"Wait, you would kill a child?" Magica 2 said, frowning. "Is a troublemaker, true, but killing seems rather permanent."
"Of course it's permanent," Magica 1 sneered. "I wouldn't want her to escape and bother me again. The only good duckling is a dead duckling."
Webby's eyes, which were the only part of her body, she could move, slid from one Magica to the other. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but she was with Magica 2. She couldn't open her mouth and she glanced over at Webby 2, who might've been paralyzed with fright regardless. She was whimpering through her closed beak.
"Now, where was I?" Magica 1 mused, prodding Webby's chin with her staff. She hoisted Webby into the air with magic. A feral, cat-like smile crossed her beak and she used her staff to fling Webby 1 bodily into the wall. Before she connected, Magica 2 interfered, keeping her from colliding and possibly breaking her back on the concrete. She lowered her to the ground.
"What do you think you're doing?" Magica 1 demanded, incensed. "I am going to kill her!"
"Children are off-limits," Magica 2 said, scowling. "You want to kill Scrooge, then be my guest. But his brats are not part of this."
Magica 1 cursed an impressive amount and Webby's eyes bulged. She saw the shock mirrored in her counterpart's eyes. That...was a sentence that was never going on a kids' TV show. Webby tried to struggle, but she remained locked in place. She would've cursed too if she could have.
And if she weren't positive that somehow, somewhere, her granny would hear.
"You're getting in my way," Magica 1 informed her and wielded her staff like a weapon. She aimed a blast for Magica 2, who moved away before it connected and a hole appeared in the wall. Webby screamed through her closed beak and hoped someone might hear her. It was hard to direct a sound when you couldn't open your mouth.
"Shut up!" Magica 1 snapped. Webby collapsed to the ground, as Magica 1's attention was on her counterpart. The breath was knocked out of her and she could tell that the other Webby wanted to ask how she was, but she still couldn't move. Until Magica 1 broke the spell holding them frozen in place, neither one of them could call for help.
Magica 1 halted suddenly, sniffing like a bloodhound with a scent. Magica 2 stopped as well, about to parry a blast that never came.
"Is that Scrooge's number one dime I spy in the distance?" Magica 1 asked, her eyes gleaming with avarice. She weighed the options, glancing from Webby to the dime and then back. Webby 1 could barely breathe-it felt like someone had dumped a weight on her chest. She tried screaming Scrooge's name, but through a clenched beak, it was unintelligible.
"Webby!" the boys cried and started toward her. Magica scoffed, mending the broken wall, and glanced over at Webby 1.
"Oh, well, I can always take the dime after I kill you," she said, shrugging.
Webby 1 felt her hopes wither and die, but...a small part of her held out for the boys to rescue her. Of course, the fact that she needed rescuing at all rankled her and she fought harder against whatever spell Magica had placed on her.
The sound of a grappling hook startled her. Magica 1 snarled and then roared in fury when Magica 2 decided to hop onto a broom and fly over the wall. Evidently, Scrooge's number one held much more appeal than preventing Magica 1 from murdering an innocent child. Webby didn't know how to feel about that.
When Magica 1 gave chase, the spell holding the girls broke and they sagged onto the ground.
"I thought she was going to kill us," Webby 2 said in a hoarse voice. "No offense, but I want to go home now."
"None taken," Webby 1 gasped, shuddering at the close call. She glanced at the wall, where the hole had been, and then heard yelling. Now that Magica had opened the way, regardless of whether they could climb the wall (which they couldn't since it was a smooth concrete structure), they weren't isolated anymore. Webby 1 waited for her breathing to return to normal and looked for something to vault herself over. Did she have her grappling hook on her?
Reaching into her backpack, she pulled both her grappling hook and her heat-seeking goggles. Bingo. She pushed herself to her feet, offered a hand to Webby 2, and assessed the wall to decide the best place to shoot the hook. Webby 2 looked baffled.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"No time, just trust me," she said. "I am you. From another dimension. Come on."
Webby 2, albeit reluctantly, offered her a hand and Webby 1 pulled her into her, She shot the grappling hook onto the top of the wall and then, before they crashed, she swung them up and over. They landed in a sprawl, Webby 1 on her feet but Webby 2, clumsier, on her back. Webby 1 helped her up wordlessly and they pelted down the corridor to where the two Scrooges and the boys were waiting, as were the two Magicas, who were circling the group like a shark scenting blood in the water.
"Oh, look, our company's here," Magica 1 said dismissively. She aimed a blast for Scrooge 2's number one dime, which he was holding up, and Webby 1 launched herself at her and kicked her in the head. Magica 1, not expecting the attack, crumpled and then snarled, rounding on the duckling. Her eyes narrowed.
"You. Little," Magica snapped and then grated out a word that would've gotten Webby 1 in a lot of trouble if she'd ever uttered it in front of an adult. She snarled, rounding on Webby 1, who jumped out of the way of another blast.
"Okay, we got them here, now what?" Huey asked. "Because I'm not seeing a way out of this maze."
"You get the dime," Magica 1 growled as successive blasts kept missing Webby 1 and going wildly astray, breaking chunks off the maze walls. Webby 1's beak curved, contemplative. This could work. She wished she could telepathically communicate to them how they could break their way out of the maze. She also wished she knew a way...oh, but she did. She grinned.
"Guys, let her attack me!" Webby 1 said.
"Are you crazy? Why would we let her do that?" Dewey said and tripped Magica 1, who snarled and rounded on them.
"I have a plan," Webby 1 said.
"And that plan involves being bait?" Dewey asked, incredulous.
"Trust me," she repeated.
In her plan, however, she had failed to account for one person. Webby 2. Magica 1 grabbed her and held her up in front of her like a human shield. Webby 2 struggled and Magica just grinned, stroking the feathers on her head.
"Give me the dime and I'll give her back," Magica 1 said sweetly.
"Yeah, right," Dewey said. "You'll probably kill her as soon as we do."
Magica 1 shrugged, as if a child's life meant nothing to her. It probably didn't. Magica 2 blasted her, being careful not to hit Webby 2, and Magica lost her grip on both child and staff. She rolled, hitting the wall. Webby 1's plan could be salvaged. She was excited about that, although not so excited she was losing focus.
If she could convince the two Magicas to attack each other, they could knock themselves out and destroy the walls surrounding them in the process. That ought to be enough for them to escape or at least find the exit.
Louie pulled Webby 2 out of the path of a rampaging Magica 1, who was out for blood.
"What's your plan?!" Webby 2 shrieked, shaking in terror.
"Oh, this is pretty much it," Webby 1 said, watching as the two Magicas duked it out. Every time one of their gazes drifted to the dime, the other one took the initiative and attacked her. They blasted a hole through the wall, large enough for the others to flee through, and Webby didn't hesitate. She beckoned for them all to follow her; both Magicas were too preoccupied to notice that their quarry was escaping.
"Magica won't be controlling the exits anymore because she's too focused on fighting herself," Webby 1 stated. "That means that the true exit should reveal itself soon enough."
They skidded next to a fountain in the next corridor over. Webby 1 could hear Magica swearing and threatening herself. It would've been amusing if they weren't in mortal peril. Webby 1 knew that the instant one of them was defeated, the other one would either go after her or after Scrooge's number one dime. Or both, depending on which Magica survived. She shuddered and so almost didn't notice the boys flinching at the sight of the fountain.
"Guys?" she asked.
"Talk later," Louie said. "Run now."
They pelted down another corridor, took a right, and wound up in front of a small grave. Perplexed, Webby 1 glanced at the others. Scrooge 2 cringed this time and she read the inscription quickly. "Here lies Della Duck and her sons…"
"We don't have time for this!" Scrooge 1 complained, although his voice was softer than it might've been. Scrooge 2 shook himself out of it, albeit with some difficulty, and they continued along the maze. There were dead-ends, but precious few of them. It looked like the dead-ends had been manufactured by the Magicas as a means of preventing them from reaching each other.
It was several minutes before Webby 1 realized that the sounds of fighting had ceased.
"Guys?" she said. "I don't hear anything."
"Maybe they knocked each other out?" Dewey asked, hopeful.
"We're not that lucky," Louie replied.
"So, which one won?" Huey asked.
"Let's not stay and find out!" Scrooge 1 said, brisk, all business now. They didn't stop to catch their breath but continued rushing down the hallways and counting off where they couldn't go or which doubled back on itself. Webby's heart pounded and she crashed into the adults when both Scrooges stopped suddenly. The triplets likewise barreled into their uncle and, of all of them, only Webby 2 had continued.
"What's wrong?" she asked, seeing everyone stopped.
"Mom?" Dewey asked gently, reaching out to what had to be an illusion. There were tears in his eyes and the boys approached her slowly, reverently.
"Not your mother! No time to explain!" Scrooge 1 snapped. He waved his cane through Della's form and it dispersed before reforming. The boys didn't budge and he growled, exchanging a look with the other Scrooge. They pulled the boys, as well as a meek Webby 1, along.
The end was in sight, Launchpad standing near the Sunchaser, but Magica 1 blocked their exit. She tossed an unconscious Magica 2 at Scrooge 2's feet.
"Turns out she wasn't much of a fighter," Magica 1 said. "You want her, you can keep her."
Despite Magica 1's words, she seemed to be holding herself unnaturally still, as if she were in a fair amount of pain. Webby 1 surmised that the other Magica had removed her healing as a way of punishing her for fighting against her. She couldn't say she was surprised, although she wished that Magica 2 had won instead. She backed up, heart in her throat.
Scrooge 2 knelt at Magica 2's side and checked her pulse. "She's still alive. Just unconscious."
"I knew you'd care," Magica 1 sneered. "You have a soft spot for her. I can tell. That'll get you killed."
She raised her staff again and this time, she visibly cringed as though the movement was grating against her ribs. Webby smiled suddenly, glancing at the dimensions of the corridor, and bounced from one wall to another. Magica snarled, aiming at her and missing every time. Webby hadn't been trained by Bettina Beakley for nothing.
Although it was tempting to hit her in the head and possibly knock her out, that was too risky. She aimed for Magica's no doubt re-broken ribs and kicked hard, putting all her strength behind it. Several other ribs cracked beneath her foot and Magica screamed, crumpling. She curled into a ball and then cried out again, as the movement must've triggered an enormous amount of pain. Webby was unsympathetic.
"Is she going to be all right?" Webby 2 asked, anxious.
"Let's go!" Scrooge 1 said. "She'll...she'll recover. Eventually."
"Curse you, McDuck. And you, you little brat. You haven't seen the last of me…" Magica spat and then screamed again. Tears streaked her cheeks.
"You haven't seen the last of me either, Aunt Magica," a shadowy voice said from behind Webby and Webby turned, spying Lena at her back.
Magica might've had a retort, but she was too stricken to utter it. Instead, they made their exit, carrying Magica 2's unconscious form back toward the Sunchaser and ignoring Launchpad's questions about her or what was going on.
The mood was decidedly haunted about the Sunchaser as everyone settled down. No one took Launchpad up on his offer for Darkwing Duck and instead, everyone sat, thinking about whatever worst fear had assailed them. Webby 1 closed her eyes. This was going to be a long flight back.
Although Scrooge 2 wasn't happy about it, he didn't forbid Webby 2 from returning with Minima to help Webby with Lena. He was just glad to have Webby 2 back and they passed through the portal with a limp, unresponsive Magica in tow. Webby glanced back at her counterpart, who waved her good arm, and she waved back.
"I'll return in a couple days, I promise," she called through the mirror. She couldn't just run back here and then there again. She owed her grammy an explanation and the boys owed her an apology. Besides, now that she was back in her own dimension, everything felt almost right, but like a box that was now slightly too small to hold its contents. Had it changed or had she? She wasn't sure.
Webby found the boys waiting outside the archive room. They crowded her and Scrooge. Scrooge begged off, saying he had something to do (presumably a way to keep Magica from harming herself or anyone else), and left Webby with the boys. The triplets mobbed her, tackling her to the ground in a move that they'd never have done before. They must've been out of their minds with worry.
"We're so sorry! We shouldn't have teased you and forced you through the mirror! And then it broke 'cuz of us and we're sorry!" they cried in unison. Webby could suddenly see why the triplets in the other universe had a problem with them speaking at once. It could be disconcerting if you weren't used to it.
They helped her back up, but they were all hugging her.
"We won't treat you like a third wheel again, we promise," Huey said.
"And we're not gonna be mean to you just 'cuz you're a girl," Dewey added.
"And we won't chase you away if you wanna play with us," Louie finished. Then he did a double take. "Wait. Where's your dolly?"
Webby smiled mischievously. "I left it in the other dimension. I'm gonna try going around without it now. I wanna be like the other Webby and brave and not get scared in the face of danger. She's so badass."
"You mean you met our counterparts? On the other side?" Huey asked and Webby nodded.
"I'll tell you all about it...if you promise not to treat me like a little kid," she said.
"We promise!" they chorused.
"And if you let me go on your adventures with you," she added.
"We promise!"
"In the other universe, Webby is friends with you guys and they treat her as an equal. I want that," she said. She never would've dared say it and not back down before. But she held herself firm and met their gazes head-on. "And I mean it. Stop treating me like I'm a little kid and like I'm not as good as you just 'cuz my Grammy is the housekeeper and your nanny."
"Wow…" Louie said, stunned. "You've changed."
Webby's smile turned sly. "I had a little help."
She ducked her head back into the archive room, where she could see her counterpart still there, fingering her friendship bracelet where Lena lived.
"And you'll get to meet them soon if Uncle Scrooge doesn't have a fit about us going back and forth between the dimensions," she added.
"Tell us what happened!" Huey pressed.
"We were so worried! We thought something bad had happened to you and we couldn't do anything about it and then the note turned to confetti…" Dewey said.
"Something bad did happen, but it's okay," Webby said and grinned broadly. "I had an adventure. Let's get some cookies and milk and I'll tell you all about it."
"Can you do this?" Webby 1 asked anxiously. When Minima held up the bracelet on her wrist to examine it, she tensed. The young girl, who was maybe a year or two older than Webby 2, unnerved her. She reminded Webby 1 too much of Magica for her own comfort. It was funny, because Lena was technically of Magica too, more so than Minima, but Webby had always seen Lena as a separate entity. Minima looked like a mini-Magica, which was giving her the willies considering how close Magica had come to killing her.
"It'll take a while," Minima said, frowning in consideration. "And you're going to have to take the bracelet off."
Webby 1 cradled the bracelet. She was loath to remove the last bit of Lena she had left. She bit the inside of her cheek.
"But you can do this?" she pressed.
"Minima can do anything," Webby 2 said, confident and smiling at her best friend. Minima offered her a small smile back. Webby 1 got the feeling that such expressions were rare for Minima and Minima had an emotionally closed off feeling that warned Webby 1 not to approach her.
"I can," Minima confirmed. "And since my aunt Magica's magic is similar to hers, I can draw upon hers and use it to craft Lena a new body."
Webby 1's eyes filled with tears she refused to shed. She felt like she was asking a great deal, to trust this relative stranger, but her counterpart clearly did. With misgivings, she removed the bracelet from her wrist and handed it to her. As she did, she thought she heard Lena object, but that could've been in her mind.
"I'll bring her back to you," Minima said. "I promise. She'll be safe with me."
Webby 1 stepped back from the mirror and Minima plucked the bracelet from her fingers and stepped back too, returning to her side.
"Don't worry," Minima said. Webby 1 just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "She'll be back before you know it."
"I hope so," Webby 1 managed through a tight throat.
"Bye, me from another dimension," Webby 2 said and then smiled mischievously. "For now."
