"Sorry to have to do this to you kid," the bear's voice rang in Mike's head, as he once again stood at the intersection where Johnny got shot.
"No!" he shouted, jumping out of Johnny's jacket pocket, and diving in front of the gun to take the bullet. But just like before, the bullet missed him, and went right into Johnny; and the police weren't there, so Mike was the only one trying to stop the bleeding; which was impossible because of his small size.
"No," he muttered, seeing the blood drip from Johnny's mouth. "No. No. Johnny, please don't die. I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to get hurt."
Seeing Johnny's eyes start to slide shut, Mike panicked, and started to scream at him to wake up, and stay awake. But Johnny still slipped away, and the next thing he knew, he was in a cemetery, where Johnny's casket was being lowered into the ground. His dad crying while everyone else sang a farewell song, and Mike felt sick to his stomach just watching this.
"No," he muttered to himself, as he then found himself in an alley, surrounded by the bears, and Johnny's dad and uncles. "No, t-t-this isn't real. Johnny's going to be okay. He has to be."
"Mike..." Jewel's voice called. "Mike, wake up. You're having a nightmare."
Gasping, Mike snapped his eyes open, and sat up; looking around the hospital waiting room, and seeing some animals waiting to be looked at by a doctor, some walking around doin their jobs, and Ash and Meena sleeping beside him before he relaxed, and hugged his girlfriend.
"I know," she said, rubbing his back, as his tears soaked into her top. "Ash and Meena keep having them too."
"What's going on?" Meena asked, waking up from her sleep, and yawning hugely. "Is Johnny okay?"
"We don't know. He's still in surgery," Buster said, looking up at the TV again, and seeing the news report switch from Johnny getting shot, to one about his dad escaping from prison again. "Oh no."
~Meanwhile~
"Marcus, why are we stopping here?" Barry asked, as Big Daddy broke down the door to the garage they used to work, and live out of.
"We can't go see Johnny wearing our prison outfits. They won't let us in," he said, going to change out of his clothes.
Pulling a shirt out of his closet, he heard something fall to the floor behind him, and looked down to see he had accidentally knocked over a box of photos Johnny's mom took of them when they first had him since his late wife was a photographer. His favorite one being not one that she took, but one that Bob had taken because it was the night Johnny was born. The one where he and his wife shared a kiss while Johnny slept in her arms.
~Flashback: 17 years ago~
Idiot. Idiot. Idiot! Big Daddy thought, as he ran through the long, winding halls of the hospital. Why'd that damn elephant have to keep me so late?
Running up to the front desk, he asked the nurse where his wife was, and ran straight there when she gave him the room number; his wife laying in a hospital bed, looking very exhausted, yet very relieved that she had managed to give birth to a healthy baby boy.
"Marcus, how long are you going to stand in the doorway? Come over here and meet your new son," she said, ushering him over.
Approaching the bed, he sat down on the chair beside her, and gently pushed the blue blanket away from his son's sleeping face. His eyes filling up with tears as the baby gorilla in his wife's arms opened his eyes, and looked at him.
"Hey buddy," he said softly to him, as the tiny animal gripped his finger. "Hi."
"You can hold him of you want to," his wife said, letting him take the baby from her so he could hold him; but the second he cradled his son against his chest, he started crying and wanting his mom back.
"Wow," Barry commented. "He was born an hour ago, and he already hates you."
"At what point did 'one at a time' mean you two could come in?" he asked his brother, the doctor who had delivered his son telling them to go in one at a time.
"You took too long," he said, as Bob met his new nephew. "So, what are you going to name him?"
Oh crap, he thought, having not thought of a name for his kid.
"I was thinking...Johnathan," his wife said, as Bob continued to dote on his nephew; Johnny starting to cry because he wanted his mom back. "Okay Bob, you're not supposed to hold him like that."
"Let me hold him," Barry said, reaching to hold his new nephew.
Grabbing his son before either of his brothers could do anything stupid, Marcus sat down next to his wife again, and let Johnny take a hold of his finger again.
"I like that name," he said, as his wife rubbed Johnny's back. "My little Johnny boy."
Kissing his new son on the head, he placed a kiss on his wife's lips, and saw the flash of the camera through his closed eyes. The flash startling Johnny, and making him wail.
"Bob!" they both yelled.
~End Flashback: Present Moment~
"Marcus," Barry called, shaking his brother's shoulder, and breaking Big Daddy out of his thoughts. "Come on, Bob's waiting in the truck. We have to go."
"Right," he said, getting changed, and slipping the photo in his hand into his pocket. Following his brother downstairs to their old getaway truck, and driving to the hospital; keeping an eye out for the cops, and making sure they didn't break any traffic laws that would get them pulled over.
Pulling up to the hospital's entrance, Big Daddy and Barry jumped out so Bob could park, and ran inside; immediately asking the nurse if Johnny was okay.
"Sir, your son is still in surgery. You need to take a seat," she said, pointing to the empty chairs behind her.
Sitting down on one of the chairs behind him, Big Daddy let out a heavy sigh, and tried to keep from crying; his leg shaking up and down, as Bob came in and joined them.
"Marcus, you're biting your nails again," Barry said, as his brother started to gnaw on his fingernails; an old nervous habit that Johnny had inherited from him since they both did it out of stress.
Wow, this is really eating away at him, Meena thought, not paying any attention to Johnny's dad and uncles, but to Mike, who was gnawing on his shirt out of the anxiety that Johnny might not make it. Buster and Jewel going to get some coffee, and Ash still asleep beside her.
"Mike, stop doing that. You're going to chew a hole in your shirt," she said, pulling Mike's sleeve out of his mouth.
"Well, you can't expect me to keep calm when Johnny might die," he said, unaware that Big Daddy had heard him, and was already standing over him. "I can't even begin to think what his dad will do to me when he finds out. Do you have any idea what guys like him do to people like me when they find out I got their son shot"
"Uh...Mike," she said, staring right into Big Daddy's eyes as Big Daddy wrapped his hand around the white mouse, and squeezed him hard enough that Mike turned blue almost instantly.
"Can't...b-br-breathe..." he choked, trying to get out of Big Daddy's hold, as the angry gorilla brought him around to face him.
"You got him shot?!" he asked.
"I...didn't mean to...I need...air..." Mike gasped, his eyes about to pop out of his head before Big Daddy loosened his grip on him to let him breathe before squeezing him again.
"Um, s-sir. You're going to kill him," Meena said quietly, hiding behind her ears, as Big Daddy once again loosened his grip to let Mike breathe.
"Listen here buddy, either you tell me what happened. Or else I won't loosen my grip the next time," he said, as Mike panted. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir," Mike squeaked.
"Good," he said. "Now, tell me what happened. And maybe I won't kill you off too."
"I owed some bears a lot of money, and they came after me. Johnny tried to fight them off, but things escalated, and he got hurt. I told him to run, but everything happened so quickly. I didn't mean to get him hurt, I swear."
"What were their names?" he asked.
"What are you? Nuts? I'm not telling you that. They already tried to kill me twice," he said. "You want me to tell you their names, you're going to have to do your worst to me."
"Okay, but you asked for it," Big Daddy said, before he whistled, and brought over Barry and Bob. "You two should know what to do."
Giving Mike to them, he let Barry take a wooden paddle that Bob had in his back pocket, and tied Mike to it; using him as a paddle ball, as Buster and Jewel came back.
"Where'd Mike go?" she asked.
"Right there," Meena and Big Daddy both said, as Mike continuously got hit with the paddle, and flung forward before the elastic string he was tied with rebounded, and brought him back.
"Okay, okay, I'll talk. Just make them stop," he called, making Barry stop hitting him with the paddle.
"Spill it," he said, as Mike shook away the dizziness he felt.
"Their names are Roscoe, Victor, and Yakov. They're a group of Russian bear mobsters. But good luck trying to find them, the cops arrested them earlier when Johnny got shot."
"Oh really?" Bob said. "Then our return to prison should be interesting."
"Can you please untie me now?" Mike said, Barry untying him, and putting him down next to Meena, who was trying not to giggle.
"What's so funny?" Big Daddy asked before he looked at Mike, and bit his tongue to keep from snorting back a laugh; because Mike had gotten so scared when Big Daddy got a hold of him that he peed himself, and there was an obvious stain on his pants.
"Uh, Mike. Honey," Jewel said, seeing her boyfriend's predicament. "You may want to look down."
Looking down to see why she said that, Mike saw what he had done, and covered the stain with his hat before darting off to the nearest bathroom.