Chapter Two- The Ink Well

Jack and Buttercup looked up at the blinking neon sign above the entrance to The Ink Well. A plethora of noise could be heard from the outside, but that was to be expected. The place looked old but well kept. It certainly made enough money to stay afloat. The biggest names in villains and notorious traitors gathered here in the scummiest crock pot of the kingdom. Buttercup looked at Jack who returned her glance. He nodded to her and put his hood over his head. Buttercup nodded back and put her hat on, making sure it covered her face.

"So tell me, bartender. How has business been," a red, furry creature asked as he sat at the bar.

"Who wants to know," the bartender asked, gritting his very sharp teeth.

"Just a wandering stranger," he said very suavely.

The bull shark looked Weasel up and down carefully. He didn't look like your average criminal or traitor. In fact, he was wearing the top half of a white tux, giving him a 007 look. But then again, crime bosses were always coming in dressed liked that, almost always looking for business. And that was probably the case.

"Eh, it's been good," Bull said, drying a mug on his apron.

"A lot of weird characters in here," Weasel noticed, "Probably doesn't make your job any easier."

"Certainly not," the shark said, "I get kooks giving me a hard time almost every night."

"So… you get any fine ladies around this joint," Weasel asked, as if he were really interested.

Bull gave him a knowing grin. "Oh yeah, we get some great eye candy in here," he said giving Weasel a playful nudge with his elbow. "You see that lovely thing over there?"

He pointed to one of the tables near the back, past all the commotion in the middle of the room. There was a woman sitting there hiding behind a newspaper.

"She's been coming in every other night for the past month, sitting all by herself. She wears glasses, but they make her look classy, ya know? We don't get many dames like that around here. I'd say she'd be a fine catch."

Weasel smiled. "Thank you my good man," he said leaving a fresh five on the counter. And with that, he began making his way over to her table. It was hard trying to go in and out of the loud and violent tables of crooks and villains, but Weasel knew how to seem inconspicuous. But he stopped suddenly when he saw someone familiar out of the corner of his eye. A hooded gentleman had just walked through the door. And he knew in an instant it was his co-agent Jack. But acknowledging Jack's presence would blow his cover, so he cleared his throat and continued to the table with the lovely young lady.

As Jack entered, he almost immediately noticed his partner. He saw Weasel stop for a moment, but continue in the path he was headed.

"He must be onto something," Jack said under his breath. So he made his way to an empty stool on the bar.

Weasel sauntered up to the table and hopped onto a chair, trying to make up for their rather large height difference. He read the headlines of the newspaper she was reading. General Uno Raises Terrorist Threat Level…

"Some news about the General," he said in his most alluring voice.

The redheaded woman tilted her newspaper forward, giving Weasel a quick glance at her glasses. They were very sexy indeed, but almost gave her a sinister appearance.

"Quite," she said, tilting her newspaper back up.

"I hardly think it necessary to raise such a fuss about silly rumors," he said casually, "Wouldn't you agree?"

This time, the woman didn't put down her paper. "Better safe than sorry," she answered.

Weasel's smile quickly changed into a frown. He asked her that last question in animal language. For you see, cartoon animals had a special language all their own that human cartoons could not understand, and yet this woman did without even noticing he'd switched.

"So… what is a lovely young thing like you doing in a rough place like this? This is a fairly shady part of the kingdom," he stated.

"Who knows," she said, "Maybe, I'm a really shady character," she finished, peeking out from behind her newspaper with a smirk.

"Hmmm… so tell me, Eliza," he said, "What brings you so far from home?"

The woman paused for a moment. And suddenly, she put down her paper completely. And there she was, little Miss Eliza Thornberry herself, freckles and all. Although, she looked much more mature since the last time Weasel had seen her. She was a bit of an underground celebrity amongst the cartoon animals, being the only human to understand their secret language, a skill proving most vital in times of war.

Weasel was about to say something until he heard a small click to his right. He quickly turned his head, but was too late to react. A huge cloud of Eugopatamian knockout gas was sprayed into the air and Weasel collapsed almost immediately.

Jack, who was sitting at the bar, looked at the reflection in his mug. He saw his partner fall, but restrained himself from reacting. He slowly looked over his shoulder and saw a woman and some shaded figure arguing.

"What the heck do you think you are doing," Eliza whispered angrily to her partner.

"What was I suppose to do?! He was about to blow your cover! We had to shut him up, somehow," the short, coated creature stated in a whisper.

"You were way out of line, Norbert! Now we have to sneak him out of here without looking suspicious!"

"Alright! Here! Sling one of his arms over my shoulder," the beaver stated, explaining his plan for escape.

Jack looked away for a moment, searching in his head what to do. Buttercup was not supposed to come in for another two minutes. If they took Weasel now, she would see them leaving and most likely attack. He had to get out of there quickly to warn her.

Without a word, he calmly rose from his seat, leaving a handful of ones to pay for the drink. And he carefully made his way to the door. But just as he was about to touch it, it opened from the outside.

Buttercup stood there in the doorway, looking at Jack like he was crazy. She was about to say something till he clapped a hand over her mouth and shoved her outside around the corner of the building.

"What is going on," she almost yelled at him when he finally released his hold, "What do you think you are doing diverting from the plan like that?!"

"Shhh! Something's happened. Weasel is being kidnapped as we speak, possibly by the alleged spies. We are going to follow them. They may lead us to the other one."

Buttercup stared daggers at him for a moment, but nodded her head professionally. "I'll take to the air. You try to keep up on foot."

"Just worry about yourself, Butterbean," Jack said, putting special emphasis on the pet name. And with that, he hid himself in the shadows of the alley.

Buttercup gritted her teeth. She hated when he called her that. But she rolled her eyes and silently flew up into the air, awaiting the next move of the two spies. She hid in a tree that overlooked the front entrance and waited. But she did not wait long, for perhaps only a few moments later, the short guy wobbled outside with Weasel slung over his shoulder, as if he were carrying out a drunk drinking buddy. The guy yelled out a few things to the bartender about getting his friend home in time for a wedding and left, shortly followed by his female partner.

Buttercup watched them as they went around the back to their car. "Alright, strangers… let's play cat and mouse," she whispered intensely.

So... still interested? If so, let me know how I'm doing.