This chapter is longer than usual, but I didn't want to split it up. Enjoy reading!

"Are you sure?" Jim askes Penny looking concerned.

Penny nods, her face showing no expression. "After all he is my archenemy. So it's my duty to stop him."

The other agents inhale audibly.

"You know we are on neutral ground here Pen, right?" Kayla says stepping forward, but Ben holds her back. "She is hurt, let her be. It's her way of dealing with all of this" he whispers into Kayla's ear.

After a short while Jim slowly nods. "Fine. Penny you will take care of Talon. The rest of us will do our best to keep anyone else out of the way."

Jim presses a few keys and the map disappears. "If I counted correctly, we are about 50 agents who aren't controlled by ticks right now. So the other half still listens to Talons every command as long as he wears his bracelet cuff. Penny, your main goal is to get his bracelet cuff away from him and then keep him contained, so he won't escape his punishment."

He looks at his wrist watch. "In a little more than five hours Talon, Ben and I will do our last patrol together. The rest of you will be here waiting for us to return to Talon's treehouse. In case you have another task Talon assigned you to, you obviously have to do it to maintain your cover. Once we are back in the treehouse our plan will be set into motion. That's all, you can go now, sleep a bit and prepare yourselves."

The agents start to talk again and pack up their belongings when Jim once again raises his voice. "All the agents still under the influence of the ticks will probably attack you with all they have, but please always keep in mind that they are your friends and don't hurt them more than necessary."

Once Jim has left the room, it empties rather quickly. Penny follows the other agents when Kayla calls out to her. "Pen?"

Penny turns around and Kayla catches up. "I'm fine, K" Penny says without her friend having to ask the question. "I guess it's just like the time when Dr. Claw returned, and Talon pretended to be a new recruit for HQ. I was disappointed but I got over it…"

Kayla stares at her, flabbergast. "But that's not the same. You only met him then, now you are his girlfriend for over two months. It's nothing you can just 'forget'."

Penny's poker face starts to crumble and she continues walking towards her room, motioning Kayla to follow her. "I don't know. Although Talon is obviously controlling everyone who has been bitten by one of the ticks, I still don't believe that he is all evil. I just, I don't know anything anymore. My intuition never failed me on something so important." Penny drops down on her bed exhausted.

Kayla sits down next to her. "I'm sure tonight we'll get to the bottom of all of this" she says confidently. When she waits for Penny's response, she notices her slow and even breathing. "I'm here for you, no matter how this ends" she whispers not wanting to wake up her friend.

Four and a half hours later

Penny wakes up due to loud noises outside her room. Sleepily she rubs her eyes, looking around for anything that can tell her the time. A small radio clock on the nightstand shows it is half past ten in the evening. In an instant Penny is wide awake. Why didn't anybody wake her up, it's almost time for their plan to start. Right when she is about to leave her room, she notices a neatly folded pile of clothes, a few snacks, something to drink and a note lying on the other side of her bed.

The note says:

You fell asleep immediately, so I figured you needed it.

In case you don't wake up due to the turmoil outside your room, I've set the alarm.

When it goes off you have 20 minutes left, so relax.

Eat and drink something! Everything will be fine.

-K

"Thanks, K" Penny mutters to an empty room. She was grateful her friend let her sleep because she was feeling better already. She turns off the radio clock, so it won't ring and grabs one of the small packages with nuts and raisins. While eating she checks out the clothes Kayla has prepared for her. It's her combat outfit. Black trousers, top and jacket. All very robust and tight fitting with several straps and pockets for different weapons.

She changes into her combat outfit and takes a look in the mirror in the bathroom next door. Because of the black outfit her blond hair stands out a lot, so Penny decides to make a ponytail. Once she is done, she goes back to her bedroom and puts another package of nuts and raisins in her jacket. After that she grabs a water bottle and heads to the meeting room.

When she enters the room, it's bustling with activity. All agents who were never bitten in the first place, around 20 if she counted correctly, are wearing their combat gear just like Penny. Those who pretend to still be under the influence of the ticks wear their normal everyday outfits.

"It's just like Jim said" an agent right next to Penny says, pointing at the map. "Talon just returned to his treehouse after his patrol. Jim and Ben and three other agents are there with him."

Penny steps forward and looks at the names next to Talon's dot. The three agents next to Jim and Ben were Miriam, Jason and Sam.

Penny turns around "Can I have your attention please?" she asks. At once everyone falls silent.

"As you already have observed, there are three more agents with Talon, Ben and Jim. Unfortunately, they are very good agents. Jason and Sam never have been lower than third place in the ranking and Miriam also counts to the top ten teams…" Penny starts analyzing the situation.

"I'll take care of Miriam" a small girl with brown hair announces. Penny recognizes her as one of Ben's colleagues from the Eagle Agency. "She is my partner. I know her weaknesses."

Penny nods in appreciation. "Thank you, and I guess Jim and Ben will take care of Jason and Sam, so I should be able to get to Talon without too much trouble."

They talked for 5 more minutes about how the rest will keep everyone else who isn't already in the treehouse away from them. Kayla enters the room "It's time. We should get going. Good luck everyone we'll see each other save and sound when it's all over."

A tense silence starts to spread in the room, and everyone gets mentally prepared for the battle to come. One agent after the other leaves the room, taking their assigned position.

Kayla comes over to Penny, watching the new dots appear all around the camp.

"Are you ready?" she asks.

"As ready as I'll ever be" Penny answers a small sad smile playing around the corners of her mouth.

"You are stronger than you think, you'll be fine" Kayla says pulling her friend into a tight hug.

"And now we should get going or the party starts without us."

Penny hugs back tightly. "Good luck and be safe" she whispers.

"Let's go kick some butts!" she then announces, a strong determination shining in her eyes.

"Now that's the sprit" Kayla smiles and waves goodbye. She leaves the room to go and support Jim and Ben in case they have problems with Jason and Sam.

"Here goes nothing" Penny says inhaling deeply and leaving the room.

When she enters the camp, a spooky silence welcomes her. Normally at this time most of the lights were still on and agents sneak around to pay each other a nighttime visit. But not today. No light was on at all and Penny needs some time to get used to the complete darkness after having been in the bright meeting room.

Disregarding the advice from Jim, Penny only equipped herself with a rope to restrain Talon. No matter what, she doesn't want to hurt him or anybody else, besides she is an excellent fighter even without weapons. She smiles remembering Talon never managed to beat her one on one without weapons. Before she continues her way towards Talon's treehouse, she puts on the hood of her jacket, so her blond hair won't stand out.

Penny manages to sneak to her own treehouse unnoticed. Carefully she looks through her window, but no one seems to be there, so she slowly opens the door and slips inside. She closes the door behind her.

"Ok, now all I have to do is wait until Ben and Jim leave Talon's treehouse for the night."

Penny positions herself on her bed, looking through the window that is facing Talon's treehouse. She shoves up her sleeve and takes a look at her wrist watch. "Almost 11pm" she mutters to herself.

5 minutes later

The door of Talon's treehouse creaks open, Jim, Ben, Jason, Sam and Miriam come out the door.

"And don't be late tomorrow." Penny hears a harsh, muffled voice. She inhales sharply, there is no doubt that it's Talon's voice but something about this still doesn't feel right. Penny just can't pinpoint what it is exactly.

"KNOCK" a loud knock makes her jump off her bed. She rushes over to the door and opens it.

"Seriously, do you guys want to give me a heart attack?" she asks Ben and Jim after they slipped inside and the door is closed again.

"Sorry you didn't react, so we had to knock again" Ben says, not looking sorry at all.

Penny is about to say something in return when Jim raises his hand.

"We don't have time for this right now" he interferes. "Miriam's partner has already taken her position and when Miriam starts her patrol, she will keep her away from Talon's treehouse. Ben and I take care of Jason and Sam. But before that we must bring you to Talon. He sent us to check your treehouse and see if you are there. Don't ask why but he somehow knows." Penny looks at him, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

Without giving her any time to process what he just said, Jim takes her arm and leads her to the door. "I would say you have a maximum of 5 minutes to get Talon's bracelet cuff before someone can arrive to help him." Jim says.

"And I doubt we can keep Jason and Sam occupied for longer anyway, so good luck and see you soon" Ben adds, smiling at her and opening the door.

"She is here" Ben shouts happily towards Jason and Sam.

"Thanks a lot" Penny says, boxing Ben's ribs with her elbow.

"That hurts" Ben complains, rubbing his ribs.

"What, I think it should be convincing" Penny answers innocently.

"Enough" Jim hisses, while leading her over the suspension bridge towards Talon's treehouse.

"Our master was right" Ben announces once they arrived in front of Talon's treehouse guarded by Jason and Sam.

"Don't be so smug about yourself. If Penny hadn't escaped you, we wouldn't have had to look for her the last couple of days. And now you of all people are the one to bring her back" Jason says glaring at Ben.

"Luck of the stupid" Sam continues mocking Ben. "I don't even understand why Talon didn't kick you out that day but - oh well - to be honest I don't really care."

Sam turns around and knocks on Talon's door. A few moments later Talon opens his door, a crazy smirk spreading on his face the moment he sees Penny.

"Pretty Penny, that's how we meet again. What a pleasant surprise" he says, his voice full of sarcasm.

"Please, do come in."

Penny freezes on the spot. Now she is sure that something is off. Talon looks like he hasn't slept at all the past few days. Under his eyes are dark circles, his hair is all messy and his clothes look like he hasn't changed them in days.

"My Talon would never look like that" she thinks looking at him in utter shock. "Especially not his hair…"

"That was no invitation. That was a command. Now bring her in here." Talon interrupts her train of thoughts impatiently, hissing at Jim.

Right after Talon finished his sentence Jim pushes her inside the treehouse. When he is about to go after her, Talon stops him. "You stay where you are. We have something to discuss in private. And make sure nobody gets in here."

Jim nods and obediently closes the door.

"So Pretty Penny, tell me, how did you manage to escape from your treehouse?" he asks her, his question somehow more sounding like a threat that a genuine question. She doesn't answer immediately, so he comes closer. Penny takes a step backwards, her back hitting the door. She curses under her breath and Talon snickers. She knows she has not much time but there is no way she can attack him from this position.

"Take off your jacket and lift your arms" Talon commands, coming even closer.

"Why? I don't have any weapons with me" she hisses at him.

"We'll see about that, now do what I say, or this little friend here will make you do it."

Talon pulls out a small box from his pocket and shows it to her. It contains one of the ticks.

"Last time I said it wouldn't be much fun to use it on you, but you start getting on my nerves with your attempts to stop me, and your disobedience, so do what I say or else…"

"Ok, ok, no need to be so overly dramatic" Penny interrupts him, pulling down the zipper of her jacket. As much as she dislikes this, she knows that she needs to get away from the door as soon as possible.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Talon teases her, but she just glares at him in return.

He searches her pockets and puts the content on his bed: the package with nuts and raisins, her water bottle and the rope.

Talon furrows his brows "That's it?" he asks in disbelieve.

"I told you" Penny says smugly.

Talon roughly pulls her away from the door in the middle of his treehouse. "I'm going find anything you hide from me. Now lift your arms Pretty Penny."

Penny does as he says, and he starts to pat her down. When he reaches her foot, Penny uses her chance and smashes down her elbow onto his back, making him fall over with a thud.

"YOU" he immediately starts to rage. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"

He grabs her ankle and pulls her down. If it weren't for the unfortunate situation, Penny would probably have laughed at her own negligence. However, in this situation she only tried not to get hurt due to her fall. Penny manages to turn in her fall and lands on top of Talon. She immediately grabs his wrist and pins him down. "Well that could have gone worse" she says smiling proudly.

Talon struggles beneath her, trying to wiggle free from her grip. "Where are you, you idiots?" he screams towards the door.

"They won't come" Penny informs him.

If looks could kill, Penny would be dead by now. Over the fighting and bickering she almost forgot that this wasn't one of her training scenarios or former fights with Talon but the reality.

"I'm sorry" she says, looking down at the man she loves.

Talon stops struggling "For what?" he asks.

"For this" Penny says punching him right in the face and Talon passes out.

Carefully she removes his bracelet cuff, putting it in her pocket. She quickly puts on her jacket and gathers her belongings. When she is about to leave through the window, she turns back to see Talon laying on the cold floor. As fast as possible she drags him on his bed and ties his hands and foots with the rope.

"Sorry" she whispers once again, jumping out of the window and dashing towards their secret hideout.