Chapter 7: One visit, two patients

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of overcoming it." – Helen Keller

"Chase?! Are you alright?!" Marshall yelled as he sat down by his mate, who was lying on the floor.

"NO! Silvex is DEAD! My partner is dead!" Chase screamed as he broke down crying. "I should have protected him, I should have tried harder!" Chase continued on a much lower voice. "You must think I'm worthless"

As Zuma watched with pity, he didn't know what to do. Yes, he saw Chase as a brother, but that had been over two years ago. They hadn't spoken since, except for a brief meet and greet in the middle of a shootout. Now it was just really awkward. So he could only stand there while an old friend was down on the ground and crying his eyes out, while another old friend was comforting him. Marshall and Chase were much closer to each other than Zuma was to either one, even before the PAW Patrol disbanded. The shepherd and dally seemed to have kept in contact since the funeral, and it made Zuma feel like an outsider. This feeling only got worse with Marshall's next sentence:

"If I thought you were worthless, why would I have ever picked you as my mate?" Marshall said.

It took Zuma a few seconds to process this new information, and another few to accept that his ears weren't lying.

"You're mates?!" Zuma didn't know what he was hearing. He always thought he was the only pup who wasn't into females. When Zuma asked this, Marshall looked up at him with a scared look in his eyes. This look was as if Marshall was caught with his paw in the cookie jar, which brought a hint of a smile on Zuma's face.

"Y-yeah, but I forgot you were standing there, Zuma." The dally said. "Do you have a problem with us being together?"

"No, not at all." Zuma said immediately.

"Wait, why are you so easy to accept it? I know we live in an accepting era, but still, this should come as a surprise to you" Marshall asked.

"It is a surprise, but well…" Zuma answered. "You two aren't the first on the PAW Patrol to fall for someone from the same sex."

"What?!" Chase asked the lab. From the moment Marshall and Zuma started talking, he had calmed down. The comforting words of his mate had really helped, and their conversation was a nice distraction from the pain of Silvex's death. But his breathing was still very agitated, and his face was unusually pale.

"Who?" Marshall added to the conversation. "And how do you know for sure?"

"Well…" Zuma started. "It's Everest."

"Seriously?!" Marshall said. "Do you know who she's dating?"

"I don't know who she's with right now, but I do know that she once dated Skye" Zuma answered, shocking both other pups. "Sorry, Chase. Though, I suppose it doesn't matter now? Ugh, this is so confusing."

"Skye was never into me?!" Chase asked, right before passing out.

"Well, in all fairness, he was never into Skye either. Apparently." Zuma thought out loud, too which Marshall nodded his head. As both pups were about to wake Chase, they heard an ear-piercing scream from the other side of the glass.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh"

As they heard the scream, both Marshall and Zuma looked up through the window, and they couldn't believe their eyes.

"What are ya, crazy?!" the Australian pup asked Bloodrazor. They just went through the entire plan, and the pup wasn't afraid of speaking his mind.

"No, I'm not crazy. This plan will work if you corporate fully that is. If you don't, well, you now know too much. I'm sure you understand what I'll have to do" Bloodrazor answered in his usually terrifying voice.

"Fine, you bloody wanker. But I'm telling ya if your people screw this up, I'll be coming after your bloody hide." the pup said.

"Time to go, the girl is waiting." Bloodrazor said.

"Let's just do this and be done with it." the pup said.

As Rocky woke up, at first he didn't know where he was. But then he remembered, he was on the company's jet. He had wanted to track down Zuma and go to Coastal City on his own, but that wasn't a possibility. Now that he was the CEO of one of the world's most important, he couldn't even take one day off, let alone enough time for travelling back and forth to Coastal City. But, they did come up with a solution, which came with quite some extras. Since this was their first venture in the US, he had to do it through official channels. That's why they had to travel per jet, to keep their cover alive. Said cover was the purchase of a major company with its headquarters in Coastal City. Its name was Inferno Industries, and it was a major player in the development of advanced weaponry for the navy. It was an expensive purchase, but to Rocky, it was more than worth it. And luckily, to the outside world, Inferno Industries seemed like a responsible purchase. It was very close to the breakthrough of the century with their new prototype bullets, which were wanted by pretty much every country, not to mention the crime syndicates.

He had picked Trisha and Henry as his travelling companions, the latter being his head of security. He also brought along a pilot and a co-pilot. There would be bodyguards waiting for them along with three identical armoured cars with two Apache military choppers on loan from the Netherlands as air support at Portland's airport, which was a half-hour drive from Coastal City.

Rocky didn't like to have all this protection, he felt it slowed him down. But it was necessary. Before leaving, Rocky and Henry had taken a closer look at Coastal City, and they discovered something quite shocking. They read through a few police files and compared them to the arrests, and certain facts just didn't add up. In the end, they could only draw one conclusion: most of the CCPD is corrupt. They compiled a list of all the honest cops, which was depressingly small. But Rocky was relieved to see that Chase's name was on the list, as well as his new partner's.

As he stretched out his limbs, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left hind leg. As he looked at the source, he didn't know what he saw, at first. But then the second flood of memories overtook him. He remembered the pilot warning them to put their seatbelts back on, and telling them there was some kind of mechanical failure. Rocky's head of security, Henry, immediately checked if Rocky was secure before he checked Trisha. Only then, he would take his own seat. Rocky vaguely remembers the flight getting rougher, and then it felt like they hit a bump. That was all he could remember.

Rocky tried to look around, but he was hindered by his left hind leg, which was stuck between his seat and the metal frame of the plane, what was left of it anyway. But what he did see wasn't very comforting. He saw Trisha sitting in her chair, with a nasty-looking head wound. He had no line of sight at the cockpit, and he didn't see Henry either.

"Calm down, Rocky, there has to be something you can do." Rocky said to himself.

"Alright, what do you see? You see Trisha, your briefcase, your laptop" Rocky kept talking. Wait, that's it! Rocky thought as he grabbed his briefcase. He opened it and saw that the contents had miraculously survived the crash. He found his phone, which had a busted screen but was still functioning, as well as his laptop. He immediately started to dial 911, but before he started the call, he hesitated.

How do I know the cops that are getting the call aren't corrupt? Rocky thought as he put down the phone. I need to find that list. Where is it?

Both Marshall and Zuma were stunned by what they saw. They looked straight at Silvex, who had been declared dead by the well-trained hospital staff. Silvex, on the other hand, was too busy to notice them. He was standing over the source of the scream: the body of a guy in a lab coat, who had fainted.

Zuma and Marshall both ran out of the observation room and entered the operating room where Silvex had been declared dead.

"Hey, guys, what's that look on your faces?" Silvex asked as he saw them enter.

"You were DEAD! How the heck did you survive?!" Marshall asked as he ran over to Silvex and checked his vitals.

"Uhm, Marshall, what are you doing?" Silvex asked as he backed away when Marshall put his paw against the husky's neck.

"Checking your vitals, duh" Marshall answered.

"Uhm, okay. But where's Chase?" Silvex asked out of the blue.

"He fainted when Zuma told us that Skye and Everest were dating. Never mind, it's a long story" Marshall said as he finally let go of Silvex. "Your vitals are good, your breathing is solid, if I hadn't seen you die myself, I wouldn't believe you had" Marshall concluded.

"Well, I have never felt better." Silvex said as he stretched out his limbs.

"NO WAY!" Marshall yelled, which almost gave Silvex another cardiac arrest. Marshall quickly approached Silvex and lifted his paw.

Zuma gasped as he saw what Marshall was so worked up about, which made Marshall get even more excited.

"There is not even a scar!" Marshall said as he looked Silvex over.

"What?! There has to be! I got shot!" Silvex said as he tried to look at his shoulder, but as he tried to look, he couldn't reach it. He kept trying, but it looked like Silvex chasing his tail, which made both Zuma and Marshall laugh. After a few minutes of laughter, Zuma finally had a grip on it. It was only then that he started wondering.

"But wait, shouldn't Chase be awake by now?" Zuma asked out loud.

"Yeah, you're right. Chase should have been awake by now, especially with all this commotion" Marshall said as he quickly ran to where they left his mate. Zuma and Silvex followed him.

As the Australian pup walked down the street, he was shivering in the rain. "Why'd that Bloody razor, or whatever his name was, not choose a nicer day to do this? Now I'll be soaked" he mumbled to himself as he walked to the corner where a van was waiting for him.

The pup got in and checked the load. There was a box with special items required for his mission, along with a female pup that was still alive, and a dead male pup still in his police uniform. He could faintly read the nametag: "Louis Stillburg". He almost felt sorry for them, but the paycheck was just too big to deny.

"Let's just get this done." the Australian pup said as he opened the box. He took out a police uniform that was similar to the one Officer Stillburg was wearing, along with a gun and a police radio. He attached both to his belt and got behind the wheel.

"Chase, wake up!" Marshall yelled as he shook his mate's body, to no effect. "Zuma, get a doctor, NOW!"

"I'll be right back." Zuma said as he ran off.

"Let me take a look, Marshall" Silvex said as he gently pushed Marshall aside. He felt for a pulse, and thank god he found one. But it was very weak, as was his breathing.

At that point, Zuma returned with a doctor, who immediately bend over Chase. He did the same tests Silvex just did, but the latter didn't say anything.

"Has he had trouble breathing?" the doctor asked

"Well, yeah, now that you mention it." Marshall said as he thought back. "But I thought he was just out of breath"

"And has he been in a close combat fight recently?" the doctor asked

"Yeah, just last night, we had a… reunion that went bad." Silvex answered. "Do you think he has internal bleeding?"

"No, but I do think he has damage to one or both of his lungs. I'm taking him directly to the Intensive Care." the doctor said as he carefully picked Chase up. "Leave your contact information at the desk and I'll inform you when we know what is wrong with him."

The doctor left the room, leaving all three pups to worry.

As the Australian pup pulled over, he parked his van just off the beach. He took a look at the beach, but it was deserted. Besides, in this darkness, he wouldn't be seen. He got out, after making sure that there were no fingerprints or DNA left. He walked around to the back and opened the double doors. He climbed in and took the female pup, closing the doors on his way out. The female pup was restrained and had a bag over her head, which the Australian pup took off. She was still gagged and zip-tied though.

"Hi Jessie, I'm Officer Stillburg, and you're gonna do a job for me." the pup said. He then cut her zip ties and pulled off the gag.

"You're a cop?! Why did you kidnap me?!" Jessie shouted

"Shh, keep ya voice down, or I'll have to kill ya." the pup said

"A-Alright, what do you want from me?" Jessie asked, at a much lower volume.

"For now, I want ya to walk to the beach." the pup said as he pushed Jessie in the right direction.

"And if I don't want to?" Jessie asked. The pup then pulled his gun, giving Jessie all the motivation she needed. "Fine, I'm going"

They walked for quite a while until they reached the water. Like the Australian pup noticed before, there was no one in sight. He then turned to Jessie.

Well, there's no going back now… he thought as he put on a faked grin. "Well, Jessie, we are here for one thing, and that's to make ya mine. I'll rape ya, and ya will bear my pups" the pup said as he lowered his gun.

"What?!" Jessie replied in shock. She noticed that the other had lowered his gun, and in that, she saw her opportunity. Knowing this was her only chance to escape before she got raped, she made an attempt for the gun.

Jessie had been starved for about 72 hours, and she was up against a career criminal. Yet, she was gaining the upper hand. She had moved the gun in-between them, and it was only a matter of time before she had the end of the barrel pressed against the Australian pup's belly. When she finally did, she didn't hesitate to pull the trigger. As the gun went off with a loud bang, the pup stopped resisting. He fell back, and carefully felt the wound on his chest. It was bleeding like crazy, but the Australian pup didn't give it up. He pulled out a secondary weapon and aimed it at Jessie. The latter didn't hesitate, and she shot the pup straight in the head. He went down, and he didn't get up again. After waiting for a few minutes to make sure he really wasn't getting up again, she dropped the gun and ran back to the city.

Rocky had looked through everything he could reach, but there was no list to be found. He had gone through his briefcase, looked in every drawer he could reach from his immobile position, but he didn't find it.

"I knew it was a bad idea to not bring a digital version" Rocky mumbled as he closed his briefcase. "Only one option left…" he then opened his roughed up laptop, and he accessed the hidden files. After typing in the password, he was granted access to all his research on the ex-PAW Patrol members. He went through the file quickly, only focused on finding a certain phone number.

Found it! he thought as he saw the 10 digit number. Let's hope this doesn't turn out a disaster

Rocky picked up his phone and typed in the number, but he hesitated to press the 'dial' button. Once he pressed it, there would be no going back. But after swallowing twice, he finally gathered the courage to press it.

It had been three hours since Chase had collapsed, and he was currently lying in a room in the ICU. The doctor's examination had been spot-on, Chase did get both his lungs damaged, but there was no permanent damage. The only risk right now was infection, but since they were in a hospital, that was no longer a problem.

The three pups were currently sitting in Chase's room, reading the magazines the hospital had to offer when a phone started ringing.

"Beep-beep-beep"

All three pups checked their phones, but when it wasn't any of theirs, they noticed the sound came from Chase's personal belongings bag. Marshall, who was the closest to the bed, walked over and answered it.

"Chase's phone." the dally said as he answered

"Marshall?! Is that you?" the voice on the other end replied. Marshall instantly recognized it to be Rocky's.

"Rocky?!" Marshall said with a tone of surprise. When Zuma heard the mix's name, he instantly looked up. The lab also started wagging his tail, but only Silvex noticed it.

"Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker." Marshall said as he did so. "You're on with me, Chase's partner Silvex and Zuma"

None of the three pups knew, but on the other end, Rocky had the same reaction the lab was having when he heard Zuma's name.

"So, what's up?" Marshall asked

"Well, I was on my way to Coastal City, but my plane crashed." Rocky said

"Oh god! We have to go help!" Zuma said as he quickly got up.

"Of course we will!" Silvex said as he too got up. "But why didn't you call 911?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure most of the CCPD is corrupt." Rocky said. The huge amount of pain he was in made him blunter than he normally would be.

"We'll trace your phone." Silvex said as he took the phone from Marshall. "Just hang in there, we're coming." Silvex said before hanging up the phone.

"Let's go." Zuma said as he left the room.

The pup waited patiently until Jessie had run off, before getting up.

"Oi, those bloody rubber bullets hurt like hell" he groaned. "But, well, I think that wanker bought it"

After winning the struggle to get up, he slowly made his way back to the van. He opened the back doors once more, but this time he took out the real officer Stillburg, who was long dead. He then returned to the place where he was 'shot', and put Stillburg at the exact spot where he had fallen after being 'killed'.

"Well, mate, I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. You see, 150k ain't easily earned" the pup said as he walked off.