Light filled the dark void once again, revealing Quackerjack, who was laying in the fetal position. His outfit was covered in rips and tears, slightly revealing his arms, which were also cut and bleeding, and there was one long cut on the side of his head. Once the light had come on, he cautiously lifted his head up, staring at his surroundings with wide eyes.

"If you try anything like that again, I can assure you the light WON'T come back..." Paddywhack growled from somewhere in the shadows. Quackerjack trembled as he sat up, searching the darkness wearily for any sign of the demented spirit.

"Understaaand?" The spirit hissed, his voice edging on a snarl. Quackerjack was quick to nod, keeping an eye on the edge of the light to make sure it stayed put.

"Goood...I think we've played enough for the day. You just sit there and behave, and maaaybee I'll let have your little friend back for a while..."

Everything fell silent again, leaving Quackerjack alone in his thoughts. He winced as the sting of the cuts hit him, and pressed a hand to the one on his head, and pulled it away with a faint trace of blood on his palm. He stared at it for a while as various thoughts flew through his mind.

He'd seen Paddywhack angry before, when Quackerjack had teamed up with Darkwing in order to escape this weird world. When the toy maker had refused to continue the ill-fated chess game, the spirit had also been angry.

But this...this hadn't been just angry; this had been bloodlust. It was a side of Paddywhack that the jester hadn't seen before.

And a side he never wanted to see again.

:::::::::::::::::::::

Elsewhere...

"St. Canard sure is quiet tonight, huh Lumina?" Megavolt sighed as he leaned on the rail of his lighthouse, holding a lightbulb up as if it could see the city. The sight of all the lights irked Megavolt, but he wasn't in the mood for dealing with a certain caped crime fighter tonight. His precious luminaries would have to hang on a bit longer.

"A little too quiet actually...wasn't there something big going on this week? What was it...I think it had something to do with Quackerjack...hmm..."

Sparks danced on his plug hat as he mused, before the lightbulb suddenly lit up as he snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah, there's a Whiffleboy convention at the mall this week! Quacky invited me to go with him yesterday! Or...was it today? What IS today?" He asked, holding the lightbulb to his ear.

"Wednesday? Okay, thanks- wait, Wednesday?! The convention's gone on for three days straight with no appearences from Quackerjack?!" He exclaimed. That was beyond strange; the duck had been quite adamant about going, and had begged for Megavolt to accompany him. It only took reminding the rat of all the light bulbs he could rescue while Quackerjack had his playtime with the convention goers to persuade Megavolt. With all the time the duo had spent plotting, and taking into account how much Quackerjack detested Whiffleboy, it seemed almost spooky that the duck had suddenly backed out now.

"Even if I forgot, he'd have shown up and dragged me there the first day...strange..." Megavolt mused as he stroked his chin in thought. He glanced at the bulb again, before shaking his head.

"No, there's no way HE'D forget about the convention; he had it marked on a calendar in big red letters...no I'm pretty sure it was just marker..."

Now that he really thought about it, Megavolt hadn't seen hide nor tail of Quackerjack since their planning session, ad that had been a day before the convention was to start. The duck had announced he wanted to clean up his underground lair for a victory party, and that was the last Megavolt had heard from him.

Perhaps he should go check on the duck; if whatever had happened kept the toy maker from showing up to a convention celebrating his hated enemy, it must be serious.

Megavolt gave a yawn, and stretched as he went inside.

"Eh, I'll go tomorrow; what's the worst that could have happened?"

:::::::::::::::::::

Meanwhile, Megavolt wasn't the only one to notice the absence of the toy maker at Whiffle-Con.

Darkwing Duck was in the tower, wondering about the strangely silent villain's whereabouts as he sat in front of his large computer. He'd only endured three days of it with Gosalyn because he thought the jester would make an attack.

"He'd never pass up a chance to destroy Whiffleboy's products and reputation; what's that disturbingly demented duck up to that it would keep him from Whiffle-Con?" He mused to himself.

"Maybe he got sick DW."

He glanced at his trusty sidekick below, who was playing cards with Gosalyn.

"We both know nothing short of death would stop Quackerjack from sabotaging Whiffleboy. And with a convention as big as this, I would think he'd make it his life goal to go." The superhero stated as he slid down to join them.

"Even villains need a vacation, Dad; why can't you just enjoy the week off?" Gosalyn asked as she laid her cards face down and looked up at him.

"A crime fighter has to be on his toes at all times; and aren't you supposed to be studying young lady?"

"But it's just history; who cares about stuff that happened hundreds of years ago?"

"Your report card cares; home, now."

Gosalyn frowned, but marched off to the transport tubes anyway. Launchpad chuckled as he watched her go, before picking up her cards.

"Yipe, you just saved me fifty bucks DW, she had a full house."

"Launchpad, we have more important things to worry about!"

"Gee, I would think you'd be happy Quackerjack left the convention alone."

"Well, I am, Launchpad, but it's also suspicious! Why would Quackerjack, self proclaimed enemy of Whiffleboy, pass up a chance to wreck one of its best conventions?"

"Well, uh...maybe he...I don't know..."

"It's bizarre, even for him! Whatever he's up to, we've got to get to the bottom of it!"

"Okay, but where do we start?"

"I...have no idea."

The duo sat in silence for a few seconds, before Launchpad snapped his fingers.

"Hey, he's always hanging out with Megavolt, right?"

Darkwing caught on, and jumped to his feet with a triumphant smirk.

"Of course! If we find Megavolt, we can question him! Good thinking Launchpad! Lets go!"

"Gee, can't we wait till tomorrow? It's awful late...and I'm tired." The pilot yawned.

"Tomorrow? But that's hours away!"

"Whatever they're doing, I'm sure it can wait one more night, DW."

After a few minutes, Darkwing sighed and flopped back into the chair.

"I guess...what could happen?"

For some reason, the question seemed to fill the duo with a sense of dread.

:::::::::::::::::

...yep, I'm bringing other people into this.

And yes, there actually is a bit of a plot in this; will Megavolt and Darkwing be able to find out about Quackerjack's situation? Or will the jester even be able to hold on that long? Stay tuned to find out!