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Ace was rolling around in the grass on this fine afternoon. Soaking up the sunshine, that felt rare in the days of Gotham. Letting out a sneeze that shook his whole body, Ace got up and looked around for his chew toy. He had all of his owner's friends as chew toys but what he went for was the Bat-Ball. It was a yellow ball with a bat on it and Ace loved it. He loves all his toys and he knew his owner, Bruce, would never get rid of his toys but the thing was there was one that was thrown away. A joker plush was thrown into the fireplace a few days after Jason went missing and never came back. Ace remembered watching as it burnt in front of him. Bruce cried and then walked away, leaving Ace to watch the flames until Alfred came and put it out.
Shaking his head, Ace didn't want to think of that, it was his day off he just wanted to play.
Grabbing the Bat-Ball into his mouth, Ace ran to a side of the manor, where the wall was flat enough for Ace to play with.
Finding the right wall, Ace whipped his head to the side and threw it at the wall, causing it to bounce off the wall and go away from it. Letting out a happy bark, Ace chased after it. Grabbing he continued with this a few more times before finding it not as fun as it was when he first started.
Letting out a huff, he sat down on the grass, his tail motionless behind him as he looked at the Bat-Ball. Ace could sense that things were different. The house always smells like sorrow, stress and even anger but he didn't know what was fully causing this. All he knew was that it had something with Jason leaving. Bruce missed the human pup and for once Ace didn't know how to fix it.
Ace looked back at the house, he wanted to try and get Dick outside to play with and practise with him, which always seemed to cheer him.
Liking that idea, Ace got up on his paws. Grabbing the Bat-ball into his mouth, with his tail wagging happily, he was about to run and get Dick but he didn't move.
Ace could hear something further in the distance. A noise he was used to hearing sometimes on patrol.
It was a human pup crying!
Letting the Bat-Ball drop from his mouth, Ace ran straight towards the backdoor that was always open for him.
Getting inside, Ace saw Alfred right away looking at him with concern. He could get Alfred to help but no. Maybe if Bruce helped this human pup everything can be better.
Ignoring Alfred, Ace ran towards where Bruce should by following the scent. It was no surprise that the scent led him to the office, where Bruce seemed to spend most of his days.
Using his head to push open the door, Ace saw Bruce standing in front of the clock that opened up to the downstairs area.
Letting out a bark to gain Bruce's attention, Ace walked forward until he was in front of Bruce and barked more.
"Ace, I know you can go into the Batcave but I don't want you down there right now. I just want to be left alone," Bruce explained.
Ace barked louder, not getting why Bruce couldn't understand that a human pup needed help.
Seeing as barking wasn't helping, Ace tried to go behind Bruce to make it so that his only option was to go forward.
"Ace," Bruce warned, "you are not going down there." Bruce blocked off anyway to get behind him with his legs.
Ace grabbed Bruce's pant leg out of frustration. He just wanted the man to move. He felt his collar being tugged back and had no choice but to follow it.
"I have no idea what's gotten to you, Ace but you are being a very bad boy," Bruce scolded.
Ace let out a growl. He wasn't a bad boy, he was just trying to get someone to help him. If everything Bruce is being the bad boy for not listening.
One last attempt to get Bruce to follow him, Ace grabbed the sleeve of the long-sleeved shirt Bruce was wearing and began to pull on it. Bruce lets go of Ace's collar but that doesn't make Ace let go of the sleeve. Begin tugging on it more, Bruce pulled back on it. It wasn't long until Ace could hear the material starting to rip. Until the whole sleeve ripped off.
"ACE!" Bruce yelled, causing Ace to whimper a bit at the loud scolding tone but he knew that this meant Bruce would follow him now.
Turning on his paws, Ace ran out of the room towards the back door. He saw Dick enter the hall.
"Dick!" Bruce called out, "Block Ace."
Ace watched as Dick stood his ground and tried to block off the area but Ace wasn't having it. Nothing was going to stop him from getting help for that human pup.
Once he was close enough to Dick, Ace jumped at him. Only getting his front paws on Dick but that was still enough to knock him over.
Running practically over Dick, Ace was finally free as he ran outside.
The house was blocked over with a high-up metal fence but Ace knew that at the gates were pillars that he could get over them. Heading there, Ace built up speed as he jumped from the ground to the pillar. Only has to partly pull himself up on it. Once he was on top he could see that Bruce and Dick were still chasing him. With a tail wag and a muffle bark, from the sleeve that was still in his mouth, Ace jumped down and ran to where he first heard the crying which had seemed to already stop.
Running down the road, Ace followed the scent of pain and fear. He hoped the human pup wouldn't have to suffer any longer.
Finally arriving at the place where the scent was coming from, Ace saw that it was a house just like his but smaller.
Going up to the front door, he started clawing at it, chipping the paint with his nails as he tried to get someone to open it. But when no one did, Ace knew he had to find a new way in.
Walking around he found an opened window that was just low enough for him to climb through.
Getting inside, Ace let out a sneeze at the dust that filled the room. Ignoring it, he pushed forward to find the human pup.
Ace didn't know what he was going to find but it wasn't the human pup lying at the bottom of the stairs, leg bent the wrong way and bleeding from a wound. Ace sniffed the air, trying to get past the strongest scent at the moment, which was the human's pup. The more Ace sniffed the more he couldn't smell another human in here.
Carefully walking forward, Ace saw the human pup had his eyes closed. Letting out a little whimper, Ace nudged the human pup's head. Getting no reaction, Ace went to the leg. Ace placed the sleeve down on the ground and bent down to lick around the wound, that always made him feel better, but all that caused was for the human pup to whimper and whine.
Ace didn't know what to do.
Quickly grabbing the sleeve again he placed it on the wound. This had to do something right? He'd seen Alfred do this to Bruce all the time.
"Huh?" A small voice said.
Ace perked up at that.
Walking over to where the human pup's face was, Ace waited for him to speak more.
"D-doggy," he mumbled out.
Ace barked. That was right. He was a dog.
"H-help. It h-hurts."
Tears started to run down the human pup's face. Ace let out a sympathetic whine as he licked a tear away.
The human pup closed his eyes and stopped reacting.
In a panic, Ace started nudging him with his nose. When that didn't work, he carefully opened his mouth and grabbed the human pup's arm and lifted it trying to get a reaction. Panicking, Ace let it drop to the floor but didn't stop that action, just hoping something would happen.
Ace finally had to stop when he saw the arm starting to drip blood on the floorboards. He didn't realise that when he kept doing it he bit down a little too hard and he always grabbed the same spot.
Changing his plan, Ace grabbed the shirt and started trying to carefully drag the human pup with him towards his home.
What Ace didn't expect was someone grabbing his collar and pulling him back, causing him to yelp out of surprise and letting go of the shirt.
He watched Dick run in front of him, kneeling to look over the human pup.
Ace's tail wagged back and forward. They came to help, they did listen.
"Bruce," Dick said, he didn't seem happy though, "there is a bite mark on his arm. I think Ace attacked him."
Ace tilted his head to the side. That's not what happened. Letting out barks to explain what happened but Ace was ignored.
"I don't want to hear it, Ace. I expected better from you. Especially since you are meant to be BatDog. But you are just a bad dog. A very bad dog," Bruce scolded.
Ace didn't recognise some of these words but he knew the tone Bruce was using and that tone meant he wasn't happy. His tail went between his legs as he let out a whimper.
"- alone. Take him back with us," Dick said.
"I agree. You grab him, Dick and I'll hold onto Ace."
Ace didn't understand. He rarely had to wear a leash. Only when he went out for walks but never in the house but now he was wearing a leash and the end of it was tied to the leg of the table.
Bruce and Dick were upstairs with the human pup, which turned out his name was Tim, while Alfred was downstairs making something that smelt good but Ace didn't feel like eating.
Alfred walked over to him and placed a bowl down full of the food that only Ace ate. Looking over the food, Ace found that he wasn't hungry. Turning his head at it, Ace laid down, his head falling heavy on his front paws.
Alfred let out a sigh and patted Ace's head and walked away. Not knowing what to do he stayed laying on the ground looking away from his food.
Not long Dick walked downstairs going straight to Alfred.
"Tim is waking up, do you have any food for him?" Dick asked.
"Of course, I have a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Hopefully he will enjoy it," Alfred explained.
Ace watched them walk away planning just to leave him there tied up. Until Dick stopped.
"I feel kind of bad leaving him alone here but at the same time I'm worried he will attack Tim again," Dick explained.
"I know he hasn't worn one for a while but I suggest maybe a muzzle," Alfred suggested.
So here was Ace, now muzzled and still with his leash on being walked up the stairs. At least he got to see if Tim was okay.
Walking into the room behind Dick, who was holding the leash, Ace saw that Tim was still asleep. Ace relaxed a bit at that, pups needed their rest. Even if they are humans. He didn't take notice of the fact that Tim's leg looked bulkier and his arm was wrapped up.
Ace wasn't even paying attention to anything that was happening around him, instead he was watching Tim. That's why when Tim opened his eyes, Ace was the first one to notice.
Walking forward a bit to the side of the bed, Ace rested his head on the mattress right next to the hand just close enough to Tim's hand that if he moved his fingers he would touch the muzzle.
Ace watched as Tim moved his head towards him and gave him a small smile. It almost looked like Tim was about to move his hand a bit to pat him but that went all away from a single tug on his leash from Dick, pulling him away from the human pup.
Tim let out a whine that actually sounded like a puppy.
"Doggy."
"Shh, it's okay, Tim. We will take Ace out," Bruce told him.
Tim shook his head.
"He is a good Doggy," Tim mumbled, his eyes already falling shut.
"Didn't he attack you?" Bruce questioned.
"Noooo. He tried to help me," with that last sentence, Tim closed his eyes.
Ace barked, not loud enough to disturbe Tim but just loud enough to say that he was right.
He felt his leash and muzzle be removed and Bruce kneeled in front of him.
"I'm sorry, Ace. I should have known you wouldn't attack a child like this," Bruce said, his voice soft and then he pulled Ace into a hug.
Ace didn't really understand what was being said to him but he was just happy the leash and muzzle was gone and Bruce was giving him hugs.
Bruce broke the hug and gave a order for Ace to protect Tim.
Jumping on the bed, Ace laid next to Tim. He could rest peaceful knowning that no harm would come to this new human pup.
THE END