Louie's skin went cold. Every step in his plan, every angle, went up in smoke as his eyes followed the familiar, yet distorted form of the giant bull in front of him. He swallowed hard. "Taurus Bulba."How on earth is he still alive?! Everything on the news reported that he died in the Ramrod explosion.He smirked, crossing his arms. "Got tired of the whole esteemed scientist vibe and decided to trade it for the trendy crazed, killer cyborg look?

The big bull let out a chuckle from deep within the confines of his chest. "Quick witted as always. Let's just say the explosion left irreparable damage, shall we? Besides, I've grown to like it." He flexed his metal hand. "It makes for quite the entrance."

"Real spiffy." His eyes moved to Gus who stood beside Bulba, smirking like a buffoon with his chest puffed. "And how long have you been playing lackey for a cyborg?"

Gus grabbed Louie by the wrists and yanked them behind his back.

"Ow! Hey! Get your grubby hands off of me!" He struggled as Gus unceremoniously shoved him into a holding cell.

"You better watch your tongue, Duck. Professor Bulba is your match," Gus snickered.

Louie stumbled to the ground. My match? Seriously? You're pitting a half-robotic egomaniac against me, Gus? That's a field day for sarcastic puns and ego-stroking cons. No wonder he can barely tie his shoes.

"I must say, Llewellyn, despite not being a part of my original plan, you've played your part quite well."

He scrambled to his feet and grabbed bars, glaring up into the bull's smug face. "I've got to hand it to you, Bulba—you really caught me off guard. I never thought I'd see your face again. Whatever scheme you've been brewing must be something special if you've been lurking in the shadows this long. And using Gus to lure me with the formula? Nice move. Where'd you two pair up? Did you both join the Baddies Big Brother program?"

"Oh, Gus and I have been in the same circle for quite some time now. However, only recently has his work been especially vital to our cause. Particularly where you are concerned."

Louie smirked. "He's a great choice for grunt work. After all, who'd have expected a master plan hiding behind those empty eyes of his?"

Taurus set his hand on Gus' shoulder to keep the brute from charging him. "Go assist Doctor Quantum while I continue this little chat with our friend here."

A prickling feeling spread across Louie's whole body.Friend-oh phooey! I was too wrapped up in the sardonic showdown. Where's Cheesesteak?He lifted his arm and spun around.Nope. Not here.He glanced behind Bulba and down each hallway. Philbert was nowhere to be found. "What'd you do with the kid?"

Gus smirked before waltzing off without a word.

He turned to look at Bulba. "Where is he? What did you do with him?"

"Relax. The boy is fine." Bulba grabbed a chair and dragged it over. He plopped into it and, by some miracle, didn't crush it on impact. "Let's concern ourselves with other things for a moment, shall we?"

Now eye to eye with the cyborgian gentleman, Louie narrowed eyes. His mind ran through all the possibilities and created a timeline of the most likely scenario.Taurus Bulba is a big-picture thinker. Judging by the expensive hardware he's sporting, whatever his big plan is, he's not in it for the money. He's got other plans."What's there to talk about? It's clear now that Bushroot was your pawn, which makes the most sense since his plan for the formula was weak-handed at best. When he failed, you put Gus on my trail and used him to get both me and the formula here. You wanted the formula, now you have it.""

Taurus Bulba's chuckle boomed through the dark row of cells. "Well done again."

"So, what's your angle?"

"You're a smart young man, what do you think?"

Louie paced the cell.He knew I had the formula after Bushroot was arrested. That's the only way Gus found me so fast.He turned to Bulba, his hand still pressed to his chin.If all he wanted was the formula, then why-

"Precisely," Bulba clicked his tongue. "If I have the formula, why do I need you, Llewellyn?" The bull leaned back in his chair folding his cyborg hands behind his head.

A better question would be, how does he manage not to break that chair in half?He stopped in his tracks, a slow smirk slid across his lips.

Quantum didn't know about the music, so that means neither did Bulba. He's playing me to figure out how much I know. He's trying to con a con.

Louie leaned his shoulder against the stone block wall and tipped his chin back. "Great question, T. Why do you need me? Just a minute ago you said you didn't need my services."

Taurus leaned forward, a smug grin spreading across his face. "Oh, trust me I've had my fill of your schemes over the past three days. Thanks to you, my plan was both saved and derailed. If you hadn't stolen the formula from the lab, Bushroot would have found it, and my plan wouldn't be on a caped vigilante's radar. Sure, your theft kept it out of Darkwing Duck's hands, but I still had to send Gus on a wild goose chase to track you down."

Heh. Wild goose chase. Dewey would have appreciated that one.

"All that is to say, yes, I'm thoroughly fed up with your sharp wit and I do not intend to utilize your skills."

Louie brought his fist to his heart in a fake stabbing motion. "Wow. Cut out my heart and serve it on a platter, why don't you?"

"You know what I did enjoy, though?" Bulba's voice lowered, drawing the attention back to the matter at hand. "Striking the Silver-Tongued Serpent speechless and seeing the look on his face when you realized he wasn't the one holding the cards."

The feathers on the back of Louie's neck stood up.

"If I were you, I'd feel helpless. Out of control. Afterall, you're used to pulling all the strings. And, now, you have no idea what is happening, no clue where your little friend is, and Idon't want you."

Louie swallowed the lump that gathered in his throat as all the pieces started to take shape. Taurus orchestrated the lab raid and their kidnapping. Taurus had the formula but Louie didn't know what he had planned for it. Worst of all, the cyborg bull had Philbert and every passing moment that Louie wasn't in control of the situation, he was breaking his promise to the kid.

Come on, Louie, keep it together.He cleared his throat. "Then why are we having this little conversation, huh?" Admittedly, he was grasping at straws, but as long as there were straws to grasp, he was going to throw himself at them. Even if his so-called leverage was flimsy. "You do need me. Otherwise, you risk losing more to Darkwing than you already have." Locking eyes with Bulba, he pressed his bill against the iron. "You want whatever knowledge of that formulamayor maynotbe in my head."

Bulba stood and kicked his chair back across the room. "There is no doubt in my mind that you have what I want, Llewellyn." He grasped the bars with his metal fingers. "Every good con artist verses themselves in every aspect and angle of a situation before they take the plunge. You read Von Drake's manual on the formula before Darkwing confiscated it." His steel hands scraped down the bars, creating a chalkboard-like screech that echoed down the dark, empty hallways. "You showed your hand too early." He bull huffed inches above his head and a swirl of steamy, hot air stuck Louie's hair to his forehead.

His heart sank like a stone to his stomach.The violin. Ugh, he's right. I pulled a Dewey and had to show off before I knew what we walked in on.He stared at his hands as they slid down the iron bars.

Bulba's deep chuckle resounded through the cell, echoing and burying him deeper. "I'll be here when you decide to talk. Perhaps we could even strike a deal. After all, that's what you do, isn't it? You make deals with devils, you get the horns."

Louie closed his eyes until all he heard was the clip-clop of Bulba's hooves fading into the echoey silence. He sank to his knees and fell back against the cold, hard stone. One look at the vertical bars separating him from the outside world and he was transported back. Back to being sixteen, dressed in orange, and covered in bruises. Stuck in a world where even self-preservation was out of his control.

Why does this always happen to me?

From a greedy mummy -"I'm just a scared kid who talked himself into a problem he can't get out of, okay?!"

To a cursed Bombie -"I shouldn't even be the richest duck in the world!"

To losing Louie Incorporated over the perfect scheme -"We hugged and everything. I said I was sorry! Let me clean up, okay?"

But did it stop there? Not even close. One thing after another and another and another… until he ended up in jail with Gus and a bunch of juvenile thugs. THUGS! Like his "crimes" were equal to any of theirs. He never once stabbed anyone or robbed a convenience store, well, you know, at gunpoint, at least.

He buried his head in his arms.And I was so confident that I had this time that I dragged that poor kid in with me.

Maybe he's is right—you mess with the bull, you get the horns.