They found Bulba on Canard tower again. His men started shooting immediately.

"We need to blow an entry hole in that thing," DW said, pointing at Bulba's air ship.

"I don't know, DW," Launchpad said doubtfully. "That sounds dangerous."

"Yeah? Well then, let's get dangerous."

Launchpad didn't know it yet, but he'd just given Darkwing a catch phrase.

They had put the Ratcatcher in the cargo hold until Darkwing needed it. The bike was bigger than the plane, but Darkwing somehow managed to get it safely in there. When Launchpad asked him how, Darkwing had just shrugged and looked mysterious, saying all heroes had trade secrets. Launchpad hadn't pressed the issue; he liked DW's mysterious ways. He was sure he'd learn some of them as his sidekick, but he wasn't ready to completely dispel his hero warship yet.

Darkwing went down into the cargo hold, then called, "OK, Launchpad, let her rip!"

Launchpad pressed the button that controlled the extra large rocket launcher in the Thunderquack's beak to make a hole in Bulba's air ship, then almost immediately pressed another button that released Darkwing and the bike from the underside of the plane. Launchpad and Gyro had rigged a kind of trap door in that particular spot for just that purpose. Darkwing glided smoothly into the hole.

"Hero away!" Launchpad cried enthusiastically. He flew above them and watched from the sky.

A short time later, Darkwing stood on the roof of the tower with Gosalyn to his left and Taurus Bulba, a huge, mean looking steer, off to his right. The condor suddenly picked Gosalyn up, then dropped her after about thirty seconds. Launchpad wanted to go grab her, but he didn't have a chance. Darkwing must have told Bulba something he wanted to hear, because the bird picked Gosalyn up again.

Launchpad felt a rush of anger. He hated big guys who picked on little guys, especially adults who terrorized children. He didn't think he'd be able to do anything to Bulba, but if he got the chance, he was going to teach that condor a lesson it would never forget!

He saw DW push some buttons on the ramrod, then Bulba fired it at the Federal Gold Depository. The building floated to the airship and opened like a jewelry box. The gold flew into the air ship and the building dropped, then disappeared. Launchpad couldn't see the ground from his vantage point, but he figured the building was now on the ground in pieces.

The condor suddenly dropped Gosalyn again.

"Launchpad!" DW cried urgently, putting his hands on his beak.

Launchpad flew down beside Gosalyn and caught her on the Thunderquack's beak. She stared it him for a few seconds. He stared back, feeling slightly nervous. He'd been afraid he wouldn't be able to catch her in time. Then he smiled back at her and she said, relieved, "Whoa! Nice save."

DW suddenly disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Bulba's men shot at the smoke, but then Darkwing reappeared on the ramrod, so Bulba told his men to stop shooting. DW pushed a bunch of buttons on the machine and it began to overload. Two of Bulba's goons were hit by a random beam from the ramrod and floated up. They grabbed onto the third and the three of them floated off over the city. Launchpad never knew what happened to them.

"Look!" Gosalyn said.

The condor, still in the air after dropping Gosalyn, ducked with his wings over his eyes, trying to avoid a loose beam.

"All right!" Gosalyn cried, as Launchpad pulled her into the cockpit with him. "Payback time, Launchpad!"

Launchpad laughed. "No problemo!"

He flew after the bird, who took off to the left when he realized he was being chased, and pulled its tail feathers out by opening the Thunderquack's beak and latching it onto them. The bird looked over his left wing at the huge bald spot where his tail feathers used to be, then covered his rear with both of his wings. He was clearly embarrassed. Then he flew down into the city, shrieking in pain.

"Serves yah right, yah big bully!" Launchpad thought triumphantly. "Now you know how it feels to be terrorized by something bigger than you! Maybe next time you'll pick on someone your own size!"

On top of the tower, Darkwing and Taurus Bulba were still fighting. Rays from the ramrod were hitting DW as he fought. Another beam shot up into the airship, which shorted out and veered off course. It crashed into the bay and exploded, then the ramrod exploded, with Darkwing and Bulba still fighting next to it. There was a sonic boom and a brown, cotton ball-shaped ring of smoke. Darkwing and Bulba were gone.

"No!" Gosalyn cried. "He couldn't be!"

She and Launchpad were stunned; there faces were bathed in white from the light caused by the explosion. Gosalyn's hands and face were pressed against the Thunderquack's canopy.

Launchpad was literally unable to think for a few seconds. He could only blink in shock; his mind was a complete blank. He couldn't believe it. This was impossible. Gosalyn was right; he couldn't be dead. But how could anyone survive an explosion like that?

"Think," he commanded himself. He had to take action.

He radioed for help, then landed the Thunderquack a few feet away from the wrecked tower. The cops were there in a matter of minutes. Launchpad and Gosalyn were still looking for Darkwing in the rubble. He had to be alive.

"What's going on here?" a short, scrawny canine cop asked in a tough New York accent. "What happened?"

Launchpad and Gosalyn told him everything.

"We'll take it from here. Nobody could have survived that explosion. I'm afraid your friend is most likely dead. My partner here will take the little girl back to the orphanage." He pointed to a female feline cop.

"I just love your bed side manner, Officer," Launchpad thought angrily. "She's just a little girl; you could have been a little gentler about telling her the guy who saved her probably died with the guy who tried to kill her."

It didn't occur to him until later that the cop hadn't thought much of his feelings either. How did the officer know Darkwing wasn't close to Launchpad? They had only gone into detail about the battle with Taurus Bulba and how Darkwing had saved Gosalyn the day before. For all this police officer knew, Launchpad and Darkwing could have been friends for years instead of just meeting yesterday.

Launchpad looked at Gosalyn sadly. He hated the thought of her having to go back to an orphanage. He loved his parents, Ripcord and Birdie, and his sister, Loopy, and couldn't imagine growing up without a family.

"Gee, Gosalyn, I wish I could take you with me, but I don't even have a house in Saint Canard yet. I'm still wrapping things up in Duckburg."

He suddenly wondered what he was going to do now. He would have to try to find some other way to help with Darkwing gone, if he was gone, as he told the kids he would do if Darkwing didn't let him be his sidekick.

"I understand," Gosalyn said sadly. "It was nice meeting you."

Tears leaked from her green eyes and she hugged him. He stroked her pig tails as he hugged her back, realizing in the back of his mind that her hair was as red as his own. Then Gosalyn got into the back of the police car.

"Don't worry," the female cop said to Launchpad as he looked at Gosalyn's pale, shocked face. They'll help her deal with it back at the orphanage and I'll see that she gets there safely."

That wasn't what Launchpad was worried about. He knew the cop would get her there safely. Gosalyn wasn't in danger anymore with Bulba gone. He just hoped she'd be able to get past this horrible experience and let someone adopt her.

"You can leave too, Mr. McQuack," the cop said perfunctorily to Launchpad. He had already begun directing the other cops to search the rubble for the bodies the second after he had pointed to his partner.

"No," Launchpad said firmly. "I don't give up, Officer. I'm not leaving until I know one way or the other if DW's alive."

"He can't be alive, Sir. Nobody could have-"

"Darkwing could have! I've seen people beat bad odds a lot of times; I've done it more than once myself. He could be alive; he could need help. I'm not leaving until I know for sure. I'll help look for him."

"What about the other guy, the steer?"

"You can do whatever yah want with him, but if DW's alive, I'm not leaving him."

Launchpad had never wished death on anyone, but now he hoped Taurus Bulba was dead. He was too dangerous to live. Gosalyn would be safe if he was dead.

"All right," the cop said reluctantly. "You can help me look over here."

After a few minutes, Launchpad thought he heard a groan from underneath the rubble, a few feet to his left.

"Did you hear that?" he asked the cop, excited.

"Hear what?"

"Listen!"

They saw some of the rubble move a little.

"DW!" Launchpad cried happily. The groan had been too high to be Taurus Bulba; his voice was lower and gruffer, more gravelly.

He ran over to where he had heard the groan and started throwing some of the rubble aside. The cop helped him, looking surprised.

"I told yah he could be alive!" Launchpad said happily, as he pulled a beam off Darkwing. He was lying on top of what looked like the remains of the Federal Gold Depository. "So that's what happened to it," Launchpad thought in the back of his mind. "DW managed to land in the same place."

"Launchpad?" DW asked weakly. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me!" Launchpad said, relieved and a little breathless.

"Gosalyn-" DW began.

"She's OK," Launchpad said.

"My partner took the child back to the orphanage," the cop said in a business-like manner. "Can you get the rest of this off him, Mr. McQuack? I'm going to radio for an ambulance."

"Yeah! How bad are yah hurt, DW?"

"I think I've broken a few things, and I'm not sure if my ribs are broken or just cracked. What about Taurus Bulba? Have you seen him?"

"No, but we gotta get you to the hospital. The cops thought you were both dead. That one who just went to call the ambulance tried to get me to leave, but I wasn't gonna leave you in this mess!"

"Thanks, LP," Darkwing said gratefully.

Launchpad smiled. "DW and LP," he thought proudly. "We just brought down one of Saint Canard's most dangerous criminals and saved a little girl. We'll make a great team!"