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Lies are essential tools of a spy. More so than intelligence, stealth, or gadgets, as lies allow a spy to blend in, to gain information by playing the fool, to cosy themselves up to the enemy in order to betray them when needed, the mark being none the wiser. That was the reason why the esteemed leaders of the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny, or F.O.W.L. as it was called, had spent the last seventy years posing as the board of directors of McDuck Enterprises.
The Richest Duck in the World had first come to the attention of Bradford and his brothers after McDuck Enterprises first made big. Rumors surrounding the Scotsman and the various exploits he undertook to gain his fortune spread like wildfire. Reporters positively ate up the tale of the man who went from a penniless shoe shine in Glasgow to the newest up-and-coming billionaire. During that time, it seemed as if Scrooge’s face was inescapable.
F.O.W.L. considered approaching him of course, but given one that one of his mantras was that he makes his money square, it was highly doubtful that he would ever join a criminal organization of his own free will. No, F.O.W.L. would have to do what they do best and stay in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce and manipulate Scrooge for use to their own ends.
However, High Command soon found themselves having to take action much sooner than anticipated.
News that Scrooge had joined S.H.U.S.H. as a freelance agent had first came to F.O.W.L. via Black Heron, following her failed mission to obtain the elixir of Castle Dunwyn. This news put the High Command on high alert. Scrooge was quickly amassing wealth to become one of the richest people in the world, and with him now partnering with S.H.U.S.H., he was poised to become one of the biggest thorns in F.O.W.L.’s side.
So, F.O.W.L. took action. The operation was one that was far too important to trust to one of their subordinates, so High Command themselves infiltrated McDuck Enterprises and positioned themselves as Scrooge’s board of directors. From there, High Command did absolutely everything in their power to steer Scrooge away from interfering in F.O.W.L.’s schemes in every way possible. They’d arrange important business meetings on days that Scrooge planned to go hunting for treasures that the High Command desired for themselves. They cut money from the magical defense budget in hopes that one of the members of the De Spell family would attempt to end their centuries-long blood feud with Clan McDuck by killing Scrooge, saving F.O.W.L. time and effort in both assassination and cover-ups. They would also embezzle funds from Scrooge himself, of course. With how rich the man was, he was unlikely to ever notice.
It wasn’t until fifty years after High Command had placed themselves as moles in McDuck Enterprises that they found a perfect opportunity to devastate Scrooge and keep him from interfering in F.O.W.L.’s schemes ever again.
All they had to do was murder Della Duck.
Della was the niece of Scrooge, as well as one of his most trusted and valued allies. He raised her alongside her twin brother, Donald Duck, ever since the deaths of their parents. Scrooge loved her like a daughter and it was clear that if anything ever happened to her, Scrooge would be absolutely devastated. Naturally, F.O.W.L. set off to make that happen.
Before long, the perfect opportunity presented itself. Della was pregnant - with triplets , nonetheless- and, according to additional spies High Command had strategically placed within the company, Scrooge was planning to give her an extraordinary present: a rocket ship designed to take Clan McDuck on interstellar adventures.
The Spear of Selene, named after Della’s close friend - the Greek goddess of the moon herself, was being built by Scrooge’s head of R&D, that filthy traitor Gyro Gearloose. However, with that came opportunity. F.O.W.L. arranged for an… accident to befall the Spear on its maiden voyage.
By chance, though Della, who had discovered the Spear ahead of time, had managed to make it into space. Thankfully, a cosmic storm intervened and quickly saw to it that F.O.W.L.’s machinations came through. Della Duck was presumed dead, permanently lost to the far reaches of space, and her mourning family was none the wiser.
Donald blamed Scrooge for the loss of his sister and abandoned him, taking Della’s newly orphaned sons with him. Scrooge blamed himself and drove himself into a frenzy, doing everything in his power to find his niece. Of course, Scrooge had two other nephews that could potentially replace the twins as his sidekicks, Gladstone Gander and Fethry Duck, but they weren’t threats in the slightest. Gladstone was far too lazy to become an adventurer and mainly just coasted by on his supernatural luck to begin with. Fethry, on the other hand, lacked his cousin’s lazy nature, but he was far too much of a naive fool to ever suspect that F.O.W.L. was lurking in his uncle’s company.
There was one problem left, however. While it was true that Scrooge was too broken to continue directly opposing F.O.W.L., his desperation was causing him to dip into the Money Bin at an uncharacteristically fast rate. Since positioning themselves as the board, High Command had come to value the money they embezzled from the Richest Duck in the World as a precious resource. So, they pulled the plug on Scrooge’s search.
“It’s for the best.'' “We’re going to go bankrupt at this rate.” “Think about the company!” All empty words meant to convince Scrooge from wasting any more of their money on frivolous pursuits.
After all, while his brothers were good at playing the role of people concerned about Scrooge’s well-being, Bradford’s gleeful smirk (thankfully hidden from Scrooge) told a completely different story.
Scrooge McDuck was broken and remained so for the next decade. He absolutely no contact with Donald in the intervening time and no significant contact with anybody outside of his inner circle of employees.
Donald, meanwhile, had raised his nephews as a single father. The triplets had grew into a set of meddlesome children name Huey, Dewey, and Louie, completely unaware of neither their relation to Scrooge or their mother’s fate. However, they had the potential to become enemies of F.O.W.L. even so, so the Phantom Blot was stationed as a spy at the triplets’ favorite hang-out, Funzo’s Fun Zone, to keep an eye on them.
All went along swimmingly for F.O.W.L.. That is, until the reunion of Scrooge and Donald propelled Scrooge out of his despair. Since then, Clan McDuck has expanded, gathering more and more allies. Not to mention, that Scrooge has since started sponsoring the hero Gizmoduck, who has the potential to be just as an irritating foe as Scrooge himself. And then, there was the appearance of what one of their agents had described as a bizarre cosplayer with delusions of grandeur. However, he was completely inconsequential, especially when compared to the return of Della.
Of course, F.O.W.L. knew Della was still alive on the moon, the transmissions they intercepted were proof enough of that. It was just a matter of keeping her there. Should Della ever return and ask about her transmissions, there was a chance that an investigation would be launched, one that could potentially expose the F.O.W.L. agents hiding in McDuck Enterprises.
Between that and how the combined foolishness of Della and Louie almost brought about the end of the world, it was clear to F.O.W.L. that it was time to leave the shadows. All of their pieces were in place and they had assembled a team of carefully selected elite agents to do their bidding.
Now all they have to do is crush every last member of Clan McDuck.