A/N: Time skip, summer will be referenced a bit but we're starting at the beginning of Private's seventh grade year. Skip and Kowalski are in tenth grade, Rico in eleventh. Longer note on bottom.
"Wow, Bone, you are either really bad at explaining or horrible at lying." Zander shook his head.
"I thought I could smooth things over once I explained it." Johnny mumbled.
"Explained what?" Skipper snapped, having grown impatient with the squabbles of two grown men. The boys stood with the two men in the underground base.
"We don't understand, Agent Zander." Kowalski said quickly, hoping to prevent Skipper from being berated or continuing to complain.
Rico and Private stayed quiet, but both exchanged glances of confusion and worry. The worry was mostly from Private. He thought the organization was in trouble for recruiting a kid at the age of twelve. From what he heard, high schoolers were allowed, the exception being Skipper's eldest brother who attended a meeting when he was in seventh grade. Chris had admitted he wasn't officially allowed to join until he was officially in high school.
Apparently Chris also forgot to tell them they weren't quite in the actual organization itself. Zander had called to request briefings from the rookie division. He became upset when Private had answered, the thirteen year old's voice gave him away as he had not entered puberty yet. That and Zander knew who the boy's uncle and father were and that Andrew had a kid who was too young to join them.
General Kent hadn't been available to attend the meeting, so she sent Ryan Zander who was also one of her top agents. He was an intimidating, strict, no nonsense man who reminded Kowalski all too much of his father. Kowalski kept his mouth shut when necessary, not knowing what the higher ups knew and not knowing what Zander might do. He felt it necessary to speak then, being more patient than Skipper.
"You're technically in the teen division." Johnny sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't want to crush your hopes. I should have told you earlier so you would have had a better excuse for your brother." He directed the last part at Kowalski.
"Why tell Private?" Kowalski asked. "And now what since there are some around us who know? Also, how did his dad who knows the rules even let this happen?"
"You three were old enough and Private happened to be there. I thought maybe I could bypass the rules, so I may have told Mr. Davis that Private would be a teen agent in training. I relied on the fact that he hadn't been an agent in years so he wasn't caught up with all the current rules." Johnny paused, thinking for a moment. "If you trust them with your lives, then we don't have to erase their memories. Besides Skipper and Private's families, how many know and who?"
"My brother, Kenneth." Kowalski said. "Also Rikki, Rico's sister. And three other friends of Private and Kenny's: Barry Wheeler, Ramona Belmonte, and Allison Carson."
"Carson?" Zander questioned.
"She's Private's age, sir." Kowalski said. "And we trust them fully." He thought he saw a different look pass Zander's face, was it doubt?
"Kent's going to give you an earful for this." Zander told Johnny. "Did she approve of the youngest once she dragged the truth from you?"
"Since he already knows and is involved, yes." Johnny replied. "But she is going to give me two earfuls..."
"What exactly does the teen division do? Why do you need one?" Kowalski asked.
"Well, Blowhole started 'recruiting' young. Actually, kidnapping kids and brainwashing them. Most were brainwashed, but there are those who willingly joined him. He wants to start here, he feels the everyday noise will disguise his activities. We wanted to counter him, so we asked teens who seemed passionate about protecting the world if they wanted to join. They are always free to say no, but we wanted to get mostly the kids of agents. We sent out agents to scope years ago, looking for potential recruits. We would wait until they're old enough to explain everything."
"Why did you wait a year for Rico?" Skipper asked, feeling it was a safe enough question. "He was a sophomore when you recruited us."
"The system isn't perfect, kid." Zander said.
"Since you three were here, I wanted to see if you'd be a team. Rico seemed to be a loner, so I wanted to keep him under observation longer. Then Nigel told me his nephew was planning to come to the same school where Agent Campbell is usually stationed and I thought everything was clicking into place." Johnny explained. "Randy wasn't exactly ecstatic when he heard what I did."
"Instead, you told the kid way too early and lied to Kent and Davis. You should have waited until he was at least entering high school." Zander huffed. "Campbell is too forgiving."
"Yeah." Johnny admitted. "He should have been angry when I wasn't there to help him after the attack. I let Agent Twelve walk into the school without even warning you that there could be one of Blowhole's...without even stationing someone else to help. I swear I didn't plan you being roommates, I didn't think that far ahead. I just decided to include you once I found out." He looked apologetically at Private.
"I don't blame you, sir." Private said. "I hope he can come back."
"He'll be back this year." Johnny reassured him.
"He's also way too accepting of your mistakes." Zander said. "Kent isn't going to let you off easy, but she really should throw the book at you. Probably literally."
"Yeah yeah, I know, she's already cooking up punishments."
"Maybe this isn't the worst thing you've done so you'll be fine because you're the favorite for some reason."
"What do you mean? I haven't messed up anywhere near as badly as this and it's not even that bad."
"Oh you've done worse, believe me. I was on the mission to Spain with you when Agent Twelve escaped. And I hear you let her escape again. Sarah was livid after Spain, I'm surprised she even kept you around. Again, you're the favorite, so all your screw ups are given a pat on the back and forgiven."
Johnny glared at him. "You have no right to throw my mistakes at me when you know very well you were-"
Kowalski coughed and the adults jumped, remembering the teens were there.
"Sirs, this seems like something we shouldn't be privy to." Skipper said. "May we be excused? We have school tomorrow."
The men nodded, avoiding eye contact with each other as they left. The boys made their way back to the apartment and sat silently in their living room for a while.
"It almost feels like we were living a lie." Kowalski said, breaking the silence.
"Not really, just living ignorantly." Skipper said.
"We weren't told everything, just given a vague notion. We didn't understand the severity of what we were dealing with. Kinda just treated it like a secondhand thing...how do we balance this and school?"
"By just doing our best. Private, I want you to have your friends meet us here after school, we need to explain that we need to act differently if we're going to do this right. We also need Rikki and Rocky."
"Okay." Private squeaked. Rico nodded.
"Any ideas on why Allie's name was questioned?"
"No. She really doesn't seem the type to be any sort of secret agent. She's just a regular girl. I don't know her parents that well, but I don't think they're agents either. I could ask if she knows them."
"Yeah, go ahead, doesn't seem to be any issues asking if she knows their names."
"On the bright side, I'm working in the office this year since Roy graduated." Kowalski said.
"Finally! A man on the inside and who won't nervously question everything I ask!" Skipper cheered.
"I'll do my best to make you proud, sir!" Kowalski saluted. The boys felt a little uplifted after that.
...
The school was noticeably different when the boys entered. It looked the same, but the atmosphere felt off, strange and alien. People were in tight groups and looking around nervously.
"Oh." Kowalski said. Obviously he had reached a conclusion as to why, but didn't or couldn't voice it to the others.
Private started noticing that his classmates were different too. Many weren't in his classes, but he assumed that was because of elective and class placements. Ramona did have a couple of AP classes and the girls had been in a different PE class last year.
He noticed in particular a girl who was somber and downcast the entire day. He hadn't been close to many other classmates, but Mr. Campbell's sixth grade math class had all gone through last year's events together. They all witnessed the attack on the school, waited with Mr. Campbell, not knowing if he would be alright. They'd all been through the whole Rhonda thing, and basically making their own version of the standing on the desks scene from Dead Poets Society (Marlene had explained it later for those who didn't get her reference).
"Megan?" Allie said as the five friends approached the somber girl at lunchtime. "Are you okay?"
"Did you notice?" The girl said in a hoarse voice. She looked like she'd been crying.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Notice what?" Barry asked.
Ramona suddenly gasped. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! I just realized...oh Megan, I'm so sorry." She threw her arms around Megan.
Kenny and Private looked at each other, sharing a look of thought and confusion. Then both said simultaneously. "Nicole."
Barry's eyes widened, he'd just realized the same thing. Although they couldn't read each other's minds, they seemed to be thinking along similar or the same lines. All day, they'd felt off, but chalked up not seeing all of last year's classmates to them just having different classes. They knew about Nicole, but they realized they'd only seen a few of their classmates from their sixth grade math class.
"Who's still here from math?" Allie asked, trying not to cry.
"You five, me, Marvin, Danielle, Frank, Bailey, and Lin. I still have the chat room open..."
"Have any of us looked at it all summer?" Private asked. The rest of PARK B looked at each other sheepishly.
"Did they leave because of the attack? I thought Raj was staying with your family." Barry said.
Megan burst into tears, holding Ramona tighter. The older girl patted her back. Barry blushed.
"Sorry..." He mumbled.
Megan shook her head. "N-not y-your...you're f-fine..." She took several deep breaths and shakily continued. "H-his older brother was f-found d-dead... they don't know who did it." She held back a wave of tears. "H-he has siblings... his mom wanted...wanted him closer. Then last week... his dad disappeared." She started crying again, Ramona's hand never left the girl's back, rubbing her consolingly.
Private's heart was pounding. Rhonda had some sort of vendetta against Raj, did she-? Was it possible she somehow found out where he lived and just did this? Why hadn't he thought of checking in with his classmates? Guilt tore through him.
"Everyone else's parents took them out?" Barry asked.
Megan nodded.
"Do the other five still want to be friends with us?" Kenny asked, his face pale.
Megan nodded again.
As if on cue, Frank came over wearing a palm tree shirt. Marvin and Lin trailed behind him.
"Hey guys!" He said. His face fell when he saw their downcast faces and Ramona and Allie's tearful ones. "Oh...you heard... None of us blame you. After what went down with Kowalski, we figured you all needed time to yourselves."
"Yeah." Marvin and Lin said.
"I feel responsible." Private said. "I just...I feel like I could have done more for you guys."
"Nah, you did what you could." Lin said. "You all helped us defend Mr. Campbell and the class, banded us together to kick that horrible lady out, and arranged for everyone to study together."
"Dude, you're not responsible for what crazy people do. You're not the one who broke into Nicole's house or flew across the world to mess with Raj's family." Marvin said. His voice had wavered at the end.
"I'd find it hard to believe you could do that when you spent so long trying to help out your friends." Frank said, nodding towards Kenny. "You did amazing things and you guys deserved a break. If we could sorta be part of this friend group, we'd love to help out. We all have a bond and I feel that making sure we're united as friends makes us stronger. We don't know who they were or what they wanted, but they could come back. We want to prevent another Rhonda and protect ourselves and our classmates."
"Yeah, that's an idea!" Barry said happily. "Sorta like self defense classes."
"We'll have to see what Ms Petrie says. She's the new principal." Allie said. "I'll ask her after school."
Frank nodded and the three of them plus Megan went to find the other two to tell them.
"The Penguins want to chat after school." Private said. "It can be after your chat, but there are things we have to discuss."
The other four nodded as the bell rang. They headed off to classes.
...
After Allie's chat with the principal who was enthusiastic about the idea, but wanted to find someone willing to supervise first, the five seventh graders along with Rocky and Rikki were gathered in the living room of apartment 4P.
"So, we've learned some things about this organization that we can't really tell you and some that we can. We weren't completely aware of our situation and kinda just treated it as a secondhand thing." Skipper said. "In order to take this seriously, we have to be a team. This means we have to restrict all of our after school friend hangouts somewhat. All of us, not just Private." He added, seeing Barry's look of protest.
Private explained to the older teens about what happened at lunch and that the other kids didn't know and wouldn't know anything, just that they wanted to be able to defend themselves better.
The older teens thought it was a good idea and that PARK B should lead this, but without Private. The younger teens weren't too happy about it, but agreed for the sake of safety. Rocky and Rikki had been quiet during this, but both agreed that maintaining safe social distance was a good idea.
Allie was asked if she knew any adults named Ryan and Johnny, she said not that she knew of. Her parents had a dentist named John but he'd passed away years ago.
Once Rikki and Private's friends had left, Rocky told The Penguins that her brothers were all out on missions.
"How's your nephew adjusting?" Private asked, referring to the adopted son of the eldest Sorenson.
"Chris and Victoria are still getting used to being parents." Rocky said. "Cameron is a handful, but he loves dancing and he can be really sweet when he's not getting up to mischief." She showed them a couple of pictures of the curly haired, freckled five year old.
Chris had found him while on a mission in Detroit and after much investigation, concluded that the child was definitely up for adoption and brought him home. He still had paperwork to complete and visits by CPS, but the family absolutely loved the kid. The Penguins and Park B except for Rico and Private had met Cameron in person. Barry called it unlucky that they missed him teaching Cameron amazing pranks, everyone else said it was the exact opposite.
...
As the week went on, the boys noticed that Private's class wasn't the only one whose number went down, a lot of old students were gone and not just last year's seniors. Leonard was gone, leaving Kenny and Barry with just Izzy as a roommate.
They also learned that Barry has a new foster sister named Tammy who was loud and hyper, giving Mort a run for his money. Mort didn't seem to mind as he didn't complain about her, Eggy Belmonte definitely complained about both of them. Tammy was on the second floor so at least they wouldn't run into her too much.
The worst news yet in Skipper's opinion is that Maurice graduated. Sure, the guy was doing online classes and working at a sub shop so he could be close enough to the child he had guardianship over. The bad part being he wasn't here to consistently rein Mort and Julien in.
Which in turn meant Julien had a new 'serious friend' and he deemed it to be Skipper, citing what happened in the past was the past and things should be all right now.
Rico disagreed. He still hadn't received a proper apology from a lot of people, including Julien. His classmates, mostly the girls, were fawning over a new history teacher who knew Rico and suddenly the class was acting like they'd been chums for years.
They went to the underground base mainly to avoid Julien and Mort.
"Eh, we don't have time to worry about them." Skipper said. "Anyone notice how weird Hans has been? He should be happy to get away with planting a spy bug. I'm willing to bet he's working with Blowhole."
"He spends all his time with his roommate." Kowalski reported. "You don't suppose they're friends enough to talk about Denmark?"
"No. If there's one thing I trust him with, it's not spilling about that." Skipper didn't miss the look of dejection on Private's face. "Do we know anything about the roommate?"
"Name's Savio Gujic, a transfer from New Jersey. He's a B average student and he requested his own transfer from his old school in Hoboken."
"Do we know why?"
"No, but it's odd how fast they became friends."
"Do we recognize him?" Private asked. "I don't remember if I have."
"Nah, I've heard him talk, his voice isn't unusual or anything I heard in a high stakes situation." Skipper said.
"Do you think they're dating?"
"Hans is straight."
"Oh."
"That's not what the fight was about either." Skipper said. "I know that's what you were thinking, also, we were ten. I had no romantic inclination towards anyone at that age. Can't speak for him because the whole thing where he kissed Rocky was weird, but I don't think he did either."
"Hypothetically speaking, Skipper, would we be dating in our current occupations?" Kowalski asked.
"I guess, just don't blab."
"Duly noted. Also hypothetically speaking, Would it matter who we dated?"
"No but if you say Julien or Hans, I'm strongly considering sending you to a therapist."
"So any of us can date anyone?"
"I'm your leader, not your controller. Kowalski, the strings have been cut. You're free from previous restraint. You don't have to worry about him anymore."
Rico nodded in agreement. Kowalski turned pink and mumbled something.
"You and your brother didn't deserve the hand you were dealt in life, you have a new hand now and what you choose to do with it is up to you."
"I am...well...I cannot say for certain if my feelings are true or not, so I'm opting not to say them. I just wanted to test the waters with acceptance."
"Of course we accept you." Private said with a smile. He hugged Kowalski.
Kowalski didn't quite know how to respond. He made eye contact with the boys again to confirm what Private had said. Then he went to the lab.
Rico and Private went back to testing mini smoke bombs and Skipper was looking up student files.
The leader had noticed Kowalski's eyes lingered on Rico for a moment longer than the other two. What that meant, he didn't know. It wasn't his place to even ask Rico what he thought. Though, Rico really didn't seem the one for romance, only having taken Marlene out to an unsuccessful dance when she had been ditched.
...
Rico's history teacher had volunteered to supervise the self defense lessons to the thirty students who signed up. The Penguins were surprised at the amount of students who showed up in the gym after school. Mr. Campbell had also come in to check on them.
"My new bestie is here so I decided the kingly thing to do would be to make a royal appearance." Julien said. "What is this like an anonymoose meeting?"
"It's anonymous, no, and be quiet." Skipper ordered. "The seventh graders may be in charge, but we're in charge of making sure they're able to teach efficiently. Go on, Barry."
Barry laughed nervously. "Alright, what a turnout. So we're going to try to meet weekly and we may have to change rooms depending on availability but there will always be room changes announced in the mornings and a flyer by the front office. Um, So I'm going to have some volunteers."
Kowalski and Rico demonstrated the basics while Barry, aided by Skipper, explained. Private also joined when they simulated different situations. The rest of the class followed by practicing the basic moves. Towards the end of the class, Skipper explained they'd be separated by difficulty level with Barry and Skipper being the highest and Private and Kenny leading the lowest level.
Julien tried to be in Skipper's group, but was told he had noodle arms and a fickle attitude so he was placed in the lowest level.
"Remember, we won't always be here but these four will tell us if there are any interruptions, got it?" Skipper glared at Julien who laughed nervously. "Alright, Kowalski, Rico, and Private will stay with me to clean up for today."
The class chattered happily as they filed out. Only the four boys were left putting away mats with their supervising teacher.
"Um, sir?" Both the teacher and Skipper looked at Kowalski.
"I meant, um, I don't know your name Mr..."
"Oh, Harrison."
"Mr. Harrison, I noticed you were shocked to see me and my brother. I'll cut right to it, are you our cousin?"
"I think so. My name is Jeffery and I don't suppose a kid name Kowalski's got too many cousins with that name?"
Kowalski couldn't find the words to respond.
"He doesn't. His brother's name is Kenny. Have you known they were here very long?" Skipper asked.
"No, I only found out because Rico emailed me. It was too much of a coincidence to be anyone else." Mr. Harrison said. "I'm your cousin. Talia Harrison's son. I hadn't been around the Blue family in a while because I thought I caught a lead and it led me nowhere. How...how did you even end up here?"
"I had to get us away." Kowalski's hushed voice said.
"I wish I'd found you two sooner. I'd gotten a call that said you guys were here and I was hoping to at least see you. You don't still live with...him...do you?"
"No, they live with me." Skipper said. "How we got to that is a long story and we have homework. Can we meet after school in your classroom on Monday?"
"Sure."
Kowalski was at a loss for words again. Kenny was also unable to respond right away once he was told.
...
Kenny joined the boys on Monday, opting to stick right behind his brother. The brothers had been talking all weekend with each other and the other three boys, voicing all the concerns they had.
"Hope you don't mind, Mr. Harrison, they said they felt more comfortable with their friends in the room." Skipper said.
"I don't mind at all. Please call me Jeffery, it's after school." The man smiled at the boys.
Rico and Private decided to take a backseat in this conversation, playing hangman on the board as quietly as they could. Skipper looked at Kowalski, silently asking if he should speak. Kowalski took a deep breath and shook his head.
"I'll be honest, Jeffery, we've always had our own way of surviving and have only gone the summer without our father. There are still hard habits to shake and things that make us hesitant on a daily basis. One of those issues being living with a grown man. Granted, we lived with Skipper but his brothers don't really live there and they go about their own business when they visit. Having George Sorenson as a father figure has had ups and downs, the downs being mainly our traumatic past. Again, it's only been a summer, so I don't expect everything to be perfect right away. Point being, we've had this idea of you existing but we're unsure of your character."
"I understand. I want you to know I really tried to find you guys once I was an adult."
"We know and we don't blame you for any of it." Kowalski said. "You couldn't have done much once our mom died, you were still a minor. If I remember correctly, yours and Rico's mothers had died a couple years previously, so you must have still been in shock when it happened."
"It was pretty tough. Aunt Maria offered to take me in, but I told her I'd be okay and that a friend's parents offered. I wanted to stay close to Uncle Rex and help him out. It's one of the things I regret."
"Why? You were fifteen when he took us. For all we know, Ralph could have hurt you or dragged you into this mess. You were old enough to understand that the situation you would have been in was abusive but too young to do much about it. We were ignored when we tried to report it. Who knows what would have happened to you. I don't get the impression that Mom begged you to be with family."
"No, I knew there were problems because my mom talked with Stella a lot, and I overheard some conversations. Aunt Maria didn't really sound like it was a serious proposal, but me being a young teen, she didn't want to burden me with marital issues. I know that if she had gotten away from him with you two or if their relationship was stable, she would have absolutely insisted on me staying with them. She did love you two."
Kenny sniffled but said nothing.
"She left two letters for us." Kowalski said. "We read them when we were in the hospital."
"You guys were in the hospital? What happened?"
"Kenny was visiting me. I got beat up pretty bad. That's what I meant by I got us out of there."
Kowalski told the story, aided by Skipper.
"Rico, that's not a real word!" Private said. He looked over. "Sorry."
"Anything can be a real word if you believe." Kenny said softly.
"So says Barry." Private answered.
"I heard there was an incident last year at the school in your classroom, Kenny, are you alright?" Jeffery asked.
Kenny nodded, shrinking behind his brother.
"I don't bite."
"I bite." Rico said.
"Sure you do, kid." Jeffery laughed.
"It was just a nasty substitute teacher when their actual teacher was on leave because of an injury. None of the kids were hurt." Kowalski said.
"That's a relief."
"I wonder though, would you be looking to gain guardianship over us?"
Jeffery blinked. "Well, I think the law does qualify me as next of kin. So legally, I may be required to be, but I won't make you move if you don't want. You seem comfortable at your friend's house."
"My parents are cool with them living with us." Skipper said.
"You mentioned being uncertain of living with an adult man. I don't take offense, I just want you guys to be comfortable in your living situation."
"We are, but I don't think we get to decide. The law does." Kowalski said. "We currently live in the Central High Apartments. Students can live there until we graduate. Where do you live?"
"Currently I have an apartment nearby. They allow kids but no pets. I might look into one that allows pets, I've always wanted a cat but I'm cool with dogs unless you're allergic."
"I don't think we have allergies. I mean, my sinuses don't appreciate increased pollen in the spring, but we haven't encountered anything else that would cause allergies."
"So, what do you get up to these days?"
"Still really into science." Kowalski said.
"How about you, Kenny?"
Kenny didn't respond. Kowalski turned to look at him.
"I assume you aren't into shoving every non food object into your mouth anymore."
Kenny looked confused.
"You were about one year old the last time I saw you."
"Maybe not everything, but he does like pancakes." Private supplied.
"With whipped cream." Kenny said with a small smile. He turned to Jeffery who had an amused expression. "Sorry."
"No worries, kiddo, I'm glad you at least said a word to me."
"I like video games."
"Oh cool, what's your favorite?"
"Um…Smash?"
"Nice, I also like that game. You know there's no right or wrong answer to that? You can like any game even if other people might not."
Kenny nodded.
"It's getting a bit late and I'm sure you guys have homework. Rico has my email if you want to chat more."
"Thank you." Kowalski said.
The five of them walked to the apartments. Rico, Skipper, and Private walked ahead and chatted while the brothers walked behind them silently.
Once they got to the building, Kowalski told them he'd have a chat with Kenny and he'd meet up with the boys later. The other three nodded and headed to the park. Kenny was curious, but knew better than to ask.
"Seven-Four?" Kenny asked solemnly.
Kowalski was startled. "No. No more running."
"Really?"
"Really. Skipper told me 'the strings have been cut'. We're free from the man who calls himself our father."
"Do we trust Jeffery?"
"I don't know yet, we just met him. He seems nice, but no running or disappearing."
"Okay. What do I say if anyone asks where you are?"
"In the park or in our room not to be disturbed."
"Got it. Well, I have homework."
The brothers parted. Kowalski headed to the base. As soon as he was in, a nasty smell assaulted his nose.
"I think that's an effective stink bomb." Skipper said, handing Kowalski a gas mask. Private was passed out on a chair while Rico was trying to air out the smell.
"I don't understand how that happened in the time space of ten minutes." Kowalski said. "I wasn't that slow."
"He wasn't supposed to set it off yet. He needs to work on the timing. Private will be fine. I was thinking we could eventually use a bigger space for our operations. Mainly more than one separate room if you guys are going to be experimenting."
"You know you'd experiment too."
Skipper nodded in agreement. "How do we do that though? We're all minors and we live in New York, not exactly a cheap housing market. I'm not even going to pretend your old house is an option."
"A house that I have no idea where it is and haven't lived in for over a decade…probably not an option. We can ask if they can do something with a house. An adult could technically own it until at least Rico's of age."
Rico turned around, with a vaguely seen surprised expression.
"I mean, you really have about a year to go, right?"
"About." Rico said.
"I feel bad talking about all these plans with the poor kid passed out like that." Skipper indicated Private.
"We could contact Kent or Bone to gauge where we're at and at least maybe start the process of getting a house if there is one. I'm sure Private wouldn't mind, especially after this." Kowalski said.
"Go ahead. I think we'll wrap up operations for today. If anyone asks, Private wasn't drinking enough water and fainted."
Rico and Skipper took Private out of the base while Kowalski wrote and sent the email. Private was starting to come around once they entered the lobby to the apartments. He didn't ask any questions until they got to their room. He did like the idea of having a house so they could do their work in their own space and he would be less likely to be the unintended victim of Rico's often explosive experiments.
A/N Probably a little bit of a rough start jumping back into this.
Has it really been six years? Really? Well, I'll say what I basically recently put in my profile, which, I don't blame you if you didn't see it because I didn't update that in two years either… I really had no drive to write. There was time, just no motivation. I don't like that I didn't update in six years and I'm really sorry about that. I have an ideas doc and I'm working on it now. I have no idea who would still be around to see my old stories and I feel bad that I let you down. I have a vain hope that at least a few people still are interested in the Penguins of Madagascar and in my story. I haven't stopped writing completely, I did write a little of a couple different fandoms but WATP has been in the back of my mind. I didn't forget it. I literally had a document called WATP, it's kinda hard to miss.
I plan to somehow include Josie and Mikayla from Camaraderie in the story, I just have to make up different backstories since they're coming in as teenagers. Some characters will be Camaraderie or WATP only, like Kowalski's childhood friend Emma, I didn't write her into WATP and we already went through his story so she won't be in this as the same character. Same with Koru, I feel he's too much of a wild card to put into human form. Probably no Nora. Debating on if I'd have the kids in the story too. I really didn't have much development planned for Maya, Tyson, and Briana beyond the ending and Maya was five. The kids would be later though.
I'm really REALLY sorry for years of nothingness. Please let me know if you need character reintroduction in story or in notes, I'm trying to pull back the OCs and minor characters a bit.
I wrote this on the iPad word app which for some reason isn't giving me grammar and punctuation check, just underlines the spelling 'errors'. I sent it to my old laptop to check which can't connect to FF Net so this is being sent from the iPad with manual corrections. I get my MacBook back next month, it had issues. If there's anything that stands out that's super wrong, let me know. I opted to ignore putting a semicolon in multiple places.