Was he really going to do this? Surely not. Surely, if he could barely manage to gather the courage necessary to guard this rat in the first place, to face each day in the sewers, he wasn't capable of escaping them with her in tow and using her to save Duchess. To take down Duke. It had been a stupid, terrible idea; if the rat survived her fight with him, Ratatoskr knows how many innocent animals she would bring to their deaths alongside him. And what if the rat's increased aggression, barely contained by this dilapidated cage, still wasn't enough to bring her to Duke's level? What if he survived and got rabies from her and became an even worse danger to Duchess?!... and the other animals on the surface? Would the sewers be able to protect her from him? Would she even be willing to tolerate them and the company of a dog that had practically become a part of them to be protected against a rabies-addled boyfriend?
Like they would be allowed back into the sewers after the Rats discovered that he had violated the sanctity of his guarding duties… it would be bad enough that this rat, once released from the confines of her cage and the sewers, would be a danger to individuals of the group… but she would also likely die outside of the company of other Rats… her share of the group's essence lost to the aether rather than being reabsorbed into their collective body… They had trusted him to guard her; they saw him as a full fledged member of the group capable of managing this task and reassimilating her essence into the group in the event that she died while he carried it out despite all his doubts and beliefs to the contrary, and he was planning on breaking that trust? That bond with and within an aggregate more powerful than any other being through the combined strength of its 'individual' members… A mental image of Duchess' scared eyes and marred muzzle presented itself to him for what would very much not be the first or last time that day, and an answer to this question followed it soon after.
Yes. Yes, he would have to take on all of those risks, perform all of these mutilations, to have a shot at providing her with the safety and comfort that she deserved. The dog was only slightly surprised to find that his legs were already carrying him and the rat towards the ladder that he and Duchess had previously used to get to the surface. He silently thanked Ratatoskr for the three… semi-sturdy walls of the cage, which had thus far done a surprisingly good job of keeping the metal bars separating and protecting him from the rat secure… and for Duchess, who would hopefully be freed by this plan and then stay in his life, brightening it like she had since the moment he first saw her. Even if that moment had been scary as well due to the danger she was in and her blinding strength and beauty… The prospect of climbing the ladder he had now reached, heavy and dangerous cage in tow, was only scary, and he could swear that the light of the surface spilling into the sewers grew significantly before he had managed to start his journey up it.
Anxiety shot through him as he felt himself slip after only a few rungs, and he shut his eyes tight as he braced for impact against the hard, unforgiving floors of the sewers, hesitatingly opening them several seconds later after feeling no such impact. He barely managed to resist his instinct to release his hold on the cage's handle and let it fall from his mouth as he saw crazed, uncomprehending eyes staring back at him from inside it. It was wedged against the side of the ladder opposite him and closer to the nearest wall, preventing him from falling and allowing him to regain his footing. He carefully continued maneuvering upwards, positioning the cage in this same way so that he wouldn't fall, and eventually reached the blindingly bright surface with a few more of what felt like near death experiences and very well could have been given the condition of the cage and its cargo. The dog reflected on his memory of the scents Duchess had been carrying the last time he had seen her, his ability to do so limited by his fixation on her scent in particular and his complete lack of experience with recognizing the scents of other dogs.
Eventually, with very little confidence in his choice, he selected the harshest scent and padded outside of the alley, searching for a match. The light of the sun clawed itself into his eyes, much less welcome than the brightness emanating from Duchess but no less overwhelming. Distracted, he barely managed to stop himself from running into something that upon further reflection turned out to be another dog with… a similar scent to the one he was searching for, but far from a perfect match, he was pretty sure…"What the fox is that?!" Alarm shot through him as the dog quickly turned away from him and the rat, moving to get away from them, and he placed the cage on the ground before calling out to her. "Wait! I need help. Duchess needs help. Please." His alarm was replaced with relatively unfamiliar relief as she hesitantly turned around, pausing for a long moment before making her way back to them, placing a wide berth between them. "Duchess?" He felt his ears perk up as he moved closer to her, keeping the cage in his peripheral vision. "You know her?" She looked him up and down, breathing in deeply and contemplatively, before sitting down. "...Yeah, she's my…"
She snorted slightly with dry amusement. "...girlfriend in law? Is that the right term? Probably not, she's way more Duke's main squeeze than me, or any of us… Taking one for the team…" The dog unsuccessfully attempted to dig his claws into the concrete below him, his opinion of this Duke foxer only worsening somehow. "He's not even loyal to her?! He's been running around on her?" She slashed her tail to the side, presumably in agreement. "I know, right?! It's weird, chihuahuas are supposed to be one person dogs…" She covered her mouth with the tip of her tail in sarcastic shock and regret. "Oh no, did I just reveal what the dog half of our grand and all-important wolfdog Pack Leader is? I must prostrate myself before his virility to atone for this sin-" That last word turned into a wretched yelp of pain as a busted up and rusted metal bar suddenly emerged from a nearby alley exit and slammed against her head. Hard.
The dog stared at her in fearful, frozen shock as she crumpled to the ground, bleeding profusely out of the ear that faced away from it, before moving his gaze upwards as a huge… not quite a dog, there was definitely something wild about him that reminded him of the rat in the worst possible ways… stalked out of the alley, holding the metal bar in between his horrifically sharp teeth before unceremoniously dropping it onto her. He was shorter than Duchess, but much taller than the dog, and much, much more toned than him. Through his panic, the dog managed to put his paw on what exactly was so unsettling about him, even more so than… everything else about him; he didn't seem to have a scent, save for the now noticeable smell of the rust of his weapon. The dog prepared himself to meet Ratatoskr as Duke towered over him, menacing through his sheer aura rather than his unreadable expression. Suddenly, he partially lowered himself to his level, only dropping the front half of his body and causing him to instinctively flinch away from him. "You must be new here, I haven't seen you around. How're you likin' downtown so far?"