"Ah, yes, the fall of Joroceros was to be short lived, but before we get to that part, there's two pieces to the puzzle you must know about. Something this old crow was there to witness personally..."

The Raid

Captain Ferret was was curiously looking about the quiet, unassuming part of town with confusion. It was an alleyway, like other scenes before it, though this one was clean, without the hint of even a single beggar, in an upper class neighbourhood. Looking off in the distance he could even see the ContraTower that kept the town looking as sublime as it was, and kept the weather in a perfectly balanced order. It had been abandoned for some time when people decided they liked natural weather patterns over bizarroland enforced ones. "I wonder what happened to her." The Captain mused aloud as he nibbled on an apple he snatched from a merchant's stall earlier. Walking beside him, a regal voice was accompanied to a pair of rolling eyes. "Art. Photography. I swear that woman gets more half naked people in her building than I do, and I own a strip club." Captain Ferret glances at him and raises a disappointed eyebrow at the Otter.

Amis Thysia, the heir of Badgerfell, a braggart in public and owner of many of the seedier businesses in town. Outwardly he was nothing more than the man who tried to keep control over the inevitable dark side of business. Behind closed doors, it was plain that he enjoyed exercising his power in a way that perhaps only the Moth Boss could understand, though he at least kept his business out of the lives of the general public, which made him tolerable. He wore a simple pair of business slacks and a dress shirt whose cuffs were lined with gold and silver. "Here we are." He says as he motions towards the end of an alleyway. Lifting a garbage can lid, a passageway opened up. "This leads to Zed's laboratory." Ferret blinks and stares at Amis in amazement. "And... How did you--" Amis grins, showing a couple of golden teeth. "He makes good bouncers and in exchange I pretend not to know about his habit to make drug running mice disappear."

As they traverse into the passageway, a pair of figures standing atop a roof stare down into the alley. "Right on." One of them says as the other, Toellner, had swapped out his suit and tie for a military uniform and cap. "Cool it, Dervs. We'll follow in shortly... Though, you know the change in plans, yes? We want him alive so we can present him to the Moth Queen for her to kill." Dervish chuckles as he pulls out his hand cannons, twirling them around his fingers with an eager glint in his eyes. "Naturally, cousin." Dervish licks his lips and purrs as he slides down into the alleyway with Toellner right behind him. "Doesn't mean we can't have a little fun..."

Deeper inside, at the core of the laboratory, amidst several vials and potions and poisons and a few disassembled machines across several tables of medical equipment, syringes, and more, was a large computerized tablet. Atop it was the Amethyst, which glowed lightly as Smiral paced impatiently back and forth. CIL hung from the ceiling with his tail, doing tail pull-ups as he crossed his arms and watched Smiral pace. Finally, the tablet buzzed: The Amethyst had been analyzed. Zed quietly copies the data into a small book, and then curiously opens it with the tip of his tail. "Sssuper..." He says sarcastically as Smiral glances at it. "... Uhh... Are those faces?" Zed nods, intrigued as he looks at the tablet. "It drew facess... Facess of people it hasss..." Smiral blinks in confusion. "So like, it has their souls?" Zed sighs in exasperation. "...Ssssort of, it hasss the bassselinessss... To clone, basssically. The memoriesss appear implanted in thisss crysssstal." Smiral scratches her chin. "So why did Goldie want it so bad, he's already got a body doesn't he?" Zed does the best impression of a shrug that a snake could make. "If I knew, I wouldn't sssssit here on it."

It was at this point that Captain Ferret and Amis Thysia arrive. Amis looks to Zed and grins as Zed gulps and manages to fake a smile back. "Ahh... Sss'a'pleasssure to ssseeeee you." Amis rolls his eyes. "Cut the bullshit speech impediment and give us the crystal." Smiral grabs the crystal and pockets it. "I'm not done figuring out what this thing is worth yet." Amis glares at her, icily. "Excuse me? We had a deal." Smiral scoffs and crosses her arms over her chest. "And if I don't comply, what exactly are you going to do about that? It's three against two." Captain Ferret stretches and speaks next, nonchalantly. "Well, that may be so, but there are two following us, and I guarantee you, they aren't the law abiding sorts..." Amis widens his eyes as he looks at Ferret. "When were you going to inform me?" Ferret shrugs. "Figured you already knew. Anyway, we're here to help Smiral. If you give us the amethyst, you can walk away knowing you won't be pursued anymore." Smiral bites her lip and looks around the laboratory. There was no other way out. Some evil genius she thinks to herself as she glares at Zed, who doesn't understand the contempt that Smiral had for him in this moment.

Ferret unsheathes his short sword and axe, and takes a position beside the entryway. He looks to Amis to help him, only to see him instead hide behind a pillar inside the room. Rolling her eyes, Smiral points CIL over to the other side of the entrance, and he gladly complies as Ferret tosses him an axe.

There was silence for a few moments as they hear footsteps further up the passageway. Taking a deep breath, Ferret gently rubs a bruise on his face from a previous encounter. He had to fight better this time.

The footsteps stop, and CIL takes a peek around the corner only to watch a small, metallic canister fly through the entryway. "GRANATE! (GRENADE!)" The canister explodes, smoke quickly fills the room as Smiral reaches for her grappling hook, only to remember that she hadn't had time to grab a new one from her own hideout. Toellner smirks as he hears Ferret coughing, descending from the entrance as he locks his blade against that of Ferret and towers over him. His eyes almost seemed to glow with pride. "Für meine Dame... Nagetier. (For my lady... Rodent.)"

CIL on the other hand watches a bullet whizz past his head and jumps in surprise, watching a figure burst through the entryway. This one was larger than he was, and he felt an instinctive fear as Dervish's claws dig into the floor and propel him towards Smiral. "MINE!" He snarls as Smiral steps out of the way and lets him hit the floor, though he landed on his feet despite the thick smoke choking the air around him. Zed hisses and moves to bite Dervish only to get a gun pressed up against his chin. "What's the magic word?" Dervish says with a smirk. "...Cooobraaaaa--" Zed states before the bullet leaves the gun, ending Zed's life in one explosive head-cavity wrecking shot.

Smiral's eyes widen as she scrambles backward, attempting to use the smoke to cover her escape, though as she managed to escape past the tables with CIL, who was scared shitless, she noticed there was no pursuit. Checking her pockets she bites her lip as she realized that the bullet that had zipped past CIL's head earlier had cut open her pocket containing the Amethyst, and gulped when she realized just how easily Dervish could have ended her there, yet chose not to. "Is that their touted Hitman?..." She mumbles as she dashes away, CIL hot on her heels as he had no intention of becoming cat food that day.

This left only four living souls in the laboratory as Ferret dueled with the Desert Fox, though he was plainly losing the fight as he was constantly pushed backward. "Smiral's safe and away, you can't catch her now!" Toellner grins savagely as he bats Ferret's blade away, watching it clatter to the floor. "She wasn't the objective." The edges of the Captain's lips curl up in anger. "I see." Toellner points his blade to Ferret's throat. "Feel free to surrender now, and I will ensure that your death to my fairest lady is, in fact, swift and painless." Ferret looks to the right to see the figure of a cat in the fog, pointing a pistol at him. Raising his hands in defeat, Ferret closes his eyes as he feels Toellner slam the back of his head with the pommel of his blade. Ferret was knocked unconscious.

Amis, in the meantime, watched with dismay as his comrade fell. Realizing there was nothing else he could do, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a fancy pocket watch, attempting to slip away to the entrance, he is stopped by Dervish. Toellner, meanwhile, was busy tying up and preparing Ferret to be taken back as a hostage. "Where do you think you are going... The Heir of Badgerfell should be worth quite a tidy ransom, should we leave you alive." Amis shrugs and puts on a charming smile as he points at his pocket watch. "Could you tell me what time it is with those sharp eyes of yours? I can't see in this smoke." Dervish looks closely at the pocket watch, only for a bright flash to emanate from it as Amis hits a secret switch. Covering his eyes in surprise and pain, Dervish stumbles backward while Amis flees out the entrance with surprising speed. "Can't beat this charm." He mutters to himself with a smile as he looks back momentarily. "I will make sure that my father rescues you."

By the time Toellner is finished with Ferret, he looks to Dervish with a disappointed look. "Really?" Dervish hisses back at Toellner. "How was I supposed to know he had such a device?!" Toellner shrugs as he motions for them to leave. "That Otter is almost as cunning as I. Never do as he says, that's his strength." The two continue to discuss tactics and traits as they leave the smoke filled laboratory. A few machines awaken when everyone finally left, a small drone grabs Zed's corpse and drags it away. "INITIATING ARCHANGEL PROTOCOL." It remarks in a hollow voice, seemingly to no one. Zed was more clever than most people gave him credit for. "ONE MORE CHANCE LEFT."

---

Soon after, Mayor Badger received news of what had happened. Holding a letter he received in the mail, he had been invited cordially to a ball and a private dinner with the Moth Boss. Scratching his chin thoughtfully, Dargo then grins. "Amis, get the elite police bruiser, and any support units you feel necessary for him. I've got a plan..."

---

The Moth Boss watches Toellner and Dervish return with pride as Toellner bows, leaving the unconscious Captain Ferret at her feet. "My lady." Idle raises an eyebrow. "Strange. I thought I told you to kill one of them." Dervish looks to Toellner to explain as he twirls one of his pistols in his hand, pulling out the amethyst from his pocket and tossing it to Gold Marble, who squawks with joy at the return of his 'soul'. Toellner smiles, sweetly, though his eyes told a story of loyalty and brilliance. "I brought him to you for you to kill personally." Idle looks the body over and nudges it with one of her feet. "Keep him locked away for now then... Somewhere that nobody will expect to find him. We'll execute him at the ball to prove to everyone there that this is my town now." Toellner nods and salutes. "Yes, my lady." Dervish shrugs and quietly starts licking his paws. "And you." Idle says as she looks at him with a small smile. "You did well, as usual, in retrieving the amethyst... Now we can bring back Jor." Toellner raises an eyebrow. "... Jor?" Idle smirks as Foxxie enters the room, quietly moving to take the amethyst from Gold Marble, who parted with it very hesitantly. "Yes... You will see what I mean, darling."