Jawbreakout
by ironsnake345
continued from IgnisDarksteel's story, The Candy Crew

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The only noise to comfort Gumdrop and Garlic was the sound of the road under their van. The police would surely be taking them to prison, or worse, and all they could do was sit in the back of the police van and wait. The gummy leopard did just that, snuggling up with his slime friend, enjoying what he hoped to god wouldn't be their last moments together. Both were quiet, the sounds surrounding them ever more audible. The rumble of tires beneath them, the faint metallic bump of something hitting the roof, probably bird droppings... Then rushing wind?

Garlic looked up at the roof of the van. The emergency exit on the roof had been pried open, and staring down into the cabin was a black cat, his features barely visible against the night sky. His finger was held up to his lips, shushing the both of them as he quietly climbed in, fuzzy body barely making a sound as he dropped down inside. Quietly, his voice barely audible over the road sounds, he spoke.

"You two, you busted onto a crime scene, what seemed to be some old drug lab or something, yes?"

Gumdrop flinched. With no eyes, he had no idea anyone was even there until he heard the voice. He stuttered nervously, surprised by the intrusion.
"Wh-who are-"
"A friend, I assure you. Now, about that crime scene?"
"I... We were there, yes, that's why we're in this van."
"Good. And, you uncovered something everyone else there had missed, right?"
"How do you know all-"
"I'm the one asking questions here, friend. Did you, or did you not, find something hidden in the scene?"
"Why should I trust you!?"

The gummy leopard raised his voice somewhat, causing the cat to reflexively slip into a corner of the van's back, hiding from the partition so he would be invisible from the cab. The very same moment, a police officer banged on the barred window that separated the cab and the back of the van.
"Hey, quiet back there! Don't make me get the taser!"
Gumdrop paused for a moment, then replied.
"S-sorry, sir... We'll be quiet."

Satisfied, the cop turned back around, watching the road from the backseat. Waiting a moment, the cat emerged from his corner, whispering once again.
"I can get you out of here, but you have to cooperate with me. The thing you found; I need to see it, now."
Garlic was the one to respond this time. "How do I know you really will help?"
"What choice do you have?"

The slime girl glared at the cat, barely visible in the darkness. She went over her options in her head; there was no telling what the police would do to them. If they were lucky, they'd wind up in prison, and either be killed by other prisoners or beat the others into submission until their behavior ensured they'd never leave. If they were unlucky, they'd be executed, unable to respawn afterwards... Just as Garlic decided it would be best to hand over the file, Gumdrop reached into his coat, holding out the folder. Eagerly, the cat took it, and began to read.

"Pastel canvas. I should have known. And these are research notes... I was worried this might be a professional job. But for what...?"
The cat kept reading for a bit, then his eyes went wide, his neon blue irises suddenly very visible.
"Ohh, Long Johnson... This is bad. This is really bad."
Satisfied, he shut the folder, tucked it under his arm, and got up.
"Well, you two, it's been fun meeting you, but I'd better be leaving."
Gumdrop spoke up before he could begin climbing out. "Wait! Before you go, what's your name?"

The cat just stood in the center of the van, his face wearing a smirk.
"It's Cade. Not that you'll get anywhere by asking that where you're going."
With that, he leaped straight up, slipping quietly out of the emergency exit before securing it back in place.

Some time later, the van came to a stop. Gumdrop and Garlic could hear the driver talking to somebody.
"Hey, what's the meaning of this?"
"I could ask the same thing of you, officer."
"Wait, y-you're-"
"Mister Brishal, C.E.O. of Brishalcorp, yes. I don't need another one of my fans slobbering over me today. You do know you're carrying company property in that van of yours, don't you?"
"Company property? All that's back there is a couple criminals!"
"Criminals you found on a crime scene that has recently been declared under the jurisdiction of Brishalcorp." There was the sound of rustling papers.
"Under the- what is this?!? That's obviously fake paperwork!"
"Run it through any system you like, officer. It's perfectly legitimate. Just an hour ago, my legal team ran the paperwork to aquire the exclusive right to investigate the crime scene and any evidence found therein, and to report it to law-enforcement officers after. This does, in fact, include the pair of criminals in the back of your van. Naturally, we're going to need them for questioning."
"This... This can't be legal!"
"Criminal investigation law, chapter three article seventeen. "By submitting an Application to Investigate and Report, any individual or conglomeration of individuals may gain the exclusive right to investigate one or multiple crimes and any associated crime scenes, under the condition that they do so under the supervision of at least one certified criminal investigation attourney, who will ensure that they remain within the bounds of criminal investigation law and report any law violations to a law-enforcement agency." Am I misquoting the law, officer?"
"I... N-no..."
"Then what reason do you have to believe that I am acting in fraud?"
"None, sir."
"Precisely. Now please, I can't risk the criminals escaping on transfer. Leave the vehicle so my agents can commandeer it and transport them to the facility where we are performing our studies. We will have it returned to the station once it is empty. Feel free to track us via the GPS signal; you'll find we are not straying from the stated course."
"B-but, I-"
"You're interfering with a criminal investigation, officer, do you want to be fired for abuse of law-enforcement rights?"
"N-no, I-"
"Then, out."

Gumdrop and garlic heard the doors of the van open and close. The driver and his partner in the backseat had abandoned the van, replaced by a couple of anthros in lab coats. Quietly, they drove on, carrying the pair to a new destination...

After what seemed like an hour of driving, the van finally rolled to a halt. The engine switched off, and the sounds of the car were replaced by distant chatter. Barely audible, two sets of footsteps wound their way out the cab to the back of the van, followed by a click, and the rumble of the door rolling on its track. Light flooded in, shining upon the pair as a ram and a ewe in lab coats looked on in amazement at the pair.

"Holy... He wasn't kidding." came the voice of the ram. He was promptly elbowed softly in the side by his partner.
"Ahem, we're here to introduce you two to the facility. We're setting up a room for you, to ensure comfort and protection, as requested by Mr. Brishal. We'll make sure you're both very safe; we have been informed about the... complications involving resurrection."

Gumdrop looked to Garlic, his wounded eyesockets displaying apprehension. Garlic wasn't much more excited about their situation either, but eventually they agreed to get up and follow the scientists. The van had been parked inside of a closed loading zone, massive garage shutters behind them with a number of doors and hallways ahead. The walk was quiet; just the sound of shoes on tile, mixed with the rhythmic squish of goo and gummy candy behind them, distant chatter still rolling through the background. There wasn't much for Garlic to look at in the sanitized hallway; occasionally they would pass by dark offices or checkpoints on the path to secure research labs, but nothing else greeted them. Habitually, she laid a hand on one of the doors as she passed, trying to squeeze her gooey body through the cracks. It was completely sealed; she wasn't able to push any bit of herself in before continuing on. Finally, the pair of scientists took a right, and came to a checkpoint marked in large, almost obnoxious lettering:

WITNESS CELL
ACCESS DENIED
DIRECT PERMISSION FROM BRISHAL REQUIRED FOR ENTRY

Swiping a keycard, the ewe opened the door, standing aside to present the room inside. It was clean and comfortable, with furniture available and even a television and computer for entertainment. Still, Garlic and Gumdrop hesitated. Seeing this, the ram spoke up.

"Listen, I know this is a lot to take in. But, we promise, you're going to be safe here."
Garlic shot back with a question: "But will we be allowed to leave?"
The ram looked to his partner, then back at the pair of mutated anthros. "We certainly hope so."

The pair paused at the door, considering their options. It didn't take long for them to come to a decision; they didn't have any other choice, after all. With a sigh, Gumdrop stepped forward, dragging Garlic with him into the room. The door shut behind them, leaving the two sealed safely inside...

Hours passed. Gumdrop had put on the news to stay updated with the situation regarding Icicle Town and the other surrounding cities. Garlic was joining him for the most part; occasionally the two would pause to argue about their situation, only to eventually stop bickering since there wasn't much they could do as is. Then, suddenly, came the sound of the door to their cell opening. Turning back, Garlic saw a huge mountain lion entering the enclosure, his scruffy fur mostly covered by a formal business suit. Hands in his pockets, he slowly approached, staring the pair down with his blue eyes.

"Good evening. I've been looking forward to chatting with you two. I would have been here earlier, but the police station was giving me a hard time. They wouldn't let me off the hook until I'd recited nearly every law in the damn book to them. I swear, those savages just joined the force so they could have an excuse to taze some poor soul."
Gumdrop Had pivoted his head around as he sat, making eye contact such that an eyeless leopard could. "And you are?"
"Mister Brishal, of course. C.E.O. of BrishalCorp, and the man responsible for you being sent here instead of some manky old prison. You're welcome."
Gumdrop was silent.
"Oh, come on. If I wanted to harm you, I'd have done so already. Surely, someone like you knows what influence I have; what reason do you have to believe that I wouldn't have used it against you already if I had any intention of doing so?"
"You could just be keeping us alive and buttered up so you can experiment on us later."
Mr. Brishal stroked his chin for a moment. "Well, yes, I suppose that is something I might theoretically do; I wouldn't put it past me. But, I assure you, my friends; there's no reason to be so hostile. You and I have a common enemy in Pastel Canvas, you know."
"What does Pastel Canvas have against you?"
"Oh, a lot of things. I've been disrupting their operations for years, you know; can't have them killing my customer base, after all. And now here we are, sensitive Pastel Canvas documents have fallen into our lap, and we're closer than ever to getting those scoundrels off this continent once and for all. There's just a few pieces of the puzzle we're missing."
"And what would those be?"
"What do the two of you know about Pastel Canvas?"

Gumdrop swallowed. He took a moment to go over the mountain lion's responses. Even with his good ears, it was hard to get a read on the man, but he was almost certain Mr. Brishal was telling the truth. That tiny bit of uncertainty scared him, but he decided to spill the beans nonetheless.

"Alright... As you probably already know, Pastel Canvas is a group of insurgents that's been raising hell lately. As for us, we were test subjects of theirs. They'd taken over all of Icicle Town, and are very active in many other cities in that region. I don't know the specifics; there's only so much a test subject overhears. What I do know is that they were working on something to prevent people from respawning. They discovered that under certain circumstances, overloading someone with emotions can make this weird green stuff materialize; depending on what they do to make it, it causes different effects. What they were doing in icicle town was something involving candy, and the stuff they came up with could mutate people into candy, like what happened to me. When subjects started breaking out and authorities from nearby regions got nosy, they decided to nuke the town; they set off a huge bomb loaded with tons of the candy-slime-stuff. Everyone caught in the blast died permanently. I think me and Garlic are the only survivors."
"I see. And do you know what Pastel Canvas stands to gain with their perma-murder method?"
"No idea, but I can only assume it's bad."

Mr. Brishal nodded, taking a moment to mull over the details in his head.
"I see. Based on the files we uncovered, it seems as though they are operating within Neon City as well. I only hope this lab was shut down before it had a chance to relay its findings. We might have to conduct some experiments on you two later on to help research a cure for this stuff, but in the meantime, make yourselves comfortable. Buzz me with the panel by the door if you need anything. Thank you for your cooperation."
With that, he turned and headed out the door, leaving for his own office without another word. At last, Gumdrop and Garlic were left alone, hopefully safe in their cell. Only time would tell what was in store for the pair of survivors...