Darkwing Duck: Prince of Thieves

Act III

Meanwhile, Launchpad McQuack's interest had been captured. "Princess Elizabeth Muddlefoot? Here?!?" If the Princess looked the same now as she had a couple of years ago, she was cute! And she had asked to see him! "How come you're holding her like a prisoner?" he asked.

"Welp," said Harry, as he rolled the toothpick lazily in his mouth. "We sorta picked her up from the Fearsome Five, and she was kickin' like a wildcat. We just thought it was a good idea to make sure that she couldn't do anyone no more harm."

"Really?" asked Launchpad. That didn't sound very... "princessy" of her. She was probably just traumatized, though. "Well, we'll have to untie her right away," he said, on his way out the door. He paused to let Harry catch up. "She's very delicate, y'know." That was something he didn't know for sure, but he could take a guess. After all, she had people waiting on her hand and foot; something like being attacked by thieves was sure to upset her. He liked that about her, though. Er, not that she'd be upset, but her delicate nature.

Harry, meanwhile, wondered over this sudden concern. "You sweet on her?" he asked.

Launchpad flinched. "Huh? No!" he said quickly. "Just worried. I mean, uh... She could get us in trouble with her parents." He picked up the pace a little, leaving Harry to fall behind.

Meanwhile, again, Elizabeth had been able to convince Ted to untie her hands. Gosalyn had revived, although she was still unsteady, and Elizabeth was discussing a plan with her. "See, when he comes in here, I'll jump him and you tie him up. Then we'll hold him hostage until they let us go home," she said eagerly.

"But they untied you. They don't really seem to be holding us prisoner," said Gosalyn.

"You're just confused," said Elizabeth, completely confident. "This operation is a thieves' circle! Of course they're holding us for ransom! It's what circles of thieves do!"

"Oh," managed Gosalyn. She felt as though her brain was dancing Swan Lake at triple speed; she'd never been so dizzy before. She shook her head to try to clear it.

"Uh... Here they come," said Ted, standing by the tent flap. He obviously hadn't heard a word- in fact he stood away from the door a bit, allowing Elizabeth a clear shot at Launchpad as he walked in.

"Ready?" asked Elizabeth with an excited edge to her voice. Gosalyn nodded groggily.

The tent flap opened, and Launchpad walked in. Elizabeth paused. He didn't look like a thief. In fact, he was... rather handsome.

Launchpad paused as soon as he came in. Wow... the Princess had actually gotten prettier since he'd last seen her. He grinned; she was staring at him. She must like him. He winked. She started, and looked faintly indignant for a moment, and then smiled at him sweetly. The smile was amazing- it lit up her whole face. "I'm Launchpad McQuack," he said, stepping forward.

"I am Princess Elizabeth Muddlefoot, daughter of Herbert Muddlefoot, Ruler of St. Canardia." She seemed awfully coherent for someone who was head over heels in love, he thought... As soon as she got within reach, Elizabeth wound up and hit him in his stomach as hard as she could. He doubled over with an "Oof!" and she shouted, "Now, Gos!"

"Now what?" asked Gosalyn confusedly. She didn't make a move. "Did you just hit him? Gee, Beth, he doesn't seem like a bad guy to me!"

Elizabeth nearly screamed in frustration. Instead she just rolled her eyes. "Oh well that's just great." Unable to think of anything else to do, she sat on Launchpad's back to keep him from getting to his feet. "Who are you and why have you taken us prisoner?" she asked in what she hoped was an intimidating tone of voice.

If Launchpad had been able to answer, he might have told her that they had rescued her from ruthless outlaws, that they were trying to keep her safe, and that they had no intention of holding her prisoner. Under the circumstances, though, the best he could manage was a feeble groan.

"A likely story!" said Elizabeth, rather haughtily. He sounded like he was in pain. Good! she thought. Served him right for winking at her. Who did he think she was, anyway?! "So, you think you're gonna get a ransom? Huh?? Is that it?!"

"Well, a reward woulda been pretty non-heinous," said Ted, still standing behind them. The idea of helping Launchpad didn't seem to occur to him. Harry was also watching the events unfold, his expression calmly indifferent.

"See?!" cried Elizabeth triumphantly. "You talk or I hurt you," she threatened Launchpad, flopping on his back.

"No- ya don't get it!" he protested weakly. This had all happened so fast, he had no idea what to do. He had an idea to just roll around and knock her off his back, but that probably would have hurt her... And it certainly wouldn't have improved her attitude any.

"Yeah, right. How dumb do I look?" said Elizabeth in an accusatory tone.

The tent flap opened again, and Darkwing Duck walked in. "Well, loyal bandits, I have returned!" he said dramatically. "And I really cleaned up this time-" He stopped, noticing Elizabeth. "Who are you?" he asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "And why are you sitting on my right-hand man? Or do I want to know?"

Launchpad, who had propped himself up on his elbow, spoke up. "Ya don't wanna know."

Elizabeth seemed to be having some trouble speaking. She glanced down at Launchpad quickly, and then at Darkwing, and tried to say something. Nothing came out, so she closed her mouth again.

Gosalyn, on the other hand, needed no time to prepare anything to say. "Darkwing Duck! The Prince of Thieves!" she cried.

Darkwing grinned and took a bow. "At your service, kiddo."

Gosalyn ran up to him, apparently quite recovered all of a sudden from her blow to the head. "Wow! They tell all kinds of stories about you back at home! Cool beans!"

Elizabeth cleared her throat. "Darkwing...? The Darkwing Duck? I... I thought you were just a story! My parents always told me-"

Darkwing snorted. "I don't know where your parents get their ideas, or how they can just ignore my legendary adventures, but I'm real. So's Launchpad, as you noticed."

The Princess appeared to be preparing a reply about how Darkwing obviously didn't realize just who her parents were, but just then she started and realized that she was still seated on Launchpad's back. She stared down at him. He looked back at her evenly, his expression unreadable, and then said, "Nice to meet you too, Princess." She frowned at him and stood up.

"'Princess'?" said Darkwing, going through the bag of valuables he had just relieved the Muddlefoots of. He chuckled a little. "I didn't think you were the type to use pet names, LP." He stood up, holding out a few items of jewelry. "Look, the villagers will be able to pay taxes for months just from this necklace!" He displayed a diamond necklace proudly. "And this is just the tip of the iceberg! Wait a minute- 'Princess' who??" He suddenly seemed to recognize Elizabeth somehow. Maybe because she was glaring daggers at him as he dangled the necklace in front of her.

"This- is- mine," she growled as she snatched it from him.

"Ah, Negaduck...sir?" said Megavolt, as he limped into the dim light of Negaduck's quarters. Megavolt was the only one, sane or insane, with the guts to approach Negaduck with bad news. Not that he did it bravely; actually he viewed it as an opportunity to divert as much blame onto his teammates as he could. But none of the others cared to even try to explain things, and so the task fell to Megavolt time and again.

"Yes?" said their leader, only a menacing outline in the dark room.

"The-- the Princess got away," began Megavolt.

Before he could zip through the usual circumstances and excuses, Negaduck interrupted him in a calm voice. "And how did that happen?"

"Ooh, I hate it when he's calm!" whispered Bushroot to the Liquidator. The Liquidator nodded nervously. Quackerjack stood next to them, humming to himself. He didn't have the coherence to be afraid of Negaduck half of the time.

"Well, we were grabbing her, and suddenly Darkwing Duck's gang intercepted us," said Megavolt. He was fully prepared to relate how the brat had been kicking shins, and had taken out both Quackerjack and Bushroot in an instant (he had no plans of revealing his own incapacitation), but once again, Negaduck reacted before he was able to cover his rear, coming to life with the terrifying suddeness of a volcanic eruption.

"DARKWING DUCK?!" he roared, his eyes aglow with rage. "I hate Darkwing Duck! He's always ruining my plans! That's it! This time I'm going to take care of him once and for all. And you're going to get that princess for ransom, too."

"But we don't know where they aaaaaare," whined Quackerjack. Bushroot, The Liquidator, and Megavolt all looked at him in horror as he said this.

"Then you're going to search the forest until you find them!" yelled Negaduck, very close to Quackerjack's face.

Quackerjack cringed. "Yes, boss," he said, cowering in fear.

The others breathed a sigh of relief. Quackerjack had diverted their psychopathic leader's rage onto himself, and they were spared for the moment.

"I'm not letting that duck slip through my fingers again," vowed Negaduck, his eyes in evil slits.