I'd give a list of excuses as to why I didn't get this done sooner, but I doubt you'd want to hear them. Thanks again for all of the support! And thanks to the anonymous reviewer the other day... you were a part of the kick in the butt I needed to update this! Hope you all enjoy this (late and short) chapter!
Bosko shuffled down the hallway with his sweaty palms scrunched up inside of his worn pockets. He twiddled the lint resting in the lining into a damp ball and bit the inside of his mouth as he approached the rabbit's cell. Two rats stood on either side of the rusted door, both staring at the stark wall across from them as they halfheartedly discussed a hockey game from the night before. Bosko scoffed when they barely acknowledged him as he moved toward them.
"I told Mort that the guy should've been called on icing, but the game was so boring otherwise I'm surprised I even noticed that much of it. Fell asleep three times in the first period alone, I tell you." the larger rat said in a monotone voice, glancing at Bosko before setting his tired gaze back onto the wall.
"The Kings suck anyway. Can't seem to- hold on," the other rat murmured before glancing at Bosko when he stopped in front of them. "Can we help you?"
"I'm here to cover your lunch break." Bosko said as he looked back and forth between the two.
"They don't usually send a guy until twelve-thirty. It's only twelve-fifteen now." one of them raised an eyebrow. "Besides, why are you standing guard? Aren't you a janitor or somethin'?"
"Don't you know who I- never mind. They're short handed today and asked me to cover," Bosko said with a clenched jaw. "And I don't know when your lunch is, I'm just following orders."
"Alright, alright. No need to get testy." one of the rats put up his hands.
"We ain't complaining about an early lunch. I was gettin' hungry anyway," the other said and nodded his head towards the stairwell. "C'mon, let's leave tight-ass here and get some grub. Here's the key if you need to go in an settle em' down, though I doubt you'll have to. They never do anything cept' talk every now and then."
"Yeah, I wish they'd given given us that Taz bastard or someone better to guard. Then we'd actually have somethin' to do." the other one chimed in.
Bosko bit down on his tongue to keep a retort form escaping. As annoying as those rats were, he couldn't blow up and draw anymore attention to himself. He was surprised that they didn't know who he was, but the fact that they handed him the key without any thought showed how high their IQ level was. What if he was a toon trying to break the bunny out? They could've let any old schmo in without a second thought. Sighing, he made a mental note to remind Gonzo, who was now training most of the recruits, to stress security to the new toons.
Bosko leaned casually against the wall as he watched them walk down the hallway. He stayed where he was even until after he'd watch them descend down the staircase and out of sight, rolling the lint in his pocket over and over as he did so.
It was probably a good thing they didn't know who he was. He knew Smokey would be less than thrilled if he found out he was down here, since the rat seemed set on chaperoning all of his "dates" with the rabbit, as Oswald had put it last night.
Smokey's warning to stay away from the rabbit still rang in his ears, and had been for the last few hours. He didn't want to go against the rat, of course, but he just couldn't stand waiting to confront the toon that ruined his career any longer. He'd already done his waiting for the last forty-nine years.
Looking back and forth down the hallway to make sure no one was around, he quickly unlocked the door with the key and swiftly went inside. He closed the door and flicked on the dim light to find the rabbit slumped against the wall, still passed out. The only other toon in the room was that little Warner girl, who was laying on her side across from him as her shallow breaths rose and fell slowly in her chest.
Bosko turned back to the rabbit and walked across the room. His long ears were pressed against his head and his eyes flitted under his eyelids, while his eyebrows were furrowed into tight lines. Bosko reached towards him hesitantly, like he would disappear the moment his hand made contact with the rabbit's fur. But when he pulled the tip of his limp ear, the rabbit slowly opened his eyes and flinched when he found Bosko looming over him.
"Good morning, Looney. How ya feelin'?" Bosko grinned when the rabbit flinched back against the concrete wall.
"What are you doing in here? Aren't you supposed to be taking over the world or something?" the rabbit snorted through a scratchy voice.
"Can't a toon drop his pal a line every now and then?" Bosko said.
"You'd much rather drop an anvil on my head, if anything. Can't say I wouldn't do the same for you, doc." the rabbit replied coolly. Bosko gripped his ear even harder and smiled when a grunt of pain squeezed through the rabbit's abnormally large front teeth.
"Aw, I forgot you were a squealer." he chuckled and released the rabbit's ear. Stepping back, he looked around the cell and shook his head. "Nice place you've got here. It must give you a nice break from all the hustle and bustle of Hollywood, hmm?"
"Oh yeah, it's a real vacation," the rabbit said. "Now are you gonna drag me up to Smokey again, or did you come in here just to mock me?"
"I just wanted to reminisce about the 'good ole days' with you. You know, the ones you stole from me."
"You're still obsessing over that after all these years..." the rabbit shook his head and paused for a moment before continuing. "I never 'stole' anything. I was offered a job that was completely separate from what you were doing. For the last time, I had nothing to do with you getting fired."
"Then why the hell did they can me? They said that I 'didn't meet their standards,' that they wanted to 'pursue other talent'." Bosko spat, his voice rising with each word.
"They didn't fire you because you weren't as talented as everyone else, doc. They fired you because you acted like a stuck up, drunk asshole all the time. Your talent had nothing to do with it."
"Sure." Bosko snorted. He saw the Warner girl start to move beside him out of the corner of his eye, but quickly pulled his attention back towards the rabbit in front of him.
"I'm serious," the rabbit shook his head. "If anything, you're one of the most talented toons the studio's ever seen. But you hardly ever showed up to rehearsals and were too drunk to remember your lines or do the gags right. I just happened to get signed at the same time you started spiraling out of control."
"I wasn't that bad!" he seethed.
"You were on the cover of the 'Toontown Telescope' for peeing on Donald Duck's lawn while drunk. Twice."
"He owed me money!" Bosko shouted, causing the girl, who was now sitting up and groggily staring at him, to wince.
"Mhm. Just face it. The reason you stopped being such a big star is because you stopped caring." the rabbit narrowed his eyes at him, and Bosko locked his furious gaze on him, calculating his next move as a tense silence filled the room.
"You might feel better if you moved on," the girl said softly, breaking the uncomfortable quiet and causing both him and the rabbit to look over at her. "I don't see why you'd want to be so angry all the time."
"You think I like feeling this way? Just stay out of this, brat." he snarled, causing her ears to droop slightly.
"Don't talk to her like that!" the rabbit snapped.
"I'll talk to her however I damn well please! You don't tell me what to do, rabbit. If you hadn't noticed, I'm the one in charge now."
"Sure, because every toon convicted of attempted murder and a part of organised crime is a real winner. Tell me, which place had better food- the prison cafeteria or a Warner Brothers party?"
"How dare you," Bosko growled. "You have no right saying any of that after what you put me through."
"What I put you through? Think about what you put me through! You almost killed me! I couldn't sleep for months because I was so afraid that I'd wake up with a knife in my back or bullet in my head."
"Oh, quit your whining. We all have our problems," Bosko rolled his eyes. "If you hadn't ruined my life, I would've been the biggest toon in Hollywood."
"But falling short of that was all your fault," the rabbit exclaimed. "If you don't pick yourself up and keep trying to make a better life for yourself, then how are you supposed to be successful? You, Smokey, Oswald- you all gave up."
"Don't bring Oswald into this." Bosko said quietly and took a deep breath.
"Isn't he already though? Doing all your dirty work without getting anything for himself?"
"He's getting plenty-"
"Well then where's Micky in all of this?" the rabbit rose an eyebrow. "You know, the toon he kidnapped for twenty four hours and returned all banged up because he 'stole his gig,' as you nuts put it? I'm sure I would have found out if he were here by now, since you'd no doubt want to brag about nabbing him, too. But I don't see him anywhere, doc."
"We we're both just trying to get back to where we once were." Bosko growled after allowing a tense silence to fester in the room for a moment.
"Yeah, and look where that got you. Now you're both nothing." the rabbit spat.
Bosko felt a surge of anger rise inside of him and he began shaking with rage. He grabbed the rabbit by the throat and pinned him against the wall. Bosko squeezed his fingers against the rabbit's flesh and tightened his grip until he felt the vertebrae begin to compress inside of the furry neck trapped in his palms.
He heard the girl yell, but was too enraged to listen to what she was unintelligibly screaming. The rabbit struggled under him and was trying to kick him, but Bosko kept squeezing, unleashing every ounce of rage that had plagued him for the past half a century as the rabbit began to turn blue.
Another louder set of piercing screams sent a chill down his spine, and he unclenched his hands from the rabbit's neck. He spun around, sweat trickling down the side of his face and air pouring down his throat in short, ragged breaths as the rabbit gasped for air and slid down the wall behind him.
Streams of tears poured down the girl's face as her body shook with sobs. Her ears were pressed against the side of her head and her eyes were set on him, fear glistening inside of them behind a blurry pool of unshed tears.
"Don't hurt him... please!" she wailed, reaching towards the rabbit but falling back when the chains contracted against her attempt to grab him.
Bosko slowly backed up and looked between the two toons. The rabbit was coughing uncontrollably as the color began to slowly return to his face, and the girl was glancing back and forth between him and the rabbit while wearing one of the most pathetic expressions he'd ever seen.
Her tiny shoulders, covered only by a dirty and tattered t-shirt that engulfed her, shook as a violent wave of hiccups and dry heaves overcame her, and Bosko felt his eyes glued to her as he quickly stumbled backward out of the room. Taking one last look at the girl, he slammed the door shut and fumbled to lock it before hurrying down the hall.
Bosko rounded the corner and clumsily pounded down the long metal staircase. He clenched his fists and took deep breaths, trying to subdue the overwhelming sensations churning inside of him.
Feeling lightheaded, Bosko slumped down onto the steps and looked down at the filthy, crusty floor below him.
