A note from the author:
To all my readers, please stay safe during these hard times! Enjoy an extra chapter on me and let's hope the world will get better.
Even though Kowalski had been gone for most of the previous day, Skipper still let him go out with Doris. He knew just how much Doris meant to him and especially didn't want his brooding if he was told he was not allowed to go. So Kowalski was content and on his way, hiding in the subway.
He had managed to grab some organic carbon just like Blowhole had asked. Again, he knew it was just a mind trick and refused to let this deter his mind away from Doris. He was going to see Doris and have a good date tonight.
He reached his stop, hopped off the train and waddled down the empty platform. He started to get feelings of association, from the times he had gotten off the train to see Blowhole and his mind nearly drifted to thinking of Blowhole before he stopped it and thought of Doris. This was Doris day. Even when Blowhole reared his face to take the organic carbon, Kowalski was going to avoid looking at him and wait for Doris.
He set himself down on the lowest part of the dock. A slipway, a road that slowly inclines and drives into the ocean, where small boats would be trailor driven into the water. He sat at the very bottom, where the water gently lapped against the concrete.
After a few minutes of sitting there, he noticed a spurt of water in the short distance, then every so often a dorsal fin would rise out of the water. Kowalski began to fear it was Doris, early, since their date wasn't due to start for half an hour more. But as the creature drew closer, Kowalski could make out the skin colour and it certainly was not Doris.
The dolphin surfaced and that's when Kowalski sighed in disconcertment. It was Blowhole and it looked like he had come from the open ocean. Perhaps he had been to visit Doris and advise her to break up with Kowalski.
"You got my stuff, bird?" Blowhole asked as he pulled himself up the slipway to Kowalski.
Kowalski sighed, didn't say a word and held out a small airtight container. The dolphin grabbed it, satisfied and began to push himself back into the water.
"Doris will be on her way. I made sure she didn't forget just like you did," Blowhole chuckled.
Kowalski bit back a retort and just looked ahead to the open ocean. Blowhole soon got the message and leapt back into the water, disappearing under the waves and into the murky torrent below.
Kowalski was grateful that exchange didn't last more than it had to and he could focus now on Doris. Sweet Doris.
Meanwhile, Blowhole kept on his way home. Winding his way through masses of kelp and the occasional piece of human trash. Stupid humans and their trash.
He sighed on the inside as he swam through a discreet pipe that just looked like an ordinary waste pipe. More stupid human ideas with dumping waste in the ocean. Except this wasn't a waste pipe anymore, it was an entrance to his secret facility. A lair, one might call it. Dr. Blowhole would certainly call it that.
He surfaced on the inside of a room filled with water and a ledge which lead to a door. His Segway was also parked against the wall just where he had left it when he had left earlier that day. He dragged himself out of the water and up onto his segway where he took a deep breath and sighed, ready for whatever hectic state his lobsters had the place in.
He opened the door and didn't even ride forward before he gasped in surprise upon seeing a scowling face. It was Red One. He didn't look happy.
"Where have you been, Doc?!" He exclaimed.
Blowhole just rolled his eye and pointed inward at the room behind him.
"You have 2 eyes, Red. Use them."
The lobster sighed and let his claws drop to the floor in defeat.
"Alright, I'll rephrase. Why did you abandon your work and leave without telling me?"
"I wanted a break," Blowhole huffed as he rode straight past the lobster.
"A 4 hour break? The working day is over."
Blowhole suddenly turned around and stared the lobster in the eyes with a sarcastic smirk.
"If the working day is over then why are you talking of work to me?"
"Because thanks to you we're behind schedule again."
"Ah!" Blowhole said lifting a flipper to shush the lobster. "We're on my private time. No work talk."
The lobster suddenly returned Blowhole's sarcastic smirk and started to scuttle over to the elevator.
"Whatever you say, Francis."
The little lobster bearly had a chance to turn around before the dolphin lunged down and grabbed the lobster by his armoured tail, lifting him in the air and dangling him upside down.
Blowhole tried to look as menacing as he could, that signature scowl on his face as he growled at the lobster.
"I think you forget often, that I am predator and you are prey. Watch your words, Red."
The lobster looked shell shocked all for a second before he relaxed and bit back a chuckle.
"We're off duty. You're not Dr. Blowhole anymore, Francis."
Blowhole didn't flinch or even move a muscle as he released his hold on the lobster, letting him fall to the ground. He had no remorse either, lobsters were hard and tough and a little fall would put no edge on him.
The lobster took his time to pick himself up after he sighed in contemplation on the floor. It wasn't fair, the way all of the lobsters were treated but at the same time he found no use in complaining. Blowhole was cruel for the show of it but treated his lobsters well behind closed doors.
"I should've hired dolphins instead of lobsters," Blowhole mumbled as he opened the door to his office.
Red One had to physically laugh at that one. He didn't usually laugh or joke about anything but the statement just made was nothing but a joke.
"A whole lair of dolphins like you? Nothing would get done! You'd all think about starting work and then take a 'break' for the rest of your lives."
Blowhole turned around yet again with a less than pleased look on his face. The insults would keep coming and he would keep firing them back before the conflict wasn't solved at all and they went their separate ways to have the same arguments day after day.
"Red, please, I'm tired."
The lobster dramatically sighed and scuttled over to the office door as Blowhole let himself in and sat himself in his chair, booting up the computer.
"You're tired? I'm tired, Doc. Try to think of what position you put me in when you go against your own word."
Blowhole sighed and rested his chin on his flipper as he slouched over his desk. He knew what strain he put on his workers but he thought since he was the head of operations that he didn't care and didn't need to worry. His workers would pick up the slack and that would be that.
"You've still got 5 more rounds of testing for the virus before you can start the transmission development," the lobster said.
Blowhole just yawned as he opened his web browser.
"And that won't take long either," he replied.
Red half lidded his eyes and shook his head.
"Those 5 rounds were meant to be done last week," Red said in a monotone pitch.
Blowhole didn't reply this time. Instead he just let his flippers fall onto the desk in a sigh of defeat. Testing the same thing over and over was indeed necessary but it was so incredibly boring, especially when you had to do it by yourself. Hours of work and silence when you could be chasing your sister through the kelp thickets and actually enjoying life. Sometimes he wished he could be a lobster, their brains seemed to be a lot less enthusiasm based, more serious than a dolphins joyful mind.
Blowhole didn't really have any friends that understood what he did either. He had spies that were great at their jobs but the qualities when looking for a spy opposed to a friend were very different. He remembered back to the time he had enlisted the help of Hans the puffin, one of Skippers old enemies. He got the job done and did it well but was such a pain in the neck to put up with afterwards. He couldn't have his sister keep him company either, that would just be pure anarchy.
"Can I have Kowalski help me?" Blowhole asked.
Red just stared in a dreaded way.
"You know how I feel about Kowalski."
"Yes, but he's just as sufficient as me. You didn't see when we created those hover boots. Designed and completed in a day."
The lobster had long given up the fight and turned to the door, finally leaving for the last time. It seemed that Kowalski was as much as distraction as he could be of service.
"Get your work done. I don't care how anymore but if it's not done within the next 2 days then I'm going to riot."
Blowhole chuckled and imagined Red running through the lair in his 'riot'. It would have been more entertaining than concerning. But at least this squabble was over, for now at least. Blowhole could have a relaxing evening without worrying about working or more lobsters interrupting and dampening his mood more than it had to be.
He was a little thrown off by the cold way Kowalski had treated him 5 minutes ago but tried to think nothing of it. The bird was annoyed with Blowhole, just how Blowhole had wanted him to be, right? Blowhole quickly shook his head before he could think anything more about the matter. Yes, they had had fun before and yes, they had related to each other in a brief moment of weakness but there was nothing blurring the line between them that said they were bitter enemies. But keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?