Chapter 8

Oswald glanced over towards the piano, glad to see Mickey sitting there playing as he was supposed to be. The rabbit quickly ran his hands over his skirt to straighten it out before heading over to the bar. He hopped up to the seat and checked out his reflection in the mirror of the back wall. Who looked back was a rabbit wearing Minnie's pink hair bow situated in between his ears and mascara on his face to bring out his eyelashes. He glanced down at himself to see Ortensia's pink skirt and his cheeks reddened as he remembered he was also sitting in her bloomers.

"What can I get for you, ma'am?" the bar tender asked as he leaned on the bar to get closer to Oswald.

"I'll just take a Coke." Oswald said, his voice up an octave. "You wouldn't happened to have seen a bear around here with a peg leg, have you?"

"Who's looking?" The bar tender asked, filling a glass with the caramel colored drink before giving him the glass.

"A friend, I hope." Oswald lied. "I met him last night-"

"Oh, so you were the mysterious lady friend." The bar tender laughed as Oswald nodded his head, looking into the glass of cola. "Sure, I'll call Pete and get him down here for you."

Oswald watched the elephant walk away and pick up his phone. He looked back in the mirror and saw Mickey was looking towards him so he slightly nodded his head, hoping his brother could see things were going according to plan.

The rabbit took a sip of his coke, expecting a few minutes to himself before he had to pretend to be Sadie again only for the bar tender to come back to him quicker than expected.

"He's on his way down." The elephant explained. "How did a girl like you end up in love with a bear like Pete? He can't have any manly charm or anything."

"I guess I just like him for his company." Oswald lied before realizing he probably needed more. "And his, uh, homely nature."

The man laughed as he picked up a rag with his trunk and started cleaning glasses. "Excuse me, but I've never heard Pete being liked for his homely nature before. Are we sure we're talking about the same bear here?"

"Are you disrespecting my good name again, Rob?" Pete's voice said, announcing his approach as the bear sat down next to Oswald, Harry sitting on Oswald's other side.

"No, just explaining to this poor girl what she might be getting into." Rob threw off with a smile before walking away.

"So, Sadie, what happened last night?" Pete asked, a growl in his throat as he turned to Oswald.

Oswald gulped, hoping he'd worked up a convincing enough story. "I'm sorry, Petie, I must've fallen asleep while we were talking. When I woke up it was around midnight and honestly I couldn't remember even how I'd gotten to your cabin." Oswald looked down into his coke to hopefully look ashamed for leaving Pete like that. "I think I took your snowmobile and ended up sleeping the rest of the night in the Klondike Bar." He looked back up at Pete and was glad to see his story was softening the bear up. "When I woke up this morning I wanted to apologies for disappearing on you like that only you weren't at the cabin. You're not too mad at me, are you?"

"Naw, I can't stay mad at you." Pete smile at him.

"Aw, really?" Oswald smiled before dropping his voice back down to its normal level. "That's good, since you're under arrest."

"What the-!?" Pete exclaimed, leaning back in surprise. Quickly regaining himself, he pushed Oswald backwards into Harry before dropping to his feet to run out of the restaurant.

Mickey quickly pushed back on the chair he was sitting on, just in the way of Pete as he was trying to make his escape to the door, only to trip him up. He glanced back at Oswald only to find the rabbit stuck in a head lock by Harry. Realizing it was up to him, Mickey found himself tackling Pete as all around them the restaurant quickly emptied for fear of the fight.

"I shood've known you'd be here. Git out of my way, you rat." Pete ordered as he ducked from a punch. He pushed the mouse off his chest and turned on him, fist to fist as the two fought for dominancy. "This isn't even yer fight."

"It became my fight when you harmed my family." Mickey said, punctuating his last word with an uppercut to Pete's jaw.

"Strong words from the one your so called brother considered an enemy for sixty some years." Pete smiled as he pinned Mickey down with a hand around the mouse's small neck. Mickey struggled for breath, trying to get free only for his efforts to weaken. Pete quickly grabbed Mickey's tail and jumped to his feet, pulling the mouse along. He pulled Mickey up high enough to look the mouse in the eyes, seeing him barely clinging to consciousness. "Even stronger since I know what you did to yer so called family."

"So what, I've forgiven him for that." Oswald forced out, breaking free of Harry's grip to pull out his gun from the back of his skirt. He pointed it at Pete and said, "But I'll never forgive you for what you did, Pete."

"Like I care." Pete laughed, twirling Mickey around by his tail in circles.

"Drop him, Pete." Oswald ordered, keeping the gun on Pete.

"Sure." Pete laughed as he let go of Mickey's tail, shooting him off to the side of the room only for him to knock down some tables before he stopped at the wall in a daze. "Now you drop your gun."

Oswald looked at Pete, confused as to why the bear would be giving any orders in his position only for his wrist to be hit from underneath. A shot rang out as the gun left Oswald's hand, shooting a bullet into the wall just behind Pete. The rabbit quickly remembered Harry was still next to him and swung out a punch aimed for his good eye only to find himself blocked, his fist held by Harry's hand. Oswald forced his teeth tight before throwing another punch only for Harry to again deflect it. Quickly Oswald rapidly randomized his punches and kicks only to be surprised and out of breath a moment later as nothing was hitting the dog. Thinking quickly, Oswald threw out one last punch only for his hand only to grasp the band holding on the eye patch, ripping it away from the dog's face. Oswald stared in surprise as the patch fell to the floor. "What is that?" Oswald found himself asking.

Harry reached up and touched the area around where his eye had been, the skin scared and furless. The eye itself was actually that of a camera lens infused with his nerves.

"Oh right, you don't know about Harry's improvements." Pete laughed as he walked over to the dog and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Oswald and smiled, "How else do you think the Mad Doctor found his passion for animatronic creatures?"

"You're like Prescott, half animatronic!" Oswald realized as he stepped back in surprise and disgust.

"It is better than having no eye at all, like I had been before." Harry admitted, his face almost void of emotion.

"Finish him, Harry." Pete ordered, taking his hand away to give them room. "We need to leave soon."

"Not tonight, you're not!" Mickey's voice ordered, appearing from under an over turned table next to Pete. While Pete and Harry had been distracted, the mouse had regained his senses and crawled through the wreckage to position himself close to Pete. He quickly grabbed Pete's peg leg and ripped it out from under him, dislocating it from the joint and pulling it completely off. Mickey pushed himself to his feet and quickly whirled around to give the peg leg enough force before hitting Pete in the back of the head with it. Pete fell to the floor, unconscious.

"There you go again, taking my gags." Oswald said, smiling at the mouse that was leaning against the table for support as if still dizzy from being knocked out himself.

"I learned from the best." Mickey smiled back before leaning down and handcuffing Pete's hands behind his back.

"I guess you'll be doing that to me, too, huh?" Harry asked, holding out his hands to be cuffed.

Oswald looked at the dog for a moment, contemplating cuffing him for more than just being Pete's accomplice but also for loving his wife. The rabbit sighed before shaking his head. "Get out of here." He ordered, throwing his thumb towards the doorway. "I don't want to hear about you again, you got that."

"Thanks Oswald." Harry nodded. He picked up his eye patch and tied it on before smiling at the rabbit. He turned to leave only to stop. "And I'm glad Ortensia has you to look out for her."

Oswald smirked as he watched the dog leave.

"Is it over?" Rob asked, appearing from under the bar as he unwrapped his ears from his head. He took in the sight of his restaurant only to drop his jaw in response.

"We'll help you clean up after we get Pete locked up." Mickey promised, taking in the damaged table and chairs only to notice a chair had managed to split in two and was sticking out of the top of the piano, most likely damaging the strings inside.

"I'll call the Colonel." Rob said, dazed from the sight of his business.

"Thanks." Oswald called after the elephant as the man walked to the telephone.

Mickey pulled out a chair that was still together and sat down only to jump back up in pain. He rubbed at his tail as Oswald covered his laughter. "Sure, laugh it up." Mickey smirked as he looked at Oswald. "Wait until your kids find out you caught Pete dressed like that."

"They wouldn't believe you." Oswald threw off, shaking his head as he rested his back against the bar.

"Oh would they?" Mickey smiled as he quickly pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and snapped a picture before Oswald could even reach over and defend his dignity. "Ortensia's going to love to keep this picture."

"Delete it, now." Oswald ordered, gaining laughs from his brother as the mouse found himself in a game of keep-a-way.