//------------------------------// // The Hunt // Story: On the Corner of Straight and Narrow // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Sam stared down at the crying filly and the limp body of his best buddy for a time, his mind working slowly. Despair clawed at his mind, struggling to drag him down into the abyss. But he couldn't let himself be dragged in, not now, not yet. Trixie. He had to take care of her now. So long as she was crying, his mind was a sea of guilt and fury. He had to comfort her, find a way to cage the raging beast awakening inside him. Leaning down, he gently wrapped Trixie and Max's body up in his jacket. "It's going to be okay, Trixie," he promised. "Someone just...stole Max's brain. Like when Hugh Bliss separated his bliss. We're just going to find his stolen brain and get it back. Then everything will be good as new." Taking his hat off, he put it over the hole in Max's head. Trixie looked up at him, sniffling. "You...you really think so?" "I know so," Sam promised as he rolled up his sleeves. "You just stay here for now, okay? I'm going to see if the molemen know anything." Trixie nodded, cuddling up to Max's still warm body. Sam slowly stepped back, but then paused. Reaching down to his belt, he pulled off his Freelance Police badge. "Hold onto this," he told Trixie. "It'll keep you safe while I get the information we need." Trixie nodded. "O-okay..." Nodding, Sam turned, stalking out of the room to confront the molemen. As Sam approached the molemen, he could hear Flint Paper's voice from his memories, teaching him how to be more aggressive in interrogating people, the proper noir detective technique. However, he pushed it aside as inefficient. If it were just him hurting over what happened to Max, he'd be fine with taking his time to get the right answers. But every moment wasted was more trauma to Trixie's fragile psyche. He would not allow it. "Who stole Max's brain!" he growled angrily at the two molemen. "We don't know anything!" the first quavered. "Y-yeah, n-nothing!" the second spoke up. Sam could tell the second one knew something. Grabbing the first, he flung him across the room. "Talk!" he bellowed. "It was the space gorilla!" the moleman replied quickly. "He was talking to somebody else about the toybox while I heard the sound of a brain being removed! I stayed silent out of fear! Please don't hurt me!" Sam's growl deepened. "Don't...tempt me." Turning, he brought his rage back under control so no sign of it would appear to Trixie as he carefully lifted the little filly and his limp partner, carrying them out to the Desoto. Laying Trixie and Max down gently, Sam hopped into the driver's seat, taking off down the road. While he wanted to go after Skunkape immediately, he apparently had a partner of some sort, and he could already see that the ship was still non-functional. As a result, he had no idea where to look. He'd have to look around for the usual suspects for answers, and hope one of them had a clue for him. As he drove, however, he found one of Skunkape's space gorillas spinning a sign. Pulling over, Sam confronted him angrily. "Where's Skunkape!" he demanded angrily. "I don't know anything-" the gorilla began. Sam grabbed the sign the gorilla dropped when he confronted him. "You're going to tell me everything you know or I'm going to shove this sign so far up your ass you're going to have to open your mouth to spin it!" The gorilla's eyes widened. "I don't even want to know how that'll work! I'll talk! I'll talk!" "Good!" Sam snarled. "Every right answer is a foot less this goes up your intestinal tract!" "I saw General Skun-ka'pe and a man wearing a fez walking down the street, grumbling about you!" the gorilla said quickly. "I didn't hear what they were saying, but the fez wearing man said something about counter-magical fields and a vendetta against the bunny. Oh, and something about Skun-ka'pe owing him for freeing him before the Penal Zone exploded. At least, I think he meant owing him. He said he owed Norrington, but maybe he was talking in third person? I hear that's in vogue recently because of some pony or other." Seeing the surge of fury in Sam's eyes, he sped up his recital of facts. "The man was levitating a toybox, and the General was carrying a brain in a jar similar to how he stored Gordon's brain aboard ship. Oh, and the General dropped this." He held out the rinoplasty. Sam growled. "And what do you intend to do with it?" he demanded aggressively, hefting the sign. The gorilla swallowed. "Umm...give it to you so you don't perform a colonoscopy on me with a sign board?" he asked. "Good answer," Sam growled, out, swapping the sign for the rinoplasty. "Was anyone else there?" "I only saw Frankie the Rat and some tourist," the gorilla admitted. Nodding, Sam got back in the Desoto, driving off. "What'd you find out?" Trixie asked. Sam smoothed his features, suppressing the rage so he didn't upset Trixie with his expression or voice. "Skunkape took Max's brain, and he's working with a magic user. They have the Devil's Toybox, which is the source of power for all these toys we've been seeing. Also, Max's brain is being preserved the same way Gordon was, so all we should have to do is stick his brain back in his body and he'll be fine." "So...would the toybox be the source of a massive trans-dimensional energy surge, like the toys times a hundred, if it were active?" Trixie asked. Sam nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right." "And Daddy's brain is with the Toybox?" "Signs point to yes." "Setting your GPS for the Museum of Mostly Natural History," Jane explained. "Huh?" "While you were interrogating suspects and driving around aimlessly, Trixie felt the surge of energies from her spell for that," Jane explained. "I have been triangulating the source of the energy based on the vectors at each location she pinged the box. The box is located at the Museum of Mostly Natural History." "Then that's where we're going to go," Sam said firmly. "See, Trixie? I told you it would work out!" "And once we are in range," Jane explained, "you will be able to use the cards spell to communicate with Max telepathically." Trixie smiled as they headed for the Museum. "...Daddy..."