Disclaimer: We do not own the Peguins of Madagascar.
Source: The Drunken Tavern Suggestion Box
Inhibitions
Written by Panacea447
As requested Asmith137, 5/18/12
Genre: Romance
Rating: T
Characters: Rico / Marlene
Summary: Rico becomes distressed, and Marlene decides to help him loosen up. But will Marlene learn to release her own inhibitions as well?
Marlene screamed and felt herself jerked awake as the ground exploded beneath her. She sat up frantically and looked around. The bellowing of the earth ceased as quickly as it had begun, but it left Marlene visibly shaken.
"An earthquake?" Marlene asked herself as she scanned her surroundings.
Her muscles tensed instinctively as she heard a distant rumble. Fortunately, she had grown accustomed to earthquakes thanks largely to her Californian upbringing. She eyed the cracks on the walls and floors of her cave home, assessing whether they would collapse. Deciding not to risk it, the otter hurried to the exit, being very careful to avoid the cracks. As soon as she was clear, she walked over to the habitat of the only animals she knew would have an idea as to what was going on. She lowered herself into the penguins' home, only to see they weren't home.
"Looks like I'm not the only one."
She scanned the cracks, much larger than the ones in hers, lining the penguins' habitat. Chunks of the left wall were falling out, and the penguins' belongings were strewn all over the place. She bent over to pick up a piece of paper she accidentally stepped on. Upon further inspection, it was a detailed blueprint outlining the penguins' vast and highly sophisticated tunnel network. Her ears pricked up when she caught rumbling.
'Probably an aftershock.' thought Marlene as she turned to leave.
Before Marlene could take another step, the ground beneath her cracked and heaved, sending vibrations up her spine. Marlene screamed as a split-second later, the ground beneath her cracked and yielded, taking the otter with it. She waved her arms out frantically, trying to catch something, but to no avail. She crashed down hard, and cried out as chunks of concrete floor fell on her. She heard someone nearby talking, but her thoughts were too hazy, making it sound as if the voice were coming from deep underwater. With great effort, she fought the urge to succumb to unconsciousness, and forced her cut and bruised body to haul itself up.
"What's going on here?" she whispered to herself, realizing the voice was coming from around the corner.
Marlene looked down to see her paw still clutching the piece of paper she found in the penguins' lair. She looked down and saw the blueprints. Marlene then groaned; she was inside penguins' tunnel network. As the rest of her hearing came back, she realized that the voice was shouting, angrily. She walked to the corner, only to find out who the owner of the voice was.
"Skipper, is that you?" she called out, and sure enough, the penguin stopped shouting.
Skipper rounded the corner, coming face-to-face with Marlene, who looked over his shoulder to see the rest of his team following.
"Marlene? What in good Gandhi's name are you doing down here?" said Skipper as he raised the glow-stick he was holding. His eyes widened as they fell upon her body. He then turned and shouted, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Marlene started and realized that he was yelling at particularly disgruntled Rico. Judging by the look on his face, Marlene was pretty sure he was just about to smack someone senseless.
"IF YOU JUST LISTENED TO THE INSTRUCTIONS I GAVE YOU, MARLENE WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN HURT!"
Marlene was definitely sure that Rico was about to blow his cap off, and take the entire zoo with him. She knew she had to intervene quickly.
"What are you guys doing here anyway?" said Marlene loudly, pleased that it has successfully caught Skipper's attention.
"That's classified information Marlene. How'd you get down here anyway?"
Marlene quickly explained what happened, occasionally glancing at Rico, who was grumbling violently. When she finished, she saw Skipper turn to yell at Rico again, but Marlene quickly cut him off.
"You know I have a right to know what's going on here right? You owe me an explanation!"
"We don't owe you an explanation when it's classified information Marlene. What we do owe you is compensation for collateral damage. If your habitat is as damaged as you say, this maniac here is going to fix it for you." Skipper made sure to put as much malice as possible into the word, making Rico grumble more fiercely. "While we repair ours and other areas of the zoo if necessary."
Before Marlene could utter another word, Rico raged his way over to her, picked her up as if she were a ragdoll, and stomped off. The otter instinctively wrapped her arms around Rico's neck, fearing she might fall despite the two strong flippers holding her. She tried to make out his mutterings as he rounded another corner, finally exiting through the tunnel behind the fish head. Marlene gasped as her eyes fell on the penguins' home – or what was left it. A gigantic hole spanned the entire floor, and she clutched onto Rico tighter as he made his way over to the ladder. Before Marlene could tell him they wouldn't be able to ascend if he was holding her, she gasped in awe as Rico executed a powerful jump, exiting the hole and landing flawlessly on the platform above.
'Just how powerful is Rico?' Marlene asked herself, marveling at his strength.
This was the closest she's ever been with Rico, and she felt oddly cowed in his presence. She looked up at Rico, and almost regretted it. Her vision was graced with the hideous scar that covered the side of his face. She looked down and buried her face in his chest feathers, unable to look at the scar any longer.
"Umm, Rico, I can walk. You don't have to carry me." squeaked Marlene without looking at him.
A grunt was all she got in response. Clearly Rico was in no mood to talk, and the rest of the journey to Marlene's home passed in relative silence, the only sound coming from his occasional grunts and mutterings. As he reached the interior of her home, he lay her down gently on her bed and turned to assess the damage. He then spat out a first-aid kit, and began to dress her wounds. She watched in silence as he did all this, shuddering slightly as he cleaned her wounds with alcohol before bandaging them. When this was done, he turned his attention to her habitat.
"Um, thanks Rico." said Marlene to his enormous backside, fully aware that her voice was barely audible.
Marlene started nervously as he grunted in response, before he regurgitated a sack of concrete, some sealant, adhesive, two buckets, and a box of stonemason's tools. What intrigued Marlene was what Skipper could have done to make Rico so on edge like this. After some debating with herself, she decided to take a leap of faith.
"Rico" she said with as much gentleness as possible. "What happened?"
Again, he grunted. Marlene couldn't take not knowing what was bothering him, and so she rose from where he lay her and walked up to him, laying a hand on his thin shoulder.
"Rico, please, I want to know what's troubling you. Please let me help."
He turned slowly, until the tip of his beak almost touched her nose. She felt cowed again, and regretted even laying a paw on him. She looked down in despair, unable to look into his cold blue eyes.
"Kaboom." he said suddenly.
"What?" gasped the otter, looking back up at him.
"Kaboom." he repeated, before turning around and focusing on his work.
And with that unmistakable sense of finality, Marlene knew that that was all he was ever going to give her.
"Whoa"
Marlene dropped carefully into the penguin lair, wanting to avoid the giant crater, but her eyes widened in awe and disbelief; the lair was completely repaired, as if the floor never caved in or the walls and ceiling never cracked. She shook her head and tried to focus on why she was here in the first place. She walked over to the lab and opened the door cautiously. A wide grin appeared over her face as she heard Private and Kowalski conversing in the lab.
" – shouldn't embarrass yourself Private!" came Kowalski's voice.
"Well! If it's embarrassing to think that - "
"Guys?"
The two penguins stared at Marlene as she entered the lab.
"Is Skipper here?" she whispered conspiratorially.
"No." responded Kowalski, staring at Marlene's bandaged wounds. "He went out to check on the others."
"What do you need Marlene?" said Private, offering Marlene the seat beside him.
"I need to know what happened down there." she said, accepting the chair.
"But Marlene, Skipper said it was classified!" said Kowalski, a halfhearted warning at best.
"But Kowalski, we owe it to her. She needs to know."
"Fine! But if Skipper finds out I'm pointing at you!"
"Alright. Now can we tell her?"
"Very well. Marlene, this is a blueprint of our network of tunnels." Said Kowalski presenting to her a copy of the blueprint she picked up. She could see red-inked crosses and circles drawn on several of the tunnels. "Apparently, the sewer rats have begun a campaign to seize more of underground zoo territory, using our own tunnel systems as their supply lines. Skipper ordered the demolition of several of these tunnels to cripple their movement."
Kowalski pointed to the crossed-out tunnels, and then to the encircled ones.
"Now, these tunnels are the ones we have yet to detonate, if the sewer rats ever show up."
"Detonate?" asked Marlene. "That means blow up right?"
'Essentially yes." said Kowalski, rather annoyed as he put away the blueprints.
"That explains the kaboom part." said Marlene, more to herself than to the other two.
"Kaboom?" asked Private.
"Yes." responded Kowalski. "Marlene, you know very well that Rico has an appetite for destruction, and is triggered most easily by explosions. Well, when Skipper announced that we were going to blow up tunnels, Rico - kind of - celebrated."
"Yeah." continued Private as Kowalski put away the rest of the documents on the table. "But knowing Rico, he put way more than the needed dynamite, causing a bigger explosion."
"Which proceeded to create a chain reaction due to the booby traps we haven't deactivated it, making an even larger mess. It was utter devastation, but to Rico, it was more of a party. Skipper was furious." finished Kowalski, placing down a tea set on the table, taking one of the three cups on the tray.
"So what happens if Rico blows up more things?" asked Marlene curiously as she accepted the cup Private gave her.
"He goes nuts and destroys everything." said Private with a shudder. "Like what happened to Julien's habitat last time."
Marlene gasped just as she drank her tea, causing the hot liquid to spill and scald her mouth. Private whimpered and pat her back as she coughed and spluttered. She could feel her throat blistering, and looked through tear-filled eyes at Kowalski rummaging through a nearby cupboard.
"Wait that was Rico?" exclaimed Marlene, as the rest of her coughs died down. "I thought Julien did it?"
"Yes, indeed it was." said Kowalski, sitting back down and presenting a scanner. "I had the Destructometer specially created to monitor Rico's desire for destruction. It reads the aggressiveness coming from someone's brain waves. Green is calm, yellow is angry, and red is you-may-want-to-get-out-of-there."
To demonstrate, he pointed it at Private, and the meter went all the way to the bottom.
"Rico was pretty mad when Skipper yelled at him." mentioned Marlene as Private's giggles subsided.
"Of course he would be. Rico doesn't like it when somebody interrupts his fun. I mean, who would like that?"
Marlene frowned and set her tea cup down slowly. "Is there any way to reverse it?"
"You mean curing Rico?" scoffed Kowalski as he finished the rest of his tea. "Not possible. Trust me. I've tried. He'll drive you insane just by trying; best to leave him as is."
"No, not that. His rage thing. How do you stop it from happening?"
"It isn't easy when it gets settled in. There are only two ways which I know of. The first one is to give him some time to calm down, dependent on his aggressiveness level. Even Skipper has a hard time doing it. He usually pulls Rico out of the situation before he goes too far, and that makes him really mad. The second way is to just let it happen. Let the meter build, and then contain him until he burns himself out."
"Alright. But what about his rage? What's it like?"
"It's not pretty Marlene." said Private. "He smashes anything and everything. He goes crazy, well, crazier than he already is. I think, if he gets the opportunity, he could level the entire city."
"How long does it last?"
"I've done some tests." said Kowalski, pulling out a chart as if he were anticipating this very moment. "Maximum duration of the rage is four hours, fifty-seven minutes, and twenty-nine point two seconds, based on an experiment I conducted a few years back."
"And what happens after?"
"Well, since he exhausts himself, he falls asleep on the spot, then wakes with little to no memory at all that the rage even happened. It makes him harder to control since he doesn't even remember."
"Interesting." said Marlene, a new thought suddenly occurring to her. "Kowalski, you mind if I borrow the scanner, some fireworks and explosives, a bunch of balloons, your old Christmas lights, and a lighter?"
"Why?" exclaimed Kowalski and Private at the same time.
"Oh, just an experiment." said Marlene slyly with a knowing smile on her face.
Marlene leapt up the wall leading to her habitat to see Rico sitting beside her pool, illuminated by the full moon glowing in the night sky. She approached him slowly, and pointed the scanner at him. After a moment, the meter settled on the space halfway through the yellow and red ranges. She gulped, and walked to Rico's side carefully. She looked at him, and saw that he was gnawing on a stick of dynamite. Apparently, he was so intent on his gnawing that he didn't notice Marlene until she sat beside him.
"Uh, hey Rico." she said casually.
"Sup?" he growled, his beak still clutching the explosive.
Marlene looked behind her to peer into her cave home, and saw it was completely repaired. A smile broke over her face as she turned her attention back to the penguin beside her.
"Nice job Rico." she said with genuine affection for him.
She looked up at him and saw his scar stretch as he smiled. Marlene didn't know why she was less unnerved by his scar than before. Smiling to herself, she placed her paws down beside her, but started when it touched something slimy. She looked down to see that her paw landed on Rico's flipper, moist from his saliva. Rather than be repulsed, her smile just stretched wider. She enjoyed this moment of peace with Rico, at least before the real fun began.
It took some convincing to get Kowalski and Private to join in on her experiment. But finally, they relented, after Marlene pointed out that an enraged Rico could easily devastate the Zoo, and that this way was quicker than the alternative. She knew her plan would carry a lot of sacrifice, especially for her, but if it would help Rico release his inner tensions, then she had to do it. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, and laid her head against Rico. He jerked his head up and looked down at her. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she could barely hear the clock tower striking twelve. She shook it off when the third chime struck, and looked around for the first signal.
There! She saw it out of the corner of her eye, the yellow balloon just visible above the wall of her enclosure. A second later, the balloon burst with a resounding 'pop'. Marlene whipped around and looked at Rico, and sure enough, he was looking for the source of the pop. She smiled inwardly, glad that the other two had done their part, now it was time to do hers.
"What was that?" she asked in mock-surprise. "Come on, let's check it out!"
She took Rico's flipper in her paw and jumped the wall. He quickly swallowed the dynamite and ran after her. She braced herself for the next phase as a series of pops echoed in the distance. She could feel Rico frantically searching for the pops, a manic glint in his eye, and with glee she ran towards the front gates. She closed her eyes a split-second before a very audible explosion was heard, clearly coming from the park. Just as she expected, Rico started to pant heavily and twist his head from left to right. Another bomb was set off, much closer this time, and the maniac rammed the gate and barged it open, leaving it unhinged and dented, and set off in the night. With that part of the plan complete, she had only a few minutes to steel herself for the next one. She breathed deep, her thoughts drifting to what she had asked of his two teammates earlier.
'Private, I want you to set these bombs at these locations. Kowalski, can you set them so that they blow up at these specific times?... Private, set those fireworks up! Kowalski, set it to this time. … distract Skipper … I'll take care of him.'
The first part of the plan was to get his attention, and subtly, else Skipper would come running and ruin everything. Next was to get him into the park; check. Now, was probably the worst part: containing him. She remembered the argument she had with the two about this.
'Kowalski, you know we have to contain him when he gets enraged, so I was thinking we use the park and - '
'The park! Preposterous! He'd leave it in ruins, and it's so open, how can we possibly contain him? Even Skipper can't stop an enraged Rico. The last time that happened, we had to use Julien's bouncy house to contain him, and there certainly isn't a bouncy house in the park.
'Kowalski, let her finish!'
'Thank you Private. Anyway, I was thinking we keep him in the park, since there's no way he'd reach the Zoo or Skipper would find out, because, if he's enraged, he'll need something – or someone – to keep him busy.'
'Who were you thinking of? Jiggles'
'I was thinking of – er – me.'
'You? Why you?'
'You've seen what I'm like outside the Zoo, and based on what you've told me, I'm pretty sure that I, or the other me, can keep him busy long enough for the rage to wear off.'
'Marlene, think about this! I estimate there's only a very remote chance of this succeeding. What if you can't keep him contained?'
'I have to Kowalski! And this is the only way we can get him to loosen up. If those sewer rats attack again, then you'll have to blow up more of those tunnels. What if Rico goes berserk on all of you? I can't allow that to happen!'
'Marlene, please - '
'She's right Kowalski. There's no other way. We can't risk setting off a berserk Rico in the middle of the Zoo! He might hurt himself again. Marlene, you're very noble for doing this.'
'Yeah, I'm a freaking hero.'
Marlene sighed as she remembered that last sarcastic remark. The fireworks started to go off, which meant the time had come to play her part, and she slowly walked to the open gates. She felt herself shivering from head to tail, and she knew it had nothing to do with the passing breeze. As she approached the part of the path where it met the cool park grass, she stopped and took a deep breath.
'Alright, Marlene. It's all up to you now. You've got to do this for the Zoo, and for the penguins, and for Rico.'
Rico. His face immediately flooded her thoughts, and she didn't know whether what she was about to do was really for the safety of the Zoo and the penguins, or just for Rico. Maybe this was just a blessing in disguise. She remembered feeling the adrenaline rushing through her even as she was brought within the confines of the Zoo. She wanted so badly to learn more about the conditions of her feral state, and this may just be a way for her to just let go of everything. She was desperate to know more about what lay outside the world, ever since her first venture out of the Zoo. She now had a good excuse to step out again and let go, and she'd just let it slip away? Well, there was only one way to find out. She saw something flash and looked up to see several Christmas lights tied to a nearby tree come to life. She allowed herself to exhale, and took a step forward. She savored the feel of the grass beneath her paws, but it was not to last. The transformation was instantaneous, and the feral otter set off after the lights, ripping it to shreds before turning to another tree that was lit by another set of lights, unknowingly following the path she had set for herself.
"kaboom...kaboom...kaboom" muttered the insane bird repeatedly, growing even more insane as he watched the firework show reach its climax, the booms like music to his ears.
He so dearly wanted to lose himself in the explosions, and he started cackling maniacally, laughing his heart out as the fireworks ceased. So the explosions stopped? No matter! To him, it was just a sign that he better start making his own. He drooled as he pulled a stick of dynamite from his gullet. Just as he started to light it, he saw the two familiar forms of Private and Kowalski running in the direction of the Zoo, muttering something that sounded like 'Skipper' repeatedly. A wicked grin formed on his face as he aimed to throw the stick at the two penguins. Before the stick could leave his flipper, however, he was tackled by a growling mass of brown fur and claws.
Rico quickly recovered, and pushed the creature off him, throwing the stick of dynamite in its direction. The stick exploded, sending her flying back and smashing against a tree. Rather than become injured, the explosion only seemed to enrage the creature. Its maw opened wide and let forth a vicious howl, with Rico roaring at it in response. The brown-furred creature stared at the bird with glowing eyes, its fangs and claws bared, and its legs tensed and ready to pounce.
The bird growled in anger, and regurgitated block after block of concrete directly at the creature, which smashed every block and charged him. He shuddered in rage before he spat out an enormous anchor, which fell on the feral charger. It was so heavy that when it landed on the creature, it pushed it into the earth. Rico was about to laugh in victory, but saw the anchor shift suddenly and come flying at him. He hit the ground hard as the anchor flew over him. The creature rose from the crater, its mouth starting to froth as it bellowed ferociously.
"Grrrr. Yugunnagedeetnow." growled Rico as he extracted a massive sledgehammer from his gullet.
The brown-furred creature scraped its claws against a chunk of concrete from a shattered block, leaving deep marks in the stone as it sized up its foe. Rico smiled that deranged smile of his and hefted his hammer up. The two charged, and so underneath the silvery moonlight, the two monsters continued their fatal dance of destruction.
Marlene woke with a start.
She stared up at the rocky ceiling above her bed, seeing vague images of what she could only describe as a nightmare. She couldn't remember much of it, but she was sure Rico was in it. She saw him get hurt, but that was all she could remember. She had to go to the penguins and see if he was okay, but she felt weak all over, and groaned in pain when she moved any part of her body. She decided to stop, calm herself down, and dismiss it as a dream. She turned to turn off her lamp since the light was starting to bug her, but when she twisted she felt her body come in contact with something – or rather – someone. She gasped and looked up, only for her nose to rub against a jagged scar, its owner fast asleep beside her.
Through the glowing moonlight streaming in through the mouth of her cave, she suddenly realized that Rico's body was covered in bruises, scratches and cuts that looked like claw marks, with blood caking over the wounds. She felt something on her shoulder, and saw that Rico had his flipper wrapped around her. As she turned her head, she also saw that her body was covered in cuts and bruises too, and several places of her fur were black and scorched.
She shut her eyes and tried to recall what happened. She remembered the plan she discussed with Private and Kowalski, but nothing after she stepped on the grass in the park. She strained harder and suddenly she saw herself staring at Rico, bruised and battered, leaning against a broken tree for support. Then that means she was able to hold Rico off, he calmed down, his pent up rage released, and the mission was a success after all. But how did she get from the park to her bed with Rico sleeping beside her? She inhaled sharply as she remembered the two of them so beaten and exhausted, that it was only a matter of time before either would collapse. Well, it seems that she was the first one, because she definitely couldn't carry Rico once she got inside the Zoo. Her eyes widened when she realized that it was Rico that brought her here. Despite his condition and his exhausted state, he still managed to bring her home. Perhaps it also explained why he was now asleep beside her.
"Thank you Rico." she said with deep admiration for the penguin bubbling inside her, before placing a small kiss on his scarred beak.
As if on cue, the scarred bird shuffled sleepily, and used the flipper he had wrapped around her to pull her closer to his chest. She smiled and snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around him as she did so. Perhaps this could be a way to help the both of them let go of everything holding them back.
As Marlene nodded off contentedly to sleep, she took great pleasure in knowing that if she and Rico wanted to have some fun, all she needed were a few sticks of dynamite.
*THE END*