The Hedgehunter: A TAWOG Fanfic

Chapter 5: Law and Disorder

Gumball and Darwin both let out an 'oof' as Donut Cop tossed them to the floor of their cell within the Elmore Police Station, surrounded by pale brick walls all too similar to the ones in the school, and two wooden boards embedded in the walls and suspended by chains being their only place of rest. The iron gate rattled behind them as Donut Cop closed them into the cell, locking it up with his keychain before glancing down at them both disapprovingly.

"Now you two boys are gonna think long and hard about tonight." He spoke. "Vandalism and break-ins are crimes, and it's my unfortunate obligation as police chief to have to get that into your heads."

"Wait! Officer!" Gumball cried out as he and Darwin both rushed over and clasped their hands around the bars of their cell. "You don't understand! That wasn't us!"

"Oh yeah?" Donut Cop raised an eyebrow. "Then who, I must inquire, is the real perp?"

"He's this insane killer who started hunting us down cause of this weird movie we watched! And he can see us through the movie whenever we view it! And it's different each time! AND he has this weird fire that can hurt ghosts!" Gumball and Darwin took turns giving their testimony and describing their pursuer. But the still-raised eyebrow from Donut Cop glancing back at them was all it took to tell them he wasn't buying it.

"Kids are watching too much TV these days..." He muttered to himself before walking back to his desk about twenty feet away, where an unknown cop drama was playing on his computer monitor. The burlap bag with all of their stuff sat beside it, right in the open. Even from their cell, Gumball and Darwin would both see the front entrance of the police department, just a brief walk away from the front desk, and yet it felt so far away. Donut Cop sat back in his swivel chair and put his hands behind what could be considered his "head" and put his feet up on the desk, letting out a sigh as he got invested in his program again.

"Dude, we're being serious!" Gumball called back to him from beyond his cell. "There's somebody trying to- "

"You have a right to remain silent!" Donut Cop barked back at him before redirecting his attention to his computer monitor. "Its cause of you two that I gotta show up past my shift and actually do what the police are expected to do! The least you could do is not ruin my program!"

"But- "

Donut Cop promptly raised his taser gun in one hand, letting the threat of it hang in the air without even so much as turning away from his show. Gumball and Darwin silently stared at it for a few seconds before Donut Cop wordlessly lowered the gun again. Gumball and Darwin sat on opposite ends of their cell dejectedly, glancing up at each other. This was it, they both thought. Still, Gumball mulled over his options. If history were anything to go by, horrible situations like this always seemed to resolve themselves somehow. This couldn't be any different.

"Alright dude, we gotta be smart about this." Gumball mused quietly, glancing over at the bars of their cell. "Maybe I could sneak in between the bars and grab the keys? Or if that doesn't work, we could try and pic the lock. Or dig our way out using our bare hands? You got any ideas Darwin?"

Gumball stood with his arms crossed, inspecting the bars of their cell as if waiting for a solution to present itself to him, but it never did. Instead, he was left with silence. "Darwin?"

But Darwin offered no reply. Instead, he stood staring at the ground, eyes wide with dread, as if a horrible memory or realization had come to him.

"Darwin?" Gumball asked with a little more concern this time around, cautiously poking his shoulder.

"...she wasn't with us." Darwin said in a hushed tone, glancing up at Gumball. "We escaped the school and..."