Chapter 10

As Gosalyn watched Ammonia running her vacuum cleaner attachment, she came up with an idea.

"Oh yoo hoo! Ms. Clean! There's a dirty spot over here…"

"Where!" Ammonia looked around frantically.

Gosalyn gestured with her head.

"Here! This chair is absolutely filthy!"

"Let me at it…"

Ammonia activated the crane, swinging the chair toward the platform while she grabbed a dust cloth and spray. Gosalyn stayed still while the villainess inspected the chair, spraying it, and Gosalyn's bindings with it. As she rubbed at the chair back, Gosalyn felt the rope loosen.

Counting to five, Gosalyn glanced around to double-check the other villains' locations. Throwing her head back, she swung the chair into Ammonia's face, stunning her, while she wriggled furiously. She slipped out of the rope and used the pendulum action of the chair to swing onto the platform, landing a kick in the hen's gut for good measure.

Running down the stairs, she wasn't surprised when she met up with Liquidator. As he grabbed for her, she jumped onto the hand rail. She started to slide down, but she saw Megavolt coming up the stairs and Quackerjack reaching into his toy bag.

Changing her mind, Gosalyn climbed back up and scrambled on top of Ammonia, covering her eyes with her red bandana. Ammonia cried out and groped for the girl, but Gosalyn dodged her flailing hands, taking advantage of Ammonia's struggles to avoid both Liquidator' and Megavolt's attempts to recapture her. They couldn't strike without risking Ammonia.

However Quackerjack had no such inhibitions. He gladly set his teeth after both females, laughing with delight when Ammonia yelped in pain. Gosalyn kicked the teeth away. Ammonia got her bandanna out of her eyes and grabbed one of the toys in her broad palm. Scowling fiercely, she stuffed her dust rag in its hinges and threw the windup toy back at its inventor.

Quackerjack giggled all the more merrily and used a collapsible baseball bat he drew from somewhere on his person to knock the toy into the vat of cleaner. It sizzled and crackled as it slowly dissolved and Gosalyn grimaced, her attention diverted. Ammonia grabbed her ankles.

"Gotcha now, Squirt! Got any more bright ideas?"

"Um, not exactly…" Gosalyn admitted as Megavolt and Liquidator reached the top steps. Seeing that they were standing close together, Gosalyn vaguely recalled what happens when the two cross paths. Ammonia bent down to let Megavolt pull Gosalyn off her shoulders and Gosalyn acted.

Yanking off a sneaker, she yelled "Hey Megavolt, catch!"

"Huh?" he asked before fumbling to catch the tumbling shoe.

As he subconsciously stepped back, he missed a step and fell backwards, right into Liquidator. Both villains shrieked and fell the rest of the way.

Caught off balance, Ammonia flailed to steady herself, loosening her grip. Gosalyn slugged her and stood up on her shoulders, using her height to scramble for a window. Taking off her other shoe, she swung it by the laces into the glass and turned her face away from the falling fragments.

She didn't stop to think that maybe there was a reason the glass had broken so easily under the soft rubber. As she crawled through, she found herself teetering over a steep fall with no ledge to hold onto and no way up or down. Yelping, she backed up and was snatched by a toy helicopter with a robotic arm. She was brought, protesting, back into the villains' reach.

"Why you! You're gonna regret this!" Gosalyn spouted, hoping she sounder braver than she felt.

"Oh, and who's going to make me?" Quackerjack smiled calmly at her.

"I AM!" A familiar voice boomed, bouncing off the walls. The warehouse doors swung open and a caped figure stepped into view.

"Well, it's about time you showed up!" Quackerjack grinned, moving the helicopter over the vat. "We were getting bored. Now the fun can really begin."

Darkwing blanched. Forgetting his usual speech, he stepped inside, holding his hands up.

"Easy there, Quackers. Don't do anything rash, okay? Just release the girl and…"

"If you insist!" Quackerjack laughed in a singsong voice, dipping the chopper lower over the vat. Gosalyn yelped as her sock brushed against the liquid.

"Maybe I should rephrase that…" Darkwing said.

"Is heroism overrated? Are you feeling outnumbered, outgunned, outwitted? Perhaps it's time for "Make A Deal" with your friendly host, the Liquidator!" Licky announced after he pulled himself and Megavolt upright from their shocking tumble. "And here's your competition: the new, improved Fearsome Four!"

Ammonia held up her suds gun and Megavolt, unsteadily, plugged his gun into a power outlet after making sure it was dry.

Darkwing backed away. Liquidator slammed the doors shut behind him, startling him. Darkwing looked back at Quackerjack and the remote in his hand. Quackerjack smirked and hovered his finger threateningly over the release button.

"One wrong step, and the girl gets it."

Darkwing held up his hands.

"Now now, Fellas…and, Miss Pine…No need for theatrics. It's just little old me; no backup, no arsenal of endless supplies. We can talk this through like adults…No hard feelings, huh?"

"Wrong!" Licky exclaimed, making his fist a mallet and whacking Darkwing's head. The duck pitched face down without a sound. The villains hovered around him curiously.

"Gee, that wasn't very fun…" Megavolt muttered. "I didn't even get to zap him."

"What can I say? Everyone "falls" head over heels for me…" Licky pretended to be flattered.

"Yeah but normally it takes more than one hit to knock him out..." Megavolt said thoughtfully.

"Who cares?" Ammonia butted in, slinging the crime fighter over her shoulder. "At least he won't get in the way. What do we do with ol' Dripface now? Throw him in the vat?"

Quackerjack glanced up at Gosalyn and grinned. "No. Bath time can wait. Now that we have the city's so-called guardian, I think it's time we show our cards to Mayor Minya."

Meanwhile, just outside the warehouse, Launchpad was listening in with a specialized stethoscope DW had given him. He'd planned on going in there with DW, but hearing Gos threatened had changed DW's mind. He'd ordered Launchpad to wait for him in case he needed a quick getaway, or get help if he failed.

Naturally, Launchpad had objected to being left out, especially since DW was hurt. Darkwing had originally asked LP to circle around and barge in to provide a distraction. That plan went out the window once the Fearsome grabbed DW. Now that it was obvious DW needed serious help, Launchpad hurried back to the Ratcatcher. He could contact S.H.U.S.H. and the police on the radio and stay close to keep an eye on things. He wasn't sure what to do, but maybe he could take a few pointers from DW and improvise. He had the onboard computer dial a phone number.

"Hello, Launchpad," Honker replied as he took the phone from his mom.

"Hey Little Buddy!" Launchpad started right away. "Listen, DW and Gos are in a jam right now with members of the Fearsome Four and Ammonia Pine. From what I gather, they're responsible for the problems with the bay. Think you could meet me at the tower in a few minutes?"

"Um, I guess so. What do you need me to do?"

"I dunno, Honkman. Maybe you could figure out something to help with the bay..."

"Well, I could take a sample and use Mr. Mallard's chemistry set. Hold on a sec..." Honker put his hand over the speaker and turned to the other occupant of the kitchen. "Mom? Could I stay with the Mallards tonight? Um, Gosalyn waited until the last minute to start a science project and needs help again..."

Binkie patted her son's head warmly before returning her attention to the carrots she was chopping for dinner.

"Why of course, Dear. You take as long as you need. Just remember to pack your suitcase for our trip to Trudy's before you go. Oh, and ask Launchpad if he'd like me to bring over some of this pot roast later..."

"Um, sure. Launchpad, do you want some of Mom's pot roast...?" Honker reiterated. Launchpad chuckled.

"Heh, heh. You know the answer to that, Little Buddy. I'm always hungry. But something tells me we're not going to be around the house for a while. Better tell her no and that we're going to use the school lab until it closes. I think that excuse worked pretty well last time."

"Um, okay." Honker reiterated Launchpad's explanation to his mom, who simply nodded and added the carrots to the broth on the stove. Honker then promised Launchpad he'd be there soon and hung up.

Launchpad looked at his list of emergency numbers and made a mental check mark beside the Muddlefoots. He'd summoned S.H.U.S.H. and Gizmoduck and he had the other Justice Ducks heading toward the tower, including the fully recovered Neptunia. All it took was a press of a button, and the best law-enforcement in the area would launch an attack on the warehouse in minutes. He glanced back at the warehouse one more time before heading to the bridge.

"Hang in there, DW. Help's on the way," he whispered.

The villains easily tied the dazed duck to a chair and suspended him in Gosalyn's place over the vat. Then they argued over the merits of opening the release valve now versus waiting for Darkwing to wake up so they could taunt him and let him tell the mayor their demands. That is, if any of the villains could agree on what they wanted. Meanwhile, the chemicals were leaking out through multiple drainage pipes into the bay, corroding the metal and plastic in the system along with the water.

Gosalyn was still having trouble making sense of everything. She had uselessly fought back as Quackerjack and Megavolt tied her up with chain instead of rope and hoisted her back up in the air with the toy helicopter. Quackerjack had replaced the batteries and assured her she wouldn't fall from the chopper's built-in pincer for at least a couple hours. Then he laughed and pointed at the unconscious duck and said that if he didn't wake up before the chopper's batteries died, then she might have to worry.

Now she was 30 feet up in the air, watching Liquidator and Megavolt monitor the Pinescrub and glancing repeatedly at the purple-clad duck. She recognized him from the statue at home and the face she'd seen a couple days ago. She knew he was important to her, somehow, but she still had her reservations.

Her nightmares were shouting "criminal" at her, whereas her instincts were saying the flashy duck was some sort of hero. She needed to hear his voice. That's what it boiled down to. Her audio memory was keener than her visual one. If she heard him say more, she might figure out why this "Darkwing Duck " fella was even more familiar to her than her own name. If he would just wake up!

Gosalyn had lost her sneakers after her initial usage of them, so she had nothing to throw at Darkwing. If she yelled, the villains might gag her or worse. Too bad she couldn't steer this toy helicopter over to him. Only Quackerjack had a remote and it was sitting on the desk, ignored.

Gosalyn wiggled restlessly. Her sides and arms hurt from being pinched and suspended for so long. To her surprise, the chopper bobbed with her movements. She shrugged her right hip and shoulder together sideways. The chopper swayed along. Gosalyn smiled determinedly.

Darkwing stirred. Someone must have turned on a fan nearby. The noise and air currents were getting louder and stronger by the second. Now that irritating breeze was threatening to blow his hat off. He squinted down and up and jumped when he saw her.

"Gosalyn! What do you think you're doing?"

Her face lit up with a broad smile. "It's You!"

"Well of course it's me, I'm...wait, you recognize me!" Darkwing's own face brightened.

Gosalyn beamed. "Oh Da...I mean, uh... Darkwing! I'm so glad you're here! When Launchpad said you were hurt, I about lost it! And now we're together and you'll think of something to get us out of here and everything's going to be fine again..." Her happy smile melted into a worried frown. "Isn't it?"

"Well of course it will! Since when has Darkwing Duck failed on the job..."

Seeing her pointed glance at his black eye and the bit of cast protruding from his sleeve, Darkwing sighed before meeting her eyes again.

"I don't know, Kiddo. I've been in some pretty rough spots before, but right now I'm afraid my options are limited. Normally I'd use my knowledge of ancient Carpathian bone dislocation and slip right out of this hangup, but I'm a little stiff right now. Everything hangs on the backup LP should have called in by now."

Quackerjack looked up and made a delighted sound. "You're awake! And what a nice little reunion we have here! Too bad you weren't invited!"

Picking up the remote, Quackerjack wheeled Gosalyn away from her hero down to a chair Megavolt vacated and dropped her onto it. Liquidator quickly fastened several loops of chain and combination locks to her bindings, keeping her well within reach of the villains.

Darkwing watched anxiously, sweat dripping off his face.

Liquidator pulled himself up on top of the vat to peer into Darkwing's frightened eyes. Darkwing steeled himself and glared back.

"Whatever you want from me, you can have it. Just let the girl go!"

"Surveys show nine out of ten hostage situations end badly for villains who release their trump cards," Licky replied.

"I'm serious!" Darkwing protested. "You've already got me! What more do you want?"

Licky held up a finger. "The million dollar question! And the answer is...everything."

Darkwing grimaced.

Liquidator continued. "Luxurious accommodations, free cable, free internet, personal chef, indoor pool, an expensive yacht, a cruise liner, and free flowing cash! All of which I intend to gather, with or without your pitiful attempts at bargaining. I saved the girl's life and I will to decide what to do with it next..."

Darkwing stammered, his eyes growing wide with fear. "Bbbbut she's my...I mean someone's daughter! She means the whole world to someone..."

"Ah! A brilliant idea! Why didn't I think of it before? A ransom note to the parents! And all this time I thought your intelligence was simply exaggerated..." Licky leered before preparing to return to his companions.

"Wait a minute! She's an orphan! You can't ransom her, there's no one to pay!"

Licky paused. Rearing up until their noses touched, Licky glared down at him. "Just how do YOU know so much about this kid? What is she to you?"

Darkwing pulled his head away, glancing down at his precious charge.

Liquidator read the worried look correctly. "Ah yes! Now I remember! You told me earlier... Come to think of it, it makes perfect sense! She's almost always with you, and I remember Negaduck and the media mentioning a mini caped crusader. Quiverwing Quack, wasn't it?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "Of course, this makes our revenge all the sweeter, taking out two superheroes instead of just one..."

The spark returned to Darkwing's eye. "Oh no you don't! You will not get away with shortening a child's life span! Even if I fail, some one will rise to take my place! No matter where you go or who you pay off, some one will be watching your back and when you least expect it, it'll be curtains time!"

"What do you mean "If"?" Licky smirked. "You've already failed in my book, Duck!"

"Don't count me out just yet, Drippy!"

Rubbing his left wrist against the chains, Darkwing loosened his remaining acid cufflink and swung the chair at Licky, flicking the pellet at him. The Liquidator yelped as the pellet sliced through him, landing on a spare computer tower below. Though slightly diluted by its contact with water, the acid ate through the electronics to the floor below. Megavolt tried to rescue the doomed appliance, while Ammonia tried combating the chemical burns.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Darkwing inhaled and exhaled hard, squeezing out of his bindings and grabbing the chain before he fell. He searched his pockets for his weapon and looked down when he turned up empty-handed. His gas gun was laying on a table near Gosalyn. No problem.

Throwing several smoke bombs between the villains and another by Gosalyn, Darkwing swung himself over to the staircase the same as Gosalyn had done earlier and slid down the handrail, reaching Gosalyn, and his gun, before the smoke cleared. He easily picked the locks on the chains holding her and bustled her toward the door. Launchpad should hear the commotion and barge in any second...

Something splashed the floor in front of the ducks. Darkwing lifted Gosalyn just in time to avoid a dousing as Ammonia, Quackerjack, and Megavolt held up their modified paint guns, Pinescrub dripping from Ammonia's weapon.

"Time to call in your debt, Darkwing Duck!" Licky slithered closer. Darkwing set Gosalyn down and shielded her with his body.

"Fine. Just as long as you leave the kid out of it."

"Oh, but that wasn't part of the deal. You did say "anything.""

Licky puddled and reappeared right behind Gosalyn. She kicked out, but her foot went through him. He grinned. Darkwing scooped her up and turned his shoulder to the villain.

"Anything I could do. You didn't include anyone else," Darkwing snapped.

"True, but you know me! I drive a hard bargain!" Licky replied.

The Liquidator surrounded them both with a curtain of water. Megavolt stepped up to the cascade with a grin and aimed his electric gun at the cornered pair. Any wrong move, and both ducks would be electrocuted.

Darkwing sighed, setting Gosalyn down in front of him, his hands resting protectively on her shoulders.

"I've got another offer. One all of you guys will appreciate, but in exchange you have to free the girl."

"We don't have to do anything when we hold all the cards. But go ahead and make your offer..." Licky said with a hint of sarcasm.

Puffing up his chest, Darkwing put on an arrogant expression. "I've got all you need right here to make your looting dreams come true."

"Oh yeah? What?" the villain asked skeptically.

Darkwing forced a proud smile. "Me. I've broken into and hacked hundreds of secure facilities. Plus I've been inside every vault in this city, including the Federal Gold Reserve."

"Big deal." Liquidator waved dismissively. "So have we..."

Unperturbed, Darkwing continued softly, holding his hands over Gosalyn's ear slits. "With my firsthand knowledge, and my ingenious arsenal of tools and tricks, I'm on the same par as a professional thief. A perfect equivalent to Negaduck, remember?"

"Hmmm." Liquidator blocked the other villains with an outer ring of water as he thought over the offer. "Are you proposing to be our teammate?"

"Yes. Only I won't threaten you with chainsaws and flamethrowers every time you turn around."

"What an intriguing idea... Gain Negaduck's prowess and ingenuity, without his temper or scheming... Alright, Darkwing. We'll give you a chance to prove yourself. But you'll have to earn the girl's freedom first."

The water poured back into Liquidator and the path to the door was temporarily clear. Just the opening Darkwing was looking for. Pulling Gosalyn close, he gave the villains his best heartbroken face.

"Just give me a chance to say goodbye..."

Quackerjack started to protest, but Licky held up a hand to silence him.

"Alright, but no funny stuff."

Hugging Gosalyn close, Darkwing spoke softly.

"I'm sorry, Gos. I'd never do anything to get you hurt. Please forgive me..."

"Forgive you! For what? Failing to rescue me or giving yourself up?" she retorted stubbornly.

Darkwing smiled. "Good to have you back, Kiddo." (suggestionfromMaskedMaiden.)

Gosalyn looked like she was going to say something hot-headed, but her lip started quivering and she lost her mask of anger. "Oh Dad! I just found you again! I can't lose you now..."

"I love you too, Sweetie." He whispered, hugging her closer. Pressing his bill against her head in a kiss, he turned deadly serious. "Run."

"What...?" she pushed back against him to look him in the eye. He continued.

"Get as far away as you can. Don't look back. Don't come looking for me. Just go. Now!"

Enveloping her with his cape, Darkwing fired his gas gun at the villains and ran toward them. Gosalyn tried to hold onto his hand, but it slipped from her fingers as he started dodging Pinescrub, water, and electricity. Getting in the clear, he glanced back at her, his eyes desperate. Run, he mouthed, right before launching into his trademark double flip web kick.

Eyes tearing, Gosalyn did run.

She flew out the door, crying at the top of her lungs. "Help! Someone, help! Call the police! Call the National Guard! Call Anybody! Darkwing Duck's been captured by the Fearsome Five...err, Three!"

To her amazement, Gosalyn got an instant reply. Or rather, two, from some very familiar faces just outside the warehouse door.

"GOSALYN!"

"Launchpad! Honker!" Gosalyn rushed up to the Ratcatcher, unsure whether she wanted to hug them or demand some action on Darkwing's behalf first. "How did you find me?"

"We're following Mr. Darkwing's tracking signal." Honker explained. "We found a solution to the water problem, so we called the EPA and Coast Guard to help. It's not a perfect solution, but it's as good as we're going to get. We need to find Mr. Bushroot and have him pull back all the plants so they can finish filtering the water when it's brought back."

"Brought back...? Never mind." Gosalyn shook her head. "You said you're tracking Dad, and that's great news because he's fighting the Fearsome Three right now! We have to help!"

"No problem'o!" Launchpad waved his hand dismissively. "I've got the Justice Ducks standing by at the aquarium to offer assistance and Gizmoduck and S.H.U.S.H are on the way here!" Launchpad said.

"Then I say, let's get Dangerous!" Gosalyn rubbed her hands together.

Launchpad and Honker grinned and drove the reinforced motorcycle right through the doors.
They found Darkwing standing on top of a flattened Quackerjack, fencing Ammonia with broom and mop while Liquidator and Megavolt sat nearby, dizzily rubbing their heads. The two villains screamed as the Ratcatcher bore down on them and scrambled to get out of the way. Liquidator then puddled under the wheels, causing Launchpad to lose control and skid across the room.

Ammonia shoved Darkwing in the bike's path and he jumped over it, landing in a crouch. He found himself face-to-face with Quackerjack. Fuming, the jester flung himself on the Masked Mallard, wrestling him to the ground. Gosalyn came up behind him and beaned Quackerjack with a spray can.

"Nice hit, Slugger," Darkwing grinned as he got to his feet.

"Naturally," she smiled smugly.

Everything might have ended there with Darkwing's team triumphant, but things got messy. Just as Honker and Launchpad finished collecting the spray guns from the floor and Darkwing got all four villains in a huddle, a hole was blown through the opposite side of the warehouse.

"There's no need to fear, GIZMODUCK is here!" the unicycle tank announced as he drove through the hole he'd blasted into the building.

"Oh great, the comedy relief showed up..." Darkwing rolled his eyes. Gosalyn chuckled. She remembered her dad's rivalry with the other superhero.

"Alright, buzz off, Giz. I've got everything under control and I don't need your help," Darkwing huffed.

"But Launchpad said..." Gizmoduck was interrupted as two dozen armed S.H.U.S.H agents rushed in from the doorway opposite of Giz and the other heroes.

"Agent Pine and accomplices," Grizlikof announced over a loud speaker, not noticing that the villains were already unarmed. "Surrender immediately and lift your hands up or ve vill start firing!"

"Accomplices!" Quackerjack sputtered. "I'll show you accomplices!"

Getting up off the floor, he threw a handful of his chattering teeth at the agents and used a pogo stick to bounce over Ammonia's head to the computer monitor. Darkwing prepared to stop him, but Gizmo got in his way, extending a robotic arm to nab the villain. With nobody paying attention to him, Megavolt picked up the extension cord for his still-charged gun and raised it to cover Darkwing's team.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I get to practice my aim after all!" Megavolt cackled.

Launchpad and Honker ran for cover. Gizmoduck, forgetting Quackerjack entirely, wheeled over to point a warning finger at the rat.

"Desist, evil villain, for I, Gizmoduck, am here by charged with your arrest by any means possible, so don't make me use force!"

"Gizmoduck! Look out!" Gosalyn warned.

Gizmoduck narrowly avoided a squirt of Pinescrub from Ammonia's spray gun and ran smack into Darkwing. Quackerjack laughed and pressed the button, releasing the Pinescrub.

"Oh no! Quick, Honk, do something!" Gosalyn exclaimed as she dove for the other spray gun, barely in time to snatch it from Liquidator's fingers.

"I can't!" Honker protested. "Even with a vacuum I can't pull the chemicals back into the vat! I'm going back to the Ratcatcher to start Plan B!"

"What's Plan B...? Aagh!" Gosalyn yelped as Liquidator swooshed down on top of her, knocking the gun out of her grasp and scooping her up. "Put me down! You're gonna regret this!"

"Oh I doubt that. I believe your dear old "Dad" is the one who's going to regret going back on his word!" Licky grinned, aiming the spray gun at his captive. She gulped and stayed still.

Licky rushed to the exit Gizmoduck had conveniently made. Darkwing saw this from where he lay pinned under Gizmoduck's chest and went into a scrambling frenzy.

"Get off of me, you overgrown trash compacter! We've got to save Gosalyn!" Darkwing snapped.

"Have no fear, Wingy," Giz said calmly as he pushed himself upright and lifted Darkwing by his cape. "I'll get those crooks back in jail in no time... Wait, did you say Gosalyn?" Gizmoduck's deep voice gave way to surprise. Darkwing pointed in answer.

While the S.H.U.S.H agents were dealing with Quackerjack's mini army, Liquidator was just slipping out of sight, Gosalyn in tow. Megavolt followed. Quackerjack bounced out of Grizlikof's reach and followed his companions. The agents had Ammonia surrounded, but she wasn't going down without a fight.

"They're getting away!" Darkwing yelled.

"Say no more, Wingy, we'll get her back, and bring those fiends to justice or my name isn't GIZMODUCK!" Giz swung Darkwing onto his shoulders and followed the villains.

Darkwing rolled his eyes as he held on to the helmet for balance. "Yeah. I think everyone knows your name by now, Giz."

"Whoops, sorry. Force of habit," Giz chuckled, blushing.

As they zoomed across the bridge, swerving around heavy traffic trying to leave the city, Darkwing looked back at the warehouse.

"By the way, where is Launchpad?"

Without taking his eyes off the targets, Gizmoduck replied. "I'm not sure, but he has Neptunia, Stegmutt, and Morgana standing by at the aquarium, with the EPA."

Darkwing squawked. "The aquarium! How could that be more important than Gosalyn?"

Meanwhile, Launchpad was taking Honker to the aquarium. Honker had remembered watching a documentary on a couple whales being reintroduced into the wild, so he had Launchpad contact the aquarium and ask if they still had the spare holding tanks. With that affirmed, Honker suggested airlifting fire buckets of water from the bay to the aquarium to be run through the high-tech filters and mixed with clean water. If enough chemicals were filtered out, the clean water could be returned to the bay and dilute whatever chemicals remained. It wasn't a perfect solution, but with Morgana's magic and Neptunia's command of sea sponges, they hoped it would be enough.

Despite his best efforts, Gizmoduck couldn't keep Liquidator in sight. Darkwing split off from him to tackle Megavolt while Giz continued to follow the watery mutant, but Licky was able to drag Gosalyn into smaller spaces than the Gizmosuit could fit. By the time Gizmo doubled back to switch places with Darkwing, Liquidator had vanished.

When Darkwing turned his attention to his comrade at arms, Megavolt ducked out of sight.

Gizmoduck stopped to catch his breath. "Phew! Boy, I thought the Beagle boys were slippery! How do you go up against these foes time and again, Wingy?"

Darkwing puffed up a little, taking that as a compliment to his stamina. "By using their weaknesses against them."

"And what are those, exactly?" Gizmo used a robotic fan to cool himself off while Darkwing got back on the villains' trail.

Darkwing didn't bother to look up as he answered. "Megavolt and Liquidator are each other's weakness, so I take every opportunity I can to get them to run into each other. Quackerjack is a hard nut to crack, as he always has an extra toy on hand, but by outmaneuvering and outwitting him, I can usually get him to slip up. Just make sure you don't give him any new ideas..."

"And how do I do that?"

"Never mind! We just need to find them and get Gos back. Now," Darkwing produced his magnifier and bent to examine the road. "Using this, my trained eye will lead us right to them. Ah hah! Observe the beads of water leading straight to this runoff ditch. Obviously Liquidator has gone underground to meet with the others at a prearranged place."

"Um, how did he get a duckling through there?" Gizmoduck leaned down to look. Darkwing furrowed his brow.

"Of course, he wanted me to think he'd gone underground as usual." Following a different trail, Darkwing moved toward a street corner. "What he really did was veer off the street, here..." he paused, momentarily silenced by what he'd discovered. A strand of fiery hair. Forcing himself not to dwell on the possible implications, Darkwing moved on briskly. He found more wet spots and beads of water and eagerly pursued them.

"And, voilà!" Darkwing stopped in front of a brick wall and held up his hand triumphantly. "A readymade exit."

Gizmoduck frowned as he looked between the brick and the mallard. "Um, not to seem rude or anything, Darkwing, but maybe you should consider getting your eyes checked. That is an immovable object..."

Darkwing crossed his arms in a cocky stance.

"Oh no? Observe..." Pressing his hand on a brick he had observed was damp, he waited expectantly. Nothing happened. Darkwing pushed harder. Still nothing. "Stupid piece of junk! Move already!" he shouted at the brick.

Gizmo held up his hands. "Now, now, Wingy, let's just go back to the last place I saw them and start over."

Not one to give up easily, Darkwing dug his fingertips into the grout and pulled. To both heroes' surprise, the brick slid out of its slot, revealing a red and green button. Darkwing and Giz exchanged glances and Darkwing pressed the green one. A panel of bricks receded into a hidden doorway.

"Ah ha!" Darkwing exclaimed triumphantly. "Darkwing Duck succeeds again! Was there any doubt?" Glancing back at Giz, he scowled and quickly added. "Don't answer that..." Ignoring him, Giz zoomed toward the entry well. Darkwing gasped and waved his hands helplessly at the armored duck. "No, wait! Your suit is too..." Gizmoduck yelped as his broad shoulders got thoroughly stuck. "Wide..." Darkwing finished, rubbing his face irritably.

"Don't worry...this is just a minor miscalculation..." Giz said as he wriggled around, trying to dislodge the suit. "Hmm, that isn't helping. My cannon should do the trickI!"

"Oh no you don't!" Darkwing squeezed around Gizmo's tire to face him. "You'll give away our location! I'm not going to lose Gosalyn to your "miscalculation"! Not to mention, a blast would threaten the building's stability!"

"Oopsie," Giz grinned sheepishly. He hadn't thought of that.

Darkwing drew out his gas gun and started walking away. "I'll go head them off. You stay right here and make sure nobody gets away!"

"But..." Giz held up his hands pleadingly.

"No buts! I won't risk Gosalyn!" With a swirl of his cape, Darkwing disappeared in the semidarkness of the dimly illumined stairwell.

"Oh, Blatherin' Blatherskite!" Giz cursed.

The suit fell off, and a short duck in a colorful pastel business suit fell to the ground. Tugging on the still-lodged shoulder panels, Fenton Crackshell finally got his Gizmoduck suit loose. Gathering all the pieces, he moved into the stairwell and looked around surreptitiously before uttering the code word again. The suit reassembled on him and the towering superhero smiled, even as he was forced to duck from the low ceiling.

"It'll take more than a technicality to sideline this superhero! I'm coming, Darkwing, whether you like it or not!" he exclaimed.