Chapter 18: I Don't Understand

Kowalski hops down into Skippsy's HQ with the two medicines. He sees Rachel rigging the door with explosives and frowns some. "Isn't that overkill?"

Rachel gives him a really worried look. "She's gone silent…"

"That's...Not good." He sighs and goes to the hinges with a screwdriver. "But still, blowing the door and her up is not the best way to get in to help her...Seeing as how then she would be in need of more than just an antidote..."

"It still seems like a good idea…" She sighs and takes her TNT back to a closet.

Kowalski rolls his eyes and unscrews the door from the wall. He then pulls on it and jumps quickly out of the way as it nearly falls on him. "Marissa?" He then asks and walks over the door, into the lab. He flips on the light and scans the room.

The lab looks nearly deserted of life. There are inventions spread out all over the room in disarray. There are a couple puddles of vomit on the floor. Some of her feathers are on the floor and a curled up figure lays in the shadows under the desk.

"Marissa." Kowalski waddles over to the curled figure and very softly pulls her out from under the desk. She lays there limp.

Kowalski bites his tongue as he feels for a pulse. "Come on, Marissa...You're too stubborn to be giving up this easily…" He silently murmurs as he starts to feel panicked as he feels her pulse is very weak. He administers the shot.

"Wake up…" He then says silently and shakes her shoulder. "Please?" His voice catches a bit and he checks again for a pulse.

There is no pulse this time and she just lays there. Kowalski then softly opens her beak and starts CPR. He then checks her pulse again. "Marissa...Come on, come on, come on." He mutters and sighs a little as he feels her having a pulse again, though weak.

"That's it, now you better keep that pulse." He says sternly and gives her the other shot. "You should be coming to soon...Hopefully." He swallows and glances around the room again. Kowalski then spies the bag from earlier and sees a note with his name on it. He softly lays Marissa in a better position on the ground before waddling over to the bag and opening it.

Kowalski combs through the plans and gets out the journal and the notepad and sits down next to her again. He checks her vital signs again before looking over her notepad. He reads through the different things she was feeling and experiencing and glances over at her again, softly, and checks her signs again. This time, her pulse felt more correct, still lower than it ought to be, but at least at a live-with-able level.

"That's good, keep it up, trying waking up soon." He smiles a little and gently strokes her chest. "You're doing well."

"Is she?" Rachel asks, peeking into the room, her headphones down around her neck.

Kowalski nods some. "She's unconscious, but she has a gradually improving pulse, so yes."

"Sh-shouldn't you take her to the vet or something?" She asks, sitting down at Marissa's work bench.

"There's nothing any of us can do until she wakes and we can analyze how bad her side effects are." He sighs and looks at the limp form again. "I figure it is best to move her the least as possible until then."

"Oh."

Kowalski nods and looks at the notebook again. "I'm thinking she probably has some temporary...Well, hopefully temporary paralysis which is making this a bit harder...Possibly some organ shut down, but we, nor the vet, have any equipment to be able to check without checking her for symptoms." He sighs. "Possibly we could break into a human hospital and check her there, but by the time that was achieved, if any of that is her problem, she would be dead anyway." He rubs his face. "So either...She will wake up...Or she won't….Or she'll wake up for a little and then that'll be it for her."

Rachel blinks at him and then looks at his friend. "Oh…So I guess she won't be conducting that test she was wanting run on Rico or me…."

"Well, at least not soon she won't...But she may still wake up…" He bites his tongue a little and looks at the other scientist.

"Okay…" The Peruvian nods, but doesn't look reassured. She waddles back out quietly.

Kowalski very softly wraps a blanket around Marissa and lays a few plans under her head as a pillow. "Any time now…." He whispers and lays down next to her. He quietly reads in her journal now and flips to the last entry. He then sits up and blinks. "With...love?" He looks at her with a perplexed look. He then looks at the notebook again and flips through it. He reads through another entry and feels almost panicked and looks at her again.

"I-I don't understand...I don't understand." He shakes his head and stands up, looking at her with a nearly terrified expression. "This...No...That can't be right. She isn't romantically inclined towards anyone. She's told me that numerous times…"

Kowalski rubs his beak and just stares at her unconscious form like she is something from another planet. "I-I just don't understand...Was this what Cecelia had meant?" He mutters. "Marissa jealous of her? No, Marissa is envious of my inventions, that is plain and simple...Or has she been?" He rubs his temples for a moment. "It's like suddenly learning that the sky is actually clear and that you've been lied to all your life." He sighs and looks at her. "It just...Doesn't make much sense at all…I don't understand"

Marissa then quietly whimpers and he returns to her. "Good, good, keep that up…I need you well enough to be interrogated profusely." He says. She replies with just another quiet moan and a small head movement. Kowalski very softly gets her flipper. "Come on, wake up."

Marissa moves a little more before growing extremely still again.

"Marissa?" Kowalski asks, starting to panic again and shakes her shoulder. "Marissa?! No! No, Marissa!?" He asks again and then again with growing urgency. "Marissa!"

A.N.-Poor girl...So sad to see her go...