Chapter Text
Oscar had been awoken by a pungent smell.
The Tiger's eyes watered, wincing as he forced himself up. Unfortunately for Oscar he did know the smell, it was one he always hated.
The stench of wet dog…
It reeked, permeating the mansion with a strong, overpowering smell. Oscar groaned, his nose scrunched up. He slumped out of bed and grabbed his clothes, tossing them on.
Oscar covered his nose as he stepped into the hall.
An echoed noise was heard from the end of the hall, the sound of water splashing against the surface.
That's when Oscar suddenly saw Fletcher walk out, wrapped in a bathrobe.
“Ah, Oscar!” Kane looked over to Oscar. “I'm having a very important meeting today, so I suggest you stay on your best behavior, yes?”
Oscar nodded, though he didn't enjoy Kane telling him what to do.
After some time, Oscar adjusted his suit, getting himself ready as he walked down stairs.
Fletcher Kane stood there, fur coat worn on his back, holding a walking stick with a knife attached at the end. Doubled as a weapon and cane.
“What's with…the cane?” Oscar asked, standing next to Fletcher.
“Hush now. They'll be arriving any minute.”
Oscar rolled his eyes, these guys must be important if Kane was preparing so thoroughly.
That's when the sound of upcoming footsteps made Oscar's ear twitch.
The door swung open.
Stepping inside the room were four dogs, all of different breeds, bringing with them a cascade of bright lights illuminating behind them as they entered causing Oscar to squint his eyes slightly; it wasn't clear if it was just the sunlight or from these strangers' experimental fashion sense.
Oscar wasn't a dog expert by any means but from his little knowledge they looked to be a Dobermen, Pomeranian, Shiba Inu and a Pug, the last of which could barely seem to get a breath out.
How great…more dogs.
Kane stepped forward, holding his walking stick with both hands. “Welcome, you weren't followed here, were you?”
The Doberman spoke up, out of all of them he definitely had the best outfit. “No Sir.”
That must be the leader.
“Excellent. Those outlaws have been such a pain as of late, I didn't want them interrupting our meeting-.”
A growl erupted from the Pomeranian in pink, they looked Oscar up and down, bearing their teeth as if they were looking for a fight.
That's the fighter.
Kane was quick to step in. “No need to growl, Fetch. I hadn't yet introduced you to each other.” The Baron positioned himself next to Oscar. “This is my new bodyguard, Oscar.” He smirked, as he waved his hand over to the dogs, showing them off. “Oscar, these are my best assassins, Best In Show.”
Oscar nodded, their group name seemed odd, not to mention they were dressed way too nice and colorful for such a risky job. It was strange, but this was only their first interaction, he had to play nice.
The Tiger reached his hand out.
“It's nice to meet you-”
The Pomeranian, Fetch, interrupted and moved his hand away.
“Let's skip the pleasantries, Oscar. I'm sure you're good at your job and all but…” Fetch eyed Kane, giving a cold glare. If this was any other animal, it would almost be actually intimidating. “Fletcher Kane, sir, since when did we agree on handling strays?”
Oscar narrowed his eyes at the last word.
“Fetch! You're out of line!” The Dobermen boomed.
“What? It's a genuine question.”
Kane took a moment before speaking. “I assure you, Oscar here is no alley cat, he's here to pounce on any outlaws who dare to mess with us, his job is keeping us guarded.”
“You couldn't have hired, like…another canine?” The Shiba asked, their voice quiet.
Oscar could see Kane's eye twitch. “Well, I didn't exactly get a choice. Please, hurry your introductions so we may move on. Oscar is no threat to us.” The Baron tapped his cane.
The Dobermen stepped forward, shaking Oscar's hand firmly. “Nice meeting you, Oscar, I'm Duke. As the leader of our group I apologize for the actions of my colleague, he was completely out of line.” Duke looked over at Fetch.
“I accept your apology.” Oscar replied, though he didn't actually care.
“As for our group,” Duke turned back, making sure all the dogs were facing him, “My friend over there in pink is Fetch, the Shiba is our technician, Alphonse, and lastly our key into these things, Chef.”
They all gave small welcome gestures towards the Tiger, a wave, a nod and even a hello but Fetch just turned away, arms crossed.
Figures.
“So this is what cats came from?” The Pug, Chef, asked. “Shockingly, I'm somewhat impressed.” He nodded, sarcasm bled through his words, it made Oscar cringe.
The Tiger chose not to respond, despite having some choice words in his head about the downfall of Wolves, how it must have been bad for Pugs to come into existence.
“Come along,” Fletcher instructed, turning around and slugging to his office, cane in hand. “This shouldn't take long now.”
Oscar followed behind, making sure he stood next to Kane, in case these dogs got any ideas, though considering the Pug was completely out of breath from just walking, maybe there wasn't much to worry about.
The walk there was slow and awkward.
It was almost pitiful watching Kane painfully arch his way to the office with his walking stick. The Baron wasn't that much older than Oscar, he's pretty sure, so seeing him be so elderly made Oscar almost feel bad for the guy, keyword: almost.
All of them squeezed into the office. Oscar had taken position next to Kane's desk while the dogs stood in front.
Kane sat down with a struggle. “I'm sure you got my message from last night, otherwise you wouldn't be here right now.”
“Yes, sir.” Duke replied, nodding her head.
Oscar could see Fletcher struggle to hold back a smirk.
“Good. Now let's discuss the details of our little deal.” Kane pulled out some paper, it looked to be some sort of contract.
Oscar’s ear twitched as he purposefully eavesdropped.
“I'm sure you know who Midas is, he's currently claiming the residents here are calling him the…golden gunslinger. Augh.” Kane seemed like he could barely hold back his disgust.
“We've had a few…encounters with him.” Duke snarled, the other dogs doing the same.
“Then I'm sure you share the same sentiment I do. You want him dead .”
The room was silent for just a moment before Duke cleared his throat. “You want us to kill the Midas?” Her eyes were wide and ears up…well actually it seemed as if her ears were always up.
“It's a daunting task, I know. Midas is slippery, quick-witted but…everyone has their weaknesses, blindspots.” Kane explained, the grin on his face becoming something Oscar wasn't expecting, it was almost demented looking. “I trust you four to find his weakness and bring those golden hands to me. After all, you've served me well before with finding my enemies.”
Oscar knew Kane was crazy, but this? Hiring four hitmen to kill one guy, it seemed excessive.
“Plus, it's good pay isn't it? A payment in gold is unlike anything else.” Kane added.
“How much?” Chef stepped forward.
“A whole stack.”
Duke paused, about to speak up before Chef nudged his shoulder, moving in front of Duke as if he were the leader now.
“This is Midas we're talking about, Fletcher, how about two stacks?”
“You're joking.” The Wolf said, stunned.
Oscar blinked, he got what Duke meant earlier.
“Surely you couldn't take his gold stacks too?” Kane added, hoping to tip the scale in his favor it seemed.
Chef smirked. “You think Midas just keeps his gold lying around so carelessly? Absolutely not, just for that, how about three?”
“Three? Augh, can we not go back to two?”
“Three, or we won't do it.”
Kane slouched back in his chair, groaning in defeat. “Fine. Three stacks of gold, that's final.”
“Deal.”
The Wolf muttered under his breath as he looked back at the paper and wrote down the new payment.
Oscar couldn't believe he just saw a negotiation play out so smoothly.
The other dogs cheered loudly, barking and howling up a storm in that little room. Oscar's ears pinned back, wincing at the sheer volume of the collective barking.
Chef signed their paperwork before also joining in. Awful.
Dogs are so annoying , Oscar thought, especially when they're happy. They'll bark, howl, run around and then hit you with their wagging tails-
Oscar had glanced down whilst lost in his thoughts, something had caught his gaze…something was off.
The Tiger blinked before averting his attention back to make sure he wasn't seeing things. That's when he noticed something peculiar about these dogs…
From the looks of it, they didn't seem to have tails.
Oscar must have stared for a millisecond too long, as then he was met by a yowling from the Pomeranian.
“What? Never seen a dog without a tail before?” Fetched crossed his arms, scowling at Oscar.
“Actually no, I haven't.” The Tiger answered, his voice monotone.
“Well now you have, no need to stare-”
“Fetch!” Duke yelled, “Again with this. Leave that cat alone.”
“Pardon if this is rude,” Oscar cringed at his own vocabulary, “do none of you have-”
Fetch interrupted, “Tails? No.”
Duke shot Fetch a look before speaking. “Thank you for asking but no, none of us do. All of us were bred to be show dogs, so we're made to look pretty, not to do anything else.” Duke explained, sorrow in her voice, definitely memories seeping through with the explanation.
“Yeah, they chopped them off when we were pups.” Alphonse exclaimed morbidly.
“You didn't have to be that blunt, but yes.” Duke sighed.
Oscar was silent for a moment. Something felt heavy in his chest as he replayed what was explained in his head.
These dogs…the only reason they exist was for show. Oscar had heard of these things before, dog shows, but never did he know of what actually happened in them, those things were far too fancy and for the upper class for him and even when he had riches they never even crossed his mind.
“That's-”
“No, don't start.” Fetch interrupted again, “Don't feel pity towards us.” The Pomeranian growled at the Tiger. “We're doing perfectly fine. We succeeded despite our upbringings, our disadvantages and now we're the best assassins on this freaking island.“
“Would have appreciated it if you didn't interrupt him again, but yes, we did succeed, we found each other and succeeded.” Duke added with a smile.
Kane leaned back in his chair. “Hm. You are my best assassins, didn't I say?”
That is oddly sweet, especially for a bunch of dogs.
“I see.” Oscar nodded, storing this information in his head.
“I mean that's why Kane likes us so much!” Chef joined in enthusiastically. “He doesn't have a tail either-!”
The room fell silent, as if a switch suddenly went off.
Oscar felt as if his brain jammed.
Kane's chair creaked slowly in the silent room, it made its descent down to the ground with a booming thud causing the dogs to all flinch.
If looks could kill, Kane would have killed four men right there.
“Chef.” Kane spoke, hands on the desk, voice low.
The Pug spoke up, voice trembling. “Y-Yes sir?”
“Out. Of. Line.”
The dogs looked around, scrunched up and fearful looking as Kane stood up, towering over them.
Oscar took a step back, witnessing Kane be intimidating for once left the Tiger surprised.
Kane bared his teeth. “I suggest if you don't want me to change my mind about this deal you'll leave. NOW! ”
They all whined before in unison, yelling, “Yes, sir!” The dogs ran out of the room, Duke staying behind for just a moment to thank Fletcher Kane for his time before speeding out of the room with his gang.
As the door shut, that familiar silence came back.
Oscar moved his attention to Kane. The Wolf sat back down, eyes obscured by his arms, his hands held each other as his elbows laid on the desk. As much as Oscar wanted to say something, he simply returned to the thoughts in his head.
That was definitely something Oscar wasn't supposed to know but now that he did it all made sense…
The fur coat that just so happened to cover where his tail would be, the stumbling around and not to mention the cane. The same would happen if a cat lost its tail, unable to properly balance, especially at old age.
This information was something Oscar knew to keep in mind now.
Poor, pathetic Kane . Oscar thought.
If Kane was so uppity, yet this pathetic, taking him down shouldn't be a difficult task should it?
The only issue now was with Best In Show and Daigo in the ring. So many associates with Kane to be dealt with.
It'll happen soon enough.
“Oscar.” Kane spoke.
The Tiger perked up.
Fletcher's head turned slowly, expression unreadable. “What you learned today, that information doesn't leave this mansion.” Fletcher's eyes glowed. “Understood?”
“...Understood.”