Even Otter Things Have Happened
Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things Have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….
Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of DreamWorks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.
Okayyyyyyy, so here's the recap. Sorry I wasn't able to update for the past few eternities. It's because well, of some Technical Difficulties, and when I say technical difficulties, yes I mean war over some stupid reason of which threatened to disband our group. But in the end, reason found its way into our already stuck-up heads and deflated them a little, so yes, we're alright now. In order to make it up to you guys and show that we are sorry about putting our petty differences before our commitments to the general reading community, the DrunkenTavern is going to do a MASS UPDATE sometime this week, starting with my story. I'm still so glad you guys like it, I kind of thought the original idea was pretty lame, until you, yes you!, convinced me otherwise! Thank you so much for all the support.
BTW, thanks to those who took time to review the last chapter: hardrocker21, The Darkly Angel, and lemurqueen!
Chapter XIV: A Private Point of View
"Alright, Blowhole's in position; begin Phase One." Kowalski announced silently before pulling the hood of his black robe over his face, casting it entirely in shadow.
The two penguins beside him doing the same, they exited the cover of the nearby bushes and stealthily jumped over the wall. Private pulled his robes closer to himself as they silently entered Marlene's cave home. He had bad feeling in his gut as they neared they neared the main chambers of the otter's home. He heard a squelching sound, a mop moving over an uneven stone floor. Skipper did mention she had a date with Fred at night before he left off; she was cleaning. The brushing sound paused, just as her head perked up in suspicion. Instantly alarmed, the trio disbanded and then dispersed into the shadows, quickly finding cover. But Marlene wasn't your everyday-average otter, her keen senses were able to pick up their retreating movement. Private saw her casting nervous glances at the shadows and tightening her grip on the mop handle. His hooded gaze caught Kowalski signaling Rico to move into position. Rico complied, but Marlene caught the movement as well. She hunched over her mop handle, eyeing the exit and giggling nervously to herself. Rico reached his position, the trio forming a shadowy triangle, with Marlene in the center. He caught Kowalski signal him on the corner of his eye. It was now or never.
"Sorry about this Marlene." Private whispered, before quickly pouncing on the defenseless otter.
Rico quickly placed a flipper around Marlene's mouth, stifling the scream, while placing the other around her body and pulling her toward him. He held tight just as Marlene began to squirm, her arms trying to find a way out of Rico's grip. Private always knew Marlene wasn't one to go down without a fight, and she continued to struggle valiantly against Rico's iron hold. A paw found its way out and elbowed the side of Rico's face before Private caught it and wrapped his flippers tightly around Marlene and Rico, but he wasn't sure if he could hold on for long. He caught a flash of metal just before it sunk itself into the side of Marlene's neck, the contents quickly seeping into her bloodstream. A few seconds of wriggling, and her struggle slowed before vanishing completely. Private and Rico slowly released her as Kowalski tucked the syringe into his robes and pulled his hood off.
"Now we just need to get her all the way to the Reptile House." Private whispered, afraid Marlene might wake up any moment and see them.
Rico was beside him as he rubbed the side of his face where Marlene had elbowed it. Marlene's chest rose and fell slowly as the scarred penguin gently picked her up as a groom does his bride, and they sprinted off to the Reptile House. Kowalski secured his hood and followed the two as they jumped over the wall. The trek was slow, as they could not belly slide without leaving Marlene behind. Finally, they reached the main entrance as Private held the door open for the two. They were greeted by the mechanical leviathan just as the chest plates parted to reveal a screen behind it.
"What took you so long?" Blowhole muttered irritably before brushing his tongue over a half-eaten snow cone in his right flipper.
"We had to walk." Kowalski replied in similar fashion. "Well, let's get this over with."
"Alright, where is she?"
Rico raised Marlene and gently placed her on the outstretched drill-arm of the giant, which carefully raised her while the other arm with the hand grabbed a nearby coil of chains and wound it around the unconscious otter. The trio watched as the chain was then fastened to the pipes above.
"Gotta say, Kowalski." Blowhole said, brushing his tongue over the snow-cone once more as he swiveled the torso around. "She looks really pretty."
Private smiled as he followed Kowalski and Rico out the Reptile House. A few moments later, they heard a small click behind them.
Kowalski slid on his belly alongside the ecstatic Private as they advanced to the second point of their plan. The young private glanced behind him to see Rico in equal smoothness 'gliding' across the peach, hexagonal tiles. Rico caught his eye and winked in response, Kowalski nodding back as well before swiveling his head back. They reached the base of the building just as they came to a halt. Rico immediately regurgitated an airtight plastic bag that contained a brick, some string and a piece of paper. A few moments prior, they asked the chimps Mason and Phil to quickly jot down the note, both perplexed as to the intent but willing to help the penguins. Kowalski quickly extracted the items and fastened the paper to the brick using the string. Upon the tying of the last knot, Rico grabbed the brick from Kowalski's flippers and flung it high up in the air. Hearing a groan of pain and wheezing afterwards, Private flinched while the two looked uneasily at each other.
"Phase Two complete." Kowalski announced, and the trio sped off in the direction of the lair.
"Kowalski" Private said, throwing caution to the winds.
"Yes Private?" Kowalski called in front of him.
"What if the plan doesn't work? Or worse, what if Skipper finds out what we tried to do?"
"Then we'll have to make sure the plan works, including the part where Skipper doesn't find out."
Private nodded in response, unaware Kowalski wasn't even looking at him. He could sense Kowalski's worry about failure, and the fact that this was largely his plan. Private deeply wanted for Skipper to be happy, but he never wanted it to happen this way. Maybe they just ran out of options. Private secretly admitted to himself that it would have been wonderful to be working side-by-side with Blowhole, but in this kind of work, he wasn't even sure if he could even pull it off.
They reached the lair and jumped up to the top of the stone platform, Rico quickly throwing aside the fish bowl before following the others into the lair.
"Commence Phase Three." Kowalski said quietly.
Private nodded and looked around the lair, quickly finding Mort on Rico's bunk, cuddled up with a replica of King Julien's foot, asleep. Private quickly had the incredibly life-like replica created simply to suppress the annoying lemur's foot fetish while they were away. He knew it would last for a few hours at best before he started zealously searching for the real feet, but it had to serve its purpose.
"Over here guys!" Private called, approaching the sleeping Mort just as the others closed in.
"Mort, Mort, wake up!" Private cooed, tapping the little lemur's face.
"Wha- feeeeeet. Good feet." Mort mumbled as his droopy eyes widened.
"Mort, we need your help now."
"Oh, what was I supposed to be doing again?" Mort said as he pulled the 'feet' closer to him.
"Didn't we already debrief you?" Kowalski groaned exasperatedly.
"I don't wear any of the underpants." Mort exclaimed innocently as he brushed his face against the feet.
Rico groaned impatiently as Private picked Mort up and laid him down in front of Kowalski.
"We already told you what to do." Private said as he walked away.
"It seems we'll have to remind you again." Kowalski said. "As soon as the squirrel arrives, use any and all means you have to distract him and prevent him leaving the lair until we arrive. Is that clear?"
"That sounds difficulty, can I just cuddle with fake feet again?" Mort said, pulling the feet closer.
"Look Mort, just do what we tell you to do and you can have the feet, the real feet!" Private said, thinking quickly, before Kowalski could lose his temper.
"Oh okay!" Mort exclaimed, throwing away the foot replica.
The trio shed their robes, just as an alarm blared somewhere in the lair causing Rico to start blabbering insanely.
"Wait, that's Blowhole's signal!" Kowalski said after a moment of realization. "But he's eight minutes early!"
"Something must've gone wrong!" Private said quickly. "He wouldn't signal us yet if something hasn't gone to plan."
The trio instantly shot off toward the exit, Private hastily glaring at Mort to make sure he understood, but the lemur was talking to himself, thinking of any possible way to distract someone, but mostly about the incentive. They cleared the exit, just as Private caught a certain bushy-tailed shadow appear along the way.
"Fred's coming this way!" Private realized, turning to Kowalski, who did a sign with his flippers.
Private came to a halt; just as Fred appeared around the corner.
"Oh, hey Fred!" Private called, trying to sound un-worried and un-out of breath.
"Hello Private. No time for loquaciousness old chap, I'm off for my date with Marlene." Fred casually replied, his voice now a very odd tenor, very much unlike his normal Continental, almost like Private's own British. Clearly the serum was drastically affecting his physiology.
"Ahh, yeah, about that. Marlene, uhmm, she ummm, wanted to meet you at our habitat, since it's ummm, air conditioned, you know?" Private said quickly, hoping Fred would buy it. "We're out for the night, so we gave her permission to use it you know?" he hastily added.
"Very well then. Cheerio." Fred replied nonchalantly after a brief pause, and turned to their habitat.
Private inwardly gave a sigh of relief, and glanced back at Fred before he sped off in the direction of the Reptile House. It was all very odd. It seems the Kowalski's Ultraserum never stopped developing Fred's physiological being, and Private didn't need to be a genius like Kowalski to know that Fred's persona must have changed when his brain was being developed by the serum. Private chuckled to himself as he thought Fred was very much the spiritual embodiment of his Great-Uncle Rupert, with only the bowtie, feathers, top hat, penguin body and monocle absent. After a short moment of belly sliding as fast he could, he caught sight of Kowalski and Rico, waiting beside the wall of the House.
"Well?" Kowalski asked expectantly.
"Phase Three complete." Private said curtly, catching a small breather.
"Good!" Kowalski explained. "Then take cover."
Private opened his beak to ask, but shut it immediately as he glanced at the wall beside him. It was covered in remote-controlled detonation explosives, still covered in digestive fluids. Rico ushered him away to a nearby bench, just as he regurgitated a detonator. He looked to Kowalski expectantly.
"Kaboom?"
Kowalski nodded in response, determination radiating from the intellectual. Private found it inspiring. Rico hit the switch, starting to giggle as he did so.
"Go!" Private shouted, speeding ahead of the others.
The Reptile House was an absolute wreck. Private's eyes quickly scanned the environment, catching sight of the behemoth, two of its crystal eyes shattered. At least Skipper's battle edge was never dulled by Marlene's 'rejection'. But where was Skipper? Private gave a shout of glee as he saw Skipper directly in front of the robot. Private sped with all might to his former commanding officer as his comrades proceeded to 'engage' it, their battlecries echoing across the damaged House. The young penguin caught Skipper before he crashed.
"I gotcha Skipper, I gotcha." Private said, but upon scanning Skipper's condition, understood fully why Blowhole signaled them sooner. The once stalwart penguin's body was covered in cuts and bruises, the feathers ruffled, but what made Private gasp in horror was that Skipper's right side was covered in blood, a small but deep diagonal gash just visible a few inches above the right side of his scaly foot. The young penguin felt himself sinking into a bottomless whirlpool of guilt and remorse. He agreed to go along with this plan, even to recruit the likes of Blowhole, and look where it landed him. If Skipper died, it would be his fault, and he would have no one to blame but himself. His militaristic training overwhelming his desperation, he quickly called Kowalski over, who began analyzing the leader's condition. He held Skipper's head up as Kowalski administered the serum, completing the Fourth Phase of their plan. But Private couldn't leave him, he just couldn't, and all fright of the Skipper finding out vanished completely, to be replaced by the thought of Skipper not surviving. Private grabbed Skipper and yelled at him.
"SKIPPER! SKIPPER, DON'T LEAVE ME! SKIP-HA-PER!"
Kowalski was beside him, pleading to no one in particular, until Kowalski urged him to assist Rico in the acting, but Private just couldn't go. Kowalski gently shoved him, and Private regained his bearings, and charged the robot after casting a worried glance at Skipper.
"What in the Queen's name happened back there?" Private whispered to Blowhole's face on the screen.
"I don't know." Blowhole said hurriedly. "I thought he got caught by a missile blast, but I armed the non-lethal ones, you know, the PWN-4GE missiles."
"PWN-4GE? What's PWN-4GE?"
"Stands for Pathetically Weak Nonsensical, for General Entertainment Missiles. The Point is he got caught by the shrapnel from the tile. Shoddy design of this building if you ask me, and that beloved leader of yours destroyed my targeting system." Blowhole said exasperatedly, keeping up the acting. He was quickly pressing buttons and turning levers to control the robot.
Private glanced behind him as Kowalski was waving around a pencil torch, the light dancing in characteristic spirals.
"The signal." Private whispered to himself in joy. Phase Four was indeed complete, and Skipper was going to survive. Private wanted to leap up into the air in utter happiness, but stopped himself in time. He had a job to do, and the plan wasn't complete just yet. He turned his head to meet Rico and Blowhole's gaze, and they both nodded in response.
"Oh dammit!" Blowhole whispered angrily as an alarm tone sounded on the control panel.
"What is it?" Private said, turning to the robot while chopping its leg.
"He also sapped my Missile-Launching System. It's almost done reloading!"
Private didn't need to be an expert of ballistics and weapons to know what it meant. The missile pods quickly launched just as Private called Kowalski's attention and tackled him to the ground just as the missile soared overhead. He heard Rico's 'uh-oh' and scream as he was flung into the nearby wall. Hopefully Blowhole threw him at the right angle and force to quickly send him to the rendezvous point. Unfortunately, it was Private's turn to leave. He charged the giant, winking at Blowhole as he did so, and was caught by the kick. Private was soon sent flying, pain throbbing in his right flipper, which he used to shield his face as he busted through the wall. The sense of flight was exhilarating, and he knew Blowhole was careful to angle its kick so as they land in the designated landing point. Private quickly stretched his flippers wide, trying to best angle himself so he would fall into Marlene's pool, which was the landing point. As he neared it, he twisted so as to fall gracefully into the water, reflecting the faint moonlight. With a great splash, Private held his breath as he felt water rush along his feathers. He twisted his head to make out the surface, as he felt the water ripple a short distance above him. He then felt strong flippers wrap themselves around his chest, turn and assist him in surfacing, the duo gasping for air and climbing ashore on the artificial bank.
"Thanks Rico." Private gasped, catching the gaze of his friend, also gasping for air.
Another splash, and a few seconds later, Kowalski's unmistakable gasps for breath as he too climbed ashore. Private looked at him expectantly, and he gave a nod of assurance. Skipper was indeed alive. Now Private did jump up in joy, and hug Kowalski a few moments later. He patted Private, and the exhausted trio scaled the wall and quickly entered their habitat, the final phase of the plan at hand, at least if Mort was able to hold up. Private quickly jumped down to see Fred blindfolded, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, Mort beside him giggling.
"Marlene? Is that you?" Fred said as he took his blindfold off.
"Ahhh, you peeked!" Mort exclaimed. "Bad squirrel! No surprise date for the peekies!"
"Whoa!" Rico grunted, surprised at Fred's new accent, which was much, much fancier than his usual voice.
"Oh Good Graciousness, it appears to be but you gentlemen. Now do tell me, have you seen Marlene? It appears to be approaching half-past seven and – I say, why are you all sopping wet?"
"Oh, it's nothing Fred." Kowalski replied.
"Yeah, and you know women," Private chuckled, hoping Fred would buy it yet again. "always thinking about what to wear to dates, if she looks pretty or not. She's only just preparing for her date."
"You think so dear boy? Then she is quite excited about being romantically engaged to an above average Casanova such as myself." Fred curtly replied, thoroughly bored yet again, but cocked his head to the side as he caught sight of Rico. "I say dear lad, why are you limping like that?"
Kowalski glanced around quickly and spotted the tray that still contained the cocoa Fred asked for the yesterday morning still spiked with the antidote. He knew he had to act quickly.
"Here Fred, waiting must have gotten you thirsty. Here, have some cocoa."
Fred looked away from Rico and accepted the cup. He took a small gulp, before replacing the cup on the tray.
"It's cold." He pompously announced, again thoroughly bored.
"You certainly did a great job Mort!" Private said, patting the little lemur on the head yet again.
"Yaaaaaay! I love distracting!"
Fred started in an instant.
"Distracting? Distracting! You mean to say this was all merely a ruse? I would have chosen to knock your heads off if you were even worthy of my fists!"
"Any second now…" Kowalski muttered evilly.
Fred's mouth was opened wide in anger, but all that came out of his mouth were stutters as his eyes became unfocused. His body started warping, and then began shrinking. A few seconds later, he was back to his normal Fred state, his eyes still unfocused, his teeth as buck-toothed as ever.
"Did it work?" Private asked Kowalski.
"Only one way to find out…"
"Wh-where am I?" Fred drawled, his eyes focusing again.
"You got lost on your way to the bathroom." Kowalski replied plainly.
"We have a bathroom here? I just go where I am standing."
"It's Fred." Private said.
"Definitely Fred." Kowalski concurred.
Rico giggled before grabbing Fred from the chair and none too gently throwing him out the fish-bowl hatch. The final phase of their plan now complete, all they had to do now was wait.
"Hey Kowalski?" Private said as the tall penguin took the young one's injured flipper and began analyzing it.
"Yes Private?"
"Between you and me, I really really really hated the new Fred."
"Yeah!" Rico called before he and Private burst into mad laughter.
"Me too, Private. Me too." Kowalski replied, with a knowing smile on his face as he began bandaging Private's injured flipper, tears of mirth coming from the youngling's eyes.
A few seconds later, Kowalski himself joined in the laughter.