Disclaimer: I don't own Ducktales!
Title: Twist
Summary: F.O.W.L. doesn't toss good agents aside. Even if they're a bit, well. Not good.
...
"This is the part where you double-cross me."
Bradford paused, tilting his head to the side. "Excuse me?"
Black Heron didn't look pleased to see him. Granted, she never looked overly happy to see most anyone, unless they were there to witness her chaotic destruction. But she usually liked when he came to her cell, because that ultimately ended in her cell opening, and her rampage beginning anew. It's practically ingrained.
Really, Bradford is shocked no one's noticed the pattern by now. S.H.U.S.H. has many, many resources, but they needed glasses perhaps worse than he did.
"Oh, come now, don't play dumb." She waved her hand dismissively. She'd lost her robotic arm again. Bradford noticed she did that often. "I've compromised the mission, you're displeased with the plan's progress, yadda yadda, I will now get rid of you. We've all seen this movie."
"You've compromised the mission before," he pointed out.
"The papyrus, you dolt!" she hissed. "I know you were there. You made them all forget, but I remember. I'm a loose end, aren't I?" Her hand reached up to touch her stump with something akin to tenderness. Black Heron missed her blaster, no doubt. "Get on with it. Let's tussle. I'll defeat you, make a longwinded speech about villainy, and then our little partnership will be through."
"Oh," said Bradford, as if he hadn't been painfully aware of all of this beforehand. "That." He cleared his throat, fiddling with his tie nervously. A defensive Black Heron usually meant explosions. "The artifact might not be under F.O.W.L.'s control, but it's not in McDuck's, either; and it won't be for a long time yet. And this... this was a very profitable turn of events."
Black Heron stared at her, dumbfounded. "Are you trying to reassure me?"
"I'm merely being sensible." Bradford retrieved the usual pen, sticking it through the bars. She took it without preamble. "You're a thorn in my side, Heron, but I've come too far to toss that out the window because of one mistake. You don't get a good position without a little networking, as it were."
A twist and the villain was free, though she didn't push open the cell. Black Heron wrapped her fingers around the bars with a snort. "You're a terrible villain, Bradford."
"Not a villain- morally gray. We've discussed the difference."
"This kind of softness will destroy us all, you know that?"
"Softness would be retrieving and repairing your arm," he replied. "It's in the usual place."
Heron swung the bars open with the kind of grin that made normal people a bit nervous, and Bradford downright terrified. "This organization might be a load of hooey, but I have to say; the benefits are great."
"Can't keep good workers if we don't treat them properly, Heron," said Bradford, and he moved aside.
Author's Note: Look. Look. I just really like Bradford okay. I know he's not the most interesting guy but his concept is 10/10 for me. Just an old man wanting the world to make sense. It's a shame he's in a cartoon. Add that and the fact that he's somehow maintained a friendship with Heron for, like, forty years, and I'm amazed he hasn't ripped the rest of his hair out lol.
-Mandaree1