Special Delivery Starring Launchpad McQuack
Glomgold D. Goldduck was the best boss in the world!
Launchpad had to admit that it was kind of embarrassing that he used to think his Boss' name was "Flintheart Glomgold." Luckily the new nameplate on his boss' door cleared everything up! Glomgold was such a friendly happy, and generous guy! And he always had something new and exciting for Launchpad to do! It was kind of weird not being a chauffer anymore, but being a deliveryman was cool too! Especially with cargo as important as the package he was delivering from T.O.T.S.! Now... If he remembered that map properly... then he should be landing right in that big ominous skyscraper right over.... there!
That should be it! He definitely had the right Skyscraper this time! Not like that time he accidentally crashed through Mr. Xanatos' skylight, or that time he crashed into that Factory full of friendly helper hats, or that time he crashed into that weird ruined castle full of Robots...
This weird Purple Skyscraper was definitely the right weird Skyscraper! Luckily it had a VTOL landing pad right up top!
Unluckily Launchpad was currently flying a cool Jet powered car from that nice guy in Detroit who traded it for the flying helicopter sailing Ship that Glomgold told him to test out. Launchpad wasn't exactly sure how being jet-powered made the car fly, probably had something to do with the Gull wing doors?
Well, Launchpad wasn't exactly sure about a lot of things, so it probably didn't matter
how the car flew! Still, it was a bit unlucky in that the car hadn't really come with any sort of manual, and Launchpad wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to land it. Maybe he should have renewed his jet car license last year after all?
Of course, he wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to land a lot of things, so that was probably fine too.
Besides, it's not like he could fly the ship after the way he crashed it in Detroit, so maybe this was actually lucky after all? That would make sense. After all, Launchpad knew he was pretty lucky. After all, Any landing you can walk away from is a lucky landing, right? Which would make Launchpad the luckiest duck in the world!
Oh! That Wall was really very close, wasn't it?
***CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***
Oh! There were those friendly stars! He was wondering where they'd headed off to...
________________
15 minutes later Launchpad awoke to the feeling of a girl kicking him in the side.
"Hey, if you're dead, can I have your skull? I need it for like, a seance thing."
"Hoppy froggy Tuesday brunch show?"
"So... not dead then. What are you doing in the Boss' penthouse?" the girl asked idly waving a really shiny bird-shaped stick in his direction.
"I'm a Delivery from T.O.T.S.!" Launchpad declared confidently!
"I think you might be concussed."
"No! see! I have the crate thing right here!" Launchpad pointed dramatically to an... empty crate.
"Well, I definitely see the crate," The girl admitted.
"Where's the baby?" Launchpad asked, still a bit loopy from the crash.
"Aren't... you supposed to know that?" the girl replied, incredulously.
"Oh no! It got loose! We need to find the poor Tot before it totters over an edge and gets hurt! T.O.T.S. would be very upset!"
The girl looked at him oddly.
"I guess I don't have anything better to do? What's this baby look like?"
"You know, like a baby. Small, and cute," Launchpad explained.
"I can already tell that this will probably end in fire. Well, if we're going to go baby Hunting we'd better find a professional baby hunter. Come on, follow me."
Launchpad Followed a bit unsteadily as the girl led him through the building to a door marked "I. M. Just a Door."
"This is where the professional Baby Hunter lives?" Launchpad asked. The door was a nice pine, somewhat solid but Launchpad Knew from experience that they were fairly easy to burst through. Actually, all the doors he'd seen so far were pine. Cheap, easy to break... Idly, Launchpad wondered why.
The girl was already bending down to pick the lock, which seemed much less polite than just bursting through the door, but maybe the Room belonged to the door and she didn't want to hurt it?
The door swung open.
"I thought I heard lock picking," a boy dressed in Red with an Eyepatch with a scar that went Over the Eyepatch stated, looking pointedly at the girl whose name Launchpad still hadn't found a polite way to ask for. "What do you want Janna?"
Janna? Was that her name? That made sense. the girl looked like a Janna, didn't she? If you squinted?
"Sorry Mr. Door, but we need your help," Launchpad explained. "My baby has gone missing and I need to deliver it before sundown."
Mr. Door blinked. Then he plinked again. Then he looked at Janna who was huddled on the floor laughing and muttering the words "Mr. Door!" over and over again.
"A baby?" Mr. Door asked.
"Yeah, I'm on a special mission for T.O.T.S.!" Launchpad replied.
"Damn it. I can't leave you with only Janna to help you, can I?" Mr. Door decided. "Okay, what's this baby look like?"
"Oh! I can tell you that!" Janna spoke up. "It's small and cute!"
Mr. Door blinked again and took a deep breath, much like Mr. Glomgold did whenever Launchpad said anything to him! If Mr. Door was even half as nice as Mr. Glomgold then Launchpad was super lucky to have his help!
Mr. Door looked at him for confirmation.
"Yep, that's right! Small and cute."
Mr. Door sighed and placed a hand on his face. "Right. Of course. you're with Janna. Why would I expect anything else?" Mr. Door decided. "Let's get going. That baby isn't about to find itself."
__________
"Well, that was a Success, I think!" Gomez stated as he bandaged Marco's left arm. "We have definitively ruled out the Goozim cage as the location of the child."
Mr. Door shot Gomez a look that Launchpad always had difficulty interpreting but which he was like, 60% certain meant "Great Job, Launchpad!"
Maybe it just meant "Great Job!" in general then? That would make sense.
"Right. I guess that's true. We definitely have a long list of places this baby is not. It's not in the break room, the Goozim cage, the power plant, the crawling across an empty construction sight pursued by a German Shepard, Doof's office, Malf's castle, Juniper's dance practice, the ACME testing room, the ER, that 'Russian' guy's lab, hiding under Wasabi's desk, or in the central Normbot server room."
"The only son in my server room, was me!"
"Thank you Norm," Mr. Door replied. His breathing was a bit labored.
"Maybe you should get that looked at?" Launchpad asked.
Mr. Door shot him a "Well done, Launchpad!" look.
"The only place we haven't checked... is TECHNOR'S office..."
"Well then! Lets go check there!" Launchpad suggested.
"Chin up, Mr. Door!" Janna snickered. "It can't be any worse than Roddy's secret lair!"
"I thought we agreed to
never mention Roddy's Secret Lair every again!" Mr. Door replied.
"You agreed. I laughed at you."
Mr. Door sighed again and steeled his nerves. "Okay, TECHNOR'S Office is is then."
____
"Why does Doof have a giant swamp full of mango eating Alligators in the middle of the 5th floor atrium?" Mr. Door asked staring at the sign that clearly read "Danger, Man
go-Eating Alligators."
"Probably because the man-eating alligators were all hired by Shere Khan?" Gomez replied.
"That makes sense," Launchpad agreed. "I was talking to them last week on that thing for Mr. Glomgold. In the Place. With the Stuff. They seemed nice!"
"They seemed nice..." Mr. Door repeated.
Silence reigned for a good thirty seconds before Mr. Door spoke up once more. "Right. TECHNOR'S office is right here and judging by the crying I can hear through that TECHNOR shaped hole in the wall, I think we've found our baby. Lets sneak up quietly so that they don't escape."
With that, The entire group of 15 people did their very best to quietly sneak up towards the opening.
"One, two, three... AHA! Mom and... mom and DAD!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Mr. Door asked, shocked.
"Therapy," the woman that Mr. Door had referred to as Mom explained. "It's just... we've been expecting another child for a while, and Marco Jr. was supposed to arrive three days ago, but the Delivery-duck from T.O.T.S. never arrived, and we called, and they don't know where he is!"
The man that Mr. Door had called "Dad" continued wailing.
"Your father has been inconsolable."
Mr. Door turned to Launchpad. "Do you happen to have a shipping manifest for your delivery?" Mr. Door asked with obvious trepidation in his voice.
"Of course I do! What kind of Delivery-Duck would I be without one!"
"Can I see it?" Mr. Door asked.
"Nope! I can only show that to Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, or a customs inspector."
"I'm a customs inspector!" Janna announced. "I've been one since Tuesday. Have to inspect all the shipments into Doofania for the presence of Cats."
"Janna, can you ask for the manifest?" Mr. Door requested.
"I dunno, Mr. Door. What's in it for me?"
"
Janna..." came the reply.
"Oh, fine. Can you hand over the manifest for me to Inspect Mr. Beefcake Duckman?"
Launchpad, no stranger to being bad with names, handed over the manifest.
"Looks like one 'Marco Diaz Jr.' was the only cargo," Janna decided. "I guess that means this is yours!" she continued, pulling a Baby from... somewhere and handing to to Mr. Door.
"You had him the entire time, didn't you?" Mr. Door asked.
"Well, I wasn't about to let a baby wander the building alone, was I? There are Mango-eating alligators around!"
"Of course," Mr. Door agreed, his voice full of the emotion that Launchpad had come to understand was clearly pride in the work of a subordinate. "And you didn't mention this because?"
"Oh! oh! I got this one! I Got this one!" Dennis the Duck chimed in. And then, looking straight at Mr. Door he replied. "You didn't ask."
Marco took a deep breath and handed the manifest to his parents who quickly signed and handed it back to Launchpad.
"Oh! Thank you, sir!" 'Dad' Replied, hugging Launchpad! "To bring my new Son to me! Truly you are the most dedicated delivery-duck ever!"
"Well, you know what they say, Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dead of night shall keep this duck from Crashing into the right location!"
"That's not how the saying goes," Mr. Door objected.
"Are you sure?" Launchpad asked. "Because that's usually how it actually happens."
Mr. Door walked over to the sleeping child and touched it on the head. "I'm tagging you in Marco Jr.. I need a nap."
THE END