Chapter 3

Lady C spun around and delightedly giggled. She was so excited; she couldn't wait for her project to be completed. Just then her communicator buzzed. She angrily answered the call and argued with the person on the other end. She ended the call and loudly snorted. Lady C dispiritedly spoke, "Aw! I have to go and supervise the preliminary powering up of the mind control device. There's no way out of it." She irately stomped her feet and groaned, "Ooh, Mr. Darkwing; I so wanted to hear you scream your final scream. Mmm, I bet your death scream is wickedly delicious. It's such a tragedy that I have to leave." Lady C regretfully trudged out of the room.

Darkwing was appalled; he was going to commit suicide with his finally moment to be frozen in time and Lady C behaved like she was going to miss her favorite soap opera. The globe lowered from the ceiling a little more. Darkwing suffered to try and get his body back under his control but he was unsuccessful. He slowly pushed the sword into his abdomen. He gritted his teeth when he realized he had penetrated his clothes with the sword. Darkwing moaned; he began to acknowledge that he might not be able to survive this trap. Despite his tenacious nature, he began to shed tears. He thought about how he won't be around to see Gosalyn grow up into a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman. He whimpered about why Darkwing's job as a crime-fighter had to negate Drake's chance of being a father.

Darkwing came upon a realization; he's not only Darkwing Duck but Drake Mallard. Lady C has been giving instructions to Darkwing Duck but his alter ego Drake Mallard hasn't been given any orders. Theoretically, Drake would still have free will. Also Drake has a strong duty as a father to take care of Gosalyn, which means he would have to remain alive to keep his fatherly obligation.

The globe inched downward a little further. Darkwing responded by pushing the sword into his abdomen a little more. Darkwing gasped; the sword had pierced the skin of his torso. He felt his warm blood trickle down his belly. Darkwing knew he didn't have much time. With the aid of ancient Mesopotamian psychic meditation techniques, Darkwing concentrated his thoughts on being Drake Mallard and his duty as a father. Darkwing completely zoned out the world around him and delved deep into his subconscious mind. He prayed that the mind control device didn't have any jurisdiction in the subconscious domain. After what seemed like an eon, Darkwing's hands lost its grip on the samurai sword. The sword fell from his hands and clanked noisily onto the base. Darkwing deliriously chuckled; he did it! While still on his knees, he fell forward on his hands and his body began to violently shake. He feared that he might go into a seizure but he was too determined at this point to give up. He concentrated once again and got his body to relax.

He jumped up onto his feet and looked around. The emancipation of his mind took longer than he had hoped. The glass had lowered to a point where he couldn't slide out from under it. He knew that he better get out of the glass orb before it locked with the base and the liquid nitrogen was released or all his efforts would've been for naught. He grabbed the samurai sword, screamed out a fierce martial arts cry and hit the sword against the glass with all of his might. The force reverberated throughout his body and the sword within his hands shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. Darkwing barked, "Authentic Tsubasa samurai sword, my plucking tail feathers!"

The glass globe lowered to the point where it touched the base. Darkwing loudly sighed then reached on his person and pulled out a large multipurpose tool. He delightedly smirked; lucky for him, Lady C was too modest to have searched him everywhere. He pressed a button and a glass cutter popped out of the unit. He quickly cut a hole in the glass and sprang out of the globe. He swiftly got out of the room before the liquid nitrogen was released from the base of the large snow globe. Darkwing put the handy gadget back on himself. He checked his wounded belly, he was very fortunate the wound wasn't fatal. He smiled that he was still in business. Darkwing looked down the empty passageway and calculated his next move.

Darkwing headed down a passageway that while under mind control, he and Lady C passed through. There was a room in this passageway that Lady C stopped in. Even though she instructed him to wait in the hallway, he deduced that was the room where Launchpad was being processed. Darkwing originally thought she went into a powder room but a powder room wouldn't normally have screaming. Also he would've recognized those screams anywhere, it was his sidekick Launchpad.

Darkwing stopped in front of the doorway to the room. It was a mechanical sliding door so he knew he would have to time his attack perfectly. He groused that he didn't have his gas gun or his trademark canister of blue smoke. This would've been the perfect opportunity for one of his grand entrances. He huffed and took off his jacket an acid cufflink. At least, he had the means to improvise.

In the medium-sized, futuristic processing room a petite Egg Man and a brawny Egg Woman guarded the processing machine and pod that Launchpad McQuack was lying in. The door to the room slide open then shut.

The Egg Woman looked to the closed door then asked her fellow Egg Man; "Did the door just open on its own?"

The Egg Man answered, "I hope not. That would mean we have a phantom."

The Egg Woman replied, "Ha, ha. Very funny."

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" a disembodied voice bellowed.

The tiny Egg Man jumped into the Egg Woman's muscular arms. He whimpered, "What the.…"

A hissing sound came from behind the Egg Troops. The woman with her partner in her arms turned around to face the source of the sound. A machine panel was sizzling and popping. Something was burning the panel up. A small explosion knocked the woman over onto her backside. The tiny Egg Man fell out of his partner's arms. He bounced up and ran around in a circle. The Egg Woman had got up and ran to get a fire extinguisher. She sprayed the machinery with the fire extinguishing foam as smoke began to billow from the machinery.

The Egg Man hollered, "I can't see a thing in all this smoke!"

The Egg Woman yelled, "Be cool. It's under control. There's no reason to be terrified."

"I beg to differ.…"

The Egg Man screamed as the Egg Woman froze in her tracks.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night!"

The Egg Man hyperventilated then coughed from too much smoke inhalation.

"I am the brain freeze when you slurp your Slushie!"

The Egg Woman whined.

The Egg Man yowled, "It's a phantom!!"

"No, but you're close. I am—DARKWING DUCK!!!"

The Egg Woman dropped her fire extinguisher and screamed, "Lady C promised he was dead. It's the phantom of Darkwing Duck!!"

The Egg Woman and Man were suddenly knocked across the room by a double flip patented web kick. They hit the far wall and fell into an unconscious heap.

"Yeah, and Lady C claimed my gift was authentic. I want compensation," Darkwing replied.

The ventilation system had begun to remove the smoke from the room so that Darkwing could easily see Launchpad's processing pod against the wall. The lid of the pod had popped open when the control machine was damaged. Darkwing ran over to the pod and pulled his unconscious sidekick out. Darkwing slung Launchpad over his shoulder and quickly left the processing room.

Darkwing surreptitiously slinked through the FOWL facility hallway the best he could with the added burden of carrying his unconscious sidekick around. Darkwing eventually ended up in what looked to him like some sort of engine room. He put down the still unconscious Launchpad up against the near wall. Darkwing then studied the room. In the middle of the large, dimly lit room a hot engine droned, against the furthest wall from the door were three large exhaust fans that were encased with protective fencing. Darkwing momentarily mused; there seemed to be some familiarity to the room. He snapped his fingers; this room resembled the engine room for FOWL's DD sky facility. He chuckled at the notion that FOWL's architectural design team has really gotten lazy. Most likely, this room like the one on DD didn't contain an essential machine. Perhaps this was the machinery responsible for the Egg Sentinels surrounding the above grounds of the facility.

Darkwing checked on his sleeping sidekick. Launchpad's vitals seemed very strong; Darkwing just wished he would wake up. Darkwing hoped his pal was ok and that Launchpad didn't receive any permanent brainwashing or brain damage from the processing pod.

Darkwing heaved a long sigh. He figured he might have to leave Launchpad here. Darkwing knew he had to go and destroy The Consbrainer 800 before it goes online or all hope in the world will be lost. Darkwing planned that he will hide Launchpad out here, go destroy The Consbrainer 800 and then come back here to get Launchpad out of the facility.

Darkwing spoke to his slumbering sidekick, "Don't worry LP. I'll put you someplace safe and come back for you. I promise."

"Are you sure? Promises are made to be broken—like your neck," a muffled voice said from behind.

Darkwing spun around to the source of the voice. Lady C defiantly stood in the doorway of the engine room. She reached into her pocket and produced the Consbrainer 45. Darkwing immediately kicked the device out of her hand. It flew through the air and landed deep into the droning engine.

Lady C screeched, "You creep! I don't know how you escaped but it doesn't matter. I don't need the Consbrainer 45 to take care of the likes of you."

Darkwing laughed. "We shall see. And I escaped with no thanks to your fake gift."

Lady C snorted, "You're so rude and ungrateful. Well, this isn't fake." She reached into her cloak and brought out a handful of small daggers. Darkwing began to warily move away from her.

The droning engine began to noisily clank then it sputtered to a halt.

Lady C snarled, "Oh fiddlesticks! The engine to power the Egg Sentinels ambush has stopped."

"Ha!" Darkwing gloated.

"Whatever, within an hour it won't matter. The Consbrainer 800s will both be online and the entire world will belong to FOWL. But I do plan on finishing what I started with you. Putting your head on sliver platter will be just as nice."

"Don't bet on it, lady!"

Lady C growled and tossed her daggers one by one at Darkwing. Darkwing easily dodged the barrage of daggers. He attempted to capture her when she brought out from her cloak another handful of daggers. She quickly tossed them at Darkwing. He was caught a little off guard but luckily got out of the way even though his outfit suffered some rips. He jumped back to assess the situation better when a dagger sliced his shoulder. He winced; fortunate for him, the gash was superficial.

Darkwing's staunch moral fiber prevented him from outright attacking a woman. He reasoned that he could possibly subdue her; but with Lady C's deadly aggressive attacks he wondered how much longer he could last by staying on the defensive. He grunted when flying daggers slashed him on both arms.

Lady C snickered, "Mr. Darkwing, you're not so smug, now."

Darkwing was disgusted with being used as a living pin cushion. He had about all he could take from Lady C. He sneeringly taunted, "You really want a fight, lady? You got it!" Darkwing clenched his fists and decided to go on the offensive.

Lady C ecstatically clapped her hands. She sang, "Ooh! Finally! You're taking me seriously!" She brightly announced, "I was just playing with you. Now, I'll show you why they call me Lady Cleaver! Let's do this!!" With that she flung her white cloak off.

Darkwing gawked at Lady C's revelation. She still had on her white muzzle but this was the first time Darkwing clearly saw what she was hiding under her cloak. She had a willowy physique and a bright canary yellow complexion. She sported a short, sapphire blue, feathered coiffure with long, feathered bangs that obscured her left eye. Her completely leather outfit consisted of a light-blue, short-sleeved midriff top. A low-rider, light-blue, upper thigh length skirt with two slits starting from the hips. A very short, loin length, white apron that ties in the back in a large bow with two long sashes. She also wore light-blue, short gloves and calf length, light-blue, high heeled boots. Around her neck, she wore a long white pearl necklace that draped down a little below her exposed belly.

Darkwing silently ogled Lady C. He was completely stunned; he thought the cloak was to hide a monstrosity. He thought Lady C and her outfit was something, but there was something about her outfit and her that disturbed him.

Lady C playfully posed. She demurely giggled, "I can tell you're very impressed. This should impress you even more." She produced a very large meat cleaver, leaped up and soared towards Darkwing with a spin kick.

Darkwing ducked under her attack. "Very impressive. That's the best execution of that move I've seen in a long time."

Lady C landed on her feet and smiled. "Why, thank you." She daintily bowed.

Darkwing figured now was the perfect time to unleash his patented specialty, the double flip web kick. He rocketed towards Lady C while she was off guard. Or at least he thought she was off guard. Lady C performed a back somersault kick and knocked Darkwing out of the air. He angrily tumbled backwards onto his feet. He couldn't believe she deftly countered his special move.

Lady C placed one hand on her hip and with the other hand, wagged her cleaver at him. She huffed, "And I thought you were finally going to act like a gentleman."

"Harrumph, if you haven't figured it out; I'm no gentleman."

"Oh fine. Have it you're way. That makes my job a lot easier." Lady C swiftly pounced Darkwing.

Darkwing grappled with Lady C. He didn't know if it was because he was so fatigued but to him it seemed that Lady C was getting faster as they battled. Furthermore, she was a whole lot stronger than she should be for a woman of her built.

Lady C easily grabbed Darkwing's neck and lifted him off the ground. He thrashed his hands out and vainly tried to dislodge her strong grip. He inadvertently smacked her across the face. She roared and brutally threw him down to the floor. Darkwing hit the floor on his back so hard, he temporarily blacked out.

Lady C enraged tossed her torn muzzle aside. She knelt down to the floor and straddled the unconscious prostrate Darkwing.

Darkwing felt a tender kiss on his forehead. He moaned in agony and blearily opened his eyes. He saw the unmasked Lady C straddling him with her cleaver in hand. She swiftly straightened up and raised the cleaver high above her head.

Lady C crooned, "Good-night forever…."

Darkwing screamed, "BINKIE!!!"