Rico yawned and scratched his feathered belly as he sat up in his bunk, allowing his back muscles to stretch and loosen. He plopped back down on his bed, resting his head against the pillow, he'd woken up before everyone else which for him was unusual considering how the bird was one to appreciate his sleep and carried a bit of a morning attitude when it came to rising in the morning. He blinked his blue eyes and looked up at the ceiling, pondering what would be asked of him that day, what training regiments they would endure, what would he be allowed to use from his personal bodily armory? He groaned slightly, flipping himself to the side as he tried to get back to his sleep while he still had a few hours before training began. His eye cracked open and peered around the room, resting on his plastic lady. She leaned up against the door of Kowalski's lab, her chipper smile and eager happy eyes ever present as she stayed there motionless.
The scarred bird peeked down at his sleeping comrades and slipped his way down to the floor, sliding over to his dolly without a sound. Picking the inanimate female up he sat against the door and contently stroked her hair with his wing, his eyes never leaving hers as he brushed her lightly. A small moan was heard, directing the scarred bird's attention over to the bunks where he could see Skipper twisting in his sleep,
"Stop...there's no documentation problems let me outta here.." He mumbled as he tossed and turned.
Rico's face fell slightly, he disliked it when his commanding officer encountered bad dreams, it left him grouchy and stern in the morning. The scarred bird crept over to the lowest bunk and gave his doll a final pet before setting her next to him, his eyes watching over where the snoozing bird's flippers went of course. Skipper mumbled a few more words incoherently before finally shaking his eyes open, he blinked and surveyed the room. Rico was sitting up next to the coffee maker preparing a cup of joe already? Skipper sat up and brushed his face with his flippers, feeling a weight dropping off his body as he moved,
"nightmare?" Rico chirped in question at his rising commanding officer,
"That obvious my crazed soldier of demolition?" Rico grinned and nodded.
"Well thanks for uh the comforting gesture but I'm better now." He said, waddling up to the coffee maker and pouring himself a mug. Dipping a fish from the food storage into the coffee, Skipper sighed in comfort as he sat at the table with his teammate,
"Ah nothing beat's a quiet morning eh Rico?" The scarred bird took a swig of his own cup,
"yup." He said contently. Within minutes the alarm sounded and the two awake birds enjoyed watching the hilarious scene of Kowlaski and Private leaping out of bed at the sudden noise.
Skipper, "Haha At ease boys, good morning. Grab a cup and take a seat, I feel like getting a slow start to the day anyway." The two now alert birds calmed and came over and took a seat at the table. Private yawned and graciously took a cup that was handed to him by Kowalski who began to drink his, noone said a word for a moment, really nothing had to be said just yet, the penguins had lived with one another for so long that they could all enjoy a silent few minutes in the morning before the day actually got started. Skipper began looking over the daily newspaper he'd nicked from the printing press the night before it was shipped out, he saw no need to go fetch a paper in the morning when he was barely up when he could grab one and save it for the next day. He read through the front page, his eyes diverting over to Private who sat waiting patiently, silent as a dog begging for dinner scraps. Skipper gave a light chuckle and tossed over the comics section to the young bird who grinned and began eyeing each cartoon with great anticipation of the coming humor. Kowalski leaned in and began his usual work on the word searches, granted he still couldn't read but he could manage to match the listed words with the ones hidden inside the letter puzzle so in the end for him it was a win win.
Private finally broke the silence,"Hey Skippah, do you think Alice will have noticed Marlene's absence? What with Julien already gone for so long now?" Skipper raised his head and leaned over to the periscope checking up top. From his sight, an angry zookeeper was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
"Oh she's already aware Private." He replied, going back to his paper.
Private, "Um...do you think that might cause her to lock everything down around here?" Skipper lightly groaned as he was pulled away from his paper once again,
"Private, of course she's going to-SHE'S GOING TO LOCK DOWN THE ZOO?" He said yelling the last part in shock as he leaped from his seat away from the table, he jumped over next to the periscope and took it in both wings eyeballing it closely, as he saw the Alice beginning to usher people out and close the gates. Kowalski, "Why are you worried Skipper? She doesn't even know about how we get in or out of here so what's the problem?" He asked casually, Skipper grabbed his head and shoved it in front of the periscope where the bird saw a large black man with sunglasses and a jumpsuit stepping in,
"THAT is the problem Kowlaksi."
"No..that's not-"
"It most certainly is! Officer X!"
In the king's private quarters, Marlene snoozed peacefully as Julien lay wrapped around her, like a protective blanket, his tail in between their legs, wrapping around her left hind leg lightly. Her comfortable sleep was cut short when a loud buzzing could be heard on the table next to them."Urgh" She groaned tucking her face into the bend in Julien's arm, not wanting to give into the evil technology that intruded on her sleep. The lemur still dozing, pulled her closer to him in his sleep, she could feel his warm steady breath on her neck as he slept through the phone's annoying interruption. She patted his overlapping paw away as she unfurled his tail from her leg to stand up, she walked over to the table and picked up the cell phone,
"Hello." She whispered.
"Marlene?"
"Yes? Who's this?"
"Skipper! We need you back here now! Alice is giving Officer X full reign on the zoo to try and find you, we can't make a move until you get here!" Marlene groaned loudly covering her eyes with a paw, why dear lord why was this happening? She'd just gotten here last night and now this! She pinched her brow and took her focus back to the phone,
"Well is there anyway you guys could, idk, make it looks like I'm already back, a decoy or something?"
"No dice, we tried you're plushy toy but-"
"But the head popped off." She groaned,
"Correct now I need you to find a way to get back here, we can't pick you up so you'll need to be escorted back."
"Escorted? Why?"
"Do you remember every single turn we took Marlene?"
"Um well no but-"
"Then tell Julien to get you back here pronto!" This order ruffled her fur, she hated being bossed around. Right as she was about to tell the penguin off, she looked at Julien, who unannounced to her had woken up as she'd been on the phone. He looked at her with curiosity and worry, Marlene leaned over and scratched his head, forcing him to close his eyes and shiver a bit at her touch.
She turned back to the phone, "Look just hold out okay, we'll figure something out." She hung up and looked down at the lemur sitting below her,
"Who's dat?" he asked,
"That was Skipper, the zoo found out I'm gone now everything is locked up until they find me." She said tiredly, rubbing her face with her paws, Julien fell backwards onto the pillow,
"So...you have to be leaving?" He asked, his voice nervous, she'd just gotten back with him, they'd just reconnected, how could she have to leave so soon?
Marlene thought for a second, "Unless...Julien can you ask all of you're subjects to come out for a meeting?" The lemur nodded and stood up, stretching and cracking his neck as he strode out of the quarters. He climbed up on the royal throne and put his paws to his mouth. "My subjects, please approach my throne, now!" He bellowed out to the warehouse. In several minutes all the cats had formed a crowd below the king's platform, looking to the lemur for instruction. Many were still tired and being supported by their able neighbors.
Julien, "My queen has announced to me she is needing to be returned to the zoo..." He leaned down to Marlene as the cats waited on his speech to continue. "Psst what am I suppose to say now?"
Marlene, "Tell them you need someone to take my place for a few days so the suspicion wears off."
Julien, "Ahem, because of dis I am calling upon one of you to do me and my queen a favor, we are needing whoever is looking the most like her to take her place in the zoo for a few days until she is ready to return."
One of the cat's in the group, a larger orange long haired tabbie called out to the king, "You're highness but what about our home here? Why must one of us depart when we have already made this place our own?"
Julien leaned down, "I am only asking for dis one thing, it is not being forever only a few days, the other kingdom I reign over is under attack and needs someone to fill in for my queen to reestablish order, in compensation you will be given free fishes for all three meals a day."
A Siamese stepped forward from the group, "But she is all brown...when was the last time you saw a brown cat her same color? We come in black, gray, orange, white and mixed but not her color of brown." She said, Marlene slapped a paw to her forehead as Julien began to think on his feet, "Well...there is a rather drastic option we could try.." Marlene looked at him with a raised eyebrow and her paws on her hips, "Drastic like how?" Julien uneasily tapped his fingertips together as an uncomfortable grin grew on his face,
"Well, We could be stealing de zookeeper and shipping her off to another country?"
Marlene, "Julien no! that's horrible, besides, she's the one who takes care of us! Something else, please." She said. The ringtail stood in thought, dozens of eyes looking up at the two non felines in anticipation of an idea. The lemur drummed his fingers for a minute, looking down at the cats staring up at him. He suddenly heard the phone ring once again and ran back to retrieve it as Marlene stood outside waiting with the others.
Julien grabbed the phone and ran back out to the platform and put the phone on speaker, thankfully there was a large button labeled SPEAKER right in the middle of the buttons.
"Hello?"
"Ringtail! You need to get Marlene back here now! Officer X is tearing apart the zoo trying to find Marlene, if he doesn't get her soon, our HQ will be discovered."
Julien, "Oh...and that affects me..." A very frustrated Skipper yelled through the phone,
"IT AFFECTS YOU BECAUSE IF OUR HIDE OUT IS DISCOVERED THEN YOU CANNOT WATCH TV HERE EVER AGAIN! DO YOU WANT THAT?" He bellowed on the other end of the line. Julien's eyes grew large and his jaw dropped,
"*gasp* No more entertaining car crashes?"
"NONE!"
"Fear not flightless bird we will be there shortly!" He said hastily and hung up the phone. The cats looked at one another after hearing the phone of the tabbies stood up,
"You're friends' they are in trouble?" Julien bit his nails and nodded nervously as his mind raced on what to do. Max's face paled and his eyes grew wide as he realized who the birds were talking about.
"Julien they're in deep! That guy is from Animal Control!" A large gasp was heard throughout the crowd as Max said this, Julien ran his paws over his face, tapping his foot in worry. His expression turned from one of fear to frustration, he'd just gotten everything he'd desired and this single city employee was going to take that away from him? Never!
The lemur stepped up to the edge of the platform before all the cats, Rena and Max stood together with the children as the lemur made an announcement, it would be a bold one but he had confidence.
"My loyal subjects, I have a plan, for too long de humans have scared you kitties away from where you lived when it was without having a master! I ask of you now to join with me and bring down this simple human and return home safely." He called out to the group, arousing much conversation through the cats grouped together. Max stepped up next to Julien and looked at the warehouse from the throne's side, he wished not to lose all of this, all these friends, everything they had collected. No if the king wanted to make an insane stand against the very ones who chased him around and kept him from living comfortably, then he would stand by him.
Max, "I know who this guy is, he's considered by ourselves very dangerous and relentless. I don't want to have to ever see him again and nor would any of you, but Julien has a point, if we don't make a stand now against Animal Control, then there will never be a time that they won't come after us! This has to end here and now!" He said strongly, earning a loud applause from the crowd in agreement. Rena smiled proudly at the yellow feline, he knew firsthand about this character and was still willing to go out and save the day if possible. The lemur patted Max on the back and stepped down to the ground level to organize a plan in a short amount of time. After five minutes several cats ran around the warehouse like mad gathering random bits of supplies, a little red wagon, tape, sticks and an old fishing net about ten feet by fifteen. The cart was loaded up and the feline's marched out the front door led by the lemur king. Max dashed back to Rena for a moment,
"I'm sorry but I have to ask you to stay here, Julien's orders." Rena smiled and punched him in the shoulder,
"Just go save the zoo you slave!" He grinned and stood on his tippey toes to give her a kiss on the cheek before running back toward the group. Rena sighed disappointed she couldn't join the marching group of rebelling cats. She looked down at her kids who wrestled with one another and quickly gathered them up and hauled them off to the lemur's private quarters in case things got bad and the bad found it's way into the warehouse.
Julien called Skipper back on the phone as he lead the group of cats down the street in a strong crowd.
Skipper, "Julien?"
"Yes Skipper, we are on our way! Can you be doing your fighty thing to give us more time?" He asked, Skipper looked to Kowalski who was wrenching at a device on his work table.
"We might be able to figure something out, where are you and Marlene?"
"We're a few streets away from da zoo, we have a plan!" Skipper groaned,
"A plan?"
"YES A PLAN YOU SILLY-gah just await for us to be getting there shortly!" Julien barked into the phone before slamming it closed as he marched on. When the zoo was within sight, the lemur looked around, there was a crowd of people outside the zoo waving there arms and complaining, he turned back to his group.
"Okay here is the first part! Marlene, you need to be getting back into the zoo, find de zookeeper and get him out here okay?" Marlene nodded uncomfortably. Julien smiled and continued,
"And den the guy will come out here, letting us go into phase number three!"
"Wait what was phase 2?" one of the cat's asked,
"Urgh I am meaning phase two! Keep up already!" Julien hissed as he ushered Marlene toward the zoo. The otter nodded and ran over into the gates and into the zoo again. The lemur waved for everyone to follow him into one of the fire escapes with the equipment they had brought. running up the steel steps followed by forty cats, the lemur began setting up for his attack on the animal control officer.
Back in the Zoo, it took no longer than three minutes for Marlene to be spotted by officer X. He made a fast dive to apprehend her, but she ducked at the last minute and ran as fast as she could past him toward the gate.
"Oh no you will not! Otters are for entertainment, to appease human beings, you dare to slack away from you're job?" He said in a deep voice forcing Marlene to stop a second and look back at the officer only a few feet away in a face of, "really? You're that nuts?" before taking off again. She wormed her way through several gates of the nearby habitats as the animal control officer stayed hot on her trail. He knocked over several benches, trashcans and a nearby pretzel cart to snag the aggravating otter, firing off several different types of curses in his pursuit.
Skipper could only watch from the periscope as the otter dashed from hideout to hideout, frantically trying to get him outside.
"This is ridiculous men! We can't just let poor Marlene just be chased and taunted by that egotistical maniac with a badge!" He growled, Rico nodded his beak in agreement.
Private, "But Skippah, if we leave now he'll spot us and we're not exactly on good terms with him right now are we?" Skipper put a flipper to his beak,
"Duly noted Private but in the end who should we really leave to get the job done? Julien? Or the ones who get the job done?" Private began to raise a flipper causing Skipper to bark,
"I'm talking about us!" The flipper went down after that.
Skipper, "Alright boys, we've gotta save that otter, out of the hatch men ,now!" The four birds popped out of the fishbowl hatch door as Marlene rounded the corner and sprinted for the main gate.
"Rico get Marlene a safe exit out of this zoo! Kowalski tell me you have a plan!" Kowalski whipped out his clipboard,
"Absolutely nothing on the spot Skipper!"
"Blast well then we'll have to wing it!" The commanding bird said as he dived and slide on his belly to the animal control agent, the two birds followed swiftly after him.
"Come get some!" Skipper yelled taking a leap toward the agent, who quickly swung around and nailed him with the cattle prod.
Officer, X, "Soo you little birds wanna see some payback do ya? Well payback will come with interest!" He said menacingly as he managed to nab Kowalski's foot with his right hand, and then quickly dropping him in pain as the brainy bird with no real plan of attack sprang up and nipped at him with his beak. Officer X sucked his finger for a sec before growling in anger as he saw the scarred bird toss Marlene over the side of the fence.
""NO!" He yelled, rushing by the penguins and running over to the gate, taking what appeared to be a basketball air jordan commercial leap over the fence. He pursued Marlene down the street where Julien had told her to go, She looked around frantically, where was he? He couldn't of just left her there, could he?
"Julien! Where are you!" She called out as she ran, the agent was closing in on her, she could practically feel the fingers near the back of her neck when,
A voice yelled from the top of the building next to her.
"NOW!" A large net fell from the rooftops and dropped right behind the otter, encasing the animal control agent, tangling him into a ball and sending him crashing to the ground. Marlene looked behind her and gasped as she saw officer X trapped and struggling to get free. Julien leaped down from the fire escape and landed on the agent.
Julien, "Quickly someone do something before he gets out!" The answer came from a rather large black and white cat who proceeded to slam an empty bottle onto the man's head, knocking him unconscious.
"Err okay a little much but good job!" Julien said seeing the now laid out animal control agent at their feet. Several cats cheered as they gathered around him and with their numbers, managed to lift him into the little red wagon and began shoving him down the road toward the warehouse. Marlene gasped out of breath and stood leaning over panting as Julien came over to see her.
"You okay my queen?" She nodded, still panting but stood up and wrapped her arms around the lemur, who was surprised at first but quickly gave into the hug, returning it as the penguins came over to the cats.
"Ringtail, what happened to that deranged animal control officer?" Julien maintained his hug and jerked a thumb over in the direction where the cats were hauling the man off tied up and secured. Skipper's eyes widened,
"Oh...um good job. Not to break this up but Marlene should still come back to the habitat-" Julien looked up from the hug, glaring protectively, causing Skipper to take a step back,
"At least for a few days, just stay here Ringtail, you should visit with you're old pals anyway." The lemur king exhaled and looked toward the zoo, Marlene patted him on the shoulder,"Its okay Julien I'll be back in you're new kingdom before you know it." She said, scratching the spot on the back of his neck that caused Julien to spasm uncontrollably with a look of euphoria on his face.
"Okay but you have to call you're king this evening, promise?" He asked the otter, she answered his question with a nod and a kiss on the muzzle, making the lemur melt in her turned back and headed for the zoo, Skipper walked up next to Julien,"Hey what exactly are you planning to do with officer X?" Julein looked back at the human being carted off to the warehouse. He began to grin evily,
"I am thinking of some very fantastical things we could do with him..." He muttered drumming his fingers together, Skipper raised a brow and stern face came over the bird,
"You're not allowed to kill him ringtail that's unauthorized!" Julien's eyes widened,
"I'm not going to be killing him, just...err scaring him a bit." Skipper looked very unconvinced at the lemur's statement,
Skipper, "Well whatever it is, I'm coming with you to oversee that things don't get...out of hand." Julien slumped his posture at that, "Urgh fine! But do not be pooping de party!"
"You mean Party Pooper?"
"Yeah dat!" Skipper gave a shrug and held out a flipper for Julien to lead the way through the melting snow. The penguins followed the lemur back to the darkened warehouse, Private consistently asking about what was happening now. Julien kicked the doors open and walked backwards into the warehouse, guiding the kidnapped city employee into the kingdom. Rena's eyes grew double in she saw the "present" the lemur and the other cats had returned with. She walked up to the ringtailed lemur,
"Julien what have you done?" She asked looking at the human now outfitted with a black bag on his head and still tied lemur grinned,
"We controlled de animal controller! HAHA!" He laughed jumping in excitement. Rena rolled her eyes and shook her head. "This isn't good Julien." She said before turning and walking away. The lemur's face slumped as she left, "grr leave it to de female of de species to make you feel disappointedly, but not now, my subjects, get de human into restraints, right now!" He ordered, several cats sprang forth with ropes and one with a lengthy bit of chain, began binding the human, Kowlaksi overseeing the knots being tied for secure fastening. Skipper stood by Julien as they watched the cats finish their handy work and left the officer resting on the cold concrete floor. Julien tapped his finger to his chin,
"Hmm what to do, what to do." One of the cats grabbed a fork and a large knife with a bib on his small neck,
"Comeon let's eat him! look how much meat there is!" He said drooling as he banged the ends of the kitchen utensils on the officer's body. This outburst earned several shaking heads and groans of disapproval, the hungry feline's whiskers drooped and his expression turned to one of irritation,
"...Just sayin.."
Skipper looked up at Julien who was staring at the human, "You thought of anything yet, you're highness?" He asked mocking the lemur somewhat. Julien shot him a dirty look before looking back at the human."I am thinking he should be waking up soonish so..." As he was speaking, the officer's head began to twist from side to side and his body started to struggle,
"Ah he is already awake den!" He said, the lemur approached the tied up man and pulled the bag off his head.
"What the? Where the heck am I?" He suddenly came face to face with the lemur,
"GAH! What in the HELL! GET OFF ME YOU RACCOON!" Julien narrowed his eyes as he stood on the man's chest, tapping his foot. "I am not a raccoony thing!" He snarled kicking the human in the nose.
"OW!" Skipper's instinct was to get the lemur off the officer, yet something was holding him back, more then likely it was the fact of how he'd wished for a time to listen to this cocky human cry out loud and look weak, but a part of him knew this wasn't right. The line would get crossed sometime this evening, Skipper just wondered how soon it would come to that.
Julien looked to two large felines,
"May you go build us a fire?" An orange paw went up,
"how big you're highness?" Julien kneeled down and plucked the sunglasses off officer X's face, exposing his eyes. Julien stood up and looked down at him for a minute, watching the man's once calm and collected state begin to fizzle as the lemur watched the fear begin to rise in his expression.
"A large one." He said in a dark voice with a smile. Officer X gulped and could already feel beads of sweat building on his brow as the lemur looked down at him with a creepy expression. He couldn't understand a single sound that was being uttered from the mammal on top of him, but from the look in it's eyes told him it was time to worry. The penguins gathered together, Kowalski leaned over to Skipper,
"What's Julien up to?"Skipper could only shake his head,
"I don't know but it doesn't look good."
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A/N, damn my fingers are tired lol! Haha well things are now at more of an anything goes now situation, will Julien do something drastic in order to maintain his kingdom and Marlene's paw in courtship, or will the penguins manage to save him before he gets into too deep of trouble? Stay tuned, review I beg of you how I love to hear you're thoughts! Haha! See you later!