(Disclaimer: Mature Language & Graphic Scene)

As the day passed and the night rolled up, the city had a knack of being more dangerous than ever, one jittery, paranoid dog had a chance to experience it first hand.

"Ow! Dammit!" The small dog grunted in pain as he was pressed up against a brick wall by a grey Husky.

"I'm asking you for the last time, you stupid git! Why'd you run?!" The Grey Husky yelled as he raised the small dog from the ground.

"I-I had to! I didn't have a choice! I wasn't going to rat out me lads to some K-9 arseholes!" The small dog answered as Satoon slammed him against the wall.

"Who were those dogs then? What'd the—?" The Husky cut himself off as he heard his collar beeping, without even questioning it, he knew it was one of the McAllisters. "What is it? I'm currently sorting out one of your rat problems."

"It will have to wait, Satoon." Sean advised as the Husky raised his voice over the call.

"What?! I spent all day looking for this bloke and now you want me to let him go?!" Satoon asked as he bared his teeth at the small dog, making sure he wouldn't try escaping his grasp.

"That's exactly what I want you to do, Satoon, and come back to the docks now." Sean calmly advised as he heard Satoon grunt in frustration.

"Get the hell out of here, you're lucky, you fuckin' rat!" Satoon huffed as he watched the small dog scamper away.

"Calm down. If it makes you feel better, you can come see Maurice live his final moments before Gideon rips his chest open." Satoon raised his eyebrow at the comment.

"He messed up again?" Satoon asked as he walked out of the alleyway, glancing around to find a street sign to tell where he is.

"Aren't you perceptive?" Sean asked rhetorically as Satoon cursed him out, "But, to answer your question. Yes, he did mess up." The Irish Wolfhound continued on, "He was ordered to bring back Hendrix Remington after that Terrier decided to pull one over on us. We should've expected it and just killed his family but Gideon thought he was going to stay loyal." Sean complained as he heard a car horn on the other end.

"Watch it, you tosser!" Satoon barked as he continued back on his trail to the docks. "Sorry. Anyway, it sounds like that was an oversight on Gideon's end."

"Regardless, the only thing we're depending on now is you. Gideon's on the verge of sending out every single one of our dogs towards the Den but I'm keeping him from doing that." Sean took in a deep breath as his tone became more stern, "Capture. That. Malamute. This is your last chance, Satoon. If you don't bring him to us within the next two days, you're as good as dead, understand?"

"Yeah, crystal." Satoon assured.

"Forget coming to the docks, I suggest you use your time to think about how you're going to capture the dog." Sean lightly chuckled through the call as Satoon ended it.

The Grey Husky sighed as he hopped up on a bench, the fatigue from tracking that deserting dog for almost the whole day caught up with him. As he laid his head on the bench, the dog couldn't help but glare at one of the many signs that were displayed across from him, one of them was a billboard, the ad, itself, meant nothing to him except for the motto, which read, "Everyone deserves a second chance, no matter who they are."

<><><><>

Humming was heard in the pup's safe house that night. Rocky was busy filling up his food and water bowl as his Labrador friend took his position in the meantime. The mixed breed felt like he was entitled to a break, especially after listening in on the wiretap for, basically, the whole day. As the pup pushed and pulled bowls close to the wiretap, he spotted the Chocolate Labrador faced down on the desk, headset still attached to his ears.

Rocky approached the sleeping pup and placed his paw on him, gently shaking him to wake him up, "Hey...Zumi-Zuma!" Rocky caught himself as he nervously chuckled, "Zuma...wake up...come on, buddy, get up."

After a few more attempts, the sleeping Labrador jerked his head up, "Wha?! What is it, Rocky? Ar-are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Rocky assured as he patted the pups back, "Go rest on your bed, I'll take it from here."

"No, no, you've been on this thing all day, yo-you rest." Zuma smiled as he yawned, eyes half open as Rocky continued to drag him to his bed.

"It's alright. I know it's boring for you, you were knocked out on the table, I was only gone for a few minutes." Rocky chuckled as he set a blanket on the pup. "Just rest up, I can handle this for a few more hours." The mixed breed smiled as he soon headed to back to the small setup, grabbing some bites and licks of water before hopping back on the chair. The pup put the headset on and set the volume right for whatever was transmitted through the wiretap. It was long, boring work but Rocky didn't mind it, so long as it meant that he was helping in some way.

As the pup started to hear commotion on the other end, he started to record what he was hearing from the McAllister's. From the sounds of it, it was putting the mixed breed on edge.

<><><><>

A door was swung open as a beaten and bruised Irish Setter made contact with a desk, cowering in fear as the two brothers stepped into the room along with him.

"I warned you what would happen if you fucked this up!" Gideon yelled as Sean stood by the door, keeping the other dog that was with Maurice close to him as they watched.

"Lo-look, Gideon, I didn't know he had a gun, alright? That wasn't supposed to happen!" Maurice stated as Gideon stood before him, glaring the Irish Setter down. "W-what were we supposed to do? He was going to shoot us!"

Gideon pinned the dog against the desk, moving his sight towards the shot ear. As the only thing that surrounded the air in the room was Maurice's anxiety-filled breaths, it soon turned into painful screaming as Gideon bit into his bullet hole of an ear, tearing it off and spitting it onto the carpet. "You're done, Maurice..."

"W-wait! Gide-!" The Irish Wolfhound proceeded to slam the dog's head onto the desk repeatedly.

"See what could've happened to you if you were in his paw-steps?" Sean asked as the accomplice watched, wincing every second at the sight. "That's enough, Gideon." The Irish Wolfhound assured as he walked over to the blood-covered dog, "You should've slit the bastard's throat outside or something. You got bits of his brain and blood all over the carpet, I just had that put in."

Gideon's panting soon steadied as he spit on the lifeless dog, soon looking at the dog that accompanied him, "Get out of here, lad, be thankful you weren't in his position." The unhinged Wolfhound was soon handed a rag to clean off the blood from his face and chest. As he did, he shot a question towards his brother, "How is the situation with the Husky and that little shit he's looking for?"

"I told him to quicken his pace. Two days is all he has, if that pup he's looking for doesn't end up in his paws, we'll go with your plan to attack the Den full force." Sean advised as Gideon nodded in agreement.

"I still think we should just forget about Satoon, the only reason he's with us is because he wants that fuckin' shipment, good thing we turned him on our side. Idiot really thinks Avery and his crew took it during a raid." Gideon laughed as Sean corrected him.

"Well, Mika did and you know she's working with them." Gideon's smile soon faltered as he continued.

"Whatever. That  bitch will get what's coming to her after we kill Avery. She'll be easy pickings, never was much a fighter anyway." Gideon stated as he changed the subject, "I gotta go find Piper, she's gonna replace Maurice and, hopefully, run things better than that useless piece of shite ever did."

"She was one of the dogs that survived that raid?" Sean asked, eyeing the bloody carpet.

"Yeah, she and a few others got away before the public caught news about it, everything that was in that warehouse now belongs to the police except for the explosives." Gideon answered as he approached the door.

"Who do you think it was then?" Sean asked as Gideon stood in the doorway.

"I don't know but we should look forward to finding out after we get rid of those bastards at the Den. While we wait on that, go get someone to dispose of Maurice here." Gideon soon dismissed as Sean soon followed his orders, leaving the deceased corpse of Maurice to rot in the room.

<><><><>

Rocky stopped the recording, taking off his headset and leaning back in his chair, "What is wrong with these dogs, can't believe I thought Mayor Humdinger was a bad guy, these savages are worse!" Rocky exclaimed to himself, keeping his voice down to not wake up Marshall or Zuma. As the Eco pup was still on edge from the audio, he slightly jolted up as his pup tag rang, quickly answering as the ringing was unnecessarily loud. "Decker? Good timing, just got some more intel from the wiretap to show you when you get back. How did things go over there? Are Skye and Rubble okay?" The pup asked in a slight frantic tone.

"They're fine, mate. We...uh...we got in contact with your mate, Chase." Decker announced as Rocky's eyes widened, leaning forward in his chair.

"W-what? Really? H-he's okay? What'd...what'd he say?" Rocky asked, his voice becoming shaky as he awaited an answer from the Australian Mix

"Easy, mate. From what we heard, he sounded fine, just a little pissed off." Decker continued as Rocky let out a relieved sigh. "We made a deal with his contractor and they agreed to work with us as long as we help them get rid of the McAllister's. I called Rich shortly after the agreement and he already handled a problem they were having when we first spoke." Decker stated over the pup tag as Rocky had another question in line for the dog.

"Aside from that, what happened? Did you meet up with the Remingtons?"

"Yeah, we ended up saving them from some McAllister's that tried to off Hendrix, stayed here to keep them safe and we'll keep doing so, we're moving them to the safe house tomorrow morning and from there on out, Ramirez will handle it." Decker advised as he continued, "Once that's all sorted, we're all gonna have a chat...a chat that everyone needs to listen to for when we finally end things."

"A-alright." Rocky agreed, being nervous of the various outcomes of what could happen. "Alright, I'll see you in the morning then." The mixed breed cleared up, soon ending the call and leaning his head on the table. The pup soon closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep, waiting for the sun to rise back up and his friends to return.

<><><><>

As the Den was somewhat more quiet as the night progressed, Avery sat in his office, contemplating a choice he had come to accept. He pressed his collar and called up Chase, who answered pretty quickly.

"Yeah, Avery? What is it?" Chase asked as Avery heard the nervousness in his voice.

"Listen, something was brought up to me and I need you in my office fast, it's nothing regarding Alistair or Ajax...just Mavis and them." Avery advised as Chase went mute on the call for a moment.

"I'll be right over." The Shepherd said as Avery heard his paws quickly clack over the call.

Some time passed as Avery soon heard the knocking on his office door. As he answered and let the Shepherd in, looking around to make sure he wasn't followed, he shut the door and proceeded to explain what was brought up. "Listen, Chase. If we're going to take out Alistair and Ajax, we need more numbers than just us."

"What're you saying, Avery?" The Shepherd asked as his question had a hint of sternness to it.

The Greyhound sighed as he took a moment to give the Shepherd a definitive answer, "Chase...you need to tell Mavis and the others about your real identity if we want to stop Alistair and Ajax."

"No." Chase quickly defended as he turned his back, ready to leave the office.

"Woah, woah, you kidding me, right?" Avery raised his voice as he caught up with the Shepherd, getting close to his face.

"No, I'm not! You sided with that Australian agent to help us out and now you want me to flat out tell your sorry excuse of a crew my real identity?!" Chase asked, getting tired of the Greyhound's constant changes. "You said it yourself that they wouldn't play nice if they knew who I was. Nashi is breathing down my fucking neck because of your decision and what do you think is going to happen if he realizes who I really am?!"

Avery rubbed his eyes in frustration, "Hai paura di lui? I'll keep him in line! He will do nothing because he can do nothing and if he tries, I'll kill him myself, capire?" Avery assured as Chase nodded his head.

"You're lucky that I trust you." Chase stated as Avery let out a gentle smile, "We let them know in the morning, at least do that."

<><><><>

The buzzing of a small light lit up the darkened spot that lied behind Avery's office. Stained metal was heard being pulled back as a dog quickly scanned the area to make sure no one heard the sound. The dog let out a sigh of relief as they grabbed the techie service collar and connected it to the wiretap, putting the tiny earpiece in position as the audio came through.

"No, I'm not! You sided with that Australian agent to help us out and now you want me to flat out tell your sorry excuse of a crew my real identity?! You said it yourself that they won't play nice if they knew who I was. Nashi is breathing down my fucking neck because of your decision and what do you think is going to happen if he realizes who I really am?!"

The dog let out a shaky breath as the wiretap relayed the conversation back to them. "No fuckin' way..." The dog whispered to themselves, soon coming to realize what they really had to do, what they were really there for. One press of the collar and the dog called a familiar name, "Agent Rich, I'm sending you everything the wiretap caught, almost every conversation that was held in that office will be yours to listen to."

"Excellent job, agent, you had us worried with how long you took to call in. Keep your cover intact until we have a clear sight on the leader of the Den." Agent Rich advised as the dog still wasn't done.

"Sir, there's one more thing." The dog stated as they continued on momentarily, "It's Decker, he made a deal with Chase and his boss, Avery. I just caught it before I sent the previous recordings, the latest one should explain it in detail."

"Copy that, Ramirez will receive it and link it up to us, until then, don't have them figure you out." Rich ordered as the dog obliged by the order.

"Yes sir..." Rich caught the slight disappointment in the dog's voice.

"Is something wrong? Second thoughts, maybe?" Rich asked as the dog couldn't give a straight answer, "They are criminals, low-life scum that will kill without a second thought. You are doing the right thing here, Mavis, don't forget that."

"Of course, sir." Mavis agreed as she shut the worn-down electrical box, leaving all of the tech in there as she hid back, waiting for Chase to leave before she headed back to their room. The Retriever sneakily entered the room, slowly inching forward towards her bed, trying not to wake any of the dogs. She eventually made it to her bed, laying down on the soft pillow and curling up into a ball, waiting for the night to pass by yet again.