Prologue

Previously...

As the sun rose and decent citizens went off to work, an avian figure leaned back from his computer. He held up a printout and compared it with another on top of a growing pile of images and photos he'd pulled off of the Internet. This picture starred a certain red headed girl in a green mask, cape, and hat. Several photos from local papers showed Gosalyn Mallard posed with her various sports teams after championship wins. In the background of the latest baseball team photo, a middle-aged, plain looking duck was smiling proudly at the team's captain.
The villain compared the grown duck's face to a close up of a masked, purple-clad duck posing for the camera: a perfect match. He grinned and tossed the photos on the pile and pulled up another interesting article he had found in a casual yet informed search on 'Gaggle.' It had a video clip displaying the famous Canard Tower explosion from several years ago. The villain pressed play and watched as the top of the tower blazed and smoked.
He cackled merrily and snatched up an 8x10" glossy photo of Darkwing Duck he'd gotten from a ridiculously enthusiastic computer nerd after contacting the pitiful Darkwing Duck Fanclub. He regarded it for a moment with a Grinchy smile before cutting it to ribbons with scissors. He carelessly dumped the shreds on a growing pile in the waste basket and picked up another photo, drawing a big "X" over the subject. It was a modest house in the suburbs with the number "537" on the mailbox.

"Gotcha," Phineas Sharp laughed. "HA hahahaha hahahahahaha!"

A Hero's Ultimatum

Chapter 1

Shots rang throughout the still summer night. A sedan with trigger-happy rats hanging out the windows zoomed through a stoplight, just missing a truck and trailer pulling out into the intersection. The driver blasted his horn but the rats paid him no attention.
Stuck on the other side of the semi, a very frustrated duck sank back on his motorcycle's seat. The costumed canard revved the bike's engines impatiently, eager to resume the chase. The truck finally cleared the intersection, providing a clear view of the street ahead, and a rapidly disappearing set of taillights.

"Stupid light!" Darkwing Duck growled as he watched his target retreat. "I always hit it red!" He looked up and down the street. "There isn't even any traffic to stop! What is this? Some sort of a conspiracy against me that I don't know about!"

Calmly ignoring the hero's increasingly loud rant, Launchpad propped on elbow on the sidecar. "Well, maybe if ya'd taken that left at Pepe's Pizza, we could'a gotten in front of them." His conversational tone and demeanor contradicted with his words.

"Right. Like I'm supposed to believe your stomach over my superior intellect," Darkwing berated his sidekick before snapping at the light. "Hurry it up already! The Cheese Gang is getting away!"

"Chill out, Dad. The light will turn any second now..." Quiverwing Quack rolled her eyes.

The light did turn before he could argue and Darkwing got the Ratcatcher back up to speed. They found the sedan just a few blocks away in the process of taking a sharp turn. Two rats hung out the windows and fired at the pursuing ducks. Darkwing and his two companions ducked under the onslaught of bullets.

"What'd ya do to make them so mad?" Launchpad gulped.

"What do I ever do! I just told the little guy in the hat to hand over the goods before I trounced him!" Darkwing replied anxiously as he simultaneously steered and ducked bullets.

"Great idea, Darkwing," Quiverwing muttered sarcastically from Launchpad's lap. "Insulting someone sensitive about his height while he's holding a gun!"

"Well it might have worked if SOMEONE hadn't tripped the fire alarm!" Darkwing snapped impatiently as he veered around another corner, bringing the villains' escape car back into view.

"Hey, you can't argue with results," Quiverwing shrugged.

"She's got you there, DW," Launchpad commented. "Gos—uh... I mean QW's trick with setting off the sprinkler system got the Cheese Gang to leave without taking any of the hostages with them. I guess those guys don't appreciate cold showers...Hehehe."

"What I don't get is how they got out of jail in the first place!" Quiverwing said. "Didn't you just put them there a few weeks ago?"

"Yes," Darkwing replied crossly. "And when we take them back there, remind me to leave a sternly worded memo with the commissioner about prison security!"* (comes from kaboom's "The Crisis of Infinite Darkwings" comic)

Darkwing broke off and swerved into an alley to avoid another burst of gunfire. Pulling back out behind the car, he held a hand out to Quiverwing without taking his eyes off the road. "Quiverwing...hand me one of your glue arrows. I'll shoot it onto the windshield and block the driver's vision. He'll have to pull over and then we'll curb those cheese-nipping crooks."

"We could do that... Or we can do it MY way!" Quiverwing stood and placed a booted foot on the dash, steadying her bow as she took aim.

"Hey! Get down from there!" Darkwing exclaimed as he glimpsed his daughter's actions out of the corner of his eye. "You might get..."

Ignoring the crime fighter, Quiverwing fired several shots, taking out both rear tires with regular arrows and plugging the vehicle's tailpipe with an apple speared on arrow.

The Cheese Gang cried out as their driver lost control of their vehicle, spinning into a fire hydrant. The rats dizzily climbed out of their car just as the Ratcatcher skidded to a halt alongside them. Two of the gangsters raised their weapons, but another well-aimed arrow from Quiverwing with a heavy spring loaded net dropped on top of them, trapping all but two members of the gang under it. The leader dodged just in time. He narrowed his eyes at the diminutive Quiverwing.

"You're starting to get on my nerves, kid..!" the rodent growled. He reached under his coat for a gun. Quiverwing calmly fired the glue arrow at the rat. His limbs were imprisoned in the sticky mess. He sputtered in surprise before launching into a tirade of curses.

"Hey hey hey! Watch the language, there are children present!" Darkwing snapped at him, covering Quiverwing's ear slits with his hands.

The rat glared daggers at the heroes and took a deep breath... Only to get hit with a jet of water. He was washed across the street, sliding to a stop by the heroes' feet. Darkwing smirked and clapped a pair of handcuffs on him. Quiverwing looked to see what had happened and saw Launchpad by the fire hydrant, using one of the sedan's hubcaps to direct the water. He waved and grinned. He had also put handcuffs on the dazed driver while the heroes were occupied. The whole Cheese Gang had been caught.

"Looks like they got a cold shower after all, huh, Darkwing?" Quiverwing giggled.

"Yeah... Right." Darkwing smirked. "And boyyy did they need it! Did you catch a whiff of that guy behind the wheel? Phew! He must live on Limburger! Guess there's a reason why they're called the 'Cheese' Gang!"

Several hours later, Drake Mallard was awakened in his room at home by a persistent knocking sound. After fumbling around for his alarm clock, he finally woke up enough to realize the noise was coming from outside. He drew back the curtains and cut off in mid yawn when he recognized a mini version of his airplane hovering outside. It was a Flashquack; a mini computer inside a toy plane that relayed messages from S.H.U.S.H., the government's headquarters for spying on enemy agencies, countering internal terrorism, and keeping tabs on super villains.
Drake hurriedly slipped into costume before opening the window to let the plane in.

Darkwing's appearance seconds after Drake Mallard's was taped on a camcorder across the street.

Darkwing pressed a button and the cockpit popped open on the miniature replica of his own plane. S.H.U.S.H.
Director J. Gander Hooter's face appeared on the tiny monitor.
"Ah, Darkwing. Thank you for responding so quickly. I apologize for interrupting your morning. Our team has just finished going through the video footage from the Black Forest compound. While we did uncover some interesting leads on the identities and location of FOWL's leaders, we, unfortunately, were not able to pin down Phineas Sharp's whereabouts. It appears he's evaded our grasp once again."

"He's a slippery one, alright, I'll grant him that. Don't you worry, J. Gander. Darkwing Duck will have Sharp wrapped up and delivered faster than you can say ''!"

As Darkwing started to turn away, Hooter spoke up urgently.
"Darkwing! Wait! You mustn't take this matter too lightly. Phineas Sharp is no pushover."

"Big deal." Darkwing shrugged. "He's nowhere near as intimidating in the height or brawn factor as half of my rogue gallery, nor is he as diabolically insane as the other half. I can beat him with my eyes closed."

"Perhaps, if you got close enough to confront him. Remember, Sharp has been evading my top agents for well nigh a quarter of a century. Agent Blunt is the best agent S.H.U.S.H. has ever had, yet even he only had one victory over Sharp. You know Derek's capabilities as well as I."

"True. But Sharp has yet to match wits against someone of MY caliber." the crime fighter said stubbornly.

"Before you go after him, I suggest you take a look at his files." Hooter said. The Flashquack's bill popped open and a small disk was revealed inside. "This disk has all the intel we have on him."

"Sure, fine. If it'll make you feel better." Darkwing stuffed the disk into a pocket.

"Sharp's cruelty knows no bounds. With Derek officially out of action and a recent defeat on his mind, Sharp is likely to target you now. Be careful, Darkwing. Do not underestimate his depravity."