Owlison reclined back in her cushioned seat, scrolling through Instagram. Not only was she a big CEO, but she was also a big social media influencer too. She hovered her thumb over the record button, with her other hand fluffing her hair up. Had to look fabulous for her fans. She worked in the advertising department, while Beaks did the actual technology stuff. Whatever, sciencey gibberish she didn't quite understand. But it was making money, so he must be doing something right.

She finally started the video. "Sup, peeps! Just here to remind y'all that Project: Behold is coming out later this year! What is it, you may ask? Well, that's a little secret, but to sum it up, it's gonna be everything you hoped it'd be, and nothing you're expecting! Waddle is so stoked to be presenting this product to you, and-" She stopped, spotting something through her clear office doors. She squinted at the figure, noticing how fast it was moving. "Hmm, hang on guys. I hope to see you all at the release! Ttyl!"

She stopped recording, getting up from her seat. Finally, the figure entered the room, throwing the doors open. She snapped a quick picture before shoving the phone in her pocket. Before her stood a brown plumage duck, dressed in suit and ties, like those guys from the movie Ducks in Black.

The duck ran a hand through his hair. "My name is Fenton Cabrera, and just to jump to the point, I've been hired to steal your Project: Behold. So just take me to it and we can get this over with."

Owlison looked over Fenton. She let out a whistle. "Wow, you're a lot hotter than I thought you'd be."

He was taken back. "What?"

"Well, being as famous as I am, it was almost inevitable that someone would send a bounty hunter after me, but I just never imagined he would be so attractive."

Fenton rolled his eyes and reached for a gun in his jacket. "Come on, take me to the thing or whatever so we can get this over with."

"You think we'll have an enemies to lovers plot?"

"Shut up!"

...

After a whole afternoon of cleaning, only interrupted at one point by Huey calling, Dewey and Webby were let off the hook. Aka, Bradford let them go after Dewey almost lost his hand in a garbage disposal incident.

The two ducklings went into the garage to begin their search for the box. Dewey still had a few nightmares from the last time he was in here. He shuddered at the thought. He wanted to get the job done fast, but he also didn't want to be alone, so they searched in different places but where they could still see each other. Dewey was shuffling through a pile of stuff when Webby decided to break the silence of the cold garage air.

"Why didn't you want to tell Bradford?"

"What?"

"When he asked why we were going into the garage. Why didn't you tell him about your mom?"

Dewey bit his lip, moving stuff off a box labeled "F x M" with a broken heart scribbled around it. "Uh... I guess I don't trust adults."

"Makes sense. Can we tell your brothers when they get back?"

Dewey flinched and his eyes widened, forgetting about investigating the box. "No! We can't. Louie would shut us down for sure and Huey probably couldn't keep the secret." He did want to tell his brothers, but a part of him was scared to. Actually, most of him was, like usual.

He turned back to the broken heart box, just to find a bunch of old picture frames and some tissue boxes and stuffed animals. Looked like Feathry had a hard breakup at one point. It was hard to imagine his confident uncle like that. He moved onto another set of stuff.

After several hours of looking, Dewey and Webby were both tired and frustrated.

"Ugh! I can't find it anywhere!" Dewey sat down on the hard, concrete floor. He let out a couple of coughs, as rearranging the room had lifted up a bunch of lint and dust.

"It's like it's not even in here!" Webby took a seat down next to him. "It's like it's not even in here..." she repeated to herself. After a moment of quiet, her eyes widened. "Dewey..."

"Yes?"

"Don't be mad."

"Why would I be?"

"Um.... the box..."

"The box?"

"The box isn't in here."

"What?"

Her cheeks turned bright pink with embarrassment. "The reason we couldn't find it is because it's not in here. I forgot that this one time, Feathry moved to a different place because..." She narrowed her eyes, trying to remember. She turned even more red than she was. "I... was playing dress up. Heh."

Dewey let out a soft chuckle.

"What! There were some of her clothes in that box, and I thought they were very pretty," she said, getting to her feet. She put her hands on her hips, as if that was enough justification.

Dewey snickered a bit, but then it hit him. "That means you don't know where the box is, do you?"

She frowned sadly. "Sorry, I don't. I'll try to remember, but the first couple of years in the mansion are a little blurry for me."

"It's alright Webby. It was a good try." He had gotten his hopes up, and that was his fault, not hers.

...

Just a little while longer and Louie could go home. That was all he could think of while doing seemingly pointless tasks around the company. Every time he thought he was done, Mark Beaks would find some new random thing to do. Mandatory dance break? Who ever heard of such nonsense!

And he couldn't complain to Owlison about it because she was off giving some random duck a tour!

"I'm done doing everything you've asked! Am I allowed to leave yet?" Louie said, trudging his feet into Beaks' office. He flopped down on the floor in front of his desk, awaiting whatever errand came next. But it would all be worth it. Louie had said that so many times to himself, he had almost completely forgotten what he was doing this for.

Beaks looked over his desk at the boy. "Huh. You're a persistent little guy, aren't you?"

Louie was too out of breath to answer. Otherwise he probably would've screamed.

Huey came running into the room. It wasn't an urgent run. Just a run full of energy, like Huey normally had. "Hey Beaks! Hey Louie! What's going on in here!"

"Your brother is being lazy and taking a nap."

THE AUDACITY! OF. THIS. MAN.

"Well, I'm not lazy! I'm vibrant full of energy!" The red clad triplet rocked on his heals, smiling proudly. "I've done a bunch of stuff, like a super responsible person! Right, Louie?"

Louie just groaned.

"Cool, cool, cool. Unlike you two, I'll be staying here overnight, so how about this. Mmmm..." Mark pretended to think, though Louie was sure he already knew what he was going to say. "Whoever gets me a good coffee gets the internship."

Louie sat up. "Wait, what?"

"Already on it sir!" Huey gave a salute before running out of the room.

Louie jumped to his feet and raced off as fast as he could. After a bit of running, he found Huey already at a Starbucks built into the company building. Huey bounced up and down, eager for the drink. Louie had to move fast if he was going to win.

He placed an order and waited impatiently, tapping his foot.

"You ready to lose, Lou? Huey teased, smirking.

"Ha! You wish!" Louie didn't usually talk so harsh to his brothers, but right now was an exception. He was at war.

As to be expected, Huey's drink was finished before Louie's. But once Louie got his, he probably earned the world record for quickest speed walking. Huey was usually faster than Louie, but right now, the green triplet was running on pure competitive spirit. And that made up for all the natural energy Huey could ever have.

Louie got there first, surprising himself a little. But no time to think about that. Mark waited in front of his desk, working on his lightbulb project again. He set it down when he saw Louie. He blinked. "Wow. I was not expecting you to beat that red kid."

Louie ignored him and shoved the coffee cup towards the adult. "I've got it! I win! So you'll give me the internship, right?"

"Uhhh..." Mark eagerly looked around, searching for an excuse. His eyes landed on his watch. "Nope. Can't have my 4:30 coffee at 4:29. Unacceptable."

Louie sank. What?

Huey stumbled into the room, holding the coffee in both hands. "I know how clumsy I can be, so I took extra care, just like a responsible adult, right Louie?" He passed it to Beaks, who took it with a smirk.

"At exactly 4:30. Great job, red kid. You get the internship."

Louie's eye twitched.

Huey's face lit up. "Really? Like, really really? Louie, did you hear! I got the internship!"

Louie couldn't do anything but nod.

"So, I guess I'll be seeing a lot more of you. Louie, was it? Really sorry to see you go." Mark took a sip of his coffee and made his way out the office.

"I bet you are," Louie said through gritted teeth.

"Louie, are you good?" Huey raised an eyebrow to his oldest brother.

"Nope."

"Are you... upset because I won?"

"Partially, yes."

"Louie, you're kinda freaking me out. Do you wanna sing a song?"

Louie mentally face palmed. He could not believe his brother sometimes. "No, I don't want to sing a-" He let out a sigh. "How is that your solution? You're so stupid."

Both Huey and Louie went quiet. Huey rubbed his arm, avoiding eye contact with his brother.

"Huey, wait, I didn't mean-"

"Whatever. It's what everybody thinks anyways." Huey stared at the ground, walking out of the room. Louie frowned, wanting to say something, anything, but he had said enough already.

Louie watched after his youngest brother, guilt bubbling inside him.

"Well... that's not where I expected this to go." Beaks was still watching them, leaning against the doorframe.

Louie shot him a look. "You are really frustrating."

"Yes, that's what I was going for."

Before Louie could respond, an alarm blared overhead. Both birds flinched and covered their ears, but the alarm continued.

"What is that?" Louie called over the whooping.

"It's the lab's security alarm! Something's going on." Mark rushed out of the room, urgency in his voice. Louie followed.

...

Huey didn't cry. The sensation was foreign to him. But that didn't mean he wasn't upset.

He sat on the floor of some hallway, leaning against the wall. He pulled his knees in close, staring at the pearly white floor. He rested his head on his knees, frowning.

Huey was used to being called stupid. Heck, his uncle told him 20 times a day. The boy preferred verbal abuse to physical abuse, to be honest. But it hit different when one of his brothers said it.

Suddenly, an alarm rang through the air. Huey looked up, wondering what the cause of the alarm could be. Mark Beaks ran by, followed by Louie. The latter stopped when he saw Huey.

"Huey?"

Huey ignored him and stared back down.

"Huey..." Louie sat down next to the red triplet. "I'm sorry for what I said back there."

Huey sighed. "No, you're right. I am stupid." It was a fact that had been drilled into his head since the day he could speak English.

"No you're not. I was just being a sore loser." Louie stretched his legs out in front of him and fidgeted with his hands.

"But you're right. Even I know it. I'm just the duke of making a mess. I didn't mean to make you mad."

"Nah, I'm the one who made a mess of everything. And I wasn't mad at you. I was mad at Mark Beaks! I'm pretty sure he's been sabotaging me all day!" Louie threw up his arms frustrated. Then he took n a somber expression. "But that's no excuse for the way I treated you."

"Well, I did suggest you sing out your feelings."

That earned a snort laugh from Louie. Huey smiled softly. "So, you're not mad at me?" he asked.

"Nope."

"Good, because I didn't really want the internship anyways," Huey said, smiling nervously. That was a load to get off his chest.

Louie blinked. "What?"

"I... just wanted it to impress you. To make you proud of me. I wanted to prove I could be responsible like you."

"Huey, I am proud of you! You're the best youngest brother I've ever had!"

"Hey! That means I'm better than Dew- Ooooooh, I see whatcha did there." Huey nudged Louie.

After the chuckling died down, Louie went on. "But, I'll let you in on a secret: I'm probably not the perfect example of responsibility. I mean, just look how I treated you."

"Aw, Louie, you're trying and that's what matters." Huey talked with his hands a bit, waving them around. "And you'll always be responsible in my eyes." He pulled his brother in for a long hug.

The boys sat, not speaking, but the ear splitting alarms went on.

"You think we should go check that out?" Huey asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, we probably should."

A/N the ending of the episode will be out soon! Thanks for reading!