Just for the record, I love murder mysteries! Usually. It depends if it sucks or not. No duh. Either way, I thank all who give me my reviews, and who bother to send me virtual chocolate. Adr62395ian, thank you for not hitting me with a stick. Yet. Alright back to the story!


The female penguins were shifting through shattered ice blocks, snow and other kinds of material to find any starting evidence to who could have done such a horrific thing to their colony and the inhabitants. They had been doing this for hours and they so far they had nothing to show for it.

Flora looked over her shoulder and saw Amber, who was getting desperate at this point. She was throwing things aside and was practically digging in the ice to find any kind evidence. Flora sighed and waddled over to her commanding officer. "Amber, maybe you need a break?" she suggested lightly.

Amber looked at Flora with her eye twitching. "We need evidence, you know that!" she growled harshly.

"I agree with Flora," Sara said as she also came over with Madison right behind her. "You need a break. It's not like the evidence is going to crawl away." Madison grunted and nodded in agreement.

"But every second we waste the enemy could be getting away!" Amber shot back.

Flora rubbed the back of her head with an exasperated look on her face. She waddled to Madison when Amber started looking again. "I require your assistance Madison," Flora whispered to the silent penguin. Madison looked at her curiously. "I need you to help me drag Amber somewhere. I would ask Sara, but I don't think she has the muscle I need."

Madison smiled slightly and nodded. The two tall penguins waddled up behind their leader silently. They gave each other a glance and nodded.

"Here we go," Flora grunted and took one of Amber's flippers. Madison grunted as she took Amber's other flipper.

"Hey!" Amber struggled. It was really difficult for Madison, and Flora to keep her in their grip.

"This is for your own good Amber, you need to rest," Flora reasoned. Madison grunted in support. "Sara, grab Amber's feet!"

Sara ran over and reluctantly grabbed Amber's feet. Amber kept struggling and yelled in protest, but her team kept a strong hold. It was extremely difficult and tiring to do so. Amber was far more strength superior then they were and probably ever would be. Even with all three of them, they were still having trouble keeping her down. After they waddled a fair distance away from the colony wreck they dropped her onto the ice.

Amber jumped up and glared at all of them. "What was that?" she shouted.

Flora glanced nervously at the other two. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea. "Y-you should r-rest. I-It's-" Flora took a deep breath to stop her stutter. "It's for the best."

Amber shook her head disapprovingly but offered them a proud smile. "I don't like the way you're all thinking," she told them. They lowered their heads in shame. "But," she started again. They lifted their heads up at those words. "I'm surprised you could hold me down like that, so I'll give you that much."

Madison and Sara laughed lightly, but Flora kept a serious expression on her features. "You do understand that we can't just stay here?" she asked Amber. "Even if we find evidence, there is no guarantee that the enemy will be here in Antarctica."

Amber looked at her thoughtfully. "Well what do you think we should do?" She immediately regretted asking that when Flora suggested, "We could go to New York." Amber growled, "We've been over this Flora! No New York, no Manhattan. We're not going back there! I said case closed, and I mean it."

"Why not?" Sara whined.

Amber face palmed. "Haven't we been over this?" she shouted at the sky with her flippers waving widely about her.

"Hey Sara, Madison I think I left something over there…" Flora gave them a look that said, 'go away and let me handle this'.

"Oh, ok Flora!" Sara winked, catching Flora's drift with little to no subtly. "Let's go Madison," Sara instructed lightly but cheerfully. Madison groaned loudly, and waddled reluctantly after Sara since she didn't have much of a choice in the matter anyway.

Flora turned back to Amber and waited till the two penguins' were out of earshot. "I say it would be a wise decision to go back to New York."

"And I say no way," Amber hissed. "We got enough going on around here. I don't need you three making goo-goo eyes during the mission," she told her sternly with scorn in her eyes.

"But it's the right idea! If-" Flora tried but Amber interrupted by saying, "No Flora. We're not going. Do I need to spell it out for you? Cause I think it'd take a long time. We both know I can't spell, much less read!"

Flora glared. "Will you let me finish? I got great points here, and I think you should listen to them."

Amber's eyes flashed with admiration. "Fine. I'm proud of you for standing up though." Flora smiled proudly. Her proud smile was immediately wiped off her face when Amber said, "Don't ever do it again."

She gave a nervous grin and muttered, "I'll try my best." Amber looked at her exasperated but asked her to continue. "If we go to New York, we can get assistance, and it'd be better then staying here where we got no resources."

Amber rolled this over in her head. Flora made a lot of sense, but she didn't want to admit it. If anything that she bothered to listen to her dad was 'never admit anything'. She followed that principle in lots of tight situations. But this time it was harder. Flora saw the opportunity to push further into her reasons and spoke again.

"We have much more valuable help, and it'd be better cover to gather information. I'm sure Kowalski, and I can hack into some computers and do all kinds of things to help our investigation. Who would suspect local penguins at a zoo plotting against the murders that killed their families in Antarctica?"

Amber groaned as she caved in. "Fine!" She threw her flippers up into the air in defeat. "We'll go but it's not because you persuaded me, it's because I felt like it."

Flora smiled at her leader's stubbornness. "Of course Amber."

"Now, how will we get back?" Amber asked. "We both know the next boat won't come for a while and the one we hijacked probably left by now."

Flora smiled knowingly, already having thought of a way. "I have my ways."


One Week Later at New York's Central Park Zoo

"Another day of entertaining zoo visitors," Skipper announced to his fellow penguins when the last of the visitors left for the day.

"And another day without the girls," Kowalski muttered under his breath. The guys sighed despairingly.

Skipper composed himself to set as a model for his team. "We are perfectly fine without them."

"But Skippah," Private started. "It just feels so different. Even the zoo visitors seem upset about it."

Skipper sighed, "I know Private."

They heard a splash and turned their heads to the sound. Marlene jumped out of the water from their habitat and looked at them. "You shouldn't be too upset about it," Marlene told them with care.

"Why?" Private asked.

"Because they say if you love something set it free." Marlene made a gesture to the sky. This honestly wasn't helping them get over their heartbreak.

"That sounds illogical. Why would you set something free that you loved? It feels terrible without Flora." Kowalski frowned. "And the other girls," he added quickly when he saw the looks from his teammates.

"Well, you would want them to be happy, right?" Marlene asked them. They nodded their heads in response. "Then if you really cared for them then you would want them to be happy." She let that sink in for a bit before she spoke again. "Plus, they say that if it comes back then hold on to it forever and it's yours."

Skipper smirked. "Folksy wisdom Marlene."

"Well, I'll see you all later. Bye!" Marlene waved goodbye to the penguins before leaving the habitat. She left feeling successful that she touched them in some way. At least she was hoping for that.

"Do you ever think the girls would come back, Skippah?" Private asked.

"Well you never know, young Private," Skipper told him. That was the best answer he could give him. He didn't want to crush his dreams, but he didn't want his hopes to get up too high either.

They stopped what they had been doing when they heard something faint in the distance. They listened carefully. It sounded like…music? It wasn't King Julien's, or else it would be much louder and annoying. Normally, it would've been dismissed as someone with a boom box but something about it got them curious. Maybe a bit hopeful.

"Should we check this out Skipper?" Kowalski asked.

"Yes, let's roll out men!" Skipper jumped out of the habitat with Kowalski, Rico and Private not far behind. The music was coming from outside the zoo all right, hiding in the depths of Central Park. They looked over the zoo walls and listened carefully. The music had gotten clearer and louder.

"Cause we belong together now yeah. Forever united here somehow yeah!"

"What is that?' Private asked curiously.

"I dunno," Rico grunted and shrugged without a clue. Skipper jumped down the walls, leaving the other three back at the wall. Skipper hid behind a tree that was really close to the music.

"You got a piece of me and honestly my life would suck without you!"

Skipper was so caught up in the lyrics he didn't notice Kowalski, Rico and Private come over and hide at the tree with him. They all listened to the music.

"Maybe I was stupid, for telling you goodbye. Maybe I was wrong for trying to pick a fight. I know I got issues, but you are pretty messed up too. Either way I found out, I'm nothing without you. Cause we belong together now, yeah! Forever united here somehow, yeah!"

Skipper finally looked over the tree and what he saw pleasantly surprised him.

It was the girls! Every single one of them. Flora, Sara, Madison and…Amber. His heart jumped a bit when he saw her. They were just relaxing around a tree with their eyes closed. Madison had her recorder out, resting on her bandaged stomach which was the source of the music. It was obvious that they were enjoying listening to the music in peace. His team looked over the tree, and let out little gasps when they saw them. The girls eyes flew opened, and they looked around cautiously.

"You got a piece of me, and honestly. My life would sucks without y-" The recorder stopped abruptly as Madison jumped up and dropped it. She quickly grabbed it back up and looked at it worriedly, afraid that it might be broken.

The girls gazes, minus Madison's, went onto the tree the guys were hiding at. Flora and Sara's eyes went wide with delighted surprise.

"Kowalski?" Flora asked hopefully.

"Private?" Sara sounded just as hopeful.

Sara and Flora got up from their sitting positions and looked at the tree with desperate hopeful looks on their faces. Amber rolled her eyes and shifted into a more comfortable position against the tree while Madison continued to fiddle with her recorder. The guys stepped out, so they were in the girl's field of vision.

"Sara?" Private whispered disbelievingly. He thought he would never see her again! Even if he did, he thought it would have been a long time from when they had left.

"Private!" Sara exclaimed with happy tears pricking her eyes. She ran towards him and gave him a big hug. "I missed you so much!" she sobbed. She let her happy tears come down on his chest as she smiled up at him.

Private let his own happy tears flow down as he returned the hug. "I missed you too!" he cried.

Flora looked at Kowalski with her cheeks lit up red. "Hi Kowalski," she said shyly, like when she had first came to the zoo. It was just funny to see her so shy to him at this point in time.

"Flora..." Kowalski seemed utterly shocked but pleasantly surprised. He thought it was some kind of dream, but he knew when Flora ran up to him, and kissed him that it was no dream. He returned the kiss and held her in his flippers tightly so she would never leave him again.

Amber just sat there, leaning on the tree. She didn't really feel the exact same spark her team felt, but she still felt a happy feeling. She felt a small smile tug up on the corners of her beak.

She watched as Rico waddled to Madison like she was a ghost. He touched her shoulder, and he was rewarded with a brief glance and a grunt. He looked saddened at this. Madison stiffened after a moment and whipped her head back up at him. Her eyes went wide with shock and surprise, but her beak slowly turned up into a grin that just got bigger and bigger. She dropped her recorder again, and enveloped Rico into a large bear hug. Rico happily returned it and nuzzled her neck feathers as she did the same with his. It was a nice reunion. For those six at least.

Skipper waddled slowly up to Amber. She looked up at him with a tiny smile on her face. "Hey Skipper," was all she said.

He smirked at her with his flippers on his hips. "Hey." They looked at each other in silence as the other penguins continued to have a loving reunion. "So why did you all come back?" he asked quietly and sat next to her.

Amber didn't plan on giving away the events that happened, but planned on telling him the main part. "Lets just say I had a little convincing from a second in charge," she responded while watching Flora and Kowalski kiss.

"Well I'm glad she did that." Skipper smiled warmly at her, happy to have her back. She smiled back and felt her heart flutter, much to her distaste. "Maybe we should get back to the HQ?" Skipper suggested.

"How about we wait a little longer. I think these certain penguins want to enjoy their time together." Amber smirked. She didn't approve, but she didn't have much control on those three when it came to emotions and feelings. Love does what love does. If their hearts got broken she would be there for them. Part of her thought that would never happen. They seemed like good enough penguins.

"I think we need a little catching up to do," Skipper told her and held a sly smirk on his beak as he eyed her.

For once, Amber decided to ignore her paranoia. "So what have you been up too?"


The song was 'My Life Would Suck Without You' by Kelly Clarkson. I only did a part of it though. The next chapter is the last! I feel good on the inside, and I really enjoy all your reviews.

Sara: We're back!

Flora: We're so happy about it!

Kowalski: I know I am!

Me: Just no love junk. I had enough of it in this chapter.

Private: Why are you so against it?

Me: Not a romantic. I enjoy tragedy, action and adventure way more! But I don't really mind a sprinkle of romance.

Skipper: Ignore the girl and review.