The next day, after some regrouping and a large cup of coffee, Deputy and Brownie sat down to scrub through the large reel of footage that the mouse had gathered on his undercover investigation. "What exactly are we looking for, Skids?" Brownie yawned out, stretching his arms out while spinning in his chair. Jade had sent them a message that she would be in later than usual after she had run into somebody the previous night on the way home and needed to take some time to recover from it.

Deputy, dressed in a more casual than normal outfit shrugged. "Nothing particularly. I just want to edit this down to what is needed. I'm sure that everyone down at HQ isn't going to want to sit through fifteen minutes of us talking or dead silence. We just need to bring them the important details so we can get a warrant – and then?"

"Then we go and bust some doors down?" Brownie squeaked enthusiastically.

"Hell yeah. I'm so ready to be done with this whole investigation. I've been through some tough cases, but this one has really burnt me out. Can't I get something easy like another murder mystery, or a kidnapping?" Deputy rubbed his eyes laid his head on the table, his ears flopping down over his face. "So, where is Akinari by the way?"

Brownie pulled out his whisper device and opened his messages. Sliding the messenger across the table to his partner, the green mouse grinned. "I had a brilliant idea. So, we wanted to make sure she didn't leave and get away or anything, but I didn't want to drag her around everywhere. Well, what better place to leave her than locked in my house."

Skids pulled up the messages and raised an eyebrow. "Akinari. All of the doors and windows are locked and set with a security alarm. If you try and leave, I will be immediately alerted. There's food in the fridge. If anybody stops by just tell them we're dating. Actually, that would be cool, especially if it was Guacamole. She always ignores me. Maybe she'd think I was cool." The lime green dog chuckled at his friend's naivety. "I mean, that's definitely a plan, I guess. But what is your plan if she does leave?"

"Oh… Well, I didn't really think about that possibility. If that happens, I guess I'll just take it as I go. Although it sounds like we're at a point where we don't necessarily need her anymore. We have the evidence. I know you guys wanted to hang on to her just in case, but after thinking about it I'm not sure." Brownie seemed almost sympathetic towards the pink crocodile.

"Don't get caught up on feeling, buddy. I know you guys are dating and all." Skids winked and laughed. "But you have to be able to separate things. Imagine if this somehow isn't enough. We could use her to get back into the good graces of that horrifying bear. Plus, she might need the protection if something happens. After we start making arrests, someone is going to have questions. Molly will remember. We might need to consider putting her into witness protection."

Mildly disappointed, Brownie knew his friend was right. There was an odd thrill to calling Akinari his girlfriend. Not that it would count for anything, it was the first time anybody had that distinction – real or not. "Anyways, why don't we scrub through this footage?" The next hour or so was spent editing through video and picking out the most important details. Skids was not the most technologically literate and left most of the hard work up to his younger comrade. "Alright, so I think everything after this is just me and Akinari heading back to meet with you guys."

Clapping excitedly, Deputy leapt up and was eager to go. "Well, what are we wasting time sitting here for? Let's bring this over to Headquarters and we'll see what's next. I'd really like to get some enforcement done today and try to have this all done by the weekend. I promised Susie I would be home to do something. I've been working a lot."

"I'm sure. I will be spending some quality time with Akinari apparently. Do you think she'd want to do something this weekend?" Brownie inquired, slipping in the possibility in a way that neither joking nor serious.

"Don't get too attached, man. There's a good chance you won't be seeing her too much longer anyways. You'll meet somebody, probably sooner than you think. Heck, if I can do it anybody can." The canine offered words of support to his friend, likely failing in his support.

Opening his Shticker Book, Brownie groaned. "You were single for like ten years or something. I don't want to end up a lonely old dude like you!" Popping out a teleportation hole, Brownie winked, showing signs of an increased mood. "Race you to Toon Hall!"

Bursting out into laughter, Deputy ripped out his teleportation hole and leapt in, not wanting to lose to his friend. "We'll see about that!" Unfortunately for the green dog, he was a split second behind the rodent, and both raced to Toon HQ. Skids had the upper hand once there, as he had years of experience navigating the wacky, convoluted halls of the gargantuan building. "I'll see you at the Captain's Desk!" A few minutes later they had reached the office and turned to each other.

"So, you want to go ahead and report things, or do you want me to do it? I mean, you definitely have more clout here than I do. Probably looks better if you're talking." Brownie held a USB drive with the video evidence and handed it towards his superior.

"Well, you're the one that did all the hard work, right? I'm not here to steal any credit from you there. Plus, you'll be able to better describe things than I probably could. Do you want to handle this?" Skids smiled encouragingly at the mouse who nodded back. Opening the door to the Captain's office, the two scurried inside only to be caught off guard when they found that not only was their superior inside, that there was another Toon as well. "Sprout, what are you doing here?" Skids half-questioned, half-exclaimed.

The green crocodile turned around and pounded her fist into her hand, smiling a toothy grin and revving her arms up excitedly. "Ah, Deputy. You're right on time! I have big, big news! I couldn't wait to tell you; this is so big I had to bring it to the top!"

The captain, a large orange duck named Johanna rubbed her temples. It was only ten, and she was already overwhelmed by the chaos that seemed to come with a typical Deputy Skids case. "Oh good, you both are here too. Is this about the drug case as well?"

"Yeah, we have a really big break. Wanted to run it across you and see if we can get a warrant issued so we can start making some arrests." Skids responded, before being interrupted by the energetic gator.

"Wait, I was here first! I have even bigger news! Come on, let me go first, Skido!" Brussel squealed, clapping her hands and baring her teeth in what was assumed to not be a smile.

Brownie shrugged and sighed. "Yeah, that's probably fine. I'm kind of curious what you've been up to anyways. I mean, what interesting stories came from those horses? Although please leave out the dirty details, my stomach isn't ready for that this early."

Johanna pinched her nose and exhaled. "Could you three just got on with it? I have a meeting with Flippy in an hour and I still have to get my preparations completed. Sprout, hurry up and tell me what happened."

"Okay, okay!" Speed-running her story, Sprout told from the beginning of getting to the club, all the way to the double murder. "Then that purple bear just killed the dude and yeeted him into the water! The best thing besides horses being killed, is that we have it all on video. Well, we have the audio. The bag kind of covered the video stuff. But I'm sure that should be good enough, right?"

"Wait, double murder? Why haven't I heard about this yet?" Skids smacked his forehead. "You waited to report this until today?"

Johanna held up her hand and hushed everybody. "Everybody, just quiet down!" When everyone shut up, the fowl continued. "Our friends in Donald's Dock got multiple calls about the murders yesterday. One of the bodies was found already, so this isn't exactly new." Sprout scowled, disappointed her big discovery was muted. "Now, having that evidence is pretty new. Great investigation Officer Sprout. What do you think about all of this Officers Skids and Batter?"

"Woah, purple bear? That's a pretty weird coincidence because that's almost the exact thing we came about." Brownie slapped the USB onto the table and wide-eyed as he started piecing things together. "I have video evidence from inside of the drug den! We didn't get Jack, but I got one of his top executives! This is irrefutable. This is our smoking gun!"

"Wait a second? That must be the same Toon! So, you guys managed to meet with her somehow? How did that happen?" Brussel spouted.

Brownie, proud of himself, retold the story from the capture of Akinari, all the way to the present moment, including telling the story. "So, yeah. Basically bulletproof. I think once we get Molly everything will start crumbling around them. Jack can't run things without any top leaders doing anything for him. If we can turn some? Well that's just a bonus."

Deputy nodded. "Captain, the fact that both of us have pretty damning evidence should be enough right? These guys are moving beyond simple drug dealing. We have murders now. I can't imagine they would so casually kill if they had not done so before. This brings up a lot of cold murder cases we're dealing with. How many of those are tied to this gang? This could get a lot of headaches out of the system and clear up time to handle other cases, yes?"

"Fine. Fine. Just, make sure that you do this carefully. We don't want to spook them and have them flee on us. We don't want to telegraph anything. Any off-the-books investigation can't be tolerated any further though, Sprout. Also, no more of those private investigators. If we don't do everything legally, it can disrupt the entire operation. So, do you know whatever happened to those Fruits?"

Inside of the C.U.M. Headquarters was a makeshift interrogation room. The three Toons had quietly dragged the criminals from Acorn Acres to Donald's Dreamland, which was made the more difficult by how big the bear was. Rotten Mango had been conscious and awake, and made sure to make it the biggest pain in the rear possible for the detectives. Once they had finally gotten back to base, they had made sure to lock down the two to as much as possible to prevent any escape. Who know when they could get another opportunity such as this? The Orange, as the de facto leader, was the one to begin questioning. "It's a terrible day when a fruit is commingling with a group of rotten criminals such as Jack. I guess what they say is true, one bad mango can ruin the bunch."

The amber dog rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Spare me the ethics lesson, chimp. You're just wasting your time here. You don't have any real authority to keep me here. You're just a bunch of rent-a-cops at best. I'm going to make sure that you're all dead when I get out. If you were smart, you would get away as far as you can before anyone finds out I'm here!" The canine snarled and threw her head forward, attempting to snack on the cautious ape.

"Oh, you're so scary!" The Lemon retorted, still pained from being tossed by the humongous body guard earlier. "You're like a tree, all bark no bite!" The yellow deer looked at his friends awaiting a laugh that wouldn't come. "Anyways, you're not scaring us…"

"Exactly. I don't think you know who we are. We're not from this world, sister. Once we find our boss, we're skedaddling back where we came from. You think your boss scares us? We've tussled with Jack and won before. We'll do it again. Not to mention, the Rangers aren't going to be too concerned with our actions once we gift-wrap them a murderer!" The Lime, the fellow dog, seemed to throw caution to the wind with his words. He wasn't sure whether or not anybody would believe him anyways, but mentioning the other world seemed to hit a sore spot for the Orange who patted his friend roughly on the head.

"Dude, don't tell her things like that." The monkey chimed in. "Now, if you're willing to cooperate maybe we can strike up some kind of deal. We just want to know where our boss, The Kumquat is. You must know, so go ahead and tell us, alright? Simple enough, even for a simpleton like yourself."

The Rotten Mango stiffened her lip and said nothing. She wouldn't bother acknowledging these buffoons, let alone give them anything. "Alright, I guess she doesn't understand the ramifcations of what she's choosing to do, The Orange. I guess we should show her." The Lime, usually silly and light-hearted, was not in a joking mood anymore. Kicking over a chair, he got right into the dog's face and growled. "Listen you bitch."

The Lemon chuckled. "Ha-ha, bitch. Get it? She's a female dog."

"Ha, that's pretty funny." The Lime had to refrain from laughing. Refueling himself with anger, he made a terrifying face. His flabby cheeks puffed out; his forehead vibrated as his emotions became more uncontrollable. "Listen to me you idiot. I'm not afraid of any consequences in this world. Do you think anybody would miss you? Doubtful. You're a pathetic criminal. The Toontown Rangers would brush your death off as gang violence and nothing more. I'm at the edge of my rope and I'll do what it takes to get answers, because I intend on getting out of this place when all of this is said and done." The green dog turned to his brother and shouted. "Hey, The Lemon. Go and retrieve the blender!"

"Th – the blender?" The handcuffed fruit began to sweat noticeably. There were few things more terrifying to the dog than a blender, something the members of C.U.M. seemed to understand. Reassuring herself, The Rotten Mango feigned confidence. "You wouldn't do that. None of you have the heart of a killer."

Ignoring the canine, the deer walked over and opened up a locked container. Carefully standing back as he reached his arms into the box, The Lemon inhaled as he quickly yanked his arms upward and held up a simple kitchen appliance. Holding it out as far in front of him as possible, The Lemon breathed slowly as he walked and placed the smoothie maker down on the interrogation table next to The Rotten Mango. Even the unplugged device was enough to terrify any fruit into near submission.

The Orange, the least afraid of the horrific death machine, grabbed the white chord and plugged it into a nearby outlet. "You may be a killer, but I am not. However, things can change when someone becomes desperate. When somebody has a home to get back to, family to see, and responsibilities riding on things. You're right, I do not have the heart to kill. But that doesn't mean this won't." Pointing to the blender, The Orange narrowed his eyes. "I'll ask you one last time. Where is Jack, and where is The Kumquat!"

"I'm not telling you anything, you fat disgusting monkey!" The Rotten Mango could feel her heart racing a million miles a minute, but she couldn't give in. She had to hope that she could outbluff the others. Why would these random detectives care so much about her boss anyways? They didn't have anything to gain. They weren't Rangers, and they certainly didn't appear to be competition.

"Fine then. Let's make ourselves a smoothie, boys." The Orange nodded to the yellow deer who pushed a button on the appliance, causing a loud whirring sound to emanate through the small office. Even the unrestrained Toons felt a chill as the horrifying blender noises blurred out The Rotten Mango's cries. Getting within inches of the dog's foot, The Lemon looked up one last time to see if the disgusting canine would submit.

The threat proved viable, as once the threat became real, the faux confidence washed away, and The Rotten Mango spilled the truth as much as she could while staying vague enough to keep her from Jack's wrath. "Fine, fine! I'll tell you what you wanna know about that dumb cat!"

Satisfied, the retaliators withdrew their threat, and unplugged the blender. The Lime grinned and couldn't help but chuckle in relief at hearing about their kidnapped friend. "So, he's still alive and you do know something. That's all we wanted to know."

"Now, I don't know the up-to-dates of everything, but the last time I heard anything he was locked in a basement down at an abandoned warehouse on Pajama. It's near the back-alleys that lead to Cashbot HQ. This was at least a week ago, and things could have changed. That's all I know!"

"That doesn't sound like everything." The Lemon said skeptically, grabbing the blender again slowly, not really sure if even he planned on using it or not. "There's a lot of abandoned buildings down there. Not to mention, you haven't told us about Jack…"

The Orange, who surprised himself with his own aggressiveness, grabbed the criminal by both ears and yanked her face towards his. Breathing heavily, the chimp could feel his own warm breath reflecting back on him. "Is he alive? You better tell me the truth because if he's not…"

Pulling herself away, the rotten fruit shook herself and scowled. "Ugh, your friend is still alive. Are you happy? He's being kept for information. Although I'm pretty sure he's not going to make it much longer. Jack seems to be getting tired of him and his lack of talking. You three should be thankful." Pausing and looking at the blender, the amber dog sighed. "As for Jack. I'm not really sure what you want to know. Sounds like you know everything already."

"Where is he? That's what we want, obviously!" The Lime squealed out.

"Yeah, we have been hunting for him for a long time. He's done unspeakable things in our world, and he must be brought to justice." The Orange knelt near the opposite fruit and spoke calmly in an attempt to break through to whatever potential morals the dog had. "Do you really want to be known as Jack's cohort? To be in history as a criminal and spend the rest of your miserable life in prison? Do the right thing, dog."

Thrusting her head forward, The Rotten Mango slammed her head into the monkey's, sending him flying backwards. "Better than being some worthless, nameless nothings. I'll be out of jail before you know it. Better than being a worthless rat and getting killed for it! Go ahead, turn me in, I dare you!"

Wiping a trickle of blood from his forehead, The Orange seemed emotionless for a second. As if he was hit by a newfound clarity. "Very well. The Lime, cover her mouth. The Lemon, get the blender. I'm done with her. We'll do this ourselves."

"Yeah, like any of you are going to do any-" Being cut off, the green dog stuffed a cloth into the criminal's mouth and held his hands over it. Closing his eyes and pinning his earns downward, he wasn't sure if The Orange was being serious, but he was afraid to find out. He'd never seen his companion so desperate. He'd be committing to something he couldn't undo.

As The Lemon handed the appliance to his boss, he could see the fear in The Rotten Mango's eyes. "Welp, you should have just talked." Turning around, the deer averted his eyes to the horrifying scene that would be unfolding. Covering his own ears, he knelt into a ball and waited for it to be over.

Unspeaking, The Orange turned on the blender. The loud, whirring sounds causing all of the fruit's hearts to race in terror, including the monkey handling the dangerous weapon. Grabbing the foot of his adversary which kicked around in hopes of avoiding a terrible fate, the dog released tears of anguish in anticipation. "When you see Jack in Hell, you can tell him you weren't a rat." The pained, muffled blood-curdling screams could not escape the confines of C.U.M's office. The fruits had crossed the lines from detectives to vigilantes, and now to murder.