It had taken Rico's brain less than two hours to plan his next move. It had been easier this time; the pain had slowly died down, making way for the sinister voice. His week without explosives was officially over, Skipper had given him back complete access to the dynamite and the bombs that were stored in one of their tunnels and gave him an empty congratulations. Rico had survived the week; Kowalski, in the other hand...

He was still struggling with increasingly less force on a clinic's bed.

They should be thankful. Especially Skipper; he is the one you should have caught in that explosion. Now, take the explosives! Make the biggest explosion ever!

Rico didn't do anything with the explosives the first days. He let the fury of the voice increase. He had something far bigger in store. The last explosion. But for that he had to let the voice's desperation rise. Then, not even he, no matter how hard he tried, would be able to stop it if he tried to back down in the middle of the move.

The bombs were kept safe inside his stomach. Just waiting for the right moment to be detonated.

One day before doing his move, he visited Kowalski's room. Everything was the same in there; time simply hadn't passed inside that room. The true reason he had come here in the first place was because he wanted to know if seeing his friend in this condition discouraged him of what he was about to do.

But no. He had already done the worst of the worst. He had hurt one of his loved ones with one of his beloved explosions. After that, any other evil thing he could do seemed insignificant.

He said his goodbye to Kowalski with a salute and then ran out to do the preparations.

There'd be fireworks tonight.

Rico wasn't planning on taking his friends' lives. He'd never dare to think something like that after what happened with Kowalski. He still had some self-control left and he was going to use it to keep his friends safe from himself.

He came back to his temporary habitat before nightfall that day. It wasn't a comfortable place for their needs, but Skipper had gotten them three blankets with which they spent their nights. When he came out of the air vent, he could see his captain watching Private while he slept. He couldn't help stare at his two remaining friends for a few moments, but then he shook his head and walked slowly to the blanket that'd be his bed tonight. He moved with heaviness and silently to not alert his leader of his presence, but he failed.

"Look, Rico," Skipper said, not taking his eyes off the sleeping Private. "He's finally sleeping peacefully. I thought he'd never do it again after Kowalski's accident."

Rico looked down and he just nodded in silence. He really wanted to go to sleep now, without exchanging a word with none of those penguins. He was about to lie down on the blanket when the leader turned around to face him. Something had changed in Skipper in these last days. That something no one could put a name on, but that no doubt revealed its absence in his eyes. The captain had said that the Kowalski they'd known till now had died, but he forgot to mention that the old Skipper had gone with him.

"Rico, I think I've been avoiding a chat that's necessary that you and I have."

The mohawked penguin's stomach tossed. He didn't know what to expect at this point. But he forced himself to straighten his back and face his leader that looked at him with seriousness.

"I know the events are still fresh but I'm not one to beat around the bush. I want to promote you to lieutenant, Rico."

Rico didn't react well to what Skipper said. The captain imagined it had been too soon to give him the news; he might just need time to put his thought together and get use to the idea. When he told him he was going to promote him to lieutenant, Rico snorted and turned away, he didn't want to listen to anything else Skipper had to say. The flat headed penguin tried to get his weapon expert's attention back, but Rico simply wouldn't listen to him anymore. He took his blanket and went to sleep in the farthest part of the habitat.

Skipper had no intentions of replacing Kowalski; he'd be there for anything the tall penguin needed, and he knew that (if Kowalski survived) he was going to need him more than ever. It's just that, as the captain, it was his job to make the hardest decisions without regarding his feelings.

At the end, he decided to follow the example of his recruits and go to sleep, leaving this matter unresolved for tonight. Tomorrow would be a new day.

A few minutes after the captain went to sleep, Rico opened his eyes. He was really good pretending he was asleep when he wanted; that performance had helped him a lot in different situations before, and now he had used it for the last time. He rose from the place he had been "sleeping" and got out of the habitat through the air vent. The zoo was dark, a perfect cover that would hide the execution of his plan.

The table is set, now you just have to serve the main entry.

Rico was in the clocktower, contemplating the zoo. The hands of the clock made their way slowly to twelve o'clock. Once it was time, he would press down the detonator and it'd be the first round of the night. The hands of the clock made it to the number twelve and the penguin took a deep breath, perfectly conscious of what he was about to do. It was curious how the power of the sinister voice that lived in his head worked. He had barely doubted the moment he put that bomb inside the machine Kowalski was building; and now he was taking more time in deciding if he should do this, when not even half of the zoo animals were his friends.

His doubts didn't last long, seconds after twelve am, his flippers pressed down the lever of the detonator. Right then, a series of bombs blew up around the zoo. He watched how the chaos slowly emerged, and that had only been the first round. There were a lot more where that came from.

Skipper woke up abruptly as soon as the first bomb blew up. The ground shook underneath him and even some small rubble fell from the roof due to the force the building was shaking. He felt his heart stop for a second; the tremor produced by the explosions lasted several seconds. He saw Private waking up too, obviously the young penguin wasn't expecting to be awoken in the middle of the night by what seemed to be an earthquake. It took Private a while to register what was happening and Skipper saw when he started to panic.

"S-Skippah!" Private screamed, reaching out his flippers towards him. The captain answered his call and ran to the young penguin to hold him protectively. They stayed there, hoping the building wouldn't fall off, until finally the tremors ceased. Skipper let go of Private and, for the first time, he became aware of Rico's absence.

"Hurry, Private, we have to go outside."

The two penguins slid down the air vent to the outside. When they got out, they found themselves surrounded by a thick curtain of smoke that barely let them breathe or see anything. Skipper soon realized they had to split up.

"Private, go to the clinic, and if you see the building is in danger of falling over, put Kowalski to safety. I'll go look for Rico and whoever that caused those explosions."

Private followed orders and both penguins went their separate ways. Not long after, the second round of explosions went off.

"We're under attack! Take cover!" Skipper shouted while running through the zoo halls, trying to warn the animals and save as many lives as possible while avoiding being caught in the blasts that occurred under his feet.

The second round lasted almost a full minute, pure terror for the zoo animals. Skipper was panting, hiding behind a wall. He only hoped Private, Rico and Kowalski were alright. When he noticed the explosions had stopped, he poked his head over the side of the wall and took a quick look around the zoo. The destruction was devastating, but what really caught his attention was the figure of an animal standing on top of the clock tower. He immediately identified him as the author of the chaos that was taking place. He had to stop him right now.

He slid expertly as close as he could to the tower without being seen, but he still couldn't see clearly who the animal that was up there was. Aiming carefully for the animal, he lifted a stone from the floor and threw it with perfect aim in the direction of the animal. The projectile hit its target right in the head, but before he knew what hit him, the animal fell from the tower directly to the ground.

Skipper grinned and he quickly slid to the place the animal had fallen, nonetheless, when he arrived there, the animal had already stood up and taken off. The captain could see the detonator still in his paws/hands/wings or whatever that animal had. He cursed under his breath and went after the enemy at full speed.

"WHO ARE YOU?" As he expected, he got no answer nor did the animal slowed down. When he turned into a corner, he lost sight of the enemy. He cursed once more before seeing from the corner of his eye another animal running towards him. It was only Private.

"There were more explosions," Private commented as if Skipper hadn't noticed already. "Did you find Rico?"

"No. But I found the one who's causing the explosions. I chased him all the way here and then I lost sight of him; he's carrying a detonator so there could be more explosions at anytime. Stay alert."

Private nodded and saluted.

"How was everything at the clinic?" Skipper asked, still worried about his other two soldiers.

"The clinic is intact, sir. I could say it's the only safe place in the whole zoo right now. Kowalski's sleeping like a baby."

Skipper sighed with relief.

"What a stroke of luck. But now we need to find Rico and the enemy and safeguard the rest of the animals. Tell them they'll be fine as long as they stay near the clinic."

"Yes, sir."

Once again each one went on their own.

Skipper walked through the zoo halls, alert to every movement he could detect. A few moments later, he finally saw again the animal he had seen at the clock tower not long before. He didn't give him any time to react; he just ran straight to him and knocked him down. They both ended up on the ground; the unidentified animal let go of the detonator and it rolled several feet away. The pair struggled until Skipper managed to impose his strength over the other animal. This latter was immobilized and the captain could see his face.

It was Rico.

Time wasn't enough to the flat-headed penguin to understand what was happening: why Rico was holding a detonator and why he had caused all these explosions. The weapons expert pushed him off and jumped over the wall of the otter's habitat. Skipper was left in shock momentarily, but he quickly regained control over himself and went after the maniac.

"RICO! WHY?!" He shouted when he jumped over the wall and landed inside Marlene's habitat. He found the weapon expert standing near the otter's cave, unmoving, but looking straight back at him. It unsettled Skipper a little when he noticed that, on his shoulder, the penguin was carrying an unconscious Marlene.

Both Skipper and Rico stayed like that, only staring at each other while the pieces slowly fell into place inside Skipper's head.

"You caused the explosions," Skipper realized; his voice was only a shaking whisper. He didn't want to believe what he was thinking. "Not only these, but also the one in Kowalski's lab, isn't that right?"

Rico gave no answer, but Skipper knew his guess was right.

"How could you? Why did you do it, Rico?"

Rico dropped his head, still holding Marlene strongly against his shoulder.

"Do you realize what you did to Kowalski? You almost kill your own teammate just because you can't live without explosions! And in the name of pickled sardines, what are you going to do with Marlene?!

"She… come… with me," Rico said in a hollow voice. His cold stare really frightened Skipper. He was in front of the same soldier that had been driven mad the second he was forbidden the explosives and had sent a whole zoo into a total chaos because of it.

Kowalski was going to die and it was Rico's fault. Skipper had raised the soldier himself but it was only now that he realized that he had made a mistake in the process.

"I won't let you take anybody else's life, Rico! As your commanding officer, I will stop you! I don't think I have to remind you that I'm capable of taking out one of my own men if necessary."

Just let him try.

The sinister voice made its first appearance since Rico had started the explosions, which could only mean he had not much time left. Skipper had interfered in his plans and now his actions wouldn't culminate with the poetic ending he had planned. He wouldn't take the whole zoo with him but at least the otter would die today. He didn't know why he had chosen her, perhaps just out of pure spontaneousness.

Maybe it was better this way. In the proximity, he could hear the sirens approaching through the streets of New York to deal with the commotion in Central Park Zoo.

He had to make his exit now.

Securing the otter over his shoulder, he took off towards the nearest wall. As soon as he jumped it, he'd be outside the zoo. He heard his leader calling after him.

"Rico, stop!"

He wasn't going to follow Skipper's orders anymore, never again, not even for one last time. He gained momentum and took a big leap. He landed on top of the wall, where his feet barely touched the surface before he jumped out of the zoo. In less than a minute, he had left the captain several feet behind.

Skipper trembled in place, he had realized a lot of things in a couple of minutes and it was too much information to absorb. Despite Rico was already too far by then, the Skipper took a big breath to call out to him once more.

"RI…!"

"Skippah!" He turned around. He had instantly recognized that voice and, as a matter of fact, just as he expected, Private was coming up to him. "Did you find Rico? Or did you at least catch the one who's causing the explosions?"

Skipper opened his beak to tell him he had discovered that Rico was the culprit, not only the ones that had just happened, but also the one that caused Kowalski to be on the brink of death. Nonetheless, something made him stop at the last second. Something inside him refused to shatter the image the kid had of the explosion loving penguin. Rico was one of Private's heroes, he couldn't take that away from the child.

"It was Blowhole," Skipper said; the dolphin was the first one that popped up in his head when he thought about the enemies he had. A shocked expression appeared on Private's face; now it was time to make up what had happened to Rico. "He managed to escape. And he kidnapped Rico and Marlene."

"WHAT?!" Skipper hastened to put a wing on the private's chest to calm him down.

"I'll go after them to save them. I won't let Rico swim alone through this."

"I'll go too! I wanna help."

"NO!" He had to make an excuse to stop Private from coming and discovering his lies. "Remember the penguin creed: never swim alone. Stay at Kowalski's side and take care of him. And I'll take care of Rico."

Although with doubts and mistrust, Private complied and Skipper started to leave.

"And don't worry," Skipper told him. "I'll bring Rico back."

He said that hoping for the best. Who knows, maybe, in the end, he would be able to find a solution, he would help Rico and he would keep his word. Once he left the zoo, he promised himself he would do everything in his power to get the Rico he had known back.


I really meant to update this sooner, but I kept postponing it and forgetting it... anyway, I'm sure you don't want excuses so I'll stop writing stuff now. By the way, it'd be nice if you guys left a review if you actually read and liked the story. You may or may not know but reviews make a fanfiction author the happiest person in the world! Please bring out the happiness!

This is the climax of the story; I should've told you that in the last chapter but never mind that now! The thrilling (not so much) conclusion to The Explosion Inside Rico's Head in the next chapter! The Last One!

I'd like to thank, as always, Skipper917 for beta-reading this :)