Just short of the zoo opening for the day, Marlene climbs down into the penguins' HQ. Her eyes are wide. She grabs onto the first penguin in her path.

"Skipper! You guys! You have to see this…"

She takes them to Joey's habitat. He's laying on his side, labored breaths escaping him. There are deep claw marks scored on his back.

Skipper demands, "What happened here?"

Marlene shakes her head. "I have no idea."

Joey looks at them, his pained, fearful expression unfamiliar on the unusually aggressive and cocky marsupial. His eyes land on Skipper in particular.

"Please. I'm - I'm sorry for the walloping I gave ya. Don't send that monster after me again!" He shudders and falls still. He's breathing, but his eyes are shut. Skipper gestures at Rico. He goes over and nudges Joey. He's out cold.

Yesterday, Skipper recalls, he heard that Joey's ball had deflated again. During his attempt to fix it, Joey had attacked him. He'd sprained his wing - an accident that occured in his dangerous maneuver to get away. It wasn't entirely Joey's fault.

It's not a leap for him to believe Skipper would hold a grudge. Skipper doesn't usually have others do his dirty work, not that his work is ever dirty. He would only take Joey on man to man, if such a thing weren't incredibly stupid.

Everyone is staring at him though.

"What? You don't seriously think I'd pay someone to beat him up? I'm not some kind of pathetic sore loser," Skipper grumbles. Whatever animal was capable of this, Skipper can't imagine. It gives him a chill through his spine.

Joey is known for his temper and unrestrained brute force, as well as his aptitude for kicking. No animal he knows of currently in the zoo can take him on. Even the gorillas simply don't have the skill - they could probably hold their own against his onslaught, but to cause such damage in return? Meanwhile, the polar bear has the claws, but his personality doesn't match.

Skipper cautiously moves closer to Joey to examine his wounds, and the area around him. Skipper finds there are marks on his muzzle as well, and his left arm is broken. Curiously, and perhaps not coincidentally, Skipper's left flipper had been the one Joey injured. The zookeeper will be in soon, and she'll take him to the vet right away. There's no threat of infection yet.

"They're definitely claw marks, not teeth. The shape and depth suggests something mammalian, but an animal that's more defensive than predatory in attack style."

Kowalski notes, "Shouldn't the mark placement suggest an ambush predator?"

"Yes but predators usually go for the throat - to kill, for the muzzle - to suffocate, or for the legs - to prevent escape." Skipper continues, "From what I can tell, even with minimal information - the culprit allowed Joey to take the first shot. He's rash and reckless - the culprit used this to his advantage, to evade Joey. He struck him in the back. Stunned, Joey may have still struggled while his arm was broken, resulting in being struck in the face as a defensive on the part of the culprit."

Marlene comments, "Wow. I can't believe you got all that from… just this."

Skipper shrugs. "It's an educated guess, combined with my gut feelings."

"That's humble of you sir," Private remarks. Skipper nods to him.

"In any case - a further investigation is necessary. We still don't know who could have done this, why they did it, or where they went. Hopefully, if they plan to strike again, we'll be a step ahead."

Kowalski asks, "Should we call an emergency meeting?"

Skipper replies, "I think we should keep this hush for now. We don't want to cause a panic that the culprit could use for cover."

The penguins return to the base. Private turns on the television, while Rico latches onto his doll. There's not much they can do at the moment. Kowalski retreats to his lab after organizing his notes. Meanwhile, Skipper pores over them.

As he does, something keeps nagging him in the back of his mind.

Joey is a nuisance, but even Julien knows better to mess with him after the whole battery debacle. To Skipper it seems as if the attacker knew his opponent. It's also rather odd the nature of his injuries - the claw marks are obviously incidental by how haphazard they are, but the broken arm suggests a level of deliberation.

His flipper was strained due to him him landing on it wrong - his own weight was the cause. Joey's arm is also broken in a way that the culprit would have done it by slamming him down - ultimately using Joey's own body mass against him.

So far, four suspects come to mind.

The most obvious:

A - Ted the polar bear. He has the size, the claws, and the potential brute strength necessary. His disposition doesn't match nor is he likely to have the motive to get revenge on Skipper's behalf. They're not particularly close. However, for the personality, he's seen mammals in the zoo lose their minds in prior events.

B - Marlene's wild side. Despite their reconciliation, a regression would be possible. It could be someone's tampering, even Kowalski, who could be unaware it's his fault. As to why she would attack Joey - revenge could be there. She did save his life once, and they're friends. Her wild side may have just taken a step further.

C - Someone from outside the zoo, such as Dr. Blowhole, could for some reason be responsible. Motive gets further foggier. However, he's been off the mark before, in believing Julien was his best friend.

Technically, they've grown closer lately - but that's not the point. Blowhole is smart, but he's not always clever.

It could also be someone he doesn't know - a new foe. It could be an old foe, such as Hans, Clemson, or Savio, someone like that, who has a powerful friend. As to why they would attack Joey, Skipper can't figure. Might be the whole 'revenge' motive is in his head, a mere coincidence after all. Joey could have made an enemy somehow, or he only got in the way - was in the wrong place at the wrong time. They may have dragged him back to his habitat to hide the real crime scene.

The kangaroo needs to be questioned.

D - Julien

He stares at the notepad, in disbelief he's added a drawing of the lemur king. There has to be an impossible answer - for when all logic fails, one must have the most absurd possibility to turn to - one can never know.

Still, it's incredibly far fetched. In some ways it's the easiest answer. Julien's been known to be dramatic, to go to extremes. He appears to think of Skipper as a close friend. He has the possible motive, he just lacks the obvious means.

Skipper's gut tells him not to rule Julien out. He doesn't erase the image.