~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Private didn't want to scream, but it hurt too much to stay quiet. He felt like his body was burning itself from the inside, his head was in a vice grip, even his feathers ached awfully.

He also knew that something terrible happened. He did something horrendously horrible, part of him wanted to remember, and the other seemed to disagree.

"Kowalski?" Private called out weakly. "Kowalski!"

He knew he was there, he remembered hearing his voice, but what was this memory of them fighting each other? Maybe he was hallucinating.

"Ugh, this has to stop," Private murmured, trying to move into a more comfortable position.

"I can make it stop, Private," Dr. Blowhole said.

Private's heart skipped a beat. Right, he was a prisoner, and so was Kowalski.

"Where's Kowalski?" Private asked as he climbed unsteadily to his feet. He wished he could make himself sound fierce and demanding, but the words came out weak and slightly slurred instead.

"Busy at the moment. I doubt he would want to see you, anyway."

Private tried looking around, but everything looked fuzzy and his eyes refused to focus. Colors looked off; things seemed distorted, even Dr. Blowhole looked like a big pillar of blue-grey instead of an actual dolphin. His words brought back Privates focus for the moment.

"Huh? Why wouldn't Kowalski want to see me?" he slurred out.

"I certainly wouldn't want to see the one who beat me in a fight."

"What? I, I didn't- couldn't-"

The dolphin laugh was painful to Private's ears "You could, you did, and you will do it again."

Private was stunned, he didn't feel himself collapse again, but he did have more flashes of memory explode like tiny suns in his head. As his brain shouted denial after denial, a small part of his head barely registered the prick of a needle in his backside.

Private stilled as he felt the injection course in his veins. He recognized the feeling immediately, and while it brought some relief to his pain, he knew the consequences. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his flippers over his ears as the speed of his breathing picked up.

"No, no, I will not do this, not again!" Private said as loudly as he could.

"You're wasting your time and energy," Dr. Blowhole said, even though his words didn't reach the twitching little penguin.

"You can't make me, I won't do it!" Private wailed.

Dr. Blowhole rolled his eyes slightly as he checked the clock, timing the progress of his invention and how long it was taking to be effective.

Private forced himself back onto his feet, though it was difficult; it felt like every part of his body was filled with wet sand. He also found the focus to open his eyes and glare in the dolphin's direction, which only earned him a condescending chuckle.

"I'm in control, Private," Dr. Blowhole said. "And you will do what I say."

Private's face went from an angry glare to a blank.

"No, you're not," he thought.

"I am in control and you will do as I say."

"That's not true."

"I am your leader, now."

"No."

"I control you and you will do exactly as I say."

Private suddenly felt like he was being pushed backwards, then he was surrounded by the odd sense of falling deep down into nothingness, even thought his body had not moved an inch.

"I will do exactly as you say," Private said in a monotone.

Dr. Blowhole smiled as he opened the cage and let Private out.

"What a good slave. Maybe Kowalski would like to see you, after all. Perhaps you wouldn't mind helping him take out your former commander."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rico stopped moving when he heard a doorway open. He watched Dr. Blowhole come out into the hallway. He growled and was about to attack, but he was stopped in his tracks when he saw Private following the dolphin.

What in the world was going on?

Rico dropped Julien gently and slide carefully closer to the pair. He noticed Private was walking a fair enough distance behind Blowhole, so Rico could get alongside Private without being noticed.

He tapped the smaller penguin on the shoulder, his other flipper held to his beak so Private knew to stay quiet when he turned to see Rico there, but Rico soon found that he needn't have bothered. Private turned and before he even laid eyes on his teammate, with one smooth move, he knocked Rico off his feet. Rico was too stunned to get off of the floor and just stared up at the small penguin.

"Intruder!" Private said in a loud monotone, and it was only then that Rico realized that Private's wide, bright blue eyes were unfocused and rolled slightly in his head.

"Uh oh," Rico muttered.

Dr. Blowhole then turned around and grinned. "Ah, Rico, how nice it was of you to save me the trouble of coming to find you."

Rico rolled back, jumped to his feet, and landed in a fighting stance.

"Oh, eager to be defeated, are we? " Dr. Blowhole said. "This will certainly be entertaining. Private, take him out."

"Yes, sir," Private said.

Private rushed him, but Rico was ready. Or, at least, he thought he was. He was able to block and counter most of Private's attacks, and was ready to deal a blow himself when he suddenly felt his back hit the wall, and his head hit the floor. He didn't remember Private ever having a move that threw the opponent at the wall, much less upside down!

Really, what was going on?

He ignored Dr. Blowhole's echoing laughter and rushed at Private. Apparently he didn't anticipate the move and Rico pinned him to the ground.

"Er rah wadda rah bah?" Rico asked him.

Private stared blankly at him, but then rolled Rico over. Rico frowned as Private pressed his flippers to his neck. He guessed Private was trying to strangle him, but Rico was just way too big for Private.

Rico grabbed Private by the shoulders and rolled him back over easily. He struggled hard, and Rico more or less let him until he could get Private onto his stomach. He held the little penguin's flippers behind his back and forced him to stand. Rico quickly coughed up a rope and threw part of it around Private's neck, not choking him but making it clear that he could. Rico glared and growled at Dr. Blowhole.

"Huh. Go ahead, Rico, strangle your little friend, it's probably the only way you'll be able to stop him," Dr. Blowhole said casually.

Rico shook his head. "Uh, uh."

"He only obeys me now, there's nothing else you can do to stop him."

"Oh, yeah?"

Rico pulled the rope so he could hold it in one flipper so the other could catch the rolling pin he coughed up. He lifted it high, intending on hitting Private on the head and knocking him out, but when he swung, the utensil was gone and his balled up flipper just knocked the back of Private's head.

"Huh?"

He suspected it was his own rolling pin that hit the back of his own head, and the crazy laughter that followed clued him in to who did it before he sank into darkness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~