Disclaimer: All characters, save the shadowy figure, are not mine.
My heart goes out to the people who took the time to review. Your comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Warning: Slight violence in this chapter. Nothing much. Consider yourself warned.
And now, on with the show!
As the courageous caped crime fighter crept cautiously closer, he caught sight of the clandestine crew, carefully –
"Vy do you say vhat you is doing all of dee time?"
"What?"
Darkwing Duck snapped back into reality as his partner lumbered to his side. The night was cool, and deathly quiet. It seemed that any whisper broke the spell and disturbed the faultless silence. The stars flickered in the royal blue sky, allowing little light to penetrate the dark night. The SHUSH agents, disguised as the crew of a cargo ship, worked efficiently and noiselessly, as if each move that was made had been practiced beforehand. The night seemed as though nothing could possibly wrong, but at the same time on the brink of falling into disaster.
"I say, vy do you say vhat you is doing all of the time?" Gryzlikoff repeated.
"Because, it uh, keeps me focused," Darkwing replied hastily, then added, "all the greats do it."
"Is against SHUSH regoolation. SHUSH regoolation say only speak vhen is absolutely necessary," the bear said, straightening his shoulders.
"Well, I'm not a SHUSH agent, therefore, I don't need to follow 'SHUSH regoolatin,'" Darkwing mocked haughtily.
The eerie quiet of the night unnerved the mallard. Everything was working too well. The scenario practically begged something to go awry.
*~*~*~*
A few yards away, a mirror image of Darkwing Duck moved stealthily, taking advantage of every shadow, niche, and obstruction in his path. Tip-toeing across the boardwalk he flattened himself against the wall of the now infamous tuna warehouse. Peeking around the corner, Negaduck observed the scene with interest.
It was unusual for ships to arrive in the St. Canard Bay in the middle of the night, let alone the crew being this quiet. This was bound to be something important. Concentrating on the advantage of silence, the masked mallard crept closer.
*~*~*~*
"I say no!"
"Well I say yes!"
"I am still saying NO!"
"And I still say YES!"
"No no and no, dee chicken did NOT come before dee EGG!"
"Yes it did!"
"Then explain to me this, Noodlenut, where did dee chicken come from?"
"Well you know what Agent Stroganoff, I don't think the chicken really cares, as long as it went – "
BOOOOOM!
I tremendous roar reverberated through the air, shattering the silent beauty of the night into pieces. Nearly thrown off of his feet, Darkwing grasped the fishnet hanging behind him. Looking left and right trying to find the source, he had a split second to duck as wooden boards, shards of metal, and other debris hurtled towards him. Darkwing hit the ground and put his hands over his head, loose pieces pummeling his back. The clamor slowly faded away as Darkwing slowly lifted his head, catching his breath at what he saw.
*~*~*~*
"What the Hell!" Negaduck cried as he clung to some barrels for support. From where he was standing, he could see plumes of smoke in front of the ship, debris flying everywhere. As the smoke slowly grew fainter, he could see a large smoldering hole in the pier where several crewmembers once stood. Intrigued by the concept, but annoyed that he did not think of it first, Negaduck marched towards the wreckage.
*~*~*~*
If silence had touched the face St. Canard Bay earlier, chaos had just slapped it. Screams cut through the air like a knife, the 'thomp thomp' of feet racing across the boardwalk seemed to echo ten times louder than normal.
"The – agents, ve must, get to, dee agents," Gryzlikoff panted as the two closed in on the carnage.
Darkwing reached the burning edge of the pier first. He leaned forward to see if any SHUSH agents were trapped, when suddenly a yellow blur collided with him square in the chest. Darkwing flew backwards and landed flat on his back. He shook his head to clear the little cargo ships dancing in front of his eyes, and blinked as he stared at his equally bewildered reflection in the black visor of a FOWL eggman. The helmeted duck pointed his gun between his opponent's eyes.
Darkwing's head cleared and his instincts reacted rapidly. He brought his knees up to his chest and gave the eggman a swift web kick in the stomach. He quickly got to his feet and looked around. Eggmen were practically pouring out of the hole, partaking in hand-to-hand combat with the remaining SHUSH agents.
"Vhat is going on!" Gryzlikoff cried, taking out a drone with a well-aimed punch, "I thought FOWL vas destroyed!"
"It stands to reason Gryz," Darkwing said between ducks and kicks, "the eggmen are loyal to whoever their leader is, and if FOWL was overthrown – "
Darkwing stopped in mid sentence at a sickening but unmistakable sound. He turned around to see a large eggman slumped over a figure he could not make out. The stranger pushed the dead eggman off of his knife and let him fall to the ground. Darkwing's eyes followed the trail from the dripping tip of the knife, up a yellow-jacketed arm, resting on a face so much like yet so different from his own.
"Negaduck . . ." Darkwing seethed, "so you're behind this."
Negaduck smirked while wiping the blood off his knife on the fallen eggman.
"Yes Dipwing. That is why I just stabbed my own man. Only then will I be able to rule St. Canard."
Sensing his sarcasm Darkwing regarding him warily.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"Well, flattered though I am, this is unfortunately not the fruit of my own labor. I simply noticed some fellow citizens in need, and decided to offer my services," Negaduck answered, the picture of innocence.
"Yeah, and I'm the Queen of Duckland," Darkwing scoffed dryly.
"Really? I pity the pour souls of Duckland then," Negaduck mused sarcastically.
"Well, even if you 'decided to offer your services', killing your opponent is not the answer. When fighting for truth, one must fight with justice in order to serve justice. Stun, not stab," Darkwing proclaimed, cape billowing behind him dramatically with trumpets playing softly in the background.
To emphasize his point Darkwing quickly loaded a glue bomb cartridge into his gasgun, then aimed for the largest group of eggmen and fired. The cartridge struck an eggman in the head and exploded, suspending the swearing and squirming drones in a sticky mess of goo.
"Good thing I'm not fighting for truth," Negaduck retorted, then pulled out a handgun from somewhere deep within his cape, and fired. Darkwing had barely reacted as the bullet whizzed by his head, missing by inches. He heard the sound of an eggman grunting and falling behind him, and glared at his opposite.
"Oops, missed," Negaduck said, a menacing grin growing on his face.
Unbeknownst to the two mallards, a spectator dwelled in their midst. High above, crouched in the windowsill of the tuna factory, a dark figure watched with interest.
Negaduck noticed a large group of eggmen hurtling their way. Grinning at his enemy, he cried, "Have fun fighting for justice, Darkwing Dunce!"
He sped away, leaving Darkwing to get pounced upon by no less than six eggmen.
The drones relentlessly bore into him like sharks at a feeding frenzy. Darkwing found himself punching and kicking wildly, but it appeared to be useless. Arms and legs seemed to be everywhere, striking, clawing, and pounding. Darkwing's vision started to cloud; his mind started to float away. He fancied that he was witnessing the eggmen leaping away in all directions, and the pain slowly left him.
"Bye guys," Darkwing said to the disappearing eggmen dreamily.
Suddenly he saw a great gray and brown mass, and the last eggman floated away. Darkwing could see a vast brown blur before his eyes.
"Darkving, Darkving is you alright?"
Darkwing Duck blinked, and the image in front of him began to get crisper. Soon Gryzlikoff's genuinely worried face came sharply into focus.
"Yea, yea, I'm fine, I'm fine," Darkwing mumbled, trying to sit up.
"Good," Gryzlikoff grunted, and yanked Darkwing to his feet.
Darkwing's head swam for a moment, but he quickly regained focus, not to mention vanity. He picked up his crumpled hat and worked out the kinks, dusted it off, put it on his head, adjusted it to just the right angle, straightened his cape over his shoulders, dusted off his arms, then turned to the bear.
"Where did that scheming scofflaw scramble?"
"You is speaking of your little yellow friend? He go on dee ship. I'll – "
Darkwing quickly interrupted, "Okay. I'll get that devious duck while you take care of the agents," and he ran to the cargo ship, leaping over fallen eggmen in the process.
"You are velcome," Gryzlikoff growled, and then turned to his wounded comrades.
*~*~*~*
Negaduck boarded the now unguarded cargo ship, keeping alert in case of an ambush. It seemed uncannily quiet versus the pandemonium on the pier. The ship slowly swayed side to side, the only noise was the gentle lapping of waves against the hull. The mallard crept forward, looking for something, though he knew not what. The clouds slid away from their spot in front of the moon, and a wan light bathed the deck.
"So, we meet again, Darkwing Duck."
The feathers on the back of his neck stood up at the sound of the unexpected voice. Negaduck whipped around, hackles raised.
"I'm not – huh?"