Commotion was scattering around the room as a group of dogs were gathering up food for each other, taking a break from the guard duty they were assigned to do for the night. As the machine dispensed food in exchange for a few ration cards, one of the dogs conversed with the others.
"So what are you two gonna do when this whole faction war is over?" The dog asked as he slid a bowl towards one of the dogs.
"Shit, I don't know, still do the same thing, I suppose? It'll just be easier knowing those assholes will soon be out of the picture." The dog answered as he caught his bowl, soon leaning his head down to grab a few bites.
"Sure, but not for long probably, a place like Boroughton is probably easy to take over, make a living out of this kind of work."
"Guess you're right, I'd rather be living here than in Livourough, that place is just...holy shit." One of the dogs shook his head at the thought of it.
"Livourough? Where the hell i—?"
"Hey, shut the fuck up for a second! I hear something..." One of the dogs whispered as he gestured his paw in a shushing motion.
The trio went quiet as the lead dog scanned the room and kept his ear out to listen for anything that sounded out of the ordinary. All that could be heard was the sound of the machines and passing cars close by but the dog just had to be sure. As he approached the door and pushed it open, he continued to scan the grounds of the warehouse, still seeing nothing out of place. "Guess it was just me and my damn paranoia."
"You gotta ease down, Pembroke, that shit's getting to you." The duo chuckled as the dog gave one last glance.
"Yeah, I guess you—." The abrupt cutoff as the dog fell back sent the other two in a panic as the lights were soon cut off.
The two remaining dogs were dealt with as suppressed gun shots briefly lit up the room. The lights turned back on as a group of footsteps grew closer and closer. An order was given out to fan the room and look for the items they were sent to find. After some time, one of the operators called out to the squad leader, "Sir, have a look at this."
The squad stacked up on a metal door, soon opening it and making sure the coast was clear, with their positions still remaining hidden. In the room laid several wooden crates, top to bottom, labeled with various names. The leader stepped aside and called to one of his squad mates, who stepped forward and scanned the crates with a handheld trace detector.
"Come on, let's hurry this up and clear out, sun's up anytime now." One of the squad mates impatiently advised as he kept watch.
After what seemed like several minutes, the machine beeped rapidly, signifying that they found what they were after. "We got it, c'mon, let's pack it up and head out!"
The team soon cleared out, taking out anyone who was in the vicinity. As they packed up the cargo in their truck and drove off, the leader pressed his comms radio. "Agent Rich, we got the cargo, heading back now."
"No troubles?" The agent asked with slight concern.
"They were just dogs, sir, nothing we couldn't handle." The leader answered coldly.
"That's what we pay you for, get back here and I'll have someone make sure those things don't set themselves off." Agent Rich advised the team.
"Yes, sir, we'll be there soon, out."
The truck drove off as the sun started to rise, with the McAllister's soon in for a surprise. A surprise that will, no doubt, send some messages their way.
Eyelids groggily opened as a tiresome groan escaped the Shepherd's mouth. The pup flopped over to his side as he scanned the room to look for his friends, noticing that none of them were there. As to why, he couldn't remember, but then he noticed a collar on the small dresser next to his food and water bowl.
The pup stretched, wincing at the occasional pain and proceeded to examine the collar. Chase wasn't too keen on wearing one but after the many close calls he and his crew had, he figured that now would be a good time. Upon pressing the collar, he heard Mavis's voice on the other end, leaving a message for the pup.
"Don't be a silly pup or a dead one, take the collar so we can keep in contact in case something bad happens. We'll be at Dixon's if you need us! Well, just Mika, Nashi and I but I hope to see ya there!" The collar soon emitted a rapid beep, indicating that the message was over.
Chase sighed as he latched the collar on his neck, soon looking at the leaned over mirror to make sure he looked somewhat presentable. With that all done, the Shepherd made his way to Dixon's bar to meet up with his friends.
Chatter was strewn all over Dixon's bar, multiple dogs and pups sharing laughs, chugging down food and drinks as they shared stories to each other. Mavis, on the other paw, sat on a stool at the bar along with Mika and Nashi.
"Ah, if it isn't my favorite crew in the Den!" Dixon smiled as he greeted the dogs. Shortly after, he leaned into the group and whispered something towards them. "Hey, last night, I was trying to find some bastard who tried skipping out on a payment and I heard Avery yelling...pretty loud too. Que paso, amigos?" Dixon asked as he brought out some bowls for the dogs.
Mavis shrugged as Nashi and Mika did the same, "No clue, he wanted us outside of his office. Went crazy about it too if we didn't."
"Yeah, except for that Shepherd." Nashi added on, "Seems to me that he's hiding something from us."
Mavis chuckled along with Dixon, "Amigo, maybe this...paranoia is getting to you. You seem to think everyone's against you when they're not." Dixon stated as he passed the kibble-filled bowls to the two dogs, "If you need me, just say the word." The Spanish Mastiff nodded as he soon left to deal with other customers.
"You know he's right, Nashi..." Mavis advised as the Husky disregarded the claims.
"Whatever." Nashi turned his head aside as he mumbled under his breath, "I knew I should've gone with Levi and Delta."
As the Husky kept his head turned, he saw the familiar tan and brown Shepherd enter the bar, nodding towards Nashi and the others as he made his way towards them.
"Hey, Isaac! Good to see you're finally wearing a collar. You're welcome by the way." Mavis smiled as she waved to Dixon, leading her head towards the Shepherd to quickly get him some food and water.
"Thanks, Avery offered me one but I-uh-I turned it down." Chase stated as two bowls soon slid his way, with him chomping down almost immediately.
"Why?" Nashi asked as he took slow bites from his bowl, still eyeing the Shepherd.
"Just...didn't need it." Chase answered, feeling the tension slowly rise. As the two stared each other down, Chase's ears twitched at the sounds of the television, which were talking about the recent news. "Dixon, turn that up."
"...police stated that the dogs here were labeled as hostile and what happened to them was an act of justice as they were part of the McAllister gang." Chase and the group now had their full attention towards the television. "The police have also stated that other dogs were not behind this incident, unless they have firearms that can fit in their paws, we can suspect that it was a human or group of humans that killed these dogs. Will Boroughton still be one of the cities that has both animals and humans cooperating? Or is that now just a thing of the past?"
Chase couldn't be too certain if it was Decker handling their problems for them but after seeing the news about it, he had to confirm it with Avery. The Shepherd quickly laid out some ration cards to settle his food payments and then hopped off of his stool, causing confusion to Dixon and the crew.
"Hey, hey! Where you going?" Nashi asked as he hopped off the stool along with Mavis and Mika.
Chase stopped, nervously scratching his ear and fidgeting around, "I...I gotta go see Avery. I'll see you dogs later." The Shepherd quickly dismissed as he left the bar, with Nashi lowering his ears in frustration, soon going after him.
"Nashi. Leave it!" Mavis tried defusing as she soon followed.
"Hey!" Nashi bit down on the Shepherd's tail, not hard, but enough to stop him in his tracks. "What's up with you and Avery, huh? You just show up out of nowhere and, now, you and Avery are cozy with each other?" Nashi was now up in the Shepherd's face, trying to intimidate him as Mavis and Mika watched, trying their best to defuse the situation.
"Nashi, that's enough, leave him alone!" Mavis ordered as she stepped in, soon being pushed back by the Husky.
"Avery's my contractor, I did a lot of jobs for him on my—!"
"Cut the bullshit! I know you're lying!" Nashi growled as Chase backed up, unsheathing his claws on his good paw.
"He-hey, let'th not get violent, pleathe!"
"Nashi!"
Before anything drastic happened, Avery called out to the group, the angry sound of his voice nearly freezing the dogs in fear. "Hey! Quit it...now!" The Greyhound approached Chase and placed his paw on his shoulder, dragging him away from the crew. "Issac, come with me. As for you, Nashi? I'll deal with you later."
"Avery, there's something I need to tell yo—." Nashi was quickly cut off.
"If it's not a reason for you to fuck off right now, I don't want to hear it! Get the hell out of here, all of you!" Avery dismissed the rest of the crew as he and Chase went into his office.
"The nerve of that Husky, I swear..." Avery sighed as he locked the office door, making sure no one was going to come in unannounced.
"I didn't need your help back there..." Chase grumbled as he stood to face away from the Greyhound.
"Yeah, sure. Anyway, you know why I brought you in here, right?" Avery asked as Chase huffed, turning his head to look towards the Italian dog.
"I already saw the news, you did the deal with them, didn't you?" Chase lied down, angry that his persuasion attempts didn't work.
"Hey, come on, we need this. You know we do." Avery tried coaxing as Chase stood up almost instantly, stumbling a bit on his bad paw.
"We? You mean you and that poor excuse of a crew! I didn't want that deal to happen because I wanted to make sure my friends don't kill themselves trying to find me! Why didn't-why didn't you see that?!" Chase yelled as Avery responded, setting his decision straight with the Shepherd.
"You think I didn't? That was the first thing that came through my mind but those McAllisters are getting more dangerous by the second! Those friends of yours aren't going to be tossed to the wolves, that's our job. Hell, we've been doing that for as long as I can remember." Avery sat on his bed as Chase eased up, sitting down in front of the Greyhound. "Anyway...Chase, listen." Avery placed his paw on the Shepherd, "You have a greater purpose to finish things than any of us could've ever imagined."
Eyeing the floor and taking in what the Greyhound said, Chase pondered on the statement. Avery was right. The Shepherd, along with Isaac, Diaz and the others that helped them didn't have all the help that Avery had now. Although it was seeming like even ground, there was still the McAllister's to deal with. "Alright, so, once we take out the McAllister's, how are we going to take care of Alistair and Ajax?"
Avery smirked as he hopped off of his bed, soon grabbing a large rolled up piece of paper and laying it out on the floor, using his office knick-knacks to hold the corners in place. "This is how you're going get these fuckers—What used to be tunnels for floods, we turned into smuggling paths. There's many entrances and exits but this one is the main one." Avery pointed near the top of the blueprint. "This is the tunnel that Ajax uses to personally send out goods that Alistair, himself, managed to get, no doubt, he was going to use that for the pendant too." Avery informed as Chase scanned the multitude of entries he had.
"How'd you even manage to make all these pathways?" The Shepherd asked as he kept his eyes glued to the blueprint.
"Workers, dog workers..." Avery continued, pausing for a bit as he stood towards the ground, thinking back to the heinous act that their boss committed. "He...uh...he falsely advertised a line of normal, legal work for dogs who needed it. Once they did what they were ordered to do, which was burn out a majority of the metal bars in the tunnels..." Avery looked towards the Shepherd, "I think you can figure out the rest."
Chase took some time to respond as he spaced out for a second, "W-was this after I left?" Avery answered in silence as Chase lowered his head, laying down on the floor soon after. "So I got those dogs killed? Ma-maybe if I just gave the pendant-maybe I could've—."
"Quiet down, pup. It's not your fault." Avery assured as he sorrowfully looked towards the Shepherd. "If you gave that pendant to Alistair, you would've been killed along with Isaac and Diaz. You did the right thing, ended up saving a lot more people in the long run thanks to you, those pups and that kid." The Greyhound smiled as Chase soon raised his head from the floor.
"Thanks, Avery." Chase nodded as he glanced back at the blueprint of the building. "Which route should I take though? These all look confusing." The Shepherd asked.
"It's not that difficult, you just follow this pa—." Avery heard a knock at the door and a few voices along with it.
"Avery, we're back, told you we wouldn't be that long!"
The Greyhound sighed in relief as he just barely heard the Alaskan Malamute on the other side of the door. "Help me roll this up! Quick!"
"Avery? You alright in there? The door's locked!" Levi stated as Avery grunted in frustration. "Gesù, Maria e Giuseppe, give me a damn minute!" As the Greyhound moved the large blueprint back to where it originally was, he accidentally knocked over some items off of his shelf. "I got it from here, just go unlock the door!" Avery ordered as he quickly picked everything back up, stashing the blueprint as he placed the items back in their original positions.
As the Shepherd unlocked the door and allowed the crew to come inside, he was met with various greetings—a quick hug from Mavis, a nod from Delta, an arm jab from Levi and a cold stare from Nashi.
"So, how'd things go, you two?" Avery clapped his paws together as he faced the crew.
"Simple as usual, to be honest with you." Levi boasted as Delta nodded in agreement, confirming the level of easiness the job was.
"Yeah, even he has simple jobs. Is this war with the McAllisters' really cutting down our work?" Delta asked as Avery shrugged, answering his question with his motion.
"Sorry to say it but yeah. Trust me though, give it some time, we'll run down on those mick bastards soon enough and end this whole thing. Now do me a favor—from here on out, don't bother asking me for jobs because I won't have any. There's been a halt because none of the contractors in the Den want to risk losing their associates to the McAllisters."
"A day or two ago, you didn't give a damn otherwise..." Nashi mumbled as Delta tapped the Husky's shoulder, wondering what he was thinking.
"You got something you wanna say, Nashi?" Avery asked as he glared towards him, soon approaching as the Husky stood his ground. "Go on, I'm all ears." There was a long silence before Avery stepped back, "That's what I thought. Keep your damn mouth shut and don't be a wise-ass."
Mavis was the first to break the tension, "So...are we just free to do whatever until something comes up?" The Retriever asked as Avery shrugged.
"More or less. Go on, spend your ration cards, do whatever you want but when I call all of you through your collars, you pick up right away and head to the office." Avery advised as he soon opened the door, gesturing for his crew to leave, "Alright, get out and go relax if you even can." As the crew left one by one, the Greyhound stopped Chase in his tracks, "We'll get back to that another time, alright?"
"Sure thing." Chase looked down as his friend held out his paw, the Shepherd shook it and was pulled in by the Greyhound.
Avery leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Keep them close but also keep an eye on them, trust me."
The embrace was released as the office door closed, with Chase keeping that note in his mind and locking it in there. Something was odd about what Avery said, the way he said it. Chase looked off towards where the crew is, seeing them depart to do their own things. As the dogs walked away, Mavis turned her head, seeing the Shepherd out of the corner of her eye, still standing by the office door. She smiled as she approached him, tail wagging at a rapid rate as Chase spotted her, sheepishly smiling as he wagged his tail as well.
Mavis stood beside the Shepherd, soon laying down as she pulled Chase down with her. As her head leaned up next to brown pup's fur, she let out a relaxed sigh, "It's about time we had a break, at least for a few days, right?"
"Yeah, we really needed this." Chase slightly chuckled as he lessened the pressure he had on his paw, "At least it'll give me time to heal this paw up."
Mavis smiled as she laid her paw onto Chase's, "You need the rest anyway, with you being a dangerous pup and all."
"I'm not a dangerous pup, I'm just trying to survive like everyone else." Chase stubbornly stated as he continued on, "But...but I don't know if I could even rest, I feel like I shouldn't."
"Well, you should." Mavis turned the pup's face towards her, "You were almost killed, Isaac! I think anyone would consider to rest after that."
"Maybe." Chase stood up as he gave Mavis a piece of advice. "Let's be honest here, though, I get that you worry about me but I suggest you worry more about that McAllister you converted, she's in a lot more danger than I am."
Mavis stood silent as she watched the Shepherd walk away, lowering her head on her paws as she continued to lie on the cold ground all by her lonesome. She knew he was right but keeping Mika safe was just as important as keeping him safe as well. The Retriever huffed in annoyance as she wanted to help Chase but didn't want to deal with the Shepherd's ignorance.
Paws clacked on the marble flooring that led towards Alistair's office, Ajax soon staring the door down with some worry flowing through him. The Great Dane showed no fear towards others but to his owner, it was almost the opposite. "Here we go..."
As a smooth breeze of cold air hit the dog's face, he quickly brushed it away and glanced forward, seeing his owner standing behind his desk. Approaching the man, he soon felt his fur slowly rise up on his back as Alistair towered over him, flipping a knife. The dog kept his composure as he soon saw him place the knife down and lean a tad bit forward on his desk. "What's the news on our friend Chase?"
"Things have been good...which is why it's concerning." Ajax stated as he faintly heard the radio talk about the situation that happened earlier today, "I take it you heard what happened?"
"Yes, I have." Alistair pushed himself off the desk as he turned around to face the view of the city, it wasn't a beautiful high-rise but it was a view nonetheless. "A shooting over in McAllister territory. No gang, crew, or faction has the knowledge to pull something professional like that."
Ajax gave it some thought, soon thinking of a guess, "You think it was the crew from Livoughroux? Wanting to tie up loose ends?"
"There are no loose ends between us & them." Alistair turned around as he answered the question, turning his glare towards the pendant, "Even if there are. I have collateral." The man finally sat down, interlocking his fingers as he covered his mouth, "Going back to what you said earlier about Avery—that does raise suspicion. His crew's never been lucky, let alone do a fraction of the damage they caused."
"You think the Shepherd's behind this then?"
"Maybe. That runt has a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either it's that or the Shepherd is getting chatty with the law." Alistair poured a drink into the small shot glass, "I want you to investigate. If it turns out to be true, bring him here. I'll kindly show him the consequences as I did to you." The man assured as he brandished his knife in front of the Great Dane, pointing it towards the door as the dog nodded, soon leaving the room as Alistair set the knife back down, glancing at the pendant once again and letting out a chuckle. "Better sleep with one eye open, pup."