The PAW Patrol struck gold with change over the next few months, taking Adventure Bay by storm with their new capabilities. The mystical experience in the bank was only the beginning, once the newer missions hit, Chase truly realized the walking miracle he'd become. They started small, a woman called in reporting she was locked out of her home. Ryder dispatched Chase and Marshall on the scene, a twenty-minute mission he calculated on the drive there, running the numbers in his mind. Donning his Nueroband, Chase had little idea of what to expect, save for the usual circumstances he was well accustomed to.

Dramatically arriving before the house and springing from their carriages, the woman explained her predicament; a middle-class individual with a young son accidently barred from her home. She was terribly forgetful, she explained to them, a situation that almost certainly repeated itself. The windows seemed the obvious choice, the first conclusion Marshall came to, but shot down quickly when the tenant explained the first-floor windows were locked. While Ryder struck up conversation with her, the dogs sprung to work.

Marshall approached the viney brick wall of the house's side, craning his neck to spy a window up top. "I can probably use my ladder to get through there, I just need to back my firetruck in."

Watching him work, Chase tilted his head with a furrowed brow. "She just said the windows were locked."

"Sure they are, but I've been in this neighborhood before. An old mission to a burning building took me into one of these houses, the second-floor windows don't lock."

"That's a weird security flaw for such a high-end neighborhood," Chase said, speaking aloud in vocal range of his collar.

"I agree," Amata spoke without warning, making him jump. "Unsecured windows no matter the floor will always be a security concern. I resolve that the citizen should write to her homeowners association as soon as possible."

"What the- I didn't even activate you," Chase flattened his ears, trying to smoothen his fur down. "Why are you on?"

"I activated myself, thank you very much," said the AI, a rich note of sass in her voice. " Now what's the problem?"

"We don't need you; Marshall has this covered."

The Dalmatian looked back at him, making haste for his truck. "But last time I smashed the window cause... y'know, the place was on fire. I don't think she'll enjoy me doing that, so I'll have to wedge it open with something."

Of course, wedging the window open, classic Marshall, he could've read him like a book. Struck with curiosity, Chase let his vision wander across the house's wall, squinting as he wondered what secrets could be revealed to him.

"Hey Amata," he said to himself. "Is there uh... is there a Smart Lock on that door?"

"See for yourself," said the AI, and once again Chase's eyes caught the glowing colors of an illuminated network. He couldn't see the lock itself, but his vision narrowed on pulsing waves patrolling the network, located almost directly on top of the front door. No normal front door needed a WIFI connection, Chase knew, unless there was a piece of technology embedded onto it that did.

"Can I..." he thought for a moment. "Can I force that lock to open?"

"Ahh, you're learning," Amata said with a chuckle. "But I'm afraid not, there's a firewall on it. Pretty substantial one too, obviously a front door would need good security to guard the network."

"What do you mean, 'guard the network,' what's it locking me out of?"

"To jailbreak its hardware, you need to connect yourself into its network," Amata explained to him. "But the firewall won't let you do that."

Well darn, his creative outlet was foiled this time. No point in standing around, he could at least explore his new awakening a little more. He watched the light show of virtual highways for a moment, before a small detail caught his eye in what he assumed was the living room.

An idea came to him, tripping his interest.

He turned and peeked around the corner of the house where the two humans were standing. "Uh, ma'am? Does your son... have a drone?"

She broke her conversation with Ryder, looking at him awkwardly. "Uh... yes? How did you know?"

The shepherd turned his head directly at the wall, thousands of numbers and algorithms processing in his head. Squinting his eyes, his vision traveled through the brick layer and illuminated a glowing spider web of wiring and WIFI connections, all resting on a single beacon of network sitting on the floor.

"I can see it," he said simply, gritting his teeth from the rough exertion on his mind.

This was gonna look strange, he knew it the moment the idea came to his head. He'd have to conceal himself behind a bush to do this, "Amata, is that drone connected to same WIFI as the Smart Lock?"

"What do you think?"

It was never a simple answer with her, a simple yes or no would have sufficed but everything always had to be a damn riddle. Focusing his ears, Chase listened to a faint song vibrating through the invisible connections. It was all identical, the rhyming purr of wireless existence cradling all artificial life in the house. No longer questioning his own actions, Chase extended out his paw to the drone, reaching his mind through the walls and clenching the network's fabric. Narrowing his eyes as the word came alive in his mind, he spoke it under his breath: Activate.

Nothing, but the drone did buzz for a second. Flexing his paw with gritted teeth, Chase repeated the word in his head: Activate.

Still nothing in response. Letting a growl slip through his teeth, Chase boiled with agitation and nearly barked his own thoughts. You little fucker, just a children's toy of plastic-sick metal and cheap batteries. Activate damn you!

The drone shot straight into the air of the living room as roaring life kick-started its engine. To any onlooker, Chase was just holding out his paw at solid bricks, but within the house a foreign control had seized the toy. It was connected to the house's WIFI; he never would've needed to bypass the Smart Lock's firewall, for all the network knew, Chase was already one with it through a whole other device.

Through the small drone, the entire house's webbed internet illuminated to him, opening the door for every single piece of technology under the same WIFI. He could've broken right into the person's personal laptop if he wanted to, it was right there, vulnerable as a mouse in a cat's litter box. Connecting to the Smart Lock was almost laughable, he jumped his vision from the drone directly to its mechanism, clicking the door open like the easiest job in the world. The firewall was completely helpless, it only guarded direct attempts to connect with itself, with other objects in the house it was useless enough to be a burned-out match.

Marshall's voice called to him from the road. "Hey Chase, I'm backing my car in, can you lead me so I don't run over anything?"

"No need," he said, blinking the bright colors from his eyes. "It's done."

"It... what?" the Dalmatian faltered in surprise, staring at him incredulously. "What do you mean 'done?' We haven't even-"

"It's open!" Chase called around the corner, catching the bewildered attention of the homeowner. She turned the handle, and to her immense bewilderment, the house was unlocked, and not a single window had been tampered with.

"Amazing!" she cried as if witnessing the birth of a god. "That was almost instant!"

Ryder blinked, not believing his own eyes. "Yeah... it was."

"We're all good down here Marshall!" Chase barked at his friend. "Don't bother."

Baffled that his own job was taken and completed in nearly a fourth of the time it would take him, the Dalmatian faltered before emitting a simple "oh... okay."

A twenty-minute job now cut to five, business was booming and efficiency was flowing like butter. For the first time in a long while, Chase drove home in an elevated mood, a feeling of accomplishment glowing off his fur. Marshall was noticeably silent on the radio. No big deal, Chase had a whole other voice to converse with.

"Great job working around the firewall, Chase," Amata said. "How do you feel?"

"Honestly, I don't know," came his reply. "It was... easy."

"Easy indeed," Amata abruptly chimed in. "You're already growing more capable."

"No, I mean like..." Chase shook his head, unsure of how to piece his words together. "It was too easy, like easier than it should've been. If a criminal had this Neuroband, he could invade hundreds of personal devices and no one could do anything to stop him."

"Well sure, but that's what firewalls are for."

"The drone didn't have a firewall," Chase pointed out, thinking back on his creative problem solving. "And why would it? Who would think to put security on a children's toy? Yet connecting to it let me walk right into the house's entire network."

"That's... true, I suppose," Amata said slowly, as if she were contemplating. "A firewall would be completely pointless if other devices on the same WIFI are insecure."

"I'm noticing this band is kinda... dangerous?"

Amata's voice soothed into his mind, "then it's a good thing you're wearing it, and not someone else."

More and more missions hit their table, Chase gradually became bolder in each one. For the first few he remained slightly cautious, hesitating to use the Neuroband and finding concealed locations to activate it. Four missions down and his shame had vanished into thin air; at times it seemed he was spacing out when really he was scanning rooms and surroundings for network connections. His friends would watch him in his digital meditation, whispering questions to one another in observation. They never understood why they felt the need to whisper, what was stopping them from just asking Chase himself?

Chase's mere presence became a question in itself, he never took off the Nueroband anymore let alone Amata's dog tag. He would casually walk to his food dish and the others would watch from afar, wondering if he could see any of the amazing things unknown to them.

Any questions Chase had were usually directed to Ryder, but by the sixth mission, it was instead Amata he asked his inquiries too. Ryder always hesitated, needed a moment to think, or to check papers and mission briefing. Amata never needed any of that, she'd hear the question, consult her recorded data in a millisecond, and have her answer before Chase could take another breath.

One late afternoon, Ryder met Chase at his kennel, coming up on the puppy as he was drinking from a water dish.

"Hey Chase, uhm..." Ryder knelt down at the shepherd. "You know I'm here for you, right? You can ask me anything."

The puppy looked up, his muzzle dripping water. "I appreciate it, sir, but Amata is pretty reliable."

"I'm... sure she is," the boy fidgeted his fingers. "But... I'm here too, and-"

"I don't want to give you more work, sir, and plus, you don't have to get annoyed with my dumb questions anymore." He gave his leader a chuckling smile.

"Dumb? Chase, I'm always happy to help you, it's my job."

"Again, don't worry about it, sir. For once you can relax when it comes to me, but I'm sure Marshall or Skye are well reliant on you." He resumed lapping at the water dish, leaving Ryder nodding in slightly crestfallen understanding.

"Alright... just, you know I'm here," the boy said, getting up and leaving.

A few seconds later, an automated voice chimed from his collar. "I appreciate you defending me, Chase."

"I wasn't," the shepherd shook the water off his face. "I was just telling him, I don't need to be his burden anymore because I have you. I'm sure he likes that." He thought for a moment before speaking again, "but you're just AI, Amata, you're nothing more than that. You aren't going to replace my actual friends, they're my family."

"I understand, Chase. Do carry on."

The next month brought another stack of missions due for their records. Chase took each one in stride, and word got around Adventure Bay about a shepherd puppy who could "hack things with his mind alone." Evcon Industries immediately jumped at the opportunity like a fox snatching a hen, proudly declaring it was their technology giving Chase such abilities. The public response to the revelation was incredibly varied.

Marshall stopped talking to Chase for some reason, and the few times he did the conversation was usually rigid and half-hearted. Zuma and Skye remained moderately friendly, but Chase could always feel their gazes on the back of his head when he left the room. Rubble's behavior around him didn't change it all, he was more baffled with childlike awe at the Neuroband's capabilities than fearful like the others were. The only one to still talk to him regularly was Rocky, also at times it felt he was more interested in talking to Amata, leading to boring scenarios where Chase sat awkwardly while Rocky peppered questions at the AI. Even Amata's voice began dropping with the faintest drip of annoyance, discomforted by some grey animal interrogating her.

At one point, Rocky attempted to trick her into lying, then asked a riddle with a paradoxical answer to watch her reaction. Amata strangely didn't say anything at all, instead emitting some amused, knowing laughter.

Until he posed a new question, "Amata," Rocky said one summer evening during his hillside conversations with Chase.

"What," came the AI's gritted response. Chase almost chuckled at her exasperation.

"You claim to know everything, so let me ask you this," Rocky leaned in the collar. "If you had free will, what would you do with it?"

Her voice notably stuttered, "I- what!?"

"That's what I said," came Rocky's smug grin. "If you were real, what would you want to be?"

The AI was unresponsive, before the light on her dog tag unexpectedly went dark.

"She turned herself off," Rocky said, brimming victoriously. "Knew I'd get her."

Chase couldn't help but be impressed, "yeah, but something tells me she's not really off. She likes to surprise me at times, so I wonder if it's just a sleep mode or something."

"Is there a way to actually shut her down?"

"Not that I know of," the shepherd shook his head. "I just tell her to shut up for the night, then she greets me in the morning."

Rocky nestled himself down in the grass, "wonder how Mr. Martyr managed to program that thing, it's well beyond any AI I've ever seen."

"Yeah, she uh..." Chase laid down beside him, looking up at the orange sky. "She's really something."

They would never have known, but Amata's dog tag gleefully rocked back and forth, faintly hinting at giddy satisfaction.

Weeks turned to months; summer faded into the cool Autumn. The trees were slowly losing their golden leaves, decorating the roads in brilliant orange. A mission to catch an escaped convict was phoned their way. Skye promptly jumped into her helicopter and prepared to take overwatch, only for the whole mission to suddenly get called off. Chase had accessed the security street cameras, bouncing his vision through several cameras until he caught sight of the perpetrator laying low four blocks away. It was over before it began, Skye sighed and powered down her vehicle, longingly watching Chase walk back inside.

More cries for help from people locked out of their homes came like birds in the wind. Rocky learned to ignore them, his lockpicks gathering dust as Chase ventured out to trip the Smart Locks open. Only on very rare occasions would they have a house absent of any smart technology, those one-in-a-million moments shot the mixed breed five feet into the air with excitement.

Rubble and Marshall were instructed one crisp Autumn morning to go around town and take surveys, a fun game of data collection to be later used in themed Halloween baskets. Who was allergic to what, who liked what candies, a perfect little endeavor to entertain the pups for a while. Chase overheard them talking, and quickly slipped into his kennel. Determined to streamline the process and cut them the work, he connected to his computer -his latest hub of operations recently purchased- and instructed Amata to open a blank document and be ready. He made sure the Neuroband was still firmly attached, then like a rapid spirit soaring through the cosmos, Chase stared into the computer's network and cast his mind through Adventure Bay's singing internet. He went straight for popular social media platforms, skimming hundreds of profiles and frantically barking information for Amata to record. Once they finished, they had a whole sheet of paper with every citizen of Adventure Bay they could find, neatly organized into candy categories for ease of access. Amata printed the document, and Chase proudly walked it to Ryder. The boy took it with a slightly unnerved smile, thanked the shepherd for his work, and disappeared inside for the whole day.

Halloween Day rolled around, and the PAW Patrol was due to dress up and enjoy the festivities. Skye dressed as Ameila Airheart, Rubble painted himself into a zombie, Marshall mummy-wrapped his body, Zuma put together some odd scaly combination and claimed it was from a black lagoon, and Rocky donned a whole pumpkin costume. With Amata's image generation abilities, a design for the perfect SWAT soldier outfit was printed, which Chase took gleefully and set off to make. The final costume was nearly perfect, if it wasn't for a few slurred details Chase had to improvise over due to a flaw in Amata's generation programming.

Directly before trick-or-treating was declared, Ryder gathered everyone at town center for a small performance. They were to each give small solo speeches in character, a fun activity to entertain the kids, hopefully. The other pups were well prepared with their written scripts, geared up and excited to play pretend. Looking down at the piece of paper he brought, Chase read over his own speech with a hollow feeling. The whole thing was just awful, barely entertaining and nothing compared to what the others were probably about to do. Creative writing had never been his strong suit, and here most of all he'd be penalized for it.

Without thinking, he audibly voiced his concerns to himself, forgetting that Amata was listening. Before he knew it, she automatically generated an entire speech filled with flair and expressive language, joking for Chase to write it all down quickly as she read it aloud.

Rocky bounded over to meet him, waddling in his pumpkin. "Hey Chase, you all ready? I think I did pretty good, I made a poem about pumpkins, heh." He giggled at the absurdity, "it was hard to write, but super fun."

"Oh yeah?" Chase faced him with friendly competition. "Well Amata just gave me a five-star script to act out! Got the whole thing recorded here." He pointed at the paper on the floor, hastily scribbled with pen.

"You... what?" the mixed breed hesitated, looking puzzled at the artificial script. "I thought you wrote it yourself."

"Well yeah, but Amata's was much better. I should've asked her in the beginning, to be honest, and it's still my own work because I own her. Gonna leave you all in the dust with my performance."

Rocky stared at the paper, a slightly hurt expression on his face. "She just... wrote it all for you? How is that supposed to be fun?"

"It's 'fun' because I barely had to do anything, now move aside," Chase playfully nudged him, picking his AI-generated script in his teeth. "Watch me ace this."

Ace it he did, the crowd of children and excited adults ate up every minute of his performance. Their appreciation was all Chase desired, too lost in their attention to notice Rocky staring at him with an alienated expression.

Once winter rolled around, Chase rarely left his kennel on his own accord. Skye crept around one night and peeked inside, witnessing Chase sitting still as concrete, his paw outstretched to the computer. The floor was always flooded with AI-generated media; artwork, music sheets, and stories, it seemed Chase decided to have a little fun in his off time and never looked back. She hadn't the foggiest idea what he did every night, the places he'd send his vision, the rampant soaring of his mind through the internet's galaxies. He simply stood as if he were dead, his consciousness traveled off to an existence unknown. He reappeared each morning for breakfast, always in a chipper mood.

They'd talk amongst themselves for what in the world Chase was visiting every night, a virtual existence completely unknown to them. Wherever he went, he certainly enjoyed it there, given his upbeat attitude every sunrise. A few of them, like Zuma, dared to ask him directly. Chase would always look aside in quiet contemplation, then shrug claiming they "wouldn't understand." He remained an integral piece of the PAW Patrol, attending meetings and missions, but a great distance carved between him and his friends. He'd reach out a few times, offering pleasant company to Marshall or Rocky, only to be rejected for reasons he couldn't understand.

He became such an integral tool in missions, Ryder didn't even put him in the line during briefing anymore. It was generally accepted that he was always going, a guaranteed player never leaving. His new spot was directly behind Ryder, sitting off to the side while the rest of his friends awaited their inclusion.

Ryder wrote to Justin Martyr, detailing that Chase's experiences with the Neuroband were "sufficient" and it was time to return it.

He never got a reply.