A/N: For Amelia who loves the Lindsey Stirling Christmas album and suggested a few songs from it for this series. Once I heard the beat and the violin, I immediately thought of Scrooge McDuck, and this is the end result.
Disclaimer: I am using the original DuckTales series in this world. The triplets and Webby are aligned with the original show rather than from the current series.
This "find the star and become Scrooge McDuck's second in command" thing, like any other mission, was all in the strategy.
There had been the option of out numbering the triplets and Webby with team Darkwing present at the party, but Launchpad had no interest in going on an adventure where he'd be in charge and Drake didn't see any glory in the prize. Oh, sure, he'd considered finding the star. Even looked around for it initially, but he could never go on any adventure where he'd have to be second in command.
Besides, going away with Scrooge McDuck meant he'd have to leave St. Canard unprotected for however long he was gone. Which he would never let happen.
So, Gosalyn was on her own here. Hence the mind games.
Webby and the triplets had done the hard part by finding the star.
Now all Gosalyn had to do was take it from them. The how was the only question.
Making her way through the crowd, Gosalyn kept her eyes on the ducks, who were still talking amongst themselves. Webby and Dewey were looking around the ballroom, big sweeping glances that probably meant they were looking for Scrooge. So they weren't going to make a big show about handing it over. That was smart. Didn't want any other interested parties to do what Gosalyn was about to do and fight for it. Louie was cradling his shirt, the fabric outlining the star so clearly he could have been holding it out for all to see and it wouldn't make a difference. And Huey was chatting incessantly to them all, probably planning what he would do when he was second in command.
Tucking her secret weapon more securely into the waistband of her pants, Gosalyn reached out to grab—
Dewey's gaze landed on her. His eyes going round, he cried, "No!" and lunged towards her.
She really would have preferred to be stealthy in her theft of the star. But okay.
Gosalyn side stepped Dewey easily; he had just sort of run at her, arms held out wide. It was almost sad. As he barreled past her clumsily, obviously not having thought that Gosalyn would just move out of the way, she twisted around and hit him on his lower back, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Webby cried out Dewey's name and ran for him. Knowing Webby would be too preoccupied with making sure her friends were unharmed as they were taken down one by one, Gosalyn continued on, eyes fixed on Huey and Louie.
Louie gulped.
Huey stood his ground, hands balled into fists as he called, "Uncle Scrooge? We found the star!"
Gosalyn grinned. She had them changing their tactic already. This was gonna be so easy.
Huey assumed a fighting stance, his legs wide to evenly distribute his weight and shoulders hunched, ready to move into action.
Gosalyn feigned to the left, feigned to the right, stuck a foot in between his, and with a kick, swept his legs out from under him. Leaving no time for anyone else to react, Gosalyn pounced on Louie.
Sitting atop him, one foot on the floor near his head and her opposite knee on his other side pinning his arm to his body, Gosalyn leaned forward. She gripped the front of his shirt. "Hand it over."
Louie swallowed again, eyes wide. "I-I don't have it," he said.
Gosalyn raised an eyebrow. "Either you hand it over or I take it. Do you really want me rooting around in your shirt?"
Louie tried to scramble away, but Gosalyn easily held him in place.
"I don't have it!" he insisted.
Gosalyn clicked her tongue in disapproval and reached for the hem of Louie's sweater.
"Wait, wait!" Louie said, squirming and trying to get free.
Something — or, rather, someone — crashed into Gosalyn from behind, shoving her forward and bringing her beak to beak with Louie. The attacker wrapped their arms around her, securing her elbows to her sides.
Since she was already practically lying on top of Louie as it was, she slipped her fingers up his shirt and grabbed ahold of the star. Shoving herself backwards, Gosalyn pushed her elbows free, her ambusher releasing his hold on her.
Tossing a scowl down at Louie, Gosalyn leapt up to a standing position and tucked the star into the waistband of her pants.
Whirling around to face her attacker, she had enough time to see the panic on Huey's face before she'd grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back.
"Nice try," she breathed into his ear, eyeing Webby and Dewey as they started coming towards them. "But the star is mine." Shoving Huey forward, she couldn't help but smile as he crashed into Dewey and Webby, momentarily distracting them.
Turning to run, she didn't even take a full step before Louie grabbed her ankles, tripping her.
As she fell towards the ground, Gosalyn reached back for her secret weapon and hurled it across the room.
Exclamations and shouts echoed around her as she fell harmlessly to the floor, easily tucking into a roll. Feet shuffled and scrambled and by the time she was standing, the triplets and Webby were racing toward Scrooge, silver and gold star held aloft in triumph.
Gosalyn grinned.
And started ambling towards the group.
"Well done, kids," Scrooge said, smiling at them. "Now which one of ye gets to be second in command?"
Drake caught Gosalyn's eye, an expression of concern on his face. She smiled at him reassuringly.
"Can we each have our own adventure?" Huey asked, handing over the star.
"We'd all like to try being second in command, Uncle Scrooge," Webby gushed.
"We did work together on getting the star," Dewey pointed out. "So we all equally deserve it."
Max glanced at Gosalyn and she winked at him, maintaining her leisurely pace. Max narrowed his eyes in suspicion, glancing between her and the McDuck clan.
"Hold on," Scrooge said, studying the star.
Launchpad grinned and flashed a thumbs up at Gosalyn who nodded in return.
"This isn't the star I hid." Scrooge looked at the young ducks before him, his brow furrowed. "It was silver. This one's silver tipped in gold."
"No, that has to be the star," Louie argued. "I saw it fly out of Gosalyn's—"
Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby all glanced at one another before turning to stare at Gosalyn.
Who now stood behind them.
"I think," Gosalyn said, grabbing the actual star from where she'd tucked it away, "this is the star you want."
Scrooge took the star to study it, and Gosalyn explained, "I figured that if you four thought you had the real star, I'd be able to hand over the real thing without much of a fight."
"Afraid we'd win?" Huey asked, looking somewhat smug.
"That makes sense. It would have been four against one," Webby put in, nodding sagely.
Gosalyn withheld an eye roll. "I wanted to work smarter, not harder."
"Where did you get that star?" Dewey nodded at the one in Scrooge's hands.
Gosalyn glanced up at the Christmas tree on the second level of the ballroom. That was now missing the star atop its branches.
"Are you kidding me?" Louie asked as Scrooge burst into laughter.
"Curse me kilts, I'd hoped we had underestimated you!" the old duck said, walking over to Gosalyn. "I must admit, I was hoping ye'd give these kids a run for their money, and not only did ye do that, but ye managed to win as well." Scrooge smiled at Gosalyn. "How would ya like a job?"
Gosalyn glanced at the triplets before looking back to Scrooge. "I wasn't aware second in command was a paying gig."
"Not the second in command! Though, I will allow ye the opportunity of comin' along on an adventure; I'm a duck of me word. No, lass, I'm talking about a job. With me."
"A regularly paying thing?" Gosalyn asked.
Scrooge eyed her. "Only when yer on the clock, mind."
"Maybe you ought to explain what this job is, sir." Gosalyn said, allowing Scrooge to lead her away from the crowd.
And so he did. He described her duties: she would be on call for any potentially dangerous adventure that arose and would have to immediately respond to any SOS call that came out during the duration of the mission. Occasionally, Scrooge might bring her along on an adventure from the start, but only when he expected more trouble than he considered normal. Gosalyn would get the benefit of working with Scrooge McDuck, traveling around the world and, sometimes, going through time and to other parallel universes (which he knew she could handle since she'd traveled to parallel worlds before).
After Gosalyn convinced Scrooge to give her full health benefits in exchange for a decrease in pay, she accepted.
Her father looked stunned when she told him, Goofy and Launchpad just congratulated her, saying it was a great opportunity, and Max gave her the kiss he'd promised under the mistletoe.
Gosalyn officially became Scrooge McDuck's Strike Team Omega that he would call in to help on adventures.
Honestly, this wasn't even the strangest Christmas Gosalyn had experienced.