Long wait this time but a long chapter comes as a result. It's the absolute longest chapter of this story in fact. Enjoy.
Chapter 18: Inferior Tears
Wakko stared at the masked man until spots floated in front of his eyes.
The guy standing across from him wasn't the least bit worried or taken a back. By this point, it seemed like a given.
"If you're expecting some sort of grand appearance by a special guest star or pompous celebrity… you best be prepared for some disappointment." The man still chose not to move.
Slappy knew that they were both mulling over what to do next. Or at least, she was certain Wakko was. Despite the stare down, they weren't standing on equal ground here. Wakko was clearly more vulnerable, more shaken, and unsure of his next move.
This guy though; he had just explained to them pretty much everything behind that 60 year old mystery in a matter of a minute or two like it was common knowledge that had been brazed into his skull for some unfathomable amount of time now.
It was a bit too astonishing and upfront for her to not see this as anything but a tiding for something even more terrible ahead. You'd think the worst it was supposed to get was seeing someone get a piano dropped on their head.
Scratchnsniff was good at reading tension as well. He could tell by how thick it was that they really didn't have much time left too. Wakko was contemplating a movement and this guy was waiting for it. He didn't know whether the guy was going to just charge or wait for Wakko to move. Either way, the masked man was obviously more composed and prepared for him than Wakko was of this guy. They needed to just go for it and make a clean break for the exit. There was no fighting this guy…
And of course, the moment he thinks that, the instant comes when he sees Wakko hurl a raspberry pie to the guy's face! Max sprung up, having not expected that to happen. Though, who really would have?
"The juice is loose! GET OUT! RUN!" Wakko demanded suddenly, letting his voice ring out so everyone could hear. No one spared any expense. They weren't planning on staying any longer then they had to.
The toons all turned and bolted for the door, except for Slappy, Dot, and Plotz. Wakko looked around him. His eyes were darting around the poorly lit room. He felt like things were moving in really fast, slow-motion. He was trying to take in everything around him as the action he took caused the reactions of the people around him to spring forth all at once. That's what sucked about being the one to break the ice.
Max was charging at him. His sister, Slappy, and Plotz were running closer to him as well. He knew he heard Bobby just shout out for them to start looking for a "space-pod or flight-machine of some kind" in those exact words. And the mastermind was-!
"GAAAAH!" Wakko screeched, flinging forward, landing hard on his stomach and skidding a bit. A loud crack to his back had been heard and Max had managed to duck the large metal bat that his boss had swung into the Warner's back just in time. It didn't pay to get too close to the boss' target it seemed. He got lucky there.
Wakko, however, cursed himself. He throws a pie at the guy and the next thing he does is worry about what everyone else is doing when he's the one still standing in front of the most dangerous person in the room.
"Why raspberry?" The masked man wiped the gunk of his face and twirled the bat in his hand around a bit before slamming the tip onto the ground. It effectively left a small crack on the floor.
"Urgh… I like mixing up the kind of flavors you throw at people…" Wakko whined and staggered to his feet. Before he could do much of anything else, the master had already swung back down at him!
He jolted and jumped to the side, rolling a bit as the bat struck the ground again, leaving a mini-crater in its wake. He didn't hesitate to shift left and make a wide swing at Wakko from where he stood. Wakko grunted and let himself splay out onto his back, managing to dodge it completely. With a new fire in his eyes, he jumped up with his feet out and managed to land on them in front of the guy.
The jerk's arm was stretched out wide from the swing of his bat. Wakko saw an opening and went to take it by springing his mallet out from the side and going at him with it to the head.
The trajectory was good. Too bad this guy wasn't normal.
His other hand quickly got in the line of fire and managed to stop the strike by simply resting the palm of his gloved appendage against the flat end of the large weapon. Wakko began sweating and felt his control slipping. He didn't have any chance of regaining it though as the bat let out another loud crack when he brought it back to strike the same area he had hit Wakko before.
Wakko let out a large breath that made him slip and fall to one knee. The man gripped the mallet Wakko was still barely holding onto harder and managed to fling it from his hands, tossing it across the room like it was some sort of chew toy.
Wakko panted and looked up at the figure. Distain and anger motivated him so. However, that wasn't enough. It really just was not enough…
The masked man raised his bat and swung down hard at Wakko for a knockout blow for the ages! Wakko closed his eyes and heard a loud clang but it thankfully wasn't against his head.
He immediately opened them, expecting some sort of mess in front of him. Instead it was the old biddy, Slappy, clamping her hands onto the bat and steadying herself in front of the guy.
"Y-You know… old ladies aren't exactly known… f-for their speed and strength… " Slappy murmured to Wakko. "Collect yourself… we've gotta hurry…"
Wakko eyed her, rather stunned by her actions. He probably shouldn't have been as astonished as he was but that didn't change the fact that this was a marvel to him.
"You people don't seem to be upholding to any sort of real strategy. That sloppiness isn't going to help you succeed in your endeavor." The masked man grumbled, as he kept the bat firm in his line of view of the squirrel and the middle Warner-child.
"Making up stuff as I go is my specialty. Worked more wonders for me then it did you I'm guessing." Slappy fired back, smirking and still struggling to keep the bat away from them. It was wearing her down faster than it had Wakko though. Grappling with this guy was making her see why he was such a viable threat.
Wakko scooted back and let out a yelp of distress. The amount of pain shooting through his back now was just the icing on the cake here wasn't it?
"You know, you do have rather quick wit. I wonder what there is to be so happy about." The masked man spoke down to Slappy once again. Before she could answer, he suddenly increased his potential strength and managed to force the bat to slip through her hands. He let it hit the ground before quickly bringing it back up and jabbing her in the stomach with it to send her tumbling back.
"Ughh… owww… I hate this whole deterioration thing. Couldn't old people just shrink a bit and have strained, grainy voices and that be it?" She muttered with obvious irritation slipping through her teeth.
"To answer the big guy's question though, we can at the very least say that we succeeded in getting the others out of the room." Plotz grinned and clamped his hands together. The masked man looked up and saw that the door was wide open. Indeed, only the Warner siblings, the old crone, and the CEO were here. Tippy, the restrained crewmember of his, was pressed against the wall. He hadn't moved in all that time.
He then turned to Max who had this frozen look of wonderment on his face.
"… … Follow them?" The Masked man spoke the order as if wondering whether Max's brain had just died or something.
"…Oh…OH! Right! Sorry sir! Ahaha! I… I don't know what I was…" Max scooted to the side and then sprinted out of the room and down the hall, screaming after the others. The masked man let out a very loud, air-splitting sigh and stood back up straight.
"Dot… Why didn't you go with-?" Wakko started to ask before she clamped his lips shut.
"Not leaving your side. Not ever. Besides, you're not giving me much reason to believe that you'd be fine on your own." Dot informed him of his evident situation much to Wakko's chagrin. He certainly didn't look cool fighting this guy. No sir.
"Pretty peculiar brain on that rich boy…" Slappy remarked, now sitting up and rubbing her stomach.
"Makes me doubt how prepared you were when you hired that idiot." Plotz smirked. He really had no room to talk considering who his head security guard was but anything for a jab at Mr. Tall, dark, and creepy.
"I'm not worried. The people who left aren't much to concern myself with. Even with the majority of my men at the Water Tower, the people left within this base are plentiful enough and I sure know better than to leave my aircraft hangar unguarded." He dusted the front of his cloak off.
"Our guys can handle a bunch of low-rent grunts." Slappy grinned, and managed to regain her footing. Wakko had also managed to get back on his feet, gripping his injured back as he did so. The throbbing pain was hard to deal with but it was the price he had to pay in order to make this work.
The masked man looked around at them all as they looked back at him.
"So, you consider them mere grunts right? I apologize. It must be so hard having such a naivety about all this." He looked straight ahead and let his arms dangle at his sides.
Now that was odd. That certainly wasn't any kind of offensive stance to take. He was so lax about taking measures to directly and quickly deal with them. Looking so down on people might cause him to start looking up and could lead to his downfall.
He must know that already though. He truly did have nothing to fear from them. Wakko was realizing it the more his feet stayed pressed against the floor of this cold, empty room.
Dot saw the beads of sweat trickling down Wakko's face. He looked determined enough but the shaking and the drenched fur was not convincing her of their standing in this. She had a feeling he was getting an overwhelming sense of something about this guy that just wasn't hitting her. She knew he had beat on him a bit but was that really enough to turn him into a wreck like this so quickly?
"I think you all are mistaken about something…" The masked man spoke out. His voice was chilled.
"No! You've talked long enough!" Plotz screamed. "Listen here you! I came here specifically to make sure you don't screw with my studio anymore then you already have! The honor, the notoriety, the fame, and the legacy of that place have been entrusted to me!" Plotz stamped forward and pointed to himself. His fear of this man was… quite huge to be honest. He wasn't hiding it very well either considering how sweaty he also was…
The simple fact of the matter was that his anger vastly outweighed the status of his fear. To be so richly humiliated and taken advantage of by someone who had their feelings hurt by the Warner Brothers lot in this day in age was too much for him to be expected to handle. How could he bottle something like that up inside? There was just no way it was happening!
"… You're… Thaddeus J. Plotz…" The masked man spoke again.
"Darn right I am! And I've got the customary cigar case in my office to prove my status as well." Plotz grinned, allowing his teeth to sparkle. Slappy rolled her eyes.
"… Are you proud of what the previous owners of your studio have wrought? Do you follow blindly with the principles it and all the others in existence abide by for the sake of tyrannical fun or do you simply not care?" The man's deep voice chimed like a really thick bell. Wakko and Dot weren't feeling very comfortable standing here anymore. It felt like the whole place just got a tad darker. As if the area itself was beginning to close in on all of them.
It didn't help when Plotz decided to completely ignore his question.
"You said we were mistaken about something? About what? My toons are the best of the best! They'll handle the losers here who weren't good enough to make it past their third episode in a heart-beat. We have nothing to fear from you and your gang of one-timers." Plotz snapped his fingers.
"… … "
Wakko scooted back a bit, gripping Dot's hand. "We won't be able to escape with this guy in our line of sight. If they do manage to steal a plane or something, it won't do any good if this guy kills us before we can make off with it."
Dot heard her brother's words. They were all correct. None of what he said was wrong. Still, the current situation was still very jumbled to her. The fact that the air in this room was getting musky and her line of sight was being obstructed by growing pitch blackness didn't help either.
Growing pitch blackness…? Yeah… it really was continuing to grow darker and darker around them!
Slappy gritted her teeth and looked all around, now in alert mode. She had noticed it a tad too late as well. The place was unceremoniously getting increasingly darker. This black haze was clouding their visions and it hadn't even felt like much of an invasion. It blended in with the atmosphere naturally until just now when they all realized that the look of their surroundings had changed.
"… Yes… yes, you're like the rest. No doubt about it Mr. Plotz…" The man spoke up again. He was barely visible now.
The door was gone.
Plotz growled and stamped his foot, standing his ground too. "Think of me whatever you wish. I'm just one guy. I can't control what the people hirer up or what other CEOs do. All I know is that I'm good at doing what I'M doing, and that should be enough to sit well with me. What's your excuse?"
"… You're mistaken… about so many things…" The man spoke, a small red iris visible in the small puncture hole through his mask. It was a tiny red beckon that flashed as he blinked under the cover of this darkness. "You don't have any idea who I am or what all this means… what they all are now because of their past experiences and what they've all become… your partners do not stand a chance against any of them."
"What… what they are…?" Wakko clutched his chest. Dot noticed it and as soon as she did, she noticed that she had been panting rather hard this whole time. She was panicking as well. She was starting to feel it. It had taken a while to catch up. Normally, just it turned dark would've cemented a root in uneasiness for her but this guy was intimidating enough on his own that the atmosphere of the room took it's time catching up. She was so focused on him and holding her brother's hand.
But now, she felt it. She was shivering and sweating just like Wakko, gripping his hand tighter, realized that they didn't even seem like they were a part of the planet anymore. All over was just this black hazy darkness. That was it. Just a bunch of wheezing, smoking black air and the barely visible and continuously fading people around her…
He was doing this somehow. Wakko knew it. Dot knew it. Slappy knew it. Plotz knew it as well. This new "area" they had all suddenly found themselves in was taking jabs at their hearts, their minds, their stability, and tolerance.
He said that they didn't know who he was. What was this then? Who was he? He had refused to tell them. Was he punishing them because they didn't know?
"Your friends won't survive this. And neither will you. I'll show you what it means to plunge into a pit of everlasting darkness. It's a lot more devastating than just not having the ability to see…"
The boss had told them everything. He literally handed them the info on a plate and look what they did with it. They run off to hi-jack an aircraft in their hangar. Well, as stupid and as pointless as he thought that was, Max still had a bit of trouble not getting where the boss was coming from.
His boss was the kind of person who absolutely, more than anything else, wanted people to understand each other. He wanted people to know about their own situations. He wanted people to know what was going on and what it meant for them to be a part of what was happening.
When you were kept in the dark about things that are essential to forming a trustworthy or temporary alliance things start out already taking a turn for the worst. This was one of those situations where those guys not knowing only created friction in their plans and their movements.
Saving Yakko, letting Yakko die, or letting the boss kill him were the only options they had. It didn't matter if he had decided to lie or not. So he told the truth to get the biggest rise from them.
It worked but not in the perfect way that it could have. It sort of sucked that he had to spend all this energy going on after these jerks now but what the hell? The boss man said that he figured they'd try something stupid regardless of what he said.
It wasn't often when spilling the beans about a phenomenon was the correct way to go about doing things. But when it happened, it usually meant that there wasn't much that could be obstructed. And truthfully there wasn't. There was no way out for anybody who wanted a happy ending for this kid.
"Poor Warners." Max muttered, with a huge lack of actual sentiment behind his voice as he raced down the hall. He heard more footsteps up ahead. He couldn't help chuckling to himself. Boy did fortune smile down upon him. He had grown so sick and tired of hearing about the hit new show Animaniacs and how wonderful it was and how awesome the slapstick, humor, and characters were. Wow! So creative, they would say. He would gag and see to it he had a decent bowel movement each time he heard that stupid, vapid, and insultingly lame theme song.
Thinking back to it reminded him of that little girl and her asking him about where all his money went. If just seeing them didn't make him want to stab a puppy it was that question right there. Where did his money go? None of that little whore's business what! It was gone. Who cared about it now? Who cared about anything now? Money's gone and it's never coming back.
Which must mean that he's got no use for the world anymore correct? If he can't be rich anymore then so what if anarchy reigns and everyone starts offing themselves all over the planet? The world might as well end if he can't have his money back. That's how the universe worked. Max must be rich. If he isn't rich, then the world isn't functioning correctly to accommodate his will.
And if his will isn't sated, then the world can't exist. All life ends and that's that. There was no other alternative. That's just the way it has to be.
They were getting closer. It seems like they were all groaning in pain too. Ah. That must mean they ran into some more of the bosses men. That's good.
But still that was pretty quick. He wasn't that far behind them. Only one corner to turn and then he'd be there. The only one who had the might to take them all out that fast was either he himself or his mopey former co-star.
And wouldn't you know it, it just happened to be him when he rounded the corner.
Good ol' Buster Bunny.
"Yo! Nice to see you blue-berry tart." Max skidded to a stop in front of Buster. The scene around him was beautiful.
Mindy, Buttons, Rita, Runt, Pinky, Squit, Pesto, and Dr. Scratchnsniff were all sprawled across the ground, twitching and moaning in pain, just like he had heard coming up on them.
"You're fast." Max grinned, stepping over and grabbing Scratchnsniff's collar to hoist him up a bit. He leered at Buster who was holding Skippy Squirrel by his neck.
The little brown squirrel struggled and wiggled in his grasp, sweating up a storm as a mechanical appendage on Buster's arm lit up in a flash of red and extended several sharp metal prongs out to jab Skippy in the side!
"AAAAHGH!" The squirrel gritted his teeth and clamped his hand down hard onto Buster's arm. This was unprecedented. He really was fast. And this weird thing on his arm. "Wh… what is this…?"
"We've got tons of stuff like this. Jeeps, aircrafts, and communicators aren't the only things we dabble in here kid." Buster spoke with a silent and focused look etched on his face. It was a metal wristband that extended sharp tentacle like spikes from the compartments on it like a spider.
He examined the squirrel once more before watching his sides. They were bleeding out a bit. It wasn't anything fatal but it was enough to tell him that he was done here. With a satisfied snort he tossed Skippy to the floor.
Buster looked the fallen toons over and re-directed his eyes at Max. The brunette actually skipped over the bodies with the stupidest grin on his face.
"Deny it all you want, we make a great team." Max allowed a big toothy grin to show. He, more than anything, enjoyed witnessing Buster Bunny do things like this. Thinking back on how much they used to oppose each other just made what was going on now all the more swell.
"You didn't do anything this time. If you want to though, I missed two of em. The rat with the big head and the bird with the blue feathers got past me." Buster shifted his body to the front. Max blinked, surprised, fixing his posture and allowing himself to stand firm.
"Ah. So the small targets through you for a loop this time eh? Fascinating. But don't worry. They won't get far. We all know what their plan is." Max trotted on down the hall and picked up speed, happy to know he had targets for himself. Buster may have chosen the arm appendage for his mechanical power-up but he, however, decided to go for something more encompassing in a villain who liked to blow crap up.
"Here I come. You guys can't hide from Montana Max!"
Buster heard him shout as he ran down the way and sighed with a shake of his head. If there ever were a more pointless endeavor, he was certain this would be it.
"So just break it down." Bobby huffed. Barely getting away from that crazy blue rabbit with the weird robot poles hadn't exactly set a mood where waiting patiently was looked on fondly.
"I can't just break it down. It's a giant, wide steel door. I need to find a-" Brain began before a rather ignorant interruption.
"Then just destroy it with science!" Bobby pecked at him. Brain growled and swatted his beak away, causing the bird to grab it in disgust.
"Silence! We're all frustrated and forcing me to concede an impossible notion isn't going to get us anywhere. I'll need something to break through this. They're not too far behind." Brain examined the large door and strained his cranium for an answer.
After about a minute of him pondering and Bobby bucking back and forth in an uncomfortable passing movement, he finally snapped his fingers.
"WAH!? What happened? What?" Bobby stirred and looked at the mouse whom simply shot him a look of annoyance.
"I have an idea." Brain said and turned to Bobby. "Fly me to the ceiling."
"Huh? What's that gonna-?" He began before Brain banged on the metal door. "We don't have time for this! Hurry up!"
It was a pretty odd request but he granted it nonetheless. When Max rounded the corner he immediately put his best foot forward and got ready for the most intimidating speech of the century.
It would've been a cakewalk too had he seen anyone there. Life sure knew how to bring down a room.
"What the-?! HEY!" Max quite sporadically, turned sour and allowed for his specified device to turn on. His was a bracelet strapped to one of his arms that when activated sent up a small head-light that doubled as a flash-light and a deadly laser. It goes without saying which function he used more often.
"I know you're here. This is a dead end…" Max muttered. He could hear Buster's footsteps from behind him. And if they had gone back he was certain the bunny would've stopped them. There was no way the steps belonged to them considering what little feet they both had.
Wait. One of them was a bird. So then-
The instant Max looked up was the same instant Bobby rocketed down and pecked his beak right into the kid's eye!
"ARGH! YOUR MOTHER! FUCKING BIRDS!" He screamed and fired his laser about randomly, not noticing Brain having jumped off from Bobby the instant he had dived from the ceiling. He was scurrying up his arm and grabbed onto Max's laser device.
"I was hoping to make due with whatever deadly weapon he had on him. It being a laser just hands me the instant victory though!" Brain smirked as he latched onto Max's flailing arm. His screams and Bobby's angry curses and pecking noises had noticeably increased Buster's running speed. He didn't have much time still.
Brain stared at the door and managed to whack Max's other hand away from the button he was constantly pushing in a panic. The mouse pressed down on the button himself and guided Max's hand into a circular motion as it cut through the door's metal.
"Almost there…!" Brain grumbled just as he was an inch away from a complete circle.
"What are you doing!? GAH!" Max screamed as Bobby kept bashing his beak into his skull and flailing his feathers in his face.
"You messed with the wrong feather-head buddy. I'm gonna fry you like a cannoli!" Bobby said, scrapping his talons into Max's cheek!
"ARGH! I don't even know what that is!" Max curled a fist and went to punch at the bird but Bobby flew off by himself the second he saw a metal pole come lurching at him from behind the flustered kid. It flew over Max's head and struck the wall before retracting back into the arm-band the blue rabbit had on.
He had made it just in time it seemed. "Always easy to be taken advantage of aren't you? Isn't this just the saddest thing you ever did see…?"
Max flailed at the air as Bobby skidded to the floor next to Brain. The mouse lightly tapped the circle that had been cut through the wall and watched it fall to the other side. "We're in."
"Don't stand there and ridicule me! Get those losers!" Max growled and turned to face Buster, seething. Buster just stared at him, as if soaking it all in. Max's eye was red, his hair was screwed up, and he had three bloody cuts on his cheek from Bobby's tiny feet.
"Right so I take it you had a little fling with the little people." Buster spoke, keeping that straight face the entire time.
Max clenched his fists, ready to punch his lights out when he turned and saw the two of them gone. "Oh great! They entered the room!" He was really angry now. Though he had to admit, he was increasingly disturbed by how whenever Buster told jokes now he would always keep that serious, dead-pan look on his face. It made him shiver.
"Don't worry your beady little head." Buster had several of the metal obstructions from his arm-band lash out and puncture holes into the door. Like a piece of crumbled paper, the door was rolled up and tossed to the side. Their view of the aircraft room was bigger now and they could see the bird and mouse making a break for one of the moderate sized ships.
"That worked for like a good few seconds I guess." Bobby snarled, looking back at the two of them.
"Much more then I would've thought." Brain added as they rounded several corners provided by all the heavy machinery.
This room was rather fantastic to look at though. There were chains all over, suspending what had to be stolen merchandise from pretty much all over the country and all of it had been modified and upgraded to the level of a spectacular scientific marvel. Any one of these ships looked like they could give the army a decent run for their money alone. Still, that probably wasn't the case in and of itself. The big picture was that no matter how good their technology was, they were still a pretty small cult compared to the military and what not.
The two of them rounded several wheels and discarded engine parts before panting behind a large jeep, similar to the one they rode in on.
"They can't find us this far in. We're too small to locate normally." Brain whispered. Bobby nodded, as if he had to convince himself that it at all mattered. "Look ahead." Brain pointed to the large, hi-tech aircraft and the smaller one-seated mini-plane that was attached to its back.
"Is that an escape pod with wings at the end of that huge thing?" Bobby asked.
"Probably. There's only one but it looks like it could fit all of us should we need to use it. But the main plane it's attached to I know for certain could house several people at the casino area in Vegas if we tried. It's the perfect size. We just need to sneak in there and input the aircraft access code that young rabbit henchman provided us with." Brain trotted forward…
… And immediately after doing so, the jeep they were hiding behind was punctured by one of Buster's mechanical tentacles. It wrapped itself around Brain and squeezed hard, making it clear that he wasn't going anywhere.
"GAH! Perhaps that time I spoke just a bit too loudly!" Brain growled and struggled to get out. The snake like movement of Buster's metal appendages had Brain pulled through the jeep's hole. The mouse managed to grab the edge of the hole before he was pulled all the way through though, temporarily stopping him.
"He's resisting." Buster merely commented on what was happening at the very moment.
"Ha. That's cute. Slam him against the wall a few times when you bring him over to me." Max grumbled.
Bobby looked toward Brain in astonishment. And now he was starting to panic. "Okay… s-so what do I do?"
"Input the access code… hurry…!" Brain struggled to hold on. His grip loosened rather fast after saying so though. The fact that another of Buster's tentacles was on its way to the same location to retrieve the bird didn't help either.
"Access code... Right… yeah… I'm a decent Godfather parody. I should be able to recall a code I heard at a passing glance from a conversation I wasn't a part of. Hang on." Bobby saluted just as soon as Brain was dragged all the way through, back to the two waiting henchmen. The bird looked up and saw another metal tentacle hovering over the jeep. He rightfully assumed that was for him and took flight as it struck the ground he was standing on!
He turned toward the window and dive bombed through the glass, crashing onto the seat cushion and letting himself plummet to the part below where he could see the inner workings of the aircraft. "These are like cars right? You can hot-wire a plane right? That'd probably be easier for me somehow."
Another burst through the door and one of Buster's slithering stabbers almost take his head off. Bobby began sweating and murmured curses to himself. The tentacle re-burst from the part of the craft it had hit and re-positioned itself to face Bobby. The Goodfeather winced and dodged again as he took flight to the console where all the buttons were. He saw a key pad and quickly typed in the code he had on his mind before he started messing around with the buttons themselves. "Oh come on. One of these things has to start it. Do I really need a key or something?"
"Darn it. He's fiddling with it." Buster actually sounded a tad bothered now. He dropped Brain into Max's hands, who immediately clutched his palm tightly around the mouse, making him yelp in pain.
"Well, stop him! Those crafts were modified for quick activation!" Max pointed out, fiddling with his laser, willing and ready to cut through Brain's skull with it.
Buster sent out more of his metallic appendages and began to run through the cars and planes, hopping over them and rounding them so that he could see more clearly what he was doing. The sensors on these things weren't going to cut it now.
"Don't worry. He has no way of-" Buster began.
"What was that thing that other bunny guy said. Green vortex looking button!" Bobby smirked and managed to climb up the controls to look around for that button. He just hoped that kid wasn't lying. The tentacles all lashed out at him like crazy now. He had to dodge left and right and up and down to avoid being mutilated. When they struck the console they only left light dents. This was some thick metal alloy.
Either way, he managed to find the button he was looking for just as it hovered over-head for one final strike. He pressed it and heard the entire thing fire and light up with a neon blue strip. It was working. Bobby jumped to the wheel the second the tentacle made its most forceful lash at him and he quickly spun it. "Let's see if I can fly on the ground!"
The aircraft swerves and knocked over several of the smaller vehicles on the sides of him. Buster's tentacles ended up being ricocheted to the side, which caused the blue rabbit to be hurled into one of the other machines they had in the garage. He lurched with a grunt of pain and felt his body plop to the gravel ground.
"He activated it! How the hell did he-?! GAH!" Max screamed when Brain bit him. He dropped the mouse to the floor and quickly took to firing his lasers at him. Brain scurried around the vehicles, toward the aircraft that Bobby was starting to get the hang of twisting all over the place and making a mess with.
"Look at me go!" Bobby smiled and spun the craft all around again, this time making it move forward as he did so like a tornado. This caused Buster to swing all over like a ball on a string.
"AAAH! Dammit! I gotta retract my claws!" Buster gritted his teeth and pressed the button on his arm band to recall the tentacles. They all let go of the craft and retreated back into his arm-band while he was being flung in mid-air. He ended up being tossed into the window of a parked Ferrari.
"Dumbass mouse! Come back!" Max was beyond furious. He kept firing at the ground , chasing Brain down wherever he was sure he was going, and not looking up to see the aircraft heading straight for him!
Brain looked up at it and saw how unruly it was functioning. "I know he doesn't have any hands but seriously…?"
This was going to be a close call.
"… Wha… who… how did… guhh…!" Wakko wheezed and clutched his stomach. He drooled out the side of his mouth and pressed his forehead to the floor. He was about to throw up.
His company wasn't faring any better. Plotz, Slappy, and Dot were all face down on the ground, fidgeting and in serious pain from internal body damage.
The leader of the cult stood exactly where he was. Throughout this entire confrontation he hadn't budged from his general area. That glowing iris of his settled down and he let his presence soften a bit… for their sake, not his.
"Please. Be a good boy and allow yourself to accept my offer. You saw what just happened. The physical confrontation we had earlier with that bat wasn't necessary. It's just nice to stretch my legs every once in a while. I usually tend to deal people with my regular, more efficient power." He stood there and spoke to Wakko, with his hands dangling carelessly by his side. He had zero reason to be on guard. Not a single one.
Wakko, of course, had to be one to struggle to his feet… or at least try to. He managed to get on one knee before feeling his body grow cold. He shivered and heaved forward, letting the constant urge to vomit he had since coming back into this horrid place rise up and release all over the floor in front of him.
He panted and put his hands down, trying to keep his heaving and sweating body up. His cracked eyes shifted to his little sister. Her refusal to leave his side was heart-warming but heart-breaking at the same time. She was face down on the hard floor, a pool of drool curdled around her mouth. She looked awful and he couldn't stomach the sight of her like that. Slappy and Plotz were pretty much in the same exact positions.
It got so dark. All they could see was the light of one of his seemingly red irises. And in that darkness, they all lost sight of each other.
And after losing sight of each other… they all felt their bodies just heat up. Their insides were on fire. He did something and it happened just from them looking into that eye of his. None of them knew exactly what happened but it made them all physically sick and weakened. That shroud of darkness and that trick he pulled with their bodies. He had no idea how that came about.
"This device is rather magnificent." He spoke up and let his hand reach up to his eye.
Device? So his red eye was a device? Wakko groaned and fell to his side. But what did it just do to them?
"You'll never guess who made it for me."
He didn't care who made it for him. What happened to them?!
"It works a lot like a beckon. While the other device I have helps create the general atmosphere." The man said. "Can you guess what the second device is?"
Wakko hated this man. Beating around the bush and taunting him just to see him get angry. Screw this jerk! No way were they teaming up!
"That's correct. It's the very cloak I'm wearing right now. My cloak makes the room dark and the beckon in my eye re-directs a hypnotizing light into your eye. It goes for your insides rather than your unconscious mind. The light I transfer from my eye into your eye radiates in your body and screws around with your organs. One of you may have internal damage that's beyond repair. Hope it's not your sister."
That was it.
Wakko shot his head up and started screaming.
"We refuse! We're not working together with you! I know why you want me to say yes! You think that you can use my motivational attachment to Yakko as a tool to get him out of jail for you! I'll use it for myself! You can't have any of my ambition! NONE OF IT!" Wakko screamed and coughed. Blood actually dripped from his mouth.
"… I watch your show. I know how determined you can be when things get even mildly personal. We could very well save Yakko before his execution with you and me working together. I know it'd be the best way to handle things." The man spoke with reverence.
"Go die. Seriously. Please kill yourself." Wakko's eye twitched. He had never said anything like that before. He had never been this angry before. He had never wanted to see someone so horribly dealt with before. Not ever in his entire life! He knew fanboys of their show could be crazy but this wasn't forgivable in any conceivable aspect.
"That wouldn't work for me. If I die before I get into that tower then my revenge doesn't come. I know you've got the middle child syndrome but please remember to think. Otherwise, your brain might just shut itself off." The man still didn't move from where he was.
"We're… never gonna work… together… we'll save him ourselves… and you're not getting your hands on him…" Wakko muttered.
"He'll just turn evil and get possessed by the spirits himself. Then what?" The man asked.
"… I… I won't…"
"Is your strategy just to let him kill you and your sister? If I take him over, I could throw you all a bone and allow you all to die together. At least then you'll be with each other at the end. I hate the idea of you just letting you and your sister get killed by your older brother. Is that what you want? Are you going to free him and tell little Dot to let him kill the two of you? Or perhaps you're trying to stall us so that they can kill him themselves and prevent everything all together." He said, rubbing his chin.
"… … "
"Is that it? Have you decided to just let them kill Yakko? Did I get that right? Did you decide that it's better everyone, including you and your sister, stay alive and sacrifice him for the greater good? Is that what you've decided?"
"… I… I'm not gonna… let any of it… those can't be the only options…"
"They are. There's no way out of it."
"No… there's got to … got to be another…"
The man kicked Wakko in the face and sent him rolling on the floor. Wakko coughed and grunted in terrible pain.
"When you resort to holding out hope for something that doesn't exist, it just shows how pathetic your resolve to face reality is. Which one do you choose? Do you want to let him die? Do you let him go free so he can kill everyone? Or do you let me take things into my own hands so I can do the killing myself?"
Wakko struggled to sit up but plopped back to the ground.
He felt tears roll down his face and he bit his lip.
Let his brother kill them? The real Yakko would never forgive himself for that. And he'd never stomach telling Dot to just let their big brother do it.
Let Yakko die in the execution? No way. They were going to save him regardless of whatever this situation is.
Let this jerk take Yakko's powers away and let him kill everyone instead? He couldn't… he just couldn't…
But these were the only options. Reality was harsh and saying there had to be another way was just a bunch of empty, hopeless, desperate words. These really were the only options. Someone wasn't making out of this alive. And it most likely was going to be someone he loved…
"Slow down! Slow down!" Max held out his hands as the aircraft picked up speed. It plowed through all their machines and pushed stuff to the side. Buster sat up from where he had been flung, grabbing his head and bugging out with astonishment at the scene before him.
"No way bud! Roll over or get run over!" Bobby shouted as he drove forward. Brain scrambled to the top of a nearby vehicle and jumped onto the aircraft as it came by. He barely managed to latch onto it and climbed in through the window, watching it hurdle toward the frantic brunette jerk.
"FINE! I'll just blow you apart! We can do with one less aircraft!" Max powered up his laser and got ready to fire dead center at them. "Heheheh. This charged blast will set the fire-works off. No way you're getting out alive!"
"Oh… it can do that…? Oh… oh… that… that sucks." Bobby moaned after Brain scrambled onto the console next to him. They both stared ahead as Max's sadistic, evil grin grew. His charged shot had grown quickly and was about to devastate their getaway plane!
"HAHA! Here we go! FI-OWWWWAH!" Max screamed and his eyes crossed when something hard cracked against the back of his skull. He wobbled and watched the stars float around his head before giggling and plopping to the floor, revealing the small brown squirrel behind him holding the circular piece that was cut off from the metal door.
"Finally caught up." Skippy smirked before he looked ahead and saw the large aircraft heading right at him. "Oh yeah… I guess standing right in front of it was kinda dumb…"
WHAM! It slammed into him and he was pressed against the window, right as it burst through the opened door and treaded down the dirt hallway.
"OH! We hit a squirrel. Where's the windshield wiper button." Bobby asked.
"It's the kid squirrel you idiot." Brain said.
"H-Hey guys…" Skippy spoke, his voice muffled by the glass. "I see tons of spots… and dancing flowers…"
"Shake off the pain! Focus!" Brain urged as the aircraft charged down the large hallway.
"Oh… oh yeah… th-the others woke up and are waiting just down the way. Sl-slow down so we can pick them up…!" Skippy explained.
"Right. Slow down… uh… I suppose that would be the red button. That means stop right?" Bobby turned to Brain.
Brain looked the console over and then out the window. He saw a cluster of people coming up. It was indeed their friends. He had better stop this thing before they turned into butter against this windshield like Skippy almost did.
Brain sweated a bit and took a chance with the red button. Surprise, surprise; it worked.
The large aircraft scrapped against the walls and skidded to a decent stop, right in front of everyone. Skippy slid off the window and plopped to the ground on his back in front of Dr. Scratchnsniff.
The doctor stretched and cricked his neck. "Oh! You found one! Excellent! This is perfect! I thought we were goners when the little blue rabbit stopped us with his strange Doctor Octopus powers!"
Rita trotted up to the side and banged on the door. The craft was pressed against the wall but curved into a cone shape at the front that allowed the door to be accessed. It flung open and Brain flopped out.
"Get in." Brain says.
"He says after getting out." Rita smirked.
Brain ignored her and ran over to Pinky. He was rubbing his head, sitting next to Buttons who was making sure Mindy was firm, now laid out on his back.
"Are you okay Pinky?" Brain asked, helping him up.
"Oh yeah. I get hit on the head all the time Brain. You know that." Pinky smirked. Brain sighed.
"Right. Yes of course…" Brain muttered.
"Yo Bobby! You did it! Man you da bird!" Pesto grinned, flying inside and rejoining his boss.
"Spectacular. No wonder you're the head honcho." Squit's wide grin just lit up the room.
"You say that like there was any real doubt." Bobby rubbed his chest, overlooking everyone as they all came inside. Scratchnsniff had to help Skippy up. The poor boy was wobbly and understandably so. Having just gotten run into by something of this size, it'd be odd if he wasn't.
Max shot up from the floor where he was and rubbed the large bump on his head. He shook his head and cleared away all the stars before biting down hard on his teeth. "Alright. The rage is strong with this one. No way they live! NO WAY!"
Buster dusted himself off as he came up to him. "Calm down."
"Calm down?! Why don't YOU get angry!" Max pressed his finger into Buster's nose. "They just escaped with a pretty big aircraft! The boss is gonna-"
"He'll get over it. And so will you. Now hurry and get to getting over it so we can do what we have to do." Buster said pointing at one of the aircrafts behind him.
"Huh? Wha…? What do you mean he'll get over it? And why are you pointing behind you?! They went forward!" Max ushered.
"You don't know the boss all that well despite being the ultimate kiss up do you? Just shut up and pick one." Buster said.
Max blinked before mulling over what Buster must be thinking in his head. When he finally figured it out he grinned brightly. "Oh… oh-ho! No wonder you were so nonchalant about stopping them this whole time! I like that. I like that a lot."
"Oh boy. You used your brain. Good for you." Buster said and got behind Max. He lightly pushed him forward. "Now pick one. We'll be with them when they get Yakko out of there regardless if they want us there or not. The boss is smart enough to know that we wouldn't let that happen so quit panicking."
Max smiled, instantly feeling better. How could he forget? That man always had nothing to fear.
"You were so decisive on the show you know? Whenever you had a decision to make, you made it. What's wrong now though?" The masked man was standing in the same spot still. His boot rested firmly on Wakko's head.
Slappy had managed to struggle up on her hands. All she could realistically do was stare in contempt of the man in front of her.
"Have you been blinded by love? Didn't you guys always make fun of clichés like that on your show too?" He lifted his boot and struck Wakko in his chin! The Warner flopped onto his back and gurgled, blood and spit stuck in his throat now.
Plotz was in way too much pain for a man his age. He managed to sit up, just barely, so he could get a good look at the object of his angry affection. For some reason he couldn't look at this man and allow himself to succumb to any kind of fear despite it being there. All he was showing was his hatred.
"That short man with the suit on? Do you feel such an attachment to everyone that you even forgive the studio head for his transgression? Why are any of them with you for that matter? They didn't know about the situation before hand so why come along?" The man actually stepped forward and pressed his foot onto Wakko's stomach.
"…Y…You probably … couldn't tell based on… the fact that it was just a show to you… but we've worked together for so long. Of course we grew attachments." Wakko coughed and winced. "… We all don't have to say anything or ask too hard… it all comes naturally to us and to them… cause there's more to a family than a blood relation…"
"… God. You're so mushy in real life." The masked man took his boot off Wakko and let a knife slip out from his sleeve and into his gloved hand.
Wakko saw it but couldn't help chuckling at the comment from before. "Yeah… I am kind of mushy… but considering how things have been going lately, I have to kind of rely on it. Otherwise, I might have smashed my brains out already."
"Hmm? I've been there. Glad I'm not there anymore." He raised the knife above Wakko. "How deep into your body should this go for the sake of finally getting you to submit?"
"Want another mushy answer? Try plunging it into my heart." Wakko snickered, his eyes half open and sort of glazed over. It was apparent that he was passing out. But a Warner never ran dry of energy to tell jokes.
"Hilarious. But you dying defeats the purpose." The masked man twirled the knife a bit and went to stab down at him.
BOOOOM!
The wall to the room was burst through as the stolen aircraft completely demolished the entire area in front. It sent metal, wood, and wall chucks flinging and hurling their way. The cloaked leader had no choice in the matter but to finally duck back a few notches to avoid being harmed.
"Whoa! You almost hurt our friends you moron!" Rita screamed at Bobby and whacked him away from the console.
"Ehey! Ehey! Take it easy. How was I supposed to know they were in there…?" Bobby moaned.
"We crashed through it BECAUSE we knew they were here!" Rita snarled.
"Make or break time!" Runt suddenly shot up and screamed, surprising everyone. He pushed the door open and plopped onto his stomach, scrambling a bit and then headed over to Plotz. The flustered dog bit the collar of the CEO and started to pull him up and over to the ship.
"What… was the hold up…?" Plotz couldn't help but do a little ribbing.
"I got beat by a bunny. He was a nice ocean blue color." Runt muffled back.
Skippy scampered out with Buttons at his side and hoisted his Aunt onto the dog's back so that they could trot back to the aircraft and not worry about her weight.
"Don't worry Aunt Slappy. We're gonna make it and we're gonna win." Skippy urged her with his voice. She looked at her nephew with a tired look in her eyes but with a proud sense of accomplishment.
"Good. We better kid." She said back.
Scratchnsniff wrapped his arms around Wakko, Dot, and his discarded mallet once he got the urge to run out and grab them. He ran as fast as he could back to the ship but made sure to keep the tightest grip he could on them. They both dangled in his arms, limp and doll-like. Almost lifeless even…
The masked man dusted his cloak off and walked toward the ship, waving away the smoke and ash that had kicked up in his path when they crashed through. He heard the hum of the ship and recognized it as a signal that they were taking off.
He didn't have anything on his person that could shoot down an air borne ship and it was already bursting through the ceiling and sending plumes of rock and dirt down into his previously hollow and intensely dark sitting room.
He stared up at the ship as they all focused hard on making sure they got out of this nightmarish place. They had something to invade the prison with. It was big, bad, and dangerous. However, just being in the presence of that hooded jerk was making them all feel uneasy. They couldn't stay a second longer.
That masked figure staring up at them, not moving and not saying anything, was just a confirmation of how little a dent they were making in this guy's plans. If anything was clear, it was that what was happening in the grand scheme of things was way out of their hands.
The ship cut through the ground and burst through the several layers in the base, demolishing several walls and obstructions created within it. It was strong and hardy enough to easily rip through the ground and exposed the sky above ground.
"Hmm?" Hello Nurse turned around and saw the base's entrance being torn asunder by the ship rising clean out the top of it. "Um… Ralph…" She turned to tap the guard on the shoulder.
"What? Whazza happen-? Oh…" Ralph looked ahead and saw the sand and wind kick up as the aircraft was hovering just above a large hole in the ground, two inches in front of them.
"They must have succeeded." Hello Nurse said.
"It could be da bad guys…" Ralph notioned.
"I would think the bad guys would know of a way to get their ships out of the base without completely demolishing it." She smirked and waved at the ship.
On cue the hatch to the front opened, and out came Rita settled on top of Runt with a sly grin on her face. "Thanks for waiting. We've got several patients for you to look after here Ms. Nurse." Rita beckoned them over with her paw. The two of them looked at each other, smiled, and ran into the ship.
The hatch closed and began to ascend once again, facing the direction that their new ship had been given the coordinates too.
"This thing is fantastic. Whoever built this marvel certainly knows their stuff." Brain fiddled with the ship, quickly becoming acquainted with how it operated and what to press to make it function correctly. "Yes. Yes, perfect! All I had to do was type in Yakko Warner's name into the internet database and the location of the prison came up… it's quite a ways away though. Still we should be able to make it long before the remaining five or so days are up."
"Jolly good news Brain! Let's disembark!" Pinky chimed and pulled on a lever that let a bunch of steam out. The ship shifted direction and blasted off toward the sky. They were finally on their way.
Of course, it couldn't have been just them who made it out.
The ground in front of the base opened up and from the hanger below one of the other ships burst from it flying at a relative top-speed. It shifted it's direction and made a course for the ship that just left, rocketing after them with a gusto.
"Haha! Even when we lose, we win. This is like the best thing that could have happened." Max smirked as he drove the ship along. Buster sat next to him with his head resting on the palm of his hand.
"Yeah, well don't forget it was my plan alright? I don't want you stalling your development because you took the credit of thinking of something smart from somebody else." Buster muttered in contempt.
"You're a real sourpuss now, you know that?" Max looked at him with a grin and a raised eyebrow before taking his gaze back to the sky. "But for me it's just smooth sailing…"
The masked man walked back to his chair and sat back down on it. He had a clear view of the sky now. No doubt the few henchmen left in this base were alarmed and running frantically about… that was before he went on the intercom and told them all to go back to their business. Assuring them that there was nothing to worry about did the trick. The boss didn't even feel the need to leave the room.
Tippy was laying on the floor. The crash through the wall had sent him flying a bit. Nevertheless, he was still alive and staring up at the sky as well. Both him and his boss were taking it in with very different thoughts on their minds.
Neither one of them talked to or even acknowledged the other's presence. The boss simply sat where he was and stared up at the sky. He had a reason for keeping himself locked in a bolted shut room with just the light of the TV. The sky being exposed like this had made the still running television hard to see.
His intention was always to remain focused on his goal. Being trapped in here with that show running was what always insured that. But it looks like he didn't need it anymore. The giant hole in his ceiling served more as a confirmation than anything else. Finally, his plan was in motion. It was finally time for the end of his long journey.
He saw Buster and Max's ship go after them and couldn't help chuckling a bit. "Ah. They sure do know how I think eh? This is kind of funny actually. I suppose it is time we finally took off. There's no longer any point to hiding…"
The man flipped open a compartment on his arm rest and pressed a button. "Doctor, we're taking off. Secure the area and tell everyone to brace themselves. The underground locale is officially useless to us."
"Hehehehe…" Came a chuckling sound on the other end before he was cut off.
Should you have been in this empty vast wasteland, in the distance, about several miles back from the base, you could still easily notice the large explosion of sand and dust that formed from the action that took place next. It was as if a mountain was emerging from underneath the ground, when in reality, it was their base.
The henchman inside it were scrambling about a bit, wondering exactly what was happening. The few who did know were all in the lab, not at all concerned themselves.
Several bombarding eruption based sounds went off as the ground was penetrated through like a dam that had just burst from below. Its shining metal exterior and the extensions that made it stick out were being exposed as sand slid down the edges and filled the hole in the ground that was just made.
It was very large in size and scale, with two sky-scrapper wing spans at its side connecting to the middle, central hull that stuck it's nose out in front. Several rocket boosters and rotating blades helped keep it afloat and the very front of the top part had a nice long stretch of glass for the ones on the main deck of it to look out from.
The hole that was created in the top of the layers of metal the stolen ship was burst through was being repaired by the ship's operating system from the lab below. The walls and floors were still made of dirt, yet the exterior was pretty much complete and utter metal. It had somehow been built around the cover of the ground. Whoever this doctor guy was, he was a genius; that's for certain.
"Alright…" The masked man let his chair rise up through several of the ship's levels until it stopped and reached the deck of the ship, where he could look out of it and view the wide world below. "They've gone which means it's time we headed out as well. It feels like I've waited forever for this moment to come."
Truly, it really didn't matter whether Wakko accepted his invitation or not. At least not in the grand scheme of things, it didn't. However, it was still the course of action he would've preferred the Warner had taken.
"I apologize for this. I wanted so bad for you to join me. Even if it were under protest, it would've just been the perfect outcome considering how big a fan we were of you. Even with the ultimate power ahead of you, getting exactly what you want out of life still isn't possible. That's quite the ironic notion isn't it?"
He mused and looked ahead as the ship carried off. "It's odd. I desired so badly for us to work together and yet the idea of personally killing you doesn't bother me. Not even for a second. Strange how things like that work but considering my circumstances, I can't be confused by it. What's ahead can only be embraced."
They were on the move.
Night time was afoot. More goings on were on the move as time rushed by as well.
"He seems so broken. I'm not sure what else we can do to get a rise out of him." The man sitting across the table spoke to Shoreney. He didn't really understand this man's obsession with wanting to see Yakko suffer so much. The kid was already on death row… not that he cared much.
"Yes, well, there are still things about this case that are going unsolved. As of right now, we don't have any real evidence to support why the two old men who cut their heads off before did what they did. The fact that they worked for the Warner Brothers company and the timing of all these current killings would support that it was this kid's fault too. However, the timing isn't right. Reports say that where he was during the time of their deaths doesn't fit." Shoreney sounded like he hated admitting that.
"Well, maybe they really did just kill themselves?"
"They both chopped their heads off at the same time? Hmph. I could just excuse it and say it was so… but that's rather lazy, don't you think?" Shoreney smiled wholeheartedly at the man.
"What are you driving at? Are you saying you want to ignore that possibility for the sake of pinning more murders on Yakko?" The prison official spoke with a bit of a strain in his voice. He was finding this a little astounding.
"Maybe. Perhaps he's an even bigger danger than we realized. I caught a glimpse of him earlier as we passed by. The inmates are taking a liking to teasing and bullying the poor fella. I'm feeling a tad sorry for him… what's say we end his misery faster?" Shoreney smiled.
"The issued order of days he has left has gone down to about five. That's plenty short." The man sat across from him a bit peeved.
"Are you sure?" Shoreney kept his smirk. The man had heard enough. He stood up in an angry huff.
"Yes. I'm positive. If we kill him any sooner then it'll officially be a breach of-"
There was a small plat on his desk suddenly. The man looked down and saw a stack of money. Easily, several thousand dollars were in that small stack alone. He looked down at it, surprised as anyone would be and looked back at the detective's smiling face.
Then he sat back down.
"… Oh I see… you're willing to make this execution as private as it can be. Even making a fling at changing the history books by making the date he dies different from the one that's going to be officially recorded correct?" The man said back. He was the Prison head. Being a part of this wasn't right for someone in his position.
"Why yes, of course. Secrets like this, involving big money are best kept out of the history books after all. They tend to ruin a lot of personal backgrounds. For something as tiny a proposition as asking you to shorten the already short time this toon already on death row has, it'd be foolish to pass this up."
The man gritted his teeth and rested his palm on the stack of money. Shoreney kept smiling and watched him pull it off his desk and hold it clutched in his hand.
"Fine. The tabloids will be kept thinking they know the official date of Yakko's death… but the actual execution will now take place sooner. What time did you have in mind?" He asked Shoreney, who slunk back in his chair with his arms behind his head.
"Ah. I was thinking tomorrow afternoon would be as good a time as any. I can only imagine the look on his face when the amount of time he has left to contemplate his life suddenly comes to a screeching halt. I wonder how one deals with that. Suddenly having to bring forth all the thoughts he was planning on spending his last days thinking about to the forefront all at once sounds like it'd be the ultimate torture." Shoreney smirked and stood up, turning to leave. "Also, its great knowing just how much that honor of yours is worth. It comes at such a cheap price these days, I swear."
The prison head growled a bit. He really wasn't in a position to take any offense to that.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Shoreney waved goodbye as he walked before he was stopped by the man behind the desk.
"What is it with you?"
"What?" Shoreney asked, nonchalantly.
"Every toon you take in you seem… rather obsessive when it comes to overseeing their torture and demise. But this kid especially…"
"Don't you worry about that." Shoreney cocked his head to the side a bit. "It's really not all that complicated. Cartoons never used to make me laugh when I was a kid. But it's really funny seeing stuff like this happen to them in real life. There's nothing wrong with a man wanting to take what he can do with his career as far as it can go, especially when it deals with creatures like them."
"... I… I don't really…"
"Whatever moral ground you stand on doesn't matter. I'm sure even that could be bought with the right amount of cash. Just remember to look your best for tomorrow. Deep down, we all like seeing this stuff happen to the toons. We watch their shows knowing the theme of slapstick is to see their misfortune. But I could never get into it knowing it was fake. They're doing their jobs a whole lot better when they end up in the penal system though. It just makes for quality entertainment seeing them go through actual real-life pain and drama."
"… …" The prison head sat there starring at his desk.
Shoreney smiled and then turned to leave. "Yakko Warner is about to go through the most entertaining show I've ever seen from a cartoon. And being the one to instigate this show is quite the honor, considering how people are so fascinated by the fact that he's a child. I'm honored to be the director of this particular cartoon. And with every great cartoon, the punchline is in how it ends. Good day sir."
With a slam of the door, he was gone, leaving the Prison head to wallow in his own personal shame.
"Move it bud." One of the inmates kicked the kid in front of him to the table. He was walking so slow with his head lowered. It was so depressing and stupid looking. He hated that.
The kid nodded his head and sat down with his tray. The inmate walked off, not even wanting to be around him. Not many did. However, when people approached him, they would often hit him or shove his face into his food.
And he would just let them. And he'd have no reaction. And it would officially scare the offenders off. Everyone was off put by just how much he didn't care.
There Yakko sat, in an orange jumpsuit, staring at his food. His hair was ruffled a bit. There was a tiny purple mark on his cheek. Aside from that, he looked normal enough. The depressed look on his face was pretty much normal by this point. It was all but frozen on there.
His stomach growled but he didn't care. He had days left to live and didn't see much reason as to why he was still being fed. Was it because they didn't want him dying before the official death date? That's punctuality he didn't quite care for. If he was going to die anyway then just kill him.
Lord knows he wouldn't mind just killing himself at this point. In his cell, all he would do is lie on his bed and stare at the ceiling. He'd do that for hours on end without so much as glancing to the side. He was lucky he didn't have a cell mate too. He was pushed around enough as it is the few times he left it.
He had been here for a while. Ever since that fire that took place at the hospital. He had been content with staying here and dying alone but the last thing he remembered was him and Wakko surrounded by plumes of fire. He didn't even know if his little brother and sister were still alive.
There it goes. Tears slipped and fell into his mushy prison food. The food here was awful. He could tell by the smell and the way it looked that it'd just give him diarrhea. He barely ate anyway, so who really cares? All this food was good for was giving him something to stare at while he reminisced about the past.
He felt like an old man doing that but what else would someone in his position do? The food and the wall and the ceiling all served the same functions. They existed for him to have something to gaze at while he drifted off to a better place in his mind. He revisited all the fun, happy times he and his sibs used to have. Often, a memory dealing with their cast members would come up to. He missed everyone. He did. But his sibs stuck out the most naturally, and it didn't help matters not knowing exactly what had become of them.
For some reason though, he had a gut feeling that they were alive. Either way, he didn't mind going out like this. His life was in shambles. Thinking back to those awesome and fun times in the Water Tower and on that show to this day, sitting at a table in prison, beaten up, purposefully starving, and on death row…
He should've known. This was the fate of a lot of toons. It's just how the system was. The eyes of the people saw them as a device for entertainment that happened to know how to breathe and have feelings. Their sorrow and tears weren't as important as everyone elses. When it came to stuff dealing with life and not television they became burdens to everyone. Fixing their problems was just a hassle and no one cared if the ends justified the means.
Here though, Yakko was certain that it did. He may have missed his old life but he didn't deserve to have it back. His sibs deserved to have someone other than him in their lives. The world didn't need him in it. He spent his days just thinking about them and wondering if he'd cry at his own execution.
He was feeling sicker and sicker by the second too. Holding this other side of him back was killing him quicker than the wait. He just needed to keep from snapping and attacking everyone around him. This curse or whatever it was will officially be gone when he dies. If he can keep it under control until he's gone than that was it. It'd be done and his life would be over.
One of the prison staff came by and took his plate away. They must have realized that he wasn't going to eat it. Good for them. They had caught on to his routine.
Yakko stood up and began heading back to his cell, noticing an escort behind him with the key to it following after him. When he was back into it, he plopped on the bed and decided to stare at the wall on his side today.
For some reason an image of him, Wakko, and Dot taking a photo together at the carnival passed his thoughts.
His heart felt like it had been shot all of a sudden and a cold air shrouded his body as pure devestation hit. He didn't make any sounds as he hugged the pillow closer to his head but anyone looking would've been able to catch that tears were spilling out like a waterfall all over it.
The lights went out soon after. It took a while but eventually, so did Yakko.
Asleep or not though, he didn't stop crying.