An Editor's note: This bonus chapter was written by moonbird, though I did have a hand in the editing process. It's a fun little chapter, and it does fit well enough into my continuity (ironic, me talking about continuity), so I thought It'd be fun to post it. Hope yall enjoy.
Chapter Six
The Good Doctor
Finally, after what had seemed like a continuous strain of work in the crime infested city, the Friendly Four had a somewhat downtime. As usual the group was meeting at Bushroot's greenhouse, relaxing and just spending time together.
Even Quackerjack, their constant source of noise and trouble was silent as he literately collapsed on a couch and turned on the television. Changing the channel he found the station he wanted. He relaxed as he watched the cartoons with a light smile on his beak, chuckling here and there at the cat and mouse chase took place on screen. Sometimes he felt sorry for that poor cat, but it was still funny seeing the mouse get the better of him!
It was just starting to get really good when the channels changed suddenly with a resounding click of the remote.
"HEY!" Quackerjack exclaimed. "What's the idea? I was watching that!" he swirled around to see who had had to audacity to switch channels like that and discovered Megavolt standing with the remote control, as slight frown on his face.
Megavolt merely shrugged at Quackerjack's infuriated expression, his own mismatched eyes on the television screen. "You were just watching cartoons." he murmured. "Not that important is it?" he asked lazily.
"I like cartoons!" Quackerjack exclaimed, indigent. "And those were classics, most of the stations aren't showing the classics anymore." he told with crossed arms. "Especially considering that those newer cartoons stink." he wrinkled his beaks.
Once again Megavolt merely shrugged. "Whatever." he murmured. "You probably saw them all before anyway."
"So?" Quackerjack asked.
Megavolt sighed as he looked upwards. "As it happens, news only happen once, while the cartoon have reruns." he pointed out as he had finally found the news channels.
"News is boring." Quackerjack stated with his arms crossed looking rather sullen right in front of himself.
"In our profession it's pretty important to keep up with the news." Megavolt annoyed muttered back as he sat down on the couch beside Quackerjack looking at the screen. "Your cartoons will be there later."
"Hmpf!" Quackerjack snorted looking away as if Megavolt had just preformed some sort of sin.
Megavolt just shook his head as he watched the news, ignoring his friend's pout. For a good ten minutes Quackerjack looked away, refusing to be a part of this. However, his eyes found the television screen anyway, for lack of better things to do, and he silently watched... for about two more minutes before he started complaining.
"This is so boring!" he exclaimed as some people in white doctor robes told about their recent break through. "Argh! Give me that remote! This is putting me to sleep!"
Megavolt stretched out his arm so the remote control was completely out of reach. "No." he stated.
"Come on!" Quackerjack tried to reach for it. "Give me!"
"No." Megavolt replied once again.
"Please?" He tried for a pathetic expression.
"No." It didn't work.
"Argh!" Quackerjack threw up his arms. "You're mean!"
"Towards you?" Megavolt asked with a slight grin. "When did you figure?"
"You're just no fun at all." Quackerjack murmured as he crossed arms, looking away.
From his lab table Bushroot looked up mildly from the daisy he was cutting to give the exchange a look.
"They're at it again." The Liquidator commented as he sloshed up to the table.
"Yep." Bushroot acknowledged absentmindedly.
"For the third time today."
"Fourth." Bushroot corrected his friend. "Megavolt hid the sugar breakfast from Quackerjack this morning."
"Oh yeah, I forgot, you should think two superheroes would grow up at some point." The Liquidator commented.
Bushroot shrugged. "They're doing all right. Quakerjack is just excitable, and Megavolt gets under his skin. Well, actually they both get under each other's skin."
The Liquidator nodded. After three days of brooding over the lost opportunity with Dr. Fossil he had calmed down a bit. He was still determined to find his son, and he knew that they could come across Steelbeak again. When that happened the Liquidator was determined to take him aside and talk to him. Megavolt and the Liquidator had basically made up, though there was still a bit of tension there. The Liquidator shook these thoughts away as he watched the television from afar. A reporter was gushing over the new fertilizer.
"This new economic friendly fertilizer is based on peanuts and rain water! It's sure to revolutionize our agriculture and save the planet from more wasteful, hazardous, and expensive fertilizers."
"God this is boring!" Quackerjack complained loudly to Megavolt who hushed at him.
"That's a funny pink color it has." The news reporter commented as she leaned down to gaze at the bag of pink fertilizer open in front of him. The camera panned down to give the audience a better look at the bright pink substance.
"I think it's pretty." The blond woman said. "To bad it smells so terrible; it's sort of like rotten seaweed."
"That is because there actually is seaweed combined in the mixture."
"Phew." Quackerjack commented loudly. "That's like some of the fertilizer Bushy sometimes uses, I don't envy the farmer who has to use that."
Megavolt frowned. "You know you're right."
"I am?" Quackerjack asked. "About what?"
"That does look sort of like Bushroot's fertilizer." He commented. "And the fertilizer here tends to stink of seaweed as well, Bushroot!" he called turning around in the couch to address the plant mutant. "How on earth did you get your hands on a brand new experimental fertilizer just recently discovered?" he asked.
Bushroot laid down his tools as he walked over to the other two and watched the professors telling about this new wonder organic plant food. "Oh that's easy explained." Bushroot said gently. "I invented that, a very long time ago."
"You what!" Megavolt asked and then looked at the television screen and back at Bushroot. "Then they most owe you billions of dollars in royalties for that stuff."
Bushroot shrugged. "I suppose so."
"Aren't you going to do something?" Megavolt asked. "They are cheating you out of money."
"I don't really care." Bushroot shrugged again. "It's making the world a better place, and that makes me happy enough. That was the purpose of it, after all."
"But." Megavolt looked bewildered at him. "You have a right!"
"Money isn't everything." Quackerjack told wisely fiddling with his Banana Brain doll. "And all that preening that goes with it is just a drag." He shrugged. "And drag is a flap jack." He added in a little voice moving the banana doll. No one really understood that part, so they ignored it.
"Still, this is injustice; you should at least have recognition for it." Megavolt addressed Bushroot directly.
"I really don't mind." Bushroot told truthfully. "I don't want to be a bother or a reason for people not to use it. It's true, the fertilizer is cheap and economic to produce, easy to use and it might make a difference. I'm actually very happy right now."
"Megavolt is right you know." The Liquidator commented as he joined the conversation. "It's you're simple right to gain something, for work and research rendered. And that right there." He pointed at the screen. "Is theft."
"Guys, guys." Bushroot held up his hands. "It's all right, I don't want to draw more attention to myself, I am not mad at anyone, I am just happy it is being used at all."
Megavolt had run out of things to say as he gaped a bit. "Don't you ever get frustrated over anything?" he asked a little disbelieving. "No offence, but you were violently mutated against you're will by an insane duck, and you aren't mad at all? Most people would be raging against everyone at this point, but you…you…" Megavolt shrugged in frustration.
"I see no reason to be constantly angry; I don't see how it would make anything better." Bushroot told honestly. "You can't change the past, so why not just go with it. Being mad isn't going to make me normal, and there's nothing I can do about it. Better to just accept it and move on."
Megavolt gaped.
Quackerjack shook his head. "Bushroot would save the Devil himself if the Devil asked for help."
"Somehow I don't doubt that." Megavolt murmured.
Bushroot smiled apologetically.
Then Megavolt frowned. "Pardon me for asking, but...well…Reggie you're so smart! All this stuff you can do, why don't you have a PHD?"
"I didn't pass the exam." Bushroot told him with a slight smile.
"You're kidding me right?" Megavolt asked. "How could you not pass your exam? With inventing fertilizer incredible enough to get in the news and stuff? And your photosynthesis formula! How in the word did you manage to avoid it?"
Bushroot shook his head. "An honest mistake, you see my exam project was that fertilizer, but the portion the judged examined turned out to be highly poisonous rather than growth friendly. I failed, and I didn't have the money to take another course with the same subjects. On the other hand I had several nice job offers, so I just took one of the jobs. The one at the university. I figured once I made enough to pay for student loans I could try again. Then…well…" Bushroot shrugged and gazed down at his leafy hands with a wistful expression.
"Wait wait wait!" Megavolt exclaimed. "Let me get this straight, you're exam project was the fertilizer formula, the same formula as they say now would revolutionize farming?"
"Yeah..." Bushroot hesitated.
"And you changed how much in the formula since then?"
"Nothing." Bushroot told honestly. "It works fine. Worked fine when I invented it the first time around."
"And you've had to get by taking small pity jobs, creating amazing stuff other people have taken credit for, because you lack a PHD?"
"Yeah, so?"
There was complete silence as the three members for the Friendly Four just stared absolutely dumbfounded at Bushroot, making Bushroot rather nervous as he started fidgeting.
"Bushroot… Reggie, my friend…" Liquidator hesitated. "I don't know how to say this but err.."
"You are too nice to people!" Megavolt exclaimed. "You've been cheated, badly. More than once apparently!"
The Liquidator nodded. "Experts agree, you have been cheated out of quite a bit of wealth."
"I doesn't seem like a fair game." Quackerjack added.
"Guys, honestly." Bushroot told. "What is a mutant plant duck going to do with a PHD?" he asked. "I can't even go out in the street much less work in a lab, and why be angry at something that doesn't matter anymore?"
The three others were still just staring at him.
"And if it came out I had made that fertilizer no one would use it, and it could make the world a better place. Who cares if someone else has the credit, as long as people's lives are better!"
Still just staring.
"Look, I really don't want any of you to make a big deal out of this." Bushroot at last sighed. "It's all in the past; we should look to the future. There is enough bitterness out there; I don't want to become that." And he sighing turned away to return to his previous project with the daisies.
"That is so unfair!" Quackerjack exclaimed. "He so deserves that degree!"
"And someone owes him a ton of money and recognition." Megavolt stated with crossed arms. "I say it again; he is just too nice for his own good."
The Liquidator nodded.
"I want to help!" Quackerjack stated. "I want to do something, isn't there anything we could do?" he asked.
"We can't just walk in and start complaining without any reason." The Liquidator pointed out.
"Then it's good we do have a reason." Megavolt looked knowingly at them. "A very good reason, what we have just witnessed, is theft! Theft is a crime, we are here to stop and punish crime."
"Oh." Quackerjack lighted up. "I like that."
"That is a good point." The Liquidator acknowledged. "But how do we begin?"
"By finding out who the thief is and then expose him." Megavolt whispered secretly.
"How do we do that?" Quackerjack asked.
"Well, there are two ways." Megavolt whispered to the two. "Either going back and find out precisely what happened at old Bushy's exam, or back tracking, find out who has the formula now and where he got it from."
"You really do have you're bright moments." Quackerjack whispered.
"Thanks... Hey!" Megavolt exclaimed.
"Guys, focus!" The Liquidator demanded.
"Fine." Megavolt frowned annoyed. "Likky, you figure which school he went to and what happened, Quacky and I are going out to question some high profiled scientists."
"So you do care." Quackerjack chuckled. "I thought you didn't want to spend time me."
"I just don't like the thought of you doing anything on your own." Megavolt stated. "Come on Chuckles." He grabbed Quackerjack's jester hat. "Let's get moving." And he simply dragged a complaining Quackerjack with him, before he stopped in his tracks with a frown. "Oh and don't say anything to Bushroot." He asked of the two others. "He doesn't want us to bother."
"If he asks you two are out watching a movie." The Liquidator nodded.
"Roger Rabbit!" Quackerjack interjected with a grin.
Megavolt rolled his eyes. "Fine." He mumbled dragging the jester with him. "At least we are not talking a trip to Disneyland."
"Oooooh, what a brilliant idea!" Quackerjack lightened up. "Let's do that later! I always wanted to meet the head mouse!"
"Urgh, forget it." Megavolt hissed.
Liquidator slithered through the drains once again, this time towards a specific academy. It had been very easy to figure out which one, as Bushroot had all of his papers in the finest order, one of the necessary things to do when you're a scientist the Liquidator supposed. Now all the Liquidator had to do was to find the old records at the academy from when Bushroot had been a student. Without a sound being made the Liquidator emerged through a drain in what looked like a chemistry class room, each table having a Bunsen burner attached, safety goggles and lab coats hanging on the wall, several bottles with chemicals standing on the shelves, even a small white rat in a cage. He knew he had to be a long way from the archives, but still, so this was where Bushroot had gone to school, it was sort of fascinating. Liquidator headed for the door and easily slipped through the cracks and from there slipped downwards, only having to disappear as a chubby, brown haired, kind looking cleaning lady came walking through the hallway. The woman sighed at the sight of the puddle seeping through the hall, and the Liquidator gazed up at her from the floor. She turned around and walked towards a closet, and the Liquidator turned away and slunk off, making sure to be far away before she came back with her mop.
Finally he reached the basement with all of the archives and slipped past the locked door to find faced with the many rows with files. The Liquidator sighed inwardly he started to look after some sign of the dating on the papers, and soon found last year and back tracked from there. He had made it all the way down to the other end of the hallway before he found the right place. To his frustration the drawer was locked, and his powers, though very useful for sneaking around like this, breaking stuff open really wasn't his department. Trying he took the handle anyway, of course it was locked. He tried to pull a little harder, and a little harder again, suddenly he had both his hands on the handle and was pulling with all of his might so that the entire row of files was shaking.
"Hey!" a voice suddenly called. "Who's there?"
At once Liquidator let go in shock and as a result felt backwards and splashed into the row behind him.
"WHA!" the voice screamed shocked. "He melted!" Someone's footsteps came running as the elderly male voice hopelessly called out. "Hello, where are you?" the man turned around holding a flashlight high. "Please be all right." The voice sounded frantic. "Oh god, I just watched someone melt!"
Liquidator simply didn't have the heart to keep the old frantic man believe that, so slowly he reformed. "It's all right." He whispered not fully back to solid form yet. "I'm all right."
"ARGH!" the man screamed. "A ghost!" he pressed himself away. "Stay away, I'm a good Christian."
"What does that have to do with anything? I mean, relax." The Liquidator had finally reformed. "I am not a ghost, I'm a…ah…a sort of mutant." Finally the Liquidator got a good look at the man, a little bird with a long beard and a pair of thick glasses on his beak.
"Wait a minute." The man halted. "You're that Liquidator fellow from the news."
"Umm… yeah..." The Liquidator hesitated. "I suppose I am."
"By god son, how dare you frighten an old man like that?" the little bird asked as he took a deep breath. "First I thought it was a thief stealing more valuable documents! And then I thought it was a ghost!"
"Sorry." The Liquidator swallowed. "Say, did you say more documents?" he asked.
The little bird shrugged sadly. "Happens all the time, so few in the staff are decent people." He sighed. "The scientific world today is more about stealing each other's work rather than doing something for yourself." He sighed. "As a result the cheaters get to the top and the geniuses are stuck at the bottom."
"I sort of had the feeling that was how it was." The Liquidator nodded in understanding
"I'm Doctor Vulture by the way." The little bird smiled and offered his hand.
"Doctor Vulture?" The Liquidator asked as he accepted the handshake. "That's funny; it sounds kind of like a villain's name."
"Well that's the ironic thing about this world isn't it?" Doctor Vulture smiled. "All the people with villains names are good guys and all the people with hero names are bad guys. Take for instance Captain Boyscout, with that name you would assume he is the world's nicest guy. It turns out he is a con and a complete thug…"
The Liquidator frowned. "Except for Negaduck. I can't imagine the place where his name would be considered good."
"Too true…anyway." The little bird cleared his throat. "What's one of the decent people of St. Canard doing breaking into these old archives?"
"Trying to bring justice to the most decent person in town." The Liquidator responded honestly. "Does the name Reggie Bushroot mean anything to you?"
Doctor Vulture's eyes suddenly softened considerably. "How could I not remember dear old Bushroot?" he asked. "Impossibility kind that lad was! I truly wish that I knew what had become of him."
"Well, he is fine actually, a little green and a little mutated, but happy enough." The Liquidator told him.
Vulture's head snapped up. "Wait! Bushroot? Bushroot from the news is Reggie Bushroot?" he asked. "He was one of my best and brightest students from years ago! Is it really him?"
"I assume you're asking if the mutant from the news is you're old student, in which case the answer is yes."
"But he hates violence." Doctor Vulture exclaimed, and he sounded shocked. "He always avoided any kind of trouble or violence!"
"Oh he is still like that all right." The Liquidator said. "But he also wants to help. He uses his powers to help people. He doesn't like it, but he knows it's necessary to protect people."
"Sounds like him." Vulture nodded. "He always thought of others before himself.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about his school days do you?" the Liquidator asked. "About his lacking a degree?"
"Of course I do, I was there." Doctor Vulture asked. "I was his teacher, poor Bushroot." He sighed. "He worked so hard and got nothing in return. I'm sure someone sabotaged, and possibly stole his work, but I have no proof. Especially now that the new fertilizer is out. It's really his, I'm sure of it!"
The Liquidator's head dropped. "How did he take that back then?" he asked.
"He was heartbroken, what can you expect?" Vulture asked. "Bushroot always puts bits of his soul into all of his projects. When it was taken from him it was like he was torn apart, but if you know him, then also know he doesn't have a single trace of bad temper in him, or bitterness. It was the same in this case, so he tried to keep back the tears and he moved on."
Liquidator was a bit lost for words as he sadly regarded all of the archives around them.
"So." Doctor Vulture cleared his voice. "Tell me, what can I do to help?"
Liquidators face cracked in a smile. "So glad you asked! I bet there is some proof in these archives that can prove the project was really his! Let's start looking!"
Meanwhile Megavolt and Quackerjack had found themselves at a very expensive high profiled research facility. It hadn't gone as either one of them had expected, least of them Quackerjack who was beyond annoyed at current time. Megavolt just stood there with stars in his eyes and a grin on his face. An expression of rapture on his face, that Quackerjack had never seen before.
"I think I am in love!" Megavolt stated as Quackerjack rolled his eyes. "Look at this!" Megavolt zoomed over to a large consol. "A circular tron fiddler with magsiment shield force! Oh, she's so shiny and new! Oh isn't she beautiful?" Megavolt asked.
"I'm not even going to pretend I have any idea what you just said." Quackerjack commented annoyed. Who would have known Megavolt was go gaga over a bunch of machines? And the fact that he kept referring to them as "shes" kinda creeped Quackerjack out…he wondered if this was some sort of poetic karma for all the times he had creeped Megavolt out.
"Oh!" Megavolt exclaimed running across the room again. "A warp deflector with five gears and post delta moderators." He wiped a tear from his eye. "I never thought I would ever be able to see one in real life! It's all so beautiful!" He whispered in an awed voice.
"You were the science nerd in school weren't you?" Quackerjack had to ask.
Megavolt didn't even hear, he was too in awe of all of the so called magnificent machines. "Shesh." Quackerjack muttered. "And he calls me obsessed?" he grumbled as he observed Megavolt, who seemed be reliving a partially happy Christmas morning. Quackerjack took three fast steps towards the rat. "Come on!" Quackerjack gripped his arm. "Time to go!"
"But I don't wanna." Megavolt complained. "I want to stay here."
"We have a job to do remember?" Quackerjack asked pulling in Megavolt with all of his might.
"That can wait." Megavolt complained. "This place has machines producing alternative energy! Just ten minutes more! Please!"
"I seriously don't know you anymore." Quackerjack commented. "If anyone asks, you're not with me." He pulled in the rat ending up dragging the fighting Megavolt across the floor. "And when did I become the responsible one, I'm not supposed to be the responsible one!"
"Five minutes more?"
"NO!"
"Awww." Megavolt complained.
"We are going to finish the mission, then we can look at the machines." Quackerjack stated.
Megavolt still looked just depressed as he very longingly looked at all of the machines. He began sighing deeply as he gazed at the whirling pistons, the glittering monitors, the sleek mega drives. How he loved them all!
"May I help you with something?" a tall extremely beautiful lady with long blond hair and long eyelashes addressed the two heroes.
"Yes." Quackerjack addressed the woman as he annoyingly held a firm grip in Megavolts shoulder, making sure the rat wouldn't suddenly run off. "We're the superheroes of St. Canard. You might have heard of us. Quackerjack and Megavolt. We're here to investigate a possible theft, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the new pink super fertilizer?" he asked.
The woman blinked. "Well of course, it was developed in one of these departments and is being tested right now."
"Aha." Quackerjack glanced at her. "I see, could you tell us who developed it?" he asked in a dry voice. There was something about the way this girl was looking at him. Quackerjack didn't like. It was kind of…slimy.
"Actually I did." The woman smiled warmly. "I am Doctor Gandra Dee." She swung her long beautiful blond hair around her shoulder. "But you can call me Gandra. If you got any questions just ask me." She batted her eyelashes, trying to be seductive.
Quackerjack frowned, annoyed.
"I got a question." Megavolt exclaimed.
Doctor Gandra nodded at him. "Yes." She asked in a polite voice.
"Where do you buy one of those?" He pointed at a big gray machine with blue lights running up its sides.
"Megs!" Quackerjack exclaimed.
"Lighten up Quacky." Megavolt muttered annoyed. "When will I ever be at a place like this again?"
"I don't care, I don't like machines!" Quackerjack exclaimed with his arms spread out. That wasn't precisely true. He liked building machines, precisely robots, but he didn't like listening to Megavolt babble on about the inner workings of a toaster. It was dull, and it was interfering with the mission.
"I do!" Megavolt returned.
"You like this stuff?" Gandra suddenly asked a weird light glinting in her eyes.
"Oh do I!" Megavolt asked. "It's all so beautiful." The expression on Megavolt's face was pure sappiness. It made Quackerjack want to hurl.
"And you know how it works?" Gandra asked. "How you could use them for research?"
"Well it's easy! You see-"
"Hold it right there." Quackerjack slammed a hand towards Megavolts mouth. "That's not why we're here." And then he cleared his throat. "Now, the fertilizer, how did you discover it?" he asked.
Gandra started laughing. "That's a silly question isn't it?" she asked. "I invented it, the news says so."
"The news says a lot." Quackerjack told sternly. "Why don't you go through that formula for us and explain it?" he asked.
"Well, why waste time on that?" Gandra blinked very seductively and bowed down slipping a hand over Quackerjacks head. He tensed at the unwelcome touch. He already knew that he did not want this woman touching him! "When there is so much else we could be doing…like having fun."
Quackerjack was throughout unimpressed with the seductive turn and Megavolt didn't seem to have noticed it at all. He was far too busy with all the wonders surrounding them. Quackerjack wished his friend would pay more attention. The woman made his stomach turn. She remained him way to much of con. He had a feeling he was being played. After all, this woman claimed to have found the formula, when Quackerjack knew it had been Bushroot.
"Waste my time then." Quackerjack encouraged. "Just tell us about the formula, explain it to us."
At last it seemed like the childish state Megavolt had been in was wearing off and his glanced at Gandra. "Yeas, explain please." He said. "Show us the place you developed it."
Gandra looked calculating at them with a frown around her beak, then suddenly all melted away as she smiled. "Of course." She said. "It's right this way." She gestured and lead them down a hall way. "All though, it's such an honor having superheroes with your reputations in the building, it would be a shame not taking the whole tour now wouldn't it?"
Megavolt gaped. "Can we?" he asked. "Really?" he smiled all over again.
"Of course." Gandra laid an arm around his shoulder and she smiled her seductive smile. "I would do it personally."
Megavolt beamed, again though, it was probably more because of the machines he was promised than her, in fact he didn't even seem to notice her, and Quackerjack started to notice how annoyed she started becoming that her usual seductive techniques didn't work. Occasionally when she thought they were not looking the woman would give them a nasty expression. A sour look that made her perfectly formed bill crinkle and turn ugly. Quackerjack started to have a sneaking suspicion that all that she had was looks. Was this how she had worked herself up through the ranks? He wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even know how to put two plus two together! He would bet she didn't belong in the science department at all!
"Oh dear me!" Gandra stopped in her tracks. "I forgot! That lab is closed for today." She held a hand up to her mouth. "Oops." She giggled innocently, or tried to at least.
Quackerjack looked annoyed at her. Hah! What a coincidence huh?
"Aw." Megavolts face faltered. "Does that mean we can't have the tour?"
"On the contrary." Gandra smiled at the rat. "It means we have longer time for the tour!"
"Really?" Megavolt asked in an excited voice as if he couldn't believe his own ears.
"Of course." Gandra laughed. "I would be honored. Come this way, I show you the whole place!"
"Oh boy!" Megavolt exclaimed and Quackerjack just sighed deeply as he followed the two, shoulders hunched. How convent that all these so called ``Coincidences'' just continued one after the other! It didn't take that long for them to arrive in a room with several half finished projects, and Quackerjack had a sinking feeling.
"Oh dear." Gandra had said. "We have been stuck with this stuff. None of it works right! We're stumped!"
"Can I have a look?" Megavolt had asked at once, and once he was given a nod of permission he went to work, completely engrossed in all of the wires and wheels. He literately was buried in the stuff as he gleefully tinkered with it all. Quackerjack thought that he could make some toys out of the bits and bobs, but this science stuff was beyond him. However, it appeared that Megavolt was going to be here a while.
Sighing, Quackerjack collected a small pile of discarded wheels, springs and pointy things, and started to tinker. If he was going to be here for a while he would at least make a few toys. He barely even noticed when Dr. Gandra left the room, a sinister smirk pasted all over her beak.
Quackerjack was bored and if there was one thing not healthy for everyone, it was a bored Quackerjack. He sat there on top of a box, dully observing Megavolt's glee. All of Quackerjack's spare parts had been used up hours ago, and he was annoyed.
"I wonder if I look this nuts to other people." Quackerjack murmured as he rested his head in his hand.
Oh indubitably, my friend. Headboss grumbled.
You've been silent for a long time…
I am worried, this is bad.
I know.
That woman is dangerous.
You make more and more sense every day.
Quackerjack grunted dully he looked down on all the small toys he had managed to make in a rather small time from all the wheels and wires laying around. There was a music box a toy soldier which could work on his own accord, a ballerina able to twirl around and a jack in the box lacking the head of the jack inside. He liked them. They were cute, but he was ready to go now. Was he the only one who remembered why they were here?
"Megs!" he called out. The rat didn't hear him. "Hello, MEGAVOLT!" he called again.
"Hmm." Megavolt answered his head completely buried in the machinery.
"I am going to take a walk." Quackerjack informed. "Stretch my legs."
"Okay fine." Megavolt said casually. "You do that." And still he didn't even come out of the machines to talk to Quackerjack. That…was really starting to hurt.
Quackerjack sighed as he got up and walked toward the exit, a frown on his beak. The hurt was turning into anger. A great deal of anger. How dare that little...that little…that rat!
"Don't go out alone in a probably evil facility Quacky! Let's do our job Quacky! Take care Quacky!" He murmured to himself as he stormed through the halls. "Well thanks a lot Megsy!" he drawled sarcastically as he wandered outside to breath in the air. "Boy, at least I know what to get him for Christmas! Whatever machine I can't pronounce the name off." Quackerjack commented crossing his arms, then he shook his head and sighed as he observed how the sky was starting to turn rather dark. "I'm going home." He muttered as he walked out of the facility with annoyed, angry steps.
Megavolt hadn't even registered that Quackerjack was gone, he was just having the very time of his life. None of this stuff worked properly, but he very quickly figured out how to fix it or change it, it was literately a dream coming true! He had completely lost all track of time and surroundings as he satisfied clasped his hands as he looked proudly at his improvements and creations spread out in front of him.
"How about that?" he asked over the shoulder. "Give me and toaster and a oven and I'll perform real magic in front of you Quacky." It was strangely quiet. "Quacky?" Megavolt asked and turned around to witness the few toys lying around on the floor, looking quite sad and almost rejected. "Quackerjack?" he asked rather loudly as he glanced out of the window and realize the sun was rising. Wait rising? It had only been afternoon when they arrived. "Oh Quacky.." Megavolt suddenly realized his mistake. "Quacky I'm sorry, where are you?" he started looking around, but his friend had vanished, leaving only those poor sad looking toys behind..
"Megavolt?" Gandra stepped into the room. "Is something the matter?"
"I think I sort of abandoned Quackerjack..." Megavolt muttered. "I'm sorry Doctor, thanks for the hospitality and all, but I gotta find him... And, he was kind of right, we were not even here for sightseeing in the first place!" he almost pushed Gandra aside in his haste of getting outside.
"Quackerjack! Wait for me!" he called out.
Gandra however, just let him go as she turned around. She looked at all of the machines that none of the so called doctors had been able to make work, and gleefully watched them all run as smoothly as could be.
"Finally." She grinned. "Forget about just buying a palace with the fertilizer I'll buy my own desert island with a resort and private servants!" she grinned as she rubbed her hands. "And I should be damned if I don't get true fame and recognition for this! Go home all you movie stars and rock stars and artists! Stand back, rich corporate fat cats! I'll get my own statues for sure! I can see it now: Gandra, the magnificent, most beautiful ever, smartest, humblest, giving, kindest personality in the world, loved by all!" she chuckled; looking rather unattractive as she greedily looked at her new goods.
"Quacky please." Megavolt pleaded. "I didn't mean to, it was just...I.."
Quackerjack didn't answer; he was just sitting down on the floor of the greenhouse with his arms crossed, looking straight forwards with an annoyed frown on his face.
"I'm sorry, okay! I said it, I am sorry! Can't we move on?" Megavolt asked.
Quackerjack still didn't answer.
"Oh so we are playing the silent game now?" Megavolt asked. "Well, that's really mature Quackerjack, really mature! Grow up won't you!"
"That's a laugh! You talk to me about growing up?" Quackerjack shouted loudly. "It was you who forgot all about our mission!"
"And I said that I was sorry!" Megavolt exclaimed. "Gah! You make one tiny mistake! As if you are not above making childish mistakes! You do it all the time, you know!"
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that!" Quackerjack turned his head away. "And I am not talking to you!"
"Well, clearly you are!" Megavolt pointed out in an annoyed voice.
"Not anymore, this is the last word you'll hear from me!" Quackerjack returned.
"Good! I was tired of your complaining anyhow!"
"Ditto!"
And they were both sitting down back to back, both with crossed arms and annoyed faces, grumbling and hissing to themselves. "Stupid rat, always thinking he knows best! Thinking he can handle anything on his own doesn't he!" Quackerjack grumbled.
"Immature clown." Megavolt hissed through his teeth. "Why can't he ever take a mature approach, why doesn't he grow up?"
"I heard that!" Quackerjack exclaimed.
"I thought we weren't talking!" Megavolt returned.
"We are not!"
"Oh really!" Megavolt yelled on the top of his lungs and raised a sizzling hand. "What is this then?"
"An opportunity to finally beat some sense into that dense skull of yours!" Quackerjack exclaimed and he jumped up on his feet. "Bring it on!"
"You asked for it!" Megavolt exclaimed as he pulled back his hand for a blast, but suddenly something big and strong wrapped itself three times around his waist and pulled him upwards. "Woah, What's happening!" he yelled and discovered that Quackerjack was equally hoisted up by a big tree.
"Guys, guys!" Bushroot stepped through the doorway to his lab. "No fighting in my greenhouse, my plants could get hurt!" he told then with a frown.
"Well, he started it!" Quackerjack exclaimed as he helplessly tried to get out of the plant's grasp.
"Did not!" Megavolt returned and both suddenly got a sudden shake from the tree, a hint that they needed to compose themselves.
"Guys, honestly." Bushroot sighed. "I don't care why you are fighting or who started it. You always fight, but I hate to see either of you being hurt. Especially considering one of you has superpowers to his disposal and the other one has super gadgets, it could easily go wrong."
"As if I would really zap Quackerjack." Megavolt rolled his eyes.
"Seemed like you were just about to from where I was standing." Quackerjack commented.
"Well, maybe a minor zap." Megavolt said. "It wouldn't have hurt you…much."
"Then I might as well just send some teeth after you, that wouldn't have hurt you either." Quackerjack pointed out with crossing arms. "Much."
"You did stuff a pair of those teeth in my bed last week!" Megavolt exclaimed.
"And it was a well meaning prank." Quackerjack returned.
"Let me down!" Megavolt exclaimed. "I'll get to him! He had this coming to him!" and then the tree branches which held shook again giving him and Quackerjack another firm warning.
Bushroot shook his head. "Seems to me I have little choice." He sighed. "You two just cool off and talk whatever it is through up there; I'll let you down when I'm sure you won't kill each other anymore."
Both Megavolt and Quackerjack looked wide-eyed at him.
"And I'm sorry, but I have quite a bit of work to do." Bushroot shrugged them off. "I guess I'll be seeing you later." And he walked out on them.
"He left us?" Quackerjack asked loudly. "Dangling like a pair of sacks! The nerve!"
Megavolt didn't answer but merely looked away.
"You aren't going to do something?" Quackerjack asked.
"We aren't talking remember?" Megavolt asked. "And I'm the one with the bad memory."
"Oh fine!" Quackerjack snapped and looked away.
For a time they both just hang there, upside down, in absolute silence. The plants were waving lightly and the clouds outside were moving in a steady pace. There really wasn't a lot to do in their current position as time passed. Megavolt sighed as he watched how much the sun had moved. His eyes eventually glanced at Quackerjack who also started to look rather defeated in this predicament, Megavolt just couldn't help it, suddenly his face just cracked into a little smile, and then he started chuckling.
Slowly Quackerjack turned his head and looked oddly at Megavolt. "What?" he asked.
"This." Megavolt chuckled. "Is absolutely ridiculous!" he chuckled. "You look ridiculous!"
"You're the one to talk." Quackerjack returned all though he had trouble keeping back his smile.
"I know!" Megavolt exclaimed in a grin.
Then their eyes meet, and suddenly both heroes just burst into laughter. "We are like two pieces of Christmas decorations!" Quackerjack laughed.
"Yeah, you're the paper glitter and I'm the light bulbs!" Megavolt snorted.
"So true!" Quackerjack laughed on the top of his lungs, and suddenly the branches holding them started to slowly lower and very gently placed them back on the ground.
Amused Megavolt shook his head. "That Bushroot." He sighed. "He really is pacifist of the team."
"Where would we be without him?" Quackerjack asked amused.
Megavolt sighed. "I can't believe I forgot why we were even there in the first place." He murmured sitting down. "We really owe Bushy a lot, and just let myself get carried away. Quackerjack I'm really am sorry I abandoned you like that."
"Nah." Quackerjack shrugged. "Don't worry about it, it was really nice to see you go starry eyed at last. You're so serious all the time I didn't think you had a passion for anything! So you really were the science nerd in school?" he asked amused.
"Well uh." Megavolt rubbed his neck. "I guess."
"Megs, did you or did you not use every single chance you had to sit in some lab inventing stuff and calculating numbers?" Quackerjack asked.
"Okay I did." Megavolt admitted. "In fact these powers." He made a spark fly from his hand. "Is one of my own experiments kinda of back firing."
"Cool!" Quackerjack exclaimed. "That is really awesome!"
"Really?" Megavolt asked.
"Absolutely." Quackerjack acknowledged in a smile. "I had actually been wondering what your real passion was for a while, so nice to figure it out." He flung and arm around Megavolts shoulder. "And I believe we have some unfinished business to deal with bro, it's time to do something nice for Bushy for a change."
"Agreed," Megavolt smiled warmly flinging his arm around Quackerjack's shoulder. "And onward…March!"
As the two superheroes, this time in a rather good, almost chatty mood, went all the way back to the lab they started noticing the crowds that seemed to become bigger and bigger, and it started to become that more difficult to find a way through.
"Move aside, get away! Make way!" Quackerjack exclaimed pushing himself through, Megavolt following closely behind. "What's all the commotion about!" Quackerjack asked loudly.
"I have no idea!" Megavolt returned. "But there are cameras, look!" he pointed and true enough, there seemed to be a whole number of journalists with their camera men.
"I'll say." Quackerjack blinked. "Well, all the better reason to figure what is going on! Come on!" and he grabbed Megavolts arm to harshly pull the rat with him through the crowds.
"Sorry, excuse me, so sorry!" Megavolt hastily said as he bumped into several people, and his huge battery didn't make it much better as that thing seemed to ram into someone every time Megavolt tried to make a little turn to apologize, and then he would just be pulled away by Quackerjack, until the two at last made it all the way through and managed to burst through the crowds. However, they ended up becoming unbalanced, falling down on their stomachs as they finally squeezed through the masses
"Oww." Quackerjack grunted.
"You said it." Megavolt complained, rubbing his neck as he looked up. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "It's that Gandra lady from yesterday!"
"Miss Fake I think is the word you're looking for." Quackerjack commented.
"My proudest accomplishments yet." Gandra was speaking into a microphone. "The energy storage device of the future." She proudly brandished what looked like a handheld vacuum cleaner. "With this, the world will never lack energy ever again, as the source of its energy can be anything! From animals to living plants, as long as they have energy inside of them can be siphoned with this machine. Then the energy can be stored and released, all without the release of CO2."
"HEY!" Megavolt exclaimed. "That's my invention! I invented that yesterday!"
"That cow!" Quackerjack snarled, his eyes narrowing in anger. "That little thief!"
"You're love for the environment never ceases to amaze." A news reporter was talking to Gandra. "So now you have both solved the issues of pollution and the oncoming energy crisis. Whatever is next? The cure to cancer?" At that everyone around them laugher.
"Well, cancer is not really my thing." Gandra smiled smugly as she tried to appear humble. It failed, at least to Quackerjack and Megavolt it failed. "I will just stick to what I do best, in my own private lab."
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Megavolt jumped up on the podium, Quackerjack close behind him. The public gasped as several cameras was suddenly pointed in the direction of the two heroes.
"That invention is not hers, it's mine!" Megavolt pointed at himself. "And that fertilizer is invented by Reginald Bushroot, she's a fraud!" he pointed an accusing finger at Gandra.
"How dare you!" Gandra exclaimed. "I am a fully qualified scientist."
"Scientist my ass." Quackerjack grunted. "You don't even know uranium from nitric!"
Megavolt blinked and turned to Quackerjack. "And you do?" he asked surprised.
Quackerjack shrugged. "I get around."
"Would you please get off the stage?" Gandra hissed. "This is my glorious moment, mine!"
"NO!" Megavolt yelled loudly. "You don't deserve any of this; you're a spoiled ugly fake! You steal the hard work of others! Me, my friends! Who else have you stolen from?"
"Say that again!" Gandra's face was turning scarlet red. "You worthless little rat! Why do you deserve the glory! You're a wretched thing! You and Bushroot and that Crackshell fool!"
"You're a monster!" Quackerjack shouted. "You stole Bushroot's fertilizer!"
"What if I did? What does it matter!" Gandra shrieked. "What the hell do you care, you bucktoothed, squinty eyed, badly dressed freak! Get them!" She bellowed at the guard standing around, who were as shocked as the rest of the crowd. "Or have you forgotten who signs your paycheck!"
The two guards looked at each other, gulped and nodded. Suddenly the two big burly guards were behind Quackerjack and Megavolt. They grabbed them by their shoulders.
"Finally, about time!" Gandra hissed. "Throw them out!"
Megavolts face darkened. "Bushroot may be too nice for his own good, rather see his things doing good for others people. Even if it means making fortunes for others than see them forgotten, but I am not that nice!" he stated. "I rather see my work forgotten than in the hands of likes of you!" he shouted and a big electrical stream sprung from his hand and zoomed towards the invention. It collided with it and the machine immediately started absorbing.
"ARGH!" Gandra yelled jumped away as the machine begain to raise off the ground and shake violently.
And Megavolt kept feeding it ."Come on, come on!" he hissed blasting with even more power.
"Uh Megsy." Quackerjack hesitated. "It's not working."
"It has to." Megavolt grunted. "Shoot!" and he suddenly collapsed, worn out and drained. Quackerjack looked at the machine which was now blinking and bobbing. Then suddenly, without much warning, it exploded in an inferno, sending everyone down on the ground. Slowly Gandra propped herself up on her elbows, stared wide-eyed at the remains of the machine. "No." she whispered.
Megavolt smirked though he also clearly looked exhausted from the power drain. "What's the matter?" he asked in a light mocking tone. "You invented it did you not? If you did you can just build a new one right? After all, you must have the blue prints, or... oh shoot, I forgot!" he snapped his fingers. "The only blue prints are in here!" and he grinningly pointed at his own skull. "Well how about that, tough luck!"
"ARGH!" Gandra screamed as she rose up from the ground. She looked an utter mess, her blond hair in a tangle, her lab coat far from clean, it was dirtied and wrinkled, and her face twisted until it became uglier than a goblin's. "I'LL TEACH YOU, YOU RAT!" she shouted. "Give me that!" she grabbed a gun out of her guard's hand and aimed it at Megavolt. "You're finished!"
"YIKES!" Megavolt didn't even have time to react as she fired. Fortunately he was saved the last second as Quackerjack pulled him backwards, out of the way.
"Run for it!" they ran but were stopped with a massive wall of cameras all pointed in their directions.
"STUPID PRESS!" Megavolt shouted. "NOT NOW!" and the two heroes dodged as a new bullet came flying their direction. They had to run back and forth, avoiding several bullets on their way, the public spreading out in a wild panic as Megavolt and Quackerjack managed to jump behind one of the big signs with Gandra's pretty face plastered on it.
"Come on out." Gandras voice hissed. "You can't hide forever."
"You realize how pathetic this is right?" Quackerjack whispered to Megavolt. "We are two superheroes hiding from one girl."
"An insane woman with a gun!" Megavolt corrected. "And we really are losers," he murmured. "The public could get hurt."
"What do we do?" Quackerjack asked. "It's not like you're going to be much good, you're out of juice!"
Megavolt sighed, then his eyes widened. "Don't worry." He instructed. "I got an idea, listen." He began to whisper in Quackerjack's ear. The clown's face broke into a grin, and he began to giggle madly.
Gandra walked around in fast strides with an insane look in her eyes. "Come out, come out." She hissed as the public scrambled. "Or I'll just shoot one of these!" she pointed her gun at the running people.
"Yo, ugly!"
Gandra's head turned upwards, and saw Quackerjack bouncing around up on the stage, standing on his hands. "Ugly?" Gandra hissed. "How dare you!"
"Well you are!" Quackerjack laughed. "You gotta be the ugliest cow I've ever seen!"
"ARRGH!" Gandra screamed and fired at Quackerjack, him easily dodging. "I'll get you! Somehow I'll get you!"
"HAHAHA!" Quackerjack laughed. "Little on brain, little on looks, nothing in aim! You are nothing! You're a joke!" he howled. He began to moo at her, a bit grin on his face.
Gandra screamed and started shooting like a maniac, so busy was she that she didn't notice the person who had sneak up on her from behind. All of a sudden she was gripped by both her arms forcing her to drop the gun. "NO!" Gandra shouted. "I'll get you for that!" she cried. "I am a beautiful woman! Everyone desires me, so I can get whatever I want!"
"No." Megavolt sighed as he held her hands firmly. "You are an ugly woman, to the core; you can't get anything that you want, not anymore. That's over, and this is over, all of it."
"NO!" Gandra shouted and then fell down on her knees tears falling down her face. "I want to be pretty, I want to be adored, is that too much to ask?" she cried. "I am not ugly, I am not ugly...I am not…" and she burst into uncontrollable sobbing, right there on the ground.
"I never thought you were the least bit attractive." Megavolt informed the crying scammer. "I would hate to be stuck in the same room as you for long. You see, to be really adored by people, looks aren't enough. In fact they aren't even necessary. I got a friend, he doesn't look like much, but everyone who knows him automatically adores him, because he is kind to the core. I came here just to help him, to do something nice for him in return. I'm sure if you could get the heart to do something unselfish for someone else, you could be very beautiful."
Gandra looked up at him with red tear filled eyes, her thick make-up running down her face, making her look more unappealing than ever. "That's bull crap." She stated firmly, and that was it. That ugly word coming out of that ugly woman's mouth told it all, and Megavolt just knew there was no redeeming qualities in this one. She would be going to jail, and good riddance. She could no longer get her hands on Bushroot's inventions, or hurt anyone else's life.
It was though, with regret Megavolt witnessed the broken woman being taken away by Officer Bulba, who had driven up the moment he heard that two of the Friendly Four had gotten into a shootout. He nodded at the two as he cuffed Gandra and stuffed her into the squad car. Megavolt watched her being hauled away listlessly. What a damn waste.
"Two cents for your thoughts." Quackerjack commented as he observed with Megavolt.
"I was just thinking what a group of losers we are." He murmured. "All of this, and we still are no closer to what we came for in the first place."
"Well." Quackerjack mussed. "We did expose Gandra right, so people must be wondering where the inventions came from! We're closer. And she kinda did admit to stealing."
"Not really, she just said it didn't matter, and it probably doesn't to her. And how do we prove it was Bushroot who invented it?" Megavolt asked. "Now anyone could come and claim it to be theirs! I don't think being screamed at by a crazy woman is exactly admissible in court!"
"Oh yeah." Quackerjack realized. And they both sighed simultaneously.
"Why the sad faces?" A voice came from behind. "Put a smile on your face! Because when there is trouble, the Liquidator always has the answer!"
"LIKKY!" the two heroes yelled and twirled around.
"How did you find us!" Quackerjack asked.
"Really not that hard." The Liquidator looked annoyed at them. "You're everywhere in the news!" he pointed up in the air and at the television screen on top of a building showing their live conversation, all the way down to where the Liquidator was pointing.
"Whoops." Megavolt murmured.
"And while you two were out having fun..." The Liquidator started. "I have been doing the real work! If you just knew all the papers I have gone through to get to it! All night!" he exclaimed.
"Wait." Megavolt looked up at him. "You mean?"
The Liquidator grinned. "I do indeed mean, and I think that makes me the hero of the day."
"No way!" Quackerjack exclaimed. "You did paperwork; the two of us could have been shot!"
"You know what." Megavolt cut in. "I don't care, let's get out of here!"
In the greenhouse, the base of the Friendly Four, it was getting rather late, particularly for Bushroot who had been minding his own business all day. He was satisfied to notice how all of his friends were back again, and even all were in a better mood. They deserved to be, it was so rare for them to have an occasion to be happy. Rubbing his eyes and straightening out his sore back Bushroot yawned as he went for his lab table to make the finishing notes for the day before he retired. Suddenly he noticed something; something was different at the table. His eyes fell on a square yellow box in green with a purple band around it and a bow on top. Its presence stunned Bushroot, who looked at it with suspicion, until he saw the greeting card on top. Warily Bushroot looked himself over the shoulder, as if he suspected some kind of intruder, but of course that was just silly...Carefully Bushroot flipped the card, and it weren't really of that much help as all it said was: "For Reginald Bushroot."
Frowning Bushroot eyed the box anew, squinting his eyes and putting his head askew as he just looked at it, puzzled. At last he reached out and very carefully pulled in the bow so the band fell elegantly down the green box. Even more carefully he took a hold on the lid, and very slowly took it off before placing it on the table. Holding his breath Bushroot bowed forwards, keeping one eye closed as looked down with the other one, and then both his eyes widened. He blinked a couple of times, and then as he was holding his breath he reached down to pull up a framed diploma in his shaking hands. A PHD with his name on it. Bushroot couldn't believe what he was seeing in front of him, holding in his hands. This was too impossible, it just wasn't possible! How could it be? And with a snap Bushroot head turned as he discovered that he was being observed by his three comrades, who were looking like something out of a Marx brother's movie. Poking their heads out of the door frame, the Liquidator in the bottom, Megavolt in the middle and Quackerjack on top of them all, he probably was standing on his toes back there. Bushroot blinked. "You?" he asked stunned.
The three heroes grinned three big great grins as they finally stepped out and into the room, now looking rather sheepish.
"But…but..but.." Bushroot stammered. "But how?" he asked bewildered.
And the three stepped aside to let a little bird pass. "Hello Reggie." The little bird greeted. "Or should I say Doctor?"
"Doctor Vulture!" Bushroot exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Silly question isn't it Doctor?" Vulture asked. "I am just handing you something I should have given you years and years ago."
"I... I don't know what to say." Bushroot stammered unsure.
"How about a thank you?" Quackerjack asked impatiently. "If you just knew..."
"Shhh!" Megavolt hissed grapping Quackerjack's beak keeping the jester from talking any further. "It was the least we could do and it was no trouble at all! Okay!"
Quackerjack glared at the rat, but then at last nodded, just so that Megavolt would let go of his beak.
Bushroot looked wide-eyed at them. "Thank you." He barely whispered.
"Enough of this!" Liquidator stated. "Let's celebrate!"
"Hurray!" Quackerjack jumped up and down. "Hurray for Doctor Bushroot!"
"Guys." Bushroot was suddenly in a deeper shade of dark green. "You really don't have to."
"Oh trust me." Suddenly Megavolt was beside the plant duck flinging an arm around him. "We did. If anyone deserves some celebration, it's you my friend."
Bushroot was simply at a loss for words as he smiled sheepishly, tightly holding his degree in his hands. "Thanks guys." He whispered.
"Wait right here!" Megavolt instructed. "We'll go get the cake and champagne!"
"You didn't." Bushroot looked stunned at them.
"Of cause we did!" Megavolt laughed pushing his other two team mates with him out of the door. Bushroot could do nothing else than smile warmly as he looked at the door they had vanished through.
"So Reggie." Doctor Vulture looked up at him. "I'm so glad to see you, alive and…you are well are you not?"
"I'm very well sir." Bushroot responded in a smile.
"No sirs, we have the same degree." Vulture insisted pointing at Bushroot's diploma. "So, how does it feel?"
"I'm…a bit overwhelmed." Bushroot swallowed. "I don't know how they could get such a mad idea!"
"You want the degree don't you?" Vulture asked.
"Of course!" Bushroot let out. "I think it's the only thing I ever kind of wanted, the only thing I regret about not being normal anymore. It's the one thing I ever really wanted to do, that I know I can't as I am now, and they just...how could they know?" he asked bewildered. "I never told them that I..!"
"Seems to me it's quite the family you've become a part off." Vulture smiled vaguely as several crashes suddenly sounded from where he supposed the kitchen was.
Bushroot smiled, affection for his crazy friends all over his face. "Yeah." He acknowledged. "You know it's a real family because we fight all the time, I owe them more than just a degree." Bushroot sighed. "I wouldn't be here without them."
"What is it with you and not wanting people to do something nice for you, boy?" Vulture asked. "Just take the degree and be grateful. I spend over twenty four house with that Liquidator fellow, trust me, he doesn't want you to give anything in return."
Bushroot shook his head as he smiled, when finally the other three entered, Quackerjack with what looked like wiped cream in his face, Megavolt carrying the cake while scolding the Liquidator for almost getting him wet and the Liquidator floating with the champagne and glasses, retorting that Megavolt should just learn to watch where he was going. Vulture let out a genuine warm laughter. "I like you're family!" he stated.
Bushroot chuckled amused. "I do to." He smiled.
E/N: Hope yall enjoyed it. I mostly just corrected spelling errors and fixed a few lines so they fit better with the story. Hope you liked it.
Next time: The planet is being invaded! An alien warlord is determined to take over the Earth, and he's starting with St. Canard. When the Friendly Four face him they're gonna need a little help…