Just a little fic I wrote after browsing Animaniacs on Tumblr and reading a post on how messed up the Warner siblings' origin really is. (Not counting Wakko's Wish in this because that's a whole other can of worms)
I mean, they got locked up in a water tower for 60 years!

Just to be clear, this takes place in 1975. 13 years after the Warners have been locked up (because I go by Back in Style continuity where they got locked up in 1962) and they have been loaned out to other companies already.

Also disclaimer, I have no idea how the ownership of toons works in-universe so...I pulled something outta my a**, sorry if it makes no sense 😅

(Also, I'm not sure I got the rating right, please notify me if I need to change it)

There it was. Warner Bros. Studios. Taking a deep breath, Kassie stepped toward the gates, clutching her papers in a nervous death grip. This could be her acting breakthrough. She couldn't mess this up!

Kassie was an anthropomorphic cat toon with light tan fur, except her snout, hands and feet which were closer to white. Her hair was blonde and her eyes green. Trying to come over as professional, she'd donned the clothing she was drawn with, a light purple sweater combined with a grey skirt.

She's a toon created by an independent studio that ultimately failed. Ever since, she's been all around looking for studio's that would hire her. Some would hire her, but usually only for brief appearances or just for her musical abilities, but never for what she wanted to be hired for. An actor. She wanted to play an active role in cartoons! Warner Bros. might finally be her chance!

She greeted the guard in the guard station. "Hello, sir."

"Duuhh… Hello there!" The guard greeted back. "I never seen yous face round before. Are yous a new toon?"

Kassie smiled nervously. "Well, I'm hoping to be. I've got a meeting with Mr. Thaddeus Plotz in a few minutes."

"Well duuhh… Good luck!" He opened the boom barrier even though she could just duck under it, or take the sidewalk beside it. Still, wanting to remain polite, Kassie thanked him and moved on.

It wasn't until she'd passed a couple of buildings that she realized she should've asked directions to Mr. Plotz's office. Her ears perked up when she heard footsteps. Following the sound led her to the studio's water tower. A small man was just walking away from it.

"Excuse me!" she called out to him, running to catch up before he left. "Excuse me sir?"

"What?! Can't you see I'm busy?" The…rude little man snarled at her.

Her ears folded back in agitation. "U-um… I'm sorry?" Kassie stammered, not sure what to make of this guy's rude behavior. "I was just wondering if you could point me to Mr. Plotz's office? I have a meeting in a few minutes, but I don't know the way."

The man's demeanor did an immediate 180. The man was suddenly very polite and nice and apologetic. He introduced himself as Thaddeus Plotz and Kassie mentally rolled her eyes. Oh. It's one of those CEO's.

She tuned him out as he went on and on about how glad he was to meet her and about all the wonderful accomplishments on his studio and blah blah blah…

'Okay, Kass. It's fine! Maybe you won't have to interact with him too much working here.' she thought to herself. 'Yeah! I mean, maybe he's just embarrassed for insulting a potential employee. Yeah, okay. Let's stick with that.'

She tuned back in when Mr. Plotz made a gesture for her to follow him. Finally she was gonna have this interview and hopefully become a part of Wa-

*Thunk thunk*

Kassie stopped dead in her tracks as her ears swiveled back, towards the sound. Looking behind her, she saw the lot was empty aside from her and Mr. Plotz, who'd stopped walking when Kassie did.

*Thunk thunk*

There it was again. It was a faint knocking-type noise. It came from right in front of her, but the only thing there that could possibly make that noise was… The cat stared up at the water tower. It couldn't be…right?

Out of instinct, she sniffed the air. Her sense of smell may not be as good as her boyfriend's, but it was still decent. The smell of hot metal hit her nostrils. How had she not picked up on that earlier? Also… She sniffed again. The smell of 2…no! 3. The smell of 3 creatures hung around the area. Very faintly.

Without her realizing, she'd actually followed the strange scent all the way back to the water tower and had forgotten all about Plotz and the papers she'd been holding. There was just something about the scent that screamed at her to follow it. Ignoring Plotz's insistent questions, she climbed up the ladder to where the scent was leading her, all the while pleading for it to be a false track.

When she got to the top of the water tower, she followed the smell to the sign. After one sniff of the logo, she flinched back. This was definitely where the burned metal smell came from! And it was still strong! But the other scent had gotten stronger too. Pushing passed the burning smell, she sniffed at the logo more. Her eyes widened. Now she knew why her instincts were screaming at her to follow the smell of the creatures…

It was the smell of children.

Kassie placed an ear on the door, but could hear nothing through the thick metal. She then knocked softly, just to see what would happen.

'Please no one respond. Please no one respond. Please no one respond.' she pleaded.

Her soft knocking was followed by frantic banging from inside the water tower and Kassie's heart dropped. There was also a faint mumbling from the other side, but the metal barrier was too thick to allow Kassie to hear what exactly was being said. Whatever the case, it seemed just as frantic as the knocking.

"Hang on!" she yelled. "I'll get you out!"

The cat knew the children would most likely not hear her, after all, she can't hear them either. She studied the logo closely. It seemed to be sealed shut as well as bolted. The bolts were barely a problem for a toon to remove. The sealing might be difficult to get passed, but she was sure she could help these kids.

Starting with the bolts, she reached into her hammerspace and pulled out a wrench. With a bit of her toon logic, she would remove those bolts in an instant. Just as she was starting on the first bolt, Mr. Plotz finally arrived on the platform, out of breath and muttering about 'stupid toon speed and stamina'.

"Mr. Plotz!" Kassie cried out. "There are kids trapped in the water tower!" A small part of her was relieved. Mr. Plotz was the CEO, surely he would know what to do. Maybe he could get a more experienced toon to toon-logic their way around the sealed logo.

"I know. We put them there."

Her heart dropped along with the third bolt. He…He was aware? Her fur bristled, maternal instincts rising.

"Why?" She asked, not pausing in removing the bolts. "What reason would you have to lock up children?"

Mr. Plotz then showed Kassie his true colors. "Children? Those things were uncontrollable menaces! They ran amok the whole lot, drove their own creator insane with their antics and wreaked havoc on the studio! Not to mention thei- Stop freeing them!" He finally noticed Kassie was not going to stop.

Kassie grunted as she pulled the last bolt from the top of the logo. "I am not going to stop. You imprisoned toons in the tower! Not just toons, child toons!" She removed another bolt, dropping in on Plotz's head.

"What were we supposed to do?! They ran amok and were totally out of control! They left us no other choice!" Plotz yelled at the cat toon.

Kassie dropped herself from the logo and in front of Plotz. "So imprisoning them was the better option?!" Kassie growled. "What about- Oh, I don't know… Having one of your older, mellow toons mentor them?! You have older toons, right? Of course you do, but you never bothered to ask their help? Or look up the most basic information about toon creation?!" Plotz was silent, fearing the rage of this toon he did not yet know. It had the opposite effect as Kassie let out a feral hiss. "So now you're just gonna be silent?! If you don't get your act together and actually learn about toon creation, I will make sure your life will be a living hell! Newsflash! Toons can get something called New Toon Syndrome! A condition where they can't tell filming from reality and stay in the role they were created for 24/7. It's normal!" Kassie screeched at the poor man. "I am getting them out of there, and so help me if you try to stop me I'll have Toon Protective Services on your ass faster than say 'stop'."

"T-T-Toon Protevtive Services?" Plotz dared to ask.

"Yes, Toon Protective Services." Kassie answered, resuming to remove the bolts. "An organization set on helping abused toons from bad companies. Because guess what?" Another bolt fell to the ground. "Toons have feelings too! We're not always created by people who like us. They don't understand us, or take the time to know us and instead just shun us for our behaving the way we were created to behave. Our creators can treat us like the dirt beneath their feet, that's why the organization exists."

Finally the last bolt fell to the ground. Kassie let out a sigh of relief at that. She dug her claws in the side of the logo and pulled. It may have been sealed shut, but with the right amount of toon logic, it should open. Kassie was not incredibly versed in toon logic, only really able to use her hammerspace and change her body so this was a challenge. But maternal instincts was one heck of a motivator.

Finally, the logo cracked and swung open. Kassie stood in front of the wide open door for a moment, catching her breath before exploring the inside.

There, huddled together in the shadows were the toon children. The one who seemed to be the eldest stood in front of the other two.

The toons were all the same species and seemed to be a mix of several animals. The eldest was wearing only tan pants with a black belt. The young ones behind him were wearing a blue sweater and red cap for one, and a pink skirt with a yellow flower tying her ears together for the other.

Kassie approached them with caution. The eldest just kept stepping back for every step she took towards them. The look in their eyes showed fear. These were the toons that ran amok? They were nothing but scared little children!

"Hey there." Kassie spoke softly. "You don't have to be scared. I'm not going to hurt you." She lowered her ears as she knelt down to their eye level to appear less threatening. "I'm Kassie Tenden. What are your names?"

The children hesitated, but finally the eldest spoke up. "I'm Yakko. Yakko Warner." he said. "My sibs are Wakko." He gestured to the boy. "And Dot." Now he gestured to the girl.

Kassie nodded absentmindedly. They had the company's name, yet this was how they were treated? "May I ask… How long have you been in here?"

"A while." Wakko muttered from behind his brother. "Since 1962."

13 years… 13 years?! Kassie's fur bristled again and a low rumble rose in her throat. She pushed it down when she saw how the kids shied away from her once more.

The cat took a deep breath to calm herself. "Sorry about that. My anger is not aimed at you." she reassured them, or tried to at least. "I heard the gist of why you were locked up from the CEO, but I'd like to know your side of the story."

"It wasn't our fault!" Dot cried out. "We just did what we were created for!"

Big brother instincts seemingly kicked in for both boys as they rushed to pull their little sister in a comforting hug. The elder toon so wanted to join in and comfort all of them, but she also knew she was just a stranger, so it might not go well if she were to hug them.

"What do you mean?" Kassie asked.

Yakko took it from there. "They wanted us to be zany. We were created to bring humor in a boring cartoon, and that's what we did! But when we got our own cartoon with our own sense of humor, they were saying we were too out of control. That we were too zany and needed to behave." he explained. "I don't know what we did wrong."

Ah. Sounded like typical New-Toon Syndrome. They had nobody to teach them to separate filming for a cartoon and real life. And they still didn't know… They still hadn't gotten the help they needed!

"Don't know what you did wrong?! You drove everyone crazy with your zany antics and ran amok wreaking havoc!"

Ah, right. Plotz was still there…

When the kids shrunk back, her maternal instincts kicked in again and she jumped in front of the children to protect them.

When Plotz opened his mouth to yell at the siblings again, Kassie's feral hiss shut him up. "You don't get to speak!" she growled. "You and your staff have taken no effort to understand and help these kids! Did you ever think there may be a reason why they act the way they do?! What am I asking? Of course you didn't! I might just go ahead and call Toon Protective Services after all! This is toon abuse!"

"You can't do that! They are under contract! We own the rights to them!" Plotz yelled at her.

"Not for long if I can help it!" Kassie yelled back. "Toon Protective Services can remove them from your care, contract or no! They will take away any rights you have over them and any show they feature in will no longer rake in your precious money." He actually seemed more scared about the loss of moey than he was about the loss of the toons, which just served to anger Kassie more. She turned to the Warner siblings and in a much calmer tone spoke to them. "Let's get you three out of here."

The eldest toon walked towards the door, growling at Plotz when he tried to speak up again, and stood by the door waiting for the toon children to follow her. She held out her paw to the siblings. The siblings looked at each other and, after a non-verbal conversation, hesitantly walked over to the exit. Wakko took her hand as he and his siblings stepped out of the tower. Kassie didn't waste a moment longer to close the door behind them. They were not going back in there.

Plotz was still there, tapping his foot impatiently. "So they're out. Now what are you planning to do?"

"What you and this studio failed to do. Help them, treat them like they deserve to be treated and give them a home." she told the CEO in a cold tone. "If they'll want to come that is." she looked back towards the children, who nodded eagerly. Kassie glared back at Plotz after the confirmation. "I will give you 2 options, Plotz. Either you surrender them to the TPS, or allow me and my boyfriend to take care of them."

To absolutely no one's surprise Plotz didn't feel like losing money on the TPS, so he allowed Kassie to take custody of the Warner siblings. He was happy to get the Warner siblings off studio grounds, as long as their loan-outs still raked in money. Not wanting them of Warner property a moment longer, he gave Kassie the paper-work to go, and Kassie gave him her number in case he ever needed the siblings for filming.

A hiss rumbled at his sarcastic response. "Oh sure. We'll definitely call if we need them." It was clear he did not intent to ever give them another shot at a cartoon again.

As the newly assigned caretaker and children left the lot, she did her best to reassure them. "Don't mind him. Give it about…20 years and I'm sure he'll see differently."

So yeah, just a little self-indulgent fic. But I hope you liked it.
Basically just wanted a excuse to get those kids out of the tower and with a loving family like they deserve.