I have been having this idea for a while and spent a lot of time wondering if I should use it or not... but I decided I should. Hopefully you'll understand what I mean when you read it! I feared it would make the story a tad unrealistic in the sense of 'could it actually happen'.. but I wanted to stay true to the show, so I figured it'd be fine to use it.
Enjoy!
Private had woken up early that morning. So early, in fact, that Blowhole was still sleeping on his desk. The younger had stared at him for a few minutes to make sure he was really still fast asleep. Perhaps it was because he had to be on edge because of the whole situation that he couldn't sleep anymore. He decided that while he had the change, he should take it and tiptoed in the ensuite bathroom to take a shower as quick as Skipper's trainings taught him. He desperately needed the refreshment and the brief moment to drain his head of all worry.
Private managed to shower, dry himself off, get dressed and take his time to check himself in the mirror and still his captor was sound asleep. He figured the man probably needed it badly, because he couldn't imagine how a super villain could not be alert to any kind of noises around him.
The young soldier walked back into the bedroom and walked closer to the sleeping form at the desk. By the way the man was lying, Private could see the remaining good eye was closed and the expression was completely relaxed. In this light, Private could actually see why he had found the man so charming that dreadful night, even if he hated thinking about it. He couldn't deny that his enemy was a handsome man. Perhaps he only allowed himself to think so because he strongly believed there was more to Blowhole than what the man had shown. In their personal conversations he came across as strong, confident and intimidating, yes, but Private also saw a sincere form of... well... kindness directed at him.
Then there was the way Blowhole had visibly relaxed as soon as he saw him when Private had found him in his luxury room. Not to mention that kiss they shared! One that did not involve alcohol and was full of things young Private hadn't been quite able to figure out yet.
Blowhole's hair looked messy, it almost had the young soldier chuckle. The so scary, so controlled and organised Dr. Blowhole didn't look so scary at all.
All of the sudden the moment of serenity was roughly disturbed by a loud alarm and red lights flashing. Blowhole jolted awake in shock and looked around frantically while trying to calm himself at the same time. He knocked the chair back as he stood up, quickly running a hand through his hair to fix it as much as he could before he turned to Private with a serious, cranky expression, and grabbed both his arms before leaning in intimidatingly.
"What did you do?!" He barked at the poor, startled boy, who immediately started to try and shrink away.
"I-I-I-I didn't d-do anything! I s-s-swear!" Private trembled. A sigh of relief left his lips as Blowhole seemed to release him. The relief was quickly gone, however, when the villain recaptured one of his arms and began dragging him along. He unlocked the door and dragged Private through the hallway towards the huge control room at the end of it.
Blowhole burst through the doors to find his lobster army at the computers and his fellow villains standing by some of the screens.
"What on EARTH is happening?" Blowhole demanded loudly. All present in the room quickly understood that the mastermind was in a horrible mood... which basically meant: walking on egg-shells. No one wanted to be the one to set him off. Even Private understood, as he stood quietly next to Blowhole, not protesting against the firm grip on his arm.
"Sir, it's the Penguins. They have breached the perimeter. They are slipping past every security system we've got!" Red-one reported from his position at the main computer. He opened up live security footage of somewhere just outside the lair on the big, main screen. Private felt a his stomach make a leap of joy at seeing the determined faces of his team and family, but was careful to conceal his excitement.
Blowhole dragged the boy closer to the big screen, his teeth gritted in bitter frustration. Unable to control himself for a brief moment, he punched a document cabinet with all his might, succesfully creating a huge dent in it and sending files to the floor for his henchmen to clean up.
"Blast! I did not expect them here at this time. I am quite done with their anticts." He spoke bitterly to himself, before turning to the other people in the room to snarl at them. "Prepare yourselves, my fellow villains. For this.. will be.. the very.. LAST battle." He laughed in that way that was so very typical for him.
In the back, Hans had his arms crossed over his chest and a dark, sinister smirk in place. He nodded to himself in satisfaction. Yes, this was the Blowhole he knew, and he was more than happy to see his friend return.
Private, on the other hand, was mortified to see Blowhole in this state. Especially with the words he had spoken, he dreaded the moment his precious team would burst into this room.
Skipper peered around the corner before signaling the remaining members of his team to come closer. When the leader was certain that no one was going to come out just yet, he turned to them.
"This is it, men. Remember to stick together. Don't let them seperate us any further. As a team we are stronger." He spoke with a stern tone in his voice. Following that, however, was a slightly kinder one. "Men... in a minute we will burst through those doors and I am going to be perfectly honest with you: I have no idea what awaits us. Regardless of what happens, I need you two to know that it has been an honour serving with you."
Rico and Kowalski exchanged glances of uncertainty, causing a tension to cloak the situation. Most likely because of the danger that was ahead of them. At last, they looked at their leader with a smile.
"Right back at ya, Skipper." Kowalski said for the both of them. "You've been the best leader we could hope for."
Rico jumped in with energetic nodding and complete jibberish. They shook each other the hand (because God forbid they showed some affection in a moment like that), and refocused on their goal.
"Right then. Move out!" Skipper gave the final command as they approached the last door keeping them seperated from the control room they had been so humiliated in the day before.
Without fear for what may happen, they burst through the door, immediately greeted by the entire crew of criminals as well as Blowhole's personal henchmen all ligned up, ready to take them down. In the very back, on a small, round stage, stood Blowhole himself with a firm grip on Private's arm.
"Pen-goo-ins." Blowhole's voice echoed ominously through the room. "Back already? I never figured defeat would taste good to you!" Laughter of the villain side filled the room and left no room for any other sound.
Private looked increasingly uncomfortable by the differences in the confrontation that happened the other day compared to that day. Rico, relying mostly on body language to express himself, picked up on this right away and threw out strings of incoherent jibberish to his teammates. Kowalski, having learned the language of his friend as much as could, understood what he meant and explained it to Skipper, who smiled at them both.
"Not to worry, men." The leader directed himself towards Blowhole. "Couldn't resist getting back on the horse and having it give you the kick you deserve, Blowhole."
"Justice will come to those who deserve it!" Kowalski joined in.
Now, it was only Blowhole's signature laugh that bounced of the walls of the lair. "Oh the ignorance of the vigilants! There is no justice in this world, Kowalski, get used to it. Remember it when you catch your last glimp of this rotten world."
Without wasting anymore time, Blowhole sent his army out to attack the team. Private tried, for the first time, to get free, screaming for his team in worry, but the mad scientist pulled him back with much force.
The penguin team fought and fought, driven by adrenaline and a common goal they fought seperately and assisted each other at the same time. Gadgets given to them by Kowalski kept a great deal of the villains at bay while capturing another bunch of them. They proved they were worthy to be called the elitest of the elite.
However, what they had anticipated eventually happened: they were captured and put in a cage, much like before.
Only Hans, Rhonda and Savio were still standing alongside Blowhole. They laughed at them, putting joy out of their defeat. Confident with his victory, Blowhole let go of Private's arm and the younger immediately ran to the bars of the cage, where his team awaited him with an embrace.
"Listen Private." Kowalski began whispering in said embrace. "No matter how this may look, we anticipated this. We are making it look like we are saying our goodbyes to you but in truth, we needed to be defeated."
Private glanced up at them from the embrace, his eyes wide in confusion and his heart beating harder as if it already knew what was coming. Skipper smiled warmly at him.
"You see, young soldier, you are our only hope. Kowalski looked at it from every possible perspective, but only you can do it. Your sense of aim can help you do things we can't. And..." The leader bit his lip, looking towards Rico and Kowalski for support.
"And what?" Private asked softly, dreading the answer.
"We need your hypercute more than we've ever needed it before." Kowalski whispered even softer, desperation clear in his face. Private's eyes widened even further and he tried to back away from them, but was kept in place by his leader.
"How could you ask that of me?!" Private shout-whispered. Skipper gave him a firm shake.
"We don't have a choice, Private! What do you think I said when Kowalski opted it? We have exhausted every other possibility. You are our secret weapon." He tried to reason with the private.
"Up to now we have dramatically underestimated your abilities. You have, after all, been trained by us. Blowhole seems to have forgotten this as well. Why do you think he lets you walk around now?" Kowalski joined in. Realisation slowly came to Private as he listened to his teammates, but so did the tears.
"That maniac seems to have developed some sort of soft spot for you, this could be your window! I hate to admit it, but they are unbeatable. Only something so powerful and so unexpected will get us to victory." Skipper tried one last time. Rico nodded along and grunted a "yeah" every once in a while.
Private was extremely conflicted by what to do. He felt sick to the stomach thinking he would have to use his much hated weapon again, but he couldn't lose his family. And he had a feeling he would definitely lose them this time.
After more time to think, he finally nodded in agreement.
Turning around, he was greeted by the sight of the villains eyeing them in suspicion, their muscles flexing as they mentally prepared for battle. Private felt confident with his team behind him and took his stand in front of the cage. Kowalski whipped out a small scanner to meassure the charging of the hypercute.
Blowhole eyed his prisoner suspiciously. "Private, time to say bye and come here." He said in a stern voice. "Playtime is over."
"You are right, Blowhole! Playtime IS over... for YOU!" Private responded, trying to find his tough-guy words. Behind him, Skipper whispered encouragements to him.
"Come on, Private. Puppy dogs, rainbows, fluffy clouds and unicorns. Dig deep!"
"Eeeh, doc? Something is happening." Red one dryly remarked as he looked puzzled at his screen on which scannings of Private were visible. "These readings are through the roof!"
Blowhole joined at the computer in an instance and his face changed from slightly bemused to utter annoyance. "This cannot be! What are they doing?!"
"You've pulled me away from my family, Blowhole. You hurt them. But that ends now!" Private's eyes were fierce as he stared at the mastermind. Flashes of the purest pink filled his eyes for brief seconds.
"We're at 80% cuteness, Skipper." Kowalski informed his leader. Unfortunately, Blowhole caught those words through a bit of lip reading. The villain stepped forward, stepping a bit closer to Private though still at a safe distance, ignoring the confused faces of his fellow villains.
"Oh Private, if you are going to defeat me anyway." The madman started. "I would just like to know... do you recall that night at all? Do you recall our lips touching, tasting of alcohol?"
Immediately, the pink faded from Private's eyes and his nose wrinkled slightly in discomfort.
"73%?!" Kowalski cried out in shock. "Skipper, he's countering the cuteness by reminding Private!"
Skipper banged his fists on the bars. "NO!" This plan couldn't fail, it just couldn't. "Private, don't listen to him! Block it out!"
Private focused on the cutest things he could think of to try and block it out, succesfully raising his levels to 78%.
"The feel of my hands on your body, touching you, feeling you. How it made you shiver. How you wanted more." Blowhole said in a sensual voice.
Private whimpered as his levels dropped to 65%
"Lunacorns, Private! For Pete's sake, man! LUNACORNS!" Skipper cried out in desperation.
72%
"Our skins touching, becoming one as I invaded your privacy."
56%
"Kittens... cute kittens!"
59%
"You were sooo dirty! The things you said... the things you did.. ooh if only they knew!"
"Skipper... 37%, we're losing him!" Kowalski's shoulders slumped and Skipper slid to his knees, his head pressed to the bar. Private looked no less defeated.
All of the sudden, Rico banged on the bars. "Ivate!" He grunted. The younger turned to look at him, face red in embarrassement and tears streaming down his face. Rico pulled a symphatetic face at him. "'s okay. No l'ss cu'e."
Somewhere deeply inside Private's eyes, there was a spark of hope, and so Rico nudged Kowalski to continue.
The scientist looked at Rico and suddenly understood what he was doing.
"Rico's right.." He said more surprised than stating it, before turning to Private. "Private! We all make mistakes. This was out of your hand. Our opinions of you haven't changed! You will always stay the cutest out of all of us."
"My opinion has!" Skipper cried out to Kowalski before getting to his feet again. After enduring a few seconds of stares from his team, he turned to Private. "But this hasn't changed your adorableness, Private. You've still got it, no matter how deeply hidden. We all believe in you." The leader smiled warmly at his youngest team member.
Private dried his tears and smiled softly. "R-Really?" A warm, fuzzy feeling spread from his heart to the rest of his body, and he knew... he knew exactly what his own secret weapon was. He turned back to Blowhole, more determined than ever. Said villain, took a step back in surprise at this comeback.
"You are disgusting, Blowhole! To try and use that against me. But you know what? It doesn't matter what I did.. or how cute I am or how many cute things I can think of.." The pink flash returned to Private's eyes, brighter than ever. The same light gathered around his hands like some sort of a strong, mystic matter that only he controlled. It slowly engulfed his arms
"Eehh... red-one? ...Anyone?" Blowhole looked around frantically, but all the others mimicked his look of panic and realisation that perhaps they had made a mistake. The pink matter had slowly wrapped itself around Private's entire body.
"Because you know what? All people find cute is born out of a love for something. Love is powerful. More powerful than anything in the whole world. The source of all things cute. And you know what? Nothing is stronger than the love between brothers."
A loud cry and a blinding flash followed by a wave of mind-blowing energy crashed through the lair, taking everything in its path. Papers flew through the room, machines were burning and all remaining villains had been blown to the other side of the room. By the force, the cage had been blown apart but miraculously, the team remained unharmed.
The three looked around in awe, their hearts racing in their chest at what had just happened. Their jaws were dropped and their eyes as wide as plates.
"W-wow..." Was all Skipper could bring out.
"Rico, putter me!" came a voice from the smoke. On automatic pilot from the shock, Rico regurgitated a putter in the direction of the voice.
"T-T-T-This... is b-beyond anything I-I have meassured. I believe it is beyond any possible form of meassurement." Kowalski stammered in disbelief.
A loud bang and flying sparks woke them from their awe and pulled their focus to the direction of where once had been the team of villains. The big screen on the wall had just been smashed by what seemed to be another computer.
As the smoke cleared, they finally became aware of the horror that was envelopping ahead. Everything had been destroyed. The villains were on the floor, covered in dirt, bruises, wounds and blood. Savio seemed completely knocked out, Rhonda was too weak to get up. Only Hans and Blowhole seemed to be okay enough to move and speak, but Hans was rather far from where the mastermind was.
The most horrific of all... was Private. His hands were still cloaked in the now dark pink matter, which seemed to be shaping itself. In his right hand, he held the putter Rico had provided him with, the end of which was cloaked in the same matter as his hands.
"Private...?" Skipper called out to him in worry.
As the younger turned his head to look at his team, they were even more horrified. His expression was angry. His eyes too were cloaked in that damned pink matter as if he was wearing oddly shaped glasses without the nose piece.
"K-Kowalski... analysis?" Skipper tried, unable to avert his eyes from the young Private.
"Skipper.. it seems Private has found an even deeper secret to his secret weapon to make it more powerful than ever before! With... dire consequences."
"Meaning?"
"He's stuck in his Quantum Hypercute."
