by Roaming Tigress
Chapter Five:
Endless Night
After ensuring Gosalyn was doing fine back home, Darkwing Duck continued to scour the city for Steelbeak. He checked the rouge rooster's usual late-night hangouts; the Old Haunt, the nightclub, even the local theaters. Nothing. Not even a blonde, silver-tipped feather smelling of English Feather cologne. After a three-hour search that lasted until the wee hours of the morning, he reluctantly decided to call it quits and try again tomorrow morning.
The mallard did not sleep well that night. Tossing and turning repeatedly, he finally got to bed at two in the morning. Once again, it would not be a peaceful sleep, for there was nightmare after nightmare. The chilling thoughts of Roberto and Amelia laughing at their son's planned demise came back to haunt him.
"What the . . . ? !" Drake gasped, suddenly jumping up on the mattress and looking around nervously with beads of cold sweat dripped down his worry-lined forehead. "Just a dream . . . " He muttered once more before settling back to bed.
At the St. Canard Penitentiary, Steelbeak remained sullenly calm as three armed guards twice his size walked him toward his cell. The heavy muzzle kept him from saying unrepeatable things, but the sight of Javert sneering at him from behind the bars sent his blood boiling. He lunged toward him and desperately tried to push the heavyset bulldogs aside.
"Move on, move on!" Barked the third guard, dragging Steelbeak down toward the last cell at the end of the row. "The sooner you get in, the better!"
Javert emitted a closed mouth chuckle and smiled smugly at the rooster's predicament. "My, my, my, look at what the bulldogs have dragged in!"
Adjacent from his cell was Roberto, whom was looking on with aloof amusement. He knew that he soon be out of jail and back to his scheming ways before long. As tempting as it was to utter an insult to his son, he held his tongue and smirked. "Indeed, Javert. I knew eventually my son's anger would one day get the best of him!"
"If you ask me, they should've put him in the stocks . . . " Javert muttered, crossing his arms. "Better yet, the death penalty!"
Once the muzzle and handcuffs were removed, the guards shoved Steelbeak into the cell and quickly shut the gate. He paced around for a moment in frustration before repeatedly banging his head against the cell's wall. "I knew I shouldda got away when I could've!"
"What's done was done, Valentino!" Roberto said coldly, sitting at the edge of the cot-like bed and mentally counting the number of times he heard a metallic clang against the bricks. "You got yourself into this mess by just being born!"
"T'anks fer de reminder, dad!" Steelbeak rumbled, hitting his head against the wall one last time. "Maybe if mom kept 'er legs closed and youse got snipped I wouldn't be 'ere ta make yer life a livin' misery!"
Realizing what his son had just said, Roberto fell silent. What he said was true, and realizing this, his smug smile turned into a morose scowl. "You may be right there, but you certainly cannot blame everything that happened to you on your parents. It was your choice to hang with the wrong crowd, and it was your fault those two people were killed that one winter's night!"
"Well t'anks fer bringin' dat up!" Steelbeak replied sarcastically, grimacing painfully at the memories of the accident. "It's a damn shame I'm not in da same cell as youse! I'd beat youse so 'ard dere wouldn't be anyt'ing left!"
"Don't play smartass with me, lowlife!" Roberto roared. "I can kill you with my own bare hands!"
"I'd really like ta see yas try!" Steelbeak shouted back daringly.
"Don't tempt me!"
"Would you two knobs stop arguing and let me get some sleep?" Negaduck yelled, his gravelly voice echoing through the hall. "Like father, like son . . . "
"I refuse to call him my son . . . " Roberto grumbled, looking over toward the direction of Public Enemy Number Two. "This thing they call Steelbeak is no more welcome into my life than a mosquito. Just like that parasite, I will crush him under my fist!"
"I must tell you ol' metal-mouth is much more powerful than you'd think," warned a random prisoner. "He threw a good buddy of mine through a window and ended up in hospital for five months."
"Him? Hah! He's nothing but a sissy . . . " Negaduck scoffed. "I could take care of that overgrown marshmallow Easter Peep with one finger!"
"Well who's de one who's afraid of bunnies?" Steelbeak rolled his eyes and chuckled slightly.
"Looks like our way to freedom is just around the corner!" Javert spoke in a sing-songy tone, watching a guard pass by with a ring of keys around his belt.
"You're a free man, Mr. Volatili," the guard spoke, unlocking Roberto's cell, and then moving towards Javert's.
"You as well, Mr. Adair."
"How could dis be . . . ?" Steelbeak wondered out loud, raising an eyebrow watching the entire situation from the corner of his cell. Once the coast was clear, he clamped his jaws around the bars of his cell and began to gnaw, knowing from experience that freedom was only a few quick bites away. His urge to escape overrode a sizzling, burning sensation to the rooster's softer mouth tissues.
Suddenly, Steelbeak jumped back with a scream. He had been electrocuted, and a few seconds later, his tongue was bleeding. The other prisoners laughed at his mishap and he silently cursed them.
"Gah . . . What de 'ell?"
Further inspection revealed tiny hot wires that were taped against the jail bars so that the metal-biting bird wouldn't get out so easily as he had in the past. The Penitentiary seemed to have smartened up, he thought. Engraged, Steelbeak tore at the wires with his hands and ended up electrocuting himself again. He tried two more times, but with no successl.
Defeated, Steelbeak flopped onto the bed and hid his face with a pillow in humiliation. i>How dare dey release my father and dat madman Javert and not me! How DARE dey degrade me like dis!/i>