Penny. “Right now we have to find what they're doing with my father.”

“Hey, just trying to lighten things up,” Hunter said, taking the micro-radio out of his pocket. “Exile, think you can figure out a way to get a fix on their headquarters?”

Exile nodded as he accepted the device. “I'll have them found in two blinks of a heartbeat,” he promised.

Penny scrunched her face. “Uh, what was that?” she asked.

“I think he means it'll be done in no time,” guessed Bolt, although of course the translation was futile.

“Exile will get a fix on the frequency that radio's tuned into, and then we'll follow it right to the blightuhs,” translated Colleen.

“I figured that much out,” Penny replied.

However, as Exile tinkered with the radio, it began to emit a high-pitched beep. “Um, is it supposed to do that?” asked Blitz.

“I am not thinking so!” Exile shot back. Looking around for a safe place to toss it, he threw it up in the air seconds before it blew into hundreds of tiny fragments.

“Yet another unexpected twist. Bummer.”

Penny groaned. “Now what are we going to do?” she asked.

Hunter shrugged.   “Well, we could check out your dad's lab for clues.”

Penny shook her head. “They probably destroyed the place,” she said doubtfully, “But it's the only lead we've got at this point.”

Penny directed them to the building where her father had worked. “Whoa,” Hunter gawked when he saw it. “They did take the place apart.”

The building looked like it had once been an apartment building of some kind, but now it was a ramshackle ruin. All the windows were broken, and the walls were covered with graffiti.

“It always looks like that,” Penny explained. “Inside it's state-of-the-art. They made it look that way so people like Calico wouldn't think it was the lab.”

“Is very clever-ski,” Exile approved as they headed inside.

His smile faded when they came to a brick wall in the building that looked as if it had been blown apart with a bazooka. Beyond it lay the remains of a steel door, and then a long corridor.

“Not clever enough,” said Penny ruefully.

The laboratory at the end of the hall had been literally torn apart. Anything the bad guys hadn't been able to take, they had smashed or blown up.

“Now this is what I call an office party,” smirked Colleen, putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the rubble.

“Rah-ruhrah-rah-ruh-reff-rah,” mumbled Shag.

“What did he say?” asked Penny.

Hunter folded his arms. “He said he's going to remember this the next time we tell him to clean his room,” he interpreted.

“Ro-ruh,” Shag agreed.

“”Come on, Rovers,” said Hunter. “Let's sniff the place out and see if we can find anything.”

The canines got down on their hands and knees and began to sniff the floor in every direction. Bolt, thinking maybe he had gotten a super-sniffer to go with his other powers, joined them. It didn't take him long to find something. “Hey guys, over here,” he barked.

The Road Rovers and Penny ran over to him. “Penny's dad was here,” he reported. “A lot.”

“Well of course he was,” Colleen pointed out. “This was where he worked.”

“No,” Bolt insisted, planting his paw. “Here here.”

Penny, after hearing a translation from Hunter, suggested, “Maybe it's a hidden compartment.”

“But there's no handle or hinge,” Colleen pointed out. “How can we find out?”

Exile began to target one edge of the steel panel where Bolt stood with his heat vision, but after several minutes it became clear the metal wouldn't give. “It's probably heat-resistant,” Penny observed.

“Bolt, what if you help him out?” asked Hunter.

“But I can't control it yet,” Bolt protested. “What if I fry something I shouldn't?”

“No time like the present to learn,” Colleen pointed out.

With some hesitation, Bolt concentrated on the spot Exile was nuking. After a moment, his eyes shot out the same green lasers as before, their glow combining with Exile's to form a yellow radiance over the spot. A moment later the metal itself began to glow, then to melt.

“Okay, cut it out guys,” Hunter said. “We don't want to fry whatever's under there.”

Exile cut the beams, and Bolt closed his eyes, opening them hesitantly a moment later. It took three tries before his eyes stopped glowing.

“But how do we get in there?” asked Penny.

“Like this,” grinned Exile. He chilled the hot metal for a moment, then reached down and took hold of the hole. He pulled hard and managed to lift the edge a little.

“Maybe Bolt should try,” offered Colleen. “He needs the practice.”

Bolt, eager to find whatever lay beneath, stepped forward and took the metal in his jaws. He lifted, but instead of moving the metal he heaved his own body up into the air.

“Woah, easy, boy,” said Penny.

Bolt let himself back down and turned to the Rovers. “It's too big,” he said. “This thing's heavier than I am.”

“Rah.” Shag knelt down and placed both paws on Bolt. “Rah ruh rah.”

Bolt smiled and bent his head down again. This time, the metal lifted at the edge. The panel was roughly three-by-three feet, and at least four inches thick. Exile came around and took the edge, peeling it back like the lid on a sardine can.

They gazed down into the hole, and all of them let out a disappointed groan. The compartment was not hiding the professor, as they had hoped. Indeed, it was so small it would have been cramped even for Bolt. It did, however, contain some peculiar metallic objects. Penny lifted them out. One was a helmet, such as one might wear for skateboarding. The next looked like a collapsible scooter, and the third looked like a small flat-screen TV with a glassy-looking rectangle below the screen.

“What are these for?” asked Blitz.

“I don't know,” admitted Penny.

Bolt sniffed them. “He made them,” he barked. “Penny's dad.”

“Try the TV,” suggested Hunter.

“Where's the on button?” asked Blitz.

Penny frowned at the rectangular device and then placed her index finger on the small pad below the screen.

The thing flashed to life, showing an image of Penny's fingerprint. “Scan confirmed,” it droned. “Fingerprint identified.”

Then Penny's father appeared on the screen. “Penny,” he said, “I hope you never watch this, but if you do it means that something has happened to me and you yourself may be in danger.”

“What was his first clue?” asked Blitz.

“Shh!” the others hissed.

“...I have made these devices for you in case of an emergency, to keep you safe,” said the professor. An image of the folded scooter appeared, zooming in on a small panel in between the handlebars. As a button on the left of the panel flashed, the man's voice went on. “Pushing this button will deploy the scooter. It's motorized with a solar power supply, gyroscopic stabilizers, and a top speed of 60 miles per hour. If you need to go faster...” now another button flashed, “Fire the tow cable to catch an extra boost. The throttles are activated by twisting the hand-grips forward or backward.”

The scooter vanished and was replaced by an image of the helmet. “This composite helmet and the pads and wrist-guards in it can withstand the force of a small bomb,” he said, “And it has a heads-up display coded to your voiceprint. Simply give it a command or destination, and it will give you any information you need to get there. It will also send ultrasonic signals to Bolt, so he'll know where to go. If you and Bolt get separated, he should be able to home in on the helmet's distress signal over a limited range.”

The helmet disappeared, replaced again by the face of Penny's father, “I dearly hope you'll never have to see this. Perhaps I should tell you-maybe I will before you see it-that my work puts me in danger. But I don't want to see you living in fear. Please, if you see this, use this technology to stay away from whoever kidnapped me. I love you.”

The screen went blank.

Penny lowered the screen. “I'll find you, father.”

“You bet-ski!” said Exile enthusiastically.

“And we're gonna help ya,” added Colleen.

“Okay, okay,” grumbled Blitz. “Can we move this along?”

Everyone stared at him. “What's his problem?” asked Bolt.

“It's three o' clock and I haven't bitten anyone yet today,” Blitz complained. “I'm way behind schedule.”

Everyone groaned. “Oh, fine, party-pooper,” Hunter griped. “Let's hit the road, Rovers!”

The Rovers howled, except for Blitz. Bolt took his place in the concert, simultaneously kicking Blitz over with one paw.

“Bolt, that means we're supposed to move,” Penny explained.

“I know,” Bolt replied, although he knew Penny couldn't understand him. “I just felt like hitting him.”

The group piled into their vehicles-Hunter,