Ch.14: Mayhem On Mars
Plucky Duck the 3rd armed himself in his assassin gear as he got ready for another murder attempt on the Queen of Mars. Just as the green duck finished strapping on his gauntlets, a sinister voice cut through the air.
"Ah, going on a little hunting trip are we?"
"Darkstar" said Plucky, as the black duck stepped in with his new goons, Pinkster and Electro " back for blood?"
"Precisely" said Darkstar with a grin " Rasvim thinks this trip will benefit us both, since Duck Dodgers evaporated onto Martian surface."
"Duck Dodgers?" said Plucky, stunned at the familiar name " What? So the rumors about him being alive were true?"
"Yes" said Darkstar " and apparently he has a descendant that I shall also crush in my palm."
Plucky knew instantly that the descendant Darkstar was talking about was Danger Duck, the same duck he had nearly killed back on Planet Blanc, and again found himself lost in the thoughts of ending a famous toon line.
Quickly shaking the morbid pictures out of his head, Plucky finished putting on his gear, and joined Darkstar and the others aboard one of Rasvim's ships. Today the bargain would be fulfilled, and the secrets of the Star Child would be putty in Rasvim's hands.
Hours later, the villain's ship plunged through the deep red Martian atmosphere, gliding its way towards the palace where a faint light could be seen shining from one of its towers.
"There's the signal," said Plucky, and started to command the ship to land down.
Hovering in the shadow of a mountain, the ship settled, allowing its deadly cargo to unload on land.
"Alright Darkstar" said Plucky " you and me sneak in. Electro, Pinkster, guard against any interference."
"Got it," said Pinkster, as he and Electro ran off to cause a distraction near the main entrance.
Darkstar and Plucky headed over to the tower where the signal light from earlier shined. The door to the tower stood guarded when they arrived, two Centurians ready for a fight. Darkstar drew out his gun, ready to shoot the two robots down, when Plucky suddenly grabbed his arm and shushed the black duck to wait.
Seconds later, the thrill of alarms and gunfire exploded from the main entrance. Both Centurians guarding the tower suddenly jumped in shock, before floating off for the blasts ready to fight.
The way cleared, Plucky and Darkstar broke in through the entrance and entered the palace's main halls. With a nod, the two ducks split up, set to achieve their separate tasks.
Darkstar was on his way to eliminate Dodgers when the sudden appearance of Ace and Lexi halted his plans.
"Danger come on!" yelled Lexi, waving at Darkstar.
"What's going on?" asked Darkstar innocently.
"Can't you hear the alarms?" said Ace " The palace is under attack! Now get a move on Duck, we have to save the Queen."
"Hmm" thought Darkstar to himself as the rabbits sprinted away " This could prove interesting,"
And without another argument, the evil duck chased after Ace and Lex.
Meanwhile, still struggling inside the force bubble Melvin had trapped him in, the real Danger Duck was fighting to break out. His punches did little good to burst through the bubble, and his breathing grew labored by his numerous attempts to quack outside.
Finally, after a full hour of trying to get free, Danger Duck slumped down in defeat. He would never get out of here to warn his friends. Queen Tyra'nee was going to die with Duck Dodgers following after.
"So much for Mars," Duck thought to himself, ready to close his blue eyes for sleep.
However, before Duck could even think of hopping a Z's, a familiar, playful growl came bounding up the hall, and Danger let out a huge sigh of relief seeing Kim stumble into the room, her white tail swishing excitedly in the air.
"Kim!" shouted Danger to the white wolf, not knowing if she would understand " Get me out of this thing!"
Kim tilted her head a little in response, then suddenly growled and pounced with her claws. Sharp points digging in, the bubble burst around Danger, and the black duck was free.
Instantly the mallard scooped up Kim in his arms, and enjoyed the grateful licks.
"Come on kid" said Duck suddenly becoming serious " we got an assassin to stop."
And with that said, Kim and Duck quacked away.
Meanwhile, in the chaos of the castle courtyard, the tide of battle was turning to the worst. Shots blasted throughout the courtyard as Martian soldiers battled against the combined might of Electro and Pinkster.
Pinkster was a total maniac with his gun and fired fiercely from left to right, while Electro seemed to an unstoppable force in his armored battle suit, packed with all of hunting gear. Ace immediately set to work on where he should position his team.
"Duck, Lexi, take down Fudd!" shouted the rabbit " I got Pinkster. When the others arrive we'll send these jokers home."
"Roger Ace," said Lexi, as she and Darkstar ran towards Fudd.
Upon confronting the hunter, Lexi fired out her brain blasts, only to succeed in causing little damage to Electro's suit.
"Anytime Duck," Lexi called to Darkstar.
"As you wish," said Darkstar, and struck a mean blow at Lexi.
The poor, pink rabbit didn't know what hit her, as her eyes suddenly blacked out, and she collided with the ground. A glowing, red net from Electro soon encased her, and the villains standing awake smiled.
Meanwhile, a few minutes before Darkstar found himself working side by side with two of the Loonatics, Plucky had sneaked his way into the throne room to take out the Martian Queen. The room was dark when the green duck entered, but the lights flickered on fast.
"We would knew you'd try to harm the Queen," said Tech standing nearby with Rev and Slam, close to the royals, with a small army of Centurians ready for combat.
"Nice move" said Plucky, smiling up at the coyote " but I'm not the one you should fear."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Rev.
With that said, the Centurains who looked so eager to help protect the Queen before, now turned on their masters, pointing their guns straight towards the royals and the Loonatics. Queen Tyra'nee and King Marvin were terrified.
"Centurains!" shouted King Marvin, looking for an explanation " Explain this injustice at once!"
"How about I explain it Dad?" said Melvin, calmly strolling past the line of fire "After all the least you and Mom need to understand is how truly I deserve to be King."
"Melvin" said Queen Trya'nee shocked " you plotted all of this?"
"Almost all" said Melvin " I had a little help from a former commander of yours, a mister Z-9,"
"Z-9!" growled King Marvin " That traitor still plots to kill my queen. But son, why would you do this?"
"For the crown Dad, what else?" said Melvin " I'll be a better leader than you and mom ever were,"
"And just as deranged!" shouted a voice from one of the upper windows of the room.
Glancing up, the whole crowd gasped to see Duck Dodgers standing tall, with an ACME laser pistol in hand. In an instant, four of the Centurains pointing their lasers at the King and Queen were destroyed, opening the chance for counterstrike.
Tech, Rev, and Slam immediately set to work, taking down the rest of their bots in their way, while Plucky focused his eyes back on Dodgers. This was going to be a good fight.
Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard, Ace was having a little one on one with Duck's ex-friend. Pinkster wasted no hesitation on pulling the trigger on Ace, as the rabbit swiftly dodged using the martial arts skills he had learned over the years.
Jumping high, Ace focused his laser vision and blasted Pinkster's pistol right out of his hands. Pinkster grunted at the sharp pain, and faced Ace with his deadliest glare.
"I can see why Duck runs with you," scoffed Pinkster, with a frown.
"Jealous Porkster?" said Ace " You know, maybe if you had stayed our friend, things wouldn't have come down to this."
"Maybe" said Pinkster, pulling out a knife " but where's the fun in friendship?"
"You tell me," said Darkstar, suddenly appearing behind the swine.
Before Pinkster could even react, the black duck rocketed his arm and punched him out cold. Ace was stunned by the action at first, and then he smiled.
"Nice work Duck" said Ace " now let's tie him up and get to the Queen."
"Yes" said Darkstar " we wouldn't want to keep the royal party waiting."
Back in the throne room, Daffy was relishing in the spotlight as he resumed his Duck Dodgers role. Part of him had missed beating up the bad guys after all these years.
Taking shot after shot with the ACME pistol he had recovered in the Martian armory, Daffy blasted through all the Centurions with the help of Tech and the rest of his crew, facing Plucky with a smug grin.
"Not bad for an old timer eh?"
"Duck Dodgers" said Plucky, his mask disguising his voice " I've followed your career. You've done well to honor Daffy's name. To bad we must face each other as enemies."
"Save the chat" said Daffy " let's rumble,"
"We have to help Dodgers," said Tech, looking at the two ducks engage in a fight.
"Not so fast Loonatics" said Melvin, who had gotten separated from the group during the fight " You may have destroyed a few Centurains, but there's plenty more where those came from. Sick 'em K-9!"
With that said, Melvin's robotic, green dog suddenly charged leading another group of Centurains to attack the palace. King Marvin and his wife ducked for cover, in effort to avoid all the incoming beams.
"My love, we must get out of here," said Marvin.
"But where shall we go?" asked Tyra'nee.
"I can help with that," said Danger Duck, suddenly appearing behind the duo and quacked them out of sight.
Just as Duck teleported out with the King and Queen in hand, Ace arrived with Darkstar by his side. Still thinking that the evil fowl was Duck, Ace encouraged Darkstar to jump in on the action as he started helping his friends with laser blasts.
Darkstar just stood there quietly as Ace went on to join the forces, observing the scene in every detail. Most of the Loonatics had their attentions occupied trying to keep Melvin's robotic army at bay. Danger Duck appeared a few seconds later, wondering where he should help in the fight. And Plucky was dueling with Duck Dodgers.
"Dodgers?" thought Darkstar in his mind, and he knew exactly where he should lend a hand.
After reappearing, Danger Duck stopped for a moment to catch, and noticed that he was near the fight where Duck Dodgers and the assassin were in full out war. Being frozen for hundreds of years did nothing to depress Dodgers skills, as he swiftly countered the enemy attacks, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
"Time to go down punk!" said Dodgers, putting a knee to his opponent's chest as the assassin fell down on the floor.
The assassin's helmet came off, and when his true identity was revealed to Dodger's, the black duck stopped, stunned at the resemblance. But before the hero could even comment on the strangeness of this situation, a click of a pistol caught his ear, and he turned to see Darkstar.
Danger saw the pistol in Darkstar's hand as well, and immediately quacked himself over to Dodger's as the trigger was pulled. Almost as if in slow motion, Daffy was pushed out of the line of fire, and Danger reappeared from his quack.
The bullet sunk into Danger's side, and the ACME hero collapsed on the floor.
"One down" said Darkstar, ignoring the surprised looks on Daffy and Plucky, pointing his laser to where the other Loonatics stood " and four to…Gah!"
Kim suddenly appeared out of nowhere and chomped on Darkstar's leg, fury bubbling in her eyes. Her white fur seemed to glow as her rage increased. This dirty duck had just shot one of her best friends, and now he was going to pay.
"Yes" said Ace, as Slam blew down the rest of the robots, and Rev snagged a cornered Melvin " that takes care of the mad prince's reign."
"What happened to the King and Queen?" asked Tech " I lost sight of them during the battle."
"You also lost sight of someone else" called out Electro's voice from ontop of the balcony " Do you remember this?"
With that said, the Loonatics looked up, and Ace's eyes narrowed seeing Lexi dangling unconscious in a net. The look on Fudd's face was pure evil as he suffered the heroes glares.
"Now we can make them tell where the Star Child is," thought Electro, but before he could even begin the bargain, an explosion was heard, and suddenly Darkstar's voice entered through his com-link.
"Forget the plan! I found the prize! Let's go!"
"Aw," thought Fudd in his mind, and threw Lexi down, before dashing off to meet Darkstar at the ship.
Though confused at the suddenness of the villain's retreat, Ace's first concern was check on Lexi, before going after Fudd. The pink rabbit seemed okay, other than suffering major bruising from the beat down she had earlier. The sound of ship engines blasted off in the distance, and Ace knew it was to late to pursue.
Later, the King and Queen reentered the shattered throne room to survey the damage from the fight. With Slam off carrying Lexi to the medical ward, and Melvin being placed in chains by Tech, Ace was confident that any plans to assassinate the Queen were drowned in the fight.
The hearts of the King and Queen were relieved by that truth, but the peace only lasted for brief second before it was interrupted by a terrible shout.
"Hurry, he's dying!"
And that's when they all noticed, the bodies of bleeding ducks lying on the floor.