Carreract: So Madness thought it would be a fantastic idea to let me loose and make a WHOLE chapter by myself. So if you hate this chapter...it's her fault. I'm innocent I tell ya! Hope you enjoy it though.

Chapter 5

Chills

Wendy was nearly at a full sprint as she entered Donald's Docks. She did not have a way to tell what time it was but judging by the smiling sun gazing across Toontown, it was probably close to 10:30 already and she still had to cross two playgrounds just to get to Lawbot HQ. Annoyingly as she got closer and closer to the playground center of this area the fog got thicker and thicker, throwing off her ability to tell time since the sun was now completely blocked; making it look like it was in every direction now.

"Blasted docks always needing to make things so hard to see," Wendy muttered in frustration.

This wouldn't be the first time the fog got on her nerves. Last time she and Frank tried to get to the Golf Courses it was such a foggy day that they got lost and had to cancel that day of her limited fun. Despite this she ran on, almost slamming into several trash cans and mailboxes with the pelican on it.

She also noted several buildings had been taken over by Cogs and transformed into a much more organized looking cog building. She wondered what those actually did since no Toon seemed to truly know their purpose. She shook her head to chase away the thought. She was getting distracted. She needed to get to work quickly.

Eventually she made it to the ocean themed playground and wasted no time running into the next tunnel; leading directly to The Brrrgh. Once she crossed the threshold to the winter wonderland, the fog suddenly lifted and she got smacked right in the face with an icy breeze.

"Ahh! S-So c-cold!" She shivered; her teeth chattering from the sudden icy assault.

Had it gotten colder so soon? Of course it was The Brrrgh, but this was ridiculous. Then she realized why she was colder than she should be. She had forgotten to change into warmer clothes. Oh boy, this just got a lot harder for her.

To combat the cold, she pulled her arms back through her sleeves and kept them completely in her shirt. She then resumed her trip, though much slower as she could no longer truly run. More realistically she was only speed walking now. Despite the inconvenience she was strangely happy about the cold. It would keep other Toons out of the streets, which meant there would be no one around to speculate about what such a small low Laff mouse was doing in The Brrrgh.

Wendy soon reached the playground and, noticing she was turning blue in the nose, decided she had to warm up some and headed into the Gag Shop before realizing that there were surely clerks inside. Instead of risking it she opted to head down Polar Place to search for one of the vacant buildings. She looked around to make sure that no one would see her, and seeing as there was no one there she ran through the tunnel.

The howling wind forced the door open as soon as she pulled on the handle, dragging her inside. She was rather grateful that she had thought to go for a vacant building. This was far too embarrassing for anyone to see, but with the door open inwards completely, the cold was combating the warmth of the interior, and winning. Wendy had to act fast and pushed with her entire body on the door in an effort to push out the wind. With great effort, and a lot of grunting and whining from Wendy, she finally heard the pleasing click of the door fully closing into the door frame, and she slid down onto her bottom and sighed; welcoming warmth to help her defrost some.

Soon enough, she looked around trying to find a clock or something to tell the time, but it seemed like no Toons cared about the time. They came to their shops when it was sunny and went to bed when it was dark..if they decided they wanted to work that day anyways. Toons were always so unreliable for even opening their shops. Wendy recalled many times when a shop she needed was closed on the sunniest day of summer. Granted the shopkeeper wanted to play in the sun too probably, but still, she really wanted a new dress and he was gone.

Wendy laughed at that memory. It happened to be a very very hot day, but her white fur and large ears helped her stay cool rather easily. While everyone else needed a fan, a large shade-providing hat, or a bucket of water to stay cool, Wendy was able to frolic and play without concern. Even poor Frank was sticking his tongue out trying to cool down. Now that was a funny sight for her, mostly because seeing his mouth open was very rare so that when he first did it around her, she couldn't help but laugh. It took every fiber of her being to convince him that she was laughing at something else. She was still sure that he knew that it was seeing his tongue out since she wasn't too good at lying.

That's when it occurred to her. Did he believe her about where she was? She had lied to her no-good mother, but Frank...

Frank was too smart, and too pure to be fooled so easy. It did pain her that she lied to him. Part of her felt like he would figure it out soon, but this was too risky even for him to know. What if he didn't want to be friends anymore because of it? She couldn't bear losing Frank...especially over a silly job that was completely against what she was taught.

Wait! Her job! She was going to be late, and she needed to go now! Wendy jumped to her feet and swung open the door. The awaiting cold barged in at the chance and shoved her right back onto her behind. She squeaked in surprise and covered her mouth. She was startled too easily. She needed to work on that eventually.

"I will get back at you cold!" She shouted at the temperature, as if it would react to her shouting.

She didn't bother closing the door. It was odd for her to think this way, but she didn't much care if a Cog invaded this building. It wasn't occupied anyway. Maybe her helping with this takeover would look good on her...what was it called? Restmee? Razzimay? Oh, right. Her resumé.

She pulled out the map showing how to get to the HQ and followed it as fast as she could without losing track. She dodged around Cogs, trying hard to avoid their eyesight. Even if the metal eagle was okay with her, she was doubtful any other Cog was, but she had a schedule to keep. She needed to prove her reliability and now that she had a story to give her mother, she assumed she was home free to come whenever the Cog asked for her presence.

Eventually she found the tunnel leading into the Lawbot HQ. Coming through the other side, she walked through the corridor and into the courtyard only to stop and let her jaw drop. Last time she was too busy to pay attention to this area since a Cog was chasing her, but now that she was 'somewhat' allowed to be there, she could only now take in just how massive, and beautifully constructed, this HQ was. The floors were all extremely polished and clean marble, making it basically a mirror for the sky. No Cogs walking around left foot prints. They must have been extremely tidy to have nothing on their shoes. This rather pleased Wendy. While the Brrrgh and all its snow was beautiful, walking through it left foot prints and ruined its perfection across the land, but this marble flooring was like snow, but unspoiled by being stepped on.

She became self-conscious due to these observations, quickly remembering she was barefoot. She was surely going to leave prints across the ground, but there was nothing she could do.

A giant white marble statue of someone, she assumed it was a Cog, wearing a robe and blindfold stood quite far away from where she was standing, but it was so big that it looked much closer. The two main buildings were supported by perfect white columns in a perfectly organized manner. Everything was just so...precise.

Reading her map, she needed to go to the building on the right, so she ran over to it and jumped up two steps at a time until she got to the top...only to see another small flight of stairs. She panted, out of breath, but after a minute to recover she sprinted up those last steps and looked at the huge door before her. She pulled on it, and to her amazement, the massive door opened with very little effort.

"Wow...what kind of door that big can be easier to open than even Mother's door?" Wendy pondered as she proceeded inside towards the four elevators on the other side of the room.

She then fumbled for her key pass, unsure when she was meant to use it but hopefully any Cogs that found her would let her continue towards her new boss.

Sure enough, several Cogs did approach her at once. She gulped and one who had a pointy head and a purple color came right up to her. She had seen this type of Cog last time she was in Lawbot HQ, but she didn't know anything about them.

"You! You're not meant to be here," The purple Cog shouted, "It's time to depress you!"

Somewhat panicking, she quickly fished in her pockets as fast as she could; trying desperately to find her pass. The Cog, used to normal Toon battles, waited for her to throw her gag. He was expecting her to use Throw and he had every intention to dodge it.

However, to his surprise she pulled out a plastic card and held it up for his inspection.

"I, uh...I am supposed to be here actually. This was supposed to get me past you...I think," she squeaked out; a bit startled by how much more aggressive this Cog was.

"Give me that, Toon," The Cog demanded and swiped the card right out of her hands, studying it closely.

Wendy held her breath and waited for his decision.

"This...is legitimate. Where did you get this, Toon?" The Cog demanded to know.

The Lawbot was doubtful that a Cog had actually given an access card to a Toon. Surely a Lawbot wouldn't risk his station and functionality by trusting a Toon. A Sellbot might be that reckless, but a Lawbot? This was legal procedure, not business.

"Uh...an eagle Cog gave it to me so I can work for him," Wendy replied, hoping that would be enough to convince him to let her go, "He wanted me here at 11 AM...sharp...whatever that means."

Weirdly the Cog looked at his wrist for a moment. There was a leather bracelet with a clock attached to it. Wendy had never seen one of those before, and didn't know what it was. It was quite pretty regardless.

"Ah yes, and it is almost 11 now, Toon."

She let out her breath in relief. She wasn't late after all. However he spoke up again, this time a little more seriously.

"Now, who was the Cog that hired you? I am not going to let you just wander into a Cog DA Office unattended so it's best you tell me now."

Wendy's eyes widened. The Cog had never told her his name. How could she handle this? She wanted to lie again, but a thought occurred to her that maybe she should be honest.

"Well...I will be honest sir, he never told me who he was. I don't really remember the direction his office was either. I t-think it was the second elevator..." Wendy began to explain as confidently as she could but stuttering anyways.

The Cog, however, smiled at her in a strangely creepy fashion.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Follow me," He said with a smirk.

The Cog turned on one foot and marched over to the elevator. As formal as this looked, he was also rather slow so Wendy practically had to shuffle to keep from walking in front of him.

The two entered the elevator and the doors closed with a soft thud. The box they were in then lifted them up into the building's interior, making Wendy gulp. There was no going back now. Sweat was beginning to condense on her forehead which she wiped off instinctively. The Cog took no notice of her nervousness...or didn't care to bring it up.

Luckily, there was a ding right as their elevator stopped on a floor and opened its doors up to the hallway.

"This way," The Cog stated flatly and walked out down the hallway.

She followed timidly until finally they arrived at an office door, which the Cog then abruptly opened. Wendy recollected her confidence as the door opened; revealing a familiar eagle looking up from his papers. He looked slightly annoyed by the interruption. Wendy gulped and tugged at her collar, afraid the Cog might take back their agreement and get her in trouble. For the briefest of moments, Wendy wondered if she was making a mistake.

Kevin was again working on his papers by himself, but he was efficient enough to keep up with his task's demands. His morning was about as rough as he could ever recall since he had no coffee remaining at his apartment, meaning he actually had to spend his hard earned cogbucks to buy some at a coffee shop on his way to the DA Office for probably 4 times as much as it would cost if he just bought coffee grounds and made it himself.

Then as soon as he sat down to work, that blasted Micromanager had called him directly to demand that he hurry up the case and let her in on it more so the work could go faster. With as much restraint as he could possibly get from his processor, he had to explain to her for a solid 30 minutes before she finally relented and let him resume his work. He definitely played a Power Trip on her, referencing that the more time this took on his end, the more she would have to pay more for his services. Normally he left that in the fine print of his contracts but he was so over her, he had directly brought it up to her to get her to drop it.

After those wonderful events, he got to find out that he had run out of ink for his pen too. So once more, he had to stop working and go to the supply section of the DA Office to get a new box of pens and walk all the way back to his office...5 floors above the supply office. Even with an elevator it took forever, as there was only 2 on any floor and with a hundred floors on each section of the DA Office that meant every elevator was either in use on a different floor or too crowded for him to get his bulky metal hide squeezed in properly.

But at last Kevin had the chance to finally get some work done. He sat down at his desk and begin to write for a few seconds. He then stopped and looked at his door, expecting somebody to interrupt him by now. However, the door remained closed, so he looked down at the phone. It was clear as well. This was his chance! So, he set to work on his documents as fast as he could. Very soon he slipped into his rhythm, writing out his case in time for the smaller courts that handled such lawsuits to deal with them.

Of course, as soon as he was fully concentrated, a Backstabber barged right into his office without even knocking. Kevin closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed his upper beak in frustration before looking that Cog right in the eyes.

"What in Cogtown do you want?" Kevin almost shouted right at the inferior Cog.

"Easy LE, this Toon here claimed you gave her a pass to get back in. Is this true?" The Backstabber inquired, not at all intimidated by an evil eye.

Kevin eased up. A Toon? Oh...right. He did hire a Toon, and told her to be in his office 11:00 AM. He glanced up at the clock, noting that it said 11:04. She was late by an entire 4 minutes. Well, he did need to give some slack, he supposed. She was a Toon, and Toons were not known for being reliable in the slightest, so perhaps a 4 minute delay was rather impressive for one of her species'...carelessness.

"Oh...yes. I did do that," Kevin replied, trying his best not to sound awkward, "Let her stay, you may leave."

The Backstabber nodded obediently and turned on his heel, leaving the two alone as he closed the door behind him.

"Well then, Miss Jinxsprinkles," The Legal Eagle said the second the Backstabber had left them. Wendy looked up at him and bit her lower lip anxiously, "Let's get started shall we?"