Chapter 8

Brain's stomach grumbled. In the middle of a page on quantum statistics too. Any and all attempts to ignore such feelings of hunger were in vain, he couldn't concentrate with his stomach churning so. Marking his page, since Pinky had a habit of playing with his books when he wasn't in the vicinity, Brain got to his feet and stretched as he looked about for the other mouse.

Pinky was chewing on a stick in the corner. Raising an eyebrow as he watched him gnaw on the colored wood with his tail wagging gleefully behind him, Brain had to wonder if the gene splicer left him part canine. Leaving him to his own activities, he began his leisurely stroll over to the bowl of food pellets.

Just as he grabbed one, his paw was smacked by another.

"Ow!" Brain yelped, dropping the food whilst he brought his stinging paw to his chest. He glared at the offender. "What was the meaning of that?"

Cedar returned the bitter stare. "You're not supposed to eat now. You have to wait until dinner."

Arching an eyebrow, Brain snorted. "Really? I was not aware of this regulation."

"Well, now you are." Cedar confirmed. "Come back in an hour."

It wasn't Brain's hunger that fueled his fury, no. Even if he had been completely satiated, he still would refuse to follow this regiment. Being told what to do by mice who held no power over him, who were actually inferior to him if one went by intelligence level (disregarding Pinky, entirely), did not sit well with him.

Folding his arms across his chest, Brain scowled. "No, I don't think I will. I wish to procure sustenance now, not later, and you are in no position to stop me."

"He may not be, but I am." He didn't even have to turn around to recognize Dash's condescending tone. The small mouse rolled his eyes, of course Dash would be behind this.

Brain slowly shifted so he could have the larger mouse in his line of sight. "Oh, how could I forget, oh ruler of the cage." The sarcasm lacing his voice had its intended effect on his fellow mice. "Should I curtsey? Lest I forget that you are far superior to the rest of us."

Dash growled while The Brain smirked. The self-proclaimed leader took an intimidating step towards him, straightening his shoulders so that he reached his full height. His fingers clenched into fists, Brain followed suit, and Dash was about to take another step before Pinky darted between the two, his paws up in a placating manner.

"Please don't hurt him! He didn't mean it!" The squeak that issued from Pinky sounded so unlike the mouse Brain had come to get to know.

He frowned at his friend's interference. "Pinky, get out of here! You're in the way!"

"Yeah, idiot, listen to your mommy." Dash sneered, leaning in right into Pinky's face, their noses almost touching.

Pinky's shoulders shook with tremors, but he held his ground. "P-p-poit…"

"Puh-puh-puh-poit." The mockery initiated the boiling of Brain's blood, Dash making horrific faces at the little mouse as he blatantly teased the tic that Pinky didn't seem to have any control over.

Brain watched his ears droop and his tail wither. "I… I'm not s-scared of you."

Dash grew silent, as did the crowd of mice who'd come to observe this confrontation. "Is that so? Well, ninny, that doesn't sit well with me at all."

Pinky's tail straightened along with his shoulders. "My name isn't ninny, it's Pinky."

"Oh right, a stupid name for a stupid mouse." Dash sniffed, looking over the little mouse with disdain.

"Hey, now-!" Brain attempted to interject, moving to stand beside Pinky rather than behind him, but was cut off by none other than Pinky himself.

"It's not stupid! My very best friend in the whole wide world gave it to me! P-p-p…" His body trembled as he fought back his usual nonsensical exclamation. "It's- it's special!"

Dash chuckled, a hateful sound that Brain wished he could block out. "It's special alright. Real special."

The Brain could not fathom, even with his ever-growing span of intellect, how someone could hate another so much for no reason other than they were a little different. Sure, Pinky's quirks were bizarre and he wasn't all that intelligent, but his heart more than made up for the lack of sense. He took hold of Pinky's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. It caught the mouse's attention, a grateful smile shone his way.

Unfortunately, Dash also noticed. "How adorable, the little freaks are in love-"

He was silenced by the heated glare Brain sent his way. "Say what you like about me, but do not bring him into this. This all started because of me, and that's how it's going to remain. You say another word about Pinky and I will not hesitate to bite you." He'd done it before, in his old cage with Snowball he had the tendency to be "temperamental". "I know where all the pressure points are. I can assure you it will be painful."

A collective murmur floated through the crowd of mice around them, some looked doubtful and others worried, not sure what to make of the genius mouse's promise. Dash narrowed his eyes, but he stepped back, without another glance at the blue-eyed mouse. Pinky glanced between Brain and Dash, finally settling on his friend. Brain couldn't afford to break the stare he'd caught Dash in, though he offered another squeeze of their entwined paws for reassurance's sake before he released him.

Taking a step forward, Brain squared his shoulders and folded his arms across his chest. While he was firm believer in brains over brawn, he was well aware that instinctively it made sense to appear as intimidating as possible. Plus, he was still awfully little. It took small things like Pinky playing with him or cuddling him or tickling him to remind him that he was still a very young mouse. His thirst for knowledge and his vast intelligence made him forget sometimes, Pinky grounded him, reminded him of his temporary limitations, loved him.

Brain hoped he'd never forget that in the face of another desire. He wanted to be wanted, and no one wanted him more than Pinky.

"You've got a lot of nerve, short stack." Dash hissed, gathering himself up as well to stand as tall as could.

That didn't sit very well with Brain. In one fluid motion, he grabbed hold of the other mouse's nose and yanked him down to eye level. Everyone gasped unison, but Brain paid them no mind as he made sure to look directly in Dash's eyes. "We all get it, Dash. I'm short. You're ugly, you don't see me throwing that around every five minutes." He paused for effect. "Now see here, you are not the leader of this cage. You do not make the rules. And even if you do, I will not follow them because there is nothing that says I have to other than your flapping mouth. The fact that you all are trapped in this mob mentality further proves your lack of intelligence, making you all incapable of thinking for yourselves. You know what that says about you? I, the most intelligent mind in here, am completely convinced that Pinky is smarter than all of you. Individually and combined. He knows how to think for himself." Brain has to pause on that one, mostly because he wasn't quite sure if he would label Pinky's mental activities as thinking. He was more of an act now, think never type of mouse, but that was beside the point.

"And if you try anything, or have your dim-witted lackeys try anything, I will have to hurt you." He released the larger mouse, satisfied with the speech he'd delivered, and moved to grab a hold of the food pellet he so craved.

"You and what army?" Clearly, Brain had not been intimidating enough.

He turned around to look up at Dash, the flashed him a small smile. "This."

Then he proceeded to kick him in the shin.

The howl Dash released was quite satisfactory, Brain mused as he munched on his dinner. Sure, it hurt his own foot a little, but the pain was worth seeing Dash crumple to the floor, made a fool by the little genius. A tug on his arm caught his attention, Pinky latched onto his arm like a leech—albeit, a loveable leech—and stared at Brain in horror.

His good mood fled as quickly as it had come on. "What's wrong, Pinky?"

Pinky opened his mouth, an explanation at the ready, but Brain never got to hear it. One second, he was gazing into a pair of wide blue eyes questioningly, then next, he got an eyeful of the ground as his body collided with the bars of the cage. He dimly heard Pinky's squeak of protest over the cheers of the other mice as he struggled to right himself.

Focusing his attention on where he'd last been, The Brain noted that Dash had recovered from his kick to the shin and had taken advantage of Brain's distraction to smack him away. Shaking his head to clear the stars, he barely had enough time to dart away before Dash's fist met with his skull.

"You think you can take me on, mister know-it-all?" He bellowed, and for a moment Brain felt like the small child he still was. Afraid and weak.

Instinct warred with rational and the former was winning. The Brain beat himself in the forehead when he realized he'd run into a corner, effectively trapping himself despite the comfort a closed off area afforded him. Dash, along with Pellet and Cedar, approached at a dangerous pace. The tiny genius felt his synapses firing rapidly, trying to calculate a means of escape. If he could get the angle right, he could slip between Dash and Cedar…

Suddenly, Dash released a high-pitched shriek. All the mice backed away, including the leader's companions, as he thrashed about wildly. Brain arched an eyebrow, completely at a loss until Dash turned around and he took note of the creature attached to him.

Everyone had been so focused on Brain, no one had noticed little Pinky leap onto the back of the larger mouse to sink his teeth into his shoulder. Dash tried to buck him off, but Pinky's paws held tight to the fur around his neck. His eyes clamped shut as he focused on not losing his grip. Astounded, Brain watched dumbly for a few seconds before it occurred to him to help his friend before Dash bashed him against the cage bars.

His paw reached out, to grip Pinky's tail, but before his fingers could clasp around the appendage, it slipped away. The little mouse himself had been lifted right off Dash's back by the hands of a scientist. All the mice of the cage watched as Pinky was carefully handled by the man. Pinky, on the other hand, appeared extremely distressed, the adrenaline from his fight or flight reaction still rushing to his head.

"Brain!" He wailed, peering over the edge of the man's gloved hands to see his friend and fellow mice far below him.

The cage door shut. Both mice felt the blood in their veins turn cold.

"Pinky!" Brain rushed over, no longer mindful of the mob of mice or Dash, and gripped the cage bars, staring up at his friend tearfully. It was like when he'd been taken from his parents… from Snowball… now Pinky? Would these humans ever stop? "No! Come back!"

The scientist was approached by a colleague and proceeded to explain what he was doing. Brain felt his heart drop when he heard him say: "…viciously attacked his fellow cagemates, better put him in solitary confinement now, run some aggression tests on him. He shouldn't be with other mice…" and the rest was lost on him because the rest didn't matter.

All that filled his ears were Pinky's heart-wrenching cries as he was carried away.

"Come back…" Brain gripped the cage so tightly it left imprints on his paws, loneliness washing over him as another important someone vanished from his sight.