Beyond the locked titanium door was a nightmarish sight. Lining the walls of a long corridor were cages upon cages filled with toons. Except... They were mangled so horribly that it was difficult to recognize many of them. Blue chunks of that unknown ore grew out of their bodies. Stitches, scars, and other nasty injuries covered their bodies.

Pesto swallowed his scream and stared at them in horror. He didn't think toons could be injured beyond repair, but whatever had happened to these unfortunate prisoners had destroyed them. Were they even still alive? Or had the ore taken over their bodies?

"Wh-... Who's there...?" A raspy female voice spoke from one of the cages. Pesto jumped and held his scream. Right next to him rose up a female toon. She appeared to be a... Ferret? Otter? Weasel? Her white fur was violently interrupted by chunks of the ore growing out of her body in sharp spikes. Thinning, stringy blonde hair hung in clumps from her head, barely hanging on to her scalp. Most horrifyingly of all, she was missing her eyes. The blue ore had taken over her eye sockets and now grew in place of them.

Pesto squinted, gasping, "M... Minerva Mink?!"

Minerva gasped softly in response, "Wh-? You're...! You're not the Warners...?!"

Pesto stared at her, "You can't see me?"

Minerva scowled, though she wasn't looking directly at him, "Maybe you haven't noticed the massive spikes growing out of my eyes?"

"Oh I've noticed them alright, toots! I've noticed them too much!"

Pesto quickly flew off, only to come face to face with another horrific blue ore toon, except this time it was two horrific blue ore toons. Like Minerva, their fur was thinning with more ore. One appeared to be a cat while the other was a dog. Thankfully, they both had function of their eyes and could see Pesto.

The cat approached first, eyes widening at the pigeon before her, "Pesto? Pesto the Goodfeather?"

Pesto squeaked, "R-R-Rita?!"

Rita's oversized dog companion, Runt, approached the cage door, "Oh yeah, oh yeah, that's definitely, definitely Pesto!"

Pesto couldn't contain his terror and let out a shriek, "What's going on?! What happened to all of you?! How?! What?! Who's?!"

"Who said Goodfeather?"

Pesto froze. He turned to look up at a cage hanging from the ceiling a few feet above him. He locked eyes with another pigeon, this one also infected with the blue ore. Except, unlike the others, Pesto immediately recognized him. The other pigeon's eyes widened upon seeing him.

"Squit?!" Pesto shrieked.

"Pesto?!" Squit screamed back.

They were both frozen in shock at the sight of each other, before Pesto suddenly rocketed up to the cage, grabbing the other pigeon through the bars and pulling him in for an awkward hug.

"You moron! You've been here the whole time?!" Pesto tried to sound angry, but was clearly overjoyed, "I was worried sick! You punk! I oughta beat you to a pulp for this!" He backed away, grimacing, "Uhh... On second thought... Maybe you've been through enough already."

Squit shook his head. He looked especially bad. Instead of feathers, his wings were covered in spikes of the blue crystals. One leg was missing, only having a stump of crystal to balance his barely intact leg. Along his chest was a massive stitched wound, running from under his beak all the way to his lower belly. He seemed to be struggling to breathe properly, wobbling back and forth on his one good leg.

"Wh... What happened to you?" Pesto asked, his voice becoming surprisingly soft and caring, "Where's Bobby? What happened to Bobby?"

Squit broke eye contact, "Well... You see... That kid with the crazy eyes just-"

Suddenly, the keypad to the door beeped. Pesto turned and began to panic.

"He's coming back!" Squit yelled, "Hide Pesto!"

Pesto darted behind one of the cages, hiding as best as he could in its shadow. The door swung open and in walked Yakko, carrying a small sack. He opened it and grabbed something out of it. Pesto gasped at the sight; it was a slumped over Bobby, who appeared nearly dead. Yakko tossed the pigeon back into the cage none too gently, brushing his gloves of the glowing blue powder sticking to Bobby's remaining feathers.

"Maybe next time you'll learn not to peck at the hand that feeds you." Yakko snarled, "No dinner for either of you." He glared around at the other prisoners, causing them all to shrink back at his menacing gaze. Except Minerva, who couldn't see anything, "On second thought... I'm in a sour mood. Which means I'm going to meaninglessly direct it on all of you despite the recommendations of my therapist. Forget getting any dinner tonight, you freaks!"

As he walked by, Rita and Runt growled at him, trying to stand their ground. In response, Yakko produced his oversized hacksaw from his coat and struck the bars, causing a loud CLANG to ring out through the chamber. Rita and Runt backed off immediately, both cowering in the corner. Yakko flashed them a murderous glare before he left without another word. Once the door was closed and locked, Pesto came out from his hiding place. He flew back up to the cage where Squit and Bobby were residing.

Bobby was lying on his back. Unlike the others, his body was covered in multiple stitches rather than spikes of blue crystals. He was breathing, but struggling.

"Wh-what did he do to Bobby?!" Pesto demanded, the desperation rising in his voice.

Before Squit could answer, Bobby coughed. He rolled over and hacked up a glob of the glowing blue liquid on to the floor of the cage. He shuddered a few times and stopped, gasping for breath.

"Ghh..." He groaned, "Man Squit... They really did a number on me this time..."

"You gotta learn not to make Yakko angry." Squit replied sadly.

"Okay that's it!" Pesto threw up his wings in frustration and glared at them, "What is going on here?! What are those puppy freaks doing to you two?!"

Bobby slowly sat up, opening his squinty eyes and fixating them on Pesto, "P-P-Pesto...? Buddy, is that... Really you...?"

"In the flesh!" Pesto replied, "And if you don't tell me what's going on right this minute, I'll beat you up more than that Yakko guy did!"

"What are you even doing here, Pesto?" Squit shot back, "You shouldn't be here. If the Warners catch you, you'll end up like us!"

Pesto growled, his temper slowly rising, "I'm here cause I wanted to know more! You two just disappeared one day and never came back! Then all this freaky stuff started happening at the studio and I couldn't take it anymore! I followed that ghost girl freak here and I found you guys! You just left me so you could get tortured by that mutt in a lab coat?"

Bobby coughed, finally catching his breath, "You think... We came here willingly?"

"Pesto, we were birdnapped!" Squit finished for him, "Just out of nowhere, the Warner kids snatched us! We've been here for... What?"

"Twenty-two years..." Rasped Bobby.

"Twenty-two years!" Squit repeated, "You think we wanted to be cramped up in this tiny cage, getting sliced and injected and having to grow this garbage in our bodies for that long?"

"I..." Pesto paused, trying to process his friends' angry outburst at him, "I'm sorry... I just spent so long thinking you two had ditched me. I didn't realize some creepy dogs were keeping you prisoner! If I had known that, why I oughta-!"

Bobby stood to his feet, leaning on the bars and staring directly at Pesto, "Why are you here, Pesto? You shouldn't be anywhere near here. Those Warner kids? Pure evil. I'd like to sock 'em but they always catch me by surprise before I can."

Pesto stared at Bobby's stitches and Squit's crystalized wings, grimacing in sympathy pains. A few feet away hung another cage, this one containing a white mouse, whose tail, ears, and right arm were totally overtaken by the blue ore. Despite this, he waved happily at Pesto with his good arm.

"'ello Pesto! Narf!" Pinky the mouse, his voice oddly louder than usual.

"Pinky? You too?" Pesto spun around, taking in others. Another cage on the ground contained a small squirrel. He could hardly move to pull himself to the door, as a huge crystal spike was growing out of his chest, appearing to skewer him. It was too big for his tiny body, causing him to awkwardly squat so he wouldn't have to lift it. He didn't say anything, only stared sadly at Pesto with big sad eyes.

"And even Skippy the squirrel..." The pigeon breathed, "Wh... What have they been doing to all of you?"

"When we first got here," Squit explained, "They injected us with this weird blue fluid. Before we knew it, we had this growing out of us."

"And that wasn't even the worst part." Bobby continued, "When we had enough of the stuff growing out of us, the one kid with the crazy eyes took us back and sliced us open like a Thanksgiving Turkey, taking any part that the blue stuff took over."

From the other side of the corridor, Minerva screeched, "They took my eyes!"

Rita and Runt both chimed in, snarling "They took our skin!"

From below them, even little Skippy roared, "They took my entire chest cavity!"

The pigeons looked at Pinky, who was staring at them blankly. He seemed to have not heard any of them.

"Snatched his ears." Bobby answered for the deaf mouse.

"But because we're toons," Squit continued, "We can't kick the bucket. The old parts just come back and get replaced with that blue stuff."

"And the cycle continues." Bobby finished.

Pesto shook his head, "That's... That's...!" He snarled, his face turning red and steam boiling from his ear holes, "INFURIATING! Who are those punks to treat you like that?! I'll make mince meat out of them when I see those little cartoon mutts!"

"Pesto, Pesto! Take it easy!" Squit begged, trying to get his pal to lower his voice, "Look, we don't like it either, but no matter what we do, we can't overpower them. The Warner kids... They're just..."

"Pure evil." Bobby finished for him.

Squit shuddered, "Yeah, pure evil."

"Which is why you need to scram." Bobby squinted harder than usual at Pesto, his voice becoming even more serious, "Pesto, you're the last remaining Goodfeather. And we're not gonna let you end up like us."

Pesto shot back, nearly yelling at the top of his lungs, "Are you crazy?! I'm not ditching you two! Not after I spent nearly two decades looking for you! I'm busting you out! Heck, I'll bust you all out!"

"Is this bird braindead?" Rita remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, definitely braindead!" Runt agreed.

"Don't you think if we could get out, we would have already?" Minerva growled.

"Yeah!" Skippy chimed in, "I just wanna go home! Not be a science experiment!"

Pinky had no idea what the group was saying, but he shouted agreements and nonsense words to show his stance on the matter.

Bobby approached the cage door, staring at Pesto directly through the bars, "Pesto, you don't get what I'm saying. It's hopeless for us. You've still got a chance. And you need to scram. Get outta here while you still can."

Pesto approached Bobby, putting his face directly in his, "And I don't think you get what I'm saying, numbskull." He drew in a deep breath and screeched, "I AM BUSTIN' YOU OUTTA HERE WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

Bobby held his head, his ear holes ringing from the sheer volume of Pesto's scream.

"Now, there's gotta be a key, or an emergency release, somethin'!" Pesto continued, glancing around the room. He however, failed to glance behind him, where Bobby, Squit, and the rest of the imprisoned toons suddenly fixed their gazes.

"P-P-P...!" Squit stuttered.

"I told you already, punk!" Pesto snarled at him, "I ain't leaving 'til I bust you all out here!"

"P-Pesto..." Bobby rasped, his voice shaky as he and Squit latched on to each other in fear, "B-behind...!"

"Would you shaddup already?! Don't you wanna be rescued?!"

"PESTO! BEHIND YOU!" The other toons shrieked at the top of their lungs, pointing to behind him.

Pesto snickered, "Behind me? What? Was that where the escape was the whole ti-? OMPH!"

A rubber gloved hand went around Pesto's neck, choking him and preventing him from speaking. He was forcefully turned around, coming face to face with the crazed stare of one of the toon prisoners' captor, Yakko Warner.

"Well well... If it isn't the final Goodfeather?" He said, smiling a friendly smile that was easily undercut by the malice in his voice, "Hiya Pesto, how are ya?"

Pesto only managed a weak squeak.