Mr. Sulton stood in his plush highrise office in the headquarters of the Miniversal Corporation, with one hand stuffed into his pants pocket and a martini in the other. A black briefcase was sitting on top of his desk, and the old tiger was nervous as he looked out at the wintry skyline of Cape Suzette.

The office doors opened and Sulton's assistant entered. "The gentleman you sent for is here, Mr. Sulton," the assistant said. "Shall I send him in?"

"Of course, you idiot," Sulton growled, making his assistant wince. Sulton watched him scramble from the office, and a moment later a thin jaguar in a blue suit and a horribly obvious toupee entered.

"Ah, Mr. Covington," Sulton said, smiling. He sipped his drink and then walked over to his desk. "I hope your limo ride was comfortable?"

"Skip the pleasantries, Sulton," Covington said with a hint of an English accent. "Have you got the money?"

Frowning, Sulton gestured wordlessly to the briefcase sitting on hs desk, then took his hand out of his pocket and slid the briefcase across the desk to Covington.

Grinning, Covington caught the briefcase and opened it to reveal roughly half a million shaboozies. He scowled. "What's this? The deal was for a million shaboozies!"

"Half now, half on completion of the task," Sulton said. "As I understand it, Mr. Covington, you have a reputation for cutting and running with your payment and not actually doing the job."

Covington grinned nervously as he closed the briefcase. The former jewel thief had only recently gotten into the murder-for-hire business. "Very well," he said, smoothing out his toupee and picking the briefcase up. "You can consider Mr. Khan a bad memory. And with him out of the way I imagine Miniversal will buy out and absorb Khan Industries?"

Sulton smirked. "I don't discuss company business with outsiders," he said. His smirk vanished, and he glared at the jaguar. "Just make sure Khan is taken care of, then you'll get the other half of your payment. You can use it to buy a toupee that actually looks natural."

Covington scowled. "Good day, Mr. Sulton," he said, then turned and walked out of the office with the briefcase in hand.

Sulton drained the last of his drink. Covington was right about one thing: after Shere Khan was gotten rid of, the Miniversal Corporation would buy out Khan Industries, and then Miniversal would reign supreme as the largest company in Cape Suzette.

Sulton felt a minor twinge of guilt about hiring a two-bit assassin to kill Khan, but after he'd wasted $1 million paying that fool Mr. Perry to steal the secret experimental helicopter, Miniversal was deeply in debt and only eliminating its only rival would enable the company to come out on top again.

The following morning, Douglas Benson, wearing a new suit and tie he'd bought cheap, entered the lobby of Khan Tower for the first time in over a year, followed by Walters. His heart was pounding in his chest. Now that he was actually here, he had no idea what he was going to say to Mr. Khan in order to persuade him to give him his job back.

Nevertheless, he had to try. He swallowed nervously as he and Walters approached the front desk, where Mrs. Snarly sat filing her nails. She arched a brow at the sight of Douglas, but said nothing. For the moment.

"Good morning, Mrs. Snarly," Walters said, turning on the charm. "I have a 5:00 appointment with Mr. Khan?"

"One moment," Mrs. Snarly said in her usual monotone, seemingly unaffected by Walters' flirtatious tone as she flipped through a small appointment booklet. After a moment she said, "Yes, Mr. Walters, you can go right on up. Mr. Khan is expecting you. And what is he doing here?" She pointed at Douglas with her fountain pen, making him flinch.

"Oh, uh, don't worry about him, Mrs. Snarly, he's with me," Walters said, smiling.

Mrs. Snarly simply said, "Hmmph. Fine, but I doubt Mr. Khan will be very pleased to see him."

"Whatever," said Douglas, grabbing Walters by the sleeve of his suit jacket and dragging him over to the elevator. "Come on, Walters. Thank you, Mrs. Snarly."

As they got into the elevator, they saw Mrs. Snarly press the button on her intercom and say, "Mr. Khan? Mr. Walters is on his way up. Plus one." Then the elevator doors closed and they were moving upwards.

"So," said Walters, "do you have any specific plan for convincing Khan to give you your job back, or are we just winging this?"

"Winging it, of course," said Douglas with a sigh. He watched the numbers above the elevator doors light up one by one, twiddling his thumbs. "Thanks for doing this, Walters."

"I still say you're out of your mind, Dougie, but, uh, you're welcome. Anything I could do."

The elevator doors opened after a bit and the pair stepped out into Shere Khan's cavernous office. Walters started forward, but Douglas stuck his arm out, holding him back and indicating that he wait by the elevator. Walters nodded and Douglas proceeded forwards on his own, nervously adjusting his tie. Khan's high-backed office chair was facing the picture window, so Khan couldn't see him. Upon reaching the desk, Douglas stopped and stood before it, waiting for Khan to turn around. All he could see of Khan was one of his arms on the armrest of the chair.

"Well, then, Walters," Khan said without turning around, "what is it you wanted to see me about?" The arm disappeared for a moment and then came back into view holding a ticking pocketwatch. "Make it fast. I have a 2:00 appointment with a representative from our old friends, the Miniversal Corporation."

Douglas gulped, and it was only when he went to adjust his tie again that he realized he was shaking like a leaf in the wind. He said nothing.

"Well?" said Khan after a moment, his arm disappearing again and then reappearing without the watch. "Speak up, Walters, or else leave." There was another pause and finally the chair turned to reveal Shere Khan in all his coolly menacing glory, and if Douglas had been reluctant to say anything before, he was struck speechless now.

Khan frowned and began drumming his fingertips on the armrest. "Benson," he said, "what on Earth are you doing here?" He looked past Douglas at Walters, who grinned and waved nervously. "What is the meaning of this, Walters? Explain yourself before you end up like Benson, here."

Finally, Douglas found his voice. "Please, Mr. Khan," he said hoarsely, "it was my idea. I simply got Walters to make the appointment with you so I could get into your office to talk you."

Khan glanced left and made a small motion with his hand. His all-purpose goons, Garth and Gus, emerged from his jungle of plants. The panther and tiger frowned at Douglas, clearly ready to pounce on him and eject him from the office the minute Khan gave the word.

"About what?" Khan asked after a moment, raising an eyebrow. "I know of no unfinished business between us. What, pray tell, is there to talk about? Wait, let me guess. You've come here in a feeble and misguided attempt to persuade me to re-hire you, a scheme you no doubt concocted within the last 24 hours and haven't thought through entirely. Correct?"

Douglas was shocked. He could only nod slowly, wide-eyed.

Khan frowned, examing his claws. "Well, you can forget it. As far as I'm concerned, Benson, your deceit and ineptitude aside, you have nothing worthwhile to offer Khan Industries. And you should know that I employ no one who is not useful to my company in some form or fashion."

Khan snapped his fingers, and Douglas was suddenly seized by the arms by Garth and Gus, who began dragging him towards the elevator.

"But Mr. Khan," Douglas pleaded, struggling against the two massive goons, "please, hear me. I-I've learned my lesson. I know I've made some bad choices in the past and hurt a lot of people, not to mention the company's image, but I want to make it up to you. Please. All I ask for is a second chance."

Khan stroked his chin a moment in thought. Finally, he said, "Wait." Garth and Gus stopped, blinking, and released Douglas, who allowed himself a small smile as they walked back to the desk.

"All right, Benson," Khan said, "I suppose I could take pity on you. However, I didn't fire you over a bad investment or a clerical error. I am not simply going to let you back on as an executive as if nothing happened, Benson."

His original plan to pick up right where he'd left off, jobwise, was now scrapper, Douglas realized. "Please, Mr. Khan," he begged, "I'll take anything."

Khan thought for a moment, then smiled wryly. "As it so happens, there is an opening in our custodial workforce."

Douglas' heart sank. "Y-you want me to be a janitor?" he asked, horrified.

The intercom on Khan's desk beeped, and he pressed the button. "Yes, Mrs. Snarly?"

"Mr. Covington from Miniversal is on his way up, Mr. Khan," Mrs. Snarly said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Snarly," Khan said, and terminated the call. He turned to Douglas once more. "Take it or leave it, Benson."

Douglas looked down at his feet. He was desperate, but he wasn't that desperate, was he? Walters had said he could get him a job elsewhere, but Douglas wasn't so sure. "I, uh," he stammered, then sighed deeply. "I'll take it."

Khan smiled slightly. "Very good, Benson," he said, "report for work at 6:00 sharp tomorrow morning. Now, if there is nothing further, I have my appointment with Mr. Covington from Miniversal."

Douglas nodded, looked nervously at Garth and Gus, then scampered towards the elevator doors where Walters was waiting. The skinny panther smiled, and was about to turn and press the button when the doors opened and a tall, rakishly handsome jaguar with an atrocious toupee stepped out, holding a briefcase. Covington, obviously.

He glared at Douglas and Walters, the crossed the office to Khan's desk. "Good morning, Mr. Khan," he said, looking at Garth and Gus even more nervously than Douglas had.

Douglas and Walters got into the elevator, but Douglas felt uneasy. Something about that seconds-long glare Covington had given him made him think there was something wrong about him. Maybe it was the toupee. Walters was talking, but Douglas wasn't really paying attention.

The panther pushed the button for the lobby, and just as the elevator doors began to close Douglas saw Covington put his briefcase on Khan's desk and open it, taking a revolver from within. Khan's view of this was obscured by the top half of the open briefcase, and Garth and Gus were already heading for their hiding place in the plants again, so their backs were to Covington and they did not see the gun either.

"Mr. Khan," Covington was saying as he removed the gun, "on behalf of the Miniversal Corporation and Mr. Sulton, I would like you to accept this..."

Khan raised an eyebrow, clearly suspicious, but unaware of just how close he was to death. Douglas' arm shot out and prevented the elevator doors from closing, and they automatically slid back open briefly, the small tabby cat rushing out of the elevator and back into the office before the doors closed again, preventing Walters from following.

"Mr. Khan!" Douglas yelled. "Look out! He's got a gun!"

Covington's and Khan's eyes widened at the exact same moment, Khan's because he realizes Covington was about to make an attempt on his life, and Covington for obvious reasons. The jaguar fired the pistol through the briefcase, but because Khan knew the shot was coming he was able to quickly dive out of the way. The bullet went through the back of his chair, shattering the window behind it.

Now Covington spun and aimed the revolver at Douglas who was running towards him. Seeing this, Douglas yelped and skidded to a halt. But before Covington could pull the trigger he was tackled by Garth and Gus. The gun went flying from the would-be assassin's hands, and his toupee also flew off his head and landed amidst Khan's ravenous venus flytraps, who quickly devoured the awful hairpiece. The bald jaguar ended up pinned to the floor beneath the much bigger panther and tiger.

"Blast!" he yelled, more upset over the loss of his toupee than the fact he was caught and going to jail. "Mother said I should have been a plumber..."

Khan emerged from behind his desk, calmly adjusting his tie and suit lapels. He frowned as he examined the bullet hole in the chair and the window behind it. To Covington he said, "I applaud your bravery, sir, but you are a very poor assassin."

He then looked over at Douglas, and seemed about to say something before the elevator doors opened once more and Walters rushed in followed by five uniformed security guards, all with guns drawn. Garth and Gus got off of Covington, but only so the guards could haul him to his feet and place him in handcuffs. He was seething with rage.

"The chair cost approximately $980, and I expect you to pay every cent for it to be reupholstered in addition to serving your time in prison, Mr. Covington, as well as for the repairs to my window. Take him away." Khan waved his hand and the guards dragged Covington from the office.

"Are you all right, Mr. Khan?" Walters asked, concerned.

"Of course," Khan replied, then looked at Douglas, "thanks to young Benson. You saved my life, lad."

"I did?" Douglas stammered. He knew about the rumors that if you saved Shere Khan's life you could have anything you asked for, and he could hardly believe this was happening.

Khan waited until the security guards were already in the elevator with Covington and the doors closed, then nodded to Garth and Gus, who also departed, going back into the plants where they would remain until their boss called on them again. Only Walters remained with Khan and Douglas.

Ignoring the panther, Khan said to Douglas, "This must never leave this office, Benson. You have saved me from a pathetic but admittedly dangerous attempt on my life by an emissary of one of my greatest adversaries. You may have whatever you like, simply name it."

Douglas was speechless. But then he smiled. He knew exactly what to ask for. Finally, Douglas "Dougie" Benson's luck had turned around. He was back, and he intended to stay.