A.N.— And after some writer's block, here is the next chapter :D

Chapter 13: An Uninvited Guest

Trixy and Private glare at Komodo as they sit bound and gagged in the floor of his lab under his habitat at the Hoboken Zoo. Dr. Komodo chuckles some to himself as he looks through the plans that he stole from Blowhole. Sarah stands next to him with a vicious grin. "Why didn't you tell us in the first place that you were just biding time to steal the plans and run?!" The fox excitedly says.

"Well, if I told the badgers, you know how they are. They'd have slipped up and told Francis himself or his lobster spies." The reptile chuckles.

"Oh, yeah right." She nods with a glance towards the corner of the room. "That idea of yours to give the antidote to all but one of the penguins to cause confusion was brilliant, though." She grins. "And how you sent it through Butch and Conor like that…"

Komodo nods some. "Yes, yes, I know I am a great double-crosser." He says and looks wickedly at his tied up foes. "And I also have two irritating little brats that I will dispose of properly this time. This time I don't want there to be a doubt in my mind that they will never meddle in my quest for world domination again." He smirks. "Francis may be my friend, but when it comes to world domination, he is just as much my enemy. He knows just as well as I that evil geniuses do not share power, it's all or nothing…And he is the one with the nothing."

He looks over at the tied up teens again when he sees movement. Trixy is wiggling in her bonds and rubbing her head and the gag against Private's shoulder, trying to loosen and dislodge it. "Try all you like, Ms. Guen, you will find that quite futile." He says. Trixy just shoots another hostile look at him. The reptile only smirks and turns again to his stolen plan.

"So, what are we going to do with them?! I mean, they are probably two of the ones who received the antidote." Sarah says.

Dr. Komodo then starts laughing. "You think that there was actually an antidote?" He looks at the two teens. "Blowhole might have been bluffing, you know. For all they really know is that we could have given all but one of them the poison. Guess they won't find out until it is too late."

Trixy and Private each look wide eyed at the evil scientist. He smirks viciously and chuckles some more. "As I said, I suppose we'll just have to sit back, relax, and watch you to see if you writhe at the end of these twenty-four hours or not, hmm?" He looks at them. The two penguins still look wide eyed at him and a little afraid.

Komodo then turns to Sarah. "Here are the plans. You begin on them immediately. I have some other matters to straighten out first." He orders.

Sarah gives him a small, mock salute with a grin. "Yes, sir!" She says and gets the rolled up plans. She then smirks at the prisoners. "This is going to be fun, don't worry." She evilly chuckles before walking out of the room.

Private and Trixy look at each other now. They each then start to work on their bindings with renewed effort. They know they need to get back and tell the others about what Komodo had said. They are not sure if Komodo is telling the truth that Blowhole was bluffing and Marissa is actually the only one who wasn't poisoned, or if Komodo was bluffing and Marissa is the only one poisoned. Trixy finally manages to dislodge her gag. She spits some and then starts biting on her rope.

"Mmm mmm!" Private exclaims.

"Sorry, Priv, but I'll do your gag in a moment." She says between segments of gnawing on her ropes. She is still chewing on the ropes when Komodo walks back into the room with his smug and pleased look.

"Feeling ill yet?" He chuckles.

Trixy gives him a look and shakes her head, hoping he doesn't notice the absence of her gag in her beak. 'Now...Start telling us about the plan so that the others have more time to find and rescue us...' She thinks. 'You know you want to brag about your plan. All of you villians do...'

Dr. Komodo then smirks. "Now once you are—"

"—Doc!" Sarah dashes into the room. "Sorry about the interruption, but the zookeeper is coming." She says.

"Darn." He snorts and glares at the penguins. "I'll be back." He then follows Sarah out and takes off his lab-coat and monocle as he does so. Sarah hides in the bush while Komodo crawls out of the cave of his habitat on all fours, unhappily dragging his belly along the ground and flicking his forked tongue.

"Good evening, Nelson, we've got you a little friend in!" The zookeeper happily smiles as she wheels a large crate into the enclosure. She places the cart down and pats Komodo on the head.

The large lizard frowns. 'Do that again, Peggy, and I will bite you...' He thinks and looks at the crate. 'And I didn't order a 'friend.'' He then watches as zookeeper Peggy struggles with opening the crate.

"Come on, girl, welcome to your new home!" She smiles, once she has opened the crate. She then gets out of the habitat. "You two have fun now!" She calls back and waves.

Komodo waits for a moment before standing up, placing his monocle back at his eye, and putting the lab coat back on as he walks on his hind legs over to the crate. Another Komodo dragon crawls out on her stomach and then stands up, rubbing her head. "Dang, mate, is she blind or something? Because she so did not have that the right way up..." She grumbles.

The scientist looks unamused at her. "You can go back to wherever you come from now." He says as he walks away. "I don't have time for this..." He grumbles.

"Oh?" She looks at him curiously with bright blue eyes. "Who are you?" She asks.

"Not that it is any of your business, I am Dr. Nelson Komodo, evil genius." He snorts and looks at the bush. "Sarah, get a return label and get this woman out of here."

Sarah nods and gets out of the bush. "Right away, doc." She nods and goes to the lower levels quickly.

"Nelson? Kind of a nerdy name..." The new lizard mumbles. "Anyway, I'm Talia." She says. "And I can't go back to where I came from, mate, because that zoo closed."

"I'm not your mate." Nelson snorts as he walks into the cave. "And do NOT follow me."

Talia doesn't listen and follows him anyway. "So...You're a villain, mate?" She asks.

"That is a way to put it, and I'm terribly busy right now trying to do away with my arches if you don't mind." He growls.

"Ah, no wonder you're grumpy." She nods some and looks around. "Nice lab thingy, though...That is what this is, right?"

"Will you not just go back up there to your crate and leave me be?" He glares some.

Talia pretends to think for a moment. "Nah, mate, sounds like all the action's going to be down here." She shrugs and starts to explore.

Dr. Komodo sighs and looks at the badgers. "Watch her. Make sure she doesn't touch anything." He says and walks back to the tied up penguins, only...They are no longer there. "And where are my prisoners?!" He then shouts.

As soon as Rico swings into a stop in front of the West Park Zoo penguin habitat, Marissa hops out. "I shouldn't be long, you all could just wait here." She says and then slides to the hatch to find it locked. She sighs and then bangs in the dish. "Rachel! Open the hatch!" She then waits for a moment, looking highly unamused. She soon then gives up and slides to one of the other entrances. 'She must be out on a date or has her music cranked up too loud to here me...' She thinks as she unlocks one of the back entrances and waddles in.

Marissa looks around and then goes to the elevator. She then waits impatiently as it descends far, far down to Trixy's level. She then steps into the level once it dings and opens. "Okay...Now where did she have that map at..." She murmurs and looks around. She finds the button panel and presses a few until one finally causes the wall to flip. "Bingo." She smiles and waddles over to it. She looks at then pins and the colored strings on the map before nodding and going back to the elevator. As she gets in, though, she calls Kowalski.

"Yes?" He answers as he sits out in the car with the others.

"Tell Skipper that they are most likely being held at Hoboken Zoo." She says as she stands in the elevator.

Kowalski nods and does so but then looks curious. "Aren't you coming?" He asks her.

Marissa shrugs some. "Do I really need to? They have you and Cecelia as analysts. I'm not really needed there. I could instead be working on this experiments and inventions that I haven't finished."

"But she's your teammate..." He says with a small frown.

"And she and Private will fit better in the vehicle if I stay behind." She kind of sighs as the elevator opens and she waddles out of it again.

Skipper hears the phone conversation and rolls his eyes. "Tell her to get in here pronto." He says. "Which is an order."

Kowalski nods. "Skipper orders you to come out here and come with us."

Marissa sighs again. "Fine, but he isn't my skipper." She says as she climbs up the ladder, though with one of her unfinished inventions. "He can't order me around." She says as she holds the phone with her shoulder and goes up the ladder.

"Try telling that to Skipper..." Kowalski chuckles a little.

"I just might, you know, I've got less than a day to live as it is." She shrugs some and waddles out to the car. She puts her phone away with a small frown. 'No. He isn't a friend anymore, Marissa.' She reminds herself and gets into the car. "Alright, let's go..."

"Ooh, what's this do, mate?" Talia asks and pokes at a laser ray.

"Don't touch that!" Butch says and crawls over. "I don't know, but it should be deadly."

Talia turns and looks at him. "Oh? Nelson's just got dinner running free here? Not bad, not bad at all." She grins a bit.

"D-Dinner?" Butch stutters and backs up. "No, no, I'm the doc's henchman. Not dinner." He waves his paws.

Talia looks at him. "Nah, mate, I know dinner when I see it. Never had roast badger?"

Butch looks at her scared and quickly runs and hides behind Sarah. "She's going to eat us!" He exclaims.

Sarah glances at him and rolls her eyes. "Wow, I knew you were a moron, I didn't realize you were a coward, too." She snorts and turns the page of the fashion magazine she looks through.

Butch cowers behind her for a few moments before then thinking some. "Connor!" He then exclaims and scampers off.

Sarah folds a corner of the magazine. "That one's hot..." She mutters and then glances at Talia. "He went that way." She says. "I'd suggest swallowing him whole so he won't runaway."

"Oh, he's got the making for vixen stew, too?"

"Try to eat me and you'll be a lizard kabob." She snorts and grabs another magazine. "But, Butch and Connor are on the menu, if ya want." She snickers. "The IQ in here just might go up a few digits."

Talia looks at her curiously. "Are you like Nelson's girlfriend or something?" She asks.

"Ew." Sarah says with a look. "He's like thirty and my dad." She shuts the magazine.

"He's your dad?!" Talia looks at her now very weirdly. "No offense, but that's messed up, mate."

Sarah gives her a look. "Adoptive father." She snorts and gets up. "But, he's caught up on some evil dolphin." She chuckles.

Talia just looks at her, seeming to be trying to process this. "Dolphin?"

"I am not!" Komodo storms in. "Sarah, get up and find those penguins!" He growls.

"Sure thing, doc." The vixen snickers and gets up.

Komodo just shakes his head with a sigh and looks at the female Komodo dragon. "Why exactly are you here anyway?" He asks.

"The zoo closed up and this is the one they sent me to." She shrugs. "Guess they thought you were lonely."

Dr. Komodo sighs and runs his face. "Not to be too blatant, but you are messing up my plans, Miss Talia." He says. "So, if you could wait out in the normal habitat, that would be wonderful."

Talia looks at him. "And what if instead I could tell you where the little feathered runts went?" She smirks and looks at her claws. "But, if you really want me to go out there, mate, and keep that tidbit to myself..." She then sighs dramatically and starts to the entrance. "I guess I can."

Komodo just looks at her. "If you really know where they are..." He takes a deep breath. "Then I guess you can stay...For now."

"Shake on it." She says and holds her forefoot out to him with a look.

He sighs and shakes it. "Now where are they?"