Agatha panted as she ran through the alleyway of the unknown town in a panic, with her fellow mercenary Sooty close behind. The pair were on a field mission to try and learn some intel for an unknown client that had secretly passed them a letter in their belongings, without ever being seen. The white lion, which was Sooty, panted heavily as they ran, hearing groups of soldiers running around taking up positions in varying areas around the small town. Agatha grunted as she pressed her back against a wall and slightly glanced around the corner, motioning Sooty to stop, in which seeing the black horse raising her hand to stop him. She gently slid a finger across her forehead to move the long white strands out from the front of her face. “Prince, wait. We need to figure out a safe and secure way to get out of here without letting them onto us.” She told him, the lion watching her with a nod as she used his codename just for safety precautions. “Right, Dame.” Sooty said before getting to his knees and looking around the corner to stay out of her sight so she can investigate. There were troops everywhere, signalling to one another and taking position in varying buildings. “This is maddening, I didn’t expect us to have to worry about this many people.” Sooty said as Agatha took the note from her pocket and growled as she threw it aside. “Unless… we were deceived into coming here as a trap.” She said as Sooty looked up in shock, surprised to hear her say that but wasn’t about to argue with it knowing she had a point.


        Agatha grunted as she heard someone approaching as she pulled around the machine gun on her back and held it, ready to fire, Sooty quickly stumbling behind the corner to stay out of the line of fire, due to using a sword in favor of a gun, he wasn’t much help to her in the current situation. Agatha saw a hyena man slowly creep up and carefully scan the area before she turned off the safety and without a second thought began to fire rapidly, watching as the man's body twitched and spasmed with every shot, blood spattering across the wall as the bullets penetrate his body, most escaping on the other side, others getting stuck inside the body. The sound of soldiers quickly charging to their fire was heard as Agatha ran and pushed Sooty to get him going, kicking him in the ass to get the lion into gear as he gasped and put a hand back to rub the spot as they ran. They didn’t get far before Agatha noticed the exit to the alleyway was guarded by unsuspecting soldiers charging past, thankfully not noticing the duo. Agatha slid to a stop and grabbed Sooty by the back of his shirt to help him stop, looking around. Sooth grunted and rubbed his neck a bit as he drew his sword just in case. “We have to find a way out that isn’t through there.” Agatha stated as Sooty slowly backpedalled and glanced around seeing the soldiers in a panic investigating the dead hyena, radio chatter heard from an unknown source. “They killed one of ours, hostiles inbound and probably still around, entering high alert.” The radio rang as Agatha grunted in annoyance, before looking up and seeing a ladder a bit up the wall, getting an idea as she started thinking, as she removed the gun from her person, and tossing it into the air upon activating the safety and watching it land on the roof. “Alright, we are going through the roofs, Sooty, when I get into position, I want you to run at me and leap into my cupped hands and try to kick off of them.” She said and walked to the safest area to execute this.


        “What?! Are you insane?” Sooty asked as he watched Agatha kneel and clasp her hands together, facing the knuckles down so her hands cupped together. “Yes, but that is besides the point. Now get running before I give you a swift kick in the ass.” She barked an order, the lion wincing in a bit of worry, but shook his head and put his sword back into place, and watched her. He took two deep breaths, in and then out, before charging rapidly towards her, leaping right before her, Agatha starting to push herself upwards as Sooty’s paw landed on the cup of her hand. “NOW!” She shouted, and Sooty, with a bit of hesitation, used the force he had and went with her movements, kicking off the cupped hands and flying into the air, gasping in panic for a second before he swiftly grabbed the ladder and dangled a bit, his paws barely above Agatha as he grunted and pulled his left hand up to grab on with both hands, and was about to start climbing before Agatha snagged his foot. “Hold on Prince, Don’t lose your grip, I’ll be quick.” She ordered as she quickly leapt up and grabbed his shoulders, Sooty gasping as he nearly slipped off the rail, but managed to tighten his hands and held on, Agatha nodding as she climbed up and got into the actual ladder, climbing up and making sure the chubby lion followed, a relieved sigh escaping her lips as she got to the top, and grabbed hold of the lion’s arms and gently guided him up. “Okay, that was terrifying.” Sooty said as he placed his hands on his knees and bent over slightly to catch his breath as Agatha looked around, grabbing her radio off of her hip and tuning it, putting it to her mouth. “Laughing Dog, come in, this is Dame, am I clear?” She called into the radio and waited as there was slight feedback, before it came through as she heard screams of people being gunned down, followed by a voice. “I told you my frequency for emergencies, make this good!” came a voice.


        “That mission I told you about, the one I trusted you with, yeah, it was a bust. We were tricked into a trap.” She called as there was silence minus the firing shots on the other end. “I had a feeling. So what?” He snarkily said to her as he was heard running now, before the sound of a car starting was eventually heard, and he took off, a sigh of relief heard from the male voice on the other end. “I told you the coordinates, I would gladly appreciate it if you showed up at them and got us back to Med-Dog” She said as the man chuckled to himself, before gasping as the car was heard swerving followed by the voice going “Fuck! You piece of Shit!” He grunted and started shooting as he drove, from what she could hear. “Just survive until I can lose this stupid white wolf. I don’t see his gator friend, so start being cautious and I will radio in when I get free!” He shouted before snarling. “Bring it you bitch!” He shouted before the radio cut. Sooty was surprised to hear that as he looked back down onto the streets, only to see a black alligator walking down the streets signalling troops, as he heard him speaking. “They’re here somewhere, mercenaries. White Hound gave them a false mission to assure they arrived here like I wanted, they couldn’t have gotten far, especially since White Hound is dealing with that hyena.” He said as some troops listened, notably trembling as the man spoke, as he pulled his long black hair back a bit and walked into a building, his long white coat flowing somewhat behind him thanks to small gusts of wind.


        “So, he’s here. And that means Laughing Dog is in danger. Hopefully he can survive and get away from him.” Agatha said as she looked around and motioned Sooty to follow her, the horse woman leaping across a gap and rolling to land safely on another roof, Sooty following as his was a bit more clumsy but still managed, as he was actually safer than she ended up being. They listened for any surrounding radio chatter as they made their way across the roofs, unaware that an enemy sniper had already spotted them and was watching them, the groups of soldiers once again making their ways around to find the exact location of the mercenary pair, Agatha noticing the gator was once again walking amongst them. “Damn, they found us. Sorry Laughing Dog, I ain’t gonna be able to stand still for long if he knows where I am.” She said and started running, leaping to another smaller building and landing on her feet, looking off into the distance seeing Laughing Dog, a normal looking hyena, going face to face with a white furred wolf who had a odd weapon, a baton of sorts that conducted electricity, but had three prongs at the end like a trident. The hyena kept his distance from the wolf and would shoot random shots whenever he got the chance, but growled as every time he did, they would fly around the wolf, as if some unknown force was projecting them away.


        Agatha grunted and looked back to see Sooty getting ready to jump, only for the gator to leap up and land behind Sooty, kicking in in the back and knocking him away from the ledge and standing between him and Agatha, as he pulled out a six round barrel pistol, aiming it and firing two at Agatha, who gasped and unfortunately leapt away from the building and ran from town, looking back in sympathy for having to leave Sooty, but had an idea as she ran to aid the hyena facing White Hound. The gator smirked a bit and blew away the smoke at the barrel of the pistol as he spun it gently on his finger and looked to Sooty. “Quite a shame we have to meet this way, Sooty Whitelion.” He said, seeing a surprised look on Sooty’s face as he was called out by his full name. “How- How do you know my name?!” He gasped and quickly stood drawing his sword out. The gator laughed as he pushed his black hair back and smirked, readying the pistol and aiming it at Sooty. “I will just cut to the chase, and go straight to giving myself away, since codenames are useless to you right now. I am John Maxwell, leader of this little group of troops here. I was the one who wrote your little note that Agatha Haywood trusted. My brother, Kevin… or as you know him, White Hound, has been gathering intel about you guys for a short time now and I was able to gather enough to know how you’d work. I knew Agatha would come with just you, as her wife Mabel is your medic and would need to stay back in case you get back injured. Then there is Laughing Dog, Joker being the only other name he goes by, he was the wildcard here. Kevin was thankfully able to track him down thanks to overhearing the frequency he gave to Agatha and always staying tuned into your radios when talking.” He said and fired a single shot at the lion’s foot, watching him gasp and quickly step back, swinging to try and block the bullet.


        “Damn, so she was right to say it was a trap.” Sooty grunted as he snarled slightly, one of his eyes twitching faintly in anger as he glanced over seeing Agatha and Joker struggling to face Kevin, but had a better chance with two of them. John smirked a bit and looked back. “Fire and fire all they want, bullets won’t work. Kevin is… unique. He has a special ability within him that makes him a threat on the battlefield, and only I know how to stop it. Maybe your friends will get lucky, or maybe they’ll get badly wounded and have to lure Mabel out of hiding.” John said and chuckled wickedly as he aimed the gun again, this time as Sooty’s stomach as he readied the gun, and pulled the hammer back. He let it go and fired, watching the bullet soar through the air and make its way to Sooty, who quickly leapt to the side and swung his sword in the process, hitting it precisely enough to ricochet it back off the sword and right at John, striking the man in his right eye, making him reel back and yell in anger and pain as he raised his claw up and pressed it against the wound, watching as blood slipped through his fingers as he lost all vision and feeling in his right eye, slowly removing his claw and growling, Sooty seeing the bullet stuck sitting right in the eyeball. John growled in anger, he was in pain and it was clear, but he wasn’t about to let Sooty realize that as he quickly fired the next shot, no direction or reason, it just rushed through the air, barely grazing Sooty’s face but not enough to draw blood.


        Sooty was breathing slowly and worriedly as he watched the man's face get drenched in his own blood as the socket continued to just seep blood out, the wound not stopping at all. John just growled “I won’t waste my last bullet until I know I will strike. But I can still fight, don’t think you’ve won.” He snarled and placed the gun in a holder sitting on his hip as he quickly reached down to his boot and pulled out a combat knife, and charged as Sooty, swinging his knife around and colliding with his sword, the impact pushing back on John some as the blood escaped his eye and some of it hit Sooty, the man slowly losing the strength he had thanks to the wound. John quickly reeled back and swung again, one again colliding, this time making a quick counter movement to swing his knife up, taking the sword with him, and kicking Sooty in the stomach, knocking him back. Sooty landed hard against the rooftop as he let the sword go as it landed a couple steps away, John smirking as he pulled out the revolver once again and aimed it right at Sooty. “See you in hell, you damned mercenaries.” John said as he was about to fire, only for a bullet to fly by and strike his hand, making him gasp as it caused him to drop the pistol, and kneel clutching his right hand. Sooty quickly stood and rushed to get his sword, ready to continue before hearing Joker’s voice in the distance. “Prince, cut it out and get over here! We have to escape, leave the man for now!” He shouted as Sooty nodded and started running to get a leap off the building, landing on the small one Agatha had once landed on, smirking as he looked back to see John standing and readying his pistol with his left hand. Sooty smirked at the man and waved.


        He was ready to jump before he decided to be mischievous and smirked back at the man, Agatha watching in confusion as he stopped. “Sooty, Get the hell over here!” She shouted as Sooty held up one finger to motion a wait sign, before turning his back fully to John and smirking as he grabbed his pants and yanked his clothing down, baring his large white furred backside to John and smirking, wiggling it a bit and even giving it a slap so it would jiggle some in a taunting fashion. “Can’t even catch a rookie, and you call yourself a leader.” He laughed as he shook his big butt at John, who growled in anger and took aim, firing a bullet, causing Sooty to gasp and try to quickly stand, but it was to late, the bullet struck right on Sooty’s left butt cheek, the Lion yelping as he fell forward and off the building, reaching back to grab his backside in pain as he collided with the ground, thankfully not breaking anything as Agatha rolled her eyes in anger and quickly ran over, Joker laughing a bit like his namesake as he smirked. “God damn that boy is gutsy!” He shouted as Agatha glared and carried Sooty back to the vehicle and put him in, ass up as he groaned feeling some blood seep out as the bullet thankfully got stopped. Joker floored the gas pedal and smirked as he made their escape, John not firing anymore bullets as he collapsed to his knee and grunted as he held his now broken eye as White Hound limped to join him, shockingly floating up to his side. “Those three are quite tough for being minor mercenaries. What is our next goal?” Kevin asked, his voice slightly echoed as he spoke, for some unknown reason. John tried to play off his wound as he stood and turned, walking for the ladder.


        “Our next goal is to wait and recover, I can no longer see from my right eye and my firing hand is now damaged. We will continue to monitor them, thanks to your powers. For now, rest.” He instructed as Kevin silently floated in place and looked out towards the escaping vehicle. “Laughing Dog, eh? He sure is a good fighter. Thankfully my power kept me from being shot.” He said and floated down to join his brother


-


        Back at the base, Mabel was working on cleaning up Sooty and his wounds, using a pair of tweezers to try to get the bullet out of his butt cheek as he groaned, Laughing Dog watching with a smirk just because of the unfortunate situation. Agatha had just gone and made a note in her files to turn into her higher ups and wasn’t present just yet as Laughing Dog watched the chubby lion squirm slightly on the table, before Mabel firmly smacked the undamaged cheek in annoyance. “Sit still, if you didn’t taunt the damn sharpshoot we wouldn’t be doing this.” She barked orders, Sooty yelping from the slap and blushing as the dog girl lectured him, working with the tweezers in the wound and soon forcing the bullet out, making Sooty roar and Laughing Dog, like his name implied, laugh, at his misfortune as Sooty groaned and glared at him. Their interaction was cut short as Agatha walked in and glared at Sooty. “What were you thinking?!” She asked as Mabel started grabbing the supplies to stitch up the wound on the lion’s backside.


        Sooty remained silent as he knew better than to answer questions when Agatha was mad, as it usually was rhetorical, everyone silent as she paced. “First, you should have just tried getting around him and making your way to myself and Joker, that way we could have potentially killed White Hound and lessen our threats by one. Second, the fact you wounded him was amazing, and that puts us at an advantage since he lost an eye, but what would you have done had Joker not had that sniper rifle?” She asked as Sooty winced at the question knowing he was seconds away from death if it wasn’t for him. “And finally, why the HELL would you moon someone like that? You should know now to count the bullets especially with him, his guns only have six rounds. You should have suspected he had one more bullet ready to fire at your ass for taunting him!” She said in annoyance as Joker snickered softly as he found it humorous that Sooty mooned the dangerous gunman.


        Sooty just winced at the lectures and yelped when the needle in Mabel’s paw finally got to work, the woman skillfully but somewhat aggressively started sowing the wound close, Sooty trying to sit still minus a few shifts in discomfort, the Lion just embarrassed by how much humiliation his backside has taken in the last hour from a gunshot wound, being kicked a couple times and now this. “You’re lucky you have that bullet wound, because if you didn’t I would’ve taken you over my knee and showed you what mooning that man should’ve gotten you.” Agatha threatened Sooty who just blushed but hid his face and groaned as Mabel finished. The medical dog smirked and gave the lion a sharp slap on the other cheek firmly, two times to get him up, the cheek jiggling in her paw some due to the size of it. He yelped and quickly stood, making sure to cover up his naked front as he reached down and quickly raised his pants, carefully as to not damage the stitching, as he was ready for this to just be done. Agatha nodded and gave Sooty her own smack on the backside to get him moving as the trio now stood before her in order. “Alright, our goal now is to find a new base of operation, now that White Hound knows where we are stationed. We will depart in the morning, everyone be ready to move out. Joker, I would like to request you remain with us until we get to the new base, just to have a little extra back up if that is fine with you.” She offered as the Hyena seemed reluctant but eventually nodded as he was ready to aid her. “You have my aid until you are settled into your base, no later, no sooner. I will even make this a favor and not go charging you… This time.” He said, Agatha smiling and nodded as she dismissed them, but stopping Sooty.


        “Listen, I am glad you stood your ground, but next time, don’t be so damn cheeky, or I will actually go through with my threat and spank you like you won’t forget. Am I clear?” She asked as she firmly struck the undamaged cheek one last time as a reminder, the Lion yelping and jumping clutching his chubby backside as it did have some bounce to it even clothed, as he nodded. “Yes Ma’am.” He said in a panic and nodded quickly, Agatha chuckling and nodding as well. “Good, now get rest up.” She ordered as Sooty left, Agatha looking around as she clutched her fist in anger, she wanted to get revenge on the two who tricked her now. She shut down everything and left the medical bay, going to join her wife in their own cabin to sleep.