Chapter 3: (Not) Welcome Home
To have his plan of getting rid of Balto by the means of using his family and have it ruined because of his youngest son Tayer, that managed to infuriate Steele so hard that he no longer desired to remove his archenemy from the past. Instead, due to his diabolical and insane nature, Steele desired to remove none other else than his son. All he needed was a plan to be devised. It didn't matter to him where, even if the others see him. Then he would move with his primary goal.
Steele found a shelter in the cave stretching just above Nome. There he could have noticed his entire family, but it was not how he desired. Instead of finishing "lobo" off for good in his favor and respect him "post-humously", they were no longer on his side. They were on Balto's side, with Balto forgiving them. After all this time that he had managed to hold them with the grip of his influence, it was no more. He was all alone on this mission and he was ready to do it, or die trying.
As his new goal was to remove Tayer for destroying his entire plan, he had decided to wait for a proper day, the day that could be the proudest day of Tayer's life. And speaking of the pride, Tayer was a member of Dingo's team, being the youngest sled-dog in the history of sled-dogs. Dingo's team and Kodi's team were having a final race of the year, determining the winner of the season. They had shown that they were the fastest since both Kodi and Dingo were sons of Balto.
It was the dawn of the day... the day Steele decided to make his move. Standing on the top of the cliff above Nome, he waited and waited for both Kodi and Dingo's teams to return to Nome. Checking his strength and skills, also looking how sharp his teeth and claws were, this was the day when he was going to remove two of the dogs that costed him everything. Still being wretched by his egoism and arrogance, he pushed deeper into the pool of it. Suddenly, he could have heard a gun-fire in the distance.
"Aaaaaahhh! Who's there!?" Steele got startled upon the blast in the sky, looking at it and it was nothing else but a flare, descending down. He recalled what that flare meant. Turning his look towards the east, he saw two long spots moving in the distance towards the town - sled teams. As he knew the drill of flares, Steele grinned with his diabolical smile and widened his eyes, awaiting for someone to come. Then, as the minutes went on as the seconds, Steele rubbed his claws against the rock, snarling: "You are definitely going to see this, when I turn off your lights, prick."
The last two flares were blasted in the sky and both teams managed to enter the town at the same time. Then, after a minute, the cheering could have been heard from the town and moving his position from the cliffs, Steele spotted from above on the Main Street that Dingo's team had taken the victory. How did Steele know that? It was obvious that Kodi's team had no black dogs in it, whereas Dingo had one. Because this could have been the best day of Tayer's life, Steele just decided: "Enjoy your victory as much as you can, because what follows is going to be Pyrrhic victory for you."
With that in his mind, Steele checked on his weapons - claws and teeth, being in mint condition. Nodding to himself, he started descending down the cliff, silently and carefully to avoid any kind of unnecessary attention at that moment.
Meanwhile, in the town of Nome...
"Congratulations to you too, Tayer!" Dingo, the plum-red blue-eyed husky and the middle son of Balto, headed to his youngest teammate to pat him in the back in a pretty friendly way, as if Dingo was some kind of supporting mentor for his achievements. Tayer, wearing his brown sled collar and rolling on the back in the snow, panted in pride and satisfaction as he saw this day as the best day in his life.
"You know the drill, Dingo. United we stand, divided we fall!" Tayer said these words wisely, catching some of precious air in process. His teammates, who were also resting in the snow, laughed regarding his comment. But that wasn't the mocking type of the laughter, but rather a supporting type. It meant that Tayer was once again being accepted by the dogs of Nome for his actions. The actions that had managed to change the tides of crisis for good.
"Alright, team!" Dingo yelled, sitting in front all of them, looking if they were paying attention at the moment. Dana, the red-brown blue-eyed husky with the bright blue collar, being Dingo's mate, got on all of her fours and cuddled herself close to him, feeling the fresh scent of his. "We have achieved a great victory for this year, thanks to the support of all of you, but Tayer is, you must admit, a stand-out! The youngest sled-dog in the history of so and to be this fast is astonishing!"
"And furthermore, what we want to tell you is that we are hosting a party at the boiler room today!" Dana commented in the name of the entire team, with the other three members (not only Tayer), grinning in pleasant surprise. Since they had been working so hard for this final race, the party for them was going to be a pure relief and it was a rather deserving one.
"Now you take a rest and once you're ready for some of more action, we'll be getting ready! You may call your family and friends to come!" Dingo allowed to his teammates, knowing that they were completely exhausted from running for that long. A long-needed rest was necessary. Dingo and Dana were ready to spread the news to their family and relatives, with Tayer following them. His eyes were telling that he was having something to say and neither Dingo nor Dana could have ignored that.
"Hey, Tayer. I'm sure you're eager to tell Galena the news?" Dingo asked him in a really fatherly fashion. Dingo had been some kind of foster father ever since he was welcomed to Nome after saving Dingo and his team from freezing to death in the cruel coldness of Alaska and Dana was being a proper mother figure to him. Even better, their daughter Galena was his best friends and she knew the best how to comfort him. Tayer, taking Dingo's question in mind, nodded in eager happiness.
"I am, Dingo!" Tayer barked out of pride, knowing that he had nothing to fear in terms of asking. He and Galena could see each other every day without any restrictions. Even he was allowed to call her parents by names. "But I'm going to find my siblings and mom and tell them about this victory, mind you?"
"Go ahead, they are going to be proud at you!" Dana encouraged Tayer, pulling him into an embrace. She allowed him to catch her lovely scent to make sure that as long as she was with him, there was always going to be comfort for him. Dingo hugged Tayer as if he was the lost son of his, returning after the countless days, weeks, months or even years. With the young one parting and running towards the other direction, Dana allowed the tear to roll down her cheek and out of happiness, she barked: "Oh, if only he was our son, Dingo."
Meanwhile, at Tayer...
After heading into the another street on his left, Tayer was making his move towards one of the four houses in the town, in which three of them his siblings were living and in one of them his mother lived. Sighing in content, he recalled how he had managed his family to have change of hearts and how to become the friends of Balto's. All that was needed was for them to learn the true story of the lost medicine. But the question was... how it all came to be?
The reason why he was being abused by his family lied in the fact that he had sensed that Steele's version of the story of the lost medicine was too inaccurate and denied it as something that had possibly happened. In order to be silenced, Steele ordered to the others to shut him down, with him even doing the same thing. When he had finally run away after the failed first face-off against Balto, after which he had saved Dingo's team's life. For his heroic actions, as he was unknown by the humans, Dingo and Balto had no other choice but to accept Tayer in Nome.
There, as he was growing a strong reputation, day after day passing, he got there to learn the real version of the story of the lost medicine. Balto was indeed a hero and his own father Steele had left the children of Nome to die from diphtheria. He wanted to tell mom this as soon as he was going to see her. Sadly, when he had let her know about Balto's version of the story, the same day Rodney had sustained a head injury, she laughed at him, because she was seeing Balto as the liar. After his brother was knocked unconscious, Tayer had no other choice but to run for it in the wild.
Just the day after, after running away from his new home, now in the wild, he was shying himself from the rest of the world. As he was thinking that there were no chances for his family to come to his senses, the miracle occurred. He heard someone's cry in the distance and there he'd spotted his friend - Galena! Not only that, but she was accompanied by two canines - the red brown one and the brownish gray one. He exactly knew who they were - Kassan and Harath respectfully, Galena's younger brothers. The excitement started filling his heart, but...
On the other side, he saw the another figure in the snow, not moving at all. Rushing to help the unfortunate one, it was none other else than Dingo, his teammate and the father of Galena. Feeling the compassion, he pulled him from the safety to the nearest cave to save him from freezing to death. At the dawn of the decisive day, when Dingo was finally awaken from the journey, he had realized that Tayer had done nothing wrong and there he had revealed him why his pups were out there - Dingo was yelling at Galena and banned her from seeing him again. Galena ran away upset and her brothers ran after her when she did. Trying not to think about that terrible accident, they headed off to find them.
Thankfully, they had found them in the forest nearby, with the brothers feeling remorse for running away, whereas Galena was as cold as the cruelty of the Alaskan's cold heart. The cold of hers warmed up when Tayer revealed himself, thus she'd forgiven her father. They decided to return to Nome and to let them know the pups and Tayer were safe and well. But as they ran to the town of Nome, they found the entire town empty of dogs, with the exception of Dingo's mentors - Nikki, Kaltag and Star, the ex-friends of Steele. There they had learnt from them that Galena was supposedly kidnapped by Shira, until she revealed herself to them. Furthermore, they explained that Shira had lured Balto and the others to the deadly trap.
Before heading to stop his mother, Tayer had learned who these three were and asked them to tell him their version of the story, believing that was going to convince Shira for good. Once they were at the battlefront, they were just in time to prevent Shira from throwing Balto to death. Her eyes were fuming in rage as soon as she saw her youngest son, but as soon as she mentioned her deceased owner Sean, she backed up and felt the river of emotions flowing in her body. Furthermore, she got to learn the true story of the lost medicine from Nikki, Kaltag and Star. Knowing that she was being used for Steele's dirty work, Shira had redeemed herself by helping Balto up. Same thing had occurred to his siblings.
Now... few weeks later, everything had changed... Shira, Taiga, Rodney and Sarah... no longer they were tormenting the youngest member of their family... no longer... as they reached Nome, the humans, who were seeking to have dogs as the company... had chosen them as their dogs... Tayer remembered the day after how all of his family members rushed into the embrace of his, seeking the forgiveness... He was nothing like Steele... nothing... He had forgiven them, as well as Balto and Jenna had... now they lived the another day like any other...
"Mom, Taiga, Rodney, Sarah..." Tayer muttered their names, except for Shira's, honoring her title as his mother, after all this time. Long he had sought to show the real light to his family, hoping for the better tomorrow of theirs. "My heart is pouncing out of pride to say how happy I am that you know the truth... after all, you're my family... all of you..."
His muttering suddenly stopped as Tayer had heard some slamming in the alley nearby. That had received his attention and he turned his head to the left, seeing a canine in there. Since it was pretty dark in the alley, he couldn't see who the canine in the alley was. Taiga's house... was just on his right, but who was in the alley on the left? The thoughts in his head mixed and thinking the answer might have been obvious, he said: "Kassan, Harath!? Is that you two?!"
He didn't mention his names in vain. Kassan and Harath were known for their prankster personalities and them hiding in the alley and pranking the other dogs was nothing out of place for Tayer or anyone else. He called for them once again, but seeing that the canine in the alley wasn't responding, Tayer shrugged with his shoulders, turning his head towards Taiga's house and then he was saying: "Well, if you aren't, then it doesn't matter! I will just go to... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He couldn't finish his sentence as when he was about to finish it, he felt that he was rammed on his side and he landed on his back in the snow rather violently. Due to the pain sustained on his side, he felt quite stunned and couldn't open his eyes for a while and his breathing was also a problem. But what he could have felt was that someone was standing above him, with one paw being held on his chest and someone was breathing in his face hard, as if that someone was in an utter rage.
"Hello... prick." A furious voice, with the mixture of satisfaction and insanity, snarled right into Tayer's face. Finally being able to suppress the stun, Tayer weakly opened his green eyes. Once he'd opened them fully, his eyes widened in an utter shock and horror as soon as he realized who was standing above him. Bigger, stronger, angrier and with blue eyes - his own father, Steele, was just standing above him. He was pressing his chest with one paw, preventing Tayer to move anywhere else.
"But... but... how is this possible?! You... you are alive?!" Tayer gagged, watching in horror as he was realizing that his own father was in fact, alive! He couldn't scream, he couldn't move... he could not believe what he was seeing. His father, standing above him, holding him tight on the ground and breathing heavily in his face. It was a nightmare-turning-real for young Tayer. "How...?"
"How I am alive is none of YOUR business!" Steele growled in rage, spitting him in the face. Tayer couldn't clean the spit off this face as the pain on his side and being pinned on the back prevented him in doing so. The question was, was he going to escape out of his nightmare?! "My business is to finish the task I should have done long ago, even after your mother and your siblings FAILED!"
"Because you HAVE NEVER treated any of us with a proper RESPECT!" Tayer stood up to him, raising his voice suddenly. However, he regretted that as Steele slapped him in the face with all his might. To add the salt to the wound, he pierced with his sharp claw across Tayer's cheek, opening the wound on it, causing Tayer to bleed on his face.
"SILENCE!" Steele growled at his own son, injuring him in face, chest and the side. His own son was trembling in horror, unable to do anything. Yet, Steele didn't feel any kind of remorse or compassion that he was hurting his own son. The tears were forming in his eyes as he watched Steele, who was raising his paw in utter madness. Steele, bearing his claws even more, noticed the tears in Tayer's eyes.
"Go ahead and cry! Your mother and siblings aren't going to save you now!" Steele grasped at Tayer, pressing him on the ground with a stronger force. The force was so strong that Tayer was literally choking because of the air being unable to get it. He watched in horror how Steele was ready to do the most diabolical thing - slit his own son's neck with his bare claws. HIS OWN SON!
"Now, I shall get rid of you, then I'm going to... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Steele couldn't finish as when he was about to take his own son's life, someone rammed him by the side with the almighty force. He landed on his side in the snow, hitting a small rock hiding in the snow. As he wasn't stunned as Tayer was before, he was able to open his eyes. He looked towards Tayer and saw that the black female husky was by his side, watching her younger brother in despair.
"You...?! YOU?!" Someone yelled right into his face, receiving a spit. Steele looked above to see who was the one who spat on his face while yelling. However, he couldn't move as someone was pinning him on his back. Despite his own strength, he felt that the strength of the one pinning him on his back was stronger than his. But he managed to see who were the ones above him. His older son Rodney and his older daughter Taiga. Both of them looked quite shocked and furious at the same time.
"Well, well, well... Taiga, Rodney... what a pleasant surprise..." Steele said with his honeyed words. But, the tone he was using did not help him at all. Instead, he was being pressed by Rodney even more enraged.
"DON'T YOU DARE TO USE THAT TONE AT US, STEELE!" Taiga yelled in her father's face, speaking his real name out loud. At the same time, she was frantic, shocked and furious as soon as she heard what Steele was doing to Tayer. Her father, also the father of Tayer, to kill his own son was the great madness! "I saw you trying to kill my brother, now you're pretending to be innocent!"
"I AM YOUR FATHER AND YOU DON'T CALL ME BY THE NAME!" Steele snarled at his daughter, who showed no fear as Steele was trying to get up. He didn't because of Rodney's strength and was forced to lay down there, watching his other daughter, Sarah, comforting her younger brother. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DEAL WITH LOBO ONCE AND FOR ALL AND TRAIN THE PRICK OF YOUR YOUNGER BROTHER?!"
"WHO ARE YOU TO HURT OUR BROTHER AND YOUR OWN SON, STEELE?!" Rodney snarled at his own father, also using his full name without any remorse. Steele tried to bite his son's paw, but both Taiga and Rodney hit him with their paws into the neck, forcing him to lay down in the ground, thus he gagged a bit. He realized that his own family was on "lobo"'s side and there was nothing he could have done with it. Rodney, keeping the paw on Steele's chest, turned around to see Sarah, holding her brother in a tight embrace and trying to clean the blood off his face. He asked his sister: "Sarah! How is Tayer?! Is he going to be okay?!"
"He is holding for now, but he needs to get to the vet!" Sarah yelled in a despair. The thought of losing her brother after tracking them to the light of their lives was a dreadful thought to even think about. As Tayer was crying from the pain, sustained by Steele, Sarah's eyes watered in panic and she started muttering to her younger brother: "Tayer, Tayer! Hold on tight! Please! We're going to help you to the vet clinic!"
"Sarah, you stay with Tayer! Rodney, go find mom, now! If possible, get Josh and Saba! Tayer must be taken to the vet clinic now!" Taiga ordered to her siblings. Since Taiga was Shira's second-in-command during their dark days, Rodney didn't object against her giving him a command but did what she had told him. Taiga held Steele on the ground tight as Rodney rushed to their mother and to Josh and Saba. Josh was the red Siberian husky from the town of Anchorage, who moved to Nome to learn how to be a rescue dog. Saba was Balto's middle daughter, a red Siberian husky-looking wolf-dog who lived with Josh in the vet clinic, being his mate. Steele still couldn't move as Taiga was holding him tight on the ground. Sarah was comforting her brother and singing him something in hopes it'd comfort him.
"You better stay still if you want to live... Steele!" Taiga snarled at her own father. Surprisingly, despite her being risen in the wild and being much younger than her father, she had managed to develop a such strength thanks to Steele's malamute blood. In fact, her body, despite being built for a husky, contained a strength for a malamute. Steele couldn't release from his daughter's grip, but only to watch what was going to happen. He wasn't scared, but rather furious. His entire family turning against him was a true shocker for him.
Then, as the minutes went, they were as fast as the seconds... Taiga could have heard someone yelling in the distance in the utter shock and fear - it was her mother Shira. Since she was adopted, she was given a blue collar. Taiga heard her mother yelling: "Taiga! Rodney had told me that Tayer... OH MY GOODNESS! TAYER!"
Taiga watched as her mother rushed to her injured son, whose wounds were sustained by Sarah in attempt to sooth his pain. Shira dropped down in shock, holding Tayer carefully around his shoulder, yet tight at the same time. Her eyes were watering with tears as she was staring at her son, trembling as if she was feeling the unbearable cold. Embracing Tayer, Shira looked at Sarah and with her trembling voice, she asked her daughter: "Sarah! Who did this to Tayer!? Who did this to your brother!?"
"It was... him...!" Sarah muttered in fright and anger, looking at her father as he was still trapped under the might of Sarah's older sister Taiga. Shira at first wondered why Sarah was stuttering, but as soon as she saw at whom Sarah was pointing, her face changed from the shocked expression towards the furious as she moved swiftly towards her mate. Once standing above him, Steele couldn't say a word, seeing his mate and being with her after almost an year. With the anger and shock, she just screamed, spitting in Steele's face: "WHAT... HAVE... YOU... DONE... TO... MY... SON...!?"
"I gave him A LESSON for not messing up with my mission!" Steele barked at his own mate, angered by the fact that she was no longer on his side, no longer to be manipulated by him. In the flash, Shira smacked him in the face with her paw into his eye, receiving a bruise near his eye. As she was about to get berserk, Taiga stopped her mother from doing so, saying: "Mom, he deserves more than this!"
"Oh, Shira is mom to you and I'm just Steele to you!?" Steele snapped at his daughter, which he instantly regretted as Shira was face-to-face on him, having an upper paw in this situation. Steele's eyes widened in fear, for the first time in fear from his own mate. Just as she was about to unleash her wrath on Steele, while Taiga was trying to prevent her, she could have heard her son Rodney rushing with two red huskies - Saba and Josh, running just behind him. She heard him saying: "Mom! Taiga! Sarah! I have arrived with Saba and Josh!"
"Go to Tayer, mom." Taiga beckoned her to be by her son as she was in control of her father. Scoffing at her mate in anger, Shira headed to her injured son, who was dealing with the pain as he was still conscious. While Rodney moved next to sister to assist her in keeping Steele, Josh and Saba, the rescue dogs of Nome, headed to Tayer, Sarah and Shira. They wanted to see how was Tayer doing and were hoping that he wasn't suffering from some dire consequences.
"Tayer! Tayer! It's me, Josh!" Josh shook the injured dog as he was trying to get on his paws, causing Tayer to look very carefully at the two rescue dogs of Nome. His vision was just fine as he was seeing both of them coming to his aid. However, the pain, caused by the impact on the side, on the back and one the face caused him to yelp. Saba reacted first as she held him and asked: "Tayer, do you think you can move?!"
"I... I'm going to... try..." Tayer muttered in pain, trying to get on all of his fours. He succeeded in standing on all of his fours, but now the next challenge was to walk. Sarah was on his side and as Tayer made a step, he winced because of the pain by his side and fell on the ground, causing Shira to gasp in horror. Sarah got to Tayer's aid and held him as a support. Looking at the blood on his face and the impact area on Tayer's side, he told him: "Tayer, we are now taking you to the vet clinic. You're going to be safe when we get there, you hear me!? Sarah is by your side!"
"Steele... Steele is here!..." Tayer whispered in pain to both Saba and Josh, trying to let them know who there was. As Saba heard first his words, she couldn't believe at first what he was saying, still believing that Steele, the one who kidnapped her pups and her nephews and nieces one year ago, was dead. But as she looked towards Rodney and Taiga, he eyes widened in shock to see the malamute there, alive, but not well. Josh was equally shocked by that revelation. However, as they were staring at him, they could have clearly hear Sarah yelling: "Saba! Josh! My brother needs to get to the vet NOW!"
"Yes, we must go!" Saba yelled, returning to the reality. The sense of dread occurred to her as she imagined the pictures in her head - her family finding out that Steele was alive and well and that Tayer was suffering some injuries. Realizing what to do now, Saba and Josh escorted Sarah to the vet clinic, making sure Sarah was going to be safe while carrying Tayer on her back. It had taken minutes for them to get to the vet clinic and the minutes felt like hours to them, as if Tayer was going to lose the fight against the deadly illness.
Back at Shira, Rodney and Taiga, who were furiously scoffing above Steele, who couldn't do anything but to watch his mate and two of his older pups looking at him with the utter rage. Then, Shira just spoke to him, with the cold and furious voice: "You... you were alive all this time... and you used me and your pups to do the dirty work for you... to get rid of someone who's actually the savior of this town!? How could you use all of us!?"
"How could you say that I was killed in the river!? If you had at least hoped that I made it, I would have returned to you! I'd have returned to be with you and with your pups!" Steele growled at them, hoping that the tides of this problem was going to be in his favor, trying to manipulate them to switch sides to his. But, his hopes just went downhill as he mentioned that.
"Only to use all of us to keep on with the dirty work!? We have seen through the dirty lies of yours, STEELE!" Rodney yelled at his owner father and as much as he wanted to attack Rodney, he just could not. He was forced to stay on his back and was listening to his words. The words that were saying the entire truth about him. The truth he constantly tried to deny to have the tides on his own favor.
"Mom, Balto and the others have arrived!" Taiga suddenly said to her own mother, noticing that the street they were in was now full of the other canines. True to her words, Balto was indeed there, along with Jenna, as well as with Nikki, Kaltag, Star, Dingo, Dana, Kodi and Dusty. They were summoned by Tayer's screaming, followed by Steele's screaming, only to finish it with Shira's screaming. Standing out of the company, Balto asked Shira, now his new friend and ally, who was busy at the moment: "Shira! Shira, what is going on in there!?"
"Balto... you're not going to believe who returned to Nome." Shira let her new friend and ally know, watching at him as if he was being some kind of comfort to her. Raising her paw, reluctantly, she beckoned him and the others to come close. None of the nine newcomers liked what was going on nor the fact who there was. Making some space, Taiga and Rodney moved aside, keeping their father on the ground and at that moment, the newcomers gasped in shock to see who there was.
"Steele!?" Balto yelped out of surprise, seeing his tormentor and the enemy laying on the ground in front of him and the others. He was not the only one to be shocked and angered. Jenna also seemed as angry as Shira. Dingo and Dana watched in disbelief, as well as Kodi and Dusty did, yet the latter seemed quite furious. Nikki, Kaltag and Star were at the same time shocked and stark mad to see their former leader in front of them. Ever since he had ditched them in the wild, no longer these three see Steele as their friend or any kind of support. Seeing that he was still being held, Balto just said: "Release him."
"Balto?! What are you...?!" Rodney asked Balto, who was also an ally to him know ever since the change of heart of his. However, seeing the strict look on Balto's face, both Taiga and Sarah let him go. Being free at last, Steele rolled on his stomach and was about to get on his fours and do his life mission - get rid of the lobo in front of him. But he could not, not that there were twelve of them surrounding him. If he had attacked him, he would have suffered terrible consequences, even the fatal ones for his life.
"What do you think you are doing, lobo?!" Steele snarled at his enemy, wondering why had Balto told to his pups to let him go. Observing the others around him, he knew that none of the dogs around was going to help him, all he could do was to stand and listen. Balto spoke with his voice, the voice that would make someone ethically weak falter: "Is this what you are keeping up with, Steele? Still pushing with his ego and not to mention, letting your family to do a dirty business for you?!"
"Shut up, you...!" Steele growled at him, but was backed up with his words as Taiga swatted him in the neck, causing him to shut up at once. Then, one of his former friends, stepped in front of him, Kaltag, the middle reddish-brown dog. The anger in his eyes was telling that ever since he'd ditched him in the wild and others, he was never going to forget that event. He spoke: "Using your family to do your dirty business... HAVE YOU NO SHAME, STEELE?! And don't you dare to be a smart-ass to three of us, because we are no longer having any business with you!..."
"Make sure you keep that in your mind!" Star, the small purple dog, stepped next to Kaltag, unintentionally interrupting his former teammate. When he said that, he felt no fear and the dreadful sense of consequences, as Steele had no longer any powers to him, Nikki and Kaltag. Even Kaltag, who seemed so annoyed by Star that he'd just smack him in head to pass out, did not do the exact thing. He felt like having to lash every single word at their former leader was just plain satisfying to listen.
"Hey, whose blood is there in the snow?!" Nikki, the fat brown dog asked, looking at the traces of the blood shining in the snow. The others looked at it, with the different reactions. The newcomers were shocked by the blood in the snow, Taiga, Rodney and Shira were distressed by that and Steele was just looking at there, showing no emotions whatsoever. He just spoke, as if the satisfaction was under his tone: "If you really want to know, it belongs to the prick called Tayer."
"NOOO!" Dana screamed in horror as soon as these words came to her. Ever since Tayer was welcomed to Nome months and months ago, Dana was some kind of foster mother to Tayer, feeling sorry that he received no mother love at that time. She cuddled herself close to her mate Dingo, holding him as tight as if she was clinging on the cliff for her dear life. Dingo's eyes were filled with horror upon hearing that statement.
Quick as flash, as Steele wasn't paying attention at the moment, he was pounced and ended up rolling on his back. This time, it was Dingo who was standing above him, with a rage in his eyes that seemed like as if Dingo was not a dog, but a wolf at that moment. Even he had a wolf blood flowing in his veins, and he was exceptionally fast dog. Even that he didn't welcome Tayer at first when he moved to Nome, he did feel a genuine fatherly care towards the miserable young dog. As Dingo bared his claws, he yelled: "WHERE IS TAYER NOW!? HE BETTER BE ALIVE OR ELSE!"
"Dingo! DINGO! Tayer is in the vet clinic! Saba, Josh and Sarah are taking care of him!" Taiga alerted the sled dog. As much as she wanted to beat the life out of her father, she just could not see the one who was good in the heart to take the life away from her father. Seeing in what kind of rage Dingo was, he came back to his senses and let Steele go. Yet, he was so mad at him for hurting his young teammate and Galena's friend. What was Galena going to say about this?!
"After leaving the poor children to die, then after kidnapping the grandpups of ours one year ago, then leaving your family to kill Balto and in the end, almost killing your own son...!" The another furious voice yelled at Steele and he realized, in disgust, it was Jenna. Ever since she ditched him for good, he no longer desired to have her, but to get rid of her for good, failing every time possible. Then, despite her fury, said sternly: "Get out of our sights, Steele! After causing so much trouble to all of us, you still don't stop! GET OUT!"
"Fine, I'm going to leave! I'm going to get out of the sights of all of you! But I will let you know this - IT'S NOT OVER!" Steele barked at all of them and backed up, heading away from everyone. His diabolical and insane demeanor got him to the new level - isolation. Watching the dog that had caused so many evil deeds leave, they watched and watched until he was heading into the another street, getting out of their sights. Thus they all started calming down.
"My mom and dad are not going to like to find this out!" Dusty commented first as soon as Steele had left and the others started calming down. Her parents, Molly, the grey husky and the retired sled dog, after whom she takes the most, and Max, the dark brown husky, also retired sled dog, had the same eyes as Dusty. Both Max and Molly were fierce rivals of Steele and were the laughingstocks of him and his friends when they were protecting Balto from the harm before the fateful winter of 1925. "Kodi, Balto, Jenna, you know what kind of atrocities he was doing!"
"I'm fully aware of this, Dusty." Kodi said to his mate, saying it as calmly as possible as he had no desire to raise the voice at his mate. Her parents and his father were the victims of Steele's tormenting and they didn't want to strain each from the others. As the others looked distressed, Kodi just said: "I suggest we all head home and if possible, let the others know about this. I know it's not right, but the others must be aware."
"You're right, brother." Dingo said to his younger brother and the others nodded in an agreement, parting the ways to relieve themselves from this frightening meeting. As Dana was very distressed about Tayer being attacked, Dingo cradled her by his side, whispering: "Dana... now you go to the vet clinic and see how Tayer's doing. I shall come with our pups. I know that Galena is going to be out of herself, but she also has to know what happened. No, I'm not going to be the one I used to be last few months."
Dana looked at him with the teary eyes, feeling the terrible sense of dread... what if Tayer, for whom she cared a lot as if he was her son, wasn't rescued in time. Wiping her tears against Dingo's chest, she just muttered: "Okay, okay... let's hope Tayer is going to recover soon..." With that said, Dana parted from her mate and headed towards the vet clinic, wanting for her youngest teammate to be alive and well. When Dingo turned around to get his triplets, he knew one other thing in his mind - the final-race party was going to be delayed for good.
Back at Steele... who was now walking in the another streets of Nome... being far away from any kind of canine company possible and thinking about this encounter. He could have heard his line "IT'S NOT OVER!" repeating in loop constantly. The thing was... he had no plan whatsoever to deal with his foe(s) nor how he was going to get rid of his son. Mixed by the insanity, diabolic and isolation in himself... he was wondering... what was the point of moving on in his life as there was no one, but absolutely no one who loved him...
"Steele?! Could it be...?!" A male voice called for Steele, who as soon as he heard someone calling him, looked around. He was hoping that someone weak was around so he could lash out his anger at that someone. But... the voice that called him wasn't a dog or any canine at all... it was a human, kneeling in front of him. The human put his hand below Steele's chin and even Steele was wondering what the human was doing. Was that human someone who adored him or...?
"My goodness, Steele! What happened to you?!" The another human shouted as soon as he saw the once-popular canine on the street, running to him. He passed through his body where the old wounds were stained at his side and with his hand, he could have held a handful of Steele's hanging skin on his stomach. Steele was puzzled and nervous about more humans coming and surrounding him. "Look at yourself, Steele! No one has seen you in years and you suddenly return home! You're so skinny, wounded and possibly ill!"
Being surrounded by the humans and given the compassion from them, Steele was only able to express the confusion and fright as he hadn't been in contact with humans before. He didn't react how people were calling him "skinny" or "ill", nor he felt satisfied by it. He just wanted to get out of there and run away as fast as possible. This kind of companion was just making him uncomfortable.
Then, one of the humans raised him from the ground and carried him in his arms. Steele didn't resist at that nor felt any comfort at first. Being held and cared by humans just had him confused and frightened, considering the fact that he was once the top dog of this town. Now that he was starting to question his existence... he was being taken care of these humans, unaware that he was the one who was responsible for leaving their children to die.
The human who was holding Steele in his arms looked at the others around him and spoke: "Since Steele's former musher has already the entire new team, led by the newly-victorious Dingo, I don't think he can afford having Steele with him. How about I keep Steele now and take care of him? He looks so ill in this state!" The other humans around were just nodding in approval, knowing that the one who was carrying Steele was good at looking after dogs and even looked like as if he wanted a dog for himself.
"Take him home first, then call John to help him." One of the humans recommended to Steele's new owner. John was the young vet living in the town of Nome, coming from Anchorage and being Josh's original owner, now being Saba's owner too. He had managed to score a high reputation for his dedication towards the career he polished by helping the poor, weak and ill animals in Nome, with the help of Saba and Josh, saving numerous lives.
Steele's new owner nodded in an agreement as he walked towards his house, which was the exact same house in front of Steele. As the human had no dog bed at the moment, he had decided to put Steele on the sofa in the living room, just in front of the fireplace to provide him some warmth. He stroked Steele by the head and assured him with the following words: "Steele boy, you just rest in here. I'm going to bring you the man who can give you some help. Maybe you can meet his dogs too."
"His dogs? Yeah, right!" Steele scoffed deep inside himself as his new owner was getting outside. His nervous face turned into the disgust as soon as he realized that lobo's daughter and her mate were going to come. Oh how much he desired to unleash his anger on them for being lobo's family and supporting Tayer for causing the mission of his to fail. Watching the fire in the fireplace just sparkled his anger deeper and deeper, with the water of rage fuming deep inside himself.
As the minutes seemed as long as the seconds, Steele's new owner had managed to return with the town's vet, John. However, neither Saba nor Josh were with him and John's face looked like as if he was genuinely surprised by going by himself here, commenting: "It's strange that neither of my dogs came with me on this case. I swear I could have heard Josh growling when I asked him to come. He doesn't do that normally." Steele just sighed carelessly, feeling glad that he wasn't going to receive the help from his foe's family.
"Just... I hope I didn't disturb you on your latest case when I have arrived to the vet clinic. Poor Tayer... his team scored the victory of this season... only to be beaten by some dog out there..." Steele's owner apologized to John, because few minutes ago, he had rushed to the vet clinic, only to see John covering Tayer under the blanket in some kind of basket. Not even him could have believed that a victorious dog would have sustained these kinds of injuries."
"Of course you didn't, no worries." John shrugged that situation off. It took him only few minutes to work on Tayer's case, covering his wounds and adding two stitches on Tayer's cheek, from where it was bleeding. He had put him some kind of soothing ice pillow to cover the bruise on his side and put him in the basket. Before leaving, Sarah was there, laying next to Tayer's bed and she was not the only one who was going to visit the poor young dog. Returning to the current situation, John had asked: "And where is Steele, the dog you took in?"
"Steele's on the sofa, resting." Steele's owner led him to the sofa where Steele was laying on his side and staring into the fire. John put his vet bag on the floor and took the matters in his own hands. He carefully examined the scars on Steele's torso, checked the hanging skin on his stomach, checked his eyes and teeth, with some unbelievable results, being skinny the most prominent of them all. In the matter of the minutes, that seemed like the hours now, John was finished.
"Well?" Steele's owner finally asked, hoping that Steele was not going to be put into the sleep despite his weakened condition. John's face didn't say a thing regarding the case. He just raised his eyebrows and commented: "Mr. Hedison, Steele's condition is really bad by my estimations. However, I still believe he can be saved from being put into the deep sleep. He needs some kind of home therapy - such as receiving more food, doing no hard exercise, drinking a lot of water and being outside for only few minutes. In the matter of the weeks, he's going to be fine again.
"Can he be a sled dog... despite his age?" Mr. Hedison asked John, hoping that Steele's reputation might have been reestablished. However, John shook with his head in the disappointment, the kind of the disappointment that followed after the attempt of reviving the last hopes possible, only to fail in the last moment. He just said: "I'm afraid Steele is no longer capable for being a sled dog. The wounds and the illness in the wild could have possibly degraded his physical health."
"I shall keep that in mind." Mr. Hedison agreed on that statement, being disappointed that Steele was no longer going to be able to be a sled dog. Still, he was his dog now and decided to keep him as a pet instead of ditching him. Out of the compassion, he couldn't have left the poor dog, as in his eyes, on the harsh cold out there. After paying the bill for the home check-up, Mr. Hedison walked John back to the door and greeted him off. Closing the doors behind, Mr. Hedison walked to his new dog, cuddling him carefully behind his ears and commenting: "I may have expected too much from all this, but I shall keep you as my dog, Steele. You look pretty miserable at this point."
"As if I need any kind of support or comfort at any moment!" Steele thought deep inside himself, finding Mr. Henderson's hospitality rather useless. Still, as he was isolated from the other dogs in the town, he could do nothing else but to rest on the comfortable cushion behind him, thinking what was the point of his sole existence by now. All he hoped was not to be in contact with anyone else anymore, but to stay alone... alone forever... how he desired a lot from then on...
