Karma: No promises, my dude :)
Guest: So, I know in the past, I've mentioned a sequel, but as I write the story, I see no real need for a sequel. Unless you guys want to see some marriage action, and potential children, but as of now, October 2020, One Thing Leads to Another will NOT receive a sequel, unless I think otherwise.
Guest: So, I don't see myself creating another story that would revolve around F.O.W.L as the main villain. The idea of Steelbeak and Heron raising Webby as their own, and raising her as a F.O.W.L agent is intriguing, and I would read a story like it. However, I don't see myself writing it.
Guest: "When am I gonna give Gyro a love interest?" LMAO, the real question is if I'll even give Gyro a love interest. So, the answer is I will not give Gyro a love interest in this story: in OTLTA, Gyro is a minor character, and I think he's been mentioned/seen maybe 4 or 5 times in the past 50+ chapters. The idea of giving him a love interest is so… sudden, and it won't look good, right? The story won't flow. The main characters can have love interests, as their love interests help strengthen the plot, but giving Gyro a love interest this late into the story… it doesn't sit well with me.
Guest: Nope, Gandra and Gyro do not like one another
Boss Teal: LMFAOOOOO
creatura726: Yep, anyone could die :D Welcome to "Jordan's Dark and Twisted Way to Keep His Readers on the Edge of Their Seats" And I need the next chapter of TSSoSM to resume soon!
Luna McDuck: THANK YOU!
IiCaetlyniI27: Honestly, me too :)
Flenners fanfics: Thank you, Flenner :)
Guest: No, but I love that idea!
dalek117: He's definitely suffering
RANDOM: AHH, I love this!
Guest: Honestly, my art skills are nonexistent. My friends Steven is amazing at DT art though :)
creatura726: LMFAOOOOO
After multiple months, here we are :)
Let's do it!
ooo
Louie stayed silent the entire ride to the Cliffs, staring out the submarine window. The shocking news Lena had given him was not sitting well with him, and he took a good look at everyone in the sub, wondering who wasn't going to come back from this mission. He glanced at his Uncle Scrooge, who was carefully watching over his team. Louie's eyes wandered to Dewey, who was probably the closest one to death: he was trying to lift Webby's mood, telling her lame, corny jokes, and he seemed to be making some progress. Louie's eyes wandered over to Henry and Sally. Louie had to admit, he liked Sally, she provided a surge of positivity that the McDuck family lacked, but he still felt wary around Henry though. He scowled when his eyes landed on Gandra: despite her being a bitch, she was still a person. Nobody deserved to die.
How was he supposed to cope with losing any of these people?
He leaned on Lena's shoulder, and she gently cupped his face, giving him a sweet kiss on the forehead. As he watched Dewey and Webby flirt, Louie closed his eyes, and made a silent promise:
I need to keep him safe. I don't care if I die in the process.
ooo
The submarine surfaced near the Cliffs not too long after, and everyone slipped on their headphones, making sure they were functional.
"Wait," Gandra said, placing her hand on Fenton's armoured chest.
"What is it?" Fenton asked, peering over her, spotting two Eggheads. He frowned at his fiancée. "Gandra, it's just 2. We can just—" he tried, but Gandra cut him off with a harsh look.
"This isn't one of your lame Duckburg adventures, Gizmoduck!" she snapped keeping her voice low. "This is F.O.W.L! And on top of that, this isn't Steelbeak, who thought everything was some 50's spy movie. This is the real deal. If Heron spots us, if even one of her Eggheads signal that there are intruders, we're done for." she said sternly, and everyone was taken aback by her sudden determination.
"Well, what should we do?" Lena asked.
Gandra stared at the Eggheads, and spotted a metal pipe.
"Hey, pampered prince!" Gandra barked, pointing to Henry. "What are those pipes for?"
Henry scowled deeply at the nickname, but answered Gandra's question nonetheless. "They're for communication."
Gandra nodded. "I figured. Knowing you, you probably spared no expense building this place," she taunted, to which Henry growled—Gandra made it clear that she knew it wasn't money coming out of his own pocket, but rather F.O.W.L's. "But if we sever this line, then maybe we can get our first issue out of the way."
She turned to Fenton, who nodded. From his armour, a metal arm sprung forward, similar to the ones that had thrown the pies during Lunaris' invasion all those years ago. But instead of pies, the metal arm held a blowtorch. Fenton got to work severing the communication line, and Gandra and Reaper quietly crept towards the two Eggheads.
Scrooge watched as Gandra and Reaper stealthily made their way behind the guards—Gandra raised her hand, which cackled with electricity, and brought it down onto the unsuspecting guards shoulder, knocking him unconscious instantly. Reaper's arm turned into a singular blade, and Scrooge watched with horror as Reaper mercilessly pulled the second Egghead into a chokehold, stabbing his neck. Gandra's face remained expressionless as she kicked both guards off of the ledge, sending them plummeting to their deaths.
"NO—!" Scrooge shouted, but Henry muffled him by putting his hand over his mouth.
Everyone was held back, petrified as Gandra and Reaper returned, their faces passive.
"What in the blazes was that?!" Scrooge growled.
"The solution to our problem!" Gandra snapped right back.
Scrooge scowled. "Those two guard you mindlessly murdered—"
"We're agents of F.O.W.L!" Gandra cried.
Their voices grew louder, and Dewey roughly stepped in between them.
"Stop yelling at each other!" Dewey snapped, keeping his voice low. "Gandra, we're not used to your F.O.W.L ideology of murdering people in cold blood, no matter what they've done, and no matter what faction they're a part of. Scrooge, you need to understand that Gandra's used to this. For once, S.H.U.S.H and F.O.W.L have to work together to eliminate Heron, and that means understanding each other's values, which means…" Dewey squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to say it.
"Which means killing is on the table." Lena finished grimly.
Scrooge huffed, and Gandra rolled her eyes, both refusing to look at one another.
"Dewey and Lena are right," Sally muttered, stepping forward. "Listen, you both know how awful that machine is. At this point, we need to do anything to rescue Duckburg. Killing isn't right, but did you have a better idea, Scrooge?"
Scrooge thought about it. "We could have knocked them unconscious—"
"For how long?" Sally challenged. "Until they regain consciousness, and attack us again? They were trained F.O.W.L agents… none of your S.H.U.S.H tactics would have been able to work on them!"
Scrooge stayed silent.
"I… I should have told you guys this earlier," Henry frowned. "My charter of Eggheads are a little different. I'm not my father, who views them as mindless henchmen." he said, taking a deep breath.
"What are you saying, Henry?!" Scrooge demanded.
"If the person in charge is captured or killed, I taught each of my Eggheads how to work the C.I.L.E. If my mother is captured and imprisoned in this battle, there'll just be another F.O.W.L agent or Egghead to replace her."
Scrooge scowled, and roughly pushed Henry up against the cliff's rocky wall. Dewey and Lena stepped forward to break them apart, but Beakley held them back, her expression stoic. Scrooge clenched his fist, and angrily punched Henry across the jaw, sending him crashing towards the ground. Before Henry could recover, the trillionaire then roughly kicked the young agent's gut, and was quick to slam his S.H.U.S.H provided cane into the small of his back. Henry grunted in pain; the feeling of Scrooge's cane digging into his back was not pleasant.
"When were you going to tell us this?" Scrooge snarled.
"I–" Henry tried.
"Never! Never until the situation counted on it, you blundering oaf!" Scrooge snapped viciously. "You know what this means?!"
"Scrooge—" Dewey tried.
"That." THUNK. "We." THWACK. "Have." WHACK. "To." THUNK. "Kill." Scrooge snarled viciously, whacking Henry roughly between each word.
Everyone was stunned, and taken aback from Scrooge's sudden use of violence, but who could blame him? Because of Henry, they were forced to go against their biggest moral of all: to never take a life.
"Mr. McDuck, that's enough." Beakley said firmly, prying the now bloodied cane from Scrooge's grip.
Scrooge took a deep breath, and nobody, not even Sally, bothered to help Henry up. He wiped the blood from his nose, and glared at Scrooge with hatred, but he looked no less threatening than an angry puppy.
"Damn you," Scrooge growled, his voice uncharacteristically dark. "Because of your absolute stupidity, we have no choice but to kill! If you had at least told us earlier, we would have been able to have Gyro come up with an incapacitating agent! One that was able to knock out the Eggheads long enough so we get Heron. An agent strong enough so that when the Eggheads wake up, they'll be locked up in S.H.U.S.H headquarters…" Scrooge trailed off, his eyes coming to a sudden realization.
Everyone shuffled uneasily as Scrooge glared daggers at Henry
"Why didn't you tell us?" Scrooge asked, his voice calm.
Henry stayed silent, and Scrooge grabbed his cane from Beakley, and began mercilessly whacking him.
"WHY?!" Scrooge demanded. "Even I know you're not stupid enough to leave out an important detail like that!"
"He… he was going to turn on us." Louie realized. "Once we took down Heron, Henry knew we wouldn't kill the Eggheads."
"Because the Egghead's are just henchmen who follow and obey the person who has the most power…" Lena said, the gears slowly turning inside her head.
"The Egghead's would have eventually outnumbered us, while Henry would be the person on top… and he would've been able to continue his assault on Duckburg after we took care of Heron."
Dewey turned to Henry. "You were just using us?"
Webby looked at him sadly. "That was your plan all along, wasn't it?"
Henry looked at all of them, and slowly nodded. "I… I needed my mother out of the picture. While Scrooge gave me some protection, I knew I had to take my project back, otherwise F.O.W.L's consequences would be dire. I was scared, so I went behind your back, thinking of a plan to take my project back, all while making you think that I was on your side."
Sally slowly walked past Scrooge. She looked at her fiancée, her expression unreadable. Then came a flurry of fists.
"You idiot!" Sally snapped, and Henry didn't bother defending himself. Sally pointed to Scrooge. "Do you see that man?! He's the one who saved your sorry ass from your deranged mother! And you're telling me you had the audacity to go behind his back?!"
Sally slid her engagement ring off of her finger, and whipped it towards the ground, and she furiously stepped on it.
"Sally!" Henry snapped.
"I don't care!" she snarled. "Until you're ready to leave F.O.W.L behind, this marriage isn't happening!" she snapped.
Everyone was stunned: despite only knowing her for a day and a half, Sally seemed pretty easy going, and to see her so furious was terrifying for the McDuck Clan.
"Reaper, go scan the area." Sally instructed. "Give us a number as to how many people we need to take down."
"On it," Reaper nodded.
As Reaper flew away, Sally checked in on Fenton, who was almost finished burning through the communication line. The family braced themselves for a hellish fight, as most of them knew that this would be their last moment of peace before facing Heron and her army. A few moments later, Reaper flew back.
"Team A will face more enemies than Team B," Reaper explained. "The C.I.L.E is heavily protected, so it makes sense. Sally will lead Team A towards the C.I.L.E, it's located at the highest point of the Cliffs. Heron's cavern is located on the main floor, and you'll be able to find her there. Remember, she doesn't know she's being invaded. Be stealth, otherwise it's a guaranteed death. These aren't Steelbeak's Eggheads, these are Heron's. And Heron's Eggheads are infinitely more deadly. Be careful." Reaper said solemnly.
The gang nodded, and quietly crept inside: Webby felt her stomach sink when she spotted a small pool of blood from where Reaper had stabbed the Egghead. Dewey gently gripped her hand, reminding her that he was there, and she had nothing to worry about. Webby shot him a grateful look, and together, they quietly made their way into Heron's lair.
ooo
Back at the Money Bin, Huey, Violet, and Gyro were tracking the team's progress.
"According to the GPS Gandra installed in the headphones, they should be entering by now," Gyro explained, and Huey and Violet breathed a sigh of relief.
"I hope they're okay," Violet managed shakily. "We should be there with them."
Huey slipped his hand into hers. "I know, Vi. But Louie was clear: he wants us here, manning the technology. Otherwise, we're all doomed," he said solemnly.
"I hate that this plan is not… well stable. Does it not feel like we're doing this on a whim?" Violet asked.
"It does," Huey agreed. "But we had to do it like this. The longer Duckburg is under control, the worse it is," he muttered, thinking about all the innocent citizens who were being controlled by Heron of all agents. She practically screamed chaos.
Violet smiled. "I love you," she murmured, gently pressing her lips against his own. He melted into the kiss, much to Gyro's annoyance.
"I guess I'll just watch this myself," Gyro snorted, studying the stable soundwaves that the Waddle Headphones emitted: the more stable they were, the better the headphones were at blocking out the C.I.L.E's control. If there was a sudden drop or rise in the waves, their iob was to alert the team at once.
Suddenly, the soundwaves Gyro was studying went flat, and his eyes widened.
Gyro scowled. "Damn!"
"What is it, Gyro?" Violet asked worriedly.
"Someone's emitted an electromagnetic pulse!"
"Oh no!" Violet yelped. "Does that mean the team is in danger?"
Gyro furiously typed away at his keyboard, frantically trying to get the headphones' frequency back up. "They're not in danger, but we are," he muttered.
Huey's eyes widened. "Heron's not after them, she's after us!"
Before the trio could think of a plan, there was a nasty noise from the back of the lab.
CRASH!
Violet and Huey braced themselves for a fight, but there were a few moments of ominous silence. The lab went black, and Gyro cursed.
"M-Manny? Lil Bulb?!" Huey called out.
A pair of red eyes glowed from the entrance to the lab, and Huey squinted his eyes to get a better look. He recognized that particular shade of red, and tried his best to place his finger on it.
"Reaper?" Violet asked in shock, and she was right.
Suddenly, the thing charged, and slammed into Huey. He shakily opened his eyes to stare into the blood red orbs of…
"I-Infiltrator?" Huey asked shakily.
But she didn't reply. Instead, she grabbed Huey, and dragged him towards the exit.
"HUEY!" Violet shrieked, grabbing onto her boyfriend.
Huey found himself in a tug of war between Infiltrator and Violet. Suddenly, a hatch opened on Infiltrator's chest, and out sprung a metal arm with a syringe on it. The robot wordlessly jammed the needle into Violet's arm, causing her to let out a blood curdling scream.
"VIOLET!" Huey yelled, trying to break free from Infiltrator's grip, but the robot was too strong for him. Something hard slammed into the back of his head, and he felt his mind become woozy.
"Violet… no…." Huey croaked.
The last thing he saw before blacking out was Gyro dashing towards him, Violet on the floor, with foamy white liquid dribbling down her chin.
Then, everything went dark.
ooo
"Oh my god…" Webby muttered.
"What happened…?" Dewey asked, but his voice trailed off when he saw it as well.
In the center of the room laid a heap of metal. It looked grotesque almost: springs and scrap metal protruded out of the pile's middle, there was black oil haphazardly splattered all over the room, and there was a low buzzing sound. As the gang inched closer towards the pile of scrap metal, they saw two, dull violet eyes flicker lifelessly.
"INFILTRATOR!" Henry screamed, dashing towards the robot before Scrooge could warn him that it could be a trap. He sprinted towards his robotic sister, hoisting her up, and cradling her against his chest. "NO! WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU?!" he demanded angrily.
Infiltrator weakly shuddered in his arms, dark oil spilling out of her dim violet eye. Her eye was cracked, her mouth was smashed in, her arm was simply gone, and most of her midsection's wiring was savagely ripped out. Blue sparks flew from the wires, and Henry's body shuddered with pure rage.
"Someone grab her parts!" Henry barked viciously.
Nobody objected. The gang split up, looking for different parts of Infiltrator's body. Sally spotted Infiltrator's dismembered arm, and grabbed it, handing it to Henry. Henry took off his shirt, leaving him in a tank top, and securely wrapped the arm around his sister's stub. Sally motioned for Fenton to hand her a pair of tweezers from his Gizmoduck armour, and he obliged, tossing her a pair from his belt. Sally got onto her knees, carefully working on reconstructing Infiltrator's mouth. The rest of the gang handed Henry bolts and nails they found strewn across the room.
"Got it!" Sally exclaimed.
Infiltrator's mouth weakly opened, then closed, and the gang heard a clicking noise coming from her throat. They exchanged confused looks, but Sally seemed to understand.
"She's lost too much oil. She can't function without it, guys." Sally said sadly.
"How did you understand her?" Scrooge asked in amazement.
"It's… Morse code," Sally said, her voice cracking, as if she were about to cry. "I-Infiltrator taught it to me."
Infiltrator made another clicking noise, and Sally let out a sharp gasp.
"She said she doesn't think she's going to make it, Henry."
Henry glared at Infiltrator. "Stop talking like that! You're going to be fine!"
The robot gave him a hard look, and Henry felt the tears beginning to prick his eyes.
"Infiltrator, please, you… you can't do this!" he growled, angry, but everyone could plainly see that he was trying his best not to break down. "Who did this to you?" Henry demanded. "I'll kill them myself."
The robot formed a small smile, but it was a cold, snake eyed grin, making everyone shudder uncomfortably. The gang watched Sally as she deciphered Infiltrator's Morse code.
"The one we both called a mother…" Sally began shakily, obviously not trying to focus on the fact that she was going to lose her sister. "But she showed her true colours when it came to power and control."
"Heron!" Dewey spat venomously.
"Exactly." Sally said, still translating for Infiltrator. "She broke me, Henry. I cannot assist you on this mission any longer, but know this: the C.I.L.E lies on the top most floor, guarded by Heron and her goons. The easiest route to go is through the vents. In my harddrive are the blueprints of Heron's fortress. Download the contents of my brain, and upload them onto your phone. I don't think… guys, I think this is it." Sally managed, shaking violently.
Everyone watched in horror as Infiltrator's eyes went dark, and her entire body went limp. The blue sparks that once flew from her broken wires were no more, and there were no more clicking sounds coming from her.
Infiltrator was dead.
And it was their fault.
"Infy?" Henry asked quietly. "C'mon, wake up. It's just low power," he croaked, trying to shake her awake. "WAKE UP GODDAMMIT!" he snarled, dropping her lifeless body, slapping her across the jaw.
"HENRY!" Sally rorared, grabbing his hand. "SHE'S DEAD!"
As the couple argued, Scrooge turned to Lena.
"A kid should never have to bury their sibling." Scrooge said quietly.
ooo
Huey slowly began to regain consciousness. His dark eyes slowly opened, and he found himself staring at a rather nice floor tile—it was made of black marble, giving the room a sharp look, and through his peripheral vision, he spotted a queen sized bed neatly made.
Red and black, the colours of F.O.W.L.
He began to evaluate his situation: he was sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair, with his hands bound behind his back. His feet seemed restraint-free, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Towards his right, a door opened, and Hieu spotted a blur of orange and yellow, and he noted that it must have been an Egghead, and he braced himself for a fight. The second he heard the footsteps getting closer towards him, he immediately kicked in the direction of the person, and he heard a female voice grunt. Huey was just about to heroically grab the knife that hung off the Egghead's waist, until…
BANG!
Huey screamed as the Egghead hit the floor, dead. Her glassy eyes looked up at him lifelessly, and Huey slowly shifted his gaze to the person who had fired the shot.
"Heron," he growled.
"Sit if you know what's good for you, Duck." Heron replied boredly, acting like she didn't kill a person just now.
Huey didn't like the look of that gun in her hand, and obediently sat down. She strutted towards him, and rubbed his shoulders.
"These were a good idea," Heron smirked, gently running her finger over the Waddle headphones.
Huey gritted his teeth. "What do you want, Heron? What are you going to gain from keeping me hostage? You're outmatched."
"Oh, I know," Heron's voice was sultry, and almost flirtatious much to his panic. "Being in prison all those years has really thrown my sexual prowess out the window," the villainess murmured, her cool breath hitting his ear. "And being separated from Steelbeak didn't help matters, either."
She rubbed Huey's chest sensually, and he felt his heart pang nervously against his chest: what was she talking about? His panic doubled when she slipped his headphones off.
"NO—!" Huey cried, but his voice was muffled when Heron's lips smashed against his. The feeling of her soft lips, along with the deafening waves from the C.I.L.E were too much, and Huey slowly felt himself give in to Heron's proactive ministrations. His mind grew cloudy, as if he were on some drug, numbing his other senses. The only thing he could focus on was Heron's presence, and how much he wanted it.
"According to the new Infiltrator's notes, you seem like quite the stallion in bed," she whispered, straddling him, slowly unbuttoning his polo. "It isn't fair that your little girlfriend gets all the fun, isn't it?"
Huey dutifully shook his head no, and she smirked as she reached the last button. She eagerly ripped his polo shirt off of him, revealing his toned body. Heron leaned over him, her breasts in his face, and began to untie his restraints. He hungrily grabbed her, and unzipped her dress, roughly yanking the dress down to reveal her breasts. Huey lifted her up against his body, and Heron let out a small squeal of excitement, wrapping her legs around his torso.
His control and willpower were gone.
ooo
*runs*
—Jordan ;)