Once Marvel and Nina decided to go out and have a bit of girl time, Cortex immediately took this to his advantage and called for Uka Uka to come into his lab for a 'secret' meeting.

"I can't take this anymore!" Cortex cried, pulling at his hair.

Uka stared around the lab and blinked. "Did you remodel everything in here?"

"NO! I didn't!" Cortex screamed. "MARVEL did!"

"Ah." Uka nodded. "Not bad. Definitely looks better than before."

Cortex was close to throwing his chair at the mask. "You gotta HELP ME, Uka-Uka! I'm growing gray hairs because of this woman!"

"You've always had gray hairs." Uka rolled his eyes.

Cortex's eyes widened in horror. "What?" He snatched a mirror out of a drawer and eyed himself intently, only to find his normal black hair. "You liar." Uka laughed at him and turned around to leave. "Please! You have to help me!"

"Why should I help YOU?" Uka growled. "You never help me!"

"Yes I do!" Cortex frowned.

"Oh yeah? Have you ever beaten that infernal bandicoot?"

"Well, no..."

"Have you ever succeeded in one of your plans?"

"No, but—"

"Have you ever successfully impressed me to any extent?"

"I...er...gave you a sandwich...?" Cortex mumbled hopefully.

Uka shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Cortex, I'd probably replace you with Marvel if it weren't for how much I enjoy seeing her harass you." He grinned as he left the room.

"Oh, come on!" Cortex hollered, throwing his arms in the air. "Am I the only one who can't stand this woman sometimes!?"

"Eh, the feeling's neutral for me," a voice spoke beside him.

Cortex whirled around and saw Pinstripe, who was rummaging through one of the drawers. "How long have you been in here?"

Pinstripe shrugged. "Not too long. I came in while you were getting yelled at by Uka-Uka." He pulled out a file and started flipping through it.

"What are you looking for?" Cortex raised a brow.

"Oh, nothing." Pinstripe closed the drawer and innocently placed his arms behind his back. "But yeah, Marvel's okay, I guess. Haven't spoken with her much, but she seems decent enough."

"That woman is just...agh!" Cortex griped, slamming his hand on his desk. "Do you have any idea how stressed out I've been since she started working here!?"

"If you ask me, I just think you've been stressed ever since Uka-Uka came back," Pinstripe rolled his eyes.

"NO I HAVEN'T!" Cortex screamed, bashing him square in the head with his chair. The potoroo was instantly knocked unconscious, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Cortex gaped at his fallen bodyguard, then glanced down at the chair in his grip. Instantly, the mad scientist dropped the chair and scrambled out of the lab.