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Chapter Text

Don Karnage wasn’t sure how but he somehow managed to get what was left of his plane to safety. What he did know was that he felt utterly exhausted and that he ended up in…Duckburg? Huh, he thought he ended back up in Cape Suzette.

‘Well, at least I know the area’ Don Karnage thought to himself. He decided to walk to the nearest park bench and sat down. It was nighttime by the time he made his way to Duckburg Park. There weren’t any kids or parents around and he assumed that everyone had gone on home already for the evening.

He plopped himself down and took out the little piece that he had of ‘The Stone of What Was’. He knew that Bradford would probably want this asap but he was too tired to go back to FOWL at the moment. Bradford could wait until morning.

Don Karnage tried to fall asleep but he couldn’t as the day that he had kept replaying in his head. He couldn’t believe that him, the Don Karnage, got bested by two of his greatest nemeses. What was so bad about it was that it happened twice. Sure, he got a piece of the stone and so technically, he succeeded. Yet, he didn’t feel happy or satisfied.

Maybe it was because he still got bested by his two greatest nemeses. He got bested by a bear who he thought was well passed his prime and a 12-year-old duck, who was basically like him but just younger and a duck. He always thought that Dewey was better than him from the moment that he meet him and when his crew threw him out in favor of letting a child become their new captain over him.

To say that he hated Dewey Duck was an understatement. He absolutely hated Dewey Duck. He loathe Dewey Duck, despite the fact that he was just a child. The great Don Karnage should not be outplayed by a child and yet it happened twice.

The more Don Karnage thought about his arch nemesis, the angrier he got. In a fit of rage, he threw the piece of ‘The Stone of What Was’ as far as he could. He then began to breathe heavily and angrily whispered, “I must find Dewey Duck. I must find him and kill him”.

But before he could do that, he heard a voice. “So, you want to kill Dewey Duck huh?”. Don Karnage looked all around him to see where the voice came from. “Who said that?” he asked, grabbing his sword. He saw a figure leaning against a tree. “Come out and show yourself”. The voice chuckled in an evil sort of way. “Relax I’m not going to hurt you”.

The figure walked out from the shadows and Don Karnage realized that it was a child. The child was a duck, just like Dewey, except he was a bit bigger and wore glasses and was wearing a pink shirt with a blue jacket. What threw Don Karnage off the most was that the child had ‘The Stone of What Was’ in his hands and seemed to be handling it with care.

The child must have realized that Don Karnage was looking at the stone as he handed it to him. “I believe that this belongs to you”. “Thanks” Don Karnage said hesitantly, as he carefully took the stone back and placing it in his pocket.

“So, I couldn’t help but overhear that you want to kill Dewey Duck?” the child asked the pirate. “Yessss…you know Dewey Duck?” Don Karnage asked, generally curious about this child. Anger flashed through the child’s face for a second before returning to his calm but yet scary demeanor. “I know all of the Ducks. Like you, I also have a personal vendetta against one of the Ducks and I too want to seek revenge” he simply stated.

Don Karnage wasn’t sure if this child was one of Dewey’s nemeses as well but he wanted to make one thing clear with this kid. “I will have you know kid that Dewey Duck only has one nemesis and that nemesis is me, the great Don Karnage!” he said while doing a bit of a dance.

The child did a slight groan and rubbed a hand down his face, which Don Karnage failed to notice. “First of all, you can have more then one nemesis and second of all, Dewford Duck is not my nemesis. No, that honor goes to Llewellyn Duck” the child said while grinning maliciously and rubbing his hands together. Don Karnage looked confused. “Who?” “He is the green one” the child tried to explain but Don Karnage just gave him a stupid look and shrugged his shoulders. The kid just sighed. “He is Dewford’s brother” he explained, clearly tired and about done with the pirate.

Don Karnage faced lit up. “Oh, now I remember him. He is the one who stole all of my fortune” he said angrily, clearing remembering the event. “So, it would seem that we both have a thing out for the Ducks” the child said, glad to be finally getting somewhere with the pirate. “This is the perfect opportunity for you and I to team up. Together, we can take down both of our nemeses once and for all”

Don Karnage wasn’t so sure about teaming up with a child. “I don’t know. Shouldn’t you be at home right now? And where are your parents?” he asked, looking around and finding that nobody else was there with them. “Oh, don’t worry about them. They are on a trip with my ‘brother’ right now and won’t be back for several days”, the child replied, though it sounded like he was forced to say that sentence against his will.

Don Karnage thought about it for a second more. He wondered if he should take him to Bradford. It was clear that this child was also against the Ducks and he could be useful for FOWL. Then again, he didn’t want to take the child away from his family, although he could tell by the way that the child acted that he didn’t like his family and maybe had run away, though he couldn’t say for certain.

Don Karnage decided to meet in the middle. “Alright kid, I’ll work together with you but I think you will also be a worthy member of the organization that I am part of” he pronounced excitedly. “And what organization is that?” the kid asked in a monotone voice. “FOWL. The Fiendish…” “I know what FOWL is” the kid cut off Don Karnage mid-sentence “and they have their own personal agenda and will get in the way of what we want” the kid tried to argue.

“But you have a thing against the Ducks and they are all about destroying the Ducks. It is perfect for you” Don Karnage tried to explain, but the kid wasn’t having it. “Sorry no can do. And if you are not willing to help me, then I guess you are going to have to destroy Dewford on your own” the kid said and began to walk away from Don Karnage.

Unfortunately for the kid, Don Karnage wasn’t having any of it. “You are going to come with me back to FOWL whether you like it or not” and with that Don Karnage knocked the kid out from the back side of the head. The kid fell unconscious in a matter of seconds and for a second, Don Karnage thought he killed him. But he soon realized that the kid was still breathing and still had a pulse.

Don Karnage let out a sigh. Sure, he was a bad guy but he wasn’t that evil. But then again, he was carrying the kid to an evil organization headquarters so who was to say whether or not he was evil. One thing was for sure though, he would convince this kid to join FOWL so that they could help take out Dewey Duck and the rest of the Duck family together. And no one could stop the great Don Karnage.

Chapter Text

The sun was beginning to rise by time Don Karnage made it to FOWL Headquarters. The walk was not easy as he was carrying a heavy kid and Don Karnage was not exactly the most buff guy. Luckily, it was still early in the morning and no kids were at Funzo’s yet so it was the perfect time for him to sneak through the front and make his way down into the secret headquarters.

He haven’t even made it halfway across the place when he was stopped by Black Heron. “Where have you been?” she demanded from him. Before he could even respond, she continued onward. “Bradford sent you on this mission a couple of days ago and you are just now returning? I bet you were showboating again and where is the stone?” she asked, more like demanded.

Don Karnage gave her a cocky smile. “Relax Heron. I got the stone right here in my pocket” he said pointed to his right pocket. “The Stone of What Was is much bigger than your pocket” she retorted back, crossing her arms. Don Karnage sighed. “Ok you caught me. I was only able to get a piece of the stone. The Ducks have the rest of it” he said sleepily, which earned an aggravated sigh from Black Heron.

“Of course, you can’t do one simple thing. And who do you have slung across your back?” she asked, finally noticing the child. “Oh, it’s just some kid I found in the park after I made it back to Duckburg. I think he would make a good member” Don Karnage announced proudly, though Heron wasn’t too sure. “Karnage. You just can’t kidnap random kids you find in the park. I know we are supervillains but even this seems a bit much. Won’t his parents come looking for him?” Don Karnage shook his head. “Nah he told me his family is out of town for a while and it seems like he hates them. Almost as much as he hates the Duck family”

This seemed to get Heron’s attention. “Hmmmm. We shall take him to Bradford and see what he thinks” he said. “YESSS! So does this mean I get a promotion?” Don Karnage asked excitedly. “You just started here Karnage and are still a rookie. I wouldn’t be so optimistic. You better consider yourself lucky that you manage to get a piece of the stone”.

Don Karnage didn’t want to think what would happen if he didn’t.

…

“Sir the pirate has returned” Heron announced to Bradford, who was working on something in his office. “It’s about time” Bradford said, sounding a bit angry and frustrated. “Send him in Heron” he told her. “That’s the thing sir. He has brought a visitor with him”. He raised an eyebrow at Heron. “A visitor?” he asked. “Yes. He really thinks that this visitor would make a great addition to FOWL” she replied. Bradford sighed and asked Heron to led him to Don Karnage and the visitor.

Don Karnage was waiting outside of FOWL’s secret lab, bouncing with excitement when he saw Heron and Bradford approach. “Bradford good to see you” he said excitedly, doing a bow for show. Bradford groaned. “Hello Karnage. Did you get the stone?” he asked. “Oh yes, it is right here” he said, pulling the stone out of his pocket. Bradford and Heron both produced evil smiles and Bradford carefully grabbed the stone and put it in one of his own pockets.

“Great. Now Heron here tells me that you have a visitor?” Bradford asked the pirate. “Oh yes. You see I just got back into Duckburg and I was thinking about how much I wanted to get revenge on Dewey Duck and…” he was quickly interrupted by Bradford “I don’t have time for a story Karnage. Show me the visitor” Bradford said, getting quickly annoyed.

Don Karnage got offended for a second but brushed it off. He opened the lab door and Bradford was surprised to find a child tied up and hanging upside down. The child appeared to be asleep and not aware of its current situation. Bradford knew that this only meant one thing.

“You kidnapped a child?!?” he asked the pirate angrily. Don Karnage gave an angry sigh. He was getting really tired of being accused of this. “I didn’t kidnap the child. His parents are away for a while and it seems like he ran away from home. And besides he hates the Duck family. Hence why I think he would make a great member”

Bradford looked between the child and Karnage. He knew that deep down this was wrong but if what Karnage said is correct, then this child could be useful in their ultimate plan to take down Scrooge McDuck.

“I’ll see for myself” Bradford said finally. “Heron wake him up”. Heron walked up to the kid and did something with her robot arm, looking like a gas was being emitted. Immediately, the kid woke up with a gasp and began to dart his eyes around the room. When he realized that he was upside down and tied up, he began to kick violently.

“LET ME GO!!!” the child began to scream out. Bradford calmly approached the kid. “Calm down kid we are not going to hurt you”. The kid seemed to calm down a bit but now he just looked angry. “You have me tied up. How is that not hurting me?” he asked. “Well, I didn’t want you to wake up and escape while I was gone so I decided to tie you up” Don Karnage replied.

The kid looked to his right and groaned. “Oh, it’s you. Listen I already told you I don’t want to join your evil organization”. “Oh, c’mon on why not?!?” Don Karnage began to whine. “You clearly hate the Duck family” he began before the kid interrupted him. “I only have a personal hatred for Llewellyn Duck. I don’t really care about any of the other ones”. “So, you don’t hate Scrooge McDuck?” Bradford asked. “Look I don’t like Scrooge as much as the next person but as far as hating him, not really. That honor would go to his youngest great-nephew” “So you have no interest in joining FOWL?” Heron asked. “No” came the simple reply.

Heron immediately reacted. “Well, he is no use to us. Let’s throw him out then” she said, to which Don Karnage was not happy about, though the kid didn’t seem to mind. “Great if we are done here, I would liked to be put down please?” the kid asked. Heron looked to Bradford who nodded his head and Heron made her way over to cut the kid down

Don Karnage felt kind of betrayed that this kid wouldn’t even consider joining them. How was he going to take revenge on Dewey Duck now? Then it hit him.

“Wait! The kid had a plan on how to get revenge on the Duck family!” Don Karnage blurted out.

 Heron stopped in her tracks and looked between the kid, Karnage, and Bradford. Bradford got closer to the duck. “What was this plan of yours?” Bradford asked, clearly interested. The kid sighed. “It was just a plan to kidnap the two youngest triplets” came the simple reply. “Go on” Bradford replied, clearly even more interested.

The kid seemed a bit nervous but continued. “Well, Dewford and Llewellyn Duck are the youngest members of the family. Essentially, by taking out the two youngest members, the whole rest of the family would be devasted and will stop at nothing to get them back. They will probably think that you guys are behind it and you could treat it like a ransom. Forced Scrooge to give up everything or risk the life of his two youngest great-nephews”

When the kid was finished, Bradford began to pace a bit, seeming lost in thought. Everyone stared at Bradford, waiting to see what he would say.

Bradford then began to smile. “It is a perfect plan” “REALLY?!?” shouted the three other occupants. “Yes, it makes sense. Take out the weakest links in the family and the rest will crumble. Scrooge won’t even know what hit him”

Braford then approached the kid again. “What is your name kid?”. “Doofus. Doofus Drake” came the response. “Well Doofus thank you for the plan”. “You’re welcome”.

“Great now will he be joining FOWL now?” Don Karnage asked excitedly. “Only if he agrees” Bradford said before directing his attention back to Doofus. “What do you say Doofus?” Bradford asked. “Put me down first and then we’ll talk” was all Doofus said.

In an instant, Doofus was let down gently and he brushed himself over, making sure that he didn’t sustain any injuries. “Thank you” he said, addressing his attention to Heron. He then turned to Bradford. “As far as joining your organization goes, I will do it” “Yessss!!!” Don Karnage yelled excitedly. “But only if I get to lead the kidnapping and I get to torture Dewford and Llewellyn myself. Do we have a deal?”. Doofus then extended out his hand to Bradford who smiled and shook it back. “Of course. Welcome To FOWL Doofus”

“Happy to be here” said Doofus, as Don Karnage came from behind and squeeze him in hug.

As much as Doofus wanted so badly to get revenge on Llewellyn, he just hoped that this was the right way to go about it as these people that he was now working for were a little bit crazy, if a bit chaotic.

Chapter Text

Huey was excited

No, he was more then excited. He was absolutely squealing with joy.

He finally figured out the secret location of where FOWL was located. He was surprised that after all of this time, it was hiding at Funzo’s.

Of all of the places that Bradford could have chosen for a secret hideout, it had to be Funzo’s. Though Huey had his suspicions that Bradford chose Funzo’s as it was the kind of place where no one would even suspect an evil organization to hid out in, as it was mostly made for kids and their families.

Huey looked at the board that he made. He had borrowed one of Louie’s schemes boards and before him was a well thought out plan on how to infiltrate Funzo’s, including doing a secret birthday party for Webby, which would be seen as what she would probably call it ‘a surprise spy raid’.

Honestly, in Huey’s opinion, there was no better way to describe it.

Huey was proud of the plan that he had made. He was going to show this plan to the rest of his family and he knew that they were going to feel the same way.

In just a couple of days, they wouldn’t have to worry about FOWL anymore and Huey could rest a bit easier at night, knowing that there was an evil organization out there trying to destroy the one thing that made his family special.

Huey put the board in his closet and was just about to sit at his desk and do some more planning when Dewey busted into their room.

“Ahhh Huebert. Just the brother that I wanted to see” Dewey replied, acting all innocently. “What did you do Dewey?” Huey asked, without even looking up from his desk. “What makes you think that I did something?” Dewey asked, clearly offended that his big brother would think that. “Because I know you and I know that you only act like that when you did something wrong” Huey replied, turning around in the desk chair. “Ok for once I didn’t do anything wrong. And secondly, I actually need your help with something”

Dewey had that begging look on his face and Huey knew how rare it was for his brothers to ask for his help. “Alright fine” Huey sighed. “What do you need my help with Dewey?”

“I need you to talk to Louie for me” was all Dewey said. “Why?” Huey asked, generally curious on why Dewey couldn’t talk to Louie himself. “Well, it’s because ever since we got back from Cape Suzette a couple of days ago, he has been ignoring me for some reason. And every time I approach him and ask him what is wrong, he just won’t talk to me. I hate getting the silent treatment from him” Dewey explained, clearly getting upset.

It was no secret to Huey that Louie was ignoring Dewey. To an extent, Louie was also ignoring him as well and while Huey did admit that it was weird, Huey just assumed that Louie just wanted some alone time. Still, it had been two days since they came back and he hasn’t seen Louie much. Only in the mornings and at night before bed. It was definitely odd becoming from the youngest triplet. Louie never went this long without talking to either one of his brothers. Unless he was mad about something.

“Did you say or do something to him to make him mad?” Huey asked. Dewey shook his head. “Not that I know of. At least I hope not” Dewey replied back. Huey could see how upset Dewey was and decided to help out his brother. “How about I go with you and talk to him?” Huey suggested and Dewey gave a small smile.

The two of them walked out of their bedroom together in search of Louie.

They found him in the TV room, watching Ottaman Empire, because of course he was. What was different this time was that Louie had his hood up. Huey knew that he only had the hood up when he was upset about something or whenever he was scheming.

Huey had a feeling that it was the former rather then the latter.

The two older triplets walked into the TV room and got close enough to where Louie could see and hear them. “Louie, we need to talk” Huey said, trying to get his brother’s attention.

It seemed to work as Louie pulled down his hood, turned the volume down a bit and turned towards his brothers. “Sure, what’s up bros”. This was the first time in a least a day since they heard Louie speak to either one of them.

“Dewey here has something that he wants to ask you” Huey replied. Huey gestured Dewey forward and Dewey nervously stepped beside Huey. “Why have you been ignoring me, Louie?” Dewey asked his brother.

Louie quickly ducked his head and didn’t meet their eyes. He was not ready to have this conversation.

To avoid the question, Louie just shrugged his shoulders.

This seemed to really annoy Dewey and Huey could see the early signs of Dewey getting angry. Huey put a hand on Dewey’s shoulders in an effort to calm him down.

He then turned his attention to his little brother. “C’mon Lou there has to be a reason for why ever since you came back from Cape Suzette you have been ignoring us. Is it something that happen while we were gone?” Louie shook his head, still not looking at his brothers. “Is it something that we did? That I did?” Dewey asked his brother.

Louie took a sharp intake of breath and moved slightly further away from his brothers. Dewey face felled. “So, it was something that we did” Dewey said quietly. Huey went to go sit on the couch and put a hand on Louie’s shoulder. “Louie what did we do?” Huey asked clearly hurt as well.

Louie sighed. “You guys went on an adventure. With mom. And without me. And to Cape Suzette no less” Louie said sadly.

A lone tear escaped from his eye, though his brothers didn’t see it as they were both looking at each other. They both felt guilty. Dewey came to sit on the other side of Louie and try to pull him into a side hug, with Huey doing the same on the other side.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t tell you Louie but we had to leave really early as Dewey was flying the plane and you were still asleep” Huey said. “We figured that you wouldn’t want to come anyway and we also figured that Uncle Donald would tell you later” Dewey also replied.

In a split second, Louie quickly got off the couch and out of his brothers’ embrace, which threw the older triplets off guard. Louie turned to face his brothers and he looked mad. Huey wasn’t sure when was the last time he had seen Louie this mad.

“So, you mean to tell me that you guys went on an adventure without me because you didn’t think I wanted to come?!?” Louie said angrily. Huey and Dewey looked at each other and Dewey just shrugged his shoulders while giving a hesitant ‘yes’.

“Well guess what? You guys were wrong. I was worried when I saw that you guys weren’t there. I thought that you got kidnapped by FOWL or something. It wasn’t until Uncle Donald told me later about where you guys had gone that I found out the truth. That you had went with mom to Cape Suzette to find another Missing Mystery”

“And do you know what the worst part is?” Louie asked his brothers, to which they shook their heads. “It wasn’t the fact that you guys went on an adventure without me or went to Cape Suzette without me. No I can deal with that, though the last one does hurt a little. No it is the fact that you two once again got some QUALITY TIME WITH MOM!” Louie yelled at his brothers.

Louie took a minute to compose himself. He looked down at the ground to hide his tears that were beginning to fall. “Proves once again that I am her least favorite” he said quietly, sniffling and trying to hold himself together.

Louie immediately felt a pair of arms around him. Huey and Dewey had got up from the couch and had enveloped Louie into a hug. He could he them both sniffling, clearly upset by what Louie said.

“Louie, you know that is not true” Huey said through his tears. “You know mom doesn’t have a favorite” Dewey also replied tearfully. Louie just scoffed, not even bothering to return the hug. “Of course, you would say that, Dewey. You are obviously her favorite” Louie remarked back.

Dewey quickly let go of Louie, with Huey following suit. “That is not true” Dewey tried to argue. “Oh, don’t even kid yourself Dewey. You were the first one to jump into mom’s arms. You are the first one that she went on an adventure with. You are like her perfect son. Heck, you two are so similar. I can’t stand it sometimes”.

Dewey thought he felt bad for Louie and maybe a part of him still did. But now he was just getting annoyed at Louie’s accusations. Most of what Louie said was true but he still didn’t believe that their mom had a favorite. Dewey wanted to believe that their mom loved them all equally.

However, Dewey couldn’t kid himself. He saw the way his mom treated Louie. It was clear that the two of them didn’t have the best relationship. But Dewey thought that since Moonvasion, they had a better relationship. Clearly, they were still some issues that his mom and baby brother still needed to work out.

It frustrated Dewey to no end though. Why couldn’t Louie just get along with his mom like he and Huey did?

“You know what I can’t stand Louie? The fact that you don’t get well along with mom. I mean she literally fought for 10 years to get back to us. Why haven’t you made an effort with her? I thought you guys have a better relationship?” Dewey asked, not understanding that he just unleashed something inside of Louie.

“You don’t think I have tried? Oh, that’s funny. I have tried ever since she came back. I tried to include her in my schemes. I have tried to bond with her. Ever since Timephoon, I longed for the kind of relationship that you guys have with her. Every time I do though, I get shut down. She is either off with one of you guys or doing something with Uncle Donald or Penny. No matter how hard I try or what I do, nothing works” Louie finished bitterly.

“What about that time in the Impossbin?” Huey asked, who had been rather quiet the whole time. “That was different. There wasn’t much bonding more like avoiding horrible death traps, to which I did not enjoy by the way” Louie answered. “I would say that is bonding time” Dewey said. “Of course, you would” Louie said through his teeth, though Dewey heard it.

“Do you have a problem with me or something Louie? Is my so-called ‘perfect’ relationship with mom getting in the way of our brotherhood?” Dewey asked, staring down his brother.

Louie flinched and Huey realized that he needed to step in. “Ok guys that’s enough. Let’s cool down for a second before we say things that we might regret”

“You know what Dewford? Maybe it is” Louie said, completely ignoring Huey. “Things were fine until mom showed up. Maybe things would be better if mom wasn’t in our lives”

Dewey gawked at that. “You can’t say that!” Dewey said, clearly shocked. “I can and I did” Louie replied, crossing his arms over his chest and giving Dewey a smirk look. “You wanted a mom since we were little” Dewey tried to argue. “No Dewey. You wanted a mom since we were little. I was totally fine with just having Uncle Donald as our parent” Louie replied.

Dewey was trying to find a good comeback as Louie was constantly beating him with the truth. And boy did the truth hurt.

Maybe Dewey could use that.

“Fine. If I’m mom’s favorite, then you are Uncle Donald’s favorite” Dewey said, acting like he won the argument. “Oh please. Uncle Donald does not have favorites and if he did it would be Huey. I mean heck those two are so much alike it’s crazy. But unlike you and mom, I actually like that comparison as it is comforting rather than discouraging” Louie said, pointing to their older brother, who clearly did not want to be part of the conversation.

“Ok that is so not fair! You are basically saying that Uncle Donald is the superior parent and that Huey is basically the better brother!” Dewey pointed out. Louie looked between his brothers. “Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not” Louie said vaguely.

Dewey gave a loud groan. “I JUST CAN’T DEAL WITH YOU ANYMORE LLEWELLYN. I HATE YOU! YOU ARE THE WORST BROTHER EVER! I WISH YOU WOULD HAVE DIASPPEAR INSTEAD OF MOM!”. Immediately, Dewey covered his mouth with his hand. He could not believe that he said that to his brother. Huey couldn’t believe it either as he stood there in shock.

As soon as the words left Dewey’s mouth, Louie features crumpled and he began to cry. Dewey began to approach his brother in an attempt to comfort him. “Louie I’m…”, but before he could get the words out, Louie turned on his heels and ran out of the room.

Dewey tried to follow him but Huey stopped him. “Don’t Dewey. You have done enough” Huey said, clearly angry and hurt by what just happened.

Dewey wanted to protest but decided against it, letting Huey run after Louie and clean up the mess that he made.

Dewey sat on the couch, with Ottoman Empire playing in the background. The last few minutes rang in his head. All of the fighting and all of those awful words that he said to his baby brother were still fresh in his mind.

In this moment, Dewey didn’t know whether to feel angry or sad. He settled on somewhere in the middle as he let out a load groan and placed his head in his hands, not bothering to wipe away the tears that were falling down his face and landing on the floor below him.

Neither triplet spoke a word to each other that night and if any of the adults or Webby noticed the quiet behavior, they didn’t say a word.

Chapter Text

It had been several days since Doofus got integrated into FOWL and he could say that for the most part, it was nice. His sleeping quarters were a bit standard and lower than what he was expecting but considering that the evil headquarters was underneath a kid’s fun place, it honestly could be worst.

He also got to be familiar with some of the agents though he didn’t interact with them much as he tended to keep to himself and was focused on what was the best course of action for kidnapping Dewford and Llewellyn.

He also meet the clones: May and June. They were definitely something to say the least. They reminded him a lot of that Webby girl that Llewellyn was really close with. He only seen her a few times but he was glad to not come in direct contact with her as he knew that she could kick his butt in an instant. And the clones were no different, though they were most times then not either around Heron or in their tubes, so Doofus didn’t see them much, which he was thankful for.

What was probably the worst part was Don Karnage. It seemed like the pirate took a liking to him for some reason and was constantly following him around asking him time and time again when they were going to put the plan into action. Every time Don Karnage would ask him, Doofus would answer with a ‘soon’ which Don Karnage answered with a groan and Doofus wished that the pirate would just leave him alone.

Sadly though, Doofus knew that that wasn’t going to happen. He knew that him and Don Karnage were going have to work together in order for the plan to work. That didn’t mean that Doofus had to like it.

After days of going over the plan and gathering some much-needed information from Bradford, Doofus was ready to share the plan with the rest of the FOWL agents.

Bradford called everyone into the board room and Doofus was very happy to see everyone here. “Thank you all for coming in today. I am going to let Doofus take things away now” Bradford addressed the other agents before turning his attention to Doofus.

“Thank you, Director Buzzard” Doofus said to Bradford, before turning his attention to the other agents. “As all of you know Scrooge and his family have been a pain. With their adventures causing chaos and destruction whether they go”, to which all the agents nodded their heads and loudly agreed with Doofus. “But all that ends today. Working with Director Buzzard, we have come up with a plan to stop Scrooge and his family from adventuring once and for all”

“And how are we going to do that? Are we actually going to kill Scrooge McDuck?” Steelbeak asked excitedly. “No see that is the thing” Doofus began to say “You guys have been focusing on the main target. What you haven’t considered is taking out the smaller opponent. You take out the weakest family members first…” “Then the rest of the family would be so deep in their grief…” Phantom Blot chimed in. “That they won’t be prepared for when we attack” Black Heron finished.

“Exactly” Doofus said. “I like your plan kid” Pepper said. “Thank you Pepper” Doofus said. “Now how do we go about executing this plan?” Rockerduck asked. Bradford stepped up. “According to what Heron and I have gathered it seems like the two youngest triplets are at odds with each other and despite this, Scrooge plans on taking the family on an adventure to find one of the missing mysteries, which means…” Bradford trailed off looking to Doofus. “Which means that now is the perfect time to strike.” Doofus finished off.

“Of course” Don Karnage cut in. “If those two are at odds with each other, then they will be too distracted to notice when I come in and snatch them up”. “Hold up. What makes you think that you are the ones who gets to kidnap them?” Doofus asked the pirate. “Wait I am not kidnapping them?” Don Karnage asked. Doofus shook his head. “Nope I figure we should let Phantom Blot do it” Doofus said, gesturing to Phantom Blot.

“I would gladly undergo this mission as long as I get to bring Pepper along with me” Blot said, gesturing to Pepper who’s face lighted up at the mention of her name. Doofus turned to look at Bradford who nodded his head. “Yes, she can join you” Doofus said, to which Pepper was really excited about.

However, Don Karnage was furious. “Wait why do they get to do the kidnapping? I am Dewey’s nemesis and you are Louie’s nemesis. Shouldn’t we be the ones to do this?” Don Karnage asked. “No because we would draw way too much attention to ourselves, considering how you are with all your dancing and stuff” Doofus replied. “Phantom Blot and Pepper can stay in the shadows and won’t be noticed by any of the Duck family” Bradford also said.

Don Karnage looked like he wanted to argue but one stern look from Bradford forced him to keep his mouth shut. “Can I at least fly them there?” Don Karnage asked meekly. Bradford and Doofus shared a look and Doofus shrugged his shoulders. Bradford sighed. “Yes, you may fly them there” he said, feeling very tired. Don Karnage did a little twirl at that and everyone in the room just rolled their eyes.

Everyone was soon dismissed and Don Karnage went to go get the FOWL plane ready for the mission. Doofus was about to head out when Bradford stopped him. “Doofus I need you to go with them on this mission. Make sure that Dewford and Llewellyn get here and to also make sure that Karnage doesn’t do anything stupid”. Doofus shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, no problem. I wanted to go anyway”. “Why?” Bradford asked. “So that when Llewellyn wakes up, I will be the first thing he sees” Doofus said, with an evil smirk on his face and a laugh to match.

Bradford would say that he wasn’t lying when he was glad when Doofus left the room. Sometimes, that kid freaked him out.

…

Things were tense between the Duck triplets the next morning. All three boys woke up around the same time, which was unusual. Neither of them said a word to each other as each of them grabbed their clothes. However, the problem arose when they had to changed into their normal clothes as they made a dash to the bathroom.

Dewey and Louie got there first around the same time and where both shoving each other to get into the door first. “I was here first Louie” Dewey angrily told his brother. “No, I was Dewford” Louie said, while shoving at his brother. Huey watch this happen from the sidelines and was honestly too tired to really deal with his brothers arguing.

Huey shoved both of them out of the way and went into the bathroom first. “Hey no fair Huebert. We got here first” Dewey yelled through the door. “I don’t have time to deal with you two today” Huey said through the door, sounding tired. “See now you made Huey mad” Louie said to Dewey. Dewey gawked. “What I didn’t do anything? How is this my fault now?” Dewey asked.

“Everything is always your fault” Louie muttered. “I’m sorry what did you just say?” Dewey asked, knowing full and well what Louie said. “You know what I said Dewford. I said everything is your fault” Louie remarked. “That is not true! If anything, everything is your fault” Dewey replied. Louie gasped. “Oh really, just because I am the evil triplet everything is my fault?”. “Yep, and not only are you the evil triplet. You are the worst triplet” Dewey replied back angrily.

“Alright you two that is enough!” Huey yelled, coming out of the bathroom. “He started it!” both of them yelled at the same time. “I don’t care who started it. It is too early to be having a fight right now. Louie get in that bathroom and change quickly and Dewey you can either wait patiently or you change somewhere else. Choice is yours” Huey said, trying to keep his composure.

Dewey looked between his brothers. “I think I will wait” Dewey said through his teeth. Louie looked like he wanted to make a snarky comment but Huey shook his head and Louie bit his tongue, walking into the bathroom.

Dewey sat down against the wall and Huey just looked at his brother with disappointment. “What?” Dewey asked with a snarky attitude. “Why did you say that to Louie?” Huey asked his brother, trying to be patient with him. Dewey shrugged his shoulders. “You know how we are. We can bicker for hours but we don’t normally mean anything”. “Did you mean it when you said that he was the worst triplet?” Huey asked, coming to sit beside Dewey. Dewey was surprised that Huey would ask that question. “No of course not. Louie just got under my skin a bit and I was just trying to get a reaction out of him”. “That’s all?” Huey asked. “Yes, Huey that was all” Dewey said, wanting to end this conversation.

However, Huey wasn’t going to just drop it. “Dewey, I don’t think you realize how much your words hurt Louie”. Dewey didn’t say anything, so Huey continued on. “When I ran after yesterday, I couldn’t find him for a while. When I did, it…” Huey stopped for a minute and Dewey turned to look at his brother, who was trying to compose himself. Dewey knew that couldn’t be good. “What happened Huey?” Dewey asked nervously.

Huey composed himself and continued. “I found him in the bathroom. He was trembling violently and I could see in his hand that he had scissors” Huey said with a tremor to his voice. “Scissors?” Dewey whispered, to which Huey nodded. “What was he doing with scissors?” Dewey asked, although he already knew the answer. Huey made a cutting motion to his wrist and Dewey winced.

Whatever hurtful feelings he had towards his little brother were long gone. “Did…Did you stop him?” Dewey shakily asked. “I stop him the minute I saw those scissors touch his feathers” Huey said. Dewey let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding in. Unfortunately, Huey wasn’t done. “When I grabbed the scissors from him, he got mad but I demanded him to tell me what was going on. He immediately looked down in shame and started to cry. I gave him a hug and sat there with him for several minutes, letting him sob into my shirt and trying to get him to calm down”

Dewey couldn’t even begin to imagine walking in on that scene. Dewey felt like such a horrible brother. He should have been there alongside Huey comforting their little brother. Instead, he let Huey deal with it while he wallowed in his own grief and despair. He wasn’t the only one hurting. Louie was too but it seemed to be a hundred time worst.

“Did he ever say anything to you?” Dewey asked. Huey sighed and looked away from his brother. “He told me that this isn’t the first time that he has tried to cut himself”. Dewey was shocked but what Huey said next was even more terrifying. “He then rolled up his sleeves and show me his arms. There were so many of them Dewey. I…couldn’t believe what I was seeing” Huey said, on the verge of tears. Dewey wasn’t too far behind him.

“How many were there?” “I didn’t count as I was too fixated on the scars themselves but Louie told me that the first cut that he made was from right after we got back from Castle McDuck. The first time” Huey said, having to elaborate when Dewey gave him a look.

Now Dewey felt more horrible than before. The first time they visited Castle McDuck was from when his brothers learned about Dewey’s secret. Dewey saw how mad Huey got and how absolutely devasted Louie was, cradling their mom’s jacket in his arms. Dewey felt horrible then, but now he felt even worst. Dewey thought that Louie was fine after that day but he was wrong. Louie was more hurt than Dewey could have ever imagined. And Dewey realized that it was all his fault. Maybe Louie was right when he said that everything was his fault.

Dewey began to cry and Huey brought him in for a side hug, letting Dewey cry onto his shoulder, just like he had Louie do yesterday. “How did we not notice Huey?” Dewey asked through his tears. “How did we not notice our baby brother suffering?” Huey honestly wished he had an answer for that. “I don’t know Dew. He wears that hoodie all the time, even to bed. I guess we just never realized it or questioned it”. “I wish that we did. I wish…I wish I wasn’t so harsh to him. I wish I didn’t keep that secret from you guys. I…I wish I was a better brother” Dewey brokenly whispered.

Huey wanted more then anything to squash Dewey’s doubts and insecurities. He knew that Dewey never means to hurt Louie and that he tries so hard to be a good brother for Louie. Some days, Huey was proud of Dewey and Huey also knew that Louie knew that Dewey was trying his best, but Dewey wouldn’t see it that way.

Huey didn’t want to blame Dewey for Louie cutting himself, because he knew that Dewey was not the main one to blame. Honestly no one was to blame but if Huey had to point to someone, it would be their mom. Louie told him about some of the cuts that he made and it seems like the cuts were linked to events that were somehow related to their mom. Huey knew that Louie was the last one to accept Della but Huey would never have imagined all of the pain from those events would have led to his baby brother cutting himself. It made Huey sick just thinking about it.

“Do you think I should talk to him?” Dewey asked randomly, bringing Huey out of his thoughts. “I think eventually you do need to Dew. But I would wait a little bit. Louie is still a bit shaken up from yesterday and he really doesn’t want people to know about the cuts. He doesn’t like the fact that I know and he promise me not to tell anyone” Huey told his brother. “Does he not trust me?” Dewey heartbreakingly asked and Huey brought Dewey closer to him, stroking his head feathers. “It’s not that Dew. Louie does love and trust you. Things are just complicated right now. He will tell you when he is ready”

Dewey sighed, not fully satisfied but willing to let it go for Louie’s sake. “Ok. I can do that” Dewey said, detaching himself from Huey and standing up, to which Huey followed suit. “Things are going to be alright Dewey. I promised” Huey said, placing a comforting hand on Dewey’s shoulder.

Louie came out of the bathroom at the moment with his head down, not looking at either of his brothers. “Bathroom is all yours Dewford” Louie said, though there was no anger in his voice. Only sadness. Dewey sighed. Louie was hurting and there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was wait like Huey said.

As much as Dewey didn’t like waiting, he knew that he was going to have to do it. If he wanted to fix his relationship with Louie, he needed to have patience and wait. ‘Easier said then done’ Dewey thought to himself as he went into the bathroom to change, glaring his eyes at the scissors that his baby brother used to hurt himself.

Dewey wanted to destroyed those scissors

…

The mood in the air at breakfast time was…tense, to say the least.

The adults didn’t seem to noticed that anything was off but Webby could see that something wasn’t quite right with the triplets. For one thing, Louie sat on the opposite side of the table from his brothers, when he normally sat right between them. Another thing she noticed was that the boys weren’t making conversation with each other and that all three of them were eating their breakfast silently and not looking at anyone. Webby wanted to find out what was going on but didn’t want to pry.

After breakfast was over, everyone piled into the Sunchaser, though the boys did so reluctantly. This would be the last adventure that they would go on before Webby’s birthday party and their final stand against FOWL. They were going after Circe’s Medallion. It was a magical medallion that once belong to the ancient Greek sorceress Circe, who was known for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs, often turning her enemies into animals.

Scrooge said that her medallion was lost centuries ago and has never been found, until he recently dug up a map that led to her medallion, which was located not too far from where Ithaquack was at.

Webby was all excited for this adventure and she thought her surrogate brothers would share the same excitement. “Aren’t you boys excited?” Webby asked them. “Oh yeah very” Louie said sarcastically, while scrolling through his phone. “Yep totally” Huey said, unconvincingly. Dewey didn’t say anything, looking at Louie with sad eyes, though Louie didn’t seem to notice.

Webby wish there was something that she could do to brighten their spirits, but couldn’t think of anything. Instead, she just remained close to Scrooge for the whole trip, listening to Donald and Della sibling banter and casting sad and worried eyes every now and then at the boys.

When they landed at their destination, everyone piled out of the plane, though the triplets were lagging a bit behind. Webby watched them and noticed how Huey was rubbing his hands together, doing that when he was nervous, Louie having his hands in his pockets, choosing to look at the ground, and Dewey in the back, also looking at the ground and not looking very happy. Webby followed in line with Huey. “Huey, what is going on with you guys?” Webby asked. Huey sighed. “Dewey and Louie had a big fight yesterday and now they are not speaking to each other”. “Should I be concerned?” Webby asked. Huey turned to look back at his brothers for a second before directing his attention back to Webby. “No. They will work it out eventually” was all Huey said, so Webby decided to drop it. Huey was obviously leaving out some information but she didn’t want to get in the way of their sibling argument.

Up ahead, Webby saw that Scrooge had stopped and was putting his hand out for the group to stop. Unfortunately, Dewey and Louie didn’t see where they were going and bumped into each other. “Hey watch out where you are going!” Louie yelled to his brother. “Sorry Louie” Dewey said quietly. Louie just huffed and went to stand beside Huey, to which Dewey did the same.

“What is it Uncle Scrooge?” Della asked. “I thought I heard an airplane” he said. The group stop and listened for a second and didn’t hear anything. Scrooge then ordered them forward and they began to walk. Huey and Webby began to follow the adults and Dewey and Louie were about to do the same when Dewey suddenly noticed something running towards them out of the corner of his eye.

“Louie watch out!” Dewey tried to warn his brother but it was no use. The figure tackled his brother to the ground, prompting Louie to let out a scream. “LOUIE!” Dewey yelled trying to reach his brother but he was soon tackled to the ground as well.

Whoever was pinning them down was really strong. Dewey could see the rest of his family running up to help them but they were no match for however these guys were. A smoke bomb was thrown in his family’s direction and it blinded them for a little bit.

Dewey turned his head and saw his little brother right beside him. He was being held down by the other person’s hand and was struggling to get freed. Dewey tried with all his might to get closer to his brother but found that he couldn’t. “Both of you hold still. This will all be over in a little bit” the figure said from above them. Dewey was about to question the figure when a smaller figure walked up and stuck a needle in Louie’s arm.

Dewey watched as his brother felled unconscious in seconds. “What did you do to him?” Dewey cried out. “Don’t worry. He is fine” the smaller figure, which Dewey now realized was a woman, said. “And now it is your turn”.

Before Dewey could react, the needle was injected into his arm and Dewey felt really sleepy all of a sudden. The last thing he heard before sleep took him was the sound of his older brother calling out his name in desperation.

Chapter Text

This was terrible

Everything went from good to bad in a matter of seconds

Huey saw his brothers being attack and immediately felt his big brother instincts kicking in. He wasn’t going to let anyone hurt his brothers. Not on his watch.

His family seem to think the same thing as they all rushed to the two younger triplets’ aid

Unfortunately, they were all blinded by a smoke bomb being thrown at them. Everyone felled backwards and a couple of them screamed out in pain.

By the time Huey’s vision cleared up, he saw a sight that he wished he would never see. He saw his two little brothers, his best friends, two parts of himself, being kidnapped. To make matters worse, they were unconscious and couldn’t fight back.

“Dewey! Louie!” Huey tried calling out to them but they couldn’t hear him. He tried to run after them but found that his legs were weak and he couldn’t move, too frozen in fear.

The rest of the family was just beginning to get their vision back when they saw Dewey and Louie being carried into the plane. Della and Donald were furious but found that they couldn’t move either. Webby managed to find some strength but found that she couldn’t make it far either, coming up beside Huey and watching in horror along with him as they watched their brothers being taken away from them.

As Huey watched the plane take off, he reached out his hand and heartbrokenly whispered “No” as he watched the plane that held his brothers captive fly off into the distance.

Donald, Della, and Scrooge came up to the remaining two children. “Are you two alright?” Della asked them. Webby gave a small nod, though it was clear that she was barely holding it together. Everyone then turned to Huey and he just stared at the spot where his brothers last stood, not bothering to look at anyone.

Donald slowly approached Huey and lifted up his chin, making Huey look at him. Huey seemed to snap out of his thoughts the second he looked into his uncle’s eyes. Huey couldn’t take it anymore and just collapsed into his uncle’s arms, sobbing into his chest.

“They are gone Uncle Donald. Dewey and Louie are…” Huey sobbed, not able to get his words out. The pain was just too much for him right now. Donald just held his nephew close, wanting more then anything to take away the pain that he was feeling

Truth be told, Donald was scared too. He knew that this was probably FOWL’s doing. It had to be. What Donald was confused about was why did FOWL only take Dewey and Louie and not Huey? These were questions that would be answered in time. For now, Donald had two missions. The first one to calm Huey down and the second one was to rescue his other two nephews before something bad happen to them. He would never be able to live with himself if something bad happened to Dewey and Louie.

Huey eventually calmed down and Donald was able to talk to him. “We are going to get your brothers back Huey. I promise” his uncle said. Huey knew that when his uncle promised something, he meant it, so he trusted his uncle.

Still, the situation was scary. He didn’t know why his brothers were kidnapped and why wasn’t he kidnapped with them?

Huey mostly feared for their safety. He knew that kidnappings could be dangerous, depending on what the captors wanted. He didn’t know what these people had planned for his brothers but he knew that it couldn’t be anything good.

It scared Huey to no end and a part of his wishes that he was kidnapped right beside them. But he knew that his family would find a way to save his brothers, even if it meant going to the ends of the earth to do so.

Huey honestly felt the same way. He would do anything for Dewey and Louie. Huey knew that his brothers wouldn’t want him to wallow in his grief. They would want him to fight. Do everything in his power to save them. He knew that he would want the same from them if he was kidnapped.

Huey just hoped that Dewey and Louie would hold on to the hope that they were coming to save them. Huey also hoped that despite their arguments, that Dewey and Louie would stay together and protect each other.

Huey was soon brought out of his thoughts when Scrooge ordered everyone back onto the plane as they needed all the help they could get in finding Dewey and Louie.

As everyone walked back to the plane, Huey stopped for a minute to look at the sky, picturing the moments that the plane took off with his brothers. He clenched his fist angrily and gritted his teeth. These people kidnapped the wrong ducklings. Huey was going to fight to get his brothers back. Whatever the cost.

“You coming Huey?” Webby asked when she noticed Huey lagging behind. “Yeah, I’m coming” Huey called back. ‘Dewey, Louie just hang on ok. Don’t lose hope. We are coming for you’ Huey whispered quietly to no one in particular as he followed Webby to the plane.

…

Phantom Blot and Pepper had to quickly run to the plane in order to avoid being seen by the rest of the family. Once they made it inside, they saw Doofus waiting for them, who had a huge evil smile on his face.

“Ahhh great work you two” he addressed Blot and Pepper before turning to Don Karnage. “Quick start the plane. We have to get out of here quick before the rest of the family knows that they are gone”. “Yeah, that smoke bomb that we threw at them isn’t going to last forever” Pepper cut in. Don Karnage quickly started up the plane and soon they were flying off to FOWL’s Headquarters.

“What should we do with them?” Pepper asked, gesturing to Dewey and Louie. “Hmmm let’s tie them up. In case they wake up before we get back” Doofus suggested.

With that, Pepper and Phantom Blot got to work on tying up Dewey and Louie. Luckily, the two ducks didn’t seem to wake up from the action, to which everyone was grateful for.

Once the two ducks were tied up, Pepper and Phantom Blot decided to rest up for a bit, which left Doofus alone with the younger triplets. He could hear Don Karnage going into some monologue about how he was going to get revenge on Dewey Duck and how he would rue the day or something like that.

Honestly, Doofus didn’t care. He was mostly focused on getting his revenge on Llewellyn. He had some ideas on what to do with him but there was the issue of having Dewford here with him. No doubt the blue duck will be wanted to protect Llewellyn. Keeping Doofus far away from him as possible.

However, maybe Doofus could play with these two. He knew that these two were at odds with each other so maybe Dewford wouldn’t be willing to defend his brother if he was mad at him. Of course, Doofus knew that wouldn’t be the case but it was still a nice thought to have.

The best-case scenario would be to somehow separate the two so that he could have Llewellyn all to himself. Then, Doofus would have free range to do whatever he wanted to. Make Llewellyn feel pain and suffer for what he did to him. And, if the brothers were separate, there was nothing Dewford could do about it. And to top it all off, Don Karnage would also be taking his revenge on Dewford.

Doofus smiled to himself. Everything was falling into place.

He approached Llewellyn and whispered into his ear. “You are mine now Llewellyn”. Doofus then walked up to Dewey. “And there is nothing that you can do about it” he whispered to Dewey. “That either of you can do” he said to both of them

Doofus then walked away from Dewey and Louie and took back his post on the opposite side of them. He totally missed the subtle shudder that came from Louie as he subconsciously moved closer to Dewey.

Once they got back to the FOWL base, the four agents wasted no time carrying Dewey and Louie inside. Despite being told earlier to shut up, to which he did for a bit, Don Karnage was still on his stupid monologue about destroying Dewey Duck. The other three agents found it annoying and Doofus once again had to tell him to shut up as to not wake up Dewey and Louie.

Once they made it underneath Funzo’s, they were greeted by Bradford and Black Heron. “Ahhh I see that the mission was a success. Good job to the four of y’all” Bradford told them, smiling at them. “Thank you, Director Buzzard,” Doofus said

“So, what do we do with them now?” Don Karnage asked. Everyone turned to look at Director Buzzard. “Take them down to the holding cells for now. We can figure out what to do with them later” Bradford said, ordering Phantom Blot and Pepper.

Once Phantom Blot and Pepper left with Dewey and Louie, the other four walked down to the boardroom to talk about their plans for the two triplets.

“I say that Dewey Duck and I have a rematch to see who is the better showman” Don Karnage suggested once they sat down. Black Heron rolled her eyes. “Oh please. That is not sinister enough. And besides, I am sure the kid could easily beat you again” she said, smirking at Don Karnage. “How dare you say that Dewey Duck is better than me!” Don Karnage yelled. “Well, it is the truth” Heron teased.

Don Karnage looked seconds away from exploding and Bradford had to step in. “That is enough you two” Bradford said, to which both of them went quiet after that. “Doofus what do you think we should do?” Bradford said addressing Doofus. “Hold on why are you asking him?” Black Heron asked. “Because he is the one who originally came up with the idea to kidnap them in the first place” Bradford stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“But what about my idea that I insisted to you earlier? The one where I treat them like experiments? Kind of like I did with May and June?” Black Heron suggested. “And I told you that I would put a pin in it and think about it. Right now, I want to hear with Doofus has to say” Bradford said, which earned a sigh from Heron. “Fine. Go ahead kid” she said to Doofus.

“Well its funny that you mentioned that because I am going to need your help Heron” Doofus said to Heron. Heron looked confused. “With what?” she asked. “I need you to keep the clones as far away from Dewford and Llewellyn as possible. Don’t want there to be any friendships forming between them and the possibility of helping them escape. They are too much like that Webbagail girl”. Black Heron just laughed. “Oh, please like any of that is going to happen but yeah sure whatever. Is that all though?”.

“Well…how good are you at torturing people?” Doofus asked. “Like physically or emotionally?” she asked. “Both” Doofus simply said. Black Heron just smiled. “Oh I got plenty of experience and we got a lot of tools for it”.

“What are you thinking Doofus?” Bradford asked. “Well first I think that we need to keep Dewford and Llewellyn separated as best as we can. I know that Dewford will try everything to protect Llewellyn so the less they are together the better. I think that our best route is to break down the two of them physically and emotionally to the point where they can’t fight back or escape”

“Is there where you and I come in?” Don Karnage asked. Doofus gave Don Karnage a look. “As long as you are not so heavily focused on your ego and showboating, then yes you can be involved with it”. “YES! You will rue the day Dewey Duck that you messed with the Don Karnage” he proudly pronounced, which earned an eye roll from everyone in the room. “Yeah, like that” Doofus said. “Sorry” Don Karnage said shamefully, returning to his seat.

“So where do I come in?” Heron asked. “Oh you are going to apply the extra level. See while Karnage and I may provide a more emotional pain, you will provide more of the physical pain and add that extra layer of emotional to it” Doofus said.

Black Heron and Bradford gave evil smiles. “I like the way you think kid” Bradford said. “Yeah, I must admit you did a great job on this one Karnage. For once” Heron added, to which Don Karnage gave a smile and bow, saying “Thank you”

Bradford and Black Heron left the room, which left Doofus and Don Karnage alone. “So, when are we going to enact this plan of yours? I am ready to take my revenge on Dewey Duck” Don Karnage exclaimed. “Not until they wake up. Once they understand the severity of their situation, then we can hit them where it really hurts” Doofus said.

“I knew that I liked you the minute I saw you kid” Don Karnage said. Doofus rolled his eyes and walked out the room while saying “Yeah I love you too buddy”, though he was being sarcastic.

Don Karnage followed him out, going on about how Doofus was. Though, Doofus just tuned him out, getting lost in his thoughts. Thinking about how Dewford and Llewellyn were going to suffer and how lucky he was to be witnessing it firsthand.

Chapter Text

Dewey woke up to a pounding headache. His vision was also blurring a little bit and he felt like he could vomit at any minute. Everything felt extremely fuzzy and was preventing him from thinking clearly

Dewey tried to remember what happened before his vision went blurry. All he could remember was that they were on an adventure and then some shadowy figures came and attack them, holding down Louie…

Louie!

Dewey’s mind immediately went to his younger brother and he gave his eyes time to adjust to his surroundings before looking around, seeing if he could locate his brother.

He found Louie a few feet away from him, laying perfectly still and unmoving. Dewey crawled over to his brother and began to shake him. When Louie didn’t stir, Dewey began to panic and immediately grabbed Louie’s wrist, rolling up his sleeves.

Dewey’s eyes went to the scars along his brother’s wrist and thought back to when Huey first told him about them. Dewey couldn’t linger on the thought too much longer though. He had to make sure that Louie was alive. Luckily, Dewey found a pulse and he could finally let out the breath that he had been holding.

Dewey looked down at his little brother and was grateful for every breath that he took. He didn’t what he would do if…

‘No don’t think like that Dewey. Louie is alive and that is all that matters’ Dewey thought to himself as he leaned his head against the wall, trying to keep his tears at bay. Dewey then propped Louie up against him, letting him lean on his shoulder, making sure that his little brother was comfortable.

Dewey then looked around the room and realized that they were in a cell. But it wasn’t just any ordinary cell. Dewey instantly recognized this cell as one of the cells that he and Launchpad broke out of when they were playing their favorite video game: Double-O-Duck

Dewey immediately felt a little better about their situation. He realized that he was somewhere that he knew and that whoever had kidnapped them must love that game as well.

“Dewey?” Dewey immediately turned his head to his left as he saw Louie beginning to wake up beside him. Dewey felt even more relieved. “Hey Lou. How you feeling?” Dewey asked softly. Louie took a minute to respond as he was still trying to wake up. “Uggh I feel awful”. Dewey frowned at that. “My head hurts and I feel a little dizzy” Louie groaned. Dewey knew the feeling all too well.

When Louie finally got his vision cleared, he began to look around the same way that Dewey did. “Where are we?” Louie asked his brother. “I think that we are in the last level of my favorite video game Double-O-Duck”. Louie fixed Dewey with a look that clearly said ‘what are you talking about bro?’.

“At least that’s what I think” Dewey said elaborating. “The cell that we are in looks similar to the one that Launchpad and I escaped from and what I can tell from in here, the hallways look similar as well”. “Great so do you know how to get out of here?” Louie asked. Dewey walked to the glass wall. “I see the escape button but it is on the other side of the cell. Now if only we had Launchpad and some mice to help us out”. Dewey mumbled that last part to himself. Louie still wasn’t sure what Dewey was talking about but he decided that his head hurt too much to really think about it too much.

Louie decided to lean his head back and just close his eyes, trying to reduce the headache that was forming. Suddenly, and without warning, his wrist started to hurt and he grabbed it instantly, wincing as he did.

Dewey stopped his mumbling and immediately came over to his little brother. “Are you ok Louie?” Dewey asked concerningly. “I’m fine Dewey” Louie said, trying to put on a brave face but failing to do so due to the pain. “Did they hurt you? I swear if they hurt you…” Louie was surprised to see how much Dewey care. Granted, he knew that Dewey always cared but recently, it didn’t seem like he did with them constantly fighting and all of the hurtful words that they said to each other.

Louie shook the thought out of his head and just held onto his wrist tighter. “I think it is just a sprain Dewey. I’ll be fine” Louie said, trying to ease his brothers worries and not have him come any closer. Louie knew the real reason for why his wrist hurt and that was because the people who kidnapped them had touch one of his scars and now it hurt. He didn’t want to look at it, afraid that he might see something that he didn’t want to see.

His brother seemed to have a different idea as he tried to reach for Louie’s wrist. “C’mon Louie let me look at it” Dewey insisted. Dewey touched his wrist and even though he was holding it gently, it still hurt. Louie immediately slapped Dewey’s hand away. “What part of ‘I am fine’ don’t you understand Dewey?” Louie said bitterly. Dewey froze for a second and then his face felled. Dewey backed away from Louie, leaning his head against the wall again. “Sorry Louie” Dewey said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Louie immediately felt bad. He knew that Dewey was just trying to help and he pushed him away. Louie was just so scared of what Dewey might say if he saw the scars. The fact that Huey already knew was bad enough. He couldn’t let Dewey find out either. He hated keeping Dewey in the dark but Louie was just too scared to tell his brother. He feared that Dewey might look at him differently or worst, somehow hate him for it. He couldn’t have that.

Louie walked up to Dewey and sat beside him. The two sat in silence for a minute before Louie grabbed Dewey’s hand. “I’m sorry for yelling at you Dewey. I know you were just trying to help me”. Dewey squeezed Louie’s hand back. “It’s ok Louie. I’m sorry for being too pushy. I just don’t know when to back off sometimes”. Dewey then looked Louie in the eyes. “You sure that you are ok?”. Louie nodded his head. “Positive. The pain has subsided for now and I can move it a little bit” Louie said, while demonstrating the movement.

Dewey smiled at the movement, seeming to be satisfied with Louie’s demonstration. He then began to rub circles along the back of Louie’s hand, using his thumb. “If it starts to hurt again or if anything else starts to hurt, just tell me ok?” Dewey asked sincerely. Louie leaned his head on Dewey’s shoulder, comforted by the movement. “Ok” he said sleepily, seeming to doze off. Dewey fondly shook his head. ‘Only Louie’ he thought to himself.

Dewey thought about going to sleep himself when he heard the sound of a door opening, not too far from their cell. Louie immediately perked up as both boys heard footsteps approaching. Dewey moved a bit to be in front of his brother and Louie wrapped his arm around Dewey, clinging onto him, to which Dewey didn’t mind.

Dewey wasn’t sure what these kidnappers wanted but one thing was for sure. If they wanted Louie, they were going to have to go through him first. Dewey wasn’t going to let these people take Louie away from him.

The footsteps got closer and stopped right outside their cell. Louie immediately gasped and slightly hid himself behind Dewey as he recognized who the figure was. “Ahh long time no see Llewellyn” the figure said, who stepped out of the shadows of the dark hallway. Dewey moved himself more in front of Louie, acting as a protective barrier as the person in front of them was none other than Doofus Drake.

Dewey could feel Louie slightly shaking behind him. Dewey quickly adverted his eyes away from Doofus and cast a soft look at Louie. “It’s ok Louie. He won’t hurt you. I’ll protect you” Dewey whispered to Louie.

“Aww well isn’t this sweet. So moving so touching” Doofus said, faking the sincerity, which prompted Dewey to turn his eyes back to Doofus. If looks could kill, Doofus would be dead instantly as Dewey was giving Doofus that look that meant ‘Stay away from my brother’.

“What do you want Doofus? Are you the one who kidnapped us?” Dewey asked in a low voice with a threatening undertone. “Yes…and no” Doofus said, beginning to pace around the front of their cell. Dewey didn’t like the way he was pacing and neither did Louie. “What is that suppose to mean?” Louie asked, trying to sound brave from behind Dewey

Doofus stopped pacing for a second when Louie spoke. “So you can talk. I assumed your brother would do all the talking for you. Glad to see that you can fend for yourself” Doofus said before pacing again. “See I realize that the best way to seek my revenge on you dear Llewellyn” Louie cringed at that, causing Dewey to narrow his eyes once again at Doofus, “was to not do it by myself but to join other people who share the same vision as me. Want the same thing as me”

“And that brings me back to my earlier question. What is it that you want Doofus?” Dewey asked between his teeth. Louie had never heard his brother talk like that and it honestly scared him a little. What scared him even more was the next words to come out of Doofus’ mouth. “Simple. I want to take revenge on your brother for making me share my inheritance with my family”

Dewey knew of the story behind Doofus Drake losing his inheritance thanks to Louie. A part of him was proud of Louie for being able to stand up to Doofus and do that because he knew of the history between the two of them, which was not good. However, Dewey also knew how unstable Doofus was and he knew that sooner or later, he would come after Louie. That was a fear that both he and Huey had for a long time, especially after Doofus Drake’s party.

Now, it seemed like that fear was coming true. Dewey didn’t understand why it took Doofus so long but a part of him didn’t care. He wished that Doofus would just leave his little brother alone. Leave his entire family alone to be quite honest.

“That’s it?” Dewey asked, clearly getting upset. “The whole reason why you kidnap us was to take revenge on Louie for making you share your inheritance?!?” Doofus smiled and gave a low chuckle. “Well yes but also other things too”. “Like what?” Dewey was getting really tired of playing the guessing game with Doofus.

Doofus didn’t say a word as he marched over to where the button was. He pushed it and immediately the glass wall to their cage opened up. Both boys weren’t sure what to do. Dewey was about to grab Louie and make a run for it but a familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Why if it isn’t my greatest nemesis Dewey Duck?”. Dewey recognized that voice from anywhere. Out of the shadows popped out Don Karnage. Dewey internally groaned. ‘Not this guy again’ Dewey thought to himself. “Well, if it isn’t Don Karnage. I thought you were dead” Dewey said with a smug look. Don Karnage just laughed. “Ha it will take more than a plane crash to get the best of Don Karnage and you Dewey Duck will not best me again” he boasted proudly.

Dewey just rolled his eyes. “You say that everytime. Give it up Donnie. You won’t ever beat me. Just admit it. I am better than you” Dewey said, marching up a bit towards Don Karnage but still keeping himself within reach of Louie. Don Karnage gave an evil grin. “We shall see about that young duck”

Immediately, Don Karnage drew his sword. Dewey knew that Don Karnage was picking for another fight. Dewey didn’t want Louie anywhere near this. “Louie run” Dewey whispered to Louie. “What?” Louie exclaimed. “Now Louie” Dewey almost demanded. Louie shook his head, backing himself away from Dewey. “No I am not leaving you” Louie shouted back.

Don Karnage let out a battle cry and came charging at the two triplets. Both of the triplets managed to dodge out of the way. “Louie I’ll hold him off. Go on and I’ll catch up” Dewey yelled while also getting Don Karnage’s attention. Louie hesitated for a second before making a break towards freedom.

However, neither boy accounted for Doofus Drake. “Where do you think you are going?” Doofus Drake asked while stepping in front of Louie, essentially blocking his exit. Louie tried to step around Doofus but Doofus kept stepping in front of him. “You can’t leave now. I haven’t got my revenge yet” Doofus said while slowly advancing on Louie, causing Louie to take several steps back.

Dewey stop his fighting with Karnage when he saw Doofus advancing on his brother. “Louie!” Dewey cried out and started to run towards his brother to protect him. However, this proved to be a mistake as Don Karnage made a cut across Dewey’s cheek, which caused Dewey to cry out in pain. Louie saw this and gasped. Louie suddenly had a new person to hate now and that was Don Karnage.

Louie yelled out for his brother and tried to run to him but was stopped by Doofus. “Oh no you don’t. If you don’t want your brother to be injured any further I suggest you stay put” Doofus threatened. Louie looked between Doofus and Dewey clearly conflicted on what to do. “What is it going to be Llewellyn?” Doofus asked, getting close to Louie’s face, which made Louie shudder. “You leave him alone you monster!” Dewey shouted, trying with all his might to get closer to Louie but couldn’t due to being held restrained by Karnage.

Doofus then turned his head towards Dewey, fixing him with mean look. “The only monsters here are you two and the rest of your awful family” Doofus snapped back, to which earned a head nod from Karnage, who tighten his grip on Dewey.

“Please don’t hurt him. I’ll do whatever you want but please don’t hurt him” Louie said through his tears that he now realized were starting to fall. Doofus seem to think for a minute before smiling. “Hmmm begging. Now that is what I like to hear” he said before turning his attention to Karnage. “Don restrain this one as well. I think it is time that these two meet our boss”.

Don began to walk over to Louie who immediately wanted to run away. However, Doofus whispered a warning. “Don’t even tried to run away Llewellyn. You are mine now. You don’t want to break your promise and let your brother get hurt even more, do you?”. Louie shook his head as the tears began to fall again. “Good boy” Doofus whispered before letting Don Karnage restrain him.

It was a little difficult as Dewey was still trying to put up a fight. Doofus immediately slapped Dewey’s injured cheek. “Stop restraining and cooperate” Doofus ordered. “You kidnapped us and are having us restrained. I have every right to fight back” Dewey snapped back as he started shedding angry tears along with tears from the pain.

“If you don’t do as we say then we will be forced to separate you two” Doofus said, earning a gasp from both boys. “You don’t want that do you Dewford?” Doofus asked, getting close to his face. Dewey looked at his little brother. He saw the fear in his eyes and the tear tracks on his cheeks. Louie was scared and Dewey didn’t know what would happen if they were separated. He couldn’t let that happen. Louie needed him just as much as Dewey needed him.

Dewey sadly shook his head and Doofus grinned. He patted Dewey’s head and Dewey gave a low growl at Doofus.

With Dewey no longer fighting back, Don Karnage was easily able to restrain Louie, who also put up no fight. Doofus then lead them out of the cell and began walking down the hall

Both boys looked at each other, with Dewey subtly checking Louie over for any injuries and Louie staring at the cut on Dewey’s cheek. Without saying anything, they both knew that they were in some trouble. They were currently being held captive by their greatest nemeses and they had no idea who their boss was. They also didn’t know how long it would take for their family to find them or if they would ever be found.

Dewey like to say that they would while Louie wasn’t so sure. One thing that they did know was that they were still together and that provided a bit of hope in this situation.

The boys then made a silent vow to each other. They promise that no matter what, they would stick together. They would protect each other at all costs and they weren’t going to let the bad guys win. Their family was coming for them. They just had to stay strong until they did arrive.

Dewey also made a promise to himself that no matter what, he was going to keep Louie safe and that, if it came to it, he would let Louie escape and let him stay behind and take the fall.

He would sacrifice himself for Louie, if that is what it took. He loved his brother, both of his brothers, so much that he was willing to do that.

Dewey thought that hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that

Chapter Text

The boys were lead all the way down the hall to what looked like some control room

The whole way there, the boys remained silent, which was agonizing for Dewey. He wanted to yell, scream, and kick his way out of the situation. But he knew that he couldn’t do that for the fear of risking Louie’s life

Speaking of Louie, Dewey looked over once again to check on his brother. He was looking down at the ground not looking at anybody. However, Dewey could just feel the terror and hopelessness radiating off from Louie. Dewey wanted nothing more then to tell Louie that everything was going to be ok.

That is what he hated most about being silent. That he couldn’t offer his little brother any words of comfort and reassurance. He considered it his strength. Even more then Huey, Dewey knew that his main way of comforting Louie were his words. He knew that he could always bring a smile to Louie’s face whenever he told a joke.

Whereas Huey always comforted Louie with kind, soft words, Dewey would be the one to come in with a punchline to make Louie laugh and to forget why he was upset in the first place. It was just how they worked as brothers.

But right now, Dewey couldn’t joke around or even provide a comforting hug or words to his brother. The situation right now didn’t call for it and Dewey wasn’t sure when he would ever get the chance to see his little brother smile again

Doofus stopped at a huge door and it opened up on its own. Dewey would have been more fascinated by it, if not for their current situation.

The four of them walked into a large room was completely dark, especially once the door closed behind them. Dewey could hear Louie’s breathing beginning to pick up and Dewey wanted nothing more then to reach out and hold his brother’s hand. However, he couldn’t due to Don Karnage having both of his arms tied behind his back and being held by one of Don Karnage’s hands

“Director Buzzard I bring you the two youngest members of the McDuck family: Dewford and Llewellyn Duck” Doofus announced in the darkness. Dewey couldn’t see who Doofus was talking to until he saw a flash of red and a screen appeared

Dewey and Louie both gasped as they saw the FOWL logo appear on the screen and none other then Bradford Buzzard turn around in the chair that was closest to them. “Well hello boys. Nice to see you again” Bradford said in a chilling voice.

Dewey and Louie just stared at Bradford with their mouths open. They were clearly in shocked. Bradford simply chuckled. “Didn’t see this coming now, did you?” he asked, taunting them.

Oh how Dewey wanted nothing more then to hit Bradford squared in the face. He obviously should have known that FOWL was behind this but yet, they all had let their guard down thinking that they had the upper hand over FOWL.

In all actuality, FOWL had the upper hand on them.

Wait so that meant…

“So, are you two working for FOWL now?” Louie asked, addressing Doofus and Karnage. Both of them smiled and that was all the confirmation that the boys needed. Louie let out a small noise, one that screamed terror. He knew what the implications were and he realized that they were in more trouble than they ever were before.

Dewey, however, seemed a bit confused. “Why would you join FOWL? You two don’t seem like the type to join a group unless…” Dewey began to say before his brain started to slowly connect the dots and also interrupted by Louie “…unless they needed something that they couldn’t get alone…” Louie answered in a small voice “…which is…us” Dewey said that last part out slowly

Doofus slowly clapped his hands and it was unnerving to the both of them. “Well done to the both of you” he said. “Perhaps the blue one is smarter than I give him credit for” Bradford added, which earned a low growl from Louie

Dewey didn’t seem to notice though as his mind was elsewhere. He knew that FOWL was dangerous and while they claimed themselves as ‘not evil’, Dewey wouldn’t put it passed them to do some ‘not-so-nice’ things to them. This was based on the assumption that FOWL was just using them to get Scrooge and the rest of their family to come find them so that FOWL could use Scrooge for whatever plan they had.

Dewey was about to ask Bradford what they wanted with him and Louie but Louie was quicker. “Look this is great and all. Glad to see all of you guys again but our family is probably worry sick about us so how about you let us go and we won’t tell our family that you kidnapped us. What do you say?” Louie said in his ‘scheming/charming’ voice.

Dewey was very impressed on how quickly Louie came up with that but he knew that deep down, his little brother was terrified as he could hear the way his voice wavered a bit during the whole thing. Louie was trying to get them out of this mess and while Louie was good as talking his way out of situations, it seemed like this one might just be too much.

Dewey hoped that Bradford would take Louie’s offer but it seemed like the odds were not in their favor as Bradford didn’t take Louie’s offer. “I am afraid that I can not let you two go” he said. “Well why not? What is it that you want from us anyway?” Dewey asked, desperate for answers.

Bradford got up from his chair and walked over to them. “Simple. because those two over there have unfinished business with you” he said, gesturing to Doofus and Don Karnage, to which Dewey figured as much, but Bradford continued on “And also because I need you two to give me some information”

This surprised both Dewey and Louie. “About what?” Louie asked. “About where you are keeping the remaining Missing Mysteries and when you plan to invade. And also who all of your allies are” Doofus said. Dewey just scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Oh, please we have tons of allies. Too many to count. And why would we ever tell you that information?”

Bradford got close to Dewey. Way too close in Louie’s opinion. “Oh come now Dewford. Aren’t you the one who is terrible at keeping secrets? I mean you couldn’t even keep the secret about your mother from your brothers from that long, am I right?”

Dewey faltered a bit and Louie could see that Bradford had Dewey right where he wanted him. He couldn’t let Bradford have the upper hand.

But before he could call Bradford out, Dewey spoke up in a low voice. “And it hurt me every day to keep that secret from them. I honestly should have told them right from the very beginning”. Louie decided to jump in. “Yeah. Huey and I didn’t know for a long time. Dewey is considered one of the best at keeping secrets” Dewey smiled at that and Louie gave a small smile back. “So yeah we would never spill our family’s secrets, especially not to an evil organization like you” Louie bit back and Dewey’s smile got bigger

Everyone in the room got annoyed and Don Karnage grabbed the boys’ arms even harder, causing them to cry out in pain. “Stop” Doofus said to Karnage and though Karnage wanted to protest, he slowly let go of the boys’ arms. “Now drop them” Bradford said, to which Karnage also did so reclutantly.

Once the boys were released, they crawl over to each other, checking each other over for injuries. Bradford and Doofus slowly walked up to them and Louie grabbed onto Dewey’s arm and came closer to his side.

Doofus got right up in Louie’s face and Louie slowly back away his face, slightly burying it into Dewey’s shoulder. “We try to be nice about it but if this is the way that you are going to be, then we are going to have to pull it out of you the hard way” Doofus said menacingly and neither triplet was prepared for what happened next.

“Eggheads!” Bradford yelled and two big eggheads walked into the room. “Take the green one to the lab” Bradford ordered. That’s when Dewey and Louie realized that they were going to be separated and they didn’t like it one bit. The eggheads soon approached the boys and Dewey was about ready to go on the attack to protect his brother when he grabbed from behind once again.

Dewey looked behind him and saw that Don Karnage was pulling him away from Louie. “Louie!” Dewey cried out as he watched the eggheads grab Louie. Louie tried with all his might to fight back but the eggheads were simply too strong for Louie. “Let me go!” Louie yelled, but the eggheads didn’t listen as they carried Louie to the door. “Dewey! Don’t let them take me away! Please Dewey help me!” Louie cried out to his brother, tears streaming down his face.

The tears were also mirrored in Dewey’s eyes. “Louie! Please don’t hurt him. Please”. There was nothing either boy could do as Louie was dragged out of the room and Dewey could only watch as his baby brother was taking away from him

He turned his eyes back at Bradford and Doofus and boy was he mad. “Where. Did. They. Take. Him?” Dewey asked, wanting so bad to hurt Bradford and Doofus. Doofus walked up to Dewey. “That is none of your concern” he said, to which Dewey wanted so badly to knock his glasses off. “It is my concern. He is my brother. You promise that you wouldn’t separate us”

Doofus only smirked. “I only promised that if you would be good. But since you are not willing to cooperate, we have no choice but to separate you”. Doofus then turned his attention to Bradford and Karnage. “I am off to watch Llewellyn and have fun with Dewford, Karnage. Maybe after we are done, they will finally learn their lesson and cooperate”

Before Doofus let the room, Dewey had one final warning for Doofus. “Doofus. Don’t you dare hurt my brother”. Doofus didn’t even turn around to address Dewey. “And what are you going to do about it Dewford? You can’t protect him anymore. Face it, you failed as a big brother”

Those words hurt Dewey right to his core. Doofus was right. He had let those eggheads take Louie away from him. He couldn’t protect Louie and they were going to do who knows what to him. Gosh, if they hurt Louie, he would never be able to forgive himself.

After Doofus left the room, it was just him, Don Karnage, and Bradford. Dewey slightly struggled in Don Karnage grasp but couldn’t really get anywhere due to the tight grip. “Should I take him somewhere so that we can fight?” Don Karnage asked Bradford. Bradford shook his head. “Not necessary. Wouldn’t want him to miss the show” he replied, looking at Dewey with an evil smile on his face.

Dewey gulped. “What do you mean by ‘show’?” Dewey asked, partially afraid of the answer. Bradford was about to respond when they heard Black Heron’s voice

Sir I have the green one all ready to go. Ready to start the show?

Where her voice was coming from Dewey didn’t know but he didn’t like what she said. Bradford answered her by saying that yes, they were ready. Bradford then grabbed a remote control and pressed a button on it.

A screen appeared in front of them and what Dewey saw made his heart stop. He was not ready for this show at all.

…

Louie struggled the whole time that he was being led down the hall. He was scared out of his mind. He and Dewey were now separated and apparently, he was being taken to a lab. What for Louie didn’t know. Honestly, he didn’t want to know.

What Louie wanted was to be home. He wanted to be curled up on the couch drinking his favorite pep and watching Ottman Empire with his brothers on either side of him. He wanted to be safe in their arms and not be confronted with their greatest enemies.

In no time, they arrived at the lab and Louie was greeted by several eggheads who were wearing lab coats. Louie also noticed that Doofus was there and he didn’t like that one bit. Louie was soon strapped into a restraining chair, with his wrist and ankles being strapped down so that he couldn’t move.

Louie winced at the sudden pain that went up his arm due to the straps touching his scars. “Aww but we haven’t even started yet” a voice said from the opposite side of the room. Louie turned his head to see a women step out from the shadows and Louie instantly recognized her as Black Heron. Louie immediately growled at her, trying to put on a brave face.

“Well look here. I see that you trying to be a hero and put on a brave face. Aren’t you at least a little bit scared?” Doofus asked, clearly mocking him and being way close to his face, as usual. Of course Louie was scared. He was scared of Doofus, he was scared of what was to come, but mostly he was scared of what might be happening to Dewey right now. However, Louie wasn’t going to give Doofus or Heron the satisfaction so Louie just said nothing, choosing instead to glare at both of them.

“Ugh you bored me. Let’s just get this over with” Doofus said, turning away from Louie. “Start it up” Heron instructed to one of the eggheads.

Louie’s face immediately turned sour when he heard a grinding noise. He turned to his left, where the sound was coming from, and saw one of the eggheads approaching him with some kind of medical device that Louie wasn’t sure what it was.

Louie immediately began to squirm. “Stop moving child. You are only going to make it worst” Black Heron ordered from across the room.

The egghead rolled up Louie’s arm, exposing all of his scars, which no one in the room cared to comment on. Not even Doofus commented on the scars. The device hit Louie’s arm and he was immediately hit with what felt like a small electric shock. While it was rather uncomfortable, Louie only flinched at the contact.

Doofus and Heron shared a look. “Increase power” Heron ordered and the eggheads turned up a dial on a machine nearby. The shock increased and Louie was now feeling really uncomfortable. The shocks were now becoming hurtful rather then an inconvenience.

Still, Louie showed no sign of pain, choosing to grind his teeth together. Once again, Doofus and Heron shared a look. “Increase the shock level” Black Heron ordered again. The eggheads did as they were told and increased the shock power.

It was at this point that Louie couldn’t take it anymore. He cried out in pain. “Please stop it hurts” he cried out. The eggheads looked between Doofus and Heron for further instruction. “Increase power” both of them stated with no emotion whatsoever.

The pain to Louie’s arm was almost getting unbearable. He felt like his entire arm was getting ripped off and he definitely feels the scars getting much worst. “Stop this please! Dewey, please help me!” Louie called out, hoping that somehow Dewey would hear him and come rescue him. “I am afraid that your brother can’t hear you” Black Heron replied

But Black Heron was wrong

Dewey could hear his little brother call out to him for help

Apparently, those was a camera hidden out of sight in the lab and Bradford had put the video from the lab up on the screen for Dewey to watch

And Dewey was not liking it one bit

“Louie! Louie, can you hear me? I’m right here” Dewey desperately called out to his brother. “I’m afraid that he can’t hear you. The video only goes one way so while we can hear what is going on, they can’t hear us” Bradford said, putting on that stupid smile on his face. “Please stop this. Please just let him go” Dewey begged.

Bradford got up close to Dewey. “Are you willing to give me that information now?” he asked oh so cruelly. Dewey now had to make a decision. And not a very easy decision at that. Dewey truly loved his brother but he also couldn’t risk the safety of the rest of his family either.

So, Dewey hung his head and stayed quiet. Bradford growled and walked away from Dewey

“Heron, continue torturing the green one and move to his right arm now”

“Copy that sir”

“NOOOOO!” Dewey watched with terror as the egghead slowly moved the device from Louie’s left arm and beginning to roll up the sleeves of his left arm. Louie’s face went from shocked to terror in a matter of seconds and unknowingly looked directly into the face of the camera, tears coming fast down his face.

“Dewey! I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything. Just…please…help…me! Don’t…leave…me”

Dewey felt his heart shatter into a million pieces.

He wished that there was something that he could do to save his brother from this horrible nightmare.

For a second, Dewey felt helpless

Then suddenly, something inside Dewey snapped. He would later describe it as something very similar to when Huey lets the Duke out. Huey would later say that it was his big brotherly instincts going into overdrive.

Whatever he wanted to call it, the broken wails from his baby brother were enough for Dewey to spring into action.

He bit down hard on Don Karnage’s paw who immediately yelled out in pain and dropped Dewey. Dewey hit the ground hard but he wasted no time in sprinting for the door, hoping that he would get out in time before either Bradford or Karnage could catch up with him.

Unfortunately, luck was not on his side as Don Karnage proved that he was quicker than Dewey gave him credit for. “Where do you think you are going?” he asked angrily. Dewey could see the bite mark on his hand but Dewey honestly didn’t care. All that mattered now was that these guys were holding them hostage and they were torturing his baby brother and that Karnage was blocking his only exit. The only way back to his brother.

“To rescue my brother obviously. So get…out…of…my…way…Karnage” Dewey said, through his teeth, the anger evident in his eyes and voice. Karnage didn’t seem to notice though as he continued to stand there.

Dewey was beginning to lose patience and started to charge at Karnage. However, Karnage was quicker and backhanded Dewey across the face, right where the cut on his cheek was.

Dewey was thrown a few feet back and brought his hand up to where the cut was, wincing when he made contact. Dewey watched as Karnage started to advance on him and Dewey had enough.

“On it is on now” Dewey said angrily as he let out a battle cry and started to charge at Karnage. “Ahh finally. The fight that I have been waiting for. But this time, I will be victorious!” Karnage proclaimed while dodging Dewey’s attack. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that Karnage” Dewey said while once again charging at Karnage.

At one point, Bradford had stepped into the shadows and ordered Heron to stop shocking Louie, at least for right now.

The fight was unfortunately mostly one sided. Every time Dewey would try to land a blow, Karnage would dodge his attacks. Dewey, however, wouldn’t give up as he was running on pure rage and adrenaline at the moment. He wasn’t going to let Karnage win. He was going to defeat him and save Louie. Dewey finally understood how Huey felt whenever he was in ‘Duke’ mode.

Unfortunately, the fight ended pretty quickly when Dewey came too close to Karnage and he had to use his sword in order to block Dewey. The sword swiped at Dewey’s shoulder and Dewey cried out in pain, collapsing onto the ground and holding onto his shoulder in pain.

Dewey removed his hand for a quick second and saw that there was blood seeping through his shirt. Luckily, Dewey was also wearing his undershirt so his undershirt soaked up most of the blood but he couldn’t imagine what it looked like underneath.

Dewey quickly looked up when he saw the sword pressed up against his neck. Don Karnage then slowly lowered it to his chest. “Say goodbye Dewey Duck!” Don Karnage said, raising the sword to plunge into Dewey’s chest. “I’m sorry Louie. I have failed you” Dewey whispered as he accepted his fate.

However, before Karnage could plunge the sword, Bradford emerged from the shadows. “I think you had enough fun for today Karnage” Bradford said, making his way over to them. “But sir…” Karnage was about to rebuttal when Bradford held his hand up. “I told you that we needed them alive for now. You can’t kill him. Yet”

Dewey didn’t like that ‘yet’ at the end but he was glad for now that his life was spared

Black Heron’s voice soon appeared

“Sir, should we continue?” Heron asked. Dewey turned to look at the monitor but found that the video had vanished. ‘Bradford must have shut it down’ Dewey thought angrily to himself.

“No. I think both boys have had enough for today. Make sure that Llewellyn’s scars are all cleaned up before you send him back. We will continue tomorrow” Bradford told Heron. “Copy that sir” Heron replied back.

Bradford then ordered Karnage to pick up Dewey. “Are you taking me to my brother now?” Dewey asked, clearly showing signs that he was tired. Bradford stared at him for a moment before replying “No”. Dewey’s heart sank.

Once Karnage picked Dewey up, not even caring about his hurt shoulder, the three of them walked out of the room and down the hall to where his shared cell with Louie was. Without much grace, Karange threw Dewey into the cell. Unfortunately, Dewey landed on his bad shoulder, which made the pain tripled.

Something was then thrown right beside Dewey and Dewey noticed it as gauze. “Wrap your shoulder with that. Wouldn’t want you to get blood everywhere” Bradford said in his cold voice before he and Karnage walked away.

“Wait! Where is my brother? Where is Louie?!?” Dewey called out, crawling over to the bars. Unfortunately, his cries went unheard as Bradford and Karnage walked away out of sight.

Dewey sighed and stared at the gauze that had been given to him. ‘At least Bradford isn’t totally heartless’ Dewey thought to himself. Using what little knowledge that Huey taught him, he attempted to apply the gauze on his shoulder.

The sight that greeted him wasn’t pretty as the cut that Karnage made was really deep. Luckily, Karnage didn’t hit any bone so Dewey considered it a small victory.

Doing his best not to gag, he carefully wrapped the gauze around his shoulder. Though it was sloppy work and he knew that Huey would be scolding him later for it, it managed to stop the bleeding for now and that was enough for Dewey

Dewey eyes felt really heavy pretty quickly and decided to slump himself against the nearest wall, taking a moment to fully process everything that had happened.

Honestly, it was all too much for Dewey. Sure, the boys had been kidnapped before but even this seemed to be a bit extreme. What was so bad about it was that they were being directly targeted and that FOWL, at least according to Bradford, were going to kill them at some point.

Honestly, that could have been just something that Bradford said to satisfy Karnage or to make Dewey even more terrified than he already was. And Dewey really hated to say it but it was working. He and Louie had only been here for a day, presumably, and already they have gone through more torture than any other kidnapping or adventure combined. Dewey was honestly terrified out of his mind.

But more so for Louie then for himself. He had to watched Louie being tortured and Dewey didn’t think that he would ever get the images or Louie’s desperate pleas out of his head. Those were definitely going to be haunting him for a while.

What made it even worst was that Dewey couldn’t do nothing to stop his little brother was being punished. Sure, Dewey fought back but he was easily taken down. Without no weapons or any means of fighting, Dewey was powerless. He was helpless. How could Dewey call himself an older brother and be proud of it if he couldn’t protect the one person that he swore to always protect?

Dewey felt angry and helpless tears starting to build up in his eyes and he furiously wiped them away. Dewey didn’t want to appear as weak, even though there was no one there. However, no matter how hard he tried, the tears kept flowing.

Dewey wished that he could be a better brother for Louie. Dewey wished that it was just him that was being punished. Dewey wished that only he was kidnapped. Louie didn’t deserve any of this. His little brother was already suffering enough. This was just added insult to injury.

Dewey wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he heard movement from outside of the cell. Dewey lifted his head from where it was hiding in his knees and saw the cell door opening. In one quick motion, the two eggheads that had taken Louie earlier had tossed Louie into the cell like he was nothing.

Dewey quickly went over to Louie and crushed him into a hug. Dewey briefly saw Doofus watch them for a second before saying “See you tomorrow boys” and walked away.

Dewey wanted to charge at the cell and yell at Doofus for what he did to his brother but he couldn’t do that right now

Right now, his main focus was on his little brother who he was relieved to have in his arms again

Dewey squeezed Louie with as much strength as he could. Dewey began to sob and was trying to form words but couldn’t. He was just glad that they were separated anymore.

Louie, for his part, didn’t say much as he was also crying. But he did semi-reciprocated Dewey’s hug as he had one of his arms behind Dewey’s back and also put as much strength into the hug as he could.

For a few minutes, all that matter was each other. They had each other back. They were no longer being tortured or punished. They felt safe in each other arms

Reluctantly, Dewey pulled away. “Are you ok Louie?” Dewey asked concerningly. Louie shrugged his shoulders, which proved to be a mistake on his part as he instantly grabbed his left shoulder in pain.

On instinct, Dewey reached out and Louie flinched away. Dewey’s heart sank but he really needed to see Louie’s arm. He needed to see how bad the damage was.

“Louie please let me take a look” Dewey begged his brother. Louie shook his head, further turning away from Dewey. Dewey sighed and placed a gentle hand on Louie’s other shoulder. “Louie, I know what they did to you” he said, feeling tears coming back.

Louie turned his eyes towards Dewey. “You do?” Louie spoke up for the first time in several minutes. His voice sounded scratchy and hoarse, like he had been yelling for hours. Dewey felt both relief and sadness at the sound of his brother’s voice. “Yeah…Bradford…Bradford made me watch you get tortured. I saw what they did to your arm. I heard your screams. It…”

Dewey couldn’t continue on as his own voice was beginning to hitch and he could feel the tears flowing down his face again as he was reminded of the memory. Dewey looked at his brother and saw that his tears were mirrored into Louie’s. “Please Louie let me look. I have to know how bad it is” Dewey all but pleaded with his brother.

Surprisingly, Louie didn’t argue as he carefully rolled up his sleeve

The sight that greeted Dewey would be stuck in his brain for a long time.

Louie’s arm was multiple shades of purple and blue and Dewey could also see where some of Louie’s scars were opened up and fresh blood was edge all over his arm and wrist. Dewey wanted to gag at the sight but knew that he couldn’t. He had to stay strong. For Louie’s sake.

“I am going to touch your arm, Lou. Let me know if it hurts, ok?” Dewey said softly, to which Louie nodded. Dewey gently touched Louie’s arm and Louie winced on first contact. “Sorry” Dewey said quietly. “It’s ok” Louie replied back, equally as soft.

Dewey gently ran his fingers along Louie’s arm, feeling the scars and bruises. Louie watched him curiously, wondering what was Dewey thinking while looking over his injuries. Honestly, just being with Dewey brought him a sense of comfort and calmness. That is why he hated being separated from him. He felt alone and scared without his big brother and he was glad that they…

“OUCH!” Louie let out a yelp when Dewey touched the scar along his wrist. He instantly recoiled and held onto his wrist. Dewey was taken aback. “So sorry Louie!” Dewey tried to apologize. “It’s fine” Louie tried to reassure him. Louie let go of his wrist and realized that it was slightly bleeding.

Both boys gasped and Dewey quickly ran over to get the gauze that was a few feet away from them. “Where did you get that?” Louie asked. “Bradford gave it to me to clean up my own wound” Dewey said, gently grabbing Louie’s arm again. “Wait what wound?” Louie asked, being more concerned now. Dewey pointed to his shoulder and Louie realized that there was dried up blood on Dewey’s shoulder.

Louie felt a surge of protective anger. “They hurt you?” Louie angrily asked, though the anger was directed at Bradford and Karnage more so than his brother. Dewey didn’t say anything just continuing to wrap gauze around Louie’s wrist, shoulder, and where he was bleeding the most.

Louie didn’t like the fact that his brother was dodging the question so he cautiously put his hand on Dewey’s wrist. “Dewey look at me” Louie calmly instructed, to which Dewey did. “What happened to you?”

Dewey looked like he didn’t want to answer but the look that Louie gave him was having him second guess. Dewey sighed and began to explain. “I tried to escape in order to rescue you but Karnage was quicker. Long story short he chased me around the room, threw me around a bit, and ended up slicing my shoulder up a bit” Dewey said, while lifting up the sleeves on his shirts so that Louie could see the gauze that covered up his shoulder.

Louie gasped and, without really thinking about it, touched Dewey’s shoulder. Dewey only winced a little bit but Louie didn’t see it, too focused on Dewey’s wound. Dewey put his own hand over Louie’s and gave it a squeeze. The boys locked eyes for a moment and Dewey gave his brother a sad smile. Louie gave a small smile back, though it didn’t feel genuine.

Louie watched as Dewey continued to gently work on his scars that were bleeding. Once Dewey was finished, he took another look at his brother. He was beaten and bruised but he was alive. And that was all that mattered to Dewey. He carefully guided both of them to the wall and Louie rested his head on Dewey’s shoulder. Dewey smiled fondly at his brother and interlocked their hands together rubbing his thumb over the back of Louie’s hand.

“Thanks Dewey” Louie said, catching Dewey off guard. Dewey looked down at his brother who was starting back at him with a small smile on his face. “For what?” Dewey asked. “For taking care of me. For being here with me. For being my brother” Louie said lovingly.

Without warning, Louie was brought into a bone crushing hug by his brother. However, instead of happy tears, Dewey was shedding sad tears. “Oh Louie. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry that we are in this mess. I’m sorry for being a terrible brother. I’m…”

Before Dewey could continue, Louie pulled away and placed his hand on Dewey’s good shoulder. “Hey wait a minute now Dew. None of this is your fault that we are here, ok? I don’t blame you for any of this. Ever since we got here, you have done nothing but tried to protect me and you have never let my side. At least not on purpose” Louie then began to wipe away Dewey’s tears “You are a great brother Dewey and there is no one that I would rather be stuck with then with you”

“You mean it?” Dewey asked through his tears. Louie smiled. “Never been surer of anything in my life” Louie said, before his smile turned into a frown. “If anything, I am the terrible brother”. “What do you mean Lou?” Dewey asked.

Louie sighed and slightly looked away. “I haven’t been completely honest with you Dew. I have been keeping a secret from you”. Dewey let out a gasp. “The great Louie Duck keeps secrets? I am shocked!” Dewey said in a not so serious tone. “Hey this is serious!” Louie angrily stated. “Sorry. Please proceed” Dewey replied.

Louie took a deep breath. “You know these scars are not from when they tortured me. I actually had these scars much longer than that. And they are a result…frommecuttingmyself” Louie said that last part in a rush and closed his eyes not wanting to see the look on Dewey’s face.

Louie felt a gentle hand land on his arm and Louie looked to see Dewey looking back at him in a sad way but also understanding. “Louie it’s ok. I already know”. “You do?”. “Yeah” Dewey said sheepishly “Huey told me the day after our big fight”. “Oh” was all Louie said. Honestly, he wasn’t surprised that Huey told Dewey. That made this a bit easier he supposed.

“Louie, why didn’t you tell me?” Dewey said, sounding hurt and on the verge of tears

Or maybe not

Louie carefully shrugged his shoulders. Dewey sighed in exasperation. “You do know Louie. Is it because you don’t trust me?”

“No Dew that’s not it at all” Louie said, wanting to quickly squash his brother’s fears. “Then why didn’t you tell me. I mean I know that you like Huey better then me but I am also your brother too. Did…did I really hurt you that much to the point where you cut yourself?” Dewey asked, trying to stop the sob from escaping his throat as tears were coming fast down his face

Louie immediately felt like a jerk for not telling Dewey sooner. He hated seeing his brother like this. Dewey was a ray of sunshine that was full of positivity. Seeing him so upset and hurt was a sight that was rare but happened more times then either of the triplets like to admitted.  

“So you know how long I have had these scars?” Louie asked sadly. Dewey gave a tiny nod. Louie gave a sad sigh and instantly cupped Dewey’s cheeks. “Dewey, I want you to listen to me. I know that you have hurt me in the past but I understand now that your intentions were good. You wanted to protect me and Huey. At the time, I was so upset with you and the whole situation about the secret you kept about mom that I resorted to the worst means possible. I honestly should I have gone to you or Huey to talk things out and not resort to cutting myself. It was wrong and dumb of me and all of these scars…” Louie then pointed to all of his scars “…are sort of my punishment for not listening to my heart and seeking you guys out. For not going to the two most important people in my life”

Louie wrapped his arms around Dewey, hugging his brother tight. He could feel his heartbeat and was attempted to fall asleep listening to it. But he wasn’t done talking to his brother. “I am so sorry for not telling you from the start Dewey. I…I was just worried that you would hate me for doing this…”

Now it was Louie’s turn to start crying and Dewey’s turn to interrupt his brother. Dewey pulled Louie up and looked him dead in the face. Both boys were crying at this point. “Louie Duck. Don’t you ever say that. Don’t you even think that for a second that I could ever hate you. I don’t fully understand why you resorting to cutting yourself instead of coming and talking to us, but I could never ever hate you for it”.

Now it was Dewey’s turn to place his hand on Louie’s cheeks, wiping away his tears. “You are my best friend, Lou. My baby brother. No matter what happens to us, good or bad, or how many countless stupid arguments that we get into, I will always and forever love you” Dewey said, pouring out his heart for his baby brother.

The tears from Louie’s face came down even faster and, without thinking much about his injuries, threw his arms around Dewey’s middle. “You are my best friend too Dew. I couldn’t imagine my life without you. I’m so lucky to have you as a brother. I love you Dewey” Louie said, his voice muffled by his tears and Dewey’s shirt. “I love you too Lou” Dewey softly whispered as he kissed the top of Louie’s head and began to rub circles along his back.

Eventually, the boys ran out of tears and were soon emotionally and physically exhausted from the day’s events. However, Louie didn’t detach himself from Dewey. Rather, he snuggled closer to his brother by placing his head on Dewey’s chest. Dewey began to softly stroke his head feathers and began to hum a familiar lullaby. Between the lullaby and the sound of Dewey’s heartbeat, Louie closed his eyes, knowing that he would be well protected as long as Dewey was still here with him.

With that thought in mind, sleep came easily to Louie

Chapter Text

Dewey didn’t immediately fall asleep. He spent about an hour just watching his brother sleep. He knew that it was creepy but Dewey just wanted to make sure that Louie was comfortable, eyeing his left arm for a bit, images of electric shocks going into Louie’s arm and Dewey being powerless to do anything about it.

Dewey was sure that a few more tears had slipped out at some point before exhaustion overtook him, prompting him to fall asleep

Dewey woke up to a lot of pressure on his chest. He began to move a bit but that’s when the pressure on his chest shifted a bit and he could hear someone groan a bit. He looked down and realized that Louie still had his head on his chest. Not wanting to wake up his brother, he softly rubbed Louie’s hair feathers, quietly shushing him until Louie became still again and he felled back into his slumber

Dewey breathed out a sigh of relief, taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness around them. There was no window in their cell so everything was pitch black. The only light they had was light that was slightly shining in the hallway from one of the overhead lights that were on the ceiling. The whole place seemed dreary, much like their situation

Dewey could not believe that in just one day, this is the situation that he and Louie found themselves in. Dewey had taking multiple hits to his cheeks and shoulder and he was pretty sure that he had bruises all over his body. But he could honestly say that Louie was in worst shape then he was.

Heck, he basically had to watch them send electric shocks to his brother’s arm and they would have moved to his other arm if Dewey didn’t step in and do something about it. Yet somehow Dewey felt like he failed his brother. That he couldn’t save him from the pain that was inflicted on him. That he couldn’t save him from being kidnapped at all. That he couldn’t stop Louie from hurting himself in the first place

On the one hand, Dewey was really happy that Louie told him the truth and that he finally opened up to him regarding the scars. But, at the same time, it was just a painful reminder that it was technically his fault that Louie got those scars in the first place. The secret that he kept from his brothers a couple of years ago was the catalyst for Louie’s self-harm.

It set off an ugly feeling inside of Dewey. He never ever meant to hurt his brother. Either of his brothers. Turns out that he did more damage than he realized. All that hurt and betrayal turned into something far worst then either brother could imagine.

Granted Dewey did wish that Louie would have come to him and Huey earlier. Talked it out as they should have done as brothers. Maybe even tried and get some help for Louie. But Dewey also saw that there were multiple scars on Louie’s wrists and arms. Surely all of those couldn’t be from that one event, could they?

Dewey hoped not. He hoped that Louie wasn’t constantly thinking about that event and choose to hurt himself out of sadness over what Dewey did.

No there had to be something else going on. Now the real question is what could have caused all of those scars to form?

While neither Huey or Louie specifically stated, Dewey did have his theories and he didn’t like the conclusion that he came up with. All of the multiple adventures post Castle McDuck could have triggered them and while that was a likely possibility, the more likely possibility was the whole event surrounding their mom coming back from the moon.

Dewey thought back to the argument that he and Louie had before they got kidnapped. It was a sour remainder of just how much Louie and their mom did not get along and how hard of a time Louie was having on adjusting to their mom being back, even after a year. Dewey didn’t like to admit it but Louie was right. He was mom’s favorite.

He didn’t want to admit that their mom could have a favorite but he wasn’t fooling anybody. He and his mom went on many adventures and did fun stuff together. The same could be said for Huey, though not as often. And what did Louie and their mom do together?

Pretty much nothing as far as Dewey was concerned. Heck, in those first few months, he wasn’t sure if he saw Louie and Della interacting at all. Things just got worst after the Timephoon incident and Dewey tried really hard to forget that event as much as he can.

What he could not forget though was how badly Della, no, how badly everyone, treated Louie. Him and Huey included. He watched Della ground his brother and what did he and Huey do? Nothing. They didn’t even go to comfort Louie after everything, thinking that he needed space. And then, they just went on Louie’s dream vacation, without him! It was definitely cruel punishment but Dewey thought it was what his brother deserved after almost making their family disappear from existence.

But it just wasn’t fair. Louie almost lost his family too. He saw the way that Louie looked at him and Huey when they came back. The way that Louie gently held Dewey’s face in his hands, relief in his eyes but also tears threatening to spill. He hated seeing his little brother like that and in that moment, he wanted to do nothing more then hold his little brother close and tell him that everything was ok. But no, he watched his mom ground his little brother and then go on Louie’s dream vacation without him, leaving him alone at the mansion for two days.

Dewey would not have been surprised if more scars appeared on Louie’s arms and wrists as a result from those several days. It really made Dewey sick just thinking about it and Dewey knew that his mother was the main cause of it. She was the one who gave out the punishment after all

Dewey didn’t want to say that he hated his mother now. He still loved his mother very much and was glad that she was back in their lives. But he wished that it didn’t come at the cost of his baby brother’s happiness. At the cost of Louie hurting himself even more.

Dewey thought that his mother was one of the greatest things. He saw her as his role model. But now, he didn’t think so highly of her. He should have never valued his mother over his little brother. That was probably Dewey’s biggest mistake and if, no when, they get out of here, Dewey was going to do everything that he could to show Louie how much he truly loved and cared about him. To show Louie how much Dewey appreciated him and that he would never take him for granted again

Louie was a part of him, a third of his heart and soul, and no matter what, Dewey would protect him. If FOWL or even Doofus for that matter wanted his little brother, then they were going to have to go through Dewey first. He wasn’t going to let Louie get hurt again. Not on his watch

Speaking of his little brother, he looked down to check on him. Louie’s head was still resting on his chest and he could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest, his breaths coming out even. Dewey smiled warmly at the sight, gently stroking Louie’s head and planting a small kiss on the top of his forehead. Louie looked so peaceful and, considering the day that they had yesterday, Louie deserved the rest.

Dewey then heard noise coming from outside of their cell. On instinct, Dewey held Louie closer to him. Dewey heard footsteps and before long, a shadowy figure stood outside of their cell. Dewey gave a low growl as the figure touched a button on the other side that released the wall. Dewey watched as their path to freedom was opened up. However, Dewey didn’t choose to run, knowing that he would have to wake up Louie and that he would more than likely get caught by the guard.

In this moment, Dewey chose the safety of him and his brother over their freedom. Dewey was sure that his decision would come back later to bite him, though that was a problem for another time

The egghead approached their cell but didn’t enter it. Instead throwing a bag into their cell that hit the floor with a ‘thud’. The egghead then walked back over to press the button before walking away down the hall.

The bag landed right beside the triplets and Dewey carefully reached out to grab the bag. He opened it and was surprised to find a sandwich and a bottle of water inside. ‘Guess they don’t want us to go hungry or thirsty’ Dewey thought to himself. Dewey was immediately meet with his stomach growling. Dewey realized that neither he nor Louie had eaten anything since breakfast the previous day. He was definitely starving and he knew that Louie must be feeling the same.

Dewey gently nudged Louie’s shoulder, gently shaking him awake. “Louie. Louie wake up” Dewey whispered. It took Louie a few moments to wake up, groaning a bit. When he finally had a sense of his surroundings, he started to look around in a panic, until he felt a hand on his shoulder and Louie made eye contact with Dewey.

Louie calmed down at the sight of his brother and Dewey held out the water bottle to him. “Here” Dewey said. Louie eyed the bottle. “Is that it?” Louie asked. Dewey then pulled out the sandwich. “They also brought a sandwich” Dewey said. “For both of us to share?” Louie asked, to which his stomach began to growl once he saw the sandwich. “You can have the whole sandwich if you want” Dewey said, offering Louie the sandwich. “Don’t you need to eat as well?” Louie asked. He didn’t want his brother to go hungry.

Dewey sighed. “Your health is more important than mine Louie”. Louie looked at his brother sadly, feeling both angry and hurt at what Dewey said. “Dewey…” Louie began to say, but Dewey held up his hand. “I don’t need your sympathy Louie” Dewey said, though not unkindly, “Just eat the sandwich and drink the water. I’ll be fine”.

Louie realized that he couldn’t argue further with his brother. This was one of the few times that Louie didn’t like that Dewey was thinking of Louie before himself. Dewey was neglecting his own health vs making sure that Louie had something to eat and drink.

Well, Louie wasn’t going to stand for it. Louie took the sandwich and broke it in half. “Here Dewey. You take my other half and please don’t argue with me on this. I know you want to as I can see it on your face but please eat it. You may not think your health is important but it is important to me”. Dewey looked down at the sandwich in his hands, clearly conflicted. “Please Dewey. For me?” Louie asked, giving Dewey the puppy dog eyes.

Well Dewey could never say no to Louie’s puppy dog eyes. And plus he figured he would need the energy for when they break out later. So, he took his half of the sandwich and began to eat. Louie, satisfied, also began to eat his half as well. The two brothers also took turns drinking the water and they were smart to only drink half of the bottle. Dewey used some of the water to clean his shoulder, which wasn’t as bad as it was yesterday.

He then placed the cool water on Louie’s arm, after he asked him to roll up his sleeve, in order to ease some of the pain and scars, to which Louie was grateful for. Dewey also noticed a bit more of bruising on Louie’s arm on top of the scars. There were still some white feathers but the arm looked almost unrecognizable now.

“Can you move your arm, Louie?” Dewey asked. Louie didn’t want to but knew that is would make Dewey feel better if he did. However, he couldn’t really move it around much before wincing in pain. “It hurts to move it and I can already feel it started to go numb a bit” Louie said. Dewey frowned. He really wished that he could help his brother but he knew that this type of knowledge/expertise was more of Huey’s thing.

Dewey sighed at the thought of their older brother. Louie seemed to noticed. “What’s wrong Dew?”. Dewey turned his attention to his brother. “Oh, I was thinking about Huey” Dewey replied. Louie frowned in understanding. “You miss him too?”. Dewey nodded his head. “Well as much as I miss him, I am also kind of glad he is not here to witness any of this or to deal with the punishments that we have been given” Louie said.

Dewey thought about what Huey would do in this situation and it was far to assume that the Duke would probably come out at some point. “I think Huey would definitely be going crazy and trying to protect us from getting these injuries” Dewey replied. Louie laughed fondly. “Yeah, yeah he would. And he would probably fail miserably”. “Or actually succeed and get us out of here. He’s smart like that” Dewey said sadly.

Louie turned to look at his brother. “You know you are smart too Dewey” Louie said, wanting to squash his brother’s insecurities. Dewey made a small noise of disagreement. “Not as smart as Huey. He probably would have done a better job protecting you. He probably would know what to do in these types of situations. He…”

Dewey would have continued if Louie didn’t place a hand on his shoulder. “Hey Dewey look at me”. Dewey did so hesitantly. “I am not stuck here with Huey. I am stuck here with you. And I don’t mean that in a bad or mean way, ok? Being here with you in better then being here alone. If one of us was stuck here alone, being me or you, I think our situation would be a lot worst. Yes, Huey does have a certain know-it-all attitude that probably would be helpful right now but it's just you and me now. And honestly, I am glad you are here Dewey instead of Huey”

“Really?” Dewey asked, feeling his eyes well up with tears. “Yes. This whole situation has given me the chance to be honest with you and for me to apologize for not telling you sooner or for all the things that I said to you during our argument”.

“Hey you are not the only one who needs to apologize” Dewey said, placing his hands on Louie’s cheeks. “I’m sorry for everything I said as well. I should have never ever made you believe that I could ever hate you. I was just too angry in the moment. I guess I was blinded by my relationship with mom that I didn’t stop to think about how you must be feeling”

Dewey took a minute to compose himself. “I always dreamed of having this perfect family. I could always hear what those kids said about us at school. How no one wanted to be our friend because we were so different. That our home life, to them, was not ideal. It made me so mad because I wanted what the other kids had. I wanted it so badly. Moving in to the mansion was one step closer but to me, it wasn’t enough. Then, Mom came back from the moon and I thought I finally had it. But then I witness how you and mom weren’t getting along and I couldn’t help but blame you for ruining my dream. For not letting us be a perfect family”

Louie frowned at that. “I’m sorry Dewey. I’m sorry that I ruined things. Sorry I’m not accepting mom as easily as you and Huey are. Sorry that I can’t be the brother you want me to be”. Louie moved away from Dewey and brought his legs up to his chest and buried his face. “Mom was right. I don’t belong. All I do is cause trouble and for bad things to happen to this family. I’m sorry Dewey. You deserve a better brother. You deserve Huey, not me. Maybe it would have been better if I wasn’t here. Then you could have your perfect family like you always wanted” Louie said, his voice being slightly muffled, due to it being hidden and the tears falling down his face.

However, Dewey heard every word. He couldn’t believe that is what was going through his baby brother’s head. It broke Dewey’s heart into pieces to hear that coming out of Louie’s mouth. How long have Louie been thinking this? Two days? A month? A year?

Dewey remembered when Louie told them about what their mom said about him via the DT-87 robot. Safe to say that Huey and Dewey didn’t speak to Della for a little while after that, choosing to stay close to Louie and show him as much love as they could. That was one of the few times that Dewey didn’t see his mom in a good light.

Now, all those feelings were coming back but were multiplying rapidly. Dewey could never hate his mother but it seemed like she was doing more harm then good. She made his baby brother feel like he wasn’t part of the family and that was not ok. It was never ok with him and Huey. Louie was their family long before she ever was. His mother could never take Louie’s place in his heart. It was a matter of a year vs 12 years. There was no comparison. There never should have been

And yet, Dewey still did it all the same. He, though unintentionally, put his mother over his brother. And Dewey was just now realizing the consequences of it. Seeing for the first time on how it made Louie feel and what Louie did to cope with the pain.

Well, Dewey wasn’t going to do it anymore. He didn’t want his little brother to feel like he wasn’t loved. From now on, he was going to make Louie feel like he was part of this family.

Dewey slowly slid his way over to Louie and brought his chin up. Dewey cupped Louie’s cheeks again and wiped away his tears. “Now you listen to me to Louie Duck. You have always been a part of this family. You have always been a huge part of mine and Huey’s life long before mom came into the picture. I’m sorry that I show more favoritism towards her. It was wrong and dumb of me to do so. I do love mom, truly I do, but not as much as I love you and Huey”

Louie sniffled. “Really?” he asked, his voice hoarse from all the crying. “Yes Louie. I’m sorry that I made you doubt that in the first place. There is no one, not even our mother, who could take your place in my heart. You mean so much to me Louie and believe me that when I say that my life and Huey’s life would be nothing without you in it. We are the Duck boys Louie. We have been a team since day 1. When no one wanted us around and wanted to be our friend, we stuck together and leaned on each other through the good times and bad times. We complete each other and I know that we would be so lost without you Louie”

Dewey then brought Louie in for a hug, though being mindful of their injuries. “I don’t ever want to lose you Louie. And if I have to tell you ever day how much you mean to me, if it means not losing you, then so be it. I don’t need a mother to have the perfect family. I already have the perfect family in you and Huey. You two are my best friends forever. If it was just the three of us together for the rest of our lives, I would be fine with that. I am so sorry Louie. Please forgive me” Dewey said softly into Louie’s ear

Dewey was crying at this point too but he didn’t care. All that mattered was the life form that he was holding to so tightly. He never wanted to lose it.

Dewey then felt a tight squeeze around his middle. “I forgive you Dewey. I forgive you for everything. You and Huey mean so much to me and I don’t ever want to lose you guys either. I be so lost without you guys and for a while, we weren’t hanging out like we used to and I was worried that I was losing you guys. That’s why I was mad when you guys went to Cape Suzette without me. Because…it felt like you guys were abandoned me. Like my worst fears came true”

Dewey felt a new wave of guilt come over. “Oh, Louie that was never our intention. Huey and I would never abandon you. I’m sorry that we made you think that way and I’m sorry that we didn’t take you with us”. “It’s ok Dewey. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the trip anyway; you know with you flying and all”

“Hey” Dewey said, pulling away from the hug but still holding Louie by the shoulders. “You know that I am an excellent piolet”. Louie let out a small chuckle. “I’ll have to see it to believe it” he said with a smirk. “Well how about this? When we get out of this place and we had some time to recover, I might take you out for a trip sometime. Just me and you”

Louie’s eyes light up. “You mean it Dew?”. Dewey smiled. He missed the sparkle in Louie’s eyes. “I promise”. Louie then wrapped his arms around Dewey. “I love you Dewey”. “I love you too Lou” Dewey said, hugging Louie back and planting a long kiss on the top of his head while also rubbing circles along Louie’s back

The sweet brotherly moment was soon interrupted by someone sneezing outside of their cell. “Shh quiet” came a voice. Dewey and Louie freeze. “Who was that, Dewey?” Louie whispered, looking at his brother with fear in his eyes. “I don’t know Lou” Dewey whispered back. He didn’t recognize the voice. It sounded feminine. “We know you are there. Show yourself” Dewey yelled into the darkness.

For a moment, no sound was heard. Then two figures made their way into the hallway and step out of the shadows. Dewey and Louie let out a collected gasp as the figures came into view. The two figures were both female and look to be about their age. What surprised the two younger triplets about these figures, however, was that they look very identical to Webby. Down to almost wearing the same clothes as here, though one girl was wearing teal and the other girl was wearing yellow

“Who are you?” Louie asked the two girls. The yellow girl stepped forward. “We could ask you the same question” she replied. “I asked you first” Louie said, sounding braver this time. The yellow girl sighed. “Fair enough. I am May and this is my sister June” May said, gesturing to her sister in teal, who gave a small wave back.

Dewey just continued to stare at the two girls. June seemed to catch his gaze. “Why are you staring at us like that?” she asked nervously, coming to stand beside her sister. Dewey shook his head. “Sorry it’s just that you two look very familiar to me. Like you look like someone we know” Dewey said. “Dude they totally look like Webby” Louie whispered to his brother.

However, May and June heard Louie and got excited. “Wait? You know Webby?” May asked excitedly. “Yeah…” Dewey said hesitantly. “How do you know Webby?” Louie asked, narrowing his eyes at the two girls. “Oh, that’s because we are her. Or at least created from her. We think…” June said, though she was a bit unsure of her statement.

Dewey and Louie just stared at them wide-eyed, like what they heard was impossible. “How can you two be possibly created from Webby?” Dewey asked. “Yeah, that would be impossible unless you have Webby’s DNA or something?” Louie added.

May and June shared a look with each other. “Well, we actually do have Webby’s DNA” June said. “We are technically her clones created by Black Heron” May added. Dewey and Louie just continued to stare at them with both of them seeming to be lost in thought and trying to piece the clones’ story together.

“Ok then that begs the question: why were you two created?” Louie asked. “And why does FOWL need clones of Webby?” Dewey added. May and June looked around sheepishly. “We actually have no idea. Black Heron ran some test on us but Director Buzzard said that we were ‘failed experiments and time wasted’” May said, doing her best intimidation of Bradford. “We spend much of our time in our tubs. Only coming out every now and then when Director Buzzard or Black Heron says that it is ok for us to come out” June said sadly, with May placing a hand on her shoulder in silent comfort.

Dewey wasn’t sure if he should feel sorry for these girls or not. They didn’t seem threatening and he truly felt sorry for their condition. Yet, these girls were created by FOWL, who were obviously an evil organization. They could just be acting nice in order to gain something from them. FOWL could be using them to hurt their family.

It seemed like Louie shared the same feelings as Dewey as he asked the girls, “How do we know if we can trust you?”. May sighed. “Look we are not here to cause any trouble” she said. “Yeah, we are actually here to help you escape” June added, putting a smile on her face. Louie narrowed his eyes at them. “Why? So that you can tell Heron and Bradford that we escaped so that they come hunting for us?” Louie asked.

May sighed. “That’s not it at all. We have actually heard a lot about you two and have watched you go through so much since you came here. It’s honestly not fair” May said sadly. “Plus, I think your brotherhood and the way you two show how much you care and love each other is so sweet. Just like me and May” June added a bit more chipper, bringing May into a hug. “I know we might not seem like the most trustworthy people but we really want to help you two. We want to help you get back to your family. Please let us help you” May pleaded with the two younger triplets.

Louie looked up to his older brother who had a smile on his face. Of course, Dewey would trust these girls as Dewey was the one who easily trusted people the most. However, these girls didn’t seem so bad and they were willing to help them escape. For once, against his better judgement, Louie decided to trust complete random strangers. Louie and Dewey shared a look of understanding and smiled up at the girls, who smiled back.

However, before May or June could help the boys, Black Heron came into view. She did not look happy. May and June immediately snapped to attention like they were soldiers and Dewey made a sour face. ‘There goes our chance of escaping’ Dewey thought to himself.

“What are you two doing here communicating with the captives?” she asked sternly. “We are sorry mom” June said quietly, to which both boys flinched at the way June called Black Heron their ‘mother’. “It won’t happen again. We promise” May said, not looking at Black Heron but sending the boys a sad look.

“It better not” she said before turning her attention to Dewey and Louie. “And if I see you two talking to these girls again, then let’s just say that your stay here is going to get a whole lot worst” she said threatening. Dewey held Louie closer to him and narrowed his eyes at Heron.

Black Heron then addressed the girls again. “You two back in your tubes and stay there for the rest of the day. You two are my experiments and I expect discipline” she ordered. “Yes mom” both girls said sadly together before sulking away, but not before May mouthed “I’m sorry” to the boys before walking off

Dewey truly felt sorry for these girls and wished that there was something that he could do to help them. Maybe once they could get free, maybe Dewey and Louie could take May and June with them. However, Dewey didn’t have much time to dwell on that thought as Bradford and Doofus appeared. Doofus had that stupid smile on his face, directing his attention at Louie, which caused Louie to let out a little noise of fear. Louie tightened his hold on Dewey, which Dewey didn’t really mind.

“So, are you two ready to talk now? Have you finally suffered enough to where you are finally willing to share some information?” Bradford asked them. Dewey just scoffed. “Haha yeah right in your dreams Bradford. We would never tell you and nothing that you say or do to us will make us change our minds” Dewey said ever so confidently.

Bradford narrowed his eyes at the two younger triplets for a second before an evil smile plastered on his face. “We shall see about that” he said, before snapping his fingers. In an instant, two eggheads appeared. “Separate them” Bradford told the eggheads as he opened the door to their cell

Fear immediately came over the boys’ faces as Dewey tried to move away from the eggheads, dragging Louie with him. Unfortunately, the eggheads were faster and manage to catch up to the boys, though it took a lot of prying to get the boys to disband from their embrace

“Good work” Bradford said as the eggheads dragged Dewey and Louie out of their cell. Dewey tried his best to fight back but with his injured shoulder, it just left him feeling fatigued. Louie didn’t even try to fight back. All he could do was look at Dewey in fear and with tears streaming down his face.

It was made even worst when Doofus approached Louie. “Sweet Llewellyn. You are mine now” he said, caressing Louie’s cheek, which made Louie flinched hard. “Come along now Llewellyn. It’s time for us to play a game. A mind game” he said to Louie before they started to walk away.

At the same time, Dewey was being carried away by the other egghead, who was being led by Bradford. As both boys were being separated from each other, they cried out to each other.

“Dewey! Please help me! I’m scared. I need you, Dewey. Don’t let him hurt me!”

“Louie! You are going to be ok! I promise. I love you, Louie. Doofus don’t you dare hurt him. If you do I swear…”

This continued until neither boy could hear each other anymore

Dewey was giving Bradford death glares; however, he didn’t seem to noticed as they kept walking down the hall. He didn’t know where he was going but he knew that it couldn’t be anywhere good. Dewey closed his eyes and let a few tears fall, thinking about how much he missed his family right now, especially his older brother Huey, and wondering what he and the rest of the family was doing right now

…

Huey was obviously freaking out. He had been freaking out ever since his brothers got kidnapped. He couldn’t think straight. He mostly saw red, with the Duke trying to make it presence known.

It took a lot for Huey to suppress it. He couldn’t let the angry side win. Right now, what he needed was to be calm and collected. He needed to be that way for the sake of his family. For the sake of his brothers.

Though the longer that Huey thought about what could be happening to his brothers, the more worried he got. He could feel his anxiety getting the better of him and it took his uncle, his mom, and Webby to calm him down when he started having a panic attack

The ride back to the mansion could not have gone any slower in Huey’s opinion. As soon as the plane touched down, the family rushed into the house. Beakley was surprised by the sudden entrance, but she was even more surprised to find that two of the kids were missing. Scrooge quickly brought her up to speed and she had an angry look on her face when Scrooge was done explaining the situation

Scrooge ordered Huey to grab the board that he made in regards to FOWL. Without a second thought, Huey ran up to his room and grabbed the board. He stared at the board and narrowed his eyes at it. If what Scrooge and Donald said were true, then FOWL were the master criminal behind his brothers’ kidnapping.

It angered Huey to no end. They were always one step ahead of FOWL. But now, it seemed like FOWL had the upper hand and were personally attacking their family now. It made Huey so upset. He didn’t like the fact that FOWL was targeting his family. His family didn’t deserve this. Especially not his brothers.

Huey took a look around his room. It seemed so empty now. Without the chatter and laugher from his little brothers, the room seemed so dull now. Huey thought about hiding himself in the closet and not coming out for a long time. It would give him time to think and it would help him sort out his emotions. Maybe he could even have a good cry.

Huey mentally slapped himself and took several deep breaths. Now was not the time to cry. Right now, his family was waiting on him. They would not be able to rescue his brothers if he chose to break down and cry. Huey was going to be brave for once and not let his anxiety win out.

Huey turned his attention to a photo frame that was on their shared desk of the three of them together. “Don’t worry Dew. Don’t worry Lou. We know where you are and we are coming for you. Just sit tight” Huey said, speaking to the photo, before taking his board and leaving the room.

They were going to rescue his brothers and nothing was going to get in Huey’s way. FOWL seriously underestimated his family. No one took their loved ones without paying the price for it. They were going to get Dewey and Louie back. No matter what it took

Chapter Text

Louie woke up to a sound of ringing in his ears. He tried to raise his head up to get rid of the sound but found that doing so hurt. He clutched the side of his head where his headache was originated from.

Louie realized that he was laying on the floor on his side. Luckily, it was his non-injured side so he guessed he counted that as a win

Louie went to go push himself off the floor and could immediately feel the pain going out from all over his body. He immediately shot up due to the pain and found that he wasn’t in his cell anymore

He looked around to try and tell where he was but found that everything around him was black

Like he was in a dark void or something

What scared Louie the most was that he was all alone

“Dewey?” Louie called out into the darkness, hoping that Dewey was around here somewhere and would answer him. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a reply. He was meet with silence

Louie thought about calling out again but figured that his efforts would be in vain. He started to look around him, trying to get his breathing under control, as he was slowly beginning to panic

Out of the corner of his eye, Louie saw something move in the darkness

Louie quickly turned around to see what it was but found that there was nothing. Louie’s breathing picked back up again as he began to wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him

The thing moved again and once again Louie just missed it.

“Who’s there?” Louie called out into the darkness, clearly on edge

The figure moved again and this time, Louie caught a glimpse of it. While he didn’t recognize the figure, there was definitely someone else here with him

“Dewey, is that you?” Louie asked, hoping that this figure was his brother and was just playing a mean trick on him. The figure didn’t answer him but it did move closer to Louie, basically brushing up against him

Louie flinched as the touch was rather uncomfortable

“I don’t know who you are but I know you are there. And I am not afraid of you. So why don’t you just show yourself?”. Louie tried his best to act brave but was getting really scared deep down

“Oh, but you should be” a voice creepily said from the darkness. Louie could feel his whole body go rigid as he knew that voice and Louie knew that it wasn’t the voice of his brother

Louie felt hot breath from behind him and he quickly turned around to see Doofus Drake standing right behind him. “Hello Llewellyn” Doofus said. Louie couldn’t even scream as he was frozen with fear

“Aww you are so happy to see me that you are speechless. How cute” Doofus said, clearly taunting Louie. Louie looked all around him to see if there was any escape. He didn’t see one

He tried calling for help. He tried calling for his brother. “Dewey help me” Louie called out, though his voice came out really weak and barely above a whisper

“You think your brother is going to come and save you?” Doofus asked Louie, coming a bit closer to him, with Louie slowly backing away with every step his took. “Dewey will always come and save me. Dewey would never leave me” Louie said, finding some new confidence in himself as he found some new strength is his voice. Doofus just laughed. “Yeah, well I don’t see Dewford anywhere so maybe you don’t your brother as well as you think”. Louie’s confidence faltered a bit. He knew that this must be some kind of mind game that Doofus was pulling on him. Maybe he was dreaming and his mind was just playing a mean cruel joke on him

However, if this was a dream, then why did Doofus look so real? Why did Doofus’ hot yet awful breath feel like Doofus was literally standing next to him? Why did it feel like Doofus was actually hugging him?

Wait…

By the time Louie’s mind caught up with him it was too late. Doofus immediately brought Louie into a side hug. “It’s ok sweet thing. I want that blue wearing duck hurt you no more. You are mine now Llewellyn. Welcome home ‘friend-present’” Doofus whispered into Louie’s ear.

Louie really wanted to go deaf right about now. Right now, he wanted to take a shower and wash off the Doofus germs that he knew were on him

Doofus snapped his fingers and Louie realized that they were somehow transported into Doofus’ house. Louie felt something new on his body and he looked down to see that he was wearing the green suit that he wore when he and his brothers had their “Only Child Day”. The first day that he meet Doofus

Louie wanted to get out of the side hug as fast as possible and run out of the front door of the house. Run all the way to the mansion and warned his family

However, Doofus had a strong grip on Louie. What was even worst was the fact that Louie now had golden bands around his wrist. Louie instantly recognized them as the gold bracelets that Doofus had given to him as a ‘present’.

Louie was not liking this one bit. He started to take them off but realize that he couldn’t as they were stuck to his wrists. “I wouldn’t try and remove those if I were you” Doofus said “unless you want to be stuck to the ground or on the pedestal again”. Doofus held out the remote control that he used to control the bracelets; his finger hovering very close to the button

Louie stopped struggling

“Good boy. Now come on Llewellyn. Let’s go upstairs and…play” Doofus said, walking towards the elevator, not even bothering to drag Louie with him

Louie saw this as his opportunity to escape and made a break for the door

This proved to be a mistake as Louie instantly felled to the ground hard, stopping him in his tracks. He unfortunately felled to the ground on his left side and the pain was immediate. He went to grab onto his arm but found that he couldn’t

Doofus inched his way over to Louie and Louie tried with all of his might to escape but found that he couldn’t. Doofus then got up into Louie’s face and Louie closed his eyes, not wanting to be face-to-face with Doofus. “I said let’s go upstairs and play” Doofus said through his teeth, though Louie could still feel the spit landing on his face “Don’t you won’t to play with me?”. Doofus voice switched from meaning to sweet and Louie hated it.

“Why would I want to play with a psychopath like you? Just let me go Doofus please” Louie said, trying and failing to hide his tears. “Why? So that you can run into the arms of your big brother? So that he can protect you? It is truly pathetic that you can’t fight for yourself and that you need others to protect you”

Doofus then cupped Louie’s cheek. “Unless of course that someone protecting you is me” Doofus said lovingly, gently stroking Louie’s cheek. This wouldn’t have bothered Louie if not for the fact the Doofus was giving him kisses on the cheek. Louie felt so violated in this moment. Normally, the gently strokes and the kisses on the cheek would bring comfort to Louie. Now, it was really uncomfortable and Louie wanted to get far away from Doofus as he could

Louie continued to struggle with the bracelets, hoping to make some progress, even though he knew that nothing he do would work. At the same time, he was trying his hardest to push Doofus away from him, despite being restrained to the floor. He didn’t want this. He wanted to get out of this nightmare and go home.

He silently begged himself for this to be a dream and for him to wake up

In a moment of desperation, Louie banged his head against Doofus, causing Doofus to finally let go of Louie. Louie could feel his headache getting worst but it was worth it to finally have Doofus off of him

Unfortunately, the head banging didn’t work as Louie didn’t wake up from his dream. Louie’s hopes were dashed even further when he saw Doofus looking at him with anger and hatred in his eyes, as well as a bloody nose

“I tried to play nice Llewellyn but you have left me no choice”. The weight of the bracelets lifted and Louie could feel himself slowly rising from the floor, though this was due to Doofus yanking him off the floor with a harsh tug. “I think it is about time that you see my…honey bin” Doofus said, spitting once again into Louie’s face

Doofus pulled out another remote and pressed a button. In an instant, the floor beneath Louie gave way and Louie was instantly falling

The only thing that Louie could do was scream

Louie soon landed into something sticky and Louie instantly recognized it as honey. He looked around to see that he was in a pool of honey. Louie tried to swim out of the honey but found that he could only go but so far. This was made even worst by the fact that there were bees right about him, ready to attack him at any moment

Louie then saw Doofus standing outside with an evil smile on his face. Louie was not going to let Doofus have the upper hand here so he tried with all the strength he had to reach towards the surface. Louie eventually broke the surface and made a small noise of victory. He turned to Doofus with a smug look on his face.

However, this was short-lived as Doofus was still staring back at him with an evil smile on his face. “Get him” Doofus simply said. Louie wonder who Doofus was talking to but soon got his answer when he felt multiple stings going throughout his body. He realized that the bees were attacking him.

“Please stop. Please let me out of here. It hurts” Louie yelled, though Doofus didn’t seem to hear him, watching and seeming to enjoy Louie’s suffering. “Please stop I’ll do whatever you want” Louie cried out

In an instant, the bees stop attacking him and Louie was somehow lifted from the honey. He was dropped to the floor with a ‘thud’ and he was breathing rather heavily. He felt extremely sticky and he could see that his suit was ripped as well as multiple swells on his arms. Luckily, none of the scars got touched, though they certainly didn’t help with the pain

Doofus approached Louie. “Apologize” Doofus bluntly said. Louie lifted his head a bit. “What?” he asked weakly. “You said that you will do whatever I want. I want you to apologize for taking away my fortune that was rightfully mine and making me share it. I want you to apologize to me for all the pain you cause me”

Louie couldn’t believe it. After everything he went through, all Doofus wanted out of him was an apology? It didn’t seem like the worst punishment yet somehow it felt wrong. Doofus deserved what was coming to him. Louie, didn’t. He didn’t to be kidnapped along with Dewey. He didn’t deserve to have his arm electrocuted to the point of no usage. He didn’t deserve to be treated harshly by Doofus.

Louie realized that he had a choice here. He could not apologize to Doofus and suffered whatever other consequences that Doofus had for him. Or, Louie could be the better duck here and apologize to Doofus. Maybe then he could be free from this awful nightmare and Doofus would let him go back to Dewey

“I’m sorry Doofus” Louie muttered out. “I’m sorry I can’t hear you. Can you say it a bit louder?” Doofus said, bringing his ear closer to Louie. Louie sighed. “I’m sorry Doofus for making you share your fortune with your family. I am sorry for all of the pain that I cause you” Louie said a bit louder, though deep in his heart, he wasn’t that genuine about it

Doofus seemed to notice this. “I don’t think you are very genuine in your apology” he said. “Look I am truly sorry or whatever. Now are we done here? I like to wake up now” Louie said, getting tired of Doofus. Doofus just laughed. Louie didn’t like that laugh. “Oh sweet naïve Lllewellyn. You are not dreaming”

Louie could only stare on in horror. “What…what do you mean?” Louie asked fearfully. Doofus smiled and clapped his hands together.

In an instant, the room around them began to dissolve and was replaced with nothing but white space. Louie looked around him in horror. “What…what just happened?” he asked. “Oh, see what just happened was that you were in a simulation” Black Heron said, who Louie just now realized had walked through a door from the other side of the room.

While Louie was a bit distracted by Black Heron, Doofus approached Louie and bent down and tapped on something that was right behind Louie’s ear, close to his neck. The ringing noise from earlier came back and Louie covered his ears. The ringing quit after a few seconds and Louie lowered his ears

“That little thing behind your ear is how we were able to do the simulation” Doofus said. Louie was still confused. “How? What does it do?” Louie asked. “Well, that thing allowed us to enter your mind. We were able to channel your fear for Doofus and translate that into a simulation, thanks to the technology that we have here in our simulation room” Black Heron stated, before adding, “Of course we couldn’t do that without drugging you first”

Louie was shocked? They drugged him!?! Oh, wait till Dewey got word of this.

Now that Louie thought about it, what happened while he was drugged? How much time had passed? Did Doofus do any other horrible things to him? Gosh, he sure hoped not

“Can you get this thing off of me now?” Louie asked, though it sounded more like he was pleaded. “No” Doofus simply stated. “Why not?” Louie asked. “Oh, did I forget to mention that thing is like a microchip. It is a reminder to show that you belong to us now. That you belong to me. As long as you have that thing on, you cannot leave our possession. If you as so much dared tried to leave or take that thing off, then it will cause more then ringing in your ear”

Doofus then approached him with the remote from earlier. “I can also control you with this. One press of the button and I can send shock waves through your body. I can electrocute you in an instant. You don’t want that now do you Llewellyn?”.

Louie shook his head no. “Good. Now do you have some information to give us?” Black Heron asked. Louie just narrowed his eyes at her. “Wow you guys are really desperate here huh? Try all you want but you won’t get anything out…”

Louie didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence as the ringing behind his ears got super loud as shock waves ran all over his body. He couldn’t even cover his ears as Doofus had pinned the bracelets down to the ground

Louie didn’t know how long it lasted but at some point, he remembered yelling “FINE I WILL TELL YOU! JUST MAKE IT STOP!!!”

As soon as he said that, the ringing stopped and he could no longer feel the shock waves. However, he could already feel the damage done to his body. He was in so much pain, he was surprised that his heart haven’t given up yet

Louie tried his best to catch his breath as Doofus and Black Heron looked on. “Well tell us you brat” Black Heron ordered, her patience seeming to be wearing thin. Louie was still trying to catch his breath and couldn’t really find the words. “If you don’t start talking Llewellyn, then I will be forced to do it again” Doofus said

Louie didn’t want that. “My family plans to attack. I don’t know when but it should be soon. They know where you are at and they planned on taking the missing mysteries as well. That’s all I know” Louie said when he finally had enough breath.

Doofus and Black Heron shared a look and smiled. Doofus then bent down to Louie and petted his head. “Well done, Llewellyn. You have been proven useful after all”. Louie was too tired to care at this point and he certainly didn’t care when Doofus began to lovingly hold his hand as they were leaving the room

He should have cared when Doofus started sniffing his hair and gave a sloppy kiss on his hand and then on his cheeks, which turned out to be more of a lick then a kiss

…

Dewey woke up to a pounding headache. He tried to move his hands up to his head to put some pressure on his head but found that he couldn’t move his hands. He opened his eyes to find that he was bound by rope and he was tied to a pillar of some kind

Dewey struggled in the ropes and found that it made his headache slightly worst as well as sharp pain to go up to his injured shoulder. Dewey decided that he was not getting out of the ropes easily and decided to look around him

The room that he was in was dark and didn’t look very familiar. Dewey began to wonder where Bradford and the egghead that carried him took him. He knew that he wasn’t close to where Louie was as they were taken into different directions. Though Dewey did hope and pray that wherever Louie was, that they weren’t doing anything horrible to him. However, knowing Doofus and the way FOWL operated, he knew that this was not the case

Dewey wanted to break out of these ropes so bad. Break out of this room that he was in and find his way back to his little brother. He didn’t care if he got hurt in the process or if FOWL caught him escaping. He didn’t even care if he got more injuries.

As Louie’s immediate older brother, he had the added responsibility of protecting Louie. Even though Huey was the oldest brother, Dewey was still an older brother too. There was just an established truth between him and Huey that they had to protect Louie no matter the cost. It was their job as Louie’s older brothers to do so

Dewey knew that he said and thought this on more than one occasion but he felt like, right now, that he was failing Louie. The mere second that he and Louie were apart, he put the blame on himself. Felt like he was doing a crappy job of protecting Louie. Of being his older brother

He knew that Louie was being sincere when he said that he was glad that the two of them were stuck together and that Louie didn’t want to be with anyone else. Not even Huey. Dewey heard how grateful Louie was to have Dewey there and that he was his older brother

Dewey just wished that he could believe Louie. Really believe that he was a great brother to Louie. Louie thought so. Why couldn’t Dewey feel the same way? Why couldn’t he believe that he was a great brother to Louie?

Dewey wished he had an answer for that but he didn’t

It probably wouldn’t matter anyway. After all of this was over, they would return home and things would go back to the way they were. Like the horrible events and all of the loving and brotherly affection they shown for each other didn’t happen. Louie would just continue to see Huey as his favorite brother and Dewey would be left trying to fight for Louie’s love and attention

Dewey was starting to think that maybe he didn’t want to be rescue. Like the longer he spent away from his family, the more time he spent with Louie. Sure, it was under dangerous circumstances but still. Dewey believed that he spent more time with Louie and really got a chance to bond with him under FOWL’s captive then he ever had in these past few months

It was really sad to think about but Dewey realized that being captured with his little brother and being threatened had improved their relationship, like a lot. Dewey wished that their relationship would have improved under better circumstances but he could honestly take whatever he could get at this point

Dewey did mean what he said though about spending more time with Louie. If there was one promise that Dewey intended to keep when they got out of this place, it was taking Louie out flying with him. Just the two of them. Bonding over whatever and just having fun together as brothers. Brothers who, despite all of the arguments and hateful words, still loved each other more than anything.

Dewey’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard distant yelling. Dewey couldn’t make out who was screaming though and when he tried to concentrate, his headache got worst. Dewey then heard footsteps begin to approach him and that is when he saw one of the sky pirates approach him.

Dewey wasn’t sure which one this was but she looked familiar. Peg Leg Meg was Dewey’s first guess but he wasn’t sure.

“Ahhh glad to see that you are awake” she said as she began to untie Dewey. “Come now the captain wants to see you and besides, you don’t want to miss the show” she said, slightly taunting him.

Dewey wasn’t sure what she was talking about but he figured he better go along with it. The sooner that he did what Don Karnage wanted, the sooner that he could get out of here and find Louie

Peg Leg Meg lead him out of the room and that is when the voices he heard earlier got louder. Dewey could make out a few of the voices and it sounded like his family. Dewey tried to run towards the voices but Peg Leg Meg had a surprisingly strong grip on him. Of course, she was holding on to his bad side as the pain came roaring back, though Dewey refrain from wincing in pain

As the two got closer to the platform, Dewey noticed how his whole family was tied up together, struggling to get lose. Dewey realized that he was on the Iron Vulture. How he ended up here confused him the most. Wasn’t he just in FOWL Headquarters? How did he end up here with his family all tied up? And where was Louie? He couldn’t see his baby brother anywhere

“Ahhh there he is” Don Karnage said excitedly. “Dewey!” the family exclaimed. Dewey wanted to run up to them but Don Karnage was blocking his path and Peg Leg Meg still had a grip on him. “Guys are you ok?” he asked them. “We are fine Dewey” Huey said and oh was it so good to hear his big brother’s voice. “Ok look I don’t know how I ended up here but you need to let my family go Karnage” Dewey yelled out.

“Now why would I do that? Torturing them and possibly throwing them off the ship would be so much more fun don’t you think?”. Dewey could see that Don Karnage was taunting him. It wasn’t going to work. “I’m not scared of you Karnage. Now step aside so that I can save my family”

Karnage gave a nod to Peg Leg Meg who released her grip on Dewey. Dewey was surprised by the sudden shift but he was even more surprised to see Karnage had stepped out of his way. Dewey now had a clear shot to his family, to which he wasted no time running towards

Dewey was about to tackle Huey in a hug when Karnage snapped his fingers. Just like magic, his family disappeared and Dewey had to stop himself from faceplanting and going over the side of the ship.

Dewey was in shock. “What…what did you do? Where did they go? Where is my family?” Dewey asked Karnage. Karnage just shrugged his shoulders as he towered over Dewey. Dewey turned to see if Peg Leg Meg had any answers but she was gone too.

Dewey felt a little intimated by Karnage but he couldn’t let his fear show. He got back up. “Hmmm seems like you can never be knocked down Dewey Duck” Karnage said, slightly impressed. Dewey just smirked. “Ducks don’t back down”

Karnage seem to ponder this for a second. “Is that so?”. Dewey suddenly didn’t feel so confident. “Well let see if you back down when I threatened the life of someone you love”

And before Dewey even realized what was happening, Louie magically appeared out of nowhere and was being held over the edge by Karnage.

“LOUIE!!!” Dewey yelled when he saw his brother. “DEWEY HELP ME!!!” Louie called out to his brother trying his best now not to look down. “Louie look at me. Everything is going to be ok” Dewey replied, his voice wavering a bit as the tears threatened to spill over. Thankfully, Louie looked at him and that was nothing for Dewey to turn his eyes at Karnage. “Put. Him. Down. Karnage” Dewey gritted out through his teeth

Dewey was absolutely fuming. He was absolutely terrified for his brother’s safety but now he was more mad then anything. He couldn’t believe that Karnage would sink to this level. If he was holding onto Louie, he would so be fighting the wolf right now

“Why do you care about this duck so much? I am generally curious” Karnage said. Dewey wasn’t sure if Karnage was being serious or not. Dewey turned his eyes back to Louie. In Louie’s eyes, there was nothing but fear. In Dewey’s eyes, there was nothing but fierce love with a slight bit of fear.

“Because he is my little brother. My only little brother. My best friend. We have been through so much together and I wouldn’t change it for the world. There is nothing in this world that I wouldn’t do for him because I love him. With all of my heart”.

Dewey finished his short speech with tears in his eyes and he could see them mirrored in Louie’s eyes as well. Dewey also saw that Louie was a bit calmer now and he softly heard Louie say “Same here. I love you too Dewey”. Dewey smiled at his brother

Don Karnage smirked. “You know that is the thing about best friends. The more you love them the more it hurts when they go. Allow me to demonstrate”

In a flash, Don Karnage let go of Louie. To Dewey, it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. He heard Louie’s screams and immediately ran out after his brother, hoping to catch him. Unfortunately, Dewey wasn’t quick enough and he had to watch as his baby brother slowly faded from view, supposedly falling to his death

The tears didn’t stop flowing as Dewey continued to stare at where his little brother had fallen, his hand reaching out into nothingness. It felt like his whole world was crumbling. He lost a part of himself and there was nothing he can do about it

“It’s a shame, isn’t it? Watching something that you love just fade away?” Don Karnage said from behind him, seeming like he could read his thoughts. “I almost feel bad for you”. Dewey was about ready to charge at Don Karnage. He didn’t care if he killed him, Don Karnage would pay for what he did

However, Dewey didn’t get the chance as Don Karnage planted his foot on top of Dewey pinning him down. Dewey tried to get up but the pressure on his back was too much and all Dewey could do was struggle.

“Hmmm pathetic. And I thought Ducks didn’t back down. You must not be the great Dewey Duck that I thought you once were. You have definitely gone soft”. Dewey didn’t say a word. “It’s that family of yours. Well, no matter, one member is gone and soon the others will join him”

Dewey struggled even harder, tears burning his eyes but Don Karnage was persisting on applying pressure. “I think it is about time you and I have that rematch now” Karnage said gleefully

Karnage snapped his fingers and Dewey was suddenly falling as the world around him changed. He was falling for what seemed like forever before he landing with a hard thud on the ground. He slowly picked himself up as Karnage came into view. “C’mon Dewey Duck let’s fight. Unless you are afraid that you will beat me again”

“Not likely” Dewey replied angrily. All the anger and sadness inside of him was bursting forth and he let out all that he could on Karnage. Unfortunately, Dewey was only going at Karnage with no weapons. Just his bare hands and a fiery anger that he could only describe as when Uncle Donald or Huey was protecting them

Dewey threw every punch that he could at the wolf. However, Don Karnage was quicker than Dewey and blocking his punches with his sword, which caused Dewey’s hands and knuckles to slowly start turning red. But Dewey didn’t care. He was going to do whatever it took to avenge his brother, even if it meant getting hurt in the process

The fight went on surprisingly longer then either one of them wanted to but Don Karnage eventually got the upper hand when he saw how tired Dewey was getting. When Dewey went for a high kick, Don Karnage grabbed him and threw him hard across the room

Dewey landed on the ground with a loud thud and he couldn’t muster the energy to get back up. Dewey Duck had finally lost to Don Karnage

Don Karnage slowly walked up to Dewey. “Hmm some big brother you are. Couldn’t even protect him from your greatest nemesis. You are no hero. You are nothing but a rat”. Dewey didn’t even have the energy to care anymore. “Go ahead. Kill me. It is what you always wanted. At least this way I can be with Louie again” Dewey said weakly. Karnage grinned happily. “I have been waiting this for a long time. Say goodbye Dewey Duck” Karnage said as he lifted up his sword for the finally blow. Dewey closed his eyes and accepted his fate, slightly apologizing to Huey for leaving him and to Louie for not being able to save him

However, before Karnage could finish off Dewey, the room flashed white and the two of them were transported to a similar room that Louie was transported to earlier. “Alright Karnage that is enough for today” Bradford’s voice echoed from the room. Dewey opened his eyes to see that he was not dead but instead sitting in a white room. “Oh, c’mon Bradford I was just about to finish him. You could have let me have this one” Karnage complained to Bradford, who just now entered the room. “I told you Karnage we cannot kill them yet. It is too early”

Karnage crossed his arms in frustration but all Dewey was focused on was that last bit that Bradford said. “Louie…is still alive?” Dewey asked, mostly to himself. “Yes he is still alive” Karnage said, though he wasn’t happy about it.

“You see dear Dewford this room was designed to channel your worst fears and to have you go against your nemesis all at the same time” Bradford explained to Dewey. It slowly started to click into place for Dewey. His worst fear was Louie dying and he being too powerless to do anything, especially if it came at the hands of Don Karnage

Dewey let out a relived breath, even as he was being dragged by Don Karnage. He totally missed the part where Don Karnage threatened him and saying that one day Dewey would be his and will die alone or something like that

However, Dewey didn’t care as he shed happy tears, his heart no longer in pain as he realized that his little brother was still alive.

The question still remained: where was Louie?

…

Dewey got his answer sometime later when he was brought back into the hallway where their shared cell was at. Dewey had his head down as he was being led, million of thoughts going through his head, when he heard a voice that he never thought he would hear again

“Dewey?”. Dewey instantly lifted up his head and standing there right in front of him and being held tightly by Doofus was his baby brother Louie. Dewey couldn’t tell much from a distance but he could tell that his brother looked worst then when he last saw him. Dewey’s eyes instantly filled with tears again. “Louie!” he called out to his brother.

Dewey tried to run towards his brother and Louie tried to do the same but neither brother was able to move due to them being restrained by their captors. Dewey struggled in Don Karnage’s grip. “Let me go” Dewey yelled out, trying and failing to escape, with Louie doing the same with Doofus.

Eventually the two boys were dragged to their cells, but instead of putting them back in their shared cell, the two boys were placed into different cells beside each other

“No please don’t do this. Don’t separate us!” Louie yelled. Dewey for his part was trying everything that he could to reach Louie but it proved to be useless. Both boys were thrown into their cells and each of them landed on the floor harshly. Dewey ignored the pain to run up to the glass and started yelling at Doofus for harming Louie and to beg them to let them go.

Unfortunately, Dewey’s cries felled on death ears and Dewey just hit the wall in frustration.

Dewey would have broken down right there and then if he didn’t hear a small voice coming from the other side of the wall.

“Dewey? Dewey are you there?”

Dewey’s attention immediately went to his younger brother. He ran as close to the wall as he could and pressed himself against it. “I’m here Lou. I’m here. Are you ok?” Dewey cried out in desperation. For a spilt second, Louie didn’t say anything and Dewey got worried.

But then, “I’m ok Dew” Louie said, though he didn’t sound too sure. “Did he hurt you?” Dewey asked. Dewey really wished he could see his brother right now to see if he truly was hurt but the only thing he could do on right now was Louie’s voice.

Louie once again didn’t answer right away. “Please Lou. You have to be honest with me. I can’t reach you so you have to tell me. Did he hurt you or not?” Dewey asked, more like pleaded with his little brother. Dewey heard a sharp intake of breath and then a small, quiet “yes”

Dewey felt anger build up inside him and it was aimed at Doofus and a little bit of Don Karnage but mostly Doofus. He pushed the anger aside for a bit to focus on Louie. “Where did he hurt you at Louie? What…what did he do to you?” Dewey asked quietly, trying to not let his emotions get the better of him

Louie didn’t really want to tell Dewey his whole ordeal but know that his brother wouldn’t leave the subject alone. So, with a bit of hesitation, Louie told Dewey everything that happened to him as best as he could recall without breaking down.

Towards the end though, Louie couldn’t take it anymore and began to sob quietly. “It was awful Dewey. I didn’t know where you were or if I was even going to make it out. I was so scared Dewey. I’m…I’m still scared”

Louie story was bad enough but his quiet sobs were enough to break Dewey’s heart. The feeling of anger came back again but it also came with hurt and sadness. All Dewey wanted to do now, besides beating Doofus to a pulp, was to hold his baby brother close to him and assure him that everything was going to be alright

Oh, who was he kidding? They were not alright. They had been here for two, maybe three days now (Dewey lost track of time) and they had been beaten and thrown around more times than Dewey ever remembered of any of their adventures or any other time they had been kidnapped

What was worst was that they were far away from the rest of their family and now him and Louie were in separate cells, unable to have physical contact with each other. The only thing that they had was the comforting sound of each other voices and while Dewey would much rather prefer the physical contact, hearing Louie’s voice was definitely better then not hearing it at all and Dewey didn’t even want to think about that.

Speaking of Louie, it sounded like he was talking to him but he was so lost in thought that he didn’t hear him. “I’m sorry Lou. I was lost in thought. What did you say?” “I asked you where did they take you? Did…did Don Karnage hurt you?” Louie asked fearfully

The memories of what happened edge up in Dewey’s mind and he had to shake his head to clear it. He looked down at his hands, which were all scrapped up from the fight. They hurt really bad and, along with the pain in his shoulder, made it hard to move around. “I just got thrown around a bit Louie. Nothing too serious” Dewey answered, trying to dance around the subject. “You sure?” Louie asked. Dewey didn’t really want to worry his little brother. “Positive”

Louie let out a sigh of relief and while Dewey hate lying to his brother, he knew that his injuries were not as serious as Louie’s. He didn’t want Louie to be worried if Dewey’s injuries were nothing to be worried about. Though Dewey knew that Louie wouldn’t think that but that was something that he could worry about later

“Why don’t you try and get some sleep Lou? It will do your body good” Dewey gently encouraged. “I can’t go to sleep” Louie replied back. “Why not?” Dewey asked. “Because you are not in here with me” Louie added quietly.

Dewey felt his heart sink a little at his brother’s words. Dewey wished that there was a way that he could offer some reassurance for his brother.

Dewey then looked down and noticed how a small part of the wall that separated their cells was chipped, creating a small opening. Dewey wasn’t sure how he didn’t notice it before but he didn’t care.

He reached his hand into the hole, hoping that Louie would notice. Dewey immediately felt Louie’s hand go into his and Dewey held onto the hand for dear life, relieved to be able to have some physical contact with his little brother. “I am right here Lou. I promise you that I am not going anywhere” Dewey said, while squeezing Louie’s hand and gently rubbing his thumb across the back of his hand.

Dewey could hear Louie softly crying. “What’s the matter Lou?” Dewey asked, very much concern. Louie took a deep breath. “I’m just glad that you are here Dew. I don’t know what I would do if something bad happened to you”. “I feel the same way, Lou. Even though I can’t see you or hug you, I am still glad that I can at least still hold your hand and hear your voice”

Dewey could feel Louie’s hand squeeze back. “I want a hug Dewey” Louie softly pleaded and Dewey hate that he couldn’t give his brother that right now. “I know you do Lou. I wish I could give you one but unfortunately, I can’t. I’m sorry”. “Not your fault” Louie was quick to reply “Just happy that you are still here. I love you Dewey” “I love you too Louie. I love you so much. And I promise you that we are going to get out of this. Together”

Louie just hummed in reply and Dewey knew that Louie must be getting tired. To help him sleep, Dewey began to hum the lullaby, though he reverted to singing upon Louie’s request.

Eventually, Dewey heard the soft snores coming from his brother and Dewey got himself into a comfortable position along the wall, to where he wouldn’t make his injuries even worse

Dewey stared at the ceiling above him and made a silent vow that he was going to get him and Louie out of here, whatever the cost. Dewey silently prayed that his family would hurry up and get them out already, letting a few tears escape at the thought of his family and how much he missed them

Dewey eventually drifted off to sleep, still holding onto Louie’s hand in a firm grip, almost like he was promising to never let go

Chapter Text

Huey made his way down to the foyer where the rest of the family was located with his FOWL board in hand. Once Scrooge saw his great-nephew, he rushed over to help Huey with the board

The board was set up in the middle of the foyer, with Huey and Scrooge standing on either side of it, with the rest of the family sitting close to the stairs, waiting to hear the plan that Huey and Scrooge had come up with

Huey looked to his great uncle who nodded, gesturing for Huey to begin. Huey took a deep breath and began explaining to the family everything that Huey was able to gather about FOWL in the past few months

The most noteworthy point of Huey’s speech was that FOWL Headquarters was located underneath Funzo’s Fun Zone, which surprised many people in the room.

“After months of research, I believe that this is where FOWL is hiding. This is where Dewey and Louie are most likely located” Huey explained to the rest of the family. “There is a problem though. Funzo’s is quite the happening place. How exactly do we go about this rescue mission?” Della asked.

“Well, I did have this whole plan to use Webby’s birthday as a way to sneak into FOWL’s Headquarters” Huey stated, to which Webby’s eyes lighted up with the statement. “But unfortunately, we are pressed for time right now, so I think our best course of action right now is to sneak in at night when no one is there” Huey stated, frowning a bit when he saw Webby’s face fall a bit

Beakley came up to Huey. “Well Huey I think this all sounds like a good plan” she stated. Huey smiled. “Glad you think so Mrs. B”. Then he looked at the rest of the family. “Now gear up everyone. We are getting Dewey and Louie back tonight!” he exclaimed excitedly, pumping his fist into the air

Unfortunately, the only person who mirrored Huey’s actions was Webby. All of the adults in the room just gave Huey tried looks

“I’m sorry lad but we can’t do it tonight” Scrooge said, sounding like his age. Huey brought his fist down and looked at his great-uncle with a mixture of disappointment and hurt. “What?!? Why not? Dewey and Louie are in danger and you are suggesting that we wait?!?” Huey asked, sounding somewhat angry

Donald and Della came up and placed their hands on Huey’s shoulder. “We are all tired Huey. I think it is in everyone best interest if we get some rest so that we can be ready to go in the morning” Donald explained. “Your uncle is right honey. We all want to rescue Dewey and Louie but we can’t do that if we are all tired. What if something goes wrong and we make a mistake? We can’t risk Dewey and Louie’s safety anymore then we need to” Della softly said, rubbing her hand along Huey’s shoulder

As much as Huey wanted to argue further, he knew that his mom and uncle were right. Above all else, his brothers’ safety came first and Huey would never ever put his brothers in danger. Their safety and making sure that they were taken care of was always his top priority ever since Huey learned what responsibility was. Huey loved his brothers and would do absolutely anything for them, even putting his self in harm’s way to protect them

However, he knew that going in unprepared and exhausted would only prove to be fatal. That was a risk that Huey just couldn’t take, despite the sudden urge to charge in and rescue his brothers immediately

Huey let out a sigh which turned into a yawn. Della and Donald smiled fondly. “I think it is about time that you get some sleep Huey” Della remarked. “I think we all need some sleep lass” Scrooge said as he placed his hand on Della’s shoulder.

Everyone seemed to agree and they each headed off to their different rooms in the mansion. Huey said goodnight to Donald and Della, who in turned each gave him a kiss on the forehead and the reassurance that things were going to be ok and that Dewey and Louie would be fine.

Huey wished that he could believe that but he gave them a smile nonetheless

Donald and Della went their separate ways and Huey started to make his way towards his bedroom

However, when he got to his room, he couldn’t find himself to enter. The door to his room was wide open and Huey could see the two empty blue and green bunk beds.

To Huey, it just felt wrong. Those beds should not be empty. Huey should be seeing his little brothers underneath the sheets, sleeping soundly and having sweet dreams, not having to fight for their lives, begging for their family to come rescue them

Huey was immediately brought back to a couple of days ago when Dewey and Louie had their big argument. It seemed so long ago now. Huey wished that he could have done more when they started arguing. He knew how bad their arguments could get so why didn’t Huey stopped them?

Maybe it was because Huey was just so tried of always having to interfere and he wanted to have the two of them work it out. Obviously, that didn’t work as Dewey and Louie were still mad at each other the next day. Huey stepped in then but by then, it was too late

Huey then thought back to the time that he caught Louie about to cut himself. The image was forever burned in his mind as he watched Louie try to cover up his actions, but to no avail. How Louie got mad at him for trying to stop him. How Louie started to cry, feeling so ashamed and Huey pulling him in close for a hug.

How he spent several minutes just trying to calm down his baby brother. How utterly upset Huey was when Louie told him how that wasn’t his first time cutting. How he rolled up those sleeves…

Huey felled onto his knees as the images played in his head. He could feel the tears threatening to spill down his face. He could still visibly see all those scars running up and down Louie’s arms. How he wanted so badly to destroy those scissors. To burned it for all of the pain and suffering that he did to his baby brother

He can still remember when Louie told him about the first time that he started cutting himself. Almost three years when they first visited Castle McDuck. How could Huey not notice that his baby brother was suffering for that long? What kind of big brother doesn’t notice that his little brother is suffering and needs help?

Then the images of both of little brothers suffering at the hands of FOWL and Huey just couldn’t take it anymore. He placed his face into his hands and began to openly sob. He could feel his heart breaking at the thought of his little brothers suffering. FOWL beating them into a senseless pulp and Huey being powerless to do anything about it.

This whole situation was slowly becoming Huey’s worst nightmare. His little brothers, alone and probably scared, and Huey not being able to be there for him.

Huey wished with all his heart that he could take the place of his brothers. He would gladly take all of the suffering and beating if it meant that Dewey and Louie would be safe.

Huey wasn’t sure how long he sat there on the floor sobbing, but he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and he nearly screamed. He held it back though when he saw Webby staring at him with worried eyes.

“Huey, it’s ok it is just me” Webby said gently, putting her hands up to show that she meant no harm. “I heard noise and decided to investigate. I saw you here crying, are you ok? What’s wrong?”

Huey locked eyes with Webby and saw a lot of concern and care in them. It reminded Huey very much of how he would comfort Dewey and Louie.

Just thinking of his little brothers again was enough to bring tears back to Huey’s eyes. Webby frowned and opened up her arms to bring Huey in for a hug. Huey took the invite with no hesitation, burying his head into Webby’s shoulder.

“I’m scared Webby” Huey quietly said from Webby’s shoulder. “I’m scared for what is happening to them. I can’t imagine what they are going through. What’s worst is that I am not there with them. I…I just missed them so much”

“I know Huey. I miss them too and honestly, I am scared too” was all Webby said, as she rubbed her hand along her brother’s back.

Huey didn’t say anything for a little bit and Webby thought that Huey had fallen asleep. But then she heard him speaking again in a way that she never heard from the red triplet. “I’m such a terrible brother”

Webby couldn’t believe what Huey is saying. She pulled Huey to face her, noticing the tears tracks on his face and his red eyes. “Why would you even say something like that Huey?” she asked, horrified. “Because it is true” Huey quietly replied. “Not it isn’t” Webby tried to argue

“YES IT IS!!!” Huey whispered-yelled, which cause Webby to flinch a little bit. “I should have protected them better. I should have been there to stop their arguments. I should have been able to stop Louie from hurting himself. I should be there with them. They don’t deserve to be going through all of this suffering. I’m the big brother. I should have been the one to get taken not them. I don’t deserve them…and they definitely don’t deserve me. I’ve failed them”

Huey continued to cry in front of Webby, letting out all of his pain and sadness. Webby gently took one of Huey’s hands and placed the other on his shoulder. “Huey look at me” she gently instructed, to which Huey obliged.

“Now I what you to listen to me clearly and don’t interrupt me, ok?” Huey slowly nodded. “You are not a bad brother by any means. No matter what claim that you say. I have watched you three argue and bicker and get under each other’s skin for the past two years. But through all of that, you are still brothers. Triplets. You three love each other more then anything and I know from you especially that you would do anything for Dewey and Louie”

“I am going to let you in on a secret and say that Dewey and Louie are constantly coming to me saying how great you are”. Huey sniffled. “They do?” he asked quietly and doubtfully. Webby softly laughed. “Yes. Dewey and Louie look up to you. They would be so lost without you Huey, just like I know how lost you would be without them. You three complete each other. And please believe me when I tell you that I have seen the three of you go through some tough times, more times than I’m sure either of want to recall”. Huey could only nod in agreement.

“But the one thing that I am certain of is that, no matter the odds, no matter the circumstances, no matter how far apart you guys are, you always find a way back to each other. I have never seen a bond that is strong as the bond you have with Dewey and Louie. And I know that it is this bond that is giving not only you hope but hope for Dewey and Louie as well. That you three will be reunited again. You may be strong on your own. But together, you three are unstoppable”

Huey took a minute to think over what Webby had said. Huey never realized just how much Dewey and Louie looked up to him. He knew that his brothers loved him, even if they didn’t show it most of the time. But that was how they were. That deep unconditional love was there, it always was, it just didn’t show up all the time, especially recently.

However, hearing the truth from Webby was what gave Huey a sense of hope. The fact that he didn’t have to be scared. He knew that his brothers were tough. They were strong. But most importantly, they were Ducks. And as his Uncle Donald said, “Ducks Don’t Back Down”. Huey knew that his brothers would not give into FOWL so easily. And maybe it was that stubborn determination that would keep them alive for a bit longer. Long enough for Huey and the rest of the family to recuse them.

Huey looked up to Webby and smiled, giving her a hug. “Thank you Webby. I really needed to hear that”. Webby smiled and hugged her brother back. “You are welcome Huey”

The two soon broke from their hug, after Huey let out a yawn. “I think it is about time that we go to sleep. We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow” Webby said, getting ready to stand up. Huey grabbed onto her hand before she could. “Actually Webby can I sleep over tonight?” he asked, as he look at his empty shared bedroom. Webby noticed the look and smiled sadly. “Sure Huey I would loved that”

Huey silently thanked Webby as he got the things needed for the sleepover. He brought over his sleeping bag, once he changed into his pj’s. Webby already had her sleeping bag set out and was getting herself comfortable for the night. Huey put the sleeping bag down next to her and crawled into it.

“Huey?”

“Yeah Webby?”

“Ummm remember earlier when you said that Louie was hurting himself?”

Huey was mentally hitting himself in the head. Webby was not supposed to know about that. “Oh well you see Webby…” he began nervously before Webby cut him off. “It’s ok Huey. I already know” she said. Huey looked to her in alarm. “Who told you?” he asked, almost accusingly.

If Webby noticed the tone shift, she didn’t mention it. “No one. I actually happened to catch Louie doing it about a couple of months ago when I was traveling through the vents one day” she said, almost casually.

Huey was shocked by the revelation. “Did he see you?” he asked. Webby shook her head. “I think he might have sense me because he quickly covered up his work and ran out of the bathroom. I didn’t catch much and I honestly didn’t want to believe it. So, I placed it in the back of my mind. But when you brought it up tonight, it all but confirmed my suspicions” she finished sadly.

The two stayed in silence for a bit. “How long has he been doing it?” she asked. Huey sighed and Webby was wondering if she might have overstepped. “Sorry if it is too sensitive of a subject. I didn’t know…”. Huey shook his head. “You are fine Webby”. He then took a deep breath. “It’s been a year and a half. Almost two years now”

Webby gasped, placing her hands over her mouth. “That long?” she asked quietly. Huey could feel the tears started to pop back up but quickly brushed them away. “After we found out the secret about our mom is when he told me that he started. I don’t know if he has done any before that but he told me that’s when it was really bad and then it was all downhill from there”

Webby walked up to Huey and placed her arms around him. “I am so sorry Huey. Dewey and I should have told you guys sooner. We didn’t mean to keep the secret from you guys. We didn’t realize how much you guys were hurting. How much Louie was hurting”. Huey shook his head as he brought his arms around Webby. “Not your fault Webby”. Huey then let out a long sigh. “I don’t honestly even blame Dewey on this. The person I really blame is mom”

Webby was slightly taken aback by this. “What do you mean?”. Huey didn’t really feel like going into his feelings on his mother so he decided to give Webby the short version of the constant pattern with Louie’s self-harm, with most of it streaming from events surrounding traumatic events, as well Della.

After Huey was done, Webby took a minute to process and try to figure out the best course of action. “If you want my advice Huey, you should really talk to Della about this. She probably doesn’t realize the harm she is causing. To just to Louie, but to you and Dewey and well. I think, in the morning, you need to go find Donald and Della and talk about this with them. They deserve to know”

As much as Huey didn’t want to keep spilling Louie’s secret, he knew that it was only beneficial if Donald and Della knew as well

Of course, that was morning Huey’s problem as all present Huey wanted to do was sleep

The two young ducklings got into their sleeping bags and stayed close to each other, holding onto each other hands for comfort.

That night, neither duckling got much sleep as dreams of their brothers being in trouble keep flowing through their minds

…

The next morning, Huey woke up to being alone in Webby’s room. Huey figured that Webby already got up and was getting ready for the day. Huey decided to follow his sister’s lead by doing the same

Once Huey got ready, he tried to mentally prepare himself for the dreaded conversation that he knew that he was going to have with Donald and Della. He didn’t want to tell them about Louie’s condition but he knew that it would be the only way to help his brother in the long run

Huey looked over the mansion for his parents but could not find them. He asked Mrs. Beakley where they were and she said that they were on the houseboat. Huey thanked Mrs. B and went outside to the houseboat

The houseboat brought back a lot of memories for Huey, all of which came flooding to him at one time. A lot of it was of him and his little brothers growing up and playing together. The houseboat is where he found his best friends. Where he found the three people that he loved more then anything in the world

However, Huey could not think about the memories right now. Two of those people were now in the hands of the enemy and Huey wanted them back more then anything.

But first, he needed to talk to the person who was responsible for hurting one of those people. His own mother, Della Duck

Huey took a deep breath before making his way onto the houseboat. “Mom? Uncle Donald?” Huey called out. “Back here honey” Della called out.

Huey made his way to the back of the houseboat and found his mother and uncle sipping on coffee and having a conversation. “Good morning, Huey” he uncle greeted him “How did you sleep last night?”

Huey shrugged his shoulder. “Ok I guess. Webby and I had a sleepover last night” “Aww that nice honey” Della remarked. “It was. Listen I need to talk to you both about something before we do the rescue mission”

“What is it Huey? Are you nervous about the mission?” Donald asked. “A little. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you guys about”. “Then what Huey?” Donald gently prodded

Huey looked at each of his parents and felt himself at a lost for words. Scared of what their reaction might be. Donald could see that Huey was struggling and bent down to his son’s level. “Huey it is ok. You know that you can tell us anything right?”

Staring into his uncle’s kind and gentle eyes gave Huey the encouragement to say what he needed to say. “I wanted to talk to you guys about what has been going with Louie” Huey started, before telling his parents the whole story of what Louie had been struggling with the past two years.

The whole time Donald and Della listened, never once interrupting Huey. When he was finished, Huey felt a pair of arms wrap around him. “Thank you for telling us, Huey. Your mom and I have actually discussed this before” Donald said. “You…you have?”

It was now Della’s turn to bend down to Huey’s level. There were tears starting to gather in her eyes but she didn’t let them spill. Not yet. “Yeah sweetheart. Your uncle and I have been wondering about this from your brother for a good while”

Huey was just confused. “If you knew then why haven’t you said anything? Why haven’t you tried to get him help?” Donald and Della shared a look. “Because we weren’t 100% sure” Donald answered. “We never actually caught your brother doing it but we have seen the marks on his arm and we know that it is not just from the adventures. And whether I tried to approach him about it, he just turns away and refuses the help” Della finished sadly.

Della wasn’t sure what reaction she expected from her son, but him sending death glares her way was definitely not it. “That’s because it is your fault” he said in a low voice. Della was taken aback by this and so was Donald, but he remained firm. “Huey. You don’t get to say that to your mother”.

Huey continued to stare at his mother, seemingly ignoring his uncle. “It’s the truth though. Every time Louie hurts himself, it is because of something that mom said to him or because he believes that mom doesn’t love him as much as she loves Dewey and I” he said angrily. Della could only stare in shock. “Huey honey that is not true. I love all three of you equally”

Della tried to reach out for Huey but Huey pulled away, standing up with angry tears flowing down his face. “Then prove it! You say that you love each equally, but please name me one thing that you and Louie have done together. Just the two of you”. Della opened her mouth to speak, but found that she had no answer.

“SEE! You don’t do anything with him. That is why he doesn’t feel like you love him. He thinks that he did something wrong to not deserve your love. He feels like he is the bad guy here and doesn’t deserve to live anymore, hence why he hurts himself. Well news flash mom! Maybe you are the bad guy here. Maybe…” and Huey knew that he was going to regret this, but he couldn’t stop himself “maybe you should have just stayed on the moon. It would have been best for everyone”

Huey looked away from his mother, not wanting to see the tears flowing down her face, to see all the pain that his words were causing her. He truly did love his mother, but he loved Louie even more and he couldn’t stand by while the person that he only knew for like a year was hurting someone that he knew all of his life.

Donald opened his mouth to say something, but Della stopped him, gently walking up towards her son. She kneeled down in front of him. “Huey honey look at me” she tearfully asked. Huey shook his head and Della sighed. “Ok you don’t have to look at me just hear me out ok?”

When Huey didn’t respond, Della knew that was her cue to continued. “Huey those 10 years that I was stuck on the moon were the worst years of my life. Knowing every day that I couldn’t be with you boys was so difficult. I know that the decision to get on that rocket was a terrible one and I will forever regret that decision because it meant that I missed out on so much on you and your brothers’ lives”

“I thought that coming back from the moon was going to be great. I thought that I could ease back into motherhood and it would be like I never left. But the truth is that I did leave and I lost 10 precious years that I will never get back. That I will never make up for. In a way, I am still trying to do that”.

“I was trying so desperately to earn you and your brothers’ love that I didn’t stop to think on what my absence must have been like for y’all. I never took the time to consider what each of your feelings were. I just wanted to be the cool, fun mom and when that didn’t work, I went in the opposite way and became the strict parent that every kid hates. I grounded Louie because I saw myself in him. I didn’t want him to make the same mistake that I made. However, by doing so, I made him think that I didn’t love him, which cause him to hurt himself”

Della was now full on crying now and she looked up to see that Huey was also crying and now had his attention on her. “Huey honey, I am so sorry for not being the mother that you boys deserve. I am so sorry for abandoning you when you weren’t even born yet. And I am truly deeply sorry for hurting your brother. It was never my intention. Just know that I will try every day to mend my mistakes. To make it up to your brother for what I did to him. I just…I just hope that you don’t hate me for what I did. I know that I don’t deserve to be your mother…”

Della was soon cut off by a pair of arms wrapping around her neck. Huey was now clinging tightly to his mother, his breaths coming out heavy, as well as his tears. “I know you didn’t mean it mom. I’m sorry for getting so mad at you. I was just angry because I thought you were the main source of problem. And while you kind of are, it was never intentionally. I’ve seen how hard you have tried this past year and just know that I appreciate you trying to make it up to us, especially to Louie. I do forgive you mom. I don’t hate you. I could never hate you” Huey said, from the crook of Della’s neck.

Della, in return, hugged her eldest triplet tightly. “Thank you Huey. I love you so much sweetheart. You and your brothers” she said through her tears. Huey hugged back tightly. “I loved you too mom. But just know that we when we rescue Dewey and Louie, you owe Louie a big apologize”. Della let out a tearful laugh. “Yeah I guess I do”

Donald looked on in fondness but was soon let in on the hug, per Huey’s request. The three of them sat in the hug for a good while before Scrooge and Mrs. Beakley came to find them, saying that it was about time to get the rescue mission underway.

Before they left the houseboat, Della asked if she and Huey were good, to which Huey responded with a quick hug, saying that they were. Della smiled and hugged her son back.

“Let’s go get your brothers back” Della said determinedly, to which Huey couldn’t agree more

…

The plan was to break into Funzo’s once everyone was gone. Huey was able to get into contact with Jane, who gladly said that she would meet them at Funzo’s once everyone had left and would let them on inside. Surprisingly, she didn’t even question why they needed to come at night, saying that it was none of her business

Lena and Violet caught wind of what happened with Dewey and Louie and said that they wanted to help, to which Huey and Webby were delighted about. Lena and Violet would meet them at Funzo’s before they would break inside. Once inside, they would try to locate Dewey and Louie. If they found any Missing Mysteries along the way, then they needed to grab them. If they ran into any members of FOWL, then Mrs. Beakley, Scrooge, Della, and Lena could take them down, while Donald, Huey, Webby, and Violet would continue to locate Dewey and Louie, with having Webby as their backup muscle.

Everyone agreed on the plan and Huey spent much of the time hyping himself up, but also feeling anxious around the same time. Webby was there to sort of calm his nerves, and while he did appreciate it, it didn’t stop the anxiety bubble from rising up in his stomach.

There were so many things that could go wrong with this plan. What if FOWL ends up capturing them? What if they have the wrong base and FOWL is somewhere else? What if Dewey and Louie are hurt beyond degree? What if…what if they already dead and they are too late?

That last thought was almost enough to bring it all down for Huey. He could not imagine a world without his brothers. It was already hard as it was knowing that it was missing. Knowing that they could be dead was even worst.

Webby noticed Huey’s distress and placed her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze. “It’s going to be ok Huey. We are going to rescue Dewey and Louie. No matter what, we are right behind you”. Huey smiled at his surrogate sister, though it was a bit of a forced smile. If Webby noticed, she didn’t say anything

Nighttime came quickly. After going over the plan one more time, everyone crowded into the jeep and made their way towards Funzo’s. Huey was nervous the entire way, staring down at the lock screen on his phone, which had a picture of him and his brothers on it. ‘Much simpler times’ Huey thought to himself as they got closer to Funzo’s. Webby once again squeezed his hand, with Della giving him a kiss on the forehead, as he leaned onto her shoulder

They arrived at Funzo’s where Lena and Violet were waiting for them, along with Jane. “There you guys are. We were getting worried that you weren’t going to show” Lena said, half-jokingly. Webby ran up to her two best friends and gave them a hug. Huey wouldn’t be lying if he said that he didn’t feel a slight bit of jealously towards Webby and her girlfriends

“We are here lass. No need to be all cocky” Scrooge said, which earned an eye roll from Lena. “Whatever. Let’s go in and bash these FOWL members so that we can bring Dewey and Louie home” Lena said, with a ton of excitement. Huey wished that he could match Lena’s optimism.

Jane unlocked the main door to Funzo’s and the group entered in quickly. She then gave the key to Scrooge. “Don’t lose that key. It is the only key I have to this place”. Scrooge nodded and thanked Jane for all her help, to which she smiled and said ‘No problem’

The group quietly made their way inside Funzo’s. Huey glanced upwards to see a ton of security cameras everywhere and they looked like they were all on. “Do you think FOWL knows we here?” Della asked to the group, doing so in a whisper. Mrs. Beakley nodded her head. “It is possible. I wouldn’t put it past them” she answered back quietly. Huey then turned his attention to Lena and Webby. “Would you girls like to do the honors?” she asked them.

Lena and Webby looked at each other and smiled. “Gladly” they said together. One by one, the girls took out the security cameras, with Lena taking them out with her magic, and Webby with her crossbow, letting Violet getting in on the action a bit with the crossbow.

Once the security cameras were taken out, the group made their way to the ballpit, which was Huey discovered was the secret entrance to FOWL’s headquarters. Using enough force, everyone started launching themselves into the ballpit one by one.

Huey and Webby were the last ones to into the ballpit. Webby noticed that Huey was a bit hesitant to jump in. Webby grabbed onto his hand and Huey looked at her. She gave him a big smile. “We got this Huey” she said. Huey smiled back and nodded. “We got this!” he answered back.

They both looked down at the ballpit. Right below this pit is where their brothers were being held at. Possibly being tortured and scared to death.

Well, that was going to end today. “For Dewey” Webby said. “For Louie” Huey said. And together they shouted, “We are coming Dewey and Louie” as they both made a leap of faith into the pit of balls

Chapter Text

Dewey woke up feeling sore. All the muscles in his body felt stiff from the position that he had rested in all night. Dewey’s mind begin to wander on why his bed was so hard and cold before he soon realized that he wasn’t in his bed.

He was sitting on a cold cell floor. Meaning that he was a prisoner. That he was trapped.

Dewey let out a long-suffering sigh as he stared at the dark ceiling above him. He thought about the past couple of days and all the torture that he and Louie have gone through. It was unfair that this is how their lives have turned out.

Dewey thought back to all their lovely times on the houseboat. Sure, it wasn’t the greatest way to live but at least they were safe and didn’t have to worry about villains or their lives being in constant danger.

Sure, when they moved into the mansion that seemed to increase but at least they came home from every adventure and they mostly came out injury free.

Well, except for Louie. The more Dewey thought about it, the more he realized just how much his brother got injured on adventures. All of them were adventurers at heart but Louie had the hardest time with it. It occurred to Dewey that out of the three of them, Louie had the hardest time adjusting to the new lifestyle of living in a mansion. All of that coupled with struggling with his emotions, it was no wonder that Louie had begun to hurt himself. It still hurt Dewey to think about all of the scars on his baby brother, knowing that he indirectly caused some of those scars.

Dewey was beginning to realize that, deep down, Louie missed the simplicity that they had back on the houseboat. Dewey was honestly beginning to miss it too. He missed when it was just the four of them. It wasn’t always great, but they still had each other and that’s all that really mattered.

Right now, Dewey didn’t have anybody. He was all alone. Even with holding onto little brother’s hand, Dewey never felt more alone than he had in his entire life.

He couldn’t be there for Louie like he wanted to. He couldn’t protect Louie from the horrors that they had face. It was his job as Louie’s older brother to protect him. He was ‘tougher than the toughies and his brothers’ protector. The one who would always stand up for them and take the hits for them, despite being the middle child. It was an honor that he cherished since he could remember.

But now, in this moment, Dewey felt like he was failing. If, no when they would be rescued, what would Huey say? How would his older brother react when he saw how badly Louie was hurt? Would he blame Dewey and say that he wasn’t strong enough and should have done a better job at protecting their baby brother?

The reaction that he feared the most was Louie’s. Being trapped together forced the boys to be closer together and make them revealed things to each other. Dewey felt like they were closer now then they ever were before and while he hated the circumstances, he couldn’t be more grateful to be with his brother.

But what if all of that was simply not true? What if Louie only said those things to make Dewey feel better? Louie was a scam artist in his own right so Dewey wouldn’t put it pass him to pull something like this. What if, when they were rescued, Louie went back to hating him? Distancing himself from Dewey again so that he could spend more time with Huey?

‘No don’t think like that Dewey’ he thought to himself. ‘Louie loves you. He wouldn’t have said all of those things and be holding your hand right now if that wasn’t true’. As much as Dewey didn’t want to think about it, his mind couldn’t help but wandering back to those thoughts.

“I need a distraction” Dewey quietly whispered out loud.

A distraction came in the sound of a door opening from somewhere down the hall.

Dewey quickly snapped to attention as he heard footsteps approaching. He watched as a shadowy figure approached stopping outside of Louie’s cell. Dewey flinched on instinct when he heard something hit the floor from the other side of the wall. The figure then approached Dewey’s cell and Dewey realized that it was one of the eggheads. The egghead threw a bag inside Dewey’s cell before marching away and shutting the door.

Dewey looked towards the bag, trying to get a closer look. He couldn’t get very far as he realized that he was still holding Louie’s hand.

“Louie? Are you awake?” Dewey whispered into the hole that separated him and Louie. Dewey didn’t get an immediate response. Dewey then shook Louie’s hand. “Louie?” he asked again, raising his voice slightly.

Dewey then heard Louie moaning, seeming like he was waking up. “Just five more minutes Dewey” Louie sleepily answered. Dewey just fondly smiled. “No can-do little bro. Time to wake up”. Louie seemed to stir a little bit more, but his movements were halter but a sharp hiss of pain, which had Dewey concerned.

“You ok Lou?” Dewey asked. Louie didn’t answer for a second before Dewey received a hand squeeze. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just sore from…you know” Louie answered sadly. Dewey squeezed the hand back. “Yeah, I know” he answered back, trying to shake the thoughts of seeing Louie hurt from out of his head. “How did you sleep last night?” Dewey asked. Louie sighed. “Ok I guess, considering that we are trapped in a cold cell”. Dewey hated the sadness in his brother’s voice. “What about you?” Louie asked. “Same as you. My hands and shoulder still hurt.”

“I didn’t hurt your hand even more, did I?” Louie asked quickly and with a slight bit of panic in his voice. “I might have squeezed your hand a bit too much last night and I really needed to make sure that you were still there and…”

“Hey” Dewey cut off his brother’s rambling. “You are fine Lou. My left hand doesn’t hurt as much as my right hand, so you are fine. I didn’t mind honestly” “You sure?” Louie asked hesitantly. To answer his brother’s question, Dewey squeezed Louie’s hand back. “Promise Lou”. Dewey then began to stroke the back of Louie’s hand. “And I am not going anywhere. I honestly needed the reassurance too. The only way that we are going to get out of this is together. I am not leaving you Louie. I will never leave you. They are going to have to kill me first before I would ever think of leaving you.”

Dewey then saw Louie’s hand slowly making his way to his wrist, to which Louie grabbed on tightly. “Please don’t say that Dewey” Louie brokenly whispered. Dewey could only imagine that Louie was crying now. “My heart would not be able to take it if they killed you. I need you, Dewey. I love you”. Dewey could feel tears in his own eyes. “I love you too Louie.”

Dewey then glanced at where the bag was sitting a few feet away from him, almost forgotten. “Hey Louie? Did that egghead throw a bag into your cell?”. “Yeah” Louie answered. “Why?” “I think it has our breakfast inside, but I can’t reach it”. Dewey could hear Louie struggling to reach the bag as well. “I can’t either. It’s too far for me to reach.”

Dewey then looked down at their hands and, as much as it pained Dewey to do this, he knew what had to be done. “Louie I am going to let go of your hand now” Dewey said. That cause the grip that Louie had on his wrist to become even tighter. “WHAT?!?” Louie cried out. Dewey sighed. “Look we can’t both reach the bags while we are holding on to each other. You have to let go of my wrist Louie.”

Dewey could practically feel Louie shaking his head. “No. I…I can’t” Louie said shakily. Dewey brought his hand up further to grab Louie’s wrist. “It would only be for a second Lou. Once we have our bags, then we can go back to holding each other. I promise you that I am not going anywhere”. “Promise?” Louie softly whispered. Dewey squeezed Louie’s wrist. “I promise”

With a lot of hesitation, Louie let go of Dewey’s arm and both boys crawled to where the bags where before crawling back to the spot in the hole in the wall. Immediately, Dewey reached his hand back into the hole and Louie instantly grabbed it back.

(Though if Dewey heard Louie breathe out a sigh of relief once they touched again, well that was for only Dewey to know)

…

The rest of the morning went by uneventful.

The boys ate their breakfast in silence, which only consisted of a sandwich and some water. It wasn’t much, though it was better then nothing. Dewey would occasionally try to engage Louie in conversation, only for Louie to give him short answers. It seemed like Louie didn’t want to talk and that hurt Dewey because he knew that talking was a strength of Louie’s

He hated that FOWL was taking that away from his brother. Slowly breaking him down until he was nothing but just a weak duckling. Not able to fight back against their enemies.

Dewey knew that he was going to have to be the strong one. If FOWL continued to break down Louie, then he was going to have to be the one to stay strong. For the both of them. It was a hard task but nothing that Dewey hasn’t done before when it was just him and Louie, and no Huey

Dewey was trying really hard not to think about his big brother, but he missed him. He missed his big brother’s warm hugs and reassurances. He missed listening to the big facts that Huey would spill out occasionally. How Huey was able to use that big brain of his to find a way out.

If Huey was here with Louie instead of him, maybe they would have gotten out by now. Maybe Huey would have used his smartness to get him and Louie out and then they would be home, unhurt and non-traumatized, finding out a way to beat FOWL together.

Maybe even Webby would have been a better option then him. Webby definitely had her spy skills and she would have found some way to break her and Louie out in her own special Webby way. She would have definitely tried to protect him as Webby was the fourth triplet that the boys never knew that they wanted but were beyond grateful to have as a sister.

Even though Louie had stated that he was glad that Dewey was here with him, he couldn’t help but think that Huey and Webby were the better options. ‘At least Louie isn’t here alone’ Dewey kept telling himself. That was the only positive in this situation.

Dewey’s thoughts were interrupted when he felt a strong weight being put on his arm. Dewey looked down to see that part of Louie’s head was resting on his wrist and that his little brother was nuzzling him. Dewey felt a pang in his chest. “You ok there Lou?” Dewey asked softly.

Louie lifted his head up a bit. “Oh, sorry I didn’t mean…”. It sounded like Louie had been crying as he sniffled when he spoke. Dewey quickly grabbed onto his brother’s wrist, being mindful of the scars on Louie’s wrist. “No, it’s ok. You weren’t hurting me if that is what you are worried about. You can put your head back on my arm” Dewey assured his brother. Dewey could feel the small smile on his brother’s face as he leaned his head back down, once again nuzzling Dewey.

Dewey thought about leaning down closer to the hole so that he could be slightly closer to Louie. But doing so brought more pain to his shoulder so he decided against it.

With Louie’s head resting on his wrist, he could feel the softness of Louie’s feathers. Even though he couldn’t see his brother, Dewey lifted his hand and cupped Louie’s cheek. He could feel Louie leaning into the touch along with a few tears falling down his face.

Using his thumb, Dewey wiped away the tears, though he couldn’t understand why his brother was upset. “What’s wrong Louie?” Dewey asked softly. “I…it’s nothing” Louie stammered. Dewey wasn’t falling for that. “If it wasn’t nothing then you wouldn’t be crying” Dewey replied with a snarky attitude before adopting a softer tone “C’mon bro what’s bothering you?”

Louie took a deep breath and mumbled something that Dewey couldn’t quite hear despite being so close to him. “What? Say that again Louie?”. “I’m scared Dewey” Louie replied louder, though it didn’t hide the weakness of his voice. “What if they tried to torture us again? What if they separate us again? What if…what if their ultimate goal is to kill us? To leave us here to die?”

The next words to come out of Louie’s mouth broke Dewey’s heart. “Dewey, I don’t want to die. I’m…I’m so scared Dewey. Holding your hand is not enough. I need you, Dewey. I need you to hold me and tell me that everything is going to be ok. I hate this. I hate everything about this. Please…hold me, Dewey. Don’t let them take me away. Don’t let them kill me. Don’t let go…please?”

As Louie spoke, Dewey could feel his brother shaking and his sobs becoming a bit more violent with every word his spoke, his breaths coming out shaky. Dewey almost wanted to curl up into a ball and hide away.

What Louie said could possibly happen. Their family could not come for them. FOWL could continue to torture them until their ultimately demise or FOWL could end up killing them on the spot. They didn’t know what FOWL true intentions were. As their arch nemeses, they knew that Doofus and Don Karnage wanted them gone but that FOWL wasn’t going to let them kill them.

At least not yet anyway. How long before that became an option? How long would FOWL allow Doofus and Karnage to torture them before they end up deciding to kill them? Is FOWL even that evil to do so? Dewey liked to think that they weren’t but considering they were the family’s greatest and toughest villain, Dewey wouldn’t put it pass them to do something like this.

Dewey knew that he couldn’t dwell too much longer into his thoughts as he had to comfort his baby brother, who was gripping onto him tightly and was continuing to be a sobbing mess.

“Everything is going to be ok Louie” Dewey answered, doing his best to comfort his brother. Louie shook his head. “You don’t know that!” he yelled. Dewey sighed and thought about what Huey might say. “You are right Louie. I don’t know. I can’t promise you that everything is going to be ok”.

Dewey then brought his arm out as far it would reach into the hole, bringing Louie into a very awkward one-sided hug. “But what I can promise you Louie is that I won’t let anything bad happened to you anymore. As long as I am still here, I will fight to make sure that we both get out of this together. I will hold you for as long as you need me to. I promise you Louie that I am not letting go. I will never let you go or let anyone hurt you ever again”

It was silence for a moment before Dewey felt Louie fully leaned into the awkward hug, sobbing into his brother’s arm and shoulder, feeling the warmth that his older brother provided. Louie continued to sob for a bit before his tears ran out “Thank you Dewey” Louie hoarsely whispered. Dewey rubbed his thumb across Louie’s cheek. “Anytime little bro”

“Awww they are so cute”. Dewey and Louie both jumped at the voice. They let go of each other at the same time, causing them both to wince in pain due to their injuries. “Shut up June” another voice said, though this one much quieter. “Who is there?” Dewey called out.

Silence

Louie made a huffing noise. “C’mon we know you are there. No use in hiding anymore”. Dewey wasn’t sure who Louie was talking to until he saw two figures emerged from out of the wall. It was the two girls that Dewey and Louie had meet the other day. What were there names again? Oh that’s right. May and June. What surprised Dewey was how they were both wearing camouflage, similar to how Webby camouflage herself last Christmas.

May had an annoyed look at her face that was directed at her sister while June looked a bit sheepish. “Way to give away our hiding spot June”. “Sorry I couldn’t help it. They were just being so sweet and you know how I am about sentimental stuff” June responded back, causing May to roll her eyes

“Were you two spying on us?” Dewey asked with his eyebrow raised. “No” May said at the same time that June said “Yes”. The two sisters stared each other down for a minute before May sighed. “Ok yes we were but I promise you that it is not what you think”

Dewey was about to say something before Louie spoke up. “Oh really? Then what were your intentions then? To spy on us and then report us to FOWL so that they can come in here in kill us? To separate us again so that we never see each other again?”

Dewey noticed how Louie was raising his voice and that he was breathing heavy. Even though he couldn’t see his brother, he knew that he was definitely getting upset. Almost on the verge of tears again.

Dewey reached out through the hole and grabbed Louie’s hand as a means of calming him down. It seemed to work as Louie grabbed his hand back, prompting Dewey to rub his thumb across the back of Louie’s hand as a means of calming him down.

May and June looked shocked at Louie’s outburst but kept their composure. “No absolutely not” May said, putting her hands up in defense. “We just really wanted to check with you guys to make sure you are ok” June replied

“Is that it?” Louie asked, to which the girls nodded their heads. “If you wanted to check on us so badly, why the camouflage? There is no reason to hide from us” Dewey asked. “It’s not you that we are worried about” June began before stopping, seeming to shrink on herself. May sighed. “It’s FOWL that we are worry about. Heron and Director Buzzard are not supposed to know that we are visiting you, hence the camouflage” May replied, pointing at herself.

Both boys nodded their heads in understanding. “Ok that makes more sense now” Dewey said.

The girls nodded their heads before adopting serious looks on their faces. “But seriously the real reason that we are here is because we couldn’t take seeing you two tortured for longer” May said. “So, we are busting you guys out of here” June explained excitedly.

Dewey and Louie’s faces lighted up. “It’s about time!” they said together. However, Dewey’s face felled. “Wait how are you going to get us out? You need keys to let us out” Dewey stated

June just smirked as she directed her attention towards May, who had a smile on her face that reminded Dewey of one of Louie’s scheming faces. Almost like magic, a remote control that was used to open the cages appeared in May’s hand.

Both boys’ mouths were wide open. “Woah!” Dewey exclaimed. “Where did you get that?” Louie asked. “Oh, I took this from one of the egghead guards when they weren’t looking. Man, those guys are dumb” May said, like it was an everyday occurrence. “You are my new favorite person” Louie said proudly.

May pressed down on the button to open up the cage doors. Just like that, Dewey and Louie were freed from their cages

When they immediately saw each other, they ran up to each other and gave each other the biggest hug, tears running down both of their faces. Despite all of their injuries, nothing mattered more in the world to them then being each other arms again.

Dewey could feel Louie shaking in his arms, his hands desperately gripping onto the back of his shirt as he sobbed into the crook of Dewey’s neck. Dewey wasn’t faring much better himself as he held the shaking form of his baby brother. All Dewey could do was rubbed his hand along Louie’s back, shushing him and whispering silent reassurances

“Shh it’s ok Lou. I’m here. I’m right here. I won’t let them hurt you again. I won’t let anything bad happen to you again. I promise. Just breathe Louie. I’m right here. You are ok”

Dewey kept repeating that several times until Louie eventually calmed down. Dewey slowly removed himself from the hug, but still keeping Louie close, wiping away the tears from his little brother’s eyes and planting a soft kiss on the top of his head. In return, Louie smiled fondly and leaned into the touch. Dewey smiled back, happy to see Louie smile for the first time in a long time.

Dewey then a mental scan of Louie’s injuries, like he seen Huey do many times before. Louie’s face was all scratched up and his arms were still a bit bruised and Dewey was sure he saw new scars on Louie’s arms and legs. Dewey could feel his overprotectiveness start to bubble through at the sight of how injured his brother was. More then anything, Dewey wanted to go up to Doofus and punch him square in the face for what he did to his brother.

However, Dewey couldn’t do that if the main priority was getting him and Louie out of here

Dewey turned his attention towards May and June, who were looking at the two boys with smiles on their faces. “Now that you have set us free, do you think that you can show us the way out of here?” Dewey asked, before Louie added “And no tricks” he said sternly, pointing an almost accusing finger at the girls.

May just scoffed and surrender her hands. “No tricks I promise”. June then gestured down the hall. “Follow us” she said, leading the way. Dewey and Louie exchanged a look and gripped onto each other hands tightly.

As they followed May and June, Louie whispered to Dewey, “Are you sure we can trust them? I mean I appreciated them freeing us but I still have my doubts”. Dewey looked towards the two girls leading them and just sighed. “I mean I have my doubts too Lou. But like you said they did free us. And they kind of act like and look like Webby. I just have this feeling in my heart that we can trust them. I mean at this point; we do we have to lose?”

Louie just shrugged and didn’t say anything else after that. Dewey saw that they were coming up on the door at the end of the hallway. Before they did, Dewey stopped in his tracks and took Louie by the shoulders, which surprised Louie. “Dewey…what?” “Listen to me Louie. No matter what happens, I need you to run”. Louie just looked confused. “What are you talking about Dewey?”

Dewey took a deep breath and sighed. “Just promise me that…if something happens to me or to them, you run and find a way out of here ok?” Louie’s eyes widened and grab onto Dewey wrists. “What? No, I’m not doing that!”. Dewey just smiled and placed his hand on Louie’s cheek. “Louie I’ll be ok. Your safety is more important than mine. You are must more important than I am”

Louie could not believe the words that were coming out of his brother’s mouth. His eyes begin to feel with tears for probably the fifth time that day, which was probably a record for the green-loving triplet. “How could you say that Dewey? You know that’s not true!”.

Dewey just scoffed, his own tears threatening to spill over. “Isn’t it? Let’s face it, Lou. Of all the people you got stuck with, it had to be me. You could have had Huey or Webby, but no, you are stuck with me. Your idiot older brother who cared about his own mother whose only been back for a short while more than his triplet brother who he has known his whole life. Who wasn’t strong enough to save you from Doofus. Who couldn’t stop you from getting hurt. Who has failed on more then one occasion of protecting you. Who hates himself more than anything and wish that Don Karnage would just end him already so that I don’t have to keep being reminded of what a terrible brother I am”

Dewey wasn’t sure when the tears started falling down his face, but he found that he couldn’t stop as he began to sob, bringing his hands up to his face to try and stop the tears from falling. Wasn’t much help.

Louie just stood there, trying to process the words out of Dewey’s mouth. He looked over to May and June and saw that they were standing by the door, waiting for them and watching the whole thing unfold. They both had sad looks on their faces, watching Dewey break down like that

Louie turned back to his brother and placed his hands on Dewey’s face, cupping his cheeks. Dewey brought his head up and was meet with teary eyes looking back at him, matching his own. Using his thumb, Louie wiped away Dewey’s tears and begin to rub small, soft circles on Dewey’s cheek.

“Dewey I don’t know what is going through your mind right now or why you think this way. But I just want to let you know that I don’t think that way about you at all. You are an amazing brother. You have done so much for me over the years and I truly, genuinely couldn’t ask for a better immediate older brother. I’m grateful that you are here with me Dewey. I…I just wish you could see yourself the way that I see you”

Dewey sniffled. “And how do you see me?” he asked sheepishly, his voice coming out hoarse. Louie just smiled and gave Dewey a tight hug, burying his face into Dewey’s chest. “Someone who will never abandon his family and loves all members of his family, biological or not. Someone who is reckless, yet is willing to put himself on the line to save the ones he loves because he has too big of a heart. And if that heart ever stopped beating, gosh I…I don’t the world would ever be the same without it. And I know that his two favorite people in the whole world wouldn’t know how to live without their other third”

Louie lifted his head up to look his brother in the eyes. “You are more than just my brother Dewey. You are my best friend. You and Huey mean everything to me. If you can promise to continue to always be there for me, then I can promise you that I will always be there for you. To show you the love that you so deserved. I just want my fun loving, sweet, caring, big-hearted, sucks at jokes, and blue-wearing brother back”

Dewey let out a small laugh, though it was almost on the verge of a sob, as he wiped away the remaining tears from his eyes and hugged his brother back. “Thanks Lou. I really needed to hear that. And of course, I promise to always be there for you”. Louie smiled and gave Dewey a squeeze before pulling away. “I love you Dewey”. Dewey gave a small smile back and kissed Louie on the top of head. “I love you too Louie”

The moment would have lasted longer if the four of them didn’t hear a shout from down the hall. “HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!”. The four of them turned around and saw with horror that an egghead had spotted them and started to come towards them

“As much as this heartfelt moment has been sweet, we need to go now!” May shouted as June got the door opened. Dewey and Louie shared a quick look before grabbing onto each other’s hands and making a break for the door. All four of them managed to sneak through before trapping the egghead on the other side.

Unfortunately, that alerted the attention of several more eggheads that were nearby in the area as they started to advance towards the kids. Louie grabbed onto to Dewey as Dewey got into a fighting stance. If he was going to go down, he was going to do it protecting his baby brother

However, May and June were also in a fighting stance. Before Dewey could even get a kick in, May and June were already taking down the eggheads left and right and did so within a matter of seconds

Dewey and Louie were amazed at the way May and June took down the guards like that. It eerily reminded them of Webby’s fighting style

“Wow how did you..?” Dewey was about to ask before May grabbed him. “No time. I heard one of the eggheads call for backup and won’t be long before others show up” “Which means that we need to hurry up and find the exit before more arrive” June said, gesturing to down the long dark hallway

With that, the four of them sprinted down the hallway, hoping to find an exit soon

…

Louie wasn’t sure how long they have been running, but it felt like ages. He could feel the many injuries on his legs and back just getting worst the longer that they ran. He could feel any blood yet so that was a good sign but he knew that the longer that he was on his feet and the longer that the injuries went untreated, they worst that they would eventually become and that was something that Louie didn’t want to deal with

At one point, Louie had to ask if they could slow down and take a short breather. While May and June weren’t too keen on it, they did so after receiving a stern look from Dewey

Louie took a few minutes to catch his breath with Dewey looking at him with that worried look that he was used to seeing from Huey. Louie did not like that look. It looked bad enough with Huey worrying over him and now that Dewey was doing it too, it was weird

Though, Louie couldn’t help but feel like he was started to like this new softer side of Dewey. Sure, Dewey did show his softer every once and while. But, due to their fighting over the past months, Louie rarely show the loving, caring side of Dewey as much as he used to.

Don’t get Louie wrong. Dewey was loving and caring, but just in his own reckless Dewey way. Not the way that Huey showed it, who was always worrying about them and showed love to them through every means possible.

At the thought of Huey, Louie breathed out a sad sigh, which didn’t go unnoticed by Dewey. “You ok Louie?” Dewey asked. Louie turned to face his brother, immediately snapping him out of his thoughts. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just miss Huey”

For a split second, Dewey looked…disappointed? Maybe even upset?

Whatever it was, it went away quickly as Dewey was smiling again and pulled Louie into a one-sided hug. “I miss him too Lou. But don’t worry. As soon as we get out of here, we will see him again. Him and everyone else”

Louie felt much better at hearing his big brother’s words. Dewey also knew the best ways to cheer him up. That is what he liked best about Dewey. He would good at giving pep talks when necessary and his words were always full of positivity. It brought a smile to Louie’s face

Once the break was over, the four of them continued, though a bit more slowly this time.

The four of them finally reached the end of a hallway, where it was revealed to lead to right outside of a lab

“This is actually May and I’s room” June gestured to the room proudly. Dewey was kind of surprised to see that the room looked like a science lab; Huey would have a field day with this. What surprised Louie though was the incubation tubes towards the back of the room.

“You…you sleep here?” Louie asked, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah!” June exclaimed excitedly. Dewey looked over to May who had an somewhat of an unreadable expression, though it looked kind of sad…almost.

Louie, however, was looking between the tubes and the two girls, studying their expressions more closely. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head and he let out a gasp. “You…you are clones of Webby, aren’t you?”. “WHAT?!?” Dewey yelled

May went over and put her hand over Dewey’s mouth. “Shh keep your voice down” she said before letting go of Dewey. “I’m surprised you two haven’t figured it out already. I thought we have been pretty obvious from the start”

Louie and Dewey shared a look and shrugged. “I mean we had our suspicions but we weren’t sure” Louie said. Dewey just stared at the girls in amazement. “It all makes sense now though wow! I have so many questions”

However, none of those questions wouldn’t get answer for a while as an alarm sounded throughout the whole building. “What does that mean?” Dewey asked, tightly gripping onto Louie’s hand. “Oh no! I think we are under attack!” June cried out. “WHAT?!?” both boys exclaimed together

Through all of the commotion, the four of them heard a chilling voice. “May, June?!? Where are you?!?”. It was Black Heron. “Oh no! It’s our mom! If she finds us, we are doomed” June said loudly, trying to speak above the alarm sounding.

May looked towards a door that wasn’t too far from where the lab was. She then turned to her sister. “June distract mom for as long as you can. I will get these two out of here”. June nodded her head before turning towards the boys and giving them a quick hug. “It was nice meeting you two. I hope you two get home safely”. And with that, June sped off to go distract Black Heron as May lead the boys to the door

On the other side was a hanger that had multiple jets. The hanger was wide open as some of the jets were taking off with eggheads and FOWL agents. May looked towards the boys. “Do any of you know how to fly?” she asked. Dewey slowly raised his hand, to which May smiled.

“Good. Because you are going to climb aboard one of those planes and fly yourselves back home” she told them. Louie smiled and shook May’s hand. “Thanks for all of your help”. May just shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t mentioned it. Now go before we get caught”

Dewey reached out and brought May into a hug. “Thank you May. And thank June as well. We couldn’t have done this without you too”. He then whispered into May’s ear. “And we will find someway to get you and June out of here. I mean you two are due to meet your sister after all”

Without another word, the two boys sneakily made their way into the hanger, leaving May to ponder Dewey’s words for a second, before hurrying off to find June and Black Heron

Dewey and Louie managed to sneak around without being spotted. Dewey then pointed to one of the jets that looked empty before gesturing Louie to follow him.

Once inside the jet, they found that it was indeed empty, with Dewey making his way to the pilot seat. “Alright time to get this bird in the air and then we will be free!” Dewey exclaimed excitedly, shooting Louie a big smile.

They were finally going home!

Of course, good things don’t last forever

“Well well well, what do we have here Doofus?” “Seems to me that we have a bunch of birds who are trying to fly away”

Dewey and Louie both began to internally panic as they quickly turned around to become face to face with their two biggest nemeses: Don Karnage and Doofus

“I believe that this is my jet. I would move over if I were you, Dewey Duck!!!”

Those words sent a shiver down Dewey’s spine. However, neither he or Louie could move from their spot as they were frozen by their fear

Don Karnage and Doofus seemed to notice the boys’ fear. “Awww look at that. Even after all of this time, Llewellyn and Dewford are still scared of us”

Louie was the first to speak. “y…you don’t s…scare u…us” he said, though he voice betrayed otherwise. Doofus just laughed as he moved closer to Louie. “Oh, but I think you do. If you are not scared, then prove it”

Louie wasn’t sure what Doofus meant at first. But he soon found out when Doofus started to drag him away from Dewey. Before Louie could cry out to his brother, Don Karnage started to unsheathe his sword and made a move towards Dewey, bringing down his sword on Dewey’s other shoulder, leaving a cut just like on his left shoulder

The move made Dewey clutch his shoulder in pain, but he did not move. Instead, he brought his eyes to Don Karnage with a scared, yet hateful stare

Don Karnage seemed to get madder. “Ohh some tough guy are you. Well how about this then?”

Don Karnage then made a cutting motion with his sword again, this time, cutting Dewey across the stomach.

Dewey really cried out in pain this time. Tears flowing down his face as he held onto his stomach. A little bit of blood came out and was it enough for Louie to see red.

He punched Doofus in the stomach and started to run towards his brother, ignoring his own injuries in favor of trying to get towards Dewey.

However, before he could, Louie was knocked out and hit the ground hard.

“LOUIE!” Dewey cried out as he got out of the pilot seat and staggered towards his brother. He pressed his fingers to Louie’s neck, ignoring the blood that was on his hands

He let out a sigh of relief as he felt a pulse

He then turned to Doofus who was making his way towards him. “What. Did. You. Do?” Dewey asked, his voice coming out weak but still held every bit of anger and hurt that he felt towards Doofus.

Doofus just gave him a wicked smile. He wanted to punch that smile right off his damned face. “Oh don’t worry. He is only unconscious if that is what you are so worried about. I bet his dreaming some wonderful dreams about me now” he said, bending down to pet Louie

Dewey hated the way that he said that. He hated everything about Doofus

To prove his point, he bit down as hard as he could on Doofus’s hand, hoping to at least break some skin. Doofus let out a yell and begin to struggle with Dewey for a bit. When Dewey finally tasted blood, he let go of Doofus’s hand. He definitely left some blood and a bite mark, but for Dewey, it would all worth it to cause Doofus some pain

Doofus just stared down at Dewey as he was some wild animal. “Oh this simply won’t do. You need to be put in your place. I will definitely be telling Director Buzzard about this”.

Then Doofus smiled and Dewey got an ugly feeling in his stomach. “In the meantime, hope you enjoy the ride”

Within the blink of an eye, Dewey could feel his whole world starting to spin. Before he promptly passed out, he saw Doofus scope up Louie in his arms. Dewey weakly reached out for his brother, but to no avail

“Hope you sleep well Dewford. Let’s just say your stay at FOWL is about to get a lot worst”

Dewey didn’t remember much after that as his world plunged into darkness

Chapter Text

June ran in the direction that she heard Black Heron’s voice. She immediately meet up with her mom not too far where the hanger was and by the look on her face, she could tell that her mom looked really upset

“June what are you doing out of your room? It is not safe!” Black Heron scolded June, looking around the young girl, trying to locate May. “And where is your sister?!?” she yelled, making June flinch a bit.

She then put on her acting face. “I don’t know” June lied, fake tears coming to her eyes. “We got separated when a crowd of eggheads came near us when the alarms sounded. Everything was such a blur, I didn’t see where she went”

June then started to grab Black Heron’s dress and tugging her away from the hanger. “C’mon mom we have to go find her. Who knows what could have happen to her”

Black Heron just scoffed at June’s actions. “Let go of my dress child. No need for that” June quickly let go and ducked her head. “Sorry” she said in a quiet voice. Black Heron sighed before silently ushering June away from the hanger

However, the two of them didn’t get very far before May ran up to them. “June there you are!” May exclaimed excitedly out of breath. “May!” June yelled out happily, running up to her sister and giving her a hug.

May locked eyes with Black Heron who was giving her a stern look and May could already feel the lecture coming

May let go of June and walked over to Black Heron, pulling June along with her. “Look Heron…” Before May could get words out, Black Heron held up her hand. “I don’t want to hear it May. I told you two to stay in your room and you disobey me”

May tried to speak but Heron kept talking. “And don’t think I am unaware of you two talking to our new prisoners, when I told you repeatedly not too” May and June shared a look but said nothing

Black Heron rubbed her fingers between her eyes. “Look I don’t have time to be talking about this right now. Apparently I was told by Director Buzzard that we are under attack” “By who?” June asked. “That is none of your concern” Black Heron spitted out, before grabbing May and June by the hands and dragging them to their room

“Until we can get this under control, I need you two to stay in here. It is for your safety” Black Heron stated, in a much kinder voice. “But what about you?” June asked, clearly scared and not acting anymore. “I’ll be back as quick as I can to come get you I promise. Now get in your tubes” she ordered them

With that, Black Heron shut the door to their room, which in this case was the lab to which the girls were created in.

Juen then turned her attention to May. “Do you know if they escaped?” she asked her sister. May sighed. “I don’t know June. I ran out before I could see. I sure hope they did”

June then hummed in acknowledgment as she made her way to her tube. “Do you think that they will come back for us?” she asked. May shrugged. “Maybe. Who knows” was all she said

But as May slipped in her tube, she couldn’t but think about Dewey’s last words to her. She was hoping that those boys made it out ok. It would mean being once step closer to finally meeting Webby. To finally get the answers that her and June have been seeking for a long time

As May doze off into slumber, all she could think about was finally getting the chance to meet Webby and how it would mean making her small world even bigger than what it was

…

Once the family made their way into the ball pit, they soon found themselves in FOWL Headquarters, just like Huey predicted

However, Huey could not celebrate just yet. They still had to find the Missing Mysteries and his brothers

Huey reached underneath his hat and pulled out the map to FOWL Headquarters. “Wow Hubert I am impressed. How did you manage to get this map anyway?” Violet asked from behind him

Huey turned around and smiled. “I noticed that Launchpad has been talking in his sleep lately and with a British accent for some reason. I used the JWG chapter on dream analysis to determine his warnings were actually detailed descriptions of F.O.W.L’s real-life secret lair!”

“That’s the Woodchuck spirit, lad!” Scrooge proudly proclaimed, while Violet simply nodded her head in approval

“Alright let’s take down these FOWL foes and save my boys” Della cried, starting to run ahead before Beakley grabbed her by the arm. “Hang on Della we can’t just go charging in without thinking this through” the former spy spoke sternly

Huey walked up to his mom. “Mrs. Beakley is right mom. We don’t know what FOWL could be doing to Dewey and Louie right now. We have to be really careful here”. Della sighed and ruffled Huey’s feather. “You’re right Huey”

Lena stepped up. “So, what’s the plan nerd?” Huey then ripped the map in half and handed one half of the map to Scrooge and he kept the other half for himself. “The plan is to divide and conquer. Scrooge’s team will consist of Scrooge, Lena, Violet, Webby and Mrs. Beakley. They are going to find the Missing Mysteries and catch any FOWL members that they may find and be sure to ask them if they know where Dewey or Louie might be located”

Scrooge’s team nodded their heads in understanding. Huey then turned his attention to the rest of the party. “My team will consist of myself, mom, Uncle Donald, and Launchpad. We are going to go find my brothers”

Before going on their separate assignments, everyone made sure they had the Bulb-Tech walkie talkies in order to communicate with each other. Huey and Webby gave each other a quick hug. “Go find your brothers Huey” Webby said before pulling away from the hug. “Good luck to you too Webs” Huey said with a huge smile on his face, which Webby returned

The two teams went their separate ways and Huey’s team was off to the races to try and find his brothers in time before FOWL who knows what to them.

Huey figured out that deep within FOWL’s headquarters that they were some holding cells that FOWL must keep for prisoners. Which is probably where Dewey and Louie must be

The closer that they got to the bottom level of FOWL’s Headquarters, the more anxious Huey felt. Sure, he was elated to see his brothers again. He missed them so much and he was happy to get them back

But there was also a part of Huey that was keeping his guard up. They haven’t run into FOWL agents or eggheads yet, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t some lurking around

Donald noticed Huey’s worried expression as he came up to his nephew and patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry we will find them” Donald tried to reassure Huey. Huey gave a small smile back, feeling comforted by his uncle’s words but still having his doubts

When they got to the bottom of FOWL’s Headquarters, where the holding cells were at, they found no one in sight. “Stay on guard. We don’t know who is down here” Huey said to his group as they slowly walked down the hall

“Dewey. Louie” Huey called out as they walked down cell by cell, hoping and praying to find his brothers down here. The rest of the family joined in and calling out for Huey’s brothers’ names

However, the longer they walked down the hall, calling out Dewey and Louie’s names, and not finding them, Huey’s anxiety and big brother instincts were skyrocketed. Huey could feel his heart sinking the longer that they continued to search

The group got to the last two cells and all of them stood there in shock. In both cells was a puddle of red. Huey bent down to get a better look, shakily reaching down to touch the puddle, despite his parents telling him not too.

When Huey touched the puddle, although it was dry, he immediately recognized it as blood

Huey’s mind already started thinking worst case scenario. His brothers weren’t down here and there was blood in these cells. Clearly, it was either one or both of his little brother’s blood. There could be hurt…or

‘Oh gosh please don’t let them be dead’ Huey thought to himself as he continued to stare at the only clue that he had of his brothers. Huey leaned his forehead against the bars and let silent tears rolled down his cheeks

They had failed. If his brothers weren’t down here, then FOWL had probably taken them somewhere else. Somewhere Huey could never reach them. Somewhere Huey would never see them again

Huey was so wrapped up in his spiraling thoughts that he didn’t notice when Della and Donald knelt beside him and tried to get his attention. He didn’t notice when they started to whisper words of softness and sweet nothings in Huey’s ears. He didn’t notice when he felt two pairs of warm arms wrap around him.

He didn’t even notice when the alarm started to sound around them and Della and Donald were trying to pull him away from the bars. Huey just held onto those bars and continued to stare through teary eyes at the last place his brothers were presumably were

Huey was finally shaken out of his stupor from the sound of Webby’s voice coming through the Lil bulb walkie talkie

“What is it Webby?” Huey asked, his voice rough from the tears

Either Webby didn’t noticed Huey’s voice change or was too wrapped up in whatever she found to care, regardless, her voice made it sound like whatever they found was pretty urgent

That got Huey out of his head as maybe they stumbled upon Dewey and Louie

It was the only thing given Huey hope as his team raced to where the others were located at

They found the others outside of the lab

“Did you find any Missing Mysteries? Did you find Dewey and Louie?” Huey asked anxiously

Webby was surprised by that last question. “You guys didn’t find them?” she asked

Huey just lowered his head and was paying special attention to his hands, which were now shaking again. Webby looked around at the other members of Huey’s team, who just had sharing looks of sadness and shook their heads, with Della looking close to crying

Webby turned her attention back to Huey and noticed how he was trying to hold himself together. “We didn’t find them. But we found…*breath hitching*…we found what I think is their…their…blood”

Everyone on Webby’s team couldn’t believe their ears at what Huey said. Webby was also surprised herself.

However, Webby refused to believe that her two little brothers were dead

She gently placed her hand on Huey’s shoulder. “Huey I know that you are thinking worst case scenario right now. But that doesn’t mean that they are dead”

Huey didn’t look at her. “You don’t know that” he said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper as the tears were threatening to spill.

Webby squeezed his shoulder. “No I don’t” she said, before placing her hand on Huey’s cheek, causing him to look at her. “But what I do know is that Dewey and Louie are both strong and brave. They wouldn’t go down without a fight. Maybe badly injured but they are still fighting. Trust me on this Huey. Don’t you three have like some kind of triplet sense or something?”

Huey shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t quite work like that Webby. Despite how many times Dewey tells me that it is true” Huey quickly giggled at that thought and that got Webby to smile. “Well maybe for once you need to believe that. Can you still…I don’t know…feel them in some capacity?”

Huey could feel that older brother tingle sense being on high alert right now, knowing that his brothers were in danger. But, somehow, underneath all of that, Huey could still somewhat feel them. It didn’t feel like a piece of heart wasn’t ripped out just yet. It was close but not quite.

That gave Huey a little hope that his brothers were still alive. That maybe they were still fighting for their lives. That they were trying to find their way back to them. Back to him

Huey smiled for the first time all day. “You are right Webby. My brothers are still out there. I just know that they are and I will not rest until they are back home safely”

Everyone was at first taken aback by the sudden confidence in Huey’s voice. However, Webby was the first one to recover as she smiled at her brother. “That’s the Huey that I know and love” she said proudly. Huey then brought her in for a quick hug. “Thanks Webby” “Anytime Huey”

The two young ducklings pulled away and Webby’s face immediately light up. “Oh right. There is something that we need to show you” Webby said, gesturing Huey’s team to follow them into the lab

Huey was not expecting what awaited them behind the door of the lab. Floating inside two glass tubes were two young girls that looked to be about the same age as him and Webby. What surprised Huey the most was that the two girls appeared to be identical clones of Webby

“Woah this is creepy” Della spoke up from behind Huey. “Why do those two girls look like Webby?” Launchpad spoke up, asking the million-dollar question that everyone had on their minds. “I don’t know. But my suspicion is that FOWL had something to do with this” Scrooge said

“Are we going to take them home with us?” Webby asked, turning her attention to Scrooge and Mrs. Beakley. Both seemed unsure. “I don’t know Webbagail. We don’t know why FOWL just left them. For all we know they could be dangerous” Mrs. Beakley said hesitantly.

Before Webby could argue, Huey came up beside her. “But these girls might know something about Dewey and Louie. Even if they are dangerous, isn’t it worth it to find out what happened to my brothers?”

Well no one could argue with Huey with that logic

Once the girls were out of their tubes, the family made their way outside of Funzo’s and back to the mansion, thankfully realizing that all of FOWL had left by the time the family had escaped, though Huey was a slight bit sour at the fact that they didn’t find his brothers and that they had no idea where FOWL had run off too

‘Hopefully these clones of Webby will give us some answers’ Huey thought to himself

When the family got back to the mansion, Gyro was already there waiting for them, per Scrooge’s request. The two girls had woken up by this point and introduced themselves as May and June. The girls were trying their best to get close to Webby, but Beakley was not letting them anywhere near Webby, much to Webby’s and the two clones disappointment

Gyro started to run some tests on the girls but Lena just used her magic to indeed confirm that May and June were clones of Webby. May and June started asking rapid fire questions at Webby, which took her by complete surprise

Before Mrs. Beakley could step in, Huey got between Webby and the two clones. “Alright that is enough” he said, before directing his attention to May and June. “Look I understand that you two have tons of questions for Webby and she will answer them for you in a timely manner. But right now we are in a race to find my brothers and we need your help to find them”

May and June let out gasps at the mention of Huey’s brothers. “Wait so you are Huey?” May asked. “Yeahhhh” Huey answered hesitantly. “Oh, Dewey and Louie talked so much about you” June said excitedly

Huey’s eyes shined with hope. “Really? What did they say about me?” “They told us what a great big brother you were. How you always there for them and always took great care of them. They talked about how much they really miss you and how they couldn’t wait to see you again” June explained

Huey felt his eyes fill up with tears at the nice things his brothers said about him. Oh how he missed them so much and how badly he wanted them to be in his arms again

Huey wiped away his tears and focus back on the task at hand. “Since you two know them, do you know what happened to them? When we went down to their cells, they weren’t there”

“We helped them escaped” June said “We told them to get on one of the FOWL jets and to fly back home” May finished off, before her face turned sour, looking around the room briefly. “Are they not here?”

Huey started to get nervous at May’s question. “N-no. They are not” he stammered. “We thought that you two might know where they are” Webby chimed in, sensing Huey’s anxiety

May and June’s faces quickly transformed into someone who just realized that something bad was happening. “We don’t know what happened to them. We left before we saw them take off” June replied, her voice soft at the horror of the realization. “Which means that…” May began before Huey screamed out

“THEY HAVE BEEN CAPTURED BY FOWL AGAIN!!!”

The room felled dead silent after that, saved from the quick breaths that were coming out of Huey’s mouth

“We are sorry that we aren’t much help” June spoke up quietly after several moments. Webby immediately went up to her ‘sister’ and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey you two helped us out plenty. Thank you” she said sweetly, which got a smile out of May and June

Scrooge walked up to the group of kids. “Do you girls by any chance know where FOWL could have flown off too?” he asked sternly, yet with a caring voice that he only reserved for his family.

May and June looked hesitant to say anything. Scrooge sighed. “Look lasses I know that you two were created by FOWL but you have to understand that my two youngest great-nephews are in great danger. It would really help if you two could be on our side with this. Help me get your new friends back”

May shared a look with June who simply smiled. “We must help them May. For Dewey and Louie.” May smiled back. “For Dewey and Louie” she echoed. May and June thought for a moment before May spoke up. “Well, I know that Mom…I mean Black Heron has talked about a lost library before”

Huey, Webby, and Scrooge all gasped at the new information. “The Lost Library of Alexandria” all three said together. “That must be where they took my brothers” Huey exclaimed excitedly. Scrooge nodded his head. “Launchpad, Della get the plane ready. We are heading to the Lost Library of Alexandria” he ordered to the two pilots in the room

Huey ran up to Scrooge. “Uncle Scrooge?” “What is it lad?” “This is going to be a big rescue mission. Bigger then the last one. Shouldn’t we call for back up?” Scrooge gave Huey a big smile. “Don’t worry lad. Backup is on the way”

Huey wasn’t sure how his great-uncle managed all that but he honestly wasn’t going to really question it

Huey then went back over to Webby, May, and June and decided to talk with them for a bit, in order to take his mind off the battle that laid out before them

The girls started talking out possibilities on how May and June were cloned and why they were cloned from Webby specifically. However, Huey started to tunned out their conversation as he started to think about Dewey and Louie and what could be happening to them. He didn’t like to think of the fact that his brothers were badly injured and unable to fight back, FOWL possibly leaving them alone to die. He liked to think that they were trying every thing that they could to get back home. Huey just hoped that his little brothers could hold out a little bit longer until they got to them

As the backup arrived and everyone boarded the plane, Huey just hoped that May and June were right about the lost library. Huey just hoped that May and June were actually good guys and not just leading them into a trap. Huey hoped that Dewey and Louie were be there waiting for them and that he could welcome his baby brothers into his arms again

Regardless, Huey knew that FOWL would be waiting for them

Regardless, Huey knew that, just like his little brothers, he wasn’t going down without a fight

No matter what it took, Huey was going to bring his little brothers home and no one, not clones or an evil organization, was going to get into his way

Chapter Text

Dewey woke up once again with the most awful splitting headache. It was getting annoying of how many times he woke up with a headache. It felt like someone took a hammer and repeatedly pressed down on his head

Not just his head but his whole body felt like it was smashed. Every part of his body hurt. Just the slightest movement was enough to make him wince

When he regained his sense of consciousness, he realized that he was in a clear cage with plastic walls all around him. It was like the cages that were in the original FOWL base but not quite

Dewey let out a groan as he tried to sit up. He felt pain in both of his shoulders and he saw that both were bandaged up, though more blood was seeping out of his left then his right. Dewey also looked down to see that his stomach was thickly wrapped in bandages as well.

Dewey was honestly surprised that he haven’t bleed out yet with as many times he got sliced by one of Don Karnage’s swords

To try to get his mind off that realization, Dewey looked around his new prison. His eyes eventually landing on a lump that was curled up in the corner

Dewey knew exactly who that lump belong to

“Louie!” Dewey called out, though his voice was raspy and he realized just how dehydrated he was

However, Dewey wasn’t really worried about how thirsty he was as Louie didn’t answer him when he called him, which made Dewey slightly panicked

Dewey didn’t want to move. The pain in his shoulders and stomach were almost unbearable. but he knew that he had to. He had to make sure that Louie was ok. He needed to know that his brother was alive.

Ever so carefully, though it was painful, Dewey crawled his way over to his brother. For a second, it looked like Louie wasn’t breathing and Dewey instantly panicked, placing two fingers onto Louie’s neck. He held his breath, praying that Louie was alive. Thankfully, Dewey felt a pulse. It was not as strong as it could be but it was there and Dewey let out the breath that he was holding

Dewey gently shook him

“Louie? Louie wake up”

Louie groaned as he woke up from unconsciousness. Once his eyes landed on Dewey, he cried out and threw his arms around his brother, which caught Dewey by surprise. What caught Dewey even more by surprise was that Louie was shaking and had his head buried in his shoulder

Before he could ask Louie what was wrong, Louie pulled slightly away from Dewey and placed his hands on his cheeks, teary baby blue eyes reflecting back. “I…I thought that you were going to bleed out Dew” Louie tearfully exclaimed “I was so scared that I wouldn’t see you again. I…”

Dewey gently grabbed Louie’s hands, squeezing them. “Shhh it’s ok Lou. It’s going to take more then a couple of sword cuts to keep me down. I will never ever leave you. I promise”

Louie didn’t seem quite convinced so Dewey pulled away and showed Louie his bandages. “See? I’m all bandaged up. No longer bleeding out. I’m all good Louie”

Louie still didn’t seem convinced. Dewey sighed and put his hands on Louie’s shoulders for emphasis. “Louie. I’m not going anywhere, ok? You don’t have to worry about my injuries. And besides, you know that Uncle Donald and mom are going to want us to go to a hospital to get our injuries check out once we get out of here”

Speaking of injuries, Dewey noticed there was some marks on Louie’s face as well as on his hands. Dewey took Louie’s hands to examined them. “Louie how did you get these?” Louie looked down at his hands and his eyes got big. “I…I don’t know. I don’t remember having those before I was…”

Both Dewey and Louie’s eyes went big as they realized just where those marks came from. Louie felt sick at the thought that it was Doofus who did this to him. Dewey just felt a protective anger bubbling inside of him. Oh, he couldn’t wait to get out of here so that he could beat Doofus to a pulp

“Well look who finally woke up”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Dewey and Louie both jumped as they turned towards the front of their prison where Doofus, Karnage, and Bradford were standing

Despite still wanting to beat Doofus Drake into a pulp, Dewey couldn’t tear his eyes away from Don Karnage as he tried to pull Louie into the furthest corner of the cell. However, his injuries didn’t let them get very far as his cried out in pain

“Dewey!!!” Louie exclaimed as he crawled over to his brother. Dewey held his hand out. “I’m ok Louie”

Dewey then turned his attention towards the trio in front of them as he curled himself around Louie protectively as best as he could. He glared at them and let out a low growl. “Don’t. Even. Think. About. It”

“Wow you really are tougher then the toughies. Just like your uncle” Bradford said, a small hint of venom present in his voice. Bradford then turned to Louie. “And while you may be sharp, Llewellyn, you are not quite as sharp as your uncle. It such a shame really. I always figured it would be you who would be the rightful heir of Scrooge”

Louie felt slightly offended by that as he always thought that he deserved to be the rightful heir

“You know…” Bradford continued “Your family has been a real problem lately. With all of these adventures, creating chaos, and sending finances into a tizzy. And it all because of your great uncle. In fact, we had to set up this second base here in the Great Library of Alexandria because your family found out about our original secret hideout at Funzo’s”

Dewey and Louie were in shock. Not just because of learning about there being a secret hideout under Funzo’s, but also because their family was looking for them and they probably just missed them.

It made their heart sink a little bit, but it also gave them hope that their family was so close to finding them

“Yeah and our family will probably be able to find out about this one. And once they do, you guys are done for” Dewey said with as much confidence as he could, despite all of the pain and slight fear coursing through his body

“Yeah well it is your fault that we had to move in the first place” Doofus said, slightly enraged

“They are nothing but trouble and I say that we should just go ahead and kill them, like I’ve been saying all along” Don Karnage said, as he put his hand on the hilt of his sword, which made Dewey flinch and tighten his hold on Louie

Bradford just hummed as he stared at the two young ducks. “They have been nothing but trouble” he said, which made Don Karnage smile, glad that Bradford was finally seeing his point. “But, I still need the two of them alive”

Don Karnage growled in frustration and even Doofus seemed a bit surprised. “Why?” they both asked

Bradford flashed an evil smile and the two youngest triplets knew that they were doomed. “Because I need them as bait for when their family comes. They are just what I need to lure out dear Webbagail”

The glass door to their cell opened and before Dewey and Louie could escaped, they were grabbed by a huge egghead. Dewey held on tightly to Louie as they were carried off to who knows where

They knew that it was nowhere good if they were being used as bait. They just hoped that their family would find them soon, because the boys weren’t sure how much longer they would be able to last

…

Huey was just full of anxiety by the time the family got the Sunchaser ready to take off to rescue his brothers. Using the tracker on his phone (much to Gyro’s absolute outrage, saying that his invention could have done better and that he was losing his touch), they were able to locate his brothers. They were at the Library of Alexandria, which was solved thanks to the absolute delight of Webby

Huey wished that he could share some of Webby’s positivity

He just simply could not relax. Not until they rescued his brothers. Not until they were both back safe in his arms, where they rightfully belong

He was never leaving his brothers out of his sight again. He knew that was probably overstepping, but he didn’t care. He just wanted his baby brothers to come home

It was supposed to be the three of them against the world. Forever. Just like they promised years ago

Without Dewey and Louie, Huey was nothing. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Huey was nothing without his two best friends. The ones that have always been by his side since day 1. Sure, they had their disagreements and fights, but no siblings are perfect. They always made up afterwards and they were close as any triplets could be

Della and Donald noticed how upset Huey was, silently coming over to give Huey a hug. Huey just hugged back harder as he told his parents, while he was happy to have Dewey and Louie’s location, that he was still worried about them

The sentiment was shared by the Duck twins but they both reassured Huey that they would do everything in their power to bring Dewey and Louie home and that if FOWL wanted a fight, then they would fight tooth and nail for their boys

Huey smiled as he broke the hug from his parents, feeling even better about things when Webby came over to give Huey a side hug, promising the same

Everyone was about to get into the Sunchaser when Scrooge received a call from an unknown number. Scrooge shrugged as he answered the call, his face turning into horror when he realized who was calling

“It’s Bradford” Scrooge said gravely, to which everyone let out a collected gasp. Huey, Webby, Beakley, Della, and Donald crowded around the phone to hear what Bradford had to say

Greetings Scrooge. I have your two precious great-nephews. Don’t worry, they are ok. But, they won’t be for much longer if you don’t bring me what I want. I will give you Dewford and Llewellyn back if you can bring me Webbagail Vanderquack. The choice is yours Scrooge

The phone call ended and everyone was in a state of shock

Webby was the one to break the silence first. “Well what are we waiting for, let’s go save Dewey and Louie” she said, starting to head towards the Sunchaser. “Webby wait!” Mrs. Beakley yelled after her granddaughter, running after her with the rest of the family and their friends not too far behind her

Mrs. Beakley managed to catch up to her granddaughter by time she got to the plane ramp. “Webbagail dear, we need to talk about this!” “What is there to talk about? Bradford is going to hurt Dewey and Louie if we don’t hurry and give them what they want” Webby said, frustrated that they were wasting time when her brothers were in danger

“But they want you dear. And if I know FOWL, it’s not for anything good. We are not exchanging you for the boys. We need to find a way to keep all three of you” Mrs. Beakley tried to reason with Webby, but Webby wasn’t having it. “I don’t care! Dewey and Louie lives are what at stake here. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get my brothers back. Why…why don’t you understand that?” Webby was on the verge of tears and it made Beakley’s heart hurt to see her granddaughter like this

By this point, the rest of the family had made it to the plane and were watching the exchange. Huey stepped up to stand beside Webby, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Webby I want to save Dewey and Louie too, but not at the potential of losing you too. Is there a way that we can do both: save Dewey and Louie and make sure that you don’t get hurt too?”

Webby sighed as she thought about it. Webby knew that FOWL was trouble and if FOWL wanted her, then she knew that it couldn’t be good, like her granny said.

But Webby also knew that if she wasn’t given to FOWL, then they might hurt Dewey and Louie more then they probably already doing. They might even kill them, if they were willing to do that far. Webby, honestly, wouldn’t put it pass FOWL to do so

So, Webby turned to her uncle. “Uncle Scrooge what do you think?” she asked. Scrooge looked between Beakley, Huey, and Webby before sighing sadly and coming up to them. “I don’t like either option but I trust you Webby darling that you know what you are doing and will be careful about all of this. I say that we see what FOWL wants with you and then we can intervene accordingly”

Webby smiled as he thanked Scrooge before turning to her grandmother, expecting her answer. Beakley made a face before sighing and giving a slight head nod

Everyone seemed to be on board with the plan as the McDuck family and their friends piled into the Sunchaser. While everyone was concerned for Webby’s safety, they also knew that Dewey and Louie’s lives were also on the line and that they needed to do what they had to do to get the two youngest triplets home

Everyone hung around the belly of the plane, with the adults on one side and the kids on the other side. Lena, Gosalyn, May, and June stood with Webby while Boyd and Violet stood with Huey, each of them trying to be comforting presence for the two ducks

While Huey and Webby were grateful for the support of their friends, it still wasn’t the same as having their two brothers by their sides. But, one shared look between the two and it was clear that they were in this fight together and would get Dewey and Louie back no matter what, though Huey wouldn’t be lying if he said that he wasn’t really worried for Webby

Once the plane got closer to the Lost Library, Lena activated a cloaking spell that hid the plane. The plan was for everyone to stay hidden in the plane while Webby and Scrooge went inside to try and figure out what FOWL wanted, hopefully maybe avoiding a confrontation with Bradford all together if they could help it

Huey wanted a full-on rescue mission, but the adults shot it down as they thought that would draw too much attention and would be risker for Dewey and Louie. May and June were asked to go with Webby and Scrooge, but declined saying that they couldn’t face Bradford or Black Heron after what they did

The Lost Library was now in view as Webby and Scrooge got prepared to jump out of the plane, hopefully to avoid the egghead guards standing outside. Webby was given a hug by all of the kids and Mrs. Beakley, wishing her well and to be careful. Huey gave her an extra tight hug and whispered in her ear, “Be safe and bring Dewey and Louie home” Webby hugged tightly back, promising that she will

The two jumped out of the plane and the family watched in anticipation

They made it safely on the rooftop, but unfortunately, they were spotted by one of the guards, who yelled something into one of his radios. Scrooge and Webby cringed as they quickly ducked inside, hoping that they can get to Dewey and Louie in time before Bradford could find them

They looked down every hallway and behind a lot of doors, but could not find Dewey or Louie. Bradford was also nowhere in sight, nor were there any eggheads, which was a surprise to Scrooge and Webby

They soon walked out into an open area where there was a spiral staircase. After going up the spiral staircase, they came out into an opening. On the far side of the wall, Webby could make out two figures in the dark and when she got closer, she knew immediately who they were and her eyes went wide

“Dewey! Louie!” Webby called out as she rushed over to her brothers. They were tied up together to a pole that was against the wall and they both appeared to be unconscious.

Webby was internally freaking out as he could see so many cuts and bruises all of their bodies. She knew that if Huey was here, he would be having a fit. The Duke might even come out; Webby wouldn’t put it past him.

But, now was not the time to freak out. She had to get her brothers out of here quickly

Webby called out to her brothers again, slightly shaking them in hopes of waking them up. It seemed to work as both began to stir. Their eyes landed on Webby at the same time and they both cried out, “WEBBY!” their eyes filling up with tears as they took in the sight of their sister and great-uncle

Webby’s eyes also filled with tears as he placed each of her hands on her brothers’ faces, rubbing a thumb to wipe away their tears, before pulling them into a hug as best as she could. “I missed you guys so much!” Webby said through her tears. Louie just whimpered as he nuzzled his beak into Webby’s shoulder as Dewey replied for the both of them, “We missed you too Webby!”

Dewey then looked behind Webby to see Uncle Scrooge smiling at the young ducklings. Dewey then tried to look behind their uncle to see if he could spot their older brother but didn’t see him, which made Dewey’s face fall a little bit that they would have to wait a bit longer to see their big brother.

Dewey then turned to Webby as she tried to get him and Louie freed from the ropes that were binding them

Unfortunately, she didn’t get very far when they heard a very familiar voice. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you Webbagail”

Everyone turned around to see Bradford coming out from the shadows along with Black Heron. Dewey and Louie immediately scooted closer to together as Scrooge made his move towards the kids. “Don’t you dare hurt them Bradford” Scrooge growled towards his former Board of Directors.

Bradford just put his hand up. “I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you Scrooge, unless you want harm to come to these kids”

At the mention of the kids, Scrooge backed off, but still held a look of steel

Bradford then turned his attention to Webby. “Glad you could come Webbagail. Now if you will come with me and do what I ask, I promise that I will return Dewford and Llewellyn to you and that no more harm will come to them”

“Don’t listen to him Webby. It’s all a trap” Dewey started to say, before his mouth was immediately covered by a cloth by Black Heron. Louie tried to bit her but she too put a cloth around his mouth

Webby sighed as she turned to her brothers with a sad look. “I’m sorry guys but I promise Huey that I bring you home” Webby then turned to Bradford. “I’m ready” Bradford smiled an evil smile as he gestured to two eggheads that just walked in to keep Scrooge from running off as well as to carry Dewey and Louie. Scrooge just growled at the egghead while Dewey and Louie were slightly dragged by another egghead, worried about their sister, and wondered where the rest of their family was at

…

The rest of the family, as it turns out, was in a dogfight with Don Karnage

Apparently one of the eggheads had informed of Bradford that there was intruders, hence him knowing that Webby and Scrooge had made their way inside of the library. It was only a matter of time before the conclusion was drawn that they must have come in the plane, which lead to Bradford sending out Don Karnage to take care of the problem, bringing along Doofus Drake in the process

When the pair took the skies, they couldn’t see the plane at first, since it was covered with the cloaking spell that Lena casted. Della and Launchpad had the plane going around in circles around the library, waiting to get word from Scrooge if it was ok for them to enter

An hour had passed already and they still didn’t have any word. Huey was absolutely getting nervous by the second and while his friends and his uncle Donald tried to calm him down, there was nothing that could stop the rising anxiety from taking over the oldest triplet. It was also getting a bit hard on Lena to maintain the cloaking spell the longer that they were in the air and she didn’t know how much longer she could hold up

At this point, the adults shared a look with each other and knew that they couldn’t keep this up forever. Something was differently going wrong and they needed to get down to the library quick

Lena dropped the cloaking spell, to only be surprised by an attack by Don Karnage and Doofus Drake, who let out evil laughs, relishing in the fact that they were going to end the McDuck family once and for all

Everyone held on for dear life as Della tried to outmaneuver Don Karnage, which no such luck. “I can’t shake him!” Della cried. “I can’t find an angle out!”

Huey then came right up beside his mom, looking at the window at Don Karnage’s plane circling around them with lasers firing. He could see that the plane was taking damage and that the longer that they stayed in the air, the more likelihood that they were going down. They couldn’t jump out of the plane nor could they land the plane because either way they could get captured

The only way out of this was to…

“Mom”

Della looked toward her oldest son. “Yes Huey?”

Huey’s face turned into one of determination as he stared his mother in the eye. “Let Launchpad take over”

Everyone just looked at Huey in surprise, even Launchpad. Della just looked at him gobsmacked. “Why?!?” she exclaimed. “Because the only way that we can win this fight is to crash the plane and who better to do that then Launchpad” he said as he gestured to their long-time pilot and friend

Launchpad wasn’t sure how to feel about being thrusted into this position, but both Darkwing and Gizmoduck gave him the thumbs up and told him that he got this

Launchpad took a deep breath before trading places with Della, with Huey standing right behind him as he instructed Launchpad to fly straight towards Don Karnage’s plane and to not stop. The plan was that hopefully Don Karnage would be the one to chicken first and that he would back out of it

The plan did work as Don Karnage was the one to chicken out first. Don Karnage and Doofus screamed as the Sunchaser got closer to them, causing Don Karnage to pull back. Unfortunately, part of Don Karnage’s plane hit one of the wings of the Sunchaser, causing both planes to go down at the same time

When the Sunchaser hit the ground below, it rolled over a few times before ending up on a big sand hill

Thankfully, everyone in the Sunchaser managed to make it out ok and the only real damage to the plane was a big gaping hole in the side, just like when Della crashed the plane during the Moonvasion

Huey was thankfully that they survived that because he didn’t want to have to die without ever getting to see his brothers again

He couldn’t say that that he felt bad for Don Karnage and Doofus Drake though as he could tell that their plane was wrecked and that maybe none of them survived. ‘Good riddance’ Huey thought in his head. ‘They are never going to hurt my little brothers again’

Speaking of which, now that the dogfight was over, the family could now plan a full-on rescue mission. Everyone was divided up into several groups. Gizmoduck, Darkwing, Gosalyn, Boyd and Launchpad were going to try and rescue some of the people trapped in the library; Beakley, Lena, and Violet were going to see if they could find Webby and Scrooge, and Donald, Della, Gyro, Huey, May, and June were going to see if they could find Dewey and Louie

With everyone having their own part, they split up and Huey could only hope that with more people on the ground, they would be able to find his brothers and bring them back home where they belong

…

There was a lot of tension in the air as Bradford and Black Heron led Scrooge, Webby, Dewey, and Louie through the lost library. Scrooge was just waiting for the right time to attack Bradford, if he tried something to pull some crazy stunt with one of the children, while the kids themselves had their heads down, a million thoughts running through their heads

Webby catch another glimpse at the boys as they were walking and noticed how they were getting practically dragged by the eggheads. She wondered just how badly hurt the boys were hurt if they didn’t have much energy left. She also noticed how they kept looking at her every so often with sad looks in their eyes.

She hated it. She couldn’t wait to get out of here and take these boys home

Her thoughts were interrupted when Bradford announced that they had arrived. He gestured to Black Heron to open the curtain. When the curtain was opened, everyone gasped in awe at the beauty of just how big the library was. But more importantly, they were surprised to see a box at the end of a long platform

“Walk to the end of that platform Webbagail and what I need will appear before you. Do that and I will give Dewford and Llewellyn back to you” Bradford smiled, though there was a evil glint in his eye

Dewey and Louie seemed to pick up on it as they tried to scream to Webby like they did earlier, but their voices were muffled due to the cloths over their mouths

Webby looked back at her brothers sadly before taking a deep breath and walking towards the end of the platform. Everyone waited with baited breath as to what was going to happen next, even Bradford and Black Heron were waiting with anticipation

For a few seconds, nothing happened

But then, a small gust of wind seemed to appear out of nowhere before a bright light appeared out of the box. The light revealed an old piece of paper, which Scrooge immediately recognized

“No it can’t be!” he exclaimed, earning him starled looks from Dewey and Louie. “Uncle Scrooge is that…” Louie began to say “It is lad” Scrooge said, his mouth opened in shock and horror “That is the Papyrus of Binding”

Dewey and Louie let out collected gasps. “Wait so that means that Webby is…” Dewey began to say before Bradford came over, holding the papyrus in his hand, as it flew away from Webby as soon as she grabbed it “That’s right young duck. Webbagail here is indeed Scrooge’s daughter”

“WAIT WHAT?!?!” yelled all of the captives in the room, Webby already made her way over to the group at this point.

The one question on everyone’s mind was: how was it possible?

“It wasn’t easy. But you were my first creation. You were born from Scrooge’s DNA. I made you to be a weapon of evil but you were stolen from us when you were a baby” Black Heron answered as if she could read their minds

Everyone was in shock, Webby most so. She just could not believe that her whole life has been a life. Her ‘grandmother’ had been lying to her all of her life.

The shock was a lot for Webby, but she knew that was a topic of conversation for later. Right now, they needed to get Dewey and Louie out of here

“I got what you wanted Bradford. Can I take my brothers and go home now?” Webby asked sternly

Bradford just chuckled an evil laugh. “I can no longer do that Webbagail. Thanks to you, I can now defeat Scrooge McDuck”

“Oh no you won’t” Scrooge yelled as he broke the grip of the egghead holding him down as he started to charge at Bradford. He didn’t get far as he soon hit the ground with a ‘thud’

The kids yelled out for their uncle as Dewey and Louie also seemed to found the strength to break the holds that the eggheads had on them. The kids started to run towards their uncle, before they too felled to the ground unconscious

The captives have been hit with some ‘knock-out’ gas, courtesy of Black Heron

Bradford ordered the big egghead to pick up Scrooge, while Black Heron picked up the kids. “I think Scrooge and I are going to have a little talk. Take the three of them up to the roof and get the ramrod generator up and running. It’s time that we end this family once and for all”

Black Heron just chuckled fondly. “Becoming a villain more by the second”

“I am not a villain” Bradford stated angrily as he and the egghead walked away in one direction while Black Heron made her way up to the rooftop to finally start putting their final plan into action

…

Louie felt consciousness seeping back into his brain. He felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer and hit it hard against his head

When his eyes finally adjusted, he could see that it was surprisingly dark outside. The only light that his eyes could spot was some red lighting coming from below him

Louie soon realized that he was on a platform above some gigantic bowl that was houses the red lighting. Louie also soon realized that he wasn’t alone as he heard his name called from beside him

Louie turned his head to see that Dewey and Webby were beside him, with Webby to his right and Dewey to his left. Both were tied up in rope and looking slightly terrified. Louie looked down and saw that he too was tied up in rope

Louie started to struggle in his ropes but was stop by Webby whispering to him. “Don’t try. Black Heron made these ropes very tight. I can’t even break free of these”. Louie knew that even if Webby couldn’t break herself free, then he knew that they were in big trouble

Louie looked down into the big bowl with all the lighting. “What is that?” he asked, a slight tremble to his words. “From what I heard from Black Heron, that is the Selgo Vortex. Only it doesn’t send things to other dimensions…” “It eliminates/erases them from reality completely” Dewey finished for Webby, his voice small

Louie was surprised by his brother’s voice and he saw that Dewey looked completely downtrodden and defeated. Louie tried to cheer his brother up by saying that their family was going to be here soon to rescue them. Dewey just looked at Louie with sad eyes and while Louie tried to give him a smile, it was not return as Dewey turned his eyes back to the Solego Vortex

Louie wished that he could moved closer to his brother, so that he could give him some form of comfort. He wished that he could let Dewey know that everything would be ok as long as they were together

Louie never got the chance to as at that moment, their great uncle came shooting out of the ground. He look beaten and battered and that made Louie’s blood run cold. The next moment was followed by Bradford also coming out of the ground in new armor. He picked up Scrooge by the neck and Louie felt helpless as his great uncle was dragged up the stairs that lead to the platform where Black Heron, Bradford’s clones, and the three young ducks were located

Louie wasn’t really listening to Bradford’s speech as a million thoughts were running through his head, but one thought stood out above the rest

‘Where is our family? I want to go home’

Louie’s thoughts were interrupted by his uncle, though his voice was hoarse and weak, “My…*cough* family…” he coughed out. It seems as though his uncle also had faith that there family was going to save them

Black Heron then started laughing and Louie flinched a bit at her laughter. “Oh you mean this family?” he asked, gesturing to Louie and his siblings and Scrooge’s eyes went wide as he weakly reached for the kids as he tried to get up

Louie’s eyes filled with pain as the kids called out to their uncle but a stern look from Bradford and Black Heron shut the kids up right away

“Face it Scrooge. All of your family has been captured. And each of them will soon be erased from existence, leaving you all alone” Bradford said, staring to evil laugh and Louie never felt more terrified in his life. His expression was mirrored in his siblings and Louie felt tears coming into his eyes, wondering if he was ever going to be able to go home again

“Not so fast Bradford” yelled a voice out from down below

Everyone on the platform looked down to see that the family was running towards them, stopping at the base. It was Mrs. Beakley who yelled out, but Louie had his eyes focused on his oldest brother and his parents, his sad tears now changing into happy tears

“Uncle Donald! Mom! Huey!” Louie yelled, right around the same time that Dewey did, his brother’s face changing into one of happiness at the sight of their other brother and parents

“Boys!” Uncle Donald and Della yelled while Huey yelled out his brothers’ names, their faces looking slightly relieved, but mostly terrified at the same time because of the situation that the young ducks were in

Huey looked at Uncle Scrooge and saw how hurt he was and he could feel his anger beginning to boiled over. He then turned to Bradford “Give. Me. Back. My. Siblings. Bradford. NOW!!!”

“No!!!” Bradford yelled back. “Not until Scrooge does a deal with me”

Scrooge growled as he started to sit up. “And what is your deal Bradford?”

Bradford snapped his fingers and a stack of papers was thrown at Scrooge. “What is this?” he asked. “A contract” Bradford answered. “I will allow you and the children to return home with your family to live out the rest of your days as long as you agree to never adventure again. And to ensure that you won’t break the contract, you’ll sign there along…” “The Papyrus of Binding” Scrooge whispered, but his voice seemed to be carried by the wind as everyone in the family heard it as they let out collected gasps. “With the power to control reality, making this document legally and mystically unbreakable”

The more that Bradford that was talking, the more it seemed like his plan wasn’t as perfect as he thought. At least, that’s what Louie thought. There was so much unpredictability in the world, there was no way that he could get rid of it all

And it seems as though his great uncle thought the same as he stated that if Bradford wanted to get rid of everything unpredictable, that he would get rid of his own agents too

Louie thought there was no way that Bradford would do that. Surely, he wasn’t that evil. Right?

Well Bradford proved him wrong as he not only tossed his own clones in, but Black Heron too, who was technically his second in command

As Louie watched Black Heron fall into the Selgo Vortex, he looked down to May and June to see their reactions. While the girls did look very upset, they still held their heads strong and stared down Bradford, like the rest of the family was doing

Louie wondered why his family wasn’t making any moves to come up and rescue them. Maybe they were scared of what Bradford could do? Maybe they were just waiting for the right opening?

Whatever the reason, Louie hoped that they would hurry up as he could feel his anxiety grow the more that he stared at the Selgo Vortex and the longer that he was held in these ropes

Louie tried to make as much eye contact with Huey as he could and he could see in his brother’s eyes that he was trying to think of a plan to get his brothers free, occasionally breaking eye contact to look at Bradford or to talk with one of the adults nearby. Louie felt slight relief that his family was being a bit smart about their rescue plan

That relief was short lived when he saw Bradford blast a beam of energy from the Sword of Swanstatine at Scrooge, nearly hitting him. He then watched Bradford swing the sword down and the sound it made when being scrapped across the ground would forever ring in Louie’s ears

He could feel Bradford’s eyes on him as he walked slowly behind him, dragging the sword behind with him. Louie wasn’t sure what Bradford was doing but he could just feel the terror running through his body and he tried his best not to shake

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Bradford was right behind Dewey. Louie didn’t have much time to think before Dewey was being lifted off the ground by the back of his shirt

Time seemed to slow down as Louie watched his immediate older brother be held over the Selgo Circuit and Louie could literally feel his heart hammering loudly in his chest at he realized the seriousness of the situation

Bradford was going to throw his older brother into the Selgo Circuit. And Louie…could not breathe, feeling his eyes fill up with tears as he yelled out his brother’s name in a state of panic, his voice blending in with the rest of the family

Louie could just see the terror in Dewey’s eyes as he was being held in Bradford’s grip. He could see that his big brother was trying to be brave but the tears in Dewey’s eyes told a different story and Louie just wished that his tongue was working so that he could talk Bradford out of this. He wanted to beg Bradford for it to be him instead of Dewey

Instead, Louie turned his watery eyes to Huey and he saw a split second of terror and the same teary eyes mirrored in his oldest brother before Huey grabbed Gyro, Ludwig Von Drake, and Gandra Dee over to the side of the Selgo Vortex. Louie wasn’t sure what Huey was planning, but he prayed that he would make it quick because he knew that they were running out of time

A strangled cry was heard and Louie turned back to Dewey to see that he was trying to struggle in Bradford’s grip, but because of his injuries, he was only hurting himself and so he just chose to hang there limply and a lump immediately formed in Louie’s throat, trying to call out to his brother, but the only thing that came out was a weak chirp

“What would it be Scrooge?” Bradford said, his attention fully on Scrooge and not the rest of the family. “Adventure? Or your family? You have until the count of five. One…”

Louie felt his heart stop and the air leave his lungs as Bradford let one finger go off of Dewey, feeling his world slowly begin to crumple around him at how helpless the whole situation was, despite his family being right there

“Alright I’ll do it” Scrooge said, not even hesitating

Louie could hear some of the family shouting at Scrooge to do not do this and to find another way around this. He could even hear Dewey desperately pleading with Scrooge, saying that he could beat Bradford without risking no more adventures

Scrooge just sighed sadly as he told Dewey that it was not worth the risk, to which Louie knew that Scrooge meant that Dewey was not worth the risk

Louie watched in horror as Scrooge signed the contract, golden chains immediately wrapping around his great uncle, as a way of physically binding him to the contract

“I did it” Bradford announced triumphantly, and Louie just wanted to slap that smile off his face, and he just knew that Webby felt the same way “The Great Scrooge McDuck. Now only a poor old man”

Then Bradford committed his most horrible crime ever. Something that would haunt Louie and to which he would have nightmares for the rest of his life

“Normally I wouldn’t indulge in petty villainy, but I did make a promise to Don Karnage and so I figured that I would keep that promise” the buzzard declare and Louie knew immediately what Bradford was about to do

He was going to throw Dewey into the Selgo Circuit

Bradford brought Dewey further over the Selgo Circuit. “Any last words Dewford?”

With as much confidence as he could muster Dewey responded “Actually I do”

Dewey then turned to Louie with such a huge smile on his face and tears pouring out his eyes. Louie knew what was coming next and he absolutely hated it.

It felt like Dewey and Louie were the only two people left in the world as Louie listened to Dewey’s teary heartfelt confession, his own tears flowing fast down his face. “Lou. I just want you to know that you have been the best little brother that I could ask for. I wouldn’t be who I am today without you. Take care of Huey, Mom, Webby, and Uncle Donald for me. I love you baby bro. Forever and always”

Louie wished that Dewey’s heartfelt confession made his feel better. Instead, it just made him cry harder as he tried to reach out for his brother, his mouth finally working as he whimpered, “I love you too Dew. Don’t go. Please”

Dewey didn’t get a chance to respond as Bradford said, “Aww how touching. Too bad I don’t care”

And then…Bradford let go of Dewey’s shirt

Screams erupted from all around the lost library. Louie knew that his family was screaming for Dewey. He knew that he could definitely hear Webby and Scrooge’s screams

He wasn’t sure if he could hear his own. He wasn’t sure if he even screamed. He knew that his mouth was opened but he didn’t know if that agnozing and heartbreaking scream was from him or from someone else

All Louie knew was that as soon as Bradford let go of Dewey, he couldn’t watch his older brother’s demise. He just closed his eyes and bowed his head as he clutched his heart, feeling it breaking into a million pieces

His immediate older brother. His best friend. His other third. His Dewey

Gone. In a blink of an eye. Erased from existence. Just like that

It was a pain that Louie had never felt before

He had experience heartbreak before but never like this. Gosh never like this

It felt like a part of his soul was just ripped from him, never to be returned again

And it some ways, this was true. Dewey was a part of him. Dewey was a constant in Louie’s life since the day they first hatched. Dewey was his triplet brother, which meant that Dewey was a part of him. Part of his heart and part of his soul

Without Dewey, Louie would never feel complete again. What was Louie without Dewey right there by his side? Without Dewey, Louie was no longer considered a triplet. It was just him and Huey now

The realization hit Louie like a ton of bricks and it’s what finally broke Louie as he was full on sobbing now, not caring if anyone heard him

Right now, on top of the platform, Louie just felt so alone

He could hear some angry shouting around him, but all of it felt distant and distorted as Louie tried to block out the noise in favor of just trying to curled there, the only sounds being his dreadful sobs. Louie just wanted to block out everything so that he could think about Dewey and all of the wonderful memories that they share

It did little to soothe his breaking heart and it only made him cry a bit harder

Louie soon felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see his mom and Uncle Donald were right above him. At some point, they had undid the rope that was tied around him, so he was free. He could see that his uncle and mom were trying to talk to him, but Louie was so emotionally overwhelmed that he couldn’t quite make out what they were saying

However, they were here in front of him and Louie didn’t know how long it had been since he last seen or even hugged his parents. Then he thought how Dewey wouldn’t get the chance to hugged them again and it broke Louie all over again as he crashed into his parents

Donald and Della didn’t waste any time hugging their youngest son, which made Louie cry even harder. Donald and Della tried to soothe Louie, saying that everything was going to be ok. Louie just shook his head as he mumbled, “No it’s not. D-Dewey…he…he is” Louie couldn’t even get the words out as he thought about living in a world without Dewey

It seemed impossible but it was now Louie’s new reality and he hated it

At some point, Della had picked up Louie and was carrying him down the stairs, away from the thing that had taken away Louie’s brother. It appears Louie missed most of the battle as Bradford was no where to be seen and the rest of the family was congregated together

The questions that Louie had regarding the battle would have to be saved for later as Louie could see Huey making his way through the crowd to run up to the three approaching ducks. Huey had tears in his eyes as he came closer and Louie knew immediately what he had to do

Without warning, he jumped out of Della’s arms and ran the rest of the way up to Huey, throwing his arms around his older brother, tackling him in a big hug, throwing them both to the ground in the process

However, neither one cared as the two tightly clinged to each other as they sobbed into each other arms. Huey curled his arms protectively around Louie, afraid that if he didn’t hold Louie tight, that he might disapper again

Louie, for his part, didn’t care how tightly Huey was holding him or that his injuries were getting affected by it. In this moment, he was back in his big brother’s arms and it felt so good. He missed this. He missed Huey

“I missed you Huey. I missed you so much” Louie softly whispered from where he rested on Huey’s shoulder. “Same here Lou” Huey said as he rocked the two of them back and forth. “I got you now. I won’t let anyone hurt you again. Everything is going to be ok”

Louie suddenly felt a surge of anger as he pushed himself off Huey, which let Huey a bit stunned. “How can you say that?” Louie grunted out, angry tears starting to form in his eyes. “Why do you guys keep saying that everything is going to be ok when Dewey is dead?!? Our brother is dead Huey, how….h-how can you say that everything is going to be ok when we just lost a part of ourselves”

Louie was breathing heavily with tears falling down his face as Huey took a second to process what Louie said

Huey then did something that Louie wasn’t expecting from his older brother

He smiled as he turned to his parents who was also smiling, though there was a sense of sympathy in their eyes. Huey then sighed softly as he stood up and called over his shoulder, “Webby is he all good?”

Louie was getting confused by the minute as Webby called out, “Yeah he is all good. His injuries don’t appear to be any worst but we definitely need to get them both to a hospital sooner rather then later”

Then Louie heard the sweetest voice ever, “Hey there is nothing that can bring me down. I am doing Dew-reffic”

Louie let out a gasp as his eyes went wide as he turned to the direction of that voice. It…it couldn’t be… could it?

Louie turned to Huey as Huey extended out a hand to his little brother, to which Louie accepted

When he did, he could see his parents stepping to the side and Louie could clearly see that Webby was helping somebody off the ground and they were making their way towards the two triplets

Louie mind did a double take and when it finally registered who the duck in blue was, his eyes filled with tears once again as he sprinted with a speed that he never knew that he possessed

“DEWEY!!!” Louie called out as he ran toward his supposedly dead brother. Dewey just smiled softly as he held out his arms for his baby brother. Louie slowed down a bit before he ran straight for his big brother’s arms, his entire frame shaking as held onto Dewey tightly, just like Huey did for him

“You idiot!” Louie whimpered through his tears “I…I thought you were…I didn’t know if you…Dewey you…” Louie couldn’t even talk as his emotions were once again preventing him from speaking

Dewey just held Louie as tight as he could. “Shh…I’m right here Lou. I told you that I would never leave you. And I keep my promises” he said as he rubbed Louie’s back in soft, slow circles. “You almost didn’t” Louie spit out, no real heat in his words and the tears making his voice sounding hoarse. Dewey sighed sadly as he realized just how much his baby brother was hurting “I’m so sorry Lou”

Louie just clung to Dewey harder. “Just don’t ever do that again. I…I can’t lose you Dew” “Same here Louie. But guess what?”

“What?” Louie sniffled

Dewey lifted Louie’s head until their foreheads were touching. “We are safe. Our family is here and we can finally go home” Dewey said softly as he rubbed his thumb across Louie’s hands

Louie just sighed softly as he closed his eyes, content to just stay in this moment forever with his older brother. His older brother who he thought was dead

“I love you Dewey. I love you so much”

Dewey lovingly smile as he cupped one of Louie’s cheek and placed a soft kiss on the other one. “I love you too Louie”

“And I love the both of you” Huey said as he approach his little brothers with a huge smile on his face

Huey was not prepared for the surprised tackle hug by both of his little brothers. “And we love you too Huey” Louie said as he grabbed the back of Huey’s shirt tightly. “We love you so much big bro” Dewey responded, burying his face in the crook of Huey’s neck

Huey felt tears falling down his face as he hugged his little brothers as tightly as he could without making their injuries worst. They were back in his arms again and Huey couldn’t be any happier

Webby, Donald, and Della soon joined in on the triplets hug and Dewey and Louie couldn’t feel more loved and safe then they did right now

Later, they would be taken to the hospital to take care of their injuries

Right now, Dewey and Louie could only smile and leaned further into the hug. They were back together with their big brother. They were back with their sister and parents. They were reunited with each other again and they were coming out of this with a victory

It was all that the two youngest triplets could ever wanted and one that they would never take for granted again

Chapter Text

It had been four months since FOWL almost destroy the world and a lot of things happened since then

The boys were immediately taken to the hospital once they got back to Duckburg. The family waited in anticipation to see how bad the injuries were. Surgery did had to be perform on Dewey, due to both of his shoulders being dislocated and both Dewey and Louie were treated for mild concussions as well as several cuts and bruises to their arms and legs

Considering that all that they had been through, the whole family were just grateful that Dewey and Louie had managed to get out of this with no major injuries, even though Dewey would be in a cast for at least a couple of months and Louie had to keep his arms bandaged for a few weeks before they could come off

After Dewey’s surgery, the boys were moved into the same room together and while they were orginally put into different beds, Della and Donald convinced the doctors and nurses to allow Dewey and Louie to share a bed after some desperate pleas from both younger triplets

The family stayed every night long after visiting hours and no one on the hospital staff argued with the family about it, knowing that it was a fight that they would lose

The family tried to make Dewey and Louie as comfortable as ever, with Huey and Webby doing the most to ensure that their younger siblings were happy, despite the circumstances. Huey couldn’t help but smile every time he look at his brothers, feeling just this overwhelmed relief that they were alive and safe.

If Huey hugged his brothers more then he usual did or if some tears were shed, no one said a word about it. Dewey and Louie just soak it all in, feeling just as relieved as their older brother

Throughout their time in the hospital, Dewey and Louie never left each other side. Even though the boys were hooked up to IV’s and they had bandages and casts all over them, it didn’t bother them. They were just content on being close to one another. Even when they were told that they had to taken some daily walks around the room or around the hospital floor that they were on, they did it together, sticking close to each other side, worried that the other would somehow disappear if they were even remotely apart from each other

And every night, after the walks were over, after they had eaten, and the rest of the family was asleep, Dewey and Louie would stay up for a bit. Sometimes they would talk quietly, hiding underneath the hospital sheets to not disturb their family

But mostly, they would just lay there in silence

This was mostly due to after their first night in the hospital where Louie woke up from a nightmare about Dewey falling to his death and staying dead. Dewey woke up to Louie’s crying and just held Louie close to him, rubbing his back and assuring Louie that he was still here and that he wasn’t going to leave him again. The crying continued until Louie fell asleep in Dewey’s arms

None of the family had awoken up from it but Dewey couldn’t go back to asleep, despite the mental exhaustion that washed over him

He hated seeing Louie like that. It never got easier when his baby brother cried. And knowing that he was the main cause of the nightmare, it broke Dewey’s heart and it made Dewey bring Louie closer to him, wanting nothing more then to hug the nightmares away because they were safe now. Louie should no longer be suffering

Granted, Dewey knew that recovery, both physically and mentally, was going to take awhile. But, seeing just how much Louie had been affected by everything, really set things into perspective for the blue-loving duck

After that first night, it became a game on whether Louie would be able to fall asleep and stay asleep. It was around the third night of consistent nightmares that Louie almost gave up sleep entirely. While Dewey knew that Huey would berate him for doing this, he decided that if Louie didn’t want to sleep, that was ok and that he would stay up with his brother and that they could either talk or just lay in silence. Whatever Louie wanted to do, Dewey would do it with him

It had been about a week of being in the hospital and the two youngest triplets were laying on the hospital bed in silence. They were given good news earlier today that they would be able to go home tomorrow morning, since their recoveries were going along great

To say that the whole family was excited would be an understatement

However, while the rest of the family was asleep, Dewey and Louie found that neither one could fall asleep. Louie had tried to get some sleep but found that he couldn’t and so Dewey gave him the option on what he wanted to do

This time, Louie chose the silence so, at this moment, Louie was curled up underneath Dewey’s left arm, with Dewey’s hand resting gently on Louie’s bandaged arm

The silence didn’t last long as Dewey spoke up. “You excited about tomorrow Lou?” Louie looked up at his older brother, nodding his head “Yeah. I cannot wait to be back in familiar space again”

“Agree 100% with you on that. Although you got to admit that the hospital bed is a lot better than those cells that FOWL put us in” Dewey quirked back, trying to make a joke. Louie’s smile seemed strained as he replied quietly, “Yeah you are not wrong about that”

The two seemed to fall back into silence again, though this time it was a bit more awkward as Dewey just feel the uneasiness coming from Louie. He watched as Louie started to gently play with his hand that was coming out of the cast

Dewey could see the anxiety from a mile away

Dewey gently grabbed Louie’s hand, intertwining their fingers together. Dewey then slowly pulled his other casted arm over to Louie’s other arm. At this point, he almost had Louie in a bear hug with both of his arms wrapped around his little brother

Dewey began to gently rub his thumbs along Louie’s hands, right where the cuts where, which were thankfully started to fade but where still visible. He then moved to the bandaged arms, being very careful to not hurt Louie. Thankfully, Louie just seemed to relax in Dewey’s hold as he laid back against his brother

Dewey tried to hid his grunt when Louie laid against him, but Louie noticed as he turned around to face his brother. “Did I hurt you?” Louie asked, fear and concern evident in his eyes

Dewey just shook his head as he smiled softly. “You could never hurt me Louie”

To further proved his point, Dewey took Louie’s head and brought it down to his chest, right where his heart was. Louie was about to protest the action, and say that he was putting too much pressure on Dewey

Dewey just shushed him, somehow hearing his thoughts, and told Louie to just listen

Louie listened to the slow breaths and steady heartbeats of his brother. It was soothing, peaceful, and honestly the most beautiful sound that Louie had ever heard

Louie couldn’t stop the tears as he wrapped his arms around Dewey, nuzzling his beak into Dewey’s chest. And as Dewey wrapped his own arms around Louie and placed a kiss on top of his forehead, Louie never felt warmer, safer, or more loved

“I love you Dewey”

“I love you too Louie”

…

“Huey where are we going?” Louie yelled out as he was lead, quite literally, blindly by his oldest brother

Everyone was now back at home and Dewey and Louie had made full recoveries

Well, physically at least

Mentally, they still had some ways to go, but Dewey and Louie had both agree to go to therapy to help out work some issues. They had been going for a month now and while things were not perfect, the triplets felt like they were closer then they had ever been before.

The boys even managed to work out some personal issues that they had with Della, which was no easy feat since Dewey nearly blew up on Della during one of the therapy sessions about how bad she was treating Louie. Since then, though, small progress was being made between Della and her two youngest children, so it was a start

Right now though, the two oldest triplets were cooking up a plan to surprise their baby brother with something special

“I can’t tell you Lou. It’s a surprise” Huey said, trying to keep his excitement contained. “Do I really need the blindfold though?” Louie sighed. “Yes!” came the answer from his older brother

Louie decided to just humor Huey here as he seemed to be lead out of the mansion and outside. Louie then felt the ground beneath him changed and his feet hit metal. “Are we in the Sunchaser right now?” Louie asked. Huey didn’t say a word as he brought Louie to a stop.

“You ready?” Huey called out. Louie wasn’t sure if that was directed at him or someone else so he nodded his head anyway. “Alright Louie, you can take your blindfold off now”

When Louie did, he was surprised to see that Dewey was also here along with his mom. Louie didn’t see nothing out of the ordinary at first. “Umm…where is the surprise?” Louie asked, confused

Dewey came up to Louie with a big smile. “Look around you Louie. Does anything seem familiar to you?” he asked, as he made a big gesture to the whole plane

Louie started looking around and he did noticed some things that were familiar. Like that can of beans towards the back of the plane, and the hobo sacks that were right behind the cockpit…wait a minute?

‘No’ Louie thought to himself. ‘It…it can’t be’

Louie then turned to his family and noticed how they were all smiling and seemed to be very relaxed. Almost as they had…a carefree attitude

At that moment, it all clicked for Louie

“WE ARE GOING TO BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN!!!” Louie shouted, his jaw almost on the floor

Della smiled as she walked to her youngest son. “That’s right sweetie. We are finally going on that trip that you always wanted to go”

Louie couldn’t believe what he was hearing

“Are you being serious right now mom?”

Della placed a hand on Louie’s shoulder. “100% totally serious here baby”

Louie couldn’t contain his excitement as he threw his arms around his mom. “Thank you mom. Thank you thank you”

Della pulled away from Louie. “Oh don’t thank me honey. Thank your brothers. They are the ones who planned this”

Louie looked behind his mom and saw his brothers standing there with big smiles on their faces. Louie’s heart swelled and his eyes filled up with tears, really touched by his brothers’ sweet gesture

Huey and Dewey held their arms out and Louie ran to them, throwing his arms around his brothers, squeezing them tightly. “You guys are the best. I…I love you so much. Thank you” Louie chocked out, his voice tight with tears. “You’re welcome Lou. We love you too” the older triplets responded back, wrapping their arms around their little brother, holding him close

Della just smiled warmly at the sight of her babies hugging and even snapped a photo or two

“Alright kids, let’s get this show on the road!” Della pumped her fist in the air as the triplets made their way to the front of the plane

Della gestured to the pilot seat. “The controls are all yours captain” she said to Dewey, giving him a fake salute as he fake saluted back, which resulted in laughter

Louie felt really excited to finally get to see his brother fly a plane. A little bit nervous, but mostly excitement

Dewey noticed Louie’s excitement immediately and got up out of his seat. Everyone was taken aback as Dewey grabbed onto Louie’s hands and smiled a warm smile. “Louie. I made a promise to you that once we were free, that we could go flying together. And for a while, I thought that I would never get to keep that promise”

“But now, I can finally show what pilot Dewey is all about. So, Louie, my dear baby brother, would you do me the honor and be my copilot for not only this trip, but for all our trips?”

Louie squeezed Dewey’s hands as he tearfully said, “Yes. A thousands times yes Dewey”

Dewey felt like his heart could explode as he lifted Louie in a big hug, spinning him in the air a few times as Huey and Della looked on with huge smiles on their faces

Dewey soon put Louie down and the two of them walked up to the cockpit, hand in hand, before sitting down in their respective seats

Dewey soon started the plane up and with a thumbs up from Louie, Dewey lifted the plane into the air, ready to start new adventures with his little brother. His copilot.