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The Duck Avenger retires the day Donald Duck becomes a parent. It’s not how he ever imagined the end to the Avenger’s adventures, peacefully, quietly, instead of dying in a blaze of glory. In his heart Donald never once doubted his decision. Right now, these three eggs, Della’s eggs, need Donald more than the world needs the Avenger.
Uno retires that same day. The Duck Avenger entrusts Uno with the X-Transformer and walks out of the tower, karting along his nephews.
“It was nice working with you, Uno.” He says quiet and soft. Somewhere in Uno’s trillions of circuits and wires, something breaks. He watches Donald leave, staying silent.
Uno expedites the construction of his android body, finishing it in two weeks. It was already mostly complete, luckily. It’s not shoddy work by any means, everything he produces is top notch, but there’s an issue with the eyes he can’t work out just yet. He doesn’t spare time to fix it. Something burning in his circuits tells him he has to get to Donald as soon as possible. He is not letting his only friend get away that easily. Not like his father. His fears, his deep old hurts resurfaced when Donald walked out, and this time he refuses to be left behind.
Uno surveys his work. Each white feather is placed perfectly, his beak buffed until it shines, each intricate joint triple and quadruple tested. However, the eyes shine bright green when tested, unnatural and otherworldly. It’ll have to do for now. He throws on a pair of dark sunglasses and calls it quits. He’s already let too much time lapse.
It takes an instant to transfer his consciousness into the body. His first steps are wobbly, uncoordinated and equally unstable as they are frustrating. Uno catches on quickly, he is the world’s most advanced AI after all, and soon he’s sprinting to the elevator. He stumbles, but this time he catches himself. His elbow jams against the right button thankfully, and soon he’s racing out the front door.
Uno knocks into Lyla in the lobby, because of course he does. (One theory is that Donald’s rotten luck is rubbing off on him. Not that he believes in luck.) She yelps in surprise, falling back.
“Apologies!” He says, grabbing her arm to steady her. “Are you alright?”
She nods, looking at him with an odd expression on her face. In an instant Uno knows she’s recognized his voice, she knows who he is.
“You-“ She starts, but he’s out the door in a flash. He doesn’t have time to chat now.
Outside is loud . His auditory processors are working perfectly, picking up every single sound, from the shriek of a child right next to him to the buzzing of a fly three feet away. It quickly becomes overwhelming, and he revels in the feeling. Everything looks so vibrant, it almost distracts him from his goal.
The route to Donald’s houseboat is ingrained into his system memory, he could not erase it if he tried. It takes him twenty minutes to run there even with his slightly inhuman speed, and he curses himself. Why didn’t he take a car?
All too soon he’s there. He doesn’t tremble because he cannot, but his hand freezes, poised to knock just before the door. The door he’d longed to knock on so many times, the place he’d daydreamed of for so many hours. Just on the other side is the life that’s been out of reach for so long. Uno musters up some nerve and bangs on the door entirely too hard. Wow, he had not meant to do that. His inhuman hearing immediately picks up Donald’s surprised yelp, and the soft smacking of his feet as he hurries to the window.
The curtains move and Uno hesitantly waves at them. He hears Donald walk to the door, opening it a crack.
“What do you want?”
That voice, Uno could nearly cry with relief.
“To help my old friend,” he replies, taking off his sunglasses.
The door is thrown open, Donald’s eyes are wide in shock. For the first time, Uno sees Donald from a human perspective. He was always a small duck, a fact Uno was always painfully aware of, but like this he looks even smaller, bags under his eyes more pronounced than ever. He looks haggard, tired, and sad. Uno doesn’t have time to notice any more. Donald captures him in a bone crushing hug. Uno returns it hesitantly, gently. Tears are flowing freely down Donald’s face, wetting his shirt.
“I missed you so much. I have no idea what I’m doing,” He mumbles, pulling back and wiping his face with his sleeve.
“I have downloaded thousands of egg and infant care manuals, and I can access thousands more in a second. I won’t let you do this alone. We’re partners, right?”
Donald smiles.
“Yeah. Partners.”
He takes Uno’s hand and leads him inside.
As soon as the door shuts, they hear soft knock. Donald gives him a look of bewilderment before opening the door.
“Hey, you guys thought you could get rid of me that easily?”
Lyla is grinning, holding up a bag labeled ‘Ducklings R Us’. Uno and Donald share a look before they pull her inside into a hug.
Uno looks at Donald, he’s smiling, happy tears spilling down his face. He’s going to make him smile like that every day, he decides. As Donald leads Lyla to meet the eggs, she turns and catches his eye. She winks and he offers her a smile in return.
Uno watches the tearful introductions. For all his daydreaming, they had always fallen short. They had been too harsh, then too soft, and for all his aching, his yearning, none of it felt as he felt right now. The feelings sit tight in his chest, and he sighs happily. Donald laughs at something Lyla said, and it finally clicks.
He’s home. Uno is home to stay.
He steps forward and joins his family.