"Alright, tell me what you have planned here. What's with the fridge?" Kowalski asked as he stepped down from the desk and waddled over to the other table.

Jumping up onto that one, he noticed all of the paper and equipment scattered around. It must have been serious. But still, pages and pages of writing did nothing but bring out more shame that he couldn't read.

Blowhole joined Kowalski at the table and looked down over all of his work proudly but still didn't say a word.

Kowalski huffed and turned.

"We made a deal, tell me."

Blowhole cocked a brow and chuckled almost nervously.

"Do you need glasses? The project proposal is right there," Blowhole said as he pointed to a file binder.

There were big letters on the front and Kowalski was sure it was in Blowhole's hand writing since it looked neat but he still couldn't understand it.

He tried not to blush. Not that it would matter if he did since his skin was covered by pristine black and white feathers. However, he could feel himself heating up.

"Could you not just tell me? Gloat about your plans like you love to?" Kowalski said in a defeated tone.

"Well I was waiting for you to read the project name before I chimed in at the height of suspense but you have to ruin all the fun, don't you?"

Kowalski rolled his eyes and opened the binder. The pages once again were filled with text, numbers and more text. Kowalski could understand a few letters, mainly A, B, C, X, Y, Z and N since they were used in mathematics a lot but all of others just blended together in a mess of symbols.

Again, Blowhole waited for nothing, since Kowalski couldn't read. So he slammed the binder closed as Blowhole gave a smirk.

"I can't read. You have to use your words unless you've forgotten how," Kowalski said in a condescending tone.

Blowhole took a stride back as he looked Kowalski in the eyes, confused.

"You can't read? What kind of a joke is that?"

Kowalski said nothing. Just staring the dolphin down.

Blowhole soon got over his state of confusion as he started laughing at the bird.

"You mean to tell me I wrote up a contract that you couldn't even read and reference to? And you signed it! I could have slipped a few extra demands in there and you wouldn't have been any the wiser."

Kowalski truly did feel shame. It was stupid to have signed that contract without knowing what it said but he had no other choice at the time. Blowhole was, however, greatly enjoying the exposition, unable to contain his laughter.

"Ok, ok," Blowhole said calming down. "I need you to tell me how you get through life as a scientist not being able to read. That's impossible."

Kowalski raised a brow this time, crossing his flippers and tapping his foot on the table.

"Just goes to show I'm far superior in that I don't need to be able to read to accomplish great scientific strides."

"Or that you're such a dullard you couldn't learn to read," Blowhole snickered.

Kowalski had had enough. He wanted out of this place already. Damn the fancy computer and world domination schemes, he just wanted to be back in his own lab.

"Your fridge. What's it for?" Kowalski said slowly and condescendingly.

Blowhole could help the small chuckles he let out. He would never let the bird live it down that he couldn't read. It could have also been a great way to get some things over the bird. Blowhole didn't need to worry about leaving important writing information out since the bird couldn't read. But Blowhole supposed he had kept the bird on edge long enough.

The fridge was locked shut. A number combination padlock kept it closed. Blowhole took his time to take off the lock and once he did the fridge opened to reveal several small shelves all filled with petri dishes. It didn't look like there was anything on them except ice but it was often the things you couldn't see that were the most deadly. Kowalski took a step forward to get a closer look, the cool air was refreshing as it rushed into his lungs.

"I wouldn't get too close if I were you. And I wouldn't breathe too much either," Blowhole said with a smirk.

Kowalski instantly stepped back as Blowhole closed the door once again.

"These are my colonies. Some simple bacteria, fungi and whatnot."

Kowalski took a moment to think. He'd sold out his entire team to learn that Blowhole grew bacteria? Kowalski could do that too if he left a slice of bread out in the sun for long enough.

"But what are they for?"

"They're merely my test subjects," Blowhole said as he pushed away from the table and headed to the computer.

He opened a file on the computer much the same as all the others, filled with text. However, on the bottom of this one was a diagram. And Kowalski could see very clearly that this was a diagram of a pathogen. A very nasty looking one at that.

"This is my master plan. My baby. The behemothvirus. Now, remember back to the caper with the diabologizer. I'll admit it was a plan more suited to revenge against you pen-gu-ins rather than to overthrow humanity but why fix what's not broken? The diabologizer worked just fine so why not incorporate it into my revenge against the humans too?"

Kowalski listened intently. He really was starting to see a pattern. Flood the world, diabologized penguins, flood world again, diabologized humans?

"I did think about building some sort of space transmission device to blast each human on the earth but that would be no fun. They wouldn't see it coming. So instead I thought, what about a virus? All I'd need to do is infect one human and then they'd all come crumbling down. How amusing it will be to watch as they unknowingly infect each other, cause panic globally as they all slowly turn into monsters. It begins with temperament changes. Perhaps a vegetarian suddenly gets the taste for meat again. Then the physical changes will start to happen and that's when you know it's too late. Before long the mind is completely destroyed along with who they used to be. Only a monster remains. This will rock the world."

Kowalski took a stride back. He didn't want to be a part of this. He didn't want to have anything to do with this. This was just plain wrong. Blowhole spoke of paying the humans back but really how much harm had they caused him and his species to warrant them an eternity of suffering? And in the contract between the two the conditions stated Kowalski was to help test something that Blowhole had been working on. Did he mean the virus? Was Blowhole going to infect Kowalski?

Kowalski shook his head in awe at just how wicked the dolphin was.

"That's what my colonies are for. They're my test dummies for the virus. I'll say it's been going great so far. I just have to work out some things to make sure the virus is only transmittable between humans and I'll be able to test it again."

Kowalski couldn't believe what he was hearing. This meant the plan was already in action. Blowhole had created the virus already. He could infect who ever he wanted. And if this virus ended up in the wrong hands, or the even more wrong hands, every living creature on the planet could become a monster.

Blowhole saw the look of cowardice on Kowalski's face and laughed.

"No need to be scared yet, Kowalski. I'm still months, maybe even years away from releasing it."

"Years?"

Blowhole rolled his eye.

"You can't rush things like this. Perhaps that's why most of your inventions fail then? You get too in over your head and impatient."

Kowalski growled and turned his head to the door. Perhaps now was the right time to leave. Yes, now was the perfect time to leave.

Kowalski waddled across the floor and to the lab door, which was still open. He knew the way out already and didn't need to consult the brainiac dolphin. However, Blowhole followed the bird down the corridor.

"Leaving so soon?"

Kowalski nodded. He was traumatised enough and just wanted to get away without Blowhole revealing something else shocking. Like he collected bird lungs or something.

Kowalski reached the door where the pool of water lead to sea. He was about to open the door before Blowhole put his flipper on it, stopping Kowalski from opening it.

"I'm going to need your services again but you lead me on with false pretences. You can't read," Blowhole said with a less than amused look on his face.

Kowalski stood back, slightly worried. Technically he hadn't lied about being able to read. He just didn't mention it at all.

"A lot of my ventures rely on one being able to read. So, I will teach you. I'll be in touch when I can open my schedule and remember... this is all our little secret," Blowhole said drawing a cross over his chest.

Kowalski crossed his heart too and did hope to die. He would have been better off dead, then he wouldn't have had to put his team in danger any longer.

Blowhole relinquished his hold on the door and let Kowalski slip away. For a second there he thought he really was in trouble. He really didn't want to be on Blowhole's bad side when he had such a powerful weapon on his side. And as much as Kowalski despised the fact that he was going to have to come back to this place many more times, it wouldn't be so bad since he was going to be taught to read. Perhaps he could learn quite a bit from the dolphin. Not that he could put any of it into practice. Or perhaps he was falling into the dolphin's trap, lined with fancy computers and knowledge that compelled Kowalski to stay longer.