Disclaimer: How many times do we have to explain?! We know Tin Man isn't ours, so stop pestering us! Stupid copyright people… mutters
- Part 9 -
It took all of DG's self-control to not simply, flat out run out of the maze. No, that would have been way too obvious, even if everyone hadn't already known what had just happened. So, she decided on an easy lope, while having a random longing for those horrid pink wings. At least, then, she could have flown out; which would have been faster.
After what felt like a freaking eternity, with Cain close behind her and her not being able to touch him, she saw the end of the maze; she jumped in the air, happily. "WOOT! Finally!" She raced ahead to work off some of her manic energy and emerged from the maze well before the others. Once she saw what was waiting for her, however, she quickly wished she hadn't.
"About time you got here, your Highness," a voice came from the darkened gazebo, making DG jump in surprise. She let out a god-awful screech upon recognizing the voice and - after skidding to a halt - fell to the ground, scrabbling backward in alarm.
"Holy fuck!" she shouted in shock, a finger pointing accusingly at the shadowed figured, still standing in the gazebo's archway, just as Cain and Glitch burst through the entrance of the hedge maze. They took in the scene and reacted instantly; both racing past her and jumping into the darkened gazebo, taking her assumed attacker down instantly.
She heard a great deal of cursing, muffled thuds and one particularly interesting shout of "Damn it, Glitch. That was my eye!" before three figures fell out from under the gazebo's awning and into the bright moonlight.
She thought that, if they stayed like that, it would be a lovely piece of modern art; the three men were a jumble of tangled limbs, rumpled clothes and contorted expressions. Raw and Toto had come up next to her and stopped, in awe of the scene before them.
There was a moment's silence following the threesome's tumble from the gazebo, but it was soon shattered by the giggling of one thoroughly-amused Princess. Then, the shouting started:
"God damn it, Wyatt Cain! Get the hell off of me!" Gulch was struggling to free himself from the pile.
Cain's retort was cut short as Glitch's fist suddenly came up, clocking him under the chin. The former advisor's leg swept out at the same moment and took Gulch's legs out from under him, causing the disgruntled policeman to, once more, tumble to the ground in a heap.
"Glitch, stop!" DG's shout managed to stop Glitch's unfortunate short circuit. He froze, leg out - in a stiff right angle at his side - as he prepared to inflict another roundhouse kick to the two men. He lowered his leg and shook his head. "Hello! My name's Glitch! Have we met... Oh, hello, Cain!"
Enraged, Gulch lunged upward at the suddenly-smiling lunatic who had bashed him into the ground, twice, in the span of thirty seconds. Fists flailing, old Elmer wasn't about to sit passively by, as he was schooled in the art of hand-to-hand combat. Before DG could shout out a warning to the cop - because, seriously, he had no idea how bad Glitch could mess him up - Cain grabbed a fistful of his collar and yanked him backward. He hit the the ground again with a grunt of pure frustration.
By this time, DG had climbed to her own feet and she walked over to the three men, Toto and Raw following behind her. Moving to Cain's side, she looked down at Gulch as he lay on his back, blinking up at the starry sky.
"Erm, Officer Gulch?" she began hesitantly; after all, she promised Cain she would stay away from him. This no longer seemed to be an option; after all, he had found her. "Why are you out here?"
Looking up at her from his prone position on the ground, he managed to snarl out. "I came here to return your damned motorcycle!"
DG suddenly felt an overwhelming amount of guilt over all the pranks she had pulled on the man over the years; that was just down right nice of him. Cain offered him a hand up and Gulch staggered to his feet. He gestured off to the side of the hedge maze and she spotted her bike, gleaming in the moonlight.
She jumped up and down excitedly before pouncing on the poor man, giving him a huge hug. "Thank you!" she cried happily.
The grumpy cop threw her off and snatched a ticket pad out of his back pocket. "I also came to give you a ticket for littering. You can't just leave motorcycles in the middle of fields without proper permits!"
"Wait... what?" DG's gratitude started to fade.
"And one for the destruction of private property," Gulch continued. "Did you even think about where you put that travel storm down?"
Her eye twitched and Cain was looking at his fellow Tin Man as if he had grown a second head. "And whose dog is that? He doesn't have a leash! Hefty fine, right there." Gulch dug a pen out of his coat and began to scribble furiously.
He ripped the ticket from the pad and shoved it into Raw's paw. He then turned to Glitch. "And you! You're lucky you're with the Tin Man! One ticket for public obscenity, your zipper's down man! Show a little common courtesy." Riiiip. "And another for assaulting an officer of the realm." Riiiip.
Gulch turned to Cain, who eyed him warily. "And you, Wyatt... Why, I never thought I'd see the day when I'd have to give one of my own a citation."
"Excuse me?" Cain's eyebrows rose high on his forehead. "What the hell for?"
Gulch was already scribbling as he muttered: "I can't let it slide, Wyatt, I'm sorry." He tore off the slip of paper and slapped it into Cain's hand. Cain looked at what was written before his jaw dropped in total astonishment. "Aiding and Abetting?" He read on, "Failure to maintain the peace?! Oh, come on!"
Gulch smirked. "Also, you forgot about carrying your weapon without a license. Now, you know better than that, Wyatt," he said, tucking his ticket pad back in his pants pocket as he stowed his pen away. "Now that I'm done here, I'm leaving. You people deserve each other; never seen such a disregard for authority in my life."
He brushed himself off and pushed between DG and Raw to get to the maze. Before he left, he turned back to her. "And don't think your mother isn't going to hear about your blatant disregard of Ozian law when I get back, missy. I swear, some things never change." With that, he disappeared into the darkness.
There was a bout of stunned silence following Gulch's departure, in which everyone looked around at each other, bewildered looks on their faces. "Umm..." DG raised her hands in a helpless gesture as she addressed nobody in particular. "What just happened?"
"Raw not own dog." He sounded depressed.
Glitch had reached up and was checking his zipper carefully. "It's only half-way undone! And that's all Cain's fault!"
"That son of a bitch," Cain half-muttered, half-growled, under his breath. "Is he always like that?"
"Pretty much, yeah," DG confirmed with a sigh.
Cain sighed and gave her an apologetic look. "Okay, I take it back. You may not have been exaggerating about him."
DG blew out a huge breath and waved her arms dramatically. "Thank you! Can we go inside now? Like, before he decides to come back and ticket us for loitering? Or for doing something, in public, that will make Glitch's zipper down Playhouse Disney-material." She aimed this last line in Wyatt Cain's direction.
He eyed her, slightly embarrassed, but jerked his head in approval of her plan.
DG smiled. "Great, let's go!" She grabbed her bike on the way up to the palace, crooning at it in a way that made the Tin Man jealous. She just batted her eyes at him and winked.
