There were a lot of rules with Drake Mallard, or Darkwing Duck. The first rule, one that he made perfectly clear before he'd even brought Liquidator and Bushroot to his home, was that they weren't supposed to talk about Drake Mallard being Darkwing Duck at all. Apparently it was a secret identity.
Liquidator didn't entirely understand secret identities beyond just a concept. Maybe it was because he was mutated so dramatically that he couldn't have a secret alias if he wanted one, but it seemed a little pointless to him. Drake acted like the same person whether he was wearing a mask or not. He worked closely with Launchpad whether he was hero or civilian, and it wasn't like the pilot had a secret identity.
Drake said that the secret identity was to protect those he cared about, but Liquidator still didn't get it. Launchpad was already involved in his life, and it was clear that Gosalyn involved herself whether Drake wanted her to or not. If they were tied to both of Drake's lives, who was he protecting with secrecy?
But Liquidator didn't argue or disobey. He hadn't understood a lot of Negaduck's rules either, but he'd learned to obey. It was better than the alternative.
They were being given a chance here. He didn't want to be the one to mess this up for his friends. Not when they all seemed perfectly happy being here.
Quackerjack was relishing the chance to run around and go wherever he wanted in the house. He went outside once or twice, but after a few minutes he came running back inside looking scared out of his mind. He'd started rambling about Negaduck, claiming that he'd seen the villain around.
Bushroot and Megavolt had gotten nervous at his words, and even Liquidator had felt a rush of fear. They only calmed down when Gosalyn, who went outside with Quackerjack, insisted that she hadn't seen anybody, and Drake assured them that Negaduck wouldn't dare come near them so soon. Such a notorious villain couldn't just wander into a neighborhood in the middle of the day.
They'd all slowly relaxed. Well, Quackerjack didn't. He insisted that he knew what he saw, but Liquidator knew that the young duck wasn't entirely stable of mind, thanks to Negaduck. Still, despite Quackerjack's frustrations and tendency to freak out, Liquidator was hearing more and more of the fun kind of laughter from him, rather than the scary kind that would have given him nightmares if he could sleep.
Megavolt just seemed very happy that his plan hadn't backfired on them. He was still tense, all of them were, but he was gradually getting more comfortable. A number of times Liquidator had caught Megavolt talking to lightbulbs, coddling them like they were a precious toy. It was not the kind of thing he would have ever done near Negaduck. That was what made it clear that he felt safe here.
Bushroot warmed up to their new situation almost immediately. He started acting nicer, and he was far less jumpy than before. He stopped isolating himself so much, and he agreed to play games with Gosalyn and Quackerjack.
Liquidator was happy for his friends, but he still couldn't bring himself to feel comfortable here. It had nothing to do with how safe this place was. By now he was sure that they were as safe with Drake as they could possibly be. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that Liquidator still couldn't rest. In that way, things were just the way they were back with Negaduck.
The first few days living with the Mallards were tense as they all tried to adjust and figure out where they were going from here. None of them knew what Drake wanted with them, and he didn't seem to know what he wanted from them either. Sometimes he seemed to see them like they were any other kid. Other times he seemed to think that they were just shy of being villains.
Drake's rules made it clear that he didn't know if he saw them as kids or villains. Besides the whole secret identity thing, they weren't allowed to talk to the neighbors or answer the phone unless Drake said it was okay. In that way, it felt like they were prisoners all over again. When Drake didn't ban them from using their powers, but just told them to be careful and not hurt each other or themselves, it felt just like when he scolded his daughter.
They were allowed to go outside and play, but they needed to be inside before dark. Drake kept a close eye on them for the first few nights, acting like a bit of a warden. If they made too much noise, or came downstairs after bedtime he would be right there to send them straight back to their room.
When the worst of the adjustment period was over, Drake seemed to think that they were well-behaved enough for him to not watch them all hours of the day. He left Launchpad in charge, and then he headed out to do his hero business.
The first night that Drake left, Quackerjack had immediately declared that it was playtime. He and Gosalyn started jumping and playing. They pushed all of the furniture to the side in the living room and convinced Liquidator to fill the room with water, and then freeze it over. They slid and tripped all around the room, dragging Megavolt and Bushroot into it.
Even Launchpad got into it. He probably wasn't anywhere near as responsible as Drake had hoped he would be. It was like being babysat by another kid.
Liquidator couldn't slide around the same way that the others could, but he had his own fun. He would make the ice more slippery to make the others go faster, or make the ice almost mush, causing the others to fall. At Gosalyn's request, Liquidator filled the stairs with water and froze it over, making a slide.
They had fun for hours, staying up way past their assigned bedtime. When things started to slow down Gosalyn mentioned she was hungry, and Quackerjack and Megavolt immediately agreed.
They'd had dinner, but Liquidator didn't like the thought of his friends not eating when they were hungry. Drake's house had snacks, but they'd had nothing but snacks with Negaduck. They deserved better than that.
Gosalyn said she wanted to order pizza. Launchpad told her that he didn't have his wallet on him, and none of the kids had money themselves. Liquidator could fix that. It was his job. He slipped a hand into the water system, brought it into the neighbor's house, and found a wallet. He pulled it back into the Mallard's house, hid the wallet in the kitchen cupboard, and pulled some money back into the front room where the others were.
"Pizza's on me." Liquidator said, holding up the money. Bushroot gave him a suspicious look, but none of the others seemed to think twice about what he had done. Gosalyn just looked excited. She snatched the money and went to the phone. She seemed well-practiced in ordering like this.
They returned to their game until the food arrived. They ate, and played more, and somehow made a game out of their food. Quackerjack was the first to crash. He just fell asleep so quickly that Bushroot was worried that he'd been poisoned or something.
With him out, Launchpad decided it was time for bed. He carried Quackerjack upstairs and somehow convinced the others to follow. Gosalyn didn't even argue and fight him on it. They were all tired and fell asleep almost as soon as they laid down on the bed. Launchpad sat in the room, probably intending to make sure they didn't get up to more nonsense as soon as they were unsupervised, but within minutes he fell asleep too.
They were asleep, and except for a drowsy Bushroot, Liquidator was alone.
"Do you want me to stay up with you?" Bushroot asked. As a half plant, half duck, Bushroot could thrive on less sleep than non-mutants could. Unlike Liquidator though, he could sleep whenever he wanted. He was willing to stay awake to provide companionship, but Liquidator felt bad for subjecting him to the boredom that he dealt with every night.
"I'll be fine." Liquidator said. "Get some sleep." Bushroot gave him an apologetic look and sat down in front of the window, trying to feel nature.
Liquidator just sat in the room, watching as the others slept. It wasn't long before he started to feel bored, lonely, and tired while he longed for genuine fatigue.
Wanting to distract himself, Liquidator went downstairs and got rid of any remaining signs of their games. He wasn't really doing it for the sake of being clean, he just didn't want to get in trouble with Drake. Besides, this gave him something to do. He took as long as he could, just trying to occupy himself. He started to read whatever books he could get his hands on, which didn't just occupy his mind, but it took a long time as he needed to focus on not giving the books water damage.
Eventually he got bored of this particular distraction from his boredom. He was having such a hard time focusing, so he gave up on the books before he got them wet. At times like this he thought he understood Quackerjack a lot more. Being alone without anything to get his mind out of his own thoughts, he felt like he was losing his mind.
It was a few hours till morning when there was some scuffling and noise, and Liquidator heard Drake mumbling to himself. He was back. Liquidator retreated into the kitchen sink, which had become his go-to place to get away from the others. It was just like how Bushroot would go into the garden, Megavolt would go into a closet, and Quackerjack would pull all of Gosalyn's toys out of her toy box and slip inside instead, laughing as he said that he was a Jackie-in-the-box.
Liquidator thought that Drake would just go upstairs and go to bed, or just lay down on the couch or chair and fall asleep. Instead he came into the kitchen, turning on the light and grumbling about food. Liquidator could hear him opening the cupboard drawers, and he didn't think too much about it at first, but then he heard the adult exclaim in frustration. He realized that Darkwing had found the wallet he'd hidden away, and he didn't sound very happy.
Liquidator didn't try to make a sound, but Darkwing sounded so similar to Negaduck when he was mad, and it made him nervous. Liquidator accidentally splashed just a little bit, but of course Drake heard him. He leaned over the sink, growling and glaring down at Liquidator.
"You. Out." Drake said. Liquidator wanted to retreat down the drain, but he didn't want to test his patience. He splashed out of the sink and took his physical form. He didn't know whether he wanted to stand proud and defiant, or make himself as small as he could, so he just stood there, refusing to look at Drake as he loomed over him.
"You want to tell me what this is, kid?" Drake held up the wallet he'd taken from next door.
"A wallet." Liquidator muttered.
"Is it yours?" Drake asked condescendingly. Liquidator shook his head. "So why did I find it soaking wet and hidden in the cupboard?"
"I needed money." Liquidator said.
Drake groaned and tilted his head back, his eyes closed. He was still for a long time before he finally spoke again. "Why?"
"They wanted pizza." Liquidator said. "So they needed money, but the others didn't have any, so I had to get it."
Drake was still and quiet for a minute before he sighed. He sat down at the kitchen table and gestured for Liquidator to join him. "Liqui, I told you guys that you can't steal just because there's something that you want. If you want something, talk to me, and I'll think about it."
"You weren't home." Liquidator said.
"You couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Drake rubbed his forehead.
Liquidator growled. "They were hungry, and you said that they can eat when they're hungry."
"We have food in the kitchen, and you all know it." Drake said. "None of you needed pizza, you just wanted it."
"I didn't want any of it." Liquidator said. "I don't eat." He was made of water. What was he supposed to be able to eat?
Drake was quiet for a moment, and some of the anger came out of his eyes. "Hang on, you go to all the effort to steal something, and you didn't even benefit from it? Why would you do that?"
Liquidator frowned. He'd already answered this question. "The others were hungry."
"You stole for the others' sake?" Drake just looked confused and a tad bit concerned. "Why?"
"Because they were hungry!" Liquidator slammed his hands on the ground, at the same time as water burst from the sink. Liquidator blinked and drew his hands to his chest. He hadn't meant to do that. "Sorry, I…sorry." He sent his arm into the water bursting out, connecting with it and pushing it back where it belonged.
"I-I don't want them to be hungry." Liquidator rubbed his hand across the table, staring determinedly at it. "It would be my fault."
"Why would it be your fault?" Drake asked quietly.
"Because it was my job." Liquidator released just a bit of water onto the table, making a small puddle. He drew with it. "Negaduck didn't care. If I didn't get them food, they didn't get food, but I kept on not being good enough." He blinked and froze water on the table, only to unfreeze it again. "I can't let them down again."
"Liqui, that's not your job." Drake said kindly but sternly. "It's my job to keep an eye on you guys, and that means making sure you guys have food." He gave Liquidator a meaningful look. "And sleep. Do you have any idea what time it is? What are you doing up?"
Liquidator grimaced. "I can't sleep. Ever. Water doesn't get to rest." His chest was tightening painfully and if he was capable of crying he probably would have teared up. "I don't get a break." Water dripped on the floor as he started to lose focus. He felt like he should be crying, or breathing harshly, but his poor excuse of a body couldn't do it, and the thought was oddly frightening and distressing.
People shouldn't be so upset about not being able to do things that nobody liked doing in the first place.
Liquidator whimpered and curled in on himself. Drake frowned, looking awkward and guilty. He slowly stood up and brought his chair to the other side of the table so he could sit next to him. Drake didn't put his arm around him, or pat his back, though he seemed to briefly think about it.
"I know this probably doesn't help, but I know what it's like to be tired of not being tired." Drake said. Liquidator looked at him. "When I was younger I had really bad insomnia. I just couldn't sleep, no matter how long I tried, and how much I wanted it. I was stuck awake, and bored, and tired, and the nights seemed to go on forever."
Liquidator sat up. "What did you do?"
"Well, that's actually part of the reason why I became Darkwing." Drake said. "I figured if I was going to be awake anyway, I should do something productive. That's not really an option for you though."
"So what am I supposed to do?" Liquidator asked. "I'm so bored."
Drake thought for a moment before he grimaced and muttered something about regretting this. "Don't say a word of this to Gosalyn, or neither of us will hear the end of it, but I have an idea." He stood up and took Liquidator's hand, barely grimacing when his own hand got wet. Drake led him into the living room and sat him on the couch. He turned on the television.
"On my worst nights I would turn on the radio and just listen to that in my room." Drake said. "I probably listened to way more mystery dramas than my parents would ever want me to. It didn't help me sleep, but it passed the time, and sometimes I could at least doze. Maybe you can do the same."
Liquidator looked at the television. A commercial was playing. "I can watch until morning?"
"And whenever you feel like you need to." Drake said. "Just keep the sound down. This is just between us, okay?" Liquidator nodded. "Great. And no more stealing from the Muddlefoots, or anybody else, okay? If you can do that for me, I'll make sure that your friends have all the food they need."
Liquidator frowned. "I thought you were going to feed them anyway."
"I will." Drake sounded insulted at the implication that he would let children go without food. "But you clearly don't believe me yet. This 'deal' is just so you'll trust that I'll keep my word."
"I'll try not to steal again." Liquidator muttered. Honestly, he didn't like stealing. It just got him in trouble, and there were so many other things he would rather do with his powers.
"That's all I ask." Drake said. He sat on the couch next to Liquidator. "Now if you don't mind, I've had a long night, and I could use some mindless tv."
Liquidator smiled to himself and turned his attention to the commercials. He knew that Drake was tired, and probably wanted to sleep. He was staying up for Liquidator's sake though, to keep him company, and the dog appreciated it.
He was still tired, but he definitely liked Drake way more than he did Negaduck. It wasn't just safe here, it was nice, and it was a lot more than he thought he would get.
