//------------------------------// // 198. Dangerous Deception. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Saint Canard Park, Bushroot- I slowly moved towards the fountain and I looked into the water at the unmoving body, I hesitantly reached out with a leafy hand and touched it gently. Cold to the touch… I looked after the direction that Caper Canine and Cut-Lass ran off in. Why didn’t they seem to care about their friend dying, why did they watch it, cry and then seem to gather themselves before running off? Something wasn’t quite right, like how my powers weren’t working correctly and I couldn’t quite put my mind on why. … Maybe they knew what the problem was and that’s what they were going to stop? … I had to follow them. Moving forwards slightly, I paused for a second in contemplation and looked back. One last look at the unmoving gangly legged form in the fountain, before setting off to find out what was going on. -Saint Canard Rooftops, Shanty- “Are you sure that leaving Bushroot behind is being a good idea?” I be clamping my hooves onto the skateboard as Dolly directed us across the rooftops, when we launched we flew high and far. Nobody be looking up to see us and Ocellus is running the story that we’ve gone quiet. Couldn’t be further from the truth, we were pulling off a counterplan and we could only hope that this ‘De Ville’ wasn’t being too smart. “I could detect him nearby, he had similar emotional reactions to you at seeing Pom die in front of him… that was quite unpleasant for me too.” At least Dormarch still has his mind on our current goal. “So how much time do you think we be having?” Despite asking this I be knowing not nearly enough. “We should have enough. Thanks to Gandra, communications are no longer being interfered with or listened in on unless we want them to listen in on us. The power stations slapdash repairs went pretty well considering our expert is currently quite incapable of moving.” At least Dormarch seemed alright, compared to Dolly and me. We hit a sloped roof top and shot high into the air to look over the gleaming city of Saint Canard in the sun as we started gliding towards where we needed to be. “Ocellus will hopefully keep playing along until we can get Negaduck’s location from the ‘De Ville’. All we can hope is that the De Ville doesn’t try to contact Negaduck before we get to her. Unfortunately we don’t have a chicken, but we’ll have to make do with Dolly.” Dolly barked several times with a few yips and growl as she steered us for a nearby rooftop and be grinding us along its edge. “Dolly really wants to take this De Ville down, she failed to help her family much during a previous ‘De Ville’ incursion by Cruella and this one has definitely earned our ire.” Goodness knows that nobody would want her angry at them Dormarch, Dolly was being a rather powerful dog after spending only so much time with Pom. Dolly landed us on a rooftop and we went skidding sideways before coming to a stop, Dolly motioned me back and I stepped off the board. She kicked it up as she hopped off and took it up with her right paw. We made our way over to the edge of the rooftop and Dolly started getting her bearings for which way we needed to go. She suddenly snapped her head to the left and stared at a very specific location. “That be the direction to the place?” We had to do this alone. If we asked anyone for help, then Negaduck might be alerted to what we have done by noticing something off about the movements of things in the city. Ocellus and Smolder are the only other ones that are in know of the plan that has been set in motion. Dolly and I had to do this in time or else we could lose a great opportunity, among other highly important things. “Hey, wait for me, I can help you!” We both jumped at the sudden sound of laughter following the cheerful voice and the ever strangely dressed Quackerjack came skidding up to us on a pair of roller skates. He stopped right next to us and then didn’t be so much as twitch a muscle aggressively near us. “And why should we be trusting you?” I said as I tapped my right hoof, readying it to slice into him if he be attacking. We needed to get to where the De Ville was and be taking her down before the situation in the city devolved into more distractions for Negaduck to hide behind. At least the main cause of said distractions didn’t be knowing we knew exactly where to be finding her and why we knew how to be finding her in the first place. “Because Mr. Banana Brain figured it all out… and he knows what you’re currently getting up to and… and I… I just want to help.” Quackerjack wilted and looked away with his arms crossed. “I’m just another one of her aberrations right? Doesn’t take an idiot like me to figure that out after it was pointed out that I couldn’t remember too far back to where I come from exactly. She probably shouldn’t have given me Quackerjack’s ability to think crazy, I don’t think she can even control me or the others of the fearsome four from the Darkwing Duck series. I don’t exactly know who this ‘she’ exactly is, but I do know that I can help you beat her!” “We think she be Athena De Ville, she be using blood magic to cause trouble all around the city.” I answered the unasked question for him. “She be the main reason why we can’t be focusing on finding Negaduck.” “You know, ‘Devil’ sounds right and right now I have a score to settle with Negaduck for trying to blow me up, if I’m going out then it’ll be on my terms in as funny a manner as I can achieve. Don’t know about the Athena part, but if there is something I know about Athena the goddess… she was a purveyor of the arts, one of the things the character I’m imitating is known for appreciating the arts even if Quackerjack’s focus was in crafts. If this Devil has some relation to Athena, then it would make sense that she’s currently operating out of the nearby art museum. If she can bring things to life that shouldn’t be, like me for example, then she’s going to have a lot of ammo to bring to bear against you two in there… you are going to need all the help you can get and I already know what you’re plan is going forward. You can’t exactly ask for help from the heroes if your plan is to work, am I right?” We blinked and stared at Quackerjack, still trying to come to terms with him being friendly despite being considered a villain. Pom did be talking some sense to him and he was being somewhat reasonable right now. “Look I know you’re not going to trust me, but I will help you regardless however I can. I can even tell you about all the toys I have on me! I have this acid spewing unicorn toy isn’t it adorable? I have a few combat yoyos. There’s my small toy mallet with a flamethrower attachment. A bowling ball, don’t quite remember the secondary function of this one is. A few canned snake robots I can spray in someone’s direction to tie or trip them up. Of course there’s always my best buddy ever, Mr. Banana Brain! I actually made him in this world, so he’s very much real… unlike me… he’s my guide, the conscience saying that I should make things right. If the one who brought me into this world is truly a Devil as you say, then they’ve made a horrible mistake picking a fool like me to carry out their whims!” “What could it be hurting?” I asked Dormarch. Quackerjack may be playing a fool, but he is being a friendly one. Even fools can have their days and I would be a fool to not be trusting him. I be knowing how he felt. “Not much, if he’s being sincere.” Responded Dormarch who looked at Quackerjack behind me as he started playing with a pieces of paper and some scissors to make paper dolls of himself. “That’s the scariest thing about all of this, I am being serious. It’s not how the true Quackerjack should act… I should know, I technically happen to be him. If I’m Quackerjack in spirit, who’s to say that said spirit has to be a bad one?” After Quackjack be saying that and tossing the paper dolls over his shoulder, he be holding out his arms in a gesture of peace, Dolly be shoving her board towards me and she walked up to him with a focused stare. After a moment she started sniffing him, she recoiled slightly and then sniffed again while giving him a curious look with a tilted head, she then started barking towards Dormarch. “What is with Caper Canine?” “Caper Canine says we can trust you somewhat, but if the ‘De Ville’ takes control of you… then all bets are off.” Despite not looking like he appreciated or liked Dormarch, Quackerjack still be smiling a little. “Oh trust me, she can’t control the stark raving madness that is Neo Quackerjack!” Stated Quackerjack in a jovial manner as he giggled brightly with his fists on his hips. He then be juggling his small mallet, the bowling ball, the can of robot snakes and the unicorn toy before stuffing them away somewhere on him. “I’ve come prepared to play, nothing like a good war game to get the blood pumping huh?” “Well… I be okay with it if Caper Canine is.” Nodding to me, Dolly motioned to her board and waved me towards it with a paw. “Okay, let’s be going! If you can be keeping up, then we be welcoming your help.” I hopped on the skateboard and Dolly be building momentum by pushing us in a quick circle before kicking off the roof to be sending us flying, it wouldn’t be taking long before we be finding out that Quackerjack was right. -A few seconds later, Bushroot- I climbed up onto the roof and just sat down and brought my arms around my legs as I curled up in a sitting position. I… wasn’t real? Quackerjack may be crazy, but he wasn’t a liar or at least I wouldn’t think he is since he is supposed to be my friend. I was wondering why it felt like I was made of a rubber tree instead of being a true plant duck hybrid, I couldn’t control plants like the real thing and my body being extra stretchy was not how things were supposed to be. If I’m running around with the spirit of Bushroot and am acting like him… well… like Quackerjack said, who said the spirit had to be a bad one? If he’s going to be Neo Quackerjack, then I must be Neo Bushroot. I wasn’t nearly strong as the real thing or was Bushroot always so weak that he relied on the help of plants to make up for his personal physical deficit? In any case I wasn’t much of a fighter, I guess the real Bushroot didn’t do much of his fighting either and he always had plants. I didn’t even have that much. My appearance may be that of a villain, but Quackerjack is technically my friend and he was going to continue being somewhat like Quackerjack even if he is currently going to do something heroic sounding. I looked at my leaf like hands and wondered how long I actually had left to live. If I was even alive to begin with… What would be my legacy on this world? Just a pointless footnote in some other villain’s plan where they just created me to cause trouble? Why could I even think about this in the first place? Maybe that Devil shouldn’t have created living imitations that could think. What could I do to help them if I wanted to try though? My powers over plants was really poor and I was possibly a far weaker version of the actual true Bushroot, though I still gave the Darkwing of this world a good run and that was at least something to be proud of with my limited resources as a fake copy of something. I knew what I should be capable of, but simply wasn’t after the arboretum burned down. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why Megavolt and Liquidator were captured so easily, at least I think they had to be captured if their pillars were gone. When you only had so much time in the world, what would you do with what you have left? I personally would want to leave behind a positive legacy and be remembered for something instead of fading away into obscurity. I looked in the direction of the Arboretum… I had to make things right before whatever was tenuously holding me to this world was gone. The Devil when defeated might spell the end for us… then so be it! I would try to help them after I was done fixing the damage I had caused… if I still had the time to do so. Stretching out my right arm I pulled myself forward and slung myself through the air. I wasn’t very good as a villain created by another, but I could still be a hero in any capacity. -Outside the Art Museum, Dolly- The De Ville was currently operating out of an art museum and we didn’t know what she could do entirely, but the unnatural monsters loitering outside the place were a good clue. Quackerjack wasn’t wrong, the art museum was where the De Ville definitely was. Her smell just kept getting stronger the more we approached the area while trying to keep ourselves from being spotted or reported by any thugs that might be on Negaduck’s payroll. We needed to find out where that guy was so I can give him a big bite to the rear for hurting those poor puppies! We stood on top of the building and looked at the pumpkin pugs for what else could those pumpkins with pug like appearances be? There were also the helicopter hellcats hovering around the entrance of the museum. Helicopter blades were sticking out of the backpacks on the cats backs and they had giant claws and looked particularly demonic in appearance, they were also three foot tall bipeds compared to the quadruped Pumpkin Pugs. I was a little bit scared of those large flying cats that spewed a small clouds of smoke as they floated around. “Dormarch map of the city and tell Shanty to hand you over.” Once I had Dormarch in my paws, I looked over the map. “Can I have the paths of everyone moving through the city?” We weren’t going to go into this before I got this nagging feeling to go away. Once the map came up and the lines of various heroes running around, I noted that a lot of them hadn’t gone within five hundred feet of the museum. “Timing of the distractions, I want to know exactly when they happened and where Dormarch.” I asked out of curiosity and like Pom would say, a hunch. All the distractions happened and were leading everyone away if they got anywhere close to the place, they were all timed too well to. “I see it now too, good instincts.” Dormarch said popping up on the screen and looking over the various paths himself with his back to him he turned back to me with a faint smile. “We need to hit the De Ville hard and fast. We don’t have a chicken to counter her magic, so we’ll just have to push through it all the hard way. Hand me back to Cut-Lass and let’s do get moving!” “You know what time it is, it’s Playtime!” Quackerjack said as he shot by us on the roof and pulled out his canned snakes as he launched off. I yelped and followed him off, he neared a street light going at the ground pretty fast, then he popped the lid on the can and the robotic snakes launched out hooked on one another and he swung from the street light into kicking through a pumpkin pug, he destroyed it completely. “I’m the opening act here and I’m going to open up the path forward!” As he rolled and hopped into a standing position the mechanical snakes retreated into the can and he popped the lid back on it. “Hello world, this is the only time you’ll see Neo Quackerjack being a hero!” He crossed his arms and then ducked as a hellcat tried to take off his head. “Say hello to the newest toy from Quackerjack Limited Twilight Spar-kill! Don’t know what inspired this, but I really like the design hehehe!” Pulling out the unicorn toy with his right hand he steadied it with his left as he aimed it upwards. With a quick squeeze of its backside and an adorable loud squeak, the purple unicorn toy with several stars marking its flank fired a sparkling blast of acid from its small horn that tore straight through the hellcat’s helicopter blades grounding it. The hellcat turned to him and roared, we were still hovering in the air and slowly coming to the ground watching what Quackerjack would do. The hellcat was much slower on the ground without its helicopter pack as it loped towards him along with the pumpkin pugs that were closing in. Quackerjack had a bright demented smile on his face as we swung around in the air watching him in action, we’d soon be getting into that too. He put up his unicorn toy, and reached into his clothes to pull something else out of his costume. I motioned to Shanty to go after one of the two remaining still flying hellcats that were going to attack Quackerjack from the air, before pointing to myself and the other one. Shanty nodded and crouched, there wasn’t much space on my board for her, but I was doing well enough to keep us in the air despite how taxing it was. Shanty pushed off and pulled back a hoof, I sharply turned my board downwards and started spinning horizontally at the other one. -Neo Quackerjack- I pulled out the two flamethrower mallets and batted away the pumpkin pugs with gouts of flame, the monster cat lunged for me with both its claws while I was distracted. That’s when the two other cats fell from the sky, Caper Canine and Cut-Lass landed and flipped towards me as I went to defend myself from the cat’s claws. The right claw stopped immediately upon contact with Caper Canine’s skateboard, the other claw was deflected by Cut-Lass in a flash of her left hoof. Cut-Lass left leg now being held across her chest swung outwards and to the left along with her right hoof as she leapt, then landing on her front hooves she pushed off and did a flying buck to knock back the cat approaching from the left about to hit Caper Canine. The monstrous cat before me tilted its head, then the head slid off completely and its body evaporated into a mass of red mist, I immediately turned to the right to smack away a dog pumpkin and charged the other monster cat that they had dropped on the ground. “If you be playing, then you not be playing alone!” Declared Cutlass. I felt a true smile come to my beak, I wonder if another Quackerjack ever felt happy like this. I quickly hopped back as the cat slashed both its claws overhead and got them stuck in the ground. -Camden Town, 101 Dalmatian House, Dante- “Why did you tell them to let Pom die?” Mother was slightly angry and she had right to be, but I was going to explain myself. “Because Dolly would have died, I was just making sure she stayed among the living.” I explained calmly, Dolly would have had problems had the warning not been given. “I think Pom understood my warnings and will use them for an interesting deception.” “Did you change the course of history?” Spot asked as she crossed her wings. “In some capacity. Don’t know what exactly changed though." Just that I know it did. -Dark Room, …- “Nhhh…” My eyes slid open and I blinked blearily at the surroundings, I was being held above the floor in chains wrapping around each limb and neck. I had no leverage to get out of this aside from my own body. I could slip out given some time alone to work with, but I was being watched if my ears twitching was anything to go by. Looking off to the side at a figure, I decided to question them. “Athena De Ville I assume?” “No, Athena was my Great Grandmother. I’m Artiste De Ville, but I go by another name. You can call me, Splatter Phoenix!” The duck biped walked into some light revealing she was tall and wearing mostly black clothing and holding a glowing paintbrush. Gloves, shirt, small skirt over thigh length shorts and boots. I looked at her shaggy mass of black, somewhat spiky, long hair. “No white streaks? I heard, De Ville’s usually have black and white hair.” I stated calmly. That nap was nice, though my current situation wasn't that great. “So you know of De Ville’s then? A curious person you are then, a survivor of my family that might very well die to me. Anyway I use a magical dye to hide the white in my hair a long time ago, it is really easy to hide our nature from those who know what we De Ville’s are like.” She flicked her paintbrush about and looked up at me. “So how about I create something in honor of werewolves? While using your appearance as a template for that.” “I heard De Ville’s don’t generally make things.” I stated as I wiggled a bit. These chains were uncomfortable, but I figured that’s exactly what they were for. “I didn’t like creating those comic characters, I prefer inventive ways of dealing with nuisances… but who says I’m creating something when it’s blood magic that is bringing about such beautiful art? It comes from the destruction of blood, so it’s not exactly creating if I'm making someone else bleed for it!” She said with sneer towards me. “Took you long enough to walk through the trap primer at the Power Station, but once you did... it was simple enough to capture you and leave facsimile that would fool anyone in your place… Leap Lamb. Unfortunate that you didn’t have the device Negaduck wanted, he wanted to so badly light the world on fire with nuclear weapons.” “At least you waited until I washed my hooves first.” Somewhat nice small courtesy at least. “Would you have preferred that I got you while on the toilet?” Artiste snorted derisively. “We De Ville’s may be mad, evil or deranged, but there are some lines we won’t cross. Those lines are miniscule and vary.” “What do you want with me?” If I understood Dante right, then Tobias has likely killed my doppleganger. “This.” With a swipe of her paintbrush several feral looking Pom’s with wolf like attributes rose from the paint she splattered upon the ground in a circle of blood on the floor. “Wolves clothing monsters, how brilliant of me! What the… I’m under attack, how?!” You shouldn't mess with a familiar's bond.