For a while Louie walked around aimlessly, wandering through the crumbling buildings as he passed them. The outsides of the homes were mostly standing, but the interiors were worse for wear. The wooden furniture and stairs were decaying. He didn't dare venture upstairs for most of the homes as the steps looked ready to collapse and bits of the wood flooring above would crash to the ground. As he walked through the homes he lazily flipped through any books that happened to be lying around, just in case any of them were the journal. He also checked the furniture and decorative pieces to see if there was anything of value, but so far he came up empty-handed either way.
He walked into a new building, not paying attention to where he was going as he glanced around at the interior. He made it a few steps then suddenly ran into something, stumbling and falling backwards onto the ground. He looked up at what he'd run into, shock flooding him when he realized it was a person. She was a tall heron, with black feathers, a long pointed beak, and a robotic arm. He quickly realized this matched Webby's description of Black Heron, a villain she had fought with scrooge. She looked down at him, her gaze a flurry of shock and a look like she'd been caught. In an instant, she lunged toward him. Louie gasped and scrambled to his feet, turning to run. His heart nearly leaping from his chest. He managed one step forward before she grabbed a hold of him. Her arm wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. He squirmed and tried to cry out but she threw her other arm over his beak to muffle his cries. Louie kicked desperately, trying to loosen her grip, hit her, anything.
"Stop squirming!" She snapped, "I didn't know Scrooge and his brats were here. This'll ruin everything!"
Louie looked around the room looking for anything to help him escape, but every option was out of reach.
"If Scrooge finds out I'm here, our whole plan could go up in smoke!" She continued muttering to herself, "this stupid kid is gonna ruin everything! Unless..."
Louie's stomach dropped when she suddenly smiled down at him with a wicked grin.
"Hey kid, I got an offer for you." She began, bringing him closer to her beak so she could whisper in his ear. Louie reached up as much as he could and just barely managed to reach enough to pull her arm off his beak.
"Why should I listen to you!?" He spat.
"Listen, I'm here for a journal. I assume Scrooge is here for the same one. I can't let him see me here, so you are going to bring it to me." She said with a harsh tone.
"And what if I don't? Why would I help you?" Louie asked, glaring up at her to try to hide his fear.
"Let me put it this way, If you refuse, if you tell anybody you saw me, if you don't do exactly as I say, I will wipe out this entire city with you and your whole family inside!"
Louie's heart sank and a pit of dread took its place. His mind whirled with worry. He shook his head trying to force away his panic, he had to think carefully.
"How?" He challenged, hoping to trip her up. "There's six of us and one of you! I'm sure we could stop you before you could even try."
"Here, let me show you." She pulled out a ray gun-looking device from her pocket. She pointed it at a coffee table on the other side of the room and shot. A beam of light came shooting from the gun quickly surrounding the table in light. Louie yelped as, in little more than the blink of an eye, the table grew. Filling the room and slamming into the ceiling.
"That's how quickly I can unshrink and be on top of this city. Tell me, how long would it take you to tell your family? I'm outnumbered, sure, but you're the only one who knows I'm here. Since I haven't seen anyone else around. And I doubt you could gather them up fast enough. This time the numbers are your hindrance, not mine. So, will you help me now?" A wicked grin spread across her face, sending a chill down Louie's spine. The worst part was that she was right. His family was scattered all around this city and they only had the one shrink ray. They'd never make it. For a moment he tried to think of some way out of this, but would anything work?
Finally, Louie gave in, "fine. I'll get you the dumb book."
"Great!" Heron said, dropping Louie onto the ground. Louie sat up just in time to catch the walkie she threw at him.
"Use this to tell me when you have it. Now hurry up and go." She ordered. Louie obeyed, standing up and heading out of the building.
"And remember," Heron began causing Louie to pause and look back, "I'll be able to see everything, so don't even think of trying anything."
Louie walked out of the building, Heron's threat echoing in his ears. He shoved the walkie into his hoodie's pocket and continued through the city. He frantically went from house to house, searching inside desks, shelves, drawers, and flipping through every book he saw. He had to find that book before Scrooge did, who knows what that villain would do if he didn't. He went from building to building, growing more desperate as he was constantly empty-handed. He paced through the streets toward an area of the city he hadn't been in yet when he suddenly bumped into something. He stumbled back as Dewey turned to him.
"Oh, there you are Louie." Dewey greeted.
"Dewey, um.. any luck yet?" Louie asked nervously. He wasn't even sure which answer would be worse.
"Nerp!" Dewey replied, "this city is so much bigger than I thought! Well, now it is anyway. Wanna help me look?"
"Sure..." Louie replied hesitantly, his mind racing. He could find it faster with help, but what if Dewey found it before him and took it to Scrooge? Either way, he couldn't look suspicious.
"Where should we look first?" Dewey asked, looking around him.
"I've already searched that entire area," Louie replied, motioning towards a section of the city near where they first arrived. "so we should probably go this way." Louie pointed ahead of him. Dewey nodded and headed in that direction, Louie close behind. For a moment Louie swore he could hear Heron above them, but when he looked all he could see was the city's sky. He walked faster, his skin tingling as he felt her eyes on him pressuring him to go faster. He and Dewey entered another house and Louie instantly went to work, nearly tearing the room apart in his search.
"Woah, Louie calm down, it's not a race." Dewey suddenly said as Louie quickly flipped through books and tossed them aside, breaking him out of his focus.
"I-I know, I just want to get this whole thing over with." Louie grumbled, trying to act as bored as possible. There was silence for a few moments before Dewey finally spoke.
"Well, thanks for coming along anyway. I know you didn't want to. I'm not really sure if you came for me or just for the chance of treasure, but I'm glad you came. I have to admit, even I knew this would get kinda old kinda quick, this nerd stuff isn't my thing either, so I thought if you came along we could both be less bored." Dewey smiled. For a moment Louie smiled, his brother's words warming him, but his smile quickly faded. He briefly wondered if he should tell Dewey the truth. Maybe they both could- no, It was a dumb idea. Every move was a massive risk he wasn't willing to take. Eventually, Dewey turned away when Louie didn't reply.
"What's taking you so long!?" Heron's voice suddenly yelled at him through the walky. Louie coughed and sputtered, partially due to the shock and partially to cover up the noise.
Dewey wiped around, "Louie, you ok?"
"Yeah, I just swallowed some dust." Louie lied, still fake coughing, "I'm going to get some air." Louie hurried out of the house, Dewey's confused stare following him out. Louie walked until he was sure he was out of Dewey's earshot and pulled the walky from his pocket.
"What was that!? You almost blew both our covers!" He hissed into it.
"I'm sorry, but you're taking so long!" Heron replied sarcastically. "We've been here all day!"
"Well, the city's a lot bigger when you're the size of an ant!" Louie retorted, "I'm looking as fast as I can and I've almost searched the whole city so just wait."
"Fine, but you better find it soon."
"I will. Just please don't do that again." Louie said, but he never got a response. He cursed her under his breath, jumping when the sound of Dewey's voice suddenly approached.
"Well, the book's not in that building. Where should we look now?" Dewey said as he approached. Louie quickly shoved the walky back into his pocket, hoping Dewey didn't notice.
"Um..." Louie mumbled as he tried to think of where he hadn't been yet. His thoughts were interrupted when he caught wind of Scrooge's voice up ahead.
"Oh hey! Maybe Scrooge found it!" Dewey said then ran up ahead toward the voice. Louie clenched his teeth. He followed Dewey praying that Scrooge hadn't found it.