And the Rest is History
50
Trouble
Knock Knock.
Drake woke from the heated haze of dreams to the sound of the door knocker shaking the room.
He bolted out of bed and raced to the door.
It was being held shut!
Drake grabbed the grapple gun and base jumped himself out the window. The front door was open and he sent a flying webkick at the vampire.
"Mr Dovesworth." Drake said, turning, breathless, "are you ok-argh!"
A bright sharp light!
It hit his eyes and came from outside. Drake cringed, shielding his eyes and fumbled desperately for the door handle. Drake shut the door from the light and turned. The vampire was behind Larkis.
"No, let go of him!"
The vampire, in his black and grey Darkwing costume, let go and raised his arms in surrender.
"Excuse me, but I have some demons to decimate."
Drake watched the vampire slip past Larkis and open the door. The light from outside was gone.
"Nice work, Trouble." The vampire said as he shut the door between them.
Drake turned. "Mr Dovesworth?"
He was in a stupor.
"Oh no..." Drake's heart clenched; he'd been too late.
Drake pulled Larkis into the kitchen. "I'm so sorry!" He madly made tea. If anything was going to help, a cup of tea would.
Morgana, in a dark blue dress, with her straight black hair flowing past her shoulders came in, "what happened?" She asked in a worry.
Drake put the cup down in front of Larkis and stepped away. "I... I reacted." Confronted, he drew back and hurried out of the room.
What had just happened? Why had he failed?
First there was the bright light. Where had that light come from? The drive. Drake pulled open the front door and stepped out.
His motorcycle was parked out there.
"How did you get outside?"
It had clearly been the headlight that had shone in his eyes. But that would mean the headlight was connected?
For a moment, he straightened his rumpled purple outfit. The last thing he remembered from yesterday had been Justin.
"I'm just tired."
Deeply frazzled, Drake kicked the foot up and walked the bike back into the garage.
"Okay, now you stay in here where it's safe. I don't want you hurt too."
He frowned tearfully and shut the garage door on his bike.
The vampire had used light to beat him. With his infra red vision, it didn't make any difference to a vampire.
Drake stepped back into the house and shut the door.
Now he noticed the smell of polish and varnish.
Where was Toby? He should've pinned that vampire down after that webkick.
Drake went looking.
Toby was asleep outside, up on the obstacle course wall.
Polish. Reaction.
Light. Reaction.
Door locked, window unlocked.
Front door open...
The vampire had left the front door open!
"Showing off; everything's a game to him!" Drake exclaimed angrily. "He could've shut that door, then I would've had to burst in sparing him an extra-." He stopped. "The door could've hit Mr Dovesworth."
"But why would that matter to him?"
At least Toby was alright.
Drake stepped into the kitchen from the side door. Morgana was still sitting beside Larkis.
"Morgana, is there any way to-."
She put her finger to her beak, looking up to him.
Drake went and sank into the study chair where he couldn't do any more damage. "Stuffed up again." He said sullenly to himself. "I'm supposed to be better than this."
Baby appeared from the rafters, wended his way to his favourite sunspot on the desk in front of Drake.
There was a presence at the door. Drake twisted the chair to see Larkis Dovesworth standing there.
"Thank you." Larkis took a seat on the ottoman.
Drake was quiet. "How're you feeling?"
"Like I've been in a deep sleep." Larkis answered basically. "The metafluxer is gone. He removed it. Goodness knows how he managed that, but it's gone."
Drake closed his eyes. "He bit you."
"No. I don't think so."
"He hasn't?!" Drake stood up and looked carefully at Larkis' neck.
In shock he sat back down on the desk chair. "He hasn't..."
This was what Justin had been trying to tell him. "He used his energy to help you heal. A kind of reverse vampirism."
"Ah, yes. So he did." Larkis mused quietly. "I note you didn't trust him to do that."
Drake flinched and turned away. "No, sir. I did not."
"May I ask why?"
"Small picture people, big picture people." Drake shook his head. "Either you're a director or you're a field agent. It's protocol 5."
"I admit..." Larkis paused, "S.H.U.S.H. protocols are worthy for adherence. But protocol 5 only applies over the director himself; given his role. People outside that scope are allowed to think in both. We are as flexible as we allow ourselves to be."
"You sound alright. I'm really glad. I majorly stuffed up on this one."
"You weren't to know."
"Ignorance is no excuse. I should never have sent you on an unverified lead."
"With all due respect, you are not my mother."
Drake was startled at the snap back.
"When I approached the house it gave many signals that it was a witch's dwelling. The odd character of it was the fairy feeders. Only an alternative lifestyle witch draws fairies to their doorstep. Nobody else. At this point I'd like to append a note that fairies are vicious little things when roused. As are gnomes, and those were advertised in the garden. Though I didn't see one, I would hazard to believe they were there given the fairies. Such a pairing is as good as a pair of junk yard dogs." He shifted position.
"From this very dominating notion I was invited in by a vampire. It was around ten in the morning. A standard clock on even the most healthiest of vampires sets them to be rather groggy and ill-disposed between the hours of six and four so it gave me quite pause to find him exceptionally bright-eyed. I then rather boldly asked if his father, Drake Mallard, might be in. At this point I knew I would be facing either vampire or witch. It turned out to be the former."
Drake frowned.
"I apologised for waking him, and began by asking him of his general opinion of the four vampire disciplines. His preferences on a general note..."
"He shut you down?"
"He corrected me, saying there were five." Larkis smiled. "He immediately realised what I had just made him do. At that point he started laughing."
"He could've been really upset."
"At which point the conversation would have ended."
"Yeah; one way or another."
Larkis shook his head. "It was an extremely trivial piece of information that told me much more of him than the number he corrected."
Drake shook his head. "I don't know enough. That information isn't in any case files."
"Oh, it's a rudimentary delineation between vampires." Larkis shrugged, "Fancy titles, the grunt of it is in Condoris' case files. Think it over for a moment."
Drake paused, shuffling his mind through his memories, "There are four disciplines."
Larkis nodded. "In every criminal case, the vampire suffered a skewing of personality into one of the four areas. The hot head, the lurker, the loner and the busy signal."
Drake nodded. "So what's the fifth discipline?"
"As your vampire duplicate contended 'heart'. He's heart discipline. One can't lie with such consistent vehemence. He was open to me; I felt very compelled to trust him."
Drake sat back in his chair.
"I didn't simply walk up and hand myself over to a vampire without so much as a 'by your leave'."
Drake stood up, gesturing, "Well, that makes one of us. And you're more important so that's good."
Larkis stood up. "I'm not more important, what happened to you?"
"I accidentally knocked him over when we were both after some criminals. He said 'Whenever you're ready to put your ego down.' I thought that was doable. I approached him based on how he acted with the criminals. Instead he attacked me... made me a revenant. There was no consideration of me; just the big picture. I'm glad you got a better deal."
"A thing I've noticed," Larkis looked at him, "Is that of either of you; it's 'you', who doesn't consider yourself. I believe, that if you stop and think the entire situation over, you'll find he's considered you so much you don't even recognise it."
Drake let Larkis out the front door.
"I need a holiday," he sighed and headed to the garage. "What did he do to my poor bike?" He looked around for the parts. All he found were tools. The special circuit boards were gone from the briefcase. Drake felt his hope plummet. "He took them. Wow, that's... harsh. I... guess I... deserved it...?" He shrugged back the unpleasant feeling and grabbed the screwdriver, "Alright," He resigned with a sigh, stepping over to the bike, "So how did he jury rig your light?"
He was three steps away and a shrill alarm went off from the bike. Drake jumped back, holding his hands to his earslits, dropping the screwdriver. It clattered to the ground and the noise stopped.
The garage was echoing. It didn't fade completely, eventually Drake realised he was hearing the noise of a computer, humming softly.
"He didn't... are you... are you alive?" He asked in trepidation.
"I am the Trouble, drive system not booted, in the garage. Species identified duck. Please state the nature of you."
"I'm Drake Mallard. My name's on your registration papers. I'd like to be friends with you."
Trouble hummed mechanically. "Insufficient response."
"You asked a very broad question." Drake shrugged, "Specify definition of 'nature' in this context?"
"New driver must pass synchronicity diagnostic test prior to drive system initialisation."
Drake blinked, "So just to double check; it isn't enough that I pay your registration and have a motorbike license to be able to drive you?"
"Correct."
"Well, Trouble. Can you please run a cross check verification on S.H.U.S.H. personnel files for Drake Mallard, code-name 'Darkwing Duck'."
Trouble hummed. "Insufficient response."
"What?!" Drake exclaimed. "Is there some kind of progress meter on this?"
"75% match."
Drake breathed, "Oh, that sneaky sneak, okay!" He stepped back and centered his mind.
"I am the terror that flaps in the night."
"I am the brake pads on the vehicle of crime!"
"I am Darkwing Duck!"
The motorcycle engine started up with an almighty ripping roar making Drake jump slightly.
"My bike!" He stared at it, rumbling to go.
"No-no, Trouble! W-we can't go anywhere right now."
"You're kidding me?" Trouble said in a gruff feminine voice in a sarcastic tone. Trouble's engine cut off.
The changed voice startled Drake. "Sorry, what did you just say?"
"You're kidding me." Trouble said in the flat feminine tone, "It's the top listed response for turning on the engine without moving anywhere. I do have a few other choice remarks available."
Drake swallowed. Apart from the accent, it could almost be Jane Waddlemire's voice. The same person who configured the voice modulator had also configured the self defense protocols.
He stepped away from Trouble. "We'll, go for a drive later, Trouble."
"You bet." The female voice replied. "Also, you mind clearing the space in front of that power socket before you go? There's WiFi, but no sun in here."
Drake move the rope box so Trouble could plug in. He stepped out of the garage, back along the corridor into the house.
Drake turned, looking at the gleaming armour beside him. "So that's how he beat me."
"Drake?" Morgana came out from the kitchen.
"That's how he beat me, Morgana," he gestured to the stand. "He took out my backup and brought in his own," Drake sighed. "Three sons, she said it. If I'd followed them all up I would've known. Remember, we saw all that computer equipment and I said how it was twenty years out of date?"
"Yes."
"That was because neither he or Justin cared for computers. But that didn't mean one of the other two sons didn't."
"Oh, that's right. Catlyn said her father was a scientist."
"And Morgana said he was working at S.H.U.S.H.." Drake shook his head. "How on earth can I call myself a detective?"
"Oh, Drake," Morgana gave him a commiserating kiss. "How can you expect to have a clear head? By biting you he made you personally involved."
Drake flinched, "That's true..." He looked away from her, to top it all off he felt grubby. "I feel like everything lately has been about me. The antijack. Doctor Bellum. Hooter. The only person minding his own business is Steelbeak. Quietly digging a hole to the centre of the earth."
"Goodness knows why, though." Morgana put her finger against her beak in puzzlement.
"F.O.W.L. is S.H.U.S.H.'s business." Drake shrugged, shook his head and started up the stairs with the idea for a shower. "Meanwhile, me, I need a holiday." He looked back down at her with a smile, "and a nice peaceful day with my beautiful wife sounds like the perfect way to spend it."