My Kingdom For a Double-Plait Bolt!
A/N: I think I'm up to date in replying to reviews (thanks again everyone!), at least for this fic. If you've left a review and not gotten a reply, mention it; I want everyone to be sure I am replying. (Except acosta perez - I'm afraid I haven't done any email responses, sorry!)
Right now I want to mention something important to me, which is that I think everyone reading this should go check out Darkwingpsycho's fics, especially "The Other McCawber Girl". The second part of that fic is just being published now, and it's really heating up in terms of action; Negaduck has already shown up, and soon a bunch of other characters will too. Mostly though, no matter what characters are in it, it's just a great fic with a lot of nuances and so forth. I very, very rarely make "pimping" posts, but this fic is so good and I don't see many people leaving proof of reading it, so I wanted to put a word out there for everyone. ...Also? If you read "Eternal Sunshine of the Thoughtless Mind" you'll be doing me a favour as much as DWPsycho, since she wrote it for my birthday and thus I'm a co-owner. ;D (Okay... I don't think it really works like that. But oh well. LOL!) And now... the story! Bum-bum-BUMMMM!!
Act III, part one
Silence filled the moment. When no one reacted, Megavolt took a few steps into the house, and carefully shut the door behind himself. "Well, that's better," he said as he turned back around. "Don't want to air-condition the whole neighbourhood, am I right?"
Still no one said anything, but there was some movement; Gosalyn shrank down slightly on the couch, and Launchpad stepped protectively in front of Beth. Beth herself put her hands to her mouth nervously and looked at Drake; to her surprise, Drake did not look scared. In fact, he looked oddly energized. She couldn't take her eyes off of him.
Stepping forward, Drake looked quite dramatic. "Megavolt," he said, emphasizing just the name with such certainty that it sounded like a sentence on its own.
Megavolt blinked at him, then his face lit up. "Drake? Drake Mallard?" He crossed the room and grabbed both of Drake's hands in his own, then shook them heartily. "It's Elmo! From high school!"
Drake looked taken aback, and for a moment, more than slightly nervous. The reaction had clearly not been what he'd expected; it sure hadn't been what Beth had expected, either. She wondered curiously what either of them had been expecting, but ended up taking a step backwards and hiding behind Launchpad when Megavolt's enthusiasm took him closer to her.
"...Oh, heh heh, yeah, Elmo. Boy, uh, you sure look... good," said Drake.
Megavolt nodded. "Yeah, you know, I've been keeping busy." He looked around. "So this is your place? Wow, it looks great. You should see where I live, it's just clutter in every corner. So what have you been doing with yourself? What do you do these days?"
Drake, caught completely off-guard, opened and shut his mouth twice.
Apparently oblivious, Megavolt said, "Hey, wasn't the reunion a few months ago? Did you go?"
"I-"
"Wish I had," said Megavolt, shaking his head as he picked up a ceramic figure of a dancing pig and looked at it off-handedly. "You remember that guy Hamm? I've been wanting to catch up with him for YEARS now." His expression darkened, then he shrugged and put the pig back down. "But, you know how it is, life just gets in the way. Although it's funny, now that I think about it I can't remember WHY I didn't make it..."
"Well, heh, you didn't miss much!" Drake said artificially. He took an odd little step towards Megavolt, inching in his direction a little; Megavolt seemed completely unaware, and stood where he was, holding a finger to his chin as he thought back to the reunion.
"Yeah... I wonder..."
Launchpad suggested, "Maybe you were paintin' your lighthouse that night!" Drake snapped his head around to glare at his friend after that comment. Beth had found the suggestion quite odd, but in her experience Launchpad seemed to be prone to saying slightly off-the-wall things from time to time.
Meanwhile, Megavolt gave Launchpad a searching look, and approached him as he looked him up and down. Launchpad, seeming increasingly nervous under such scrutiny, kept sending looks towards Drake. Finally Megavolt said, "Yeeaaaahhhh... You know, you look awfully familiar..." A split second later, however, his attention shifted as he noticed Beth cringing at Launchpad's side. "Hey! There you are! Get outta there already!"
She squeaked, and obliged him even though Launchpad seemed dedicated to trying to provide himself as a barrier. As she leaned around Launchpad's shoulder, she swallowed and said, "H-hi?"
"Where've you been all night?"
Beth blinked, taken by surprise. "B-been? Um... asleep, mainly?"
"Well you ought to at least leave a note or something! Do you know what I had to go through to track you down?"
At her side, Drake turned to look at her. Beth met his gaze, and as soon as she did she knew what he was thinking. It was written clearly all over his face. She shook her head vehemently, trying to explain, but no words would come out.
"I knew it!" he said in an angry hiss. "You and Megavolt are in cahoots!"
Horrified, Beth kept shaking her head; her spirits sank even further when Launchpad turned around and looked at her searchingly, apparently considering what Drake had just said. "I'm - I'm not! I swear, I promise, I don't know what he's talking about!"
Megavolt continued, "I had a heck of a time even finding your place! I had to go to about five places - that store you work at wasn't open yet, and when I tried the butcher's shop they didn't know, so I went to the grocery store and THEY didn't know, and neither did the pharmacy or the bank, but the florist..." After counting along with himself on his fingers, Megavolt looked up at her. "They knew. Then I had to go through all those notes you'd left out and try to piece together where you were, and..." He stopped, noticing the look Drake was still giving Beth, and looked annoyed. "You know, when someone is talking, it's considered polite TO LISTEN!"
Beth snapped back to attention nervously, but Drake lifted a finger and pointed it towards Megavolt threateningly - then stopped, shot a glance back at Beth, and lowered his arm again, glaring at her all the while. In a tight voice, he said, "So sorry. Do go on."
"THANK you. Now as I was saying..." After a pause, Megavolt scratched his head, then chuckled. "Well heck if I can't remember now! Funny how that works. Anyway, I don't want to intrude, so I'll just take my bolt and go put the finishing touches on my master plan for vengeance and total domination of the city. Nice seeing you again, Drake!"
"Your - your what?"
Megavolt blinked. "Which what? My plan or my bolt?"
Drake clenched his fist. "What do you mean your bolt?"
"Well, I am the one who stole it fair and square! Then Miss Goody-Two-Shoes here comes along and picks it up from the gutter and walks off with it-"
Launchpad interrupted. "See, Drake? I knew she wasn't in cahoots with Megavolt!"
"Th-that's right!" said Beth, nodding vigorously and silently thanking Launchpad.
"Quiet!" snapped Drake. He turned back to Megavolt, then whirled back to Beth again, frowning. "You found this in the gutter?" he asked accusingly, opening his hand to indicate the double-plait bolt.
Beth blushed. "It was dry," she said by way of apology.
"Yoink!" said Megavolt, grabbing the bolt from Drake's open hand.
Spinning back around to face the supervillain, Drake said, "Yoink?!"
"This is what I came for," Megavolt explained. "So, see ya!" He started for the door.
Drake couldn't restrain himself. He stepped forward quickly, blocking Megavolt's way, and said dramatically, "Not another step, you chieftain of cheap chicanery! You're not getting away with this!"
Megavolt looked surprised, and a split second later, annoyed. "What do you do," he asked, as a tiny spark flitted between the prongs of his helmet, "take diction lessons from that DUCK?!"
"Not only that," Drake said confidently, "but I can have 'that DUCK' here in a flash if I so much as yelp!"
"Oh really!" Megavolt sounded interested, but looked furious. The flicker of a spark began to multiply. "I guess I'll just have to kill you quietly, then!"
From behind Launchpad, Beth gave a small shriek, and Drake remembered yet again that he couldn't take Megavolt out now. He ground his teeth together and thought, hard. One thing was certain: once the crisis at hand was resolved, he was revoking Launchpad's privilege to invite friends over.
He was just taking a step back when from the side of the room came a shout: "Hey, leave him alone, you overgrown sparkplug!"
"Gosalyn!" Drake shouted, panicked, as Megavolt's attention shifted dangerously to his daughter. He'd nearly forgotten she was there, since she'd been silent since Megavolt had entered; it was apparently too much to hope that she'd just keep her mouth shut and get away with being ignored. No one, it seemed, was allowed to ignore Gosalyn.
"What was that?" Megavolt asked threateningly, sparking in Gosalyn's general direction.
"I said, leave my Dad alone, static-for-brains! Or else I'll... uh..." She trailed off as Megavolt crossed the room towards her and looked her up and down dangerously. "Heh heh... Gee, uh, I sure like your, uh, goggles..." She shrank down on the couch, but it was too late.
"Little girl, hasn't your daddy ever told you it's not nice to call people names?"
"Get away from her!" yelled Drake. Megavolt took no notice of him.
"W-well, I think I might remember hearing something like that... once or twice..." Gosalyn tried. Megavolt considered her, then shrugged and picked her up. "HEY!" She tried aiming a kick at him, but he had her around the waist; she was taken entirely by surprise. "Put me down, you high-voltage creep!"
Drake was halfway across the room already, but had to stop when Megavolt took out his zap gun and pointed it at Gosalyn's head. "Oh, that might not be a great idea, Drake," he said, and Drake slowed to a stop. "Now... what was it you were saying about getting Dripwing Duck in here to stop me?"
"You're not going to get away with this, Megavolt!" was Drake's only answer.
Megavolt chuckled. "Imitating him isn't going get you anywhere," he said, stopping and shifting his grip on Gosalyn, who was squirming around with all her strength. He sighed. "'Scuse me a minute. KNOCK IT OFF!" he yelled at her; she stopped, then started up double-time. "Oh, for crying... Okay, I'll make this quick, then. I'm taking the girl as a hostage. All you have to do to get her back is send a quick message to your best friend Dumbwing: come get her, alone, tonight on top of the Duxter Building downtown. Let's say, oh, around eight-ish? Oh heck, make it eight-thirty. Sound good?"
"Let her GO, or-"
"Sound good?" Megavolt repeated, pressing the zap gun to Gosalyn's temple. She stopped her struggles for a moment, and her eyes met Drake's.
It's okay, she said silently. I know you'll come when you can.
Drake let his arms fall to his sides. "...I'll tell him," he said softly.
"Great! And make sure he knows that this is NOT a time to be fashionably late. If he's so much as five minutes after 8 o'clock, the girl-"
"You said 8:30 before," said Launchpad.
"8:30? Did I? Huh, well, whichever."
"No, which was it? 8:00 or 8:30?" asked Gosalyn. "I mean, this is kind of important."
"Hmm..." Megavolt gave it a moment's thought, then nodded to himself. "Fine, 8:30's probably better for me anyway. Okay! So much as five minutes past 8:30, and the girl will be nothing but a pile of ashes!" He backed out of the house, cackling, and kicked the door closed behind him. By the time Drake had flung the door open, Megavolt was well on his way down the block, with Gosalyn slung over one shoulder.
Drake stared down the street at the retreating figures, and said nothing. Behind him, Launchpad joined him and looked into the distance as well.
"Oh my gosh, he took your daughter!" said Beth, at his shoulder.
For a few moments he'd forgotten she was there; for one second, it felt like the whole thing had nearly been worth it just to mercifully forget about her. He turned slowly, his eyes narrowing as they fell upon her, and she swallowed and took a step away from him.
"I - I mean... I know you know that, I just... was saying... I'm so sorry." Drake was surprised that she wasn't yet bursting into flame under the heat of his hatred; instead she just seemed to keep talking. "I really had no idea... I- I just wanted to bring the bolt... I'm..."
"GET. OUT." In some corner of his mind, he was amazed that he'd managed to form two perfectly comprehensible words.
Beth practically leapt out onto the doorstep, and faced him beseechingly, her hands facing palm-out to him in an appeal. "I'm out, see? I'm out - and I really am sor-"
He didn't hear the rest, because the sound of the slamming door cut her off. He loved that slamming door; it was the greatest sound he'd ever heard.
"Ouch," said Launchpad quietly from behind him. Drake turned slowly to face him, and Launchpad took a step backwards himself. "Uh, I mean, what are you gonna do now, DW? You've still got almost twelve hours before you're supposed to meet him. Or eleven and a half, dependin' on which time you think he's gonna go by."
"I'm going to start planning," Drake said, and stalked towards the transport chairs. "I might not be able to do much, but maybe I can at least figure out what he needs those bolts for. C'mon. Let's get to work... someone still needs to repair my gas gun."
To be continued!