"Double double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble. Round about the cauldron go, in the poisoned entrails throw. Toad that under cold stone days and nights hath thirty one. Sweltered venom sleeping got, boil thou first i' the charmed pot."

- Said William Shakespeare.

DARK DUCK: CONTINUUM CONUNDRUM

A King Verse: Part Five

It had just gotten onto nightfall and it was time to open the club. Gosalyn approached the magically hidden alley door and climbed onto the small garbage can that stood in front of it.

"I am the Terror that Hunts in the night!"

"Phantom Duck?" She squinted into the darkness.

"I am the jackal that gnaws at your bones."

"I get it!" Gosalyn rolled her eyes. "You keep repeating yourself hoping someone'll eventually notice you."

"I am Darkwarrior Duck!" The mallard raised a huge nasty looking gun up at her, giving Gosalyn a shiver as she remembered Taurus Bulba. "This is the last time for you, you criminal."
"Drakey Mallard! What a surprise to see you here, Drakey. At night, in the dark." Gosalyn laughed nervously, pressing her fingers against the wall and feeling the magic door open warmly against her feathers.
"You were obviously not listening. I'm Darkwa-"
"Oh dear, you're right! I hear my mother calling me right now! Gotta go!" She stepped back off the rubbish bin and passed through the wall.

The sound of an explosion from just outside shook the walls and echoed around the empty club. Gosalyn instinctively jumped back and dived under a table. In the darkness she stared at the wall as it remained solid and intact. Now he was banging on the wall with his fist.
"Gosalyn."
"You're not allowed in." Gosalyn breathed in the safety of the forest of tables and chair legs, "we have a code."
She cast a new anti-malice charm on the wall.

"You can't stay in there forever, little miss pinfeathers."

Gosalyn ignored the taunt from the other side of the wall and added yet another protection charm to the others.

"Mu-um!" Gosalyn yelled as she ducked through the forest of tables and chair legs to get to the telephone at the bar. She picked it up and dialed. "Mum! Another one of these crazy Mallards's jumped out of the multiversal quackerware-box! This new one just tried to kill me!"
"Oh, my goodness! Are you alright? What sort of weapon was it, honey?"
"He tried to fire a missile at me!" Gosalyn screwed up her face, remembering the sound as he'd tried to use the same weapon to open up a hole in the wall; "talk about overkill." She finished sarcastically.
"Well, you're safe inside the club, sweetie. The protection charms will easily hold up against a missile blast and the anti-malice charms won't let anyone intending violence in. Just make sure they're all freshened up before you open, sweetie."
"Sure, mum." Gosalyn sighed and hung up. "I'm sick of being the weakling. Hiding; always hiding!" She reached behind the bar for the packet of matches to light the candle. "Ye olde damsel in distress routine; it stinks! Dad doesn't hide or let people push him around."

She crossed back to the wall facing the alleyway. "On the other hand it beats the heck out of being the dead thing that'd be splattered under half a ton of bricks by now, I've gotta say." She went about and recast a few more charms, turning on the lights as she did. Then she headed to the bathroom to dress down to her full grunge outfit to get ready for the patrons.

Gosalyn was already busy at the bar when Megawatt stormed into the club and found himself stuck behind a disorganised line. Phantom Duck and Bushroot hurried to keep up with him.

"Can I have a rum and coke?"
"Excuse me, valued customers!" Megawatt sparked loudly, "kindly move aside or else you may get fried!" He sparked in warning and the patrons gave him plenty of room.
Phantom Duck could see Gosalyn was physically quite alright. He knew she had a hardy temperament which made her pretty stable mentally.

"Are you alright, lumi?" The electric rodent with his long plaits put his hands up on the bar and watched Gosalyn as she handed over the change for the drink to the customer.
"I'm alright, dad, honest." Gosalyn reached for a wine glass from above their heads.
"What did this Darkwarrior guy look like?"
"Well, he looked like ... him, actually." Gosalyn pointed over the bar at Phantom Duck. "Only he was dressed in dark purple and with that ridiculously huge gun of his ..." Gosalyn snorted. "He was certainly trying to compensate for something." She looked up at the next customer. "Hi Mr. Quacker, the usual?"

As Gosalyn continued to serve drinks Phantom Duck mused on Darkwarrior Duck. "Bushroot, Drakey's been with you all this time?"
Bushroot crossed his vines. "Oh, please!" The plant-duck sighed. "Yes, of course he was with me! Drakey wouldn't step on a cockroach without checking it had health insurance first. You're a much more likely suspect, Phantom Duck." Bushroot prodded him.
"Are you guys not listening to me?" Gosalyn snapped as she poured a beer from the tap. "It's another duplicate."
"It's true that my sanity is only just so-so, Bushroot. I certainly wouldn't put it past me to do something like that. And the fact that I have no gun now doesn't mean I didn't have one in my hands earlier. It would be a simple matter for me to dispose of it." Phantom Duck answered calmly. "But it so happens that I was working undercover with Megawatt this evening."
"He's right, Bushy. We were uptown."

"Putting on the Ritz, were you boys?"

Phantom blinked at the sound of the mallard's laugh. "Quackerjack?"
"Jack Quacker." The mallard in red and blue grinned back at him and flicked out a business card. "Owner of Quackerjack industries, and of course," He giggled, "I head the Quackertoy store franchise." He slurped his drink.
"Why are you so happy today, Jack?" Megawatt grizzled.
"Why?" Jack Quacker grinned. "I just closed the deal and bought out that last dreadful little video arcade in Duckberg. Now there are only real toys for one hundred miles."
Phantom Duck blinked. "The 'last'? No video arcades in St. Canard?"
"Oh, perish the thought!" Quacker exclaimed.

"Hey, wait a minute, Mr. Quacker?"

"Yes, Gosalyn, dear?"
"What has rental movies got to do with toys?"
"Oh, ha." Jack Quacker had a slightly nervous edge to his giggle. "Never you mind, Gos, hon. It's just business."
Phantom looked at Jack Quacker. "If, undoubtedly, on the slightly shady side."
"Here is a pot calling the kettle black." Jack Quacker prodded his back outfit. "But I must say that noir look really is quite fetching on you."
"Thanks for the compliment, Quackerjack-Quacker." Phantom Duck stumbled over the toy businessman's name and kept talking. "But it's actually a slightly different impression I'm trying to give here."
"Oh, well it was either that or Goth." Jack Quacker smiled cheerily at him. "Goodness, but what a boring place St. Canard would be without variety."
Phantom Duck blinked at him. "How forgiving, Quackerjack. I wondered why I like you."
Jack Quacker patted his shoulder. "Megs here will tell you I like to think pos-itively." He put down his empty glass. "Now, I really must dash. I have an appointment with Mr. McDuck's architect's tomorrow morning about the designs for my new superstore complex."
"Oh, while you're there-?" Megawatt's nose twitched.
Jack Quacker giggled and he hugged Megawatt with one arm. "I look after my friends, don't I, Megs? Of course I'll scout out the music stores for you while I'm there."
Megawatt nodded with a smile on his face. "Thanks. Have a good trip, Quackers."

Phantom Duck blinked and quietly followed Jack Quacker. "Why are there no video arcades in St. Canard? It can't be all your doing. Is it because they don't play rock and roll tunes on them?"
"Sure they do ..." Quackerjack shrugged, "The King even has his own private little arcade set up in Bird Cage Apartments. But you see, there's no pocket change on the streets of St. Canard, Mr. Goth, and those machines are coin operated. My stores, on the other hand, are all equipped with EFTPOS." Jack Quacker stepped closer to him. "And never underestimate the power of a good business arrangement, Mr. Goth, especially not when it has a solid financial common sense backing it up."
"You mean you control the market." Phantom Duck translated.
"Have yourself a lovely evening, Mr. Goth." Jack Quacker stepped away with a grin and headed towards the exit.