Chapter Text
“What's up Doc?” asked Bugs as he brought the phone to his ear. The life of a studio Mascot was a lot of things but dull was never one of them. Especially now that the studio could axe them any time, they wanted with Sazlav at the helm.
No toon owned by Warner Brothers was safe, not since he tried to shelve Coyote Vs ACME.
Once the voice comes over the speaker of his phone, he does a double take. How long had it been since a Disney Toon contacted a Warner? Probably when the Animaniacs got rebooted on Hulu. Breaking a very long silence between the two companies since Roger Rabbit.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the big Cheese himself,” grinned Bugs. “What can I do ya for?”
There is a long pause, and a few words that means that something is going down, and if Mickey wants to talk to Warner Brothers over something that's not keeping the Warner Siblings under control, then it's bad.
The meeting is set up in the bar just outside Toontown. Bugs leans back on the chair carrot in his mouth, biting down. He presses a button, “Minerva? Call Daffy, tell him I need to reschedule. something came up.”
"And tell Daffy I’ll bring him Chinese food for dinner, if we can reschedule the meeting.”
“Of course, Bugs,” said the toon on the other side of the call. She hangs up and presumably starts making a call to Daffy to reschedule. There is only so much he can do to convince the head of Warner Brothers that the Looney Tunes are worth keeping around and not throwing them out like yesterday's leftovers.
Bugs settles in the big comfortable chair, feet propped up on the desk and a new script in his hands. Not for a Looney Tunes movie, not for a new show, but a new cartoon, still in development. Their breed of warner Toons are falling out of style. It might not even be long till Bugs Bunny is dismissed as Toon liaison for Warner Brothers and someone else takes his place.
Bugs would be damned if it’s Emmet, but the lego still doesn’t have the pull Bugs does. After All Bugs Bunny was a classic.
Bugs stretched against the old chair. He takes a bite of his carrot, munching on it, as he throws the script into the bottom left drawer of his desk. He stands, walking out of the room and is greeted by Minerva, her blond hair curled and her red dress bold as ever against her white fur.
“Minerva, I got a meeting with the big cheese, if anyone's looking for me-”
“You’re with Daffy.”
“If Daffy's Looking for me?”
“You're in with Plotz.”
“Beautiful Doc,” grins Bugs. “If I’m not back by tomorrow let Daffy know I went to the Valiant Memorial Bar to meet with ol’ Mickey.” He trusted Minerva to keep it to herself. She had needed a job after the reboot didn’t really want her back and Bugs thought she’d make a good secretary. She was.
Bugs walks through the alleys of the Warner Lot, watching the Warner siblings tease Ralph. Bugs waved to Ralph as he walked past him to his car, a Red Prius. It wasn’t much of a walk from the old Termite Terrace, and he could have gotten a better parking spot, but it was his spot. Tex got it for him.
The drive to the bar isn’t bad, with a wave through from Ralph Bugs is quickly on his way to meet with the mouse.
As usual the trip to the Valient memorial bar is quiet, one of the few places where toons of all kinds can congregate and hang out. Betty Boop greets him, and Bugs grins at her. “Hey Betty, is the head cheese here?”
“He's in the back,” says Betty. Bugs nods and makes his way to a more private part of the bar. A heavy door sits between the private room and the rest of the bar.
Before he steps through, he turns to one of the new wait staff, someone whose Cartoon was likely written off for Tax purposes. “Can I get a Martini?” asked Bugs to the toon. They nodded, his long hair under his blue beanie unkempt. “Thanks Jamie.”
Bugs doesn’t wait for the toon to come back before he steps into the room, usually open for larger events, but the good thing about being the biggest toons in Toontown is they get special privileges.
“Eh, What's up Doc?” asked Bugs as he took a seat across from Mickey. "Nice redesign. Very Retro.”
“You look very classic Bugs Bunny yourself,” said Mickey with his trademark chuckle.
“Yeah, well just got done with Tiny Toons Looniveristy. Wanted the 90’s classic look,” said Bugs. The 90’s were good . The same toon as before walks into the room, one martini for Bugs before he scurries off to his next job.
Bugs waits a minute drinking his drink studying the mouse in front of him. It's been so long since he’s been in the same room as Mickey. So, he can’t really read him as well as he might have been able to before the studios got competitive, before the Roger Rabbit era.
“So, Doc, why’d you want to speak with me so urgently?” asked Bugs. They were both Busy toons, now that Cartoon Network and Warner Brothers Animation were merged Bugs had plenty of restructuring to deal with on his own. Disney was pumping movies out like they might go out of business.
“I think we have a problem,” said Mickey. “I guess Yakko talked to Max, and Max told Goofy, that there are some serious things happening over at Warner Brothers.”
“Like what?” asked Bugs confused. As far as he was concerned everything was ok for toons still. Sure, Coyotes movie had been a tax write off, and Batgirls movie, and Daffy's, but due to back lash and potential investigation Coyotes movie wasn’t saved yet, but it wasn’t being thrown out either. Daffy's movie was set to release sometime in 2024.
“He says he saw Judge Doom at Warner Brothers,” said Mickey.
“What? Von Rotten’s been dead since-”
“Since Valiant and Roger took him out? Yeah so, we thought. The movies owned by Disney, Donald and Goofy went looking through the archives, looking for anything that might have been tampered with. We looked through everything on our end at the Disney Vault. The only thing they couldn’t find was Baron von Rotten’s model Sheet.”
“Thats a pretty important piece to not have Mick.” Bugs chugs his Martini. Of all the Bad news to get from the Mouse this might be the worst. “Is Dip even a threat anymore? All Toons nowadays are digital. Most studios don’t do Cel and ink anymore, it’s all-digital now. No Ink.”
“I don’t think we have the luxury of not treating it like a threat. Especially when your boss has been going bananas making every animated movie a tax write off.”
“You don't think Salazar would-” Bugs frowned he would he absolutely would. “You think you can do me a favor? Can Goof or Scrooge watch Yakko, Wakko, and Dot for a while?”
“He won't mind. Max likes having them over. Wakko and Dot love Goofy.”
“Thanks for the heads up, Doc.”
“Animation is getting rougher and rougher, Toons need to stick together, no matter what studio they’re from.”
Bugs nods and heads out of the room with new information heavy on his shoulders. He stops at the bar paying for his drink leaving a heavy tip for the bartender and exits the Bar.
“And where do you think you’re going mister?” asks the familiar Black duck with his arms crossed and his tail feathers ruffled high. “You have your secretary call me to push back our meeting and then I find you here of all places!?”
Bugs is caught by surprise to see the Duck here, close to the middle of the day. “Daffy! You know I wouldn’t come here without you without a good reason,” says Bugs with a smile.
“Oh yeah bub? And whys that?” asked Daffy. Clearly the duck was not amused. Bugs wrapped an arm around Daffy and sauntered with him to the car. “I mean it Bugsy,” said Daffy with a stern look, his beak clearly showing he was unhappy. Thankfully he waits to have the marital spat in the car rather than outside it. “Bugsy-”
“Daff,” starts Bugs as he Starts his car. “I’m going to tell you, but you gotta promise me you’ll keep it under wraps.”
“My lips are sealed,” promises Daffy.
“Yakko saw Judge Doom at the Warner Lot.”
“WHAT?” screamed Daffy.
Bugs continued to Drive, not bothering to give Daffy much ammo, he was overdramatic by design. “Yakko told Max, then Max told Goofy, who told Mickey, The Mouse wanted me to get a heads up – since the Boss man's been slashing our animation department to bare bones. Mick figured he might try to dip us next for some extra money.”
Daffy calmed down a little and watched as Bugs drove past their exit. “Bugsy you missed the exit for the lot-”
“We ain’t going to the Lot,” said Bugs ominously. “This is too serious for a Looney Tune. We need a Loonatic.”
Tech stretched as he walked into his lab, turning on the lights and being greeted by two sleepy mice. “Morning Brain, Pinky,” said Tech as he pulled tupperware from his bag. “Rev sent over some treats for you guys.”
Pinky rushes over, happily as Tech pulls the top off the container, and smells the aroma, wafting into their cage, pinky practically floating as Tech puts two of the cookies into the cage. “Will Rev be visiting today?” asked Pinky hopeful.
“Nah not today,” said Tech. “He’s got deliveries. He says Hi though. Brain, you want to help with my new project today?”
Brain grins, “Definitely. What are they looking for this time?”
“Something for Coyote and Road Runner,” says Tech.
“So ACME wants you to develop something that will blow up in his face?”
“Yep,” said Tech as he lays his hand down for Brain to hop on. Pinky and Brain liked days with Tech more than the other scientists. To the other scientists Pinky and Brain were designed to be test mice, even as toons that's what they were before the Animaniacs took them on for their shorts. “It’d be easier for you to hold the smaller stuff for soldering, it's all mostly small stuff for the motherboard to catch fire like they want.”
“Seems easy enough,” said Brain as he jumped from Techs hand onto the counter. He turns on the TV for Pinky to entertain himself, keeping him out of too much trouble. He slides his smart phone over to Pinky as well, letting him choose one of the games on it.
It doesn’t take long for Brain and Tech to get lost developing the next string of machines to be used in Coyote and Road Runner shorts.
“Hey Doc, we’re Looking for Tech E Coyote.”
Tech lifts his head out from under the machine and frowns. “If Wile E relapsed again, I’m not substituting for him I’m too busy,” says Tech with a frown.
Wile E had a habit of falling into nemesis obsession, where he would focus too much on Beep Beep, it was a rare condition that afflicted toons but for the most part was treatable. Though the Road Runner fountains at his house were still a little unsettling for Rev.
“This aint about Coyote. We’re looking for the Loonatics,” said Bugs.
“We haven’t been the Loonatics since ‘07 Chief,” answered Tech as he wheeled himself back under the machine with the creeper. “You should be talking to Ace he's our leader. Not me.”
“Ace and Me ain’t on speakin’ terms Doc,” said Bugs with a serious tone. His arms are crossed over his white furry chest and Tech groans, if even the Looney Tunes are serious this is a serious issue. Something that Ace should really be brought in for. Or at the very least Lexi, the second in command of their unit.
He glances at Daffy, the ink Danger Duck was modeled from, he looks nervous. The fact the Looney Tunes were coming to ask for help from Loonatics at all was telling all on its own. The two groups rarely interacted, because so few of them were on speaking terms with one another.
The Serious edgy superhero version of the Looney tunes wasn’t well received, making them probably some of the most hated toons in the studio. Though there are a few die-hard fans who keep them going, which Tech is forever grateful for.
“What do you need the Loonatics for anyway?” asked Tech if he was going to bring this to Ace on Bugs Bunny’s behalf then he wanted to know details. Ace didn’t like Bugs about as much as the WB mascot liked Ace.
“Baron Von Rotten is back,” answered Daffy.