Toymaker Madness

Chapter 8

Author’s Note: Just a little ending chapter for this story, seeing as how the last chapter ended things sort of quickly. I wanted to wrap this story up a little bit more than I had.

Enjoy!

The dark figure moved closer and closer to Quackerjack, who had been running down the long hallway for what seemed like forever. Everything around him seemed to blend together, nothing making any sense. Shapes and shadows surrounded him and he couldn’t put things together to make a coherent thought. All he knew was that he had run.

Run for his playful, childish life. A loud thunderous noise could be heard, never ending.

Quackerjack panted for the air that his lungs begged for, wishing he could stop running but at the same time, knowing he couldn’t. The bells at the end of his hat jingled loudly, adding to the thunder-like noise and making his eardrums hurt. Fear gripped his heart, frightening him to no end. He just wanted it to end, all end!

“I can make it end….” spoke a chilling, haunting voice. The voice sent shivers of fear down the jester’s back. “I can make it end, little clown. Come now. Stop running….and I’ll make it end.” Quackerjack abruptly stopped, nearly running into a wall that had appeared out of nowhere. Everything seemed to be in shades of purples and grays. Chilling. The shadow he’d been hiding from leered forward, advancing since he was now trapped. The hallway had ended and now Quackerjack had no where else to go. “I’ll be back…” the creepy voice informed him.

Quackerjack blinked. Everything, even the dark shadow itself, which had been growing along with advancing, seemed to fade out, mixing together with the walls and floor and ceiling, all mixing together into one big mess.

Quackerjack closed his eyes tightly, moaning ever so, wishing it would just end. He tried pushing the grey and purple mess away, feeling the shadow try and grab at him as it mixed together around him. Pushing, shoving, kicking. Anything to get it away.

“Stop kicking….” mumbled a new voice. Quackerjack looked about, unsure of where this new voice came from. It wasn’t the shadow’s voice. But he knew that if he stopped kicking and thrashing about, everything would get him. Everything.

WHUMP!

Quackerjack groaned as he landed on his stomach, his chin hitting hard of the poorly carpeted floor. He shook his head, his mind getting more clear by the moment. The grey purple shapes of the hallway were fading from his mind as reality fell into place. He blinked, starting to get up. His head spun, making him dizzy.

He looked up, seeing that he was lying on the floor beside his bed, where he could just barely seeing Megavolt’s sleeping form still on the bed, facing away from him. His soft snores could be heard. Funny, they had sounded so much louder in his dream.

At this notion, Quackerjack realized it had all been a dream. He panted, still terrified of the dream. That voice still chilled him to the bone. He shivered, moaning a bit.

“How much do you…..want…..for the refrigerator…..?” mumbled Megavolt from up on the bed. This made Quackerjack look up. He pushed aside his long red bangs, which were in his eyes since he currently didn’t have on his infamous jester hat. All he wore were his boxers, which had like teddy bears on them.

Quackerjack finally stood up, stretching as he gathered up his clothes from the drawers. Last night’s events came flooding back in a whirlwind of chaos.

The media had gone and written story after story about what had taken place at Meddle’s Mansion. Of course, none of what they wrote was entirely accurate. But Meddle found this to be a great opportunity to use the publicity he received to sell more of his toys. Sales did not sky rocket due to his near death experience, much to his disappointment, but it was publicity nonetheless and he was not about to be discouraged by it.

Darkwing received the credit for saving him, any and all indication of Megavolt helping him having been scribbled out. Megavolt was not even mentioned in the articles written, despite the fact that had it not been for him, Meddle would be dead.

Quackerjack didn’t mind this in the least. He never did care about what the media wrote about him when it came to his crimes. He flat out ignored the media and newspapers and what they had to say about him. He was just tickled that Whiffle Boy sales didn’t go up, as Meddle had hoped.

From that moment on, Meddle insisted that he always be accompanied by some sort of a bodyguard, knowing fully well that Quackerjack could possibly come and try again at any time. Again, this made the jester amused to know of how much he frightened him.

Quackerjack got all his clothes out, but figured it would be pointless to change yet. He wasn’t about to go anywhere without Megavolt, who was still fast asleep.

Mr. Banana Brain sat at the top of his pillow, while Megavolt slept deeply beside him, his back still facing the jester. Quackerjack gently got onto the bed and titled his head and smiled fondly at the rodent. The night before he had been fully prepared to kill Meddle, but it was as thought a cloud had been lifted. Now he didn’t really care what happened to Meddle. Sure, they had snuck into Negaduck’s office later on last night and added his name to his “To Kill” list, but Quackerjack still didn’t quite care. He didn’t know exactly why. Maybe it was because of what Megavolt said. Had it not been for Meddle and him losing his factory, he wouldn’t have met Megavolt. At least, not like he knew him now.

Grinning widely, Quackerjack knelt down and whispered into Megavolt’s ear. “Wakey wakey!!” he chimed out.

Megavolt jumped a bit at this, his crazed eyes opening slowly. “Hmmm….wha--?” he groaned, trying to comprehend what was happening. He rolled over, his eyes fixing on Quackerjack’s grinning face as the jester sat up above him.

“Hiya, Megsy!” he greeted. He took a feathered hand and played with Megavolt’s tuft of red hair on his head. “Sleep well?”

Megavolt didn’t reply, just rolled back around and shrugged the best way he could. “How about you?” Quackerjack shuddered at the memory of his dream. “Oooooh, Not good, Megsy! I had a nightmare!!”

“Hmmm…..Really? What about?”

“I don’t want to think about it!” cried out the jester, pulling on his red hair like he would his hat.

“Okay.”

“Oh! It was just awful Megsy! I was running….everything was dark and scary. And I was being chased by this terrible….Oooh, such a terrible shadow! It’s voice sent shivers down my spine!”

“Blame it on the tax collectors. They do that to you….”

“Megsy! I’m being serious!” shouted Quackerjack in annoyance.

They both froze. Megavolt turned around, seemingly more awake now. He sat up, a concerned look on your face. “Quacky?” He placed a furry hand on the duck’s forehead. “Are you okay? You have me worried…”

A large tear appeared at the corner of Quackerjack’s left eye as he pouted. “I think I’ll live…” Megavolt rolled his eyes, knowing the jester wasn’t really anywhere near crying. As given, Quackerjack quickly did a summersault of the bed, proving the rodent’s point.

But the jester didn’t sway far from the bed, in fact he bounced back over to it, placing his knees on the floor, his elbows on the bed, and his chin resting in his hands, watching Megavolt tenderly.

Megavolt sat up and stretched, now more awake. Quackerjack grinned widely at this, hopping up on the bed. Megavolt regarded his jester friend for a moment. “Are you feeling better?”

Quackerjack looked away, knowing what the rodent meant. “Yes, I do.”

“You have all that murder and revenge talk about out your mind?” questioned Megavolt further.

Quackerjack pouted as he reached down on the floor and picked up his jester shirt. “I suppose…” he sighed dramatically.

“Don’t be a little kid about it” growled Megavolt, annoyed by the way Quackerjack was answering him. “I’m serious. I saved your tail feathers from committing one of the worst crimes…”

“But I AM a little kid, Megsy!!!” insisted Quackerjack as he pulled his jester shirt over his head and large beak. “Besides, you’ve killed, haven’t you!?”

Megavolt tensed up a bit at this. “I have not” he said stiffly.

Quackerjack didn’t buy it. “I’ll bet you have, you cad! You just can’t remember!”

“Don’t accuse the innocent!” snapped Megavolt, looking away in a huff. He couldn’t meet Quackerjack’s wild eyes.

Quackerjack cackled at this, narrowing his eyes at Megavolt. “Please, Megs, we are both FAR from innocent…” He then threw his head back and laughed some more.

Megavolt looked at him, unable to hide a grin and a soft chuckle to escape. As Quackerjack continued to laugh, they both gathered their clothes and changed from the pajamas. Snapping on his goggles, Megavolt looked down at himself, everything but his battery on. Quackerjack was now fully dressed as well, playing with Mr. Banana Brain and a paddle ball.

“But really, Megs, tell me. I know you have. I’ve seen on the news were you’ve been suggested to kill someone before. I know you remember. I don’t care how bad of memory you have, that is something that would stick with you..” pestered the jester, refusing to let the subject drop. He knew he was right. He has seen Megavolt and his rages; the rodent could get darn right violent when pushed enough.

Megavolt, still sitting on his side of the bed while Quackerjack stood opposite of him, crossed his arms, once again looking away. “I don’t want to talk about it…”

“You lecture me like a grade school teacher about murder, yet you have done it yourself! That’s just not playing fair Megsy!!” whined Quackerjack, pulling down on his hat.

Megavolt growled a bit at this statement, his temper starting to flare. “All the more reason for you to listen to me!!” he snapped. Quackerjack flinched at his tone, rarely having heard it aimed at him. Usually he heard Megavolt use that angry, infuriated tone with Darkwing or at one of his unsuccessful experiments. But never at him, save maybe once or twice when he was playing too loudly around him as he worked. Megavolt took a moment to calm himself, yet when he next spoke, there was still evident anger in his nasally voice. “Alright, so I have killed. I didn’t mean to. They were in my way. You know how I get when I’m anxious and in the middle of one of my plots to save my light bulbs. I just don’t know what comes over me, but….I was trying to save some small lights in the jewelry store. The owner refused to let me get to them. So….I zapped them. Hard. I’ll zap you every now and then, but not nearly enough to really hurt you. Just a shock.” He paused, looking for Quackerjack’s reaction to all this. The jester was uncharacteristically still, watching him intently. Megavolt decided to move on. “But I didn’t end there. I was so angry at the clerk that to satisfy my fury, I took out a small knife and threw it down, where it landed in the middle of their back.”

Quackerjack gasped at this, his eyes wide with astonishment and terror. He held his hands up to his beak like a little child would after hearing a scary story. “I only stabbed the one person afterwards….”

Quackerjack furrowed his brow, the ends of this hat mimicking his head movements. “You mean to say that you’ve killed more than once?”

“Yeah…The other two times were very similar cases. Only I just zapped them. Electrocuted them to death. At first it was nothing. I would just go back to my business, eventually being stopped by Dorkwing. But later, the guilt would set in. I’m lucky. I have a bad memory, so half the time I can’t even remember my guilt, let alone what I did. But when I do remember, its horrible. I’ve gotten used to it, but the guilt is so overwhelming, it just….well, makes you go insane…”

“What’s past insane? Cause you’re already there” wondered Quackerjack, trying to move past the sad tale.

“I don’t know” shrugged Megavolt. “But you get my point, I’m sure.” The jester nodded. He moved closer to Megavolt until he was sitting next to the rodent, wrapping his arms around the rodent’s waist.

“Thank you, Megsy” cooed Quackerjack. Megavolt didn’t say anything, just relaxed against Quackerjack’s touch.

“So what was this nightmare about again?” asked Megavolt, changing the subject entirely. Megavolt felt his friend shiver violently.

“Ooooh, it was scary, Megsy. I’m not really sure what it was. But to be honest, I’m almost positive I’ve heard that scary voice before…” He shivered once again, looking about the darkened room. There wasn’t all that much light in the room, but it was far from dark. He looked about, noticing the shadows in the room. He gasped, jumping up a bit in his fright, holding onto Megavolt’s arm tighter and tighter and making the other villain wince in pain. Quackerjack’s eyes widen.

“What is it!?” demanded Megavolt. He wanted to know why his arm was being torn off.

“It was him!” gasped Quackerjack. He then hid his face in Megavolt’s chest, curling up close to his favorite playmate. Megavolt placed his hands on Quackerjack’s back, a look of confusion of his face.

“I don’t understand. Who are we talking about now?”

Quackerjack took in a shaky breath, shivering. “Ooh, Megsy. You and I weren’t as close back then as we are now…” he gulped. “….when it happened….”

“When what happened?” demanded Megavolt. He hated being out of the loop. He just waited and watched Quackerjack, who was still hiding in his chest, as he waited for an answer.

The scared jester pulled out his favorite toy from the pocket of his purple clown pants. He looked at it and gave it a hug, before sitting up slightly and showing it to Megavolt. “A while back….Mr. Banana Brain got possessed…”

“Possessed?”

“Yes…by a monster….he called himself….” the jester gulped, afraid to even say the name. “P-Paddywhack…”

“Paddywhack?” repeated Megavolt, completely lost. He felt the jester nod.

“Yes. Oh, it was horrible. He hid himself in the shadow of Mr. Banana Brain, giving him the ability to control him.” He clutched his doll tightly. “He fed off the misery of others….At first I thought it was just Mr. Banana Brian having coming to life. But then I realized it was Paddywhack. I tried to reason with him, but he then locked me up inside a jack-in-the-box, which ended up being a portal or something into his own world. A world where everything was miserable.” Quackerjack sat up straight, looking Megavolt straight in the face, his face inches form Megavolt’s. “He made me wear a BUSINESS SUIT!!!!”

Megavolt just blinked at him.

“I was so miserable there, Megsy. But thankfully, Darkwing Duck ended up being there and the two of us managed to work together, stop him, and get out of there…” concluded Quackerjack.

“You and Darkwing worked together? And you yell at me when I do!” sniffed Megavolt.

Quackerjack growled in annoyance. “Oh hush up, Megsy! At least I wasn’t playing sleep-over with him!”

“I didn’t know where else to go!” retorted the rodent.

Quackerjack shrugged. “Its doesn’t matter now. We’re together now and that’s all that matters. The dream was scary, but I have you now. Besides, he’s gone…I’ll never have to think about him again..” whispered Quackerjack, laying down in Megavolt’s lap. Megavolt smiled, leaning back into the pillows behind him and relaxing as Quackerjack’s head rested on his stomach, the rest of him stretched out on the bed.

They were quiet for several minutes. “You’re tummy’s making noises…” said Quackerjack childishly.

Megavolt shrugged. “Oh, well.” The two of them laid there for a while, grateful of each other. However, neither of them noticed that a small shadow in the corner of the room shifted slightly, disappearing; a faint, chilling laugh coming from it.

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Author’s Note: Well, if you haven’t guessed already, there will be a continuation of this fic in a brand new story. I’m sure most of you can guess what its going to be about. I almost didn’t add any of this, but decided I would give you what I could until I got this new story in the works. Well, hope you liked Toymaker Madness!!! Till next time!