The Super-villain Bushroot puttered happily at his workstation as his pet: a mutated Venus fly trap that acted like a cross between an overeager puppy and a voraciously hungry late night movie henchman, watched from his post by a stack of flowerpots. Usually Bushroot's plant telepathy warned him of any intruders well before they reached his working area so he could prepare but he was concentrating so hard that the murmurs of his allies went unheeded.

He was a unique figure in an unfastened white lab coat with the green plantlike exterior, fuchsia colored petals on his head and bark-like covering over his legs and root like feet that showcased his plant side and the large skull, duck bill, splayed tail-like posterior feathering, expressive light blue eyes and other facial features that told of his avian origins. He muttered absently waving his flexible, leafy hands as he saved his data on his computer and started to put the sealed sample he had been examining into its case to prevent the seals from being compromised.

"Finally! This was a tricky problem but now that I have isolated the components all I need to do is send the formula for the detoxification to…."

He froze in shock as a very familiar voice said behind him, "I hope you have your current medical research here Doctor and not some scheme to take over the city."

Spike moved to defend his master but stopped as Bushroot spun in place to gasp, "Rhoda! Stay Spike."

Reginald Bushroot stared as his former assistant and not so secret crush stood just in front of his stand of bamboo and swallowed nervously for a different reason than usual. She was as beautiful as he remembered of course but the lit, handheld propane torch she was holding rather ruined the mood for him as did the frightened look in her eyes that she was obviously trying to hide. Carefully he moved towards her just a little and winced when she flinched slightly and the torch flame bobbed towards floor before she brought her hands up as though to ward him off.

Gesturing cautiously and speaking telepathically to his allies he quieted the plants and made sure they knew to let Rhoda go no matter what else happened. At the same time, he spoke carefully to the slightly shaking female in front of him and he said, " Take it easy with that thing, I promise I won't hurt you… and neither will any of the plants in here. What are you doing here anyway? I thought after the last time we met you would never want to be within miles of one of my greenhouse hideouts."

Rhoda shook off her nerves as she ignored the memory of when Bushroot had attempted to turn her into his plant/duck bride and said in as firm a voice as she could, "I wouldn't be here if I had any other choice so don't get any funny ideas Dr. Bushroot."

The nearest plants rustled nervously as the flames from the torch wavered closer to the bamboo but then Rhoda took a breath and said in a calmer tone as she turned down the flames. " I should probably start over."

As she moved her feet again the overstuffed purse she carried at her side spilled open and dozens of files and notes spilled out. Recognizing these as medical records Bushroot felt a stab of concern as he asked anxiously, "Rhoda, are you sick?"

Bushroot gestured and several pole bean plants began sweeping the scattered papers into more orderly piles while Rhoda wavered between trying to pick up the papers and keeping both eyes on the hybrid plant/duck and watching the rest of the flora as more and more plants and trees reacted to Bushroot's distress.

He added worriedly ignoring the blowtorch and moving closer to her, "I know you have good reason for being scared, but I would never hurt you Rhoda. What's wrong?"

Just then a slight noise came from towards the front of the greenhouse and to his surprise Rhoda dropped the still lit torch to rush over to a wobbling figure wrapped in what he realized was a hospital issued blanket imprinted with the logo of the cancer treatment center. Dancing frantically away from the flames he moved to shut off the torch and placed it on his workbench as his leafy allies rustled and shuddered as though a light breeze was moving through the growing area. Rhoda's nerves seemed to have been buried under a sudden take charge attitude as she wrapped her arms protectively around the slender person in the blanket.

Moved by his innate sense of gallantry he gestured to a sturdy low growing hedge by the door which shifted to support both figures as they started to lose their battle to stay upright. He grimaced to himself and reflected cautiously that having them supported by the friendly hedge would give him the chance to decide exactly what to do without having to worry about unpleasant things like torches with little risk to either his plant allies or himself. The hedge's leaves were thick so it was unlikely to seem threatening to them and since he was listening he realized this mystery person was female and evidently very ill as he overheard their conversation. Thanks to the fact that he could hear almost anything through nearby flora he let them have the illusion of privacy but something about this mysterious female made him want to go closer even though he knew Rhoda would likely panic if he did.

"Phila WHAT are you DOING? After all the cancer treatments you don't have strength to waste traipsing around." Rhoda whispered frantically as she batted a leaf away not realizing the branches around them were holding most of their weight.

In a firm but very soft tone the other voice replied, "I'm NOT staying in the car while you risk doing something desperate and dangerous on the off chance that some harebrained scheme will help me!"

VERY cautiously Reggie moved closer and cleared his throat causing both females to look at him; surprise clearly written all over their faces. They had been so engrossed in their battle of wills Rhoda seemed to have temporarily forgotten about him and of course his unusual appearance was a surprise to people when they first saw him so the gasp from the other female didn't bother him much. What held him suddenly transfixed was the realization that unlike Rhoda this Phila's expression held no fear or panic.

In her clear brown eyes was only slight curiosity and a small smile hovered on her dainty, well formed beak as she added, "It looks like your wild goose chase wasn't as far fetched as I thought."

She straightened up and the blanket slid to the floor as she added, "I'm Philomena Dendron and I'm guessing you must be the mystery person Rhoda has been looking for."

Rhoda tried to intercept Bushroot as he moved slowly towards them; but to her shock the hedge they were leaning in rustled and set Philomena down gently in front of the super powered villain. Before she could do more than reach for Phila, the hedge pulled Rhoda back into itself and moved some leaves in front of her so she was mostly hidden from view. Bushroot held Philomena upright blushing and stuttered as he tried to remember how to talk while holding this delicate creature in his arms. He was struggling with himself mostly because he wanted more than anything to imp healthy feathers into her protective coating and will strength and vitality into her body. She in turn found herself blushing a little and wishing she was wearing something other than the loose pants and sweatshirt she had donned to ride with Rhoda around St. Canard.

Ignoring the spluttering from her sister in the hedge Philomena laid a gentle finger on Bushroot's beak and added after taking a careful breath, "I am sorry my sister and I are intruding in your…" She looked carefully around and finished "Home? But I am running out of time and your unique approach to science looks to be my best hope of surviving."

A determined look came over Philomena's face replacing the faintly discouraged and exhausted one that she had been wearing while facing off against Rhoda. But she couldn't help leaning into this strange but compelling creature's embrace as a wave of weakness came over her. Fighting off a sense of befuddlement; Reggie asked the hedge to release Rhoda and several stands of banana trees grew large leaves and swept all three avians up into their foliage and over toward his living area. Rhoda tried to say something but found herself silenced at the look on the faces of the other two avians.

To his utter astonishment Reginald Bushroot found himself saying confidently as he fought off the bolt of terror that coursed through him at the thought of losing this courageous and beauteous lady to death, " Let me offer you both my hospitality and make you comfortable while you explain exactly what you think I can do for you?"

Meanwhile in an area of St. Canard dominated by older warehouses and manufacturing plants that were just letting their workforces go for the day, the city's masked and caped crime fighter Darkwing Duck was having his own problems. Having tracked Quackerjack to this area he and his sidekick and partner Launchpad McQuack were trying to apprehend the crazed toymaker turned super villain but they were being hampered in their efforts by both the paparazzi and by the criminal inventors newest creations.

Looking exasperated; Darkwing ducked and pulled the oversized brim of his hat down slightly to protect his vision as a shower of strangely colored balls, about eight inches across tumbled from a basket suspended from the catwalk above the loading dock where he had parked the Ratcatcher. He had been hoping to avoid the last persistent reporter who had managed to keep up with them from the florist shop so they could catch Quackerjack without endangering civilians and it looked as though their luck was in since they had left the dogged (and doglike female) behind for now. Launchpad dodged and winced as well as the spheres bounced alarmingly high and all of them flashed and sparked in the dim light when they hit the floor, walls and each other and kept on bouncing ricocheting madly all around the workspace as Quackerjack's chortling echoed around the crime fighting duo.

"Lacrosse practice ball flash grenades?! REALLY? This whole outdoorsy thing is getting old fast!" muttered Darkwing as he pulled his gas gun from it's place in his jacket.

Launchpad grinned nervously and offered, "well at least they aren't exploding like the golf ball at the florist shop or covering the street in caltrops like the soccer net that he dropped in front of us a couple of blocks ago; the lawn darts or the shuffleboard disks he covered in glue and tried to use to pin those reporters so he could block the way and the…."

LP winced when Darkwing made a sudden grab and pulled his sidekick down so he avoided getting hit by an otherwise ordinary tennis ball that whizzed past his fight cap to the sounds of running webbed feet and exploded in a puff of smoke and yellow fuzz.

Launchpad's litany of the newest items Quackerjack had added to his arsenal was cut short as he paused to ask in an aside as he looked around for any more surprises; squinting as the last couple of flashing balls settled to the floor saying "Say, how did you know those were Lacrosse practice balls DW?"

Darkwing grinned and said, "Gosalyn has decided that since she can't get around the 'conspiracy' that keeps her from competitive ice hockey and tackle football she want's to try out for Lacrosse. She got a package of the practice balls from the McDuck kids a month ago and since I am not getting her any sticks until we negotiate the safety aspects and she agrees to wear a mouth guard, elbow and knee pads and a helmet. I have been finding those balls all over the lair since she likes to bounce them on the concrete…as well as pamphlets on a couple of the local leagues."

Patting Launchpad on the arm reassuringly Darkwing ran up a set of stairs after Quackerjack's shadow which had just disappeared into an upper office area. Launchpad sighed to himself as he ran after his best friend and nominal boss and muttered to himself, "At least we got most of the wedding stuff out of the way that Morgana wanted to see to today before all this! Watch out DW!"

Launchpad hurried even more as he came on Darkwing destroying a set of Quackerjack's more traditional (for him anyway) flamethrower soldiers and fending off an exploding panda by kicking it as hard as he could. LP saw that the villain was breaking out a baseball bat and was trying to brain the crime fighter while he was distracted. His heart clinched as he feared he was about to see his best friend knocked for a loop or worse since Quackerjack was really putting heft into his swing; determined to help he moved forward ducking the flying panda and started to try to distract Quackerjack. Unfortunately he was intercepted by a set of wind up teeth that latched onto his boot and refused to let go.

Feeling the sudden pinch as the teeth clamped down he shook his foot vigorously to try and shake them off as he yelled, "Yowch! Back off!"

Launchpad's shout was well timed since DW looked up and then fell into a crouch before using a spinning web kick to try to knock Quackerjack off his feet. Quackerjack managed to stagger back but his swing was ruined and when he tried to activate his foot springs he miscalculated and landed in an awkward sprawl instead of bouncing away from his target.

Enraged at this, Quackerjack snarled, "Your luck HAS to run out sometime DUCK! And when it does I'll win EVERY game"

Realizing that Quackerjack was reacting in rage not thinking; DW rolled and dodged as he readied his cape and his buzz saw cufflinks. Using his trusty(and if he did say so himself fashionable) accessory he wound Quackerjack up in the folds of the cape and used the cuff links to cut through an axe wielding clown doll that had dropped onto him before pulling out his gas gun and firing point blank at the raggedly dressed criminal struggling to wiggle free.

Not being stupid or distracted he also held his breath as the sleeping gas canister exploded onto the wiggling bundle that was Quackerjack. Unfortunately his trusty sidekick was still hopping around trying to get the wind up teeth to let go of his foot and Launchpad staggered headlong into the cloud pushing Darkwing onto the now still heap of cloth. DW managed to hold his breath long enough to wiggle out from under Launchpad but LP wasn't so lucky since he had been yelping and using various expressions to try and relieve his pain as the teeth tried to chew through his boot.

Drake sighed to himself as he surveyed the two snoring figures sprawled on the floor of the office and then he winced as his sharp hearing picked up the sounds of someone trying to get inside, probably through the same loading area he had driven the Ratcatcher through. He smiled as he got an idea…. He needed to figure out how to implement it, but IF it worked; the random packs of media and reporters that were cramping his crime fighting style would become an advantage instead of the hindrance they were now.

Making sure Quackerjack was securely restrained, DW muttered. "Sorry Buddy but I need you awake. I'll make this up to you I promise." Before holding a small capsule under Launchpad's nares.

As the noxious fumes wafted upward Drake held his breath again hoping to avoid at least some of the smell; but the stuff did it's job and jolted Launchpad awake. He grinned just a little and offered a hand to his sidekick to help him to his feet and spun to leap dramatically toward the doorway and intercepted the now frightened media hound who dropped the cell phone she had been using to try and take some clandestine video with and let out a squeak. Catching the small device in one hand Darkwing said conversationally, "Look, I realize you are trying to make a living here and I respect that….But if you keep this up you reporters are going to get caught in the middle of some dangerous criminals."

Reaching into his jacket he removed an SD card from one of the recorders he wore and offered, "I'll make a deal with you, I'll give you first crack at some of my personal footage AND I'll look you up for an exclusive interview on my crime fighting activities tomorrow if nothing interferes."

At this offer her eyes lit up with enthusiasm and she interjected excitedly, "I have a standing offer from the crime beat editor from channel 4 and an interview about your marriage preparations would get me an in with the style editor of the St. Canard Chronicle…."

Ignoring her interruption he spoke a little louder to break through her eagerness and continued saying, "BUT I need you to spread the word that you all are in danger if you follow the Ratcatcher too closely."

Quackerjack was waking up by this time and despite Launchpad's hold on his shoulders and the handcuffs on his wrists, Quackerjack glowered and lunged towards Darkwing who moved to intercept him, looking sternly at the criminal and nodding bracingly to Launchpad he offered, "We need to get him to the police LP I'll meet you downstairs."

Launchpad replied, "Right-O DW" and moved the now slightly shivering Quackerjack past the avidly watching reporter and down the stairs.

Holding the SD card in front of the reporter and making sure to adjust his expression Darkwing had her immediate attention as he offered, "what do you say? Will you spread the word for me?"

She nodded and said, "If you can give me an edge like that consistently I'll do more than that for you. I'm Rita Roundhouse." She added "If I can add you to my contacts I'll be sure to show you and the other H.E.R.O.'s operatives doing their best protecting us from crime and terrorists. All I need is a chance …."

Drake grinned openly at this brazen attempt to get more of an edge from him than he had offered and countered with one of his business cards and the SD card. He tucked it and her phone that he had erased the video from into her hands and as he moved down the stairs after Launchpad he added. "I need some room to work, I don't want to see civilians get hurt so be careful. I researched you after the last time you were the only reporter to end up following the Ratcatcher all the way to S.H.U.S.H. headquarters and IF this works out we will both win."

As Darkwing mounted his powerful machine with Launchpad in the sidecar and moved away from the pair of police vehicles escorting the prisoner transfer van; his attention went to his lady love and their wedding preparations. He glanced at his multimedia smart watch and mused to himself, "If I'm lucky Honker has kept Gosalyn on track and we will still make the first cake tasting I arranged as a surprise."

At castle Macabre Monoculo Macabre leaned back in his chair with a sigh as his large scrying mirror followed his future son-in-law as he went about his business in that seething Normal city Morgana insisted on living in. Guiltily he gestured and shut off the spell as his familiar; a kindred shaped like a large turkey vulture named Geier warned him that Mintaka and his familiar Grimm were approaching his study. The huge 200 pound grey lynx-like kindred moved confidently into the room followed by his mage.

Mintaka knew what Monoculo had been up to. He and Grimm tended to peek at St. Canard fairly often since fifth month after all and a far vision spell had a distinctive signature. Grimm knew from Geier that Monoculo was very uncomfortable about being caught spying and IF they had had a while to work on it, he and his Mage would have spoken at length to Monoculo about it in an attempt to get him to admit his feelings….But they were on a deadline and had no time now for such a delicate undertaking, especially since they were not entirely sure how the Lord of clan Macabre really felt about his future son-in-law.

Tactfully ignoring Monoculo's emotional state, Mintaka stopped just in front of the mirror and faced the large desk. Placing a rolled and tied scroll on the desk blotter he seated himself in one of the chairs and waited while Monoculo got himself together. "Lord Macabre I did as you bid and found out what the Normals do in these situations. Usually after a person comes of age, they seldom bother with such formalities unless there is property or other wealth involved."

Monoculo snorted at this and replied, "We are far more civilized than the Normals after all and without standing of their own it will be far more politically complex to integrate them into our society…" He grimaced slightly and added after a tiny nudge from Geier. " Besides, Morgana will appreciate this gesture very much even if he and his brother don't see exactly what our society expects or understand the ramifications in their lives and that's all I care about."

Raising an eye ridge Mintaka gave him a stern look and added, "If all you care about is making this gesture for Morgana, then I doubt this will work well in any way….I know you don't much care for their ego's or their prideful natures; but they are both highly intelligent and I doubt it will take them as long as you suspect to realize at least some of the repercussions once they understand what we have done."

Monoculo wanted to ignore this observation but he was far to intelligent and experienced to allow his own prejudices to keep him from doing what was best for the clan. Besides, from what he had observed, the only thing keeping Morgana from taking Drake entirely before now was Drake's own internal sense of propriety and while that had come as a welcome surprise it certainly hadn't been the only one in the past few weeks.

Manfully he added, "Most of the consequences of the ceremony won't be evident for a very long time as far as their health and well being are concerned. As long as they participate in the renewals we can support them without forcing any other concessions. Until they have had a chance to adapt to us and learn their roles it's not as if we have to risk them outside the estate after all."

Mintaka was forced by honesty to agree with this as far as it went but he was very concerned that Monoculo seemed to be determined to ignore the rest of the situation entirely. Knowing his duty he took a breath and stood before saying, "While it IS true that they will have to adapt to us at least a little, WE will have to adapt to them as well or none of us will prosper and that's a fact that can't be ignored, by any of us."

Moving into the corridor he offered, "Grimm and I will be back by Samhain and IF all goes well I'll bring Drake and his kinfolks along to start acclimating them directly. However, the whole clan is going to have to be at least neutral about including them or I'm taking them home and it will be up Drake and Morgana to decide whether or not they come back for a bonding in our culture at all rather than coming right away to formalize their bond in both cultures."

Monoculo looked very stubborn and started to say something but he paused as his Kindred offered in his mindscape whispering gently, "I have it on good authority that Drake is the one insisting on having the second ceremony immediately after the first to ensure they are legitimate in our eyes and culture as soon as possible chosen. It's up to us to honor that."

In St. Canard a mallard styled avian in a red turtleneck and yellow double breasted reinforced jacket moved alertly around his darkened penthouse apartment on the top floor of St. Canard Tower. Dirk Mallard, a.k.a. Negaduck listened intently and grinned as his sharp hearing picked up the sounds of someone to the left of the front door. Holding his LED flashlight just to the side of his line of vision he moved confidently towards the fitness rooms on the upper floor he had put in to help with his conditioning and Muscovy's rehabilitation. Despite the lack of light there was the rhythmic clink of free weights and a warm glow shown into the hallway.

Muscovy saw him and set the dumbbells down from where she had been doing bicep curls to strengthen her arms. Her own flashlight was at her feet providing the light so she could safely rack the weights. Standing up from the bench she had been on she started to offer him her hand. Seeing his expression, she paused slightly and then moved to him keeping her eyes slightly downcast but her caution was unwarranted.

Glad that she was home and unharmed by the blackout he crushed her to his chest and began to nibble on his favorite area of her throat. Preening her and dropping his flashlight he ran knowing hands over her thin workout clothes and felt her respond. Anna was no fool and in spite of her attraction to the Mallard of Menace her brain was still fully engaged, for now at least.

She gasped and still pressing herself against her mate she asked breathlessly, "DO you know what happened? The power has been out for almost 2 hours."

Dirk grimaced and released her long enough to pick up their flashlights and said, "It's probably some weird timing thing with Megavolt. Come on."

With this he picked up their lights and opened the balcony doors. Moving carefully he went to the center of the space and gestured to the magnificent view before adding, "See this blackout only goes for about a 10 block radius. And I saw a lot of first responders roaming around almost before the lights went out."

He offered, If the power stays out we'll go to the theater and stay at the apartment there until Saturday."

She nodded and then asked, "Have you had food yet? I prepared some chilled vegetable salad with wild rice, and some meat and cheese with bread is in the cold chest."

His expression turned hungry as he pulled her after him into the kitchen and started getting out some forks and plates saying, "After we eat I'll need some desert."

She shivered with anticipation and opened the cold chest she had filled earlier to avoid opening the refrigerator again and smiled at her Mallard over their snack saying archly, "I think we can manage something especially if it stays dark."

Much later Dirk woke as the ceiling fan in the bedroom began to spin, glancing to his left he saw Anna lying beside him and smiled in the dim light from the flashing numbers on the digital clock on the dresser. The air conditioner had kicked on as well and he fancied he faintly heard the water pumps kicking on making the water flow to the upper floors of the building and the water cistern that provided extra water pressure to the penthouse and the lap pool in the alcove. He knew that was actually not likely but the faint glow from the clock numbers wasn't the only source of illumination. Both his spell chain and Anna's were glowing faintly which bothered him a little since that usually meant that something weird was happening or was about to but everything was quiet except for the faint sounds of moving air and water and the steady beating of two hearts. Struck by a sudden idea he tensed and slid out of bed.

Pulling his gun from the headboard holster he tucked it into his robe pocket and moved towards the window and peered out towards the mighty suspension bridge that had his brother's 'secret' lair in its support towers. Focusing his attention on his senses he reached for his twin while looking in his small flip top mirror hoping to be able to tell if something was wrong. Anna woke and he heard her moving as she came over to the window and wrapped herself around him from behind, careful not to block his weapon hand but to his surprise; her touch calmed his agitation and he saw a faint picture in the little round mirror that came into focus as he watched.

After seeing his twin safely tucked in his bed in the suburbs of the city, Dirk started to close the lid with a sneer until he realized that he and Anna weren't alone. Pausing almost undetectably Dirk started to draw his weapon but it was Anna who drew the gun and faced down their visitor who was standing undisturbed by this threat on the balcony. Abruptly recognizing their visitors he sighed and gestured to Muscovy to put the gun away.

Bullets were likely to bounce off these two or turn into bubbles or something if they didn't ricochet back and trigger something nasty from the spell chains they wore so he moved to open the balcony doors and said in as resigned a tone as he could, "you might as well come all the way in. Not that we could keep you out or anything."

Mintaka and Grimm stepped into the living area and Mintaka offered, "Actually you COULD deny us entry if you truly wanted to, but I am glad you decided to let us in Dirk. I wanted to give you some idea of the details of the ceremony for eleventh month."

He paused to include Anna in the conversation and added, "and your lady Anna too of course, the two of you have very important parts to play after all."

Sternly suppressing the appearance of huge butterflies in his middle, Dirk swallowed and braced himself as he asked carefully, "Drake told me about wanting to have a ceremony that shows they are married in the Monster Realm; and he has already made arrangements for us to attend the one here in St. Canard as long as nothing happens to trigger my having to do something FUN as Negaduck…. So what did my idiot twin leave out?"

Smiling benignly Mintaka didn't react to the insult to Drake OR the undercurrent of bravado in Dirk's voice. Instead Grimm moved to the sofa and nudged the two shorter Avians onto the cushions before stretching himself over the rug and flicking his ears to trigger the lights which flicked on obediently.

Seating himself on the surprisingly comfortable chair beside the sofa Mintaka unrolled a scroll and admitted, "as far as I know Drake hasn't forgotten to tell you anything. I haven't been to his house yet since I didn't want to alarm his housemates. I plan on stopping by his house after daybreak. Meanwhile we have a few things to go over…after all Anna needs to read this as well and this is as good a time as I could find to catch you all home and healthy before Samhain."

Authors note: Thank you for reading this and I hope it is worth the wait. I am already working on the next bit and I hope to post it before Christmas so Happy Holidays everyone. Your friend Irual.