Chapter 19
Katie ran into her grandfather's arms. He picked her up in a hug and she started crying. He stroked her feathers.
"Oh, Katie, I missed you," Bradford said.
"Missed you too," she said. She sniffled and frowned.
"Katie?" he questioned.
Katie wiped tears from her eyes. "You were right grandpa," she cried. Bradford pulled her in for another hug while she cried silently. He was quiet, and though she couldn't see it, he was smiling.
"I should've never doubted you," the robin went on.
"Tell me what happened," he said.
Katie bit her beak. "I tried so hard to help them but they refused to let me because you're my grandpa," she explained.
"That's terrible," he said.
She nodded. "No one was nice to me," she said. Then she stopped.
"Katie, what is it?" Bradford asked.
"Actually..." Katie began. "Webby trusted me. And maybe Boyd too," she said.
Bradford had to reel her back in before she changed her mind. "It was probably just a trick, to get you to trust them so you could take me down. And you don't want that, do you?" he said.
Katie shook her head. "No, of course not. I love you," she said, smiling tiredly.
Bradford kissed her forehead. "And I love you too," he added.
She nuzzled herself in his arms, feeling safe and protected with him around. He went on running his hand through her hair. She closed her eyes and smiled.
...
The eggheads had stopped to discuss what to do with the heroes.
"What should we do with them?" one ask.
"The boss said whatever we want," another put in.
Meanwhile Darkwing was working on escaping. He nuzzled his beak under the ropes while they weren't looking. He tried to bite it off with his teeth.
"What are you doing?" Gizmo Duck whispered.
"Escaping. What does it look like!" Darkwing spoke in a hushed tone. He sat down and started using his feet to pull of the ropes.
"We could unmask them and see who they really are," an egghead suggested behind them.
Darkwing worked faster. Soon, the ropes came off of him and he checked to make sure the eggheads were still distracted. Then he got to work on freeing Gizmo Duck.
"Or we could..." The egghead looked to his fellow agents smiling. Then he whispered something, causing the others to grin.
"Hey, they're getting away!" One pointed to the heroes, who were halfway down the hall.
Darkwing and Gizmo Duck were off, but the eggheads were fast and came after them. Darkwing tried to think of a plan. Several doors lined the hall.
"Quick, we can hide in here," he called to Gizmo Duck, sliding into another room. They slammed the door behind them. The heroes caught their breath and looked around the room.
It seemed to be a bedroom. And in it was a little robin girl.
"Katie?" Darkwing gasped.
Katie stared at them puzzled. She took a step back. "Do I... know you?" she questioned.
Gizmo Duck smirked, holding the door closed. "And you were saying I worked for FOWL?" he teased.
Darkwing rolled his eyes. "Oh, just shut up and help me block the door," he said, shoving the furniture against the door.
They stopped, listening. It was quiet. Too quiet. Then suddenly, a bullet shot through the door, inches from Darkwing's face. He jumped back. Katie jumped behind her bed frame for cover. Several shots were taken by the door. Most of the bullets that hit Gizmo Duck were taken by the suit, protecting him. But Darkwing did not have such protection.
He was able to avoid most of them, but one grazed his side. He yelped in pain, pressing his hands to the wound. That shot messed up his game, and he was hit again in the arm. He knelt down, breathing in and out to cope with the pain. Meanwhile, Gizmo Duck was busy with the door, as they had started trying to break it down.
Darkwing held up one of his hands to face. It was dripping with blood from the hit. He winced at the sight of it.
"You okay, Darkwing?" Gizmo Duck asked, still occupied.
Darkwing nodded. "Yeah, yeah... I- I just... This is a bad time to tell you... but I faint at the sight of blood," he breathed, trying not to pass out.
Gizmo Duck raised an eyebrow. "What! Why would be a super hero if you knew that about yourself?" he questioned.
Darkwing's head started to spin. "Well... I didn't think... it mattered at the time... Oh boy. Is it getting hot in here to you?" he stuttered.
Finally, the eggheads broke the door down, and knocked Gizmo Duck with it. The hero hit his head on the ground hard and was unconscious. And as for Darkwing. He was out too.
...
Gosalyn couldn't sleep. She looked to the digital clock in her room. Eleven o clock pm. She frowned. She had gone back home to St. Canard a while ago. She was sure Webby was still mad at her and Violet. The redhead got up to get a glass of water.
Gosalyn assumed she couldn't sleep because of guilt. She did feel bad about what she had done to Katie. Gosalyn should've just believed her.
When she first met Drake, she had thought he was a bad guy. Gosalyn remembered that. She chuckled at the memory of her hitting him with a roller blade while shouting stranger danger.
Her mood was brought back down when her mind returned to Katie. She had saved them from FOWL and betrayed her grandfather to help them. That should've been enough.
Sighing, Gosalyn sat down on her couch. She had loved her grandfather very much. She couldn't imagine ever betraying them. Not that she would ever need to because he had been a kind man, but she just thought it would be hard to do so. Gosalyn didn't give Katie enough credit.
Gosalyn frowned. She was all alone now. Drake hadn't come back and Gosalyn started to worry about him. It didn't help that she didn't have Launchpad around to tell her it would be okay and assure her that Drake could take care of himself. And then there was Webby. Webby pretty much hated her guts. Gosalyn laid back on the couch. She just wished she could fall asleep and at least have some peace.
"Keen gear, Gos. You ruined everything for yourself," she said sarcastically to herself. She just hoped they would get everything sorted out soon.
...
Chirping morning birds awoke Della. She stepped out of the hut and stretched out like a cat. The sun blinded her so she blocked it with her hand. Her back was sore from the restless night on the island. It was a new day, which meant new problems to come with it. Yay.
Della stepped up to Dewey. He was helping Launchpad fix the radio from the sub so they could signal Gyro. Watching them, Della noticed Launchpad was doing it completely wrong.
She squeezed herself between the boys. "Let me just," she laughed awkwardly, taking over on fixing it.
Launchpad just shrugged. "Eh, you probably know what you're doing anyway," he smiled. Then he walked off to go "help" somewhere else.
"So Dewey," Della began, trying to make conversation. "Louie told me you guys had a bit of an... argument," she said.
Dewey looked up at her, then back down at their project.
"So, you want to talk about it?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Alright, but I just want you to know, you can tell me anything that's on your mind, okay?" she said, smiling at him warmly.
Dewey just nodded, without glancing up.
She tried to bring the mood of the conversation back up. "Are you ready to get off this island?" she chuckled.
Dewey nodded. Della gave him a look. "You know, conversations are hard to have when they're just one sided," she frowned.
He didn't say anything and just went on working on the radio. Della sighed. "Fine. Don't talk. You don't need to. I spent ten years on the moon with no one to answer back when I talked, I can deal with this," she said, crossing her arms.
Suddenly, the sound of static came over the radio. The two ducks jumped back at the noise.
"Does... Does it work?" Della said hopefully. The static went silent. She frowned and smacked it with her hand. The radio turned back on. Della grinned and let out a laugh in disbelief. "Wooh! It works! Yes! Yes! Yesssssssss!" she cheered. This island was driving her crazy, she couldn't stop smiling.
She leaned into the microphone. "Hello? Is anyone there? Hello!" she shouted.
Everyone gathered around the radio. Then, a noise came through, but it wasn't speaking. It sounded like someone tapping their foot. Louie stepped up to the radio. "Manny! My main man! How are you!" Louie smiled.
Earlier...
Gyro came into his lab earlier in the morning and turned on Boyd, who had slept at the lab. Despite staying up all night working, Gyro had been unable to figure out the virus, so Boyd still couldn't talk. Thankfully, he had been able to stop it before the virus erased any of his other functions.
Gyro turned on his computer. Several pages were open from the day before.
"Alright, let's get rid of that virus," he said, ruffling Boyd's artificial feathers. The robot smiled at that. Lil' Bulb sat on Gyro's shoulder while he worked. Manny looked over his shoulder and ran errands for the scientist.
After deleting several unnecessary pages, Gyro came across a large page on the screen. It was a Google maps image of Duckberg with one blinking red light. It had a neat G symbol on it.
Gyro squinted at it. "Gizmo Duck's distress beacon," he said under his breath. He jumped to his feet. "Has this been on all night?" he questioned. Boyd nodded.
"Oh, that intern!" Gyro grumbled. He set Lil Bulb down on the desk. "Hang on, I'm going to go see what I can do," he said before leaving. The only ones in the lab were Boyd, Lil Bulb, and Manny.
Moments after Gyro left, the radio turned on. "Hello? Is anyone there?" The feedback was a little fuzzy, but the voice sounded familiar.
The three looked at each other. Boyd thought maybe it had been an old recording. It had to be because it sounded like Della. Boyd shook his head, dismissing the idea. "Hello!" Della's voice rang through again. Boyd hesitated. It couldn't be. Could it?
Boyd had wide eyes, Lil Bulb grew brightly, and if Manny had a head, he would've looked surprised too. Manny stomped his hoof.
Louie's voice came over the radio. "Manny! My main man! How are you!"
The three people in the lab were overjoyed to hear the McDuck family. Boyd couldn't believe what he was hearing. He grinned excitedly.
Manny clopped to communicate.
"Hey, um, we can't really understand you. Can you get someone who can speak please?" Louie asked over the speaker. Boyd looked at his friends and frowned. Currently, none of them could speak. Lil Bulb made a buzz sound.
"Um... sorry guys," Louie said.
Boyd came up with an idea. Getting onto Gyro's laptop, he searched up Google Translate. Then he typed words and clicked the audio button.
"This is Boyd. I caught a virus, so none of us can speak right now," the computer said. It sounded stiff and unnatural. The way the machine spoke made Boyd cringe, but it was the only option.
"Isn't Gyro there?" Scrooge asked. Boyd went on writing what he wanted to say.
"He went to go investigate a Gizmo Duck distress signal. But more importantly, you guys are alive?" It was really annoying that the computer didn't read with any emotion.
"Yep! The great Della Duck cheated death, not once, but twice!" Della chimed on the other end.
"Oh, please, I've cheated death more than that," Scrooge put in.
"Where are you?" the computer read blandly.
"We're on some island, no clue on the coordinates. If you could just fly around, I bet you can find us," Launchpad said.
"How's everything over there? Anything new on... Huey?" Della ventured to ask.
Boyd shook his head, then remembered that they couldn't see him. "No. Sorry," he typed.
"What about Webigail or Gosalyn?" Beakly questioned.
"They're safe. They escaped with the help of Bradford's granddaughter," the computer said.
"Sounds like a spy to me," Beakly whispered, though they could hear her through the device.
"What does that blasted vulture want!" Scrooge exclaimed on the other end.
"We figured out he wants the Isabella's journal," the computer said.
"Isabella's journal? Why would he want that?" Scrooge asked.
"The treasure, duh!" Della put in.
"No, it has to be something more than that. Bradford wouldn't go through all this trouble just for treasure," he said.
Boyd typed something in the bar. "We'll talk about where you hid it when you get back. I'll go get someone to get a helicopter to help," the computer said. Boyd hopped out of the seat and was about to go when Scrooge stopped him.
"I didn't hide the journal. Do ye think I would trust myself with that information?" he chuckled.
Boyd raised an eyebrow and went back to the computer.
"If you didn't hide it, who did?"
"Huey."
Boyd tried to gasp, even if he couldn't. He had to get the McDuck's and fast. He rushed out of the lab to get help, Manny trailing him and Lil' Bulb riding on his bow tie. Boyd just hoped Bradford didn't know that Huey had that information yet.
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