One, two, three, four.
Step, lean, slide, run.
It didn't feel right at all. All Rico had been thinking was going back to the zoo and wait like Kowalski and Private did. But when he turned his back, that voice shut up immediately and another one started speaking; so Rico kept following his leader, deciding the second voice had better reasons.
It wasn't the first time Skipper went on a mission by himself. Rico's brain knew Skipper could handle anything; but as a penguin, he was taught to listen to his guts, and his guts were yelling at him that this time, it was different.
Rico didn't know how different it was, nor how Skipper couldn't realize he was being followed. Hold on there, maybe he knew that, but had his own reasons not to show it. That had to be it, there was no way Skipper couldn't realize Rico. He was Skipper after all, over-paranoid even at the calmest moments; and no matter how much Rico was good at this thing, he could never beat his master. But Skipper pretended not to detect Rico, so he went along with it, not letting his guard down for a single moment.
Skipper finally stopped in front of a giant metal door and knocked it. The door opened quick and silently despite how heavy it looked. When the short penguin got in, it closed with the same speed. Rico ran across towards thee door and leaned against it. There was no sound coming from the inside; Rico regurgitated a glass to hear the voices, promising himself he would swallow one of Kowalski's listening devices next time.
He could hardly hear some sentences, but he focused harder to understand what was going on there.
Rico was shocked when he managed to hear Skipper's hopeless voice.
Hopeless? Skipper? What was going on?
"Finish this already." Skipper's voice said.
"Oh, dear Skipper, what is this rush about? Why would I kill thee quickly instead of enjoying thy torment?"
What? Rico shivered as he tried to understand if he misheard.
"Do whatever you want. Just don't lay a finger on them."
"That broke my sensitive heart, dear Skipper. I always keep my promises; thou canst be sure of this. Now please, I want thee to pick thy own death. I would feel guilty if thou die in a way that thou dost not want."
No, whoever this guy with British accent was, Rico hadn't misheard him.
Rico regurgitated a chainsaw and aimed it at the door. It was useless, the door was pretty tough.
But Rico was tougher. No door on Earth could resist Rico's famous explosions. He regurgitated a grenade this time, stepped a few steps back before throwing it and… Bingo, there was no door on Earth that could resist him indeed.
When the smoke went clear, Rico's eyes met Skipper's surprised ones. He didn't hesitate and quickly got in, standing in front of his leader protectively.
"Thou hath disappointed me overmany, dear Skipper." The owner of the sound across the room carelessly sipped his tea. "I hath clearly besought told thee not to bring anyone."
Rico didn't know this guy; put knowing him aside, he didn't even look familiar. He was a squirrel, but had nothing like neither Fred from the park nor The Red Squirrel. This one was thin, but his tail looked fluffier than anything Rico had seen before. His coat had a shiny piece of silver's color, and he had one of those one-glassed glasses on his left eye. Not that Rico cared. All that mattered was this guy had threatened Skipper, their Skipper, Rico's Skipper; and Rico was gonna destroy him because of that.
"Rico, what are you doing here?" Skipper had finally got over his shock, and to Rico's surprise, he really had no idea about Rico following him here.
There was no time to answer that though, the British squirrel across the room had pointed a gun towards Rico.
"Thou have broken thy promise, then I won't keep mine either, dear Skipper. Say goodbye to thy fere, he shall be the first one of thy companions to go."
"No!" Skipper shouted as he moved towards the British squirrel, attacking his arm to block his gun. But the British easily knocked him down, getting Rico's eyes widener. Even Joey the Kangaroo or Officer X weren't able to beat Skipper down this easily.
That just made Rico really mad though. This British bastard must have weakened Skipper in a low way; there was no other explanation for that. Rico ran towards the British squirrel, was throwing grenades and dynamites at him which he easily dodged. Rico was feeling his heartbeat on his temple now. He got his chainsaw from before and threw it at the squirrel. The British threw it back without a sign of any effort; but making Skipper proud, Rico made an unexpected jump using the tea table and caught the chainsaw in midair before slicing the British in two.
Rico couldn't dare to look at Skipper. It was partly because he was supposed to be following his order and stay at HQ, but mainly because it was Skipper who disappointed him. Skipper hadn't even bothered to share his problem – whatever it was, Rico still hadn't really understood – with them, not only his team; but also his family. It seemed like Skipper just surrendered to that bastard without trying, and Rico just couldn't expect this from his leader who he admired the most, whom he was loyal the most.
Skipper slapped Rico as expected. "What reason do you have to defend yourself, soldier? I had clearly stated that I didn't want anyone with me."
Rico took a breath, and used all his courage to talk – or grunt like only his teammates could understand. You were just gonna get yourself killed, weren't you?
"I had no other choice, Rico. He-" Skipper's tough voice suddenly got quiet before talking with just a little softer one. "It was needed."
Rico replied with a sarcastic grunt. Sure Skipper, your death is absolutely the most needed change in our lives.
Skipper's eyes shone with an angry spark for a second, but it was quickly disappeared. He sighed before talking in an absolutely non-Skipper tone; broken-prided, wanting to apologize –but not apologizing-, and most surprisingly, confessing. "He threatened me with your lives, and I just-"
And you just decided to be the hero of the day. Skipper- Rico shook his head before throwing everything in his stomach up: a few grenades, three decks of dynamites, some time-bombs, two fireworks, four guns, an anchor, a scythe, a full-sized swordfish, an alarm-clock, a crowbar and a safety pin. "Skipper, you just could tell us and we would come up with a solution. Heck, I think even I could find a solution for this!"
Skipper got a little surprised; it had been ages since he heard Rico's not-grunting, normal talk for the first –and the last- time. But instead of expressing it, he furrowed. "Do you think I really surrendered without fighting?"
Rico nodded, gaining a flipper-slap for that.
"Of course I didn't! But unlike me, he really had improved himself since the last time I saw him." Skipper had sighed again. "I used to be able to beat that mammal up easily, but he got stronger, so much stronger than I expected. I came up with several plans, but he got cleverer too." Rico could see how Skipper's pride had got shattered in pieces. He tried to think something to cheer him up, but Skipper wasn't in the mood for kabooms apparently. Rico sure was terrible at comforting people. "And when he threatened me with your lives, I had no other choice but giving up." Skipper's voice had gone angry at the last words, goodness, how he hated those words.
"But Skipper, if you were gone, we would already be half-dead." Rico gulped before he continued, he wasn't used to talking this much. "Besides, kabooms can solve everything." He grinned.
Skipper smiled. Rico could never get emotional, but Skipper was able to read under his lines. What Rico wanted to remind him was "Never swim alone.", the squad's motto. He knew Rico meant that his team would always be there for him, and never give up even when he wanted to. Skipper wanted to slap himself for forgetting it, he was way too focused on what William the British serial killer could do to them.
"Thanks Rico." Skipper said before getting up from the spot where he sat. "But still, I can't forgive disobedience in my squad and you'll be doing all cleaning for the next three months, understood?"
"Huh-huh." The reply was quick but so grunt-ish, like how Rico always did. Skipper turned around to see that Rico had swallowed everything he threw up before in a blink of an eye.
Skipper couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "C'mon, Rico, we're getting back home."