Unfinished Business
by Roaming Tigress

Chapter Eight:
The Hunt




"If I catch you sneaking anything, I'll put you back in jail so fast your head will be spinning!" Darkwing warned Steelbeak as he opened the door to let him and Gosalyn inside.

Steelbeak merely shrugged indifferently and rolled his eyes. Darkwing's home was just as he had expected; nothing fancy, but not exactly a warehouse hideout. He laid his eyes on a couple of framed newspaper articles and clicked his tongue against the roof of his beak, sarcastically impressed by the vigilante's successions.

"So . . . Eh . . . Dese are yer trophies? Pretty good considerin' youse only done dis fer twenny years!"

"T'yeah! ," Gosalyn exclaimed, settling down into a blue armchair next to a statue of Basil of Baker Street.

"Of course they're my trophies!" Darkwing flusteredly replied, motioning for Steelbeak to take a seat on a jade-coloured couch. You think I'd keep newspaper clippings that were centered around Gizmoduck? Sit down before you hurt yourself."

Gosalyn sighed and crossed her arms impatiently. "Now that we dragged the jailbird out of the cage, can we just get to the planning?"

"We're getting to it, Gos - - "

"I still say it would be best ta let me take care of 'im!" Steelbeak snidely interrupted, the feathers at the back of his neck raised with agitation. "All I was gonna do was remove a coupla lowlifes from de gene pool. I'm pretty soiten nobody would miss 'em!"

"Steelbeak, Steelbeak, Steelbeak . . . " Darkwing sighed, wearily massaging his temples. "We're going in circles here again . . . "

"Like I said, yer wastin' yer time!" Steelbeak groaned, sitting in a slouched up position.

"I am not!" Darkwing snapped, standing up and marching over to him boldly. "And what would it matter if I'm wasting my time or not? My duty is to protect the city's inhabitants, and if that means I have to protect the villains from other villains, then so be it! I've helped Megavolt a few times, so why are you any different?"

Gosalyn got up and stood defiantly by her father's side. "Dad, don't waste your breath on him. If he wants to get into trouble again, let him."

Steelbeak fell silent and looked across the room with a blank stare. When he did finally speak, his voice was cold as his beak.

"Yes . . . Let me! Even if it means being sent to jail, on death row, so be it!"

"I must tell you this once and once only; when I kill Steelbeak, I want to be paid an additional five hundred. Your failure to do this would result in something along the lines of what I'll put him through," Javert warned his companions with all the nastiness he could muster. "Now, that doesn't sound very nice now, does it?"
Amelia and Roberto nodded nervously in agreement. In comparison to their ages, Javert was a mere child but one that needed to be greatly feared. At the age of twenty-one he had claimed the life of three hundred people and they weren't looking to become his three hundred and third victim.

"Good. Now lets go looking for him, shall we?" Javert sneered, leading them to sleek black car he called The Deathtrap. Once inside, they headed toward an upper-class neighbourhood were Steelbeak owned an Italian style mansion overlooking the Audubon Bay.

"Here we go . . . " Roberto cooed, spotting the elaborately designed establishment enclosed in a iron fence on 24601 Jaybird Avenue.

"Stay here!" Javert hissed as he parked the car at the corner of the street. "It looks as if we have our fox right at his den!"

To his disappointment, Steelbeak was not at home. However, Javert was a patient duck, and he would return.

"He must be at F.O.W.L HQ. Get us there!" Amelia demanded with an evil glint in her eyes. "I want my son to suffer!"

"Patience, my dear, patience!" Javert exclaimed, grinning broadly and placing his handgun back inside his trench coat. "We will return at night. By then, he should be back. "

"Don't you mean, will be back?" Roberto asked, once again losing his trust on the sniper. "When he does return, I don't want you to just put a bullet in his head and be done with it. To hell with clean kills, I want his death to be a as bloody and painful as possible!"

"No need to repeat yourselves," Javert assured as he started up the car. Before he took off, he looked back at his companions with a smirk. "Do you not trust me? I am a professional at cruelty!"

"If you say what you are, tell us the plans you have," Amelia spoke slowly and calmly.

"Arsenic laced bullets, madame!" Javert replied joyously. "Only one bullet is needed to kill him. Trust me, there will be blood and suffering."

"With only one bullet?!" Roberto exclaimed, clenching his fists. "Don't be absurd! My son is huge! One bullet cannot kill him, arsenic laced or not!"

"Do not question my ways!" Javert snapped, instantly silencing the old rooster. "You are right, he's a big guy, but one bullet will do the trick. You see, left untreated, it'll take him approximately three to four hours to die. Very painfully, I must add. Internal bleeding is a very sore way to go."

"But what if he does go for treatment?" Amelia asked. "He'd be up on his feet in no time and we'll have to go back to square one!"

"Simple. We won't let him go for treatment!" Javert answered excitedly. "We'll lock him in a room for three hours, and we'll go out somewhere. To the theater, perhaps. When we get back, we'll have a dead rooster!"

Back at the Avian Way household, Steelbeak had worked himself up in such a state that Darkwing was forced to slip a sleeping pill in his coffee. It worked, and the rooster was sleeping easy within fifteen minutes.

"Sometimes, Gos, I wish I thought of that back in the days you were bouncing off the wall," Darkwing winked. "Keep watch over him while I'll go out to the grocery store. When he wakes up, he might be a bit disoriented."

Gosalyn let out a small groan and plopped herself down on the chair across from Steelbeak. "If you insist. If he does anything 'funny' I'll just smack him upside the head with

"Thank you, Gosalyn."

Steelbeak dreamt of what his life would be like if he was born a "normal" child. To be loved, respected, treated kindly. Without the deformity, Valentino Volatili -- Steelbeak -- was just another blissful boy in the playground. His parents spoiled him rotten and Darkwing Duck didn't hound him to the ends of the earth. All in all, it was an easy life; one that he should of always had.

As a dare, Gosalyn reached out and touched Steelbeak's beak. He groaned softly in his sleep but otherwise didn't react. She pulled back her hand, anticipating the snap of his deadly jaws but only saw a look of serenity. It was a look she never knew villains could ever have.