I was debating between splitting this into two shorter chapters or just keeping them together in a medium sized chapter. But I voted for the latter, so here it is. I'm estimating about five chapters left in this story, give or take a chapter or two. I don't own any of the original Darkwing Duck characters, Disney does and all that junk. Thanks for your reviews!

CHAPTER 10

"And that was how I ended up in the barbershop quartet in Duckburg."

Cujo sighed impatiently and rolled his eyes. "This is completely irrelevant. Quit stalling, Draco!" he demanded angrily and looked him hard in the eyes. "So what happened next?"

Draco took a drink of his already cooling coffee before heaving his shoulders and continuing with his story. "We woke up the next morning and Quackerjack was gone. He couldn't handle the idea of us slumming for Negaduck. He left a note wishing us good luck and took a chumk of the money we had scraped together."

"Oh yeah? And then what?" the agent asked as a tone of boredom began to rise in his voice.

"Megavolt was furious," Draco answered simply with a shrug. "He was talking about tracking him down and ripping his heart out and all sorts of shit. That night we got the call."

"What call?" Cujo suddenly asked, his curiosity suddenly perked once again.

"McIntyre told us where we could find Quackerjack…"

-BEACH: NIGHT-

Waves lapped against the rocky shores of the beach of the Audubon Bay in the night. The lights of St. Canard were faint, announcing the distance between the beach and the city. The mangled and bloodied body of what used to be a white duck laid crudely at the mouth of a cave in the sand. Megavolt kneeled in the sand beside what used to be his partner in crime. The jester suit the deceased avian wore was torn and stained red, the normal white plumage bruised and bloodied.

Darkwing heaved his shoulders as he glanced out towards the bay. There was an incredibly long moment of silence before he muttered lowly in question. "What do you want to do with him?"

Megavolt struggled to hold back the flicker of emotion fighting rise inside of him as he stared down at his friend's body that had been peppered with bullet holes. "I worked for five years with Quackerjack. More money, more jobs than I can count…" the sullen villain answered instead. "I want to bury him."

"There's no time, Megavolt," Darkwing replied as he turned around to face the rodent.

Megavolt instantly sprang to his feet and stormed across the sand towards the masked mallard. He poked him in the chest threateningly, "You will MAKE time. You're not the only one with a busy schedule, Dirtwing!"

"We don't have any shovels with a money back guarantee," Liquidator finally spoke up.

"Then we'll use our hands!"

Without waiting for another response, Megavolt retreated back to his dead companion and slumped to his knees in the sand once more. He began to hastily shovel sand in his hands beside the unmoving body. Surprisingly, Darkwing marched over to his arch enemy and kneeled down beside him to aid in his task. Seconds later, Draco limped over to them and joined them, weakly shoveling sand aside. Knowing his efforts would be useless, Liquidator remained at the mouth of the cave to keep watch.

"He's going to pay…"

Darkwing paused his digging momentarily to glance up at Megavolt, whose voice he recognized. "Excuse me?"

"This Negaduck guy, he's going to pay…" Megavolt repeated bitterly.

"Don't be insane Megs," Darkwing groaned and shook his head.

"It's PAYBACK."

"It's NOT payback!" Darkwing suddenly snapped insistently. Megavotl continued to dig, despite his outburst. Draco ceased digging to glance at Darkwing, both puzzled and taken aback as he continued. "You want payback? You want to run? I don't care. I'm going to finish this thing. Not for Quackerjack, not for anybody else, especially the likes of you villains! But for me...This McIntyre guy isn't going to intimidate Darkwing Duck…" he demanded and then paused before adding bitterly. "All of you can go to hell…"

-RADEN'S OFFICE-

"So after he killed Quackerjack, nobody would run?" Cujo asked with a perplexed tilt of his head.

"I wanted to. I thought we could make it," Draco shrugged shamefully.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Draco scoffed snidely in disgust. "I tried to, believe me. But Darkwing wouldn't have it. He was already miffed enough about the idea of a mysterious crime lord taking out other notorious criminals in St. Canard before he could put them behind bars. Nobody argues with Darkwing. They just set their sights on whacking McIntyre…"

-OFFICE BUILDING: DAY-

McIntyre steps into the plush office building, flanked on both sides by a bodyguard. He walked towards the elevator on the far side of the building's lobby, failing to notice the dark, blue, watery eyes watching him that were hidden beneath the brim of a hat. The liquidator watched as McIntyre and his two bodyguards stepped into the elevator, disguised in a high-collar trench coat and matching wide-brimmed hat. A wire is clipped onto the lapel of the trench coat, conveniently positioned in front of his mouth.

"He's coming up," Liquidator spoke into the miniature microphone. "Five out of five elevator maintenance workers agree that he is coming up!"

Darkwing, Draco and Megavolt all stand in front of the three elevator doors on the thirtieth floor, disguised in maintenance worker uniforms. The three elevator shafts were propped open and stranded. Megavolt moved into one of the opened elevators. As the elevator doors began to close, he quickly made a scramble for the hatch above.

Back In the lobby, the elevator finally arrives and the doors open to allow its passengers inside. McIntyre and his two bodyguards casually stepped inside. The guard on his left pushed the button to close the doors and take them to their desired floor. Within seconds, the elevator began to make its ascent.

Suddenly, the ceiling hatch of the elevator sprang open and a gloved hand extended inside. Before any of the men could react, two quick bolts of electricity zapped from the hatch, each hitting their mark of the bodyguards. The two men's bodies convulsed violently with wild gagging noises before they slumped to the floor, either dead or very close to deceased. McIntyre glanced down at the unmoving bodies, not even flinch as if he had been expecting the sudden turn of events.

"Don't move…" came the demanding, nasal voice. McIntyre looked up to see the cynical grin of Megavolt peering in through the hatch at him, his fingers sparking with electricity at the ready. "Press thirty, press it now."

When the elevator opened on the thirtieth floor, McIntyre was greeted by Darkwing and Draco. Megavolt dropped down from the hatch behind him and gave the lawyer a firm push out into the otherwise deserted hallway. Just as Liquidator emerged from an pipeline from overhead to rejoin the others, Darkwing grabbed McIntyre roughly by the arm and began to lead him down the hall, the other three closely in toll.

"The answer is no," Darkwing informed gruffly in referral to the offer they had received from McIntyre courtesy of Negaduck just days earlier.

McIntyre knew immediately what Darkwing was referring to and sighed as he was lead into an empty room that was obviously under construction. It was completely empty and had painting supplied strewn about. "Negaduck will be most…"

"Listen to me, you maniacal miscreant, there is no Negaduck!" Darkwing spat as he jerked him to a stop, he and the three villains surrounding the lawyer to block any means of escape. "If you say his name again, I'll arrest you right here, right now."

"That's a strange threat, considering that I take it you came here to kill me, "McIntyre pointed out matter-of-factly. But he immediately froze as he felt the cold metal of the end of a gun being pressed against the side of his head. Shifting his eyes to the side, he could see that Draco was holding the gun firmly to his temple.

"It's a fair trade for Quackerjack," Megavolt quipped bitterly while he folded his arms over his chest.

Darkwing strolled to the front of McIntyre, since he was prevented from turning his head in either direction due to the gun aimed for his brain. The hero stared him coldly in the eyes, his expression firm. "We know you can get to us, and now you know we can get to you. I'm offering you the chance to call this off."

"Neg…" McIntyre began to answer, but stopped himself when he remembered the threat made towards him just seconds before. "My employer has made up his mind. He does not change it."

"Neither do we," Darkwing shot back snidely.

"You got Quackerjack and you may get more," Megavolt added in a low voice. "But you won't get to us all. Not before one of us gets to you," he threatened.

"And I believe you. Megavolt," McIntyre replied calmly, never once flinching as the gun was pressed against his head. "I quite sincerely do. You would not have been chosen if you were not so capable, but I cannot make this decision. Whatever you can threaten me with is... ludicrous in comparison to what will be done to me if…"

But Megavotl cut him off with another threat. "Just so you know, I'm the guy. I'm the one that's gonna get through to you."

McIntyre heaved his shoulders. By this point, small beads of sweat had begun to take form on his brow. "I am sorry, Megavolt. And I implore that you believe me, Darkwing…" he insisted and stared forward at Darkwing with an almost desperate expression on his face, his voice suddenly taking on a fearful wavering tone. "Negaduck is very real, and very determined…"

"We'll see…" Darkwing responded. The gun being held by Draco suddenly moved from the side of McIntyre's head down to his neck. But the lawyer's eyes never faltered as he managed to keep his cool.

"Before you do me in, Darkwing, you will allow me to finish my business with Miss McCawber, won't you?" McIntyre asked, his question causing Darkwing's eyes to immediately widen. Darkwing took the end of Draco's gun and moved it away from McIntyre's throat until he could get an answer.

"What?"

Even though McIntyre barely budged when the gun's aim was removed form him, he inwardly sighed in relief to himself. "Morgana McCawber. She's in my office to make a statement in a case," he explained, then shrugged. "But no matter. Kill away, Mr. Darkwing."

The three criminals all passed curious glances towards Darkwing, looking for an answer. But the blank expression on Darkwing's face told them that he did not have an answer.

"You're lying," he demanded, not able to come up with a wittier comeback.

"Am I?" McIntyre replied coolly with a tilt of his head before he turned and exited the room. The other four followed him down the hallway, giving each other perplexed expressions. Draco continued to discreetly hold the barrel of the pistol in his hand against the small of McIntyre's back.

They came to a stop in a glass office foyer. McIntyre motions through the glass window as the other four kept themselves concealed around the corner, peering out cautiously. Inside the meeting room on the other side of the glass window was Morgana, sitting at a table with three other men and one other woman. One of the men was a large, handsome, and burly man in a suit standing behind her. Darkwing eyed this man suspiciously.

Noticing his curious expression, McIntyre took the liberty of explaining. "Miss McCawber's escort while she's involved with this case. I thought you would like to know that she is in good hands."

Darkwing tried to hold back his surprised and hurt expression as his mind raced for an alternative. But he found none. He cast his glance downwards towards the floor and slowly shook his head, the three villains watching from behind curiously. Draco slowly lowered his gun from the lawyer without being told, frowning sympathetically in Darkwing's direction.

"Get your rest, gentleman," McIntyre suddenly broke the silence as he turned to face the four of them. "The boat will be ready for you on Friday. If I see you or your friends before then, Miss McCawber will find herself the victim of a gruesome violation before she dies…" he threatened darkly. "Do I make myself clear?"

Darkwing clenched his hands into fists until his knuckles turned red. Inside, he was aching to kill McIntyre with his bare hands.

"I'll take care of the dead men downstairs. We'll add them to the cost of Quackerjack," McIntyre continued before he began to move past them towards the office. "Now if you'll excuse me."

As McIntyre entered his office and greeted Morgana, Darkwing continued to peer inconspicuously around the corner to watch. He didn't notice as Megavolt. Liquidator, and Draco turned to retreat in the direction that they had come.

The hero was forced to stand by and watch, feeling a strange emptiness inside of him as Morgana laughed and conversed with McIntyre and the others in the meeting. For the first time, he felt betrayed by the one he thought he loved.