Epilogue
Just as she saw a light flashing over her when she lost consciousness, Heather saw another when she regained it. Only this one did not come from a helicopter; it was from a doctor's flashlight, shining over both of her eyes. Her eyesight became focused, and she noted the identity of the doctor examining her – he was a short, middle-aged Asian male with a receding hairline and thick glasses. There was a nametag pinned on the left side of his lab coat that read "Dr. Ho Sung."
"Heather, can you hear me?" Dr. Sung inquired. "Are you alright?"
Heather was a bit dazed and confused. "Where am I?"
"Metropolis Hospital." She heard another voice tell her, and she directed her eyes to the left, finding its speaker. It was Ciciley, accompanied by Scrooge McDuck. "You've been out for nearly five whole days."
"How are ya feelin', lass?" Scrooge asked.
Heather brought her hand over her head, glancing over the room again. She was lying in a hospital bed with a gown on and machines connected to her, detecting her vital signs. Her eyes were then directed to the bed across from hers, where a familiar woman rested. Turning to Dr. Sung, she requested, "Can you elevate me please?"
Dr. Sung acknowledged her request and used a remote control device to bring up the top portion of Heather's bed. As it went up, she kept her eyes focused on the other bed, the face of the woman lying in it becoming clearer to her. At last, she saw it completely – it was her mother, Alicia Kelley. She was sleeping at the time she regained consciousness, but was not certain if she was awake when the doctors brought her in.
"How is she?" Heather asked.
"Well, thanks to some quick-thinking from your cousin and friends, we performed a blood transfusion, sometime after we got you patched up." Dr. Sung revealed – much to the surprise of Heather. "It turned out that all we needed was the blood of the next of kin to bring your mother back to full stability."
Heather glanced between the doctor and her mother, her face registering a mixture of excitement and gladness. "You mean…?"
"Your mother is going to be just fine." Dr. Sung said with a smile. "But I'd still keep an eye on her, just for safe measure."
Tears streamed down Heather's eyes, and she tried her best to keep from bursting into them long enough to keep her promise to the doctor. "You bet I will, Doctor. Thank you." Dr. Sung nodded in gratitude before turning away from Heather and walking out of the room, leaving Ciciley and Scrooge alone with her. "This whole time, I thought it was me that was killing her."
"But it was you that saved her." Scrooge stated.
"We only made sure to give her a small portion of your blood, so she won't be flying around the skies of Metropolis with you anytime soon." Ciciley jested, which made Heather chuckle a little.
"I'm surprised you were able to do it before I got all healed up," she said while touching the spot where Navarro stabbed her and feeling no pain at all. It reminded her of the recent excursion she and her friends had and brought her to ask Ciciley and Scrooge, "How is everyone doin'?"
Scrooge smiled. "Everyone's fine, lass. Mr. Incredible and his family realized that they're a lot stronger together than they imagined, so they're movin' closer to the city to keep an eye on criminal activity. And the Rescue Rangers are still patrollin' the streets as usual."
"What about Luthor and Glomgold?" Heather asked.
"The moment they were brought in for questioning, those two sang like hummingbirds, giving us the names of all the people who had association with them during their 'top secret' experiment." Ciciley informed. "One of the names on the list was Alexis Embers, a reporter from The Daily Planet."
Heather pondered on the name, recognizing it immediately. "She's the reason why I went to Hamilton in the first place."
"Well, you don't have to worry about her, because she was brought in for questioning yesterday." Ciciley stated. "Apparently she was an informant for Navarro and her partner, Gonzalez, working undercover as a reporter to get you closer to Luthor and Glomgold. She also gave a name that they gave as well – Buddy Pine."
Heather shook her head in response to the name. "Don't know any person by that name."
"We're looking into it." Ciciley told her.
"We?" Heather remarked, surprise showing upon her face.
"Oh, didn't I tell ya – I'm off suspension. I even got promoted to 'sergeant' for my awesome work on the case…with a little help from Elisa Maza, of course."
A huge smile came to Heather's face. "Congratulations, cousin! I bet you'll be really cleanin' up the streets of Gotham now."
"Yeah, which reminds me, I've gotta go meet up with my new 'special unit'. I check with ya later, cuz."
Just as Ciciley was on her way out of the room, Heather urgently asked her, "Cici! What about Sean?"
Ciciley stopped at the door with her back faced to Heather. She did not once glance her way when she said to her, "We'll find him…I promise." After making her assurance, Ciciley walked out of the hospital room.
Watching her go, Heather turned to Scrooge in confusion. "Well, did you guys find him at Hamilton or not?"
Scrooge did his best not to seem too hopeless while addressing her on the matter. "He wasn't there when we left, lass. And even if he were, the research center is no longer standing, after it imploded just a day after we left there."
"Then where is he? Where's my brother, Mr. McDuck?"
The old duck simply sighed and said, "Trust your cousin, Heather. She'll find him. I know she will."
On the rooftop of The Daily Planet, there was a gathering of heroes. Amongst them were Superman, Batman, Gizmoduck, Darkwing Duck, Goliath, and Launchpad McQuack. They stood there for nearly an hour, conversing with one another and getting to know each other's backgrounds. Out of them all, they found Goliath's to be the most intriguing, being more so than Superman's. For the tallest one on their special team, it was no doubt the gargoyle would prove to be a great commodity to them.
Finally, Ciciley arrived on the rooftop, delighted in seeing the six heroes still there and waiting for her. She did not want to look at herself as being the leader of this team that they unknowingly created out of their recent adventure, but it was her idea to bring them together as one, since half of them came from Metropolis and the other half stemming from Gotham City. Launchpad appeared to be the only exception, having served both Darkwing Duck and Scrooge McDuck in the two cities. Hopefully, after that very night, his work will be limited to only one duck.
"Thanks for taking the time to meet up like this, guys." Ciciley said.
"No prob, Cici." Launchpad answered. "How's Heather holdin' up?"
"She's finally awake and talking again. I'm guessing she'll be walking again very soon." Ciciley told Launchpad. "And when she does, we're gonna bring her into the team. We'll need all the help we can get to finding both Sean and whatever associates Luthor and Glomgold have doing their dirty work. You guys come up with any possible leads?"
"Batman and I have got the League keeping track of any areas outside Gotham and Metropolis from the Watchtower, just in case there are operations elsewhere." Superman indicated.
Gizmoduck wheeled himself forward and informed, "I've recently uncovered a police report on the Beagle Boys breaking into Mr. McDuck's money bin. I know it sounds like an everyday thing – especially when it's the Beagle Boys we're talking about here – but the report mentioned something about a 'Beagle Girl,' which is a new one."
"Then that's where we'll start." Ciciley declared. "Even if it's the smallest crime, we can't let whatever leads we find get away from us."
"Let us make haste immediately." Goliath suggested. "The more time we waste, the more of it we give our adversaries to make another fatal move."
On Goliath's words, the heroes quickly departed from the Daily Planet rooftop. Superman flew into the night sky, Gizmoduck activated his "helicopter mode" and took off as well, and both Goliath and Batman jumped over the edge of the rooftop, gliding in between the Metropolis skyscrapers. The only ones who remained on the rooftop were Ciciley, Darkwing, and Launchpad. Looking to them, Ciciley uttered in confusion, "What's the matter? Was the Thunderquack too big to park on the roof?"
"Actually, the Thunderquack is still being repaired." Launchpad remarked. "We, uh…came here in a taxi…and the meter's still runnin', D.W." Darkwing muttered to himself in anger, moving toward the exit with Launchpad following as he checked his wallet. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to carry any hundred dollar bills with you, would ya?" On that question, Darkwing's muttering grew even louder and angrier.
Observing the exchange between the two, Ciciley shook her head and grinned. "What the hell have I gotten myself into now…"