A/N: Quite a few reviewers pointed out that Launchpad's parents are still alive. I maintain the fact that you guys are all liars.
I'm kidding! I do read the summaries for DWD, but you gotta realize I am going to let some info slip past my fingers. So please forgive me if I overlook certain information. It's not on purpose, I promise you!
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In reality, what Launchpad said was probably just a mistake. He heard it wrong or someone gave him the wrong information.
Still, something told Darkwing he shouldn't ignore this.
Why though? It just didn't make any sense. Who would go through all that trouble just to separate Gosalyn from him? To see him in pain? Most of his villains rather just kill him and be done with it. The person behind this, is he/she even after him? Is he/she after Gosalyn?
Breaking and entering wasn't new to the dark vigilante. He did this often to obtain evidence police left behind at crime scenes or to spy on his enemies. However, he believed this was the first time he ever broke into a government building.
If he was caught, he will be charged with a federal offense.
The Bureau of Child Protection never closes. Late at night there are certainly less employees. Most were people who handled the phone in case a client called.
Did not mean this made Darkwing's job any easier. Ten stories high, Darkwing scaled the brick building with considerable difficulty. He did not know exactly how many people were inside. Every time he paused by a window still for a breather, without fail, someone would come out of an office or bathroom. He would have to throw himself down on the small ledge till the person left.
Cold and aching, it took Darkwing twenty-three minutes to scale up to the fifteenth floor. He knew at the corner window on the far right side of the building was Griffin's office.
The light was off (always a good thing) and a quick look showed no activity. Griffin must have left for home hours ago.
It took him a few good minutes to pick the lock on the window. There would be no alarm, nobody places alarms on the windows this high in the buildings.
He climbed into the dark office as quietly as possible, quickly closing the window behind him. He didn't want the breeze to blow off any important papers.
He went straight for the file cabinet. He picked the lock expertly, pausing every couple of seconds to listen for stray sounds. Lest he be found by a passing janitor.
Even though Gosalyn was legally not his child anymore, she still carried his last name. Darkwing flipped through the M's, searching for her file.
"Mac…Malick…Mall…here we go…Mallard…" He pulled the file out with a triumphant grin.
The light switch went on.
The triumphant grin left.
"You!" Griffin cried out, staring at the purple suit wearing duck. "What are you doing here?"
Suddenly Darkwing wished he didn't close the window. He could have easily thrown himself out and saved himself a buttload of trouble. He had very little options. The window was not locked, he can still throw himself out, but by then Griffin could cry out for help. She saw him at the file cabinet, she'll notice the missing file and put two and two together.
He could knock her out. Do the whole Vulcan death grip bit. Except he didn't know how to do that.
Then Griffin did the unthinkable. She closed the door behind her.
"What do you need?" She asked him, folding her arms.
Darkwing was taken back. This…he was not expecting. "Uh?" He said dumbly.
Griffin sighed in annoyance. "Is that the file you need, or is there something in the computer I have to open?"
Did he walk onto the set of The Twilight Zone? Was this really Griffin, the evil anal social worker he was talking to?
"What file do you have there?" She came over and snatched the file out of Darkwing's hands. He was too stunned to resist. "Mallard, Gosalyn…why do you have her file for? The case is closed."
That slapped some sense back into Darkwing. Almost stumbling over his own words, he told her in the most professional tone he could muster, "I have reason to believe somebody may be after her."
Griffin's mouth opened and closed silently. Then her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "No…nobody should have found out…" She muttered to herself.
"No, nobody should have found out what?" Darkwing asked her. "What are you talking about?"
Griffin pulled out a clump of paper from the file and gave it to him. Still stunned, Darkwing took the stack. Should he question her about her ethics of giving away important papers to some freak wearing a costume?
He read off the top of the page. The Last Will and Testament of Janice and Fred Waddlemeyer.
Holy crap. This is Gosalyn's parents' will.
He quickly skimmed through the will, trying to pinpoint any possible reason why somebody may be after Gosalyn.
Unfortunately for him, Gos' parents got VERY specific about who got what. Every piece of china, every book, every single item apparently in the Waddlemeyer's home went to a specific person or place. They gave their books to the library. They gave their paintings to the museum. They sold their china pieces and expected the money to go to charity.
The will went on for fifteen pages. After four pages of worthless rambling, Darkwing found nothing that related to Gosalyn.
"What am I looking for?" He had to ask Griffin.
Griffin flipped to the very last page of the will and pointed out a small paragraph at the bottom.
It read: And to our daughter Gosalyn, we leave her-
2.3 Million Dollars.
Darkwing did a double take. Then a triple take. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked at the page again, making sure he was reading it right.
2.3 Million Dollars.
"WHAT!" Darkwing spat out. "Two point three…is even possible to have that much money?"
Griffin slumped into her chair. "Now you understand my situation."
Darkwing paused. He had no idea his daughter has that much money. He didn't know there was even a will. "Does Gosalyn know about this? Does she know she's worth over two million dollars?"
"The problem is, because Gosalyn is underage, she will not obtain the money until she is eighteen years old. To make matters worse, since she is an orphan, we can't let that information out to every Tom, Dick, or Harry that walks through that door. Or else everyTom, Dick, or Harry will walk through that door."
"I don't understand," Darkwing began to pace. "Does her father know she is to obtain this money?"
"Nobody knows except for the Judge and me. In the past when adoptive parents learned their step-kids had huge inheritance money, they would kill the kids. It didn't matter how long the parents had. Some even went so far to keep the kid for a couple of years before killing them, just to throw the police off. So nowadays, we keep this type of information quiet until the child becomes of age."
"The fire," Darkwing said suddenly. "Did you suspect Drake Mallard of foul play?"
Griffin did not flinch when she said, "Of course we did."
"Then why didn't you charge Mallard with conspiracy to perform murder?"
"Because then we would have to admit why. We would have to share the Waddlemeyer's will. For Gosalyn's safety, we can't risk that. So…we took another route."
"By calling Mallard a-"
"We did what we had to," Griffin snapped at him. "Our highest priority is the child. Anything else is collateral damage."
Collateral damage she says. Darkwing felt like he could strangle her, but she had a point. As anal, cold hearted, pain-in-the-butt she was, she is basically a good person.
He still didn't like her.
"Why are you telling me all this?" Darkwing finally said. "Do you tell all masked vigilantes your clients' secrets?"
She pursed her lips thinly. Her eyes went to the side. "You probably don't remember this…but about two years ago an apartment building caught on fire near the city limits."
She was right. He didn't remember that.
"My son and I were trapped on the top floor. Firefighters couldn't get to us and I thought we were going to die," She looked at him. "You saved us. You got both me and my son out of that burning inferno. And when you left, I notice your back was burned."
Darkwing blinked as that memory suddenly came back to him. She, he didn't remember. He recalled spending the next few months in total agony. He still had the scars to prove it.
"You're my son's hero. And despite it goes everything I stand for, I do trust you. You may be a bumbling idiot, but I think you can help."
Did she just insult him while complimenting him? "…Thanks?"
They went into silence. Darkwing took this moment to go over all the information in his head.
Somebody knew Gosalyn is meant to inherit a butt-load of money.
Somebody knew Drake had adopted Gosalyn.
Somebody knew Launchpad was a close family friend.
Somebody started that fire.
Somebody placed fake evidence for the authorities to find.
Somebody knew Gosalyn was going to be taken away.
Which left to only one conclusion: Somebody is going to kidnap Gosalyn.
Darkwing went to the window. "I gotta go the orphanage. Gosalyn could be in danger right now."
"She's not at the orphanage," Griffin said to him. Darkwing stopped in his tracks.
"If she's not…then where is she?"
She pulled out another stack of papers from the file. "Adopted," She said simply, passing over the papers to him. "By a Mr. Blake Aves. Papers became final only three weeks ago."
Darkwing snatched the papers out of her hands frantically. They were official adoptive papers, all stamped and signed. There was even a photo of the guy.
He looked a lot like Launchpad. Large pronounced chin, thick shapely chest and hair so black it resembled velvet. The only thing that this guy and Launchpad did not share was Launchpad's warm eyes. This guy gave Darkwing the heebie-jeebies.
"You let this guy adopt Gosalyn?" Darkwing said baffled. "He looks like the poster child for the America's next serial killer."
"His credentials checked out. No history of violence, no criminal past. He does not know about Gosalyn's inheritance and even if he did, it would not matter."
"Why?"
"Because Mr. Aves is a millionaire himself. He does not need the money."
Darkwing leaned on the window still. One hand holding the adoption papers, the other rubbing the headache that was coming. Once again, nothing made sense. His lead suspect suddenly became his most unlikely suspect. It took him a moment to bring up images of Aves in his mind, but he did. He knew Aves was a millionaire. He had heard his name occasionally during giant charity balls the city throws every couple of months. Why go through all the trouble to adopt Gos if he could make that much money in a month?
Still…something told him he shouldn't leave this alone.
Griffin broke the silence. "Do you believe Aves is dangerous?"
Darkwing frowned. He had no evidence, he had no motive, he had no reason to suspect Aves. Perhaps he was just another lonely guy who wanted a child of his own. Who says only women get maternal instincts? And Drake couldn't ask for a better person to take care of Gos. A rich man who can give her anything she wanted; a great education, a guarantee college degree, a secured job, a respectable title in the world.
His gut was screaming at him.
"Yes," Darkwing finally said. "I don't know why, but I do believe Aves is dangerous."
Griffin quietly observed him before saying, "Okay then. What do you want me to do?"
"Do?"
"Yes, do," She snapped at him. "Geez, I would think you be on top of this."
She wanted to help him? Tonight was just full of surprises.
"Are you sure you want to help me? You could get in a lot of trouble-"
"What did I say? The child comes first. Everything else, including me is collateral damage."
"But your son-"
"He'll be taken care of. Either by my ex-husband, my four sisters, my two brothers, my fourteen cousins or my best friend. Now will you stop stalling and tell me what to do?"
This woman was scary. And he's seen some pretty freaky things. After all, he's been to the Negaverse and back, he's died before, he battled alien space creatures, yet nothing scared him more than this woman. He should put her in costume and send her to fight crime.
The most dangerous place in the world is between a mother and her child.
Very true.
"Okay…" Darkwing said, trying to figure out what he could use her influences for. "I need Aves financial records. Does he have any unusual debts? Does he gamble a lot? Has any of his companies gone under in the past few years? I need…any police records on him. Parking tickets, jury duty, has he ever been suspect of fraud? I also need a list of names of close contacts. I want to know if they have any financial trouble."
"Done," Griffin said without hesitation. "How shall I contact you once I get everything?"
"Don't. I'll contact you. So if you get caught, you can say I stole everything."
Darkwing went to the window, opened it and paused before leaping out dramatically. "Hey…thanks for all your help. I really appreciate it."
"No problem," She said, shrugging his thanks off. "But I gotta know; why the special interest in Mallard?"
Darkwing panicked for a split second.
Holy crap! She knows who I am!
He played it cool. "He's my friend."
He jumped out the window. He pulled out his grappling gun, shot off the hook. It struck a corner, went taunt and he soared into the night.
Griffin watched him with fascination as he disappeared behind a building. Leaning on one hand, she sighed, "Why are all the good ones always…tch, enough of this. I got work to do." She closed the window, making the effort to leave it unlocked and went to her computer. She had a long night ahead of her.
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A/N: Wow, could you believe I wrote this in one day? Wow! I have no life! Dies a little inside.
Anyhoo! To alesi275: I love your reviews. I seriously do. You make me feel smarter when I read them. And sometimes dumber, because I have re-read them to fully understand. You give me too much credit, you seriously do.
And don't worry, I call all my peeps girls. Why? Because I'm an asshole, that's why. Ha ha! But yes, DW could go back living in the tower, but Drake Mallard cannot just suddenly disappear off the map. Griffin still has to collect Gos' mail and stuff. And trust me, this whole conspiracy thing is going to blow up DW's face. Just when you think you figured it all out, I'll pull the rug from underneath you and then point and laugh.
And sorry…No Honker. He'll make an appearance at the last chapter, but he won't be in this fic. Sorry. He should be in here, but he won't.
Anyhoo! R/R!