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aftermathfanfic · 2 years ago

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Part 2, Chapter 9

Scrooge winced as he felt a headache coming on.

Della turned to him as he rubbed his temples, momentarily distracted from flying the plane. “You alright?”

“Aye… blasted migraines.” Scrooge muttered, leaning back in the co-pilot seat. “Come at you when you least expect it.”

“You… having those often?” Della asked concernedly.

Scrooge sighed. “…Aye. It’s the stress, I imagine. Wrestlin’ a world-eating snake is one thing. But the Tarrasque is literally invincible. If it wakes up…”

“It won’t. Whatever or whoever is behind this, we’ll stop them. Don’t go second-guessing yourself now.” Della turned her attention back to the skies. “Though, I’ll admit… I’m a little worried as well.”

Scrooge raised an eyebrow. “Only a little?”

“Well, I’m just a little scared to find out why this Carbonneau guy brought the Talisman here.” Della admitted. “Like… did someone orchestrate this? Getting the Talisman into Paris? Who on earth would want to buy it?”

Scrooge leant forward on his cane. The same question had been bothering him all week. Carbonneau clearly didn’t want the Talisman for himself, otherwise he wouldn’t be auctioning it. But if it wasn’t him, then who? Who wanted the Talisman? Who wanted to awaken the Tarrasque?

Who’d be crazy enough to end the world?

“…I’ve met my fair share of apocalyptic cults. Any one of ‘em could be responsible.” Scrooge mused. “It’s the method of acquiring it that doesn’t make sense to me. Why bother with the auction, and risk losing their goal? Why not just buy it directly from Carbonneau?”

“Because they want you to watch.”

Scrooge turned to Bentina as she approached the cockpit. “Come again?” He asked her.

“If all our opponent wanted was to wake up that… thing, then they would do it quietly. Quickly.” Bentina explained. “They certainly wouldn’t have invited the most powerful man in the world to come and stop them. Whoever’s behind this wanted us to know what they were doing. They wanted us to see them succeed…”

She narrowed her eyes at Scrooge. “So, whoever’s behind this has a grudge against us. Against you.”

“…Well, that narrows it down.” Della said dryly.

“Who? None of my enemies are daft enough to cause the apocalypse!” Scrooge exclaimed. “Not even Magica or Flinty would want this, if only because there’d be nothing left of the world for them to rule over!”

“Then it’s someone we’ve overlooked.” Bentina replied. “Someone we thought was a smaller threat than they actually were.”

“…Hm.” Scrooge turned back to the windscreen, frowning. “My minor foes… that’s a very long list.”

“Well, we still have five hours until landing.” Bentina said bluntly, leaning against the wall. “Plenty of time to narrow it down.”

Scrooge tapped the edge of his cane in thought, cycling through his list of enemies. Who among them were both mad enough to awaken the Tarrasque, and influential enough to orchestrate this event?

He winced as his headache flared up again.

“Bah… I cannae concentrate with this headache… give me a moment.” He said, standing up from the chair.

“I have some aspirin in my bag.” Della offered.

“It’s alright, I have my own.” Scrooge replied, making his way towards the seats on the top level of the plane. He had already put his bags in the net suspended above them. Stepping onto the seats, he reached up and pulled out his black, leather briefcase.

He heard Bentina’s sigh from the cockpit. “None of the kids are taking this seriously.” She muttered.

“…What?” Della replied, sounding a little confused. “I think they’re on point.”

“No more so than they are on a regular adventure.”

Scrooge put the briefcase on the seat and started flicking through the numbers on its combination lock.

“Come on. You’re going to start second-guessing the kids now?” Della said to Bentina. “They’ll pull through, you know they will.”

“I know that they’re not incompetent, but they’re still unfocused.” Bentina countered. “Even Webby’s distracted with Lena around, and she’s the one I can usually rely the most on.”

The briefcase opened with a click, the numbers set to ‘1-8-7-7’. Scrooge opened it and reached in, sifting through the various folded coats and suits within.

“…Okay.” Della sounded suspicious now. “Is this about your ‘thing’ against Webby’s romantic life?”

“I don’t have a ‘thing’ against Webby having relationships.” Bentina replied irritably.

“Really? Because every time she talks about Lena with that dreamy look in her eye, your expression becomes more disapproving than usual.”

Scrooge pulled out a small white bottle. It had no brand name on it, or indeed any remarkable features. The sticker label on the front of it didn’t describe what was in the bottle, instead bearing a message, written in black marker.

Make sure to take these so you don’t die! - Gutefeder

“…My personal opinions on romance are irrelevant.” Bentina said bluntly. “I just think that there are more pressing matters right now than the affairs of the heart.”

Scrooge hesitated as he held the bottle in his hand, looking furtively over his shoulder towards Bentina and Della. He could hear the kids down below, engaged in soft conversation, paying no mind to him. Deeming it safe, he unscrewed the bottle, poured one of the pills into his hand, and quickly downed it. Swiftly, he put the lid back on the bottle and shoved it back into the briefcase before locking it once more.

“…Well, I don’t think you need to worry about that. Webby’s not going to put her crush before the fate of the world.”

“I’d hope not.”

Scrooge put the briefcase back in the carry net, then made his way back over to the cockpit. “Alright, I’m back.” He announced. “Now, we were talkin’ about who could be behind this?”

Bentina nodded. “Yes. We should start by ruling out the people who couldn’t have done it, and then work backwards from-”

Scrooge’s phone suddenly started buzzing.

“Oh, for-!” Scrooge growled, reaching into his coat pocket. Bentina rolled her eyes as he pulled out a gold-coloured flip-phone and peered at the screen on the top.

“That’s your phone?” Della said in astonishment, briefly glancing over her shoulder. “That thing’s got to be twenty years old, at least!”

Scrooge shot her a brief glare as he flipped open the phone and brought it up to his ear.

“Ah, Donald.” He greeted. “How can I help you?”

---------------------------------------------

Lena walked over to Webby and the triplets, putting her phone back in her pocket. “Okay, I’m done.” She told them. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. What was it about?” Webby asked curiously, still sitting on the crate. Huey and Dewey returned their attention back to her, while Louie was back on his phone.

“Personal stuff.” Lena replied. “It’s kinda sensitive.”

“Sensitive?”

Huey frowned. “How sensitive?”

“It’s…” Lena seemed to struggle for words for a moment as she sat back down. “…She’s going through some family stuff, and I dunno how much she’d want me to talk about it to other people, you know?”

“Ah.” Huey nodded. “Right.”

“Family stuff?” Dewey frowned. “Like… what kind of family stuff?”

“…What did I just say?” Lena demanded irritably, leaning back on the crate she was sitting on.

“I just mean, is it bad family stuff or… bad, bad family stuff?”

Louie looked up from his phone to give his brother an unimpressed glance. “Why would she refuse to talk about it if it wasn’t bad?”

“You know what I mean!” Dewey said defensively. “There’s different kinds of bad. Like, family stuff could mean that they just had a fight, or it could refer to unhealthy-”

“It’s private, alright?” Lena snapped angrily. “Drop it.”

“Okay, okay… dropping it.” Dewey said quickly, backing off.

“Hey, it’s okay!” Webby said quickly, trying to calm her down. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“…Thanks.” Lena murmured, looking away from Webby. “I don’t mean to be difficult, but…”

“No, we understand.” Huey replied. “We’ll keep this to ourselves. We shouldn’t have pried.”

“Yeah… sorry.” Dewey muttered, scratching his head.

“It’s alright.” Lena shrugged. She turned to Louie. “Green?”

“I’ve been listening.” Louie told her, looking down at his phone. “It’s none of my business.”

“Mine neither.” Webby added. She frowned at her friend confusedly, asking, “How come I haven’t met her?”

“Eh… I’m waiting for the right moment to introduce you.” Lena smiled apologetically. “No offence, but you guys can be… a bit much.”

“…Yeah, that makes sense.” Webby agreed, the boys nodding with her. She smiled at Lena and told her, “Well… I’m looking forward to meeting her.”

“Y-yeah.” Lena replied. “Yeah, I think you’d like her.” She turned back to the others, rubbing her eyes, and asked, “Uh, so… what were you guys talking about while I was on the phone?”

“Dewey was just talking about his baseball game.” Webby replied.

“Oh, yeah!” Dewey said excitedly, reaching into his jacket pocket. “Yeah, I was just about to unveil this puppy!”

Turning to Louie, he pulled out a laminated card that showed a picture of a white-feathered duck in a baseball outfit, swinging a baseball bat over his shoulder. He held it out to Louie, a victorious smirk on his beak, even as Louie looked down at the card with a mixture of bemusement and distaste.

“…What the hell am I looking at?” Louie asked.

“Language.” Huey interjected.

“Fuck you, I can say ‘hell’.”

“Language!” Huey said again, aghast.

“This,” Dewey started to explain with a grin. “This is a foil-stamped, mint condition, 2008 run of Josiah Ramsey, the most popular quarterback in the Duckburg Rioters.”

“…So?” Louie asked.

“So, I can finally afford your stupid ‘helper’s fee’ with Trent!” Dewey replied hotly. “Come on man, the money is right here!”

“That is not what I’m seeing.”

“It doesn’t even look that valuable.” Huey said, pointing at one of the card’s frayed edges. “See that? That’s not Mint condition. That’s only Excellent condition, at best.”

“…Okay, fine. It’s not Mint.” Dewey grumbled. “But it’s still worth something. I checked like, three days ago. On CardTrade-dot-com, it’s worth, like, a hundred bucks on average.”

“And you haven’t already sold it?” Louie replied, raising an eyebrow.

“…Well… no…” Dewey took the card back, looking down at it. “Ted gave it to me for my birthday, couple years ago, so… you know… it kinda means something.” He looked up at Louie with a hopeful expression. “I mean, if you lowered the price to, like, twenty or something, then I wouldn’t have to sell my best friend’s gift…”

Louie’s stoicism seemed to flicker for a moment, before he sighed resignedly and said, “Dewey, I’m going to save you some time and some heartbreak. I’m not doing it. Aside,” He said forcefully as Dewey opened his beak to object. “Aside from the fact that I hate trading cards with a passion – I mean, they’re the ultimate artificial scarcity scam – this Bosman guy got expelled for keeping drugs in his locker. I don’t wanna associate with people like that, and you shouldn’t either.”

“It wasn’t him.” Dewey said forcefully. “Look, the way it happened is that his friend – or, someone he thought was his friend – got into a fight with him over… I think it was a girl… and his friend got mad and put that stuff in Trent’s locker. That’s what happened!”

“How do you know that?” Huey asked. “Do you just have his word, or…?”

“No, I’ve heard it from, like, dozens of people. Including Trent’s old coach, so it wasn’t just from other students!” Dewey looked around at everyone’s unconvinced faces, visibly deflating. “Come on, guys. Do you really think I’d be defending him this strongly if I wasn’t sure that it wasn’t him?”

“We’re not saying that you’re wrong.” Huey told him calmly. “But it does sound like all you have is someone’s word, and no actual proof. I can’t speak for Louie, but I want to be certain that you’re defending him because he’s actually innocent, not because you want him to be innocent.”

Dewey groaned frustratedly, putting the card back in his pocket. “Okay, how the hel- heck am I meant to do that? Something like this, all you’ve got is Trent’s word against someone else’s.”

“That’s exactly my point. It’s a very tricky situation, and it might be wiser to try and… stay…”

Huey’s voice trailed off, looking over to the side. Following his gaze, the kids saw Scrooge and Mrs Beakley had slid down the ladder leading into the loading bay, both with irritated expressions on their faces.

Immediately, they started looking around the lower deck of the plane, like they were searching for something. Seemingly curious, Huey and Dewey both stood up and walked over to them, leaving the other three to exchange a nervous glance with each other. As they stood up to join, they heard Scrooge say to Mrs Beakley, “Check the cargo hold. I don’t think we’ve checked what’s in those crates for a while.”

“Uh, Uncle Scrooge?” Huey piped up concernedly as Bentina marched over to the large wooden boxes at the back of the ship. “Is everything okay?”

“Aye, lad. We just think we might have some stowaways on board.” Scrooge replied, looking over the five of them with a stern eye. “Don’t suppose any of you youngsters know anything about that?”

Huey and Dewey seemed confused and shrugged at the question. Webby’s eyes, however, were not focused on Scrooge, but on her Granny, who she noted with some alarm was heading directly towards the crate at the very back – the crate that May and June were hiding in.

“Ha- stowaways?” Webby laughed nervously, prompting Scrooge’s scrutinous glare to turn to her. “Wow, I, uh, I don’t know anything about that!”

“Yeah, man. No clue.” Lena replied casually, cool as ever.

Scrooge looked over each of them inquisitively, his narrowed eyes resting on Webby. She felt herself start to sweat under her feathers, anxiety building in her stomach.

Then, his gaze slowly turned toward the one of them who hadn’t responded.

Webby turned to look at Louie, who was focused wholly on his phone. Instead of passively scrolling like he was before, he was madly typing away, a slightly panicked expression on his face.

“Louie…” Scrooge said firmly.

Louie laughed quietly, shoving his phone back into his hoodie as he began to explain, “Okay, so, funny story. We were gonna tell you anyway-”

He was suddenly interrupted by the splintering of wood, followed by two yelps of surprise. Everyone turned towards the source, seeing Mrs Beakley crouched down and holding up an entire side of a large wooden box.

“I found them.” She announced, a disapproving inflection to her voice. “Come out.”

She backed up, still holding up the side of crate. Everyone watched as June nervously stepped out, shrinking a bit under the combined gaze, with May following close behind, her arms folded angrily. Mrs Beakley watched them leave the crate and, once they were out of the way, she dropped the crate door and let it slam against the rest of the frame.

Webby stepped up to Louie anxiously, whispering in his ear, “Uh… what do we…?”

“It’s fine. Stick to the plan.” Louie whispered back. “It’s a little early, that’s all.”

The twins made their way before Scrooge, who stood with one hand on his cane and the other on his hip, looking at them with a displeased expression. June spoke first, smiling nervously and saying, “Uh… hi, Mister Scrooge.”

“What are you two doin’ here?” He demanded, looking down on them judgingly. Huey and Dewey seemed too surprised to do much else than gawk at the two girls.

“I… um…” June looked over at Louie and Webby for some reassurance. When Louie gave her a subtle thumbs-up, she continued, “…we want to join in on the adventure. I know what Miss Daisy said, but-”

“But you thought you’d rather ignore her completely and sneak aboard my plane?” Scrooge cut across her, intimidating June into silence. “You know that Daisy doesn’t want you to be here, especially considering what kind of danger we could be going up against! What were you thinkin’?”

“I dunno, maybe we were thinking that we don’t like being excluded.” May huffed angrily. Looking away, she muttered, “…How did she know the sleepover was fake?”

“She didn’t. Donald did.” Scrooge replied. He glanced back at the triplets as he said, “When you spend twelve years raising these troublemakers, you learn not to take certain things at face value. So, when he thought that your friend’s mother sounded a little bit off, he gave me a call to give the plane a once over. Just in case you’d let yourselves into the adventure.” He turned to give Louie a stern look. “With some help, it seems.”

Louie chuckled again, a bit more confidently this time. “Alright, you caught me. I helped them get on board.”

“Why?” Dewey asked confusedly.

“Come on, man.” Louie said with a reprimanding voice. “Don’t you think it’s unfair? We’re out here, going on adventures and everything, and they’re forced to stay here and miss out?”

Dewey frowned as he thought about it, looking over to the two girls. They both looked away, almost like they were ashamed, as all eyes turned to them.

June broke the silence with a sigh. She looked up at Scrooge with a pleading look and said, “When you guys rescued us from FOWL, we thought we were finally going to get a real family. A family that loved us.”

Scrooge’s expression softened a bit. “You did, lass.”

“I know, we did… but…” June hesitated, looking apprehensive, before she said, “…but we’re not part of the family yet.”

“Adventuring is what you guys do.” May added, looking up at Scrooge with a determined stare. “It’s how you define who is in the family and who isn’t, and I know that Daisy is just trying to keep us safe, but what she’s actually doing is keeping us out of the family.” She folded her arms. “You’re the one who talks about family being the greatest adventure of all… why aren’t we part of it?”

Scrooge seemed to hesitate at this point. Louie backed up a bit and nudged Webby with his elbow. Taking the prompt, Webby walked up to Scrooge and tugged on his sleeve. “Please let them come with us, Dad.” She implored him. “It’s not fair to keep excluding them like this!”

“It’s not my decision, lass.” Scrooge told her remorsefully. “It’s Daisy and Donald’s, and if they say-”

“Then they don’t have to know.” May said simply.

“You can just tell them that we weren’t on board!” June insisted. “I know it’s dishonest, but it’s the only way we’ll be able to help you guys! Miss Daisy and Mister Donald will be happy, because they’ll think we’re safe, and we’ll be happy because we finally get a chance to hang out with you!”

“Come on, Uncle Scrooge!” Louie implored before Scrooge could object. “Surely you can see the injustice in this? These two are part of our family, but kept so far away, like a wall has been built between us and them. Surely, they’ve waited long enough?”

Webby had forgotten how good Louie was at theatrics. Impressed by his speech, she looked up at Scrooge hopefully, seeing a quiet, contemplative look on his face.

Then, he started to take his golden flip-phone out of his coat pocket.

“Uncle Scrooge, our cousins are being locked out of their own family.” Louie said insistently as the twins caught their breaths. “You have the power to change that, right now, and all it will take is a single white lie. What Donald and Daisy don’t know won’t hurt them! And they’ll finally get the chance to bond with us! A chance that’s been denied to them! You can just tell Donald that you couldn’t find them, and make it right in an instant!”

He took a step back and shrugged. “Or, you could tell Donald the truth. Get them in trouble. Make them fell even more isolated than before, and make it harder for them to change Daisy’s mind. That’s also an option.” He looked up at Scrooge with a wordless challenge. “What do you think is best for the family?”

Scrooge gave Louie an inscrutable look. He flipped the phone open, slowly dialling a number. Webby could feel her heartbeat in her chest, and she could see the nervous apprehension on her sisters’ faces. She held her breath as Scrooge held the phone up to his ear, waiting for a response on the other end.

“Hello, Donald.” Scrooge said into the phone. “Just callin’ you back to let you know that I did a sweep of the Sunchaser, like you asked.”

Webby could faintly hear a compressed quacking sound from the other end of the phone. Scrooge turned towards the twins, a neutral expression on his face.

“Aye.” He said into the phone. “I found them.”

Their faces fell. Webby felt her heart drop.

“Yep.” Scrooge continued, turning away from them now. “Bentina found them hiding away inside one of the crates at the back. It seems that your green-garbed nephew helped them stow aboard while we weren’t lookin’.” He gave an annoyed glance over to Louie. “Aye. Louie.”

Louie’s mask of confidence had disappeared, replaced by the look of confused panic that he adopted whenever his plans went awry. He took a couple of steps back, eyes darting around as he tried to re-assess the situation while the twins looked up at Scrooge, aghast.

“Wait… but…!” June stammered, looking terrified.

May rounded on Webby, furious. “You said this was a sure thing!” She snarled.

“Uh…” Webby took a step away from her, looking up at Mrs Beakley as her eyes narrowed at her. This wasn’t going the way she’d thought it was going to go.

“Me neither.” Scrooge kept talking into his phone. His brow furrowed at one of the electronic squawks that came from the other side. “What? We cannae turn back, we’ll miss the auction! We cannae risk the Talisman fallin’- No, I know she doesn’t, I’ll figure somethin’ out… In the meantime, I think you’d best have a word with ‘em.”

He turned back towards the twins and handed his phone to them. “Your father would like to speak with you.” He told them sternly.

“…Okay.” June murmured, taking the phone with a defeated expression.

“Come on!” May yelled at Scrooge. “We just spent four hours in a cramped, mouldy wooden box because we want to hang out with you! Why are we being punished for that?”

“Hi, Mister Donald…” June said quietly into the phone.

“It’s not about punishment, it’s about respect.” Scrooge replied with a hardened expression. “Daisy is your guardian, and she’s made her position abundantly clear. She doesn’t want you girls out here. End of story.”

“We’re really sorry, we-” June said desperately, her voice wavering. “We just wanted-”

“What, so you agree with her?” May demanded. “You really think we just be kept alone in our section of the house forever?”

“Of course, I don’t agree with her!” Scrooge replied frustratedly, throwing up his arms. “I want you two to be here with us, but what I want doesn’t matter! I’m not going to lie to my family just to fulfil my appetite for adventure!”

“Counterpoint − that’s exactly what you did with us!” Louie interjected, a look of surprisingly indignant anger on his face. “On our very first adventure! What- what are these double standards you’re giving us?”

“…We just wanted to be involved.” June sniffed, continuing her phone conversation with Donald. “We didn’t mean to…”

Scrooge met Louie’s glare with a flat, even expression. “There’s a difference between hypocrisy and learnin’ from your mistakes. I’ve jeopardised this family twice now for keepin’ secrets, I’m not doin’ it again.”

“…I know…” June whispered despondently to the phone.

“You’re jeopardising your family right now!” May shouted at him. “Do you think we went behind your backs because we’re happy with this? We’re not! We’re fucking miserable, and you-!”

Scrooge’s gaze snapped to her angrily. “Watch your profanities, lass!” He growled.

“Wh- No!” May stamped the ground in rage. “No, I won’t! You don’t get to act as if you care at the same time that you-!”

“I don’t know- okay…” June handed the phone to her sister nervously. “Uh… it’s Donald. He wants to talk to you.”

May whirled around to face her, suddenly going completely calm. “Oh, sweet. Give it here.”

Hesitantly, June placed the phone in May’s outstretched hand, whereupon she hung up, closed the phone, and threw it back to Scrooge. Fumbling a bit, he caught it, then put it back in his pocket with eyes narrowed at May. She folded her arms and glared back at him.

“…All we want is to be part of this family.” May said miserably. “Is that really so much to ask?”

“…You don’t have to be an adventurer to be part of the-” Scrooge started to say.

“That is bullshit!” May snarled, tears starting to flow down her cheeks. “Everyone is this goddamn family is an adventurer, and if we aren’t, then we’re not family! What don’t- why don’t you-?”

The words caught in her throat, and she couldn’t continue. Webby watched as May stood there shaking, trying to get words out, while June had turned statuesque, silently crying. Webby felt like she had to say something, but at the same time, she felt like nothing she or anyone else could say would change Scrooge’s mind. She felt helpless.

It was Lena who stepped forward, stepping forward with what Webby saw was an expression of quiet, hidden anger. “Come on.” She said quietly to Scrooge. “Give them a break.”

Scrooge looked at her, then back to the twins. He sighed, then said, “I can talk to Daisy. But that’s all I can do.”

The twins looked down at the floor, varying degrees of despair and anger written on their faces. Lena’s gaze remained trained on Scrooge, her eyes burning with coldness.

“Now, we’ve got five hours until we arrive in Paris. Once we get there, we’re goin’ straight to the hotel I’ve booked, and you two are staying there until we get back from the auction.” Scrooge said authoritatively, his voice making it clear that he was done arguing. He then turned to Louie and told him, “You’re comin’ up to the cockpit with me. I think your mother will want to know about your part in this.”

“I’ll watch over them.” Mrs Beakley told him. She looked over at Webby and said, “I think I want to have a word with my granddaughter, as well.”

Webby’s heart sank a little further. She looked over at Louie, who now had his hands in his pockets and a belligerent scowl on his face. He looked at her, then the twins, opening his beak as if to say something. He hesitated, as if thinking better of it, then gave them a simple apologetic shrug before following Scrooge up the ladder.

Webby watched him for a bit, Lena standing at her side quietly. It occurred to her suddenly that throughout that whole argument, there were two voices that she hadn’t heard. She turned around to face the other two triplets, both standing off the side and watching the debacle, as if they weren’t sure what to do with themselves.

“…Uh…” Dewey said awkwardly, pointing up to the ladder. “We’re just gonna…”

“Sure. Thanks for sticking up for them.” Webby snapped, a little harsher than she meant.

The two boys shrank away guiltily. Webby turned back towards her grandmother, still looking at her disapprovingly, before swallowing her shame and walking towards her.

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aftermathfanfic · 2 years ago

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Part 2, Chapter 11

The Carbonneau Manor was aflush with light. The great, three-storey mansion was styled like a Gothic cathedral. It stood in the middle of an opulent garden, which in turn was surrounded by a tall brick wall that shielded the property from the prying eyes of the public. A wrought iron gate formed an entrance to the grounds, currently wide open and flanked by a pair of private security guards. A servant stood with them, checking invites as guests made their way through.

The family made their way through the gates, dressed in formal attire and looking around the courtyard. The triplets each wore identical black suits, differentiated only by their headfeathers and the colours of their ties, which were red, blue and green respectively. Scrooge donned a black dinner jacket over a red and white suit and bowtie, while Bentina wore a dark violet dress, a pearl necklace, and a pair of glasses that were more rounded than her normal spectacles.

“…So… this is where this Carbonneau guy lives.” Dewey said slowly as they made their way in. He looked around the garden and the manor that sat in the middle of it, commenting, “Not gonna lie, this place looks pretty neat.”

“Bah! All of these pretentious palaces are the same!” Scrooge sneered, looking around the grounds with distaste. He gestured towards the centrepiece of the courtyard, a large stone sculpture of a male duck in the attire of a Napoleonic general. “The gaudiness on display here… Whoever the architect behind this house should’ve been taught a thing or two about humility!”

“The fountain in front of your house is literally filled with gold.” Bentina told him pointedly.

“Ah… well… it’s not real gold…” Scrooge chuckled with a guilty smile. He looked around the courtyard, asking her, “You said the lasses would meet us here?”

“Supposedly.” Bentina replied, frowning as she scanned the courtyard in front of her. “I didn’t see them out the front, however… it’s possible that they haven’t arrived yet.”

“…Hey.”

The family turned around, almost as one unit. Standing near one of the hedges were the girls, looking back at them with varying degrees of apprehension. Webby and the twins were each wearing identical, sleeveless dresses that flowed into a knee-length skirt from the waist down. Like the boys, their outfits differed only by their respective colours. Lena had adopted her magical, blue and white sorceress costume, sans the cape, and was simply leaning against the hedge, giving Scrooge and Bentina a challenging glare.

Scrooge narrowed his eyes at the girls as they approached, though his voice betrayed his lack of surprise. “Ah, hello May, June. I seem to recall tellin’ you two to stay put at the hotel?”

June flinched at his tone before straightening up and looking back at him with resolution. “…We’re not going to be excluded anymore.” She told him.

“Got a problem with it?” May asked impudently, her arms folded across her chest.

“Well, I’m certainly not lookin’ forward to explainin’ this to your mother.” Scrooge muttered, rubbing his temples. “…But, I cannae very well force you to leave.”

Bentina stepped forward, her glare one of flat disapproval. “If you two are insisting on interfering with the mission, then you’ll be stationed on lookout duty out here with Webby and Lena. It’ll look too suspicious if all of us go inside.”

Webby had been standing next to Lena, apprehensively looking up at her grandmother. After Bentina spoke, however, she stepped forward with an intense look on her face, even as May opened her beak in outrage.

“They’re not interfering.” Webby retorted angrily. “They want to help. Let them!”

“If this was any other mission, I would, but the stakes are too high to take unnecessary risks!” Bentina told her in a low voice. Looking over the four girls, she frowned and asked, “How did you even get in? You don’t have the invites.”

“Oh, we just charmed our way past the guard.” Lena drawled. “As in, I literally, magically charmed them for, like, an hour. So hopefully that talisman shows up before the spell wears off.”

“Before…?” Bentina pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in frustration. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. What the four of you are doing is jeopardising the plan by adding purposeless complications!”

“A plan that is going to go wrong anyway, like all of our plans do!” Webby protested. “I can’t think of a single one of our plans that we didn’t have to abandon halfway through because the bad guy did something we didn’t expect-!”

“You don’t know that it’ll-!”

“Bentina, Webby, that’s enough.” Scrooge told them gently, interrupting both of them. “Standin’ out here, bickerin’ all night, that will jeopardise the plan.” He turned to May and June, telling them, “You can come into the auction, provided that you stay with the lads and don’t cause a scene. Understand?”

“Yes!” June said quickly, excitement flashing in her eyes. “Yes, thank you!”

“…Sure.” May shrugged, rolling her eyes. “I guess it’s better than nothing.”

Scrooge turned back to the boys, who were quietly watching the argument. “You boys good with that?” He asked them, though it was more a command than a question. They each quickly uttered their affirmations, and Scrooge nodded, satisfied. He turned back around to the girls, and said, “Alright… let’s get movin’ then! Webby, Lena, remember – if you see anythin’, let us know immediately.”

Lena gave him a mock salute, some of her tenseness leaving her. “You got it, capn’.”

“…Yeah.” Webby mumbled, still glaring up at Bentina. She looked away first, saying, “…Thanks, dad.”

“Don’t mention it, lass.”

Bentina frowned at May and June as they approached, but she didn’t say anything further. She followed the rest of the family into the mansion, stepping through the light-filled doorway and leaving Webby and Lena behind to keep watch.

The mansion was as opulent on the inside as it was on the outside. Persian rugs were laid out across a fine wooden floor, the walls painted an immaculate white, and various pieces of antique furniture sat along the walls. A staircase spiralled upwards to an overlooking balcony, and a chandelier provided ample illumination for the room. Artifacts of all shapes and sizes decorated the walls and stood on the desks, from ancient papyrus artworks to Mayan statues crafted from stone. Whoever Carbonneau was, it seemed he was bit of a collector.

At a glance, there were twelve or fourteen guests in the room, along with three servants dressed in red tuxedo vests. One of the servants, a thin, regal-looking dalmatian, noticed the family enter, and immediately stepped forward to greet them.

“Evenin’.” Scrooge tipped his top hat towards the servant as he approached. “Scrooge McDuck, arrivin’ here with my ‘plus-ones’.”

“Ah, Monsieur McDuck.” The servant bowed respectfully as he spoke. “The master wishes to greet each of his guests before the auction starts, but he was waylaid by another guest. I hope you won’t mind waiting until…?”

“Not at all! I’m curious to meet him myself.” He turned to the kids and told them, “You lot can ‘mill around’ for now. This’ll only take a moment.”

The servant narrowed his eyes at the teenagers. “Will your grandchildren be joining the auction, monsieur?”

“…No. My nephews will just watch, is all. Wanted to show them how these things work, you see. I hope that’s fine?”

The servant nodded. “I see no problem, so long as they do not disturb the auction. Excuse me – I must inform the master of your arrival.”

With that, the servant bowed out and left them in the foyer. Scrooge leant over to the closest of his nephews and said quietly, “The auction room won’t open until the auction actually starts. Until then, try to remain inconspicuous.”

The kids nodded, each saying something in agreement. Louie took it upon himself to step forward, spreading his arms out to the mansion with a smirk. “Alright, guys.” He said to his fellow teenagers. “Let me show you how to mingle with high society.”

“Pfft.” Dewey snorted as they followed him. “Yeah, you have such a great track record with that…”

Scrooge watched the kids make their way into the crowd, waiting until they were out of the room before looking up at Bentina. She stood ramrod stiff, her hands clasped behind her back and a statuesque expression upon her face. With a sigh, Scrooge took off his glasses and brought a handkerchief out of his pocket to clean them.

��…Far be it from me to critique your parentin’ style, Mrs. Beakley,” Scrooge remarked quietly as he polished the spectacles. “But I feel as if you were bein’ a tad harsh on poor Webby.”

“Yes!” Bentina hissed angrily, glaring down at him. “I am being harsh, because I am the only person here who seems to understand what’s at stake here!”

“Everything that these kids have been through, you think they don’t understand?” Scrooge probed her, putting his glasses back on and fixing her with a judging stare. “If they weren’t takin’ this seriously-!”

“The fact that May and June are even here is proof of that!” Bentina snapped. “Missions like this rely on discipline, and you are encouraging a complete lack thereof!”

“I’m treating them like kids, Beakley. You’re treating them like soldiers.”

Bentina glared hotly at him for a moment, then turned away.

Scrooge’s expression softened. “I know that you’re worried. I’m just as scared that we’ll fail as you are. But fighting with the kids won’t help that. All it’ll do is make them resent us. So, May and June are disobeyin’ the rules. We work around that, not against it.”

Scrooge looked up to see someone emerging from one of the upper rooms, being led out by the servant they’d spoken to before. He returned his gaze to an even level, and added quietly, “I know better than anyone how easy it is to push your family away. I don’t want to see it happen to either of us again.”

“…This isn’t the time to discuss this.” Bentina said bluntly. “The same way this isn’t the time to talk about what you said at the hotel. When this is over, we can discuss our parenting methods as much as you want.” She said firmly, cutting across his attempted interruption. “For now, we focus. On. The mission.”

Reluctantly, Scrooge backed down. He turned his attention toward the person who was now stepping down the stairs towards them and walked over to greet him. Bentina followed him after taking a moment to re-compose herself.

The man was a white duck with dark headfeathers swept back and a pencil dark moustache on the tip of his beak. He wore a tan-coloured tweed jacket, contrasted by a gold-yellow tie that was tucked tightly into his vest. He wore a polite, trained smile, and his posture betrayed a pride that Scrooge associated with French aristocracy. Already deciding that he didn’t like the gentleman, Scrooge adopted his own mask of politeness as the two of them drew nearer.

“Ah, bonjour, Scrooge McDuck.” The man said to him, his voice deep and rich. “I am Victor Carbonneau, chairman of the Paris Archaeological Society. It is an honour to finally meet you.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well.” Scrooge replied, extending his hand out.

Carbonneau turned toward Bentina with the same smile and asked, “And who might you be, madame?”

“Bentina Beakley, Mr. McDuck’s assistant.” Bentina replied with ease, a façade of friendliness on her face.

“Ah, one of the ‘plus ones’ you mentioned in your reply?” Carbonneau asked, looking around the room. “And where might be the nephews that you mentioned?”

“Oh, they’re somewhere around here. Took off as soon as we arrived.” Scrooge replied dismissively. “Don’t worry, they won’t break anythin’.” He looked around at the various relics that had been put on display around the room. “I must say, this is an impressive little collection you have here. That papyrus you have up there, cannae be any younger than two-thousand years!”

“Ah, thank you. I have, ah… somewhat of a hobby, collecting antiquities.” Carbonneau replied. “I’ve always had an interest in the ancient world, and these relics give us an insight into the past in ways that mere texts cannot.” He smirked in amusement. “Though, I am sure my collection pales in comparison to yours.”

“Ah, well… that’s not a fair comparison.” Scrooge replied, waving his hand. Curious and wary, he asked, “The prizes you’re selling in this auction… they’re from your own collection?”

“Oh, no, monsieur.” Carbonneau chuckled, shaking his head. “No, the items in tonight’s catalogue were recovered from a very recent excavation that we conducted in Turkey. All found in a stone tomb, hidden in the mountains, that contained nothing but artifacts collected from the world over.”

Bentina raised an eyebrow at him. “I wasn’t aware that an archaeological body in Paris had operations in Turkey.”

“Eh…” Carbonneau shrugged. “This was… ‘off the books’, as the saying goes. Not even the museums know about them yet.”

“That’s certainly an interesting tale…” Scrooge murmured, frowning in thought as he remembered the items on the catalogue, each from a different time period. “How did all of those relics end up in the mountains of Turkey?”

“A fascinating mystery, is it not?” Carbonneau said with a twinkle in his eye. “Sadly, we may never know the answer. All we can do is speculate at the possibilities.”

There was one possibility that seemed to spring to Scrooge’s mind. He’d always suspected that the Talisman of the Tarrasque was lost to time to prevent anyone from ever finding it. This tomb, this ancient vault, was likely the original place where the Talisman had been hidden – and it wasn’t unlikely that the other items that had been locked away with it were of a similarly dangerous nature.

“…How exactly did you stumble across this tomb?” Scrooge asked curiously.

“Ah… that would not have been possible without the aid of a friend of yours…” Carbonneau replied. “He helped me find the tomb’s location, assisted with the excavation, even suggested the idea of putting the items up for auction… he insisted that I invite you to this event, as a matter of fact.”

“…Did he, now?” Scrooge replied slowly, his eyes narrowed. “Who-?”

Before he could finish the question, the front door was thrown open with a violent bang, causing all the guests to jump in alarm as a deep, boisterous voice roared, “FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD!”

Scrooge and Bentina spun around in shock, staring at who had just exploded through the door. Standing at the entrance, sporting a manic grin and a generally dishevelled appearance, was…

“…Eh, yes.” Carbonneau said with a wince, gesturing towards the new guest. “Monsieur Glomgold.”

Scrooge stared in disbelief as Glomgold waddled over towards him, a look of triumph upon his face. This was the most haggard Scrooge had ever seen his old rival. The suit he was wearing was ragged and torn at the seams, and the false beard he wore was frayed and all over the place. There were bags under his eyes, his feathers were a mess, but despite all of this, he still bore his trademarked victorious, prideful gait.

Whoever’s behind this wanted us to see them succeed…

Like… did someone orchestrate this?

Who’d be crazy enough to end the world?

“Surprised to see me, Scrooge?” Glomgold gloated, glaring up at him with a mocking expression. “Me, your greatest rival, here to steal the one relic that you were never able to find? That’s right, Scrooge… I know exactly what you’re here for…” He whispered, a dark glint to his eye. “And once I steal it out from yer grasp, I will use its power to finally defeat you, and become the richest duck in the world!”

And then, Glomgold laughed a booming, villainous laugh, unaware or uncaring about the many pairs of eyes that were now staring at him.

“…I have to go.” Carbonneau muttered quickly. “I have other guests to speak with.”

With that, the wealthy duck turned and left, the three old enemies left standing in the foyer with everyone’s attention focused directly on them. After a moment, the other guests returned to their conversations, though quite a few eyes remained on them.

“Oh, I bet it’s eatin’ you up, Scrooge…” Glomgold said with an evil grin. “How exactly did ‘little old Glomgold’ manage to find the Talisman of the Tarrasque?”

“…Flinty…” Scrooge murmured aghast, taking a step away.

“Well, let me tell you!” Glomgold declared. “I found it in a manual for a board game or somethin’. And it only cost me sixty dollars! Ha!” He stepped forward to get his face all up in Scrooge’s. “I contracted Carbonneau to dig it out for me. I was the one who told him to auction it, and I was the one who told him to invite you! It wasn’t enough for me to hold the Talisman in me hands, to feel the raw power flowin’ through it. I wanted you to see me hold it. I wanted you to see, once and for all, that I had bested you!”

“…So you decided to hold it for auction? Where anyone could buy it?” Bentina asked.

“Aye!” Glomgold replied. “Genius, innit?”

“Not the word I would use…” Bentina replied evenly.

“I cannae believe you, Flinty…” Scrooge said, looking at his rival a distaste as if he’d noticed him for the first time. “I wanted to believe that even you weren’t mad enough to want this… this is…”

“Mad? You think I’m mad, Scrooge?” Glomgold growled. “This innae madness, Scrooge. This is the ultimate payback!”

“You’re seriously willin’ to end the world?” Scrooge snarled. “All because I cheated you out of a dollar?”

“End the world?” Glomgold blinked, then chuckled. “Oh, no, Scrooge. I’m going to use the tarrasque to rule the world! Whoever owns the Talisman owns the beast… and with the beast, I’m-”

“Owns the-? The Talisman doesn’t control the tarrasque, you barmy buffoon!” Scrooge almost shouted at him. “It’s a key to a lock, not a-!”

“Don’t try to get into my head, Scrooge!” Glomgold roared. “I’m not fallin’ for it! No… this is a night of victory! My victory! After tonight, I’m going to show you… I’ll show you, and Owlson, and Harrison, and everyone else who dared to call Flintheart Glomgold a fool!”

He grinned a madcap grin at Scrooge. “I hope you’ve brought plenty of cash, McDuck… you’re going to need it.”

With that, he laughed once more and walked away, making his way for the auction room. Scrooge watched him leave, staring at him with disbelief.

“…So… still think I’m being too strict?” Bentina asked snidely.

“He has no idea…” Scrooge said faintly. “He doesn’t even realise what he’s tryin’ to do!”

“Nor will he listen to reason.” Bentina added. She took a deep breath, then exhaled as discipline took over. “Alright. We know for a fact that he can’t outbid us, so he’ll try to steal it once the auction is over. Stay on point.”

“…Right… yes, the mission…” Scrooge muttered, still looking in the direction his rival had sauntered off in. He had beaten Glomgold a dozen times over, he reminded himself. This was no different. Whatever cockamamie plan Glomgold had cooked up, he and the family would thwart it like they’d done so many times before.

Despite this, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread building up within him. And with that dread came a sharp headache in his temple.

---------------------------------------------

“Hey.”

Webby blinked and looked up at Lena. “Hm?”

“You doin’ alright?” Lena asked.

“…Yeah.” Webby replied quietly. The two of them were slowly walking through the manor grounds, passing by neatly trimmed hedges as they made their way towards the window of the auction room. “Just… worried about May and June, that’s all.”

“And that got you riled up with Mrs B?” Lena replied sceptically. “I don’t wanna pry, but I don’t think I’ve seen you shout at her before. Like, ever.”

“Ugh.” Webby groaned. “It’s just… you can’t talk to her when she’s like this! Like, I get it, she used to be a spy… but when she’s on the mission, it’s like that’s the only thing that matters to her! She doesn’t think about anything else, or listen to anyone else… like, how can she not see how May and June want to help? How can she say that they’re gonna interfere with the mission? They’re just as skilled as I am, why…?”

Webby closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “…I just can’t talk to her when she’s like this.” She muttered. “She’ll be fine once this is all over, but until then…”

“…So apart from that, everything generally good between you two?” Lena asked.

Webby frowned at that question, turning to look at Lena. “Yeah. Why?”

“Just checkin’.” Lena replied with a shrug.

The two girls drew closer to the window, an enormous twelve-foot-tall glass portal from which bright light poured out of and muffled conversation filtered through. The grounds were abandoned, not a guard in sight, although a pair of security cameras kept watch from above the window.

“Huh.” Webby frowned at the cameras. “Well, that’s a problem.”

“Eh. Should be fine.” Lena told her. “You’re not doing anything wrong.”

“I guess not…”

“Yeah, you just keep watch over here, stay sneaky, and I’ll keep watch from above, let you know if anything goes wrong, kay?”

“Actually… I feel like it makes more sense for us to both watch from above.” Webby pointed out. “That way, I can avoid the cameras, and we both get a better viewpoint.”

“I dunno…” Lena frowned. “That’s kinda stretching the limits of my power, keeping both of us up there at the same time.”

Webby blinked. “Really? But you once flew me and Violet back home all the way from Magica’s swamp.”

“…Well… yeah, but… I wasn’t making you invisible while we were flying.” Lena explained. “Invisibility is a bit harder to do. Like, you remember how hard it was for me to conceal the plane, way back at the Library of Alexandria.”

“Yeah, but I thought that was because it was… like… a whole plane.”

“It… was…” Lena said cagily. “But it’s still kinda difficult to do, you know?”

“…Right…” Webby said quietly.

Her disappointment must have shown, because Lena seemed to hesitate for a moment. Reaching out to take her shoulder, Lena told her gently, “Come on, you can manage without me for a little bit.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Webby chuckled. “I’m being silly, I’ll… I’ll stay down here.”

“Kay…” Lena backed up, smiling at her confidently. “Holler if you need me.”

With that, she swept her hand across herself, her form wavering and disappearing as the invisibility spell took hold. Webby heard her take a few more steps backward, then felt a rush of air as Lena took off into the sky.

Webby stood in the garden for a moment, going over the conversation in her head. After a moment, she looked up at the security cameras, trying to gauge their field of vision. Deciding that there was no reasonable way to escape them, she wandered over towards them nonchalantly, trying to look non-threatening. She leant against the wall under the cameras, looking around with her arms folded across her chest.

She tried to stay focused, to watch the garden vigilantly, but nagging thoughts distracted her. The way that Lena was acting, the argument with her granny, all of it was weighing on her mind and causing her to zone out.

At the forefront of Webby’s thoughts was Lena. The way she was acting was off. The excuses she had given before didn’t add up, and she seemed like she had struggled to explain them. It was almost like… she didn’t want to be around Webby.

No, that couldn’t be it, Webby told herself. The two of them were old friends. Why would she want to avoid her? Clearly, she just knew what was at stake and wanted to stick to the plan, that was all.

But then she remembered back on the plane, what Huey had said. That Lena wasn’t acting like herself. Was she unhappy? Had something happened back in Duckburg, and she just hadn’t noticed? She had seemed hesitant to come when Webby had invited her. Maybe she had felt pressured to come when she didn’t want to?

Maybe that was it. Maybe Lena didn’t want to be here at all, and Webby had unwittingly coerced her into coming anyway. Webby’s heart sank as she contemplated that possibility, and that she hadn’t noticed the signs even once.

Something moved from the corner of her eye, breaking her from her internal doubting. She pushed herself off from the wall, tensing up, then relaxed as she saw it was just a tabby cat, prowling from around the corner. The feline looked up at her, meowing dispassionately as it slunk past.

Webby sighed, leaning back against the wall. She was getting unfocused. Right now, she had to put everything else aside. Later, she would talk to her granny. Later, she’d ask Lena why she was so out of sorts. For now, she’d keep watch.

The world was at stake, after all.

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