(A/N: Yep, I'm back after my holiday writing break. Now back to the stories I'm working on.)

Fowl play

It was Thursday evening, and the project Daniel and Laura were working on was nearing completion in time for the Friday deadline. The two had amassed a huge number of notes and were ready to type them all up. Laura was doing the majority of the typing, since she was a much quicker typist than Daniel was. Daniel wasn't sitting around idly twiddling his thumbs though; he was still looking through records to find even the tiniest bit of information that they had missed. Daniel had a lot of things on his mind during this time though, which wasn't surprising considering what had happened over the past week. These other thoughts had been slowing him down during the day, something that his friends had noticed. They asked him about what was happening whenever they got the chance. However, each time Daniel would give the same answer; he was concentrating on the project that was nearing completion. Laura could sympathize easily, since she was working on the project as well. It was important that it was absolutely perfect. When Brian asked, Daniel's reply only earned a nod, but Daniel wasn't sure on whether Brian believed him or not. Arnold was different. He would repeat the question constantly, only for Daniel to give the same answer. It only ended when Brian and Laura forcibly dragged Arnold away, much to Daniel's relief. These other thoughts were making it harder for him to concentrate on finding additional information. He had a book open in front of him and, although he was looking at an open page, he wasn't reading the book in particular. He glanced over at Laura, seeing her still typing away on the keyboard with a notepad next to her. She was concentrating on her typing and paid no attention to Daniel, or the clock. It was nearly time for them to go; they only had another fifteen more minutes to work on. While looking at Laura, he suddenly noticed a drop in the temperature; something that Laura didn't seem to notice. She kept on typing like nothing was going on. Daniel nearly shrugged it off as a draft until he noticed that the book he had out had turned to a different page than the one he had it on. It was on a page that showed comments from previous teachers at the school, something that neither Daniel nor Laura had seen before. Daniel looked around, but couldn't see anyone near him. Even so, he had a feeling he knew who had turned the page. Daniel looked up at the ceiling briefly, almost as if he was expecting someone to appear there.

"Thanks Garry." Daniel thought to himself, picking up the book and going over to Laura. She was so engaged in the typing that she didn't notice Daniel go up next to her for a moment. She did eventually see his reflection in the computer screen. She didn't look away from the computer screen but she spoke anyway.

"Anything worth adding?" Laura asked. Daniel put his hand on her seat and swivelled it around so he could show her the book. She didn't look impressed at first, putting on a playful pouting expression, but allowed him to show her the book anyway. She looked at the part that Daniel was showing her very briefly, before taking her notebook and writing a few things down, suddenly spinning on the chair and finishing up in a military uniform. "Well done Sergeant Daniel. Your country thanks you for your work." Laura said in a military style. Daniel gave a blank stare.

"Very funny Laura. Let's be serious, this is useful information." Daniel spoke. Laura did a spin back to normal, but then put on a cute face complete with puppy-dog eyes.

"Daniel, aren't I allowed to have fun with my friends?" Laura asked in an endearing way, making Daniel very nervous of a sudden. He would've turned around and ran away but didn't for two reasons. Firstly, they had a project to finish and communication. The second reason was somebody else spoke up.

"Am I missing something here?" The voice asked. Both Daniel and Laura recognized the voice and looked in the direction of the door. Arnold was standing there, leaning casually against the wall rubbing the tips of his fingers. Daniel gave a frown.

"Arnold, what are you doing here?" Daniel asked. Arnold gave a shrug.

"My dad needs to talk to your mum about something so he brought me to come and see how you two were doing." Arnold responded, suddenly getting a devilish look in his eyes. "I never though I'd find you two like that. I know why you spend so much time together now. Admit it; you're lovebirds." Arnold spoke. Laura blushed madly at the suggestion. Daniel began to sweat. He only saw Laura as a friend and had no interest in romance. He glanced down at Laura, who was looking away to hide her face. The scene only made Arnold laugh even more. He then began to sing a classic line. "Daniel and Laura, Sitting in a tree, K, I, S, S, I, N…" Before Arnold could finish his song, he was hit in the head by a ball that Daniel had thrown at him. The impact had knocked Arnold's head clean off his shoulders and rocking to the other side of the room. Arnold's headless body crouched on the floor and began to search blindly for the head. "Hey, stupid body, I'm over here!" Arnold's enraged head cried. Laura looked back at Daniel, a nasty glint in her eye.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Laura asked. Daniel gave a nod and stood up. Laura ran over to Arnold's head and picked it up. Arnold's headless body came closer to her. Before it could grab Arnold's head though, she threw it to Daniel. "Keep away!" Laura cried as she threw the head. Daniel caught the head and watched as Arnold's body moved closer. Before throwing the head to Laura, he looked down at Arnold's head, which was glaring at the rabbit furiously.

"Give my head back to my body." Arnold growled. Daniel gave a chuckle and threw the head over Arnold's body and back to Laura.

"Keep Away!" Daniel cried as he threw the head. When the body turned around again, Laura threw the head back to Daniel

"Keep away!" Lara cried, just before Daniel caught the head. Arnold's body turned around and Daniel threw the head back to Laura. This went on for a couple of minutes until both Daniel and Laura got bored, also noting that Arnold looked extremely angry. Daniel finally threw the head back to Arnold's body. When Arnold caught his own head, he seemed to have a bit of difficulty putting it back on. Firstly, he put his head on upside-down, then back-to-front before finally putting it on correctly. "Hey Arnold…" Laura began.

"Laura, wrong cartoon." Daniel interrupted.. Laura could only chuckle at the moment before looking back at Arnold.

"Arnold, you may be a head strong psychic, but your neck muscles need strengthening." Laura said. Both Daniel and Laura laughed while Arnold sighed.

"Very funny, let's all laugh at the duck." Arnold said.

In Jessica's office, Jessica was having a discussion with Plucky. She had sealed up the hatch where Gogo Dodo could possibly come out from so he couldn't interrupt the conversation, since it was a pretty delicate subject. Both Jessica and Plucky had a drink while they were talking. Shirley wasn't present, since she had other business to attend to. On Thursdays, she had to go and visit some elderly relatives. This normally left Plucky in charge of the house, so he would have to entertain Arnold for the evening. Jessica had asked him to come around earlier in the day, though she didn't mention why at all. Jessica took a sip of her drink before she spoke.

"Plucky, thanks for coming to see me here." Jessica began.

"Jessica, is this going to take long? There's a programme I watch with Arnold at half 7 tonight." Plucky said. Jessica gave a light chuckle.

"It won't take long Plucky." Jessica said, before turning serious. "Plucky, Batduck will need to be reactivated." Plucky looked a bit puzzled at first, but he could tell by Jessica's face that this was a serious matter. He rubbed his beak with his hand.

"Dunno Jess. I haven't worn the suit for a long time. I've outgrown it considerably now." Jessica gave a chuckle.

"I know, but whatever you do, I need you to do some snooping for me." Plucky sat upright at the mention of the word snooping. He hadn't been out snooping for a while and quite often wished that he could continue. The main problem was that Jessica and Zach took care of everything. He hadn't worn the suit for about 20 years, he only gave advice to Jessica and Zach when they needed it and took care of King. Plucky suddenly stood up and did a military salute.

"Agent Batduck, ready for duty leader!" Plucky spoke. Jessica gave a chuckle but turned serious again.

"Ok Plucky, I have a feeling that Perfecto Prep…" Jessica began but Plucky interrupted her.

"Not that school again. I thought you creamed them years ago." Jessica rolled her eyes slightly before continuing.

"As I was saying, I have a feeling that Perfecto Prep are plotting something against the Looniversity with the upcoming challenge." Plucky gave a nod.

"I know. Ever since Buster took over the school football team and kicked their buts, Perfecto's been at the Looniversity throat." Jessica nodded.

"Yes. And I think they might do something to sabotage us. I need to be certain of this though." Plucky looked intently at Jessica.

"And where do I come into this?" Jessica did a double take, amazed that Plucky hadn't figured out what she needed him to do yet. Regardless, she explained.

"I need you to sneak into Perfecto Prep and find out what they're doing." Plucky gave an intent look at Jessica before allowing her to continue. "You've been in Perfecto Prep before…"

"Don't bring up that old fiasco again. Look, I was overcome by greed and forgot about my true friends…" Jessica now had to interrupt Plucky.

"Plucky, I don't care about the past or how sorry you are for it. The incident has passed us, we don't have to think about it." Jessica paused to catch her breath and have another drink "Ok, but back to the topic, I need you to go in to Perfecto Prep and see if you can find out anything that may say that Perfecto are scheming against us." Plucky gave Jessica a bit f a stare.

"Jessica, you're the better stealth expert. You're better at gathering information…" Jessica had to interrupt Plucky again.

"And my hands are tied with paperwork for this contest. Believe me Plucky; if I had the time, I'd infiltrated Perfecto Prep ages ago. As things stand now, I'm just far too busy." Jessica said, not mentioning Daniel's training at all. She'd probably bring it up later on, but now wasn't the best time to do so. Plucky gave a sigh and stood up.

"Fine, I'll go. I've been looking for some action for some time. And I can see how much work you've got, what with Garry's death and all." Plucky said. Jessica gave a grim nod, not mentioning anything of what Daniel had told her a few nights ago. She stood up and put a hand on Plucky's shoulder.

"Thanks Plucky. You're really lifting a weight off my shoulders." Jessica paused to look at the clock. It was nearly 7. Buster and Babs would be arriving shortly to pick up Laura. "Well, suppose it's time to go." Jessica said. Plucky gave a nod and went towards the door.

"Don't worry Jessica; I'll head to Perfecto Prep as soon as I can." Plucky said. He was about to leave but stopped when Jessica put a hand on his shoulder.

"Good luck Plucky." Jessica said.