A couple weeks later, the boys were working on their Tuesday assignments after school. They hadn't received much from the agents other than lay low and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

Kowalski had been communicating with Jeffery via email and sometimes Kenny would jump in too. Kowalski still participated in swim as Skipper said it would look less suspicious if they went about their regular activities even if that meant the former had days where he couldn't be with the Penguins for too long. He regularly kept Skipper notified with current happenings in the front office before anyone else was told.

"Word in the office is there's a new exchange program starting this year to get high school students to check out the school. It's also good for those who want to explore their ideal colleges." Kowalski said. "It gets announced Thursday morning and officially starts up next semester."

"Weird that it's in the middle of the year like that but okay." Skipper said.

"They had to go through a lot to pass this idea after last year. I think there are six other schools around the country who are participating, they couldn't go international. Those schools were hesitant about Central High but Ms. Petrie assured them it was an isolated incident."

"Are you going?"

"No."

"Kowalski, if it's about the team, I'm okay with you going to study. We'll make do with what we can and communicate as much as possible. And you know Kenny will be looked after."

Kowalski smiled. "I appreciate your approval, but I already know where I want to go and I want to experience it as fresh as possible. That and they're not even sure it'll continue to next year."

"Alright, that makes sense. I'd ask if Savio was a part of it but he's a bit early. If our new principal is hosting this event, then we have to prepare ourselves. We never know who could be a spy. Private, any word on Mr. Taylor?"

"No, they could be trying to get information out of him about Mr. Campbell." Private responded, reaching for his water cup.

"I haven't heard anything either." Kowalski added.

"He dunno." Rico said, not looking up from his notes.

"He doesn't." Skipper said, nodding. "Mr. Taylor's not an agent, but whoever took him obviously thinks he is or that he knows something."

They were silent for a while, partially working and partially thinking about the last statement. They had gotten updates on how their previous principal's family was doing, his wife had recovered and moved to the safe house with her kids and niece, Nicole. Nicole had been there for a while before her father returned from overseas and decided to take her on his work trips. The boys were satisfied with knowing at least she wasn't on the enemy's radar.

"Thanks for the birthday gifts, by the way." Private piped up. "I do have some news regarding classmates."

"You're welcome." The older teens said.

"Welcome to the teen years, Private." Skipper said. "What's your news?"

"Allie told me her parents were nervous about letting her come back. Honestly, so were mine, they just didn't show it in front of anyone who visited this summer. Frank told me Raj hasn't talked most of the summer. It's like he just up and vanished."

Skipper sighed. "I don't blame them, really. Does anyone know about Raj? If we keep it on the down low, we can try to track-"

"Frank isn't exactly Mr. Keep to himself." Private interrupted. "He wants people to be more concerned about Raj so he's run his mouth."

"All that'll do is affirm parents' beliefs that the school is dangerous." Kowalski groaned.

"I said as much. I wasn't as close to him as some of the others."

"Gather what you know about him from everyone." Skipper said. "We know Nicole won't blab so no one will hound you. They would if they found out you even talked to her."

"Aye, Skippa."

The boys wrapped up their work and headed downstairs for dinner. Private joined his friends for dinner while the other three sat at the next table.

Skipper's eyes snapped to Hans and Savio as soon as he saw them. They were in deep conversation.

"There's something about him that's off. My instincts tell me not to trust him." The leader whispered.

"Hey guys, what are we up to?"

The boys jumped and turned to Marlene.

"Talking about guy stuff, doll face." Skipper answered.

"Guy stuff includes glaring at Hans and some random guy?"

"Glaring? I wasn't glaring."

"Well, whatever other word means to stare harshly at someone." Marlene said, rolling her eyes. She sat at their table with her sandwich. "I wanted to catch up, so what's going on? We didn't talk as much during the summer."

"Oh, uh…nothing much really. I mean, Private and his friends hung out. Kowalski and I went sightseeing, sometimes with Kenny. Rico and Rikki went to Disney world with their friends."

"Wow, that sounds fun!" Marlene's face lit up with excitement. "I've gone to Disneyland before, but never Disney world."

"What were you up to?" Kowalski asked.

"Hanging out with my sister and California friends. We did a coastal trip, it was awesome. Did you see the pictures I posted on Instagram?"

"The younger kids might have. I don't follow socials, sorry." Kowalski said.

"Same, sorry." Rico grunted.

"I did." Skipper said.

"Aw, thanks." Marlene's smile got bigger. Her expression dropped when she saw Skipper narrow his eyes. She turned around to see what he was looking at. Hans had whispered into Savio's ear. Both seemed to try to be keeping their conversation on the down low. "Hey, why do you keep staring at them?"

"Uh- staring? Who's staring?" Skipper muttered distractedly.

"You. I literally just asked that."

"No reason."

"Did they do something?"

"No, we haven't even talked to Savio." Kowalski said.

"Well, harshly staring at someone is no way to start a friendship. What? You rejected my use of 'glaring'." She added upon seeing Skipper's amused look. He made eye contact and she blushed.

"You ok?" Skipper asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just remembered, Nat needed me to show her my notes."

Marlene left and Kowalski sighed, shaking his head. Skipper looked at him, confused. Private and his friends were also silent, staring at Skipper.

"What?" Skipper asked, his paranoia spiking.

"Nat's over there." Ramona said, pointing to the other side of the dining hall.

Skipper looked over to indeed see Nat chatting with Izzy.

"Marlene probably didn't see her." Skipper said.

His team, Kenny, Barry, and Ramona collectively groaned.

"What did I do?"

Before anyone could answer, he shushed them. Savio had gotten up to dispose of his plate. He looked to Hans, gave a curt nod and headed to the exit. Just as he was about to exit their view, he stopped and looked directly at Skipper, smirking. He was only there for a few seconds, winked, then left.

"What was that?!" Skipper growled.

"Uh-"

Skipper gave a roar of frustration, interrupting Rico, and abruptly stood up. The chair was thrown back. He stomped over to Hans.

"Ah, Skipper!" Hans said jovially. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

Realizing that most if not all the hall was staring at them in silence, Skipper took the seat previously occupied by Savio and got in Hans's face.

"What's your aim, Riber?" Skipper whispered between clenched teeth. His hands were also clenched into fists.

"Aw, I thought we were on a first name basis." Hans batted his eyes, seemingly unbothered by the anger Skipper was giving off.

"What did you tell him?"

"Savio? Why do you want to know about the mundane chats of roommates?" Hans had an innocent smile on his face. "Really, it was quite personal but not nefarious."

"Don't think I don't know you're up to something. You two talk too secretively to each other and in plain sight, you're planning something. I know you were responsible for the spy bug and for Rico's sister and Kenny's brother being kidnapped."

"If you thought I kidnapped people, why didn't you report it?" The same smile was stuck on his face.

"I didn't have solid proof."

"Exactly. You also don't have proof that my roommate and I were up to anything bad, and are we not supposed to talk outside our room? I don't remember 'only have conversations in your room' being part of the rules. Honestly, Skipper, watch your temper." Hans kept his voice light. "We don't want a repeat of Denmark, do we?"

"You didn't." Skipper winced has his nails dug into his palms.

"Relax before you hurt yourself, of course I didn't." Hans rolled his eyes. Skipper unclenched his shaky hands. "There you go, that's better."

"Don't patronize me, I'm not a child."

"You were then."

"Then. Not now."

"You're certainly acting like it. I'm allowed friends as much as you are. Savio is my friend. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get ready for bed." Hans stood up, cleared his dinner plate, nodded to the others and left.

Skipper sat, glaring at the exit. Most people had gotten bored and returned to their conversations. The Penguins and PARK B were staring at Skipper. He eventually returned to his seat in a huff, shaking his head at any questions that were asked.

Once the four boys reached their base, Skipper immediately threw himself into files. The other three didn't question him, they simply went about their business. Before turning in for the night, Skipper told Kowalski to dig up any information he could on Savio.

"Maybe he told Savio to do that to tease you." Rocky said once Skipper told his sister what had happened. She had eaten dinner earlier and missed everything that happened, so he told her after school the next day. "You let him get under your skin too easily."

"He's up to something, I just know it."

"I think he's a bit annoying, but he's mellowed out. It has been over five years, you know. I don't even remember what happened last year, maybe Rikki really thought he was helping her and Kenny freaked out."

"Rikki knows not to trust Hans."

"Yeah, but she also knows you're paranoid and have a grudge against him that doesn't involve her. She thought she was getting help she asked for. She also said she didn't remember if it was Hans because his voice sounded different."

"He disguised his voice then!"

"At least weigh all the options before you go around accusing people. That's how innocent people got killed in the witch trials."

"I'm not accusing him of being a witch…yet."

Rocky shook her head. "Keep a level head, little bro."

She went to join Rikki who was waiting nearby. Skipper followed and asked Rikki if she remembered anything about being kidnapped. She said it was a blur now and that Rocky was right, the voice of the person wasn't something that stuck.

Skipper approached Kenny and Barry outside their room for their perspectives. Kenny said it seemed kind of small in comparison to everything that happened after that and that he didn't know if he remembered correctly. He remembered running after Rikki but he wasn't sure why, just that he knew it was a person he didn't recognize immediately. He also said he saw the guy from the back, so it could have been someone who just looked like Hans.

"How? There's no one else here who looked like him!"

"Anyone can enter, there are no gates and Alice isn't exactly 'world's best security guard'." Barry said when Kenny flinched at Skipper's tone. "I think I remember telling you Hans gave me the puffin toy to give to Private, but I was in the dining hall when they were kidnapped. And even if he didn't go after her, for all Kenny could have known, Rikki had a boyfriend. We're not exactly all involved in each other's love lives. We don't have the need to know details about everyone."

"He's at least guilty of spying on us." Skipper said. "Just keep your paranoia caps on."

"You didn't take them all?" Private asked.

Skipper turned around abruptly. "When did you get here?"

"Just now. Kowalski told me you were interrogating them about the kidnapping."

"I was investigating, not interrogating."

"Sure felt like it." Barry muttered.

"Skipper, they really don't know much more than I do. I already told you Hans told Barry to give me the puffin and it turned out to be a spy device."

"Private and I are off, be careful, you never know who to trust." Skipper said.

"That's great, tell the kid with childhood trust issues to be careful who to trust." Kenny said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean."

Private and Skipper returned to the base to see Kowalski and Rico working on a machine. Kowalski told them it was a high-tech device that he wasn't ready to reveal yet, just that he was confident it wouldn't destroy the entire eastern coast…well, maybe ninety-five percent confident.

Skipper looked through the files Kowalski had dug up. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As Kowalski already said, Savio was a B average student from Hoboken and just wanted a change of scenery and since there were people taken out by their parents, the school had availability for him. His parents were mentioned by name, but nothing else. Was this normal? He wracked his brain. Maybe it was, the school didn't really have need for much more information than his own parents' names and his relation to Rocky since she was still in school.

He paid no attention to the small explosions and yelps of pain coming from the lab. Private had gone to observe, but left the door open and stayed a reasonable distance away in case he needed to call for Skipper.

Skipper had come to realize he didn't mind the noises. It was the silence that got to him. The noises near him gave him at least a small comfort from the fact that no one in the agency had any further leads on Dr. Blowhole. That silence was unnerving and aggravating. What gave? Didn't the madman want to take over or something? Where did he go?

BANG!

Kowalski shrieked, followed by Rico's yelp. Simultaneously, Private yelled "SKIPPER!"

Skipper snapped out of his inner thoughts and ran to the lab; the three boys and the room were covered in what looked like ash.

"I still don't know what it is." Private said. He coughed and went to the sink to wash his face.

"Hey." Rico said.

Skipper opened his mouth, but Kowalski interrupted.

"Skipper, before you say anything, I promised it most likely wouldn't blow up the east coast, not that it wouldn't blow up in general."

"It looks like a melted engine for something."

"A plane." Kowalski mumbled, staring at his shoes. He might have been blushing, but his entire body was covered in gray.

"That's really small for a plane."

"Well, it is now…it was supposed to be bigger. I had Rico helping me since he helps his dad with mechanical stuff all the time."

"Yeah, on cars and trucks, not planes." Skipper said, raising an eyebrow. "And where exactly were you going to keep this giant machine? Or even get it out if you built the entire thing here?"

Kowalski had no answer.

"Don't you think it would look weird if a giant plane somehow emerged out of Central Park?"

"Kinda." Kowalski mumbled again.

"There's lots of trees and hardly any runway." Private added. "Do you have a cleaning station?"

"Yeah, in the corner."

Private looked towards a half curtained area and pulled it back. It was also covered in ash.

"Oh."

"Well, better get to cleaning unless we think of the best excuse ever for why we're tracking this stuff all over the lobby."

The boys all got cleaning supplies and started scrubbing. Kowalski was talking to himself about a cleaning ray so they wouldn't have to worry so much. Skipper went back to his thoughts on Savio. Rico and Private were having a cleaning race.

Once they were done, they showered, changed into emergency clothes they had stashed in the main room, and collapsed into chairs.

"House." Rico groaned.

"That would be nice." Kowalski agreed.

Skipper nodded. "Well, I did get a response back from Johnny Bone about housing. He said he sees why we'd need it, but that we're also underage. Kent's furious with him so I don't know if he can pull any strings or what he can do at the moment. You're not kicked out." He added at Private's worried expression. "We just have to wait and see what Kent says, she ultimately has the final say in it. I mentioned that my parents could technically own the house until Rico can."

"Have you met her? Is she nice?" Private asked.

"I don't recall meeting her. I remember Bone because he was sitting next to my brother and dressed like Indiana Jones, but I was really little and even that memory is extremely hazy. I assume she's nice enough not to kick you from the team. Did you ever tell your dad what happened?"

"Yeah, he said he just wants me to be safe and he'll have a few words with Johnny. Otherwise, he didn't say I couldn't be on the team. He said he won't tell my mum. I think this will have to be a thing I really can't tell her because I don't want her to go back to being overprotective."

"Right, so since we don't have leads on Blowhole and we have to wait for housing updates…what next?" Skipper wondered aloud. "Kowalski, options."

Kowalski pulled out a notepad and a pencil and tapped his chin. He wrote some things down.

"We could try to figure out who infiltrated the school during last year's valentine's day dance. They were most likely after Agent Campbell but he hadn't gone." The tallest said. "There's also figuring out who kidnapped Rikki and Kenny-"

"Hans was involved, I know it." Skipper said.

"Obviously we can't just go in with accusations."

"Yeah, I know."

Rico yawned loudly.

"How about options in the morning, Skipper?" Kowalski said, indicating Private who had begun to nod off.

"Duly noted, we should be well rested. Let's hit the hay, boys."

September wore on without more news.

Private was given permission to go celebrate Ramona's fourteenth birthday with her while the older three tried to come up with more mission options. They decided to hang out in the apartments since Private was on the floor below.

"I got nothing else. We keep hitting dead ends." Kowalski said.

"Hans and Savio continue to annoy me." Skipper complained.

"You let them."

"I can't help it. My gut says they're bad news. I've already said it and I'm tired of repeating myself…they're up to something and I'm going to find out."

"Not alone, you're not."

Skipper looked surprised. "You'd go?"

"We're a team, sir. You go, we go."

Rico nodded. "Don't swim alone."

"Private said that…he's right." Skipper sighed. "Alright, I won't go too crazy investigating them, I swear. Anything else comes up, we'll do that."

"If I come up with another lead, I'll let you know."

"Maybe I'll get an idea in the shower."

Without further ado, Skipper grabbed fresh clothes and went into the bathroom. Rico and Kowalski were left to their own devices.

Rico put on monster trucks while Kowalski wrote out ideas for options. Rico occasionally looked over curiously. Kowalski just muttered to himself, erasing previous theories.

"Agh! Why can't I come up with anything?!" Kowalski slapped his hand down, accidentally hitting the remote. The channel changed. "Oh, sorry Rico."

"Eh, fine." Rico was about to change it back when Kowalski stopped him.

"Why are there reports of strange health issues at our school?" Kowalski wondered. "Oh, and the elementary school."

Rico didn't respond.

The camera showed the elementary school where the only kids from the apartments who went there now were Mort and Eggy, Ramona's youngest brother. Neither kid was shown as it was after school hours.

"What's the haps, Bonnie?" Chuck Charles asked from offscreen.

"There's been reports among some of the students of headaches and nurses acting oddly. The nurses seem distracted or disoriented and unable to properly treat the kids. They've been asked if there were paycheck concerns, but they said they'd never let that get in the way of treating sick and injured students. Back to you, Chuck."

"That is very odd indeed." Chuck Charles said. "I'm in front of Central Park high school now where Vice Principal Lauren Petrie is also unable to explain what happ-"

The tv turned off. Kowalski turned to see Rico with the remote. He was pale and his eyes were wide. He started shaking.

"Rico?"

"This…is wh-" Rico was straining his voice with an emotion Kowalski never heard from him before.

"When?"

"What."

"This is what..." Kowalski trailed off. He was concerned and curious.

"Dad-" Rico couldn't finish. He started breathing heavily.

"Rico! Rico, what's happening? No, don't stand up, you're hyperventilating." Kowalski held Rico's shoulder to stop him from getting up. A quick analysis of his own memories reminded him of his roommate's past. "Rico, I'm here. It's Kowalski, can you hear my voice?"

Rico turned his head, his panicked eyes startling Kowalski.

"This isn't what he went through."

Rico whimpered.

"Rico. They're reporting a health problem, not deaths. There is no fire. You're safe here with me. Your dad, grandma, and Rikki are safe. Your friends are safe. The team is safe."

THUMP!

Running feet sounded and Skipper panted as he came into the main room, holding his towel around his waist, not seeming to care that he was dripping water everywhere.

"Where's the fire?"

"Poor choice of words." Kowalski responded.

"Huh?"

Kowalski explained what happened.

"Oh…give me a minute."

Skipper returned, fully clothed, mostly dry, and stood in front of the boys. Rico was holding onto Kowalski like a lifeline.

"Rico, are you alright?" The leader asked.

Rico shook his head.

"It's okay to not be okay. It must be rough to see something so similar to what your dad saw." Skipper said.

"I'm sorry, Rico." Kowalski said. "I know you're probably thinking 'why are you apologizing, it's not like you did anything.' But I did. I think."

Rico couldn't find the strength to reply.

"Elaborate?" Skipper said.

"I was prepared to let go." Kowalski sighed. "I thought my purpose was fulfilled and I was going to die knowing Kenny was protected. I was going to make you lose someone else…"

"That sounds like the least Kowalski thing I've ever heard, Mr. Science and Reason."

"Yeah, it…I've told Rico this before. During the summer, we talked a lot. Now, knowing our moms were best friends, I felt like that near decision was like taking someone close away from him again. Except this time, it would be fresher in his memory. This has been the first time I really thought about how me dying would impact anyone other than Kenny."

"Now that sounds like the night Private ran away. Just, not really thinking. Doing. Of course, he didn't think about dying and he knew it would hurt his family. It would have devastated me, knowing I caused his death. And I'd feel responsible for you too."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the leader and your friend. You boys are my responsibility-" Skipper was interrupted by the door opening abruptly and Private stumbled in.

Private looked around quickly, panting. He'd obviously run up the stairs. He calmed once he realized his roommates were unharmed.

"Whoa there, you okay young Private?" Skipper asked.

"Y-yeah, I thought one of you was in trouble-Rico are you okay?" The youngest had just noticed Rico's still pale face.

Skipper explained the situation with Kowalski supplying information.

"How did you know Rico was having problems?" Kowalski asked.

"My gut, I think. It wasn't specifically Rico. I just had this feeling and I thought I had too many cookies, but I kept wanting to come back here."

Skipper smiled. "I'm proud of you for that. No immediate danger here, but you followed your gut. I knew you'd pick it up eventually."

Private smiled sheepishly.

"I told you your team was here and safe." Kowalski told Rico.

"I'm not going to lie to you boys, our line of work is and will be dangerous." Skipper said. "I have no idea what the future holds, but we'll face it as one unit."

"Yes sir!" Kowalski, Rico and Private said.

A/N: I have a generic outline of what I want to happen in the story and am writing the ending too. That's better than anything I've had in the past years. I also noticed in rereads some continuity errors, mainly with character ages and grades. I could try to fix them but that requires an entire edit of the story so far and that's a lot.

Kowalski: One could argue that's what you could have been doing along with making a more detailed outline.

TK: Oh, you're back…

Skipper: The characters in your head are indeed back! No time to dwell on could/should/would have, Kowalski. We're here and now, so it's time for ACTION!

Rico: Meh…need kabooms

TK: Yes, there will be kabooms eventually

Private: Oh dear.

Julien: I read the script, not enough me.

TK: I'm scaling back the secondary characters

Julien: SECONDARY?! I am a KING. A king is not secondary! I should be first-ary.

Kowalski: But what about all the kings and queens with the Roman numeral 2 in their names?

Julien: The wha?

Kowalski: The II

Julien: Yeah yeah, whatever. We learn about those in history

Private: Literally as of this story, Queen Elizabeth II is still alive, Story's still in 2014.

Rico: Wall kaboom?

TK: NO! No breaking the fourth wall, that's already happened several times this story!

Skipper: Oh, dear TK, you can't stop the fourth wall breaks. Now, we end transmission because this 'author note' is getting too long. It's basically an entire word page.