Danger of the Night
[Kowalski's Laboratory, 10:00 PM – Kowalski's PoV]
I walk up to the door of my laboratory, with only foreboding silence filling the empty spaces of the room on the other side. To me, quiet is as satisfying as it is threatening, as such peace gives many opportunities as much as it scares most animals out of their flesh. My paranoia coerces me into looking around ever so slowly on the odd occasion, to check my surroundings.
Nothing. I almost sigh in relief at this finding.
I open the door, hearing the prominent creak of the rusty door handle as I pull it down to open. I then push forward, hearing an even louder "frrr" sound, as the base of the door scrapes against the rough, solid floor. It is only my paranoia that makes me so observant, perhaps delusional; even. I had never been left alone for so long and when I have, there had always been the annoying noise of Julien's protests and the happy, over-excited squeals of the mouse lemur that provides me company, yet at the same time causes my stress levels to rise. Now, there wasn't even that to keep me sane.
Only two minutes have passed since I have stepped into the spacious room, surrounded now by sterile equipment used for purely scientific reasons, but as I finally manage to ignore the raving paranoia and the nervousness, moving along to pouring the two liquids that I had set up prior to this into a boiling tube leaned against the rack on the table next to me, it feels like hours have passed.
Even though I know that I am fully capable of escaping and fighting danger, the thought that I may be outnumbered by a mass of intruders looking to steal my inventions gives me no rest. I maybe I am a soldier, but I am not invincible.
For a moment I freeze, a voice slipping past my ears, messing with my mind.
I think I hear footsteps. No, this is simply a result of my overactive mind. Even geniuses have their flaws. I, along with high levels of smugness that had been fueled by being ignored for most of my life, was one too. And the most genius minds are often those thought insane. Haven't all great minds been laughed at once?
There is momentary doubt of course, like in the mind of every intelligent creature, but it passes and I shake my head. There is nothing there. Nothing at all.
I try and focus on my task. Pouring the liquids together into the boiling tube, I gaze, watching them flow off the rim of their bottles, each at different rates. Viscosity's the culprit. Slowly, I put clamp them over a bunsen burner, leaving them to gradually heat up. The two liquids merge together, letting out steam, almost like a warning symbol. They turn from clear to blue. Then black.
I hear more footsteps.
'Kowalski... concentrate,' a voice in my mind reprimands me, mocking my cowardice. It had a valid point though, I needed to focus.
I add some sulphur, slowly, carefully.
The door opens behind me. I hear the squealing sounds of the light contact. I slowly turn around, leaving the bottle of sulphur on the table. The flame still burns, dimly illuminating the room. Yet the person stays in the shadows.
'Is that... no, it can't be. Were are the others?'
A smile flashes before me. A Shiny object appears, held in the appendage of the creature that stands a little ways away, watching me with disconcerting levels of interest. I can sense it. It elicits a chilling sensation that passes down my spinal cord, the nervous system now alert. A hooded figure steps closer to me. The dangerous smile follows it, like the grin of the Cheshire cat.
As I look more closely, in fright I notice that the object in the stranger's hand has a sharp blade, reflecting the animal's eyes.
I close my eyes, caught by surprise an unable to react. The thought that comes first is to protect the eyes, of course.
As the first slash comes, I sink into darkness.
O=C=O
[Fish Market, 10:45 PM – Skipper's PoV]
I step out of the alleyway, wary. A strange, sinking feeling disturbs my calmness. No sign of others. No Private. No Rico. Where are they? I switch on the flashlight and call out their names.
We had only gone on a simple mission. Just one. However, with the dimness of light limiting our vision, a supposedly easy task could be turned into something much more difficult. Such as retrieving some kippers.
I had left Kowalski to his experimenting, giving him a one-off chance to do his crazy, voodoo-science stuff. After all, we all need a little entertainment now and then, don't we? Just happens that Kowalski's more of an egg-head than the rest of my soldiers. I can already imagine the maniacal grin, so similar to Rico's, stretched across his face. He's likely having fun. I am not. Just a few minutes ago, I was with the rest of the team (minus Kowalski). My men were meant to be ready. But it took a single car to lose them from sight.
I search high and low for them. As I walk up to a parked car, I hear footsteps. Probably paranoia. I hear the branches of trees rustle. Yep, definitely paranoia. 'Come on, Skipper, get over it.' Yet, it seemed that the other two avians weren't here. Maybe they just went on ahead. Maybe I should go too.
A sudden wave of terror floods my heart and my mind is filled with distressed thoughts. 'What if they didn't just get lost, if this were a worse case scenario? If one of them had gotten injured? Or if they're unconscious, lying somewhere?' And the worst thought...'what if they're dead?'
My friends and the closest thing to a family that I have ever known. I look at the night sky, wishing to the stars that they are fine, unharmed. Figuratively of course. I don't believe in wish-granting stars any more than Rico does. If they aren't, if they are somewhere, injured, or worse, I have failed as a leader. If that happens, I know that inevitably, two quarters of myself would be lost.
I shake the thoughts off and move on. The sheer silence of the night creeps me out, feeding my paranoid mind with more morbid thoughts, nasty thoughts. I keep on turning my head, looking at both sides, expecting an attacker; some unknown danger, even death.
I know it sounds childish. A private might be scared. A child might act that way. I am a Skipper.
The worries leave me then, as I realise how ridiculous those thoughts are. I search on, in the night, with only the flashlight to accompany me. For ten minutes I search, without a single doubt creeping in, but it sounds like for hours and I no longer feel brave. All my bravery that I ever had as a commander, slip away.
The clocks are ticking.
I hear more footsteps. A trash can tips over, clashing into something, it's lid falling on to the ground. I swiflty rotate, getting into my fight position.
'No time to be afraid.'
'You are a penguin, not a chicken, soldier.'
There is a silhouette in front of me, one which I slowly stalk up to. A hooded figure appears out of the shadows. It wears a freaky smile on an almost fully covered face. I feel the smile as much as I see it. It's boring into my skin. My eyes fall upon a shiny object. It's sharp. It's medium-sized. The length of the sharper part of this object is coated in metal, shaped similarly to a tooth.
A knife flies in my direction all of a sudden, clearly aimed at me. I dodge it, but the mystery weilder then closes in to scratch at my exposed side. Whatever this creature is armed with, it is most definitely sharp, but I cannoy place the object. It's piercing glare makes me feel as defenceless as a chick. I am no longer a commander.
The word doom comes to mind, before a smarter attack strategy. Perhaps it's fitting...
I see an arrow, flying straight at me. There's no time to dodge this one and my eyes close in surrender.
An explosion assaults my hearing. The air feels strange.
When I try to open my eyes, all my mind and pupils capture is darkness. Nothingness. But I feel no pain. Just never ending darkness and fear. A nightmare that I fear may never end.
O=C=O
[The Candy Shop, 11:21 PM, Private's PoV]
In the dark, I had lost my way. The only sensible thing that came to my mind was to wait at a point someone could find me at. Like they teach human kids at scouts, no? The candy shop was the first and only visible option for me, though if I told Skipper, he probably wouldn't believe me. Feelings of loneliness and axiety fill my heart. Those aren't nice emotions. I don't like them, but I don't have a choice either.
My hope is that Skipper would be here. After all, he would know what to do.
I walk up to the door, realising that I can open the door with ease. Searching for any dents or holes, a momentary hope of Rico having reached the shop before me. But there are none and I sigh, discouraged by the absence of my friends.
As the door fully opens, I hear a creaking sound and the soft 'thud' as the door softly collides with on of the inner walls of the shop. I go inside, and look for cameras or possible triggers. Fortunately for me, there seem to be none and I move on, looking through the lifeless building.
The shop is full, however, just not with humans, or animals. Plenty of shelves; plenty of candy. Pasteries. Ice-cream. Donuts. Sweets. Jelly. Peanut butter winkies. I stare at them, not believing that there are any left. After all, my favourite treat had gone off sale months ago.
I reach out for some of the peanut butter winkies when I hear something. My eyes dart around. It's probably the wind. I sigh again, shaking my head.
'Why am I always so gullible.'
I go back to the peanut butter winkies. There is the passing memory of the mission I was meant to complete, but I wave it off. I can come back to it later. I take some winkie and walk out. It feels like it has been hours, though I knew it was only a few minutes.
As I am about to walk out, the door closes. I rush to the exit, pushing it in worry that someone was here, someone that shouldn't be here, or near me. And I don't want to be locked in either. It doesn't open.
'Maybe it's stiff.'
I give it my hardest push. It doesn't work. I might have locked myself in. I check for an exit, panicking.
There is none.
Fear creepes over me. Ice-cold sweat rolls down my feathers and skin. 'Halloween was nothing compared to this,' I think nervously. A breeze flows through the room. Probably just imagination. But what if? I turn around. Then I hear footsteps. I see shadows.
They are getting closer. I cower in fear, shrinking back behind the shelves in an attempt to hide. Perhaps it would tell them to leave me. I raise my head, looking up to catch a glimpse at the other creature here. I spot a hooded figure, near, too close to me. It flashed a smile at me. A sly smile. An evil smile. A beyond-the-scariest-nightmares kind of smile. It sent chills down my spine. The creature stepped closer, its footsteps silent.
It held a shiny object.
A metal object.
A sharp object.
The blade of a knife caught my widening eyes. Skipper had warned me about people who aren't friendly. Guess I should have taken him up on that, shouldn't I?
It lashed out at me, but I lowered my head to evade the knife. I tried to fight it back, get a defensive attack, but it shot out a pair of particularly jagged-looking throwing stars. I stiffened, gulping as it took out more. I had just vaguely dodged those last few weapons of choice. Yet it seemed to be carrying more.
'Will this be my end? A p-painful one?'
I froze as they just missed me. On purpose. This was not a creature that would miss on purpose. Just by glancig at the array of weapons that were now hanging off the wall, just centimetres from my body, I could see this. From behind its back, it pulled out a bow, taking out a single arrow. My eyes followed that arrow, seeing it pointed at me. I couldn't move. Chances were that it would hit. Straight in the heart. I didn't need to be a scientist to see this predicament. I held my breath, closing my eyes as the images appeared in my subcosciouness.
There was the faint sound of the arrow being released, rubbing off against the bow, flying in mid air, whizzing past. It hadn't yet hit, yet I was already losing consciousness as my world got darker than ever before.
I awaited my doom in this dark void, but I felt no pain.
'That's odd.'
So this was death. Surely this was what death felt like. You don't feel pain in death, do you?
O=C=O
[Fish Market, 00:00, Rico]
I tobogganed to the kipper factory, having had taken a detour. After we were seperated, you couldn't blame me for not being able to find the way. I was the weapons expert, not a mapping device.
'Where is Skipper? And Private?' I thought. Weren't they meant to be here?
I had seen a car, the moment we had been separated. That was all it took, and now they were both gone. I knew I should find them, but I knew that Skipper would find this factory any time by himself. And he surely could not have gotten hurt. Private on the other hand...
My beak fell open as I saw the massive factory. I was never scared of the dark. Or of large factories. However, for whatever reason, something about this place felt fishy. After all, it seemed pretty empty to me.
I walked closer to the entrance. All I heard was silence. No chopping of fish. No boxing. No complaints. No cars. No nothing. Just silence.
I shuddered, briefly, before deciding to enter the building. The door seemed locked, but forcing them open came with ease. I checked for officer X to see if he was anywhere. Where was he? Well he did not need to be nearby every time. But this time no alarm was no warning, no red lights. No panic. Nothing. I stepped inside. It was near black and all too spacious for the liking of a distrustful penguin. All the machines had been stopped. All the boxes gone.
I turned back, wondering if perhaps I should wait for the others outside. The door was there again, thankfully, the one thing that wouldn't change. And it was closed.
'Wait... this isn't right.'
I examine the door suspiciously. I could have sworn that I had permenantly opened that door just a few seconds ago. I hear another door close as I step to one of the tables where the kippers are usually prepared. I jump up and look around the room. Did the room just get smaller? At least I am not claustrophobic.
Yet.
I looked atround, seeing some bars at one side of the building. Bars. I hate them. I can here a 'thud'. There were now bars restricting me from another part of the building. Again... 'thud'. Now the room really was getting smaller. And there was yet another barred wall, that seemed to appear next to me. I back away, distressed by the metal trapping devices. In the wrong direction, too. Another wall of bars fell, trapping me in a cage.
My worst enemy.
I then catch sound of footsteps. Someone was closing up on me. I catch a short glimpse of a grin, one of a predatory animal, all too visible despite the lack of light.
The frustration within me builds up, as I grow enraged by the mockery. "Get. Meh. Out!" I grunt, both desperately and agressively. Perhaps it was no a way to persuade someone, but then again I was the one trapped. The only response I received was a loud cackle.
I saw another smile flash.
A hooded figure moved closer to the improptu prison, watching me from behind the bars. An arrow pierces through the air. I expect death, no less, as it is aimed straight at me. However, instead of piercing me, the arrow explodes mid air, just inches from me. A gas comes out of the destroyed weapon, assaulting my senses.
A strange kind of dizziness over comes me and the balance leaves me. Poisonous gas? The point of the arrow hit the bar directly beside my left flipper. Part of me believes that the villian suspected that that would happen. I'm no Kowalski. But I'm not stupid either. After all, I'm a weapons expert...
Darkness surrounds me, but before it ecased me completely, I see a laser beam pointed at me. I am surely going to die. I Ricardo Fischer, defeated by what I respect and know most about. Synthetic weaponry at its best.
A/N – Sorry if this seems basic and slightly OOC. I've tried to edit it a little since I have found it, somewhere deep down in the mess of files hidden in my laptop, but there's not much I can do.
I hope you've enjoyed this little one-shot. Or perhaps not enjoyed but...