The parallels to the 2017 DuckTales are strong in this one. That was on accident at first but it worked so well, I ran with it. Enjoy! - justducky3

"I wish Professor VonDrake was going to be back in the states sooner so we could just ask him what he knows about our dad being F.O.W.L. agent." The bottoms of Dewey's feet began to grow hot with how fast he was walking in circles. He paused and looked at Huey. "Did the file say anything else?"

Huey stared at the ground, breathing slowly and knotting his hands together.

Dewey had seen that focused, furrowed look on his face more than a few times to know what was up. He's trying to stay in control of his emotions. What did he see in that file? "Hue-man."

Huey's eyes darted up to meet him. They both glanced at the file and then back at each other.

Oh no you don't! Dewey lunged for it but Huey was closer. He snagged the file off the coffee table before Dewey could get his fingers on it. Down he went, toppling onto the table with his full weight. He heard a slight crack before one leg snapped and the coffee table dumped him off onto the ground.

Dewey hopped up onto his feet and dusted his jersey off. He rubbed his neck, smirking at Gosalyn. "Sorry about the table… I'll buy you a new one in like two years when I'm a famous pilot/influencer/treasure hunter/popstar… still working on how to make that last one happen. If you have any ideas I'd-"

"It's alright." Gosalyn rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. "Forget about it. Dad's broken it like three times already."

"Oh well then… anyway. You!" Dewey pointed at his brother. "What is it you aren't telling us?"

Huey stuck the folder between his side and the couch. "Sam was a F.O.W.L. agent. If Professor VonDrake knew of his involvement, then it was because he saw him with his own eyes while he was their prisoner. Put two and two together, Dew. Our dad was a traitor. He would have been working for F.O.W.L. while they were planning to take down Uncle Scrooge. What more do you need?"

A dull ache rose up in Dewey's chest. "You don't know that! That's just one of your dumb theories. What else is in that file that you're not telling us?" He clenched his fists, ready to throttle him if it came to it.

Huey shoved himself off the couch and limped over to him, the file clutched under his arm. "No! This is exactly what I was afraid of when we decided to find him. We uncovered a dark family secret that we were better off not knowing."

"There could be a good reason! You don't know."

"It's F.O.W.L.! What good reason could there be?!"

"I don't know! That'w why why we need to find out." Dewey bit his lip and crossed his arms, scanning his brother. I could totally take him. But then Gosalyn would probably get involved since I'd be wrestling an invalid. Then he'd fall more in love with her. It's a catch 22. He rubbed his chin. That doesn't mean I can't just take it from him. He won't be able to fight back and I wouldn't be wrestling him for it. "Give it!" He lunged for the folder.

Huey swung back with more speed than an invalid like he should have and clonked him on the back of the head with the folder itself.

"Owwh!" Dewey pulled back, rubbed the back of his head, glaring at Huey who just stood there taunting with a look. Okaaay, so that didn't go as planned and it did nothing but feed into his stupid alpha-ego.

"Try that again, I dare you."

Dewey wanted to tackle him but one look at Gosalyn had him stepping back. "Just let me see the file, would you? He's my dad too."

"I know what you want to do and I'm putting a stop to it. We are not going after Dad. This trip has gone far enough as it is." His eyes held resolve. He nodded over in Louie's direction, his jaw clenched.

Dewey looked over at their little brother who sat on the floor still staring at the picture of their dad, a look of longing scrawled across his face. It all felt too familiar. It's happening all over again. He was taken back seven years ago, to the Castle McDuck catacombs… when he had finally told his brothers that he was looking for their mom after lying to them for months.

Here they were again… him trying to justify something he knew nothing about, Huey being angry and thinking only of the repercussions, and Louie… off on the sidelines, hurting in the silence.

"Lou? Are you okay?"

Louie looked away from them, balling his fists and wiping his face with his sleeve. He slipped the photo in his pocket and stood up, finally turning to face them. "We have a chance to find our dad and all you two can do is fight. That is not okay."

"Louie," Huey heaved a sigh. "We're not doing that. I'm calling it. You are both too emotionally involved, and with F.O.W.L. in the equation, it's just not worth it."

"Why? It's a mystery, Huey. That's your element! The exploring, connecting the puzzle pieces." Dewey watched him with a raised brow. "Why are you so against trying to find Dad? Louie and I are fine. Sure, we're all a little mad that he left and the F.O.W.L. angle makes things worse, but I'm more determined to find him than ever. Don't you want to know the truth?" Huey always wants to know the truth so what's so different now?

Huey avoided eye contact and stared at the wall, his chest taking in more air than it was letting out.

Dewey placed his hands on his knees and moved so that he was in Huey's eyeline. "Come oooooon… say it. Saaaay what you're thinking of saying." He tried to replicate Huey's voice. "You can't handle the truth!"

Huey rolled his eyes. "It's not funny, Dew."

Dewey straightened and folded his arms over his chest. "Stop being a downer. I'm as mad about it as you are but at least I'm trying to look on the bright side. We have a chance to learn the truth and I think we should take it."

Huey glanced between the both of them. "We each have our own things to focus on when we get home. If we get much deeper into this family secret, we could bring the McDuck wrath down on our heads along with whatever skeletons are hiding in the closet surrounding our dad. We're not going after him."

Louie marched over and butted between them. "Who made you the boss of everyone, huh? I don't care if you're older by three seconds. We can make our own decisions. Dewey and I are going to take the RV to find Dad and we're going to get to the bottom of it." He looked over his shoulder at Dewey. "I don't know about you but I'm not going back to Duckburg without answers."

Dewey smirked. That's the Louie I want on my team. He leaned his elbow on Louie's shoulder. "Oh, you've got that right!"

They both just smirked at Huey, watching the veins pop in his neck and his eyes flash red.

"Oh Duke it up again, I dare you." Dewey taunted, spinning around and shaking his tail feathers at him. "

Huey huffed deep breaths through his nostrils and clenched his jaw tighter.

Dewey wasn't sure what he was going to do if he really did turn into the Duke, but he kinda didn't really care anymore. Huey stood between them and the ultimate family mystery and if he had to go through the Duke to get there, he'd take it.

"And you know what?" He polished the tips of his fingers on his jersey and then blew on them. "I'll even skip going to flight school, if that's what it takes."

Oh, that made Huey mad. He threw the file down at their feet and squeezed his hands into fists to keep from blowing his top. "You want it that much?! FINE! You can have it!" He threw up his hands and stormed out of the house.

Dewey let out a breath and glanced over at Gosalyn. Honestly, she's probably the only reason he didn't go berserko on me just then.

"Is he-"

He smirked. "Trust me, it's better for everyone if we just let him go."

Louie picked the folder up. "If you spend enough time with him, you'll know when to let him go to blow off steam. He'll come back with more control."
"But what about finding your dad? He seemed pretty adamant that he wasn't going." Gosalyn kicked her feet up on the couch and folded her hands behind her head.

Dewey and Louie smirked at each other.

"He'll come." Louie shrugged.

"Without a doubt."

"He can't not lead us."

"It's like his thing."

"He may be mad about it now but he'll get over it and decide that he has to go with us."

"Whether it's out of his weird proactive nature or just the anxiety of us screwing it up without him, he'll go along and end up leading the way. He's like the moody, alpha, mother-hen brother. If there's one thing you can count on, it's Huey coming back." Dewey looked over Louie's shoulder as he flipped open the file. He stared down at the one, nearly blank page. "Woooooow. What a special, secretive file Huey was trying to keep from us…" he groaned. "I will never understand h-"

Louie grabbed him by the beak, drawing his attention to the typed section of the page.

"Wait. He works for NASA?!" Okay. Who cares that he worked for an evil organization! I officially have the coolest parents on the planet!