Kowalski was obsessed. This fact became all too clear to Katrina after, yet again, she'd woken up to discover his 침대 untouched and the laboratory door locked. This was the fourth time in less than two weeks he'd done this! Even worse… she hadn't even been able to speak to him privately (or much at all) for days now - after Rico would unlock the door, he'd rush out of the lab and outside for warm-ups without so much as a 'good morning'.

Kowalski never seemed to understand why she was so upset - when Katrina would confront him during the zoo hours to talk to him about the situation, he was only remind her how ground-breaking and life-changing this discovery would be, he just had to fine-tune it...

Finally, after the sixth night in the lab, Katrina had had it. She would not be treated this way, like loyal dog that was guaranteed to be ready to welcome back its master every time he went away. She didn't even try to speak to him in the morning, didn't look at him during breakfast, and avoided him during the visiting hours. Kowalski noticed this, and, concerned, approached her a bit gingerly.

"Katrina, I know you're upset... there's nothing I can do about that, but I assure you, when the experiment is complete-"

"Rico?" Katrina called out, cutting off Kowalski's excuses. Rico slowly waddled up, a little unsure of what was going on.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Will 당신 please tell Kowalski that he can leave me alone until he realizes that there are other things of importance in his life besides his work - me, for example?" she said in a clipped, edgy voice. She then walked off to the other side of the concrete floe without another word.

"Uh..." Rico said awkwardly. He turned to Kowalski. "She says-"

"I heard what she said!" Kowalski spat angrily. He huffed and turned his back on both of them.

Rico worriedly glanced back and forth at the angry couple, then shook his head. He didn't understand what was going on - and he wasn't sure he even wanted to know at this point, anyway.

...

That evening, when he had cooled down, Kowalski decided to take the night off from working on the experiment and try to explain his real motives to Katrina.

She was listening intently to her iPod (gained at the lost-and-found months ago). "Katy?" he asked softly, tapping her shoulder. She looked up and slipped off her headphones.

"Struck a nerve, did I?" she said in a no-nonsense tone.

"Yes." he admitted. "I just wanted to explain-"

"If 당신 saw one word about how much 더 많이 'important' the experiment is than anything else - including me - I will walk away." she warned. "I want answers, not vague excuses."

"I understand that," Kowalski assured her. "I'm sorry if that's the way I've been coming across - that the experiment is 더 많이 important than you, which it isn't - it's just... the experiment is not only important, it is time-consuming and difficult to understand, even 의해 my standards of science… my goal is to finish it before our wedding in two months, that's why I've been working so hard." he took her flippers in his. "Katrina, just imagine it - a brand new beginning for the two of us in bright, clean world - the perfect world to raise a child in, where they will be 안전한, 안전 and cared for, with no violence 또는 greed... I can make that - and I will. All I ask for is your patience and support."

She considered it for a 분 또는 so, then slowly responded, "Okay. I believe 당신 - but... don't shut me out again like that, okay? I need 당신 too."

Kowalski beamed and kissed her beak. "Thank you, my love."

Katrina sighed and decided to change the subject to something less heady. "So... what are 당신 doing in there, anyway?"

Kowalski did a double-take. "What?"

"Well, you're in there so much, I'd like to know 더 많이 about what you're doing."

"Well…" Kowalski stammered. An idea came to his mind - he really hated making her feel dumb, but... "It's quite a process to understand… I start with the configuration of a plethora of different formulas, including hydrogen-denoxide and an ion of magnese-eleven, then inoculate the liquidated formulas into a proficient structure-"

"Kowalski?" Katrina said with a smile. "Dumb it down a bit, please?"

That didn't work as well as he'd thought it would. Now what was he supposed to say?

I'm injecting the formula into my own body and, after undergoing an intensely painful transformation, change into my own completely evil alter-ego?

"I'm... basically performing the same experiment over and over to observe all the different ways it reacts to different stimuli, hoping to find the true cause of why it happens." Yes, that was a good answer.

"I see." Katrina said. "But how are 당신 getting all this information in the first place? 당신 can't be doing this alone…"

"I - uh - a colleague. Way back from my college years. He is actually the one who inspired the experiment... we talk back and forth often, over the phone in the lab."

"Oh! So that's who you're talking to all the time!"

"What?"

"Sometimes I try to listen in on what's going on in the lab. I can never make out words because of the sound barrier, but I always hear the same voice - I know it's not yours, it's too different. That's your colleague, I take it?"

"Yes," Kowalski's voice cracked a bit. He'd have to be 더 많이 careful, if Skipper heard someone else in his lab... "Yes, that's who it is."

...

Two nights later...

Adrian was sick of this crap - this staying inside, doing nothing whatsoever for hours and hours... he wanted out, and he wanted it now.

Well... now was definitely the time. He'd been working on his escape for days (well, nights) now, and he was sure it was going to work. After all, sharing Kowalski's body does have a few benefits...

He quietly took down the sound barrier from the door and opened a peep hole in the door. All the team was sound asleep, as was Kowalski's fiancée. Yes, he knew about her... he'd seen her in Kowalski's memories, but Adrian didn't care for her much... too nosy, and not much of a beauty at all in Adrian's opinion, no matter how much the scientist thought otherwise. But, that wasn't the point right now - what was important was who he saw sleeping of the 초 bunk from the bottom - Rico.

Adrian thumped his chest and cleared his throat.

"Rico?" he whispered in a perfect imitation of Kowalski's voice. "Rico!"

Rico rolled around, barely awakened. "Huh?"

"Could 당신 let me out? I finished the experiment early."

Grumbling a bit and still half asleep, Rico arose and punched the numbers. Adrian listened close to the beeping sounds, matching the different tones with the numbers on the keypad in his mind. 9-3-0-2-9-8-7! he realized joyfully. Perfect!

The lock clicked open.

"Thank you." Adrian said in Kowalski's voice. Rico fell back asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Adrian smiled. The plan couldn't have gone 더 많이 perfectly - Rico, as he had just barely been awake, would not remember this incident in the morning at all.

With a gleeful sneer, Adrian quietly left the HQ. The only thing running through his mind was all the different ways he could cause all hell to break loose in two hours.