#bushvolt

The other thing I ship. He probably said something stupid ngl. Reggie is having a... revelation.

Moonrise! I have more ideas for the Fearsome Four than anything else so here we go. Tw: Abuse, mention of scars, angst, alcohol, Negaduck is bad enough but I might have made it worse, maybe PowerPlant because I can.

The Fearsome Five entered their hideout, all of them except Liquidator winded from the narrow escape. Negaduck wasn’t breathing hard, he was seething. He was huffing and puffing in rage. As the rest of the group caught their breath, they stared at Megavolt. The rat met Bushroot’s eyes and was shocked at the concern heavy in them. He gulped and stiffened, hearing Negaduck start speaking.

“Megavolt,” he said in a mock-friendly tone. The electric villain looked at him, hope flickering somewhere in his mind, but it was extinguished too quickly. Negaduck’s face curled in fury and his voice became fire. “In my office, this instant!”

Quackerjack looked at his teammate, wishing he had the guts to help him out. But they all knew Megavolt was taking the fall. In their attempt to rob the museum of a traveling artifact, the Five had had a run-in with Darkwing Duck. In the midst of the fight, Darkwing had tricked Megavolt into setting off the sprinkler system. Megavolt had shorted out, spasming and convulsing out of control. Yes, it hurt and he still had a headache, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that he’d hit Negaduck as he shorted out, electrocuting him and allowing Darkwing to take the artifact. He was in for it.

The office door was locked, and Megavolt stared at his boss. “You insolent moron!” Negaduck shouted, clocking him on the nose. “Do you know what that little slip up cost me?!” He picked up a gun from the desk and fired it at Megavolt, who ducked just in time for it to blow the outer wall.

If it had been anyone else, Megavolt would have rolled his eyes and said to get some other decoration. How valuable could that vase have been? It was some glazed pottery from Europe- or was it from Asia? Whatever! There were others, why couldn’t he go steal another? But this was Negaduck, so he quickly searched his brain for an answer that would calm the other. If not, he could at least not anger him more. He wasn’t quick enough to find an answer. He ducked as another bullet was shot, and it barely missed him. “I was going to sell that for loot you’ve never seen!” he fumed. “Your powers are the problem. You have no control! No discipline! No brains to use them! It seems like I ought to remind you of that and fix it, doesn’t it?”

Negaduck opened a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of some sort. It was probably beer or something. Megavolt grimaced. He couldn’t stand alcohol. Not only was it bitter, but it messed with his powers, so he couldn’t zap anything. Or maybe it made him less absorbent of shocks? The point was it didn’t help. Negaduck poured two glasses and forced one into Megavolt’s hand. “Have a drink, Megavolt.”

Megavolt swallowed. When did his throat become dry? He tried to act more casual about it than he felt. “Actually, I’m not a fan of-”

“It’s rude to reject a drink, you know,” Negaduck snarled, cocking a gun and pointing it at the rat’s face. Megavolt took the drink down as quickly as he could. If he was going to mess up his powers, he could at least not taste it. “There, that wasn’t so hard.” He finished off his glass and took a huge swig right from the bottle. He set it down, wiping his beak on his sleeve. “Take your gloves off, Megs.” That was an odd request, but he did it anyway. It wasn’t like he had the power to refuse. Better to get it over with and not make it any worse. He’d learned that the hard way, and he had scars to jog his patchy memory. Negaduck pulled something else out of the drawer but didn’t let Megavolt see what it was. “You wanna know how shorting out felt to me?”

___

Megavolt was literally kicked out of the office some time later, stumbling to the floor. He immediately saw the other three standing around the warehouse. Bushroot gasped at the sight of him, rushing over. “What on Earth happened?” he asked.

Megavolt put up his hands and shook his head. Bushroot paused in trying to help the other up. “I don’t know what the shocks are doing right now. I’d rather not have fried vegetables for dinner.”

He staggered to his feet, cradling his arms in each other. He looked like a wreck. His gloves weren’t on him anymore, and he was sparking all over. He fell down at the scarred wooden table, sitting in the nearest chair. Quackerjack cartwheeled over to him and leaned his elbows on the table, chin in hands. “You look like you lost Negaduck’s favorite game?”

“Do we ever win it?” Megavolt said, with only a shred of humor. He slowly rolled up his sleeve, his hand shaking and twitching as he did so.

Bushroot sat next to him, watching as he rolled up his sleeve and staring in disbelief. Megavolt had plenty of darker scars on his arms. Patterned like spreading frost. Most of them were really old marks from shorting out. What worried Bushroot were the new ones. The red marks from his short-out earlier would blend in with the others. What really got his attention were the raw burns around his arms. “Megavolt, how did that happen?”

Megavolt rolled up his other sleeve, showing the same pattern of scars. “He had some sort of modified taser. I couldn’t absorb it because I was tipsy.”

Quackerjack put a hand on his shoulder, and instantly regretted it, getting shocked by all the energy around him. He gave a dry cough, stepping back. “I thought you couldn’t do that if you got drunk.”

“Well he gave me something to counter it,” Megavolt explained. “I think it was caffeinated.”

Bushroot hummed concernedly at his friend. “I should take you back to my greenhouse. I have some aloe plants and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind helping out.”

Megavolt nodded, standing up. “Sure.” His legs buckled under him, and Bushroot quickly reacted by trying to catch him, but ended up getting his arm zapped. “I told you not to help me! I’ve got it!” Megavolt retorted, pulling himself up on the table.

Bushroot shook his arm as it healed itself. “Okay. Fine.” There was the sound of shattering glass from one of the rooms, then a bang and some muffled yelling. “We should go before the boss decides anyone else is to blame.”

At the greenhouse, Bushroot was carefully applying aloe to Megavolt’s burns, ignoring when he’d hiss in pain or try and pull away. “Would you quit struggling? That’s only going to hurt more.”

“I’m going to shock you if you’re not careful!”

Bushroot sighed. “I’m being as gentle as possible.” He let go of Megavolt’s hand. “There, I’m done.”

Liquidator and Quackerjack weren’t even there anymore, having gone back to their own hideouts, likely plotting something against Negaduck that they’d never actually do. That left the mad scientists alone together. There was a silence for a bit until Megavolt looked at the other. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Of course,” Bushroot said, setting the pots of aloe plants back where they’d been. “Anything for a friend.”

When had they become friends? Were they friends? Had Bushroot just said that? “Uh- Friends? More like fiends.”

Bushroot sighed and looked over at him. “We’re on the same side, aren’t we?”

“Sure. But that’s about it. Friends are supposed to have something in common, aren’t they?” Megavolt pointed out. “Besides, I don’t do sentiment.”

Bushroot looked down. “Sure, right, me neither.” That wasn’t true. He was the most emotional of the group. He was the one who did crime out of loneliness and despracy. “But for the sake of discussion, we have plenty in common.”

“Ha! Like what?” Megavolt asked. “Being afraid of Negaduck?”

“Exactly!” Bushroot said, throwing out his hands. “And we’re misunderstood geniuses.”

Megavolt snickered. “You’re not wrong about that last part. But friends? I don’t know about that.” He took a breath and steadied himself on his feet. “I need to get back to the lighthouse. I wouldn’t want my bulbs getting lonely.”

Bushroot sighed. Every time he tried to have a normal conversation with one of them, they obliviously brushed it off. “Yeah, okay. I know what you mean. Daisy doesn’t like being alone either.”

“See you next heist,” Megavolt said.

Once he’d left, Bushroot sighed. Friends. Was that really so hard to achieve? He thought they were friends. Teammates, then? That was it? Looking around, Bushroot noticed all the plants he had with him, Spike sleeping in the corner. At least he had them. He picked up his watering can, looking at the pots around him. “Alright, everyone. Who wants a drink?”

Committee of Hold Bushroot