"I still think about the night your mother and I had to leave you". A very young Mina Mongoose was walking through her dark house. She heard her parents talking "Hopefully, it's not for long, but I'll call you when we get settled. When I have better indication of what's going on". She turned a corner and saw them talking to a human woman "Mummy?". Isabella, a young female mongoose wearing a purple dress smiled and walked over to Mina "Oh, Jellybean". She squats down at moves Mina's hair out of her face "Daddy and I have a last-minute business trip, so Rose is gonna stay with you for a few days". Mina shook her head "No. I don't want you to go" "Ugh. It's gonna be so boring. I won't be able to keep my…". She half closed her eyes "Eyes..." she snored making Mina giggle. Arthur came over "Goodbye, sweetheart. Alright, we'll see you soon". He kisses her head and pats his wife's shoulder "Bella, we gotta go". Bella jumped awake and her daughter giggled. The two left as Mina watched with her babysitter "I wish we could have put down our bags, tucked you back into your bed, but too many lives were at stake".
Arthur and Bella arrived at a launch site in their suits and wearing their medallions. They see a rocket launch "Oh, Gaia. They've started" "We have to stop it". Arthur takes out a grapple from his bottomless bag and fires it at the rocket. Mina activates a jet pack attached to her suit and they both land on the rocket. Arthur tried to use a cutting tool on the rocket "To disarm the missile, we had to get inside it, but the plating was too thick. The only way in was to shrink between the molecules". Bella lands next to him "I can't get through". They saw a city in the distance "Arthur" "We both knew that if you go that small there is no coming back". Arthur tried to turn his medallion "It should have been me, but my regulator was damaged. Your mother's wasn't". Bella flew above Arthur and looked down at him "Tell Mina I love her". She disabled her regulator to Arthur's horror "Bella, NO!". She started to shrink and went through the metal "She went subatomic to deactivate the bomb". The rocket failed and headed for the ocean "Your mother saved thousands of lives that day knowing she'd be lost in the quantum realm. Afraid. Gone forever".
Mina sat in her room playing with her toys when she heard Arthur walk in. She turned around and smiled. She ran over to hug him but saw his angry and bruised face. Mina stares at him wondering what was wrong and Arthur pulled her into a hug "Telling you that she wasn't coming home was the hardest thing that I ever had to do". He stays strong and holds his daughter tightly.
Arthur in his lab was telling this story to an older Mina "But then Manic showed up. Or should I say, broke into our house. And when he went to the quantum realm and came back. Everything changed. I started to wonder could you mother still be alive?". He stood up and walked over to a table "So, I dusted off some old plans". He unrolled a blueprint of something called a "Quantum Tunnel". Mina looked to her father "Dad, what're you saying?" "I think it's possible to bring her back".
Manic the Hedgehog turned on a torch in a dark tunnel "Okay. We're in. Oh, this place is a maze. Where's that map?". He takes out a hand drawn map of an anthill "We're definitely close". He turned to his daughter, Tania wearing a head torch "You ready?" "I'm ready, Daddy" "Are you sure? Cause once we're inside, you show any hesitation or fear, we're done". Tania grinned "I eat fear for breakfast" "Wow. That is super cool. Come on". They crawl through the tunnel until they come across a large cardboard ant. Manic stops Tania "Look! It's Deo. He'll show us the way. Deo, which way do we go?". Nothing happened "Deo, which way do we go!?". Outside of cardboard maze inside Manic's house Max was sitting at a computer when he heard Manic. He got up and runs over to a string which he pulls. Deo's arm moves pointing left. Manic nods "Thanks, Deo!" "Thanks, Deo" Tania repeated. They crawl through "Look, the ants have burrowed into the tech facility". They turned a corner and Tania gasped "Oh no, lasers" it was actually red string. They crawl through and Manic gets hit in the back "Oh! I think I got lased!". They get through and stop at a green light "The secret vault. Tell me you brought the contact lens". Tania nodded and opened up her bag "Yup" she took out a paper plate painted to look like an eye. She put it over her face, "Perfect! Right there". Manic pulled the door open outside revealing a small trophy. Tania smiled "There! It's the micro-treasure!" "My trophy?".
Tania shrugged "It looks like treasure" "Oh, it is to me" "I want to take it to show-and-tell". Manic shook her head "Oh, no, you can't do that. You can't. It never leaves the house. It's too important. This is the best birthday present you ever got me". He read the inscription "I'm so touched you think I'm the world's greatest grandma". Tania giggled "It was the only one they had" "It makes me want to knit you a sweater". Max appeared and Tania screamed "Oh, no, the fuzz!". Max ignored her "Hey, Manny, I was looking at the schematics for the Karapetyan buildings and I think we have way too many security cameras, don't we?" "No, no, not at all" "I mean, cause it's a lot of security cameras". Manic shrugged "I know what he needs. Who's the security expert in our business?" "You are but I'm running the company. And if we overquote him he's gonna go somewhere else. I mean, we gotta land this bird" "He ain't going anywhere. And the expression is land this fish". Max narrowed his eyes "No, it's land the bird. You know, like landing a plane. You gotta land the plane to be in business" "I know it's silly to get hung up on these kinds of things, but I do" "How am I gonna land a fish? Why would I want to?". Manic nodded "You've really turned me around on this thing. It's okay. We're gonna land Karapetyan. Now, if you just excuse me I'm in the middle of trying to steal something with my daughter" "I'm gonna go recheck it".
Manic pulled a string starting an alarm "To the escape ant!". Tania crawled through another tunnel "Let's bounce before the po-po come back!" "Po-po? How do you even know that?". They crawl to the stairs and get on a sled. Manic holds onto his daughter "Let's fly". He pulls a rope and the ramp drops causing the sled to go down a cardboard slide. They both scream in excitement as they go through the hall and outside down another staircase. Then into the garden "Crash landing!" they hit the wooden fence "Whoo!" Tania yells. Manic pretends to be injured "Ow! I can't make it!" "I wish we could shrink for real" "Oh. That is pretty cool". Max pokes his head out of the window "Hey, I'm headed to the office, Manny. And sorry about freaking out earlier, you know. But I feel like I'm way better. My heart is definitely beating way too hard, and stuff and my hands are shaking but I think it's unrelated, you know?". Manic nodded "It's gonna be great, Max! You got nothing to worry about!" "Yeah, yeah. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss". They suddenly heard an alarm "Daddy". Manic realises his left leg had broken through the fence, the ankle had a tag around it which was beeping.
Police were now searching Manic's home while he himself was talking to a brown lynx in a black and yellow body suit "Come on, Larry! I've got three days left. Why would I try and escape?" "Sorry, Manic, but rules are rules. You trip the perimeter alarm; we search the place. Keel to stern, soup to nuts". They hear something shatter and Manic sarcastically smiles "Thank you. It was an accident. My foot went through the fence". Tania nodded "Our flying ant crashed". Larry stared at Manic who shrugged "Hey, you try and entertain a 10-year-old when you can't leave the house. You know the lengths that I've gone to?". He holds out a hand and a playing card appeared seemingly out of nowhere "Close-up magic". It disappears and he makes it reappear from Tania's ear making her smile "I learned that". Tania glared at Larry "Why can't you just leave my daddy alone?". Larry smirked and kneeled down "Oh, Tania. This must all seem like a bunch of confusing grown-up stuff to you, huh? Well, think of it this way. Your school has rules, right? Like, you can't draw on the walls. Well, your daddy went to Echidnaopolis and drew on the walls with Shadow the Hedgehog. And that was in violation of Article 16, Paragraph Three of the Spagonia Accords. Now as party of his joint plea deal with Homeland Security and the Echidnaopolis government he was allowed to return to the U.S… provided he serve two years under house arrest followed by three years of probation. And avoid any unauthorized activities, technology or contact with any former associates who were or currently are in violation of said Accords. Or any related statutes. Okay, sweetie?".
Tania was staring it him looking completely lost. Manic sarcastically nodded "Wow. You're really great with kids" "Thanks. I'm also a youth pastor. Anyway, not to be a Johnny ask-a-lot but you haven't had any contact with Arthur or Mina Mongoose, have you?". Manic shook his head "No" "You sure? Because it's only a matter of time before we get them. It was their tech, so they violated the Accords, too. And associating with them breaks your deal. And, uh, I don't need to remind you that any violation of your agreement means 20 years in prison. Minimum". Manic crossed his arms "I told you, I took the medallion, they had nothing to do with Echidnaopolis" "Doesn't matter. They should have handed it over". Manic sighed "No, I haven't talked to Arthur or Mina in forever" "They hate his guts" Tania added. Manic glanced back at her "Thanks, peanut". Larry looks to make sure no one else was close "How'd you do it, Manic?". Manic didn't understand "What?" "The card trick" "Seriously?". Suddenly Komi ran into the room with Remington "What the hell? You people can't just show up here whenever you want to search the place". Remington leaned close to her "Actually, they can". Komi ignored him "You need warrant" "Actually, they don't" "Really? Wow".
Later after the police left Komi and Remington were out at the car "Did you pack your soccer shoes?" "Yeah!" Tania answered from the door. Manic walked up to her and gave her a hug. Komi came over smiling "Next time I see you will be on the outside" she hugged Manic. Remington joined the hug "Hey, three days. Seriously, I'm proud of you, bud" "Thank you" "You know what? Give me another one". He hugged Manic again as Komi led Tania to the car "Freedom! New business. I am sensing greatness" she said back to Manic as Remington walked over. Tania turned back to Manic "I had a fun weekend, Daddy" "Me too, peanut. But just wait till next weekend. Once I'm outta here, you and I are gonna paint this town red. We'll have so much ice cream, we'll never stop puking". He pretends to be sick and suddenly pulls multiple cards out of his mouth. Tania giggles and Komi watches amused "You're getting good at that" "How'd you do that?" Remington asked.
Later now alone Manic was pacing around his home "Three days. Easy-peasy". He played on a drum kit and then a toy bowling set. Sometime later he was watching the online close-up magic university then he sang karaoke "We're gonna tear down the house. Rip up the joint. Doin' the Mobius Stomp". That evening he was lying on a bed reading a book title the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Once he reached the end he started to sob. Later he bounced a ball against a wall, and it then went through a basketball hoop. Then he started examining the blueprints that Max left. Then he had to have a bath, but he had to put his left leg in a bag to protect the tag. He sighed "Easy-peasy". He drifted off. He started to dream about his time in the quantum realm which wasn't anything new. It didn't leave his mind easily but this time it was different. He saw a robotic face in front of him. Suddenly he was standing in a hallway of a house "What?". He then heard a female voice coming from his own mouth "I'm gonna find you, Jellybean". He entered a child's room and opened a red wardrobe and found a smiling Mina inside "I found you!" "You always find me, Mommy". Manic turned to look in the mirror only to see that he was in the body of Isabella Mongoose "What the hell?". He woke up in the bath gasping.