Snaptrap had finally revealed Finny's note to Phil and the girls. He showed it to Phil first, so she could be calmed down by the time they told the others Finny was in Africa. Las Banditas were not the only ones upset; Kitty was furious that her friend had become a thief. Everyone in Las Banditas explained their circumstances of joining to T.U.F.F., who gave the girls two weeks' sentence for all their past crimes.
It turned out that Brock, the Oso brothers, and Los Changos Banditos had large bounties on their heads. Brock, Rico, Osito, and El Chango Bandito (who was revealed to really be named Panchito Chango) each were worth $100,000. The rest of Chango's gang was worth $350,000 all together. Phil gave each of her sisters $100,000 while she kept the $100,000 for herself and put the remaining money in the bank for Finny. Salena and Juanita bought their own houses while Phil had the Tudor on the mountain rebuilt. She also began investigating Finny's exact whereabouts while planning her wedding to Snaptrap.
Snaptrap really was starting to change. He quit his membership at D.O.O.M., refrained from any criminal activity, and began looking for a job. Not many people were willing to hire an ex-villain, not surprisingly. Finally, the Chief gave him a job as a janitor. Snaptrap did not mind very much, even though he knew he was under constant surveilance and the only co-worker who trusted and/or liked him was Salena.
One day, Phil got a letter from Finny and their Dad, whom Finny was helping with something. They were in Alexandra, in South Africa, but the return address was a post office box, so their exact address remained unknown. They were reassuring everyone that they were unhurt, but it could still be a while before they could come home. Phil wrote them a letter to tell them about her upcoming wedding, and that Salena, Francesca and Juanita had just accepted proposals from their boyfriends Dudley Puppy, Francisco the alligator and Bat. Finny and Phillip Rodentius promised that they would go to the library and borrow a web camera to see Phil's wedding if someone would set up a camera.
Unforunately, the two rats in Africa could not "attend" all four weddings. They also could not afford to keep renting the post box. By the time a year had gone by after Finny left Petropolis, and his friends could not find a way to contact him and Phillip that Phil, Salena, Juanita, and Francesca were expecting babies, a team was assembled to go to Africa to look for them. The team included Snaptrap and all the guys from D.O.O.M., Kitty, the Chief, Keswick, Josie (who had not given up being a criminal and had become an official member of D.O.O.M.), Jacinta, and Lucia. Secretly, BirdBrain and his remaining henchmen and the Chameleon followed, wondering what had come over Snaptrap for reforming and hoping to find some way of getting rid of the T.U.F.F. agents and the remaining competition in D.O.O.M. The rescue team landed close to a desert, hoping no thieves would find their helicoptor. BirdBrain parked his Whirly Bird close by for the same reason.