The German Shepherd made herself comfortable before clearing her throat and starting her story. "Back when I was younger... I used to be and, ahem, still am one of the police dogs of highest excellency."

Both her puppies looked at her with awe and admiration.

She smirked proudly. "The quickest
learner, the most obedient and... well... my nose used to be extremely sharp..."

"Wait... what happened to your nose, mom?" Ace asked with curiosity while tilting his head.

"Shh. Let me finish the story, detective," the dog shushed him with a playful smile before continuing. "The police force counted on me for the most important and highest risk missions... So you could imagine how shocked I was when all of the sudden, a superdotated police dog who wasn't me took charge... and he was from the FBI!"

Both Ace and Sean gasped with surprise. "Wow! Really, mommy?!" Sean's tail was wagging with interest.

His mother smiled at him. "Yes. His name was Maze..." she started blushing slightly as she thought of him. "He was very clever... and handsome, let me tell you."

"Ew! Gross, mom!" Ace shook his head with his tounge out in disgust.

She laughed. "He really looked like you, Ace," she suggested, "Anyway, we were assigned together for this case in special... Mysterious robberies had been happening around the town. Especially at diamond shops and museums... it was strange since the culprit wasn't recognizable nor traceable at all."

"Almost... like it was a shadow?" Ace's face scrunched up while he thought deeply about this.

"Exactly! Good intuition." She nodded. "The next predicted victim was the Metropolitan Museum, so me and Maze partnered up together to solve the case."

"...But long hours passed and nothing happened... So we fell asleep together... We maintained our hearing and smelling senses alert, though..." Her red eyes glanced away when she said the next words. "...That's how we knew it had arrived."

"Your father was the first to notice-"

"Wait! You mean that Maze guy was our father?!" Ace squealed while Sean gasped.

"Yes, I thought that was obvious enough already," she chuckled. "There was a thing standing in the middle of the room... It wasn't human, it wasn't animal... It was..." she touched her chin with creased brows. "Something even I can't describe."

"I could say it was like smoke, or the distorted shadow of a dog..." she muttered.

"Shadog..." Ace whispered, sounding serious.

"When Maze attacked it, he went right through it like it was a ghost!" she exclaimed, surprising Sean while Ace just thought deeply about it all. "The thing was trying to steal the jewels, so we both charged and tried to attack it. But it was no use... We couldn't get to it."

"So what did you do, mommy?!" Sean asked with growing worry.

His mother's ears lowered and she was silent for a moment. "That's... that's when I lost my sharp nose."

"Eh?" Both pups were completely puzzled.

"I... I jumped into it. It solidified for a moment, just enough to grab one of my ears and shove me aside. Then while I was trying to get up again and was growling at it, the black smoke went all through my nose and throat. I couldn't breathe for a long moment while trying to get off me."

Sean ran towards her and hugged her in dismay. "Then what happened?!"

"I-"

Ace's blue nose suddenly caught a strange smell in the air. "Mom... is Owner arriving any time soon?" he suddenly asked, clearly suspicious of something.

His brother frowned at him for interrupting the story while his mother shook her head. "No... why do you ask?"

"I... I think I smell humans."

"Humans? Why would you say that, son?" She didn't have her good sense of smell anymore, so she couldn't detect anything.

Ace chuckled slightly with embarrassment and convinced himself it was just paranoia. "Hehe... I guess I was just imaging things..."

His mom sighed in something akin to relief. "It's fine, sweetheart. Anyway, as I was saying, I couldn't breathe while I was trying to get rid of the smoke. Maze couldn't do anything to help me as all he could do stare worriedly... I finally managed to get it off... but by that time I had fainted."

Suddenly, Ace's floppy grey ears rose up when he heard quickened footsteps nearby. Which was strange, since their house was basically in an isolated, normally silent part of town.

"By the time I woke up... my nose was never the same."

"That evil Shadog must have stolen your sense of smell, mommy!" Sean barked, clearly angered at the bandit.

"Yes... But at least in the end I was still happy," she reassured him with a sincere smile. Then she glanced at Ace with the same warm grin, only to be taken aback to see him so tense and serious all of the sudden.

The footsteps became louder, Ace noted. Their smell was repugnant. Something was wrong. Eerie.

As if on cue, someone suddenly began banging on the door, scaring the dogs inside the empty house.

There was shuffling, like someone was trying to force open the front door without having keys.

"Quick. The police will see you," one of the men behind the door muttered. "He'll be coming back soon."

"I know, idiot." the other responded, "Forcing doors open ain't easy."

The mother dog immediately got defensive, growling deeply while standing in front of her puppies, she pushed them aside to go behind her. "When they come inside, do not move," she ordered decisively.

Sean trembled, frightened out of his mind. While Ace was more scared for his family than himself.

Like she predicted, the burglars burst in. They were two masked men with black ski masks on and hoodies who seemed to really know what they were doing. They spotted the growling dogs and immediately took on a defensive stance.

"He got dogs. Great," one of the burglars whispered sarcastically while the German Shepherd barked aggressively at him. Had it only been her, it would have been way easier to attack those thiefs and defeat them.

But she had to protect her defenseless puppies.

Then something made her heart stop. One of the burglars pulled out a gun from one his pockets. As if slow motion, he pointed it directly at Ace, who had jumped in front of her to try to shield her.

The heartless man pulled the trigger. It shot her right through the chest when she protected Ace from getting murdered.

Her usually lively red eyes where now lifeless as she lay cold on the ground.

Sean instantly cried out in despair for his mother's name. Ace stared at his mother's body in pure disbelief. Such a horrifying experience had traumatized them both.

"Now go and check the rooms!" the other burglar ordered icily afterwards; not caring a single bit of what he had just done. Everything inside Ace's mind was blurry, maybe because of the stream of tears coming out of his silver eyes. The sounds the thieves were making while rustling through their home to steal all their possessions were muffled too.

That was until they said something that caused him to snap.

"Take the puppies too. We could sell them to a pet shop or something."

Then his filthy hand went towards his only brother. "Ace!" Sean shrieked with horror. "Please... help me... please..." The German Shepherd puppy begged tearfully.

Ace immediately bared his fangs at the burglars, while shooting them a deathly glare. He growled before attacking them with all his mustered strength, he bit his shoe as hard as he could. Refusing to let go even when the man shook his foot violently. Ace just bit down harder; he looked rabid.

Despite this, the man quickly caught on and kicked the puppy against a wall. Ace let out a pained whine and fell to the floor while the man snatched his wailing brother into the air and shoved him inside a backpack.

Ace's muscles were hurt all over, but he still managed to move. "N-no... Sean... Sean!" he cried out heartbreakingly, sobbing.

He managed to run towards the other puppy, wincing, and he looked inside to see Sean shivering immensely. "A-Ace... I'm sorry. I'm sorry," the brown puppy kept repeated, feeling pain over what was happening to his brother.

Ace's frown creased even further as he glanced away, and the moonlight that entered the living room through the window reflected the tears inside his clear eyes. "I... I'm going to go get help."

"What?" Then Sean understood what he meant. "No! Ace! Please! Please... don't leave me... please..." the puppy implored with all his heart. "I'm scared... I'm weak... unlike you. You were always the strongest of us..." Sean's voice broke.

"I have to, okay?!" Ace barked at him furiously, scaring Sean, who couldn't help but step away with fear. Ace didn't want to direct his anger at him, but he wa extremely stressed. "I'm going outside. I'm getting help. I'm coming back."

Sean just stared at him silently, terrified.

"Wait for me," Ace ordered him seriously, quickly rushing away while the burglars weren't looking. He snuck through the open door and ran off.

He didn't know what kind of help he was looking for. He didn't know! All he knew was that he need someone. Anybody.

He ran through the streets like a whirlwind. He was desperate and hurt, his mother was dead, and this could be the last time he saw his brother...

Without thinking, he ended up landing in the middle of the street. And just in the moment, dust formed up around him and he heard the loud screech of tires.

A black car stopped just centimeters apart from him, almost hitting him.

Out of the eccentric black car stepped out an even more eccentric-looking man. Later on, he learned his name was Batman.

He looked at Ace's trembling, unsure figure that them began barking protectively at him, confused.

Batman leaned down until he was the same height as the dog, reassuring him. Ace slowly stopped barking when Batman reached out his gloved hand, softly touching Ace's head. He started whimpering helplessly, letting his whole body fall down.

Bruce picked him up and put inside his car. The puppy was a stray, he assumed. Then he turned on the engine and drove off.

They arrived to Wayne Mayor, where Alfred gave Ace a bath and groomed his knotted fur. He also tended to his small wounds, which the butler found quite surprising. He told Batman that he'd probably had been usen as a fighting dog in one of this illegal dog fighting rings but had managed to escape.

Batman decided to train him to fight then. But fight criminals only. Ace grew up inside the mansion, pampered as a wealthy dog would be, occasionally accompanying his owner at night.

He never was the same innocent, playful pup.

He lost a part of himself.

He lost his brother, and his heart might as well have been with Sean.

He remembered this story every so often, it haunted his nightmares and brought regret and this horrid bitter taste to his mouth... But ever since he had become close to Brainy Barker, he had begun to feel his heart beating again.

Sometimes Ace felt he had died that night as well, but Brainy made him feel alive. Feel... happy. He wanted to protect her. He didn't want her to ever get hurt like he did.

He didn't care if he had to give his life for Barker's. He wouldn't bear it this time if this all happened again because of him... he did deserve to get tortured for the rest of his life.

-
Please remember to hit the little star if you enjoy! 🌟