Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters. I do own the penguin Alex in this story. Also I do not own either songs mentioned in this chapter and I do not recommend looking up the first one unless you like hard rock. It's kind of inappropriate though, so I'm warning you. The second song Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson is really good.

The penguins looked all over the zoo, in and around every habitat. They even looked in the park, behind every tree, around every rock. There was no sign of the MP3 Player. Now they were headed back to the zoo, crestfallen that they couldn't find what they were looking for. They hoped Julien would still allow Alex to hide in the lemur habitat even if they didn't have what he wanted. Heads bowed, they walked in a line with Kowalski in the lead, Private following him, and Rico bringing up the rear.

"It's too bad we couldn't find the MP3 Player," Private remarked as the penguins walked through the entrance of the zoo, heading toward the lemurs' habitat.

Kowalski nodded in agreement, sighing; he heard Rico grunt and guessed he also agreed. "If only one of the other animals saw the kids with the MP3 Player," the tall penguin murmured, but all the animals they asked said they didn't see anything like that.

Then he realized that his friends didn't reply, and when he turned, he saw that they had halted. He waddled over to them and asked," Why did you stop?"

Private lifted his flipper and pointed at something. Kowalski looked at him, wondering why the young penguin looked so indecisive. He considered slapping him to snap him out of it, but without Skipper here to give him permission, he just shrugged and turned to where Private was gesturing.

A building was in front of them, and when he looked through the window, he noticed three animals in there. Kowalski narrowed his eyes when he recognized them as the chimps and the little lemur, Mort. They were sitting around the computer, not even keeping a lookout for any of the zookeepers who could be here after hours.

As they watched, Phil turned to Mason and signed something with his hands. Mason turned to Mort, and Kowalski guessed he passed down what his friend told him, but he couldn't hear them from where he stood. The tall penguin stared in confusion as the lemur said a quick response and put his little hand on the computer mouse, moving it. Kowalski had no idea what they could be doing.

"What are they doing?" Private's voice broke into Kowalski's thoughts, and he glanced down at him and shrugged, but before he could reply, suddenly Maurice appeared beside them. Kowalski was surprised that he managed to sneak up on them.

We must have been so focused on Mort and the chimps that we didn't see him coming up, he realized.

"What's Mort doing?" the aye-aye asked, looking at the penguins.

Kowalski shrugged again. "Only one way to find out," he simply said, dropping to his stomach and sliding to the building. The others were right behind him, and he was thankful for that.

Maybe if I become leader of this unit… He couldn't bring himself to finish that thought, knowing that the only way he would become leader is if Skipper… He quickly pushed that thought away too, terrified that somehow the flat-headed penguin will find out that he even considered that for a split-second. He knew the team would be lost without Skipper.

They jumped through the window, the penguins instantly falling into fighting positions, while Maurice just stood there, looking at them in confusion. Then Kowalski remembered that they weren't here to fight. He lowered his flippers and waddled over to the table as Mason walked to the edge.

"What are you all doing here?" the chimp asked, looking down at Kowalski.

Kowalski was about to answer, but then he noticed Mort leaning closer to the computer and moved the mouse, pressing the button on top of it. The penguin was about to run over there and remind him that he had no idea how to work a computer when the room was suddenly filled with loud music.

Maurice jumped on the table beside his friend. "What are you doing, Mort?" he asked over the loud music.

Mort didn't reply. He just pointed at the computer. Kowalski hopped onto the table and looked at the screen. He saw a weird looking "window" pulled up with words scrolling sideways. He felt the familiar annoyance he always felt when he was reminded that he couldn't read. He was a genius; he should be able to read!

Then he glanced around the computer and saw something plugged into it.

"Is that the MP3 Player?" he asked as he walked over to it. He tried to reach for it to pull it out, but just then Mort jumped on him, pulling him backwards. Kowalski attempted to shake him off; the little lemur had a firm grip on him though. In the struggle, Kowalski took a few steps backwards and suddenly the table vanished from under him. He fell to the floor, Mort still on him, but as soon as the penguin hit the ground, the lemur jumped off him and back onto the table.

Private and Rico ran over to their friend, staring down at him with wide eyes. Kowalski struggled to his feet, rubbing the back of his head and wondering what got into Mort. Then finally the words of the song hit him, but he didn't like what he heard.

"What song is this?" the tall penguin asked loudly over the deafening music.

"It's called Dove and Grenade by Hollywood Undead," Mason told him, jumping off the table and landing beside the penguins. "Phil has read the titles of a few songs." He pointed to where his mute friend still stood on the table with the lemurs.

"Out of all the songs, he wants to listen to this one?" Private asked, sounding just as disgusted with the song as Kowalski was.

Narrowing his eyes, Kowalski looked up at the table. He was surprised to hear Mort singing along to the song. He was singing the exact words as if he's heard it so many times that he's memorized the lyrics. Kowalski turned back to Mason. "How many times have you listened to this song?"

The chimp shrugged. "A few times," he replied. "When we first came across it, he listened to it, but when Phil and I were going to find another song about halfway through because we didn't like what they were saying, he refused, so we let him listen to it. We didn't think it would bring any harm, but when we went to change it when it was over—"

"He still wouldn't allow you to," Kowalski guessed, deep in thought. He looked at Mort, who was still sitting in front of the computer, watching the screen intently as he sang. He really seemed to like this song, but why? Maybe if they could find another song that he would like, Mort would forget all about this song. Kowalski figured it would be okay if he obsessed over another song, but there was just something about this one he didn't like.

He won't let us change it, though, he thought. He wondered if they could sneak over there and find a song without him noticing. But if he did notice, he might attack again.

Turning to Private and Rico, he ordered," Grab him and don't let him go; no matter what he does."

The two penguins nodded, jumping onto the table. They grabbed his arms and dragged him away from the computer, the little Mort kicking and screaming, but Rico covered his muzzle with his flipper as he and Private jumped off the table, Mort still fighting between them. They dragged him across the room, far away from the computer. Maurice ran after them.

Kowalski jumped back onto the table and turned to the computer, putting his flipper on the mouse. He started going through the songs as Mason and Phil read them to him. There were a lot of songs on this MP3 Player, and Kowalski found a few titles that he guessed Julien would enjoy. He didn't see anything that Mort might like though, and he was about to give up until he found a song Mason said was called Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson. He thought maybe he'd like that, and anything else was better than that other song.

He clicked on the song and the room was filled with music once more. He turned around to his friends, about to tell them to let go of Mort, just as the little lemur knocked the penguins away. Kowalski braced himself for the impact, seeing the little creature running straight for him; it never came though. He opened his eyes and saw his friends had grabbed Mort again. "Listen, Mort," he said, jumping off the table and waddling over to them," you can't listen to this song over and over again. We've got to bring the MP3 Player to Julien."

At the mention of his king's name, Mort stopped struggling and blinked up at the tall penguin. "King Julien wants the little music player?" he asked, his eyes huge.

"Yep," Kowalski replied, nodding.

"Oh," the little lemur murmured. "I guess I can give it up for King Julien…" Kowalski knew he was sad about losing his music player, but he also knew Mort's loyalty toward his king made him unable to object.

For once Julien's royal title actually came in handy, he thought, turning back to the table. Mason unplugged the MP3 Player and the song stopped playing. The chimp handed it to Kowalski, who turned to his friends and said," Let's get this back to Julien."

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