Master of Thieves
Chapter 17: Taming the Dog
It took Terry about just a few minutes to arrive at the Interpol Reception area, when he saw a female skunk tried to tell her problem to the receptionist, but the latter told her in a loud, slow tone "Ma'am… I need you to speak a language I can understand!" Terry made a facepalm in disbelief as to what he's witnessing, before he asked while approaching the desk "What seems to be the problem here?" The receptionist replied back, relieved to hear someone speaking English "This woman appears to have a problem, though I can't understand the language at all."
The female Skunk then shouted at the receptionist which Terry recognised immediately as French, though he personally thought it was rather ironic since the receptionist should've learned a few French words already. He then tapped on the female Skunk's right shoulder and asked her in fluent French "What seems to be the problem, miss?" The female Skunk then replied, pleased that someone understands her ironically "My apartment has been burglarised and my father's locket has been stolen!" Terry then explained the receptionist on the female Skunk's dilemma, before the receptionist typed it in to a new Burglary Report, which the female Skunk thanked Terry for helping her, which he replied positively.
Terry then asked the receptionist "One other thing: Is Inspector Fox here? She contacted me for an important task." The receptionist then gave a few moments to contact Detective Barkley for Inspector Fox's location, before informing Terry that Inspector Fox is in Interrogation Room 1 with Muggshot and is waiting for him specifically.
After being given directions to Interrogation Room 1, Terry proceeded up a storey and passed by an elevator until he came up a door with a sign saying 'Interrogation Room 1'. He then knocked on the door and heard Carmelita's voice said behind it "Who's there?" Terry replied "It's Terry… You told me to come immediately because an important clue came up." The door was unlocked from Carmelita's side, before she let Terry in, where he saw Muggshot in a strait jacket chained to a metal chair.
Carmelita then casually asided to Terry "He has an item that will help determine where Sly has ended up, but he has not disclosed where it is, even when I pressed my shock pistol against his head." Terry nodded and glanced at Muggshot suspiciously, as Carmelita sat on the other metal chair with her arms crossed, leering venomously at Muggshot. Terry then began "So, you have acquired a certain object recently that you refused to disclose its location." Muggshot then replied in hostility "So what if I did? It was passed down through my family in generations and there's no way I'm giving it to a scrawny raccoon and an officer of the law!"
Terry closed his eyes to think of how to acquire the object from Muggshot: He disregarded fighting him, since it was dumb luck last time and there's no way in hell that pickpocketing will work either, since the strait jacket hasn't got a single pocket. He then asked Muggshot curiously "If I may, how did you come to be on your current occupation anyway?" Muggshot raised his brow and inquired "So now you shifted from interrogation to asking about my past?" Terry shrugged in a neutral expression as Muggshot looked at him questionably, before he sighed in defeat.
Muggshot then began "I was a little whelp in middle school with barely any muscles as the other students were larger and much more burly than me. It was then that I began to watch mafia and gangster movies and worked out at the gym until my arms are as big as they are today, when I was hired into a group known as the Fiendish Five. Long story short, I took something of Sly's and he took it back from me, though not without me having a severe hostile vendetta against him." Terry nodded with his paws on his mouth, understanding Muggshot's backstory completely; on the other hand, he chose to live a path of thuggery and is a recurring foe for Sly.
Impatient, Carmelita then yelled while slamming her hands on the table "Dammit Muggshot, stop holding out and give us your keepsake!" Muggshot then snarled at Carmelita and retorted "I ain't giving you my keepsake! It's from my mother's side and I ain't parting with it, no matter what you two guppies do ta me!" Terry crossed his arms sternly and inquired "Does your mother know what you have become?" Muggshot then retorted so angrily that his strait jacket had made a slight tear "Don't you talk smack about my mother; she was a saint!"
Carmelita shook her head with her eyes closed, not sure what else she can do, though the amount of Muggshot's dedication to his mother gave Terry a good idea. With a snide expression he told Muggshot "Alright Muggshot… you want to play hardball? Then it's time to get a box of tissues on hand." Muggshot raised his brow in confusion, as did Carmelita, who hasn't got a clue what Terry has in mind. Terry then continued "If scolding or sob story doesn't work, then this will certainly will: I'm going to pelt you with some Yo' Mama jokes!"
From the looks of Muggshot's and Carmelita's expressions, the former had a worrying expression as the latter made a slight amused smirk. Muggshot then replied in a plea, which Carmelita is pleased to notice a slight fear in his tone "No… Not that route. Anything but that route, please…" Terry then replied in an obvious tone "I won't do the jokes if you just lend us your mom's keepsake." Muggshot took a few moments to think it over, before he called Terry's bluff and refused, believing that he doesn't know a single Yo Mama joke.
Terry responded in a fake defeated tone "Okay… You're obviously rather punctual… But sad to say…" Muggshot raised his brow, wondering what Terry's going to say next, when the latter made an amused grin directed at him and said "Yo Mama is so Punctual, she will easily make a north Shoreman blush." To Carmelita's surprise, Muggshot began to tear up and replied in soft tears "Oh… It's so true…" Carmelita was stunned that Terry had made a dead-on dent towards Muggshot, though knowing Terry, he isn't one to throw in the towel.
Terry then continued, still wearing an amused grin "What's true? That she didn't notice how you'd eventually become? Because of what I am aware of for certain…" Muggshot looked at Terry with wet eyes as Carmelita looked at him with a slight smirk, before Terry added "Yo Mama is so Radiant, if she fell in Nuclear Waste, no one would know the difference." Muggshot replied, bawling a little while his pink skin went redder "Oh mama, it hurts… IT HURTS!" Carmelita managed to stop herself from making an amused snort, though she doubts that Terry wasn't finished yet.
Terry then noted "Even so, how do you think she could pay for your bail anyway? The answer is really simple…" Muggshot looked at Terry, no longer with a hostile expression and his mouth trembled in sadness as Carmelita glanced at Terry, wondering what his next joke would be. Terry then continued "Yo Mama is so Thrifty, she spends coupons at the Penny Arcade."
Muggshot then flailed side-to-side on the metal chair, tears flowing down like water gushing from a damaged dam while bawling "AHHHHHHH! Please… Please stop this!" Terry then replied as Carmelita ducked her head under the table to hide her silent laughter "This can all be over if you'll just give us the location on where your mother's keepsake is." Muggshot sniffed a few times while crying hard, before weakly replying in a weird, high-pitch voice "No…"
He then regrets his answer, since Terry continued "Yikes, you're not really an uplifting guy, ain't you? Because you know…" Anticipating another crack at his mother, Muggshot closed his eyes since his massive arms are still bound in the strait jacket as Carmelita amusingly looked at Terry for another joke. Terry then said, with a slight amused tone "Yo Mama is so Perky, the only time she was low was in a limbo contest!" That had the effect Terry wanted, because Muggshot flailed so much that he fell to the side as Carmelita laughed hard at the final dent, though Muggshot didn't even bother to tell her off.
Muggshot, in fits of sobs and his skin about as red as a tomato, said "Okay, Okay, I'll tell ya where my ma's keepsake is; just please stop making cracks about her, will ya?" Terry then replied, looking rather professionally "Of course, Muggshot. After all, I barely know your mother anyway." Not even going to comment on that, Muggshot pulled himself together and explained "My ma's keepsake is confiscated when I was brought in after that scuffle in Dimitri's Nightclub, in the precinct's reception desk." Terry had a mixed expression of surprise and anticipation, since he only saw Muggshot in the orange jumpsuit when he first encountered him, though noted that whatever he took on the way to the nightclub had been stripped via pat down when he was returned to the station.
Even with Carmelita's help, getting Muggshot to sit upright was nothing to joke about, though they both caught their breath before looking at each other and nodded at each other. As they were about to leave the Interrogation Room, Terry stopped to tell Muggshot "Just so you know, Muggshot, by the time we used your ma's keepsake, I'll bring it back first thing." Both Muggshot and Carmelita were surprised to hear Terry say that, before he and the latter left the Interrogation Room and went down to the lobby.
After convincing the receptionist to lend them Muggshot's keepsake from his ma after he was taken in a fortnight earlier, Terry was driven to the Cooper Hideout by Carmelita in her convertible, much to his interest. Carmelita then asked Terry something that was badgering her "Why did you promise Muggshot to return his mother's keepsake? Can't you just sell it through ThiefNet, since you're a promising thief and all?" Terry replied, as if he was being told to kidnap an old lady "What, are you kidding? I told Muggshot to LEND him his mother's keepsake, not GIVE it to us. Besides, you can buy and sell stuff, but a keepsake from a family member is not one such item to me, no matter what."
Carmelita glanced at Terry in disbelief, who wore a serious expression, before shooking her head and noted "Your firm belief and loyalty in family is up to a fault, you know that?" Terry shrugged, not even going to defend his statement, though Carmelita secretly thought that Terry wasn't wrong in family values at all.