A couple days later...
A stray dog was walking down the streets, hungry and afraid for her safety. She was a former member of a secret organization ran by someone that went by the name of The Architect. However, she had resigned when she realized The Architect's true goal and had even stolen a briefcase with proof. She had tried to get the briefcase to Chase, a member of the PAW Patrol who she knew had powerful connections in the ABPD, capable of taking down The Architect. But she had to give the briefcase to a trusted friend after a near death experience.
She was currently running away from assassins, sent by The Architect to kill her before the truth got out. The stray ran into a nearby alleyway to escape, but unfortunately for her, it only led to a dead end.
"Hello ma'am." The stray heard someone say behind her. She turned around slowly, but was relieved when she saw a very recognizable member of the PAW Patrol standing before her.
"Oh sir! I need your help! I've been running for my life from these assassins and-" She stopped explaining her situation to them when they began stepping closer and pulled out a handgun.
"I'm sorry ma'am. It's nothing personal, just business." The member said to her as they raised the firearm, aiming at the stray.
"No... no no no no... please, don't!" The stray begged them, but it was no use.
They tilted their head for a moment and stared at the stray, before cocking the gun.
At the lookout
Chase and Ace were getting their uniforms and gear on, getting ready to go down to the police station. One of their friends at the station called them down to assist with an investigation they were performing, apparently it concerned them, so here they were, getting ready to assist their friends.
Once they were done, they left the lookout and hopped into their respective vehicles, before pulling out of the parking lot and making their way across the bridge, on their way to the station, when they received a call from their friend once again, informing them of the location of the crime scene they were needed at. Both of the police pups began going straight to the crime scene itself, which was deep in the town, near the center of Adventure Bay.
15 minutes later...
The police truck and the TPz Fuchs arrived at the scene, then pulled over onto the side of the road. Chase and Ace hopped out and began walking over to the alleyway itself, which had multiple squad cars parked outside. They were almost immediately greeted by Artemis, who hadn't entered the alleyway yet, instead was waiting for them to arrive.
"Where's the other two?" Chase asked, wondering where Hunter and Magnum was.
"In the alleyway, examining the crime scene." Artemis replied, the three police pups then entered the alleyway and soon came across... the body.
Chase and Ace stood and watched as Artemis slowly approached the body, shocked. She had expected to see some horrible stuff when she joined the police force, but she wasn't prepared for this, no one in the station was.
"Who could possibly do something so horrible?" Artemis asked as she leaned over the body, feeling extremely bad for the poor stray, who had probably experienced something she could never even begin to imagine.
"That's what we're here to find out." Chase replied. Ace called out his blacklight and immediately began searching the crime scene for fingerprints while Chase walked over to Hunter, who was examining the body, looking for clues on how she died. "Cause of death?" Chase asked.
"Gunshot wound." Hunter replied, pointing to the wound in the stray's head. "Size of the wound is similar to that of a .44." Hunter pointed out, Chase examined the wound and came to the same conclusion.
Wow, he's better then I thought. Chase thought to himself. "Seems like it, but we'll still have to get an autopsy first before we confirm it." Chase said, he then stood up and looked over at Ace, who was still looking around for fingerprints. "Have you found anything, Ace?" Chase asked.
Acs stopped looking for a moment and glanced over at his father. "Not yet sir! I think a canine did this though." Ace replied, Chase mentally cursed himself upon hearing this.
Fuck, if it's a canine, that means we won't have any fingerprints to help us find the suspect. Chase thought to himself, he then noticed Hunter stand up and look at him.
"If the suspect ain't human, then fingerprints is a no go. Canines don't have pawprints or anything." Hunter told him. Of course, Chase already knew this.
"Any other Idea how we'll solve this then?" Magnum asked, losing hope that they'll find the suspect.
"There is one other way." Hunter replied, the other police pups all looked at him, curious.
"And that other way is?" Magnum questioned.
"Video footage. Specifically, cameras." Hunter replied, he then turned and looked up, with the other pups all joining him. "And it seems like we're in luck." Hunter said, referring to a camera high up on the wall, pointing directly at the scene of the crime.
Far away, on the mountain
Skye and Everest were on a flat plateau, wearing their jetpacks and constantly doing very short test flights. Skye was teaching Everest how to fly and had been doing so for the last several hours. They were both getting ready for her first, actual flight. Preparing to ascend higher than twelve feet off the ground.
"Alright Everest, are you ready?" Skye asked the Husky, making sure she was prepared. She had Ryder tracking their puptags locations in case something happened so she wasn't extremely worried, but she was still being careful.
"I think so, yeah." Everest replied, ready for her first, real flight.
"Are you sure? You remember all the things you've learned so far?" Skye asked, making a hundred percent sure before they took off.
"Yep!" Everest replied.
"Alright. 3, 2, 1, Go!" Skye counted down before both of them took off for the skies. They made sure to ascend high enough so if they had a problem, they had enough time for their parachutes to slow their fall.
Everest was a bit anxious at first, but as she flew around, following Skye who was teaching her and leading her to where they'd eventually land, she began feeling, kind of relaxed. She never expected being so high up in the sky, so far above solid land, to feel so relaxing and calm. Everest sort of embraced this peaceful moment, for a moment, before remembering she was high up in the sky, and far above solid land.
"Where are we headed to land?" Everest asked the cockapoo over her puptag, as yelling to one another was useless in such a high altitude.
"We're going to loop back around and try to land at the plateau soon, you ready?" Skye asked, wanting to make sure Everest was ready for landing.
"I think so, yes!" Everest replied, slowly getting anxious again.
"Alright, follow me!" Skye told her before she did a large u-turn mid air. Everest copied her movement and did an almost exact u-turn like Skye performed.
"You're doing well sis!" Skye complimented the husky, which make Everest feel proud of herself. "Alright, we're approaching the plateau. Begin descending!" Skye instructed her.
Everest did as Skye instructed and began descending, following the cockapoo. Which was fairly easy as she was wearing bright pink. The one time wearing a color that doesn't exist in nature is actually helpful. Everest thought to herself, thankful that Skye didn't blend in with anything for once.
Soon, they both arrived at the plateau and Skye performed a perfect landing. Everest watched her and then performed her own landing. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough and she didn't get injured, so she was proud of herself. Skye was also proud of her and quickly ran up to her.
"So, how did you enjoy your first flight?" Skye asked, giving Everest her classic smile.
"It was fun, and unexpectedly relaxing actually." Everest replied, returning the smile. "How did I do?" Everest asked, curious how well she performed.
"You did good! You certainly learned from our training." Skye replied, proud of the lavender husky.
"Thanks!" Everest thanked her. "So, when can we go again?"
"Hehe, we can do another flight soon, let's take a short break first though. Up for a race to the resort?" Skye challenged her, getting ready to race her.
"You know I am!" Everest replied, also ready.
"Alright. Get set... Ready..." Skye counted down slowly, both of them stood there, completely still, waiting for the race to begin.
"Go!" Skye yelled before beginning to run, Everest immediately powered up her jetpack and began flying up to the resort. "Hey! No fair!" Skye yelled before powering up her own jetpack and flying off after her, trying her best to get to the resort first.
At the Adventure Bay Police Station
Chase, Ace, and Hunter were in a room at the back of the station, going through the camera footage for the exact moment the crime happened. After a couple minutes of searching, they finally sped past a couple frames of the murder itself. Hunter quickly rewound back to the beginning of the footage and the three pups prepared to finally see who committed the murder.
"Any idea who it'll be before we watch this?" Ace asked them, curious who they think it'll be.
"No idea." Chase replied, focusing mainly on the computer, while Hunter didn't respond. Hunter then began the clip.
The two police pups and the investigator pup watched the camera footage, waiting for it to happen. They then saw the stray run onto frame and stop upon seeing the dead end, then watched as she turned around. They saw a shadow on the ground slowly approaching her, then saw someone step into frame. All three of them were shocked to see that it was one of their friends.
"No way..." Chase said as his eyes widened.
"Is that?" Hunter asked, surprised.
"Marshall!?" Ace exclaimed, shocked.
The three pups all watched as the footage continued playing, and sure enough, it was their spotted best friend who pulled the trigger. Chase stood there, debating with himself what he should do as Ace and Hunter watched him, not exactly sure what to do themselves.
"Do we... a-arrest him?" Ace asked, never having encountered a scenario like this.
"We have to. To protect Adventure Bay, we don't have a choice." Chase replied. "My question is, will he resist?"
"It's very likely he will try, but with camera evidence, there isn't much he can do except claim that's it been doctored. Which even then, likely won't work to save him." Hunter replied.
"Why would he do this? What could possibly have been his motive?" Ace asked, not believing his uncle could've done something so horrible as to murder another canine.
"I'm not sure." Chase replied, rewatching the footage to verify that it was, indeed, Marshall who committed it.
"Welp, there's only one thing we can do." Hunter pointed out as he stood. "We have to go arrest him. I'm not sure Ryder is going to just let us in though."
Chase thought about what Hunter said, and he had a point, Ryder probably wouldn't believe them. However, he had an idea. He picked up his puptag and called his owner, Ryder.
"Hello Chase! What do you need buddy?" Ryder asked, clearly happy about something.
"Hey Ryder, I need you to come down to the station. It's something really important and you're not going to like it." Chase replied.
"I don't like the sound of that Chase." Ryder told the shepherd.
"I know you don't, It's just, I need you to come down here and look at something." Chase responded.
Chase stood there, hearing nothing but silence for what felt like eternity until finally, Ryder spoke.
"Alright buddy, I'm on the way." Ryder said to the police pup before ending the call.
Chase let go of his puptag and just stood there, staring ahead in silence, thinking about what could've possibly led Marshall to do this.
45 minutes later...
Marshall was in the yard of the lookout, playing freeze tag with Rocky, Zuma, and Rubble when they all began hearing sirens approaching. Worried something may have happened, they all stopped playing and stared at the road, seeing a bunch of ABPD squad cars arrive at the lookout and come to a full stop not too far from them. Marshall began approaching them to ask what was wrong when a bunch of officers step out of the cars.
"Hey guys, what's wro-" Marshall got cut off by one of the officers.
"Stop moving and get on the ground! You're under arrest!" Artemis yelled as she jumped over the hood of her squad car and got in front of the dalmatian, causing Marshall to freeze in place.
"W-What?" Marshall asked, shocked and confused. Rocky, Zuma, and Rubble were standing still, watching, equally shocked and confused.
"You heard her, get on the ground! You're under arrest Marshall!" Magnum yelled at the dalmatian, backing up his squadmate.
"Y-You can't be serious." Marshall said, he then did as instructed, not wanting to cause unnecessary harm. Especially since he was sure he was innocent.
Chase and Ace watched from a distance, with Ryder standing next to them, almost on the verge of tears at seeing his third-in-command being taken away in cuffs. Ace then turned toward his father and began to speak.
"Dad, do you actually think he did it?" Ace asked, even though he saw the footage as well.
"I don't want it to have been him, but the footage says otherwise. It had to be Marshall that committed it." Chase replied.
Ace lowered his head, still believing that, despite the evidence, Marshall couldn't have been the one to do it. The motive just made no sense to him, he was sure it couldn't of been Marshall. But despite what he believed, the evidence did say otherwise.
As Marshall was put into the squad car and began being taken away to the station, Ace stared at the car. He was sure it couldn't have been him, and he knew he had to find a way, by any means possible, to prove it.
And he meant, by any means.
That's the end of Chapter 3
This chapter was an emotional rollercoaster to write. The beginning made me feel bad for a character that didn't even exist, then the part with Everest and Skye made me laugh a bit, then the section with the reveal even made me feel in suspense, even though I'm the writer! I knew what was going to happen when I was planning this chapter back when Chapter 12 of Frozen Fire was being written.
(Sorry for the small rant)
Anyway, until the next chapter, bye everyone!
-König der Könige