I don't own anyone here except for OCs

CH19


He had awoken in total darkness, it took him a few seconds to even realize he was awake at all. Then the soft, pained whines echoed around him, the whines from his sister. He coughed and spit, trying to get the nasty aftertaste out of his mouth.

Still a little out of it, he managed to stand up and begin pacing his way to the sound of his twin, his paws tapped against cold metal. Her whimpers grew louder the closer he got but a sudden pressure around his neck forced him to stop.

He grunted and moved his paw up to his neck, feeling a rough collar around his neck, definitely not his. His pup tag was gone too, and he felt the connection of a metal chain and followed it as far as his paw could reach. It went upwards to the ceiling.

"No." He muttered, recalling what had happened to them. They were caught.

"…Tuck?" A feminine voice whimpered, her sobbing paused.

"Ella? Are you alright!?" Tuck responded.

"I… my back doesn't hurt anymore, but I'm cold… and scared." Ella whimpered weakly. "I thought you were gone!" She sobbed.

"No, I'm here sis, and we're gonna find a way out of here." Tuck stated as boldly as he could. Deep down he knew he was probably wrong, but he had to at least try to keep their spirits up in this room. Ella just continued to whimper but it was weaker and at a more hushed tone.

Tuck began to feel around in his side of the room, looking for any way they can escape. Both the floor and wall were made of metal, he assumed there was a door somewhere but his chain would only allow him to go so far. He tried to find the connecting point of the chain but it just went straight up. He made a weak attempt to climb the chain but the metal of it was far too slick, he didn't even make it a foot off the ground.

After a few more attempts, he slumped down against the wall in defeat. Putting his ears against it, he could hear the mechanical humming of generators and the faint chorus of frogs and crickets barely registering. He assumed it was late in the night.

"How long have you been up?" Tuck asked in the darkness.

"I think an hour? Maybe two?" She sniffled.

He felt bad knowing she had been up that long without him, not knowing what happened to her twin.

"I'm sorry, Ella."

"Yeah it's not your fault." Her whimpering had ceased.

"Has anyone been in here yet?"

"No… I hear guys talking outside but they stay out there."

Tuck sighed and looked around in the pitch darkness. He decided to get up and look for a way out again, starting to scale the right side of his wall. The chain stopped him so he scaled back to the left side.

"Ow!" Tucked exclaimed as he almost tripped.

"What's wrong, are you okay?" Ella asked, concerned.

"I'm good sis, just hit something." Tuck told her off before he sniffed down against the wall to see what he almost tripped over. His nose hit metal and followed around it to find wetness. Water, it was a water bowl attached to the wall.

"Hey did you know we have water bowls, Ella?" Tuck asked.

"We have food bowls too I think, there's a weird block in mine." Ella answered.

With that, Tuck felt beside the water bowl and just like Ella said, there was another bowl. He sniffed out a solid cube in the center and licked it.

"Wuff!" He recoiled and spat. "Is this thing supposed to be our food!? It tastes like moldy bread!"

"Eeew! Really?" Ella asked in disgust, having not tasted her's.

"Yeah, I'm definitely not eating that!" Tuck stated.

Tuck continued past the bowls but his chain prevented him from going any further. Grunting in defeat, he plopped back down on the cold floor of the room.

"Someone's coming!" Ella whispered as loud as she could.

Tuck listened and could hear two sets of footsteps approaching to his right. Gravel crunched underneath their shoes.

"Don't worry boy, you'll have some company." An adult male voice spoke before chuckling.

The footsteps stopped just outside of the room and a loud click broke through the silence of the room. Bright rays from LED lighting began to seep through the space as a door opened, nearly blinding the twin pups. Two shadows stood in the entrance, a man in military gear motioned a boy inside about half his height.

Tuck stood up and was about to bark questions at the guy but getting a good look at the boy made him stop, his haircut and that red and white jacket was unmistakable. Ryder? Tuck thought.

Tuck didn't get a chance to say anything before the man shoved Ryder in and shut the door, locking it and sealing them in darkness once again.

"You better be ready to talk in the morning." The guy remarked outside before walking off.

Ryder lowered himself against the wall beside the door and slumped to the floor, holding his head in his hands. He was exhausted both mentally and emotionally, they had interrogated him all day. He wouldn't talk though, he just couldn't pull himself to give up on his pups, consequences be damned.

"Ryder?" Ella spoke up first.

"Who's in here with me?" Ryder asked gently, he only caught a glimpse of the two pups in the shadows before the door shut.

"Tuck, Ella." The twins responded.

"The Mighty Twins?" Ryder asked with a bit of shock. "What are you… how'd they catch you two?"

"We were out playing near the woods next to the park… and we saw like this fort…" Ella stopped, she was starting to tear up from the recollection of the experience.

"They started shooting at us, and they grazed my sister!" Tuck explained. "We tried to run but they caught us in the woods with a gas that puts us to sleep, then we wake up and we're in here."

There was a brief silence before Ryder eventually spoke. "You two are lucky then, they've been ordered to terminate any residents of Adventure Bay that discover this base."

"Who are these people!? They can't just do that!" Ella barked.

"Yeah, I've never seen these army men before." Tuck agreed.

Ryder sighed before answering, trying to word his response carefully. "They're mercenaries that are under command of Dagger Corps, a sort of military company you can say. They go around the world to places you two never even heard of, all just to kill and destroy for money, that's it."

Ella gasped at the description Ryder gave.

"But why are they here, do they want to destroy Adventure Bay?" Tuck asked worriedly.

"Not exactly, they were brought here to…" Ryder stopped himself, he was saying too much so he tried to word it in a way they wouldn't fully understand. "Sometimes mercenaries are hired to take care of a danger, and these mercs think there's something so dangerous here that the PAW Patrol can't handle."

"What could be here the PAW Patrol can't handle?" Tuck asked in confusion.

They couldn't see it but Ryder shrugged. "I don't know, they might be wrong." Ryder said, hoping they would drop the subject.

They did and the three sat there in silence before Ella broke it.

"Why did they lock you in here with us?"

Ryder thought before answering. "It's because I have information that they want and I'm not giving it to them."

"…Why?" Tuck asked.

Ryder looked in the direction of his voice. "Do you care about your sister?"

"Yeah! What kind of question is that?"

"And if someone wanted to hurt her for something she did, would you let them?"

"…no, no matter what it is!" Tuck stated.

"Well… it's like that." Ryder finished.

As confusing as it was to the twins, they decided to leave it at that.

"When will they let us out of here?" Ella eventually cried out.

Ryder answered after a short while with false hope. "Probably pretty soon, don't worry, it'll be okay."

Silence filled the room again, and it lasted this time as the twins eventually succumbed to sleep and Ryder was left alone in his thoughts.


"And you should have seen the look on her face when we drove off!" Gasket sputtered before laughing. "Ha! Mayor Sad-way!"

Dwayne laughed in response with his tail wagging. "Man I wish I was there!"

"Sounds lame if I'm being completely honest with you." Hubcap muttered.

The four canines were sitting out by the fire next to the diner, roasting pup s'mores and talking about the day's events, well mostly Gasket and Dwayne. Hubcap just made a witty comment every now and then while January Stayed silent and listened.

"Hey come with me next time Dwayne, you ought to try spray painting." Gasket suggested with a glint in her eyes. "It's pretty fun and it makes people mad too."

January couldn't stop a small smile. Observing the two, she noticed they had some chemistry.

"Yeah totally, Gasket!" Dwayne, agreed excitingly.

"Eeew." Hubcap remarked as he rolled his eyes.

"Shut up!" Gasket shot at Hubcap.

Hubcap laughed, one of his comments finally getting a reaction out of her.

January narrowed his eyes at him and when their eyes met, she refused to look away.

"What are you looking at, FREAK?" He barked.

She didn't budge. The word stung her for sure but she wouldn't react in violence, she vowed to control her temper knowing she could end the pup with a crunch of her jaws. No one here would like that.

"Why do you make rude remarks that do not add anything meaningful?" She asked.

"Because I can, that's why! And I'll keep doing it until you're gone in a few days!" Hubcap spat.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh I gave your cop buddy three more days and you are out."

January was about to rebuttal before Gasket cut in.

"She's not going anywhere Hubcap, and besides, what are you going to do if she doesn't go?" Gasket challenged.

"Oh I'll ugh… I'll…" Hubcap thought and started to panic, he hadn't actually thought it through what he'll do.

"Exactly."

Hubcap looked over to Dwayne. "Me and Dwayne will go away then and start our own pack, and you'll never be able to find us, then the PAW Patrol will take that old freak and you'll have no one." He threatened with a sadistic grin.

Gasket froze, a hint of fear in her eyes as she looked over to Dwayne. "You'll stay with me, right Dwayne?"

Dwayne started to fiddle around with his paws, looking between Hubcap and Gasket. "I don't know… Hubcap is usually good at causing wheel trouble."

"But I am too!" Gasket reasoned.

"I know but…" He looked back at Hubcap who glared.

It was clear to Gasket that Hubcap still had a strong hold over Dwayne, more than she could ever know.

"Dwayne."

The Great Dane jumped at the Wolf dog's voice saying his name, and hesitantly looked her in her pale eyes.

"Why do you insist on letting that little runt lead you by your neck, can you not make up your own mind?" January questioned.

Dwayne started to shake. "I… I don't know, Hubcap's the one who brought us together and…"

"Are you too blind to see you have something with her?" January pressed as she motioned to Gasket.

The husky blushed and averted her gaze from Dwayne, mentally cursing January.

"No, I do… but…"

"But, but, he can't make up his mind, don't you see he's too dumb." Hubcap laughed.

Dwayne slumped in defeat, earning an 'are you serious?' look from January.

"You see, he wants to cause trouble like I do, and I can give him that while you girls try to be soft." Hubcap boasted while patting Dwayne's back.

Gasket looked up and glared at Hubcap. Her hard look softened when an idea suddenly hit her, a challenge. Hubcap wasn't known for backing out of a bet, especially if the wager was more in his favor.

"How about a race, Hubcap?" Gasket challenged.

"A race? I'll race your hide in the dirt any day as long as I ride with Dwayne." Hubcap said matter-of-factly.

Dwayne peeked up, his interest gained.

"Gasket." January chided.

"It'll be the longest and roughest race ever too." Gasket continued.

"Alright." Hubcap gave a wry grin. "What kind of wins are we talking about."

"If you and Dwayne win, we'll leave the diner and let you two have all of the food." Gasket proposed.

"Sweet." Hubcap smiled from ear to ear.

"And if me and January win, we all stay together and January doesn't go."

January crossed her front limbs, giving gasket a questionable look.

Hubcap's smile disappeared and he thought long and hard about the bet. "Alright husky, you got a deal but I need to know the place and time."

"Yes!" Gasket exclaimed as she giddily pulled a folded paper out of her pup pack with her pup claw. She opened it up to reveal a crudely scribbled map of Adventure Bay and the surrounding areas.

"I present to you, the Ultra–Ruff Super Pro Track!" Gasket presented proudly. The track was in red that began in the desert and looped over Jake's mountain, through the Adventure Bay plaza, the swamps, Al's farm, the park, before looping back in the desert over the mesa and ending back at the diner. It showed multiple obstacles like rocks, trees, and even ramps. "I've scouted out every inch of these areas and their routes to make this ultimate track!"

Hubcap couldn't lie, he was impressed with the track but not the drawing. "Alright nice, drawings kinda crap though."

"Hey! crayons aren't my specialty!"

"Wow, that track looks wicked." Dwayne said in awe.

"Thanks Dwayne." Gasket blushed.

"Time?" Hubcap asked.

"How about tomorrow after lunch." Gasket suggested.

Hubcap thought before sneering. "I don't think so, I need to memorize that track so Monday morning."

"Deal." She agreed.

"Alright you're on then, slow pokes." Hubcap barked.

Gasket smiled as she knew it was going to be him eating her dust. She felt a tap on her back and turned to see a concerned January.

"What are you doing?" January asked.

"I'm buying you time." Gasket explained.

January exhaled and looked down. "Are you sure betting both of us on some dangerous race is the best idea?" She knew just how fast Gasket could go.

Gasket leaned close to her ear. "Don't worry, I know where the shortcuts are." She whispered.

January still didn't look convinced but it was late in the night and she still had plenty of time tomorrow to discuss this. "If you say so, little one." She muttered before she turned for the diner.

Gasket frowned, it pinched her not getting the full approval of January. But she put her feelings aside, the race was going to be epic and maybe now she can show both Hubcap and Dwayne what she's made of.