10 – Final Exam Part 1
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Skipper waited inside the dark room as the shadow in front of its entrance grew. Soon, he spotted a pink webbed foot, and a second later, it was the whole rockhopper, wearing his cloak, of course, and carrying a large brown bag thrown over his shoulder. He had worked with the agent for some time now and he knew exactly what the contents of that bag were.
Pure adrenaline pumped through his veins, enough innocent blood had been shed; there was only one more animal left to bleed.
Skipper tackled Rockgut and pinned him against the opposite wall, one of his flippers was pressed against his neck. The agent needed a moment to realize what was going on. He glanced at his attacker and smirked when he saw his protégé.
"Any special reason for cutting off my air supply?" the rockhopper asked.
The captain kneed him in the gut, knocking the air out of Rockgut's lungs, and then threw him to the side. The older penguin attempted to pick himself up, but a kick to his side knocked him back down. Skipper turned him on his back, with his webbed foot, and looked him over.
The pathetic state his so-called idol was currently in made his blood boil. He had followed this bird and in the end, it turned out he was no better than the villains he chased. "Scum, unworthy of life," he muttered under his breath.
Rockgut held his sore side while panting. Eventually, he burst into laughter, but all it did to Skipper was make him angrier. He continued shooting his glare as the rockhopper finally calmed down. "The funniest thing is… if you kill me here… I'll still be better than you… I never killed anyone," he said between pants, then continued his laughter.
Skipper pounced on Rockgut and began strangling him. In that moment of blind rage, he lost control of his body, and when he returned to reality, he saw the face of the choking rockhopper. He immediately let go of him and saw him gasp for air.
The captain stood up and stepped away from his mentor, "I'm done! You hear me? DONE!" he proclaimed and turned around to leave, when he spotted the sack Rockgut had been carrying earlier. "And I'm saving this one," he added and undid the knot sealing the opening.
The first thing that caught his eye, was the tip of a brown ear, as it peeked out of the bag. His eyes widened, because he recognized that tone of brown immediately. He peeled back more of the bag and uncovered the unconscious otter.
"Marlene!" he called, checking for a pulse, but felt none through her fur. He brought his cheek down to her pink nose, while at the same time, watching for movements of her chest.
The commando penguin finally calmed down when he felt the warmth of her breath penetrating his waterproof feathers (amazing, isn't it). He lifted himself and took another look at her. She was still as beautiful as he remembered her. True, he watched her every day on the monitors, but there was no true substitute for her.
He smiled and caressed her cheek, before standing up again and changing his expression to a more serious one. "I didn't want to do this, but you went too far," he said before a sudden surge of pain struck him in his neck.
"And you're forgetting your place, soldier," said the rockhopper penguin and let go of the syringe he had just emptied.
Skipper felt his neck, finding the syringe, and pulling it out. He stumbled to the side and looked at his flipper. The sight of the needle made him flinch and he dropped it. His vision was getting blurry and he completely forgot about revenge; there was only one thing he wanted to do right now.
"Hold on Marlene…" he mumbled and dropped to his knees, "I'll get you out of here." He tried wrapping his flippers around her limp body, but they weren't exactly listening. Everything started spinning until he fell over unconscious.
Rockgut stepped closer and took a look at the scene; a penguin and an otter, next to one another. "Cute," he remarked and spit some blood at the wall. "Nobody goes untested. You should've heeded my warning, but instead, you ignored it. You think killing some animals was hard? You have no idea."
Somewhere, inside a large warehouse filled with rows of shelves stacked with boxes. They were covered in dust, giving no exact indication of their age, but still suggesting that the place had been closed or abandoned for quite some time now. Near one of the corners of the vast facility, a sever grate was slowly raised by a makeshift milk carton periscope.
"It's too dark, I don't see a thing," Private said and lowered the periscope again. "I'm going in," he declared and started climbing the horizontal bars serving as a ladder.
The trio had followed the "breadcrumbs" to this spot. Kowalski presumed the ladder was there, because the animal they pursued had used this entrance before and installed the bars for easier access
Private pushed the grate aside and climbed out of the sewers. He looked around, spotting nothing suspicious, and waved his flipper over the open drain. Rico and Kowalski joined him and they quietly waddled forward.
As far as they knew, the element of surprise was still on their side.
Private felt a slight pressure against one of his feet and his heart skipped a beat. He turned around and tackled his teammates. The three penguins found themselves on the ground, when fluorescent lights, suspended from the ceiling, began flickering and finally all turned on, lighting up the entire warehouse.
"So much for the element of surprise," commented the scientist.
The smallest bird stood up and dusted himself off. "We can still count ourselves lucky, when I hit that tripwire, I was sure I set off a booby trap." Private snickered in response to his own words, while Kowalski just rolled his eyes.
"Nonetheless, it still blew our cover and I am certain we'll stumble across more dangerous traps. We must watch our every step. For all we know, there could be tripwires all over the place."
"You're probably right," Private gave it a thought and came up with an idea. "Rico, give me a strike!" he ordered.
The weapons expert snickered then began forcing something up his throat. The object seemed to be giving him some trouble, but eventually, he spat out a bowling ball, which rolled down the row, they were in, and activated two traps on its way. The first was a jet of fire from a hole in the wall and the second opened a trap door, which swallowed the bowling ball.
"Good call, Private," commended the scientist and began walking forward, "Now we can safely-" he felt one of his feet sink slightly, "Murphy."
A small turret raised itself from out of the floor and shot three darts, before descending again. The trio of penguins clutched themselves where the darts hit and were immediately overcome by its sleep inducing effect.
"Kowalski…" Private managed to utter
"Yes, Private?"
"I'm moving you to yellow (referring to the chart from the episode:"Stop Bugging Me")," the chubby bird said before collapsing.
Inside a dimly lit room, a flat-headed began stirring in his sleep. His eyes fluttered open and he slowly stood up, groaning, "Where the…" he muttered, before he remembered what had happened not long ago. "MARLENE!" he called and frantically began looking at his surroundings.
The penguin was inside a small cage, similar in size to those used by the late zookeeper Alice, with some differences; this one had a padlock, actual steel bars and was bolted to the ground.
Skipper went for the door and tried prying it open, but it wouldn't budge, and his flippers were too big to pick the lock with. He punched the bars in frustration and heard groaning coming from somewhere.
His cage was the only lit thing in the room so he couldn't see who was making the sound. It was definitely feminine and he could only think of one female right now. "Marlene? Is that you?" he asked.
An otter was roused from her slumber, by a metal clang, and she slowly stood up. She heard someone calling her name and the voice seemed familiar.
She clutched her ears and shut her eyes, "Why can't I just forget him?" she asked herself and let tears flow. She fell to her knees and pressed her forehead against the ground.
"Marlene… It's me, Skipper… You have to help me… Hello?" the voice continued calling.
Her paws couldn't block out his calls so she stood up and just yelled into the darkness, "STOP IT! Please… I know you're not real…" she dropped again. "It's all just in my head," she said and buried her face in her paws.
"Marlene… just turn around… please," Skipper begged.
"I can't," she replied, "I want to move on; I have to forget about you."
It was like Skipper's heart had just been ripped out of his chest that moment. The otter he had observed from afar, ever since the day the two met, had just proclaimed she didn't want anything to do with him.
There was a mixture of emotions overflowing his body, most of which he didn't understand. He tried to find the right words to persuade her to turn around, but he knew his presence was causing her nothing but pain.
"Marlene… if it's right with you… I can offer you closure," he offered in a sad tone.
He couldn't see her, but she lifted her head hearing those words.
"You can't forget what you saw, but what you can do is accept it and move on."
Marlene wiped her teary eyes and continued listening.
"Don't waste anymore time crying over me, because it breaks my heart seeing you without a smile."
She looked up at the darkness in front of her and stood up, "Thank you," she replied to the voice. Marlene knew there was one last thing she needed to do, say her goodbyes. She turned around and saw the caged penguin.
She felt bad, her mind had "locked up" Skipper, just to keep her memories of him, but it was eating away her sanity. She had to let go of him, not for her own sake, but so he can finally rest as well. "Goodbye, Skipper," she said, tears of joy escaping her eyes, and turned around. She began walking forward into the darkness.
The ground beneath her paws suddenly disappeared and she fell. She hit the hard floor, but picked herself up again, "Why does it hurt, I thought I was imagining this whole thing."
Lights, spread out across the entire ceiling, turned on and illuminated the room she was in. Marlene shielded her eyes at first, but they quickly adapted to the new conditions. "Where am I?" she asked and began looking around.
The room looked like the inside of a small chapel. There were three rows of wooden benches on either side of a short aisle. She had been standing on a slightly raised platform in its center, which was actually a pressure pad; it was what triggered the lights. The various religious motives depicted in paintings hung on the wall, had no meaning to her, but they still gave her chills.
She noticed that there was no altar, instead, there was a coffin made of glass (no relation to the trap). It was open and had steps leading to it. It was positioned on top of a table covered with a white tablecloth and the steps made it easier to be accessed.
Skipper took the surrounds in as well and already knew what was going on, but… there was nothing he could do here, he was merely the prize, it was Marlene's test. He looked up and saw her walk right towards the coffin. "MARLENE DON'T!" he yelled concerned for her safety.
The otter stopped in her tracks and turned around; the cage from before, holding Skipper, was still there. "B-but, I let you go," she said and found herself being pulled towards him.
"Marlene you have to listen to me."
"Why are you still here?"
"You're being tested, we have to escape."
"Am I hallucinating?" she reached the cage and clutched her head, "I'm losing my mind."
"MARLENE!" shouted Skipper and made the girl flinch. He reached out of the cage and grabbed her forepaw. He pulled her closer, "Marlene, this is real, you aren't losing your mind," he reassured.
She looked him in the eyes, those calming blue eyes, and knew he was telling the truth. She raised her paw and squeezed it between the bars of the cage. She caressed the Penguin's cheek and felt the heat protruding through his feathers. "It IS you," she whispered, creating a smile on Skipper's face.
The moment came to an end by static filling the room, followed by a deep emotionless voice, "Hello Marlene, I want to play a game. For the past 6 months, you have been welling in your own pity. It is time to bring an end to your sorrow. Before you stands the penguin, responsible for it all. His disappearance was the cause of all those sleepless nights and all that crying. Today, I offer you freedom. Stand back and watch as your pain disappears forever."
They both looked around and lastly up, where they saw it, a giant cross, with one of its points aiming at the cage bellow.
Marlene looked back at Skipper and he could see the panic building up inside of her.
"However, there is an alternative. You can take his place, by simply entering the glass coffin and falling asleep. You will escape all the pain this world has caused you and save the bird you love. You have 5 minutes. Live or die? The choice is yours."
The "chapel" went silent while the otter and penguin just stared each other in the eyes.
Skipper knew he should be formulating an escape plan right now, but he couldn't break the stare, he opened his beak slightly, waiting for words to come out, but Marlene beat him to it.
She placed a paw on his chest before speaking, "Promise me… you won't blame yourself."
The moment of confusion was replaced by the sudden realization of the meaning of her words. He stood there, frozen in place, as he watched Marlene run towards the glass coffin. She climbed the steps and laid down inside. Her weight activated a pressure pad inside, which slowly closed the lid.
She threw a last look at the penguin and smiled, before closing her eyes and allowing herself to drift off. After all, she was tired.
Skipper watched her actions, "Is this really what true love looks like; to do whatever it takes to save the other?" he asked himself and looked up at the timer above the coffin. There was still more than 4 minutes left; four minutes of silence, of painful waiting.
"Have I done everything in my power to save her… is there really nothing else I can do?"
He looked back up, his expression as serious as a heart attack. He smashed his beak against the bars of his cage. The pain the impact produced was unlike anything he had ever felt before. It didn't stop him, he continued.
The steel didn't give way, but that wasn't what he was aiming for. He chipped his beak and then repeatedly aimed for that area. Not long after, his beak began splintering. He wrapped his flipper around a pointy portion and snapped it off.
With the toothpick-like splinter in his possession, he waddled over to the door and picked the padlock. It took him just a few seconds to do so. Outside, he first ran his tongue over the now missing bit of his beak, just out of curiosity (you know, can't resist scratching a scab), then focused back on the job at flipper.
He slid across the aisle, jumping the platform in the center, and scaled the steps.
Marlene looked so peaceful in her slumber that it made him smile.
He elbowed the glass repeatedly, until there was a red stain on it. "Hoover dam," he cursed. The glass was bulletproof and there was no lock for him to pick this time… but there had to be something to stop; falling asleep couldn't be the test.
He heard ticking emanating from somewhere and looked down at the table beneath the coffin. Skipper jumped off the steps and moved the tablecloth aside, revealing a device behind it.
The turning gears seemed like an unnecessarily complicated mess, but in Skipper's eyes, everything had his purpose. Most of the device served as a timer to fulfill its true purpose, mixing the cyanide salt and sulfuric acid, creating the gaseous Prussic acid, which would poison the otter above.
There were plenty of ways to stop it, jamming something between the gears, being the easiest. He stepped back and took another glance at the timer above; 31 seconds remaining. He looked around, but saw nothing useful.
He could've saved her, had he more time… but-
"NO!" he shouted, determined to win.
He wasted no more than a moment of thought over it, any longer and he might've backed out.
Skipper jammed his flipper in-between two sprockets. The metal wheels didn't seem to notice as they slowly consumed the appendage. Bones were crunching and blood was being squeezed out of his flesh.
He pulled back on it, trying to at least slow down the device, but it barely did anything. The penguin took a glance at another pair of sprockets and he chuckled, because, when you're this far, it's the only thing to do.
He brought his free flipper to the other one and broke it; he jammed the upper part of it between the other set of gears.
They turned and turned, swallowing the flesh in their way.
I must inform you that I don't know how a bird's beak grows. Can it really be splintered? If anyone knows, please tell me.
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