The squad had little time to rest or even prepare for what was coming next. The escape from the jungle alone was performed hastily, deviating from their usual plan after the haunting ultimatum was received. Kolechi was going to London, closer with every step with every step they took, forcing them to act on double time. An ACG airship soared low above the jungle, Rocky, Chase, Strap booking for it at full speed with idle gunfire following behind them. Burton, Leo, and Paige were already picked up, the three hanging out the back hangar gesturing for them to jump on. Narrowly fleeing the heated zone, they loaded up into their armored transport and successfully fled the scene.

Burton grabbed Rocky as he climbed aboard, pulling the dazed mix in. "Are you guys alright?" He asked, speaking through quickened breaths.

Unclipping his pup pack, Chase tried to shake out the ringing in his ears. "Oh yeah, total cakewalk down there." His ears twitched in irritation; his whole body disoriented from the explosions. "We walked in, grabbed our shit, and walked out. Everyone was nice as pie."

"Where are we on our course of action?" Rocky shook his dizziness away, swaying as the airship sped into the sky.

"We called Bella as we were flying in." Leo turned to him. "There's no time to go back and restock, we either leave right for London, or Kolechi takes it."

"Splendid." Muttered the captain. "Chase, please tell me you didn't completely unload all your weapons back there."

The shepherd gave him a sheepish look. "Well... I'm not completely empty."

"I have a few magazines left, four grenades." Strap spoke up, trying to uplift the scene.

"And I used most of my things fighting in the forest." Rocky said, flattening his ears. His expression turned bleak, looking around at each member of his team. The gears turned in his head, struggling to form a result.

"Captain Rocky," Burton said, reading the mood. "We can't let Kolechi take the palace."

"We won't. We just... don't have a lot to help us do it." The mix began pacing around the airship interior, his eyes fixed to the floor. "Taking ammo from the enemy will be worthless since they use different weapons."

"And I doubt they'll let us walk in through the front door." Chase added.

"We aren't going in through the front."

All heads in the room tilted, awaiting their captain's word. Taking a deep breath, Rocky leaned up and addressed the room. "We'll be doing this 'bare bones,' then. Someone tell the pilot, this is gonna be a tight drop."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The airship tore through the clouds, emerging high above England like a swooping eagle. The sun was creeping over the horizon, painting the land of buildings and cities in a warm, shining orange. They were spotted well before they even came near the palace, thousands of eyes below, citizen and terrorist, looking upward at the new presence descending from the heavens. They were soaring toward the palace at breakneck speed, approaching the massive structure with no time for an element of surprise.

"Captain, they see us!" The pilot announced through the radio.

"All of London can see us!" Rocky shouted, yanking tight the cables for his flight suit. The others mirrored him, suiting up for an incredibly dangerous drop. "Alright, everyone listen up!" He had to bark over the roaring of the engines outside, overcharged with power as the airship accelerated. "We're about to fly over the masonry of the palace! We're all going to jump out, activate our suits, and glide onto the roof! We'll get in from there, but Burton will stay behind!"

"Me!?" The retriever shouted through the noise. "What for!?"

"The airship will swing around and bring you to a high vantage point!" Rocky answered him. "You can provide us sniper support from there! There'll only be five of us down there, we need all the firepower we can get!"

"We're nearing the palace!" The pilot said again. "ETA, 30 seconds! Enemy soldiers are swarming the quadrangle!"

The airship suddenly veered to the left, throwing the team into one another and slamming off the walls. Rocky stumbled to keep his footage, narrowly toppling while Chase was completely thrown aside. "Nng-" Strap grunted as fell to the floor, tumbling on the slanted ground. "Silver Liner, watch your flying!"

Quick to reply, the pilot frantically yelled through the radio. "Hostiles are gathering on the center courtyard, carrying anti-aircarft launchers!"

"What...?" Rocky paled, his face widening with fear.

"We're being targeted!"

"Just get to the masonry!" The mix yelled to his team. "Prepare for drop! Ten seconds!"

"Missiles inbound!" Their driver shouted. "Brace for impact, everyone hang on!"

"No! We can make it!" Chase jumped to the backdoors, preparing himself. "We can-"

A violent impact struck the front of the airship, slamming the vehicle to the side and flinging its occupants to the floor. Everything started spinning, the blaring siren of an alarm screaming into their ears. Screeching tears of metal howled all around them, followed by shattering glass and failing engines. With what little he had, Rocky clamped his arms around a weapon cache in the wall, holding on for dear life as his body picked up from the floor. The fall was only a few seconds yet seemed to last ages until it all stopped at once. They were deafened with the sounds of rupturing concrete, all dogs struck off the floor upon impact. Explosions surrounding their ears, the airship smashed through the roof of the palace, coming a fiery crash-landing.

There was little time to be dazed. The dogs awoke in a groaning mess, each one collapsed on the now-bent metal floor. The back doors of the airship had been torn off, providing their exist into the debris-filled room. The stench of smoke had filled the hull, painted a piercing red from the blinking emergency lights. Panting heavily, Rocky strained to stand up, dejectedly unclipping his flight suit. "Status... status report! Everyone..."

"Over here," Strap said, his voice pained. Puling himself free from dislodged cargo, the husky shook himself off. "I'm okay, captain. I'll... I'll live."

"Check the pilot." Rocky ordered him, then looked around realizing no one else was in the airship. "Chase?!" He called. "Paige, Burton, Leo!?"

Burton's voice called outside the ship. "Out here!"

Turning to face the speaker, the mixed breed grimaced as he pushed through the smoke, stepping out of the destroyed vehicle into the palace. The damage was immeasurable, the airship had fallen straight through the ceiling, slowing its fall just enough to prevent it from penetrating the floor. It skidded for a hot second before crashing into the far wall, obliterating it completely and blasting out its crumbled remains to the ground outside. What still stood of the room was covered in dust and debris, vandalizing what was probably once a beautiful area of the palace. "Is everyone okay?!" He spotted the twin retrievers, both bruised and caked with dust. Burton was holding the other, a distressed look on his face.

"Captain, Paige is hurt!" Burton cried. "He has a pulse, but he's not moving!"

Chase stood up at the voices, groggily coming to his feet from where he was thrown out during the crash. He hadn't been launched far, but the landing was far from soft. Swaying in place, the shepherd suppressed his pain the best he could, trying to power through his body's protests while he walked. "Where are we? Is this the masonry?"

Examining his surroundings quickly, a difficult task due to the smashed conditions of the room, Rocky shook his head. "No, we overshot it thanks to the crash. We'll go into plan B."

"Which is?"

"Fighting straight to Kolechi ourselves." Growled the mix, clicking the safety off his weapon.

Strap jumped out of the wreckage, a labrador following him. "Captain, I found Leo... and the pilot's dead."

All eyes turned to Rocky, expecting his next order. He knew the situation was dire, even he couldn't stop the twinge of concern flashing on his face. Had they gone too far? This couldn't be the mission they failed, they were too close, everything was hinging on now. He had to say something, he couldn't just meet his expectant friends with silence, they relied on him to know what to do. Burton, still holding his incapacitated comrade, Strap, Leo, and Chase who were severely tossed around in the crash. They had no major injuries, but their expressions were groaning with lingering pain. What could he even say?

"Rocky?" Chase asked.

A hail of gunfire suddenly tore through the wall, catching all of them by surprise as a swarm of bullets ambushed them. Hundreds of shots, blind fired through in a storm of death ready to catch the unsuspecting. Bristling with alarm, the soldiers dove for whatever they could get behind.

"Ultranationalists outside the room!" Strap shouted, instinctively covering his head as shots whizzed past him. "They're shooting through the wall!"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Chase snapped, flattening himself behind an overturned table. Dust and wood shavings clouded through the room as the enemies fired through, forming thousands of dotted holes in their paths. They could only brace themselves against the flying shrapnel, flinching as each bullet whizzed past them. It gradually slowed, the gunfire coming to a rest in the midst of the crumbling room.

They were coming in, Chase could hear them barking orders at one another from behind the wall. He pulled a stun grenade from his belt, holding the trigger in his teeth and flicking the pin out with his paw.

"With your teeth?!" Rocky gaped.

"Do you see a launcher on my backpack!?" The shepherd snapped; his voice muffed from the object. "Was I supposed to get one from home base in the extremely small window of time we had!?"

Strap unexpectedly shouted into the chaos. "Don't talk with a grenade in your mouth!"

The front door cracked open, the barrel of a gun leading through as the enemy entered. Chase was already winding up when the knob turned, flinging the stun grenade with the whip his head. The tiny explosive zipped through the air, hitting the floor and rolling through the open door. It came to a slow stop beneath the several legs of the ultranationalist squad, by the time even one looked down to see it, it was too late. Rocky barked a warning to get their heads down, and his voice was quickly drowned out by a deafening bang. A monstrous flash of white burned into every corner of the battleground, Burton didn't get his head down in time, the retriever reared back as all his senses were overloaded and disabled. All sound in the world was shut away in an instant, overpowered by a dominant ringing noise that seemed to eclipse all that existed.

The enemy soldiers had taken the full brunt of the stun, their eardrums broken, and eyes blinded from the flash. Rocky jumped from where he hid, charging at the door and slamming himself through it, knocking away the soldier opening it. Although his ears had been cracked deaf, the sharp kick of his rifle was all too real. There had only been around a dozen soldiers cornering them, an outnumbered attack they would've fallen to easily. But they were blind, Rocky wasn't, and nearly was Chase as he streamed out behind it. The two swiftly dispatched the incapacitated soldiers, not giving them a moment to recover before their blood spattered the rug of London's beloved palace. The rest of the squad followed behind them, Burton carrying Paige on his shoulders.

The world slowly returned to normal, their hearing gently recovering from the grenade's impact. "Where's the throne room?!" Rocky darted his eyes all around the massive hallway, frantically hunting for any sign of the enemy leader. "Where did we land?!"

"Music room," Chase pointed at a small placard hanging next to the door. Although it was burned through with bullet holes, its message still clearly displayed. "That would put the throne room..." he turned his vision forward, scanning the area. "Right there, that door. That's the drawing room, I think. It'll lead us in."

"You know the way?"

"I've been here before!" Chase gave him an odd look. "And you have too, remember?"

"The replica in Barkingburg doesn't count!"

"Behind us!" Paige suddenly yelled, having awakened just in time to look down the opposite direction of the hallway. The whole team shot up in attention, fierce alarm hitting all six as they realized how exposed they were. They scattered like roaches, jumping in all directions as another enemy squad rounded the far corner, opening fire at the team. Paige swiftly hopped back to action, jumping off Burton's back and returning fire.

"Get in there! We have no cover out here!" Said the captain, struggling to fire at the sheer number of targets. "Go!"

Chase jumped in front, providing a cover as the rest soared through into the new room. The shepherd grimaced, clearly outnumbered to an enormous degree, and a few seconds of exposure would put him in the grave. Not that he would mind giving his life for his family, it was a vow he took mentally a long time ago. Strap, Burton, and Paige followed Rocky in. Leo sprinted for the doorway, but a bullet caught him in the leg, tripping the labrador to the floor.

"Leo!" Chase exclaimed, his focus breaking for a split-second. He hadn't even realized the brand-new hole in the tip of his ear, leaking blood down his face.

"I'm fine!" Leo shouted, aiming back at the enemy. "I'll just-" He was silenced as a bullet shot through the air, piercing through the soldier's head, spraying his own blood across the floor. The labrador collapsed, flinching for a split second before going still.

"No!" The shepherd went into a snarling rage, flattening his ears and preparing to lunge straight forward. Rocky quickly grabbed him by the collar and yanked him in the room.

"Chase, what the hell are you doing!?" The captain snarled, tightly gripping his brother. "You can't rush into death like that!"

"Rocky! Leo-"

"I know!" He barked, and for a moment the captain frowned, a wave of sorrow going over him. "I know, I- I saw it happen. But we need to get this done, now get ahold of yourself!" They flinched as another storm of bullets tore through the walls, another blind attack from the outside. "Burton, Paige, make a stand in the doorway!" He commanded, letting Chase go. "Strap, watch that other door if hostiles try coming up the stairs, Chase, you're with me!"

The duo reloaded their rifles with what little remained, gathering up on the white door that acted as the only barrier into the throne room. "Wait," Rocky stopped, looking up at the entrance. "This would be the perfect place to ambush us."

"So what? I'll just throw another flashbang."

The mix fell silent, scanning the door up and down. "No... not through here." Stepping back, he let his gaze trail to the opposite wall, where three large windows opened up to the outside, laced with beautiful red curtains. He knew there was a balcony outside, easily traversable. "That way." He already made haste for them, while the sounds of gunfire cracked behind, his fellow soldiers holding down their position.

"Do these windows open?" Chase asked.

"Probably not." Rocky shrugged. "Apologies, your majesty." He swiftly rammed the stock of his gun into the glass, shattering it promptly into dozens of pieces. Slipping through the new exit, they both landed outside on the balcony, providing the perfect pathway down the right side of the building, where the windows to the throne room were unguarded. Keeping his gun trained, the captain slowed himself as he approached, coming to a complete stop and slowly peering in through the glass, careful not to expose his position.

As he expected, he could easily see inside, where seven ultranationalist soldiers were fixated on the front doors, their weapons ready and trained. Sitting on the throne was Kolechi himself, an Australian shepherd with a cold, emotionless expression.

"Chase, listen." Rocky said, counting each hostile. "This needs to be done absolutely perfectly." He let himself breathe for a moment, his heart violently racing.

The soldiers inside suspected nothing, eyes fixed on the doors ahead, fully ready for the ACG to emerge and be shot dead. Shooting through the wall here wasn't an option, as some safety precaution was in place that required a reinforced structuring. Apparently, this particular room got special treatment since it was where the royalty was found, no one really knew the real answer. Kolechi sat calm and collected, his paws crossed as he eyed the door. Any minute now.

A window suddenly broke, shattered glass spilling into the room. Before anyone could even register the sound being there, a stun grenade was flung into the room, bouncing into the very center for a spectacular detonation. The entire throne room went white for a split-second, every dog inside knocked over in deafened, ear-splitting agony. Kolechi himself had been staring right into the blast, prompting the shepherd to recoil in surprise as it hit him.

Chase and Rocky breached the room, diving through the windows and rolling off the floor. No one had the eardrums to hear the snapping of assault rifles, bullets whizzing in all directions, tearing through heads and necks. Red mist sprayed out of each body, painting the walls and floor as the soldiers fell. One just narrowly recovered in time to see the duo and attempted to pull his weapon, but Rocky saw him first.

Atop the throne, Kolechi regained his vision just in time to see a German shepherd sprinting at him like a freight train. The soldier lunged for the terrorist, snatching him off the throne and tackling him to the ground. "Got you, motherfucker!" Chase barked, pinning Kolechi and slamming his head into the floor.

"¡Bájate de mí, hijo de puta!" Kolechi hissed, snapping his teeth and squirming under his attacker.

"Not so fun being on the other end, huh!?" Chase firmly pressed his paws onto his head. "Over twelve thousand lives, you piece of shit! Over twelve thousand lives, souls, cut short because of you! Women and children!"

Checking each body, Rocky scoffed and approached the terrorist leader. "Hello, Kolechi." He said, looking down on the extremist. "The world will sleep soundly at your disposal."

Kolechi flattened his ears upon spotting the leader. "Vete al infierno, cerdo."

"Ya lo hemos hecho." Rocky growled, flawlessly switching languages. "Are you gonna play nice, or do we need to make this worse?"

The terrorist faltered for a moment, taken aback by the mix's bilingualism. He shot him a narrowed look, snarling through his teeth. "You kill my people because you do not understand what we are." He said, fidgetting under Chase's grasp. "We are the sanitizers. It is us who weeds out the weak from the strong."

"By dropping biochemical bombs in cities?" Chase said skeptically.

"Cities filled with the unworthy, maybe. Necessary sacrifices must be made, you must first lose if you are to gain." He chuckled. "You stop me now, but you cannot undo what we have already done."

"Not us, anyway." Rocky said flatly. "We're just going to turn you over to our contact. They'll decide what is done with you."

"We're gonna get paid big for this." Chase looked up at his brother. "If we get what the employer promised, this could be the biggest payout the ACG has ever seen. Maybe Bella will like us again." He let Kolechi go after making sure there weren't any weapons on him, allowing the dog to stand, but not without two rifles trained on him to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere.

"Always about money, eh?" Kolechi jeered as he stood up. "True Americans."

"I was actually born in Canada, dickhead."

"Captain Rocky," Paige came through on the radio. "We've held off the attack."

The mixed breed grinned, knowing they had won. "Just one question, my friend." Rocky inquired, aiming down at the terrorist leader. "We intercepted one of your messages over in the jungle a couple hours ago." He began, watching Kolechi's face twist in irritation. "You said something, very interesting. Something that I can't get out of my head." He held his tone for a few seconds, before carefully speaking again. "You said you didn't need to break in here, a human had given you access."

"I'm not telling you anything."

"It's in your best interest you do. Cooperate with me, and maybe I can make your time in ACG containment a tad less shit while we transport you." Rocky growled. "There's no harm in asking a question, isn't there?"

"Questions get you killed." Kolechi said, his eyes flicking to the side for a moment. "Especially by those who do not those who ask."

"Just us, man." The captain shrugged. "We're just talking, dog to dog. Now tell me." He walked forward a little, lowering his face as he stared down the leader. "Who was it that gave you access to Buckingham palace?"

Their captive hesitated, backing up slightly. He had nowhere to run, not without a bullet in the leg anyway, he was all out of options. He processed the information in his head, silently surveying his words while the two soldiers watched closely. After a long moment of consideration, Kolechi sighed and spoke again. "His name was Ry-"

He was sharply cut off as a bullet broke through a window, sailing through the air and catching Kolechi in the chest before the glass could even hit the floor. It had come without warning, both dogs jumping back in surprise as the leader fell to the floor, his own blood forming a streak on the carpet. Chase quickly turned to the window, expecting to see someone looking through with a rifle, but there was no one. Rocky's heart sank, a wave of dread hitting him as he realized the new presence.

Sniper.

"Get away from the windows!" Rocky jumped at his brother, pulling him down to the floor. He expected another shot, but it never came, a long moment of silence encompassing the death-filled room. Wearily looking up, the captain crept to the new broken window. "Ruff, binoculars." He uttered quickly, voice flooding with adrenaline. His backpack came to lift again, extending out a set of binoculars to hold in front of his face. Heart pounding so hard it felt it would leap out, Rocky peered through them, gazing out the window for the sniper.

"What did you say?" Chase ran to Kolechi, who was convulsing on the floor. He only had seconds left, a terrified look splayed across his face as red coughed up his throat. The bullet had pierced something vital, saving him was impossible. "What did you say?" The shepherd repeated, staring into him. "What's his name, who let you in here!?"

The terrorist looked up at him for a long moment, his eyes pleading with denial. He opened his mouth, spitting a blood-soaked name into the air. Rocky didn't hear it, only looking back in time just to see him fall limp, dying under his attacker's gaze. Kolechi was gone.

"Well?" Rocky called over. "What did he say?"

Chase didn't answer, still standing over the body with glaring eyes. Was he shaking?

"Chase?" The mix turned around to him. "Chase, what did say? Who let him in here?"

Still the shepherd was silent, frozen in place as twisted rage boiled through his veins. He hadn't even looked up yet, staring down as if he was trying to burn a hole through the corpse. Now concerned, Rocky came to his side, speaking with a softer tone. "Chase?"

Like a leering predator, Chase slowly looked up at him, his eyes filled with bristling hatred. His lips curled back in a contained snarl, his whole body on the verge of exploding. Before Rocky could say anything else, Chase spoke with a shaking voice, laced with vicious fury on speaking the name.

"Ryder."