Louie slipped on a fresh hoodie after his shower. It felt nice to be clean again after spending what felt like forever on that island. He looked over himself in the mirror. He was home.

The adults were in the kitchen discussing plans and such while the kids were left to their own devices. Louie and Dewey had decided to take a shower first.

Through the mirror, Louie could see Dewey walk into their room, a blue towel wrapped around his waist. The green triplet frowned. His older brother still wasn't talking to him since their argument. He wanted to make amends, but he didn't really know how.

What would he apologize for? Being mad at Huey? Wishing that this whole thing hadn't gone so south?

Louie shook himself. They were alone now. Maybe this was his chance. He coughed into his fist. "So, Dew..." He spun around to face Dewey.

Dewey gave him a glance before tuning to his dresser. He pulled out on his blue shirts and wiggled it on. He moved to leave the room.

"Dewey wait." Dewey stopped and raised an eyebrow at him. Louie sighed. "Don't go yet, I wanna talk to you... about our fight. I'm sorry for yelling at you." Biting his lip, he fiddled with the hoodie strings. "I know that this isn't really Huey's fault, but..." He found his voice cracking at the mention of their oldest brother. Louie's eyes watered. "I'm still mad at him. Hopefully, after all this is over, I can forgive him, but not yet. And Dewey." He stopped, his breath shaken. His eyes met Dewey's. "I don't want to lose you too, okay?"

Louie was scared snot would start running out of his nose, so he quickly wiped it with his sleeve and said, "Look, I'm not good at emotional stuff, can you just talk to me!" It came out louder than he wanted, but he shook the feeling. A hopeful smile crossed his face.

And for a moment, Dewey opened his mouth like he might say something. And then there was a loud crash.

...

To Katie's relief, Bradford with a team of Eggheads came down and broke the door off Cell 25. With the keypad all messed up, there was no other way. Katie tried to walk out the cell herself, but she was too lightheaded and ultimately collapsed in her grandfather's arms.

He embraced her, making her feel warm and safe. "Katie, are you alright?"

She nodded against his chest, a soft smile crossing her face. "Yes, now I am." Her voice was soft, lacking strength to be anything louder.

Bradford turned to one of the eggheads. "Get her to medical quickly. And how's the extraction team?"

"At the mansion now sir," the Egghead said. Bradford nodded.

Katie didn't know what that meant, but she didn't care. She was finally out of the cell. She still had a bit of a headache, so maybe stopping by the med room would be good. An Egghead helped her make her way to the room to get checked up.

While they looked her over and asked her to do random things, her mind wandered to Huey. He had hurt her, left her there, not caring what happened. She had thought they were friends, but maybe she had been wrong. Maybe it had been foolish to trust anyone not her grandpa.

But then again, FOWL were the ones who had trapped Huey there, treated him like an animal. Tricked him into hurting his family. Katie frowned, still torn. Why did this have to be so difficult?

She just wanted to do what was right, but it was hard when everyone was giving her a different definition of what that meant. FOWL just wanted to put a stop to all chaotic adventures that put the world in danger, right?

The headache didn't help. By the end of the checkup, they gave her some pills and told her to rest. The Egghead offered to walk her back to her room, but she refused it. She needed to be alone. She needed to think things over.

She tugged at the ends of her hair, wondering what her life old be like if she weren't a part of any of this. If she never knew FOWL existed. If she lived a normal life like out kids. No secret agents or journals or missions. Her feet came to a stop against the carpet. That was what FOWL wanted. A normal world. And yet, they were half the problem.

Undecided, she made the rest of the way to her room and lay on the bed. A loud, long sigh escaped her. She couldn't help but wonder where Huey even was. Half of her wanted to go back to the mansion and join the other kids. But no, Gosalyn had made it perfectly clear she wouldn't be welcome there.

She wanted to scream. But Katie decided it would be best to sleep. She was too torn to sleep. Ugh! Why couldn't she make up her mind on anything! The robin was ready to burst, and she didn't even know how to fix her dilemma. It wasn't like she could tell anyone about it either.

She turned on her side, shutting her eyes. She heard the door open. By the sound of his footsteps and breathing, she could tell it was Bradford. He sat next to her on the bed.

"Katie, are you sure you're fine?" He rubbed her back, easing her mind a bit.

"Yes, grandpa." She wanted to say more, felt like she owed him more, but she went quiet.

"I can't believe Huey attacked you. I would've never sent you down there if I had known-"

"It's fine. It was partially my fault," she mumbled, hoping he wouldn't hear.

He nodded slowly. "Yes, I saw it over the recording. But that's no excuse. Those Duck kids are horrible."

She wanted to protest but bit her tongue.  Instead, he asked, "Where- Where is Huey?"

Bradford waved the question off. "Eh, I let Black Heron do whatever she's gonna do with him. Nothing that concerns you, my dear."

She frowned from worry for him. Katie knew Black Heron was a little more n the crazy side.

He caught her expression. "Katie, he's a monster. He attacked you, put your life on the line."

"I know, I know." She avoided eye contact, saying just what he wanted to hear.

Finally, he sighed and patted her on the back. "I'll let you get some sleep." He arose from the bed with a creak. She blew a kiss at him before he shut the door behind him.

Katie Buzzard had no clue where her loyalties lied.

...

Louie and Dewey jumped back as two Eggheads burst in through their bedroom window. Louie stared with wide eyes, hands up defensively. The Eggheads ignored them and started ransacking the bed. They tossed Louie's favorite pillow aside, like they were searching for something.

"Rude! What the heck are you doing in my room!" Louie yelped as one started to approach them. He guarded the other while they looked for whatever it was.

"What was that!" Webby asked, running to meet them in the doorway. She gasped at the sight. In one swift movement, she jumped up to kick the first Egghead. He caught her by the leg and dropped her on her head.

Dewey helps her back to her feet. Shaking himself, Louie decided he should do something helpful. He swung a punch, only to have his arm twisted back and shoved forward.

"Well, these aren't the usual two brain cell Eggheads," he said, rubbing his wrist.

"They've got a mission," Webby said, narrowing her eyes at the one digging through the boys' bed.

The Egghead pulled out an iron rod and smashed it against the bed frame as hard as he could. The kids yelped as the wood splintered and the top bunk collapsed with the middle. And the journal fell on the floor.

Webby's eyes widened. "We can NOT let them get that book!" Louie and Dewey nodded determinedly.

The Egghead watching them closed in on them but Webby landeda kick to his jaw. He doubled back, giving the kids space to run. Louie got past him and grabbed the journal.

He was met face to face with the other FOWL agent. A fist flew for him. The boy ducked, almost falling over. He looked from the book in his hands to the Egghead. His eyes moved to Dewey. "Dew! Catch!" Before he got an answer, Louie chucked the book across the room to his brother.

Dewey caught it out of the air and began running. The Egghead turned on him in a second. Dewey ducked from the agent's hand. He did a spin before passing it back to his brother. Louie smiled. "Nice try FOWL dorks!" The green triplet stuck out his tongue teasingly.

The Egghead grunted before sweeping Louie's legs out from under him in one quick kick. Snatching up the journal, the egghead smirked. Louie tried to get up, but Webby crashed into him, thrown by the other egghead.

"Nice try, kiddies!" The eggheads jumped out the window with their prize in hand.

"Oh boy." Louie pushed Webby off him, frowning.

Gosalyn, Violet, and Boyd entered the room. "Hey, sounded like stuff was happening in here," Gosalyn said, hands in her pockets.

"Yeah you're only two minutes too late!" Louie threw his hands up dramatically.

"FOWL got the journal," Webby explained. The kids exchanged looks of terror.

"What are we going to do?" Violet stepped into the middle of the room.

Boyd said, "We could make a plan, and then-"

"No, we've been planning for too long." Louie shook his head. "We don't know how much time we have left before FOWL enacts their plan, so we're kind of working on a deadline." A smirk crossed his face. "I say we go. Tonight. We save Huey, get the journal, and get out of there."

Violet tilted her head. "Tonight? Should I tell the adults?"

"No, no adults, we've got this." He put his hands on his hips. "Nothing a couple of ducks, a hummingbird, a robot, and the daughter of a superhero can't handle by themselves." A thought came into his head. "Oh, and Vi, grab Lena too. A shadow could be helpful."

The dark haired girl nodded.

"Yeah! It's time we took some action!" Gosalyn grinned, her fists up, ready.

"Okay, I've got a scheme." Louie nodded, reassuring more himself than anyone else. "So go get ready and then we meet back here." It was time to end this.

Thanks for reading and the support!