Hello~~! I know you people have been waiting for this, so I'm not going to give you guys any of my pathetic excuses, which includes traveling, writer's block, not enough time, etc…BUT you guys don't need to hear that. So there! Let us ignore the fact that this chapter took me six month overall to complete and rejoice that it stands before us right now! =D

Again, many thanks to crazyMADgirl, Demonizedangel455, henry2fat, The Darkly Angel, Shiona Acitiu, AgentJazzy00, EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD, Sparrow, 2 be loved, mewsugarpudd, SunflowerIce, The Awsome one, Raven Black, and keira-kyuketsuki (wow, that's a lot reviewers) for reviewing! Thank you all very much!

Disclaimer: Do I have to do this every time? I'm running out of ideas here.

Chapter 7: Meeting the Rest of the Team

Back at the Tech Room, the boy was still typing. His eyes were fixed on the screen as his fingers flew across the keyboard. "Dammit." He cursed. "Either someone out there is better than me, or they must have completely destroyed the belt. And we both know that the latter is the more reasonable one."

Kowalski had no argument to that. No one that actually knew the boy would have an argument to that. And anyone who did know him knew that he was no ordinary boy.

Suddenly, a small, dark green dot appeared on the corner of the screen, blinking steadily. The boy's movements stopped. His hands then flew up and grabbed the headphones that were resting on his neck, placing them over his ears. His left hand turned the dial on one side of it while his right hand brought down the mike that was stowed away in the compartment above.

"What is it?" Kowalski asked as he sprung up from the stool he was sitting on, immediately alert.

"Got a call from Roger's." The shorter of the two replied curtly as he continued to spin the dial until he found what he was looking for. There was a moment of tense silence as Kowalski waited for him to relay whatever message he was hearing.

Then the blond chuckled dryly.

"You're in luck, kid. Even though about ninety percent of that is bad luck, I'd say." He told Kowalski. Kowalski tensed. The word "kid" that the boy used to call him told him that the percentage of good luck may be even lower.

"On the bright side of it all, we know where Low-life is." The boy said before continuing to listen to the rest of the call. After a few seconds, Kowalski noticed that the boy had that look. The last time he saw that look his lab what been vandalized with the letters EC.

He gulped. "What is it?" He pressed after a few more agonizing seconds of silence, "Is it good or bad?"

The blond gave him a wry smirk and thrust his hands into his overall pockets, "That depends. How brave are you feeling?"

"There, we're all done!" Roger said cheerfully as he finished properly treating the gash on Marlene's arm.

Marlene shifted slightly, still uneasy around this man that she just met. "Thanks."

The large man flashed a toothy, yet somehow warm smile at her. "No problem! I'll go make you some hot chocolate, alright?" And with that, he left the room.

Marlene sighed and leaned back, tilting the chair she was sitting on so that she was balancing on only two of its legs. Wrapping the beach towel, which Roger had dug out from one of the closets, around herself tighter, she closed her eyes and sighed yet again.

After she told Roger what had happened, the baker had stared at her for a few seconds before insisting that she come to the back of the store to at least get dried. As much as Marlene wanted the man to do something about the situation at hand, she figured it'd probably be best if she listened to what the one who had become her only ally said.

Roger had led her through a door behind the counter, which led to a short corridor that ended with another door that Marlene guessed was the back door. The corridor had two doors at each side. The first door to the left, Roger had explained, was the storage room. The door directly across the corridor from it supposedly led to what the baker had called the Niche. Walking pass these two doors, they went into the room that had its door on the same side of the corridor as the storage room. Roger introduced this as the guest room.

Inside the room was some basic furniture. There had been a standard sized bed, a desk, and small dresser. Two doors were visible in the wall directly across from them.

The closet and the bathroom. Marlene recalled Roger saying.

After settling down, Roger had again insisted on treating her first. This time Marlene didn't protest. Now she was in the room, alone with her thoughts.

I wonder how Skipper is doing. She wondered. Thinking of the Penguin leader made her sigh again. The guilt she had been pushing back ever since his capture finally found a crack in her mental dam and flooded her mind like the Mississippi River. Millions of questions swirled around in her and she couldn't find the answer to any of them.

She was distracted from the currents of the blame when Roger knocked gently on the door before letting himself in.

"I made cookies!" He beamed as he showed the tray in his hand, complete with a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows on top and a plate of oatmeal cookies.

Marlene had to admit that it looked really tempting, especially after the events of unknowingly betraying a friend and finally getting said friend's trust back and boarding on a rescue mission that she's not sure she had exactly boarded on yet.

"Thanks," She said simply and took a cookie for herself. Roger set down the plate on the desk and pulled a chair over for himself.

Roger waited until Marlene took a sip of the hot chocolate before breaking the comfortable silence. "I already contacted people who can help us. Don't worry, they're all friends of Skipper." He quickly added at the girl's dismayed look. "They'll be here soon. I also asked for them to bring you a set of clothes to change into. Wouldn't want you to catch a cold." He finished with a gentle smile.

Marlene blinked. She hadn't thought about the problem of not having dry clothes. She figured that her soaked attire will become dry themselves by the time she needed them to be dry, but judging from the water still dripping off the edge of her shirt, that was clearly not the case.

She glanced at the towering man smiling at her and showed the baker her first smile that day. She would've thanked him, but it seemed so redundant all of the sudden. Roger understood.

"So, Marlene, was it?" Roger asked politely. Marlene nodded while taking another sip of the hot chocolate. Roger smiled again, taking upon himself to lighten the mood. "So how did you meet Skipper, anyway?"

Marlene froze for a split second, quickly pondering if she should tell the whole truth or just summarize it.

She settled for the latter. "It was an accident." She muttered, taking another sip right after she finished.

Roger chuckled. "I can see that happening. For some reason, I can't imagine Skipper willingly revealing himself to anyone." They both shared a quick chuckle over the comment, but soon lapsed into silence again.

Roger took this time to study the young woman before him. She seemed to be in her twenties, possibly the same age as Doris. She looked at bit pale, but Roger wasn't sure if that was due to the experience of having a loved one betray her or just her normal complex. Her visible amber eye was sharp, but at the same time, there was a tiredness in it that made Roger want to frown, only stopping in fear that his less joyful expression would scare the girl. That tiredness was also visible in the way the brunette's shoulders slumped, like she was carrying a heavy weight on her shoulders.

It's guilt. Roger realized.

"It must be hard." Roger commented quietly. Marlene looked up at him almost instantly, either startled by what he said or expecting more from him. He had to do this carefully if he wanted to help her load off the guilt. He decided that redirecting the blame to someone else might be a good first step.

"To have your own trusted brother betray you." He continued. "If it were me, I know I'd be devasta-"

He was cut off when Marlene suddenly stood up so quickly that she almost knocked the mug of hot chocolate over. Clearly he had chosen the wrong thing to say.

"Ant did not betray me!" She all but shouted. The rage was clear in her eye. "He had no choice! There must be a good reason why he did what he did, and I know that once this is all over, he'll explain! So never, don't you ever talk like that about him! What do you even know about him?" She glared at the man that was easily able to meet her eyes directly even though she was standing and he was sitting. Roger was a bit surprised by the outburst, but as he looked into the girl's single eye, he saw that Marlene believed every word she just said.

"I see." He said quietly. Then he drew out an apologetic smile. "You're right, I shouldn't have assumed anything about a person I didn't know. I didn't know that he held so much importance to you. I'm sorry."

The words seemed to calm the girl down, and she hesitated before looking away. "No, I'm sorry for that outburst. That was inappropriate of me."

Roger smiled brightly again, "It is fine. I understand why you got angry." He then picked a cookie from the plate and offered it to her. "Cookie?"

Deep underground, where the sewer lines lay, three figures were moving swiftly through the tunnels that would have been a maze to normal people.

"Kowalski…"

"…"

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry tha-"

"No."

Private quickly shut his mouth. He cast a worried look at Rico, who shrugged when he caught his look. Then they both looked forward at the back of the tallest of them, who was leading them towards Rogers via the tunnels, a white bag in his hands. He held the bag gingerly away from himself as if it were radioactive, but at the same time his fingers had a death grip on it that dared anyone to even think about taking the bag away.

Kowalski tried, and failed, to repress a blush as he recalled exactly how this bag got into his hands. He still wasn't sure if the fact that it was in his hands was a good thing or not. He'd rather not think about that. Rather, he cursed the operatives of the opposite gender. Or lack of them, anyways.

The others didn't dare say anything else. The rest of the trip to Roger's Café was carried out in silence.

When they did reached the café, Kowalski marched right in through the hidden entrance they had installed, only stopping when he was in front of a surprised Roger, who had been taking out the empty mug and plate to the sink up front. Private and Rico hurried into the store after him.

"Where is she?" The scientist demanded.

Roger blinked. "Kowalski? Why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?"

Kowalski twitched. He quickly set the white bag on the counter and pushed it toward the taller man. "Just…just give it to her."

Roger, blinking again, peeked into the bag, thus completely missing the half murderous look Kowalski was shooting at him for the seemingly innocent act. Realization dawned upon the large man as he saw the contents of the bag, and he let out a cheerful, "Oh."

Turning around, he walked back to the guest room door (totally oblivious to Kowalski's eyes following his every move) and rapped on it gently.

"Marlene!" He called, "Your change of clothes is here!"

Marlene rummaged through the bag of clothing that Roger had brought in earlier. There wasn't a lot to choose from, but Marlene wanted to see in there were any clothing that were more to her taste. She settled for a plain white T-shirt, a short-sleeved pale blue shirt, and a pair of dark sweatpants.

She then realized she was still lacking what needs to go under those clothes.

Digging deeper into the bag, she found the items she was looking for. She pulled them out and looked at them. The bottom ones should be no problem. And then there was-

She stopped when she saw the piece of clothing in her hand. She stared. She knew immediately the she was never going to fit into those.

Sighing, she tossed it back into the bag. Still, part of her (a really tiny part of her) couldn't help but envy whoever the clothes belonged to.

Sighing again, she banished the thought and looked around the room. Her eye landed on the first-aid kit that Roger had conveniently left behind. An idea popped into her head, and she shrugged.

Guess I'll just make do with what I have. She thought as she reached for a roll of bandages.

Skipper sat where Marlene had left him, waiting quietly. The wire he had abandoned when Ant punched him was back in his hands, out of sight and now with a newly grinded sharp end.

His head was lowered, but his eyes watched the door intently. He needed someone, anyone, to come. Still, this would be a bit more difficult if Ant or someone of the same caliber as the smiling brunet was the one that stepped into the room. He needed someone that would lower their guard without realizing it.

As he waited, his mind traveled back to everything that happened today. Even though he knew he should be concentrating right now, he couldn't help it. So many things happened in the past twenty-four hours that it was hard not to think about them. He wondered what Marlene was doing now? No doubt Roger had already contacted HQ, and he was positive his team would be on the move. At the very least, she would be safe.

The door finally opened, and Skipper snapped back into focus. At the door was a blond kid surprisingly young, and Skipper suspected that he's even younger than Private. Had he been able to see through solid objects, he would have known that this was the same Blondie that had been guarding the door when Marlene came.

Skipper's dark sapphire eyes scanned the kid from head to toe, finally settling on what Blondie held in his hands. He was surprised to see a plate in the boy's hand, carrying a simple sandwich.

"I have no idea why Mr. Antonio would want to feed you, but…" Blondie shrugged as he set the plate down outside the cage, "Oh well, you might as well enjoy it while you can."

The boy turned to go. Skipper stared before loudly clearing his throat. Blondie stopped and looked back, shooting him a questioning look. Skipper only raised an eyebrow, hoping that the boy would get what he was indicating at.

"What?" The boy asked after ten seconds of stare down.

Clearly not. Skipper rolled his eyes and raised his cuffed hands, specifically dangling the chain for the boy the see. Blondie's eyes widened slightly. "Oh."

Yeah, "Oh". He fought the urged for a cynical remark. Then he lowered with arms and watched the boy, hoping this would play out as he had planned.

He hid a smile as Blondie reached into his pockets and pulled out a ring of keys. Well, it only had three keys, but that was perfect. He wasn't wrong in betting that Ant wasn't the only one with the key.

He watched the boy unlock the cage door and make his way into space. He waited as the boy walked closer and closer to him. Now came the most crucial part. The kid had to walk further than the point where the chain came short, which Skipper had marked with an insignificant pebble. If he didn't, the whole plan would be blown out of the nonexistent window.

Luckily for the Penguin leader, the kid kept walking until he was only less than five feet away from him.

Yes, that's it. Keep it up. Skipper thought as his eyes followed the boy's movements as he bent down to place the plate down, making it impossible for the boy to see him.

Now.

With swiftness never before witnessed by outside eyes, Skipper lunged at the boy and drove the pointed wire into one of the many pressure points on the boy that he could locate with one glance. Blondie went limp without even the chance to open his mouth and say, "Ow."

Skipper caught the boy's arm before he could hit the ground and gently lay him down.

"You still have a chance, kid." Skipper muttered impassively, even though he knew the unconscious boy couldn't hear him. He reached into the pocket where the keys were. "Do something useful with your life."

He stared at the three keys, and decided to try his luck with the smallest one. Using his mouth, he stuck the key into the hole on his handcuffs and turned. He was awarded with a soft click.

And that's the relatively easy part. Skipper thought as he rubbed his sore wrists. He looked at the door, now possibly the only thing blocking him from freedom. He remembered catching a glimpse of a tattooed arm when Marlene opened the door do leave, and there clearly wasn't any tattoos on this boy's arm, which means there must be at least one more person outside that door. Or he could get lucky and they had changed shifts, replacing the one with the tattoos with this blond. But judging the way this day had been so far, he highly doubted it.

"Dude!"

Skipper almost jumped when another voice sounded from the other side of the slightly ajar door. Quickly pocketing the keys, he moved to the spot by the doorframe even as the door was slowly pulled open.

"What's taking you so long? It was just one lousy sandwi-" The tattooed boy didn't even get the chance to see his snoozing friend on the ground before being sent into dream world himself.

Skipper once again caught the arm of a falling teen, making sure the kid didn't crash into the floor. He gave himself a moment to sigh. If only all of the lackeys and goons were this easy to take care of…

Shaking himself out of those thoughts, he refocused on the door that was now wide open. This room seemed to be at the end of a long, badly lit hallway, and the hallway was presently void of people. Skipper quickly weighed his options, and had to bite himself on the lip to stop a phrase that had automatically formed in his mouth from getting out all together.

"Kowalski, options."

There is no Kowalski. There is no Rico. There is no Private. He reminded himself. You're on your own now.

Somehow, that realization alone made him even more determined to get out of this mess by himself.

As soon as the girl stepped out of the guest room, Rico began examining her. He had heard about the girl from Kowalski, but wanted to make some analysis of his own.

The girl was just finishing tying her long, brown, and semi-wet hair into a high ponytail. The white streak in the part of her hair that hid the left side of her face was unusual, but not of much significance. Rico had seen too much in his 25 years of operative life for anything to be much of a surprise to him anymore.

The girl was taller than Private, but didn't seem as tall as Skipper, which put her at about 5 feet 7. Pretty tall for a female. She was thin, but not unhealthily so. Rico could read some muscular build under the skin, but not much. She was fit, but not well-built.

A smirk formed on his lips when his eyes settled on the girl's chest. Maybe that was the reason why this girl liked fighting so much, as opposed to someone like Doris. The girl was no where near Doris's level in that particular area.

He suddenly found himself wondering what the girl used to replace the piece of Doris's clothing he knew she couldn't wear.

Glancing over at Kowalski, he could tell that the strategist had reached the same conclusion as he did. If nothing else, there was the mixture of disbelief, dread, and doom etched on his face. And then there was the faint blush. Rico chuckled silently. This could prove to be interesting.

He composed himself when the girl finished tying her ponytail and looked up at them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kowalski do the same.

"Are you Marlene?" The taller Penguin asked calmly. Like he didn't just realize that he had to carry a very important piece of clothing of the girl of his dreams' back to the HQ. Rico almost laughed at the thought.

"Yes." The girl (Marlene, Rico reminded himself) nodded.

"Tell us what happened. We want every detail of it." Kowalski said. To Rico, it sounded more like an order. Marlene seemed also taken by surprise by the demand, and she looked hesitant. Was she deciding if she could trust them? If so, Rico found it amusingly ironic that they were trying to see if they could trust her.

After a few long seconds (with the only sound being Roger's humming as he cooked in the background), it was Private who finally broke the tense silence.

"It's all right." He said cheerfully in his British accent as he stepped out from where Kowalski was blocking Rico's line of vision of him. "You can trust us. We've worked alongside Skipper for six years already. Well, that's only if you counted from when we started to work as a team, though. I've known Skipper for roughly ten years! And Kowalski here- umph!" He was silenced when Kowalski snaked an arm around his neck and clamped a hand on his mouth. As the youngest of them struggled against Kowalski's grip, the tallest Penguin glared down at the boy while Rico gave an exasperated sigh.

And then Private looked up at them with big, apologetic eyes, which Rico knew both he and Kowalski could never say no to. Hell, even Skipper had trouble standing his ground when exposed to those eyes. They were a lethal weapon.

Kowalski sighed in defeat. "Fine." He said as he let go of the boy. Private grinned brightly and held up a peace sign. Or was it a victory sign?

Suddenly, Rico's attention on the boy was broken when a laugh began resounding in the café.

All at once, Rico and the other two Penguins turned their head toward the source of the laugh, and were mildly surprised when they saw Marlene almost doubling over with laughter.

She stifled the laugh when she noticed all the eyes on her. "I…I'm sorry. It's just that I thought you guys would be more…hard to talk to."

Rico wasn't sure if that should be considered a compliment or not. Nevertheless, he smirked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Private grin and Kowalski let out a small smile.

"Well, then!" Roger chirped as he suddenly appeared between them. "Now that you guys got that sorted out, why don't you talk while sitting down at that table over there? If you're hungry, I've got something for everyone!"

In the office at the Aces warehouse, Ant smiled as he watched the clouds dispersing after the rain. He spread his arms out in front of the window as he talked to the only other person in the room. "Look at the sky, my friend. We will be able to see the moon tonight."

He turned and flashed a smile. "I'm sure our guest would appreciate a dry stage, no?" He then turned back to the window and let out a sigh. "Shame that my sister won't be able to see the grand finale."

His companion scratched at his unbelievably messy mop he called hair. "I don't get it, Ant. If you care about her so much, why did you make the order?"

Ant smiled again. It was a cunning smile that had no mirth behind it.

"Patience, my dear Fred. Patience." He said as he once again looked up at the sky dyed red by the setting sun, cracking open one of his perpetually closed eyes. "All will be revealed soon enough."

To be continued…

Special thanks to EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD for beta-reading this chapter! (Yes, I'm using your full username. Deal with it. XD)

I can really say that it is a good thing I got a beta. I had loads of typos that you guys would've been forced to read through if Eppo didn't beta for me. Yes, 'tis a good thing indeed. XD

Some things I want to say about this chapter: Rico. For some reason, I never did imagine him as being crazy and psychotic in my world. And when I draw him, he's either serious or frowning. Unless he has a weapon in his hands, in which he smirks. But that's beside the point. The point is, don't expect to see crazy Rico in this story, because he isn't.

Fred. He snuck himself in. I had no intention of bringing him into SO, but it just…happened. I'm still trying to figure out how it happened, though.

A-a-and, I have an announcement. I have officially started the second year of high school, and according to my teachers, it all depends on this year to see if you're either going to a) rise out from your current grades into "The Plane of Ridiculously High Grades" or b) disappear into "The Abyss of Things Not Related to Schoolwork". So…if I want to stay in the middle (I have no intention of going to the Plane, thank you very much), I'll have to spend more time on school and less time on things like writing fan fictions.

I know, I know, most of you are probably going like, "Crap! She had two whole months of free summer vacation and couldn't produce chapter 7, now she's going to have less time to complete chapter 8? Doesn't this spell the end of SO?" But don't worry! I think I can manage! Best case scenario, we'll see chapter 8 by the end of the year! Those four months will be nothing compared to the six months wait for this chapter! *is bricked*

Anyway, jokes aside, I will do my best to write chapter 8 during my free time, and I assure you that what happened with this chapter will not happen again. Hopefully.

Now that I have officially send this chapter over the 4590 word mark, I'm going to shut up and wish you all a good new school year! Happy studying, everyone!

~ruth~