Yakko scratched the back of his neck in anticipation as swarms of police officers climbed the ladder to the top of the tower. He never liked the idea of people going through his stuff. He knew he had nothing to hide, but it still made him nervous.
"What do you think is gonna happen?" Dot asked him, tightly holding his hand.
Yakko gave his sisters hand an affectionate squeeze.
"I'm not sure, Dot." He responded with little emotion. His sister sighed and leaned against his side.
"Why can't we go in?"
Yakko sighed. They had been told that they were to wait outside while the investigation was taking place. He wasn't sure why, but he knew they must have a reason.
"They probably don't want us to get in the way or touch anything. It might mess with evidence or something."
Dot sighed. "So we're just supposed to stand out here and wait?!"
"Pretty much."
Yakko sat down on the asphalt and pulled Dot into his lap. Resting his head on her shoulder, he tried his best to look on the bright side of things.
But all he could think of was how long it had been since Wakko was taken from them... several weeks, in fact. He missed him so much that he could barely take it. Him and Wakko always had a special relationship that many siblings didn't have. They didn't always get along, but they both loved each other dearly. Even though Wakko didn't always like to admit it, he was still Yakko's baby brother.
Yakko tried to remember the last interaction he had with him.
"That kind of language is NOT to be used in the house!"
"I'm sorry Yak! I didn't know!"
Yakko cringed; the last thing he could remember of his little brother was an argument. Biting his lip, he blinked back a tear.
"Hey, Yakko! You two can come up now!"
Yakko was snapped out of his thoughts as he looked up to see Harold waving at them from the balcony of their water tower.
"O-Okay, we'll be up in a second!" Yakko responded as happily as he could manage.
He stood up and took Dot by the hand. They made their way up the tower and stepped into the house. They were greeted by a smiling Harold and six police officers who were still searching.
"All right, I have good news and great news. Which would you like first?"
Yakko raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Umm, lets hear the good news first..."
"Alright, then. First of all, your house has been bugged. VERY bugged, as a matter of fact."
The eldest Warner stared at the man in complete disbelief. How could he possibly sound so happy about that?
"And in what universe is that good news?!"
Harold raised a hand.
"Hold on now, that's VERY good news. Like I said, we can track the source of the bugs. All we need to do is take them to the station and find out where the signal is leading to."
At the sound of that, Yakko felt his heart begin pounding. Was it possible that now, finally, they could find out where Wakko was? Would they be able to bring him home? Tempting as it was to place every hope in that idea, the ever present fear kept Yakko from letting himself fully believe it.
"And..." He swallowed to ease the tremor of his voice. "Then what?"
Harold gave him an encouraging smile and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Then, with a little luck, we might find both your brother and whoever's responsible for this."
Dot's face lit up like a christmas tree. "Well then, what are we waiting for?! Lets go!"
"Now hold up, we're just waiting for our officers to finish sweeping this place." Harold gave Dot a friendly smile.
Yakko rubbed his eyes. This was the biggest ray of hope he had been given since Wakko was taken, and he dearly hoped that it's not in vain.
Wakko sighed as he tiredly trudged over to the group of children as they were once again lined up for their shot. The plan was simple; discreetly switch to the line of kids that already got their shots, snatch a guards keys, unlock his, Jarod's, and Alex's power suppressors, and quietly place the keys back on the guard.
It was a lot easier said than done.
The first part was easy, especially since Wakko was considerably shorter than most of the other kids. However, that was not the case with the second part.
The guard was on the outside of the group of children, making sure that everyone stayed in a straight line. Wakko was going to need to get to the edge of the group, and then he would have to take the keys as quickly as possible. Despite the exhaustion threatening to fog his mind, he ordered himself to stay focused. This might be the only chance he'd have to see his family again, to get his friends out of here. Keeping a close eye on the guard, Wakko shuffled as close to the edge of the line as he dared. Then, the moment the man's eyes shifted away, he darted toward the other line. His stomach lurched when he stumbled, both from exhaustion and the strange sensation of not going as fast as he wanted to. If they got out of this, he'd never take toon speed for granted again.
Skidding to a stop, he slid in line with the children who had already received the shots. Those close by gave him startled looks, but no one said anything; either they guessed he was up to something or were just too tired to raise attention. Trying hard to catch his breath subtly, Wakko glanced over at the guard. His tense shoulders loosened just a little when he saw that the man was scanning the group with his usual half-alert, half-bored manner. Apparently, loosing his toon speed hadn't cost him the ability to be light on his feet.
Now for the next step of the plan... grab the key. Wakko followed the guard's movement as close as possible without rousing suspicion, silently counting the seconds he spent looking in a particular direction. All of a sudden the boy next to him stumbled, shuffling his feet loudly as he did so, and fell on his hands and knees. Wakko stared in surprise, then noticed that the guard was approaching. He quickly adopted an indifferent look, scanned the man's belt and spotted the key ring. Praying that the right one was on it somewhere, he waited until the guard bent down and grabbed the other child's arm.
With one quick, fluid movement, Wakko's hand zipped forward and snatched the key ring off the belt without a single noise. As he slipped it under his shirt, the guard pulled the fallen boy up.
"C'mon, kid, on your feet."
Once the guard turned away, the boy glanced at Wakko. He returned the look with a quick smile, and the other kid flashed him a tired grin.
Wakko kept both of his hands under his shirt as he tried to shove each key into the tiny keyhole. After a few attempts, one of them slid in. Wakko held his breath as he slowly turned it. A faint clicking sound was made as the key was turned all the way, and Wakko smiled as he felt the tension on the bracelet release.
Making sure to keep his pace slow as not to attract attention, he shuffled over to the table that Alex and Jarod were now sitting at. Alex leaned forward, just managing to hide his eager expression.
"So, did you get it?"
Wakko smiled and nodded. Alex grinned ear to ear and his wrist shot out.
"Holy shit! Unlock me!"
Wakko shushed him as he took a seat. After a quick look at the guard, he discreetly took Alex's wrist and unlocked the suppresser, then did the same with Jarod's.
Alex smirked as he flexed his hand.
"One down. Now you better move and get it back."
Wakko nodded, then looked for the guard. His stomach gave a nervous twist when he saw the man approaching their table, and for one awful second he thought he'd screwed it up. Then he realized the guard was walking at his usual pace, glancing around at the other kids. Tensing his fist, Wakko waited as the guard moved closer, and the moment he passed he slipped the keys back on the belt with the same fluid, soundless motion.
Once the guard was out of earshot, Alex gave Wakko an impressed grin.
"Damn... you ARE good."
Jarod nodded, his eyes wide, and Wakko couldn't hold back a proud smirk. Alex jerked his head, and both Wakko and Jarod leaned in to listen as he whispered.
"Okay... now once they get us back, we get out quiet as we can and look for a way outta this hellhole. Any sign of trouble, mallets out. Got it?"
Wakko and Jarod nodded just before the guard's voice rang out.
"All right, everyone up! Let's go!"
Whelp, there you go :)
