Chapter 10 – Heartbreaker, wall breaker and bone breaker
Why is it that when you look forward to something, the day is utterly long? Wakko was so anxious to meet Brain that night and hear his plan on how they should get into the 'Here and Now' building again; only one day felt like over a week. Still, Wakko tried to cheer up and keep himself busy to kill time. Unfortunately, his mind was stuck on tons of different things, so it was pretty hard for him to focus on finding something to do.
Getting into the 'Here and Now' building at night certainly didn't sound any easier than getting in there during the day. But something told Wakko to not give up hope, and just rely on Brain's eye for detail and his smarts.
After what felt like weeks, it was finally time to hit to the Acme Labs. Wakko fixed the cap on his head and sprinted out of the tower, excited as ever. He could actually hear the sound of a motor when his legs spun around, taking him to the Labs.
Just like before, he turned around sharply at the corner to find the house (of course, the turn was way sharper this time) and at just the right moment, he bent his ankles and slid to a stop in front of the door. He leaned forward and knocked. No one answered, so he thought he might as well just go in. He opened the door and walked inside - a bit more comfortable with it than last time.
"Pinky, that's absurd. You can't see into the future."
Wakko's ears perked as he heard Brain's voice as well as Pinky humming. He let the sound lead him to where the mice were. He found them in their cage, and it looked like Brain was trying to reason with Pinky, but to no avail. As Wakko walked closer, he noticed that Pinky was wearing something like a cloak and holding on to his head with his eyes closed, humming.
"Uh, hey," said Wakko and waved sheepishly.
Pinky slowly opened his eyes, looked at Wakko, shushed, and then kept on humming. Brain slapped his forehead and turned to talk to Wakko.
"You should never have told us the back story of your problems," he said. "Pinky has been in this way from the time he asked how it will end."
"What's he trying to do?" said Wakko.
"He's attempting to reach into the future to see how this all will close," said Brain and sighed. He walked on up to the cage's door and opened it, walking towards Wakko. "On a side note, I have been pondering how to access the 'Here and Now' building."
Wakko's mood brightened up. "That's what I'm here for!" he exclaimed excitedly. "So, what's your idea?"
"I've come to the conclusion that we may have to use our cartoon instincts to enter," said Brain.
"Meaning . . . ?" said Wakko and tilted his head a bit.
"Meaning that we shall have to either slide under a door like a cat; break a wall with an amusing prop; squeeze ourselves through a keyhole; thump a door down; or perhaps something less loud," said Brain. "How does this sound to you?"
"How does it sound?" said Wakko. "Brilliant! You're looking at the Warner brother with the physical humor anyway! Breaking in like that is my specialty!"
"Yes, but I'm afraid there's one problem," said Brain. "How will we succeed this without cutting a dash?"
"Easy!" said Wakko. "We'll just do it slowly."
Brain sighed. "The people I'm stuck with . . . " He then cleared his throat and walked to the edge of the table he was standing on, signaling Wakko to put out his hands. Before he jumped into them, he had a look at Pinky, who was still humming like crazy. "Be careful, Pinky, or else you might hurt something."
With that, Wakko walked out of the Acme Labs with Brain in his palms. What they didn't know was that just seconds after they left, Pinky finally snapped out of his search for answers.
"Wow," he said simply to himself. "Who knew?"
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What is it with Flash all of a sudden? Dot thought while posing for him in the shoot of the day.
During the whole thing, Flash had been acting even weirder than in the previous shoot. He hadn't said a word; he just sat in a chair and flipped his hand to direct; and he hadn't given Dot any feedback. Even stranger, he was so pale; his flaming red hair looked like a real flame (and here wasn't any gel in it!). Actually, the man just looked plain horrible.
He rubbed his face yet again before continuing with his camera work. But no matter what happened, he just kept groaning, sighing and rubbing his face all over. Finally, he looked away from the camera, put his elbows on his knees and dug his face in his palms.
"Cable?" said one of his assistants. "You alright?"
"No," Dot heard Flash say, though it was a little muffled. "I think we have to cut short today. I can't work like this . . . " He looked up. "And that's not something you'd normally hear from me!"
He stood up from his chair and began to tell everyone to pack the stuff and leave, including Dot. For some odd reason, he wouldn't look her in the eyes – which immediately reminded her of Wakko.
"Get out of here, you guys," Flash begged the last persons to leave and pointed at the door. "Can't you see I'm in pain here?"
Because she liked him so much, Dot decided to stay just a little longer and talk to Flash, like she had done last time. She spent unusually long time in her dressing room, and sort of hid from Flash until all of his assistants and workers were out of the room. That was her queue to walk out and start talking.
Flash plumped down in his chair again, looking like a ghost. Dot slowly walked towards him and stopped next to him, standing beside him. "So, not feeling well today, huh?" she said to break the ice.
Flash looked up sharply as if he hadn't noticed Dot there, but quickly turned away again. Dot looked at him sympathetically, and then kept on talking.
"You know, Flash, before I met you, I was nothing but a washed out cartoon character," she said. Flash didn't show any signs of interest. "Heck, people were even trying to get rid of me and my brothers because we were so annoying." Still no reaction from the Cable man. "But then I came here, and met you, and now I feel like I'm on top of the world! It's just so great to have gotten to know you, Flash. You're a great guy. And an awesome photographer!"
"Whatever," said Flash in a low, depressed tone.
"Flash, you've been acting really strange for the past two shoots," said Dot. "You don't look so good either. Do you think you're getting sick or something?" Flash didn't answer. "I've seen enough faces to know that being this pale isn't normal. How are you feeling?" No answer, but Dot could hear him mumble something. "I totally know what it's like to be low on energy. I've felt it loads of times before. It's really bugging, you know?"
At that very moment, Flash stood up and put his hands behind his back, not facing Dot. "Sometimes, when I see a former model of mine, I think: 'Whoa. She looked better when working with me'. I've had these thoughts tons of times. It seems that my former models always end up in the gutter or worse, and they begin looking tired all the time."
"Um, okay," said Dot. "But why are you telling me this?"
"Because I'm having similar thoughts right now," said Flash. "They're about you."
"Me?" said Dot, confused. "But, I'm not a former model."
"No, but you're a former cartoon star," said Flash. "And different from my other thoughts, yours are like this: 'Whoa. She looked better before working with me'." He sighed. "By the time you began working here, I . . . You see, when you came, I thought maybe . . . Okay, so what I'm trying to say is . . . " He turned around sharply, his hands swinging around and his face a lot redder than before. "I can't take this anymore!!" he roared.
Dot was so startled; she almost fell. "What?!" she accidentally yelled back. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, for crying out loud, Warner!" Flash shouted. "Can't you take a hint?! Didn't you see how I acted in our last shoot?"
"Well, yes, but I just thought you were tired or something," said Dot. What was going on? Why was Flash so upset?
"Did you not see me in this shoot?!" Flash yelled. "Geez, and I thought blondes were dumb!" He sat down in the chair yet again, now panting for life, but calming down a bit.
Dot looked at him, shocked. "Flash, what's gotten into you?" she said.
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" said Flash. "It's just that I can't work with you anymore, I just can't."
"What? Why?" said Dot, her stomach taking a dive.
"When you began working here, you had great potential of becoming a model, you really did," said Flash. "But now it's become too extreme. I feel horribly guilty."
"Guilty?" said Dot, still confused. "Why would you feel guilty? You haven't done anything."
"Oh, you haven't heard the whole thing," said Flash. "This one night after you had begun working here, I was out walking, when suddenly, some guy grabbed me and dragged me into a dark alley. There, he and someone else – couldn't see his face – started threatening me."
"Threatening how?" said Dot.
"They said that if I wouldn't tell you to get skinnier, they'd hunt me down and cut me," said Flash and shuddered. "I've been doing it for a while, and I've even told you that you look good, but the truth is, you look awful!"
Dot's head was spinning and her stomach took an even bigger dive. Was Flash really telling her this?
"My point is that I can't keep this up," said Flash. "Every time I look at you, I see the old Dot Warner I used to watch some years ago turned into a mutant. It's just got to stop. If I ever want to get back to my normal state, and if you ever want to get healed from those godforsaken eating disorders of yours; I'm afraid I have no choice."
"N . . . no choice but . . . what?" said Dot, her voice cracking.
"Dot . . . you're fired."
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"Are you sure this is where you want to break in?" Wakko asked Brain. The mouse had told him that the best entrance to the building was at the back. Wakko was carrying his big mallet and ready to hit the wall with it. Brain, on the other hand, was walking up against the wall with a stethoscope.
"Positive," he said. "The wall's weakest space is without doubt somewhere back here. Now, when I locate it, you cautiously smash your mallet into it, causing it to slowly and silently break down and form a hole. It cannot fail!"
"Okay," said Wakko. "But what it if does?"
"I assure you, it won't," said Brain. He stopped at some spot on the wall, and then took the stethoscope out of his ears. "This is it, Wakko. This is the wall's weakest space."
Brain didn't have to say anything else. Wakko immediately swung the mallet to the air, then swung it back and hit the wall. As Brain had said, the wall simply broke down very slowly and silently, not disturbing anyone or anything around the two of them.
"Wow," said Wakko when the last pieces of the hole had fallen off. "You are good."
"That I know," said Brain and hopped over the now fallen rocks and into the building. Wakko followed, but couldn't get very far because Brain stopped him. "No, you stay back."
"Why? Don't I have the right to see this too?" said Wakko.
"You do, yes, but that doesn't make you any less noticeable in there," said Brain. "Trust me, if you had been with me last time, I wouldn't have uncovered as much."
Wakko inhaled to say something, but decided not to argue with a genius. "Fine, you go in," he said and put his mallet back in its place. "Just find something out soon, okay?"
"I will," said Brain. "You just get back home now. I'm certain someone is waiting to hear your story."
Wakko smiled. "Yeah, I guess," he said before turning around to walk back home, leaving a tiny lab mouse to do all the work.
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"He said what?!" Hello Nurse exclaimed when Dot had told her that Flash had fired her.
"Yeah, he fired me, just like that," said Dot. "I mean, he had his reason, but I still didn't want to end up as a washed out model too!"
"You're so not a washed out model, Dot," said Hello Nurse. "Clearly, Flash just wasn't the right guy for you."
"He was, but this is all those stupid threatening guys' fault!" said Dot. "If they hadn't grabbed Flash that night, we wouldn't be talking about this! Oh, why did he have to choose that night of all nights to go for a walk?"
"Look, Dot, maybe this isn't the right place to be talking about this, huh?" said Hello Nurse.
Dot looked around and realized that they were still inside 'Cable Cameras'. She chuckled sheepishly and blushed a bit. "Uh, yeah. Probably not," she said and with that, they began walking out of the building and into the nurse's car. They had only just closed the car doors when Hello Nurse got an idea.
"Say, how's about we just hit some coffee shop?" she said. "It's the perfect place to talk about stuff. And, we can get great drinks."
"I don't know," said Dot. "I don't think I can handle any heavy drinks right now."
"Aw, come on," said Hello Nurse while putting her key in the ignition. "Just this once. It's on me."
Dot thought about it while the nurse started her car and drove out of the parking lot. Sure, a coffee shop would be a great place to talk, but what if Hello Nurse would buy her some drink that would immediately get to her waist? Dot shook her head. Nah! Hello Nurse knows better than that!
And so, the nurse drove over to the first coffee shop they saw: Mocca. On the outside, it looked really neat; with a big sign hanging above the door, windows that caught the soothing atmosphere of the inside, and colour scheme that one could only expect to have been thought of by a very talented painter. On the inside, it was very warm and cozy, complete with the "Friends"-like sofa, tables and counter.
The girls walked in and picked a table next to a window, just to be able to dramatically look outside if there'd be a silence between them. Then, Hello Nurse went to buy the drinks and came back a while later with two glasses of hot cocoa.
"There you go," she said and handed Dot her glass. "It's as fresh as it gets. And it doesn't have any cream, which is a treat for us, huh?"
Dot smiled. "Yeah, it is," she said and sipped on her drink. It was perfectly warm and the chocolate taste roamed her mouth for a long time before slowly disappearing.
"So, what's this all about guys threatening Flash?" the nurse asked.
As Dot began telling her the whole talk with Flash in every detail, she started to realize how much of a fool she had been to believe that he had actually thought she was good.
Hello Nurse didn't say anything, but Dot could tell that she was just about as shocked and hurt as she herself was. Dot looked outside the window on her right. It was getting dark already, probably getting a little late too. She had another drink of her cocoa and got the same wonderful feeling of chocolate taste.
Hello Nurse looked at the time. "Hey, Dot. It's getting a little late. What do you say we get home after we finish our drinks?"
Dot looked at the nurse and smiled. "Nah, let's go for a little ride down town first," she said and smiled even more happily.
"Really? You want to do that after what happened last time?" Hello Nurse said a bit nervously.
"Hey, it's not like that's going to happen again," said Dot and flipped her wrist. "Besides, I did say car trip, didn't I?" she added and winked.
"Right back at ya," said Hello Nurse.
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For quite some time, Yakko had felt like he had been left out of the whole plot. While Dot was slowly ruining her life like the brainwashed toothpick of a model she was, and Wakko was always trying to figure something out; Yakko seemed to always stay home alone. Of course, Wakko could keep him company when he wasn't stuck on all the stuff he was sorting out, but then there were times when Yakko could as well have been talking to a wall.
"And here I thought we were supposed to share the spotlight," he said to himself.
Once again, Yakko found himself alone in the water tower that morning, with no trace of his siblings except a note from Wakko saying that he'd be back soon. Where he had gone, Yakko had no idea, but he wasn't too worried. Wakko had left the tower on his own before, so there wasn't really any reason to get paranoid.
Yakko stretched and then plumped down in the sofa, not really sure what to do to kill time. He reached in the pocket of his slacks, picked up his paddleball and began playing with it. He got bored with it pretty quickly, so he automatically began singing to the beat of the ball.
"I buy a dozen cars when I'm in the mood; I hire somebody to chew my food; I'm an upwardly mobile dude – this is the life."
He sighed. It just wasn't the same without the other two Warners that actually made them that infamous trio.
Just then, the tower door slowly opened up. Yakko sat up (not losing half a beat of the ball) and watched as a tired Wakko came in. Yakko's mood brightened up instantly. Finally, some company! Someone to talk to!
"Well, well. What have we here, mister nightlife?" Yakko joked. "I've been up all night waiting for you, you know. Do you realize what time it is?"
Wakko chuckled. "Yeah, sorry mom," he said. "Brain and I were just so busy, I forgot all about coming home."
"Spare me the details, son," said Yakko. "I don't think I want to know the rest."
"Oh, please, Yakko," said Wakko and sat down next to his brother. "We were sneaking in the 'Here and Now' building to find something more out about the survey."
"So that's what you've been up to all this time?" said Yakko. "You've been trying to figure out about the survey, haven't you?"
"Where have you been? Last Tuesday?" said Wakko. "But, seriously, yeah. I've been having major headaches for the past few days because of all this. It's all very confusing."
"Is that why you went to Brain?" said Yakko. Staying home had really made him left out of all the drama. "To have him help you out?"
"Yup, it's a match," said Wakko. "You want to hear what he found out the other day?"
"Sure do!" Yakko exclaimed. "Anything to get this off our backs, am I right?"
And so, Wakko told his older brother everything that had happened for the past days, without sparing any detail. He even bothered to describe how the wall had fallen down that very night. Yakko listened with interest during the entire rant, without missing a single word.
"And then I came home," Wakko finished his monologue. "Wow, it's been ages since I've talked so much, hasn't it?"
"Yup, you could say we've changed positions," said Yakko and smiled.
"So, haven't you been up to anything?" said Wakko. "I mean, you were locked up in your room for days without saying a word. What's up with that, emo kid?"
"Hey, hey," said Yakko. "Who said anything about being emo? I was just as curious about this whole thing as you were, you know. So, part of the reason why I locked myself in there was because I was thinking about the survey too."
"Really?" said Wakko. "But I asked you to help me before, why didn't you just team up with me?"
"Well, that's because you were always alone with your thoughts too, completely isolated from the outside world," said Yakko. "So, I really had no idea what you were always up to."
"What about the time we were standing on the balcony the day after Dot left?" Wakko asked. "You seemed pretty isolated there, and pretty much not caring about a thing I said. And you didn't even notice me when I sprinted out of the tower that same day."
"Hey, that's an exception," Yakko said sheepishly. "Like you said, it was the day after Dot left us, so there was a good reason for that."
"Okay then, how about the time Hello Nurse came here and showed us the blogs?" said Wakko. "You had been in your room for hours before, and I swear, I heard you gasp and sigh repeatedly. What the heck were you doing?"
"Cutting myself . . . " said Yakko in a very deep tone and looked at Wakko with dark eyes.
"What?!" Wakko yelled, scared at the sight and creeped out at the thought.
"Hah! I'm just kidding!" said Yakko and laughed. "Had you there, didn't I?" Wakko didn't look amused at all, so Yakko stopped laughing and cleared his throat. "Okay, about that; that was one of those times when I was thinking about this whole mess. Just wanted to be alone, you know."
"Okay, but what were those gasps and sighs?" Wakko asked.
"Oh, those?" said Yakko. "Well, like you said, I locked myself in there. And when I say this now, I mean it literally. I lost the key, and every time I thought I had found it – gasp – it turned out to be something else – sigh. Get it?"
"Yeah, I think so," said Wakko.
For the rest of the day, the Warner brothers talked about their points of view during the whole plot, and thus figured out that they had been on a similar level this whole time. Yakko even told Wakko about the flashback he had gotten the same day as the whole blog thing, making Wakko feel all loved once again.
Time flew unusually fast now that the brothers had each other's company, and before they knew it was getting dark outside. They knew that because they were standing on the tower balcony once again when it happened.
Wakko gazed at the sundown. "Wow," he said. "Can you imagine how hard it must be to paint the whole sky different colours?"
Yakko shrugged. "Nah, why would I? We have other people to worry about that." He looked down on the streets below them and saw a woman running like crazy between the warehouses. "Wow, can you imagine how hard it must be to go out running every night just to keep the good body?"
Yakko had hardly let go of the word when he and Wakko both heard the phone ring. They looked at each other, grinned, and then raced inside to be the first one to get it. Wakko jumped in first, and was about to pull the door closed when Yakko somehow managed to slide in as well. The started running towards the phone, pushing and shoving at one another while the phone yelled at them to get it soon. Yakko grabbed Wakko's legs to prevent him from running, but Wakko simply hopped his way to the table. When he was just about to pick up the phone, Yakko pulled sharply from beneath, causing him to trip and fall, making Yakko the victor.
"Helloooo, nurse!" he said when he finally picked up. Wakko crossed him arms and watched as Yakko listened to the other person talk. For some reason, his face became more shocked with every half second. Wakko stood up and looked at Yakko, a little confused at how someone could make his brother's mood change to quickly. Before Wakko could keep thinking about it, though, Yakko hung up, looking like a ghost.
"Who was that?" said Wakko. "What did he say?"
Yakko stared at his brother. "Wakko, that was Hello Nurse," he said worriedly. "Dot has been knocked cold."
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Being a nurse, it shouldn't have been so hard for Hello Nurse to just pick Dot up at the very scene and take her to the next hospital. But she was so shocked at what had just happened, she couldn't think straight. She had called the Warner brothers and told them to come, as well as the 911.
She sat on the ground with Dot's head in her lap, trying to keep her conscious. She couldn't bear to take care of it herself, even if she was a nurse.
"Don't worry, cutie," she said and stroked Dot's cheek. "Help is on its way."
She had hardly let go of the word when she heard a noise coming to her. She turned her head and saw the Warner brothers approaching. She was so glad to see them; she almost stood up.
"Stay there!" she heard Yakko shout. "We're coming!"
Hello Nurse didn't move, but she felt Dot's head getting heavier. When the brothers finally came to the scene, it looked like Dot had finally lost consciousness.
"What the heck happened?" said Yakko and placed his palms on Dot's cheeks and then forehead. "Why is she like this?"
"It's a long story, and it's not important right now," said Hello Nurse. "Did you guys see the ambulance?"
"Yeah, it was right behind us," said Wakko. "It should be arriving soon."
"Soon isn't enough!" Hello Nurse and Yakko both exclaimed at once.
Wakko was right, though. Just then, they all heard sirens and saw the flashing blue lights of an ambulance approaching. When it finally stopped in front of them, paramedics rushed out of it and carefully placed Dot on a stretcher before rushing back in, letting the nurse and the boys in as well.
While the paramedics examined Dot, her brothers and Hello Nurse held her hands and hoped with all their hearts that she'd be alright.
Meanwhile, though, Dot herself was fading into a dream, constantly hearing some people repeating the same chant over and over:
"Cute."
"Sweet."
"Adorable."
"Hot."
"Sexy."
"Slutty."