Remembrance

Chapter 8


Launchpad wiped away the sweet from his brow. Oil covered him head to toe. The Thunder Quack had needed serious repairs and upgrades. Now he was almost done. Grabbing a bottle of water he tired to relax a bit in the tower. He walked over to the window hoping to see some birds flying. He couldn't wait to get the Thunder Quack back in the air.

Launchpad gave a strong sigh as he looked out to the city. He could understand why this was DW favorite spot in the tower, the view was perfect.

A bird flew by and Launchpad was happy to see it. It flew over to the street portion of the bridge, and that's when he noticed them, a threat. Megavolt, Bushroot, and Quackerjack were coming to the bridge. "Wooh…I better get DW!"

Down below…

"Just why exactly are we here?" Quackerjack asked.

"This spot was important to me and Drake; I remember we used to come here." Megavolt went up to the long structure that, unknown to him was Darkwing Tower. He searched and searched for an entrance.

"OHhhhh! There used to be a door here, I know it"

"Are you sure Megs, you're memory is kind of fickle when it comes to detail." Bushroot tried to reason.

"No, I'm almost positive. There was a door here. Drake showed me on our first day of school."

"Maybe the city had it cemented up" Again Bushroot was trying to be reasonable one.

"If that's the case…."Megavolt thought. "Hey Quackerjack, got any of those dental teeth on you?"

"Never leave home without a dozen or so" QJ reached in to his custom inner pocket and pulled out sets of teeth. He then began to wine them up. "Here take them where you think that door is."

Up above…

The chairs spinned and out popped Darkwing Duck. "This better be good LP, I was sleeping for the first time in days"

"Ah…DW, the Fearsome Five are eating through the bridge" Launchpad pointed from the window.

Darkwing walked over and took a look. "They're not trying to eat through the bridge, they're trying to get to an old entrance."

"An entrance?"

"Yeah, an old service door. It's how I first found this place. I had to cement it up years ago because anyone could walk right in."

"How do they know about it?"

"I don't know, but the safety of Darkwing Tower now hangs in the balance." And with that, Darkwing leaped from the window and slid down one of the many cables.

Down below…

"Oh this is taking so long…" Megavolt was being impatient.

"Relax, I think I finally see wood." Quackerjack was bent on his task.

Just then a cloud of smoke appeared….

"I am the Terror That Flaps in the night…" Megavolt's eyes widened, it was him.

"I am the…." Just then Darkwing was met with a hug of his arch enemy. Megavolt had run directly into the cloud with open arms. Now it appeared he wouldn't let go.

"Oh its you, it's really you!" Megavolt said in a happy voice.

"Umm….something I miss? Let go of me!" Darkwing broke free and raised his gun. "Now, tell me what you were doing!"

"It's a long story. I need you're help."

"Me….help YOU. You're a criminal."

"You're the world finest detective, and I have a missing person to find."

"I don't want to hear it. You three are going to jail."

Bushroot come up. "Hay….we weren't braking any laws."

"Destruction of public property, and not to mention the romp you guys put me through last night."

"Oh…You weren't on vacation then?"

"No I wasn't, you three kept me up all night, crime after crime. No pattern what-so-ever."

"We were trying to get your attention."

"Well it worked...I…"Just then Darkwing noticed Megavolt starring at his gas gun. "Something the matter with my gun, Megs?

"Huh….Oh its just it looks really familiar."

"That because I use it every time on you clowns."

Quackerjack didn't like that remark. "Hey I resent that." Just then the sirens of the police echoed the distance.

Megavolt looked up at his enemy. "You really called the cops didn't you?"

"Of course I did."

Megavolt gave a look of defeat. Bushroot put a leafy hand on his shoulder. "I told you he wouldn't help us. He's only a hero when it's covenant for the news."

"Hey, now that's not a very nice thing to say, I 'm always a hero."

"Yeah, then Help Us!" Darkwing looked into the eyes of Bushroot. Something told him that this was genuine, but how could he trust his enemies. After all they were trying to break into his liar, whether they knew about it or not.

He started to lower his guy, but then 5 squad cars pulled up behind him. Bushroot, Megavolt, and Quackerjack all huddle together at the bridge's edge. Quackerjack just yelled, "You're no fun!" And with that he threw himself and his teammates off the edge.

Darkwing bolted for where they had fallen, only to see a giant rubber ducky in the water, with the three villains safely inside. The rubber ducky then started its motor and sped off, leaving a perplexed Darkwing. A police officer came up. "Uh…sir we need a statement."

Later that day…

Honker had come directly from school to Gosylan's house. She had the hockey game to go to, so he was on his own. And he didn't have a lot of time either; his parent's needed to take him to that appointment.

Honker knocked on the door and waited patiently. He hoped Mr. Mallard wasn't sleeping,

Inside, the chairs spinned and out popped Drake and Launchpad.

"Five hours, five hours! That's how long it takes to fill out all that police paper work. Do you know how many criminals committed crimes in that amount of time" Drake was angry and Launchpad was just nodding along, he knew best not to question DW in a time like this.

Drake heard the door the knock and headed over. "The last thing I need is Herb again, all I want is sleep." Drake opened the door to reveal, once again to his surprise, Honker.

"Hey Honk-man, Gos is at her game, but you know that."

"Yes, Mr. Mallard. I was just wondering if I can ask you a few questions before my appointment."

"What is this for a report or something?"

"Not exactly, but it is important."

"Ok then, come on in and I'll make some sandwiches."

Drake led Honker in and headed to the kitchen. "Hey LP, you wanna sandwich?"

Launchpad come in, "You betcha, but you should be getting some sleep DW."

"I know, Honker wants to ask me some stuff." Drake made the sandwiches quickly and neatly.

"Thank you Mr. Mallard." Honker enjoyed the little treat from his neighbor.

"So Honk-man. What's up?"

With most of their meal gone Honker headed to the Den. "I'm just curious Mr. Mallard…Umm…may I enter your Den?"

"Since you asked so nicely Honker." Drake opened the door. He was a little taken aback though, why did Honker want in his Den.

Honker walked up to the desk and pointed at one of the pictures. "May I ask who that is?"

Drake's face went white, why was Honker asking this. "That…..is an old friend."

Honker could see the pain in Mr. Mallard eyes, what had happened? He thought. He decided this was best left unsaid. "I'm sorry Mr. Mallard. I'll leave."

"No wait Honker, why did you want to know who that is?"

"It's just I thought he might be Elmo Sputterspark."

"There's a name I haven't heard in forever, well it is him to answer your question." Drake was still in pain but now it more concern.

The small boy and crime fighter pulled up two chairs. Honker spoke up. "You don't have to answer anymore of my questions; I can see it upsets you."

"It's ok Honker; I made peace with everything a long time ago. Trust me it still hurts, but I'm a thousand times better then where I was."

"What happened?"

"Let's start with the questions you came here to ask me."

"Ok….Um... So that is Elmo Sputterspark, the Chess Champion?"

"Yep, you betcha. He loved to played chess. I was the only one who ever stalemated him!"

"You stalemated 'the' Sputterspark."

"Trust me it took years of monitoring his strategies and knowing his every move. I'd play dumb on countless games, so he would get over confident. Then finally I struck and left him speechless."

"Wow!...So you knew him well then?"

"We were about as close as you and Gos"

"Well I was wondering if I might be able to meet him. I wanted to get some chess pointers"

Drake gave a sigh, so that's why Honker wanted to know about Elmo. The small boy saw an idol, some one he could relate to, and wanted to learn more about him. "I'm sorry Honker, Elmo's gone."

"Gone…did he…die?"

"Don't know actually. He disappeared in High School, I've never seen him since."

"What happened?"

"It was prom. I had waited to last minuet trying to find a date, thinking the girls would flock to me. I was wrong and left alone. I didn't want to go stag by myself, so I convinced Elmo to go. We rented our tuxes, said goodbye and decided to meet at the dance. That was the last I saw of him. I waited and waited at the entrance, looking like the biggest buffoon ever. Hours went by, and still no Elmo. I thought something might have happened to him, and was about to leave but all of sudden, Megavolt showed up, for the first time ever. I wanted to fight him, but everyone would laugh at me, everyone always did. I was backstage; when I noticed a cape and hat similar to a super hero I met as a boy. I put them on and fought. Megavolt was defeated and ran off. Darkwing Duck was born. But Elmo was missing."

"Did you look for him?"

"Everywhere I could think of. We had a list of places we wanted to visit when school was over. Places around the world. After I graduated a few months later, I searched them all."

"You traveled the world looking for him?"

"Yeah…Japan, England, Australia, you name it."

"And you never found him."

"Three years of searching, and my heart was broken. And old friend, J. Gander Hooter found me in Germany and brought me home. Told me to accept it and get on with my life, to go to college. That Elmo was nothing more than a ghost now."

"I'm sorry Mr. Mallard."

"Its ok kiddo, it's healthy to talk about it."

"So you gave up?"

"Once every two months or so I call in the hospitals to see if anyone fitting his description showed up, but only St. Canards. And that's done mostly out of habit at this point."

"I can't imagine what I would do if Gos went missing."

"You'd blame yourself for the rest of you life."

"It wasn't your fault Mr. Mallard."

"I keep telling myself that, but it doesn't change the fact that Elmo's gone. And I have to blame someone for that."

"You hide it very well."

"To tell you the truth, this past year, I haven't thought about it. I have Gosylan to thank for that. Instead of feeling sorry for myself about something that happened 9 years ago, I more worried about weather or not she sets the house on fire." Drake laughed.

"Well it's late Mr. Mallard, and I have my appointment, thank you for talking to me."

"Anytime Honk-man. And if you want, I just so happened to remember a few moves of Elmo's on the board."

"Really, you'd show me."

"I think Elmo wouldn't have it any other way."

Drake showed Honker the door and said goodbye. He really was a good kid, Drake thought. He turned around and noticed Launchpad asleep on the couch, "Well if the couch is taken, I might I actually have to sleep in a bed. I have a couple of hours before the games over."

Drake headed to the stairs but was stopped by the telephone ring. He debated leaving it, but it might be Gosylan. He walked over and picked it…"Hello, Mallard residence"

"Is this Drake Mallard?" And evil voice that Drake knew all to well, most because it was his own.

"N…N…Negaduck?"

"You really thought you beat me once and for all, didn't you Dipwing!"

"How did you get this number? How do you know my name?"

"That because their mine In the Negaverse you KNOB!"

Drake gulped, this wasn't very good at all.

Negaduck continued, "Now I want to lay a little couple of ground rules on the floor, meet me at Hamburger Hippo, the one by your house. And this is an invitation for Drake, not Dipwing, get it! No masks!"

And with that the Negaduck hung up the phone. Drake was speechless, his evil doppelganger knew who he was, where he lived, everything. This wasn't going to end well, Drake knew it.


Author's note: 2 chapters! Hurray! Happy Valentines Day everyone. Hoped you enjoyed this long update. Much more to come, and thanks for the reviews.