CHAPTER THREE: Murdock's HQ

The very next day, Skipper found an abandoned little kitten, hiding in the bushes. He took it carefully in his arms and called on Kowalski to check on its condition.

"I am afraid that if we don't get this poor little creature to our HQ in time, he may die!" said Kowalski, watching over the shaking kitten with fear. "We have to give him milk to keep him alive!"

"Move out, men!" ordered Skipper and all four of them rushed towards their habitat. As soon as they got inside, the leader penguin leaped towards the fridge and grabbed a bottle of milk. Meanwhile Kowalski brought a soft, wooly blanket from his lab and wrapped the kitten with it. Rico carefully lied it down on Skipper's bunk.

"Remember, chums, Private used to sleep with this blanket when he was younger" smiled Kowalski.

"Oh, shut it!" murmured Private with annoyance. Kowalski glared at him with astonishment. It was in fact the first time he would hear Private speaking so rudely. But he quickly forgot about the matter, as the kitten started to squeak from cold and hunger.

"It's okay, it's okay, soldier, we're here for you" said Skipper, hurrying towards the kitten. "Here comes your food!"

When the nutrition was over, Skipper made the kitten comfortable in his bunk.

"Now, I think we should take a day off" he stated. "We can't leave this poor little thing all by itself."

"But we're supposed to have our training exercises in a minute!" protested Private.

"Not to worry. We'll make up for these two hours next time" replied Skipper. "Kitten's health is the most important matter right now."

Kowalski glared at Private once again. There was something really unusual about his youngest team mate's behavior. Private would always get immensely paranoid when it came to babysitting, cradling, and taking care of weaker creatures. He remembered that day, when they had to chase a baby stroller all over the town. When the baby found himself on the top of the building, the rest of the team was ready to call it quits, but Private.. Private insisted on continuing their mission and he would finally have his way.

"Now there, silly penguins!" King Julian's voice echoed all over the habitat. "I got a request!" he jumped down on the ground, with Mort glued to his left foot. "Maurice and I have to set out for a meeting, but no kids are allowed. How about you take care of this incredibly annoying creature ?"

Skipper glanced at the kitten, and then at Kowalski. A sudden thought struck Private's mind.

"I will take care of him" he smiled sweetly, fixing his eyes at Skipper. "So you can take care of the kitten."

"Good idea" said Skipper. "Take him to the park, it's a beautiful weather".

"Ayeaye, Skippa!" nodded Private. "Yes, yes, yes!" he thought to himself. "Now that's a great opportunity to sneak into Murdock's HQ. I just have to do it in the right moment".

"What game shall we play nooow?" asked Mort, fixing his big, black eyes at Private.

"Damn, his voice is sooo annoying!" thought Private. "No wonder King Julien wants to get rid of him".

"Well, since we've been playing all sorts of games for over an hour" he said, collecting colorful coins from the ground. "I guess we should give it a rest for a while and think of some other kind of an entertainment. How about going to the park near the zoo? It's been ages since yours last visit to the park, ey?"

"Yaaay!" answered Mort.

"I'm sure, I've met you before" said Todd the Squirrel, fixing his green eyes at Mort." Yes, I remember! I used to teach you cycling!"

"So, Mort, is this a friend of yours?" asked Private.

Mort nodded in silence, slightly intimidated.

"Grrreat! So you two have fun here and enjoy yourself for a while, I have some important business in the town. Todd, you promise me, you'll take good care of Mort?"

"Yup!"

"And you will stay with him all this time until I come back?"

"Yup!"

"Fantastic!"

Private waved them goodbye, and slided towards the forest boundarie. Two seconds later he vanished in the bushes.

"Wohooo! Our comrade has finally come!" announced Murdock to all and sundry as soon as Private entered their Headquaters. Private smiled timidly at the spontaneous outburst of ovation and clapping his presence had caused among the group.

He took a discreet look around and gulped. Murdocks headquarters was very much different from their own. Most of it was covered in a creepy twilight. In fact, the only lightened part of the room was the table. It reminded him somehow of those eerie underground clubs in New Jersey Skipper told him about. Those were the places where the penguin mafia would gather, plotting and conspiring against their enemies. Private felt a little bit disheartened, but he quickly shrugged it off, stating, that he should never judge a book by its cover.

"It's just what Skipper used to say" he explained to himself while approaching the team. "After all they are still minors. Just like me. There is no reason for me to be afraid of them."

"Come on, take a seat!" Murdock offered him the chair to sit on. Scarcely had Private seated himself on the chair, when his slightly tipsy neighbor, Jeremy, poured some Arctic Soda to his glass.

"Erm…" Private gulped loudly and leaned slightly backwards.

"Wazzup?" frowned Murdock. "You don't like it?"

"It's not that.." explained Private, wriggling uncomfortably on his chair." "Im just not sure if I should.."

"What are ya talkin abaut?" muttered Jeremy the Penguin, leaning across the table and fixing his foggy eyes at Private.

"I mean.. We're still minors.. all of us..And…"

"Now puh-leeaaaaase, don't make me laugh!" moaned Jeremy against Murdock's cynical laughter.

"Tell you what!" said Tony. I've been drinking Arctic Soda since I was a ten year old. Sneaking to my parent's secret storage magazine and washing it down on the quiet, behind the cupboard. I was never caught. Never!

"You want me to say, that Spaghetti-loving leader of yours doesn't allow you to have a sip, every once in a while?"

Private shook his head in silence.

"Goddamnit, he's such a retard" grunted Jeremy in disbelieve. "I guess it must be a miracle for all three of you to put up with him. I wouldn't stand a day."

Private was somewhat flustered with the way Jeremy spoke about his leader, but didn't have enough guts to protest loudly in front of the group. He just balled his flippers into fists and greeted his beak.

"And I bet he doesn't even let you out for night club parties?" continued Jeremy between the sips.

Dead silence.

"He surely doesn't know how to have fun, ey?"

"Not.. really" muttered Private. He was getting more and more dissatisfied with what this conversation leaded to. The piece of Jeremy's strawberry cake brought memories of Happy King Julien's Day. He remember that day very well – that day, Skipper wanted to sacrifice to cleanup operation. At first he didn't feel like changing his plans. But on seeing their disappointed faces he had second thoughts and would eventually let them join the party. And he cleaned it all by himself!

"Holly cow! Waking up at half past six in the morning, doing gym, smiling and waving, setting out for some lame missions, smiling and waving, doing gym, and cleaning up HQ! What kind of a sick man is he?" facepalmed Jeremy.

"Fortunately, you've found us." Concluded Murdock, patting Private on the back. "We'll show you how to savor life. "As you can see, we barely ever clean up" he smiled, pointing his flipper at their incredibly messy carpet full of smashed bottles and trash. "Yet it doesn't stop us from enjoying life. Come on, let's have a sip!" He picked up the glass with Arctic Soda and raised it at Private's beak level.

"Don't make us wait for too long!" cried Chad, Maroon, Rockez and Tiramisu from the other side of the table.

"Come on! Pri-vate! Pri-vate! Pri-vate!"

"Just gulp it down in one go, it will make us friends for the rest of our lifes!" said Murdock against his comrades loud scanding.

Private shivered, took the glass, closed his eyes, took a bite of salmon fish and washed it down with his drink in one gulp. There was a common outburst of joy and ovation.

"Congratulations, pal, you've made it!" cried Tiramisu.

Private just sat there all dizzy and shocked with what he had just done. Several minutes later, Murdock decided to twist up the atmosphere by treating his colleagues with some obscene jokes. Private felt really uncomfortable when listening to these stuffs but he had no choice.

He remembered that day when he would be so mad at Skipper, Kowalski and Rico, not wanting to share their "adult classified" joke with him. His new comrades treated him with plenty of those. Their main target were obviously young penguin girls.

"Oh dear" he chirped to himself.