CHAPTER 2

"We have to bring her to Negaduck!"

"No we don't!"

"Yes we do!"

"No we don't!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"That's it!"

Megavolt sent a charge of electricity at Quackerjack, sick of arguing with him. Especially this argument. It had already been going on for twenty minutes, and there was absolutely no basis whatsoever for it. Megavolt admitted to himself that he could keep up some pretty stupid arguments, but this... The mysterious pyromaniac was definitely not the supervillain's sister. And there was no reason not to take her to Negaduck like Quackerjack vaguely claimed. Perhaps because of the fact their lives were sort of depending on it.

"Quacky, not only is she not your sister--"

"Betcha can't prove that!"

"I don't know about you, but I plan on saving my spark plugs!"

"I don't have any spark plugs to save! Just my poor sister!"

"Oh come on!" Megavolt said irritably. "She isn't your sister! Look at her!"

"I'm looking," Quackerjack responded, eyeing a certain part of the young woman's anatomy.

"She's a cat, smart one!"

"Mm, I was thinking more along the lines of...say...fox."

Megavolt was forced to send another jolt of electricity at the duck, who yelped and rubbed his arm where he'd been shocked. "Not now," the rat growled, actually sounding somewhat threatening. "Remember that chain saw sitting back in the boss's closet? Waiting for us?"

"Oh. You've got a point."

"Of course I do," Megavolt said smugly. When he noticed Quackerjack was still staring at the girl, he sighed dramatically and heated the air around her with a hazy wave of power, drying her off, "I'll bring her down," he told the duck loftily.

Quackerjack crossed his eyes and made a face, but nevertheless didn't argue as Megavolt cautiously lifted the girl off the shelf and climbed down to the floor carefully. A few minutes later, Quackerjack wheeled a cart up and in a sarcastic falsetto, "Thank you for shopping at We R Toys. We hope you enjoyed you stay; please come again soon."

Dropping the young woman into the cart rather unceremoniously, Megavolt said, "Yeah, I'll make sure to come back next time I need the most deadly water gun available to children."

Most animosity forgotten for the moment, the two supervillains rushed from the toy store with the shopping cart clattering ahead of them.

~

"I'll hand it to you two losers, it looks like you did something right for once." Negaduck stared steadily at Quackerjack and Megavolt, enjoying making them fidget in fright. "How did you knock her out?"

"The...um..." Quackerjack paused to clear his throat nervously. "...Super Soaker 50,000,000."

Frighteningly enough, Negaduck smiled. "Really. I'm surprised, Sparky, I didn't think you'd inflict that on anyone." Megavolt shrugged, at a loss for what to say. "When she wakes up, I want to see this fire thing you claim she's capable of. Because if it's some kind of elaborate trick that you two somehow, by sheer luck, managed to half-way pull off..."

"You'll...be impressed?" Megavolt squeaked.

"No..." Negaduck's smiled grew marginally wider before it turned sour and he yelled, "I'll kill you!!"

Quackerjack and Megavolt gulped and looked at each other, alternately assuring Negaduck, "No, no, it's not a trick!" "She can control fire, really!"

"That's good. For you." He paused and stared coldly at them. "Now get out."

The villains scurried out of the room, towing the cart behind them.

"Let's bring her to my place," Quackerjack suggested.

"No way."

"Why not?"

"Because your place is freaky! I wouldn't wanna wake up there!"

Scoffing, Quackerjack argued, "Well, that lighthouse is just weird."

Megavolt shook his head stubbornly. "Not as creepy as your hideout. That's not a warehouse, it's a funhouse! And anyway, how weird can it be with all the electronic devices I've freed? All the lightbulbs?"

"The bulbs are the weird part."

"You're just jealous," Megavolt sneered, "that I have so many friends."

Quackerjack choked and pulled Mr. Banana Brain from some unknown pocket of his costume. "Sure, you say he's jealous! I think you're jealous of him!"

Megavolt stared at it. "Shutup."

Mr. Banana Brain shook his head, a deranged grin, as always, plastered on his face. "No."

Looking to the duck as a last resort, Megavolt said, "Quackerjack, tell your doll to be quiet."

"I don't know," Quackerjack replied reluctantly. "I think you hurt his feelings. You'd better apologize."

"No way!"

"Apologize or we're going to my place, not yours!"

The rat remained spitefully silent for a second before deflating and mumbling, "Sorry."

"What? We couldn't hear you."

"I'm sorry!"

Quackerjack nodded, satisfied that he'd managed to humiliate the lunatic. "Okay, we'll go to the lighthouse."

"You're so gracious."

"I know."

They managed to get to the old Audubon Bay lighthouse without further incident and wheeled the cart in just as the girl began to move.

"Still got that water gun?" Megavolt asked anxiously.

"This wimpy one," Quackerjack answered, holding up a small translucent toy.

"Guess it'll have to be good enough," Megavolt commented as one of the young woman's eyes opened a slit.

She scrambled to a sitting position in the car but stilled her movements when Quackerjack pointed the gun at her and threatened, "Don't move--I'm armed!"

"Who are you?" Megavolt questioned, his tone quite unfriendly.

"What's it to you?" she growled.

"Other than not getting my head severed by a chain saw..."

She narrowed her eyes and asked in a dangerous tone, "How do I know you aren't going to hand me over to the cops?"

"Look," Quackerjack attempted, "we're out to save our own skins. You have to show our boss that fire thing you do."

"And what if your boss turns out to be the police chief?"

"Don't you know who we are?" Quackerjack asked her curiously.

"No."

The supervillains looked at each other. "You seriously don't recognize us?" Megavolt added disbelievingly.

"No! I don't know who you are!"

"You wouldn't recognize the fearsome supervillains Quackerjack and Megavolt if they were standing in the same room as you?" Quackerjack couldn't resist asking.

She froze. "You two are Quackerjack and Megavolt?"

"Obviously. That's Megav--"

Holding up a hand, she interrupted, "I think I can figure it out." She stood up shakily and climbed out of the cart, and for the first time, Megavolt really looked at her. Her hair was black and streaked a vivid orange, setting off her bright blue eyes. And it was easy to see why Quackerjack was staring--and still was, for that matter--she wasn't wearing much, and what was on her was tight, showing off her shapely form. Megavolt supposed he'd be staring, too--well, he was staring--if he'd been interested, which he wasn't. That punk look was a bit much, especially the multiple piercings--four in each ear, and one in her naval. She was attractive, though, he had to admit. Just not to him.

"So who are you?" Megavolt questioned.

"My name's Luminas. Or at least that's all of my name that you're getting right now."

"That only answers one of my questions," Quackerjack whined. "I wanna know why you were trying to roast us."

"Hey," Megavolt broke in indignantly. "I roast. She...uh..."

Luminas ignored the rat and told Quackerjack, "I wanted to see just what I'm competing against. I mean, Sparky here, he's got a pretty formidable power. And I thought he was just a small time criminal...what kind of felon robs a toy store? Although I should have made the connection... But anyway, if I'm gonna be this city's next big supervillain, then--"

"What?!" both Megavolt and Quackerjack cried simultaneously.

"I'm the biggest supervillain!"

"Yeah, you wish! It's me!"

Luminas eyed the two of them boredly. "Actually, Negaduck is. But as you two are members of the Fearsome Five, you're pretty powerful, too."

"I'm more powerful than he is," Megavolt confided.

"Boys, please." She held up her gloved hands to halt any further arguing before it began. "Now that you've gone to all the trouble of bringing me here--and I mean that sarcastically, of course--why don't you take me to see Negaduck?"

Megavolt shook his head. "Nope. Not gonna happen."

"Why not?"

"Numero uno, I have to recharge." As he continued, he ticked off the reasons on his fingers. "Numero dos, I'm tired, and numero...uh..."

"Tres," she filled in for him."

"Right. Numero tres, Negaduck is out committing some heinous crime right now. You can go see him in the morning."

"What am I supposed to do until then?" she questioned acidly. "Sit around and watch you collect your scattered brain cells while that battery of yours re-energizes?"

"You could do that."

"Or you could come back to my place," Quackerjack offered suggestively.

Her eyebrows shot up at this. "I opt for the scattered brains cells."

Megavolt pointed at Quackerjack and laughed, causing the latter to fume (more because the rat was cackling hysterically than because he'd been turned down) and say stiffly, "Fine, then. Just remember, Sparky, you'd be toast if it wasn't for me."

"And you'd be toast if it wasn't for my tremendous self-control!" Megavolt retorted.

"Ha!" Quackerjack slammed the metal door, sending reverberations throughout the lighthouse.

There was a somewhat awkward silence for a moment before Luminas ventured, "Hey, mind if I crash here tonight? That way we can get an early start to see Negaduck."

"It only takes ten minutes to get there. And he won't want to see me early." Megavolt yawned widely and stretched.

"I thought your life was on the line here?" she demanded.

"Not anymore."

"Well, your friend sure seemed to think so."

"Yeah, but once you work with Negaduck for so long, you get to know certain things about him. One, you wake him up, you're dead. We'll go see him in the morning. When he's awake." He paused. "You can sleep on the floor or something."

"The floor?! Can't I have a couch?!"

"No, that's mine."

Luminas grumbled for a minute before attempting, "A blanket? Pillow? Saran Wrap maybe?"

Megavolt shook his head and shrugged. "Nope, sorry. You better get some rest, you look burned out."

She snorted. "Watered down is more like it. Thanks to you."

Megavolt held up his hands in defense. "That was Quackerjack, not me. Water is the enemy. I don't touch the stuff."

She raised her eyebrows. "If you say so."

Without responding, the rat headed up to the control room to change out of his rubber jumpsuit. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but he did have an image to maintain.

Sighing, Megavolt slid the battery off his back and set it on the floor, plugging it in. As he straightened up, he chanced to glance out the window. Across the bay, St. Canard was shining brightly again. He scowled for a moment, remembering the two things that had caused his latest failed attempt at taking over the city. After a moment, though, he sighed and realized it was probably all for the best. Not because he didn't want to take over the city and control its entire electrical supply, but because after committing that, The Ultimate Crime, what was left for a supervillain to do? Once all of St. Canard's power supply was all channeled into him, how would he make a living? well, obviously he could move on to other cities and take over those, too, but Megavolt had a feeling world domination would get pretty boring after awhile. There was always evolving to a higher plane, he supposed. Well, it was tempting, he had to admit, but he was content just to look for now. To look at all the lights sparkling and reflecting on Audubon Bay and visualize the power pulsing beneath... Okay, well maybe not content, but how possible is it to be content when your brain has been permanently fried by electrical charges and you haven't been just bordering on insanity since the senior prom? Whatever passed for content, then. Good enough.

He turned back around and finished changing, then turned the light off and laid down on the couch. After a moment, out of some skewed sense of guilt, he got to his feet and padded over to the door, opening it a crack and peeking out. "Goodnight...um..."

"Luminas," she reminded him, opening her eyes to glowing slits in the darkness.

"Yeah, goodnight."

Her expression somewhat puzzled, the cat returned, "Goodnight."

Megavolt shut the door and returned to the couch to sleep.

Sleep, which, after two hours, still hadn't arrived. And the ceiling was not that fascinating. After several more minutes of lying there in boredom, he realized how warm it was in the room. And the fact that it smelled like smoke. Oh, something must have been on fire. That explained--

Megavolt jumped to his feet and rushed from the control room into the old lamp chamber. A pyre was blazing in the center of the room, and it took him a second to figure out what was going on.

"Hey, Luminas?"

Portions of the flame gradually began to dissipate and the cat was left sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"Next time warn me when you're gonna do that," Megavolt said irritably. "The thermostat is really messed up now."

"Sorry," she apologized in a tone that implied she really wasn't. I just had to make sure I could still do it after QJ got so trigger happy."

Megavolt showed a little interested at this statement. "Oh yeah? How do you do that, anyway?"

"Does it matter how I do it? It's my special power. Just like the way you control electricity. I control fire."

"Well, I've just never seen anything like that before. How'd you get it?"

"It's a long story," she sighed.

"Get used to it. Everything's a long story when you're a criminal," Megavolt dismissed, dropping to the floor, eagerly awaiting a story.

She looked at him. "You really want to know?"

"No, I'm just sitting here because I like the floor." After a moment, he added, "Sarcasm."

Giving him a pained look, Luminas responded, "I know." She hesitated for a long time, then began, "I was always the weird girl in school. I think that stems from back in first grade when I blew up the ducklings. People didn't like me much, but I made it through okay with the help of my fellow pyromaniacs and went to college. Unfortunately, several--well, more like a lot--of these people that disliked me attended the very same college as I did. Everything was all jolly and good until my senior year, when several of these people caught me alone in a parking lot at about one in the morning. They hit me, slapped me around a little, and then they poured lighter fluid down my throat and all over me. I think they were getting some lewd ideas when I didn't drop dead immediately, so I pulled a lighter out and threatened to set myself of fire. At that point, they threw some weird, dangerous combination of acids and toxic chemicals that they'd stolen from the chemistry labs at me and ran off." She paused for a moment. "I assume they were trying to kill me, but what they didn't realize was how cool I though I'd look blowing up. I figured I was dead anyway, with a gallon of lighter fluid sloshing around in my stomach and acid eating away at my flesh. So I took the lighter back out and torched myself. Well, I suppose technically I didn't torch myself, because I didn't blow up. I didn't feel a thing, besides a tingly feeling where the fire was burning. Eventually it went out, and I felt...cleansed. No pain, no death...I was perfectly fine. I went back home, but I couldn't sleep--too dazed, I guess. The next morning when I was eating breakfast in school, I saw the guys that had attacked me. And believe me, you did not want to be on campus that morning. I managed to burn down half the school. Realizing that somehow I'd been given the power to control fire and also that I'd just committed a very serious crime, I ran off and left the city. And that's how I ended up here."

Megavolt stared at her for a long time. "Wow. That's...something."

She wrapped her arms around herself. "Yeah. It was something."

"You look older than a college senior."

"I am. That was four years ago. I'm twenty-six."

He continued to stare at her, his gaze searching. Finally, he questioned, "Did you get revenge?"

Luminas seemed startled by the question and didn't answer right away. Eventually, though, she swallowed something preventing her from speaking and her eyes hardened. "Yeah, I did get revenge. It was the first thing on my agenda."

"Oh." Megavolt sensed some emotion roiling beneath the surface of her words, but he was not proficient in reading the way others felt. "I didn't, and I've been in this business since highschool, so you're doing better than I am."

"Highschool? That must have been awhile ago."

"I don't remember."

"How old are you?"

He shrugged.

"Not even an idea?"

"Call Quackerjack. He knows."

"Well, I'm not that interested," she snapped. Whether she was taking offense at the fact he'd suggested she should call Quackerjack or just the fact that he'd implied she was interested, he wasn't sure.

Megavolt yawned and looked at the window, and, seeing the sun peeking over the horizon, observed, "Whoa, the sun's going crazy."

"No it isn't, we've just been up all night," Luminas informed him, looking in the same direction. She fingered one of her many earrings, then said, "I need to see Negaduck."

"Yeah, but Luminas--"

"Save it, Sparky, just take me to him."

He sighed in defeat. "Okay, if you say so, but you'll probably be sorry."

~

There was dead silence in the Fearsome Five's secret hideout, and Megavolt didn't like it. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been there alone.

Luminas poked him with a finger and prodded, "Come on! I don't have all day!"

"Where're you going, jail?" Megavolt muttered.

"Very funny."

Megavolt smirked, then gathered up his courage to call, "Hey, boss?"

There was silence. Then the tight, extremely annoyed voice of Negaduck questioned, "What do you want?!"

"She woke up," Megavolt replied timidly.

Negaduck stomped into the room. "Okay, Sparky, this better be goo--" He stopped dead in his tracks and ran his eyes down the length of her body.

"Alright, you've had a good look," Luminas said suddenly. She stepped forward. "I want to be part of the Fearsome Five."