Disclaimer: I do not own Darkwing Duck, Scrooge McDuck or any other Disney character.

Authors Note: Again, this fic ties in with "The Path Chosen." This is one of the alternate realities that Darkwing could have chosen. Fair warning; another Darkwing Duck / Ducktales crossover!

Hidden Dawn

Part 3

Days have passed, Missing Persons hasn't come up with anything. I try and try again to remember something - anything about my past, to no avail, and I am afraid. I don't tell anybody about the strange dream I had, or of the hallucination I'd had of a Duck in White. I content myself in helping Gyro around his lab. I do discover that I know something about chemicals and their properties. I also seem to have a knack for working around gadgets.

My fourth day with Gyro, he asks me to help him tidy up his storage room. I'm not ready for what I find when I follow him inside the small room. He turns on the light to reveal a virtual tomb for discarded inventions. Gyro looks around "Well, I guess I kind of let things go in here for too long. This room is a Junk Yard!"

He said it, I didn't!

"Lets start finding the proper places for some of this stuff." he says reaching down to pick up what looks to be a spinning wheel with toy sheep attached "I thought this would be a big hit." he says holding it up for me to see. "It was a sheep counting machine for people with insomnia, but then everybody started getting Serta Mattresses, and well..." he tosses in aside.

He picks up an umbrella and opens it. It starts singing Opera! Thankfully he closes it again quickly. "This one...I don't know what I was thinking when I invented it!" He chucks it aside.

I can't help but to grin at some of the crazy things he has created. There's something about being around crazy inventions that seems - well - natural to me.

I spy something hanging on the wall, a costume of some sort. I walk over to it. "What is this?" I ask Gyro.

He walks over and removes it from the hook. "Oh this. This is one of my better inventions. It's the Masked Mallard costume I made for Mr. McDuck."

Masked Mallard? Why does those words sound so familiar to me? I look at the costume as Gyro holds it up for me. Blue and yellow spandex with a mask.

The mask also touches some part of me. I hadn't told Gyro or the doctor about what I was wearing when I first awoke on the river bank. If I had told anybody that I was wearing a mask when I awoke at the river side, I would have been automatically accused of being a criminal.

"Masked Mallard," I hear myself say as I stare, almost mesmerized, at the costume.

"Yes. You see awhile back, Mr. McDuck was trying to improve his image, so he took on the roll of a Super Hero. Multi-Zillionair by day, crime fighter by night."

Why do I feel so nervous all the sudden. As if something I was trying to hide was about to be revealed.

"So what happened?" I ask curiously.

"Oh, Mr McDuck decided the Super Hero thing just wasn't for him. The matter of fact, he destroyed the prototype. This was just a newer and more improved suit I was working on when he decided to call it quits as a crime fighter."

I take the costume from Gyro and look at it carefully. "That didn't mean you had to quit working on the suit. I mean, it sounds like a good idea. A super suit."

He shrugged "Yeah but what good would it have been, Mr. McDuck wouldn't have had use for it."

"Maybe not. But maybe police or firefighters. A super suit could very well save lives!" I say not understanding my own enthusiasm. But the costume touches something deep down inside of me.

Gyro responds to my ebullience with a grin "I guess you're right, I'd never thought of that." He takes the costume and looks it over "Maybe I will continue to work on it."

We had finished putting Gyro's storage room back in order. After lunch he had managed to talk me into taking a walk to get some fresh air.

There is a definite chill in the air as we walk aimlessly down a pleasant little path

near the park. In spite of the very cool temperatures, people are still enjoying being outdoors. Wish I could say the same.

I still have that insecure feeling of being recognized. Though I do want to discover who I am, I don't want anybody else to! That fact alone makes it hard to reach out to anybody offering aid to my plight.

I have to give Gyro Gearloose credit. I've lived four days under his roof, and he's never tried to persuade me to remove the sunglasses.

"Oh look, there's Mr McDuck!" Gyro says motioning towards a clearing near the

benches. We see McDuck seated on a bench reading the paper, a rather plump woman sits next to him knitting. She watches four young children playing in the clearing. There are three identical looking boys, and a little girl playing with an odd looking frisbee. I think it's a frisbee. It looks like a miniature UFO and the children don't seem to be touching it. Rather they are yelling out commands and it responds by darting through the air from one child to the next.

Gyro notices my interest in the toy. "That's one of my better inventions." he tells me. "It's a voice controlled toy Flying Saucer! You can program it to do tricks and it will respond to verbal commands."

He seems very proud of it. I can't blame him, it is a clever invention. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so. Two rather tall robust young men dressed in leather jackets simply walk up and one of them snatch the toy from mid-air. I hear one of the boys yell for him to give it back. In a matter of seconds, Scrooge and the woman are there, arguing with the men, who seem content to keep the toy.

"Uh oh, looks like trouble," I hear Gyro comment.

I don't reply as I am already walking towards the scene. Scrooge makes a grab for the toy saucer from the man who has it. The leather clad thug pushes him to the ground. "Oh, did the poor old guy fall down," the other thug taunts.

"Why you lowlife neanderthal!" Scrooge shouts as he staggers quickly back to his feat. "I ought to have you run in!"

The one holding the toys kicks dirt at him "Yeah and I ought'a punch you one just for having that funny accent."

"Give it back." I hear myself say.

Everybody looks in my direction.

"Oh look, a hero has come to save the day." one of them mocks. "What ya' gonna do scrawny, bore us to death?"

"Give it back." I repeat in a calm level voice. Like always, I'm not thinking about my actions - I'm just taking action.

One of them lunges at me, grabbing the collar of my shirt. With lighting fast reflexes, I strike an area in the lower part of his forearm, causing him to release his grip. Keeping a hold on his wrist, I twist his arm as I deliver a kick to the side of his leg that brings him to his knees. He cries out in pain.

His companion drops the toy and takes a swing at me. I dodge the swing and spring nimbly into the air, somersaulting over the creeps head. I land facing him, crouched instinctively, in a martial arts style defense stance.

The hood stares in bewilderment, realizing he is sorely out matched. "Uh, I think we're just going to go - now - and leave you all alone," he stammers as he jerks his companion to his feet. They both take off running. I watch them go. Why do I feel like I was suppose to do that? Defend somebody in trouble, I mean.

"Wow, that was fantastic!" one of the boys cheered.

"Yeah, cool!"

"Sure was!" the others agree excitedly.

Scrooge picks up the toy UFO and hands it to the boy dressed in green. He steps cautiously up to me. "Yes - yes, lad that was rather impressive, I do say." he pauses for a moment before adding meekly "I suppose I should thank you for your help." He extends a hand "Thank ya' Laddie," I shake the hand that is offered me feeling some amount of relief that Scrooge McDuck has softened towards me.

"That was so cool," the boy in blue says "Where did you learn karate?"

"Quack Fu," I correct quietly.

"Quack who?" asks Scrooge.

"Quack Fu - not karate." I explain.

"How do you know that?" Asks Gyro looking at me hopefully "Do you remember something?"

I gaze baffled at my own hands. "No...No I don't remember - I just know."

...I just know

To Be continued ...