Disclaimer: I'm back! How was everyone's New Year's celebration? I had a great little break myself, but now I'm ready to start updating for you all again. I'm sorry again for the last chapter's incident, I really don't know what happened there so I can only hope that it doesn't happen again with this chapter. And speaking of this chapter, THIS is the real chapter 13, the last one was 12 in disguise to see if this was still happening. I can only assume that when this is uploaded that you can follow it on the link from the alert it sent last time if you don't receive it right away. Now then, let's get started. I don't own any of the characters, if I did then this fic would be a movie, but it's already a movie with a remake not far from now but still, enjoy part 1 of 'the big reveal!'
Chapter 13
"So we're, like, agreed?" Shirley asked Babs over the phone, "we tell Fifi the real truth tomorrow, no more secrets no matter what?"
"One hundred percent," Babs replied, "I don't wanna' bring this kid, or kids, Buster's the dad so I wouldn't really be surprised, to a mother who condones keeping secrets and lies, that's your man."
"Ugh, like, I know but still, how do you think she'll react?"
"Shirl, it's just a mutual gut feeling, everyone has those, right?"
"Babs, like, be serious, yeah it's like that but we don't have anything to back up our claim, for all we know, Furrball's still out there doing who-knows-what or some junk."
"The evidence we have is asking her if she really believes that he would do something like that, running off without saying a word."
The Loon sighed as she rubbed her eyes, it was getting late and her and Babs have been talking for a while now, discussing their plans for the next day.
"I don't know what to do," Shirley collapsed on her bed beside a snoring Plucky, "my eyes showed me what happened but my mind is like, saying something otherwise."
"Look, all I'm saying is that maybe she won't want to know," Babs rubbed her belly, "tomorrow's not just about me and Buster, if she wants to know then we can hire someone to investigate, maybe when Calamity shows up he can make some kind of camera that shows what actually happened."
"Like, that doesn't even exist, I think even Calamity would find that impossible."
"They did it on One Life To Live."
Shirley face-palmed, "I'll see you tomorrow, mother-to-be, let's hope it doesn't go too bad."
"Goodnight, and don't forget your earmuffs," Babs giggled and hung up.
…
The night was turning out to be really successfully for all again, but Fifi was the only one with the most on her mind. She was used to her male customers flirting and trying to sneak and cop a feel but tonight, every time it was attempted or even looked like it would be, it caused her to yelp and take a jump back. When Taffy received a big tip from someone she squealed in excitement and jumped for a hug on the first one she saw. Unfortunately, that someone had to be Fifi. The skunkette was caught off-guard and accidentally shoved her in mid-air.
"Pardon!" Fifi gasped as she tried to help her back up, "je iz' so sorry!" The bartender girl wasn't hurt nor did she hit the ground hard, but it grew the unwanted attention from others.
"Chick fight! Yeah!" many of the guys hollered but were met with disappointment when they helped each other up and apologized. Taffy excused herself from the embarrassment while Fifi scolded herself for her actions.
"Fifi?" a hand was put on her shoulder and she jumped and turned around with an alert yelp.
"Are you feeling okay?" Hamton asked her, "I just saw what happened with you and Taffy."
The poor girl instantly received the images from the previous night flash before her. She started to shake just by the mere sight of him; Fifi shook her head and tried to find her tongue to speak.
"Je uh-iz' uh, pardon, er uh, 'Amton," she stuttered, "need fresh air, someone must'ave' snuck zome'zhing in 'ere an' now I'm start'eeng to detect it, be back in a bit!" Fifi took her first step until she heard him again, "I'll go with you," Hamton told her.
"NO!"
The pig looked at her in confusion.
"Pardon," Fifi apologized, "je needs to be alone for a bit, vous can go back to zhe' music, zhis' song iz' almost over."
Hamton realized that she was right, he tried to give her a quick kiss but Fifi knew it was coming so she speeded out the second she gave him the command.
"Girls need their space," the pig thought to himself, "yeah, that's it, I'll give her her space." He went back to his spot and prepared for the next song. Mitzi watched them and once they parted, she followed the skunkette outside.
...
Fifi pushed the back door open and let it shut right behind her. Dizzy strongly advised the girls to always have their keys clipped to them at all times should they accidentally lock themselves out or in something. Being locked out was the least of her worries, at this point she would've welcomed it. Her night started off with paying attention to the Alley Cats instead but after a few flirtations that every single night provided, her mind drifted to Hamton.
Fifi started sweating, her breathing increased until she was close to hyperventilating. Looking all over her surroundings of the back outside area of the club until she found a cigarette on the ground. It wasn't finished nor did it look like it was close to have been used. The skunkette ran to it and picked it up. Her paws shook with it in her grasp, she was already thinking about going through with her old habit from back in her old modeling days.
When she modeled for perfume and other aroma labels, she took up the habit of smoking to stay in shape as her agent advised. Because Fifi didn't have the time to work out when the time ever came, she would light one up and accept the bitter taste. She remembered Hamton not approving it, Babs especially couldn't stand it but the only reason they never had an intervention regarding Fifi's habit was because it didn't change her personality. When modeling ran its course, her habit stayed intact, much to everyone's dismay, since by this point she was unemployed. Once Dizzy offered her a spot in his new club Fifi's smoking started becoming a thing of the past. She liked working there, meeting new people, serving them and making decent and honest money. The stress she carried from modeling started to unload and she never felt the need to light up another cigarette again, until…
"Don't do it, Fifi," Fifi turned to her left and saw Mitzi, the door opened while she stared at her, "you know it's not worth it."
Fifi looked at the cigarette and then back to her, "but, je-"
"Put it down, you don't need it anymore."
Mitzi slowly started to walk slowly towards her which made Fifi back up a little, "I've been watching you all day and night," she admitted, "you're acting stranger than strange, put the smoker down and we'll talk about it."
The skunkette was confused, she needed to smoke but knew it was hard enough as it was to quit once, this was one of those rare instances where you don't get second chances in.
"This isn't you anymore," Mitzi continued until she was a foot away, "give it to me, I'm your friend, let me help you."
At that instant, they heard a cawing sound, Fifi looked up and saw a crow fly by and land on the edge of the roof.
"Furrball," Fifi thought, it was bad enough that the cat already saw her and Hamton in bed together, that pretty much finished off whatever was left in his heart, she didn't need him, or Eric, seeing her in her most weakest and embarrassing time, holding a cigarette.
The two looked at the crow and the black bird stared back. Fifi looked back down to her paw and wrapped it around the white stick and threw it in the farthest distance she could hurl it to. The skunkette sighed in relief and collapsed beside Mitzi. The crow flew away.
Mitzi lowered herself to Fifi's, "what is it-" she was cut off when she placed a hand on her which made her flinch again, "tell me…what happened?"
Fifi glanced back at her, teary-eyed and bowed her head in shame, "it's 'Amton," she managed to say, "last night…he…we…"
…
"Keep an eye on them, I don't trust them."
That's what Lious told Nicus the night prior. Being his right-hand cat, he followed the order, no questions asked. That night when the cats went to sleep in their new-inhabited alley, Mestic and Lid signaled each other to separate from the group when the timing seemed right. Nicus followed them as soon as they were at a safe distance. Upon taking a few steps, he noticed that the big Feral was asleep at Lious' left side. This made him wonder, "if I'm his right-hand cat, then what does that make him?"
Feral was sound asleep, taking just one of his lives out of the picture couldn't be more simple in this situation, if anything, all nine. It made no difference, being one of Lious' best was a position that could easily be used by two. Having Lid all to one's self required a single individual, even if it meant taking out Mestic in the process, a task that couldn't make Nicus happier. He left Feral and focused on the real problem, Mestic, so he followed the other two alley cats to a distant alley.
"That was a nice plan you came up with," Mestic told Lid as they arrived in the new alley, "I just hope no one gets star struck."
Lid replied by turning around to face him and wrapped him up in a warm embrace.
"I want to get it over with," she spoke out from his chest, her voice sounded like it was cracking, "after tomorrow, we leave this life behind."
"Lid, what are you saying?" the fedora-wearing blue cat asked her, "we can't leave Acme Acres."
"We have to, I can't keep living this way!"
Mestic started to worry, this wasn't like her, especially after concocting a plan like raiding a baby shower.
"I keep having these-these nightmares!" she shouted, "it's us, all of us, surrounding you, doing exactly what we did to that Furrball cat!"
"What makes you think Lious would make them do that? After losing so many he can't afford to lose us, much less me."
His calm voice almost soothed Lid but it wasn't enough to get her mind off of what kept her up at night.
"He needs us, especially me," Mestic concluded.
"But he knows our weaknesses," Lid looked him straight in the eye, "every time I close my eyes at night, I'm forced to see them literally take a shot at you."
"Alright, that's it, I've had enough of this!"
"What? What do you mean?"
"I mean this, Lid, the way you've been acting ever since we left that cat in the old Duff house."
"What are you talking about? How have I been acting?"
"You act like you care about wanting to protect me yet you distance yourself at the same time, you act like you wanna' open up but you close the door right in my faced! Even when I did the same for you all I got was you having some kind of 'rejuvenation' about nothing!"
Lid let her guard down and her face turned sympathetic.
"Mestic-"
"No, you don't get to do that to me again, I'm not fallin' for it this time."
"I'm not doing anything this time, I'm like this because, I don't know, I'm not used to the idea of…you know."
"Explain; oh don't tell me this has to do with your old owner does it?"
Lid turned away from him, "I thought she-"
"She didn't!" Mestic shouted, "if she did then she had a really stupid and abusive way of showing it!"
"Yeah but still Elmyra was mine first!"
There was silence, about a minute later after taking it all in, the only sound heard was both cats breathing heavily.
"I thought you would've found some retribution when you put one through Furrball," Mestic finally pointed out, "he was your replacement, didn't that make you feel better?"
"I thought it did but it didn't," Lid replied, "I left the house to run with you guys and the one time I was gone for a few days to fight off the Rats, I'm apparently 'missing,' missing?!"
"She thought you ran away, her mom thought every time you left the house was because you hated living there, remember? And every time you came back it was always around dinnertime, and that made her think you took Elmyra for granted."
"Well maybe if they took the time to come look for me then maybe she wouldn't have taken in that Furrball to replace me."
"Still, if we didn't find you then you'd be in that pet cemetery in her backyard!"
"Correction!"
Lid and Mestic turned to their right and saw Nicus walking up to them.
"Nicus?" the long-tailed cat asked, "what are you doing here?"
"What are you talking about?" Mestic followed.
"I'm da' reason you're not in dat' pet cemetery," he spoke out, "I found you an' I'm da' reason you're still wit' us."
Lid thought back and realized that he was right, it was Nicus all along, he loaned her a paw in having a fresh start, but it wasn't what she expected.
"One word from me an' jus' like dat' Lious allowed you to join us when Furrball came inta' da' picture," he continued, "that quick."
The grey cat looked at her and stepped closer, not looking away, "you know how long it took him to earn Lious' trust? He's still hasn't earned it yet an' that's who you're fightin' for?!"
"Nicus," Mestic stepped in, "don't even start-"
"Oh I've only just begun, tell me, Lid, why do rebel against us when I've given you what you've always wanted, a family."
He looked back at Mestic, "but you always run to and confide wit' this hat-wearin' punk like he's more special than the rest of us!"
Lid snapped, "Nicus, I know you helped me but what is your problem?! What's your deal with Mestic? I honestly don't know what you mean right now!"
"You know exactly what I mean!" he glared at her, "you two are not together anymore, you tried it two times already and still won't let it go, I don't what you're tryin' to prove to Mestic but he shouldn't be da' one you should be goin' to for anythin', you should be comin' to me!"
Lid was shocked, now she understood what the derby hat-wearing cat meant. Her eyes widened, "Nicus…do you…are you…?"
By this point, all three Alley Cats got the message as to what Nicus was trying to say.
"Oh, ohh, Nicus I-I'm sorry, but…I'm so sorry," that was all she could say, "I'm sorry, I appreciate all that you did but…I just don't feel that same way about you-"
"Why not?!" Nicus demanded, his loud voice alerted Mestic and he took a few steps closer just to be sure he didn't lose it too much, "what does Mestic have that I don't?!"
Neither would answer that question so the grey cat went on, "he's nothin' special! What, is it his good looks? His fedora? Take those things away an' you have me, right?"
"No, it's not like that!"
"Cuz' if there's one thing I have that this punk doesn't is power! I'm Lious' right-hand cat, Mestic here is just another stooge to get scraped from whoever's been tearing through us!"
"Nicus please!"
"One little request from me an' da' Boss'll make it happen, anythin' you want-"
"Would he give her a home?!" Mestic shouted, stopping the angry feline for a split second.
"We are her home," Nicus replied, he pulled out his switchblade and aimed it at them, "y'know, he was getting' suspicious of you's since Tus 'lied' to us, he even told me to personally take care of the first one to betray him, that could be either of you's."
Mestic glared at him, Lid just kept looking at that blade, she started feeling like maybe it was her time…
"Nice, quick and easy," Nicus stated, "an' Lious would still believe it if I told him you were plottin' against him, you've been spendin' so much time together all these years, it makes total sense."
He got them right there, Lid and Mestic were so focused on each other that they forgot to keep their distance at a fair rate to not let Lious scold them for it. The big orange cat always told them that that kind of behavior makes them look weak in the eyes of their enemies. Lid was about to reason with Nicus but Mestic stubbornly charged right at him. The fight ended before it even started as the blue-shaded cat met with the back of Nicus' paw, knocking him face down in the ground. The long-tailed Lid panicked and stepped up to him but Nicus smacked his claws across her face, causing her to yelp out in pain. The force pushed her back to a fence and she slid down from it.
Nicus wasn't in the best shape like Arnold the pit bull but being an Alley Cat longer than these two gave him more experience on the street.
"Unappreciative whore," he muttered as he put his blade away and walked back to the alley where the other cats were at.
…
"I'l KILL him!"
"Non, non! Please listen to me!"
"That's no excuse, Fifi! He ra-"
"Non non, 'e didn't! 'E loves me!"
"If he loved you so much then he would've waited like he was supposed to!"
Fifi finished telling Mitzi about her past night with Hamton and by the reaction she received, she started to regret it.
"'E did it out of love," the skunkette tried her best to convince Mitzi that Hamton's actions with her were not in any way to harm her but she wasn't buying it, and neither was she. Fifi didn't even mention the part about Furrball as she assumed that not only would she not believe her but it wasn't the right time to give away his sudden appearance.
"How could you defend him like this?!" Mitzi demanded, she was so disgusted that her eyes were red with rage, "he took what was most precious to you!"
Fifi bowed her head in shame, she was so confused over everything that her head started spinning. She was afraid of others touching her by the slightest, Hamton especially, but at the same time didn't want him looking like the bad guy. She could only hope that he was drunk or was on something that night he came home, he didn't seem like himself anyway.
Mitzi couldn't stand it any longer, she grabbed the skunkette, ignored her sudden yelp, and dragged her outside the yard to the front parking lot.
"Vhat' are ve' doing 'ere?" Fifi asked.
Mitzi spun her around until the skunkette was facing her own reflection on a car window.
"Look at you, Fifi," Mitzi said, "look what that's done to you, you've become what Johnny Pew made you out to be, a doormat to walk on."
"Non, vous iz' wrong," Fifi protested, by this point, her eyes started tearing up at the sight of her, she barely recognized herself, "zhat' iz' vhat' lov'airs do, right? Moi, 'im, zhe' bed, zhat' iz' called sex, no?!"
The skunkette finally broke down in tears, face buried in her paws, embarrassed to be seen by clubbers walking by. Mitzi stepped closer and spoke as soft yet stern as she could.
"There's having sex…and then there's making love, but what you and Hamton did last night…that was neither."
Fifi cried a little more as Mitzi tried again to get the skunkette to come to her senses, "you told him to stop and he didn't, you demanded an explanation and he didn't give you one," Mitzi was really feeling for her, she could only do so much just to keep Fifi sane, "only one of you slept and woke up peacefully while the other didn't, you both agreed and promised to each other that you'd wait…did he get body-snatched or something?"
The two of them eventually stayed in silence until Fifi spoke up again.
"I vant'…to see Babs an' Shirley."
"Tell you what, spend the night at our place, we have a date with Dizzy in the morning and we'll be out until it's almost time for the baby shower."
Fifi continued listening, "I'll have your girls come over and you Amazing Three can have the whole house all to yourselves until the shower starts, I don't want you alone in that house with…him."
...
A few minutes later, Hamton received a text from Fifi telling him that she would be staying with Mitzi, Taffy and Jessie for the night and that she'll be with Babs and Shirley. She also texted him that she'll be sure to have them send Buster and Plucky over to keep him company since he was off the next day. Hamton replied with a goodnight, smiley face, and a kiss; but just as he put his phone away, he looked up and saw a familiar face.
"Hey," May shyly greeted him, "I just wanted to see if you were alright."
"I'm fine, May," the pig replied, bitter, "if you really cared about my well-being then you should've called first, I wouldn't answer but at least you remembered to call me and not Pl-"
"OHGH! Hamton, can we stop acting like we're fourteen again?! I get it, you're mad, but it was such a long time ago! I feel bad enough as it is!"
"You should feel bad, but I'm not mad about my life anymore."
"Well, that's-great, I guess, what do you mean?"
"Let's just say that me and my girl, my loyal Fifi, finally took our relationship to the next level."
Hearing that hurt a little, May's facial expressions started to change little by little, "oh, okay," she tried not to let it bother her, not only was this unexpected but so not like Hamton to brag about it, "well then I guess, this means…you finally got what you wanted."
Hamton said nothing as the music continued booming and everyone else continued dancing.
"I'll do you this one last thing," Hamton took out his blue invitation to the Bunnies' baby shower and handed it to the female pig, "your boyfriend Plucky will be there, you can tell his fiancé all about the three of us, I'm sure she'll get a real kick out that!"
May took the invitation and gave him an apologetic look. She looked back down at her little blue paper and left. Seeing her like that slowly had Hamton feeling like he had just finished climbing the biggest mountain, just seeing the look on May's face brought him joy…for a few quick seconds. Typical Hamton, always the nice guy no matter how angry he gets at someone, he just can't seem to passionately hate them enough. Now, his joy tasted bittersweet. He wanted to go after May and apologize but his phone vibrated in the process.
It was a long text from May, he was ready to give her a small apology but after reading her message, he realized that that wouldn't help much, at all.
"Just so you know, I DID call you this morning," her text said, "and GUESS whose girlfriend answered? That Shirley-girl won't be the only one I'll be giving a tell-all to, keep in mind, you and I didn't do what you and Fifi did last night, but all the countless times you showed up at MY doorstep unannounced, the random calls you made at night, our deep discussions, all while she remained unaware of it is just as bad as cheating on her. Not only did you keep this from Fifi but you also gave her a reason to question where you stand with me. You better have a good follow-up speech prepared tomorrow because I've got NOTHING to lose."
Hamton panicked, he looked right through his phone and saw that it saved the time and date May called. He re-read the text and started freaking out, he ran through the crowd until he reached the outside only to see that the female pig was gone and out of sight. He couldn't find Fifi either, if he confronted her then that would make him look guilty, enough for the skunkette question the pig's loyalty.
"But we didn't do anything," Hamton reassured himself, "that's my crutch, we didn't…do…anything."
…
Fifi slept better than she had expected, her phone was off, no nightmares and no cringing or being alert about anything. But still, this wasn't something to get used to. The next day, Fifi woke up to an empty house but was greeted a bright and cheery 'good morning' from one Shirley McLoon. The two of them hugged and cried tears of joy from the sight of each other. Shirley informed her that she and Babs made it there together with their men and sent them to Hamton's while the pink bunny lazily refused to walk up the stairs to Fifi's room for the past night.
They both ran downstairs and surprised Babs the same way Shirley did. Babs dramatically cried tears of joy when she was greeted by the two and hugged them. Now all three of them rejoiced and held each other.
When asked about how things were going for her, Fifi became ominously silent upon hearing Hamton's name from their mouths.
"Hey Feef," Babs tilted her head, "what's wrong?"
"Yeah like, is it something we said?" Shirley tried to get the answer out of her. All the bright smiles the three girls had immediately faded when the skunkette looked at them straight in the eye as hers started tearing up again.
"Babs, Shirley, mon amies," she tried to stay strong, "about me an' 'Amton…"
…
"Alright boy'sh'!" Plucky announced to a laid-back Buster and a disturbed Hamton, "hand over the phones, we only have a few hour'sh of early fun before we really party, no women, let'sh sh'tart with you, Buster!"
"Can't, no phone," the blue rabbit, chuckled sheepishly, "when I drove on the way here I tried listenin' to the radio but Babs punched it so I could listen to her."
"What does that have to do with you not having a phone?" asked an anxious Hamton, both Plucky and Buster looked at him, this wasn't one of his regular moods.
"Well," Buster resumed, "I tried taking out my phone to listen to music but Babs ended up taking that away from me too, she put in her shirt and with her mood swings I took my chances with her musings."
"I hear ya'," Plucky said, "Shirl took my phone on the way here too, she listened to it while I got stuck with 'the sh'ound'sh of nature,' all I got was the smell instead!"
"Well if you're complaining about how your girls took your phones then why are you trying to take them away from us again then?!"
The two looked back at Hamton again and finally had it.
"Geez, Hammy, lighten up!" Plucky shot back, "Buster'sh gonna' be a dad sh'oon, I'm almost getting married, you're sh'till with Fifi, you're both workin' on my wedding, and the dinner rehearsh'al, and wedding resh'eption-"
"What he means," Buster stepped in, "is that you've been really uptight lately, more so than usual."
Hamton looked at his phone once again and read the text from May that just arrived.
"Apologize all you want," it said, "that won't stop me, I have an invitation so not even YOU can stop me from coming to Dizzy's. You gave it to me so don't be surprised over what happens tonight. This is what happens when you don't let things go, I'm sorry it had to come to this but you brought it on yourself. We could've been friends, buried the hatchet, let bygones be bygones but no, you instead chose to hold on to the past and now it's going to ruin your future. I'll see you tonight, Hamton, I'm pretty sure I'll be seeing you more AFTER tonight as well."
Hamton forced a confident smile and spoke out, "I'm just a little nervous this morning," he confessed, "Fifi was at Dizzy's girlfriends' house and I kinda'…wanted to uh…you know, again."
"Uh, what?" Plucky was confused.
"Yeah," Buster was just as confused, "and wha'da'ya mean by again?"
…
Night came and the shower was about to start. Guests started arriving and were greeted by the bartenders and Fifi. Many of them went up to Babs and greeted her while rubbing her belly, causing her to laugh but still enjoy herself. The men were congratulating Buster while Arnold and Arnolda watched them.
"Oh, Arnold," the buff female pit bull sighed, "I can't vait' til' ve' get our own little puppy someday."
Arnold's eyes popped out of his shades at that remark, "an' give up this body for daddy veight'? Never!"
"Oh, come now, you'll love it!" she laughed.
Bugs, Lola, Babs' parents, her siblings, everyone arrived. Upon arrival, Rodney and Buster played an angry father and scared boyfriend in front of everyone. The older rabbit chased him around the bar while everyone watched.
"You knocked up my daughter," Rodney laughed as he was right behind the blue rabbit's cottontail, "where's my shotgun?!"
Everyone laughed, it gave Babs such a delight to see her father and her husband getting along so well.
"Here ya' go, Rod!" Bugs joined in, "straight outta' Elmerville."
"Oh I just love shotgun weddings!" Lola laughed along with everyone.
Everyone reunited with their old mentors and began catching up with them. Daffy and Tina sat down with Plucky and Shirley with the black duck congratulating his old apprentice on 'landing the girl.' Porky said the same thing with Hamton but the young pig seemed distracted as he kept looking at the door. To everyone's shock, Montana Max arrived!
"Is that Monty I see?" Babs teased a gasp.
"Here? With us?" laughed a following Buster.
"Aww shudup ya' long-eared varmints!" Yosemite Sam entered the bar but Arnold quickly swiped his guns before he could pull the first trigger. He ignored it and explained, "Max here is ma' guest to this here baby shower."
"I just came for the free food," Max stated, "I was forced to give my workers a day off cuz' it's 'hard labor' for them to suck it up and do what I pay them to do!"
Dizzy was walking with Taz, "you make place look nice," the older Tasmanian devil complimented, "me like it, but me like the women better."
Upon hearing those words, Dizzy immediately ran behind the bar, "me make you best drink," he blabbed, he got on the bar and boomed, "all drinks free toniiiiight!" Everyone cheered as the young Tasmanian devil started on Taz's drink.
Pepe' walked up to Fifi, "bonjour, Fifi" he greeted her, "je sees zhat' vous iz' still with'z zhe' pig, still no word from Furrball, no?"
Before the purple skunkette could answer him, Buster called out another name.
"Check it out!" he exclaimed, "it's Dr. Calamity Coyote!"
The coyote's wife Camila waved at everyone while he playfully took a bow on all directions to their applause. They were greeted by Wile E and were directed to their seats.
Fifi turned back to Pepe', "je iz'…over 'im now, vous could say," she told him, trying to brush off her recent memories, "zhat' reminds me, je 'as to go check on zome'zhing."
The skunkette excused herself and walked to a different direction. She had just remembered that Furrball himself still hasn't arrived and that there wasn't that much more guests to enter. She headed to the doors and saw Arnold giving the okay to the individual on the other side of the door. Her curiosity was met with disappointment when she came face to face with another familiar face.
"May?"
"Hey Fifi, it's good seeing you again."
The skunkette couldn't believe it, "vhat' are you doing 'ere? Who invited vous?"
"Oh, it was Hamton actually," May pulled out the invitation and showed it to her, it was the one originally addressed to Hamton.
"Relax," the female pig told her, "I'm not here to cause any trouble for anyone, I hope my call didn't cause anything but he just gave me this as a sign of friendship, it thought I could get to know the old cast I met years ago."
Not wanting to have her on either one of their case, Fifi left it at that, "but I'll keep a close eye on vous, je still doesn't trust you," she kept to herself.
…
"Y'know," Babs whispered over to Buster's ear as the party was still going on, "I haven't seen Hamton within an arm's length of Fifi at all tonight."
"I know," the blue rabbit replied, "so you know, right?"
"You know too? Did Hamton tell you?"
"He made Plucky's bragging look tame and informative."
"Hmm, hey Blue-Bun, help me up would ya'? I gotta' go talk to Shirley."
Buster obliged, "okay babe, but I still don't think that name will last."
All the Toons were now reunited once again under one roof, they were enjoying themselves so much that they didn't even notice someone new walking in.
"I…I don't believe it," Penelope Pussycat gasped at their new arrival. In came a black and white cat with a younger version of himself in appearance as well as a yellow female cat by his side.
"Sylvester?" Penelope was speechless, "you're…here."
"Hey everyone!" Sylvester exclaimed, "havin' fun without me?!"
Everyone started surrounding him and began greeting him, this was the first time they had seen him in years.
"I saw this invitation in the mail," Sylvester told them, "ss'fo when I brought Junior an' the wife back home I jus'fft had to bring 'em here."
He sent Junior to go fetch them their plates while Sylvia excused herself to meet up with Lola, Penelope, Tina and the other women. Sylvester looked all over the club until his eyes landed on Fifi, he tried to excuse himself to go talk to her but the other Toons were too busy trying to catch up with him.
With most of them paying more attention to the cat's return, Babs and Shirley started to make their way to Fifi.
The skunkette watched the stampede of Toons all over Sylvester and giggled at the sight until she was approached by Hamton. His touch on her shoulder made her flinch but there was no yelp or alert movement.
"Fifi, why didn't you tell me May called yesterday morning?" he asked her, his tone wasn't angry but more curious.
"Vhy' didn't you tell me zhat' vous invited 'er?" she countered, "if she's your amie zhen' vhy' 'aven't you talked to her all night?"
"Because…well I want to talk to you, I haven't seen you all morning." He tried wrapping his arms around her but she slowly jerked away and sighed.
"'Amton, ve' 'ave to talk," she told him, "it'z about zhe' night ve'-"
"Fifi," Shirley interrupted her, "I'm like, sorry for interrupting you but Babs and I need to talk to you."
"Yeah," Babs joined in, "it's about F-"
"Fifi!" Sylvester finally made it out of his little entourage and ran towards the little group of Toons, "we have to talk, it's about Fu-"
No one was able to complete whatever they had to say to Fifi as a shot was fired right through the bar and blew open a few bottles, catching everyone's attention.
Two Alley Cats entered, one of them had a bag filled with something while two more came in right behind them and the final two entered in the rear. They dropped Arnold and Arnolda's unconscious bodies to the ground from the stench they exposed them to.
"Alright listen up!" Lious yelled in the center of the bar, Nicus went behind it and grabbed a broken bottle with its bottom half still intact with vodka still in it, "I'm so sorry for interruptin' the famous Bunnies' baby shower, congrats by the way, but me an' my Alley Cat gang wanna' ask you all a few questions."
Nicus returned with the bottom half bottle of vodka and gave it to him, Lious gulped it down and smashed it.
"If you all cooperate," the big orange cat's voice was so calm yet harsh in tone, his demeanor was kept in line, "then we promise that most of you's will leave this place in one piece."
The big orange cat pulled out a switchblade and aimed it at everyone. Most of Babs' siblings started crying, all the men shoved their women and children behind them except for Plucky who was hiding behind Shirley with her eyes rolling. Calamity glared at the cats, he couldn't forget the graphic images of them. Sylvester caught himself glaring at them too and much to their shock, so was Fifi! The skunkette realized the three of them had the same look on their faces, "zhat's right" Fifi gasped as she remembered, "zhey' know!"
Sylvester was the first to step forward, "Sylvester get back here!" Sylvia protested but when it was evident that her husband was trying to keep everyone safe, she couldn't let him go without knowing she cared, "please be careful."
"Alright, cat'ssf, what issf' it that you want?" he asked them, "we could talk thissf' out, juss'ft let the kidssf' go."
Mestic rushed to him and shoved him away from Lious, "you don't get to be that close to Lious!" he scolded the fallen cat.
Nicus and Lious looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "kiss-ass," Nicus thought.
"I wanna' know who's offin' my comrades!" yelled Lious, causing the younger ones to be even more afraid, "I'm getting' word that it's your ole' pal Furrball!"
"Furrball?!" Babs and Shirley asked at the same time, they glanced at each other in confusion, "what does he have to do with this?"
"We've been hearin' that it's been him all this time!" he continued, "it's either him or someone else…an' only one of you know who it could be."
Clawz took out his own switchblade and relished in everyone's silenced fear, Feral just stood behind them with his arms folded, looking at the neutral air. Mestic and Lid started roaming the club watching eveyones eyes on them, and Nicus and Lious stayed in the center awaiting for an answer.
"If I don't get an answer soon then someone's gonna' answer a lot sooner! Nicus, hand me the gun!" Nicus obeyed and out from his bag he pulled a gun and handed it over to his boss.
"This here is a gun filled wit' bullets soaked in DIP, so if anyone want's to play drop-da'-anvil, or throw any pies or whatever u freaks do, I will play a game I like to call catch…the bullet!"
Everyone gasped and right away panicked, they thought the last batch of DIP was extinct after its last use and because of the disaster it caused in various places, it had be illegalized.
"If it's Furrball you're looking for," Penelope managed to speak out, "then why aren't you out looking for him? He's been missing for years!" She hated to throw the cat under the bus but she figured that if the Toons and their investigation had a hard time finding him then chances were that these cats would have it even worse as well.
"We don't have ta' look for him," Nicus pitched in, "he's already d-"
Lious cupped the grey cat's muzzle with his paw, "they don't know that," he thought, "but we could still lure whoever this guy is, out."
"Alright then," he threw his paws up in the air, "if whoever it is won't show himself then I'll find 'im myself until he does!"
The lights abruptly went out and the room went dark, everyone started screaming but Nicus' voiced boomed harder than them, "if anyone tries to escape then we'll shoot!"
Everyone heard screaming coming from someone, as soon as it started to fade they heard an object fall to the ground. During this time, Lious had enough, "come show yourself ya' coward!" he deliberately started shooting on all directions until he was sure he hit something. Before he finished, the lights came back on, all the Toons and Alley Cats included were all on the ground covering themselves. No one seemed to be hurt but something wasn't right.
"Hey!" Mestic noticed as he got up, "where's Clawz?!"
As soon as everyone turned around to the spot where the aforementioned cat was no longer standing in, a crow flew in his place and cawed at them. Fifi, Sylvester and Calamity widened their eyes at the sight of the black bird.
Lious glared at the crow, "what is thi-"
The startling sound of the glass ceiling was shattered in pieces as everyone covered themselves from the falling fragile debris. A thump sound was heard and as soon as it was clear that nothing else was falling on them, the Toons and Alley Cats looked up to see a black-clad cat with a black trench coat and a face that strongly resembled a skunk. Furrball lifted his head and faced everyone's astonishment in Dizzy's club.
"Well," he ominously stated, he lifted his whiskers a little to smirk his painted smile, "look what the cat dragged in."
To be continued…
A/N: this was as far as I could go with it, so any other scenes I said I'd put in here will have to be in the next chapter since I wanted to end this one on a dramatic cliffhanger. I hope finding this chapter was no trouble at all. Thanks for reading everyone! As always, I'll be back next week for an update, I can't wait for part 2 of the 'big reveal' of this story arc, hope I don't disappoint! Don't forget to review, new followers are always welcome! Until next time!