M: So, chapter 21, only two left after this. I hope everyone is enjoying the story thus far. I sure did enjoy writing it.

Chapter 21: Lights out

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." – Plato

- Thursday, 9 pm -

After his call with Mr Night, Rocky decided that he needed to talk with Axel. He knew that it could be extremely dangerous, but Rocky wanted to know the truth about BlueWater. The story that Axel had told them was a lie, but Rocky didn't feel like Mr Night's version was complete either. The mix knew there was a part missing, a part that he desperately desired to know.

Rocky had asked Callum to set up the meeting, which was to take place the very same evening. The location was another warehouse, which looked even creepier than the last. But Rocky walked in regardless, though he wasn't sure what he would find.

"Hello, Rocky." A cool voice said from out of the darkness. Rocky recognized it as Axel's, although it did seem like the shepherd was more serious than normal. "I was told that you wanted to meet?"

"Yes, I did." Rocky replied, steadfast in his position. At that point, the lights in the warehouse were turned on, revealing Axel to be sitting on a sizeable couch, across from which were a couple of chairs. Rocky calmly walked over and took a seat in one of them. "I have some questions for you."

"I would imagine, after your little investigation into BlueWater." Axel replied, shaking the mix to his core.

"How did you know?" Rocky asked, wondering if Callum had somehow found out and told him. Axel seemed to read those thoughts.

"Don't worry, Callum didn't find out about it." Axel replied. "Actually, it was Lewis who gave it away. He once threatened to tell the press about BlueWater, so I was forced to put surveillance on him. Turns out, said surveillance was still active."

"So then, you know everything that he told me?" Rocky asked. Axel nodded. "So, will you answer my questions?"

"Sure, why not?" Axel replied, amusedly. For some reason, the German shepherd seemed to like being pushed in a corner like this.

"Alright…" Rocky said suspiciously. "Why did you lie to us about the project's true goal?"

"Oh, that one is simple." Axel replied, before actually answering it. "I lied to you for the same reason that I lied to the scientists on the project. They would never have worked on it if they knew what they were making."

"Why did you start BlueWater in the first place?" Rocky asked his next question, to which Axel took a moment to reply.

"Because I was ordered to." He eventually said, shrugging as he spoke. "But, halfway through the project, I realized that my supervisor was working for Bastion. So, I shut it down."

"I thought that you listened to my conversation with Mr Night." Rocky replied, angrily. "So why are you lying, again?"

"I'm not lying, I shut down the project." Axel replied. "Because I couldn't risk Bastion getting their hands on the finished product. However, I also had to keep the big picture in mind."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rocky asked. "What big picture?"

"My supervisor. He was working for Bastion, which gave them a man inside the CIA." Axel explained. "But that knife cuts both ways, which meant that I could also use him to get into Bastion. Because of that, I had to shut the project down without shutting the project down."

"So, you made sure the project was compromised…" Rocky concluded. It seemed as if the Ace of Spades had just filled in one of the blanks. "You purposely revealed the project's goal to the scientists, none of whom wanted any involvement with it. I'm willing to bet that you also let them call the police before you shut them down. Am I right?"

"Oh yeah, you've nailed it. My boss was deceiving me, I was both deceiving and manipulating my employees while also deceiving my boss." Axel replied. "Welcome to the CIA."

"What happened to the research?" Rocky asked. Now that he knew that Bastion was involved, he started to understand why the project made Mr Night so worried.

"That's where the story takes a turn for the worst." Axel sighed. "After the project ended, I managed to destroy most of the research. However, some of it survived. Amongst that research was the failed prototype bullet. From that bullet, a skilled scientist would be able to deduce what compounds to use."

"Meaning that if the prototype, no matter how defective it is, would fall into the wrong hands…" Rocky concluded, before Axel finished his thought.

"Then they would be able to continue the project right where we left it, in a fraction of the time." Axel said. "I don't know how Inferno got their hands on it, or how far they managed to take the research. However, since you own Inferno now, I chose to trust you with it."

"You trust me with it?" Rocky asked surprised. "Why? You didn't even know me until mere days ago."

"That's true, but I have heard a lot about you. About each of the ex-PAW-Patrollers." Axel replied. "Someone that I trust with my life, trusts most of you with hers. Rubble was the exception, an opinion which I consider to be quite accurate, given how he met his end."

"Who? Who do you know?" Rocky asked, even more surprised now.

"Let's just say that her flying skills are the only reason I'm still alive." Axel replied.

- Friday, 9 am -

Silvex and Chase carpooled to work as usual, though the air between them was a little tense. The detectives had gone out for drinks the night before and Chase let his and Callum's surveillance of the husky's date slip. Silvex was understandably annoyed, but he'd get over it soon enough. When the two detectives arrived at the precinct's parking lot, they ran into Captain Xavier.

"Good morning, Captain!" Chase greeted their boss, eager to get out of the tense atmosphere that ruled in the car. "Did you hear about our case?"

"Hello, Chase." Xavier replied friendly as always. "And yes, I've read the case file after the Sergeant advised me to. Somehow, you two always get the most interesting cases."

"Well, I'm just glad to have finally solved one on my own." Chase replied. At that point, Silvex arrived and together the three of them walked into the elevator.

"You're not giving yourself enough credit, Chase." Silvex said. "Any detective worth their salt would understand that you just didn't get the chance to solve a case on your own in your first week. It was pure insanity."

"He's right." Captain Xavier said. Despite them only needing to go two floors up, the elevator always took far too long. "I mean, you aided in the capture of a serial killer. Not to mention the Medal of Valour that you received for it. There are many cops who spent entire careers and never manage to do either. And despite your personal connection to the PtP-killer, it was some damn fine police work that solved the case. Once again, well done."

The elevator finally reached their floor and all three of them exited. They walked over to Sergeant Brooks, who would be handling their cases that day. Sergeant Brooks was on the shortlist for Lieutenant, but the exam for becoming one was over three years away. The Captain's exam, however, was only three months away. By extreme exception, Sergeant Brooks had received permission to attempt it and maybe become Captain. To that end, Captain Xavier had been sharing his tasks with the Sergeant, to give him some practical experience that would not only help him on the test, but it would also look very good on his application. It also meant that Captain Xavier could sleep in for another hour on Fridays and who could say no to that?

"Good morning Silvex, Chase and Captain Xavier!" The Sergeant greeted them. "You're an odd group to walk in at the same time."

"Just a coincidence." Xavier replied. Chase couldn't read Xavier's voice at all.

The group stood there chatting for a while, since their caseload was minimal. There weren't any new murder cases, so Chase and Silvex would just spend their day looking into the cold cases from the department. The last of those cold cases had been solved five years before Silvex became a detective, so looking through them was just considered to be busywork.

As Chase looked around the precinct, he realized that there were far less uniformed officers than usual. Normally around this time, the kitchen, break room and the hallway with the snack machines would be completely blue. But now, there were only a combined total of four uniformed officers on that floor.

"Hey, Sarge?" Chase called for Sergeant Brooks' attention. "Where are all the uniforms?"

"Huh?" The Sergeant asked confusedly, before realization struck him. "Oh, right! You didn't grow up here, that's why you don't know."

"Know what?" Chase asked

"About the parade." Silvex replied calmly, though there was a hint of a smile on his face. "Every year around this time, the pier's shopkeepers and some of the townsfolk organize a parade to celebrate. However, there is always supposed to be a strong police presence, but we always hear about the parade at the very last moment."

"All our officers are at the parade, they left about half an hour before you arrived." Brooks concluded the explanation, before turning around to a passing uniformed officer. "Hey Gary, could you grab the Captain's package?" Once he realized the sexual innuendo, Brooks quickly added. "The one delivered this morning? It's on his desk."

"A package, for me?" Xavier asked after the officer nodded and headed towards the office. They looked after the officer whilst the man was walking over there. Without the sound of their voices, the only thing stopping the room from being silent were the footsteps of the police officer. It's why all four of them could clearly hear the electronic beep when Officer Gary entered the Captain's office. All four of them instantly looked at Gary, who was frozen in the doorway. In about a single second, one which Chase experienced as one of those slow-motion moments in a movie, he thought that he just misheard it. But once that second was over, a massive fireball broke any hope Chase had.

The blast shattered all windows in the office. From where they were standing, quite a few feet away from the Captain's office, all of them were knocked back by the force of the blast. Chase could feel his fur being cooked, as well as the sickening smell of what was left of Officer Gary, who couldn't possibly have survived.

Chase's ears were ringing from the noise. In fact, the blast had been so bad that it was as if he could still hear the loud bang on repeat. When Chase turned his neck to see if it still worked, he realized that it wasn't the explosion that he kept hearing. The loud bangs were gunshots. Gunshots he could see being fired by four guys that had just left the elevator. They were shooting at the uniformed officers that had been sitting far away enough not to get knocked back. Chase had spotted them just as they shot one of his brothers in blue through the head.

Fighting through the headache, the ringing in his ears and the incredible vertigo, Chase pulled out his gun and opened fire on the thugs. In hindsight, Chase would have known that it was a bad idea. The shepherd was knocked down, far from any cover and could probably handle his gun's kickback only once or twice. But in the moment, he didn't think about it. All he could think about was trying to protect whatever cops were left. Chase's first round went straight through one of their heads. The second caught one of his partners in the shoulder, who then aimed his gun at Chase. Chase was left unarmed after the second shot's kickback had jerked the gun away from him. Chase could say that he saw his life flash before his eyes, again. But that would've been a lie, for he had faith. Just before he lost his gun, Chase saw Sergeant Brooks appear from the corner of his eye. Just like the shepherd would expect, the Sergeant shot the thug with excellent precision, giving the man a new hole in his head. The remaining two guys were quickly taken care of by Silvex and Xavier, who had also recovered from the blast.

"That was reckless, Chase!" An unsteady Sergeant Brooks yelled at him. "If I had been a second later, then he would've killed you!"

"What was I supposed to do?!" Chase yelled back as he was straining to get up. Out of the four of them, Silvex and Xavier had been the closest to the blast by about a feet, but Chase had been knocked back the farthest. It was why the shepherd was the only one of them without cover when the shooting started. "They were killing cops!"

After finally getting up, Chase looked around. He remembered there to be four uniformed officers, but he could only see two of them from where he was sitting. Both of them were dead. Counting Officer Gary, that made three out of four.

"We're missing a uniform!" Chase yelled way too loudly, the blast had still blown out most of his hearing. But each of the others was dealing with the same issue with their hearing, so it was actually useful that Chase was shouting.

Without any orders, Chase and Silvex started to search the room, while Xavier and Brooks had their freshly reloaded weapons trained at the elevator and the door that led to the stairs. They searched through the room, trying to ignore the bleeding bodies of their fellow cops. Eventually, Chase was the one who found the final officer. Turns out, she had been the first to get shot. Chase's near self-sacrifice had been pointless. When Silvex heard his call, the husky approached and a paw on the shepherd's shoulder.

"Why would anyone do something like this?" Chase cried out. The shepherd could feel tears welling up in his eyes. When he looked over at Silvex, hoping to find answers with the legendary detective, all he saw was his own sadness returned. Chase turned back to the officer and very carefully closed her eyelids. The two detectives then turned around and walked back towards the others.

Upon their approach, Chase caught himself looking at Captain Xavier. Chase didn't like or trust the man and he definitely wanted to arrest him. But right now, he was just another cop in this situation. And god knows they needed all the help they could get.

"The radios aren't working, and neither are the phones." Xavier said when they arrived. They must've cut the landlines and brought a jammer. "But neither of these guys had anything remotely resembling such a device."

"So, there are more of them in the building." Silvex concluded. "Captain, what do we do?"

Meanwhile, in the grand city of Portland, Hunter was finally excused from his meeting with the FBI Director. Ever since his arrest of the Blackstreet mafia's leadership, everyone and their mother wanted to meet with Hunter and congratulate him on doing an excellent job. Hunter was lucky that he was so high ranked, for it meant that he could ignore or deny most of the requests from the people that held a lower rank than his. Despite the slight annoyance of being in the spotlight, Hunter felt quite content with his accomplishment, except for the fact that his true mission had failed. Axel had told Hunter to stay put and endure it, which is exactly what he was doing. The SSA was attending the meetings and listened to the congratulations of people he had never even met, always leaving a great impression behind. There was even talk of Hunter getting a promotion, so everything was going great. Until Hunter received a phone call.

"Hello?" Hunter answered his phone. He had almost stepped onto the elevator, but he stopped when his phone rang.

"H-Hello, sir?" a vaguely familiar voice spoke on the other end. "It's Agent King from the DEA."

Hunter instantly remembered him, for Agent King was the corrupt DEA agent from the meeting in the Casino Royale. He was the one Hunter spared, in return for any information regarding Bastion.

"Ah, hello again, Agent." Hunter said, carefully choosing his words so that none of the people around him would get suspicious. "What do you have for me?"

"Bastion reached out to me. They want to propose a new deal." Agent King explained. "This time, they want us to be in charge of it. They'd like to discuss it in person."

"Alright, send me the location." Hunter decided. This could be his way into Bastion, an opportunity like they'd never see again. "I'll meet you there."

Hunter then hung up the phone and let it slide into his pocket, while he felt it vibrating from receiving a new message.

Back in Coastal City, the four cops had decided to try and find the signal jammer in order to destroy it and call for backup. They assumed that the jammer would probably be a handheld version which meant that one of the gunmen would probably have it on their person. In order to find them and eliminate them, the group had planned to search all the building's floors one by one, but that plan didn't last long. The second they reached the floor below theirs, they were heavily fired upon. They were forced to stay put and engage in the shootout, which they'd much rather avoid.

Chase had just emptied his second cartridge while covering Silvex as the husky ran for cover inside the room. Chase had managed to take out one of the gunmen during the salvo, but they didn't have enough ammo to keep it up for much longer. However, Silvex' tactical position gave him the opportunity to quickly shoot two of the gunmen, leaving only four left. There had been twelve at the start, so the group was steadily making progress. Still, they were running out of ammo fast and still had a whole other floor to secure, as well as the basement. Chase then spotted a fire extinguisher hanging from the wall and it gave the shepherd a great idea.

"Captain, grab that extinguisher and throw it far into the room!" Chase yelled over the constant gunfire. The Captain managed to hear him, but he clearly didn't understand what Chase was planning. But despite his confusion, he still did exactly as Chase asked.

The Captain basically ripped the thing from the wall, and tossed it into the room with all his might. The extinguisher landed exactly where Chase had wanted it and with a single well placed shot, Chase ended the gunfight. The shepherd's bullet hit the extinguisher on its side, very close to the bottom. Because of the sudden release of pressure, the fire extinguisher started to spin like crazy while spewing whiteness everywhere. The fire extinguisher, now a barely visible streak of red, spun around and proceeded to hit each of the gunmen. Every time it hit one of them, Chase could hear bones cracking and giving way. To the fire extinguisher, these full-grown bones seemed to be little more than straws. When the fire extinguisher finally came to a halt on the ground, each of the four remaining gunmen was lying on the ground with bones in unnatural positions. They were all groaning from pain. They were also all covered in the white foam from the extinguisher, as was almost the entire office.

"That was absolutely insane!" Silvex shouted through the room. "But extremely epic!"

"I'm just glad it worked." Chase replied as he sighed, releasing the breath he'd apparently held since he took the shot. The shepherd then walked over to one of the gunmen and pulled him upright. It caused the injured man to groan at his wounded leg, but Chase didn't pay attention to that. Instead, the shepherd started to interrogate the man. "Who do you work for?!"

The man, being in as much pain as he was, didn't even try to resist the shepherd. "Marcus Black." He answered.

At that point, Chase froze. He would have to act very careful now. Not too far behind him were Sergeant Brooks and Captain Xavier listening in on his interrogation. Neither of whom could know that Chase knew about Marcus Black being alive. If the Sergeant would learn the truth, it would lead to dangerous questions. If the Captain were to learn the truth, then their entire operation would be a bust. Chase took a few seconds to plan his response and then he acted on it.

"Don't lie to me!" he shouted into the gunman's face. "Marcus Black is dead, I killed him myself!"

"He was a decoy." The gunman said, his voice starting to strain. "The real Marcus Black is here, right now."

The gunman was about to pass out, so Chase made sure to shake him awake again. He needed to continue acting like he was in denial, but if they had the chance to take down the real Marcus Black, then that was a chance they couldn't afford to miss.

"Where is he?" Chase yelled at the man, scaring him back to consciousness. "Where is Marcus Black?"

"B-Basement…" The gunman replied, before passing out in Chase's paws. Chase took a hasty step backwards, before turning to the others. "Could it be true?"

Chase made sure to look at his Captain when he asked his question, just to try and read his reaction. But Captain Xavier was much better at this than Chase and he managed to keep his true feelings a secret.

"I don't know." Captain Xavier replied. "But if there is only a 1 per cent chance of it being actually him, then we need to act on it."

"Agreed. Marcus Black, if he's alive, needs to be dealt with." Silvex said. "And besides, he'll probably have the jammer close by."

"Then we're in agreement." Chase remarked, despite having heard from Sergeant Brooks. "Let's hope I don't have to kill him this time."

While Chase and Silvex were having the time of their lives in Coastal City, Hunter had managed to sneak away from the FBI office and had almost arrived at the meeting site. The meeting site was yet another warehouse. Most of these kinds of meetings were held in empty warehouses and Hunter had lost count of many he had seen. Hunter had briefed the Ace of Spades about the meeting during the ride over.

Hunter entered the warehouse, which was completely devoid of furniture. In the centre of the large, very empty building, Hunter could see Agent King waiting for him. Agent King was slightly shorter than Hunter, but he had a bigger build. Next to him stood another man, who was a little shorter than both Agents. Hunter assumed him to be the Bastion representative. Hunter approached them with a calm demeanour, but on the inside, the operative was tensing up. He tried not to show it, but Hunter was getting nervous.

"Good afternoon, Agent Hunter." The stranger said with a very posh British accent as he greeted the FBI agent. "We've been waiting."

"Sorry for making you wait, but I came as fast as I could." Hunter replied. At that moment, doors on all sides of the warehouse were swung open to reveal a lot of Bastion soldiers. They closed the doors behind them and locked them tightly. With all traces of daylight banished from the warehouse, the only light came from the overhead lighting.

Before he could react in any way, Hunter was completely surrounded. After a quick headcount, he counted there to be about 30 soldiers.

"So the corrupt DEA Agent betrays his boss yet again. It is so obvious, I should have seen that one coming." Hunter said. Both the DEA Agent and the Bastion representative were smiling smugly, thinking that they'd won. But, unbeknownst to them, Hunter still had a trick up his sleeve. "Which is why I saw it coming."

At the exact moment that Hunter finished his sentence, he could see the looks of smug victory disappear from their faces. But before they could react in any way, the lights all went out, leaving the group in total darkness. Hunter could then hear something heavy hit the ground behind him before he heard the sound of a blade unsheathing. What followed were sounds that one would only hear in horror movies. There was the slashing of a blade through skin, there were screams of extreme pain and there was the sound of blood splashing all around him. When the lights were turned back on, about a minute after they had gone out, each of the Bastion operatives was dead. But that wasn't the only thing that had changed. Right next to Hunter, a huge black wolf had appeared. The wolf had a sword sheathed on his back, and his fur was soaked in blood. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that Shadow had obliterated the Bastion operatives.

"What the hell?!" Agent King screamed as he stumbled backwards. "What are you?!"

"Oh, don't mind Shadow here, he was just bored and asked if he could come along." Hunter replied, grinning. His surroundings didn't seem to bother Hunter at all, he didn't even seem to notice the pure carnage around him. "Lucky for me, I guess."

Hunter then let a knife slide out of his sleeve and walked at Agent King, who was stumbling back even further.

"But what's even luckier for me…" Hunter started. He then reached out and grabbed Agent King's collar, pulling the man closer to him. "…is that he left me you…"

Back in the Coastal City Police Precinct, there was no shortage of dead bodies either. Chase and Silvex came across countless dead police officers and also a few gunmen, it would seem many of the officers had put up a fight. Chase and Silvex had carefully avoided being seen by anyone on the ground level, so that they could reach the basement unnoticed. Which they somehow managed.

When they left the stairwell at the basement level, they immediately ran into one of the gunmen. Chase had raised his gun and was about to shoot when Silvex jumped up and bit the gunman at his throat, letting his teeth sink deeply into the skin. The gunman was dead before he hit the ground.

"What the hell was that?!" Chase whispered to his partner, who had since let go of the gunman's throat. Blood was leaking from the husky's mouth, which the husky was quickly wiping away with a piece of the dead gunman's t-shirt.

"At least they didn't hear us!" Silvex whispered back. The husky had wiped away most of the blood, and had now drew his gun again. "Let's continue."

Chase silently followed his partner's order, but couldn't help being both amazed and terrified about Silvex' combat moves. The two detectives followed the main hallway, clearing each room they came across. The entire floor seemed to be empty, with the exception of the largest room in the basement. It was the lab where Rachel worked and where Silvex had gone countless times over the years. Chase, on the other hand, had never been there. Despite the situation, Chase couldn't help but feel a little excited about it. He enjoyed learning about being a detective and visiting the lab was part of that.

Inside the lab, they counted three guys, each one armed. The detectives couldn't make out what they were doing, but there was one detail that had caught Chase's eye immediately. One of the three men was wearing an eyepatch. An eyepatch just like the one that the real Marcus Black supposedly wore. Chase and Silvex both took a deep breath before they turned the last corner, and aimed their guns through the doorway, while they were staying just outside of the room.

"FREEZE, CCPD!" Chase and Silvex both yelled out. As they expected, the three men immediately started firing at them, so Chase and Silvex fired a bullet each before retreating behind cover. They had both taken out one of the gunmen, which left Marcus Black himself as the last one. The mobster seemed to realize this fact too, so he hid behind one of the storage shelves. He was unreachable by Chase or Silvex, but he could hit either of them if they chose to approach him. The lab had only one way in and one way out, which Chase and Silvex were blocking. Marcus Black had nowhere to go. However, it wasn't a position that the detectives were pleased with. Inside the lab, within Marcus' reach, there were several of the lab techs. Most of them seemed to be uninjured, but if the detectives would evacuate them, Marcus Black might shoot at them. There was really only one option left for these two good cops, which is why they abandoned their cover and moved in. They approached Marcus' position from two sides, which would put the mobster in-between them if he'd stay put. If Marcus decided to make a move, then it was fifty-fifty who would encounter him.

Chase very anxiously approached Marcus' position, just like his partner was doing from the other side. The entire floor and probably the entire precinct was covered by a complete silence. The kind of silence in which you could hear a pin drop. But it wasn't a pin that Silvex dropped, it was an empty glass beaker that had been standing to close to the edge of the shelf. The second that the beaker hit the floor, Marcus turned away from it a tried to flee, only to be met by Chase. In the split second before he made his decision, the mobster knew the result. Marcus Black raised his gun at Chase, but Chase fired first. At first, it was one shot, then a second and a third, all landing perfectly at Marcus' chest. Chase noticed that the mobster was wearing body armour, but one of the three bullets had slipped past it and made its way into the mobster's cold, dark heart. Chase could see the light in Marcus' one good eye dim, before it disappeared completely.

The crisis was over.

- Friday, 8 pm -

Shadow and Hunter were completely exhausted. They had spent the past several hours cleaning up the mess. They used bleach against all the blood and buried the bodies in a mass grave in a forest outside of Portland. Today, they had basically achieved the dream of pretty much every serial killer out there, all in the span of mere minutes.

The two operatives hadn't gotten any real information out of either the DEA Agent or the Bastion representative, so both Agent King and the nameless representative were accompanying the rest of the contributors of the ambush to the afterlife.

Shadow and Hunter had cleaned themselves up and were now sitting in the back of a bar, preparing to have a long conversation with the Ace of Spades about how they spent their afternoon.