Penguin HQ, Central Park Zoo, Lab.

"Steady, Private!"

"I can't be any steadier, K'walski!"

"Stop shaking!"

"I can't!" exclaimed Private. "Rico won't stop jumping! He's shaking the whole habitat up there!"

Kowalski gave an exasperated sigh as the second blood sample shattered on the ground. "There has got to be an easier way of doing this…"

"Should I tell him to stop it?" Private suggested.

"Yes, and while you're at it, try to get another sample."

Private nodded and went for the lab door. "Alright."

"Wait, Private?"

"Yeah?"

"Get two," Kowalski instructed. "You know, just in case…and tell Rico to keep it down up there!" He called after the young penguin. "He's starting to give me cranium cramps."

"Mm hm." Private hummed nonchalantly. Honestly- and he didn't mean anything bad by this -but he was getting kind of sick of taking orders from Kowalski. He liked getting told what to do by Skipper. No one gave orders like Skipper, and no one slapped him like Skipper did. Come to think of it, Kowalski hadn't slapped him once since Skipper's been gone. If anything, Kowalski was treating him differently. He'd taken notice. The strategist was stern to Rico, but not to him and even separated him from Rico all day! What was that even about?

Kowalski was coddling him, he thought. Kowalski was treating him like a child, like he was the most fragile thing there was. Why? Did Kowalski see him as a lesser teammate? A lower rank than both him and Rico? He was, technically speaking. Kowalski was a lieutenant and he was sure Rico was of a higher rank than he was. He was still just a private, a young soldier. But that didn't mean he had to be babied around the way he was!

Since Skipper was absent from place as leader that duty fell onto Kowalski. So since Kowalski was moved up to leader, shouldn't they all be moved up in rank as well? That would mean that Rico would be moved up to lieutenant and he himself was now the weapon's specialist. But that wouldn't be right. He didn't know a single thing about weaponry, let alone storing a whole artillery inside his body. He couldn't perform that job, so that meant Rico stayed as weapon's specialist. So…by default…that meant he was the lieutenant now. He was second in command, and second in command didn't get mollycoddled!

Finally Private got up to the island, pulling himself upright on the concrete. The private watched Rico running ecstatically back and forth, screaming across their habitat. Private mumbled something, shaking his head before taking two cotton swabs and bending over to pick up more of the blood. He was knocked forward when Rico ran past him again. Private gasped as he almost fell face first into the water. He landed on the side of the island, catching the swabs of DNA before they fell into the surrounding water. He gave a sigh of relief and then turned to scowl at the still running penguin.

"Rico! You almost made me lose the DNA! K'walski told me to tell you to keep quiet! We can't work to find Skippah if you keep on— Woah!" cried Private as he was pulled to his feet. Rico shook him by the shoulders, babbling frantically.

"YABBLERABBLEREBAGDEGHAMO! DEGHAMO! DIN' DO AN'THIN!"

"Slow down! What is it that's got you acting this way? What's all this about Julien then?" Private asked.

"Gaberelbbarelbbaja!" Rico cried. "Lok down de'!"

"Look down where, Rico?"

"DE'!" yelled Rico, pointing down into the water.

Private peered down over the edge of the island. "Where? I don't see anything."

"RHI' DE'!" The psychotic penguin pointed repeatedly and finally something caught the private's attention.

"A hammer? What's a hammer doing at the bottom of our pool? And where did all this broken glass come from?" Private asked, finally taking to account the shattered fragments on the ground, most of them decorated red with little droplets.

"Flagh'light bro' en. Lok!"

"I'm looking, I'm looking! But what—" Private's eyes went their widest. "AHHHHHH! K'WALSKI!"


"…K'WALSKI! …K'WALSKI! K'WAAAAALSKIIIIII…!"

Kowalski blinked and turned towards the lab door as it burst open. "Priva—OOF!"

"K'walski!" cried Private, landing on the strategist's stomach.

Kowalski picked his head up from painfully slapping against the lab floor. "What happened?" He groaned at the weight of the young penguin sitting on his lungs.

"The- The—! The flashlight—! It—! I- I mean—! And Julien just-!" Private broke off in frustration for the lemur king. "GAH!"

"Private, calm down! What is it?"

"There's blood all in the water, K'walski!" Private shouted. "And the flashlight, it's all busted!"

Kowalski looked at the private and something caught his eye. He gasped and pulled Private's wing closer to his view. "You're bleeding, Private."

"I am?" Private looked down at his flipper, turning it. He spotted a piece of glass sticking out of his feathers.

"Are you hurt?"

"I don't think so."

"Hold on, I'll take it out." Kowalski squinted to see the shards better.

Private winced as the scientist picked out the glass. He blinked at it. "Odd, it doesn't hurt as much as I thought taking glass out of a flipper would."

"Where'd you say all this glass came from again?"

"Ah!" Private suddenly gasps, remembering. "K'walski!"

"No need to yell, I am in fact right here. Approximately three inches below your face."

"Oh right," blinked Private. "…but K'walski!"

"What, Private? Tell me what you want to say, but slowly and comprehensible this time. And we must remain calm in this situation so absolutely no more screaming,"

Private nodded that he understood.

"The last thing we need is a screaming epidemic." Kowalski said.

"Screaming epidemic?" questioned Private.

"Yes, in which something bad happens and the only way to react to it is by screaming. That kind of reaction only ever makes everything worse. That is something we absolutely do not need to happen here. Wherever Skipper is, he's probably counting on us to figure this out and find him again. We're his team and it's what we have to do. So now, calmly and without anyone screaming, let's go over what it is you wanted to tell me..."


Topside.

Rico sat there shaking his head back and forth in his flippers. "WHY?!"

"Rico, there you are!" Marlene said. She hopped down onto the island. "Sorry for storming off earlier. I was just furious at Julien for what he did!"

"WHY?!" cried Rico.

Marlene blinked. "Well, because he's a jerk! How could he just see Skipper in danger and do nothing about it?"

Rico kept shaking his head in his flippers, ignoring the otter, still in his own world of despair.

"Anyway, have you seen Kowalski around? Or Private? Do they even know yet?"

"WHY?!" wailed Rico.

"Because…I think they deserve to know, don't you?" The otter asked.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?! 'KIPPER?!" Rico shouted into the sky. " 'KIPPERRRRRRRRRRR?!"

Marlene took a step towards the psycho penguin. "Hey, are you okay? Rico, aw, come on…Everything will be alright. We just have to stay calm, keep a cool head, and—"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN JULIEN SAW EVERYTHING AND DID NOTHING?!" came Kowalski's shout from inside the HQ.

Marlene frowned. "Or not…"