Partners In Crime (Sanders Sides AU)

Chapter 4 - Hypothesis

"You ready, Prince?" Logic glanced behind him at his lover, who handed him a screwdriver with a determined nod. He took it gratefully, making quick work of the four screws that held the vent cover in place and handing both back to Prince. He slipped out of the ceiling and landed silently on the floor below, Prince following him soon after.

They'd officially infiltrated the Pet Shop.

Immediately they got to work, Logic disabling the alarms in the back room and Prince heading to the front. Inserting a pin into the lock, he ripped the till open and ruthlessly shoved the money inside into a satchel. Logic then appeared with a smirk on his face; Prince took the hood off his head and pulled the scarf down from around his face, also smirking.

"Cameras disabled?"

"Indeed."

"Good. Get the ladder."

~~~

"You think they were gonna use the ladder to go back the way they came?" Joan leaned against the counter, already invested in the story.

"It makes sense," Terrence answered, "they'd wanna cause as little disturbance as possible. I mean, smashing a window isn't exactly..." he thought about his words. "Subtle."

"And it's gonna be pretty hard to crawl through a vent carrying a Papillon, despite how small they are." Virgil stood the ladder back up with the dent facing the other two officers as he spoke. "Plus, I doubt Patton would just go without a fight."

He looked thoughtful for a second, then went back to his serious expression.

"Did Remy or Emile say why Patton is being kept here, instead of at their house?"

"Remy's apartment doesn't allow dogs, so when Emile moved in he didn't want to get rid of him so he stays here." Joan replied, flicking through their notes. The emo glanced between Joan's notebook and the ladder, pieces slowly coming together and forming a story.

Maybe not entirely accurate, but a story nonetheless.

"They were making noise while they were talking and stuff, so..."

~~~

That's when the dog woke.

It was slow at first, neither noticing the other. Until Prince noticed two glowing eyes from a blue and yellow dog bed.

"The dog's awake."

~~~

"Ok, so we're pretty sure Logince took Patton, but we're not entirely sure why they did."

"Elementary, my dear Terrence, I'm sure Virgil has an answer for that, too."

"Well..."

~~~

Patton growled, recognising that these two didn't belong, and backed up further into the wall. The thieves shared a knowing look.

"Get it."

They instantly sprung into action; Prince dived for Patton and Logic grasped the ladder from the back room, propping it beneath the hole they came from.

Meanwhile, Prince was struggling to keep Patton under control in his arms, the small dog twisting violently in his arms and occasionally yapping too.

They have to shut him up or he'd alert someone nearby.

The barks got louder.

Prince tried to get his left hand around the Papillon's muzzle, said Papillon clamping his teeth around the criminal's fingers. He bit back a yelp when he saw blood, flinging the dog from his grip.

~~~

Both men had varying degrees of shock on their face.

"Y-You don't think-" Terrence stammered, while Joan remained lost for words. The junior officer had a similar grimace, but continued anyway.

~~~

Patton flew several feet before he collided with the metal ladder, it toppling down with him. The collision created a mighty crash that would have been impossible not to notice from outside.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Logic muttered as he picked up the satchel that Prince had dropped in the ruckus. Both watched as Patton twitched, opening his bright but glazed eyes and observed Logince's panicked state.

"What do we do now? Someone's bound to arrive soon if they haven't already called the police!" Prince waved his hands in the air dramatically. Logic only smirked.

"Relax, get that stool over there." He pointed to the stool next to the till, which had a leather jacket on top. "Oh, and give me that jacket."

His lover fetched the items without question.

"Good," he sneered, wrapping up the still dazed dog in the jacket. "Now smash the window."

Both winced at the shattering of glass, but Prince swiftly got back to work, using his arm to remove any leftover glass from the frame. Patton started growling again until Logic squeezed him slightly, and the sounds turned from growls to whimpers to silence.

~~~

"After that, they made their way into the night minutes before Remy arrived back at the shop." Virgil concluded, tucking both hands into his hoodie in embarrassment. A 'woah' was all that came from Joan, while Terrence appeared to be writing his entire story in his notebook.

"So Patton noticed Logince as a threat and tried to call them out?" Terrence twisted his pencil around his fingers. "That didn't work very well, I suppose..."

Joan finally stood up from leaning, heading towards the front door. "With this in mind we'd better get back and report before getting forensics onsite."

Terrence soon followed, with Virgil not far behind.