Back To Basics
by
C. "Sparky" Read

Chapter Ten

"This time I definitely think it was stupid to leave the others behind," said Megavolt as he brought the car to a stop in a shadow. "What good is having a gang if you can't haul them around with you everywhere?"

"I think you're missing the point." Quackerjack climbed out of the car and looked around. "The gang is to impress Negaduck. We don't want them in the way or anything. Besides, they're 'backup'."

"Oh." Megavolt stood next to the clown. "This is the place, I guess."

Quackerjack nodded. "Yep, big, dark, foreboding wherehouse...seems about right."

"My kind of place."

Megavolt and Quackerjack turned in surprise.

"Negaduck!" exclaimed Megavolt nervously. "What are you" His voice trailed off as he caught sight of the colossal flamethrower Negaduck was waving.

"You moronic nobs," growled Negaduck, taking a step forward. "You're like...you're like...cockroaches!" He shot a fireball at the duo, who managed to dodge. "I'll snuff you out, right here!"

"Wait!" cried Quackerjack, panicked. "WeWe're about to steal something big, just like you told us to!"

"Yeah, is that wrong?"

Negaduck glared at Megavolt. "No, it isn't wrong," he said, suddenly condescending. "I just decided not to let you idiots back into the Five, that's all."

Quackerjack gasped. "ButBut why not?"

"Because I hate you, that's why!" roared Negaduck, letting loose a barrage of fireballs.

Megavolt and Quackerjack threw themselves on the ground. "So what are you going to be then, the Threatening Three?" Megavolt wanted to know.

Negaduck shrugged and leaned on the flamethrower. "Maybe," he answered nonchalantly, "or maybe I'll find some competent criminals for my gang."

Quackerjack nudged Megavolt. "Told you Negaduck liked gangs," he hissed.

"And now," went on Negaduck, aiming the flamethrower at the two cowering villains, "say goodbye"

He was cut off by the sound of a tank rumbling to a halt.

Steelbeak threw open the hatch. "Hey!" he shouted, "what are yous clowns doing here?"

Negaduck's eyes burned red. "I am working!" he roared, and promptly torched the rooster. Megavolt and Quackerjack crept away unnoticed.

Steelbeak, ash-covered, coughed. "My suit!" he cried. "Why you...Get him!" he shouted, and a swarm of Eggmen emerged from auxiliary hatches in the tank.

Negaduck fired his flamethrower at them, but it no longer worked. Angry, he tossed the useless weapon to the ground and slipped away into the shadows.

"He's gone, Steelbeak," an Eggman announced after a minute of searching.

Steelbeak finished brushing the soot off of his clothes. "Forget him," he said at last. "We have bigger fish to fry." He hopped out of the tank and headed towards the wherehouse, followed by his men.

"They're going to get there first!" worried Quackerjack from where he and Megavolt hid behind a dumpster.

"Not if we find a faster way in," countered Megavolt. He looked around. "There," he said at last, pointing to a window which was at least four stories up. There was no ladder.

"Oh, all right," said Quackerjack sarcastically, "Just a moment while I put on my wings, okay?"

Megavolt wasn't fazed. "Come on," he said, and he began to scale the wall, using its weathered cracks as leverage.

Quackerjack watched in silence for a minute. "So, you do this often?"

The electrical genius ignored the comment. "Hurry up," was all he said.

"We'd better," agreed the clown at last, consulting his watch. He began to follow his companion.

They reached the window about ten minutes later, and hauled themselves inside.

Quackerjack examined his hands in distaste. "Oh sure, you have gloves," he complained. "Now where?"

"I dunno," admitted Megavolt. "This way." He picked a random corridor and headed down it.

It was very dark, and they had to feel their way along the walls. More than once Megavolt complained that he couldn't just illuminate the hall. Finally they reached a railing.

"There!" crowed Quackerjack as they looked over the edge into the main storage room below. He whistled. "Now that's big!"

It sure was. Whatever was under that tarp was approximately thirty feet high and a good fifteen feet wide.

"But how are we gonna get it out of here?" demanded Megavolt.

Quackerjack scratched his head. "How are we gonna get down there?" he added.

They were both forced to fall silent and duck out of sight when Steelbeak and the Eggmen marched into the wherehouse.

"There it is, boys!" announced Steelbeak, gesturing to the tarp-covered object. "Now get that thing uncovered!"

The Eggmen rushed forward.

"Halt!" cried a female voice.

The Eggmen froze, confused.

"You cannot remove that tarpaulin without first undergoing the proper legal procedures!" went on the lead SHUSH agent, stepping out of the shadows. She was followed by the rest of the agents.

"Oh look boys, its the Dopes in Black," smirked Steelbeak. "Now, I said get that thing uncovered!"

The F.O.W.L. agents grabbed one end of the tarp and pulled.

"You are not complying!" argued the woman. The SHUSH agents grabbed the other end of the tarp and pulled.

"Oh geez," muttered Steelbeak, slumping.

The tarp-pulling contest went on, with the Eggmen pulling in one direction while the SHUSH agents pulled in one, then another direction. The tarp slid off of the object, which turned out to be an immense armored truck. The agents kept pulling the tarp, however, and managed to maneuver themselves underneath where Quackerjack and Megavolt were hiding.

The two villains looked at eachother.

Steelbeak fumed. "Will yous knock it off?" he yelled, just before the sound of two people shouting "Geronimo!" caught everyone by surprise.

Quackerjack and Megavolt landed on the outstretched tarp, and rolled off.

"That was cool," Megavolt had to admit.

"The truck!" shouted Quackerjack, and they ran quickly towards it.

"Eh? Stop those whackos!" ordered Steelbeak.

"Capture those two!" cried the SHUSH woman.

Dropping the tarp, all the agents rushed the duo.

Luckily, the two villains got inside and locked the doors just in time. "Okay, start it up and let's hurry back!" said Quackerjack, strapping himself in shotgun.

"Um..." Megavolt looked around as he sat down in the driver's seat. "I don't see any keys. Drat! I could just jumpstart it if I only had any energy!"

"Or I could get it going it if I had my Hilda Hotwire doll," Quackerjack fretted. "What do we do?"

The windshield and windows began rapidly accumulating agents of both sorts, clamoring to get in.

"Throw the parking brake!" cried Quackerjack, doing just that.

The truck began to roll forward. Slowly.

"Oh," said Megavolt in mock terror, "I fear we may burn up during reentry!"

"Shut up," snarled the clown. He rubbed his bill thoughtfully. Then he snapped his fingers. "How could I have forgotten! You steer." He unstrapped himself and ran to the back of the truck.

"Gee I don't think I can control it," Megavolt called over his shoulder. "What are you doing back there, anyways" He stopped when he heard the unmistakable sound of a fuse being lit. Slowly, he faced front and fastened his seat belt.

There was an explosion and, propelled by the rockets Quackerjack had stuffed in the back of it, the truck shot forward and through the wall as agents scattered everywhere.

The police who had been staked out outside the wherehouse yelled and fled in all directions as the truck bounced through their ranks in the direction of Darkwing, Launchpad, and Gizmoduck, who were clustered near a tree.

"Ooh! Ooh!" cried Quackerjack, resuming his seat.

"I know," replied Megavolt. "Bonus round."

Launchpad and Gizmo took off in opposite directions. Darkwing, however, tried running away from the truck. He was nowhere near fast enough, however, and wound up with his back plastered to the truck's front grille.

"Augh!" screamed Darkwing.

"You," breathed Quackerjack in awe, "are the greatest Road Menace in the history of the world!"

"Thanks," answered Megavolt. "Hold on."

The truck, still propelled by rockets, jumped the rail of the freeway and started across the Audobon Bay Bridge, neatly plowing aside all traffic. The police, who had regrouped, tore after them.

"We're gonna make it!" said Quackerjack triumphantly, noting that the time on the dashboard clock read 11:30 PM.

"Of course we are," answered his companion. "What, you doubted me?"

Before the clown could answer, however, there was a loud clank from overhead. A SWAT team helicopter had landed on the roof. At that same moment, Darkwing managed to hoist himself up onto the hood. He clung to the windshield wipers, a menacing gleam in his eye.

"You!" he yelled. "You two have been the bane of my life! Stop this truck, right now!"

A SWAT member, tethered to his helicopter, leaned over the windshield. "Stop this truck!" he ordered.

"You heard them," shrugged Quackerjack, putting on his seat belt.

"Right-o," answered Megavolt. He hit the brakes just as the SWAT member reached the hood.

The sudden stop caused the helicopter to tumble forward, over the edge of the bridge, and towards the water. The startled SWAT member grabbed Darkwing's cape, and they were both pulled after it by the tether into the Bay.

Megavolt released the brakes, and the rockets pushed them forward once again. But they had lost a lot of speed, and undoubtedly the pyrotechnics were beginning to die out. The police caught up to the truck, but could not get around the massive vehicle.

"Halt!" cried the elderly woman over her bullhorn.

Megavolt knew better than to try it a second time, however, and drove on. "Once we get off of this bridge," he pointed out, "they might be able to stop us."

"Maybe it's time to find out what's in this truck once and for all," said Quackerjack. He headed to the back compartment.

"Quacky," called Megavolt after a few minutes of silence. "Quacky, what is it?"

"Just a second!" came the reply.

"I don't think we have a second!" yelled Megavolt. They were very near the end of the bridge.

Something began to rumble loudly, and with such force that the entire truck shook slightly. Then Megavolt heard the back doors of the truck being opened.

"What are you doing?" he cried. There was the sound of what had to have been several hundred gallons of water pouring out onto the pavement behind them.

Through the rearview mirror, Megavolt could see the police carsall of them, and the tanksbeing swept off of the bridge and into the Bay by the torrent of water, which appeared soapy. Quackerjack arrived back in the front and sat down.

"Well?" Megavolt prompted.

"Well what?"

"Well what was back there?"

"Oh." Quackerjack smiled. "You won't believe it..." he began, but had to stop to buckle himself in once again as Megavolt plowed through a partition in the freeway just off of the bridge.

There was a roar from overhead, and both villains watched Negaduck's yellow, red, and black helicopter heading into the distance. "He's going ahead to meet us!" exclaimed Quackerjack. "We've still got a chance! But" he stared in horror at the dashboard clock"we're almost out of time."

"We've got to make it!" said Megavolt, praying that the rockets would last. "I like that dental plan way too much."

"There's the factory!" cried Quackerjack, watching the helicopter land behind the building. "WeUh oh."

"Now what?"

"How exactly are we going to stop?"

Megavolt hadn't thought of that.