Perry blinked at Jordan and frowned. Had he just heard him right? "What?" His frown developed into a scowl as he processed what his "leader" had said. "You... You want Penny on your team?"
After the conversation they had had the day before, after Jordan knew that Perry didn't trust him thanks to Archer, he was still willing to split the two of them up and leave Penny alone with Jordan?
"Yeah." Jordan had the audacity to shrug back. "Why does it matter?"
Why did it matter? Why the hell was he asking why it mattered? Maybe because his uncle was a murderer who basically confirmed that his family couldn't be trusted? Archer had ruined thousands of agents' lives, and Perry sure as hell didn't want his little sister to fall under that family's extensive list of victims. What if Jordan couldn't be trusted? What if while Perry and Maxwell were off looking for DANGER, Jordan revealed that he was a liar and killed Penny and Astrid?
Finally, Jordan seemed to realize what the issue was. Unfortunately, instead of seeming apologetic, the red platypus grew angry back. "Seriously? Perry, I'm your team leader. If this truce is going to work, you need to trust me. Why the hell would I hurt Penny? Besides, Astrid's going to be with us."
What encouraging words. Astrid had just been bitching all day. "Yeah, 'cause Astrid's way better. I feel so much more reassured." He felt a flash of...something...pang at his heart anyway. Guilt? Maybe Jordan was right. It was swallowed up by anger again rather quickly. If he let himself get guilt-tripped by Jordan, and Jordan was actually another imposter in OWCA, that kind of remorse was exactly what the red platypus needed to commit any crimes like those of his uncle.
His gaze flickered over to Penny, who was frowning. "Perry, Jordan's given us no reason to distrust him. He's not like Archer was." Perry blinked, feeling his eyes widen in surprise. She knew about Archer? How did she...?
Oh, well, it didn't really matter.
"Besides," Penny continued, "even if he does randomly show he's just as evil, which he won't, I'm an agent now. I can take care of myself."
Perry crossed his arms, resisting the urge to sigh as his gaze fell to the ground, unable to meet anyone's eyes in that moment. She could take care of herself. But so could all the agents that Archer had killed.
Jordan isn't Archer, a voice in the back of his mind whispered. Perry inwardly groaned. Now even his conscience was turning against him.
No one seemed to feel comfortable speaking up for what must have been at least a few minutes, until Perry, refusing to lift his gaze from the ground, heard Jordan clear his throat. "Well... If that's cleared... Since we're the larger team, we'll investigate the potential lead the guard gave us. Perry, Maxwell, I want you two to investigate in the opposite direction, to see if Dennis and his partner used a classic diversion technique."
He had to stop moping, he was an OWCA agent and it was time to get to work. Perry forced his posture to straighten as he nodded, pulling his attention back to Jordan. "Alright. And whoever gets a lead first contacts the other?"
"Yeah." Jordan returned his nod, his arms crossed. "Exactly."
"Right." Perry turned his gaze to Penny, who was watching him with a concerned sparkle in her brown eyes. "Good luck." He hoped she caught the seriousness of his words- he really didn't want to leave her alone with Jordan and Astrid, but they were his fellow agents and he needed to try and force himself to trust them.
The last time this had happened, he had been looking into the eyes of his parents, before they left, and they...
"Thanks, you too!" Penny beamed back at him. Perry resisted the urge to sigh. How could he expect her to react a specific way when he hadn't even explained why he felt this way to her before? It wasn't fair.
He felt a soft nudge in his side and looked over to Maxwell's silver eyes, glittering with...was that concern? watching him. "Come on, let's get moving."
Perry forced himself to nod back, and the two walked away from Penny's group into the alleyway they were near. After a moment, Perry glanced back to see the trio cross the street to enter their own assigned alley.
"So what was that about?" Maxwell's voice pulled Perry's attention back to the mission at paw.
"Right, sorry." Perry shook his head in an attempt to clear it. What was he doing? Even if Jordan wasn't trustworthy, Astrid was. She might have been a pain, but at least she was trustworthy. And Penny was right- she could take care of herself, she wasn't an agent for no reason. She just hadn't gotten a chance to show off her skills yet. "Nothing."
Clearly Maxwell didn't believe him, based on the look Perry received for his response, but at that moment, he really didn't feel like trying to go into it, and Maxwell seemed to understand that. "So we're just looking for any kind of lead, I assume."
Perry nodded back. "Yeah, anything that will help us locate Dennis. Or DANGER, for that matter."
"Great." Maxwell sighed. "And there's a chance that he could have been way more sloppy or way more careful, since he left the trail at the other end of the street."
"Not to mention the fact that he could have not stepped foot here at all." Perry snorted. "I hate investigations where there's no lead. Even looking for Agent G, at least I had something to go on."
He glanced over at Maxwell and was surprised to see the olive green platypus smirking, crossing his arms. "What?"
Maxwell laughed and shook his head. "Since I stopped running into you after you graduated into an agent, I just forgot that you had such a knack for this spy stuff. I forget you're OWCA's top agent for a reason. Like I said on the drive over, that Agent G case was nearly impossible for every agent to solve."
"Well, then." Perry shot him a smirk. "I guess you're lucky to have the top agent as your partner."
To his surprise, Maxwell held his gaze, his silver eyes sparkling with confidence. "And maybe you'll finally get to see why OWCA has a lot of other well-renowned agents." A smile played at his bill. "Let's get to work."
(...)
"We're five blocks in and there's still no sign of him." Perry sighed and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. "How wonderful. Surely he didn't cover up his tracks this badly, right?" He shook his head. "Maybe he didn't use the diversion technique and the other three are getting close to finding something."
Maxwell glanced up from where he was bent on the ground, examining a box on the other side of the alley. "I didn't think OWCA's best agent would be the first to give up." The smirk from earlier had returned, and there was a slightly smug touch to his eyes, but Perry ignored it and rolled his own eyes.
"I just don't want to waste our time if he actually didn't come over here at all."
"Mm, sure." Maxwell's smirk just widened as he went back to searching around the box. "Well, the other team hasn't told us they've found anything yet, so I think it would be the most efficient to keep searching until they call us, instead of complaining that there's nothing here."
Coming from anyone else, that comment would have made Perry snap back, but he recognized what he thought- or at least hoped- was a teasing tone in the agent's voice. His heart pounding- why was his heart pounding? Did he actually care what Maxwell thought? Surely it didn't matter- Perry decided to return the teasing with a grin of his own. "You're actually sharing your opinion on something? I think that's a first."
To his surprise, when Maxwell opened his bill again, a laugh escaped. It was...warm and comforting, quite in contrast with his quiet exterior. It sounded so genuine and friendly, Perry felt his chest begin to tighten. Was that really the same Maxwell?
He got so taken off-guard by it that he probably fell silent for way too long. Awkwardly, Perry cleared his throat. "That...was the first time I ever heard you laugh." Seriously? Out of everything he could have said, that was what left his bill?
Maxwell glanced over at him. "Really?"
"Yeah. It was...nice." God, now he was just digging himself into a deeper hole. It sure was good that no one else was there, he'd never be able to live this down.
A confused smile overtook Maxwell's face. "Well...thanks? I-" He froze, his silver eyes darkening as seriousness overtook them. "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Perry fell silent and strained his ears- well, there was something. Some kind of background noise, gradually growing louder. Claws scraping against the ground? Panting? "Oh." He lowered his voice. "I think it's just a dog."
"I guess, but-" Maxwell fell silent again, his eyes trained on something in the distance. something that was blocked by the wall Perry stood next to. Immediately, his gaze seemed to fall on something, and his eyes widened. He hopped to his feet and crept across the alley to where Perry was standing.
Perry frowned, keeping his voice as quiet as possible. "What-"
"We need to go," Maxwell whispered.
The creature rounded the corner. Sure enough, it was a dog. A really large, rabid, Doberman dog with no collar. No wonder Maxwell had reacted the way he did- that was an issue.
It spotted them. A snarl escaped its lips as its gaze settled on the agents standing near the wall.
Perry grabbed his grappling gun. "Come on, let's-"
The dog charged. Quickly, Perry aimed the gun at the roof and grabbed Maxwell around the waist, pulling the two of them to safety.
He let go of Maxwell on the roof and peeked over the edge. The Doberman was large and the roof was small. It wouldn't be long before he found a way to jump on the roof, if he was determined enough. "Okay, what do we do? This isn't great."
"Too bad OWCA trains melee fighting the most." Maxwell sighed. "And of course today was the day I chose to leave the raw steak out of my hat."
In spite of the situation, Perry turned an amused glance over to his partner. "The sad thing is that I'm not even sure if you're being sarcastic or not."
"Right?" Maxwell grinned back. "They give us the weirdest things to carry in the field sometimes."
Perry chuckled before pulling his attention back to the dog jumping and barking at them below. "The issue is he's right where we need to go. We need to trap him or lure him away somehow, without him getting close enough to bite us."
Maxwell didn't reply, and Perry found himself falling into his own thoughts. It wouldn't be long before the Doberman made it up to them at the rate he was going. So what should they do?
If they tried to lure him in the direction they had come from, there was a chance that they'd accidentally endanger the rest of their team. But they might need to go any of the other three directions to find Dennis. Trapping him was the best option, but how?
Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed Maxwell moving- specifically, grabbing his own grappling hook and aiming it at the building across the alleyway. "Maxwe-"
Before he could finish, his partner was jumping off the roof and swinging back down to the dog. What the-?! But Perry couldn't do anything but watch as the dog followed Maxwell, barking madly the whole way. The grappling hook and rope only went so far, and before Perry even processed what was going on, Maxwell had let go of the rope and was running ahead of the dog, only inches in the lead.
With all the adrenaline pumping through Perry's body, he almost didn't realize what Maxwell was doing- then it clicked. There was a small abandoned lot only yards down the alley from them, a lot that they had both examined during their investigation.
Sure enough, Maxwell had led the dog into the lot, and as it chased him around he ran back toward the wire fence, where the gate was open, just waiting to be closed. And lock the dog in. As Maxwell shut and locked the gate, the dog's face was only inches from his skin, just waiting to sink his teeth into him. But it was locked safely away just in time.
Perry inhaled and exhaled as slowly as he could, doing his best to calm his adrenaline. As he finally began to recover from the shock, he hopped down from the roof, his heart still pounding as he approached his partner. "Maxwell, what the hell was that?"
The olive green platypus turned to look at him, resting his paws on his hips. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that was ridiculously dangerous!" Perry snapped. What the hell did he mean? "You could have gotten hurt, especially since you didn't explain your plan to me!"
He noticed Maxwell's silver eyes spark with anger, but there was no sign of that anger in what left his bill. "Well, everything worked out well in the end, didn't it? Now we can keep our investigation going." He turned away, and Perry felt a pang in his chest as Maxwell shouldered his way past him down the alley.
Perry sighed. "Maxwell... I'm sorry." His partner froze in his tracks. "You... You just really..." He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "You really scared me."
Maxwell turned around and crossed his arms, but Perry noticed a small smile playing at his bill. "Wow, that actually got an apology out of you? I guess you're genuine, then." He hesitated. "I know I probably should have shared my plan, so I'm sorry about that. I just was worried that it wouldn't work if I waited too long."
Perry inched closer to him, examining his fur. "Did you...get scratched anywhere?"
Maxwell shook his head. "No, he didn't pierce any of my skin, I'm fine."
Perry exhaled, letting out a large breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. "Alright. Let's..." He shook his head to clear it. "L-Let's just keep looking." Ignoring Maxwell's gaze, which was clearly rested on him, Perry stepped around his partner to keep investigating the alleyway.
(...)
"Hey, Perry, take a look at this." Perry glanced across the alley to see Maxwell looking over at him, bent against the ground as his paw rested on a brick wall.
Perry hopped to his feet and made his way over to the olive green platypus. "What did you notice? Find something?"
"I think so." Maxwell moved his paw, and Perry followed it with his gaze to a certain point on the wall: a point where there were four scratches running vertically down the wall.
Perry bent down next to Maxwell to get a closer look at the scratches. "Those...look like claw marks."
"Exactly. And don't rabbits have four claws on their paws and feet?"
Perry glanced up- resting about a foot above the claw marks was a window. He got back to his feet and examined the window; it was very slightly ajar, and the windowsill itself had another set of claw marks, although this set only contained two scratches instead of four. "If it was Dennis, it seemed like he pulled himself up to the window and used his claws to help." He glanced down at Maxwell, who was standing up as well. "Look, we're about the same size as him."
Turning to face the windowsill again, Perry positioned himself as if he were about to climb through the window and lifted himself onto the windowsill, his feet hanging slightly in the air. Sure enough, his paws rested in about the same area that Dennis' would have to leave the claw marks, and although he couldn't see his feet, it felt like they were in about the same position as well. "Maxwell, I think we have our lead."
"Got it, I'll let them know." As Perry hopped off the windowsill again, he saw his partner typing into his phone. "They should be here in a few minutes."
"He must have let himself get careless, assuming he led us off his track by this point." Perry smirked, crossing his arms as he stared at the window. "Hopefully they won't see us coming."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maxwell glance around the area. "There doesn't seem to be any cameras around. I think you're right, we'll take them by surprise." Maxwell hesitated. "Y'know, this place looks...slightly familiar."
Perry cocked an eyebrow. "Really? It just looks like another alleyway to me."
Maxwell shook his head. "No, I mean the building specifically. Something about it..." He fell silent and began to run around the side. "I want to check something."
Perry chased after him. "What? What is it? Do you-" He reached the other side- Maxwell was standing on the sidewalk, gazing up at the front of the building. "You know this building?" He looked up to it as well. Tri-State Storage Warehouse, it read.
"I...think so." Maxwell crossed his arms. "I think this is where Esther comes to volunteer. It doubles as a homeless shelter, I'm pretty positive. She brought me and the girls to drop off some food inside once. I think that's how I recognized it."
"Huh." Perry frowned thoughtfully. That must also have been how he knew the dog pound was nearby. "Well, it might not be DANGER's hideout then, but Dennis still went in there for some reason." He sighed as a sudden worry overtook him. "Maybe we're completely wrong. Dennis might not be affiliated with DANGER at all."
He jumped slightly as he felt something touch his shoulder and whirled to see Maxwell resting his paw there. "Even if he isn't, he's still a dangerous criminal who needs to be locked back up in the OWCA-Traz. Even if this doesn't lead us to DANGER, we can still track him down and get him back in prison."
Perry smiled back. Something about Maxwell's touch- although startling at first- was surprisingly comforting. He found himself staring into his partner's silver eyes for probably way too long before catching himself and clearing his throat awkwardly, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it. What was wrong with him? "I guess you're right. I'm just sick of chasing down this rabbit, this is my third time dealing with him in the past 18 months."
They fell into a comfortable silence that lasted for what was probably a few minutes, before curiosity finally overwhelmed Perry and he had to ask, "So have you ever been inside the shelter, then?"
Maxwell shook his head. "Esther's let me and the girls- even Henry, her husband- sit in the car and watch her run stuff inside occasionally, but she's actually never let us in. I think it's for safety reasons, but she's never properly explained."
"That's weird." Perry crossed his arms. "Definitely doesn't explain why Henry isn't allowed in."
Maxwell shrugged. "It's certainly weird, but not really that important. I know she's telling the truth, though, because when she runs things in I see others carrying mats and blankets and other pots of food and the like. It's really a homeless shelter."
Perry frowned. "Which begs the question of why the hell is Dennis entering that place?"
"I assume that was rhetorical." Maxwell smirked. "But I guess we'll find out once the rest of our team gets here."
Perry glanced around. The shelter was on the outer edge of downtown Danville, slightly distanced from the hub of the city but close enough to still be tied into the big alleyways stretching throughout it. As a result, there was a smaller amount of civilians, but enough passersby for the two platypuses standing on two feet and wearing fedoras to attract some strange looks. "We should probably get back to the alley before someone who knows us spots us. Our team will be looking for us there anyway."
Maxwell nodded, and the two walked back around the side of the alley, where they sat on some boxes as they waited for the other three to arrive. Perry stared up at the sky, watching a plane fly by overhead. How was Penny doing? Was she okay with Jordan and Astrid? Probably, but he had assumed the same thing about his parents all those years ago...
Perry shook his head to clear it. No, he needed to give Jordan a chance. Penny was right, he wasn't Archer. Until Jordan actually did something to prove that he might not be trustworthy, he needed to take a leap of faith and give his...leader...the benefit of the doubt.
What about that dog Maxwell had taken care of? It was trapped last they saw, but maybe it got loose. Maybe it was too close to the other team. Maybe Perry and Maxwell would wait for their team forever but never see them arrive because the dog got loose and attacked them. Maybe-
"You alright?" Perry nearly jumped a foot off the box as he heard Maxwell speak next to him.
Perry cleared his throat awkwardly as his gaze settled on Maxwell, who was watching him with a smirk on his bill but concern in his silver eyes. "I-I... Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"Well, the question was intended to be rhetorical." Maxwell crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, but the smile remained on his face. "To get you to open up. But if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."
"I..." Perry felt his chest tighten. Maxwell, one of the only agents who was as much of a lone wolf as he was, actually wanted to have a vulnerable heart-to-heart with him? The happy surprise he felt was quickly overtaken by repulsive, anxiety-inducing thoughts. "I appreciate the concern, but I'd rather not."
There was no way he was going to break down and show Maxwell what an emotional wreck he was when he had just barely started to bond with him. Penny was the only one who got to hear Perry be emotionally vulnerable for a reason, and that wasn't going to change because of a developing intrigue in Maxwell.
Before the air around them could grow awkward, Perry heard footsteps to their right and turned to see Penny, her light blue fur easily recognizable in the dark alley, walking quickly toward them, with Jordan and Astrid close behind. "So you guys found a lead?"
"Yeah." Perry hopped off his box and gestured in the direction of the wall with the open window. "We're pretty sure Dennis went in there. But did you guys find anything that might be helpful?"
His gaze flickered over to Jordan, who was staring at the window with... wait, was that really the expression their leader was making? He was trying to keep himself neutral, but his black eyes seemed to sparkle with worry or fear or concern or something along those lines.
"Jordan, could we have the evidence bag?" Perry looked over at Astrid, who rested her paws on her hips and scowled at Jordan. "Earth to Jordan."
The red platypus shook his head and turned to face Astrid. "S-Sorry, what?"
Astrid sighed and rolled her eyes. "Jordan, you've been out of it for hours now. This is ridiculous. We're on a mission in the field, you don't have time to daydream. Could I please have the evidence back?"
"Right." Jordan cleared his throat awkwardly, pulled out the clear plastic bag, and handed it to Astrid, who held it out for Perry and Jordan to see.
"This is all we found," she said. "We think it's probably Dennis' fur."
"But compared to what you guys found, it's not really that helpful," Penny added softly, her gaze resting on the ground.
Perry shook his head and smiled at his little sister. "Pen, any little bit of evidence that could help us track someone down is great. Especially since Dennis might not even be inside that building." He patted her on the shoulder. "Trust me."
Penny sighed. "I guess." Her frown morphed into a grin as she glanced behind Perry at the open window. "But hopefully Dennis is inside that building and what we found won't matter much anyway."
"Isn't this the building that's used as a homeless shelter?" Astrid frowned, crossing her arms. "Why would Dennis be in there?"
Perry shrugged. "We were wondering the same thing, but it's where the evidence points."
"What evidence did you find, exactly?" Perry looked over at Jordan to see the red platypus frowning at the building.
"These scratches along here, as well as the open window." Maxwell, who had been standing silently beside the wall, pointed out the claw marks. "We're almost certain that Dennis left them while scrambling through the window."
"Well..." Perry turned back around to see Jordan's gaze flickering around the group and back and forth from the window. "Almost isn't really good enough, is it? Maybe we shouldn't bother going in there if there's no reason for Dennis to be there."
"What the hell?" Perry scowled back at him, but he wasn't actually positive if he or Astrid actually voiced those words aloud. Maybe it was both of them. "That's not how this works, Jordan. We can't just toss away anything that could be a potential lead, especially not when we've been scrounging for something for days anyway!"
"Seriously, what possessed you to suggest that?" Astrid glared at him, her dark blue eyes almost seeming to be flickering with fire- despite their color. "Not only is that basic common sense, but it's something you learn, like, half a year into training."
Jordan had the audacity to simply shrug back. "Well, sometimes things are circumstantial, and I don't think we should go in there. As your leader."
Perry chuckled bitterly. Who was this guy? Was he seriously this narcissistic? "Luckily, I don't have to listen to you, especially when you want us to do stupid crap like ignore an obvious lead."
"You do have to listen to me," Jordan snapped back, fire coming to his own black eyes. "You just choose not to, which doesn't make it okay."
"Believe it or not, you're not always in the right." Perry crossed his arms and glared back. "And this time, I feel pretty confident saying that no one else here agrees with you instead."
Jordan opened his bill to retort something, but Astrid interrupted him. "Drop it, Jordan. Perry's right. We're going in there." She rolled her eyes. "What the hell's wrong with you? To anyone who doesn't know you, it would probably almost seem like you didn't want us to find Dennis."
"I-" Jordan sighed and fell silent. Perry stared at him while processing Astrid's statement. He hadn't thought about that. It did seem like he was trying to keep them from locating Dennis, or at the very least stall for time until Dennis was able to leave and make their lead almost useless. Plus, hadn't Astrid mentioned earlier that Jordan had been having trouble concentrating for the past few hours? Wouldn't that have been about the same time their investigation started?
"You're right." Jordan straightened and cleared his throat, drawing Perry out of his rabbit hole of thoughts. "Sorry about that, I guess I don't know what came over me. Let's go in, just... Let's not enter through the same window that Dennis did."
Penny walked down the side of the building and pulled herself up to a windowsill along the side. "How about this one? The coast...looks clear. Just an empty hallway. No cameras or anything."
The rest of the team joined her, and Perry did his best to peek through the window- while staying on the ground, Penny was still on the windowsill. Sure enough, it seemed pretty safe. Penny hopped off the sill and grabbed ahold of the window, attempting to pull it open. "It's just locked."
"That's no problem." Perry turned around to see Maxwell pulling his fedora off and reaching inside. A moment later, the olive green platypus handed Penny a crowbar. "Try this."
Penny frowned, staring at the crowbar while her eyes sparkled with obvious confusion. "But... How... How did that fit in your hat?"
Perry just grinned and shook his head. "It's just the way physics work here, Pen. Don't question it."
"Well... Alright, then." Penny cleared her throat and turned to the window.
Perry frowned slightly as he watched his little sister awkwardly attempt to wedge the crowbar between the window and windowsill. She hadn't done this before, had she? "You need some help? You look a little stuck."
"I'm an agent, Perry, I know how to use a crowbar." She didn't even bother glancing over at him as she determinedly shoved the crowbar in place.
"You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure!" Penny pulled down on the crowbar. Perry flinched as a loud crack rang through the air. Well, at least the window was open.
He glanced over at his little sister to see her staring at her feet, clearly unwilling to meet anyone's gaze in that moment. "See? I... I did it." Quickly, Penny hauled herself back up the wall and pulled herself into the building.
Perry exchanged a glance with Maxwell. Was she trying to prove herself? However, no one said anything, as Perry and the rest of the agents pulled themselves into the building after his sister.
Once inside, Perry glanced around the room. They were at the end of a small, bland, gray hallway. To their left was a small set of stairs (it was only about five steps long) leading down somewhere- probably to the main area of the building. Further down the hallway, also on the left, was a doorway into some mystery room. It would probably be handy to check out. To the right were two other doorways, one without a door covering it. It was close, and peering in, Perry saw a glimpse of a countertop. A kitchen, maybe?
"I assume we'll meet back here." Perry briefly glanced around at the other agents before slipping down the hall, looking over at the stairway to make sure he wasn't spotted.
"And where do you think you're going?"
Perry paused and turned around. Jordan was glaring at him, his paws rested on his hips. What had he done now? "Um... I was going to go investigate one of the rooms down the hall?"
"Like hell you are." Jordan scowled. "Perry, you should know the drill by now. I'm the leader of this team, and so you're going to do what I say, not what you want."
That was right. Perry heaved a sigh. He had almost forgotten. "Right. Sure. Sorry, sir. What do you want us to do?"
"Better." Perry growled, balling his paws into fists. Thanks to Monogram, the stupid red bastard of a platypus had the right to patronize him. He hadn't even done anything wrong that time. "Now, we will need to split up."
Perry rolled his eyes. Figured. "Alright, so I will see you later."
"After I divide everyone up." Jordan glared back at him. "Perry, you're going with Maxwell. You two seem to get along, miraculously." He fell silent, glancing around their surroundings. The team was silent for what felt like several minutes as Jordan crossed his arms and- hopefully- thought about the pairs. Why was this so hard for him? "Astrid and Penny will go together," the red platypus said finally. "And... I'll go off alone."
Perry just snorted. Seriously? "Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but I don't think that's very smart."
"I can take care of myself. We're all trained agents."
"Oh, drop the act." Perry scowled back. "You and I both know that's not what I meant. You've been acting shady for way too long now."
"I agree." Perry whirled to see Astrid standing away from them, her arms crossed. "I don't think we should let you wander this place alone, you've been acting uncharacteristically."
"Per seems determined to villainize you," Penny spoke up. "We're not trying to, but maybe you're in a bad state of mind. You could be caught off-guard more easily, so it's safer for all of us if you're with someone else."
"Oh, great." Perry watched Jordan closely, and he saw his black eyes somehow...darken. Or spark up, like he was angry. "Now no one in my team trusts me, not even the agents who I thought supported me." Perry jumped into a fighting stance as Jordan moved his arms suddenly, but the platypus was just throwing his paws in the air. "How about you, Maxwell? You want to hate on me, too?"
Perry glanced to his left to watch his partner respond, but Maxwell stayed completely silent, not a single expression forming on his face. That was a bit irritating. He had seen Jordan act weird, too. Surely he didn't think it was a good idea for Jordan to be alone either? But whatever opinions the olive green platypus might have had, he didn't express any of them, not even through any changes in his silver eyes. Perry resisted the urge to sigh; so much for getting support from another trustworthy party.
"So I think what we're saying here is we need to split up differently," Astrid said. "It's not that hard."
Jordan sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. I'll pair up with someone. Who wants to face the traitor?"
Perry glanced around the group. No one spoke up, but he sure as hell didn't want to. If the two of them got paired up, they wouldn't get anything done. He'd rather be the one to get away with not being paired up, but getting paired with Maxwell or Penny would be okay, too.
"I'll go with him." Perry frowned, staring at the ground as he processed the voice he heard. Was that...? He looked up at see Penny smiling at Jordan, and he felt an intense burning sensation inside his chest while his head filled with anger.
"Are you kidding, Penny? You're going to pair up with Jordan? You realize that would mean it's just the two of you exploring a strange building?"
Penny crossed her arms, her brown eyes glaring into his. "Seriously? Perry, we went over this a few hours ago. I'm going to go with Jordan, and you'll just have to deal with it."
Perry crossed his arms. "Fine. Whatever." She wouldn't listen to him anyway. "Can I please do this part alone?"
"You think after all the whining you've done that we'll let you get what you want?" Astrid smirked, the smug look in her blue eyes not helping alleviate Perry's anger. "No way. You and Maxwell work well together, somehow. You two can go off together. I'll explore alone." She glanced around the group. "Anyone have any issues with that?"
Everyone else shook their heads, and Perry sighed. "Okay." He turned to Maxwell. "Well, I've got a room for us to explore."
"The one at the left end of the hallway?" Perry blinked and stared at him, while Maxwell crossed his arms and smirked. "I saw you eyeing it longingly earlier."
Jordan cleared his throat. "Alright, you two go that way. Astrid, how about you explore the other room in this hall for now? Then Penny and I can head downstairs."
As much as Perry wanted to take his chance to keep rejecting Jordan's authority, his command was pretty reasonable. "Fine. When should we meet back here?"
Astrid glanced down at her watch. "How about an hour from now?" She and Jordan met each other's eyes. "That should give us enough time."
"Sounds good."
Finally, they could actually start investigating. Perry turned back to Maxwell. "Come on, let's get going."
And the group split up.