The tunnels were damp and deserted. Plotz' toon paws quickly padded along the stone tunnels, accompanied by Brain who was sitting on his shoulder. Plotz was shaking but determined to keep going. Each hallway they passed gave them great anxiety, as they wondered how long it would be before they ran into a failed experiment. As they continued on, Brain struck up a conversation.
"Why did you do it, Thaddeus?" He said.
Plotz was silent for a moment, "I... I was scared."
"Of what?"
"Of dying."
Brain went quiet as he seemed to be thinking of just how much weight this statement held, "I can't say I understand that fear in the slightest."
"I know, I know, it was a horrible excuse." Plotz replied, shaking his head, "I have so many regrets now... I didn't know it would lead to all of this. I just wanted... More time. I know it's hard for a toon to understand the fear of death, but we humans fear it everyday. When I had my heart attack twenty years ago... I was terrified of what lied beyond. Then the Warners came to me with this miracle cure. It was like I was young again. I got to do everything I ever wanted to do and then some. I just-"
"But was it worth it?" Brain demanded, cutting him off.
Plotz seemed a little taken aback by this aggressive question, "I... I... N-no... It wasn't... None of it... None of it was worth it. I would have rather died than go through the pain... Putting the human race in danger. It just... It never occurred to me just how evil these kids could be."
"None of us could have ever expected this out of them. But we have the chance to stop them." Brain went quiet again and gave a small sneer, "Just don't expect to come away from this with your reputation in tact."
Plotz gave a weak laugh, "If we survive this, I'm going off the grid. I don't ever want to be around people looking like this."
They continued on, keeping on high alert through the dark corridors. A far away noise echoed down the halls, causing Plotz to speed up. Above them, the dim lights flickered, cutting out for a split second into pure darkness. This prompted Plotz to sprint as fast as he could, as the feeling of being followed became stronger.
They reached the door to the laboratory. Except, there was no door; at least not in the form it had been in before. It had seemingly been ripped off its hinges and twisted into an impossible shape for any form of metal to bend. Wires stuck out from the walls where the mechanical door had been, sparking dangerously into the air. Massive claw marks were dug into the twisted metal of the door frame. Most worrisome of all, liquid Warnerium dripped from the ruined door, puddling on the floor into the laboratory.
Plotz gulped, "Do you think...?"
Brain spoke shakily, "Let us hope this means the Warners have left the premises for good."
They entered the lab. It appeared to be empty and intact from the last time they were inside. Everything was quiet except for the low hum of the machines around them.
Plotz rubbed his head, "What is that noise?"
Brain stared at him in confusion, "Noise? What noise?"
"That high pitched whining! It sounds horrible!"
Brain glanced around, searching for what Plotz was hearing, but he couldn't find the source, "I'm sorry, I don't hear anything."
Plotz started waddling towards the back of the lab, plugging his ears. They turned a corner around a few machines and saw it: a massive amalgamation of microwaves, radios, and other appliances, all of which were letting off a terrible blue glow into the darkness of the lab. Plotz was wincing.
"That thing!" He screamed over the noise Brain couldn't hear, "It's making a horrible sound!"
Brain quickly connected the dots, "This must be the machine that's controlling the half-toons! But... That begs the question as to why it doesn't affect you. You seem in control of your actions besides the noise bothering you."
"I don't know! But I want it to stop!" Plotz yelled, clearly in pain.
Brain hopped off his shoulder and ran to the machine, jumping his way up to the top. He stopped and investigated every knob and switch, messing with it and seeing what would turn it off. However, nothing seemed to change it.
Plotz was struggling to stay standing in the same room with the machine. He stood there plugging his ears and wincing painfully.
He didn't notice the long black shadow approaching him from behind.
Brain looked up and gasped, "Thaddeus! Behind you!"
Plotz whipped around, only to see a horrendous, partially rotted human corpse looming over him. The creature lunged, nearly grabbing Plotz in the process. He managed to jump out of the way and slide into the wall. When he looked back up, he saw two of the horrible half rotted human corpse and half rotted toon. Between them was a familiar face, an elderly grey squirrel hefting a mallet over her shoulder. From her shoulder sprouted Warnerium, growing in sharp shards. Her eyes were wild and violent, lusting for blood.
Brain let loose a startled gasp, "S-S-Slappy?!"
Plotz scrambled to hide behind the machine as Slappy and the failed half-toons approached. He began to panic as he looked to Brain at the top of the machine, "What do we do?! What do we do?!"
Brain watched helplessly as the creatures approached them. Plotz sprinted around to the other side of the machine to avoid Slappy and the monsters who were circling around to the backside. Unfortunately, he ran straight into another half-toon. A small bird flew right into his face, scratching wildly with his claws. His body was coated in blue shards, plugging up holes where dried black fluid had previously been leaking, staining his purple feathers. Plotz fell backwards and scrambled to get away from the pigeon who was shouting angry swears at him with a thick New York accent.
"Pesto?!" Brain shouted, sounding shocked, "You...! You're alive! But...!"
Pesto screeched and tried to dive bomb Plotz. He scrambled backwards to quickly get away, but bumped into something on the way back. Looking up, Plotz saw a man in a white lab coat. His jaw was replaced with that of a toon, several limbs had been taken and replaced with more toon parts. But thanks to his oversized glasses and bald head, he was instantly recognizable.
"Dr. Scratchansniff!" Plotz screamed in terror.
Brain shook his head as he tried to hide among the machine, "We're surrounded on all sides!"
Plotz began to panic and hyperventilate as the monstrous experiments approached him, "Wh-wh-what do we do?!"
Brain glanced around, wracking his thoughts for a plan, "You've got to distract them! I need time to figure out how to shut off the machine!"
"Me?! Distract?! Why do I have to play bait?!"
"Because, you're a toon now! No, not just a toon. You're a half-toon! You're not limited by the bonds of human existence or the comedic timing of a toon! All you gotta do is use your imagination!"
Plotz squealed as he was chased around the room by the half-toons, "I...! I have a confession!"
"Now's not the time to confess to things, Thaddeus!"
"But I don't have an imagination!"
Brain face palmed and groaned loudly, "Of course the corporate bigwig doesn't have an imagination... Alright, listen to my words! I want you to think of a very large hammer! You can do that, can't you?!"
Plotz jumped up on one of the operating table as one of the failed experiments tried to grab him. He screamed again as Slappy brought her hammer down on the table and broke it in half.
"Thaddeus! Hammer! Mallet! Like what Slappy has!" Brain shouted at him.
Plotz only screamed as his arm was grabbed by Scratchansniff. He managed to wrench his arm free as he sprinted across the lab, dodging his murderous attackers.
Brain was fuming in frustration, "My God, corporate executives truly are useless."
"HELP! WHAT DO I DO?!" Plotz was desperate as he climbed on top of a nearby refrigerator to avoid his pursuers. They gathered around the base of the fridge, trying to jump up and grab him.
"Just... Stay there!" Brain shouted back. He decided to climb into the machine to find where to turn off the machine. As he buried himself deep into the circuit boards and blinking lights of the odd device, a booming voice suddenly broke through the sounds of angry half-toons.
"WHO DARES INTRUDE IN THE WARNER LABORATORY?"
Brain gasped, as he recognized the toonish female voice pretending to sound much more intimidating. He quickly tucked himself into a deep part of the machine and refused to move.
Outside the machine, a pink fog had overtaken the lab. A familiar figure formed in front of Plotz, floating gracefully above the angry half-toons. The twisted form of Dot Warner now stared him down, pink mist flowing from the open wounds in her detached limbs. She bared all her teeth in a sinister smile.
"Well, well, well, look who decided to come crawling back!" Dot snickered, "It's Mr. Plotz! I sure did miss you the two hours you were gone!" She cackled, causing the mist to swirl and move along with her.
"S-s-stay back!" Plotz demanded, scooting back as far as he could on the top of the refrigerator, "Don't come any closer you...! You horrible little toon!"
Dot giggled before escalating to cackling yet again, "You really think you can stop me, you stinky old man?! I am Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third! And I am an unstoppable GODDESS in the eyes of men! Or something like that. Yakko said if I gave a big speech with my full name, people would be more scared of me. I dunno. I'm not into the theatrics like he is. Anyways..." She snapped her fingers at the half-toons below her, getting them to back away from Plotz. She then swooped down and surrounded Plotz with the pink mist from her body. The mist seemed to become solid and trap him, picking him up and into the air.
"N-no!" Plotz stuttered, struggling to escape, "Let me go! Let me go! Help! Somebody help!"
"Oh shut up you ball shaped man!" Dot scolded him, "I'm just gonna take you back to my brother. He's got big plans for the rest of humanity, and I'm sure he could find some use for you! Ooh! Maybe we can put you back on the H-TIEM and get more of that cool god fluid!"
Plotz screamed and begged incomprehensibly, pleading to be let go. Dot just chuckled at his struggling.
"Like you were ever going to get away from us for long!" She sneered, "Now come on, we've got a grand finale to watch!"
She let loose a final maniacal laugh before the entire lab was engulfed in the strange pink mist. Dot had vanished, along with Plotz and the other half-toons. Once everything had gone quiet, Brain poked his head out from the machine. He shook and began biting his nails.
What am I to do now? He thought as he paced on the outside of the device, I have no help. I can't figure out this contraption. I am but a single mouse! I don't even have Pinky to help me this time!
He searched the lab from his perch on the machine. In one corner was a body laying on one of the operating tables. Except, it wasn't a body made of flesh and bone. It was a body of metal, with the head smashed in and exposing old wires and circuitry. Brain recognized it almost immediately.
It was his old human mech suit, his alias Brian Magenta. The Warners hadn't destroyed it the rest of it.
The gears started to turn in Brain's head. There was still hope.
He'd just have to upgrade Brian significantly with the little time he had left.