"Tell us everything you know or I'm going to shove your head into the oven and turn you into a pie!" Quentin stood with a flashlight burning directly into what he assumed was Claws' eyes.

Chip interjected, pulling the black cat away from the tied up Toon and shook his head. "You're coming on way too strong. You're just fanning their anger. I know that your job involves a lot of yelling and commanding, but this isn't your job. This is mine. Let me handle it." the brown monkey wandered over and knelt in front of the orange cat, whom they had put into an upright position into the lobby chair. "Claws. I'm sure you're pretty well aware of where you are. I don't need to remind you that you have absolutely no leverage here. Now, like I have said before, we do not wish to cause you any harm."

"Speak for yourself!" Quentin shouted from behind Chip, tossing the corded phone end back and forth in his hands, and then swinging it like a baseball bat.

Turning back, Chip shrugged. "Ignore him. Now, we know that Funny Farms is up to something. I'm not sure what that is, but I'm sure that you do. Now, we just want to get our friends and go home. You won't see us anymore. You go about so skulking the hotel lobby. Where are they taking the missing Toons? Why do they need them?" Claws didn't speak. Chip wasn't even able to read any facial expressions, as the pumpkin lay bare attached to Claws neck. "Listen, Claws. If you don't start giving us the information we need, I'll just let Quentin over there direct your lines. If that happens, well then I'm just powerless to whatever happens."

"You two will be punished for your actions." Claws responded. His words slithered off his tongue like a snake, a quiet hiss that sent chills through the pair of Toons. "You are powerless to stop us now. Maybe you can beg for your pathetic lives and hope that He spares you. Death will be but a wish for you two at that time."

"Oh shut up. You and your cult here are in for a lot of trouble. Let me tell you something. My name is Quentin Tarintoono. When Toontown realizes that I am gone, an entire army will be sent here to look for me. You backwater slugs will have no chance! We aren't going to play nice anymore, now you better speak up!" Quentin dropped the phone and pushed his face just inches away from Claw's. So close his breath reflected off the tough outer exterior of the orange fruit.

Claws guffawed and wiggled around a bit. "Your status means nothing. You will wake in the shadow of Him, and beg for your life. Armies will fall in his presence. You will know His true power. You have made a grave mistake in betraying Him. Nothing you say will lead me to betray Him. I have been immortalized by His love."

Before Chip could respond, the young hot-headed cat rushed his counterpart. Swinging his fist, he landed a direct hit to the upper middle of where he expected Claws' face to be. half-expecting his hand to burst through the hard flesh and into the soft, gooey inside, Quentin was terrified as his hand was stopped in place, and the orange sphere he had struck went flying off of Claws' body, crashing into the ground and shattering into a slimy, seedy mess. Both Toons stared as the orange cat's arms swung around, grabbing where their head should be. "Quentin, what the heck did you do? Where is his head? Did you just literally knock his head off?"

"I don't know man! His arms are still moving! Come on! Maybe it's tucked into his shirt?" the unshakeable Quentin was even unsettled by what he was seeing.

"It sure doesn't look like it!" Chip walked over and patted Claws' uniform. The orange cat grabbed his arm and began pulling down Chip as hard as he could, to no avail. "Look at this. It is like he's alive, but... but how is that possible?"

Quentin paced the room and shook his head. "Listen, monkey. We just need to get out of here and forget about all of this. This is way more than I asked for. I just wanted to come here and direct my next masterpiece! I'm getting out of here while I can!" the desperate cat made a beeline for the door but was cut off by Chip who blocked the door, outstretching his hands and legs to create a barrier.

"Didn't I just tell you what was out there! I just dragged you to safety and now you want to run right back into danger? Lord, think about things for a minute! Let's just say you go out there! What's next? You're just going to walk six hundred miles back to Toontown? You'd be a dead Toon walking. That's if you even made it out of town. Funny Farms is small but it is pretty dense. Someone would see you eventually! Can you just calm down for a second. Listen, this isn't even the weirdest thing I've seen today. Anything you see out there? Yeah that's going to be way worse."

"How do I know you're not just one of them? This could easily be a classic bait and switch! Setting me up? Do you think I am an idiot? Back away monkey, just let me do what I am going to do. If anything happens to you, it doesn't affect you! I'll take my chances!"

Chip shook his head and held his ground. "You want to know why I care? Because I'm getting paid to bring you back! I promise, it isn't out of some sort of moral play. Listen, if you walked out that door and I still got paid? Not a fur off my back. But you're costing me a lot of money if you show up dead. Same with all of those other Toons. Now, I would prefer you cooperate, but I will not be afraid to give you the Claws treatment if I have to..."

Furrowing his brow, Quentin tilted his head and nodded. "Well look at you. In this for the money. Well I guess you're not any better than me. Don't be a yellow belly though! Just remember, I'm not here to help. I'm here to survive. I'll sacrifice you in a heartbeat, okay?" the black cat walked back over and studied Claws. The concierge struggled to free himself. "Well it looks like there's no head attached. How was that pumpkin working. He could clearly talk and see us."

"Hmm. I wonder what happens if we put something else on there?" Chip pondered aloud, walking around the room and searching. "What about this?" Chip bent down and picked up a magazine that had fallen on the floor earlier.

"Why would that work? That looks nothing like a head. What about that globe over there? It's round. It makes more sense." Quentin pointed to an area behind the reception desk. "Worth a shot?"

Dropping the magazine, Chip grinned. "Look at you. Helping already. See what we can do when we work at friends?"

"Don't call me your friend." Quentin snapped back.

"Alright. See what happens when we work as buddies? Is that better?" Chip joked as he waddled behind the desk. Reaching up onto a shelf just out of reach, he stretched out as high as he could. "Ugh. I'm not tall enough to reach it. Here, you're taller than me, can you grab this?"

Sighing, Quentin threw his arms up. "I guess that I'll do this too. This is the most work I've ever had to do on set." the young cat walked over to join Chip. Reaching up, he easily nabbed the globe, pulling it downwards to him. As soon as the small world was off its perch, the ground around the two Toons began to rumble. The duo looked around confused. Suddenly the bookshelf began to slowly rotate, opening a large hole in the wall. A sudden blast of chilly air slapped the pair of Toons as a large corridor. The walls were lined with unlit torches, and the cobblestone stairs stood out compared to normal hotel lobby flooring. Neither Toon was unable to say anything. Looking at each other, both stumbled over their tongues and looked back at Claws who was still shifting back and forth. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think I want to see what happens when we put that globe on his head." Chip shrugged. Ignoring the large corridor in front of then, the pair walked over to their detainee and angled the small plastic sphere. "How do you put a head on somebody?"

"I don't know. I'm a director, not a doctor. Just shove it on." Quentin bumped Chip out of the way and grabbed the globe. "Just let me do this." Standing in front of Claws he closed his eye and stuck out his tongue. "Full steam a-head! Get it, a-head?" Chip slapped his forehead at the pun. Quentin lifted the globe over his own head and crashed it down onto the orange cat's neck and to both Toons' surprise... nothing happened. The globe rolled right off and smacked onto the floor. "Well, that was pointless."

Chip shrugged. "Well it was worth a shot I guess. Well do you want to check out the corridor then?"

"Do I want to go down into this potentially dangerous. dark, dreary dungeon? Not really. But I know you're going to drag me down there anyways, so I might as well go with." Quentin walked over and picked up the globe. "Might as well bring this with me. I guess I can hit somebody with it or something."

"Alright. Well just follow behind me. Stay quiet, we don't know what's down there." Chip whispered as he reached in and grabbed his flashlight. Clicking it on, he leaned against the edge of the wall and scanned as far down the stairway as he could. "Looks fine so far, come on." The duo entered the damp hallway and tiptoed down the stairs. The further they entered, the colder it got. Chip's teeth chattered as he braced himself, pulling his free arm into his shirt and held it to himself for warmth. Turning his head he double checked that Quentin was still following him. "I never took you for a punny type. What was that all about?"

The black cat had followed suit and had pulled his arms into his shirt, shivering and covering his face with the collar of his shirt. "When I was in film school I used to want to direct comedies. However I soon discovered that comedies pander to the lowest common denominator, so I decided to go away from it. A true director should film drama."

"Um, okay then." the two stayed silent until they reached the very bottom of the staircase. The stony floor was almost unbearable to step foot on. Both Toons would walk with almost a hop-skip as they ventured through the darkness. "Hey, Quentin. I just realized something. Didn't you say that you were taken down into a basement/dungeon type thing? Maybe this is it?"

"Doesn't look like it. This is too spaced out. The room I was in was pretty tiny. Plus I don't smell my cologne." Quentin responded, quietly.

Sniffing the air, the brown monkey stepped on his tippy-toes. "Now that you mention it, it kind of smells like copper don't you think?"

"Copper? I guess." kneeling, Quentin smelled around the room. "It gets a bit stronger over here." Quentin pointed over to a branching tunnel to their corner.

"Wait a minute..." Chip closed his eyes. "Copper. Copper. Why is that familiar?" the brown simian pinched his forehead. "Copper! Blood!" the echoes of his scream reverberated through the empty corridor. Quentin glared at him with a frustrated look. "Sorry." he whispered.

Quentin took the lead, passing Chip and grabbing the flashlight. "Stay quiet, we don't know what's down there. Nice job. Let me take the lead here."

"Wait a minute. Blood smells like copper. Unless you think they are producing pennies down here, don't you think maybe we should hold off for a minute?" Chip hustled to keep up with his new partner. "Why would it smell like blood?"

"Listen, monkey." Quentin started speaking.

"Chip. My name is Chip. Stop calling me monkey." he sharply quipped.

"Whatever. Chip. Listen. Unless you want to go back up to the hotel lobby and hang out there then this is probably our best bet. Now come on, let's get going. Just hold your nose or something. It's blood. Whooptydoo. We all have it." The black cat didn't bother looking back as he sped walked along, disregarding the concerns of his ally. The two trudged along in silence once more, plodding through the damp darkness and waiting for some kind of end. The longer they walked, the chilly cold seemed to disappear, and a warmer temperature began to permeate the air. Chip grabbed onto the back of Quentin's shirt to ensure that the two didn't get separated. After a few more minutes of walking, a dim light began to appear from around a corner.

Chip stopped and held up Quentin from continuing. "Hey wait a minute. Turn the flashlight off." Quentin clicked the button on the illuminator, noticing the light ahead of them and feeling uneasy. "We've been walking for like fifteen minutes and there hasn't been anything. Now there is light, and its heating up? Someone has to be down here. Nobody would waste their energy doing all that for nothing."

"Obviously. You don't need to explain things to me, I'm not a child. Just follow me and we'll get to the bottom of this." Quentin riposted, breaking free from Chip's grip and continuing on. Chip shook his fists and jogged to keep up. Sidling against the wall the pair reached the corner and peeked around.

Chip threw up his arms exasperated. "You're right. Yeah, let's do this. But first, we need to make a plan..."