"I can sympathise with your predicament." Kowalski answered after hearing Marlene's account of the day's happenings, "However this will be the first place Private will look for you."
"There's no way he could have followed me," Marlene countered, "and why would he go looking for you if he's after me?"
"He thinks 'Arlene' is one of my spies, and where would be the best place to find one of my spies? And also, according to my intelligence, you've brought the Rats led by Lola's secret admirer on top of me too due to your masquerading as the aforesaid acquaintance."
"I can make it up to you in information…" panicked Marlene.
"Miss Adler, there is nothing you could possibly tell me that I don't already know," Kowalski dismissed, "take a seat somewhere I can keep an eye on you and remain quiet while I deal with more pressing matters. I'll decide what to do with you later."
"Skippah, why do you think Arlene would run here?" Private questioned observing the skyscraper from an adjacent building.
"The file Marlene gave me said Kowalski had set up shop here," Skipper answered.
"And where would an uncovered spy go than to the spy master?" the team scientist finished. That explained, otherwise the kid would probably keep asking throughout the entire operation, the team started on the first phase, which consisted of securing grappling lines to the roof with the intention of swinging across to the fifth floor, which Skipper knew was the only one without either complex security systems or bullet proof glass as that was the floor that contained the lab, which was blown up too frequently to warrant any investment. If they were lucky, they would find Arlene and Kowalski there, otherwise they'd have to work their way up to the top floor office.
As was half expected, when they cut through the glass and entered the lab, they were the only ones there.
"Kowalski, see if you can get us access to the security systems," Skipper ordered. Kowalski winced, glancing around nervously, "it's soundproofed. Everyone else, let's get moving." They had a lot of ground to cover, time he wasn't sure Marlene had. But then, if she was going to be silenced or had outlived her usefulness, she'd already be gone. Still, Skipper had to know, that was love after all.
"Muon Neutrinos!" Kowalski exclaimed, almost falling off his chair in shock as he frantically tried to undo what he'd just done. Realising after a few seconds that his presence on the network couldn't be covered up, he reached for the radio that connected him to the rest of the team, "Skipper, listen, I'm 99.2275% certain I've just…!"
"Save it for later!" Skipper snapped, and a burst of machine gun fire, followed by a few single shots made several possible scenarios come to mind, "We're smack bang in the middle of a war; the rest of the building's surrounded. We regroup in the tunnels. Out."
Kowalski considered calling back but had a feeling distracting skipper at this point would create 22.9675 recurring % probability of causing some kind of accident unfavourable to their side. Still, when he cautiously opened the door to exit, he didn't see the sterile hallway he expected but what looked like what skipper had described had only just passed through. Corpses, mutilated to the point at which the scientist had to devote a decent part of his consciousness to blocking from his mind, scattered the hallway, their various insignias or crisp suits denoting them as having been a mixture or Rats, Penguins and civilians. Still, it was empty, and Kowalski slipped out of the room and towards the elevator shaft.
The subterranean passageways beneath the Consolidated Amalgamated Steel building were nothing pretty. In fact, they looked like they hadn't been used since they'd been built in 1950 something, and they probably hadn't been pretty then either.
"Kowalski, I have no idea what happened," Skipper informed as soon as the scientist came into view, "but we're not the only ones trying to get to the top floor."
"We leavin'?" Rico asked.
"But Skippah, if we leave," Private immediately protested, "then the Rats will get to K'walski first and we'll never find out where Marlene…"
"We aren't leaving," Skipper answered, already moving through the concrete tunnel, "I know another way in through the escape tunnels."
"Hit the deck!" Kowalski shouted as the tunnel shook with the noise of an explosion. The roof of a section of tunnel behind them had collapsed, crashing through the floor into another tunnel below.
"What was that?" Private whispered.
"That would be part of the defence system," Skipper answered getting to his feet and motioning for the others to do the same despite the fact bits of ceiling the size of snowballs would occasionally land not far from them, "The Rats must be getting near the top, or K'walski wouldn't risk destroying the building with the heavy fire power."
"Oh, alright." Private answered in an almost inaudible squeak, glancing nervously at the ceiling as he advanced. He didn't like the sound of that.
"Cave in." Skipper announced, shining his torch over the passage way ahead, which was now a wall of solid rubble. There was, however, a small gap only a few feet wide in the floor. Rico shone his torch into the void, revealing nothing but an expanse of inky black water, "That should be the backup tunnel." Skipper thought aloud, motioning for them to continue. However the team scientist was clenching his clipboard uncomfortably, backing away from the edge, "Well, what is it?"
"I can't swim." Kowalski answered nervously.
"What?!" Skipper exclaimed, "How did you get through dive school, if you can't swim?"
"Well, I hypnotized the instructor and…"
"Whatever, you can learn now," Skipper interrupted, and after no movement was made on the part of the second in command, he forcibly grabbed him, pulling him towards the expanse of water.
"NO!" Kowalski exclaimed, pulling back. Skipper rolled his eyes, though was equally concerned by the decreasing distance between them and the explosions. The Rats were getting closer to the top.
"I don't have time for this." Skipper snapped, giving Rico the ok in the form of the nod. A well-practiced strike left the scientist unconscious, and the team was able to proceed. Of all the teams to have a non-swimmer, it was certainly strange that it would be the penguins, private mused.
The stretch of water was fortunately not too long, as even through Rico had abandoned his backpack – the weapons save the ones they were carrying above their heads were all useless now they were wet – dragging the unconscious scientist through the water after him was starting to become tiring. The tunnel they found themselves in was similar to the one they had previously travelled through, though various pipes and wires traversed the ceiling, and the occasional rusting sign reading something like 'backup generator' or 'tunnel 14b' followed by an arrow denoting the direction could be seen. For the next five minutes it was pretty much smooth sailing, but following the pattern of the entire mission, this didn't last long.
Abruptly they reached a stretch of tunnel which could really no longer be called tunnel. The whole thing had semi collapsed, leaving an obstacle course of broken fragments of cement to be navigated through.
"Kowalski, give me a structural stability report!" Skipper ordered without turning around. He recived no reply.
"He's still out, Skippah," Private replied, "I don't much like the looks of this."
"We're so close," Skipper thought aloud, examining the wall himself, "I'll go first," Skipper announced, reaching a conclusion, "Wait one minute, and if I haven't shouted otherwise, follow me. If I don't make it, Private leads."
"'e don' know where, if…"
"Continue along here for thirty meters. In the ceiling there should be a metal hatch. This will take you to a staircase that runs through the back of the building. Keep going up and you'll find a door that exits into an office. The door will be locked, do not touch anything. It's all alarmed, and Kowalski will kill you on the spot regardless of strategic value if you so much as disturb a speck of dust."
"Why?"
"That was my father's office," Skipper answered, "From there the rest should be easy." Despite Private's continued protests, Skipper climbed over the first obstacle, disappearing off into the darkness, even his footsteps obscured by the rumble of the battle on the floors above.
Skipper was about half way to his objective, or so he guessed, when he saw the cracks in the floor. He could have sworn they hadn't been there before. A few seconds later there was the sound of metal and concrete grating against each other, and dust began to fall from the ceiling. Skipper picked up his pace, but then the floor dropped out from under him, leaving him to fall about fifteen feet into darkness landing on a strangely soft surface that felt oddly like a carpet. Obeying his gut he dived out of the way just as he felt the ground rumble and dust and small rocks hit his arm. Yup, the ceiling had just collapsed on his torch, also covering any evidence for the team that the floor had ever collapsed. Now that he thought about it, the order to continue if he said nothing wasn't his best.
Skipper groped about in the dark until he felt a smooth, cold surface, perpendicular to the floor. He didn't know how high the ceiling was, so kept one hand on what he assumed to be a wall and one above his head. Strangely enough, his hand felt a irregularity in the wall that felt oddly like… a light switch? He doubted there would be any power considering the collapses up above, but still flicked the switch.
Amazing, the lights did switch on, and Skipper found himself in the hallway of what seemed like a normal home except for the fact the walls were made of reinforced concrete. In fact, the whole place was seemingly untouched by the explosions, apart from the slope of rubble through which Skipper had arrived, though he could see cracks which seemed to predate the collapsed ceiling.
Skipper looked around, and his eye caught a newspaper on a nearby table.
"Blake Grant Brought in for Questioning Concerning Kidnapping and Murder of Edward 'Eggy' Duncan"
The headline announced, under which a photograph of a young boy was situated, Skipper could see why he got the nickname Eggy, he looked like a fluffy little duckling, "Alleged leader of the combined Rockhoppers and Penguins claims to have no involvement with the kidnapping of Edward 'Eggy' Duncan and the subsequent demand for two million dollars. After the ransom was not paid, the boy was found three days later by Captain Jones at the bottom of a pond in Centeral Park," Skipper read, "Mr Grant had no comment, but Mr Kowalski made the following statement: "Private Eggy was a close friend of Skipper's, and we assure you that we will offer our full cooperation to find the killer and bring him to justice." However sources within law enforcement are sceptical, especially due to the rumours that Edward Duncan had been used in an experimental training program during his abduction…"
The date was mid-1954, probably the last time this place was used. Skipper continued down the hallway into what looked like a living room, perfectly preserved. This had to be the bunker Kowalski had told him his father had built in case of a Space Squid invasion. Well, hopefully it had something he could use to contact the team; his radio almost certainly wouldn't work since it was practically dripping with water.
After a brief search he found the lab. Inside he found all manner of communication devices, and considering the fact his team was underground chose the device labelled 'Underground radio communication device – Prototype (not a door stop, not for target practice)'. Having no idea how to work the object which didn't even look like a radio set he searched about for the notebook in which notes on all the inventions were written in only barely understandable language. He'd always made fun of the version kept at home until Kowalski had told him it was classified and locked it away.
Sure enough, there it was, though there were parts missing, for example, the table of contents. After deciphering the notes on the machine's composition Skipper left it to warm up on the floor of the room and moved to the living area. He switched on the record player, grabbed the newspaper, quickly choosing a page other than the first, and sat down on the sofa.
He'd been there for several minutes when he started to wonder why the device was taking so long. He stood up, and was surprised to hear a strange squelching noise underfoot. He looked down to see about an inch of water covering the floor. Immediately the first thought that came to mind was the radio, which was plugged into the wall socket. However his second thought was that he'd obviously neglected to plug it in, otherwise he'd have been electrocuted by much the same principle as a toaster in a bathtub. Never before had he been so relived to make a rookie mistake.
The first thing he did was search for te source of the water, and it was rising a little too fast for comfort. He might be able to unplug the various devices, but it was only a matter of time before the water reached the electrical sockets. After a brief search he discovered the water came from behind the wall of rubble. Apparently a pipe had been burst, thankfully it was clean water, by the falling rubble. However it was just the fact that it was rubble that sealed his fate. He'd try to plug the various holes, but another crevice would just start to leak water. There were even some areas of surrounding wall in which water trickled out of the age old cracks.
Skipper was now up to his knees in water. He'd tried the various radio devices, none could seem to reach the team underground, and the one built specifically for such environments had been water damaged beyond use, as had his own. The only thing left was some kind of office intercom, but the team were probably still in the tunnels. He'd tried to blast his way out with explosives found in the lab in a fit of desperation, but the place was designed to withstand a nuclear assault. Well, judging from the speed the water level was rising at he had half an hour before the water reached the electric sockets, which were thankfully abnormally high up the walls. He considered climbing up on the furniture, but it was all metal.
So this was it. No grand fight to the finish with Blowhole or Kowalski, no last words of wisdom to Private, no first real date with Marlene. Just a room, a lot of water, and one crazy story behind him.
Skipper's eyes swept the room in one last attempt to find something he could do, even if it was a shovel with which he could try to dig his way out.
"I can't do it, sir," The nine year old apologised, "It's too heavy. It's physically impossible at my age to lift that much."
"I don't care." Kowalski answered. Private's eyes brimmed with tears, but as usual his guardian remained unmoved.
"I can keep trying the rest of my life but I won't…" Private's eyes widened at the sight of the weapon levelled at his head, point blank range, "Sir?"
"Private," Kowalski spoke, "You have three seconds before I shoot."
"You wouldn't really…"
"Attempt failed. Now what do you do?" There was a click as the safety catch was switched off.
"You're too far away to disarm, no nearby cover," Private stared at the weapon dejectedly, "Well, I guess my number's…"
"You don't give up, Private. You keep trying even when there aren't any options. If you're going to die anyway, you've got nothing to lose by trying something illogical. Now escape."
Kowalski. Everything led back to Kowalski, even the most basic and mundane things could always trigger the memory of one lesson or another, sometimes with a scar just to make sure he never forgot.
Skipper's eyes rested on the intercom. There was one last thing he had to do.