The Trojan Horse Ploy
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
I actually wanted to do a "good witch vs. bad witch" fight, sort of like in "The Doomspell" by Cliff McNish (VERY good book! Maybe too violent for little kids!) and I'm kicking around the idea of trying that again with Magica vs. Morgana.
It was late one evening. Scrooge McDuck was heading home to Duckburg in Launchpad's plane. Then he spotted something: Magica De Spell on her broomstick, chasing after a little girl on foot. The child was crying and running and stumbling from fear and exhaustion.
"LAUNCHPAD!" screamed Mr. McDuck.
"I see them, Mr. McDee! Hang on, I'm going to buzz that female buzzard!" Launchpad said.
And Launchpad revved up the plane and chased after Magica. Even if Launchpad was flying an old-fashioned "puddle jumper", a propeller plane, he was soon was flying right behide Magica...the propeller was uncomfortably close to her. Magica SHOULD of known Launchpad wouldn't hurt her (much) but evil people think everybody thinks the way THEY do. And besides, accidents happen...
Magica scrammed, cursing.
Launchpad landed the plane. He and Mr. McDuck got off the plane. The little girl Magica had been chasing was hiding from them under some bushes; they saw her feet sticking out.
"Child! We won't hurt you! Come out!" Mr. McDuck said.
"Go away! Just because you chased off Magica doesn't mean you're my friends! You could be just as bad she is, for all I know!" the little girl said.
"We could be, but we're not. Magica's our enemy. We fought her LOTS of times, right, Mr. McDee?" Launchpad asked.
"Right! As sure as my name's Scrooge McDuck, Magica's no friend of ours!" Mr. McDuck said.
"Scrooge McDuck? I've heard Magica talk about you. Usually using words I'm not supposed to know. She doesn't like you one little bit. So...I'll trust you. I got to trust somebody, I guess." Little Girl said.
"What's your name, child?" Mr. McDuck asked.
"And why was Magica chasing you?" asked Launchpad.
"My name is Helen Equis. Magica was chasing me because I'M a witch, too. I was born with magical powers. Only I want to use mine for good. Magica kidnapped me- tried to force me to use my abilities for evil. She threatened to steal my powers from me if I didn't cooperate. So I ran away from her!" Helen said.
"Well, that was very brave of you, Helen. You'll be safe now. I'll take you home to my mansion where you can play with my nephews and Webby. Webby's grandmother, my nephews' nanny, will take good care of you, until we can find you a permanent home.
And so, Helen was given one of the multi-numerous spare rooms in Mr. McDuck's mansions to sleep in "for the duration". The triplets and Webby tried to make her feel welcome, tried to be friendly...but there was something weird about Helen.
Helen acted awfully mature for a kid. She used big words the mythical average kid does not know the meaning of. Correctly.
She did not know about kid things: anime, video games, rap groups, she was as clueless as an adult.
But the weirdest thing of all was: she did not seem to be talking with her own voice. Ever see those old "Godzilla" movies where the people's lip movements don't match what they are saying because they are dubbed in English from the original Japanese? Well, Helen's beak movements often did not match what she was saying. Not as often as if she was not talking in English...just as if she was using somebody else's voice.
"And who do we know has magical powers...and an accent?" Huey asked his brothers.
"Magica De Spell? But Magica was chasing her! Unca Scrooge and Launchpad SAW her." Dewey pointed out.
"Maybe they saw her...and maybe it was an illusion. A trick." Louie said.
"You think Helen is Magica? In disguise? And she's using a fake voice to hide her accent?" Webby asked.
" I'm almost certain! But how can we PROVE it? She's been sucking up to Unca Scrooge something awful! She keeps flattering him and catering to his ego! " Huey said.
"Even Grandma said Helen was apple-polishing Unca Scrooge. And she keeps trying to get him to take her inside the Money Bin- or to sneak in!" Webby said.
"The trouble is, what grown-up would believe us?" Huey asked.
"Launchpad would. At least he would listen and not laugh. Come to think of it, I think even Gizmoduck is starting to smell a rat- he's had to politely toss "Helen" out of the Bin four times already!" Webby pointed out.
So the kids spoke to Launchpad and Giz. Giz might have dismissed them, even if Helen seemed a little fishy...but Launchpad pointed out that the Triplets and Webby have been right about this sort of thing BEFORE. A LOT OF TIMES.
"But what can we do about it?" Launchpad asked.
"We could give Helen an opportunity to steal the Dime...and see what happens." Giz suggested.
So the next time Helen was hanging around the Bin AGAIN, Gizmoduck told her:
"I have to use the little gizmoduck's room. Could you please stand guard for me?"
"Oh, of course, Mr. Gizmoduck, sir!" said "Helen" all sugary sweet.
Naturally, Giz did NOT go very far. Just far enough so that "Helen" could not see him, but he could still see her. Launchpad and the kids were waiting for him. They wanted to see what "Helen" would do.
"Helen" changed into Magica and TRIED to cast a spell on the door to the safe in the Money Bin. However, Giz had polished the metal door to a mirror-shine. It reflected the spell right back at Magica. She nearly fried herself.
"Aha! Thought you fooled me, didn't you Magica? I was suspicious of "Helen", so I gave you enough rope...well, you know the rest!" Gizmoduck said.
"Argh! And I thought by pretending to be an innocent child I could "snow" my way into the Money Bin!" Magica said. Then, Poof!, she was gone.
The End.
(1) There is a Russian Ducktales story: / translatec?hlen&uducktales. where apparently (Like I read Russian? )Magica changes herself into an infant duck who looks suspiciously like a baby Webby to try to steal the Lucky Dime. I did NOT know about that story's existence until AFTER I wrote this.