Disclaimer: I want to say that these characters are mine, but you can't always have what you want.
The reviews are awesome everyone, I really appreciate it.
At first glance you would assume that the stretch of carpet atop oaken floors surrounded by sturdy walls speckled with doors and capped with a ceiling was an ordinary hallway. If you kept walking you would eventually reach the end of it. Simple enough.
Not for Negaduck. He had been walking down the same hallway in Macabre Manor for fifteen minutes.
The mallard growled with frustration and quickened his pace. However, each step he took seemed to cause the hallway to stretch like a rubber band. After nearly twenty minutes of marching in place, Negaduck waved his hand and barked, "Ah screw it!"
He turned to the door on his left and swung it open violently. To his surprise, there was another door.
"What the…"
He opened the second door only to reveal a third. He opened the third door. Another door. He opened that one. Still another door. Negaduck scowled and glanced around as if to check for a candid camera.
He abandoned the many doors and walked to the one on the right. He flung it open, exposing nothing but darkness.
"Ha!" he scoffed, glad to be rid of the doors.
Negaduck took a large, confident step in the room and reached for a light switch. Unfortunately, his foot landed on nothing except air and he plummeted downward. He let out a panicked cry that echoed and he twisted in midair, latching onto the doorframe. He hung by his fingertips and realized that there was indeed no room at all – just a black hole, expanding forever.
The villain hoisted himself up and into the hallway. Negaduck leapt to his feet and slammed the door shut. He leaned against it breathed, "Phew!"
Negaduck regained his composure and snarled, both pissed and unnerved by the strange house. He angrily moved to the next door and yanked it open. He stuck a cautious head inside. No more doors, no more black holes; it was just a normal room with comfortable looking chairs and an inviting fireplace.
Negaduck smirked with satisfaction, but the pleased expression was quickly erased when a small droplet suddenly splattered on his beak. He crossed his eyes to look at it, only to discover its familiar red color. Blood red.
The mallard slowly lifted his head. Above him was a thick, rusted guillotine blade stained with blood. The blade dropped with a metallic hiss.
Negaduck yelped and heaved himself backwards, narrowly avoiding decapitation. The blade landed with a fatal 'thunk!', and he kicked the door shut.
"What the hell is this, the twilight zone?" the villain gulped.
He was standing in the middle of the hallway contemplating whether or not he should move when he heard the sound of a door creak. Before he could react Negaduck was knocked to the floor by a bulky something landing on top of him.
"Ow…my skull…" came a familiar voice, "I think it hit yours."
Aviana was sitting on his back, grimacing and clutching her head. Negaduck twisted around to face her.
"And just how exactly did you get here?"
Without moving Aviana replied hazily, "I just opened a door and stepped in and…fell through the ceiling."
The two lifted their heads. Sure enough, there was a door on the ceiling.
"How does she live here?" the duckette questioned.
"I do not know and I definitely do not care. Thanks to her I'm still clawing effin' slime outta my ears. I've had it up to here with this stupid funhouse, I'm leaving," Negaduck declared with annoyance.
Aviana nodded.
"I'm with you…so, how do we get out?"
--
Gosalyn's sneakers beat a trail into the hardwood floor as she paced back and forth. Eek and Squeak flapped dutifully behind her while Archie was curled in a ball on the bed, snoring loudly.
"We need to think of something, something to get back at him for almost making Dad join the legions of the undead."
Gosalyn swallowed, the image of her soulless father still a fresh wound in her mind. Eek squeaked in a questioning tone.
"Get back at who? Oh, we need to get back at – at Taurus Bulba," Gosalyn answered, stumbling over her nemesis's name nervously.
For all that time of preparing herself mentally for his return, the bull did a pretty speedy job of planting the same old seed of fear back into her head.
Now it was Squeak's turn to question.
"Who's Taurus Bulba? Well he's, um, he's kinda, uh, well…" Gosalyn paused, then snapped, "He's a big, stupid butthead who did big, stupid things and now we need to get back at 'im!"
Eek flapped crazily in something Gosalyn took as bat for "how?"
"Well, it'll be hard, because he's got a metalloid cyborg thing going on now."
The bats threw her questioning looks.
Gosalyn informed, "Like Dr. Death in Bloodshed Reloaded: Masters of Pain."
Eek and Squeak nodded with recognition and urged her to continue.
"Let's see: I was thinking something along the lines of me dressing up as Quiverwing and serving him a super arrow special. Then when I've got 'im to a standstill I'll let Dad do his 'I am the terror' song and dance, and then we'll thrash the big bozo 'til he's on his knees, beggin' for mercy, pleadin' the fifth, cryin' like a…"
Gosalyn continued with extensive fervor gaining confidence all the while, but Eek and Squeak exchanged worried glances. Eek voiced his concern with a variety of squeaks.
"What if I get hurt?" Gosalyn repeated angrily, "No way! I won't let that pushover get the better of me, and neither will Dad. He hasn't beaten us yet – we've got Bulba pinned like, like, well, like a pincushion!"
Squeak perked up and beat his wings urgently.
"My homework? Oh yeah…um, Archie'll do it. Hey Arch, wake up!"
The arachnid griped and grumbled, opening one eye lazily.
"How good are you with the Pythagorean Theorem?" Gosalyn asked.
Archie mumbled something and nodded, then began to snore once more. Gosalyn grinned at the two bats.
"There, ya see?"
--
Negaduck strolled down the sidewalks of uptown St. Canard like he owned the place, Aviana keeping pace beside him. She craned her neck to gaze at the building towering over her. Negaduck glanced at her and smirked.
"You're quite the tourist," he muttered.
"Am not," Aviana objected, "I've never gotten a chance to admire the nicer parts of this city before."
"Tourist…" Negaduck continued in a singsong voice.
Aviana scowled.
"Fine then. As a tourist I demand to know what one does in this place at this time of night."
"That all depends on which side you're on."
The duckette gave him a quizzical look and asked, "Care to elaborate?"
"Let me put it this way: you can either run around yelling 'I am the terror that craps in the night' or you can run around yelling, 'Hand over the cash or I'll break yer face!'"
"I assume you opt for the latter," Aviana stated.
"Yup. And you?"
"I'm not on any side."
"Bullshit."
"No I'm serious, I don't do good or evil, I just do whatever suits my needs. I don't find either side particularly rewarding."
"Au contraire, I find a certain side awfully rewarding, if you catch my drift. Well, seeing as how your viewpoint is so broad then you wouldn't mind taking a walk on the evil side, should the opportunity present itself," Negaduck declared.
"Present itself?" the duckette repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"That's right – ah, and what do we have here…" Negaduck questioned with a sinister glint in his eyes.
Aviana followed his gaze to the large entertainment stadium looming overhead. Negaduck read the large sign posted in front of it.
"Aaawww, lookit, isn't it the annual Comic Book Convention! The special time of year when the freaks of the city all jam in one place, unarmed, and accompanied by their most valuable possessions. How quaint," Negaduck commented with mock sincerity.
"You wouldn't," Aviana said.
"Can't you just hear opportunity knocking?"
"But, you've got no motive, there's no profit. You don't have to be so inanely violent all the time."
Negaduck stared at her steadily.
"Have you ever committed a crime?"
Aviana looked taken aback but answered, "Well, I shoplifted a razor once on a bet, and I may have done one or two other things, but nothing major."
"And I'm sure you could have lived without that little razor, but you stole it nonetheless. How did that make you feel?" the mallard prodded.
"Now that you mention it, it was kind of a rush making it right past that geeky clerk…"
"Now, picture masses of geeky clerks."
Aviana gazed at the staduim, the silhouettes of St. Canard's cartoon fandom moving about in the windows.
"No, I can't…I've got to get to sleep, I need my rest for tomorrow, to get the Devil's Eye – "
"You better watch yourself…if you wind up any tighter diamonds are gonna start coming out your ass," Negaduck said calmly.
"Shut up, idiot! I am perfectly capable of having a good time if I want to!"
"Prove it."
"So this is what 'Hand over the cash or I'll break yer face' does for fun?" Aviana asked quietly with a glance at the Negaduck.
The white moon intensified the blackness of the villain's mask. His eyes lit up with devilish delight and the corners of his beak curved into a wicked grin.
--
Morgana had mastered the art of relaxing stiffly as she sat on her couch reading her latest "Hex of the Month" newsletter. Darkwing busied himself by tightening the tiny screws on his buzz saw cufflinks. There was an almost visible tension between them, ready to snap at the drop of a dime.
Darkwing desperately wanted to say something to help melt the thick wall of foreboding ice, but he could not find the words. As he played out each line in his head he could only picture Morgana turning him into pot roast as a reply. He opened his beak in hopes of the words spilling out naturally, but his stomach spoke for him.
The mallard crossed his fingers, praying that Morgana had not heard the hungry rumble. Unfortunately for him, the sorceress peered over the top of her newsletter.
"Are you hungry?" she asked in a knowing but icy tone.
"No," Darkwing responded flatly.
Morgana's eyes narrowed.
"Don't lie."
"Fine. I am hungry but not enough to stomach your choice in cuisine."
Inwardly, Darkwing was kicking the crap out of himself. Great, way to be such a smart-aleck, now Morgana would zap him into next Tuesday. Much to Darkwing's surprise, there was no biting remark or painful retribution. There was only a quiet, "I see."
The crime fighter frowned. His mind switched gears from anger to shame. However, his pride won out yet again and he said nothing. Darkwing went back to his cufflinks. They were tightened to perfection, but he fumbled with them guiltily all the same.
Suddenly Darkwing froze. Something was missing. He reached a hand under his jacket and felt around wildly.
"Where's my gas gun?" he asked with a tinge of panic.
"Negaduck probably still has it," Morgana calmly answered without removing her eyes from the newsletter.
"WHAT?!" Darkwing yelped, "And why, pray tell, would he be in possession of it?"
The edges of the newsletter crumpled as Morgana clenched her fists.
"Why don't you go ask him yourself?" she inquired, annunciating each word precisely.
"Why don't you just tell me?" Darkwing returned in a similar manner.
"Because maybe I don't feel like speaking to you right now," Morgana hissed through her teeth.
Darkwing rolled his eyes.
"You're quite the immature one tonight."
It took about .08 seconds for the words to register in Morgana's brain and another .02 for her to leap off the couch in righteous fury.
"I'M IMMATURE?!" the sorceress raged, "Who's the one who's head is swelled so big he can hardly get through the door? Who's the one who'll resort to petty violence over diplomacy? Who's the one who criticizes my family every chance he gets? Who's the one who – "
"All right! I get it! I'm just saying that after being turned into a zombie you could at least tell me why my archenemy has my favorite gas gun!" Darkwing cried, waving his arms for effect.
"Fine, you really want to know? It was because he had to stop you from strangling him to death; he had to shoot you with your own gun, that's why he has it!"
Darkwing's brow furrowed.
"But, I don't remember any of that – I really almost strangled Negaduck?" he said, the hint of a smirk playing on his beak.
"Of course you don't remember you pighead, you were completely under Taurus Bulba's control! And you probably don't remember Bulba ordering you to kill Gosalyn."
The smirk diminished and Darkwing's insides turned to lead. He stuttered, "W-what? He ordered me to – no, he – did I, did, did really I try to?"
Morgana nodded grimly.
"Yes, you did try. Aviana and Negaduck stopped you. Negaduck accomplished it more out of self-preservation than anything else, but he stopped you regardless."
"I can't believe I tried to…" Darkwing trailed off, sickened, "but I didn't know what I was doing, I don't remember anything."
The mallard massaged his temples. Man, how foolish he was, falling prey to that bull's scheme so easily. He could have hurt so many people without even realizing it – oh no.
He examined Morgana meaningfully through his purple mask.
"I didn't try to hurt you, did I?" he asked sternly.
Morgana's stone face slackened slightly an she replied, "No, you did not, but you came pretty damn close. We got you soul back before you did anything else."
The tension worked its magic and Darkwing could almost feel its weight on his shoulders. He tried to find words to break the awkward silence, but his stomach once again interrupted him.
Darkwing Duck and Morgana both stared at his rumbling abdomen as if it were another participant in the conversation.
"You're hungry," Morgana stated.
"I know."
"You're only hurting yourself by not eating my food."
"Hurting myself? Huh, try helping."
Morgana placed her hands on her hips.
"If I recall that is the exact attitude that gave us problems that night."
Darkwing frowned, recalling their last date, the one that had put a damper on things, to put it mildly.
"Morgana. My appetizer bit me. Sorry if I was just a tad upset."
"Wouldn't you bite someone if they were trying to devour you!?"
"But – "
"You were also an hour late."
"Oh silly me, I was just preventing Steelbeak's quest for world domination. What was I thinking?" Darkwing drawled sarcastically.
"It's the principle of it," Morgana snapped, "Once again you put crime fighting ahead of me!"
"But he was trying to take over the world!" Darkwing whined.
"That's fine, but what about all of the other times, with those, those vicious jaywalkers, or the leash law violators, or that lunatic freeing all the light bulbs! Forgive me for not viewing them as dire emergencies!"
"It's my job to protect the city! I can't just let ruiners of righteousness run rampant!"
"I know, but you didn't have to criticize me for not taking an interest in how many fifty dollar fines you've issued! I needed you here for me more than the city needed you to protect it from loiterers, just one night! Your commitment to being out there on a nightly basis sabotaged our relationship!"
"Well it would help if you hadn't hexed me into oblivion before I could even explain myself! I was burping up snails for a week!"
Morgana smiled devilishly.
"It wasn't funny," Darkwing chided.
"Gosalyn thought it was funny," Morgana noted.
"Yeah, so did Tuskernini, and Steelbeak, and Megavolt, and every other villain in St. Canard…" Darkwing said, checking them off with his fingers.
"That was one of my more brilliant spells," the sorceress mused.
"See, that's another thing. I don't particularly enjoy being deep fried or belching out gastropods. You don't have to inflict pain upon me every time I rub you the wrong way. It's like you relish in it or something."
Something burned inside her, and the words spilled out from Morgana's beak before she could stop them.
" 'Relish in it'?! I don't 'relish in it'! I always felt sorry after I lost my temper at you, every – well, mostly every time! That night hurt me so badly!"
"What?" Darkwing questioned, the confusion chipping away at his anger.
"It's so difficult to explain. Every other time I've been with you, I love who I am, who I become. I feel so…me. But that night – I hated who I was, this, this, hateful bitch who – "
"Morgana you weren't a – "
"Shut up I'm on a roll – I was this horrible, hateful…Dark don't you see? You bring out the worst in me!"
Darkwing stared at her, long and level. She was being honest with him, so rightly had to be honest with her. Finally he croaked, "And the best, I believe."
The sorceress focused very hard on a piece of fuzz on the rug, swallowing the knot in her throat doggedly.
"Yes, you do."
"Look, Morg, I'm willing to put this little roadblock behind us, if you are," Darkwing breathed at long last. Granted he was no expert on the female mind, but that seemed like a darned good thing to say.
Morgana lifted her eyes from the floor and to his masked face. It had lost its harsh edge to the affectionate glow she had always loved. She grinned slyly.
"You're charming, for a pighead."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Morgana's beak formed itself into a smile, but it quickly fell as Darkwing's stomach piped up again. She raised an eyebrow, holding in it a thought that made the mallard queasy.
Darkwing's turtleneck suddenly seemed very constraining and he tugged at it. He grinned stupidly and stuttered, "Um, Morg, would you uh, be terribly…offended…if I, heh heh, declined to eat, right now, immediately, at the present time?"
To his surprise, Morgana smiled amiably.
"Of course not Dark."
Wow, she took that unusually well.
"You'll just have to sleep on the couch, that's all," the sorceress cooed, "Pleasant dreams."
She turned soundlessly and melted into the darkness as she floated up the stairs.
Darkwing Duck smacked his forehead. Should have seen that one coming.
--
"HA! Did you see loser's face when I smashed his – "
"Yeah, and what I did to that freak with the costume's – "
"Oh yeah, maybe next time he'll make tracks when he hears 'move your head!'"
Negaduck and Aviana meandered down the dark streets of St. Canard, reveling in their visit to the comic book convention.
"Man, you'd think those guys were put on this earth just for my amusement. Did you hear that guy when we turned out the lights?" Negaduck asked with a grin.
"You mean the, 'OH MY GOD! MY EYES! I'VE BEEN STRICKEN WITH BLINDNESS!' guy? Yeah, I heard him!" Aviana returned.
"Ha ha, yeah, and when I torched that sucker's first edition of whatever the hell it was? That was a pretty good idea for someone who claims not to be on either side."
"What can I say, you executed it quite nicely."
"Yeah yeah yeah, I know, it takes real talent to terrorize twerps."
Aviana's beak cracked into a smile, which turned into a genuine laugh. Negaduck's eyebrow's raised. That marked the first time he had ever witnessed her smile, let alone laugh. Thought not entirely unpleasant, the sound was unfitting. It was like the one vivid color amidst her usual palette of moody and sullen ones, an uncharacteristic mark that just did not seem to match. Even she appeared thrown off by her own display of emotion.
Aviana's jovial countenance was quickly erased and replaced with an utterly blank stare.
"Wow. I can't remember the last time I expressed any sort of amusement like that," the duckette said in monotone, then shuddered.
"And you're blatantly out of practice. If you're going to gloat, you've got to gloat right. Watch and learn."
Negaduck threw his head back and set loose a long, vicious cackle. The chillingly infamous sound echoed through the night air drowning out the usual clamor of St. Canard. The laughter died down, the last strains still floating in the darkness.
"That was disturbing," Aviana said, but grinned mischievously.
"Thank you."
Aviana shoved her hands into the pocket of her hoodie and questioned curiously, "So, tell me, what was it like in another universe?"
"Which one," Negaduck muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Right. So, what was it like?"
"I dunno. It was weird. And gray."
"That's it? You're the only known living person to cross the threshold between heaven and hell and all you can say is that it was 'weird and gray'?" Aviana exclaimed.
"What do you want me to say? It was a magical little playground full of fascination and wonder, and at noon all the pixies gathered to have tea and sugar cookies," the mallard ranted sarcastically.
"You shouldn't mock death," Aviana said with a cold edge.
"Oh yeah, that's right, you're the afterlife activist."
"I don't know why I like it, I assume it's just because I grew up with the Devil's Eye, with my parents' being on the team and everything."
"Wait a sec – your parents? What team?"
"Don't interrupt! But yes, my parents lead the research team for the Devil's Eye. We lived in Transylvania when I was very young, I barely remember it, until we moved to New Mexico because that's where the expedition led us. Anyway, I always wondered if there was something for me on the other side, so I learned as much about death as I possibly could," Aviana mused.
"Sounds like you were a winner with your guidance counselor," Negaduck quipped.
"Oh, like you were!" the duckette retorted, "As I was saying, the more I learned about it the more interested I became. You know I could never understand why people feared death so much, like it's some terrible atrocity to die. I don't believe it's a punishment, I feel it holds great potential."
"Huh, try explaining that to a jury," Negaduck said with a knowing scowl.
Suddenly the villain's stomach growled ferociously.
"Yikes, that was loud and proud," he muttered, rubbing his stomach, "I'm going to get some grub. You?"
Aviana raised an eyebrow.
"Gee, I didn't think super villains got hungry – kidding, kidding. Who would be open this late at night?"
Negaduck thought for a moment before answering, "There's always that greasy Hamburger Hippo joint. They wouldn't close if it was raining fire, the knobs. Hungry for some high cholesterol and a side of saturated fats?"
The duckette was about to agree, but paused. No, she was too disciplined. There was no time for trivial pursuits, she needed to concentrate on the big picture.
"No, I can't, I've got to be ready for – "
Negaduck snarled, "Oh, lemme guess, the Devil's Eye."
"Hey, what's with the attitude big shot?" Aviana hissed.
"All I asked is if you wanted a friggin' burger!"
"That's correct, and I declined, because the Devil's Eye is a great deal more important than some grease trap."
"For cripe's sake, a guy tries to be civil and all he gets is…"
As Negaduck rambled heatedly to himself, Aviana squinted at him. For once he did not seem like some stereotype villain straight out of a comic book, but edging closer to a real person. She asked in a whisper, "Who's behind that mask?"
For the briefest second Negaduck looked as though his hand was caught in the proverbial cookie jar before his eyes went an icy hard.
"What?" he asked as if daring her to repeat it.
"I said who's behind that mask? Who are you? What's your real name?" the duckette spurted.
"Whadda you care who's behind the mask?"
"Because, as horrendously pathetic as it may be, you're probably the closest thing I have to a friend!"
"I don't have friends!" Negaduck roared.
"Gee, wonder why?" Aviana questioned sarcastically, "Are you hiding behind that mask or something?"
Negaduck saw red as the temperature of his blood surged.
"I. Am not. Hiding."
"Then what's your goddamn problem?!"
"My problem? What's yours?! You come barging into this city like nobody's business, herding us all after some rock as if we've got nothing better to do! Why do you need to know who I am? I don't see you filling out a personal information sheet!" Negaduck yelled.
"I told you, I came here after the Devil's Eye. What more do you need to know?!"
"You know, you were almost somewhat bearable tonight until you started obsessing over that rock!" Negaduck criticized.
"Wish I could say the same for you!" Aviana quipped.
"I don't have to be bearable, I'm lord of the Negaverse!" Negaduck bellowed before he could stop himself.
Aviana's brow furrowed and she gave him a bewildered look.
"Wha – lord of the Nega…what the hell are you talking about? You have no idea how weird that just sounded!"
"Forget it, it's not like I can go back anyway, ever since that dingbat screwed everything up – though knowing your freakish interests, it would probably be right up your alley," Negaduck grumbled bitterly.
"Then tell me, why don't you?!"
"Because you'd probably tell me I'm cursed and that I'm 'involved' and doomed to suffer some horrid fate! You're a downer, get over it!"
Aviana snarled and seethed, "Oh you miserable, sanctimonious, ill-tempered, deplorable bastard!"
"Ah ah ah, careful Ave, that kind of talk isn't very ladylike," Negaduck chided snidely.
"I'll show you ladylike!" she screeched, clenching her fists.
"Now who's the violent one? You obviously don't practice what you preach."
"Fine! So I am hypocritical, sue me! At least I'm not afraid to take off some cheap mask!"
"I'M NOT AFRAID! AND THIS MASK WAS NOT CHEAP!" the villain roared.
The two glowered at each other disdainfully, trying desperately to be the first with a scathing comeback. Loosing her cool, Aviana snapped, "Fuzzy!"
"Girlie!"
"FUZZY!"
"GIRLIE!"
"That's it! This has got to be the dumbest conversation I've ever had!" Aviana yelled, bringing the shouting match to an abrupt end.
"That goes double for me!" Negaduck countered, "And by the way, I'm through! These past few days have been some of the most pointless in my entire life! I don't care if I'm involved, I don't care about trashing Dinkwing, and I don't care about you and your stupid, magical rock! I'm not dealing with that stone or that cow anymore! I've had it! I'm done! I'm outta here!"
"To do what?! Maim people? It's not like you have any friends to sympathize with. Jesus Christ you must have one miserable life," Aviana hissed.
"Chasing after a rock your whole life doesn't seem to be raising your level on the ol' friend-o-meter girlie," Negaduck shot back.
"You make me SICK!"
"DITTO!"
"Well then, if I make you so sick, why don't you just do things your way and shoot me?" Aviana fired back, immediately wishing she had not encouraged him.
"Because…" Negaduck seethed, "because I'd rather eat a flippin' burger right now, that's why!"
"Then go get your stupid burger!"
"Fine, I will!"
"Fine!"
"FINE!"
Each duck fired the coldest glares they could muster, both practically foaming at the mouth. Too furious for words, they turned simultaneously on their heels and marched away from each other with as much dignity as possible. After that little incident, however, dignity seemed a bit scarce.
Negaduck fumed down a dark alley with a make believe thundercloud hovering over him. His blood was boiling beneath his feathers. He did not care where his webbed feet led him, just as long as it was away from her, and Darkwing Duck, and Morgana, and Morgana's house, and Bulba, and everything. He wanted to leave.
The mallard leaned against a wall and let out a sigh like steam released from a teapot before it exploded. It was now more than ever that he wished he was home. He missed the Negaverse. He missed his unquestioned authority. He missed his house. He missed the wanton violence. C'mon, since when were terrorist bombings considered illegal anyhow?
A grungy rat emerged from behind a dented garbage can. The small rodent scurried about in its own dismal world until it caught sight of the black-masked mallard looming over him. The rat hissed and raised its hackles in defense.
Negaduck frowned at its insolence and retrieved a handgun from under his jacket. He pointed it casually at the small animal. The frightened rat hissed and shrunk lower, but held its ground, defending the hard won scraps it had found in the trash. Negaduck smiled malevolently. He held the creature's life in the palm of his hand. He had the power and control. He squeezed the trigger. The rodent's blood spattered against the garbage can.
Negaduck snorted with satisfaction and glanced around for any more vermin. This had been quite a sporting event back home between him and Launchpad. The oaf may have been as dense as a brick but he was always up for a rip-roaring game of target practice.
Negaduck smirked slightly at the memory and gazed at the gun, twirling it around in his hand nostalgically. He stopped. Despite his previous anger, he realized that he had not felt the urge to brandish the weapon in hours.
NOTE: I am so sorry about the wait. As it is, this chapter went through the most editing of them all, I scrapped and rewrote half of it, some parts more than once. The next update may be delayed as well, because I'm moving to a new house this week and I coughhaven't packedcough, plus I won't have access to a computer (oh God). Anyway, I'm looking at three more chapters for this fic, four at the very most.