Chapter 35

Reunion.

Lucy jumped and sat up, looking around her room as the heavy rain continued to pour down hitting her windowpane, she'd heard it again, an irregularly paced tap tap tap tap against the glass, she'd heard it a few times before over the years but had never investigated it.

She slipped out of bed and walked to the window and opened the curtains.

There was a flash of lightning and a growl of thunder.

The tapping had stopped, she eyed her window suspiciously for a moment and turned around with a shrug, if there was a problem her mother would've already dealt with it.

She went back to her bed, tap tap tap tap, she looked to the window, with the curtains no longer drawn she could see out into the stormy night, she felt her blood turn cold and she backed for the door quickly, there was a white object against the windowpane that looked horribly like a person's hand against the glass.

She reached the door, there was a clanging sound in the kitchen downstairs and she jumped looking down at the floor, the tap came again... more urgently, wanting to be let in.

She looked up at the window and opened her mouth to scream, the owner of the hand had appeared now, headless and missing an arm it hovered outside the window.

She opened the door and bolted across the hallway into Gosalyn's room.

Not bothering to wake her up she crashed beside her on the bed and clung to her for protection.

Gosalyn woke up and looked to her in confusion. 'What's the matter, Lucy?'

'I...' Lucy shook her head furiously and buried her face into Gosalyn's shoulder instead.

'Hey...' Gosalyn hugged her comfortingly. 'It's alright... you can sleep with me.'

'Thank you.'

They closed their eyes and after a moment of the steady rain outside there came a horrible blood-curdling scream.

They both sat up and looked around wildly.

'You heard that too, right?'

'Yes.' Gosalyn said.

There was a flash of lightning and they both stared at the person who stood at the foot of the bed, covered in blood the duck stood still looking at them blankly.

'Is today Halloween?' Lucy asked quietly not looking away from the man's ghost.

Gosalyn shook her head. 'What do you want?'

The ghost remained silent, turning his eyes to Lucy and reaching out for her.

Lucy leapt from the bed and bolted for the door, the ghost watched her go and followed slowly.

Lucy ran downstairs, acting on instinct and headed for the gun cupboard.

The headless form floated in through the kitchen door as the other ghost slowly descended the stairs.

Lucy reached the cupboard and pulled out the shotgun, she wasn't going down without a fight! She loaded the gun as she turned, clicking the gun shut tight she cocked it.

The two spectres advanced on her and Lucy fired the gun.

It forced her back a few steps from the kick but she managed to keep herself standing.

The man looked to the headless ghost that had now paused a hole having been made through its chest by the bullets that Lucy had shot it with.

Lucy scowled and turned the gun on the man instead, the front door banged open and Lucy whirled around firing in a panic.

Launchpad jumped backwards calmly and the bullet barely missed him, he stepped inside again and considered Lucy for a moment before his eyes turned to the two ghosts and he rolled his eyes in annoyance at them. 'I see you've met them.' He said calmly.

'Who?' Lucy asked.

'Your Dad's folks.' He said bluntly, this seemed to happen a lot to him so Lucy could tell.

She considered the two ghosts, now that she thought about it the blood-soaked duck did look a lot like her Dad. 'Why're they after me?'

'Dunno, 'spose they're curious, ya'know, what with you being their grand-kid and all.' Launchpad shrugged.

Lucy reloaded the shotgun as she narrowed her eyes, she wanted answers from the goon who knew what was going on, she pointed the barrel at him. 'Make sense now or I swear...'

Launchpad looked to the two ghosts ignoring Lucy and her death threat. 'You two'd better scram, you know he doesn't like it when you show up, and he'll-' Lucy cocked the gun and fired again, Launchpad ducked to the floor, he'd made a mistake in not answering her and she was intent to make him know that.

Nat stepped in through the front door and she looked from the three holes in the wall, to Launchpad on the ground and then to Lucy, her eyebrow rising slowly.

Nat's eyes drifted to the ghosts for a moment and she rolled her eyes turning her attention to her daughter. 'Lucy...' She began.

Lucy reloaded the gun and cocked it, pointing it at her mother. 'Where have you been?' She demanded angrily.

Nat glared at Lucy. 'Put the gun down, kid!' She growled.

Lucy shook her head and turned back around to the ghosts glaring and bringing the barrel around to take another shot at them.

Nat stormed over and snatched the gun from her.

Launchpad stood slowly, feeling safer now that Nat had the gun instead of Lucy.

'Now... what's the big idea scaring her so much that she takes her father's gun and takes shots at people?' Nat glared at the two ghosts. 'Honestly, do you two plan to do this every time we leave her and Gosalyn alone?'

Neither ghost had time to respond as a whirling chainsaw cut through the rainstorm outside.

Lucy smiled feeling herself relax inside again and looked around to the doorway, Negaduck stood glaring murder at the two ghosts. 'Now isn't this quaint... a family reunion.' He sneered and stepped forwards slamming the door shut. 'Did someone invite them?'

Lucy shook her head as did everyone else.

Negaduck stalked forwards and paused eyeing the hole in the headless ghost, he glanced to Nat who looked to Lucy passing the blame on to her. 'Can't you two take a hint?' He growled turning to the ghosts again. 'Get on with crossing over already!'

The ghost with a head stepped up to him and Negaduck glared back at him. 'Show some respect young man!'

'Respect? I was the one who gave you this dirt nap to begin with and now you're asking me for respect?'

'This is our house!'

'Mine! You're both dead and I'm in charge of the Negaverse! Now go to hell already!'

'We just wanted to see her...' The ghost said defensively.

'Only one of you can see.' He sneered, the ghost aimed a swing at him and Negaduck stood calmly as the fist went through him. 'You're not solid any more, or had you forgotten that?'

Lucy reached for the shotgun and Nat moved it out of her reach. 'You can't hurt ghosts.' Nat said bluntly.

'No, but it made me feel better!' Lucy insisted.

Negaduck smiled glancing to Lucy and back to the ghost. 'I know what you mean, kid.' He said bringing his chainsaw through the ghost's head.

The ghost vanished and Negaduck turned to the next one, he smiled evilly. 'Over here, Mum.' He revved the chainsaw and the headless ghost turned to him. 'Bet you'd be giving me a serious reprimand if you had a mouth to speak with.' He looked over his shoulder to Lucy. 'Never could stand her yakking.' He explained, Lucy smiled at him. 'So, you gonna leave, Mum, or am I going to run you through with this for kicks?' She vanished too and Negaduck shrugged. 'Now...' He said turning, he glared from Launchpad to Nat. 'You two left the kids alone?' His grip visibly tightened on the chainsaw and Lucy looked at all three adults, she saw Gosalyn on the stairs giving her a hint to go and stand with her, Lucy ran off and hugged her. 'What could you have possibly been up to?' He glared at them his voice rising with murderous intent. 'Together?'

'Negs...' Nat began calmly.

The chainsaw growled and Negaduck launched himself through the air at Nat, she lowered the shotgun to point at him and the chainsaw cut through the barrel instead.

'As if I would!' Nat snapped at him.

Negaduck grabbed her arm, pulling her forwards, the chainsaw going up to her head.

'Yeah, Boss, I just gave her a ride.' Negaduck's eyes went wide and he pushed Nat away roughly as he rounded on Launchpad instead. 'Home! I meant, back here!'

'You-' Negaduck ran for him.

Both girl's eyes went wide and Gosalyn practically slammed her hands over Lucy's eyes as she closed her own.

'Aww, Gos!' Lucy complained struggling with her older sister. 'I wanna-'

Gosalyn opened one eye, Negaduck had paused for the moment with Launchpad pinned to the floor beneath him, Launchpad's hands were trying to force the chainsaw away while Negaduck rose an eyebrow and smiled evilly at the two girls on the stairs.

Nat took the moment to rush to the stairs and snap. 'Back to bed!'

Gosalyn backed a step and took her hands from Lucy's eyes, she took her hand instead and pulled her into moving.

Lucy looked around to Gosalyn frowning.

'Go on!' Nat said nodding to Gosalyn and scooping Lucy up into her arms.

Gosalyn headed up the stairs silently and Lucy peered curiously over Nat's shoulder at her Dad who turned his attention back to Launchpad.

The view of Negaduck glaring down at Launchpad was blocked as Nat rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, heading into Lucy's room.

Nat put Lucy down on her bed. 'Aww but, mum!' Lucy complained.

'No buts!' Nat said tucking her in. 'It's very late.' She said going over to the curtains and shutting them.

'I know, but...'

'We'll talk tomorrow, okay?' Lucy nodded. 'And don't try staying up either.' Nat said giving her a point.

Lucy pouted folding her arms finding it not fair.

'Good night, Lucy.'

'Night, Mum.'

Nat shut the door and crossed to Gosalyn's room.

Lucy forced the sheets loose and kicked them down to the bottom of her bed, she waited a few moments and heard Nat close Gosalyn's door too, heading into her bedroom and shutting the door behind her.

Lucy slipped off her bed quietly and went to her hands and knees on the floor, lowering the side of her head to the r to try and hear what was going on downstairs, the growling of the chainsaw was muffled through the floorboards. Who had sound proofed her room?

'You worthless-' The chainsaw revved blocking the rest of the sentence from being heard, there were a series of bangs and she frowned as Negaduck roared. 'Get back here you knob!'

Lucy sighed moodily and could tell that Launchpad had properly taken off again, the sound of the car squealing off onto the road meant they weren't going to see him for a few days... once again Launchpad was saved.

The front door slammed shut and Lucy jumped into bed as she heard Negaduck's footsteps come up the stairs, he stopped for a second and there was a loud bang as her parent's bedroom door was forced open.

Lucy shivered, knowing he was really upset.

She didn't understand what was going on but from the looks of it Launchpad and Nat had done something really bad.

She folded her arms, if he was upset with them because they'd betrayed him in some way she wouldn't feel sorry for them! She glanced to the wall, she could hear them yelling at each other.

She sat up and went to the window, she opened her curtains and slid the window up quietly.

She took a few deep breaths of the rainy night and leant on the windowsill. 'One day.' She sighed.

The door opened and she spun around, Gosalyn put a finger to her beak signalling her to be quiet and she shut the door again.

Gosalyn walked over. 'You okay?' She asked quietly.

'Yeah... you?'

Gosalyn nodded and hugged her. 'One day it'll be alright.' They smiled to each other, the thunder rumbled outside and they both looked out again.

'Have they visited you too?' Lucy asked.

'Well...' Gosalyn said quietly. 'Sometimes when I'm here alone they do. They're not that bad, it's just a matter of getting used to them.'

'So, Dad killed them?'

Gosalyn shrugged. 'Must've done, did Launchpad make it out alright?'

'I don't know, but Dad's furious.' They paused both thinking that same thought: "When isn't he?"

There was a bang and a scuffle and both girls dropped to the floor instinctively, though the walls blocked out most sounds they would do little for stray bullets.

Gosalyn looked up first and frowned, she stood and helped Lucy back up.

Lucy looked around to the window and smiled, the rain had stopped, she hopped up onto the windowsill and Gosalyn took her arm. 'What're you doing?'

'Getting away from stray bullets.' Lucy said as she turned to face her.

'No... They'll go ballistic if they find you gone!'

'They're too busy fighting to notice or care.' Lucy said with a scoff. 'Come on, Gos, we'll just slip out and come back when they've calmed down...' They looked at the wall. 'Before dawn.' Gosalyn frowned but gave a nod, Lucy smiled. 'Do what I do.' She said and turned around taking hold of the drainpipe she slowly climbed down to the ground.

Gosalyn followed hesitantly and they both slipped out of the front yard and onto the street, neither of them spoke until they were a few houses away. 'So where are we going?'

'I dunno...' Lucy looked around and took Gosalyn's hand. 'Whatever happens, we stick together.'

Gosalyn nodded and they continued walking.

An hour later and the two girls were playing tag in the deserted park.

Gosalyn tackled Lucy to the ground and they both laughed, their pyjamas were soaking wet, coated in grass stains and fresh mud.

Lucy had tripped Gosalyn over into the mud and they were busy trying to make it even. Rolling around in the mud they tried to pin each other down, laughing all the while.

'What are you two doing here?' They both looked up as Bushroot appeared. 'Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be out alone at night?'

They looked to each other and stood.

'We, er... Um...'

'Look at the pair of you!' He scolded gesturing at their muddy clothes and faces, they looked to each other and Gosalyn took Lucy's hand. 'What on Earth do you think you're doing?' They walked slowly over to him.

'Mum and Dad are fighting.' Gosalyn said quietly.

Bushroot frowned. 'Oh... but that's still no excuse... no wait... I guess it excuses a few things.' He shrugged. 'But not the fact you're both playing in the mud!' They shrugged. 'Come on, you can lie low at our place and clean up.'

Gosalyn made to follow but Lucy didn't move, Gosalyn looked to her and Lucy whispered. 'But... Bushroot's against Dad! We can't go with him!'

'Dad's going to be furious if he finds out anyway.'

'Well that's true... but I don't want to-'

'Lucy, it's better if we go with him, it's that or he's going to be hanging out with us here all night, what'll make Dad madder?'

Lucy frowned and nodded, they followed Bushroot to the Friendly Four's newest hideout.

He walked through the silence, checking one room and then the other, they were both missing.

Irritation surged through him, after everything he'd done to protect them they'd both taken off.

He sat down on the bed and pulled out the one thing he could rely on completely, he pulled out a file and began to individually sharpen the teeth on the chainsaw blade, every so often he looked up at the clock on the wall keeping check on the passing time.

Lucy sat quietly at the table, Gosalyn was happy to be with them but Lucy was nervous, what would happen when Negaduck found out?

She shook her head, something about them made her feel tense, they were against her parents... by choice, they'd chosen to go against Lord Negaduck and anyone who chose to go against Negaduck wasn't a friend, especially to her.

Gosalyn was like a stranger now, seemingly having forgotten her little sister and their father, Gosalyn was happy to be with them and they her... like they were her family and everyone else wasn't.

Lucy forced herself not to show a bit of her emotions, like she'd learnt from her Dad over the years, never give anything away, that way they wouldn't know what you were planning.

Gosalyn would have left her there alone, to come here... she'd have broken the promise they'd made to stick together, Gosalyn was blinded by something, losing all sight of the situation and if they did that to her how could they be good?

She gazed at them all, so these were her father's enemies... their guard was down, they were calm and cheerful, Idiots. She couldn't help but think to herself.

'So how have things been?' Bushroot asked Gosalyn.

'Alright, nothing much to say really... Dad's different now.'

Lucy gazed at her sister, Gosalyn a traitor? Here she was telling them about everything, Lucy couldn't deny the facts that were right in front of her.

'Nat really means a lot to him.' Lucy forced herself not to visibly react at the way Gosalyn was telling them all of this. 'She's made a big difference... course Lucy made a bigger one.'

Lucy rose her eyebrow and smiled noncommittally, these guys were the enemy and she was now identified as a target, and it was Gosalyn who had painted the bullseye on her, she sat thinking over everything they had been through together, Gosalyn had been the one person she hadn't expected to turn on her, she considered her entire family, the only people she could actually trust were her Mashinda grandparents, they hadn't done anything wrong to her, no threats, no actions, no painting targets, so that was the difference between the two sides of crime? Mafia stuck together, and everyone else couldn't do that, family meant nothing to anyone else, that didn't make her feel any better, she had no one to rely on, her grandparents were all the way in Miami, she had to look out for herself, like her mother did.

'So… how's Tank?' Megavolt asked Gosalyn with a knowing smile on his face.

'Tank?' Gosalyn blushed slightly and said. 'Oh, he's doing alright, his parents are really serious about him changing, though.'

The four exchanged a look and smiled at Gosalyn, Lucy didn't get what they were seeing Gosalyn always got like that about Tank.

'He'll be okay, Gos.'

'I don't know, they're really drilling him hard.'

'Does he know what he wants to do yet?'

'Be a scientist.' She said simply. 'He wants to be a scientist.'

'He'd be a good one.'

Lucy looked down at her feet, how much longer were they to stay here?

'So, what about you, Gos? What career do you have in mind?'

'I want to help people.' She said simply. 'I was thinking about being a nurse.'

'You good with bandages?'

Gosalyn nodded. 'The amount of times I had to bandage up my grandpa's hands when he'd been working.' Gosalyn shook her head. 'He always said I'd make a good nurse.'

Lucy thought about it, Tank as a scientist she could see, but Gosalyn as a nurse? What would Negaduck say about that? She could hear him scoffing at Gos and telling her about a gruesome thing she would have to do, suddenly she had an image of a Gosalyn in a blood-stained nurses outfit holding a bone-saw… that wouldn't happen, no way would Gosalyn ever be able to do that to someone, so what job would Gosalyn do? She couldn't think of anything that Gosalyn would be able to handle, every job had some unpleasantness to it that Gosalyn wouldn't be able to handle, dental nurse, she suddenly realised, yes Gosalyn could be one of those, standing there listening to people scream she'd be able to handle that, it would be less gruesome in the long run.