A/N: I disclaim all ownership of such things that are in the text as follows:

Darkwing Duck characters and concepts are from Disney.

Quote: "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." - Jean Luc Picard, Star Trek Next Generation. Episode: The Drumhead.

In chapter one: I rewrite one of the single most vile and wretched movies that I have ever watched: The Departed.

This story is a thought inspired from reading the first chapter in Irual's Hexes and Vexes.

If you know XFiles you'll get the plausibility of this story ... All too well, the truth behind this fic is out there.

Chronos owns the many hours I've spent writing this AU.

So all I own is the work involved, the experience and understanding that led me to this result and my gut reaction.

A/N: Subsequent chapters are not written in the same manner as this chapter. Bear with me, folks!

A Single Press of a Button (Prologue)

Hooter looked up at Darkwing Duck from his seat.

"I quit." Darkwing Duck repeated. "I take moral objection to the motives behind this case. I ..."
"A pity." Hooter replied in his forever monotone voice.
"I protect the citizens."
"Well, yes, I understand that. But you are missing the big picture."
"That's exactly why I didn't accept direct employment with S.H.U.S.H."
"You don't want to accept the big picture; what there is to achieve by succeeding here?"

"You must be forgetting: 'With the first link the chain is forged.' " Darkwing Duck stepped away from the desk.
Hooter sighed. "I'm sorry I couldn't make you see the importance of this."
"I'm sorry to see you fall to such immorality. It's not the outcome; it's who you destroy along the way." Darkwing pulled out a gas canister and made a silent exit.

Hooter sat for a long time at his desk, unmoving. Then after the lengthy pause, he raised his hand to the control panel. His hand hovered; his fingers hesitated over the intercom switch.

He pressed the button. "Agent Grizlykoff."
"Ya, sir?"
Hooter hesitated again. "Code: White Out."
There was a pause on the other end, as Grizlykoff got control of his reactions to such a definite order. "Target sir?"

"Drake Mallard."

That Night...

"I am the terror that flaps in the night."

Negaduck glanced around him, gripping his chainsaw slung over his back. He fired it up.

"I am the excess wax on the floorboards of crime. I am Darkwing Duck!"

"Fire!" Negaduck understood in that final split moment that they were surrounded. The last thing he knew was that he was dying as nothing more significant than bait.

Early the Next Morning...

Gosalyn paced Darkwing Tower in a fit of nerves.
"Gee, Gosalyn, I've been all over the city twice. I've checked all the hospitals for a duck that fit his description."
"He could've been kidnapped by bears again."
"Well, yeah, I guess."

Launchpad looked up, his eyes widened. "Gosalyn, quickly, get to the trap door." Dark clothed figures jumped in through the windows as Gosalyn dashed towards to trap door, her heart pounding in fear.

The Next Hour...

Honker Muddlefoot finished his breakfast in the relative normality of his family.

"Oh, Herb, dear." His mother said from across the room as his father came in the room. "Did Drake tell you they were moving?"
"Moving?" Honker put down his spoon. Highly unlikely, finding a more-or-less pre-existing tunnel back to Audubon Bay Bridge had taken a great deal of research and luck on part of the superhero turned father.

"Oh, that's too bad! I hope he says goodbye. Hey, we should have a barbeque."
"Oh, no, the removalists said they'd gone on ahead already. We won't see them again."

Honker abandoned his breakfast and ignored his brother, went out the front door to the post box and watched the team of large men removing all and sundry from the house. The last trip, and then one of them hammered a for sale sign into the lawn.

Another looked down at Honker, before he pulled the "Mallard" label off the post box.

"Excuse me, sir, where have they gone?" The man just looked down at Honker.
"Look, go run along and play, kid." He turned away. "What a bunch of nosy neighbours."

Honker adjusted his glasses. He looked back at the empty building as the truck drove off.

Two Hours Later...

"I'm sorry, Mr Duck." The Masked Mallard sat up on the bed. "No, you need to lie down!"

He glared at her, grabbing her collar. "Am I dying?"
"Yes."
"Then I have a couple things to do before that happens." He pushed her away. "And the name is Negaduck."
"I thought you said your name ..."
"I don't have the time." He said as he slammed the door shut.

The dying Duck breathed heavily, not getting enough oxygen. He coughed, spluttering onto the pavement to try and clear his lungs. He wiped his beak as he finally made it to the curb outside the hospital. "I recognise those uniforms. They were S.H.U.S.H." He stepped into the road and the oncoming car screeched to a halt in front of him. "I need a lift to Audubon Bay Bridge." He frowned at the horrified driver. "Please." He got into the passenger seat.

The Masked Mallard's mind drifted as he sat on the rat-catcher. S.H.U.S.H. had cleaned up the tower to the extent that Ammonia Pine would have been pleased. The bleach on the stone floor they'd used to get out the blood stains had made him cough even worse.
"No, I need to ... focus." He fought to keep the motorcycle going in a straight line. "S.H.U.S.H. central." A few more blocks and he slowed the rat-catcher in front of the cursed building. He staggered to a stand coughing again. He fought back the wave of dizziness and dragged his painful way up the stairs.

"Security clearance, sir?"
"I'm Darkwing Duck." He straightened glaring at the dog guarding the door.
"Okay, go ahead, sir." The Duck clenched his beak, continuing into the building.

He threw the canister into the office. "I am the terror that hunts in the night." He coughed. "I am the fine print you didn't read before you signed the contract."

He faced Hooter.

"Darkwing Duck? Or is it Negaduck? That's what they said at the hospital when you escaped."

"Ha, that no-hope low-life?" He coughed again, wiping his beak. He raised the gas gun at Hooter. "He didn't have a reason to live like I did. He didn't have my spirit. I watched the real Negaduck in the ambulance. He was comatose."

"Guess what I've loaded the gas gun with, chief?"
"I did what protocol required."
"I already quit, now I'm firing you. No more innocents will die at your hands." He triggered the weapon.

The gun exploded, and the Duck erupted into flames, the carpet ignited beneath them. He grabbed Hooter's hand from the intercom switch and threw himself across the table at Hooter. They crashed through the window down to the pavement with a single scream as the sprinkler system erupted behind them.