Chapter Text
I hadn't told Louie not to tell his brothers that we time traveled, but as far as I knew, there had been no sudden breaks in the Della case in the few weeks after our return. The boys checked the Bin, as planned, for shredded documents and found nothing. Huey had been suspicious at first that they found nothing until he went back and found that over half of the McDuck Enterprises' files were in the wrong place. He spent three solid days digging through papers before finally passing out in them. I made it my responsibility to carry him home and make sure that he didn't return until he promised not to do that again.
Over the last few weeks, I had settled into a nice routine of ignoring Beaks (mostly), eating breakfast with Scrooge, then stocking up for the next adventure. However, it was taking a toll on Louie's mental state, and I was right there with him. If the constant danger wasn't bad enough, ever-growing consistency at which Dewey and Webby harmonized was.
"I wish, for once, we could have a night in." Louie grumbled as I wrapped a bandage around his head. Our last adventure had left him almost crushed by a bolder and I was patching him up on the plane home.
"Do you want me to sit the next one out?" I offered, tying the bandage in a knot.
"You would do that?" His eyes grew wide, then he tried to play it cool. "I mean, uh, I thought you liked adventuring as much as the rest of 'em?"
"I mean, learning about new places and fighting baddies is fun, but if Dewey and Webby sing one more thing, I might throw something at them." He laughed, but I was serious.
"Yeah, why do they do that?"
"I'm twenty-eight percent sure we unlocked a curse in that underwater sea cave and this is the consequence," he laughed again, and the plane jolted to a stop. "But hey, we're home now, go get some sleep."
He ran out of the plane and into the mansion. I grabbed my gear and went to follow, only to be stopped by Scrooge.
"Oi, I wish lad would enjoy himself a little more," he said, while publishing the golden statue we just got.
"The adventures have become predictable to him. No one likes to do anything they know the outcome to, especially if they're the butt of the joke. And unfortunately," I didn't finish.
"Ah, he just needs to toughen up is all," Scrooge said, while walking off the plane.
I let out a low growl that no one heard before heading into the mansion. I found Louie sprawled out on the floor.
"I didn't mean in the entryway," I chuckled, nudging him with my foot.
"I'm just gonna lay here forever." He groaned, and Mrs. B vacuumed the dirt off of him.
"Kids! Kids, I found a hidden compartment in the idol!" Scrooge rushed back downstairs. "There's only a treasure map inside. Let's go."
The others cheered and ran off to repack. I went to say something to Louie, then changed my mind. He was throwing a tantrum and hitting the ground with both fists.
"You look like you're going through your own thing so I'm gonna," I pointed to the stairs and walked up them to Scrooge. I didn't want to talk to him, but I had to say something. "Did you put the map back in the compartment to be dramatic? Maybe you are related to Dewey."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult," he said, confused. I was still walking upstairs but thought about it called back down over my shoulder.
"Yes." I laughed and headed back upstairs to change my clothes, shower, and reup supplies. Not in that order, obviously. I was gone fifteen minutes before I headed to the boy's room.
"All this constant adventuring must have torn it apart." I heard Huey say as their room came into view.
Louie was standing in the doorway with the look of pure content on his face. He was hatching an idea, and I know what episode this was. It had been weeks since I knew the plot of an adventure.
"Okay, you deal with that. ____'s coming with me." He grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall. We could still hear Huey stuttering and mumbling to himself.
"Louie, I think you broke your brother." I struggled to keep up with the pace he was walking at. I was a little taller than him so it shouldn't have been a problem, but my legs were pure jelly after our last adventure.
"No time for that. Only time for this." He was so focused on making it to his destination that he almost tripped when the carpet changed textures.
"Can you have your mental breakdown in private, like Red?" I asked as he kicked Scrooge's door open.
He let go of my hand and ran to his uncle's desk. Dewey and Webby were in the room too, playing?
"Uncle Scrooge!" Lou knocked the map out his hands. "All this constant adventuring is tearing us apart!"
I crossed my arms and walked to join Lou at the desk.
"Nonsense. We're closer than ever. Eh, kids?" Scrooge turned to Dewey and Webby.
"Teamwork makes the dream work,” they sang.
I slowly reached for the stapler. Louie, glancing at me, moved it to the other side of the desk. He turned back to his uncle.
"See! This needs to stop!" He waved his arm at me.
"I've tried, but they really do enjoy harmonizing." Scrooge, who was still looking at the kids, shrugged.
"Not hard enough," I huffed, Louie ignored me.
"With all the non-stop danger, we never get any quality time. Do we really even know each other?" He grabbed his brother. "I mean, is this Huey? Or-or Dewey? I don't know! Which one has the hat?"
Scrooge went to answer but stopped, and Dewey's jaw dropped. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't have paid for a better reaction. If it wasn't a joke, it was pure gold. Scrooge stood from the desk and winked at me. I shook my head.
"There's no better bonding experience than a high-stakes, death-defying adventure." Scrooge made his way around his desk.
"Oh! How about a movie night! Or make-your-own-pizza night?" Louie grabbed his coattail, which didn't seem to slow him down much. Lou glanced at me and his eyes lit up. "Ooh, how about a game night?!"
Scrooge froze and turned around slowly. I covered my ears.
"Game night?" he asked softly before he screamed several times and ran out of the room to drag out every game he had.
(Yep. Dewey.)
"Do you know what you just did?" I asked, as we followed the game pieces Scrooge had dropped in the main entrance way. I handed the fallen piece to Mrs. B.
"Yeah, I just scored us a relaxing night in?" Louie said proudly.
"Thank you, dear," Mrs. B said, taking the pieces, "and you know how competitive he gets when he's trying to best an enemy? On game night, we are the enemies."
"Partner up, everybody!" Scrooge ran back into the room with Donald in tow. He whispered to Donald.
"I was in the will?!" Donald asked from the top of the stairs. I suppressed a laugh.
"Oh, um," Duckworth cleared his throat. "I sense that there's dark magics afoot in the, uh, ethereal plain. I must go."
"No, you blasted phantasm! You will not leave me to deal with this!" Mrs. B tried to grab the ghost as he floated off.
"Spooky things. Farewell," Duckworth tried to be ominous as he disappeared.
"Never liked that ghost much," I mumbled, looking at the ceiling he had vanished into.
"Oh no, now we're missing a person," Mrs. B said hopefully.
"You be the referee, Mrs. Beakley. I'll be Launchpad's partner." I nodded to him.
"Sounds fun,” LP said, walking up behind her.
"That is a suitable solution." She clapped and ran into the lounge before anyone else could offer to be her partner.
"LP you head on in, I'll be in there in a minute." I told him and he nodded.
"I guess that leaves us, Hue-you have a whole other thing going on." Louie looked at his brother.
"You were right, man! We've got to stay in! Recenter! Sewing. Totally basic skill. Ok. Ha! Gah!" Huey sounded like a mad scientist.
"Told you, you broke him,” I mumbled and started counting down from five under my breath.
"So it'll be a weird stressful night in, but at least, why are you counting?" Gyro busted in the room, scaring them. I laughed.
"Adventure!"
I was scared that Gyro would try to get Louie to hold up his end of the deal from time traveling thing, but this was Gyro we were talking about. He had probably forgotten the second we left.
"Oh, no!" Louie went to stop him. He went to shut the door, but Gyro held them open.
"Oh, yes, green nephew. Behold! The Gearloose Micro-phone, capable of amplifying sub-decibel feedback. Ha!" Louie looked skeptical. "It makes tiny sounds loud."
Louie used that to his advantage and screamed into it. I had my ears covered.
"Go away! We don't want any!"
"I believe there's a microscopic civilization of wandering nomads invisible to the naked eye, living right here your home! Listen to the sweet call of adventure." The thing gave some feedback. Then whooping noises came from it. Huey ran over to it, impressed.
"Nope! Hard pass!" He slammed the door in Gyro's face. Which he promptly shrank and stepped back into the room.
"I also add a shrink ray feature,” Gyro explained. "We could shrink down, make first contact with the tine species whom I have named 'Gyropuddlians', and conquer- I mean, explore the tiny frontier! An entire universe right under your family's feet."
"Or you could reverse the shrink ray and shot some of Mr. McDuck's treasures and be employee of the month," I said out loud, only Huey noticed.
"That's not a bad idea," he said, pulling his JWG out and scribbled in it. He looked back up and Louie had shrunk Gyro. "Where did Gyro go?"
"Would you believe he left?" Louie said with a nervous laugh.
"Not if you say it like that," I butted in. Huey looked at Louie's hand.
"You shrunk him!"
"Which is exactly what he wanted!" Louie pointed out.
"What?" Huey was confused.
"Everything'll be fine. Whoa! Gyros shrunk down and worshiped as a god-king! Wait, what? They're in a war with a bunch of giant ants? Ahh! He almost got eaten by a spider but survives and teaches everybody a lesson in trust or something!"
"That did happen twice last month," Huey remembered.
"My bet is on a surprise plot twist. Now come on, they'll start without us." I tried to get them to leave. Huey didn't move. Louie held up the micro-phone.
"Primitive nomads, I give you the gift of superior intellect!" Screaming. "Uh, and this penlight!"
The nomads started chanting Gyro. Louie made a motion to indicate he was right.
"See everything's fine! Come on, let Gyro have his own adventure while we take it easy for once. And we can have a quiet, rejuvenating night. Bone up on your skills." Huey looked content. "And we can't tell anybody, because if you tell anybody, things will only get worse, until you'll never be able to sew a merit badge onto a sash ever again, ok?!"
"Do I look like that when I'm mad?" I whispered, then turned to Louie. "That was a little overkill, buddy. If you want to talk, I'm here."
Then I escorted a hyperventilating Huey into the lounge, but not before grabbing the micro-phone. I walked in Scrooge and Donald was arguing about how a mermanticore should be portrayed, so I had time to stow the micro-phone behind the couch. I didn't mind that they had started early because I knew that Donald and a Scrooge were going to crush everyone in Charades. I made my way to the arm of the seat LP was sitting.
"Next up, Webby and Dewey," Mrs. B said. Until she said my name. "It's your and Launchpad's turn."
"I've got this ______." He walked to the table, and Mrs. B started the timer. LP pulled a paper and starched his head and hummed. He looked like he got an idea, then shook his head.
"You, Launchpad!"
"Hey! How'd'you know?"
"Lucky guess," I shrugged. He pulled the next one.
"Oh, this is easy." He extended his arms like an airplane, then fell on his butt.
"Crashing!"
"Nice one, ____." He pulled another paper. He acted like he was opening a door to a car, but it wasn't on the driver's side.
"Dewey!"
"Yay!" He pulled another paper. He held his arm in front of his face, mocking a cape.
"Darkwing Duck!"
"Um, uh." He grabbed another. He looked at the paper and turned it upside down along with his head.
"Beagle boys?" I knit my eyebrows together.
"What, no? I was holding it upside down." He straightened back up and held up two fingers, then one. He tapped his shoe.
"Shoeshine!"
"Oh good, I did not know how to do that second word." The timer beeped.
"____ and Launchpad five points." Mrs. B announced. Scrooge mumbled about it being a close call.
"Huey?" Mrs. B said his name, and he jumped. It was fairly obvious, to anyone paying attention, he was on edge.
"Nothing is weird! I didn't say anything!" Red screamed.
"Because this is charades, and those are the rules. Very good, Huey!" Louie walked to the front of the table.
"Ready?" He asked, and Mrs. B started the timer. Lou slicked his feathers down and did a finger gun.
(Gladstone.)
"Uh, uh." Huey stammered. Louie bent down and picked up a discard piece of paper and then rubbed his fingers together, the universal signal for money. Huey still didn't know.
"Ugh, we'll do a different one." He groaned and threw the paper on the ground. He pulled another one. "Pshhhh. Easy."
He ran in a circle with his arm's extended.
"Plane?" Huey asked.
"Technically." He threw the paper that read Sunchaser on the ground. He grabbed another and went green. "Ah, ha. Who really likes this game, anyway? Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald win. Snacks?"
I snatched the paper as it fell to the ground. Gyro was written in Webby's handwriting, along with a drawing of a little ray gun. Louie pulled Huey to the kitchen along with the gun. I rolled my eyes.
"I'm going to help them." I walked out of the T.V. room and into the kitchen and crossed my arm. "That feeling you're experiencing? It's called guilt."
"I know!" Green stomped. "Sorry, we just need to make sure no one finds it."
"Nephews and company, my people have declared war on the evil giants. That's you." Gyro's voice spilled from the mirco-phone.
"Wait-what?" Huey asked on cue.
"Apparently, you've accidentally destroyed every tiny town they tried to build, Laundry Basket City, TopHatistan, the floating island of Toiletopolis." Gyro explained. The last one grossed Louie out. "I thought I could shrink you down -"
"Nope, this is our night off. You can handle this mess on your own." Green marched towards the fridge for snacks.
"Of course I can, for I am Gyro the mighty. Gyro the Unconquerable! Ah! Giant ants shrink them!" The gun started shooting rays.
I pulled the kids under the counter ledge that the gun was sitting on, as they screamed. Everywhere the gun hit it caused damage, shrinking part of the wall, shrinking the sink.
"Gyro stop! Those are normal-sized ants! You're the tiny one!" The gun continued to spray beams.
"He's not stopping!" Huey pointed out. Louie jumped into the cabinet to take the gun.
"Hey, guys! ___, the next game is about to start." I popped up to tell LP to get down, but the gun fell on the floor and shrunk him. Louie grabbed the gun and boys went to look for him. He called Louie.
"Do you have any guacamole? Or maybe some hummus?"
"Launchpad! Are you okay?" Louie cried.
"Yup! Wait, I seem to be stuck in a giant world of nightmare horrors. Hey! Gyro's here with a bunch of guys. Ooh, a giant spider!" Huey moved away from it as a small spider walked by. I scooped it up and released it in the window seal.
"Louie. I know this is supposed to be our night off, but we got to do something." Huey was frantic.
"Why? Gyro's a genius, and Launchpad has crashed so many times I am convinced he may be immortal."
"We have been on dozens of adventures. Why are these recent ones any different?" Huey was now in big brother mode.
"Look, I just, uh, we need a break, all right?"
"Well, I'm telling Uncle Scrooge," Huey pulled the micro-phone towards him.
"Huey!" Green yelled.
"Louie!" Red yelled.
"Boys!" I yelled.
"Kids! There you are. ____ have you seen Launchpad? Mr. McDuck is getting antsy and wants to begin the next game." She looked over at me. Louie shook his head slightly.
"I haven't seen him, Mrs. B," I lied. She glanced around at the damage and didn't bat an eye.
"Well, I am turning in for the night. Good luck you three." She walked out.
"One clam night and I promise we'll set everything straight." Huey wasn't happy but walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey, Lou." I stopped him from leaving. His face was ready for me to lecture him, but I surprised him. "This isn't because of the whole time-traveling thing? Is it?"
"What? No! This isn't about mom or any of that, I just, uh, need a break is all. You said you did too." He sighed.
"I know. I was just checking. I don't blame you for wanting time off, Lou, just don't put your friends and family in danger because tired." I ruffled his feathers and left to find the family playing Jenga in the T.V. room.
"Hey, guys. Just in time to watch us totally embarrass the olds." Dewey told us.
As Dewey and Webby started their turn, LP called Louie. Lou pulled me behind the couch.
"Launchpad! Where are you?"
"Well, in honor of the beautiful lady giant that saved us from that spider, we are conquering the tower of infinity in the TV room in her glory."
"Tower of infinity? What?!" Louie asked.
"Jenga," I whispered in horror. Their heads popped over the top of the sofa. Dewey and Webby where complain about two blocks moving.
"Launchpad, stop them! If both blocks come out, the tower will collapse. You'll be," The tower fell and Louie's phone went to static.
"No, no, no, no, no, no," Louie said. He and his brother crawled over the couch and started digging through the pile of blocks. "Careful, you'll crush them!"
"They're already crushed! Why!?" Huey said in tears.
"Dramatic much?" I stepped out from behind the couch.
"Guy's relax, it's just a game," Webby said.
"Yeah, a game you lost for us." Dewey shot at her.
(Oooo, so everyone is going through their own thing tonight. Ight!)
Louie's phone rang.
"Uh, hello?" LP said. The boys started crying tears of joy and jumping around, hugging each other. This earned some looks from their Uncles.
"It's nice to talk to friends on the phone. It's so much more personal than texting." Louie explained, and everyone rolled their eyes and walked out to start the next game.
"I thought you believed him to be immortal," I whispered at Louie before leaving the room.
I followed Scrooge in the dining room. He had already pulled out Scroogeoply. I took a seat next to Donald and picked up the box lid.
"Scroogeopoly, mallard edition." I read the box. "Oh, so it's like Monopoly but you themed."
Everyone looked at me. We didn't talk about the fact that I was from a different dimension very much, and when it was brought up it was extremely awkward, so I avoided the topic like the pledge. However, sometimes things like this happened. Before they knew it, I could brush it off as a 'human' thing, but now it was just tense. I never really know why. Scrooge, Dewey, and Louie seemed to accept it pretty well, but when Scrooge told everyone that night in the Bin a certain air had entered the topic.
"What's that?" Dewey asked out of curiosity. He clearly hadn't read the room.
"It's this game, just a different name," I spoke quickly. I glanced at the board.
(This looks just Monopoly. I might have a chance at winning. Although Scrooge does this for a living.)
"Alright, oldest player goes first." Scrooge scooped up the dice, trying to fill the gap the conversation had just made.
I picked up my piece, which like everyone else was a top hat. We took turns rolling, and I got a few good plots. Scrooge had a fortune going on his end of the table, but I had a decent amount myself. Donald had been in jail three times within the first twenty minutes of the game. Dewey and Webby were struggling after they decided to play separately. As for Huey and Louie, I had just hoped they hadn't accidentally shrunk themselves by now.
"That will be taxes and fees for all the properties you own." Scrooge took Dewey's money. "Isn't anyone willing to put a fight?"
I cleared my throat and motioned to my money. It was almost the same amount as his.
"You don't have to have the most on the board, just the most in your bank,” I said with a smile. He growled.
I noticed the micro-phone fly into the room. It was being carried by flies. It zapped us and shrunk us. It sent us flying onto the board. We saw LP and Gyro tied up together.
"Hey, Dewey," LP said.
Louie and Huey ran into the room. They sounded like a freight train.
"Is this part of the game or," Dewey went to touch the stick that had been thrust into his face. The rest of us were held up by our arms like prisoners by the Gyropuddlians.
"Careful, they don't trust outsiders for some reason," Gyro warned.
"Wonder why." I rolled my eyes and the nomad people went ohhhh. They drug me to a chair that they lifted and started chanting. "Make it stop."
"They think you are the reincarnation of the taller version of you." Gyro screamed over the chanting.
Louie was panicking, and Scrooge and Donald were fighting the nomads that held them from behind.
"Be yourself, Louie!" I screamed at the boy.
"Launchpad, crash your way out of there to break 'em up. Scrooge and Donald correl the Gyropuddlians onto Barks Place. Huey, show 'em what a Senior Junior Woodchuck can do! Dewey! Webby! Get up to those flies. _____ get off that thing."
"Like I wanted to stay on it." I kicked at one of the nomads holding my chair, and it dipped as he lost his grip. "Easier said than done. Aw!"
I fell off the chair and crawled away from the warriors, looking for the missing cargo. I joined the group and Louie unshrunk us. The celebration only lasted a second ang Scrooge wanted to see Louie in his study. He asked me to join him and I didn’t know why. I followed Scrooge while Donald checked on Louie and the others. I stood beside him as he leaned on his desk and Scrooge still didn’t explain.
The door opened, and Louie stuck his head in.
"I have 13 different apologizes, depending on how mad you are."
"Close the door,” Scrooge said bluntly.
"Ooh, you're that mad." Green shut the door.
"You saw the angels, didn't you? You saw the piece on the board, devised a plan, delegated, and executed perfectly. You even offered the wee warriors a permanent home,” He said crossing the floor. “Do you know how I made my fortune?"
"Yes. By being tougher than the toughies and smarties than the smarties," Louie rolled his eyes.
"And sharper than the sharpies," I added, stepping forward. Louie hadn’t seen me and Scrooge smiled at the saying.
"Yes. Most people don't know about that one. The ability to read a situation and see all the shortcuts and the possibilities. Your mother can do and so can you." I walked up beside Scrooge.
"I can?" Louie asked.
"I should have seen it sooner. The way you were picking apart our adventures and the way ____ talks about you being able to find loopholes. I know now you see all the ways you could fail or succeed so things seem predictable,” Scrooge explained.
"If you apply that gift, you could be a bigger billionaire than your uncle, you know." Louie gave me a skeptical look like I was lying.
"It's the truth, lad." Scrooge chuckled. He handed him the treasure from our last adventure. "Here it's no number one dime, but it's a start."
"Whoa." Louie stared at the statue then at his uncle then back down. He turned to me with a knowing smile."Thank you, ____. For always being right."
I knew at that moment he wasn't thanking me for my plot twist prediction earlier, but for telling him that family means everything to Scrooge. That being mad at his uncle would've been impossible to hide from his brothers, or uncles for that matter. Also, I was right, Scrooge could and would give up treasure to help him and his brothers. It also proved to Green that Scrooge definitely put his all into finding Della.
"Awwe, Green. I am a girl. Of course, I am always right." Laughing, he punched me in the arm and ran out of the room, but not before thanking his uncle for the totem.
"Why did you want me in here for that?" I asked as Scrooge took a seat behind the desk. "It seemed a little too personal for spectators."
"You're not a spectator, Love. You're family." I noticed he had called me more and more recently. I blushed every time he said it. However, neither of us had addressed it. “Besides, I wanted to tell you that I was wrong. Louie has his own talents, and I shouldn't expect him to be anything he's not."
"I'm glad you finally wised up." I smiled and went to leave, but his voice stopped me.
"One more thing. Why did he thank ya?" I turned to him and blinked. "It's just that he seemed to be, I don't know, relieved."
"I told him he shouldn't blame you for what happened to his mother because you put family first. However, everyone's been too caught up in adventuring twenty four seven for him to notice until now." Scrooge smiled and I left.
"Thank you, Love. I owe more than you'll ever know." I had a feeling I wasn't meant to hear that.