Chapter Text
Scrooge's Greatest Treasures
Due to the rest of the family moving in being a fairly recent change compared to the decades she had of casual break-ins at Scrooge’s mansion, Goldie sometimes forgot that the old miser did not live alone anymore.
She really had to start remembering that particular detail.
“Aunt Goldie?”
Goldie turned her head in the voice’s direction as she tucked a map she was pilfering into her purse. The little Sharpie was standing in the doorway, and so were Smartie, Toughie, and Pinkie. Oh joy.
“What are you doing here?” Huey, she knew him as Smartie, asked.
The woman gave them a casual wave of her hand. “Hey kiddos, don’t mind me. Just borrowing some of Scroogie’s things like always.” Moving over to a different shelf in the room, she grabbed what looked like a salt shaker but actually wasn’t, and stashed that into her purse along with a thick book she would need for her next quest. She had just gotten the book into her bag when she noticed Pinkie in her personal space bubble, and let out an indignant yelp.
Webby, she knew her as Pinkie, stared at Goldie’s purse curiously. “Wow! That book was bigger and wider than your purse, and it still went in.” The young duckling looked up at her in awe. “And you put more than the book in there.”
Not one to miss an opportunity to boast, Goldie smirked down at her. “Classic pocket dimension storage enchantment. When you live my kind of life, you need to pack as much as you can in a small bag so you can make quick exits.”
“What else do you have in there?” Webby wondered, reaching a hand out only for Goldie to smack it away.
“Sorry, Pinkie. No peeksies,” Goldie tutted as Webby cradled her hand disappointedly. “Only supplies and treasure see the inside.”
As soon as she said that, she saw Louie grin from the doorway. She knew that look on his face, and the other kids probably did too. That was his scheming face.
“Oh really, then why aren’t we in there?” Louie taunted, sipping his Pep with one hand in his hoodie pocket. “You know one of Uncle Scrooge’s mottos is ‘Family is the greatest treasure of all’ as corny as that sounds.”
Dewey, she knew him as Toughie, pushed himself in front of his brothers. “Yeah! In fact, I bet you couldn’t track us down like you’ve done with all the other treasures you’ve collected.”
Louie and Huey both looked at their middle brother like his feathers had somehow suddenly turned orange. “What are you doing, Dewey?” Huey asked.
Goldie raised an eyebrow at the triplet in blue. “Is that a challenge?”
“Ohohoho, it is!” Dewey pointed a finger at her. “Goldie O’Gilt, I dare you to track us down through the mansion like one of your treasure hunts.”
“Yeah!” Webby pumped a fist, catching onto his thinking. “Treasure hunt, but kids are the treasure!”
Louie sighed, looking at his Pep can. “Me and my big mouth. Should have seen this coming the moment I said it.” He looked up at Goldie. “You don’t have to go along with this. Dewey and Webby are always coming up with crazy ideas.”
“Actually, this sounds a bit interesting,” Goldie said, surprising Louie. “I thought I was going to have a boring routine break-in and grab, but this is something different I could get behind.” She smirked at Dewey and Webby, and Louie could tell she was already calculating possibilities in her head. “What are the terms?”
“Terms?” Dewey blinked, humming thoughtfully. “Um…”
Seeing he was stumped, Webby held up a finger to their great-uncle’s romantic partner. “Give us a minute.” Turning around, she grabbed Huey by his shirt and Louie by his hoodie, and pulled them into a group huddle with herself and Dewey.
While they murmured between themselves, Goldie occupied herself with depositing a few more artifacts and supplies into her bag. Once the whispering stopped, she saw the huddle break and Huey step forward with a notepad in hand.
“Okay, Louie and I reluctantly agree to be part of Dewey and Webby’s insane idea of a game, and together the four of us have agreed on the rules,” Huey said, reading from the notepad. “First, we get a fifteen-minute head start to find hiding places. Second, anywhere on the mansion grounds except the roof is fair game for hiding places up to and including the gate down at the bottom of Killmotor Hill. Third, you have four hours from your start time to find and collect all four of us. One hour for each kid. Fourth, we must be placed in your purse to count as ‘collected’. Fifth, if at least one of us is still free when the four hours are up, then we win; if you manage to grab all of us before time is up, you win. Do you accept these terms?”
“Sounds reasonable to me,” Goldie agreed.
“Alright, synchronizing phone timers!” Goldie and the kids pulled out their phones, setting their timers for four hours and fifteen minutes. “When your phone hits four hours, you can start looking.”
“Okay, timer starting… now!” As the five of them clicked for the timer to start, the four kids rushed out the door. Goldie remained behind in the room, listening as the kids’ footsteps got quieter and quieter as the distance between her and them grew.
While she waited for the fifteen minutes to pass, she busied herself with rearranging stuff in her purse.
“Who knows?” Goldie shrugged to herself wryly. “This game could actually be fun."