Happy Holidays everyone! Sorry for the wait, but as you all know, real life sadly has to come first before Fanfic. Sad, but it's a fact. Anyway, I hope everyone had an awesome halloween, I know I did ;).
Yakko sighed as he rubbed his eyes. Sleep had done its best to avoid him that night, as usual, but this time it wasn't just because of the constant worry. He kept thinking about that strange whirring sound last night in the kitchen. It would've been easy to dismiss it as just a sleep-induced delusion, but something was telling him it was more than that. Warners had instincts about these things.
He groggily crawled out of bed and made his way to the kitchen. Sighing, he threw together a sandwich and almost as soon as he took a seat, the phone rang. Sighing with annoyance, Yakko stood back up and answered the phone.
"What do you want?"
Harold's voice came from the other end.
"You need to come to the station. We might have a lead on your brother."
Yakko's heart was in his throat as he tried to mumble out a response. "W-What?"
"We have some information that I think you might want to hear!" Harold responded.
Yakko didn't respond, he just hung up. His heart pounded as he dashed into Dot's room.
"DOT! WAKE UP!"
Dot jolted out of her sleep, startled. "Huh... wha..."
"WE HAVE TO GO! THEY HAVE A LEAD ON WAKKO!"
Dot's sleepiness vanished and she leaped out of bed. The two of them didn't even stop to brush their teeth before they ran out the door...
A bizarre combination of anxiety and excitement filled Harold's emotions. Things were finally starting to go his way. After a couple weeks of nothing turning up, he finally managed to get some dirt on these guys. They might actually have a lead, even if it is a fairly small one.
He sat up in his chair and took another giant gulp of his coffee. The warm fluid was a comforting sensation, and it was also something necessary to keep him awake. After all, he worked long hours trying to find the kidnapped toons.
He was no stranger to long, difficult hours of work, but this was probably the biggest case he'd ever had. It wasn't just some burglar or killer he was tracking down, it was something more… something bigger.
He felt a big sense of honor and pride when he was put on this case, especially since it involved the Warners. He had been a fan of their show, and getting to be the investigator for a celebrity isn't something that happens everyday.
However, when he first met Yakko, he was saddened to see him in such a depressed and helpless state. He knew the Warners were people just like him, and it was selfish expecting Yakko to be the same happy character that he was on Animaniacs, but it still hurt nonetheless.
"Harold," said a police officer. "The Warners are here to see you."
Harold snapped out of his thoughts. "Finally! Send them in!"
The officer nodded and exited the room. Harold took a final swig of the bitter coffee and tossed the styrofoam cup into a small plastic garbage bin. He stood as the Warners entered the room.
"Good morning Yakko, good morning Dot." He shook each of their hands. "Please, take a seat, I have some information I think you might like to hear."
"About Wakko?" Dot whimpered.
"Yes Darling, about Wakko." Harold said confidently.
"So what is it?" Yakko asked, trying his best to not let his emotions get the best of him.
"Well, you see, the family of one of the kidnapped victims recently discovered that their house had been bugged."
"Umm... what?" Yakko asked.
"Ya know, 'bugged'. It means that they had several tiny microphones placed throughout their house."
Dots eyes widened, but Yakko remained unimpressed.
"And that means?"
"Well, you see, the technology that we have means that we could possibly track the source of the microphones. We think it has something to do with the group behind these kidnappings."
Yakko sat up in his chair.
"Wait... so you mean these people have been spying on us?"
Harold looked at him, his brows furrowed.
"What do you mean 'us'?"
Yakko shifted, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, I… I've been hearing these weird whirring noises at night. I thought it was just my imagination, but I've been hearing it a lot recently."
Dot looked at him, startled.
"What? Why didn't you tell me?"
Yakko placed a hand on her shoulder, looking guilty.
"Well... I didn't want you to be scared."
Dot was about to respond, but Harold interrupted.
"Yakko, you need to let us search your house. If more than one victim has been bugged, then this could be more serious than we thought."
It was unnerving to think of the police going through the tower, but Yakko didn't really care. If it would get his brother back, he'd let them dig through anything. He glanced at Dot, who nodded in agreement.
"Okay," he said. "I heard the noises in the kitchen, by the fridge."
Harold nodded, rising from his chair.
"All right. If it's okay with you, I'd like to do it right away. We need to follow up on any lead as soon as possible."
Yakko felt a lump of fear in his stomach, but swallowed and nodded. He just hoped this would finally get them the lead needed to get Wakko back.
Wakko couldn't remember ever being so tired in his life. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and if he closed his eyes he was afraid he would fall asleep while walking. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced at Jarod. The little boy was almost asleep on the chair, so Wakko gave him a gentle nudge. With a soft, whining groan, Jarod opened his eyes.
"M' tired…"
Wakko sighed, managing a slight smile.
"I know, but w-we're gonna get in trouble." Wakko managed to slur out.
His drooping ear twitched at the sound of approaching footsteps and looked up. Alex was approaching the table. He was being careful to shuffle his feet and gaze downward, but Wakko could see a brightness in his eyes that spoke to a good night's sleep.
Alex sat down and smirked at both of them. Quietly, he says "Well, you two look tired..."
Wakko glared at him.
"No need for the angry looks. The nightmares still hit me, just not as hard."
"Thats... great. So you got a good nights sleep. Now what?" Wakko asked emotionless.
"Duhhhh, I'm gonna do it again tonight. Fuck the notion of 'no sleep', I'm gonna be energized as hell and then I'm gonna escape. Maybe I'll take you two with me."
Wakko glared even more. "You're never gonna get out of here. You're just gonna get caught and then something worse is gonna happen to you."
Alex leaned closer. "And what do you expect me to do? Just sit here and let them fuck with our heads?"
"Well, why not? What if this is all some big test? What if they let us go once they're done?" Wakko tried his best to sound hopeful, even though deep down he knew it wasn't true.
"They must have doubled the dosage yesterday, because you're even more batshit than usual. You don't honestly think they're just gonna 'let us out' right?"
Wakko slumped in his chair. Even to his own ears, his voice sounded more defeated than ever.
"No... I don't."
A quiet sniffling sound made his drooping ear perk, and he glanced down to see Jarod looking up at him. The dark circles under his wide, teary eyes made him look more afraid and sad than ever.
"W-we're... not goin' home?"
Wakko felt like the worst person in the world. If he didn't have that weird bracelet on, he would have smacked his head with his own mallet. After a few awkward moments, he gave Jarod a gentle pat on the shoulder and turned back to Alex. Taking a deep breath, he leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"So, what's this 'plan'?"
"First of all, you two need to sneak out of your injections. We can't escape if you two are passing out every thirty seconds." Alex responded.
Wakko sighed. "And how are we suppose to do that?'
"Just follow my lead."
"Alright, but what about after that?"
"Well, after you both get a good nights sleep, we're gonna smash the shit out of these damned bracelets. Once you smash the bracelet, you're gonna want to use your mallet to knock out the guard when he comes to collect you." Alex explained.
Wakko's eyes widened. He'd never used his mallet for real combat like this.
Wakko's eyes widened. He'd never used his mallet for real combat like this. As for the bracelet, he couldn't think of a way to get it off even when he wasn't ready to fall on his face. But he could tell that Alex was much more clear-headed, and if there was a chance it would get them out of here...
Taking a deep breath, Wakko released a quiet sigh and nodded.
"Any idea how to smash the bracelet?"
Alex sighed. "Well... cant you just smash it against the wall or something?"
"Don't you think I already tried that? It's made of steel, and none of us are strong enough to smash through steel. We'd break our own wrist before we broke this thing."
"Ugh..." Alex laid his head on the table. "Well, do you have any better ideas?"
After a brief moment of silence, Jarod spoke up. "Cant we just steal a key from a guard?"
Alex shook his head. "No. The guard would probably realize it was gone."
Another brief moment of silence passed before Wakko stood up.
"I've got an idea!"
"Sit down, you're gonna get us in trouble." Alex hissed.
Wakko looked around, noticing that everyone was staring at him. Shyly, he crept back into his seat.
"Now, tell me your idea, but do it quietly." Alex said.
"Alright. How about we take the key from the guard, unlock all of our bracelets, and then return the key? We can keep the bracelet on until we get back to our rooms, and then we can just take it off!"
Alex stared at Wakko in disbelief. "Well shit, why didn't I think of that? That might actually work..."
Wakko nodded.
"I think I can get a key... I'm pretty good at doing stuff like that."
Alex squinted at him, clearly doubting it.
"Yeah? How good are you?"
"I took a guy's belt once, and he didn't notice."
Alex glared.
"While he was wearing it..."
Alex smiled. "Well damn, I guess it looks like you're gonna be stealing us a key."
Wakko smiled.
"Just... be careful. God knows what they'll do to you if they catch you."
