Central Park

1100 Hours

Few Years Ago

It was never good when Skipper wanted a one on one with you. It was the main reason as to why Private had turned into such a nervous wreck when his commander led them out of their enclosure and to a more remote area of Central Park. It wasn't exactly hard to get a read on Skipper but at times he was as sealed up tighter than Fort Knox. This was one of those times but even then Private could sense something was seriously off. Even though his older brothers questioned him about it Private was very good at reading emotions. You become very good at it when you're labelled as the "emotional one" in a team. He was often the first to notice when his brother weren't acting like their usual selves like Skipper was at this very moment and had been for the past six or seven months. To be honest, it worried the younger penguin greatly, it wasn't like Skipper to question the loyalty of his team or to suddenly demand so much of them. Private had been so deep in thought that he hadn't realised Skipper trying to grab his attention.

"S-Sorry S-Skipper, what w-were you tr-trying to s-say?" Private stuttered, letting his nerves get the better of him.

Skipper obviously saw this and gave Private a calming smile. "Relax solider, you aren't in trouble."

"Then why are we here? Not that I don't appreciate the one on one but it rarely ever happens."

Skipper paused as if contemplating whether or not this meeting was a good idea. When Private managed to get a good look of his brother, he could see how defeated and ran down he really was. It was the look Private wore all too often when they were captured during missions or the bad guy would misjudge his abilities. To see this look of Skipper was all too new for the young penguin, leading to so many questions. Instead, he waddled up to his commander and hugged him tight, sighing in relief when he felt Skipper hug him back.

"I need to tell you something Private but it need to remains between us. The information I'm about to tell you is extremely classified but you are the only soldier I know who can help me."

Private pulled away and smiled. "I don't know about that Skipper but I'll do my best."

Skipper let out an incredibly sad sigh before he told Private everything. The young penguin couldn't believe his ear holes as his brother explained how this Hans had betrayed Skipper so much, it left him broken and doubtful of ever finding love again. Private never believe in hate, it up took so much energy when it was so easy to love but listening to Skipper, he never hating anyone more than Hans. He had hurt his commander, his brother, no one does that and gets away with it. The older penguin saw the saddened anger on his brother's face and much as he appreciated the mere willingness to take action, it was the last thing Skipper wanted.

"What's done is done Private, and there's nothing we can do to change that. All I need right now is a soldier I can talk to, can you do that for me?" Skipper asked as he folded his flippers behind his back.

Private sighed and nodded. "We're going to need a code so we can talk without Kowalski and Rico knowing."

Skipper smiled. "What did you have in mind?"

Private thought long and hard about this. It had to be clever while not raising suspicion. It had to relate to this whole situation while not giving too much away. After a few minutes go by the young penguin finally came up with the perfect code.

"We can casually place the word mackerel into our conversation whenever we need to talk about Hans. Since it is a type of fish we do eat, we can say it without the others getting suspicious."

Skipper's smile grew. "I knew I could count on you for this one Private."

❣️❣️❣️

Blowhole's Underground Network

London

1300

Private knew Skipper wouldn't handle any of this well. After what happened between him and Hans. The younger penguin knew his brother would freak out, turning up this paranoia scale all the way up to eleven. Private didn't like what the puffin had turned his brother into during their relationship and would rather the memories be kept hidden in the deepest depths of his mind. He had become incredibly paranoid (even by Skipper's standards) and became a bit of a grouch. The next couple of years, they finally had their old Skipper back but not without the scars. Their leader rarely opened up to anyone and when he did, it was always to Private. The two penguins even had their own code when they needed to discuss anything related to Hans and their break up. It had worked without anyone getting suspicious, which was a relief. Skipper had told Private everything from day one and made him swore not to tell anyone about it. Private had become the only one who knew everything about Skipper's love life, especially the part where he revealed he liked both boys and girls. That was the part that truly thrilled Private, it was the moment Skipper came out to him. So when Private continued to look around the small room, everything came flooding back. He knew Hans was a bit crazy but this was beyond insane, scaring Private tremendously. Skipper was surely in danger if the puffin found him, in fact everyone was. The small penguin continued to look around with Corporal keeping guard near the door. Eventually the penguin found a portable camera on one of the shelves and began flipping through the images. He was expecting more creepy photos of Skipper but what he actually got was photos of him with Classified during a date. Private would have been shocked if he hadn't suspected it in the first place. Which meant that Kowalski's five stages of isolation had actually made it to the finally stage and they had fallen hopelessly in love with each other.

"What did you find there Private?"

"Proof that we were right about Classified and Skipper." Private said as he handed the camera to the polar bear.

Corporal took the camera and began examining the images. "We need to tell him. This could put everyone in danger."

"I know but like you said we can rush them into it. Photos or not, they clearly haven't told us for a reason. Skipper especially."

Corporal nodded. "If that's the case, we should at least take some of the physical photographs with us. We need our bosses everything, they could be in grave danger."

Private agreed as he slid over to the nearest wall and remove a dozen photographs off it. There was so many of them, he doubted Hans would notice if a few were missing. Taking the camera with them, the duo managed to sneak out of the room without being detected and soon headed towards the exit. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. One of the lobster henchmen recognised Private and sounded the alarm. It wasn't long after that when they were forced to fight their way out of the base, which was easier when Corporal managed to get his equipment back. It was a massive effort but they managed to escape with their evidence and with little injury. They set the submarines course back towards the North Wind's headquarters before they finally relaxed in their seats. The mission was a lot to take, especially with everything they found. Hans looming around Blowhole's base, his creepy shrine to Skipper and the camera that exposed Skipper's relationship with Classified. To be honest, Private was hurt that Skipper hadn't told him about it, he thought he was the go to penguin when it came to these sort of matters. The penguin tried not to think about it too much as Skipper must have had a good reason not to. Classified was a good person but Private was very protective over his family, he hated to see anyone of them hurt. So Private spent the entirely of the trip back to base, planning out the exact conversation he would be having with the wolf the next time they were left alone. Classified needed to know what he was truly dealing with when he decided to date this brother.