//------------------------------// // 191. Calling help. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Saint Canard Hospital, Pom- “We simply can’t leave the hospital undefended.” I stated calmly. “I agree with that.” Dormarch followed up. “All the defenders here were already injured officers or officers that got injured in the line of duty protecting the hospital from incursion, some still need to be treated for heavy chemical burns and need I remind you the hospital is running on borrowed time here with the emergency power.” “Can Sneeze Master hold the hospital?” Ocellus asked as we were hashing out what my team should do next. Morgana would be taken care of when she came in. Though it was taking a while and that fire in the south western side of the city around the arboretum was worrying. Maui, Launchpad and Stegmutt were taking care of freeing up Tanya to give Jitters some good news about his wife. We were currently holding the hospital and a large number of captured eggheads. The hospital still wasn’t safe, but the moles weren’t pressing the issue too badly… yet. Speaking of Jitters, he was working on something for me and I was wondering when he would get back to me about it. “Maybe if we had another hero here…” I stated unsure of where I would be going now, but I didn’t want to live the hospital unprotected after just breaking Ammonia Pine’s siege on it. Also I didn’t want the moles to free any of the eggheads, much less Ammonia herself. “We do!” Sneeze Master called from outside and was helping someone walk in. It was Glue Gal, her purple costume and glue bottle hat were quite recognizable. “Glue Gal was in the vehicle. Also I am so sorry, had we known that Ammonia Pine captured you...” “It’s okay, you made a good call sneezing the vehicle down. They were going to deliver me to Negaduck for who knows what afterwards. I’m just a little banged up and it was a practical way to keep the hospital safe… at least you didn’t get me covered in sewage. Ammonia Pine naturally countered my contact glue powers with her chemical know how. I’m good in a scrap without my powers, but there were just too many eggheads to take on at once.” It was good that we checked the vehicle then huh Glue Gal, we had to for the driver and anyone else being onboard when it was flipped. “Where do you need me?” “One thing before that Glue Gal, Dormarch?” I asked as I pointed him in her direction. “Somewhat bad bruising, otherwise healthy, lay off the oily and salty foods a bit.” Dormarch’s commentary resulted in a slight snarl from Glue Gal. “Hey, I’m a professional at scanning for health issues, I would know as Leap Lamb isn’t exactly the stunning example of healthy with how her body is currently. I didn’t say you had to stop, just suggested that you cut back.” “We need you here with Sneeze Master, we need the hospital protected and as a fallback point for anyone we can find to send this way.” I answered as I was looking over sudden movements in the mole army of Moliarty, they knew where I was and that’s why they kept testing our defenses here. Not that there were many defenses to begin with, this whole city was a mess and I had a front row seat to it all. “Okay some fresh news, somebody named Jambalaya Jake and Gumbo are causing problems at Saint Canard’s waterworks. Gumbo is Jambalaya’s pet alligator and is on par with Caper Canine in intelligence, Jambalaya himself is a squat guy but has an unreasonable amount of strength for his short stature.” Knowing why Ocellus said that, I was getting an inkling as to what was going on. What she said next only solidified it. “They are currently being supported by a bayou witch named Granny Whammy. Leap Lamb… like Bushroot, Liquidator, Quackerjack and Megavolt, there are no signs of those three existing in this world naturally. They were called the Jambalaya group in the show.” “I think I’m beginning to see… that something screwy is going on with the villains that shouldn’t exist in this world without an explanation.” I said with a sigh, we couldn’t let them do as they like with the city’s water supply either way. “Oh and there’s someone called Bugmaster running around causing problems with bees, the file says her name is… Bianca Beakley? Before you ask she’s a villain and not an ally, that doesn’t exactly have super powers, but knows plenty about bugs to manipulate them into helping her with a helmet designed for it.” Okay that was curious Ocellus, we’ll need to call Duckberg to confirm a possible relationship. “She does exist in this world, used to be a journalist, but went from that to being a professional villain with a bug theme because it paid better apparently.” Okay, so there were a mixture of villains that did exist and ones that shouldn’t, what was the key difference here? We need to go attack Megavolt, because I know he’s going to be there at the power plant, once things settled here. Dolly and I absolutely needed to smell him! If I’m right then there will be a connection we can establish to what’s actually going on aside from Negaduck preventing citizens from leaving the city. “Dormarch, do you think you can call Duckberg?” There was a long pause after I asked this. “We’re being stretched thin here enough as it is by all the chaos Negaduck set up, we need more people here and someone taking care of that Jake guy at the waterworks.” “No can do Pom, the interference from the power plant has become too much to get any connections further than Ms. Shuttle outside the city.” Dormarch rubbed his chin in thought, the Dalmatian raised a digit into the air. “Aha, idea, we could use Ms. Shuttle as a relay point for a call. We won’t be able to do it for long, who do you want me to call in Duckberg?” “Lena Sabrewing, since we need someone who can instinctively figure out magic and we can use her to contact Bentina to ask about Bianca Beakley. I think Morgana was poisoned with a purpose in mind.” That of keeping someone knowledgeable about magic from interfering with whatever Negaduck has been setting up. I suspect he had Morgana captured and held in an out the way place like the arboretum to draw Darkwing away from the bigger issues. “Are there any other heroes with magic related powers in Saint Canard Ocellus? I’m kind of beginning to have a theory as to what’s going on, but I need to confirm it by getting close to Bushroot, Megavolt, Liquidator or even the Jambalaya group to be sure.” “No.” Ocellus said immediately. That doesn’t confirm anything, but it does raise my suspicions another notch. “You kind of know all the heroes available already, but some of them are not in the city and we don’t know how to contact them for extra help. What’s your theory?” “If I confirm it, then I’ll tell you exactly how to find the source of the problem behind what has to be half the trouble currently occurring in the city.” I was confident in that statement and Ocellus picked up on that with an odd quirk of her head on the screen. “Okay… finally got you connected to Lena Sabrewing in Duckberg via Ms. Shuttle!” Dormarch announced before putting Lena up on the screen. “Already told her you’re on the job as Leap Lamb.” “What is it Leap?” Lena stated in a lackadaisical tone as she appeared on screen, behind her, her sister Violet was wrestling with what looked to be a ghost and was violently smacking it with a glowing mace. “I hope you’re not busy, because Saint Canard is currently experiencing an absurdly huge crime wave, some of it by people that don’t naturally exist. We need someone with a magical expertise that can be in the field over here to determine what we’re dealing with, because I have some hunches as to what’s happening after the local magical expert named Morgana Macawber was incapacitated.” I hoped she was willing to come over here. “We kind of desperately need all the help we can get here, because Saint Canard’s waterworks is under attack. There are thugs and villains running all over the city doing who knows what, we’re stretched thin and the police can barely hold the hospital we liberated from a siege with their injuries. We’ve managed to free up three captured heroes, but we don’t know where the rest are and we’re not going to stop people from getting hurt at this rate. At best we’re mitigating the damage, but we can’t really detain the numbers we’re dealing with here, the streets are practically swamped with mole troops because of some guy named Moliarty. We kind of need an army to fight against one.” “Violet, can you get Boyd on your phone? Tell him to head for the main hospital in Saint Canard immediately!” Lena was more awake now and the teenage duck was immediately moving. “We’ll be flying there ourselves as soon as we can.” “Can I ask a question Lena, where is the McDuck clan currently?” Dormarch was asking because we needed to contact Beakley. “We need to get in touch with Bentina Beakley.” “Bentina… oh right, Grandma Crumpets! Yeah, I can patch you through to her, but the rest of the clan are off on some whirlwind adventure halfway around the globe, something about looking into ancient conspiracies about someone called the ‘Queen of Canines’ eventually visiting this world. Oh and good news on the Moliarty thing since you mentioned him, we can definitely get you some immediate help with that.” Lena turned and called out to her sister, while my right eye was twitching the entire time about the whole ‘canine queen’ thing. I vaguely remember being called the possibly ‘doggy messiah’ back in the last world, I really am not going to focus too hard on any of that should it come up again. “Hey Vi, when your done telling Boyd to move his metal butt, use some magic to call the Terra-Firmians next! Moliarty is involved with this and they absolutely hate his and his army’s guts like nothing else!” What were Terra-firmians and why was I suddenly terrified to find out Lena? “What are Terra-firmians?” I asked. “Should I be worried?” “Oh no, no, no, it’s fine, trust me on this, even Donald, Webby and everyone else we know would approve of what we’re about to do. The Terra-Firmians are friendly as all get out, except to moles from Moliarty’s underground faction specifically. Tell them where those moles are and what they are currently doing, then you’ll definitely get all the backup and help you’ll ever need with your mole problem. Don’t expect them to go after any of the other problems going on though, they’ll target just the moles and will help any injured.” Lena gave us a big evil grin. “Saint Canard is about to get a serious increase in balls, quite literally. Okay putting you through to Teatime.” “Yes, what is it Lena, is it Phantom Blot, Magica or are both of them fighting outside your home again?” Bentina Beakley stated looking suddenly alert. “We’ve got a situation and Terra-Firmians are going to be required for it, so expect a few earthquakes.” Lena warned before gesturing for me to speak up. “Hello Beakley, do you have a family member named Bianca Beakley?” I asked. “Bianca… where is she?!” The large lady Bettina sounded quite angry. “Saint Canard, we’re kind of in the middle of a crisis here. She’s running around as a villain calling herself Bugmaster. Also there’s FOWL, Militant moles and a whole slew of other villains supernatural or otherwise, on top of many other things we can’t simply deal with all at once.” The line was immediately cut and I blinked while giving Lena a confused look. “I don’t know who this Bugmaster person is or who Bianca is, but it sounds like you should expect Bentina to show up in Saint Canard. Considering you said the magic word ‘FOWL’, she’ll likely be there in less than thirty minutes crushing some poor egghead’s skull between her thighs in record time.” Lena muttered with a giggle. “Anyway, we’ll get there as soon as we can, hold out for an hour and if the moles aren’t back underground by then, well… expect them all to be dragged underground kicking and screaming. Ignore the kicking and screaming when it does happen. Got a place we can convene before we enter the city so we know what’s going on?” “Dormarch mute sound on our end and tell her where Ocellus is.” Dormarch nodded and I didn’t hear anything for a bit. “Okay, we’ll meet with Ocellus there before going into the city proper, expect Boyd to show up where you are soon and good luck!” Lena cut the call. “Well at least we have some help coming, but will they all get here in time?” Sneeze Master asked. “I don’t know, but we need to get to the power station and see if Megavolt is there like we think he’ll be.” This was around the time Jitters showed up and he looked nervous, his head was also wrapped in bandage. “Uh… why…” “Bowling Ball accident, happens to me a lot.” Shaking his head Jitters got back to focusing. “I’m going to need some more time to collate the information, but I think you might be onto something with where the power from the power station isn’t going. I can do it from here, so get back to me in a bit.” “Can I chip in here and say I’m getting antsy just sitting here waiting for moles to bust through the gaping hole in the front doors of the hospital?” You’re not the only one feeling that Dolly, even if we’ve had a small windfall in taking out a large group like Ammonia Pine’s eggheads. “Come on Pom, Shanty got more action than I did!” “You did the most damage though.” I stated back calmly and nuzzled her head, before whispering. “You did a great job, not everyone needs to know how great you are Dolly.” “Yeah, yeah, I’m awesome and I know it!” She crossed her paws over her chest while sitting up proudly. “Caper Canine can sabotage anything!” “Yeah, but don’t get too far ahead of yourself.” I looked at a nearby clock, it wasn’t even lunchtime and we still had so much to do. “Did someone call for our assistance?” Boyd the combat capable little biped robot bird that battered entire teams of mercenaries back in Duckberg. He came in for a landing carrying Gizmo Gal with him, which was a surprise. “Thanks for the ride Boyd! I still need work out a few kinks on the hover pack, at least so I can get around faster.” Gizmo Gal, AKA Gandra Dee, stated to the robot bird with a soul before turning to me. “Gizmo Gal reporting in, I heard Gizmo Duck went missing in this city. When that call to arms got out, I jumped to get in on this!” “Yeah, we need someone to stay here and protect the hospital while we redirect power back to where it is supposed to be going from the power station, which likely has a lightning based supervillain there named Megavolt.” I looked between the two. “One of you will be going with us, the other will be staying here to help Glue Gal and Sneeze Master protect the hospital from moles and or any other thugs in the city making incursions.” I quickly got the two up to date with everything we knew. “Incoming information from Ocellus, she says a pair of super villains were spotted running around the southern districts of Saint Canard. Names, Hotshot and Flygirl, FOWL psychic experimentations. One can control fire and ice, the other can manipulate gravity.” Dormarch showed an image of the two and what they were capable of in a brief video. The fire and ice guy wasn’t as powerful as Velvet or Tianhuo, but still quite daunting. The girl just looked like a whole lot of trouble at short range. “They are to be considered extremely dangerous, at least the machine that made them what they are was destroyed and near impossible to replicate since the FOWL inventor was taken down by it. When near each other they gain some level of being able to predict ‘a future’, but not necessarily ‘the future’ unless they can act on the information in time. They only get a maximum of five seconds of advanced warning, when they are far enough apart from one another the ability becomes a liability for them… also something about Duck Smashers I don’t quite understand.” “How many ridiculously villains are centered on this one city?!” I asked while putting my hooves to my head. “If you ask me, too many to be normal.” Well at least Gizmo Gal was on the same page as the rest of us, or at the very least she was getting the same vibes I was about all of this. “You said you needed help with the power station? Well I specialize in electrical knowhow, Boyd would be of much better use here with Sneeze Master and Glue Gal was it?” “Nice to meet you, are you actually Gizmo Ducks girlfriend?” Did Glue Gal just seriously ask that? Crisis going on, we needed to move soon. “Yes.” Gizmo Gal stated honestly. “Well good on you, he seems like a really nice guy.” Glue nodded appraisingly. “Boyd was it, you’re leading us in the defense of the hospital while their group sets out.” “Of course, I aim to successfully facilitate the protection of life where I can.” Boy responded cheerfully. “I aim to help as a Junior Woodchuck and a robot boy as much as I can!” “Okay enough of that, anyone coming with my team aside from Gizmo Gal?” When I said my team, I meant Shanty and Dolly. “I will, you might need a medic out in the field.” Fawn was wearing a vest, normal skirt and shirt underneath. She looked ridiculously dainty outside her nurse outfit with her small shock pistol and three large medical kits strapped around her waist. “Plus Dormarch told me about your health problems, I think you’re going to need me.” A medic? Yes please, for the love of all that was holy! “Right let’s head out, Jitters knows what he’s doing, but what will you do until we need a bomb expert Fall-apart?” That was the last thing we need to clear up. “That answer is simple, my best!” Fall-apart said jovially with a bit of laughter as his right foot fell of his body. “I’m going to be here until I know there’s a bomb for me to disarm… or arm, I’m not exactly picky about being a demolitions expert either. Also I could use more pizza, all these criminals are making it hard to get any deliveries to wherever I am.” “Well it’s settled, Gizmo Gal is with my team.” I held a hoof and Gandra Dee shook it. “Nice to be working with you again.” “Nice to be helping you out of a jam again, hopefully we don’t have to deal with an unstoppable shadow monster again. Now let’s go fix the problem with that power plant!” Gizmo Gal was both fresh and ready to fight, good news for our team and we’ve had a rest break. We’ve all gone to the bathroom and had drinks and snacks, we were ready to once again to travel through a city frothing with threats at just about every corner. “Then maybe we can find where Gizmo Duck is in all this mess…” She was also worried about Fenton, who we haven’t heard of since that feast we shared with the Justice Ducks last night. “I’m sure he’s fine.” I patted her leg and then we immediately set out as a group with the hospital hopefully secure. -Negaduck- “It’s all a matter of time… I need more in the streets.” I told my ace in the shadows. “We need to stall them further so my ultimate plans can be carried out.” “You can’t rush blood magic, rushing is what got the other De Ville’s who went into magic constantly beaten by chickens, the animals mind you. Bipeds or animalistic chickens are just as bad for magic using ‘De Ville’s’ to deal with. It’s either that or some other small detail they overlooked. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder for The Rubber Chicken, his existence has me worried. If he escapes, then I’m bailing out immediately. I am not losing to a super hero with that specific name!” The shadow stated on the monitor. “There’s also Leap Lamb’s sidekick Caper Canine, Dalmatians have a history with my family and I swear they can almost feel a ‘De Ville’ whenever they see one. It’s almost instinctive for them at this point and I swear that Dalmatian is one of those legendary ‘De Ville’ hunters. The moment that spotty dog spots me, things are going to go completely sideways along with every plan going on in this city! Don’t know why Cruella thought trying to turn them into coats was a good idea when Dalmatians have historically been constant ruination for our family… at least those on the dark side of it. Maybe Cruella didn’t know and no one warned her… which would make sense given how we ‘De Ville’s’ are about family, if we can’t kill them… then they are worthy of living for a few weeks longer. Builds character and lethal levels of ruthless intelligence.” “If they do stop you, then that’s on you. I’ve already paid you to do your job, so do it or else!” I slapped my hand down on the desk with quivering rabbits that I’ve been beating senseless with my bare hands. The shadowy figure I was staring down through the call was evil help, and excellent evil help was so hard to find in this world. They were quite competent and giving any of the people who thought they could be heroes a good run around, might even make a pass at her myself if she tries to kill me with a backstab. We might be about to lose Moliarty if the next two pillars went down, but that was well within my plans. “They are going to eventually hit the power plant, you need to prepare the trap for Leap Lamb if Agent Forty Seven doesn’t get to her before they get there.” “Again, I just want to warn you that Dalmatians are a horrible omen for a ‘De Ville’ as much as chickens actively coming after us!” The shadowy figure then cut the call. I leaned back and propped up my fingers with a grin on my beak. Let’s see you overcome everything Leap Lamb, I already knew everything that Darkwing would do… just not exactly how he would do it. Also the bit players needed to be paid attention to as well, couldn’t let any small fry go under the radar and ruin my plans like TOON Division has done once or twice. So many pies to plunder and I had a thumb in every single one of them, I’ll even manage to steal kill your personal vendetta… Neyla! -Moliarty- “Moliarty, get in the way of Leap Lamb, she’s going to start heading for the power plant and I still need that active for my plans for the time being.” One would already know what your plans were Negaduck, but only if they were a certified genius like me. I would give my best for ten minutes.