Chapter 13: Finding the Base

"So how are Tuck and Ella going to bring my friend down to the HQ without getting the attention of Ryder or the other pups?" Chase asked as the three walked through the forest to Foggy Bottom.

"Usually for new recruits we scope them out first. You know, observe them in their field of work to get an idea of how good they are at what they do. I'm taking your's and Everest's word about Rocky. So you guys technically did the scoping out part for me"

"Okay… that doesn't explain how their getting him"

"I was getting to that" Sean said, "The way we recruit isn't just walking up and asking them 'Hey want to join our cause'. We're not some activist group. Plus if they say no they'll have the identity of our operatives. The way we recruit is we catch them off guard and safely bring them back to base. You were an exception to that since Everest brought you in herself"

"What do you mean by catching them off guard?" Chase asked.

"Don't worry about it. All you need to know is that it's done safely and in a way where they won't know where our base is" Sean explained as Everest turned her attention to the shepherd.

"Chase dont worry, he'll be fine. Remember he's our friend too" she said, giving Chase a reassuring smile.

Chase sighed, "If you say so"

Back at the Lookout, Rocky was in his room doing some maintenance work on his pup pack. He was deeply concentrated on his work until a knock at his door broke him from the transe. Rocky got up and walked over to the door opening it. It was Skye.

"Hey Rocky, me and the pups are going to play hide and seek. Want to come?" Skye asked with a smile.

"Thanks Skye but maybe later. I'm doing some work on my pup pack and it's taking a little while" Rocky said, trying not to upset the cockapoo.

"That's okay. Come find us when you're finished"

"Okay" Rocky said.

He watched Skye walk down the hall and round the corner before getting back to work. However right when he sat down and began working, his pup tag went off. He tapped the tag with his paw answering the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rocky it's Ella"

"Hey Ella, how are you and Tuck?"

"We're good, but I wanted to ask, can you swing by our place real quick. We need help fixing our tv. We think something happened with the wires"

"Sure thing. I'll be over shortly"

"Cool, thanks Rocky" Ella said ending the call.

Ten minutes later

Rocky arrived at Ella and Tuck's house. He walked up and knocked on the door. When his paw hit the door, the door slowly opened. Confused, Rocky walked into the house.

"That's weird. Who leaves their front door unlocked" Rocky said to himself, "Ella! Tuck! Anyone home?" Rocky yelled into the house, "I wonder where they went"

After a few more minutes of calling Ella, he went to walk back out the door. Before he could, a bag was thrown over his head and he was pushed outside into the back of his truck.

"Hey! Hey! Let me out please! Who are you!" Rocky yelled fearing for his life.

After around ten minutes of driving the truck stopped. He heard footsteps walk around to the trunk and open it. He was then yanked out and told to walk. The assailant guided him into a building and forced him to sit. When the bag was taken off his head, his mind was blown.

"Tuck!? Ella!?" Rocky yelled in disbelief, "What the hell was that!?"

"Sorry Rocky, we needed to get you here without you knowing where 'here' is" Ella said.

"And sorry if that was too rough. We tried to make that as comfortable as possible" Tuck added.

"Comfortable!? You threw a bag on my head and shoved me in my trunk. What did you think would be comfortable about that!? And why did you call me about your tv!? Cleary you need something else from me!"

"Listen we know you're angry but we need your help. For this we couldn't just go to you at the Lookout like we did with the collar" Ella explained.

"Wait Chase and Everest were with you last time when Chase asked me to fix his collar. Are they in on this too!?"

"Yes. They're the ones who wanted you here in the first place. They both vouched for you and said you were perfect for this job"

"What job?" Rocky asked as curiosity slowly replaced his anger.

"We need you to open up a phone. Chase and Everest will be back soon so they can fill you in on the rest. For now, they told us to ask you to open the phone" Tuck said.

"But why? And who's phone is this?"

"Like I said Chase and Everest will be back to explain everything"

"I don't think I can morally do this without knowing who's phone this is and why you guys need it open"

"Rocky, do you trust us?" Ella asked.

"Well after lying to me and basically kidnapping me, not really"

"Okay fine. Do you trust Chase and Everest?"

"Definitely more than you two"

"Then do this for them. I promise, when they get back they will tell you everything you want to know"

After a few minutes of thinking Rocky responded.

"Fine, but they better have a good reason for all this secrecy"

After his response they handed him the phone and he got to work.

Chase, Everest, and Sean were wandering the outskirts of Foggybottom. Well, maybe not wandering but rather blindly following Sean mainly because he was the only one who knew where this base was.

"So have you ever been to their base before?" Chase whispered to Everest.

"I've met other groups before. This one I haven't, I've only heard about them. Sean on the other hand has met with them before. I'm pretty sure he had some good relationships with some of them so I don't know how well he will take this"

"If he does have a breakdown, we'll be there to help him. We also need to remember why we're here in the first place. Not to mourn the dead, but to find out what happened and who is still with us"

"I haven't forgotten why we're here" Sean said drawing the attention of the other two, "I've been mentally preparing for this for a while. In this 'line of work' people can die anytime. That's why I've been ready to accept the fact that any one of us can die. The mission comes first" Sean said, leading the three of them down a path in the woods.

"I guess that's a good mentality to have. Just don't try to bottle up your emotions, it's not healthy. Trust me I've done it before"

"Yeah well I can't just start breaking down in the middle of a mission. That's how more people die"

"That's not what I meant"

"Whatever. We can continue this conversation later. We're here" Sean said as the three approached a large hill.

"What do you mean? We're in the middle of nowhere. Are you sure the base isn't more into the town?" Chase asked, looking around for any sign of a base.

"I'm sure. Follow me" Sean said as he walked around the hill and found a door hidden in the side of the hill.

"Woah. What is that?" Chase asked.

"Back during World War ll, a ton of bunkers were built to watch over the bay. They've been decommissioned and abandoned for years making them great hideouts" Sean explained. He opened the door and guided Chase and Everest inside. He flipped a switch on the wall turning the lights on. Everyone's eyes widened. The room was trashed, tables were flipped, notes and papers scattered on the floor. The one thing sticking out to everyone however was the body lying in the middle of the room as well as another one sticking half way out of a room. They were all at a loss for words. Of everything they were expecting, this wasn't it. Sean was the first to speak.

"I was expecting it to be bad, but not this bad...I guess let's have a look around" he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

The three dispersed around the hideout searching around for anything that could help them.

After about an hour of looking around they managed to find five total bodies.

"So… anything?" Everest asked.

"No. I think they managed to get all of them" said Chase, "Sean, who were they?"

"They were some close friends of mine. Echo, Comet, Tanner, Summer, and Chloe. We were all recruited and stationed at the same base. That was until I reached the rank of mentor and was given the opportunity to create my own team in Adventure Bay" Sean explained.

"We can't leave them here. Especially if they meant that much to you. They need a proper burial" Chase said.

"You're right, but this needs to be quick" Sean said.

The three dragged the bodies out, dug graves, and buried the bodies putting a cross at the head of each grave.

"We'll leave you alone for a few minutes" Everest said, leading the two of them away from Sean who sat there with his head hanging low.

A few minutes pass and Sean finds the other two.

"Thank you for doing that, both of you. I appreciate it" Sean said, which was met with a nod from the two.

"Although thankfully I can say there is some good news. We only found five out of the seven that were here. That means the other two, Columbia and Sam, are out there still. We need to find them"

"You're right. Were there any clues as to where they went?" Everest asked.

Sean shook his head no. She then looked towards Chase.

"I found coordinates on Echo's body. The could be a start"

"Great. Then let's get back to base. We can assess our situation and get a plan. Plus they probably have Rocky by now" Everest said as she walked away followed by Chase and Sean.

And another chapter done. Funny enough I only planned this story to be 10 chapters but I kept getting ideas I wanted to include so here we are. I also want to say thanks to Richmountain 112 for allowing me to use there OC Colombia. See you all in the next chapter. Peace.