Chapter 31

"Oh no." The three had investigated every inch of the secret hideout but unfortunately, they didn't find a single soul. The only thing that they did find were tents, empty fridges, and a lot of spare parts that our heroes could only imagine what their purpose was for. The two pups and one boy went up to, what they assume was, the main computer. The boy focused his energy on finding anything that might help them where these people might have gone. The labrador just looked around the lair, trying to find anything useful that might help them in their current predicament. The german shepherd was the same but wanted to find anything that might point out who they were dealing with.

"There has to be something here. Please there be something, please let there be something useful," Ryder practically begged in a whisper, his eyes glued to the large screen in front of him.

"Whoevew this pearson this is, they smell kind of familiaw," Zuma reported as he lifted his head up slightly but continued to walk, not really caring if someone answered him.

"Yeah, the scent over here is really strong too," Chase agreed and pointed his paw to the thrown in front of him. The pup continued to search around that area while the other stayed in his place.

"Thewe was a lot of people hewe too, and they all took vehicles with them," the labrador spoke up again, looking at the vehicle station where tires and motor oil was stored. "Maybe they all went somewhewe."

"And I can't track the smell because the van that I tracked earlier is still here," the shepherd sighed, looking at the solo van. He jumped into an open window and investigated inside. There was nothing special about it though, just some weapons, ammunition, and cigarettes.

"Well, what do we do now? I can't smell or find anything useful hewe," Zuma sighed. The two pups made eye contact then drifted their views to the boy at the computer when he let out a small gasp. "What is it Wydew? Did you find something?"

"I… but… c-can, what?" He chopped his sentences, receiving confused looks. The pups walked over to where he is and saw that he had multiple screens open, but the largest one was a note of some kind. It read:

About time you joined us Ryder, Chase, and Zuma. Yeah, I know who you three are and I have faith that you know me. You might be wondering where I am or who I am for that matter but… you might figure it out soon. Just to mention, I know a lot more things than you three being in the Paw Patrol. I know that Ryder had his family killed by some terrifying freak accident involving a fire and, dare I mention, some gasoline? Yup, you guessed it, that fire was intentional, planned to be killing all of you but unfortunately, you and Chase survived. Not to spoil the surprise, but why not ask Mayor Goodway about that fire more. I'll give you a hint, she knows more than she lets on. Chase, you've been bought of a dirty neighborhood and I'm sure that you remember all the details very well. Let me ask you a question; is that the reason why you became a police pup? Because you couldn't save your original owner from that robber? Oops! Those are two questions, my bad. Anyway, Zuma has a similar history as the other. Except, he had no home to go, luckily you still had your mother and younger sister, and was always saving animals who needed help. Cute. But I'm sure you remember that one time you were captured by some poachers, thinking that you were their bait, so they still took you instead. They beat you and tortured you. That's until your mother and sister found and came to rescue you, but luck wasn't on their side. Before you could escape, you were forced to watch your family be killed by the one thing you love the most - water. Anywho! I've got to get going, wouldn't want to miss out on capturing and killing your pups at Adventure Bay in front of everyone, if you haven't figured that out already. You're smart so I know you have. I can't wait until we meet in person.

D.D.X

It was funny to look at the computer's point of view. All three beings had their mouths agape and eyes the size of saucers. Many things were rushing through their finds.

What did he mean that Mayor Goodway knows something about the supposed intentional fire? Ryder questioned in his head, eyebrows furrowed, the first to take his eyes off-screen. But how did this person know about the fire? It was long forgotten, the only ones who knew about it were Mayor Goodway, Mr. Porter, and Captain Turbot.

How did they know that happened to him? He hasn't told anyone about his past, except Ryder! Chase thought in alarm, moving his eye away but it ended up falling on the floor. It didn't make sense to him. How did this person know about his previous owner and his death?

How did he know about my mom and sistew? He didn't tell anyone one that (except Ryder) because it gave me nightmawes sometimes. Zuma heavily thought, eyes still glued to the screen. Even when he didn't tell the boy how they died by water, it remained a secret from everyone. "What a second? Do you guys know anyone with those initials?"

They looked back at the screen when Zuma pointed it out. It took a second but they both gasped when they found out who the leader was. "No way!" The two exclaimed in complete surprise.

"It says that their heading for Adventure Bay and after the rest of the pups!" Chase came up frantically. Ryder shot out of the chair and exited the cave, the other two following closely behind.

"We need to get there before it's too late. I'll contact the pups to warn them. Chase, you'll use the stealth mode to blend in. Zuma, you have a big job. You'll use the same thing but instead, you'll speed up until you catch those vigilantes and use the camouflage mimic mode to scan one of their vehicles and hide amongst them. When we arrive, you'll take them down with a secret button I have there. It's under your seat," the boy explained, hopping into their individual vehicles. "Chase, you'll ram them with the armor of your SWAT car while I'll sneak past them and head straight for the boss. Got it?"

"Chase is on the case!" The german shepherd howled, began to drive off.

"Ready, set, get wet!" The chocolate labrador exclaimed, speeding past both of them.

"Let's go," the boy finalized, in the back of the line. As he drove, he dialed the pups on his pup pad, hoping that nothing has happened to them yet.

"Whoops! Sorry pups!" Marshall sheepishly apologized, racing off to get their volleyball. The other three playfully rolled their eyes and watched him run after the play toy. The four pups were out on the beach, enjoying themselves when they all thought it was a rescue free day. Deep down, they know it's not true, based on how clumsy people (Mayor Goodway) have been since Ryder has left, along with Chase and Zuma. Speaking of, Marshall and Skye had told the rest of the team what the Mayor had said to them and how she doubted their leader's role in owning the Paw Patrol. This fired them up - a lot.

Everyone knew that the pups were super protective of Ryder. Not by the dangerous stunts he pulls (well, a little) but how people treat him sometimes. That's when they get defensive. So when they heard that the Mayor said some pretty nasty things about him, especially behind his back so he couldn't defend himself, they were not happy. Sure, they still answered her call in the need of a rescue (because it was still their responsibility to take care of Adventure Bay, no matter what she says), the team did not treat her the same as they used to. Instead of the friendly and bubbly vibe she used to get, it was the cold shoulder. They didn't talk to her, only did their jobs and left.

And the Mayor noticed. She started giving them the stink eye and some petty insults, like she did with Humdinger, saying that 'they should learn more respect' and 'if she lead the team, they wouldn't be mean and rude'. Of course, the pups were offended by her comments but didn't let it get to them. That was until one day, the pups were assigned a mission from the Mayor. She somehow managed to get herself hanging off the side of the bridge. No matter how rude she had been, the pups knew that they needed to save her from a very dangerous situation. The pups used were Sky and Marshall, while the others watched in case they were needed. The aviator pup used her harness to latch onto the woman and back onto the bridge in safety. Marshall checked her over to spot any injuries while the cockapoo landed her helicopter.

"Everything seems to look good," the dalmatian nodded, putting away his x-ray. Skye hopped out of her helicopter when she landed and rushed to the woman.

"Are you okay Mayor? It looked pretty sca-" The pup couldn't finish her sentence when she was rudely pushed away by Goodway and her heavy purse. Now, it usually wouldn't affect them, but the way Skye was pushed that made her whimper being shoved to the ground and based on the satisfaction on the Mayor's face, it wasn't accidental. That's when the rest of the Paw Patrol went nuts. Marshall, Rubble, and Rocky immediately made a protective circle around the fallen pup and started growling insanely. No one dares to hurt one of their own. The Mayor immediately saw her mistake and rushed away, Chickeletta in hand. After checking that Skye was indeed okay, the Paw Patrol pups immediately reported this to Katie because she said if anything more things happened between them and Goodway, she wanted to know. Katie was pretty upset when she heard so, for any incidents, she called back up.

"Everest!" The pups exclaimed, seeing the husky and owner coming toward them. The pet parlor and cat walked along with them.

"Hey, pups!" She greeted back, tackling some of them to the sand, making them all laugh.

"Hey, pups, how's it going?" Jake smiled down, petting Skye a little. "I heard what happened and I'm sorry. What Mayor Goodway did was so uncool."

"It's fine, especially when we're all here together!" The cockapoo yipped, doing a backflip. Marshall finally returned with the runaway volleyball and greeted the newcomers. The pups, now happier, started a new game of volleyball while the humans sat on nearby chairs. The didn't speak for a while, just looking at their friends play.

"Are you going to tell him?" Jake spoke up, them turning to face each other. She sighed.

"Yeah, I am. I'm going to do it when he comes back though, so he doesn't worry." She paused. "This is Ryder's family. I have a feeling I know how he'll react when one of them was treated badly."

"You told me that Mayor Goodway has said some things before right? Why do you think she's being like that all of a sudden? According to you, she wasn't acting mean until Ryder told her the idea of helping out in Foggy Bottom with Mayor Humdinger."

"I honestly don't know. Maybe Mayor Goodway was feeling… threatened because she didn't control the Paw Patrol like she does the rest of the town? And Ryder and the pups are the only ones that can technically do as they please without asking for permission from her," she guessed with a small shrug. "Whatever the reason, it was wrong for her to be treating them like this. They're pups, kids, they shouldn't be put into that much negative influence that Mayor Goodway is putting on them. I know for sure that Ryder isn't going to be happy when he finds out about it, at all."

"Yeah… Does anyone else know?" Jakes questioned.

"No, only we do." He nodded.

"If we want to, per se, 'dethrone' the Mayor from her position from the city hall, we need others to join our side unless they'll think we're making it up and who knows what that will do to all of our reputation," he explained. "We need help from the people, and the only way to do that is by telling them that Mayor Goodway is verbally and physically abusing the pups."

"Hm, maybe, but if we were to 'dethrone' the Mayor, how will we convince them that?" Katie questioned, leaning back into her chair, eyebrows furrowed and frown clear on her face.

"Trust me, I'm an adult, we're sort of on the same page," he smiled with pride and put emphasis on the word 'adult'. Katie couldn't help but giggle at this. The young man may have a point though.

"I'll stay with the pups while you talk to the others, Mr. 'Adult'. Don't let them tell anything to the Mayor though, I'm sure she'll try to say that she never did the things she did," the girl rolled her eyes at the mention of the woman. They were both disgusted by her behavior.

"Okay, I'll meet you back at the Lookout," he agreed. When the girl nodded, he left the beach in search of the main adults. Minutes passed as she continued to watch the pups play in the sand or surfing around in the bay. When she saw it was getting dark, she called them in. The girl held in her laugh when they all 'awed' simultaneously. The group walked back to the Lookout and went inside.

"Alright pups, I'll go get your dinner," Katie decided, flipping the light switch on. They all gasped when they saw who was waiting for them near the elevator. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to get the pups but now since you're here," the boy paused. As he did, he snapped his fingers, a silent command to the men behind him to capture them all. He smirked when Katie was apprehended and all four pups were restrained by catch poles then silenced their barks with muzzles. "Alright boys, you know what to do. Let's head to the beach."

"What about the other three?" One of them questioned, which happened to be James.

"Don't worry. There's a barricade remember? But if they do slip pass, we'll be ready," the boss smiled, pulling out a survival knife and examing it. Katie gasped again when she figured out who the 'other three' were. Seeing that she figured out, the boy didn't answer, just smirked. All of them exited out of the building. The prisoners were pushed into the back of a black van and sped off to the beach. While in there, Katie could tell that the pups were incredibly afraid.

"Everything will be okay pups," she whispered to them. They looked up and slightly nodded. She leaned back against the metal, hands still tied, and prayed that they were really going to be okay.

"Alright, Wydew, I'm following them just like you asked and changed into one of their vans," Zuma reported over his pup tag. "And by the looks of it, they have a lot of guns."

"Okay, stay safe and make sure they don't see you," Ryder responded, not even looking at his pup pad but was sure it was on.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Chase spoke up next, slight uncertainty in his voice.

"Positive," he smiled. "But if it doesn't, I have plan B." They all ended the call and focused on the scene in front of them. With Zuma, he duplicated himself to look like a black van just like the rest. He couldn't really tell since he wasn't on the outside but based on no one shooting him down instantly, he thought it work. As he got into position, since they were all in a straight line that blocked the road any further, he watched man people pulling out machine guns and whatnot, making him extremely nervous. Then, in a distance, the labrador saw two speeding vehicles come their way.

"Be ready. Shoot on three," he heard one of them say. "One."

Ryder and Chase came closer.

"Two."

Zuma prepared himself to push his mysterious button.

"THREE!" Everything went commando. Just when he heard the last number, Zuma pressed the button under his seat as hard as he could and watched in awe a bubble blow up from his vehicle and wrap itself over half of the vans, not letting any more bullets to pass through. That wasn't enough because the other side of the cars were still firing. He tried pressing the button again but only one small bubble could only trap half a car. 'Must be a recharge thing' he thought in frustration. That changed back in fear when he saw his friends still driving up to them in speed. Thanks to Chase's armored SWAT vehicle, no bullets passed through. The pup also watched in total shock as Ryder's PMV detach the largest machine guns he ever saw from the sides of the car and let out a barrage of electrified bullets. The pup in his disguised vehicle watched the people being knocked out with the electricity. Then, with the bubbled ones, Chase zoomed passed him and crashed into the vans, destroying some of them but the bubble still held it's place. Ryder and Chase pulled up on either side of him when he turned off his clock.

"Did you like the show?" The boy asked with a smile.

"It was a surprise," the labrador nodded.

"Let's go then, we're halfway there," the German shepherd decided, speeding ahead. The other two followed in suit but eventually they merged with the leader in front and his two pups by his side. Not five minutes later, the three had arrived at the entrance of Adventure Bay, making them speeding up. Seeing a crowd on a beach, the three surged forward and drove onto the sand, making an immediate stop. The unaware people on the beach jumped when they saw them. Ryder, Chase, and Zuma got out of their vehicles and took out their weapons, aiming at all of the bad guys. Ryder pointed his eyes and gun locked onto the incriminating and double-crossing boss.

"Surrender, Daring Danny X."

To be continued...