I feel bad that it's been forever that I updated... I had about 80% of the most recent Ao3 update done and than writers block... I really want to get the muse back on this one day...fingers crossed...

As a sign welcoming her to St. Canard flashed through the window of her ride, Gandra Dee let out a long sigh.

"Welcome Home," she muttered to herself as she began to nervously fidget with the cuff of her glove.

Sure, she hadn't been born and raised in the bayside burg however it was where she had laid down something that resembled roots.

It had been five years since she'd been back, having been working on a project in Macaw thanks to a very generous recommendation from her mentor Thaddeus Waddlemeyer but now…

She had heard the news of his disappearance and while it had been months ago she had loose ends that needed tying up.

Paying her driver, Gandra stepped out of the car at the marina slinging her duffle bag over her shoulder while looking out at the boats docked. There had been no sign of theUnchained Melodythough she supposed Donald was taking it out and Dewey and Gosalyn were with a sitter.

Okay, so she had no confirmation that Donald Duck ACTUALLY took Thaddeus's Granddaughter, however he seemed like the kind of guy who would keep someone out of the system whatever it took.

Making her way down the docks she soon noticed a burst of purple smoke in the distance.

"Well, that is new," she muttered to herself as her instincts told her to run toward the smoke instead of away from it. Finding Gosalyn's whereabouts would unfortunately need to wait as she'd done some 'self experimentation'while abroad and had a particular newfound skill set.

Inching closer, Gandra soon spotted a pair of weasels being chased around by a duck dressed in purple.

"No," she thought, "it couldn't be…"

Instantly recognizing the caped crusader as the once fictional Darkwing Duck she couldn't help but roll her eyes wondering what she missed being out of the proverbial loop.

"Suck Gas Evil Doers!" She heard Darkwing say as he began to raise what she assumed was a gas gun. While she didn't know if the gas was just all smoke and mirrors or it truly had the chemical potency to knock out the hero's prey, adrenaline caused the chickadee to spring into action removing her left glove causing a burst of lightning to fall from her hand.

As she did this she noticed 'Darkwing' cock his head with an air of confusion as he began to apprehend one of the criminals.

"Sparky with you?" He asked in a whispered tone as the weasel shrugged back just as confused while his counterpart began to turn in the opposite direction. The weasel didn't get far before Gandra managed to step into his path shooting out another blast of electricity, stunning the criminal and causing him to crumble to the ground.

"Looks like she's on our side DW," a taller duck dressed in an aviator jacket spoke, stepping into view as he began to size Gandra up with his eyes in a clearly non threatening way. It was then that the footfalls of another person began to head in their general direction and she could instantly sense that they came from someone too small to be the police.

September 2014:

Gandra ran a hand through her hair pensively before she began to rock back and forth on her heels looking over toward the eight year old girl sitting across from her.

"Why aren't you asking your grandfather for help?" she asked.

"Because, everyone knows my abuelo is a genius scientist and I don't want anyone to accuse me of having an unfair advantage by using his resources."

Gandra couldn't help but smile at Gosslyn's reasoning for her actions however at the same time she thought that if she herself had the same resources at her disposal when she was about to enter her elementary school science fair she would have jumped at the chance to have access to them.

"Plus, the future is female."

That it was, she thought to herself thinking that it was still a struggle for a woman to shatter the glass ceiling when it came to matters of science; however she was fortunate that Thaddeushad seen her potential.

"So, what's Dewey doing?" Gandra asked, thinking of the young girl's close friend hoping that by scoping out the competition's plans could give her some ideas as to where to go from.

"You have three guesses but only the first counts."

"Ahh, Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano?"

"Naild It! Anyway I was thinking about doing a Vegetable Battery but I don't know, is that just as basic."

"It's definitely a classic," Gandra said thinking back to one of her many elementary school science fairs where she had done that experiment herself back in the day. Thinking about other experiments she had done as a child however one particular one sprang to her mind.

"What about a study on Magnetic Fields?"

"Keen Gear, how did you learn how to do that?"

At the sound of the voice, Gandra could feel her pulse begin to race while at the same time a wash of relief began to blanket her as a familiar redhead began to step into the light. She had blossomed from the child she had left behind all those years ago and had become the promising young woman that Gandra always hoped she'd be.

"Nanotech," Gandra said, holding out her palm with a bit of pride in her voice before shaking her head and slipping back on her gloves. Science could wait, all that mattered was Gosalyn was safe and sound and here with...well she'd find out soon enough.

"I heard about…I had to tie up some loose ends back in Macaw but I came back as quickly as I could."

Gandra watched as Gosalyn ran into her arms, tears filling the teens eyes.

"I know."

As Gosalyn still held tight, 'Darkwing' took a few steps toward the duo as Gandra soon observed that the cops had arrived to apprehend the weasels.

"What did I tell you about talking to strangers, Goss?" he asked with a raised brow.

"She's not a stranger dad," the girl's voice said.

'Dad'Gandra thought to herself curiously as she tilted her head toward Gosalyn's direction as she hunted for some clarity.

"You're not with Donald?"

Gosalyn shook her head.

"Actually he moved back to Duckburg a few years ago."

This was a genuine surprise. Whenever Donald had visited the city across the bay he always returned talking about the ghosts of the past regarding the loss of his sister. She supposed however that people grew and evolved however before she could question any further about Donald or the man dressed as a fictional superhero who had apparently adopted Gosalyn the teen in question began to animatedly babble.

"Though, he actually DOES have a teenage daughter of his own now! You'd love Lena, you both have a similar dark sense of humor… plus she's a witch."

'A witch,' Gandra thought. She wondered just how a teenage witch landed on Donald's doorstep though she supposed that would be a story for another day. Instead she turned her attention back towards the man in purple, holding out her hand knowing that an introduction was warranted.

"I'm Gandra, I am...er...was a colleague of Gosslyn's grandfather."

The taller duck ran his hand through his red mop of hair flashing her a confused look as he was the one to speak up next.

"But you're so young," he stated in a deadpan tone causing Gandra to let out a slight chuckle.

"I was his intern," Gandra clarified with a smile, or at least she assumed she had clarified things.

"Oh," the man spoke with an understanding nod, "like Fenton used to be to Doc before his promotion!"

Giving a turn toward Gosalyn to see if the girl could hold any understanding of what the other man just said, the teen simply mouthed.

"Doctor Gearloose."

Now, THAT was a name that was seemingly familiar. Sure, she had never met the scientist in person, however she had known that the chicken was pretty impressive. He was the head of McDuck Enterprises Research and Development team and Scrooge McDuck himself regarded him as a nephew. Plus, he had been Dewey's biological father.

"I'm Launchpad," the taller duck said, holding out his hand and breaking Gandra out of any further thoughts she was having as she was trying to put the pieces together of just what had brought Gosalyn to these people though she supposed any situation would be better than the young girl being thrust in the system.

It was than she turned toward the purple clad duck once more, the man whom Gosalyn had referred to as dad, a man who all she had knew about was that he enjoyed parading around the city masquerading as a fictional superhero from the nineties and the cops didn't roll an eye about his form of vigilante justice as if it were a normal everyday occurrence.

"And you're…"

"I am the terror that flaps…"

"Spare me the superhero monologue wingsy, I know you have a civilian personality and I'd like to know it so that I can run a background check to make sure that Gosalyn is in good hands."

Gandra gave Darkwing a stone cold glare that was met with one in return. They engaged in a staring competition for a good three minutes before Launchpad broke the tension.

"We can trust her DW, you know I have a fifth sense when it comes to knowing if someone is a good guy."

"Don't you mean a sixth sense LP?" Gosalyn asked as Launchpad scratched his head.

"No, I don't think..." with that Gandra looked over to where Launchpad was seemingly listing off his senses. This man was definitely a character she thought to herself as she listened to Gosalyn insist that the man take her to a place called 'the tower'.

After spending roughly fifteen minutes crammed into a motorcycle sidecar with Launchpad at her side and Gosalyn on her lap she arrived at the location in question. A former maintenance facility tucked into the spires of the Audubon Bay Bridge. It was definitely bigger on the inside as she soon entered into what seemed to be both a veritable museum to the classic Darkwing series as well as an impressive superhero headquarters. Her eyes had been drawn to all the impressive tech that aligned one of the walls that she hadn't noticed what was going on around her until soon she felt a hand tap her shoulder. Turning around she spotted a bird dressed in a purple flannel shirt with a ring of slight bruises in varying shades of blacks and blues peeking out from underneath the sleeve.

"I'm sorry that before we couldn't have a proper introduction...but only a small circle knows of my secret identity and I wanted to keep it that way. Drake Mallard."

Gandra nodded as she shook his hand. There was something about that name that sounded familiar though she couldn't quite place it.

"You might know me better from my short stint on the popular daytime drama 'The Wise and the Wicked'"

No, that wasn't it Gandra thought to herself shaking her head though that did answer some of her questions about this man's day job. He was an actor which in hindsight made total sense.

"Well, maybe you've seen some of my commercial work? I did a string of popular pep ads?"

Shrugging back her shoulders, deciding that was probably what made him so familiar to her, she motioned to take a seat on the couch.

"So, how did you come about adopting Gosalyn? Because I never knew Thaddeus to associate with actors before?"

"It was all Dewey," Launchpad spoke proudly as he reentered the room with the girl in question.

And once again Gandra was left confused and intrigued.

"Long story short," Gosalyn said, "I took the bus to Duckburg in the hopes that Dewey could get his bio-dad or someone to help investigate my grandfather's disappearance. A few days later when I spotted Dewey in St. Canard with Launchpad andDarkwingI kind of dragged them into helping me get to the bottom of things."

Gandra listened as the trio continued to talk about the series of events that lead up to the present point. While she had been intrigued by the prospect of multiverse theory and wondered if perhaps Gosalyn knew of any potential notes her grandfather had lying around she was more focused on the moment of the teens' new found family. She seemed safe and stable and most importantly happy and there was no need to hire a lawyer and uproot the girl from this life.

"So, how long are you staying in town for?" Gosalyn asked, breaking Gandra once more from her labyrinth of internal thoughts.

Gandra shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know Gossaroonie, I was planning to stick around and take care of you but that role has been cast."

Flashing a wink to Drake she listened as the man let out a slight chuckle seeing what she did.

"Please Gandra…stay…you've always been like a cool older sister to me plus what you did to those weasels you'd be a major upgrade to this superhero family."

There was a moment of silence however it was Drake who eventually broke it.

"The kids not wrong…what you did out there was quite impressive."

"And Della has her own family so we've really been lacking in the whole femme fatal department—so I smell a recast!"

As Launchpad soon dashed across the room searching a shelf for a rather large binder, Gandra couldn't help but look towards Gosalyn with yet another curious gaze. Della as in THAT Della….

"A lot can happen in five years."