It took more time than it should've but inspiration returned and the next story from Park Avenue is here. There is a huge time skip between this one and Jiggles because I wanted to introduce Kico to the series and this fic was perfect to do so. Later on I will probably add a few more stories that go between this one and Jiggles, but only time will tell for sure.
Learning Curve
Chapter 1
"No. No way in hell are we going to work with those pathetic excuses for agents. They abandoned not only the mission the last time we worked together, but they abandoned Private." Skipper snapped at red headed woman sitting calmly at their dinner table.
"I read the report. They didn't abandon the mission, they called in a tactical retreat and regrouped," the woman glared at the leader, "you might be able to learn a few things from working with North Wind, like how to behave like professionals."
"I think you're missing the real problem here, Alice. Our teams can barely tolerate each other."
"Well boo-hoo, sometimes in life we have to work with people we don't want to. So, it doesn't matter if you don't like North Wind, you've been assigned to work with them and I'm sure they are not any happier about this than you are."
"Alright, fine. What kind of trouble did the North Wind get into that they need us to save their asses?"
"Professionalism." Kowalski coughed from his seat which made Skipper roll his eyes and Alice chuckle in amusement.
"At least your lieutenant has some tact, but to answer your question, North Winds needs your assistance in recovering a rogue agent, he used to be one of ours and you worked with him briefly in the past. Which is why your team was selected along with the fact that you also worked with North Wind before." Alice pulled four files out of her bag and set them out across the table and gestured for each one of the men to take one. "Everything you need to know is in here including your travel details. I expect you all to be on your best behavior and act like the professionals you're supposed to be. Now if you excuse me, I have to clean up yet another mess because someone was too incompetent to do their job right the first time."
"There's a reason you're the Zookeeper, Alice." Skipper couldn't resist adding and he could see the anger in the woman's eyes as he turn on him.
"Just don't half-ass this assignment, Captain Davis. There's a reason CENTRAAL continues to keep your little rookery around despite all my recommendations to disband it." Without another word, she left the apartment, leaving the team to look over their new assignment.
"You really should stop trying to provoke her, Skipper." Kowalski felt like he let go of a breath he hadn't been holding as he finally relaxed in his seat. Behind him, Rico made a noise of agreement.
"I'm not trying to provoke her," Skipper held up his hands in defense, "I've been trying to get her to resign and obviously I haven't been trying hard enough."
"And whoever replaces her, might just be worse." Private was quick to point out but the possibility didn't seem to faze Skipper.
"No one can be worse than Alice, but let's just focus on getting this mission over and done with." Skipper opened the file and expected to see Hans face, but was surprised to see just who the rogue agent was, "Huh, Rockgut. He was going after the Red Squirrel the last time we worked with him. Wasn't he headed for Grrfurjiclestan?"
"He was. It seems that Special Agent Rockgut has been infiltrating organizations and stealing classified information. His last target was one of North Wind's private servers and before that he'd been accessing private servers of various governments. But there's no indication of what he's taking the information for." Kowalski read as he skimmed through the file.
"It's damn shame when an agent as good as that goes rogue."
"To be fair Skipper, he was starting to lose his touch in the last few years." Private spoke up recalling the last time they had worked with the agent.
"What do you expect, Private? The man had been in the game since the late-70s."
Kowalski couldn't help but scoff, "Here it says he barely passed his last psych test and was believed that he was no longer mentally fit to be in the field, but he disappeared before they could take any further action."
"Those psych tests are a load of bull, Kowalski. Who here hasn't passed one just by the skin of their teeth?" Skipper argued and was surprised to see that both Kowalski and Private had raised their hands. He then looked over to Rico who just shrugged as if to say that he would be a given. "At least I was expecting that and Private I can see with all the Lunacorn garbage he watches, but Kowalski, really? You?"
"As much as you like to paint me as an unhinged mad-scientist, I've never had any problem passing the psych evaluations with flying colors." It wasn't entirely true, but Kowalski wasn't about to clue Skipper in on that and just hoped their leader missed the way Rico had rolled his eyes at the statement.
Before Skipper could respond to bring up the Jiggles incident, Private interjected, "I think we're getting a bit off track."
"Right, we need to focus and prepare for our rendezvous with North Wind. Kowalski, Rico you'll have to do an equipment check and Private you'll have to set up contact with North Wind to confirm our meeting time and location. Everything should be packed and ready to go by 2400 hours."
Just as Kowalski stood and began to follow Rico to the stairs, Private stopped and looked at their leader with concern, "What are you going to do Skipper?"
"Reaching out to a few contacts for any information on Agent Rockgut's activities." Skipper explained as he looked through the file again, "I'm just trying to figure out why they wouldn't just let us take the mission."
Kowalski sighed, "working with North Wind again isn't the end of the world, Skipper."
"You're just saying that because you'll get to work with Eva again," Skipper teased and always enjoying the chance to get a rise out of Kowalski. "Even though we all know she'll chew you up and spit you out just like she did the last time."
"Trust me when I say that will be nothing less than professional this time." Kowalski felt Rico's fingers brush his wrist in silent understanding and reassurance.
"This time we all have to be nothing less than professional, even though it's a joke," Skipper scoff at the idea, "we can run circles around North Wind any day and we don't nearly have the funding they do."
"Maybe instead of learning a few things from them, they can learn a few things from us. Classified even admitted that not everyone can be a Penguin."
A bark of laughter escaped Skipper and he felt somewhat better about upcoming mission, "You're damn right not everyone can be a Penguin. Now I believe you were given orders, better step to it boys."
"Yes, sir!"
Once the three men were out of sight, Skipper pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contact list, ready to bet that Hans would have a better idea of what was going on.