The scalpel blade pressed against Scratchansniff's neck. He whimpered, barely able to control his shaking. Yakko kept him held tight as he slowly backed away, dragging the psychiatrist along with him. Hello Nurse tried to step towards them, but Wakko and Dot jumped between them.
Yakko cackled, pushing the blade into Scratchansniff's neck, enough to draw a slight line of blood, "Listen carefully! This is how we're going to do this. You're all going to go back to your cages. Or the bald doctor gets it!"
Hello Nurse growled, clenching her fists, "You...! You let him go this instant!"
Yakko smiled cruelly at her, "No. I don't think I will. In fact, if any of you come any closer, I'll be happy to demonstrate how fragile a human really is in comparison to a toon!"
Wakko and Dot approached closer. Wakko's eerie blue glow illuminated the tight corridor. Sparks of electricity danced off Dot's ghostly form. Yakko backed away further, approaching the adjacent corridor with Scratchansniff still held in a chokehold.
"Wakko, Dot," Yakko spoke again, "Put the toons in their proper place. And if you can... Keep the nurse alive. I would love it if she's still partially intact for experiments!"
Suddenly, a small but strong voice rang out from behind Hello Nurse: "No!"
Yakko snarled, "Who... Said... That?!"
From a safe distance, Skippy, along with all the imprisoned toons stood behind Hello Nurse. Rage filled their eyes as they stared down the Warners.
"We're tired of you bullying us!" Skippy roared.
"No more cutting us open, punk!" Bobby growled.
Minerva was facing the wrong way, but angrily gestured to the wall, "You've treated us like lab rats for years!"
Rita and Runt bared their teeth in an angry snarl, their hackles standing on end. Rita spoke with a shrieky hiss, "And we're not gonna take it any more!"
Hello Nurse moved out of the way of the toons to avoid their deadly radiation. They approached the Warners, hatred burning in their eyes from years of mistreatment.
"Back up, jack!" Dot screamed. She unleashed bolts of electricity, ricocheting off off the walls and hitting multiple toons in the process. This set them all off as they shook off the electrocution and charged at Wakko and Dot. For once in his life, Yakko started to look a little nervous and ran off, taking Scratchansniff with him.
"Oh no you don't!" Hello Nurse called after him. She carefully maneuvered around the fighting toons, trying to avoid getting too close to their dangerous radiation. She made it out of the corridor and turned. She caught sight of Yakko's lab coat disappearing around the corner up ahead. She sprinted towards the end of the hall and took the corner hard. She saw Yakko, trying to pry Scratchansniff off the wall he was desperately clinging to. The mad toon took his hacksaw out and was about to bring it down on the screaming psychiatrist's arms when Hello Nurse grabbed his wrist and tried to wrench the deadly medical instrument out of his grip.
"Oooh, she's feisty!" Yakko snickered, fighting to keep her from disarming him, "You wanna dance, hot stuff?"
With no warning, he suddenly pulled Hello Nurse into his arms, forcing her into a waltz with the blade of the hacksaw firmly against her back. She tried to keep up with the toon constraining her into a deadly dance.
"We should do this more often." Yakko purred, pushing the blade into her back to the point it started tearing at her shirt, "We're always so busy these days... It's nothing like it was long ago when it was just you and I..."
Hello Nurse promptly kneed him in the crotch. He let out a strangled yelp and fell to his knees, to which Hello Nurse promptly uppercut kicked his chin, launching him into the ceiling where half of his body dangled out of a hole.
Hello Nurse brushed herself off, "That's for all the years you kissed me without consent!"
Scratchansniff breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh gracious... Thank you so much, Ms. Nurse!"
Hello Nurse helped him up, "It's no trouble. Now let's get out of here."
The two took off. Just as they were about to turn the corner, Yakko pulled himself out of the ceiling and landed on the floor. He set his enraged stare on the two humans. He grabbed his hacksaw from the floor and charged at them, screaming furiously.
"Run!" Hello Nurse yelled.
They both sprinted away with the mad little toon chasing them both with his hacksaw held high above his head. Yakko screamed at the top of his lungs, swinging the saw wildly. He was only a few steps behind as he swung the saw again. They both felt the whoosh of air at their backs from the weapon narrowly missing slicing the shirts from their backs. Desperate to put distance between them, Hello Nurse grabbed her shoe and chucked it at Yakko's face. It hit him square in the nose and stunned him. The two took this chance and ran like the wind.
Up ahead, Slappy was engaging with Dot, who had her cornered. Dot cackled madly as Slappy pulled out her mallet.
"What are you going to do with that?" The ghostly Warner sister asked, "I'm a ghost, don't you remember? You can't hit-!"
WHAM!
Slappy somehow managed to hit Dot on the head with the mallet, even though logically it should have passed right through her. Dot slurred her speech before she fell to the ground and passed out.
"Where have you two been?" The elder squirrel demanded, "Get your butts in gear! We're blowing this popsicle stand!"
Slappy ran ahead. Hello Nurse and Scratchansniff quickly followed. Right behind them, led by Brain and Pesto, the group of Warnerium-infected toons clamoured for the exit. Bobby and Squit kept to the back, pecking at Wakko, who was still following them. Minerva held onto Runt's fur as he guided her along with them. Pinky rode atop Rita. In front, Skippy proudly pointed to the corridor in front, hardly slowed down by the massive growth from his chest.
They all charged forward, only slowed down by the replica steam train blocking the exit. They were a few feet away from the ladder leading to the sound stage entrance. They were almost free.
A screech echoed down the hall. In the back of the group, Squit crashed into the ground. His feathers were burnt and smoking, smelling like cooked fowl.
"Squit!!" Bobby and Pesto both screamed in a panic as they rushed to grab their buddy. Before they could, Yakko had reappeared and pressed his foot against the injured pigeon. In his hand he held the Pun Gun, smoking and sparking with electrical power. A psychotic smile stretched across his face. He lifted his foot and allowed Wakko to take the pigeon in his mouth.
"You think I'll let you go just like that?!" He asked, his voice strained with an unhinged edge, "You think I'll let you ruin my work just?! Like?! THAT?! I OWN YOU ALL!! AND YOU WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Yakko fired wildly into the group of toons. One hit Minerva's shoulder, causing her to scream and grab on to Runt for protection. Runt was promptly hit. A yelp of pain escaped his mouth before he was shot again and put out of commission. Rita turned around and hissed in rage, only to be hit as well. Pinky went flying and landed by Hello Nurse's foot.
"Oh hello!" He said.
Hello Nurse panicked and grabbed him, trying to avoid the Warnerium growths on his skin. Out of the commotion came Brain riding on Pesto.
"Forget them!" Brain insisted, "We need to escape!"
Skippy was hit by a beam. Slappy cried out and grabbed up her limp nephew, trying to tend to his wounds as she avoided the deadly beams.
"I'm not leaving my pals either!" Pesto insisted. He glanced and saw Bobby, the only remaining toon to stand against Yakko and Wakko. Bobby gripped his wing, which had already been severely burned by the Pun Gun.
Yakko engaged the gun and pointed it to the wounded pigeon, his smile growing wider as he relished in the Goodfeather's pain, "Oh you poor little thing... What a bitter end... Why don't you say goodbye to your last chance of freedom?"
Bobby glanced over his shoulder. He locked eyes with Pesto, who stared at him bleakly.
"Bobby, no!" He cried.
Bobby turned back to Yakko, clenching his feathery fist. He gave a battle cry with all of his remaining strength.
"FOR GOODFEAAAATHEEERRSS!!!"
Bobby launched himself straight towards Yakko's face. Yakko was caught off guard and fell backwards, landing on Wakko. The Pun Gun went off, firing in random directions.
"BOBBYYY!!" Pesto cried. Scratchansniff had to grab him and hold him tight to stop him from going back to his buddy.
"He's letting us get away!" Brain pointed out, "We must make haste this instant!"
They hurriedly ascended the ladder as Pesto let out angry screams to let him go back for his pals, even pecking at Scratchansniff. Hello Nurse pushed open the hatch and they quickly exited the nightmarish lair. To ensure the Warners couldn't follow them, Slappy produced an oversized anvil from her purse, placing it on the hatch door. Having narrowly gotten away, Hello Nurse, Scratchansniff, Slappy carrying Skippy Brain, and reluctant Pesto started running and didn't stop until they were quite a few blocks away from the studio.
Pesto screamed in protest, "No! We almost saved them! We gotta go back! Squit! Bobby! I'm comin'! Hang on!"
Scratchansniff held tight to the struggling pigeon, "Pesto! We can't! We barely managed to escape ourselves!"
"Oh so it's okay that the squirrel and the mouse rescued their friends?!" Pesto roared, "But when I want to save my pals, we can't do it! Huh?! Is that what this is?! How about you and me fight, you bald old fart?!"
"Pesto!" Hello Nurse yelled over his screaming, "Scratchansniff is right. We only barely escaped with our lives. But we did managed to save Pinky and Skippy. That's got to mean something, doesn't it?"
Pesto snarled at her, "It don't mean anything to me! I want my pals back!"
Brain sighed from the ground below, "He's inconsolable. I'd recommend not bothering with his feelings." He started walking ahead of the group, his hands behind his back, "Despite not being able to save them all, I see this as a win over the Warner kids. I suggest we regroup and figure out the next course of action."
"Oh you hold on just a minute." Hello Nurse hissed at him as she grabbed him in her fist, "You have A LOT of explaining to do, mister. Just what do you think you were trying to pull by leaving us as bait for the Warners?"
Scratchansniff growled, trying to get Pesto under control, "Yes! I think you owe us an explanation for all you put us through!"
Brain swallowed hard, "I-... Well..."
"You almost got us killed!" Hello Nurse screamed at him.
"I almost got my neck slit!" Scratchansniff added.
Pesto lost what little patience he had and shrieked, "IT'S CAUSE OF YOU MY BUDDIES ARE STILL PRISONERS!"
The three screamed at the small white mouse. The only one who was calm in the situation was Pinky, who couldn't hear a thing.
Suddenly, Slappy came between them all, shouting over them, "Ahh would you all shaddup?! We've all been screwed over by those Warner kids and you're too busy fightin' with each other?! These kids are a menace to society and you wanna pick a fight with a rat!"
The group fell silent. They looked to Slappy, who still held her unconscious nephew in her arms. She was fed up. She glared daggers at the group and pointed an accusing finger at them.
"If we're gonna put an end to these kid's little horror show," She said, "You're gonna have to put whatever beef you have between yourselves and start acting like a big happy family. Cause heaven knows I ain't gonna be happy with this arrangement. You know what'll make me happy? Putting the Warners behind bars where they belong. Now shaddup."
An awkward silence fell between the group. Brain swallowed again and spoke up.
"I... Suppose we can start by returning to Acme Labs." He said, "It may be the safest place for us now that the Warners are likely going to be after us."
"Then be a dear and show me where it's at." Slappy said. Her glare told them all to keep quiet or suffer the consequence. With their mouths firmly shut, the ragtag group headed back to Acme Labs, the weight of their terrifying escape still heavy on their shoulders.