(Disclaimer: This Chapter will contain strong language.)
The Shepherd and the Greyhound looked at each other, sharing a smile.
"Holy shit." Avery quietly said to himself as he went up to the pup and hugged him. "You're finally done with that job?"
Chase shared the hug back, he remembered the husky voice that enveloped the Greyhound but nonetheless he was happy to see at least one dog that he knew back then was still alive.
"Let me look at you." Avery examined the Shepherd. "You look fine, come on." Avery motioned for the Shepherd to follow but was stopped by Saxton yet again. "Don't worry Saxton, he's good." Avery defended.
"If you say so, Avery." Saxton shrugged as he allowed Mavis and Chase inside.
As the trio made their way through the Den, Chase noticed that it was different, it was still a cesspool of dangerous dogs but it looked better than before.
"Pay no mind to Saxton, he's just a guard but he's a good dog." Avery stated as he stopped the two.
"When are you going to make him stop? He always tries to keep me locked out." Mavis complained.
"How about next time, you don't go too far from the Den? Look, why don't you go get Levi and the others? Once I'm done talking to my friend here, I got another job for you." Avery ordered.
"Alright." Mavis nodded as she left the two.
"Come on, let's have a talk." Avery gestured for the Shepherd to follow him into an office of some sort.
Avery closed the door as he asked Chase to sit down.
"You want something to eat?" Avery asked.
"No, no I'm good." Chase answered.
"If you say so. Man, you got old!" Avery joked as he smiled at the sight of the pup.
"That's what the years will do to you." Chase smiled as he started remembering the old office that the Greyhound was accustomed to.
"I guess so." Avery sat in front of the pup. "But besides that, why'd you even come back?"
Chase sighed as he stared at the Greyhound, receiving a sigh back.
"That's why you came back? You really want to finish the job?" Avery asked as he pieced everything together.
"I didn't have much of a choice. Ajax told me to come back." Chase stated.
"And he didn't tell me? Son of a bitch." Avery said to himself. "I can guess that there's a reason why he told you?" The Greyhound asked.
Chase nodded as he unzipped his bag, revealing the pendant to Avery.
"Oh shit..." Avery said as Chase handed him the pendant.
The Greyhound examined the pendant and realized it was the real one.
"This is why Ajax called you back?" Avery asked.
Chase nodded as Avery handed back the pendant.
"He said he would hurt my friends if I didn't give it back." Chase said as he put the pendant back in his bag.
Avery sighed as he went to his water bowl.
"You know, I didn't have anything to do with that job. I didn't backstab you, Diaz, or Isaac. Just wanted to let you know that." Avery said. "Look, Mavis should be back soon, just ask her to take you to Ajax personally then come back to see me alright?" Avery asked.
"I still remember where it is, besides it's better if she doesn't know. Thanks again Avery." Chase nodded.
"No problem, it's good to see you again Chase." Avery smiled back.
"It's Isaac." Chase advised.
"Is it now?" Avery asked. "Okay, well good thing because if these dogs find out who you are, they ain't gonna play nice, capito?"
Chase nodded as he walked outside, bumping into Mavis in the process.
"Oof! Sorry, Isaac!" Mavis apologized.
"It's fine, who are they?" Chase asked as he eyed the dogs behind Mavis.
"Oh! This is Levi, Delta and Nashi!" Mavis introduced.
"Hey."
"Wassup."
"Hello there."
The trio consisted of an Alaskan Malamute, an Australian Shepherd and a Husky, they greeted the Shepherd as he greeted back, soon walking away from the group.
"Where are you heading, Isaac?" Mavis asked.
"Just going to take a look around this place." Chase lied.
"Have you gotten some food yet? There's a good place close by, I'll take you there!" Mavis offered as she wagged her tail.
"It's fine, Mavis." Chase denied.
"You sure? I can—." Chase cut the Retriever off.
"I said it's fine, Avery needed you, remember?" Chase reminded with a slight attitude.
"Right, come on you guys." Mavis motioned for the other dogs to follow.
Chase left the group and went to go find Ajax, he should've taken Mavis's offer because the truth is, he's scared to face them again.
Mavis and the others entered and greeted Avery.
"Jeez, that Shepherd really has an attitude on him." Delta mentioned.
"He should drop it before it gets him in trouble." Nashi added.
"Ain't really his fault." Avery stated as he looked at the group. "Before I give you this job, I'll give you a little insight on Isaac. He used to be an innocent pup, something happened and...well...he saw first hand how dangerous this life is." Avery explained.
"What happened?" Mavis asked.
Avery sighed, thinking back to that time where Chase's life was beginning to change, where he realized that this line of work will change someone regardless of who they are.
"They just finished a job for me, they gave me what I needed, I handed them another job but they wanted to take a break before moving into it."
The trio walked through the crowded area of the Den, bumping into other dogs left and right.
"Amigo, I think it's too busy for us to grab a bite, we should just finish this job and come back." Diaz stated.
"It's usually like this anyway, Diaz. If anything, we'll take a shortcut to the other one." Isaac said as he cut through some more dogs.
"It really shouldn't be worth it to take a shortcut, it's out of the Den's safe zone and it's night." Diaz mentioned.
"I know, let's hope we don't have to resort to it. Come on, not too far now." Isaac said.
"How good is this food anyway?" Chase asked.
"Oh man, trust me, this food is amazing. It's like heaven, amigo!" Diaz exclaimed.
"I thought heaven for you was not hearing Amber run her mouth at you after a job?" Isaac snarked.
"Yeah, that too." Diaz rolled his eyes.
As the trio finally reached the area where the food stands, they noticed that the one they were going to had a huge line.
"Ah shit." Diaz sighed in frustration.
"So what now?" Chase asked as his stomach began rumbling.
Isaac gave it a thought and decided to go to the other one.
"Screw it, come on, we're going to the other one, Avery won't mind us being a little late when we're done." Isaac motioned for the two to follow.
"Better than waiting at this one." Diaz murmured.
The trio made their way out of the Den, being eyed by a group of dogs, who slowly followed them.
As the trio made their way through the streets, they made it to an alleyway, close to where they had to go.
"Alright, up and over you two." Isaac gestured.
As the Golden Retriever was about to help the Shepherd get over the fence, he was grabbed by a rather big dog. Diaz tried fighting back but was grabbed along with Chase.
"Quítate de encima, hijo de puta!" Diaz yelled out as he was struggling against the large dog.
"Watch the tone! There's a kid here." Isaac realized that the dog holding him was Angus.
"What do you want, Angus?" Isaac asked.
"Revenge." Angus said as he sliced Isaac's muzzle.
"Look, amigo, leave them out of this! I took the job, not them!" Diaz begged.
"See, that's right! But they helped, didn't they?" Angus asked as he looked at the dog holding back Diaz. "Teach him a lesson. A long one."
Chase was trying to get free but the dog was too strong for him, Isaac watched the Shepherd struggle for his life.
"See here's the plan. We're gonna kill Diaz here, then you're gonna watch Swift here make that little pup not so innocent anymore." Angus smiled.
"Quit your squirming!" Swift smiled deviously as he was restraining Chase.
"Let him go." Isaac threatened.
"I can't do that now can I?" Angus asked. "This is what happens when you fuck with my jobs!"
"I'm not gonna ask again!" Isaac was furious.
Angus shared a laugh along with the others as Isaac took the advantage, biting his paw but being overpowered quite fast.
"I got him. Oh it's going to be so much worse now!" Angus stated.
"Get off me! Isaac! Diaz!" Chase cried out.
Angus picked Isaac up and taunted him.
"Whatcha gonna do now?" Angus asked.
Isaac didn't care about anything at this point, he just wanted to murder these dogs for what they were going to do. He bit into Angus's neck, blood riddling his teeth and mouth as Angus gurgled in pain, falling back and succumbing to his wound.
The others were shocked, Diaz took this advantage to quickly end the dog that was attacking him. He finished off the dog and went to help Chase.
"Don't come any closer! I'll kill this stupid mutt, I swear!" Swift threatened as he had his claws on Chase's neck.
"Let the pup go!" Diaz demanded.
Isaac got up and eyed Swift.
"He's mine." Isaac walked towards the dog with a bloodthirsty look.
Swift released the Shepherd and backed up against the fence.
"No! Wait! Wait! Please—!" Swift was met with claws to his stomach.
Chase embraced the mongrel as he comforted him.
The Shepherd looked on as Isaac kept clawing at Swift, cutting out his entrails as the dog screamed in pain.
"Everything's going to be ok, amigo."
Chase shook his head, trying to forget that horrific night. The Shepherd reached the main door and was stopped by Ajax.
"There you are! Started to think you weren't gonna make it." Ajax joked. "You got the pendant?"
Chase didn't say a word to Ajax, he showed the pendant and hoped that this would all be over.
Ajax opened the door, struggling due to his paw wound but eventually opened it, allowing him and the Shepherd in.
Chase examined the room, it looked more like a suite than anything and saw the person sitting at the table across the room.
"There he is, the pup who caused me so much trouble...he finally comes crawling back."
Everyone looked at Skye with confusion.
"A pendant? What do you mean by a pendant?" A certain Dalmatian asked.
Skye was still skeptical about telling everyone but she had no other choice.
"He had a pendant in his pup house, it had a black and silver design on it, with a wolf carved into it." Skye explained.
"Huh...it couldn't be..." Agent Rich quickly examined the board.
"What? What is it?" Ryder asked.
"Give me a second, Ramirez, can I speak with you for a moment?" Agent Rich asked.
"Yeah." Agent Ramirez followed.
As Agent Rich pulled Ramirez aside, Decker came up alongside him.
"You think that's the pendant?" Agent Rich asked.
"There's no other way of seeing it, that's gotta be it. I'll gather up a report, keep the kid and the pups busy until then." Agent Ramirez advised.
"Wait up, mate. What about Chase?" Decker asked.
"What about him? He's involved in it so he'll know more about the pendant when we find him." Agent Ramirez answered.
As Agent Ramirez walked away to find out more, Agent Rich walked up to Ryder and gestured for him and the pups to follow him.
"Before I give you more of an insight of what's going to happen, I want to know how each of you felt about Chase, one of you at a time. Ramirez, come to the interrogation room when you're done." Agent Rich said through his earpiece.
"You got it." Ramirez replied.
"Ryder, you're first. Decker show the pups to the window so they can each hear what they have to say." Agent Rich ordered.
"Alright, follow me." Decker lead the pups on.
Agent Rich led Ryder to the interrogation room, sitting him down as he sat across from him.
"Now, Ryder. What did Chase mean to you? How did you come across him?" The agent asked.
"Well, my dad's friend gave him to me to help me cope, it was a terrible time but Chase helped, he was my best friend." Ryder stated.
"Uh huh, did Chase ever tell you anything? What he did before he met you?" Agent Rich asked.
"It took some time. When I first got him, he was quiet and afraid but after months of caring for him, he realized that we were a family, he started trusting me more. He told me what he did, how he hurt others and stole things out of greed. But after I started the Paw Patrol, that's when he started becoming happier and tried forgetting about it, he told me to not tell anybody but at this point, you and the pups need to know." Ryder explained in a depressed tone.
"Okay, that's all I need to know from you." Agent Rich motioned for whoever was next. "Decker will show you around."
As Ryder entered the room, the pups had worried looks, concerned about what their leader just revealed.
"You're up, air pup." Decker motioned.
Skye entered the room and hopped on the chair, facing the agent and ready to say whatever it is she needed to say.
"You're Skye, correct?" Agent Rich asked.
The aviator pup nodded.
"Skye, I understand this is a difficult time for you and your friends but you have to realize that we're doing this for you and your friends safety. Whenever you're ready, tell me how you met Chase and what he meant to you, alright?" Agent Rich asked as the pup nodded in agreement.
Skye stood silent as she started remembering back to when she first met Chase.
"I met him a long time ago, back before I joined, I was just a stray but I ran into him at the playground. He helped me." Skye slowly smiled at the happy memories she had with the Shepherd. "They needed help with Ace Sorensen and I told them what they needed to do, that's how I got into the Paw Patrol."
"Overtime, how did you feel about Chase?" The agent asked.
"I felt safe around him, he was such a caring pup." Skye stated, looking at the cold metal table, soon realizing that those memories were just that, nothing but the past. "I trusted him... but once he started separating himself from us, that's when I-we started getting worried. I loved him, he loved me..." Skye's eyes started to tear up due to pain she had to keep bringing back up.
"but he still left."
Ryder and the pups watched from the two-way mirror, sad to see their usually optimistic pup break down at the mere mention of the Shepherd.
"I always had these feelings for Chase and when we finally revealed it to each other, I felt like I was the happiest pup in the world." Skye managed to say with her breaking voice. "But even I couldn't see the lies he spewed at us when things seemed normal."
"Alright, that's all I needed to know." Agent Rich said as Skye hopped out of the chair. "Hey, we're going to find him, don't you worry." Agent Rich assured.