Commotion was filling the air of a makeshift hideout in an alleyway, cats waiting around on windowsills, near dumpsters, all for a final say from the survivors that were with Valentine.

The silence soon came through as they saw the two cats come back from their talk with Hendrix, seeing the crowd of cats in front of them, eagerly waiting for their response. "Everyone, listen up, those McAllister motherfuckers messed with the wrong cats. Valentine's contact knows what we want and what we want is clear—we scope out and fuck up as many operations as we can to those Irish bastards."

"Alright, yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"Fuck yeah!"

The two lead cats shared looks at each other, holding paws as they dreadfully sighed. The crowd's cheers and whistles died down as Elias continued, albeit not with a confident tone as before. "You all know this is something we strayed away from for a long time. The dogs at the Den, the McAllister's, their business was always none of ours but now it is. Take one good long look at each other, it could be the last time and there's no shame if anyone wants to back out." Elias looked down, seeing none of the cats leaving the area, willing to stay together no matter what, "Glad to see that Valentine chose the right crew members. We all split up, scope out whatever seems to involve the McAllister's and sabotage as much as we can once the go-ahead is clear, everyone got that?"

Another roar of cheers emerged from the crowd, putting a smile on the two lead cats. Sultan stepped up, letting the crew hear one last thing. "Let's get this done and avenge Valentine."

<><><><>

Hours passed since Decker listened in on the offer that Valentine's crew gave him and the audio he listened through the wiretap. Their luck was starting to turn around, here's hoping it would last.

The Mix knocked on the door of his superior, who gave the go-ahead to come in. "Sir? We got some more info on Avery's kidnapped associate and the one who did it. Also, we got a group helping us with setting the McAllister's eyes away from dogs at the Den."

"The cats, right?" The agent asked, his face still looking towards his notes.

"Yes, sir. I take it Hendrix explained it?" The Australian tilted his head.

Setting his notes down, Rich looked at the Mix, "No, Ramirez insisted I listen to the audio Mavis sent over as well as the audio you had on the wiretap." Standing up, he soon approached the dog and laid his hand on his head, petting him. "Made me realize how impromptu you are when things look bad, made me remember why I chose you out of those other dogs, you get shit done even when the chips are down."

Decker felt a variety of emotions but, like Chase, he didn't know how to convey it properly, being a dog in his position will do that. "I...uh, thank you, sir."

"Don't mention it." The agent crossed his arms, "There's still the problem with Alistair and Ajax, if we all go through with this and attack the McAllister's, Alistair could use that opportunity to cut & run." Rich theorized.

"Maybe but he won't have anywhere else to go." Decker shot down almost immediately.

"Unless he has loose ends to clean up..." Rich grabbed his notes and opened the office door, "Come on, go show me what you got from the wiretap."

The two exited the room and met up with Rocky, the pup still listening in on the situation with Levi. "Hey, Rocky, how's the intel going, mate?"

The pup leaned back in his chair, giving a defeated sigh towards the Aussie, "It's...worrying to say the least—he agreed to Satoon's terms but since then, it's been a bit quiet, no sign of the McAllister's either."

"Hmm, alright, load the audio back, I want Rich to hear what we heard." Rocky nodded as he played the audio back for everyone to hear.

The agent crossed his arms as the audio progressed while everyone gathered close, waiting to hear Rich's response. As the audio finished, Rich gave it some thought. "The dog is either an idiot or he's smart, it's hard to tell, especially with his kidnapper."

"What do you think then, Rich? The pup's a moron or is he thinking outside the box?" Ramirez asked as he swung his chair around to face the group.

"Sounds like the mate is stalling, it could buy us some time but not a lot." Decker answered as Rich agreed.

"Nevertheless, it's up to Avery and his crew to save him and take out the McAllister's, we're just giving them a window to do it." Rich continued on, pacing around the room. "With those cats going to do damage along with some of our own, I want Rocky to stay on that wiretap. The second you hear any McAllister's talk about what's going on, you let Avery's crew know. Zuma, Skye, I want you two to head out and scope the Den with your drone, get a good layout of the area and building and see what's useful." The agent placed his hands behind his back, looking at everyone in the room, "We cannot afford to mess any of this up."

The two pups soon headed to the armory, grabbing their gear and placing it in their bags as Ryder stood at the doorway, waiting to give them some advice. "You two be careful out there, alright?"

Zuma quickly eyed his owner as he placed his collar in the bag, "We're always careful, don't worry, dude."

"I know." Ryder lowered his head as he let out a sigh, "It's just...what if you run into Chase or any of his crew members?"

Skye zipped up her bag, adding a bit of sass to her answer, "We're not going to, Ryder."

"But what if yo-." The boy was cut off, hearing the Cockapoo snap.

"We're not going to mess this up!" Skye yelled as she quickly realized her small outburst, "We're not going ruin this, we'll be out of sight, please don't worry." Skye grabbed her bag and headed out of the room, Zuma following with, giving his leader a reassuring wink.

The two soon disappeared from everyone's sight, the sound of one of the FBI SUVs starting up filled the odd silence after Skye's outburst. Ramirez leaned back in his chair, eating food from a takeout order. "I get the worry but just trust them, kid. They already handled this stuff before."

"I know..." Ryder assured as he sat down on the couch, close to the remaining pups, "but with how close we are to getting this done, it's worrying me that they would want to try to move faster than we should..."

<><><><>

Levi winced in pain as another slice slashed across his snout, grunting in pain as the laughter of Gideon and Sean crowded the room.

As the laughter subsided, Sean stepped up to the Husky, lifting his head up and firing a question. "It's been some time Satoon, did the lad give in or is begging for eye gouging?"

Satoon sternly nodded, "He gave in, they always do."

"Good, now, how about you go through it with us, then? I don't like getting my paws dirty but you know Gideon doesn't mind." Sean smugly reminded, seeing his brother stare down the Malamute with a somewhat devious smile.

Painful huffs were released from Levi, "What...what do you wanna know then...? Avery or that one dog who managed to slip past you multiple times?"

"You mean Mika?"

"Yeah...bi-big Bernese Mountain Dog. Hard to miss yet you did anyway." Levi chuckled as Gideon's anger took over, shoving Sean aside as he rapidly approached the injured Malamute.

"Hey, hey! Easy!" Satoon interjected, his paw placed on the Irish Wolfhound's chest, keeping him back. "Levi, quit fuckin' around and tell them what you told me!" The Husky ordered as he turned his head, making sure Gideon didn't finish the job. "Tell them about Avery's plans, as much as you can."

"Forgive me if I wanted to push some buttons, alright?" Levi lightly smirked as Gideon pressed up against Satoon, trying to go through his stonewall of a hold to attack the Malamute.

"You're gonna be pushing daisies when I'm done with you, ya little shite!" Gideon yelled out, hearing a quick chuckle from Levi.

"Levi! Enough with the humorist bullshit!" Satoon demanded for the Malamute to get on with it, ready to do Gideon's job for him if he kept messing around.

"Alright...alright." Levi began to explain, finally calming the two down, "Avery's plans—to put it bluntly, he's trying to gather more dogs to raid this place..." The dog partially lied.

"What do ya mean? Lads at the Den are at each other's throats?" Sean asked in the background, arriving closer as he became more intrigued.

"Something like that. He's gathering whoever is still willing to side with him to raid this place..." Levi answered as Gideon sharply gazed, narrowing his eyes but soon backing off of the Malamute, taking his word for it.

"Is he still residing at the Den? What about Mika?" Sean asked, stepping forward a bit.

"I gave you good intel...back off." Levi brushed the Irish Wolfhound away, hearing Satoon add his word in.

"We're gonna need more than that and you know it, a location, a time, anything." Satoon tried coaxing.

"I would've known more if I wasn't betrayed by you, you prick!" The Malamute yelled as the trio soon backed up, thinking of a plan against Avery.

"If what he's saying is true, we need to keep our crew members here, as much as we can!" Gideon advised as Sean countered.

"We can't just abandon our other spots! We should stay secure by keeping those other spots safe too!" Sean argued, sparking a problem with the two brothers.

Satoon glanced over at Levi as the two brothers kept arguing, seeing the shit-eating bloody grin from the Malamute as he continued to watch. Breaking the argument between the two, Satoon spoke up. "Hey! I gave you what you wanted, now you're gonna do like you said and tell me what I want to hear."

The two brothers snapped towards Satoon, "Things aren't going to work quite that way, lad." Sean stated as Satoon furrowed his eyebrows.

"There's more important things going on then that fuckin' shipment you've been looking for."

"I don't fucking care on what quarrels you and Avery's crew, I just want the info I worked hard for, you owe me that much!" Satoon yelled as Gideon spoke up.

"Most Irish keep their word, I did to a point." Gideon stated as he got up close to Satoon's face. "Just one more thing you have to do, kill this Malamute, be done with him and then get the fuck out of my sight."

"Gideon! This wasn't part of the-!" The Wolfhound pressed on the Husky's paw, using his staggered injury to pin down on the floor, claws unsheathed on his neck.

"I'm getting real sick and fuckin' tired of your whining!" The Wolfhound leaned close to Satoon's ear. "You really wanna know what happened to your shipment, you impatient fuck?! We took it, we took it and claimed it as our own, we didn't know or think that a whiny bitch of a Husky was gonna come around and ask questions!" Sean came around, pacing around the Husky as he took over the conversation.

"Mika took it shortly after, she got away and then we find out she's shacked up with the lads at the Den, most likely, she gave it to them in exchange for her safety." Sean explained, seeing the Husky squirm around.

"Why...why didn't you just make me go after her then?!" Satoon managed to say as he tried getting up Gideon.

"A dog like Mika stood no chance in a city like this, we thought she was dead and that collar, while being very valuable, wasn't our top priority." Sean answered for his brother as he sat in front of him. "What's the plan with this one, Gideon?"

"Like I just said—kill the Malamute and leave. We'll give you that much because you managed to be somewhat helpful." Gideon said aloud, getting off of the Husky as the two brothers soon headed to the stairs.

Levi looked towards Satoon, seeing determination in his eyes as he grabbed one of the tools, limping towards the Malamute, who tried wiggling out of his restraints. "Satoon! Come on! I told you everything!"

The two brothers walked up the stairs, hearing Levi scream in pain as they soon left, closing the metal door to muffle it all.

<><><><>

Heavy breathing was heard as a metal door to a rooftop was swung open, two pups bursting out of it and laying themselves on the floor, catching their breaths as one of them pressed their tag.

"Decker...it's...it's Skye, we made it to the rooftop safe & sound." The Cockapoo advised, helping Zuma get back on his paws as she waited for a response.

"Copy that, Skye. You should be able to see the Den from the east side of the rooftop." Decker stated as the two walk towards that direction.

"Yep, we see it." Skye confirmed, leaning over the edge a bit to see the streets below.

"Jeez, Chase is in there?" Zuma asked as he kept eyeing the average-sized building, hearing Decker through Skye's collar answer his question.

"Don't be fooled, mate. That building is, most likely, on the verge of collapsing any day, the inside probably that good-looking either." Decker assured as Skye grew a bit impatient.

"So...what's the plan here? We're wasting daylight."

"Right, sorry. Anyway, Skye, all you need to do is take the drone and scan the upper floors, see if you can get a view of Alistair from his office and look for any potential entrances and exits." Decker explained as Zuma pressed the Cockapoo's pack, taking the drone out and handing her the tablet to control it.

"That's it? Can't record their voices, right?" Skye asked, motioning for Zuma to hold the drone.

"No, not unless we had a wiretap in his office." Decker answered as Zuma pointed out another thing, shooting his own question.

"Wait, I thought this 'Mavis' dude-ette had a wiretap somewhere inside?" The Labrador wondered as Decker quickly shot his question down.

"She did but she must've gotten rid of it after she sent us all of the audio recordings. Didn't want to get caught." Decker theorized as he continued, "Hurry this up and get back, Hendrix just informed us that those cats are starting to hit the McAllister spots."

The Australian Mix ended the call, Skye soon activating her drone and flying it towards the building and dropping the drone slowly down the floors, scanning until she spotted Alistair, or who she thought. "Come on, it's just a human, can't be that hard to spot."

"Maybe try getting a different angle?" Zuma suggested as he kept peeking over his short friend, trying to see her drone's POV.

"Maybe, I'll scale it back up and check from the other side." Skye advised. "I'm sure we could've had a good angle here, what if he's not in his office right now?" Skye continued to scan the rooms as her drone descended, finally catching the culprit within her drone's view. "Got it! Streaming the drone's view now!"

"Nice job, dude! Let's scan more of the area while we can!" Zuma advised as Skye nodded her head in agreement, moving the drone and scouting for entrances and exits as their collar rang again.

<><><><>

Avery and his crew laid dormant in his office, making sure to not mess anything up after the unfortunate events surrounding Levi. The crew were bored but anxious, wanting to spring into action and find Levi but couldn't.

All of the dog's ears perked up and snapped towards Avery as they heard his collar emit a ring. Within an instant, Avery picked up. "Yeah? What is it?"

"It's time, mates! You gotta head down to the docks and finish this!" Decker advised as the crew stood up, ready to head out the door as Avery stopped them.

"It doesn't matter who we take out, right?" Avery pointed at the two females and gestured at them to come forward.

"No, take out one and the other will be useless, the collateral damage those cats are gonna cause won't last, go and take them out!" Decker ordered as the call ended.

Nashi held the door open for Delta and Chase as Mavis and Mika stood back. "We'll keep you updated, Avery, don't worry!"

"Get Levi back alive!" The trio left the premises, leaving Mika and Mavis behind as Avery explained. "I know you want to help but listen..." Avery grabbed a bag from under his desk, "Mavis, now's your chance to get Mika outta here like you wanted to. This bag has the collar you stole from those Irish bastards and a good amount of ration cards, head to Dixon's, I had him hold onto your tickets."

The two were stunned, surprised at the fact that Avery kept it under the table for so long and kept his word for it, even after sending them to a danger zone a few days ago. "'Thankth'...for giving me a 'chanthe', Avery." The Bernese Mountain dog's ears lowered, a small but genuine smile soon showing on her muzzle.

"I'm glad I listened to Mavis and Chase, those two had a good feeling about you...but look, you two need to go, alright?" Avery reminded as Mika gave the Greyhound one last tight hug. "Yup...yup, that's nice! Now go!" The Greyhound managed to say while being almost crushed.

As Mika sprinted out the door, Mavis gave one last nod to her contractor, giving a smile and receiving a nod in return, finally departing as she caught up with the Mountain Dog.

<><><><>

The rest of the pups gathered around Ramirez as he stood close to the cork board of the building that resembled the Den. Clearing his throat, the agent explained the plan, "Alright, Ryder, pups, it's a pretty straight-forward plan we managed to improvise with this time constraint we had." Ramirez pointed at one of the monitors. "That video you're seeing is live footage from Skye's drone. Skye, make the drone look towards the main entrance."

"Yes sir!" The Cockapoo listened, Ryder and the pups seeing the drone nearly zoom to the main entrance.

"That's our main entrance right there, the only problem with it is that it's a gate so we won't be able to go through without a fight but that's only as a last resort. Skye, move the drone to the right side of the building!" The drone soon zoomed over to the right side, "Okay...that small greenhouse has another entrance near it, more covert since it's just a double-door. You pups will go through there and will have backup with you to sweep the rooms, non-lethal, of course."

"Okay, so they get inside the Den and then what? Find Chase and then go after Alistair?" Ryder asked, leaning forward on the couch.

"Chase isn't our main priority but his is Alistair. You find him on your way there, you stop him, we need Alistair alive and he can't mess that up." Ramirez answered as the pups nodded in agreement.

"Where's Decker? Shouldn't he be here?" Rocky asked, worry being shown across his face.

"It's fine, he and Rich are going over it, Decker needed some...words of encouragement...he's been hesitant ever since you all joined up on this investigation." There was a short silence before Ramirez continued, "Chase and the others in Avery's crew are on their way to the docks, while they're cleaning up the place, we'll talk with Avery and see if he can let us know anything else we missed. In the meantime, you pups and two other non-lethal breach teams will be on standby, you all got that?" Ramirez asked, making sure everyone understood his briefing, seeing the pups nod shortly after.

"Alright, once you're inside, Team 1 will sweep the entrance, keeping any hostiles away as you move up to the main stairs. Team 2 will follow you into Alistair's office, which is located on the sixth floor, you enter and take him in alive, be very cautious, he, most likely, carries a live firearm but that's what the backup is for, to make sure he doesn't try anything stupid." Ramirez looked toward the group with a stern glare, "Gear up, pups, let's get this done."

With reassuring, stern nods, the pups went to the armory, equipping their modified packs as they helped each other tighten up their gear, giving reassuring pats and salutes to Ryder as they soon stepped out in the squad vans.

As the vans drove off, Ryder let out a worried sigh as Ramirez held the boy's shoulder, "Don't worry, kid, they're in safe hands."

"I know...but a part of me thinks that we should've waited a bit longer." Ryder spoke, Ramirez tilting his head as the boy continued, "This plan could work out but the risks are too high."

"I know what you mean...but it's not up to me."

As the two conversed outside, Hendrix laid dormant, keeping his family close to him as he finally got a chance to calm down along with Roman and Gracie.

"Hendrix, mate..." Decker called out as Hendrix ears perked up along with his wife and son's.

A yawn was emitted from the dog, "Yeah? What is it, Decker?"

"I'm heading out to help the pups on their mission, stand by for a call from Avery and let Ramirez or Rich know as soon as possible once he gives the go-ahead." Decker explained.

"Alright, you got it." The Terrier assured as he got a thankful nod from the Mix.

His fur tensed up for a fraction of seconds upon feeling his mate nuzzle into his neck, calming the Terrier as a smile crept up on his face.

"Ramirez? Once this is all done, we can go home, right?" Roman asked as he walked in, sitting close to his dogs and petting them.

"Yes, of course. This was just a precautionary measure and we'll keep this under the wraps in case word gets out, we don't want your public image getting tainted now, do we?" Ramirez smiled, keeping the mood uplifted as Hendrix soon heard his collar ring, sharing glances at his family and Ramirez, who sat down close to listen in.

Everything was finally being set in motion, it was only a matter of time before all the events unfolded for everyone...

One way or another.

<><><><>