Dakota drove down to the ABSC studio and power-walked through the hallway until they found the dressing room of Jane Pea. They pressed their ear to the door and could hear laughing coming from the other side; Dakota could recognize the voices of Jane and Terry yammering on about the Runners and how they'd lose everything soon enough. Dakota felt a rush of cold run down their spine as the voice of Karen asking Jane if she thought the town would leave enough of Tech to make a decent rug.
"Alright, that tears it," Dakota growled. As they grabbed the doorknob and went to turn it, they felt a tap on their shoulder; Dakota turned to see a security guard standing behind them. He was a tall, beefy bulldog with a pronounced underbite.
"Hey, I think you're lost," the guard growled, "The tour group is back that way." Dakota just smiled and chuckled, grabbing their necklace and holding the three crystals up to the guard's shocked face. The one on the left was a light blue and was shaped like two vertical bars. The middle crystal was colored bright green and was circular in shape; and the third crystal was a sort of magenta color and resembled the rewind button on a TV remote.
"Hey, what the heck do you think you're doing, boy?" The guard stammered. "I'm not a boy," Dakota smirked, "And don't worry; I promise you won't feel a thing." And with that, Dakota tapped the blue crystal and a bright light flooded the hall, blinding the guard for a brief moment. When the light finally faded, Dakota was gone.
"Hey, where'd you go? Huh!?" The guard looked everywhere, but the young roadrunner had seemingly vanished from existence, leaving the big bulldog scratching his head in pure confusion. "Where the heck did he go?"
The guard let out a growl and ran down the hall in hopes of eventually running into Dakota. Just as the guard vanished around the corner, Jane opened the door and looked around, shaking her head and giving a frustrated groan before closing the door, walking back to her vanity chair and continuing her conversation with the Huddlestons while applying a fresh layer of blush.
"Just curious," Jane said looking at Karen in the vanity mirror, "As much as I like the idea of driving dangerous creatures out of town, I can't help but worry if this is going to end in a fiasco like the last time." "I assure you, Jane," Terry chuckled, "This is a very different situation from what went down twelve years ago."
"Actually, it was almost 15 years ago," a voice piped. Jane and the Huddlestons gasped and spun around to see Dakota leaning against the wall in the back of the room. "You should remember that, Jane," Dakota continued, "You where the one who covered all the hoopla around what happened to the Wolfe family, after all."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Karen shrieked, "This is a private meeting."
"Private my rump," Dakota scoffed, "You can't attack someone and their family on national television and then expect them to just stay away. And lady, I don't give a flying fudge who you and your pompous friends think you are, you brought this upon yourselves."
Karen let out a fake hurt gasp, putting her hand onto her chest, holding back fake tears as she scooted closer to her husband for protection. "Save it, you crazy old hag." Dakota said in the most menacing voice they could muster before walking up to Jane, spinning her around in her chair to face them and leaning over to make eye contact. "I'd just like to know," Dakota continued, "Did your partner over there, or his wife for that matter, bother to tell you the name of the 'dangerous creature' staying at the Runners' house?"
"Um… no, they didn't." Jane said shaking her head slowly, "What difference does that make?" Terry snapped. "Well, you said that you 'did some digging'," Dakota said with a sly chuckle, "And you honestly expect me to believe that of all the things you discovered in your 'digging' you never found a name?" "Ah-uh… uh," Terry's face went pasty as Dakota spun around on their heel and leaned over and stared him straight in the eye. "Well, did you find a name?" Dakota asked.
"It's none of your business!" Karen snapped, reaching out to try to slap Dakota's face, only to almost fall off the sofa as Dakota nonchalantly took a step back to avoid her hand. "Karen, please," Jane plead, "This isn't going to help."
"Shut up, Jane!" Karen honked, "This doesn't concern you, so mind your own business." "I'd say it's every bit her business," Dakota sassed, "Considering what happened the last time her show covered a story without presenting all of the facts. You remember, right? It was about 15 years ago now," Dakota paused, placing their hand under their chin and hummed pensively, "If I recall… that little scandal resulted in both Jane and your husband almost getting fired after an angry mob tried to butcher Mr. Wolfe and his five-year-old daughter on their way out of town."
Dakota narrowed their eyes and clicked their beak angrily before turning back to Jane and said, "You remember… don't you, Jane?" Jane turned to Terry and Karen nervously; Terry just shook his head, a pleading expression on his face while Karen stared at her with the evilest looking expression the swan woman could muster. "Jane," Dakota continued, catching Jane's attention, "Trust me when I say you won't win this fight." Jane turned back to the Huddlestons than to Dakota as they continued, "So tell me… did Terry give you all the details this time?"
Jane took a few moments to think, eventually the silence was broken by Karen who squawked, "This is nonsense, Jane. You know us, right? Your business partners; your friends? You know us better than anybody. Surely you're not buying into this… freak's insanity, are you?" Jane's face quickly fell into a scowl as she let out a frustrated hiss, taking Karen off-guard. Jane slowly turned back to Dakota and said, "I… want… details. All... of... the details."