Twisted Strings of Fate

Chapter 29

After so many years keeping the family curse a secret, it was refreshing to let Launchpad know what was in my heart. But as time went by, there were darker secrets that bubbled to the surface, secrets I never intended to get out.

Della hummed along to the music that blasted from her earbuds, enjoying one of the pop songs from the playlist her sons had made for her. After being on the moon for ten years, she had a lot to catch up on, including the latest hits. While she couldn't account for taste, some of these new songs were to her liking.

Glancing back, she smiled at the thirteen sleeping forms behind her. She had to hand it to her brother, once in a while Donald could be a genius. To solve the problem of having too many bodies and not enough seats, Donald pulled out all the hammocks he owned from his boat plus some unused cargo nets and strung them from the rafters inside Sunchaser. When everyone boarded the plane, they sleepily crawled into the hammocks and fell asleep right away. Not even the roar of the engines woke them up. Even Uncle Scrooge didn't complain about the arrangements as he spilled into a cargo net. The only one who made any sort of comment was Gladstone, who surprised everyone by complimenting Donald on this idea, before putting on a pair of noise-canceling headphones over his ears and cuddling up with a soft blanket.

The vibration of the plane and any kind of turbulence only made the hammocks sway as gently as a baby's cradle. Sunchaser was—contrary to its name—running from the sun, so even after ten hours of flying, the sky was still dark. The only light came from the instrument panel and the lights on the plane's wings. They were far over the Pacific Ocean after a short pit-stop in Hawaii to refuel. They still had three more hours of flying, and according to her phone, it was 6:00 AM in the current time zone. It was strange to have left Duckburg at three in the morning and it still be morning all this time.

Della yawned. She had slept a bit before they took off, but it wasn't enough for her to stay awake for ten hours in the dark by herself. She needed Launchpad to relieve her and was surprised that nobody was awake yet. They must be really tired to sleep all this time.

"Need some company, cuz."

Della jumped, not expecting the voice and a body to drop in the co-pilot's chair. She was glad she hadn't screamed in fright. At least she wasn't sleepy anymore. "Ah, Gladstone. Had a good sleep?"

"Not bad," Gladstone said, stretching. "Probably the best I've had on a plane. Donald should patent the idea. Maybe then he'll get a little bit of good luck." He chuckled.

"And speaking of luck, what does your luck have to do with Charity?" Della asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Gladstone said, folding his arms.

"Going to Tokyolk and helping us find the orb is more than just a little inconvenient," Della continued. "So either you wanted to go to Japan in the first place or you're going to use Charity in some way to get something you want."

"I'm going to use you, too. Doesn't that bother you?" Gladstone asked congenially.

"Not at all," Della said confidently. "I can take care of myself. Charity on the other hand, she's a sweet kid. And even though she's been through a lot this past week, she's still…soft. Innocent. She's going to take it hard if you use her and she gets hurt."

"Do you think so little of me, cousin?" Gladstone asked, no condemnation in his voice.

"I just know that your luck always looks after you regardless of who is in the crossfire," Della said.

Gladstone had the decency to look embarrassed. "Well, to be fair, it's not like I have any control over it. Not to mention, it doesn't keep me in the loop, so sometimes I'm just as much in the dark as everyone else."

"Still…what do you want with Charity?" Della asked again.

"As I told her, it's nothing dangerous. In fact, her part in everything is quite small and boring," Gladstone said.

"Then why keep it a secret?"

"Well, let's just say that there are some people if they knew the extent of my plan, they would mock my intentions," Gladstone said with a shrug. "Besides, Charity and your company isn't the extent of my payment. I also have an arrangement with Uncle Scrooge."

"What arrangement?" Della demanded.

"That's what I'd like to know as well," a raspy, Scottish voice said from behind.

"Good morning, Uncle," Gladstone said without turning around.

"We're past the point of no return," Scrooge said, leaning on his cane. "You might as well divulge all your secrets, Gladstone."

"I don't know. There's always the chance that you'll change your mind," Gladstone said. For once, he looked worried.

"You really think I'll welch on a deal?" Scrooge said. "Especially with family involved?"

"There's always a first time," Gladstone said.

"Spill it," the Scottsman ordered.

Gladstone sighed. "Well, you see, I've gotten myself into a little money trouble with some powerful people in Tokyolk. They didn't take kindly to how things ended and…well…let's just say that they want me dead."

Della's eyes popped open. "Dead? What kind of mess are you getting us into, Gladstone?"

"Let's hear him out," Scrooge said, holding up his hand. "You can yell at him when we know the full extent of his problem. Now, who are these powerful people?"

"The Yakuza."

"You owe the Yakuza money!" Scrooge shouted, pounding his cane against the headrest of Gladstone's seat.

"No. They owe me money!" Gladstone protested. "A large sum in fact. It's just a whole lot more convenient to kill me than to pay me."

"How did that happen?" Della asked.

"Let's just say that the Japanese mob believes that being lucky is also cheating when playing poker," Gladstone said. "I didn't know it at the time, but I was playing against the head of the Yakuza and he owes me two billion."

"Two billion dollars!" Della screamed. The plane dipped before she gained control again.

"Yen not dollars," Gladstone corrected. "But that's still a lot of money. After the boss man lost, he put a hit on my head and told me never to come back to Japan."

"Then why not stay away from Japan?" Scrooge wondered.

"Have you not been to Tokyolk?" Gladstone asked. "It's a wonderful place. I would have easily forgiven the debt if it meant that I could return to Tokyolk."

"So you need me to act as mediator to negotiate with the Yakuza?" Scrooge guessed. "All so that you can party in Tokyolk again?"

"Exactly. I'm so glad you understand," Gladstone said with relief. "Also, you need to do it in a way that doesn't tarnish his honor. They're sticklers about that kind of thing."

"And how do we do that?" Scrooge asked.

"From what I understand," Gladstone began, "is that I can't just forget about the money. That would dishonor him even more than owing me money."

"And killing you isn't dishonorable?" Della yelled.

"Of course not," Gladstone said. "So to appease their honor and remove the price on my head, they either need to win back the money, pay me the debt, or give me something in exchange for the debt. And they're not willing to go with option two."

Scrooge rubbed his forehead. "Gladstone, how do you keep getting into these situations?"

Gladstone smirked. "I'm just lucky, I guess."

When Launchpad woke up, he took the pilot seat from Della who crawled into the nearest hammock with Gladstone's noise-cancelling headphones and a blanket. By this time, most of the passengers were awake and walking around the cabin. Mrs. Beakley was handing out Zip-lock bags full of cereal, and plastic spoons, pouring milk from a jug that was kept in a cooler. It wasn't their usual breakfast since the housekeeper preferred hot meals with tea and toast, but the kids enjoyed the change in diet.

By this time, the sky was beginning to lighten as the sun had finally caught up to them. From each window on the Sunchaser, they could only see the ocean for miles and miles, the sunrise painting the water pink and orange.

Right from the beginning, Charity saw at once how uncomfortable the Duck family was with Jim Starling. And while he looked far different than the Negaduck from before, the memory of his terror still made them wary. Hoping to act both as a buffer as well as an intermediary, Charity stayed close to Jim, sitting by him as they ate breakfast and talking to him shyly of minor subjects. If Darkwing had made her timid, Starling made her even more so. She was uncertain how to act around him. Not only was he her childhood hero and idol for over fifteen years, but she had been in love with him the longest. And while their touching moment last night should have been the perfect ice-breaker, it had only made Charity more nervous being around Jim.

Sensing her mood, Jim took Charity's hand and held it tenderly as they spoke, which brought a pink hue to her cheeks but also opened her up, talking more animated and acting more like herself.

On the other side of the plane, Drake and Fenton sat together and stared at the pair while eating their breakfast mechanically. They hadn't seemed to notice they were so close to each other or that everyone was glancing in their direction regularly.

Drake knew it was jealousy bubbling up inside him, and he didn't stop the feeling from growing. The only thing he couldn't determine was who he was more jealous of: Jim for being the one sitting next to Charity, holding her hand and talking to her, or Charity for being in the presence of one of the greatest actors in the world. He would have easily traded places with either one.

As for Fenton, once again he felt inadequate when it came to holding a corner of Charity's heart. He had just overcome a big hurdle where he felt worthy enough to compete against Darkwing Duck, but he never thought that Jim Starling might actually vie for Charity's affection as well. But as he studied the scene, he was confused over the older duck's intentions. On one hand, his facial expression was a mixture of kindness, caring and sadness. He looked worn and tired but happy. If he had just walked onto the scene with no context, he might have thought this was a father/daughter moment despite the differences between their feathers and beaks. But then again, Jim was holding her hand.

Fenton had to push down every ounce of jealousy he felt as he watched Jim lean over and brush a few strands of hair out of Charity's face. The lovebird leaned into the touch, her face filled with love.

Not that long ago, Fenton had seen that same expression directed to him.

Stop it, Fenton told himself. Remember the curse. Remember the curse.

If his emotions were being pulled back and forth this much, he couldn't imagine what Charity was going through.

Not far away from the pair of males, Dewey, Louie and Webby sat, taking turns watching Charity and Jim talking, and Fenton and Drake's dual stares.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Webby asked through a bite of Cheerios. "I almost feel as if a fistfight is going to break out like on one of those Western movies."

"Don't you dare," Louie said. "We have two more hours in this plane, and I don't have Internet out here, so I need to be entertained by something."

"You don't suppose that Charity really would be truly in love with a guy like Starling, do you?" Dewey asked, chewing thoughtfully. "I mean, what if he is the guy?"
Louie laughed. "Come on. Can you imagine Charity with Negaduck? No way."

"But he's not Negaduck. He's Jim Starling, Hollywood actor, novelist, and misunderstood bad boy. Isn't that what all the girls are looking for?" Dewey asked.

As the three took this in, Huey walked by with the biggest gloating-face anyone in the history of gloating had ever made. Either he was channeling his blue-clad brother or he had earned his Junior Woodchuck badge in dancing, because he did the moon-walk while lowering his hat, then did the robot and ended with the floss. It was a mixture of coolness and lameness, which was Huey's specialty.

"Way to go bro for picking the underdog," Louie said with a smirk. "But isn't your celebration beneath you? Weren't you the one trying to get us to take the moral high ground and not bet at all?"

"Yeah, well…I guess it's kind of nice to see the underdog finally get a little attention," Huey said, who knew exactly how that felt. "And it's also nice to be winning for once. I mean, as long as Charity is happy, I'm happy. But winning is good, too." Huey grinned.

"I guess Starity has more potential than I thought," Louie said, checking his phone. "I'll have to raise their odds on the betting pool."

"No way," Dewey said. "There's no way those two are getting together. He's, like, super old. Old enough to be her dad."

"Maybe if he was a father at sixteen or seventeen," Webby broke in. "But then again, guys could be fathers at the age of twelve or thirteen in some cases."

The triplets looked grossed out considering they weren't much younger than that.

"But the age difference shouldn't be a problem. There are tons of couples that have had successful marriages with a large age gap," Webby continued, ignoring the boys sticking out their tongues and pretending to throw up. "There are some celebrity couples that aren't too far from Charity and Jim's situation. And back centuries ago, it was common for men in their thirties to marry teenagers which was beneficial to both. The girl was young enough to bear the man children to carry on his legacy, and an older man would have established a house, money and a career enough to support a wife and children."

"Webby, why do you tell us these useless facts?" Louie asked.

"They're just interesting," Webby said with a shrug. "And all I'm saying that Charity and Jim as a couple isn't as farfetched as some would think. At least Charity is an adult. Things would be different and really gross ten years ago when Charity was fifteen and Starling was thirty-two, but the difference doesn't seem that bad the older they get. In twenty years, Charity will be forty-five and Starling sixty-two, which doesn't seem as bad since they'll both be old. And as Huey said, if she's happy, why should it make a difference how old Jim is?"

"I thought you were on Fenton's side?" Dewey asked.

"I am," Webby said, looking uncertain. "Well, I mean, it was fun to choose Fenton, but in the end, I'm more on Charity's side. I want her to choose the guy who makes her the most happy. And that can't happen until the curse is broken."

Louie frowned, looking down at his phone. "Webby, you're really taking the fun out of gambling."

Webby smiled. "Your conscience thanks me."

When they landed at Tokyolk's International airport, it was around eight o'clock local time. Luckily for them, they didn't have to go through the main terminal as there was a different protocol with private planes. Since they didn't have a planned departure time, Scrooge had to rent a private hanger for the Sunchaser, and they were directed to a small building to talk to a pair of customs officers. After filling out some paperwork, being questioned and having their bags searched, the officers waved them through after looking at each individual passport. Just as Gladstone said, they hesitated at Charity's birth certificate, but after the tall gander talked to them for a few minutes, they allowed her through, although it didn't seem to be because of what Gladstone said. Speaking in rapid Japanese, they poked at Charity's birth certificate and pointed at her a few times, looking interested and excited before letting them go.

From the customs office, they headed to the street where Gladstone said they would catch a cab to take them downtown.

"It would be cheaper to take public transit," Scrooge grumbled. "Doesn't this city have trains?"

Huey excitedly started spouting facts about the train system in Japan, including the notorious bullet trains that were one of the fastest and safest in the world.

"That's nice, kid. But with the morning commute, there's going to be barely enough room to stand," Gladstone said, patting Huey's head. "It would be better to take a cab. And don't worry about the cost, Uncle. I think I can handle this."

As they came to the front of the airport terminal, they found several cabs waiting for customers including some that could fit their whole group into one vehicle. Gladstone directed them to one of these, a big, blue van with sliding doors. The slim duck that was leaning against the side stood at attention with wide eyes as they came his way. When Gladstone started speaking to him in Japanese, his replies were eager and excited with lots of bows and gestures.

"How much does he want?" Scrooge asked.

"Nothing. He's willing to take us for free," Gladstone said, his expression a mixture of pride. "He only wants in return is a couple of autographs. It's an honor for him to chaffer so many celebrities."

"Celebrities?" Scrooge asked, looking at the group.

"Well, I assume he's talking about you," Gladstone said, pointing at Scrooge. "You must have some notoriety as the richest duck in the world. And I have to admit, I have been known to be mistaken for a movie star or model at times."

Charity frowned as the cab driver rushed to take their bags and put them in the back all the while talking rapidly in Japanese and bowing to each of them. While the others seemed to be okay letting Gladstone's luck get them a free ride, it didn't sit well with Charity. This man was working so hard for them and he would lose money on gas as well as time he could have spent on a paying customer. It just didn't seem right.

When it was her turn for him to take her bag, she pulled out some money from her pocket. She was sure her step-father wanted her to use the money to pay for things she needed, but she couldn't let the cab driver go without any pay.

"Here," she said, handing a few bills over. She wasn't sure what the dollar to yen ratio was, but it would at least be something.

However, the cab driver pushed it away, bowing and speaking.

"I-I don't understand," Charity said with a shake of her head. "I want you to have it."

Coming up from behind, Jim spoke to him in slow but clear Japanese. The driver bowed a few times, smiled and took the money from Charity.

"What did you say to him?" Charity asked.

"He kept saying he wasn't taking money from you, but then he asked if he could have a photo with you, I said that you would agree if he took the money," Jim replied.

The driver had finished packing all their bags and returned with his camera. He gave it to Jim.

"Oh," Charity said as the man stood next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. She smiled at the camera as Jim took their photo.

The man bowed and said something she recognized as "Thank you" in Japanese.

"You're welcome," Charity said, giving him an uneasy bow. "Is this common in Japan?" she asked Jim.

"In Japan, you can never be sure," Jim replied, helping Charity into the van.

It was a tight squeeze to fit fourteen in the van plus the driver, especially with large bodies like Mrs. Beakley and Launchpad, and more than one child ended up in a lap.

"There's not enough seat belts," Mrs. Beakley grumbled, making sure Webbigail was secured in one of the restraints.

Gladstone had taken the front passenger seat for himself and instructed the driver where to go.

Charity was squished between Launchpad and Jim on one of the benches with Dewey sitting on Launchpad's lap but she didn't mind. It was exciting to be in a different country. Before this whole adventure started, she hadn't even been out of the state.

"I didn't know you spoke Japanese," Charity said in a hushed voice to Jim.

"Just enough to get by," Jim whispered back. "The show was more popular in Japan than in America, so I came here quite a few times."

Charity nodded. She actually had some Darkwing Duck comics called Doujinshi from Japan. Unlike manga, Doujinshi were comics made by fans and printed by small companies. While something like that couldn't happen in America with its copy write rules, in Japan it was perfectly legal.

As the van traveled through the tall buildings of downtown Tokyolk, most of the passengers pressed their beaks to the windows or looked over shoulders to look at the sights. Even though the shops, restaurants and people weren't much different from back home, it was the small differences that made Tokyolk interesting.

As he gazed out the window, Louie gasped as they passed a shop that had so much merchandise it spilled out on the streets. Feeling nervous, he reached forward and forced Charity's head to look in a different direction. "Look over there. Is that the Tokyolk tower?" he called out.

As everyone strained to see where Louie had indicated, Charity glanced behind and gave the green triplet a strange expression.

"We're not that close to the tower," Gladstone said from the front.

Louie bit his lower beak, hoping that they had passed the shop and that nobody would see what he had seen. Just as he was relaxing, he spotted a group of teenage girls walking down the sidewalk, their hair curly and dyed white and blue.

"Huh? That's an interesting style of hair," Launchpad said, elbowing his friend and pointing it out. "It looks a lot like yours."

Charity saw the girls and smiled. "It must be from a new anime or something," she said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I think I saw something like that on YouTube," Louie added, hoping this would suffice as an explanation for anything else that would come up. "Uh…Cousin Gladstone, where are we going? To a hotel, right? Is it far?"

"Oh, I thought that we could be dropped off somewhere downtown," Gladstone said at ease. "We can look around for a while until I find the right hotel. The best ones are by the Tokyolk Tower."

Louie's eyes refused to blink, and he held his cellphone so tightly, it almost cracked. Maybe it was time to come clean. "Uh…Charity. Can I talk to you?" he said in a small voice.

"Huh? What is it?" Charity asked.

"Um…It's just…there's something I need to tell you," Louie said with a gulp. "It has to do with…you know…making money for the charity."

Charity narrowed her eyes, remembering the comment from a few days ago. She had forgotten about it with Fenton's family party and everything happening with Starling and her mother, but it came back to her. "What is it?" she asked.

"Well…I may have…done a little more than take bets," Louie said with a gulp.

Before he could explain any more, Launchpad poked at his window. "Wow, there's a lot more of you Charity. And that's Fenton. Oh, and there's me."

Everyone peered out the window, finding the crowd on the street dressing more and more like some of the people inside the van. More girls with dyed hair passed by. Boys dressed in tan, button-up shirts and purple ties spoke to others in brown, leather bomber jackets. A few even had t-shirts with printed decals that looked similar to Darkwing and Negaduck's costumes. Men and women alike were wearing purple or red wide-brimmed hats.

"I think we'll get out here," Gladstone said before speaking to the driver.

The van pulled against the curb, and the driver jumped out to take out their bags.

"Louie, what is going on?" Charity asked as everyone spilled out of the van. "Why is everyone dressed up like us?"

Louie examined the sidewalk. "Well, it started out with a few downloaded movies, but then things sort of got out of hand," he said, not able to look her in the eye.

"Movies? Just how out of hand are we talking about?" Charity asked. She cringed as a few people pointed their cell phones her way and took pictures.

"I was going to tell you after Tokyolk. You weren't supposed to find out this way. And I'm making a ton of money for that charity, you know the one for the orphans and homeless pets," Louie said, hoping to get on her good side.

"I didn't approve any movies or anything like that," Charity said.

"Louie, you better explain yourself right now," Della demanded, taking a stand as his mother.

Louie took a deep breath, ready to tell everything, but Charity looked away, her attention elsewhere. He watched as she wandered to a TV display in a shop window. It was showing a familiar video clip of the Roller Derby on Ithaquack. After a few seconds, it switched to a red panda who spoke to the camera.

"What's he saying?" Charity asked, pressing her hands to the glass.

Jim, coming up from behind, scrunched his brow. "He's talking about a website with the videos. He saying something about a movie being made by an amateur studio that has gone viral on the Internet."

The screen changed again, going to a scene with Launchpad sitting in a hunched posture with a limp Charity next to him. Launchpad held a pill bottle in his hand.

"No. Not that," he said and covered his face. Japanese subtitles appeared on the bottom of the screen.

"Tell me about that day," a female voice said off-screen.

"She was taken to the hospital. They had to pump her stomach," Launchpad said.

"What is this?" Charity asked, watching the scene unfold. She didn't remember any of this, but recognized that it had taken place in the Underworld. Then she recalled something Louie had said, that he had recorded everything as they watched through Apollo's crystal ball or something like it.

"Why didn't she tell me? Why did she keep her feelings a secret? She didn't have to take all those pills. I would have done anything for her. I'm supposed to be her big brother, and I couldn't even protect her against herself," the Launchpad on the screen said.

Charity turned around, taking in that the whole group was watching the TV. Her jaw trembled. She turned to Louie, a mixture of anger and horror on her face. "You put that on the Internet? For everyone to see?"

Louie took a step back. "I-I-I," he stuttered.

Tears welled up in Charity's eyes. "That was private. That…that…I can't believe you," she hissed. Then her eyes fell on Fenton and Drake whose expressions could only be that of pity. They knew. They now knew the darkest part of her.

She turned around and bolted into the crowd.