Marcie finished the call, putting her phone away. She felt nothing but absolute pity and sadness, knowing what decision she had to make. There was no going back now, he was waiting for her in the car.
As she made her way to the door, she could hear footsteps behind her. Turning, the girl found Darwin standing inches away from her, his face heartbreaking. Once she moved slightly, he followed her motions, coming closer. "..Stay put, please.."
"No!" The goldfish crossed his arms, looking upset by the order. Even though he was still getting over what had just occurred, he couldn't let this happen. "I go where he goes!"
"Darwin, it'll be fine.." Marcie bent down to his eye-level, trying to reassure him. He didn't look convinced. "..He'll be fine.. They'll.. Just keep him safe, and help him control all this melting stuff.."
He doesn't give another word, turning away from her angrily.
She felt her heart hurt worse at the sight of that, as she took her leave. Entering the car, the absolute tense atmosphere of the vehicle strikes her hard. Gumball was sitting in the back, paws fidgeting in his lap as his sight was focused on the floor, not daring to speak or even bat an eye at the girl.
It made for a very dreadful car ride, both having very scrambled thoughts at the moment.
Soon enough, a building came into view, with neutral modern design and a very noticeable lack of windows. It took no guessing where they arrived at. The sight of it felt like a nightmare in of itself, reminding the two of the events that brought them here.
Marcie stepped out, motioning for the cat to follow. Once he began doing so, she took him by the hand, and led him inside. People all around them gave various looks. Some were shocked, while others were unphased by such an unusual sight.
All the attention was practically suffocating Gumball, as he felt all these eyes resting on him. He didn't want this at all. A part of him almost seemed glad that Darwin wasn't here, knowing his poor brother would've likely received the same reactions.
They entered what looked to be some sort of waiting room, currently empty at the moment besides one other woman with them. She wore a black suit, and had her hair tied up into a bun, as she hardly gave much emotion to their appearance.
"Is this the creature?" The lady asked, walking up to them. Marcie gave a slow nod in response. "Alright. I'll be right back."
As Marcie watched her leave, she let out a shaky sigh, wiping tears from her face. Frowning, she turned towards Gumball, finally looking him in the eyes. "..Anything you want to say before they come back?..."
The cat desperately blinked back his own tears, though it was no use as they began to fall heavily. He soon sobbed, grabbing her by the shirt as he tried to keep her from pulling away. "Please don't let them take me away.. I-I promise I'll be good! I can control it I swear!"
"Gumball.." Marcie gently took his paws off, though that seemed to just make him cry harder. "I'm sorry.. This is for your own good.. I know it's hard to understand.. But you're just a kid, you can't control it on your own.. We.. We pretty much saw that today.."
"N-No I can! P-Please.." He looked at her with utter sorrow, voice shaky. At this point he was starting to melt, tears mixing into the puddles of goop on the floor. "D-Don't leave me here.. I-I don't wanna be alone again I-I don't wanna lose anything.."
Before she could react, the feline hugged her tightly, crying into her shirt. "I-I never wanted this.. I-I never wanted to deal with this stupid V-Void stuff.. I-I just wanna go home back to E-Elmore with D-Darwin and see everybody again..."
Marcie hugged back, doubt starting to form in her head. Was this the right decision? "..It'll be okay.. This isn't permanent.. It's just until you're able to control your abilities... Okay?.."
For a moment, it was quiet. Finally, Gumball spoke in a quiet voice. "..I trusted you Marcie.. I-I thought you were my friend.."
Her eyes widened, fresh tears appearing.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're ready to take him in now." The lady from before appeared behind them, giving a sympathetic frown. It slightly shifted as she noticed the goop dripping off the cat. "Thank you for your time, Miss Williams."
A pair of men stood by the woman, one of them coming over. As soon as Marcie let go, the agent was quick to roll up Gumball's sleeve and stick a simple needle of liquid into his arm. The feline only looked at his friend with sorrow, before dropping to a thud onto the floor.
Marcie took that as her leave, quietly exiting the building. As she entered her car, she couldn't help but grip her wheel, taking a shaky breath. She fought every inch of her not to break down crying right there.
'It's fine. This won't be forever. All this messed up stuff will be over before I even know it.' Her thoughts weren't very reassuring, but she knew it was all she could do now to cheer herself up.
She slowly turned her key into the ignition and began to drive back to her home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gumball groggily opened his eyes, as he was currently sprawled out on what felt like hard flooring. He winced, as a surge of pain spiked into his arm, the memories slowly coming back to him.
Sitting up, he found himself inside a medium-sized glass box. A door was on the side, its cold gray metal standing out from the other materials quite drastically, as its reflection could be seen on a few of the walls.
"That's a terrible design choice.." Gumball muttered to himself, glancing around at his surroundings warily. Admittedly, this place somewhat reminded him of a storefront display, which.. In hindsight sounded cruel to him. All that was missing was a few groups of people to gawk and take photos of him.
As he slightly shuffled his sitting position, he noticed a door, the one belonging to the dark room that his glass box was located in. It began to creak open, and revealed two men standing outside. He could only assume they were government agents like the rest he's seen, telling by their suits and badges.
"Is this the toon?" The first man turned his head to look at the other, stern expression hardly changing. It began to unnerve Gumball.
"Affirmative. Miss Williams dropped it off about five hours ago."
"Should we call then? Hansley wanted to get a good look first before he does anything."
Gumball couldn't help but watch the two men talk, his worry and confusion growing by the minute. What were they going to do to him? Was it going to help his abilities? Something in his gut didn't like any of this.
"Very well, let's go get Hansley." The second man concluded. He soon left the room, leaving only the first agent there.
The cat began to scoot back, seeing the man walk up to the glass. It was hard to hide his look of uneasiness, his mind trying desperately to figure out what was going on. He could only hope that Marcie was right in her assumptions, though.. He didn't want to think about her right now.
"Hm." The agent peered inside, eyes narrowing. He looked almost deep in thought, yet stoic at the same time. "So, this is the so-called threat Allison told us about. Must be more dangerous than it looks."
Gumball had no answer to that, a part of him afraid of the idea to even respond to this man at all. His ears soon perked up, as new footsteps started entering the area, echoing through the empty darkness.
"I have arrived!" A man called out, beginning to approach the glass. He wore a white lab coat, along with a pair of standard glasses. The smile he displayed on his face looked unsettling. If anything, it almost reminded the feline of a horror movie scenario.
The agent hummed, turning his head. "Ah Mr. Hansley, about time you showed up."
"Is this the specimen?"
"Correct. It was dropped off a while ago."
Hansley fixed his glasses, before his gaze focused on Gumball, who at the moment scooted farther away. "Alright then! Let's get to work, shall we?"
Nodding, the agent walked over to the metal door of the box, using a keycard to unlock it. He gestured to the feline, hardly moving a muscle in his face as he did so. "It's all yours Hansley."
The scientist gave him a smile before he entered, killing all ounces of whatever personal space the young cat had.
Gumball tried to back away, fear in his eyes as his heart began to race. He couldn't deny that the previous conversation scared him immensely. Weren't they supposed to help him? He's not some.. Specimen. Don't they know he's just a kid?
"It's alright little one, no need to be frightened. I'm only going to make a few tests." Hansley said, his reassurement feeling rather hollow to the other.
"..H-How should I trust you?.." The feline's voice began to shake, watching the man come closer to him, though seemingly flinch at his sudden sentence, almost as if.. He wasn't expecting him to talk.
"Don't you worry, it's only small tests, nothing big. It's just to sort of understand you." The man replied, the lie sitting on his words like a foul poison. "Now stay still, this won't hurt a bit."
Gumball reluctantly let himself relax, rolling up his sleeve and sticking out his arm for the awaiting needle. As it stuck inside, everything faded to black.