"So, not a fan of clones, are you?"

"Webby, that's not what I meant and you know it." Huey glared at his feet crossed on the dashboard.

"Look, I get why you're mad but you don't need to take it out on Dewey and me by being insufferable. You're being worse than Louie right now."

Low blow. I see how it is.Clenching his jaw, he took a slow breath in to cool the fire blazing in his chest. "I'm not mad at you and I'm trying my hardest not to be mad at Dewey. It's just…" He growled under his breath and sank deeper into the seat. "I'm sure you heard him as clearly as I did. Cosmo literally spied on us, stole our DNA, andclonedus. He made a whole new kid all while Uncle Donald raised the three kids he already had." He rubbed his forehead. "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade our time with Uncle D for anything. He did a great job. But what Cosmo did, or didn't do, was unfair to us and to Uncle D. Uncle Donald sacrificed his future for ours. There's no justifying any of that."

Huey threw his hands up. "And Dewey just acts like it's all water under the bridge. Well it's not!" Huffing, he folded his hands back under his armpits.Leave it to Dewey to act like everything is hunky-dory. He's probably just feeding off of all Cosmo's undivided attention back there. It's practically a buffet for his middle child syndrome.

"Dewey has more room in his heart for grace and forgiveness than you do. That's just how he is. You can't fault him for it."

"It's going to get him hurt one of these days."

"Maybe." Webby shrugged. "But maybe he has the right idea. Things turned out well with your mom, right?"

Huey turned his gaze out the window. His muscles softened as his mind ran through the memories of her homecoming.

Like always, little Huey approached her with every ounce of desire for truth and knowledge in him."Hi, Huey slash Jet here. How did you survive in a barren wasteland? Have you adjusted to our gravity? Did you make any customized modifications to your leg?"

Della looked him straight in the eye. "Sheer determination to get back to you, kinda and no because as Junior Woodchuck Rule 42 states…

"...build things right the first time and they won't need modification!"

"You really are my mom!"Little Huey wrapped her in a hug, feeling more heard than he had in his lifetime. It didn't take much.

Without batting an eye, Della Duck had read his heart and knew all he needed were honest answers. He needed the truth, without any hesitation or hidden motives.

He glanced back at Webby. "With mom it was different. I knew she was telling the truth and I never doubted for a second that she spent her every waking moment trying to get off that rock to get back to us. I never once doubted that she cared." He sighed. "But Cosmo? The alarm bells won't stop ringing in the back of my head. It feels like talking to Louie. You don't know what the real motive is behind anything he says."

His stomach tightened as all the truths and possible lies swirled around in his logic-driven brain, spinning his head until it felt like it was ripping apart. Huey gripped his forehead and took a second to breathe. "At least with Louie, I'm used to it, and I know his moral code to some extent. If Cosmo is willing to abandon Mom in space and leave us with Uncle D for eighteen years, there's no telling what his moral code is."

Webby's expression morphed from thoughtful to sympathetic. She touched his arm.

Unable to take her pity, Huey averted his gaze again to stare at his feet again. "I know. I sound like a robot again."

"Only a little." Webby's words held a teasing tone, but also a sense of understanding.

"I just don't want to fall into a trap… or get my brothers hurt." He rubbed his shoulder. "The clone is eleven years old. It doesn't take much to do the math. We were eight when Cosmo decided it would be easier to start over. Eight. Why didn't he try to come into our lives then? We were still kids. We would have loved having a dad."

He lifted his eyes to look at her again.Smiling? Seriously? Okay, Webbs, now is definitely not the time to be smiling.

She tried to hide it but, try as she might, she was still definitely smiling. "I may be wrong, but I don't think creating Philbert was in an effort to start over."

Huey managed to keep the heat in his chest from rising to his head, not wanting to rant and hurt her feelings again. "And why is that?"

"If he wanted to start over, he would have moved away. He would have gotten a job outside of Duckburg and found someone new to start a life with. For goodness sake, Donald did that when your mom got lost to space! He left everything Scrooge and everything in his old life behind to raise you three in a healthy environment."

Healthy is a relative term, especially when you consider we lived on a boat that was close to sinking most of the time, but… that's besides the point, Huey.He kept his mouth shut.

Webby's bubbly nature leaked into somber conversation as she gestured all over the place with her hands and talked a "Dew" streak. "If he really wanted to start over, it would have been easier to leave for good." She glanced over her shoulder before leaning closer and lowering her voice. "To me, it seems like Cosmo is a man haunted by his past. He's in love with his past, yet too fearful of his mistakes to face it. While Philbert might have been a strategy by Black Heron to keep him in check, I believe it's equally possible that Philbert serves as a connection to his past, allowing Cosmo to experience what it might have been like to be part of your lives and to feel love. But that connection is just separate enough that he doesn't have to constantly endure the guilt and shame of the mistake of leaving you."

Huey's jaw dropped.

Webby just gave him a cutesy girl smile and winked. "What? SHUSH has the best psychology class in the world and we all know I'm a good listener."

Huey closed his eyes and sat back in his chair. "Okay, I can't deny that that was impressive."I mean, honestly, Webby has always been the best at balancing my brothers and I. She can be an energetic goofball, go along with crazy schemes, and be a perfect logistician at the same time. There's never been someone so committed to being a best friend."It still doesn't change the fact that we can't trust him. And, while it does help me understand him, your view of him only cements that fact. Cosmo is a man who has spent his life running away from himself."

Webby's face dropped.

"Which begs the question, should we also be running away from him?"

Webby moaned and pulled at the ends of her hair. "You're hopeless, you know that?"

Huey folded his arms behind his head and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "Oh, trust me, I know."

With a bit of dread in her tone, she asked the question. "What are you going to do then?"

Dewey's words echoed in the back of his mind."Hate him all you want. It doesn't change the fact that we're stuck together and you have a promise to keep."

"I'm going to keep my promise and we're going to save both Louie and the kid. But if Cosmo wants to play mind games, I'll play and I'll play hard."

"Sooooo… doeeees thaaat mean you're not mad anymore?"

Huey raised his eyebrow. "That's a trick question. The Duke's always stewing about something. But, thanks to our little chat, I think I have a logical way to tackle the situation."

She cringed. "I don't know how I feel about that. Also, would you stop calling Philbertthe kidorthe clone?If he was made in Black Heron's lab, that means he's just as much my brother as he is your… your…"

Huey watched her struggle with the word, trying not to smirk at her. "There's no making sense of something that's as messed up as this, trust me, I've been at it for the last three hours."

Webby flushed. "Well, you know what I mean!"

He went full smirk. "No, actually, I don't think I do. What do you mean exactly? Is he my brother? Cousin?Son?"

She glared at him. "Very funny."

"Exactly. It's weird, unnatural, and makes no logical sense."

Webby rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder. "Just be nice and call him by his name. Alright, Mr. Roboto?"

Huey lifted his head and looked her straight in the eyes for effect. "PHILBERT. There. Does that make you happy?"

She sat up all proper in her chair and smiled. "Elated."