Slappy shut the door behind him, checking to make sure it was firmly bolted, before making his way to his desk. With a sigh, he plopped down into his favourite padded swivel chair.
“This is so tiring…” he said to himself. Slappy rubbed his temples and tried to forget about all the stress he was under trying to become president of Toontown. When he had calmed down a bit, the duck reached under the desk to pull out his laptop and flipped it open. He was greeted by 3 new emails, two of which had subjects that seemed particularly interesting-- Phase 3 and Progress Report. Slappy clicked on the one titled Progress Report and began reading.
How are you coming along with the plan? You need to win this campaign for everything to work out. Charm those gullible toons so we can commence. M-172 has emailed you the instructions for what you must do when you get into office.
Reply back with estimates on your vote percentage,
CEO
Slappy quickly sent out an email in return saying he guessed he’d won over about 50% of the votes. He mentioned that some annoying rabbit was trying to pin him as a drug addict, but that no one could possibly believe her in the end. He was still trying to push another 15% at least to vote for him, and his most recent tactic-- promises of a brand new playground-- seemed to sway a few voters. None of the toons had even questioned his mention of it being in black and white. They had just run with the idea that it would be reminiscent of an old cartoon rather than assuming it had something to do with cogs.
The duck then turned to the next new message, Phase 3.
CEO should have forewarned you about this. Once you’re in office, first rule of business is not to let on that you’re working for us. Keep up your act. Slowly implement new ideas, starting with a new economic policy requiring shop owners to pay extra taxes directly to you and to regularly report in about their sales/work. We’ll be able to monitor them more closely without direct involvement that way. Try to encourage the owners to be competitive toward the other shops around them to stir up some tension within the community. Breaking the toons apart is essential so that they will struggle to band together later. Next, try to gather a group of loyal supporters that you think could potentially become traitors-- toons who will follow anything you say, even if it means helping us. Having turncoats on the front lines will make our ultimate attack far more successful, and with certain toons helping us, it could possibly persuade more to change their allegiance. Those fools love to fit in. Once you’ve completed these steps, contact us and await further instruction.
~M-172
Slappy breathed out slowly through a pursed beak. He could handle this. There was no turning back now, and this entire plan would run smoothly even if it was the last thing he’d do.
A sudden knock at the door interrupted the candidate’s thoughts. He quickly closed out his email and went to a page of childish toon games that he knew were popular, and got up to unbolt the door. A short red pig entered whom he recognized as one of the toons responsible for proofreading speeches and setting up campaign-related stuff. He couldn’t recall her name but figured it didn’t matter.
“Sir, I know you’re off right now, but… I think we need to chat.” She closed the door softly behind her without instruction from Slappy.
“What is it?” Slappy asked, walking back to sit at his desk and closing his laptop.
“There are some nasty rumors about you right now… And…”
“What are they saying now?” the duck sighed in exasperation.
“Some toons are saying you’re a cog.”
Slappy almost choked on air but managed to simply raise his eyebrow questioningly. Play it cool.
“Really? What makes them say that?”
The pig fidgeted for a minute before gulping and continuing. “Well, in your campaign speech the other day, you mentioned things like banking and… and your slogan, ‘Don’t be wacky’, seems a little anti-toon, don’t you think?”
“Oh of course not.” Slappy rolled his eyes. “Wackiness is nothing positive. Takes a complete nutter to vote for someone as crazy as Flippy, and we can’t have that sort of behaviour in our town if we want to excel.”
“Slappy… I think I believe the rumors. They just make sense, I mean--”
Slappy held up his hand to stop her.
“Don’t go buying in to such nonsense. I’m here to take care of Toontown and all its inhabitants. I’m definitely not a cog. A cog would never run for president; a cog would explode after being exposed to all of this fun.” He smiled encouragingly.
“Yes, but, what if you were working for the cogs? I mean I never thought a toon would be a traitor but it just makes so much sense.” The pig’s eyes narrowed as she gained confidence in her convictions. “And if that’s the case, we can’t have someone like that running Toontown!”
With a snarl, Slappy jumped up from his chair and slammed his hands down on his desk.
“I am no traitor!” he yelled.
“I doubt that,” the pig said. She reached back behind her and Slappy knew she was trying to take out a gag. He couldn’t let that happen. He was on edge already, and would not be able to handle being hit with the stupid junk toons played with.
Without a second thought, Slappy ran to the pig and slammed her against the wall.
“Maybe I am helping the cogs,” he seethed. “What’s a pathetic toon like you to do about it?”
The pig stuttered and tried to pull free from the duck’s grip. Slappy had been prepared for a time like this though. The cogs had given him an experimental piece of technology, and this was the perfect time to test it. Hopefully it worked.
He pulled out a small gear from his pocket and knocked the pig on the forehead with it. It stuck to her skin and began to make a whirring sound.
“What--” The pig’s voice was cut off and her eyes opened wide. Her mouth fell slack and she stopped struggling. Within a moment, all the confidence and joy seemed to drain from her features. Slappy stepped back as the gear seemed to fade until you couldn’t even tell it had been there just moments before.
“So, I’m helping the cogs. What are you going to do?”
There was a slight pause as the pig seemed to forget what was happening, but she soon spoke up.
“Don’t be wacky-- vote for Slappy,” she said in monotone.
Slappy grinned.
