Chapter 8
"A Loony Labs scientist, hmmm?" the rabbit repeated. "Yes, this will work well."
There was no evident change of expression on the toon's face that might have been caused by Lily's report, but truthfully she was, indeed, quite pleased. Her cold, unreadable eyes did not betray this emotion, however.
"You are dismissed," the rabbit mentioned promptly then after another moment or two had passed. She watched as the young black cat nodded curtly and then turned and left the office, making sure to close the door behind her.
After Princess Lily had gone, the toon started to arrange an array of papers in front of her into a few neat stacks in a slow, careful manner as she thought about the news that had been brought to her. This knowledge was quite useful, as was to be expected. Of the young toons whom the rabbit had trained as her own secret spies, and referred to as her "secret weapons", the black cat had always been the most promising. She was small and quiet, and had a talent for the work. Rarely had one of Lily's reports ever disappointed her.
The ice blue rabbit's name was Vanilla Frost, and she was the president of the Toon HQ's Investigation Division. The position as the toon to oversee all of the intelligence gathered by the Toon HQ was one that provided Vanilla with a great deal of power and influence, which she used to her advantage in order to maintain what control she could within Toontown and the Toon HQ itself. The rabbit was certainly not one to be trifled with, and was not afraid to lash out with her power when necessary. It was because of her vicious approach to the constant swaying of power amongst the Toon HQ presidents that she was also known as "The Viper".
As the president sorted the papers, she took into consideration the potential usefulness of the information provided to her by her secret weapon. If it became known that a Loony Labs scientist was meeting with a known enemy of the Toon HQ, it would be detrimental to the Loony Labs Division itself, but more importantly its president. Therefore, it was obvious that in order to make full use of this intel, Vanilla would need to visit the Loony Labs president.
The rabbit finished organizing the papers and immediately rose from her chair, turning her piercing gaze to the office door. The tall toon's legs took her there quite swiftly, and soon she had exited her office. She was careful to lock the door afterwards, of course, as she did not want anyone snooping around, and then started down the hallway. She was aware of the location of the office she wanted to visit, but was not completely certain that he would be there. It was, after all, quite late at night and not many presidents would still be at work.
The rabbit turned to the right and strode briskly down the dimly lit hallway. She kept an eye on the dark metal numbers on the doors that were used to identify the different rooms, finally pausing at room 42. Lifting up one paw, Vanilla wrapped lightly on the door and then paused, waiting for a response.
"Come in," a male voice called out swiftly from within the room.
The rabbit opened the door to reveal an office similar to her own. In this one, the entire far wall had floor-to-ceiling windows, and in the middle was a U-shaped desk versus Vanilla's L-shaped one. Like the rabbit's office, several shelves adorned the walls, but they were different in the way that they seemed to be much more orderly and organized. The same was true of this president's desk, which had a much clearer order to all of the stacks of papers and other such objects upon it.
Sitting behind this orderly desk was a short royal blue horse who peered curiously at his visitor. As Vanilla entered, closing the door behind her, the horse remarked, "This is rather, um, unexpected, I must say. What brings you to my office at this late hour, Frost?"
The rabbit stared at the horse coolly. His name was Professor Mitch, and he was, of course, president of the Loony Labs Division. He was one of the younger presidents, having only been hired two years earlier as a replacement for the disgraced Dr. Loony Laff. This meant that he had not yet gained much influence, and was therefore an easy target for Vanilla.
"I've come here to inform you of some very interesting information I was made aware of earlier this evening," the Investigation President replied calmly, her voice carefully neutral and emotionless. "It appears that a scientist within your division, one known as Electro Keytwist, was seen meeting with Gyro Gearloose himself at his own lab in The Outskirts. It is unknown what the nature of their meeting was, and whether or not this was their only such meeting. But surely you understand the nature of Gyro Gearloose's hostility towards our organization, and the implications of a toon within your division conspiring with him."
The rabbit simply watched as a nervous expression crept its way onto the horse's face. "You are certain that this information came from a reliable source?" Professor Mitch inquired hesitantly.
"Yes, one of my most reliable," Vanilla assured him briefly. "As I mentioned, there is uncertainty regarding Keytwist's motives in meeting with Gearloose. But that does nothing to change the fact that he was indeed meeting with him. Such information is, of course, very sensitive. I wished to inform you as this behavior must be dealt with. When others learn of this, however, they may not be quite so certain of your capabilities in handling this situation. They may even choose to blame you for the situation. I sympathize with you in that you cannot be held responsible for the actions of every single toon within your division, but I also feel that you should have been more mindful to watch for signs of betrayal."
The blue rabbit's gaze bore into the horse like shards of ice now, and she could see the Loony Labs President grow more anxious with each word from her mouth. "Surely the rogue actions of a single toon will not be so overly exaggerated," Professor Mitch protested.
"I am not suggesting that it certainly will, but I cannot guarantee that it won't," the Investigation President responded thoughtfully. "I would not think it necessary for you to worry greatly about this, yet the next Quarterly Meeting is quite soon here, and I would advise you to be cautious. This could be used as a reason for firing you. I have seen lesser situations produce such a result before. You need not worry about me, though; I have a different proposal to focus myself on. And I think, given what I know about you, that you will choose to vote favorably upon it."
Understanding dawned upon the face of the blue horse now, and he remained silent for several moments while Vanilla continued to stare at him coldly. At length, the toon met her stare and said bitterly, "Yes, I believe your proposal has my support."
The rabbit nodded with satisfaction. "I thank you for your cooperation."
And then the Investigation President exited the office in the same calm, swift way as she had entered. There was no need for her to smile with triumph, or for her eyes to gleam with satisfaction. The swaying of power amongst the presidents was not some childish game. It was, in truth, a war.
