Chapter 3
Gosalyn paced around in the kitchen area. He's going to be all right, she told herself. Hadn't he said that she should believe in him?
So, why did she have such a bad feeling about this whole thing? Because it had "trap" written all over it, duh! But, Darkwing seemed to know what he was doing. He'd gotten her away from Bulba's henchmen, right?
And he'd actually sat down and played video games with her. Nobody had done that since the old days, when Grampa would sit down and play Super Bario Mothers with her. Oh, there were the kids at the orphanage, but they had only played long enough to realize that she was better. Then it was "Oh, no, I'm already playing with someone else," or "Sorry, I have other things to do." But Darkwing was the first one since Grandpa to really play the games.
Darkwing reminded her of her grandfather, in a way. Oh, they actually had very little in common. Grampa had been a nerd who would talk for hours about his inventions, and how they would change the world. He had been a very good speaker, and would lecture college students as a side job while Gosalyn had played around with the students outside the lecture hall. But, Grampa understood her in a way that few of the other adults she'd met did. Darkwing was the same way, for all his big ego and a lack of ability to listen to anyone but himself. He'd actually called her spirit a good thing, something nobody but Grandpa had done.
Gosalyn slumped up the stairs to the room with the big computer in it and looked out the window. Darkwing might not even have gone if she hadn't blown off her stupid mouth about the whole thing being a trap. Darkwing was only the latest in a chain of people she'd driven away because of her big mouth. It was always like that. Somebody looking for a kid to adopt would come in, then walk away to choose another kid the minute they realized that she was not going to stay quiet.
Why should Darkwing be any different from the others?
"Oh Grampa," she said, looking at a passing cloud. "I'm sorry, I did it again...I actually liked him, too. So much for spirit."
It was hard to imagine Grampa floating around on the cloud like in those cards and TV shows. He'd never been the one to sit down all day, not when there were places to see, people to meet, and inventions to make things easier for everybody. Gosalyn imagined her grandfather's afterlife being more labs and mechanics and stuff.
Thinking about mechanics led her thoughts to the Ramrod. Gosalyn distinctly remembered the day that the picture those three bad guys had had been taken. A reporter had been in, taking a picture for the latest issue of Science Weekly, and she had become bored of all the talking and had leapt onto Grampa just before the picture had been taken. Grampa had thought it so funny that he'd asked the reporter to send them a copy, but mere days before the magazine came out...
Grampa had said that the Ramrod would make everyone's lives easier by making things easier to move, but he'd never said anything about an arming code. That was why that Bulba guy wanted her so badly, right? From everything Darkwing had told her about the guy, he was the last person she wanted near that thing.
What happened now? More waiting, of course. She reminded herself that it was only until Darkwing came back, or didn't. And while she waited, she could always watch some TV. Maybe Darkwing even had cable!
But when she tried the big TV on the computer, all she got were boring news reports. Someone's cat got stuck up a tree. Whoopdedoo. Some guy had somehow parked his car in the middle of a supermarket without anyone noticing. Bleh, boring.
And then the breaking news logo came on...
"We have breaking news. Our camera crew has just recorded live footage of the questionable vigilante Darkwing Duck meeting escaped convict Taurus Bulba. Evidence that the two are now allies..."
"What?!" Gosalyn could scarcely believe her ears. Sure, Darkwing was a raving egomaniac, but there was no way he'd be working for that Bulba guy. Especially since he was protecting her from him.
The next shot was of a blurry, shaky shot of a big guy who was most likely Bulba. It was hard to make out, but it looked like he was holding Darkwing by the neck.
"...In this footage recorded by our brave cameramen, we can see the two embracing like old friends."
The footage cut to a minute later, Bulba carrying what looked like an unconscious Darkwing to a platform attached to his airship, and being pulled up into it.
"...And now we see the two of them boarding Bulba's airship together, evidence that they are working together. After yesterday's events in which Darkwing kidnapped the granddaughter of the late inventor Gadwall Waddlemeyer, police have speculated that the two were allies, and this event confirms it. We have the chief of police about to make an official statement about these new developments..."
The reporter got no further, as Gosalyn smacked the power button so hard her palm hurt. She knew that whatever the police had to say wasn't anything good.
But if she went to the police, then she could convince them Darkwing was innocent. After all, Darkwing had supposedly "kidnapped" her, so if she proved him innocent there, she could prove that he hadn't stolen the Ramrod. She had to be careful, of course; that Hammerhead guy and his friends were trying to find her. Well, she'd beaten them up before, and she could do it again. Besides, she couldn't just sit around and do nothing. But, just in case the goon squad found her it would be nice to have some cool weapons to stop them...
It took a while, but Gosalyn was able to find Darkwing's weapon room. Chemistry sets and cannisters lay all over the table and crammed in the cabinets, and there was a whole rack of what looked like some kind of gun, along with other strange doodads and whatchamacallums.
"Keen gear!"
Gosalyn looked at all the thingies with an expression that Darkwing would have called a "Kid in a candy shop" kind of look. But, what did they do? She picked up one of the guns, aimed it at the open window, and squeezed the trigger. A cannister shot out of it, releasing gas of some sort as it crashed into a bird before falling into the bay below. The bird burst into tears, meaning presumably it'd been filled with tear gas.
Gosalyn was suddenly very glad she'd aimed for the window.
"Oops."
Okay, so testing out the guns probably wasn't a good idea. She looked down at the gun in her hand. That would certainly do for starters.
A half-hour later, Gosalyn sneaked out of the tower's lower entrance and onto the bridge. She'd "borrowed" a trenchcoat and one of those very wide hats he Darkwing wore for a disguise, not that it was working very well. She was getting odd looks from passersby as she darted from one hiding place to the next in an effort to avoid being seen. But it let her get to the police station without being seen by one of Bulba's mooks.
Once she got to the police station, Gosalyn slipped in intending to talk to the nearest policeman, but then a certain name caught her attention.
"Darkwing Duck's innocent, I tell you."
What was this? Wait a second, wasn't that the guy from the previous day? And indeed it was, the big redheaded guy with the pilot helmet from the day before was arguing with the cop at the desk.
"He didn't kidnap that kid. He was saving her from those guys who were after her!"
"If he's so innocent, why'd he rob the train?" The cop asked suspiciously.
"'Cause he didn't rob the train. Look, I have no idea what happened, but D.W. wasn't one of the guys on the train."
"Yeah yeah, why's he with Bulba then?"
"What?"
"Haven't you been watching the news?" The cop asked. "They have footage of him walking off with Bulba."
"He did not!" Gosalyn intervened. "I know he didn't, because..."
"Kid, you need to be quiet and let the adults do their job."
"Listen here, you..."
The big guy grabbed her before she could do anything.
"Hey, I think you need to cool down, kid. Tell you what, I'll take you out for ice cream, and you can tell me what happened. Okay?"
Gosalyn thought about it for a moment before concluding that the big guy was most likely the closest thing she had to someone she could trust at that moment.
"Okay. Let's go..." She couldn't resist a subtle dig at the cop. "Wouldn't want to stop mister policeman from not doing his work!"
"So, um," the big guy said as they exited the police station. "Might as well introduce myself. I'm Launchpad McQuack."
"Gosalyn Waddlemeyer."
"Huh, that name sounds familiar..."
"It should, I'm the kid that Darkwing didn't kidnap!"
He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment before snapping his fingers.
"Wait, aren't you the girl from yesterday?"
"Duh. And you're the guy who seemed to know him."
"Well, I'm his biggest fan."
"He has a fan...? Never mind. Look, like I told you, Darkwing's been captured by Taurus Bulba, and we need to save him!"
"What?" Launchpad's eyes bulged out in shock. "He's been captured? I can't believe it!"
"Yeah, neither do the police. They think Darkwing's working with Bulba."
"That's crazy, he'd never do anything like that."
Gosalyn scowled down at the sidewalk below them. "They don't know that. And they aren't gonna listen to either of us."
"Aw cheer up, Gosalyn." Launchpad put an arm around her shoulder. "Hey, why don't we go over to my hangar? I've got this friend from Duckburg and I can call him from there. He'll take that Bulba guy down like a ton of bricks."
Hangar? This guy can fly a plane? She thought, as the beginning of a plan germinated in her mind.
"This is it," Launchpad announced a while later.
Gosalyn looked at the nearest ramshackle hangar, heaps of rusted plane parts, and the weed-filled runway, and mentally pronounced herself underwhelmed.
"I'll just look up my friend's number and he'll be down here lickety-toot," Launchpad continued.
"Before you do that," Gosalyn quickly intervened. "Could I see all the cool planes you've got?"
"Well, most of them aren't much to look at, but I've got one that I've been working on..."
"Great! Let's go!" Before the big guy could object, she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him in the direction of the hangar.
"W-wait, Gosalyn!"
"Why should I? We need to r...I mean, I need to see that plane!"
"It's not in there, it's over in the next hangar!"
"Why didn't you say so?" Gosalyn demanded irritably.
The hangar was in slightly better condition than the first one. At least the repairs on the roof were done with more than just a plank or two. Once inside, Launchpad walked over to an enormous tarp-covered form.
"I've been working on this baby since I came here a year ago. I was hoping D.W.'d see it and let me be his sidekick. I call it the Thunderquack."
He whipped off the tarp revealing a sleek red and purple jet, which was shaped like a duck's head.
"Wow, major-league impressive." Were those missile launchers under the wings? This guy was hardcore!
"Yeah. C'mon, let's get back to the first hangar. I'll call my friend from there."
"Why can't we rescue Darkwing now? We can use the Thunderquack."
Launchpad paused, the desire to rescue his idol warring with his common sense. Not that he had much of that.
"I dunno Gos, that sounds a bit dangerous..."
"You have missile launchers on this thing. How dangerous can you get?"
"Uh..."
"C'mon, Darkwing's in trouble. We can't just sit here and wait for your friend. Besides, if we rescue him, he'll make you his sidekick."
"Really?"
Gosalyn felt the urge to burst out laughing at his puppy-like eagerness. "Really."
"Yahoo!"Launchpad punched up at the air in his enthusiasm. "Let's go!"
