Set in the interim between “The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!” and “Beaks in the Shell!,” before Fenton’s and Gandra’s reconciliation.
Fenton wasn’t quite sure what to think of Gandra Dee.
On the one hand, she had electrocuted him. On the other hand, she was a brilliant scientist and someone he could really connect with. On the other other hand, she had worked with Mark Beaks. And on the other other OTHER hand, she had helped defeat Beaks and even stabilized the Fentonium equation.
All in all, Fenton’s thoughts on her tended to lean towards the favorable and he resolved to try the whole dating thing again the next time he encountered the mysterious Gandra Dee. If she was willing.
If he ever saw her again.
Weeks ticked by and all Fenton could do was hope. Every time he entered a hardware store, he hoped to bump into her. Every time he was out on patrol, he hoped to catch a familiar glimpse of headphones and short brown hair. And every time he thought he saw her, only for it to be a stranger with similar looks, a little more doubt started to push down the hope.
Maybe Duckburg was just too big and the odds of them bumping into each other again were slim. Maybe she didn’t even live in Duckburg and had only been visiting for her job. Maybe she was just actively avoiding him.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
Then came the interdimensional rift incident in Saint Canard and the reveal that not only was F.O.W.L back, but apparently Scrooges’ board of directors had been in on it all along. Now, Fenton liked to think of himself as a trusting person, (for better or worse), but a reveal like that can make determining friend from foe-masquerading-as-friend... quite difficult.
Fenton realized more than ever how naïve he had been to invite a near-stranger into the Money Bin. What if Gandra had been working with F.O.W.L instead of Mark Beaks? What would’ve happened then? The thought made Fenton’s skin crawl, but he was content knowing Gandra was freelance rather than F.O.W.L.
Turns out, Gandra was F.O.W.L and it was like the other shoe had dropped. Maybe even a third shoe, if the plot twist that Gandra had been working for Beaks was supposed to be the second. But shoes aside, Fenton was more confused about Gandra Dee than ever before.
How could Gandra be working for an organization of villains and crooks dedicated to stealing the world? How could that be the same Gandra who rejected authority? Who did what she could to make amends for the date-fiasco? Who understood what it’s like to be misunderstood? To be called a crackpot, screwball, and menace when well-meaning inventions go wrong?
Fenton knew McDuck Enterprises was more accepting of haywire inventions and inordinate amounts of explosions than most workplaces, but was F.O.W.L really the only other place for an unconventional scientist to go?
...Maybe that was it.
Fenton was lucky, very lucky, to have gotten the job he has, at a place that can afford to make constant repairs in the wake of bloodthirsty washing machines and spontaneously combustible corn.
So, what if there was a place like McDuck Enterprises, that could handle cleaning up even the most hairbrained of inventions, available to everyone? A place for Gandra and all the other outside-the-box thinkers of the world. Better yet, a place were the wildest inventions could be tested without risk of harm to property or person! Then nobody would feel compelled to work for F.O.W.L or other shady organizations: they could dream big on their own terms!
Fenton knew he was onto something and, more than anything, knew he needed to talk with Gandra Dee.
