The gift shop was cold and empty. Lifeless plushes of timeless Warner Brothers cartoon characters stared down from the shelves above. Behind the main counter, Hello Nurse, Brain, and Mr. Plotz sat, waiting for an eventual doom to come to them. Brain paced the floor, occasionally looking up from the floor at Plotz and Hello Nurse, only to return to looking down and pacing in circles.
Plotz seemed the most affected by what had happened. He sat on the floor, holding his knees to his chest and staring off unblinking into the store before him. The stitch marks hiding beneath his toon fur gave off a dim blue glow. It was hard to believe that only hours ago, he had been a perfectly normal human man. Hello Nurse made sure to keep her distance in case he was just as radioactive as any other half-toon.
Hello Nurse tried to focus on composing herself. She had to take the time to mourn for Scratchansniff, who had been taken so suddenly from them all. She wasn't sure if he was still alive, but if he was, it was likely he had been turned into a mindless half-toon like the rest of the Warners' victims.
Over in the corner of the gift shop was a TV, playing muted commercials. However, something caught their attention as the bright red screen of an emergency warning broadcast interrupted the commercials and bathed the gift shop in its harsh crimson light.
"Where's the remote?" Brain demanded as he hopped up on the counter, checking around the cash register for a TV remote. He found it beside the register and quickly unmuted the TV.
"...ENCOURAGING ALL TO EVACUATE BURBANK AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS IMMEDIATELY." Said the automated voice of the warning, "DANGEROUS CREATURES OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN HAVE BEEN SPOTTED ROAMING THE STREETS, ATTACKING PEOPLE AT RANDOM. THEY ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT APPROACH THESE INDIVIDUALS AT ANY COSTS. REPEAT: DO NOT APPROACH THESE INDIVIDUALS AT ANY COSTS. CALIFORNIAN GOVERNMENT IS ENCOURAGING ALL TO EVACUTE BURBANK AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS IMMEDIATELY."
The eerie robotic voice repeated the heart stopping warning again, before it stopped, playing a sequence of horridly loud beeps that echoed through the silent gift shop. Just as the group thought the warning would stop altogether, it suddenly flashed on screen again, playing the beeps. But something was... Wrong. The iconic beeps of the emergency broadcast seemed strained and distorted. The text scrolling on the screen was incomprehensible. The audio warning played once again, but... Differently.
"CALIFORNIAN... IS ENCOURAGING... STAY IN BURBANK... APPROACH THESE INDIVIDUALS... CALIFOR... IS ENCOURAG... STAY... BURBANK... APPRO... ESE... DUALS... CALIFOR... ENC... STAY... APPR..."
There was eerie silence as the emergency broadcast warning struggled just to stay on the air. The silence became deafening as the red screen glitched and faded in and out of static. There was something very, very wrong.
The screen cut out entirely. The television was black for a few seconds. Nothing but the sounds of corrupted robotic speech played from the television. Brain attempted to turn the TV off in a panic, but it appeared to do nothing.
"What in god's name is happening?!" Hello Nurse screamed.
"I don't know!" Brain shrieked, "It's like something is intercepting the signal!"
Suddenly, the horrible noise roaring from the speakers of the TV cut out. The footage had switched over to a news report from a local Burbank station. A bright red banner played across the bottom of the screen, repeating the message from the emergency broadcast, thankfully not corrupted. Once the news station intro played, it cut to a female news anchor, sitting alone in the newsroom.
"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news." She said, her voice sounding grave and even a little shaky, "We're getting mass reports of bizarre humanoid abominations running amuck in the streets of Burbank, attacking civilians on sight."
The feed cut to footage from a helicopter camera, currently flying over down town Burbank. Buildings were on fire. Cars had crashed into each other. Half-toons could be seen roaming the streets, chasing people and attacking emergency vehicles who were trying to get into the city to help others evacuate. Police cars were seen going after the half-toons. First responders grabbed civilians off the streets as fast as they could to get them out of there. It was pure, unfiltered chaos. It was as if the apocalypse was playing out in real time.
"The Californian government is declaring this a statewide emergency." Continued the newscaster, "These creatures appear immune to every weapon and are highly aggressive. According to reports, even getting too close to these monsters is dangerous, as they appear to give off immense radiation. Please take caution and evacuate the city immediat-" She paused as she seemed to be listening to something on her ear piece, "What? A national emergency?" She swallowed and tried to keep herself composed as she turned back to the camera, clear panic in her eyes, "I am now getting word that the president is declaring this strange outbreak of creatures as a national emergency. It is being encouraged to get out as fast as possible, as military forces will be deployed in the city. Please, get out as fast as you can. God be with you all."
The feed from the camera seemed to glitch. The newscaster's expression morphed from one of panic to absolute sheer terror. The sounds of screams suddenly came from behind the camera. The camera was wrenched around and the feed turned to static.
"What the hell is that?! Oh my god! OH MY GOD! OH GOD SOMEONE HELP ME-!"
Screams.
Silence. Static.
...
Hello Nurse, Brain, and Plotz sat there, jaws agape at the static filled television before them. They turned to each other, unsure of what they had just watched.
"They're... They're going to kill everyone!" Hello Nurse wept.
Brain shook his head, stomping his foot on the counter, "You know what? Enough is enough. I declare this shan't go any further! I will not stand around and wait to die! I will not sit here and watch as a bunch of children destroy our world!" He growled between his teeth, "Because that's my job!"
Hello Nurse watched as the white mouse angrily ranted, "Brain, you said it yourself, what can we do?"
Brain was still fuming as he turned back to her, "The half-toons, they're not in control of their actions! I can see that clearly. Something has to be controlling them from a distance. If we can figure out what that thing is, we can put a stop to it and maybe gain control of them ourselves!"
Plotz suddenly stepped up after being quiet for so long, "May... I add something?"
The other two turned to him, glaring at him. He shrunk back a little, but continued.
"When I was... In that lab... I saw something. I saw a strange machine. It made this horrible noise that made it hard for me to focus. I saw that kid crank it up when he saw you all coming. Could that maybe... Be the culprit for the half-toons aggression?"
Hello Nurse and Brain exchanged glances, seeming to both agree that this was a strange observation.
"At this point, it might be our only shot." Hello Nurse nodded.
Brain stroked his chin, deep in thought, "If we can get back in that laboratory and investigate that machine, perhaps we may stand a chance. It's... Very very slim. But... There's no sense in standing around, cowering in fear as the world burns to cinders."
Hello Nurse stood up, wiping the dried tears from her face, "Then let's go, while the half-toons are out of the studio."
Brain gestured for her to stop, "Ms. Nurse, as much as your bravery is appreciated, your human limits put you at greater risk of mortality. Your safety is of a higher concern than you being a hero. Please, stay here. You'll be safe here."
Hello Nurse seemed reluctant, but slowly nodded, "Okay. But please, be safe."
Brain continued pacing as he spoke his monologue, "I'll go with Thaddeus and find the machine. At the very least, he can pretend to be a brainwashed half-toon." He turned to Plotz, raising an eyebrow, "Strange how you are not affected by whatever is controlling the half-toons. Perhaps you truly are a new breed of half-toon. Whatever the case, it shall be highly beneficial to us."
Plotz seemed terrified by the thought of returning to the lab, "M-me?! But I can't go back there! Not after what they did to me!"
Hello Nurse suddenly loomed over him, causing the small half-toon to shrink away. She looked beyond enraged as she spoke, "Need I remind you that you are the reason all of this is happening? If you hadn't funded the Warners' plans, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place! We'd still have Scratchansniff, and Pesto, and Slappy! None of this ever would have happened!"
"The least you can do for the hell you've put us all through is help us stop it all once and for all." Brain added, the bile in his voice clearly audible.
Plotz was shaking, whimpering in a cowardly manner.
"If you don't do this," Hello Nurse growled, "We're ALL good as dead."
Plotz was still trembling, but he decided to stand upright and brush off his suit. He took a deep breath, letting out a shaky exhale.
"Okay... Okay... Okay..." He repeated, trying to keep himself calm, "Okay... You're right... I messed up. I need to do something to fix it. I can't buy my way out of this one... I need to fix it any way I can."
Brain quickly hopped off the counter and on to Plotz's shoulder, "Excellent. Then the plan shall be to sneak into the laboratory as a brainwashed half-toon. We will investigate thoroughly and find that machine. Hopefully... Hopefully we'll be able to put a stop to this."
Hello Nurse gave them both a weak smile, "Please stay safe you two. And good luck."
Plotz put Brain into the pocket of his coat. He waddled out from behind the counter and squeezed his way out of the barricade. Hello Nurse watched as he snuck out of sight, beyond the windows of the gift shop. She was now alone, with nothing but the quiet static of the television playing in the corner to keep her company. Hello Nurse took shelter behind the counter.
And waited.