"Hey, Duck." The stranger said as he blocked Howard's path. "Universe is ending. Big cosmic looking dude told me where and when to find you; said this would be more important than a...Hou. You wanna help? Some big reward in it for you." 

Howard was about to tell the guy to get stuffed, he had a valuable case to pursue. But the last little bit intrigued him. As a talking duck, he naturally  had joined in on his share of trippy cosmic adventures. There was the Secret Wars, the Infinity War, the Double Secret Probation Crisis, The Great Pizza Delivery, and his favorite Duckaplooza. In all of those, he did his share of the work... and didn't get paid a dime for his troubles. Now, stupid handsome guy was offering to pay him for his troubles.

"Okay, Stupid Handsome Guy. I'll go along, but I better get paid! I don't work for peanuts... well, one time I did. Lesson there is, don't do security work for the circus."