Chapter Text
Hermitopia was very quiet. It was almost like the entire city was asleep as the only thing you could hear was the howling of the wind. The only person seemingly still awake was a short little man in a black suit and purple necktie hustling around the detective's office as if he was trying to find something. Looking in one of the metal drawers that lined the walls, he pulled out a folder and hustled over to a huge pinboard on the other side of the office. Ruffling through the folder, he pulled out a news article with the headline, “Jangler Leaves Giant Cookie Statue in Town Square.” Tacking it on the board, he then found a headshot of a man named BigB and also tacked it on the Board. Putting the folder down, he reached down to grab some red string that had fallen on the floor and used the string to connect the two newly tacked pieces. Taking a step back, he surveyed the board that was covered in news articles and pictures. He felt like he was getting close to identifying the problematic Jangler, who had played a great many pranks on the city over the past few months. As the detective went to put away the folder, another man walked into the office with a stern look on his face. He was much taller than the shorter man and had a gruff-looking goatee and detective hat.
“How’s the investigation going Sherlock?” He asked, as the shorter man put the folder away and closed the drawer.
Sherlock walked over as the taller man was scanning over the pinboard. “It’s going well Sir. I have a few suspects I will be interviewing tomorrow and hopefully we can put an end to the Janglers' pranks.”
“I’m giving you until the end of the week.” The taller man said, as he glared down at Sherlock, “The Jangler must be caught. After the cookie incident, people have started to become frightened and are questioning our competence.”
Sherlock nodded as he looked up at his boss, “Don’t worry sir, I assure you my team and I will get him soon.” The taller man let out a soft grunt as he turned around and left, leaving Sherlock alone again. Once again looking over his board, Sherlock was interrupted by a sharp trill coming from the phone on his desk. Walking over, he picked up the phone and saw the caller ID was none other than Renson, one of the police members he was partnered with on the Jangler Case. Accepting the call, the first thing he heard was police sirens and the screeching of tires.
“Sherlock, we have located the Jangler on the South Side of Hermitopia!” Renson yelled into the phone. “He is heading toward the Shopping District following Ash Avenue!”
Sherlock immediately scrambled to get a thick black vest under his detective's coat. He then reached over to Renson’s desk and grabbed the keys to Renson’s motorcycle. “Good work Renson,” he spoke over the rev of the motorcycle engine.
“Wait, is that my motorbike?” Renson asked, as Sherlock pressed on the gas and started speeding toward the South Side.
“I didn’t think you’d mind,” Sherlock responded. “Besides, it's the fastest bike in all of Hermitopia, and if we are gonna catch the Jangler, fast is kinda a priority.”
Renson let out a bellowed laugh from the other end of the line. “Alright, but you better not get a single scratch on her, or you’re gonna have more than just the Jangler to deal with.”
Sherlock let out a slight chuckle as he kept swerving between cars, turning right onto a street labeled Lookie Lookie Lane. “Where are you guys now?” He asked as he started to hear sirens in the distance.
“We just passed Cinnabun Bakery.” Renson responded, “It looks like he is about to turn right down Bulletin Ave.”
Sherlock quickly braked and turned the bike around. “Do you know the really dark alley between the Lookie Lookie Library and IDEA that the Jangler disappeared down last time?” He asked.
Renson growled, “Yeah, I remember. By the time we got out of our car, he was already gone.”
“I bet that’s where he is headed again,” Sherlock replied. “This time, however, he won’t be able to disappear before we get to him.” Sherlock started to slow the bike down and turned into the dark alley between the Library and the Store. The alley wasn’t very long, but what made it particularly spooky was how dark it was. Sherlock blinked as his eyes started adjusting to the absence of light. Once his eyes adjusted, he carefully turned the bike around to face the alley’s opening. “I’m in position at the end of the alley, when he comes running in, I’ll be able to catch him.” He spoke as he started getting off the bike.
“Great idea Sherlock!” Renson exclaimed as the screeching of tires could be heard. “We just turned down Lookie Lookie Lane and are heading toward you!”
“Good, I’ll see you in a minute,” He said as he hung up the phone and slipped it into his coat pocket. He could hear the police sirens getting closer as his partners continued to chase the Jangler. Sherlock quickly climbed up on top of the dumpster and slinked back into the darkness so as to not get spotted. All of a sudden, a man on a motorbike turned sharply into the alley. His outfit was a variety of different colored purples, with some greens and yellows splashed around. He had a floppy Joker hat and full-faced mask which covered all of his features. His trenchcoat was very clearly filled with a variety of different pranking materials. Sherlock could see what looked to be a can of probably spray paint sticking out of one of the pockets.
He watched as the Jangler turned his back to him and searched in his pockets for something, and he smiled. He quickly sprung out of the darkness and onto the Janglers' back. The Jangler buckled, but stayed upright. Sherlock hadn’t expected him to be so tall and strong as he clasped his arms around the Jangler's neck, trying to not fall or let the Jangler get away.
“Police get on the ground!” He heard Docson scream as he and Renson ran into the alley, pointing their guns at the Jangler.
Sherlock felt as the Jangler grabbed his arms and flung him over his head onto the ground. He groaned as his entire body flooded with pain at being thrown onto the hard concrete. His tightly bound and hidden wings felt disheveled and bruised, and he just hoped nothing was broken. He opened his eyes to see the Jangler standing over him with a look of horror on his face.
“Oh no! Oh no no no no no! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to throw you! I mean, I meant to throw you, to get you off of me, but I didn’t mean to throw you that hard!” The Jangler bent down, and Sherlock tried to sit up and move away from the masked man, but his body didn’t seem to want to move. All he could do was watch as the Jangler got closer and closer to him, but instead of hurting him, the Jangler slowly moved his hand under Sherlock's head. Sherlock flinched as he felt the Janglers touch, and the Jangler froze.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you I swear!” He said, as he looked down at Sherlock, “I’m so so sorry.” Sherlock looked back at the Jangler, and noticed the guilt and concern that was showing itself even through his mask. Sherlock tried again to lift himself up, and this time, he expected the pain, and only let out a little grunt as he was able to fully sit himself up. The Jangler tried reaching over to help, but Sherlock flinched away.
“Are you so sorry that you’d willingly go to jail?” Docson said as everyone turned to look at the Jangler to hear his response. The Jangler sighed as he stood up, looking at the two guns still pointed at him.
“I guess not.” He said as he shrugged. He looked back down at Sherlock before taking a step back. Looking back at Docson and Renson, the Jangler smirked as he kept backing up more and more toward the end of the alley. With every step the Jangler took backward, Docson and Renson took a step toward him, guns still raised. “Well, this was fun,” the Jangler started, as he mockingly pretended to take of his hat and bow with it, “but I must be off now.”
Docson and Renson rushed forward trying to grab the Jangler, but he just turned around and ran right through the alleyway wall. Silence fell among the trio as they tried to figure out what had just happened. Docson and Renson quickly turned around after they realized they had lost the Jangler, and immediately helped Sherlock to a standing position. “Well, I know hybrids exist, but I never heard of one that could walk through walls,” Docson said as he helped Sherlock into the passenger seat of the cop car.
Sherlock chuckled, “I thought we had him for a moment, but he was still one step ahead.” He shifted in the seat so that way his broken wings were positioned in such a way that they weren’t uncomfortable. He didn’t want to even think about the disheveled feathers and snapped wing bones that were still strapped uncomfortably to his back.
“At least this time we saw him!” Renson exclaimed as he drove his bike slowly out of the alleyway. Sherlock nodded as Docson started driving with Renson on his motorcycle close behind.
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After Docson had dropped him off at his house, and he was able to unbind his wings, he was able to see the extent of the damage. His left wing had taken the brunt of it, and he would guess that a few of the bones were broken. His right one on the other hand, just seemed to have some bruising and broken feathers.
He sighed as he started by splinting the left wing and wrapping it with bandages. With the right wing he made sure to take out all of the broken feathers. Once he was done, he looked at his handiwork. He knew he would be out for a couple of weeks while his wing healed. He couldn’t exactly bind them while they were bruised and broken and risked hurting them more.
Sherlock yawned as he looked at the time, his clock reading 5 am. Sleep threatened to take him over as he slowly got into his pajamas and fell asleep.
When he woke up, the first thing he noticed was his phone on his nightstand lit up from missed calls. Looking at the call log, he almost dropped his phone as he realized that he had over 50 messages, 20 missed calls, and 5 voicemails from his boss. He gulped as he pressed the dial, and the call went through almost immediately.
“Where have you been?” A loud, irritated voice came from the phone. Sherlock was about to answer when he got cut off. “Never mind that! Have you seen the news?”
“N..no sir” Sherlock managed to get out as he tried to wake himself up. “Why? What's wrong?”
“The Jangler just announced he is retiring” His boss spat through the phone. “You better tell me you're close to figuring out who he is or else both your and my jobs are on the line!”
“I… about that sir,” Sherlock started as he looked down at his broken wing sprawled across his bed. “I won’t be able to come in for a little while.”
“WHAT?!?” His boss screamed and Sherlock had to move the phone from his ear just to not rupture his eardrums. “What do you mean you cant come in?”
“I mean I got severely hurt while trying to apprehend the Jangler” He responded, trying to keep his voice from shaking.
“I don’t care if you got hurt, you are meant to be in the office figuring out who this guy is, not PLAYING HERO!” His boss screamed once again. Sherlock just sat there silent. “If I don’t see you in here by tomorrow, YOU’RE FIRED!” his boss said before he hung up the phone. Sherlock groaned as he threw his phone back on his nightstand.
He turned around on his bed and grabbed a little parrot plushie. After hugging the little parrot, he sat it up gently in front of him before sighing, “I really thought that this job would have lasted longer Professor Beak.” He said, as he slowly stroked the stuffy's soft head. “I guess we just go back to being Grian for a little while.” Grian smiled as he grabbed the plush and hugged it as he fell back asleep.