Welp, this 2 parter arc is now a 3 parter arc.
Neo huffed as she unscrewed the vent cover. She hated air ducts with a passion. Cramped, dusty, and they actually make a lot of noise unless you put much more effort to be quiet than you should. Thankfully now she can just sneak along the rafters, and the sounds of dogs and cats would help mask her noise.
An E.T.P.A. compound was a weird place to get knockout drugs, but then again it was also the easiest. No one would think to break into an animal shelter or a pound so security was laughable, and it's not like they kept an accurate manifest of their inventory in the first place.
As Neo stealthy traversed the rafters, she paused to look at the commotion happening below her. Some E.T.P.A. employees were having trouble with two small dogs with muzzles on. They threw the yellow one in the oversized cage and locked the door. The small puppy started barking angrily as another employee kept the muzzled black/grey dog within her grasp despite his best attempts get free.
"Alright, now that he's secured again, should we get this one up to date on shots?" one of them asked.
The black/grey one froze as the yellow one's head bobbed as if giggling.
"Nope," the one holding the black/grey dog said as she tightened her grip. "This one is really aggressive... and far from his younger years." The yellow puppy's head bobbed faster while the black/grey one huffed.
"Yeah, I can already tell no one will adopt him anytime this week… or ever. It'll be a waste of resources keeping him in. Euthanize him?"
"Just because of his aggression… absolutely."
The dogs froze as their eyes widened. Neo's eyes widened as well, both at how nonchalantly and almost cheerful they suggested and agreed to it and how the dogs seemed to understand what was just said.
The two E.T.P.A. workers started walking away, the yellow puppy clawing at the door as the black/grey one started struggling and whimpering.
"Shhhh, it's ok. It'll be ok. It's only because no one will ever love you," the woman said.
Neo had to pause at that. That was messed up… and that was coming from someone who liked stabbing people just to cause them ungodly amounts of pain.
When they rounded the corner, the yellow puppy started pacing back and forth in his cell, whimpering.
It was a sad sight, but Neo had a job to do, she couldn't waste time with-
TONK! TONK! TONK! TONK!
Neo looked back down and saw the puppy repeatedly slam his face, and thus the muzzle, into the wall. She thought it lost its mind until, on the 6th impact, the left side of the muzzle broke and bent. It fully fell off after a few more hits.
The dog then started running fast and bashing its head against the door hard. The lock broke after the 5th hit and the door swung open. The dog then rushed out down the hall, only stopping at the corner to sniff the floor before rushing again.
The fact that a small and frail puppy was able to break off its muzzle and bust a door like that down peaked Neo's curiosity. She decided to follow it to kill time.
Humming a spy tune in his head, Jaune followed Zwei's scent through the facility. He had to duck behind pillars and boxes occasionally to not be seen. Eventually, Jaune made it to an open door, Zwei's scent was the strongest here.
He peeked inside and saw Zwei strapped to a table, trying his hardest, but to no avail, to break free as the nurse from earlier checked a syringe.
"Shhhhh, it's ok," she cooed as she pulled Zwei's fur apart for the needle. "It'll be over quick-"
CRUNCH
"GAHHHHHHHH!" She dropped the needle as she flailed her leg around trying to get the angry Jaune off her leg and ended up tripping through the door.
Jaune took the chance to jump up on the table. Zwei whined cheerfully as Jaune tried to gnaw and pull the restraints off. He got one off before Zwei barked in warning.
"I don't know how you got out, but you're first you little shit!" She charged at Jaune, trying to stab him with the needle. Jaune hopped onto the other counter to get away and she gave chase.
Zwei struggled but was able to slip out of his loosened remaining restraints. He jumped off the table and ran in front of the woman and tripped her.
"OW! Ok you little-..." As she got up she noticed that she fell on the needle, and it's contents emptied inside her. "...oh…." The woman's eyes closed as she slumped to the floor. Jaune and Zwei stared wide-eyed at her. Did… did they just…
"Hey Maggie, I got that eggplant parm for you," the man from earlier called out. "Also I accidentally gave you that knock out drug, I got the euthanasia right… here..." he walked through the door and paused when he saw the sight.
Jaune and Zwei looked at each other for a moment and then decided to show the man what it was like to be bitten by two angry boys. The man ran around screaming until he slammed face first into the wall and knocked himself out.
It would have been a clean takedown, but Jaune fell face-first into the eggplant parm and got his face stained with red sauce.
When Neo lost sight of the dog, she just decided to just get the drugs and leave. Before she did, she saw the dogs round the corner below. The black/grey one looked fine, and the yellow one's face and mouth were stained red.
Guess she knew what that screaming of bloody murder from earlier was… it really was bloody murder.
The dogs looked around the room, filled with locked cages of animals. They looked at each other for a moment and then started sprinting to the cages, jumping up and biting the locks off as they did so.
When they got all of the cages open, E.T.P.A. staff stormed the room armed with tasers and nets. The animals cowered in fear, but when the two dogs stood their ground and growled at the E.T.P.A. members, the other animals gathered courage and followed suit.
"Uh…." one of the E.T.P.A. employees said as they started backing in fear. "Nice doggies, nice kitties…"
The two dogs looked at each other, smirked, and let out two assertive and commanding barks. The poor E.T.P.A. employees stood no chance and screamed as they got swarmed.
Neo watched the yellow dog lead their way to freedom. He was strong enough to break himself out, loyal enough to not abandon his friend, assertive enough to take command, and vicious enough to kill.
A large smile slowly grew on her face. She liked this dog… she liked it a lot.
The E.T.P.A. receptionist didn't have time to greet the new arrivals as Cardin hopped over the desk and judo flipped her.
"Alright, we get Jaune and Zwei and leave, got it?" Cardin's team nodded. Right as they were about to bust through the door, the door was knocked down as a wave of cats and dogs knocked it down and charged out. They fled the building and into the streets. Team CRDL was too stumped in confusion to do anything.
At the end of the horde was Zwei, who stopped right in front of them.
"... did you even need rescuing?" Cardin asked. Zwei just barked and growled at him. "Hey, your fighting cost me a lot of money. You two deserve it. Speaking of, where's Jaune?"
Zwei turned around and was confused that Jaune wasn't with him. Where did he go?
Roman didn't know what to expect when he returned home, but seeing Neo holding a little yellow puppy was definitely unexpected. The dog looked around in confusion as Neo held him like a baby, looking up at him with pleading eyes and a smile.
Roman sighed. "You're feeding him, you're walking him, and you're cleaning up after him," Roman stated.
Neo nodded quickly.
"Ok, you can keep him." Neo bounced on her feet and hugged the puppy lovingly and tight.
She and Deadly Vanilla were going to have so much fun!
To be continued
Special thanks to Sixsamchaos for beta'ing/editing for me, helping inspire the idea that make this a 3 parter, and for coming up with Neo's pet name. Thanks man.