Skipper was still standing there, frozen in horror and realization, when Private stuck his head down through the fishbowl entrance.
"Skippa?" asked Private. "Skippa, are you okay?"
Skipper said nothing and remained with his back to him. Marlene poked her head in, as well. "M-maybe you should come down to the Zoovenier. We're holding a meeting there soon." she suggested, looking upside-down at him. "We could use your help."
Skipper said nothing.
"C'mon, Skipper. It's no use doing NOTHING."
Skipper said nothing.
Private, in an attempt to comfort his leader, whispered to Marlene, "You go on ahead to the Zoovenier. I'll be there soon." Reluctantly, she drew her head back up and was on her way, because they could hear the slight pat-pat-pat sound of her feet on the ground above. When it was no longer audible, Private slowly climbed down the ladder, and cautiously approached Skipper.
"Skippa?" he asked, a little nervously. "Skippa...I know you feel bad that Kowalski is gone. I do too." Private was crying now, his voice slightly trembling. "But now we're going to get him back. Help us, please, we need you."
It was a good thing he was facing the other way, because Skipper would be ashamed if Private saw him, teary, with a red face and swelled eyes.
Private paused, then went on. "We're taking action now, to find our friend. We'll find him in no time." At this, he went over to his leader and put a flipper on his shoulder. "I can understand if you don't come. B-b-but w-w-we'll..."
Now his voice was trembling so much that he could barely speak at all. "We'll find him, Skippa. We will." he managed to say at last, after a long silence. "We will."
Private slowly waddled away, climbed up the ladder, and made his way to the Zoovenier.
Skipper fell on his bottom in defeat, not knowing anything anymore. The only thing his blasted mind could think to do was say, Options, Kowalski, options... he had to stop himself 3 times. Options, Kowalski, options...he had come to rely on that, he supposed.
Only now did the realization flow into him. He missed Kowalski, yes. Skipper cared for his troops deep down more than he had ever admitted to anyone...and that must have been the greatest difference between him and Captain.
But now he had to take action, if they wanted a chance at finding Kowalski at all. Marlene was right: it was no use sitting here doing nothing but feeling miserable.
Skipper wiped away the tears on his face, got up, and made his way to the Zoovenier Shop.
__________________________________________________________________________________
It was 8:00 AM at the Zoovenier Shop, where Phil, Mason, Rico, Private, King Julien, Maurice, Marlene, and Bernice gathered to try to locate Mort and Kowalski. Unfortunately, they weren't getting very far.
"Okay, guys, settle down!" said Marlene, after they began fighting loudly rather than helping at all. AGAIN. Angry, Marlene ran on top of a box of stuffed animals, looked around, and yelled at the top of her lungs,
"QUIET!"
Immediately everyone was dead silent and looked up at her. "Thank you. We only have until 9:00 before the employees come in, so that gives us 1 hour."
Private and Rico looked afraid. They exchanged a glance. Bernice looked nervous.
Julien, on the other hand, looked both bored and irritated. "Um, the King is supposed to be having a foot massage right now. Make with the massaging!"
"Quiet, Julien!" demanded Marlene. "This is an important meeting, in case you haven't noticed!"
Julien looked at her, startled. "And, um, may I ask why that is?"
Everyone glared intensely at him, especially the two penguins.
"Um...sorry...I'll be quiet now..."
Just then Skipper came in.
"Hey, Skipper," said Marlene, "Thank goodness you came-"
"So what have you got so far?" he asked.
"Well...nothing actually..."
"Oh."
Marlene looked determined, however, to lead this group of tired babies. "Alright, people, people...um...what do we do now?..."
Phil said something to Mason in sign language back in their corner. "Hmm..." said Mason, "Alright, alright." He cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "Phil says, first of all, when did Kowalski leave?"
"Just last night." answered Private.
"Does it look like he left because he wanted to, or because someone took him?"
"We're pretty sure he went because he wanted to."
"Pretty sure?" asked Bernice, nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot.
"Well...95% sure." confirmed Skipper.
Marlene sighed. "Doesn't your HQ have a security system?"
"No. It's defective. We never got around to repairing it."
"Hmm...but that doesn't mean your cameras don't work, does it?" Marlene was thankful for once of Skipper's "minor" paranoria.
Skipper smiled. "I like the way your mind works, Marlene. Gentlemen," he said, addressing Private and Rico, "Move out. Check all security footage."
"The ones you made us install after the incident at New Years, sir?" asked Private. Skipper turned a deep shade of red.
"Yes! That one! Check it."
"Good idea." commented Maurice, who hadn't said much the entire time.
______________________________________________________________________
It was 1800 hours: time for everyone to come to the penguin's base to see what they found during the day. They were greeted by a horrified-looking Skipper, who was pacing back and forth on the island in their habitat.
"Uh...hi?" said Marlene, a hint of question in her voice. Skipper must have jumped ten feet back.
"Eggs and bacon, Marlene!" he yelled, startled. Looking around to be sure that they were the only ones, (they meaning the chimps, the otters and the lemurs) he lifted the fish bowl on the entrance and motioned for everyone to come inside. It was a bit of a squeeze, but they managed.
"Okay. What you're about to see is classified information-" began Skipper when everyone got in and sat in front of their TV.
"Just show us." said Marlene, rolling her eyes. Skipper put in one of the tapes and they watched the screen.
"This might be a shock."
It had been five minutes and so far, nothing had moved or changed in the least. The camera looked onto their whole enclosure from an arial view, possibly a high tree. Julien was half asleep when finally, a dark blob moved across the screen, climbing into their habitat from elsewhere and looking around, not knowing what to do. Eventually it happened to discover that the fishbowl was concealing the entrance to their subterranean base, and it climbed down in.
Bernice looked like she was going to have a heart attack. "I'm sure it's nothing..."
Skipper held up a remote and pressed the pause button, freezing the black blob where it was. Everyone was gaping at the screen.
"S-so," said Marlene, "so he didn't go willingly?" Bernice growled.
Skipper shrugged, wondering why Bernice was acting so strangely. "See what you think after you see this." He inserted a different tape and pressed the play button on the remote. This time the camera was inside the base, looking right in the direction of the ladder entrance and the bunks. Almost right away, everyone could see that same black blob, making its way down the ladder and over to Kowalski's bunk. And, minus the sound, they saw everything that this blob did.
First, it poured a liquid down Kowalski's throat through his open mouth, and a few moments later they shook him awake, holding a...well...limb or whatever it was over his beak to keep him from shouting. Then they began conversing, and the worried animals that were glued to the screen pleaded for some sound! None came, unfortunately...
Skipper once again paused it, after the dark figure left the room, leaving a startled Kowalski sitting there awake. Marlene shook Skipper. "So they...whoever this was...probably took him? And Mort, possibly?"
"We think so." he replied. "Oh, and look at this." The short penguin went over to the bunks and grabbed a pack that was laying on one. He carried it back over, passing it to Marlene.
"We found this by the South Entrance to the zoo." Skipper informed her. "Seems Kowalski went out there for some reason and they...whoever THEY are...snatched him."
Everyone looked like they had just been told that a friend died.
"S-S-Skippa, who are they? Where did they take him?" asked Private.
Skipper looked up, with the most frightening look that any of them had ever seen on him. "I don't know. But we're going to find out."