As the Penguins take the rest of the way on foot, a sinister conversation is taking place in an undisclosed location. A massive, underwater vessel slowly glides its way through the deep depths of the ocean. Inside the ship is a dingy control room with dim chartreuse lighting overhead. On one side of the open room is a large, intricate control panel with buttons, dials, and knobs of varying sizes. Above this board, hanging on the wall, is a collage of video screens. Each of the functioning screens depicts a moment from the Penguins' lives. While one shows them performing at the Central Park Zoo, another depicts them in their ringleader attire, coordinating the circus. An adjacent wall is completely covered in photographs of the Penguins throughout every stage of their lives.
Sitting in front of this unsettling display is none other than Shawl. He stares up at the wall, studying the images. It's as if he is seeing them for the very first time, rather than glancing at them regularly as he does. He is perhaps a few years past his prime but still very much in good shape. The eyepatch still adorns his face, he is as large and foreboding as ever, and his teeth are just as sharp.
"All these years… and I'm finally just four steps from achieving my dream. I can almost taste it." He whispers to himself, in a grumbling roar of a voice. Reaching up, he plucks a photograph from the wall. This one in particular depicts the Penguins posed together happily for a photo. One they must have taken themselves and lost track of.
As he stares at the photo before him, an informant enters the room. This seal is much smaller, but speaks with a loud, clear voice. "Sir, the ambush failed, but the targets still seem to be heading towards the checkpoint." She reports.
"Are the others in position?" He asks plainly.
"Yes, sir."
Shawl nods, with his eyes still zoned in on the picture. "Excellent." His concentration breaks, as he reaches for a walkie talkie. He presses the button, before proceeding to speak. "I just hope for Hydra's sake that she is still able to come up with a backup plan."
On the other end, Hydra answers his remark. "All part of the plan, sir. After all, they're just penguins. Leave it to me, and I'll have them to you in no time."
Shawl brings the walkie talkie to the floor. He just hopes Hydra knows what she's doing. As it lays there, there is a sound of ripping paper. Slowly, the bottom half of the photo comes floating down to the floor beside the device. Clearly, the fractured rim of the photograph has been bitten off.
On land, the Penguins finally make it to the rendezvous. Out of breath, the Penguins stand hunched over and wheezing. That was one heck of a walk. Now the four of them are standing in the mouth of an ice cave. Rico leans up against the wall, as he breathes in long, shallow breaths. The cave itself is long and broad. Light from the sky only carries so far into the cave, illuminating an artic fox and two leopard seals awaiting the crew. What lurks behind is veiled by the darkness.
"Finally!" Skipper heaves, rolling his eyes.
The intensity is suddenly lost. Hydra, Leo, and Aspen all exchange awkward glances. They weren't expecting this sort of entrance. So, these are the Penguins their boss had sent them out after? Interesting. Hydra knows this will be quite an easy task. She lifts a paw and opens her mouth as if to say something.
Kowalski, winded still, lifts a flipper. "Just one second."
Rico gasps for breath, as Private agrees with Kowalski. "That was quite the hike." He nods, looking more ready for a nap than a fight.
Skipper stretches his back, arching backwards. His back and legs are aching. "Remind me to add cross country travel to our training regimen."
"Ahem." Hydra butts in. They made all this effort to send the ransom notice and travel up here. The least the Penguins could do was acknowledge them. This was getting ridiculous.
"Well, we're four, tiny penguins hiking across the Siberian tundra. What'd you expect?" Skipper argues. It's not like they had access to a snow mobile. They certainly couldn't take the train the rest of the way – the foxes made sure of that. Seeing as he was looking at another fox, his conjecture about the goons was confirmed.
"Wow." Leo laughs.
"Maybe this won't be so hard." Aspen shrugs, looking at her seal partner.
Hydra states the obvious. "Well, that took longer than expected." In the time it took them to actually reach the rendezvous, she could have hunted them herself.
Skipper points a flipper at her accusatorily. "We would've gotten here sooner, if you wouldn't have sent your goons out after us!" This fox has some kind of nerve.
Leo looks at Aspen, over acting in an innocent tone. "Goons? I don't remember sending out goons." He attempts to look as if he has no idea what the Skipper is talking about.
"Whatever do you mean?" Aspen looks towards Skipper and responds in a condescending voice.
Hydra is annoyed by her colleagues, if she'd even consider them that. "Okay, we're not playing coy on this one."
"Oh, okay." Leo nods, immediately taking a much more subdued role.
Aspen confirms with several nods. "Those were our goons."
This didn't make sense to Kowalski. He questions their tactics. "But why would you send goons out after us if you knew we were coming?"
Goons? How dare they. Hydra had trained her team specifically and extensively for the mission. It was formal training that these poultry could never accomplish. "I sent my squad out to ensure that you were actually coming."
Private sheepishly states. "There are nicer ways to do that." I mean, it was rather rude her squad to interrupt their train ride. Plus, she didn't need to be so snippy about it.
"I mean, ever heard of an email?" Skipper backs up the Private.
"Or a text?" Kowalski snorts, trying to match Skipper's moxie.
Rico figured it was his turn to jump in. He grunts. "Carrier pigeon."
Kowalski corrects him. "Actually, those are extinct."
"Aww!" Rico whimpers.
Private had no idea that carrier pigeons went extinct… or that they existed in the first place, but now he feels bad that they are extinct. "Poor pigeons."
Skipper is more matter of fact. "Well, you fly back and forth from the same places all the time, what do you expect?"
"That is true." Kowalski concedes.
Rico nods. "Mmm hmm."
Private still can't shake the sympathy for those cute pigeons that he's never seen before. "Rather unfortunate."
Skipper agrees. "Oh, totally. Those poor pigeons never even saw it coming."
"And all those people never got their letters." Kowalski adds.
"Oh dear!" Private cries. He hadn't even thought of that.
And now, they're going off an a completely unrelated tangent. Hydra start to growl lowly. What even are these birds? Don't they have the sense to know the danger they're in. She snaps, baring her teeth. "Enough!" As both the Penguins and seals jump at her sudden change of the conversation's pace, she lowers her voice maintaining its venom. "I'm glad you were able to make your way up here. Looks like our little encouragement helped."
Although Skipper would never admit this aloud, this fox seems to be someone he would not want to tango with. Now, it seems like he might have no choice. Her movements are precise, almost acrobatic. She's certainly not afraid to flaunt those sharp claws of hers either. And unlike her seal compatriots she doesn't seem to mess around. Aside from her burst of angry, she maintains a rather unexpressive face. She is difficult to read. However, he can't help but feel as though she is studying them. She is a threat, no doubt about it. Dueling with her head-on on might be a challenge.
Skipper places his flippers on his hips. "Your encouragement would have made any other rookery turn back." Who does this fox think she is?
Aspen smirks. "But you're not just any rookery."
Hydra scowls. "That's debatable." So far, she is unimpressed with what she is seeing.
The Penguins take offense to this. In response, Rico interjects. "Hey!"
Private gladly provides a rebuttable. Lifting his beak in the air and resting a flipper on chest, he gloats. "I'll have you know we come from a great, long line of strong penguins. Our dad is the world's best secret agent." In nearly reciting what he had been told many a time, he finds the courage to look the fox in the eye. "Skipper told us."
Hydra's eyebrows lift in surprise. That was unexpected, especially from the little bratty one. Her shock lowers into a devious, knowing smile. She looks over at Skipper. She knew that these birds were delusional, but wow. This is her chance to call Skipper's bluff. By the way he stares back her, she can tell he knows that too. If penguins could perspire, Skipper would be drenched. She just adores seeing the look of fear in the eyes of the cocky leader.
She misses her chance for now and steps closer to Private. Bending down, closer to his level, she points to his brothers. "Oh, you mean Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico's father, right?"
"I guess." Private shrinks.
Skipper interrupts, recovering quickly. "Listen, canine. We're a team. A family. Private's a part of that family." He pronounces.
This is all the motivation she needs to stand up and start sauntering towards Skipper. Her tail whacks Private's face in the process. "Right. Well, I can see where you get your courage from, Skipper. I mean your pride, your determination. You wouldn't let anyone stand in your way of an adventure, right?" She is leaning over his shoulder now. Her claws are nearly sunk into his back.
Skipper watches her, unsure of what she is getting at. "Well, yeah, uh… I guess."
With his response, she nods and stands back up. She plays with her claws, as she walks over past Kowalski. "He leaves an awful big shadow. Wouldn't you say, Kowalski?"
Skipper instantly looks down at his gut and sucks it in. He misses the point, but is suddenly insecure. Sure, he had put on a few pounds recently but that was none of her business.
"What… I – I don't know what you're talking about?" Kowalski stammers nervously. It wasn't Skipper's stature she was referring to. How'd she even know about his insecurity? He hadn't vocalized that he never seemed to measure up to his older brother.
Now, she is just toying with them. Skipper wants to cut to the chase, just not in the literal sense. "Enough toying around. What do you want from us? And where is this hostage you promised we'd meet?" He demands.
Leo teases. "Getting restless?"
"Relax, we're just talking… for now." Aspen leers at Rico for a few seconds, causing him to shift his posture.
Hydra explains further. "If you must know, our special guest is back at the lair. But you can see them real soon. All we're asking is that you four come back with us." Even by just leaning up against the cave wall, she still manages to command the room.
"And why would we do that?" Skipper retorts.
Leo's eyes widen and whispers to Hydra, as if suddenly coming to a realization. "He's got a point."
"Shawl didn't really –" Aspen shakes her head. You know, her boss never did give her that many details. I mean if she were a penguin, she wouldn't follow a bunch of leopard seals. Guess, Shawl didn't really think it through.
"You don't realize the situation you birds are in, do you?" Hydra's tone gets even gruffer.
The Penguins exchange glances.
"We work for Shawl." She continues.
"You remember him, right?" Aspen leans in with an eager smile.
"You know, he's the seal that captured your whole village." Leo expositions.
"We got it." Skipper responds flatly.
Hydra gives the Penguins a side glance. "We personally have been assigned to bring you back to him."
This still isn't logically making sense to Kowalski. "But why? Why would a leopard seal we encountered back in our childhood suddenly start to obsess over us now?" It just isn't practical.
Aspen is taken back by this statement. These birds really don't have any idea what they are up against. "Ha! You think you all just popped into his mind? No, no, no."
Leo adds. "Since the day you four got away, you haven't left his mind." It is a fact he and Aspen know all too well. Shawl, needless to say, has the tendency to hold a grudge… towards the Penguins and them.
"Eww… Creepy." Rico is disturbed by the thought.
Aspen speaks slowly to make sure the Penguins hang onto each word. "He's always been watching. No matter where you've travelled, what you've done. He's being keeping tabs on you four the entire time."
Each of the Penguins are left speechless. For their entire lives, they have been watched. What's worse is that they were none the wiser. For all these years, they were being monitored. All of their failures and successes were beheld by a single foe, plotting the opportune time to strike.
"So… we're just prized game?" Kowalski is disgusted by the idea. All of this time they were being hunted by a foe they thought they had shaken a long time ago.
Skipper snaps out of it and retaliates. "Well, I don't like games." The sternness in his voice trails off as he muses. "Unless it's 'Go Fish' or an occasional round of 'Simon Says', as long as I'm Simon."
That isn't the point. He regains his determined tone. "So, what if he's been watching us our entire lives and tracking our every move, why did he wait until now to come after us?" Now that he repeats it out loud, it does sound pretty bad. He just can't let his boys notice.
"I mean surely there were times when we were more vulnerable than this." Kowalski stammers.
Hydra chimes in again, her tone flat. "Don't flatter yourselves. You four are just the final pieces to the puzzle."
Leo boasts, without time to think. "Yeah, we're rounding up all the penguins." He lifts up a spherical device. This earns him a stern look from Aspen and Hydra. They whip their heads around almost simultaneously to silently scold their associate.
Private, confused and still very worried, speaks up. "Um, are they all in that ball, then?"
"No, this is a map. But if you come with us, you can see them, and our guest." Hydra prods.
"Pfft!" Rico waves them off.
"As if we'd willingly agree to go with you." Kowalski is smarter than that. This is obviously some sort of trap. What was it that gave it away more? The hologram message with an ultimatum or the vague details they were giving now?
Private inserts himself back into the conversation politely. "Um, excuse me," he raises his flipper and stands up on his tippy toes for attention. "I do have a question, please?"
What is he doing? Skipper whispers curtly. "Private, now is not the time to –"
Hydra doesn't let him finish. She makes her way over to Private and bends so that she is leaning over him. In a baby voice, she puts on a cheery façade. She grabs onto his face, squishing his chubby cheeks in a single paw. "Yes, Private? Look at you raising your flipper. Aw, I could just…" she pauses, taking her attention from Private to Skipper. The irony in her words would be lost on the little one but more so felt by his leader. Her tone lowers back down. "… eat you up". She lets go of Private so he can speak.
Private would rather that not happen. Once he reclaims his balance, he continues politely with his question, trying to formulate his words. "Um, so you two were with Shawl the day that we escaped, right?"
"No need to rub it in." Leo sighs defeatedly.
"That's why he has us on the job." Aspen gestures to herself and Leo. Shawl really has a difficult time letting things go.
"I wasn't. Believe you me, I would have caught the four of you long before now. There's nothing a highly trained huntress, like myself, can't track down. You penguins have proved to be no exception." Hydra wants to make this point very clear.
That is interesting to know, but not really the knowledge Private is after. He ventures further, finally daring ask his question directly. "Um, okay. Would any of you happen to know anything about my parents?"
"Private!" Skipper gasps. This is certainly not an opportune moment to ask this. These are their enemies. Not to mention, Skipper has little control over what the seals will say in response.
Kowalski adds nervously, his tone heightening under the stress. "This is really not the time or place for this, Private."
However, the foes happily oblige. Leo stops to think for a second. In putting a flipper to his chin, he recalls the memory. "Oh, that's right! We had captured them and ended up chasing you."
Private nearly jumps at the chance. Finally, someone who knows something about his parents. He's been waiting for an answer for so long. Leaning forward, he asks earnestly. "Yes, do you happen to know what happened to them? Are they the ones you're holding hostage?"
Hydra leans back up against the wall. Again, she has taken a sudden interest in her claws. "Could be." She doesn't look up at Private. Her tone is matter of fact and cold.
"Maybe not." Aspen smiles wryly.
Leo's eyes light up, as if he's made a discovery. "Now, I remember… Your parents. Nice couple."
Aspen falls in line with her fellow seal. "Very mild-mannered and timid. When we got to their hut, they were terrified. More afraid of what we'd do to you."
Leo leers and begins to lightly cackle. "I guess all that fear… is what made them so delicious."
A small gasp escapes from Private's quivering beak. In an instance, it's as if all of the hope has been drained from his body. He is left speechlessly staring up at the beasts, replaying their words in his head. So, they really are gone. All this time imagining what it would be like to meet them, all for nothing. The dreams that he had built up for so long were stolen from him in that instant. He balls up his flipper and does his best not to cry. The tears break through any way. He feels so cold and hallow, his breaths feel shallow. Private lowers his head to let the tears flow.
The seals continue laughing at Private, as he stands there silently crying. Aspen licks her lips to mock him. This gets even more of a rise out of Leo who laughs harder. Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico look on at their brother with swirling feelings of despair and guilt. Something about this feels all too familiar to Skipper. The initial sorrow passes, as he feels his body start to tremble. How dare they make Private feel this way? His head starts to pound, as he can feel warmth rushing up his body. His face crumples into a look of pure disgust.
"Well, what did you expect?" Aspen leans in closer to Private, tears forming in her eyes as well but for different reason.
This is enough to send Skipper over the edge. He's had enough of this. In a matter of seconds since Leo's remark, Skipper's protective instincts kick in. He jumps into action. "Rahhh!" He roars, lunging at the much larger animal. Wrath takes over him, as all he can think about is pounding these two seals for what they're putting Private through.
His haste, however, proves to be a mistake. Leo anticipates the penguin moving through the air, like a bullet. Though Skipper springs towards him rapidly, he has enough time to lift his flipper and slam it into the side of Skipper's body. The force sends Skipper plowing into the side of the cave.
"Skipper!" Kowalski and Rico rush to his side.
Just as they are about to tend to their injured leader. A haunting melody fills the air. As the music plays on, Kowalski and Rico straighten themselves to a stiff, practically perfect posture. Their eyes go glossy, as they daze out into the distance. Turning swiftly around, they begin to join Private in marching deeper into the cave.
Skipper's ears are ringing from his entanglement with the wall. All he can hear is the steady high-toned pitch that is coming from within his own head. He holds his head through the pain, as he brings himself to his feet to find that his team is in some sort of trance. They are walking straight towards the foes. This is baffling to Skipper, but he springs into action. He runs after them.
"Wh – what are you boys doing? Evac!" He yells over his own tinnitus.
It is to no avail. They keep walking.
"We've got to … We've got to – " Skipper starts, but suddenly the melody breaks through. He starts to slip into some sort of slumber, but jolts himself awake. He has to resist whatever sort of mind trickery this is. His flippers go promptly to his earholes, as he covers them firmly. The fate of his team depended on his grip… literally.
"C'mon, Skipper. Just give in. You can't do this all on your own." Hydra whispers temptingly. In her claws rests a cube-shaped device. That's where the music must be emanating from.
"You had a good run, but now it's time to face facts. You and your team are done for." Aspen adds triumphantly.
"I mean, in a way, I guess you could say you were Shawl's all along. He's just coming to collect." Leo says in a lackluster, blasé tone.
He can't give in. His boys need him. Skipper runs and stops short in front of Rico. He has to get them out of this trance. Surely slapping them awake would work, but for how long would they stay out of the trance? Not to mention the fact that he'll end up zombified as well, if he moves his flippers. Whatever means of waking them up he chooses, he can't use his flippers in the process. Maybe if he speaks loud enough he can overcome the music's hold over Rico. As Rico keeps walking, Skipper holds his ground. With his feet planted, he does his best to block Rico from moving any further. It isn't very effective, as Rico continually pushes Skipper onward.
"Rico, you have to listen to me! Rico, it's me! It's Skipper. I need you to stop listening to that music. Stop listening, soldier! That's an order!" Skipper orders, trilling in his voice.
Aspen is enjoying the show. "Tick Tock." She taunts Skipper.
There is no stopping Rico. No matter how loud Skipper shouts, they all keep pushing forward. In a last resort effort, Skipper takes a deep breath and removes his flippers from his earholes. He swiftly moves them to cover Rico, who keeps moving. Rico keeps walking, while Skipper can feel his consciousness slipping away. As much as Skipper tries to shake off the pervasive hypnosis of the music, he finds himself completely compromised.
Just as his flippers are about to slip, Rico awakens from his trance. "Wha?" Rico watches Skipper now fall victim to the hypnosis and immediately catches on. Covering his own earholes back up, he coughs up earmuffs sending them through the air and onto Private, Kowalski, and Skipper with perfect aim. He then proceeds to place a pair on his own head. This noise cancellation is enough to snap his brothers out of their trance as well.
Hydra is even more intimidating when flustered. "Fine." She jams her paw onto the button to stop the Siren. "Have it your way."
It seems it's out of the frying pan and into the fire, when Hydra calls out to the dismally lit cave behind her. "Foxes?" From out of the darkness, an army of glowing yellow eyes illuminate the cave, like sinister stars. "Get them." She requests plainly.
The sight of the glowing eyes is enough to grip the Penguins with fear. This is indeed an ambush. Though they had anticipated it, they thought they had lost the foxes on the train. Seems like they had fallen for a subterfuge. Multiple foxes come stalking out of the darkness, making their way towards the Penguins on Hydra's command.
"What's our plan, Skipper?" Kowalski whispers to Skipper, as the unit slowly starts to back away from the approaching foxes.
"Run!" Skipper cries, hightailing it out of the cave.
The Penguins manage to escape the cave, but they find themselves running into the desolate tundra. There is nowhere for them to hide from the foxes that are in hot pursuit. "So, we don't have a plan?!" Private questions.
Skipper shrugs sheepishly. "Well, we defeated them before."
Just then, a fox pounces towards Skipper. Fortunately, Skipper is able to catch the attacker by the paws and fling it way up into the air. The fox goes flying in the opposite direction. This is a short-lived victory as the Penguins soon find themselves encircled by foxes. The foxes begin hungrily eyeing them. The foxes make room for Hydra, Aspen, and Leo to enter the circle.
"Skipper…" Kowalski starts. He has nothing, they are completely surrounded. Sure, they could get into their battle position, but the odds of them fighting off all of the foxes is dismal. On the train, there were less goons. Not to mention the segmented structure of the train cars worked to their advantage. This looks like the end.
"Well, done, team. Shawl will be very happy to see that we –" Hydra haughtily glances over at Leo and Aspen.
Aspen rolls her eyes. "Ugh!" She does not like that fox. The sooner they can wrap up this mission and rid themselves of her, the better. It looks like that will be decently soon. Knowing these birds though, she's not holding her breath.
Hydra continues "were able to bring them back."
The head fox from the train steps forward from the circle. He is still a little roughed up from the rough landing off the train. "It wasn't easy."
Hydra, not believing her assistant, scoffs. "Sure. Just load them up onto the copter."
It only takes one word for Skipper's eyes to light up. "Copter! Boys, I'm thinking a Powdered Fury. Execute!" He catches sight of the beautiful, metal bird.
"Huh?" The other fox from the train utters.
The Penguins begin to rush to the snow below, fashioning snowballs with their furious flippers. As the begin stockpiling, they cram them into Rico's open beak. Within seconds, Rico's mouth is filled entirely with snow. Skipper grabs onto Rico and holds him sideways on his hip.
"Say hello to my little Rico." Skipper announces and pulls Rico's flipper back. With that, Rico begins spewing out snowballs rapidly at the looming foes.
"Hey!" A displeased and rather surprised fox exclaims, trying to retreat from the snow strike.
While all the foxes are distracted, Skipper shouts out another order. "Sub-adversarial slide, boys!"
Under Skipper's instruction, the Penguins slide between the feet and flippers of their opponents. All four of them hurriedly make their way to the copter that sits just beyond their reach – prime and ready for the hijacking.
As the foxes are still reeling from the counterattack, Leo smiles cheekily and finds great pleasure in the irony. "Oh, did we forget to mention they're a team of commando penguins?" He puts a flipper to his chin, as if he had forgotten such a crucial detail. Hydra's not so tough now.
"Whoops." Aspen shrugs sarcastically.
Hydra snarls as she turns to her team that is now back in pursuit of the Penguins. They can't let these birds escape – the embarrassment that would bring is unimaginable. She couldn't bare it. How can four, measly penguins outsmart her? Out foxing a fox? Not possible. She especially can't let them run off with their chopper. All this hard work was going to pay off, she is determined of it.
As she deliberates her next move, the Penguins hop onto the helicopter. Skipper is in a hurry to get it off the ground. He knows that once they get this puppy airborne, they'll be home free. That is at least for the time being. It won't solve all of their problems, but it will at least give them time to think. For him to regroup and decide what all is really at stake here. "We're commandeering this vessel, boys! Kowalski, start messing with the engine. We need this hunk of metal off the ground ASAP."
Just as Skipper is making his way to the helm of the aerial vehicle, it jerks from a sudden motion towards its rear. The Penguins stop what they're doing and turn to the doorway in the back. Kowalski and Private gasp in shock, as Hydra has caught up with them.
"Not again, birds." Her voice is gravelly. She grips onto the sides of the doorway and flings herself in. She stalks forward, with her claws out to the side. Maybe they can get away from Leo and Aspen and maybe her unit, but they aren't going to trick her.
"You're right." Skipper sighs, putting his flippers up.
"Skippah?" Private is stunned. This isn't like his leader at all.
"She's right. Game over." Skipper states with a rather apathetic tone.
Private glances over at Skipper skeptically, but follows his command. His flippers go up as well. He doesn't want to let Skipper down, even if he has no idea what he is up to.
"Good." Hydra admittedly is a little surprised too. She didn't expect it would be that easy for her. Then again, she could be rather intimidating. She is pleased with herself, and places her paws on her hips confidently. She's even better at this than she thinks and that is saying something. "And now you've made my job easier by loading yourselves onto the helicopter." Yep, she's really outwitted them.
"Exactly. We are high price, after all." Skipper shrugs and chuckles a little. He matches her cool tone. It's as if this conversation is taking place over a shared hobby or a good song. There is no urgency in Skipper's voice at all. Private is utterly miffed.
Hydra shakes her head, laughing along. "You have no idea."
Skipper rotates towards Kowalski and points. "Now, boys!"
Kowalski proceeds in connecting two wires under the dashboard. At the converging of the wires, a bright, blue spark snaps into being. The engine roars, signaling Rico to grab onto the control stick. He tugs the steer towards him as he leans back with most of his might. As a result, the copter sharply curves up into the air. The rash movement is enough to send Hydra stumbling back towards the door. It remains open, as she had not shut it on her way in. Just shy of falling back towards the snowy ground, she digs her claws into the sides of the doorway.
Skipper takes care of this, while Private is still hanging onto a railing for dear life. He takes a parachute from the wall. After inspecting it for a moment, he nods to himself, and chucks it at Hydra. The safety equipment hits her in the abdomen and causes her to lose balance. It is unexpected and the force of gravity combined with the object sends her out of the helicopter.
When it looks like they are home free, Kowalski comes to a realization. "Skipper, the map!"
"Oh right… heh." He chuckles nervously. Perhaps, he had overlooked one, tiny detail.
Private looks out over the edge of the helicopter. He waddles over on his shaky feet. "The coast is – " He peaks over but immediately pops back up.
A paw swipes up at him as he leans back to narrowly dodge its pull. "Ahh! The coast is not clear!" He takes over running deeper into the helicopter, behind Skipper.
Rico accompanies Skipper to the edge of the copter. They stand and look down at Hydra. With a more cursory reaction, they watch Hydra cling to the railing of the copter. She tries with all of her strength to get to them. Not so mighty now, huh.
"Rico?" Skipper invites his soldier to take over.
Rico hacks up a mechanical grabber, shaped like a hand. He extends it down to Hydra. She swipes it away at first, but his intention was never to pull her up.
"Excuse me," he clears his throat, and extends the device towards her utility belt, grabbing the spherical device off.
Without thinking, she reaches to grab the device away. However, she finds that in her haste she had taken both paws off of the railing. As she begins to plummet, she looks towards the Penguins with malice.
"Well done, boys!" Skipper calls for high ones in celebration of the escape and newly secured clue. He's relieved that is over.
Private watches Hydra with concern in his eyes. "Is she going to be all right then, falling from all this height?"
Again, Skipper shows less interest. Despite this, he wants to put the little guy at ease. "Yeah, I don't see why not." As it turns out, the snow is deep enough to cushion Hydra's landing but not so much her ego.
[To Be Continued]
