Chapter 2:
The City Goes to The Villains

I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation You're living in the past it's a new generation A girl can do what she wants to do and that's What I'm gonna do An' I don't give a damn ' bout my bad reputation

Oh no, not me

An' I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation Never said I wanted to improve my stature An' I'm only feelin' good When I'm havin' fun When I don't have to please no one An' I don't give a damn 'Bout my bad reputation

Oh no, not me Oh no, not me

* * * Celeste gulped slightly at his comment about being caught. She didn't exactly think her dad would enjoy bailing her out of prison. Again. She nervously fingered the red cel phone in one pocket, wondering if she should call him and give him a head's up on her idea first but by then Quackerjack had already blown up the wall to the police department and it was a little late for second thoughts.

With a big grin on his face, Steelbeak parked the black Jaguar at the side of the rode. With Victoria by his side, he came striding over to Quackerjack and Celeste and couldn't wait to tell them the good news.

"Say 'ello to de new mayor!" He said with pride, draping an arm around Victoria. He could hardly contain his excitement. "Let's jus' say fer t'ree million dollars, I kinda talked ol' Mayor Merganser into retirement ta let da big boid - - ME - - in!"

"And now, offically, the city belongs to the villains!" Victoria added with an evil grin. "There's nothing that even that Darkwing Duck could do now."

"Or de police!" Steelbeak chuckled. "After all, it was a gentlemanly takeover. I didn't feel like 'aving dat old duck's blood all over dis jacket. It's just been drycleaned, ya know."

She sighed in relief as she saw that Steele and Victoria had arrived. Ok, at least they had reinforments. She dug out a stick of dynomite and followed QJ in, hoping up on the cheif's desk and glaring menacingly at him "Hand over the keys to the jail cells or we'll blow this place skyhigh, got it?" She smirked as the wimp actually did as he was told without question and tossed the keys to Quackerjack. "Have fun! It's early parole city wide!" She snickered as a large pair of toy teeth chased a couple of lieutenants past her and popped out her cell phone, dialing the number for her father's . hopefully he hadn't left it in the hideout or the

troublemaker, she couldn't wait to tell him the news. No answer.

* * *

The bay area by the waterfront of St. Canard swished back and forth unnaturally, lapping at the wooden docks and creating mountainous waves that crashed onto the shore. One wave, in particular, lunged at a large fishing vessel and collaspsed onto the barnacle-infested deck. Slowly the wave began to take form, and congealed into the shape of a slender dog propped on his hind legs. The watery creature sleezed across the battered deck, and slurped out onto the dock, then looked around. No one.

The Liquidator shook a few loose stands of seaweed from inside his watery dangling ears, then plucked a fish out of his chest that had been swimming around oblivious, and tossed it back into the bay.

"Danged freeloading cod!" he snorted as he spun himself in a circle to be rid of any other unwanted organisms that might be inhabiting his liquid- like body. A few seashells flew out and landed on the dock, as did an old logger boot, a coco cola can, and a few candy bar wrappers. "Citizens of St. Canard need to learn a little respect for their water, how would they like it if they didn't have ANY for a while!!" then suddenly, he was struck with an idea. Why NOT deprive St. Canard of their water? And why not charge them astronomical fees to regain it? It only seemed fair considering how much they were taking it for granted.

"Parched? Need a sip to wet your whistle? Well, bring your life savings and retirement pensions to...me....at the Liquidator's Wholesale Water Warehouse where YOU can purchase an ounce of water for the ridiculously low price of $10,000!!!" He shouted out in his sing-song advertising announcer's voice. "Yes! I like it!" he confirmed nodding his head in approval, "now, to divulge my brillant plan to the others, maybe I'll give them a discount," he gafawed as he slipped down the docks and hoped in a beat up mustang convertible by the pier. "Not exactly Steve Mcquack's Mustang Bullitt, but it'll do!" he laughed as he floored the stolen car's clutch and sped out to search for the others.

* * *

Meanwhile Negaduck, former Lord of the Negaverse was idlly speeding around the bad Part of Town looking for trouble, or more appropriately the chance to cause some. He frowned as he noted a large gang of looters breaking into a jewelry store in broad day light. Not that he really cared but where were the cops? And why were there suddenly so many crooks running around openly on the streets? he flicked his radio on and caught the tailend of a frantic officer who was babbling that Quackerjack had taken over the police station.

"What's that idiot up to now," Negaduck growled and made a tight hairpin turn, flooring the gas pedal and zipping back in the direction of the police station. None of the fearsome Five should have been pulling capers without his permission and it sounded like the clown was in need of a reminder concerning that rule.

* * *

Carried by a large fir tree, Bushroot moved through the city, commanding plants in other nurseries, and in shopping mall plant stores to break loose and join him. In turn he ordered those plants to free other plants. As this was going on, he began to think about what he could do to contribute to taking over the city. He had already received a telepathic message that Quackerjack was thinking of taking over the police station, so that was out. So he was on his way to regroup with the others and found out their future plans.

Megavolt was peacefully minding his own business, unaware of the possibility of danger, clinging to the top of a street lamp and talking to the lightbulb at the end of it. It was daytime, so the light was currently not lit. "Come on, boy, I know you're sleepy but I'm offering you a chance at freedom! Freedom to shine when you please!"

The bulb didn't do anything.

"Gasp! You have been among the downtrodden so long, you are no longer capable of making decisions for yourself!" said Megavolt, horrified. He suddenly giggled maniacally. "Oh well, I guess I'll have to make the decision for you. Now hold still, this won't hurt a bit...." He reached out his gloved hand to unscrew the bulb.

Suddenly tremors began to travel up the metal pole. It vibrated, causing Megavolt's teeth to chatter. "Wha-wha-wha-wha-WHAT is do-do-doing that?" he exclaimed. He looked down, thinking that someone must be kicking the base of the pole, but there was nothing. And no wonder--everybody who lived on this particular street corner had discretely moved indoors when he had shown up on their block.

So there was no one there. Then what was making the pole shake? Megavolt would have scratched his head, but he was holding onto the pole. "St. Canard doesn't get earthquakes! I'll bet that stupid Moliarty is messing around under the city again, trying to defeat us surface-dwellers and bring his mole brethren to power. Grr! Those revolutionary types and their stupid causes!" He started to extend his hand to the light bulb again. "Isn't that right, my little bulby-

wulby?"

A bunch of bushes rounded the corner and came charging up the street that Megavolt was on. Hearing the rattle of their leaves, Megavolt looked over his shoulder and squawked in surprise. He gripped tightly onto the pole as the beginning of what appeared to be an army of flora galloped by. "What the H--"

Just then the branch of a large rampaging tree smacked his pole so hard that Megavolt was flung loose."AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!" he yelled as he sailed through the air, expressing much the same sentiment that anyone else would under similar circumstances.

* * *

The announcer's voice was instantly recognizable to the Mayor/High Commander with the staccato laugh. He snapped his fingers and grinned widely at him. The Liquidator was one more villain to have on the team,and a extremely efficent one at that. Nearly invincible and undefeatable, he was perhaps the most powerful villain in the city, and Steelbeak took

advantage of this.

"Hey-a Licky!" He shouted, leaning his head out of the police station window and punching out an officer inthe face as he tried to restrain him. "Guess who's decity's mayor?! ME! Youse sure picked a good time ta show up 'cause de city's goin' to de villains!"

"Hoo-hoo-hoo, I haven't had so much fun since Sunday School!!" Quackerjack crowed. "The gang's nearly all back! Hey, Licky, I'd give you a noogie, but I don't wanna get soaked." he joked, continuing with vigor, "This is so great! Now all we need is Sparky and we'll be

all set for the complete takeover of St. Canard!!" As he spoke, Quackerjack was scurrying around and unlocking cells. He finished up a second later. "But we'll need a new name, of course. Let's see here. Steelbeak, Celeste, Victoria, Licky, Bushy, Megavolt, Negaduck, and me. I'm not forgetting anyone.? The Evil Eight. the Insidious Eight? Ah, doesn't matter to me. The world will be ours in a matter of hours, anyway!" He chuckled, putting a friendly arm around Celeste. "What do you say, Steel? Let's go for global domination!!"

"Hrrrrm...I like de sounds of de Evil Eight," mused Steelbeak, polishing his beak and holding Victoria in a secure snuggle. "Rolls off de tongue! What about you, Victoria?"

"I love it..." Victoria cooed, leaning into the arms of her handsome husband. "As for our next 'stop', how about Duckburg? You know, last night...Steelbeak and I were talking about going there next while we were -- "

Steelbeak interrupted the rest of her sentence with a laugh. "Dat's my 'Tori! So ambitious!"

"Yes, and please spare us the details of your more intimate moments," the Liquidator nearly gagged, thinking of the possible endings to Victoria's sentence, then not wanting to dwell of such thoughts, he blurted, "say, how about the Eleatic Eight? You know, of or relating to a school of Greek philosophers founded by Parmenides and developed by Zeno and marked by belief in the unity of being and the unreality of motion or change?" then seeing the blank and disturbed stares on everyone's faces, he shrugged and looked at the ground, "or....the Evil Eight is fine I suppose, if we have to limit our usage acceptable alliterations," he mumbled to himself as he

kicked one of QuackerJack's toys that had fallen out of his Satchel, only managing to drench it to the point of total saturation.

"Well I for one am off to do some shopping," Victoria smirked, winking at Steelbeak in a secretive way that made a hard lump form in Cel's stomach but she dismissed it as the dark haired woman left. She had too many problems to deal with as it was.

Just then there was a long unbroken scream overhead.

"...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"

The source of the scream hit the ground--but not before splashing through the Liquidator. There was the loud sound of something frying as the Liquidator and the new arrival were suddenly obscured by a mad blue crackle of electricity.

Megavolt lay in a sodden lump on the ground, his soaked body still crackling. He raised his head shakily. "Just dropping in...." he managed before his head fell back again with thump.

He must be a real hit at parties." Commented Quackerjack, looking at Megavolt in amusement. "He steals the show every time." He caught Celeste's glance and chuckled. "Don't worry. Sparky does this kind of thing all the time. He's bouncy; he'll recover in a minute." He explained. He stuck his hands in his pockets and was silent for a moment. "I'm glad we're back together again, though. It's sort of like a reunion." He said. He walked over to Megavolt. "Hey, Sparky!!

Sppparrrkkky!" He called, right next to Megavolt, "St. Canard to Megavolt!" He stood up again and cast a troubled glance at Steelbeak. "Any ideas?"

"Um, add sugar?" suggested Megavolt. He was still a little dazed from his unexpected "flight".

"Hiya, Sparky," Celeste teased. She had no doubt that Megavolt would take offense at a girl he didn't know calling him that but it was too good of a chance to pass up. She winked at Quackerjack before helping Megavolt to his feet, leaving her cell phone on the desk still ringing. "One more member and we'll be the Nasty Nine or something..."her face fell slightly, thinking of her father and wishing he were there. And then there was the matter of Darkwing ofcourse. .she'd been to excited over the idea of being part of the group to really consider it but now she felt more than a little sorry for causing him so much trouble. She hoped he wouldn't get hurt.

With a smirk, Steelbeak gave the shocked rodent-like animal a swift kick to the butt.

"Time ta get up and get yer rear in gear!" He shouted.Just as his foot made contact with the said rodent'sbottom, he felt a shock and jumped back in surprise.

"Yikes! I forgot about dat..." He muttered. "Anyways,Megs, are yas up ta takin' over de power station?" He nodded to Bushroot as the last member of the Four arrived and stood silently next to The Liquidator, fidgeting and too nervous to speak up and request an update on the scheme's status.

"Hold up a minute, you guys," Celeste commented, her brow creased in worry and she jumped slightly, getting a shock from Megavolt who she was still trying to hold up. "I mean, I kinda got wrapped up in the moment and all and this has been a blast but..the entire WORLD? I mean that's really big and I'm not much on being a leader...what if someone gets hurt? Megavolt's already shorted out, taking this much further's gonna be even more risky and I mean..we..we're not gonna kill anyone or anything, right?" She swallowed hard. As much as she wanted to be like her father she just wasn't the type of person who liked seeing others in pain and she was getting a decidedly bad feeling about this.

"Awww yer no fun, Celeste!" Steelbeak moaned immaturely. He was then sharply elbowed by his wife and he quickly apologized to the girl.

"Erm...Well...Lets see what we's can do wit' takin'over St. Canard. I mean, I've partially done dat myself. I am a High Commander, after all. I's gotissues wit' killin', so youse don't 'afta worry 'boutme wipin' out neighbourhoods."

Yeah, and I don't kill people, I just tend to murderize 'em a little," said Megavolt, who was now standing with Celeste's assistance. He looked down at the teenage brown duckling with a

furrowed brow. "Thanks. Um, who are you?"

"Name's Celeste." She started to shake his hand then thought of the shock she'd gotten early and just offered him a small smile.

"What's the grouchiness all of a sudden?" Quackerjack asked, genuinely confused. "What're a few civilians? It's their fault for getting in the way- " he stopped, realizing that a good amount of the others didn't share his feelings. "Licky?" he implored the only other one whom hadn't voiced his opinion. When no answer was forthcoming, he sighed. "Alright, alright. No killing." He said, regretfully. "You guys are such killjoys." He complained, "Steelbeak, I expected better of you, for sure." He crossed his arms, looking disappointed, "Things have to give way for conquest. One needs a certain aggressiveness." He stopped again. "Fine." He relented slightly, "But I'm not sure Negaduck'll want to take over without casualties." He warned.

At the mention of Negaduck Licky leaned over to Quackerjack and whispered, "ah...so who's wearing the pants in this operation?" and before Quackerjack could make a snide comment, he added, "and bloomers, my fine feathered friend, don't count," he grinned, then with an air of nervousness he said sternly, "does Negaduck know about this?"

Quackerjack giggled at the Liquidator's clever comment, then replied quietly, "It was Steelbeak's idea; he's running this operation, formally known as The Evil Eight. This little girl here, Celeste, is related to Negaduck, though, so watch the sales pitch, alright?" he warned, "And no, so far our wonderful and omnipotent leader, may his name cause nosebleeds, has yet to find out. If he doesn't like what we're doing, then we're toast." Quackerjack was suddenly worried himself. "And me with no Bushy for a living shield."

Megavolt blinked. "Hey, I didn't even know all about this until a few minutes ago.Maybe someone told me and I forgot?" He scratched his head thoughtfully. "Where the heck is Negaduck, anyway?"

There was a loud 'crash!' as the door was suddenly kicked open, the masked and caped mallard standing in the doorframe with a none-too- content expression on his face.

"Eep!" was what finally emerged from Megavolt's mouth.

"Oohhh what's the matter, Megavolt? Did you miss me already...?" Negaduck hissed, his eyes narrowed into an intense scowl. The words dripped from his bill sarcastically as if venom.

"Um, no? I mean--yes! I mean, uh, uh--" Megavolt scrambled a few seconds for the right response and finally gave up with a look of pathetic resignation. Even Steelbeak, who was no where in sight, had the sense not to try and reason with the boss when he was in THIS kind of mood. "That's ok, boss, no need to kill me, I'll do it myself," he said, turning around and starting to bang his head against the wall.

Celeste for her part froze at the familiar low, growling voice that made her spirits soar and nearly knocked Negaduck off his feet as he entered with the force of her tacklish hug. "Hey, I was wondering when you'd show up.."

"Celeste?! What in Hell are you...." he started in shock, then his voice trailed off as his eyes narrowed.

Her expression dampened at the look in his midnight blue eyes as his face went from shock at finding her in such company when she should have been at home to slowly building anger.She disengaged herself from the hug, backing up a few steps and hanging her head with a quiet whisper,"I'm sorry..." It broke her heart in half to think she'd caused the most important person in the world to her any trouble when all she longed to do was make him proud of her.

Quackerjack gulped, looking from Celeste to Negaduck and back, then glanced over at Megavolt. The situation had just become hazardous to his health. He considered his own response, something along the lines of 'I missed you, yes, I did indeed, please don't dismember me.' He decided that it didn't sound very encouraging to his own survival, and then walked over to the wall himself. "Don't hog the whole wall!" he ordered Megavolt, giving him a friendly shove, "I wanna kill myself too, it's a lot less painful that way."

"Hey!" squawked Megavolt. "You could have just picked a different wall." Suddenly he got a clever idea. "Hey, there's a chair over there, I'll bet if I smashed myself over the head with that I'd pass out pretty quick, and then you could be a pal and finish me off, right Quackerjack?" He plastered a suck-up grin on his face and made a thumbs-up gesture to Negaduck to show that the situation was under control and he and Quackerjack could suicide just fine on their own. Then, thinking of something else, "Oh, and then I can do the same for you if you want," he offered Quackerjack generously.

At the scene taking place before him, Negaduck raised an eyebrow at his two comrades. Looking down at Celeste, he saw her disappointed expression, but his face still remained stern. He then turned his head back up, glaring in the direction of Megavolt and Quackerjack. Stepping forward, he reached out and gently moved Celeste aside and behind him, moving towards the other two angrily.

"Now now boys..." Negaduck suddenly spoke in a strangely sweet, calm voice as hestopped right behind them, standing between the two, "Don't beat yourselves up over this..." he said, grinning smoothly while slowly reaching up and placing a hand on the back of each of their heads, "...LET ME DO IT!!" he roared, thrusting his hands towards each other and causing Megavolt's and Quackerjack's heads to come crashing together with a hollow 'thunk!'

"So what's this I hear about an 'Evil Eight' or something that I was not informed about?!" Negaduck raged as he stepped back to face the two other villains impatiently, crossing his arms in front of him and an angry scowl on his face as he picked up on what seemed to be one of the crutial parts of the coversation he'd overheard before his entrance.

"Ow!" Quackerjack squawked piercingly, falling back with a whimper. "Who knew you had such a hard head?" He grumped at Megavolt, rubbing a new lump on his own and looking at Negaduck resentfully. "We can't keep you posted on everything, you-err-oh benevolent and wonderful master, he who holds our lives in the palm of his hand!" he amended hastily, realizing that he had just decreased his chances of getting out of the whole mess alive by several points. "I, I mean. you were in the plan, boss, you were always in it! We only make seven without you, and it couldn't be the Evil Seven, you know, it'd mess up the alliteration..." He stuttered.

He glanced at Megavolt again, then foraged on boldly. "We never dreamed of cutting you out of the deal, oh wondrous and extremely intimidating Lord Negaduck!" `I only hoped'. He thought to himself darkly. Keeping a goofy smile fixed on his face, he added, "I was just helping Celeste here with her Villain Techniques." He looked at Celeste beseechingly, silently begging her to credit his story.

"Uh.." Celeste sighed, already in trouble she knew but she couldn't let her only friend get canned for her mistake. She slipped over and helped him up, standing slightly infront of Quackerjack protectively, "Um, right...well, see it's like this, I was walking home from school and I ran into Steelbeak and Quackerjack and they started talking about taking over the city so I thought it'd be a good chance to impress you and I.." she hung her head "I'm sorry, Dad, I didn't mean to let you down." Large tears welled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks as she studied the floor guiltily.

Quackerjack blinked, his frantic thoughts for survival warring with sympathy at poor Celeste. Sympathy won out, though looking back on it a few months later; Quacky couldn't possibly have said what he was thinking at the time, doing what he did next. Maybe he just didn't like seeing people sad, or maybe he didn't consider himself a fair-weather friend to her. Or maybe ever then he was starting to fall in love with her.

He put a hand on Celeste's shoulder and looked straight at Negaduck, imagining all sorts of pain at what he would say next. He opened his beak. "It.ah. it was my fault, actually. I kinda.forced the kid. you know, to come with us. It was entirely my fault.. All the way. Uh." he closed his eyes tightly, trying to find something else to say to further lift the blame from Celeste and coming up empty. For a second, he wondered what Mr. Banana Brain would have said, had he been present. He mentally shrugged and kept going, improvising. "So.go easy on her, huh? She didn't do anything wrong.she only wanted to make you happy and kinda got swept up in all this mess." he trailed off until he was silent, dropping his own gaze to the floor.

His hand still raised in the air with his finger pointed at them, Negaduck's eyes went wide and his bottom jaw dropped, not believing what he had just heard. He stared at Quackerjack in pure shock, not expecting this kind of behavior from the usual loony that he was.

"You mean...did you just say...?" Negaduck asked in amazement. He suddenly doubled over, breaking out into a fit of laughter, "YOU, Quackers?? Did YOU just say all of that? HA!"

Celeste blinked in surprise but couldn't fight down the smile that lit up her face at Quackerjack's words and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. He really did like her! "Aw, Quacky, gee you don't have to cover for me, but that was so sweet of you. " She smirked slightly,"Not that he'd buy it. Dad knows I'm too much of a stuborn pain in the tailfeathers to be forced into anything I don't wanna do, but still yer an angel," she smiled and kissed his cheek through his harliquin hat.

Quackerjack froze and smiled slightly, thinking maybe that one little peck on the cheek made it all worth it.

The maniacal laughter was suddenly stopped short when Negaduck witnessed the scene between Quackerjack and Celeste. His eyes narrowed as he clenched his fists, growling lowly. For some reason, it seemed to strike a sensative nerve inside him.

Megavolt, who had all the sensitivity and perception of a crazy electrocuted rodent-thing, glanced back and forth between Quackerjack and Celeste and decided to throw his two cents in. "Yeah, boss, it's just like QJ says. It isn't the kid's fault, it's his. He made her get involved. Yeah, and he made me get involved too. Please boss, it isn't my fault either, Quackerjack took advantage of me. My idealism, my youthful vulnerability, my need to impress you...."

Megavolt threw his arm up in front of his face as if to hide tears, sniffling and peeking over his elbow to see how Negaduck would respond.

"Enough!!" Negaduck suddenly roared, clearly agitated. He stormed forward, placing himself between Celeste and Quackerjack, scowling at the other two supervillains. When he spoke, it was in a low growl that seemed to cut right through them. "You knobs get this mess cleaned up and prepare for some seriously PAINFUL punishment when I come back tonight." With that said and without waiting for a reply, Negaduck turned and began to storm towards the door, "Let's go..." he growled to Celeste as he passed by her, not bothering to turn back to see is she was following him, because he knew that she would be.

Once back outside, he jumped onto the Troublemaker and revved the engine loudly, waiting for Celeste to climb on behind him before giving it gas and speeding away.

Celeste followed him out , passing a glanced at Quackerjack with a grimace and mouthed "sorry" before she climbed on the Troublemaker timidly , silent the entire ride back to the warehouse.After he parked she slid off and made as quickly as possible for the stairs and her room. She was attempting to make it up there before the yelling started..maybe if she willingly disconnected her internet and cable and handed over he CD player after nailing shut her window he'd spare her a screaming lecture.

"HOLD IT!!....right there, little lady..." Negaduck growled, pointing up the stairs at her. When Celeste turned around to face him, he wagged his index finger at her, summoning her to come to him.

Celeste gulped and slowly with her gaze dropped walked over to him, nervously fingering the cross necklace he'd given her for her birthday that had been her grandmother's. She walked like a prisoner marching down death row as she stopped infront of him, her shoulders slumped.

"Now then, since I know we both don't like these sort of confrontational situations, I'll cut right to the chase...JUST WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?? Haven't I specifically told you to STAY AWAY from the rest of the Fearsome Five?? Those guys aren't exactly what I would call 'stable', or 'sane'!" Negaduck exclaimed, his hands visibly trembling as he spoke,. Not that he was particularly one to talk but that was beside the point. "You could have gotten yourself into some deep gunpowder with them! Caught by the police, apprehended by that Dimwing Dork, or hurt...!"

Celeste bit her lip as she looked up at him, "I'm sorry..I was just...the way they were talking I thought it'd be something I could do to make you proud and I don't have any friends so I guess I thought...well..Quackerjack was really nice to me and I liked hanging out with him. He didn't treat me like some freak or little brat or anything..." she lowered her gaze and sighed as her bottom lip quivered,"I just get lonely sometimes when you're not around...all the kids at school hate me..they call me "Celeste the Pest" and the teachers think I'm like deranged or something.." She sighed heavily, slumping onto the worn couch and lacing her fingers in her lap as a tear ran down one cheek, "I'm sorry I let you down and worried you, that's the last thing I wanted to do...sometimes I feel like I'm just..so much trouble for you that you'd be better off if I was still in the orphanage or the Negaverse..." She shook her head, tears in her large hazel eyes

Hearing this, and seeing her forlorn gaze, Negaduck's growl trailed off, his eyes slowly softening at what Celeste had said. Was he being too hard on her? He didn't want to think so, being the hard-headed felon he was. But something still chewed at him like a rabid hyena

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke up, no longer in his angry tone, but still in a deep, sincere voice, "So...that's what this is all about, is it? You wanted to make me proud of you?" Negaduck asked, slowly moving towards the old couch and stopping in front of it, staring down at Celeste with his unmoving eyes.

"Look, kiddo...you don't have to go out and risk your life by doing something foolish just to make me proud of you. That's one of the LAST things I'd want to see you do, because it would be such a waste...you make me proud of you every day; just by staying strong and not letting this pathetic, cruel world beat you down..." he spilled out the words in a quiet voice, then mustered a slight, soft smile at her.

"R-really?" she asked, lifting her gaze to his face and at his smile her face lit up before she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him.Then seeing as she already had him as softened up as he ever was, she added slowly, giving him her most adorable, pleading look," Does...that mean I can still hang out with Quackerjack now and then? He did stand up for me.." She trailed off, looking at him hopefully with her bright eyes, biting her lower lip. She didn't add that she'd not only grown very fond of the jester duck as a friend but that she thought he was pretty darn cute too. Afterall, she knew her sweet face only stretched so far and the knowledge that she had a crush on one of his associates would only serve to raise his hackles again.

Negaduck cringed at her request. She was interested in QUACKERJACK?? Of all people, of all the members of the Fearsome Five, she likes hanging around with HIM? Or was she up to something?

"YOU like hanging around with that buck-toothed loony??" he asked in bewilderment. But then seeing that she was serious, he rolled his eyes, "I'll think about it...that's the only answer you're getting for that right now," he finally answered, a bit hesitantly. Then, he looked down at her, his expression suddenly changing.

"Now...about your punishment for even considering such an idea before..." Negaduck growled with a menacing grin on his face, "I think a grounding for a week should be harsh enough..." he added, then noticing the shocked expression on Celeste's face, "What? You didn't think I was just gonna let you get away clean, did you?"

"No, Sir.." she replied glumly but nodded her acknowledgement before trudging toward her room. Hit with a sudden inspiration, she glanced to make sure he wasn't looking then made a quick detour to the garage and ducked into the sidecar of the Troublemaker, squeezing herself down and out of sight. Negs had told the Fearsome Four he'd be meeting up with them later...this was her chance to set things right. She'd stowaway and wait for the opportunity to prove her skills...plus she'd get to see Quacky again. She blushed slightly at the thought and smiled, settling down to wait.

* * *

I don't give a damn 'Bout my reputation I've never been afraid of any deviation An' I don't really care If I'm strange I ain't gonna change An' I'm never gonna care 'Bout my bad reputation

Oh no, not me Oh no, not me

Break it down!

An' I don't give a damn 'Bout my reputation The world's in trouble There's no communication An' everyone can say What they want to say It never gets better anyway So why should I care 'Bout a bad reputation, anyway Oh no, not me Oh no, not me Oh no, Not Me, oh no, not me