They had just gotten back from a heist. Dumping their loads in the corner they collapsed on furniture or on the floor. “I…am…pooped!!” the jester gasped out.
“You can say that again!” the cream yellow cat in black sighed.
“I…am…” he was cut off.
“I DIDN’T mean it THAT way!!”
“Oh well.” Under his breath he added, “Cutie,”
“Megs? How you fairing’?”
He was stretched out on the floor with his eyes closed. When she asked, he opened an eye to look at her, and then shut it again. “I’m ‘bout ready to melt, here.”
“Well, I’d turn on the danged air conditioner…if someone hadn’t broken it!!” the rat and the cat glared at the duck, whom in return just gave them a sheepish smile and shrugged exaggeratedly.
The furry cat grumbled to the whole world, under her breath, “Why did the hottest summer come after the coldest winter!!!!?” The two men in the room shrugged, as if almost rehearsed. The cat didn’t notice.
She thought to herself how thankful part of her costume was how she put her rusty colored hair up in a tight bun. She was sweltering enough with her fur on!! Then she snickered at how stupid she’d look as a hairless cat. She turned her attention over to Megs, the rat. He was hairless, but it looked good for him. Well, not totally!! He does have his whiskers… It just added to his charm when he was preoccupied, how they acted like a Jacob’s Ladder. She flipped over to start staring at the other man in the room. Eh, came to mind. Not really her type, but at least he was fun… A little too childish maybe. She didn’t find ducks attractive at any rate, anyhow. The only real way she could marry outside her own species is if she found a beautiful soul in another species. One so pure of heart, caring, gentle, protective, that there’d be no way in the heavens and the earth that she could live without it. She bowed her head in though and again snickered. Heh, like hell it’ll happen. Little far out there and bogus to be real.
Then another thought came to mind. She picked her head up and saw her two friends napping. How can she, being a cat; a hunter and a chaser, not feel compelled to go after natural enemies? He a rat…he a duck. Well, at least they’re not fish. She chuckled at the thought. Good raising maybe. Their parents were well in control. Her Dad liked to hunt, and even had admitted in doing so his whole life. The urge is strong, but will is stronger. He said that. She always listened to him. Maybe it was because he always made sense. Ironic being that she turned out more like her father. Her two brothers were like their father and Tanya was like Mother; a city cat, a “walker” as they in Catona liked to call it. Dad was a country cat. Born on a farm, raised on a farm, chasing the livestock and the wildlife. She snickered at the thought of her father being as small as her little brother and bounding around after animals.
She noticed the sky changing colors as that great ball of gas in the vacuum of space shown it’s light on their little planet as it rotated and continued in it’s elliptical orbit around it. Pretty colors. Reminds her of the jewels they stole that night. Sapphires, rubies, amber, turquoise, with a lining of gold. It was a Kodak moment, soon to pass. She savored it, as she did every sunrise. Being a villain, you never know when it’ll be your last.
The phone obnoxiously rang. Just to shut it up she picked it up and listened. “YOU KNOBS!! GET YOU LAZY, NO GOOD, SORRY EXCUSE FOR A…” She stopped listening. Negaduck. HE was more obnoxious than the phone. She chuckled once, evilly. If he knew it was her on the other line…he’d have a coronary! They once upon a time had a brawl. She won. He almost died, as she heard. She was told by her friends, from him, that if he ever had any contact with her what-so-ever, he didn’t know what he’d do. Probably run away like the chickensh*% he really was.
Her mind snapped to the Truth Waters of Animazonia. It was said that if one looks into the waters, the pool reveals your true form. Her Dad told her that one and every week she’d beg him to tell it to her once again. The Sinister Six’s next big thing…the discovery of the Truth Waters of Animazonia.
She slowly put her sensitive cat ear to the receiver to see if the dreaded duck was still on a tirade. He actually stopped. It’s a miracle! Praise the ol’ mighty!
“Well?!! GET OVER HERE!!! *click*” She hung up the phone and went to wake her friends. As always, they responded sleepily. Darn! She forgot to make the coffee. Oh well, maybe she’d pick them something up on the way. Megavolt’s car was in the shop, and Quackerjack’s car was…totaled…I guess you could call it. He tore it apart to make parts for his stupid toys. So, they had to use her car. Heh, her baby. Dark green, shiny, supped up, gorgeous jaguar. That was something she and her older brother enjoyed; cars.
She gathered the small herd into her car, got them their coffee, and drove them to their boss’s hideout. She looked at the ancient brick building, thinking about how spiffy and rich the neighborhood was before the turn of the mellenium and disgustedly thought, what a dump! Heck! SHE could find a nicer looking hideout! As the two guys got out and thanked her she wondered why either the cops or the villains didn’t realize that was a little stereotypic of the whole genre. I mean, GEEZ! Villain- old abandoned buildings, here apartment buildings. Cops should LOOK there as opposed to standing there stupidly, as if they’d never watched a mob movie, scratching their heads and wondering with that hic kind of dumbness, “where would a villain be?”
“Gee. I don’t know. If I were a villain where would I be??!” They’d blink at each other, hop into the squat car and race, sirens blaring, all the way to the donut shop! And Villains KNOW this! THAT is why they NEVER GO on that block!!! DUH!!!!
Just for the heck of it she slapped her forehead with her hand as she waited for the green. She noticed how eerily silent it was this early in the morning…
She interrupted her though. WHAT WAS NEGADUCK DOING AWAKE SO EARLY??!!! He would, on a regular basis, wake up at LEAST at 10 or 11!!!! Well, she’d find out after they got chewed out.
Where was she before she interrupted herself? She remembered when she once again realized the silence in the car without the bickering and the chatting and the coffee and croissant ingesting. She popped in her cassette tape and the music started. She did a little head bobbing and tapping of her retractable claws on the steering wheel, but careful as she drove to her home.
*************************************************************
Deep in though and work he stopped and listened. Picking up his head he listened as something rhythmically went tut tut tut. He looked down. Oh. It was Ja Tarra’s tail. He was going to go back to work…but…it was so mesmerizing!! He just stared at her fuzzy, fluffy, yellow tail tap, and then tap going side-to-side and back to up and down. He…he wanted to…feel it’s soft fluffiness. He reached out a hand…
“What’s up? Loose something?”
“Huh??!!” he stopped and realized what that might have looked like. After staying like that a moment longer he withdrew his hand and looked away, shamefully.
“You did loose something, didn’t you!!!? Don’t worry, we’ll find it!” She started crawling around the floor, like a real friend, helping him to find something that wasn’t ever there. “Uh, Ja Tarra? It’s ok, uh…I have it right here!” he lied. He picked up a copper gear off the table and showed her.
“Oh! Where was it?!”
“Oh, umm…right here. I thought it rolled off. Heh heh,”
“Well, I’m glad you found it! When will you be done with that gizmo anyway??!”
“Soon. Just a few adjustments here and there and it’ll be done.”
“Ok!” She laid back down to read her magazine, once again her tail going tut tut tut on the old, creaky, painted gray, wood floor. Luckily it was just them at his lighthouse ‘cause he smiled widely and blushed. She cared!! She really cared about him!! And it was so darn cute how her tail did that!! Quacky was right after all! Her tail was cute!!
Somewhere buried in his memory, he thinks he once had a cat when he was a little boy. He used to hug it and it would even sleep with him in his room. His parents thought it was the cutest thing, his siblings hated him and were jealous. Suddenly his cat disappeared one day. They had never gotten another pet after that. But it was a house cat!! It never went outside!! He thought his siblings did Muffins in.
“Oh!” he thought about what he just remembered.
“Something wrong, Megs?” asked a concerned cat.
“Huh? Oh, uh, nothing,” he said sadly.
“Megavolt. You can’t fool me. Something’s wrong! Now come on, what is it, so we can go do this job?”
He looked into her eyes and…they looked just like Muffin’s!! He felt suddenly sad and needing a hug. But he couldn’t let Ja Tarra see him like that!! They were villains! Villains’ don’t need hugs! And villains don’t cry!! He got up and went to the lamp tower to be alone.
On his way up the metal staircase she grabbed his wrist and stopped him. “Megavolt! What’s the matter???!”
“Can’t I just be alone!!!!??” He wrenched his gloved hand away and hid up in the lamp room. She made no further pursuit.
He watched the sunset and thought that he’d been a little rash on her, remembering the first time they’d watch the sun together. But that was a sunrise, not a sunset. It’s not her fault she cares about his feelings and thoughts. And it’s not her fault that Muffins disappeared! He had to go apologize to her! As he made his way back down he looked for her, but there was no trace! The magazine she had been reading was tossed onto the table where he had been working and the spot where she had been laying was cold. She’d left sometime ago. He dashed over to his phone, with guilt riding him and dialed her number. One ring…two rings…three…four… She would have picked up by now! He dashed to his front door and rushed out to search for his friend. Being that he didn’t have his car yet, we went out on foot.
Ja Tarra walked out of the bathroom. “Megs? Is that you?” No answer. She thought better than going up after him. When a villain wants to be alone, he wants to be alone!! She sighed and felt sorry for Megs for whatever was eating away at him. She hoped it wasn’t something she did. Megavolt was one guy you didn’t want to mess with! She grabbed her stupid Teen Sixteen Magazine, plopped down on the floor again and continued reading it, bored to tears.
“Ja Tarra?!! You in here?” He waited. “Nope, guess not,” He’d tried everywhere!! The only other place he could go to feel better was The Old Haunt, as opposed to the new Haunt. He sulked there and pathetically opened the swinging doors, skulked to his usual seat and pathetically rested his head on his fists.
“What’ll it be Megavolt? The usual?”
“Na,”
“Wh, what?!”
“Get me a rum,” He felt like crying.
Sick and tired for waiting for him, Ja Tarra went up to her friend in the lamp room. “Megs, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been so nosey. Can you forgive me? And I know that you want to be alone, but you’ve been up here for hours!!” She looked and there was no one up there. He had left while she was in the bathroom!! AND THAT WAS HOURS AGO!! Where WAS he???!! She dashed down the winding metal staircase at a speed she never thought possible for her; her feet hardly touched the stares. And outside she dashed. He might be at her place!!
He was on his seventh…or was it his seventeenth? He’d lost track. Maybe he was closer to two. Y’ know, that one after eleven? Where WAS Ja Tarra??!! He let out a heavy sigh, and feeling the urge to purge, but it stayed down. He’d also been snacking on pretzels since the bar tender said he couldn’t have any more. Oh why oh why couldn’t he have controlled himself and not gone for her tail??!!! What was wrong with him!!?? You never do that to another villain!! Especially to a villainess!! He smacked his head on the bar’s table.
“Hey, Megavolt, what’s wrong?” The bar tender, the owner of the place, had come up and was actually talking to him!! “You usually just want a recharge, and today, you come in looking for a way to forget your life! No matter what mood yer in, that’s not like you!”
“*hic* yeright.”
“Care to tell me about it? It might help to talk,”
“Well, *hic* I lost my friend,”
“Oh. But Mortimer’s right there.”
“No, no, no. Ja T *hic* arra,”
“Oh! So, you two are friends?”
He pathetically nodded his head. “Well, maybe not anymore,”
“What happened?”
“I *hic* yelled at her,”
“Uh huh,”
“And she diss *hic* appeared,”
“Oh. Well, if she feels just as guilty, you’ll run into her sooner or later,”
Megavolt answered, skeptically, “Yea right! *hic*”
Ja Tarra skulked her way to The Old Haunt, needing to drown herself. She pathetically opened the swinging doors and spied her friend Megavolt. “MEGS!!!” She called excitedly. She ran over and was about to hug him, only that they were in the HQ for the felons of the city and it would be bad news if their business got around. So, instead, she just ran up and sat next to him, with the biggest smile on her face that she could muster. Then she noticed that HE looked “drowned” “Megs! What happened?!”
“Oh, you want to talk to me, huh?” he said in resentment.
“Wha? That’s just crazy talk! What happened??”
“Oh, well, I don’t feel like talking to you now!” And he gave her his profile and rested his head on his folded arms.
Max, the bar tender and owner, came over to her and whispered Megavolt’s predicament to her. She nodded in understanding.
“Megs, when you dashed out of your hideout, I was only in the bathroom.”
“Really? I thought you left!!”
“Nope. When I got out and waited for you to come down, you had already gone, only I didn’t know that. I went up to your hideaway and you were gone! I went out looking for you,”
“Wow. I’m sorry. I thought you were mad at me for yelling at you, so I went out looking for you!”
“And we meet up here, after feeling sorry for ourselves. Funny how things turn out, huh?”
“I *hic* suppose. Umm, Ja Tarra?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t feel so well,”
“Oh!” she said sorrowful. “I’ll take you home, Megs, ok?”
“Uh huh,” And he let her sling his arm around her shoulders and out to his place.
“Megs, you really can’t hold your liquor, can you!?”
“Nope. Mom never really let me drink, even when Dad offered too.”
“I bet I coulda held it all down. Dad always let me a sip of his ever since before I started school,”
“Wow!”
“So, you feelin better?”
“Yep…” He became nauseous again and ran for the bathroom.
“Y’ know,” she called. “Just because you’re like this, I suggest we don’t go out for that heist!!”
A feeble and pathetic, “Thank you!” came from the other room. Ja Tarra rolled her eyes as Megs gave up more of those pretzels that he ate at Max’s Haunt. She went to go rub his back for emotional support. It always helped her when she was puking her brains out when she was a sick little kitten.
That night they had odd sleeping arrangements. She was spooned up behind him, for support and assistance. Megs really got sick. She got his a quilt, a towel and an ice bag…and a bucket… it helped. Just like her mother before her, she was there to make him feel better. She hoped it was working better than if they were sleeping apart. Maybe he had alcohol poisoning??!!
All of a sudden an unwelcome presence came in. “Hi guys!!” came the most unwanted, cheery voice in the world.
“Quacky, go away, Megs is sick and doesn’t need your hassle.”
“Oh, sorry. Is that why it’s so dark in here?”
“Yep,”
“Migraine?”
“Hangover,”
The jester duck was silent for too long. “Megs? A hangover??!! COOL!!!!” He bounded over and landed on the two of them. “Hey! This is lumpier than usual!”
“You KNOB!! Get off!!” Ja Tarra yelled. She shoved him to the floor in a dramatic lift and toss. Quacky wasn’t suaded from his mission. He crawled over to Megs and looked at him closer than Ja Tarra thought was safe. “Wow, Megs!! You got drunk??!!”
Megavolt gave Quacky these pathetic sad eyes and a frown to boot. All of a sudden he needed to relieve his burden. Quackerjack did a back flip over the coffee table with a yelp and sat there in the protection of the blockade.
“Well, I guess I’ll just keep my distance, till you feel better, huh Sparky? Er…see ya guys!” and with that, the malicious jester left.
She felt really bad for poor Megsie. I mean, she never got drunk, but as her mother told her, it wasn’t fun!
The next morning, Ja Tarra hoped that this was all done and over with. She was antsy and ready for some action!! She turned to find Megavolt reappearing from the bathroom. She was propped against the couch, reading. He was headed right for her, maybe to sit next to her, maybe to talk, maybe to neaten the couch, which was unlikely. But in any case, he tripped over the table leg and went flying toward her. He landed on top of her…
When she meant action, she didn’t mean that kind!! They looked at each other for a mere second before she shoved him off and he attempted to get off. But as he tried to get up, he clumsily tripped over his own feet and once again landed on top of Ja Tarra.
Once again they looked into each other’s eyes. She cocked her head to one side and made a disapproving facial feature that didn’t say anger, but didn’t say pleasure. He gave her a toothy grin and then it faded. He got off her once again but instead, just sat besides her, leaning on the couch as well.
“So,” he started. “Sleep well?”
“Not as well as when you’re well!”
“Oh…me neither,”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah… I know. Me too, Ja Tarra,”
“Hey, y’ know, shit happens sometimes, right?”
“I suppose,”
An alarm peep went off. Ja Tarra and Megavolt looked around for it. Then an idea hit Megs. He dug into his pocket and took out a pocket watch. “Oh! Look at that!”
“Huh? What?”
“It says I’m all better!”
“It reads health?” she said skeptically.
“Yep!! Built it myself!!”
“Er…that’s great,”
“Yeah! Ain’t it though?”
“Geez, it scared me! I thought Darkwing was invading the lighthouse!!”
“Oh, no , that alarm would sound like…” No sooner he mentioned it than it went off. The lights went red and there came a deep honking.
“I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the lead paint chipping off the wall of crime! I am Darkwing Duck!!” From the puff of blue smoke, appeared Darkwing Duck. He continued, “And I finally am able to finish my introduction!!”
Ja Tarra humored, “Darkwing, we know who you are! I don’t know why you always do that!”
“It’s my signature!”
“It sucks,”
“Oh yeah?! Speaking of which, suck gas, evil doers!!” he drew his gas gun and fired a net at them that promptly caught them. “Ha ha! No one beats the best at busting bad guys!”
Ja Tarra rolled her eyes, then drew a claw out and sliced the roped like a hot knife through butter, making a nice hole in Darkwing’s net.
“Ulp,”
“Fool. You don’t mess wit the Terrible Two. Right Megs?”
“Megs?”
They watched him as the rat ran to the bathroom.
“Oh no, not again, not now!”
“What’s the matter with him?”
“Hangover,”
“REALLY??!! HIM??? A HANGOVER??!! I’ve never heard the two words in the same paragraph!!!”
“Yeah, me neither! But then again, women have that affect on men…”
“Huh? O-h, I don’t want to know,”
Ja Tarra shrugged.
“How long has that been going on?”
“All last night and today,”
“Eek. How many he have?”
“Dunno. Oh right! Max said about ten”
“T, ten??!!! What over?!!”
“Like I said. A woman.”
“Congratulations fer Megs! Who?”
“ME YOU DOLT!!!!!”
“Y, you?” He began laughing.
“WHAT???! What’s so FUNNY?!!!”
“Y, You??!! And M, Megavolt??!! HA!!!” he laughed. The last thing the duck knew, he was laughing. All of a sudden he was slammed up against the nearest wall and held there by his collar. The duck opened his eyes, teary from laughter and saw a very pissed rat glaring at him.
“What are we going to do with him, Megs? Skin him alive?” Ja Tarra whipped out some claws.
“No,” he growled, too much like Negaduck. “I say we play tetherball with him,”
“You got the rope?”
“It’s in my bag. You tie him up and I’ll string him to the ceiling,” Megavolt said, still growling at the duck.
Darkwing “ulped” as he say a look in the rat’s eyes that he’s never seen before. I wasn’t insanity, and it wasn’t anger. It was totally different as if it weren’t even Megavolt that was looking at the duck. It looked too much like…Negaduck. Darkwing hoped that his evil twin wasn’t rubbing off on his nemesis.
What a predicament HE was in! Tied to the ceiling and being beat up. If it wasn’t the blows that made him feel awful, it was the spinning and swinging!! After hours of happy fun for the two, the rope finally broke. Darkwing Duck fell, unconscious.
The next thing he knew he hit his head on something… HE WAS BEING DRAGGED ALONG BY A CAR!! His arms were tied and his feet were tethered to the chrome bumper of a pick-up truck? Uh oh. He got out his buzz-saw cufflinks and then worked on untying his feet. “Ah HA!!” he said as he knot was slipped, but then he rolled a couple of yards. Darkwing came to a stop when he collided with a fire hydrant. “Ouch,” he barely said, in pain. He fell backwards and rested on the sidewalk. “Oh, why does my life have to be so difficult and filled with pain?!” a car splashed yucky water on him. He got up and eyed the red and yellow electric car as it whizzed past, Megavolt and Ja Tarra mocking him.
Darkwing screamed in anger at them, “I’LL GET YOU TWO!! ONE DAY!! THEN IT’LL BE MY TURN TO LAUGH!!! YOU JUST WAIT!!!” there was sincere hate in that duck’s eyes.
“Dad! You’re home! You look horrible!! What happened??!” Gosalyn exclaimed.
“Go away! I’ve had the worst day of my life!!” He threw down his had, stomped past a busy Launchpad and gone to change.
“Hey DW! You know you had a spark plug missing in the Rat Catcher?”
“ARG!!!!!!” Darkwing strained out. “That Megavolt!! I will tear him limb from limb!!!”
“Eh, you know I always carry a spare don’tcha? They aren’t expensive in any case. DW, I’m surprised yer taking it this hard.”
“It’s not the damned spark plug!!” Darkwing screamed at Gos and LP. “It’s those two…those Maniacal, mindless, mischiefy…..” he went on and on and the audience eyed each other wearily of DW’s reaction.
“Gee, Dad, I think you need to rest.”
“NO!! I DON’T NEED TO REST!!!”
Gos rolled backwards from his scream.
“I NEED TO ARREST THEM!!!! But how…”
LP spoke up. “Well, NEGADUCK, why don’t you just shoot them and get it over and done with?!” he said cynically.
“Yes, yes, that might work….. What? What did you call me?”
Gosalyn stomped up to her father and said, “He called you Negaduck, DAD!! You’re acting as angry as HIM!!”
“HA! I would know if I was! AND I’M NOT!! If you two EVER compare me to that leachy, lung-cancerous, creep I’ll…I’ll…d’oh!! I don’t know!!!” He stomped away, looking for relief from the stress.
Disguised as Negaduck, Darkwing went out on the roofs of St. Canard looking for his target and making it look like he they can blame someone else for it.
“Ah ha…there they are…” he stealthily followed Ja Tarra, that horrible influence on Megavolt to her destination.
“Hey guys!” she said when she was in the doorway on a building.
Oops! No time!! Darkwing frantically looked around and saw a pile of stray bricks. He grabbed one and launched it then fled.
*************************************************************
She was caught in the act of defacing an alley wall. Two cops came up to her and she didn’t resist being handcuffed. This was her first misdeed in St. Canard and she was young and unsure of this place. Well, but then again, these dumb cops would arrest you for jaywalking or better yet, for accidentally knocking a donut or cup of coffee out of their hands. Jaywalking was actually illegal, but everyone in her home city did it anyway! And THEY didn’t get busted for it!
“Alright, lady, how long have you been at this?” they interrogated her before putting her into the car.
“I just started to day!”
“Let’s see you license!”
“License? I need a license for painting a wall?!”
“No, you need a license for being a villain!”
She scoffed. “Well THAT’S lame!”
“Yu don’t have a villain license?”
“No! I didn’t know I needed one, let alone there WAS such a thing!”
“Oh, well, in that case, we’ll drop you off to get one!”
They uncuffed her and got in the cop car and went into the buisnsness district. They threw her out the window in from of a building and sped away. “Wow, when they mean drop you off, they’re not kidding” she said as she rubbed her bruized bottom. She looked up and say why the cops went in such a hurry. There was a gang of about four thugs all buff for action.
“Hey girly girl, what you doin here?” they teased.
“Maybe I’ll hold your hand and lead you home; MY home”
“Buzz off Buzzards! I have business here! Outta the way!”
“Sorry, toots, the only way you’re getting in is if we’re afraid of you!” The gang laughed cruelly.
“Oh, believe me, you don’t want to be afraid of me,” she said in a calm voice.
“And why’s THAT?”
“Because it would mean that you screamed to your mommy that you wish you were never born,” She narrowed her eyes, threatingly.
The gang let her in. She headed down the stares and followed the landing to the left to see a terribly long hall. She walked to where the commotion was in a nearby room to the right. “Oh my god.” She said slowly, agape as she saw that there really WAS such a place where villains got their licenses, because I this large room were…*gulp* villains. It was so packed that there was hardly anywhere to walk. She got on line, while others sat and waited or stood and talked with each other or the far side desk clerks. To the right was another line that led into a side room where people were clearly taking written testes. She got to the desk and took a number: 18976345ZD. “Oh my god!” she whined. Pouting, she went to find a place to wait this out.
An hour passed and she checked the back wall screen to see if her number was up: 18976120BH. She groaned again and plopped her head down on her knees as she brought them up to her chin.
It must have been well in the afternoon when her number came on the screen. It said to go to desk 7. She filed through the crowd of people and made it to the desk where an elderly woman was working. She estimated she was between 55 and 65. And by the looks of her and her job, she figured that no one would mess with THIS woman. “Name, weight, and height,”
“Er…Ja Tarra…”
“No hon, your REAL name,”
“Uh…” Ja Tarra was unsure whether or not to trust her.
“It’s ok, I do this fer a living, it’s all confidential.”
“Electris Aluminus Watt,”
“Fer a cat, you seem familiarly like Megavolt,”
“Er…”
“Weight and height,”
“150 lbs, 5’6’’,”
“Eye color, hair color?”
“Brown, auburn.”
“Birth date.”
“September 9, 1962.”
“Ok, go have a seat in that chair over there,”
Ja Tarra looked all the way back where she came to see a lonely chair in the crowd. It was a plain ordinary wooden chair, but with the masses of people she wondered why no one was in it. As she made her way to it, the
room seemed to stop everything, literally. All eyes were on her, and that unnerved her, as it would anyone. But she ignored it all and headed for her goal.
Without her knowing, at that same time, Negaduck wandered through the wide, glass doorway and watched as the soon to be new villain went to sit down.
Ja Tarra reached the chair and went to sit down. The villains seemed to gasp and hold their breath all at the same time. Obviously there was something about this chair that was different… She’d be on guard; high alert if you will. The chair supported her weight and creaked as she sat. Her weight was off her feet now as the chair totally supported her. Suddenly the chair was tilted backwards violently. Ja Tarra leaned forwards and tumbles away to face the chair. She saw, as did everyone, a hole where the back of the chair ended. Then the hole acted like a vacuum for two seconds, stopped and the chair rightened itself. The hole was gone. Ja Tarra heard pleased responses about this, but none directly to her and then the room resumed its obnoxious bustle and business. Negaduck was leaned up against the wall, pleased. The last four new villains had failed that test. That was spanning over three years too.
Ja Tarra, still not knowing Negaduck was there, went back to the woman who took down personal information.
“Alright, good job, young lady. Here, you’ll be taking the three o’clock test over in that area,” she referred to that testing area on the side.
Ja Tarra went to go wait, carefully avoiding the wooden chair of death. Negaduck, meanwhile went to the desk to get everything set for himself.
Ja Tarra looked around and saw pictures and awards of some of the villains. Oldest was some unknown guy, to her. Most famous was Negaduck. Most powerful came in at a tie between Megavolt, The Liquidator and Bushroot. There were others, but she had a test to take. She got up and headed for the testing area and sat down in a chair second from the front. Negaduck sat in front of her.
Ja Tarra thought to herself, “Oh my god! It’s him! He’s so fine looking.” She leaned forward in her seat as the tests were being handed out, but her row hadn’t gotten them yet. She continued to think, “Oh, he smells like chocolate,” Her test was put on her desk and she leaned back ready to take it.
“Ok, you have an hour. Make it quick!” the tester told them.
Ja Tarra started. Multiple choice? Yo…
Name: Electris Watt Psudoname: Ja Tarra
Choose the answer you think is right.
Answer Correct answer
1) Bees are a c
a) annoying
b) pretty
c) makers of honey
d) the devil
2) If you met a zombie you would b a
a) run away
b) shoot him full of lead
c) stand there stupid
d) tell him he’s the devil
3) If you met a vampire you would c c
a) run away
b) let him kill you
c) beg to be turned
d) call him the devil
4) If you met a villain you would c a
a) run away
b) let him do as he pleases
c) praise him
d) call his the devil
5) You would paint a d
a) villain’s portraits
b) nature
c) gruesome scenes
d) the town red
6) What weapon do you prefer? d c
a) gun
b) chainsaw
c) bare hands
d) a teddy bear
7) If you met a hero you would d a
a) run away
b) fight him yourself
c) stand there stupid
d) gang up against him
8) You prefer to kill c c
a) animals
b) women
c) men
d) children
9) How would you kill them? c c
a) suffocate
b) decapitate
c) shoot
d) torture
10) Who is better? b d
a) Nero
b) Edgar Allen Poe
c) The Boston Strangler
d) Rob Zombie
11) You prefer d b
a) central air
b) portable ac/heating
c) a fan
d) campfire and night air
12) you think this test is c a
a) dumb
b) amusing
c) pointless
d) exhausting
13) You would rather be __ c d
than taking this test.
a) stealing
b) killing
c) watering your plants
d) having fun
14) Lucifer is c d
a) a nice man
b) a cat
c) hairy
d) the devil
15) Light bulbs are b a
a) useful
b) too bright
c) slaves needing to be freed
d) the devil
16) The Holocaust was d b
a) awesome
b) horrible
c) beautiful
d) devils work
17) I hate a b
a) this test
b) Darkwing Duck
c) Tofu
d) The devil
18) Christmas is a b
a) hell on earth
b) wonderful
c) stupid
d) devil’s work
19) I like to read a d
a) comedy
b) horror
c) mystery
d) fiction
20) Why are there two columns d a
for answers?
a) for us to choose one and
one to joke around
b) cause there’s a misprint
c) one’s for the grader
d) you’re confusing me
“Ah, done!”
How ironic that she and Negaduck both finished their tests at the same time. She let him go first out of villain curtsey for the clearly dominant of the two. Now they got in another line to get the tests graded and get the results if they can have an updated license. Ja Tarra over heard, “Well, Negaduck, of COURSE YOU passed. Only got one wrong this time,”
“Ooh! I’m getting better!”
“Yes, well, here you go, go get the final thing done,”
“Much obliged,” he tips his hat, respectfully. Ja Tarra started to daydream about maybe the one day he will do that to her…. Sigh, she’d melt into his open arms…
“Miss? Miss! Wake up you buffoon!”
“Huh?! Oh! I’m sorry,”
“Don’t fall for him, missy. He’s a player.”
“Well…you know….girls can’t help themselves,”
“Well, keep dreaming cause it ain’t gonna happen.” The woman stamped another document and handed it to Ja Tarra.
She read it… She passed the test!! Whoa! No studying! Ja Tarra got in line behind Negaduck, once again and waited for her license. He received his validated one and left, with Ja Tarra watching him go. She half mindedly handed her information over to the clerk as she watched him, then when he was no longer in sight she turned all her attention to her task at hand. She received her laminated license and left, actually heading in her intended destination, in the opposite direction that Negs went.
Outside, she was encountered by a deep, resonating voice, “Well, congratulations, Ja Tarra. You’re a villain…”
She whipped around to see Negaduck standing here. She would have melted form his words had she needed to keep her composure.
He walked up to her, and she stood there, her words caught in her throat. In fact it was hard to swallow. He was SO suave and handsome, it was too much for her to bear!!
“Say, look over there,” he motioned to a cop car around the corner. “Can you do me a favor and find out why they’re there, behind the Villain Registration Building?”
“Uh, sure…”
“I’d do it myself, but, hey, I’m well known, they’d go after me in an instant if they found out…”
“I understand. I’ll take care of it.”
“I’ll be right here.”
“Ok,” So, she went to go find out. She boldly walked up to the cop car and knocked on the window. Negaduck was having a kiniption fit. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??!!!!” he screeched in a hushed voice.
The cop rolled down the window. “Yeah?”
“What are you doing here? You waiting for someone?”
“What are YOU supposed to be?” interrogated the cop in the passenger seat.
“Oh, I’m on my way to a costume party,”
“Oh.”
The cop in the driver’s seat answered, “Well, see, we gots our suspicions on this place, so we’re here to scope it out.”
“Yeah! Apparently there’s a new villain in town cause the hatched opened and no one came out!”
“Huh?” Ja Tarra asked. The cop pointed up at the building. She looked and sure enough was a trap door on the wall….apparently that’s where the failed villains went when the chair got them.
“Ok! Thank you,”
“Sure thing, babe,”
Ja Tarra ignored that, but made a note to kick his ass later. She walked back to Negaduck and gave him the news. He was passed out on the ground. “What the hell was that?”
“WHAT??! They don’t know who I am!”
He got up, brushed himself off and leaned up against the wall. “So, why are they there?”
“They’re there for the failed villains from The Chair.”
“Oh! Crap! We gotta warn the manager the cops are on to us!”
“O-KAY!” she yelled out the last part because he grabbed her wrist and fled the scene to go back inside. She was all, “Oh! He’s touching he!”
Negaduck slammed the doors open, all dramatic. The room stopped, knowing who it was. “BILL!! The cop are on to us!” With that the room panicked and cleared out. Well they TRIED to. They were shoved back in when the SQUAT team moved in. Negaduck grabbed Ja Tarra and moved themselves to the back, and into the back room. “This is a nightmare come true!! DAMN IT!!”
“What are we going to do, Negaduck?!”
“The only thing we can.” He paused dramatically. “We gotta bust outta here.” He went for one of the ceiling tiles where, apparently, there was a secrete passage or a vent shaft or something up there. Negaduck jumped up from the table he was standing on and started to climb in.
“Negaduck! What are you doing!?
“Come on Ja Tarra! Do you want to get busted by the cops NOW??!!”
She thought no longer than a second and jumped up after him. She followed him in the dark shaft until he stopped.
“Why did you stop?”
“SSHH!! You want them to hear?!” he quietly hissed. He turned a knob a little way and like a Venetian blind, the vent opened so they could see that ever villain in the joint was under arrest.
Negaduck leaned close her, as they watched. As she continued to watch he nuzzled her cheek with his bill.
“What are you doing?!” she whispered.
All at once he kissed her. A good kisser and a good looker. Can’t get much better than that!
Well, she must have fallen asleep in that shaft, because the next thing she knew, she was lying on a couch in an apartment hideout. Ja Tarra sat up to see Negaduck staring out the window, his back facing her.
They turned to see The Liquidator, Quackerjack and Bushroot walk in.
Negaduck asked, “Where have YOU been?! And where’s the boss!?”
Ja Tarra said to her self, puzzled, “The boss?”
Suddenly, Megavolt barged in. “Alright you KNOB!! Where IS she!?”
Negaduck simply pointed to her, on the couch. Megavolt turned to see her, with a sneer on his face. He smacked her face and she went tumbling off the couch. The four behind Megavolt cringed at the sound, yet did nothing else. Megavolt went around to the other side of the couch, where she was, got down on his knees, grabbed her throat and started to squeeze.
“How DARE you KISS him!! You were supposed to love ME!! Plead, you little tramp!! PLEAD!!” She’d never seen him so enraged before in her life. It was almost like he wasn’t Megavolt, but someone else.
Her vision fuzzed out and the scene, changed. She felt hands on her shoulders. “Please, Ja Tarra, please! Wake up!”
She opened her eyes and found The Fearsome Five standing over her; Megavolt was the one shaking her back to consciousness.
“Oh,” she groaned. “What a nightmare…”
Negaduck said, deeply, “welcome back to the land of the living,”
“We thought we almost lost you there!” Bushroot said, concerned.
“What happened?” Ja Tarra asked as Megavolt helped her sit up.
He held up a brick. “Someone brained you,”
“Are you ok?!”
“Yeah, Reg, I’m ok. A little confused, thou,”
Megavolt went in for a hug from Ja Tarra. She leaned away.
“Ja Tarra? What’s he matter?” he asked concerned and hurt.
“I…I had a really weird dream,”
“Do you want to tell us?”
“Er….no.”
“Aw, pretty please Ja Ja?” Quackerjack pleaded.
She growled, “Don’t call me that.”
“eep.”
The plant doctor asked the cat, “Can you get up?”
“Er…yeah, I think so,”
She got up with help from Megavolt, who really was worried about his bestest friend.
“Come on, you knobs, we can’t stay here forever! The cops will be onto us before we know it!!” Negaduck exclaimed as he started for the exit. The others followed. Megavolt stayed particularly close to Ja Tarra, clearly concerned.
In his car Megavolt and Ja Tarra were more quiet than usual. “Umm, so, what was it you dreamed that freaked you out so bad?”
“Well…”
“I mean, you can tell me, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose,”
“Cool. So, tell me,”
“Well, it was real weird, like it was, but wasn’t.”
“Yeah, I get that all the time,”
“Negaduck was acting like you and you were acting like Negaduck,”
“Whoa, you mean today!? I’m sorry,”
“No, in my dream, Megs,”
“Oh! Funky!”
“Yeah. And you…er…”
“What did I do? Was it something that I shouldn’t? was it embarrassing!?”
“No, you…I’m sorry, I don’t think you should know.”
As they stopped at his place he turned and saw her tear up. “I think you need this, Ja Tarra,” and with that Megavolt leaned over to hug her. She accepted it and hugged back. Ja Tarra knew at that very moment that THIS Megavolt would never hurt her intentionally. Never hurt her feelings or hurt her physically. He was too caring, too kind, too gentle with her to do what he did in her dream. A dream. That’s all it was. It means nothing in the real world, she tried to tell herself.
They let go and Ja Tarra headed for her jaguar.
“Going so soon?”
“Sorry Megs. I just realized that I have something I have to do.”
“You going to be ok?”
“Yeah,”
“You sure? Look, here, if you need help or someone to talk to, call me,” He walked up to her and handed her a cordless, compact phone. “They’re not out on the market, so don’t tell anyone where you got it, ok? I have one and the number’s programmed into it.” He flipped the mouthpiece down so the phone now looked like a phone. “See, you just press this middle button here on the menu and hit enter. There’s my number for my L-phone and hit the down arrow and that’s the number to here, the lighthouse. The next one down is my other hideout; that apartment on walnut street. Ok?”
“Yeah,”
“Oh! Hold on!” he pressed a ton of buttons. “There! Now I programmed in my number to my car, ok? You need to talk to me, you got me wherever I might be, ok?”
“Jeez, Megs, you really are a genius,”
“Aw, come on, you know you don’t have to play that game,”
“I’m not playing. I mean it.” She kissed his whiskered snout and he blushed. “You ARE REALLY smart, Megs. No matter what all other people say, don’t believe them. You have some really good ideas. Like this…er…”
“L-phone?”
“Oh definitely! Can I program in my apartment number?”
“Ooh! Be my guest!!” he handed his phone over.
“Ok, so how do I do this?”
“Flip it down, then his the ‘Prog’ button and type in your number. Hit the enter button and yer done!”
“That’s pretty easy,” she said as she finished.
“yeah. I got enough to remember. Trying to remember how to do something simple should be simple,”
“Good point. Well, I’m off.”
“Call me soon, ok?”
“Jeez, Megs, being Mother Hen?”
“No, just concerned for my best friend’s health and well being,”
“We’re best friends?”
“Er, I sure hope we are,”
“Yes, we are,”
Megavolt smiled and in return Ja Tarra smiled. She hugged him then turned and got in her car and headed onto the road, Megavolt waving bye.
“Yeah, just get me in to see Dr. Frijnheimer, ok?! I’m on my way over now.” Ja Tarra hung up her new L-phone and waited for the light to turn green.
“Now, Ms. Watt, what seems to be the urgent problem?”
“I had this dream, Doc. Really disturbing! All I need is a definition on what it means!”
“Care to sit and tell me?”
The anxious cat sat on the leather couch and began her story. When she was finished, the doc said, “Well, the villains seem to be your wild life and the switched personalities seem to be what you feel about them,”
“But I LIKE Megavolt!”
“Ah, yes, but you also said that Negaduck was attractive. Him having Megavolt’s personality means that’s what you see in Megavolt. You see the attractive…suave…debonair. Oh dear,”
“What!?”
“You LIKE Megavolt!? What the hell’s the matter with you!?”
“I’m taking this from a rat doctor? I don’t think so,” Ja Tarra got up and left.
In her car she thought, “Perrhaps he’s right. I see Megavolt as very attractive and Negaduck has the personality of the ugliest, most horrid being on the planet,” She parked her car and knocked on the lighthouse’s door.
“Come on up!” came a call from inside.
Ja Tarra entered and walked up the stares. “Hey Megs,”
“Hi! Feeling better?”
He looked at her and Ja Tarra realized that her heart was beating harder than usual. She felt warm and fuzzy; a shiver ran up her spine and down as their gazes locked.
“Oh no, what’s the matter now?!” he rushed over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Her eyes were still fixed on his and she realized what she wanted. “Hold me, Megs,” and she pressed her head to his collarbone.
“Eh, ok,” he wrapped his arms tight around her and comforted her. “You know, if you’re gonna keep this up, the boss’ll have to fire me,”
“Why!? What’d you do to deserve that!?”
“I’ll have a permentely attached Ja Tarra”
“I just enjoy your company Megs. Is there anything wrong with that!?”
“No. it’s just that you seem all clingy,”
“Can’t a girl want love?!”
“L, LOVE??!” he jumped back. “Is THIS what this is all about?! You want love!? W, why ME?! Why did you choose to get it from me??!”
“Cause I like you particularly well, Megs,”
“Yeah but lots a people don’t! What is it about me you like?!”
“everything, actually. There’s not a thing wrong with you.”
“No! there’s plenty a things wrong with me! Even my psychoanalyst says so!!”
“Megs, attraction ignores all that and sees the things it likes,”
“Ok, so what do YOU like?!”
“Your voice, your intuition, your smarts, your smell. I really like your perpetual concern and I really like your hugs. They are very sincere with care. You’re not self-centered.”
“Well, I guess all that’s true,”
“The only thing is that you have poor self confidence. And I think that if you worked on that you’d be who you want to be.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah. I know from personal experience.”
“Er, well, ok! Ooh! Come see what I’m working on!”
“Ooh! What is it?”
“Guess!”
“I’ll take a stab at it and say it’s a digital enhancer.”
“Ooh! Right on the first stab! Wow, you’re murdering the competition now Ja Tarra!”
They laughed at the puns. As he went to finish Ja Tarra headed up to the lamp room to marvel at the view he had. She loved that place of his, as he did. It was a comfortable, cramped, wonder of man, dream filled, dream house.
As the sun set, Ja Tarra sat and looked at the river and the shimmer on the water. There were footsteps heard on the metal stares. “Hey, whatchu doin?”
“Just marveling at nature from here,”
“Oh,” he sat to watch with her. He thought about how they do that often ever since the first day he spent with her. He laughed innerly at the thought that any minute her big brown eyes will glow orange for night vision. He broke the silence and asked, “Wanna go outside? Maybe do some crime?”
“That’d be nice.” They got up to get ready.
As they waited for his battery to finish recharging Ja Tarra asked, “So, what are we going to hit tonight?”
“Feel like the museum? I think there’s something there I want,”
“Cool. Like what?”
“Er…some kinda rock er something,”
“You mean The Diamond of Instep?”
“Wasn’t he some Egyptian ruler?”
“I think so.”
“Na, I don’t think that’s what it was.”
“Ok, I’ll get that then,”
Ja Tarra cut the museum alarm with a clawed finger and they entered. She went off to the other side of the museum and Megavolt headed for the Egyptian exhibit. There he saw what he wanted. A medallion of a cat; Isis. He gathered the other cat memorabilia and then went for the gold and jeweled valuables. He even took some really funky symbolic medallions
Next he headed for the diamond exhibit where he met up with Ja Tarra.
“Megs, I’m having trouble with some of these cases. Can you help me?”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of those, you get the others,”
“Ok.”
“We’d better hurry, I saw the guard heading this way.”
“I’m done.”
“Me too.”
Just as the guard entered that room, the left. He saw the display cases empty and went to sound the alarm. Too late. The Terrible Two were already on the road and back to their hideout.
Megavolt and Ja Tarra were at the Audubon lighthouse and they went up to the lamp room to sort goodies. “Um, Ja Tarra?”
“Yeah?”
“I got this for you,” he put the beaded medallion around her neck and she picked it up to look at it.
“Oh Megs! This is beautiful! Thank you!”
“Sure,” they smiled at each other. “Uh, say, you want anything to drink?”
“Yeah, please?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right back,” he went down, looking at another beaded medallion that he picked up as he headed for the fridge. As he opened it to take out two sodas the medallion hit the side of the door. An eerie green mist came out of the chipped piece. As Megavolt stood up to shut the fridge door, the mist entered his body. His eyes glowed green then ceased. He put the medallion on.
Almost in a trans, he walked back up the stares and sat down with Ja Tarra. “You ok?” she asked. No response. “Hey!” she touched his shoulder and he came to.
“Huh?”
“I thought I lost you there. You ok?” she took one of the sodas.
Megavolt looked down at the medallion around her neck. As the rat looked up into Ja Tarra’s eyes, his eyes flashed green. She didn’t notice; she was looking at his medallion. “Say, Megs, isn’t that the symbol of Anubis?!”
“Yes it is, Isis, my love,”
“Aw! You’re such a tease Megs!”
He cocked his head to one side and she looked at him. “I’m not Megs. You know that, Isis.”
“Why…are you calling me that?”
“I am Anubis, judge of the dead. And you are Isis, sister-wife to Osiris, god of the dead.”
“Oh no…”
“I was trapped in this,” he held it the medallion he was wearing. “But I am free now and we will go and reclaim our proper title.” He stood, her hands in his.
“Er…Anubis, can’t we just sit and have a nice dinner together?”
“Soon, dear sweet Isis. Once he who trapped me is done in.”
“And who…”
“Don’t be so ignorant! Set, your brother!! He knew what you mean to me and trapped me. I will avenge the time I spent trapped!” he snatched up her wrist and led her down the winding staircase. As he was leading her outside she felt claws under those gloves of his. Ja Tarra looked up and saw that Megs was changing. Looking more like Anubis the jackal! He was growing dark fur and fangs. As they rounded a corner of a city block they ran into some thugs.
“Gee, what are you doing with someone so ugly, Ja Tarra?”
Anubis growled, his eyes glowing green and with mystical powers, along with electricity, blew them aside so they could pass. Ja Tarra saw as they left them behind that electricity was still surging through their bodies.
“Don’t worry, Isis. No one will harm you ever.” Anubis consoled. “What is this place?! This is like nothing I’ve ever seen…”
“This is St. Canard. An American city in the late twentieth century,”
“What!?” he whipped around and saw truth in her eyes. “I have been away far too long. Set WILL be punished severely!” and they continued on their quest, looking for this Set person.
“Where are you taking me!?” Ja Tarra demanded, fully knowing that they were heading for Negaduck’s hideout.
“You will see, sweet, innocent Isis,” he stopped and turned to her. He was so different now. He grew taller and muscled. He tossed aside the plug hat and the annoying goggles. She saw he had grown longer than shoulder length, jet-black hair and not he had ears of a jackal. He still had Megavolt’s eyes, only that they were green. He held her close and stroked her back. “I am sorry you love your brothers. After this, promise me that you will never resurrect Set again.”
“Er…I promise…” Ja Tarra humored. He looked her in the eye
“Thank you.” And with that Anubis bent over to kiss her. It was one serious kiss. But it wasn’t Megs kissing her. It was an ancient Egyptian god. He stopped the kiss, removed the gloves, tossing them to the ground, revealing the dog-like hands, black claws and dark fur. He took her hand and they continued their quick pace to Negs’s hideout. She feared she’d have to protect Negs from this oncoming threat.
Negaduck was just chilling out in his hideout, knowing he wouldn’t see the Fearsome Four for another good few days. He was listening to some Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath and cleaning some guns and blades when the oddest-looking person barged in, Ja Tarra in tow.
“oh no. what did I do now Ja Tarra?!” he demanded, defensively, jumping to his feet.
“Set!! You coward!! I will make you pay for trapping me all those millennium ago!!” Anubis yelled, releasing his grip on Ja Tarra, walking closer to Negaduck.
“Er…Ja Tarra…what’s going on???!!” Negs said, backing up.
“You will NOT address Isis in such a disrespectful manner!!”
“Negaduck, Megs thinks he’s Anubis!!”
“Oh…crap…” the jackal loomed over the short duck, looking bloodthirsty. Suddenly, the jackal looked a whole lot bigger than it did a second ago.
Suddenly, Ja Tarra got in between Negaduck and Anubis. “I will not let you hurt him!”
“Get out of the way Isis!” he yelled with a growl in his throat.
“No!”
Anubis threw her aside like a rag doll then edged ever closer to Negaduck, whom backed into the wall. Oddly, though, the short duck coolly looked at the now puzzled jackal. “Huh?”
“Let’s see you dodge bullets this close,” he jabbed a handy pistol into the jackal’s abdomen and fired. Anubis fell back, realized that smarted, healed his wound an got back up. Negaduck yelled, “Ja Tarra get a move on!!!” and with that the two of them dashed out the door, down the stares and out side to his bike. She got on behind him and held on to him. They took off, just an enraged jackal burst out of the apartment.
“What the hell is going on Ja Tarra!?” he yelled over the roar of the engine
“Megs has been taken over by this spirit of Anubis!”
“Nothing like a good exorcism wouldn’t fix!?”
“Let’s stop by the museum where we stole all this stuff!”
“I see you have one of those things too, around your neck!”
“He does too!”
“What are you planning?!”
“Ever watch The Mummy?!”
“I never tune to the history channel!”
“It’s a movie you dolt!! I think we need a book of the dead er something. Get the spirit to leave Megs’s body!”
“Where the hell are we gonna put it after it’s out!!?”
“Back in that amulet?!”
“A good a guess as any, but I noticed it was broken!!”
“Oh darn!”
“Where do you think the other part is?”
“Probably back at the lighthouse!”
Negaduck stopped and let her off at the lighthouse. He said, “You find that missing piece and I’ll divert dog brain’s attention. I’ll give you one hour. After that I’ll run out of gas. I never quite filled up after the last two capers. We’ll meet back at the museum. Call ahead and see If a scientist has an incantation or something.”
“Right.”
A howl was hear coming closer.
“I gotta get going. Hurry up, ok?!” he said as he took off on his bike. Ja Tarra ran inside the lighthouse as not to be spotted by the passing Anubis and started her frantic search.
In the chase Negaduck took ever side street and alleyway and major route he could think of, but never loosing this rat gone dog. “Come on you ugly sucker!” Negaduck said to himself as he headed straight for an eighteen-wheeler blocking the road. It was riding low and he knew that his bike as is would never make it under. He violently steered it sideways and hit the breaks. It slid, almost on it’s side under the truck then took off down the alley he was facing. It was a tight fit with the truck’s end in the other half, the sides getting scratched up. Negs knew he was lucky it wasn’t his limbs getting taken off as opposed to paint. He was out of the alley and onto the main road, then into another alley. He looked behind him and saw he lost Anubis. “Ha!!” Negaduck turned around to face forewords, saw Anubis right in front of him at the end of the alley. He looked at his gas meter and saw he was lower than he thought. “uh oh,” he barely said.
Ja Tarra found the missing piece almost right off and then headed to the museum. She had called in advance to a scientist and linguist to get out anything that would help them. It seemed like forever till she got to the museum. The scientist met Ja Tarra at the top of the stares and they rushed inside. “Thanks for seeing me, Dr. Talgia” Ja Tarra said.
“Certainly. Come with me and we will see what might help your friend. She already took the books out of the basement and now they had to rifle through them.
“I found it!” Dr. Talgia exclaimed. “To trap spirits in objects.” She put a bookmark in it and kept it open.
Suddenly they heard a howl in the distance and Negaduck barged in the museum door, shredded, gasping for breath. “Negs!!” Ja Tarra called as the two women ran up to him. In his hand was the medallion that was around Megavolt’s neck. He slid it into Ja Tarra’s hands as he collapsed. “H, hey Ja Tarra…” he gasped out.
“Negs, what happened?!”
‘Ran outta gas a little too soon…”
“Oh no… You ok?”
“Stop stalling, glue the damned thing together and get rid of this menace. He…he’s doing a better job o’ destroying the city than me…”
“Ok, Negs, come rest,” Ja Tarra got his to his feet and sat him in a comfy chair.
“Doc, how are we going to get this thing fixed?!” Ja Tarra exclaimed.
“I can only think of one thing…”
“Yes??!”
“Epoxy.”
Anubis breaks down the doors of the museum and goes in search of his prey. There. He’s sleeping on that chair. He gives a fangs filled toothy grin and goes in for the kill. Suddenly, Ja Tarra steps into his path.
“Isis, not again. Do not stop me from killing him.”
Without responding, she holds up the medallion he came from and recites (get some real Egyptian fer this!) [rough translation: “from whence you came, go back. Hide forever from the world. In this you will remain!”]
Anubis step back, shocked, then the dog likeness stretches and once is ripped from his host, becomes green mist. Megs falls, unconscious to the floor, his clothes terribly torn up. The mist is sucked into the medallion where it glows green for a second then goes dead. Ja Tarra hands the amulet to Dr. Talgia, then immediately goes to Megavolt and holds him. “Megs! Megs! Wake up!” she strokes his cheek and caresses his snout.
“Uh,” he groaned then his eyelids fluttered open. “Ja Tarra?”
“Hi Megs,”
He smiled. “What happened?”
“You needed a good exorcism,”
“Cool. I was possessed?!”
“Oh yeah. You didn’t look like you at all.”
“Oh. And you took care of me…” he smiled. “You didn’t abandon me. You really are my best friend,” he reached up and touched her cheek. She purred then helped him up and they hugged.
The End
Epilogue
Negs was grateful that Ja Tarra drove him home. He was in no condition to walk it himself. However, there he was. Stuck in the same car as the two people who’ve tried to kill him the hardest. It was less than unnerving. He’d have a lot of recovering to do and definitely a lot of bodywork on his poor bike. That scratched paint was nothing compared to what Anubis did to her! Well, at least he could go home to Chell Chell and really unwind. She’d care for his wounds and this horrible feeling that he was being good and helpful. Yuck! Perish the thought!! He was sitting there, slouching in the backseat of Ja Tarra’s car. She and Megavolt were up front talking and laughing and basically being a sickeningly cute pair.
“Hey Negs! Don’t feel bad! You and Michelle are a cute pair!” Ja Tarra commented.
“You did not just say that.” he grumbled
“Aw, come on boss! You know it’s true!” Megavolt commented
Ja Tarra added, “Yeah! We were at your wedding! It was to die for gorgeous! Michelle must be one lucky gal to have you serve her the way you did at your wedding!”
Negaduck just grumbled inaudibly.
“And you’d better not be bleeding on my car, Negaduck,” Ja Tarra said sternly. He looked at the front, wide eyed. Ja Tarra and Megavolt were glaring back at him.
He cleared his throat. “I hope not. If I am, I’ll pay fer the cleaning,”
“Aw, you’re so sweet,” She stopped the car. “Well, we’re here!” She honked the horn and Michelle looked out the window then went outside. That was Negaduck’s cue to get out and not bleed of the leather interior. He scooted out and tiredly opened the door and achily stepped out of the car. He could only get as far as his mailbox till he had to lean on it to prevent himself from falling.
Ja Tarra looked in the back seat and saw it wasn’t messed up. “Wow! Thanks fer not dirtying my car Negs!”
“Whatever.” He grumbled.
Michelle came up to him, called inside the car, “Thanks you two!” closed the door and led her husband inside the house. The jaguar drove out of sight.
Inside the Hudigan residence Michelle helps her husband to get his wounds taken cared of. “Huh.” He stated.
“What’s that honey?”
“I got my just deserts and Megavolt gets his just friends.”
As for the trapped Anubis in the medallion, it is now stored away, in the basement, under lock and key at the St. Canard Historical Museum with a word of warning.