Over the next two weeks, the super hero that was Gizmo Duck took Duckburg by storm. On any radio station, news special, or magazine article, he was mentioned. Everyone was talking about the new robotic wonder. The headlines said it all. "Gizmo Duck stops criminals from robbing the bank!" "Gizmo Duck rescues cat from tree!" "Mayor saved by Gizmo Duck!" And Dewey was probably his biggest fan.
The boy in blue was just putting the finishing touches on his letter to the hero himself as a thank you for protecting the city so diligently and when Louie walked into the room. Sitting at the kitchen counter, Dewey spun in his seat to face his brother. "Alright, all I need is a stamp and then my somewhat embarrassing letter will be off to Gizmo Duck!"
Louie dug around in the cabinet for a box of cereal. "You found out his address?"
"Yeah, it just took a little searching and then some, but I've got it." Smiling proudly, Dewey set his envelope on the counter and jumped down from the chair. "And before you ask, no I did not investigate into his secret identity. Though I was tempted, I refrained. Everyone deserves their secrets." Dewey followed Louie around the kitchen as he made his cereal. "I'm not heartless."
Whistling the tune to Darkwing Duck, Launchpad strolled in.
"Speaking of," Louie mumbled, glancing at the pilot. Dewey rolled his eyes.
Opening the fridge, Launchpad stopped whistling and groaned. "Ugh, I got that dang song stuck in my head! Thanks, Derpy." He gave Dewey the evil eye.
"Dewey, actually." Dewey avoided eye contact with the pilot as he corrected him. Trying to be brave was harder than he thought.
"Uh-huh." Launchpad didn't sound like he cared. Taking a can of pep from the fridge, he popped it open with a hissing sound. After taking a swig, he set it on the counter, right on top of Dewey's letter.
The boy watched silently as the condensation dripped onto paper. He frowned, questioning whether or not he should say anything. Just a few drops wouldn't hurt the note too bad, right? But the more he watched, the more he went on to overthink it. The envelope now had a small moist pool right where the address went, somewhat blurring the ink. Dewey quickly stole a glance at Launchpad then back at the letter. Maybe just asking him to move his drink wouldn't be too hard. Launchpad could be nice, Dewey tried to convince himself. Hard as it was, he convinced himself for at least a second. Dewey bit his lip, remembering the ever growing wet spot on his letter. Was he jut taking forever to think about this or was it all in his head? He shook himself. Be brave, he reminded.
"Uh, Launchpad?" His voice came out more cracked than a shattered window, but he pushed on. Launchpad glanced at Dewey, as if asking why the triplet was talking to. Him. Dewey was asking himself the same question. "Can you move your drink? It's sort of getting my paper wet."
"Of course."
Well, that wasn't so hard, was- And he's purposely spilling the soda on it now. Dewey frowned, deflating. Launchpad held the can upside down over the letter, the orange contents spilling all over the counter. A grin crossed the pilot's face. "Oops. Spilt some." Dewey could only stare at the letter he had put so much time and effort into, now stained with sticky substance. Being brave turned out worse than he thought. "Hey, Bradford! I made a mess, come clean it up!" Launchpad called towards the kitchen door. Once the can was empty, he squished it down into a crumpled disk and threw it at Dewey's head like a basketball.
"Hey!" Louie glared at Launchpad, and Dewey got the sudden dread that Louie was about to make it a whole lot worse. "Number one, that most definitely not an accident, and number two, why are you such a jerk?" Louie marched towards the older duck. "Clean up your own mess."
"Fethry pays him to clean up our messes. What am I gonna do, not take advantage of that?" Launchpad leaned back against the fridge, arms crossed.
Louie clenched his fists, face turned red. "You do not get to treat my brother like that!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't realize that offended you so much." The two exchanged a glare. "Though who knows if it offends your brother, he doesn't speak up much. Is he mute?" Launchpad stared past Louie to Dewey. He wanted to shrink into a ball and just hide forever. "I mean, I assume that's why you have to fight his battles for him."
"Shut up!" Louie tried to throw a punch at Launchpad, but h put his palm on Louie's forehead, holding him back. He gave Louie a deadpan expression as the green triplet kept trying to fight him off.
"Cute, kid."
Bradford entered the scene, looked over the situation, and frowned Dewey figured Bradford was used to Launchpad by now. Bradford sighed, shaking his head. "Honestly Launchpad, you are a child."
"Am not!" Launchpad was only proving Bradford's point, now sticking his tongue out at Louie. Bradford rolled his eyes, making his way to the spilt soda. He pulled the drenched letter out of the mess. Reading the label on it, he handed it to Dewey.
Taking one last look at Louie and Launchpad, Dewey frowned and sulked out of the room, the letter clutched in his hand.
...
Walking down the street, Dewey wondered what he was going to do with the letter now that it was ruined. His head down, he stared at the smudged ink and orange texture. He thought over the mess that led to this. He had tried to be brave and utterly failed. Surely Gizmo Duck didn't have trouble standing up to bullies. He never needed anyone to defend himself for him. He never had trouble simply speaking. Dewey sighed.
Looking up, Dewey saw a build board with a picture of Gizmo Duck sponsoring some product. Staring up at it, Dewey wished he could be a brave hero like Gizmo Duck some day. Dewey had already memorized all the statistics of how many criminals Gizmo Duck had thrown in jail since even just his first day. Of course, there was more crime than there had even been in Duckburg before, which Dewey found a weird coincidence, but Gizmo Duck had locked them all up.
A scream broke him from his thoughts. Eyes darting to the source, just across the street he saw a small family of three being mugged by the Sixth Avenue Friendlies. Dewey's feet froze to the concrete. Should he do something? What could he do? He watched as the tallest beagle held the dad upside down, shaking out his pockets for change. The mother and child's faces were stricken with terror. Looking from the beagles to the family, Dewey decided to make a move. Shaking away his fear, he took a step off the sidewalk.
But before Dewey had a chance to do anything, in came the dashing hero in black and red, Gizmo Duck. Pie launched fm his chest, stopping the beagle holding the father. Gizmo Duck deployed rope from his wrist, tying the three up. The family thanked him greatly before continuing on with their walk.
Dewey grinned at the scene. Glancing back and forth across the street, he decided it was safe to cross and did so. "Gizmo Duck! That was amazing!" The words left his mouth before he had even reached the other side of the road.
The hero ruffled the boy's hero. "No thanks needed, young citizen!" He even spoke heroically! Dewey's smile only spread wider. A small movement behind Gizmo Duck grabbed his attention. Something green passed from Gizmo Duck's hand to the criminals'. Money? Dewey shook himself. Probably a trick of the light.
"What have you got there, kid?" It took Dewey a moment to realize Gizmo Duck was gesturing to the letter. Dewey had almost forgotten about it, and now that he was actually in front of his hero, it seemed more embarrassing than before.
"Oh, uh, just a letter I wrote... for you." Dewey coughed awkwardly. "But there's soda on it, so..." Why was this all of a sudden so scary?
Without asking, Gizmo Duck took the note from him. He squinted at it, and after looking it over, his eyes widened in panic. "You know my address?"
Dewey's face grew red with embarrassment. "Uh, sort of, I went digging for it, but don't worry! I don't know your secret identity or anything! It was just for the purpose of mailing the letter, I promise!" He hoped he didn't come across as some sort of stalker.
Dewey thought Gizmo Duck almost looked impressed. "Greatly appreciated kid. Say, have you ever considered becoming a bounty hunter?"
What? "What?"
"Uh, not that you should!" Gizmo Duck stood up straighter, as if he had revealed some sort of crack in his heroic armor. "I just thought that you would be good at it with finding out my home address and all. Just a joke." He laughed, but Dewey didn't find it very funny.
"Okaaaaaay..." Maybe Gizmo Duck was just having an off day.
"Beep beep," Gizmo Duck said "subtly" into his fist. "Oh, hear that? More crime! I guess I've got to go! Farewell, citizen!" His helmet transformed into helicopter mode and off he was. Once he was up in the air high enough, the boosters on his back kicked in, leaving a trail of white smoke behind him.
Watching after him, Dewey wondered what it'd be like in the Gizmo suit. Probably sweaty with the DJ Daft Duck helmet, and flying would make Dewey puke. But it still looked cool.
"Alright, boys, let's get out of here."
It was then that Dewey remembered he was just a few feet away from a group of tied up criminals. Taking a few steps back, he realized Gizmo Duck had forgotten to take them off to jail. But Dewey didn't know what to do about it, so he just watched them from afar.
One beagle pulled at the rope, breaking it apart, and they got to their feet. Dewey thought Gizmo Duck's rope must be faulty. Dewey would have to tell him that next time he saw him. To Dewey's surprise, the lead beagle had a wad of cash in his hand. "Mr. Gizmo Duck certainly pays well. Boys, we're eating chicken nuggets tonight!" That was followed by cheers from the other two beagles.
Dewey hoped he'd misheard them. Forgetting his fears, he ventured to ask, "Wait, did you just say Gizmo Duck payed you?"
They looked surprised Dewey was talking to them. The third beagle scratched the back of his head. "Uh, hey, weren't we told not to tell anyone that Gizmo Duck is paying criminals to attack Duckburg so that he can stop them and everyone will think he's a hero?" That earned a slap to the back of the head by the lead beagle.
Eyes wide, Dewey mulled over what he just heard. He ran in front of the beagles before they could leave. "What! No, no, no, no, you must have it wrong." He waved his hands, shaking his head, too scared to admit they were right. "Gizmo Duck isn't pretending to be a hero, he is a hero." Was he saying it to the beagles or himself?
"Sorry to burst your bubble kid, but it's true," the less intelligent beagle said. Another smack.
"Shut up! Do you want Gizmo Duck to come after us!"
"Yeah, 'cause then we gettin' chicken nuggets!"
Smack. "Come after us for real, moron!"
Dewey watched their squabbles awkwardly. They broke out into a fight, almost catching the blue triplet in the mess. He narrowly avoided it, stepping out of the way. He looked up at the sky, where the white streaks remained trailing Gizmo Duck's flight path. Gizmo Duck wasn't a bad guy, right? Determination overcame Dewey. He had to get down to the bottom of this.
...
Following the trail, Dewey found himself at the Gearloose Tech building. The white steaks led around back. Coming around the building, he found a door. He hesitated, wondering whether or not he should even be snooping around where he could easily get in trouble. He nodded to himself, almost as if he were allowing himself to continue. Trying the door handle, he found it locked. Part of him wanted to stop there. He didn't know how to pick a lock anyway. But the real reason he didn't want to go on was he was scared. Scared his hero turned out to be less heroic.
He reminded himself he was trying to be brave. He couldn't be a coward forever. He didn't need a hero to be brave. He could be brave himself. He clenched his fists with determination. It would be better to just find out himself rather than just worry about it the whole time.
He scanned the area, trying to find some entry point. A small metal grate was positioned just a few feet from the door. Stepping over to it, Dewey could only imagine how claustrophobic it would be in there. But, with no other option, he figured he had nothing left to lose. Kneeling, he unscrewed the air duct grate, took a deep breath, and crawled in.
Darkness wasn't something he had accounted for, but it only added to the reasons Dewey thought this was a bad idea. Nevertheless, he pushed on through the dark, cramped air duct. Through another grate, light peered in. He scampered towards it. He could hear voices down below. He stopped, listening in, squinting through the vent.
Below him was an underwater lab of some sort. He could see Dr. Gearloose and just out of view, someone else.
"So, how's the suit running?" Gyro folded his hands, probably a nervous tick.
"Great. I almost blew my cover once, but I don't think anyone suspected a thing." Gizmo Duck rolled into view. He took of his helmet and climbed out the top, jumping floor and landing on his feet. He was a brown plumage duck, dressed in a black outfit. He grabbed Dewey's letter from the suit's hand. "Look, I've even got fan mail." He wadded it up into a ball and chucked it into a trash bin in the corner.
Dewey's eyes widened at the scene. He frowned, trying not to let it get to him.
The brown duck rubbed his palms together. "This hero plan is working better than I thought. No one suspects the sudden rise in crime, I've gotten so much free junk, and pretty much everyone trusts me. Soon, I'll have this whole city under my thumb." He put his hands on his hips proudly. "Take that Negaduck! While you took years to build your empire, I only built mine in a few weeks!"
Gyro listed his head. "Uh, who's Negaduck, sir?"
"Just this guy I knew. He was a real jerk. Anyways, later at the mayor's office, I'm going to get the key to the city. There's gonna be a whole ceremony and stuff." The brown duck moved to sit on the inventor's desk. "And I've decided that's where I'm going to pull off my biggest stunt yet! And also, you gotta wear this."
He handed Gyro a pink wig. The investor looked it over, confused. "Why?"
"Because you're gonna be the villain this time. I was thinking your villain name could be the Mad Ducktor. So, I've placed a bomb under the mayor's office."
"Like, a real, live bomb?"
"Yeah."
Dewey's heart pounded at the word of a possible bomb. He wondered if it was too loud.
"Your character has put a bomb on the scene, and it's up to me, Gizmo Duck, to stop you!" Now standing on the table, the duck put his hands on his hips heroically. But right now, Dewey's didn't think he was very heroic.
"W-what was wrong with stopping generic thugs?" Gyro didn't seem too sure about the plan. "I don't really want to be in a position to die."
"Small potatoes. If I want this city to be eating out of the palm of my hand, I've got to do something big! And I can't use a fake bomb because if someone did figure it out, the reign of Gizmo Duck would be over."
"But if someone found out I was the Mad Ducktor, that would be the end of Gearloose tech."
The duck jumped down from the table. He crouched towards Gyro, jabbing a finger in his chest. "Exactly. So don't get caught." Gyro gulped and nodded.
Dewey mulled over their conversation, his eyes wide. Maybe it was time to get out of here. He tried to turn around but found that the air vent was too narrow. In the process, he hit his head on the roof. "Ow."
"What was that?"
Dewey's body froze. His mind ran around in a frenzied panic.
"Fenton?"
"Someone's watching us, shush." Fenton's eyes scanned over the lab. Dewey wished to crawl away as quickly as possible. In his attempt to get away, he ended up only making more noise against the thin metal. Fenton's eyes shot to the grate. "There! In the vents!"
Dewey had never moved so fast. Shifting backwards, he made his way towards the open as fast as he could. Once he was out in daylight, he jumped to his feet, dashing away from the building as far as his legs would take him. His lungs burned and blood pounded in his eardrums, but he wouldn't stop for nothing. He would screamed from general fear if his voice weren't caught in his throat. It was probably a good thing, lest Gizmo Duck find him.
He didn't know how long he'd been running, but his legs finally made him stop. Leaning against a building to catch his breath, he replayed everything he had just heard. He had to tell someone, but who? He looked up, and as if in answer, in the distance he saw the bright blue W of the Waddle building.
Hey guys! Sorry an update took forever! I was wrapping up another one of my fics, and then whenever I sat own to work on this one, I got inspiration for my personal WIP and yadda yadda. But I'm here now! Thanks for reading!