Cookie sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing the cast which was protecting his broken wrist. He didn't even notice it was broken as he was pounding on that cog. Looking around the rest of the barracks, it was mostly empty aside from a few other injured Toons who were resting. Raindrop was still in the hospital and he was here. The immense guilt did not escape him. If he had not ran off so bull-headed then they probably would have been okay. Raindrop wouldn't have lost his legs, and they possibly could have rescued Mindy without her losing her arms. Mindy had already been sent home, as she would be unable to continue fighting. Cookie had looked for her to apologize, but was unable to find her. He was unsure if she'd even want to see him. He had went to visit Raindrop the previous week, but he was unconscious and the doctors told him it could be a week or so. Lowering himself off the hard mattress, he gently placed his feet on the ground. He shuttered, remembering that Raindrop would never be able to do the same. Grabbing his backpack, he began stuffing as many gags as he could. Although his wrist was broken, his throwing arm was still in good shape. He could not rest knowing that the cogs were still out there, hurting and torturing other Toons.
As he snuck his way through the makeshift home base, plans began to erupt from his mind. He was going to barge into that factory, squirt guns blazing, and avenge his friends. He had managed to find a box of wedding cakes and had pinched a few more than he was allotted to have on him at once. It was for a good cause after all, they would understand. Opening the large flap which composed the front door, he looked up at the still dark, gray skies of Cog Nation. Around him there were small groups of Toons around campfires, some were setting up smaller camps, the groaning and moaning of injured Toons screamed out from the infirmary. Plugging his ears with his hands, he quickly strolled through the crowds, doing his best to avoid any suspicion. As Toons became more sparing, he began to pick up his pace. They were still on the outskirts of the Cog's homeland and it was a few miles back to the factory that they had infiltrated before. Unfortunately for Cookie, he did not know how to drive so he was going to have to walk. He would also have to stay off the main path to ensure that nobody, cog or Toon, saw him. This was his mission and he was going to do it alone. He couldn't risk any other lives. Not again.
After about thirty minutes of walking, he finally encountered a large hill. Pulling himself up slowly, he exhaustively reached the top. Laying down, he listened to the silence as he stared up at the smoggy skies. The bravado that he was feeling earlier had already dissipated and changed to fear. The realization of what he was doing finally hit him. But how could he face Raindrop or his fellow Rangers after what he had done without redeeming himself? It would be disrespectful. Besides, if he went back now he was sure to be spotted and reprimanded for going off on his own again. Sighing, he took off his backpack and placed it behind his head, giving it a rest from the hard, dirt ground. As his eyes began to droop, he heard the sound of somebody approaching. Had a cog noticed him? He was isolated on a large hill, it would be an easy spot for a flying cog to see. Jumping up, he ripped into his pack and pulled out a birthday cake, silently scanning in a circle. Shortly after a white glove gripped onto the edge, followed by a pair of long red ears. Winding up his arm, he waited for the figure to come into view. Just before he launched his projectile, the full view of a familiar face pulled itself onto the hill. It was Officer Clara! Running over he helped pull her up, tumbling backwards onto the hard ground. Nervously he shouted out as he got up on his feet. "Officer Clara, what are you doing here?"
"Following you, of course." dusting herself off, the red rabbit placed her backpack down on the ground and took a seat nearby. "You know, footprints are pretty easy to follow out here, Ranger."
"But how did you know I left?" anxiously breathing at the sight of his superior officer.
Clara patted the ground, watching as Cookie took a seat beside her. "Well, I was leaving the infirmary and I noticed you walk by. I decided to follow you and see where you were going." stopping she pulled out a cupcake from her pack and handed it to the young dog. "It's dangerous out here, especially by yourself. What were you thinking?" Cookie thought for a few moments. If he told the truth, he would likely get in trouble, but lying could be even worse. Before he could respond, the older rabbit placed her hand on his shoulder. "This is about Raindrop, isn't it."
"It's all my fault that this happened to him!" Cookie began to sob at the mention of his friend. "If I hadn't ran off alone, he would probably be okay. Now his whole life is ruined because I'm a stupid idiot!" burying his face in his hands he prepared to be yelled at. Instead a gentle, soothing voice culled him.
"Ranger. Did you know I have two sons myself?" reaching into her pocket she pulled out a picture. It was herself, a purple duck, and two younger light blue ducks. "Allen and Romeo. They're a lot younger in this picture. They're only a few years older than you now." she handed the picture to Cookie who wiped his tears away to gaze at the picture. "Ranger, those boys have been making me tear my hair out since they were born. They've made so many mistakes that I couldn't begin to list them. But it's important to remember that we all make mistakes." holding Cookie to her, she felt him begin to sob. Her heart began to sink."Do you think Raindrop would want you to run off alone and get hurt.. or worse?"
Clara rubbed his back as he hiccuped, doing his best to respond. "No ma'am. I don't think he would."
"Well neither do we. We all want revenge on these stupid cogs, and we're going to get it. Together. I promise." Even though they were in a battlefield, this boy was still just a child. He reminded her of her own sons. Cocky and confident, but sweet and caring. His mother was probably just as worried about him as she was about her boys. It killed her that she could not speak with them, but they did not get reception here. The pair watched the moon from the hill in silence, before eventually gathering their things and heading back to camp.
Pickle tossed her whisper device up and down. She knew that she was unable to send messages here, but she always held out hope a message would be able to come through if it was held up high enough. Laying in her bed, she was surprised at how boring things were here. They had been here for two weeks and in that time they had not seen a single cog. They were still waiting to hear back from the Long Ears, a group of expert rabbit intelligence agents who gathered information and would report back. They were originally going to offer backup assistance to a unit who had infiltrated a large factory, but logistics issues had forced them to send a different group. Checking her messages after every few tosses, she sighed. She hadn't heard from her brother since before she left and it was killing her. This was the first time they had been apart for more than a few days, and he was taking care of Miko and Hula all alone. While she loved Bloople, she could never quite trust him. Especially on Pancake Day. She'd be surprised if he didn't accidentally make a waffle instead. Most of her unit had gone out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a barbecue, but she wasn't hungry. She felt bad that she hardly spent any time with her comrades. She hardly remembered any of their names. Well, if she was going to be here she figured she might as well make the best of it.
Outside, a group of Toons stood around a makeshift grill, placing pineapples and veggie burgers. Salivating, a short brown mouse called out order requests to the small unit. "Anyone else going to want a hot dog beside me? I don't want to be the only one!" using an Aoogah like a spatula, he whistled to himself. The smoke from the fire easily mixed into with the smog, disguising their location and ensuring no cogs would notice them. Placing the lid down he turned around in time to see a purple crocodile approaching. "Ranger Pickle! Glad you could make it out here with the rest of us! Want me to throw on a burger or something for you?"
"That's okay, Captain Brownie. I'm not hungry." sitting down in an empty chair, she watched two younger Toons throwing a baseball back and forth. "Kind of weird being one of the older ones here." Pickle rubbed her neck as she watched the mouse scowl.
"Ranger, I'm old enough to be your father. No need to remind me of that. C'mon, you have to eat something. At least take a slice of this pineapple, it's freshly delivered straight from Donald's Dreamland." tapping the crocodile with his makeshift spatula, he laughed jollily as his plump belly jiggled.
The baseball rolled over and stopped near Pickle's foot. Standing up, she tossed the ball back to the excited Toons who ran back and continued their game. "Yeah. You know what I will take you on that offer, actually." shortly after, the remaining seven Toons came over and sat around a table they had made by pushing several crates of gags together. The group joked over a delicious meal, for the first time in several weeks Pickle felt at ease. After everybody had finished eating, the group had walked back inside to get some rest. Pickle and Brownie, along with a younger crocodile named Dundy was practicing his throwing with the baseball, taking aim at imaginary cogs.
"Ranger, you have a family right?" Brownie questioned his subordinate, doing his best to make casual conversation. Pickle winced at the question.
"Well I have a younger brother, and two young nieces who are absolutely adorable." she whispered, now worrying about them again.
Brownie placed his hand on her arm and bit his lip. "Well Ranger, how would it feel to go see them?"
Pickle jumped up with excitement. "Sir, what do you mean?"
"I didn't want to tell the rest of the unit yet, but it sounds like we are going to be scaling back efforts here while we try to get more information and so Toon HQ has told us we will get to take a week for some R&R. Keep it on the down-low, nothing is set in stone yet but it sounds like we would be leaving in a few days if so." Brownie smiled as Pickle did a little jig. As the two talked about their plans for when they came back, they heard it. The sound of whirring overhead. It was a familiar sound to the two experienced Toons. Standing up, Brownie nodded at Pickle and ran off into the tent to awaken the remaining members. Looking around nervously, Pickle looked up at the empty sky. Maybe they were imagining things? She couldn't risk it though. Remembering that Dundy was still out somewhere, she knew she had to go find him.
Taking off running, she began to call out his name. "Dundy! Dundy!" she began to panic, how far away could he have gone? She couldn't risk going back though to get the others, because if there was trouble he'd be all alone. Tripping over a small rock, Pickle caught herself, As she pulled herself up, she saw it. A swarm of Micromanagers and Backstabbers were circling around something. Standing up she started sprinting over, launching cream pies as quickly as she could. Unfortunately for her she was never the greatest fighter. She was more of a supporter, doing Toonups. After managing a few hits, the cogs had noticed her and a gap had opened up where Dundy became visible. Lying on the ground, the cogs towered over him. He began to scream out for help as soon as he noticed Pickle. Something had overtaken her, seeing this young, defenseless Toon was too much for her to handle. She pulled out her last cream pie and launched it, destroying a Micromanager who was pulling out to attack.
Using the opportunity, Dundy stood up and whipped out a seltzer bottle, quickly spraying several cogs and dipping out beneath the outstretched arms of a Backstabber. Running towards the older crocodile, he did not see the Backstabber throw the jury notice, hitting him and causing him to roll his ankle as he tripped forward. Lunging over in pain, he reached out and grabbed his leg and began to scream. Pickle desperately grabbed around for any other gags, before quickly realizing that she had left most of them back in camp. Taking large strides, she quickly gathered herself and made it over to the injured Toon. Scooping him up into her arms, she darted off towards the safety of the group with the remaining cogs right behind her. Dundy laid out several trapdoors and shook his fist as the first few fell victim, falling to their deaths. The darkness made the traps even more effective. As they ran, the remainder of the group came into view, smiling at the sight Pickle found a new burst of energy.
"Cogs behind us! Cogs behind us!" Pickle, exhausted as her arms and legs felt like jelly carrying the Toon, started to slow down. There was now only one single Micromanager behind them as the remainder of the cogs had been picked off by long distance throwers. As she was approaching the group, a pie went overhead smacking the short metal cog and cheers burst out. In one last motion, the Micromanager tossed out a small, baseball looking object which landed right in front of Pickle. Unable to stop herself, she stepped on the surprisingly soft ball, bursting it open with white liquid. Searing pain rushed through her foot as she suddenly lost balance and fell forward, causing the two crocodiles to tumble. Looking down in shock, Pickle watched as her leg began to melt away. Screaming, two Toons came and grabbed Dundy, while Brownie and a pink cat rushed over.
"We need a medic over here!" Brownie screamed out. Clenching Pickle's hand, he watched as the Toon cried out in agony. He knew that it was too late for her as the rest of her leg and her torso began to slowly disappear. "You're going to be okay, Ranger. Just hold on a bit longer!" he cried out through gritted teeth.
The world around Pickle began to fade. Everything became blurry as the pain eventually stopped. A blinding white light seemed to come out of nowhere. Tilting her head towards her Captain, she smiled. "Please.. tell my family that I loved them.. and that I'm sorry." Brownie felt as Pickle's arm slowly disappeared, causing his hands to drop to the ground as the crocodile sadly accepted her fate. "Tell them.. I.. loved.. them." were the last words that Pickle would utter, as the liquid began to eat away at her neck and eventually she was gone. The rest of the Toons gathered in horror at what had just happened. Some screamed in horror. Some cried. the rest just stood in shock. The Toon that had just minutes ago been so lively was now gone.