Moonrise! I had an idea and I had to. I'm starting school so updates will be rocky but I had to. Tw: Megavolt's language.
It wasn't often the police asked him for help. Darkwing knew that to be true. So when the police called him from his patrol to check something out, he was surprised. He was glad, of course. It was about time they started recognizing his competence.
So he parked the Ratcatcher a few blocks from the Italian restaurant downtown. Sure, the police said they were concerned about loitering. Clearly, they expected worse, and trusted only Darkwing Duck with the case!
Sneaking up on the building, he hid behind the brick wall, peering around. Then he heard a voice. "All you need to do is talk to him. Make him laugh, blush, all that corny shit. We'll handle the rest." Darkwing knew that nasally voice anywhere. It had been bugging him for the last ten years.
"Thanks again for doing this, Sparky!" another voice said. "I owe ya one!"
"Quit calling me that and we'll call it even," Megavolt said.
Darkwing pulled out his gas gun, getting ready to attack. He heard a splashing noise nearby and spun around to look for the source. He heard a bubbly voice. "Coming to you from-"
"Don't do that!" Megavolt said, the sounds of zapping accompanying it. "I almost electrocuted you!"
Darkwing turned back to the wall, peering over. He saw the patio of outdoor tables that the restaurant used. One of the tables had a purple table cloth over it, patches with leaves and petals sewn on. Megavolt was around the corner, messing with the power box. Quackerjack was next to him, pulling the ends of his hat and twisting them around his fingers. Liquidator was on the other wall, grinning sheepishly.
"I apologize for any inconvenience," Liquidator said, sliding a bit closer. "I'm here to inform you that our plan is underway."
Megavolt huffed and zapped something. The stringed lights came on all around, giving the night air a more gorgeous look. "Good. We'd better get out of here before he gets here."
"Too bad," Darkwing muttered. "I'm already here." He shot off his gas gun and blue smoke puffed in front of him. "I am the terror that flaps in the night!" He said, jumping into it.
"Oh no, not now!" Quackerjack whined, stomping his foot. Megavolt snarled, one hand sparking in his irriration.
"I am the pineapple on your pizza. I am-"
"What do you have against pineapple on pizza?" Megavolt asked suddenly, just as Darkwing's smoke cleared.
The hero had had his cape held to dramatically flip, but dropped it. "I- You didn't- That's not the point!" Darkwing shouted. He held his gas gun up at the group. "Suck gas evil-" he was suddenly knocked backwards pretty roughly, seeing Quackerjack on top of him.
"No, no, no! You'll ruin my whole night!" the jester pouted, shaking Darkwing's shoulders. "Why do you have to be such a spoilsport!?"
Megavolt ran over, pulling the two apart. "Not happening, Dorkwing!" He grabbed the hero by the front of his costume and threw him over the wall.
"Megs!" Quackerjack said, going over. "I can-"
"No, not happening! I spent too much time helping you set this crap up for you to waste your time on this guy!" Megavolt insisted. "You stay here. I'll handle it."
As Darkwing got up, he saw Megavolt climb over the wall and was shoved down again. "Hey, what are you-"
"Shut the hell up!" Megavolt said running away from the restaurant and into the street. He held up the gas gun victoriously.
"You can't fight me while I'm unarmed!" Darkwing pouted.
Megavolt flipped the weapon in his hand, cackling. "Why don't you come get it, then?"
Darkwing growled, getting up and running after the rat. Honestly, he'd thought Megavolt was better than this! But without his gun, he couldn't very well take on the rest of the Fearsome Five.
When they were about a block away, Megavolt turned and threw the gun back. "You've got really bad timing, you know that?" he said.
Darkwing caught his gun and looked up at the other in confusion. "I have a great concept of time and how to use it, thank you very much!"
Megavolt rolled his eyes. "Whatever helps you sleep at night. A minute later and you would have fucked up everything!"
"On the contrary, Megavolt, I still have the chance to do something about it," the hero explained, shooting a canister of gas at the other.
Megavolt jumped out of the way and zapped it so it went off in mid-air. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He sent a bolt at the duck, forcing the other to roll away. The pair shared several minutes of back-and-forth squabbling.. Megavolt got annoyed with the lack of banter and decoded to pick it back up.. "You know, it costs you zero dollars to stay out of our personal business!"
"If it's a crime, it's my personal business, too," Darkwing told him, shooting a canister of water at the villain.
Megavolt leaped to the side, the liquid splattering nearby and getting his foot. "Ouch! This isn't a crime!" Megavolt told him.
"You're loitering and disturbing the peace!" Dakrwing said, pointing a finger at him.
"No peace was being disturbed until you got involved," Megavolt said. "But nosy-no-good-do-gooder Darkwing Duck had to come in. Do you know how long we've spent setting up this date?!"
Darkwing stopped where he was, staring at the other. "Date??"
Megavolt slammed a gloved hand over his mouth. "Shit. Forget I said-"
"I gotta see this!" Darkwing said, running back down the street to the restaurant. He got back to the wall and peeked over. What he saw surprised him. At the table that had been decorated, at the center of all the lights, were Quackerjack and Bushroot, having dinner. His jaw dropped. They were trespassing on private property and screwing with the security system for a date? Megavolt came up behind him suddenly, hushing him. "Since when did this happen?" Darkwing whisper-yelled, hands motioning wildly at the pair.
"Hell if I know. A while, probably?" Megavolt whispered, scratching his head. "I think Quacky said this was the first real date they've been on. So don't try and mess it up!"
Darkwing shook his head half-heartedly. "No way. So what else? Are you and Liquidator a thing, too?"
Megavolt felt a few sparks fly at his agitation. "What? No. Not my type in more ways than one," he explained.
"Oh, are you straight?" Darkwing asked, honestly curious at this point. He had gotten so wrapped up in fighting these guys, he often forgot that they also had lives behind the scenes.
Megavolt snorted, shaking his head. "Not at all! It's the electricity and water thing. And he's just too sane for my tastes."
"Did you hear something?" Bushroot's voice suddenly asked. "Behind the wall?"
"What? Come on, Reggie," Quackerjack said with a nervous laugh. "I'm supposed to be the one who hears voices."
"That he is, Liz!" Banana Brain added.
Megavolt covered his mouth and made a hand notion for Darkwing to go somewhere. Making the deduction that the group wasn't up to anything sinister and that he was close enough to interfere should they decide to try it, Darkwing followed his nemesis to the street and just walk around.
"What were we talking about?" Megavolt asked.
"So Quackerjack and Bushroot, huh? Never would have expected that," Darkwing said, trying to pick back up what they were saying before.
"Oh, yeah. Neither did I. Liqqy and I had a running bet. He won," Megavolt told him with a grimace.
"So do you have a secret relationship?" Darkwing asked, amused at the idea.
"Ha! Bold of you to assume I could be in one," Megavolt joked. Then he put a hand over his chin in thought. "Although remember something like that back in my school days." Darkwing thought back. Old Elmo Sputterspark back in high school. How would he have gotten a date? It seemed more likely now than back then. "I honestly don't know if we dated or I just liked him. I don't even remember much about him." Darkwing raised an eyebrow, staring up at the other. "I remember his name, I think. Dave- No, Drew- No, Drake! His last name was probably something like Malcolm- Mallard! Yeah, Drake Mallard, that was his name!"
Darkwing's eyes widened. He wasn't hearing this correctly. He had to have the wrong name. But, maybe some careful interrogation could help. "Do you remember what he was like?"
"A fuckin' dweeb," Megavolt said without missing a beat. He snickered. "There was nothing cool about him. He was nerdy, annoying, and short. And he got bullied as much as me." Megavolt sighed. "Maybe I'm forgetting something. But something about him was special."
Darkwing sighed. Yeah, he had the right guy. And he hated to admit it. So Megavolt had been in love with him. So what? That was a decade ago! And he didn't even remember who Darkwing was.
He's excused himself and left the date alone. He had a lot more to think about. His arch nemesis was in love with him once. He couldn't get him off his mind. So here he sat, in the middle of the night, on the couch, leaning over his senior yearbook. He stared at the photo of Elmo, with the faint goggles and hat Gosalyn had drawn on. It had been a huge shock finding out who his long adversary truly was. It was almost as huge to find out that there could have been something between them before he went mad.
Maybe he wouldn't have gone mad if he'd been shown empathy. Maybe he would have put his powers to good if he'd been supported more. Maybe he wouldn't be a villain if he'd been shown some love. Maybe if they'd gotten closer, they could have become heroes together.
Drake sat up sharply, suddenly wide awake. That gave him an idea...
Uh-oh. Darkwing has an idea. How will this pan out? Farwell, best of luck, avoid roasted cabbage, don’t eat earwax, and look on the bright side of life!
Moonset!