Chapter Text
The Duck Avenger stands before Darkwing and Gizmoduck. Cackling. In fact, he laughs so much that he ends up bent over, hands on his knees. It comes to a point where it really starts to get on Darkwings nerves.
“Okay pal, what’s so funny?” Darkwing snarks, his previous shock covered over with irritation.
The Avenger takes a break in laughing to peer at him, “Your faces! Talk about hysterical!” And he’s back to laughing.
Looking over Darkwing can see that even Gizmo is tired of it, a tired stare facing towards the Avenger. Darkwing takes a breath and collects himself. Time to take in the facts.
First, there was some sort of science device that activated and sent them to Duckburg. Second, a guy heavily resembling the Duck Avenger is in front of them. Third, maybe-probably the Duck Avenger said they were in the ninety’s. Four, they’re probably in the ninety’s. Damn it.
Okay, well, either way the Duck Avenger is no help to them. If they haven’t time travelled then the guy’s just a cosplayer punking them. If they have then he’s no help either. The only exciting thing the Avenger did was get his name blasted across TV for breaking into buildings, unsuccessfully stealing stuff and breaking things. Not the most heroic guy.
So, with this conclusion reached, the best thing for Darkwing to do would be to get the hell away from the guy. Preferably with Gizmo, but he can be sacrificed for the greater good. He probably loves that, with the guy being such a sucker for justice and what not.
Mind made up, Darkwing leans over to Gizmoduck and whispers in his ear (helmet? Eh, detail shm-etails). “Hey Gizmo, let’s ditch the circus clown and find our way back to normal-ville.”
Leaning towards him, Gizmo replies, “I don’t know about that Darkwing, if we’ve really time-travelled we’ll need a guide.”
“And you think he’s the duck for the job? Please, the only thing that quack will lead us to is a dead-end.”
“He’s not hopeless Darkwing, and we currently don’t have any better ideas to even begin finding The Heure Blazer.”
“Fine. Fine! But when he lets you down know that I told you so!”
With a huff (that is NOT him throwing a tantrum, thank you very much) Darkwing turns back to the Duck Avenger, arms folded across his chest. With a soft sigh Gizmoduck followed suit, turning towards the Avenger.
Who, finally, had stopped his full-out cackling and was now recovering, wiping tears from his mask. Noticing the two of them looking, he shot them a smile, before casually leaning on the post of a billboard.
“So,” He says, infuriatingly, “What brings you two around these parts?”
“Oh! Well, we are...looking for someone. Actually, it would be a great help if you could tell us if you see anyone suspicious!” Gizmoduck replies.
“Anyone suspicious, huh? Well yeah, guess I’ve seen someone like that. In fact, they’re standing in front of me right now, wearing a pile of iron and a silly superhero costume.”
Darkwing shifts his stance and turns towards Gizmo. “Lets brain him.”
“What! No, Darkwing that’s–” Gizmo sputters, only to get interrupted by Darkwing’s newest hit-list subject.
“Only after the first date, and only if you’re a good kisser.” The Duck Avenger winks.
Darkwing seethes.
Gizmoduck holds both his hands up in a move probably meant to be placating, but just makes Darkwing more angry. “Look, we’d really appreciate your cooperation on this, Darkwing is just very stressed right now. So if you could just tell us if you spot a duck running around in a lab coat, that would be great. She shouldn’t be too far away, honestly.”
“It wouldn’t be the where I’m worried about…” The Avenger mutters, before pointing at a nearby building. “Well, if you’re looking for someone, I’d recommend a vantage point. You know. So you can spot them?”
Darkwing grinds his teeth at his snide tone. “I know what a vantage point is, buster! I’m the king of vantage points, even! I know how to find them, how to get to them, and I don’t need some criminal telling me about them!”
“Oh! Well then, your majesty, I’ll meet you there.” And before either Darkwing can scold him, or Gizmo can prattle on again, the Duck Avenger jumps off the building.
Rushing forward, Gizmo looks prepared to catch him. Only to back away as the Avenger shoots a grapple and begins to scale the building he pointed out. Darkwing quickly follows Gizmo to the buildings edge (and he DOESN’T trip over a stray pebble), grabbing his own grapple gun from his waist.
“Come on! We can’t let that wannabe beat us!” He says, ignoring Gizmo’s response in exchange for hurtling through the air very quickly.
With his immediate action, Darkwing finds himself reaching the rooftop only a moment after the Duck Avenger does. He scowls as their eyes meet, a stark difference to the Avenger’s mocking smirk. A smirk which only serves to piss of Darkwing more.
With little other thought, he chooses to walk towards the Avenger, meeting him face to face. Smugly he notes that the Avenger is ever so slightly shorter than him. Standing up straighter Darkwing stares him down. He’s sure he looks intimidating, yet the Avenger only raises an eyebrow.
“Something on my face, wannabe?” The Avenger asks him.
Darkwing’s beak curls. “Wannabe? I’m not the wannabe here, Avenger.”
“Really? Then what’s with the costume? Do you do birthday parties or something?”
“You little–” Darkwing feels his fists clench. How dare this upstart hack insult him, insult Darkwing Duck, like this?
“Hey, don’t blame me! Not my fault you’re dressed up as that guy from that dumb show.”
Ah. Okay. Yeah. “It’s on.” And Darkwing lunges forward.
He thrusts his fist in front of him, aiming directly for the Avenger’s smug beak. Unfortunately the punch doesn’t connect. The Avenger jumps back, cape sprawling out behind him.
Darkwing continues forward, another punch lined up. This time the Avenger side steps out of the way, and moves to counter. The Avenger brings a leg up, to knee Darkwing in the stomach. He succeeds, Darkwing’s momentum too much to stop so suddenly.
This doesn’t mean the Avenger gets away with that, however. As Darkwing starts to fall on a ground he wraps his available arm around the Avengers leg. Gravity causes the both of them to be a mess on the ground.
Recovering first, Darkwing watches as the Avenger gets to his feet, rolling back to create a distance between the two. Sadly for him, Darkwing was prepared for this. He lunges at the Avenger again, this time tackling him back to the ground.
Grunting as his head hits the roof, the Avenger attempts to wedge Darkwing off him. But Darkwing slams his legs down into the Avenger’s stomach, releasing a puff of air. Raising a fist above him, he again attempts to punch the Avenger’s beak in.
Again, he fails. This time the Avenger jerks his head to the side, letting Darkwing slam his fist down into concrete. For a moment he’s stunned, as he shakes his fist to see the damage. Darkwing manages to figure out that it’s fine just as the Avenger musters up the strength to push Darkwing off of himself.
Stumbling as he lands, Darkwing manages to block the follow up punch from the Avenger. He doesn’t quite manage to block the kick. Again he’s thrown across the roof, but he allows himself to roll and disperse the impact.
A second of recovery is all he gets before the Avenger is before him once again. This time he goes to sweep Darkwing’s legs out from under him. Darkwing lets him. As he goes down he wraps his arms around the Avenger’s neck.
In a mirror of the position from before, the Avenger lands on top of Darkwing. The concentrated look on his face cools for a brief moment, before reforming into a smirk.
“Consider yourself lucky, some ducks would pay for this view.” The Avenger taunts.
Darkwing see’s this for what it is. A distraction. On top of him the Avenger attempts to subtly adjust his position, to better pin Darkwing down. As if Darkwing would allow that. Jutting out a leg he kicks the Avenger, unbalancing him and causing him to fall next to Darkwing on the roof.
In one move Darkwing rolls over, and becomes the one pinning the Avenger to the ground.
“You wish there were people paying for the view.” Darkwing snarls, answering the Avenger’s taunt.
In response the Avenger’s eyes narrow, before he shifts himself around slightly. Before Darkwing can react, both the Avenger’s legs push his stomach. He’s sent rolling over the Avenger’s head, and across the roof once more.
Standing straight and turning around, he finds the Avenger running towards him. The Avenger tosses an arm out, aiming to punch Darkwing, but Darkwing counters. He grabs the Avenger’s arm, pulling his momentum so that the duck speeds past him.
As he stumbles, attempting to turn and slow his momentum, Darkwing pounces again. This time he goes to elbow the Avenger’s stomach. He succeeds, the Avenger taking the full impact.
Darkwing finds himself smirking, but only for a moment, as the Avenger then spits on him. A full wad of saliva lands on his costume, and Darkwing quickly recoils. Dashing away to a safe distance, he looks up to find the Avenger again smirking at him.
“People would pay for that too.” He says.
Darkwing scowls. He goes to reach for a tool on his belt, to finally finish the fight, when he finds himself interrupted.
“What,” Gizmoduck begins, voice strained, “Are you two doing?”
“Showing this hack his place.” Darkwing snaps back.
Gizmo’s beak twists at the tone, but he elects to ignore. Instead Gizmoduck turns to the Duck Avenger, gesturing for his explanation. What a traitor.
The Avenger shrugs. “Just some light punches. Nothing to worry about, Gears.”
...what? Gears? Wow. That’s actually a tiny, small, little bit funny. Especially Gizmo’s reaction the nickname. He twitches, and Darkwing can hear as the suit’s fans turn onto ‘high’. From what is visible of his face, Darkwing watches as it cycles through a variety of expressions, until finally settling on a mix of confusion and embarrassment.
Slowly, carefully (almost painful), Gizmoduck says, “Oh..right. That’s good. Why...why the name Gears?”
Darkwing thinks that’s a question with an obvious answer. He also thinks that Gizmo should be more pissed off at the Avenger, because while the name is clever it is also insulting. He thinks Gizmoduck should punch the Avenger. Right now.
Sadly that is not what happens, and Darkwing resists slouching down. Mostly.
“Well, what else am I gonna call you and Mr. TV show? I don’t know your names.”
It is at this moment Darkwing realises that they didn’t actually introduce themselves to the Duck Avenger. This realisation has absolutely no correlation with what the Avenger just said. It’s just that Darkwing realised how distracted both himself and Gizmoduck had been since arriving...here.
After all, it isn’t everyday someone goes back to the ninety’s, and it certainly isn’t everyday you get to beat up retired quacks. With all the excitement and danger, it simply must have slipped Darkwind’s mind. Gizmoduck probably didn’t even consider introducing himself, his big ego telling him he wouldn’t have to.
So taking the initiative, Darkwing stands straighter, throws his cape out behind him and begins his introduction.
“I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the minute hand of justice, entirely chasing the hour hand of evil! I am Darkwing Duck!”
He pauses, watching as the Avenger’s expression goes from irritating to baffled.
With a brief wave of his hand, Darkwing introduces the other hero. “And that’s Gizmoduck.”
“Oh. Huh. Right.” The Avenger stumbles over his words, seemingly out of quips.
Gizmoduck sighs for some reason. Darkwing ignores them both, instead moving to the edge of the building. Posing himself in an ideal scouting pose, he scans the area. Behind him he hears shuffling, probably from the Avenger moving around. The squeak of a wheel tells him that Gizmo moves too.
Ignoring those two for now, Darkwing finds that in the city below them absolutely nothing is out of place. No evil robots, no mad scientists, no genetically engineered rats...nothing. It’s a bit eerie, especially considering that just a few hours ago Darkwing was in St. Canard, but he’s pretty sure this is the normal for Duckburg.
It’s a bit frustrating, but it’s not like a clue leading towards the Blazer is going to fall right into his lap. So Darkwing relaxes his pose, crossing his arms over his chest. Only to immediately touch the glob of spit on his chest. Ew.
Quickly Darkwing attempts to scrub off the spit with a hand, before shaking said hand out. This only partially works. Great. He’s going to have to wash the suit when he gets home. He turns to the Duck Avenger and scowls.
Really, he’s every type of jerk and hooligan that Darkwing thought he was. The Avenger, despite being a fool, notices him staring. Well. Maybe he noticed Darkwing cursing him out under his breath. Whose to say, really.
Very briefly the two stare at each other, unmoving. Then the Avenger smirks again, winking. Darkwing finds himself fuming, yet again. If only he landed an actually impactful hit on this guy.
The whir of metal and slight squeak of rubber indicates Gizmo’s intrusion into the stand off. Unsurprising, that guy just has to be the centre of attention.
“There seems to be no sign of her.” Gizmo says. “Maybe she landed somewhere else.”
Darkwing raises an eyebrow, quip about Gizmo pointing out the obvious on his tongue. The Avenger speaks first.
“Maybe. Not the first thing I’d think of though.” The Avenger shrugs.
Darkwing grinds his teeth. “Don’t butt in when you don’t know anything.”
“Oh? Then what do you know, Wingy?”
Darkwing grinds his teeth again, muttering “Wingy” under his breath. Seriously, when can he next punch this guy? That brief scuffle wasn’t anywhere near enough vengeance for his tastes.
“Not much, I’m afraid.” Gizmo says (instead of Darkwing throwing another punch). “There was a small device. The, uh, scientist, Darkwing and I all had a hold of it. The world got all spin-y , I let go at somepoint and now...here we are.”
“Sounds like a fun trip. And you? Did you also let go?” The Avenger directs this to Darkwing.
Begrudgingly, he nods. “Pretty sure I did. But the Blazer also seemed to have a pretty loose grip on that device too. She had to have let go soon after we did.”
“Then it’s obvious.”
“Whats obvious, you quack?”
“What can’t figure it out by yourself? She must’ve gotten here earlier than you.”
Gizmoducks sucks in a sharp breath. “But that means that...she could be anywhere.”
“No. It means she could have been doing anything.” Darkwing corrects.
A dark, sinking feeling settles in his stomach. This could be really, really bad.