Chapter 6
Is he lying? Or does he really not have the necklace? If that's the case, then where is it? I'll never find it… I'll never find her…
Frantic, anxious thoughts raced through Electro's mind as he shuffled away from Gyro's lab. The conversation with his old friend had left the cat rather distraught, as he still had not retrieved the necklace. It had been missing for so many years, and he had always thought of Gearloose as a possible suspect for its capture. After all, he had been fired the day it was stolen, making it the perfect time to commit such a crime. How easily that stupid chicken could have gotten away with it…
Still, the scientist could not help but realize that it really wasn't all that likely. As Gearloose himself had pointed out, what motive would there have been for taking it? The necklace itself would never have been of any great use to Gyro. In any case, Keytwist felt that his former coworker had been telling the truth.
Of course, there was no certainty yet. But the cat shoved Gyro Gearloose out of his thoughts. Even if his former friend did have the necklace, there was no way of forcing him to hand it over, at least not at the moment. Just traversing out into The Outskirts to confront the chicken had been risky.
Sighing, Electro just continued onward in the direction of Toontown. The toon was too depressed to even bother feeling concerned or fearful about the foggy darkness and the residents of the dismal place. How much more could they hurt him than Toon HQ had already?
Long ago, Loony Labs had been a separate organization from Toon HQ. It had been founded by Dr. Loony Laff, a renowned scientist in Toontown. Electro Keytwist had been a rather successful scientist at the time as well, and was hired early on. Back then, the group's focus had been on conducting research and creating inventions for the purpose of making Toontown an even better place.
After a few years, however, Loony had agreed to merge with Toon HQ. During the transition, Electro had found that he was not fond of the changes. Their research and inventions had become more directed toward the needs of Toon HQ than the needs of the toon populace. The cat had started to express desires of quitting, and likely would have done so if it had not been for the sudden disappearance of his wife, Magenta.
The scientist's wife had been a kind, sweet duck, and he had cared for her greatly. The two had been quite happy together. But then one day, he had come home from work to find that she was not there as usual. There had been no note of any kind to relate that she had gone off shopping or some such thing and their neighbors could not remember seeing her in the past several hours. Extremely nervous, Electro had searched desperately throughout the remainder of that fateful day for his dear Magenta, but she was nowhere to be found. At last, exhausted and anxious beyond belief, the lime cat had collapsed onto the ground in one of the playgrounds and fallen into a fitful sleep.
The next morning, he had woken up early and dragged himself back to their estate. But the sight he was awarded with for his trouble was not well; the whole place was up in flames. This had sent him into a state of deep shock, such that he could do nothing but stand there and stare at the rushing crimson embers that had so eagerly swallowed all that he had left to remind himself of his missing wife.
All except for a gold chain necklace, which Electro had later discovered was in his pocket. Only then had he remembered stuffing it in there as he rushed from the house to go on his search after finding it among Magenta's belongings. She had worn this necklace often, and been rather fond of it. For some reason, among everything that had been in the house, it was this that the cat had taken with him as he went on his hopeless venture to recover his wife. And it had remained as the last possession of hers that was still intact, and so he had come to cherish it with all of his heart.
Electro had continued to work at Toon HQ after this incident, simply because he strongly believed that Toon HQ was responsible for kidnapping Magenta and burning down their estate. They had known that he wanted to quit, and had perhaps decided to take his wife, forcing him to keep with them for the purpose of ensuring her safety. Or perhaps they had stolen her for some other, more sinister purpose… Keytwist was not certain, but had never quit and always kept himself in good line so that he could remain at Loony Labs and keep somewhat in touch with the going ons of Toon HQ. The cat knew that his present position would eventually prove useful when he finally managed to figure out what they had done with Magenta and how he might rescue her. So he kept quiet and pretended to be a loyal scientist, but truly was just watching and waiting for the right moment to swoop in and take back the only thing that really mattered to him anymore.
Yes, Magenta was his only concern. There was nothing else, no one else, that Electro did anything for anymore. The scientist was deeply obsessed with being reunited to his wife, as the continued separation for many years had left him sorrowful and in despair. Without Magenta, he would never be the same again.
The necklace was the only piece of her that was left, and yet he had been missing that for several years now. It had been stolen right off of his desk at Loony Labs, and while he had always thought of Gyro, his greater suspicions were of Toon HQ. They had destroyed her memory long ago, so perhaps they had learned that he still had something of hers and had waited until the right moment to snatch it from the cat's grasp.
In any case, without any good leads on the whereabouts of Magenta, Electro's efforts were now being concentrated on the retrieval of the missing duck's necklace. It had been this way ever since it had first been taken.
The lime cat let out a sorrowful sigh as he trudged out of The Outskirts and into Toontown. Electro Keytwist had gotten a new estate some time after Magenta's disappearance, and this was where he was headed. While the scientist had been able to replace their home, he would never be able to replace the missing pieces of his heart that would always remain with his only love.
