An Author's Note: OMG I'm still on the horse, let's gooo.

Chapter 17

The Blade of the Conqueror

Megavolt carefully divided the breakfast burritos onto the table. Six in total, three for each of the two members of the team that still ate food.

"Okay, we got a sausage, a bacon and a potato. Tell me which kind you prefer for next time." Megavolt's eyes narrowed at Quackerjack. "You can't live of sugar cereal every morning."

Quackerjack rolled his eyes. "Worked for me so far." He shrugged. "What's the point of a potato burrito if it already comes with the weird square hashbrowns? They're both a potato product. It'd be like having sausage links as a side with the sausage one."

Megavolt opened his mouth to reply then stopped. Somehow Quackerjack made a good argument and Megavolt wasn't sure how to handle that. Sometimes Quackerjack made to much sense and Megavolt still worried about his own sanity whenever that happened. He shrugged. "I don't know."

Happy at least he got some victory out of the deal, Quackerjack started with the sausage one, as a compromise. He wasn't thrilled with the potato thing for some reason. It wasn't that he didn't like them, he just hated redundancy. He studied Megavolt, who seemed pleased that Quackerjack decided not to give him any trouble this morning. Part of it was the fact that Quackerjack noticed that Megavolt seemed a little tired. His eyelids kept drooping and he seemed a bit less energetic.

"You okay?" Quackerjack asked.

"Yeah..." Quackerjack just stared, then slowly slid Mr. Banana Brain closer to Megavolt, who glared at him. "I'll keep him there unless you talk. Either me or him, take your pick."

"I'm not talking to your creepy banana."

"Then talk to me."

Megavolt sighed and rubbed his eyes, then gave Quackerjack a contemplative look. "You know, maybe you can help...you got any wild mouse traps?"

"Wild as in crazy or wild as in animals?"

"Wild as in animals. I think I have a rodent problem-don't laugh!"

Quackerjack didn't fully succeed in keeping his chuckle down. "Give me a few minutes and I'll have a really good joke about that..."

"I think it's a pack rat. It keeps stealing scrap metal. Wires. My garbage. Spent the entire night last night trying to find some batteries it stole. A whole package of batteries! What does a rat need a pack of batteries for?"

"I couldn't possibly imagine." Quackerjack smirked.

"Keep it up and the next time I buy food I'll just go to the store and throw bread at you."

"Unlike wild ducks I know how to make a sandwich with said bread." Quackerjack chuckled. "And isn't bread bad for wild ducks anyway?"

"I...don't know, I'm not a biologist." Megavolt admitted. "Either way, I can't let the little house guest keep taking my stuff. I don't want to kill it, just get it out of my lighthouse. Got anything that will help?"

"Well, I have programmed a set of robot mouse traps to keep my lair's perimeter free of the mutant sewer rodents. I mean, aside from you."

"I'm not a sewer rat."

"I know, geeze." Quackerjack rolled his eyes again. "I could give you a few of them. Maybe they can get to this wild rat's nest and bring your batteries back."

"I mean, those batteries could hurt the poor thing." Megavolt shrugged.

"No problem. None lethal tactics. Shouldn't be a problem." Quackerjack grinned at Megavolt. "I can have them ready by tonight."

"Great." Megavolt smiled.

"Hey guys, we got a call." Bushroot poked his head into the tv room where the two had been talking and eating.

"Bulba. Steelbeak?" Megavolt asked.

Bushroot smiled. "Neither. You guys are going to love this mission!"

"I can't believe we actually get to met him this time!" Quackerjack was trying very hard not to bounce from warehouse wall to warehouse wall. "I mean, I've never met him before and this is just...you know?"

"Try to keep the energy down a bit." Megavolt said. "We have to be professional. Remember the docks are dangerous."

"I know, but it's Scrooge McDuck!"

"Why is he coming back here anyway?" the Liquidator asked.

"He didn't say over the phone." Bushroot said. "All he said was he needed our help. He did say it wouldn't take long."

"And I bet that's the plane, please settle down, Quackerjack." Megavolt sighed. He was sort of excited as well. It wasn't everyday you met one of the most famous ducks in the world. Lost fortune or no everyone still knew who Scrooge McDuck was, though why he was here and not in Duckburg was a question that Megavolt wanted an answer to.

The small plane was about the length of a school bus, and about twice as wide. It looked small and fast, something that was built for speed and maneuverability rather than size. It made sense. Everyone knew huge cargo planes were prime targets for air pirates. It landed next to a rickety wooden dock near the four. Megavolt also wondered why the plane was landing in the bay instead of an airport, but maybe Scrooge didn't want to deal with airports. There was a slight air of shadiness about this, but then again Scrooge was a high profile person and probably didn't want to draw attention until whatever his business here was done.

Once the plane had come to a stop a door near the front opened and a small ramp extended to the dock. A few seconds later two ducks emerged from the plane and walked down the ramp. One was clearly Scrooge, who was carrying a duffle bag with him. The other was a woman in a black dress whose eyes darted from side to side warily. As soon as both were off the plane the ramp was dragged back into the plane, which backed away from the dock and took to the air once more.

Megavolt waited for Bushroot to make a move. Bushroot was the one who had the most experience with Scrooge, and so he felt Bushroot was the one who needed to take the lead. Bushroot took the hint and walked forwards, meeting the two ducks at as they reached the shore.

"Bushroot, thank you for meeting us here." Scrooge smiled at the plant mutant. "I don't really trust anyone else in this city. No offense."

"Honestly, that's fair." Bushroot shrugged then gestured to the others. "These are my friends, Quackerjack, Megavolt and the Liquidator."

"Aye, I've seen most of you on the news before." He nodded at the other three. Megavolt was just happy that Quackerjack had somehow managed to unleash his energy and was no longer bouncing. Maybe he just needed some time to get himself together.

Scrooge nodded to the woman next to him. "This is Magica. She's been helping me out ever since the last time I was here."

The woman, Magica, smiled at the group. "Pleased to meet you all." Megavolt tilted his head. She sounded vaguely Russian to him. Or something. He wasn't sure, but decided not to ask in case he said something rude accidentally.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you here?" Megavolt asked.

"We need to get to the St. Canard museum." Scrooge said. "The plane will pick the both of us up here afterwards, but I want to be in and out of this place as fast as I can." He reached into the bag he had with him and pulled out a clear glass case. Megavolt stepped closer to get a better look, but Scrooge lifted his cane to stop him from getting closer.

"You're a rat, aren't ya lad?" Scrooge asked mildly and Megavolt instinctively bristled.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Ever heard of Martin the Conqueror?" Scrooge asked.

Megavolt blinked. "Actually, yeah...wait, is that?"

"Umm, what?" The Liquidator blinked, confused.

Scrooge broke into a grin. "Come with me, we shouldn't stand here waving this around. I'll tell you the story as we go." he stuffed the glass case back into the bag and started in the direction of the museum. Magica rolled her eyes to the sky and gave an almost affectionate sounding huff. As the group started to follow Scrooge the old duck began to talk

"In England, there is a famous castle, Bloodstone. Said to have walls stained red by the blood of 'vermin.' I know, not a nice term, but that's what they called certain groups of people back then. It was back in medieval times. Back then the land was divided along species lines. Mice with mice and foxes with foxes and so on. Even today, there is some separation, but it's not as violent as it was back then. Then, one day, a mouse appeared from seeming nowhere. He called himself Martin the Conqueror, and he created an army, made of species only he liked. If you were a mouse, or a squirrel or a badger, you were fine. But if you happened to be born a weasel or a fox or a rat..." Scrooge drew a finger along his neck. "You see. Legends say that he wielded a blade that fell from the sky, forged from pure black lightning. They say that the sword's magic was what ensured his victories. Hundreds of people he saw as lesser than his kind were slaughtered by him. He established Bloodstone and was said to have ruled most of England with an iron fist for years."

"Until he tried to take Scotland." Megavolt said with a small grin. "I remember this story. My dad told it to me. Martin had driven the rightful king of England, a lion named King John, to the edge of Scotland after killing his elder brother."

"Aye, and that's where King John met my ancestor, the then leader of Clan McDuck. There was also the rat leader of the surviving vermin tribes, a figure known only as the Scourge. Together the three of them were able to finally beat Martin, and the Scourge himself broke the magical sword he wielded into shards, while King John slew Martin. They managed to push Martin's army from the north part of England, and even today England is divided to the north and south. The south is still ruled by Martin's decedents, while the north is ruled by King John's."

"The hilt of Martin's blade is said to be cursed." Megavolt continued. "Especially if you're not the kind of person Martin would have approved of. There are a lot of horror stories about people coming into contact with the hilt and either suffering tragedy if you're 'vermin' or going mad if you're a mouse or a squirrel."

"Aye, and I believe the rumors. I've seen enough cursed objects to take it seriously. The hilt is actually here. They didn't want to keep it in England because the curse is said to keep affecting people there. But the shards have been lost for years." Scrooge grinned smugly. "Until today!"

"Is that wise?" Bushroot asked. "Should we really be taking cursed shards of a cursed sword to their cursed hilt?"

"Well, they are giving me a lot of money for them, and the London Museum practically wanted to pay me to keep them away." Scrooge shrugged. "And the hilt hasn't done anything to bad for over a hundred years."

"The case that contains the hilt is warded." Magica spoke up. "Some of my family helped with that. As long as the hilt stays under its glass it won't do anything. Same for the shards. I worked on them. I wouldn't tempt fate by putting them right next to each other though." She looked at Megavolt. "That is also why we don't want you to get to close."

Megavolt shrugged. "Honestly, not sure I want to get to close to them now. I've seen the hilt before and it's frankly creepy. Always kinda feel like you're being watched when you get to close to it."

"Aye, to be fair the shards also give me the willies." Scrooge confessed. "But again, the St. Canard museum wants to have the shards as well as the hilt. I talked to them about it. Say they are going to keep the hilt at one end of the display and the shards on the other, just to be safe. It should be as safe as it can be. I need the money, you see." He took a deep breath and looked at Bushroot. "I found one of my boys."

Bushroot beamed at Scrooge. "Really! That's great!"

"Not really." Scrooge growled. "The foster parents were...the took him to Texaholma."

Everyone shivered, and Quackerjack gave a low growl and began to mutter darkly.

"Do you need help rescuing him." Quackerjack cracked his knuckles. "I can cause a lot of destruction if I put my mind to it."

"I have a better plan." Scrooge said. "Trust me, I'd like the burn that country down meself, but I'd rather not attract any more enemies. I have enough in Duckburg as it is without having to deal with slavers. No, going to go there, buy him back, then have him pay me like, a penny or something. Then sign all their ridiculous papers and come home with him. Then no one on either side of the border can complain."

"Still..." Quackerjack growled again.

Bushroot sighed. "We can't do anything about it, unfortunately. All we can do is try and stop the illegal smuggling on this side. We can't change another countries laws overnight, no matter how evil they are."

Quackerjack muttered darkly and glared in the general direction of the east, but didn't argue anymore. To be fair Megavolt wasn't exactly pleased either, but international politics were a bit out of their league right now. Maybe some day, but not anytime soon.

He needed to focus on their surroundings. It was true that the museum was within walking distance of the docks, but it was also true that an opportunistic thief would probably try to jump them, especially if they identified Scrooge. He did not want to see pieces of cursed sword in the hands of...well anyone. He wasn't really sure he wanted them in the hands of the museum. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the place for a while. Just in case they had to bust a horde of racist ghost mice or something like that.

To Megavolt's immense shock and suspicion, the transaction at the museum went without a hitch. So did the return escort trip back to the dock where Scrooge radioed his pilot (Megavolt thought it sounded like D. John or something similar to that), and soon was on his way back to the next adventure. Megavolt hoped it would be successful. He had known Scrooge for about two hours but he was already rooting for the man to find his nephews and get them back home.

"We should probably keep an eye on those sword shards, just in case someone tries to steal them." Megavolt mentioned to the others as Scrooge's plane faded from view.

"Or, you know, the curse." Quackerjack added. Megavolt rolled his eyes. He might have been thinking the same thing, but he wasn't going to agree. Out loud.

The rest of the day was spent in their usual activities. Patrolling the city. Fighting a few of Negaduck's goons. Chasing Dr. Khola and Dingo from a taffy making factory. Why the hell they wanted taffy Megavolt didn't know or care. Oh Khola did monologue but after a while Megavolt had stopped listening to him. Most of what those two said seemed to just be a thrown together pile of word stew. Just everything in there, stewing and making a stink.

He did now know that Dingo had named his fists. He called the right one Lancer and the left one Southpaw. Megavolt wasn't sure why. He had the feeling the moment he understand what that deranged kangaroo was thinking he'd be madder than any of them and desperate need of an intervention of some kind. It was fine understanding Quackerjack, he was just eccentric and playful. Megavolt was half convinced that Dingo was from another planet.

As the morning turned into the afternoon Quackerjack and Megavolt usually went back to their respective lairs and waited for the night and the next set of patrols. Usually the two of them slept during the afternoons until it got dark and in the very early mornings until eight or nine, relying on Bushroot's plants to alert them of any activity happening during those times. Sometimes only Bushroot and the Liquidator could deal with those incidents during those time periods, but neither of them needed as much sleep as the other two.

But before he could catch his five or so hours of sleep, Megavolt had to take a quick detour to Quackerjack's to pick up those wild mouse catching toy robots. To Megavolt's relief the things were actually fairly user friendly. Maybe that shouldn't be a surprise. They were built by a guy whose primary demographic was little kids. It made sense they were easy to program.

"Okay, so." Megavolt placed the small box of five robots down on the ground. They were basically just large steel mouths with four little clawed feet. "According to Quackerjack all you guys have to do is grab that little guy and take him into the woods. Then I'll take you back home, okay?" The little mouse traps clacked their jaws twice for yes and sort of bobbed at him. Megavolt smiled. They were actually kind of cute. Sure they had sharp interlocking teeth that functioned as bars, but they were still cute in a bitey way.

As the traps scattered to search for the quadruped rodent problem, Megavolt curled up in his slightly ragged mattress and tried to sleep. He tried to ignore the little mechanical chomping noises as the rat traps scattered about his light house, hunting their prey. Soon the sounds of the little things faded as he finally began to drift into sleep.

Megavolt was suddenly awoken by the feeling of weight on his chest. He opened his eyes to see one of the robot traps sitting there. It didn't have eyes but for some reason Megavolt had the odd feeling the thing was staring at him.

"Ummm, hi. You done?" Megavolt blinked at the robot, who suddenly opened its mouth and attempted to take a chunk out of his snout.

Oh great, robots turning evil. Just great. Of COURSE it's one of Quackerjacks! Megavolt thought as he batted the robot away with his arm and rolled away onto the floor. He looked around and yelped in surprise. Three of the five robots were chomping up several of his belongings, including some of the electronics he had bought recently. With the encouragement of the others he had started to do some tinkering in his spare time. Nothing huge or impressive, just small inventions that made life a little easier, like the five loader pizza toaster and a compass that also displayed longitude and latitude as well as pointing to where north was. Now Quackerjack's little robot menaces were swallowing up wires and cords and nuts and bolts and...wait.

Megavolt squinted and then blinked in surprise. Was that a wild mouse? Riding on one of the robots...wearing a tiny purple jumpsuit?

"What the hell?"

The small mouse looked up and reared on its hind legs. Like a person. It occurred to Megavolt that maybe this wasn't a wild mouse at all but just a person who had been shrunk. It was hard to tell, honestly. Megavolt leaped forwards and attempted to grab the mouse so that maybe he could set it, him...wait maybe her, down and perhaps talk this through, but a trap intercepted him and latched itself to his wrist. He yelped and shot electricity though the robot and it fell to the ground, smoking. He straightened up and looked back to where the small mouse thing was, but by now the creature, along with the remaining mouse traps, were leaping out the window and racing out of his lighthouse.

Megavolt growled and rubbed his head. He picked up the still smoking remaining robot and headed for Quackerjack's.

"Okay, so..." Quackerjack lifted his eyes from guts of his robot. "So, it looks like someone got into this guy and messed with his wiring. Not really sure how they did it."

"Now that I'm looking at it properly I think you're right." Megavolt nodded. "I can kinda see where the wires are supposed to be and they're all tangled up. I'm not even sure half of what's been done to it actually serves a function...at least not anything I can tell. And is this used bubblegum?" He shook his head. "I think the mouse did it."

Quackerjack paused and blinked. "It...suddenly occurs to me how weird a statement that is."

"You are saying something is weird." Megavolt growled.

"I mean out of context. To be fair, who else would go along with you telling me a wild mouse has been stealing your stuff and reprogramming robots to serve its bidding." Quackerjack shrugged. "But if I can fix this little guy he might be able to lead us to your mouse friend. Think we should contact the others?"

"For a mouse?" Megavolt snorted.

"A wild mouse that managed to completely reprogram my robots and use them against us." Quackerjack fiddled around the guts of the robot, trying to put everything back into place. After a few seconds Megavolt sighed and looked for a phone.

"Fine, I'll call Bushroot. Let him know what's going on." He grumbled. He wasn't looking forwards to explaining this.

"You know, one of us really should build some sort of walky talky or something like that." Quackerjack mused aloud as carefully shifted gears around.

"Yeah, I'll put that on my to do list." Megavolt said as he fished out an unfortunately clown themed telephone. It even had a large nose in the middle of the dials, and the buttons were arranged into a toothy disconcerting grin. It was frankly creepy. Megavolt suspected it was also glow in the dark.

"Hello." Bushroot's voice came from the other end.

"Hey, it's Megavolt...umm, we have a weird situation..." As Megavolt explained he thought he started to hear some noise in the background. It sounded a bit like the police radio that Bushroot kept in the greenhouse to monitor issues. Once Megavolt had reached the part where the robots ran off with the wild mouse, Bushroot interrupted.

"We need to get the museum. There's an alarm going off."

"Great, it's either the curse, my mouse problem, or Dr. Khola and the taffy again." Megavolt grumbled.

"Oh it has to be one of the first two. Nobody on the radio has mentioned kangaroos and we all know that Dingo couldn't be subtle if you showered him with invisible ink." Bushroot chuckled while a horrifying visual of an invisible Dingo, hoping around and screaming and punching people played in Megavolt's mind. "The Liquidator and I will meet you there." Bushroot continued.

"Great." Megavolt hung up and called to Quackerjack. "Leave the robot, we have a museum to protect."

"Oh what a surprise." Quackerjack laughed slightly, though the tone he used was more sarcastic than humorous. "Let's go exorcise some ghosts."

"We don't know if it's ghosts yet!" Megavolt growled.

"Wanna bet?"

"After last time? Hell no!" Megavolt shook his head as Quackerjack laughed along behind him.

At first Megavolt thought that someone was playing a prank on them. The museum seemed quiet enough when Quackerjack and Megavolt arrived. Although to be fair, Megavolt wasn't sure what to look for in terms of a haunting. But from where they were standing across the street from museum, on a building roof, Megavolt thought the place looked pretty silent and secure.

"I'll go check it out, you wait for the other two, okay?" Megavolt looked at Quackerjack, who frowned at him.

"I don't like letting you go alone." Quackerjack's eyes narrowed at Megavolt.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to let me handle it alone. I just want to see what's going on before we all charge in. If you think it's getting to dangerous, feel free to bust on in."

"I'll hold you to that, Megsy." Quackerjack nodded as Megavolt slipped down from the roof of the building across the street from the museum and slipped inside.

The entire place was dark and to be frank very foreboding. It didn't help that Megavolt had slipped in via a window right next to the dinosaur display. For a moment an animatronic model of a stegosaurus freaked him out, but when the thing didn't try and smash him Megavolt realized it wasn't really Stegmutt. Hurrying out of the dinosaur exhibit Megavolt looked around for any signs of anything weird. It didn't take long for him to spot green light coming from the hall dedicated to medieval exhibits. He wasn't surprised.

Megavolt creeped to the entrance of the medieval exhibit and peeked around the corner. Normally the walls were covered with old weapons and paintings and wood cutouts and a few instruments dating back to time of knights and kings. In the middle of the hall was a full scale recreation of a famous tapestry from Castle McDuck, which depicted a thin but powerful looking lion wearing iron armor, the most prominent feature of the armor being an iron wrought mane that ended in deadly looking spikes around his neck. It was said that King John the Ironmane never grew a true mane even though he was still a male lion, but a great blacksmith of the vermin clans forged him an iron mane to wear into battle. Standing on either side of the great lion ruler was a clear forefather of Scrooge McDuck, as well as a tall muscular black rat with piercing red eyes. Below the three heroic figures fled a group of mice and hares as the three kings stared nobly into the distance. Sitting below the recreation tapestry was a hilt under a glass case. The shattered hilt of Martin the Conqueror.

Now, at the base of the stand were the hilt was kept, was a mountain of what looked to Megavolt to be a pile of trash. There was a circular ball of it in the middle, a jumble of metal knickknacks and wooden castoffs and a few egg cartons all arranged in a giant ball. Two noodly trash built appendages flopped out from the sides, and at the very center was a fishbowl. Not a glass shield in the shape of a fishbowl. A fishbowl. From the gift store. It still had a bar-code to one side. In the center, below the fishbowl, was a screen of some kind.

For a moment all Megavolt could look at was the trash contraption before him, when he heard the sounds of breaking glass. He looked to see Quackerjack's robot traps running towards the trash heap, sword shards in their mouth. He yelped and attempted to shoot at the traps. All of a sudden the loud sound of a car horn blared from the trash heap, just loud enough to turn Megavolt's attention back to the trash.

The screen blinked twice, and then a message flashed before him.

Stop trying to destroy my robots.

"Your robots! They're my friend's robots! Who are you! What is all this!?" Megavolt snapped.

I've been watching you a long time, Megavolt. You're smart, but not as smart as I am. I know your friends too. They're even dumber than you are. You never even thought of the possibilities, have you?

"What possibilities, what are you talking about? I know who you are, you're the rat that's been in my lighthouse!"

I'm a mouse. What you call a wild mouse. Or I was. A stupid animal. Now I'm more. More than even you. Freak.

Megavolt opened his mouth, but couldn't find what he wanted to say. He wasn't an evolutionary biologist, but he had never heard of a wild animal suddenly being able to talk. Though it was true that for every kind of person there was a species of animal, that didn't make them intelligent. But now here was an animal using a screen to somehow talk to him like a person. It was insane. There could only be one explanation.

"Are you from S.H.U.S.H?"

There was a long pause, then the screen blinked again:

You see, dummy, the basic truth that you giants have chosen to ignore is that magic is, when you get down to it, energy. You have to use spells or dances or items to contain and direct it, but it's energy. Just like your electricity or nuclear power or wind power. Just energy. Only you can mold that energy in any way you want. The applications are endless. Staggering, but you keep claiming it's fake. Ignoring your schizophrenic clown friend, even though he's seen what you cannot.

"Don't talk about Quackerjack like that!"

I admit I'm not a therapist, it's really just a guess. But you better hope he's just mentally ill. Because if the voices in his head are real than you are more doomed than you can possibly imagine, giant. Ask him about the voices he hears. Ask him why the banana only whispers. Ask him why the master is the only voice he hears these days. Ask him about the Profane. See if he tells you the truth. But wait, sorry. I get distracted. I was talking about magic and power. Magic, power, and technology, my three favorite things. You see, Megavolt.

To Megavolt's horror he realized he had been sucked in my the words on the screen. He didn't notice one of the robot traps breaking the glass case with the cursed hilt of the Conqeror's blade and grabbing it. He reached to grab it but it was to late. The robot landed on the trash heap and jammed the hilt into the end of one of the arms of the robot. The other robots swarmed with the shards and he thought he could hear something down in the fishbowl squeaking in a high pitched, but loud tone. As if responding to the squeaking the trash heap suddenly burst into green light. The shards of the blade began to meld together, forming a black jagged blade like a lightning bolt that was now stuck to the arm of the trash heap. The trash heap shifted, then stood, green light filling each crack with sick energy. He could see the small mouse in the fishbowl, pulling makeshift levers and switches and he realized that this thing wasn't a heap of garbage at all. It was a robot. Made of refuse their society threw away and made and driven by a creature that most saw as nothing more than a pest.

You see, Megavolt. I have risen above my stupid animal brethren, and now I will rise above your kind as well. Magic and technology, together. I'm calling it Magi-tek. I hope you like the name.

"If you think you're going to take over this city." Megavolt let his electricity flow over his body. "I'm going to stop you."

You're welcome to try. Oh! Wait! Sorry, I didn't tell you my name, did I? Call me Gadget. Pleased to meet you. I'll be ruling over you giants soon enough. Martin knows what he's doing. I'll be back with an army of my own. I haven't decided if I want you to call me queen or empress or what. I'll figure it out!

Megavolt sent bolts of electricity streaming towards the trash robot, but it leaped to the side. The blade of Martin flashed and all of the tapestry of the three kings fell to the ground, shredded to bits. While he never believed in magic before he couldn't deny it anymore, not even in his mind. The sight of a historical treasure, a depiction of heroes his father had told stories off when he was a little child at bedtime, on the ground in pieces filled Megavolt with untold rage. He lunged again, shooting more electricity at the robot, but the noodle arm without the blade pointed to him and spewed what smelled like olive oil over his eyes and face, temporarily blinding him. The mouse, Gadget, must have gotten it from the kitchen in the cafe of the museum and loaded it into her trash pile. Then, a thrown together helicopter blade burst from the back of the robot and it shot into the air, Quackerjack's toy traps still clinging to the sides of the trash bot. Within moments it was gone. Up through a ceiling light.

"Megavolt!"

Slowly he turned his head to see the others coming. Bushroot looked up at the broken ceiling light. "What happened?"

Megavolt took a deep breath. "A hyper intelligent wild mouse that has been stealing from me for the past week just built a robot made of trash, used magic to animate it, and repaired and stole the sword of Martin the Conqueror. She, I think it's a she, used magic and technology. Together. I don't know if S.H.U.S.H is breeding super intelligent wild animals or if its more magic or something else. I just know the sword of a man that hunted my ancestors like beasts is now in the paws of a meglomanic not even the size of my SHOE!"

The others just stared at him, flabbergasted.

"You want to know the worst part guys?" Megavolt leaned down and picked up the ruined tapestry, staring in the woven red eyes of a long dead heroic rat. "I think she's smarter than me..."

"I think I will still be able to track the robots using the one you recovered, Megavolt." Quackerjack said. It was hours later, back in Quackerjack's lair, and for the first time Megavolt didn't even to try and pretend he didn't want the clown's company. He hadn't fought Gadget, but he was tired. Emotionally and mentally drained. And there was still something he needed to know.

"...Billy, I need to talk to you about something." Megavolt sighed. Quackerjack gave his friend a concerned frown.

"That mouse...typed some things. Used some sort of computer screen to talk. It's been watching us for some time, and something it said bothered me."

"What is it, Elmo?"

"...have you even been diagnosed with...anything? Mentally, I mean."

Quackerjack frowned and shook his head. "No. Believe it or not I have a degree in children's psychology."

"Wait, really? You went to college?"

"You think I was just a graduate of clown college? Actually, I've been there too. I was a very busy guy the four years I was in college. Before my father died and things got...bad. But yeah. I technically know a lot about mental health." The unspoken, more than you, hung between them, an elephant that neither wanted to call out. "I might have ADD."

"Add what?"

"Attention deficit disorder." Quackerjack's fingers found a ball on his desk and he picked it up, rolling it around. "But if you're asking if I was ever diagnosed with like...something dangerous, no. I'm not dangerous."

"So you don't, like, see things that aren't there or-"

Quackerjack slapped the ball on the desk with a loud crack. He gazed into Megavolt's eyes, a strange emotion in his eyes that the rat couldn't interpret. "No." He said firmly.

"I mean, it's alright if-."

"No. Elmo. I'm not a danger."

"I'm not saying you are, it's just-."

"You should know better than to trust the words of a villain."

Megavolt sighed and rubbed his eyes, not noticing how Quackerjack swiftly looked away from him. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's been a long night." He tried not to wince as the duck put a hand on his shoulder.

"You can stay here tonight, Elmo. It's late. You need to sleep." Quackerjack chuckled. "You know, if you don't get enough sleep, you'll be the one hearing voices and seeing things that aren't there."

Megavolt chuckled. "Yeah...you're right. Sure you're okay with me crashing here?"

"Anytime, pal."

"Thanks...one more thing, Billy?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Ever heard of the Profane?"

"Nope. Never."

"Okay. Cool. Just one more thing to research. Where do you want me to sleep?"

"Go to the east wall and go down the hall to the left. Guest bedroom. Ignore the space theme. I thought it was fun."

"Yeah. Sure. Space. Goodnight." Megavolt turned and went to find the guest room.

Quackerjack stood there, watching friend leave. Once he was sure the rat was gone he slammed his head on his desk. Once. Twice. A third time. Not hard enough to hurt or cause true damage, just to chase the voices away.

"Not real. Not real. Just a bad dream. Not real..."

...that's a lie, and you know it.

Shut up, you...you...you aren't Headboss.

They are coming.

NO, they aren't.

Deep below. It sees you. It knows you.

"Shut up." Quackerjack growled. "Not real."

He didn't sleep the rest of the night.

Gadget watched the two tiny wild chipmunks struggling and fighting over a nut in the park. They weren't the best recruits, but they would do.

They would do.

An Author's note:

Yeah, a lot in this chapter. The stuff about Martin and the sword was based on the book series Redwall. They are good books, but after a while their tendency to cast only certain types of animals heroes and certain types of animals as villains grated. Hence, the Negaverse.

And now we can add Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers to the list of crossovers. I struggled with keeping Gadget a small mouse, and the implications thereof, or making her normal sized. In the end having her drive a robot trash heap was to tempting. Plus, DT 17 did it. Why not I?

Oh, and a bit Disney's Robin Hood as well. King John is the same King John from that movie, only the Negaverse one. Clearly he would have to be a noble and just king in the Negaverse, and his brother a coward who died. As for Robin himself, well...

Maybe I will tell that story one day.