“WHERE IS MY BABYYY!” The grizzly bear’s wail pierced Jekyll’s eardrums. Her black nose and frightful jaw were inches from his face, ready to swallow him whole. His neck was pinned to the wall by the bear’s paws, claws digging into soft flesh. 

He jumped and used a core kick from his hind legs to the throat, knocking her over long enough to regain his footing. The grizzly lay on the carpet, holding her neck and coughing up an ocean, then slowly began to push herself up. Jekyll eyed her beige dress that was tattered like the curtains, and one of her eyelids had a large, purple welt. 

He maintained a defensive stance and steadied his voice, “I don’t know where your baby is.”

For a split second, the grizzly bear’s eyes seemed to clear, and an anguished look fell on her features. She turned away, feebly touching a  chair that was on the floor as if she was going to straighten it, and chucked it at Jekyll’s head, “Liar!” 

Jekyll ducked to one side before he broke into pieces along with the chair on the wall. Someone  pounded relentlessly at the door, “Open up!” The voices of the security guards from earlier.

“I swear, I know nothing about your baby! I was just going to an art exhibit,” the jackal circled the bear, trying to make his way toward the window without her seeing through him. 

At the words “art exhibit”, the grizzly bear pawed at the sky and charged, “There! You know where she is, you guys took her! Tell me, or I’ll maul you to pieces!” 

Jekyll dived for the world outside the window while a boulder-sized momma bear lunged from behind, grabbing at his heel and yanking a slipper off. Jekyll landed on the fire escape platform and whipped around, the grizzly bear too big to fit through the window.

She desperately tried to reach him with her razored claws and snapping jaw, while tears leaked from her bruised eye.

“Who took your daughter to the exhibit?” now that Jekyll was safe from her clutches, he felt a string of connection tying his case to hers. 

“You. You guys, the ones that work for that devil serpent!” 

“...Mr. Sogabe?” Jekyll questioned.

“You know him by name, you’re surely one of his! Bring her back to me!” Her claw could almost reach his, but her whole arm suddenly went limp, and her body slumped against the windowsill. 

“Huh?” Jekyll paused and stared at her, then poked his head in the window and spotted one of the crocodile guards holding a gun, and a tranquilizer planted firmly in the grizzly bear’s backside. He immediately retracted, but suddenly felt a searing pain on his arm; the bear was holding onto him with the last of her strength. 

“She’s... there. Bring her... back...my.. baby....” she mumbled as her jaw slackened and her body dulled with the tranquilizer’s serum.

“...I’ll try,” Jekyll told her, not knowing if it was already too late for the daughter.

As her mind sank into unconsciousness, she let go of him, and he slid down the fire escape, jumping the last few feet and rolling into a dumpster. 

“Agh!” Jekyll held his head and attempted to stand, brushing himself off. He briskly walked away from the hotel and soon noticed the absence of one shoe. 

“Damn!” Jekyll fished a cellphone out of his pochette and dialed a number, tapping his bare foot on the ground impatiently, “Horace, hey-“

“......” the silence at the end of the receiver was like water in a pot about to bubble up and spill over.

“I know you hate changing plans, but this hotel is a bust. We gotta move.”

“Sigh. Get in the car.”

“Car? What car-“

A black cab suddenly pulled up, and the tinted windows of the driver’s seat rolled down as a lemur with a ball cap and sunglasses gave Jekyll the thumbs down. Jekyll sprinted to the cab and flashed the lemur a sharp grin, “Bobby! It’s been a while, I see you’re still driving. How’s the wife?” 

“Don’t call me that,” the lemur pointed his index at the back seats, “Go sit.”

“But Bobby, you’ve never told me your real name, so how else am I going to address you?”

Suddenly, the back seat door was kicked open and a shiny Oxford shoe attached to a sleek pantleg stuck out of the car, connected to a well-dressed hawk with black-rimmed glasses. The hawk wore the most rancorous expression God could have dreamt up.

“Thanks for opening the door for me, Horace~” Jekyll slid into a seat next to the bird. Horace glared at him, pinched the bridge of his glasses and glanced down at Jekyll’s bare foot.

“Where is your shoe?” Jekyll squinted at him with suspicion. 

“It’s a long story, but I need a new pair, ASAP. Can we run to the store really quick-“

Jekyll ignored him and reached around to dig in the trunk, after thirty seconds pulling out a pair of high-heels. He plopped the stilettos on Jekyll’s lap with finality.

  Jekyll’s voice was low and serious, “No. we discussed this.”

“There is no time,” Horace said gravely.

“Please, you can’t make me do this. Horace, my friend!” Jekyll begged him.

“It’s the only way,” Horace turned his head, pity in his eyes.

Jekyll stared at the evil shoes in his lap, sweat running down his temple. His paws hesitated before giving into defeat and swapping out the shoes. His feet throbbed inside their new cages. 

“Are you boys finished playing husband and wife? We’re gonna be late,” the lemur spoke up from the front seat. 

“Yes, Bobby. Thank you,” Horace said.

“You, don’t call me that either.”

“So, Bo-“ Jekyll was about to say before Horace kicked him. 

The cab’s engine revved up and they sped off from the alleyway of the hotel towards an art exhibit nearby. The roads were clear and cherry blossom petals swayed in the wind and got stuck in their windshield wipers. 

“Fuckin’ hate spring, too much nature, crawlin’ with bugs,” the driver spat quietly to no one.

Jekyll had been staring with a fixed expression outside when Horace cleared his throat and caught his attention, “You mentioned a long story? Let’s hear it.”

“Oh, yeah. So, I’m fixing up my drag in the ladies room-“

“Why the hell were you in the ladies room, are you some kind of pervert?” Horace scowled.

“Should I have used the men’s room instead? with all this glitter?”

“Guess you’d have been a pervert, either way,” Horace exhaled.

“Exactly, now you’re getting it,” Jekyll smirked, patted Horace’s shoulder and stretched his legs out on the passenger’s seat.