Longer Days Pass

Chapter 8

The blue chairs that sat in the living room of the Mallard house whirled around for several seconds until finally stopping, revealing Launchpad sitting in one, a battered looking Drake in his lap and arms, and Gosalyn in the chair beside him.

Drake sighed, grateful to be back in his own home. He started to get up from sitting in Launchpad’s lap, when the pilot’s strong arms kept him from doing so. “Don’t worry, DW. I’ve got ya. Now, I know you don’t like this kinda treatment, but at the same time, I know how tired you are.”

Drake, usually one to fuss about being fussed over, stayed quiet. He let Launchpad have his way for once, which made Gosalyn and Launched give each other alarmed looks. This was very uncharacteristic of Drake.

Launchpad carried him into the kitchen, where he set him down at the table, then heading for the sink to make some hot chocolate. Drake immediately stood, walking into the living room. He came back a moment later with a small orange container. Gosalyn, also sitting at the table, saw this.

“What are those, dad?” she asked, warily and glaring at the little bottle.

Drake looked at the little container in his hand. “Oh, these are the pills Dr. Court gave me to help with the pain. I’m to take them when I eat. Which is something I haven’t been doing…”

“Tell me about it. What do you want to eat, DW?” spoke up Launchpad, looking behind his shoulder as he stood in front of the sink, pouring water into some mugs. Drake sighed, putting his pills on the table and looking at them with disgust. “I don’t know. Nothing really sounds good to me…” After some silence he added, “I’ll have a few pieces of bread…”

“Bread?” echoed Launchpad, looking at him.

“Bread” confirmed Drake. “With…you know, some butter on it…”

Launchpad glanced at Gosalyn, who shrugged in reply, before turning back to the sink. After making the hot chocolate and placing it on the table, Launchpad moved on to get Drake his bread with butter.

The awkward silence in the kitchen was deafening. None of them knew what to say. It was as though the ability to strike up a conversation was no longer possible. Gosalyn sat there in her seat anxiously, unable to keep still. She kept starting at her dad, who was just staring off into space. She hated seeing him like this.

Drake sighed. “Gosalyn, why don’t you go upstairs….It’s getting late..”

“Aww, come on, dad! It’s barely even late!!” she looked at the clock and blinked at it. It was almost midnight. “Keen gear! I didn’t know it was that late! How did it get that late!?”

Launchpad finished buttering Drake’s bread and handed him the pieces, then looked at Gosalyn to answer her question. “Well, remember, Gos, we had to have been up in the Tower for at least two hours trying to help your dad get undressed. And then I had to quickly fix up the Thunderquack and you had to change as well….”

Gosalyn listened to this bit with little interest. She repositioned herself on her seat before saying indignantly, “Well, midnight isn’t late at all. In fact its very early…”

Drake just smirked at her. “Yes, very early in the morning…”

Gosalyn tried not to look guilty at that remark, knowing though that it true.

“Fine….I’ll go to bed. But only because you made me!!” she insisted. Drake just shrugged at her, not really caring how she went to bed, so long as she did. He was too tired anyways to even think about doing much else. Usually he had to grab her by the ankles and shove her into her room, then get hit by one of her many traps that she lays out in her room.

Gosalyn stood up from her chair, stepping up to Drake and giving him a gentle hug. As they broke apart, she gave him a small kiss on the cheek. “I really hope you start feeling better, dad..”

“Me too, Gos….” he replied quietly, rubbing her cheek. Gosalyn smiled and went up to her room.

Drake sat there for a moment and then, as loud as he could with his fragile state, yelled out, “No horror movies!!!”

“Awww, man!!!!” they could hear her whine from upstairs. Drake and Launchpad chuckled. Drake shook his head, still chuckling a bit.

“That girl is just too much sometimes…” he commented. Launchpad looked at him as he said this, a bemused look on his face as he sat down at the table beside his friend. “But I wouldn’t have her any other way…”

Launchpad pushed the pieces of bread closer to Drake, who grabbed a piece and started nibbling at it. “Could you get me something to drink?” he asked Launchpad. The pilot was up in a heartbeat to get him some water. He got a glass and turned on the faucet, filling the glass up with water. Once he was done, he handed the glass to Drake, shutting off the water and sitting down.

Opening the bottle of pills, Drake took one out and placed it in his mouth, taking a sip of water just afterwards. He gulped it down, making a face. “I sure do hope this helps..” he gasped. The disgusted look didn’t leave his face until after several bites of his bread.

“I really do think you should eat more than this, DW” opted Launchpad, sounding worried and concerned. Drake nodded.

“I know. But I’m just not in the mood for anything else. As soon as I’m done eating this, I’m going to bed..” He looked at the pilot. “You coming upstairs or are you staying down here to watch some TV?”

Launchpad leaned back in his chair. “Eh, nothing is on. Pelican’s Island is no longer on really late at night. Nothing but Gos’ scary movies are on.” When Drake didn’t really seem to reply, save for a nod, Launchpad tried to think of something to keep the conversation going. “So, what’s with the sudden interest in bread?” He winced inwardly, knowing that sounded like a stupid question. He hoped it didn’t sound as stupid to Drake as it did to him.

“I don’t know. It was the first thing I thought of….” shrugged Drake. “And its something I used to eat a lot of when I was living alone in the Tower in my early crime fighting days…”

Launchpad nodded. “That’s right. You still have that kitchen there. Didn’t Gos once say that it was a timed kitchen to help train you or something?”

Drake smiled fondly at the memories flooding his mind. “Yep, yep, yep. It helped keep me in shape. Though I disabled the timer and traps once Gosalyn got settled. No need for it. With her around, I don’t have to worry about keeping in fit, chasing her about like I do, trying to keep her out of trouble.” He shook his head, nibbling on his second piece of bread.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, simply enjoying the night as it was. The storm had died down, a simple steady rain coming down now. Thunder could be heard way off in the distance and every now and then a faint light would flash from the lightning.

“DW, I really think you should be sleeping now. It’s been a long night…” Launchpad spoke up, his voice low. He braced himself for the long tirade that usually came from Drake when he said something like this to him. But after a minute or so, after hearing nothing, he looked up and saw that Drake was no longer sitting at the table.

“Well, you coming or not?” called over Drake’s voice, who was halfway up the stairs. Launchpad blinked, realizing that Drake must have silently gotten up from his seat without his knowledge.

Launchpad stood quickly, knocking his chair over. He yelped a bit at this, nearly tripping as he tried to move back a few steps and pick it up. Drake titled his head in curiosity, still standing there on the stairs. “What’s with you, LP?”

Launchpad finally made it out of the kitchen, walking through the living room and towards the stairs. He looked up, seeing that Drake was still waiting for him, looking down at him. Launchpad sighed when he saw the bag’s under his friend’s eyes.

Drake finally turned back around and started walking up the stairs once the pilot was behind him. The both walked up in silence, where Drake walked into their room and flipped on the light. He waited until Launchpad came in until he left the room again, going across the hall and checking on Gosalyn. He quietly opened up her door, peeking inside to see if she was sleeping. She was, but she was half off the bed, obviously having been trying to watch a horror movie, for the TV was on. He turned off the TV and gently moved her back properly onto the bed and tucked her in. He gently lent down and kissed her on the forehead.

Just as he was coming up to stand, he stiffened, wincing as he grabbed at his chest. Pain filled his chest. He grunted a bit, praying that he wouldn’t wake Gosalyn up all the while. He forced his legs to move towards the door, where he shut the door and made into his own room. The pain started to subside as he walked in, noting that Launchpad had already changed into his pajamas.

“She’s sleeping. She was trying to get away with watching a horror movie, but she fell asleep in the process” began Drake, trying to act calm. He didn’t want Launchpad to suspect anything. He hated it how they were always fussing over him. Launchpad and Gosalyn loved him very much, he knew that. But it still drove him nuts. He wasn’t used to being taken cared of. He wasn’t in his childhood and he wasn’t about to be in his adulthood. Or at least, he wasn’t ready to be.

Drake walked over to his dresser, opening up the top drawer and pulling out his pajamas. Launchpad chuckled at what he had said. “Oh, boy, that don’t surprise me at all, DW. That girl will watch horror movies any time of day…”

Drake nodded, pulling off his shirt and vest and replacing it with his night shirt. He then put on his little matching pajama hat. He walked up to the bed, pulling down the sheets, it was then that Drake felt Launchpad’s stare on him. He looked up and watched as Launchpad looked away.

Drake sighed. “Its been quite a night, LP, hasn’t it?” he asked, deciding to make conversation.

Launchpad let out a large breath. “You got that right, DW” replied Launchpad, shaking his head. “ I swear, I think I still have water in my goggles from all that rain.” He took off his goggles and low and behold, some water came out of them, getting the carpeting wet. Drake just watched with a disapproving look on his face, disliking the idea of water on his floor. He shook his head.

“Stop getting water all over my- the floor” Drake scolded, looking away as he stuttered. Launchpad looked up at this. Drake was going to say ‘his’ floor, but instead just said ‘the’ floor. Drake was always catching himself saying things like that.

Launchpad frowned. It was just another reminder of how hard it was for Drake to get used to them being together, even after all this time. Drake shook his head and stretched. “Let’s go to bed, LP” he yawned.

The two of them got into bed wordlessly. Once they were settled under the sheets, Launchpad and Drake faced each other. Drake seemed to be dozing off while Launchpad just laid there, blushing as he watched Drake.

It was then that Drake suddenly opened his eyes. “Why are you just staring at me?” his voice was calm and even.

Launchpad’s eyes widened in shock and surprise, having not been expecting that.

He pushed away a bit, mindful of where the edge of the bed was at the same time. “Wha! Boy, DW! You scared me! I thought you were asleep!”

Drake smirked, shaking his head. “No. How can I sleep when you keep staring at me. You now how paranoid I can get.” Launchpad nodded, knowing exactly how paranoid Drake could get. And it seemed to intensify when he was Darkwing. “What’s the matter, LP? Can’t you sleep?” This question and the amount of concern in his voice, caught the pilot off guard. He gulped. “Well, I….I guess you could say that….” He knew he was blushing, he just didn’t know how badly. He hoped Drake wouldn’t be able to notice, though he probably could, even in the darkened room. His eyes drifted down to Drake’s chest. “Is the medicine you took helping at all?”

Drake sighed. “I guess. The pain is better than it has been since it started. Which I suppose is a plus.” Silence fell between them for a while, the only sound coming from the passing storm outside and their breathing. Drake sat there and studied Launchpad for a bit, a puzzled look on his face. This makes Launchpad nervous.

“W-What are you thinking about there, DW?” he asked at length.

Drake blinks, realizing he had been staring, and smiles a bit. “You’re still upset about Morgana having come over, aren’t you?”

Launchpad chuckled nervously a bit, repositioning himself under the covers. “I think I’ve been a little too worried about you, DW, to be worried about that.” But Drake didn’t buy it. He could tell that Launchpad was still thinking about it. How jealous it had made him.

“Look, LP, I know you don’t like Morgana --” Launchpad was about to interrupt when Drake put a hand over his beak, silencing him. “But, you shouldn’t worry about that. Morgana will always mean a lot to me, but you eventually have to move on from your first love and I have!” He took Launchpad’s hand. “Look, you mean a lot to me, LP. You’re my best friend, a great sidekick, and I couldn’t have asked for more. So just…don’t worry about it, okay?”

Launchpad seemed to be at a loss of words after this. He stared at Drake with wide eyes. Words like that did not come out of Drake Mallard easily. He always pushed away stuff like this, save maybe when it came to a father/daughter with Gosalyn, but emotions like this were not said or showed or spoken often with Drake. Launchpad smiled fondly at him. “Thanks, DW…”

The two of them leaned in towards one another for a kiss, which lasted several minutes. When they broke apart, they scooted closer to each other, enjoying each other;s company.

------

The clicking sounds of someone typing with great speed was all that could heard in the white room which was filled with equipment for medical purposes. It was a small doctor’s office, which was currently dimly lit, most of the light coming from the computer screen as the doctor sitting in the chair typed furiously, every now and then grabbing the mouse to click on something on the screen.

Dr. Kerch had never felt so panicked, nervous, and anxious in all of his life. On a daily basis he would confront dying or injured patients on the table, but nothing compared to this. Not when his own life was in jeopardy. It was almost selfish of him to be more scared of losing his own life over being the reason of losing someone else’s, but that was just the way he felt.

It didn’t help matters that he was currently in the same room with two members of the most feared criminal group in St. Canard: Liquidator and Bushroot.

The two villains had made themselves at home in the little doctor’s office. The office was basically resembling a room that one would enter to have a check-up or physical.

Bushroot was lying on the bed-like table, staring up at the ceiling in boredom as one of his leafy hands fiddled with the petals of hair he had on his head. Liquidator was standing in front of the window that overlooked the parking lot of the hospital, looking annoyed.

Kerch just continued to do what he was told, which was to prepare for tests that he would take on Negaduck. He wasn’t looking forward to the examination at all. If it was any other person, he would think nothing of it, but since this was one of the nastiest ducks in the world, he knew it couldn’t be good.

Bushroot drummed his ‘fingers’ in the side of the bed, glancing over to where Liquidator was standing in front of the window. “Any sign of the boss’s signal yet?”

Liquidator wordlessly moved his attention more towards the building, since the building made a corner, and through the window one could see windows to other rooms. Liquidator looked a particular window, on the same floor as they were on, diagonal from the room there were in.

“So far, no show! “announced the ex salesman.

Bushroot sighed, looking more sullen with boredom.

Kerch, who was still sitting at the desk, typing away, glanced over at Bushroot. “Just what exactly is going to happen?” he asked meekly. His curiously and anxiety was killing him.

Bushroot sat up a bit, prepared to reply, when Liquidator caught him off. “You’ll know when the time is right!” he snapped, never looking away from the window. He took a watery hand and placed it under his chin, still staring at that one spot, waiting.

Kerch took in a deep breath, straightening his back out as he sat in the chair and continued to type. He was typing in all the information that would needed for the examination. Usually this sort of thing was prepared by others, such as the nurses or helpers, but considering Negaduck wanted as few people to know about this operation as possible, he was now to do it.

It wasn’t for another twenty minutes of this tension that Liquidator finally announced, “It’s time!”

Bushroot quickly rose from his spot of the bed, getting up on his feet on cold floor as Kerch flinched with nerves. Liquidator walked over to the door, grabbing the door handle, but he never turned or opened the door knob.

The sound of something being wheeled down the hallway could be heard, and then the sound of someone humming tunelessly. There was then three distinct knocks on the door and with his free hand, Liquidator knocked back two times. The person on the other side of the door knocked five more times before Liquidator finally opened the door.

On the other side of the door stood Quackerjack, though instead of his usual attire, he was wearing a janitorial outfit, his jester hat still in place.

“Hellooooooooooo!” he called out. He stepped in past the threshold of the room. “Did someone order for some trash?”

Liquidator ignored the jester and grabbed what was beside him. Quackerjack was standing next to a large trash can on wheels, a wrapped up garbage bag inside of it. He grabbed the trash can and wheeled it further into the room. Quackerjack moved to step into the room, but Liquidator started to shut the door on him.

“Hey!” he cried.

Liquidator regarded him with annoyance. “You’re needed elsewhere. You’re supposed to head right back to the other office and stay with Megavolt as soon as you drop this off.” The canine then slammed the door on Quackerjack.

“Aww, you’re no fun!” wailed the jester from the other side of the door.

Liquidator, meanwhile, took the time to start untying the bag. As soon as the bag was open, Negaduck popped out, standing, emerging from the bag as he sucked in gulps of air.

“You idiots!” he shouted as soon as he had enough breath. The three others in the room all flinched at his fury. “For God’s sake…its like you’re all trying to kill me…” he muttered, climbing out of the trash can. He looked at his hiding place. “Put that in the corner, we’ll be needing it in a little bit. Liquidator did as he was told.

Negaduck’s full attention was now on Kerch, who was still sitting on the desk. The villain eyed him evilly. “Good evening, doctor. I assume everything is going as planned?” he asked, his hands behind his back.

Kerch nodded nervously. “Y-Yes, sir. Everything is going well. I actually just finished up here, so…if you would just sit down over there on the bed.”

Negaduck looked over at the bed before walking over to sit on it. He hoisted himself up, grunting in pain in the process, and waited, glaring at the room before him.

Kerch stood a moment later, gulping in fear, as he prepared himself for what he was about to do.

“I’m just going to give you a check-up. First we’ll see if all of your vitals are okay. We do this with everyone who is experiencing pain in hopes to find the most simplest of reasons for the pain.”

Negaduck didn’t say anything, just glared daggers at him. Bushroot and Liquidator stood in front of the window, watching.

Kerch checked his heartbeat, putting the cold metal instrument to his chest after Negaduck moved his shirt up. Checked his reflexes, eyes, hearing, mouth. Everything that one would do in a check-up. After Kerch wrote down some notes, Negaduck finally growled, “Alright, so what does all of this mean? This isn’t helping me in the least, is it!?”

Kerch sighed. “Well, the best thing for me to do would be to give you an MRI scan. It’s the best way to figure out what is going on inside your chest. We have a positive conclusion that its cancer, but since you want to know if there is anything else it can be, and MRI scan is our best bet.”

Negaduck growled darkly. “Then let’s get to it….”

-------------------

On the other side of hospital, in the other doctor’s office, sat three people, all of which who were doing nothing. Dr. Rufener checked his watch for what seemed like the millionth time in the last ten minutes and sighed.

Megavolt hissed in annoyance. “Ooh, what is it with technology these days!? It has no respect!” He was currently glaring at a heart monitor, which was currently shut off. “I plug you in and yet you won’t do anything! I turn you on, and YET YOU WON’T DO ANYTHING!!!”

Quackerjack, who was sitting on the bed-like table in this roomed, tsked. “Megsy….if you don’t stop that, you’ll going to go into one of your rages…” he warned, playing with a yo-yo, his legs crossed, being supported by his one arm.

“You mean he’s not in a rage already?” Rufener couldn’t help but turn around in his chair and ask, since he wasn’t facing Quackerjack. He flinched, wishing he hadn’t asked as Quackerjack turned his attention on him.

“Oh, no. He can get so much worse….” he informed the doctor.

“Oooh, stop talking about me as though I’m not in the room!!” shouted Megavolt, from where he stood in front of the monitor, never turning away from it.

Quackerjack leaned in towards Rufener. “I think he’s upset…” he giggled with glee.

Megavolt heard this, turning on his heel so that he could glare at the duck. He pointed a blue gloved finger at him. “Shut up!”

Quackerjack blinked at him. “That’s not very nice of you to say, Megsy. Especially to me. Besides, I don’t know what you’re all huffed up about. What’s wrong with you?”

“Do you want me to stand here and bore you with all the details of exactly what’s wrong with me again, or are you going to shut up!?” snapped the rodent.

Quackerjack dropped his yo-yo and pulled down on his hat in dismay. “No, please don’t!” He had heard more than once the detailed explanation of what was wrong with Megavolt and how he was the way he was. He did not like hearing it. Very boring for his taste.

“Then shut up!” shouted Megavolt once more.

“You two fight like an old married couple…you know that?” spoke Rufener, having been hearing them bicker for the last couple hours. He wasn’t nearly as frightened of these villains as Kerch was.

Quackerjack looked over at Rufener at this statement, the bells on his hat jingling. “Awww, we do!? You hear that Megsy? We act like an old married couple!”

“I don’t know about the ‘old’ part…” muttered Megavolt irritably, his focus on the monitor again. Quackerjack just laughed at this.

Rufener blinked. “Wait…” he turned in his chair, pointing back and forth between them. He had been expecting them to disagree or resent that accusation. “You guys aren’t…!?”

“Aren’t what!?” cried Quackerjack, jumping down from the bed. “A couple!? Playmates!? Partners in crime!? Mates in general!? Birds!?” Silence ensued after this last bit. This has even grabbed Megavolt’s attention. “Well…I’M a bird….you guys are rodents…” he cackled with glee after that. Rufener and Megavolt just gave him an annoyed look.

Rufener turned back around properly in his chair, deciding to let it rest there. He didn’t even understand why he was talking to them anyways. They were criminals and he was a man of medicine.

Megavolt growled under his breath several minutes later, still tampering with the monitor. Quackerjack was sitting back up on the bed, playing with his yo-yo which he had grabbed from the floor when he dropped it. “WHY WON’T YOU WORK!?” screamed Megavolt.

Rufener turned in his chair again. “You know that’s broken right?”

Megavolt stiffened at these words, his back going straight. He slowly turned to Rufener with a confused look. “What!?”

Rufener shrugged. “It’s broken. It doesn’t work. That’s why it hasn’t been doing anything when you turn it on or plug it in. The reason its even in here is because I was supposed to give it to my friend Bob, who’s going to try to fix it.”

Megavolt just continued to stare at him as though Rufener had spoken a different language. “It’s broken…” he repeated, clarifying as his brain tried to register what his he was hearing.

Quackerjack leaned in towards Megavolt. “Gee, Megs, I would have thought you’d have been able to catch onto that, seeing as how you’re practically a living battery as it is…” he snickered.

Megavolt crazed eyes turned to Quackerjack. “Oh, yeah, wise guy!?” he threatened. He grabbed Quackerjack by the throat, who cried out in shock, his hands dropping the yo-yo and reaching up to try and pry off Megavolt’s hand.

“M-Megsy!” whimpered Quackerjack as the rodent dragged him off the bed and was snarling down at him. Rufener just sat there in his chair, trying not to bring attention to himself as Megavolt focused his rage on the poor jester.

“You wanna play and tease me some more, Quackerjack, or do I have to pummel you to the ground first!?” snarled Megavolt, glaring down at his partner in crime.

“M-Megsy, watch your temper….You know what happens when you get like this…” Quackerjack continued to say in a small voice. His throat was beginning to throb because of Megavolt’s tight grip on his throat.

With that said, Megavolt threw Quackerjack into the broken heart monitor, which caused both of them to crash into the wall since the monitor was on wheels. This however, causing a chain of events to happen. When the monitor hit the wall, it violently shook the shelf that was above it, making several things on top of it, fall over. Bottles and boxes of band-aids, cotton balls, q-tips, hydrogen perozide, and other various things were now falling to the ground. When the bottle of hydrogen perozide fell to the ground, it just happened land on top of the monitor so hard that the cap fell off of it, the contents of it falling all over the floor.

Just as Quackerjack was starting to peel himself off the front of the monitor from where Megavolt slammed him into it, the hydrogen perozide was starting to drip down to the floor, up against the wall. As the liquid slid down the wall, it ran into an electrical socket, where the hydrogen started to spill inside.

Megavolt knelt down, ignoring Quackerjack beside him, and watched as the hydrogen perozide spilled into the electrical socket. His eyes widened. “Uh oh…” he muttered in dread.

There was a spark of blue for a moment and then the fire started, spreading quickly. Quackerjack sat down on the floor, rubbing his head and checking for an injuries. He moaned, knowing the monitor had not been friendly to his rib cage. He sniffed a bit, then furrowed his brow. He was about to ask if something was on fire when Megavolt grabbed him by the collar and drug him up until he was standing.

Rufener stood, his eyes wide in fear at the small fire that was quickly growing around the electrical socket. The fire was starting to get onto the monitor, since it had hydrogen perozide dripping all over it, the bottle still sitting on top of it, spilling more.

“Oh, great going Sparky! NOW look what you did! I told you to watch your temper, but did you listen to me!? Noooooo!!!!” barked Quackerjack, glaring daggers at Megavolt.

Megavolt could do nothing but look guilty and cringe at Quackerjack’s words, knowing it was true. Rufener knew he had to take action, since it seemed to the villains weren’t about to do anything.

“Listen, we’re gonna have to try and stop this!” he said in a commanding voice.

It was at this moment that the monitor exploded, which threw them all backwards towards the door, Megavolt landing on top of Rufener. The fire was growing more rapidly. The smoke detector on the cieiling suddenly went off, beeping madly as the two small sprinkler in the room went off. Megavolt huffed in annoyance at this as Rufener went for the doorknob. Quackerjack, however, beat him to it.

“Not so fast, Jack! Orders were to stay in here, no exceptions!” he tutted. Rufener looked at him with wide eyes.

“I think this is an exception we can’t ignore! We have to get help! We need fire extishquishers!” he snapped back, not caring who it was he was yelling at at the moment.

He grabbed at the doorknob, trying to knock Quackerjack’s own hand out of the way. Then, the fire alarm went off.

The three of them stood there, looking at each other. “So much for keeping quiet…” muttered Megavolt, knowing Negaduck had not wanted anyone else in the building to know of their being there. He looked at Quackerjack. “Quacky, you’ll come to my funeral, right?”

Quackerjack walked up to the rodent and gave him a side hug. “Oh, yeah….Sure I will. It’s just…well…I may not be able to make it…” Megavolt gave him a questioning look. “I’ll…. probably be dead too…” Megavolt then nodded, understanding.

Rufener looked back over at the fire, taking a step closer to the door. “Listen, boys, I think we just need to get out of here. The alarm has been set off, there’s nothing more we can do in here. The firefighters will take over from here.” He grabbed the doorknob that was no longer being protected by Quackerjack and started to make a run for it, the two villains right behind him.

It was early morning, the birds were chirping happily outside the window, the clear blue sky was slowly being taken over by ominous rain clouds. The calm of the morning made the two occupants in the bed want to stay there forever, having no intentions of ever leaving.

On the bed slept Launchpad and Drake, cold thick blankets on top of them. Drake was laying on top of Launchpad, who was sleeping on his back, his one arm up over his head while the other one lay on Drake’s back. Drake was sleeping on his stomach, his cheek pressed up against Launchpad’s upper chest.

Drake slowly opened his eyes, closing them quickly as his eyes tried to adjust to the bright light. He moaned a bit, moving his legs slightly. He didn’t want to get up. He couldn’t remember what day it was so he wasn’t sure if Gosalyn had to get up for school or not. Just as he was about to drift back to sleep, the door to their bedroom slammed open.

Gosalyn pushed the door as hard as she could, breathing quickly, her heart pounding in her chest, and her eyes wide. She halted though when she saw the bed.

Drake bounced up at the sound of the door opening, now fully away. He was holding himself up by his arms, the quick movement starting to wake up Launchpad.

“DW? W-What…..What’s going on…?” he mumbled sleepily.

“G-Gosalyn!” squeaked Drake, turning a bright shade of red. Gosalyn could only stand there at the door, frozen in shock as she stared at the sight before her.

Launchpad’s eyes went wide at the mention of Gosalyn, abruptly sitting up, which caused him to run into Drake, who was half on top of him. Drake groaned from the pain of impact, his chest starting to throb, but he had other things to worry about. All he had to do was make sure that the bed sheets stayed above his waist line. He wrapped some of the spare sheets around his whole body, making sure Launchpad had enough to keep himself covered as well.

“Dad?” screeched Gosalyn incredulously as length. Drake, still cherry red, moved away from Launchpad, moving to his proper side of the bed, his eyes on his daughter. The blanket was draped over his shoulders, completely covered save his head and part of his neck and chest.

“Yes, Gosalyn, sweetie?” he chirped nervously.

Gosalyn just stared at them for a moment longer, her beak open slightly as she tried to shut it. Once she recovered her speech she said, “Umm…well, on the news they were saying there is trouble at the hospital. One of the rooms caught on fire. Witnesses have claimed to see Megavolt and Quackerjack there!”

Drake looked at his daughter for a moment, trying to comprehend what she was saying. “What?”

Gosalyn looked down, having to finally turn away. “Oh, you heard me, dad!” she scolded angrily.

Drake shook his head a bit, trying to get himself to come back to reality. He had heard her, but he just wasn’t sure it was all sinking in. “Wait, so Quackerjack and Megavolt were spotted at the hospital?”

Gosalyn nodded. “It would seem that way” she answered breathlessly.

Drake stared in front of himself, his mind going a mile a minute as he processed this information. “Hmm….something must be going on, for that is the second time that they’ve hit a hospital.” He looked up at Gosalyn, who was still standing in the doorway,, in her pajamas. “Was it the same hospital that Bushroot and Liquidator had hit yesterday?”

Gosalyn shook her head. “No, it’s the one on the other side of town….”

Drake grunted in concentration. Launchpad, meanwhile, could nothing but sit there awkwardly holding the blankets around himself, even more red than Drake. Drake sat there for several minutes, trying to figure all this out, while Launchpad and Gosalyn stood and sat there awkwardly. Drake finally announced, “Whatever is going on with these hits at the hospitals, I’m going to find out.” he turned to Launchpad. “LP, get ready.” He faced the door. “Let’s get dangerous.”

“We might wanna change first, DW” came Launchpad’s meek voice. Drake blinked, then gave the pilot a side glare.

“No, really, Launchpad!” he sneered.

Gosalyn shuffled her feet at the door. “I assume you two slept well…” she smiled deviously and before Drake could scold her for her attitude, she ran off to her room. Drake just glared after her.

“Well, you know she could have done a lot worse, DW, seeing as how most of the time she’s poking fun at us for standing next to each other.” Launchpad pointed out as he move to get up and change into his clothes. Drake nodded, knowing this was true.

“Hmmm….Maybe she’s finally getting used to the fact…” he smiled.

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Author’s Note: ha. I really liked that last bit. It was a lot of fun. It was a scene that’s been in my head for the longest time. Pretty much since the second or third chapter. But I wanted to wait for the right time for it, which obviously arrived in this chapter. The plot is really starting to thicken and slowly show itself now, but I still have a lot more planned for this story, and I don’t believe it should be ending any time soon. If things go as well as they have been for this story at any rate. Well, hope you enjoyed it! J