Many hours passed through as the Australian Mix kept his ear listening to the various chatter that the wiretap was picking up and transferring over to his small setup, Decker glanced over at the clock, squinting his eyes as the fatigue was slowly but surely kicking into the dog's system. The clock read '11 A.M' as the Mixed breed leaned back in slight frustration, he spent the whole night listening into the wiretap and got nothing, surely, that would piss anyone off. "Maybe I should've taught Rocky how to use this thing." The Australian Mix said to himself as he rubbed his eyes, soon leaning his head on the table as the chatter continued through the small headset.

"Can't believe them bastards at the Den tried hitting the dock yesterday." Decker heard one of the voices state as another continued.

"Some of our patrols saw only two dogs though, I'm guessing they tried to scope the place out but got caught, too bad we didn't kill 'em."

A yawn escaped from the Australian Mix's mouth as he continued to listen on to the pointless chatter, still waiting for something, anything to happen.

"Hey, did you get anything so far?" Rocky asked as he stepped towards the Australian Mix.

Another yawn came out of Decker as he answered Rocky's question. "No, mate, spent all night listening in and nothin'. I was expecting them to just cut to the chase and save us the trouble."

"I can take over for you if you want, shouldn't be that hard, right?" Rocky asked as he sat down, hoping to let the Australian Mix give in so he could rest.

Decker rubbed his eyes yet again as he answered the pup. "Fine, c'mere then." The Aussie took off his earpiece and handed it over to the pup. "Just listen in and if you hear something interesting, press this right here to record it, press it again to stop the recording and after that, I'll handle it." Decker explained as Rocky nodded, understanding rather quickly. "Wake me up when you get some interesting stuff that could help us out, alright?"

Rocky nodded as Decker left the eco pup to go rest. "Alright, come on, give us something interesting, turn our luck around."

Stray humming was heard within the small office of Avery's, the Greyhound set his paw on a small radio, pressing a button that was set on top and powering it on. After some static, the radio finally turned and was playing music, settling the Greyhound down.

"I'm a-walkin' in the rain

Tears are fallin' and I feel the pain..."

The music played through the radio, filling the room with the sounds of classic music from back in the day, something the Greyhound occasionally listened to.

"Wishin' you were here by me

To end this misery..."

Avery hummed along with the song, tapping his paws on his desk to match the songs tune. "My little runaway, doesn't that fit you, kid?"

A sigh escaped from the Shepherd that was in the room with the Greyhound. "Sure...if I was some runaway love of yours but I'm not." Chase pouted. "So what're we doing today?" The Shepherd asked as Avery lowered the radio's volume.

"Well, hopefully, Hendrix will have some news that could help us later but, today, just go relax, I'll call you when I need you. I mean, I'll call Mavis since you're so keen on not wearing a pup tag." Avery assured as the Shepherd gave an agreeing nod, turning around and heading towards the door to leave. "Wait! One more thing!" The Greyhound stopped the Shepherd.

"What is it?" Chase asked as he quickly turned around.

"I need to talk to you about something...it deals with our 'higher-ups'. Something that could help us in the long run but I'll explain it a lot more in detail when this McAllister situation is over and done with." Avery explained as the Shepherd gave another agreeing nod, turning around and leaving as his heart rate was starting to rise due to the fact that, maybe, just maybe, things will finally be settled.

The Shepherd closed the door and lowered his head, gently smiling to himself as he released his grip on the door, turning around and seeing none other than Mavis in front of him.

"Hi, Isaac." The Retriever waved as she gave him a gentle smile. "What made you so happy?"

"Hey, Mavis." Chase greeted back as he gave an answer to the Retriever. "It's nothing, just Avery and I catching up." The Shepherd lied as Mavis bought it. "How're you? I-I'm sorry I've been a little distant ever since that dance, the past two days have just been so much. I'm glad you're okay though after what happened yesterday."

"Don't you worry about me, I can handle myself plenty, it was just Mika that I was worried about. She was scared to head back and Avery didn't want to listen. Things got complicated and I almost ended up kicking the bucket but she jumped in and saved me. Wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her, I just hope she can forget about it, it's going to be hard but I'll be there for her." Mavis assured as she smiled, really hoping that her Mountain Dog associate would be okay mentally.

"I'm sure she'll be fine, Avery made the wrong call there but it's over now, at least you two made it back in one piece." The two embraced in a short hug as they heard familiar voices call out to them.

"Hey, you two." Delta greeted as he arrived with the others.

"Avery got any plans for us today?" Nashi asked as he sat down.

"No, he'll let us know if anything, I guess we just have the day to ourselves for now." Mavis chuckled as Levi sighed.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, that trip to Spencer's really was something." Levi stated as he eyed Chase, who nervously glanced at the ground, still regretting what he did to the Malamute.

As the dogs pondered on what they were going to do while they waited, Delta noticed something, while it was something unnecessary, he still had the notion to point it out. He looked at Chase and shot a question towards him. "Hey, Isaac? Why don't you go clean yourself up? You look a little...not good."

Levi turned his head towards the Australian Shepherd, adding a question on top of his own. "Any reason why this is being brought up?"

"Just thinking of something to do that'll pass the time, we all should get cleaned up, keep up appearances, you know?" Delta answered rather quickly as Levi smirked.

"That should do most of us a favor but I don't know about Nashi." The Malamute joked as he got a chuckle from both Mavis and Delta.

"Sorry that we can't all be pretty in this game." Nashi went along as he nudged the Malamute with his heavy paw.

"Seriously though, you really should get yourself cleaned up, Isaac. I mean, look at you! Your fur's all ruffled, it's got dried blood stains and you look like you haven't slept in what? A week?" Delta insisted as Chase tried brushing it off. The Australian Shepherd looked over to Mavis and asked her for a favor. "Mav, would you mind helping him clean up? We head out like that, people are going to think he's a feral cur."

Chase and Mavis looked at each other, with the Retriever placing her paw on the Shepherd's shoulder, hoping that he'd give in, which ultimately, he did.

As the others rallied up, Nashi stood back, going against the idea of getting cleansed. "You go ahead and get your paws washed, I'm going to look around for some work from other contractors."

"What? You scared of hygiene, Nashi?" Delta teased as the Black Husky rolled his eyes.

"I just see it as pointless, we're gonna get our paws dirty later, anyway." Nashi stated as Levi's ears twitched at the Husky's answer.

"Is...is that a genuine answer I hear from you, Nash?" Levi snickered as Nashi groaned, walking away from the group.

"I'll see you later! Don't get killed!" The annoyed Husky advised as he finally left, dwindling the group down to just those four.

"Alright, well, we'll leave you two to it. Come on, Levi." The Australian Shepherd motioned as they soon left the two.

Mavis looked at the Shepherd and gently smiled. "Come on, that blood isn't going to clean itself."

A huff of boredom escaped through the mouth of the tech-savvy pup, who laid his head on the desk as the planted wiretap was doing its job, having the pup listen to various sets of conversations. Tuning the earpiece to make sure the audio was clear, the eco-pup was hearing some things that weren't 'family-friendly' to say the least.

As he turned down the volume, his ear twitched as the sound of paws clacking on the wooden floor, turning his head, he saw his small aviator friend approaching.

"Hey, Rocky, how's the eavesdropping going?" Skye asked, seeing the mixed breed turn his head to face her, mouthing out 'help' as he had to endure the sounds just to be sure to get something, anything that can help out. "Already regretting your choice to help out Decker with this?"

The pup took off the earpiece for a moment and answered the Cockapoo's question. "Yeah, I hope it'll be worth it, I never thought we'd be doing...this."

"Me neither but...I think it shouldn't matter, we'll find Chase and go home." Skye assured as Rocky gently smiled.

"You got that right." The pup agreed as he placed his earpiece back on, retuning the gadget and receiving the audio again, hearing something very interesting.

"Enjoying yourself, huh, lad?" Sean asked as he barged in Maurice's office, startling the dog and his 'associate' that was accompanying him. "Get outta here, you broad, need to talk to Maurice." With that being said, the female pup nervously left the room, hoping that nothing would happen to the Irish Setter.

"Wh-what's this about, Sean?" Maurice stammered as he stepped back, anxiety and nervousness crawling all over the dog's body.

"No need to worry, lad, just checking up on things." Sean assured as he looked around the office, seeing the overview of the club through the glass, increasing the anxiousness on Maurice. "Hmm, everything looks fine here." The Irish Wolfhound approached the Setter, "Just make sure you get the notice when someone breaks into the docks, we had a couple of strays come in here yesterday and you wouldn't believe who one of them was."

"I-I can't imagine who-." Sean cut him off rather quickly.

"It was Mika, remember her? She stepped her paw in here and no one saw her until she already made her way out." Sean kept his temper leveled as he continued, "There's no doubt that she's working with those dogs at the Den. Satoon needs to hurry and find that pup, if he finds Mika, well, that's just a bonus." Sean dusted his paws as he went to the exit. "You see anything unusual, call it in and make yourself useful, Gideon and I are done fucking around with those pups!"

Rocky took a moment to take all that information in but shortly after, he used what he learned from Decker and saved the audio for the Australian Mix to listen to later.

"What did you hear?" Skye asked as she approached the Mix.

"I'll tell you later, I need to go tell Decker about this." Rocky answered as he hopped off his chair and walked towards the sleeping Australian Mix, hearing his heavy breaths hit the floor close to him. "Hey, Decker." The Mix nudged but received no response. "Decker!"

The Australian Mix's ears raised upon hearing the eco pups' second attempt at waking him up. "What is it, mate?" Decker asked with some irritation alongside it.

"I got some intel from the wiretap, come on, you need to listen to this." Rocky gestured as he saw Decker yawn and stretch some of the fatigue out of his body.

The two walked back as the other pups joined them, hoping to hear something that could help them out. Decker rubbed his eyes as he placed his paw on the device and played the audio out loud for everyone to hear.

After the audio was finished playing, Decker gave it some thought on what he and the others were going to do about the situation. "So, I guess the McAllisters' are getting impatient that they're wanting this drongo, Satoon, to hurry up and grab this pup. If we knew what breed those two are, we could possibly connect the dots but other than that, we're nearing back to square one again unless that wiretap records a miracle for us." Decker explained as he stopped the recording, keeping the wiretap going as Rocky placed the earpiece back, listening in.

"So, what's the plan, now?" Rubble asked as the other pups listened in, hoping to hear something good.

"Like I said, we're nearing back to square one, we barely have any intel besides two names, we just gotta play the waiting game here, mates." Decker advised as the pups showed disappoint stranding across all of their muzzles. "Look, we need the rest anyway, let's take advantage while we still can, you should, especially." Decker pointed at Marshall, who huffed and laid down on his small bed. The Australian mix dismissed the group and flopped back down on his small bed, resting his eyes again as the other pups, except Rocky, did the same.

"Ow!" Chase winced at the quick jolt of pain that he felt, seeing Mavis roll her eyes at the Shepherd.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, it'll heal back..." The Retriever held her assurance as she unwrapped the pup's bandage, seeing the extent of the damage on his paw. "...maybe?" Mavis wondered as she saw the heavy bite marks on his paw. She soaked up a sponge with water and gently rubbed it around nearly mangled paw, making sure not to hurt the Shepherd. After some time, she cleaned it as best as she could've and wrapped it up, moving on to Chase's face to clean it up, holding his face still with one paw as the other started cleaning the dirt and blood off of it.

"I think Nashi may have had a point, our fur is probably ruffled up soon anyway." Chase uttered as Mavis shot a perplexed look at him.

"Maybe so, it's just nice though, isn't it?" Mavis asked as she smiled.

"Guess so...I would kill for a bubble bath though." Chase chuckled as Mavis shot his wish down rather quickly.

"Well, that can't happen because all we have here are these small buckets." Mavis stated as she grabbed one that was nearby. "Speaking of which..." The Retriever smiled as she soon launched the water onto the Shepherd, quickly drenching him as he slowly turned his glare at her, seeing the Retriever laugh at his expense.

"Seriously?" Chase asked as he wriggled the water off, getting some of it on the Retriever, who tried blocking it with the bucket. "Doesn't feel so good, does it?"

"I had to, how else was I going to clean you?" Mavis asked as Chase tilted his head, trying to get the water out of his ear.

"A little warning would've been nice." Chase suggested as Mavis tossed a towel on him, blinding the Shepherd.

"That good enough?" Mavis giggled as she approached, cleaning the Shepherd dry as he squirmed here and there.

"Hey! Take it easy!" Chase whined as Mavis rolled her eyes again.

"Quit complaining! Where I'm from, you got to look your best!" Mavis defended as she rubbed the towel, taking care of the blood stains rather quickly. "Last thing and then we're done - you've ever been brushed?" Mavis asked as Chase huffed.

"Sure."

"Then it's not going to be a problem, right? I'm just gonna straighten your fur and then we can head out." Mavis advised as Chase nodded, letting the Retriever do her work. As he felt the brush stroke his fur, the Shepherd felt a level of calm comfort, leveling out his breaths to be steady as he allowed the Retriever to clean him up.

A lone, young Terrier was seen lying down on the marble floor of his home, pushing a ball back and forth as the silence around was enough to make him go insane after a long period of time, the owners didn't return nor his parents and the young one was beginning to worry. As the worried thoughts turned into imaginary concepts, he heard a beep at the front door, along with the sound of the mechanical doggy door opening, he instantly stood up on his paws and went to investigate.

"Harper! Are you here?" Hendrix called out as he walked to a nearby water bowl, hearing his son scamper to him shortly after.

"Hey, dad." Harper greeted as he saw the exhausted expression beaming across his father's face.

"Your mother and our owners still didn't come back?" The Terrier asked as he let out a sigh of relief from rehydrating himself.

"No, but they called earlier today, they should be back soon." Harper answered as he asked another question to his father. "So...is this problem fixed?"

"You mean the problem you started? No, not yet, I gotta make a few calls and hope my word still means something." Hendrix answered, seeing his son lower his ears in shame. "Harper, I can assure you that I'll fix this problem, I just need to rely on my friends that they'll continue to help us too." The Terrier lowered his head, letting out a sigh as he walked away from his son. "I'm going to go make these calls, I'll be right back." With that, the Terrier left his son alone again as he went to the backyard of his home, pressing his collar and hearing a ring shortly after, hoping for one of his contacts to pick up.

"Hendrix! What troubles you this time, my hound friend?" The cheery Bostonian voice asked as Hendrix gave a sigh, wishing he had to call his friend for something else.

"Valentine, I need your help with something, something very important." Hendrix answered with a stern voice.

He heard his buddy sigh on the other end. "What is it, buddy?"

"McAllisters. Listen, do you have any contacts that can help me out with them?" Hendrix asked as he leaned up against his dog house. There was a sudden pause, confusing the Terrier. "Val?"

"I...was not expecting the McAllisters to be involved. I thought you needed me to climb a tree or something."

"I'm not sure if that's a yes or a no." Hendrix stated as he heard his friend chuckle.

"It's a mix, what exactly do you need from me?" The female asked as Hendrix answered rather quickly.

"Intel, I'm helping out someone who has issues with the McAllisters-."

"Of course..."

"...and I'll take all the intel I can get." Hendrix answered as Valentine took some time to give steady assurance on his problem.

"That's a dangerous position you're putting me in..." Valentine advised as Hendrix stammered to collect his words.

"I-I know...my wo-word shouldn't mean anything to anyone but-." Valentine cut the dog off, chuckling at the sound of his stammering.

"I'll help." Valentine stated. "Your word may not mean anything to a lot of dogs now but I still think it does...besides...I still owe you for helping me out with...well, you know." Hendrix gently nodded his head as he recalled what the cat was talking about.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." The Terrier smiled.

"Don't mention it. I'll let some of my friends know what they have to do, they might be stingy at first but they'll come around, all cats do." Valentine advised. "I'll let you know if we get anything, alright?"

"Thanks, happy hunting, Valentine." Hendrix thanked again as he soon heard Valentine laugh.

"You're so cheesy...I'll keep you updated." The call ended as Hendrix leaned his head back, looking up at the cloudy skies above.

"I'll do anything to make sure my family will be safe." The Terrier said to himself as he let in a shaky breath, gathering his composure as he walked back into his home, hoping that his associates will help him see everything through and be settled.