New York City. AKA the Big Apple, home to many of the greatest monuments on Earth, including The Statue of Liberty, Central Park and the most expansive book collection in the northern hemisphere: The Archibald Library. It was the place Scrooge went when he needed a book that wasn't in his own collection, which was rare. As such he hadn't been in about a decade, and as it was a special occasion, he decided to bring his family along.
The McDucks marvelled at the architecture of the city that never sleeps, their expeditions usually took them to areas where civilisation was scarce or in some cases, completely abandoned. So it was nice change to go to a city as sprawling as New York.
Dewey who was less interested in whatever book or information Scrooge was after, so he treated the trip like a vacation, taking pictures where ever they went and constantly asking whether or not they could take a trip to the Broadway Theatre and maybe catch a show.
"Here we are kids!" - Scrooge exclaimed, stopping outside of the large modern building that consisting of polished glass panes and shiny steel beams. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it did it's purpose.
"I thought you said this was one of the oldest library's in America?" - Webby questioned. - "This looks like it's brand new."
"Yeah, I remember it being a lot more... old, when we went here when we were kids, Uncle Scrooge."
"Well the Archibald Library burned down in 2005, it only reopened recently." - Huey explained, remembering what he read on the plane ride here.
The five McDucks climbed the steps up to the front doors of the building, which automatically slid open when they approached, giving them a view of the interior.
"Woah."
The inside was nothing like the outside, the furniture wasn't modern, the carpet looked old, and old dusty books filled wooden bookshelves which sat wall to wall, it was almost mystical how it expanded past the reaches of the exterior, like it was bigger inside like outside.
"Now, this is what I remember." - Della acknowledged.
Scrooge lead the group over to the library's circulation desk, where a short elderly female duck, wearing a pair of the thickest glasses any of them had ever scene, sat and did the crossword in the newspaper.
"Hello, we're looking for a book." - Scrooge began. - "And we wanted to know where it specifically would be." - Knowing that without precise knowledge, it could take days to find a certain book. - "Uh. Hello?" - He repeated, when she didn't respond. He noticed a sign beside the woman:
Ring the bell for response.
The Scotsman reached forward and rung the stained bronze bell. Instead of ringing, it made a quiet squeak, which while quieter than Scrooge's voice, somehow caught the women's attention.
"Hello there, what do you need?" - She asked, in a sweet grandmotherly tone.
"Hello. We're looki-"
"Speak louder, I'm hard of hearing."
"We're lookin' for a book." - Scrooge repeated, slightly louder than before.
"I know that." - She replied in a deadpan tone. - "This is a library not a pastry store, I need to know type of book you're looking for."
"Uh right," - Scrooge rubbed the back of his neck. - "We're lookin' for information on Sir Samuel Lambert, he was a French crusad-"
"Yeah I know who Sir Samuel Lambert. In fact you're the second person whose came here looking for information about him."
"Second? Who else has come here looking for information." - Della questioned, wondering which rival had discovered their interest in the Frenchman and was hoping to snatch the treasure out from under them.
"Oh, I'm a bit short-sighted, so I didn't get a good look at his face, but I believe he was a young man, he only came in about 20-minutes before you, but he hasn't checked out yet.
"Where did you tell him to go?"
The woman pulled a frankly ginormous book from under her desk and began flipping through, about half-way through the book, she stopped. - "Uh, history section, case 464, third shelf"
"And what does the book look like?"
"It's an average sized black book. with yellow writing, and penned under the name Professor Rebecca Smith." - She squinted at a certain part of the page. - "You might want to get there quickly, it seems we only have one copy of that book."
Dewey and Webby managed to thank the librarian, before they were pulled away by the rest of the family.
The four other family members followed Scrooge as he rushed over to the history section, which began at shelf 300, he ran his hand along the case as he counted them off.
"462... 463... 464!" - He remarked after a few minutes, his eyes drifted along the spines of the books, looking for the black book and yellow text. - "It's not here."
"Well then the other adventurer must have it." - Della concluded. - "We need to find him before he leaves."
"Right. Della monitor the front door." - The women nodded before disappearing back the way they came. - "Huey, Dewey, check the other exits."
"Yes Uncle Scrooge." - The two said in sync, before running off.
"Webby, go check the tables."
"Got it."
The teenage girl sprinted off while Scrooge took a spot beside the shelf, wondering if his mysterious challenger would return to place the book back on the shelf once he was done with it.
Webby wondered between the large wooden tables, most were barren, the few that had people sitting at them, none of them had the book.
She was about to go back and check if anyone else had found the book, when she noticed the black and yellow textbook tucked under the arm of some guy in a hoodie, who was heading over to the circulation desk.
She jogged over to the guy, and tried to call out to him, when he didn't respond, she tapped him on the shoulder. Pulling out his headphones, the guy turned around.
"Uh hi." - The teenage bulldog greeted in a suspicious tone, wondering why this stranger had come up to him.
"Hi." - Webby responded in her usually bubbly tone. - "I just wanted to ask, do you think I can have that book?"
'Cleary this girl ain't from around here.' - He thought. - "Sorry, but I need this for work."
"Oh okay, thank you anyway." - She turned and started heading back to the shelf where Scrooge was waiting, when the guy called out to her.
"Hey do I know you?"
"Uh, I don't think so," - She stuck her hand out. - "I'm Webby."
He snapped his finger. - "Webbigail Vanderquack." - He exclaimed. Which caused Webby to take a step back.
"How do you know who I am?" - She gasped. - "Are you a foreign spy, sent here to kill me?" - She grabbed him by the collar and reeled her fist back.
"No!" - He answered, putting his hands up in surrender. - "No, I'm Tommy, I'm a friend of Louie."
"Louie?"
"Yeah you know, the thief, always wearing that green jacket, always making jokes."
"Oh, is he here?" - She smiled, looking around.
"Sorry but no." - Her smile wavered. - "But I can take you to him."
Her face lit back up. - "Can you wait for just ten seconds?" - Before he could respond, she had turned and ran off.
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The camouflaged door to Amelia's workshop opened with a whizz, and Louie's modified silver corvette entered, it drove just enough into the building, for the door to close behind him, parking on the lazy-susan turntable the mechanic had built specially for his car.
"I'm back from Joey's, and I brought lunch!" - The thief called out, removing his sunglasses and tucking them into his shirt's collar. - "Hello, anyone here!"
He noticed the lights were off for once, which sent a chill up his spine. He heard a chain rustle behind him, so he quickly dropped the bag of food he had brought and snatched up an old pipe.
He flipped around and was ready to five for his life, when the lights turned back on and he came face to face with the McDucks.
"SURPRISE!" - They collectively cheered.
Louie though forced a smile, as one though ran in his head. - 'Oh no.'
Thanks for reading Ch.7 of 'Legacy' Since school's out for Summer now, I was going to promise more consistent updates, but then it took me like three days to write this chapter, and I realised that would be a lie. Anyway, I hope you comment, vote, follow-me and read Ch.8 -MM