Night Of The Monster Raptor
Sorry for not updating for some time now. Blame it on Reason No. 1 in my profile! Anyway, I'm planning to finish this fanfic before November ends just to catch up with the Halloween vibe.
Disclaimer: I do not own PoM. It belongs to Nickelodeon and Dreamworks. I don't own Alexander either. He belongs to 13thsense. Thank you, 13thsense for letting me use him!
A Price To Pay
Kowalski found himself on top of an apartment the next morning, surrounded by numerous mauled corpses of pigeons. He shook his head in disappointment and slipped into the apartment. Luckily, no one was there so he used the bathroom to wash off the blood covering most of his white feathers, beak and feet. He then went into the kitchen, opened the fridge and ate some of the fish he found there. He slept a bit on the couch before he left the building. He crept here and there, avoiding the humans passing by. He finally settled in an alley where he took some time to catch his breath.
He knew that this was how he would be living now, a runaway by day, looking for a place to hide, and a murderer by night, feeding on living flesh and blood. He made a deal with his nocturnal self, the Monster Raptor, that he would keep his friends out of the way to maintain their safety. And the only way to do that, he perceived, was to be as far away from them as possible. So he decided to get away from the zoo, his former home and sanctuary, and live life in the streets, creeping around stealthily like a fugitive.
He sighed. It was going to be hard, but it would be worth it. Skipper and the rest of the team and zoo residents would be safe and that's what mattered the most. He was a danger to them and could end all of their lives in only one night. He didn't want that to happen.
Heavy steps snapped him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see a man in a suit and shades with a shock baton in one hand and a net in the other.
"Well, well. We meet again, penguin," he said, turning on his shock baton.
Kowalski gasped. It was Officer X! He jumped out of the way as the baton was thrust towards him. He landed on top of a dumpster and was about to toboggan away when a jolt of electricity surged throughout his body. He fell to the ground, unconscious and jerking a bit because of the sudden shock. Officer X grinned slyly and put the penguin into his net. He then boarded his van and drove off. What he didn't know was that Kowalski's struggle to escape left some of his feathers hidden behind a garbage bag.
After some time of driving, Officer X arrived at a rundown warehouse by a loading dock. He entered it and met up with a man in a torn and stained lab coat. His face was wrapped in bandages but his eyes, nose and mouth were uncovered.
"Here's the penguin you've been searching for," Officer X informed, handing the man the net Kowalski was in.
The man brought up the net to eye level and looked at the penguin who was still out cold.
"Good. I shall finish the experiment my colleagues have started," he stated and gave Officer X some money. "This is your payment. Thank you for your services. You are no longer needed."
Officer X took the cash, shoved it into his pocket and walked away. But he turned back to see the man smiling menacingly at his captive. Though the officer knew that the penguin in the net was a stray and therefore has no connection with the zoo, he didn't like the grin on his employer's face. It told him that the man was going to do something bad to the animal.
He shook his head and zoomed off in his van, not knowing that his hunch was right.
Hours later…
Kowalski woke up and noticed that he was dangling above the ground. He looked up and saw that his flippers were in shackles. He tried to break free but the restraints were just too tight. In fact, it hurt him whenever he attempted to get out. A loud slashing sound and a sudden sting on his back stopped his struggling. He looked over his shoulder and could get a glimpse of a new gash on his back. He heard a cackle and the man with the bandaged-up face moved out of the shadows in the area with a whip in hand.
"So, I guess you are wondering why you are here, hmm?" the guy indicated and Kowalski nodded slightly. "About a month ago, a team of scientists decided to put an experiment of theirs to the test. And do you know what this was?"
Kowalski shook his head and the man lashed his whip onto the penguin's back again, creating a new wound over the first one.
"It was you, you dumb animal!" the man shouted as blood dripped from the whip's tip. "And to think that in that Officer X's reports, you seemed to be the smartest of the penguins he always failed to catch, therefore, you were the perfect subject."
He walked in front of Kowalski, hands and whip behind his back and looking far into the distance.
"We needed a specimen that could maintain control of the transformations. A specimen that had enough intellectual prowess," he continued, "think of it! The DNAs of five different species, all cooperating in a single organism! It would be a scientific breakthrough!"
The man turned to Kowalski and crouched down so they were exactly looking at each other in the same level.
"We were planning to do it on a raven since it is one of the most intelligent species of birds. But when we obtained Officer X's reports, we just had to get our hands on you! You had the right enough intellect. Plus, you had combat skills and the ability to jet through water like a torpedo!"
Kowalski's eyes widened. How did this human know about his fighting expertise?
"Don't be so surprised! We were watching you and your teammates secretly," the man answered, then roughly gripped his fingers around Kowalski's beak. "And we were wrong to choose you. Turns out that your experience in battle made things worse. It fueled the Monster Raptor's rage so much that not even your enhanced brain could handle it. You killed my colleagues and destroyed everything I researched for in my entire life! If you weren't so blinded by your bloodlust that night, I wouldn't have made it out alive."
The man let go of the penguin's beak, went to a nearby table and grabbed the syringe resting on top of it. Kowalski recognized the glowing blue substance in the syringe as the fluid that caused his change and began to struggle again.
"You ruined everything that made my life worth living," the man snarled, "and I want my revenge. You will pay for the destruction you did, for taking away the lives of many!"
He plunged the syringe's needle into the side of Kowalski's neck and injected the fluid. As he got away, the penguin began to shudder and transform into the Monster Raptor. It thrashed here and there, not minding the pain the chains around its wings were unleashing. The man whipped its back once more, making the bird shriek in agony. He lashed at it again several times, each screech getting louder and more blood splattering onto the floor.
"Yes! That's it! Cry out for mercy, you bloodthirsty fiend! For you shall get none!" the man cackled sadistically, flogging his whip again and again.
He paused for a break then turned his gaze onto his prisoner. The Monster Raptor's back had cuts here and there and some of its feathers were stripped off, revealing swollen and torn skin. Blood flowed freely from the wounds and left a red mess on the floor. The Raptor was panting heavily and its eyelids drooped over its eyes loosely. One more slash from the whip could knock it out cold or might even kill it, if strong enough.
The man raised his whip, prepared to lay the final blow when he suddenly fell to the ground, unconscious. The Monster Raptor felt the chains that held it up loosening and it was soon on the floor, bathing in a pool of its own blood. It saw blurs of black and white around it before everything suddenly turned black.