Daron fixed his bow tie in the small mirror in his cell and checked his teeth. This was the first time that Benny and Nightmare were going to be visiting him since had gotten here. The last few days since his chance encounter with Chase had been tense, as he had to constantly look over his shoulder, but so far nothing had come of it. He wanted to look his best for the big day. While he could do nothing about his gray whiskers or orange jumpsuit, he could at least try to add some other color to himself. Making one last look over, he smiled to himself. Nothing could ruin today! Sitting on his bed, he waited as a pair of guards came and opened his cell, motioning him to follow him. "Come on McCavity, you've got visitors." a tall purple crocodile grunted.
"Yes sir!" Daron exclaimed, hopping off of his bed and following the crocodile and another guard, a short, chubby brown dog. It kind of reminded him of a chubbier version of his brother Damien. Thinking about it, he couldn't remember the last time he spoke to Damien, or any of his family. They hadn't come to his wedding, and he made no effort to see them. As the trio continued down a long hallway of empty cells, Daron began to feel uncomfortable. Weren't the visiting stations the other way? Did Nightmare get a special meeting room due to her position? Daron decided to ask. "Um, guards? Are we going the right way? I thought the visitation center was out through the cafeteria?"
Stopping in his place, the brown dog glared at Daron, who stepped back anxiously. "Look at that, Daniel. Anti-Toon thinks he knows his way around here better than we do."
"Yea, best keep your mouth shut, cat. I don't wanna hear a word from your mouth except for please and thank you." Daron nodded and the trio continued. The further they went, the darker and drabber that it got. They were no longer in an area with cells, now they were in some sort of storage area? "Um, guys where are we?" Daron was interrupted as the dog spun around and hit him with a baton in the stomach. Daron barreled over in pain and clenched his aching stomach. Gasping for breath he looked up in time to see the crocodile kick his foot out and nail him right in the face. Flying backwards onto his rear, Daron's eyes widened with confusion, unable to speak.
"Little punk." the dog scoffed as Daron tried to re-group. Watching as he attempted to stand up, he walked over and whacked Daron on the back with his baton, dropping him to the ground. "Oh look, it's not so easy fighting back when you're alone, is it?" spitting towards the black cat he stepped back.
Daniel kneeled down and grabbed Daron's chin, forcing his face upwards to look at him. "Do you recognize me, Anti-Toon?"
"No.. No sir?" Daron managed to sputter out, still catching his breath from the last few hits. he was shortly dropped as the crocodile removed his hand and stood up.
"Yeah, you don't. But you do know my sister. You remember Jelly? Purple dog?" the brown dog growled. Daron closed his eyes, running the name through his memory bank
"I've never heard of her, sir." coughing up a small bit of blood, he pushed his arms into the ground, himself up he watched as the pair laugh.
The brown dog narrowed his eyes. "You scum. Well about a year ago my sister was attacked by an Anti-Toon. She said it was a cat named Daron. Now I don't know a whole lot of cats named Daron running around! Do you, Daniel?"
"Can't say I have, Peanutbutter." the crocodile responded smugly.
"Well that settles it then right? Anyways, she has Post-Toon-Stress-Disorder now! Doesn't trust anyone! We can't get her to leave the house. She was only nineteen you cowardly scum!" Peanutbutter swung his baton, Daron ducked just in time to avoid it hitting his head.
Jumping backwards, he watched as this just further infuriated the pair. "Listen. I haven't done anything wrong! I left the Anti-Toons over twenty years ago!" dodging another swing from the furious Toon, he was slowly inching towards a wall. The pair of corrupt guards started to close in around him. Feeling his heart beating with adrenaline and fear. These two weren't messing around. They weren't planning on sending him a message, they were out for blood. They said this happened a year ago? That wasn't possible. He hadn't greened a Toon in well over twenty years. What was going on here? Was there another Anti-Toon named Daron... or? Unable to continue thought he saw a small gap and ducked below the pair. With nothing but room to run, Daron sprinted as fast as his old legs could carry him. Unfortunately for him, the two guards were much younger and spryer. Now if Daron was in his prime he could easily escape these fat scrubs. Unfortunately that was not the case as Daniel leapt and landed on Daron's back, tackling him to the ground.
"You're dead McCavity!" Daniel turned Daron around and began whaling him in the face, as the black cat tried to throw his arms in front. The cowardly brown dog joined in, kicking Daron in the ribs. Daron could feel pain searing through his body. This is worse than when Nate had stabbed him in the eye. Worse than when he went ice skating with Benny and kept falling. He had tried to resist fighting back as it would risk him going to jail even longer, but at this point what choice did he have? It was fight or die at this point. Closing his eyes he imagined one last vision of Benny and Nightmare. This was it. This was for them.
Clenching his fists, Daron let out a scream. Tossing his head forward, he caught Daniel in the nose, feeling the crunch as the guard went flying backwards off of him. "You want an Anti-Toon, well you got it!" he growled. Daniel looked on anxiously, now that his partner was incapacitated. Putting up his fists, he and Daron circled around each other. Daron was not a trained fighter, and while he was tall, this dog was bulky. He couldn't afford to fight fair, although it wasn't like these two intended to either. Stepping backwards he lured the dumb brown dog towards him. Feeling backwards, he kept calm as the two silently waited for their chance to strike. Feeling a large, wooden plank, he clenched it in his hands, holding it behind him, Right before the pair took action, a voice called out over the radio.
"Calling all available personnel. We have a missing prisoner. Black Cat, name is Daron McCavity. Family came for a scheduled appointment but he never showed. May be a flight risk. Please secure the facility!" the small walkie cried out.
Grinning evilly, Daniel acted quicker than Daron could. Grabbing the walkie he hopped back and started yelling. "Calling all available personnel to storage! I found the suspect! We have an incapacitated guard! Toon looks ferocious and may attack!" placing the walkie back in his pocket he smirked smugly. "You're screwed now, buddy!"
Daron felt his legs weakening. There was no way he had any chance of defending himself like this. As far as the rest of security knew, he had tried to flee. Then he's found hiding, with a toon with a broken nose would would vouch against him? At this rate he was never getting out of here alive. Not unless he acted now. Before his brain knew what he was doing, he felt his legs sprinting. There was a door about sixty feet away. He didn't know where it led, but he knew it was far away from here. Tossing the plank backwards, he got a satisfactory smile was Daniel slipped and fell forward on the wood as he gave chase. Reaching the door, he attempted to pull it open with no avail, he was trapped. Gulping he searched around for an exit. Now he could hear heavy footsteps and yelling approaching. Dodging off to his right, he noticed a pile of crates. Reaching them, he attempted to pull them open, but they were sealed. The door behind him burst open and he knew he was indeed, screwed. "Get on your knees, McCavity!" a voice screamed out. Daron fell to his knees and closed his eyes, a tear streaming from his eye.
Cupcake nearly galloped the short distance from her teleportation landing spot and her estate. As the large tree-house came into distance, nothing looked any different. The door was closed, the windows were in place, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong. Bursting through the front door, she watched as Mark flew into the air in shock. She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of her husband, before her eyes drifted to the ground where large destroyed pieces of the floor were flipped up. "Oh my cog, Mark!" she ran over and threw her arms around her husband, rubbing his back and kissing him repeatedly. "Mark, what happened?
Mark spent the next few minutes catching Cupcake up on everything that had happened, watching as her face went from surprise, to shock, to anger, to fear, back to anger and finally relief. "I'm sorry for not explaining myself further. I was a but overwhelmed to be honest. I apologize about the house. I promise I'll get it corrected as soon as possible."
"I don't care about the house Mark! I care that you're okay!" Cupcake was crying. "What a horrible day. Although I can't believe you managed to fight them back.." wiping her eyes, Cupcake grinned slightly. "It's actually kind of hot. The fact that you care that much about me and that you totally kicked their butts!"
Scratching his head, Mark tried to laugh a little. It was certainly unlike him. He was still glad Cupcake had not been here to witness it. He wasn't sure she'd feel the same way if she saw him that way. "So honey. There was one other thing I feel you should know." he spent the next few minutes explaining what Deputy had told him, as Cupcake scowled.
"Well, I guess I appreciate the concern, but I am the Mayor! I don't need a team of security to protect me, I am certainly capable of defending myself. What does that mean anyways? Is someone just going to follow us around all day every day? I don't know Mark.." the pink cat scratched her head frustrated.
"Maybe we should give it some thought sweetheart. I mean, like you said. You're the Mayor. You have a lot of people who don't like you. I mean, what if you were here today? Can we really risk it?" the handsome Telemarketer mused. "Anyways, we can talk about that all tonight. How was your day, hon?"
Wincing at the question, Cupcake thought about her response. If she told Mark the truth, it would just fuel any talk of this "security team" but she couldn't lie to him. Would he even believe her? A shape-shifting cog? Even for the cogs, that was difficult to believe. "Well it wasn't too bad, I guess. We found some of the kidnapped Toons. You won't believe it, but there was another new type of cog. We busted him and there they were. Crazy stuff."
"Cupcake. We've been married for over twenty years. You don't have to hide things from me. Whatever it is, you can tell me." Mark smiled at the pink feline, which easily dismantled her defenses. It was a smile that could melt the Brrrgh. Cupcake fully explained what had happened. From her mission start to end, the encounter with the shape-shifter, her vision of her father, and rescuing the Toons. Waiting as she finished, she nervously waited a response. "Honey.. Wow." mark held his wife to him and softly brushed her fur with his fingers. "It's okay now." she was relieved to not hear him lecture her or bring up security. Instead the two embraced, thankful they had survived to see each other, at least for another day.
Reessess walked through the front door, exhausted. It wasn't often that she got to come home since the invasions started, She had been spending most of her time in camps between Animationville, Silly World, and the Brrrgh. Fortunately due to her young children, she was able to get out of going to cog nation, although she still felt a bit guilty about it when she knew there were other parents over fighting. The familiar scent of tomato sauce filled the air. Wiggle was always an amazing chef, and she looked forward to these homemade meals. But not as much as seeing her family. At the sound of the door opening, two young cats flew off of a fuzzy green couch and ran over to greet her as she made her way inside and kicked her shoes off. Bending down, she scooped up the two young Toons and started kissing their faces. "Just when I thought I was safe from the cogs, there are two little tickle monsters here!" she teased, as the pair giggled and wiggled away from her.
After the two young Toons had broken free, an older pink cat walked out of the kitchen, wearing a comical apron and novelty chef's hat he smiled at the mature black cat. "Hey there beautiful. We weren't expecting you home until tomorrow! Come, come! You look exhausted!" escorting his wife to the couch, he sat her down holding back his excitement. "We were going to save it for your birthday, but the kids were so excited they wanted to give it to you tomorrow! I guess you must have known because you're here early! We know how hard you work, and while there's nothing we could do to show our appreciation, we figured this was the next closest thing!" letting the kids do a makeshift drum-roll, Wiggle walked over the a closet and pull the door open. Reesess's eyes lit up. Inside was the brand new Massaginator-3000. The luxury chair was able to massage both the back and had come with a foot massaging module. "Oh and of course Criquet and Giggle made you something as well!"
"Look mom, we drew this for you!" Giggle purred out proudly. Each of the two pulled out a small hand-drawn picture of Reessess. One showed Reessess standing on a pile of cogs, or what appeared to be cogs, and giving the Toon Salute. The other one had the entire family holdings hands and standing in front of a large tree.
"Aw, you guys. You didn't need to do this!" Reessess squealed in excitement. "Oh my gosh, look at these! Are you sure you guys drew these? These had to have been done by expert artists, right?" she smiled as the two Toons blushed with excitement at their gift. Walking over to Wiggle, she slid her hand over his chest and kissed him on the cheek. "Kiss the chef? I think the chef will be getting more than that, tonight!" she winked.
The family spent an enjoyable night eating a delicious spaghetti dinner in the living room, watching TV and enjoying each other's company. "So honey. Any updates for us? Any chance you might be able to come home permanently soon?" Wiggle inquired, placing an empty plate next to him.
Reessess sat in her massage chair, trying to keep her eyes open as the magnificent chair massaged her aching muscles. "Well actually about that!" she stretched her legs out and smiled at the pink cat. "So we were finally able to clear the last waves of cogs out of Donald's Dock and Daisy Gardens. Silly World and Animationville are cleared. Right now it's just The Brrrgh and a few small pockets in Retroville. Queen Crayon from Valentoonia was able to finally send some relief over a few days ago and we've been seeing the results already. It's quite impressive how quickly they were able to gather and train an entire army from nothing."
"Mommy, does that mean you will be coming home soon?" Criquet asked innocently, the young orange cat peeling his eyes from the TV momentarily.
"Well, yes and no." Reessess responded softly. "Cog Nation is still kind of a mystery and we're still skeptical that this is all the cogs have. I am going to be taking a short vacation though, so I should be home for the next few weeks!" she purred as the trio of cats jumped up excitedly at the news. "Although you guys are going to have to explain why I'm unable to get out of this chair!" the four laughed and all joined in a group hug. "I love you guys.." she whispered, closing her eyes and enjoying the moment.