A Fowl State of Affairs

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

A recent post http://www.astroboy-online.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9193 gave me this idea!

A Fowl State of Affairs

1.

Professor Ochanomizu put on his dark welding goggles and picked up the heavy electrodes. He made sure that the clamps holding the metal in position were tight and then turned on the power to the arc welder. Sparks flew high into the air as he drew a bead of metal across the two beams creating a strong union between them. After a few minutes he shut down the power, stood back and removed the dark lenses from his face. He admired the job he'd just done, the chamber was almost completed and would soon be ready for its first test.

“What are you doing Hakase?” Astro asked as he walked in, followed closely by his sister Uran.

“I'm working on the inter-dimensional transporter I told you about,” the professor replied. “This machine should be able to transport matter between any two points on earth through higher dimensions instantly.”

“Could it send me to Disney World in Florida?” Uran asked. “I've always wanted to see that theme park.”

“Until I thoroughly test this machine it's much too dangerous for any sentient being to be transported by it.” the professor said. “I'll have the machine finished by the end of the day, and maybe tomorrow we'll try transporting some simple things from one end of the building to the other.”

“That sounds boring.” Uran said.

“Come on sis, let's leave Hakase alone so he can finish his project,” Astro said, pulling Uran by the hand. “Let's go get some ice cream, OK?”

“Only if you're buying!” Uran teased.

“Sure thing!” Astro laughed as the two of them left the laboratory.


Ochanomizu put the dark goggles back on and picked up the welding electrodes again. He started to make a few more welds on the chamber, fitting the final pieces into place. “My that looks perfect!” he said to himself trying the door into the device. “Now to finish programming the control computer and we can see if we can power this thing up and test it.”


It was getting dark outside, but the professor was still hard at work in the laboratory. He opened the door to the glass lined chamber and placed a small glass statue that Yuko had given him inside. Suddenly the door to the laboratory opened and Uran ran in with Astro trying to keep up with her.

“I wanna go home!” she yelled at her guardian. “I'm going to miss my TV shows!”

“I'm sorry, I guess I lost track of the time.” the professor said. “I was just about to test the transporter.”

“Can I watch?” Uran asked, having a sudden mood change.

“Sure.” Ochanomizu said. “I'm about to send this little statue next door.”

The professor went over to the control computer and brought up a screen showing a map. He zoomed in on the Ministry of Science building and a 3D image of the building's inside appeared. He then moved the computer cursor to the room next door and clicked on it.

“There, now the machine knows where to send this little trinket that Yuko thought I'd like.”

“You mean that ugly glass statue you hate.” Uran laughed.

“Yeah, it makes a perfect expendable test object.” Ochanomizu laughed.

He activated the transport switch, and the inside of the chamber started to glow with a soft light. The glass statue started to look rather faint, and slowly faded from view.

“It's gone!” Uran said.

“Let's go next door and look for it!” Astro said running to the door, followed by his sister.
The two robot children ran into the office just next to Professor Ochanomizu's laboratory and looked around. Sitting on a chair was a glowing object. Slowly the light surrounding it faded and they could see what it was.

“It's that glass statue!” Uran said grabbing it. The object was cold to the touch, and it surprised her, it slipped out of her fingers and fell to the floor, shattering into about a dozen pieces. Astro scooped up the largest bits of the broken glass and carried them next door.

“It made it over there,” he said showing the professor what was in his hands.

“Something went wrong!” Ochanomizu sighed, “It arrived broken!”

“No it didn't.” Uran sobbed. “I picked it up and I dropped it by accident! I'm sorry!”

“That's alright Uran.” the professor said, patting her on the head. “Accidents happen to the best of us.” He looked at his watch, and smiled. “If we leave now you can still catch your shows on TV at home.”

“OK, Hakase!” Uran said.
The three of them left the building and drove home. All the way back, Uran was thinking about how wonderful the professor's machine was.


Astro was awakened in the middle of the night by noises coming from Uran's room next door. He tiptoed across the hallway and peeked into his sister's room to find her busily packing a suitcase.

“Are you running away from home?” he asked.

“No, I'm going to Disney World!” she said

“Leaving in the middle of the night?” Astro asked.

“It's daytime in Florida right now.” She said.

Astro suddenly realized what she had in mind. “You're NOT going to try and use the professor's machine!”

“Why not?” she asked. “It works just fine.”

“You don't know that!” Astro said. “It only sent a cheap hunk of glass into the next room!”

“I'm not scared.” She said. “Everything Hakase makes works perfectly. He made me!”

Astro face palmed. “You better go back to bed and forget this crazy idea!” It was then that Astro noticed the jet packs attached to his sister's feet.

“You weren't thinking of flying over to the ministry right now were you?” he asked.

“Yes, and you are not going to stop me!” she said walking towards the window.

“You'd better not!” Astro said.

“Try and catch me!” Uran teased, jumping out of the open window.

Astro took off flying after his sister. She knew he'd follow her, and she was able to fake a turn one way and zigzag another. Astro was able to keep up, but just barely. He arrived at the Ministry just as Uran flew though the window of the professor's laboratory. She was already at the computer terminal, setting the controls for Disney World.

“There now all I have to do is click on the activate button and enter the chamber.” she said.

Astro ran over to the chamber door. “Get out of there Uran, it's too dangerous!” he said reaching inside to pull his sister out of it. Suddenly the door slammed shut behind him, throwing Astro into the chamber next to his sister. A bright light enveloped them and a loud humming sound deafened them.

“I'm scarred!” Uran yelled. “Why did I think this was a good idea?” she cried.

The noise faded and the light dimmed. Astro and Uran then found themselves in the middle of an unfamiliar place. It looked like a city, but in strange colors and a plastic looking texture.

“Where are we?” Uran sobbed. “Is this Disney Land?”

Astro looked around him. They were in the middle of a crowded downtown, with lots of people walking by them. Only they weren't exactly people, they were all anthropomorphic DUCKS!

[Shiyonasan]

Gotta love that punny title!

I can totally see Uran getting into trouble and dragging Atom into it like she did in this story.

Good job so far! We'll see where Atom's and Uran's adventures in Duckburg will take us.

[Reid958]

Oooooh like Donald Duck

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

A Fowl State of Affairs

2.

Professor Ochanomizu was awakened by both his land line telephone and his cell phone both ringing at the same time. He answered both, holding the mobile phone up to his left ear, and the handset of the hardwired phone to his right. The mobile phone kept repeating a recorded message about a fire being detected in his laboratory at the Ministry of Science. Astro's robotic father was on the land land in a near panic state.

“What's the matter?” he asked the anxious parent.

“Astro and Uran are missing!” came the answer. “The window to her room was left open, and her things are in a mess, like she was packing in a hurry. Her favorite clothes are missing! Are she and Astro with you?”

The professor tried to calm the robot down, and told him he had an idea where the two robot kids were. After hanging up the phone he quickly dressed and drove over to the Ministry to see what had happened in the laboratory. There was no doubt in his mind that both phone calls were related.
When Ochanomizu arrived at the laboratory, the Metro City fire department had already been there. Yuko was waiting for him outside of the lab.
“While the lab's smoke detector triggered an alarm, there didn't seem to be an active fire.” She told him.

“Let's take a look at the damage” Ochanomizu sighed, opening the door and walking in.

There was a strong odor of ozone in the room, even though the ventilation system had been working full blast to clear out the smoke. It was obvious at once what had happened. All of the glass windows in the transporter machine's chamber had been blasted outwards, and the inside of it was heavily charred. The fuses in the power amplifiers between the chamber and the control computer were all blown, and the badly burned up machine had been left in the powered on condition. The professor examined the control computer and saw where the settings had been left. His face showed an angry grimace as he realized just what had happened.

“What's the matter Hakase?” Yuko asked, “That is beside the fact that this machine seems to have blown up.”

“That stupid, head strong, kid has done it again!” Ochanomizu sighed. “And I bet she's managed to get her brother involved too!”

“Who? What?” Yuko asked.

“Uran.” the professor sighed. “The Cartesian coordinate destination controls on the machine were set for Disney World Florida,” he said. “Unfortunately, the dimensional control was adjusted for the 60th dimension, and the power level was cranked up to full!”

“What does that mean?” the professor's assistant asked.

“It means that the machine was set for an overload, and whoever was in that chamber is lost in an alternate universe! At least I know where they went, but I won't be able to get them back until I can rebuild this machine. That may take me anywhere from a few days, to a month depending on how many critical parts were destroyed in the overload.”

“Why would Uran do something so reckless?” Yuko asked.

“She'd been bugging me to take her and her family to Walt Disney World for several weeks now, ever since the Japan exhibit in their Epcot park opened that new robot show,” the professor replied. “I bet she decided to sneak off there for a quick look and return. Astro must have tried to stop her, and they both ended up, who knows where!”


Uran clung tightly on to Astro in fear. “Where are we Ani?” she sobbed. “And why is everybody here a duck?”

“I'm not sure.” Astro replied. “Just how did you set those controls on the transporter machine?”

“I used Google maps to zero on on Disney World, right in front of Planet Earth.” she said. Then I cranked up both of the power controls to full, so I'd get there quickly.”

Astro face palmed. “I think you overdid it, Uran.” he said. “You must have sent us to another planet in another solar system or something!”

Uran's face contorted with hysteria and she began to bawl, her tears free flowed down her face and dripped onto her pink dress. “I'm so stupid!” she cried. “Now we're stuck in this duck world forever!”

Astro instinctively reached for a pocket to get his sister a tissue, but he wasn't wearing anything but his black briefs and boots having ran out of bed to confront his sister earlier. Uran wiped her face on a sleeve of her blouse. She buried her head in Astro's chest, and her brother wrapped his arms around her to give a comforting hug. “Don't cry, sis.” he said. “I'm sure Hakase will figure out where we are and get us back home.”

“You think so?” Uran sobbed.

“Sure.” Astro said as convincingly as possible.

“What's the matter?”

Uran lifted her head away from Astro's breast and looked to see where the voice had come from.

“You OK, little girl?”

Standing next to the two robot kids were three ducklings dressed in bright clothing, wearing baseball caps on their heads.

“Hello.” the third one said. “My name is Louie, and these are my brothers Huey and Dewey.”

Uran was speechless for a few moments, not quite believing what she was seeing.
Astro regained his composure quickly, and did the polite thing.

“Pleased to met you.” he said. “My name is Astro, and this is my sister Uran. We're lost, and not quite sure just where we are, or how we got here.”

“You're in downtown Duckburg!” Louie said.

“Do you guys have a place to stay?” Huey asked.

“If not you're welcome to come home with us, I'm sure our Uncle Donald won't mind!” Dewey added.

“Gee thank you!” Uran said, drying her eyes with the sleeve of her blouse.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Donald had just gotten out of the shower and was drying himself when his nephews barged into the house. Uran and Astro followed them into the front foyer just as Dewey slammed the door shut and the three ducklings yelled out, “We're home Uncle Donald!”

Their Uncle peeked out from the bathroom with a large bath towel wrapped around him. “You're early boys, but that's good because something's come up and I need to talk to you.” he yelled back. “I'll be out in a few minutes!”

Donald quickly dressed and combed the feathers on the top of his head. He splashed on some cologne and emerged from his bedroom adjusting the bow-tie on his tux. “What do you think guys? How do I look?” he asked, first noticing the visitors. “Hey who did you bring home?”

Astro bowed politely Japanese style as he spoke, “I'm Astro, and this is my sister Uran.” He said. “We just arrived in Duckburg by accident and your nephews asked us to visit with them.”

“Yeah, Uncle Donald.” Louie said. “They're lost and have nowhere to go.”

“Awww.” Donald sighed. “Listen fellows, I've got a hot date tonight with Daisy and I really don't need you around to spoil things. I asked your great Uncle Scrooge to take you in for the night so I can be alone.”

Uran smiled at Donald. “Your look wonderful, Mr. Duck.” She said. “I hope you and your girlfriend have a wonderful evening. Don't worry about me and my brother, we'll be fine.”
Donald sighed and patted Uran on the head. “I'm sure it will be OK with my Uncle if you and your brother have dinner with him and my nephews. He's a kind hearted guy, at least around kids.”

“You'll like our Uncle Scrooge!” Huey said. “He's got a huge house with servants and lots of toys!”

“We'll see you later, Uncle Donald!” Dewey said. “Come on you guys, let's run over to Uncle Scrooge and surprise him!”

Louie opened the door and Huey walked out and motioned for Astro and Uran to follow him. Dewey walked out after the robotic children, followed by Louie who slammed the door shut loudly!
“How many times to I have to tell you guys not to slam the door!” Donald yelled from in the house.

As the five kids marched down the front driveway toward the street, Daisy Duck got out of Launchpad McQuack's taxicab and was heading for Donald's front door. “Hi, Daisy!” Louie said. “Uncle Donald put on some smelly stuff that you like!” Dewey laughed.

Launchpad McQuack stood by the taxicab. He noticed the kids heading in the direction of Scrooge McDuck's house and called to them.

“Hey guys, need a lift over to your Uncle's house?” He asked.

“Sure Launchpad!” Huey said.

The three ducklings got in the back seat of the taxi, and Launchpad opened the front passenger side door and motioned for Astro and Uran to get in.

“Friends of yours?” he asked.

“We just met them.” Louie answered. “They're lost.” Dewey added.

“Well then welcome to Duckburg!” McQuack said as he closed the door and ran around to the other side of the vehicle to get inside.

“You guys better buckle your seat belts!” Huey said from the back seat. “Launchpad drives his cab like it was a race car!”

“I resemble that remark!” McQuack answered, as he put the cab in motion, grinding gears shifting. The cab sped off taking the turn around the corner on two wheels. They sped by a police officer directing traffic, the cab running though a deep puddle and spraying the cop with muddy water.

“Opps. Didn't mean for that to happen!” Launchpad said. “Hope he didn't get my license plate number!”

They bounced down a particularly bumpy road, and then went flying over an embankment. The cab sped down a hill, hit a big bump at the bottom and went flying though the air landing about a hundred feet away. Two of the tires blew out and the vehicle skidded sideways into McDuck's driveway, rear ending his Rolls-Kanhardly. The limo didn't seem to suffer any damage, while the front bumper of McQuack's taxi fell off.

“Well we're here, safe and sound!” McQuack announced with pride.

“Does he always drive this badly?” Uran asked as they got out of the cab.

“Actually, this trip was pretty good!” Louie said. “Yeah, he only crashed once this time!” Dewey added.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

A Fowl State of Affairs

3.

Duckworth answered the door before the ducklings had a chance to even ring the doorbell. McDuck's butler had a sixth (and seventh) sense that enabled him to keep on step ahead of his boss and the rest of the household.

“Sir, your nephews have arrived and they seem to have brought some friends along.” Duckworth announced..

“Very well, show them in!” Scrooge yelled from two rooms away. “I'm busy counting my spare change!”

“Follow me!” Duckworth told the children, leading them into the playroom. “You can entertain yourselves here until the master is ready for you.”

“Hey Duckworth!” Huey said, “Want to play Nascar with us?”

“I'm sorry, I don't have time to engage in any video games.” the butler said.

“You're too stuck up, you know that?” Dewey said. “Uncle Scrooge always plays with us.”

“Yeah, sometimes we even let him win!” Louie added.

“No you don't” Scrooge McDuck said, entering the room. “I'm just too good for ya and you know it!”

“Wanna put your money where your mouth is?” Dewey asked.

“Are you challenging me to a race?” Scrooge asked.

“Sure am!” Huey answered, holding a video game controller at arms length to hand it to his great uncle.

“You're on!” McDuck laughed.

For the next ten minutes the old geezer and his nephews battled it out on the virtual race track. Huey had selected a Corvette as his racing vehicle, Dewey was driving a Shelby Ford Mustang, and Louie was behind the wheel of a Firebird Trans-am right out of a Burt Reynolds movie. Uncle Scrooge was driving the General Lee, and the Duke Brother's '69 Dodge Charger was creaming the competition. Uran and Astro stood in the sidelines watching quietly.

“There, I told ya I was too good for ya!” Uncle Scrooge said, handing the game controller back to Huey. He then noticed Astro and Uran. “Pardon my bad manors!” he said, I didn't introduce meself to your friends! I'm Scrooge McDuck and I'm always pleased to meet any friends of my nephews!”

“Pleased to meet you Mr. McDuck,” Uran said. “My name is Uran, and this is my brother Astro.”

“You're not from around these parts are you?” Scrooge asked.

“No, we were transported here by accident and we're not sure exactly where we are and how we are going to get back.” Astro replied.

“Transported?” McDuck asked. “Sounds like something outta science fiction.”

“Our Guardian Hakase Ochanomizu invented a device that can instantly transport anything over great distances.” Uran explained. “I think my sister managed to set the thing to jump over multiple dimensions, we may be in a parallel universe since there are no duck people where we come from.” Astro added.

“Well then I have just the answer!” McDuck smiled. I know two very brilliant scientists that might be able to help ya. One of them is quite the intellectual, sometimes I don't even understand what he's saying. The other one is a bit on the strange side and somewhat absent minded, but he's a great inventor.”

“You must mean Professor Ludwid Von Drake, and that nutty Gyro Gearloose”, Huey butted in.

“Now don't go insulting people!” McDuck corrected his nephew. Gyro Gearloose has done me quite a few favors!”

“Do you suppose we can go talk to these inventors?” Uran asked. “Do you think they could find a way to get us back home?”

“Certainly!” McDuck exclaimed. “Let's have dinner first, and then I need to make a stop over at my money bin to make a deposit. Then we will head over to the professor's house and ask him for his help.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Mrs. Beakley escorted the ducklings, Astro and Uran to the dining room, Scrooge McDuck followed after them. “I'm so glad you're staying with us again,” she told the boys, “I've missed you, and I've prepared your favorite dinner!”

Huey, Dewey, and Louie quickly took their seats at the table, after first showing their guests where to sit.

“Now who are your friends?” Mrs. Beakley asked, “and what would they like for dinner?”

“We just met them on our way back from the movie theater downtown.” Louie told the Nanny. “They said they were lost.” Dewey added. “Their names are Astro and Uran” Huey said.

Duckworth wheeled a serving cart from the kitchen and dished out Mrs. Beakley's pot roast onto the ducklings plates. He then served Mr. McDuck a large Salmon roast.
Astro and Uran just sat quietly. “You can just get us some water.” Astro said. “We're not very hungry.”

“Nonsense!” McDuck yelled. “Youngster's need their nourishment!”

“Actually, we're not what you think we are.” Uran said. “We're robots, so we don't need to eat.”

“You wouldn't happen to have any liquid deuterium would you?” Astro asked. “That's what we use for fuel.”

“You're robots?” the four ducklings cried out.

“You're pulling me leg!” Scrooge laughed.

“No, not really.” Astro answered, opening the panel on his chest to reveal his inner mechanics. Everyone at the table stared at him with their mouths hanging open. Astro closed his chest panel placed his hands on the table. “You'll just have to believe me, It would be unladylike for me to show you my insides!” Uran said.

“My, My.” Scrooge laughed, “Just wait till Gearloose sees you! He might have some of that deuterium stuff in his lab.”

“Are you sure I can't get you anything?” Mrs. Beakley said, “Maybe some oil or something?”

“Actually, some light oil in water would be nice.” Astro said. “It could be vegetable oil.” Uran added.

“I'll see to it at once!” Duckworth replied, returning to the kitchen.


After everyone finished their dinner, Scrooge put on his hat and coat and picked up his walking stick. “After a good dinner it's best to take a walk to help with the digestion.” he announced. “So let's all go out and head towards the bank. I need to make a deposit.”

McDuck carefully put a fat envelope into the inside pocket of of his topcoat and buttoned it shut. Duckworth opened the door for him and the group headed out into the night air. “My money bin isn't too far from here.” he announced, “Just a five minute walk towards downtown.”

The bank was just closing its doors when they arrived, but the manager recognized their best customer, and unlocked the door. “You're a little late, Mr. McDuck.” Mr. Billingsly the manager explained, “But for you, we'll make an exception anytime.”

“I'm terribly sorry to inconvenience you.” McDuck said. “Are you sure you don't mind staying open a wee bit late on my account? I can always come back tomorrow.”

“Nonsense!” Billingsly said. “You're only five minutes late, and I still have some of my own book keeping to take care of before I can leave for the day.”


Fenton Crackshell walked away from the teller's window. He had been the last customer of the evening, having just deposited his paycheck and was heading for the door. As Mr. Billingsly unlocked the front door to let Fenton out of the bank, three unsavory looking plug uglies barged into the bank. All three of them wore masks and brandished semi-automatic pistols. The Beagle Boys waved their guns about, and ordered everyone to put their hands in the air.

“Well, it looks like we hit the jackpot!” number 176-167 laughed.

“Yeah, looks who's here! It's Scrooge McDuck!” number 176-671 answered.

“Put your hands up and hand me your fat wallet!” number 176-176 said, poking Scrooge with his gun.

“They're robbing Uncle Scrooge!” Louie said.

“Damn Beagle boys!” Dewey replied.

“I'll put a stop to this!” Astro said, walking towards the three criminals.

Fenton Crackshell, got off the floor and dusted himself off. He'd been knocked over when the three gangsters slammed the door in his face while he tried to leave the bank. “Blathering Blatherskite!” he yelled out loud.

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light surrounding Crackshell, and a clap of thunder. Everyone turned to see what had happened, and standing there was GizmoDuck!

“Put your hands up you criminals!” the robotic superhero cried out in a deep voice.

[Reid958]

I'm enjoying this! Keep that up

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

“Youse got to be kidding!” number 176-167 laughed.

“Yeah, you stuffed tin can with a unicycle!” number 176-671 added.

Astro stood next to GizmoDuck and glared at the Beagle Boys. “You need some help?” he asked the robotic super hero.

“I can handle these Bozos!” Fenton laughed. He held out his right hand and pressed a button on the gantlet with his left. Suddenly, the guns flew out of the gangster's hands and landed in GizmoDuck's gloved fist!

“Hey how'd you do that?” number 176-176 cried out.

“Powerful electromagnetism!” GizmoDuck said.

“I'll take care of those dangerous toys, if you'd like.” Astro said.

“Be my guest!” Fenton said, tossing the three weapons toward Astro.

GizmoDuck opened a compartment in his armor and pulled out a length of stout rope. He proceeded to tie up the Beagle Boys who were astonished as they watched Astro bend their guns into small steel balls with his bare hands.
Uran walked up to GizmoDuck and lightly tapped on his armored suit. “Are you a robot too?” she inquired.

“My suit is robotic, but I'm not.” Fenton answered.

“Oh, well. My brother and I are robots, and for a moment there I thought I'd found someone like us in this strange duck world.”

“How'd you get here,” GizmoDuck asked, “If you don't mind my asking?”

“In an inter-dimensional transporter machine set on overload.” Astro answered. “We wanted to go half way around the world, looks like we went way beyond that into another universe or something.”

“In that case you really need to meet Gyro Gearloose the inventor.” Fenton said. “He invented this robotic super suit I'm wearing! I bet he could help you.”

The Duckburg police soon showed up with a paddy wagon and hauled the Beagle Boys back to jail. With the excitement over, Mr. Billingsly led Scrooge McDuck to the back of the bank though a heavily armored door into the enlarged vault that held McDuck's money bin. Billingsly dialed one of the two combination locks, and McDuck the other one which allowed the door to be swung open with some difficulty.
The bank officer escorted Scrooge into the dark vault and reached over to the wall to find the light switch. “Here you go sir.” he said, his voice reverberating in the large room. As the lights came on both men were in shock.

“Where's me money!” McDuck cried out. The vault was completely empty!

“My god!” Billingsly gasped. “This vault hasn't been opened since the last time you were here just days ago!”

“Well then how do you explain the fact that it's empty!” Scrooge yelled.

“We have the best security system in the business!” Billingsly stammered. “This door is the only way into this vault. Each time the door is opened or closed a recording is made on two computer monitoring systems, and the door itself records a record of each time the locks are opened and closed along with a time stamp.”
The bank manager produced a hard copy of the recording. “See, the last time this door was opened and closed was two days ago, and your signature is on the record as having entered the vault. No one has gone through that door since then!”

“Then how do ye explain the fact that the vault is now empty?” McDuck demanded.

“I can't!” Billingsly explained.

By this time the ducklings had gotten tired of waiting for their great uncle to come back from the vault. They found their way to the back of the bank and saw their uncle and the bank manager yelling at each other by the open door of the huge vault. Astro and Uran followed them.

“It's empty!” Huey said.

“Where is all of Uncle Scrooge's money?” Louie asked.

“Are you poor now, Uncle Scrooge?” Dewey sobbed.

“I'm sure the bank is insured for this sort of thing.” McDuck glared at Billingsly.

“Well, actually …. “ the bank manager started to say, bitting his nails, “this might just put the bank out of business!”

“Looks like I'm going to have to hire me a Sherduck Holmes!” Scrooge said.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

A Fowl State of Affairs

4.

Astro entered the vault and carefully looked around. “I don't see anyway other than the door into this room.” He said. “I've scanned it in all wavelengths from IR to Xray and the walls, floor and ceiling and floor are solid.”

“That's what I've told you Mr. McDuck!” Billingsly moaned. “This is an impossible crime!”

Over in the far corner of the bank, hiding behind a potted fern in the reception area stood Drake Mallard. He'd entered the bank right behind Fenton Crackshell, and made himself invisible by standing where nobody was looking. He quickly turned his cloak inside out and pulled a cape out from a hidden compartment. He brushed past GizmoDuck who was still entertaining Uran, and entered the vault where Scrooge McDuck was still fuming with Mr. Billingsly. Astro was the first to notice the duck who walked into the vault, he was now wearing a deep purple outfit with a large rimmed hat.



“Looks like you need a detective!” The distinguished looking individual said.

“Darkwing Duck!” Mr. Billingsly cried. “How is it that you always manage to show up whenever some super crime has been committed?”

“That's what I do!” Darkwing said. “I solve them!”

Darkwing pulled out a large convex lens from his pocket and started to examine the interior of the empty vault. Astro shrugged his shoulders. “He's not going to find anything.” he said.

Uran and GizmoDuck now entered the vault. “What are you doing here?” GizmoDuck asked. “You charlatan.”

“Hummh!” Darkwing gruffed back. “All brawn and no brain, that's what you is.”

“Really?” GizmoDuck pressed a button on his left gantlet and started scanning the room with his gloved left hand. “I'm picking up a faint IM trace here.” He said.

“What does that mean?” Astro asked.

“It's almost like a rift has been opened in the space-time continuum.” The robotic super duck replied.

“In English?” Darkwing said.

“I think a wormhole has opened and closed in here.” GizmoDuck replied.