WHATEVER IT TAKES

When it comes to protecting those you love, how far can you go before crossing the line? Even though Chase and Marshall never asked this question, they receive an answer after a rare display of violence gets them suspended from the team. But time for guilt leaves time for reflection as the two ruminate on their error.

Chase and Marshall had always thought of themselves as good pups. As the firefighter and police officer of Adventure Bay, they had to lead by example when it came to their behaviour, and they never thought of themselves as having problems with anger or poor behaviour.

But the current lecture Ryder was giving them was causing them to have second thoughts.

The day had started off innocently enough. Rocky was out picking up trash in Adventure Bay as he did sometimes. Adventure Bay may have been clean, but it was far from spotless. Until he found a trail of garbage that seemed to lead to a spot in an isolated alleyway. When it abruptly stopped and he realised that he was in a dead end, he realised too late that he'd just been baited into a trap as one of Humdinger's kittens threw a net over the mix.

Nobody was any the wiser until the portly, sneering mayor had contacted Ryder, showing him that he had Rocky suspended in a cage over a pond in the woods, threatening to soak the pup over and over until the Paw Patrol publicly denounced themselves in front of Adventure Bay, telling them that they were unworthy of being their defenders, and that Mayor Humdinger would be a better fit for the town.

Naturally, the Paw Patrol took this badly, but no-one took it as badly as Chase, who found himself in a rare display of lashing out in anger when hearing the news. But the pups weren't expecting Marshall to become quiet and distant throughout the mission. The Paw Patrol split into three teams of two in a bid to find their missing recycling pup, and Chase and Marshall were the ones to do it and liberate Rocky from above the pond with Marshall's ladder. The mix had responded by tackle-hugging the dalmatian down the ladder, licking Chase silly and telling them both how amazing their rescue was.

But when Rocky had gushed to Ryder about just how they managed it, it was Ryder's turn to get angry. He'd never expected his pups to downright torture Humdinger into giving up the key to Rocky's cage. He wasn't seriously hurt, but the mayor was covered in bruises from Chase's tennis ball launcher and soaking wet from being nearly drowned by Marshall's water cannons, and he was crying like a baby as the cherry on top. When Ryder turned around from his reunion hug with Rocky and calmly told the two pups to see him back at the Lookout, the fear from the shepherd and dalmatian was palpable.

Ryder had been reading the two of them the riot act for a few minutes now, and only then did the pups realise that they may have gone too far.

"We… were just angry..." Marshall squeaked in a feeble bid to defend the two of them.

"And everyone else wasn't?" Ryder shot back, calmly, yet obviously bitterly disappointed. "Getting angry is NEVER an excuse for attacking someone the way you two did. I would've thought that you two, of all pups, would know better."

"There… There's no excuse for what we did, is there?" Chase whimpered, looking guiltily down at the floor.

"No." Ryder sharply replied. "We're the Paw Patrol. We don't attack people. We save people. It doesn't matter who they are. Even if it's Humdinger, even if they…" Ryder gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. "...kidnap one of us…" The boy then sighed and continued. "...getting violent like that is NOT the answer. Plus, Humdinger could probably use something like that against us. Don't pretend he wouldn't."

Being called out the way they were stung badly. But on reflection, the two had to admit, they deserved it. They weren't violent pups by any stretch of the imagination. And it was as Ryder said, their duty was to save people, not rough them up, regardless of how evil they may be. Otherwise, that made them no better than their enemies.

"However, you DID save Rocky." Ryder continued after a pause and another sigh. "Credit where credit is due, you both did well in bringing him back safe."

These words didn't do a great deal to make the two feel better. "But you've still gotta punish us… right?" Chase quietly asked, without looking at Ryder.

"I'm sorry, but yes. As I've said, the Paw Patrol does NOT attack people, regardless of what they've done or who they are. And you're both some of the most crucial pups on the team. I expect you to act like it. So you both need to take time off the team to think about what you've done. Three days of suspension ought to do it."

Chase looked up at Ryder in surprise. "Huh? Three days? For that?"

Ryder gave Chase a displeased glare. "Do you want me to make it longer?"

In return, Chase's eyes shot open. "Er, I-"

"NO! WE'RE GOOD!" Marshall loudly interrupted in a bid to keep them from getting into further trouble.

"That's what I thought. Chase. Marshall. Please turn in your pup tags."

This demand from their leader cut them deeply. Ashamedly, the two very slowly sauntered forward and sat down, their heads bowed the whole while. They reached behind them and pressed a button on their collars, detaching the silver, shield-shaped tags that hung from their necks, letting them drop to the floor. Using their noses, the two pushed the tags to Ryder's feet.

"Ryder, sir… We're so sorry..." Marshall whimpered.

"No need to get like that, Marshall." Ryder replied in a reassuring tone as he kneeled down to pick up the pair's tags. "You're both in trouble, but if either of you want some advice on dealing with this kind of thing, you've just gotta come talk to me."

Ryder didn't like having to punish his pups either. Not only were they better than this, but it was plain as day that they hated to see their leader disappointed in them. But he couldn't let this unexpected bout of violence go unpunished. Not only did he not raise a group of attack dogs, but if Humdinger could take advantage of this kind of anger, he could very easily use it to discredit the group as a pack of violent vigilantes.

"Do you… hate us?" Chase asked weakly. Ryder's eyes shot open in response as he instinctively found himself protectively throwing his arms around the two of them

"What?! No!" Ryder barked, to the pair's shock. "I'm disappointed that you'd go that far, yeah, but you know full well that I could never hate you!"

The two were staring at Ryder in bewilderment. How could he be raking them over the coals one minute, but adamantly denying hating them the next? Ryder stared at the pair of them for a little while before taking a deep breath and rubbing their backs.

"You're both still learning." Ryder gently told them. "Just like everyone else here. Sometimes, you've gotta make mistakes like that. Sometimes you've gotta go wrong so the rest of us can set you straight. In the end, you'll know what not to do and you'll come out better pups than before. And that goes for all of you."

The two found themselves feeling better, all of a sudden. Not by much, but it was something. Ryder always had the funniest ways of encouraging his pups.

"When you come back to the team, you'll both come back even better, right?"

The pups found resolve welling up in their bodies. "Yeah… yeah, we will… We can do that!" Marshall barked excitedly.

"Ryder, sir… thank you." Chase said with a soft smile.

"Anytime, Chase, Marshall. You're both excused." Ryder gently informed the pair as he got back up, allowing them to head for the door.

"Oh, pups?" Ryder called after them, stopping them as they were halfway through the door of his room. "By the way… Great job rescuing Rocky."

Chase's mind repeated the scene over and over. The shepherd lay listlessly in his pup house. As refreshing as it was that Ryder was disappointed rather than angry, and was still happy that they saved Rocky, Chase still couldn't help but feel guilty. He prided himself as a nonviolent kind of pup, but his playing of the bad cop alongside Marshall had left him haunted. But in truth, Chase had been playing the bad cop from the moment Ryder had announced what their mission was going to be.

"Paw Patrol ready… for… ac… tion?" Chase's words died in his throat when he saw Ryder looking more vexed than ever. The shepherd prayed that they hadn't been bad.

"Pups… I'm gonna cut right to the chase." Ryder began flatly. "Have you noticed someone missing?"

"Yeah, Rocky isn't here." Rubble observed. And it was true that the grey mixed breed was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?"

Ryder emitted a growling sigh, clenching his fists. "...Humdinger's got him."

The pups emitted a shocked gasp.

"WHAT?!" Chase roared, as if a switch had been flicked within him as the thought of his friend being stolen away.

"No!" Zuma cried. "Is he OK?!"

"Humdinger's saying that he's gonna soak him in the pond until we give him what he wants." Ryder explained, audibly angry.

"No… How could he?! What does he want?!" Skye yelled.

"SKYE, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT GIVING THAT SLIMEBALL WHAT HE WANTS!" Chase snapped, whipping around and glaring at the cockapoo.

"Chase! Down!" Ryder commanded. "Get that temper under control right this minute!" Chase, for his part, didn't budge, growling the whole while.

"Anyway, he wants us to smear ourselves in front of the whole town."

"No. We're not doing that." Marshall sharply, if flatly, replied.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Chase replied just as sharply, but perhaps not as flatly.

"Chase… temper…" Ryder sternly intoned. "But he's right. We're not."

Ryder had split them into teams. Chase and Marshall covered one area of the forest, Rubble and Zuma covered another, and Skye and Ryder ran general recon together. Chase's allergies had led them to the pond, and one co-ordinated set of attacks later, the kittens had run away from a combination of nets and water cannons from the pair, and Mayor Humdinger was trapped on the floor as Chase had fired another net at him.

"Hey, Chase… Er, can I come in?"

Chase found himself jolted from his thoughts by Marshall, who had poked his head around the corner with a similarly haunted look on his face.

"Oh, yeah, sure, pull up a house." Chase quickly replied, shuffling to the side. Marshall quickly took the invitation and laid down next to the shepherd, quickly directing his gaze to the floor.

"I… gotta say, I didn't know you had that kind of a vicious side." Chase observed in a bid to strike up a conversation.

It was true that Marshall was one of the last pups that Chase had expected to have an angry side. But muted though it was, it was very much there, as Marshall had made clear during the search.

"Got anything?" Marshall asked.

"…AAAAAAAAH-CHOO!" Chase emitted a violent sneeze. "That answer your question?"

"Kinda. I guess they've been down this way."

"AAAAH-CHOO! AAAAH-CHOO! AAAAAAAAAAHH-CHOO!" Chase had upgraded to a sneezing fit. "Urgh… it's getting stronger… this way..."

"Hey!" Marshall pointed with his paw. "Aren't those tracks?"

It was true. Tire tracks that didn't match any of the Paw Patrol's vehicles. They weren't far from Chase's face, but they were definitely there.

"Ah-ha! That's gotta be that catmobile thing!" Chase observed.

"I guess we're close, then. We're gonna get Rocky back."

"Not so fast. I've got a plan."

Chase went on to explain his plan of attack to the dalmatian, who listened intently, looking more serious than usual.

"Make sense?" Chase asked.

"One hundred percent." Marshall replied.

"Good. You ready, Marshall?"

"No..." Marshall replied flatly, his eyebrows furrowing into a glare. "...I'm angry."

Marshall could only whine at the reminder of his sudden turn towards the dark side.

"Neither did I… I… I don't like it, Chase. It makes me feel… dirty."

"Hey, I wasn't much better." Chase reassured. "Didn't you see me screaming in Humdinger's face?"

"I barely noticed, actually. I was so angry..."

"Well, so was I. I guess it's not like we didn't have a reason, though."

"It was a pretty good reason, not gonna lie. But the worst part is… well, I don't feel THAT bad about what I did."

"Huh?" Chase whipped around, shocked at Marshall's confession. "Marshall, are you crazy? You do realize that we got in enough trouble for beating up Humdinger like that, right?"

"I don't like that I got that angry… But it… feels kinda worth it, actually."

"'Worth it'?!" Chase spat in shock. "How could being suspended for three days be worth it?!"

"Because it doesn't matter if you're Humdinger, Sweetie, or even some kind of dragon..." Marshall had slowly raised a paw into the air, before slamming it into the floor with extreme conviction, his face shifting to a determined glare.

"...NOBODY hurts my family."

Chase had to admit, he was shocked by the suddenly display of stern conviction. "But there are better ways of getting one over on people like that!"

"I know. And I don't wanna get so angry as to hurt someone again. But hey. It was just the one time. And again, one of our friends being put in danger like that is a pretty good reason to get angry." Marshall finally found the resolve to look back at Chase. "Don't act like you don't think the same."

"Well…" Chase tried to find a rebuttal, but he had to admit, Marshall had him there.

Thinking about it, it was kind of hypocritical that he was shocked over Marshall getting overprotectively angry. It wasn't as if Chase had much of a leg to stand on in that regard.

"OK, yeah. Guess I wouldn't be much of a leader if I didn't, right?" Chase soon found a small, if rueful, smile returning to his face. "Plus, Rocky thought us interrogating Humdinger like that was pretty cool."

"He was pretty grateful, huh?" Marshall smiled back at the shepherd. "I'd say that alone made it worth it. That and… well, getting to spray Humdinger's smug butt wasn't too bad, either."

"Not every day you get to bean that troublemaker with tennis balls, either…" Chase replied, his mind replaying the scene of their interrogation after they had routed Humdinger's kitten minions.

"WHERE?! IS?! THE?! KEY?!" Chase roared, his muzzle barely inches away from Mayor Humdinger's face.

"Urgh, Ryder isn't very good to you, is he?" the netted Humdinger asked condescendingly. "He doesn't ever brush your teeth, clearly!"

"TENNIS BALLS, FIRE!" Chase shouted, as another salvo of tennis balls flew forth from the launcher on his back, battering the bruised Humdinger's face, causing him to yelp and shout pathetically.

"I'M GETTING REALLY TIRED OF PLAYING WITH YOU, HUMDINGER! KEY! NOW!"

"Urgh… Say please, you rude little beagle!" Humdinger defiantly spat.

"FIRE!" Another salvo of tennis balls struck Humdinger between the legs, causing him to howl in pain before curling up and crying. While all of this was going on, Marshall stood a small distance away, watching with a blank expression on his face and Rocky watched from his cage, astonished by what was going on below him.

"I'M NOT GONNA TELL YOU AGAIN! GIVE US BACK OUR FRIEND OR I'LL DO THAT A HUNDRED MORE TIMES!"

"N… N-never! Not until you give me what I want!" Humdinger smirked through his obvious pain.

Chase was quaking with rage. Humdinger was close to breaking. He knew it. But the temptation to lunge at him and chew his fingers off grew more and more. Normally, Chase wouldn't treat Humdinger as anything more than an annoyance. But now, Humdinger had turned things deeply personal, and Chase was treating it accordingly.

"Say, Mayor Humdinger?" Marshall asked calmly, seizing his moment with a lull in the conversation.

"Urgh. What?" Humdinger rudely replied.

"I've got a question of my own, actually."

"You can be as nice as you like, I'm not giving you the key. Not until you all tell Adventure Bay what's good for them." Humdinger sneered.

"No, no, it's nothing to do with that." Marshall said, with a disarming casualness to his voice. "Just hear me out a sec."

"Ugh, these pesky pups..." Humdinger muttered. "Alright. I'll humor you."

"Sweet, thanks." Marshall replied with a sugary breeziness. "So I was wondering… do you know what it's like to drown?"

"'Drown'?" Humdinger echoed with a scoff. It wasn't as if the pups had the strength to drag him over to the pond. "No, I can't say I have. Why?"

"Water cannon… arf." Marshall muttered as quietly as he could. As his cannons sprang forth from his Pup Pack, Marshall whipped around with a glare that could melt stone. What Marshall meant quickly hit Humdinger hard, who turned as white as Marshall's fur.

"Wanna find out?"

It didn't take long for Marshall's impromptu waterboarding combined with Chase's battering to get Humdinger to break, throwing the key at the pups and begging them to leave him alone, crying almost the entire while. Chase shuddered slightly at the memory. They were all nice pups, and none of them had ever made a grown man cry before. Even though Humdinger had the mental maturity of someone a tenth of his age.

"I know it's not right, but there's one thing we have in common." Marshall observed.

"We'd do anything to protect each other?" Chase predicted.

"Yep. Like when Sweetie tried to frame you. She's really lucky I had a grip on myself then, or else I probably would've shot her out the window with my Hydro Launcher."

Chase blinked, surprised to hear those kinds of words come from Marshall. "You'd do that for me?"

"Is that even a question?" Marshall replied with slight indignation. "Haven't we just spent the last few minutes talking about how we'd do anything for each other?"

"...you really are something, Marshall." Chase said in amazement.

"Hey, we all know you'd do the same for us."

"Heh, yeah. When Sid and Arrby captured you… Well, it's probably a good thing Ryder assigned me to the lighthouse. If he didn't, I probably would've shot my net at both of them and dumped them overboard."

Both pups giggled at the thought, before their faces fell once more. Perhaps they were more violent than they liked to admit. They were protective, but that didn't really excuse getting physical.

"...this is a problem, isn't it?" Marshall asked. "Our violence, I mean."

"Oh yeah." Chase replied firmly. "But thinking about it, it could've been worse. I mean, we could've bitten him until he gave up the key."

"Urgh, Chase, don't-!" Marshall gagged, clasping his paws over his mouth at the thought of biting someone.

"Sorry, sorry…" Chase watched as Marshall stopped himself from losing his breakfast. "But even though it could've been worse, we can't do this again. Like Ryder said, we're rescuers, not attack dogs..."

"Guh… Well, Ryder offered to talk to us about it, right? Wanna go together in a few?"

"I was gonna ask you that." Chase flashed a grin at his friend. "We'll find a way to protect each other without getting violent. Like he said, Humdinger could use something like that against us."

"I'm sure we'll find a way." Marshall returned the favour with an optimistic smile. "It doesn't have to be violent, right? We'll always have a way to rescue each other."

"Yeah. After all. We'd go around the world and back to keep each other safe."

Marshall extended a paw towards Chase, who happily high-fived him.

"Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes."

The two had to admit, this little heart-to-heart made them feel much better. They may have done wrong, but it was just another bump in the road for them to overcome. And it was refreshing to have the confirmation that they were as protective of their family as each other. And they knew that they were both determined enough to find another way to protect everyone. The consolation that Humdinger wasn't likely to try and take one of them hostage again any time soon helped, too. The two pups lay in Chase's pup house quietly for a few minutes, simply enjoying one another's company until a familiar grey pup came trotting up.

"Hey, guys!" Rocky cheerfully greeted the two.

"Hey, Rocky." Chase greeted the mix. "Feel better?"

"I've been feeling better since you got me out of Humdinger's trap, Chase!" Rocky replied with a big grin. Chase and Marshall couldn't stop themselves from smiling in return at seeing Rocky so happy. But it didn't take long for the mixed breed to adopt a more serious face.

"...look, I'm sorry Ryder punished you two." Rocky said sincerely. "I should've known he'd do that. I guess I got too excited over seeing what you did back there." As excited as Rocky was, he didn't want to get the two of them in trouble.

"No need to apologize to us, Rocky." Marshall replied. "We shouldn't have gotten so angry that we'd attack Humdinger like that."

"Hard to blame you both. He IS Humdinger, after all." Rocky said with a hint of levity.

"But that doesn't mean we should've done it!" Chase maintained.

"Maybe not..." Rocky said, before moving in and laying down, placing a paw on the backs of their heads, and alternating between nuzzling the pair of them.

"...but either way, you both saved me." he whispered. "And it was awesome to watch. Thank you both… for everything."

Rocky's gratitude brought the smiles back to the pups' faces. "It was all worth it this time, Rocky." Marshall replied warmly.

Rocky stood back up. "You know, I was just about to head to Mr. Porter's for some cake. You guys wanna come with? My treat for saving me."

Marshall perked up, immediately getting to his feet with a huge grin. "You had me at 'cake'!"

Rocky burst out laughing. "Heh, you sound like Rubble, Marshall." Rocky grinned with amusement.

"Well, getting punished for being violent leaves a pup kinda hungry." Marshall joked in response as he left Chase's pup house.

Chase could only snicker under his breath. It really was amazing how quickly his friends could bounce back from a bad situation...

"Chase?" Marshall asked, turning back to him with Rocky at his side. "You coming with?"

...but then, so could he. Being snapped back to reality by Marshall's words, Chase got to his feet with a warm smile.

"Sure thing."

...should I have put an out of character warning somewhere above this fic? I probably should have. I know that Chase is shown to be protective of the other pups in the show (and kind of a worrywart about them), but I doubt he'd be shown to go this far. Marshall is a bit of a different case in this regard, though. I get the feeling that, deep down, he's just as protective of the others. And he may be a silly joker, but I think he'd be TERRIFYING if pushed far enough. And if things got bad enough, he'd stop messing around and reboot into seek and destroy mode if he needed to. As they say: it's the ones you least expect you gotta watch out for. How they'd show this on the show is beyond me, though.

Now... I feel the need to warn you. If Boiling Over seemed heavy to you, then think about that for the next fic... and multiply it by a factor of 11. This next one is going to be Heavy with a capital H. But that said, it also happens to be not only one of the longer fics, but also my favourite of the bunch, and I'm honestly excited to get to share it with you. But until then, you'll have to make do with this preview. Hope to see you Wednesday.

ERUPTION

Many a word has been used to describe Chase. Controlled. Professional. Protective. Worrywart. The last two especially so, thanks to Chase's love for the other pups. And when Marshall takes an unnecessary risk on a rescue, Chase reaches his limits and goes too far in a fit of uncontrolled fury. The actions of the two pups end up scarring each other, but the same two pups are also the only ones who can heal each other's wounds.