Rico was discharged the next day after being looked over by the vet. He heard them say that it was going to be put down in his record as another seizure, and that they wanted to keep him under strict observation in his enclosure. They placed him back into his habitat, and Private greeted him with a big fish that he'd saved just for him. Rico grinned and swallowed it, tilting back his head to help its passage into his stomach.

"Do they do that in the wild?" Private asked.

Rico looked at him then nodded. Skipper and Kowalski were down below, trying to increase their knowledge about Blowhole's whereabouts. Rico glanced at the entrance to their base then sighed. His limbs were a bit stiff, and he stretched, relishing the pops of his joints.

"Ask if we can take a walk to get sno-cones. We'll bring them back some, too."

Private smiled, poking his head down to ask. Rico was hoping that Skipper would be so distracted that he would agree without thinking about him being alone with Private. Their commander didn't even pause, and Rico heard his response.

"Go ahead. We'll take a break when you get back. Make sure Rico doesn't do too much."

"Okay!"

Private stood and they hopped the fence, strolling through the zoo. Rico could feel the eyes of the other animals on him, but he ignored them. In his experience, it was rare for a zoo animal to have a seizure, and he'd never had one at this zoo before. They were probably worried and curious, but none of them said a word. Private began to whistle, smiling and waving at everybody. Julien stood and was about to hop over, but Maurice grabbed him, shaking his head. It spoke volumes that the king stopped then lowered himself back into his throne.

Marlene was the only one who said something. She dove into the water then launched herself onto the fence. Private paused, smiling at her. She hung onto the fence with one paw and tugged at her whiskers with the other. Rico waved, and the otter blinked at him.

"Are you…okay?" Rico gave a curt nod, so she continued. "Are you sick?"

"A little. I have seizures."

Private repeated what Rico had said, and Marlene shivered. "I've heard of those. I've never seen one. It looked…bad."

"I don't remember most of it. My brain gets fuzzy, and my memory goes away."

"So you're okay now?"

Rico smiled and nodded again, and Marlene smiled back. "Good. Where are you going?"

"Sno-cones," Private said. "Want one?"

"Nah. I'm going to go after some popcorn."

"Okay. See you in a few."

Rico and Private hopped the wall. They sat on top for a moment, taking in the view of the park. Birds were flitting from tree to tree, twittering at each other about their lives. The grass was plush and green, well-tended by the gardeners tasked to take care of the park. The leaves on the trees rustled gently in the breeze, which whispered around the two penguins on the wall, cooling them from the unnatural heat of the sun that burned over New York. Clouds were moving in from the east, and Rico sniffed before dropping down to the grass.

"It's going to rain tomorrow."

"How do you know?"

Rico gave him a sidelong glance. "Smell the air. Use your instincts and senses. Ask any animal here in the park. They'll tell you it's going to rain, too."

Private considered this, lifting his beak to inhale the air. All he smelled was car exhaust and hot dogs from a vendor down the way. He shook his head, looking back to Rico.

"I can't smell it."

Rico sighed. "I know Skipper and Kowalski have raised you as well as they knew how, but they can't teach you what they don't know."

"What don't they know?"

"A lot."

They walked for a few minutes, pausing under the shade of a tree. Rico's breathing was heavier than it should have been, and Private forced him to sit down and rest. Heaving up a bottle of water and a bowl, Rico handed them to Private, and the younger penguin filled the bowl. They both took a long draught, and Private watched to see if Rico would tilt his head back. He did, and Private wanted to try it, so he took another mouthful and tilted his head back.

The water flooded down his throat, startling him by how fast it was. Gasping in shock, he sent water spraying into his lungs, and he doubled over with a coughing fit. Rico slammed his flipper against his back a couple times, and Private finally sucked in a breath, rubbing his sore chest. Rico had a knowing smirk on his face, and Private felt his face warm.

"Sorry."

"Not your fault," Rico said. "You're not used to following your instincts. Living amongst the humans tends to dull instincts in animals. I should know. I haven't gotten to fish myself in a few months. I'm out of practice."

"But the humans give us all we need," Private rasped.

"But what happens if you're in the wild? What happens if there are no humans around to feed you? Our team goes everywhere, Private. How do you think we survive if we're stuck somewhere and the food rations are used up?" Rico leaned back, looking up at the sky through the branches of the tree.

"I don't know," he admitted.

Rico nodded. "I fish for us. I hunt if I have to. Skipper and Kowalski have choked down rats and squirrels a few times, but they couldn't catch them. I did. I'm not just a living container. I have skills that you and Skipper and Kowalski don't have, skills that I learned in Antarctica." He paused, stroking his scar before turning his intense gaze on Private. "Any chick after hatchlinghood could do things that you three, and a lot of animals in captivity, couldn't do. It hurts to see you so…"

Rico trailed off, turning his face away as his jaw tensed. Private watched him, tilting his head. The temperature began to drop as the clouds covered the sun. They sat there for several minutes before the younger penguin spoke.

"Lita and Pol."

Rico glanced at him but didn't shy away. "What about them?"

"That was part of what I saw while you were having your seizure. I got the whole memory later." He watched Rico stare at the sky, his gaze even more severe than before. The youngest of the team hesitated before asking the question he had asked every day as a child, the question that neither Skipper nor Kowalski had ever answered. "What happened to my parents?"

Rico rubbed his scar again. "They were murdered."

Even after seeing their bodies, it still hurt. Private grimaced, tears bubbling up from deep inside. He hadn't been sure that they were dead before that moment, but now that he knew, the pain poured from his soul. Rico sat there, staring at the sky as Private sobbed to himself. The older penguin didn't hug him or pet him, as Skipper and Kowalski would have. He just sat there and let him cry, let the agony pour from the depths of his grief.

After half an hour, there were no tears left inside of the boy, and he took a deep, shaky breath and let it out. The clenching sensation that had gripped his heart had loosened in the flood of tears, and he felt a little lighter, but there was still a dark wound deep inside. When he asked his next question, he heard something in his voice that terrified him and excited him at the same time.

"Who did it?"

Rico finally looked at him, an unfathomable look in his eyes. He looked at Private so sharply, so intently that it was almost like he was looking through him.

"Private," Rico said.

"Rico," Private retorted, that same note hovering in his steady voice.

They stared at each other, neither of them blinking or looking away. Rico wasn't answering him, and the younger penguin scowled. It took so much for him to get irritated, and he rarely felt angry, but right now he felt something that made his face hot and his heart pound. Something inside of him woke up, shaking its head and roaring. Before he knew what he was doing, he lunged forward with a screech that echoed across the park, silencing all of the animals.

Just as quickly as he went forward, he was thrown back with such force that the breath left his lungs. He hit the dirt, something incredibly sharp pressing into the soft flesh of his belly. Another noise left him, this one a whine, and he froze when he looked up into Rico's eyes. If they had been intense before, now they were full of a dark power as they gazed down at him. Rico didn't look angry as he held his sharp-clawed foot against Private's belly. In fact, he looked disapproving.

Private tried to stammer an apology, his throat dry with fear, but before he could get out more than one word, the ground beneath them seemed to heave as a deafening bang! sounded out from the zoo. Rico and Private both looked up, startled. Rico stepped back and heaved the younger penguin to his feet.

"We'll talk about this later," Rico snapped then turned and leaped onto his belly, sliding toward the zoo.

Private followed, his heart now pounding for an entirely different reason. He began to tell himself that it was just Kowalski, that he had misjudged an experiment, that everything was going to be okay. But when Rico leaped to the top of the wall, he growled, a deep, guttural noise that set the new thing inside of Private on high alert. He bounced off a tree then heaved himself onto the wall. The air left his lungs again, and he stared at the chaos before him.

The explosion had come from their base, but it wasn't okay. Not at all. The rest of the animals were panicking, and the zookeepers were nowhere to be seen. Rico jumped down and slid for the base. Private trailed after him. Instead of looking at Rico, the animals were all looking at him, fear plain in their faces. When he finally got to the base, Marlene and Maurice were standing by the wreckage with Rico.

"And Skipper was screaming!" Marlene shouted, her eyes wide, her whiskers twitching. "He was swearing and screaming and fighting somebody, but the smoke was too thick! We couldn't see anybody! We tried to go in and help, but somebody blindsided us!"

"You're bleeding," Rico said, not looking at her. Private looked over to see that she had three slashes in her side that were oozing blood onto the ground.

"Where's Skipper?" Private asked, his voice back to normal.

Maurice and Marlene looked at him, breathing heavily. It was Rico who dove into the habitat, swam over, and jumped into the hole. Private followed with the other two, the rest of the zoo animals all staring, waiting for the verdict. Rico walked slowly across what had been their base, his sharp eyes sweeping the floor. Private looked down, noticing streaks in the dust, gouges in their rug.

"Somebody got to them before it blew up," Maurice said quietly, his eyes just as intent as Rico's. He followed the penguin. "The explosion happened after I dragged Marlene out of there."

Rico spoke in broken English, the syllables grating out of his throat. "Di-ver-sion."

Maurice nodded, sniffing the air. "They're definitely not dead, and they're definitely not here."

"Blood," Rico said, sweeping aside a part of their table and pointing. Maurice leaned down and inhaled, his pupils dilating. "That doesn't smell like just blood."

Rico leaned down and drew in a long breath, his own eyes dilating. He snarled and spun around.

"Drug."

"What drug? Like what the vet uses?" Marlene asked tightly.

"Yes. And no."

Rico rubbed his scar, wincing. Private stared at him, afraid to ask, afraid of the answer.

"What happened?"

There was a long pause, and Rico turned to glare at Private. "Blow-hole."