A/N:

Sory for the confusion, for some reason FanFiction wouldn't let me upload this chapter so I had to try again.

Thank you so much for making this my first story to reach over 100 reviews, you guys are epic and I love you all so much! Without all of your support and comment I'd never have even gotten past chapter 2!

Shout out to Animanizany who was my 101's review (101 is my lucky number)!

So this chapter brings back some of the comedy and fluff that's been taking a back seat for the drama stuffs. Read on and hope you like!

*Slappy's POV *

Geez-Louise! This gal's got more stomps in her step than Astaire! What, you want a modern reference? Give me a break, I'm old. This boy was turning an ugly shade of maroon that I was sure I used to have as a carpet once. It took a lot to drag her away from him, last thing I needed was a corpse on the doorstep; especially so far from Halloween. Although I couldn't let the boy get away so easy. Sure I'm an irritable old croon that blows people up for entertainment, but I still had to set an example for Skippy that lying was wrong. Especially lying to me. And anyways, if what Talia said was true and he was working for the CEO, related to the CEO even, then there ain't no way he's getting away. If he blows our cover; I blow the dynamite.

"I could have you for assault!" the intruder rasped, staring at Talia in bemusement.

"Oh really? Well, I could have you for association in two accounts of kidnap, stalking, assault, association of covering a conspiracy, hostage and illegal experimentation!" she growled back, "Now do you really want to cross that bridge; or would you rather me throw you off it?"

"Easy, kiddo, you'll hurt yourself!" Yakko said in what I presumed was an attempt at calming her down, hard to tell with that tone of his.

"No, she'll hurt him." Dot nodded.

"What's he doing here?" the human boy, uh, Flick, no, Flynn that was it, ah so many names here!

The little red-head grabbed her brother and hid behind him, "It's the bad people again!"

"Bad people?" Skippy asked, "Is it that Walter Wolf again? Aunt Slappy will show him, won't ya Aunt Slappy, just like in episode 27!"

My adoring public ladies and gents! I've taught him well, hehe. But enough of my influences for now. The rest of the group started swarming. Just what we needed, an audience… I forced the newcomer into a chair and pointed warningly at him, "You make quite the impression around here. Now spill it."

Wakko appeared at my side with a bucket on stand-by. Pointless, yet by the book. Talia seemed to have recovered from the steaming rage, I'll tell ya if she were a toon there would have been fire and boiling lava present! But she was still seething. She narrowed her eyes and tried to steady her breath.

"What are you doing here and how did you find us, Mackenzie?"

"I followed you here, after you passed out, I had to make sure you were okay." He swallowed, "I-I've been hiding from my uncle out here, he's gone insane I don't know -"

"Save it, we've already gathered that there seems to be a genetic problem in your family." Talia shot back.

"I'm sorry, I really am!" he insisted, "I didn't know how far he'd gone until he told me to take you to the Waiting Room; that's why I took you to the labs instead and left the keys, you had to get out of there!"

"We figured that we had to get out, thanks." Flynn snapped, shielding his little sister.

Wait, so this Mackenzie was R.J's nephew and worked for him; yet he helped set the kids free? This kid seemed more split than a 7/10 bowling set. Nah I didn't like this boy, he reminded me too much of a young Mick Jones; not sure if he's staying or going. This was just confusing me and at my age confusion is lethal.

"Make up your mind boy!" I snapped, "Now I'm going to ask you some simple questions; you answer as basic as you can, got it?"

That white mouse that for some reason thought it was pink jumped excitably, "Oh a test! Egad if I'd known I would have prepared more!"

The Brain sighed before using Rita's tail to smack him upside the head, much to the cats disapproval. Mackenzie on the other hand didn't seem bothered by this; that was good considering he'd have to get used to it now he was stuck here. He nodded in response to my question, looking a little pale. He was nervous; good.

I cleared my throat choosing to go the whole hog and put on my lawyers jacket in preparation for questioning, "Are you the CEO's nephew and do you work for him?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to work for -"

"I'll ask the questions, sonny." I warned, "Now what was your job with R.J?"

He shifted, refusing to make eye contact and just stared at the floor, "When he found out where those three were;" he nodded a little towards the Warner's, "He made me spy on Talia and find out information about her when the psychiatrist wouldn't. I guess after the coffee house thing…" He glanced at the Warner's who waved their fingers at him with toothy grins; he darted his eyes downwards again, "I just snapped and gave in! I didn't want to do it; he said that he only wanted the toons. I seriously never thought he'd go this far!"

"Objection!" Dot announced, "Judge, what does his thoughts have to do with the question?"

Yakko, dressed in a black robe and hitting a gavel on the table scowled, "Overruled!"

"Over-easy!" Wakko grinned, holding up a plate of egg-sandwiches and swallowing the lot in one go.

Choosing to ignore this, I continued; a re-run of Baywatch was due on soon and I had to get some answers before it started, "So why'd you help them out?"

"Because…" he looked sheepish and earnest at the same time, "Because it just seemed like the right thing to do, So I took them to a quiet part of the studio and left the keys for them. And when my uncle found out… I ran."

The way he was answering these questions seemed a little rehearsed, like he knew exactly when to pause and look away like he was ashamed. I should know, I've ignored enough scripts to know when someone's been following them. But practiced or not, he was still telling the truth, I had an eye for these things. I can tell the difference between a bouquet of roses and a bunch of explosives in a bag which is more than can be said for half the company today. Hehe, now that's comedy!

"You say that you didn't have a choice; you mind explaining that, I can't read minds you know!" I snapped, glancing at the TV.

"I… I can't tell you that. I really can't; lets just say they can be very persuasive." He insisted, "But that's not the point, the point is that they're still looking for you. You can alter this toon area as much as you want but they always find what they're looking for."

"No thanks to you!" Talia snarled, "Exactly how long do we have before this place gets overrun with your friends?"

Oh I liked this girls tone, she could learn a lot from me, hehe.

"I told you that I don't work for them! I did what I was told and hated every minute of it!" he slammed his fists in the arms of the chair, "They don't even know where I am; please Talia I came to help!"

Boy this was getting tense, why'd they have to pick my house to have a domestic? My luck, eh? So let me get this straight, at my age sometimes things needed repeating, you laugh but you're gonna be here too someday; then who'll be laughing? Okay, so this Mackenzie kid is the CEO's nephew and was 'forced' into ratting out Talia and searching for the three loons over there. He felt guilty and figured out R.J is insane and now he's run away from try make amends… Well if this isn't some cruddy plot device I don't know what is! I still didn't trust this kid though, he was hiding something and if I cared enough to figure it out; he'd be spilling his metaphorical guts on the floor. But until I could decide if he could be trusted or not, he wasn't leaving. If he left, then that was giving full access to go running and blabbing. Keeping him here would be a great way to get info from the inside and get this thing cleared up sooner than later. Suppose I'd have to run this by Queen of Flames over there.

*Talia's POV*

"Do what you want with him; just keep him away from us." I growled, shielding my siblings defensively.

We had been having this debate for what seemed like hours. How could Slappy even be considering keeping Mackenzie around here? Don't get me wrong, I understood her point of avoiding him running back like the coward that he was, but I still didn't want him anywhere near me and my family. He'd sold us out once, who's to say he won't do it again. And would keeping him hostage really help our situation? Okay, we couldn't really call it a hostage case considering the moron wanted to stay here and 'help'. Yeah, help take my family away from me! Who the hell did he think he was? I don't care if he did make it easy for us to get out. I don't care if he was forced into working for R.J. I don't care! But by the looks of things, I was fighting a loosing battle.

I had to get out of there before I either took another shot as Mackenzie or screamed until the windows shattered. Refusing to make eye contact with anyone, I stormed out of the room and back up the stairs. Normally I would have gone outside, but I was terrified that more people would be waiting outside. If he found us, then who was to say that R.J or anybody else could? Why was he doing this? Why did he have to show up here? Was he deliberately trying to mess with me? This wasn't right! None of this was! I was aware of how childish I was sounding but I didn't care. Mackenzie had no right to start trying to gain my trust, it was far too late for that.

I found myself back in the bedroom that I had woken up in and felt frustrated that I didn't know the place well enough to find another hiding spot. I leant on the windowsill and stared aimlessly out of the window. What was wrong with me? I felt like I was torn from the inside. Part of me wanted to go back downstairs and throw Mackenzie out on his backside and use one of Slappy's tricks to make sure he never showed his face again. Another part wanted run away, but I refused to take notice of that one too much because it was not and never will be an option. But the last part just wanted to admit that I was out of my league and needed all the help I could. Clearly I couldn't take care of my siblings. All I'd done throughout the entire thing was get them in danger. Even before all of this happened, Flynn was still in trouble in school and I couldn't so anything about it. They'd been kidnapped and I didn't even know. They'd been put through Dr. S's stupid therapy and I couldn't stop it. And even when we had been escaping, I couldn't bring myself to open that door. Flynn had to take charge; my ten year old brother had to take charge; and I rewarded him by getting knocked out and leaving them. If the Warner's hadn't shown up, who knows what could have happened. They're better off without me… I'm failing.

"Great view, huh?"

A muffled shriek shot through me as an upside down face peeked into view. I glanced upwards to find Yakko standing on my shoulders and bending over so that we were eye to eye. It was strange how I only became away of his weight, light but still noticeable, when he made his presence known. Why knows how long he'd been there for. I have a half-hearted smile and shrugged him off.

"Men like him aren't worth the fuss." A voice announced from my side, Dot elbowed me softly, "I should know, I live with two of them."

"Hey!" her brothers protested, folding their arms.

"That's a little harsh on them, Dot." I muttered with a forced smile.

They nodded in agreement. Yakko arched an eyebrow, "So what's eating ya, kiddo? Apart from Wakko that is."

"That's revolting!" Wakko flinched in disgust, but then tilted his head mischievously, "But I wouldn't mind finding out what your hair band tastes like."

"Knock yourself out." I sighed, taking my ponytail loose and tossing the band to him, which he gulped greedily, the other two still looked at me expecting an answer. I gave in, "Okay, I don't really care that much about Mackenzie showing up because we all know that he's not going to last long with you guys around."

"Naturally." They sang cunningly.

"But if he can get here, then so can anyone else." I looked at them earnestly, "What if something happens and people get hurt again? What if Flynn and Poppy get taken away from me or what if R.J gets his hands on you or the others or -"

"Don't make us use this again." Dot mused, holing up a zipper, "And calm down, we get it!"

"You do?"

"Sure we do!" Wakko announced.

The eldest held his hand by his mouth like he was giving away a secret, "It's just more fun letting people think we're stupid."

I arched an eyebrow, "I don't nor have ever thought that any of you are stupid."

Dot jumped onto my lap and beamed, "I knew there was a reason I liked you!"

They all seemed pleased that they had managed to get a smile out of me. Yakko rested an elbow on my shoulder, "Listen kiddo it's okay that you're scared; between us I'd say there really was something a little off in there if you weren't." He tapped my temple to make his point, "And think about it, the chances of another kidnap especially with all of us around is pretty slim. As for Mack;" he revealed his teeth in a sly grin, "you know we'll make sure our special friend keeps his hands to himself."

"Sure and who's going to make sure you keep your hands to yourself?" Dot asked sceptically.

"That won't be much of a problem with those clothes." All of us snapped out heads upwards to see Minerva standing, or rather posing, in the doorway, she sighed, "Poor thing, stuck in those drab rags; I know what'll cheer you up! I'll bring some of my clothes around tomorrow and you can glam up; you feel how you look you know."

My eyes traced over her outfit and chose to bite my tongue. Just how exactly did she feel in that tight red dress? Certainly better to how I would feel in it. Okay, I did feel a little grotty considering I hadn't managed to have the chance to change or wash up since the kidnap, but there were more important things at stake here! Besides, clothes weren't going to solve my problems or anyone else's. Was she deliberately ignoring the danger or was she trying to take my mind off of it? It was hard to tell through her slightly insulting tone.

"I don't wear the same thing twice so you'd be doing me a favour on closet space." She added, "It may be a tight fit, but I'm sure you can fit into some of my old clothes."

And that wasn't tight? Swallow pride Talia, if she's trying to be nice then go with it, even if it is to get rid of her and stop the boys drooling in you, "Uh, thanks, that would be really… helpful."

She looked a little smug, like she was challenging me to turn her offer down. Dot and I exchanged subtle glances; mine of unease and hers of disapproval. The boys however looked like Christmas had come early. Oh great… Yakko snapped his fingers like he had an idea and whispered something into his brother's ear who nodded enthusiastically and started searching in his gag-bag.

"What are you doing?" I asked anxiously.

"Seeing if your camera still works." Wakko mused.

Seriously? They were really going to go there? Us girls rolled our eyes in annoyance. Wakko started reaching into the bag and tossing everything he didn't need over his shoulder. I watched in awe at the amount of stuff that was inside. A trumpet, a parasol, a multiple of anvils and safes, a mini-fridge, an actual fridge, the list went on. But I tensed in embarrassment and annoyance as something personal of mine was pulled out. Wakko flung it over his head and it landed over his brother's eyes. Yakko examined it and a cheeky grin formed on his face.

"Helloooo Nurse!"

Dot face-palmed. I flushed and my fists clenched, "Wakko… why do you have one of my bras in there?"

He tried to hide his chuckles and shrugged innocently nodding at the tag, "They help us learn the alphabet…"

Yakko leaned on Minerva's shoulder and winked, "You wanna help us with the next letter?"

"And you're not tired of this, how?" Minerva asked, snatching the bra from them and tossing it to me.

"Cuz she loves it really." Yakko raised his eyebrows smugly.

I scoffed, "As if!"

Wakko leapt into my arms and pressed his nose against mine, "Your lips say no, but your eyes say yes."

My arms relaxed, deliberately dropping him. Minerva straightened and narrowed her eyes at them, "It's so tough going through the same thing every time you see me. It's not pretty…"

Okay, I'd decided, I didn't like Minerva that much. It was strange how she seemed self-centred and resentful to the attention at the same time. Me, I didn't want the attention and certainly didn't think that I deserved it in anyway. I stuffed my bra into my pocket and glared at the brothers who looked pretty pleased with themselves. Dot stormed towards them, mallet in hand and brought it down hard over their heads. For a moment, they were just frozen in place, but then thin cracks started to snake over them and the literally shattered into pieces on the floor. Little stars circled around the ruble along with dazed mumbles from inside. Dot leant on the handle of the mallet and looked at us apologetically.

"Boys…"

Minerva smirked at the crumbled Warner's and scoffed, "Pathetic, aren't they?"

"Wow, I hate to see what happens to someone you don't like."

This voice was somewhat new. I span around to see Mackenzie leaning in the doorway, having observed the scene with amusement. My blood boiled at the sight of him, but I still felt a little self-pride at the sight of his still bruised neck from my shoe.

"Stick around much longer and you might find out."

How dare he try and act like he owned the place, acting so smug like a child who'd gotten his own way after a tantrum! It took every ounce of energy to stop myself from attacking him again. He was a slimy, untrustworthy waste of space! If he hadn't shown up, I would have tricked myself into believing that we were safe. But no, he'd found us. Now anyone could find us. Everyone…

"I just came to say how sorry I am and…" he paused as he noticed the three Warner's standing before him with knowing gazes; he shifted uneasily, clearly remembering the coffee house, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"We're not." Wakko insisted.

"You are."

"We're not staring." Dot sang.

"We're plotting." Yakko corrected.

Mackenzie swallowed hard, "Plotting what?"

They turned their heads to wink at me before looking innocently back at the victim and chanted ominously, "You'll see…"

Night had come around a lot faster than expected. Maybe that was because I didn't get up until noon and so much had happened in that time. But here we were, late into the night and I really should have been sleeping, but how could I? As I said, so much had happened, it was still sinking in.

Slappy had taken us up into the attic room of the tree where there were two large beds and a sofa. It turned out the bed I had awoken in was hers and naturally she wanted it back. So now this was our room. Flynn and Poppy were tucked into one, her head up on the pillow and his at the foot of the bed; while the Warner's were nestled in the other. I had taken up the sofa with Runt and Rita curled comfortably on the thick rug in the middle of the room. Pinky and the Brain had found sleep in the pockets of my jacket which was folded in the open draw of the bedside table. Minerva had gone to her own home, ready to plan my wardrobe nightmare for the morning; and I'd point black refused for Mackenzie to be near us, so he'd been forced to sleep in the bathtub. Well I hoped he kicked the faucet in his sleep and drowned. He'd be having one hell of a wet dream. Okay, it's a good thing I didn't say that one out loud! Yeah I should do Yakko's job for him considering he's asleep. Goodnight Everybody! I've been spending too much time with toons…

"Pssst!"

That was Poppy, I knew that little noise anywhere, it had woken me up hundreds of times before. Nightmares, 'accidents', lost toys, you name it and that noise had woken me up. But instead of the familiar tapping on my arm, she actually seemed further away. My eyes peeked open sluggishly, expecting to see her standing before me. However, she wasn't. Instead, I could make out her shape in the gloom standing next to the bed across the room where the Warner's were asleep. Admittedly, I felt a little pang of jealousy, but the feeling of comfort that she could trust others so easily overpowered it. Yakko had fallen asleep in the middle, his arms looped protectively over his siblings shoulders, Dot closest to the wall and Wakko on the outside. Poppy was tapping the youngest brother anxiously. He stirred and pushed himself up, rubbing the slumber from his eyes.

"Are you awake?" Poppy whispered.

He prodded himself in the stomach, "I'm hungry, so I think so." He clicked that something must be wrong for her to be awaking him and he tilted his head, "What's up?"

"I'm scared more of the bad people will come back." I snapped my eyes shut as she glanced at me, "Don't tell Talia or she'll get scared too, please."

Wakko grinned, "Nah they wouldn't come here, and if they did Slappy would blow 'em up in no time!"

She smiled softly but soon her shoulders slumped again, "Still wish they'd go away though…"

For a moment, he resumed his absentminded expression, but he made her jump by snapping his fingers like he had an idea. He slid off of the bed and led to over to the window, both tiptoeing as not to wake anyone. He pointed up at the stars which were amazingly clear in these parts, maybe it was the woods.

"One time back when the studio liked us, I got lucky and picked the wishing star." He nodded, "Want to try your luck?"

In her young mind, this was the best idea ever and she nodded enthusiastically. She took a breath and started to quote, "Star light, star bright, first star -" she stopped and placed her hands on her hips irritably when Wakko started sniggering, "What?"

"That's not how it goes!" he insisted, "Try this one instead." He took a breath and started to quietly sing a familiar tune, but the words changed, I had to admit he had a cute little voice with his accent, "Twinkle, twinkle wishing star, how we wonder where you are. Out in space so bright and clear, can you see us way down here?" he nodded at the sky, "Do you want to try?"

"I don't know how to do it…" she whispered sheepishly.

"Go on!" he nudged her playfully, "Have a try."

She looked up at the night, occasionally glancing back to him to see if she was doing it right, to which he nodded encouragingly, "Let us pick the star that's right and pick the wishing star tonight."

"Like finding a needle in a hay stack, eenie-meenie-miney-mo and jack." Wakko pointed to a different star for each name, making her giggle and she joined in with him for the last line, "Wishing star please hear our plea, grant one wish, one wish for we…"

They both waited with baited breaths, but nothing happened. They simultaneously slumped their shoulders in disappointment. Wakko took a sideways glance and noticed that Poppy looked more dejected that he did, so he shrugged.

"Ah well, we'll try again tomorrow."

He trailed back to bed and hopped inside, regaining his comfortable position. She was about to climb back into her own bed when she paused and shuffled back over to him again. Wakko lay motionless, but soon gave a smirk and peeked one eye open lazily at her, tossing part of the blanket aside and shifting over so that she could crawl in between him and Yakko. Poppy nuzzled in comfortably and soon the pair was breathing rhythmically in a deep sleep. I tried to sleep myself, but I just couldn't manage it. What Poppy had said was starting to play on my mind. The 'bad people' could show up at any time, she had every right to be scared and there was nothing I could do about it. I was scared too, terrified even. Who knows how long we'll be safe for' and it was only a matter of time before we had to go out there and face the music. Wow I'd have to be careful with that figure of speech in this house.

"Talia? You awake?"

I stuffed the pillow over my eyes, "No."

Mackenzie huffed, "Come on, I want to take to you."

"What you want and what you get are two different things. Now go to sleep, it's not worth your life if you wake anyone up."

A cold gust washed over me as he swiftly pulled the sheets off of me. I turned to glare at him, to which he returned with an expectant gaze. After a painfully long staring competition, I finally gave in and got to my feet to follow him out of the room. Being in the attic room, we were instantly met with a set of stairs. Just to try and gain the upper hand as well as to fight the urge to push him, I sat down on the top step and refused to move any further. He turned when he noticed that I wasn't trailing after him and sighed, sitting down at a reasonable distance from me. How about that, he wasn't such an idiot after all.

"Well? I'm tired so make it quick." I snapped.

"Why are you still so angry with me?" he whispered harshly, "I've told you why I did what I did and that it wasn't my choice! I'm sorry, if I'd known how far things were going to go, I'd never -"

I yawned, only partially deliberately, "Words are easy to say, especially when you repeat them. I don't want to hear it."

"Then… I want to prove it."

"You know those guys in films that don't take a hint and the whole audience groans when they show up?" I arched an eyebrow, "You're that guy…"

"And you know those stubborn girls who deliberately push people away -"

"That's me." I cut him off, "Now we know out roles, excuse me while I play mine."

I got to my feet and was about to try and recover whatever sleep I could when something suddenly clamped like a vice around my wrist. My eyes narrowed as it turned out he had reached out to stop me. Slowly, he stood up, now eye level with me from standing on the step below mine. There was something in his expression that was almost pleading.

"You know they did it to me too, when I first came to the studio and came across toons about a year ago; they tried to make me forget too." He released me, "They told me I was insane…"

I swallowed, I didn't expect that. But I refused to soften. So he'd had the treatment too, good for him for not buying it as easily as I did. Sarcasm is a wonderful thing isn't it? But that still didn't change anything. We were both still here; I was trying to help whereas he was just spreading sob stories and expecting things to fall into place for him just like that. No, things didn't work that way. But something was clear to me; R.J must be one sick person to try and brainwash his own family. I felt sympathy for Mackenzie for one fact and one fact only: I felt sorry that he'd had to go through the treatment. As much as I despised him, no one deserved to go through that and be forced to doubt their sanity. But he was still an idiot to go running back and work for his uncle; against his will or not…

"That's what the Waiting Room is," he continued, "It's the place they take you to make you forget; to confirm your doubts and wipe your mind blank so they can fill it with what they want. After the studio finishes with the toons, they send them there so they don't remember what happened to them. That's why I made it easy to get you out…"

Was he telling the truth or just spewing more rubbish to gain my trust. What he was saying kind of made sense, but at the same time was just so wrong that it didn't bare thinking about. It was too late in the night to fully take in the information. I didn't want to know what monstrosities were going on inside the studio, I didn't want to hear about experiments and brainwashing! I didn't want to hear it. What I did want was to be on my own and think.

"Maybe I am going insane, sometimes it seems that would actually make things easier to handle…" I replied, shattering the awkward silence.

"But if you were insane, then how would I be here too?" he asked with an attempt at a smile. And there was the conceited prick I loved to hate.

"You're right, that would make me sane." I narrowed my eyes at him sarcastically as I edged the door open, "So this must be a nightmare instead."

A/N:

Whew! Long chapter! I guess I just wanted to bring back some comedy and fluff after so much seriousness. The wishing star song was from Wakko's Wish, I love that film so much, lol XD

My first go writing from Slappy's POV, I hope I did okay. Apart from more celeb references and age, she wasn't so different from Talia in the long run. I'm not sure if I'm going to bring in anymore characters because it's getting so much with all the ones there, but I'll give cameo's or references to those I've left out so that everyone is included.

Okay, I'll be honest and say that I don't know how things are going to go with Mackenzie. I've got two different plots, one where he's good, the other where he's bad, and it looks like it's going to be a surprise for both you and me at the end which one he ends up.

Please review and I hope to hear any comments you have for improvements or anything like that XD