, but it made the pit of my stomach tighten. He sounded concerned like a real dad, though. I had a dad, but he had never really understood me. I was a problem child from the beginning, and I still hadn't forgiven him from shoving me into a boarding school. I'm a dropout, btw. It would be amazing to have someone love you so unconditionally like that. To really, really understand you. Even if your grievances went way beyond sneaking cigarettes in the girl's bathroom.

I crawled between the rows of records, trying hard not to choke. A small part of me wanted to inhale. Like I said, I hadn't smoked all day. The fire was creeping towards me, and I checked the shelf letters. F-K. Well, great. There went the Foo Fighters through KISS. Suddenly, I heard a groan. It was deep and husky. Definitely Negaduck. I looked under the shelves and saw a thin rivulet of blood. It led to his foot. Which was still twitching. He looked like he was trying to crawl. I wondered how he could have gotten hurt worse than me and Scarlet. The bomb was aimed at us. It took out the wall behind us, and I vaguely remembered Scarlet using a cape. Explosion proof? Must've been. I tightened my courage around me like steel cord and slid under the shelf towards him. He coughed, holding onto his stomach. There was a deep red puddle dripping out of him. And laying next to it was his chainsaw. He must have lost his balance from the recoil of the bow, then somehow fell on it. Classic Darkwing clumsiness. But now was not the time to find it humorous. This was my father. And he was bleeding out. He coughed again, then noticed me. He swung his head around to face me, blood dribbling out of his beak. His eyes still held the same fire as before, but I could see them starting to dim. For some incredible reason, the very idea of that made my heart twist. He was devious. He was malicious. But he was still my father. And he was dying. As he looked at me, his eyelids dropped down. It might have seemed smug if he wasn't crawling in a puddle of his life blood.

Suddenly, my hearing came back. Scarlet's voice rang out over the sound of the fire, which was slowly receding.

"Hey! Cool Girl! Where are you? Can you hear me? I don't think she can hear me, Darkwing. I'm still sort of deaf from…"

"Well, we've still got to try. You said Negaduck was here too? We can't let him get away."

"I think he did. I don't see him. And he couldn't have been hurt in the explosion."

Negaduck wretched up more blood, gripping his stomach like a vice. His entire hand was bathed in red. He dropped his eyes away from me, then started laughing softly. The sound was harsh and self-deprecating.

"You've done it, girl… I think you've… murdered… me…" He choked on his blood, then slumped forward, his other arm giving out from under him. I pushed myself forward, grabbing hold of him. He was warm and cold at the same time. It was the worse sensation I'd ever felt.

"No… I didn't mean to. You fell… on…"

"Heh, heh… Killed by my own…" He was cut short by an explosive cough that sent blood everywhere. Oh, God. This is so much worse than the movies. I thought. Fighting against my very nature, I kept holding him.

"Hang on, Negaduck. Don't give up. You're too strong to go out this way…" I swallowed hard. "And… this is the dumbest way to die. You don't want 'Nefarious Crime Lord a.k.a. Major Idiot' on your tombstone, do you?" He looked into my eyes, and I found a spark of amusement there. Or rage. Hey, whatever kept him going, right? He tried to sit up straight and pull himself away from me.

"I… I knew that magic bitch was...keeping something from me…" He whispered. "When I create something...I...like to know about it…" He blinked hard, and I told myself it was the fire drying his eyes out.

"So...you actually believe me?"

"Tch. Kid, I can tell. You've got...my damn...eyes…"

"But, I mean…"

He rolled his own eyes at me.

"Girl, just call for...help. I am not fuckin' going out...this way…" And then for the first time, I smiled at him.

"Right." Then I called Darkwing and Scarlet over.

"You're his what?" My childhood hero stood before me, his face stretched to an impossible length. His eyes were as big as dinner plates. We were at the hospital, and he sat on Scarlet's bed, sipping coffee. She and I had to be hooked up to oxygen, and they'd already wheeled away a very unconscious Negaduck to surgery. He was stable though, and I couldn't believe I'd already started worrying about him. I'd even dubbed him "N" in my head, since I couldn't bring myself to call him "dad" or even "father". But somehow, while he was laying on the floor of my record store, bleeding out, I had bonded with him. I didn't feel afraid around him. I actually felt like he understood me. And the very idea of that scared me to death. I didn't let people in that easily. Walls are built for a reason. Not to mention, those blood stains were gonna be hell to scrub out. Which reminded me. I pulled out my phone.

"Yeah, he's my father."

"But...how?!" Darkwing stood up, and started pacing the floor.

"Magica De Spell." I mumbled, tapping on Hal's number.

"MAGICA? But she would have had to, and he would have… oh, ew…" He shuddered, taking a few more swallows of coffee. Scarlet laughed, then coughed. He immediately turned his attention to her. I realized now that their relationship was definitely a father/daughter one. It was sweet. I wasn't jealous at all. *cough, cough* The phone on the other end rang. Dad would probably be in bed by now. I worked the late shift at the store. For some reason, he always thought that people would shop for records at night. I got about 6 customers from 7 to 11. So yeah...no. But I liked being there. Although now I might dread it. After it got all fixed up, I was going to have to look at that dark stain next to the Nine Inch Nails albums. How appropriate.

I held up a finger when Darkwing still babbled on.

"Hold on, man. I gotta break it to my dad about the store."

"You're...dad…?"

"Her adopted dad, D-Darkwing…" Scarlet smiled.

"Oh, gotcha." He was fanning his face with his fedora and I tried not to laugh as I heard Hal's groggy voice on the phone. The worst part about this was that I hadn't told either one of my parents that I'd found out who I really was yet. I didn't even think that they knew. Which would be...extremely awkward and surreal. At best.

"Hey, dad. Sorry to wake you. Don't uh... hate me?"

"Eh? Where are you? What time…"

It was just after midnight. I would have been home, tucked into my own dark, soft bed, surrounded by my red pillar candles with my Nickelback playlist lulling me to sleep. But NO. Tonight was the night I had to have a burning, bloody first meeting with my crime lord father, who almost died in my arms. Proud that his daughter had been the reason he was dying. Even though I totally wasn't.

"It's just after midnight, dad. I'm not home though. I'm…" I looked over at Darkwing and Scarlet, who eyed me sympathetically. But I gathered my courage. This was my easy dad. He was just a lawyer.

"I'm at the...hospital."

"WHAT? What happened, what did you do?"

"Wow, I'm glad you asked 'what happened' first that time."

"Glad to hear your tongue isn't injured."

"Yeah, no. But the store is…"

"What happened to Black Groove? What have you done?" I pulled the phone away from my ear, wincing. Suddenly, Darkwing stood up.

"*Ahem* May I?" He held his hand out for the phone. I could feel my eyes brighten. Perfect. This was about to get amazing. Unless my dad had a heart attack. Then I guess I'll see him soon, I thought, somewhat morbidly. Let's not lose two dads in one night. Although I still refused to register Negaduck as dad, still thinking better of "N".

"Uh, Dad? There's someone who wants to talk to you."

"It had better not be my insurance company. You know I haven't paid in full yet, and they're gonna…"

"No, Dad. This is so much better." Darkwing nodded at me courteously and gently took the phone from my bandaged hand.

"Hello Mr…?"

"Bruindale." I said, helpfully. "Hal Bruindale."

"Mr. Bruindale. Yes. This is Darkwing Duck…" He paused, letting my dad yell a bit.

"No, no, no. It's not a joke, good sir. I am indeed the 'Terror that Flaps in the Night.' And I must say, I owe you an apology. See, the fate of your record store wasn't- What was that? 'Black Grooves'. Oh, that's nice. I like that. Sounds dark and mysterious. Rock on! Anyway, the fate of it wasn't your daughter's fault. Who's was it, you say, well…" Then Darkwing proceeded to tell my dad about how notorious gang leader Negaduck battled The Scarlet Shadow in our shop and how he had blown a hole through it. He omitted the part about the bleeding out.

"Oh, but never fear, good citizen. See, I work for a secret agency. They are...how should I say... quite well endowed with money. So… repairing your rockin' record room should be no problem. We could even built a new one if you'd like…" He continued to babble on about property damage and repair costs. I lost focus from the conversation after a while, thinking about N in surgery. Would he live? I remembered the bloody gash in his stomach. It had been pretty deep. He'd definitely have a scar. I wondered if his feathers would even grow back under it. I kept wondering these things, until I realized that Scarlet was staring at me. I glanced over at her. She just smiled, but she looked pretty concerned.

I cocked my head to the side, a wordless 'What?'

"I'm just wondering… What you're going to do when your...uh...when Hal shows up to take you home?"

"Um...go home?" I ventured. She almost laughed.

"Yeah, but what about Negaduck?"

"What about him?" I shrugged. "I don't even know the guy, and he did try to kill us." But she could see right through me. I remembered back to when I called her and Darkwing for help, and they found me holding Negaduck up, his blood seeping through the floorboards. He'd still had the ghost of a smile on his face. It was if he would have been happy to die like that. But I wouldn't let him. Scarlet could read something in my eyes that I couldn't hide. I looked down, studying the IV in my wrist. I heard the rustling of bedsheets as she leaned over.

"Here." She said softly. She handed me her phone. It was bright orange with yellow stars on it. Seemed kind of childish. How old was she? 16, at the oldest. I studied her number on the screen, and was about to grab my own phone, when I realized Darkwing still had it. He'd wandered out of the room, still prattling on to Hal. Scarlet noticed.

"Darkwing!" She yelled, then coughed violently. He appeared immediately.

"Oh, honey! I'm sorry." He patted her on the head. No way those two were not father and daughter. He pushed my phone back into my hand (the one not holding Scarlet's phone) and smiled.

"Well, that takes care of that. I got the money and the say-so to rebuild 'Black Grooves'. Boy, I love that name. It'll be bigger and better than before! It's the least I can do. You shouldn't have had to go through all that, you poor girl." He patted my hand.

"Believe me," I smiled ironically. "I think this is just the beginning of my problems right now."

"Uh, yeah. About that. Are you going to be alright? How is the security at your parents house? Do you-?"

"Actually. I don't live with my parents anymore. I just turned 18. I live above my garage-"

"Wait a minute." He narrowed his eyes at me. "How are you older than…" He gestured at Scarlet. " I mean, Negaduck and Magica teamed up when she was nine-years-old and…"

"Darkwing…" Scarlet warned.

"Dude, what. You knew her when she was 9?" I asked, my eyes widening. "How young do you teach them, Darkwing?"

"Oh well, I…" He struggled for an explanation, just as I slid past the number screen on Scarlet's phone with my thumb. It exited out, showing a picture of a duck that really resembled Darkwing, next to a duck that really resembled Scarlet. She had the same bright orange hair. They both wore masks, but their body types… I held up the phone, my eyebrow arching.

"Yeah, that's my dad." Smiled Scarlet. "Isn't he a cutie? He can't even watch horror movies without shrieking like a girl." It would have been believable if Darkwing hadn't glared at her. Bingo. But I decided not to push the issue. I handed the phone to him, and he handed it back to her. Then, he changed the subject in the most unsubtle way possible.

"So, Negaduck's really your dad, huh? Hoo-boy... What a mind job, huh?"