"What did you do to Gadget?" Dale asked, taking Shadow's collar the second they were all in Mittens' purse. The other Rangers seemed as angry as Dale.

"I hid her," Shadow said quietly and calmly. "So they couldn't catch her, too."

"So you could turn her in later and make a profit," concluded Chip.

"No," said Shadow, forcing Dale's paws off his collar, then retreating to the farthest side of the human-sized handbag. "I swear, I just didn't want her to get hurt."

The others looked surprised and distrusting. Dale said, "But you--"

"Shut up," said Shadow quietly. "She's a great mouse. The world needs her, more than it needs me. More than it needs any of us, it needs her."

This silenced the Rangers. Deep down, all of them kind of felt that way about Gadget, just as she felt that way about each of them. But none of them would ever say it aloud.

Finally, Monty said, "We've gotta get outta this bloomin' purse!" He tried to gnaw through the leather, but made no progress at all.

Zipper buzzed, and Monty nodded. "If we just had somethin' sharp..."

Suddenly, a mouse-sized kitchen knife landed in front of his feet. Monty looked over and guessed that Shadow must have thrown it, although the gray mouse had his back turned to the Rangers, and was crouched down, still as far from them as possible.

"Hey," said Chip, picking the knife up. "This looks like ours!" The chipmunk rushed over to Shadow and searched his pockets, coming up with all the Rangers' eating utensils.

"Thief!" shouted Dale.

Chip asked, "Why'd you steal this?"

Shadow didn't look up. "I was trying to warn Gadget that she and Dale were headed for a trap, so I went to your headquarters. But she was gone. I got mad, and I felt betrayed, so I stole your silverware. Isn't that what people steal from their friends' houses when they're desperate?"

After a few awkward moments, Monterey laughed heartily and slapped Shadow on the back. "Crikey! Mate, people steal silverware because the stuff's valuable! Why, our wooden forks and spoons aren't worth any more than an empty mousetrap!"

Shadow looked further down, and blushed uncomfortably. The other Rangers didn't seem nearly as amused as Monty.

"You were helping Fat Cat, and now you stole our silverware! You should be thrown in jail!" Dale yelled.

Shadow turned away. "I'm not helping anyone now. I'm sorry I got you guys trapped. If Gadget gets out of this, I'll never bother you guys again."

Chip and Dale exchanged confused glances.

After a moment, Monty extended his paw to Shadow, still amused at his thievery. "My name's Monterey Jack."

"I know," Shadow said shortly. "I'm Shadow."

"Hey!" Zipper buzzed, then squeaked to Shadow. The squeaks were gibberish to the gray mouse, but he could tell from the tone that he had been asked a question.

"Well?" Monty asked.

"I couldn't understand him," Shadow said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"He asked if you were the mouse who saved Gadget that rainy day."

Shadow was silent for a while. "Yes," he finally said. Chip and Dale looked over, surprised, and a bit relieved. They were now unsure if they should like Shadow or hate him. One thing was for sure, though--Gadget's heroic rescuer was a lot younger than they had thought he would be!

Shadow glared at the chipmunks. "Look, I'd like to know if you guys find a way out of here, but until then, leave me alone, all right?"

In reality, Shadow's words weren't meant to be mean; he was mostly afraid to befriend the other Rangers, because if he knew the animals he had given to be killed had personalities and were actually nice, decent creatures, he'd hate himself even more than he already did. The others had no way of knowing this, though, and thought he was just being rude. Finally, Chip took the knife and tried to cut through the purse. Though the blade didn't bend much, it also didn't make any progress.

"What's this purse made of, reinforced steel?" he quipped, though no one was even slightly amused by the comment. Finally,Chip gave up, both on trying to stay cheerful, and on getting out through the body of the purse. "I guess we'll have to try to escape when we get where we're--"

Chip stopped as he felt the purse being set down. In a second, the zipper at the top opened, just a little. A clawed paw caught Shadow and drew him out before the Rangers had a chance to even try to escape. The purse was closed soon after, leaving the Rangers trapped, though they could hear the conversation outside.

Shadow looked around and found himself in a small closet with Mittens. The room was lit by an uncovered light bulb in the ceiling. The mouse looked down and sighed. "Okay, Mittens," he said, with his eyes closed, shoulders drooped, and voice trembling. "Get it over with."

Shadow heard a loud thud near him, and could almost feel the ground beside him move. He looked up, and saw a fairly small, but very heavy-looking bag next to him.

"What is that?" Shadow asked.

"Your gold," shrugged Mittens. "You *did* deliver four of the Rescue Rangers, and I don't think that should go unrewarded."

"But...Fat Cat..."

"No one trusts someone who lies all the time, and I would like to be trusted. I have no reason to kill you, Shadow. Take your gold and start a new life."

Shadow tried to lift the bag, but had a lot of trouble--he suspected he'd have to drag it out of the room. He paused.

"What about the others?"

"The Rescue Rangers? Well, they haven't wronged me directly, but...I don't suppose you've heard of the dramatic genius Sewernose de Bergerac?"

The Rangers inside the purse cringed, but Shadow shook his head.

"He's an alligator. A bit eccentric, but a performing genius who taught me all I know of acting. He grew up under this very theater, hearing the voices of humans so much, his very voice can be understood by them! Can you imagine the potential? What this could mean for animal performers as a whole?"

"Uh..no," Shadow said.

"The respect they'd earn, the fact that they might someday be treated as equals--"

"Oh."

"Anyway," Mittens continued, "I have great respect for the alligator. I would love to act with him, or even see him in a performance. But he has gone into a deep depression, since the Rescue Rangers forced him off the stage. So I've decided to deliver the Rescue Rangers to Sewernose, so that he may regain his self-esteem."

Shadow replied, "So he'll eat them?"

"I don't care what he does with them," Mittens answered. "I just wish for him to regain the confidence to go on stage again! Now, Shadow, it's been enjoyable talking with you, but I can't imagine that you'll want to be around to meet him."

"No," said Shadow. "I guess not." Shadow lugged the bag of gold out the door, which was open just a crack. He leaned the bag against the wall next to the door frame, then sat on it, trying to think of a plan to rescue the others. He had tried not to like them--in fact, he still wasn't too fond of them--but they were Gadget's friends, and he didn't want to see them (and, by extension, *her*) hurt.

"Shadow!" Shadow looked up and saw Gadget--sort of. The orange-haired mouse was wearing a white t-shirt, and a pair of pants that were half rolled up, plus she had some grease on her fur. Still, she was unmistakably Gadget; the harpoon gun in her hands would have assured him of that, no matter what she looked like.

"Gadget?" Shadow whispered, standing up.

"Did you find my friends?"

Shadow nodded, pointing at the door. "They're in there, in Mittens's purse. She's gonna give them to...Sewernose?"

"That's where I knew this building from!" Gadget exclaimed. "His home is underneath, in the storm drains!" She carefully peered through the doorway, taking in the situation. Finally, she turned to Shadow.

"I've got an idea. I'll distract Mittens, and you can free the others."

Shadow looked concerned. "What if she catches you?"

"Don't worry," Gadget said. "Just save my friends."

Shadow hesitated, then nodded uncomfortably. Gadget smiled at him.

"Okay, as soon as she goes after me, get the others out."

Shadow swallowed nervously, but readied himself, and watched Gadget.

The inventor walked into the small closet, aiming her harpoon gun. Mittens saw her almost instantly, and Gadget ran to a far corner of the room, so that Shadow could get in unnoticed, then shot her harpoon. The dart banked off each wall of the closet before striking Mittens on her still-bandaged nose. Meanwhile, Shadow pulled the purse down on its side and unzipped it, then hurriedly led the others out of the room.

Mittens took a few seconds to pull the suction cup from her nose. Gadget ran away, but tripped, her foot caught in the rope that was attached to the suction cup. Mittens caught the mouse and tied her with the string from the harpoon gun..

"I knew you'd come for them," Mittens smiled, still holding Gadget by the string. "And I knew you'd fail. Now there's nothing to do but wait."

Outside, Gadget's friends were very nervous.

"We can't let her give Gadget t' that nutty alligator!" said Monty, looking ready to storm into the room and take on Mittens singlehandedly. "We've gotta--"

"Hide!" Shadow whispered urgently, and he ducked behind a bucket near the door. To his surprise and amazement, the others listened, and followed him. They quickly saw what Shadow had seen--an alligator, wearing a black mask, a red coat, and wielding a sword. Chip realized the animal hadn't taken off the outfit he had been wearing the night he had substituted for Clarence Dudley in the opera. He was also wearing two hand puppets. He entered the closet, and, to the dismay of the concerned onlookers outside, closed the door.

"How can we get in now?" asked Dale, kicking the door in frustration.

"Not a problem," Chip said. "This almost worked another time! If we stand on each others' shoulders, we can reach the doorknob--"

"What are you talking about?" asked Shadow. "Look, we're all three or four inches tall, right? So, even if we stood on each other's heads, we'd only add up to about a foot! Even if we were twice as tall, we'd only make it about two feet, and I've never seen a human's doorknob that low in my life!"

The escaped Rangers exchanged confused looks.

"Wonder what that was all about," Monty mused.

Inside the closet, Sewernose smiled eagerly at Mittens. "You said you had a gift for me?"

"Yes," said Mittens, "I--"

"A gift?!" a feminine voice squeaked enthusiastically. Sewernose looked at the puppet on his right hand. When the Rangers had taken his opportunity to shine onstage, they had also robbed Sewernose of his two companions, Euripides and Voltaire. It had taken a while, but Sewernose had finally made some new friends, though he named them after fictional characters instead of actual playwrights, to show his disillusionment with the outside world. His first puppet, a woman with long red hair and a blue dress, continued. "A gift for the greatest actor ever?"

"Oh, dear Ophelia," Sewernose smiled. "You are so good to me."

"Which is more than you deserve!" cried the other puppet, who had wild blonde hair, and wore a tattered brown outfit. "This is the *worst* actor I have ever seen--"

"You dare to contradict the lady, Caliban?" Sewernose frowned, bringing his teeth near the puppet on his left hand.

"No, no, sir, it's just--"

Sewernose reprimanded the errant puppet with his tail, then turned to Ophelia.

"You are as brave as the heroes you play onstage!" she cried.

"Why thank you."

This show actually entertained Mittens, though Gadget spent the whole act just trying to wriggle out of her ropes. Finally, Sewernose gently set Ophelia down, and knocked Caliban off of his paw with his tail.

"Now, you say you had a gift for me?"

"A five-piece set," Mittens smiled, showing Gadget to Sewernose. "The vermin who ruined your excellent performance! I trust disposing of them shall prove a catharsis, and help you to overcome your acquired stage fright? The others are in my handbag."

Sewernose looked surprised, then eager. "Mittens! This is the finest gift one could give an actor! The critics shall be at my mercy!" He went over to the purse and looked inside. When he turned his face towards Mittens again, it looked very angry.

"You lied to me!" he noted.

"What?" Mittens asked, surprised.

"The purse is empty!"

"WHAT?" MIttens asked again. She glanced at Gadget. "You must have let them out!"

"I do not enjoy being lied to," Sewernose said, drawing nearer to Mittens. "But I shall have my meal, one way or another."

Mittens drew back, then quickly picked up Ophelia and put the puppet on her paw. In a high voice, she said, "Please don't hurt her! She is one of your biggest fans, as well as a student, dear Sewernose!"

The alligator drew back, then took both his puppets. "Very well, Mittens," he said. "For Ophelia's sake, I shall spare you. Though I do not believe I shall be making my comeback any time soon." He left the room and, before the rodents outside had a chance to sneak in, slammed the door. Sewernose muttered, "Perhaps I'll become a writer instead."

"Tell the world of your tragic story!" Ophelia exclaimed enthusiastically.

"No," Caliban argued. "It would probably only be made into a silly cartoon episode anyway."

The others were relieved that Gadget hadn't been eaten by the alligator; Zipper had watched the events through the keyhole. Their relief quickly left them, though, as they heard Mittens say, "I usually don't kill my own food, but after what you did to me, Gadget, I shall make an exception."

"How can we get in there?" Zipper asked, panicked. No one seemed to have any ideas.

Shadow looked around and saw a little girl, probably less than twelve, with brown hair and blue eyes, standing nearby. She was dressed in rags, and had a dirty face, though, upon closer inspection, the 'dirt' was really stage makeup. He suddenly realized the girl was an actress in the play the theater must be putting on. Remembering the nice people from the church, he got an idea.

"Quick, does anyone have a pencil?" he asked.

"I have a crayon," Dale said, reaching into his shirt. As soon as he saw the green stick, Shadow snatched it and wrote 'HELP!' in two-inch tall letters on the back of a script. He yelled loudly, trying to get the girl's attention, though his voice was nothing more than squeaks to her.

The young actress looked over, and gasped uncomfortably upon seeing a mouse. Fortunately, she also took the time to read the note. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Shadow wrote, "My friend's in there and a cat's going to eat her! Save her!" He then pointed wildly at the closet door, going so far as to jump up and down.

The girl looked surprised, but nodded, and opened the closet door. She went in and picked up Mittens by the scruff of her neck, as if she had experience with cats, then took an unharmed Gadget out of the cat's jaws. She set Gadget gently on the ground, where the other Rangers quickly hugged her and made sure she was all right.

"What should I do with the cat?" the girl asked. Mittens hissed at the girl, who was unfazed. "She's not nearly as nice as Spunky is."

Upon hearing the name 'Spunky,' the Rangers all looked at each other, but shrugged it off.

Shadow very nearly wrote "Kill her," but decided that wasn't a good thing to tell a little girl to do. He finally wrote, "Put her in a box, then take her to the pound after the show."

The girl nodded. "Why can you write?"

Shadow paused for a moment. He didn't want the whole world to know that animals were intelligent. "It's our secret," he finally wrote. "Don't tell anyone, OK?"

The girl pondered for a moment. "I guess you're just special," she answered. Shadow smiled and blushed.

"What's your name?" the girl continued. "I'm Mandy."

The Rangers looked surprised, and laughed, realizing that she was the girl who had come to the police looking for her cat, and thereby initiated one of their very first cases. Shadow just looked confused, then frowned, and wrote his name for Mandy.

The girl nodded. "You'll come visit me sometime, won't you, Shadow?"

Shadow looked up at the cheerful, expectant face of the girl, and found himself writing "Yes." After a second, he looked up at Mandy and wrote "Thank you."

The girl bent down and gently patted Shadow's head with her finger a couple times. The gray mouse didn't even mind.

"Mandy! We're about to start!" an insistent voice yelled, though the man who possessed the yell was nowhere to be seen.

"I gotta go," Mandy whispered to Shadow. She turned to go, then turned back and picked up the written-on script. Hugging it close to her, she said, "Bye!" and rushed off, holding both the script and Mittens.

Poor Shadow's face was a bright magenta by now, though he seemed almost happy in his embarrassment.

"Golly, Shadow, that was brilliant!" Gadget exclaimed. She rushed over to Shadow and hugged him. Shadow's face went from bright magenta to neon pink. He looked down as Gadget drew back.

"I didn't *do* anything. I just got you out of the mess I got you into."

"But y' proved whose side you were on!" said Monty. "How'd you know that little Sheila wasn't gonna make you her pet?"

Shadow shuddered. "But ...I had to help Gadget."

All the Rangers, even Chip and Dale, smiled at Shadow, who was made a bit uncomfortable by all this positive attention.

"Uh, I'd better be going," he said, his cheeks now cooled down to a dull pink color. He struggled to sling his heavy bag over his shoulder.

"You're gonna keep that?" asked Dale.

Shadow shrugged his free shoulder. "It's my money."

The others looked a bit surprised. Gadget looked back at her friends. "Guys, would you mind if I talked with Shadow for a little while?"

Chip and Zipper nodded, while Dale and Monty shook their heads.

Gadget asked, "Does that mean you do mind? Or that you don't mind? Because when someone asks if someone minds something, they can say yes to mean it's okay, or yes to mean it's not okay, so you might as well not ask at all, because--"

"Just go!" the other Rangers said in unison.

Shadow glanced at Gadget, then cautiously put his bag down, casting an almost suspicious look at the other Rangers. "Can you guys watch this for me?"

"Sure," Monty said.

Shadow looked at the bag one more time before following Gadget.

"Where are we going?" he asked once they were out of sight of the others.

"Someplace quiet," Gadget answered. "I just wanted to ask you a couple things."

"Oh."

Gadget stopped walking, and leaned against a dark backstage curtain. Shadow did the same, beside her.

"Why'd you take that gold?" she asked.

"Mittens gave it to me. I couldn't turn it down; she would've been suspicious."

"That's not what I meant, Shadow, I mean, it won't help you escape your life. We're mice; we don't need money, remember?"

Shadow sighed, then looked up. "You'll think I'm nuts, but I want to buy my groceries."

Gadget was a bit surprised. "I...don't think you're crazy, but I don't understand."

"I don't like eating garbage, and to me, stealing is stealing. I can't differentiate between stealing bread, stealing a woman's engagement ring, or even taking from other mice."

"But it's not stealing if it's what you need to live."

Shadow nodded. "Except I can't think that way, like you guys can. But if I pay for what I take, I won't have to steal from anyone. Don't worry; I'll try to help those other mice get out of the gutter, once I've got things figured out."

"What else are you going to do?" asked Gadget.

Shadow shrugged. "Maybe catch a showing of this play sometime; that girl Mandy'd be impressed if I told her I'd seen her performance."

Gadget laughed quietly, then sobered. "You have a place to stay?"

"I'll find one."

"You could always stay with us for a while, if you need to."

Shadow smiled half-heartedly. "You'll know I'm really desperate if I do that, all right?"

Gadget frowned. "If you ever need anything..."

Shadow grinned. "Now you're sounding like a mom! Don't worry about me, Gadget. I might come over sometime just to talk, but I don't need any more help than that. I've gotten by on a lot less help than that."

Gadget nodded. "OK, one more question."

"Go ahead."

Gadget paused. "Why'd you save me all those times?"

Seriously, Shadow said, "I really admire you. You're very talented, and also one of the kindest mice on the planet." He continued, "When Fat Cat hired me, I made myself hate the other Rangers--I'm still not too fond of them--but I couldn't hate you. I couldn't bring you to him with the others; I didn't want to see the look on your face when you realized you were going to be eaten. That's why I hooked up that laptop to shock you. I figured it'd knock you out, and I could take you to Fat Cat's. Except I couldn't..."

Throughout Shadow's monologue, Gadget had her mouth open in surprise.

Shadow frowned and looked down. "After all that...can we possibly still be friends?"

After a moment, Gadget smiled at him. "Promise you won't take on any more hit man jobs?"

"I promise," Shadow smiled sincerely.

Gadget put a paw on his shoulder, smiled widely, and stood up straight. "Okay, we'll be friends." she said. "Now I guess we should be getting back, then--"

"Gadget? Thanks for trusting me," Shadow said quietly.

"Sure," Gadget smiled, then whispered, "I'm glad I did."

They walked back to where they had left the other Rangers. "Hey!" shouted Shadow as soon as he saw them. His bag of gold was open, and Dale had his head inside it.

"Guys!" Gadget added. Shadow pulled Dale out of his bag by the collar.

"Kid, you've got enough gold in there t' buy your own cheese factory!" Monty said, amazed (and exaggerating).

Chip added, "You really should give it to the police."

Shadow shrugged, slinging the bag over his shoulder again, with quite a struggle. "Don't worry, Chip. I'll take good care of the gold. I should be able to buy a lot of groceries with it." He waved at the Rangers with his left hand, looking at Gadget. "I'll see you guys later." He slipped Gadget a piece of paper, and, without another word, he left.

Gadget looked at the paper.

'Three parts strawberry juice, one part nutmeg.'

The recipe! Gadget grinned.

"Groceries?" Chip, Dale, Zipper, and Monty all said doubtfully.

Gadget sobered, and looked off in the direction Shadow had left, though he was no longer visible. "Guys, I hate to say it, especially after he almost got us killed, but I think Shadow's kind of more honest than any of us."

Gadget's teammates laughed, obviously not believing her for a second, and Gadget didn't push the issue. Maybe she'd explain to them someday, when Shadow had proven himself to them. Or maybe she was wrong--it did seem kind of silly to do dishonest work so you could stop stealing. Maybe everyone had to find their own way to deal with life...as long as Shadow lived honestly now, it would be okay. Anyway, Gadget suspected that the Rangers had made a valuable friend and ally, one who was just discovering the joys of helping others and doing good in the world.

Or, at the very least, Gadget had found a fan.

THE END

(Note from the author: I have NO IDEA what great quantites of nutmeg may do to your pets, so don't try it! 'Kay?)

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