Chapter 41: A Dog's Life

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"You Think Your Dookie Don't Stink?"

-Ace, (DC League Of Super-Pets)

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(Gotham, 2003)

<(Omniscient POV) {Animan Dialect}>

'Now where did that damn butterfly go? I swear I saw it hovering somewhere around here." Ace, Bruce's pet dog thought as he used his ever-trusty nose to sniff around trying to smell out the multicolored little menace.

It has been quite a couple of years that he has been living with his human best friend, the one and only Bruce Wayne and he was really proud to say that he had the highest amount of trust from Bruce among everyone else except the wise old man, Alfred. Ace had done his best to be as loyal and useful as possible to his human benefactor and best friend but unfortunately, that man was light years ahead of him when it came to being useful.

It didn't matter what happened, Alfred always seemed to perform better than him in almost everything whether it was fetching stuff for Bruce lifting up his mood, or biting the hell out of thieves who dared to try to enter their home. Yeah, they were not only greedy but stupid as well. Couldn't they see that this home was under his mighty protection, the protection of the great hound of Gotham?

Anyway, he had tried to give some tough competition to the old man trying to vie for the position of being Bruce's most loyal but after repeated failures Ace had finally settled for sharing the said title with Alfred. Plus he was also a little afraid of the guy. The butler was quite strict with both him and Bruce whenever it came to etiquette and manners, even more than that crazy guy ninja guy who taught Ace about different tricks and even trained him how to perfectly aim and bite off people's private parts.

Ace although the definition of a good dog and was quite proud of it too, still had his careless accidents. He was always severely admonished by Alfred whenever he forgot his chewing toys on the floor in the living room or conducted his private business outside of his litter box by accidents, accidents of which he wasn't at all proud.

Now, however even though Ace had settled his differences with Alfred, he was still competing with someone else for something even more important. He was going head-to-head with that... CAT GIRL. Yes, it was the girl named Selina, that girl had completely monopolized what was supposed to be one of his most prized spots and titles. She had taken the spot beside Bruce on his bed during sleepy time.

At first, the dog was okay with it because, after all, Bruce had taken her in way before he had adopted Ace. In fact, after he learned of her unfortunate life before Bruce from some of the local birds, he was even quite sympathetic as one stray to another and gladly shared Bruce's bed with her, taking one side of it, and leaving another to her.

But despite all his goodwill, she had broken his trust and betrayed him. Lately, she had been locking the door to Bruce's bedroom at night without even letting Ace in first. Even when Bruce yelled from inside the room that they were too young and she was not mature yet (probably too young and immature to sleep alone without Ace) she still didn't open the door. However, Bruce always showed his loyalty as Ace's best friend and opened the door to him after severely berating the girl. But that still didn't convince Ace to forgive her for her crimes against their sacred human-dog friendship.

But he had a plan for taking his rightful place as Bruce's cuddle buddy back from her in his mind, a plan which was walking towards him this very moment.

"Hey Ace, how is it going? Wait, am I interrupting your monologue or something?" A small orange kitten cutely said in an anime-like voice as it lazily and effortlessly walked through the gate bars.

It was good the defenses on the walls that Bruce had recently installed were controlled by Cortana and were smart enough not to attack the cat, otherwise Ace would probably have lost his only cat friend that day.

"Oh, it's you Whiskers. I thought I would have another stupid human's parts to bite off." Ace said with some amount of disappointment in his voice.

"You seriously have got to stop doing that. The dogs and cats in the neighborhood are all calling you the 'ball biter' you know. I am the one who has to explain to them that you don't chew on them or eat them but just bite them to pieces." The cat cutely informed.

"Yeah yeah, I know. But I don't care. I am not like those weaklings. I was forged in pain and suffering. I know how to survive in the wild, the real wild I mean, not the pesky little streets of Gotham." Ace barked.

"Uh-huh. You have already told me this story a couple of hundred times of how you were part of an illegal fighting ring run by a crazy evil scientist who tortured you and made you fight against robotic animals every day but you still got out of there in style while foiling his plans of taking over the world by exploding and decimating his entire base." Whiskers repeated in a bored voice making it clear that the cat didn't believe the story at all just like nobody sane enough would.

"You don't believe it but that definitely happened." Ace huffed in frustration.

"Anyhow, I was here to inform you that the Wiggles gang has been becoming more active recently. They already rule most of the sewers but now they are also targeting factories and big houses trying to increase their criminal empire. Your owner's mansion is quite big and fits the description of the locations they have been taking over recently. So you should look out in case they set their sights on your home Ace. Believe me, those little rats are quite slippery." Whiskers said as it began to lick its paw hungrily.

"I see. The Wiggles gang huh? Thanks for the info Whiskers. I'll be sure to look out for them but even if they do come here thinking it to be another place for them to easily take over, all they will find is a painful death." Ace growled thinking about all the rats Bruce had captured and experimented on over the years.

Normally that could easily be called animal torture but Ace knew better, he knew how the rats in Gotham were and he was sure that his genius boss Bruce did as well. Each and every one of those damn critters was affiliated with the Whiskers gang, a malicious gang that wanted nothing more than the downfall of all humans and animals except them. They wanted the city to fall so that they could rule it as their own wasteland.

"Oh, by the way, Whiskers, remember when you told me that you always wished for a family that would take you in but nobody did because you weren't a good enough breed. Well, guess what? I just might have found you such a home, my furry little orange friend." Ace said with a smile on his face that showed all of his sharp and well-groomed teeth.

"What really? Yeah yeah, yippeee." The cat began to jump all around in happiness as it celebrated the news it had just gotten, not even doubting Ace for a second.

"Slow done little kitten. Don't you want to know who your new family is going to be?" Ace asked as a small cunning smile flashed on his face for a brief moment.

"Who? Who? Who?" Whiskers asked excitedly like it was in some sort of wild sugar rush.

It was always a stray cat that had never been adopted by a human. It had always watched the more fortunate and better-looking cats get adopted even if they were plain useless or extremely ill-mannered. However, Whiskers who had learned to do so many things to please humans like even juggling ping pong balls never even got a second look from humans. She had almost up hope of ever getting adopted by a human owner but Ace's words now had suddenly awakened a lost wish in her, a desire to be someone's cat.

"You would live with me at the Wayne manor. You would be the Wayne family's only cat." Ace revealed as he proudly displayed the premium-looking Wayne collar on his neck.

"Wait, Wayne? Isn't it your...?"

"Yep, I am their dog as well and so can you, their cat that is. Not their dog, that position is already occupied."

"OK, sure. I don't plan to change myself to a dog anyway. The cat community really looks down on trans-cats."

"Huh? Yeah sure sure, whatever that means. However, you'll have to wait a couple of days while I try to prepare them for you. I am sure a few well-placed cat toys and some cute cat posters will do the trick for most of them." Ace began to plan.

He wasn't just inviting Whiskers to his home out of the kindness of his heart. No, besides gaining a permanent playing buddy, he was also planning for something else. He was planning to make that cat lover Selina busy with Whiskers. Once she gets busy with the orange cat, she should stop trying to cuddle with Bruce and instead go and cuddle with her own furry buddy.

'Yeah, that's a perfect plan. I guess I am as smart as my owner. A smart dog for a smart human.' He thought.

"I am ready to wait as long as I need to. I'll even wait for months if that means I can get adopted and live with a human family. Wait, I'll have to dust off my juggling and fetching skills then if I want to please them. What if they don't like me if I can't catch little blood bits they throw at me? I heard that's an important skill to have for pets... I'll be going off then Ace, I have some serious practicing to do." The small cat cutely said as it stumbled away to god knows where.

"Fetch huh? How stupid. Everyone knows that dogs are way better than cats in that game. Well, what can you expect from a cat?" He snickered but was still glad that he was able to make his little cat friend happy but soon his smile went away as he stared off into the distance with somewhat of a glum face.

'I guess I can still do some good in this world... I guess you were wrong when you said that I was a useless bad dog only good for getting beaten by your lab experiments professor. I at least am good at something, even if it is to bring smiles to the faces of others... No, you were a bad owner, I have understood that now since I have an actual good owner, a human being who takes care of me and trusts me as much as I trust him. No matter how intelligent you were, you were still wrong.' Ace thought with a heavy heart as he looked at the dark cloudy sky recalling the family he once had, the siblings that were once his only playmates in that dark little cage of his.

He didn't remember much from that part of his life, he was too young to remember, too much of a puppy but he did remember one name, the cursed name of his tormentor, the one responsible for his tragic fate, Ivo.

"No, it's all in the past. I am now Ace Wayne, the hound of Gotham, I am the proud dog of the great heir of the Wayne family. Forged by torment and strengthened by agony, I am... BUTTERFLY BuTTERFLY BUTTERFLY" He barked like a maniac as he finally noticed the butterfly he wanted to chase and excitedly trotted off after it completely forgetting about the monologue he was trying to make.

He had a much nobler purpose currently, for when the city becomes overrun with such colorful menace, a dog must rise and chase them all away.

***

<(Omniscient POV)>

"Ah, how nice. Seems like little Ace has made himself a friend. I had been getting worried for the dog. He doesn't have a lot of friends, not even at the dog park. He is actually a lot like you Master Bruce." Alfred chuckled.

"Hmm? Was that supposed to be a joke? I like to judge myself based on the quality of my friends, not the quantity. Also, even then I have a lot of friends. There is Selina, Vicki, Helena, Cortana, Clark, you, and even Slade." Bruce who was much taller and looked even more handsome than before due to his ongoing teen years responded with a smile.

"Yeah but two of them are people thrice your age, two of them are your pen pals and one of them isn't even a living human," Alfred muttered to himself wondering if he was doing a good job raising the kid but he didn't continue on that line of thought for long especially after he remembered all the dangerous things they had in their mansion like guns or explosives or unlicensed drugs, things that HE had allowed Bruce to make or interact with.

Bruce heard Alfred's mutter but wisely chose not to comment since he had no wish to argue with his number one henchman.

"But yeah you are right. I am happy for Ace. He needed an animal friend of his own... But I do wonder what animals speak of in their free time. Do they make sense at all when they talk in their languages? I guess we will never know unless..." He stopped as he began to think about a certain item that was really famous in different fictional works in his previous life.

'A translator chip which can translate what animals say, I wonder if I can make that. Would be quite useful for my Number 2.'

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(A/N: I tried to do something unique in this chapter by writing about Ace a little to give a little insight into his life, his personality, and his past. I don't know if I wrote it well since it was a first for me. I won't be writing from his POV a lot but if you guys think that it wasn't good enough and that I shouldn't write such a chapter ever again, let me know. I genuinely appreciate constructive criticism and would love to know what you guys think.)

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