A/N: I thought I had avoided plot holes in the last chapter, and I even bragged about it, but it turns out that the keys were both in the ignition and in Butter's hand. Oops. Take one guess who pointed that out, and the first guess doesn't count. (For those of you just tuning in, it was Butter herself (banjkazfan/Carley) that did.)
Anyways, let's continue. I get the feeling that everyone is getting impatient.
Take A Few Steps
Dottie had considered performing the spell (from a book stolen from Witches, Doctors, and Witchdoctors, Inc. of course) to get Xakko's mind back into his body herself, but they couldn't do it while driving, and once they got to their destination they wanted to do away with Wakko as quickly as possible. Xakko also realized that getting his mind back into his own body would mean that Vakko would regain full control of Vakko's body, and that could be a problem. (((A/N: Confused yet? Good. Try re-reading that paragraph a dozen times and you'll get what was explained.)))
They pulled into the parking lot of their destination. Dottie jumped out and ran to a large sliding door. She opened it wide enough for the car to fit through, then returned to the hearse and drove it through the opening. Dottie got out, along with Xakko, who was still holding Wakko's unconscious body. Dottie returned to the sliding door and hit a button, causing the door to slowly close and cut off the outside light. Considering she needed to see, she took a few steps sideways to reach for the light switch. And promptly tripped over a few garbage cans.
A few seconds later, Xakko reached the light switch and was able to switch it on despite still carrying Wakko. He looked down at Dottie with a gentle grin (not evil smirk, he was not devoid of humor,) seeing that she was covered in garbage, with a dirty banana peel plopped directly on top of her head. (((A/N: This is a cartoon after all…have you ever seen a cartoon garbage can without a banana peel?))) Dottie tried to blow one of the peels out of her vision, like a strand of loose hair, but it just fell back into place.
"Trouble seeing in the dark, love?" Xakko inquired. "Maybe you should eat more carrots."
Dottie wasn't amused. "Who do I look like, Bugs Bunny?"
"Actually, you look like…"
Xakko was cut off as he noticed Wakko beginning to stir.
"I thought you said that the tranq would last longer than this," he said to Dottie.
Dottie just stood back up and began to brush the garbage off herself, totally ignoring Xakko's comment. She walked to the center off the room, and Xakko followed. As he caught sight of what was there, he looked awed (he looked odd, too.) (((A/N: I'll be nice and attribute that joke to Darby Conley of the comic strip Get Fuzzy. Back when it was regularly funny. Those were the days.)))
Dottie had set up a bulletproof glass chamber with a lock. It was about seven feet tall, and three feet wide and long, held together by some sort of metal (does it really matter what type? It wasn't Mercury; I'll let you know that.) It was kind of like the chamber that several magicians have been immersed in upside-down, straight-jacketed, and chained together. Or like the chamber Thom Yorke was in for the Radiohead video 'No Surprises.' There was a door on the front rather than a latch on the top.
Dottie opened the door (or latch or hatch or whatever,) and Xakko unceremoniously chucked Wakko in (((A/N: have you ever seen anyone ceremoniously chucked?))) The rough landing helped to speed his waking up, but not quickly enough to avoid being locked in by Xakko and Dottie.
"I suppose it's good that you are awake now, Wakko," said Xakko. "That way, I can watch you scream and suffer."
