Blowhole followed Doris grudgingly down Fifth Avenue, wincing at the cost of every purchase, and thinking of every possible better use of the time. Doris, on the other hand, was enjoying herself immensely, almost completely ignoring her brother until she wanted his credit card. She hadn't been out of the submarine in some time, though it was a big submarine with many rooms she had yet to explore, and was trying to make the most of her venture into civilization.
"You hungry?" She asked.
"Where do you want to go now?" He sighed, assuming she was only asking to see if she could fit in another few stores before lunch.
"How about Maison Koala?" She answered.
"Are you insane!"
"How much have you spent on lab equipment in the last few months…" Doris asked.
"Alright, fine."
"What do you want now!" the man exclaimed, trying not to make it so obvious he was cowering behind the desk in the restaurant, Maison Koala's, office.
"What, no hello?" Kowalski asked, trying to lighten the mood. Since Leonard wasn't in the insanely classified community, he hadn't heard of his team's demise, "The team's heard reports of a sleeping ninja trying to hug the local Rats. Did you have another late night Lunicorn marathon?"
"It's none of your business, go away." Leonard replied hurriedly.
"Head office has really been on my case with this one. I don't want the Rats attacking the restaurant again. We can't always be here to protect you," Kowalski really didn't want the Rats going after Leonard, since preventing something as big as that would unavoidably get media attention, and they couldn't wait for the professionals, since by the time a Penguin team arrived, it would be too late for Leonard and his family, "Now, did you watch the Lunicorns after 2100 or not?"
"Fine, I did," Leonard thought for a second. He hated Kowalski's stabilising treatment: equal amounts of time in front of mindless violence, "But I can't start the treatment on an empty stomach, and neither can you. Why don't you take a seat out in the restaurant and I'll make you a bowl of that fish stew you like."
"Are you trying to bribe me with food?"
"No, no, not at all…" Kowalski had to admit, the prospect of fresh fish stew sounded good.
"Alright, but you start your treatment immediately afterwards, no more stalling."
"Doris, I don't like any of this." Blowhole complained, staring at the menu. They'd managed to get a table almost immediately; after all, it wasn't a good idea to anger an alleged master criminal.
"No, you just can't read it and don't want to admit it." Doris replied.
"I've got an invention for that."
"And you left it behind." Doris looked through the menu, finally pointing to one of the main courses, "You're having that."
"Doris!"
"Don't complain, you like…"
"I don't care about the food, Doris, look behind you." He hissed. Doris turned around puzzled. Behind her was a table with only one chair, where a man, who's jeans and t-shirt probably didn't pass the dress code, sat enjoying a bowl of fish casserole, "Doris, does he look familiar to you?" He certainly did look familiar to her!
"Um… no?" As much as she wanted to run screaming at the man as to why he allowed her to think he was dead for over a year, she resisted the urge, knowing that revealing Kowalski's identity would only get him killed and her brother arrested. She was fine with inflicting grievous bodily harm with her handbag to reinforce the point that Kowalski was never to do that to her again, but she didn't want him dead. If another girl walked in and kissed him… well, then she wouldn't be so adverse to the idea. The thought that Kowalski may have replaced her was more frightening than anything she'd already thought of.
"Are you sure?"
"Can't place him. Why? Who do you think he resembles?"
"Your late boyfriend."
"Kowalski? No, he doesn't look like Kowalski." She replied hurriedly.
"Hm… strange." Blowhole went back to criticising the menu, Doris silently sighing with relief. She just had to find some way to speak to him alone.
"Amazing as ever, Leonard," Kowalski finished his bowl, "Now, about those eight hours of Shirtless Ninja…"
"I have a restaurant to run, come back this evening when we're closed."
"Then it wouldn't work. You'd fall asleep."
"I can't…"
"Excuse me?" Leonard turned around at the sound of the calling customer, "One second, I have to see to this young lady."
"Alright, Leonard, but if you're not back in ten minutes I will personally haul you back to the HQ and force you to watch twelve hours." Kowalski threatened. Leonard started off through the crowded restaurant towards the woman who had called for his attention.
"Yes madam?" Doris looked around; making sure her brother was more focused on his food than her.
"Would you give this to the gentleman at the table over there?" Doris asked, pointing to Kowalski as she handed Leonard a slip of paper.
"And if he should ask from whom the note came?"
"It's in the note."
"Not good not good not good not good…" Kowalski paced the lab frantically, occasionally glancing down at the slip of paper in his hands, "Fingerprints and handwriting check out, but is it from her…? Not good not good not good not…"
"What's not good?"
"Skipper?!" Kowalski exclaimed, then realising it was not Skipper, calmed down, "Oh… hello Private."
"What's that?"
"Nothing!" But Private had already taken the note before Kowalski could hide it under a nearby fire extinguisher.
"Dear Kowalski,
What on earth are you doing?! I thought you were dead? My brother almost recognised you back at the restaurant. Had to cover for you. Will talk to you about this later. Meet at my Tribeca apartment.
You'd better have a good explanation for this,
Doris,"
"Did you really have to read that aloud?" Kowalski winced, hoping Rico or Skipper wasn't hiding behind the door. He still checked, just in case, Private giving him an odd expression.
"All you have to do is not show up."
"Then you don't know Doris," Kowalski muttered, "If I don't show up, she will hunt me down…"
"She can't be that bad."
"… and if my excuse isn't good enough she will tell her brother…"
"Well, that is bad."
"Does magnesium burn in nitrogen?! Of course it's bad."
"I don't think it does." Private replied, thinking of the only experiment Kowalski had done which hadn't resulted in an explosion. In fact, it hadn't resulted in anything.
"Theoretically it can," Kowalski replied, unable to resist a science related question, "Anyway, after she tells her brother, and our cover is blown, our whole team and everyone associated with us will be horrifically…"
"You could tell Doris only you survived, and you were so shocked by the experience that you were able to do nothing for weeks and you had only started to get back on your feet in the last couple of months. You could say… um, you were separated from the group when you went back to get her photograph?"
"Brilliant idea, private!" Kowalski exclaimed, "How did you think of…?"
"You always miss the most obvious solution." Private replied.
"Obvious… yes that is pretty obvious," Kowalski stared at the wall lost in thought, "No, what if she thought it was too obvious too… and did some checks."
"You have a point."
"Yes, with her brother's resources she'd be able to recover the indestructible memory unit containing the footage from the cameras before they were destroyed. With her brother's resources, she'd be able to dig it up from under the ruins. They'd show us getting away. "
"They can't be easy to get to though, if Rockgut couldn't check it."
"No, he didn't have the password and couldn't risk wiping it after too many false attempts. But Doris would be able to guess the password."
"Why?" Private asked puzzled as to why one of the foremost spymasters in the world wouldn't be able to crack the password, yet Kowalski's terror of a girlfriend would be able to simply guess it.
"Because it's 'Doris'. The password is Doris. All my passwords are Doris."
"I don't suppose we could steal it first?"
"Does Rico have a bulldozer and two or three diggers in that back pack of his. No, she's going to find it," Kowalski continued to stare off into space, "No, she'll definitely find it…" Suddenly his face lit up, and Private could have sworn he saw a light bulb appear above his head, "Yes, she's going to find it."