Perry had a small idea as to how he could get Portia to open up to him but he knew he couldn't try it now; she was much too wound up. And besides, she'd probably need to be moved to a different cell while they fixed the bed in her cell. He hoped they wouldn't punish her too harshly for that.

He decided to go back to the hospital wing to see Pinky. It was only an hour or so since he had last seen his best friend but he figured that he didn't really have anything else to do, since Pansy had broken up with him.

When he entered the hospital wing, Apollo spotted him and gave him a look.

"Am I okay to visit Pinky again?" Perry asked.

"I suppose. How come? You were in here just an hour ago."

"I've had a bit of a rough hour," Perry said simply.

Apollo raised his eyebrows but he didn't comment.

Perry walked over to Pinky's bed and found the Chihuahua lying in his bed, looking asleep. Perry sat in the chair next to the bed and leant back in exhaustion.

"Are you okay?" came Pinky's voice.

Perry studied his friend. "Sorry, I thought you were asleep."

"You look rough," Pinky continued, pretending Perry hadn't spoken. "How come you're back again?"

"Pansy broke up with me."

Pinky stared at Perry. "Seriously? What happened?"

"I don't know if I can explain," Perry said, looking away. "I'll have to explain my past in order to explain why Pansy and I broke up."

"And you don't want to tell me your past," Pinky guessed. Perry nodded miserably. Pinky placed his hand on Perry's. "It's okay, Perry. You're my best friend, and I hope you know you can tell me anything. But if you don't feel comfortable-."

"No, it's about time I told you anyway," Perry sighed. "Besides, if I don't tell you, you'll probably find out from someone else." He took a deep breath. "Have you heard of ARCHANGEL?"

Pinky nodded. "Major Monogram got me up to speed. They're the evil organisation who attacked us. Apparently they use animal operatives like us."

Perry nodded. "Well…for the first five years of my life, I was raised by—and fought for—ARCHANGEL."

Pinky's eyes widened. "What?"

"They took me away from my parents when I was a few days old and they trained me up for five years to fight for them, which I did. The training was hard and gruelling; we were punished if we didn't do things correctly, whether that be broken rules or not-mastered moves. During those five years, I made three friends: Portia the Platypus—the one who knocked me out—Georgia the Golden Retriever, and Oliver the Ocelot. But five years ago, I accidentally broke a rule and I was punished harshly. I tried to stand up for myself but then I was given an even harsher punishment for it. So I ran. I ran for ages, before Monty Monogram found me and his father made me a member of OWCA."

Pinky was silent for a moment. Perry stopped to give his best friend time to digest all the information. "So you fought for ARCHANGEL," he said eventually.

"Five years ago," Perry quickly said. "I'm not at all loyal to them anymore."

"I never said you were."

Perry felt grateful that Pinky didn't doubt his allegiance. "Major Monogram thinks I am. He actually asked me to my face if I still had any kind of loyalty towards ARCHANGEL, as if they weren't the people who abused me for five years."

"You still stayed for five years," Pinky pointed out.

"Firstly, I had nowhere else to go," Perry said. "Secondly, I had Portia, Georgia, and Oliver, and the tasks they sent us on were actually quite fun."

He stopped himself, hoping Pinky wouldn't ask about the tasks. Luckily, he only asked, "So why did you and Pansy break up?"

"I took her down to see Portia," Perry replied. "Because she demanded me to. Pansy kind of angered Portia, who ended up throwing her bed at the glass."

"But the beds are attached to the wall," Pinky said, frowning.

"Exactly. Anyway, Portia and I…well…we were basically childhood sweethearts."

"Ah." Pinky sucked air through his teeth. "Bet Pansy loved that."

"Yeah," Perry said slowly. He told Pinky what Pansy had said after their visit.

"She's pretty confident," commented Pinky. "She's very confident that you're going to choose her."

"I don't know what's going on at the moment," Perry confessed. "Pansy loves me and I have a lot of feelings for Pansy. Portia hates me because I "betrayed" her but I also have strong feelings for Portia. My head and my heart for once are both confused."

Pinky chuckled, which threw Perry. "What?"

"I was going to say "listen to your heart" but then you said that."

"Oh." Perry paused. "So what do you think I should do?"

"Listen to your heart."

"I'm serious."

Pinky sighed. "Look, go talk to Portia alone and see if you can get her to open up. If you show her your side of things and why you chose to join OWCA, maybe she'll develop feelings for you again."

"Maybe." That actually cheered Perry up. "You know, that might work. Thanks."

"Are you sure you don't know who you want to be with?" Pinky asked dubiously.

"I'm sure. Why?" Perry frowned.

"It's just that…you seem to be wanting to make a lot of effort for Portia."

"That doesn't mean I'm going to choose her," Perry said. "It would mean a lot to me if we were just friends again."

"Trust me, if you were in love once and you try to be "just friends" now, it isn't going to work."

Perry sighed. "Thanks for helping."

He got up from his chair and left the hospital wing. He went into the deserted waiting room and flopped on his face onto the sofa. Why did life have to be so hard? Pansy, Portia, love, hate. Why did it all have to be so complicated?

All of a sudden, Pansy came running into the room, stopping when she saw Perry. "Perry, there you are!"

Perry twisted round to look at her. She looked like she'd been running for a while, and her face displayed both fear and urgency. "What is it?"

"Portia's escaped!"

…

*le gasp*