~Animaniacs: Nocturnus Act III Interlude~

~Animaniacs: Nocturnus Act III~

*Interlude 3*

Two days after the horrific incident, Studio maintenance were still cleaning up and fixing the damages done by Dr. Frankeninni's Drones. And by Rem. A group of workers were picking up the parts of the destroyed arsenals and throwing them into a special dumpster truck. Another group was cleaning up the ink stained walls and then applying fresh paint. Everyone chipped in, even the Warners, with Mr. Plotz supervising.

"Ralph, make sure those trucks are fully loaded before they leave the Lot." the little man called out.

"Yeus, sirs." the security guard replied.

Then Yakko came over to the CEO with a brush broom in his hand.

"Well, the south wall of the head office is clear." he told the Studio Boss.

"Oh good." Mr. Plotz said. "Now we just have Soundstage 3 and 2 left."

There was a silence between them. A lot had been in the past 48 hours.

"So...how are you doing with this?" Yakko asked in a low voice.

"I'm taking it as best as I can, Yakko." Plotz answered truthfully. "It could've been a lot worse."

Yakko made a slightly wry face.

Yeah....worse.

"By the way, how is Rem doing?" the CEO asked curiously.

"Well, she's barricaded herself in Dot's walk-in closet and she won't come out." the elder Warner replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Poor child. I bet she's ready taking this hard."

"Uh-huh."

"Eh, no offence to Miss Roth, but don't you think it's bad that she's by herself right now? I mean, she might hurt herself."

"I wouldn't worry. Dot always keeps everything padlocked in her closet. And besides, Wakko's still in the Tower keeping an eye on Rem anyway."

Mr. Plotz was then called on to inspect the damage done to Soundstage 2. Yakko was joined by his sister Dot, who was clad in a painter's uniform.

"You know, I used to really enjoy painting," she said in distaste. "but now it feels like covering up something ugly. You know, like those hard-to-get-out stains?"

"You and me both, sister sibling." Yakko replied.

There was a brief pause. Finally, Dot began voicing her concerns about their charge.

"Yakko, it's been two days." she said.

"I know." her brother sighed.

"Don't you think we should at least find some way to get her out of that closet? Heck, I'm pretty sure she hasn't eaten."

Yakko made another wry face.

Who would after all that?

"Well, we've already tried coaxing her out of the closet. Wakko tried using candy."

"That's what makes him happy. We gotta find something that'll cheer Rem up!"

"Uh-huh, but that's easier said than done, I'll tell ya that."

But Dot had a point. There had to be some way to bring Rem out of her heavy cloud of darkness. And nothing fueled Yakko more than the memory of that day at Santa Monica Beach.

I'VE GONE THROUGH MY WHOLE LIFE WITH NOBODY GIVING A SHIT! WHY SHOULD YOU BE ANY FUCKING DIFFERENT?!!

Something had to change. Frankly the Warners didn't care if it took forever. Something had got to change.

                                                                                   -------

Elsewhere in Burbank and underneath a bridge, was the Acme Labs. Brian had been trying to occupy himself with another plan to conquer the known universe. Pinky meanwhile was running in his cage also trying to take his mind off of what happened 48 hours ago. But his heart just wasn't into exercise at this time. His mind's eye kept going back to those moments where Rem just hacked those Drones. The hardest part for both mice, particularly Brain, was trying to find a logical explanation for it. How could it have happened? And why? Another difficult notion was who to feel pity for. It was kinda hard to feel bad for Dr. Frankeninni's ilk since he was the one responsible for getting them into that mess in the first place. But in the end, no one really deserved to go that way. Pinky stopped in his wheel for a moment and thought deeply to himself.

"Do you think it's a cry for help, Brain?" he asked aloud.

"What do you mean, Pinky?" Brain asked in reply.

"I mean, Rem isn't really bad person. Poit. But maybe something had happened to her from before and made her go....well..."

"Berserk?"

"Well...yeah. NARF!"

Brain let out a having sigh. He of course didn't think any less of Rem either before or after that incident. But Pinky for once, had raised a very logical theory. Thus far, the two mice nor anyone else had the slightest idea what Rem's background was like. The flames of curiosity were quickly fanned at that notion.

"I'm not quite sure, Pinky." Brain told his partner. "That's normally a question for a psychiatrist. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do some research."

Then a light bulb went off in Pinky's head and he made a grin.

"I know! We could use Dr. Spock's Child Psychology Guide!" he exclaimed, scrambling back into the cage.

Brain made a frown and looked as if Pinky was making a fool out of himself. Again.

"Pinky, I hardly think Rem accounts for the ages applied in child psychology." he muttered.

"Everyone starts somewhere, Brain. ZORT!" Pinky replied as he flipped through the pages of a book that was ten times his size.

Brain pinched the bridge of his nose and turned back to the computer he was previously working at. Then an idea of his own occurred to him. Rem had said before that she was from Palm Springs. Might there be any records on her floating around in cyberspace? Particularly ones on her family background? Brain tossed the large pencil he had in his hands and began hastily typing away with his feet on the giant key board.

                                                                                     -----

At the Burbank park and inside a certain tree house, Slappy was inspecting the sword she confiscated from Rem with Skippy looking on. The weapon itself was truly unique and exquisite craftsmanship. The two squirrels could even see their reflections on the blade.

"I think it's haunted." Skippy said nervously.

"That's a load of crack." Slappy ranted.  "Nice work whoever did it tho."

There was a pause as the elderly squirrel got a cloth seeped in special oil and started to polish the katanna.

"The real question is, where in the heck did Rem get her hands on this?" she continued. "This had to have been imported from Japan or somewhere in the Far East."

"Do all swords from the Far East look like a dragon tooth, Aunt Slappy?" Skippy asked curiously.

"Heck if I know. Maybe you should try watchin' them Akira Kurosawa flicks."

A silence set in as Slappy continued to polish the sword. Then she noticed the charms dangling from the handle.

"Cute keychains tho." she said sarcastically.

Another pause.

"I wonder how Rem's doin'." Skippy said thoughtfully.

"Hopefully she's gettin' a rain check." Slappy said pointedly.

Her nephew threw her a dirty look with his hands on his hips.

"It's a joke, Skippy. Lighten up." the elder squirrel ranted.

"I feel kinda bad for her." Skippy continued. "Do you think something might've happened to her to make her be so down all the time?"

"Maybe. If she got grouchy enough, she could very well be that green yutz from Dr. Seuss."

"Or you..."

Slappy made a face as Skippy had raised his eyebrows at her.

"Very funny, Skippy." she replied. "You're a laughin' riot."

Then she slid the katanna into its sheathe.

"Maybe Scratchansniff can come up with somethin' provided the Warners don't drive him off the deep end first." Slappy continued.

Skippy looked out the window. The passing clouds reminded him of Rem.

I hope so.

                                                                                    ------

A few yards off from Slappy's the house and perched on a bench, were the Goodfeathers. In the past two days, they had been sort of re-thinking their lives after and at the same time thinking about Rem.

"I didn't know anyone could snap like that." Squit said. "I thought the only one who was a real hot head was Pesto."

Surprisingly, Pesto did not take offense to his associate's statement as he easily was before.

"I'm not that angry all the time." Pesto whimpered, trying to convince himself and his partners. "Am I? I mean, respect everyone. I respect the Godpigeon, I respect my mother, my sister..."

"I never knew a kid who had the guts to play around with knives." Bobby said. "And that fast. It's like a chainsaw, ya know what I mean?"

"Yeah." Squit and Pesto agreed.

Then flying towards them was the Godpigeon himself. The trio promptly embraced the old boss' talons and explained everything that had happened after they were asked why they looked so glum.

"Eeeeh, feme wasit sores fuie." the old pigeon muttered.

"The Godpigeon says, Hades hath no fury like a lady scorned." Bobby translated.

Squit became confused.

"What's that mean?" he asked.

"It means that when you tick a lady off, it's been nice knowin' ya." Bobby clarified.

"Oh."

"But it all happened so fast and there was black stuff everywhere!!" Pesto exclaimed dramatically. "It was like watchin' Speed!"

"Except no Keanu Reeves." Squit added. "Or buses."

Godpigeon Sulley strutted over to Pesto and put a wing over his shoulders.

"Eeh, conolli bachuzi katputz ta la la." the Godpigeon groaned while extending his other wing and shaking his head.

"He says that a pigeon, who can't put the past behind him no matter how bad, can never be a decent Goodfeather." Bobby translated while scratching under his beak.

"So you're sayin' I should try to move on?" Pesto asked.

The old bird gave a nod.

"Eeh bachewie feme whozit eh foobie."

And with that, the Godpigeon walked away, leaving the Goodfeathers behind.

"He said that he still thinks Rem's a good kid and she might be a somebody, someday." Bobby told his associates.

There was a brief silence amongst them.

"I wonder if she'll be able to put that behind her." Pesto added thoughtfully.

                                                                                    ------

Still remaining on the Warner lot even after the incident occurred, were Rita and Runt. Since Rem had disappeared into the Water Tower, they slinked by every couple of hours to see if perhaps if she would come out. After two whole days, they were starting to worry.

"Oh, I hope Rem's okay." Rita whimpered.

"Yeah, definitely okay." Runt agreed solemnly. "Duh-definitely."

Heaving a heavy sigh, the cat and dog started to walk away from the rarely silent Water Tower.

"I still can't believe that...that happened." Rita said. "I mean what has the world come to?"

"Gee, I don't know, Rita." Runt replied. "What has the world come to?"

Rita sort of rolled her eyes at her canine companion's absent mindedness.

"I hope that kooky doctor's proud of himself." she growled.

"Scratchansniff?!" Runt asked, sounding a little shocked.

"No ya big gallute, Frankeninni!"

"Oh yeah him. Yeah, he really crosses my paws!"

Runt then proceeded to growl and snarl around while Rita looked at him like he was a total idiot.

                                                                                    ------

The next day, the Studio was completely cleared from the broken arsenals and splattered walls. Now it was ready to be re-opened for business, much to the delight of Thaddeus Plotz. And Rem still refused to leave the confines of Dot's huge walk-in closet. It was starting to drive the female Warner absolutely crazy.

"Arggh! Is she ever gonna come out?!" she cried. "I need to do inventory...."

Yakko knew it wasn't healthy for Rem to keep on doing that, but he also thought that maybe she wasn't quite done venting. Then again, she might never come out. Before the issue could go any further, the telephone rang.

"I'LL GET IT!!!" the Warner trio cried out in unison.

After a few minutes of playfully tackling each other, Yakko finally answered the phone.

"Y'ello?" he greeted cheerfully. Then he made a face when he heard who it was. "Oh hey there, Scratchy. Yes, she's still locked in Dot's closet. Okay we'll be right there."

He put down the phone and turned to his younger siblings.

"Scratchy would like to see us in his office." Yakko told them.

"Odd." Dot said, pulling out her little black book. "We don't have an appointment with list for today."

"I know, but Otto says it's important. Come, siblings."

They started out the Tower but Wakko made a pause and scampered towards Dot's closet and knocked on the door.

"Rem?" he called out softly. "We're going to Dr. Scratchansniff's. Maybe you want to come with us?"

Both Dot and Yakko also pause to see if Rem might finally emerge from the closet. There was only silence. The same silence that was there before. Wakko made a face like he was dejected and his siblings kind of shared the same emotion.

"Well, we'll be back in a few, okay?" the middle Warner called out again.

After that, they all set off to the Studio Psychiatrist Building.

                                                                                    ******

Since the incident and after assisting the studio clean up, Dr. Scratchansniff had surrounded himself with stacks upon stacks of books on various cases of disorders and mental defects. When the Warner trio arrived into his office, they had to smirk at this a little.

"Doing homework, Scratchy?" Yakko cracked.

The p-sychiatrist poked his head out from the mountain of books and saw that the three youngsters had come.

"Oh, zere you are." Scratchansniff said while climbing out of his crowded work space. "I have been doing zome research."

"No kiddin'?" Dot quipped.

"Und I zink Rem eez zuffering from more zan just Post Trumatic Ztress Disorder."

The doctor was pacing around when he looked up and saw the Warners sitting on the floor and looking incredibly bored. Yakko was toying with a paddle ball, Dot was filing her nails, and Wakko was reading a scary comic book.

"English please, Scratchy." Yakko sighed.

Dr. Scratchansniff let out a frustrated sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Eet means zat Rem really needs a lot of help." he said. "Has she ever mentioned her familiee at all?"

The Warners looked at each other.

"...ehhhh, not really." Yakko said while scratching his head. "Other than telling us multiple times that she's an orphan."

"But she did mention a grandma." Dot pointed out. "She said that she was named after her."

"Vhat about her brutter?" the therapist asked.

Then the trio gave each other very confused glances.

"Brother???" they said together.

"Zhe never mentioned her brutter?" Scratchansniff inquired in surprise.

"Not to us." Yakko replied. "Heck, I didn't even know she had one."

"I sure am surprised." Wakko remarked, while scratching the top of his head.

"Who knew, huh?" Dot added.

"Hmmm, zat's vhat concerns me. Rem zeems to keep everything to herself, und zat's not exactly healthy, ja?"

Yakko then went deep into thought. While he personally thought-in respect to Rem-that they shouldn't be butting into her personal business, Dr. Scratchansniff had a very good point. Especially if she was also shutting out her emotions.

"So what you're saying, is that we need to get Rem to be a little more outgoing?" Dot said.

"Ja." Scratchansniff nodded. "Und zimultaniously figure out vhat made her as zhe eez."

The Warners looked at each other again. The task ahead of them was not going to be easy. In fact, it would be their most complex challenge yet, aside from getting rid of a certain annoying orange dinosaur. But if meant getting Rem to smile and laugh their jokes the way other people were meant to, it was freaking worth it. Another fact to consider was that if things remained as they were, it could get a lot worse. A heck of a lot worse.

"WE'LL DO IT!!!" the Warners cried in unison and in a determined tone.

"Eh, gud....gud." the p-sychaitrist muttered while rubbing his ears from the loudness of his patients' voices.

"So Otto," Yakko began, putting an arm around the studio shrink's shoulders. "why don't we start by sharing your notes with us?"

                                                                                   -------

Meanwhile, back at the Water Tower, it had become silent as the grave since the Warners had left.

Then, the huge shield-shaped door slowly opened....

.....and a foot stepped out onto the red railed catwalk and into the sunlight.