Darkwing Duck: Prince of Thieves
Act VII
It had been more than an hour since Mike and Ray had left the castle, and King Herb was fidgeting. "Why aren't they back yet?" he asked. "That plan should have been foolproof!"
"Now, dear, be patient," chided Binkie gently. "They've only been gone for a short while. I'm sure everything is going fine, and we have nothing to worry about."
And with that, the Fearsome Five took their cue to enter the castle.
The doors to the throne room were blown apart violently, and a figure stepped through the smoking hole. Before any of the guards could react, long, thick vines snaked around them and bound their arms and legs tight. Herb and Binkie were essentially tied to their thrones.
More figures became clear in the slowly dissipating smoke. There was still one prominent in the foreground, and the others flanked this primary one. "Anyone in here move, and we'll execute every last one of you!" shouted one. He almost seemed to glow through the smoke.
"Yeah! And we're real tough guys, too, so we mean it!" said another voice, somehow goofy and slightly menacing at the same time.
"And there's no point in anyone trying to escape anyway," said a third, slightly softer voice. "The moat has been flooded."
A fourth voice, this one with a touch of show to it, finished, "Courtesy of the Liquidator! Flooding moats since 1342!"
The smoke cleared sufficiently for the members of the court to see the figure in front. He was a duck, a little on the short side, with a black mask and a cape. He was saying nothing, simply staring at them with a nasty smirk on his face.
King Herb puffed himself up royally. "Who are you?" he demanded.
The duck in the front spoke, his voice low and gravelly. "Negaduck. We're the Fearsome Five. Are you going to give up now or do we have to go through all the annoying defiance routine?"
"Give up?! We'll never give up! You're only five, what do you have to hold over us?"
Negaduck burst out laughing, turned, and grabbed one of the figures behind him. "Take a good look, you simpering fools!" he yelled as he tossed Princess Elizabeth, still bound and gagged, onto the floor in front of the royal couple.
"What have you done to her?" cried King Herb, enraged by Negaduck's treatment of his daughter.
"She can tell you," he said, and took off her gag for a moment.
"Don't do anything he says, Your Majesties! You have no obligations to me! I'm not even your real daughter!" she screamed before he brutally tied the gag back on.
"Wrong line!" he snapped.
"Ya know, she's got a point...," said Herb, turning to his wife.
"That's true, Herb, but we've known her this long-- If she's not our daughter, who is?" she answered.
"A valid point, Binkie. Okay, what are your demands, Mr. Darkwing?"
There was a sudden sound, as if an egg were frying. Negaduck ground his teeth together and snarled, "I-am-not-Darkwing-Duck!! I am Negaduck!!!"
Herb looked puzzled. "But I could have sworn she was kidnapped by Darkwing Duck..."
"Dear, someone else kidnapped her from the first kidnappers," Binkie reminded him.
"Oh...? Well, I suppose we'd better talk to him."
"Man, what a stupid family," mumbled Negaduck to himself. "My demands are pretty simple, really. I'll turn her over to you, if you give me the kingdom. And I mean the whole kingdom, the entire piece of land you rule, your guards, your money, everything. Ya got me?"
Elizabeth shook her head vehemently. Gosalyn, being held at the back of the room by Quackerjack, struggled fiercely to no avail.
King Herb sighed. "What choice have we? It's a deal," he said. He took off his crown and handed it to Negaduck.
"We're rich!" shouted Megavolt.
"I'm rich... You just work for me," sneered Negaduck.
"Drat." The Four grumbled a bit to each other at this comment.
"What!? Do you have a beef you'd like to discuss?!"
"Oh, no, no... Happy to be of service! Long live King Negaduck!"
"Get offa my throne," said Negaduck as he walked up to the royal couple. He passed Herb, who was already standing, grabbed Binkie by the arm, and shoved her to the ground. Then he sat where she had been and propped his legs up in Herb's seat. "Fearsome Five, throw these two suckers in the dungeon," he ordered.
"But-- but, our daughter!" said Binkie.
"Oh, yeah..." Negaduck thought for a moment, and then said casually, "When you're done with the Royal Blunders, take the brat and the bimbo to the torture room. I'll be right down."
Binkie gasped. Herb thought for a moment, as if trying to remember something, and then looked almost happy. "We don't have a torture room!" he said defiantly.
"What?!" Negaduck seemed almost offended. "I'll have to fix that... Aw, well, just take 'em out and kill 'em."
"Yes, sir!" they said, eyeing Gosalyn. Revenge could be sweet.
"You said they wouldn't be harmed if we let you win!" cried Herb.
"Yeah, and you believed me. Duh," said Negaduck. He bit his nails, self-satisfied, as Gosalyn and Elizabeth gave muffled cries of protest. "Aw, shut up!" he shouted.
"Enjoying yourself, Negaduck?" came a voice from the window. Darkwing Duck was silhouetted in the setting sun, drawing back his bow and arrow. At each of the windows in the huge throne room, several thieves from Darkwing's team climbed up over the edge and readied their weapons.
Gosalyn and Elizabeth gaped at the sight, staring up at Darkwing in awe and relief. Launchpad climbed up next to Darkwing, and looked around the assembled crowd until he found Elizabeth. The Princess's heart soared. He had come for her. He really did care.
Darkwing didn't miss a beat in addressing Negaduck. "Too bad it won't last! I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the-- Ack!" He was cut off by a bolt of electricity that barely missed him. "Nice try, but you have to get up pret-ty early in the morning to get Darkwing Duck so easily!" He smirked down at Megavolt.
"Man, I have really got to work on my aim!" said Megavolt, his finger still steaming.
"Let me!" said Quackerjack, and grabbed Megavolt's hand. He pointed it directly at Darkwing and then stomped on Megavolt's foot. Megavolt screeched and shot another bolt at random, which zapped Darkwing a good one right in the solar plexus. Darkwing fell backwards into the overflowing moat.
"DW!" cried Launchpad, looking after his boss. He wasn't sure if Darkwing was conscious or not after that zap, and if he wasn't, there was no way he'd be able to swim in the moat when it was that deep. Of course, Launchpad was no great swimmer himself- in fact, he had just barely made it to the window at this time. But he couldn't let Darkwing drown. "I'll come back for ya, Beth!" he yelled, and dove off the window sill into the moat.
"MMMMPH!" yelled Elizabeth, not quite sure what to think. She looked at Gosalyn, who was simply looking worriedly at the window where Darkwing had been standing. Elizabeth swallowed hard.
"ATTACK!!" yelled another of Darkwing's thieves. A handful of the thieves took action at once, and more followed suit a few moments later. The other half hung back. Elizabeth recognized many of the ones who leapt into action: Ted, Bo, Lee, and Nire were among them. Harry stayed behind. Elizabeth wasn't surprised.
The outcome was never in doubt.
The Fearsome Five, to put it simply, wiped the floor with them. Darkwing's group lacked cohesion; they attacked one-on-one, slowly, and often glanced distractedly back towards the window where Darkwing had disappeared, as if waiting for him to return before starting to fight their best. Bit by bit, more members of the larger group joined in the fight, only to be defeated the same way that their predecessors did.
Elizabeth looked up at the windows again when she heard a series of splashes. The few remaining members of Darkwing's band had jumped into the moat. She was stunned, completely stunned, by their cowardice.
"Don't let them get away!" screamed Negaduck. "Megavolt! Liquidator! Make yourselves useful!"
"No problem, boss!" Megavolt asserted before Liquidator made any movement, and sprinted to the nearest window. "No sign of 'em from here," he said. "But I'll be shocked if they make it out of here after this!" With that he let loose a huge blast of electricity at the moat. Elizabeth's eyes became wide as she realized what it meant- everyone in the water would be instantly electrocuted. Probably killed. And so many of Darkwing's thieves were in there... As was Darkwing... As was...
She tried to scream, but the gag wouldn't let the noise leave her throat.
Gosalyn stared at her. She had no idea what was so wrong, but obviously something was. Everyone else in the room, Darkwing's band included, was silent. This gave the Fearsome Five the chance to overpower the few members who were still fighting.
Megavolt watched quietly for a moment, and then chuckled. "Got 'im," he said.
Negaduck shoved his henchman out of the way and looked. "You nob. That's not Darkwing, that's his hat!!!"
"B-but he was wearing his hat when he fell in! And I charged that water with enough voltage to toast the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man!"
Negaduck snorted. "Yeah, I guess for once you did it right. No way he coulda lived through that." He turned to Megavolt, who looked proud for a moment before Negaduck grabbed him by the collar. "And you're lucky I got what I set out for today, Sparky, because if it were any other day I'd frag you where you stand for killing Darkwing Duck before I could get to him."
Megavolt's breath caught in his throat. "Y-yes sir," he whispered hoarsely.
Negaduck eyed him for a few moments more before letting him go, and turned to survey the damage. "Not bad," he muttered. "You know, for once you're almost not losers. Now if you can just get them to the dungeon and dispose of the two skirts, I'll see about your living conditions. Who knows, you might not have to sleep in the barn."
"Yes, sir!" said the Four, saluting cheerfully.
"And take the guards too. Unless any of them have any ambition..." He left the offer hanging in the air intentionally, and waited a few moments to see if anyone would pick up on it. In truth, he could use at least a few people familiar with the castle, but he wasn't about to trust most of these "loyal palace guards" any farther than Bushroot could throw them.
"Ah... S-sir... That is, Your Majesty, I would... er, offer my services," said one guard. He was rewarded with glares of betrayal from most of his peers, but a few others looked just nervous and Negaduck had a feeling that they'd come around under a little "convincing".
"Well, then, I'll see what I can do about setting up a few appointments," Negaduck said. He motioned towards a handful of guards, and they stepped forward. "The rest of you, get lost."
"You heard him," said Bushroot, pushing at the mass of prisoners as they were slowly herded out of the throne room. Princess Elizabeth refused to move, and stayed kneeling on the stone floor for quite some time until Quackerjack took her arm and yanked her along.
After taking the newest prisoners to the dungeon, the Four stared at the two prisoners whom Negaduck had sentenced to death. "You guys think we should do it here?" asked Megavolt.
"Seems a little tacky, doesn't it?" replied Quackerjack.
"It'd be murder to get those pesky bloodstains out of the carpet," muttered the Liquidator.
Bushroot cleared his throat. "Well, you guys think this place has a basement or something?"
"If it did, you'd probably be scared to go into it, Bushy!" snickered Quackerjack.
"Oh, you're funny."
"Knock it off, you guys. Negaduck gave us a job to do." Megavolt glared at them.
Gosalyn looked between them. The way they were fighting, it was ridiculous. She couldn't believe they were captives of these jerks! She nudged Beth, trying to get her to go into her karate routine again. The Princess barely seemed to feel it. Instead she just kept staring down at the ragged carpeting at her feet. Gosalyn couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. This was prime escape opportunity!
"Our prisoners are lacking spirit," commented the Liquidator. "In need of a quick pick-me-up, perhaps?" Gosalyn glared at him, which had no effect at all.
"Look, guys, all I know is that I saw stairs leading down when we brought the prisoners down. I say we take the prisoners down there, where it's quiet!" Bushroot was on the verge of whining now.
"Yeah, yeah, couldn't hurt," said Megavolt. He prodded Gosalyn and Elizabeth each in turn. Gosalyn angrily started moving, but Elizabeth had to be prodded again before she slowly started shuffling along, looking straight ahead without seeming to see anything. Megavolt pushed on her shoulder impatiently. "Move it already!"
She started to stumble, and made no effort to catch her balance. Bushroot caught her by the shoulder. "You all right?" he asked, and got no response. She didn't even move, just stared past him. "Uh... hey..."
"I think you've got a crush on her, Bushy!" said Megavolt.
"I do not! I was just getting her to move on quicker!" he said quickly, letting go of her.
"Reggie's got a girlfriend, Reggie's got a girlfriend," sang Quackerjack.
"When dealing with that 'special someone...'," said the Liquidator.
"Aw, knock it off. Some friends you guys are."
"You don't like her, then? Prove it. You kill her," Megavolt dared him.
"Fine then, I will," said Bushroot instantly, then froze. "Uh... B-but I can't do it here."
"Where ya gonna do it, then?" Quackerjack taunted.
"I dunno. I can't do it with you guys watching."
"What could be better than three good friends to help you with your work?" Liquidator asked.
Megavolt chuckled. "Bet he'd get all jumpy and mess it up!"
"Forget it. I'm takin' her, and you guys can't come!" snapped Bushroot. He yanked Elizabeth by the arm, grabbed Gosalyn on the way, and headed off down the stairway. The other three stood and watched him leave.
"You know, now that I think about it, this may not have been the smartest thing for us to do," said Megavolt a few minutes later, still in the same spot.
The Liquidator pondered the situation. "What should we do now?"
"I don't know. I guess we just sit here and wait for him to come back." After another few minutes, he shifted. "My feet are starting to hurt..."
Gosalyn couldn't believe the luck. Instead of having to take out four superpowered incompetents, they only had to take out one! Then they could escape and find Darkwing! She glanced at Elizabeth, who was still staring off into the distance. Gosalyn became very, very worried- something was obviously wrong. But maybe this was still a part of some kind of plan. She'd wait a little while longer for Beth's cue. Just a little longer.
"Okay," said Bushroot. "I guess this is where I kill you." He paused. Then he walked over to Elizabeth and removed her gag. "Any last words?"
"No," she mumbled. "Just get it over with."
Gosalyn was shocked. She'd expected, if not a cue for an attack, then at least an insult or something. But there wasn't even a hint of sarcasm in the Princess's voice.
"Well, uh, right. Then I will." Bushroot looked around, as if searching for a weapon or something, and gently scratched the foliage on top of his head. "Right, just get it over with," he mumbled. He admitted to himself, reluctantly, that he didn't have the first idea of how to start on this. But if he went back to the others and admitted it, he'd look stupid! There was nothing worse than looking stupid in front of the guys. They made a hobby out of making fun of him already, and the last thing they needed was proof that he was as much of a wuss as they said he was.
And he wasn't a wuss! He just didn't happen to have especially lethal powers, that was all! That was the only problem, just that he didn't have the means to do them in! That was it! But still, the guys would never understand that. He was stuck! He couldn't let them go, so he'd have to kill them.
He looked at Princess Elizabeth and knew that wasn't an option. He couldn't. He just couldn't. He opened his mouth to tell her, and something very, very solid crushed one of his roots.
"YYEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOWCH!" By instinct he summoned a large number of vines and wrapped them tightly around the little girl who had stomped on his foot. She was glaring at him defiantly. "Oh, you're in for it now, you little--"
"NO!!!" He stopped short, surprised to suddenly hear so much animation in the voice of the Princess.
Gosalyn silently cheered. All right! Finally, action time! She wished she could get this stupid gag off of her mouth so that she could cheer Beth on.
"Huh?" said Bushroot.
Elizabeth looked at him, her eyes pleading. "Don't. Not her, too. Please, please don't kill her."
He wasn't sure if he'd been about to or not. He didn't think he was, in truth. But whatever his intent had been, it disappeared when he heard this plea. He gulped, and his eyes fell on the many rusted doors in this hallway. More dungeons, it seemed- these ones used even less than the ones in the higher levels. Moving quickly, he shoved one open and pushed the girl and the Princess into it. "You stay in here," he said firmly. "I'll bring you guys food if I can, but don't hold your breath. And if anyone finds out you're down here, I'm not doing anything to save you. Got it?" Shocked, Elizabeth nodded dumbly. Bushroot nodded as well, and slammed the door shut. Then he located the keys, hanging on a hook to the right of the cell, and locked the door.
He was halfway back to the staircase when he heard her voice, softly calling him.
"...Bushroot?"
"Huh?"
"Why... why didn't you..?"
He was silent for a while. 'Because I'm just a coward,' didn't sound very dramatic. He tried to think of something that didn't sound stupid, and finally answered, "I just... I can't kill people I respect." With that, he left.
Gosalyn waited for Elizabeth to say or do something, but she didn't. She just stood there, leaning against the wall of the cell, looking miserable. Finally, Gosalyn cleared her throat, and Elizabeth looked over at her. "Oh... yeah," she murmured, and approached her. Both of them still had their hands tied behind their back, so Elizabeth went behind Gosalyn and turned around, and proceeded to do her best to untie the knot holding Gosalyn. It took a while, but she was finally successful, and stepped away as Gosalyn shucked off the ropes holding her. She took out the gag last, spitting as she did.
"Ugh!! That thing tasted like sweat! Did yours?" She grimaced, and ran her finger over her tongue as if trying to clean it off. Unfortunately, this action didn't help to cheer Elizabeth up. "Hey! C'mon! We're still alive, and we can get out of here!" She walked around her friend to untie her bonds, but Elizabeth moved away to a back corner of the cell. "Oh, come on, Beth. We can get out of here and find Darkwing, and then-"
"Darkwing's dead, Gosalyn."
Stunned, Gosalyn said nothing for almost a minute, then finally whispered, "What..?"
Elizabeth answered, also in a whisper, "He's dead. And so is..." She choked on the words, stifled a sob, and hung her head. "So is Launchpad. And everyone who was in the moat. They're all dead, and we're not going to get out of here."
Gosalyn felt sick. "That's impossible. I mean- you don't know-"
"Gosalyn." Elizabeth's answer was soft, but insistent. "Water conducts electricity. The electrical current that Megavolt released spread through the whole moat. There's... there's no way they could have gotten out."
"I don't believe that."
Elizabeth didn't look at her. She sank to a sitting position in the back of the cell, staring at the floor. "You'll have time to get used it," she said softly. "Please forgive me, Gosalyn, for causing this whole thing."
"Beth, what are you talking about?!" Gosalyn yelled. "You didn't cause this!" Elizabeth shook her head. "Don't do this, Beth!"
Staring at the floor, Elizabeth whispered, "Please forgive me," again, and that was the last thing Gosalyn could get her to say.
"So, how many more hills is it just past now?"
Ray turned his glare around at Mike, and said sourly, "Was that sarcasm?"
Mike returned the glare with full intensity. "Gee, I don't know," he said. "That depends on whether we're lost or not."
"We're not lost!" snapped Ray. "I know this forest backwards and forwards! I'm just having a little trouble finding the camp, that's all!"
Mike adopted an incredulous expression. "A little trouble?! You've stumbling about going to the wrong place for two hours now! Just admit we're lost!"
"We're not lost, I tell you! The campsite is just over this hill!"
Mike grimaced, but held his tongue. At first, he had thought this apparent wild goose chase was a rather ingenious way of keeping him from learning the exact location of the camp; after the second hour of wandering around in the woods, he realized that Ray simply had no sense of direction, and that was all there was to it. If he had to hear the phrase "Just over this hill" one more time after this, he was going to forget Ray and find the place on his own.
"Uh-oh," said Ray, up ahead. Mike noticed that he'd reached the top of the hill; the inevitable "maybe it's this way" would be coming up soon. Instead, Ray said, "But this is it. I'm sure this is it."
Mike joined him at the peak of the hill, and looked down at what Ray saw. A shambles. What had once been a campsite- evidently a rather large one- was now charred, blackened, with a few ripped tents still standing here and there. There was no sign of anyone living there. "Chalk another one up to 'trouble finding the camp', Laughing Boy," said Mike. "Let's go."
"No!" snarled Ray. "This is it. This is the site. That sign on the tree over there, that proves it!" He pointed at a pine tree that had a stylized "DW" inside a circle carved on the trunk. "Someone destroyed the camp site while I was gone!"
"Oh, no. The Princess!" Mike started running, not even thinking about where he was going.
"Hey! You idiot, where do you think you're going?!" Ray caught up with him and kept pace, glaring at him as they ran.
"The Princess- as a member of the Junior Guards it's my- my duty to keep her safe- I've failed her once already, and I won't fail her again!"
Ray snorted. "Look, stupid, even I know that you can't just run up against the Fearsome Five! You have to have a plan! You'd be better off going back to your castle and-"
Mike stopped short. Displaying amazing reflexes, Ray stopped only an instant later, and spun to face him. "Who are the... the Fearsome Five?"
"The ones who did this," Ray said, as if it should be obvious. "A gang of thieves. Real nasty ones. Five of them, but they have these weird powers. Even we have trouble beating them- you'd never be able to go up against them alone. Better you go back and get the help of your little monarch and his little army."
"You seem awfully helpful," said Mike suspiciously.
"Feh. Help, nothing. They're our arch enemies, I'm sure not going to defend them. I am, however, going to find my teammates."
Mike grabbed Ray's arm forcefully. "Oh no you're not. You're coming back to the castle with me. I have no reason to trust you, you know. Even if everything you said is true, you're not getting away so easily."
Ray wrenched his arm free from Mike's grasp, almost effortlessly it seemed, and glared at him, then gave him a curt nod. "I suppose I can see the honor in that. After all, there's a good chance that if we find the Fearsome Five, we find Darkwing as well." Mike had an idea that this was his way of admitting that he needed a guide to find his band. He decided to rub it in later, and instead took off running in the direction that he hoped led back to the castle, with Ray keeping pace.