Cupcake bolted from the room, with Jenny in pursuit. She had to alert her father. Bursting into an office, Flippy was sitting in his chair, writing on some papers. Looking up, surprised, his face softened when he saw his daughter. "Cupcake! What are you doing here, sweetie?" He rushed over and examined her face.
"Dad! You won't believe it. We know who kidnapped Mark!" She stopped to catch her breath. After all, she and Jenny had sprinted straight from the Toon HQ lab.
Flippy looked to Jenny, and back to his daughter. His face one of confusion and sadness. "Yes, we know hon. We have already found the culprits, Deputy Skids and Stella. We will be interrogating them later, and I promise that once we do, we will find Mark." He held Cupcake to him, softly stroking the fur on her head, something he would do when she was young to calm her down.
"Sir, I don't mean to interrupt, but Deputy Skids and Stella are not behind Mark's kidnapping." Jenny yelled out. "Take a look at this." She walked forward, brandishing the results from the resting that had recently been completed. Handing it to the light blue dog, he grabbed his reading glasses. He scanned the paper several times, without nary an emotion on his face.
"Hmm. Interesting. Okay." He muttered a few things to himself, before finally letting his arms fall to his side, still grasping the paper. He looked to his daughter. "This can't be real?" he stated softly. "You know what this would mean, not just for the Toon Resistance, but for all of Toontown?"
Cupcake escaped her father's embrace and grabbed his empty hand. "Yes, dad. But it's the truth. We know it is hard to believe. Especially for you, but as you have said, nobody is above the law." She closed her eyes, gripping tighter, waiting for the response that would crush her. Jenny sighed and closed her eyes, bracing herself as well for the bad news.
"I believe you both. But you do know this will not be easy, right? There are a lot of Toons who will not believe so easily, and who may outright fight this. We need to do this right. No rushing in all salt and vinegar, no name-calling. We need to be professionals about this." He folded up the paper and placed it into his pocket. Squeezing his daughter's hand, he looked her in the eye. "Let's go rescue Mark." Waving to Jenny, he led the pair from the room, back towards the Resistance section of Toon HQ.
Lord Lowden was sitting at his desk when he had received the news. Ranger Apple had been apprehended and arrested in Minnie's Melodyland just a few minutes earlier. His face was drained, and white. He could feel his teeth chattering, and his hands shaking with anxiety. Getting up, he paced the room. Clearly this could not be the case. How could have this happened? Walking over to his beloved treasure, his Robber Baron Cog Suit, he looked up and admired it. What had Toontown become? What was once a place of unity, and anger towards the cogs, was now allowing them to exist within their ranks and tear apart their once tight knit community. Sighing he walked back towards his desk, when something caught his eye. On the floor near the cog suit, laid three strands of pink fur. Kneeling down, he picked up the fur and growled. This could only be from one Toon. Dragging the Cashbot suit away from the entrance, he threw open the door to his closet of disguises. The room was a mess. Clothes had been torn apart, scattered on the floor, and left in piles. A mixture of anger and horror overcame the Captain. Digging around, he threw piles into other piles. Tearing suits from the hangers, the realization soon hit him. There was a missing disguise. Jumping from the floor, he ran out of the closet, not bothering to barricade the entrance as usual. How had somebody found it? His heart began pounding against his chest, his veins went ice cold. Sitting down at his desk, he cleared his throat and took a deep breath. He was Lord Lowden, no matter what happened he could beat this. He had beaten the cogs into submission, what were a couple of Toons led by a group of women, especially Cupcake? he leaned back in his chair, and smiled. Allowing his body to relax, he began to hatch a plan.
Flippy, Jenny, and Cupcake were followed by a small group of officers as they made their way into the building. On a waiting bench, Brownie sat handcuffed to his seat. He looked up and smiled at his pals. "Sorry guys. I guess inciting a panic gets you in trouble around here." He winked, as the trio passed by. Turning around, Jenny smiled at the brown mouse and continued her pace.
The crowd eventually made it to Lord Lowden's office. Doors wide open, Lowden sat exuberantly at his desk. "Ah, Mayor Flippy. What an honor to see you sir!" He peered over towards Jenny and Cupcake, both smirking deliciously. "Oh, and you too Mrs. Doggenbottom." He looked back to Flippy. "What can I do today for you, sir?" Speaking in his most delicate tone.
Flippy lifted his arm out to the officers behind him, and walked to Lowden's Desk. "Lord Lowden, we have worked together for a long time. At one point, we were one of the few fighting the resistance." Pausing for a few moments, the emotion in Flippy's voice was apparent. "Lord Lowden, it pains me to say this, and it's certainly not something I ever thought I would have to do. But with my authority, as Mayor of Toontown, I hereby authorize your arrest for the kidnapping of Mark." He lowered his head to the ground. Doing his best to keep a strong face on for everyone else.
Lord Lowden looked up in a feigned shock. "Sir, you cannot be serious? Me, a kidnapper? That's absurd. Haven't we already arrested the culprit in the case?" He stopped for a moment and started to laugh. "Oh, haha, you were joking? I get it now, good one Sir."
"I'm not joking, Lowden." Flippy stated sternly.
Lowden's face turned to real shock, and soon anger. "With all due respect sir, if you think I'm going to go quietly then you are wrong. You have absolutely no evidence. Earlier today Ranger Apple was arrested and found in possession of the missing cog, Mark. Besides, testimony from Apple states that she was acting alone and has absolved blame of Deputy Skids and Ranger Stella. In fact, she even stated that I was NOT involved in the case. I'm not sure why she would say such a thing, but it's pretty clear, I am not involved."
Cupcake fell to her knees. Unable to control the overwhelming joy that the news bad brought. She began to cry, unable to contain her emotions. Jenny came over and hugged her. Pushing her aside, Cupcake stood up trying her best to compose herself she marched towards the desk. Wiping away her tears she confronted the captain. "Lord Lowden, can you look at this paper, please?" Slapping down the sheet onto the desk, Lowden slid the paper towards him and started to read. "This paper states that you are in fact involved!" Hardly able to contain her conflicting anger and excitement that had swollen in her. "Give it up, Lowden!" She screamed.
Lowden placed his arms on his desk, interlacing his fingers into a large ball. "Ah, so you have something that says there is a match for TNA between Deputy Skids and one of my costumes. May I remind you, that I interact with the Officers and Rangers on a daily basis, both in and out my disguises. The chance of me and Deputy coming into contact is not that uncommon of an event, anyways." He retorted. "I think we're done here." He calmly responded.
Flippy stepped up. "Lord Lowden, there were no other matches for this disguise. We have testimony that states that an orange monkey was involved with the kidnapping of both Mark and Deputy Skids. There's no escaping this one."
Lowden beckoned to the officers. "Flippy, you may be the mayor, but I am still the head of the resistance. As I'm sure you know, the Mayor can only bring charges with ADEQUATE evidence. This, surely is not. Are we going to arrest every orange monkey in Toontown now, too? This is a ridiculous grab for power, and a veiled attempt to please your cog loving daughter. Now I will say it again, I think we're done here."
Cupcake, Jenny, and Flippy stood stunned. Unsure of what to do next, Flippy motioned for the other officers to leave. "We're not done Lowden. We know what you have done, and we will prove it. You better watch your back." He turned around and grabbed Cupcake's hand and escorted her from the office.
Tears of rage started to stream from her eyes. Everything pointed to Lowden being involved. He hated Mark, he had the motive. They had the evidence, but they were just going to give up? But they had found Mark and she knew he was safe. The conflicting emotions ran amok in her heart. She turned around and glared at Lowden, who made a smirk and waved gallantly at the angered Toon. "This isn't over, Lowden." She whispered to herself.
Flippy, Jenny, and Cupcake stood outside of the office. Flippy turned to the other two and spoke. "Guys, without something from Apple, we don't have a case. We're going to need her to cooperate if we're going to nail Lowden. We've gotten Deputy and Stella out, and we can use that to our advantage. I want you two to go to the jail and go speak with Apple. Bring Deputy with you, we will need an official with you to make sure we're following the law. With that he walked off towards his office. I got in touch with Officers Reessess and confirmed Mark is okay, but a little shook up. I will make sure that as soon as he is able to, I will have him brought to see you guys right away.
The cell opened and light streamed into his room. "Skids, you're free to go." Deputy looked up and saw two familiar faces along with the guard who had been watching over him the last few hours. It was Cupcake and Jenny! Rushing over he hugged both of them. "Thank you guys for getting me out of here.." He whimpered.
Jenny interrupted the newly free dog. "Deputy we don't have time for this. We need to speak with Apple. We need to figure out what she knows."
Deputy looked up to them. "They got Apple? That's excellent! But.. What about Mark?" He softly asked, knowing that there was the possibility of bad news.
"Mark has been found.. and he's okay!" Cupcake exclaimed. Still attempting to hold back tears. "But right now we need to focus on the task on hand. We can't let Lowden get away with this!"
Deputy's face scrunched with confusion. "Wait, Lowden is involved with this too? That smug, red, egotistical mutt?"
Jenny looked to Deputy. "Yup, we found an orange monkey costume that had some of your TNA on it. Unfortunately though, Apple has taken full responsibility for the kidnapping. Things still aren't adding up and I still have some things I need to confirm." The trio headed down the cell block, until they reached the end. Inside of the final cell, sat a half-sad, defeated orange horse. Sneering at the trio, she turned away.
"I don't want anything to do with you three. I've already told my story. Please, just leave me alone. She covered herself with a blanket and ducked underneath.
Cupcake stepped to the bars. "Apple, why would you do something like this? What did Mark ever do to you? He's the sweetest, kindest soul in the entire world?"
The blanket flew off the horse's sad body, and onto the floor. She stood up and walked towards the bars. "Sweet? Do you see what he did to me? I was at six laff before he finally let up. I almost went sad! He's sweet? "Yeah.. sure!"She turned and faced away from the group and her body began to shake, and the sound of heavy breathing rose in the air.
Deputy reached through the bars and put his hand on Apple's back. "Ranger Apple. When you took an oath to protect Toontown, you took an oath to protect all of its citizens. Mark is a Toontown citizen. You have had no reason to do anything to him and we have reason to believe that you weren't acting alone. We think Lowden was instructing you."
"Mr. Lowden would do no such thing!" The horse turned around and screamed. "He is sweet, and kind, and he cares about me. He LOVES me. He would never put me into this position. He's going to come get me out of here soon and everything will be cleared up." the horse sobbed out.
The three watched with horrified expressions on their face as the Toon in front of them knelt down and cried. Cupcake was finally beginning to understand. Kneeling down in front of the horse she reached into the bars and grabbed the horse's hand. "Apple, Lowden doesn't love you." She paused to take a deep breath. "He's using you."
The horse's face turned to anger. "Mr. Lowden would never do that! He's the one who has always been there for me. Protected me. Just wait, he's coming to get me out of here!" pounding her fists on the ground, she looked up to the ceiling. "I know he's coming for me.."
From behind the three another familiar voice called out. "Apple, they're right.. Lowden was using you." Everyone turned to face the unexpected Toon who had suddenly appeared. It was.. Stella?
Apple jumped up and ran to the bars, pressing her face into them. "Ranger Stella? What are you doing here?"
"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Jenny sarcastically added.
Stella ignored the remark from the green mouse and made her way to the cell, reaching inside to grab her colleague's hand. "He tried to do the same thing with me, Apple. Except he didn't like that I wasn't willing to go along with him. That I didn't have hearts in my eyes when he entered a room, that I wouldn't do thing with him? That he couldn't control me.. Well that's when he turned to you. I knew that he was going to target you, because we were close. If he cared about you, he would be here right now, wouldn't he?" The yellow dog pleaded with Apple.
"As much as it hurts to say this, she's right." Cupcake agreed. "Lowden was willing to throw you under the trolley the second that he was confronted. I'm sorry, Apple."
The orange horse finally broke down and revealed everything. How Lord Lowden had instructed her to go to Rip Von Winkle's for the sleeping liquid, to destroy Mark, and that if she had helped that he would propose marriage to her. She broke down how he had went to Cupcake's estate that night dressed as the orange monkey to warn Mark that Cupcake was in trouble and to escort him to safety under the guise of the Rangers. They had intended to frame Deputy as it would be expected that he would have no alibi on the night Mark went missing as he lived alone. Once she had finished there was silence.
"It all makes so much sense." Deputy calmly stated. "The footprints, the lack of signs or a struggle, the motive. All of it makes perfect sense" Taking out his new whisper device he sent a message. "Just let Flippy know that we have Apple's confession. We got him guys, we finally got him."
"What will happen to me?" Apple looked upon the Deputy for an answer to her plight. Visibly afraid, scared, and depressed Deputy went over to her.
"Well, you were involved in the kidnapping and attempted destruction of Mark, and Officer Reessess. As well as anything involving myself. I don't think that can all be ignored.." He looked at the now sobbing horse. "However, I'm sure that due to the circumstances, something can be worked out."