Skipper stared at Maria for a while. He felt of feeling of uncertainty crawling beneath his skin. She was too sweet. Too…nice. She wasn't normal; that was clear from the start. She was beautiful (one of the reasons he doubted her) and smart. Beauty, intelligence, and sweetness did not go together. Anyone who was sweet, intelligent, and beautiful usually couldn't be trusted. He didn't trust her. But he knew he wouldn't be able to just kick her out. He'd be criticized for that and someone would tell her to return to the zoo. It wasn't worth it. Either way she was staying at the zoo.

Her story was a little odd too. She said she came from Missouri. She lived with her family there until some people came and kidnapped her. She got free and ran to the zoo. It was too simple. Too many details were missing. When he asked about it, she just stared at him and said she rather not talk more about it. She didn't show a lot of emotion. She only had two it seemed. Sweetness, and boredom. She did show intelligence though. The words she used weren't normal, and he hadn't fully understood most of them. They reminded him of Kowalski.

A few minutes ticked by before he did anything. He didn't believe her, he didn't know her, and above all else, he didn't trust her. But he had to do something, his gut was rarely wrong and at the moment it was telling him that this Maria wasn't telling him the whole truth

He turned and walked back to the penguin habitat. He didn't know if she'd follow or not, but he didn't care. He didn't understand her. He felt as if a rat had just penetrated his HQ and he just wanted to get away from her. Something wasn't right about her. She had come out of nowhere, told a story, which he was having trouble believing, flashed a cute smile, and expected him to just give her a bed, a roof, and a place to call home. He hated the thought of it but he would have to get used to said thought because he knew that no one would allow him to send her packing based only on his gut. His stomach knotted up, and his mind wet on its' routine run through of everything that could go wrong. It gave him a terrible headache. He walked back to the habitat and jumped in.

A few seconds later he heard Maria jump in behind him. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He had hoped she didn't follow. He surveyed the HQ. Kowalski was working on something on the table, he hadn't looked up from his work. Sparks from the blowtorch flew everywhere as he worked. Private was watching TV. He was watching that stupid Lunicorn thing again. Rico was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Rico?" He demanded. He didn't need to be looking for Rico right now.

"He said he was going to find you," Private replied without looking up.

Skipper sighed. He turned and was about to jump out, when Rico landed in front of him.

"Uh Hi," He said shyly.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "Rico, this is Maria," He said bored. "Maria, Rico." He turned and went to his coffee, taking a sip and turning back to Maria. "Welcome."

Kowalski looked up from his work to tell Skipper something but was stopped dead by Maria. She was beautiful. Her feathers glistened like the stars in a clear night sky. And her eyes were a brilliant crimson red. When she smiled at him he nearly fainted, her smile was so sweat, so beautiful.

Skipper turned to walk back to the table and Kowalski caught his eye. He sighed and rolled his eyes again. What was with these guys? How could they be so easily fooled by this girls beauty? There was something about this girl that wasn't right. He had a feeling that she was conniving and seductive, though he had no reason for these feelings, just the old gut instinct sending him mayday signals that told him trusting her would end in disaster. He didn't trust her anyway. It was her eyes. They were blood red. Hungry blood red. Like demon eyes, searching for another victim to take back to the devil himself.

He sat down at the table and stared at her. She was talking to Kowalski about something. He couldn't wrap his mind around what they were thinking. She was obviously too comfortable to be normal. Not that anyone else in the zoo was in that class either, but there was something odd about her. Something that made him uneasy. And he was determined to find out what that was.

Maria didn't take her eyes off of Skipper. It was clear from the start the penguin felt uneasy. That he hardly wanted a thing to do with her. But if she was going to get a taste of him she'd have to change that. Or maybe not. First above all, she would have to scope out this zoo and see what her options were. then she could go from there.