Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Marching Orders. Enjoy the 3000-word chapter. I do not own Patrol; Nick and a few others do.
Duke looked over at the computer which displayed a hologram of Zero. He frowned and thought of the dog as he looked at the others.
"He was SUPPOSED to be locked up. What is he doing here? Why now?" Duke asked with a frown.
"Um… Who is Zero?" Zuma asked as Duke blinked, forgetting the others were there.
"A very dangerous criminal… He should not be here… He was not supposed to be here." Duke stated as he sighed to himself before he sighed to himself.
He had a lot more fear on his face than before he sighed to himself. The hologram seemed to rotate as both looked over at the hologram, looking at the dog in question.
"Zero is another military pup… One who went too far and got thrown out of training, last I checked? He was arrested for trying to steal from the military… Why would he be in Adventure City? He does not know where I am." Duke stated to himself before he sighed.
He had no clue what would happen if it had gone that far… Duke was far more dangerous with an enemy to fight but with Zero?
Zero had no compulsions, he was ruthless and cunning. If he had come to Adventure City? It was bad news for everyone.
"So, like a villain?" Duke heard as he sighed.
"Try a SUPER villain… Wait, the… The meteor shower, he had to have come for those last night." Duke said before his eyes widened. "Blast it! He is already dangerous enough WITHOUT powers, the last thing he needs is a super-powered set of abilities… He could bring down the entire city." Duke stated to himself before he looked downwards at the ground.
There was a lot more to this. Duke was curious as to what it was like… They had a lot more to deal with.
Duke frowned; he had more time to explain it… They had a LOT more to discuss.
He was tired, far too tired at the end of it… They had a lot more to try and figure it out.
That sort of thing was all beyond them… But considering he was the only one aware of this?
He had to be friendly. He had to help, he had to think and he would continue to think of it all differently.
Skye looked at him, he knew he could not just discard that sort of amusement.
He had a LOT more to deal with…. Something within bugged him more and he was too easily beaten down. It was a lot more to try and understand.
Something about it all had to end, it would end now. Duke stayed silent but was all too interested… They had a lot more to deal with it now at the time being…. He had a lot more to try and deal with it as he looked to the side.
Duke had something else to try and understand it for now. there was a lot more in his mind when it came down to it… They had a lot of different ideas.
Duke hummed and then sighed.
"I… He is very dangerous, more dangerous than you think. I need to inform the army… If he escaped? He is a threat, to everywhere and everything… And if he is in Adventure City? I need to report the chain of command." Duke said as Chase frowned.
"But not us?" He heard as he realized that something was wrong.
"I…. I suppose I should share what intel I have." Duke said before he sighed. "He's from the same military project I am from… Project Bow Wow." Duke said as Liberty snorted.
"Bow Wow?" Liberty asked with a smirk as Duke shrugged.
"Battlefield, Ordinance, Weaponization, Wartime, Operator. Wing… Used for the training." Duke hummed before he sighed. "It is a program to train dogs for the military. Zero worked for the Marines branch while I worked for the army, Zero and I close and he is a very skilled and very dangerous dog bent on gaining more power by any actual means." Duke stated as he sighed.
"So, he's a supervillain," Marshal said as Duke sighed.
"There is a certain terminology I would have used but that is not far off… Zero wants power, those crystals have power. If he has a crystal? He is 50 times more dangerous than he was last time." Duke stated in a tone that suggested NOTHING was even a little bit of a lie.
Skye looked at Duke who shook when he said this. He VIOLENTLY convulsed as if he had been stung by lightning.
Zero was not a joke so much as he said. Duke almost leaped 20 feet into the air when she calmly put a paw on his shoulder.
"If he shows up? We stop him… Paw Patrol promise." Skye said as Duke hummed.
"You… Do know I never officially joined, right? You guys said you would team vote while I was busy and I have not managed to sleep." Duke said to which the others nodded.
"We can decide in the morning… For now? We should rest, I think I will look at that file for Zero anyway." Ryder said as Duke hummed, nodded, and leaped to the next floor before entering the carrier.
It was clear they had something else to prove, something that could have been dealt with for now. Skye hummed and then looked to the side, they had a lot more to try and figure it out.
They had a lot of different ideas as to how and when it would need to end… They both knew Duke was not over whatever was bothering him and it was going to come back to haunt him sooner or later.
The only problem was just how they would have managed it sooner or later, they had to see it end eventually.
(With Paw Patrol and Duke)
"I think he is scared… He thinks Zero could hurt us and a lot of people if we fight him." Skye said as Chase frowned.
"But why? We can stop him." Chase said as Liberty hummed.
"We don't even know who Zero is or what he can do, Chase… Listen to Duke, he sounds TERRIFIED." Liberty stated as Chase sighed.
"Ok… Fine. What about them joining the team? We need more pup packs and vehicles…" Chase said as Skye hummed.
"Duke should join Paw Patrol… He helped; he did want to help." Skye said.
Chase went to say something but realized Skye would not lie. Duke had helped, and Rubble and Everest had said the same which made it clear they were just as thankful for his help as before.
"Ok… But he needs training, he needs to grow." Chase said, with Skye frowning at this. "Sorry, wrong word, Skye… We do not have any new gear for other members, we are still trying to fix the tower." Chase added as Skye hummed.
"Ryder is ordering new stuff tomorrow, Chase… We can just design something for Duke… Something army-like. And we know Duke can help. He came up with a plan to help us." Skye stated to which Chase said nothing.
He knew at the end of the day? No pup was unwelcome in Paw Patrol, he just had to talk to Duke.
"Duke seemed nice to Skye, though," Liberty stated with a smirk.
"Hey! I was just trying to be nice! He is scared." Skye said despite herself.
She knew more than Duke that it was true, he was nicer to her. Though? Given she was the first member of the team he met? It was obvious they had something of a bond. Despite herself? Skye blushed a bit.
"You guys know you can just ask me yourself, right?" Duke asked as he emerged from one part of the room. "Second? I am attempting to be nice. Skye has been attempting to be helpful so I feel it only right I assist in helping in return." Duke stated.
"And that is nice… But Paw Patrol is not the army, Duke." Chase said as Duke nodded.
"I am aware but you know you guys are like a group… You always seem to call Ryder 'Sir' like soldiers do a general I have noticed; that you all have special gear like soldiers do and you both have training." Duke stated.
"True… I guess we kinda are like a soldier group… So does that mean you want to be part of Paw Patrol?" Rubble asked as Duke hummed.
"I am fine helping if you will have me. I was born to help others, Specialist Rubble. Either I serve in the army or I use my training in urban terrain…" Duke stated as he paused.
"You might want to translate the military stuff more often," Chase said as Duke hummed.
"City work. Either I fight in a war or I fight a war on crime, I can do work either way, one just means dealing with another group of problems… The more problems they had left to deal with for now." Skye stated to which she relaxed at the time.
Skye seemed to be dealt with, she had a lot of ideas and they had to try and think of it… This was more than they needed to deal with it as they relaxed.
She was too distracted now at the end… They had a lot more left to deal with for now… It was a lot of things.
Duke hummed and then thought of it. She had a lot more to deal with as Skye looked at the Great Dane.
There were a lot more ideas that raced through the head of the Great Dane. Duke knew more and more; each little idea was supposed to be dealt with.
They had a lot more left to understand.
"You know being a member of Paw Patrol is a team thing, right?" Duke heard as he shrugged.
"I do what I have to do… Teamwork was part of what Bow Wow trained us." Duke stated before they looked downwards at the ground.
They had a lot more to understand either way as Duke ran away for now.
(20 minutes later)
Duke picked out one of the guest rooms and decided to use that as his temporary room… It was just part of what was occurring.
Duke almost decided to pull his crystal from his collar. He could not without the fear of needing it.
He had to stop Zero. He had a lot of different thoughts about him showing up…. And there was something else bothering him.
Though, he supposed that was part of it… An idea which cut deeper and deeper into his mind.
Duke almost sent the lamp next to him slamming into the wall. He was not supposed to be a coward, he was a soldier. Soldiers fought onward and accepted the risks of it.
The Great Dane was…. Angry, he was too angry at himself as well for his weakness at the end of this.
To be fair? Duke knew his friend would not be reasoned with, Duke knew Zero had been cold and heartless since training.
That dog only wanted power… He would always choose power and he knew why... But? But there was still the hope they could have reasoned now… Now? It was a lot harder for him to believe his friend could have properly thought of it.
Duke had to end it, had to make sure Zero was brought to justice… If not? He knew he had to do SOMETHING or else risk the wrath.
Something about it all was worth more than they had left to deal with. Duke looked over at the small bed he had and took a deep breath, too tired now to think about it even slightly, and for good reason.
Now? Now it was a lot more painful for now, they had more to deal with for now, and all he had to do was push himself past a certain bit…. They had a lot more left to deal with.
Now? Things were much more different now, it was a lot more tedious for them to be dealt with it for now, and for a good reason.
Duke was annoyed now, he wanted nothing much to deal with for now at the end of it. There was a lot more to understand within them for now.
They had a lot more to try, he thought of his friends as Duke questioned within it all.
Chase? Chase was a good friend, he seemed it at least, he had a smart mind for someone who was just as young as him.
Rubble was nice, he was strong without the crystal. Duke could tell he believed it….
Skye was finally the last person on Duke's mind. He thought of how she had acted and they thought of it all now.
Skye was the nicest person he had met in training or not. It was part of why he tried to trust her, there were a lot of things within him when he thought of the cockapoo but one of them was clear-cut care for her.
Duke sighed to himself as he knew that there were a lot of different things when it came down to it. Skye was someone he felt he would at least owe for now.
There were a lot of ideas going through his mind. Duke sighed and drew a deep breath into his lungs before the Great Dane collapsed into the bed he had been given.
There were a lot of different things that they needed to understand differently. There was nothing more chaotic than sleep to him but he supposed he had to sleep.
It was all too much for now and he had to relax for the time being. A good soldier was supposed to clear his head and let themselves be immersed in the ideas of something new.
'The more I focus on what Zero has done? The more dangerous I let him be. The fact of the matter is the best option is to look at the facts and make sure I know what I need to… Zero is in Adventure City, I have superpowers I do not understand, there is a team of similarly trained canines.' Duke thought to himself with utter annoyance.
It was odd, it was strange. If Duke had written a report on this? Command would have probably burst out laughing. Duke? Duke could see holes in the plan to try and tell command… Mainly because he had zero clue about how it needed to be, how it should have been, and just what was to come next.
Perhaps that part of it was worth more sooner or later because they had zero need to have done anything resembling serious. They had a lot more of the idea at the end of it all.
He was too amused now and it was going to be dealt with for now…. There was more to this than before now, they had a lot of different ideas now and it would all end well or not at all.
There was nothing then that to it… They had more to deal with now than before. Something about it all had not yet ended… And would not end.
Duke seemed to be tired… And yet not at the end of his rope despite that… He was too disturbed and able to think of it all had to end now and for a good reason… They had a plan to fix things but it was clear they did not know Zero.
Zero struggled to sleep despite his easy-to-sleep behavior… The rest of it bothered him and he whimpered. It was a horrid noise which ensured the others heard it.
(With Skye and the others)
The ship had very thin walls and all of them knew it… They all knew something horrid was appearing before them.
Though? Only a few woke up, they all wished to but it was clear there was little they could do… Very little besides calm Duke down.
Chase almost dragged himself out of bed but heard Rubble, Skye, and Rocky's doors opening as both were too worried and eager to get out of their rooms for now.
Chase questioned what Duke was dealing with it… They had a lot more to deal with for now.
He had a lot of different options when it came down. Chase… Chase did not know what was wrong with his words but it was clear that something else had been wrong.
It was odd for now. Skye knew that Duke was nice but Chase was trying to deal with it all at the end of the day.
It was a pain, one which Duke was not used to… He had tried his best… Now? Now he did not know if Duke was lying or not.
They had no idea as to how this would go…. People did make up odd things often but it was often something odd… They had a lot of different ideas.
He thought of how Rubble and Skye would get along with Duke… It was clear beyond all problems that it would be harder and harder.
It was a lot of things…. They had a lot of different ideas at the time being, they had a lot of different ways to think.
It was something worth being dealt with and taking Duke at his word… If she did not? She believed it, for now, an idea like this was going to be harder and harder now… There was too much upon here.
It was a lot more amusing now at the end of it all, it was much harder and harder to think of it all now… These were too tiresome to overcome.
All he could do was hum for the end of it.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! I want to point out next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show more of both training and setting up Zero's plan. Until the 900–6500-word chapter, Lighting Wolf out!