Darkwing Duck: Prince of Thieves

Act IX

Mike let out a frustrated sigh and held up his hand, signifying for the three thieves he was leading to stop. "There's a guard," he breathed. He hadn't expected Negaduck to know about the back entrance to the castle, since it was quite small and certainly not noticeable to those who didn't know about it. Even Darkwing hadn't known about it, and to Mike's knowledge, Darkwing had been in and out of the castle far more times than Negaduck. Harry peered down at the guard, who was still quite a few paces away.

"Only one," he said.

"One's all they need here. 'Only one' can still catch us." Mike wondered which of the Fearsome Five that was at the door. He didn't fit Darkwing's description of any of them.

Ray whispered, "So we sneak up on him."

Mike nodded. "But on my mark, got me?" He stared at the lone guard for a moment longer before it clicked. That wasn't one of the Fearsome Five at all. That was one of the palace guards! "No." He hissed inwardly. Betrayed! Betrayed by one of his own! How many more were there? How many of his friends were responsible for the downfall of the royal family? He fought down the urge to run down and strangle the guard. "Change of plans," he whispered.

"What?" said the other thief who was with them, a feline. "What are you talking about?"

"He's a palace guard. We're trained to listen for suspicious noises, he'll hear us coming. No point in giving ourselves away."

Ray scowled. "Oh, I forgot. The Royal Palace Guardsmen Association can do no wrong. Don't underestimate us, Mike!"

"I'm not! Trust me. I'm going to talk to him. I know him." He motioned for them to stay in place, and stepped as lightly as he could towards the entrance.

"Halt!" snapped the guard, his sword in readiness before Mike was even in his line of sight.

"Hey, I give up," called Mike. The guard looked confused. "It's me. Mike. I'm a Junior Guard." He crossed the distance between them, smiling, and held his hands above his head. "No tricks. I was out on a mission, remember? I'm just getting back and they won't let me in the front way."

"If- If you come any closer I'll be forced to arrest you," said the guard.

Mike stopped short. "You're not working for him voluntarily, are you?" he asked quietly. He received no answer. "Have you no honor at all? Come on. We both know what the right thing to do here is. We both know you're going to let me in."

Mike's only answer was a sword at his throat. "You're under arrest by the Royal Palace Guardsmen Association, under the charge of High Treason," said the guard coldly.

"I'm under-?!" This was the last straw. Mike drew his sword quickly, jumping backwards as he did. Even so, the guard's sword still caught his shoulder slightly, nicking him and drawing blood. Stunned, he took another step backwards, faltering for his balance. The guard didn't hesitate, but readied himself for another stab. He got no further than readying before a yellow blur hit his arm and knocked his sword out of his hand. Mike took the opportunity, and hit the guard, knocking him out.

"You have a sword," said Ray, suddenly at Mike's side. "Why didn't you use it?" He knelt to pick up the bolo he'd thrown to disarm the guard.

Mike shook his head. "I just didn't," he said. The truth was that he couldn't bring himself to draw blood from a superior, no matter what the circumstances. "Ray... Thank you. I guess I owe you."

Ray flushed. "We have more honor than you think, you know." He turned and started walking.

"Ray." When the thief looked back over his shoulder, Mike said, "The entrance is this way." They waited for the other two thieves to join them, and then crawled in through the small entrance.

A short while later, Mike crept down the hallway toward the dungeons. "Okay, what we're going to do-" he said, and then fell silent.

The feline thief looked puzzled. "What is-"

"Sh!" Mike shoved them all in line against a wall, and flattened himself against it as well. A moment later, Bushroot came up the nearby staircase, glanced around furtively, and then continued up the next flight of stairs. After a few seconds, Mike breathed a long sigh. "Okay. We're alright now. I wonder what's down there, though?"

"Dungeons, I reckon," said Harry.

Mike turned a glare on him. "Not any that we use. They're all old down there. In fact, I don't think anyone goes down there anymore." An impossible thought occured to him. He knew it was unreasonable, and in fact that he was setting himself up for disappointment, but the thought wouldn't go away. He turned to the others. "Okay. The keys are over there; get them and start unlocking cells. Everyone, it doesn't matter if they're guards or not. Tell them to wait for me to get back. Be quick about it."

"Yes sir," said the feline. Harry nodded solemnly. Ray looked confused, but Mike didn't wait to explain it to him. Instead he made his way down the staircase the way he'd seen Bushroot coming from, trying not to just rush into the situation.

"You know, this really isn't all that bad," said Gosalyn. She took a big swallow of some kind of gray liquid. "I think this is beef stew! Are you going to eat yours?" Elizabeth didn't answer. The conversation had been awfully one-sided for the past few hours, Gosalyn thought. "If you're not going to eat it, I'll have it!" Actually, the food wasn't that good, but it was worth a try to get Beth talking. She hadn't even commented when Bushroot had brought them dinners just now; she'd just sat and stared for the past few hours, and frankly it was creepy. Gosalyn was upset too, but that didn't mean she was going to act like a zombie. But, Elizabeth always did have a flair for the dramatic. "Okaaaay, you lost your chance!" she said, and took hold of the bowl of liquid that was sitting in front of the Princess.

"Who's there?" said a voice from the corridor. Gosalyn froze, trying to decide if she should answer. If it was anyone but Negaduck, that was a good thing.

"Hello?" she said tentatively.

"Gosalyn?" The voice got closer, and then was right across from their cell.

"Over here!"

"Gosalyn! It is you!" Mike's face appeared in the window of the cell door.

"Mike...?" said Elizabeth faintly. Gosalyn gaped. She finally said something!

"Beth! Is it you? They said you were dead! Beth, say something!"

Elizabeth stood up slowly. "Mike! Wh-what are you doing here?"

He laughed, an awkward laugh that sounded close to tears. "You have no idea how hard you are to rescue!" he said. Elizabeth stood at the door and looked into his face. "I went out to look for you, and while I was gone this happened, and then they said you were dead, and I had to team up with those fiends who kidnapped you the first time-"

Elizabeth looked confused. "You teamed up with the Fearsome Five?"

"No! No, not them. The other ones. I'm here with Darkwing. We-"

Elizabeth gasped. "Darkwing?"

Gosalyn echoed this. "He's alive? Is he with you?"

Mike nodded. "Yes, he's here. He's taking on Negaduck while I and the others free everyone else."

Gosalyn cheered. "WAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO! Told you so, Beth!"

"Shhh! Keep it down! This is supposed to be a secret mission!" Mike glared at her, and she apologized. Elizabeth murmured something. "I'm sorry? Could you repeat that, Beth?"

"Launchpad..." she said, only a touch louder than before. "Is Launchpad with you? Is he all right?"

Something inside Mike went cold when she said this, as he understood. For a moment, he considered lying. "Launchpad...?"

"Tall duck, handsome, red hair..?" She looked so desperate, so hopeful. His heart broke.

"Oh. Him. Yes, he's here. With Darkwing." He closed his eyes as she cried out in pure joy.

"He's alive! Gosalyn, he's alive!"

"Told you!"

"Untie me, okay?"

Mike took a deep breath, and composed himself. Despite this, his first duty was still to the Princess and her family. Even if she had chosen an outlaw over him. "Beth, I can't find the keys. Stand back and I'll-" He was cut off as the door splintered in front of him, and broke open. The Princess stepped out, regally, brushing stray pieces of wood off of her dress.

Gosalyn's tone was at once awe-struck and accusatory. "Do you mean you could have done that the whole time?"

Elizabeth thought about this. "Hm. I suppose so. Oh, well. Shall we go?"

Meanwhile, in the throne room...

Bushroot, Quackerjack, the Liquidator, and Megavolt were all standing huddled in a group on the far side of the room. "He's so arrogant and self-centred!" muttered Bushroot as the Four glared at Negaduck from across the room.

"Workers unite! Unfair pay!" said Liquidator.

"We deserve some glory, too!" Megavolt chimed in.

"Yeah!" said Quackerjack. "I got tired of sleeping in the barn back before we ended up here!"

"So what are we gonna do about it?" asked Megavolt.

"Well, we did a great job taking out Darkwing's men," said Bushroot. "If we caught Negaduck off-guard, I'm sure we could..." He trailed off as they watched Negaduck sitting on the throne, still with his feet propped up, twirling a handgun on his finger. "Nahhhh," they said simultaneously.

Just then, the guard who had been at the rear entrance came running into the throne room, straight up to Negaduck. "My lord...," he said, breathing heavily.

"Yeah, yeah, go on," said Negaduck, and continued to twirl his gun, rather ominously now.

The guard gulped. "Ah... Bad news, sir," he said. Negaduck caught the gun and glared up at him. "The-- The castle has been invaded... I was overtaken at the back by several intruders and knocked unconscious. By the time I woke up they were already inside and we believe they're staging a jail break-"

Negaduck sat up sharply, and as a result nearly fell out of his throne. "What?!" The safety came off the gun. "Who was it!?"

Before the guard had a chance to answer, an arrow swished through the room and cut the wicks off of the candles lighting the room. The whole place went dark. A light flashed brightly, and Darkwing's voice, heavily amplified, surrounded them. "I am the terror that flaps in the night... I am the shadowy figure that invades your nightmares! I... am Darkwing Duck!"

Negaduck lit a match. "Darkwing Duck," he said, his voice filled with venom. The flame jumped around, highlighting the hateful look on his face. "You never stay dead, do you?"

"Not if there's tyranny to be fought!" said Darkwing eloquently.

Without taking his eyes off of Darkwing, Negaduck addressed the guard who was in attendance. "Go stop the jailbreak," he growled. The match burnt itself out and the room went dark again.

Bushroot nervously stumbled his way through the darkened room to the candles. "Looks like a fight of some kind," he said to his teammates. After fumbling with the matchbook for a second or two, he got one lit, then relit all the candles in the corner. "But I'm not worried," he continued. "I mean, the way we handled Darkwing's guys before, we'll have no problem this--" He gasped as he turned around to find that Megavolt and Quackerjack had both been knocked out, and two of Darkwing's thieves were confidently facing himself and the Liquidator.

Meanwhile, Darkwing and Negaduck had their own battle to settle. "So, it comes down to this, Negaduck," said Darkwing, staring his double down. Unruffled, Negaduck stared back. Darkwing cleared his throat and started again. "You don't have your gang to protect you now!" he said, pointing a finger at the leader of the Fearsome Five.

Negaduck smirked at the finger in front of him. "You always were a trite little loser, weren't you?" he asked. "Just how many cliches can you use in one conversation?"

"Hey, hey, hey-- I am not trite! I've got more original phrases than you can shake a stick-- Uh, I mean, I may not... Uh...," Darkwing trailed off, temporarily at a loss for fresh dialogue.

"Yeah, yeah, well, anyway," said Negaduck, "I've let you babble long enough. I've waited for years to take you down, Deadmeat Duck... I guess dreams really do come true, don't they?" That said, he lunged at Darkwing's neck, arms extended. Darkwing dodged narrowly, and Negaduck caught only a part of his jacket sleeve. He didn't let this slow him down, however, and followed up with another swing.

Launchpad was more winded than he let on. Fortunately, he was pitted against Bushroot rather than the Liquidator, whose watery nature made him incredibly difficult to fight. Unfortunately, Bushroot avoided any hand-to-hand contact, choosing instead to let the plants that surrounded him protect him. Launchpad hadn't had any problems slashing his way through the plants at first, but it had started getting to him rather quickly. He wished he'd gotten more rest, but- the thought of why he was there spurred him on. Beth. Maybe this was even the one who had... done that to her. His resolved heightened. He took down a shrub that was charging at him, then grabbed Bushroot by the neck.

"Ack! Hey! Leggo! I didn't do anything to you!" cried Bushroot, a tremor in his voice.

Launchpad scowled. "It's not what you did to me- it's what you did to her." Bushroot gulped.

"Launchpad?" He caught his breath. It had to be his imagination. Praying that it wasn't, he turned around and saw her.

"Beth?"

She smiled at him, and even though he still couldn't quite believe it, he didn't care. He forgot Bushroot, and let him fall to the ground. The plant-duck picked himself up, grumbling. Launchpad didn't hear or see any of it. He walked towards Beth, and the walk quickly became a run. She ran from the double-door set, her arms outstretched, and when she reached him she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, Launchpad, Launchpad, I thought you were dead!" she said, her bill pressed against his neck.

His answer went into her hair. "That's what they told us about you." He nearly pinched himself to see if he was dreaming, and then decided that the hug was solid enough. He looked her over. Boy, she was beautiful. "Oh, Beth, I love you."

A wide range of emotions seemed to cross her face at once, ending with a smile, and she said, "I love you, Launchpad."

He kissed her. She kissed him back.

Mike watched them from the doors of the throne room. Gosalyn and the other freed prisoners stood behind and next to him. Gosalyn made a retching sound. "I really didn't need to see that!" she said.

"Me neither," muttered Mike. He wrenched his eyes from that sight, and looked across the room at the Fearsome Four. There were better things to focus on, things that would make the pain a little less. And one of those things had just defeated one of Darkwing's group members, while two others were apparently just regaining consciousness.

Mike looked behind him. He had thought that they'd managed to free more people than this! It had been extremely discouraging to find that nearly a third of the guards had turned and joined Negaduck, but surely there were supposed to be more of Darkwing's thieves here than this? Wait a minute... "Where's Ray?" he called.

Harry stuck his thumb over his shoulder. "Went that-a-way," he said. "Couldn't stop him."

'Couldn't stop him', huh? More like didn't try, Mike figured. "Did he have any members of your gang with him?"

Harry was silent, apparently thinking. Mike ground his teeth together in irritation- this was the worst time for this kind of thing to happen! Finally Harry nodded slowly. "Yep, an' they all followed him."

"Swell." So they were missing any number of allies just now. And knowing Ray's sense of direction, they might never see those allies again. Well, no matter. Darkwing was taking care of Negaduck, so there were only four people for them to take out. How hard could it be?

"So... You 'took care' of the Princess, huh?" said Megavolt as he got to his feet. He looked at Elizabeth and Launchpad and stuck out his tongue. "She looks pretty alive to me..." At his side, Quackerjack's reaction duplicated Gosalyn's almost to a tee.

"False advertising!" exclaimed the Liquidator.

Bushroot ignored the accusations, and instead stared at the couple for a moment. "It's enough to make me sick," he muttered.

"Bushy's jealous!" teased Quackerjack.

"Not now, Ding-dong!" said Megavolt, smacking Quackerjack. "We can make fun of Bushroot any time... We have to take out Dripwing Schmuck and his gang again right now!"

"That hurt," whined Quackerjack as the Four moved out towards Darkwing's soldiers.

"Prepare yourselves!" Mike cried. He lifted his sword and pointed it straight into the air. "ATTACK!!!"

With that command, the present members of Darkwing's band (minus Darkwing and Launchpad), along with the palace guards, rushed forward to battle the Fearsome Four. Mike stood for a moment and watched as the first wave of attackers was taken out by a well-delivered zap from Megavolt. "Next?" giggled the electricity fiend.

Mike winced. He'd forgotten about their powers. Stupid, stupid, stupid! At least everyone hadn't been caught in the blast that time. "Careful! Watch each others backs!" he called. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Launchpad, still in the arms of the Princess. He held his temper in, though just barely. "You know, Launchpad, we could use a hand here!"

"Oh... Sorry," said Launchpad, who had just barely heard him. He lingered with Elizabeth for a split-second longer, and then ran to Mike's side. "What happened to DW?"

"He's detained," said Mike, pointing at Negaduck and Darkwing, who were still battling on the other side of the room. "I'm in charge for right now."

"Technically, I'm supposed to be in charge in this situation," said Launchpad mildly.

"Well, you weren't around to take charge," snapped Mike.

Launchpad shrugged, evidently not noticing Mike's hostility. "You're right. Good job." He patted Mike on the shoulder, and ran forward to defend his teammates. Mike growled, and then followed.

"Wow, it's a showdown!" said Gosalyn excitedly. "Beth!" she said softly, making her way over to her starstruck friend. "Isn't this great?"

"Yeah," said Beth dreamily. "He is."

"Uh... Right, Beth," said Gosalyn as she rolled her eyes.

Negaduck stumbled backwards from Darkwing's punch, and glanced at the situation. Those nobs weren't going to be able to hold their own under these circumstances! Couldn't they do anything right?!? He grumbled. Those idiot guards were just standing at the back of the hall, watching! "GUARDS!" he yelled, dodging another hit from Darkwing. He grabbed Darkwing's extended arm and flipped him. "If the goody-goodies win, you get thrown in jail with the rest of us! Don't forget that! Now attack!" Almost reluctantly at first, his guards entered the battle in defense of the Fearsome Five. However reluctant their attitude, though, they were evidently perfectly at ease defeating their former teammates.

Mike was making headway in his attack on the Liquidator. He still was unable to touch the villain, but he was at least beginning to figure out a pattern to his attacks. With a bit of luck and a lot of skill, he could consistently evade the Liquidator's attacks until the latter tired out.

He was therefore more than a little frustrated when one of his former teammates attacked him, drawing his focus away from the super-powered thief. "Sorry, Mike," said the guard, although his actions contradicted the apology. "I'm just following orders."

"Oh, give me a break!" snarled Mike. The Liquidator waved goodbye to him and started an attack on several of Darkwing's thieves at once. Mike was kept on the defensive by Negaduck's guard. All around the rest of the courtroom, Negaduck's other guards were attacking what palace guards they could reach.

Within ten minutes, the Fearsome Five went from barely holding their own to being very close to victorious. A large percentage of the 'good guys' had joined their early counterparts in an electrocuted pile; bodies encircled in vines hung in random spots all over the throne room. Quite a few half-drowned guards and thieves littered the stone floor. And then, there was Quackerjack, who had actually managed to defeat more than three opponents single-handedly, and even knock out one of them. The other two were in a boredom-induced coma after being exposed to Quackerjack's state-of-the-art talking "Mr. Current Events" doll.

The palace guards had fared better, since they outnumbered Negaduck's guards; unfortunately, they were now taking the brunt of the Fearsome Five's attacks, along with a handful of Darkwing's thieves who either had more stamina then their teammates, or were just plain lucky.

And Darkwing and Negaduck were still removed from the rest of the fight, each trying their best to kill (or perhaps just debilitate) the other.

Elizabeth and Gosalyn were stunned. After hearing Darkwing's tales of how he and his team had beaten the Fearsome Five countless times, this was unexpected, to say the least. "I must be seeing this wrong! It looks like they're losing!" said Gosalyn.

"At least Launchpad's okay," said Elizabeth optimistically. Gosalyn looked at her friend. "Silver lining...?" the Princess said with a sheepish grin and a shrug.

Gosalyn turned back to the action. "Ooh, I bet that hurt," she commented.

"Yeah. Ouch, that'll leave a mark," said Elizabeth.v"Wish we had some popcorn."

Harry watched another palace guard fall, then looked at Quackerjack. The clown was laughing. No big surprise- he'd been laughing for at least fifteen minutes straight, since this fight had begun. Harry didn't much cotton to that kind of loss of control. It made him want to slug the clown right in the beak, but so far Quackerjack had flipped out of the way of every swing Harry or anyone else had tried. Harry had stepped back and watched for a while, which hadn't pleased the palace guard who had been fighting with him. It was when the guard had turned to yell at him that Quackerjack had flipped by and kicked him to the ground. Harry figured it was the guard's fault. Got careless. You could even say he let his guard down, if you liked puns. Harry didn't.

"Well, looks like it's down to you and me, cowboy," giggled Quackerjack. "Put 'em up!" He laughed again. Harry had no idea what was so funny. "Well? Ain't got nothin' to say, pardner? How about 'there's a snake in muh boots!' I know, I know! 'Somebody's poisoned the water hole!'" He lost it. "Y'get it? 'Cause you're-" Quackerjack's giggling tapered off as a hand came down on his shoulder. He turned, and came face to face with the reinforcements- three more thieves who were quite ready for a fight. Ted took his hand off of Quackerjack's shoulder, and drew a dagger from his belt.

"This is most non-heinous!" said Ted cheerfully. The two other thieves chuckled.

Harry stepped forward, and slowly cocked his head. "You gotta ask yourself one thing, Toyman," he said in a low voice. "Do you feel lucky?"

"Mommy!" said Quackerjack in a small voice.

Bushroot grumbled. "Stay still! You're just making this take longer!" he snapped.

Mike laughed curtly in response. "Maybe... if you had the courage to face us... one on one-" He continued evading Bushroot's vines narrowly, looking almost like he was participating in a very high-intensity dance. Near him, Nire was doing much the same thing.

"Hey, don't insult my intelligence! You can't goad me into giving up my only defense!" said Bushroot.

Rats. Mike knew the plant-duck was a coward, but he'd hoped that maybe Bushroot had enough pride to believe that he wasn't. Guess not.

"Well, you can't goad us into giving in, either, Twiggy!" said Nire. She was almost graceful as she ran from the plants. On her, it did look rather like a dance. An interpretive dance, perhaps. And then, she tripped.

"Look out!" Mike yelled belatedly. Several vines sped toward her as she sat on the floor, momentarily stunned. Mike rushed forward, knowing that an attempt to save her was futile. Bushroot would just get them both, but he had to try. It was his duty.

"YAGH!" Mike heard Bushroot yell, and risked a look. He had to do a double-take.

"Ray!!" Sure enough, the lost thief had found the fight, and just in the nick of time. Mike looked around the rest of the room and saw the effects of the cavalry's arrival- Quackerjack was surrounded, and Megavolt was already defeated.

"Call off the plants," Ray said, holding his sword at Bushroot's throat.

Bushroot nodded as emphatically as he could without getting himself decapitated. "They're off! They're off!"

Ray grinned. "Great! Now, you're under arrest, in the name of His Majesty's Royal Palace Guardsmen Association. Or something. I'm not very good at being official." He grinned, apparently on the verge of blushing.

Mike helped Nire up, and addressed Ray. "Thanks," he said. Within the past few hours, his opinion of this particular thief had gone way up.

"That's two you owe me, Junior," said Ray with a grin.

The Liquidator was trying to deal with Launchpad and Bo, and enjoying the upper hand until Bo caught sight of a mop in the corner. He tried to make a dash for it, but the Liquidator tripped him and cut him off at the pass. Launchpad made several attempts at knocking the Liquidator out, none of which worked. The Liquidator pushed him away, and he slid along the floor and crashed into the wall next to the mop. He stood up, shaking his head. "Well... Any crash you can walk away from... Hey," he said, noticing the mop. He picked it up and tossed it to Bo, who caught it in midair and jabbed it into the Liquidator's midsection.

"Curses! Foiled again!" said the Liquidator, and promptly imploded, his insides sucked into the mop. Bo twirled the mop by the handle proudly.