Chapter II


Negaduck was able to pick up the other's trail of destruction and mayhem less than ten minutes into his trek back into St. Canard. Crumbling buildings, cracked asphalt, shattered sidewalks… and plenty of cars that look like they've taken one or two trips through a trash compactor. Civilians? Who the heck knows?— Negaduck hasn't caught a glimpse of anyone since he entered the zone of mass destruction.

Now the problem is finding Dorkwing's evil half in the midst of all this fresh carnage.

Negaduck can't help but sneer a little as he crosses from one side of the obliterated street to the other. Utter chaos and, uneccessary pain and suffering, is something of an art form to him. And while he could indulge in a little wanton destruction now and then (which tends to be more often than not), this is far too much all at once. Negaduck would rather cause a little more… controlled suffering. To cause them maximum pain. To get the most out of such destruction.

This… this is not coordinated. This is not planned. This is just pure, uncontrolled chaos. This isn't art. This is, simply put, a mess. Just what kind of impression is this guy trying to give these people?

So far, Negaduck is very far from impressed.

He soon finds the evil Dipwing— who looks even less like Darkwing than his "good" half, what with the ebony feathers and the costume being varying shades of light grey— flinging his hands towards a Hamburger Hippo. Tendrils of electricity burst from his palms and strike the concrete structure, shattering it instantly and reducing it to nothing but a pile of rubble.

Darkwing turns around to face the supervillain in question, a smirk spread across his beak. "SO. The imposter finallydecides to show his ugly mug!"

"'Imposter!?'" Negaduck repeats in a snarl as he grabs Darkwing by the front of his jacket. "'Ugly mug?!' If anyone's the imposter with the ugly mug, it's you!"

At the same time, the two ducks snarl at each other, "There ain't enough room in this town for the both of me!"

Negaduck lets go of Darkwing's jacket and quickly reaches into his jacket. He pulls out a long, wooden club with twisted nails in it.

"I'll smash ya…"

"Oh yeah?!" Darkwing whips out a particularly sharp dagger. "I'll stab ya, slash ya, and lacerate ya!"

Negaduck pulls out an even bigger dagger with his free hand. "OH YEAH!?"

Darkwing throws away his dagger and whips out a bazooka. "YEAH!"

This gives Negaduck pause. "I'll be right back."

Ten minutes later…

"I'd like to see ya try to stab me, slash me, and lacerate me now!" Negaduck cackles proudly from where he stands halfway through the trap door of the tank he'd stolen.

Darkwing is silent for a moment, and then he grumbles, "Wait right there…"

Another ten minutes later…

Darkwing sprints towards the tank, a missile resting in his hands. He then skids to a stop a couple feet away. "I'd like to see you top this… imposter!" The photonegative mallard's beak curls into a nasty smirk.

Negaduck growls and opens his beak to deliver a biting retort of his own when an-all-too familiar voice calls out from the nearby sidewalk, "Settle down, boys— violence isn't always the answer. Maybe we can talk this out over some warm milk and cookies? I even have chocolate chips!" The supervillain's growling only grows in volume after he focuses his gaze on the source: the "good" Darkwing. At his side are of course Gosalyn and Launchpad.

"What took you so long, Dipwing?"

"Another beetle, that's what," Gosalyn grumbles, her arms crossed.

"Sorry, not sorry, to cut this lovely 'family reunion' short," the evil Darkwing drawls, his smirk only growing wider, "but I have an entire world to destroy— starting with St. Canard!"

With that said, he hurls the missile at Negaduck's tank. The supervillain has just enough time to look off to the side and mutter an "Uh oh" right before the missile hits. The tank explodes in a ball of flames, knocking Good Darkwing and his companions off their feet.

"Mmm… must've been a dud. That explosion wasn't nearly as big as I thought it'd be." The evil Darkwing takes this moment to make his escape, sprinting down the nearest alleyway.

When the massive cloud of smoke billowing from the remains of the tank finally starts to dissipate, an ash covered Negaduck crawls up out of the wreckage. He stumbles across it blindly, swaying from side to side with each step. Some of his feathers and chunks of his costume are gone, having been incinerated in the explosion. "Nggh… this won't be the last you see of me, pal! I'll be back… just you… urrhgggh…" The villain falls front-first onto the pavement, hacking painfully as a few puffs of smoke billow from his beak. "Ouch."

. . . .

Darkwing's vision is blurred, and his eardrums are ringing. He pushes himself into a sitting position and quickly turns his attention onto Gos and L.P., who were knocked unconscious by the explosion. He checks both of their pulses and sighs in relief. Darkwing gazes at Gosalyn with a soft expression, that fear not quite leaving his system. "Oh, why'd I let you talk me into bringing you along… you could've been…" He doesn't finish the sentence, instead pulling Gosalyn into a tight hug. Darkwing starts humming a familiar tune, the terror that previously clawed at his chest relaxing just a little bit more.

Rest your head, little girl blue,

Come paint your dreams on your pillow.

I'll be near to chase away fear,

So sleep now and dream 'til tomorrow,

I'll be near to chase away fear,

So sleep now and dream 'til tomorrow.

Darkwing whips his head towards Launchpad when he hears the much taller mallard stirring. "L.P., are you okay? Is anything broken— should I take you to the hospital?" A pause. "If it's even still standing…" he mutters, thinking of his evil half. The hospital is probably nothing but a pile of rubble now…

"Nahh, m'okay," Launchpad tells him, sitting up and rubbing his forehead. "My head hurts pretty bad, but I'll be okay."

"L.P., I need to ask you to do something for me," Darkwing tells him firmly.

"Anythin', DW— just name it!"

Darkwing smiles, his heart warming at his best friend's response. His smile quickly fades though, a sadness washing over his face now instead. "I need you to take Gosalyn and leave the city. Go to Duckburg. No— Duckburg's too close… just get her as far away from St. Canard as you can." His eyes flick downward to the sidewalk as he adds, "I know that she tends to find danger no matter what, and she's Quiverwing Quack part-time, despite my best efforts, but… this is too dangerous. She could've been killed just now. I can't lose her, L.P. I don't know what I'd do with myself if… I need you to get her someplace safe."

The next thing Darkwing knows, Launchpad's hand is on his shoulder. "You can count on me, DW. I'll keep Gos safe."

"Thanks, pal. And I know you will."

Darkwing carefully settles Gos into Launchpad's waiting arms, worry still tearing at his insides. What if his evil half attacks them on their way out of the city? What if he can't stop him before the city is nothing but a smoky crater? What if he makes good on his promise of destroying the world?

"I'll keep her safe, DW," L.P. tells him again. "You just focus on stopping Negaduck—" He pauses, frowning. "Or should we call him Nega… er, never mind. You just focus on stopping him, okay?"

Darkwing nods, and watches as his best friend turns away and starts hurrying down the street ahead.

"Uhhgggh…"

Darkwing's body stiffens, and he whirls around to see Negaduck trying to get off the ground. The supervillain's limbs tremble, and then give out. He slumps back onto the asphalt. Darkwing kneels down beside the unconscious (again) villain and scoops him up into his arms. His stomach does weird things as the warmth from the other seeps through the cloth of their costumes. He tries to ignore it, and instead searches his memory.

Darkwing briefly wonders why his evil half was galvanized by the Tronsplitter, and he wasn't.

Maybe it had something to do with the Tronsplitter exploding? He shakes his head. Focus. One thing at a time. First he has to find Megavolt. If he can fix the Tronsplitter, then maybe they can do what they did the last time to stop his evil half from destroying all of St. Canard.

Determination floods his bones and Darkwing sprints down the street, Negaduck in tow.

. . . .

"Rest your head, little girl blue,

Come paint your dreams on your pillow…"

While Negaduck finally starts to regain consciousness, he still remains unaware of his surroundings— he's stuck somewhere between reality and the pitch-black void that still has its chains coiled around him. The annoying voice grating against his eardrums chips away at the chains, and soon they finally fall away.

Negaduck's eyelids slide open, and he quickly registers that he's being carried by someone. And that voice… it suddenly clicks, and he whips his head up to glare at none other than the "good" Darkwing. "You."

The other mallard doesn't seem to hear him— his eyes are flicking about nervously as he tiptoes cautiously down the street, still singing that annoying song quietly to himself.

"I'll be near to chase away fear," Negaduck cuts in drily, his tone anything but impressed. "So sleep now and yada, yada, yada."

Darkwing finally looks down at him, and a small trace of a smile tugs at the superhero's beak. "You're awake."

"Oh, so now, you notice," Negaduck snarls. He leaps out of the other's arms, landing feet-first on the pavement a few feet away. The mallard starts to fall over from the dizziness and nausea that now assaults him. Darkwing's arms catch him, preventing the villain from having another meeting between his beak and the asphalt. "If you want to still be breathing in the next two seconds, you'll let go of me right now…"

"I know you don't like me—"

"'Don't like' is a severe understatement…"

"But my evil half is still destroying the city," Darkwing goes on, seemingly ignoring Negaduck's interruption. "I need to stop him before he brings the whole place down on our heads, and I need Megavolt's help. If he can fix the Tronsplitter, he can galvanize me again, and I can put a stop to all this."

With that having been said, he scoops Negaduck up into his arms again. Normally the other wouldn't let Darkwing get within a foot of him unless Negaduck was going to flatten him into a pancake or something, but the supervillain isn't exactly in a state to fight the hero off at the moment.

"Doesn't explain why you're carrying me around," Negaduck points out.

"I couldn't just leave you there…"

Negaduck snorts derisively, although the statement does make him feel… weird. He doesn't know what the feeling is. All he knows is that it's weird, and it's probably not going to go away anytime soon.

"Of course. I almost forgot. Your goody two-shoes side has been upped to eleven."

Darkwing— whose face is slightly scrunched now, and his cheeks slightly red— focuses his gaze on the decimated, desolate street ahead once more. "There! There's Megavolt's lighthouse! Or what's left of it…"

. . . .

"Now… if I were Megavolt, where would I be?" Negatron (as the galvanized mallard dubbed himself after having encountered his less than impressive imposter) rubs the bottom of his beak as he gazes thoughtfully at the street ahead of him that's just waiting to be decimated by his hand.

He didn't find the rat at the lighthouse hideout or that apartment of his in the bad part of the city. (That didn't stop him from destroying both locations anyway.) Not exactly surprising, considering what had happened the last time. Still, one way or another, Negatron is going to find Megavolt and make sure that the Tronsplitter could never be fixed.

But in the meantime… Negatron's beak slides into a nasty smirk as he lifts one open palm towards the nearest building, and then curls his hand into a fist.

The building collapses in on itself, rumbling as it falls apart at the very seams.