Title: Sanctuary
Author: Cheezey
Characters/Pairings: Negaduck/OFC
Rating: MA
Genre/Warnings: PWP, Adult. Definitely not safe for work!
Author's Notes:
Malicia is the creation of Vaporshi and used with her permission and by her
request. This was also included in the
Citrus Taste
challenge for the prompt “One More Time”.
Summary:
On the run after a defeat, Negaduck takes the rest of the Fearsome Five to hide
out with an old flame.
Status: Complete
Making haste through the shadows of the darkened city, the Fearsome Five, led by a very aggravated Negaduck, hurried toward a destination that only he knew. The other four villains just followed; they knew better than to ask questions when Negaduck was in a mood like the one he was in at the moment, one just as foul as their own but about ten times as deadly. The caper had gone so well at first. They had planned it well in advance and thought they had covered every contingency—until it seemed that their luck hopped the nearest bus out of town and left them hanging out to dry. While none of them had screwed up, much to Negaduck’s additional dismay, for he would have loved to be able to blame the four fools tagging along with him, Darkwing managed to show up at the absolute worst possible moment. The caped crime-fighter thwarted all five of them with nauseating ease, and the only saving grace of the loot-less fiasco had been that Darkwing had been so busy delivering his ego-stroking smarmy victory speech that the five of them had been able to get away while he was still enrapt in his monologue.
Of course, Darkwing’s ego, sizable as it was, would only hold him back so long, and he was certain to pursue them to bring them to justice… or some bullshit along those lines, Negaduck thought sourly. That meant avoiding their usual hideouts, where he would look first. Bushroot’s greenhouse, Megavolt’s lighthouse, any of Quackerjack’s toy-filled hideaways in warehouses or in the sewers, and the Flood Water Company factory—they were all out of the question. In fact, Negaduck had forbidden them to go back to any of those places, and ordered them to shut up and follow him that night. It was not that he wanted their company—far from it!—but if Darkwing caught any of them, Negaduck knew they would either squeal or inadvertently slip out details that would lead his crime-fighting double to him, and Negaduck was not willing to deal with Darkwing again until he had a chance to rest and regroup.
There was one place where Negaduck was fairly certain they would find sanctuary that he was also confident that Darkwing did not know about. A smirk crossed his beak as he thought about why; Dimwing’s do-gooder girlfriend Morgana did not like to talk about the black sheep of her family, and considering most of that weird witch’s relations, he doubted that Darkwing bothered asking for any more details than she freely gave. Negaduck was not thrilled about bringing the Foolish Four along with him for the impromptu visit, but they were nothing he could not handle, and if they got out of line, he suspected she could handle herself well enough with them anyway. In fact, seeing that might be downright amusing… as long as her handling was not the kind of handling reserved for him, at any rate.
“Where do you think we’re going?” Negaduck heard Megavolt whisper, probably to Quackerjack.
He was right, and he overheard Quackerjack say, “Don’t know, it’s not near any of my warehouses.”
Negaduck whirled around with a dangerous glare in his eyes. “That’s because I told you idiots that we weren’t going to go anywhere that Dipwing Dork might think of looking. Now shut your traps like I told you, before I shut them for you!” The four other villains exchanged obedient looks and fell back in silence as Negaduck turned back around to continue navigating his way in stealth toward their destination. They wove through some poorly lit alleys as they neared the harbor, and finally reached a dilapidated-looking warehouse with a rusty light above a single door on the corner. Liquidator, Bushroot, Quackerjack, and Megavolt all stayed back in the shadows while Negaduck stepped right up to the door and knocked. He knew the area, and he also knew that anyone who might spot them was not the type to be worried about. Good citizens out and about in that part of town were targets at that time of night, and the not-so-good citizens that might jump someone out on the street were not the types that would be stupid enough to tangle with the most notorious crew of super-villains in St. Canard. Negaduck rapped loudly on the door and then beckoned for the other four to join him.
As they approached, some shuffling could be heard behind the door. Impatiently, Negaduck folded his arms and stared directly at the peephole. “Candy-gram, sweets,” he said with a sarcastic smile, knowing that she was looking through it at them.
“Never tease a woman with chocolate unless you’re ready to deliver,” a sultry female voice replied in an equally sarcastic tone as the door opened. The edges of Negaduck’s beak curled into an appreciative smile at the sight of his would-be hostess; a gorgeous tan-feathered duck with a dangerous otherworldly appearance about her, with curves in all the right places and a wild mane of hair that reminded him of the flames of hellfire. Her eyes were aglow with curiosity while her demon-like tail swished behind her. Had she not looked so surprised and curious, and not been wearing a tight little yellow-orange camisole that barely covered her large breasts and left her midriff exposed, along with short black cotton shorts obviously meant for sleeping in, she might have looked as truly deadly and dangerous as she was.
The other four villains behind Negaduck exchanged shocked and surprised looks amongst themselves that all read along the same lines: Negaduck has a girlfriend?
Meanwhile, Negaduck greeted her, “You gonna stand there like an idiot, or are you going to let us in? I don’t come knocking this time of night without damn good reason.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Usually your surprise visits and reasons don’t involve an audience,” she said with a glance at the others. “I hope you don’t think this visit is going to be some kind of gang-bang you’d pay a hooker for.”
Negaduck tapped his foot with impatience. “Business before pleasure, Mal, and my business involves a caped moron in purple gunning for our hides.” He took a step closer. “So if you wouldn’t mind putting a hold on the chit-chat for a minute, would you let us in before that idiot catches up with us?”
With a nod she stepped aside and gestured for them to enter. Negaduck went inside first, striding in as if he owned the place, while the other four shuffled in behind him without a word, keeping an eye on both him and their strange hostess. She closed and locked the door behind them, and switched on a chandelier of lights that covered the surroundings inside in a warm glow. Her warehouse abode was unexpectedly classy and welcoming, decorated with fine art and coloring that hinted to a darker feminine and tasteful theme. “My, the entire Fearsome Five. I’m honored,” she said to her guests with a lilt of sarcasm in her otherwise personable tone. “Have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.” She turned to Negaduck and folded her arms across her chest in a way that seemed to press her breasts out even more prominently, if that was possible in her skimpy sleeping clothes. “Now you can explain.”
“I already did,” Negaduck replied curtly. “We were out on a caper and Darkwing Dipshit got the upper hand through dumb luck. Because of that, we have to regroup, and need a place to lay low overnight until he tires himself out scouring the city for all the places he thinks we’d go.”
“I see.” She stared back at him for a moment, and then glanced at the other four, who had disbursed around the living room. Bushroot was examining a tall potted tree-like plant with maroon-stained green leaves, while Megavolt was peering under a crimson lampshade attached to an expensive lamp with a sculpted black base in the form of a vampiric harpy. Quackerjack had flopped down into one of her cushy velour chairs while Liquidator admired an expensive looking onyx tabletop fountain. While she knew a bit about the rest of the Fearsome Five through reputation, and through Negaduck’s rantings about them, she had yet to meet them directly until now. “So,” she said to Negaduck in a prompting tone, “are you going to introduce me to your friends or not?”
Negaduck sneered while they all turned around upon hearing her question. “No, but I’ll introduce you to these bozos,” he retorted. Starting from closest to farthest in proximity to him, he pointed, “Quackerjack, Megavolt, Liquidator, Bushroot; this is Malicia MaCawber. Before you ask any stupid questions, yes, she is related to that bimbo Morgana, and no, she’s nothing like that pathetic excuse for a former villainess, and if you value your hides, you won’t ask any nosy personal questions about it. You can trust her well enough, or we wouldn’t be here.” He looked at Malicia. “Mal, this is the rest of the Fearsome Five. Quackerjack, the toy-maker that went bananas complete with his banana doll; Megavolt, the short-circuited power-cell of St. Canard; Bushroot, the mad scientist who turned himself into a super-powered plant in a failed attempt to impress his girlfriend; and Liquidator, the master of soaking everyone and everything in his path.”
Malicia smiled at the four of them, a friendly smile with a hint of flirtation behind it that was solely intended to rile Negaduck. It worked; his eyes darkened behind his mask while the others gave genial nods back to her. None of them were foolish enough to return any flirtation even in a non-serious friendly manner, as doing such with someone Negaduck had a history with was akin to flirting with his chainsaw. “A pleasure to meet you,” Malicia said to them warmly. “It’s not every night a girl gets to entertain the most notorious villains in St. Canard. Make yourselves at home.” She then added with a pointed and darker look with a hint of warning, “But make sure everything stays in one piece and in its place before you leave.” She twirled her finger innocently, and a flame came from the tip of it, a demonstration of her own powers.
Liquidator’s fluid eyebrows rose in surprise, but he straightened and smiled back at her with his best salesman-style customer service grin. “You have my one hundred percent guarantee, dear lady.”
Nodding along with Liquidator, Bushroot petted the leaf of Malicia’s plant kindly. “Of course. Anyone who takes such good care of a Bloodthorn Ficus is a class act in my book.”
Megavolt glanced briefly at the lamp he had been considering freeing the light bulb from, but regarded Malicia with an agreeable nod, while Quackerjack rose from his chair and stood beside Megavolt. “And thank you for giving us a place to stay.” He looked around. “You have some interesting toys.” His eyes drifted to her chest, which was hard to not stare at given how tight her camisole was. “You have any balloons to play with?”
“Even if she doesn’t, I think Negaduck does,” Megavolt whispered to Quackerjack in a tone just low enough that, fortunately, neither Negaduck nor Malicia could make out exactly what he said. It was clear that it was not anything that either would have wanted to hear, however, and Negaduck glowered dangerously at the rat.
“Save your hot air for blowing on Quackerjack,” Negaduck snapped back, while Malicia snickered, eyeing the rat and the duck standing together with amusement. She had heard a rumor that the two of them partnered in crimes together and were close for a reason, and Negaduck had all but confirmed that it was more truth than gossip in previous conversations where the Fearsome Five had come up. She had also heard a similar rumor about the water dog and the plant-duck that made up the other half of Negaduck’s four henchmen, but at least they seemed to be subtle enough for it to not be obvious to anyone who was not looking for it, even if Bushroot did edge closer to Liquidator in proportion with how irritable Negaduck seemed.
Meeting Negaduck’s gang in the flesh, however, added a new dimension of amusement to the stories Malicia had heard. “My home is yours tonight, but I expect you to treat it like you would somewhere that you’d have to pay a hefty security deposit to stay in before you do. And my pound of flesh is generally collected scorched.” She smiled, rather serenely for someone who had just delivered such a threat. “But as much as I’d love to socialize with you boys, the hour’s late even for the Demon Queen of St. Canard. As such, I’d like to turn in and get my beauty sleep.”
Negaduck sneered. “Yeah, wouldn’t want your looks to go south. You wouldn’t be half as worth hanging out with if you were as ugly as they were.”
“You’re a real charmer, Negs, you know that?” Malicia’s beak twisted into an unimpressed pout. She was used to Negaduck’s backhanded complements and insults, but that did not mean she would just stand there and take them without zinging back. That was all a part of their game. She put a hand on Negaduck’s shoulder and looked at him with a gleam in her fiery eyes. “So charming that I’m tempted to offer you the couch to sleep on.” She gestured to the red velour couch that Quackerjack had already flopped out on upon being given the invitation to make himself at home. He glanced up at her and Negaduck when he heard her say that, but Negaduck ignored him in favor of meeting Malicia’s look with a half-smile of his own.
“Oh Mal, now you know how that is on my back,” he said with mock sweetness. “I like a bed with big, soft pillows… like yours,” he finished, his gaze lingering directly on her breasts.
Malicia’s eyebrows rose. “I’ll be surprised if you’re on your back for five minutes,” she quipped as she turned around, and started down the hall. She beckoned for him to follow with one quirked fingertip while her tail swished to echo the sentiment.
“Bet you’ll be on yours longer,” Negaduck said under his breath with a smirk on his beak that his four henchmen could not help but notice. When he felt their stares on him, his grin was quickly replaced with a glower, especially once he saw the amused looks on their faces. It in turn amused him on some level how quickly their mirth then faded, replaced with poor attempts at feigning indifference, ignorance, or seriousness, simply out of fear of him. “Good night,” Negaduck snarled at the other four with an air of finality that warned them that he had better not see neither hide nor feather of any one of them until the sun was up. He considered putting a “Do Not Disturb, You Stupid Knobs” sign on the bedroom door, but he did not have a marker or a poster board handy, and he hardly wanted to waste time with that when the otherwise worthless night could still be salvaged with a good lay.
When he went into Malicia’s bedroom, she was already there, laying on the bed in a casual but provocative position. “I’d lock that behind you, unless you want an audience watching us sleep together,” she said as he entered.
Leering back at her, Negaduck closed and locked the door. “Well, at least I don’t have to guess at what I’ll have to say to get you to put out.”
Malicia frowned and propped herself up on her elbows, making her breasts bounce in a way that Negaduck followed with his eyeballs. “Did I say ‘sex’ anywhere in that sentence? I don’t think I did. I think I said ‘sleep’, which is a use for this type of furniture that I’m being generous enough to share with you.” She patted the mattress and then the pillow to accentuate her point, while Negaduck came over to the bed.
“Oh, so you are going to be coy after all. Guess I shouldn’t have expected you to not be such a woman about things,” he said, accentuating the word in a way that was sure to fire her up.
It worked, and Malicia’s temper flared along with a hint of flame on her fingers at his sexist remark. “Good. Then I guess you also won’t be surprised when I ask you what the hell you’ve been doing for the past month and a half that you haven’t even had the time to pick up the phone once?” She frowned. “I know better than to expect you to act like a gentle-duck, and I’d think you were sick if you did, but here’s a hint—if you want a girlfriend, or even a friendship with benefits, to get those benefits you have to at least make a passable attempt at the whole ‘friend’ thing, even for what qualifies for it from an evil, black-hearted jackass like you.”
“You say the sweetest things. Nice to know how much you care,” Negaduck sneered back at her. He took off his hat and set it on the nightstand. “As for where I was, well, there was that annoying couple of days in prison before I managed to break out, the two weeks I spent in the Negaverse, some time traveling here and there doing some solo crimes, and at least a week and a half of potty training those idiots into working like a halfway decent team before attempting to pull off a heist.” He gave her a mock apologetic look. “Guess I left my to-do list with ‘Validate Malicia’s feelings’ on it back in the Negaverse. Sorry.”
“Yes, you will be.” Malicia pulled up the sheet and smiled at him in response to the insult. “Nighty-night.” She made a point of wiggling her curvaceous rear end in a provocative way as she rolled over and away from him, closing her eyes as if she was indeed going to sleep.
Negaduck leaned over her. “Oh, come on, Mal, no kiss?” His breath was hot against her cheeks as she deliberately kept her eyes closed for a long moment, before opening one eye.
“Try a little harder to kiss something else first, and we’ll see.”
“You are pissed,” Negaduck said, almost impressed by that fact as he smoothed his hand along the feathers on her shoulder above the sheet line. “I like it when you’re this bent out of shape. It shows how hot you are for me.” He pressed the tip of his beak against Malicia’s shoulder in an uninvited smooch. She stiffened; furious at his arrogance and presumptuousness, especially because he was right.
“Your ego is incredible. I think it might almost be as big as… no, it’s not that big.”
Negaduck grinned, assuming she meant the male pride that immediately popped to his mind, which was also popping up hard and eager being next to her in bed with just the thin sheet separating them. “As big as what?” He reached around Malicia and tickled the underside of her beak with his fingertips, allowing his hips to press against her rear end so she could feel the evidence of her euphemism.
Leaning up into his touch, Malicia let out a light chortle. “I have to rethink my statement now. I was going to say your ego was as big as Darkwing’s, but given the conclusion you just jumped to… I think you actually trumped him.”
Negaduck’s eyes flashed with dark passion at her coy response. “Trumping him, and anyone else who toys with me, is what I do,” he growled, and straddled Malicia, pinning her beneath him on the bed. “You think you’re being flirty teasing me and then mentioning the loser that sent me hiding out here in the first place?”
Malicia was stronger than she looked, and she summoned that strength to shove the aggressive duck up and roll him over so that she was now on top of him. It was not the first power play they had had, nor would it be the last. “Do you think you’re being sexy with that cave-duck act?” she retorted. “You know you can’t take me that easy.” The sheet was now pinned between them, and as Malicia pressed forward, her breasts nearly tumbled out of her top, the downy feathers covering them brushing against Negaduck’s bill.
His tongue darted out from his beak and gave a sensual lick of her so tantalizingly displayed cleavage. “I know exactly how easy you are.”
She ground against him through the sheets and clothing she had on, pressing her hips against his in a way that made him visibly shudder. “Then we’re even, because I know exactly how hard you are.”
“Then let’s stop playing the fucking games.” Pulling his hands free of the sheets that had covered them, Negaduck grabbed at Malicia’s back, carelessly clutching at her flimsy camisole and rumpling it as he dug his fingers into her feathered skin. He pulled her down toward him and pressed his beak to hers in a rough and hungry kiss that lasted several moments.
When their beaks parted, Malicia replied, breathing a little heavier, “I thought the fucking game was what you wanted to play. Now who’s being coy?” She slid her knees forward to give herself better balance and wriggled out from under his fingers as she sat up, clearly enjoying her position on top of him and looking down at him.
“Sarcastic bitch,” Negaduck snapped even as he admired the view. His hands flew around Malicia’s slim waist and up underneath her shirt to fondle the bouncing breasts that had been teasing him since she opened the door.
Malicia threw her head back in a laugh that was somewhere between wicked and amused, her hair flying like a wild flame as she did. “Now who’s saying such sweet nothings?” she taunted him before pulling off the shirt so that he could touch and caress her with abandon. It had barely left her hand on its way to the floor before Negaduck’s hands began to grasp and squeeze her breasts in his brand of romantic lust, a rough and demanding sort of handling that drove Malicia wild. She arched her back with pleasure at his touch, her tail swishing in eager anticipation from the back of her shorts and between Negaduck’s still sheet-covered legs. She leaned over and kissed him again, curling her fingertips around the red turtleneck that he wore beneath his yellow jacket as she did so. A hint of flame emanated from them, making the criminal duck literally hot under the collar. “If you want more than a cheap feel, you’ll have to get out of these,” she whispered in a husky tone as their kiss ended.
She did not need to ask him twice. After giving her breasts a final rough squeeze, Negaduck shoved Malicia to the side so that she rolled onto the other half of the bed. He grinned at how she landed, half-naked and eyeing him with fiery and lusting bedroom eyes, and practically tore his jacket and cape off. Malicia rose to help him with the turtleneck, pulling it over his beak and head, and she was about to reach for his mask when he slapped her hand away. “Not this time.” His voice was gruff and insistent, even more insistent than his hands, which reached down and pushed her shorts down to her knees.
“Like I haven’t seen you without it before, right?” she murmured sarcastically while pulling her tail free from the shorts he was divesting her of.
“Only you get to be totally naked tonight. I like a little mystery; I like you to wonder what I’m thinking.”
Malicia licked the end of Negaduck’s beak suggestively and held back a chortle. “As if that’s so hard to figure out.”
“Almost as hard to figure out as why you aren’t wearing underwear with these,” Negaduck remarked as he pulled Malicia down on top of him, and kicked her shorts off past her feet.
She leaned her head back as Negaduck’s tongue traced a wet trail along the side of her neck by the edge of her beak. “Sorry, Egomaniac, it wasn’t because I was expecting you. I’d have worn something much sexier if I thought you’d turn up on my doorstep with no notice after weeks for one more wild time.” She ground her now naked hips against his also nude body, her own hot warmth against his hardness, in a teasing manner. “You know how I am.” Her skin seemed to burn a touch hotter with her words, as if reminding him that she could set him on fire in a way other than passion if she wanted to in that proximity. “It gets hot in here and I don’t like to sweat in bed.”
His masked eyes wide with lust, Negaduck smirked up at her. “That’s too bad, because you’re going to get one hell of a workout in it tonight.”
“I’d better,” Malicia said, and drew back provocatively. She traced her fingertips along Negaduck’s white feathered torso and all the way down between his legs, where she opened her bill and drew her tongue along his hardened length in one long and sensuous lick. Negaduck exhaled with obvious pleasure as her hot tongue touched him, and he thrust his hips forward instinctively, waiting for her to take him all the way in. Unfortunately she only gave him another teasing lick instead, a longer one that ended with an almost torturous swirl on the tip of his evil male pride.
Negaduck glared at Malicia, shoving himself forward impatiently to drive the hint of what he wanted home. “You gonna finish that, or am I going to have to find somewhere else to put it?”
Malicia’s smirk broadened, and she lifted her head, curling her fingers—warm with her magic, but not quite flame-hot—around him, stroking him, as she seductively shifted forward. “Hmm, well I did already eat, and it’s not like you actually brought me the candy-gram that I’d have needed to work off in that workout…” She continued to inch back upward, stopping just so that when she let go of his erection, it ended up nestled firmly between her breasts.
Negaduck thrust his hips again, enjoying the sensation of the soft feathers on her breasts brushing against him for a moment, and then sat up with lightning reflexes and grabbed Malicia’s shoulders. He jerked her forward, and then shoved her to the side so that they collapsed together on the bed. Their beaks met in a passionate kiss, and she threw her hips over his to try and straddle him again, but Negaduck was both horny and determined. That time his momentum was greater, and he forced her back and pinned her down instead. Malicia conceded the position with a heady breath as their bills parted, but she let him know that the victory was only by consent as she drew her fingers along his back, that time pressing with her claws and with enough heat to leave red marks on his skin beneath his feathers. The sensation made his own flame of passion burn hotter, and Negaduck pressed between Malicia’s legs, enjoying the slick and hot wetness waiting for him there. He savored the wanting look in her eyes and the telling writhe of her body beneath his for a delicious moment before he thrust into her, hard and deep, making her gasp out loud.
“Yeah, I think that’ll do.” Negaduck grinned as he began moving inside her, enjoying the unique and unnatural heat of her body and the delightful feel of it surrounding him. He thrust roughly and fast, enough so that her bed frame—a sturdy and ornately designed wrought iron one—began to rattle and the mattress springs started to squeak beneath them.
Malicia clutched at Negaduck’s sides and back as he took her, and she drew her knees around him to urge him in deeper and harder, wanting him to give her all that he could, willing to prove that she could take whatever he wanted to dish out, and more. She bucked eagerly against him, and rocked her hips to maximize her own pleasure while he pounded into her, pressing her down against the mattress. Negaduck could feel the pierce of her claws and the burn of her fingertips against his skin, and he imagined that his back looked like something akin to how her flame-like hair did splayed out wildly against the sheets as he rode her. With one hand he grabbed a handful of it right by the side of her head, and held it in place so that he could lean down and murmur to her in vivid, explicit, and obscene terms what he was doing to her and how very much he was enjoying himself and knew that she was, too.
He felt her tense beneath him and her movements become more erratic, and Negaduck’s leer widened as he realized she was getting close. He rammed himself into Malicia hard as he nipped at her cheek, holding her hair tighter so that she dare not move too much while he had his way with her, keeping her as much under his control as possible. Malicia’s body grew hotter all around him, and Negaduck knew that on some level she was still wrestling with him for a measure of independence, but her base lust was winning over her ego. She gasped out half of his name in pleasure before it trailed off into an unintelligible groan of delight as she came.
The grin on Negaduck’s face could not possibly have gotten any wider as Malicia surrendered to him. She grasped at his sides, scorching his feathers, and bit at the air—he’d learned the hard way to avoid the hickies those pointy teeth of hers gave before!—while he drove himself into her with renewed zeal in pursuit of his own climax. The bed frame squealed even louder, and slammed against the wall as he pounded into her to his finish, but Negaduck himself was eerily silent as he came. The half-lidded look of satisfaction in his masked eyes was the only telltale sign of it, other than his slowing movements and shortened breath. He remained deep inside Malicia for a long moment, savoring the feel of her hot and wet body surrounding him on the inside and her soft feathery skin against his own on the outside. Still grinning at her, Negaduck gave Malicia the closest thing to an affectionate look that he was capable of. It lasted only a moment, but long enough for her to catch, and her beak curled into an equally satisfied and smug smile. She knew that Negaduck would sooner drink battery acid than admit to having any sort of romantic feelings for her, but the fact that he always came back to her—that no matter how long they were apart, that no matter where he went or who he was with, he still always came back to her for one more time—was telling enough.
“Told you you’d barely be on your back five minutes,” she whispered sweetly to him, although her eyes gleamed with knowing mischief as she then planted a light smooch on his bill.
Negaduck resumed his usual arrogant expression, and he slid out of her and rolled off to the side. Grabbing one of her pillows and fluffing it, he said, “Shows what you know. I’m going to sleep like a baby here on my back for at least the rest of the night.” He settled back onto the pillow and gave Malicia a knowing smirk. “You’d better get that beauty sleep you wanted so bad. I kept you up nice and late.”
Malicia turned off the light on her nightstand, and settled against her own pillow. She pulled the sheet around her, leaving Negaduck to have to fumble in the darkness to find his end of it. “That’s you, Mr. Considerate. Good night.”
There was no reply other than an unintelligible mutter and some grouchy shuffling until he found the sheet. Malicia smirked victoriously in the darkness as Negaduck finally settled in, his feathers rubbing against her feathery tush and tail, before both drifted off into a pleasant and deep sleep.
When Negaduck woke up, Malicia was already out of bed and dressed. She was wearing one of her favorite dresses, a sexy green one that set off the fiery highlights in her hair. “Rise and shine,” she greeted him with a sultry smile, and tossed him his discarded red shirt as he sat up.
“Morning,” was all he said back to her, which was a surprisingly polite greeting from Negaduck before coffee. He pulled on his shirt and then the rest of his clothing as she passed it to him, finishing with an adjustment of his hat until it sat just so on his head. Not in the mood for small talk, he glanced at the bedroom door. “Let’s go see if those knobs I brought along behaved and managed to not trash your pad overnight.”
Malicia’s eyebrows rose. “For all your sakes, they better not have.” She formed a swishing ball of flame that lasted a moment with her free hand before opening the bedroom door and heading out into the hall. Negaduck followed her out and down the stairwell that led to the hall connecting to the living room where they had left the other four members of the Fearsome Five the night before. Their entrance commanded the other villains’ attention, and all four of them stopped what they were doing and looked over when Negaduck and Malicia came in. The room was still dimly lit, having no windows to add illumination at that time of day due to the unique layout of Malicia’s warehouse home. Only two table lamps were on, one of which Megavolt was standing next to, apparently having been chatting with the light bulb inside it. Quackerjack was juggling what looked like a crystal ball, a candlestick, and one of Malicia’s small artsy figurines while Mr. Banana Brain watched from the end table next to him. Liquidator and Bushroot were emerging from the bathroom, the former gliding along with a pleasant expression while the latter held a glass full of water which he was taking to the Bloodthorn Ficus, which had told him that it was thirsty. The room seemed otherwise intact and in good shape, although Quackerjack quickly stopped juggling when Malicia’s non-smiling face met his, and he carefully set the objects back down on the table beside Mr. Banana Brain, unharmed.
“So, you, uh, have a good night?” Bushroot asked casually, careful to face the Bloodthorn Ficus and not Negaduck or Malicia as he asked. As soon as he did, Liquidator, Megavolt, and especially Quackerjack all grinned.
Before Negaduck could answer, Malicia went to flip on the light switch to turn on the chandelier that lit her living room. She frowned as nothing happened, even as she flipped the switch multiple times. “What the—?” She stared up at it and saw that all the light bulbs were missing. “Where the hell are the bulbs to my chandelier?” she exclaimed, shooting the four villains in her living room a dangerous glare.
Negaduck was in Megavolt’s face in a flash, and he grabbed him by the collar. “What did you do with them, you idiot?”
“Relax, they’re right over here,” Quackerjack said, opening a drawer on an end table that held all of them, while Malicia walked over to retrieve them.
“Why are they in there?” she demanded, shifting her glare from Quackerjack to Megavolt, who was tugging back at his collar to get free of Negaduck’s grip.
“I was going to put them back. I just hadn’t gotten to it yet.”
Negaduck rolled his eyes and looked at Malicia. “You’ll have to excuse this moron. He has a fetish for ‘liberating’ light bulbs, or some crazy shit like that.”
“No need to worry, we can put them back in a jiffy, easy as one-two-three!” Liquidator volunteered, and scooped them out of the drawer before Malicia could pick them up in an effort to avoid a pre-coffee Negaduck morning tantrum. He stretched himself to reach the chandelier and began screwing them back in while Negaduck released Megavolt in disgust.
Megavolt frowned and straightened the collar of his jumpsuit. “I left all the others alone, but they were getting seasick. I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing,” he argued.
“Seasick?” Malicia repeated, giving him an incredulous look.
“From all the…” Megavolt’s voice trailed off as he realized that his answer would leave him treading on dangerous ground with Negaduck.
“All the what?” Negaduck demanded.
“Shaking,” Megavolt answered with a wince, while Quackerjack not-so-innocently squeaked one of the chairs on the floor in a manner not unlike the rhythm Malicia’s bed had been doing the night before. Liquidator pursed his watery lips together to avoid laughing out loud as he screwed in the last light bulb, while Bushroot quietly put a leafy palm over his bill to hide his own amusement at the looks on both Negaduck and Malicia’s faces.
Feeling a burn in her cheeks that did not involve her innate flame powers, Malicia went over to the light switch for her chandelier and flipped it on, causing Liquidator to wrench his wet hand away just in time to avoid getting an unwanted shock as the lights came back on. He flowed back down to the floor while Malicia turned to Negaduck, who shot each of his henchmen a “one smart-ass remark and you’re dead” warning look before meeting her gaze.
Malicia gestured toward the door. “I think it’s time to go. I’m sure the terror that flaps in the night probably turns in by this time of morning.”
“Yeah,” Negaduck agreed with a nod, and motioned for the other four villains to get out. Bushroot was the first to scoot toward the exit, with a meek little “bye” tossed in Malicia’s direction out of politeness, followed by Liquidator, who gave a smile and a wave, and Megavolt, who waved at the light bulbs first and Malicia second. Quackerjack was the last, taking a moment to pick up Mr. Banana Brain and have him bid farewell after he did. Once they were gone, Negaduck smiled at Malicia in a chilling way that meant that he either particularly liked or hated the recipient—or both. “It’s been real,” he said, and then bowed with a dramatic tip of his hat. “See you around, Red.”
Watching him as he headed through the door and out onto the street, Malicia leaned provocatively against the doorjamb and replied with a flirtatious look as he left, “Until next time.”
The End