Head spinning, stomach churning... Everything was numb and tingling. The nausea faded in and out for an indeterminate amount of time. Bright fluorescent lights, cold steel floor, unhinged laughter...
Hello Nurse coughed as her eyes fluttered open. Nausea swept over her like a disgusting ocean wave. She recognized the feeling as she often told patients of her own the symptoms they would experience afterwards.
It was anesthetic. She had been unconscious.
Panic shot through her as she remembered what happened before she went under. She tried to sit up but her arms and legs held her back. Looking down, she saw that her body was firmly strapped down to a metal operating table. She noticed that her hazmat suit had been removed, leaving her in her regular clothes. She took in her surroundings and saw that she was in some sort of laboratory, filled to the brim with strange machines, computers, chemistry tubes, and very sharp medical tools. The panic peaked as she tried wiggling to get out, but the straps were too tight.
A voice cut through the darkness: "Good moooorning nurse!"
Hello Nurse sat up as much as the straps would allow her. Directly in front of her and hiding among the shadows was Yakko, staring her down with an unhinged smile. He crept closer, the fluorescent lights glinting in his dead black eyes.
"Y-you!" She snarled, trying to keep her voice steady, "You...! What's...?! What's the meaning of this?!"
Yakko giggled, clearly amused with her attempt at staying brave, "Oh take it easy sweetheart. You simply lost my game of chase. No biggie."
"Then why am I strapped to this table?!" Hello Nurse demanded, pulling at the restraints.
"Oh that," Yakko said casually. He waved away her demand as if it wasn't anything to worry about, "Might toonify you later. Who knows."
Hello Nurse's panic rose even higher, "Y-you...! You can't! You can't do that!"
"Uhhh, yes I can." Yakko shot back as he turned his back on her. He took out the comically over sized bone saw and sat down at a spinning whet stone wheel. He flicked it on and waited for it to get up to full speed, "But don't worry. I'm not going hurt you just yet. I still need to do a bit of prep before we get started. And I'd like my siblings to capture the others before we truly begin."
Hello Nurse gulped, "Oth... Others?"
"Your companions? Scratchansniff and that Brian guy? What, you didn't think I was going to let them get away too, did you?"
A small sense of relief washed over Hello Nurse. Was there a chance they had gotten away if they weren't here too?
Yakko took his saw and put the blade to the spinning stone. The metal against the sharpener produced a horrendous screeching sound. A torrent of sparks shot out, illuminating the mad toon's hunched-over silhouette. He took it off and admired his reflection in the razor sharp blade.
"You know, I admire your dedication." He broke the silence, "Getting this far just to foil our plans? That's impressive. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from Warner Brothers' greatest studio nurse." He took the blade and angled it in such a way that it perfectly reflected the terrified captive nurse in its shiny surface, "Is that why you went on to Doctors Without Borders? Because you're just so... Great?"
"I..." Hello Nurse wasn't sure how to answer his bile-filled question, "I'm... I'm not sure what you mean...?"
Yakko turned and stared directly at her. He pushed his blade on the wheel, producing the nails-on-a-chalkboard shrieking once again. His glare was nearly as sharp as the blade he was sharpening. He removed the saw again and ran his finger across the saw tooth surface.
"Of course you wouldn't." His voice was deadly flat, "You wouldn't care, would you? Humans never do. Who cares about the feelings of toons as long as we make you laugh? Ha! Ahahaha!"
The elder Warner broke out into a fit of deranged laughter. Hello Nurse nervously clenched her fist, wait for the deadly blade in his hands to end up lodged in her skull. He approached her, the saw still held tightly in his fist
"Well let me tell you something, my dear," He growled at her. He was looming directly over her, the saw blade dangerously close to her arm, "You won't be laughing when I'm through with you."
Hello Nurse braced herself, waiting for him to cut her open like a psychotic horror movie murderer. With no warning, Yakko dropped the saw on the floor, making a loud clattering noise. Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out a black marker. Her tension released as she stared at him in confusion.
"I told you." Yakko said, his deadly calm voice suddenly returning to his usual happy cadence, "I need to do some prep work first."
The elder Warner grabbed Hello Nurse's chin in a death grip as he popped the cap off the pen, "I'm thinking... Let's lose the lower jaw first." He marked a dotted line across the bottom half of her face, going straight across her cheeks and mouth, "Then maybe we can replace an eye... Or perhaps both! That would look fantastic on you, darling!" He circled both eyes with the pen, "Then maybe... Ooh! Let's try replacing both legs and arms! I'm thinking... How good is your spleen? Would you care for a new one? You don't need your left lung, do you? Maybe we can lose a couple of toes too, no one needs that many toes!"
He spent a ridiculous amount of time marking up her body and chattering on about the parts he was going to replace. When he was done, he stepped back and looked over her body. His eyes stopped a little too long on her chest as a perverted smirk crossed his face.
"You know..." Yakko giggled, "I've got a mink whose... Features would work wonders for you!"
Hello Nurse was repulsed as she stared at the dirty minded little toon, "You are utterly disgusting!"
Before Yakko could get too far with his sociopathic teenage fantasy, a clattering sound from the other side of the room got his attention. They both turned to see Wakko dragging a heap of metal. In his fist he held a small white mouse who was struggling to get away.
"Yakko!" Wakko called, "You'll never guess what I found out!"
Yakko approached, taking in the hunk of twisted metal, "Is that... An animatronic of some kind?"
"Yeah! Take a look!" Wakko held up the form for them both to see. Hello Nurse gasped as she was able to recognize Brian Magenta's face through the smashed metal, wires, and mechanical parts.
"And this," Wakko continued, holding up the mouse, "Is the real Brian Magenta!"
Yakko snatched the mouse from his brother's hand and glared at him, "Well well, if it isn't Brain? I was wondering when you'd show up to save your lab rat partner!"
Brain growled, baring his teeth, "I demand you release me, you mentally unhinged child! Let me go this instant!'
"Quiet you!" Yakko snapped, squeezing him tight enough to cause his eyes to bug out, "You don't get to decide anymore, you overgrown forehead rat! And if you don't want me cutting you up, I'd shut up!"
Hello Nurse's eyes darted between the metal carcass of who she once thought was Brian Magenta and the small white mouse, "I... I don't understand? Is this some sort of sick prank?"
"Why, you've been working with a rat this whole time!" Yakko answered her as he took the mouse and threw him into a small cage on a nearby table, "Tell her, Brain. We're all dying to hear your story!"
Brain scrambled to the other side of the cage, refusing to speak. This prompted Yakko to shake the cage aggressively, throwing the mouse around.
"Alright alright!" Brain shouted as he landed in the middle of the cage, "Fine! I'll tell you everything! Just stop, I beg of you!"
Yakko stopped shaking the cage and smirked expectantly at the lab mouse. Brain stood up, taking a moment to regain his balance before he spoke again.
"My intention from the very beginning was to rescue my companion." He explained, "Twenty years ago, Pinky, along with a handful of other toons disappeared. When those half-toons began appearing, I knew they were connected. So I created an alias for myself in order to properly study them: Brian Magenta, Acme Labs assistant scientist. Scratchansniff soon hired me to uncover as much information as I could on the half-toons. The only issue is that I was unable to find the connection between them and Pinky. That is, until you and the idiot bird came along."
Hello Nurse scowled at the mouse, "So you were just using us this entire time?"
"Hardly." Brain corrected her, "At first, I did genuinely want your help. But as soon as Pesto revealed to me that Pinky was being held captive by the Warners, I had no choice. I was desperate to rescue my only friend."
"So you just wanted someone to be bait, didn't you?" Yakko asked him, a gleeful smile on his face.
Brain hesitated. He locked eyes with Hello Nurse and gave a shameful sigh, "Yes. I set you and Scratchansniff up to be bait for the Warners. But you must understand, all I wanted was to rescue Pinky. My intentions were never truly malicious."
"You were going to leave us to die!" Hello Nurse shot back, "How could you trick us like that?!"
Brain said nothing, prompting Yakko and Wakko both to giggle.
"The drama!" The elder Warner snickered, "Oh the drama! It's too much to bear!"
As they were giggling, a scream sounded from the opposite hallway. In ran Scratchansniff with half of his hazmat suit missing. Right behind him was Dot, giggling maniacally. The psychiatrist ran to the corner and cowered as the electrical ghost approached closer and closer.
"Don't kill him," Yakko stepped between her and Scratchansniff, "I want him for testing."
Dot groaned, "Seriously? I just wanted to give him a little shock!"
"Your little shock is several thousand volts, Dot."
"No it's not! You're just over sensitive!"
"You're not electrocuting him. End of story."
Dot pouted as Yakko grabbed Scratchansniff and forced him over to an open table beside Hello Nurse. As he strapped him down, Scratchansniff noticed the smashed Brian robot and gasped.
"What happened to Brian?!" He demanded, "And why is he a robot?!"
Hello Nurse growled, "Brian is a traitor."
Scratchansniff stared at her in shock, "Traitor? What do you mean?!"
Hello Nurse explained to him what had happened. She told him all about Brian actually being Brain the mouse in a human suit, and how he planned to use them as bait to distract the Warners while he rescued Pinky. When she finished, Scratchansniff just looked sadly at the cage holding Brain captive.
"Aww, is it all too much for you both?" Yakko teased. He gave a cruel laugh, "Good. We like when our captives are in emotional turmoil!"
As Yakko finished tightening a strap on Scratchansniff, he stepped back and looked between them both, "Now... Before your inevitable toonification... I want a captive audience for just a little while. I'm sure you're wondering just why we're doing what we're doing, but it will take a while to explain. So sit back and grab some popcorn!"
Wakko set buckets of popcorn on Hello Nurse and Scratchansniff's table, only for them to fall on the floor since they couldn't exactly hold the buckets. Yakko went over to a lever and pulled it, causing both of the operating tables to shoot up into the air and stop nearly twenty feet off the ground. They slowly angled forward until both Hello Nurse and Scratchansniff were laying back at an angle. The Warners soon joined them, zooming upward on a table of their own. Yakko took out a remote from his jacket and pointed it to the ceiling. A screen dropped from above as a projector powered on and started counting down to a motion picture.
Yakko spoke with the gleeful voice of a showman, "We're going to watch a little something I like to call... The Warners' Villainous Monologue!"