"Do you think we have a shot in hell at actually getting out of here?" Buster whispered to Wakko as soon as Yakko, Babs and Harpo had left the building. A pensive look marred his face. "Or do you see it how I see it: Yakko and Babs got what they wanted – Harpo – and are gonna leave the rest of us here to rot?"

"Give him a little more credit than that, all right?" Wakko said in a voice that bordered on being sharp. "Neither Yakko or Babs will be able to sleep at night knowing we're all still in here."

"You're considerably more optimistic than I am about this whole thing," Dot scoffed.

"Have a little faith!" Wakko cried. "Yes, they got Harpo, and although I don't know how in the hell they just happened to be here at the same time as us, Yakko's not going to leave us in the dust. He's not going to forget about us."

"Why not?" Dot snapped back. "He's done it before."

Wakko frowned at her. "That was years ago."

"Well did you see how he didn't even give us so much as a second glance?" Dot began to pace. "As soon as he saw Harpo, he couldn't have cared less about what was going to happen to us. Then he gives that clerk some lawyer bullshit and gets the kid out of here. I'm with Buster on this. He's not coming back for us. We're on our own."

Wakko stood up and looked out of the small window in their cell, down onto the street activities below them. "I know my big brother better than this. He'll get us out of here." He sighed, silently hoping he was right. "He'll come back for us."

In the corner, Buster sat with his head in his hands. He, for one, was grateful that all of Yakko and Babs' attention had been on Harpo; it saved him the awkward re-introduction to his old co-star that he had dreaded for years. I don't want her to see me like this, he thought to himself sullenly.

Harpo slept soundly in one of two large beds back at the hotel room, exhausted from the day's events. He hadn't said a word to his aunt and uncle since leaving the police station, opting instead to revert back to his namesake and keep his mouth shut. If he had probed deeper into this strangely instinctual reaction, he might have realized it was the same response he'd lived through in the first five years of his life: silence over cutting words that stirred so near to the surface.

Yakko had taken refuge outside on the balcony, watching the lighting storm just off-shore. The hubbub in the street had only died down a little bit, and music could still be heard blaring from open bars and from street corners. I guess even hard-core partiers have to sleep sometime, he thought to himself.

His thoughts turned to how on earth he was going to get his brother and sister out of jail. He was determined to do it, but had very little idea how to go about it. Shipwreck laws were not something he was versed in, and he knew he had to get to a legal library, and quickly. A lone library did hang on the outskirts of the city, and Yakko knew that most libraries did have plenty of legal reference books since libraries were required by law to contain them. All the libraries were closed, however, and he wasn't sure when they would re-open again; it seemed a hopeless situation, at least until carnival died down. Judging by the vigorousness of the partying, however, he didn't know when exactly that might occur.

It was five full days before lawyers finally showed up in front of the jail cell containing Wakko, Dot and the others. By that time, having survived both jail food and nicotine withdrawl, all of them were in a filthy mood and looking for a fight.

"It's hopeless," one lawyer, Maccy, said as he shut his briefcase with finality. "Looting a wreck is a crime, and you were caught in the act. Believe me, you're all going to be here for a while."

"We'll see about that. We've got two of the best lawyers in California on the case," Wakko lied, teeth clenched.

"Oh really?" Maccy drawled as he stood up. "And I suppose the little boy is going to help too, hm?"

"Leave Harpo out of this," Wakko said.

"I can't," the lawyer said with a humorless smile. "He was involved too. You all will stay in here, but him? He's a minor. He'll go straight to juvie."

"Are you kidding? They'll eat him alive!"

"That thought didn't seem to bother you when you were fifty feet below pulling gold bars, did it?" the law said condescendingly. He smirked at all of them before heading out into the hallway.

"Shit!" Wakko shouted, pounding the bars. He turned to the others in the cell and sighed. "Shit, this isn't what I wanted for him, I wanted better – "

"What happened to Mr. Optimism, huh?" Dot said quietly. "Aren't you the one who's supposed to say that Yakko and Babs are going to get us out of this?"

Wakko turned to his sister, seething words on the tip of his tongue, but Dot's expression was fearful and anxious; not a trace of malice showed. He took a deep breath and sat down on the floor, back to the wall and said nothing. A silence of submission overcame them all.

"Wakko? Dot?" a familiar voice rang down the hall as footsteps approached. A moment later a pensive looking Yakko appeared in front of the cell. A smile broke out on his face. "Good to see you guys again."

"Save it, Yakko. What can you do to help us?" Dot said, standing up. "How can you get us out of here?"

"Uh…yeah," Yakko answered, scratching the back of his head. "That's sort of what I needed to talk to you about…"

"How's Harpo?" Wakko interjected.

Yakko shrugged. "Hasn't said a word since he left this police station. Most days he leaves in the morning, disappears into the crowds of carnival, and comes back to the hotel room at night. Babs and I haven't really tried to stop him." He shrugged hopelessly again. "I-I don't really know what to do."

"Look, the kid has to start talking again sometime, all right?" Red said, coming to the forefront. "Let's just worry about how we're going to get out of this mess. Once we're officially charged with these crimes, the cops are going to see all the other stuff we're wanted for in other countries and other islands. And I, for one, don't want to be jailed for the rest of my life for things I did as a stupid nineteen year old."

"What kinds of other stuff are we talking about, exactly?" Yakko said, cocking an eyebrow.

Red gave a shrug of his own. "Oh, you know. I robbed a couple liquor stores in the Keys, stole some cars in Mexico, things like that."

"How do you know you'll be charged for them? I mean, were you ever caught?"

"I was…uh…pursued, you might say," Red answered with a strained grin. "They know what I did. They just haven't found me yet."

"And…well…Wakko and Red sort of broke me out of jail," Buster said, embarrassed.

"I'm wanted for pick-pocketing," Dot piped up.

"And I ran a few…business schemes…that might get me in some hot water," Scooby offered.

Yakko put his hand on his forehead. Things had just gotten slightly more complicated. He sighed heavily. "Allll right…" he muttered, beginning to pace. "Ok…all right…so now the game is trying to get you out of here before they find out about any of your…um…past escapades."

The four souls in the cell looked up at him hopefully.

"You know, you could've told me all this five days ago," Yakko said. "You realize that you've got sober lawyers working against you now, right? Oh, God. I could have had time to come up with a plan, I could have prepared – "

"You're always trying to think ahead, Yakko," Dot said. "Come on! Thinking on your feet is what you're good at!"

Yakko shot her a look. "I'm good at it when I know approximately what I'm doing, yes. When I've had time to think things through. You realize that the only place on this island with the information I need is now under lock and key, right? I don't know when the library will be open again."

"Library? Who needs a library?"

"A lawyer who doesn't know the laws pertaining to the offense, perhaps?" Yakko began to pace. "I guess I could call a few people back in Toontown, but I don't know how much good it would do. The amount of time for them to sift through materials to get to the exact information I would need would take more time than we've got. Plus, not too much material would be about shipwrecks, I imagine."

"Well you've got to do something!" Red cried. "I hate to say it, but you're our only hope! You're Harpo's only hope!"

"I know, I know!" Yakko shoved his hands in his pockets. "Look, I'll figure something out. I don't think much will be happening before tomorrow morning anyway. That gives me tonight." He nodded to them. "I'll do everything in my power. I'll get you out of here."

"Well how exactly do you propose we do that?" Babs said later that night in the hotel room during dinner as Yakko told her and Harpo of his afternoon's conversation with the fivesome in the jail cell. "I'm open to suggestions."

"That's the thing, I don't know." Yakko poked at his food. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do."

Any attempt to make Harpo open up and speak had been mostly ignored by the thirteen year old, but that didn't mean that Yakko and Babs had stopped trying. Brightly, Babs turned to Harpo and motioned at his spoon-ladle necklace. "That's an interesting thing," she said in a voice she hoped sounded intrigued. "Where'd you get it?" Silence. "Some little island shop somewhere?" More silence.

"Looks pretty old," Yakko said, giving the necklace a good once-over. "Did you get that off of a shipwreck somewhere?" Harpo said nothing and kept his eyes on the room-service dinner he was eating. Yakko sighed softly. "Look, I know you're worried about them. And I'm going to figure something out. I have to. They'll be officially charged tomorrow. Then it'll be too late to do much."

Then why are you still sitting here eating dinner? Harpo wanted to scream. Instead, he immediately shot up from his seat and left the room. Yakko threw his fork back down on his plate. "Great," he muttered.

"He's thirteen. Give him a break," Babs said.

"It's amazing to me how royally fucked up everything is," Yakko said with an uncharacteristic sharpness to his voice. "If only I could get into that library."

Babs placed her empty dishes back on the cart and stood up to leave. "I'm going to go look for Harpo, all right? I'll be back soon."

Yakko waved half-heartedly and watched her go. He made his way out onto the balcony, enjoying an after dinner cigarette and the view from his perch. The party was back in full swing. "She's never going to find that kid in all of this," he muttered to himself. As he watched the grand display below him, he couldn't help but feel that small island police force must have been completely overwhelmed with dealing with drunk in public charges and with any fights that might break out. An epiphany struck him but he tried to push the idea away, because surely he, a lawyer, shouldn't do anything illegal? He'd spent a good chunk of his life defending the law and rooting out injustice against toons. So what happens when that happens to be two completely different things? he thought to himself.

He had no doubt that the fact that those in jail were mostly toons was working against them and would continue to. This was the reason he was so frantic and why a plan, albeit a sort of desperate one, was forming in his mind. Before he could think better of it, knowing it was perhaps his only chance, Yakko grabbed a lightweight jacket and exited the hotel room, closing the door shut quietly behind him.

He jogged as best he could through the crowded streets, pushing aside drunks as he went, hoping neither Babs nor Harpo spotted him as he steadily made his way towards the outskirts of town. I can't believe I'm doing this, I can't believe I'm doing this, he repeated to himself like a mantra. But the thought of his siblings in jail and Harpo not believing in him anymore drove him forward until he was standing in front of the deserted library. Not even any streetlamps shone this far from the celebration, as the island's electricity was sparse at best and so all energy had been fueled to the city for the duration of carnival. "Gotta love the islands," Yakko muttered to himself. At least this way, he could slip in unnoticed.

He found a window in the back and swung himself up on a tree limb until he was level with the window. With a grunt, he tried to push it up into the open position with all his might, but found that it was either stuck or locked. He sat on the tree branch as best he could balance and tried to come up with a rational plan of entrance. So it comes down to this, he thought to himself. One of the best lawyers in Toontown, and I'm breaking and entering. Way to be a hypocrite, Warner.

For the first time since he began in law, Yakko fully understood the desperate actions of some of the toon criminals he'd encountered. The vast majority of them were good toons, who were doing something either out of desperation or because they were trying to help a friend. He'd long ago become calloused to the ethical reasons why a toon did something, and instead would focus his mind on getting the toon free. He started to realize that if Wakko had been as desperate back in those days as Yakko was now, perhaps Yakko had been wrong to so harshly condemn him.

With this thought fresh in his mind, Yakko threw himself back into pushing the window open, pooling his strength and thinking only of his family. After what seemed an eternity, a slight creak emitted from the window, opening about an inch. Revitalized, Yakko spent the next five minutes slowly inching the window open to the point where he could crawl in. This he did, and tumbled to the floor of the ancient library.

Once inside, he let his eyes adjust to the dim light before venturing towards the front desk, rummaging through the drawers until he produced a flashlight. Careful not to beam the light out of the windows, and thereby attract attention, Yakko stayed low until he found the reference section. Though small, he found the legal collection and started pulling books down off the shelves quickly and piling them in his arms. I will never take the twenty-four hour library in Toontown for granted ever again.

After two hours of fruitless searching through the books, Yakko was feeling more and more frustrated by the second. He threw aside the open book and put his face in his hands. A lone book was left of the once-massive pile, this one entitled Underwater Management of Submerged Cultural Resources. For the layman, this simply meant 'shipwreck laws' but Yakko wasn't feeling optimistic. He'd sifted through dozens of books exactly like it and had not found one thing that might discredit the charges of looting a wreck. Sighing, but ever hopeful, he threw open the last book and began scanning the index and chapter titles. He stopped when one index entry read, "Ownership of shipwreck cultural sites in international waters, pg 238." For some reason this intrigued him; from studying the approximate location of where the six had been arrested out on open water according to the preliminary police report, Yakko knew the wreck they looted did lay in international waters. He didn't know why this would make much of a difference, but he flipped to the correct page and began to scan the small entry. After a moment, a bystander might have noticed Yakko's eyes light up. He ripped the page from the book, hurriedly shoved the books back on the shelves in the correct places so no one would know he had been there, replaced the flashlight in the desk, and slipped out the window.

He'd just found everything he needed to get his family out of jail.