As night approached, Hello Nurse drove back to the Warner Brothers studio lot. She had spent her day in the city, attempting to see if the same feeling carried over from the studio. Everything seemed normal to her, so it must have been something wrong with Warner Brothers. She remembered the phone call she had shared with Scratchansniff, and how exhausted and anxious he sounded.

"There is a lot to discuss." He had said, "The studio has been... In a lot of trouble recently. And no one knows how or why."

Hello Nurse began to wonder if the studio was going into bankruptcy and would soon close down. She hadn't heard anything; something that major would be in the news. But it would explain the anxiety of the studio workers. It wouldn't explain what that girl had said to Scratchansniff though...

He was... A monster! Some horrible, hideous monster!

Hello Nurse felt herself getting a headache as she thought more and more about it. She decided to turn on the radio to distract herself.

"...police are still searching for Jerry Thomlinson, last seen on the Warner Brothers studio lot, adding to the long list of those who have gone missing at the studio. CEO Nora Norita refuses to comment, saying all she can do is supply the studio with more security. Rumors of a Warner Brothers Killer still run wild, though no bodies of the missing persons have been foun-"

Hello Nurse immediately switched off the radio. A Warner Brothers Killer? Missing people? Is that why the whole studio was anxious? She gulped. That would explain the tighter security and the fact no one walked alone.

But why would that girl mention monsters?

Something still wasn't adding up. Hello Nurse stepped on the gas and ran ten miles over the speed limit, speeding back towards the studio. She had to find out more from Scratchansniff. The water tower came into view and Hello Nurse pushed her car even faster, the night wind whipping through her hair. She screeched to a halt, where a new gate guard had taken post.

"Sorry ma'am, studio's about to close in ten minutes." He said.

"I'm sorry," she replied urgently, "I'm just picking up my friend Dr. Scratchansniff. I'm his friend." She flashed her visitor pass to him, hoping that would grant her entry.

The guard looked suspicious, but eventually waved her to go on. She drove in, screeched into a parking place, and quickly left her car for the executive office on the other end of the studio. Scratchansniff had told her he would be speaking to Ms. Norita about the second psychiatrist who hadn't shown up that morning. He would rendezvous with Hello Nurse after his meeting.

There was no one around, other than the night guard at the front of the studio. It was dead quiet. Hello Nurse began to worry about walking alone. The radio broadcast she had briefly heard still rang in her head. She started checking over her shoulder to make sure she wasn't being followed.

This is ridiculous. She thought, I'm letting over sensationalized rumors get to me. I'm no better than these anxiety ridden employees!

As she walked, Hello Nurse checked the small, dark alleys between the sound stages. Just trash cans and dumpsters. She shook her head. She was letting the paranoia get to her. Even if there was a killer, she wouldn't let them attack her. Reaching into her purse, she grabbed a long, plastic, handheld box; a trusty taser for incapacitating muggers and attackers. If anyone tried to mess with her, they'd get several thousands volts straight into their bodies.

A noise caught Hello Nurse's attention. It was coming from one of the alleys up ahead. She decided to tread carefully and cross the street.

BANG

Hello Nurse jumped, gripping her taser harder. She grabbed it and aimed it at the dark alley up ahead. Her legs shook: she could hardly keep the taser still. Out of the darkness came...

A rat.

The rat scuttled away into the open door of one of the sound stages. It must have knocked over a trash can while rummaging for food. Hello Nurse breathed a sigh of relief and put the taser back in her purse. She couldn't believe she had let a little rat scare her.

Laughing at the ridiculousness, Hello Nurse turned around. She found herself face to face with another dark alley. Except at the other end of the cramped space stood a massive man, six foot tall, at least 300 pounds. But...

Hello Nurse gasped and backed away. The man's eyes were glowing a bright, alien blue. Spikes nearly as big as Hello Nurse jutted out of the man's body, also glowing the toxic blue. Something was wrong with his legs and arm, they were too small and strangely rubbery for the rest of his body.

"Groooooar..." The man let out an agonized roar, shaking Hello Nurse's bones to the marrow. Panic started to rise. Adrenaline kicked in and she turned, sprinting faster than she had ever sprinted in her life. She tried to reach for her taser, but her frantic running made it hard for her to grab it. She decided to just book it across the studio.

"GROOOOARR!"

The roar was louder. Closer. Closing in. The sounds of wet feet hit the ground behind her. She dared to look back and screamed.

The man was... Ralph?! The old studio guard?! But... It wasn't him! There was something terribly wrong with him. His body radiated a sickly blue glow. His legs and right arm were pitch black, like the limbs of a rubber hose cartoon. His teeth had all been replaced with sharp blue fangs, illuminating the inside of his mouth which looked infected and rotting. Most horrifyingly of all, stitched on to half of his face was the face of what appeared to be an old toon character with a yellowed face, dead blue eye, and a floppy canine ear.

"Ralph?! Oh my god!" Hello Nurse shrieked. Her adrenaline pushed her to put more distance between her and the Ralph abomination. She had no time to process what she had seen. All that mattered now was getting away from him.

Ralph seemed to be corralling her towards a dead end between two of the sound stages. She tried to avoid going in that direction, but Ralph came up behind her and swiped at her, nearly taking off her head in the process. She screamed and ran for the dead end anyways, desperate to get away and praying that maybe it only looked like a dead end.

Sadly, the alley she had been forced into was a dead end. She now had nowhere to go but to face the nightmarish monster behind her. She turned to see the dead blue eyes of what had once been her friendly, good-natured coworker.

Ralph approached, his mouth dripping with more of that glowing blue stuff, only this time it was in a liquid form. He opened his mouth and moaned weakly, "Helloooo... Nurrrsse..."

Hello Nurse shook, his weak and distorted voice chilling her to the core. He recognized her? What had happened to him?

"R-Ralph?!" Her voice broke, "Ralph...! What's...?! What's happened to...?! How...?!"

Ralph seemed to stop approaching. He cocked his head to one side in confusion. Was he listening to something?

"They neeeed..." He wheezed, "I... Sooorrry..."

He lunged at her. She grabbed her taser from her purse and fired it at his chest. It latched straight over his heart, discharging dangerous amounts of electricity. He convulsed, leaking more of that blue stuff from his mouth, eyes, and ears. His thin legs gave out and he fell to the ground, convulsing from the electric charge. Finally, the taser shut off and Ralph went still, laying in a puddle of the fluid. Hello Nurse retracted the taser as quickly as she could, but saw some of the blue liquid on the tip of it. She gagged but decided to hold on to it anyways.

Stepping over the body of the unconscious Ralph, Hello Nurse escaped out of the alley. She looked back to see him still laying there, glowing a sickly blue.

"What... Oh my god..." She breathed.

She nearly screamed again when someone grabbed her arm by surprise. She looked up and saw a, thankfully, normal human man. She didn't recognize him. He was shorter than her, with clean cut black hair, a small beard, and business casual attire. His eyes looked frantic, panicking, but strangely a little dead inside.

"Quick!" He demanded, "Follow me!"

Considering what had just happened, Hello Nurse decided to trust the stranger. He quickly led her to the center of the studio, past the iconic Warner Brothers water tower. He was heading for the executive offices. She breathed a sigh of relief. That would probably be the safest place right now.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"Let's get somewhere safe first!" He answered, speeding up.

They reached the executive office and burst through the door. The front desk secretary had gone home for the night, leaving the lobby empty. The mysterious man in business casual ran for the lights on the other side of the lobby and turned them off, gesturing for Hello Nurse to hide behind a potted plant with him. She jumped behind and curled up. From here, they had a safe view of the outside.

From the alley Hello Nurse had been cornered in, the monstrous form of Ralph came hobbling out. His body twitched, reacting from the strong electrical charge he had suffered. He was leaking the blue liquid profusely now. As he dragged himself along, he let out ghostly moans. He was in agonizing pain, but whatever those blue crystals were refused to let him die. It was a bone-chilling sight.

"Ralph..." Hello Nurse whimpered.

"Shh!" The man shushed her, "It might hear you."

Ralph's moan echoed through the studios, carried by the hot California wind. He soon hobbled out of sight, the moans fading and eventually going quiet. The man stood up, checking out the window. He gestured for Hello Nurse to stand up. He soon stepped out from behind the plant, once again checking the surroundings.

"It's safe, he's gone." He said, smiling and heaving a sigh of relief.

Hello Nurse had far too many questions. She didn't know where to start. Before she could, the man held out his hand for a handshake.

"I'm Dr. Magenta. Brian Magenta." Said Brian, "Acme Labs assistant scientist. I'm here to study those creatures currently plaguing the studio."

Hello Nurse swallowed, her throat dry and her thoughts racing so fast, she briefly forgot her name. She took his hand to shake and was surprised at how cold his hand was, "I uh... I'm Hello Nurse. Uhh... Ex-Warner Brothers studio nurse. What in the world was that thing? Why did it look like Ralph? My old coworker Ralph?"

Brian responded, his voice sounding a little dead, "You just saw a half-toon. That's what I started calling them."

"What do you mean?! What?!"

"Those creatures started appearing a couple decades ago. I think that's the reason why so many disappearances have been happening. Sadly, despite all my research I can't seem to convince the executives of their existence."

"Well I certainly believe you! But... What are they? Why did they look like my old coworker? Why was it chasing me? Why...?"

Hello Nurse trailed off. Her head was spinning. She felt sick to her stomach.

"You must have gotten too close to it." Brian said, "You're experiencing a little bit of radiation sickness."

"Radiation sickness?!" Hello Nurse yelped.

"No need to panic. It's very very mild. You'll just be a little nauseous. Once your adrenaline goes down you'll feel better."

Hello Nurse attempted to calm herself. She breathed slowly and deeply, focusing on a decorative potted plant across the room. Slowly she regained composure.

"Brian... How do you know so much about... Whatever that was?"

Just as Brian was about to answer, the elevator doors at the other end of the lobby whooshed open. Out came Dr. Scratchansniff and Nora Norita, arguing loudly.

"I don't care if you're overworked!" Nora snarled at him, "It is not my responsibility if your employees don't show up! Hire a new one!"

"Ms. Norita, please, you have to understand!" Scratchansniff begged her, "I can't keep hiring assistant psychiatrists if they keep disappearing after day one! You must call the police and-!"

Nora turned to face him, her face red with rage, "Don't you dare bring that up. That is nothing more than glorified rumors to tarnish the name of this studio! I will not tolerate that as an excuse!"

"Ms. Norita-"

"No! We are through, Scratchansniff! If we weren't so desperate for a studio psychiatrist, I'd fire you right now for using that as an excuse!"

Nora turned and stomped to the exit, pushing Brian and Hello Nurse out of her way as she did.

"Ms. Norita!" Brian called after her, "It's dangerous out there, you shouldn't-!"

SLAM

Nora slammed the doors hard enough that they nearly broke the glass. The slam rang through the lobby and left the three with a bitter taste in their mouths.

"Oh dear, oh dear." Scratchansniff mumbled, returning to his nervous ticks of pacing and wringing his hands. He hadn't even noticed Hello Nurse and Brian standing there.

"Dr. Scratchansniff?" Hello Nurse said to him, approaching him as he paced.

Scratchansniff glanced up, his expression changing in an instant, "Oh, oh goodness! H-how long have you two been standing there?!"

Hello Nurse shrugged awkwardly, "Long enough."

Dr. Scratchansniff seemed embarrassed as he frantically tried to explain, "I was simply trying to talk to Ms. Norita about the disappearances, and how it's been affecting me and that I just need help and-" he suddenly stopped, noticing Hello Nurse's messy hair and shaken look, "Wh... Ms. Nurse, what happened to you?"

"A half-toon attacked her." Brian answered for her.

Dr. Scratchansniff gasped, "You saw one?!"

Hello Nurse took the taser out of her purse. The blue gunk was still stuck to the end, but by this time it had crystallized into a hardened rock. Scratchansniff and Brian gathered around it to get a closer look.

"Goodness... They're getting bold." Scratchansniff gulped.

Brian studied the taser for a second, "But this is a good thing. It means we can expose them and finally get the help we need to stop this from happening."

"How long has this been happening?" Hello Nurse asked.

Scratchansniff shook his head, "It first started when Ralph went missing. You remember Ralph, right?"

Hello Nurse felt a chill down her spine, remembering the pained moans of her old coworker, "That's who attacked me. Or... At least I think it was him."

Scratchansniff heaved a sad sigh, "Poor Ralph... I had suspected he may have been turned into a half-toon for a while now." He straightened himself and continued with the story.

"When Ralph disappeared and never came back to work, everyone assumed it was because he had quit. But his wife called Mr. Plotz, who was the CEO at the time, saying that Ralph never came home. Weeks went by and not a trace of him showed up. Mr. Plotz brushed it off as Ralph skipping town to cheat on his wife, but I knew he wasn't that kind of man.

"Then, more people disappeared. It started as smaller employees; a janitor here, a stagehand there. It was nothing that concerned the executives. They just assumed it was lazy people not showing up for work. That is, until employees started seeing monsters. They look like the old employees that disappeared, only they seemed to be turned into half-toon abominations. They only seemed to come out at night and only one at a time, targeting one person and kidnapping them. The executives want it kept quiet and keep saying it's all just rumors, even though so many people have seen the monsters.

Scratchansniff rubbed his head in pain, "Because the executives won't believe any of us, the anxiety has been high here. I've been handling them all on my own with the help of Brian here. I hired him to do field research on these monsters. I've assumed you two have met?"

Hello Nurse nodded, "Yes, he helped me get here."

Brian approached Scratchansniff, "Doctor, I think the only way we can get the executives to listen is if something big happens. We need to get proof."

"You put too much faith in these things," Scratchansniff said, "Every time we try to get pictures or recordings, they just delete themselves!"

"Wait a second," Brian suddenly remembered as he turned back to Hello Nurse, still holding the taser, "May I see that?"

Hello Nurse gave him the taser. Brian held it up to Scratchansniff, "If I run some tests on this sample, I might be able to supply the proper proof. They'll have to believe us!"

Scratchansniff sighed, "It's... Doubtful. They'll say it's just some special effects sorcery!"

As the two went back and forth, Hello Nurse began to think. People were in danger and the ones in power wouldn't do anything to help. Something was more than just amiss here. Someone or something was behind all this. It seemed too calculated and precise. Those creatures couldn't have just appeared on their own. There was a medical finesse to Ralph's appearance, as if he had been forced to become a half-toon Frankenstein abomination by someone of incredible smarts. The fact Ralph was being tortured in such a horrendous way by an unseen, cowardly creator was what helped Hello Nurse make her decision.

"I want to help."

Scratchansniff and Brian turned to look at her in shock.

"You want to help?" Asked Scratchansniff, "I mean... It is appreciated but I'm not sure if I'd want to put you in that kind of danger, it's just-"

"Hold on." Brian interrupted him, "Before I found Ms. Nurse, she had knocked Ralph out with her taser. I think she can plenty handle herself."

"As a matter of fact, I can." Hello Nurse assured, "Those creatures are frightening, but I'm more scared of innocent people getting hurt. I want to help you both put a stop to it no matter what."

Scratchansniff hesitated for a moment. Then he nodded, "Okay. But for goodness sake, please don't go looking for danger!"

Hello Nurse smiled mischievously, "I make no promises, Dr. Scratchansniff."