Chapter 15: Confrontation

It was the next morning when St. Canard's central police station received an envelope with "Darkwing Duck" written on it delivered in the mail. Needless to say it was immediately checked by the bomb squad and chemical team before it was sent through forensics.

Inside the envelope were a letter and a few feathers. The letter read as follows:

Dear Darkwing,

It's Steelbeak. I'll be blunt; I've got your kid. Feel free to have the cops check the feathers, they're hers. For now she's fine, but I'm feeling kind of bored and I have a few tools I need to refamiliarize myself with after having to lay low since you assholes got my boss turned into a witch's pet and got one of my coworkers erased from existence. Anyway, my demand is this: surrender yourself for her place. You take over, I kill you, the brat lives to see another day. If not I'll start mailing her piece by piece. And believe me when I say I know how to keep someone alive whether they want it or not. If you're game meet me at the docks, warehouse 19, we'll do the switch there. You bring the cops or anyone else and the kid is dropped in a vat of acid in a tenth of a second.

Fuck You,

Steelbeak

***DT***

Gos looked down as the vat beneath her bubbled. It was clear that Steelbeak was using her as a pawn, if he wanted her dead she'd've already been dissolved. But why does he want me here? She had to figure out some way to get him to talk without getting him pissed off again, Because he definitely seems the type of nutjob who'd dissolve someone because they pissed him off if his files do him justice. At the moment he was busy reading through a copy of PlayDuck, but he looked bored. Maybe I can get him to monologue… It was a fair bet, even Heron did it on occasion when she'd been alive, and she was arguably one of FOWL's brightest bulbs. Now to figure out the right question to set him off. She racked her brain on the files Drake had let her read through. After a moment she had an idea.

"So, why exactly am I not dead yet? Not that I want to be, but earlier you seemed pretty keen on the idea."

Steelbeak rolled his eyes. "Because kid, you aren't the reason this whole thing's happening. Now shut up, I'm busy."

"Yeah, real busy ogling naked ducks…" She muttered.

Steelbeak closed his magazine and walked over toward the catwalk where Gos' crate was suspended. "Kid, you have no idea who you're fucking with right now. I suggest you shut up unless you want to end up as a liquid."

Gos rolled her eyes, calling his threat, "Your name is Steelbeak, real name Stuart Roostward. You've been with FOWL since you were a teenager and worked your way up the ranks. Now, since they're gone you're on your own."

Steelbeak was livid at someone knowing his real name. "How the fuck do you know that?"

"DW keeps files on all his enemies, yours was between Solego and Taurus Bulba, marked 'inconsequential'."

Steelbeak ground his metal teeth together. "Inconsequential?! That runt thinks I'm inconsequential?!" He bellowed. "Do you even know how easy it was to find you and figure out his secret identity? The only reason I didn't grab both of you two idiots at the same time was because of that geeky scientist who works for McDuck would've noticed and raised the alarm. Now Darkwing's going to turn himself over to me and I can use him as my ticket to reforming FOWL, bending the little wimp to my will should be easy enough, especially now that I've got all the brains and brawn I need…"

Gos' eyes opened wider than she'd hoped.

"That surprised you, brat?" Steelbeak growled, "I'm going to turn your little hero into my slave, and you're gonna be my leverage to keep him around. After a few months the indoctrination will kick in, and by that point I'll have my own little purple evildoer instead of a jackass who keeps getting in my way."

"He'll never follow you." Gos stated.

"He will if it's the only way to keep you safe." Steelbeak pressed a button and the cage lurched toward the acid, stopping only a few feet from the hissing surface. "He cares about you, and he'd do anything to keep you safe." Steelbeak scoffed as Gos tried to keep calm at her sudden much closer proximity to the acid. "That's the thing about heroes, they're all noble idiots. You threaten someone they love and they roll over."

A light started blinking on the console where Steelbeak had been reading earlier. "Speak of the devil, the purple pussy has arrived. Well, I need to take care of some shit, but don't worry, I'll be back soon."

***DT***

Drake watched as Steelbeak appeared out of the shadows near the warehouse.

"So, the little duck decided he wanted to show up to save his daughter, you heroes are so predictable." Steelbeak smirked mirthlessly.

"I'm here. Let Gos go."

"Well, you see, that wasn't really what I was planning on." Steelbeak pulled out a gun and aimed it at Drake's head. "You have two options right now. You come quietly with me and I do what I want, or I blow your fucking brains out and you collapse dead here-then I douse your kid in an acid bath."

Drake was quiet a moment before he stepped to follow Steelbeak.

"Uh-uh." Steelbeak tutted. "Strip."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. No gadgets, nothing. Who knows what's got a tracking chip on it with someone from SHUSH waiting to pinpoint your location. All of it on the ground. Now."

"And if I don't?" Drake growled.

Steelbeak flipped out his phone to reveal a livefeed of Gos. "Then I press the big red button and your kid never makes it through puberty."

Drake reluctantly took off his belt and hat, tossing them to the ground.

"I said all of it."

After a moment Drake undid his shirt. He was naked aside from his mask.

"The mask too."

Drake shakily took it off and added it to the pile.

Steelbeak grinned toothily, walking close enough to hold his gun to Drake's chin. "See, this way you know there's no hope of escape. Now move." He pistol whipped Drake.

Drake glared as he followed Steelbeak's orders into a warehouse not too far away. As they entered he saw Gos suspended over a large chemical mixing vat.

"Gos!" He shouted, starting to run toward her. Before he could make it he felt a sudden writhing pain shoot through his body.

"Oh! It does work!" Steelbeak grinned as Drake spasmed on the ground.

"What did you do to him?" Gos yelled, trying to get closer to her father.

"Just tested out a device I modified to send a little over three million volts through his feathery ass. Hopefully it screwed with his nervous system; I need him immobile for a while." He held up a small taser like device. "It's fun being smart enough to make your own weapons."

"Surprisingly, I agree." A voice spoke from the darkness.

Steelbeak turned to try and find it. "Alright, whoever you are show yourself or the kid gets it." He held up his phone. Before he could do anything it flew from his hand, sparking.

"Dude! That was the Waddle Phone 11, you know how much I paid for that?"

At that moment Gizmoduck descended from the ceiling. "Less than your funeral's going to cost when this is over."

Steelbeak scoffed, "Seriously, Gizmoduck?" He pulled out a second phone and tapped a few buttons. "You do realize Beaks made sure to put in a kill-switch for your suit, right?" He smugly pressed a button, only to have nothing happen. He tapped it again, "What the hell?"

"Yeah, Beaks didn't plan on my upgrades." Fenton revealed a set of shoulder mounted machine guns.

"Well, shit."

Thirteen seconds later there was a red stain on the floor where Steelbeak had been.

"Gos, I'll get you out of there, hold on." Fenton flew over and cut the lock on the cage, quickly pulling her free.

"What about Drake?" Gos looked nervously as Fenton placed her on the floor.

Fenton went over. "He's still breathing, barely, but he basically just got struck by lightning. We need to get him to a hospital."

***Author's Note***

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay, I had some real trouble writing this chapter, battles aren't my strong suit. I promise the next chapter is coming sooner and will be a bit longer.