Part 3
The trip back to McDuck Manor was in an intense mood at best.
No one spoke or say anything to each other.
Louie was bursting into tears, and for a moment it felt like he was about to explode.
Huey, Dewey and Webby tried their best to comfort him, but it looked like he was experiencing something worse.
He was back, into the endless loop of nightmares he encountered recently.
He wasn't sure how he got all his chain of nightmares - and it affected his mental state even harder, after he knew about this devastating news.
oOo
"Well, you've successfully pushed away your family and everyone who cared about you away, again. I hope you're happy." Mrs. Beakley said before leaving the mansion with Webby.
Scrooge was devastated. His family, his daring adventures with them, his bond, his connection, his pride, now gone in just that moment. He found a spare room full of junks and sat down. He had made it clear: Family is nothing but trouble to him now.
"I am." He growled.
oOo
"How did you pull the strings so perfectly?" Magica asked in astonishment.
It turns out everything was part of Lena's grand scheme. She was having a sleepover with the triplet and Webby the day before, which she seized the opportunity to provoke them on continuing their investigation on their mother's disappearance. And Monocrow simply doesn't exist. It was all a set-up for them to stuck on the plane, to force Scrooge admitting everything about Della Duck. It was also her who made sure the trauma Louie suffered wouldn't simply go away anytime soon.
"It was F.O.W.L cooperating with me. I was just executing what they did." Lena lied, clearly didn't want Magica to know that this will be her last time 'partnering' with her aunt.
"That organisation must really have something up for Scrooge McDuck and his family." Magica said. "5 hours before the eclipse. What's your plan to get the Number One Dime? We have exactly 2 hours to set a plan before we act."
"I might just have one." Lena replied. "But for this plan to succeed we need to split up."
"How so? I'm a shadow and I can't separate you!"
"I learnt a spell that could work, but you have to take my form so you can fool Scrooge easier." Lena added with a smirk.
3 hours before the eclipse...
Scrooge McDuck looked completely destroyed. His appearance changed - a stained grey tank top, no longer wearing a hat. He gained weight faster over time, and having absolutely no devotion to adventure. His enthusiastic energy was gone.
Just then...
"Mr. McDuck, it's me, Lena." Magica - in Lena's form - came in. "I was having a sleepover- What happened to you?!"
Magica had been expecting Scrooge to be all ragged out, but she didn't expect it to be this bad.
"Oh, you're Webby's friend huh? Come in then, I don't have anyone to care anyways."
"I heard you're having a problem-" Magica began.
"Oh, problem? No lass, in fact, those younglings that I even call them family solved them, by not caring, not even a thank you for what I did! A simple explanation can give them such a sensitive reaction and completely lashing me out, not even bother to listen to my side!" Scrooge ranted. "Finally, without those kids dragging me off on rip-roaring, unforgettable adventures, I can just sit here in peace, stare vacantly at my money, and sulk like an arrant recluse."
Magica was shocked to find Scrooge McDuck, the greatest adventure capitalist, to be in this state. Even if he chose not to show it, the whole appearance and his inner emotion said everything. As he continued to reach for another pizza slice, Scrooge began growling.
"Are you done wandering around? Go on. Scram now. Let me wallow in peace."
Magica knew what she had to do. With her full strength she slapped Scrooge, and began talking back to him.
"Toughen up, man! You conquered Plain Awful, you found the Last Crown of the Mongols, you even defeated some very powerful dark forces!" Magica lectured. "You don't need family! You're Scrooge McDuck! Act like it!"
"I am Scrooge McDuck. I was adventuring before them. No one helped me then, and I don't need help now!" Scrooge proudly said.
"Yes! They were all in your way. Mooching, freeloading. Trying to weaken you with compassion and caring." Magica replied, seeing the possibility of snatching the dime.
Scrooge began to make a speech out of this, which usually meant something really good or really bad about him.
"I'm going back to basics. Doggedly driven, bare, barmy Scrooge flying solo! I don't need Duckburg or the mansion or the Bin! I can start from scratch! I dinnae need these pince-nez spectacles, this handmade silk-weave top hat, these satin spatterdashes! Yes, yes, yes! I don't need anything!"
Just what Magica needed. "Not even your Number One Dime!"
Scrooge was taken aback by the statement. "Well, that's crazy. Of course I need my dime."
Not the response I expected, but fair enough. Magica thought. She then continued.
"What about starting from scratch? Just give me the dime, and I'll throw it away for you."
Scrooge was now having suspicions, and began to question Lena's (which is again Magica in disguise) motivation.
"Why would a young lass be so interested in getting her hands on my ol' Number One Dime? Maybe you should be going."
Magica had enough of Scrooge, and began pouching on him for the dime.
"Lena! What the? Have you gone daft?!" Scrooge resisted the first blow, but her move was quick and he was slowly struggling.
"Look, I'm not gonna fight a child!" Scrooge added before being subdued by Magica. She grabbed the dime just as the eclipse came in.
It was done. Magica was reborned.
"It cannae be..." Scrooge was shocked as the reappearance of his worst enemy, Magica De Spell, was happening right here, at his household.
"Hello, Scroogey. I have missed you."
oOo
Donald's houseboat, just when they were alerted on Magica's appearance.
"Alright, everyone clear on what they need to do?" Donald asked in a normal voice.
"Aye aye." chanted everyone except the triplet and Webby, as they were excluded from the plan.
"Ducks don't back down. Let's go!"
"We're clearly sneaking, right?" Dewey was excited for this.
"Yes, but we need help first." Louie interrupted. "The problem is, who can?"
"I suggested we go to-"
"Lena!" exclaimed Webby. "She knows what to do!"
"Yeah, sure, Lena. Totally did not think of something different other than that." Dewey nervously said.
The triplet followed Webby to where she believed to be Lena's place, only to find an empty stage.
"Lena? Lena!" Webby called out. "We wanted to talk and ask for your help. Where are you?"
"Hey look, there's something that looks like a trapdoor here." Huey noticed and made a remark.
"Oh, of course!" Webby exclaimed. "She clearly lives in an underground base of this amphitheatre!"
They went down the underground home of Lena, and surprisingly enough, Webby found a book lying down the floor.
"Lena? Are you here? Sorry if we came here without telling you!"
"Is that her journal, Webby?" asked Louie. "Seems like it to me."
"Yeah, I think so. But we shouldn't read it right? It's her privacy after all? Unless... she's not here! And this is a clue! Oh, my best friend, communicating to me in strange ways!" Webby was excited. "Let see what she has for me!"
In the journal read a poem:
To end the line of Clan McDuck,
She sought a token of their luck,
While with the eclipse in its prime,
She trapped old Scrooge within his dime,
But Scrooge reversed her vengeance plans,
And in his dime the witch did land,
Yet as he struck the final blow,
She cast a spy from her shadow,
I walk the earth and wield her power,
To bring about McDuck's last hour.
Webby was about to burst out. She was devastated after knowing this. Her best friend is Magica's spy?!
Louie reacted differently. He was having a headache - a very very painful one. Why does this bring back the nightmares? What does this poem have to do with it? Louie asked the questions as the pain was getting worse and worse.
"Wait, what's that?" Huey asked on the last page. It was recently written, judging by the visibility and colour of the ink.
"I'll read it." said Webby.
"You guys do your thing, I'll go comfort Louie. He's having trouble with his nightmares again." Dewey said, reaching for Louie.
The page wrote:
Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby;
It's me Lena. If you see this page it means I have been held captive by Magica De Spell, my aunt, and could no longer communicate with you. Please help me.
"We have to save her!" Webby said.
"Then let's go!" Huey said. Dewey and Louie trailed along, but clearly Louie still wasn't ready for another walk.
It's all connected.
oOo
"Director Buzzard." Black Heron proposed.
"Go ahead."
"Are we seriously going to let De Spell be the centre of chaos?" She asked as her metal arm leaned on the table. "After all, F.O.W.L is an organisation dedicated to contaminate-"
"Alright, I get your idea." Bradford interrupted. "However, Agent Lena has a plan just for this moment. Please, show us what we missed from it."
Lena stood up, and began to speak.
"We're getting April back to our side."
oOo
"Where is Webby? What did you do to her, you monster?" Huey demanded.
"Oh, I did nothing. I only capture her in a cell that's basically underground and you can never find her," Magica sniggered. "unless you fight for it."
"And the green child?" she said, pointing at Louie. "I was the one that inflicted the pain you swore you won't try to remember again. And it's back!"
Louie yelled and screamed as his extreme head-ache got to the worst point of painfulness.
"Gahhhh!" Dewey screamed, and rushed for the dime.
Huey and Dewey began to fight Magica, but she was too strong for any of them to fight at the moment. Louie was clearly still in trauma and couldn't snap out of it. Huey switched fight session with Dewey and began to talk with Louie.
"The only way to stop this pain is to be together. We're a family, Louie. And we always will be." Huey said, comforting Louie in the process. "Family sticks with you, fight for you, supporting you at all time. Time to overcome this and fight together!"
"Hubert, that is the most inspiring speech I have ever heard from you." Louie cried. "Let's do this!"
Louie stood up, and they began to tackle together against Magica. Louie, being the sharpie, snatched the dime out of Magica's hand.
"Hey!" Magica irritated, but was stalled by Huey and Dewey.
"Listen, Uncle Scrooge. We know that you tried your best to get our mum back- great, no time for a heart-to-heart conversation when a crazy old hag is still here." Magica fired a shot directed to Louie. "We just wanted you to know that we're sorry for saying those things in the first place, we knew you missed her so much... please give us another chance."
Scrooge nodded, then immediately Magica seized the dime back.
"Ah-ha! Wait, wha-"
The dime flew away and emerged the one and only, Scrooge McDuck.
"Thanks for the conversation, lad. Cannae done it without yeh'."
"Oh, Scrooge, this isn't over for you. You're gonna-"
"-pay for what you did, Aunt Magica!" Lena interrupted and got on the scene. Her face was filled with anger and hatred. "You think you can just capture my best friend and let that be?"
"Wait, Lena- this isn't-" Magica stuttered, clearly not what she was anticipating.
"After you seize the Number One Dime and captured Scrooge McDuck, you have to capture Webby when the triplet least expected the most, and trap her at Funso's." Lena said. "Then get back to the bin and capture the rest. I'll come for support."
"Alright, I'll go ahead and transform now. Good luck dear."
"Good luck, Aunt Magica." Lena said, then slowly sniggered.
"You betrayed our family! You betrayed our bloodline! You shall die under my hands!" Magica proclaimed, then tried to force Lena back as her shadow.
"Forgetting this, Aunt Magica?" Lena said, showing the other amulet.
"Oh no."
That was Magica's last word. Lena took action and the spell backfired on Magica, which made Magica's body being burned down.
"This... is... not... the... end..." She cursed as she slowly melted with the gold inside.
Magica De Spell was proclaimed dead.
"I'm sorry, lads. I should have tell you sooner about your mother." Scrooge said, hugging the kids.
"It's alright, Uncle Scrooge, now we're together and nothing shall tear us apart!" Huey said.
"We did it Webby." Lena said, and did a fist bump.
"Yes, just in time. Thanks for saving me... and revealing the truth." Webby said.
"You lasses came in time to stop that lunatic from releasing even more shadows." Scrooge complimented. "Lena, if you do feel like you need a home to stay, the McDuck household always welcome you."
"Thank you Mr. McDuck, but I'll stay in my residence for the time being to adjust everything." Lena replied.
"Good lass, take your time. You saved us!"
oOo
"You guys switched the colours of the bracelet?" Louie noticed and asked.
"Yeah, we felt like it represents our friendship better." Webby replied.
The bracelet only had two colours: red and black. As the triplet left Webby's room, Lena and Webby slowly smirked to each other.
"Well done, April." Lena said.
TO BE CONTINUED.