two. They took that as a signal that they were dismissed, and as they were leaving they heard him give them an order. “Bring him to me.”
  When he heard their claws at a fair distance, he gave a soft chuckle. “Little Adrian the follower now his own dog… Hopefully he doesn’t mind the family visit.”

  “So sis, where did you last see him?” Chase asked, looking at his sister.
  “At the warehouse, he got chased out by some big dog, but I don’t know the breed well. Someone that looked like him left with Einstein from that homeless guy’s gang.” She said, relating all information she could recall. “He went into hiding for a while, but it didn’t take him long to become active again, I saw him grabbing food from the dumpster just down the street, so he may be back home eating.”
  “Well let’s go then, off to the warehouse!” And before she could react, her brother was zooming down the street, jumping on cars to get across and taking off.
  “Chase!” She yelled after him before sighing. “Oh forget it.” She sat to wait for the cars to stop for the light, going when she could, stopping when she had to, and taking back alleys where she could. When she reached the warehouses, she could see her brother pawing, chasing, and nipping at mice around him to amuse himself while he waited for her.
  “Come on sis, if you work hard I know you can keep up.” He said with a smile.
  “Just slow down for me, please.” She said, shaking her head. “How can you have so much energy?”
  “I have no idea, I just do.” He said, doing a small flip.
  “Right… Well, at least we’re here.” She said, looking around. She quickly found which one it was and started walking towards it, her brother followed behind her, humming and tail flicking side to side. She took a look inside, seeing that it was dark.
  “Wait here.” She mouthed, her brother pouting and sitting. She went inside, taking a look at the floor. As she thought, there were fresh paw prints in the dust. She followed them a moment, Chase watching her from outside, until she motioned for him to come in with her tail.
  “Well?” He whispered in her ear.
  “The same mistake everyone makes in a dusty building. They leave tracks.” She muttered back, starting to lead her brother along the trail. They saw the prints easily, sniffing lightly. No mistake, it was Adrian’s tracks. They both stopped a moment as they heard noise a few corners ahead, getting down low.
  Chase was bouncing his legs a bit eagerly, a grin on his face. Aim glared at him to try and make him settle down, but he ignored her, continuing to bounce. Outside, some clouds built up, a light roar of thunder booming out above them. The female Collie was relieved that they’d have some noise to cover their approach, starting to step forward again.
  Lightning flashed outside of the window, illuminating the duo and casting shadows from between the crates and beams, lighting up small parts of the canine siblings. Aim peeked around a corner and saw a hole where some light was coming out. She crept up, Chase right behind her, and peeked inside, trying to stay out of the light.
  There she saw Adrian, growling and ripping some leftover meat on a ham bone, gnawing at the milky white surface for anything he could get. He had a lantern by him, the white light dim as it showed his living space. There was a ripped up doggy bed, some moldy sheets, and some boxes of old dog food he had torn open to live off of while he had them. He was looking thinner, seeming to have not cared much about eating as much as getting at his brother.
  Glancing at Chase, the young female gave a nod, starting to push her way in. Seeing the moving shadows, Adrian growled deeply, back fur rising aggressively.
  “Who’s there?” He said softly, a threatening tone in his words. “This is my place you’re intruding on and I will…” He paused as the two came into the light.
  “Hello mister Adrian.” Aim said, giving a light smile. Chase bounced softly on his paws beside her, looking around the space.
  “Why are you two here?” Adrian said a bit louder, standing up a bit straighter. His fur still stuck out aggressively, on guard of any tricks.
  Aim nodded at her brother, who started to circle around the other canine. It would appear more threatening if he wasn’t twitching so much to get on with it. “We’re here for you. An associate of ours wants to see you.’
  The mix huffed out his nose in contempt, baring his teeth. “Not interested, I have better things to do than be in some busy-body’s pet pack.” He said softly, dangerously.
  “Who said you had a choice?” Chase yipped, taking no time at all to dart forward toward Adrian to get him. Aim tried to flank him, but her quick, calculating eyes caught something. She changed her direction, tackling her brother aside. Adrian kicked one of the crates behind him and stepped back, and suddenly shelves around them started tumbling down, the weight enough to kill any of them.
  Chase was stunned, and as he helped his sister up he saw Adrian crawling out through a hole in the side of the warehouse through the gaps between crates. “Sis, he’s getting away!” He snarled, turning tail and stuffing himself past the entrance hole they came in. Aim tried to follow as fast as she could, wishing she was as fast as her brother.
  Adrian raced between the warehouses, rain cascading down and flattening his fur. He didn’t look back, knowing that would only slow him down. He panted heavily, wishing he had worked towards speed instead of all strength. The speedy Collie was soon outside, quickly finding the hole the mix had left.
  Sniffing, he followed the fresh trail, barking deeply to let his sister know which way he was going. Aim heard him when she got out herself, and followed the echo. The mix could hear Chase too, and forced his body to move quicker. The lack of proper meals had taken its toll, leaving the mix only a bit slower than the following Collie. It was only a matter of time…

  “Come on Grimm, under here!” Einstein led them to an alleyway, underneath a metal sheet that had been ignored by garbage collectors. They sheltered under it, panting softly. The rain had started suddenly, surprising both of them.
  The young mix shook his fur out, the bigger dog doing the same beside him. Even though he shook the mass majority of the water out of his fur, he still shivered, the windy air blowing over him. Fatherly as ever, Einstein nosed the young hound to lie down, and lay down on top of him to warm him up.
  “Thanks.” Grimm said, snuggling up to keep warm. “Rain is a bit too heavy to get back home, eh?”
  “Yeah, but hopefully they don’t come looking for us, we can take care of ourselves, right?” Einstein looked down, licking his ears. Grimm nodded in response, watching cars zooming by with windshield wipers going at top speed so they could see. He thought he saw movement across the street and lightning flashed above, and he jolted a bit, pushing Einstein up slightly.
  “Oof! Grimm, what is it?” The big dog asked, looking curious.
  “I thought I saw…” Grimm started, before slowly relaxing back down. “Never mind, I was probably hallucinating, thinking about him and all.”
  Einstein looked where Grimm was staring, but he saw nothing. He nuzzled between Grimm’s ears, wondering what he had seen to make him want to go so fast.

  Adrian turned down an alleyway, his chest heaving as rain splashed down his thin body.  He was surprised those two hadn’t given up, especially in these conditions. He was thinking so much about how to get away he ran head-first into a wooden fence.
  “Damn!” He snarled, stars bursting in his eyes. He tried to recover quickly, but as his vision started clearing a shape came from the corner of his eye and slammed the side of his head into the fence again, bringing him into the dark void of unconsciousness.
  Chase was hardly panting, his breaths slow. He stood with a paw on Adrian’s neck to keep him from getting up again. “That’s why you don’t run. Because no matter what I’ll catch you.” He said to the unconscious form, smirking.
  Soon Aim joined him in the alley panting heavily, rainwater dripping on her lolling tongue. She noticed Adrian lying very still on the ground, and she walked up and hit her brother on the back of his head.
  “Ouch! What?!” He barked at her, teeth bared.
  “You didn’t kill him did you?” She asked, glaring at him.
  “No, I didn’t, just knocked him out. He’s fine.” Chase sat and scratched the side of his head with a muddy paw. “If you want to lose that paw, slap me again.”
  Ignoring him, Aim inspected Adrian. “You’re lucky he’s alive or we’d be joining him.” She said, shaking her head. “Come on; help me get him back to Sliver.”
  Both Collies lifted the prone dog up with their teeth, Chase by his scruff and Aim by his back, and started moving as quickly as possible back to their base. This was what Grimm had thought he had hallucinated, his brother being carried off by two strange dogs. He didn’t know that it had been reality.

To be

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