Summary: An earthquake has unexpectedly struck St. Canard, creating a small amount of chaos for everyone. But, Aas everyone tries to begin the preparations to recover, it is realized that the earthquake may have been no accident...
Rating: K+
Author's Note: Sorry this chpt is a little later than usual. It was a really busy last week for me, trying to apply for a term of college, my mom harvesting our garden and canning it all, and me getting a laptop (which I'm posting from right now). But, hopefully it'll be worth the wait. Some fun facts are included at the end of this chpt.
26.
Earthquake
Drake Mallard entered the hospital though it's visitor's entrance, feeling confident with himself. Wearing a big grin, he worked his way across the room and to the receptionist's desk.
"How can I help you?" she asked as Drake approached.
"I'm Drake Mallard." Drake replied. "I'm here to see Christine Merriweather. She works here. Is she in?"
"She is, Mr. Mallard." the receptionist said, pulling up the necessary information on her computer. "In fact, she gets off for her lunch break in fifteen or so minutes."
"Perfect." Drake said. "Can you drop her a message, saying that I'm here?"
"Mm-hmm." the receptionist said. "Also why you're here?"
"No." Drake said. "It's a surprise."
"One moment, Mr. Mallard." the receptionist said. "If you'll please have a seat, I'll call for her straight away."
"Thank you." Drake said, and went and sat down in one of the many chairs that lined the room. Drake was reminded of the waiting room for any private practice a doctor would have. Christine didn't have such a thing, but hoped to one day. For now, however, she was content to continuing working as a doctor here at the hospital.
"Mr. Mallard, she says she's busy at the moment, but will call me back when she is available." the receptionist announced. "In the meantime, she asks that you wait here, if it's not too much trouble."
"No trouble at all." Drake said. "I can wait." he glanced down at the tickets he held in his hand. They were for the latest play that had begun showing at the Duckburg theater. Christine had been dying to go see it, but had been unable to get tickets. So Drake, as Darkwing Duck, pulled a few strings with his contacts with SHUSH to get tickets for two. Hooter was more than happy to agree, seeing that SHUSH owed Darkwing a lot as of late for all that he had done for them. Drake grinned at the thought of Christine's expression when she saw these ticket. "Oh yeah." he said to himself. "I can wait."
"Honk, are you sure you can't put that away for just a few minutes?" Gosalyn pleaded into her cell phone. "I mean, with Dad having most of his day planned and Launchpad visiting friends in Duckburg, I'm left with very little to do."
"Gos, you'll live." came Honker's reply. "Besides, I've been meaning to do this all month and haven't had a chance until now."
"Honk, we'll live if the Internet connectivity at the tower is at ninety-nine percent instead of a full one hundred." Gosalyn muttered, sitting down on the couch in the living room and switching on the TV. "You can't expect it to be perfect anyway."
"Gos, that one percent lowers our Internet speed at the hideout by a whole millionth of a second." Honker replied indignantly from where he was at Darkwing Tower.
"Is that all." Gosalyn muttered flatly, surfing through the channels.
"That one millionth of a second could be vital when we're trying to find something or connect to something on the web." Honker continued. Gosalyn could hear him typing away on a keyboard in the background.
"Yeah, or something." Gosalyn said.
"Look, I'll come and visit when I've got this done, promise." Honker said. "Seeing it's Saturday, though, I'm surprised you're so bored."
"It's a Saturday in the middle of February, Honk." Gosalyn said. "The snow is starting to melt. It's that point of time in the seasons where it's neither spring or winter. As such, I can't do anything winter-related nor anything spring-related. That leaves me with nothing." she tuned off the TV. "There's nothing on to watch, either."
"You could do your homework." Honker suggested.
"I'm bored enough as is, Honker." Gosalyn said. "I don't want to become suicidally bored."
"How wonderfully responsible of you, Gosalyn." Honker murmured over the phone.
"Besides, it's all that math stuff." Gosalyn went on. "You know how quickly I can do that stuff."
"Yeah, I don't get it, either." Honker said. "You use nonsensical formulas to get answers that by all accounts shouldn't work, yet somehow do."
"You're just overanalyzing it Honker." Gosalyn said. "You're way beyond my level of math anyway."
"No, I'm serious, Gos, we really should show your formulas to an expert or something one of these days." Honker insisted. "You may have invented an entirely new form of algebra or something, that could revolutionize the world of mathematics!"
"Boring." Gosalyn said. "I'd much rather revolutionize the world of contact sports."
"Yes, you would, wouldn't you." Honker said.
"So are you done yet?" Gosalyn repeated.
"Give me an hour or so, Gos, then ask if I'm done."
"An hour? What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"
"Like I said, Gos, you'll live."
It was oddly quiet in the St. Canard Supervillain prison. Too quiet in Rowe's opinion. Usually, there was something happening somewhere in this dull place. He had learned that after a week or so of staying here. Of course, under normal circumstances, Rowe wouldn't have been in here that long. In the past, Negaduck had always broken him out of here by now. But no.
He hadn't been keeping track of how long he had been in here, just that had been too long. It had to be well over a month now. But he felt he had been in here long enough, and was ready to leave now. He wasn't sure how his fellow villains like Megavolt had managed to spend seven whole years locked up in this place. How did they keep for going mad?
It hadn't been too bad when Negaduck's care packages got through to him. At those times, he not only got a salmon to eat, but someone to talk to as well. Now he had none of that. Negaduck and the rest of the gang hadn't done anything to break him out since then, either. Rowe had a hunch Negaduck had ordered the Fearsome Five to leave him alone, for punishment for getting sent to jail.
Well, if so, then Rowe had learned his lesson.
Hanging his head with a sigh, Rowe stared down at his footpaws, bored senseless. He wished something would happen.
Then suddenly, he heard a low off rumble, somewhere distant. Rowe looked up. What the heck was that?
As luck would have it, Busroot wasn't too far from where Rowe was, but the mutant plant-duck wasn't even thinking of the otter at the moment. Instead, he was thinking of the plants. Spring was well on it's way, and it was hard for some plants to start growing. Bushroot learned this quickly after becoming a mutant plant-duck. So he had started a habit sometime ago of going around and aiding the plants in their growth.
This was what he was doing now, helping the grass lawns that lined the street that just so happened to contain the police station grow just enough that it had enough of a head start for spring. But while he was doing this, Bushroot was also holding a very interesting telepathic conversation with said plants.
It seemed that they sensed something was going to happen soon. In fact, they all did, but none of them knew when or why, or what. Just that it was going to happen. They also didn't know if it was going to be good or bad when whatever it was happened.
But, as Bushroot listened intently, he knew that whenever this kind of thing happened, it usually meant to prepare for the worst...
Drake was still waiting in the hospital, but his high spirits weren't letting him get annoyed just yet. Still grinning, he looked around quite animatedly at his surroundings, watching various people enter and leave. He had been doing this for awhile absentmindedly, so he almost didn't notice someone he knew enter. And it took him a moment to realize who it was, and when he finally did, he had to do a double take.
"Morgana?" he exclaimed, surprised, and leaping to his feet.
"Dark?" Morgana Macawber said, hearing her name called, and recognizing it instantly. She turned around to look at Drake. "Why, Dark! It is you!" she approached him. Drake noticed she was favoring one hand. "Why are you here?" she asked. "You aren't injured, I hope?"
"Why am I here?" Drake said, snapping out of the dazed look he had been giving Morgana. "Why are you here? Here, in the St. Canard Hospital!"
"Oh, er, a little accident with a spell." Morgana explained, looking embarrassed. She held out the hand she had been favoring. It sported a very deep cut. "It's cursed now, so I can't use magic to heal it. Because it's so serious, the only real option I had was to come here and have it treated like anyone else of non-magical blood." she blushed. "It was stupid mistake, really."
"Oh, don't say that, Morg!" Drake said, instinctively going to reassure her. "I'm sure it was a total accident! And besides, look at it this way! This way we get to see each other again! It's been...what...a few months since we've seen each other?"
"About, yes." Morgana admitted. "But why are you here, Dark? You don't seem to be injured."
"I'm not." Drake replied.
"Then why are you here?" Morgana asked.
"Well..." Drake began, suddenly feeling awkward. "Remember me telling you about Christine?"
Morgana's expression faded a little into a more neutral one. "Oh." she said, then bit her lip. "A bit awkward, then, for your ex-girlfriend to show up when you're here to see your current girlfriend, isn't it?"
"Kinda." Drake admitted.
An awkward silence followed.
"But hey, let's make the best of it!" Drake said, trying to look at the bright side. "I mean, that cut of your's looks pretty nasty, maybe there's something I can do to help while I wait for Christine?"
"Mr. Mallard!" the receptionist suddenly called out. "Miss Merriweather will see you now. She trusts that you know where to look."
Drake suddenly got a big grin. "Better yet," he began, "allow me to take you to the best person who can treat that wound the best."
"Oh no, Dark, that's really sweet of you, but I don't think..." Morgana began, not liking the idea of meeting Drake's new girlfriend.
"Oh, don't worry, Morg." Drake said, escorting her to the elevator. "You'll like Christine, I promise."
At first, he expected Morgana to resist, and prepared himself to drop the subject if it came to that. He knew what happened if he tried to force Morgana to do something she didn't want to do, and it wasn't good, at least for him. Morgana always was a bit short-tempered. But Morgana, surprisingly, did not resist, and allowed Drake to escort her into the elevator. Grinning and thinking this idea was good one, Drake pushed the button for the floor he wanted and watched the doors close.
It was Bushroot who noticed it first, probably because he was outside, and knew to look for it. A distant rumble, steadily and rapidly growing louder. Stepping out of hiding in an alley to investigate, Bushroot turned to the source of the sound, and saw Canard Tower suddenly shuddered, and a wave of dust, almost like a shockwave, rush towards him.
Knowing instantly that this was a bad thing, Bushroot rushed for cover, but he wasn't fast enough. As the wave of dust swept past him, the ground beneath him started to shake...
"And another thing." Gosalyn went on talking into her cell phone as Honker listened on the other end at Darkwing Tower. "She said pink doesn't match with pink. Now Honker, you're smart, do you see the logic in that? I mean, if they're both pink, then how can they not match? I mean, there wasn't even patterns on the two pieces of clothing..."
Honker rolled his eyes as he half-listened, typing away while sitting in the command chair for the big screen. He froze, however, when a beeping alarm started to ring out, and a message popped up on the screen. He read it quickly.
"Gosalyn, look out a window, now!" Honker said into the cell phone he had been listening into.
In the Mallard home, Gosalyn hopped off the couch and looked out the window, seeing what appeared to be the St. Canard skyline start to shudder.
"What in the world..." she began, but was cut off as the whole house jolted, and started to shake violently.
It was an earthquake.
Gosalyn was instantly knocked off her feet, toppling over and onto the coffee table behind her, dropping her cell phone in the progress. The shaking quickly caused her to topple off the table, knocking the table over in the process. The front window suddenly shattered and sprayed glass everywhere. Gosalyn yelped and tucked into a ball, holding her hands over her head. She bounced with the floor, seeming to drop out of her suddenly, then rise back up to meet her.
More glass broke somewhere else in the house, and something noisy crashed to the floor. Gosalyn just ignored it, waiting it for it all to end, bouncing around, trying to grab the edge of the couch, only to find that the couch had scooted away from her.
The moment the quake had hit the tower, Honker felt it sway violently. He was thrown from the command chair, and hit the floor, dimly aware of the computer screens surrounding him suddenly going into static. One after another, every window in the tower shattered. A loud crash rang out as the Ratcatcher suddenly toppled over onto it's side.
Horns blared loudly outside the tower as the traffic below suddenly started to veer around, thrown off their paths in the earthquake. The whole Audubon Bay Bridge swayed and twisted in unnatural ways. The bay itself sloshed and splashed, creating waves that broke against it's shores, flooding them.
A loud crack rang out, and the entirety of Darkwing Tower suddenly tilted. Honker slid into that tilt, sliding down the steps leading down from the platform. Something somewhere sparked suddenly, and several twanging sounds struck the air as the cables holding the suspension bridge up snapped.
Finally finding a handhold to steady himself, Honker hung on tightly, awaiting the end of the quake.
Bushroot yelped when the ground suddenly dropped out from under him, then rushed back up to slam into him. Thrown off his feet, he started to fall to the ground in time for it to fall out from under him again. A nearby parked car suddenly started to bounce away from him, and several streetlights toppled over with crashes.
The many windows in the skyscrapers that lined the street shattered and the shards of the glass tumbled to the ground. Screams rang out as the pedestrians out on the streets sought cover. The whole street cracked and crumbled under them all, heaving itself up in the chaos.
Underground, Rowe was knocked off his cot and to the floor of his cell as the earthquake began. Dust rained down on his head. He heard his guards shout, then run off, for reasons unknown. Rowe presumed to aide elsewhere. Looking up as the earthquake continued, he saw the electronic lock to his cell spark and short circuit, possibly frying the lock.
More dust rained down on his head, and Rowe instinctively rolled under his cot. Moments after he did so, the roof of his cell buckled, and debris crashed down to the floor. Rowe coughed on the dust that kicked up, and hoped the whole cell wasn't going to collapse.
In the elevator, Drake and Morgana were both knocked to the floor when the earthquake hit. The light in the elevator flickered, then went out. It continued upward for a moment, then jolted to a stop, before starting to drop again in quick jerks. It dropped down several floors before finally abruptly stopping. The earthquake did not, and continued to tremble. In the darkness, both Drake and Morgana quickly sought handholds and eventually found them. They did not realize until later that their handholds was each other.
Finally, as quickly as it had started, the earthquake stopped, and St. Canard was suddenly still. For a long moment, no noise was to be heard save a distant siren. Then, finally, the populace started to emerge from their impromptu shelters to survey the damage.
Honker lay on the floor of Darkwing's hideout for a moment longer after the earthquake had stopped, almost too afraid that if he moved, the earthquake would start again. Finally, he got enough nerve to pick himself up and look around. Dust filled the room, shaken loose from it's hidden corners. But otherwise, it seemed that the tower had faired the earthquake well.
He stood up, and started to walk around to double check the damage. Sure enough, the only real damage seemed to be the windows, which had all shattered, and judging from the fact that several of the computer screen up on the platform were still in static, the computer systems had received some damage as well.
Several of Darkwings book had fallen from their shelves, and a couple of cupboards had popped open. Righting the Ratcatcher again with some difficulty, Honker saw that even the motorbike had faired well from the earthquake. But, upon looking out a nearby window, he couldn't say the same for the rest of the bridge.
A fair share of it's support cables had snapped, and now draped down from the bridge like strands of spider silk. Fortunately, none of the cables seriously threatened the bridge's stability. Several long cracks stretched across the paved road on the street, and several cars littered the road, all having veered very far from their intended paths. Quite a few and ran into each other, creating several car pileups. People now flooded the bridge and wandering aimlessly, like they were unsure what they should do now.
Grimacing, Honker tore himself away from the window and directed his attention back to the hideout. Heading back up the steps to the top of the platform, he first started a system reboot of the computer, then searched for his fallen cell phone. He eventually found it under the master control panel, no worse for wear. He tried to call back Gosalyn, but only found that he had no signal. He presumed that a tower somewhere had collapsed in the earthquake.
As it was unlikely that the tower's hard phone line would be up and running, Honker went to the cabinet containing his costume and pulled out his walkie-talkie, switching it on.
"Gos, come in." he said into it. "Come in Gos."
At the Mallard home, Gosalyn pushed the coffee table off of her and stood up. The living room was a total mess, but that was the least of Gosalyn's concerns at the moment. She quickly sought out her cell phone again, and found it under a pile of DVD cases that had fallen from it's shelf, only to find out that, like Honker, she had no signal. Going for the hard line, she found out the same held true for it.
Frowning, she looked around, unsure what to do now. She caught a glance out the broken living room window, and saw that the road that made up Avian Way was all cracked and broken, and would need re-paving. Again. The repairs from when The Elements had blown it up had been just completed not that long ago. Now, in the space of a few seconds, they had been undone again.
Looking around, though, Gosalyn didn't see any other damage to the street she called home, at least nothing major. Curious now as to how the rest of the house had faired the earthquake, Gosalyn decided to find out, by first going upstairs to her bedroom. She was pleased to find that it looked exactly as how she had left it, but then it had been a mess then, too.
It was then that she heard Honker trying to call her on her walkie-talkie, and went to her closet to pull it from her spare costume.
"Honk, glad to hear that you're alright." she said.
"Oh good, Gos, you're there." came Honker's relieved voice. "How's the house?"
"Well, it's still standing, if that's what you're asking." Gosalyn replied. "How'd the hideout fair this sudden earthquake?"
"Remarkably well." Honker replied. "Just a few broken windows, really, and the computer system froze. We lost Internet, and the power's out. Running on backup batteries at the moment."
Gosalyn confirmed the power outage by quickly flipping her bedroom lightswitch a few times. "Well, as it's only late morning, I think that won't be a big problem." Gosalyn said, exiting her bedroom. "Any idea how the rest of the city faired?"
"None whatsoever." Honker replied. "I've got limited operations here. I can't really tell you anything more besides what I've already told you."
Gosalyn bit her lip for a moment. "How do you think Dad's doing?" she asked.
"I'm sure Mr. Mallard has everything under control and is well on his way to getting back here." Honker assured her.
"Dark, are you okay?" Morgana asked, as she quickly cast a spell that created a small ball of light hovering in the middle of the stuck elevator.
Drake picked himself up. "Yeah." he said. "You?"
"Good, all things considered." Morgana replied. She looked around at the elevator. "It's these kind of things that explains why we don't use elevators in the magical world."
Despite the situation, Drake chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose so." he admitted. "All right, down to business now. Unless I'm greatly mistaken, that was an earthquake that we experienced a few moments ago. Probably knocked out the power, which is why the elevator stopped moving."
"Okay." Morgana said, following along calmly.
Drake balanced on one foot for a moment. "There is a slight tilt to the elevator now, though." he remarked. "I think the elevator cable has probably broken. Thankfully, the earthquake bouncing the car around stopped it from going into a free fall by knocking it against the sides of the elevator shaft."
"Okay." Morgana said. "So where does that get us?"
"Nowhere at all." Drake admitted. "We're not getting out of here anytime soon."
"I was afraid you were going to say that." Morgana said.
"Don't worry though, more than one person knows we could be in here, and will eventually get to helping us out." Drake assured her. "Presuming that things aren't worse outside this one elevator car."
"Can't you call for help?" Morgana asked.
Drake pulled out the emergency phone and held it to his ear. "Nope." he said, shaking his head. "Line's dead. Can you call anybody with your magical powers, Morgana?"
"Not here." Morgana admitted. "The conditions are all wrong. Besides, the best way to do it that I know of would require a mirror, and I don't have one with me at the moment."
"What about your familiars, Eek, Squeak, and Archie?" Drake asked next, not ready to loose hope just yet.
Morgana shook her head. "Back home with Bob, helping him with a project of his." she said. "No one thought I would need them while I was here getting my hand healed."
"Speaking of which, how is that hand?" Drake asked, taking another look at it. He frowned at how much worse it looked now. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a handkerchief and tied it around the cut, stanching the flow of blood. "There, that should do for now."
Morgana looked at the bandage and grinned. "Thank you Dark." she said.
"You're welcome." Drake replied.
They were silent for a moment.
"Well, I guess we've got some time to ourselves, then." Morgana finally said.
"Yeah, I guess so." Drake agreed. "Wish it was under better circumstances, however."
Rowe pushed aside the debris, and crawled out from under his cell's cot. Looking around, he saw that the roof of the cell had buckled, and sunlight now streamed in through the hole. Rowe looked up at it, wondering if he could squeeze through it, but eventually decided it was too small, and scratched out the idea as impossible.
Remembering that the lock to the cell had shorted out, Rowe turned to it, and fiddled with it for a moment. To his dismay, however, the lock had not unlocked like he had expected, but rather fused itself shut. Probably why his guards had yet to return to their posts as well. Pounding the bars angrily with his fist, Rowe saw that he was in no better a situation than he was before.
Then, he heard footsteps coming from above. Looking up, Rowe saw a shadow pass by, and thought that maybe whoever was up there could help him.
"Hey!" he called. "Down here! Help!"
A head suddenly appeared in the hole in the ceiling, and Rowe was amazed to see it was Bushroot.
"Bushy!" he exclaimed, relieved. "Boy, am I glad to see you, mate! But what in the name of Redwall Abbey are you doing here?"
"It's a long story, Rowe!" Bushroot said. "But here, let me help you out there!" he left for a moment, then suddenly came back. "Oh, you'd better take a step back." he added.
Rowe quickly ducked into a corner of the cell. A moment later, roots grabbed the edges of the crack and tore it open, now wide enough for Rowe to slip through. As the dust cleared once again, Rowe stepped under the hole. Bushroot stuck one hand down to him, Rowe grabbed it, and the mutant plant-duck pulled him out.
Rowe immediately looked for pedestrians and worse, police officers, but was surprised to see there was no one. "Where is everybody, mate?" he asked.
"Gone!" Bushroot said. "Once the earthquake stopped, everybody ran off in panic. Didn't even notice me. The police have all been dispatched elsewhere too, to handle the emergencies that are no doubt occurring all over the city."
"So I'm gonna make a clean getaway?" Rowe asked, surprised.
"Looks like it." Bushroot said. "Good thing I was here to help."
"Yeah, mate, I owe you one." Rowe said, then started forward. He stopped at the sight that greeted them. "Sink me rudder." he muttered aloud.
Bushroot joined him, getting a good look around for the first time himself. Both fell silent as the realized just how much damage had been dealt to St. Canard...
"Honker, what are we going to do?" Gosalyn asked into her walkie-talkie as she one-handedly tried to clean up the Mallard home.
"Sit and wait, I guess." came Honker's reply. "I'm keeping an eye out for any new news, but so far I've got nothing."
"I hate waiting, especially at times like this." Gosalyn said. "Y'know, Crimson and Techno should probably get out there and see what we can do to help."
"Well, come on over then, if it makes you happy." Honker said.
Liking that idea, Gosalyn plopped herself into one of the armchairs, and slapped the head of the little figurine that sat between the two chairs.
Nothing happened.
Gosalyn slapped it again, then again, with same results. "Um, Honk?" she said into her walkie-talkie.
"Yes?" Honker said.
"The chairs seem to be broken." Gosalyn reported. "They won't activate."
"It's possible that the failsafes engaged in the earthquake." Honker said. "Or that the whole system was disabled in the turmoil." there was a momentary pause. "I can't see to activate them from here, either." Honker continued. "Try the secondary entrance."
Gosalyn nodded, despite Honker not being able to see the nod, and went out into the backward. It looked to have faired the earthquake well itself. But, however, she noted a slight depression in the ground, not far from the secondary entrance.
"Honk, I think the tunnel may have collapsed." she said into her walkie-talkie. "Better no go that way just to play it safe. Any other way to get to the tower? On foot, perhaps?"
"No." Honker said. "Traffic's really backed up on the bridge and there are several pileups blocking the usual paths. Not only that but there's a lot of police and people wandering around. You'd be seen too easily."
"Drat." Gosalyn said.
"Unfortunately, there's more." Honker said. "I've been checking out the readings for this earthquake, and they don't match up to any earthquake I've ever heard of before."
"So?" Gosalyn asked, heading back inside.
"Gos, I think this earthquake didn't happen naturally."
It took a moment for Gosalyn to fully comprehend this. "But, if that's true, then who caused it?" she asked. "I don't know of anyone who would have the tools, or the power to..." She suddenly trailed of, realizing that there was someone who had that kind of power. "The Elements."
Drake and Morgana sat calmly in the elevator, looking at one another. They seemed to not have anything to say.
"So." Drake began, the silence finally getting to him. "How's married life?"
"Um, okay." Morgana said.
"Everything's working out with Bob, then?" Drake asked.
"Yeah." Morgana said. "How about you? How's life treating you?"
"Good. Dating Christine, Gosalyn's getting good grades, not too much trouble for Darkwing. Can't complain really."
They were silent for another long moment.
"You know, Morg, I do miss you, though." Drake said suddenly. "I really wish we could've gotten further in our relationship than we did."
Morgana was silent for a moment. "So do I, Dark." she finally admitted. "So do I. And if you hadn't been gone for seven years..."
"...that could've happened." Drake finished. He leaned his head against the elevator wall. "Stupid Negaduck. That's all his fault, really. If he hadn't imprisoned me in the Negaverse we could've gotten m..."
He stopped, realizing what he was going to say, and decided he didn't want to say that after all. Morgana glanced in his direction, probably knowing what he intended to say, but didn't comment.
"...could've gotten closer." Drake finally amended.
They were silent again.
"Drake, I must admit I was a bit...surprised...to hear you had started seeing someone else." Morgana admitted.
"I'm just doing what you told me to do, Morgana." Drake said. "Moving on. Besides, think how I felt when I found you got married."
Morgana laughed. "Yeah, I see your point."
Her laugh faded when she saw Drake's expression, and realized it was no laughing matter.
"Is there something wrong with me seeing someone else, now, Morg?" Drake asked.
"Well, no, it's just..." Morgana paused, unsure if she should say this, regardless of how she should say it. "I guess I'm just longing for the relationship we will never have, I suppose."
Drake didn't reply for a moment. "Same here." he agreed. "I long every day for it, in fact."
Morgana looked surprised. "What about Christine?" she asked. "Is there something wrong with her and your relationship with her?"
"Oh, no, Christine's great, she's a great girl." Drake said quickly. "It's just...well...when you really come down to it, she's no Morgana Macawber."
Morgana grinned sympathetically. "Unfortunately Drake, it's too late to change things." she said. "Life has taken us in different directions now."
"Yeah, I know." Drake said. He sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of."
"Remember Honk, the last time they tried something like this, it was merely cover for an attack on SHUSH." Gosalyn said over the walkie-talkie as Honker quickly changed into his Techno costume. "The same is probably true now. No doubt The Elements are attacking SHUSH, it would explain why they haven't contacted us yet regarding this earthquake."
"Think we're too late?" Techno asked as he slipped on his visor.
"I can't say Honk, that's why you need to get over there." Gosalyn said. "I think they're going for a more stealthy attack this time, otherwise we would've gotten word of it by now. But if their using more stealth this time, then it's going to take them longer to capture SHUSH HQ. It should be easy to throw a wrench into the gears."
"Right, piece of cake." Techno said nervously, stepping over to the Ratcatcher and hopping onto it.
"You aren't nervous, are you Tech?" Gosalyn asked.
"Gos, I've never fought a team of villains like this going solo before!" Techno exclaimed, starting the Ratcatcher's engine and driving it out of the tower.
"I know, and I wish I could come and help you, but I'd never get there in time!" Gosalyn said. "I've got a costume, but that's it! I'm pretty much cut off where I'm at!"
"Right, right, I get it!" Techno exclaimed as he drove the motorbike down the bridge's main support cable and down to the ground.
"Techno, I think you can handle this." Gosalyn said. "Now, we'd better maintain radio silence from here on out."
"Right." Techno said.
"Oh, and Techno?"
"Yes Gos?"
"Good luck."
"Thanks Gos."
When Techno arrived at the SHUSH building, he found it to look abandoned. Worried if he was too late, he dismounted from the Ratcatcher and ran to the front door. He found two guards lying flat on the floor, out like lights. He also found evidence of a fire, and a thin layer of water coated the floor.
"They were here, all right." Techno muttered, and pressed on.
As he wandered down the hallways of the building, he found more and more unconscious people, but it didn't seem like they had been attacked. In fact, except or the lobby, there weren't even signs of a battle. Getting puzzled, Techno wandered to the one place he knew he could get some answers.
Moving cautiously, he opened the door to J. Gander Hooter's office and peered inside. Sprawled out on the floor in a spreadeagle position was Agent Grizzlikof. Sitting in the desk chair was Hooter, positioned oddly. Both were unconscious, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Getting more puzzled, Techno went to Hooter's computer and glanced at the screen. He immediately noticed a large message on the screen.
It said: "Intruder alert. Building purged with sleeping gas."
Techno blinked in surprise, then noticed that this very un-SHUSH-like procedure had been activated just moments before the earthquake had hit. And not by Hooter's command code, either. Techno could see evidence that the system had been hacked. Then it started to come together. The Elements did this, so they could have easy access to the building and whatever was in it. And, as always, to keep people looking in the wrong way while they did this, had Garth Miner create the earthquake. It seemed almost like overkill, but Techno saw that it was a good plan.
But like always, the good guys figured it out.
But then, where were The Elements? Had they gotten whatever they wanted and left again? If so, then what was it, exactly, that they wanted? And how important was this theoretical something?
Techno turned back to Hooter's computer to try and find out. He was impressed with some of the things he found on it. Most particularly some sort of life signs detector. Opening it, he saw that it could be specified to find certain kinds of life forms in certain states. This included life forms that were conscious or not.
Seeing this could be the best way to see if The Elements were still here, Techno set in the necessary parameters, and brought up the scans graphical results. He saw a lay out of the entire SHUSH building. One dot was sitting several floors up all by itself. Techno presumed this was him.
However, there was another group of dots several levels down that Techno quickly realized could only be The Elements themselves. Quickly, he calculated the floor number they were on. He blinked in surprise when he figured it out.
"Sub-level five?" he said to himself. "What do The Elements want with SHUSH's transdimensional portal generator?"
Really perplexed now, Techno decided to find out, and started to leave. But as he did so, he found a gadget sitting on Hooter's desk. It looked brand new; perhaps Hooter and Grizzlikof had been talking about it when the sleeping gas had flooded the room. Picking it up, he read it's label.
"Voice synthesizer?" Techno repeated to himself.
Down in sub-level five, in the portal generator's control tower, The Elements were all gathered together around the controls. Jack O'Hara and Garth Miner were the ones sitting at the controls themselves, working away while Sally McHare and Elizabeth Guire stood guard.
"Hurry Jack, I don't think we can stay here much longer." Elizabeth urged, feeling edgy.
"Relax, Liz, the SHUSH agents won't be waking up for another hour." Jack assured her.
"Still Jack, Elizabeth's got a bally point." Sally remarked. "Best not to push our luck any."
Jack didn't answer as he and Garth typed in the final commands. Finally, Jack pressed one button, waited a moment, then motioned to Garth. Garth then pulled out a data card from it's slot in the control panel.
"Right, let's go." Jack said, standing.
Then, a voice rang out from outside the control room's door.
"I am the terror that flaps in the night!" the voice of Darkwing Duck rang out. "I am the road construction that makes you late for work! I am, Darkwing Duck!"
Urgently, Jack motioned to Elizabeth and Sally forward to deal with it. The two responded, and headed for the door, where purple and crimson colored smoke was seeping in under.
"And I am the heir to the cape!" the voice of the Crimson Avenger rang out now. "I am the laptop that doesn't have a wireless connection! I am..."
The voice stopped when Elizabeth and Sally threw open the door and stepped into the smoke filled hallway beyond. They then quickly discovered that the colored smoke was really sleeping gas in disguise, but by that point it was too late, and both passed out and toppled over. Before Jack or Garth could do much to react to this development, a little football-shaped object suddenly rolled into the room.
The two villains watched it roll past them and under the control panel, looking puzzled. Then the little object suddenly exploded taking out the control panel, blasting out the tower's wall, and knocking them back to the floor. Letting out an enraged yell, Jack burst into flames, and looked for the culprit by hurling fireballs into the doorway. They hit nothing.
Starting to look on edge themselves, Jack and Garth started to back up. Then, some sixth sense made them turn, and there they saw, hovering with his rocket boots engaged, Techno, right outside the hole blasted into the wall of the control tower.
Techno reacted first by going to spray sleeping gas into the faces of the two villains, but Jack was faster, hurling a fireball into Techno's chest. Techno's jumpsuit protected him from harm, but the blast knocked him backwards and surprised Techno. He started to loose control of his rocket boots, and in anxiety, deactivated the rocket boots. He then started to fall a whole floor's length, and would've crashed onto the uneven edges of the portal generator that filled most of the five story room, had he not stopped his fall by shooting a grappling hook up at the ceiling bringing him to an abrupt stop.
Techno dangled there for a moment, trying to gather his bearings, then started to swing back and forth. As he reached the peak of his swing, he unlatched the grappling hook and dropped the rest of the way to the floor. His momentum carried him away from the generator to land on the flat floor in front of the are where the portal would appear was the device active.
Spinning around, he caught sight of Jack and Garth, supporting the presumably still unconscious forms of Sally and Elizabeth, slip out the door.
"Stop!" Techno ordered, and raced after them.
By the time he was at the door, they had already vanished up the staircase. Hurrying, Techno followed them all the way up to the lobby. But once there, he saw that they had simply vanished.
"Darn." Techno muttered to himself with a sigh.
"Gee Drake, I never thought you still painted!" Morgana exclaimed. "I thought you had given that up!"
"Oh sure." Drake said, sitting beside Morgana. "I don't talk about it often, but I've actually found it to be rather soothing for the nerves. I haven't had much chance to do it lately, but yeah, I still do it."
Morgana grinned. "That's a bit touching for me, considering that it was me who taught you." she remarked.
"Yeah, kinda." Drake admitted.
"You know, for being stuck in an elevator because of an earthquake, this has actually become quite enjoyable." Morgana remarked. "And I think what's made it great is seeing you again."
"Same here, Morg." Drake said.
They snuggled a little closer to each other. But then they suddenly and quickly slid apart when the elevator doors suddenly slid open.
"Well, don't you two seem comfy." Christine remarked with a smirk.
"Christine!" Drake exclaimed, standing. "Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes!"
"I'll bet, you two have been locked in here for three, going on four, hours." Christine said.
"So long?" Morgana asked, also standing. "It hardly seems so long to me."
"Well, I think spending time with your ex-boyfriend does that to you." Chrsitine remarked.
Drake winced. "It's not what you think, Chris." he promised.
"I know Drake." Christine said, and said nothing more on the subject. "So Drake, aren't you going to introduce me?"
"Oh, er, Christine, this is Morgana Macawber." Drake quickly introduced. "Morg, this is Christine Merriweather."
"Pleasure to meet you." Morgana said, extending her good hand for Christine to shake.
"Pleasure's all mine." Christine said, accepting the hand to shake. "Now, how about we get you two out of there?"
"Yes, let's." Drake said. "I'm ready to get out of this stupid elevator."
It took some time, but Techno eventually found an antidote to the sleeping gas that the occupants of the SHUSH building had been put under, and started administering it to the major agents, such as Hooter and Grizzlikof. Once Techno had explained what had happened, Hooter took over, and slowly clean up of the damage The Elements had done was slowly being cleaned up.
Techno saw his job here was done for now, but stuck around for awhile longer, for a good reason. He waited in Hooter's office for about an hour, then Hooter and Dr. Bellum arrived.
"Techno." Hooter greeted as he entered.
"Mr. Hooter, sir." Techno replied, jumping to his feet.
"We've examined the databanks and security footage of The Elements intrusion into the facility, and think we know why they were here." Hooter explained.
"Which is?" Techno prompted.
Hooter looked to Dr. Bellum.
"We think they were getting a copy of the plans for the portal generator." Bellum said.
"What?" Techno asked. "Why?"
"Clearly, to make use of it." Hooter said.
"We believe that FOUL wants to gain access to the Negaverse." Bellum added.
"But...why?" Techno asked, not understanding. "Why do they want anything to do with the Negaverse?"
"That is the mystery, Mr. Techno." Hooter said. "But knowing FOUL and The Elements, we'll find out eventually."
Fun Facts: There are two deleted scenes from this. One involving Rowe and Bushroot wandering around St. Canard in the aftermath of the quake, and another scene with Drake and Morgana in the elevator. They were left out because I worried the chpt. was getting too long and wordy, mostly. I'm not worried too much about the Rowe and Bushroot scene, as it was really just there to press the point that Rowe's escaped from jail and that Bushroot and Rowe are friends, as the scene would've gotten the two talking about each other's lives and their opinons and such. But as I had these points already established in past chpts, I felt there was no real pressing need to include it in this chpt. The only thing I regret about this choice is that it leaves the Bushroot and Rowe aspect of the story unfinished.
The extra scene with Morgana and Drake in the elevator however, I miss, because it would've had Morgana finding out more about Drake's reasons for visiting Christine that particular day, and leading to Morgana to ask how close Drake and Christine were. After shiring the question a little while, I would've eventually had Drake admit that he did love Christine, but then press he still wished he and Morgana had hit it off better as well. Really it was just to further stress the point that while Drake and Morgana have gone seperate ways, they've done so rather unwillingly, and still have feelings for one another.
But hey, we can't have everything in life. :)