Chapter Twelve:

Not So Sweet Dreams

Only vague flashes of memories had come rushing through Annie's head as the masked man shouted with his gun aimed at Yakko. However, later that same night, a more detailed vision of those memories came flooding in when she finally drifted off to sleep.

She found herself on the floor, surrounded by broken glass, as well as a thick cloud of smoke that blocked her view of anything else in the room.

As the obstructing cloud slowly cleared, Annie was able to see at least three people in the room with her. She recognized them from her previous flash back, and was terrified by all three.

One was the masked man from the amusement park. The second was a less imposing and slightly shorter masked man with a stockier build. The third was a considerably smaller man wearing a white lab coat. His face was blocked from Annie's view by a table.

The three men were arguing, and didn't seem to notice Annie at first. Not till the taller masked man happened to turn and spot her. He promptly drew his gun and took aim without the slightest hesitation.

"No!!!! Do not destroy the creature! I need to study it!'' The man in the white coat shouted before the masked man could fire. "If I can decipher how our little lab accident could create such a thing, I will have made an even greater scientific achievement than my original project would've yielded!" He exclaimed. His words echoed through Annie's head.

Creature. Lab accident. She hadn't remembered that part the first time. The words struck her like so much dead weight. She grew detached from the dream world around her, even as events continued to unfold.

"We're still getting paid for that stuff you had us steal, right?" The shorter masked man asked.

"Yes, yes, you're still getting paid." The man in the white coat said dismissively. "Now fetch me a blanket from that closet over there!" He ordered. "I'd like to keep the creature healthy for the time being, and having it catch cold in this frigid lab is simply out of the question." He added. The shorter masked man did as he asked and got the blanket. Just as he was about to hand it over, the sound of glass shattering filled the room as a bird came crashing through the window. It plowed directly into the blanket, tearing it from his grip before hitting the floor and rolling to stop.

The bird fumbled about till finally freeing it's self from the tangled mass of fabric, then stumbled about dizzily till it happened to notice Annie.

"Just in time for today's pick up I see." The bird said, his breath reeking of booze. This bird, was of course, our old friend the drunken stork. He noted the WB shield symbol on the back of Annie's right hand, assuming it was some form of label. Then he took the blanket he had just escaped from, and neatly wrapped Annie in a bundle he could carry with his beak. With that done, he turned and gave a quick salute as the three men continued to look on dumbfounded.

"Later fellas. Have a nice day." He said. Then he started to flap his wings for take off. It was then that the man in the white coat finally snapped out of his stupor.

"What are you two idiots waiting for?! Do something!" The man in the white coat ordered. The two masked men took aim and fired. The stork's sperratic flight pattern somehow kept both himself and Annie out of harms way, without him even seeming to notice he was under fire.

"No!!! Stop shooting you idiots! You'll make him drop the creature!" The man in the white coat shouted.

"They'll get away if we don't shoot." The taller masked man said.

"Stop them some other way!" The man in the white coat demanded.

"There is no other way! In case you didn't notice, he's flying!" The taller masked man shot back angrily.

"Then follow them till he stops flying!" The man in the white coat said.

"That counts as tracking. Tracking comes with a separate fee." The taller masked man said.

"Then track them already!! I want that creature back here no matter what! Do you hear me?!!! I don't care how long it takes you! Just bring it back!!!" The man in the white coat shouted as the stork carried Annie out the window. His voice echoed as the dream faded in a white haze.

Annie woke feeling dazed and almost completely numb at the thought of what she'd just learned. She simply lay there in silence for a time before the tears finally came.

(A.N) By special request, a link for Village Of The Tooned has been added to my profile. Sorry it took so long. I only check my E-mail once every few months, so I only just now got the message.