Alice had just finished a long day of work and locked up her office, feeling safe in the belief that no one would tamper with her things. However, no sooner than she had left the building four penguins burst into her office.
"Rico, keep an eye out for any night-time marauders," Skipper ordered.
"On it!" Rico settled himself by the door.
"Remind me, Kowalski: what exactly are we looking for?" Skipper jumped up onto the desk.
"Alice's new scientific calculator. She was seen sneaking the contraband in earlier this afternoon." Kowalski began checking the drawers.
"Really? We're missing Shirtless Ninja Fighting for that?"
"Well, if a certain someone hadn't destroyed my first calculator, then perhaps I wouldn't need a new one!" Kowalski looked pointedly at Rico.
"What you lookin' at me for?" Rico said, clearly unremorseful. Kowalski fumed.
"Um, is this important, do you think?" Private removed a sheet of paper from the printing tray and brought it over to the others.
"Alice must have forgotten to file it." Kowalski took it from Private and examined the picture.
"Alice forgets to file things all the time. So?" Skipper couldn't see why it mattered.
"Skipper, I may be mistaken, but I think that it's bad news."
"They're bringing back the spy camera system?" Skipper exclaimed in dismay.
"What? No, not that," Kowalski negated his leader's theory.
"Then what?"
"It would appear that our zoo overlords have seen fit to add another penguin to our exhibit."
"A zoo transfer?" Skipper exploded. "Into our habitat?"
"That is what the computer says," Kowalski said apologetically.
"How will we be able to execute missions with a spy watching our every move?" Skipper demanded, tapping the penguin-shaped icon that indicated the imminent transfer.
"He might not be a spy at all," Private said, ever the optimist. "What if he's a civilian?"
"That's even worse! A spy would only report their intel to whatever villain they answer to. A civilian would blab about our business to the whole world!" Skipper gesticulated wildly. "Kowalski! Explain to the private why a civilian might be worse than a spy."
"The new arrival could tell the zoo about our ongoing operations and consequently give any malcontents the information needed to plan an ambush. That scenario also completely ignores the prevalence of social networking sites and the possibility that an outsider may well reveal our HQ's position to the millions who use such sites."
"That doesn't sound good at all." Private touched the tips of his flippers together in concern. "What are we going to do?"
"Kaboom?" Rico asked eagerly.
"I don't know," Skipper sighed.
"Skipper, surely not! Alice would be certain to notice!" Kowalski was galvanised.
"And we can't go blowing other penguins up," Private added.
"Hmm, you might be onto something. Rico, we'll keep your idea as Plan B. Kowalski, options for Plan A!"
"We could transfer them out of the zoo," Kowalski suggested.
"Wouldn't that mean that they'd have to get into the zoo first?" Private asked.
"I think that we can handle containment duty for a few hours," Skipper said.
"Alice coming!" Rico said. Approaching footsteps could be heard – the cleaning staff coming in to go over the building. Speculation about the new arrival was put on hold.
"Roll out men!" Skipper commanded.
"And I'm back to the abacus," Kowalski sighed and he followed his three teammates out.
The first chapter of my first fanfiction! I must admit that I'm a little excited about it. I know that my story's topic is not exactly a new one, but it won't do any harm to put my own spin on that old classic. If there are any grammar/spelling mistakes, please let me know! Feedback is also much appreciated.