A few minutes later, Tess arrived at the split level house where Addison lived.

"Detective Patel, it's me, Tess," the girl cried out "are you home?"

She walked into the house, but found no sign of any occupants. She continued on, and passed by Addison's room, only to do a double take when she saw who was standing there.

"Addison? You're back!" Tess said happily, running in and hugging her friend; Addison simply wriggled her way out of the hug, then ignored her, walking around and collecting supplies.

"Where were you? We were all so worried," Tess asked, but the girl said nothing "did you get any of the text messages I sent you?" still no response. "Oh, you're not gonna believe this; we met this group of kids and one so adorbs woodchuck, that can talk! And the girl of the group is totally crushing on Alex, weird right?"

The inventive girl still continued to ignore her blonde friend, single mindedly collecting pieces for an invention.

"Come on Addison, say something; you go missing and we spend like, half the day looking for you, and now you don't have anything to say? And why are you wearing that weird looking helmet? Is it another invention of yours?"

Still, the girl did not reply, acting as if Tess wasn't there.

"I don't know why you're being a jerk about this," Tess said "I spend all this time worrying, and you can't even say 'nice to see you Tess,' or 'how are you Tess?', or 'you look good today Tess.' I know I look good, but it's nice to hear it once in a while."

But again, the girl ignored her. "Fine, be that way, but I'm gonna text the others and tell them you're back," she said, and went to use her phone, before Addison walked over and slapped it from her hands "hey! My parents paid a lot for that!"

Addison responded by grabbing Tess's arm and twisting it behind her.

"Ow! You're hurting me!"

"Sorry, but I can't let you contact anyone, it would ruin Dr. Zero's plans," Addison replied. Tess noted the tone of her voice sounded…meaner than usual.

"A-Addison, are you okay? You sound weird," Tess said, her voice trembling "also, could you maybe let me go?"

Addison replied by increasing her grip on the blonde girl's arm, which caused her to whimper "sorry, but I have a job to do and I can't let anyone interfere; I'm afraid you'll have to come with me."

"W-what if I don't want to?" a frightened Tess asked.

"I insist," Addison replied "but hey, you were wondering what happened to me, right? Now you'll have a chance to find out."


Meanwhile, back on the streets of Aryton Park, the other kids were reuniting after having no success finding their friend.

"Well, did anybody come up with anything new?" Kevin asked.

"Nope, I still say it was aliens," Alex replied.

"I still find it strange that Wenda is somehow smitten with this schmuck," Wes whispered to Wu; the Asian boy chuckled in response.

"Miss Addison, miss Addison," Eureka said, bowing in sadness while, above her, Gyro let out a sad squeak.

"Don't worry you guys, I'm sure we'll find her," Kevin assured them "how far could she have gotten?"

"If she was abducted by aliens, very far," Alex reminded him.

"Enough with the aliens!" Wes exclaimed, only to notice the angry look Wenda was shooting him.

At that moment Max, the town's all purpose workman, happened to walk by.

"Hey kids," he said, "I couldn't help but notice you've got some new faces in the group."

"Yeah, they're in town helping us look for Addison," Kevin explained.

"Yeah, I heard about that," Max replied "it's so weird that she would just up and disappear like that."

"Have you seen anything suspicious around here today?" Kevin asked.

"Actually, come to think of it, I did see something hovering over the sky earlier."

"Really?" Alex asked, excitedly "see you guys, I was right, it was an alien mothership!"

"No, it definitely wasn't a UFO," Max said "it looked like a blimp; I thought it was a little strange, cause no blimps have ever flown over the city, or at least, not as long as I've lived here."

"Hang on, could it have been a zeppelin?" Wenda chimed in. Wes & Wu noticed that the girl seemed focused again, and out of her lovelorn trance.

"I guess, maybe," Max said "I honestly don't really know the difference…"

"A zeppelin! Zounds!" Wenda exclaimed.

"Zounds?" Wes asked, confused.

"Think guys, who do we know that owns a zeppelin?"

Both thought hard until Wu chimed in "of course, that insane zoologist Dr. Zero. Do you really think he'd do this though?"

"I'll bet anything that bad doctor is behind this," Wenda said "come on, if we're right, we have to find him before he puts his plan, whatever it is, into effect."


Back on Dr. Zero's zeppelin, meanwhile, the villain watched as Addison used the parts she gathered from her house to modify the zombie ray.

"Soon, not only will animals be kept still for selfies, but if zis works, zen I can make humans stand at attention as well," he said "zen, pictures will never be ruined."

Nearby, Tess sat, tied to a chair and gagged, trying her best to free herself and stop her friend from helping the sinister scientist.

After some tinkering, Addison finished her work and handed the ray to Dr. Zero.

"This should work, as promised," Addison told him.

"Ah, well done my little genius," Dr. Zero told her "I think I'll keep you around to work on other projects for me."

"I live to serve you," Addison told him, before the doctor walked off. As she turned to head back to the workbench she'd been supplied with, she could hear loud muffled noises. Addison glanced in the direction of Tess, who was shaking frantically in her chair.

Walking over, Addison reached out and pulled the gag down "what do you want?"

"Addison, how can you help that guy? He's evil!" Tess asked.

"Because, he's given me a purpose in life."

"What do you mean?"

"I've always been clever and inventive, but I've been forced to squander my talents making stupid devices for losers like you and everyone else in that little town," Addison replied angrily "Dr. Zero has given me a chance to use my skills to build something that's actually worthwhile; something that will change the world."

"Stupid devices? Is that what you think of Eureka & Gyro?" Tess asked "because I know they'd be hurt if they heard you call them that. You've always cared about them, just like you care about me, all your friends, and everyone in Aryton Park."

"That was the old me," Addison told her "the new me has no time for such foolishness."

"Come on Addison, I know this isn't really you," Tess told her "think of all the good times we've had, like when we entered the Cookie Fair, and though someone stole our cookies? Or that time you helped find out who was stealing our raspberries from the garden. Or when you figured out why Alex & I were getting shocked during that dance routine. Think about those things Addison, and remember that you're my friend, and you'd never do something like this!"

Although Addison ignored her and turned away, the blonde's words caused memories to surface. She remembered everything Tess had said, and more; and, as she remembered, the more the Subjugator 2000 tried to make her suppress those memories. Addison clutched her head, as she struggled to overcome the helmet's powerful brainwashing.

Tess watched on, not sure what was happening. After a few moments, Addison was still gripping her head…only to remove the helmet and throw it to the floor.

"Addison, you're back!" Tess exclaimed happily.

"Happy to be back," Addison told her, before walking behind her chair and working to undo the ropes "look, all that stuff I said earlier, calling you a loser and…"

"It's okay Addison, I know you didn't mean it," the blonde girl "you were under the control of that doctor guy."

"It was like, I knew what I was saying, but I couldn't stop myself," Addison told her, before the last of the ropes fell away. Now free, Tess sprung from the chair and hugged her friend.

"Thanks for bringing me back to normal," Addison said.

"You're welcome," Tess replied "I just hope those ropes didn't wrinkle my outfit."

"Same old Tess," Addison chuckled.

"Well, zis little reunion is nice," said Dr. Zero, and the two girls turned to see him standing mere inches in front of them "too bad it won't last."

"Look pal, you kidnapped me, and forced me to insult one of my best friends and my hometown; you're crazy if you think I'm still going to help you after that," Addison said.

"Yes, well, unfortunately for you, my zombie ray is already fixed, so I have no further need of your services," Dr. Zero told her "so you and your friend here can have ze pleasure of being its first test subjects. Not zat you really have any choice in ze matter."

Suddenly, a band of zombified zoo animals surrounded the two.

"Okay, this is a little bit of a problem."


In the final chapter, Wenda and company must find a way to get to the zeppelin. Can wordplay save the day, as usual?