Plotz glared at the phone, ringing loudly and incessantly. It was almost like it was laughing at him, which would mean at least someone found this situation funny. After the Warners had managed to get seen by the tour party, there had been a moment when no one was really sure what to do. Then, the tourists started taking photos. Then a few more toons arrived, asking Verity why she wasn't at her post. Then, to top it all off, the Warners even put on a little show for their audience, before Verity could grab them and drag them off.
That had been three hours ago, and the phone hadn't stopped ringing since. Various executives and stockholders had been demanding to know what was going on. Video footage of real life cartoons was already all over the internet, and photos were being sold to newspapers left right and centre. !How was the studio going to cover this up?" They had wanted to know. "Will the toons have to be paid more in future because of this fiasco?", and, most shockingly of all, "will we have to involve the government?" He'd never even thought of that last one. The gateway to Toon Town would probably be of great interest to the government. They'd no doubt see the toons as illegal immigrants. Or what if all the area 51 myths were true? Half the studios would probably be cordoned off... Plotz shook his head. It was no good thinking like that. First thing's first, answer the damn phone.
He grabbed the reciever and growled into it a very irritated sounding "What?"
"Mr Plotz?" It was Verity. He'd been meaning to speak to her.
"Ms Jessop." Plotz took a deep breath, adopting a dangerously calm tone. "Well, I think you had best explain to me exactly what happened this afternoon."
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm really, really sorry. It's just... you know how the Warners can be, I couldn't catch up with them until it was too late." She was mumbling, words gushing out of her mouth in a very panicked fashion.
"Ms Jessop, please calm down." Plotz grumbled. He couldn't deal with the emotional woman on the end of the phone. He wasn't a people person. "I know it wasn't your fault. But as the Toon Relations Manager, I'm going to need your help in coverring up this mess."
There was silence at the other end of the line. Then, a sniff and "uhuh?" told him she was listening.
"Now, we can't very well say they were mascots for two reasons. One is that they clearly weren't, and the second was that three of the involved toons were contracted to Disney."
"Robotics?"
"Again, it wouldn't make any logical sense." Plotz sucked air in through his teeth, mentally analysing the situation. "Disney does have some kind of amusement at one of their parks... A sort of virtual reality or 3-D projection, where kids can interact with the blue thing... What was it called?"
"Stitch Live?" Verity chimed in, sounding thoughtful. "I've seen it advertised. But I'm pretty sure the Warners gave a very real performance. If the tour guide had said that right as it was happening, it might have worked."
"But we've left it too late for that now..." Plotz cursed himself. "Alright then. It's clear I need to speak with the heads of all the studios that have taken on toons from Toon Town over the years. If we're going to lie about this, we need to make sure everyone is telling the same lie." He supposed he could afford to take time. No self-respecting adult would honestly fully believe this story anyway. He was having a hard time believing it himself.
"Ms Jessop, you have to keep the Warners out of the way until this blows over."
"Sir?"
"Well, no doubt they want to revel in the chaos they have caused, but we can't afford any more sightings. Not here, anyway, not now. Take them away somewhere where people will just accept they're american kids and won't ask too many questions."
On the other end of the line, verity was stood, leaning against the interior wall of the Water Tower. She spoke quietly into the yellow wall-mounted phone, aware that the Warners were standing in front of her, listening in on every word. She shushed them and flapped her hand at them as they began to whisper.
"Sir, with all due respect..." She kept one eye on the Warners, and moved the phone closer to her mouth. "Where on earth would people accept the excuse "i'm sorry these kids with tails just threw a pie at you, its not their fault, they're american?"
She felt someone tugging at her trousers. She looked down to see Wakko holding up the tickets to England. Verity shook her head, but Yakko and Dot stood by their brother, all whispering pleases and pulling puppy-dog faces.
"Well, sir..." She continued into the phone. "Perhaps you should close the Toon Town gateway. At least 'til this all blows over..." a pause as Plotz murmured at the other end of the line. "Exactly." Verity continued, shooting the Warners a quick grin. "And if the gateway's closed, then I could take the Warners away somewhere. But anywhere we go, it's going to cost the studio money..."
Yakko grinned and gave Verity the thumbs up. If there was one way to manipulate the C.E.O, it was to mention money. There was another mumbling t the other end of the line, and Verity spoke up.
"Of course, theres that thing in London they wanted to go to. I know it'll be heavily publicised, but think of it this way. If you can't cover up this incident, at least the Warners will get good publicity. And the plane leaves tomorrow morning." Silence. The Warners all eaned forward, trying to hear any response from Plotz. Verity flapped them back, but fiddled nervously with the telephone cord. Eventually Plotz spoke up.
"It seems like we have no alternative. Get them packed and out of here as soon as possible, Ms Jessop."
Verity grinned and signalled thumbs up to the Warners, who all grinned back and started a silent victory dance. When Verity hung up the phone, Wakko instantly leapt into her arms and hugged her.
"We're going to England!" He grinned. "Thanks Verity!"
"We better go pack!" Dot yelled, getting excited. "Come on, hurry!"
"Hey, do you think they have anvils in England?"
"Maybe we'll go to see the queen!"
"Helloo queenie!"
And with many more excited shouts, the Warners were scrambling and yelling at each other to get to their bedrooms and pack. Verity watched them leave, before gritting her teeth as a loud crash echoed through from one of the adjoining rooms, followed by more yelling. She furrowed her brow and lifted her hand to her already throbbing temples. Oh dear. Just what had she gotten hersef into?
The next morning, Dot was up extra early, and dressed herself in a plain, light pink tee shirt and a pair of worn denim jeans, with flowers embroidered on the side of her left leg. If she was going to be stuck on a plane with her brothers for ten, she was going to be comfortable. She sat on the end of her bed, and stared at the second hand ticking round on her alarm clock. She knew she'd be better off dead than waking up her brothers at 6:05 in the morning. She rested her elbows on her knees and put her chin in her hands. She drummed her fingers against her cheek, staring at the clock. She could swear that today it was going extra slow, on purpose. She wondered what England would be like. She knew the Beatles came from England, but she didn't like them too much. Wakko did. Go figure. She looked at the clock again, and saw that it was stil stuck on 6:05. She picked it up and held it to her ear, just to make sure it was ticking, before putting it back down and staring at it. Who else came from England? She bit her lip in thought. Jude Law. She liked him. And all the people from Harry Potter. Mel Gibson was old and wrinkly now, Daniel Radcliffe was Dot's latest celebrity crush. Of course, she'd still jump into Jude Law's arms, given half the chance. She smiled dreamily at that last thought, before looking back at the clock. The second hand ticked dutifully towards the 12, making Dot hold her breath. 6:06. She'd waited long enough; time to wake the boys.
Wakko had been quite happily dreaming of all the interesting european foods that would soon be his to try. Sticky cream buns. Fruit scones. Mince pies. Extra sweet british chocolate... Cadburys... yum... But his dreams were rudely interrupted at the sound of Yakko's indignant shout from the bunk nelow him. He blearily opened his eyes and dragged himself to the edge, hanging his head over.
"Wassgoinon?" He managed to mumble, as the room solidified itself. He rubbed his eyes with one hand as the harsh lights flickered on and made him want to duck back under the covers. Yakko shot him a half-hearted glare.
"Well, between Dot the living alarm clock slash cannonball, and you obliging me with an utterly disgusting shower, I have been woken up a full three hours early."
Wakko looked at Dot, who was now clambering up to his bunk and grinning.
"Come on! Come on! Verity's going to be here in a half hour to take us to the airport!"
"So we can sleep for anothger fifteen minutes." Wakko grinned at the frustrated Dot.
"Get up, you lazy pile of drool!" She yelled, and began jumping on the bed. Wakko's grin turned into a yelp as he was sent flying off the edge of the bed, head-first into a pile of dirty laundry.
Yakko looked from Dot bouncing exstatically, and Wakko fuming beneath week-old socks. As a big brother, he should probably intervene. But as a sentinet being woken up three hours earlier than he liked to be, first by having a small ball of denim-clad fur leaping on his stomach and then by being drooled on by a snack-destroying machine...
"Ehhh... I'm gonna go shower."
Cleaned, dressed and breakfasted in a half hour, the Warner siblings had eventually stopped squabbling and were now sat by the tower door, eyes wide with anticipation. The tower was unusually quiet. Slent, in fact. Just the distant echoing of a clock ticking in one of the other rooms. Dot was sat on her suitcase, one hand firmly gripping the handle. Wakko was sat on the arm of the sofa, apping his toes quickly in an attempt to burn off some adrenaline. He had grabbed the first clothes he could find, which were a blue tee shirt, a pair of jeans with a big hole in the knee and his customary red baseball cap. His suitcase was just beside him, and every now and then his hand would drift over towards the handle, try gripping it and then move back to his side. Yakko was sat next to Dot, crosslegged on the floor. His grey denim jeans and black T-shirt made his tired white face look even paler, but he'd packed all his nice clothes and these were all he had left. His suitcase was by the wall, right next to the door. He kept shooting quick glances at the suitcase, then at the vcr clock, then back at the door. None of them made a sound.
"BEEP BEEP!"
Verity's car horn smashed the silence to pieces, each of the Warners grabbing their suitcases and leaping from the tower balcony, all screaming and yelling in excitement. they scrambled into the car and all began talking very loudly at the same time. Verity gritted her teeth again as she turned the car round and headed for the airport. She hoped the stewardesses would have aspirn on the flight. Or at least an in-flight movie.