Chapter 27: The Break in

Back at Diane's house 8:00 AM

Diane was washing dishes in the kitchen sink while her pup was enjoying his breakfast on the island counter bar. Right after Diane finished washing the last plate and shutting off the sink faucet, her smartphone suddenly vibrated next to her on the counter. She picked up her phone to see it was a call from Mr. Wolf with the screen showing a selfie picture of them together.

"Hello Wolf! How's it going?" Diane answered the phone cheerfully

"Diane! Oh thank goodness! What are you doing right now!?" Wolf asked in a distressed tone

"I...I just gave Jet his breakfast. What's wrong Wolf? You sound distressed. Is everything alright?" Diane asked in concern

"Listen to me carefully! Right after you're done with breakfast, I want you and your kid to pack anything you need and come over to our place ASAP!" Wolf firmly instructed

"Pack? Like you want us to come over and stay? What going on Wolf? What's the issue here?" Diane asked as she grew nervous

"I will explain everything once you get here! Just do as I say for now and come over! Got me?" Wolf ordered

"Ummm...O-Okay we'll be right over as quick as we can." Diane hesitantly gave in

"Good! And please hurry!" *Beep*

Wolf ended the call leaving Diane in sheer confusion and worry. While Jet was still pre-occupied with eating his breakfast, Diane quickly walked all the way to her bedroom to get out an empty suitcase and start packing some clothes and other essential items for herself and her son.

One and a half hours later after packing up and driving across LA, Diane managed to safetly make it over to the bad guys hideout with Jet without trouble. Upon arrival, Mr. Wolf hits Diane with the shocking news about Marmalade and of course she had the same reaction as the rest of the bad guys did.

"WHAT!? Marmalade escaped!?" Diane shouted shockingly in Wolf's face

"That is correct Diane. I really wish I was kidding right now." Wolf said with a sorry expression

"Let's face it. We all wish this is just a dream." Mr. Shark chimed in as the others all nodded in agreement

"He's out there somewhere doing who knows what. My best guess is he's planning on coming after us." Mr. Snake said

"Now that he's back on the loose, I really hope he's deciding on moving to the east coast to steal the statue of liberty because I really don't feel like fighting him again. My eight legs feel sore just by thinking about that big battle we had with the meteorite thingy." Ms. Tarantula said

"Don't forget the ginormous army of mind controlled guinea pigs." Paranha said

"Yeah that two." Tarantula agreed

"...Oh my gosh!" Diane said as she turned away while trying to keep herself together

Mr. Wolf gently put a paw on her face to make her look back at him while giving her a warm assuring smile.

"Hey hey it's okay Diane. We're all shaken up as much as you are. You're not alone here." Wolf soothed

"I say we track down this little rodent, throw him in a cage and bury him 6 feet under! Or no, I will strangle him with my bare fins and swallow him down!" Shark fearlessly yelled out while flexing his fins like he was ready to fight

"Hey now don't be too brave their Shark. This Marmalade may be smaller than all of us but he's got tricks up his sleeves and we don't know for sure what his next move is." Snake said

"If this nutjob really is coming back for us then he's more likely going to hit us with an element of surprise." Tanrantula said

The bad guys then noticed Diane hasn't spoken a word much and she was sadly looking down to the floor again like she was really scared.

"Hey Diane? Is everything alright?" Wolf asked in concern

"Yes I'm fine Wolf it's just-...I..." Diane nervously quivered with her heart panicking

"Hey it's okay. Just relax. What's bothering you?" Wolf asked caringly

"Well it's just...I'm so worried about the safety of my pup in this kind of situation."

Diane gestured towards Jet nearby who was standing and watching the whole entire conversation with a concerned look on his face. With his innocent mindset, Jet couldn't understand what was going on but he could tell things were super serious.

Wolf looked over at the young pup then looked back at Diane.

"Hey it's okay Diane. You're a mother now. And it's perfectly natural for you to feel that way for your kid. Like I said you're not alone. We're all in this together. You may be feeling scared at the moment but you're still the brave and super smart fox I know." Wolf smiled

"You really think so?" Diane asked

"Heck yeah! Remember when you kicked the butts of those guards and broke us all out of that prison in the middle of the ocean?" Wolf said

"Ummm yeah I do that remember well." Diane said as she was starting to lighten up

"See? You're a fearless badass fox and a great mom at the same time! And together we're gonna take down Marmalade again and get the upper hand on him." Mr. Wolf smiled as he brought Diane into a sweet encouraging hug

"Thank you so much Wolf. I needed to hear that." Diane smiled as she tightly hugged back

"No probs." Wolf said before separating the hug

"Alright bad guys! Let's find this crazy guinea pig and make him cry!"

The now motivated Diane smiled much to the bad guys joy.

"Excellent!" "Wooh Baby!" "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

The bad guys cheered.

Throughout the rest of the day, Diane and the bad guys all worked together to fix up and rig their entire hideout with security alarm systems in case Marmalade did intend on coming for them soon. While the bad guys worked on securing their hideout, Tarantula on the other hand was working on a large 4-propellered remote control surveillance drone with an 8 hour lasting battery pack, a high-tech facial recognition camera, and a five mile radio control range. Tarantula was going to use the mighty expensive drone to search for Marmalade all around Los Angeles and control it via her laptop.

"Done. Now she's ready to soar." Tarantula said

With her drone all set up and ready to fly, Tarantula boots up her hacking laptop and connects it to the small unmanned aerial vehicle.

*BzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

The drone starts up and takes off buzzing in the air before Tarantula makes it fly straight out through an open window and out into the city.

"You sure you'll be able to find Marmalade in such a vast city Webs?" Diane asked as she closed the window which the drone flew out of

"Don't worry Diane. I set up this baby to only detect guinea pig life forms. And I know for a fact that Marmalade is the one and only guinea pig to ever mosey in this city. I'll find him in probably like an hour." Tarantula said as she piloted her drone between buildings with the screen of her laptop showing the video feed

Later that night 9:00 PM

The sun had set and the sky was now dark. Diane and the bad guys had finished securing their hideout with the windows and all other entry points rigged with alarm triggering sensors. They were all exhausted from the work that they all decided to hit the sack for the night and continue their hunt for Marmalade in the next morning. While Mr. Wolf and the others have gone to bed to get their needed rest, Diane was out in the living area helping Jet get comfortable on the couch.

"Here you go sweety. This will help you feel nice and cozy." Diane said as she draped a blanket over her pup who was dressed in his cozy pajamas

"Umm...Mommy? Why are we staying here?" Jet asked curiously

Not wanting Jet to feel worried of the situation they were in, Diane came up with an assuring lie.

"Ummm...We are having a sleepover." Diane smiled

"Oh really? Why suddenly? And what were you and Mr. Wolf talking about earlier?" Jet asked growing more curious

"Now now sweetie that's nothing for you to worry about. We were just having normal grown up talk. I need you to get some sleep for me like a good boy. Okay pupper?" Diane smiled warmly

Without a word, Jet wrapped his arms around his adoptive mom hugging her tightly.

"Goodnight mommy." Jet muffled in Diane's chest

"Goodnight to you two my sweetheart." Diane cooed as she hugged back

1 hour later after putting Jet to sleep on the couch, Diane was now in another room sharing a large bed with Mr. Wolf. At this point everyone in the whole hideout was all in deep quiet sleep. Everyone except Ms. Tarantula.

Tarantula was staying up past her bedtime in her own little bedroom with the light on as she was still piloting her surveillance drone still hunting for Marmalade with a few empty cans of energy drinks next to her. She had no luck on finding the guinea pig for the past 2 hours.

"Come on! Where could he be!? I'm getting tired!" Tarantula groaned out of frustration as she flew her drone through yet another dark alleyway on a random street that was near the hideout

Suddenly out of luck, Tarantula's laptop starting beeping and the screen showed a pop-up text saying 'GUINEA PIG LIFE FORM DETECTED'

"OH YES! FINALLY!"

Tarantula joyfully exclaimed in relief and excitement as she could see a dot blinking on the small circular radar at the corner of the screen.

"Alright now where are you? Come on out!"

Tarantula stops her drone in a holding hover and she rotates the attached gyro camera around searching the dark alleyway for her target. Another interesting feature of Tarantula's drone was it also had infrared night vision function so she could find Marmalade in the dark.

"Where are you. You can't hide from me you little guinea pig."

Tarantula smirked as she continued rotating her camera until spotting a small figure giving off heat by a random dumpster. A small guinea pig sized figure that is.

"There you are!" Tarantula said as she was about to hit a button to make the drone do a facial scan on the figure

But suddenly...

*CRACK, CRACKLE*

Tarantula's laptop shows a black static screen with another pop-up text saying 'SIGNAL LOST'

"WHAT!? NONONONONONO! NOT NOW! WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Tarantula panicked as she pounded the keyboard trying to make reconnection with the drone

When she finally managed to reconnect with the drone, the screen returns to normal showing the video feed but it was now showing the drone damaged and crashed onto the ground not wanting to move and function anymore. The video feed also showed the same small figure walking away from the drone holding what appeared to be a compressed air weapon with a short projectile barrel.

"Oh...no" Tarantula shivered in worry as she watched the feed on the screen before her. That's when things were just about to get worse.

*FLICK!*

Tarantula's room light suddenly goes off leaving her in the dark.

"Okay. Just what on earth is going on here?" Tarantula worringly asked herself as she was getting a pretty good idea on what was happening

*CRASH! CLATTER!*

A sudden loud sound of window glass breaking followed by sounds of movement outside the bedroom makes Tarantula jump with her blood now running cold.

"*Gulp.* Okay something really is happening." Tarantula said nervously

Meanwhile in Mr. Wolf's room

Diane woke up as she also heard the loud glass break.

"Wolf! Wolf wake up! I think someone's breaking in!" Diane whispered as she shook Wolf awake

"Mmm..Wha? You heard something?" Wolf asked as he opened his eyes and rose up

Diane and Tarantula were not the only ones to have heard the noise. In just a few seconds, all the bad guys, wearing their pajamas, come out of their rooms out into the large dark main room of the hideout. Only the light of the full moon illuminated the room a little through the hideout windows.

"Did anyone else hear that noise?" Mr. Shark asked

"I heard it two." Tarantula said as she came scuttling out

"Hey what gives? I can't get the lights on." Snake said as he was flicking a switch on the wall with his tail

While the bad guys were all confused of their hideout not having power, Diane notices a large smashed whole in the window near the flat screen TV set.

"*Gasp!* Guys look!" Diane said getting everyone's attention

The bad guys immediately went over to see what Diane was witnessing.

"Crumbs! Someone did break in! Why didn't the alarms go off!?" Mr. Shark exclaimed

"Uhh Guys...where's the kid?" Mr. Snake asked as he gestured over to the couch

Diane and the others all look over to the couch and to their sheer shock, Jet was nowhere to be seen. All except for his blanket left behind. They also notice small footprints leading from the broken window over to the couch. Footprints that were small enough to be that of a guinea pig.

End of chapter 27