Concrete Angel
A Darkwing Duck Fanfic
by E. Grimes

All Darkwing Duck characters © 1991 by the Walt Disney Co. This story and any other characters
are my own personal copyright and may only be used with my written permission. ~ La Author


My thanks to Rachel F. for sending me the episode of "Life, the Negaverse and Everything" and her
kind permission to use bits from "An Unforgiving Past"--both of which helped make this story possible.

AUTHOR'S NOTE :
As mentioned in Chapter I: all names of Negaverse characters are the same as in the Normalverse,
unless they "crossover" someplace else. And many thanks to all my kind reviewers---YOU RULE!!!

Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete Angel...

~~from "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter II

It had become typical of Gosalyn to peek cautiously through the front window of her home, rather than burst
impetuously into the house as children often do. She could never be sure when Negaduck or Launchpad---or
Heaven forbid, both of them---might be in an ugly mood, and had learned through awkward experience not to
do anything to set them off.

The living room looked empty; the sound of the TV playing from a distance told her that at least one of her
"family" was in the kitchen, so Gosalyn crept inside, softly closing the door. She glanced toward the kitchen
to find Launchpad watching one of his favourite car wrecks-and-gunplay movies on their old black and white
portable. He was sitting in his normal slovenly manner, guzzling soda and eating a big bag of chips, with his
dirty boots propped up on the dining table. He seemed not to notice Gosalyn; which was perfectly fine with
her. She glanced quickly around the rest of the house---no Negaduck in sight. With a silent sigh of relief, she
padded off toward her room.

"Hey, Pinky!!!" boomed out Launchpad's voice from the kitchen. "C'mere a second!"

The little girl duck sighed and rolled her eyes upward in a martyred glance. Pinky was one of Launchpad's
favourite names to call Gosalyn, since she wore pink much of the time; and like all of Launchpad's names,
it was never meant as a compliment.

"Coming, Launchpad!" she replied cheerfully as she ran back to the kitchen, not daring to keep him waiting.
"What is it?" she asked him, forcing a smile.

"We're supposed ta go t'the Muddlefoots t'night---they're havin' one o' their stupid barb'cues," replied the
mercenary pilot, not taking his eyes off of the tv at first. "Oh, yeah!" he added, turning to glare at her and
pointing a warning finger. "Lor' Neg'duck sez you better put on somethin' black an' brush out them ugly
curls o' yours. You an' that sissy-boy Tank embarrassed us somethin' awful, last time we ate over there!"

"Oh...I'm sorry, Launchpad," Gosalyn answered, trying not to look hurt. "But don't worry," she continued
brightly, "I'll just stay home tonight, if Lord Negaduck doesn't mind."

Launchpad was fortunately as ignorant as he was mean, so he only gawked sternly at her for some moments
before he shrugged and turned back to his movie. "Whatever...more for us," he smirked, downing his soda
and belching loudly. Food, weapons and violence were all that mattered to him.

But Gosalyn nodded and returned to her room as quickly as she could, grateful that at least her brutal
"brother" had no problem with the matter.

She was placidly doing her homework when she heard the front door slam, followed by a familiar gruff
and very loud voice---both announcing Negaduck's presence in the house.

"Where's Little Miss Sugar Loaf?" she heard him snap.

"Ah, she went t' her room, I think," was Launchpad's reply.

"Gosalyn!!!" Negaduck barked, going up to the child's room and pounding on her door. "I wanna talk to
you, little missy!"

Gosalyn jumped---literally. "I'll be right there, Da---Lord Negaduck!"

She ran to the door, just as Negaduck was ready to kick it open, and found herself looking up into her
guardian's typical scowl.

"What're you doing??" he demanded.

"My...my homework," Gos answered softly.

"Well, knock it off---I don't want you bringin' any more lousy A's on your report card! Anyway, listen
up: those knobs next door invited us over tonight---"

"Uh...I just told 'er about it, Lor' Neg'duck," Launchpad broke in.

"Do I look like I'm talking to you, Lunkhead?" snarled Negaduck, wheeling on his sidekick with a
dangerous glare.

"Uh...nope..."

"Then SHUDDUP before I knock your teeth out!!!"

Launchpad looked unusually meek.

"Anyway," continued the mercenary mallard, giving LP one more glare before turning it on Gosalyn,
"None of us want you wearing your prissy-lookin' crap this time. You're gonna show up looking like
Lord Negaduck's daughter, not some puky little 'Cinderella' clone! Get it?"

Before the stunned little girl could reply, Negaduck threw some dark clothing onto Gosalyn's bed. She
stared in dismay at the black leather skirt and the ragged black T-shirt with a skull-and-crossbones on
it, in red. Blood red.

"You want me to wear that??" she asked, trying not to sound as repulsed as she certainly was.

"Yeah, kid, I do. That Muddlefoot broad sent them over!"

(He never called Binkie by her first name, Gosalyn noticed; nor even addressed her as 'Mrs. Muddlefoot',
though he was slightly more civil with her husband---very slightly. Even when speaking directly to Binkie,
Negs usually said "Hey, you", or something similar.)

"And another thing," Negaduck went on, glowering at Gosalyn's red hair, "get rid of those stupid curls
and put your hair up in a pony tail or something, will ya?"

Gosalyn turned quickly, struggling to smile. "Uh...Lord Negaduck? Can I stay home tonight...please?"

Negs narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "How come? Don't like my company?" he said mockingly, always
happy to make his protegé squirm.

"I...I just don't feel like coming over tonight," insisted the child. Seeing that her guardian didn't appear
convinced, she lowered her eyes, swallowed hard and bit her bottom beak as she stammered nervously:

"I...don't...feel...good..."

Negs raised an eyebrow, somewhat startled---for this was the first time Gosalyn had lied to him. Ever.
His eyes bored into her for some seconds.

"Oh, really?" he asked at last, with a wry smirk. Gosalyn nodded, feeling very much ashamed of herself.

Negaduck began chuckling, then burst out into raucous laughter that was an odd mixture of scorn and
pleasant surprise.

"You're gonna have to learn to lie better than that, kiddo," he said with a roguish grin. "But I guess I'll
give you credit for trying; maybe there's hope for you at last, Miss Goody-Goody! Okay, stay home,
then...like we really care!"

He roughly mussed up Gosalyn's red hair and walked off, still laughing. The little girl stood watching him
a few moments, smoothing her hair down and hating herself for what she'd said---there was no such thing
as a "little white lie" in her mind.

Well, I DIDN'T feel so good after I saw those awful clothes, she thought; so maybe it wasn't too much
of a lie. What was more, for once she had pleased Negaduck---actually pleased him. She couldn't help
but smile as she recalled the surprised look on his face, and his words of "encouragement". Perhaps if
she surprised him like that a few more times, then he really would get her that angel statue she wanted
so badly...

At peace with her world at last, Gosalyn smiled and went back to her homework---making sure to do
it all wrong this time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gosalyn wasn't the only one steering shy of the Muddlefoot gathering that evening; Tank also managed to
find an excuse to bow out. Although neither of them seemed exactly missed, both families noted their
absence from the Muddlefoots' picnic table.

"So where'd Tankerbell run off to?" Negaduck asked with a smirk as they were all slicing into some thick
T-bones. He was even worse than Launchpad about insulting nicknames; and as usual, LP was mainly
interested in eating.

"Oh, him? He said he had a Boy Scout meeting to go to," answered Binkie with disgust. But she was
puzzled. "I didn't know Tank joined the Boy Scouts...in fact, I didn't think we even had any here!"

Negs frowned. "We don't---I abolished them a long time ago; unless you'd count that little group of
mercenaries I trained awhile back. But that big sissy wouldn't join them!"

"Aw, he's lyin'," sneered Honker. "He just ditched all of us---didn't wanna hafta wear that old Muttley
Crue T-shirt of Dad's. I say, good riddance to the jerk!"

"An' where's da liddle powder-puff?" Herb wanted to know. "Me an' th' wife wuz lookin' forward ta
seein' her wearin' somethin' decent fer a change!"

Launchpad looked up from his plate but for a second. "She don't feel good, she sez."

Negaduck scoffed. "Yeah, right. She's lying, too. Did a pretty pitiful job of it; I've gotta teach Gos to come
up with some real whoppers."

"Well, that's strange," Binkie said as she poured Negs more Coo-Coo Cola. "It's not like her to lie. And
Tank's a very poor liar, too!"

"Ya reckon they're up ta somethin'?" suggested Herb.

"I wouldn't be surprised! But don't worry---we'll cross that little bridge when we get to it," replied Negs with
his usual wicked smile. "Right now, it's nice to have both those losers off our backs."

But he wondered privately---what was Gosalyn up to? Either she was trying to pull something on him,
or else she wanted some sort of favor. She wouldn't have stooped to telling even the smallest of fibs,
unless she had some ulterior motive in mind. No matter; he'd get to the bottom of it sooner or later.
Nobody pulled the proverbial wool over Lord Negaduck's eyes---least of all his disgustingly sweet
little girl who couldn't even lie to him properly...

End Chapter II