Chapter 2 – The Beagle Birthday Massacre

The sun disappeared more and more behind the buildings, while I strolled through the city. In about one or two hours, Lena and I would meet eachother at the Beagle Birthdayparty. I was really curious to see, how the evening would go.

On my way to the junkyard, I came across the sea. I could see a small rowing boat in the distance, which steadily moved away from the beach. It looked like three people were on it. I wondered, if it really was such a good idea to move out on the sea at this time? It wasn't hard to loose track of your orientation in the darkness. Oh well, to each their own.

It was already dark and the Party had already started, when I arrived at the junkyard. I don't think that I've ever seen so many Beagle Boys at once. There were The Original Classic Beagle Boys and at one corner stood the infamous Tumblebums. And those were only the few I knew. I searched for a viewpoint on one the mountains of scrap and waited for Lena.

Once I finally saw her, I noticed that she wasn't alone. She was accompanied by a younger girl in a pink Shirt. Over it, she wore a blue, sleeveless sweater and a purple skirt. To top it off, she wore a pink bow on the right side of her head. Who was she?

My thoughts were interrupted by Ma Beagle, who got out of her Caravan and loudly greeted her grandchildren. ,,My Boys!" she called out, which was answered with loud applause by the Beagle Boys. ,,Take a look around. You could see the future of Duckberg is ours. It warms my heart to see all of you here together. As a family. The Original Classics, the Glam Yankees, The Déjà Vus, the Bad Attidude Beagles, the Benevolent Beagles, the Longboard Taquitos, the Tumblebums and the Ugly Failures. What do you all have in common? You love your Ma!" Her speech got supported by applause from the Beagle Family.

After Ma Beagle finished her speech, the Beagle Boys started to sing a Birthday Serenity.

Since I kept my eyes on Lena and that other girl, I could see how the little one grabbed Lena by the collar of her shirt and said something to her. After that, she grabbed her arm and dragged Lena with her. It seemed like, she wanted to leave this place as fast as possible. Unfortunately, she didn't look forward and bumped into one of The Original Classic Beagle Boys. I saw, how he turned around and said something to her, but I couldn't understand it in this distance. But considering Lena's skeptical expression, it probably wasn't a good thing. The Original Classic immediately grabbed the little girl. She almost disappeared in his big paw. The small one from The Original Classics - I think his name was Big Time Beagle - immediately came up to them and said something to his brother. But that was already overshadowed by Ma Beagle. ,,That is the brat that got me busted. Bring her here!"

The little one got Ma Beagle busted? Seems to be tougher than she looks. But that brought great consequences in this situation. Without hesitation, the Beagle Boy, who still kept her in his grasp, brought her over to Ma Beagle. Lena reacted fast and appeared behind Ma Beagle, with the Birthdaycake in her hand. It had three layers and was literally soaked in frosting. Lena tapped lightly on Ma's shoudler to win her attention. As soon as the old lady turned around, Lena smashed the cake in her face. She laughed and called out to her new friend, that she should run. This is where I finally got to know her name. Webby.

Lena jumped from the stage, directly onto the head of the Beagle Boy, who held Webby. Out of shock, he released his grip on her. She immediately took this as an oppertunity to make a headlong dive after Lena, who already had a head start of a few meters. Ma Beagle wiped the cake out of her face and called out for the others: ,,Get 'em!" It didn't take long and soon, all of the Beagle Boys were on their heels.

At the same time, this was also a sign for me to follow them. I had to help them somehow. With a quick whistle, I let Lena know that I was here and, unbeknownst to the Beagle Boys, it was also a Signal for her. We had done so much together and soon learned to conversate with only one or two whistles. I ran towards the industrial district right away. I came to a halt at a warehouse, which wasn't far away from the playground, where we shared our first loot, and took the stairs that led to the roof. I went to the edge of the roof. There was a rusty, old fire escape, that led into a narrow alleyway. Down there, I could already see Lena and Webby, who were already out of breath.

I barely had any time to give Lena a sign, there was already a garbage truck, that came around the corner. It was driven by The Original Classic Beagle Boys. Even from up here I could already her the horrified, ,,We're gonna die!", from the two. They stepped on the gas and followed the girls through the alleyway. Fortunately, the truck was too massive to fit and got stuck halfway through. They couldn't even get out through the doors. But unfortunate for us, it cut off the girls' escape route. While the Beagle Boys tried to drive out of the alleyway backwards, so they could use the doors, I ran down the fire escape. Lena reached her hand out for me as soon as I reached the lowermost platform. I wasn't exactly quiet when I ran down and she already knew that I was waiting for her. She told Webby to do the same, when I took Lena's hand to bring her up on the platform. Not a second later, I reached down again to do the same with Webby. She gave me a surprised look, to which the only answer from me was ,,No questions. Let's get out of here first." We ran up the fire escape to the roof again.

We stopped to catch a breath, as soon as we arrived on the roof. Since the fire escape was still hoisted up, it wasn't easy for the Beagle Boys to follow us. ,,Thanks for the rescue," said Lena once she could breathe normally again. ,,Well, I had to do something after your little gig at the junkyard." I answered with a grin. She grinned as well and gave me a punch on the shoulder. She turned to Webby and explained: ,,This is Marcel. My best friend. We wanted to meet eachother at the party, at first." ,,Hey, I'm Webby. I wanna thank you for the rescue as well." the little one beamed. Can't deny it, she definitely had quite the amount of Energy. ,,Already knew", I grinned after her introduction.

Together, we sat down on one of the air conditioners, that were distributed on the roof. ,,What does Ma Beagle have against you, anyway?", Lena asked. The question that has been on my mind since their . ,,Oh, nothing. She tried to kidnap me, so I ensnared her in an improvised ballpit mantrap." Wow, you don't hear a story like this everyday. ,,Alright, where to now?" I turned to the girls. ,,That's my house. If we can make it there, we'll be safe", said Webby and pointed to McDuck Manor. I wasn't the only surprised one. ,,Wow. You fight mob bosses and live in a Mansion? You're kinda something else, aren't you, Pink?" Lena exclaimed. I could only agree.

Suddenly, a scraping noise sounded in the distance. We turned to look from where it came from and could see the Longboard Taquitos, who approached us on another roof from afar. Fortunately, between us and them was a distance of six meters, so they could never reach us. As soon as they stopped on the other side, they started to pose and yell their name. Seriously? I wasn't the only one who thought so. Her voice dripping with Sarcasm, Lena called out to them ,,Wow, you guys are so extreme!" ,,What're you gonna do? Ollie all the way over here?" I added.

It was ment to be us laughing about them, so we didn't think that they'll take off and race towards the pit with max speed. Once they reached the edge, the jumped up and stretched their arms out, which revealed Paragliders, similiar to flying squirrels. ,,Maybe we shouldn't keep taunting them", Webby said, while the Longboard Taquitos glided towards us. Lena had the perfect idea, though. With a simple kick, she activated the air conditioner. It resulted in an airflow, that grasped the Longboard Taquitos and sent them flying way up into the sky.

But we weren't done yet. On the other side of the roof, the hand of the first Beagle Boy, who somehow managed to climb up the fire escape. Quickly, I opened one of the Skylights and gestured the girls to climb inside. After the three of us got in, I closed the window. We let ourselves slide down into the abandonded warehouse on a long chain. Another group of these idiotic Beagle Boys was already waiting for us. They really were everywhere. But luckily, they hadn't taken notice of us yet. A closer look showed us, that these Beagle Boys, were part of The Ugly Failures. At least these were the dumbest of them all. While we hid behind a pillar, the group of three was focused on a small Radio, from where you could faintly hear the voice of Ma Beagle. ,,This is Ma Beagle, with a very special Birthday Request. Get those brats, before they make it to McDuck Manor. That'd be the best gift a mother could get." Wow. Ma Beagle would really go out of her way to catch us. Or to catch the girls, to be exact. She didn't know about me yet.

The Ugly Failures were waiting for their first success, while we were going through our next steps. ,,They're blocking the exit! Plan A, we survey the area, find another exit...", said Webby. In the meantime, she observed the Failures. Before she could look around more, Lena interposed. ,,Plan B, who needs a plan anyway?", and approached the Failures. Webby tried to stop her, but to no avail. Alright, she surely must have had an Idea.

,,Oi, mates. Fancy seeing you lot in this 'ere ware'ouse!." Ah, speaking in a different accent. I believe it's from England. These Beagle Boys were too stupid to realise what she was doing. You could see the confusion engraved into their faces. One of the three, a tall, skinny guy with long blonde hair, that shield his eyes, parted them with his finger like a curtain and looked at Lena with girly eyes. The weird thing about him was the bottle stuck on his finger. ,,Uh, who are you?" the weird guy asked. She kept her gig up. ,,Who are we? We're the Beagle Birds, of course! Ma's adopted daughters from the other side of the pond, lake." Would they really believe us? I mean, even the most dumbest person alive wouldn't fall for that. The three were already skeptical as well. ,,Did Ma ever mention a pond to you?", the tall, large guy turned towards his brothers. The small one, who almost vanished into sweater town, only said: ,,I don't think she could swim." The lanky one added: ,,I don't even think she showers! I smell a rat."

I really didn't need to know this fact. Lena had already noticed that the three weren't as stupid as we thought they are. She tried to make them believe her story more. ,,We're from England, guv, just a lil' Cockney, innit?" It didn't work and the three dogs slowly approached her, while she backed away.

Before the situation could get any worse, I sprinted out of my hidingspot. I had no choice. ,,Britty, there you are! We've been searching everywhe' for you, darling. Please excuse my sister. She's, uh, unruly", I said. My sudden arrival confused the Beagle Boys and they came to a halt. Webby took that oppertunity to join us as well. ,,Britty, darling, oh, there you are!" She didn't give anyone a chance to reply and turned to the Failures. ,,Oh, thank you, gents!. My siblings and I will be certain to tell our dearest Mama Beagle of the gracious hospitality we've received 'ere in the Colonies. This is Brittania and I'm, er...Englabeth", se introduced Lena and herself and then looked at me with an helpless expression. ,,And I'm Harry", I said and bowed a little. The sceptical look in the Beagle Boys' eyes disappeared right away.

,,She talks fancy, I trust her", said the large one. The blonde agreed. ,,Well, they are family. I mean, why would they lie?"

Luckily, those three were dimwits. The other Beagle Boys probably wouldn't have believed our little play. We all thought alike, as the girls were relieved, as well. Webby continued the show. ,,Marvelous! Well, it was wonderful ta meet'chu." She tugged on our sleeves to silently tell us, that we should follow her. We walked around the Beagle Boys. This way, the exit was behind our backs and not the other way around. Lena leaned towards the big guy to take away his Radio. ,,I'm taking this." That Failure was far too confused to bring out any coherent word, aside from a simple "Well."

We slowly backed away to the exit. To back up Lena, I added: ,,A keepsake of our serendipitous meeting!" To top it off, Webby bowed down deeply and said: ,,Stupendous!" Lena joined her and swivelled on one foot, finishing her pirouette with a fancy bow. I simply bowed, nothing too fancy. The Failures started to make weird moves, as if their limps were dislocated. They tried to replicate our gestures. Well, there was an attempt. A friendly ,,Ta-ta!" from Webby and we could finally slam the door shut and run.