watching the Whippet fade and staring at his own reflection. He sighed a bit and headed back to his corner as he heard Rollie racing back up, and a few minor thumps that seemed out of place. Must be him with the rope...
  "Here it comes!" Rollie called down as he threw one end of the rope down. "Still plenty up here!"
  "Alright, wrap it around whatever's up there and throw the rest down." Charlie called back up, then Rollie did as he was asked. "Hey watch out! You almost hit Zero!"
  "Sorry. Alright, I'm coming back down." The mix called then went back down.
    While Rollie was back on his way down Charlie was busy tying the rope to the back of his sign. He glanced back at Zak and Joey, who were cracking their paws in preperation to start lifting. Duncan was sitting nearby and watching, trying to mimic what they were doing. He then looked over at Zero and Andrew, who were conversing a bit. Andrew vaguely seemed to be listening or adding to the conversation they were having.
  Rollie was soon down and the two Doberman's rubbed their paws together, ready to pull.
  "Alright guys, get ready to pull." The mutt barked, grabbing the ropes end. Joey and Zak joined him, Zero and Andrew following soon after. "Alright guys, on three we start pulling!" Charlie growled, his grip tightening a bit.
  "One... Two... Three!" All the dogs started pulling. Duncan just sat on the sidelines, watching them. Progress went well for a few minutes, and they got it a bit more than half-way up. Then Duncan saw something that caught his attention.
  He didn't realize it was under the sign due to his curiosity. He went and checked it out. The older dogs didn't see him... Nobody but Lupus.
  "C'mon kid don't go under there it's not safe..." He growled. Then four things happened at once. The rope snapped, Lupus quickly took the rope in his teeth and was drgged until he ran right into the pole but kept a grip on it, Chris quickly came and pushed Duncan out of the way, and the dogs that were pulling the rope fell over. The sign hung in mid-air, five feet above where Duncan and Chris were as Lupus kept his grip on it in his teeth.
  "Someone go up there and see what's going on up there, see what's holding the sign up!" Charlie barked as Zak, Joey, and Andrew went to check on the two dogs. Zak and Joey to check to see if Duncan was alright, and Andrew to ask Chris why he was there. Chris, before Andrew could get to him, took off. Rollie and Zero quickly ran up to the roof in case the sign fell.
  Hurry up... I can't keep hold of this thing much longer, and I dunno if everyone is safe down there... Lupus thought. He heard them behind him.
  "Charlie there's a dog up here!" Zero barked. "He's holding on to the rope, we're gonna help him out!" Then Zero and Rollie grabbed the rope, starting to help Lupus pull. After making sure Duncan was okay, Zak and Joey ran up to lend a paw.
  The dogs soon had the sign up and got it flat on the roof. Charlie had come up to see who it was Zero was talking about, but in the confusion of getting the sign on the roof Lupus had vanished. He had gone back to hiding in his corner, not wanting to be seen by the mutt yet. Maybe after awhile longer...
  The rest of the clean-up went by uneventful, everything going smoothly. Plenty of rooms were cleaned, old and beat up furniture moved in,  and the entrance area cleaned up. They put TV's in rooms they could, and hoped they wouldn't mind the slightly bad reception.

  The work was finished by 11, and just in time. Itchy came home, looking happy as his tail was wagging. When he came in he thought he was gonna have a heart attack. The main entry-way was actually cleaned. He went and looked at some of the other rooms that were messed up, then went to locate the other dogs.
  When he found the others in the kitchen, they were all smiling.
  "Surprised Itch?" Charlie asked, wagging his scruffy tail. Itchy could only nod.
  "We thought you'd like it." Zero said. "It was all Charlie's idea to get things cleaned up. Y'know, to give you a nice surprise." Itchy looked at Zero then back at Charlie, then walked up to the mutt.
  "Thanks for thinking about me Charlie. I'm sure that if more dogs come they'll love it." The Dachshund said, offering his paw for Charlie to shake, which he did. They all then celebrated by going to the Fleabite.

  On the roof, Lupus watched them go.
  "Another day, another mission to decide where I go. Doing what I did has hopefully uped my 'score' with the higher-ups." He growled as he went to go sleep. After the excitement of today, he was tired. In his home, he found something shining.
  It was a miracle dog tag. There was a note attached to it.
  Use this wisely, you deserve it. The Husky looked at the sky and gave a nod of thanks before going into his home to sleep.