Get your own Free Home PageDarkwing Duck, Quiverwing Quack and Quetzal Quack roared around the backstreets of St Canard. It had been a quiet night so far, and Darkwing had allowed himself to be talked into a little race between the Ratcatcher and the Shaft.
Quetzal cheered from the sidecar as she and Darkwing overtook Quiverwing.
“The Shaft ain’t got nothing on the Ratcatcher Quiv!” Quetzal yelled behind her. Darkwing grinned as Quetzal squealed with delight. He enjoyed having a kid around the place again, though it was hard not to father her. She insisted on being a friend, not a child, but he didn’t think she realized that acting like an adult didn’t make you one, and he knew that he thought of having to look out for her more than Quiverwing. Maybe it was because she was so small to be out here, they’d had to put a cushion in the bottom of the sidecar so she could get out fast in case of emergency!
Quetzal was still squealing, and she and Quiverwing were tossing “friendly” insults back and forth.
“Might not be the bike Quiv, maybe it’s the rider!” Quetzal cried.
“Might be the fact that it was _your_ turn check the bikes!”
“Funny how our bikes working then!”
“Hey, you obviously had this planned! A race was your idea!”
Quetzal laughed, and turned to the front. She suddenly stood up and flung her arms out. “Look, I’m an eagle!” she smiled.
Darkwing jumped, put his hand on her head and pushed her back down. “Don’t do that!” he yelled at her.
“Why?”
“Because if I have to stop suddenly you’ll go flying!”
She paused to consider this. “Oh yeah.”
“Yeah.” he said grimly.
Darkwing had slowed down as soon as Quetzal had stood up, and Quiverwing shot past, sticking her tongue out at Quetzal.
“Hey! Step on it DW, we’re right near the end!”
“I am!” he yelled back. But it was too late, Quiverwing had gone past the finishing street. She had already stopped, and was waiting for them next to her bike, helmet under one arm. Her face was flushed, and the short red plait down her back swayed, giving away the fact that she was trying to be casual, but had only just gotten there. She was panting slightly, but grinned.
“How’s it feel at the back, you two?”
“Safer.” Darkwing said wryly.
“You owe me an apology!” Quetzal cried to Quiverwing.
“Why? What did I do?” Quiverwing was puzzled.
“You WON!”
Quiverwing faked a growl, and the two started play-wrestling. Darkwing rolled his eyes, and hustled them back to the bikes.
“Come ON! You two make enough noise to wake the whole of St Canard, and half of Duckburg!”
As if on cue, a boot was thrown from the window above, landing squarely on Quetzal’s head. Her ears cushioned the blow, but it still hurt.
“Be quiet, can’t ye! Ye make enough noise to wake the dead, that ye do!” a Scottish voice yelled from above.
They jumped on the bikes, Quetzal crossly rubbing her head. They drove off towards the center of St Canard.
They were riding (quietly) along when they passed a broken window. They stopped the bike and tip-toed up to the window. It was an electrical store, and the thieves were still there. They leaped through the shattered glass, first Darkwing and Quiverwing, with Quetzal behind. The robbers were just four small-time crooks, but they grinned menacingly. Darkwing and Quiverwing pounced and easily subdued them.
It was Quetzal’s normal job to get anyone escaping, unless Darkwing and Quiverwing were in trouble. She had no problem with this, she knew very well that Quiverwing was next in the succession line, and she never considered using her morphing skills to become better than her.
Darkwing and Quiverwing were tying their captures up, when Quetzal had the surest feeling of being watched. She slowly raised her ears and, tuning out the noise Darkwing and Co. were making, listened as only a rabbit can. Her beak was no good for smelling much, and her eyes were normal, but her ears could pick up much more than the others when she chose to use them.
She turned and glanced across the street into the shadows there. She could hear a faint heartbeat, and purposely lowed breathing. She started to creep over, but heard footsteps running away. She shrugged, and walked back to join in Darkwing’s and Quiverwing’s triumph.
They had just left the police station. Quetzal was unusually quiet and Darkwing wondered what was up. He sent Quiverwing ahead, and looked to his friend.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
Quetzal shrugged. “I dunno. I thought we were being watched back there. Just gave me a weird feeling, that’s all.”
Suddenly Quetzal screamed and pointed. “Look out!”
Darkwing hadn’t been watching the road, and was going through a red light as usual, but there was a care coming through. Darkwing spun the Ratcatcher had to the right, missing the car, but making the Ratcatcher spin out of control. Quetzal grabbed Darkwing, and she flew them off the bike and into the air just before it’s front tire hit a brick wall. She landed them both, and immediately sat down on the sidewalk, shaking. Darkwing patted her on the back, and went to see the damage. Luckily only the front of the bike was damaged, and he knew for sure that he had the parts to fix it with back at the Tower. He walked over and sat next to Quetzal, knowing that Quiverwing would come looking for them soon enough.
Quetzal was still shivering and Darkwing put his arm around her shoulders. “Good job. I would have probably gone head on into that wall if you hadn’t gotten us out. Quick thinking is very important in this job.”
Quetzal took a deep breath. “Thanks.” She freed herself from him, and stood up. She could hear Quiverwing coming, and she told Darkwing so. Quiverwing appeared half a minute later, and hopped off her bike. She raised an eyebrow at Darkwing, but he shook his head. Without speaking she attached the front of the Ratcatcher to the back of the Shaft.
“Everyone in.” She patted the seats of the Ratcatcher. They hopped in, and drove off towards the Tower.
Negaduck sat thoughtfully on the trash can. He often came to this alley to think. He liked the atmosphere, but the furniture needed improving.
He was considering the information of what he’d learned. Darkwing’s new “help” was sometimes anything but. Bike races, ha! He knew very well where the tall one had come from, but where had that dratted Darkwing gotten the small, strange looking one who could fly? What kind of animal looked like an average duck, but with rabbit ears and tail? She had a strange accent too.
Negaduck closed his eyes and searched his mind. There was no animal like that. So she must be something different. It was doubtful that she was magical, Darkwing had never liked that sort of thing much, and he knew that Morgana had left town. What else could she be?
Just in case, he reviewed what the Nega-Morgana had taught him about magic. He ran aimlessly through the information.
He gave up, and wondered what to do. His situation here was fairly pathetic. The Fearsome Four were useless, bumbling fools that they were. The best thing to do would be to get back to the Negaverse before the Friendly Four wrecked his universe too much. Then he could get his former followers back, take them all to this stinking universe, just to get back at Darkwing. Then he could just skip between playgrounds.
He started wondering about universes and dimensions. He picked up the soda he’d stolen from a 7-11, and began to drink it. A thought struck him and he choked. She was from another dimension! That had to be it! His Morgana had told him about dimension travel. No wonder she could fly! He’d bet the whole Negaverse she could morph too.
He leaned against the cold wall behind him. This opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. She had to have some sort of dimensional transporter, and those things could change universes too. She was his key to the Negaverse! An idea started to burn in his mind, and he smiled.
Thlayli collapsed into bed. She could hear Drake and Gosalyn downstairs making coffee and talking, but she was too tired to do anything but sleep.
She groaned as she remembered, and got out of bed. She walked to a small metal object on a table across the room, and she picked it up. She got back in to bed, putting the thing down inside the bed, next to her knee. She never went to sleep without the Dimensional Changer, losing it would be a disaster.
It was 11am, and Darkwing had just left SHUSH. Quiverwing and Quetzal were waiting for him outside with the Ratcatcher (Darkwing wouldn’t let Quetzal drive). Quiverwing climbed into the sidecar, while Quetzal looked sulky from up behind Darkwing.
“Let’s go get some things for lunch before we go to the Tower.” he told Quiverwing. She nodded, and they headed for High Street.
Darkwing was just coming out of the Bakery, when he stopped short. A duck looking exactly like him, but in a light blue jacket and mask with a light green cape and hat was walking towards him.
Quiverwing and Quetzal followed came out (Quiverwing had seen a hunky looking duck in the Bakery) and followed his gaze. All three froze.
“Do you have your gas gun?” asked Quiverwing to Darkwing.
He nodded. “Do you have your arrows?”
“No, I left them in the Ratcatcher.”
“Go get them.”
She nodded and left. The strange duck approached. Darkwing took out his gas gun, and pointed it warily.
“Who are you?” he asked gruffly.
The duck in blue waved his arms above his head. “Whoa, you must be Darkwing Duck. I’ve heard of you. Could you put that thing away?” he said in a high pitched voice.
“Who are you?” Darkwing repeated, not taking the gun away.
“I’m Posiduck.”
Darkwing and Quetzal looked him over.
“Prove it.” said Darkwing.
“I don’t know if I can. Sorry.”
Darkwing looked to Quetzal for help. “Is there a Posiverse?” he whispered.
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I haven’t even been to the Negaverse. There probably is.”
“Look, could you put the gun away? Looking into a gun isn’t really what I expected.”
Quiverwing came back. Darkwing nodded to her, and she aimed an arrow at Posiduck. Darkwing put the gas gun back in his jacket, but near the front.
“What did you expect?” Darkwing queried pleasantly.
“I’m a good guy, I didn’t expect you to be against me, that’s all. I came looking for your help.”
Quetzal was suddenly aware of the stares of the people around them. “Darkwing, I think we should take him somewhere to talk.”
He looked around. “Good idea Quetzal.” He grabbed Posiducks arm. “We’ll take him to the lookout outside of town. Quetzal, cuff him and put him in the sidecar. You can sit behind him. Quiverwing, behind me.”
Once they were at the lookout and they’d all gotten out of the Ratcatcher, Darkwing turned to Posiduck. He was more pleasant now that they were out of the city and he’d had a chance to consider the possibility of yet another one of him.
“So, why are you here?” he asked. Posiduck was still cuffed.
“I’m on a mission from SHOUT.”
“Shout?” Quiverwing raised her eyebrows.
“Secret Hidden Organization for Universal Travel. I work for them. We were trying to get me to the Negaverse to see how much worse it was then the Posiverse. Then I was meant to clean it up, and return home. But we must have made a miscalculation, because I landed in a petting zoo here. This wouldn’t have really mattered, because I had my UT...”
“Universal Transmitter?” interrupted Quetzal.
“That’s it. Do you have one?”
“I’ve got something better.”
Posiduck shrugged and continued. “I had my UT, but this bull took a dislike to it, and trampled it. I still had this little device.” he brought out a thing that looked like a blue beeper. “This tracks down people who don’t belong in the current universe. It normally doesn’t register well, for example, even from this far away from me, I can’t pick me up. But you,” he pointed to Quetzal. “It guided me to you from a mile away. Then I saw you were with Darkwing, and it hit me. Darkwing’s SHOUT must have brought you over to help him. So you can send me to the Negaverse. Will you?”
Quetzal was very tense. She didn’t trust this “Posiduck” an inch. It was his eyes and smile, they seemed more menacing than kind, and the real Posiduck should have been sweeter than sugar. The way he spoke didn’t reflect well on him either. She kicked herself for alluring to the DC. She glanced to Quiverwing, and she could tell that she had the same thoughts.
Darkwing hadn’t noticed them. “Well, for a start, there is no SHOUT. There’s a SHUSH, but I don’t really work for them very often. Anyway, if you haven’t got your UT, tough luck, we can’t send you anywhere, our device must stay with the person traveling, and we need it. I doubt if you’d be able to do much good there anyway, I’ve already cleaned that place up. Negaduck is here, and so are most of the criminals.”
Posiduck stood silently for a minute. “I know about SHUSH, they say they can’t do it. I can still use your UT, or whatever, there’s a machine installed in the Negaverse for me to send stuff back to them, I could send it back to you. In conjunction to the crime factor, I believe I could do a lot of good there, clean or not.”
Darkwing snorted. “We don’t trust you enough to use the DC, and the Negaverse doesn’t need you. I wont send you there.”
Posiduck’s eyes glittered at the mention of the DC, and Quetzal groaned under her breath. Darkwing was so silly sometimes! Couldn’t he tell from the eyes what kind of duck this was? But then, he couldn’t see the stark difference between him and Negaduck. From his viewpoint the only difference must be the clothes.
“I can see I’ll have to convince you Darkwing,” Posiduck said slowly. “You doubt my abilities as a crimefighter. How about this, I clean your city free of crime, you send me to the Negaverse. Deal?”
Darkwing grabbed Posiduck’s hand with a grin, much to Quetzal’s horror and Quiverwing’s consternation. “You got it. But if you don’t do it within a week, deal is off.”
“Darkwing, you can’t!” Quetzal started to cry, but she was silenced by Quiverwing. “He won’t listen to you now, wait.” Quetzal knew that Quiverwing was right, but she also knew that if Posiduck was true to his word, than she was doomed to be stuck here forever. A small tear rolled down her cheek at the thought of never seeing her parents again, but she quickly wiped it away.
“Drake, how could you?!” Thlayli screamed when they were home in the kitchen. “You know that if we lose that DC, I’m stuck here! I’ll never see my home or family ever again! You know what those things mean to me!”
She was clutching the DC tightly to herself, refusing to give it to Darkwing.
“Oh come on Thlayli! You know he wont win! If I can’t do it, who can?”
Gosalyn was on Thlayli’s side. “Dad, who says this Posiduck is going to play fair? We can’t trust him an inch!”
Darkwing was confused. “But he’s Posiduck, I don’t think he can cheat.”
Gosalyn rolled her eyes. “Dad, he doesn’t look like a Posiduck, he doesn’t speak like a Posiduck, and he doesn’t act like a Posiduck. I’ve seen a Posiduck, and that ain’t one.”
“What you saw was me! This is a duck from another universe! Now Thlayli, give me the DC so I can see if there’s a Posiverse.”
Thlayli shook her head.
“Why not! I’m checking it up for you!”
“I wont! I don’t trust you anymore!” Thlayli half-sobbed.
Drake was taken back for a minute, but continued, even though his main objective was to just get it. He started trying to grab it off Thlayli. She screamed at him, but he was bigger than she was. Gosalyn was about to step in, when Thlayli remembered her powers and morphed into Nosedive. Nosedive held the DC high, but Drake managed to jump up to his hand, and almost got it. Nosedive growled, and changed into a large blue dragon. The dragon spat a spark warningly at Drake, and Drake immediately backed off. But he wasn’t going to give up now. He noticed that he was standing next to the sink, and he splashed water right down the dragon’s throat. The dragon whined, and shrunk down to Thlayli. Thlayli slumped on the floor. Drake suddenly realized what he’d done, and with a cry off dismay, rushed to Thlayli’s side. Gosalyn got there first, and she pushed Drake back. She checked Thlayli over, and decided she’d just fainted. Luckily. She’d seen enough cartoons to know what water did to fire-breathing dragons.
“Is..is she okay?” Drake quavered.
“Yeah.” Gosalyn picked up Thlayli easily, and carried her to the lounge. She turned back to Drake. “Why did you do that?” she questioned, looking slightly scared.
Drake sat down and rubbed his forehead. “I don’t know. I..I just lost it. I didn’t think.”
“The DC is hers, you have no right to bet it or to take it off her. And speaking of it, you better go see if it’s OK.”
Drake jumped up. “I hope the water hasn’t shorted it out!” He ran into the kitchen and scooped it up off the floor. He looked it over. It seemed OK. He couldn’t believe what he’d been doing. Trying to take the DC off Thlayli for no reason, and then fighting her for it! His quick temper at being wrong was going to kill either him or someone else one day, he could see how close he’d just been to murder.
He walked back in, and put the DC on Thlayli’s chest. He knelt next to her, and rubbed her hand. He looked at Gosalyn. “Could you leave for a minute?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I want to call out her real name. She might respond better.”
Gosalyn stood up. “I wish she wasn’t so weird about that. Fine, I’m going to my room.” She walked up the stairs. Drake watched until he was sure she had left.
“Hey, Rachel. Come on Rachel, you can do it. Live up to your adopted name, Bigwig, you’re meant to be a fighter. Wake up Rah! Fine then, don’t.” He took a deep breath, and decided to start his apology while no one could hear him. “Look Thlayli, I’m really sorry for what just happened. And you and Gosalyn are probably right about Posiduck, I just wanted to prove that if I couldn’t do it, no one could. I can’t back out now, I’m sorry. I can’t believe I was just so selfish! And I really want to say, well, sorry.”
He looked anxiously into his second little girl’s face (knowing that she’d be upset if she knew he called her that to himself) and was overjoyed when her eyes flicked open. He helped her sit up, and she coughed out some water.
“Did what I think havened just happen?” she whispered. Drake nodded ruefully.
“Sorry, I..”
“I know, I heard the end of that. Forget about it. But let’s not argue anymore, ever. OK?”
Drake smiled. “Whatever you say, Rah.”
She playfully nudged him. “I told ya not to call me that!”
He grinned and hugged her. “I’m just glad you’re all right!”
She held on to him for a minute then pushed him back. “Enough mush. You can’t let him get the DC!”
“We’ll think of something,” Drake muttered grimly. “Gosalyn?” he called. She came down the stairs. She’s been listening intently, and had heard more of Drake’s apology than Thlayli had.
“What’s up?” she grinned.
“Meeting.” he answered.
Darkwing was startled by J Gander’s sudden appearance on his computer screen, but tried not to show it.
“Hey there J Gander! What’s up?”
“Hello Darkwing. There is a version of you here, wanting to see you. Calls himself Posiduck.”
“Oh.” Darkwing frowned.
J Gander coughed. “I was wondering, Darkwing, if his presence has been the reason for the sudden amount of villain reforms.”
“I really don’t know J Gander. He told me he’d prove that he could clean up the Negaverse by cleaning our universe, and I guess he’s done it.” There was a trace of bitterness is his voice.
J Gander cleared his throat nervously. “Will you come and see him?”
“Tell him to meet me at the lookout. I’ll just find Quiverwing and Quetzal.”
“Will do. Farewell Darkwing.”
“Later.” Darkwing cleared the screen, and went to find the girls.
Darkwing stopped the Ratcatcher, pulling up beside the Shaft. He and Quetzal jumped out, and went to stand beside Quiverwing, Darkwing a little in front.
“So Posiduck. What do you want?”
“You know what I want. It’s been a week since I got to work. Bushroot is cleaning and greening parks. The Liquidator has cleaned the bay free of 99% of pollution. Quackerjack’s putting on educational puppet shows for kids, and you must have seen Megavolt’s promise on TV.” Posiduck was looking smug.
“Ahh yes, extra electricity for 1 year.” Darkwing mused.
Posiduck spread his hands. “So, as you can see, I kept my half of the bargain. I hope you’re going to keep yours.”
Darkwing looked to Quetzal and she shook her head. “I’m sorry Posiduck, but the device was damaged, and is in the process of being fixed. I’ll have it ready for you in another week, you have my word.” Quetzal said sincerely.
Posiduck growled, looking fearsome. “See that you do.” He watched as Darkwing and the Quackettes climbed onto their bikes. He waited till they had turned a corner, before he smiled. They were stalling. But he had a promise of a dimensional thing, and he knew that these goodies did not make promises lightly. Darkwing would force the rabbit thing to stick to her word, he was sure of it. He started walking down the road, too busy thinking to notice the shadow following him.
Quiverwing snuck behind Posiduck. Her job was getting harder, there were less and less trees as they got into town. Quetzal had wanted to do the job, but Darkwing had refused, knowing all too well that Quiverwing was a good tracker.
She made it all the way into town without being seen. They were in the half of town where just about everyone were crooks, and she was glad for the black outfit Darkwing had gotten for her.
Posiduck went into an old building which seemed to be missing every window. Quiverwing followed to one of the broken windows, and peeped in. Posiduck was undergoing a costume changes. When he turned around, it was as they’d suspected, Negaduck was masquerading. She could think of no real reason for Negaduck to be so anxious to get home, except perhaps homesickness. Maybe Dad would know. Her eyes widened as Megavolt entered the room.
“I checked, sir, there’s no one out there to hear your wonderful plans.” Megavolt droned, having said it plenty of times before. Quiverwing smiled. Liar, she thought. But who knew a supervillian could be so paranoid?
“Good.” Negaduck rubbed his hands together in the way that only villains could do. “Soon, I’ll be back in my beautiful St Canard, raising up an army to destroy Darkwing once and for all. By then we’ll have a dimensional portal at our command, and we can wreck havoc on anywhere we choose!”
Megavolt nervously cleared his throat. “Um, that’s what I wanted to tell you. We would,er, like to stay behind. Just to make sure that Darkwing doesn’t totally take over this universe too, of course.”
Negaduck gave it a seconds thought. “Do what you like, weenie, I couldn’t care anymore.” He looked like a cat who had just eaten a canary, and had gotten away with it.
Megavolt bowed continuously. “Oh thank you, thank you you’re dreadfulness.”
Negaduck looked bored. “Whatever. I’m going to have some sleep.” He settled down with a contented look on his face, and for a moment Darkwing and Negaduck were one. Then Negaduck smiled, and she shivered. Quiverwing decided that there was nothing more to learn here, and she turned and ran off into the darkness.
A week later Quetzal handed the DC over to Posiduck. He grabbed it eagerly and Quetzal flinched.
“Is it set for the Negaverse?” he asked, excited. He didn’t wait for a reply. He grinned and pressed a button. A swirling hole appeared, and Posiduck looked like he was about to dance. “So long, suckers!” he yelled as he jumped through, tearing off his Posiduck costume.
“Bye Negadork.” Darkwing waved. Quiverwing was worried.
“Are you sure it’ll work?” she queried Quetzal.
Quetzal nodded slowly. “90% sure.” Suddenly the DC materialized on her hand. Her face broke into a smile. “Make that 100% sure.” She pulled it apart, and took out a chip. She kissed it, and put it in a pocket. “Gotta love those Transmitter Intensifiers! Came right back after use!”
Darkwing ran to the Ratcatcher and pulled out a note. He came back and handed it to Quetzal. She pushed a few buttons, thankful that the DC could send small objects like letters through without having to be attached to a transmitter. She made the portal, and pushed it through.
“Think this Nosedive guy will mind that you’ve just given him St Canard’s worst criminal?” Quiverwing asked.
Quetzal wiggled her ears. “No, he’ll be happy, because he’ll think we couldn’t handle him.”
“We CAN handle him!” Darkwing grumbled.
Quiverwing was cross. “Don’t complain, it’s because of you that we couldn’t. Promising him the DC, too bad a superhero can’t break their word.”
Quetzal tried to make peace. “Never mind, I’m sure he’ll get back somehow, probably through Draganus. And look at it this way, someone was bound to get hurt if we fought. Not a scratch this way.”
Darkwing sighed. “This may sound strange, but I prefer Negaduck out in the open. Then we know what we’re dealing with.”
Nosedive grabbed the piece of paper that had appeared on his bed. “Dear Nosedive,” it read. “We’ve sent Negaduck to your universe for a bit of a holiday, long story, don’t ask. Anyway, we don’t mind having him back, so send him over if you find a way. Lots of Love, and see ya soon! Thlayli.”
Nosedive walked out of the room, waving the note. “Oh guys.....”
Story Copyright Rachel Baker ‘98. All characters copyright Disney, except Quetzal/Thlayli, who is copyright Rachel Baker. Disney can keep Quiverwing, and I’ll throw is the Shaft and Posiduck to keep them happy. ;)
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