Okay. So I haven't updated in, like, forever. Is anyone still there? *crickets chirp*

…No? I thought so.

Anyway, there's a good reason for the lateness. I had so many things going on at school, and amid all the projects, tests, papers, and finals, I had hit a writer's block. No, scratch that. I didn't just hit a writer's block. I rammed/crashed/slammed into it so hard that I left a nice, detailed, ruthc93-shaped dent on it. Amazing, huh?

Oh yeah, and I've just recently caught the flu. The world must hate me.

Anyway, I'd again like to thank Illyria Lives, Absolutechimera, EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD, 2 be loved, and Shiona Acitiu for their reviews. And thank you to all who were willing to wait. It's winter break for me now, so I should be able to update more frequently. Should.

Anyways, this chapter continues where we left off. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Don't own POM. But it'd be totally awesome if I did.

Chapter 5: Trust

(Five Days Later)

"What is it that you wanted to show us, Kowalski?" Private asked the scientist excitedly. Kowalski had called the others into his lab, saying he wanted to show them something. Skipper was anxious, though, but he did his best to hide it.

"Do you remember that device we brought back with us a little over a month ago?" Kowalski asked as he walked over to one of the many counters. The other members confirmed with nods and verbal replies.

"I was playing around with the parts and got some pretty interesting results. Rico, I think you'll like these." He picked up a pair of knife and handed them to the silent operative. Rico took them and examined them in interest while Kowalski continued. "I was able to mold the alloy from the shell of the device into these knives. If you would recall, I had said that the alloy is stronger that titanium."

He picked up another item. It looked like a pipe. "Now, this is a pure titanium rod, completely solid. Rico, I'm going to swing it at you, and I want you to block it."

"Block?" Rico frowned. A solid titanium rod, he learned from experience, would easily break any knife he used. He must have lost at least a dozen knives to it. But as Kowalski nodded, he decided that if the scientist said it was fine, all he could do was trust him.

He got into a defensive stance as Kowalski swung the pole at him in what he suspected was full force. He didn't even think as the hands holding the knives shot up in reflex to block the weapon. But, instead of shattering upon impact like he expected, the knives held. He was pushed back an inch due to the force, but the knives held.

Rico blinked in surprise. He stepped back to check the knives and found that they were as good as new. There were no dents, no scratches that indicate that they had just blocked a titanium pole. Rico felt his lips tug into a satisfied smile.

"That's not all." Kowalski said. "Rico, think fast."

Rico's hands moved before his eyes registered something flying towards him at an alarming speed. Without thinking, he lashed out at the object and swung the blades at it in full force. To his surprise, the object that he now recognized as the titanium pole clattered to the floor in three separate pieces. He stared first at the pieces, and then at the knives he held. The blades were not chipped.

Realizing what this meant, his lips pulled into a wild grin.

"I've tested them a few times, and I can assure you that those knives can slice through virtually any solid object." Kowalski concluded. Rico nodded and offered the knives back, but the strategist shook his head. "I want you to keep them, Rico. You'll be able to use them better than I ever can."

Rico's eyes fired up with excitement as he twirled the knives in a way only he could. "Thanks."

"Impressive." Skipper commented. They watched as Rico began pulling out other knives to compare them to his newest additions. "You got anything else?"

"Well, there's this."

Skipper tuned out whatever the scientist said after that, and instead glanced at the illuminated numbers on Kowalski's Notepad, which was lying on a nearby counter. It was already past 1500 hours. Marlene must already be there by now.

At the thought of the strong-willed girl, Skipper frowned inwardly. She had been acting a little off lately. He couldn't tell exactly what was off, but the feeling was there nonetheless. He knew it couldn't be something he did, because when he asked Marlene about it, the girl had blinked and replied that she didn't think she was acting any different. Skipper could only assume that it was his own paranoia that went a bit overboard.

"Skipper?"

Private's concerned voice brought the Penguin leader out of his thoughts. He looked up to see all three of his teammates staring at him in concern.

"Skipper, are you feeling alright?" Private asked.

"Of course." Skipper replied briskly. He noticed Kowalski's eyes narrow at him. He stared back. "Why wouldn't I be?"

The tension lasted about 2 seconds before the taller operative turned away.

"Anyways, that's it for now." Kowalski said as if the exchange between them didn't happen. "You can go ahead a try more with those knives, Rico." He said with a slight nod. Rico nodded back carefully and turned to the youngest among them. "Private, wanna help?"

The British boy's eyes lit up at the thought of seeing Rico practice his skills. "Of course!" He replied cheerfully before following the older operative out the sliding doors.

There was a short period of silence before Skipper spoke up. "Well, I'd better get going, then." He said as he started to walk out of the lab.

"If you see Julien, can you tell him to get over here? He left something here the last time he decided to invite himself in."

"Ringtail?" Skipper frowned. Then he shrugged and continued out the door. "Sure, I'll see if I can find hi-"

He stopped abruptly when a hand suddenly closed on his shoulder. He glanced back over his shoulder at the only other person in the room. The scientist's face showed a mixture of triumph and…sadness?

"What?" Skipper demanded. Kowalski looked at him solemnly, "Skipper. Team Lemur was sent on a mission just yesterday."

They were? The thought flashed through his mind before he could stop it. But he kept his face expressionless.

"But I guess it's fair that you couldn't have known. You weren't there." Kowalski continued, his grip on his leader's shoulder tightening. "It's almost humorous, though. You used to be the first one to know when a team is sent out."

"Are you implying something?" Skipper asked suspiciously.

"Since I know lying to you wouldn't help with anything, I'll get straight to the point." Kowalski replied. "Maybe you should take some time off from your topside training.

"Right." Skipper nodded, unconvinced. "Let me guess, Tom set you up to this."

"We're all worried." Kowalski said, ignoring the accusation altogether. Skipper shook his head with a chuckle. "Kowalski, I've known you for what, seventeen years?"

"Sixteen years and eleven months." The scientist corrected automatically. He decided to leave out the days and hours.

"Sixteen years and eleven months." Skipper repeated. "But the point is I can tell when you're lying."

"I wasn't lying." Kowalski defended. "We are worried."

"And Tom didn't set you up to this?"

Kowalski didn't answer, but Skipper knew he hit the mark. He sighed. "And you two even managed to get Rico into this. Didn't I already say I'm fine?"

Again, the strategist didn't answer. Skipper shrugged out of his grip and walked forward. "And now that we got that clear, I'll be on my way."

He didn't take more than two steps when Kowalski spoke again.

"Why would you trust that girl like that? It's not like you."

Skipper froze mid-step. Immediately, the tension in the lab skyrocketed. It was so thick got not even Rico's new set of knives couldn't have cut through it.

"Kowalski…" Skipper looked back at his long-time friend with icy eyes. "You haven't been monitoring me, have you?"

The strategist looked back at him, the determination in his eyes unwavering. "There's something you need to know about her, Skipper."

"Don't." Skipper growled. He turned back to the door and marched through it

"Skipper, wait!" Kowalski called after him and grabbed his arm. "This is impor-"

He was cut off when Skipper used one swift move to twist out of his grip and grab his collar, slamming him against the wall in the hallway. He grunted in pain and looked at his friend in shock.

"Don't." Skipper repeated, this time much more intense than before. As the ice-cold eyes glared at him, Kowalski felt something run up his spine. It was an emotion he hadn't felt toward his friend in a very long time.

Fear.

Skipper kept his hold for five more seconds before letting go. Kowalski slid down and leaned heavily against the wall as he watched the Penguin leader disappear down the hall, still half-shocked about what just happened. He placed a shaking hand to his own chest to try and control his hurried breaths.

After a full minute, he was finally able to bring himself to stand without shaking. Suddenly, he was aware that he wasn't alone.

Doris looked at him with shock, confusion, and concern. One didn't need to ask to know she had witnessed the entire ordeal. Hesitantly, she asked, "Kowalski… is…is everything alright?"

For a moment, he didn't answer, partly because he wasn't sure what the answer was. Then he sighed. "Yeah. Everything's just perfect."

Marlene sighed as she leaned against the low wall that prevented her from plummeting to her death. She glanced at the time on her cell phone and groaned.

He's so dead when he gets here. She thought angrily. Where is he, anyways?

Unconsciously, her hand went to rub her upper left arm. When she realized what she was doing, she frowned and rolled up the sleeve to look at the newest addition to her skin.

The pitch black ink of the spade stared back at her.

Five days. She thought incredulously. It's been five days, and it still doesn't feel right to have this on me.

Ant had assured her that the feeling wasn't anything out of ordinary. He had even said that it'd be weird if she didn't feel anything at all. But five days?

During the five days she did her best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling, but she still found herself unconsciously trying to cover the tattoo up. She must have done a pretty good job, because Skipper hadn't asked her about it yet. That, or he might have simply decided to ignore it.

She gave a frustrated sigh. Normally, she would've just practiced on her own. But this time she needed the black-haired man to appear. What's taking him so long?

She stared at the dummy they had put up three days ago. She liked practicing with the dummy. At least like this, she could actually hit something. Suddenly, an idea hit her. Bending down, she picked up a small piece of the coal that had been long since forgotten and wrote her mentor's name on the face of the dummy. She then added the widow's peak and emphasized the flat chin.

Marlene took a step back to observe her work. Then she threw the coal aside and began attacking the dummy. With each punch and kick, she imagined it actually hitting the Penguin leader. Strangely enough, doing so brought her a strange sense of satisfaction.

"Hah." She said triumphantly and finished it with a powerful roundhouse to the head. "Take that!"

Unfortunately for her, she had put too much power into the kick. The straw head flew off the dummy and, even more unfortunately for her, stopped abruptly as it was caught by a hand. A half-gloved hand.

Marlene fought the urge to bang her head against the wall as Skipper turned the ball of straw around and saw the markings she had added earlier.

"Hmm. I didn't know you hated me that much." Skipper commented with an amused smirk. This time, Marlene fought the urge to jump off the roof.

After that, Skipper apologized about being so late. Marlene decided that staying angry at him wouldn't really help with anything. Especially if she wanted what she was going to do next to succeed.

"Fine, I forgive you." She said with a huff. "Anyway, there's a reason why I was actually waiting for you."

"Really?" Skipper asked with mock surprise as he walked over to the rest of the dummy and placed the head back on.

"Yeah. I found this other place that I think seems good enough for us to train at. I was thinking maybe you can go take a look at it." Marlene said. "Of course, if you don't like it, we can still come back here." In reality, it was Ant who had stumbled upon that place when they went out to buy various daily needs. Ant had brushed the place off, saying that it's not worth anything. Marlene figured her surrogate brother wouldn't be returning anytime soon.

"A new place, huh?" Skipper thought about it. It wouldn't hurt to find another place to train. It could also get Kowalski off his back for a while. Besides, he knew he could trust Marlene, since…

"Sure." Skipper replied with a shrug. "So where is this place?"

Marlene hid a smile. "C'mon then. I'll show you."

A few minutes later, they were standing in front of an old warehouse.

"So, is this the place?" Skipper asked.

"Yeah. Found it this morning." Marlene replied.

They stood there for a while, staring at the warehouse in silence. Finally, Marlene shrugged. "Well, let's go inside and take a look."

Skipper nodded, and they both made their way towards the door. Skipper held the door open for Marlene before stepping in himself.

The moment he was inside, however, all of his internal alarms blared like crazy.

Something…something isn't right…!

Skipper clenched his fist. What on earth was this? Why did this feel so…so…wrong? This was the first time he's felt like this around Marlene. Why now?

"Skipper? You're acting weird." Marlene said as she looked at him.

Skipper shook his head. "Nah, I'm fi-"

He stopped abruptly as he caught sight of something black showing underneath the girl's sleeve. Something that stood out in stark contrast against her pale skin. Without thinking, he reached out, grabbed the arm, and rolled up the sleeve.

"Hey!" Marlene objected. But he didn't hear her. All he could do was stare at the black marking on Marlene's arm.

The ace of spades.

No…no! It can't be! His mind shouted. His hand unconsciously tightened around the arm, earning a wince from the girl.

"Skipper? What's the deal?" She demanded.

"You…" Skipper said slowly, willing his voice to be as steady as his chaotic mind would let him. "You're one of them?"

"What?"

The leader was given no time to answer as a commanding voice suddenly sounded throughout the entire warehouse.

"Get him!"

In a split second, the once deserted warehouse was suddenly full of people. It didn't take long for Skipper to realize that not only were the people armed with either blunted or sharp objects, they were also charging at him. For the first few seconds he was able the react in time and make sure none of them got to him or Marlene. But the stampede continued, and soon, Marlene was pushed out of his sight.

He cursed as he fended off some more attackers and tried to look for Marlene at the same time. But there were simply too many of them. He'd take down one of them, and three would take his place. Eventually, he was overpowered and forced to his knees. At least a dozen hands restricted his arms, and he could feel at least three knees pressing into his calves, making it impossible for him to move.

"We got him, boss! We got him!" He heard someone shout. He looked up to see the mob clearing a way for someone as they walked towards him. A man that looked a bit older than him stopped in front of him.

"Well, lookie here. It really is you!" The man said in a cheerful tone. "And I was so worried that we might've mistaken."

"You!" Skipper growled at him. He remembered this person. They've met before. They've met quite a lot of times, actually, but neither cared enough to learn the name of the other. They looked at each other, one with an all-too-bright smile, and one with a heated glare.

Throughout the chaos around them, another figure suddenly pushed their way into the circle the mob had formed around them.

"Skipper!" The figured called. Skipper's eyes widened. He had almost forgotten about her. Marlene looked at him at first, and then she laid her eyes at the man standing between them. Her expression changed to one of confusion.

"What…what's going on?" She asked.

The man smirked as he walked over to her. "Ah, I'm so glad you were able to make it, Marlene."

Skipper's head spun. He didn't want to believe it. But the man's next words confirmed his suspicions.

"We couldn't have caught him without you leading him here, you know." The man draped an arm over her shoulders. "I owe you one, sis."

What? Marlene thought frantically. She looked over at Skipper, hoping that he could see she didn't know this was going to happen. She winced inwardly when she saw Skipper's eyes showing a mixture of hurt, sadness, and anger. He looked away.

"No, Skipper, I-" She tried to call out to him, but Ant cut her off. "Take him out." He ordered.

Before Marlene could blink, she felt something whiz past her, and Skipper suddenly grunted in pain and slumped over.

"Skipper!" Marlene yelled, fearing the worst. She struggled against her brother's hold, but Ant held on firmly.

"Hey, hey, relax! He's just unconscious, that's all." Ant assured her. Marlene fought back tears as she slowly ceased her struggles. "Ant…why?"

"It's not like I like doing this, you know. But hey, he's practically on the very top of our 'capture on sight' list."

"Our?" Marlene repeated.

Ant chuckled. "I haven't properly introduced you to this, have I?" He snapped his fingers, and the other underlings moved to carry the Penguin leader's unconscious form away.

"You see, Marlene, I'm part of something called The Aces. And, well, we're not exactly on the right side of the law."

"You mean, like a gang?" She asked hesitantly.

"Oh, it's far more than that. You can almost say we're a criminal organization." Ant smiled. "And, from this moment on, you're one of us."

Marlene took a step back warily. "No…I'll never…I can't…" She stammered, trying to find the right words.

"Well," Ant shrugged. "You don't really have a choice, you know."

Marlene's head snapped up at him in shock. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"That tattoo you've been trying so hard to hide, what do you think it stands for?"

Her hand flew up to finger the tattoo on reflex. She gasped lightly as realization dawned on her. "No…"

"Yes." Her brother replied bluntly. "As long as you bear that mark, you belong with The Aces. Oh, and don't even think about trying to remove it. It won't work. Believe me, I've tried. More than once."

Marlene sighed with relief inwardly. She knew it. Ant must've been forced to join, too. He wouldn't join something like this voluntarily.

"Anyways, c'mon." Ant offered her a hand. "It's time to show you one of our bases."

Marlene hesitated. But she soon realized that it wasn't an offer.

In the end, she had no choice but to accept the hand.

Skipper woke up feeling like he just got hit by a train.

It didn't take long for him to remember what had happened, and he quickly took a look around him.

He was in a holding cell that looked more like a large cage than anything, with on side built into the wall he's leaning against. The room that contained the cage was completely barren, with no openings except for a single door. Heavy cuffs wrapped around his wrists and were chained to the wall. The only parts left of his Penguin uniform were the pants, shoes, and the black tank top he had worn underneath the white T-shirt.

They even took the belt. He thought in annoyance. The belt contained most of his means of escape, but The Aces clearly knew about that. On the bright side, they only knew about that.

Reaching down to the sole of one of the shoes, he pulled out a thin wire. He never thought he'd get the chance to use it, since Kowalski and Rico usually did the lock picking. But now, he's alone.

Well, I'm not Kowalski or Rico, but I might as well give it a shot. He held onto the wire with his teeth and slowly lowered the end into the hole on the cuffs.

After five full minutes, Skipper began to lose patience. Kowalski and Rico always made it look so easy. Frustrated, he leaned back onto the wall rest his jaws.

Suddenly, the door opened.

"Hey, look who's awake!" An all too familiar voice said. Skipper glared at him as Ant closed the door behind him.

"What's with that face, Skippy? It's not like we're mortal enemies." Ant then gasped dramatically. "Oh, right. We are mortal enemies."

Skipper froze for a split second. Then he growled. "Don't you dare call me that!"

"What? Oh, you mean Skippy?" Ant smiled almost innocently. "And why not, Skippy?"

By then, the brunet had already made his way into the cage. Skipper scowled, both at Ant's taunting and the way he spun the key with one finger.

Suddenly, without a warning, Ant's fist flew at his face. The drug's after effects were still present, making Skipper unable to react in time. He grunted as the fist hit his face with enough force to make him black out for a few seconds.

"Ha. You wouldn't believe how long I've been waiting to do that." Ant said with a satisfied laugh. Skipper blinked repeatedly, trying to clear the stars from his vision.

"I'd love to have you to myself for a few more hours, but alas, a bigger show awaits you." He said with a big smile, like he had just announced the greatest news of the day. "Wouldn't want you to miss that, now would we?"

Skipper glared, refusing to say anything. Ant's smile only got wider. "Better prepare yourself, Skippy."

And with that, he relocked the cage and left the room.

Skipper let out a sigh and hit the back of his head against the wall behind him in frustration.

I never should have trusted her. He thought bitterly. Sure, he had a good reason to, but, look where that got him. He had trusted her, and yet…

I'll never make that mistake again.

He smirked wryly as he recalled the incident from early today.

Is this what you tried to warn me about, Kowalski?

To be continued…

Ah…cliffhanger. Again. Wow am I evil.

This chapter is relatively shorter than the one before, but I thought it was a good place to stop. Again, o evil me. XD

I actually planned this way before I started writing. It was one of the scenes that inspired the entire story. How many people did I scare with this?

You know, I didn't intend for Skipper and Kowalski's argument to end on such a tense note. You know how the story sometimes ends up writing itself? Yeah, that's what happened there. I kinda like how it turned out, though. It brings out more emotions when Skipper realized that Kowalski was right.

One reader was sharp enough to figure out that Ant was part of The Aces. Let's give it up for Shiona Acitiu! As a reward, I'll sketch you whatever POM related art you want. Just not the animal forms. Because I seriously can't. XD

Some other arts are up, too! Check them out in my profile!

Well then, until next time! Which hopefully won't be another seven weeks later. *is brick'd*

~ruth~