Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (although that would be pretty cool!).
Marluxia grabbed his morning coffee and went to look out of his office window. A couple of weeks had passed since he and Luxord had arrived on Toontopia. Marluxia has chosen the highest office in the building, located on the top floor, as his personal living area. It was a spacious room, probably where Scrooge's office was. Marluxia had turned half of it into a greenhouse, giving it a very homey feel. Outside his office window, he had a great view of the city. He opened his window to get some fresh air in his office, when he heard a commotion nearby.
The building next door was Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated, and frequently had strange noises emanating from the building. Marluxia looked over and saw a fedora-wearing platypus flying away from the building on a hang glider while he heard a voice cry out, "Curse you, Perry the Platypus!" Marluxia turned away, missing the explosion that took place at Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated.
"Just another day at the office," Marluxia bemoaned. He'd been bored stiff since arriving, rarely leaving the building for anything. In order to make a convincing decoy, Luxord had decided to make the building the home of a fledgling detective agency. Of course, as expected, no one had stopped in, and it was hoped that it would remain that way. Marluxia, however, wanted no part of the escapade, and had spent the better part of his time in his upper-level retreat, brooding. And with Larxene on a mission as well, he couldn't simply contact her without knowing if she was in the middle of something critically important to the mission.
"Perhaps some reading will do." Opening his laptop on his desk, he opened up the Organization Research Extension (ORE). Created by Zexion with help from Vexen, this was a large database that contained most of the Organization's records. Information on any and everything relevant to the Organization was located there, making it very helpful for research. He clicked through a few pages, hoping to find something of interest to him. Finally, his eyes came upon a page he decided he was interesting in perusing. "Keyblade, huh? Worth a read, I'd say."
Gambler was at his desk near the entrance of the tower. The former receptionist desk was his area, basically to serve as a watchman, in case anyone came into the building. Currently, he was reading Toontopia's leading newspaper, the Disney Daily Times. The only part of the newspaper that interested him was the sports section. Gambler, as expected, enjoyed on betting on games, and had already found himself a casino in Toontopia to meet his needs.
He was so engrossed in his newspaper that he didn't see a woman walk in. She coughed, attempting to attain his attention. Gambler looked up to see a tall, voluptuous woman with long, bright red hair.
"Some kind of receptionist you are," she began. "Is the detective in?"
Gambler was thrown off-guard by her question, perhaps because of her appearance or perhaps because he had forgotten about the detective charade Luxord had initiated. "Detective?"
"Yes. Is this not a detective's office?" the woman shot back in exasperation.
Finally, things clicked for Gambler. "Oh yes, let me see." He picked up his phone and dialed the appropriate number to Luxord's office. "Hey boss, you have a client here to see you."
"A client? What do you mean?" a confused Luxord asked.
"A young lady is here to see you, Detective," Gambler replied, putting emphasis on the word 'detective' to provide a hint.
Luxord got Gambler's hint. "I see well, um…send her in. We'll see how it goes." He then hung up the phone.
"The Detective will see you now. Follow me, Miss," Gambler instructed her, leading her into Luxord's office, which was fortunately on the first floor, not too far from Gambler's desk.
Luxord was, luckily for him, already dressed for the occasion. Not a fan of the black coat he usually had to wear, he had shed it in favor of a casual coat and tie look, something he was far more comfortable in. A knock on his door confirmed his client was here. "Come in," he announced. Gambler led the woman in and then left.
The woman had quite the hourglass figure, and was wearing a red, strapless (and revealing) dress with matching stilettos. In addition, she wore purple opera gloves and gold earrings. Her side bangs were covering her right eye (not unlike Zexion) and very red, full lips. Quickly getting over her appearance, Luxord greeted her. "Good evening, I'm Detective Luxord Kingsly, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss…"
"Rabbit. Jessica Rabbit."
"And what can I assist you with, Miss Rabbit?"
"I think my husband has gone missing, and I need your help in finding him." Her demeanor remained cool, though Luxord sensed the urgency of her words.
"You think he's missing?"
"He hasn't been home in two days, which isn't like him at all. I think someone's taken him," she explained.
"And what brought you here, instead of the police?"
"Chief O'Hara's a real bulldog. Not a fan. Besides, the detectives there are mice," she explained.
"Oh, timid and meek? Not great qualities for a detective."
"No, they're actually mice. Bernard and Bianca. And the only other private detective in town, Basil of Baker Street, is also a mouse."
Luxord nodded. "I was unaware that I needed to be a mouse to be a detective." That drew a chuckle from Jessica. "Let's see what we can do. Do you have any idea where you husband may be?" Luxord felt that that was a detective-esque question to ask. He had absolutely zero detective experience, but thought it'd be a fun fake profession. Marluxia had been against the idea, on the principle that someone might think he was actually a detective. Luxord knew Marluxia would greatly enjoy this fate that had befallen Luxord, so he decided it was the honorable thing to do to try and ride this job out.
"Actually, I think I do. I heard from a waiter friend of mine that he heard Br'er Fox talking to someone about having kidnapped a rabbit."
Luxord realized that the Rabbit in her name was not just a name; her husband must actually be a rabbit. Remembering he was in Toontopia, he considered it to be a convincing answer. "You have? Then why haven't you done anything?"
"I need a big, strong man to come with me," she answered seductively.
Luxord cleared his throat. "Well, um…, I'm not sure if I fit…"
"I'll do anything to get my husband back. Please help me find him."
Whether it was his sense of honor or his pity for Jessica, Luxord relented. "All right, so where does this Br'er Fox reside?"
"He owns the Sporting Goods store."
"Perfect. I'll go check it out tonight."
"I'm coming with you," she added.
"Now hold on, Miss Rabbit…"
"Call me Jessica," she purred.
"Jessica, it's too dangerous for you to come with me," Luxord explained. Luxord had no doubt that he could retrieve the rabbit using his special abilities, but obviously preferred that no one saw them.
"My husband's life could be on the line. I'm coming with." Her steely eyes told Luxord there was no way he was fighting this.
He sighed. "Fine. I'll meet you there at midnight."
"Midnight?"
"The store will be closed then, allowing us to break in and take a look around."
"Okay, I'll be there." With that, Jessica sauntered out of the office, leaving Luxord alone in his office.
A few minutes before midnight, Luxord found himself standing outside of Br'er Fox's store, Chickapin Supplies. He looked into the windows, but the store was dark. He could only read what was written on the window, Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Prices! "What does that even mean?!" Luxord asked himself. He turned back to the streets, dark and mostly empty at this time of night, with only streetlamps providing any light. Sensing people nearby, he stepped in close to the building, blending into the darkness. A husband and wife, each walking a Dalmatian, were passing by on the other side of the street. Luxord watched them intently, realizing that the Dalmatians were also mated. His thoughts drifted to that of his past life…
But he was interrupted by the arrival of Jessica. "I had hoped that you would chicken out," he said.
"Good to see you too," she shot back. "How are we going to get in?"
"I've got a plan. I'm going to break in, and then I'll come get you at the front door here."
"And how you do you plan on doing that, hotshot?"
"Wait here." With that, Luxord walked all the way around the building to the backside of the building. Making sure Jessica hadn't followed him, he then opened up a Portal of Darkness, teleporting himself inside of the building, right behind the cash register counter. Now safely inside, he walked up to the very front of the store, where he pushed opened the main doors, letting Jessica in.
"Not bad," was Jessica's only comment.
"I've got my moments," Luxord replied. They explored the shop for a few minutes, and Luxord grabbed a machete for himself. "Just in case," he explained to her. Soon, the pair found a door leading downstairs to a basement. As Luxord carefully opened the door, they heard voices and saw a light coming from somewhere down there.
"This must be where they're keeping Roger," said Jessica.
"Perhaps. We must take caution." The two headed down the stairs very carefully, and when they made it to the last step, peered around a wall, checking out the situation.
"Well now, Br'er Rabbit, maybe I'll just have to roast ya," Br'er Fox taunted. He was addressing Br'er Rabbit, who was tied up over a fire pit in the ground like a spit. Br'er Bear was standing nearby, watching Br'er Rabbit turn the spit.
Luxord and Jessica retracted their heads, returning to their hidden position. "Br'er Rabbit?" Luxord whispered.
"That's definitely not my husband," she whispered back.
"Well, then our work here is done," Luxord joked.
She elbowed him. "There's still a crime going on!"
"I'll say there is. A fire pit like that in a basement like this is exceptionally tacky. Redecorating is a must." This comment elicited another elbow from Jessica. "I'm sorry, that was a bad one. What's the plan?" When he heard no response, he turned to her, only to see that she had pulled a large mallet out of seemingly nowhere.
"Never leave home without it," she replied with a smirk, leaving Luxord's impending question unanswered.
"I bet you wish you'd never been born, huh Br'er Rabbit? Well you mine, you mine! And you're not getting away this time!" the voice of Br'er Fox continued.
"Oh, what are you doing, Br'er Fox? Let me go!" Br'er Rabbit's voice pleaded.
"Here goes nothing," Luxord stated and then turned around the corner and into the room. "Stop, you rascals!"
Br'er Fox turned in surprise to see the owner of the new voice. "And who are you?"
Considering that he was holding an axe and was a fox, he looked quite menacing.
"I'd rather we just skip the formalities," Luxord replied, and rushed at Br'er Fox. Machete and axe connected, signaling that a fight was on.
Br'er Bear, meanwhile, was still trying to comprehend the situation at hand, something that took a while in his small mind.
"Br'er Bear, do something!" Br'er Fox yelled.
"Oh, okay. I'm gonna knock his head clean off," Br'er Bear announced started to move towards Luxord and Br'er Fox.
However, Jessica had snuck up behind him. "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me," she softly stated. With one solid thwack to the head, Br'er Bear went down, knocked out cold.
"Oh yeah, get it girl!" the still tied up Br'er Rabbit called out.
Seeing Jessica and a knocked out Br'er Bear, Br'er Fox realized that his best option was to flee. "I'll get you yet!" he called out to Br'er Rabbit as he scampered into something labeled 'Emergency Tunnel,' disappearing.
"I'd say that went rather well," Luxord noted. He then went over to Br'er Rabbit and freed him from his ropes.
"Thank y'all very much. Much obliged for helping me out!" he thanked them.
"No problem at all, my good rabbit."
Luxord and Jessica were walking on the streets of Toontopia, after leaving Br'er Fox's lair. "You were pretty good in the field there, Jessica."
"You weren't so bad yourself. A little reckless, but that's men for you."
"I think I'll take that as a compliment," he said, which drew a laugh from her. After several seconds of silence, Luxord struck a more serious tone. "I'm sorry we didn't find your husband."
"So am I. Now we're back to square one."
"I can assure that I will do everything in my power to find him. Even if I have to tear this whole planet apart."
She nodded. "Thanks."
And they continued walking in silence.
Hey there everyone! This was a fun chapter to write, especially with all of the little references I tried to put in. Next time we'll go back to Lothal and see how Xigbar and Axel are doing!
See ya real soon,
The Mustachioed Academic