College eats up your time like you wouldn't believe. On the eve of when things are reaching its climax, leaving you all in suspense is just too cruel.
Chapter 20: The Conviction of a Leader
"What's with the sky? The forecast didn't say anything about it raining blood or anything." A man standing outside of an army base tipped his hat up and noticed how dark and red the sky above was.
"Hey! We've just got a call in! There's big trouble going down at Burbank." Someone came out from the inside of the base and headed on over to the stumped man.
"What? What's going on exactly?" He asked, grabbing a piece of paper his fellow colleague held out to him. When he flipped it open and read it he was instantly taken aback. "Is this for real? What kind of report-in is this?"
"It's true. We have video confirmation from a police officer stationed there. It hasn't engulfed the entire city just yet but more and more people are starting to become effected by… whatever it is that's making them all do this." The guy began to sweat, a sense of panic building at the edge of his throat.
The man holding the paper kept staring at it and shaking his head. "S-So was the S.W.A.T team already sized up and sent to handle this or what? What in the world even is this?" he couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. How quickly was this situation escalating that the army was already being contacted?
How do you even put this to words? The citizens…the people of Burbank were just… sporadically going around and committing random homicides? How do you react to being told something like that?
"They say that not everyone has been… affected by this… we'll call it a 'disease' just yet. Seems this epidemic is slowly spreading throughout the place though. I have no idea what to do nor what to make of it. We have to go there and detain them all before the city just … blows up or something. Let's hurry."
The man stood there clutching the paper with his fist. He looked back up at the sky and felt his heart beat faster. "Supernatural interference maybe… I don't… believe…"
Everyone in the prison yard stood around staring at Yakko. The red-eyed Warner stood tall with his dark crimson and black aura seeping like a frozen mist from his body. Wakko twitched feeling really cold all of a sudden. Goosebumps were all over his body.
Rita and Runt stared. Scratchnsniff and Hello Nurse stared. Ralph and Plotz stared, with the CEO specifically hidden behind the Guard's leg. Shorenay and his men gawked. The Goodfeathers were stunned. Slappy and Skippy shivered in their silence.
Everyone couldn't move. This feeling; this resonance radiating from Yakko was destroying everyone's sense of resolve.
Yakko stood there, still smiling and holding the axe in his hand. That loving, warm, kind smile that he always gave his siblings was etched on his face. Seeing it mixed in with such a huge murderous intent made Wakko's insides burn. He couldn't stand it. Flashes of memories hit him again. He remembered being much younger and getting that same smile on Christmas, on his birthday, when they were finished driving one of their special friends crazy, when he was tucked into bed and given some milk and cookies before going to sleep back when he was even younger…
"Y-Yakko… I…" Wakko managed to choke out.
"So you DO wanna die first? Cool. Fine by me little bro." Yakko didn't miss a wink and twirled the axe in his hand. "Do you want me to make it interesting? How about we start by lopping off some body parts." Yakko all of a sudden swung the axe down to Wakko's foot.
Wakko shook from his scared daze and flinched back a bit before falling on his butt. The axe barely missed his foot. It was almost legitimately sliced off!
Seeing that suddenly made everyone spring to life.
"Get away from him Wakko Warner!" Brain shouted as loud as he could. Yakko made eye contact with the Brain and chuckled as he shifted his gaze back to Wakko who was frantically trying to crawl away while desperately trying to scamper back to his feet. He couldn't help letting out random whimpers and screams as he raced back toward his friends. Dot saw the look of Wakko's face and tensed up. It was nothing but pure terror. For some reason, that was what triggered her bout with tears. She didn't get far with them before Wakko grabbed her arm and traversed back up the stairs.
He only stopped when he heard the cocking of guns beside him.
"Take aim and fire!" Shorenay screamed, standing up on wobbling knees.
Yakko sighed. "I guess he didn't want to be first then." Yakko turned to the guard with the mask over his head. The man let out a yelp and was about to step back but the axe Yakko had took action before his brain could send the running signal to his feet.
Yakko swung it like a baseball bat into the man's gut and took delight in seeing his blood gush and spray out of it like a water balloon filled with cherry red juice. The guard screamed and grabbed at the axe's hilt, his vision going hazy and his body slumping in deadly daze.
Right then Yakko's ears perked up when he finally heard the hesitant and scared guards start their assault. It surprised Wakko how quickly it took for him to voice a bout of protest against shooting at his brother. It goes without saying that he was ignored. They all fired.
"NO! Wait!" Wakko grabbed at the arm of one of the shooters. Slappy looked at Wakko as if he were a tad confused. At the same time she couldn't help feeling as though this reaction wasn't unfounded despite how Yakko was right now. However, those bullets were going right at him now. There was no stopping it.
Yakko stood there. To him the bullets were moving pretty slow. He grinned and swung the axe around. With it still attached to the beefy guard the bullets very quickly and easily riddled the man through. Yakko began to run forward as the now clearly forgone man attached to the axe was shot into Swiss cheese and being used as the crazed Warner's valiant shield.
Shorenay stammered back and his guards ceased their fire as Yakko ran right up the steps and into the stands where they all were. With a wild swing of his arm he launched the guard off of his axe and flung him into several of the scared gun-men like a bowling ball. Shorenay ducked back and watched as Yakko turned to the ones still standing.
They all, rather instantly, dropped their opposing gaze and turned to run. Yakko tossed his axe like a boomerang and struck one of them in the back of the head. He laughed maniacally and jumped on the guy's back as he hit the ground, pulling it out and going after the others.
Wakko covered Dot's eyes as he pushed back through the doors and inside the prison with the others following him.
"I don't think he's going to listen to us." Plotz inquired.
Slappy didn't waste any time looking around the destroyed prison for some sort of chain or locking mechanism. "We need to detain him! There's no way we can just leave him like that!"
Mindy stood as far away from the door as possible, right beside Buttons. It didn't feel safe in any real regard but it was better than staying by it like Ralph and Scratchnsniff were.
"Stop him!" Buster shouted at Max. The two of them remained outside as their mission objective made it impossible for them to just allow Yakko to run free.
"YOU stop him! I'm not grabbing his attention for anything!" Max screamed back. The two of them stood there arguing as Yakko turned all the guards into mincemeat in the stands. The prisoners who were still in the seats around the execution ground were either clawing their way over the large fence of panicking and laying low.
"Gah. Enough of this." Buster shot his wrist weapon at Yakko. Yakko heard it coming a mile away and skidded to the side, letting the metal snake coil strike one of the dead bodies Yakko was already finished with.
Buster gritted his teeth as he saw the Warner vi-pass him and run into the stands, bringing his bloodied weapon down on all the scared and helpless prisoners next. Max finally worked up his courage and started to fire his lasers at him. Yakko simply grinned and jogged past all the attacks they were flinging at him, taking advantage of a chance to show off by slicing a few random heads off in the process of avoiding them with ease.
As this happened, Shorenay snuck around to the door and pushed it open, panting extremely hard. He caught a glimpse of Ralph and Scratchnsniff standing at the ready for Yakko but they lowered their tense guard when they saw the now messy haired and frantic detective in front of them.
"Oh… it's you." Scratchnsniff spoke with a bit of obvious venom tracing his words. "Not very nice seeing you again really…"
"Stow it baldly." Shorenay slammed the doors shut and put the lock on it.
"Aren't your men and those prisoners still out there?" Ralph asked.
"Forget them! What are you idiots doing? Hi-jack a ride and let's get out of here." Shorenay shouted, almost making that an order.
"Nope. Sorry. No can do." Squit came out of nowhere and landed on Shorenay's head. Shorenay growled and swiped at him making the bird take off and flutter next to his crew.
"What do you mean you can't? If you stay you'll just get murdered. Are you toons all this daft?"
"They are not daft my good sir." Scratchnsniff said.
"Oh right. You're going along with this trite too. I guess the insanity is just infectious." Shorenay pushed past them all.
"I don't think Mr. Detective understands our position. Want I should lay it on him Bobby?" Pesto said turning to his boss.
"Go for it." Bobby said nonchalantly. Pesto shot around and flapped in front of Shorenay's face. "See that over there!" he pointed with his wing at Slappy and Skippy as they were wading through the machinery in the prison for something to detain Yakko with.
"What of it? They looking for weapons?"
"They're looking for something to restrain Yakko with."
"Restrain! Kill the little bastard! Why go out of your way to ensure that maniac lives?"
"Because we don't roll like dat! Capeesh?!" Pesto poked his peak into Shoreneay's nose. The detective just had to pause.
"… You're all crazy." Shorenay swatted Pesto back rather harshly. Bobby quickly stuck his wing out to keep him from flying back at the detective in order to beat him to kingdom come.
"Leave him be Pesto. There's just some people who really are helpless." Bobby finalized as they saw Shorenay fix his jacket and leave the room. He had to find one of the prisons motor vehicles and head back to Burbank. They were unnaturally fast so he'd be there in no time. This wasn't going to end the way he wanted it to but he'd be damned if he didn't get as many people as he could on his side before it did.
He caught one final glance at Wakko and Dot as they sat against the wall hugging each other before scoffing in disgust and disappearing.
"We're ready." Slappy said suddenly, holding up a long chain connected to some electric spines.
Dot, who had been burying her head in her brothers chest, looked up and saw the chain.
"Will that work?" Dot asked.
"It's the best bet we've got. We had to try. I don't think we have much time before he's done making meat out of those people out there." Slappy spoke up.
Dot grabbed her head and let herself shake and rattle with fear. Wakko patted her back and held her close again. Slappy sighed, hating how she had just chosen her words. If today was any indication these two weren't going to be able to make it out of this without some serious trauma issues. If they survived Scratchnsniff was going to have his hands full.
Just then though, the door burst open and flew off its hinges. Scratchnsniff and Ralph ended up reeling back in surprise, jetting to the side to just barely miss a head on collision. It almost slid across the floor far enough to take out Pinky and the Brain but stopped before it struck the two mice violently.
"Egad Brain-!" Pinky remarked, putting a concerned finger to his lip.
"… We've at least got numbers on our side but something tells me that isn't anywhere near close to being enough…" Brain said eyeing the outside through the broken glass of the prison at his side. He could see how clearly the color of the sky matched the aura emanating from Yakko's body. He turned back to face the door and saw the very same aura again, surrounding the oncoming presence of the Warner child with the axe.
His pants had blotches of red all over it and so did his face. He smiled contently with what he had just done and marched past Scratchnsniff and Ralph as they hugged the wall at the side.
Wakko and Dot stared at their older brother from the floor. They didn't know how to react so they did what their body told them and ended up finding themselves standing in his way!
They wore the same horrified, confused, hurt expressions on their faces. They weren't even sure they knew what they were doing. This wasn't the logical course of action to take… but then again since when were the Warners logical?
"Aunt Slappy… he… he's…" Skippy tugged on his Aunt's arm.
"Yeah I know… it's gonna be hard to take him by surprise now…" She murmured, holding the chain with the electric charge running through it.
Yakko turned his head to face the two squirrels, not even minding his brother and sister. Skippy felt his heart stop. Slappy noticed her nephew's reaction and sighed. Not out of disappointment but out of realization. This idea had no chance of working the instant he made it through that door. With the element of surprise gone and the morale of the team down what was there to snag him with?
Slappy put her hand to Skippy's shaking body and planted it on his shoulder. The small brown squirrel looked up at his aunt who gave him a blank stare of understanding in return. Skippy, who had been gripping the chain for dear life, teared up and let it drop to the floor, as did Slappy.
Plotz stared at them and let his eyes widen in shock at the unfolding scene. They had taken the time to stay here and set this up and now they were giving up? What was the point? What a waste!
Yakko kept wearing that same smile as he saw the squirrels do the smart thing and relinquish their hastily put together plan of retaliation. He didn't say a word and turned back to his siblings.
Finally.
The three of them were together again.
Dot swallowed a lump that she didn't know had been forming in her throat. She resounded herself to speak but Yakko scared her by pointing out the window Brain had previously stared out the side of as well.
"You see that little sis? It's a sign. The way the sky looks. It's calling me and leading me back to Burbank. I've got a tower to visit and when I do the spirits of all those toons who died harboring all that lust for vengeance can be happy. Isn't that awesome?" Yakko grinned, holding his axe in both hands and letting it drip from the blade in front of the two of them.
"… But… but what about us…?" Dot spoke up, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
"I dunno. I've been thinking I wanted to make your deaths something really special. I'm having a tough time deciding whether I should just slice you guys in half or wait until the main part of the carnage is over and then dramatically walk up to you two like a soap-opera villain and proclaim that the end is neigh or something that ends on a serious powerful note. Something really cool like when a movie ends with that sense of pathos that has the world just being totally destroyed followed by a fade to black. "Directed by Yakko Warner " across the screen. Something classy like that. I- Oh. Oh what's wrong? That not suit your fancy?" Yakko had droned on, talking as if he were making a joke about pitching a movie to a studio. Their lives were clearly not a priority to him anymore and as he spoke Yakko noticed Dot's face had sunken.
Wakko twitched and pointed at Yakko, grabbing his older brother's attention. "Yes dear brother? Perhaps you'd like to make my decision easier. I'm in a bit of a rush though. I can't be the only one gunning for that tower."
"… I know… I know you're still in there…" Wakko's voice was clearly cracked and strained by this point.
"What?"
"Y-Yakko… you-"
"Oh come on. You're not going to pull that "Deep down there's a crying boy struggling to break free and love your siblings" garbage on me are you? Look at me!" Yakko stood out so that Wakko could get a better eye full. He was covered in blood, holding an axe, and smiling like he had just won the lottery. He clearly didn't give a care about them or the lives he was taking anymore.
"… I… I promised… I will save y-you…" Wakko felt himself straining even more. Dot was already on her knees, staring at the floor.
"Save me? What about yourself eh? Look at you Wakko. You're really cute you know that?" Yakko pinched his brother's cheek really hard. When he let go, his cheek had blotted up with blood and it hurt quite a bit. Yakko had actively never damaged or bullied his siblings before all this had started. It was horrible seeing it so prevalent now. "This isn't a fairy tale. You got that? You're trying your best to ignore the obvious but you don't fool me. You're clearly struggling really hard to hang on to that last bit of hope you have left. It's slipping away fast isn't it?"
Wakko was twitching and shaking all over. He couldn't stop sweating and panting either. He's done this plenty of times before during the events leading up to now but just standing in front of Yakko yielded this reaction. He couldn't believe it. Everyone just looked on; there wasn't anything they could do.
Yakko grinned slyly. "I can make it go away faster? Wanna see?" Yakko chided as he raised his axe again. Wakko suddenly felt his body spring to life as did everyone else.
"Whoa! Not good!" Pesto shouted.
"Gah! Take action!" Rita ran right at them with Runt taking up the rear, ready to bowl Yakko over if need be.
"Don't worry! It's gonna be super quick everybody! I promise!" Yakko laughed and took that huge axe swing of fate down at his siblings.
Wakko tried moving back but didn't when he realized it wasn't aimed at him. The axe was going for Dot! Instead of going back he spun to the side and tackled his sister down as the weapon struck.
There was a flurry of random sounds. There was a scream of pain, a spurt of blood, and the cackle of a now foregone child. A quick look around the room would leave one noticing the switch in positions. Everyone had run forward to try and stop what they were seeing. Skippy had remained where he was, covering his eyes. The two mice were nowhere to be found.
Rita and Runt hadn't made it. The two skidded to a stop as Wakko and Dot landed at their side. Yakko's axe was jammed into the tile floor but it had new, fresh blood on it. With a sneer he looked up and teased them all.
"Got you."
Wakko gasped and looked Dot over as he held her in his arms. He had all but wrapped her up in his body to keep her safe. The crack in that floor was telling enough. He would've sliced her in two easily had he not acted so quickly.
Dot stared at Wakko, wide-eyed and oblivious to what had just transpired. She looked frozen in shock; horror etched on her poor face.
"Dot! Dot are you… are you oka-" Wakko began before he coughed out a small torrent of blood.
"Whoa! Wakko!" Rita skidded to his side and pulled on his sweater. Wakko looked confused himself before looking at the side of his body that was being uncovered by Rita.
A huge slash was across his side, and it was oozing blood.
Wakko sweated and grabbed at it. He panicked a bit as he held onto Dot still, it was oozing a bit too much for his liking. Hello Nurse, upon seeing it, raced over and bent down to him.
"Let me see. Let me see. Hurry!" She instructed with post-haste. Wakko shifted his body so that she could get a better look all while Yakko watched them take to their devices.
"Ahahahahaha! That's funny. You know, it's kinda stupid taking an axe slice for someone else Wakko. You really are dumb. I guess the tower can wait. I wouldn't want to miss the looks on everyone's faces when they realize they're dying from an open axe wound. How's it feel Wakko? Does it hurt? Huh? Are you gonna cry?" Yakko laughed and cradled his axe, stepping closer to them all again, willing and ready to finish the job.
"Halt! Don't take another step closer you lunatic!" Plotz shouted standing at the side with the three birds fluttering beside him.
"You've gone off the deep end!" Bobby blurted out.
"You just pick on that bird brain?" Yakko smiled. "There's so many of you and you all keep trying to interrupt me. What? Can no one decide on whose going first? Is this your plan? Stall me until I kill my own self out of frustration. It's such a hard pick, trying to figure out who should die first and how it should happen. You guys are kind of special that way." Yakko said facing the four of them.
"Hmm… special eh…?" Plotz grumbled. He had never seen anything like it. This kid just didn't care at all. This really was a game to him.
"I know. I'll kill the CEO who started all this. Yeah…. Yeah, that sounds like poetic justice." Yakko said, stomping closer to Plotz.
"I didn't start any of this!" Plotz began to sweat and duck back. "H-Hey now! Keep away Warner! You know for a fact that I did everything in my power to help you even though I clearly don't like you."
"Yeah I know. But so what?" Yakko let another crazed grin creep up onto his face as he made an effort to back Plotz into the wall.
"A little help?!" Plotz screamed at the side for the others. Ralph had already begun running his way, the instant Plotz had started to back up though. He was already behind Yakko when the Warner stopped and swung his axe behind him. The guard ducked back and fell on his butt, with it barely missing him.
"Wait your turn." Yakko smiled and faced Plotz yet again. He didn't have much time to strike though as a laser shot from the open doorway and almost took his head off!
Yakko dodged to the side and wobbled in surprise for a bit while a sharp metal tentacle jetted from the doorway of the outside and struck the wall beside him, barely missing a chance to slice off his arm.
"Oh yeah. Forgot about you guys." Yakko giggled.
Max and Buster panted hard and stood in the doorway, bloodied and battered to hell. "You think you're so tough and evasive don't you. Warner brat! We'll kill you!" Max bellowed, furious from that humiliating display from before. He and Buster had tried to strike him down hard but he just countered every move and made it through without as much as a passing glance back at them. How shameful.
"Ha-ha. Guess I really am running out of time. There's too much distraction going on here. Catch you guys later." Yakko flung his axe over his shoulder and ran out the door.
"He's resisting us again!" Max pulled at his hair and ran right through the corridor to follow him out. Buster groaned and ran after his partner, feeling the sting of frustration glaze his body and mind.
He stopped for a second, spotting the first aid kit and a nurse wrapping bandages around Wakko's side. Wakko's face was grimacing and struggling to hold back even more tears. He just couldn't fathom any of what was happening and was refusing to take it for what it was.
… Well he was until just this instant. When he felt Buster's eyes on him he felt the full brunt of the situation just lay into him all at once. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.
He shifted his eyes to the side and caught the blue rabbit's stare.
"Feeling the sting are you?" Buster asked. "You're lucky that axe wound isn't looking too deep."
Wakko's eyes winced to a half-open position. He didn't want to hear this.
"… I'm on my way now. The world is ending. I suggest you all stay here and enjoy what you can before its all over." Buster trotted off and headed out to follow Max.
"They're trying to kill Yakko." Squit groaned.
"… Is… Is that a bad thing…?" Skippy removed his hands from his watery eyes finally.
"Of course it's a bad thing." Hello Nurse spoke up, tightening the last bandage around Wakko's waist.
"What do we do about it then?" Rita asked.
"We go after them. What's with the stupid questions?" Slappy asked heading for the door.
"Wait." Wakko stopped her with his weak sounding voice. Slappy didn't recognize that tone as one he usually had and turned to face him.
"Wakko?" Dot held onto her brother. She wasn't sure that the fact they almost died had fully hit her just yet. Taking in so much all at once would probably kill her in and of itself.
"Dot… I don't know anymore." Wakko put his hand up and let it float for a bit before grabbing hers and cradling it with his soft touch. The room was quiet and the heavy atmosphere the sky was radiating from how bleak it looked wasn't helping to quell that sense of despair.
"… Are we still going to go after him?" Dot asked; her voice barely above a whisper.
Wakko looked at her, then at the floor, and let his gaze stay there for a short while before eventually picking his head back up. "… That… was that Yakko? Is my mind the one that's going crazy? Is all this real?"
Dot actually hesitated with her answer. "… I wish it was."
"Wishing. Hoping. It's all stuff we do when we want a good, happy ending. Why can't we just have one? This isn't fair…" Wakko muttered.
The rest of them looked all around the empty, destroyed room. Not a single idea was coming to mind. Not a one.
"I can't just sit here and wait for myself to die. I ain't goin' out like that!" Slappy slammed her fist on the metal door. Skippy sat against the wall, away from his aunt.
"… I don't … I don't feel like we have a choice…" The young squirrel finally said to her.
"I taught you better than that. We make our own choices. I don't care what the world says we gotta do. They told me toons wash up after their first bout on television and I managed to stay in the game until whatever age I am now on their show and it was just as successful. Maybe even more. The end of the world has got nothin' on me." Slappy chimed to the rest of them, standing firm and with her thumb pressed against her chest.
"I'd love to share in your enthusiasm but we're pretty low on options here. I don't think-" Plotz began before trailing off. Why did that suddenly feel like an excuse? There's no way this situation didn't warrant a hasty retreat. Right?
Time crawled on. Minutes passed as they fought in their heads for a conclusion to reach that could be agreed upon by the others unanimously.
Wakko grunted as he looked at the faces of all his friends. He looked at Dot's as well. She was wearing the same expression as before. It was always consistently sad and fearful. He knew that if they died it would all be gone. All that pain and sadness wouldn't need to be endured anymore. It was the coward's way out but at this point was that not the better option?
His eyes glistened a little before he broadened them a tiny bit. The time for thinking wasn't as long as he wished for it to be. When someone gave up hope did time matter anymore? No it didn't. But that's just the thing. He was teetering on the edge of giving up. Time was moving slow and fast at the same time for him. He just didn't know.
There must be a reason why he was still hanging on though.
He was still hanging on to that last bit of hope just like Yakko hung on to that last bit of himself before becoming this way. He couldn't honor that conviction by quitting before the final capriccio was played.
He hated how subjectable to giving up he had become lately. It isn't like anyone could blame him of course. Looking at all that was happening, who in their right mind would have any hope left?
As a Warner, he spat in logic's face. He had to. If this ended with him and all his friends dead… it'd be a disgrace to who he knew he was to not go down fighting.
Was he willing to accept that Yakko was far gone or that the world was ending? Whether he was willing to accept it or not, what was happening was indeed happening. So what do you do? Do you just enjoy the time you have left with the people you still have around? Or do you fight with them to make the end just slightly brighter then it could've been for everyone?
Wakko wheezed in a puff of air and let it all out at once. He then stood straight up and held Dot's hand. She and the others looked at him, wondering what he was going to say. They were all willing and ready to listen to what the Warner had to say. In his brother's absence, without even knowing it, he had taken over as the leader and asserted himself with just as much conviction as his older brother. They were certain he made the right choice for himself and they were already willing to go down with each other no matter what.
"… We're off to Burbank. Maybe we'll go down but we'll go down like the wildest of all toons in existence know they have to go down. We'll go down like the Animaniacs would. At the height of our success and proud of what we've accomplished." Wakko had never said something so smart. It made everyone beam hearing those words.
Even after all that. The insanity plaguing the world, Yakko being at the center of it all, and the army of enemies they were sure to face going ahead, he wanted with all his heart to trudge forward because he knew that's what his true older brother would want him to do.
Wakko felt a tug on his sweater. He turned and saw Mindy standing next to him, teary eyed but smiling and holding up his mallet to him. He didn't even realize he had dropped it. He smiled at her and took it off her hands before patting her head and smiling at the others.
"I don't know what's going to happen. We have a good hard chance of kicking the bucket and doing so in a really gross, nasty way. But I really don't want to die feeling like I let my brother down. You know?" Wakko gleamed.
They all stood there with small smiles etched on their faces. Plenty of things were all on their minds as they did. Memories and tales of their past troubles sprung to the forefront of their heads. The Goodfeathers in their first meeting. Mindy and her first camping trip. Skippy and his bully. Even Ralph with his first guarding duty. They knew he was grasping at the shortest of straws but the fact that he could still remain so strong and sound so confident despite all that's happened to him specifically...
Truly it was amazing. Who were they to back down now?
Everyone else nodded; it wasn't a speech that at all raised their ability of surviving this nonsense but it was enough.
"Couldn't agree more!"
That was Brain's voice. And after he spoke there was a loud crash outside the doorway leading into the main hall of the prison. Everyone ran out the door and saw Pinky and the Brain in a hi-jacked prison carrier.
"Sorry. I snuck off to find one. I knew they were just outside so I took the liberty of hi-jacking and modifying it a bit when everyone was distracted by the Yakko Warner's entrance." Brain said, screwing with the controllers of the vehicle.
"Its super-fast now! Wanna see it vroom vroom!" Pinky laughed as he pressed the button that opened the back doors.
Everyone, with a spring of confidence, ran forward, climbing into the back of the van one after another. Even Skippy felt his panic die down even just a little. Pinky stepped on the gas just as soon as Wakko got the doors closed. The vehicle burst out in the now empty main lot and was on its way back to the main road.
"Awesome! We're in the clear. There's no stopping us now." Slappy perked up.
That was before a scorching metal tentacle blasted and cut through the top of their getaway cruiser and sent a mini explosion over the van bombastic enough to take the top clean off and expose them all to the open outside world.
"Huh. Well there might be something that's still trying." Slappy sighed before she and the others looked back. Wakko looked on with a strong intensity as he saw his former friend once again.
Buster was standing there with his wrist weapon pointed at the cruiser. He was going to destroy it.
Wakko didn't have to think twice when he saw Buster charging up his weapon's thrust mechanism. Those metal octopus legs had the ability to heat up and slice through other metals it seemed. That was no good. He jumped out of the open gaping top of the van and skidded across the ground, running right at him. Buster was surprised by this action as was everyone else. He shifted his wrist to face Wakko but by that point the boy was right on top of him. Literally.
He had tackled the blue bunny and was fighting for his arm. Wakko eventually grabbed it and head-butted Buster cleanly. He let out a yelp and let his head flop back, twitching a bit from the pain.
"Wakko!" Dot cried out from the van as it drove off taking to the main road.
"Don't worry about me! Keep going!" He shouted back to them as loud as he could. He then refocused his attention on Buster but was surprised by the rabbit's quick witted slug to the side of Wakko's face. The Warner spat to the side and rolled along the ground, shaking a bit before standing up and facing him.
"Why are you still here?" Wakko asked.
"Yakko left in one of those things too. Max went to find something we could escape in and managed to salvage our jet and went on after him by himself. I was planning on following behind in another of those vehicles after I made sure you guys were dealt with first." Buster explained. "You keep getting in the way you know?"
The two of them stood across from each other. The wind was blowing a bit and the red and black sky illuminated off of their fur in a dreadfully ominous way.
"I'm going to save my brother." Wakko said.
"Still? He's gone off the deep end. It was stupid to try before, now it's just full blown retarded." Buster didn't miss a beat.
"Get out of my way." Wakko growled.
"Or you'll what? You gonna kill me?" Buster smiled.
"… ?! N-No… of course n-" Wakko grimaced.
"Too bad." Buster's smile disappeared just as quickly as it came. His face looked un-amused and his pupils had dilated a tad. "The only way you get out of this is if you kill me. And I'm not about to give you a choice." Buster grinned and pointed his metal pronged weapon at Wakko all of a sudden.
Wakko quickly drew his mallet and watched it get blasted; a clean hole blowing through the center and almost taking off his head could be seen if you were close enough to the scene to admire its brilliant metal sheen.
Wakko winced and stared at it. "That plane we came on. It had autopilot."
"Think you can get to it fast enough… or with no feet!" Buster blasted right at Wakko's grounded appendages the instant he said that. The middle Warner jumped and rolled the side, getting barely nicked by Buster's sharp spike on the foot. He made a mad dash for the prison building. He knew where they had crashed their own ship and was hoping it was still operational. He figured Brain didn't go back to it most likely because he feared the damage to it was too great.
That may be true but it was the only chance he had.
Wakko jumped and ducked, bobbed and weaved as Buster chased after him, firing metal prong after metal prong. He increased the intensity behind the blast from them so that whenever one landed, an explosion would set off. He even re-dialed it so that multiple ones could fire out at the same time.
"Feeling the heat? Come on Wakko. Tell me you're not scared." Buster taunted him as he ran forward. Wakko had to keep looking behind and in front of him at the same time to keep up dodging. Whenever an explosion tentacle hit he was flung back a bit, which only brought Buster closer to him. He managed to scramble back up and push forward though.
"Our resident scientist made these weapons for me and Max. He's really brilliant and is piloting the boss' new flying fortress from the boiler room as we speak. Too bad all you guys had as a resident genius was a mouse." Buster kept teasing him.
Wakko panted hard as he ran, making really fast and powerful strides as he did so. "Oh yeah… w-well… that mouse… managed to hot-wire… and modify a police cruiser… to go super-fast like that jet… I could feel its speed the little time I spent on it… Brain's a prodigy Buster. You should know better…!" Wakko panted as he rounded a corner. One of the metal prongs struck the wall he had to turn away from with intensive force and set off an explosion that rocketed Wakko down the hall this time.
He bounced and skidded across the tile until he eventually reached the room with all the busted cells. He remembered crashing in here and the room just after this one was where Max and Buster burst in and had their own little killing spree…
Wakko looked around frantically, not believing a ship as big as that would be hard to locate. He spotted it pretty quickly in reality. The near death experience going on here was probably what had tricked him into believing it was taking so long.
With a scramble to his feet he made it to the ship and climbed inside its still open hatch. "Come on, come on. Resident genius I am not! Work! WORK!"
He pressed what he figured he remembered Brain had gotten to manage as the starting button for the ship. He heard the engine purr and start up and felt himself grin with excitement. His eyes darted across the panel before he spotted the quadrants and the auto-pilot button. He quickly typed in the address for the Warner Brother's lot and bashed his fist onto the auto-pilot button.
Instantly, the plane shifted gears and started to turn to the side. Wakko sighed right before it sparked and popped at him with its electricity. It was indeed heavily damaged. Brain would need to not only fix it, but re-modify it too. It was an extremely short time he was gone but even Brain and his cartoon logic tool fixing ability would have trouble repairing something as out there as this. Taking the police cruiser was a good call.
Wakko looked out the window as he saw that the aircraft was facing the wall. He braced himself as it shot forward and plowed through it, readily skidding a bit across the ground before taking off into the sky!
"YES! It flies! HAHA!" Wakko had to laugh. What a way to garner success! He immediately grew a bit scared when the plane fluctuated and sparked with more electricity around him. If it was doing that on the inside then that wasn't a good sign. Yeah, he wasn't that lucky.
CRAM!
Wakko screeched in fright when a metal tentacle burst through the ceiling and wrapped around his body. He felt himself being lifted from the seat of the control panel and cursed his day even harder then he thought he could by this point.
Buster raised Wakko out of the cockpit and brought him to his face. "Thanks Wakko. You got us flying. Now if Max screws up on killing Yakko, I can assure myself as the one who finished the job when we get there." Buster poked Wakko's nose. He was rubbing it in rather deep.
The wind blew fiercely through their fur and Buster was using his metal prongs to latch onto to the top of the aircraft as it flew across the bleak red and black sky.
"So, should I just toss you overboard or-?" Buster began speaking with his hands behind his back.
"Or what? Torture me? Any organs you ripped out would just get blown away by the wind. We're so high up you know." Wakko spoke. He almost had to yell it. By this particular point the aircraft had gone up to a really high altitude. It was sparking with electricity and puttering out smoke badly though. Buster could tell by looking at it that it wasn't safe being this high up on a plane that was clearly on it's very last legs. He didn't know how much longer this thing had.
"Tell you what. I'll just toss you. I'd love to make our final meeting something grand and spectacular but I can't risk it." Buster uncurled his tentacle and made a violent jerk to the left. Wakko had anticipated this though and made a grab for the edge of the aircraft. He sunk his fingers into it and held on for dear life.
Buster sighed and shot another of the metal appendages at his hand. To his surprise, Wakko let go on his own grabbed onto the tentacle as it retracted back to Buster! Buster ended up getting a slug to the face when Wakko was pulled back on to the ship.
The rabbit stumbled back a bit and steadied himself, looking back at the long drop behind him and growled. He looked straight at Wakko who was barely managing to sustain himself on top of this plane's roof.
"A showdown on top of this thing doesn't sound too smart. You sure you don't want to opt for the easier option?" Buster asked. "After all, my wrist weapon can keep me latched on to this ship no problem. What have you got?"
"…Well… my tail is super clingy. And so is my tongue. I could use those to stay on." Wakko grinned, his sweat getting blown away by the intense wind.
"See, the problem with that is that both of those things are made of flesh. I don't doubt their inhuman ability to stay on but that won't make them any less easy to slice off." Buster said with a slight snarl.
Wakko just stared at him for a few seconds.
"… I still can't believe this happened to you man. I used to think you were so cool." Wakko muttered.
"So did I. But I guess they lied when they said time heals all wounds. All it did for me was make them run deeper." Buster got into a fighting position. Wakko took in a breath and readied himself as well.
He had no choice. Buster wasn't going to give him one. He was going to have to take him out while on top of this aircraft. Wakko got ready and curled his fists.
"Just say when."