Hey, all you readers! I apologize for the long wait. School's been really busy and- yeah, you don't want to hear my excuses when you have a whole chapter waiting down there. XD Anywho, sorry for the long wait, and enjoy!

Red dragged the squirming bag behind him, breathing heavily. Taking a deep breath, he leaned against a tree, noting his position. A grin snuck across his face as he realized his destination was at the next tree. "Only five meters to go," he said to himself, preparing to carry the sack again.

"What're you doing?"

Startled, the squirrel dropped his catch, his lone eye immediately pinpointing the voice's location. Another squirrel stood on a branch – brownish gold fur and lazy eyes. Red recognized him immediately. Fred – not the brightest squirrel he'd ever met, but the easiest to manipulate. Something Red desperately needed before he kneeled over from exhaustion.

"I'm dragging something back to my house," the villain replied. "Care to lend a hand?"

Fred looked back at the hole in the tree trunk before shrugging, scampering down the tree. "All right, but I can't stay long. My grandma is asleep so we'll have to be quiet."

"Um hmm… sure. Whatever you say." Red all but shoved the bag into the other squirrel's paws. "Here, take this. I'll go on ahead to key in all the codes."

Before Fred could reply, Red had already disappeared. The mammal looked down at the squirming bag before picking it up, grunting as he frowned. "I don't know what he has in here, but it sure is heavy! Not to mention alive. Bleh."

The room was completely silent if one looked over the clicks as lobsters rapidly tapped the computers, bring various pictures from traffic videos. At last, one of the lobsters gasped, tapping on his partner before the picture slid into another. "Wait! Over there! Do you see that?"

His friend squinted at the screen before breaking out into a huge grin. "We've located the penguins' position, Doc!"

Within seconds, the sound of a Segway reached their ears, and Dr. Blowhole slid up next to them. "Really? Where are they?"

"Downtown, crossing the streets on some sort of chase. Or at least according to this picture from around a minute ago."

"Good. That narrows our search. Tell the others about the new search area. I want cameras tracking them before the hour is up."

"Sure thing, Doc."

"Welcome back, Dr. Emerson," teased Lucy, as she walked past him with a box of kittens in her hands. "Back so soon?" She smiled at the bundle he carried. "And I see you brought guests!"

Theodore returned her smile, nodding. "Emmet found this group of ducklings in the middle of the city. I'm going to give them a quick checkup before returning them to the park."

Lucy shifted the box. "Well, then. Good luck with that. I have to bring these kittens back to their mother before she becomes sick with worry."

"We lost them."

It came out as a statement as Skipper rubbed his temples. He couldn't believe it. They were so close, right at flippers' reach and then – nothing. That human took them away. This complicated matters so much. The worst thing was that his team had not taken the hit well. In fact, it was an unsuspecting blow to the gut. It hurt once the shock wore off.

Private was staring and frowning at the gray walls – his eyes unfocused, mind wandering. Kowalski on the edge of panicking, pacing back and forth as he threw his flippers up at random intervals while he mumbled about something too low to hear. Rico… well, Skipper wasn't quite sure about his teammate. The penguin was sitting with his back to the wall, chewing his flipper while the other one held a flamethrower.

How Skipper needed an aspirin for the headache pounding in his head. No! He was not going to be brought down by what was supposed to be a simple case of babysitting. For goodness sakes, they were the elitest of the elite! Top-shelf on the bureau. Not some nancy-cats sitting here waiting for fate.

The penguin leader took a deep breath, gaze sweeping over his team before he barked. "Up on your feet, men! We have a mission to accomplish."

"What are we going to do?" Ramona harshly whispered into her brother's ear. "Who knows what he's going to do with us?"

They had long since been moved to a cage, sitting on the desk as they awaited their doom. Eggy rubbed a flipper over his eyes, letting out a deep breath. "I'm working on a plan." He glanced at his brother. "Bradley! How's the fitting going?"

The duckling attempted to stick his head through a gap between the bars – to no avail. "It's too small!" he answered.

"I thought so," Eggy murmured to himself. "So we'll need something else."

At this, Ramona slapped her forehead, slumping down on the ground. "That's it, we're doomed."

"Don't be so pessimistic," frowned Samuel. "It's bad for the morale of the team."

"Do ya even hear him?"

"Wait!" exclaimed Eggy, cutting off all conversation. "All we need to do is get to there!" He pointed.

Ramona squinted before sighing. "That's so far away! We'll never make it in time! You might as well slam this cage to the ground!"

Eggy grinned, his eyes shining. "Believe it or not, that's Plan B."

"We're doomed."

"Dump them in here," Red ordered absentmindedly, waving towards the cage filling up an end of the wall.

Fred did as he was told, sitting down to watch the squirming bunch until Red nearly tripped over him. The villain stumbled forward a few steps before glaring. "What are you still doing here?"

"Watching."

"What— Never mind." Red blinked. "You know you can go now, right?"

"I would." Fred glanced at one of the many camera monitors placed all over the park. "But there appears to be two penguins standing outside, and they don't look friendly."

"There are no pen—" Red trailed off before groaning. "Oh for goodness sakes, when did they come along?"

"I say we just charge in," Buck Rockgut insisted again. "And catch Red by surprise."

"No!" Nigel insisted. "We can't just charge in without a plan!" He paused before face-flippering himself. "What are you doing?"

"Following my plan."

"You can't do that! I'm in charge of this mission!"

"No, I am!"

"Well, we can't both be leaders."

"You're British Intelligence. I'm American Intelligence. We're standing on American soil. Therefore, I'm leader."

"That doesn't even make sense! Besides, I'm the mentally sane one here."

"Well—" Buck never finished his sentence as the ground underneath them slid open, and the two penguin agents tumbled down.

"And push!"

The cage tilted forward, and the ducklings fell face-down on the table. "I'm going to be bruised all over before we even reach it," grumbled Ramona as they leaned against the bars of the cage once more.

"If you have a better idea," Samuel shot back. "Now would be a perfect time to speak up."

The door creaked open before the conversation could escalate, revealing the same man who brought them in. He blinked once before rubbing his eyes and seemingly having an eternal argument about whether or not he should say anything. At last he sighed, righting the cage again before opening the door of the cage.

Bradley could only widen his eyes as the hand closed on him and pulled him out, much to the distress of his siblings. "W-what's going on?"

"Stay strong, Bradley!" yelled Eggy, clutching the bars of the cage. "We'll rescue you!"

Dun! Dun! Dun! There's a lot of things going on in this chapter as well as more characters introduced. ;D Stay tuned for the next chapter if you want to see:

1. What Red is carrying in that sack of his

2. Whether Buck and Nigel will survive being paired up in the same team

3. If the penguins will find, not to mention rescue, the ducklings

4. If Fred will turn to the 'dark side' XD

5. What's Dr. Blowhole up to

and 6. Will the ducklings be all right?

Or perhaps you've already figured out what some of these questions are. If so, don't be afraid to offer up your suggestions in a review or PM!

Until next time...