Time for another trip down disaster lane. There's more trouble ahead and the wheels of fate are movin'. They're movin' baby.

Chapter 16: Motive

"What?!" Nearly everyone shouted with bewilderment at the plan suggestion from the old squirrel they had just confined to for advice.

"You heard what I said." Slappy asserted her position. She was always assertive and there was no reason she would change that now.

Dot was in a fit of panic. She didn't even stop to consider why Slappy had suggested what she did before stepping toward her, speaking in a loud frantic voice.

"I don't understand! Why shouldn't we go to prison first? Yakko only has 6 days! He can't die! We're not gonna let-!" Dot's voice rang out like a cracked church bell. Slappy quickly stomped her foot in the sand. It was enough for the little girl to get quiet long enough for the old woman to share her piece.

"We're not going to the prison to save him. Not right away at least. We can't." Slappy reiterated again.

Wakko's heart was thumping rather fast. He'd be like Dot if he hadn't learned over time the virtue of actually taking in what you're being told instead of speaking out against it on impulse. Seems he had to learn that the hard way though.

"A-And why can't we Slappy?" Wakko asked, calm and collected, despite the sweat pouring down the side of his face. All of it was from worry.

Slappy sighed and leaned her arm against the side of the jeep. Inside it, Brain was fiddling around with its engine, trying to upgrade it with the enhancer he had told Wakko to pick up. Should it work correctly, worrying about giving this thing gas would be a moot issue.

Slappy eyed Brain's direction for a second before turning back to the others to explain. "Think about the situation we're in here. We've got one jeep. It's a military enhanced jeep with good battery ramming power, sure, but its small potatoes against the personnel and security a prison is supposed to have. Charging in with just this isn't going to be enough and will most definitely get us captured and arrested too. I've been to prison a few times. They really don't play. Too bad for them, I also don't play. You can see why I always got off early for "good behavior" but that's neither here nor there-"

"We already knew it was going to be hard!" Dot was frustrated. Why was Slappy stopping their effort to tell them something like that? "But we can formulate a plan! We can-"

"Do you know what kind of security this particular prison has?" Slappy asked.

"Well… no, but we-" Dot started.

"Do you know where everyone is stationed there? Do you know the usual in-workings of the generic definition of a prison even?" Slappy tapped her foot.

"I… I don't… but I-" Dot began to sweat and look down at her feet.

"Do you even know what prison they took him too?" Slappy's arms were crossed.

"… No…"

"And if you did, would you know how to get there?"

"… …"

"Yeah. Uh-huh." Slappy muttered slouching against the jeep. Dot was sniffling where she stood now. Wakko quickly went over to pat her back in comfort.

"Sheesh. What a load of malarkey! I can't even begin to imagine what they're doing to that kid in there." Plotz growled and repeatedly tapped his own foot. He felt irritated being here.

Rita eyed the Warner siblings and turned her gaze to Slappy. "So… you do have a counter measure to that hopelessness you laid down on us correct?"

Slappy reached into the trunk of the jeep and pulled out the henchman they had escaped with from before. He was conscious now, though very grumbly and tired. He had a bit of a black eye too. From where, no one can say.

"Tell us your name." Slappy said.

"Tippy."

"And? Relay the news you so very kindly gave to me."

"… Our base… isn't far off from here…" He looked sad and ashamed saying this. Scratchnsniff in particular made out a tear at the corner of his eye.

"Their base?" Squit's eyes widened. "Oh man. Heavy stuff."

"Yeah. You heard right. And that's our new destination." Slappy said, dropping the drained toon on the ground in front of her.

Dot shot her head up in surprise. "Wait. We're going there?! To the place where they got all those jeeps to attack us and used to take over the Warner Brothers studio?"

"Fantastic!" Plotz cut through the air with his hyped and revenge driven aura. "That's a destination I can truly get behind. Ooooh! They're going to pay for this! Each and every last one of them!"

"Now hold on a second! You can't be serious!" Hello Nurse put her hand on Plotz' shoulder and turned to look at the squirrel. "Dot is right isn't she? Wouldn't they be just as dangerous as going to the prison?"

"No. Not even close." Slappy shot back, immediately. That surprised pretty much everyone. "The people who attacked us? They had all this machinery and military based weapons… but they were all stolen. There do exist weapons within the military that far exceed the prototypes these jokers got away with. Couple that with how they do their jobs in a way that doesn't care if they get killed and is done for the sake of catering to a certain group of people, we can also rule out that many were crazy enough to even join in the crusade."

"I'm not sure I get it." Bobby grumbled. This Squirrel was speaking Chinese as far as he was concerned.

"The people who attacked us weren't affiliated with any sort of government or army that has easy access to weapons like that. They aren't an army. They're a cult." Slappy spoke with reverence, eyeing the defeated and now full on crying toon at her foot.

"A cult…" Wakko repeated. That word just made his spine tingle.

"And as a cult is caters to a very specific group. Toons who were screwed over in some way by a studio or the television industry or the world as a whole… that are also crazy enough to take on any mission given to them by their leader and not care about whether they die or not doing it." Slappy felt the words coming out of her mouth. It made her literally want to vomit just so her tongue could taste different from the way it did while she was saying all this.

"But why do that? Life is good!" Runt barked. "Life is real good! Isn't it Rita?"

Rita smiled lightly. "Yes Runt. Life is good…"

Though, it did feel weird saying that all of a sudden.

"Yeah well, life can be viewed differently by a lot of people." Slappy spoke back.

Scratchnsniff lightly scratched the side of his head. "The ones who leave their studios in a dishonorable way or simply leave when it was their time to go whether they were ready to go or not… those are the kinds of people who make up this group ya? As a p-sychiatrist, it's hard to not emphasize with their feelings." He knew he was saying this about the people that pretty much caused the Warners misfortune, however, Wakko and Dot understood what he meant.

This was just a cycle. Hatred and misfortune can and will affect more than just one person, especially if the circumstances behind it are stronger than normal. People lose their minds when the prospects in life that they love are taken from them and they do whatever they can to get it back.

And if they can't get it back one of two things happen. The anger will make them turn to revenge for the sake of retribution concerning what they lost. Or the sadness will overtake them and their lives won't hold any meaning anymore.

In this case, it seems as though it was both. And that culminated into something that was truly terrifying.

"When we head to their base, we'll be able to have access to more materials than just this should we invade it properly. With mister reluctant rabbit here, we'll be able to have actual knowledge on what we're invading. There's more likely than not a chance that there will be ways to get onto the internet and find out which prison they took Yakko to as well, since releasing info like that isn't confidential. And there's no way it would be with Yakko being as famous as he is, let me tell you." Slappy explained.

Now it made sense.

"Invading a high security prison with just a jeep sounds hard. Invading a cult that has no way of knowing we're coming sounds like fun though." Bobby grinned.

"I just love destroying people's personal freedoms, ya know?" Pesto grinned even wider than Bobby just did.

"There's no way this group of people has nearly as many people in it as we're thinking too." Brain spoke up, revealing himself after having just exited the engine. "There isn't a straight up army awaiting us as it's impossible for every toon in existence with a grudge to know that this particular cult exists. There has to be more than one of these kinds of groups out there too."

"So calm down and have some fish and chips!" Pinky interjected.

"Yes. Well… I'm not saying that we should straight on relax or anything…" Brain murmured a tad.

"What exactly is a cult?" Skippy asked stepping over to sit on a rock.

"The word "cult" generally refers to a group of people whose ideas and practices do not fit the "normal" relationship of ideas, beliefs, and practices that the majority of people in society have." Hello Nurse said.

"It could be a Girl Scout Cookie foundation for all I care. Those jokers are going down. Waaaay down. Ralph! Be sure to stand at the ready." Plotz spoke to the guard.

"Uhhhh, yes… sir sure… uh… sure sir…! …Yes sir!" He stammered.

Rita rolled her eyes and stepped up to Wakko and Dot. "So. Are you two game?"

Dot sighed and turned to the toon who was still sitting there crying on the ground. She looked at Rita and nodded before approaching him. Wakko jolted in surprise and was about to stop her, his reflex being that he figured the guy was still dangerous despite his current fit of tears.

But something made him stop… he didn't know what…

Dot got on one knee and stared the bunny in the face. The rabbit sniffled and looked up when he felt her presence. Shame overtook him again and he looked to the side, avoiding her gaze with his tear ridden one.

"You guys still have your humanity." Dot spoke up.

"… Nuh-uh… I'm a rabbit. Can't you tell?" The henchman choked out. They both knew what she meant by that of course.

"Your amity. Your willingness to be kind. Your willingness to show concern for other people and your own life. Whatever you call it. If you had it before than throwing it away is kind of hard right? You can say you don't care about your life anymore and go on suicide missions but at the end of the day your group is doing this because you were wronged by the world and you want to change it correct?" Dot asked.

The guy didn't answer.

"Whoever this guy you work for is… he probably feels that creating a rule where you can't join unless you're willing to die for the cause proves that his group is going to only be full of people who no longer care about their lives right?"

"We don't care about our lives anymore. Why risk your life if you cared about it still?"

"There's plenty of reasons why I would. Why, I'm about to right now. For the sake of my older brothers and their happiness. You guys do this either for revenge, which comes in because you care about your life and you want to right the wrong done to you by getting back at somebody ...or you're doing this to change the world so that no-one else has to go through what you guys did, which just means you're doing it for the sake of the lives of other people. One situation has you fighting for your own happiness. The other has you fighting for the happiness of others. Either way, it's impossible for you to say that you don't care about life in either of those cases. And I bet you're crying because you're realizing how stupid it is that there's a cult that's trying to do either of those things while also saying that you can't join unless you don't care about your life." Dot was laying it down. Wakko was impressed.

The rabbit looked her up and down.

"… There really is no such thing as doing something like this without caring about your life or the lives of others in some way is there? When I joined I let myself get brainwashed with the idea that I could be some sort of soulless, heartless avenger who just didn't care anymore…" He banged the back of his head against the jeep he sat by.

"… What happened to you?" Dot asked.

"… Heh… been a while since someone cared enough to ask me that… nothing much. I was promised a position by this one studio and the stipulation was that I had to cancel the plans I had going at the studio I was currently working at. I declined it saying that it'd be more honorable to just finish up there and then come work for them. But that meant postponing the project so instead they got someone else. And as an added bonus, they contacted the studio I was currently working at and kicked me off before I could finish there anyway. Show was canceled. I had no place to go afterward and no one wanted someone from a show that didn't even get to finish its planned run…" He explained, tearing up again. Dot blinked, processing the info.

"You know… we're not against the idea of change either. We've been wronged too. But this isn't the right way. And whoever this leader of yours is, he's going to get it bad for crossing the Warner sister." Dot said, shooting him a serious glare. She was ready for war if need be.

The rabbit looked back at her and smiled. "Well… good luck to you… I'm done though… I think I truly don't even want to be a part of any of this anymore." He looked up at the sky, tears flowing from his eyes. "I don't want to be a part of anything anymore. I'm pretty sure I'd be content with just dying now…"

"… Well… I don't know what that feels like… and hopefully I won't. So long as I have my brothers or even just one of my friends, I think I'll have some sort of reason to keep going." Dot smiled and walked back to Wakko.

The rabbit sat there and slumped with his eyes closed. He knew she was right. At least she was to some degree. Different people were a part of this group for different reasons. Not everyone was as heartless as they appeared to be on the surface. However, there were people who were. Sometimes they were even more so.

There do exist people apart of their cult who care not for their lives or the lives of anyone else and simply wish to spread hatred and destruction for the sake of quick satisfaction. However, no one was forcing you to keep on living. It didn't make any sense.

If you didn't care about life anymore than why still choose to be alive?

Fear of what might be on the other side perhaps...?

"So did you just forgive him?" Wakko asked.

"The problem isn't just him. It goes beyond this cult. Our world is really screwed up Wakko." Dot said. Wakko nodded. No disagreement from him there.

"Yeah… and I… think I want to be a part of something that can fix it too." Wakko said.

"Changing the world. If anyone can do it, the Warner three can. We can do anything!" Dot grinned.

Wakko chuckled. "… Yeah… well… still, its kind of hard for me to overlook what these guys have done even if the world is in bad shape because of how toons in general are treated. That guy over there… I just have this urge to go over and slam a mallet on his head for everything his cult did to me and Yakko and the studio."

"Well… that one guy isn't the target of your aggression. That entire cult is. Sad story or not, we're not going to let them get away with taking over our lot, bribing Yakko, or torturing you. He's going to tell us everything he knows and if he refuses, we'll mallet him until he does." Dot said. "This isn't going down without us buckling down and fighting for the ending that we deserve."

"You sound like an army captain." Wakko grinned.

"TEN-TION!" Dot stood up straight and saluted Wakko… right before letting out a loud burp. "Oops. Shifted the bubbles in my stomach too quickly."

Wakko burst out in laughter right on the spot. He loved that. Seeing girls burp like that was always funny to him.

Dot smirked and then started giggling as well.

The two of them laughed across from each other for a significant amount of time before it died down. It felt natural, just having laughter die down after all this. However, they were amazed that they were able to do it at all. It'd be even better if Yakko was here…

Dot looked back at Wakko and the capped Warner gave a nod. "Let's do this."

The ride was surprisingly shorter than they expected it to be.

The long empty trail of sand and dust wasn't apart of civilization really. It was big and empty. It was just a long stretch of road that led to nowhere and didn't give off the feeling that they were really advancing.

The jeep had unlimited power thanks to Brain and Wakko's exploits though. Driving through the night, everyone slept soundly. The one driving was Ralph. Sleeping in the seat next to him was Plotz. Everyone else was in the back, asleep as well.

All except Wakko. The night air was cool but not overbearingly cold or uncomfortable. Dot slept on his lap, which made him feel at ease. The middle child looked out ahead, remembering the last words Yakko said to him and the ones he got to say back before he was arrested.

"… Me… I think I may be going away forever… one way or another…"

"You'll never be far away from us Yakko. I'll make sure of it."

He was going to make damn good sure of it.

His opportunity was finally arriving.

Morning came and the car stopped while overlooking a strange rock formation with a small clear opening to it.

"That's the place." Tippy the rabbit henchman informed them. "Just inside that rock space…"

"Alright! Which head should I pound first! It's been too long since I was hyped for something like this!" Plotz stamped forward and repeatedly pounded his fist into his palm.

"You're a liability Plotzy." Bobby grumbled. Plotz shifted his head toward the bird with a growl.

"What? Thaddeus J. Plotz is never a liability with anything that he does! I always succeed!" Plotz all but shouted.

"Even remembering stuff?" Squit asked a bit tweaked.

"Yes!" Plotz shot back.

"Then where's our final paychecks?" Pesto fired right back.

Plotz eyed the three of them and the coughed into his fist, walking ahead. "Anyway, let's hurry and do this."

"Ever get the feeling you were being played?" Bobby muttered as he saw the old man walk along.

Tippy watched Plotz walk and had to hold back from lashing out at him. He was one of them. One of those pompous, uncaring, money-grubbing studio heads that didn't give a rats behind about-

"Sheesh. And that's the guy who let us live in the Water Tower with reduced rent to pay?" Dot asked Wakko with a teasing grin.

"Yeah well, at least be grateful he was so lenient with us… especially considering how we like to play with him… heheheh." The two of them walked ahead with the others.

The rabbit sat there, a look of confusion eminent on his face. Rent? Reduced pay? Just keeping a toon that wasn't working specifically for you on the lot would take money from his pocket. What studio head did that…?

"Alright! We're gonna go in and we're gonna go in hard!... Right?!" Skippy said excitedly turning to his aunt.

"Love the enthusiasm Skippy. Save it for all the pointless torturing we'll be doing!" Slappy grinned and the little brown squirrel shivered with more excitement.

"There IS a genuine plan you have here though right?" Rita asked.

"Yeah. First we need someone to stand guard and-" Slappy began.

"I can do that! That's like my specialty!" Ralph spoke up, clutching his badge.

"…Alright and we need someone to stay behind should we make it out with an injured-" Slappy started again.

"That'll be me." Hello Nurse spoke up.

Slappy blinked. "… Huh… we DO have a designated Guard and a Nurse… why was I worried about choosing who was stay behind to do those things…?"

"Can we go now. I'm smellin' them! I can totally smell em!" Runt growled.

"Not so fast fido. First we have to-" Slappy started once again but just as well was interrupted.

"Mindy and Buttons just scampered inside." Dot pointed out. Slappy just grinded her teeth at that. This wasn't going well at all.

"Alright. Screw it." Slappy grabbed Tippy by his bunny ears and hoisted him up. "We'll do this planning thing as we go. Lead the way and hurry so we can catch up with Mini-Carmen San-Diego." The rabbit nodded and pointed ahead.

And they were off.

Mindy had been all but quiet during the transpiring of all these events. She hadn't been adventurous, or smiley, or even all that intrusive to anything.

She trotted along, not really thinking about much. She was just looking instinctively for something that would make her happy. She got around the fact that her dad was always off at work and her mom was an uncaring, soulless monster by confiding in Buttons and teaching herself how to be a good camper. Then all this strange stuff started to happen.

Discovering Wakko's body in that dumpster, seeing the hospital go up in flames, seeing those buildings collapse and people get fired on and made to explode. All the frowning faces and all the tears she saw. It was all so sad.

When she got here she just wandered in, gathering that something was here worthy of looking into. That was all she really grasped, barely paying attention to all the depressing stuff everybody kept saying. She didn't know what was here but she hoped it was something that made her happy.

Buttons trailed right behind her, desperately trying to catch up to her fast childlike pace like he always did. She knew he did too. She was happy when she was with him. Wasn't that enough? She still felt sad despite that. Perhaps it was because Buttons was sad too. Neither of them could be happy if the other was sad. She needed to find something to make them happy again. Anything would do.

Buttons suddenly yipped behind her. Mindy stopped instantly after hearing her dogs shout of pain. She turned around to see if he was okay and made out a figure with his foot stamped on Buttons' tail. He snarled his teeth at the person but was lifted up by his tail.

"That's right. Keep hold of him buddy." A voice that made Mindy stand on end in surprise came from behind her. Before she could make haste and escape his arm wrapped around her neck and pulled her close to his body. Her wind pipe was being harmed and her struggles were frantic.

"I wonder who you came with little girl? I suppose I can only make an educated guess since our guys took over the Warner Brothers lot and we received a call-in saying that people on it during the attack had escaped. Not the smartest of moves you could've made…"

Wakko trudged ahead with his sister beside him and Dr. Scratchnsniff following from behind. The others walked around him in their own various positions. Still, their bodies did nothing to obstruct his view of this place.

He was here again. This was the underground base of operations that had caused them all so much trouble. It wasn't hard to get in… but it seemed all but impossible to escape. He remembered that hopelessness. He hadn't memorized where everything was or anything like that. Even if he could, why would he when his soul thought was the idea of being as far away from here as possible and never looking back?

Just looking at the walls and smelling this air was making him recall all the screams he was forced to make at being tortured by those monsters. He unknowingly began to wobble a bit as he walked, feeling dizzy. He was sweating a bit and breathing harder as well. He was starting to feel really sick…

Dot turned her gaze to her brother as they walked. She held her hand onto his arm to help him steady. She knew he was recounting the memories of being here before and it was making him go crazy. She did what she could to try and comfort him and Wakko was well aware that she was trying… but it wasn't working too well.

"This hallway is getting bigger. Is it just a straight shot?" Slappy asked Tippy.

"Yeah. Usually, we're all in the Rec-room watching T.V or in the technology hanger, watching simulations of what the machines we stole can do." Tippy said, remembering their fun little practices well. He wondered if he would actually be content just being a thief who lived together with other fallouts in an underground hovel…

"Usually. But not when we have intruders!"

That voice echoed from down the hallway. Whoever it was sounded like he knew they were coming too. That wasn't good. Not one single bit.

"Dammit. I should've known just finding this place and stealing stuff wasn't going to be a simple as walking forward." Slappy grumbled.

"We can take them Aunt Slappy!" Skippy said with confidence. He was feeling better than he was before and was raring for some revenge! Totally!

"Hey, hey. No need for you to take anybody." The voice came closer to them all. They tensed up a bit and readied themselves in various ways. Rita and Runt prepared for an animal pounce. Dot clung to Wakko to try and remain as protective as she could to him due to his sickly state. The squirrels and the Goodfeathers stood up front, itching for a fight. Scratchy stood in the back, itching to escape.

"Why exactly is there no need? Eh bub?" Bobby asked, taking a step forward.

The figure was close enough for his presence to be identified. Behind him were two other generic toons. There were several genuine shocks that came about when the figures from the shadows revealed themselves.

One henchman behind the main guy in the front was holding Buttons upside down by his tail. The dog was trying to reach out and snatch at the smaller guy in front of them but just couldn't reach. The second henchman by his side held a rifle.

But the main one who had done the talking was where the culmination of surprise was. The target of Buttons' frantic aggression was him. There was Mindy, barely struggling for air in the grasp of a kid barely that much taller than her.

"You… seriously…?" Slappy snarled at him once she recognized who he was.

"I don't… believe it…" Rita muttered.

Even Wakko felt a bit deceived by what this was. He hadn't seen this kid here back when he was being held captive at this hell hole before.

"Yup. Shocking I know. But it makes the most sense you know? You can't be THAT surprised." He said back to them all, running a hand through his brown hair before fluffing his black jacket.

What a sight for sore eyes. There he was after all this time.

Montana Max.

"Thanks for visiting me guys. Our leader will see you now." He grinned.

The party that stood in front of him didn't know what to make of any of this. Wakko just felt a pulse through his system. Another Tiny Toons member was here. He remembered Buster saying something akin to still being around another of the old gang but didn't want to mention him by name. Probably because his name disgusted him quite a great deal despite their intentions being seemingly the same.

"… Why… even if you ARE a jerk, why this? Aren't you rich?" Dot asked.

Max felt a pang of anger snip at the side of his head. He had the urge to bludgeon her to death just for bringing up his money.

"… Yeah well, all good things must come to an end. Don't think for a second that I want to talk about it." Max snarled.

"Neither do we. Let the girl go." Slappy ordered.

"Make me."

It's been a long time since someone said that to Slappy Squirrel and weren't being paid to do so in a cartoon. She reached into her bag and revealed the large weapon she had extracted from the Acme labs.

"Trust me. This thing can fry your bones quicker than it will take for you to squeeze the life out of her. She won't feel a thing, but as for you… well, no one would miss ya. I promise you that." Slappy didn't feel like playing around. Too many people were crossing her lately and this was just the icing on the cake.

Max grunted with a really focused sneer at Slappy. He was analyzing her and he didn't like what his mind was processing. It wasn't fear. That same amount of disgust she felt for him, he adamantly felt for her. All of them even.

Still… lashing out and making waves. That wasn't what he needed to do right now. These people didn't understand. Not one thing. Time to shed a little light.

He let Mindy go.

She dropped onto her rear and coughed, grasping at her neck and letting tears spill from her eyes. Max snapped his fingers and the henchman behind him dropped Buttons. The dog fell on his stomach but shot up and scrambled to get to Mindy's side. Max didn't even spare the two of them a second glance. He didn't need to choke up his lunch, watching the girl hug her dog and cry softly into his fur. Gross.

"That's a good boy. You're not as stupid as you look… " Slappy said, not lowering the weird looking gun.

"You know, believe it or not. I didn't come to meet you guys here at a standstill to fight or capture you." Max couldn't help eyeing Wakko. Wakko, pretty much immediately, felt this twinge of anger and sickness well up as bile in the pit of his stomach. That intense feeling came just from looking at Max's stubby face.

"We came to clarify a few things." Max said, managing to shift his gaze back toward the center, so that it would look as though he was addressing everyone. "We received word from the people who invaded your studio that there were people who had escaped in one of our jeeps. Considering your options, it was probably best to assume you may have been on your way here. At least that's what the boss said. I didn't think so, because there was no way they had the foresight to capture one of our guys. And even if they did, he surely wouldn't say anything. Guess that goes to show how commited some people are to treating this as if their lives were no longer relevant." Max growled at Tippy, who was standing beside Slappy, his arms restrained.

The rabbit grimaced. He didn't like Max and after his loss he no longer really cared about the group but at the same time it felt too awkward looking at him and acknowledging yet another failure to his life's record.

Max sighed. "The boss knows. He knows how people tick. He knows not everyone can just willingly give up their personal freedoms and attachment to staying alive. I totally could though. Revenge is like the best thing in the world."

"I thought your money was." Dot chimed in. She was searching for a hot button and without missing a beat Max snapped.

"Shut the fuck up about my money ya skank!" His pupils dilated. Dot shut her mouth. Imagine her surprise at how quickly she didn't feel like yanking his chain anymore.

"Wh-What about your boss anyway?" Wakko took a step forward. His mind was starting to feel a tad clouded. "Who… why is all this…?"

"Missed me the last time you were here. And Buster too." Max said with a smile. "Tragedy ain't it? What happened to you. Don't be too sour at me personally though. It's not like those were my ideas."

"I don't want to think about that right now. I want to know about-" Wakko started.

"You sound really frail and defeated. Whenever you spoke on the show, your voice was all bubbly and happy and stuff. Turning emo are we?" Max grinned.

Wakko scrunched up his face. This guy wanted him to get mad. He wanted him to mallet him through the dirt and all the way to China…!

"Oh yeah. That Animaniacs show. The boss can't stop watching it. He has re-runs of it on all the damn time. Just him in that poorly lit room, watching away. He's a real big fan of yours. No joke." Max held up his arms.

Wakko couldn't even make out what a joke was anymore at this point. He figured it was something that was supposed to make him laugh. That didn't sound funny. It sounded creepy.

"He's a fan? Well, could've fooled me. Not many people take to torturing the people they're a fan of." Wakko inquired.

"He didn't do it." Max shrugged.

"Don't tell me he didn't know it was happening though. None of you are innocent." Wakko felt his fists clenching and unclenching. Scratchnsniff wanted to stand by Wakko and do his doctor thing to calm the Warner down. However, everyone could tell by Wakko's demeanor that he wanted this confrontation. No one felt that after what he had endured he should be completely denied that right by anyone.

"Fine. We're not innocent." Max shrugged once more. "But you kind of have to see it through his point of view."

"Who does he even think he is anyway huh?" Wakko raised his voice. Max had to chuckle. That was funny to him. It made Wakko grind his teeth.

Brain bit his lip. He could tell Wakko was allowing himself to get flustered by this person. Max wasn't even trying all that hard.

"That's why I'm here." Max decided to speak up with a more fluid tone than before. "We were originally just going to capture you guys but the boss wants to meet you. Whatever he says goes. We want him to meet you too now."

"What are you people? His sheep?" Skippy spoke up finally. He couldn't stand hearing this guy, whoever he was, talk.

"Every last one of us follows him for one reason or another. But we've all got the same goal in mind. One we all know he can reach thanks to the flawlessness of his tact and manner. It took him several years to build up just what he has here. It's just an empty looking hovel with several dozen groups of toons, lounging about with thoughts of revenge. But under the hood, we have access to quite a lot of decent things. Top secret military prototypes and devices that were kept under lock and key by the oh so generous people in charge of protecting the peace." Max giggled a bit. Even the second henchman had a chuckle at that.

Squit had an epiphany. "You used your money and credits to vi-pass them all and helped this group make off with all that stuff?" Squit blurted out, a light bulb going on.

Max snarled. "It didn't happen exactly like that. Something sort of like it…" He was remembering something fiercely irritating. He was digging his nails into the palms of his fists so hard they cut through the skin and started bleeding. He jittered but cleared his throat and continued. "Prototypes. Things like that gun you have Ms. Squirrel. You have an Acme Laboratory on your studio lot. It's affiliated with a few others like it. Acme is a big corporation and it pretty much manufactures all sorts of weapons and stuff that the military uses on a daily basis. But the hardcore stuff, those are in the labs. And the labs on the military bases? Now those are an endless treasure trove of really good stuff. And they're usually pretty huge too. Containment for them would have to be pretty huge too right? But of course, we don't want to get discovered with all this big stuff, so that adds a bullet point as to why our base is underground." Max stammered for a second there before regaining composure.

"You have bigger and badder stuff back there eh? Just itchin' to use it right?" Slappy asked.

"We stock pile it. The boss says when it's time to use it, it's all gonna be used at once… except for the jeeps. The jeeps we made off with were needed just for the sake of that invasion." Max stuck his hands into his pockets.

Wakko couldn't believe this. There was an area here that stockpiled tons of big stolen weaponry and vehicle transport systems? He had been here once. He should've at least heard someone mention it. At the very least, he could have been at least a little prepared for this…

No. He was under enough stress without blaming himself for something not his fault again.

It was time they answered for this.

"Why?" Wakko simply asked next.

"Revenge." Max said. "Other people here like to use other words for it. They like to say "justice" or "retribution". It's revenge. It's clearly just revenge." Max had to stifle a laugh.

Wakko didn't believe that fully. He knew people did awful things for the sake of trying to do what was right. There was no doubt in his mind that some of these guys were probably here because they truly wanted to make a positive difference… and were convinced that a negative forceful matter was the only option left.

To be honest, he was having a hard time seeing an alternative as well. Doing things the positive way seldom led to any kind of positive result. You usually just got stomped on and glossed over for what's been the norm for well over the length of time this industry has been around.

However, Wakko also knew better than to believe Max was looking for a positive ending to anything.

"I don't think revenge is a good enough answer." Wakko said.

"Tough." Max grumbled.

"It's not good enough the kid said. Tell us why you're all doing this and be detailed about it." Bobby snapped a bit. Seriously. The nerve of this Tiny Toon.

Max looked down at the bird and looked up at Wakko. "… Fine. Maybe some people want a little more than revenge. I guess that's technically just a motive and not a goal. The answer you want has to deal with why it was necessary to gather all those military assets and raid different areas as well as get at your studio right? Well it's simple. We're changing the system."

Everyone was silent.

"It's gonna take just a little while longer to build ourselves as bigger than the military but the boss has a sure fire plan. He knows his way around reality and myth and boy, do things get scary once you realize the truth." Max went on.

"The truth?" Scratchnsniff muttered in a questioning tone.

"What's on our lot that can help you with that? And what myth?" Rita inquired.

"My money. My connections. My boring and generic stacks of white papers that liter the desks!" Plotz listed them off on his hand.

Max kept shaking his head. "I feel sorry for you guys. None of you have a clue. It's like, the worst possible thing that could happen to innocent dumbasses like you people. Especially you Warner." Max stuck his finger out at Wakko. "Wanna know what's happening to your brother?"

Wakko's eyes bulged wide. Dot felt her heart beat faster.

"I can tell. You wanna know right. Well, it's real simple. Would you like for me to tell you? Here's a hint. It's a part of the myth the boss told us." Max's grin could had plenty of ego behind it.

Skippy stamped his foot. "What myth you goober!"

"I'm not telling! My boss wants to tell you himself. When we ran it by him that you guys were invading he told me to bring you to him. Having a Q and A with me isn't going to give you the answers you want. I've gotta respect his wishes." Max fluttered his eyes playfully. It made them all reel in anger. Especially Plotz.

Wakko was starting to sweat a bit though. He looked to the side at Dot. She had been eyeing Wakko with the same look of fear. Did they really want to know what was truly happening with Yakko?

… Yeah… of course they did. However scary the truth may be, it's necessary in order to fight for a way to save him.

"Take me to your boss. I'll hear what he has to say." Wakko said with reverence, facing Max with a new determined look.

"Yeah. Of course you will." Max grinned and turned around. "It's a really awesome tale, I gotta say. And I totally believe it too, especially since we witnessed first-hand what the boss predicted would happen to Yakko."

Predicted? He… predicted it?

They all began to follow Max as he led the way.

"What is it about? I want to know so badly." Wakko muttered, more to himself than to Max. However, Max still heard it and decided to answer.

"Boy oh boy. You're so stupid and clueless. At the very least, the subject matter the myth surrounds isn't something I should have to spoil. It's the most obvious thing ever." Max led them all down a dark and slightly dank walkway. It grew increasingly darker and more poorly lit the closer they reached the lone door at the end of the hall.

Wakko felt the atmosphere grow tense but he was just as equally feeling peeved at Max's cryptic talk.

"Why don't you just tell me since I'm SOOOO stupid huh? What does this myth center around? Huh?!" Wakko barked. Max rolled his eyes and spoke. The answer almost made Wakko's heart completely stop.

"The Water Tower."