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On June fourth, Amanda Rhodes laid three eggs. On June twenty-fifth, one hatched. The mother named the boy Hugo, and he became her pride and joy.
As Amanda’s only child, Hugo was endlessly spoiled. He became used to the best of everything- the best education, the best meals, the best opportunities- his mother even promised him her extensive fortune. The one problem was his behavior.
From the time he turned twelve, Hugo Rhodes was a rebel. He’d skip classes, graffiti walls, and get into fights. His mother tried everything, but it was no use. Hugo liked his freedom.
When Hugo was fifteen, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. If the universe thought this would slow down his reckless actions, it was sorely mistaken. He threw himself into the dangerous world of the underground boxing rings under the name Red Tremor, hoping to earn money for the bills. Unfortunately, his mother didn’t make it, and Hugo all but fell apart.
For the next several years, the Red Tremor was in and out of jail and the hospital, making more enemies than friends, and developing fearsome fighting skills using his beak as his main weapon. His ferocious attacks could only protect him for so long, however. Three of his rivals ambushed him one night, and while this would have been an evenly matched brawl, someone had called the police. The sirens distracted him, and Hugo lost his first fight in five years.
Hugo got out of the hospital with a shattered beak, and- having spent the vast majority of his inheritance on hospital bills- he was unable to bribe or bail himself out, and spent the next few years in prison…
“My name is Black Heron,” she said. “Come with me, and F. O. W. L. can make it worth your while.”
Steelbeak, though young, quickly became one of the Organization’s most formidable enforcers. He enjoyed much of the same luxuries he’d enjoyed as a child, until Clan McDuck brought F. O. W. L. down once and for all. His life had fallen apart a third time, and it stayed that way until Fethry Duck.