An awkward silence filled the void between Dewey and Louie as the treaded through the forsaken hallways of FOWL. Dewey watched his brother from his peripheral. Louie had his eyes fixed on the path ahead of them. Dewey bit his beak. He wanted to say something, anything to break the silence between them. But he was still angry at what his younger brother had said. Their fight on the island had left them split, and Dewey couldn't find the words to fix it. He was some weird mix of mad and sad he couldn't describe. Smad. He was smad.

And underlying that, Dewey was filled with an excited disbelief. If everything went smoothly, he would see his bother again. He would see Huey for the first time in almost a month. And they would finally get things sorted out amongst the brothers. He would finally know what really happened that made Huey leave and join this horrible place. Dewey hoped Louie wasn't right in saying Huey had on purpose turned against them. They would save him and then they would go back to the happy family they once were. Dewey would find his voice again and all would be right with the world.

"Where do you think they would keep him?" Louie's vice broke the silence.

Dewey shrugged.

Louie sighed. "Right, you're not talking. Since we don't exactly know if he's a prisoner or an agent, he could be in a cell just as well as a room." Side glancing at Dewey, the green triplet gave a half smile. "Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and check the prison cells first?"

A smile crept on Dewey's face with the gesture.

"Now, where would those be..." Louie put a finger to his beak, deep in though. He followed along the wall, the small pat pat pat of his feet filling the void.

Dewey thought he saw a figure move around the corner. He narrowed his eyes, but no more movement came. Maybe it was a trick of the light. But, the figure moved again, their eye just taking a peak. The figure's eyes met his, and they flinched, ducking back around the corner. He heard a small, short, "Yip!" for a scream.

Nudging Louie, Dewey watched the corner. Louie followed his gaze, then the brothers exchanged a look. They moved slowly, staring intently. Maybe they could catch their watcher off guard.

Once they reached the end of the hall, Louie jumped around the corner with a, "Ha!" Dewey moved to stand behind him. Louie pointed his fingers at the figure like a gun. The figure jumped back, falling to the floor with another high yelp. Dewey made a confused expression when he saw the person more clearly. "Get back, you- you- kid?" Louie tilted his eyes at the girl.

The young robin put her hands out in front of her. "Please don't hurt me!"

Louie put his hand gun down. "Uh, we're not going to hurt you. Who are you? What's a little girl like you doing in FOWL?"

The girl got to her feet, dusting herself off. "I'm Katie. Bradford's my grandpa." The boys took a step back. Katie caught their cautious stepped back and shook her head. "Wait, don't worry! I'm not gonna tell him you're here. I'm on your side. I think. I don't know." Her voice escalated in pitch as she spoke. "I'm kind of going through an existential crisis right now, I think!" She shook herself. "Anyways, you're Huey's brothers, right?"

Dewey flinched at the mention of the red triplet's name. "How did you know that?" Louie asked.

"You guys look like him. Are you triplets? Triplets are so neat, because there's like, three yous!"

Louie stopped her, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Do you know where he is!" His voice was eager and cracked a little.

"Um, yes..." Katie bit her lip.

"Can you tell us?"

Katie's face was overcome with a worried expression. "I- uh- I..." She clenched her fists, bouncing up and down on her knees. "If I do tell you, I'm going to be in so much trouble, but if I don't tell you, Huey will be in trouble!" She tugged at her hair.

Louie shook her by the arms. "MAKE UP YOUR MIND WOMAN!"

She stumbled back, looking dizzy. She shook it off. "Alright, alright, I pick your side! I'll take you to Huey!" She started walking ahead of them, gesturing for them to follow along. "Grandpa's going to kill me," Dewey heard he mumble.

Knowing Bradford, that probably wasn't too far of a stretch. Dewey wondered what it would be like to be related to someone so evil. His family had their rough patches, but they always made it through. But it looked like Katie was just trying to please Bradford, even if that meant going against her own moral code. Dewey wondered if maybe she could find someone else to stay with after they had taken FOWL down. How would she feel about that?

...

"So, we all know the kids left, right?" Donald sighed.

Drake nodded. "Oh yes, most definitely."

Della frowned. "They're our kids, what else did you expect them to do? Not go take down a world threatening evil organization without telling anyone?"

After they had noticed the quietness of the house, it didn't take long for the adults to put two and two together. They all stood around the foyer, feeling kind of dumb for leaving the kids unattended and expecting them to be just fine.

"I guess we could rush into battle like crazy people," Scrooge said dryly.

"I'll go get equipment, and then we can go," Beakly sighed.

Gyro rubbed the bridge of his beak, a scowl scrawled on his face. "And even after Boyd specifically said he was not going to FOWL headquarters."

...

Huey paced his cell, biting his beak. He was glad to be back in full control, but coming up with an escape plan for him and the Duke proved harder than he thought. He stopped pacing and leaned his forehead against the wall. It couldn't be hopeless. No, there had to be a way out. If not for himself, then for his family. They wouldn't want him to rot away in this cell, even if they were gone. He would get out and figure out the next step from there. But now he tried to focus on getting free from Black Heron's cell.

From around the bend and up the stairs, he could hear the door to Heron's lab open. Muffled talking followed. Huey scrunched up his face. When Black Heron got down here, he would be certain to show her head hadn't given up yet. He would show her that she wasn't as powerful as she thought. FOWL might knock him down, but she couldn't keep him down. He would come up with some clever way out that would make her freak. The "brilliant mind of Black Heron" could not design a cell to keep him trapped forever!

Huey felt his heart rate rising with exhilaration. Yeah, that would show her. He would show her right now, as soon as she came around the corner! As soon as-

Huey stopped. The people who came around the owner were not the people he expected.

His breath hitched, eyes wide. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. No, it couldn't be them, they were dead. He had killed them. He was just seeing things. He had killed them His hands began to shake. He could say nothing as his eyes met with his brothers'. And they were speechless too.

Louie's eyes began to water, smiling in disbelief. Dewey just stared, mouth gaping.

Once he had processed what he was seeing, Huey broke down crying. He ran into the bars of his cell, reaching out his hand to them. Louie took it and squeezed tight. To feel their comforting warmth again. A wide smile split across Huey's face.

Louie took the cell key and opened the door. He was caught up in a hug by Dewey, and Louie was quick to join in.

"It's you! It's really you!" Huey sobbed into his brothers. "I thought- I thought you were dead! I thought I kill-"

Louie cut him off, putting his finger to his beak. "Shush, we're all right." Louie's CPI cracked. "You're alright."

"Huey, we missed you so much!" Dewey exclaimed, squeezing Huey tighter. Louie smirked at Dewey, but the blue triplet didn't notice.

The boys hugged each other a long while, for the the first time in a long time feeling at peace. Because, for now, they had each other.

The finally broke apart, smiling and tears in their eyes.

"Awww!" Katie smiled warmly at them, and for the first time, Huey noticed her.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What's she doing here?"

She flinched, her face turning red. "Well, I, uh... Was hoping to make it up to you." She frowned, eyes moving the floor to avoid Huey's stern gaze. He loosened a bit, wondering where she was going. "I'm sorry I tried to keep you here. I was being a jerk, and I was just trying to impress Bradford. I'm sorry."

Huey mulled over her words, deciding whether or not to accept them. Finally, he sighed. "And I'm sorry too. For attacking you and all." They exchanged a weird, sympathetic, awkward half smile.

"Well, you two certainly have some history," Dewey said.

Katie's faced turned a warm pink.

"I think someone's got a crush," Huey heard Louie whisper to Dewey. Huey ignored them while Katie only turned more red.

"Uh, let's get going, shall we!" she said, maybe a little too eager. Huey nodded and followed her back towards the exit.

Dewey and Louie walking in line with their brother. "Aren't you gonna fill us in on what you've been doing here?"

Huey nodded. As he started to recall it, he started to realize how somewhat embarrassing it was. "Well, Bradford had bugged me a bit about joining FOWL in private, and sort of planted the seed. I was feeling a little left out and ignored, and so I ran away and took his offer. But then it turned out to be more than I bargained for. I thought I had killed you, and so I went to confront Bradford, but then he locked me in this dark cell for a long time."

Huey glanced a wary look at Katie, but she didn't seem to notice. "I only got out because Katie let me out."

She fiddled with her hair. "Well, I wouldn't say let you out."

"I'm sugar coating the story to save both our prides. Anyways, Bradford let Black Heron have me, one thing led to another and that's how I got down here. I told them where the journal was and I hurt you guys." Huey knit his eyebrows together, frowning. "Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course," Dewey chimed.

"Only if you forgive us for all the teasing and ignoring you. We could've done better." Louie slipped his hands in his pockets, frowning.

Huey glanced between his brothers a moment and smiled. "Thanks. But you're already the world's best brothers." He threw his arms around them. A thought came to mind. "How did you survive, anyway?"

"Now that is a story," Dewey chuckled.

...

It wasn't long before they met up with the rest of the group Louie and Dewey had brought. Huey was glad to see his friends again, and they were glad to see him. Webby practically suffocated him in a hug, along with Violet and Boyd.

Louie counted heads and frowned. "Where's Gos?"

Lena shrugged. "She ran off. She left us a note, but it didn't tell us much."

Huey frowned. Hopefully she was alright, and then they could make up too.

"So now we leave. Huey do you know why the exit is? I would find it, but they have something messing up my signal," Boyd said, shaking his head.

Huey nodded and started in the direction where he thought the exit to be. This was it. He would finally be outside in the fresh air and he would see his family again. Not all hope was lost. Things were better now that he had his brothers again.

"Now, now. Off in such a hurry?" Huey flinched at the familiar voice. He knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Bradford stepped around the corner, a handful of eggheads behind him. He smirked a t Huey, then frowned at Katie. "Kathrine, sweetheart, I would've thought you would've chose better."

She frowned shrinking under his gaze.

"She's not afraid of you!" Huey shouted in a sudden burst of courage. All that determination built up inside of him was finally being let free.

Bradford narrowed his eyes at the duckling and smirked. "Oh? Well, you will be."

Thanks for reading! (Not me writing this and low key shipping Louie x Katie...) Anyways, if I stick to my writing schedule, there should be two more updates coming next week! Yeah! Again, thanks for the support! Comments are appreciated!