Negaduck knew he would regret not taking out the tanks first. But with Drake down for the count, and Launchpad out of the battle for the — what?, like, half hour to get Drake to the Tower, settled, and back here? — he had no choice but to stand his ground and fight off the bots.

This wave seemed bent on targeting the opposition instead of mindless takeover. Which sucked because a takeover he could deal with; they just marched towards one main point and all he had to do was mow them down. Fighting bots who were hostile, who flew directly at him shooting their lasers, was so much more exhausting. And it was frustrating, taking down bot after bot after bot and never moving from his little patch of battleground. It all felt useless.

Negaduck felled another bot with his chainsaw and was spinning around to look for more threats when something sped past his head, missing him by mere inches. His eyes followed the trajectory of whatever it was, and he recognized it as Max's spear a split second before it collided with not one bot, but two, both of them falling to the ground with the spear poking through like shish kabob. Negaduck shuffled over and yanked the spear free. When he turned to search for Max, the kid was right behind him, hair standing on end with heavy bags under his eyes, but determination steeling his gaze.

He handed the spear back. "Nice throw."

Max took the weapon with a smile. "I had a good teacher."

Negaduck was about to respond when the ground shook beneath them, a plume of smoke erupting nearby. Max grabbed him and pulled him to the ground, holding his shield up over their heads. Which turned out to be a good move; embers and pieces of machinery rained down from the sky.

Damn it all to hell.

Negaduck should have gone with his instinct and attacked the tanks first.

From his position under Max's shield, Negaduck searched through the throngs of bots and saw the remains of the Thunderquack smoking, half of it blown to kingdom come.

Launchpad was lying in a heap on the ground. Drake was nowhere to be seen.

Damn it.

Damn it.

DAMN IT.

Negaduck growled, grabbed out his pistol, and shot a few Darkwarrior bots that were flying towards him and Max.

"I can clear a path for you," Max offered, eyes darting between the Thunderquack and Negaduck.

He was ready to deny the help, to say he would handle this and to have Max focus on not dying.

But….

Something held his tongue, stayed his fear of depending on someone else, and he reloaded his pistol before gripping his chainsaw in his non-dominant hand.

"I got your six," Negaduck said.

"We sound so badass," Max said before jumping up and hitting a bot out of the sky with his shield before he charged toward the Thunderquack, his spear a blur as he moved through the battle.

Okay, yeah, Negaduck had been apprehensive in training Max for combat. He hadn't been sure how much the kid was interested in fulfilling a fighter role to show off, and how much he genuinely wanted to learn the art of hand to hand combat so as to better himself and protect others.

But Max had impressed the hell out of Negaduck from the start.

And seeing him in action, full battle mode outside of training. Negaduck had to admit: the kid was very impressive.

Negaduck barreled after Max, shooting bots down from the sky and slicing through those that swarmed from behind.

The field was so chaotic that he almost missed it.

The take down of a bot.

Via arrow.

His breath caught in his throat as his eyes snapped to the felled robot. Sure enough, a wooden arrow was poking out of its smoking eye socket.

He was seeing things.

He had to be.

Wishing it so hard that his brain was hallucinating again.

But Max stood frozen before him, spear stuck in a nearby Posiverse chrome bot.

Which meant it probably wasn't an illusion.

"Um…." Max stepped back towards Negaduck, asking for confirmation without taking his eyes off the thing.

"I see it," Negaduck said, glancing around the battlefield. Looking for the familiar shock of red hair. Or the sleek green suit. Or the substantial quiver and slender bow.

He found all of those things.

And, simultaneously, none of them.

A circular rift in space-time was floating nearby in mid-air and glowing with the familiar rainbow of multiverse travel.

Which had not been there mere moments ago.

Quiverwing Duck leapt through, quick to draw more arrows and firing them into the closest approaching bots. Standing straight, he turned to Negaduck with a grin. "Sorry we're late."

"Coordinates were off by one number," Lyn huffed, striding through the portal just before it closed. Her katanas cut through a few bots like butter on a summer day. "But we figured it out."

Seeing her was like a kick in the head. Like his insides were getting ripped out through his toes. Like all the breath had been sucked right out of him.

Because, technically, there she was.

Gosalyn.

The same height, the same hair, the same eyes.

But, also, not Gosalyn.

She carried herself differently. Her hair had been shaved off the sides of her head. Her eyes didn't hold the same spark of mischief.

Not Gosalyn at all.

Almost as if the universe was taunting him. Had read his desperation for Gosalyn and had given her back, but not any version he could ever hope to have.

Max spun around to look at Negaduck, his expression stricken.

Negaduck opened his beak, wondering what sort of explanation he could possibly give that would make this okay, when a cry of, "Lyn!" rang out over the chaos of the battlefield.

She straightened, looking around, then sighed. Sheathing her katanas as Quiverwing took out robot after robot with his arrows, Lyn fiddled with a device wrapped around her wrist.

Another explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet, Negaduck grabbing the sleeve of Max's jacket to keep him from falling. As the tremors stopped, he spun around in a circle, cutting through incoming bots with his chainsaw as he pointed his pistol skyward and took out the Darkwarrior robots flying towards them.

Then.

Suddenly.

All of the chrome Posiverse bots collapsed, each and every one disabled. Nothing more than crumpled heaps of metal on the ground, eyes no longer glowing.

Negaduck glanced back towards Lyn who finished typing something on her watch then looked around the battlefield with a pleased expression on her face.

Why had she not gotten here sooner? That would have been immensely helpful several hours ago.

With half the battlefield now eradicated, it was easier to see their party, despite how widespread it was.

Quiverwing Duck had run over to help Launchpad to his feet.

Posiduck was sprinting over towards Lyn, a look of relief on his face, and Stellar wasn't far behind, shoving his guns into their holsters.

God, that was the worst part of it all.

They got a reunion.

They were all safe and could recoup after this fight was over.

How come them and not him?

Breathing into his constricted lungs, Negaduck glanced around, looking for their missing piece.

But Drake was nowhere to be seen.

He had to do everything around here, didn't he?

Killing the motor on his chainsaw, Negaduck stashed it away and motioned for Max to follow, saying, "Stay close."

Max swallowed as he watched Posiduck yank Lyn into a bear hug, her expression one of surprise before she hesitantly returned the embrace. Sucking in a breath, Max followed Negaduck, spear and shield held at the ready.

Negaduck climbed over felled chrome Posiverse bots, shoved broken ones aside, and shot down the Darkwarrior robots that flew towards him as he searched for Drake. Max traipsed behind, using his shield as cover from the falling robots and his spear to knock more down from the sky.

At one point, Max grabbed Negaduck and ducked down behind a pile of Posiverse bots as another explosion detonated. Once the ground stopped shaking, Negaduck pressed on, his eyes still peeled for Drake.

And he found him.

Sprawled on his back near the smoking Thunderquack, eyes trained up towards the sky. The rope was still secured around his ankles and wrists, but he didn't seem to be putting up any fight against them. He just stared upwards, blinking slowly, his face impassive.

"Idiot," Negaduck growled, pocketing his pistol and sliding down to Drake's side as Max took up a defensive position nearby. "Buzzsaw cufflinks would come in handy now, wouldn't they?"

Drake didn't respond. Didn't even flinch when a Darkwarrior bot sailed right towards him. Negaduck hurriedly grabbed out his bazooka and blasted the damn thing out of the sky.

"Come on, loser," Negaduck said, hauling Drake up. He gave no resistance, but also didn't help in any way, nothing but dead weight. Negaduck was forced to put is bazooka down so he could use both hands to hoist Drake up to sitting. "We gotta get you to safety."

"It doesn't matter," Drake mumbled. "Nothing matters anymore."

"Look," said Negaduck, holding Drake upright before glancing around, wondering where he was supposed to go now, "I'm more than happy to leave you to your wallowing, but can it wait until this damn fight is over?"

Drake didn't respond and Negaduck sighed heavily.

In another moment, Launchpad was on Drake's other side and he was scooping him up, eyes fixed on the hero's face.

Quiverwing Duck stood nearby, bow in one hand, his head cocked to the side as he surveyed them. Something about the scene must have clicked together in his beady little brain, because he asked, "Where's Gosalyn?"

"She's dead," Drake said despondently.

"What?" Quiverwing Duck said, eyes widening and looking at Drake with a pained understanding.

"Ana murdered her," Drake said, looking out over the battlefield where the stain of her black military uniform stood out easily amongst the bright Christmas lights.

Quiverwing opened his beak, but quickly shut it again, instead assisting Launchpad by carving a path for them as they left the battlefield.

Negaduck sat back on his haunches, a bone-deep exhaustion settling in. He wasn't sure how much longer he could go on. His muscles felt loose and watery, his emotions raw, and all he really wanted to do was crawl into a corner and collapse.

Sighing, he glanced over his shoulder and felt a spike of panic when he didn't see Max.

Cursing under his breath, he sprang to his feet and reached for the first weapon he could get his feathered fingers on as he spun around, looking for the kid.

Had Negaduck not been clear when he'd said "stay close"? What the fu—

Relief crashed through him as he caught sight of Max nearby, standing in front of a blue police call box.

That definitely hadn't been there before.

What was it with random shit popping into existence during this fight?

Pulling out his pistol, Negaduck made his way to Max's side, eyes on the door in one side of the box.

"More reinforcements, d'ya think?" Max asked as Negaduck approached, nodding towards it.

"What part of 'stay close' didn't register in your tiny brain?" Negaduck growled.

"I figured a blue box appearing out of thin air kind of made the rules null and void," Max said, glancing at Negaduck. There was an apology in his gaze, but it went unvoiced as he looked back toward the box.

"Nothing makes my rules null and void," Negaduck muttered, flicking off the safety on his pistol.

"Okay," Max said before moving his spear to his left hand, reaching out, and knocking on the door.

"Are you completely stupid?" Negaduck snapped, yanking Max behind him.

"Well, we won't get any answers by standing here," Max pointed out, regaining his footing and readying for an attack, his shield held at Negaduck's side.

"If I die from whatever is about to come out of this door," Negaduck said, "I will kill you, Max Goof."

The door opened.

And a Drake Mallard popped his head out, a wide smile spread across his beak. "Hello!" he said cheerily. But he soon realized he had weapons pointed at him because he threw his hands up into the air, his eyebrows rocketing upwards.

He looked familiar. In that pinstripe suit and long blue coat.

Why did he look familiar?

"You helped us find Gosalyn this past summer," Max said, shifting and coming to stand alongside Negaduck. "You're the Doctor."

That's why he looked familiar.

"Indeed I am," the Doctor said, looking between them and lowering his hands slowly. Negaduck sent a sneer but clicked the safety back on and dropped his gun to his side.

"Why are you here?" Max asked.

"We heard about the attack from the Posiverse and figured we'd better show up before the third wave of robots arrived."

Third wave?

As if on cue, the ground trembled beneath their feet and Negaduck spun around, Max doing the same.

Another robot hoard was swarming behind Darkwarrior and Ana on the horizon. Triple the size of the second wave they had only made a dent in because Lyn had disabled half of them with her watch.

"Shit," Negaduck breathed, checking the magazine in his pistol and feeling that weariness descending deeper into his bones. He was too damn old for this.

"You gents haven't seen Gosalyn around, have you?" the Doctor asked from behind Negaduck and Max.

"No, she—" Max cleared his throat. The new army of robots continued to grow, it seemed, all of them filling the entire horizon line. "She's dead."

"I am?"

...

It sounded so familiar, that voice. The inflection. Coming from behind them. From the blue box the Doctor had poked his head out of.

Negaduck made eye contact with Max, the kid looking just as desperately anxious as he felt.

Slowly, so slowly, he looked back over his shoulder the same time Max looked over his.

And there she was, leaning against the doorframe beside the Doctor. Bow in hand and a quiver strapped to her back. Wearing her streamline suit. Those endlessly messy bangs hanging in her green eyes.

Alive.

Resplendent.

And smiling.

"Well, that sucks," Gosalyn said.