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(S-2) Chapter 12 "Compatibility"


(Disclaimer: Mature Language)

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As the trio finished their recon for the time, Nashi and the two had decided to head back to the Den, hoping to fill their stomachs up with food.

The trio headed inside, trying to make their way to the market but didn't expect to hear Avery call out to them.

"Hey, you three, come on over here." Avery calmly ordered as the Nashi shrugged at the two and listened to the Greyhound.

"Yeah? What's up, Avery?" Nashi asked as the group followed the Greyhound inside his office, seeing Mavis and the others with him. "What's this about? If this is about the job you told us to take care of, don't worry about it. It went off without a hitch." Nashi assured.

"It's nothing like that, I knew you were going to handle the job because if you didn't, you wouldn't have bothered coming back." Avery still had a problem with Nashi and his group.

"Would've been nice to know that in adva-." Nashi nudged Levi to prevent him from finishing his sentence.

"We just stopped by to get some food, we'll head back out there and finish up in about half an hour to an hour." Delta assured.

"That reminds me, Avery. You think it's alright if I pay a visit to Spencer?" Chase asked.

"That's pretty far and you're still recovering." Avery stated as he had his back facing the group. "Take someone with you, just in case."

As Delta heard this, he nudged Levi, nodding at him to go with Chase.

"Go with him, maybe we can get some extra work." Delta whispered into the Malamute's ear. Upon hearing this, Levi stammered and answered the Australian Shepherd.

"Do I have to? Why can't you or Nashi go?" Levi whispered back.

"I don't think he'd take too kindly to us to a point but he'll be fine with you. You're basically around his age. I think?"

"But-." Delta grabbed the pup's paw.

"Excuse us for a second." Delta sheepishly smiled as he and Levi left the room. "Look, I know you don't care about much but we need this, Avery doesn't trust us anymore to send us on actual jobs! Just go with him and ask Spencer for a job. Act like you give a damn for once." Delta ordered as Levi sighed, giving him an answer shortly after.

"Fine, I'll go." Levi really didn't want to be alongside Chase, he had a faint feeling that something wasn't right with him, like he was hiding something. The two went back inside as Levi gave an answer. "I'll go."

"Huh?" Everyone almost questioned in unison as they looked at each other, then back at the pup.

"I don't have a problem with going with him, as long as he doesn't have one with me." Levi lied as he kept his calm, uncaring nature in check.

Chase shrugged as he was fine with Levi going with him. He knew that Mavis wanted to go with him but at the same time, he just felt like she would be intruding a lot.

"Well, come on then, Levi." Chase gestured as the Alaskan Malamute headed outside the office, with the Shepherd following him shorty after.

"Be careful, Isaac!" Mavis waved, a hint of worry in her voice as she saw the Shepherd leave the office, turning to face Avery.

"Since they're gone, I want you to fill in for Levi, take Mika along if you want." Avery ordered the Retriever.

Chase closed the door as Levi sat near him, glancing at his injured paw.

"You sure you should even be heading out anywhere?" Levi asked, tilting his head.

"Don't worry, I just gotta stay off it." Chase shared a small smile as the two walked out to leave the Den.

"You think it's easier than it sounds?" Levi asked as he tried keeping the uncomfortable awkwardness out of the way.

"Probably not, considering it's just muscle memory at this point, I'm bound to accidentally use my bad paw." Chase chuckled as he heard the Malamute's stomach growl. "We could grab a quick bite before we head out." Chase assured as Levi held his stomach, giving a quick nod as his answer.

The two headed down to the restaurant that Chase had been to with Mavis and Mika, he figured that he had some respect for Dixon, therefore felt comfortable with going there. The duo went inside and hopped up on the stools near the counter. Noticing the Hispanic-accented dog talking to some female dog. The Spanish Mastiff looked over and noticed the two as he held the female dog's paw, giving it a small kiss and departed as he went to talk to the two.

"Ah, amigo! Cómo estás?" Dixon asked as he let out a charismatic smile to the Shepherd, soon noticing the scratches on his face. "Que diablos de paso?"

Chase understood what the Spanish Mastiff was saying, he did have a somewhat close relationship to Tracker after all and he was close to Diaz, the Shepherd knew a thing or two about the Spanish language but he didn't want to answer the question he was just asked.

Releasing a heavy sigh, The Shepherd answered the question with his own. "Can we just get some food? We're not meaning to stay here long."

"Alright, what'll it be then, you two?" Dixon asked as Chase looked over to Levi.

"You still got steak?" Levi asked.

"What kind of question is that? Of course we do." Dixon smiled as he looked at Chase. "You just want kibble, right?"

"No, I'll take a steak too." Chase decided as Dixon looked in utter disbelief.

"Huh? Heh, about time you came to your senses! Two steaks coming right up!" Dixon smiled as he left the two to get their food.

The two had an awkward silence, mostly due to the fact that Levi didn't feel comfortable around the Shepherd and Chase being an observant pup, saw this and brought it up.

"So...I noticed that you're not acting like your usual self." Chase eyed as the Alaskan Malamute nervously adjusted himself.

"Usual self? What do you mean by that?" Levi asked, taking slight offense to the statement.

"I didn't mean nothing by it. You're usually this upbeat, optimistic pup and now you seem nervous, like someone's out to get you." Chase answered as he looked at the pup.

"I'm just not used to being with other pups besides those three." Levi partially admitted.

"I guess that explains the nervousness I've been seeing since we left." Chase shrugged. "Don't worry, you'll get used to me in no time, it's really surprising that you haven't gotten used to me already considering we've been on some jobs together." Chase noticed that Dixon was coming back with two bowls of steak, soon handing it to the two and being on his way to the female dog he was talking to earlier.

"It takes time to build up something like that, but it takes seconds to ruin it." Levi stated as Chase looked on, thinking to how that quote affected him and the pups back at the Paw Patrol.

"Yeah..." Chase glanced at his steak, he never really ate meat that often due to the fact he was living in Adventure Bay but he felt like he needed it. The Shepherd nearly devoured the entire steak in seconds, not noticing the somewhat concerned looks that Levi, Dixon and the female dog were giving him. As Chase finished eating the steak, he realized that he was panting, out of breath over something as little as a steak. He glanced over and noticed the concerned looks and sat back down on the stool, realizing how crazy he must've looked. "So-sorry about that..." Chase apologized as he lowered his head on the table.

Levi looked on and get some remorse for the pup, he had two feelings: one where he still couldn't trust the Shepherd because he thought he was hiding something and the other where he just felt like he was going through issues and it was affecting him bad. "Hey, we should head out." The Alaskan Malamute suggested as Chase looked over and nodded his head, soon signaling for Dixon to come over.

The Spanish Mastiff arrived at the two and shared a concerned look at the Shepherd. "Amigo, you alright?" Dixon asked as he took the bowl from the Shepherd as Levi finished his steak.

"Yeah...I'm good." Chase answered.

"That surely didn't look like it. Listen, hermano, you were giving us a scare, acting like a feral dog." Dixon stated as he soon have a bowl of water to the two. "We don't take kindly to feral dogs so I would recommend easing it down next time, these dogs won't know and they'll just attack." Dixon advised as Chase reached into Levi's satchel, trying to give Dixon his payment but the Mastiff stopped him. "Hermano, go do what you gotta do and pay me when you get back." Dixon smiled as Chase and Levi drank up a bit and soon hopped off their stools. "Another thing, try not to get hurt out there." Dixon nodded as the two left the premises. The Mastiff looked over at the female dog and walked over to her. "How about we go somewhere more private, espléndida?"

Chase sighed as he looked down in shame, he was getting crazier by the day, losing his mind. He had to get a plan together and end this, there was only so much the Shepherd could take.

<><><><>

As Chase and Levi were heading to Spencer's place, Decker and Marshall finally arrived at the safe house located near the docks. As Decker helped the Dalmatian get through the door, he informed him on something.

"You go on inside, talk to your friends, Rich and Ramirez are going to wonder why we've gone silent for a bit." Decker patted the pup's shoulder as he went inside, looking back at the Australian mix and giving him a nod of approval.

The Australian Mix sighed as he realized something, his mission came first but he also wanted to help Ryder and the others, not just backstab when they were done.

"I hope I'm making the right call." Decker said to himself as he pressed down on his pup tag. "Rich, Ramirez, I need to inform you lot about something."

"Those pups went silent last night, what's going on? They have to inform you and then you inform us when shit like this happens." Agent Rich advised as Decker let out a calming breath.

"Sir, we...we have a feeling that we've been compromised." Decker lied. "We're going to have to remain radio silent for a while, I'll keep you updated once it's over." Decker was close to ending the call before Rich prevented him from doing so.

"Do you need us to send more agents over there?" Agent Rich asked.

"No, sir, it's fine. I told the pups to lay low for awhile, at least until I give the go-ahead that the suspicion is gone." Decker answered.

"Alright, stay safe out there, let us know if you need anything." Agent Rich reminded.

"Got it, sir, I'll keep in touch when I can." Decker ended the call and headed back inside, noticing the pups looking at him, hoping that his deceptive plan worked.

"Did it work? Are we good, dude?" Zuma asked, a bit nervous for the answer.

"We're in the clear for a couple of days, we stick close and get this done, no one strays too far from each other, got it?" Decker asked as he looked at each of the pups, seeing them nod in agreement. "Alright, I'll go over the new plan..."

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As the call ended between the agents, Ramirez looked in disbelief as Rich leaned back and sighed.

"You know it's bullshit, right?" Ramirez asked as he crossed his arms.

"Could be, I don't think Decker would lie like that. Why would he put his job on the line for this kid and his pups?" Agent Rich asked as Ramirez shrugged.

There was a short silence until Ramirez spoke back up, firing a question at the agent.

"So what do you want to do, sir? Cancel his request and send them back to Adventure Bay?" Ramirez asked.

Agent Rich gave it some thought as he leaned forward on his monitor.

"No...let this play out the way he wants it to, and then when it's time, we call him out on it." Agent Rich concluded as Ramirez nodded in agreement.

The two continued their work as Ryder came back in, carrying a decent-sized file.

"So this is everything you guys had on Boroughton, Chase included?" Ryder asked.

The two agents exchanged looks with each other as they realized they had to keep Ryder from knowing what they just spoke about. The two adjusted themselves and proceeded to answer the boy's question.

"Yep, everything ranging from the origins of this place, the people and dogs who ran it and why it became a cesspool of crime for the past fifty years." Agent Rich explained as the boy sat down.

"And Chase." Ryder added as he opened the file.

"Yeah, and Chase." Rich sighed.

<><><><>

Decker and the pups crowded up and listened in on the new plan, confident that they were going to get through this.

"Ok, our first order of business is to scope out whatever operations they have. To get an insight on that, we need to interrogate one of 'em, I know you pups aren't too familiar with that but I know you'll get it done. From what I know, these McAllisters are nothing but talk." Decker looked around to make sure everyone was following. "The second part is that we either take out the ones in charge of those operations or take something valuable in those places. I know since you pups got here, you had it easy, scoping places and informing us but now, ever since Marshall was attacked, you're going to have to take the gloves off and fight." Decker advised as the pups shared nervous glances at each other. "You pups get into a scrap, you're going to need to know how to defend yourself. I know you can defend yourself to some degree but you need to work with lethality if that's the case." Decker proposed.

"So what do we do, if it ever comes down to that?" Rocky asked.

"Go for attacks on their neck or eyes, fight dirty if you have to, these buggers aren't gonna show remorse so why should we?" Decker asked as the pups still had a case of nervousness surrounding them. "Look, I know you lot aren't used to this but you gotta do what you gotta do to survive here, it's what Chase is doing so just in case, you should do it too."

"So...what if we're still hesitant?" Marshall asked, wincing slightly at the pain he received.

"If you're still hesitant on taking them out, try to slow them down at best, cutting their vision off or injuring their paws would be a good start." Decker answered.

"It's obviously not going to work for all of us, right, dude?" Zuma asked.

"Right, so depending on your size, your attacks will differ. Skye's a small pup, therefore she's more agile and can land fast attacks. Rubble is a Bulldog, he's basically built for strength, he can pin them down, put pressure on them. As for the rest of you, you're around the middle, a jack of all trades." Decker answered as the pups listened in. "Remember this and we should be fine. The last thing is that if we make it that far and get to the McAllister brothers themselves, we can use them for intel and find out if they have anything on Chase or the group that Rich mentioned." Decker concluded. "I'll take the first scope out, see if we can get a McAllister pup all by themselves. I'll need two of you though, Rubble and Rocky, let's go." Decker ordered as the two followed him outside.

"We'll be back." The two pups assured as they nodded at the rest of their friends.

"I'll make sure of that." Decker smiled before opening the door and heading out with the two pups, ready to start putting pressure and dismantle whatever they can from the McAllister Brothers.

<><><><>

Back with Chase and Levi, the two made progress as they were trekking towards Spencer's, Levi was getting more accustomed to the Shepherd, albeit, still having his notion stick by him.

"Yeah, he didn't realize that the power was out and ran face first into a door." Chase smiled as he thought back to that birthday party.

"And this was...?" Levi trailed off.

"Someone's birthday, we had to go get some of the supplies and that's when it happened." Chase sighed. "That pup did a lot of dumb things."

Levi shared a chuckle. "We all do dumb things, it's what makes us who we are."

As Chase heard the Malamute preach, he thought back to the many dumb things he did recently, lying to his friends, making broken promises and attacking Marshall. The pup was in a deep train of thought as he moved forward, not paying attention to where he was going.

"Isaac?" Levi called out, a bit worried for the Shepherd as he kept moving forward. "Hey! Isaac!"

No answer.

Levi got close to the pup, still calling out to his name but still had no avail, until he looked at the pup's tail, thinking of what he had to do.

Chase continued to walk forward and as he reached the crosswalk, the pup stopped in his tracks as he felt a sharp pain on his tail. "Ahh!" The Shepherd got his bearings back and looked at the culprit who bit his tail. "Levi! What the hell?!"

"You're asking me that? What the hell is your problem?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Levi asked, ditching his optimistic and uncaring personality.

"What?" Chase noticed how close he was to the passing cars, with that, the Shepherd lowered his head a tad bit. "I'm sorry." The Shepherd sighed as Levi calmed down, soon worried about the pup's well-being.

"Are you alright?" The Malamute asked as Chase felt ashamed at yet another ptsd moment he had dealt with.

"It's fine, I'm fine, let's keep going." Chase cleared his head as the two trekked on.

"I think I'm finding that hard to believe." Levi called out as the two moved through the streets.

"What do you want from me? Huh? Man, it seems like everyone is breathing down my neck today." Chase huffed as he didn't bat an eye to the Malamute.

"Gee, I wonder why? Maybe it's because they're worried about you?" Levi questioned in a sarcastic tone, eyes rolling as he finished.

"I'm not having this conversation..." Chase stated as he tried his best to ignore the pup, this was all just reminding him when he was back in Adventure Bay, the pups pressuring him until he spoke out.

Levi realized he was pressuring the pup and eased off, he didn't want to tick someone like Chase off, after all, he did kill a bunch of strays all on his own.

"Right, sorry." Levi let in a breath of fresh air and got back into his optimistic self, in hopes of cheering the Shepherd up. "Whatever it is you're going through, you'll get through it." Levi smiled as the Shepherd stopped, letting out a small smile on return.

The two crossed the street and eyed the restaurant in the distance, as they made their way, Chase shot a question at the Malamute.

"I can't add up something? Why'd you even come along in the first place?" Chase asked as the two kept moving through the streets.

That question was the one that got the Malamute, he couldn't give a definite answer except for the truth. Levi sighed as he had to come clean.

"Delta wanted me to go so we can get hopefully get a job from Spencer." Levi answered. "Avery isn't gonna give us anything worthwhile anytime soon and we need the payments to survive."

"The job happened last night, you need to give it some time, Avery's a forgiving person." Chase assured.

"I hope so, I really don't want to go back to dumpster diving." Levi chuckled as Chase shared a perplexed look.

"That bad, huh?" Chase asked.

"You have no idea." Levi laughed as the two finally made it to the restaurant.

The man who Chase saw last time was waiting out front, smoking another cigarette as he flicked his flat cap.

"Hey, it's you again. I told you to get lost last time, didn't I?" The man asked as he puffed his cigarette.

Chase didn't answer just like last time, he just wanted to see Spencer again and pass the time with Levi.

"You going to listen to those warnings on the cigarette cartons? Ain't gonna be swell when you're coughing up blood every now and then." Levi slyly remarked as Chase was caught by surprise.

"What? You want to start something, you stupid little mutt?" The man asked as he flicked his cigarette to the ground.

Chase wasn't going to bother with any of this, he put his good paw on Levi and gave him a serious glance, wanting him to just ignore the man and get to Spencer's. The Malamute sighed as he nodded at the Shepherd, soon following him into the alleyway where Spencer's shack was. The duo approached the shack and Chase peeked through the small opening just like last time and saw Spencer playing his guitar, humming a tune to himself and noticing the two shortly after, mostly Chase's injuries.

"Spencer." Chase nodded his head as the Border Collie set his guitar down.

"Good to see you, you bloke!" Spencer greeted as he shared a smile with the Shepherd. "Avery told me what happened. I'm sorry I sent you out on that job." The Border Collie apologized as he lowered his ears.

"At least he's still kicking!" Levi optimistically stated.

Chase chuckled as he began to introduce Levi. "Spencer, this is Levi, he helps Avery from time to time but he was wondering if you could give him some work." The Shepherd introduced the already lying down pup.

Spencer gave the Alaskan Malamute a glare, it wasn't easy gaining his trust but knowing Avery made it easier for some, as Chase found out for himself the day before.

"Ok, you want a job? I can give you one. As for you, you're staying here and letting that paw rest." Spencer noted to Chase. "Anyway, I got a couple of wankers in the area trying to run a small shipment without consulting it through me, I need you to head down there, grab the shipment and bring it back. Hopefully it won't be too bad." The Border Collie looked at Chase. "But knowing our luck, it's probably going to go terrible."

"Got it, where are they?" Levi asked as he stood up and quickly stretched.

"Over on Vulupine Street, look around for anything suspicious, check the alleyways if ya have to, just get it done." Spencer advised as the Alaskan Malamute nodded, soon leaving the two on their own as he went to do his job.

With the pup leaving and Chase being left alone with Spencer, the Border Collie smiled at the pup.

"So...you gonna teach me the drums or what?" Spencer chuckled as he handed the pup a bowl of water.

Chase nodded his head as he gulped down some water. "You can't be serious." The pup smiled.

"I'm just monkeying about with you. You're gonna relax here and watch me play the guitar." Spencer smiled as he picked his guitar back up.

"I think going out there with Levi would've been more preferable." Chase shot as the Border Collie rolled his eyes.

"Shut it, you bloke, I'm not that bad." Spencer assured.

The two shared a laugh as Chase drank his water and watched the Border Collie string some notes.

It's gonna be a long day.

<><><><>

Levi traversed through the streets, occasionally taking a glance at the street signs, hoping to eventually find Vulupine Street around the corner.

The pup had no idea what was coming, nor was he ready for it. As the Alaskan Malamute made his way, he was unknowingly being followed by none other than Satoon.

"Satoon, come in." The British Husky sighed as he heard the Irish dog through his tag.

"Yeah? What is it?" Satoon asked as he kept an eye on the Malamute.

"Hendrix spilled, he really had no choice. Spencer is one of Avery's most trustworthy associates, helps him get move some product from time to time. Anyway, he's located in the alleyway of some place called 'The Gatherer's Garden'." Gideon finished explaining.

"I'll take care of it, it'll just take some time." Satoon advised.

"Just get it done, our patience is really running thin."

As Levi finally saw the street and turned to enter it, he took Spencer's advice and started checking the alleyways, all while feeling an nervous chill trickling down his spine.

"You got this, Levi." The Malamute assured himself as he went into another alleyway, examining as much as he can to find the small shipment which he assumed was just a satchel.

"Yeah, can you believe what he did after that? He tried getting lucky with Yara and then I told him..." Levi heard a voice pass by, a grungy voice and as he peeked out of the alleyway after hiding, hoping to not be seen, he noticed two dogs conversing and heading into an alleyway.

"That has to be them." Levi assumed as he followed and peeked over to hear their conversation to the best of his ability.

"I'll take care of that asshole once we get this shipment over and done with." One of the dogs assured.

"What about that dog that we've been hearing about? The one that says we can't get this through unless it's to him?" The other dog asked, tilting his head.

"Fuck him, we ain't kicking up to him, we're in this for ourselves." The dog answered.

That was enough for Levi to come to his conclusion, all he had to do was grab the shipment and get out.

The Alaskan Malamute let out a long, nervous breath, ready to enact his plan and hopefully get out of there without any problems. Levi stepped out from peeking and approached the two dogs.

"Hey, you two." Levi greeted optimistically albeit still having a touch of nervousness in his voice.

"Who the hell are you?" One of the dogs asked as they got their guard up.

"That's not important, I'm just interested in that...satchel..." Levi started backing up as the two dogs approached him. "Look, maybe we can strike a de-?" The Malamute was pinned up against the nearby wall and felt a blow to his stomach, causing the pup to grunt out in pain.

"Wandered in the wrong part of Boroughton, you stupid pup." The dog warned as he kept Levi pinned.

"Oh, did I?" Levi asked as he soon got a paw free and sliced at one of the dog's eyes, the pup tried getting free but due to the strength of both dogs, he was still pinned.

"We were gonna let you live, you idiot!" The dog yelled out as he put his claws up to Levi's neck. "Now look what you're making us do."

Levi spat in the dog's face as their claws were digging into his neck. The pup closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable fate but nothing happened as heard a voice call out to the two.

"Hey! Leave the kid alone!"

Levi felt the grip the dogs had on him become loose as he hit the ground, looking at the dog who just saved him from kicking the bucket.

"What the hell do you want, Husky? This pup important to you or something?" One of the dogs asked, still keeping their guard up.

"No, I just don't like little fuckers like you picking on a pup like him." The dog answered.

"Yeah? What are you going to do about it then, you Husky fuck?" The wounded dog asked.

The dog didn't do nothing except just stand there and glare at the two, piercing through their souls as intimidation started to set in.

"Co-come on, let's book it, this shipment ain't worth it." The other dog suggested as he gestured for the injured dog to follow along with him.

"Fine, wha-whatever, just don't hurt us." The injured dog threw the satchel towards Levi, missing him by a few inches.

With that, Levi was safe as he grabbed the satchel and went to thank his savior.

"Thanks for that, I would've been a goner if you didn't show up." Levi chuckled as he got closer to the dog.

"Don't mention it, I never could stand dogs like him anyway." The dog shared a smile with Levi.

"What's your name? I want to know the name of the dog who saved my life." Levi smiled back as the dog nodded in agreement.

"The name's Satoon."

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