"Isabella Finch was your grandma?!" Huey exclaimed. Some would call his reaction over the top but to him this news was earth shattering. Isabella Finch had been his greatest hero. The pinnacle of what every explorer should strive to be. Even Uncle Scrooge looked up to her. So the idea that the villain standing in front of him was her direct descendant and former protege... It was mind boggling!

"Yes. I was the first Junior Woodchuck. You see, you and I are cut from the same coonskin hat. We're both searching for Finch's Missing Mysteries. For knowledge, for understanding, for the good of mankind. And I need your help."

And just like that Huey was met with an even greater revelation. Bradford wasn't just a woodchuck, nor was he just a relative of Finch. Bradford was the first Junior Woodchuck. Quite possibly the inspiration and reason for the Woodchucks' existence.

Most people saw Huey as the most mature and level headed of his siblings. He was the oldest so they thought it was only natural. But in truth he wasn't always like that. There was a time when he was the most destructive and wild of his siblings by far. Looking back he could see that they had all inherited different traits from their family, both good and bad. Louie had inherited the sharp wit of the McDuck clan. He was able to see through people's motivations in a way Huey couldn't really understand. He also inherited quite a bit of Scrooge's greed which had gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. Dewey had inherited the toughness of the McDuck clan. It was less physical toughness and more the way he seemed to plow through adversity and fear as if they didn't exist. Huey genuinely envied the amount of resolve and determination that Dewey could summon at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately all of that bravery came with their mother's brashness. Huey sometimes worried that his middle brother might someday bite off more than he could chew, but he knew that if that happened his family would have his back. And that left him.

Huey liked to think that he had inherited the intelligence of his family. He certainly had a higher desire for knowledge than his brothers did. But the problem he had inherited wasn't as small as a bit of greed or overconfidence. It was anger. Within him Huey had rage that seemed to dwarf even his uncle's temper. As a child that rage had ruled him. The smallest thing could put him into a destructive fit. He didn't like looking back at those days. He could still remember how afraid Louie used to be of his outbursts. For a long time Huey had thought he'd grown out of that. That his time as a Junior Woodchuck had somehow rid him of that anger. It was only recently that he realized that it had never truly left him. It was always there, just under the surface. After recognizing it he'd taken to calling that part of himself the 'Duke of Making a Mess'. As if giving it a silly nickname would somehow make it less violent.

The Junior Woodchucks hadn't rid him of that rage but they had given Huey a sense of control. He believed that the guidebook had the answer to everything. It was that comforting belief that allowed him to suppress his anger for years. But since moving to the mansion that belief had been called into question time and time again. He had to face the fact that the guidebook wasn't infallible and that the world was larger and more unknowable than he could imagine. And the more he fought with that notion, the harder it was to control the duke. He had been mortified when he realized that he'd let himself be driven into a violent fit just from trying to play a video game with his mother. She'd needed to drag him away just so he wouldn't destroy the controller.

After that he tried even harder to contain his anger and keep the Duke locked away. It was hard but it felt like he was managing it pretty well for the most part. He almost broke when his interactions with Bubba the cave duck contradicted months of research, but he managed to keep it together in the end. Then came the adventure to collect the fragments of the Sword of Swanstantine. That was when he learned that the Duke was apparently a part of his inner strength. At first he thought that meant his anger could make him stronger. It certainly seemed to do that for Uncle Donald. But then he remembered that he hadn't really felt angry in the moment. On the contrary it was possibly the most in control he'd ever felt. That was when he realized the truth. The Duke was more than just anger. The Duke was also his instincts and initiative. His ability to make his own choices without assistance. He hadn't been using the guidebook as a tool to control his anger but instead as a crutch to avoid making decisions for himself. He still had faith in the Woodchucks and he appreciated all the knowledge and skills he'd gained from them, but if he kept letting the JWG make his decisions for him then he'd never be able to progress. He had already started to change. Rushing after Webby without support was the exact opposite of what the guidebook would've told him to do but he didn't regret it at all.

Even still, he wanted to trust Bradford. The JWG said that you should always help a fellow Woodchuck and that you could expect your fellow Woodchucks to do the same. He really wanted to believe that was true. But Bradford wasn't just a Woodchuck and for that matter neither was Huey. Bradford was the leader of the organization that had been at war with his family for months. They needed to take FOWL down. He could worry about Bradford's claims of benevolence afterwards. Now that he'd decided what to do Huey just needed to figure out how to do it. He considered himself a decent fighter but he still wasn't near Webby's level. Assuming the clones had a trace of Webby's capabilities it would be hard for him to take on Bradford and May without help. It was then that Huey noticed something.

"Where did May go?" Huey asked cautiously. She wasn't anywhere in sight and seemed to have left the room but it was entirely possible that she was waiting just outside.

"I sent her back to Heron and her sister. I wanted to have a private conversation with you. Woodchuck to woodchuck."

"So none of your henchmen are close by then?"

"I try to keep them as far away from my personal office as possible when I'm not directly dealing with them."

"Even Heron?"

"Especially Heron! You must understand, if I had better options I wouldn't work with any of these morons. But sometimes you have to do things you don't want in order to make the world a better place."

"Right..." Huey replied awkwardly. He tuned out Bradford's continuing speech about the pitfalls of adventuring as he reconsidered his options. If Bradford was telling the truth then that meant that fighting had suddenly become a much more appealing option. He was pretty confident he could take the Buzzard on alone in a fair fight. But there were still so many other variables to account for. Bradford could be lying. For all Huey knew this room was surrounded by Fowl agents. Even if he was telling the truth Bradford might have some secret weapon on him. One of the missing mysteries or a ray gun or even just a regular gun. This room could be being monitored by eggheads ready to rush over if Huey so much as sneezed aggressively.

Huey took a breath to calm himself. He couldn't let himself get bogged down by hypotheticals. Right now Huey only had two reasonable options. He could play along and wait for Scrooge and the others to get here before making his move or he could fight now and hope his own skills and luck could see him through this situation. As Bradford finished his speech Huey reached his decision. Bradford was offering him a handshake to seal their tentative partnership. Huey raised his arm...

And the Duke clenched his fist...

AN: Originally this was going to be more of a gag story. This season was supposed to center around Huey but it felt like he got a little less focus than Dewey and Louie got in the first two seasons. So I thought it might be funny to have a short story where Scrooge and the others arrived at the library only to find that Huey had basically taken down FOWL on his own. After thinking about it a little more I decided to play the concept a little more seriously. So this is the first part of that storyline. I'll probably continue it at some point but not likely in the next chapter.