Dot stared at the thin ray of light that stood stiffly against the green moss blanketing the wall across from her. The dry remnants of what was once a luscious spread over the cracked and charred brick covered the room with a security from the bleak starkness of their other cells.

Yes, she was tired. Yes, she was terrified. The trill of shivers that still shot up her spine had hardly ceased in the past few hours, but scanning the fuzzy forest of minuscule leaves and stems that protruded from the lifeless bed of dark green had given her something to focus on other than the horrors poking at her mind.

Every time she slowly rolled her eyes over the sections of moss that were visible in the strips of light coming from the hall, she found new imperfections in the way it hung; in the way the stems twisted and turned with the little reach they were permitted from its tired and tortured roots. Small patches were missing throughout the textured wall, and the difference between the hard brick and crunchy moss created a mosaic of pictures Dot could put together like one would with stars that littered the night sky.

Even when dead, the moss was fascinating. Even with hundreds or thousands of imperfections to the naked eye, there was still something reassuring in the way it sat; in the way it remained even without really living.

Dot drew her eyes away from the moss and glanced over at Bugs for the fifth time in the past minute or so, per the routine she had developed in the several hours since Bosko's visit.

Bugs had slept for most of the time since then. He would occasionally open his eyes and squint in pain when the few bright streams of light that came in through the bars on the door hit his eyes, then shift away from them and fall back asleep. Dot noticed him twitching every now and then, and several beads of sweat occasionally trickled down his face. She tried not to look at the swollen hand prints around his neck, but had grimly noted that they were becoming more defined as time dragged on.

Dot was moving her way through a crinkled curve in the moss when she heard Bugs heave a dry cough. She turned her head toward the rabbit and watched as he tried to gulp down the stale air. He shot open his eyes and forced the strained breaths to even out into a calm rhythm. Once he had managed to breath normally again, he collapsed his head back against the wall and stared at the ceiling.

"Bugs? Are you ok?" Dot asked after observing the rabbit for a moment. She noticed him jump slightly when she spoke up, but some of the tension in his posture disappeared when he looked over at her.

"Yeah," he choked out with a small cough and a harsh rasp to his voice, which had already sounded strained before their earlier encounter with Bosko. "Just a bit sore. Is he gone?"

"It's been hours since anybody's been in here." she replied.

"Good," he breathed. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

"No. He bolted out of here pretty quick after he... well, you know." she trailed off.

"I'm glad you're OK. God knows what could happen in this place," he shook his head. "I'm sorry for all of this, kid."

"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault these toons are all crazy." she raised an eyebrow.

"I never should have dragged you into this... I should have made you go with Scratchansniff. Hell, it would be better if I never even found you." he looked down at the stone floor and Dot took a deep breath before she began to speak.

"First of all, no one ever makes me do anything, thank you very much. And second, I'd much rather have been with you in the first place. If you hadn't found me I'd probably be dead, or at the very least still looking for my brothers. You helped bring us back together and made us feel safe. Not to mention, you're a pretty cool toon to spend time with," she smiled. "Oh, and your accent is way more tolerable than Scratchy's. I don't think I'd last long with all that schnitzel and sauerkraut talk he spews." she giggled, or at least tried to.

"But if you kids weren't involved with me you wouldn't have all these deranged toons after you in the first place." he sighed.

"Eh, minor setback. You made it out alive the first time Bosko was after you, so we've just got to figure out how to make that happen again." she shrugged, curious to see where her newfound optimism came from.

Bugs gave a small snort and shook his head, giving the first hint of a smile Dot had seen from him in days.

"Life's not that simple... but I won't give up until you do- deal?"

"Deal." she grinned and shifted the position she was sitting in. They still had hope at this point, or at least what little of it there still was. She wasn't sure how much she really believed her own words, but would take this over nothing.

They had settled into a comfortable silence when the door creaked open and a sudden flood of light made her flinch back. One of the two rats who brought them a "meal" twice a day came in with two bowls of what she guessed to be another dose of brown slop, or if they were lucky, cold mush that was presumably left over from the rats' meals. To her disappointment, a few brown globs flew out of the bowl when the rat threw it at her feet. At least the mush usually had a kick to it.

"Eat up quick. Smokey wants you two in ten minutes." the rat said as he roughly grabbed Dot's arms and unlocked the chains so she could eat.

"A call before hand would have been nice," Bugs rolled his eyes. "I was going to run some errands this afternoon... or what I presume to be afternoon?"

"Shut it, fluff- you too!" the rat pointed at Dot when she snickered. "I don't get paid enough for this shit..." he grumbled as he unlocked the chains around Bugs's hands.

"Me neither, doc. I think it's time we file a complaint with HR." Bugs reached down and picked up his bowl. The rat growled.

"If I didn't have to bring ya to the boss in a few minuets, I would have socked ya by now, rabbit." he humphed.

"Ehh, I think I've already filled my daily quota for physical altercations, thank you." Bugs said and began to choke down the slop with an impressive attempt at hiding his distaste for it. Dot still couldn't swallow it without crinkling her nose.

"I've noticed and it's being addressed, so shut up and eat."

"You mean there are actually standards in this place? I'm impressed. I would have thought you were just another brainless guard with no sense of ethics."

"He's no Barney Fifth, either." Dot added through a mouthful of mush.

"I'll pound in both of your furry faces if you don't shut up!" he growled.

"Fair enough. Though you're no hairless cat yourself, mac." Bugs pointed out.

"Why you-" the rat started toward him when another rat, who had come in with meals the night before, entered the cell.

"Are they done yet? Smokey's already pissed off and I don't want to be the ones to make it worse." he said.

"Yeah, they're done." the first rat grunted and yanked the bowl out of Dot's hands.

"I'd like the record to show that I wasn't finished." she huffed.

"Boo-who, sweetheart. Some of us have things to do." the first rat said and the second rat started laughing.

"It's just like taking candy from-"

"If you finish that cliche I swear I'll throw up." Dot groaned. She usually didn't test the rats too much, but she doubted either of these two would do any damage to them at this point. She had had several similar exchanges like this with them before and they had never acted then- only threatened to "sock 'em" before leaving in frustration.

"You'd be the one who cleans it up too, so get over yourself and let's go." the second rat said and pulled her up. He quickly locked the chains around her wrist and pushed her towards the door.

"No dessert? I'm quite disappointed." Bugs added with a small cough. The other rat yanked him up after re-securing his handcuffs and shoved him into place next to Dot.

"Eat dirt then. You rabbits like digging in it enough, anyways."

"It looks like somebody woke up on the wrong side of the sewer pipe this morning." Bugs said.

"Smells like it, too." Dot muttered. The rat beside her grabbed the chain between her handcuffs and started walking faster. She smirked when she saw his jaw grow more tense and his eyebrows furrow deeper.

"If you two don't stop the bullshit I swear I'll- I'll do somethin' you'll regret." he growled.

"I'm trembling with fear." Dot rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, we'll be good for you in front of your boss, doc. Don't want you to get the pink slip or anything." Bugs added. The rat next to him muttered something Dot couldn't make out, but the corners of her lips curled into a small grin when she saw Bugs smile.

"I'm not interested in seeing the pink in there, but I'm sure you could give me a detailed report on what it looks like since your head is so far up Smokey's, doc."

This earned him a push and a "move faster or I'll shove an engine up your ass" from the other rat.

They continued walking and Dot began to grow more weary of their next meeting with Smokey. Their track record with the rat hadn't been too great up until this point, and with the way today was going she could tell it wasn't going to get any better. Ideally they'd get off with only a few more bruises and another redundant lecture. Reality told her they may not get that lucky.

A group of younger looking toons were standing against the wall on the other side of the hallway as they started down the hallway that Dot presumed to be five or so floors below their cell. One of them was a dog whose pants hung closer to his knee cap than his waist, and the human toon and bear that stood on either side of him both wore tattered baseball caps turned around on their heads.

They were quietly chuckling about something the bear had said when Dot passed them. Trying to avoid the usual crude comments and laughter she had received from the toons who worked for Smokey whenever her and Bugs had to be escorted anywhere, Dot turned to her attention to the cinder block wall fused into the metal pipe structure.

"Hey look- it's that Warner girl from that show your sister always watches, Ricky." she heard one of them say. The rat beside her yanked on her shoulder and stopped in front of a large door. The other rat pulled on the door and sighed when it didn't open.

"We gotta wait 'till the boss gets here." he said and leaned against the wall.

She briefly glanced over and saw the dog pointing at her. Surprised to see that he wasn't smirking and muttering rude things under his breath, she turned more toward them.

"Tissy loves that show," said the turtle. "I don't condone watching any of that kid stuff, but it ain't nearly as bad as that Darkwing shit my brother watches."

"Ain't that Bugs Bunny with her?" one of them said.

"Yeah, he must be that high profile prisoner they were talkin' about. Though what's that kid doin' with him?" the bear added, nodding towards Bugs.

"Who knows. It's not my business." the dog shrugged.

"But don't you have an autographed picture of him on your wall?" the turtle chuckled and nudged him.

"That's my mom's! She had a huge crush on him when she was a kid." the dog said through a pink-tinged face.

"Right." the bear rolled his eyes.

She saw the rat next to her start to turn around and look over at the boys. He crossed his arms before clearing his throat.

"What are you three hanging around here for? There's a lounge upstairs for a reason."

"We were just waiting for our friend." the bear replied with a hesitant shrug.

"Well go wait for him somewhere else. This is a restricted area." the other rat added. The boys looked at each other and began to slowly trudge down the hall, muttering something about the rat's bad breath.

"So what's the hold up, doc? You give us a rather ungracious wake up call and then drag us down here for no reason?" Bugs tisked. "Yes, I think a phone call to HR is definitely needed."

"If I have to tell you to shut your furry snout one more time-"

"Can it, the boss is coming." the other rat nudged his partner. They both threw their shoulders back and stood up straight as the larger rat sauntered towards them with a group of toons following him.

"Open the door, dumbasses," Smokey tossed a set of keys to the rat next to Dot. "We've got work to do."

The taller rat quickly shoved the scratched key into the lock and turned it with an aggravated jerk after jiggling it for a moment. He threw open the door and Smokey shoved past him.

"Where the hell is Pete?" he demanded as the rest of the toons, along with Dot and Bugs, followed him into the room.

"I'm sure he's on his way. He's only been late a few times." one of the rats suggested behind him. He hesitantly looked over toward his friend before Smokey responded.

"That's a few times too many. Call him on the coms again."

"They haven't been workin'," said another rat. "Danzy said he found bunch of the wires cut in the control room."

"They're doing electrical work, and you don't need wires to make the coms work, dumbass! Go find him!" Smokey stomped his foot down. He crossed his arms when two more toons came running towards him. Dot frowned when she saw their faces come into view.

"Sorry we're late boss. We got held up with some of the new recruits." Oswald said as he hunched down to catch his breath. A huffing Bosko was beside him, looking around at the various rats while skipping over Dot and Bugs.

"Go get the stuff before I kick your asses and we'll call it even." Smokey growled and pointed to the large boiler in the middle of the room. It clanged and shrieked as a black liquid slowly bubbled over the side of it into the several tubs surrounding it. Dot cringed her nose at the smell that drifted from it.

"Don't you love the smell of fresh ink in the morning." Smokey smirked when he came over to Dot and Bugs.

"I didn't even know it was morning." Bugs said quietly.

"You're right Looney. You wouldn't," Smokey chuckled. He turned back to Tango and cracked his knuckles. "Any update on Pete?"

"He's coming now." Tango responded as he looked out into the hall. He quickly stepped back to avoid being knocked down by Pete as he barreled into the room.

"I'm sorry I'm late boss," he heaved as he handed Smokey something Dot couldn't see, which the rat immediately shoved into his pocket. "Lost track of time-"

"Whatever, where are-" Smokey started before Pete backed up and pulled two toons into the room who were being restrained by a set of human toons. Dot swallowed hard and felt another strike of worry run up her spine when she saw who they were.

"Boy, take your hands off- I say- hands off of me before I take them off for ya!" Foghorn yelled as he struggled against the two toons holding onto him. Daffy stood still next to him, obviously trying to suppress his fear as he hesitantly looked around the room.

Dot felt Bugs go tense next to her, and she inched closer to him. While she was relieved to finally know they were alright, this was the last place she wanted to see them.

"I thought you needed some friends, seeing you were getting so homesick," Smokey said to Bugs. "Though I'm sorry we haven't found your brothers yet, kid. I'm a sucker for family reunions." Smokey leaned down and pinched her cheek. She backed up into the rat behind her in an attempt to get away from him, but was kicked forward when she made contact with his shin. Smokey chuckled and stood back up.

"Now back to you two," he said as he faced Foghorn and Daffy. "Although you made my job a lot easier in the end, I'm curious to learn how you knew where to find us."

"We tripped and fell onto your doormat." Foghorn gruffly replied.

"C'mon, I know you Looneys aren't smart enough to figure these kinda things out on your own," Smokey tisked. "Who tipped you off?"

"Your mother had us over for tea and gave us your address and phone number." Foghorn said with a sarcastic grin.

"This ain't a time for jokes!" Tango snapped.

"Hold on, we'll get what we need." Smokey put up a hand.

"We didn't have a source," Daffy offered. "We were just looking for you and eventually we found you. That's it."

"Bullshit. If you didn't know where we are then how would you know to jump in a goddamn sewer to get here?" Tango said.

"You're rats. It's not hard to put two and two together, boy" Foghorn replied dryly.

"He has a point, doc." Bugs added.

"Keep it shut over there!" Tango called out as he moved in front of Daffy. He tugged on the duck's neck and shook him. "Now answer the boss's question."

"We did!" Daffy cried.

"Honestly, I mean!" Tango shook Daffy harder when he stayed silent.

"Don't push them Tango. We'll give them a few more chances," Smokey started before turning back to Foghorn and Daffy. "I'm an understanding toon. If you don't want to tell me your sources that's okay. In fact, if you can enlighten us with any information about where the other little Warner brats are, we'll let all of this go."

"But Smokey, how are those runts anymore valuable than these two?" Pete started before Smokey put up a hand to silence him.

"Let the birds reply." Smokey said and looked at Foghorn and Daffy with a waiting look. Dot saw a surprised looking Bosko whisper something into Oswald's ear, which seemed to wash away the air of confusion on his friend's face.

"We don't have any clue where those boys are, and if we did- I say- if we did, we wouldn't tell you." Foghorn said.

"Yeah, what he said." Daffy added.

"Are you sure you don't know anything about where they are?" Smokey pushed.

"Why do you want to know about them anyway?" Bugs spoke out, articulating what Dot was already wondering. Smokey already had her to use as leverage, so why would he need her brothers, too? They were stars, sure. But they were nowhere near the status Daffy and Foghorn had obtained. Wouldn't that make them less valuable in Smokey's eyes?

"Just answer the question!" Smokey growled and clenched his fists. Dot took a deep breath when she saw a crazy glint flash across Smokey's eyes.

"Boy, how long does it take you to process simple things in that twisted head of yours? No means no!" Foghorn huffed.

"So you won't tell us how you found us?" Tango crossed his arms.

"There's nothing to tell." Daffy said with a suddenly hard resolve.

"Are you sure?" Smokey cocked an eyebrow.

"As sure as you are stupid." Foghorn said.

Smokey nodded his head and looked down at the ground. An uncomfortable wave of silence washed over the room as he stood still. Dot kept her eyes set on the rat. Like the rest of the room, she was curious- while still anxious- to see why the rat had yet to act. He finally began to pace toward the pair with his hands shoved firmly into his trouser pockets and stopped in front of them.

"Alright. Some time locked up in isolation should do you good and help you think about the alternatives," Smokey took a deep breath. "We'll wrack your little minds again later."

"Little minds? Boy, you've got a brain the size of the nail on a baby's pinky and enough talent to fill a teaspoon, and the rest of the world knows it, too." Foghorn scoffed.

"What was that?" Smokey demanded as his nostrils flared.

"Foghorn, don't!" Bugs yelled before the rat behind him clamped a hand across his mouth. The rat quickly removed it when Bugs chomped down on his finger.

"I'm one of the most intimidating and well known toons in Toontown's history," Smokey hissed, taking a step towards Foghorn. "Everyone reveres me."

"Fame doesn't fix stupid. Or anything else, for that matter." Foghorn spat.

Smokey glared up at Foghorn, rage boiling in his eyes and eventually rushing through the rest of his body. In one swift motion, the rat reached into his pocket, unscrewed a small vile, and threw its contents into Foghorn's face.

The rooster blinked his eyes shut and stumbled backwards as a muffled cry came from Bugs. Foghorn slowly opened his eyes and looked down at himself as black liquid ran down his front. His beak fell open as he watched a grey stain spread across his skin. Slowly, his chest and stomach were tainted with the dull coloring, which eventually reached his limbs. With one last panicked look at Bugs, the grey washed across his face and any emotion faded away.

"Foghorn?" Daffy called to his friend with panic straining his voice. His eyes began to well when there was no reply. "What did you do to him..." he trailed off and Smokey chuckled.

"What you should try to avoid."


"My god, this goop follows a guy everywhere." Yakko shuddered as another thin streak of slime dripped onto his head. He pulled a cloth from out of his hammerspace and wiped it off of his head with a frown. He could understand that an abandoned sewer system was no squeaky clean palace, but if he was working for Smokey, he'd at least try to keep the place up to the correct building and sanitation codes- or at least find someone to. No one should tolerate being surrounded by filth 24/7.

Then again, he wasn't too sure he'd have the time or guts to tell these gangsters that cleanliness should be their main concern. They seemed to have their plates full enough with taking over Toontown and ruining his and his siblings' lives.

"Yakko, I think we went the wrong way again." Wakko sighed next to him and sat down.

"How can we be going the wrong way when we don't even know where we're going?" Yakko shrugged.

"It feels like we've been everywhere already. I just don't know what to do..."

"If we're lucky, we'll run into Dot and Bugs without getting caught by the rats and be on our jolly way out of here." Yakko nudged him with a small, unconvincing smile.

"You're so optimistic it's gross." Wakko muttered.

"Not optimistic, Wak; desperate," Yakko said, skirting out of the way of another falling drop of slime. "Now keep going. We're not going to save Dot by sitting around and contemplating why we're sitting around."

"I just wish we knew where to go." Wakko sighed, the faint etches of defeat quickly becoming more prominent on his face.

"It's not like we can pullover and ask for directions, sib. We've gotta figure it out ourselves, and we will," Yakko put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Nothing ever comes easy, but you can't give up so quick. You think Isaac Newton got all those theories right on the first try? Or that we made Scratchy lose his hair all in one afternoon?"

"No."

"Well then there you go. We've gotta keep going or else nothing's gonna help her."

"Alright... alright," Wakko inhaled. "Though we've got to figure out a new way to find her." with a determined look on his face and his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, Yakko held in a chuckle as he watched his brother's gears turn in his head.

He looked up around the continuous system of tunnels and pipes looping in and out of the hallway that had a large set of doors at the end of it. He peered around the corner they were sitting behind to look through the dirty glass panels in the doors, and quickly dodged back behind the wall when he noticed a group of toons about to enter the hallway.

"Someone's coming." he hissed to Wakko, who inched closer to the wall.

"Can't believe they wouldn't let us stay there," a young sounding voice rang out as the doors clanked open. "I knew that room was restricted, but no one's ever said the hall outside of it was. If Bugs Bunny can hang outside of there than why can't I? It's a free country, ain't it?"

"I don't think he was out on R&R like us," said another toon. "You saw those shackles."

"I know, but I really didn't want to go up six floors just to go sit on a ratty ass couch in a ratty ass room with a bunch of rats. 'There's a lounge upstairs' my ass," another toon added through a string of voice cracks. "I don't even think there is a lounge on this floor!"

"Whatever. I just wanna relax before we go back to cleaning duty tomorrow."

"I thought we'd actually get in on the action if we joined, but so far the only action I've gotten involves a sponge and every freaking urinal in this place."

"Don't remind me," one of them sighed. "I'm sure they'll promote us soon enough."

"It's been a month! I'm sick of this." another one hissed.

"Don't let them hear you say that. My cousin got two weeks of boiler room duty for complaining about working in the cafeteria."

"Ughh, let's just go get a drink or something. God knows I could use one."

Yakko listened as their footsteps faded off and waited for a moment before checking to see if they were gone. He turned to Wakko once he felt it was safe to continue.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking sib?" Yakko grinned.

"That there actually are sanitation standards in this place?" Wakko snorted.

"Actually yes, but no," Yakko smirked, glad that years of him drilling the need for cleanliness into his siblings' heads had at least made a dent. "They said they just saw Bugs six floors below us-"

"So that means we know where they are?" Wakko smiled.

"Bingo! They didn't say if Dot was with him, but it's the best we've got." Yakko replied, pulling up Wakko from the ground. He turned and scouted out the hallway once more before he took off towards the stairs with Wakko trailing behind him.