A/N: Please refer to the end of this chapter (once posted) for references.

The King Verse

Part Three: The Electric Green Orchestra 2

Phantom Duck stepped into the club after Bushroot and looked around the square tables. "So where is your electrified rodent friend?"

Bushroot pointed to the stage and the band that was thundering out the sound of hard rock guitar and drum beats and the sound of a woman's voice.

"... Just dance, gonna be okay, spin that record baby just dance ..."

"Mega-watt?" The image of the electrified Elmo Sputterspark with his grandfather's guitar in his hands transfixed Phantom Duck. He wore a blue monk's robe to match his yellow rubber gloves and shoes. His long frizzy orange hair was plaited into submission.

Bushroot put his leafy hand on Phantom's shoulder after a moment. "Hey, loosen up, buddy. We're all friends in this place." The plant-duck advised him warmly. "Let's sit over here." Bushroot took a seat at a nearby table and the mallard joined him, sitting so he had a view of the stage ... and Megawatt.

Megawatt silenced his guitar, looking for a moment at the blonde duck who was the voice of his act. The rodent then started strumming in a ballad fashion.

The oddly familiar woman was staring off in Phantom Duck's general direction. Phantom looked around him and realised it was Bushroot opposite him who had grabbed her attention.

"I died so many years ago
But you can make me feel like it isn't so
Why you come to be with me, I think I finally know
You're scared ashamed of what you feel
And you can't tell the ones you love
You know they couldn't deal
Whisper in a dead girl's ear doesn't make it real ...

That's great, but I don't wanna play
Coz being with you touches me more than I can say
Since I'm only dead to you
I'm saying stay away
And let me rest in peace

Let me rest in peace
Let me get some sleep
Let me take my love and bury it
In a hole six foot deep
I can lay my body down
But I can't find my sweet release
So let me rest in peace

You know, you got a willing slave
And you just love to play the thought
That you might misbehave
Until you do
I'm telling you
Stop visiting my grave
And let me rest in peace

I know, I should go,
But I follow you
Like a girl possessed
There's a traitor here,
Beneath my breast
And it hurts me more
Than you've ever guessed
When my heart does beat
It near breaks my chest
But I can see
You're unimpressed
So leave me be

And let me rest in peace
Let me get some sleep
Let me take my love and bury it
In a hole six foot deep
I can lay my body down
But I can't find my sweet release
Let me rest in peace

Why won't you
Let me rest in peace?"

As the last strains finally died away the woman spoke into the microphone. "We're going to take a fifteen minute break, guys. Don't nobody go nowhere coz we'll be right back."

The blonde and Megawatt with his full head of hair came down off the stage. Just in case they hadn't noticed him already, Bushroot waved at them as they approached.

Bushroot nodded at Megawatt's female singer cohort and sat down at the table.
"Uh, Phantom Duck, this is Megawatt and ... Belladonna Porter." Bushroot shrugged uncomfortably.
"Megav-watt, you're a genius inventor!" Phantom nearly exploded. "Why are you standing around on a stage for?"
"I enjoy it, d'uh." Megawatt rolled his eyes which reminded Phantom Duck instantly of his red headed daughter. "Playing in the black market pays better than doing the electrical circuit." Megawatt shrugged. "We're all sick of the old school in here. These people wanna hear something different and they're happy to pay for it."

Phantom considered this information. Was law and order really so demented in this strange universe? "Has The King ever caught you?"
"A few times." Megawatt frowned. "Like that'd ever stop me for very long. I'd make him sizzle like spit on a griddle if I could ..." He sighed, "that traitor."
"He means Cecile." Belladonna advised.
"I tried to rescue her from The King once. Let's just say she's not his prisoner." Megawatt sighed in defeat. "So what's up? Who's the stiff?"
"Phantom's cool, Megs, he's backing Macawber."
Megawatt's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Is he?"
"What's ... up?" Phantom watched Megawatt's electrical field surging.
The rat leaned in closer towards Phantom. "That's great you're on the dark side of the tune, but lemme give you a nickel's worth of free advice. Don't touch Morgana. Don't even try." Megawatt sparked his fingers threateningly. "Get it?"
"Got it." Phantom stared at Megawatt feeling shocked without the need for an electrical charge. "I just wanna get The King and then find a way to get home to my wife."

"You're not from around here, Phantom? Where's home?" Belladonna asked.
"I don't know." Phantom grumbled. "Some other universe."
"Cool!" Megawatt's mood instantly lifted. "You must have gone through one of those transdimensional corridors! What was it like? Oh, I've wondered but yet never experienced going through one for myself. Did you have a vehicle?"
"No. It just happened."
"Subspace travel theoretically would put a bit of pressure on your unprotected synaptic relay functions ... it must've given you a bit of a headache."

"Megs, you're geeking again." Belladonna shook her head at Megawatt in warning. "Phantom doesn't understand that stuff."
"Somehow I figure it's not so easy to get back to as to just jump into a cake this time." Phantom Duck obliged the rat's curiosity. "It really wasn't fun, I can tell you that. I was unconscious when Bushroot picked me up." Phantom confessed. "So ... uh, how'd you and Morgana meet?"
"We-ell ... after I blew up my old high school, I got rather bored. Then I found this place hosting black market gigs and thought I'd join the cause. Not long after that I experienced my first raid. It was then that I came to realise that despite my ability to channel my electrostatic charge into a potentially lethal weapon I still didn't quite have the edge I required in order to properly keep The King at bay. As it so happens it was that evening as I was hiding out from The King at Joe's Pizzeria when she came in." Megawatt sighed. "Morgana was conducting market research on pizza toppings when some jerk put money into that rotten two-timing juke box and played the song she'd been hearing everywhere she went for three weeks." His eyes had a faraway stare. "And 'I Got A Woman' reminded me of The King and Cecile. It was love at first meltdown."

"That reminds me ..." Megawatt narrowed his eyes. "What exactly is your musical alliance, Phantom?"
"I'm a bit eclectic, to tell the truth." Phantom coughed politely. "But I do prefer show tunes. It ... reminds me of ... a friend that I lost a long time ago." He down-turned his eyes.

Megawatt sat back with a look of surprise. "Duck, that's some far out stuff. Can you sing 'Stairway to Heaven'?"
"Sure, but how about 'High Voltage'?"
Megawatt sat back, "whoa, dude." He breathed. "That's righteous. We're like ... brothers."
"I know." Phantom grinned, going with the lingo. "Doesn't it sound?" He leaned forwards in curiosity. "So this is all black-market stuff?"
"Yep. They don't play nothin' but the straight dulcet tones of rock n roll on the radio. You can't buy this stuff here; it's banned in St. Canard period. This here is what we got: Ye Olde Bootleg. We've got a weathervane with a super pickup at the top of this building. It's tuned into Duckburg radio so we're up and transcribing the latest. Then we've got you, me, a couple of amps and my grandpa's old electric guitar to make it real as."
"I'm sure your grandpa would be proud you were being so inventive with his guitar."

Megawatt nodded at Belladonna. "I never did so well until our vamp queen graced us with her presence."
"Vamp-vampires?" Phantom blinked at her. "You're a vampire in this universe too?"
Belladonna slowly leaned forwards towards him, her eyes on his neck. "There's ten minutes before our next set. Why don't we go out back ..." She smiled. Her teeth were perfectly straight. "For a bite?" She licked her beak.
"While that's always an interesting experience for me ..." Phantom shook away from the dazed feeling that seemed to come over him whenever this particular vampire fixed her attention on him. "I do have a job to do in this universe. I need to be able to think straight to take The King down, and I can't take the chance that you'll get excited and take too much."

Belladonna sat back with a sigh, glancing dejectedly at Bushroot before turning to Megawatt. "I'll see you in a bit, Megs, I've gotta hunt." She stood up and drifted away from the table.
"It's nice meeting you, Phantom." Megavolt stood up and headed for the restrooms.

Phantom Duck noticed Bushroot staring morbidly after Belladonna and felt his feathers prickle in response. He hooked his foot under Bushroot's chair leg beneath the table and with a grunt he flipped Bushroot's chair over, crashing it and its occupant noisily on the floor. "Bushroot!" He stood up, putting his hands on the table and leaned over to see the other. "You ... poor unfortunate fool! You like her so why don't you go after her!" He exclaimed down to him loudly.

Bushroot blinked up in shock at Phantom. "Belladonna's not ... I'm not ... That is ... when Rhoda ... it didn't ... I know that was a long time ago but ..."
Phantom slapped his face in anguish. "Deep down you're a moron in any universe. Tell me what do I have to do to get yeh outta here?" He twisted around the table and grabbed Bushroot's vine, dragging him up to a stand.

"There must be something worth living for
There must be something worth trying for
Even some things worth dying for!
And if one plant can stand tall
There must be some hope for us all
Somewhere, somewhere, in the spirit of St. Canard."

Phantom gave Bushroot a persistent shove towards the exit. "Go on, Bushroot. I tell you once and you know it's true; she's crazy for you. And she'll be round the front." Phantom advised. "This is the clubbing district so she won't have gone too far."
Bushroot smiled nervously at him. "Wh-what do I say?"
"I dunno." Phantom shrugged. "Sing your song. That's all people ever seem to do in this universe."