Merry Christmas Everyone! Themusicmaniac here!
I am very very excited for this chapter as it finally gets the ball rolling. Also, after I posted here, I will post in my new story, Brother's Keeper, based off the Great Mouse Detective! Be sure to check it out if you're interested!
Envy20: Thank you so much! I am so glad that you enjoy the story, and that you are a part of the fandom! I've been a fan of DW for a few years now, and I am super excited that so many people enjoy it!
SciFiGirl253: Thank you! That was one of my favorite parts of that chapter to write.
Have a happy and bright week everyone! Be sure to stay safe, and give those dear to you love this week! Enjoy!
We all stood outside of McDuck labs and contemplated a way inside. The last time I stood here, I was escaping. I saw the indent that my body made in the bush next to the front door. I was almost nauseous from remembering the fall.
"We can't take the way we went in last time…" Darkwing said, trying to come up with a way inside.
I snapped out of my daze for a second when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Are you okay?" Launchpad asked, as I shook my head to get my bearings.
"Yeah…" I breathed. "Just some bad memories." Launchpad looked at me worriedly, taking his hand off my shoulder as I pulled my acorn gun out of my backpack. "I'll be fine. As long as we can find a way back into my dimension."
"Valerie?" Gosalyn asked, "I'd hate to suggest this but…"
She paused for a moment.
"We should take the vents."
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"The vents! That's a great idea!" Darkwing said as all I could get out was "The- The-"
"Maybe we should consider a different-" Dewey started as Darkwing said.
"Nonononono. The vents are perfect! They'll never see us coming!"
"But-" Launchpad started.
"Darkwing!" Gosalyn snapped, finally getting Darkwing's attention. "Did you see the way that Valerie reacted to using the vents?"
I finally shook my head and snapped out of my daze.
"It...It's fine." I looked at the ground. "It's just the way that I escaped the first time. The only memories of those vents that I have was running as Bulba searched for me and then falling ten stories into that bush." I pointed to the bush in question. "I can do it… but it'll be a challenge."
I flinched as I felt Gosalyn grab my hand. "You won't do it alone."
"Yeah!" Dewey added, "This time you have the four of us with you."
"And we won't let anything bad happen to you." Darkwing added, as I saw Launchpad nod behind him. "I promise."
I looked at Darkwing. I had just met this guy tonight and I was going to trust him? Sure he's Darkwing Duck, but things have been so…
Different.
I'm a duck. I've fallen out of a building, been hunted, and met some of my favorite cartoon characters in the space of two weeks. I have an acorn launcher that was built by Gosalyn. I have traveled dimensions, but now…
"I need to go home." I said, nodding at Darkwing. "I-" I paused, unsure of if this was the best choice. "I trust you."
"Okay, now that we have that handled, do you remember where the entrance to the vent system was?"
I pointed upwards at the building. "It's up there." I said cautiously. "But I had to jump to get out of there, how would we-"
Darkwing took out his grappling hook. "Leave that to me."
Getting to the vents was easier than I thought it would be. It turns out that Darkwing gave Launchpad a spare grappling hook so that we could all get up quickly, the two carrying us to the vent. Navigating the vent was even easier. Vents, unsurprisingly, aren't cleaned often, and there was a light layer of dust inside. We could tell where I had been because my knee and hand prints made a trail. We had to backtrack to Bulba's office, which was empty.
Darkwing pushed the vent cover off and jumped down into the office, getting his cape caught on one of the light fixtures and falling on his face.
"Are you okay?" I whispered. Darkwing got up with the aid of Bubla's office chair, adjusted his beak, then gave me a shaky thumbs up. He turned back to the office and pressed a button on the desk. The window suddenly became opaque square by square.
Gosalyn prepared to jump next as I noticed Darkwing backing up, satisfied with his work.
"Uh, Gos-" I started just a second too late as she jumped right onto Darkwing and gave "sorry" as Dewey followed suit.
"Now, fan out. Search for clues." Gosalyn said, starting to search the room with Dewey. Launchpad jumped right on top of Darkwing with a huge "bang!" Both of them took a minute to recover.
I waited until they were out of the way to jump down. I landed on my feet and went right for Taurus Bulba's desk.
The first drawer was locked. That's right, he had a key to unlock it. I bet there's a whole bunch of FOWL stuff in here. I looked on his desk for a key or something, but I bet he had it on him. I opened the second drawer, seeing a picture of a young Taurus Bulba with a science fair award. There was an actual one, as well as…
A dissertation. By Dr. Waddlemeyer. On Solego's circuit.
I pulled this out of the drawer, and jumped as I heard Bulba say, "Right this way." I slammed the drawer closed and slid under the desk, Dewey grabbed the vent cover and put it in front of both of us. Launchpad jumped into a potted plant, Gosalyn jumped onto a light fixture hanging from the ceiling, and Darkwing looked from side to side before jumping into a filing cabinet.
How did he fit in there?
Bulba walked in with Scrooge McDuck and Huey and Louie. Then he said the most anxiety inducing thing he could say:
"Just let me get something from my filing cabinet." I had to stop myself from gasping as I watched him go through the filing cabinet.
I released the breath I had been holding when he pulled a book out of the cabinet and explained that it was the index to the plans to the ramrod. I glanced at the dissertation that I held in my hand and slipped it into my jacket pocket. Bulba sent Scrooge, Huey and Louie to go find the Ramrod plans room.
"Darkwing! What a surprise" Bulba said, as Darkwing came out of the filing cabinet butt first, sending a slew of files into the air. He started grabbing them as he fell, and started going "Yup, yup, yup, Just making sure your top secret files are safe." While putting them all back in the drawer, he accidentally closed it on his hand grimaced. He picked himself back up and leaned on the desk pointing a finger at Bulba, "They are."
A piece of paper was floating down and he grabbed it out of the air.
"Hey." He said, studying it. He turned it back to Bulba, "Who's that?" Bulba grabbed the picture as he gasped and his face fell.
"My… best friend." Bulba said. I saw Gosalyn's face change immediately into one of animosity. I had to stop myself from growling at him. "Thaddaeus was always the smart one." Bulba walked up to the bookcase where a trophy was displayed in the middle. "Too smart. Sometimes, he couldn't shut that big brain off. He came to the lab one night raving about fixing a flaw in the Ramrod." I clenched my fists, trying to fight an urge to punch him. "And I assured him there wasn't one. But he didn't listen! He tried to reprogram it and the Ramrod backfired."
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and Dewey was staring at me worriedly. I realized that I had started to silently cry in that moment, and I wiped my eyes and gave Dewey a weak smile.
"Thad was blasted- poof." Bulba made an exploding motion with his hands. I looked up at the rafter and saw Gosalyn shedding tears.
That's right.
This is affecting the both of us. I want to get back home, sure.
But I need to help her first.
She took me in, and has been hiding with me. She's been helping me try to get back home. We need to find her grandpa.
"I covered up the accident, because I didn't want people to think he was a crackpot." Bulba rolled his eyes and waved his free hand in the air.
"Oh, his poor granddaughter. Couldn't accept her grandfather was gone." I clenched my fists, as he said, "A victim of his own genius."
"Liar!" Gosalyn jumped down from the light, as I belly flopped from under the desk to stop her, and Darkwing yelled in surprise, "Gosalyn!"
"Gosalyn no!" I reached out as I realized that there was no way to stop her from kicking Taurus Bulba into Darkwing and the door. She grabbed Bulba's key, then my hand as I struggled up from the floor and ran with her to the other end of the room.
"Valerie, come on!"
"Gosalyn!" Taurus Bulba yelled, as we ran to the door.
"He's not gone! I can bring him back!" I punched the code into the door, as Gosalyn yelled,
"Incoming!" I looked back to see Bulba running towards us and nearly screamed as I grabbed Gosalyn's hand and dashed out the door.
"Come back here!" I went to turn down the next set of stairs and slipped, letting go of Gosalyn's hand as she slid into the railing. I looked up to see Bulba holding Gosalyn by her hood.
"Gosalyn please!" I kicked him in the back of the knee and he buckled, letting go of Gosalyn's hood. "You! You've put everything in fool Stealbeak failed to catch you, but if I can, I can prove he's as incopetent as the rest of us know he is."
I paled, as he grabbed my wrist.
"I should've handed you to FOWL the first opportunity I got."
We both heard a noise and looked at the Ramrod as Gosalyn inserted the key and started to power it up.
"Valerie!" I pulled my wrist out of Bulba's hand as Dewey slid down the railing and onto the floor. I followed him as Bulba realized what was happening. "Gosalyn no! It's not worth the risk!"
"What risk?" I yelled, "I thought you checked the Ramrod for flaws!"
Bulba growled, and Dewey and I ducked out of the way as he lunged for me. That's when I saw Darkwing drop down next to Gosalyn. She was checking every dimension and was finding nothing. How much was he using this machine?
I saw Launchpad hold off Bulba as I ran to Gosalyn and DW.
"Are you sure!"
"Of course I'm sure he's here! I still haven't found Valerie's dimension yet!" Gosalyn yelled. I looked at the both of them and noticed something come out of the shadows in front of us. "What's-"
"WATCH OUT!" Darkwing pulled us out of the way as Bulba threw Launchpad off him and walked towards us.
"You two have been a thorn in my side ever since I've met you." He knocked us all to the ground with a clean swipe, and I looked up to see Bulba's face glow red with the light from the opening portal,
"I'm gonna knock all three of you into another dimension! Then you'll be someone else's problem."
"Smoke Bomb!" Dewey yelled as he threw Darkwing's smoke bombs in the air. Gosalyn went for the Ramrod key to shut it down, and I ran after her. She took hold of it and pulled it out of the console. I ducked to the side as she swung it around her body with her arms straight out in front of her and barely avoided the flash of red lightning. I heard Bulba scream and I looked over to see the most terrifying thing that I've seen in my life: Bulba had a scar on his left eye and his horn was missing. A scowl crowned his face as he rushed towards Gosalyn and I.
Launchpad interceded, yelling for us to go. I grabbed Gosalyn's hand and ran for the stairs. I looked behind us to see Bulba on our tail, and Gosalyn took the lead and ran for the window.
Not this again Not this again Not this-
Gosalyn took her crossbow and aimed for the window, making a sizable hole as we jumped. I screamed until we landed really soon. On the lift. Oh.
"Are you okay?" I asked Gosalyn. She gave me a horrified look as we heard a grunt from above us, and dove for the other end of the lift as Bulba landed and released the pulley system. I gasped as we fell again, but this time, Gosalyn was able to crawl to the lever and stop our fall. I felt my body weight lift into the air before I landed on the lift with a grunt.
We both stood up as Bulba grabbed the Ramrod key that Gosalyn dropped.
"It's over. No one can save you now."
This was it. I stepped in front of Gosalyn, knowing that protecting her was the last thing I might be able to do for her. Taurus Bulba and I stared each other down, as I heard something hit the platform behind Bulba and purple gas form behind him.
Wait… purple gas?
"I am the terror that flaps through the night." I couldn't help but smile as I heard an all-too-familiar line sail through the air. "I am the scourge that pecks at your nightmares."
Taurus Bulba turned around, looking for Darkwing through the smoke as I saw him drop down right in front of us. "You are finished!" Bulba yelled at the dissipating smoke.
"No," Darkwing said, "I am Darkwing Duck!" Darkwing gave Bulba a punch in the face, and Bulba reeled back from the punch, only to receive a kick from DW on his way down. He punched Bulba five times in a row, and Bulba fell on his face.
"Okay, that was cool." Gosalyn said, as I beamed and nodded at Darkwing. The three of us shared a nod and I pulled out my acorn gun as we went for Bulba.
I shot acorns at him as DW climbed on him, poking him in the face and taunting him. Bulba shouted as he punched a railing, but then caught Darkwing, choking him as he brought him to the ground. Gosalyn and I lunged for Bulba, trying everything we could to release him and distract him.
That was when I saw Goslyn fall from Bulba, and off the railing. Before I could even react, I heard Darkwing yell
"Gosalyn!" Then he jumped off the railing for her. I let go of Bulba and rushed towards the railing.
Wide eyed, I watched as the two fell towards the ground. Darkwing caught Gosalyn in the air and parachuted the both of them to safety.
"You!" I whipped around to Bulba, who I realized I was now with. Alone. "I'm going to knock you into the next dimension for this! FOWL will never forgive me now that I have Darkwing Duck on my trail!" I was backing towards the hole in the window as he made this speech."Wait… Darkwing Duck…" He looked at me, and grabbed my arm. "I have a different idea of what to do with you." He guided me back through the hole in the window. I struggled against his hold, as he led me to the Ramrod.
"I was going to change the world! I know exactly how to stop you meddling brats and that ridiculous superhero!"
"What are you going to do?" I said quietly, watching him type into the Ramrod.
"Taurus, shut it down." We both whipped around to see Scrooge McDuck and Huey, Dewey and Louie with him. "This doohickey is dangerous."
I nodded in agreement, using this moment to rip my arm out of his hand and dash for McDuck and the boys.
"Wha-"
"Uncle Scrooge it's okay, she's with us." Dewey assured him. I gave him a weak smile as I rubbed my arm.
"Well then, Let's get Dangerous." Bulba turned the key in the Ramrod and a dimensional rift opened up, revealing four villains I had hoped I'd never come face to face with.
Taurus Bulba cackled with laughter as the Liquidator, Megavolt, Bushroot, and Quackerjack came out of the portal, each with a determined grimace on his face.
What a time to be without Darkwing Duck.
We're getting to my favorite part of this episode! I am so excited to write QuackerjackAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
That wasn't an excited scream. That was a... big breath.
yeah.
a really loud, really big breath.
Have a great week everyone!