Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck or any other Disney character.
If you haven't read "The Path Chosen", this story isn't going to make sense to you.
This fic derives directly from the original story. It's a look into one of the Darkwing realities that could have been. This is the story of the one called Tracker.
Tracker's Story Part 3..
Drake was still mystified over the experience he'd had earlier that day. He had convinced himself that it was all his imagination, brought on by the heated argument with Gosalyn over the bedroom. But still, the feeling of being out of place lingered.
He was glad when he received word from J. Gander Hooter that Darkwing Duck was needed at SHUSH. It would help take his mind off the strange experience, so he thought.
A short time later, Darkwing, J. Gander and Sara Bellum were standing infront of SHUSH's super computer. Dr. Bellum was explaining to Darkwing why they had sent for him. "As you know, Darkwing, SHUSH has been experimenting with time travel for some time. Though we have found that in doing so, we risk destroying reality as we know it. We have recently been studying the time continuum." The same image that Sara Bellum and J. Gander had been studying earlier came up on the monitor screen. "As you can see, there has been a disturbance in the natural occurring time-line."
"Natural occurring time-line? Sounds like something you cure with Metamucil." Darkwing said a little discourteously.
Dr. Bellum knew that haughty tone all too well and didn't appreciate it. "It's very serious Darkwing. From what I've been able to discover, reality may have already been altered."
"Altered from what?"
"From what it was suppose to be!"
Darkwing drew a ragged breath "And just what was reality suppose to be?" He really didn't believe any of this.
"I don't know!" Bellum snapped having lost all patients with the Masked Mallard.
"Then how do you know it's changed?"
"Because there's a tear in the time and space continuum."
"Well maybe the time and space continuum just needs a hemstitch!"
"DarkWing please.." J. Gander cut in. "This is most serious."
"Alright J. Gander, I'm sorry. But what does this have to do with me?"
"You once told me that QuackerJack and Megavolt used a time machine to travel into the future." J. Gander said looking at the monitor. "Dr. Bellum has been able to estimate the approximate duration the fabric of time first began to unravel."
Realization of where this was all leading, set in. DarkWing looked a bit peaked "You mean it was the Time Top that caused the tear in time?"
"Exactly. That's why we need you to tell us what you know about the Villains trip to the future. It may give us an idea of what's going on with the time line now."
"Oh," DarkWing realized what they were asking. But how could he tell them about what happened in the future without having to tell them who told him about it. Gosalyn. How could he explain that this little girl was the one who changed the future by hitching a ride on the Time Top. How hard would it be for them to figure out that the child was something special to him, like his own daughter, perhaps, in order to change him into the madman Dark Warrior. For that matter, he didn't want to tell them about Dark Warrior at all. He didn't want J. Gander to know that in some other existence, he could have been a power mad lunatic!
But still, it seemed he'd have to tell them something. "Alright J. Gander. As you might have suspected, there were a lot of very big gaps in the story I told you." He looked at the old director who was waiting patiently for him to go on. "Well, as you and the rest of the world knows, QuiverWing Quack is my daughter. unfortunately, she has a bad habit of following me on some of my cases, as she did that night...."
As best as he could, Darkwing relayed the story of becoming Dark Warrior and taking control of the entire city, as Gosalyn AKA QuiverWing had told it to him. By the end of the story, both J. Gander and Sara Bellum both stood agape, set aback by the thought of Darkwing Duck becoming a tyrant overlord in another reality.
"Oh my," Sara Bellum finally said in a hushed tone. "If you were effected so dramatically by QuiverWing's going into the future," she turned back to the monitor, "the unraveling thread may be your life."
"This doesn't sound good." Darkwing said flatly. "You mean that Gos ...err .... Quiverwing's little trip to the future may be affecting my present existence, somehow?"
Sara Bellum and J. Gander nodded simultaneously. "You see Darkwing, the tear in the fabric of time didn't start in the future some 20 years from now, rather the moment the Time Top first left its own time. It was that moment that began the change. So chances are that though they returned only a few minutes after they left, the damage was done. Your existence may have been affected from that time until now. But something has recently happened to increase the tear."
"Then reality may have already been altered in my life?" Darkwing asked becoming concerned. "But ..but, my life's great right now." He couldn't give them any details into just how things were so great for him because of his secret identity. He really wished he could brag to J. Gander about his aspects of becoming a new father. Just then, a fear overtook him. What if the baby had something to do with the altered reality. What if the baby wasn't suppose to be born? They said that something had happened recently to increase the tear. "Is there anyway for me to tell what it is that's altering in my reality?!" Darkwing asked with unexpected alarm.
"I'm afraid you're the only one who can figure that out Darkwing." J. Gander sighed "After all, it's your life that is being effected.
"Well how am I suppose to know if things are happening the way they're suppose to or because some fruit-cakes messed up my time-line-continuum-reality-thing ...what-ever?"
"You got me," was all Sara Bellum said in an all to light tone.
Darkwing gave her a very harsh glare which succeeded in unnerving her somewhat.
"Well. There may be anomalies in the time-line. The breaking down of the fabric of one reality so that another may actually get a glimpse into it. Of course that's only in theory."
"Huh?"
Sara Bellum often found herself going over peoples heads with her scientific explanations. Even J. Gander seemed bewildered at her last explanation. She tried to simplify her elucidation.
"If reality is being altered, the true reality, meaning how things would have happened had the time-line not been disturbed, may cross over into this one or vice versa."
"Uhg," was the first thing out of Darkwing's mouth. "You mean, I may go home and find myself sitting at the table eating lunch?"
"No, not likely." Dr. Bellum tried to explain in laymen terms. "It's not likely that the realities would be that solid or lasting. Let me put it this way ...if you happen to get a glimpse of your own ghost any time soon, that will be your alternate reality self!"
There was very little that could truly faze DarkWing Duck, but this enlightenment seemed to have succeeded in doing just that. The looked of bewilderment on the Masked Mallards face made J. Gander very uncomfortable. "I'm sure there's nothing to worry about DarkWing. I'm sure that it's nothing that can't be righted."
"Righted?" DarkWing thought, what if it was something he didn't want righted! What it if it had something to do with his and Morgana's unborn child! "Dr. Bellum, if this is my life line we're talking about, am I the only one who will be effected?"
Dr. Bellum glanced nervously at J. Gander who spoke up. "I doubt that. You are Darkwing Duck, after all. You hardly lead a quiet uneventful life. And since your life had such an impact on others...."
"So as my own-little-reality is possibly being redefined it could inadvertently effect everybody around me, the whole world even?"
J. Gander nodded.
Having heard all he wanted to DarkWing turned to leave. "Keep me posted if you learn anything new J. Gander."
As he walked out to the RatCatcher, the thought kept going through his mind. "What if it is the baby? Then what? Do I help SHUSH find a way to right the time continuum and prevent my own child from ever being born?" DarkWing rubbed his temples with his fingertips. "I feel a migraine coming on."
To be continued.... (as soon as DarkWing takes some aspirin ...smirk)
