Sorry for the shortness of this chapter! I've been busy and this is all I've been able to type up recently.
Also, thank you for all the reviews and favorites! They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :D
Skipper and Rico climbed down the ladder, balancing colorful snow cones in their hands.
"Kowalski! Private! We're back! Sorry it took so long, there was a line," called Skipper. He looked around the empty HQ. "Hello?"
Rico stood next to him, puzzled, with syrup dripping down his muscular hands. "Whar K'walski an' Pri'ate?" he asked.
Skipper wandered over to Kowalski's bunk, where the note had caught his eye. "Looks like Kowalski went out to get some science stuff." He shrugged. "Private's probably with him. Well, there's no point in waiting for the others. These snow cones aren't going to eat themselves!" Without waiting for a response, he started licking the cherry syrup running down his hand. Rico shrugged and started on his grape-flavored-one.
They were interrupted by the scratch of metal on concrete as Kowalski clambered in, holding a vile of purple liquid.
"Oh! You're back," the scientist said, taking sight of the others. "Did you get me blue raspberry?"
Rico nodded, handing him the blue snow cone in his other hand.
Skipper looked at him strangely as Kowalski closed the lid behind him. "Where's Private? Isn't he with you?"
The tallest member furrowed his eyebrows and looked around as he licked the snow cone. "No, why? Isn't he here?"
"No," the leader started to look worried. He watched curiously as Kowalski walked over to something in the corner of the room and picked it up. The scientist showed him the pink object.
"Look, his Lunacorn. Why would he leave it lying around like that?"
Suddenly, Rico, rushed over to the opposite wall, throwing his arms in the air and pointing while letting out a stream of excited gibberish. The others came over to see what the maniac had found: a few drops of dried blood.
"Are those… Private's?" Skipper asked. He almost dropped his snow cone, having forgotten it in all the commotion.
Kowalski kneeled down and pulled out a small vile, into which he scraped a few blood samples. He rushed to his lab, and the others followed. They watched as he tinkered with it in various ways before turning to face them again.
"There's good news and bad news," he said, his face grim. "The good news: it's not Private's blood."
Skipper and Rico let out sighs of relief.
"The bad news: it's Blowhole's."
X X X
Blowhole was already waiting for them with a diabolical smirk as the team came crashing in.
"Where's Private?" demanded Skipper.
"Always so pushy, Skipper. Guards," the mad scientist snapped his fingers and guards overhead the human penguins quickly shot them all with tranquilizer darts before they had a chance to react. The team's expressions of fury soon turned to neutral as they collapsed in a pile.
Blowhole looked around. "That was easier than I thought it would be," he admitted. "Take them away. I want them to have front row seats when I get my revenge." The guards obediently jumped down and started dragging the men away.
"As for you," Blowhole said, looking at an unconscious Private evilly, "You get to be the main attraction."