I don't own anything here other than OCs
CH17
"I'm gonna get you, bro!" A Golden Retriever pup playfully called out as she ran and traced the scent of another lab, her twin. The two were playing tag in their favorite patch of woods on the outskirts of Adventure Bay. They were where they wanted to be right now with no worries.
Tuck was far ahead of her although he was almost out of breath, he couldn't keep this up for much longer. He'd spent much of is energy zigzagging in order to throw her nose off, it was now costing him.
Hearing her voice not far behind him, he ran in a couple more circles before diving in a bush, he hoped he would be able to regain his stamina without her finding him. He saw her not long after, sniffing the ground.
"Oh tuck, I know you're somewhere around here." She called.
Tuck watched her through the bushes, she was a few meters away looking around now. He thought she looked at him for a second but she kept looking around. He was about to take off out of the brush as his stamina had come back, but the second he thought about it…
"Tag! You're it!"
The bushes shifted and her paw touched his chest before he could even react.
"Your pup tag gave you away, like always." She said with an innocent smile, before turning to run away. Tuck rolled his eyes and hit the ground.
"Alright Ella, I give up! You win!"
Ella came right on back, a mischievous grin formed at the end of Tuck's muzzle as he laid there and pretend to be tired.
"You're giving up already?" She asked with slight dissatisfaction in her tone.
"Yeah, I'm too worn out today, I don't know what's gotten in me." He lied.
"Oh okay, if you say so." She whined, beginning to walk back towards him.
Tuck waited for the right moment as she walked closer. Now, Tuck sprang up and charged, tapping his sister right on the nose.
"Tag! Now you're it!" He exclaimed as he darted away.
"Hey!" Ella shouted before she took off after him. "That's not fair!"
Ella chased him all the way to the edge of the woods until his energy gave out and they both ended up collapsing on the ground in exhaustion. She reached out her paw and tapped his tail.
"Tag, you're… it." She said between breaths.
Tuck eventually sat up.
"Well that was fun, how about a game of hide and seek before we grab some dinner?" He suggested.
"Sounds cool." Ella agreed. "We can go play over there by those… buildings." Ella froze when she got a good look at said buildings.
Tuck looked to where she was staring and took on an equally surprised look. The buildings appeared to resemble a fortification of some kind and was stationed at a clearing just shy of a tree line.
"I don't recall that place being there." Tuck said as he eyed the place suspiciously.
"That's because it wasn't here the last few times we played in this part of the woods." Ella stated the obvious.
The twins peered at the buildings. The buildings appeared to be metal, two story modulars that were painted a Dark Green, in fact, the whole place was painted that. The buildings were surrounded by a high metal gate shaped in a square around them with watch towers at each corner. They could make out generator lights poking out from the inside of the fence and on top of the central building they saw a curved rectangular dish rotating.
"That looks like a radar." Tuck pointed out.
"Is this like a secret base or something?" Ella wondered aloud.
"I don't know, but it must have just been built." Tuck summed up.
A car pulled up at the rear of the base which caught the pup's attention. They watched the tinted vehicle closely as it stopped just outside a gate, some movement occurred near the car but their vision was obscured by the buildings. The gate opened, allowing the car into the back of the base and out of the dirt road. The car creeped inside the base and stopped just outside one of the smaller buildings adjacent to the central one, some men in tan suits in shades stepped out, followed by a boy.
"Hey," Tuck muttered as he peered at the kid. "That looks like Ryder!"
"What's he doing in there?" Ella asked.
"I don't know."
The curiosity was now killing Tuck and as much as the place was giving him bad vibes, he decided to walk closer for a better view.
"Ella c'mon, let's go see." Tuck whispered behind him as he started to creep towards the compound.
Ella tensed up. "I don't know Tuck, this place looks kind of shady."
"Chicken." Tuck barked.
"Alright, fine!" Ella quipped before she followed her brother.
The two stayed low to the grass as they followed the tree line to the wall. The wall itself had a solid metal bottom half with the top half being grated, and barbed wire lined the very top. They noticed a white emblem on the wall that resembled a knife piercing a broken heart with the words around reading 'Dagger Corps PMC'. They didn't know what that meant but Tuck stopped just before the fence and looked back at his sister.
"Can you give me a boost?"
"Yeah, hold on." Ella said as before she moved in front of her brother, allowing him to climb her and use her as a stool.
"Thanks, sis." He thanked as he used his paws to grab the grated part of the fence and pull himself up so he was eye level with it, taking some of the weight off of Ella.
"What do you see?" Ella asked eagerly.
Tuck could make out Ryder as plain as day now.
"It is Ryder, but I don't see any of the other PAW Patrol." Tuck noted as he continued to observe.
He could see that a couple of the men in tan suits were now escorting Ryder to the small building, Ryder himself kept his eyes low and his face was emotionless. Two more men surprised Tuck as they moved from the building, they had on fatigues and vests that matched the color of the base which explains why he didn't see them earlier.
"What's happening?" Ella piped up.
"They're some guys in suits and some army men," Tuck noted. He noticed the camo men escort Ryder to the building. "They're taking him to one of the modulars and he's not looking very good."
Ryder disappeared inside the building with the men in fatigues and the door closed behind them. The two guys in suits went back to the car, the vehicle drove off once they got back in it.
"I lost him in the modular." Tuck said as he got back down off of Ella.
"Do you think he needs help?" Ella asked worriedly.
"…ugh, it looks like it but I don't think we should go in there alone." Tuck said, unsure.
"Hey we can call the PAW Patrol!" Ella exclaimed with her voice low as she was already calling them on her pup tag.
Tuck nodded and looked hesitantly back up the wall, he wasn't sure that even the PAW Patrol could handle this place.
After awhile, Ella glared in frustration at her pup tag. "Grr." She eventually growled.
"What is it?" Tuck asked.
"It's says the call isn't going through, I've never had this happen." Ella complained.
Tuck was now taking a look at her pup tag in the scope, the crosshairs stayed in between them.
Crackle
"Hey Boss, we have a couple of dogs outside the compound. They look too smart to be strays, I think they might be test subjects."
There was a pause before a response came.
"What are they doing?"
"Uhh it looks like they're trying to call for help, I think they were snooping around and saw their little hero boy get put away. (Giggling), looks like that scrambler works though, do you want me to take them out?"
"Hold on, I'm calling Dr. Levy."
There was another long pause.
"Go ahead and eliminate them, he's not responding. I've about lost my patience with that egghead!"
"Will do, sir!"
Click!
The crosshairs moved just above Ella and the red reticle was focusing on her midsection, just behind her shoulder.
Tuck gave up on her pup tag and tried his, he got the same result. "I don't know Ella, I'd say let's go back to town and try."
Tuck froze when he noticed movement in the tower to their right, he mentally cursed himself for not checking those as they came over. He saw a small shadow shift up against the fading sunlight that shone through the back of the tower, there was brief glare. His instincts suddenly screamed at him and he acted.
"ELLA GET DOWN!!!"
Shreem!
The two were on the ground after Tuck pushed Ella.
"OOOGGHH!!" Ella wailed after a painful searing sensation took over her back.
Shreem!
The ground exploded beside them and they both simultaneously shot up, Ella tripped but Tuck was quick to get her moving.
"Dammit! Little b!@ches!"
The action of the bolt loaded yet another bullet.
The twins ran and ran through the tree line.
"Zigzags sis! Zigzags!" Tuck desperately yelled so they would be a harder target for the gunman to hit.
Ella just barely managed to heed her brother's advice as she tried her best to ignore the now excruciating pain, the running wasn't making it any easier. They were getting deeper and deeper into the woods.
Shreem! Bam!
"AAAGH!" Tuck cried out, the round hit a tree on his coming left, sending splinters flying. He felt a few and immediately shut his left eye.
They kept running, even minutes after they both thought it was safe. Ella eventually lagged behind and collapsed in exhaustion and pain, her brother immediately ran back to her.
"Ella! We have to keep going!"
"I can't…" Her voice broke and tears fell. She whimpered and hissed as the stinging caused her to grit her teeth.
Tuck could see that the high velocity round had grazed her back near her shoulder blade pretty good, if he had took even a few more milliseconds, it would've been a direct hit on her lung. He wouldn't won't to live anymore if he lost his sister.
"Why!?" Ella sobbed. "Why would they want to shoot us, we're just pups!?"
"I… I don't know Ella, but we need to get the PAW Patrol!" Tuck's said with mix of fear and determination. He moved his paw up to his left eye, and instantly shot it away when it made contact with the edge of a splinter that was lodged in the corner of his eye. "Ooh!"
"C'mon sis!" Tuck urged as he helped her up. "It's almost dark."
Ella shrugged some of the pain off and started to lightly jog with her brother to the exit of the woods, she winced the entire way.
The sun was now well below the tree line when they could make out the park they usually play at through the trees.
"We're almost out, just a little further." Tuck encouraged.
The sound of a heavy vehicle coming down the road in front of the park stopped them in their tracks, It came into view as some type of armored transport. It rolled and rolled, shaking the ground, before stopping right before the park.
Distant yelling came from behind them, sending them into panic mode.
"Tuck, what do we do!" Ella cried.
Only one thing could come to Tuck's mind. "Hide!"
There were a lot of thick bushes in this part of the woods and didn't take long for Tuck to identify the thickest one, he ran for it with Ella in tow. Right as they jumped in, the sound of leaves cracking rose from all sides and behind them.
"This is Delta Team, all clear, just made visual with Team Charlie on the road due North!"
Tuck peeped through the leaves to see the owner of the voice rushing and stopping just before the bush they were in. He was one of the camo men, but with a brimmed hat instead of a cap. He trained a rifle around with a thick thread at the end of the barrel.
"If only we had our Mighty Gear right now." Ella whispered below him. He didn't respond but he most certainly agreed.
The guy's radio crackled on. "Are you sure? Watch B said they were going that way, and our drone tracked them to your area just a two mikes ago."
They have a drone?
The man responded. "Well if they're still here, we'll find them, we're about to choke this place anyway."
Choke? Fear gripped both of them.
"Roger that, carry on." His radio cut off.
"I don't see why we can't just light these bushes up, I'm sure they're in one of them." One of his subordinates suggested as he walked closer training his rifle around. The twins hugged the ground in fear.
"Do you know anything about 'discretion', private?" The man in the brimmed hat barked at his subordinate.
"We have suppressed weapons sir, can't raise too much of ruckus." The private shot back.
"Doesn't matter, we're close to the town now and can't risk alerting any other subjects at any cost, and I'm not about to have this big payout ruined by some dumbass like you!" The higher ranking gunman stated firmly.
"I'm telling you," another subordinate spoke up meters away. "This would be easier if we brought a K9 Unit with us.
The other subordinate laughed. "So what? Those puppy subjects can tell them lies and rebel against us?" The man joked.
The other men bursted into laughter.
"Can it!" The leader yelled. "Here comes Charlie Team."
Tuck managed the courage to peek again and he could see that the APC on the road had fully dismounted and men in full fatigues and gas masks entered the woods.
"I suggest you all clear the thicket." The leader of that team said in a muffled voice.
"You heard him, men, rally back to the tree line!"
With that order, Delta Team retreated to the direction they came from. The men in gas masks began to spread out around the thick bushes.
Tuck peeped around different angles of the bush, he immediately thought now was the time to make a break for it. But as he moved to tell his sister, the men chunked cylinders all around the thicket with one landing right next to the bush they were in.
PUFF!
They popped with grayish green mist steaming out. Tuck immediately dropped back to the ground in fear. It wasn't long before he caught a whiff of the gas and immediately gagged due to it's acrid smell. His eyes started to burn and it made his wounded eye feel like hell, drowsiness started to creep in as well.
"Sis, we gotta go!" He grunted as he picked Ella up and charged out of the bush.
"Bro, Wait!" Ella cried out of desperation to not get left behind.
The leader turned to the cry and saw them dart through the gas. "That's them!" He pointed.
The men started to follow after them with their weapons trained.
"Let the gas do the job boys, we get paid more if they're alive." The leader reminded.
Tuck made it out of the gas screen but fell on the ground huffing and wheezing.
"No Tuck! (Cough) we have to keep (cough) going!" Ella yelled in a coughing fit.
"Just keep going Ella, leave me!" Tuck cried out.
"No!" Ella started to cry as she tried to help him up.
"AGGH!" She squealed in pain after a pressure on her back forced her the ground, she was then lifted up by her scruff. She was moved around to face the gas masked leader.
"Well here it is boys, one of those talking puppies up close." He presented.
"Why are you… let me go!" She struggled tearfully.
"Man that's surreal!" One of his subordinates noted in awe.
She soon went limp, and her eyes gradually closed.
"Cage." The leader ordered. "This one's out."
He watched as one of his men was bringing a metal cage over when his attention was brought to his boot, Tuck was pitifully gnawing on it.
"Put… her… down… you…"
He was lifted by his scruff as well, and watched helplessly as his sisters was put into the cage.
"…Ella."
The drowsiness was starting to overtake him the last thing he saw before he was out was the gas mask staring back down at him as he was lowered into the cage.