They all sat down in the living room. "Gosalyn, time for bed." said Darkwing. She went upstairs, but stopped in the front hall to listen in. "After all, he didn't say go to bed." she reasoned.
"So...why are you here, Bushroot?" asked Darkwing. The plant-duck rubbed his leafy hands together nervously for a moment and took a deep breath. "Negaduck is after me." he said.
Darkwing frowned. "Negaduck is after a lot of people. What's so special about you?"
"Most people weren't former gang members of his. It seems he hasn't forgotten that."
DW waited for Bushroot to elaborate. "It happened this way..." Bushroot began his story.
"I was in town to buy some flower pots for my plant pals. I had finished shopping and was just passing an alley when I was roughly shoved into it. I didn't know what was going on, all I could see was a shadowy figure wearing a big fedora...I thought it was you for a moment!" He ignored the sour look on Darkwing's face.
"Then we moved under a light over a side door, and I saw it was Negaduck. My sap almost froze in my veins, let me tell you. He was sneering at me, and I had no idea what he had in mind, except I doubted it was to invite me to a tea dance. 'Long time no see, Bushy.' he said.
'What...what do you want?' I asked him. 'I hear you've turned all goody-goody, like the weakling you are.' said Negaduck. 'You seem to forget that once you're in the Five, there's no quitting. You're in for life.' He smiled, and his smile was pure evil. 'You know too much, way too much. Do you really think I'd let you run to the cops or Darkwing Duck?' " Darkwing leaned forward, now Bushroot had his undivided attention.
"I waited for Negaduck to finish. 'Here's the deal. You're going to meet me and the boys at the Old Haunt tonight and rejoin the gang. And you're going to be there, Bushroot, because I'll chase you down, and I'll find you, and you don't want that. No, you don't want that at all.' His eyes were those of a rabid Doberman. I trembled, having no doubt he meant what he said. 'Eight o'clock tonight. I don't care how bad the storm we're getting is, you be there, or else.' And in a flash of yellow and black, he was gone." Bushroot sighed and sat back on the couch.
Darkwing consulted his watch. "Well, it's obviously well past eight, so it's clear he'll be looking for you. What made you think to come here? Why didn't you go back to your greenhouse?"
"Because I knew that's the first place he'd go." said the plant-duck. "I couldn't think of anyplace else to come but here. Then I couldn't find your house, so I was basically walking in circles for hours in this storm. I didn't know what else to do."
"Bushroot." said Darkwing patiently. "Didn't it occur to you that Negaduck might have followed you here?"
"In this weather?"
"Yes, in this weather. You said it yourself--it would take more than a snowstorm to stop Negaduck. You were really taking a chance by coming here...and taking it with all of us, not just you. You're putting Gosalyn at risk, for starters."
"Aw, give him a break DW." said Launchpad. "I don't blame him for being too scared to think straight."
"Oh...I don't blame him either." said Darkwing. "But there's always that chance that Negaduck knows you're here. He's a very smart guy, you know. What are you going to do now?"
"I thought I could hide out here." said Bushroot. Say yes, Dad, thought Gosalyn with her fingers crossed.
"That won't stop Negaduck looking for you. Aren't you worried about your plants?"
"No...they can look after themselves. And Spike is there. If anything happens, they'll alert me telepathically. I know it's asking a lot, Darkwing, but as I've said, I didn't know where else to turn. I knew the police wouldn't be any good..."
Darkwing snorted. "You would have been better off just going to the Old Haunt. OK, Bushroot, you can stay here, but sooner or later we're going to have to deal with Negaduck. He dosen't make idle threats." The crime fighter looked out the window. "We can't do anything tonight, not in this weather. Let's all get some sleep. Bushroot, you can have the guest bedroom."
"I always take a glass of warm milk before retiring." said the plant-duck.
Darkwing sighed. Obviously, this was going to be interesting.
To be continued...
Darkwing Duck and related characters are the property of Disney. This story was written for non-profit entertainment purposes only. (C) 2007 Eric Smith.
