Chapter Four

As consciousness crept back over him, he let his troubled dreams fade. The sneering bull’s face that haunted his youth fell back into his memories as the waking world lured him back. His throat was sore and his head heavy. He opened his eyes to see an out of focus white paneled ceiling, the lights were dimmed to a faint glow. He put a hand to his forehead as he tried to remember where he was, why he was here, but mostly who he was. The breathing tube was gone and he didn’t feel too bad considering what had happened. The antidote seemed to have drained him of the illness that he last recalled being plagued with. His eyes moved to the I.V. and saw he was still hooked up, the clear liquid sliding placidly through the plastic channel into his arm. His eyes wandered the out of focus room, the wall clock was fuzzy but he could see the heavy hands enough to figure it was around 7:13 p.m. and there were no windows to see if this was right. He closed his eyes and let his head sink further into the pillow. 7:13 on Saturday… oh no. He sat up quickly, his head spinning. He was supposed to meet Gosalyn at four to watch her Lacrosse game! He threw the blankets off hurriedly. She was going to kill him! No, not kill, mutilate him. “Oh and where are we going?” asked a voice from the doorway.

“I’ve got to go! I’m late!” he said frantically as he looked around for his suit jacket and shoes, the catheter still taped in his elbow joint impeding his progress.

“Well you can’t leave just yet. The doctors haven’t released you. Besides, I’m sure whomever it is you were meeting will understand why you were late,” said the calm voice matter of factly.

“You don’t know my girlfriend…” He stopped suddenly. Who was he talking to? He found his glasses being handed to him by a large purple blob. He sighed and took them.

“I don’t?”

“Mr. Mal…uh Darkwing, what are you doing here?” he asked as he put the glasses firmly in place. Darkwing looked around the room with mild interest his chest rising with a touch of egotism.

“Hooter wanted to see me. Top secret stuff, and since I was around I figured I’d see if I could find out why you were M.I.A. this afternoon.”

“I… is Gosalyn…”

“Oh she’s furious,” Darkwing finished for him, his arrogant air deflating slightly. “Don’t worry though, her team won. If they hadn’t you’d be in store for a lot worse.” The mallard’s blue eyes came back to rest on him. “They told me you were poisoned. Honker, maybe you should let someone else handle this case.”

“No,” he said flatly as he sat on the bed to strap his shoes on. “If nothing else, this only strengthens my resolve. Bulba tried to kill me. I have to make sure he doesn’t do the same to her. Darkwing, you of all people should understand that.” He glanced up and noticed the older mallard’s eyes closed in thought.

After a moment his eyes opened to deliver him a pensive blink. Honker always wondered what was thinking about when he looked at people that way.

“Honker, you really shouldn’t be leaving.”

“I’m fine.”

“Bulba could be waiting for you to do something like this. He could have someone sitting outside the building ready to take you out or grab you the second you set foot out that door,” Darkwing said shortly.

“I’m not going to just sit here! I’ve been hiding for my whole life. I’m not going to let myself hide anymore,” Honker spat as he finished tying his shoe lace.

“If not for your own safety, then would you consider hiding for Gosalyn’s sake?”

The tone the masked mallard used stopped his progress and his anger completely. He sounded like he was talking to his own child: afraid and worried. Honker sighed and lifted his eyes to the concerned duck.

“She really cares about you, Honker. More than I think even she realizes, and I don’t want her to get hurt anymore.”

“I know, sir. But, I’d rather be out there taking the hurt for her… I know you understand.”

“You’ve really grown up, Muddlefoot.” Darkwing smiled lightly.

“I guess I have.”

Darkwing sighed heavily to collect his wits and regained his business composure.

“Well, Hooter has just instructed me to aid you in anyway I can. He’s also said that the alert has been sent to Duckburg about our ‘friend’s’ untimely resurrection. I wouldn’t be surprised if ol’ Giz and the new recruits showed up tomorrow morning. Things have gotten pretty quiet over there since Magica DeSpell bit the big one and Glomgold retired.”

“Will you work with them?” Honker ignored how Darkwing winced. “I haven’t had a chance to get my team together yet…”

He saw Darkwing roll his eyes to the heavens and shake his head lightly. He and Gizmoduck had been on good terms for years now. The Justice Ducks were called on quite a lot in their heyday and the always confrontational Darkwing had learned to back off and put some faith in Gizmoduck. But, everyone still knew that Giz got under his skin and annoyed him beyond words. What made Darkwing’s aggravation even deeper was the fact that Gizmoduck was in the process of retiring, and to make up for his absence was training two apprentices. There was a girl and a boy about his age each outfitted with their own Gizmosuit that now followed Giz everywhere he went. Both of them were trained to be as boisterous and dramatic as their mentor. The Gizmosquad was what the press had named them, but Darkwing had a few names of his own he liked to refer to them by. Honker knew that Gosalyn didn’t harbor the intolerance toward them her father did. So he knew they’d rush to her (or Quiverwing’s) aid if she needed them. He hoped that he’d be able to help her as much as they could. After a grumble Darkwing crossed his arms.

“Yeah, I’ll intercept the gung-ho goofballs so you can go on with your precious procedure. But don’t expect me to babysit them for too long. There’s only so much I can take.” He grimaced. “Maybe I’ll set them out on reckon duty through the city… their suits have top notch monitoring equipment, maybe they can find out where fat boy Bulba has stashed himself.” Darkwing gave a thoughtful blink. “It’s odd though, I haven’t seen or heard anything. Bulba was never this quiet in the past. He was usually storming around demolishing things within a few hours of his return. Something just doesn’t feel right… it doesn’t add up.”

“Maybe he’s decided to lay low until all his chips are in. He could just be biding his time… waiting…” Honker cut himself off. He was about to say ‘waiting for me to screw up’, but he pushed those thoughts away. He couldn’t afford to screw up anymore. He just couldn’t.

“Maybe.” Darkwing sighed and uncrossed his arms, dropping the ‘hero-tone’ once again. “Well, I wouldn’t worry about Gosalyn, Honker. She’s mad but she’ll get over it. She knows something’s up and when the baboon brigade shows up she’ll only get more suspicious.”

“Do you think I should tell her about being…”

“No,” Darkwing interrupted him quickly. “If you told her she’d never rest until she found the person who poisoned you. And well, we know where that would lead her.” He frowned. “She’s tough, a hell of a lot tougher than I thought she could be, but even she’s no match for the Steerminator.”

Honker nodded in agreement. Gosalyn was amazing as Quiverwing. She was stronger than she looked, and twice as fast. Add that to her eagle eye for archery and she was set. But he wasn’t sure how she’d handle being stared down by a foe like Bulba. Hell, he wasn’t sure if he had any ideas to dispatch his team with that could even dent the behemoth. It was going to be hard on all of them, harder than he knew he could imagine.

Their conversation ended as the nurse came to check up on him. Darkwing gave him a nod in parting as Honker tried to convince the nurse he was fine to leave. After a bit of negotiating she removed the catheter and he was free to go. He knew he couldn’t stick around the building much longer but he had to do one more thing. Going through the wings he’d only been permitted access to the night before, he arrived at the archives. After a moment of hesitation, he took out his personnel files and arranged for a meeting to be held tomorrow morning. He skimmed through the files quickly, knowing his brain wouldn’t retain all it needed too but he had to at least try. There were seven agents under his command, two women and five men of all different species. He hoped they’d be able to help him in what he couldn’t do alone. He couldn’t fail her, couldn’t fail Darkwing. His stomach was tied in nervous knots as he put all his information away, he had to face them all the next morning. He would have to brief them on what it was they had to do. He was already a nervous wreck, but at the moment only one thing made his already burdened spirit sink farther. Soon, he’d be faced with a livid Gosalyn. Next to her, dealing with those agents would surely seem like a walk in the park.