4 – It's in the Job Description
I see that you all liked Rico's daydream. The story kinda wrote itself there, I was just the vessel whose fingers it moved. Thanks for the reviews and please enjoy this next chapter!
Skipper stopped, remembering something, "Wait Private, you said that there weren't any footprints, right?" he asked.
The chubby bird nodded, "That's right sir, but it's just because the surface doesn't allow any."
"Of course not, but there was something else, scratch marks," the leader said. "I bet my right flipper that the trail that thing left us will lead right to him," he confidently stated. But it proved to be more of a challenge than originally anticipated.
"Please try and hold it steady Rico," the chubby bird said to his taller team mate, who was holding a flashlight. "Skippah, your shadow's in the way," he complained again. It was dark and they proceeded very slowly. The scratch marks were there, but they were small and since it was night, they were forced to light up the path and scan every square inch of it with a magnifying glass.
"It stops here," said Private.
"What do you mean, it stops here?" asked the leader with an angry glare.
"The last mark is just a few inches away from this small puddle of blood and then it all stops," explained Private.
The leader sighed and looked around, "Hey wait, this place seems familiar," he said.
Silence
"Um, I guess I'll fill in for Kowalski," the chubby penguin cleared his throat, "It's the zoo Skippah, every place should be familiar to us. It's our duty to know our working space."
"Yes, but it's like I've been here… recently, hey wait a minute, Asian otter exhibit? It's Marlene's place."
"Well we know that the wolf isn't here, we saw Marlene on this very spot, shortly after he had disappeared," replied Private.
"Uh-huh," Rico added, nodding his head.
"But she wasn't alone, remember the dog?" he asked his team mates.
"You don't think," the Private grabbed his bottom beak and began shaking.
The leader let out a sigh, "I don't want to believe it Private, but it seems like the only logical answer," his head dropped and he stared at the ground.
The Private waddled over to him and patted his back. "Are we going to confront her about it now, or should we do it in the morning?"
"I'll do it myself now, you clean the blood while I'm gone," Skipper replied and jumped over the walls of the otter exhibit. He entered the cave unannounced, as always, and headed directly towards the bed, where Marlene was just about to go to sleep.
"Oh hey Skipper *yawn* what brings you here?" she asked with drowsy eyes.
"*Sigh* Marlene, there's no easy way to tell you this, but I know you somehow turned into a monster tonight and assaulted my lieutenant, as well as a civilian."
"WHAT? How can you even think of something like that?" she asked, obviously angry with the accusation. "Wait, Kowalski's been attacked, by whom?"
"You don't need to play dumb, the trail lead us directly to you, but no matter what happens from here on forth, remember that I'll always love you."
"Aww, I love you to, but there's a teeny tiny hole in your theory. How could I have been the one who attacked Kowalski, when I was dancing with you at Julien's party, when the first scream was heard?" she said with a smirk.
Skipper's eyes widened, "Well I, uh, I, you, I mean, uh… sorry?" he tried with a wide grin.
Marlene just shook her head smiling, "Don't worry, when I entered this relationship, I expected things like this to happen."
"So I'm off the hook?"
"No, you'll have to make it up to me."
"Whatever you want, I promise, thank you," Skipper left the cave.
Marlene watched him slide off and then smiled. She was just about to go to lie down, when music started playing, "Oh you've got to be kidding me," she began stomping towards the exit, where the penguin trio was still standing. "Oh, skipper," she called.
The leader immediately turned towards her, "Yes dear?"
"Could you please go over to that neighbor of ours and politely ask him to turn down the volume?"
He saluted, "Yes ma'am!" and slid off together with his two team mates. They entered the lemur enclosure, where Skipper gave some hand, or rather flipper, signals and they headed out.
Somewhere on the rock, the lemur king was wearing a pair of headphones and was still tending to the turntable, even though he knew that there wasn't anyone, other than himself, there anymore, "Okay every peoples, dis party has only yet begun and I wish to be keeping it going for the rest of the night."
Skipper peeked from behind a corner. The sight of the lonely lemur was sort of sad, but being the nuisance he is, he didn't evoke any sympathy from the lead penguin. The music suddenly stopped and Julien looked around for the cause, but was instead met with a cloud of purple dust, "Party iz being over now," he said and slowly laid down on the ground, where he fell asleep.
Private waddled over to his leader, holding the end of an extension cord, and so did Rico, but with a grape jelly jar. "Well done men, I'm sure we just made a lot of animals very happy," he proclaimed. "Now, did you two gather everything from in front of Marlene's exhibit?"
"We did," the Private opened a photo album which he showed his leader, "Every scratch has been numbered and cataloged as well as that blood."
"Excellent, *yawn* let's just go check on Kowalski, before we go to sleep. The zoo will be opening soon and we have crowds to entertain." The three slid off towards the reptile house.
Alexander had just finished with the surgery and was washing his claws, when the three penguins barged in. "Can't you guys read Latin?" he asked again.
"I thought we already made that point clear," replied Skipper.
"Indeed we did, so how can I help you?" he asked drying his claws.
"We came to see Kowalski, how is he," the cheerful Private asked.
The reptile sighed and shook his head with a stern look, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but in order to have saved the leg, I had to cut off the body." He couldn't detain himself any longer and broke out in laughing. He received angry glares from the trio and finally calmed down. "Sorry, but I couldn't resist," he said wiping a tear from his eye.
"So is he going to be okay?" asked the leader again.
"I've dealt with limbs that were chopped up like a carrot in the middle of the battle field, where the most sterile thing was the bird shit that landed on the wound, and still did a pretty decent job. Sure, some lost a leg or an arm, but they lived, and in the end, that's all that matters… so uh, yes, I did manage to reattach the flipper, but it'll take some time for it to heal and even then he'll have to attend physical therapy for who knows how long."
"That's a relief, can we see him?" the little bird asked. Alexander showed them to some curtains, which he moved out of the way, revealing the sleeping scientist.
"Does he have to stay here for the day?" the leader asked.
"Whatever you want, I can just give him some M5050 to counteract the etorphine and wake him up from the coma now. And give him some painkillers for the road… but unfortunately they won't work until the M5050 isn't burned up."
"How about we just carry him to the HQ so he can rest there," suggested Skipper.
The reptile shrugged, "Sure, why not."
"Um, Alexandah, have you examined the, what did you call it again, Puli yet?" Private asked.
"No, I haven't," he replied and walked over to the sleeping dog, who was already lying on a table. Since the coat was in the medic's way, he stuck out his tongue to pick up the different molecules the body was emitting.
His Jacobson's organ finally found the thing he was looking, or rather smelling, for, blood. He parted the locks on the front right paw and found a rather deep wound. The bleeding had stopped already, but the wound was still rather fresh, "That's about all I can get at the moment, unless I proceed to a more in-depth analysis."
Rico immediately regurgitated a barber's razor blade and shaving cream, before starting the chainsaw still tapped to his flipper. He topped it all off with a deranged laughter.
"Actually, what I meant was an x-ray," explained the water monitor.
"Aww," the maniac was sad, and he re-swallowed the items.
Private heard a faint groan, he looked at the dog and saw some slight movement, "I think he's waking up," he said.
The others turned their attention to the canine as well and saw his movement. Alexander moved away a few locks, where his head was, and revealed an eye which slowly began opening. "Are you alright?" the shortest bird asked.
"My… my muzzle… why does it hurt?" the Puli muttered.
The water monitor reached towards the dog's muzzle and applied some pressure to it, the Puli responded with a flinch and a slight yellp. "There might be a fracture there, but I'll really need that x-ray to make sure. No point in cutting him open for something like that," the lizard said.
"Can we leave him here, while the zoo's open?" Skipper asked.
"Sure, but I seriously don't know why we even bother with the visitors, it's almost as if, on some days, we don't even have to show up, because no one's there. What's up with that?"
"So you've noticed. The important thing is that we're in our place when someone's watching, the rest of the time, we can do whatever we please," replied the leader.
"*Gasp* does that mean I can watch the rerun of the special Halloween episode of the Lunacorns?" Private asked all excited.
Skipper rolled his eyes, but didn't answer. "You got any stretchers?" he asked the medic.
Alexander left the room and quickly returned with the requested item. Together with Rico, they got the unconscious Kowalski onto the transportation device and then Skipper took over. The birds left with their team mate, leaving the unconscious, or tired, dog and the reptile behind.
The water monitor went over to a cabinet and took a vial of a clear substance. He filled a syringe with its contents and then walked back over to the dog, "Melatonin, also known as the sleeping hormone, this is just a little something to help you get some shuteye, while I'm not around." He emptied the syringe and then disposed of it.
He took off the surgical robe and quickly cleaned everything up from the surgery. When he finally took a look at the time, "Five minutes 'till opening hours," he said and made his way upstairs.
At the penguin HQ, the birds had set up an emergency hospital bed, which Rico had regurgitated… somehow, and laid down Kowalski on it.
"I hope he wakes up soon, I just couldn't imagine a team without him, who would I look up to if both The Archer and Kowalski failed as my idols?" Private asked.
Skipper wrapped a flipper around the short penguin's shoulders, "I'm sure that there's at least one more animal in your life that would live up to your expectations."
"I know, but Rico doesn't possess the diplomatic skill, which would get him through life without wasting time on unnecessary quarrels, and he doesn't like tea."
Skipper's eye twitched, but he quickly shook it off, "Let's head up, with a bird down, we'll have to put extra effort in today's performances." With that, the trio left the underwater base.
I wonder if a man could live a normal life without the part of the brain producing melatonin. Just to think how much more time you'd have to do the things you wanted and with everybody else sleeping, you could do them in perfect peace. Hope you liked the chapter and review!