In the basement of the lookout, the day after saving Zuma
Sierra was laying in her bed, dreary and tired. She turned over and glanced over at the clock on her desk a few meters away, It read '3:24'.
The husky rolled over and tried to fall back asleep, wanting nothing but to ignore what was on her mind. Soon however, she realized that she couldn't ignore it any longer, and decided to just get up and confirm her suspicions once and for all.
She hopped up from her bed and headed toward the door. With thoughts rushing through her mind, she pushed the door open and entered the hallway, looking down it at the elevator before slowly dragging herself to the end. She passed door after door leading to the other pups rooms before she arrived at the elevator and called it down. As she waited for the elevator, she heard a noise from down the hall. The husky quickly turned her head to see what it was, but she couldn't tell what caused it due to the darkness of the hall. The elevator soon arrived, and the husky climbed on, before raising to the main floor of the lookout.
"Please, don't be who I think it is." Sierra said to herself as the elevator rose, hoping that her suspicions were incorrect.
The elevator soon arrived at the ground floor, and stopped to let the husky out. Sierra then began making her way to the server room, still hoping that she was wrong. As she walked through the main floor however, she didn't notice the elevator begin to descend once more, meaning someone else had called it down.
Sierra soon entered the server room, and slowly walked toward the computer on the other side, all the while almost tripping on wire after wire that connected the many different servers around the room to the monitor. The husky soon made it to the computer and hopped into the chair in front of it, before pulling up the puptag footage from the day before.
She went through each of the puptag's recordings until she reached Ace's, and saw a German Shepherd, dressed to the nines, and wearing a white mask. Despite the mask obscuring his face, Sierra knew exactly who the shepherd was, and she sighed as she shoved her face into the desk in front of her.
Damnit, why did it have to be him? Could it not have been anyone else!? Sierra asked herself as she tried to shove her head deeper into the desk. She was desperately hoping that she was wrong, but she was correct about her suspicions, despite how much she didn't want to be.
"Sierra?" Someone asked from the entrance to the server room. Sierra raised her head, now wide awake, and spun to the door. She saw a familiar shepherd, standing in the doorway, staring at her with a confused expression.
"Oh, hey Ace...why are you awake at this hour?" Sierra asked, confused to see the shepherd awake. He was normally asleep at this time, and he wasn't like his father, who frequently took midnight walks around the forest.
"I could ask you the same thing..." Ace replied. The two canines stared at one another in silence before Ace continued. "So, why are you awake?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to just come search through the logs." Sierra replied, not mentioning her suspicions or that she knew who had kidnapped Zuma a couple days ago.
"Huh, did you find anything?" Ace asked. Sierra fell silent, trying to think of something to say without revealing who it was. She didn't want to sell out her old friend, but she also didn't want to lie to Ace.
"N-No..." Sierra replied, deciding to stay quiet about who it was for now. She silently told herself that she'd tell him eventually, but she needed time before she'd be ready. "So, now that Zuma is safe here, when will we be visiting Artemis to review the audio recordings?" Sierra asked, wanting to double check that her suspicions were correct.
"Later today. We'll meet her at her house at around eleven, and she said she'd have the tapes ready to play by the time we arrived." Ace replied. Sierra simply nodded in response before beginning to make her way back to the elevator, with Ace following behind shortly after.
A couple hours later...
Sierra was in the kitchen, slowly eating the food from her food bowl as she thought about what she had discovered hours before. She still denied that it could've been him, and was hoping that the tapes Artemis had would prove her wrong. However, she was also aware that even if the voice was different, it still wouldn't disprove her theory completely.
The husky was so caught up in her thoughts, that she didn't realize that all the other pups were done eating, and most of the had already left the room. She did notice Ace still standing next to her though, pretending to still be eating.
When she finally finished eating, she raised her head and turned to the Shepherd, who glanced back at her in response.
"Ace, I can tell that you aren't eating." Sierra said, looking down at the German Shepherd who had his head shoved into his bowl.
"You don't have proof that I'm not." Ace replied, closing his eye tight as he turned his head away from her.
"Your food bowl is empty." Sierra pointed out, pushing the food bowl away slightly with her paws. Ace then sighed and turned to face her as well.
"Alright, you win." Ace said, lowering his head as he looked up at the husky with a nervous smile. Sierra simply gave him a serious glare as she looked down at his face.
"What is it that you want?" Sierra asked, assuming that he was waiting until she was done to ask her for something.
"Nothing!" Ace replied, quickly turning his head away from her once again. Sierra gave him a look that clearly stated that she knew he was lying. And soon, Ace gave up. "Alright, fine. Meet me outside when you're done eating." Ace told her before leaving the kitchen and trotting toward the door, leaving Sierra there, wondering.
Sierra soon returned to eating, though slowly. She was also now thinking about what Ace could possibly want, instead of her theory about who the masked man was.
Somewhere else in Adventure Bay
A bloodhound was walking down the sidewalk near the center of Adventure Bay. Wearing a trench coat and a large hat to try to conceal his identity.
His name was Hunter, and he worked as the main detective of the ABPD. He was currently heading toward Porter's Cafe to get something to eat, as he wasn't currently working, and he was starving. He would normally be at work around this time, but he was strangely called off the current case by the chief shortly after the incident at a warehouse on the edge of town.
Eventually, he arrived at Porter's Cafe. He then entered the restaurant and headed toward the counter to order something before heading to pick out a table. On his way however, he bumped into a fellow canine, almost knocking them over and barely staying standing himself.
"I'm sorry sir, are you okay?" Hunter asked as he helped the person up. The canine then turned to him and smiled, before he spoke.
"Don't be, I'm alright. It was partly my fault for running so fast indoors anyways." The canine replied. Hunter then felt something as he stared at the shepherd in front of him, like he recognized him from somewhere.
"Wait a moment, I feel like I know you. Are you..." Hunter got interrupted by the shepherd before he could finish his question.
"Oh, how rude of me! I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Wilhelm Juniper! You may have heard of me from that theatre play in Barkingburg." Juniper introduced himself. He then stared at the bloodhound, waiting for him to introduce himself as well.
"Hunter. I'm the detective at the local police station." Hunter introduced himself to the shepherd, who was surprised to learn about the detective.
"I wasn't aware that Adventure Bay had their own detective. I thought Chase covered that." Juniper said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "I assume you're very busy with the many murder cases springing up around town. Must be hard at work to catch the person responsible."
"Actually, I was called off the case. It's now entirely in the PAW Patrol's hands." Hunter informed him, causing confusion for Juniper, who wondered why the chief would call off the detective at such a crucial time.
Have they made a change of plans? This wasn't how I was informed everything would go. Juniper thought to himself, trying to grasp the logic of the police chief.
"It must feel horrible, huh?" Juniper said, trying to sound like he felt bad for the bloodhound.
"Nah, Chase was always better at the job than I was. I just hope he'll be able to catch the suspect before they cause more pain. It Inevitable that I'll be given a different case to examine soon anyway." Hunter responded. He then heard his order number being called, and him and Juniper parted ways before Hunter grabbed his food and wandered off to the nearest table.
Juniper paid attention and noted which table the bloodhound sat in, before making an order at the counter and heading off to get a table himself. He purposely picked a table that let him see the detective, but made him hard to see from Hunter's point of view.
So, the main detective has been called off, and Mr. Schäfer is replacing him? Interesting... Juniper thought to himself as he pulled out his wallet and phone to make a call.
As he tried to pull out the card that had the number of the person he was trying to call from his wallet. A different, green and gold card fell out. The shepherd read the number on the first card and put it into his phone before looking down to pick up the second card that had fallen onto the table. He froze before grabbing it as he read what it said.
Adoption Certificate
John J. - Owner [Human]
Wilhelm J. - Pet [German Shepherd]
There was a lot more small text on the bottom of the card, likely more formal, legal wording. But it was the certificate his old owner had gotten when he adopted him. Juniper was surprised by it, he honestly forgot that he had held onto it until now. His thoughts were interrupted however, when his phone finally connected the call.
Back at the lookout
Sierra left the lookout through the automatic doors and looked around for Ace, almost immediately seeing him sitting next to the TPz Fuchs. She began walking over to him, still wondering what he could need, when Ace noticed her.
"There you are." Ace said, happy to finally see her. Sierra walked over and sat down next to him before speaking.
"Yeah, sorry for taking so long. I was just conflicted with something and got distracted. Anyway, why did you want us to meet out here? What is it that you want?" Sierra asked, curious about what the shepherd needed.
"I wanted to ask you something, but I didn't want to ask you in front of the others." Ace replied.
"Oh, alright then. Well, what is it that you wanted to ask me?" Sierra asked, wanting to know what it was.
"I want to know if something is wrong. I've noticed you've been focusing really hard on something all day." Ace replied. Sierra's facial expression clearly changed as she was about to speak, but Ace was faster. "You're not that good at hiding it, Sier." Ace told her.
"I...I don't want to talk about it right now. Can we just go visit Artemis already?" Sierra asked him, wanting to get away from the topic. Ace was very clearly disappointed at not getting an answer, but he knew he wouldn't be able to get her to speak.
"Sure, let me go get ready first and we can leave." Ace replied before trotting to the lookout, disappearing inside as Sierra got into the Fuchs.
After a couple minutes of waiting, Ace finally returned and hopped into the Fuchs before pulling out of the parking lot and beginning the drive to the other side of Adventure Bay, where Artemis lived.
30 minutes later...
The TPz Fuchs pulled up outside a small, two story house on the outskirts of Adventure Bay. Ace stopped the large vehicle and shut off the engine, before turning to the husky in the passenger seat.
"Alright, this is the place." Ace said, looking out the passenger window at the small house. Sierra glanced out the window as well and examined the property, surprised by the relatively small size of the house.
Huh, I sort of expected something a bit...larger. Sierra thought to herself. She then heard Ace open the driver door and hop out, and after a moment, she did the same.
The two canines walked up the small stone path to the front door, with Ace lightly knocking on the door upon reaching it. He then took a step back as the two waited, and after a few moments, they heard the door unlock and the door opened. Both of them were immediately greeted by a German Shepherd, who seemed happy to see them.
"Hey Ace, nice to see you again." Artemis greeted the police pup. She then turned to Sierra and tilted her head. "You must be Sierra, right?" Artemis asked.
"Yes, that's me." Sierra replied, slightly nervous to meet the shepherd for the first time.
"Great, it's nice to meet you." Artemis said happily as she extended her paw to shake.
"It's nice to meet you too, Ms...?" Sierra stuttered, not remembering the shepherd's last name.
"Gutaussehend." Artemis answered.
"It's nice to meet you too, Ms. Gutaussehend." Sierra finished her sentence as she shook the shepherd's paw.
Sierra then looked up at the house as Ace entered, before she followed behind. Artemis then led the two canines to the kitchen while making small talk with them, as she began making coffee for her new guests.
"So, how are you two doing recently? Y'know, with everything going on." Artemis asked curiously. She had heard of Zuma's kidnapping and subsequent rescue, but the PAW Patrol had already saved him by the time she arrived at the scene, and she wasn't aware of what happened.
"About as good as we could be. I successfully haven't been shot yet, Dad has been assigned as the new detective on the case. As far as I'm aware, Zuma has been spending a lot of time with Rocky. I guess he makes him feel better, I don't know." Ace replied. Artemis rolled her eyes as she finished making the coffee and turned to the police pup.
"Ace, you're not invincible. You know this." Artemis told him, referencing him barely dodging a bullet during Zuma's rescue.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'll be more careful next time." Ace replied, totally planning to be more careful for now on. Artemis set the cups of coffee down in front of the two pups, then went and grabbed her cup before sitting down.
"So, what about you Sierra? How have you been recently?" Artemis asked. Sierra snapped back to reality and looked at her in silence for a moment, calculating what she asked before she realized.
"Oh, uhh, I've been good...yeah." Sierra quickly replied, taking a sip of her coffee as she glanced away from the police dog.
"Alright then..." Artemis muttered. Ace then remembered why they were there in the first place, and interrupted their conversation to speak.
"Hey, Artemis, could you go get the audio tape for Sierra?" Ace asked, causing Sierra to raised her head as she remembered as well.
"Sure, one moment." Artemis replied as she stood up and headed to her room to grab the tape, leaving the Shepherd and Husky alone in the kitchen.
There was a long silence as they waited for Artemis to get the tape, all the while Sierra was trapped in her thoughts, begging for the audio tape to debunk her theory somehow, despite the overwhelming evidence she already had. After a couple minutes of nothing but silence, Sierra began wondering what was taking her so long to get the tapes. Her wondering wouldn't last much longer however, as Artemis soon reentered the room with the tape and tape player in paw.
"Here you go." Artemis said as she placed the tape player onto the table and inserted the tape. She didn't begin playing it however, instead deciding to let Sierra begin playing it when she was ready.
Sierra tried to prepare herself before she began the tape, expecting it to be her old friend, but secretly wishing it wasn't. After another moment of nothing but silence between the three canines, Sierra began playing the tape.
She first heard a couple voices that she didn't recognize, as she had never met Tuck and Ella, or even knew of their existence. But then she heard the undeniable american accent that belonged to her old friend. Ace and Artemis noticed the expression on the husky change as the voice spoke, and both of them knew something was off, but Artemis was the one that spoke.
"Is something wrong?" Artemis asked, wondering why she had the blank expression on her face. Sierra didn't respond immediately, but eventually muttered a name.
"Juniper." Sierra muttered quietly. So quiet in fact, that Ace and Artemis barely heard it. Both of them stared at one another before turning back to the husky.
"It's Juniper?" Artemis asked, wondering what she meant.
"It can't be. He has a very distinct voice, and it doesn't match him. I met him, and even spoke with him a little over a month ago, it's no where near close." Ace replied, pointing out the difference. Sierra was quick to give an explanation however.
"Juniper puts on an accent when in public. That voice you heard was his false one, this is his true voice. He only uses it when speaking with someone he's close with." Sierra explained. Ace and Artemis were both surprised, but Artemis then put something together.
"Wait a moment...If Juniper is in town, and this recording is somewhat recent. Then wouldn't that mean that Tuck and Ella are somewhere in town?" Artemis asked, wondering if the two ex-members of the PAW Patrol were in town.
"Good question. I assume so. It at least means that they're nearby, as they could've have gone far if this is indeed recent." Sierra replied.
"This recording is about a week old actually. So they could honestly be anywhere at this point." Ace pointed out, assuming that the twins were already long gone.
"There's still a chance that they could be here. I'll search for them, you two should focus on Juniper." Sierra told them.
"Alright, sounds good." Artemis replied, happy with the idea.
And with that, Sierra and Ace headed to leave as Artemis collected the tape and tape player. The Husky and Shepherd then left the house and walked down the stone path back to the Fuchs. The whole way thoughts rushed through Sierra's mind, trying to find a reason why Juniper would've caused them so much pain.
"So, where do you expect to find them?" Ace asked as they arrived back at the Fuchs. He then began walking around the front toward the driver side.
"Huh?" Sierra questioned, not exactly hearing him or understanding what she did hear. She then hopped inside, with Ace getting in shortly after.
"The twins. Where do you plan on looking for them? Because if they are still here, Adventure Bay is huge, and they could be anywhere." Ace asked again.
"I was thinking about just traveling around town looking for them, but now that you point it out, that would be almost impossible now." Sierra replied, thinking through her plan. "I'm sure that I'll find some way to find them though, you just focus on finding that arrogant bastard." Sierra told him, sure that she'd think of something.
"Are you sure you can find them by yourself?" Ace asked, still unsure about leaving her to look for them herself.
"I haven't failed a mission so far. And I won't begin failing now." Sierra replied, confident in her abilities.
"Alright then." Ace said as he turned on the engine of the Fuchs and began driving back to the lookout.
Meanwhile, back at the lookout
Zuma was hanging out in the main room of the lookout, lying on a beanbag chair, with Rocky sitting next to him. The mixed breed had spent almost every minute around the Labrador ever since they rescued him, not wanting to leave him again, to the mild annoyance of the Labrador. Zuma was too nice though to tell Rocky to leave him alone, and he did enjoy the company, even if his constant worrying annoyed him slightly.
Zuma decided to close his eyes and try to get some rest. Afterall, he can't be annoyed if he's asleep. However, even that didn't last long until he heard footsteps approaching. The Labrador opened his eyes to see who it was, and was meeted by Ryder, who was holding a new orange collar in one hand, and something in his other hand that he couldn't see.
"Yeah Wyder?" Zuma asked, wondering what Ryder needed as he was clearly trying to rest.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your rest, but I got you a new collar and puptag to replace the old one. Would you mind standing up for a moment so I can put it on you?" Ryder asked him. Zuma stood up and tried to look down at his neck, having honestly forgot that his old one had been destroyed when he was kidnapped.
"Uhh, suwe." Zuma replied as he looked straight ahead. Ryder kneeled down and put the collar on him as Zuma noticed AL standing at the doorway, watching them silently.
That's a bit terrifying. Zuma thought to himself as Ryder attached the puptag to the collar. He then stood up and backed up a bit as Zuma raised his paw and felt the new collar, strangely feeling a little more comfortable with it now on.
"Thanks dude." Zuma thanked his owner as he laid back down on the beanbag and tried to get some rest again. Ryder then left the room, but AL still remained at the doorway, staring at him. Zuma opened his eyes for a moment and glanced at the robotic canine before closing his eyes again.
"Rocky, could you please tell AL to leave? He's kind of freaking me out." Zuma asked his friend.
"Sure thing." Rocky replied, the mixed breed then turned to AL and politely asked him to go somewhere else while Zuma rested, which the robotic canine did. Finally letting Zuma get some rest.
That's the end of Chapter 14
-König der Könige