The rear of City Hall was a hive of activity. True to his word, Mayor Fudd had placed every resource and facility at the Quackbusters' disposal.
Bugs loaded their gear into the Quackbuster Mobile while Sylvester and Porky charged the proton packs from the City Hall power supply. Daffy stood on the loading dock, conferring with a police captain and two officers.
The captain reported briskly that preparations were already underway.
"We've cleared out the whole Acme Arms Apartment building, we've shut down everything from 59th to 65th, and cordoned off 78th Street. I'm massing our own special tactics squad and the National Guard is on stand-by," he said.
"Better alert the Red Cross, too," Daffy suggested.
Daffy jumped down and joined the others. They donned their jumpsuits and ran a final check on their equipment. The proton packs were charged, the particle throwers primed. Now, it was up to them.
"Come on, let's run some red lights!" Daffy shouted.
At Daffy's command, the motorcade moved off through the gates of City Hall. With a vanguard of police outriders and three armored police cruisers and a U.S. Army Humvee, the Quackbuster Mobile sped uptown, strobes flashing and siren wailing.
Cars pulled over to let them pass while people on the sidewalks stood and gawped. Midtown Acme Acres had come to a halt. Soon, they were past Acme Circle and headed up Acme Park West.
The Quackbuster Mobile pulled up outside the Acme Arms Apartments building. The doors flew open and the Quackbusters leapt out.
Immediately, a roar erupted from the hundreds of humans and toons lining the street, held back by the police barriers. Groups of nuns, priests and rabbis had gathered and were praying for them. Every class, creed and color was there, cheering themselves hoarse as Daffy, ever the showman, clasped both hands above his head in the gesture of a contender going into battle for the big one.
"Hello, Acme Acres," he said. "Hello, everybody! Professor Bugs Bunny, would you please? The heart of the Quackbusters. Thank you. They love you. They love you," he told Bugs.
"Get 'em, Quackbusters!" screamed a bunch of girl groupies.
"Go get 'em!" yelled a bunch of heavily-tattooed punks with multi-colored hair.
And the cries echoed down the street, from a crowd, eyes wild with excitement.
"Quackbusters! Quackbusters! Quackbusters! Quackbusters!"
Bugs hauled out the weaponry from the back of the Quackbuster Mobile and the four toons buckled on their proton packs.
Keyed-up and ready to go, Daffy looks at his friends and said, "Okay, whatever happens, let's be professional."
As they turned and headed for the entrance, a flash of lightning from the temple rooftop cast a blinding light over the street. The building appeared to tilt, and the sidewalk under their feet shifted and reared up.
Suddenly, a crack zigzagged the length of the pavement and the four Quackbusters lost their balance and toppled into the crevasse.
A tense hush settled over the crowd. The dust slowly settled and cleared. Then a gloved hand clawed its way out of the concrete rubble and Bugs's beaming face popped out. A cheer rung out, and then another, as the Quackbusters, alive and kicking, climbed out of the pit.
"It's all right. Don't worry," Daffy reassured everyone. "We're fine. We can handle it. We can take it. They want to play rough? Let's do it!"
Raising their fists in gestures of defiance, they entered the building, the cheers and applause of the crowd ringing in their ears.
Over a dozen flights of stairs later, their defiance seemed to have deserted them.
"Where are we?" Daffy asked, heaving for breath.
"In the teens somewhere," Bugs replied.
"Well, when we get to 20, tell me," Daffy remarked. "I'm gonna throw up."
Gasping and coughing, they staggered from the stairwell into the corridor of the twenty-second floor, and sagged weakly against the walls.
"Art deco. Very nice," Sylvester commented.
"Where is it?" Daffy asked.
"It's at the end of the hall," Bugs replied.
Outside Lola's apartment they halted and stood in a shuffling circle, looking uneasily at the charred and blackened frame of the door.
Bugs gently pushed the door open. It fell off its hinges and crashed to the floor, revealing the scene of devastation within.
Cautiously, the Quackbusters entered the wrecked apartment. Shredded curtains fluttered in the moaning wind and through the space where there was once a wall. The furniture was swept into a jumbled, splintered heap in one corner.
One of the interior walls had been blasted away, and through the hole of crumbled plaster and brick was a stone stairway.
Sylvester stepped towards it, over the rubble.
"Hey, where do these stairs go?" he asked.
"They go up," Daffy said.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," the others thought.
"Go ahead," Daffy added as he slapped Bugs on the shoulder.
Bugs scowled. The same old Daffy Duck. Always last to go first.
Bugs squared his jaw and led the charge up the stairway. Close on his heels, the others charged up the stone steps, all four emerging on to the roof in time to witness the most incredible sight of their lives: the transformation of a female bunny and a male skunk into Tasmanian Devils.