A loud banging interrupted the happy moment. They could hear a splicer singing a tone-deaf, off-key rendition of 'How Much is that Doggie in the Window?' as he tried to break into the walls.

Yakko winced, "That'd be my fault." He said as he gathered Dot into his arms.

Wakko picked up the jackets and the lantern. "Good thing we're moving." And they zoomed away.

When Wakko confirmed that they'd lost the splicer, Dot took the opportunity to bonk both her brothers on their heads. "Could somebody PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on? Who was that? Why was he singing that song in a minor key? Why aren't we punishing him for it?" She snarled, dismissing Yakko's gestures to lower her volume. "No, forget that guy! Where Are We? Why are we here? I mean it, guys! If somebody doesn't start talkin', I'm gonna scream!"

Wakko offered her a jar, "If you need to scream, use this, it's safer."

Dot stared blankly at Wakko, her left eye twitching, then she grabbed the jar, held it to her mouth, and let out what would have been a long, shrill scream. Yakko rubbed her back and the suddenly safety-concerned Wakko patted her head.

After getting the hysteria out of her system, Dot slapped a lid on the jar, and turned to her brothers feeling very perplexed. Since she woke up, her boys had kept the Warner sister in a loose embrace, never breaking physical contact for more than a few seconds. The two boys were gazing happily at her, but she could see the tear-tracks staining their faces. Even if they were happy tears, Yakko's ears were anxiously twitching to and fro and Wakko's were stiff and alert.

Something was very wrong. "Alright," she began as calmly as she could manage, "I missed something, didn't I?"

Yakko nodded solemnly, "looks like you did, sis."

Wakko cocked his head, "do you not remember anything?"

Growing more alarmed by the second, Dot clutched her head "I... I'm not sure." Her mind was a cluttered mess, and she always hated tidying up. "What happened?" she asked, stressed out.

Yakko pulled his brother and sister onto his lap, wrapping his arms around the younger Warners as he began to explain. "We were kidnapped by a lady who wanted to be a cartoon director in Rapture."

Dot gave the two a nonplussed stare. "I'm trying to decide which part of that sentence to react to first." She then scowled, placing her hands on her hips, and Yakko couldn't help but smile at the familiar sight. "I can't believe you guys!" she cried out. "I'm sitting here, freaked out and confused, and you think it's a good time to screw with me?!"

Wakko shook his head. "Of course not, Dot," he reassured her, "Yakko's just starting to tell you what happened."

Dot swung her head to Yakko and gripped his shoulders. "Then you're telling the truth?" she asked desperately.

"Yes," The brothers both said emphatically.

"The 100%, exact and honest truth?"

Yakko fumbled under Dot's growing intensity. "Uhhhh… Well, like I said, we only just started."

"WHAT MORE IS THERE TO SAY!?" she shrieked hysterically. "THE END TIMES ARE HERE!"

"SHHHHHHHHHH!" Wakko quickly pleaded for Dot to lower her voice while Yakko corrected her.

"No, not that Rapture!" He chided, patting her back. "Judgment Day ain't here yet. Rapture is the name of the place we're at right now."

Dot took deep breaths to calm herself. "Well," she declared blushing and indignant, "that's a very stupid name."

"You're telling me."

"Anyway, kidnapped? Wait a second, that lady... Oh yeah, some weird lady broke into the tower and-" Interrupting herself, Dot began to rub her head in a soothing motion.

Yakko spoke up. "You remember that?"

Dot nodded. "She woke me up when she opened the door."

The boys both nodded their heads in understanding, so Dot continued. "I was about to yell at her when… I think she threw something on the floor." When she didn't continue, Wakko asked if she remembered what happened next. Dot squeezed her eyes shut before responding. "I just remember waking up… somewhere else."

Yakko gave her an encouraging smile, "That's fine for now, Dot." He side-eyed Wakko with a silent warning not to press her. Meanwhile, Dot wracked her brain for more memories of the kidnapper. She could only find the one from the tower, and that wasn't enough information. The only features Dot recalled were that the woman had a short and round stature, she never saw her face. What kind of person decides to kidnap toons to make cartoons?

That was another thing. "I can't remember making any cartoons." She admitted to her brothers.

Wakko sighed. "That's because O.C. only ever wanted me to make cartoons."

"Oh-see?" She asked, confused. Yakko elaborated for her. "Wakko won't tell me her name, he only ever calls her by her initials, O.C."

Wakko bared his teeth. "It's more than she deserves." Yakko and Dot flinched at the rage in Wakko's voice. He looked positively feral as he hissed. "She lied to me. She was never gonna keep us together. She told me if I worked hard and made her lots of money, she would bring you guys here too, but she lied." He began to sob. Yakko immediately pulled his brother to his chest, and Dot stroked Wakko's back. The middle Warner's voice was muffled by Yakko's fur, but his family could still understand him. "The truth was, she did bring you two here with me, but she sold Yakko to Sander Cohen for startup money, and she gave you to Yi Suchong to be a test subject." He snarled through his tears. "I haaaate her!" From Yakko's embrace, he reached over to pull Dot closer to him. Her eyes had become teary with horror. "The worst part was that I believed her, I trusted her. Whenever I found clues that you were here, she just said I was dreaming it." He broke off weeping again. "And I - "

Yakko gently hushed him and began to sway like a rocking chair. For a time, they just sat quietly in the group hug. It was quiet save for the occasional sniffle and sob. Dot still had many questions, but she settled on one to break the silence.

"What... what year is it?"

Yakko responded softly. "It's 1960."

Dot's breath caught in her throat. They'd been separated for thirteen years! The very thought made her sick. How could they split up the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister? There's gotta be a Law against that, o-or against our contract. She squeezed her eyes shut. What had happened to her in that time? The words 'test subject' and 'Suchong' rang through her mind and made more sense of the tangled web that was her memory. Dot could catch brief flashes of nasty scientists, gigantic needles, and cries of pain. She was too afraid to delve deeper into those memories. She touched her neck unconsciously.

The bizarre thing was that amid her tangled memories, her dreams were sharp and clear. But why do I remember the dreams better than everything else? Dot wracked her brain trying to recall more. Her eyes widened. "Wait, I remember getting my picture taken!" Then her expression fell again. "No, never mind, that was in a dream too."

She glanced up at her brothers and saw them looking very uneasy. Wakko was holding up a bunch of photos but seemed nervous about showing them. Naturally, Dot made him hand them over.

Squinting in the lantern's dull light, she quickly flipped through them, nodding to herself. "So, this really did happen! I'm glad to get my picture taken, but I must have fallen asleep because right after that I was in the angel dream again." At her brothers' stare, she explained. "I've been having this dream where I have this big golden knight who I call Mister Bubbles. We'd travel through this fairyland looking for fallen angels. I had this magic wand that pulled this stuff called ADAM out of angel bellies so they could fly to Heaven and… what's with the looks?"

Yakko and Wakko were both looking very green. Wakko opened his mouth to ask "Fairyland?" His face was stricken with disbelief.

"Yup, there were fairies too, all over the place! They didn't talk much. Some would fly around making buzzing sounds, and others would stay in one place shooting fairy dust. They would make roses grow in random places on the walls and the floors, and there were toys and hopscotch chalk scattered about, and pretty music playing all the time."

Forcing a smile, Yakko spoke in a strained voice. "That sounds… lo-lovely, Dot." He was sweating profusely.

"What's with the weird reactions?" Dot asked, growing angry. "It was just a dream!" They couldn't fool her, she knew they were hiding something.

Wakko abruptly stood up and placed his ear on the interior wall. After listening for a few seconds, he pulled away and announced. "I know where we are." He turned back to his siblings. "Sis, can you walk?" Dot, startled by the no-nonsense tone of voice she never knew Wakko was capable of, pulled herself into a standing position. She stood unsteadily, pinwheeling her arms to keep from falling over. Once she stabilized, she took a tiny step forward, then another, then moved too quickly and fell. "Argh, why do I feel so heavy?" Right on cue, the ink started bubbling again. The littlest Warner watched open-mouthed as black beads came flying off her body. "Ohhh, that explains it!"

"Dot, you know what that stuff is?" Yakko asked urgently.

She shrugged. "Well, kinda. I recognize it." She gave a tiny smile as she could at least recall this. "I don't remember exactly what it is, but they would inject me with it to keep me from being too zany. It made me groggy and sluggish, and I could never find hammerspace after they did it." Her brothers were horrified at that. Dot quickly spoke further to allay their fears. "But don't worry! It bubbles like this when it's wearing off. I'll be back to zany, soon enough." Yakko and Wakko let out sighs of relief and Dot stood up much easier this time. "It's almost completely gone," she confirmed.

"That's good," replied Wakko, who suddenly became serious again, "because you need to see something."

He was gesturing to the area outside the walls and Yakko suddenly had a bad feeling. "Wakko, what's out there?"

Wakko hesitated for a moment, before admitting "the Southern Mall."

"WHAT?! No, Wakko, she doesn't need to see that!"

Wakko disagreed. "She needs to know, Yakko, and she won't believe it until she sees the truth with her own eyes."

Dot was not used to seeing her brothers so tense, it made her uncomfortable. "I'm right here, ya know! And I still have questions! Like, how did we get back together? You rescued me from those scientists, right? Was I in a coma, or something? Just tell me what happened, and we can bust outta here!" Yakko started to stutter and Wakko put a hand on his arm. Wakko, knock it off, thought Dot, you're scaring me. Wakko was speaking low to Yakko. Dot could only catch snippets, stuff like 'know the truth' and 'take seriously' and 'danger'. What's going on?

Yakko was silent, pursing his lips. Finally, he caved and declared "I'll get the jars." He turned to the Warner sister. "Dot, follow Wakko… and listen to him, okay?"

Dot walked up to Wakko, glowering. "Ya know, I'm getting real sick and tired of being kept outta the loop!"

Wakko wasn't intimidated by her glare. "Follow me," he instructed.

Dot followed Wakko to an opening in the wall. "Wait here," Wakko said, before scurrying out of the hole. Dot leaned forward but stopped when Yakko grabbed her by the tail.

"He told you to wait," her eldest brother practically hissed.

Taken aback, Dot verbally defended herself. "I was waiting," she whined, "I just wanted to see!"

Her brother just shook his head. "You'll be seeing soon enough."

Before Dot could interpret that, they heard a tap-tap-ta-tap-tap and instinctively tap-tapped back. A four-fingered gloved hand beckoned them and they climbed out of the vent.

Immediately, Dot was overwhelmed by a putrid odor, and she grabbed her nose "Diiiiiiiiisgusting!"

Upon seeing where the smell came from, she gasped. "Oh my God! What is that thing? What the hell iiisss that!? Some kinda monster?"

Wakko came up next to her. "Dot," his eyes were sad, and his voice was gentle "that's your Mister Bubbles."

HUH?

She looked at her brothers. "Are you, actually, insaney? My Mr. B is nothing… like… that…." Dot's protests died away as she continued to observe the charred corpse. In the midst of asserting that her dear, valiant Mister Bubbles was nothing like this foul creature, a few details began to stick out to her.

It was the helmet. The funny round helmet that looked like bubbles. Dot always thought Mister B's helmet looked more like a diver's helmet than a knight's helmet. The body before her had a diver's helmet, it even had the same bubble pattern. In fact, now that she thought about it, the corpse really did resemble the Mister B from her memory. Wait, what? No, what am I thinking? She summoned her memory of Mister Bubbles out in a thought bubble, where her brothers could see it. See! Nothing like- the thought froze in her mind when the image in the bubble began to change. The Warners watched in astonishment as the shining sword turned into a spinning bloody harpoon, the pristine armor into a drab diving suit, the proud, noble stance hunched over and pained, the beautiful singing voice whale-like moans, and the flowery aftershave the foul odor of dead fish.

Dot popped the thought bubble with her claw. It meant nothing! Mister Bubbles was still Mister Bubbles, it didn't matter how he looked, sounded, or smelled like. He was still her protector and – wait, protector? Why was he protecting her? Movie stars had bodyguards to keep away overzealous fans, she understood that. But she hadn't been making cartoons, so why? Another thought bubble emerged, showing a group of people all dressed to the nines. Mister Bubbles protected her from strangers, yes, but that seemed like overkill. Or was it? The image started to change. Dot watched aghast as the figures in her memory started to melt and distort into hideous versions of themselves, looking deranged and dangerous. She was barely aware of the boys blowing the bubble away.

Dot looked at her surroundings. I've been here before! She realized with amazement. I was here with Mister Bubbles when we hunted for angels. She scanned the room and saw another item that was both familiar and foreign to her. Dot approached it warily and held it before her. This was my wand, she realized. She could remember stabbing it into the... draining out the... and then she'd drink the-

Dot recoiled away from the needle, stumbling backwards into... Yakko. It was only Yakko - who was holding her steady. His words of comfort were lost on her as Dot began trembling and hyperventilating.

Where there were once roses, there were now bloodstains, toys and chalk were now weapons and bullets, and the little fairy around every corner were security cameras and turrets.

The environment never changed; she'd just been perceiving it differently! She had never been dreaming, only lost in a mind fog as several phrases rang through her mind.

Good Girls Gather.

Always stick with a buddy.

Would you kin-

Yakko managed to get a jar over her mouth in the nick of time before she started screaming and screaming and screaming. By the time she was done, she had gone through six jars. Feeling lightheaded, she sat against the wall, weeping silently as she watched her brothers prepping a big white sheet. When he noticed her watching them, Yakko handed her a photograph.

The photo showed her the Mister Bubbles she saw in her dreams. She smiled but had a request. "Can you also get one of how he really was? I wanna remember that, too!"

Yakko smiled. "Sure thing, Dot." Then he did just that. Dot thanked him and helped the boys cover the fallen protector with the sheet. They shared a moment of silence and said their final goodbyes.

"It was because he was protecting me, wasn't it?"

Wakko nodded and Yakko picked her up, placing her on his hip. "How are you feeling?"

"I wanna go home." She didn't want to start crying again. "When do we go home?"

Yakko hugged her. "Me too, Dot," then he sighed, "but getting home is going to be a little... tricky."

Wakko was leading them down the corridor. Dot looked anxiously at Yakko, who assured her. "Don't be afraid, Dot, this one won't be so bad." He grimaced. "But uhh, you might wanna prepare yourself. It's… pretty shocking."

Dot frowned. "Are we on the moon?"

Yakko let out a wry laugh. "Good guess, but not exactly."

When they'd finally found a window, Dot's first thought was it must be an aquarium or the biggest fish tank in the history of the world. Excited, she ran up to the window. Pressing her nose against the glass, she eagerly looked all about, left, right, down, up… and up… and up… and up… and up… ohhhhhhhhh.

She turned, slack jawed, to her brothers, in hopes that they could explain this madness. They nodded, "We're under the ocean."

"WHAT THE BLAAAAAAA!"

Meanwhile, several splicers reacted to the noise.

"What was that?"

"Dunno, it sounded like a foghorn."

"Why would there be foghorns under the ocean?"

"How would I know? I'm just telling you what it sounded like."

"Forget how it sounded! Where'd it come from?"

Dot was too loud, and the Warners retreated back into the walls as fast as they could. "I'm sorry," muttered Dot sheepishly.

Yakko rubbed her head. "Don't worry about it," he consoled, "you earned that freak out!"

Dot sank to a seated position, stunned. "We're really in a city under the ocean?"

"You're not in denial, are ya sis?"

Wakko spoke up. "But the Nile's a river. We're in the Atlantic."

They sat blinking at one another before the three of them burst into giggles.

Yakko turned to face his brother. "Hey baby bro, why not give Dot your abridged history of Rapture?"

Wakko grinned his silly face and conjured an easy chair and a smoking pipe from the gag bag. Sitting in the chair, a pencil mustache magically appeared on his face as he adopted an air of resolute snootiness. "I am Andrew Ryan. And I'm here to ask you a question…"

He proceeded to explain the creation of Rapture, the city where the citizen need not fear the taxman, many of its key inhabitants, the discovery of ADAM and plasmids, the whole mess between Ryan and that Fontaine person, and the Rapture Civil War.

Dot applauded along with Yakko when he was done. She spoke, "I still have a couple more questions. First things first." Clearing her throat, she gazed at Wakko with concern. "Wak, why are you wearing pants?"

Wakko began to stage-cry. "I told them it was in my contract, but they wouldn't listen!"

Yakko gave him a hug, shaking his head solemnly. "Those sick barbarians."

Dot patted the middle Warner on the back "You still have your hat."

Wakko sniffed. "I had to fight tooth and claw to keep my hat!"

Dot's smile became teasing. "Well, it is good for you to try new styles."

Wakko mock-glared at her. "I don't wanna hear that from a Warner in a hair bow."

Her eyes widened and she reached up, snatching the ribbon off her ears. "Eugh, a hair bow? Who do they think I am? Minnie Mouse?" As she threw the ribbon away, Wakko handed her a familiar yellow flower scrunchie. She gasped joyfully. "You found it!" She tied it around her ears and felt immeasurably better.

But there was something still nagging in her mind. I feel I'm forgetting something, she thought, but what? She could remember Mister Bubbles taking her to her hidey-hole, the vent, and it suddenly getting hot. She was thrown aside and then her Mister B went down and he didn't get up. After that, she was grabbed by strangers. No, she remembered clearly now that it was Yakko and Wakko taking her to safety. I didn't even recognize them, she thought, ashamed. Hiding, running, and more hiding and then… and then…

"The nurse!" she abruptly exclaimed.

The boys leapt to their feet. "WHERE?!"

She facepalmed. "Boys, go fig," she grumbled to no one in particular.

"Hey, don't go crying nurse!" whined Wakko. "One day, I won't believe you, and I'll miss her!"

Dot rolled her eyes. "Just as well for you, I was talking about my male nurse."

"A male nurse?!"

"Yes, Wakko, those are real! Because we live in the 20th century and men can be whatever they want!"

"Uhhhh," then Yakko's eyes lit up, "Oh, you must mean Jack!"

"Who's Jack?"

"That's the guy who healed you."

"Male Nurse has a name!?"

Wakko waved his hands about. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I accept that nurses can be male. But now you're telling me nurses have names?! Now that's just too much!"

Dot placed a hand on Yakko's arm. "Yakko," she tentatively asked, "are you sure that's right?"

Yakko scratched his head. "His name really is Jack," he paused, "though I don't know if he's a certified nurse." He shrugged, smiling down at his family. "We can figure that out later, let me tell you about Jack."

Yakko regaled his siblings with a more detailed account of his time with Jack. Upon finishing, Dot scolded Yakko for not giving Jack at least a thank-you, and declared that she wanted to meet him ASAP! They all agreed. Yakko could give reasons why a thank-you hadn't been given, but he still felt guilty. At least this time I can give him a good one.

Yakko looked to the wall separating them from the inside of the fort. Jack had suggested Yakko wait while he kills the disciples and then Jack would get him for the pictures. Wakko was right, he thought bitterly, Cohen got me all confused. I'm not helpless and I'm not alone, not anymore.

Jack had already done so much for them; Yakko couldn't bring himself to ask more of him without being helpful in return.

Mind made up, Yakko stood up, clearing his throat. "Alrighty, sibs, I've decided I'm not gonna just sit around here all day. You two can stay here-"

He was interrupted by a chorus of nos and insistence that they were going too.

He laughed. "Okay, I gotcha, we'll all go together." He became serious and pulled them in close. "But seriously, sibs, this ain't gonna be a run around the movie lot. It's going to be very dangerous, so don't try anything zany unless you know you can get away with it, got it?"

They both nodded and Wakko raised his hand adding, "I can hide Dot under my hat."

Yakko was pleased with this idea; Dot on the other hand, was not. He turned to her sternly. "Dot, can you use hammerspace?"

She flinched and shook her head sadly. She perked up, saying "I'll be able to soon, though."

Yakko cut her off before she could speak further. "And that's great, but until then it's better for you to watch and learn from a safe place." He paused and amended his words. "Even after you get hammerspace back. Wakko can teach you all about scavenging and hacking, he's been doing this longer than I have."

Wakko took Dot's arm. "The splicers have always attacked us on sight. It would be better if they don't see you."

"But," she looked at both her brothers "Okay, I understand hiding until I get my hammerspace back, but after…" she stumbled over her words when she saw her brothers wouldn't bend on the issue. Then a thought occurred to her. "Do they have… D-Dip?" she couldn't say the word without shivering.

It's good we are having this conversation now, thought Yakko. He willed himself the strength to explain. "No Dot, it's not Dip… but… it hurts real bad." It was all he could stand to say on the matter and he was thankful to see Wakko whispering in Dot's ear, most likely clarifying what he was trying to communicate. Thankfully, Dot didn't ask for more information. Which was good, because Yakko was already nervous about venturing out and that conversation would not have helped at all.

He lifted her chin up to look into her worried eyes. "If you feel it's too scary, you can stay here." He turned to Wakko. "That includes you too." He held both their hands, squeezing them tightly. "If you do decide to stay, you won't be left alone for long; we… or I would check in frequently. So, don't feel pressured one way or another."

Dot's gaze fell down to their conjoined hands, pursing her lips. She looked at the middle Warner, asking "you going with Yakko?" At his nod, she continued "Then I'll hide in your hat."

Giving her brothers a big hug, she continued. "I want to stay with you two. I promise I'll stay hidden and learn fast." She gulped. "I'm actually a bit scared. But you know what?" She stood up with her hands on her hips. "It's not a run around the movie lot for Jack either, is it?"

The boys grinned and completely agreed with her assessment.

Wakko let out a whoop. "Faboo! The Warners are back together!"

Yakko continued his whoop. "We sure are! C'mon sibs, let's give Jack some backup. I'm getting a feeling he might need it."

He had barely stood up when Wakko seized him and Dot in a tight embrace. "I really, really missed you guys!" Wakko sniffed.

Yakko's heart swelled as he and Dot returned the embrace. "I love you both so much and I'm so happy to have you back!" He kissed both their heads.

"No one will ever separate us again!" Dot declared.

Hand in hand, the Warners set off to Poseidon Plaza.