A/N: For leviprime, raidenraccoon, teh-bluejay, and rubbersoles19 who have become GoMax shippers. The song "Welcome Christmas" is from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
"I'm trying to be cool about this, but the Negaverse really does look like a video game," Max said as he jumped from car to car in Gosalyn's wake. "Seriously. All I need is a few weapons and some zombies and I'd be set."
"How would you fight off the zombies?" Gosalyn asked, leaping down to the pavement and glancing back to make sure he wasn't too far behind. "You don't have a game controller."
"I played baseball!" Max said indignantly, walking side by side with Gosalyn as they started down the street.
"That type of swing would tire you out quickly and mess up your shoulders and back because you'd be hitting living things and not a small ball," Gosalyn pointed out.
"Listen," Max said. "No zombie is gonna come running at me at 90 miles per hour, so I would be able to use all that force on a slow-moving brainless monster, which I could totally do."
"What video games are you playing?" Gosalyn asked, glancing up at him. "Because the ones I've played with you, and beaten you in by the way—"
"That's still up for debate. You elbowed me in the ribs."
"—have very nimble and fast-moving zombies," Gosalyn finished as if she hadn't been interrupted half way through.
"Okay," Max said, holding up his hands in surrender, "you are getting very technical and I just came out here to have a good time."
"A good time. In the Negaverse?" Gosalyn raised an eyebrow.
Max shrugged. "Well, you were here, so. Yeah."
Gosalyn couldn't help the blush that spread across her cheeks as Max grinned down at her. Sobering up, she pointed a finger at him. "Don't try to sweet talk me so you can win this zombie argument."
"I am telling you I could take them out!" Max said, balling his hands into a fist and miming a batter's swing. "Give me a baseball bat and I would be pretty dangerous."
Gosalyn shook her head as they continued down the street.
It wasn't that Gosalyn didn't think he could do it, it's that she knew he couldn't. Sure, Max might be able to do some damage to zombies if given the chance and a weapon, but she was the fighting expert of the two and, realistically, she'd be the one fighting them all off.
The low rumble of voices caused Gosalyn to stop in her tracks, a hand going out to grip Max's coat. He immediately frose, glancing down at her for further instructions.
There was definitely someone coming. A group of them based on the crunching of the snow and the voices echoing down the nearby street.
It had been a huge gamble, bringing Max to the Negaverse. But he'd been interested, she'd needed the help, and the city had been at its safest with a stockpile of villains trapped in the Prime Universe. Really, if Max was ever going to visit the Negaverse, now was the time before the chaos returned in full force.
Until right this moment, when Negaduck was apparently bringing all the chaos home.
Gosalyn gripped Max's coat and shoved him into a nearby restaurant. Ducking down under a front window, glass long since blown away and the frame lopsided, she whispered, "Don't say anything and don't move."
He hunkered down, Gosalyn beside him as she listened to the villainous group get closer and closer.
"My leaves are gonna freeze off if I stay out in this cold much longer," Bushroot whined.
"I'm already half frozen," Liquidator said, his voice shaking.
"I knew I shoulda gotten dat winter suit from da department store before we left," Steelbeak said.
"The city's a mess!" Ammonia screeched.
"Nothing a little paint won't fix," Splatter Phoenix said.
"Shut up," Negaduck snarled. "All of you, just shut up."
No one dared speak again, but their footsteps grew louder as the villains approached. Gosalyn maneuvered so she could peer out of the entryway, the door hanging exclusively by the topmost hinge hopefully obstructing her from the villains.
But they were walking away from her. Towards the edges of town where each of the villains had set up their own individual hideouts.
Gosalyn remained as still as she could, her eyes following each of the villains as they walked by, making sure they had all returned. She would've liked to follow them to their respective hideouts and watch their reactions to the Christmas surprises she'd left for each of them, but she wouldn't risk Max for that. And she had the annual McDuck Christmas party to attend tonight, so.
As she'd told Negaduck a few weeks ago, she'd overbooked.
Still. It was tempting.
To tell Max to wait here and slip out, following them to their individual hideouts.
Because she'd decorated each one for a kind of Christmasy homecoming and thank-you-for-staying-loyal-while Negaduck-had-been-gone type of thing. Today, she had needed an extra pair of hands (Liquidator's gift and been heavier than she'd anticipated), so she'd recruited Max. He was probably as eager as she was to see how each villain reacted to their gifts since he'd been directly involved.
She could just imagine Megavolt seeing his lighthouse glowing with every variation of string lights Gosalyn had been able to get her hands on.
Bushroot tending to the poinsettias she'd brought back from Mexico and all the sad little Christmas trees the lots had been ready to send to the chipper.
Liquidator finding the ice sculptures.
Quackerjack playing (and no doubt modifying) the traditional Christmas toys she'd found as she had shopped to best her father during the 12 Days gift-off.
Ammonia using her plethora of new cleaning supplies.
Splatter Phoenix testing out her new paint set.
Moliarty wearing his enhanced eyewear that helped him see in any lighting.
Steelbeak's new suit.
Paddywhack got a Mexican piñata because Gosalyn had been at a loss as to what to get a demon duck and everyone likes piñatas, right?
So, yeah.
It would be nice to see each of their reactions in person. But she had places to be.
Besides, she'd probably hear about each of these gifts in the days to come. With new toys and tools, each of the villains would likely commit small crimes to test them out. Which would then give Negaduck the opportunity to put each villain back in their place.
Really, these were the gifts that would keep on giving.
Negaduck led his villainous hoard down the street, stalking forward with his hands balled into fists. The rest of the brood followed in his wake, shivering and silently fighting one another with shoves and rude gestures.
Gosalyn had kind of missed them. The Negaverse hadn't been the same.
As the villains disappeared down the street, Gosalyn glanced over to Max with a smirk. "Want me to find you a baseball bat so you can let loose?"
"I said I could take out slow-moving zombies, not a hoard of villains." Max sat up slowly and glanced through the window. "Are we safe?"
"You were never not safe," Gosalyn said, standing and looking down the street to make sure the villains were still making their way through the city and hadn't stopped for whatever reason. "But yes, the coast is clear."
Gosalyn gave it a few more moments before poking her head out of the restaurant. The villainous group was getting smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing around a corner.
Stepping out into the street, Gosalyn nodded to Max who joined her.
"I know, by the way," Max said, smiling down at her. "That I'm safe here with you."
Gosalyn rolled her eyes but couldn't withhold her own smile. "You're such a sap."
"Your sap," Max pointed out as they continued on their way, down two more blocks to the corner where they'd left the hot-wired Volkswagen. They'd gotten as close to Liquidator's as they could, but the roads were either overgrown with vegetation or drowned in collected water so they'd still walked the last few blocks to reach their destination.
And, apparently, they'd been just in time. A few minutes more and they might have run into the villainous hoard instead of passing by them.
Shifting the car into drive once they were both safely inside the vehicle, Gosalyn barreled down the abandoned city streets and barren freeways towards NegaDuckburg and the portal home.
She wondered if their luck would hold out and get them to the McDuck Christmas party on time.