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luckyduckwrites · 5 months ago

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Remembrance Chapter 1-16: Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!

Fandom: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Lena (Disney: DuckTales)/Original Female Character(s), Della Duck (Disney) & Original Character(s), Huey Duck (Disney) & Original Female Character(s), Louie Duck (Disney) & Original Female Character(s), Dewey Duck (Disney) & Original Character(s)

Characters: Lena (Disney: DuckTales), Della Duck (Disney), Original Female Character(s), Webby Vanderquack, Huey Duck (Disney), Dewey Duck (Disney), Louie Duck (Disney)

Additional Tags: Mentioned Della Duck (Disney), Canon Autistic Character, Canon Disabled Character, Protective Siblings, Brother-Sister Relationships, POV First Person, Original Character-centric, POV Original Female Character, Childhood Trauma, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Slow Romance, Slow To Update, Friends to Lovers

Summary:

My name is Izzy, and I'm Donald Duck's niece. I'm 6 years older than my brothers Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and we all grew up together on the houseboat. My brothers are incredibly mischevious and are always causing trouble, so they can never be left alone, but Uncle Donald almost never lets me babysit them. One day, he brings us to meet our Uncle Scrooge, the richest duck in the world! He seems vaguely familiar, almost like I've seen him before, but that can't be possible. I've never seen him on TV, so where could I have possibly seen him before?

**AO3 & Wattpad links in masterpost pinned to the top of the blog**

Early in the morning, Launchpad called me and Dewey, asking us to meet him in what used to be a small parking garage at the base of the manor’s hill. Apparently, he lives there and fixes the limo on his own every time he breaks it. When we get there, he has us watch Darkwing Duck while he gets changed for some kind of ‘big day’. The TV zooms in on the city of Saint Canard, and a Jack in the Box plays before exploding.

One of the show’s villains, Quackerjack, laughs maniacally, saying, “Child’s play.”

Another villain, Megavolt, cries out in anger as bulbs around him break, and he exclaims, “No! I will avenge you, my bulby brethren. Who would dare?!”

A large cloud of purple smoke descends upon the two villains, saying menacingly, “I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the little rollerskate at the base of villainy’s staircase. I am… Darkwing Duck!”

The villains start running away before he finishes, Quackerjack exclaiming to him, “Playtime’s over!”

I chuckle as Darkwing mutters to himself, “Man, I gotta get a shorter intro.”

He runs after the villains, leaping over rooftops, and finally swings off of a building, landing on Quackerjack.

He exclaims one of his signature lines, “Let’s get dangerous!”

Megavolt fires electricity at Darkwing Duck and Liquidator launches water at him, but both miss as he uses a grappling hook to dodge their attacks, making them hit each other and convulse in pain.

Launchpad holds up two differently stained shirts, saying to us, “Big day, guys. Mustard stain or ketchup stain?”

Dewey answers immediately, “Mustard. Looks less like blood.”

I ask, “Why not wear an unstained shirt instead? Nevermind, I know who I’m talking to. They’re probably all stained, knowing you.”

After watching the TV for a few more minutes, Dewey asks, “What is this weird show?”

Launchpad reels back with his mustard-stained shirt on, and exclaims, “Woah, what? Darkwing Duck, the greatest show of all time!”

Dewey says, “Ha, maybe when you were a kid. This hero guy doesn’t shoot lasers or anything!”

I say, “This is a live-action show, Dewey. They didn’t have complex CGI to do that stuff at the time. Hey LP, who plays the hero guy again? He looks kinda familiar.”

Launchpad responds, “That ‘hero guy’ is Jim Starling. He was an old-school actor who did all his own stunts.”

I say, “That couldn’t have been great on his body long-term.”

Launchpad says, “Sure, he got banged up in later seasons…”

Darkwing on the TV trips and smacks into the camera, but grunts, “Ow, ugh. Keep rolling!”

Launchpad continues, “But that just made him even more heroic!”

Dewey asks, “Why didn’t he just use CGI?”

I respond, “I just told you a minute ago, they didn’t have the tech for that at the time. Remember the original Goose-busters movies, right? All that was just puppets and practical effects, and you loved those movies, remember?”

Launchpad chuckles, saying, “Real heroes don’t need high-tech special effects or basic safety precautions.”

I mutter, “Pretty sure you actually do need that second one.”

Launchpad finished getting changed, pulling his cargo jacket on, and asks, “So, Dewey, Izzy, how do I look?”

Dewey gives him a thumbs-up, and I just shrug, saying, “You look pretty much exactly the same as you usually do.”

Launchpad smiles, saying, “Great!” Dewey and I follow Launchpad into the limo, and he says to the two of us, “Remember guys, a true hero think from his gut or not at all. Right, DW?”

Launchpad makes his Darkwing bobblehead nods its head, the toy saying, “Let’s get dangerous!”

Dewey asks, “What’s the special occasion anyway?”

I add, “Yeah, why did you just invite us over out of the blue?”

Launchpad responds, “I finally got my driver’s license!”

Dewey and I ask in unison, “Uh, wait what?”

We both scream in fear as Launchpad drives straight though the garage door at full speed before either of us can even get buckled. A few minutes later, after we’ve stopped yelling, I’m buckled and holding onto my buckle so tight my knuckles are turning white.

Dewey finally peels himself out of his seat and asks fearfully, “How are you even a driver without a driver’s license?”

Launchpad responds, “Hey, come on. I’ve got a pilot’s license, don’t I? Wait, don’t I?”

I exclaim, “You don’t even have a pilot’s license?!”

Deweey sighs, asking, “Aren’t you worried Scrooge will find out?”

Launchpad responds, “You kidding? I had them mail the license straight to him so he’d be the first to know.” He sniffles and wipes a tear from his eye, muttering, “He’s gonna be so proud of me.”

Launchpad’s eyes aren’t on the road anymore as we approach the Bin at full speed, and Dewey yells, “The Bin! The Bin! The Bin! Slow down!”

My brother grabs the steering wheel out of Launchpad’s hands and makes the car turn quickly into a parking space as Launchpad screeches the car to a halt. Dewey pants heavily once the car is finally out of motion, and I finally release a breath I’ve been holding for almost a full minute. Launchpad, unfazed, opens the driver’s side door and exits the vehicle, Dewey and I following behind him and holding each other’s hands for comfort. We knew Launchpad was a horrible driver, but he didn’t even have his license until today!

Launchpad cheerfully says as he opens the Bin’s entrance doors, “I bet Mr. McD’s got some big party planned for my big day. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise!” He’s disappointed to see nobody around, not even staff other than a janitor or two, and bursts into different empty rooms, exclaiming every time, “Surprise!”

He finally opens a supply closet, the only door he hasn’t opened yet.

He sadly asks, “Supplies?” We finally go down the elevator to Gyro’s lab, and Launchpad says to Dewey and I on the way down, “Boy, he’s really getting my hopes up. The payoff is gonna be amazing.” The second the elevator door opens, he exclaims, “Surprise!”

Gyro and Uncle Scrooge shush him, and Gyro whispers, “Quiet. The Gearloose Monophonic Rail converts oral input into kinetic propulsion.”

Launchpad, Dewey, and I ask, “Huh?”

Uncle Scrooge explains, “Sound-powered train.”

Launchpad, Dewey, and I say, “Huh.”

Launchpad says, “Uh, sorry Mr. McD, but I thought you might want to hear-”

Gyro interrupts him, whispering, “I don’t want to hear anything. This sensitive prototype runs on noise.”

I whisper, asking, “How does it work?”

Gyro smiles, likely happy that someone is interested in his work, and quietly responds, “Observe.”

He hums a simple tune, and the model train starts to move around the circular track slowly before a tan duck wearing a pale yellow polo shirt and lavender tie bursts into the room with stacks of paper in hand.

He exclaims, “Illumination, Dr. Gearloose! Alphanumeric substitution; the categorical reorganization of letters to prime digits!”

The model train speeds fast around the tracks before propelling into a window, releasing water into the underwater lab.

Gyro bumps into me, and I almost fall to the ground as he runs to the window, yelling, “Ah! My blueprints!”

He hits a button, causing a metal panel to slide over the cracked window.

The tan duck apologizes as he starts helping Gyro to wring out the blueprints, “Sorry, Dr. Gearloose.”

Gyro exclaims, “Intern, try to think!”

Gyro’s intern mutters dejectedly, “That’s all I do all the time.”

Gyro growls, “Well, do it better.”

Launchpad says, “You probably couldn’t fit a driver in that tiny train anyway. Say, speaking of drivers-”

Uncle Scrooge interrupts him, saying, “Gyro, the Board needs results. Ever since Bulb Tech backfired, ya need an invention that, well…”

Dewey finishes while scrolling on his phone, “Won’t turn evil and kill us all.”

I add, “Or set things on fire.”

Gyro sighs, saying, “With all due respect sir, innovation doesn’t work like that. I can’t just wake up one morning and say-”

Dewey interrupts him, asking, “How about a self-driving robot car?”

Launchpad asks, “A what now?”

Gyro responds to Dewey, “Blah, too many variables. A self-driving robot car would turn evil like that.” He snaps his fingers, then continues, “Nobody could-”

Dewey interrupts him, showing us a Chatter post, “Mark Beaks did. He just posted that he’s having a demo later today.”

Gyro takes Dewey’s phone from his hands, exclaiming, “What?! That hack couldn’t even program a microwave! We’ll see about this.”

Launchpad dejectedly mutters to himself, “Okay, cool. I’ll just tell you my big news later.”

Uncle Scrooge suddenly says, holding an unopened envelope, “Launchpad, I almost forgot!”

Launchpad asks, “Yeah?”

Uncle Scrooge tosses him the envelope, and it lands in a puddle on the floor as he says, “Stop having mail delivered to my office. That’s for incoming checks and death threats only.”

Launchpad picks up the soggy envelope and takes out his license, slowly making his way into the elevator with us.

I say to Launchpad, “Don’t worry, Launchpad. I’ll tell him later.”

He brightens up a little, showing me his license as he says, “Thank, Izzy.”

I ask, “Wait, you’re a McQuack? As in the Flying McQuacks and General Rhubarb McQuack?” He nods his head, and I say, “Dude, your family are incredible aerialists! Oh man, I read about your family in my history class a few months ago.”

Launchpad smiles at me, some pep back in his step.

Gyro asks, “Wait, what does ‘smiley-face, anvil, road-kill’ mean?”

The rest of us just shrug, riding to Beaks’ demo in relative silence.

When we finally get there, Beaks exclaims through his mic, “Crushed it!”

I guess that’s what those emojis meant.

The crowd claps for Beaks, and he continues, “It’s a hectic world; posting things online, checking to see who liked your post.”

I mutter, “I think that’s just an influencer thing.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dewey recording Beaks from the crowd and posting clips to his Chatter profile, and I add, “And a Dewey thing.”

Beaks continues, a robot with a screen for a face standing next to him in front of a Waddle car, “ Couldn’t you use a little time for yourself? Couldn’t you use… a BUDDY? That’s the Beaks Un-manned Driver Drone, Yay! BUDDY will drive you anywhere quickly, efficiently, and cheaply.”

Uncle Scrooge gasps in excitement at that, but Launchpad and Gyro gasp in mixtures of anger and shock.

Beaks continues, “BUDDY is compatible with any vehicle, making traditional drivers a thing of the past. The Waddle BUDDY system; because machines are the new man. ANd… hold for applause!”

Instead of the rousing applause he expected, Beaks instead gets Launchpad and Gyro climbing onstage, Launchpad jeering, “Boo! Bad! Do not like!”

Gyro adds, “Agreed! Very negative feelings, indeed!”

Beaks, instead of being surprised, just scoffs, saying to the crowd, “Whoa! Scrooge’s driver and his chief inventor are threatened by my BUDDY here! Well, that is how you know it’s a good product.”

Gyro asks, “Uh, how can you ensure that this machine won’t turn evil?” He then mutters, “Huh. I’ve never said that out loud.”

Beaks responds, “Top secret Beaks Tech means that this baby’s 100% obedient to its master. Next question, please!”

Launchpad asks, “Oh, yeah! Can you program a robot to brave the unknown and laugh at danger?”

Beaks responds, “Yes.”

Launchpad asks, “Can a robot greet you with a kind word at the end of a long day?”

Beaks responds, “Yes.”

BUDDY turns to Beaks, saying in a robotic voice, “That’s a nice grey cardigan, Mr. Beaks. You are killing it today.”

Launchpad asks, “Yeah, well, can a robot pull you from the wreckage of a crash with a reassuring smile that tells you everything’s gonna be okay?”

Beaks responds, “Wel, no, because it can’t crash.”

Launchpad asks, “I’m sorry, what?”

Beaks gestures to BUDDY, saying, “BUDDY, show him.” Beaks explains while BUDDY drives perfectly through a test track around us, “BUDDY’s patented sensors mean a smooth, crash-free ride. No matter the situation, you can count on BUDDY to get you where you’re going. Any more questions?”

Uncle Scrooge exclaims to Dewey and I, “This automated marvel could save McDuck Enterprises a fortune!”

Dewey asks, “You’re not seriously gonna buy one of these things. I mean, not when you have plenty of good drivers/pilots already.”

Uncle Scrooge exclaims, “I may buy a whole fleet! Unless anyone has any brighter ideas.”

Gyro hums in thought, and I whisper to Launchpad, “What about a race between you and BUDDY?”

Launchpad nods, calling out, “A race!”

Dewey gasps, asking me, “What are you doing?”

I respond, “Trying to save Launchpad’s job.”

Launchpad continues, “Me versus the bot. Winner gets free candy for life.”

Dewey rolls his eyes, then whispers something to Launchpad.

Launchpad gasps, saying, “Oh, that’s better. Winner gets named the ultimate driver!”

I nod at Dewey, and Uncle Scrooge says, “A race would give me the chance to see how BUDDY performs in a real-world scenario.”

Beaks exclaims, “Ooh! Dramatic! In In In In In In!”

Launchpad extends his hand to BUDDY for a handshake, saying, “May the best man-” He grunts in pain as BUDDY grabs his hand, “Oh, ow! Very strong robot hand.”

That night, Launchpad, Dewey, and I sneak into the lab to try to find a way to beat the robot at its own game, but the headless man-horse catches us in the dark room, holding us tightly in its grasp.

Launchpad yells in fear, I struggle in its grasp, and Dewey gasps, exclaiming, “Look out! It’s the headless man-horse! It broke in to hoof us all to death!”

Gyro turns the lights on, saying, “What? Don’t be dumb. I’m just trying out some new interns.” He then mutters, “Don’t tell my existing intern.” I can see his current intern slink away at that, and Gyro commands, “Manny, dispose of them. Violently. I can’t have any distractions.”

I exclaim, “Wait, wait, wait! You can’t kill us! We’re Scrooge’s great-niece and great-nephew and Launchpad’s his personal driver!”

Gyro raises his eyebrow, as if to say ‘so what?’.

I pull at whatever strings I can, saying, “I- If you kill us, Uncle Scrooge’ll cut your funding and publicly discredit you! You’ll never get another job in the scientific community again! I- I mean, your reputation isn't that great to begin with. What do you think people will think when the richest duck in the world fires you?”

Gyro sighs, gesturing for Manny, the headless man-horse, to drop us, and he starts walking away, saying, “Just.. just go.” He mutters, “Entitled brat.”

Guess I learned something from Lena after all. I definitely wouldn’t have even thought about sneaking into the lab before I met her, and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to talk my way out of that.

Launchpad quickly gets up, saying, “No, wait! I need help.”

Gyro turns around, rolling his eyes and gesturing for him to get on with it.

Launchpad continues, “See, I have this friend. Let’s call him Not-Launchpad. And he challenged a robot to a race, pretty common scenario. Now, Not-Launchpad definitely isn’t afraid of losing and his boss replacing him with a robot. But he has a friend, let’s call him, uh, Launchpad, who is very worried about that. So I, he, they… uh, thought you could help figure out how to take this robot down, yes? Oh, in this scenario, you’re still you.”

I facepalm, muttering, “He knows, Launchpad. He was there, just like we were.”

Gyro shouts for his intern, “Dummy! There’s some dummies here to see you!”

The intern runs into the room, exclaiming, “At your beck and call, Dr. Gearloose! I heard everything! Everything. I’m happy to prove my worth by helping Mr. McQuack! Dr. Gearloose is working on an invention that will better all of mankind, both literally and figuratively.”

He starts typing something on a keypad and something starts rising out of the floor.

He exclaims, “Behold! Operating passcode: Blathering-”

Gyro interrupts him, canceling the input as he yells, “No!” He then chuckles nervously, saying, “That is not ready yet.” He then yells at his intern, “Go to your room!”

We follow the intern away from Gyro, and he says, “Forgive Dr. Gearloose. He’s a little more deranged than usual trying to figure out how Beaks beat him to the self-driving car.”

I say, “Only a little? And here I thought he was crazy when he almost killed me and my youngest brother by accident with Lil’ Bulb. He must be only a single bad day away from becoming a mad scientist.”

The intern just chuckles a little, saying, “Some days I worry he already is one.”

We chuckle together, and Launchpad says, “That won’t be a problem once I put that tin can in its place. In the recycling. Where the garbage goes.”

I grimace, and Dewey says, “Woof. We’ll work on smack talk later. Right now, we need something to help Launchpad get the edge on BUDDY.”

Gyro’s intern opens the restroom door, saying, “Step into my laboratory.”

Dewey asks, “Your lab is in the bathroom?”

The intern responds, “Dr. Gearloose says this is the perfect place for my work. I’m just now realizing that remark may not have been entirely complimentary. No matter! So, how are we going to soup up your car? Frictionless tires? Oscillating overthruster? An engine that can bend the very fabric of space itself?!”

I shrug as Dewey excitedly exclaims, “Yes! All of that!”

Launchpad says, “Eh, I don’t know about all of these gizmos. Can’t you just give me a couple of pointers on how to beat that robot?”

The intern determinedly says, “Reprogramming a man’s brain to compete with a sophisticated auto intelligence.”

I say, “What? I don’t think we can do that in only a few hours. It might be worth it to give him some tip, though.”

Dewey asks, “But what about thinking with your gut and getting dangerous?”

Launchpad responds, “Well, if Mr. McD thinks this uncrashable robo-me is so great, I have to prove I can get dangerous in the safest way possible.”

Gyro’s intern puts his foot on the toilet bowl next to him in a determined stance, exclaiming, “That’s sure to get Dr. Gearloose’s attention. It could work!”

His foot slides into the open toilet, and splashes toilet water all over the floor.

He exclaims, “I’ll clean that later!”

The four of us spent the entire night going over the intern’s tips for safe driving, and we learned his name was Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera. The next morning, Fenton wrote out as many sticky notes as he could with his driving tips, sticking them to the windshield on the inside of the limo and all over the vehicle, only leaving a small space for Launchpad to see the road from once we’re all set up at the Waddle test track in the desert.

Fenton repeats a summary of his notes to Launchpad as Uncle Scrooge, Beaks, and BUDDY were getting set up, “Don’t go over thirty-two miles per hour, and hit all turns at a safe thirty-five degree bend, and increase velocity by fifteen percent on a straightaway. These visual cues will trigger psychosomatic synaptic reflexes to improve your performance. Did you get all that?”

Launchpad blinks a few times before slowly responding, “...Yes.”

Beaks announces, “Welcome to the Waddle test track! Time for the ultimate contest between man and machine. First around the block wins!”

Launchpad says to Uncle Scrooge, “Don’t worry, Mr. McD. I got this.”

Uncle Scrooge says, “Good lad. Beat this bionic braggart and I can probably talk Beaks down on price when I buy a fleet of them. Anyway, good luck!”

My eye twitches in frustration. We stayed up all night trying to help Launchpad keep his job by winning this race, but he’s just gonna get replaced anyways? Then what’s the point?! I take a deep breath to calm myself down, and Dewey tries to reassure Launchpad.

He says, “Hey, you’re the best personal driver I’ve ever had.”

I correct, “The only personal driver you’ve ever had.” Dewey rolls his eyes at me, and I add, “You’ve got this, Launchpad.”

Fenton adds, “Follow the tips and you have a fifty-one percent chance of winning, and whatever you do, play it safe. Don’t crash.”

Launchpad starts getting a fearful, confused look in his eyes, asking, “Wait, don’t crash?”

Beaks announces, “Racers, to your marks!”

Launchpad flicks his Darkwing bobblehead, the toy saying, “Let’s get dangerous!”

He then puts the toy in the glove compartment, and Beaks continues, “Get set… Pew! Pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew!” BUDDY and Launchpad look at each other in confusion, so Beaks angrily clarifies, “That means go!”

BUDDY takes off at a fast speed, but the limo slowly crawls forward, and Launchpad is checking the notes, muttering, “And we’re off. Hands at ten and two, keep it in first gear- or was that hands at ten and one, second gear? Where’s the index?”

He bumps his head on the dash looking for the index, and most of the sticky notes fall off.

As he tries to put them back, more fall off, and he says, “Oh, no.”

The limo starts approaching a streetlight, and Fenton, Dewey, and I chant quietly, “Don’t crash. Don’t crash!”

The limo crashes, and the airbag slams into Launchpad’s face. He shakes himself off and exits the vehicle, muttering, “Gotta catch up.” He hops onto a nearby bicycle and starts pedaling fast enough to catch up with BUDDY, sticky notes stuck to him as he keeps trying to read them, “Uh, check your six, carry the two, uh, seventeen, other number, two!”

BUDDY sees Launchpad through the rearview mirror, and says, “Adjusting for hazardous conditions.”

The waddle car sprays motor oil out onto the road behind it, and Launchpad crashes the bicycle, then steals a pair of roller skates from a cardboard cutout of a child, and jumps to the front of BUDDY’s vehicle, the wheels on one of the skates breaking off from the speed he’s moving.

Dewey exclaims, “He’s gonna do it!”

I add, “I can’t believe it!”

Fenton yells to Launchpad, “Go, you bumblebee-like savant, go!”

Launchpad launches himself forward a few feet from the finish line, and Beaks growls at that. Just then, Launchpad loses all speed, and trips forward, his hand touching just behind the finish line as BUDDY crosses the line.

Beaks cheers, “Haha! Did it! Take that, everyone who’s not me!”

I run over to Launchpad and help him stand up, and he’s holding his head in confusion.

He mutters to me, “How did I lose? Fenton gave me all those great tips, but I still lost and crashed at least twice.”

I say, “It’s not your fault, Launchpad. You did your best. I think you did great.”

He smiles slightly at me as Uncle Scrooge walks up to Beaks, congratulating him.

Uncle Scrooge says, “Impressive display, Beaks! You have really built something here!”

Gyro jumps out from behind a cardboard cutout of himself, exclaiming, “Or did he?!”

I ask, “How long have you been back there?”

He ignores me, continuing, “I couldn’t be sure how it performed under pressure. The precision. The deadly grace. Oh yes, I’ve seen it before.”

He pulls off BUDDY’s head, revealing a bulb as its head instead, much like Lil’ Bulb.

Gyro exclaims, “Aha! Beaks Tech is actually Bulb Tech! That’s how he beat me to the punch. He stole my technology!” He gestures to a cardboard cutout of a police officer, adding, ‘“Officer, arrest this man!”

The cardboard cutout cop falls over, and Uncle Scrooge asks Beaks, “Is this true?”

Beaks responds, “Of course not! I didn’t steal from him, I stole it from a public online forum, then Beaks-ed it up.”

Gyro asks, “How would one of my inventions end up online?”

He gasps once he spots Fenton chuckling in amazement at BUDDY, “Haha, wow!”

Gyro menacingly growls, “You!”

Fenton says to Beaks, “You circumvented the kill switch! Why didn’t anyone else on the message board figure that out?”

Gyro exclaims, “You posted my top secret plans on the internet?!”

Fenton nervously explains, “You were having so much trouble keeping your inventions from turning evil, so I turned to the ‘net to crowdsource a solution?”

Gyro furiously charges at Fenton, only being barely held back by Uncle Scrooge, Dewey, and I.

Gyro yells, “No!”

Fenton nervously sputters, “But but but but but…”

Gyro yells, “You’re fired!”

Fenton sadly sighs, “No…”

I say to Gyro, Easy, dude. Just calm down. There’s nothing else that can be done about it.”

Gyro growls, “Oh, there’s plenty left to be done about it, but none of it’s legal.”

I back away, not wanting to know what he meant by that and not wanting him to do it to me.

Launchpad asks, “Uh, back to town, Mr. McD?”

Uncle Scrooge responds, “That’s alright, Launchpad. We’ll ride with Beaks and BUDDY to sign the sales paperwork. Come on, Izzy, Dewey.”

We hop into the car, Beaks in the passenger seat, Uncle Scrooge in the middle back seat, Gyro begrudgingly sitting in the right back seat, and Dewey sitting on my lap, the both of us sitting in the left back seat.

After a couple minutes of the car ride, Gyro asks, “So how did you keep Bulb Tech from going bad?”

Beaks asks, “Say what now?”

Gyro sighs, asking again, “The morality circuits; you modified them to keep them from going evil?”

Beaks scoffs, saying, “No, I just made them look less dorky. They’re just dumb robots, right?”

Gyro gets a fearful look in his eyes as BUDDY’s lightbulb head starts glowing red like Lil’ Bulb’s did when he went evil, exclaiming, “Oh, no. No no no no no no!”

BUDDY starts speeding up the car faster and faster around the Waddle test track, and we all yell out in fear while I hold onto Dewey in fear. The seatbelts don’t unbuckle and the car doors lock.

Uncle Scrooge struggles in an attempt to get out, growling, “Churlish child locks!”

BUDDY says, “Please remain seated.”

Uncle Scrooge starts smacking BUDDY with his cane, exclaiming, “Take that, you pneumatic monstrosity!”

BUDDY presses a button that makes multiple seat belts strap us tightly into our seats, but Dewey scrambles out of my lap before he can get strapped in, leaving me unable to move in my seat and I’m unable to calm myself down.

BUDDY says, “Buckle up for safety.”

Uncle Scrooge mutters, “Sanctimonious seatbelts!”

I mutter, “How did I get mixed up in Bulb Tech again? This is getting ridiculous.”

Beaks says, “Oh, w- we need a logic puzzle to fry its circuits. Robot, what is love?”

Gyro exclaims, “That’s stupid! Robot, could I invent an element so heavy even I couldn’t lift it?”

Beaks scoffs, saying, “I definitely could.”

Gyro yells, “No you couldn’t!”

Dewey says, “Give it a rest, geniuses!”

He grabs Uncle Scrooge’s can from the floor and reaches around BUDDY to honk the car’s horn to alert Launchpad and Fenton, who don’t seem to have noticed the danger we’re in right now. After a couple honks, Launchpad finally starts driving toward us, and BUDDY takes off in the vast desert around the Waddle test track.

Dewey uses the cane to open the right side window, exclaiming, “Launchpad!”

Launchpad reaches his hand out the window toward Dewey, exclaiming, “Give me your hand!”

BUDDY says, “Please keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times.”

The robot swerves the vehicle to the left and away from Launchpad, yanking Dewey out the window and toward the hard desert sand below.

I’m only able to see it out of the corner of my eye, and I tear up, exclaiming, “No! Dewey!”

Just before Dewey hits the ground, a tall robot duck catches him, and says in a familiar voice, “Gotcha!”

He then places Dewey safely inside the limo and buckles him before chuckling as he tears the entire right side of the vehicle off with one hand.

Fenton clears his throat, saying, “Hold on, I’ll get you all out of here… somehow.”

Uncle Scrooge rolls his eyes, saying, “Oh good, another robot.”

The robot’s suit says in a robotic voice, “Calculating options. Activating shoulder blades.”

The robot duck says, “I suggest you hold very, very still.”

I mutter, “Can’t do much else right now.”

The rotating blades cut through our seat belts, freeing us, and I take a huge breath in and out, trying to calm myself down now that I can move.

Uncle Scrooge mutters in surprise, “Oh, hey!”

The robotic duck grabs Uncle Scrooge, Beaks, Gyro, and me in his arms and starts speeding away from BUDDY, saying, “Come on!”

BUDDY starts catching up to us, and the robot’s suit says, “Incoming threat.”

The robotic duck says in a worried voice, “C’mon suit, do something!”

The suit responds, “Defense mode activated.”

Oil spills out behind the robotic duck, and BUDDY spins out of control. The robotic duck sets the four of us down, and Launchpad and Dewey keep driving after BUDDY.

Uncle Scrooge asks, “Who the blazes are you?”

The robotic duck responds, “Call me-” He gets interrupted by BUDDY slamming into him, but he yells out as he gets further away, “Gizmoduuuuck!”

Gyro asks incredulously, “Gizmoduck?!”

Beaks says with an awe-filled gaze, “Gizmoduck.”

I’m only able to see clouds of dust in the distance as a bridge collapses, and soon after Gizmoduck returns, floating overhead with a helmet copter and holding the limo underneath him. He sets down the limo gently and we all get in except for him, the limo feeling cramped with six of us crammed inside while Gizmoduck flies off.

Come to think of it, shouldn’t there be seven of us? Where did Fenton go? Unless… No, he couldn’t be Gizmoduck. But they do sound awfully similar. We drop off Beaks at the Waddle building where Huey, Dewey, and I interned at, and I finally tell Uncle Scrooge what Launchpad wanted to tell him earlier on the ride.

Once we’re parked in the Bin’s parking garage, Launchpad nervously asks, “Have a good day, Mr. McD?”

I mutter, “I didn’t.”

Uncle Scrooge responds as he hops out of the limo, “Nice work today, Launchpad. See you tomorrow.”

Launchpad asks in shock, “You’re… not gonna replace me?”

Uncle Scrooge responds, “Replace you? Don’t be daft. Where would I ever find a driver as crazy and dangerous as I am? Oh, and Izzy told me about your driver’s license. Congratulations.”

Launchpad hugs Uncle Scrooge tightly, then says, “Aw, your approval is all the driver’s license I need.”

He then tries to break his license in half, and Uncle Scrooge stops him, saying, “You should really keep the license.”

Fenton bursts out of the Bin as Uncle Scrooge enters it, and he exclaims, “Sir! I was cleaning out my desk when suddenly the prototype armor burst from the chamber like so many split atoms, and-”

I knew he was Gizmoduck! I was right!

Gyro interrupts Fenton, saying, “Ah, save it. You’re not fired… Gizmoduck.” He sighs, adding, “Scrooge is always complaining my inventions are ‘dangerous’.”

I say, “Well, he’s not wrong, especially given what happened in the Bin a few weeks ago and today.”

Gyro rolls his eyes, ignoring me, and continues, “This armor has got to be one hundred percent idiot-proof, and, well, you’re just the idiot to prove it.”

Fenton says, “Oh, thank you, sir. You won’t regret this. This project stays top secret ‘til it’s out of beta. I won’t tell a soul.”

Launchpad backs away from the Bin with Dewey and I inside the limo as we prepare to head back to the mansion and leave Uncle Scrooge to his work.

Launchpad says, “Bye, Gyro! Bye Gizmoduck!”

As we leave, I only barely hear Fenton add, “From now on.”

The three of us head back to the mansion, and Launchpad drops Dewey and I off before heading back to his place. Dewey runs off to tell our brothers about the ‘awesome adventure’, and I shut myself in my room to decompress with a good book, falling asleep at my desk.

#ducktales #my fanfiction #my oc #izzy duck #huey duck #dewey duck #scrooge mcduck #mark beaks #gyro gearloose #fenton crackshell cabrera #gizmoduck #launchpad mcquack

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