Blood was spat from one of the captured felines that were holed up in the rundown basement of hideout they were scoping out moments ago, the tables turned on them rather quickly at that moment, Valentine looked over to her crew mates who were in the relative same state as she was, beaten and bloody.

"You sure we even have to kill them, Piper?" One of the dogs asked as they shoved one of the cat's head back, letting him catch a break for a moment.

"Gideon wants us to and what he says goes..." Piper answered as she looked at the various tools around the table. "...and he did say to make them suffer."

As Piper grabbed one of the tools and approached Valentine, she taunted her and her small crew. "You really thought you and your friends here were gonna get the jump on us?"

"I-I was hoping it...it would go that way." Val smirked, trying to ignore the pain to the best of her ability.

"Well...your hopes only get you so far..." Piper inched the drill closer to her eye but as the tool was about to pierce the cat's eye, one of the workers from outside came in, interrupting the scene.

"Piper...you're gonna want to see this." The worker dog advised as the American Foxhound grunted in frustration.

"I'm in the middle of something, dealing with a nuisance!" Piper continued to press the drill closer to Valentine's eye but was stopped again by the worker pup.

"Piper, you need to see this now! Come on, these cats can wait." The worker dog advised yet again as Piper eyed Valentine, letting go of her muzzle as she set the drill down.

"Fine, I'll be right up, you two stay here and watch them." Piper leaned close to the Tuxedo cat and smiled, "You bought yourself a few more minutes, I wish I can say the same to your friends." As she left, she gave out one last order to the dogs. "Kill them...and leave the leader alive."

"No..." Valentine tried getting free from her restraints, trying, something, anything to help her friends but she was powerless.

As one of the dogs approached one of Val's crew members, the restrained cat gave a wounded but stern stare at him, hissing as he managed to break himself free from the restraints and attack the dog with one of the various tools. "Back up, back up or this fucker gets it!"

"Elias!" The other car called out as she fidgeted around in her restraints, feeling it come loose by the second.

"I'll kill this filthy mutt, I swear!" Elias yelled as he circled the other dog, slowly inching towards Valentine to cut her free.

"No..." The other dog nodded his head as he got close to the other cat, placing his claws on her neck.

<><><><>

As tension rose with Val and her crew, Hendrix was still outside, holding his mate's paw as they waited for the cat to arrive.

"Everything's going to work out, hun, I promise." Hendrix assured them as they soon heard a knock at the fence nearby. "See? Already working out."

Hendrix soon regretted the statement as he pushed the flimsy wood piece forward just to reveal two dogs he'd never seen before. He had a good notion of who they were as he backed up and got in front of his mate to protect her.

"Hendrix, nice to see you..." Maurice smirked as he stepped closer to Hendrix, who growled in response. "Is that your mate?"

"Keep the hell away from her!" Hendrix barked as he unsheathed his claws and bared his teeth at the two, soon lunging towards Maurice as the other went to grab Clara.

"No, let go! Hendrix!" Clara screamed as she tried clawing at the McAllister dog who managed to get his paws on her, keeping her still as she saw her mate be tossed around.

As the fight ensued, nobody noticed the small drone slowly descending into the yard and near the dog who grabbed Clara. Moments later, the drone was slammed right into the dog's face, releasing Clara and being pounced on by none other than Decker himself.

"Come on, go ahead and test me!" Decker yelled as he readied his taser from his pack, signaling Clara to get behind him for safety.

Maurice looked on, getting his attention away from Hendrix, who sliced at his eye and squirmed around to get free from the Irish Setter's grasp. The Terrier waited for retaliation but noticed that he was fixed onto something and was releasing pressure on Hendrix.

Backing up away from the Irish dog, he heard a familiar voice give a stern warning to the trespassers. "Get away from my dogs!"

<><><><>

"Go ahead and kill him, see what happens to your friend here!" As the claws of the dog were held up against the other cat that was restrained, she felt the restraints come loose and as they did, she attacked as the dog looked away from her.

Elias pushed the dog forward and the two collided. Within seconds, the two cats grabbed some tools from the table and quickly handled the dogs. The trio now had an open window to escape. "I gotcha, Val, we're getting outta here." Elias assured as he cut the Tuxedo cat free. "Sultan, come on." As the trio quickly made their way out of the basement they were residing in, they snuck forward, Elias peeked his head out and saw Piper along with the worker dog and some others with them.

"H-how the fuck did we manage to get this?!" Piper asked out as she rubbed her head with one of her paws.

"It came through earlier today. You think Gideon scheduled this arrival?" The worker dog asked as Piper pressed her eyes.

"I don't know but I don't want these here, I'll call Gideon to take 'em or something. Th-there's no way in hell he's expecting us to do our job here while we're sitting on a box full of explosives!"

Elias looked back at the trio in surprise, with them sharing the same expression. "Come on, I see the stairs up to the roof."

"What's our plan then?" Sultan asked as she kept an eye out.

"We jump over the gate and make a run for it, we'll lose them sooner or later." Elias stated as the Highlander cat was baffled by the idea.

"Are you fuckin' nuts?! We can't make that jump, it's suicide!" Sultan yelled in a whisper.

"You got any better ideas?" Elias asked as Sultan stood quiet, going along with the crazy idea.

The trio moved forward, staggering here and there thanks to their injuries. Val, however, had it the worst — bruised up eye, mangled paw and various claw marks scratched along her face. "We almost there...?" Val stammered as she fell to the ground, tumbling over some boxes in the process.

"Fuck! C'mon, Val!" Elias helped the Tuxedo cat up, trying to get her back on her paws as the crew heard the dogs calling them out, indicating that they were spotted.

The trio moved up the stairs as quickly as possible, reaching the rooftop and seeing the road across, the jump wasn't fatal but there was the risk of the barbed wire catching them. "No, no, no, there's no way I'm making that with this busted up paw." Val stated as Elias blocked the door with some of the crates lying around.

"No time to argue, just jump it, Val!" Elias yelled as Val stood back, taking off her tag.

"I'm not making that jump but you and Sultan can. Take my tag and call my friend, his name is Hendrix, tell him everything, you got it?" Valentine asked as Elias nodded his head in agreement. "I said it was 'need-to-know'. Now go!"

Elias huffed, not wanting to leave his leader but couldn't go against it, he attached Val's tag to his collar and gestured for Sultan to follow him. "Alright, follow up once I land, alright?"

Sultan nodded as the York Chocolate took steps back to get more distance, before he jumped, he heard his leader have one final request. "Tell Hendrix we're even now." With that, Elias jumped off the rooftop, barely making it over the barbed wire and onto the sidewalk, waiting for his teammate to follow.

Sultan stepped back and sprinted forward, jumping off the rooftop but managing to get her hind paw snagged on the barbed wire. "Shit! F-fuck! El-Elias, help me, help me, please!"

Elias rushed forward, grabbing her front paws and trying his best to untangle her hind paw from the razor wire, as he managed to get her free, he set the cat on his back as they left the area. With the last look up towards the rooftop, he mourned, wishing his leader joined them in their escape.

Valentine sighed as she saw her friends escape, in the end, she made her decision. As the barricaded door was broken down, Piper revealed herself to the Tuxedo Cat, who turned around and kept her eyes on her. "Guess you mutts are too late..."

Piper approached the female cat and clawed at her, grabbing her by the scruff and dragging her towards the edge of the rooftop. "Any last words, Valentine?"

The cat turned her head to look at the way down, fatal, sure, but it didn't matter to her. "Y-you should've...killed us when you had the chance, bitch."

Piper felt the bloody spit hit her muzzle as she recoiled her head back. As she was ready to release her grip on the cat, she looked back at her crew and came to a decision. "That's too merciful..." Piper mumbled as she tossed the cat towards her crew, leaving the rooftop and issuing an order to the dogs. "Finish her off yourselves."

<><><><>

Silence filled the backyard as the dogs looked at the human that came into the scene, Decker raised his paws up, signaling Rubble and Skye to stay put as they were trying to help their temporary leader out. "Don't make me say it a second time..." Roman warned as he pulled the hammer back on his gun, aiming it at the dog who was attacking Hendrix.

"Sir...Clara!" Hendrix looked on, seeing that his mate was behind Decker, who was signaling him to ease up.

"Maurice..." The other dog called out as he approached the Irish Setter. "Come on, let's just bounce, man, we're outnumbered here!"

"Listen to your friend, mate, you'll live longer." Decker advised as Maurice glared at the group.

"Wait until Gideon hears about this! You better start counting your da-!" A gunshot echoed through the yard as the Setter staggered back in pain.

"Leave. Now!" Roman warned as the gun was ready to fire another shot.

With that, the two dogs left, more injured than anyone at the scene.

Roman let out a sigh of relief, as did everyone as the tension stabilized. Hendrix and Clara approached their owner, not sure of what to say but the two had a good idea as they looked at the three dogs who showed up at just the right time.

<><><><>

"How do you feel?" Mavis asked as she examined the Shepherd, now looking like a whole new pup.

A smile appeared, "A lot better now, thanks." Chase nodded as he kept examining his clean look in the mirror.

"Finally looks like a normal dog, does he?" Nashi asked as he and the other dogs met back up with the two, ready to take on any task that their contractor was going to give them.

"Nice job, Mavis, kid looks like a million bucks, even though I bet he doesn't feel like it." Delta stated as the group closed in with each other.

"So, what are we doing?" Nashi asked.

"Let's go see Avery, see if he has a job for us. If not, Dixon's, I guess?" Mavis shrugged, with Nashi sighing in disappointment.

"Again?"

"Yeah. I mean, if he doesn't have a job for us, what else are we going to do? We don't trust any other contractor enough to take a job from them besides Avery." Mavis answered as she scratched her ear.

"We can always go see Spencer. He, more than likely, should have a job for us." Levi suggested.

Mavis agreed with Malamute, "Fine. If by tomorrow, we still don't have a job, then we'll go see Spencer."

"Avery probably won't like that..." Nashi added in.

"You know what Avery likes and doesn't like? Let me tell you something, he'll understand. Aren't they partners anyway?" Chase asked as Mavis shrugged.

"Who cares, as long as we get paid, then it's a win-win, right? Come on, let's not keep Avery waiting." Mavis led on as the crew followed behind her towards their contractors office.

<><><><>

As the group settled in the home of the Remington's, Roman received the answers he was looking for. To pass the time, Gracie offered to feed the pups and help Skye fix her drone. Decker agreed as the explanations came through to Roman.

"Here you pups go." Gracie gently smiled as she placed down the bowls for the animals

"Thank you, Mrs. Remington." Rubble thanked as he dug into his bowl. Clara and Harper looked on and chuckled at the sight of the hungry pup.

"Dude!" Skye snapped in frustration as pieces of Rubble's kibble flew near her, messing up her focus on fixing her drone.

"Sorry!" Rubble apologized as he sheepishly smiled, moving his food bowl a short distance away from the pup.

The Cockapoo went back to examining her drone, trying to fix one of the rotors. "I should've listened to Rocky a lot more..." Skye mumbled to herself as she placed her paws on her head.

"H-hey..." Skye's ear twitched at the sound of the young pup, she turned her head and saw the miscreant pup she met just a few days ago.

"Oh, it's you..." Skye pouted as she continued working on her drone, trying to disregard the young Terrier.

Harper hopped up on the stool, keeping a stool away from the pup out of fear. "S-sorry about the...trouble that happened." The Terrier rubbed the back of his head in awkwardness. "The whole incident had me on edge, it always does when I do—did those deals with you-know-who."

Skye sighed as she set her tools down. "It's alright, water under the bridge." Skye said as she smiled, the Cockapoo was always a forgive-and-forget pup. "You're lucky that the other pup didn't accompany us."

"That gray wolf looking dog? Yeah...he, uh, kinda scares me." Harper admitted as a small shiver went down his spine.

"You should see the other one..." Skye mumbled as Harper caught her sentence.

"Other one? Jeez, if there's another dog like him then those McAllister's don't stand a chance." Harper smiled, confident in anonymous pups that Skye knew. "I'll leave you to it, glad we can end off on good terms."

Skye nodded as the young Terrier soon left, focusing her attention back on the drone. As she took in a deep breath to steady her paw, she slowly leaned it in to put a piece back in place and she did...

"WHAT?!"

The pup's fur jolted, dropping the piece she was just holding onto. Hopping off the stool, her and Rubble went to go see what the yelling was about.

"So...you're telling me that Harper caused all this?" Roman asked, impatiently waiting for an answer.

"Not exactly, mate, he just put himself in a hole he can't really crawl out of." Decker answered as Roman placed hands on his forehead, distressed by everything that he was hearing.

"Trust me, sir, if I knew beforehand, I would've set him straight." Hendrix added.

"How can I be so sure about that? You kept this from us!" Roman yelled as Hendrix winced in response, lowering his ears and putting his tail between his legs. The man sighed, easing down the tension as he kneeled down towards the Terrier's eye level. "Hendrix. You, your mate and your son are part of our family, I would never do anything to harm you and I know the feeling's mutual." Roman assured as he embraced his dogs.

Decker rolled his eyes as Rubble and Skye looked on, glancing over to their sides as the scene was hitting home for them. "Sorry to be that dog and interrupt but when is your contact going to be in touch, Hendrix?"

As the Terriers released their embrace, Hendrix answered the question. "Something happened to her, I know it. Believe me, those McAllister's wouldn't have shown up otherwise."

"Then she probably sold you down the river, mate." Decker assumed as he shrugged.

"No, Valentine would never." Hendrix gave it some thought, he came to a conclusion that he knew he wasn't going to like. "If she did, then I'm fucked." The Terrier looked over at the Aussie Mix. "A friend of mine needed info on the McAllister's to take them out, cripple their operation—I don't know—but I do know that he wants them gone."

Decker had a thought, a risky one at that, but the Aussie Mix had to try it. As he called over to Rubble and Skye to join them, he faced toward Hendrix again. "He wants them gone that badly? You think we can strike a deal with him?"

"No, hell no! He barely trusts me at all, you think he will if I let you and your off-brand K9's try to get a say in?!" Hendrix asked as Decker got close to the Terrier.

"My 'off-brand' K9's and I just saved your life, I suggest you be more thankful and consider my offer." Decker lowly growled, poking the Terrier's chest to get his message across.

"Alright! Alright...I'll give him a call but don't expect..." Hendrix paused as his tag rang, "...him to...answer." The Terrier answered and heard an unfamiliar voice on the other end.

"He-hello? Hendrix? Is this Hendrix?" The voice asked as the Terrier responded rather quickly.

"Who's this? What'd you do with Val?!" Hendrix yelled as Decker signaled for the dog to ease down a bit.

"Ease up on your leg, Sultan." Elias advised as he answered the Terrier's question shortly after. "My partner and I were with Val, we got captured by the McAllister's but managed to escape. Val...Val didn't make it...but there's a bigger problem."

There was a pause after that, Hendrix had no time to take in the bad news as Decker gestured for the Terrier to keep it going. "W-wh-what do you mean?" Hendrix asked as he quickly wiped his eyes, getting his focus back.

"As we were escaping, we overheard the dog who captured us. They got a shipment from one of the leaders, Gideon, it was bad, very bad." Elias continued. "That shipment they have is full of explosives, explosives that I'm willing to bet are gonna be used on your friends."

"Shit...alright, alright wh-where is this place? Was it a warehouse or what?" Hendrix asked as Decker pressed his tag to start recording.

"Yeah, a warehouse near one of the roads that leads to the Boroughton freeway. We had to jump across the roof to make it out, Valentine was too injured to make it so she stayed back, giving us time to escape." Elias answered as Hendrix let out a regretful sigh.

"Did you get a name? Anything that can thin the place out?" The Terrier asked.

"Only got the name of the boss for that warehouse. Her name is Piper. I think you should try to get it done fast, she's trying to get rid of those things." Elias suggested as Decker gestured for the Terrier to end the conversation.

"Alright, I'll figure something out, take care of yourselves and stay out of sight." Hendrix advised as Elias quickly called him out.

"Wait! One last thing...Valentine told me to tell you that you two are even now." Elias stated as Hendrix had a small smile on his muzzle.

"That we are, thanks, Elias." The call soon ended as Decker pressed his tag to stop recording. Hendrix shot a look at his new FBI friend. "So, now what?"

"You still got another call to make..." Decker advised as Hendrix nodded his head, knowing it was a bad idea.

"Terrible, terrible idea but with what we know? I don't think he has a choice to say no." Hendrix stated as he pressed his tag.

<><><><>

As the crew spotted the office door just a few steps away, Nashi let out another complaint for the crew to hear.

"I'm really hoping we don't have to go to Spencer for a job, that dog's a useless, paranoid, mess." Nashi stated as Levi rolled his eyes, already annoyed with the Husky's complaining.

"Look, trust me. Avery is gonna have a job for us, everything's going to be fine." Mavis smiled as she opened the door, about to call out to her boss.

Avery turned to face the crew and greeted them in a generous manner. "Hey, good to see ya mutts!" The Greyhound wrapped his paw around the Retriever's neck, pulling her close to him.

"Go-good to see you too, boss, you finally got something for us?" Mavis asked as she pushed herself off of the Greyhound's grip.

Avery smiled as he gave a delayed response. "Yeah, although...you might not like it..."

"What? Why?" Nashi asked as the group shared worried glances towards each other.

A sigh from the greyhound filled the air of the room as he turned to face away the group. "Since we don't have anything regarding the McAllister's right now, I figured you all would spend the remainder of the day doing a little community service."

A sigh of relief released from the group but soon they realized what their contractor just said.

"Yo-you're fuckin' kidding me?" Nashi asked as he laughed, turning his head away from the contractor.

"I'm afraid not." Avery asserted with a stern look panned across his face. "Look, this'll be a good time waster for all of you, it's not like—." The Greyhound cut himself off as he heard his collar ringing. Picking it up, he heard the familiar voice of his Terrier friend. "Hendrix, what is it, everything alright?" The crew stood by awkwardly as the call went by, not thinking anything of it until they saw the Greyhound pressing his collar and placing his paw on his forehead, which soon grabbed an item from his desk and proceeded to throw it towards the crew, missing by a lot. "Out, all of you get out of my office right now..."

"Wh-? Avery, you told us to-." Mavis stepped back as she heard the Greyhound raise his voice like never before.

"GET! OUT!" Avery yelled at the crew, who quickly obliged to the Greyhound's orders, with Chase being pulled back as he was the last one leaving.

As the Shepherd stumbled back from the sudden pull-back, he saw Avery shut the door and lock it, noticing the Greyhound with a shaky and nervous manner. "Avery, what's go—?"

"Just shut up and listen..." Avery ordered as he pressed his collar, continuing his call with Hendrix. "Alright, start talking, Hendrix. I had to show my workers the door."

"Alright. I know this is going to sound bad but I need you to listen to what I'm going to tell you, you have to trust me, got it?" Hendrix asked as Avery quickly obliged.

"Yeah, yeah. You're not filling me with confidence, Hendrix, spill it already!" Avery impatiently yelled as Chase stood close by to listen in.

"The McAllister's are going over the edge against you dogs at the Den. My contact and her crew managed to check out one of their hideouts and what they found is something that you need to know." There was a short pause before Hendrix continued. "Avery...Avery, they're planning on bombing the Den."

"What...?" Avery asked as he glanced towards Chase, both sharing a worried look on their faces.

"B-but the-there's good news though, Avery!" Hendrix tried defusing.

"How the fuck is there good news?!" The Greyhound yelled as Chase winced back a bit.

"It...it's not amazing news but it's good news! Avery, this is where you need to trust me one-hundred and ten percent!" Hendrix advised.

"What is it, Hendrix?" Avery asked as there was another pause, the two hearing a sigh from Hendrix as he continued shortly after.

"I...I have an agent with me, he and his team saved me and my family. Avery, the McAllister's came into my home, my fucking home, and if it wasn't for these agents, I would be dead!" Hendrix took in a deep breath as Avery listened, cooling down as he heard his friend explain. "I'm going to pass this over to him, just listen to what he has to say, Avery, please. He can help us both."

Chase nodded in disagreement towards the Greyhound, hoping he would side with his decision. "Avery...don't. We'll handle our own problems, we don't need them. We've handled the McAllister's before! We can do it again!" Chase tried persuading the Greyhound to his side. "Look, just let me lead Mavis's crew down to where they are and—."

"No, I'm not letting you risk your lives again, I made that mistake before, not again!" Avery barked as Chase pressed on.

"We can't trust them! Not for a second, that's what you told us!" The Shepherd stamped his paw down on the ground as Decker and the others heard the argument.

"Ch...Chase?" The room went quiet as Chase stepped back a bit upon hearing the sound of the calm, feminine pup. "Chase, i-is that you...?"

Avery soon realized that the voice on the other end must've been one of Chase's friends from the picture. As he looked upon the fearful eyes of the Shepherd, he took off his collar and held it forward. "They deserve to hear you, even for a second."

"Mate, take a breather, and talk to them..." Decker tried coaxing.

Chase's heartbeat sped up by the second as the anxiety worsened. The pup reached for the collar, hearing his friends call to him, reassuring him about the situation but as close as it was, he turned towards the door, not being able to utter a single word towards his friends. "Don't make a deal with them, it won't end well."

As the door slammed shut, Avery was left alone with Decker on the other line, who was still waiting to explain his offer.

"Last time I checked, he wasn't the boss, you are..." Avery sighed as he hung his head low from the British dog's statement.

"What's it gonna be, mate...?" Decker asked as Avery rubbed his paws on the side of his head, still trying to wrap his head around what decision to make.