"Was throwing my phone out of the car really necessary?"
Gus shot him a look. Don't play smug with me, kid. I'm not risking being hunted down by McDuck.
Louie fell back into the passenger seat, folding his arms. He kicked his feet up on the dash. "How do you expect me to get in contact with our buyer?"
"I'm not the idiot you think I am, Duck. We're not selling out to Mark Beaks."
"Why not? He'll pay half a fortune for it and he's desperate. It's quick and easy money."
Gus glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "Your angle is showing."
Louie heaved a sigh, eyes narrowing.
Sure, Gus Goose was a meathead in most scenarios, but he knew how to read people just as well and Louie did. Why else would he take him under his wing back in prison? Louie was an asset he wasn't about to waste, a tool he could read just enough to keep them both on their toes. Gus Goose knew Louie and, hence, knew his angles and wasn't about to be played by them.
"Mark Beaks is quick money but I'm in this for the long game." He watched the duck in the passenger seat sink into his green hoodie. "This is the opportunity we both have been looking for, Serpent. I know you can see the possibilities as well as I can."
"I gave you the serum and I got Beaks involved. You don't need me anymore," Louie muttered.
Like I'm falling for that bit. "Don't act like you're the innocent victim here. You chose to work for me. You chose to run when I got out to meet you. You chose to steal the serum. Everything up to this point has been on your terms. Now it's my turn. You and I are going to meet a little friend of mine. Quantum has been itching to get his hands on an invention of Von Drake's. Between the three of us, we could create our very own empire to rival even your great Uncle's!" Gus salivated at the thought of all the power and riches that little vial of growth serum presented.
When Louie didn't respond, he chuckled and punched him in the shoulder. "I know you've already thought of every possibility. That's why out of every invention in Von Drake's lab, you chose the one thing that could be molded and shaped into every scientific area of modern day ingenuity. Not to mention, the things you can do with a growth serum is insanely marketable across the world." Gus smirked. And that's why I chose Louie Duck. He may be a pernicious little pain… but he's also cunningly brilliant with the greed to match.
Louie's voice lowered to a tone Gus had never heard before. "My debt to you is paid. I got you the serum, which is worth far more than what I owed. I also put you in touch with Mark Beaks who is willing to buy it. I want out."
Gus scoffed. "You don't get that choice. That option was revoked as soon as you stepped out of Ludwig Von Drake's building with the serum." His fingers flexed on the wheel. "Like I said, Serpent, I'm not the idiot you think I am. If I let you walk away, I'm your fall guy for stealing the serum. As we stand now, you have as much to lose as I have… if not more."
Louie glanced over his shoulder at the back seat.
Gus glanced in the rearview mirror at the little boy gagged and bound in the back seat. A wry smile slid across his lips. "I'll let him go home… after Quantum erases his memory. No loose ends."
"And my brothers?"
"You know what happens to them if they interfere. Better hope that they don't."
The silence that followed filled his chest with a roiling sense of power. All those stories about the Silver Tongued Serpent getting the best of all the major players of both the underworld and the world above it had boosted his craving for control. And now he had it… control over the little green serpent that thought he could play puppeteer with the big cons.
Some could say that I cut the tongue out of the great Silver Tongued Serpent.
"Let me go, you big thugs!"
Gus looked in the rearview to see the little scamp had gotten free of his gag in all his squirming.
"You may have taken my hat but you're not getting my brain yet, alien scum!"
"What is he going on about?" Gus growled.
Louie turned around, grabbing the kid by the leg to stop him from kicking the back of his seat. "He's obsessed with aliens."
"I've done my research! Your alien mind rays won't work on me. I know martial arts and tai chi and-"
Gus's hands tightened on the wheel. "Gag him again," he growled.
The little voice in the back rambled on, scratching against his brain like nails on a chalkboard. "What are you going to do? Turn me into an alien? I dare you! My dad will hunt you down and he'll find me. He'll stop at nothing to get me back!"
Tension built in his veins until the grating became too much. "GAG HIM!" He grabbed Louie by the shoulder and shoved him halfway over the console until his front half was in the backseat and getting kicked by the little terror.
He focused on the road and tried to keep his breathing straight until the noise went quiet and Louie returned to his seat.
"He's just a kid," Louie mumbled after a few minutes.
Gus reached over and whacked the hat off his head. "So were you when you conned all the villains in Duckburg and your great uncle out of their money in less than a day." He slowed his breathing and stared down the road. "We're not taking any chances."