Woo-hoo! Chapter 4 is up! :) First of all, super big thanks to Ecto-1 for giving me my first review! :D Here's a virtual Peanut Butter Winky for you! Z[~]Z Hmm. . . It's interesting you should say that. . . (I don't want to spoil anything, though)! ;)
Okay, now for a quick note: Although Rico has a bruise, his feathers still look normal (this is important to remember). Alright, onward!
Night had fallen, and it was nice and cool outside. Skipper looked at the clock tower and saw that it was now eight o'clock.
"We'll head over to Alice's office first. Then, after we change the appointment date, we'll sneak into the vet's office and change it there as well." The leader said. Private, Kowalski, and Rico nodded. The penguins flipped over the perimeter fence and landed on the path surrounding their habitat. They dropped onto their stomachs to slide to Alice's office, but Rico gasped and quickly turned onto his back.
"I think we should walk instead, Skipper. Rico's bruise is sensitive to pressure." Kowalski noted, getting up and helping Rico onto his feet.
"Right. Sorry, Rico." They waddled as fast as they could over to Alice's office and entered through the conveniently-opened window.
"Okay, men. Look around. We need to find Alice's clipboard." The four penguins split up. Luckily, it didn't take long.
"Skippah, I found it!" Private called, standing on top of the zookeeper's desk and holding it up for him to see.
"Good work, Private!" The others joined him on the table.
Private placed the clipboard down so Kowalski could scan the form on it. He located the date and time of their appointment in the upper right-hand corner of the page, grabbed a pencil from the cup on the desk, and carefully rewrote it so that they would get their checkup the day after.
"Finished!" Kowalski told the others.
"Excelante. Let's go to the vet station." The penguins jumped down from the desk and exited the same way they came.
In no time at all, they reached the zoo hospital. The penguins used the same method to get in as they did with Alice's office and began searching around for the veterinarian's records. Their search came up empty in the examination room, so they made their way to the vet's personal office. The door was locked.
"Rico, since you can't regurgitate anything right now, you'll have to find something to help you pick the lock." Skipper said. Rico nodded, climbed onto one of the nearby counters, and rummaged through some medical supplies. He took one that would do nicely and dropped back down to the floor. Skipper saw him as he rounded the corner.
"So, Rico, you found something to pick the – GET THAT AWAY FROM ME!" The leader suddenly threw himself against the wall on the far side of the room. Private and Kowalski turned to see what Rico was holding to cause such a reaction: It was a syringe.
"Rico, you know Skippah is afraid of needles," Private said.
Rico replied in gibberish, explaining that it was the only thing he could find that would work. He jumped up, grabbed the doorknob with one flipper, and stuck the needle into the lock with the other. After jimmying it around, the lock made a soft click, and Rico turned the knob and let go. The door swung open.
"Okay, Skipper, the door is open. You can come back now." Kowalski called.
"Not until Rico throws that instrument of torture far away!" The leader replied, still clinging to the wall across from them.
Rico tossed the needle onto the counter he got it from and showed Skipper that he was no longer holding it. Skipper shakily rejoined the group and they entered the vet's office. Unlike the search in Alice's office, finding the doctor's appointment record was a bit harder to locate.
"I think the vet might have his records on the computer." Kowalski guessed, seeing that the clipboards hanging on the wall didn't have what they were looking for. They went to the desk and turned the computer on. The first thing to appear after it booted up was the login screen. The scientist pressed a few random keys on the keyboard and hit the enter button. Shockingly, that didn't work.
"Try the most obvious: 1-2-3-4." Skipper said. Kowalski entered it in and the password was accepted.
"Wow. You'd think the doctor would have a more secure password."
"That deranged man thought it was, but he didn't count on us, did he?" The leader smugly replied. Kowalski smiled and grabbed the mouse to navigate around the interface. The first icon he selected opened up a browser window showing the last page the vet had visited. Of all things, it happened to be a needle supplier. Skipper's eyes widened.
"NEEDLES!" He fell off the desk and landed with a splat. Private rushed to the edge of the tabletop and looked down at him.
"Are you okay, Skippah?"
"Kowalski, if you don't get rid of that web page in five seconds. . ."
"Sorry, Skipper!" Kowalski quickly closed it and clicked on another icon. A video appeared that the penguins remembered all too well. It was an embarrassing video of Alice, singing and dancing to some music after the zoo was closed for the day. Rico quickly covered Private's eyes as Skipper climbed back onto the desk. He stared at the monitor.
"Ugh, not that again. Why does the vet have that on his computer, anyway?"
"I don't know, sir," Kowalski answered, trying to stop it.
"Well, if you need me, I'll be on the floor." The leader turned away from them and dropped back down.
After removing the awkward clip from the screen, Kowalski examined the monitor carefully. Finally, he clicked on the icon they were looking for, which displayed all of the zoo checkup appointments. He scanned through the list until he saw theirs and clicked on the date box to fix it. After successfully doing so, the lieutenant saved the newly-made changes and shut the computer back down.
"Okay, the vet's copy of the record is set," Kowalski stated, turning back to the others. The leader rejoined them on the desk and smiled.
"Alright! Phase one of Operation: Checkup is complete. Up high!" Skipper exclaimed. The flightless birds exchanged high-fives (or ones, since they're penguins).
"I like the name, Skippah!" Private complimented.
"I know! It is pretty clever, isn't it?" They slipped out of the vet station and headed back to their habitat.
Now that they had bought themselves some time, the next step was keeping Julien away long enough for Rico's bruise to heal. Skipper hoped it wouldn't be too hard. Boy was he wrong.
Poor Skipper: Two needle scares in one chapter. :/ Oh, well, he's fine. :) Yeah, I tossed in a reference to "Tangled in the Web"; I loved their faces when they saw that clip of Alice! XD Okay, so they got the appointment rescheduled, but what will happen now?! The next chapter shall answer that question! :)
