Remembrance

Chapter 18

He was becoming aware. The first thing that hit him was the pain in his beak. He'd have to remember to give Fenton a special 'thank you' for that one. The second thing that hit was the noise; it was load, like he was near an engine. The third was how cold it was. He shook his head, trying to bring himself out of it. The pain still remained.

He heard laughter, familiar laughter. He opened his eyes and saw someone he really didn't want to.

Steelbeak stood, gun in hand, smiling like the cat that caught the canary. A special gleam hit his eye. There was no doubt about it; Steelbeak was in a good mood. "Rise and Shine old Drakey!"

'He knew my name', Drake thought. He did a once over and realized he was not in costume. Had Steelbeak figured it out? If so Gosylan was in trouble. "What's going on?"

He looked around and inspected the area. Ammonia was talking with Gizmoduck, and Megavolt sat tied up in a plastic box next to him. He was in a Damn of some kind; the nearest one would have to be Duckberg Damn. A thousand things raced through his mind.

"I'll tells ya whats going on…Revenge! Sweet and simple."

He did figure it out, it had to be. He had to stale for time, if Noddoff was right, then Morgana would be on her way, hopefully with a spare costume handy. He decided it would be best to play dumb.

"What are you talking about? What have to done to Gizmoduck?"

"Gizmoduck's fine, been adopted into a new family. And don't tell me you don't remember? This guy over here…" He pointed to Megavolt who looked away, "…is supposed to be the one with the bad memory."

Remember….He couldn't mean Middle School? If so then at least his identity and Gosylan were safe at the moment.

"Chantey?"

"I told you never to call me that!"

'Then this is about Middle School."

"You really think I could let you blowing my poor beak to smithereens go?"

"Well…You know, it was so long ago…"

Steelbeak moved in closer and starred Drake in the eye, "Everyday I wake up and look myself in the mirror. I think about you, and what I've wanted to do to you for revenge. You and your little playmate."

"Well I guess you'll lose that one Chantey, Elmo's been missing for 9 years. You can get your revenge on me, but you'll fall short on that one, like always, you'll do everything half way and never get the job done."

Steelbeak erupted in laughter at that one, attracting Ammonia and Gizmoduck who came up behind him. Megavolt sank into his chair, this wasn't happening. This wasn't how he wanted Drake to find out. Where was Darkwing, Morgana, Negaduck, anyone who could help. Heck he'd take Super Bunny if possible.

"You're kidding right?" Steelbeak had started to breath normally again. "You mean after all these years you don't know?"

A sudden feeling of dread came upon Drake. Almost like a 6th sense. He remembered his conversation with Noddoff and about how he would feel pain. Had something happened to Elmo? Had Steelbeak killed him, maybe he did 9 years ago. Of course, that made perfect since. All this time he was fighting Steelbeak, and never knew. Anger filled Drake, like never before.

Steelbeak wiped away a tear of laughter in his eye. "Elmo….Is going to suffer, the same as yous."

"What?" Drake said. Steelbeak had used Elmo in the future tense, meaning he was still alive.

"You see, you dream and dream about the how the perfect revenge will take place, but when it happens, all the pieces just fit so perfectly, like the stars aligned for a single moment just for you."

Ammonia batted her eyes at Steelbeak for that one.

"Did you do something to Elmo? If you hurt him, I swear you'll pay!"

"Elmo's fine, Drake. Ask him yourself" And with Steelbeak motioned to Megavolt for a second time.

Confusion hit Drake. "Wait, are you trying to say Megavolt, member of the Fearsome Five, talks to light bulbs, and can't remember what day of the week it is, is Elmo Sputterspark, Valedictorian of St. Canard High?"

"Ask him yourself"

Fear hit Drake. He looked at Megavolt, who couldn't even raise his head. No….It couldn't be….

Then hit denial. He analyzed the rodent, head to toe, for the first time; really getting looking at him…It couldn't be...

"Drake I'm sorry I got you in to this" Was all Megavolt said.

Anger. "You think this little trick will work Steelbeak, messing with my emotions. You and Megavolt are working together, that's what's going on!"

"Oh I wish it was that simple, go ahead Elmo, explain it to Drakey"

Drake looked back at Megavolt, who still couldn't even raise his head. "At prom, there was an accident, I was electrocuted, and lost all my memory. The only thing I could remember was Ham being mean to me, so I went looking for revenge. After Darkwing showed up, I ran away, I didn't even know my name."

Again anger. "All this time…IT WAS YOU!"

"Yes" He said in almost a whisper. Steelbeak just leaned back and took all of it in. This was too perfect.

"I searched for THREE years! Prisons, back alleys, crime syndicates around the world, and all the time you were robbing appliance stores trying to save Light Blubs!"

Megavolt didn't even answer that one.

Drake looked away, almost disgusted. Then it all hit him at once. 9 years of searching and wondering, one of his arch enemies all this time. His whole existence, why he became Darkwing. This was why he never let anyone in. Anger, Hate, and Pain filled him.

"Drake please…"

"Don't talk to me…You're not Elmo…He died 9 years ago, you're just a ghost." He said, still looking away.

Steelbeak clapped his hand, "Oh the fun and games we are going to have. Don't you all love it when friends get together?"

The Thunderquack hovered nearby, just out of any possible radar FOWL could have. It landed softly and a half dozen people squeezed out. Negaduck instantly looked around for any possible signs of Eggmen. There were none. Morgana, Quiverwing, Arrow kid, Steggmutt, and Launchpad all took in their surroundings.

"Ok, so this is the plan. We find Neptunia, then sneak past security to QJ and Bushy, free them, then split up into teams and take FOWL by surprise" Negaduck said.

"But Mr. Darkwing, we don't know where Neptunia is." Steggmutt pointed out. No one had told Steggs about Negaduck, Launchpad figured it would confuse him, it would probably be best not to mention anything to Neptunia either.

"She'll be in water you Knobb! She's a fish!"

"Mr. Darkwing is a little grumpy today."

Morgana sensing the cover would be blown, came in, "Yes Steggmutt, Dark hasn't been feeling well and is upset Gizmoduck has been taking prisoner."

"Don't worry Mr. Darkwing, we'll save Gizmoduck."

Negaduck put his hand to his head, "This team defeated the Fearsome Five, I just don't get it."

They started to travel to the Reservoir and came upon the large lake. Keeping out of sight they spread out. Quiverwing stuck her head in to see if she could see anything. Negaduck crossed his arms, trying to figure something that might attract the fish's attention.

"Hey Kid! Come here." Quiverwing got up, "You got any Flare Arrows?"

"Yeah?"

"If you aim to the center of the lake, it should be deep enough for the Eggmen not to see."

"But Neptunia would if she's in there." Quiverwing reached for a arrow and pulled back.

"Smart one she is" He said with a sarcastic tone.

Quiverwing made a face and let loose the arrow, being careful to aim for the center. There was no way of knowing if it went off or not, they just had to hope.

Nothing happened. "She's not here" Negaduck said plain and simple.

But just then a wave came up on the group. And just like that, an unconscious Neptunia washed up to them. The wave that had come up, materialized in an instant, "Are you suffering from poor reception between friends, Tired of having the one way conversation, the Liquidator suggests using email. That's TheLiquadorRules(at)TheFearsomeFive .com. " Morgana rushed to her friend, who was barely conscious, "I…I…tried to…"

"It's ok Neptunia."

"They took another….Duck…..Don't know him….Giz…..working for….FOWL" She coughed a bit.

Morgana began to concentrate, trying her hardest healing spell. Steggmutt came up, a look of worry across his face.

The rest of the group kept back. The Liquidator stood, looking at the Justice Ducks, this wasn't going to be easy, but he needed them to get his friends out. He took in each face, but stopped when he reached Darkwing.

Darkwing snarled at him. He came up, sleeves rolled half way. "You KNOBB!"

"Ne…Nega…."

"Not here, you understand!"

"But I don't"

"You were supposed be stay with the team. Not take a vacation!"

"But you were gone, we didn't know if you were coming back."

"I have tried to be a patient leader, but when my own team doesn't even act as one, then I ask myself, 'why do I even try'. At least you got my message and came back.

"Ah come on boss, we've pulled some good heist together."

"It's no wonder the Justice Ducks always beat us. And they always will if you don't get it through your wet head to stay together, especially when I'm indisposed of."

"But Boss…."

"Don't 'Boss' me…I'll lecture you later, along with the others, when we break them out and are out of this mess. But you're here, so that helps."

"What's the plan?'

"We get to QJ and Bushroot, and then we break up and stop FOWL. I got a personal score to settle with Steelbeak."

Quiverwing, who was taking this whole thing in ask, "What'd he do to you?"

"He attacked my team, which deserves a special punishment."

Realization hit Liquidator, "Wait a minuet, if your Negaduck, and this is the Justice Ducks, then where's Darkwing? Why are you wearing purple"

Negaduck couldn't think of anything.

Launchpad came up, "Oh ah he's…inside…scooping out the place, we'll meet up with him later. The two of them want to get a drop on Steelbeak, if he thinks there are two DWs then he'll get confused and probably make a mistake."

"Negaduck and Darkwing Duck working together?"

"Yeah…we'll FOWL's got Giz and your teammates, only makes sense we help each other."

Liquidator didn't buy it. His eye's narrowed.

Negaduck stepped in, "It doesn't matter KNOB! We are working together, that's all you need to know. We have to rescue the Five, and that's all that matters."

Liquidator, shrunk with fear, "Right Boss!"

Morgana, Steggmutt, and Neptunia came up. Steggmutt was crunched over, help Neptunia walk.

"Oh, my head." She said.

"You going to be up for a fight?" Negaduck, trying to sound like his adversary, looked down at the fish.

"A healthy dose of revenge is all I need. When I get my hands on those Eggmen…"

"Enough, we have to work on a way to sneak in, let's move….." Negaduck was actually starting to like playing this game.

Authors Note: Poor, Poor Drake and Elmo… sniff it's not over yet. Still have a long way to go.