Chapter Text
“C’mon… c’mon…!” The wheels of the slot machine spun at a dizzying speed, slowly coming to rest one row at a time “Theven…. Theven!.... THEVEN!!! YAHOO! JACKPOT!!!” bells from within the machine announced the win to the rest of the room as the green duck toon greedily scooped up the winnings that poured from the bottom of the slots.
This hot streak would really pay off, he just knew it! He’d never have to work another day of his life! He couldn’t wait to get home and see the look on her face when he showed his newfound wealth to-
*CLONG*
He walked beak-first into the cashbot’s back
“....Oopth.”
…
Lucky "Bucky" Ducky had always been quite an enigma. Some days he truly did live up to his namesake, betting and besting incredibly improbable odds that others would shy away from and profiting well from it; however, perhaps as a way of the universe balancing out on a cosmic scale, Bucky's days of impossible luck were almost always immediately followed by him finding himself in equally unlucky situations.
This pattern of luck was the root of his unfortunate gambling problem, winning big and then losing it all in a freak accident soon after. He’d win the lottery only to have to spend it all on medical bills when a cog building was dropped on top of him the next time he stepped out into the street.
He’d tried to stop once or maybe twice, but ah the thrill of the gamble always drew him right back in, always knowing that his Lucky Break was just around the corner and could strike at any moment was an addicting feeling!
It was this addiction that would lead to an even more unfortunate deal and the consequences that came with it.
…
"C'mon thith, jutht a few beanth is all I need!" Lady Luck rolled her eyes at her brother's pleading
"Why do you even need em, hm? I thought you 'hit it big' on your last little gambling venture?" "Well I uh, ran low on fundth while I wath working up to my hot thtreak tho I had to thorta borrow thome from thome fellath and they thaid if I didn't have the beanth to pay 'em back by tomorrow I'll hafta work off the debt inthtead!" The green duck wailed as if the very thought of work was poisonous to his being.
Lady shook her head, a disappointed frown crossing her face "Bucky, I'm not going to bail you out this time, it's about time you dealt with the consequences of your choices. You need to learn to be more responsible with your beans, I'm not always going to be there to get you out of every bad situation you make for yourself when you move out"
"But-"
"-you are moving out eventually Bucky, it's non negotiable. You can't live here forever, so it's high time you kicked the gambling habit, got a job at the gag shop, and got your life together!"
And that was that. Whatever mess her brother got himself into, he'd have to figure it out for himself for once.
…
Hours later, Bucky paced back and forth across the sidewalk outside of Predatory Loans and Banking Inc. "Oooohhhh… I owe those loan thharkth tho many beanth…" , desperately trying to figure out how to get enough beans before they-
"Mr. Ducky." A robotic voice spat, pulling the duck from his thoughts "You're here early. Am I to assume this means you have the funds for your repayment?"
A loan shark had just stepped out the door, now staring down at him.
Oh.
It was Mr. Jawson.
His creditor.
Oh no.
Bucky tugged at the collar of his shirt nervously "Well fellath you thee-"
"Ah, so that's a no then. Gentlemen, collect the collateral." The loan shark snapped his fingers and a pair of robber barons suddenly grabbed Bucky's arms, lifting him into the air where he could only flail his legs in a futile attempt to escape. His cries for help were drowned out by the buzzing of propellers as they took off towards the smoggy air of Cashbot HQ.
…
Everything was a blur, being carted across the sky, brought into a section of the HQ he’d never seen nor heard of before, and then unceremoniously thrown on the concrete floor in front of the COGS CFO. Jawson was already speaking with the massive suit as Bucky pulled himself up from the ground, mostly corporate jargon that went in one ear and out the other for the toon. Since all eyes were on the loan shark’s presentation, the duck assessed the situation.
Dozens of suits of all different types and levels ringed the edge of the room and watched the presentation with rapt attention, all cashbots save for what looked like a spin doctor for some reason? The air was thick, heavy, and stale like it hadn’t moved in weeks. The atmosphere was oppressive, and somehow gave the feeling he couldn’t just teleport outta here even if he wanted to.
“...And that brings me to the toon of the hour, Mr. Ducky.” Bucky tuned back in to the presentation as he caught his name “He’s a prime example of what I’ve been talking about, ah but before I forget…”
The shark waved dismissively towards the toon
“Confiscate his belongings”
“QUACK?!” the duck toon yelped as he was suddenly hoisted into the air by his leg and vigorously shook like a soda can, bits and bobs falling out of his pockets.
Some lint, a few beans, his portable hole, a cowbell that’d been rattling as they shook him, his schticker book, a single gray coin and two smaller brown coins, a paper clip, his gag pouch…
“Looks like that’s everything-” The robber baron who had him by the leg had started to say as the slew of items slowed, only to be cut off by one last clattering
His laff meter, the eyes reading 20/20.
It only took mere moments before a veritable hoard of penny pinchers came flocking around the items like vultures.
Or perhaps more accurately seagulls, the way they were squabbling over the small brown coins.
Either way, the floor was cleared of his stuff in seconds.
“Pathetic, nowhere near enough to pay off his debt. You see sir? Toons like this are the reason I believe we should give Project Repayment a chance, there’s simply no chance of recouping our losses if these toons don’t have assets we can claim, save for the toons themselves”
“So you say, but how could we even consider hiring a toon? Especially this one here, from what you’ve told me-” The CFO turned to face Bucky, who could only shrink under steely gaze. “-No drive, no passion, most importantly no work ethic! Bringing him on board, letting a toon run amok in our mints, it would only cause us to lose more than he owes!”
"Let us handle it sir, I promise you that Project Repayment can teach any toon the value of a good work ethic and make them into a model employee for COGS!" the spin doctor Bucky had seen earlier suddenly stepped forward, striding to stand next to Jawson in the center of the room.
The CFO looked skeptical, so the doctor continued “We can even put him on probation until you are 100% confident that our trial run was a success, desk work would be low risk in terms of losses but still allow our toony ‘friend’ here to begin repaying his loan”
The CFO took a moment ‘pacing’ the floor as he hummed in thought. Finally, the head of the department turned to face them, hands clasped behind his back. “Very well Mr. Jawson, Mx. Lestrange, if your project can make this toon profitable, we’ll consider it a success and look into funding for further research. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have another meeting to attend.”
As the head of the cashbots turned and left the room, Bucky heard Jawson flag down a money bags to “bring the subject to the R&D department” as the spin doctor (Mx. Lestrange?) grinned down at him with an air of unhinged joy and malice.
A smile that promised suffering.
A smile that shook Bucky to his core as he felt something strike the back of his head, and everything
went
dark.
…
His head swam, feeling like all the energy had been drained out of his body, it desperately made him want to run, find somewhere safe to hide away until he could recover.
He tried to open his eyes but was blinded by a glaring spotlight from above, forcing him to shut them again almost immediately. He tried to raise his arm to shield himself from the light, only to find his arms (and legs) were restrained against whatever metallic surface he was lying on.
After a few minutes, he got his head coherent enough to vaguely notice people talking somewhere nearby.
“I still can’t believe we got a real live toon subject for our experiment…”
“Even after we mechanize the guy who’s to say he won’t turn around and rat out our plans to the resistance?” one voice questioned
“Well that’s an easy fix really, a little memory editing here, a little removing there, and voilà! A hard-working suit driven to oppose the toons!” a second answered all too gleefully, too familiarly. He’d heard that voice recently.
“Of course, I would’ve loved to try out the experimental override on another subject, but unfortunately the boss thinks we’re ‘taking too many risks on this investment already’ so I couldn’t get the authorization” he could practically hear the sarcastic air quotes the owner of the second voice was making
“But won’t his name raise suspicion among the other employees? I highly doubt any self-respecting suit would have a name like that and it’ll make people ask questions. The more holes they can poke in his story the more likely he’ll figure out something doesn’t add up about his situation” a third voice, deeper, gravelly
“An even easier fix, just call the subject something similar enough that his toony little brain thinks it is his name! With the alterations in place any leftover memory he has saying otherwise will sound like it must simply be a mistake, misremembered.”
“And… what about this thing?” a fourth voice spoke up, timid, mousey almost
“Feh! Break it and throw it out somewhere, it’s not like the subject will have use for it anytime soon.” the second scoffed “Come now gentlemen, we have work to do.”
He felt the light above him being partially blocked by something and as he squinted he managed to catch a glimpse of a smile.
…
Buck caught a glimpse of a smile in the reflection of a shop’s window, causing him to pause and adjust his card dealer’s visor. He laughed as the motion knocked a few cards loose from… somewhere and sent them fluttering away into the wind.
He'd been working for COGS for… months? Years? Honestly it was hard to tell, his grasp on time had gotten a little loose after the "incident" with Brian left him “unstable”, HA! Either way it was high time he got a promotion, and “Buck Ruffler the Duck Shuffler, Street Manager of Toontown Central” sure had a nice ring to it!
He’d finally be facing off against the toons who were giving the company so much trouble, despite some initial hesitation from the higher-ups to put him anywhere outside of HQ, he was “too valuable an asset” to be on street duty apparently, but now he’d be sending any toon on the streets spinning!! In fact, he bet if he did a good enough job they’d give him a bonus! Wouldn’t that be great!?
Of course anything and everything he was earning was going towards paying off his debt to the company but surely he was close by now! Any day now surely! Then he'd be free to-!
….
To-...
Huh.
He didn't know.
Eh, if he forgot it probably wasn't important