Chapter 14: Safe for now

It was sunset in Tazmania. Many were on their way home from work or closing up shop for the night. However, it was undeniable that the sunset was one of the most pretty to have been seen in Tazmania for a while. A bright orangeish redish color, followed by indigo. It was truly a sight to see.

Drew went up to a house and knocked on a door. The door opened up and it was Drew's lawyer, Mr. Wellington. "Drew?" he said in surprise. "I cannot describe how happy I am to see you," said Drew who was incredibly exhausted. Mr Wellington knew something was very wrong, as Drew didn't normally act like this. "What's wrong?" he asked. "I need somewhere to stay since I have no money and no home," Drew explained, "Something happened that I wish had never happened." "Oh?" said Mr. Wellington, assisting Drew into his home, "Come in, let's talk about it and see what we can do." He shut the door behind him.

Meanwhile at Acme, Townly, Bull, Axl, and Francis were with Dingo within a conference room. "How could you let them escape?!" asked Dingo. Townly shrugged in response. Francis and Bull however, wanted to make their opinions clear. "This is ridiculous!" said Francis, "We already had our Tasmanian Devils to begin with and those other 3 were far away from us and probably had no intentions on coming back! We should have stayed out of it!" This pissed off Dingo more than he already was. "Excuse me? I helped you with getting them mushroom head!" he fired. "Let's be real here Dingo," said a frustrated Bull, "They could be anywhere by now! We've only made matters worse on ourselves!" Axl had part of his face covered, but under his breath, he sorta laughed and cracked a bit of a smile. "I don't think you understand the severity of the situation!" replied Dingo. "Relax Mr. Chairman, we'll be fine," Townly said, like there was nothing to worry about, "Like Francis said, they already got their Tasmanian Devils. And the other 3? Probably will never come back to Tazmania. Plus, I doubt anyone is gonna believe in anything they say about us. Sure, Acme has had some problems in previous years, but that was all in the past! Case and point, sometimes there are just some things in life that we have to let go of."

There was a long uncomfortable silence. Dingo didn't say or do anything for at least 15 seconds. Suddenly, he threw his chair and began throwing many other empty chairs that were within the conference room. Some of which Dingo punched and thrown around hard enough to break. He stared down at the other 4 with an unmistakably furious look. Bull, Axl, and Francis looked pretty uncomfortable, while Townly looked confused. Dingo then exited the conference room and destroyed whatever he could find in the hallway. Going after mostly plants in pots and pictures in frames. Spies who witnessed the chairman in rage, quickly ran into their rooms.

Dingo stopped what he was doing as he took deep breaths. "Okay, maybe I was wrong," said Townly, "Do you want us to go back?" "No, you're right," said Dingo as he calmed down, "I think we don't need to worry about them anymore. I was HONESTLY just worried at that time." "Yeah, no shit," Bull thought to himself. "You don't say?" Francis said to himself. After some more deep breaths, Dingo spoke again. "You guys can go home now," he said, "I'll talk with you guys again soon."

Bull, Axl, and Francis exited Acme. Bull went up to Francis as Axl was ahead of them. "You know Francis, you and I make a pretty good team I think," he said. "Well, thanks I suppose?" replied Francis. Bull felt like he wasn't being clear enough. "There's some reasonings as to why I'm saying this," he explained, "One, because I genuinely mean it Francis. And two, between you and I, I think Axl is up to something. He's been acting very weird and has been doing worse than ever. Not to mention, it looked like he was talking to those Tasmanian Devils about something while you were being attacked." Francis took some time to think about it. He did remember Taz not going after Axl and Axl overall seemed unharmed. "Perhaps that could be the case," said Francis, "After all, that devil never went to attack that gator! Instead, he went straight to me!" At this point, Bull had (somewhat) figured out Axl's true intentions.

"Hey Bull! Are you coming?" asked Axl who was feet ahead and stopped. "I'm good Axl! You can head home without me!" Bull replied. Axl continued forward, not knowing what Bull or Francis were talking about. Little did he know that the two of them were gonna be plotting against him. "What do you suggest we do if he is indeed a threat?" asked Francis. "Considering all of what's happened and what we know from him so far, let's meet up tomorrow at that festival being held at Hotel Tazmania and plan it out," replied Bull, "For all we know Francis, he could free our Tasmanian Devils!" Bull and Francis walked their separate ways home, leaving a lot of unpredictability around what would be happening the following day.

Back in California, Taz and his siblings were heading to bed after a long day. It had been undoubtedly exhausting, especially when Acme was chasing them down. In the end though, their troubles would be miles away. Despite the Tasmanian Devil's parents gone as well as Dog, Taz believed that they would do well in California. He was optimistic about the new life, but of course a little too optimistic for his own good.

"You know guys, I wonder if mom and dad are still at our old home," said Jake. "After what Axl said, I wouldn't doubt it," replied Molly, "Or at least that's what he made it sound like. But I don't know for sure Jake." Taz didn't pay attention to what Jake or Molly were saying, he was too busy trying to think of what they were gonna do tomorrow. "Taz like new life," he said to himself. Taz didn't believe or know that his parents were still in Tazmania. The possibility of that felt impossible to him. Regardless though, he and his siblings called it a night, as they were gonna be doing much more tomorrow.

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 14 published 9/18/22)