CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Old Town St. Canard felt more welcoming than any other part of the city since Tegwen's guardians died, though she could never figure out why. Its old buildings, most still in use, were very poorly cared for. It was only during the year Tegwen moved from Duckburg to St. Canard that the city officials decided to try to preserve the nicer part of Old Town St. Canard, the part with fewer crumbled buildings and fewer missing stones in the cobbled streets.

Tegwen loved wandering this part of the city. She knew most of the graying merchants on a first-name basis; they were the only citizens of St. Canard that she refused to steal from when her situation required it.

Old man Witherbeak always let her have a fresh loaf of buttermilk bread in exchange for a sweet kiss on the cheek. Tegwen didn't mind doing that so much after seeing a picture of him when he was her age. When she leaned close to him, Tegwen would close her eyes and imagine the young, dashing mallard smiling back at her. Witherbeak's youthful personality aided her imagination, to the point that she never minded giving him that 'thank-you' kiss.

Tegwen left Witherbeak's Bread Factory with a large loaf of wheat bread in her hands and a large smile on her face. Old man Witherbeak was in an exceptionally pleasant, jovial mood that day. If Tegwen ever decided that she actually made friends while living in St. Canard, Witherbeak would be one of her best.

She chewed on the soft, warm bread as she wandered down her favorite old street. Most of the stores there were boarded up, all except the Bread Factory and Pete's TVs. Tegwen stopped in front of Pete's and looked in the window at all the television sets.

Each was tuned to a different news station, but they all were displaying the same footage -- something was amiss downtown. She slipped into the store quickly.

"Pete!" Tegwen called from the front desk. "What's going on?"

Pete emerged from his tiny storeroom, groaning and rubbing his temples with a thumb and forefinger. "Tegwen? What happened to your hair?"

"I had to cut it," she replied simply, unwilling to drag out a painful topic "What's going on?"

"Megavolt's terrorizing the downtown area again," Pete sighed. He turned the sound up on the nearest television.

"What's happening now?" Asked the ditzy news anchor, twirling platinum blonde strands around her fingers in a truly brainless motion.

Tom Lockjaw was at the scene, trying to yell over the noise. "Just when things looked absolutely hopeless, our very own masked hero, Darkwing Duck, shows up!!"

The cameras zoomed in on the costumed crime-fighter.

Tegwen furrowed her eyebrows as the cameras from a helicopter zoomed back out a little.

Darkwing Duck was pointing a black, shiny gun at Megavolt.



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