Cataclysm is best known for the silence in its wake, a predatory advance that lives for the despair on its horizon. Humdinger knew nothing of the foreboding event, peaceful distractions in his mind taking his attention away from the now. He was sitting back in a metal chair, feet propped up on the rusted table as he milled to himself. His cats surrounded him, all taking turns being cuddled and petted to their adoration. They were a perfect distraction from the lingering guilt that followed his every move. Idly his mind wandered, daydreaming of his favorite scenarios.
"What would I even do?" He asked aloud, looking to one of the cats as if he expected it to answer. "I became mayor of the city, and then what? Now that I've actually gone and done it, I don't really know what to do now." The overtaking of Mayor Goodway had been a success, the absence of the PAW Patrol left nothing standing in his way to defend her name. His plan of defamation was seen to the end, and the poor woman was removed from office. Why though, he asked himself. Why was a team of puppies the only thing meant to stand in his way? Did this city have no notion to stand up for themselves? No one else to uphold their honor? He had to change that, he knew, he had to bring something more reliable to keep things safe. With the puppies locked away, Adventure Bay was a sitting duck.
"That fiasco in Adventure City, none of that counts." He continued, remembering an earlier time he had seized a mayor position. "I made everything about myself, I realize that now. I was really just..." a sigh left him. "Being an idiot." For reasons he couldn't explain, the interactions with the contained PAW Patrol had affected his general behaviors, bringing a light of self-realization into the man. Perhaps peering his eyes into something so serious that opened up his mind, sending the message that greater things were at stake than his personal image.
"I almost feel bad for Goodway," he muttered, taking off his hat. "Maybe I had malicious intentions, but I have real ideas! I can make this town truly amazing, and none of it will have to do with my image." His cats gathered to listen to his speech, the man leaning farther back as he gazed into the ceiling. "I guess my methods were a little harsh, but Goodway was honestly unfit to lead. She was... just flat out incompetent." His voice filled with resolve, determination coursing through his veins. "But Adventure Bay will love me, and not by force. I'll bring prosperity to this place like they've never seen before, I'll make these people happy and give them what they've been wanting!" He muttered with a low voice, looking to the side. "Starting with more capable emergency services and law enforcement. I'm talking real human officers."
"I move into city hall tomorrow," he said, twiddling his thumbs. "Be nice to have an actual place to live and sleep for once, instead of this... stupid metal dungeon." Putting his feet down and standing up, he looked off in the distance. "I better go check on the dogs, see if they're out yet." The words felt idiotic leaving his mouth, but a faint glimmer of hope still persisted in his mind. "I mean... they probably aren't, but wouldn't hurt to check on them." Was it a glimmer of hope at all? Or were they twinges of denial leading him into resigned delusion? Taking a deep breath, the mayor donned his hat again and traveled back to the gas chamber.
The room had gotten worse, Humdinger nearly gagged looking in. It was a gut-wrenching scene of true depravity, the worst any living creature could fall to. The canine excrement was piling up, forming a disgusting brown floor of stinking waste. It was even beginning to climb their bodies, first staining their paws, then running up their arms in a filthy coating. Much to his disgust, the dogs didn't react to it at all, not even Skye who was actively pushing herself through it. Due to the window's limited field of view, Humdinger couldn't catch a single sight of Rocky, Rubble, or Zuma, the dogs having placed themselves in the blind spots. Barely a single noise emitted from the speakers, their hushed voices evading the interior microphones save for some whispered rambling.
He looked at the pups for a while, trying to read the emotions on each one. Chase was standing like he had been shot, his legs spread and staggered with a hunched position. He couldn't keep still, the puppy constantly fidgeting and swaying in place. He was heaving as if boiling vomit was climbing up his throat, but nothing ever came up. Marshall was standing entirely still from the neck down, although his head was shaking violently, eyes bloodshot and teeth tightly gritted together. Skye still crawled around like an animated corpse, her weak little arms dragging herself across the feces-slathered floor.
"You guys okay?" Humdinger asked, an unsettling feeling rising in his chest. "Are you-"
Rearing his head back, Marshall opened his muzzle and released an agonized, piercing scream. He howled for several seconds, screeching as if he were stabbed and gutted in the worst ways imaginable, visceral pain flooding out of his voice so gut-wrenching it startled Humdinger from the window. The once silent chamber was now rattled with his screaming, rising with fierce intensity as the Dalmatian completely lost control of himself.
Then it stopped.
Marshall collapsed on his side, convulsing on the floor as blood filled his mouth. His muzzle was snapping as if he were screaming, but no further sound emitted from him. His ability to speak had been severed, the puppy's body so overwhelmed by the event that his vocal cords tore from the exertion. Not a single one of the other dogs looked up, barely acknowledging the gruesome scene had even happened. Chase remained in place and Skye had little reaction, and Humdinger could only imagine what the other unseen dogs were doing.
"W-what happened!?" Humdinger came to the window, horrified to the very core. "What was that? What happened to him?!"
No response.
"Chase!" The mayor desperately hit the window, trying to catch the shepherd's attention. "Marshall's hurt, you need to help him!"
The police dog remained apathetic, blankly staring at the brown-stained floor. The mayor tried yelling to him again, repeatedly shouting his name and banging on the window. He stood as if lost in fog, the coming voices only white noise to his ears. After a moment, Chase's eyes flicked up, meeting Humdinger's gaze with a lifeless stare.
"Dang it, Chase!" Shouted the man. "Help your friend, can't you see him!? He's bleeding from the mouth!"
Chase blinked in reply, scanning Humdinger through the window like someone discovering an unknown creature. There was not a single coherent thought in his mind, the shepherd slowly straightening his posture. He walked to the window with a frozen expression, almost stepping on Skye and coldly passing up Marshall. He stood on his hind legs, standing up against the window as he stared through, leaving brown paw prints on the glass.
"Chase...?" Humdinger said, his voice hesitating as the animal came close.
Despite not being the trapped one, Humdinger felt unable to move, his arms shaking within Chase's gaze. Marshall continued writhing on the floor behind him, coughing out chunks of red and trying to scream with a voice he no longer had. The shepherd tilted his face, then his lips began curling into a grin, forming a menacing smile that peeled up his face. He smiled like he wasn't trapped, flashing twisted glee at the mayor as if he was the happiest dog in the world. Smiling like he was coated in his own feces, smiling like his mind wasn't scattered with screams and broken thoughts, smiling like his brother hadn't just torn his vocal cords.
Before Humdinger could say anything, Chase quickly swiped his paw along the ground, collecting a solid chunk of gooey, chunky waste. With a final look through the window, he slapped the chunk on the glass, coating it in a soiled brown that blocked its vision. He repeated the action until the window was fully blocked, blinding the one and only method of seeing into the chamber. Standing paralyzed with horror, Humdinger watched as his view inside was taken away.
"Well..." he spoke, voice shaking uncontrollably. He fidgeted with his coat collar a little, "they're... fine. They're fine." His face plastered with trauma, he slowly turned away from the blocked window, looking for one of his cats to hold. "Fine. They're fine, they're... fine."
Humdinger would eventually move into city hall, taking him away from the abandoned facility for several days. Desperate to flee from his problems, he paid no mind to the dark thoughts of what he had witnessed in the chamber. The few times he did creep up to it, he wouldn't hear a single thing coming from the speakers, not even the faintest whispering around the inner microphones. Without a way to see inside, the mayor was helpless to whatever gruesome events were taking place within it. Pushing away his fears, he decided to spend a few more days away from the facility, although his free time was spent hunting for ways to free the PAW Patrol. If they couldn't manually get themselves out, perhaps it was time for him to break them out by force.