Perrie was in her desk, several science equipment over the wooden table. Eyes squinting, she carefully put a small drip in a flask filled with blue-colored liquid. She wiped off the sweat of anxiety she didn't even know she had excreted.
"Lass!" Scrooge's voice cried. "It's time!"
The sudden shout made Perrie lose her grip on the tube she was holding, and the liquid inside flew into the flask, which exploded in her face, covering it with black soot. Coughing, she waved her hand around from all the smoke it caused, taking off her lab coat and hanging it on her door.
Perrie McDuck's shares the same room as Webby's; except that she had a veil draped and acting as a wall between the two, and a messy room with books all over the floor with clothes strewn messily on her bed would be exactly what someone as 'busy child prodigy' would do.
Perrie quickly brushed off the soot on her clothes - a white hoodie and a high-waisted jean shorts with black capris leggings - and grabbed a green bag when she was almost out.
"Lass, you know I've called you too many times," Scrooge said, eyeing his youngest great-niece.
"I was in the middle of a quick experiment," Perrie explained. "And besides, I know you would wait for me no matter what."
"Fair point," Scrooge said, before a commotion started in the TV room.
"Any big plans today?" Scrooge raised his eyebrow, starting the conversation with Louie, who was in the room watching some show called 'Ottoman Empire'.
"Thought I might move to the big TV in few hours, you know," Louie said, burping and opening a can of Pep. "Hey, do we have any more Pep?"
"There's six full cans right here!" Perrie exclaimed, pointing to a table full of the popular carbonated drink - all of them still containing the familiar purple liquid.
"I only love that first sip. Peak carbonation. Never mind, I'll call Beakley." He took out his phone, but later said, "Oh man, my phone's dead. Guess I gotta buy a new one."
"Just charge it!" Perrie said. He's killing me.
"Who cares? We're rich."
"No, I'M rich," Scrooge snapped, dragging Louie by the hoodie. "That's it, laddie, you're coming to the office to learn the value of a hard day's work."
"No!" Louie cried. "Please, Perrie, help me!"
"Yeah, Uncle Scrooge's right, you deserve a lesson on hard labor," she smirked, looking at Louie's horrified face as he got tugged into the limo.
Webby had just caught Dewey sneaking in her room, and turns out he just wanted to know about his mom Della.
"I've been looking into her for years, but there's nothing. No photos, no records. No one even talks about her. One time, a piece of junk mail with her name on it showed up at our door, and a day later, Scrooge bought the post office, and I never saw our mailman again."
"Pretty sure he retired," Dewey gulped. "But...what do you know about Perrie and Arya?"
Webby gasped. "What do you mean?"
"Like, everything, everything."
"Oh!" Webby said. "Well, Perrie was born Esperanza Edalyn Antonia McDuck in April 15th 2007, labelled a genius child prodigy when she was young and plays the violin. Arya Amelia Arabella McDuck is born October 4th 2005, is rebellious, loves to find trouble, and is famous for being mischievous. Also-"
"Not what I mean," Dewey interjected, "I meant...their backstories. Like who were their parents."
"Oh...why?"
"Because they strike me as suspicious. They never mentioned their past, not even once."
"Actually...I don't know it either. I've looked into them, but there's nothing, just like Della's case."
"So, who are we gonna ask?"
The limo crashed into the Bin. "You have arrived at your destination," Launchpad said.
"Be back at six, Launchpad. We have a long, hard day of work ahead of us," Scrooge said, with Louie groaning.
"Come on, a little hard work isn't that bad," Perrie said. "Besides, the fats in your body will clump in your stomach and you'll become obese if you don't work every time."
"Great, now there's another boring nerd in the house," Louie cried. "Can I call you Nerd #2? 'Cause Huey's got the - ow!"
Perrie had smacked him in the head. "Enough chit-chat. I hate it when people call me a nerd."
"Thanks for letting us tag along, Uncle Scrooge, but I suddenly very much have to use the bathroom," Dewey said.
"Oh, and I will show you where to go to that place," Webby offered, taking Dewey's hand and running away.
Perrie looked on suspiciously. Now something is very wrong between the two. Besides, Webby has seldom been to the Bin; how could she know where the bathroom is?
Her consciousness returned when she saw Louie trying to sneak away with them and Scrooge grabbed him by his hoodie - again.
The three entered Scrooge's office from an elevator. It was fancy and neat considering office standards, but Louie only got his eyes on the money pool.
"The money!" He cried. "You want me to count the gold, maybe go out to spend some gold to make sure it hasn't expired?"
"There's more to money than just money," Perrie said. "Sure, we use it for trading goods and demonstrate a sense of power, but even a little penny can be meaningful. Like my lucky dime. I always keep it by my side."
"Perrie's right, laddie," Scrooge said. "Gold is a beautiful thing." He unveils a dime on a velvet pillow. "For instance-"
"Uncle Scrooge!" Perrie said, dragging Louie from the pool. "I caught him trying to dive."
"Are you out of your head? You'll crack your skull open!"
"But you swim in money all the time!"
"Yes, but I worked hard to perfect that skill, building muscles and dexterity. If you want something, you work hard to get it!"
"Mr. McDuck, the board is here to see you." A calm voice from the message machine said.
"I thought there wasn't a board meeting today," Perrie raised her eyebrow.
"I thought so," Scrooge said. "But no matter! Come, lad and Coriander! Welcome to the fast-paced world of business!"
Louie groaned as Perrie dragged before flashing a smirk at the girl, "'Coriander'?"
"I like that flower," she mumbled.
"As you know, revenues are down in our international markets, including Dawson, Lillehammer, El Dorado, and Culebra," Bradford began. The three looked bored as they hear on. Perrie was listening to k-pop songs on her MP3 player, and turned on the sound.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the door banged open. "Shut up, everyone, I've done something brilliant!" A voice cried.
"Ah, Gyro!" Scrooge said, a smile plastered on his face too, as if he was glad he was here.
"Gyro Gearloose," Perrie whispered to Louie, "Head of Research and Development. And I happen to be his-"
"Intern, make sure you hand over your thesis for my latest project by tomorrow," he ordered to Perrie, who merely nodded.
"I'm sorry, but we-" Bradford began.
"Apology accepted. Now, try to keep up with my mind-numbing genius."
"Gyro, what did we say about interacting with other people?" Scrooge said, like a mother talking to her aggressive child.
"The cards. Fine." Gyro took out a stack of cards and reads off them, "Hello, Mr. McDuck...and others. Are you tired of all those single-use gadgets cluttering up your junk drawer? There's got to be a better way." His tone seems unenthusiastic and reluctant. He unboxes a little robot with a bulb for a head.
"Meet Lil' Bulb! A tiny, all purpose robot that does it all!"
"Wait, what does it do?"
"It. All. Lil' Bulb is an artificially intelligent personal robot helper. He can make toast, find your keys, serve as a booklight for your late-night reading! You'll never have to do anything yourself again!"
Perrie saw Louie getting intrigued and gasping in delight. She muttered "Great, just what we need to get him into hard labor. An AI robot helper."
"And how will you ensure this one won't achieve sentience and turn evil like all the others?"
Perrie knew very well about this reputation Gyro has. Every single invention he made, every little object, whether AIs, bags, even a single pen had turned evil. But again, he always claimed that they were -
"Only HALF my inventions turn evil. The other half are just wildly misunderstood," he said. There it is.
"Request denied," Bradford said when Lil' Bulb performs a throat-slitting gesture to the Board and shaking its fist. Gyro growls about showing the ones present that his latest invention is great before leaving.
"A robot that can do anything for you?" Louie cried. "How can you say no to that?"
"And it added oil to the fire," Perrie smacked her forehead - a little too hard. "Ow."
"Part of hard work is knowing how to work with others! My Board are the only people cheaper than I am. I trust them completely to make good financial decisions-"
"Indeed. Which is why we've called this meeting to discuss cutting your unnecessary spending here...at the Money Bin."
"UNNECCESSARY?!" Scrooge hollered. "I'm Scrooge McDuck! I don't spend one penny more than I need to!"
"It says here that you're spending $50 million on magical defense."
"How ironic," Perrie muttered. "A magic hater using magic."
"Do you have ANY IDEA how many vengeance curses I have on my head?!" Scrooge screamed, not only to the Board but Perrie too.
"I'll take you to my office," Perrie said to Louie, pushing the latter out of the conference room.
Perrie's office is slightly smaller, but totally worth a time staying there. She had shelves, a classic wooden desk and chair, an old-fashioned grandpa rug, trophies and certificates, pictures of herself and the family, a music stand in one corner with papers over the floor, and a radio set on her drawer.
Louie sat on a backup chair Perrie had and she flipped through an album.
"So..." Louie said. "You're sort of Scrooge's assistant or..."
"No, I'm just Gyro's intern. I don't deal with business stuff. Uncle Scrooge just gave me an office."
"And aren't you supposed to be in school?"
"Our timetable is...special, possibly. In the Science Education, we have lessons during Mondays and Thursdays where we only make presentations and lessons and receiving new projects. We spend the rest of the week completing the assignments."
Louie tried to peer in the album she was looking, but she closed it quickly, sending a small gust of wind to his face. "Privacy, please."
"Fine."
He walked around the room, kicking the grandpa rug and stared at the achievements Perrie made over the years. Violin competitions, music examinations, invention competitions, etc. He seemed so small compared to her.
"Who were your parents?" He blurted when he noticed that there wasn't a picture about her them at all: only Scrooge, Webby, or Arya were constantly seen.
He could feel her stiffen. "I never knew them. My mom...disappeared years ago, and my dad before that."
"Oh." He looked down. "I never knew mine either." Another thing in the back of his mind was what his brothers and himself never asked her was her relation to the family. He just assumed she was his cousin.
A few minutes of tension and awkwardness passed until Perrie said, "Um...there's a Pep vending machine downstairs."
Louie had already left, though.
It had been hours and was close to six o' clock. And Louie had yet to return. Perrie had thought he was just exploring, until she realized that wasn't Louie's style to walk around sipping Pep.
Perrie had checked everywhere including the money pool, but Louie wasn't there.
She panted, now at the Ground floor. Just then, she saw a familiar duck in a green hoodie talking to Gyro, who handed him Lil' Bulb, the invention the Board had rejected earlier.
"Louie?" She said. Louie turned around and went on a frenzy: he seemingly wanted to run away from her. Perrie could tell he was hiding something.
"What's going on?" She said.
Louie initially looked terrified before calming himself down and said, "Perrie! It's nothing! I'm just-"
Perrie's photographic memory went back to when she searched Scrooge's office: the Number One Dime on Scrooge's pillar was missing.
"You lost Uncle Scrooge's Number One Dime, did you?" She said and Louie stopped.
"Alright, yes! I lost his dime!" he cried. "But don't worry, I'll get it."
"But-" Perrie began, before Louie pushed her in an elevator and the doors slammed in her face.
Perrie came out of the elevator, which had gone to Scrooge's office. She had an urge to run to the floor and help Louie, but turns out she don't have to.
Because he was right at the meeting room, where she could see him trying to catch the dime, which was unwittingly kicked away by the Board members.
"You cannae get rid of the bin! You may think they're crackpots and weirdoes-"
Suddenly, the wall behind Scrooge broke and a huge Lil' Bulb appeared, Gyro clinging for dear life. Perrie's eyes widened. "When did he-"
"Just a little malfunction! Definitely not evil!" Gyro cried. "And remember my thesis, Intern!"
"He's a lunatic," Perrie could only muster as she watched the battle between man and machine.
"Perrie's right," Scrooge said casually. "And if you fire them, they're definitely going to seek revenge."
Bradford suddenly looked nervous at the commotion behind. "Uh, all in favour of keeping the bin and everyone in it far away from our offices?"
"Aye!" All three of the Board cried.
Louie clambered out of the desk. "Come on!"
He ran to the vault entrance, as the dime rolled towards the sea of gold below.
"nonononononono!" Louie cried.
The Dime fell down, disappearing with a twinkle.
"Of~ course," Louie sighed.
Perrie went to the vault and saw Louie down in the pile of money, looking for the dime.
"So much the time, so much the time," Louie muttered, "Oh, a quarter. Wait, there it is!" His eyes caught on the familiar silver old coin.
Gyro and the robot crashed in the Bin as the scientist examined the fault.
"Oh, I know what went wrong. This is a 75-watt bulb. Lil' Bulb's only built for 50." He checked his pockets for a spare bulb, laughing. "Haha, he just went a little mad with power."
"The electricity and the political kind," Perrie said sarcastically.
Gyro changed the bulb, which disassembled itself, spilling its contents on top of Louie. "Whoa, what the-"
Perrie snickered at Louie in a complete mess.
"So, you write me a check, or..." Gyro said.
Scrooge went back to his office just to find a wheezing, panting Louie and Perrie simply looking at him. "Uncle Scrooge," she addressed, her grey eyes turning to gaze at her great-uncle.
"There you two are," Scrooge said, settling his stare on Louie. "Oh, don't be so dramatic. A little work never hurt anybody."
"I'm proud of you, lad," Scrooge complimented. "Been a full day at the office, eh? I think you earned this."
"Your Number One Dime?" Louie blurted aloud.
"That's not my lucky dime; I never let it out of my sight," Scrooge explained, revealing a necklace he'd worn beneath his shirt: inside was a coin with a 10 engraved on it. "I'm not an idiot. This place is full of lunatics. A dime sure means more when you have to work for it, eh lad?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you," Perrie whispered, nudging Louie's arm. "That was just a decoy."
"Maybe I'll get my own velvet pillow for this baby!" Louie said, holding the dime high up in the air. Just as they were about to get on the limo, he said, "Hold up," and put the dime in the Pep vending machine. Perrie slapped her forehead when Louie realized what he did and shouted in regret, "NO!!!"
Perrie yawned, about to tuck herself in bed before Webby's voice farther away said, "It feels like I don't even know you, Perrie."
"Well, you're my first friend," Perrie answered.
"The boys said that Uncle Donald told them they used to have sisters. But they disappeared. Do you know? I've tried to find them, but failed."
"Well, Super Sleuth Webbigail Vanderquack can always figure something out," Perrie comforted, before Webby said, "Good night, Perrie." Soon, soft snores echoed throughout the room.
"Good night, Webby..." She flipped on her nightlight before saying,
"You're right. You don't really know me."
Woo-hoo! It's finally done! Turns out I can write a whole story in two days! So, I'd probably update within two days or something?? (And take note I won't be updating in Saturdays and Sundays because it's my ✨free time✨
There's a Big Hero 6 The Series reference there (did you guys see it?)
Hope you enjoyed the Louie-Perrie bonding episode.
The usual sneak peek for Chapter 4: The Beagle Birthday Massacre! - Webby, along with Perrie meets two new friends: twins named Lena and Elise. Together with the boys, they must fight the Beagle Boys in order to go home.
So, bye!!!