"Misery loves company."

― John Ray

A few blocks are all Bridget can succeed to skate from where she sits to contemplate.

With a hand on her forehead, and her eyes closed, she can really start to feel the emotions rising up from her.

'You should go back...they needed your help and ya turned them down,'

The guilt remains within her, no matter how much she tries to push it down, it keeps bubbling up to the surface.

Their expressions won't leave her mind, how miserable and confused they looked. Their voices. Their body language. Their eyes...

Drip

Bridget blinks and looks at the wet drop of water that fell from the sky. And then sees another one...and another one. 'Til soon, she sees thousands of raindrops all hailing down from the clouded night sky. Bridget, now very much drenched in her black jacket and grey sweatpants, growls a sigh.

'...Oh great...it's rainin'

Her black eyes then avert to the direction the pengmen went.

'...I can't leave them, not like this,'

Getting up, she looks at the sky, and then forward again.

'I'm not the only one who's had a rough night...kidnapped me or not, leavin them doesn't make me any better than them. I gotta help them...it's the right thing ta do'

And with that, Bridget begins to skate instantly, her goal now set to find the penguins. And...to apologize to them.

0000000

"Rico, tent me." Skipper orders, holding out his hand towards him.

Rico tries, but obviously is having trouble. He eventually shakes his head with a sigh. "Sorry."

Skipper frowns, but then nods. "That's alright, not your fault." He sighs and sits back on the ground and glances over at Private. "How's that fire going?"

Private looks at the damp sticks and shakes his head. "The rain won't let them light, sir."

"Greeaat."

The sky claps emphatically with thunder and dark grey clouds surround the New York City. What was once a pleasant breeze night is now a wet, dark, and cold night. A bridge doesn't help keep the outside environment from the boys, with the raindrops splashing at them from the freezing wind. With another strike of thunder in the sky, it becomes clear that this is going to be one rough night.

Kowalski looks over at the others from a little away with a sigh as he thinks. Obviously, the bridge was a stupid idea on his part.

Giving up on the fire, Private and his sticks move over to Kowalski and sit next to him. "You haven't really said much since we left Bridget."

"Oh...Well. I just haven't really had anything to say is all." He shrugs.

Lightning hits next to the bridge.

"ASDGKJ!"

And suddenly the four penguin-men are clustered together in a corner under the bridge.

Another breeze hits harshly, they realize how chilly they are. How cold it is without feathers.

Sure, in molting seasons, there are moments of cold and suffering. But that's in the spring, with time to prep so surviving the molting can be less-painful to experience.

Now they're in the middle of a summer night storm with barely any comforting clothes, room, or food to help them through it.

If anything, they at least still have each other... Even if they may be stuck like this for who knows how long.

Unknown to the pengmen, their walk to the bridge hasn't been so secretive. They have left mud tracks on their way after they jumped from the window, and since then, a dirt track with their foot imprints followed them all the way.

And sadly, an unwelcome enemy found them, and he follows these tracks with his baton in hand.

"Penguins, I know you're here," X's voice echoes in the bridge, his footsteps can be heard in the distance.

Their eyes widen. It only takes a moment before the four are up and clumsily bolting from the bridge.

"You can run, but I'll find you soon."

More thunder is heard as the pengmen try to hide in a bush but wait, nope they're too big for that now.

X finally catches up to the pengman, shining a bright flashlight right at their faces.

At first glance, the man himself has a hard time believing what he's seeing. But with a sniff of the nose, the former animal control officer smirks and chuckles.

"Well well well, talk about a complete change of look. New feathers sure look nice, but a new look doesn't pay for your crimes."

"Ugh, seriously?" Skipper grumbles.

X hums in spirit. "Let's see, I arrest you all, take you to jail for thievery, get my job back...What am I missing?"

He suddenly looks right at the boys. "Oh yeah—" And blows a punch right at the closest male of the pengmen, which is Skipper.

Skipper attempts to duck, but sadly, his reflexes as a human aren't fast enough, and he gets punched in the right-side of the face, hard. He stumbles back but Kowalski and Rico catch him with glares at X.

"Oh did that feel good! You don't know how long I wanted to do that," X laughs.

He takes a step forward to the helpless pengmen.

The men stand closer together.

"You... You can't arrest us." Private stutters. "If you take us anywhere, then... Then you're the criminal kidnapping us."

"Criminal to arrest the criminals? I don't think so." Thunder shakes the sky as X laughs again. He reaches out for them and—

A clementine hits X's head. Not a raindrop. A clementine.

The pengmen look at it with surprise.

X looks around surprised too, before shrugging. "Huh...Well—"

Another clementine hits him, making X growl while he turns around. "Who's throwing clementines?!" X barks.

And there stands Bridget, all drenched and wet from the pouring rain, merely a few feet away from them, holding out some clementines from X's lunch bag, glaring at the man.

The men look over with surprise.

X glares back. "You—"

Bridget growls, viciously. "Leave them alone."

"You're outnumbered X. Pretty sure the 5 of us could take you." Skipper smirks.

X narrows his eyes at the pengmen, and takes another step for—nope, there is another clementine.

"Ya take one more step and I'll give ya somethin worse." Bridget clenches her fist as her other hand goes to grab something from behind.

X growls and directs his target at the ginger.

Skipper squints as he watches X do this before dropping down and swiping his legs out from under him.

X falls to his knees. "That does it, I'm taking you all in,"

X comes at the boys, throwing a punch.

This time, Skipper's ready for it and dodges him, grabbing his arm in the process and using his momentum to flip him.

X growls and uses his legs to swing at Rico's, who then, like a domino effect, falls onto Skipper. He then takes Kowalski's legs and swings him right at the growing pile too.

Bridget starts to skate quickly.

Private gets into a defensive position as X goes straight for him.

But then from behind Bridget jumps over the pile, and swings her skates right at X with a high kick. X is knocked down, but before he can fight back, Bridget pins him down with her leg and aims a slingshot with batteries attached to it right at him. She huffs heavily, but her glare never leaves.

Meanwhile, the pile behind her is trying to disentangle themselves.

"Private, could ya get ta the others and keep them distance." The ginger motions to the last standing pengman, although her eyes are not taken off of X, and her aggressive demeanor doesn't fade, but her brogue voice is soft towards him.

Private does what she asks, quickly moving to the others.

X looks at the slingshot, confused. "A slingshot? Woman, do you really think THAT can hurt me?"

"No, I don't think an old slingshot can really hurt ya, especially since my target is too close ta actually gain some distance. The further away, the more it hurts."

But then, she pushes a button on it, and slowly a spark plug comes out from the frame. She puts a small metal ball into the pouch, the slingshot lights up with sparks and power. "But a slingshot charged with about 25.6 voltage per shot? Oh yeah, that'll hurtcha,"

X attempts to get up again, but Bridget keeps her foot firm on him, as her arms stretch back to aim at X.

"Shockin, ain't it?"

She shoots, and the two get electrified on the spot.

The pengmen wince as they watch, not daring to touch them while they were shocked.

When the electrical current between the two stops, X (twitching a bit) lays on the ground, groaning until he passes out. X is now taken care of.

Bridget on the other hand, falls back, her whole body jerking and shaking from how much voltage just went through her body, and the rain doesn't help. It feels like sparks are flying all over her head.

Kowalski gets a stick and uses it to bat the slingshot away from her hand.

Bridget clenches her hand once she is freed from the shock of the slingshot.

A few moments passes of her twitching and stringing, and then for a moment, she goes limp.

Skipper then picks her up over his shoulder. "Come on men, let's blow this popsicle stand." He looks at Kowalski. "You still got her address somewhere, right?"

"I do... But shouldn't she go to a hospital or—" Kowalski starts.

"Nah. Too many people."

For a moment, the ginger tries to protest, not wanting to be carried, and attempts to hit Skipper's back, but all that comes out of her is a very thick and jumpy Scottish jumble, differing a bit from her usually tame brogue.

And slowly more, her eyes drift off, her hits weak, and her body grows heavy.

"Look. You ain't in walking condition, lady. Deal with it." Skipper grumbles, carrying her.

Kowalski leads the way, using the GPS on his phone.

Bridget's eyes slowly close, letting out a defeated groan as she blacks out.