Destiny - A Ducktales Story - MagentaMisery (2024)

Chapter 1: Memories.

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The 16-year old Louie had to remember what chain of events had occurred to find himself in his current situation... The situation in question being imprisoned in a Mexican jail while also staring down the face of an enraged Interpol officer.

2 Years Prior...

It had been a normal day for the McDucks. Journeying to Norway to fight a Goblin King and his stone army then raiding his lair for an ancient amulet which contained magical properties... So completely normal day.

The adventure was completely routine, like always, Dewey ran in first and immediately set of an alarm which caused many soldiers of the King's stone army to surround them... Then he and Huey had to hold Dewey back while Scrooge, Della and Webby fought them off. Then they ventured further inside the lair and then were nearly crushed to a fine red mist by a boulder trap, which they barely managed to escape from. Then after a quick fight with the Goblin King, during which the monarch was knocked into a ravine, the adventure was over.

Something had changed in recent adventures however, Louie had been taking treasures for himself.

'All treasure goes to Bin not next of kin' - was a saying Scrooge liked to repeat before every adventure but to Louie that saying was wrong, for all the effort he and his brothers put in to these adventures they had nothing to show for it. Scrooge always said that they would get their cut in their inheritance but that inheritance would never come to Scrooge being basically immortal.

Plus, who would miss a few gold coins and ancient artefacts these would be paying for his future. During this adventure he had pocketed a nice gold ring, which he'd found in a small cavern.

The flight home was loud full of jokes and Dewey's terrible puns that Louie found himself cringing at. Then Della decided it would be quicker to fly through a storm and soon after had to crash the plane into the ocean, after they all slunk back into the mansion tired from the long day and the swim home

Then the trouble began, Louie slipped on a bunch of camping equipment Huey left out and the ring flew out if his hoodies pockets and hit the floor breaking in two, the rings remnants began to glow and out came a spirit.

Great, so not only was the Gold ring flimsy, it was also cursed.

The next hour was spent fighting numerous spirits and creatures due to the first spirit having crashed into other pots and trinkets releasing more evil beings.

When the matter was resolved Louie found himself dragged to his bedroom and getting chewed out by Della and Scrooge.

"Louie how could you be so irresponsible." - Scrooge began.

"Look I know. I made a mistake, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN US ALL KILLED!" - Della roared.

"So could've Dewey earlier. Be he's not getting told off."

"Well he made a simple mistake!" - Scrooge said, defending Dewey like he always did.

"We've been adventuring for 4 year's, he shouldn't be making stupid mistakes!"

"WELL HIS MISTAKE DIDN'T ALMOST GET US ALL KILLED!" - Della repeated.

Now Louie was angry, this had been the argument he'd been having with the two adults for years. His Brother's would do something stupid or selfish, which would ultimately blow up in their faces; and the two of them would comfort them and tell them that it didn't matter. But if he did anything remotely wrong, he was grounded for a week. - "YES IT DID. SO DID SCROOGE'S MISTAKE AND HUEY'S AND YOURS." - He shouted back.

"How?" - Scrooge questioned, beginning to get angry himself.

"Dewey got an army to chase after us; Huey left out camping equipment scattered in the floor which could've caused anybody to fall and break their neck: You..." - He pointed to Scrooge. - "... Had a bunch of cursed artefacts on display which could've caused any number of accidents and finally you... - He pointed to Della. - "... Decided on flying through a storm which nearly killed us all."

Scrooge bristled. - "Watch your tone boy. I have been doing this way before you, and from the looks of it way after." - Turning, he and Della left, slamming and locking the door behind them. After they left Della shouted through the door. - "YOUR GROUNDED INDEFINITELY!"

That was that the straw that broke the camels back. Louie was done, Grabbing his black bag, he began filling it clothes, essentials and the treasures which he'd managed to hide u he could pawn them off for emergency money. He slipped open his window and climbed out onto the ledge. As his room was on the third floor, if he fell, he could die. So he slowly shimmied across the ledge and took hold of the drainpipe, steadying himself. Looking out, over the city of Duckburg, Louie smiled. Ready to begin his new life.

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Chapter 2: Escaping Duckburg.

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Leaving his bedroom and scaling down the drainpipe from his open window, Louie had found himself standing in McDuck Manor's courtyard. Pulling his hood over his head he thought to the escape plane had created (Made after Glomgold's invasion, for emergency purposes.) There was a slight problem though where we he go? But that thought could wait he first had to leave.

Checking his phone, Louie realised there was about 2 hours before his brothers and his bedtime, so about only two hours before anyone checked on him, so he had to be quick to get out of the manor and the town, following the plan he made Louie snuck through the courtyard and past the many windows that littered the walls of the Manor. His plan went perfectly, he avoided the few cameras there were and ducking under the windows that had lights on, the only time he stopped was when he passed by a window that looked into the den of the Manor.

Staring into the room Louie felt even angrier than he already did, His family was in there joking, talking, drinking Hot-Chocolate and acting if he didn't exist. He could feel his face go red and his hands clench tight, like Uncle Donald did after his bad luck caused something to blow up in his face.

The he had an epiphany, he could stay at Uncle Donald's! He and Daisy had moved together to St. Canard, Donald would take him in, and then he could have a normal life away from constant adventure and danger.

After hopping the external wall and walking down the hill the Manor sat on, Louie first goal was certain, he had to get to Genuine Goods Pawnshop before it closed, there he could pawn off one of the artefacts in his bag for a decent price an be able to buy a first class train ticket to St. Canard and start his new life.

As he walked through Duckburg he realised how desolate the streets were at night, during the day the place was packed, full of tourists, shoppers and citizens going about their day-to-day lives.

Probably home with their families.He thought, the pain of what had happened earlier finally bubbling to the surface and he felt tears prick his eyes. No! He wouldn't cry, he wasn't going to be the timid little boy everyone thought he was.

Wiping his face on his hoodie's sleeve he made it to the Pawnshop, the light was still on but the door was locked.

There was only one thing to do now. He raised his fist to the door. BANG! BANG! BANG!

The door swung open revealing a large duck carrying a baseball bat. - "You damn debt collectors don't know when to quit, do yo.. Oh hey Louie."

"Hey Paulie." - Paulie, the owner of this this fine establishment was a good guy, He had even had given Louie his first real job before Scrooge made him quit as it wasn't an 'honest way to make money."

"What do ya' need kid?"

"How muck would you pay for this." - Louie asked pulling out a gold doubloon he had gotten after an encounter with a gang of ghost pirates.

Taking the coin, the pawnshop owner bit it. - "This is the real deal kid. I'd give ya' maybe $400."

"Great, your buying it right?"

"No way, I barely have 300 in the till."

"Oh... Well here." He dumped the rest of his treasures on the counter. - "You can have all of this for the all the money in the till." - Louie was sad to sell all this treasure, for merely a fraction of it's worth, but he knew it was for a good cause.

Paulie's jaw dropped. - "I cant except this kid, its way too much."

"Paulie don't make this any more awkward than it already is" - Paulie nodded silently and gave Louie the $278 and 32cents and Louie made his way to the door.

"Bye, Paulie."

"You goin' somewhere kid?"

Louie hesitated. - "I'm starting fresh, It was good to know you Paulie."

"Was good to know ya' too Louie." - The door shut behind him.

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Chapter 3: Train Ride.

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Louie thought his luck was changing for the better when he arrived at Duckburg Central Station and found the last train of the night was a train to St. Canard and left fifteen minutes from now.

Maybe fate was finally taking pity on him?

After buying his ticket, Louie found himself having fifteen minutes to kill. He though about texting Donald and telling him he's coming to stay with him but his phone died before he could. Having nothing else to do he bought a can of Pep from a vending machine and sat on a bench and waited for his train.

The fifteen minutes past quicker than Louie thought it would and he boarded the first class car. When he sat in that comfy faux leather seat he felt more tired than he had ever felt before - The wear of the day catching up to him. All he wanted to do was sleep but he knew better than to fall asleep in a foreign place while he was alone.

Alone, he was all alone now, Wasn't he? The more he thought about it, the more he realised he had been alone for some time now... he'd been alone since Donald left. Webby had Lena and Violet, Huey also had Violet as well as the other Woodchucks and Dewey... Well Dewey didn't really have any other friends. But he had Della and they would do everything together.

He had never felt so alone. The pain he had been bottling up was finally released. Tears dripped onto the train's red carpet and he did his best not to make any noise. Not that anyone would hear, apart from him the train was baron.

Well not entirely baron. - "Hey Sharpie." Turning his head he saw the familiar face of Goldie O'Gilt a woman who'd once swindled him out of millions in birthday party treasure.

When Goldie had boarded the train to St. Canard she never thought she would see Louie Duck, she had taking a liking to the kid and she thought she could use the train ride to catch up with kid but then she saw him crying. - "You okay Louie?" - She had turn from a stone cold con-artist to a kind and nurturing mother in seconds.

Louie wiped his face. - "I'm fine."

"Okay." - She responded, her voice gentle. - "Where are you going."

"To my Uncle Donald's." - He sniffed

"Why?"

"You wouldn't understand." - He turned to face the window.

"Try me."

"Nobody respects me there... I'm blamed for every problem or mistake. They want me to be something i'm not, they try to make me a brave adventurer."

'They want me to be something I'm not' -Those were all too familiar words for Goldie, before she met Scrooge, She had been the youngest daughter of a wealthy businessman, during that time she had stood out for being more interested in money, literature and history rather than dresses and dancing. So she had fled home and began her new life as a treasure hunting con-artist.

"I understand what you mean to be different." - She admitted. - "My family didn't accept me for who I was either and I also ran way."

"Where'd you go."

"Everywhere, I took my chance and made a new life for myself." - Louie responded to this with a yawn.

"The train rides 3 hours long. You should probably get some sleep. He just sleepily nodded and rested his head on her shoulder, he was silently snoring within minutes.

Goldie rested her head on top of his and wondered would the kid have the same life as she had.

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Chapter 4: Brand new start.

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Goldie sat back in he faux leather seat, with one hand soothing the sleeping duck beside her through softly stroking his feathers and her other hand was on her Waddle smartphone skimming multiple songs on her playlist. All was good... until the train came to a screeching halt and the lights went out.

'Well this was unusual'she thought to herself. Trying to stand up she stopped herself before she woke Louie up.

"Sharpie... Hey Sharpie... Time to get up." - She gently shaking his should while her voice got progressively louder.

"Huh.. what's happening?" - The younger duck asked as he stretched in his seat.

"I have no idea, but I'm going to find out. You stay here"

"Wait I'm coming too." - Louie stated, further reminding her as her when she was younger.

She pulled out a flashlight out of her purse while Louie turned his phone's flashlight on. The two of them moved to the door which was locked. Louie moved his way to the emergency release handle which when pulled did nothing.

"Huh. What now?" He asked

"Stand back, I got this." - Goldie said with confidence pulling a crowbar out of her purse she pried the doors open. - "I carry everything I need in my purse. " - She gloated.

"Great, you gotta way to fix the train in there." He sarcastically remarked.

The two of the hopped off the train and onto the ground which looked like a train yard of sorts.

"Where are we?"

A voice called out from the darkness. - "Mouseton Train station!" - Out of the shadows came Ma Beagle and the many Beagle Boys."

"Oh hello, Ma Beagle." Goldie greeted sheepishly.

"Hello Goldie, and is that Scrooge's Nephew?" - Louie steeped out from behind her.

"Hi Ma Beagle." - Louie greeted also sheepishly.

"Oh goodie, Two for one revenge on the kid who stole my fortune and the thief who stole my prized possession."

"Prized possession?" - Louie whispered.

"Long story." - She replied.

"Enough, get em' boys!" Ma Beagle bellowed and all the Beagle Boys advanced on the pair.

Louie took a step forward and mustered all the courage he had. - "ENOUGH!" - The Beagle Boys stopped dead in their tracks and Ma Beagle even looked taken aback by his shout.

"You and your legion of offspring won't take another step towards us!"

"And why is that?"

A grin plastered on Louie's face. - "Because of him... Hi'ya Uncle Scrooge!" - Louie greeted waving his hand.

Ma Beagle went white and so did her many children. - "Look Scrooge. I.. I didn't mean n..no harm." - Turning to face... no one. - "Uh h'what." - She turned back to the two con-artists or more precisely where they were standing.

"WHERE THEY'D GO!" - Ma Beagle hit Burger over the head with her cane.

"I DON'T KNOW MA!' Burger cried.

Goldie and Louie sprinted past numerous abandoned train's and through deserted buildings.

"That was a good idea sharpie, how'd you think that up."

"Well I wondered what scared Ma Beagle the most and them I remembered how when I stole her and all the other villains treasure, they were terrified of Scrooge."

"You have to tell me that story." - Goldie demanded as the two of them stopped to take a break.

"later... first you tell me why the Beagle Boys are determined to hunt you down." - He huffed.

"Well... they're hunting me because I took this. - She brandished a diamond bracelet from her purse.

"They're hunting you for a trinket?"

"This'Trinket' has a lot of history behind. Some people will pay boatloads for items like these."

"So you're not only a con-artist but a thief."

"For the right price."

"So how much is'Boatloads'?" - Louie inquired.

"Millions sometimes billions."

"So... need a partner?" - He asked.

"What happened to goin' to your Uncle Donald's?"

"That was before I heard there was a chance to make millions!"

"Well for your information I'm not interested in a partner."

He rubbed the back of his neck. - "Oh... ok then."

"But I may be looking for an apprentice." - Louie smiled at that. - "You know this life's gonna be dangerous, right?"

"Well I've done dangerous with a bunch of people who weren't like me. Maybe I should try it with someone who's more like me."

The two stood in silence until Goldie spoke up. - "Well c'mon kid we've got to deliver a bracelet and you've got a story to tell me."

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Chapter 5: One Year later.

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A lot had happened in one year... One year ago he was Louie Duck: great-nephew of the legendary Scrooge McDuck; below average adventurer; scared kid; failed businessman; and an outcast.

But Louie Duck was dead, and with his passing came the birth of something new... Something better!

Now he was Louie Gold; Apprentice of the infamous Goldie O'Gilt; above average forger; daring thief; successful con-artist; and still an outcast.

While he was still an outcast, he wasn't alone anymore, having forged multiple friendships, most being his first friends that wasn't apart of his immediate family or close family-friend.

A year ago he would've been dirty, tired and wet from an exploration into some collapsing temple. Now he was at a mansion, in a tuxedo, rubbing elbows with some of the richest people on the earth... And he was going to rob them.

Ducking out of the party and into a connecting hallway, Louie avoided cameras and guards as he stealthily made his way to house's vault where most of the guests had kept their valuables for the evening and when he said valuables he didn't mean purses and wallets, he meant ancient artefacts worth a fortune.

This was no ordinary party though, this was a private auction for the wealthy elite. Here they would sell their treasures they'd collected from around the world.

"I still can't believe you traded General Aktor's Ruby dagger for an invite to this party." - Louie spoke.

A voice calls out, across his Comms. - "It was for the greater good, Sharpie... The dagger was hardly worth anything compared to what we're stealing."

"Still giving up a treasure, it's a sickening thought, O'Gilt."

"Well, it should be in the vault with all the other treasures, maybe you could grab it and put it back where it belongs?"

"A Russian embassy?"

"I was more thinking our pockets, kid."

Louie stood in front of the giant vault door. - "Well if you want any treasures. You'd better hurry up and copy that Key-Card.

"Are you sure this will work?" - Goldie asked, fiddling with device in her palm.

"I trust Amelia and she said the device she made worked, so I choose to believe her."

"What would happen if I just ran up, punched him and stole the card?"

"We'd have a repeat of India." - Goldie shivered, she'd remembered how bad India went.

Goldie casually walked over to the host of the nights activities, Sebastian King, Millionaire, egomaniac and a crime lord.

"Mr. King." Goldie greeted.

"Ah, I'm sorry but I don't know who you are."

"Doesn't matter who I am, tell me about yourself." - Goldie asked, spending the next 20 minutes listening to the man talk about himself. Allowing her to scan the key card in his blazers pocket.

"You got that kid?"

"What the Key-Card scan or how King's got 4 yachts." - Goldie chuckled at her apprentice, while Louie pulls a device out if his suit's pocket.

"Now if I'm not mistaken, this device should mimic the Key-Card and allow me to access the vault." - attaching the device to the vault, the door opens almost instantly.

"2 minutes till the guards switch positions."

Quickly grabbing the spoils of the heist, Louie leaps out of the vault, grabbing his device and leaving no trace of his presence, except his business card.

Louie Gold
Master Thief
Master Con-artist
Master Forger
Thanks for the Treasure.

Goldie silently left the party as well, no one noticing her leave, the two meeting on the outskirts of King's compounds where they had hidden their escape vehicle. The two pile into the car. With Goldie as the first to speak.

"You get it?"

"Yep and something extra." - Louie says handing her the Ruby dagger.

"This can go back in its display case where it belongs."

"Hey remember what we did all this for." - Louie says pulling out the ebony jewel.

"The eclipse diamond, it's absolutely gorgeous." - She states mesmerized by it beauty.

"We can look at it later, let's go before we get caught." - Louie urges.

The two speed off towards the airport, to catch their flight out if the country before anything bad happens.

The two arrived at the airport an hour before their flight was supposed to take off.

"Come on we still got to go through security." - Louie stated, a smile on his face.

Goldie stated at her young apprentice. - "Louie we need to talk, the last year's been great. It's been so nice having someone to watch my back, but I think it's time we split ways."

Louie's smile fell. - "Why? What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing, you're the greatest apprentice I could've asked for. You're clever, You're dedicated, You're skilled, but I've taught you all I know, you're as a good as a Con-artist as me... If not better."

Louie stated at her confused. - "What do I do now?"

"You take all the things I taught you and you create your own story."

Louie took a deep breath and Goldie pulled him in for a hug. - "Besides this isn't that last time we'll see each other, there's Christmas and we'll compete with each other in heists.

"You're the best thing to ever happen to me." - Louie mumbled into her collar.

"No you're the best thing to happen to me to, Sharpie."

Louie got out of the car and grabbed his backpack as Goldie waved goodbye and drive off.

Leaving Louie to wonder...

'What comes next?'

Chapter 6: Destiny presents itself.

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Though it had taken a few weeks to adjust to working cons solo, Louie quickly found his footing and established a new reputation for himself. No longer known as Goldie's apprentice, he had earned the nickname of 'The Picasso of Crime' due to his creativity and approach to his endeavours, the name was also ironic, due to his first solo crime was stealing a Picasso.

His most recent crime had went off without a hitch as well, he had hidden in a fake sarcophagus, that one of his friends had made, and had gotten himself sold to some hotshot trust-fund art student who thought himself a Historian, and would buy multiple artefacts to furnish his upscale New York apartment. The guy basically had a army of security guards to safeguard his numerous purchases, the thing though, was that this 'Historian' knew nothing about history so it was easy to convince him that this Egyptian coffin was the real thing.

After climbing out of the coffin, he made his way to his desired target - not worrying about the camera's spotting having already dealt with them looping old footage, reaching the display case he pulled a glass cutter from his jacket pocket he swiftly sawed through the glass, grabbing his prize : The Grail of Revival - An ancient grail legend to bring the dead back to life when they drank from it. And replaced it with his business card.

Louie slipped the grail into his cushioned backpack for safety then opened a window, took a brief second to drink in the amazing view of the Manhattan skyline before he leaped out of said window. As he fell from the 42nd story he lifted his arm and shot out a grapple line which wrapped itself around a flagpole. Thanks to the harness he had built in to to his jacket he didn't have his arm ripped off from the weight of his body and the pull of gravity as he fell.

He had to estimate he had fell to the 25th floor which put him one floor higher than the roof of the building opposite him which he swung to, landing with a tactical roll, Louie dusted himself off, climbed down the fire escape, hailed a cab and took off, meeting his friends at their usual hangout. The one-eyed beggar, a bar and grill which doubled as a den for thieves. Dropping into his usual booth, he smiled his million dollar smile at the waitress who came to take his ordered.

"What will it be, Mr. Gold?"

"The usual, Rebecca." - He stated, not even looking at the menu.

"So Cheeseburger, fries and a can of cherry pep?" - Rebecca listed.

"Yep." - She turned, heading to the kitchen.

"Couldn't even wait for us, did you Lou?" - He turned to see the once empty booth now filled with familiar faces.

Thomas, Amelia and Lucy. His closest friends and most trusted allies. - Tommy, a bulldog from Manchester, a reliable fence and a forger with no equal, he was the only one Louie trusted to sell his goods and make his fake ID's. - Amelia, a Raccoon from Quebec and exceptional inventor and mechanic, she built most of the tech he used, like his electronic skeleton key and his grapple gauntlet. - And last but not least, Lucy, a hummingbird from... Well he didn't know and was frankly too scared to ask, she was an equally ranked treasure hunter and badass of the highest order.

The group chatted, joked and ate. If they were in any other establishment they would just look like any other teens. Then the conversation turned...

"Oh, we gotta a gift for ya' mate."

"Why?" - Louie asked suspiciously, though not opposed to getting a random gift.

"It's your Birthday isn't it?"

Louie checked his phone, sure enough it was April 15th, he was 16 today. - "Yeah today is my Birthday."

"Well here." - They slipped an envelope across the table, which he promptly tore open, pulling out a spanish museum brochure.

"What is it?"

"It's the key a better life."

"What?" - Louie asked even more confused then before.

"Louie, why did you choose this life?"

"Uh..."

"I'm guessing the same reason, the rest of us did."

"Uh..." - What they also ran away from the super-rich family members, as they were arrogant and didn't agree with his ideals and methods to making money?

"Because we love money and hate work." - Lucy filled in the blanks.

He skimmed through the brochure. - "The key to a new life is an old prayer scroll? I'm not really all that religious." - He joked.

"Lou, what do you know about the pirate John Kovax?" - Tom asked.

"Captain of the Graveyard, one of the most successful pirates that ever lived, disappeared without a trace." - He rattled off the standard facts.

"What do you know about his treasure?"

"Supposedly, the largest lost treasure in history..." - Louie out the pieces together. - "Are you saying this scroll will lead us to Kovax's legendary treasure."

"Well, if my research is correct. Then yes." - Louie was positively ecstatic at this, due to Lucy's research never being wrong.

"With the amount of money, the treasure will give us, we could each buy an island!"

"Forget about buying an island, with that amount of money, we each could buy a country!"

Louie basically leaped out of the booth. - "Well what are we waiting for?" - The group followed him out of the bar. None the wiser to the cloaked figure who sat and listened to the whole conversation before getting up and following them out.

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Chapter 7: Trouble in Paradise.

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The investigation into Kovax's treasure seemed to get more and more complicated as time went on. Louie had spent most of his free time with research into the pirate captain, which had resulted in him knowing numerous useless facts, wasting of a lot of money on paper and pens and him being able to translate Spanish to English a slightly quicker. The only real lead they had on the treasure was a piece of paper which had more security than Fort Knox, which was annoying since he had already infiltrated the 'Heavily fortified' military post.

The museum the prayer scroll was housed in, wasn't all the secure. The real problem was the security, a private security firm named GRIMLOCK had been hired by the Scroll's overly religious, extremely paranoid owner Argentinian Businessman Aaron Moreno. He had found the Scroll on an archaeological dig in Israel. And the money he was paying GrimLock had gone into providing their many agents with Hi-tech weaponry, so problem 1: Overpowered guards with unlimited funding.

Another problem was that the Scroll was in constant movement, touring like a Rockstar through City to City, never staying in one museum for more than a week. You would think that a moving target would be easier to steal but NO. Turns out GRIMLOCK's transport vehicles were built like bank vaults on wheels, no don't be misguided as Louie could easily break into the van, but breaking into said van while dealing with a militia that could easily put him down for good. Problem 2: Having limited time to case a target, make a plan and execute it.

Finally, there was the issue of GrimLock's head honcho, Victor Grim. A man known for being cruel and unforgiving, there were stories of what Grim had done to thieves, crooks and even disrespectful underlings, this fear meant only the toughest and most loyal mercenaries worked for him. Problem 3: A brutal enemy with a bunch of vicious underlings, meaning if he was caught, he next escapade would most likely be crossing the River Styx.

The real question Louie had to ask himself wasn'thow would he do it. It was actuallywhy was he doing it. Which of course, was obviously treasure. And in the battle between greed and fear... Greed always won. So the plan was created and it went ahead, that's the reason why Louie was crawling through a museums vents, wearing clothing that wouldn't even slightly protect him if he ran into any guards.

He stopped at a very specific vent grate, the one overlooking the scroll. He pulled up his sleeve and stared at his digital-watch, waiting patiently for a few minutes until it turned 3:30, when the exhibit closed, leaving him with an empty room for 2 minutes while the guards changed positions. Quickly unscrewing the vent's grate, he slipped halfway through before raising his wrist and firing a grapple line at the opposing wall. Pulling himself the remaining way through, Louie hung by one arm, using his other to spray something out of a small aerosol can and spraying below him, revealing the motion sensing laser's.

"Lasers?" - Amelia asked.

Louie smirked. - "Just like we expected."

"Cutting power. In three... two... One." - The laser's cut off along with the mediocre music that played from the many speaker around the room. The only light in the room coming from the skyline above Louie, who repelled down the wall.

He stared at the Piece of paper that would change his life. - "Hello beautiful." - He remarked and reached for his glasscutter but stopped when the lights came on. - "I thought you said there was a minute before the emergency generator came online?"

The door swung open and a woman entered wielding a pistol. - "Freeze Gold. Put your hands up." - Louie turned to face the woman, dropping the aerosol can at his feet and raising his arms.

"You don't look like you work for Grim. Who are you?" - Louie inquired, smile on his face.

"Agent Remi Bernard. Interpol."

"Interpol knows about me?" - Louie asked, still smiling.

"Yes we do, my turn." - The hummingbird spoke. - "Why do you want the scroll?"

"Personal reasons. My turn, Where's your backup?" - Louie asked confused why the Agent had come alone."

"Couldn't risk you escaping, My turn. Do you know how screwed you are?" - A voice came from out of the room, before Louie could respond. - "Bernard, where are you?"

"In here, ma'am." - A group of around 10 people bust in. Each wielding a weapon of some sort.

"Great work Bernard. Read him his rights." - An agent stepped forward but Louie spoke, his eyes locked on Bernard.

"My turn."

"No more questions Gold!"

"Last one I promise."

"Fine, go."

"Are you or any of your friends wearing earplugs?"

"What... Why?" - Louie elbowed the scroll's glass display case and an ear-piercing alarm sounded, making all the agents drop their weapons and collapse to their knees while they cover their ear's and scream.

Louie crouched down to Agent Bernard, and stares at the agent who was seemingly unfazed by the high-pitched noise. - "GRIMLOCK installs these bad-boys on every display they're hired to protect, they use it to cripple thieves making them easier to catch, lucky my earplugs filters out the noise, Right?" - Bernard reaches for her weapon which Louie kicks away. - "Anyway, I got to run. Places to visit and things to steal. Nice meeting you Agent Bernard." - Louie says co*ckily, before grabbing the scroll and grappling to the skylight and climbing out of the museum and making his way to street level.

He smugly stops and looks at the place he just robbed, when the front door slams open revealing Bernard who was on her feet and carrying her pistol. - "GOOOOOLD!"

Louie turns and sprints the other way with Bernard hot on his trail. Sliding over a car's bonnet and leaping over the wall, gaining a slight lead over the Agent which he almost immediately lost when he turns and knocks a woman over, being the gentlemen he is, he stops to help her up and notices not only is she exceptionally beautiful, she also has such a familiar face.

"LOUIE?" - The girl shouts, surprised and the rest of her group turns and Louie notices more familiar faces, Dewey, Huey, Della, Scrooge and Launchpad, that means this was... Yep he had just knocked Webby over.

"GOOOLD!" - Louie saw Agent Bernard leap over the wall and charge at him, he dropped his old friend's hand and took off, he makes it a little bit before he feels something pinch his shoulder, suddenly his eyes droop and his legs give up on him. He collapses.

A large crowd gathers to stare at the boy who had suddenly collapsed. All of them wore confused or concerned looks. Except for Agent Remi Bernard who causally walked up, plucked the tranquilizer dart she had just shot him with and smiled at the thief who had just made her career.

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Chapter 8: Personal Hell.

Chapter Text

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

Louie had no idea how long it had been. The last thing he remembered was collapsing on the street, then he woke up, in a dark room with an ache in his shoulder, handcuffed to a table. He sat alone for a while, the only noise was the quiet click-clack of him adjusting his cuffs. He waited and waited, bored out of his mind.

He took his chance to survey the room he was in, it was a basic interrogation room with nothing except a table and two chairs, one either side of it. The walls were baron also, plain grey concrete except for a vent and a large mirror - He had watched enough cheesy 80's cop shows to know they were watching him from behind there. He could easily slip out of his cuffs, but couldn't see a way out of the room: the walls looked solid concrete; the door made of solid steel; and the vent was too small to climb through.

Seeing no escape, he decided to just sleep. Hoping to wake and find this was all a bad dream, instead he awoke still in the dark room by a slamming door. With a click the light was turned on, revealing a familiar face. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms and smiled at her. - "Hello, Agent Bernard.

Even though he seemed calm and collected, he stared daggers at the woman who shot him.

She sat in the seat opposite him, Her eyes burning his holes into his own, and dropped a file on the table. - "Good morning, Mr. Gold." - Agent Bernard remarked, wearing a smug expression.

Louie slid forward in his chair. - "Please, call me Louie." - He noted that she said morning, his heist occurred in the middle of the afternoon, how long had he been here?

"Fine." - She place a tape recorder on the table. - "Louie," - She said sarcastically. "do you know why you're here?" - She asked the first standard question.

"No idea." - First thing Goldie had taught him, never admit to anything, even if there was undeniable evidence... Like a handful of witnesses, all of which, most likely were wearing body-cams.

She was expecting him to say that. - "Well you are here on suspicion of breaking and entering, theft and assaulting multiple Government officers." - She read down the list.

"I never assaulted anyone." - He choose to disprove that one first.

"Really? We have multiple recordings of you doing just that." - She countered.

"Footage can be edited." - He stated matter-of-factly.

"We also have numerous eyewitness accounts claiming to see you running away from the museum and the crime-scene."

"Witnesses can be bought." - He said, disproving another piece of evidence.

Bernard grit her teeth, - "So are you saying Interpol was wrong? That there was no break-in and that we are lying?"

"No, I didn't say there was no break in. All I'm saying is that I wasn't involved" - Another thing Goldie had taught him. The best lies incorporate an essence of truth.

"Not only do we have you on this, we have you on numerous other heists. Maybe, leaving businesses cards wasn't that smart." - She smirked, saying the last part quiet than she said the rest of it.

HE shrugged - "My name's common, probably just a coincident."

At that Bernard broke. - "Cut the crap Gold! You can dispute evidence all you want, but we got you, I got YOU!" - She had basically climbed across the table and grabbed him by his collar.

"BERNARD, HERE NOW!" - An loud voice bellowed out from a speaker on one of the walls.

The anger that had once engulfed Agent Bernard's eyes quickly morphed to fear. Louie noticed it. - "The big bad boss is calling you, don't want to be late do you?" - He taunted, Her eyes narrowed in distaste for the thief and she left, once again leaving him alone.

The moment she left, he heard a shouting match begin from beyond the mirror, he listened closely hoping to here what they were discussing, but the walls and mirror were muffling the sound, so he couldn't decipher any words or phrases, though he picked up that Bernard was angry... extremely angry.

The shouting stopped and soon after the door to the interrogation room swung open and Bernard stepped through. The smug expression that she wore earlier had disappeared, now she wore one of pure rage. - "What happened? You get chewed out by yo..." - The snaky remark died in his throat, when she pulled out her pistol and shot him in his other shoulder. His body went numb before he fell unconscious again.

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

This time when he awoke, he wasn't in some dark dingy room, he was in a bed in a furnished room with light pouring through the windows.

"Huh... Maybe it was just a bad dream." - He mumbled to himself. Sitting up, he felt the dull ache settle in his shoulders again. Not a dream. He spotted a pile of neatly folded clothes in a chair on the opposite side of the room. When he got up he noticed something attached to his leg. It was an ankle-monitor. - "If this is prison, I'm fine with it." - He loudly remarked, wondering if there were any cameras or recording devices in the room.

He slipped on the outfit left out for him, which consisted of a green zip hoodie and black undershirt. They didn't look like traditional prison uniforms and the door was a large wood door, no metal bars in sight. He grabbed the handle and pulled it open, it wasn't even locked. Stepping out into the hallway, he stepped into his own personal hell. Sprinting through the familiar hallways decorated with beige wallpaper and oak flooring adorned with blood red carpet.

He made it down the grand staircase without running into anyone, and was a step from the front door, when he finally heard a voice. - "Going somewhere Gold?"

He grit his teeth at the voice. - "Yeah, away from here."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Why? You gonna shoot me again?" - He snapped back

"Nope." - She answered truthfully.

He scoffed at her, and pulled on the handle. The moment he did, he felt a sharp sting in his ankle before he dropped. He spasmed on the floor for seconds, drool seeping from his mouth and onto the carpet. The moment the pain subsided, he leaped to his feet and glared at the Agent. - "WHAT WAS THAT." - He barked at her.

"That Ankle-Monitor you're wearing is fixed with a GPS tracker and a shocking device." - He stared at the hunk of plastic strapped to his leg. - "It's also tamper proof and is unlocked with a Key-Card, so no lock-picking it off."

"What stops me from just tackling you and taking the key card."

"Two things, One : My pistol..."

Louie interrupted her. - "You got lucky with the first two shots, you won't get a third." - He countered. - "What's your second point?"

A voice thundered from behind Louie. - "She's not the one, with the Key-Card."

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Chapter 9: House Arrest.

Chapter Text

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

The voice sent a chill down Louie's spine, the sophisticated yet intimidating voice could only belong to one person. - "Mrs. Beakley, it's been a while. Hasn't it?"

The housekeeper narrowed her yes at the young thief. - "Not long enough." - She took a step forward. - "If it was up to me, You'd be locked away. Instead you're here. So be thankful."

Louie stood strong against the older duck's threats. - "Don't worry, I won't be here long."

Mrs. Beakley chuckled at that, and Louie swore that was the first time he'd ever heard her laugh. - "You won't be escaping, as long I'm still in control of this." - She pulled the remote and Louie's launched at her, but she easily avoided him. - "Now, go wash up. Dinner is in 10 minutes."

Louie landed on his feet. And Mrs. Beakley retreated back into the dining room, to set the table. Leaving Louie alone with Agent Bernard. - "So Louie DUCK." - Bernard began, putting emphasis on Duck. - "You'd better hope, we don't cross paths again, because next time, you won't end up in some mansion in Duckburg. You'll be spending the rest of your days in a Supermax in some desolate third world country."

"Don't worry about it, Bernard. You won't catch me a second time."

She scoffed and opened the front door. - "See ya' DUCK."

"It's Gold. Louie Gold"- Louie corrected.

"Then goodbye, Gold."

"Goodbye Bernard." - Bernard left the manor, and Louie went to the dining room. Dreading the most awkward dinner, ever.

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

Louie had been right, the dinner was awkward, painful even. He'd forget how good of a cook Beakley was, she was on par with some of the world class chefs, he'd eaten with. But he couldn't enjoy the lasagne, due to being put off by Dewey's horrendous table manners.

Huey's never-ending questions were getting on his nerves as well. He felt like he was being interrogated, and he had been interrogated enough for one week.

Scrooge's rant about how being a thief wasn't an honest way to make money, and how it was good for him to be back so he could learn the 'right-way' to make money. Had Louie rolling his eyes.

And finally, Della's constant staring was annoying him, she hadn't blinked once since dinner began, she choose stared at him and ate her dinner.

The only person, who wasn't annoying him was Webby, she was polite, easy to talk to, and didn't spend the entire dinner staring at him.

"So how many countries did you visit Louie?" - Huey asked, before rambling about how countries he and the rest of the family had gone to, on their adventures.

"That's enough questions. Hubert." - Dewey cut him off, which Louie would've been grateful for, if not for the way Dewey punctuated every word through spitting a piece of food across the table. - "I've been learning to FLY, Louie! Isn't that cool?" - Telling another story about himself, in a volume too high for Louie's liking.

"Yeah... that's cool." - Louie mumbled while poking at his food.

"Somethin' wrong with tha food, Lad?"

"Nah, I'm just not hungry."

Della frowned at him. - "Are you sick?'

"Nope."

"Then what's wrong."

"I'm just... tired. I'm gonna to go to bed." - Louie expressed, getting up from the table and heading to his room, ignoring the request for him to stay and finish dinner. Louie shuffled up the stairs, slipped into his room, and collapsing on his bed.

Louie had no idea how he was going to survive this hell.

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

Della woke up, bright and early for once. Getting dressed and tiptoeing down the hallway, she had one goal in mind. Make Louie the most amazing 'Welcome Home.' Breakfast ever, But first she needed assistants.

Dewey, Huey and Webby were as eager to give Louie an amazing welcome home as well. Even though last night's dinner may have been tense, they were sure they could turn it around and be a family again.

"Okay, from what I remember about Louie, is that he should be asleep until 10am," - Huey so we have just under an hour to cook breakfast."

But trouble had began the moment they stepped foot in the kitchen, Della wasn't that competent of a cook, so she relied on her 3 assistants, who each had very distinct cooking styles.

Huey would follow the recipe step-by-step, throwing the while thing away if it wasn't perfect.

Dewey would through every ingredient into a bowl and mix it together. Making an inedible blob and wasting lots of their ingredients.

Webby had been taught the basics by her Granny, so they decided to elect her head-chef, which Huey resented, because he thought he should be head-chef. Dewey and Webby had voted against him, in fear of the power going to his head.

Webby had decided to cook a basic breakfast of bacon and eggs. But it wasn't so simple for them, Huey had rebelled and decided to cook his own breakfast, Dewey kept ruining the meal by adding sugar and sprinkles to it and claimed he was trying to make the meal more exciting. At one point Della had set the sink on fire, which took up the majority of the hour trying to put out.

They had run out of ingredients at one point and their original plan of basic bacon and eggs had turned into a bowl of 'Sugar-Bombs'.

"Do you think he'll like it?" - Della asked unsure.

"Yep, Louie loves this stuff."

"Louie loves what?" - Louie entered the kitchen.

Dewey clarified. - "Sugar-Bombs! They're your favourite cereal."

"Uh, I hate those things, they taste like cardboard covered in sweetener."

"You used to love Sugar-Bombs."

"I did, back when I was 12."

"What are you doing up? You should be in bed for approximately another 12 and a half minutes."

"I've been up since six."

"SIX?" - The rest of the Duck's collectively gasp.

"Yeah. I got up, made breakfast and went for a run around McDuck Manor."

"Wait, you made breakfast?" - Louie was beginning to get annoyed, why was it so hard to see him doing anything productive.

"Yeah, I made an omelette."

"Wait where's all the dishes?"

"I cleaned up."

Mrs. Beakley entered the kitchen, carrying cleaning equipment. - "Which is what the rest of you'll be doing. Until my Kitchen is back to its former glory." - She handed each of the 4 a mop.

"Hey Louie..." - Della turned to her youngest, only to see him gone, he having already ascended the stairs and resolved to take a shower. Leaving Huey, Dewey, Webby and Della to clean the once spotless kitchen and deal with Mrs. Beakley's wrath.

Louie didn't get a chance to take a shower though, as he ran into Scrooge before he could make it to the bathroom.

"Ah, Louie, Just the lad I was lookin' for, back your bags, cause we're going on an adventure!"

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Chapter 10: Family Adventure Pt.1

Chapter Text

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

One thing Louie had never been fond of, was Launchpad's flying skills... or driving skills... or any skills that he possessed, he had flown with some of the most reckless and dangerous pilots in the world for his heists, but Launchpad was on another level of being a bad pilot. Even with Della as his co-pilot, his air escapades had Louie holding on for dear life.

He was also bored, he had listened to every song on his phone at least twice, and the game he was playing was getting repetitive. - "So, what are we looking for?" - He asked.

"Good question lad, it's nice to see you taking an interest in adventuring," - Scrooge replied, taking out a large ancient book. He flipped to a specific page and read aloud. - "According to legend, a young conquistador wielded a Sabre, whi - "

Dewey interrupted. - "What's a sabre?"

"A sabre is a heavy cavalry sword with a curved blade and a single cutting edge or it could be - " - Huey explained.

"It's a sword." - Webby simplified.

Scrooge continued the story. - "Anyway, the sabre is supposed to be blessed with the power of serendipity and - "

"Wait, what does serendipity mean?"

"Serendipity is the occurrence and development of events by chance or in a beneficial way."

"It means good luck."

"Uhhhhh." - Scrooge groaned. While Louie rolled his eyes, nothing had changed: Dewey was still oblivious; Huey was still a know it all; and Webby was still playing peacekeeper. They may haven't have changed, but he sure had.

For a second the plane violently shook back and forth, and Louie dug his hands into the seat's armrests, hoping not to fly out of his seat, it seemed Scrooge was still too cheap to fix the plane's seat belts. - "You enjoying you're first adventure back, Lou?" - Della asked, though Louie was too distracted trying to not fly out of his seat to answer.

"I'm excited Mom!" - Dewey answers.

"I know you are, sweetie."

They hit another patch of turbulence and Louie dug his hands deeper into the leather seats, Louie felt a shiver run up his spine, a skill he'd picked up in the past 2 years, it usually meant something bad was going to happen. Then the plane's lights flickered, oh how he hated it when he was right.

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

Louie woke hanging from a tree, high in the air, over a clearing. He was face down with vines wrapped along his legs. -'The plane must have crashed.'- He thought, attempting to climb down, he managed to pull his feet out of the tangled vines, resulting in him slipping free and falling, he was lucky to only fall a few feet, having his legs getting caught by the vines again.

Instead of trying to untangle himself any further, then falling and letting the vines catch him by his throat... or worse, He decided to wait for someone to find him. He had waited maybe 10 minutes when he heard someone calling his name. - "LOUIE!" - The voice waited a few seconds before repeating itself. - "LOUIE!" - It sounded like Huey.

"Where is he?" - Webby asked.

"The tracker says he should be right here." - Della answered, following the tracker to right below him.

"But where is he?"

"Up here!" - Louie shouted, alerting the rest of the McDuck clan of his location.

Scrooge stared at him in astonishment. - "How did you get up there, lad?"

Louie wanted to shrug, but decided against it, in fear of falling to his doom.

"Don't worry Louie," - Dewey spoke up, rummaging through his bag, he pulled out a boomerang. - "Thanks to Dewey, and his amazing boomerang skills, I'll have you down in no time." - He spun around in circle and threw his boomerang, which resulted in a dizzy Dewey and a boomerang sticking out of the mud.

While Dewey was messing around, Della had scaled the tree and began cutting at the vines that had strung Louie up, eventually only one vine remained. - "Okay, listen to me Louie, I'm going to cut this vine and then I'm going to catch you, okay."

Louie scoffed, she thought he was still that scared little kid he was two years ago. - "Just cut the vine." - She did and threw out her hand for him to grab, instead Louie dived straight down, and grabbed a hold of a tree branch, and used his momentum to catapult himself off the branch and onto the ground, landing so perfectly, that it would make a gymnast jealous.

"Woooooooooo." - Huey, Dewey and Webby exclaimed, staring wide eyed at the teen. - "Where did you learn to do that?" - Webby inquired excitedly.

"While pulling a heist last year, I had to join a circus to get close to the mark... so I masqueraded as a trapeze artist, and I had to learn to do that," - He gestured to the tree branch. - "so I'd get the job." - Louie summarised. - "Now, does anybody know where we are?"

Scrooge cupped his hands and bellowed into the forest. - "LAUNCHPAD!"

The infamous pilot entered the clearing, carrying a piece of the plane's Navigation system in his hands. - "No good, Mr McD. The GPS is fried."

"What now?" - Della groaned.

At that, Huey pulled out a familiar red and brown book from under his cap, and read aloud - "Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, Rule 841: There's always another way around." - Huey placed the book back to it's spot, and began fashioning a compass from twigs, leaves and dirty puddle water. - "What direction were we heading, Launchpad?"

Launchpad hesitated. - "Uhhh... North!.. South... West?"

"South." - Della corrected.

"Then we should be going... This way!" - Huey commanded, heading in said direction, the rest of the McDuck clan following his lead, while Louie pulled over his hood and followed them into what he knew, was certain doom.

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Chapter 11: Family Adventure Pt.2

Chapter Text

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

It took an hour of Della insulting Launchpad, Huey's constant references to the JW-Guidebook and Dewey doing stupid stunts for attention, for the McDuck clan to finally arrive back into civilization.

They had arrived in a small town, with buildings built with bricks, the colours of the sunset, orange, red and yellow, it gave the town a warm, inviting aura. It reminded him of that town he visited with Uncle Donald and his band, without the sinister secret that the town hid... He hoped.

He suddenly had a depressing thought. Uncle Donald. He hadn't seen him once since he got back, did he know? or was he purposely avoiding him? He had to ask someone. - It was a topic he didn't want to discuss with Huey or Dewey, and he wasn't really fond of Della, Scrooge was being hounded by shopkeepers, so that just left Webby.

He quickly yet quietly moved to the middle of the group, hoping to avoid any unwanted attention. - "Hey, Webs?'

"Yeah?" - The overly excited girl replied.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

Louie stuttered. - "Does Donald... Does Donald know i'm back?" - Webby blanked, then hesitated before she answered.

"I don't know," - she scratched the back of her head. - "you should ask Della or Uncle Scrooge."

"Yeah... No." - Louie muttered, guess he had to wait and see if Donald would contact him or visit. He wanted to see him one more time before he disappeared again.

Scrooge shouted at the all the local merchants who were surrounding him. - "Curse me kilts, yur' all a bunch o', greedy thieves." - He began swinging his cane wildly at the ones who didn't back off, scaring them away. - "I hate this town, does no-one have any decency?" - Scrooge remarked.

Huey spoke up. - "Not to interrupt you, Uncle Scrooge, but shouldn't we continue the adventure?"

Scrooge took a calming breath and agreed with Huey before immediately getting angry again. - "The only one who knew where we're going was the tour guide, and he's at the landing strip we were supposed to land at in," - Scrooge pulled out a pocket-watch. - "10 minutes!"

"Then call them and tell them to come here." - Della argued.

Huey chimed in, again. - "One problem, where is 'here'?" - Everyone stayed silent, no-one knew where they were.

"Well we can't be too far away." - Della sheepishly reasoned.

Still, everyone stayed silent, no one had a clue, even Della and Launchpad who had flown the plane, scratched their heads. - "We could buy a map." - Launchpad suggested, and everyone waved his idea off, before they realised what he said.

"Good idea, Lad!" - Scrooge marvelled at the pilot, and while Louie heard Della mumbled something under her breath, he couldn't hear her exact words, but he could say the tone was definitely bitter. they had went looking for anyplace that sold maps of any sort, eventually finding a hole-in-the-wall shop displaying postcard and maps.

"How much?" - Scrooge asked the shopkeeper, who stared at the old Scotsman, with literal dollar signs in his eyes.

The shopkeeper mulled it over for a few seconds, before responding. - "50."

"50 Euro." - Scrooge gawked at him. - "That's too much."

"You can afford it."

"It's highway robbery!" - Scrooge shouted.

"Then go somewhere else." - The man bellowed back, in his broken English.

"NO! You lower your prices."

"NO! You pay price."

Scrooge had smoke coming at his ears. - "I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHERE I BLIMMIN' AM!" - He screamed at the top of his lungs, scaring away the crowd that had gathered to watch the shouting match.

"We're in a town called Peligro." - The group turned to Louie, who noticed their confused expressions, and nodded towards an old rooster who was relaxing in a rocking chair. - "I asked him"

"Well, now we can continue the adventure." - The family turned to Scrooge expectantly. He scoffed before pulling his flip-phone from his pocket, and calling the guide.

A choir of yes's and no's were spoken before Scrooge returned with furrowed brows and crossed arms. - "The landing strip's an hour away," - The family all groaned and sighed, except for Louie who had a small smile. - "but..." - Louie's smile dropped, he knew 'buts' never meant anything good. - "He said he would drive over here, so we can continue the adventure!" - The family cheered and Louie so did Louie, though more in a sarcastic manner.

"So what do we do, while we wait?"

Webby shot her hand in the air, like a student hoping the teacher pick them to answer the question. - "We could explore the town and it's culture."

"Yeah," - Huey agreed with the overly energetic girl. - " I still have to get my Explore-A-Foreign-Town-And-It's-Culture-With-Your-Family badge!" - Louie chuckled,Since when did Huey make jokes? That is not a real badge.Then he noticed Huey had a serious expression.Never, he never made jokes.

"Then it's settled. we will explore the town before we explore the jungle!" - Della said triumphantly, Huey smiled at his Mom, Dewey stared starry-eyed at her, while Louie just scoffed.

Della watched as Dewey spotted and subsequently chased after a food truck while dragging Launchpad along with him; Huey and Webby split off from the group, going to talk to the guy who Louie pointed out, hoping to get an insight into the town's culture and history, yet quickly learning the man only spoke Spanish; and Scrooge turning to continue his argument with the local businessman, over his over inflated price.

"Well Louie, looks like it's just me and you." - Della remarked coolly, while on the inside she rejoiced over the fact she finally got a chance to talk to her youngest son, one-on- one, since he got back. That joy quickly dispersed when she noticed her youngest had already disappeared.

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

Louie had spent the past half-hour aimlessly walking around Peligro's shopping district, nothing had interested him, most of the shops used bland, unoriginal marketing techniques, techniques that may have worked on someone of Dewey or Launchpad's intelligence, but he knew when he was getting scammed, but it didn't stop him from being enticed by one shop owner.

The small clothing tent had quickly caught his eye, for doing something no other shop on that street did, sold genuine goods, it was a skill Goldie had taught him, to notice the finer details and decide whether something was fact or fiction, it was one of his most useful skills, he usually used to find if someone was lying or not.

When he began browsing the stores wares, he only found one thing that intrigued him, a long, dark-green leather jacket, there was something else about, he couldn't place a finger on it.

"I see you are drawn to the jacket." - A voice spoke, Louie turned to see an old woman with milky eyes, a hunchback, and wielding a cane, she was dressed liked a stereotypical witch, ripped straight from a fairy-tale. - "Be my guest." - He just nodded.

Louie replaced his hoodie with the jacket, and the woman produced a mirror from thin air. As Louie checked out his reflection, he had to admit, he did look good. - "How much?"

"No charge."

Louie thought he misheard the old woman. - "Pardon?"

"No charge." - Louie was about to protest, but she continued. - "The jacket was destined for you, it would be wrong for me to try and profit from destiny." -So the old woman is crazy. -Louie thought. Even though magic was real, he knew destiny wasn't, a person created their life through their own choices. Like his choices lead him to travel around the world and develop his skills as a thief and con, and Della's choices lead her to being trapped on the moon, for 10 years.

Louie didn't see any con in her giving him a free coat, so either she was a better a con than him (Which was unlikely) or the woman was actually just crazy. So he just thanked the old woman, and moved to leave her tent.

She shouted something before he left. - "I see a long hard road in front of you, you have to decide where you loyalties stand. And you'll have to decide soon." - Louie just politely smiled and left, disregarding the woman's ramblings, and looked for something to eat before he had to meet back up with the group, to go on a life-threatening adventure.

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Chapter 12: Family Adventure Pt.3

Chapter Text

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

After another 20 minutes of window-shopping in the sleepy town of Peligro, Louie re-joined the group at the rendezvous point, Webby noticed him first and gushed about his new look. - "Woah! Cool coat Louie."

"Thanks Webby." - Louie said quietly, before moving away from the group and out of the sun, and into the shade of a tree. He sat down and closed his eyes, hoping that the tour guide would get here soon, and he wouldn't have to be on this adventure for long.

He was glad he found the coat, the heat was a lot more bearable in it then his hoodie, which he tied around his waist, he avoided any conversation with the rest of the group, by answering all their prompts with one word answers or just ignoring them.

Finally the tour guide arrived, rolling up in a battered old jeep, was a Blackbird who looked as old as Scrooge, dressed in some flashy wide suit and fedora, while also sporting a silver ball cane. - "Scroogie!" - The man called out theatrically, clasping Scrooge's hand and shaking it up and down energetically. - "It's been too long."

"Kids, meet Sir Arthur Torres, an old friend and a historian, specialising in mythical artefacts. He while be guiding us on this adventure."

"Lovely to meet you all, now if you get into the jeep, we will start the tour." - Louie noticed the small size of the jeep and came to a conclusion.

"Doesn't look big enough to fit all of us... One of us will have to stay back." - He remarked with a smirk.

Sir Torres turned to the jeep. - "Huh, Yes, there are more of you than I was expecting."

"I'll stay."

"No Louie," - Scrooge piped up. "this is your first adventure back. I'll stay."

"I'll stay Mr. McD. I was going to stay anyway." - Launchpad suggested.

"Yes! you stay Launchpad. The rest of you get into the jeep." - Louie cursed under his breath about Launchpad and his generosity, while the others cheered before he slunk into the back of the jeep, watching as Launchpad disappeared into the crowds of Peligro.

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

" - And that's the legendary tale of the Sabre of Serendipity." - Sir Torres finished, and everyone clapped, except for Louie, having not listening to the blackbird's legend, having been too busy, zoning out and staring into the jungle.

Della turned to her youngest. - "Great story, Right Lou?"

"What?"

"The legend? It's a good story, right?"

"Huh. Sure." - Louie muttered turning to Sir Torres. - "How much further?"

"Not much now." - Louie nodded, ignoring Della's second attempt at conversation and turning back to stare into the deep depths of the jungle.

After another 20 minutes of travelling through the dense jungle and on the bumpy, dirt roads. The car stopped suddenly. So suddenly that when everyone in the car jerked forward, Louie almost flew through the windshield. - "This is where we part ways." - Sir Torres said, ushering everyone out of the jeep.

"Why?"

"I will never cross that line." - He said cryptically, gesturing to the line of salt that sat just past the jeep.

Scrooge stared at his old friend unconvinced. - "Why?"

Sir Torres took a deep breath. - "There is only darkness, past that line." - He responded in a grave tone. - "I'll meet you back here in an hour." - He turned the jeep on. - "If you're still alive that is."

After Sir Torres drove away, the rest of the the group, ran ahead, racing to be the first the temple. Louie moved slowly, and noted the chill that run up his spine, the moment that he stepped passed that line.

This was not going to be good.

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

The temple was unremarkable for a Scrooge McDuck adventure, no unescapable death-traps, where Dewey could prove how brave he is, or unsolvable puzzles, so Huey could prove how smart he is... just a crumbling building filled with long, winding corridors.

"Sorry your first adventure back isn't that exciting Lou." - Della remarked, scratching the back of her neck.

Louie just grunted in response, annoyed at the repeated use of that nickname.Lou. He hated it almost as much as he hated Lewellyn.

"Uncle Scrooge, I'm bored!" - Dewey groaned, dragging out the o in bored. - "Where's all that 'darkness' that guy was mentioning?" - He joked.

Della cheered. - "Yeah! We need some blood-pumping action!" - She sprinted on ahead again, with Dewey trailing behind her. Leaving the rest of them to catch up."

Following Della and Dewey's trail the rest of the group found themselves at the entrance to two diverging hallways. - "Which way now?"

"Ahhhhh!" - Dewey's scream echoed down one of the hallways.

"That way."

Sprinting through the confusing hallways, the group found Della and Dewey ducking behind a large rock, which had so many crossbow bolts sticking out of it, it resembled more of a pin cushion.

"Duck!" - Webby shouted, tackling Louie to the ground, as a another bolt stuck right where his head would've been. - " I owe you one." - He thanked as the pair scuttled behind the rock with the rest of the group.

Scrooge poked his head out, and watched as a gang of skeletons dressed in Conquistador armour shot his top-hat off his head and pinned it to the wall. - "Curse me kilt's!"

"What do we do?" - Della shouted over to Scrooge.

"We gotta stop these blasted skeletons!" - He shouted back, smacking the closest one with his cane.

"Let's do this!"

"No!" - Louie commanded, drawing the rest of the group's attention. - "We go out there and we'll be skewered like shish kebabs!"

Della picked up and discarded Spanish shield. - "Don't worry they won't be able to hit us." - She said, charging at the skeletons with all her might, everyone but Louie followed her example and grabbed the closest thing to protection they could find and rushed at the skeletons with zeal.

The confidence they had quickly diminished, and the group retreated back behind the rock where Louie sat coolly. - "There's too many of them! Where are they all coming from?" - Webby yelled.

Huey surveyed the situation and noticed the problem. - "There!" - He pointed to a large drawbridge style gate which was letting in all of the skeletons. - "If we can break the chain, the gate sill drop and stop the skeletons from entering."

"How do we bust the chain?"

Scrooge grabbed a crossbow that one of the skeletons had dropped. - "With these." - He fired the bolt and it just missed the chain, Dewey, Huey and Webby grabbed their own crossbows: Dewey shot instantly and since he didn't aim, it wasn't even close, Huey spent his time trying to calculate the perfect shot, but didn't even get to shoot, as Webby's first shot snapped the chain, slamming the gate shut on the attacking skeletons.

With the skeletons cut off, the remaining few that were in the room were quickly swept up and obliterated, the bones turning to dust once they were defeated, leaving a bunch of conquistador armour scattered in the room.

"Look!" - By sheer luck, the group had found the Sabre of Serendipity. It was sitting at the top of a pillar, which in itself was surrounded by other pillars. Louie found it annoying to scale the pillars, wishing he still had his grabble gauntlet. When they reached the top they found the sabre, being held in pace by some rocks, acting as a crude display method.

"How do we know if that even is the sabre?" - Louie questioned, as everyone else marvelled at the sword.

"Only one way to find out." - Scrooge plucked the Sabre from it's holder, and felt it's power course through his veins. - "This is it... The Sabre of Serendipity." - The ground began to shake beneath them, as the pillars around them, began to collapse, one-by-one.

"RUN!" - Someone shouted, Louie didn't know who, he was too occupied with the blood pumping in his ears... for the two years he was gone, he hadn't had to deal with insane, ancient death-traps, he'd dealt with vicious gangsters, ruthless politicians, and rival thieves. But they didn't compare to the danger he was in and the moment.

The group separated and began their own paths to the ground, Webby unfortunately didn't have the best luck, the 2nd pillar she landed on, began to crumble, taking her balance with it. She was able to catch herself on the edge, but couldn't pull her self up due to the pillar's constant crumbling.

A large chunk of the pillar fell into the abyss below, taking her left hand's grip, leaving her dangling by only one hand, she had to thank her Granny for all those push ups she made her do, to build upper body strength. The pillar crumbled further, her other hand lost it's grip and she she began to plummet.

She didn't drop though, looking up she saw Louie had caught her hand and was pulling her back up, the pair crouched on the remains of the pillar. - "We're even." - He said with a smirk before leaping to another pillar and continuing his descent. Webby took a second to breathe before leaping down herself.

When Webby reached the ground she saw everyone running for the exit. "Come on!" - Scrooge commanded, holding the door open for her, everyone else having passed through.

The McDuck clan regrouped outside the temple entrance, seeing Sir Torres sitting in his jeep just past the salt line. - "I was worried when I heard the temple collapse. I thought you'd gotten trapped inside."

The group climbed on to the jeep, each covered in a fine lair of dust from the rubble, and relaxed as they drove back to Peligro. Meeting back up with Launchpad who'd somehow come upon a plane, while not as beg as the one scattered through out the jungle, had more than enough space for everyone.

The first adventure back.- Louie thought. - A temple full of death-trapsand monsters trying to kill me. All for a treasure I'm never going to see? Nothing had changed.

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Chapter 13: Unlucky Uncle.

Chapter Text

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A few days had passed since the McDuck clan had retrieved the Sabre of Serendipity from it's temple situated in the Spanish jungles, Louie had spent the past few days relaxing and regaining his strength, mostly in his room and 2 rooms of McDuck Manor he'd never explored before, the Library and the Gym.

The family's last adventure had reinforced Louie's resolve to escape, so he was currently looking for a way out of his ankle-monitor without alerting anyone, his previous attempts had fallen short so he turned to more convoluted methods. That's why he had spent the past 2 days cooped up in the library, where most of Scrooge's magical tomes were situated.

Though Scrooge claimed he despised magic and claimed it was a 'crutch', he probably had the largest collection of magic artefacts and paraphernalia in the world.

Louie sat on one of the two sofas in the room, and had his feet propped up on the large coffee table that separated them, the book he was in grossed in was a small yet heavy blue book, titled 'Simplistic Magic Volume 2'. He had flicked through volume 1 which consisted of basic magical history, proper spell pronunciation and the constant repetition of the primary rules of magic."

Louie flipped to a random page and recited the spell. - "esiR...esiR...esiR!" - Louie read aloud, watching in shock and awe as another tome that he'd left on the coffee table floated about a foot in the air.

"Louie are you in here?" - Webby called opening the door, Louie turned his attention to the door, and the second he looked away from the floating book it dropped, he managed to catch the book before it hit the table, quickly hiding it behind his back.

"Yeah, Webs I'm in here." - Louie responded, watching as the female duck poked her head through the door for a split second, before pulling back out of the room, he listened closely, hoping to hear when she opened the door, while he hid all the magical books he was reading, knowing that Webby would ask to many questions if she knew he was studying magic. He managed to hide every book under the sofa before Webby entered the room. Apart from the one he was currently reading, which he'd stashed away in one of the many inner pockets of his new trademark jacket.

She entered into the room backwards, obviously talking to someone. - "I present to you... Du Du Duh!" - She imitated a trumpet. - "Louie Duck!" - Louie held back at cringing of the use of his former surname, and watched as Webby opened the door and ushered in Violet and Lena.

Like most people from his previous life, the Sabrewing sisters hadn't really changed since he'd left, they had the same style of clothes and same physical appearance. The only thing different about them was their height.

Lena and Violet greeted. - "Hey."

"Hello." - Louie responded. Their conversation was of course, strained. Lena and Violet were Webby's friends, the only interaction he had with them is when they were hanging out with Webby in the manor or the occasional adventure together.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before someone spoke. - "Well, I'll let you carry on." - Louie remarked, bee-lining towards the exit.

"No!" - Webby said quickly. - "We interrupted you. We should let you carry on." - She apologised.

"Yeah. What were you doing anyway?" - Lena asked, Louie stopped dead, she was suspicious and knew her magic. She would figure him out in a heartbeat.

"Reading." - He said nonchalantly as he could.

Chapter 14: Cabin Fever.

Chapter Text

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It was 6am in Duckburg, and Louie was following his normal routine, after getting dressed, he was taking a jog around the Manor's perimeter, he was careful to watch his footing, due to one false step meaning he would be convulsing in pain.

He had a second agenda for these jogs though, while exercise was important to him, his morning jogs were more of an excuse was used to look for an easy escape from the manor, once he found a way out of his ankle monitor. Slowing to a stop, Louie checked to see if anyone was watching or following him, not seeing anyone, he moved to a select portion of a fence, and began fiddling with it.

This was the first fault he'd found at McDuck Manor, a loose piece of fence, that met with enough pressure, would give away, creating a gap, the gap was big enough that he could stick his arm through, but that was about it, he couldn't fit his head through the gap, and the bars around the broken one were in almost perfect condition, so enlarging the hole was next to impossible.

After another few minutes of tinkering, Louie gave up. He fixed the bar to a degree, before finishing his jog. Every step, reinforcing one gloomy thought in Louie's head.

'Escape is impossible.'

He shrugged off the thought and finished his jog in record time, before making himself a hearty breakfast and continuing his routine.

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"UHHH!" - Louie groaned, tossing another tome across the library, he still hadn't found a way to escape his restraints (Well, one that didn't include a possibly lethal explosion, that is), being cooped up in the manor was getting to him, he'd already explored every inch of the Manor, including all the secret passages and mystical gardens that adorned it.

Walking across the room, he pulled another few books off the shelves and flicked through them, getting more and more annoyed the more he read, he already knew everything in the books.

He moved back to the coffee table where he'd set up shop, in the centre sat a green notebook, the book was once his secret scheme notebook, but it know was more of journal, filled with an assortment of things, from magical shortcuts to faults in the Manor's security.

He propped his leg on the coffee table, staring intently at the gunmetal grey device that was strapped to his ankle, said device was waterproof, tamperproof, un-hackable, un-breakable, which was also affixed with a tracker and taser. The was like a compact computer on his leg.

For the second time in a week, the thought crossed his mind.

'Escape is Impossible'

This time the thought lasted for a few moments, though Louie tried to ignore the recurring thought, it lingered in the back of his mind.

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Louie sat sprawled out on the sofa, with a half full can of pep in his hand, his eyes dull and glazed over, watching reruns of 'Ottoman Empire'. He was pondering his recent failures, his whole escape plan seemed to skid to a halt.

There was no plausible way to escape his monitor without the help of a genius, and the only genius he knew was Amelia and Gyro, but he couldn't contact with Amelia, and Gyro's method of releasing him would be by turning him into some goo monster and having him slip out of the restraints.

Three raps alerted Louie to the door, where Webby was standing timidly. - "Hey Lou."

"Hey Webs... What do you need?"

She hesitated for a second. - "Uh... Do you wanna come... get some lunch with me?" - Her eyes went wide. - "And Huey and Dewey of course."

"I would love to Webs, but..." - He held up his leg. - "Can't leave the house."

Her smile faltered yet didn't fade. - "Oh... no problem. See you later, Lou." - She closed the door behind her, leaving Louie more depressed then he already was.

Louie's mind flicked on. -Wait did she say lunch? They were going to lunch at 9 in the morning?He checked his watch -2pm! How was it already 2? Wait. I've been watching T.V for the past 5 hours!

He leapt up off the sofa and left the room. Walked down the hallways, stopping to take a look at the large paintings on the walls, chronicling Scrooge's adventures, from his mining days. back in the gold rush, to his latest grand adventure of him and the family, fighting Lunaris and his invasion fleet.

Turning the corner, Louie ran into Miss Beakley, which surprised him, as according to his observations, she should be taking her midday break about now.

"Hey Mrs. B, what's up?"

"Cleaning for Mr. McDuck." - She said quickly, moving past him and towards the staircase.

"Sounds boring." - He followed her to the top of the staircase.

"Unfortunately it is my job." - She replied sarcastically.

Louie saw how the conversation was dying and was going to leave, but as he did, he wondered what he'd do with the rest of the day, he was sick of his routine and he'd read all the books that interested him in the library.

"Uhh... Mrs. B, have you seen Uncle Donald?"

"I believe he and Della are out, meeting with some old friends of theirs." - She mentioned, while dusting the frames of the paintings.

Louie groaned in annoyance. - "What to do? What to do?" - He wondered aloud, staring off into space.

"Anything as long as you keep quiet, Mr. McDuck is hosting a meeting in conference room 2."

"The Vultures are gonna be here?" - Louie turned on his heel. - "I'll be in my room."

"Actually it's not the Vultures." - Mrs. Beakley corrected, completely ignoring his second statement.

That caught Louie's attention. - "Who is it then?"

"Some orphan billionaire." - She spoke vaguely, sounding uninterested in the topic.

"Orphan billionaire?" - Louie repeated, a scheme already forming in his mind.

"Yes, his name was Kovic or Kovix or something like that."

Louie stopped dead in his tracks and his mouth fell open. - "Kovax?" - He said slowly, making sure Mrs. Beakley heard him correctly.

"That's it."

Louie felt his mouth go dry and his pupils turned to dollar signs. Forget his original scheme of swindling some money out of some unassuming orphan, this caused for a major league hustle.

'Escape is impossible'

The though again pestered him, but this time, instead of ignoring the thought, he embraced it, not caring if he escaped, because if he escaped, he'd never get another chance, like this, the chance to make the quickest fortune in history.

The chance to follow his destiny!

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Chapter 15: Scam of the Century.

Chapter Text

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Scrooge McDuck felt a lot of emotions while walking through his Manor. His normal feeling were... Pride: From seeing his achievements and treasures decorating his walls as trophies from his great adventures.Anticipation: From the empty stands, just waiting to be filled with new treasures and artefacts. And, Happiness: From having his house filled with family once again.

But today, he felt another feeling swell in him, Excitement! Today he had a meeting with a Kovax! A real descendant of the Johnathan Kovax! Yeah, the meeting was about negotiating a trade deal between McDuck Industries and Kovax Enterprises. But he could find a way to subtly bring up the treasure.

Finding Kovax's treasure was him dream, everyone legend or folktale he heard about Kovax, just made him want to find the treasure even more, it was even on his bucket list, right alongside beating the Loch-Ness-Monster in a game of cards.

He was on his way to the front door, to greet his guest, one hand clasped behind his back, the other twirling his cane between his fingers, when he ran into Louie.

The green clad duck smiled his award winning smile and acted like running into his great uncle was an accident, but was in actually the Con-man's plan, he needed to get into that meeting pronto.

Louie began the encounter. - "How are you today, Uncle Scrooge?"

"Positively ecstatic, my boy!" - He beamed.

"It's great to see you in such an amazing mood."

"It's great to be in such an amazing mood!"

"Say," - Louie feigned interest. - "What's got you in such a mood, today?"

"I've got a major meeting today."

"Wait. I thought you said meeting's were boring?"

"This one won't be." - He spoke, wagging his finger in his youngest nephews face.

"Why?" - He spoke as innocently as possible.

"Because I have a meeting with a descendant of Johnathan Kovax! The most legendary pirate that ever sailed the seas, see the - " - Louie just tuned him out at the point, for listening to Uncle Scrooge tell him all about a legend he already knew... Was almost as boring as listening to him talk about a legend he didn't know about.

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

"And that's how the legend ends." - Scrooge wrapped up. What should have been a 10 minute story had turned into an hour long story. By the time he was done, Louie was so bored, he had to continuously pinch himself to stay awake.

"Wow, Uncle Scrooge this Kovax guy sounds so interesting... do you think I can sit in on this meeting?"

Scrooge looked at him sceptically. - "I don't know? It's a very important meeting."

Louie knew this might happen, Scrooge was very protective of his business, so he had a contingencies planned. To get in on the meeting he had to play to every McDuck's achilles heel, their ego.

"Oh, I understand Uncle Scrooge, I was hoping to get some business advice from you, since you know, you're the world's greatest businessman." - He acted dejected, yet hid his smirk when he saw Scrooge smile grow, then he knew he had him hook, line and sinker.

"Well I suppose this meeting would be good for you." - Scrooge spoke, scratching his whiskers.

"Thank you, Uncle Scrooge."

A loud ringing echoed through the house, the echo so loud that it sounded more like Church bells than any regular doorbell, but Scrooge McDuck was nothing if not theatrical.

"Mr. McDuck." - Mrs. Beakley bellowed. - "Your guests have arrived."

Louie and Scrooge made their way to their way to the Manor's main entrance and came face-to-face with 2 distinct characters.

The first was a female duck, who Louie could only describe as the 2nd most beautiful woman he'd ever met. She had light brown feathers like that of Huey's friend Fenton, black hair styled in a bob cut and wore a dazzling scarlet dress. She wore an stern expression which resembled that of Mrs. Beakley or his friend Lucy.

The other was a male that he assumed was the descendant of Kovax. He was a brown and white Jack Russell, like Kovax. But instead of wearing a Doublet coat and tricorn hat, he wore a fancy navy suit, one that he was sure he'd seen a gangster once wear. He also wore a pair silver circle rimmed glasses and had slicked back brown hair.

The pair were both about his age, if not slightly older.

Scrooge stepped forward and stuck his hand out. - "Welcome to my home, Mr. Kovax."

"Please, call me Matthew." - Mr. Kovax replied, shaking Scrooge's hand.

Scrooge chuckled. - "Then call me Scrooge."

"And call me Louie."

Scrooge's eyes widened at his nephew. - "Oh, where are my manners, this is my Nephew Louie."

"Hello." - Louie spoke in the most polite tone he could muster, shaking Matthew's hand.

"This is my bodyguard June." - Matthew motioned to the girl who stood behind him.

Mrs. Beakley entered carrying a tray holding a teapot and multiple teacups. - "If you follow me, to conference room 2." - She said in a professional tone that sounded nothing like her regular self.

"Would it be too much trouble to have our meeting, say in a lounge or den, I think conference rooms are too stuffy to have a meeting in. I like to get to know my prospective business partners personally before any contracts are drawn up." - He smiled.

Scrooge turned to Beakley in slight panic, the group watched as she whispered something in his ear, before they turned back to the group. - "If you follow me to the Den."

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

"... and that's how I managed to defeat Medusa and was able to collect her gauntlets." - Scrooge joked, making everyone in the room chuckle at the old Duck's absurd anecdotes.

"I've got to say Scrooge, if you are half as good at business, as you are at telling stories. Then I see a beautiful partnership in our future." - Matthew remarked.

"I'd like to say I'm better at business than story telling." - Scrooge joked.

"Is that a fact?"

"I believe it is."

"Then I can't wait to sign some contracts." - He set his teacup down on a coaster.

"I've got some in my office, if you want sign them now."

Matthew smile at Scrooge. - "If you bring them in here, than I think we have a deal." -Scrooge stood up and left the room, leaving Louie, Matthew and June all alone.

"So signing contracts already, that is - " - Louie was cut off.

"Let's stop the small talk, we both know the real reason i'm here."

"Uh..." - Louie was at a lost for words. - "... And what would that be?"

Matthew smirked. - "Why... to see you Mr. Gold."

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Chapter 16: Destiny's Descendant.

Chapter Text

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Louie hadn't been expecting this. When Matthew Kovax had entered the Manor, Louie had him begged as some airhead rich kid in over his head, and his meeting with Scrooge had solidified this theory, but the moment Scrooge left the room, his tone had shifted... drastically.

He was powerful. Louie was sure of that, he'd somehow found him, and he had to guess his location wasn't public knowledge. If it was, there would be a lot more people banging on the door of McDuck Manor.

He also called him by his real name, Gold... Louie hadn't heard anyone call him that since he was imprisoned in the Manor, everyone here refuse to call him anything but Louie Duck. He wanted nothing more to correct everyone, but he knew he couldn't, for the more he fought back, the more attention he would attract, which would make it even harder to escape.

"How do you know who I am?" - Louie asked, suspicious of the orphaned billionaire.

Matthew smugly smiled. - "I've followed you career with great interest, starting with you stealing the Picasso from the Louvre, ending with you imprisoned in Mexico, for trying to steal an ancient prayer scroll."

Louie narrowed his eyes at the dog. 'Following his career?' He was stalking him.

"When I heard you got caught, I had to know why you went after the scroll. I mean, it's not your MO to steal prayer scrolls. You steal: Paintings, Jewels, statues..." - Yep, definitely stalking. - "When I learned the history of the scroll, I had to meet you."

"Why?"

"Why?" - He chuckled. - "I know a lot of people who've went after my ancestor's treasure. Hell, my Father spent his entire life searching for it, yet he came up with nothing, but you... You managed to find the first clue in decades."

"Well I uh..." - He was about to say that he wasn't the one to find the information, but decided against it, instead Louie smirked. - "It wasn't actually that hard." - He gloated, lying through his teeth, cooking up a scheme that could help him escape his family.

"Would you be able to do it again?"

"What, steal it?"

Matthew nodded at him.

"Well now there are more factors to consider, more guards, more security cameras, more - " - Again he was interrupted.

"Yes or No. Could you steal it again?"

"Yes." - Louie confirmed, confidently.

"Great!" - Matthew beamed, standing up and dusting himself off. - "Your Uncle is probably waiting on me, don't want to disappoint him."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"First thing's first, Mr. Gold, I need you to escape. From there we'll plan our next moves." - He clicked his fingers, June in response to it, tossed him an a old flip-phone. - This will serve as our means of communication until then."

Louie stared at the device. Wondering why the billionaire would give him such an old phone.

"It's harder to trace calls and impossible to hack." - Matthew explained, seemingly reading Louie thoughts. - "Ciao!" - He bid goodbye, closing the den's door behind him.

Louie sat there, alone, contemplating his next steps. Until Scrooge came in to check on him.

"You okay lad?"

"Great, better than great actually."

"Learn anything from the meeting?"

"I learned a lot." - He said distantly, before getting up and heading to the door. - "Thanks for the opportunity Uncle Scrooge."

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

2 days had passed since Matthew and June's visit, and Louie had spent every waking moment with that phone, he stashed it in his floorboard hiding-spot, when he had to be around the rest of the family, knowing that Della or Mrs. Beakley would confiscate it.

On the 3rd day his phone buzzed. He was doing push ups in the gym when it happened, working out his brewing anxiety, he needed to start his great escape, he couldn't take staying here for much longer, he needed the rush of a con, the thrill of the chase, the excitement of successful caper. He was addicted, and needed his fix.

Wiping the sweat off, he read the message. -What do you need?

He thought about it carefully, a way out of his anklet was his first thought, without it, he would be constantly shocked, which wouldn't be fun, it would also be harder to make a clean escape, with it tracking him.

A way out of my anklet -He texted back.

Seconds later he got a response. -No problem. Anything else?

He thought about a way to escape the Manor, but knew that was next to impossible. McDuck Manor was a fortress, with all of it's magical barriers and booby traps, there was no exit.

He needed a perfect escape, and McDuck Manor was never going to give him the opportunity to do that. Here he had no control. So the escape could not happen in the Manor. But then where would it take place? The only other time he was allowed outside was when he was on an adventure, and an adventure had too many variable that could thwart his escape.

So he needed an McDuck adventure he could control, that was a feat that even he would find challenging. But Louie Gold was one to never shy away from a challenge. He had a snippet of an idea, one which when fully flushed out, could even outwit Scrooge!

It would take a bit of time to concoct the scheme, as well as take the performance of a lifetime. But when it was done, he would surely be free.

Louie texted his response. -I need you to contact an old friend

Who?

Charlie Coleman. Tell her Louie needs a favour

Anything else? -Matthew repeated.

Nope, see you in a week.

Shutting his phone, Louie began preparations on his great escape, ready to be back in the real world.

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Chapter 17: The Great Escape.

Chapter Text

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Scrooge McDuck was positively ecstatic, while he was always happy when he when he was on an adventure, there was something especially exciting about this adventure, and he wasn't the only one to think that... With the exception of Della, everybody was enjoying themselves, even Louie had a small smile on his face.

Della wasn't smiling, she was a bit annoyed that her plane had given up on her, she had tried to fix the busted mechanics but didn't have enough time. So after calling up every pilot in his address busy and them all telling him they were busy, Scrooge had to put his trust in some pilot-for-hire, named 'Charlotte Coleman' or something like that.

The plane hit a bit of turbulence, slightly shaking the plane, and knocking around the passengers inside. Instead of the large cargo plane they were used, the plane they were currently were using was a seaplane, which had taken off from Duckburg bay.

While the seaplane (Nicknamed the 'Silver-Bullet' due to it's speed and colouring.) Was no small plane by any feet, it was dwarfed by the larger cargo plane. The spacious seating of said plane was replaced with the 4 seats that had to satisfied the 6 passengers.

"You could've done a barrel role there!" - Della whined, aggravated at the Pilot's impeccable style of flying.

Charlie looked at the woman like she was crazy. - "I'm not endangering my baby for a few cheap thrills."

"Your baby?" - Huey repeated, adjusting his seating position, in the admittedly small plane.

"My plane. I built it myself from scrap, and I love it like it's my own kid." - She said petting the dashboard like it was a dog.

"Okay..." - Huey spoke, uncomfortable with where the exchange had led them.

A few awkward moment passed before someone else spoke.

"Hey Uncle Scrooge, what are we even after?" - Dewey asked, bored of staring out the plane's windows.

"I'm glad you asked, my lad." - Scrooge pulled out a large old book from his jacket, blowing off the thin layer of dust that had accumulated on the cover and revealing the torn and bronzed leather cover.

"We are after the Scherzschatz chest." - he stated opening the book to a specific page. - "Once owned by a wealthy german aristocrat, the cream coloured chest contains some of the most priceless jewels ever lost to time."

"So where are we going? An enchanted forest, filled with evil pixies?" - Webby asked, excitedly.

"Or, an underground complex, containing numerous puzzles? - Hey continued.

"Ooh! What about a collapsing temple, with a monster army we have to fight!" - Dewey finished.

"Didn't we just go to a collapsing temple with a monster army we have to fight?" - Louie asked sceptically.

"Yeah, but wouldn't it be cool to do it again?"

"Cool isn't the word I'd use."

"What would your dream adventure be then Louie?" - Webby inquired.

Louie pondered the question, he could easily say that it was hard rock candy mountain. But that could bring some old feelings to the surface and he didn't need that, especially today. Instead... "A private island, undisturbed by people. With golden sands and a cloudless sky. No danger, no puzzles, just a buried treasure chest."

Silence followed his description, then a chorus of boo's and'Sounds boring'echoed through the small seaplane. Louie took it in stride though, smiling through all the discouragement and dejection.

"Another patch of turbulence comin' up!" - Charlie shouted into the cabin.

While everyone else groaned, Louie suppressed a smile, he checked his watch, he only had to wait one more hour. Everything was going as planned.

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

"Uhh..." - Dewey whined, bored out of his mind. - "Mom, why haven't we landed yet." - He whined.

"We're just having a bit of trouble, sweetie. Damn amateur pilot." - She mumbled under her breath.

"I heard that." - Charlie barked from the co*ckpit.

Checking his watch again, Louie was knew it was now or never. Slipping his hands from his pockets, and to the seat cover, he began slowly picking at the cover's stitching, soon enough he had created a gap large enough for him to stick his hand into.

Feeling around in the pocket he had made, Louie found his prize in the form of a plastic key card. Subtly sliding the card out of the chair and into his palm, he launched his ploy.

Webby was the first to notice Louie had unbuckled his seatbelt. She slyly watched as he pushed himself out of the seat and stretched. She didn't think twice about him getting up, his legs were probably getting a bit stiff, come to think about it her legs were also getting a bit stiff, maybe she would join him.

"Hey! Where are you two going?" - Asked Donald, who was for the first time wasn't holding on for deal life during flight, and instead was watching Louie and Webby move to the tail end of the plane.

"We're just stretching our legs, Uncle Donald." - Louie answered. - "We probably won't be landing for ages."

"We'll join you." - Huey exclaimed, him and Dewey unclipping their seat-belts, simultaneously.

"No... No more than two in the tail end of the plane while it's in motion." - Charlie interjected.

The two passed through the curtain barrier, and into the tail end of the plane, which was mostly a small cargo hold with an emergency door, the two immediately began abusing the space that they didn't have in their seats.

Unfortunately for Louie his plane was coming some what unravelled due to Webby's presence, he had to work with what he had though, but it would look suspicious if he just started to fiddle with his ankle-monitor.

"Hey look Webby a rainbow!" - Louie said excitedly, pointing out the small window over her shoulder.

"Where?" - It was almost too easy. - "Hey Louie I don't see a rainbow, can you point it - "

She stopped when she saw what Louie was doing. In the second she'd turned away, Louie had thrown a parachute on, opened the emergency exit, and had the key card ready to be swiped.

"Louie - " - The words died in her throat.

"Sorry Webs." - Louie stated, dropping out of the airplane and through the clouds.

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

Chapter 18: S.H.U.S.H

Chapter Text

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

Lyon, France. 2:10pm.

On the 8th floor of the Interpol building, sits the White Collar Division, the division responsible dealing with the largest cases of art theft, fraud and forgery in the world, leading the amalgamation of Agents, is Remi Bernard, the Agent was recently promoted to Sergeant after her capture of number 4 on Interpol's Most wanted list, Louie Gold.

Sergeant Bernard stood in her office, going over one of the numerous case files that littered her desk, she had them organised into two piles, cases that interested her and case that didn't.

The current file she was looking over was a strange one, a priceless diamond neckless stolen from an impenetrable vault, and the camera's didn't catch anything. She took a second to think about it before deciding that the case interested her, she placed it in the corresponding pile.

With the last file sorted, she called in one of her underlings to collect the files she didn't find interesting, this was the best part of her new promotion, being able to pick and choose the cases she wanted and delegate the ones she didn't.

Out of the 30 cases she'd been given, she had only found two to interest her, the necklace one and a an art forgery case. Skimming through the two cases, she decided to work on the forgery one first, deciding it was a more pressing case than the theft.

Two counterfeit paintings were found in the National Gallery in London, both Picasso's.

That brought a smile to Bernard's face, she wondered how the 'Picasso of Crime' was doing, she hadn't had any complaints from any of the McDucks yet, which was good. The last time she saw him was when she'd dropped him off in the manor. She'd then taken a week off to celebrate, before she started her new position as leader of the White Collar division.

She'd spent a year of her life chasing him, and while it was probably the most difficult case of her career, it was also the most rewarding, now ever case seemed to be a disappointment.

She was so engrossed by her daydream, she didn't even notice her phone ring the first time, she did notice it on its second ring though.

"Hel-" - She didn't manage to finish her greeting before she was cut off by a frantic Della.

"Louie's ran away!"

"WHAT!" - She jumps up, knocking over her coffee in the process. - "HOW?"

"We were on an plane, and he says he needs to stretch his legs, so he gets up and moves to the back of the plane and then suddenly there's an open door and he's gone"

"Well shouldn't the ankle-monitor of tazed him into oblivion."

"He slipped his ankle monitor!"

Bernard's eyes go wide. - "That's impossible."

"Well he did it!" - Della snapped.

"Why hasn't anyone told me." - Bernard asks under her breath. If Louie's did run, someone should have known, and have told her.

"Bernard, you still there?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm still here."

"Like I was saying, we went after him." - Della pats the shivering Webby on the shoulder. - "But he managed to swim to shore and disappeared in the crowds.

"Wait where are you?"

"Uh..." - There's a bit of shuffling on the other end. - "Paros... Paros, Greece"

"I'll be there as soon as I can." - Hanging up the phone, Bernard grabs her beige trench-coat off the back of her chair, and sprints out of her office and into the nearest elevator.

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

Bernard jumped out of the elevator the moment the doors opened. Now in the underground parking lot, she sprinted to her car, while simultaneously booking a flight to Paros on her phone.

"Good evening, Miss Bernard." - A British accent echoed through the dimly lit lot.

Instinctively Bernard drew her taser pistol. - "Who said that?"

A man stepped out from behind one of the support pillars. He was finely dressed, in a black suit and tie, he also wore a black bowler-hat with a brown brim, and carried a cane similar to that of Scrooge McDuck.

"Don't be alarmed." - He smiled.

"Who are you?"

"They call me Agent 44."

"Oh," - Bernard lowered her weapon. - "You Interpol?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what Agency are you from."

"That's classified."

"Okay..." - Bernard didn't prod further, she was already used to being told something was above her pay-grade.

"My boss would like a word with you."

"Well, have your 'Boss' schedule a meeting, I'm busy." - She pushed past him to get to her car.

"It wasn't a request."

"Well I..." - She turned around to see Agent 44's cane pointed at her face. - "What are you-" - Pressing a button, a cloud of gas spurted out of the cane. Knocking Bernard out.

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

Remi's eyes sluggishly opened, revealing her to be in the passenger seat of a car.

"What... Uh, where..?" - She muttered.

"London." - Agent 44 answered, not taking his eyes off the road.

"You... you kidnapped me!"

"Well you wouldn't come willingly."

Bernard went to grab her taser but was instead met with an empty holster.

"Here you go." - He gave back her weapon, still without taking his eyes off the road.

Bernard stared at him suspiciously. - "Where are you taking me."

"Headquarters."

"And where's that?"

Agent 44 finally turned to face Bernard, his mouth shifted into a smirk before he took a sharp turn into a alley.

When Bernard recovered from the turn, she noticed how they were about to hit a wall. - "WATCH OUT!"

Instead of slowing down or stopping at all, 44 sped up.

Bernard recoiled into herself the second before they hit the wall, hoping to minimise the damage, when they didn't crash, Bernard opened one of her eyes, seeing not the flaming wreck of the car, but a tunnel.

"What the..."

"Welcome to Headquarters." - 44 explained, the tunnel stretching into a large workshop.

The car stopped soon after they arrived at the workshop, 44 got out and walked around the car and opened Bernard's door as she was too busy, staring at a bunch of scientists flying around with jetpacks.

"Come on, Boss is waiting."

Soon Bernard was following 44 down a series of hallways, neither said anything, even though she had a million questions.

"Here we are." - 44 spoke, stopping outside a door with a nameplate above it.

"Director Von Drake." - Bernard read aloud.

44 moved forward and knocked 3 times, before standing back.

"Come in." - Von Drake shouted through the door.

The two entered into an office, one that put Bernard's to shame. The room was probably bigger than her entire apartment, and decorated better as well, the flooring was made of oak, but a large carpet covered the centre of the room, the walls were lined with bookshelves, which were filled to bursting with novels.

On the other side of the room was a large marble desk which was barren apart from the computer and single pen that sat on it. Behind the desk sat a leather swivel chair.

"Good afternoon Sir."

"Good afternoon 44." - Von Drake replied, swivelling around in his chair.

"Uh... Hi." - Bernard greeted awkwardly.

"Good afternoon Miss Bernard."

"Uh... So are you the one in charge?"

"Yes I am." - He admitted, clasping his hands in front of him.

"So can you tell me why I'm here."

Von Drake smiled. - "F.O.W.L" - He said, getting up from his chair and moving towards the 44 and Bernard.

"Fowl?"

"F.O.W.L, or the Fiendish Organisation for World Larceny, is a criminal conspiracy dating back to the 1800's." - He explained.

"And what's that got to do with me?"

"We've recently learned that Louie Gold has been in contact with 2 prominent members of F.O.W.L, the metal mouthed Steelbeak and the ingenious scientist Black Herron."

"Gold? He's a thief, not a super-villain"

"It doesn't matter who he is, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to take down F.O.W.L." - Von Drake remarked. - "The question is, will you help us?"

"Why me?"

"You're the expert on Gold, aren't you?"

"I am." - Bernard replied confidently.

"So I'll ask again, will you help us?"

Bernard took a moment before answering. - "Yes. Yes I will."

"Welcome to S.H.U.S.H Miss Bernard." - Von Drake stuck his hand out.

Bernard took his hand and shook it. - "Glad to be here."

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

Chapter 19: Island Escapades.

Chapter Text

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

Louie's escape wasn't going as planned. Things started off good, his idea to control the adventure and his escape from the plane went perfectly, but during his free fall, is when he began to experience the obstacles.

He burst through the cloud layer and rocketed closer and closer towards the ground, he was about to pull his parachute and begin his short glide to the coast, when he was suddenly tackled from behind.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Webby clinging to his back. She had trapped him in a hold where her arms were wrapped under his arms and her legs wrapped around his chest, it was a move he'd saw her use on Magica when they were younger, he use to think it was impossible to escape, now he knew better.

He first span around so he was facing the sky, since gravity was now on his side, he used Webby's slightly loosened grip to fling her off and away from him. Knowing he had a split second before Webby had reclaimed her grip on him, Louie pulled his chute, and watched as Webby dropped into the sea below as he slowly drifted to the town.

Due to Webby's impromptu hug, Louie just barely made it to shore, the second his feet touched solid ground, he unclipped himself from the parachute, and took a second to evaluate his scenario and decide on a plan, most the McDuck's were being kept busy by Charlie, so Webby was the main problem.

Louie watched as Webby cut through water faster than a torpedo, and felt his 'Fight-or-Flight' instincts kicked in, he took off running. As while he was no slouch in combat, he was not even close to being on the same level as Webby was, so combat would only be a last resort.

While he wasn't the greatest at fighting, with his expertise lying in defence combat. He was immensely good at stealth, it was the main thing Goldie had taught him, how to disappear and avoid standing out in crowds.

The first step in his three step plan to disappear was to shed his green leather coat, he then tied the sleeves around his waste, making it harder to recognise him even if someone was looking for him, as now he looked like every other duck in the city.

The 2nd step involve ditching the phone he'd been given by the McDucks, he knew it was an easy way to track him and corner and catch him, he could break it, but he had a better idea.

He nonchalantly walked past a group of tourists. (He knew they were tourists decked out in visors, Hawaiian shirts and fanny packs, and were even taking a picture outside of a Souvenir shop.) And dropped the phone in one of the women's purses when no one was looking, now if they did search for the phone they would be sent on a wild goose chase. Giving him more time to escape.

His third and final step to escape, was to get to the boat that was stashed at Skafos Dock and leave the island and his family forever. Now if his memory serves him right, the dock was just down the street.

But before he disappeared again, he had to check that the rest of his plan was going correctly, he watched as Charlie's plain crashed down into the ocean, he expected that by now, Della would've taking control of the plane and immediately crashed it into the sea in hopes of following her.

With a smile on his face and his hands clasped behind his back, Louie walked down the street to the dock, he recalled the name of the boat that Matthew texted him, the Scarlett II. Named after John Kovax's second in command Holly Scarlett.

Stepping on to the dock, Louie's smile fell, this was something he couldn't have predicted, this was just plain bad luck. A large boat sat in the middle of the harbour, a boat Louie knew very well, the large rusty hull, the black and red sails, and the numerous pirates that littered the deck, made Louie almost want to turn around and go back to the McDuck's.

Deciding that he had come to far to turn back, Louie just hoped no one would recognise him. But Louie knew his luck was never that good, as the second he stepped on to the dock, he was swarmed by a bunch of modern day pirates.

"Well, if it ain't Louie Gold." - A deep voice boomed across the dock and greeted Louie like an old friend.

"GoldTooth... Long time no see buddy." - He said, plastering on a fake smile. - "Why the last time I saw you was-"

"The Davenport yacht." - GoldTooth interrupted. - "You remember that job, everything was going great, then suddenly you disappeared with the 12M in Jewels and sabotaged our engines leaving us stranded in the middle of the ocean for 3 days."

Louie tried retreating to actual land but backed into 2 of GoldTooth's thugs.

"Well I admit what I did was wrong, I'm a different person now."

"Different person?" - He laughed, which was followed up by a laugh from GoldTooth's underlings, when the laughing died down, GoldTooth continued. - "So you claim you're different person?"

"Uh... yeah." - Another chuckle fest happened, even Louie had his own awkward chuckle.

GoldTooth's tone shifted drastically. - "Grab his arms."

"Come on guys." - Louie remarked, as the two guys behind him each grabbed one of his arms.

GoldTooth stared him dead in the eyes, as he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pair of knuckledusters. - "This is going to hurt Lou." - He smirked, quickly winding up and throwing a punch.

The punch missed though, flying right over the ducked Louie, and instead hitting the guy holding his right arm.

"Oo, that did look like it hurt." - Louie quipped as GoldTooth attempted a second punch.

Instead of ducking like the first time, Louie used his new found freedom to throw his other captor in front of him, and used him to shield him from the incoming attack. Before GoldTooth could throw a third punch, Louie kicked him hard in the guts, sending him back into a couple of oil drums that sat further down the dock.

"You were the never the brightest bulb, were you Toothy."

"LOUIE!" - Della screamed and he suddenly went from co*cky, arrogant conman to remembering why he was here in the first.

He cursed himself for being so careless, there was no way he could start the boat and escape now. He needed time to think of a new plan, but he also needed space between him and the others.

He looked back to see everyone guarding the entrance to the dock, so now he was stuck on the dock with one to go, he turned around and sprinted to the edge of the dock, evaluating his situation, he saw three choices.

1 - Go back to the McDucks.

2 - Give himself up to GoldTooth and his gang of pirates.

3 - Swim for it.

None of the options seemed very appealing to him but had to make a choice, and so he dived into the water and began swimming with all his might, making a decent distance away from everyone, before he felt his arms begin to give out.

He stopped and took a moment to wonder how far he could get like this, he needed a break, a sign from the gods, a reason to not give up.

"Hey are you alright?" - It seemed his message was heard, as some guy and his friends pulled up on jet-ski's pulled up to see if he needed assistance.

"Yeah, I 'ah' hurt my shoulder, can you give me 'h a lift back to shore?" - Louie asked in a pain voice.

"Sure man, hop on." - The guy smiled, and Louie almost felt bad for lying to the guy, but he had to do what he needed, so after climbing on to the back of the jet-ski, Louie pushed the nice guy off and speed off.

As he sped off, he thought about how he again was finally think.

Oh, how wrong he was...

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

Chapter 20: Paros Problems.

Chapter Text

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

Della and Donald had both knew something wasn't right. Since the adventure had started, they had both seen things that had rubbed them the wrong way.

First, Della's plane had been sabotaged, she had thought the Dewey was playing around on it and had accidentally pulled some wires out or something, but after everything that had happened, she wasn't so sure.

While Donald was wary of how every pilot or plane rental seemed to be either booked or closed, he had rationalised his suspicion as businesses not wanting their planes destroyed or damaged in one of Scrooge McDuck's classic adventures. But now, he suspected something different.

Finally the third thing that had tipped both of them off was Louie, he seemed to be different, while he was equally as distant as usual, he seemed a bit more happy today, he was even the first one to get on the plane. Della had written her fears off as her youngest son finally embracing the family legacy as globe-trotting treasure hunters. But Donald knew better.

"Hey, where are you two going?" - He asked, watching as Webby and Louie unbuckled from their seats and walked to the back of the plane.

"We're just stretching our Uncle Donald, we probably won't be landing for a while." - Louie said casually, but for a split-second he could see regret in his eyes.

"We'll join you." - His oldest nephew added, punctuated by a nod from his youngest, with both unclipping their seat-belts and leaping to their feet.

"No... no more than two in the tail end of the plane, while it's in motion." - Donald turned and listened to the pilot, but when he turned back, both Webby and Louie had disappeared behind the curtain.

A few moments passed and Donald could hear the pair talking and he felt relived, Louie was just stretching his legs, not trying to escape. He sighed and relaxed into his his chair, when the plane begin to shake and a gust of cold wind passed through.

"What in the blazes?" - Scrooge commented, getting up from his seat along with Della and Donald.

Webby burst through the curtain, looking extremely worried. - "Louie's gone!" - She exclaimed.

"What?" - Scrooge, Donald and Della shouted simultaneously, the three sprinting to the back of the plane, ignoring Charlie's protests.

"He jumped out of the plane! Was he wearing a parachute?" - Donald asked.

Webby nodded while Della spiralled.

"What about his ankle-monitor?"

"He slipped it."

"WHAT!" - She screamed.

"He'll disappear if he reaches the shore." - Scrooge concluded, noticing the land below them.

"He won't." - Webby commented, but before anyone could ask what she meant, she dived out.

"WEBBY!" - Everyone screamed as the Duck dived through the cloud layer.

Della charged to the front of the plane and ripped the controls from Charlie's hands. - "HEY!" - She hissed.

"QUEIT!" - Della shouted, shutting the pilot up. As she flew the plane almost straight down, crashing straight into the sea, the plane bobbed up and down as it skid to a halt right into the shore.

Della stomped on to the shore with a scowl on her face, followed by the rest of Clan McDuck. She scanned the crowds, hoping to see Louie and bring him home. The rest of the family helped the drenched Webby on to the shore.

"I wasn't fast enough." - She said quietly, wrapping the towel that Donald handed her, around her.

"It's ok." - He reassured, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT!" - Della screamed, drawing the attention of many bystanders. - "LOUIE JUST RAN AWAY AGAIN! AND YOU'RE SAYING IT'S OK?"

"Louie's a smart kid, he'll be okay."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW? YOU BARELY COME AROUND!"

That seemed to strike a nerve. - "How do I know? I WAS THE ONE WHO RAISED THEM, I'VE KNOWN LOUIE LONGER THAN YOU. I WATCHED HIM GROW UP, WHILE YOU WERE ON THE MOON." - He hissed, speaking at a volume that resembled more of whisper-shouting than actual shouting.

Della scoffed at her twin brother and stomped off, she stood off by herself sulking until she decided her next move, she pulled her cellphone from her aviator's jacket pocket and dialled Agent Bernard's number.

"Hel-"

"LOUIE'S RAN AWAY!" - She all but screamed into the phone, dropping her angry façade, and revealing a more nervous demeanour.

"WHAT!" - Bernard shouted. - "HOW?"

"We were on a plane, and he says he needs to stretch his legs, so he gets up and moves to the back of the plane and then suddenly there's an open door and he's gone."

"Well shouldn't have the ankle-monitor have tazed him into oblivion."

"HE SLIPPED HIS ANKLE-MONITOR!"

"That's impossible"

"WELL HE DID IT!" - Della screamed into the phone. Bernard just muttered something under hr breath. - "We went after him, but he manged to get to sure before us and disappeared into the crowds." - Della said, checking to see if she could see him.

A moment of silence.

"Bernard?"

No response.

"Bernard, you still there?"

"Yeah... Yeah sure."

Della ignored the weird silent thing that had just happened and continued. - "Like I was saying, we went after him." - She patted the shivering Webby on the shoulder. - "But he managed to get to shore before us."

"Where are you?" - Bernard asks, but she hesitated to answer, wondering if she would keep her promise on putting Louie in some foreign prison where she would never see him again. - "Paros... Paros, Greece."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." - Bernard hung up the phone.

The group stood in silence, not knowing what to do next.

CRASH!!!!

The sound echoed across the town, and before they could realise why, Clan McDuck was running to the origin of the sound, which appeared to be a dock just down the street.

On arrival, the scene was Louie standing over two unconscious guys and a third he'd seemingly shoved into a group of barrels.

"You never were the brightest bulb were you toothy?"

"LOUIE!" - Della screamed before someone else could speak.

Louie seemed to freeze, but quickly recovered and instead of coming back to them like Della wanted, Louie sprinted off to the end of the dock, and dived off. The group watched as Louie swam a decent distant away before stealing a Jet-ski and driving away.

"Uh... What just happened?" - Gold-Tooth said, as two of his thugs pulled him up.

"Gold happened Boss."

"Gold?" - He snarled. - "500,000 to who ever brings me Gold's head on a pike!" - He screamed.

The entire dock sprang into action, boats that looked like they hadn't been touched in years revved their engines and chased after the teenage con artist.

Scrooge leapt on to the nearest boat, which was a small fishing boat, and with one swing off his cane knocked the 4 people that made up the crew, into the water.

"Come on!" - The old Scotsman yelled, his family followed his instruction and crowded on to the small ship, and took after their youngest.

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

Chapter 21: Action Movie Stunts.

Chapter Text

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

Speeding across the water, Louie thought he was home free. He pulled out a sealed plastic-bag containing the flip-phone he'd gotten from Matthew, and dialled the Billionaires number.

"Hey Matthew..." - Louie said casually, swerving past a buoy.

"Louie! Great to hear from you, how's the escape going?"

"Well there was uh... a few bumps in the road, and I wasn't able to get to the boat."

"Well that certainly is a problem." - Matthew remarked. - "That contained the coordinates for the getaway plane."

"Do you know them?" - Louie hoped he did, he did not want to be stuck in Paros with GoldTooth or his family for any longer.

"Unfortunately no. I hired some... unsavoury characters to fly you out of the country, they were very specific with their instructions, only the person who is being flown out should know the coordinates."

"How is that supposed to work?" - Louie shouted into the phone.

"Well they were the ones who planted the coordinates in the boat, no one else has seen them."

"What am I supposed to do?"

There was a brief silence

"Do you think you can get out of the country?" - Matthew's voice echoed through the phone.

Louie thought back to when he was planning his escape, how he researched everything about Paros, until he could remember every airport, dock, train-station. Then and only then could he figure out the best possible way to disappear.

"Yeah... Yeah I should be able to."

"Then if you meet me at the One-Eyed Beggar, we can carry on from there."

The One-Eyed Beggar? That was his usual hangout, he'd joked about Matthew stalking him before, but know?

"Sure, I'll meet you there."

"Great, see you th-" - The phone call was cut short by a harpoon shot, that managed to knock the phone out of his hand.

"What the-" - Louie turned to see another harpoon flew at him, he ducked just in time for the harpoon to miss his head. - "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" - Louie shouted at the speedboat and the harpoon-gun wielding thug on it.

"GETTING THAT 50,000!" - The guy shouted, before firing another harpoon that again just missed Louie.

A second boat caught up to them, this one larger and more intimidating than the last.

"THAT MONEY IS MINE!" - A women wearing an eyepatch called out, before ramming her boat into her competitions sending it spiralling backwards behind her.

"NO IT AIN'T, IT'S MINE!" - Another boat caught up, followed by another and another.

Soon, it seemed the whole marina was chasing Louie.

The first boat, the one with the harpoon thug, managed to regain it's spot as head of the flock, and fired a third shot which lodged itself inside the side of Louie's Jet-Ski.

"No... No... NO!" - Louie repeated as he banged his fist against the side of his aquatic vehicle, cursing as the harpoon took it's toll and the Jet-Ski started to slow. Weighing his options, he took the only shot he had at freedom.

Grabbing the handles of his Jet-Ski, Louie pulled the acceleration all the way back, quickly stopping it and allowing the other boats to soar past him, with his engine quickly failing, Louie leapt on to the back of the nearest fishing boat. Catching the attention of the captain.

"Now I go- UH!" - The Captain groaned, as Louie swung a bucket of chum into his stomach, before kicking him off the side.

"Sorry!"

Using his newly acquired transport, Louie swerved through the congregation of ships, dodging the attacks of multiple vessels, until he was out of the gaggle of ships, full of people who wanted him dead.

"LOUIE!" - A voice screamed, and Louie knew he was in trouble, for only a few people here knew his name, the others just knew him as their target.

"Oh come on!" - Louie groaned. - "Can't a guy catch a breAAAKKKK!" - His boat ground to a halt, chucking Louie forward. Too stubborn to fail though, Louie managed to catch himself on a railing, and using his trapeze skills, flipped back on to the main deck.

A loud cranking sound filled the air as Louie's commandeered boat was slowly dragged backwards. Another harpoon had managed to implant itself in the rear end of his boat, but this wasn't the same harpoon Louie had first encounter this one was much larger, and much sharper.

Across the water, where the harpoon's chain led, was a large metal ship, GoldTooth's ship.

"We got you know!" - One of the thugs manning the massive harpoon canon laughed, flipping a switch on the canon's control panel, which in turn dragged the boat closer and closer towards them.

Louie smirked at the comment. - "Do you? Do you really?"

Taking a few steps back, Louie surged forward and leapt off the boat, landing on the the ever shortening harpoon chain, he bounced off and landed on the main deck of GoldTooth's ship.

The few crooks that had noticed him leap aboard the ship, stood in shock, until one spoke up.

"Get him!"

Almost everyone on deck swarmed him, Louie started off fine, but it soon became too much for him to handle, and the thugs had slowly surrounded him on the middle of the deck, around the base of the main sail, until it was seemingly impossible for Louie to escape.

"Good work Lou," - GoldTooth sarcastically clapped. - "In your attempt to escape me, you got yourself trapped on my ship."

"Yeah... not my smartest move was it." - Louie rubbed the back of his head.

"You know, I'm kind of disappointed Lou... I remember when we first met you the Prince of Thieves, me, the bold and dashing pirate-" - GoldTooth began, slowly advancing on Louie.

Louie took a few steps backwards. - "More like bald and dawdling." - He joked, earning a few chuckles from a couple of GoldTooth's underlings.

"Anyway... I always thought we'd do great things together, but then you betrayed me, and look were that's led you, trapped on myship."

"Yeah I didn't think this is how it would've ended either." - Louie admitted sadly, slowly raising his hands up in a surrender pose.

GoldTooth again slipped on his knuckledusters. - "Any last words, Lou?"

After a brief moment to think, Louie responded, with a small smile on his beak, he spoke. - "'One should die proudly, when it is no longer possible to live proudly.' - Friedrick Nietzsche."

"Well I was hoping for something a little more original, but I suppose that will do." - GoldTooth stated, watching the teen mutter what he thought was a final prayer. - "Goodbye Lou." - He parted, before throwing the strongest punch he could muster.

CRUNCH!!!!

Opening his eyes, GoldTooth saw something he didn't expect to see, nothing. The crunch didn't come from GoldTooth hitting Louie, it came from him hitting the metal pole. The teen had seemingly disappeared into thin air.

"What...." - GoldTooth spluttered, confused on to what was going on.

"I mean honestly Toothy," - Louie's voice rang across the deck. - "I thought you were smarter than this."

GoldTooth spun around, trying to find Louie, but only seeing his crew on the deck. - "Where the hell are you?"

"I'm over here!"

GoldTooth turned to the source of the voice but quickly turned back when he felt a pebble hit him in the back of his head.

"Stop hiding you coward!"

"Ok Toothy, here I come." - Louie responded. Surprising GoldTooth who readied to fight the teenage con artist. What he didn't expect was however, for his pants to drop to his ankles after his belt slipped off his waist and wrapped around his wrists.

"What?" - GoldTooth struggled in his restraints but couldn't escape the leather belt. - "GOLD!" - He screamed, for what seemed to be the 5th time today.

"Yes?" - Louie reappeared with a faint golden glimmer. He smiled smugly and stood with his arms crossed.

GoldTooth and his crew stared in shock at the teen who'd just materialized out of thin air.

"Impossible."

"Nothing's impossible Toothy... Well not for me anyway."

GoldTooth growled at the Teen. Before shouting to his dumbstruck crew. - "Someone get the brat!"

Everyone on the ship charged the two, creating a massive dog-pile on the middle of the deck, though no one noticed the green clad duck, slinking off the ship and onto one of the lifeboats.

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Chapter 22: The One-Eyed Beggar.

Chapter Text

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"Aaahhh." - Remi Bernard stretched out in her airplane seat, before crossing her arms behind her head.

"Enjoying yourself?" - Her partner commented, going through the profile of Louie Gold she'd had made when she'd started the case.

"Yeah, I never got this sort of foot-room in coach."

"Well Interpol Agents don't have access to a private jet." - Agent 44 quipped, flipping to the next page of the profile. - "Hey quick question, do people really call this kid, 'The Picasso of Crime'?"

Bernard took a sip of her water. - "Some do, Gold's gained many nicknames throughout his career."

"Really, like what?"

"Uh... 'The Picasso of Crime', 'The Prince of Thieves', 'The Mouth', 'The Emerald eyed sly talker', 'The Con-Artist King', 'The forger fanatic'..." - She rattled off from memory.

44 closed the manilla folder. - "When a crook earns nicknames like that, they're usually a pro. How'd you catch him?"

"I had an informant. He helped me track Gold's movements and once I had enough information I caught him mid-heist."

"Who was your informant?"

"Some low life called Wade Orm." - She said with distaste.

"Why don't we start our hunt with him then, it sounds like he's got some contacts that could help us catch this 'Con-Artist King'." - He suggested.

"Good idea." - Bernard complimented, she unbuckled her seatbelt before moving to the front of the plane. - "Pilot, take us to New York."

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

New York City. AKA The Big Apple, home to many of the greatest monuments on Earth, including The Statue of Liberty, Central park and the seediest bar in the northern hemisphere: The One-Eyed Beggar.

After picking enough pockets to afford travel out of the country, an agonizingly long flight, and a taxi ride, Louie had arrived back in the city and right outside the bar.

Stepping through the doors, Louie took it all in, the smoky smell, the sticky floors, single flickering lightbulb... he loved it all. There was one thing Louie found strange however, was how empty the place seemed to be, it was usually packed, with people drinking, chatting, and doing under the table deals.

Louie took a seat at the bar. - "Uh. Barkeep?" - He waved, watching as a familiar face stepped out of the back-room. - "Rebecca?"

A wide smile engulfed the girl's face. - "Mr. Gold! What happened? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"I've been busy." - He brushed the question off. - "So did you get a promotion?"

"Yep, I'm no longer a waitress!" - She beamed.

"That's great!"

"I know! So do you want you're usual?" - She asked, calming down.

"Uh, no thanks, I do have a question though: Where is everybody?" - He asked.

"Oh, they're in the back-room."

"The back-room?" - Louie said, sounding very confused.

She began cleaning a glass. - "Yeah we had to move all 'activities' there, due to the breach."

"Breach? - Wait someone broke the code?" - The 'code' being the original rules dictated by Don Graybill when crime was really starting to get organised. It was basically a set of rules built upon the saying of 'Honour Among Thieves', over time the rules have changed by the fundamentals have always been the same.

- Keep other crooks and criminals businesses out of harms way. -

"Unfortunately." - She remarked, placing the cleaned glass down and picking up a dirty one. - "New rules say only regulars allowed in the back."

"Does that include me?"

She smiled. - "Of course." - She reached under the bar and pushed a button, before pointing to the jukebox across the room, which had just slid away, revealing a hidden passage. - "Go right ahead Mr. Gold."

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

Arriving on the other side of the hidden passage, Louie stepped into a large room decked out with tables, chairs, pool tables, dart boards... Everything a bar would need, he didn't even question why the bar had such an expansive back-room, as Rachel had already told him that the bar was always a front for criminal activity, with the back-room operating as a brewery during the prohibition.

He took a seat at one of the booths, and relaxed for what felt was the first time in years, even though he'd been with the McDucks for only a couple months, he was exhausted from having to deal with them.

After a couple of moments of rest, Louie got up from the table and was going to go and see if he could order some food to satisfy the rumbling in his stomach, when he noticed a small crowd gathered around a table.

"...and that's when I stole the diamond." - A foreign voice spoke from the centre of the gathering, followed by a round of applause by those who surrounded them.

Louie knew that voice, he was sure of it, he pushed his way to the centre of the crowd and came face-to-face with an old rival.

"Mak!" - Louie cheered, clapping the lizard on the shoulder. - "You telling the tale of your latest heist?" - Masodik Utem, or Mak for short, a Hungarian thief and the first rival Louie had made when he struck out on his own. And while Mak was a snarky, sarcastic, show-off, the two had a forged an uneasy truce, and had even worked together a few times

"Uhh, Gold." - Mak spat, his smile turning into a scowl. - "I thought you were dead." - He waved his hand and the crowd around them dispersed.

"Dead? Why would you think I was dead."

Mak finished his vibrant coloured drink. - "Rumour is, you tried to steal something from Victor Grim and got caught. I figured you were dead. - He shrugged.

Chapter 23: Explanation.

Chapter Text

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It was 8pm in Duckburg, and time for Bentina Beakley's favourite show: Mallard Manor - The show was based in a manor very unlike the one she worked in, the servant in Mallard Manor never had to chase mythical monsters through their halls, or dust golden artefacts that adorned the walls. It was enjoyable to see how ordinary people dealt with ordinary scenarios.

The show had become a sort of tradition for her to watch with Webby, but it seemed that she wouldn't be joining her tonight. Which was a shame, but not entirely unexpected... as a Scrooge McDuck adventure always seemed to last longer than expected.

Entering the lounge with the big T.V, Beakley placed the tray of assorted biscuits and a teapot she had carried from the kitchen on the coffee table, before pouring herself a cup of tea and taking a seat on the large sofa.

After fluffing some of the pillows, Beakley plucked the remote from off the coffee table and hit the power-button, she settled into the sofa as the screen settled on a dull blue colour as the T.V booted up. Taking a sip of her tea, Beakley smiled, ready for a quiet night in, full of tea, biscuits and television. So she wasn't ready for what would happen next.

The sound of the Manor's front door opening, echoed through the empty house, as well as the pitter-patter of webbed feet on hardwood floors. There was no cheering or laughing or joking that came with an end of McDuck adventure, so either something tragic had happened on the adventure, or this wasn't the McDuck's coming home... and since she hadn't gotten a message from Scrooge about anything happening on the adventure, she was leaning to the latter.

The retired spy moved everything off the tray that she had brought in earlier, and held it towards her chest as she dived behind the sofa, waiting until she heard the door swing open before flinging the tray and charging the intruder.

"BEAKLEY!" - Scrooge shouted as he deflected the incoming serving tray and jumped out of the way of his housekeepers attack. - "Curse me' Kilts, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry Mr. McDuck." - She apologised, smoothing out her cardigan out. - "I thought you were an intruder."

He let out a yawn. - "No problem Beakley." - He moved past her and stepped into the lounge, followed by the rest of the McDuck's who were wearing a mix of expressions, ranging from angry to upset. Then she noticed the lack of one specific member.

"What happened?"

Della was the first to speak, she seemed to be a mix of all the emotions. - "Well we were on a plane headed to Germany for the-" - She stopped, having trouble expressing herself properly.

Scrooge took over. - "We were after the Scherzschatz chest..." - He said, pulling the old bronze book back out of his coat and flipping to the right page only to see it sitting loosely. - "What in blazes?"

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

"So how did you do it?" - June asked absently, staring out the window of the limo.

"What? Escape?"

June just hummed, which Louie took as a yes.

"It wasn't easy." - He admitted. - "Took a good bit of planning to outwit them. First I had to create a scenario which I could control, then I could escape. So I went through all of Scrooge's journals and notebooks looking for something that could help me get an edge. But I couldn't." - He took a breath.

"So I came to a conclusion, I would have to create the edge. I took one of the largest, dustiest books from Scrooge's office, and created a fake adventure that would entice him. It took some time to get the adventure to look like it was always part of the book, but when it was ready I placed the book on top of the pile of other books, along with some fake notes in Scrooge's handwriting so it would look like he was already interested in it."

"How would that work? He would of remembered not writing that." - June criticised.

"That's the thing though," - Louie grinned. - "Scrooge has so many books in his office, that he wouldn't be able to tell what he had and what he hadn't investigated." - He took a sip of his pep that he'd taken from the limo's mini fridge. - "The next part was easier, I had to make sure that I could control where the plane would go, so I sabotaged Della's plane and made sure that every other plane in the city was out of commission, and that the only one available was one under my control."

"So you held all the cards."

"Exactly." - Finishing his pep, Louie crushed the can and dropped it in the limo's bin. - "Once I knew that I could control all the variables, I set my plan into action."

"Clever." - June said dryly.

"I know... it was my magnum opus, my piece de resistance, my masterwo-"

"I already said it was clever." - She cut him off.

The two sat in silence for the next few moments, as the limo drove through the streets of NYC, soon the car finally came to a stop, the two got out, and walked down the street, June dressed in casual clothing, while Louie was currently dressed in as much tourist gear possible, trying to conceal his identity.

The two journeyed off the street, into a building, and into an elevator in said building. Neither speaking through the whole affair, once the elevator doors opened, the two stepped into a spacious penthouse apartment, in the middle of the room there was a large mat, on which two masked figures were fencing.

The smaller of the two figure, parried all of their opponents attacks before jabbing the figure in the chest, signifying the end of the match.

"Good game." - The winner expressed, shaking the opponents hand before removing his mask, revealing the face of one teenage billionaire.

"Ah, Louie!" - Matthew smiled, flashing his impossibly white teeth. - "Good to see you!"

"Same to you Matthew."

"So." - He leaned in. - "Ready to get to work?"

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Chapter 24: Reunions and Revelations.

Chapter Text

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Walking down the streets of Brooklyn, was a weasel who was dressed in a stained creased flower-print shirt an equally creased, equally stained pair of brown slacks, and a zebra print fedora. The weasel was having a pretty good day today: First he had managed to get himself a free breakfast, after planting a hair in his food and complaining; Then he had managed to get a decent amount of money from pawning the stuff in the purse he had stolen yesterday; and finally he managed to snatch a few coins from the church's collective basket.

He scratched his long, unkept whiskers as he walked, stopping only once to stare at his reflection in a shopfront window. He spat on his hands and ran through him his hair, slicking it back and before pulling finger guns, revealing a mouth full of crooked, yellow teeth, which he promptly began picking at. Once he had gotten all of the leftover food out from between his molars, the weasel noticed the two sharply dressed bulls who strode up and stood right behind him.

"Mr. Orm." - One of the bulls greeted, clamping his hand on the weasel's shoulder. - "We need to talk."

Wade realising the situation he was in slowly turned. - "Uh... Well I'd love to fellas, but I-I'm uh... I've got to GO!" - He stammered before fleeing, clutching his fedora as he ran.

Once he had gotten a fair distance away from the shopfront he was standing at, he checked over his shoulder, Wade Orm was startled to see the two bulls keeping with him, he ducked into an alley, hoping to lose his chasers only to run until he was trapped, with a fence cutting him off from escaping the alley through the exit and the bulls blocking the entrance.

"No where to run, Orm." - One of the bulls advanced on the retreating weasel, while the other went to keep watch.

"Come on. Can't we talk about this?"

One of the bulls slammed his fist into Wade's cheek, knocking his hat off his head. - "If you wanted to talk, you should of you should have done it before you screwed me over."

"Please... I'm sor-sorry." - Wade apologised, blood dripping from his lip.

"I didn't ask for an apology." - The main bull cranked his arm back. - "I just want my money." He threw his fist forward, but it only made half the distance to Wade's face though, with it being held back by a cane's handle.

The bull who was in the process of beating Wade into a bloody pulp, turned to see two figures, one dressed in a beige trench-coat, the other carrying a cane and dressed in a suit.

"Hey wha..." - The bull noticed his unconscious friend lying a few feet behind the interlopers. - "What did you-" - Before he could finish, the trench-coat clad women leapt up and stuck him, knocking him to the floor and out cold.

"What the hell?" - The weasel said, sounding somewhat disorientated.

"Hey Orm remember me?"

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

June and Louie sat in Matthew's lounge, a scene reminiscent of the one they had shared in the lime ride over, the two engaging in a conversation where Louie was speaking 90% of the time, smiling and being his usual charming self, and June sitting stoic and stone-faced, only responding every now, never then more than a few short words.

Matthew had stepped out for a few minutes to change from his fencing gear into actual clothes, after Louie said they had to make one last stop before they could actually began planning the heist of the prayer scroll.

"Okay, I'm ready." - Matthew's voice echoed through the spacious apartment as he stepped back into the room, now dressed in a light grey jacket over a white dress shirt, his collar hadn't been buttoned, he also wore his silver, circle-rimmed glasses.

Louie couldn't help but notice the stark difference between his and Matthew's outfits, as while outfit looked like it had just been ripped from a catalogue called 'Country-Club Casual', he'd looked like he'd just been dumpster diving.

"Let's get this over with." - June said boredly as she and Louie got up the couch.

The three then crowded back into the spacious elevator and descended back down to the private parking garage where the Matthew's limo was waiting for them.

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

The manor was quiet since Louie had ran away... again, and while Mrs. Beakley enjoyed silence, she found this one a bit depressing, the family took to coping in different ways: Webby, Huey and Scrooge kept busy, deciding to help around the house or focus on achieving Woodchuck badges, or actually go into work for once.

Dewey chose to ignore that Louie ever existed, referring to Huey as his twin, which wasn't healthy but was better than what Della was doing. The pilot had locked herself in her room, and hadn't come out for days now.

And while Beakley was sympathetic to her, she was confused on why she was taking it so hard, when Louie had ran away the first time, they had all expected him to come crawling back in an hour so, but the hours turned to days, and the days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months.

And then he came back, or he was forced back... And things were tense, Louie was a bit of a rebel before he left: Coming and going when he wanted, as well as openly defying Scrooge, Della and her own authority, but now it seemed he was an entirely different person, someone a lot more confident, smart and independent than the teen that disappeared that night. He'd spend his time in the manor isolating himself from the family, exercising and reading, two things the maid would never associate with Louie Duck.

In hindsight it was obvious what he was doing, the boy had always had an ulterior motive, since childhood he would only work if he got something out of it. He had obviously inherited Scrooge's greed, though he had also inherited his ambition, a deadly combination if Beakley would say so.

But Beakley could no longer stomach moping McDucks, she had already gone through this once before, she couldn't do it a second time. So she was ready to smack some sense into them, figuratively, but if it came to it, literally.

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Chapter 25: An Old Friend.

Chapter Text

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Amelia Morris had what some would call... an interesting childhood. Born into Clan Morris, a family of great criminal renown, she quickly became the black sheep of the family when she showed little interest in heisting and forging. Falling behind in all of her classes at the local Private Crime School, she soon further isolated herself from her family when she showed an interest in machinery, a skill usually reserved for lowly henchmen. After embarrassing her family one too many times, she was sent her to a reform school in Manchester.

There, her interest in the subject developed as much as her skills, she quickly became the top of her class and made a few friends, including the business-savvy Tommy Sheldon who introduced her to the intimidating Lucy, and the charming Louie Gold.

The four were ironically, as thick as thieves, so it was upsetting when they had heard Louie had been caught by Interpol trying to swipe a prayer scroll from a Mexican museum. The other three had spent months scouring records from every known and even a few unknown prisons in an attempt to locate their fourth member, only to wind up failing their mission.

Soon they were so low on funds, they could no longer keep their search going. They could only hope that Louie would be able to escape on his own and would call them if he needed help.

It had been two months though, and though every day the group's hope dwindled, they knew their friend would return one day, but until then, they couldn't just pause their lives. Tommy went back to operating as a fence, Lucy kept working as hired muscle to anyone who payed enough, and she kept tinkering.

She was working on a prototype invisibility suit in her New York workshop when her phone's alarm went off, setting down the soldering-iron she was working with, Amelia snatched her phone from her pocket she saw that the alarm was an alert from her workshops security system, warning her of trespassers on her territory.

Switching to her security-cam app, she flicked through the screens until she found what she was looking for. There was a silver limousine parked in the alley where the workshop's main entrance was situated, this was strange, as the workshop was a well kept secret, sometimes people would come around, but either they were trusted allies or randoms who had gotten lost, but the two who had just stepped out of the limo, were neither.

Enabling the audio feature, Amelia listened to the two figures poking around her base of operations. - "Why did we come here again?" - The first figure asked. Amelia determined the figure was female, late 20's and most likely from North-possibly North-Western America.

"Because he said he needed to come here, before we could find the treasure." - The second figure responded. The figure was male, also late 20's but from Europe more specifically England.

Listening closer she could hear a third voice, it was muffled so she couldn't hear much, but she did know it sounded familiar, she also guessed that this was the third person the other two were talking about. This whole situation felt weird to her, why were these random people on her property and why were they talking about treasure.

She was getting to the bottom of this here and now. Marching down the stairs, she grabbed the sonic-rifle she'd built and stored in the umbrella stand and kicked open the front door.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT?" - Amelia screamed at the intruder, her aim shifting between the two who were standing outside.

The two didn't look scared or worried at all, the man looked smug, while the women looked ready, raring to go if Amelia tried anything.

"You were right," - The man said in a joking fashion. - "She did bring out the shock rifle."

"I knew it!" - The third voice rang out, a voice very familiar to Amelia. - "You always kept that in the umbrella holder, just ready to use on an intruder!"- Another person exited the limo, dressed in every piece of clothing you could find in a New York tourist shop, but behind the cheap lady liberty glasses, and under the I-heart-NYC hat she could recognise one of her closest friends.

"Louie?"

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

"Where were you?" - Amelia asked, worry seeping into her tone. - "I remember being on comms with you and then you went offline, An hour later I hear from informants that Interpol got you. And now, nearly two months later you show up at my workshop with these stranger. What happened?"

Louie kept his eyes focused on the ground while he spoke. - "Look Amelia, there is so much I'd like to tell you, but at the moment I can't, we have more pressing matters at hand. After we resolve this I'll tell you and Tommy and Lucy everything okay?"

There was a brief pause before Amelia responded. - "Okay." - Her voice was tired but accepted Louie's choice, as while he was the best liar she'd ever met, he was also one of the most honest and loyal people she'd ever met. - "So what are we dealing with?"

"This," - Louie motioned to Matthew. - "Is-"

"Matthew Kovax, CEO of Kovax Enterprises." - Amelia said blankly, before all the pieces clicked. Her head snapped in Matthew's direction. - "You want the treasure."

Matthew chuckled. - "No... No, I don't want the treasure." - Matthew sighed. - "I want my ancestors journal."

Louie looked sceptical. - "His journal? Why do you want that?"

"Personal reasons."

The four sat in silence for a few minutes, no one knowing what to say next. That is until June who had been quiet during the initial conversation spoke.

"So... When do we start?" - The other three gave her strange looks. - "What? We each get something out of it. You two." - She pointed to Louie and Amelia. - "Get the treasure. You." - She pointed to Matthew. - "Get the journal."

"What about you?" - Louie asked her.

"Me? I get paid." - She responded, crossing her arms over her chest. - "So I'll ask again. When do we start?"

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Chapter 26: Family Dinner.

Chapter Text

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McDuck Manor's kitchen was filled with all types of smells, they were varying from very sweet to spicy, but they all smelled delicious. Lidding one pot, Mrs. Beakley noticed her grand-daughter entering through the manor's back door.

"Webby, can you come here for a moment."

"Yes Granny." - Came the reply from the teenager entering the kitchen. - "What do you need?"

Checking the temperature on the oven. She pointed over to a pair a cabinets. - "Could you set the table please."

"Sure, sure." - Webby confirmed as she took a handful of dishes from the opened cabinet, and carried them into the conjoined dining room and setting them on the table. - "What are we having for dinner anyway?" - She asked, grabbing her 2nd handful of dishes.

"We are having an eclectic mix." - She noticed the confusion on her Grand-daughter's face. - "We will all be having our favourites tonight.

"Favourites?"

"Scrooge will be having haggis and veg, Della will be having ultra spicy Chilli con carne, Donald will be having fish pie, Huey and Dewey will be having pizza, and you will be having my special spaghetti..."

"What about-"

"I will be having takeaway fish-and-chips so I don't have to clean anymore dishes." - Beakley interrupted, earning a chuckle from Webby.

"What's the special occasion? Did Huey earn another badge?"

"No." - Beakley said sharply. - "We will be having an ordinary family dinner, so things can go back to normal."

"Normal?" - Webby repeated. - "How can things go back to normal... Louie's gone!" - After that she started rambling incoherently, that was until Beakley tightly wrapped her in a hug.

"He's gone Webby. He's left twice now... he's not coming back. Just like- Never mind." - She cut herself off, let go of the hug and stared into her grand-daughter's eyes. - "We can't keep pausing our lives for other people."

Webby shed a few more tears, before agreeing with her Granny and wiping her eyes, before continuing to set the table for dinner that night.

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

The table was set, the food was cooked and all that was missing was the people.

"Webby could you go get the boys and tell them dinner is ready."

"Yes Granny." - In a split second, Webby was gone from the kitchen, leaving Beakley to collect the final three members of the McDuck clan. First up Donald, he seemed to be the least affected, which maybe was because he expected it, or that's what Beakley thought at least. he knew the boys the best, he knew what each brother would do, and this seemed to be something Louie would do.

Going outside, she saw Donald sitting alone in the garden, a position that she'd seen Louie do before he'd left... the first time. He would sit out there in solitude, playing on his phone. It was weird seeing someone else do it.

"Donald." - Her voice snapped him out of the daydream. - "Dinner's ready."

There was a pause before his response.

"Thank you Beakley." - He acknowledged, before getting up, and moving inside.

That was easy, next up Scrooge.

She re-entered the house and went up the stairs, then down the hallway, leaving her right outside Scrooge's office.

Gently knocking three times, Beakley only opened after Scrooge permitted her to.

The office was packed with books of varies size, with varies levels of dust covering them. She could barely see Scrooge, who was standing in the back of the office, flipping through one of the bigger, dustier books.

"What is it Beakley?"

"Dinner."

"I'm busy, bring my dinner up." - The Scotsman ordered.

"No."

Scrooge looked at his housekeeper with wide eyes. - "Beakl-"

"Family dinner. Tonight." - She asserted herself.

"Be-"

"Family dinner. Tonight." - She repeated.

Scrooge had only seen Beakley this demanding once before, and he knew better to deny her when she was in a mood like this.

"I'll be down in a minute."

Closing the door and leaving the office, Beakley only had one more person on her list. Della. He knew this would be even more of a challenge than convincing the other two.

Down another hallway, Beakley went without knocking, and instead shouted through the door into Della's room.

"Della, dinner time." - She waited for a few seconds, until she heard a faint grumbling coming from inside the room. - "Della what was that. - More faint grumbling. - "Della I'm coming in." - Entering the room was encased in darkness, with the curtains drawn and the only thing alluding to the fact that Della was in the room, was the lump in her bedsheets.

Beakley took a seat on the end of her bed. - "Della," - She whispered in a motherly tone. - "Time for dinner."

"Uhhhhhhhh." - Came a muffled groan.

"Get up... now."

"Uhhhhhhhh."

"That's it." - Getting up from her spot on the bed, Beakley ripped open the curtains and pulled the covers off the women.

"Uhhh Beakley..." - She said dragging her words out.

"Nope, no more moping. Time to get up and live life."

"No." - Was Della's only reply, as she dived further into the frankly insane amount of pillow she had on her bed.

Beakley had had enough. - "Now listen to me Della, I'd did not just slave away for hours cooking for you to not eat it. So go get dressed and come down for dinner!"

A few seconds passed before Della meekly replied yes.

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

It was good having everyone there at dinner, while the mood was a bit sombre, it didn't mean that the meal was depressing, the kids kept it light by cracking jokes and talking about what was happening in their lives, all while avoiding speaking of Louie, not knowing how people would react to the topic.

But good things don't last and Beakley knew that sooner or later someone would have to mention Louie, what she didn't know however was that someone wouldn't not be part of the McDuck clan.

In the middle of a story about teaching Dewey to fly, Della's phone rings, she excuses herself from the table, and lets said son continue telling the tale, but halfway through his way more exaggerated version, he was interrupted by Della shouting.

"WHAT? Wait one second." - She kicked open the kitchen door and slammed her phone on the kitchen table and put it into speaker mode. - "Repeat what you just said Bernard."

"Uh... Okay, my source says that Louie had just been spotted in New York along with a supposed cohort... a female, tan feathers, black hair... green eyes."

Scrooge slammed his hand on the table. - "Are ye' sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure."

"June!"

"Kovax's bodyguard?" - Beakley added.

"I'm sorry who?" - Donald asked.

"Kovax as in Johnathan Kovax?" - Webby asked, smiling uncontrollably. - "The legendary pirate who amassed the greatest fortune ever to be lost to history?"

"The very one, his descendant Matthew came over a few weeks ago, June was his bodyguard. Louie sat in on our meeting." - Scrooge snapped his fingers. - "The two of them must have tricked Louie into helping them get the treasure."

"Of course." - Della agreed. - "That's the only reason Louie would run."

Donald was about to correct her, when Bernard spoke.

"It seems Matthew Kovax's private jet has just landed in Monterrey, Mexico. And that is not all, apparently that's the next stop on the prayer scroll's journey... They must be going after it."

"That's it." - Scrooge shouted, attracting the attention of everyone listening. - "We will be going after them, and saving Louie from whatever fate they're putting him in!" - He finished triumphantly, earning cheering and applause from everyone except Donald and Beakley, who both knew this adventure was going to end badly.

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Chapter 27: GRIMLOCK.

Chapter Text

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

"What do you mean you won't let us come?" - Della grunted, staring down at the Victor Grim. The large rhino was sitting down and checking his security measures on his tablet, seemingly unfazed by the Duck's anger.

"I mean I don't want you out there." - Victor remarked, turning off his tablet, getting up from his seat, and leaving the McDucks waddling behind him. - "My men can handle the transport. If any thieves try and take the scroll, well... they won't be making it through the night."

Scrooge scowled at the large man in front of him. - "That's my great-nephew your talking about... So you better watch your words."

Grim stopped and turned to face the 6 duck's who had been annoying him all morning. - "Don't try and threaten me Mr. McDuck, my men outnumber your 'family' 5-to-1. So I advise you, don't try anything as my men won't miss." - His hulking figure towered over the McDuck clan who may have faced giants, pixies and elven warriors, but no one as intimidating as Victor Grim.

"But-"

"Johnson, Elliot's. Escort the McDuck's off the premises." - Two faceless goons appeared, wearing GRIMLOCK grunt uniforms and carrying electric rifles.

"HEY!" - Webby shouted, as she was restrained with the rest of the McDucks. - "You can't do this!"

"I can and I will." - Victor turned. - "But don't worry, people who try and steal from me, usually aren't stupid enough to do it again."

"Sir." - Another goon stepped up. - "Van's are ready for transport, shall I order the men to begin readying for transport?"

Victor nodded. - "Have them be ready in 20 minutes. If not, we leave them here."

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

"Are you sure about this Louie?" - Amelia expressed over the team's comms.

"Amelia." - Louie chuckled, surveying the distance through a pair of binoculars. - "When I am ever not sure of one of my plans.

"Still, these seems to be even more insane than one of your usual plans."

"I've done this before."

"But still, making yourself an enemy out of Victor Grim..." - She paused. - "You got lucky the first time, but now you're just playing with fire." - Amelia chastised.

"I'll worry about Grim." - Louie countered. - "You worry about your part of the plan."

"Yeah... yeah." - She failed to keep her voice steady.

Knowing he had to distract her, Louie decided to change topic. - "Your alterations are working great." - He fiddled with his upgraded leather grapple-gauntlet, which was much more fitting than the previous version, and toyed with his over wear, Amelia had trimmed his coat into a shorter version, making it more of a jacket, and replace the leather of the joints with a much more flexible fabric.

"What about the bike?"

Louie looked to his left, where a modified green sports-bike sat.

"It's good, faster than anything I've ever ridden before."

"Have you tried theother featureyet?"

Louie took a seat on the bike. - "No I haven't gotten the chance yet."

"Well you're about to get the chance." - Amelia warned. - "Transport is 2 minutes out."

Throwing on his motorcycle helmet and closing the visor, Louie felt a rush run through him. - "Ok team, let's get heisting."

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

GRIMLOCK vehicles weren't the only ones on the road that day, while Victor had warned the McDucks to stay away, 'No' wasn't in their vocabulary, so they had piled into a rental jeep and had followed the transport at a distance.

"Where are they?" - Della commented, keeping her eyes trained on the road. Wondering where Louie and the people manipulating him were.

"Maybe it's a red herring? To throw us off the scent." - Huey added.

"Uhhhh!" - Dewey groaned in boredom, capturing the attention of everyone in the jeep. - "I thought this would be like a high speed chase in an action film. Not us following a truck for an hour."

The family sat in silence, waiting for something to happen that would signify that Louie was here, only for nothing to happen for another 10 minutes, then they could see something in the distance, it was fast and moving towards the convey.

"Do you think that's Louie?"

Della narrowed her eyes. - "Only one way to find out." - Stepping on the gas, the jeep caught up to the transport in record time, only to see someone on a green motorcycle, swerving to avoid the fire of armed GRIMLOCK soldiers.

"Louie?" - The group collectively shouted, earning a split-second of motorcycle man's attention, before he sped up to the truck carrying the scroll, digging his left hand in his jacket pocket, he threw 3 small disks at the truck, they stuck magnetically and began beeping. However by the fourth beep, they were gone, shot off by GRIMLOCK agents who were trying to keep the scroll safe.

When Louie noticed this, he sped off into the desert.

"Follow him!" - Victor's voice rang through GRIMLOCK comms. - "Don't let him get away!"

Checking over his shoulder, Louie saw four marked jeeps following him, he pulled a left, he swerved a few times, but it didn't shake those tailing him. Instead it only led to Louie driving closer and closer to a cliff.

Soon enough he could do nothing but stop his bike. Victor Grim and his men stopped as well, trapping him at the edge of the cliff.

"You must not be very smart." - Victor snipped as Louie took of his helmet, still sitting on the bike. - "First, you try stealing from me, then you're given a chance to avoid my wrath. Then," - He emphasised. - "You try and steal from me again. But this time you try it in the middle of nowhere, leaving no witnesses to your fate."

Louie smiled and leaned forward on the bike, his helmet on his lap. - "I would argue... that I'm very smart." - He watched the McDuck's try and push their way to his position, but Grim's men were not budging.

"Then you're delusional."

"I managed to take the scroll from you." - Louie said calmly.

"What?" - Victor laughed. - "You didn't even get to touch the truck! How could have you stolen it? "

Louie rested his thumb on the switch connected to the right handlebar. - "I wasn't talking about the diversion." - He said staring just past Victor.

Following his gaze, Victor watched as the two men who were in the truck carrying the scroll, abandoned it as it was picked up by a large magnet, which was attached to the bottom of a huge cargo plane.

"Your men are so loyal, that when you ordered someone follow me, no one stayed to guard the thing I was trying to steal." - Louie smiled. - "You fell for the oldest trick in the book."

Victor's head snapped back to Louie. As a morbid smile crossed his face. - "Too bad you'll never get to enjoy the spoils of your success. But I'll be nice and let you choose your fate. Either firing squad by my men. Or, a 50ft plunge off the cliff behind you."

"LOUIE!" - Came the cry from his family, who managed to weasel their way to the front of the crowd.

"I choose option B." - Louie chirped, leaning backwards he went off the side of the cliff, along with his bike.

"NO!"

"Goodbye Louie Gol-" - Victor began, only to cut himself off when he saw that the teenage thief was not dead, but in fact, hovering a foot away from the cliff's edge. - "What?" - He spluttered.

"Well I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got spoils to enjoy." - Louie said, as he revved his hover-bike and flew straight over the shocked faces of Victor Grim, the soldiers of GRIMLOCK and the McDuck family, all while thinking only one thing.

'I've got to get something for Amelia as a thank you'

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

Chapter 28: The Scroll.

Chapter Text

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

Matthew Kovax sat in the back of his limo, reading the text Louie had sent that morning over and over again.Beat Amelia's workshop 1pm sharp!Before that he hadn't heard from the thief for at least two days... The last he saw him was when the two of them and June flew to Mexico on his private jet, they had separated the moment they got out of the airport, Louie went off to begin heist prep and he and June went off to establish an alibi like he was instructed.

He knew that Louie was off stealing the scroll, but every hour he didn't hear for him, Matthew got more paranoid. The message did calm him for a while, but then his paranoia came back in full force. They didn't even tell him how he was planning to steal the damn thing, how was sure they weren't going to double cross him? Possibly sell him out to the police, be the fall-guy for their criminal exploits.

'Why didn't he mention the scroll?'- Was the only thought going through his head, his knee bouncing unconsciously. The moment the car arrived at the location, Matthew swiftly exited the vehicle and stormed up to the door, with June following quietly behind.

"GOLD!" - He bellowed while continuously slamming his fist into the metal door. - "ARE YOU IN THERE?"

The door swung open, revealing a figure who neither of the two knew, the guy stuck his hand and tried to introduce himself, only for Matthew to push past him into the workshop.

"GOLD! GOLD! WHERE ARE YOU?" - He shouted, stomping through the workshop until his screams were being drowned out by a loud mechanical-buzzing sound. - "What's with all the noise?" - He asked, grabbing the Louie's mystery comrade.

"Oh that's the mega-drill!"

"Mega-Drill?" - Matthew repeated slowly.

The guy chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his next. - "I'm guessing Lou hasn't told you everything yet."

Matthew reclaimed his grip on the man's shirt. - "What do you mean everything?"

"It's easier if I just show you." - He said, prying the fingers off his shirt one-by-one until he was free, after that, he led the two other teens over to a door, which seemed to be the originating point of the 'mega-drill' noise.

Opening the door, Matthew was shocked at what he saw, the room was a sort of garage, with tool shelves of varying sizes lining the walls, in the centre of the room was a silver-and-gold coloured van covered in Grimlock tags. Someone stood on top of the van, wearing a welding mask and wielding the biggest drill he'd ever scene.

"What is this?" - He shouted, watching as the the drill operator shut

"This..." - Louie answered, appearing from behind the van. - "Is the plan."

"Is that one of Victor Grim's vehicles?"

"Yep, we stole it with right from the convey using a ginormous magnet! Then we transported it in a bigger truck fitted with signal-blockers to prevent Grim from tracking it. Pretty good plan right?" - He grinned.

Matthew calmed at Louie confidence. - "Indeed." - He placed his palms against the cold-metal exterior of the van. - "Let me guess... the scroll's inside the van?"

"You'd be correct. Now once we resolve our next obstacle, you'll get your journal and I'll be sipping Pep on my own private island."

June folded her arms across her chest. - "What's the new problem?

Louie clicked his tongue and glanced at the bodyguard. - "Our original plan was to use a special liquid-nitrogen to freeze the armour-plating, allowing us to easily break through the metal and get access to the scroll... but it seemed Grim upgraded his fleets shielding."

"So is the drill the solution?"

"It should solve the issue of the new plating. Then the liquid-nitrogen can do it's job."

"How long will it take?"

He paused. - "One second." - He cupped his hands and shouted over to the person with the drill." - "Hey Lucy!"

"Yeah?" - Lucy answered as she entered back into the room from a back room.

"How much longer?"

"Uhh... 40-50 minutes." - She replied lazily, taking a sip from her drink.

Louie turned back to Matthew and June. - "Are you up for waiting that long?"

A short chuckle escaped Matthew. - "My family has been waiting decades for this... I can wait another hour."

"Perfect!" - Louie cheered, clapping his hand together. - "Tommy! Break out the good stuff. For the next hour we celebrate!" - The group cheered each ready to celebrate the end of one chapter of their lives and in turn the beg of a new one.

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

The hour passed faster than anyone expected. it was a fun hour to be sure... Full of jokes, laughs, and reflection Though good times don't last forever and soon Lucy was finished drilling, and Amelia announced the nitrogen was done cooling the metal.

A wave of giddiness ran through Louie as he took hold of the hammer and gently tapped the frozen metal watching as it cracked like glass, before completely breaking down and shattering into small dark shards, leaving a hole just big enough for Louie to pass through.

The shards were quickly swept up by Amelia who was muttering something about 'mess' before she handed a pair of gloves to everyone in the room. Stretching the gloves over his hands, Louie took a deep breath before sticking his head through the gap, allowing him to spot his prize.

Outside the van, the rest of the Gold gang, Matthew and June stood what felt like hours, waiting for the reveal of the glorious object that would change the lives of everyone in the room forever.

Finally Louie returned, his gloved hands carrying a glass box containing a piece of old looking paper. A smug smirk on his face. Exiting the van, Louie placed the case on the table closest to him, allowing everyone to see it, in all it's majestic glory.

The box was a beautiful partnership between silver and glass encasing the rolled-out piece of parchment. A small lock was affixed to the front of the box... A small lock that Louie was about to pick! Pulling a small leather pouch from one of his jacket's inner pockets, he pulled two hooks out and quickly cracked the lock.

He slipped his hands into the case, and gently removed the crinkly old piece of paper from its confines. He quickly scanned through the Spanish text, his mind quickly translating it while making sure to disregard the unimportant parts meaning he only ended up with the date: September 16th 1726.

"Huh, that's weird." - Louie thought aloud.

"What?"

"This is dated in 1726, two years after Kovax's last reported sighting."

"So?" - Tommy wondered.

"Kovax was a showman." - Matthew explained, looking perplexed. - "He wouldn't ever just retire... he didn't need the money, he just wanted to be remembered."

"The most widely believed theory of his disappearance, is he and his crew died in battle-"

"Leaving an entire vault full of priceless treasure somewhere in the world."

"Does it say anything else?"

Louie did double-checked the scroll. - "Nope, it doesn't mention anything about him. Maybe your info was wrong Amelia."

"No!" - She spat, before calming. - "My info is never wrong."

"This can't be all for nothing... Can it?"

Louie took a step back, rubbed his eyes and inhaled through his nose, trying to clear his head when he noticed something strange.

"What's that smell?"

The rest of the group sniffed, noticing one particularly strong odour in the air.

"Is that..?"

"Vinegar!" - Amelia announced, having a eureka moment.

"What? So somebody's been eating crisps?"

"No. The smell of vinegar alludes to invisible ink!" - She explained.

Louie reached into another one of his jacket's inner pockets and this time pulled out a box of matches. Igniting one, with one hand he held the lighted match and with the other, he held up a the piece of parchment, ignoring the warnings of his cohorts. Louie continued to wave the flame back and forth until words began to appear on the paper.

Soon every word was revealed, leaving the group full of wide-eyed, grinning teenagers.

"Well this just got fun!"

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

Chapter 29: A New Lead.

Chapter Text

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

It had been four days since the family had left to meet Victor Grim. Which meant Beakley had just four days to prepare for the imminent distraught that would come with the failure of capturing Louie. Scrooge had called her, two days in and remarked how the family had lost Louie and were going to be staying a little longer in Mexico, just until they could collect their bearings.

She was dusting one of the larger portraits of Scrooge when she heard the front-door creak open and the McDucks enter, listening carefully, the housekeeper noted the lack of constant incoherent rambling that Huey did the last time Louie left, instead this time all she heard was Dewey's repeatedly ask his mother if he could get some 'Jet-bike' thing for Christmas.

Following the noise, Beakley arrived in the grand entrance hall. - "Good afternoon all." - She greeted, earning a symphony of uninterested replies. Narrowing her eyes, she observed each and every person in the Manor's foyer, determining if they needed someone to talk to or a hug. However it seemed everyone seemed ok, or at least happier than they did after the whole Paros incident.

Della and Scrooge seemed distracted, with Scrooge nose deep in a book (Which Beakley was sure was from his Kovax collection) and Della on the phone with what sounded like Agent Bernard, while simultaneously trying to quiet Dewey down. Huey was mumbling to himself, but more in the fashion of that when he tried to solve a mystery and not like he'd had another psychotic break. Donald just looked tired.

And Webby? Well Beakley had to say her Grand-daughter looked the most depressed of the lot. She could sort of understand why she was upset. In Huey, Webby had found a big brother, Dewey occupied the position of Best-Friend... so what was Louie?

If the ex-spy ad to guess, Louie was Webby's foil, the two played off each other, he was everything she wasn't and vice-versa: While she put maximum effort into anything she did, he would half-ass everything. While she was socially inept, he had a silver tongue. They needed each-other to improve themselves. But it seemed like Louie didn't need or want that help anymore.

"Webby." - She spoke, capturing the attention of the teen. - "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm fine Granny, I promise." - Webby replied, while wearing an painfully obviously forced smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course..." - She hesitated. - "I'm just gonna go visit Lena and Violet." - She said trying to excuse herself.

"Webby dear, remember your friends are in Japan for Violet's chess tournament."

The girl paused. She had been so focused on finding her lost friend, that she had completely forgotten about all of her other friends, now she was missing an important event in one of her closest friends lives.

In a split second, Webby had seized her phone from her pocket, but didn't even get to her contacts when her screen lit up, with Violet's caller ID front and centre.

"Hi Violet, I was just about to call you."

"Webbigail!" - Violet's hushed voice echoed from the phone. - "Louie. He's here!"

Instantly, all of the concern and guilt Webby had been felling melted away, quickly replaced by determination.

"Where's the tournament being held?"

"Osaka Castle." - The Hummingbird responded almost instantly. - "But Web-"

"See you soon Violet." - Webby interrupted, before hanging up on her friend. Done with that, Webby turned to face the rest of the McDucks. - "I know where Louie is!" - She shouted, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Where?" - Was the first thing out of Della's beak.

"Osaka Castle, Japan."

That seemed to snap Huey out of his trance. - "Isn't that where Violet's chess tournament is being held?"

Dewey looked unconvinced. - "Why would Louie be at some dumb chess tournament?"

"Especially when he has the scroll... isn't that supposed to lead him to the treasure?

A silence fell among the members of the McDuck clan, with each coming up with possible theories on why their youngest was at some competition when he had possibly millions in treasure waiting for him.

"Maybe he just enjoys chess?" - Della speculated out loud.

Scrooge was quick to respond. - "Doubtful. I tried to introduce the game to the lad when he was younger, he called it a'boring old game for boring old people'."

"Maybe the treasure's in the castle?"

"That seems even more unlikely." - Huey pointed out. - "Japan was in a period of seclusion when Kovax was alive, the penalty of a European entering was death, maybe if the treasure was hidden on some coastal city, but Osaka? It was a centre of Japanese culture. He wouldn't have made it into the city, let alone the Castle."

"So why is he there?"

"Only one way to find out." - Scrooge remarked in the way of one of his grand-speeches. - "We go to Japan. Find Louie. Find the treasure. And solve the greatest mystery in history!"

The family gave a somewhat enthusiastic cry, ignoring their feelings of fatigue and ache in their bones. The group climbed to their feet and dragged themselves back to the exit. Ignoring Beakley's pleas to stay and rest, or at least have a meal before they left.

The door slammed behind them, leaving the exasperated housekeeper all alone in the manor, but it wasn't as empty as she first though... noticing the unconscious Donald, fast asleep on one of the entrance halls sofa's.

Sighing, the Brit picked up the receiver off the old rotary telephone that Scrooge refused to upgrade and dialled in a familiar number. There was a brief pause while the phone rang but the person on the other line soon picked up.

"Hey Beakley, what do you need?"

"Hello Daisy-Dear, would you mind coming to collect your boyfriend, it seems he's passed out in my foyer." - The woman remarked.

"Oh thank goodness!" - Cried the successful fashion designer. - "I hadn't heard from him in a day, I was beginning to worry. Did he manage to find Louie?"

"Yes, but it seems the teen has decided to chart his own path and is now of hunting for the greatest lost treasure ever, so the rest of the family are off tracking him down."

Daisy chuckled. - "Seems like a normal day for the McDucks." - Beakley smiled at that one. - "Well I'll come around tomorrow to pick Donald up. Goodnight Beakley."

"Goodnight Daisy." - Placing the receiver back, Beakley picked up the sleeping Donald, and placed him on the much comfier sofa in the Lounge, she then placed a blanket over the sleeping form like she did to the kids when they were younger.

A yawn escaped her throat, finally realising how tired she was. The elderly woman ascended the staircase, hoping for a goodnight's sleep.

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

Chapter 30: Kings and Queens.

Chapter Text

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

Osaka castle was a beautiful piece of architecture, with white walls and emerald-coloured roofs decorated with golden statues and lining. The inside however, resembled more of a western museum than a Japanese monument, the current room they were in had floors made of wood-planks and a balcony which was sort of a second floor.

There was also glass display cases full of historical artefacts, one was filled with miniature soldiers re-enacting a famous battle in Japanese history. The family had to keep Dewey from touching the case and getting them kicked out before they found Louie and brought him home.

Not that it would be easy to find Louie, the place was absolutely packed, they could barely move, or see a foot in front of them, apart from that, this was the last day of the tournament, the only reason Violet knew Louie was in here is that he'd been thrust into the limelight as a finalist. So all-in-all the McDucks had a limited amount of time to find someone in a crowded room.

"Webby, you're here!" - Lena's voice cut through all the background chatter of others, the teenager squeezed past a few people before arriving beside the group and hugging Webby. - "Others." - She nodded, still hugging the younger girl.

"Lena!" - The girl cried, hugging the smaller girl. - "Where's Violet?" - She asked, looking about for the Hummingbird.

Lena let her friend go. - "She's getting ready to play."

"More importantly," - Della interrupted. - "Where's Louie?"

"Haven't seen him since last night." - The girl shrugged.

"What happened last night?"

"Me an Violet ran into him last night at the hotel, we didn't even get to say a word before he'd locked himself in his room."

"So why don't we just go to his hotel room and wait for him there?" - Dewey suggested boredly, as he ignored Huey try and explain chess to him for what felt like the 100th time.

"Not going to work." - Lena remarked, looking rather bored herself. - "The coordinators had everyone clear out their rooms this morning, he's not going back to the hotel."

Webby turned to face Scrooge and Della. - "So what now?"

Scrooge scratched his long whisper and surveyed the very little area he could.

"We figure out what Louie wants and use it to our advantage."

"So what does he want?"

"The trophy." - Lena said, before anyone suggested any other ideas. - "Every time he's not playing, he's eyeing that thing." - She gestured over to the glass encased award.

Scrooge moved over to the silver cup, with his family following closely behind. The trophy was nothing special, just a regular metallic-coloured prize attached to a wooden base with a plaque, reading simply. - '1st place at Chess tournament, donated 1723.'

"Why does this trophy look so familiar?" - The Billionaire asked to no one in particular, as he reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out the book he was reading earlier. He flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking found. - "This trophy is the same one given to King George the 1st of England in 1723 by an unknown party."

"Unknown party?" - Della repeated in a suspicious tone, which enlightened the rest of the group to the thought the pair shared.

"The trophy belonged to Kovax?"

"Great!" - Dewey chimed. - "Now we know what Louie's after, let's take it." - The current youngest McDuck pushed forward and managed to lay his hand on the glass case before he was blocked by another figure dressed in a red vest and bowtie.

"Excuse me. What do you think you're doing." - The duck said with hoax politeness.

Scrooge stepped forward. - "I'd like to take a look at the trophy."

The man's fake smile wavered slightly. - "Sorry sir, I can't allow that."

"Oh. If this is about money, it's no issue."

"I'm sorry Mr McDuck, but this is not an auction. The trophy will only be taken out of the case for the final match and then handed to the winner. A few pictures will be taken and then the trophy will be given back to it's rightful owner." - He spoke like he was reading off of a secret.

"But-"

The man interrupted. - "The competition is beginning, I suggest you find a place to stand and watch." - Finished, the man took a step back, pulled a rag from inside his vest and began polishing the glass case.

The group, not having any other option, stood off to the side like every other spectator, soon a pair of doors at the end of the room opened, and a group of about twelve people entered. Four were dressed as staff, the other eight however were dressed in more casual clothing. Taking a closer look, it was easy to pick Violet out of the crowd, but Louie was harder to spot.

The thief wasn't wearing the jacket that he'd seemingly grown so fond of, instead he was wearing a white button-down shirt, black tie and a pair of glasses. He had even combed his once messy and wild hair back, completing the look of a chess champion.

There was an opening speech, but the McDucks didn't listen to it, all of their attention was focused solely on Louie, and by the look he was giving them, it seemed he wasn't listening either. There was a round of applause, which drew both parties from their trances, then the games began.

The tournament was based off of a bracket system, out of the sixty-four that had started, only eight remained, meaning there would be only seven matches today, all of which would determine which two of the eight would advance to the finals, and by the way things were going it was obvious which two were going to be facing off.

"He's a natural!" - Scrooge commented in amazement, watching as his great-nephew outplayed each of his adversaries effortlessly.

"Too good." - Lena muttered, the teen knowing that something was off about this whole situation.

Soon enough the competitors had dwindled down to two, and a small intermission was announced before the final match would take place.

Webby, Lena and Huey went to go and congratulate Violet, who had easily beaten out her rivals, while the remaining family members went to go find Louie, who had mysteriously disappeared once his penultimate game had concluded.

"Louie!" - Dewey shouted, as he half-heartedly searched for his younger brother, Scrooge had decided it would be easier to find who they were looking from, if the three split up. So while Scrooge searched the main hall, and Della checked the gardens just outside the main keep. Dewey was delegated to deal with the bathrooms.

"Yeah, yeah I got it..." - Louie's voice echoed in the empty hallway. Dewey didn't know where he was, but at that moment it didn't matter. - "...She's good, I don't think the glasses are gonna be enough for this..." - There was a pause. - "...Have you met me? Of course I have a plan!.." - There was another pause. - "...Yeah I'll have Lucy on standby for if things go bad..." - A third pause. - "...Be at the rendezvous point for -"

Three chimes rung out from the PA system, drowning Louie's voice out. - "The final match will begin in 2 minutes." - A voice announced, soon followed by multiple translations of it.

Dewey waited for another few seconds, when he didn't hear Louie, he knew he'd gone back to the main hall, ready to finish what he'd started. Sprinting back through the halls, Dewey reunited with the McDucks and Lena, just before the match began.

"I know how he's doing it!" - Dewey exclaimed, before being shushed by almost everyone around him.

"How's he doing it?" - Scrooge asked, as he watched two of the staff carefully remove the trophy from it's glass box.

"The glasses."

"What about his glasses?" - Huey asked.

"I don't know, he just mentioned them on the phone... He's using them to cheat somehow."

Della leaned closer to her middle child. - "Did he say anything else?"

"He said he doesn't think it's not enough."

"Damn straight it's not enough." - Lena smirked. - "Louie's going down!"

It had been a tight match so far, the two were locked in stalemate, each taking and losing pieces. Neither had said a word, too preoccupied with planning their next few moves, and adjusting their strategy accordingly.

Suddenly Violet spoke. - "I know who you are you know."

Louie just smiled. - "Do you now?"

"You're Louie Duck, brother of Hubert and Dewford. Great-Nephew of Scrooge."

"Smart and beautiful, you're quite the catch aren't you." - Louie flirted, as he took another of her pawns.

"Flattery will get you no where." - Remarked Violet as she took one of his knights.

Louie leaned closer to the table. - "It's not flattery if it's true."

Violet narrowed her eyes at the boy across from her. - "You're a con-artist and criminal, I don't believe a single word that escapes from your mouth."

Louie's smirk fell, replaced by a look of not anger or even annoyance but sadness. - "I may be a criminal, but I find no reason to lie to someone to who already knows the truth."

"To win... That's the reason you lie."

"I don't need to lie to win."

"From where I'm sitting, you need all the help you can get."

Louie adjusted his glasses, she was right, at this point his defeat was inevitable, she had somehow beaten Amelia's AI, Louie wasn't even mad, to be honest he was kind of impressed.

"Impressive, you've truly earned this victory."

Violet moved another piece, she only had to make one move to trap his king. - "You played well too."

Louie chuckled. - "We both now I've been cheating the entire tournament." - He noticed that she was about to checkmate him. - "Before you move that piece, I just wanted to say that I wasn't lying earlier."

Violet smiled shyly. - "I know." - Moving her piece, she ended the game, earning a deafening applause as she did so.

Staff, Lena, the McDucks, hell even Louie was clapping for her victory, sticking her hand out she readily accepted his handshake like he graciously accepted his loss. When his hand pulled back however, she still felt something in her palm, unfurling her hand, she noticed a crumbled piece of paper, it seemed to be a simple business card, flipping it over she read the text...

Louie Gold

Master Thief

Master Con-Artist

Master Forger

Thanks for the treasure.

A scream echoed through the room, the trophy was gone, somebody had stolen it. Turning around, Violet barely saw Louie halfway through the door, when he noticed her gaze, he winked before bolting through the door, she followed of course, the McDucks and Lena hot on her heels.

Louie was fast, and quite agile as well, ducking and weaving past objects as he ran, he had also started to shed his disguise, tossing his glasses, and unclipping his tie, his hair becoming undone as her ran.

"How are we going to catch him?" - Huey shouted, Violet and him having trouble keeping up with the much quicker people.

Lena surged forward, her eyes glowing a mystical silver colour, she skidded to a halt. - "I got him!" - Raising her arms and clenching her fists, a bolt of energy, similar to the colour of the glow of her eyes, shot forward.

Louie didn't even stop, mid jump he spun around and mumbled something and threw his hands forward, the bolt changed direction, slamming into the closest wall and encasing it in ice. And Louie landed and kept running.

All but Della stopped, Scrooge especially was in shock at the move. - "He countered?" - The Scotsman stuttered, dumbstruck for what was maybe the 3rd time in his long life.

Della continued to chase, only to follow Louie round a corner and completely lose him.

With no other option, the McDucks returned to the tournament, during their short absence, the trophy had been found, or at least pieces of the trophy had been.

"Whatever Louie wanted, seemed to be in the trophy." - Huey assessed.

Dewey sighed. - "And now he's got it."

The group stood in silence as the organisers apologised to Violet about the whole fiasco, but she was in a different place, as all she could focus on was the business card hidden deep in her pocket. Knowing that this would not be the last time she would be face-to-face with Louie Gold.

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

Chapter 31: Dealings in Cairo.

Chapter Text

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

The staggering scents of the spice market wafted through the air, pull-carts were stacked high with goods, crowds drifted along the cobble roads, and the sun sat high in the sky. The Egyptian Capital of Cairo was one beautiful place.

Apart from the cities normal occupants, who were dressed in their thobes and keffiyehs, and the tourist decked out in their visors and fanny-packs, there was one individual who stuck out look a sore thumb in the city of a thousand minarets. - Maybe it was his unkempt hair, or the combination of the emerald coloured jacket and dark aviator sunglasses, or perhaps it was the co*cky attitude that radiated off him with every step he took. But the teenage duck was one interesting character.

Turning a corner, the young man spotted his target: A young female duck in a sun hat sitting outside a local bistro. Sauntering on over, he took a seat opposite the women, and smiled his most appealing smile.

"I presume you're Katherine."

Katherine nodded and smiled. - "And that would mean you're Mr. Gold."

"Call me Louie." - He stuck his hand out, which the duck across from graciously accepted.

"So where is the painting I was asking about?"

"About that..." - She placed her drink on the table. - "My employer wants to meet in person, before he hands over the item in question."

"No problem. So will he be joining us for dinner?" - He casually looked around, looking for some mysterious figure that he would assume would be the seller.

"No. He is somewhat of a recluse, and would like to meet somewhere... private."

Louie experienced the familiar sensation of a shiver running up his spine. But still managed to put on a realistic looking smile.

"No problem, I think that this cafe is too crowded anyway."

"Please follow me then." - Quickly finishing her drink, Katrina paid what she owed, and left a sizeable tip, before leaving the small establishment to guide Louie where her boss was located. While he just dug his hands into his jacket pockets and casually followed the women leading him to his prize.

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

After what felt like thirty-minutes of walking, the pair stopped, or at least Katrina stuck her arm out and stopped the daydreaming Louie dead in his tracks.

"We're here."

"Here?" - Louie looked around, this place looked nothing what Louie imagined. - "I thought you said your Boss was rich, this looks like... the opposite of rich." - The street didn't look like anything that Louie expected. Yet Katrina seemed to ignore his comment, she just walked on over to a door on the side of a building.

"Over here." - She called out.

Louie stood beside Katrina as she rapped 3 times on the metal. The door opened slightly before slamming back shut and opening fully this time, revealing a tall and well dressed jackal, naturally Louie stepped forward and stuck his hand out.

"I presume you're the one who owns the painting."

Katrina placed her hand on the teen's shoulder. - "You presume wrong." - She remarked, stepping past him and into the building. - "He's only a bodyguard."

Louie followed the woman inside and nodded to the towering bodyguard as he passed, the bull didn't reply, he just closed and locked the door once the two had passed through.

Katrina led him down a hallway, into an vacant dining room, a large wooden table, decorated with a white tablecloth and lit candlesticks, but no one actual sat at the table, even though it could accommodate what looked like 12.

"Please take a seat. The meeting shall begin in a few minutes." - Katrina addressed before leaving the room so quickly, she didn't get a chance to hear Louie's question about seating arrangements.

Shrugging, the teenager took a seat in the middle of one of the longer sides of the table, it had been a while since Louie had such a simple job, somehow he always got roped into heists where his life ended being on the line, either he was fighting insane paramilitary soldiers or bloodthirsty pirates.

Today he's just buying a painting from some wealthy Egyptian, and then he'd be on his way. No risk. No danger. This would probably be the simplest job in his career... and yet he couldn't shake the troublesome feeling in his gut.

The creak of an opening door caused Louie to sit up.

"Mr. Gold." - A large, fat tiger entered the room, and immediately Louie could smell something about him stunk, and he didn't mean the tobacco that clung to the man's cheap suit.

Louie removed his sunglasses and tucked them in one of his jacket's inner pockets before he shook the tigers sweaty hand. - "I really hope you are the seller, I've already had one awkward encounter today."

"Oh yes Katrina told me about your little run in with Hugo!" - He chuckled, before wiping a tear from his eye. - "Please call me Wajhan."

"Ok Wajhan, how about we get right on to business." - He

"Oh!" - The man said with fake surprise. - "I thought my assistant had filled you in, but I've got another buyer lined up... I'm sorry about dropping this on you so suddenly, especially after you came all the way to Cairo..."

Louie had to resist the urge to punch the slimy tiger. - "What about our deal though?"

"That's the thing though," - Wajhan grinned. - "The new buyer will be arriving soon, and when he does, I will let each of you bid for the painting... highest offer wins!"

So this guy had set this whole thing up in order to squeeze more money out of the deal. - "I was under the assumption that this was a deal not an auction."

"Unfortunately circ*mstances have changed."

Louie grit his teeth in annoyance. He may have been a criminal, but he always stuck to his word. This guy however... he was nothing more than a double-crossing liar, he reminded Louie of the slimy car-salesman who had tried to scam his Uncle Donald a couple of years ago, Louie had managed to convince the guy to bump the price down on the old piece of junk, right before he'd tanked his business into the ground with a couple of bad online reviews.

"When will this second buyer be arriving?"

Wajhan checked his watch. - "20 minutes."

"Looks like we have some time to kill." - Louie smirked, sitting back in his seat. - "How should we spend it?"

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

A knocking at the door, drawing the overweight tiger's attention off of Louie, excusing himself, he left to go greet his guest, Louie silently praised his rival bidder for interrupting Wajhan's long, and frankly boring story.

Louie readjusted his seating position as he waited for Wajhan to return to the room along with the other guest, when he finally did, Louie was equally shocked and yet unsurprised at who entered.

"-and this is where out auction will be taking place." - Wajhan spoke as he entered back into the room, leading Louie's opposing buyer and their entourage, before turning back to Louie. - "Let me introduce everyone, Mr Gold meet-"

"Scrooge McDuck." - Louie interrupted, as he reached forward and grabbed Scrooge's hand. - "How could I not know who the richest duck in the world is. It's a pleasure to finals meet you."

Scrooge barely held in his grimace as he shook Louie's hand, knowing that the rest of the family was experiencing the same feeling as the ancient Scotsman.

"Uh... Nice to meet you too..." - Scrooge hesitated. - "...Mr Gold."

Wajhan watched both men in awe, he just knew by the time this auction was over he'd be a lot richer, hell he'd gotten Scrooge McDuck to join in! By the end of the day, he'd be able to buy his own mansion! Granted probably one not as big as McDuck Manor, but one big enough so he could live comfortably for the rest of his life.

"Katrina. Bring in the painting... I think it's time to begin this thing."

The woman just nodded in disappeared into another room, before swiftly returning, now wearing white gloves and carrying the painting very carefully, before placing it on a stand on the table.

Once everybody noticed the painting had been set on the table, everyone took a seat, with Scrooge sitting opposite Louie, and Huey, Dewey, Della and Webby sitting beside him. Wajhan, sat by himself at the end of the table, on one side of him sat Katrina and on the other side the painting on it's stand.

"Deceit. The penultimate piece by artist Zachariah Bell. Let's start the bidding at 200,000." - Scrooge raised his hand, which earned a smile from Wajhan. - "200,000."

"205,000."

Scrooge slammed his fist down. - "210,000."

"215,000." - Louie raised, the smile never leaving his face.

The two followed the same pattern for a while, the total price of the painting reaching $500,000, making Scrooge more than a little nervous, and he knew Louie knew why.

"I'm going to make one final offer for the painting, Mr. Wajhan." - Louie smirked, sitting forward in his chair. - "$600,000."

Wajhan gave him a strange look.

"From previous experiences, I know Scrooge only brings $500,000 to every auction, not because he's a penny-pincher, but because its the most he can take from his company without having to sign a load of paperwork."

"Well If you're going to buy the painting, where's your money?"

"Online banking," - Louie said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. - "I don't have to carry around a heavy suitcase or have to worry that someone could steal it from me. Anyhow..." - Louie turned his attention back to Wajhan. - "So I'll give you the money and you hand me my painting."

"I'm sorry Mr.Gold, but I don't think that's enough after all." - The man remarked with a smug look on his face.

"What do you mean? Scrooge can't compete with that, you can either take my offer or his, which is 100,000 smaller than mine, not only that but the painting isn't even worth that much."

"Honestly I couldn't give less of a sh*t about the painting. But I know you do... and I know who you are Mr.Gold: The Prince of Thieves; The Mouth; The Picasso of Crime-"

"Yeah, yeah you know who I am." - Louie interrupted. - "So what?"

"So what?" - Wajhan laughed. - "You have a bounty on your head worth millions!"

"So your plan is to turn me in for my bounty?"

He smiled in an unnerving manner. - "I haven't actually made up my mind yet... Maybe you can convince me to not turn you in."

"You're blackmailing me?"

"Blackmail is such an ugly word... but it's not a wrong one. Anyway I see only two choices: You either can hand over $6million and you can take the painting and leave; Or I can turn you in, collect the bounty, and sell the painting to Scrooge for $500,000... Either way I make a killing!" - The Tiger laughed.

Louie laughed along with him, but in a much more sarcastic manner, earning a confused look from Wajhan. - "I have to say I agree with you, there are only two options: Either you take my offer and I leave with the painting; Or... I take the painting and leave you with nothing."

Another belly laugh rang out. - "Are you crazy or just an idiot? Haven't you noticed Hugo standing behind you?" - He was practically wheezing at this point. - "I mean you're not even armed!"

Louie had noticed Wajhan's bodyguard enter earlier, for someone of a such a large stature he was surprisingly subtle.

"Yeah I noticed him... and I don't carry any sort of firearm, because their messy, and make everything a lot more complicated. I don't need to rely on them like other criminals."

"You're one egotistical boy, aren't you?"

"And you're a dam fool."

The McDuck sat in their seats quietly, they didn't know how to react what was happening, all were feeling split on what to do, should they help Louie? Or leave the tiger to sell him out, maybe then they could convince the teen to return.

After about a minute of tense silence, Wajhan had had enough. - "Hugo!" - He shouted. - "Take him down.

The large jackal suddenly surged forward, he grabbed Louie by the collar before lifting him up and slamming him into the closest wall. Hugo pulled his arm back and waited for his bosses next command. Across the room, Scrooge was using his cane to hold back Webby, Huey and Della from leaping across the table and helping their youngest. Dewey seemed to be just as angry but managed to keep his composure.

Louie just kept smiling, even as he was quite close to getting punched by someone by someone about twice his size. - "LUCY NOW!" - He shouted.

There was a sound of glass shattering from somewhere in the building, before a hummingbird burst into the room and dropped kicked Hugo, who released Louie before he fell.

"What the hell?" - Wajhan muttered, staring at the girl who'd just knocked out his trusty bodyguard.

"You have your friends, I have my mine." - He shrugged. - "Now... Like I said before, you had a choice, so I'll be taking my painting and then I'll be going!" - He smiled.

"Why you-" - Wajhan cut himself off, scared by the look the hummingbird was giving him.

Louie gently took the painting and tucked it under his arm, he then called for his friend to follow before disappearing out of the building.

The McDuck's followed the two out, just managing to see Louie and Lucy sprinting into an alley, again they followed. They watched as Louie broke the painting over his knee, and begin scavenging through it's remains.

"Ah-ha!" - Louie said, picking up what looked like a piece of folded paper.

"LOUIE!" - Della shouted charging forward.

Louie signalled to Lucy, the girl quickly scaling the closest building, while he hid the peice of paper in one of his jacket's pockets.

"You know I've always preferred the escalator to the stairs." - He joked as he lifted his arm and flicked his wrist, a wire shooting out from his sleeve, before Louie is pulled from the ground and onto the rooftops were Lucy was waiting for him.

"Should we go after him Uncle Scrooge?" - Huey asked, his eyes still glued to the rooftops.

"No... by the time we get up there, he'll already be gone."

"So what now?" - Dewey questioned.

"Now..." - Scrooge picked up the pieces of the broken painting. - "We figure out what was in this painting.

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

Chapter 32: Confrontation.

Chapter Text

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

The St. Canard museum of history was nothing special in Louie's opinion. Over the past 2 years, the teenager had developed a keen interest in history, geography, cartography, languages and a whole range of other topics which his family had tired to pressure him into liking, (He did end up discovering a passion for them but through independent studying and focusing on the parts of them that captivated him.) and he'd been all over the world, so he'd seen a fare few museums, most which were leaps and bounds better than this one.

But he wasn't here to judge the layout or architecture. He was here to steal the next clue that would eventual lead him to Kovax's treasure, according to Amelia and her research, the next piece of the puzzle was hidden in the handle of the pirate Captain's cutlass, which was being displayed in the ancient weaponry exhibit.

Thankfully this museum's security was much more lax than the one he ended up being caught in in Mexico. But to be fair, he'd only been caught due to GRIMLOCK and Interpol's interference, but that was then, and now? He'd not only bested Victor Grim but it seems he'd seemingly sent Agent Bernard running for the hills, not having heard from her in some time.

Slipping by another guard, Louie entered into a large hall decorated with blades of varying sharpness, unloaded cannons and one rebuilt trebuchet. On one side of the room was a series of mannequins sitting on a raised platform, each depicting a different point in history, there was a Medieval archer, a Roman Soldier, even a Viking. But the one that caught Louie's eye was the one dressed like a Pirate.

Stepping up onto the platform, Louie began examining the sword in the Pirate Mannequin's hand, it was exceedingly sharp, with a leather wrapped handle and had a skull-and-bones insignia engraved into the pommel.

This was it. This was Kovax's cutlass!

Plucking it from the wooden hand, Louie held the sword up to the light, watching as light reflected off the polished metal. - "Easy as pie!" - He laughed.

Click!

The sword was ripped from Louie's hand. - "Why'd I have to go and jinx it like that?" - He muttered.

"Y'know it's illegal to be in the museum after closing." - A female voice quipped.

Louie slowly turned around. He expected to come face-to-face with a security guard, or maybe a police officer. Not... whatever this was.

"And it's also not Halloween."

The young women had tanned feathers and red hair, which was tied back wore a purple-coloured hoodie, utility belt and domino-mask. With light-weight yellow body armour over the hoodie. A large 'Q' was spray-painted on the main tunic piece. She was also wielding a crossbow in her left hand, the sword in her right.

"Who are you supposed to be anyway?"

"I'm Quiverwing-Quack!" - The super-heroine remarked, posing confidently.

"So what you're some type of GizmoDuck knockoff?"

"I'm better than GizmoDuck!"

"Well good for you." - He said in the most sarcastic way possible. - "But I'm on a strict timetable, so just hand over the sword and I'll be on my way."

"You're not going anywhere!"

"Yeah... that would have be intimidating if you weren't a foot shorter than me."

"I'm not a foot shorter than you!" - She stomped.

"Whatever you say half-pint..." - Louie dropped from the raised platform, placing his hands in his jacket's pockets as he advanced masked heroine.

Quiverwing snarled, as she modified the currently loaded crossbow bolt. - "I'll show you..."

Louie was expecting this vigilante to be all bark and no bite, using the crossbow just to intimidate him into giving up, not actually shooting at him, but he was quickly proven wrong. Diving to his right, the teenage thief just managed to dodge the bolt that the women had fired at his feet, watching as a putty like substance covered the floor where his feet just were.

"What the hell is that?"

The woman seemingly ignored his question, and began reloading her crossbow. - "You're fast. But that doesn't mean you're going to win!" - She shouted as she fired another bolt out.

"Careful." - Louie chastised as he leapt backwards up on to the platform. Another putty projectile exploding at his feet. - "You almost hit me." - He smiled.

She loaded another bolt and fired it, noticing it was a different one than the previous two, Louie snatched the circular shield from the Viking mannequin and threw it, the second the two collided a net sprang and encased the shield.

The two stood in silence, and stared the other down.

Louie sighed. - "I guess we're doing this." - He quickly dived out of the way as another bolt shot forth. He quickly zig-zagged between the display cases until he escaped out of view of the heroine.

Rearming her crossbow, Quiverwing stashed the sword on her back, she began her search for the green-clad thief.

"I thought the only hero in St. Canard was Darkwing Duck." - His voice echoed through the hall. - "Are you some sort of crazed fan-girl or something?"

"No. I'm his crime-fighting partner!"

There was a silence. - "Oh I get it, you're his sidekick!"

She spotted a shadowy figure move across the room. - "No! I'm his partner!" - She shouted, before firing another putty bolt at it. The figure dodging, before disappearing back into the shadows.

"Stop running and fight!" - She shouted sprinting over to the last place she saw him.

Out of nowhere a knife flew towards her and before she could block it sliced through the crossbow wire and imbedded itself into the wall behind her.

"You gotta love the Japanese and their kunai's." - He stepped forward, and smiled. - "Now what are you going to do without your little crossbow?"

Smiling, the teen collapsed the two limbs of her crossbow, before holstering it, she then reached behind her back and drew a small metal cylinder, flicking her wrist, the cylinder extended into a full length metal staff.

Louie looked utterly dumbfounded. - "Are you an armoury or something?"

"No I'm just prepared." - She sprinted forward and swung the staff, Louie just managing to avoid it, but not the kick she delivered straight to his guts.

"Cheap shot." - He wheezed as he retreated further and further backwards.

"Said the man who used a throwing knife to destroy my crossbow!"

Grabbing the Halbert beside him, Louie deflected her next blow.

"I was just evening the playing-field." - The two's weapons clashed again. - "Just like I'm doing now."

Again and again, the two's attacks ere either dodged or blocked, the two being seemingly even matched in combat, and neither was able to gain an upper hand.

"Pause. Give me... Give me a second to catch my breath..." - Louie requested as he sat and leaned against one of the exhibits for support.

Quiverwing was using her staff as a makeshift cane. - "Fine with... me." - She huffed

Sucking in a bit more oxygen, Louie attempted to make a bit of small talk while they rested. - "Y'know what's weird."

"What's weird?"

He pulled himself off the floor. - "We've been fighting for about 20minutes, making a lot of noise, and I haven't seen any guard come investigate."

"Yeah, that means that we probably tripped a silent alarm or something." - Her eyes went wide. - "Oh no."

"What do you mean o-"

A giant cloud of purple smoke appeared, aptly cutting Louie off, the cloud swallowed a large portion of the hall, and a voice echoed.

"I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the wrong number that wakes up you up at 3am. I am Darkwing Duck!" - The smoke cleared and a masked duck wearing a trench-coat, hat and cape appeared. - "Now evildoers, get ready to taste justi- Gosa- I mean Quiverwing what are you doing here?"

Quiverwing for some reason looked annoyed. - "Dealing with this criminal." - She vaguely gestured over Louie who awkwardly waved at the older superhero.

"Not tonight you're not, its a school night." - He chastised.

Before she could rebut, Louie started laughing.

His exhaustion seemingly vanished as he chuckled away. - "You're not even his sidekick... You're his... You're his daughter..." - He begin to crack-up again. - "Gotta get Daddy to save you?"

Blushing. The heroine turned back to the teenager. - "Sh-Shut up." - She stammered. When that didn't do anything, she tried again. - "Shut up!" - She said a bit more confidently, but again he just kept laughing at her. Her embarrassment finally turning into anger, she screamed at him. - "SHUT UP!"

Louie was seemingly too caught up in laughter, that by the time he noticed her fist flying towards it was too late. Catching him square in the face, he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

"Gosalyn!" - Drake whisper-shouted at his daughter, surprised to what he'd just seen.

"What? He had it coming."

BANG!

"Oh hey guys!" - Launchpad greeted, crawling out of the bike that he'd just imbedded in one of the nearest walls.

"Hey LP." - Gosalyn greeted, acting as if she didn't just knock out a guy 10-seconds before.

"Oh you got him!" - The cheerful duck commented as he got a better look at the crime scene and unconscious criminal. - "Wait I know him! He's Dewey's brother!"

"What?

"I knew he looked familiar." - Gosalyn remarked nudging him with her foot.

Drake sighed, as he pinched the bridge of his nose. - "This isn't good." - He pulled a pair of purple handcuffs from her cloak. - "LP call your Boss, I don't what this getting out of hand more than it already has.

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

"Uh... my head." - Louie groaned, as he drifting back into consciousness. In an attempt to push himself to his feet, he noticed his hands were cuffed around a handrail. - "I'm getting real sick an' tired of waking up in shackles." - He muttered.

Readjusting his footing, he successfully pushed himself up onto his feet. He took a second to examine the set of cuffs. They were standard issue, with the only sort of modification seemed to be to the frame and the colour not to the actually locking mechanism. Picking this would be a piece-of-cake.

"Louie?" - Della spoke, alerting him to the presence of the McDuck family. He just ignored them and focused on escaping his cuffs.

"Lad," - Scrooge tried next. - "Talk to us. We can help you!" - He begged, taking a step closer to the teenager, Kovax's cutlass in his hand.

"Please Louie!"

"C'mon Louie!" - Their voices continued to cry out, which only served to distract Louie.

"You can come back home Louie."

Finally that comment annoyed him enough to respond. - "Come home? Why would I go back with you?"

"Be-Because we're your family Louie!" - Huey stuttered out.

Louie laughed bitterly. - "Some family you turned out to be."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Louie stopped attempting to pick his cuffs and turned to face them. - "That, exactly that. You're so blinded by your own ego, you didn't even realise the mistakes you made."

"Mistakes? What mistakes?"

"Just proved my point."

"Enough Louie," - Scrooge barked. - "Once we've helped free you from Matthew's clut-"

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Free me?" - Louie interrupted. - "I don't need you to free me from anything."

"But he-"

"He offered me a way out, and I took it. It was either that or stay at the Manner with all of you."

Della was offended. - "How can you say that? We managed to keep you out of Prison."

"By kidnapping me... I've been to prison before, it's no picnic, but it's better than being dragged along as free labour on a possible lethal trek to a jungle or castle or something."

"Well you weren't always the golden child, remember the timetub accident?" - She hissed.

"Oh please, it was a foolish mistake I made when I was 11." - He spat back. - "Do you want to hear a mistake that caused more harm than mine? You disappearing for 10-years!"

There was a collective gasp from the family, and Della was positively furious. - "That wasn't my fault. The rocket failed and I was left stranded on the moon!" - She snapped.

"And what would've happened if the rocket didn't fail? You would've just flew around Jupiter and came back?"

"I- Um..."

"What about the decision to steal the rocket? Huh. You took off in that thing with 3 close to hatching eggs at home. You didn't think about anyone but yourself." - His words were fueled by the bubbling anger that had been growing for the 16-years. - "Your choice divided the family, resulting in me, Huey and Dewey growing up in poverty, back then I wasn't worried about surviving my next encounter with a bunch of fairy-tale monsters, it was whether or not Uncle Donald had made enough money that we could eat that night!"

"Louie I-" - Her son's rant had caused her her fury to melt away and left her with just heartbreak.

"Stop. Just stop. Stop acting like we're family. Stop acting like you love me. Just stop."

"But Louie I do love you." - The older duck lovingly remarked, as she reached for her son who gone back to facing the wall.

"No. You loved Rebel." - There was a soft clicking noise. - "And I'm not Rebel."

In a split second, Louie had spun around and secured one cuff to Della's outstretched hand, and attached the other to the handrail.

Using the shock to his advantage, Louie then charged forward and snatched the sabre straight from Scrooge's hand.

As he sprinted out of the exhibit, he vaguely heard Scrooge shout something before Huey, Webby and Dewey were chasing him, he had a good enough lead that he wasn't worried about them. What he was worried about however was Launchpad, Darkwing and Quiverwing who had just appeared at the end of the hall, cutting off the path to the main entrance, and his exit.

He ducked into a connecting hallway, leading him into the museum's Dinosaur exhibit, which had a large dinosaur skeleton situated in the middle, which sat directly under a skylight, with no other option in sight, Louie hoped the red rope that surrounded the exhibit's centrepiece, before scaling the tail. Dewey and Huey tried followed him up and it seemed that years of adventuring had honed their skills, they were quickly gaining on him, but he still had the advantage.

Once he'd reached the dinosaur's skull, once he figured he was close enough for his gauntlet's wire to reach the skylight, he flickered his wrist and began rising up off the display, narrowly avoiding Dewey's lunge forward.

With one hand focused on keeping his grapple-wire steady and the other holding Kovax's sword, Louie used his legs to kick open the skylight before he scampered out of the museum and onto it's roof. Louie sighed.

"Finally fr- OH COME ON!" - He exclaimed, watching as both Webby and Quiverwing also climbed up onto the roof. - "How did you two get up here?"

Quiverwing trained her crossbow on the thief. - "You think you're the only one with a grapple hook?"

Webby took a step forward. - "Louie stop... please." - She pleaded, her eyes glossy with unshed teams.

He took a step backwards. - "Sorry Webs."

"Enough talk." - Quiverwing quickly adjusted her aim and pulled the trigger on the crossbow, the second it happened Webby surged forward and shoved the heroine, messing up her aim and causing the net-bolt she had armed to wrap around an AC unit.

"What the hell?" - The girl snapped, shoving Webby back. - "I had him in my sights."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help my self." - She quietly apologised, staring at the space where Louie was just standing.

Quiverwing sighed. - "He's gone," - She reloaded her crossbow. - "All because of you." - Firing, the heroine used her grapple-bolt to escape the roof, leaving Webby to wallow alone.

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

Chapter 33: Betrayal.

Chapter Text

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

Louie felt his muscles burn as he sprinted through the streets of St.Canard. He was exhausted before he began to run, but now it felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.

Slowing down as he exited an alleyway, Louie quickly dove backwards as a police-cruiser zoomed by. Once he was sure it had passed, he silently thanked the vehicle for giving him a second to catch his breath before breaking back into a sprint.

He pushed his body to the limits to try and arrive at his destination quicker, already running late to his meeting to Matthew on the docks, where the two would begin their hunt for the treasure. Unfortunately it seemed fate had other plans.

In a split-second something had latched onto his leg and he was dragged into an another alley and restrained from a pipe that ran from one building to the other.

"Oh it's you." - Louie remarked, staring at Quiverwing, who from his angle was upside-down.

"Yeah it's me." - She replied, sounding smug. - "Bet you thought you escaped."

"I may have..." - Angling his head, Louie used the sword to severe the wire holding him up, as he dropped, he flipped and landed on his feet. Noticing the heroine's crossbow trained on him, he took a step back. - "Calm down, I just don't want all my blood rushing to my head."

"I can fix that." - Before the thief could object, she shot a net-bolt at him which unfurled and wrapped around him, he struggled, but since he couldn't really move his legs, he fell over.

"On second thought, dangling from a pipe doesn't seem so bad."

Quiverwing turned around and began reloading her crossbow, seemingly ignoring Louie.

"You were a lot more chatty before... You still upset because you needed your Daddy to save you?" - His tone mimicking one that somebody would use with a baby.

"Y'know I'm jealous of you." - She said, fitting a different head on her loaded cross bolt.

"Why? Is it my good looks, my amazing intellect, my modesty?"

"No. You have a family that loves you."

Louie groaned as he rolled onto his side. - "Did you hear any of my rant in the museum?" - The arbalest didn't respond, which ironically gave the thief the answer he needed. - "So that's a no."

"It doesn't matter what you said, Dewey told me everything."

"Dewey?" - He laughed. - "Dewey is the most unreliable narrator ever! If it's a story that doesn't involve him, he doesn't care, and if it is about him, he embellishes everything." - He rolled back onto his back. - "Do you want to hear the actual story?

"Why not." - The heroine leaned against a wall. - "It doesn't matter what you say, you're still going to jail."

"Yeah, yeah I know, I don't know what Dewey told you about me, but I was the youngest McDuck, my brothers and I were raised by my Uncle Donald due to out Mother abandoning us before we hatched. We grew up poor, and didn't know of our rich family until we were 10, then I spent a year nearly dying on adventure after adventure, then my Mom came back out of nowhere... and then for 3-years I was in hell, blamed for every mistake, ignored, left-behind..." - Louie stopped talking. - "So I left, and yeah, I don't lead the most honest of lives, but I'm not a bad person."

Gosalyn was at a loss for words, what Dewey had told seemed to be only positive, and he painted Louie as an ungrateful criminal, but now it seemed he was more of a tragic hero.

"My parents died when I was young." - She began, not questioning why she was telling this random thief her life story. - "My Grandfather raised me for most of my life, he was an inventor, so I spent my childhood messing around in a lab, building this, fiddling with that." - She swallowed. - "Then he got a job and he built a device. It was unstable, so he tried to shut it down, only for his boss to turn and use it on him, He's been gone for 5-years now, Darkwing took me in after that, made me who I am today."

Now it was Louie's turn to be at a loss for words. After a minute of silence, he settled on a joke. - "I guess neither of us have had great lives, huh?"

"I guess not." - She half-laughed.

Louie finally managed to shift into a sitting position. - "I think under different circ*mstances, we could've been good friends."

"Possibly." - She smiled.

"What now, you take me to jail?"

"Yep. I'm sorry but that's the way things go. You commit a crime, you go to jail."

Louie shifted in an attempt to stop himself from falling over again. - "I understand... But you also have to understand that I can't- I won't go back."

"I'm sorry but there's nothing I can really do for you."

"You could let me go."

She replied without hesitation. - "You know I can't do that."

"Then I'm sorry for what happens next." - Taking a deep-breath and muttering something under his breath, the metal/plastic-mesh of the net that encased Louie, began glowing red-hot.

"What the hell?" - Gosalyn stared at him in shock.

The glowing stopped, and Louie flexed which caused the weakened wire net to break apart.

"How did you do that."

"A magician never reveals his secrets." - He remarked, before he again started muttering.

Gosalyn reached for another bolt to load into her crossbow, only to feel her arm cease movement and seemingly locking in place and was unable to be moved. Then her leg locked, then her neck, eventually it spread across her entire body, leaving her as stiff as a statue, and the only part of her able to move being her eyes.

"Don't panic, it's a simple paralysis spell, it will wear off in a minute, but by then I'll be gone... I'm sorry for leaving you here, but I've got a boat to catch." - With one last smile, Louie left, leaving the frozen teen wishing she got one more punch in on him.

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

The Scarlett I bobbed up and down in the St.Canard docks as it waited for it's most important passenger to arrive.

"Where is he?" - Matthew questioned, as he paced back and forth on the deck of the ship. - "I hope he didn't double-cross me." - Turning to his bodyguard, the billionaire expected words of support, but it seemed that the bodyguard was more concentrated on the fishing boats in the harbour than on him. - "June!"

"What?" - She deadpanned, turning to face him.

"What if he took the sword and uses it to find the treasure before us? It will make all that I've worked for redundant... All that my father worked for redundant."

"Calm down," - She groaned. - "The guy's too rooted in morals to screw you other."

"Then where is he?" - He snapped at his bodyguard, who seemingly didn't acknowledge his anger.

She paused. - "Stuck in traffic?"

Matthew tutted. - "Let's just hope he gets here quickly, I don't want to be here long, after all, this City isn't known for it's hospitable locals." - He snarled.

"You know I'm from St.Canard right?" - She said straight-faced.

"And I would say that you're not very compassionate and sympathetic person."

"True."

Still angry, Matthew stomped back into the interior of the ship, while June stayed out on the deck, watching boats pass and waiting for Louie to arrive.

After another 10 or-so minutes of waiting, the thief arrived, sure he was panting like crazy and smelled like melting-plastic, but he had the sword and that was all that mattered.

"You're late." - He just nodded in reply, too busy catching his breath to speak. - "MATT!"

The Billionaire burst through the pair of doors separating the deck and the bridge. - "Finally. I've been waiting here for an hour."

Louie gave him a look. - "No 'Thanks for getting the sword for me and doing all the hard work'?"

"Give me the sword."

Rolling his eyes, Louie slipped the cutlass off his back and tossed it to his ungrateful colleague, who began roaming his eyes over the weapon's handle. "Perfect." - He smiled, retreating inside, with June and Louie behind him.

There was no crew on the Scarlett I. Since Kovax Enterprises was an industry on the forefront of technology manufacturing (With the only real competition they had being Waddle), the ship had been fitted with an AI guidance system, meaning the only people on board of the ship were the 3 teenagers.

Placing the sword down on the large table in the centre of the room. Matthew retreated for a second to retrieve the other two puzzle pieces Louie had stolen.

"Ready?" - Louie asked as he picked the sword back up.

"Ready!"

Unscrewing the pommel on the end of the sword, Louie reached inside the handle and pulled a small bit of bronzed-coloured paper. He then moved the blade out of the way, as her grabbed the other two bits of paper, one hidden in the base of the chess-trophy and the other in the frame of the painting.

He examined all three, before positioning them on top of one another.

"Coordinates." - Matthew marvelled.

"Precisely. And if I'm not mistaken..." - He grabbed a nearby map and used a marker to circle a point in the middle of an Indian Ocean. - "That's where it is."

"Does that mean-"

"Yep. We found it."

Matthew and Louie began cheered while June just stood back, not being as invested in the treasure as the other two.

"I've got to call the others," - Louie rejoiced, taking out his phone. - "We're gonna be rich!"

Matthew surged forward and grabbed Louise's phone. - "Call them tomorrow, tonight we celebrate."

Normally Louie would see something wrong with a scenario like this, but tonight, he was too happy to pick up on the subtle cues, he usually would pick up.

Instead he just took the champagne flute that June handed him and downed it.

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

"Uhh." - Louie moaned, as he awoke. He tried shifting his arms only to find they were restrained. - "Again?" - He grunted.

Checking his surroundings, Louie found himself tied to the mast of an earily familiar boat.

"Ah he's awake."

Looking up, Louie saw Matthew, June and a whole lot of strangely dressed individuals around him.

"What's happening." - He asked, still sort of out of it.

"Well you see Louie." - Matt began as he stepped forward, he had shredded his expensive suit jacket, and had rolled up his sleeves and had donned a Tricorn hat and and a sword holder which seemed to be carrying Kovax's cutlass. - "I was never really going to give you the treasure."

"What?"

"I was never going to give you the treasure. After I learned that you had found the next step to finding it, I knew I needed your help. But I was never going to give you the treasure."

"You bastard." - The thief spat, his mind replaying all of the events coming up to now. - "You drugged me?"

"Yes I did." - He threw his hands in the air. - "And I also purchased this ship! Does it seem familiar, my friend?"

Taking another look around, Louie's eyes widened. - "No. No, you didn't."

A deep chuckle erupted from behind Louie. - "Yes. Yes, he did."

"GoldTooth." - Louie cried. Trying to turn his head around. - "You son of A bitch!"

"You should mind your MANNERS!" - Appearing from behind, GoldTooth... slammed a fist into Louie's stomach, breaking a few of his ribs in the process.

Louie spat up a bit of blood, but didn't let his resolve break. Staring the pirate dead in the eyes. - "You're a spineless sell out."

GoldTooth again chuckled. - "I may be a spineless sell-out, but I'm not a fool." - He took a step back. - "Thanks to the deal I made, not only do I get to retire comfortably, but I know that my men are looked after, and most importantly, I get to see you suffer."

"It's like killing 3-birds with 1-stone!" - Matthew joked. - "Or in this case, drowning one bird with one anchor."

"But before we get on to the main event, I promised my men, they'd get one last crack at you."

Louie didn't flinch when the first man approached and stuck him hard in the jaw, and he didn't flinch when the last one kicked him in the stomach.

"One last stand of bravery. " - GoldTooth motioned to two of his men, who immediately untied the semi-conscious Louie and walked him over to the side of the ship, where another pair of pirates where waiting with the anchor. - "I asked you this once, and I'll ask it one more time: any last words?"

A bit of blood dripped down Louie's face. - "Go to hell."

GoldTooth smiled. - "Now that's more like it!" - The two pirates holding his arms pulled him to the very edge of the boat. - "Drop him boys."

In a split second Louie was tossed overboard into the frigid seas, sinking fast, he tried to swim up, but the mix of the beatings and the anchor, kept him from making any progress.

Soon his eyes began to close, and his arms slowed down as Davy Jones beckoned him closer.

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

Chapter 34: The First Heist.

Chapter Text

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

Staring out the oval window, Goldie watched as the plane touched down on French soil, waiting until it came to a stop, she unclipping her seatbelt and cracked her back.

"Sharpie. Hey Sharpie... Wake up." - The older thief softly shook her apprentice's shoulder, wakening him from the deep sleep he had slipped into of the course of the 8-hour flight.

Shifting in his seat, Louie pulled his earphones out, and stretch out. - "You know, that was the most pleasant flight I've ever had." - While Goldie didn't have her own private plane, she did get discounted flights with a certain airline. So instead of the tattered seats and a pair of pilots who made dangerous decisions, he had hot peanuts and even hotter flight-attendants.

"C'mon kid, we have to get to Paris." - Nodding, Louie got up and grabbed his backpack from the overhead storage and followed her out of the plane.

The two strode through the Charles de Gaulle airport, the two completely ignored the baggage carousel, Goldie had advised Louie to pack lightly, he didn't really mind, as long as he had his phone and a couple of battery-banks, he would be fine.

Out of the airport, the two thieves jumped into the nearest taxi, pushing money into the hands of the driver, the two set off to the City of Light and an alarming place. Staring out of the window, Louie reflected on the past month, it was one of the most draining yet fulfilling of his life, he'd been given a crash-course in thieving, as while he was a smooth-talker, he still had a lot to learn about the trade.

The car eventually skid to a stop outside a hotel, and the two passengers swiftly exited, keeping their hoods up, the two entered the elegant building and made there way over to the reservation desk, once everything was settled the two rode an elevator up to the penthouse suite they'd reserved.

Dropping their luggage by the door, the two ventured further into the spacious living-quarters, where it seemed someone else had already set up shop.

"Wunderbar, you two are here!" - An old female badger wearing an obnoxiously pink dress, and speaking in a thick German accent, welcomed them in.

"Sophia!" - Goldie cheered, hugging the woman tightly.

"Goldie!'" - The woman hugged back. - "And then this must be Louie."

Holding his hand out, the 14-year old was taken aback when the woman grabbed him by his cheek.

"Hi." - He awkwardly smiled.

"Louie, meet Sophia Schneider, she's an old friend and my tailor."

"Tailor?"

"Yes, she's the one who made our outfits for tonight." - Goldie motioned for them to join her on the sofas.

Taking a seat beside his Teacher, Louie watched as Goldie fished a folded up piece of paper out of her satchel.

Rolling the paper out on the coffee-table, Goldie revealed a blueprint and a series of enlarged photographs. - "Our target is a priceless diamond bracelet, that will be displayed on the wrist of supermodel, Stella Rossi, who's the favourite model of Italian designer, Grigori Lafta."

"Who by the way is a lying, design-stealing bastard." - Sophia spat, slamming her hands on the table.

"Anyway... The plan is, me and Sophia will infiltrate the Louvre as partygoers, since it's fashion week, there will be billionaires all over the place, dressed in world-famous designer's latest collections. We wont stand out." - She picked up a certain photograph. - "You, Louie will be dressed as a waiter, we will engage Rossi and when I signal you, you will spill wine all over her dress, while you apologise profusely and try to distract her by cleaning up the mess, I will switch the bracelet for a fake."

Louie took a look over the plans. - "Sounds simple enough... a bit of a shame really."

"A shame?" - Goldie questioned.

"I thought my first heist would be something a lot more dramatic you know?"

"Another lesson Louie," - Goldie stopped him. - "An easy heist is always best."

Louie nodded and began memorising the plan, from their the location of their escape vehicle to every point of entry.

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

Once Gosalyn had returned, she told the McDucks, about how Louie had mentioned a boat, and after a quick trip down to the docks and a chat with the harbour-master, they has learned of a Kovax's yacht departing less than 10-minutes before they arrived.

In no shape to go after Louie, the group had decided to head home and resupply before hopefully going after him.

Once they returned to the Sun-Chaser, Dewey had been elected to Fly, since Della was too physically and emotionally drained to do anything but sleep.

With a storm brewing over the city, Dewey maneuverer the plane over the water and took a second to lean back and enjoy the view of the sky, in his opinion, it was much more beautiful at night, thanks to the presence of the stars and the moon.

Dewey's eyes closed, and in an effort to keep himself awake, he got out of the worn pilot's seat and began stretching, it was almost 3am and it seemed he was the only one awake at the moment.

"Hey Dewey."

Scratch that.

Huey dropped into the Co-Pilots seat, and swivelled it around to face his brother. There was a brief silence as neither knew what to say to the other.

"Are you doing okay?"

Dewey paused. - "Yeah, Why?"

"I don't know." - Huey adjusted his seating again. - "You just haven't been your cheerful self lately."

"Well what is there to be cheerful about, Huey? I mean by the looks of it, Louie want's nothing to do with us."

Huey stayed silent.

"I may act like I don't care, but Huey..." - He blinked back some tears. - "I miss my little brother."

Pulling his younger brother into a tight hug. Huey felt tears prick the corners of his eyes. But he made sure that Dewey didn't see it, at the moment he had to be the responsible one, the one who had to comfort his sibling.

Once the two split from the hug, they both took seats.

Taking up the controls once more, Dewey turned to his brother. - "You can go back to sleep if you want. I'll be fine."

Huey gave his most reassuring smile. - "I'm not going anywhere, Dew."

Both brothers relaxed in their chairs, watching the starry sky pass past the windshield.

20-minutes later, the two were still sitting in the co*ckpit, casually chatting, when a big grey cloud blocked their view.

"What the hell is that?"

"Seems like smoke."

Pulling on the yoke, the plane quickly began descending, once he felt he was in a good enough position, Dewey steadied the plane, allowing them to get a look at the boat blowing smoke that had blocked their view.

It was a large boat, made of some sort of rusted metal making up most of the ship, there were large ship-stacks which were decorated with useless red and black sails.

Huey stared at the ship in shock. - "That's the boat from Greece..."

"You mean the one with the guy who put a bounty on Louie?"

"This can't be a coincident. Louie has to be in danger." - Huey was panicking at this point. - "What do we do?"

It seems it was Dewey's turn to be the responsible brother. - "Huey. Huey, calm down. You can't help anyone in this state, take a deep breath, and think things through."

Following his advice, Huey's panic began to subside.

"Now what do we do?" - Dewey asked.

"We- We don't know if Louie's even on that ship, it's better if we follow them from a distance, and see if there's any sign of him."

"Now that's the Huey I know." - Dewey smiled, focusing on flying for the time being, while Huey pulled a telescope from the box beside the co-pilots chair and took a look at the boat, all while hoping his brother was okay.

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

Louie was not sure what had went wrong, one minute he was pretending to spill wine on a supermodel, and the next he was hiding behind a table, as the party turned him into a firefight.

"You doing okay Sharpie?" - Goldie asked, as she lid into cover beside him.

"Okay?" - Louie whisper-shouted at her. - "Of course I'm not doing okay, I'm being shot at!" - A spray bullet, hit the wall above them, making Louie flinch. - "What's going on? And where's Sophia"

"She escaped earlier. And well... it turns out we weren't the only criminals attending the party tonight." - She clutched her handbag which contained the stolen bracelet. - "Apparently, Stella Rossi is the girlfriend of Marco Banda, the only son of the Antonio Banda, patriarch of the Banda crime family." - She grimaced.

"Wait... Did you say Crime family? As in a mob? We're stealing from the girlfriend of a mobster?" - He spat.

"Yep, and once he noticed the bracelet she was wearing was a fake, he blamed a mobster from a rival family, who had also came to the party."

"So what you're saying is we just initiated a mob war?"

"Pretty much."

Louie groaned, only for another bullet to hit near them. - "We've got to run."

Goldie peaked out from behind the table. - "Yeah, and I think I see a way out of this mess. C'mon..." - The more experience thief, made a move to escape, but stopped when she'd noticed her apprentice not following her. - "Sharpie, c'mon, let's go."

"I don't think I can..." - He hadn't moved he'd found cover behind the table. - "I think I'm too scared to move."

"Louie." - The women rested a hand on the teen's shoulder. - "I want you to listen to me." - Once he turned his attention fully on her, she continued. - "Fear is natural, fear is good, fear will keep you alive. But panicking will get you killed, so I need you to push all that panic down, and follow me."

Louie hesitated, what she'd told him was exactly the opposite of what he'd been told by Scrooge and the McDucks, they always told him that his fear was bad, and seasoned adventurers were never afraid, if being afraid meant that he'd get out of here alive, he had to embrace his fear.

Louie nodded and took a breath, before signalling Goldie to go, she sprinted out of her hiding spot, and Louie wasn't far behind, the two busting through a pair of double doors, leading them out of the Louvre.

The two thieves disappeared into the building crowds as the City's police started to put barriers up and build a perimeter around the museum.

Finally arriving at their escape vehicle, a unmarked black van, they noticed that Sophia was waiting for them.

"Where were you two?" - She screeches at them.

"Getting what we came for." - Goldie replies, handing the badger the diamond bracelet, she'd wrapped in a blue cloth.

"Amazing." - She stated, staring at the shiny item.

"Yeah, yeah, you can stare at it later, let's get out of here." - Goldie pushed the women into the van's front-seat, before Louie and she climbed into the back.

As the van took off, Goldie looked at her apprentice. - "So how'd you find your first, real heist?"

"It was a lot more than I anticipated. But I think I did well."

Goldie ruffled his hair. - "You did better than well Sharpie, you did a lot better than I did when I did my first heist."

Louie smiled. - "Did I now?"

"You know what I said about panic, it's the same with co*ckiness." - The two shared a chuckle, like that hadn't just ended up in a gunfight less than 15-minutes ago, but Goldie's face hardened. - "Louie, I want to tell you the most important thing to remember when you're on a job."

"What?" - Louie asked, noticing the look she was wearing.

"You have to keep telling yourself, that this is not where you die... Tell yourself, you will die on a beach, or surrounded by money, or old and content. As it's the moment you have nothing to work for, is the moment you die."

Everything around Louie became dark. He had no idea what Goldie had meant when she told him this, but now he thinks he does. He had spent a year hunting for Kovax's treasure, and it was just out of his reach, he couldn't give up yet.

Suddenly, his eyes opened and he spat a frightening amount water all over himself. His body ached, after all he had been beaten half-dead and then almost drowned, but he wasn't in the water, was he? It seemed he was in some sort of vehicle.

"It seems you're still alive." - A voice spoke.

Turning his head, Louie was shocked.

"You- You saved me?"

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

Chapter 35: Showdown.

Chapter Text

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

Despite it's bright-red colour scheme, the Sunchaser managed to keep a low profile as it followed the metal monstrosity that was once GoldTooth's ship.

Both Huey and Dewey hadn't slept since they first spotted the boat traversing the waters below them. Dewey was keeping the plane heading in the right direction, while Huey kept an eye on the position of the boat, and marked the path it was taking, on his map.

"From the way things are going, it seems like we heading towards Australia." - Huey put together. - "But from what I've read about Kovax, he rarely travelled to Australia, so it's unlikely the treasure is located there."

"But didn't he also never go to Japan?" - Dewey added, not taking his eyes off the sky. - "But his trophy ended up there. Do you think it's the same scenario?"

"Unlikely, the trophy was in Japan because of the chess tournament. Whereas a treasure as large as Kovax's is rumoured to be, would not only be hard to be move, but also unlikely since if someone found it, they would probably spend it."

"So why is the ship going to Australia, if the treasure isn't there?"

"Maybe their not going to Australia. Maybe," - Huey erased a line and drew another. - "He's going somewhere in Indonesia or possibly in India."

"What about the islands in the Indian Ocean?"

The two brothers turned to face the newly awakened Webby.

"Hey." - The two greeted in sync.

The teenager took a look at the map Huey was using to track their course. - "So we're going after Louie and the treasure, huh?"

"We're sorry Webs, but we're not letting our little brother get hurt."

"I wasn't going to argue with you," - Webby revealed, earning looks of relief from both McDucks. - "I want to help Louie as well."

Dewey, certain that the plane was steady, swivelled his chair around, allowing him to finally face both Webby and Huey. - "Great, cause' we need a plan."

"Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, we have to face them at some point."

Webby took the bronze spyglass from Huey, and began scanning the ship for weaknesses. Once she had spotted one, she smiled. - "I think I know how we'll do it!"

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

"You? You saved me?"

"Well I couldn't just leave you to drown, could I?" - Agent Bernard remarked, putting her hand out for Louie to use to pull himself up. - "You okay."

"I'll have a black eye for a week, but I'll be fine."

"Good." - She grabbed his arm and pinned it behind his back. - "Because I don't want you going to escaping from a hospital. - She cuffed his hands together around a pipe.

Louie groaned. - "Can you at least tell me where we are?"

"In a submarine on the ocean floor."

Louie shifted his cuffs. - "What a coincident, me getting thrown into the sea. You waiting at the bottom of the sea."

"It's not as much of a coincident as you might think," - Another person entered the cabin, a duck dressed in a suit and hat, and a hooked cane his hand. - "We've been tailing you since Mexico."

"Guess Interpol didn't really like me escaping."

"We're not Interpol."

Louie narrowed his eyes at Bernard. - "I thought you said you were Interpol."

"I was, but I've since gotten a new job."

"And what would that be? GIGN? MI5? CIA?"

Louie turned back to the mysterious man. - "We work for S.H.U.S.H."

"Never heard of it."

"That's the point. We are an organisation that hides in the shadows, even though we work for the light, we deal with the threats no one else can, no matter the place in the world."

"Great speech." - Louie sarcastically remarked. - "You practice that in the mirror this morning?"

The man smiled. - "There's that wit I've been told about. You must be Louie Gold."

"Yeah I am, let me guess, you're gonna send me to that Third-World prison, Bernard told me about?"

"That was the original plan." - He corrected. - "But now we need your help Mr Gold." - He said, earning a scoff from Bernard.

Louie tutted. - "The last person who asked for my help, ended up throwing me in the sea, with an anchor around my neck."

"Well that same person is meeting with a couple of FOWL agents as we speak, and we want to take them down."

"FOWL? Well I'm sorry to burst your bubble but FOWL's a myth. A legend criminals created to invoke fear."

The man spun pinning his cane around. -"I'm sorry, but you're wrong."

Louie was sceptical. - "You're saying that FOWL is real?"

"Not only is it real, but Matthew Kovax is going to use the treasure you were promised to buy his way in."

"Matthew is using my treasure to buy his way into a club of thieves?" - Scepticism gave way to anger. - "Why?" - He growled.

"We don't know." - Bernard admitted. - "But if FOWL gets a hold of Kovax's treasure, it could be used to fund their schemes for years to come."

Louie had finally had enough, with one last click the handcuffs gave way, allowing Louie the freedom to move, which he immediately used to began rubbing his irritated wrists.

"Why do you need my help?"

"Thanks to a mechanical error, the submarine stalled long enough for us to end up losing Kovax's trail, and we don't know where they going or when they're meeting the FOWL agents."

"So you want me to help find him?"

"Yes, it seems that it's the only way."

Louie decided his next course of action, weighing the pros and cons of possible plans. Running a hand through his damp hair, Louie smiled his typical award winning smile. (Though one more bloody than usual.) - "Ok then, let's go kick some ass."

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

The main deck of the modified cargo ship was practically baron, there was one or two crew-mates situated on it, but not enough to deter the McDucks. Scrooge, Webby and Huey strapped parachutes on, as Dewey and Della stayed aboard the family plane.

"You sure about this Lass?" - Scrooge asked, fiddling with his chute's pull-cord. Once the three younger McDucks had come up with a plan, they had woken up Della and Scrooge to inform them.

"I am." - Webby replied, surveying the boat a final time, before the three jumped.

"And are you sure you can handle flying lad?"

"I got this Uncle Scrooge, I'll keep the plane steady and keep an eye on Mom."

"Good. Good." - Scrooge swallowed, it was weird for him to be this nervous.

"You okay, Uncle Scrooge?"

"I'm fine." - Cracking his knuckles. The Scotsman took hold of a handle and readied himself as the cargo-bay door opened. The three dived out, falling thousands of feet, as they neared the boat that could possibly hold their missing family-members.

Once they were close enough, the cords were pulled and Scrooge, Huey and Webby gently landed on the highest roof of the boat. Without hesitating, the boarding party dropped onto the Deck. Webby and Scrooge surged forward and knocked out the few pirates that were unlucky enough to be on the deck.

"Let's go!" - Huey called, heading for the closest door, only to find it was locked from the inside.

"Let's try that one." - Webby suggested, pointing to another door on the deck. The three sprinted over to it, only to find it was also locked.

The deck only had about 4 doors allowing access to the inside. And all but one was locked from the inside, entering inside, they ventured deeper and deeper into the ships innards, but were surprised to see so little of the massive of crew they had encountered in Paros.

"Where is everyone?" - Scrooge muttered. The group had made it through about 90% of the hallway without seeing a single pirate, only when they had left the hallway and entered into a large warehouse type room did they find any crew, or more precisely most of the crew, who upon noticing the three, immediately surrounded them and threw them in the brig.

Dewey had been keeping the plane steady, ignoring the building anxiety he was feeling, he hadn't heard from Huey yet, he had given his older brother a walkie-talkie and had told him to update him.

Once he finally heard the device come alive, he had almost wept in joy, he had couldn't afford to lose another brother, however his happiness quickly died, once he'd heard the transmission.

"Land your plane, we have captured your friends."

Dewey snatched the radio up. - "If you harm anyone of-" - He was cut off.

"No harm will come to you, if you land the plane."

Seeing no other option, Dewey made the plane descend from the sky, and 15-minutes later he and Della had joined the rest of the family in the brig, while the Sunchaser was being scrapped by the ship's experienced engineers.

"Welcome!" - Matthew Kovax cheered, moving past his crew as he stood outside the imprisoned family. - "It feels like only yesterday that we were making business deals in your manor."

"You." - Scrooge spat.

"Me." - He smugly smiled. - "The man who beat both the legendary Scrooge McDuck and the infamous Louie Gold."

Webby pushed forward, and grabbed the bars preventing her from throttling the man. - "Where's Louie? What have you done to him?" - A few pirates chuckled, as they thought back on what they'd done to the co*cky thief.

"Oh, I'd say he's at the bottom of the sea by now."

"No." - Huey said in disbelief.

Matthew smiled and adjusted his sword-strap. - "What can I say? He outlived his usefulness."

"No. No! NO!" - Webby slammed her fists into the metal bars, which only served to bruise her knuckles. Huey and Dewey had fallen into states of despair like their Mother. While Scrooge, having already lost one family member, want handling losing another one (This one possibly for good) well.

"What am I gonna say to Donald?" - Scrooge whispered, wondering how the sailor would react to the news that the boy he'd raised was dead.

"As much as I love the sight of you wallowing in your defeat, I've got a treasure to fins and a meeting to prepare for. Have a good day." - With a bow, Matthew turned on his heels, before heading to the ships navigation room, leaving the grieving McDucks behind bars.

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

"We're nearing the island." - The submarine's captain announced, earning a nod from 44.

Since Louie had regained consciousness and revealed the location of Kovax's treasure, the thief, agents and a handful of crew-mates had spent the next few hours traveling over the seabed, just managing to arrive by 5am... However they weren't the first.

Stationed a mile away from the small island's shore, Louie took a look through the vessel's periscope, staring at the large metal ship and the army of pirates that were moving treasure between a cove on the island and the ship.

"They found the treasure." - He remarked, feeling a mix of awe and anger at the discovery.

"What now?" - Bernard questioned, their plan following apart. - "We can't ambush them on the island, if they're already on the island."

"We could keep following them?" - A crew-member suggested, taking a look, after Louie.

"No, we have to face them now."

"We're outnumbered and we don't have the advantage of an ambush, we can't take them." - 44 challenged.

"So what? We face the chance that the submarine breaks again, and we lose them for good?" - Louie retorted, his anger rising. - "I've spent the last year hunting for that treasure, only for that bastard to take it from me." - He snatched one of the earpieces, the agents were using and turned his back.

"Gold!" - Bernard grabbed him by the shoulder, holding him back.

Louie didn't hesitate before he spoke. - "You have a choice, you can chain to a wall and turn around and run, or, we can deal with this problem head on, catch a lot of dangerous people and prevent hell from breaking loose. So choose, do we fight for justice, or do we flee like cowards."

"Huh, never thought I'd be given speech on honour from a career thief." - Bernard admitted. - "But we still can't just attack them and expect to come out on top. They're an army, whereas we have a crew of less than 50."

"Then call for back up."

44 crossed his arms. - "It'll take hours for them to get here, they'll be long gone by the time they arrive."

"Then we sabotage the ship, delay them long enough that they arrive."

"I'm not risking the lives of innocence men on a risky move."

"Then just send me." - Louie I'm being sent to some 3rd world prison after this anyway."

"You're crazy, if you think we're sending you to fight a band of armed criminals. You're 16!" - Bernard shouted, chastising the teen's actions.

"Well we're out of options!" - Louie shouted back. - "Either you come up with a plan, or I'll do mine."

There was a moment of silence, as Bernard and 44 mulled it over.

Louie sighed. - "Looks like I'm boarding that ship." - Before any one could stop, he had ascended the ladder, popped the hatch and dived into the ocean.

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

Louie ran his hand through his wet hair for the second time that day.

He'd just managed to grab a hold of the ships lifting anchor and pulled himself up over the side of the boat. The main deck was littered with pirates. But he'd managed to keep himself hidden behind a pile of golden doubloons.

It seemed the rumours of Kovax's wealth had been true, it was surprising the ship wasn't sinking under the weight of the fortune.

Louie felt his mouth-water at the treasure that would soon be his, but first he had to stall the ship, and maybe, if he was lucky, find Matthew and knock his unrealistically shiny teeth in.

Spotting an opportunity, Louie snuck in behind a group who was moving large portions of the gold from the deck inside, it seemed that every pirate was too preoccupied moving and cataloguing their reward to notice the supposedly dead thief sneaking around their ship.

"I'm in, and nearing the engine room." - Louie whispered into the communicator.

"How long do you think the engines will be down for?"

"Uh... Last time it took them 3-days to fix it, so if they've learned since then, I'd say a few hours?" - He guessed, pressing himself up against a wall to avoid one pirate.

"As long as you can keep them stopped for 2-hours, our back-up will arrive in time."

"Got it." - Ducking into the next room, Louie almost bumped into a group of pirates, who were each carrying bags of the gold to the ships treasury. Listening to them, Louie was shocked to what he heard.

"Yeah, those McDucks are still grieving, Kovax locked them in the brig and is apparently gonna give them up to those super-villains or something," - One of the pirates reported to his comrades. - "Their Boss said that he would take the McDucks over the treasure, so apparently get to keep everything."

Once the pirates passed, Louie left his hiding spot, he could see the engine room from here, but he also knew the moment the engine went offline, the guards would start hunting for him, making it that much harder to free the McDucks.

"God-dammit." - He cursed, before beginning to retrace his steps.

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

It had been a few hours since they had been captured, Webby was the one only was still in disbelief, she had long since stopped slamming her fists into the metal bars, and had instead began shouting at any passing pirate.

"LET US OUT!" - She screamed. - "TELL ME WHERE LOUIE IS!"

"Webby, he's dead." - Huey choked out.

"No. He's not." - She screamed at him, before her voice softened. - "He can't be."

"WELL HE IS!" - Dewey shouted, the teen girl retreating in shock. - "And this time it's for good."

A single tear escapes from Webby, followed by another and another, and soon they were streaming. Huey staggered to his feet, resting a hand on his brothers shoulders, the two moving forward and embracing the girl. Followed by Scrooge and even Della.

"Awe." - Louie sarcastically commented. - "This is such a sweet sight. Too bad I'm not dead." - He joked.

"Louie!"

"SHUSH!" - He whisper-shouted, staring at the door, wondering if any pirates heard the shout. - "Okay we're fine." - He crouched and began to deal with the padlock.

"I can't believe you're alive Lad. Matthew said he'd killed you."

"Well he tried to, threw me in the ocean with an anchor around my neck." - He explained. - "But I was luckily saved by-"

"Louie watch out!" - Huey interrupted, alerting to him to Matthew's bodyguard charging at him.

"June." - Louie greeted, dodging her kick.

"Louie." - She still sounded indifferent, as she threw a punch at the thief, who blocked it. She followed the strike with a kick to Louie's already bruised ribs, while he doubled over, she got him in a chokehold, knocked out his earpiece in the process.

"Can't we talk about this?" - He cried out.

"Nope, this is the only way I get paid." - She pulled hard, and Louie began to lose consciousness.

"Wait," - He gasped. - "If it's money you're after, I can get you more than Matthew can give you."

Releasing him from the hold, Louie dropped to the floor and took a couple of deep breaths.

"How much?"

Louie kept wheezing. - "How much do you want?"

"5,000,000."

"Fine. But you got to help us take down Matthew."

"Sure, why not." - Putting her hand out, she pulled Louie to his feet, before unlocking the cell, stepping back, the bodyguard watched as the prisoners sprinted from the brig and swallowed Louie up in a hug.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alive." - Louie said, hugging back. - "Can we do this later, I really want to deal with Matthew now."

"Yeah! Let's show that pirate what happens when you mess with the McDucks." - Della cheered as she cracked her knuckles, finally out of the apparent depressive state, she pushed forward followed by the rest of the family and even the less enthusiastic Louie.

Quickly dealing with any pirates they came across, the group eventually made it to the door leading

Kicking the door in front of her open, Della led the group onto the main deck... And right into the meeting between Kovax, and FOWL. Bradford, Black-Heron, and Steelbeak, along with a handful of Eggheads, stared in shock.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Matthew sent me to get you to give to FOWL." - June said, before shrugging.

"McDuck!" - Bradford took a step back. - "You said he was imprisoned."

"I wouldn't be that mad." - Louie pushed to the forefront of the group. - "He also told them I was dead."

"Your alive?"

"Surprise!" - Louie smiled, though it came out as more of him baring his teeth than anything. - "Now," - He took another step forward. - "I want my treasure!"

"Your treasure?" - Matthew spitefully laughed. - "It belongs to me, I am Kovax's descendant."

"Maybe in Name, but in spirit he'd would disown you." - Louie retorted.

Matthew face shifted into one of hatred. - "I've got his treasure, his sabre and my own gang of pirates, and with FOWL's help I'll be the most feared pirate on Earth and my ancestors equal."

"You're not his equal, you lack everything that made him worth remembering, his loyalty, honesty and integrity. Everything you abandoned once you turned your back on me."

Matthew was about to shout back but Bradford cut him off.

"Enough of this child's play. You promised us Scrooge and his family, and if you can't get it, you're not FOWL material."

Snarling, Matthew raised his sword. - "Attack!" - He shouted, his legion charging forward. And the McDucks/Louie and June readied themselves for the assault.

As the groups clashed, it seemed that the sides were evenly matched, the pirates had the advantage of numbers, whereas the McDucks had experience. Louie had taken down a few of the pirates himself, when he noticed Matthew just past the wave of criminals, barking orders at his crew.

Raising his wrist, Louie fired a grapple line at the closest mast-pole, before being dragged upwards, and resulted in him landing just past the pirates, face-to-face with the angry captain.

"Matthew!" - Louie shouts, before knocking out an advancing pirate.

A group moved forward in an attempt to protect their captain, only for Matthew to push in front of them. - "He's mine. You deal with the McDucks."

The two circled around each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Soon Matthew advanced, slashing at his chest three times. Louie managed to avoid the first two, but the final one sliced the lapel of his jacket.

"Oh you'll pay for that." - Leaping backwards as Matthew slashed again, Louie snatched a machete from a downed pirate, before the two's blades clanged together.

Both retreated slightly, before advancing again, both took slashes out the other, but it was clear that Matthew was clearly superior in sword-fighting, easily blocking each of his opponents attacks while dealing multiple of his own, that Louie barely managed to dodge.

The swords clashed again, but this time Matthew used it to push Louie machete's to his neck, before pushing him against the base of the mast, effectively pinning him.

"You know Louie, after everything that's happened, you've given me a lot of reasons to hate you... But do you wanna know the main reason I detest you?"

"Is it because you're jealous of my good looks?"

Matthew chuckled. - "It's because you're a hypocrite."

Louie stared daggers at his former ally.

"You say you're different from Scrooge, but you couldn't be more similar... Both rooted in your ideals and great at what you'd do, but also in your refusal to accept when you've been beaten."

Louie reflected on his decisions, before smiling at Matthew. - "You know you're right. I'm like Scrooge in multiple ways, we're both greedy, ambitious asses, who are stubborn to no end... But we're also different in some ways," - Louie stamped hard on Matthews foot, and the second that he loosened his hold around his neck, Louie head-butted him, knocking him backwards. - "Like I'm not afraid to fight dirty, if it means I win."

Matthew stumbled but didn't fall, instead he again attempted another swing, but this one Louie easily avoided. Ducking under the blade, Louie restrained his arm, before retracting his fist and slamming it in his face, hard enough to knock Matthew and a few of his teeth out.

Surveying his surrounding, Louie quickly began formulating a plan. The remaining pirates were either surrounding, escaping on lifeboats, or diving into the ocean, it didn't matter as long as they were avoiding facing the McDucks. But the few that were brave enough to continue to fight the McDucks could act as a cover for what came next, Running over to June, the two teenagers descend back into the ship's innards, with no one noticing them.

A few minutes later, the final pirate falls.

"We did it!" - Dewey tiredly cheered, as he slowly felt the adrenaline wearing off.

"Wait. Where's Bradford and the other members FOWL?" - Scrooge questioned, looking the villains, who were just here a second ago.

Webby scanned her surroundings, noticing another missing member. - "And where's Louie?"

"Do you think FOWL kidnapped him?"

"I wasn't kidnapped." - Louie remarked as he stepped back out the boat, as much of Kovax's treasure he could carry in a bag slung over his shoulder. - "I was just taking my cut." - June followed him out, carrying twice as much as Louie.

"We'll deal with the treasure later lad, first we got to figure out what to do with these pirates."

"You deal with that." - He and June tossed their treasure into the last remaining lifeboats. - "I'm getting out of here while I can." - June disappeared back below.

"Are you leaving again?"

"Louie..." - Scrooge began. - "We went through all of this to help you."

Louie stopped moving his portion of the treasure "Sorry to disappoint you, but I never asked for your help, or to be locked in the manor. This might be a foreign concept to you, but I'm happy where I'm am. This whole legendary treasure thing didn't change how I feel." - June threw another few bags of treasure into the lifeboat. - "Even if I wanted to stay, Bernard will be gunning for me, since I let FOWL escape."

Before anyone could say anything else, Della surged forward and hugged her youngest fiercely. - "No matter what happens." - She whispered into his ear. - "I'll love you Louie."

Louie hugged back. - "I know Mom."

The rest of the group joined in on the hug, and for once Louie felt like his family truly loved him, but it didn't change what would happen next.

The hug dissipated as the former-bodyguard returned again, carrying even more bags of the treasure. - "That should be enough June." - The woman nodded and tossed the bags in with the others, before climbing in the boat herself. - "We've left most of the treasure... I would of taken more, but I don't think the lifeboat couldn't have supported it." - Smiling, he leapt up into the boat. - "Goodbye." - And with a final bow, hit the button which dropped the boat into the water.

A minute later, Louie had disappeared over the horizon, with an ex-bodyguard and millions in treasure. But unlike the other two times he'd disappeared, there wasn't a feeling of anguish or heartbreak, instead the McDucks just smiled and watched their youngest leave, content with the way things had ended.

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

1 Week later.

Scrooge was reorganising his study at the manor. After what had happened with Louie, the Billionaire had promised that he wouldn't fall for the trick, his youngest had played on him again. As he placed a few more books onto his shelf, he heard a noise behind him, dropping the books in his hands and spinning around, the Scotsman brandished his cane.

The figure dodged the attack. - "Relax Scroogie, It's just me."

"Goldie." - He smiled, pulling his cane back. - "I haven't seen you in 2-years. I was honestly thinking you'd died."

"Not before you, you miser." - The two bantered back and forth, just like they did back in the days of the gold-rush, when they'd first met.

Scrooge took a seat in his worn, red chair. - "So what have you been up to?"

"Oh you know, hunting for lost treasure, travelling the world-"

"Training my great-nephew to be a thief." - Scrooge interrupted.

Goldie awkwardly laughed. - "What are you talking about Scroogie."

"I've known you for years, did you think really think that I wouldn't realise that Louie was using your technics and skills?" - Taking a step back.

Goldie rubbed the back of her neck. - "Yeah I trained him." - She sighed.

"Goldie." - He scowled. - "Do you remember what happened to the last kid you took in?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't Louie... He let his greed consume him, but Louie will always know to keep one foot on the ground."

"You better hope so."

"I know so."

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

Louie rode the elevator up to his New York apartment, the teen had spent the last few days in a private resort in Miami, resting and recuperating with his friends, after spending so long hunting for pirate treasure. But now he was back and itching to start another heist.

The apartment was under a fake name, and he'd payed off rent, months in advance, so all of his stuff didn't get tossed, once he was in prison or on one of his heists.

Dropping his bags by the front door, Louie began shifting through his mail, most of it was junk-mail, takeout menus and coupon sheets, but one item caught his eye. A tan-coloured envelope, decorated with gold-trim and a unusual stamp of a 6-fingered hand.

Slicing it with his letter-opening, Louie pulled the piece of paper out and began reading, the confusion he felt drifted into glee, as he reread the letter again and again. Stuffing his letter in his pocket. Louie jumped back in the elevator, ready to begin another grand adventure.

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