A.N.— And here is chapter 13! :D I hope you enjoy :D

Chapter 13: The Dangers of Silence

"Great, then let's go, copper, before I try taking one of your weapons and freeing myself from your perpetual irritations." She says with an evil look. "And there are several ways I could do that, let me assure you..."

Pedro looks amusedly at Adriana. "And you're the one in a position to be making threats?" He asks.

Adriana shrugs. "I'm sure if you're this annoying all the time, that your jefe* may actually thank me." She says. "He or she would have probably a much more peaceful existence, verdad?"

"Nah." Pedro says, shaking his head a little. "Plus I'm sure mi amigo Bobby would hunt you down if you did so." He laughs.

This time Adriana shakes her head. "Nah. I'd get rid of him just before you." She says. "Just so you'll shut tú boca* up about him for a few minutes." She says and gives him a look.

"You're bluffing." He says as he starts waddling forward again. Adriana follows him and rolls her eyes.

"You wish, Copper." She says. "You wish." Pedro ignores her and continues waddling. Adriana looks amusedly at him. "Forgot how to speak?" She asks. Pedro still ignores her. Adriana frowns a little. "Fine. Ignore me. Dos pueden jugar ese juego.*" She kind of growls. She had thought that she had wanted Pedro to be quiet, but she is not fond of being ignored.

Pedro smiles a bit and glances back at Adriana. 'Amazing how I can just stop talking and she will too.' He thinks. He looks around and finds a familiar landmark; a tree. Sure, to the untrained eye it is a tree just like all the others, but not to Pedro who has been this way so many times before. He knows this tree is the secret entrance to the Brazilian Base. The tree had been long hollowed out and an elevator installed inside that goes down to the hidden underground base. Pedro smiles a little and continues waddling. He at least knows that he is still heading in the right direction.

Adriana waddles behind Pedro feeling very bored. She has no interest at all for these boring trees anymore. 'Tonight I'm so going to get freed from this cop.' She thinks. 'Map or no map, I have my compass and a good natural sense of direction. I'll be completely fine without the stupid map.' Adriana looks at Pedro's back a little as she thinks. 'It'll be gran to back on my own again...' She then remembers about an aggravating penguin whom keeps trying to persuade her to join his gang and frowns a little. "Yup, completely on my own. There's no way I'm going to go join up with that idiota." She murmurs to herself and looks around some more again, bored.

Pedro hears her murmur and glances back over his shoulder at her again. "Completely on your own?" He asks curiously and confused. "Idiota? Joining up? Huh?" He immediately begins to think that Adriana may already have a boyfriend and feels a stone drop in his stomach. 'Maybe that would be for the best...' He thinks.

"Ehm..." She starts out and looks at Pedro. "Well, not that it's any of your business at all, there is this criminal, Jabez Stanton, he keeps trying to convince me to join this gang he is creating." She says with a small shrug. "Sorry to say for the guy, but that is just sooooooo not happening. I work alone when it comes to criminal activities." She smiles and says.

"Okay..." Pedro says, not really caring about all of that. He is more concerned at the moment about whether Adriana is dating this 'Sr. Stanton' or not.

Adriana nods. "Sí, and guapo* as he might be, I'm not really interested in dating a married pengüino*, you know?" She says with a small shrug. "Maybe if he didn't already have a hijo* already, though...I'm just not that fond of kids."

Pedro glances back at Adriana. 'Alright...So she isn't dating this Stanton guy...But she isn't fond of niños* either...' He thinks as he tries to think of if that is not worse than her already dating someone. "Have you ever been around kids to see if you like them?" He asks curiously.

"Nah." Adriana says, giving him a weird look and shaking her head. "I've seen enough of those little twerps running around in Spain...Little demonios* is more like it." She says with a snort. "Always whining and crying and tripping people up in the store. Pfft. Why the atún anyone would want to have any of those...Things?!"

"Oh..." Pedro replies and is quiet for a moment as he thinks. "Well, personally, I greatly disagree. Sure, children can be irritating, but they can be very adorable." He says with a small smile as he think of his nephew Alejandro and his friend Bob's son Edmond. "And think of it this way, you were a child once, too, you know." He says with a small laugh.

Adriana rolls her eyes with a small snort. "Those little monsters have just brainwashed you like they have done to other simpleminded adults." She says.

"Suuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrre." Pedro says with a weird glance back towards her and shakes his head a little with a glance upwards at the canopy way up above their heads.

The two penguins then travel in complete silence, each more interested in their own thoughts than in talking with the other. A moist and humid breeze gently rustles the leaves of the high, green canopy. The sound of a nearby stream can be heard as it flows quickly over the rocks of its bed. The native wild birds sing loudly and happily up in the branches. Some little monkeys hoot and call playfully up in the canopy. A few squirrels dart up the long tree trunks as Adriana and Pedro near them.

Then suddenly it goes silent.

Pedro is the first to notice the silence and stops waddling and looks around. Adriana stops right after him and looks at him strangely. "What?" She asks.

"Listen..." Pedro replies quietly as he looks still around them.

Adriana is silent for a moment and listens. "I don't hear anything." She says with a shrug.

Pedro nods. "Exactly..." He says silently and gets out his gun with his free-flipper. Adriana looks at him with a raised nonexistent eyebrow. He ignores her look though and flits his gaze around their surroundings suspiciously.

"I don't see what's wrong with a bit of silence." She says. "I mean, silent moments are the best time to murder someone." She says kind of loudly.

"Shhh!" He then says and gives Adriana a look. "Silence in a rainforest like this means danger is near. Danger. You know, like a predator? Something that would like to have us for lunch?" He whispers shortly at her.

Some low hanging branches of the brush softly scrape as something large pushes through them. Pedro hears this noise and turns quickly in the direction of it with narrowed eyes. He silently loads his small gun and its small click is amplified by the lack of other noises in the moist, silent air. Adriana stands there silently and feels instinctively for her favorite knife, but then remembers that Pedro has it. She does not like standing there, feeling defenseless if this is a predator.

The branches stop moving and the sound stops. Pedro narrows his eyes more and gets into a defensive position with his gun. From the previous noises, he thinks he knows what creature this is. He hopes he is wrong. Suddenly, a snarl is heard and immediately followed by a jaguar as it pounces through the foliage towards the penguins. "I hate being right..." Pedro mutters as the jaguar seems to grin and starts circling them.

Adriana coldly watches the large spotted cat. She doesn't take her eyes off of it for a single moment, except for a single glance at Pedro. Pedro turns some as the jaguar walks around them. He doesn't let his, or Adriana's back for that matter, stay to the beast. "One the count of tres, we're going to make a break for it, Adriana." Pedro whispers a little harshly after a few moments to Adriana. She nods a little to show that she heard him. "Uno..." Pedro mumbles as he locks eyes with the jaguar. "Dos..." He still stares into the dark, hungry eyes. "Tres." Pedro shouts and then fires a bullet towards the cat.

The cat ducks the bullet and is momentarily distracted by it. He looks after it before turning his head back towards where his prey should be. But, the two penguins are no longer there. They are sliding quickly away from the area. The jaguar sniffs the air a little and looks around with his ears pricked. He then slinks after the scent of the two penguins.

Translations:

* Jefe — boss

* Tú boca — your mouth

* Dos pueden jugar ese juego — two can play that game

* Guapo — handsome

* Pengüino — penguin

* Hijo — son

* Niños — children (or boys)

* Demonios — demons