Hey people! The next chapter is up! Had some problems with the doc manager, it kept adding a bunch of extra words like it was programming the story instead of showing just the words. But I finally managed to find a way to fix it. Anyway! Enjoy!

Issac is sweating bullets. He couldn't believe he had gotten himself captured so quickly. Now, he is stuck inside a crate while Ralph the guard carries him. Oh, how he wishes he had never left the tower this morning. He wouldn't be wrapped up in all this mess.

Ralph approaches the elevator in the building he had entered, pressing the up button. Issac nervously looks out of a tiny peephole that the crate has. He can see the elevator doors open and the guard went inside. Issac clears his throat.

"Surely, we can avoid going to Mr. Plotz," Issac says, tugging his collar. "Maybe go and get some coffee instead?"

"No," Ralph says sternly as the elevator doors close. Issac heard the click of a button and sighed as he felt the elevator rise.

"How about some donuts?"

"No!" Ralph scowls.

Issac huffs, turning around in the small crate so he is on his belly. He hopelessly drums his fingers against the crate. Despite the situation, he was growing restless. Unable to sit still for more than a second, he peeks out the hole and looks on as the elevator numbers rise. As much as it killed him to know he was on his way to Plotz's office, he couldn't help but feel a little giddy. He hadn't seen the old man in years. Who knew how the man was doing? Issac could imagine he was still the same grouch as ever. Thinking such thoughts made Issac giggle.

Quick as the thought came, it left and Issac was left with the blunt reminder of his situation as Ralph shifted the crate. Issac steadied himself and went back to drumming his fingers. His thoughts traveled to the Warners and he couldn't help but frown. He rests his head in the palm of his hand, thinking about the last few hours. Not only had he been caught stealing the file, but the Warners knew why. A sick feeling began to envelop the toon's belly as the elevator continued its upward ascent.

What a dilemma you've gotten yourself in. Issac mopes.

Sure the truth would have come out eventually, but it was still a hard pill to swallow. When he had been freed from his paper prison, the Warners had been the first faces he'd seen in such a long time. Issac had felt no greater joy than seeing his cousins. Despite this, there had been questions in his mind. When he had last seen his cousins, nothing had been okay. The studio had been in utter chaos…

Feeling stressed, Issac held his head, a sudden pounding ringing in his mind. He winces, feeling warmer than he should. He whimpers and sits up, hugging his arms. He hadn't thought about the past in such a long time. If he was honest, he didn't remember a whole lot. Just bits and pieces of his last few days on the lot before he'd been forced onto the page once again. How did that happen again? He could have sworn he remembered that part of his life, but it felt all so fuzzy. Issac groans, his head feeling like it was gonna implode on itself. He shut his eyes.

Images began dancing around his eyes, sounds rang in his ears, and he felt the urge to throw up. Issac tried to gather his bearings, holding the crate walls for support before he slid down and hit the crate's bottom. He grinds his teeth, a realization coming to him as he trembles. He was having another one of those moments. He never liked them. Issac just couldn't stop them when it happened. Warmth travels all over his body, to the point he begins to break out into a sweat. He covers his face with his hands, trying to make it all stop. His breathing becomes irregular. The panic has begun to settle in and he can't seem to think straight. He hugs himself tight, refusing to open his eyes. He grinds his teeth, the sound of pounding growing louder and louder in his head. He clutches his ears, but it doesn't stop the noise. His heart is racing with the noise as if competing to outmatch it. Issac hunches over. Then he opens his eyes.

The world around him had changed. The crate walls could no longer be seen. He was instead inside an open room with props everywhere. It reminded him of the soundstages he once saw when he first came to the studio. This one in particular had a sign nearby displaying which one it was. Soundstage 22. There was a sudden terror inside Issac that he couldn't place. Why was he scared, why couldn't he stop thinking about the terrors this room was giving him? Immediately, he snapped his body up.

"My cousins!" Issac shrieked.

Issac pulled himself up and broke out into a sprint. That's when more of the room came into focus. People were screaming and running every which way. He realized why. Heavy smoke was in the air, and he began to cough. Issac ran forward, his eyes watering from the dryness of the air as it became polluted with smoke. He coughs more and then his ears prick upwards at the sound of voices.

"HELP! HELP US!"

"Yakko?" Issac shouted. He dashed down the hall. The hall here was filling up with black smoke. Issac realized a little too late that the area was filled with fire. Yet, he recognized the room he was in now. The offices. These belonged to the people who worked on the soundstages here.

BAM! BAM!

"HELP!"

"Wakko!" Issac cried, realizing one of the doors to the office was rattling. Someone on the other side pounded on it. His eyes widened seeing the smoke erupting from underneath the door. He could hear coughing. Issac runs up to the door, grabbing the knob, but cried out as his hand touches the hot knob. He backed away and blew on his hand, then he faced the door.

"Issac!" It was Yakko's voice. The sheer panic in the toon's voice was enough to make Issac's heart rate skyrocket. "We can't open the door!"

"Don't you worry!" Issac yelled. "Cousin Issac is gonna get you out!"

"We can't breathe!" A girl's voice gasped from the other side. Dot's voice.

"I'll get you out, I promise, darling. I will-"

A weight slammed into the side of Issac's head. Issac didn't even have time to scream as he flew through the air before slamming into the nearest wall. His vision grew stars, but even worse of all it became a blurry sight. He lands on the ground, slumping against the wall before trying to pick himself up. In his line of vision, a figure creeps closer. His hearing must have gone out for the moment because everything was ringing in his head. Unable to pick himself back up, he watches the figure grow closer. Issac realizes who it was. His once sleek black fur was now matted with soot and his clothes were tattered with rips and tears. In his blue-gloved hands, he held a large sledgehammer.

Issac's eyes go wide.

"Z-Zekko?"

The sledgehammer rose…and then it struck.

"NO!" Issac cries out, his eyes snapping wide open. He was breathing heavily and it takes him a moment to realize the sledgehammer was no longer about to crush him. Issac snaps his head up, having curled up into a fetal position, and nearly hits his head on the ceiling of the box. He trembles, slowly coming to see that he was in fact inside a crate. He touches the sides of the crate walls, slowing his rushed breathing. He was no longer on that fiery soundstage. There was no longer thick smoke that hung in the air. And his cousins…

A sob lodges itself in his throat. His eyes well up. He swallowed thickly, trying to keep himself from crying, but a few tears slipped past his eyes and slid down his cheeks. He wipes at his eyes, trying to calm down. All that happened a long time ago, he reminds himself, there was no use dwelling on the past. It only hurts.

Issac sniffs, sits down, and curls up in the corner of the crate, hugging his arms. He leans his head against the wall of the crate and closes his eyes.

I'm so sorry you three…I couldn't keep you safe.

"Duh, I'm here to see, Mr. Plotz."

Issac raises his head at that. They were already at the office? Issac peeps out the peephole. He can see the secretary was at her desk, a nimble woman with dark hair and wearing a suit.

"Do you have an appointment?" The secretary asks.

"Uh…no," Ralph answers. "But I got a Warner!"

The secretary immediately locks eyes on the crate, her eyes growing in alarm. She cowers behind her desk. She clicks a button on the telephone intercom she has with her.

"S-sir?"

"What?" Plotz's irritable voice screams through the phone.

"Security is here." The secretary squeaks. "With…a Warner."

There's silence.

"...Send them in." Came Plotz's timid voice.

Issac moves back from the peephole as the box is once again on the move. His worries from earlier began to pool in the bottom of his stomach. He hadn't seen Plotz in so long. As much as it would be fun to mess with the CEO, he knew his coming here would only get the Warners in deeper trouble. He sure didn't want to be locked back up in the vault again. Maybe there was a way to get out of this?

"Time to put the old thinking cap on, Issac," Issac mutters to himself.

"Ralph," Plotz's voice rang out. "Why have you brought the Warners in for this time?"

"Duuuh, I only brought in the new one."

"New?" Plotz shrieks. "What do you mean new?"

The top of the box is lifted. Issac squints his eyes against the light outside the box before popping his head up and out of the box. He comes face to face with Plotz. The CEO's face goes from confused to point-blank scared in a matter of seconds. Issac blinks and gives the CEO a cheeky grin. Time for some Issac charm.

"Plotzy! My man, my number one CEO!" Issac cries with joy, throwing his hands up in the air. "How's it going?"

"I-Issac?" Plotz gasps. "W-what are you-how are you-"

"I'm just fine!" Issac eagerly says, shaking the CEO's hand at an alarming pace. He then jumps out of the box, standing on top of Plotz's desk. "How long has it been? Days? Months?"

"...years." Plotz meekly squeaks.

"Ah, boss?" Ralph suddenly says, looking confused. "You know this Warner?"

"Know me?" Issac laughs. "Now that's a funny question! We go way back! Isn't that right, Plotzy?"

Issac turned to the CEO, who was in some daze, before quickly snapping out of it. A look of realization appears on the CEO's face. "Now wait a moment- you're supposed to be locked up! How did you get out?"

Issac sweats, but quickly returns another smile at the CEO. Time to put on those acting shoes.

"Now Plotzy," Issac says cooly, pressing his face against the man's face and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "I am a very intelligent toon, I would have escaped eventually."

Plotz shoves Issac off with a scowl. "But you were locked inside a piece of paper! You're telling me you escaped that paper prison all by yourself?"

"Yes! I did!" Issac quickly lies, and then he grows a frown. "Which reminds me…"

Issac grabs Plotz by the sides of his face and peers angrily into the CEO's eyes. "Do you know how long I was inside that piece of paper? YEARS! Years I tell you! I was cut off from all humanity! Do you know how lonely that is? Also, it wouldn't have killed you to leave me some entertainment! Paper voids are so boring!"

Issac lets the man go, and Plotz gingerly touches his face, looking annoyed. Issac crosses his arms. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself, sir?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you!" Plotz scowls.

"An apology would be nice." Issac huffs.

Plotz growls in frustration, but just as quickly stops and eyes Issac suspiciously. "You haven't by any chance run into anyone on the lot…have you?"

Issac swallows but doesn't meet Plotz's eye. "Nope, been on my own."

"On your own…" Plotz repeats. "Good."

Issac glances at Plotz. "Why is that good?"

"That's not your concern," Plotz says bluntly, folding his hands on top of one another on his desk. "What matters now is what to do with you. I can't have you running amok in my studio."

"What if I was really good?" Issac says, fluttering his eyelashes at Plotz. He snickers when the CEO scowls. "Oh come on, it'll be like the good old days! I was fun then, wasn't I?"

"This is not negotiable, Issac." Plotz growls. "You will only cause problems, and I can't have any more of that around this studio!"

"You're going to lock me up again?" Issac nearly shouts.

"If that's what it comes to, then yes." Plotz grabs his telephone off his desk. "Fortunately for you, you're not Warner Brothers property. But that means I will have to call your guardian."

Issac froze. "My…my guardian?"

Plotz dials a number into the phone. "You remember Weed Memlo?

Issac felt the gears slowly turning in his head.

"...Dadoo?"