Inspired by "In This Shirt" by The Irrepressibles - Highly suggest listening to the song before reading to get the feels - F.O.W.L. pushes the Duck family to their breaking points when they unleash their most deadly plan to eliminate the line of Scrooge McDuck.

IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE: Please note that this whole story is pretty violent. If that may be a trigger for you, please read with caution.

Chapter 1

o0o0o

"I am lost in our rainbow

Now our rainbow has gone

Overcast by your shadow

As our worlds move on."

o0o0o

The night following the attack…

Heavy rain poured down onto Scrooge's body. The moon shined brightly down onto his skin, illuminating the sorrow and pain on his face. The ground around him was torn apart from the man's pure rage seconds prior, and his hands were covered in blood. He stood on the cliff edge, staring blankly ahead in complete and utter silence.

Not again.

He thought to himself. This crippling pain of grief had only come over him once before: When Della was lost to space. Now, F.O.W.L. had Louie. Loss seemed to be a constant motif in Scrooge's life, and he was sick of it.

The triplets were the reason the family was together again. If they hadn't made Donald late to his meeting, he wouldn't have brought them to Scrooge's doorstep. If they hadn't snuck out into the garage, Scrooge wouldn't have fallen in love with adventure again. If they hadn't accepted Scrooge, even after learning the truth behind Della's disappearance, Scrooge would have been even more alone than he was before.

Those three ducks were responsible for Scrooge's happiness. Not only that, they were also responsible for each other's happiness. Countless times before, Scrooge could remember them voicing how much they hated being apart. The first time they had even been separated was when Dewey and Scrooge ran ahead in the underwater temple. After that, the three couldn't leave each other's side for a week. The love they shared for each other ultimately brought everyone together.

But now, that love was being overpowered by fear.

"Scroogie?" a voice said, cautiously walking towards him from the trees. Scrooge remained completely still, not hearing her voice through the ringing in his ears. The moonlight was bright enough for Goldie to see what had come of Scrooge's rage. She carefully began walking toward the duck, unsure what to expect from him. But the look on Scrooge's face made her sick to her stomach. He looked absolutely broken and exhausted as he stared ahead through his glossy, bloodshot eyes, not looking over or acknowledging her once.

Goldie's eyes filled with tears as she glanced down at the picture of Louie she kept in her wallet. She held her breath, not wanting to begin crying in front of the man. But a sniffle escaped her, causing Scrooge to blink numbly.

"I can't do this again, Goldie." Scrooge whispered, clutching onto his chest. He began shaking with silent sobs, allowing the overwhelming pain of sorrow to overcome him. He fell to his knees, dropping his head when he hit the ground and sobbed. To his surprise, Goldie knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around him.

"We'll get him back, Scrooge," she said, not letting her voice shake. "I promise." No matter how badly he wanted to believe the woman, he couldn't help but remind himself how long it took for Della to come back… and he wasn't sure if he'd even make it a week without finding his nephew.

o0o0o

The attack…

Louie ran for all his worth through the thick forest behind the mansion. His lungs were exhausted, his heart was pounding, and his palms were sweating so heavily that his dart gun was beginning to slide out of his grip. He finally stopped and hid behind a large tree. He stayed frozen for a moment, attempting to catch his breath, before gripping his gun once again. Cautiously, he peeked his head out from the tree to look for any signs of the duck who had been after him. He grinned to himself and stepped out from the tree, believing he had lost her in the chase.

"Boo." a voice said suddenly, causing him to scream and lose grip on his gun. There stood Della, holding the gun to Louie's head with a victorious smile. "Any last words, king of the schemes?" she said, watching Louie's eyes glance down at his gun on the dirt below them. There was a silence between the two.

"Don't ever believe what Dewey says; he's not actually the best triplet… Huey is." Louie jokingly spat, causing Della to snort, "And tell Uncle Donald that the cabinet door that he's been looking for is on the ocean floor below the dock because we three thought we could make a raft and sail to Cape Suzette when we were grounded like six years ago."

"What!" Della laughed, putting her gun down.

"And-and," Louie said, looking around, "I love you?" Della then burst out laughing and threw her arms around her youngest. Louie giggled as she picked him up and spun him around. She then gently put him down and ruffled his hair.

"You know what? The two of us would make an unstoppable team." Della said, putting her hands on her hips, "Why don't we work together?" She held out her hand, offering it to Louie.

"An alliance that no one ever saw coming?" Louie said, "You've got yourself a deal, moon-crusader." Louie then shook his mother's hand with a massive smile. "Alright, here's the plan. We put ourselves right in the middle of the zone, making the others believe that we're distracted on eliminating each other, then once they come after us, we work together to get them out!"

"Sounds like you had this already mapped out!"

"Nope, I just came up with it just now. Come on!" Louie said excitedly. He began to run off towards the middle but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck. "Ow!" Louie said, grabbing onto his neck. He turned towards his mother, wanting to say something; however, his words wouldn't come out of his mouth, and his vision quickly blurred. Della ran up to him, calling his name, and just before he collapsed to the ground, Della caught him.

"Louie! Louie, honey, can you hear me?!" Della said, panicked, gently shaking him. She then gasped as she pulled out a dart that had been struck into his neck.

"You idiot! You weren't supposed to shoot him when he was with someone!" Della heard a voice say. She then carefully wrapped her arms tighter around her son as she glared off towards the voice.

"Hey!" Della yelled as she spotted two egghead soldiers in a tree above them. The two looked at her, then dropped out of the tree.

"Apologies, Ms. Duck." a voice said from behind her. She whipped her head back to see a large chicken with a metal beak. "We weren't intending this party to be for five."

"What do you want?" Della said coldly, pulling Louie closer to her chest.

"A lot of things, actually." Stealbeak said, twisting a straw in his beak, "But for now, I'll settle with him." The second he finished his sentence, the two larger eggheads grabbed onto Della and Louie and yanked them apart. Della gasped as she watched Louie's limp body get mishandled by the egghead holding him. She acted quickly, violently flipping the body over her. She pushed herself off the ground but was knocked back into a tree. She grabbed onto a branch that had broken from the hit and ran towards Stealbeak. However, she slid under him and ran straight towards the man holding her son. However, before she could make it to him, she was grabbed from behind. She felt a stabbing pain in her neck as she let out a pained growl. Stealbeak laughed maliciously as he dropped Della onto the ground and watched as she struggled to fight the weariness overcoming her body.

"Louie." She said weakly as her vision began to blur, "No-" she winced, reaching towards him before everything turned black.

o0o0o

Dewey felt uneasy. His heart felt like it was trying to tell him something, but being in his situation, he just blamed it on the game. He quietly walked through the forest, confused about how he had gone this long without seeing any sign of the others. Suddenly, as he neared the boundary of their "warzone," he saw his mother lying unconscious on the dirt in the distance.

"Mom!" Dewey screeched, running towards her and dropping his gun. He slid to his knees and shook her. To his horror, Della didn't move. "HUEY! LOUIE! GUYS, HELP!" He yelled, causing some birds to fly off the trees. He put his ear against her chest and sighed in relief when he could hear his mother's breathing. Instantly, he could hear the sounds of people running towards him and calling his name.

"Dewey!?" Huey yelled, "Where are you?"

"I'm over here! It's mom; there's something wrong!" Dewey replied, hugging Della in his arms. Tears began streaming down his face as he saw Huey and Webby appear from the trees. Huey immediately slid to his knees, taking his mom's head to shake her gently.

"Mom?" Huey said in a worried tone. He then noticed something sticking out of her neck. Carefully, he pulled it out and showed it to Dewey. "It's a tantalizing dart." he said in shock.

"Umm, guys?" Webby said, picking up Louie's gun. Huey and Dewey felt their hearts sink into their stomachs as they looked at their friend. "And there's this too," Webby said, picking up a bloody dart identical to the one found in Della's neck.

"Dewey, go get Uncle Donald and Uncle Scrooge," Huey said, pulling himself together to give his brother orders. "Hurry!" he said as Dewey stood and took off towards the mansion. Huey's breathing became strained as hot tears began streaming down his face. He placed his mother down and stood.

o0o0o

"Uncle Donald!" Dewey screamed, his voice pitifully cracking as he frantically burst through the mansion doors, "Uncle Donald!" He yelled again, his eyes shooting around each door, hoping someone would appear. To his relief, Scrooge, Donald, and Beakley all ran into the room, each from separate doors.

"What happened?!" Donald said in a panic as he knelt in front of his nephew. Dewey grabbed onto his sleeve and sobbed.

"Louie's gone, and we found Mom on the ground." He spat out, holding out the dart they found in Della's neck. Donald stood, pushing past his family, and ran out the door. Dewey was at his heels, whipping the tears off his cheeks with his sleeve, and everyone else followed.

When they arrived at the scene, they found Webby trying her best to calm Huey down and Della lying unconscious. Dewey went straight to his brother and wrapped his arms around him, instantly causing Huey to stop panicking and resort to crying. They watched fearfully as Scrooge put Della's head in his lap, listening to her breathing.

"Della, lass, can you hear me?" he said, gently shaking her. He glanced over to Donald, who was crouching beside the two. "She's fine, but we have to get her to the house and scan her." Beakley gently picked up the unconscious duck as he spoke, allowing the two other ducks to stand. Donald glanced at the kids, who were now only sniffling and watching the group care for Della.

Huey gripped onto Dewey's sleeve, not wanting to let go in case he, too, would get taken. His thoughts were moving faster than he could handle, and he was becoming increasingly aware of how bad this situation could get. Louie could get used to steal all of Scrooge's money, or hurt, or worse... Louie could get killed. He ran his hand over his face, trying his best to get those awful thoughts out of his head.

Dewey, on the other hand, was angry. He held onto his brother to comfort him but also to protect him. He stood silently, fighting the urge to lash out at the thought of his brother being taken. Dewey's sorrow often quickly turned into anger regarding his sibling's safety. All he could think about was saving his brother, not to be the hero, but to keep Louie alive.

"Well, whatever happened, we have it on video," Scrooge said to Donald, motioning towards a camera disguised as a bird that Gyro had installed. He could feel a deep pit of sorrow forming in his chest, but he was not going to show it outwardly, worried that he would scare the kids more. "But I think I have an idea of who did this...

"F.O.W.L. is at large once again..."