The short, slightly chubby rabbit entered Leroy's Tavern to be immediately assaulted by the smell of tobacco and beer, not to mention the shouting and laughing of the various customers and the unusually bouncy tune coming from the paino in the back.

Leroy's was a seedy, sleazy waterfront bar, where grime and underhanded opportunity are found along with a variety of thieves, cutthroats, and vagrants come to get drunk really fast. Back when he was still a mailman, Jack Case would've avoided Leroy's like the plague unless, by some stroke of bad luck, he'd been forced to deliver a package there. Now, though, it was the first place he went after the airfield, drugstore, and the boarding house, after setting foot in Cape Suzette for the first time in five years.

Pausing on the landing, he he winced as he felt another headache coming. Reaching into the pocket of his rented, cheap, but expensive-looking suit jacket and removed a small bottle of pills he'd gotten from the drugstore. He took two tablets from the bottle, chewed them and swallowed them, and then put the bottle back into his pocket.

Leroy, if Jack recalled, was the enormous moose standing behind the bar, an imposing individual with an eyepatch and one broken-off antler. Gathering his courage, and turning the collar of his jacket up, Jack approached the bar. Leroy was in the middle of pouring a drink for a thoroughly intoxicated-looking mouse, who upon receiving his mug of beer shambled away from the bar, sloppily consuming the beverage. Leroy took instant notice of Jack, and after eyeing him said, "What can I get ya?"

Jack swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. "Actually, I don't want a drink. You're Leroy, right?"

"That's right," the moose said. "Now, if ya don't want a drink, then what do ya want?"

"Well, uh, I've come seeking some help with... something." Leroy raised an eyebrow at this, so Jack leaned in and whispered, becoming calmer the more he spoke. "I've heard stories about your establishment are true. Word around the block is, you're frequented by a number of, shall we say, disreputable individuals looking for work?"

Leroy's manner changed instantly. He looked left, then right, and then signaled for a large hyena to come over. "Jimmy, take care of the bar for me for a sec. I've gotta talk some business with long-ears here."

The hyena, Jimmy, nodded, and Leroy motioned with a sideways jerk of his head for Jack to head towards the back of the bar. Nodding, Jack did so, Leroy following, the bar separating them until Leroy reached the end, lifting the hinged portion of the countertop and stepping out. He and Jack walked to a door at the back, and the moose opened it, stepping inside. Jack followed and Leroy closed the door. The rabbit found himself in a small, messy office.

Leroy sat on the edge of his large desk. He said, "So, what's the gag?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jack, genuinely confused.

Leroy laughed. "You don't exactly look like the sorta guy who'd wanna hire 'disreputable individuals', as you so smoothely put it," he said. "Whaddaya do for a livin'?"

"I'm a mailman," Jack said matter-of-factly.

Leroy furrowed his brows and chuckled. "On second thought, maybe you are the type. But you sure don't look it. Anyway, business is business, right? Now, I ain't gonna ask you for your name or nothin' like that, or even why you wanna to hire some goons-"

Jack held up a finger. "Now, I never said 'goons'."

Leroy continued as if Jack hadn't spoken. "-all I'm gonna ask is, what's in it for me? I mean, pointin' a guy towards the services of half the guys out there ain't exactly legal, so, uh, I'll just ask for a small finder's fee, as it were." He brought his hand up, rubbing his fingertips against his thumb.

Jack sighed. He was expecting this, but hoping against it. Reaching inside his jacket he pulled a wad of bills out and handed them to Leroy. The moose grinned widely and thumbed through the cash for a moment, silently counting.

"I basically need a couple of strong backs with small brains," Jack was compelled to add.

After "flipping" the bills with his thumb for effect Leroy stuffed them into his pants pocket. Wordlessly, he got up off the desk and walked to the office door, opening it.

Pointing out the door, he said, "You see those guys at that table there?" Jack joined him at the door, following the direction his finger was aimed in. He saw two large, muscular canines, a bulldog and a hound of some breed, sitting at a table talking and laughing. Jack nodded to indicate he saw them, and Leroy said, "I think they'll suit your needs just fine. But they don't come cheap."

Jack nodded again, glumly. He hoped he had enough money left to pay for the services of mercenaries. He asked, "So, uh, what do I do?"

"You really are new at this, ain't ya?" said Leroy. "Just walk up to 'em, and if they don't knock your lights out on sight, just tell 'em Leroy sent ya. That should get ya started. The rest is up to you, my friend."

With that, he shooed the rabbit out of the office, shut the door behind them, and returned to the bar. On his own, Jack gulped nervously. Especially when that drunken mouse he'd seen earlier stumbled a little too close to the table of the two Leroy had indicated, spilling some of his beer into the lap of the bulldog. Balling up his fist, the bulldog punched the mouse viciously in the snout, knocking him flat on his back. Jack approached, cautiously stepping over the unconscuous drunkard, and stood before their table. He cleared his throat.

They turned to look at him, glaring. "What do you want, bunny-boy?" the hound said, threateningly."

Quickly, as though his life depended on it, and it probably did, Jack replied, "Leroy sent me."

The two canines blinked, looked at one another, and grinned. As with Leroy before, Jack observed, their attitude towards him changed the instant they realized there was something to be had. With his foot underneath the table, the bulldog pushed a chair out for Jack and said, "Have a seat, buddy, and we'll talk business."

This was it. The moment of truth. If he went through with this, there'd be no turning back. Sudden, unbidden memories of falling from the Sea Duck, of five years in a dank, cold cell, of interrogations at the hands of the Thembrian guards... and Jack sat down, scooting the chair up to the table. He looked back over at Leroy, who was behind the bar again, and the moose nodded to him.

Turning back and leaning forward and grinning for the first time in a long time, he lent his elbows on the tabletop and steepled his fingers before his face, and said, "Do let's."