Ducktales: Journey to Agartha - Act 3

Chapter 40: C-Note Does Something For Once

In the basement of an old Savannah home, the gang had rented through Airbnb, sat Ellie and Boyd. They were locked in the room, but there was no one in there with them, nor were they restrained in any way. Tina and Dingles must have been confident enough that they couldn't escape or overpower them in an attack. They had good reason to think so. Boyd wouldn't hurt a fly and Ellie had no weapons.

Ellie scanned the room multiple times and there was indeed no way to escape either. It seemed to be they were just in another hostage situation with little hope. Something everyone in the Glomsquad had grown used to. And it probably wasn't the last time this would happen either, as painful as that was to think about.

As soon as the two were left in the room alone, Boyd sat as far away from Ellie as he could. When Ellie sat next to him, he simply moved to the other side of the room. Ellie got the message and didn't bother him after that. Their relationship at the moment was sharp and tense, expectantly since they hadn't spoken after their fight only two hours ago. Ellie had tried a few times already only to be met with no response.

She decided to try again, but to take a different approach this time around.

"Technically you are more of the adult here considering you were built years before me." Ellie attempted to laugh but it came out robotic and unnatural as usual. There was no malice or anger in her voice as there was during the fight. After sitting in silence, Ellie had realized that Boyd was right about everything. She was the one in the wrong for certain. "Now that I look back on everything, I understand that we do not know each other that well. I may be your caregiver but it ends at that, doesn't it?" She didn't expect a response and kept going. "We may have 'hung out' before but I never made an attempt to get to know you on a deeper level. In fact, we do speak to one another that often other than in a mother and son manner. You are not just a child, you are an intelligent and an independent definitely real boy with his own thoughts, opinions, and feelings. You even have quite the strong and feisty personality." She awkwardly laughed again before clearing her throat. There was an uncomfortable pause."I apologize for not seeing that sooner, Boyd. I should have made more of an effort to get to know you and your opinions rather than simply treating you like an organic infant. You were right about everything. I should have asked what you wanted to do for the summer all that time ago."

Boyd didn't respond to her which Ellie expected. She wasn't offended in the least bit. But it did hurt that her child hated her so much.

She let the silence sit for a little while to let the air cool before she continued.

"We do have very different morals. Do you know why that is?"

Boyd still didn't respond.

"We were built for different reasons. You were built to be the defender and hero of an entire city while I was simply built to be a villain; to blindly follow commands from Uncle Glomgold. My morals were not wired to be correct and I have always been ashamed of that. My programmed beliefs only seem to have become stronger over time. I do not know why, but it is most likely because my programming has settled itself over a prolonged period." Ellie said, "I may be horrible now, but I cannot imagine how horrible I would have become without you. You stabilize me, Boyd." She smiled but Boyd didn't see since he still was looking away from her.

Her tone became more somber. "I have wanted to change and I still want to, specifically for your sake. But I cannot be reprogrammed without losing all of my data. I have tried to overcome my programming myself, but there seems to be some hurdle I simply cannot cross. At a certain point, on the cruise ship actually, I just gave up. But I will now keep trying again for you. I will attempt to be less violent and more morally correct. The terrible thing is that I cannot make any promises with how strong my programming is. You may not agree with anything I do, which you should not, and I do not expect you to ever look up to me, or love me... or even like me, but I hope that is something you can understand at the very least. I am stuck in a mindset that I never wanted to begin with."