Chapter 9

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Bushroot numbly felt being drug along as Darkwing brought him up to his feet. He stared into space, tears rolling down his cheeks. He didn't know how long he was standing there on the rooftop, moments after he had just murdered-Murdered!-his best friend!

"Alright, Bushroot, alright" he could hear the vigilante saying. "Let's not bring the water works."

In his numbed state, Bushroot could feel a slight twinge of irritation at Darkwing's obviously insensitive comment, but he didn't have the strength to to fuss over it. He simply shrugged the other mallard off.

On the other side of the roof, Megavolt and Quackerjack were slowly gathering the still unconscious Negaduck up by his arms. "Figures! We have to clean up after the boss!" tsked the jester.

Megavolt frowned when he watched Quackerjack start to pick Negaduck up. "Oh, no! I am NOT hauling him around everywhere!"

Quackerjack, who had a grip on Negaduck's arm, looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh? And how do you suppose ol' Negsy-Butt will like it when he learns we left him behind to get hauled off to jail?"

The electrified rodent's eyes widened as he gulped. "Not well, I'd imagine." He sighed. "Fiiiiine!"

" Well then come on, Megsy! Now is the time to vamoose!"

Megavolt didn't need to be told twice as the two of them managed to make their way off the roof with Negaduck thanks to some of Quackerjack's handy air mattress that they used to get down safely.

Darkwing grunted as he watched them go, even going as far as to step towards them, but he glanced back at Bushroot. He was torn between chasing after them or staying to see what Bushroot and Liquidator were going to do. He pulled down on his hat in consternation.

"You're just letting them go, DW?" asked Launchpad as he stepped up next to the smaller mallard.

Darkwing snarled under his breath. "No...I am NOT 'letting just them'. I can giving them a head START!"

Faintly, as though in a distance, they could hear sirens. An ambulance. Fire fighters down below. The fire from Dandren had spread to several nearby cars that had been parked along the side of the road. The rain slowly stopped, until it was just a fine mist.

Bushroot felt someone hugging him and looked over to see that it was Liquidator, his liquid arms sending him the usual comfort on his plant skin.

"I'm sorry, Reggie. I know how much Dandren meant to you" he said quietly.

Bushroot looked away, shrugging off Liquidator's arms. This only caused the canine to become more concerned.

"Reggie?"

Bushroot sniffled and wiped some of the dried tears off his cheeks. "Buddy, I know you mean well, but I'm going to need some time."

Liquidator titled his head to the side, not understanding. He sloshed his way in front of the floral duck. "Don't be so hard on yourself, Reggie! Every good gardener makes a few mistakes and looses a few crops from time to time."

Bushroot shook his head. "I'm not talking about Dandren!" he snapped.

Both of them were suddenly aware that Darkwing, Launchpad, and Gosalyn were still on the roof. Darkwing, who had been watching them, quickly turned away to give them some privacy, suddenly fascinated in one of the band aids on Gosalyn's forehead.

"Oh, look! There is a stain in my cape!" exclaimed Darkwing in mock interest.

Launchpad leaned over to look at the cape that Darkwing was examining for the sake of having something to do. "There isn't any stains on it" he pointed out.

Darkwing stepped on Launchpad's foot, causing the pilot to cry out.

Liquidator and Bushroot rolled their eyes, though appreciated the impromptu privacy. The liquid canine turned serious as he asked, "Then what DO you mean?"

Bushroot finally met Liquidator's eyes. "I told you before, I need to be away from the influence of crimes. I can't stand it anymore! I just need some time to think!"

Liquidator stepped forward, a frantic look on his face. "Are you confused? Are you uncertain? Then don't be a coward and run away from your fears! Face them!" The mutant plant duck winced and Liquidator suddenly felt awful. He quickly back tracked. "Reggie-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to call you a coward!"

"But that's exactly what I am, Buddy!" whimpered Bushroot, fresh new tears coming to his eyes. "I am a coward! A coward who's not good enough to be dating someone as amazing as you! I've never understood what you see in me, Buddy and I probably never will! But for right now, I just need to be alone. Don't follow me, don't come find me. Don't even bother looking for me!"

Liquidator looked as though he wanted desperately to protest and he made sure he did loud and clear. "Reggie, I can't! I love you!"

Bushroot nodded, wiping away his tears. "I know you do, Bud. And I love you too, but we can't be together right now. Not until I sort all this out." Liquidator went to say more but Bushroot cut him off. "If you love me, Buddy, then you'll give me my space. Please?"

The ex-salesman frowned, looking very displeased, but he bowed his head and nodded. "Fine, Reg, but I'm not happy about this at all. It's not fair! You should be able to talk to me about this! I don't love you because you're a villain, I love you for you!"

"But you're still a villain and I can't be around criminals of any sort right now. It bothers me too much. Besides, I have to go into hiding for a while anyways. Negaduck is pissed with me and I know that's not the last I've seen of him. He's going to want to get back at me for all of this and for quitting the Five."

The watery dog looked like he wanted to say so much more, but instead he gently took a hand and caressed Bushroot's right cheek. "I'll be waiting for you, Reggie."

Bushroot nodded. "Thank you. I love you."

"Love you too." They leaned in toward each other and kissed, which lingered longer than either of them planned. Liquidator then turned and jumped off the side of the roof, his liquid body unaffected by the height of the fall.

The floral duck looked over to where Darkwing and Launchpad were still standing near the Thunderquack. He could see Gosalyn, who was now in Darkwing's arms, was struggling to keep her eyes open. A tiny smile came upon his beak at the thought that at least one person still seemed to want to be his friend. Gosalyn had been so sweet to him and it appeared that Darkwing understood that this whole mess hadn't been his fault. .Or at least, he hoped so. The vigilante had yet to place him in hand cuffs, at the very least.

Seeing that Liquidator had left, Darkwing cleared his throat and walked over to him. Gosalyn was resting her head on his shoulder. "I've got to hand it to you, Bushroot, I didn't think it would be you saving the day, but you did." Bushroot's foliage perked up at the praise. "And...you've recently saved Gosalyn from falling off a roof, and I guess I never...properly thanked you..." Darkwing was staring at the ground at this point. Anyone could tell that it was hard for Darwking to admit all this. Not to mention all the damage it was doing to his ego. "I guess you're not so bad after all..."

Bushroot beamed at these words. "I-I really didn't mean for any of this to happen! I guess that things just got out a of control. I really never meant for anyone to get hurt..."

"Bushroot?" asked Gosalyn. Bushroot turned his head down to her and saw she was fighting to stay awake as she rested his head in the crook of her father's neck. "Are you gonna to go back to being evil?"

Bushroot thought a moment about this question, then promptly shook his head. "I couldn't even if I wanted to. Negaduck would surely kill me the next time we saw each other. And I really don't want to be evil. I told Liquidator not to come and find me and I hope he respects me enough to do as I wish. I just-I need to get away from all this for a while. I really do want to reform!" He looked up at Darkwing. "Am I asking too much?"

Darkwing was suddenly reminded of Morgana McCawber, the love of his life. She had spoken about how hard it was to reform and how no one ever believed them when a villain wanted to. Unbidden, Darkwing began feeling sorry for the poor mutant plant duck. "No, Bushy, you're not. I can respect that." He then added quickly. "But don't expect me to just let you off easy, mister! I'm gonna be watching you VERY carefully!"

Bushroot just smiled at the hero, knowing the shorter mallard was only saying that for the sake of his overly large ego. "That's fine."

No one spoke for a long moment, then Gosalyn piped up, a little more energy in her voice. "Bushroot, will you be my friend?" Darkwing shifted at this questioned, yet kept his beak shut.

Bushroot's eyes widened in surprise. "Y-You're just saying that..."

"I am not. I really do want to be your friend. I want to help you reform" argued Gosalyn. "Why would I lie to you?"

"Many reason!" shot back Bushroot as he looked away. This conversation was beginning to make him nervous. He wasn't used to any of this!

"If it's a friend you need Bushroot, you really couldn't ask for a better friend than Gosalyn" commented Launchpad.

Bushroot slowly nodded, taking into consideration what he was being offered. "Yeah, we can be friends."

"Keen gear! I'm friends with a mutant plant duck! Wait till my friends at school here at this! They won't believe me!" snickered Gosalyn gleefully despite her tiredness.

Bushroot chuckled nervously.

Darkwing tittered a bit, battling over whether he should speak or not. He eventually decided to. "As for Negaduck-" He paused, looking away as well. It made him look bad, in his opinion. He didn't want to look like a sissy hero, but he knew he had to. He cleared his throat. "As for Negaduck, I'll make sure he doesn't bother you. Seeing as-Seeing as you're not a villain anymore..and are trying to reform. You are a -"he mumbled something to himself too softly to be heard. He sighed when he saw their stares and spoke louder. "A normal citizen now, it is my job to protect you, as I do everyone else from Negaduck and other convicts."

Bushroot wrung his hands together. "You mean it?"

"Yes."

"We can be friends now, Bushroot. You won't have to turn to crime and evil anymore. You can be with us. You can fight back against Negaduck, with our help!" encouraged Gosalyn.

Darkwing gave out a nervous laugh. "Gosalyn, let's not rush on this!"

"I would love to be your friend, Gosalyn" Bushroot said at last, a smile on his beak as he looked down at the cement. Gosalyn beamed at his reply, then winced as she rubbed one of the arms on her cuts. She couldn't help but let out a small "Ouch."

Darkwing responded in a heartbeat. "Now there, missy, you're going straight home!"

"But what about Bushroot!?" demanded the little red head.

Darkwing grimaced. "Well-" He looked up at the plant mutant.

"He could come back to the Tower with us" offered Launchpad.

Darkwing shot the pilot a furious glare. "LP!" he hissed.

Bushroot shrugged. "I'll be fine..."

"But he has no where to go!" insisted Gosalyn worriedly. "Negaduck knows where he lives!"

Darkwing facepalmed with his free hand. "Uhhh...Well then, I suppose...He could come back to the tower with us..." Gosalyn beamed at this. "But you'll have to be blind folded! Just as a precaution!" Darkwing added quickly.

"Fair enough" shrugged Bushroot. "But...I won't be able to come right away...I need to clean up the mess that I started, after all..." He looked down at all the confused plants, wondering what they were supposed to do next. Bushroot could hear most of the crying in agony at the loss of Dandren. He knew the death of Dandren would not be something to easily get over. He sighed, knowing he would have to go back to his children and explain to them what took place. He just prayed they would be able to understand. "I'm...going to go back to my Greenhouse. I'll take all my plants back...if I can. These days I don't even know if they'll do as I ask them to...And after what happened to Dandren, I really don't know..."

"Fine" said Darkwing, holding onto Gosalyn tighter. "If you want we'll pick you up later at the Greenhouse."

"I can cook some burgers later!" interjected Launchpad happily. Darkwing just shook his head before they walked away.

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Sorrow. Sorrow was what Bushroot felt as he made his way down to be with his plants. It seemed like even the air itself was filled with remorse. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. He was now down where the burning ashes of Dandren lay, still smoking after the fire fighters had hosed him down.

Taking his leaf hand, Bushroot gently caressed what was once Dandren's large trunk. All the leaves were gone, most of the branches smoldered, roots destroyed. All that was left was the large section of Dandren's trunk, which was fully burnt to the core. He frowned when he saw a strange purple dusting on one of the last remaining branches. He ran his digits over the powdery substance; confused. There was then a loud cawing sound and Bushroot spun around to look up at one of the lamp posts that was still standing.

Sitting on top of it was the same crow he had seen several days ago when it had attacked him. He knew for it had the little red hat on its head. The crow took off into flight a moment later.

Bushroot turned away to focus on reality, not caring to think of any rhyme or reason to the crow. Tears spilled down his cheeks as he remembered all the times he'd gone to Dandren after having a bad day, telling him anything he wanted.

'Poor Master'

'Poor Dandren. Such a terrible fate.'

His plants were slowly making there way to where their master stood, crying for the great Dandren who had meant so much to them. Dandren had been an idol to the plants, seeing as how he had been so close with their master.

Bushroot was soon surrounded by his children, feeling the slightest bit of happiness that they had not turned on him after what had happened.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen..." whispered Bushroot, his voice filled with pain. He supposed he was talking to Dandren as he continued to touch the smoldered pieces of bark. He knew the tree was gone forever, but a part of him still felt as though he needed to explain himself. "You were so great to me. I couldn't have asked for anyone better. You always listened to me like no one else had. Well, until the very end. Things got confusing there and we were both unsure of what the other wanted. Its like something had happened to you to change so drastically near the end there. But that's alright now. I forgive you...I suppose this whole time you were just trying to make me happy, as you've always said you were doing. I guess I should've kept my beak shut, for none of this would have happened if I had. It's my fault this happened to you..."

A small maple tree sapling that was about Bushroot's height came up from behind him and took one of its branches and gently tickling his cheek with its leaves. Bushroot smiled, turning to all the plants around him.

"Let's go home..." he said at last, rubbing his cheeks, which were still covered with tears.

'Yes, master. Home.'

'Yes, we will go home now.'

'The war is over.'

'We didn't win...'

Bushroot blinked at that last comment. He stopped, looking up and around at his plants. Worry, pain, and panic covered his face and could be heard in his voice as he spoke. "No...No, we did win..."

'We won?'

'How? Dandren is gone...'

'You are still unhappy.'

"No. I am very happy! Thanks to all this, I now have a friend. Her name is Gosalyn. She wishes to be a great friend of mine, which means she's willing to be friends with all of you. You'll see, things are going to change." There was a pause. "I mean, yes, I am unhappy. Unhappy that Dandren was killed, but there is nothing that can be done about it. And I still have Buddy, even though I told him to stay away for a while. Dandren would have been proud knowing that I am now happy...You see?"

'You make sense, master.'

'Yes, we understand.'

'We will be friends with this Gosalyn too.'

Bushroot smiled at this, wiping away the last of his tears. "Good, now let's go home!" He raised his arms and on command all the plants started making there way back to the Greenhouse. As they went, it made Bushroot shudder as he looked to see all the damage his plants had made. Thankfully he didn't seem to be blamed for the damage.

Yet.

Bushroot groaned. Darkwing may not blame him, but that didn't mean the rest of the world didn't. Bushroot sighed and gave a lopsided smile. "It certainly is hard being the only mutant plant duck..."

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The evening sunset fell down on the city with not a cloud in the sky the next day. The day before had been spent cleaning up the remains of the plant war. As Bushroot had predicted, he had been blamed for the damage, but it did not bother the mutant duck as long as Darkwing did not blame him or try to arrest him.

"Come oooooon, daaaaaaad!" whined Gosalyn.

"I said 'no', Gosalyn!" came Darkwing's angry reply on the other side of the room.

Bushroot looked over from looking out the large window of Audoben Bay Tower and smiled. On the other side of the room sat a very angry Gosalyn. She was not getting her way since her father wouldn't let her do much due to her injuries, which were practically healed in Gosalyn's opinion!

"Don't worry, Gosalyn" said Bushroot as he walked over and took off one of her bandages. "You're healing really fast and that aloe plant I gave you seems to be helping your skin and feathers a lot." Gosalyn wasn't able to keep her angry face for very long once Bushroot started talking.

She crossed her arms with a gentle scowl aiming for Darkwing on the other side of the room. "Yeah! Exactly! I feel fine, but HE doesn't think so!"

"I'd take you to my Greenhouse, but it can get kind of crazy in there due to my plants and experiments. And I'm not sure Darkwing would like that" suggested Bushroot sadly.

Gosalyn scoffed. "Wouldn't keep me from being your friend, if that's what you're getting at." she replied back. She already knew Bushroot was the type for self pitying. Not that she minded, her dad could be the same way sometimes too.

Bushroot turned around and sighed. He could see Darkwing talking with Launchpad about something over near the Ratcatcher. He then turned back to Gosalyn, trying to come to grips with this new part of his life.

"I don't really care what my dad thinks" continued Gosalyn. "I'm going to see your plants. I saw them the last time I was there...Before that demented tree threw me through a window..." Her last comment was a bit sour.

Bushroot winced. "Sorry about that. I promise, my plants won't do that you the next time." Gosalyn just beamed at this.

Gosalyn kept close to her promise and became fast friends with Bushroot. She seemed fascinated by all his plants. Darkwing was still rather unsure of the whole ordeal, yet he allowed the plant duck inside his hideout, blind folded, of course. Bushroot couldn't blame him. It couldn't be helped that Bushroot had guessed where the hideout was anyways, since there were large windows overlooking the city, but at least he didn't know how to get in without climbing or flying the high height of the Tower. He figured he owed it to Darkwing to keep his secret; he was protecting the mutant from the likes of Negaduck, afterall.

Launchpad was as friendly as ever near him. Actually, he was always friendly, period. He missed Dandren greatly, but it had been the only choice. If he wanted to make a new life and have friends, there were simply some things he had to change and get rid of. And sadly, Dandren had been one of those changes.

He often thought about Liquidator, wondering what the liquid canine was doing. But as he had told Buddy, he needed this time away. Perhaps someday he would be able to be closer to the life of crime again, for the time being, he needed this change of pace.

He walked back over to the window where he had placed a small pot. Inside was a small little sapling with one leaf. It had been a seed found from the remains of Dandren. He took it as a sign of a fresh start.

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