Kowalski awoke again, some time later. He still had no clue what the time was and he was sure he didn't really care anymore since the only thing he cared about right then was that he wanted to get out of this place and be on his way home.
Not to his surprise, he was still in the cage, though he was no longer bound and didn't waste a moment getting to his feet and looking around again. The evil dolphin was no where to be seen and Kowalski sighed relieved. If he never saw that dolphin again it would be too soon.
Soon, his leg began to feel sore. It was the same one the tranquilizer had been fired at. Looking down he noticed a bandage around his leg. Gently poking at the material he winced in slight pain as he could feel his leg sting.
He was confused and scared once again. He may have been half free now but why did he have a bandage on his leg? Why was he in pain? Where did that blasted dolphin go and why wasn't he on his merry way home yet!?
Curiously, Kowalski sat down and tried to find the end of the bandage so he could look underneath.
"Ah, don't touch that," Dr Blowhole suddenly said as he appeared in the doorway again.
Kowalski bought his flippers to his sides and scowled at the dolphin.
"Well, what is this? I thought I was free to go!" Kowalski exclaimed.
Blowhole casually rode into the room on his segway and stopped before the cage containing the little bird.
"You are free to go. As soon as you sign the papers I just pulled together."
Blowhole reached down and passed a wad of paper through the metal bars along with a pen. This was the little treaty they had agreed on and Kowalski would have intended to read the whole thing through at least 7 times. Only, he was a penguin and he couldn't read. He stared blankly at the pages. Walls of text covered the pages and there was not a single picture. On the very back page was a section where he concluded it was to be signed. Blowhole had already signed on the dotted line. It was a neat signature. The B had some nice curles. Or at least he thought that was a B. He signed the paper anyway. Couldn't let the dolphin inflate his ego any more upon knowing Kowalski couldn't read.
"Excellent," Blowhole smirked.
He pushed a button on his segway and the cage door opened. Now, this surprised Kowalski. He was expecting another snag that would render him trapped for another who knew how long.
Kowalski cautiously stepped outside of the cage, keeping his eyes on Blowhole the whole time as he just stood smugly, looking down on the penguin.
Kowalski waddled over to the door. He could nearly see his freedom.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, pen-gu-in. I have implanted a little tracker in you and it's not just an ordinary tracker. You decide to blab to Skipper and I'll release a poison into your body that'll attack your nervous system first, causing you irreversible paralysis so you'll have to lie and wait for the rest of the poison to shut down your vital organs for your impending death."
He froze, looked down to his leg and shuddered. That was what Blowhole had done to it. Kowalski knew the tranquilizer couldn't have caused that much damage. He was in disbelief. This had to have all just been a really bad dream. He's not really here, Blowhole didn't capture him, he didn't make a deal to become his temporary slave and he didn't have a doomsday device in his leg.
"It will also trigger itself if you try to remove it. So, be a good pen-gu-in and obey your new master," Blowhole cackled.
Kowalski shook his head and averted his gaze from the dolphin. He had to restrain himself from making the situation worse with all of the insulting things he could have said just then. Like how dolphins were just gay sharks.
"Where's the exit?" Kowalski spat.
Riding past the penguin, Blowhole left the room and rode out into the communal hallway. It was much bigger and there were so many more doors leading to places Kowalski wanted to know more about. He'd often dreamed of having a lair of his own. Only, it wouldn't be an evil lair. Perhaps a scientific base?
Blowhole stopped at a door. It looked just like the others, only when he opened it there was a ledge and then water. It was just a room of water. Kowalski looked up to the dolphin with a quizzical look.
"Um. That's the way out?" He asked.
The dolphin nodded.
"Yes, you'll find a large pipe under the water. Swim through it and you'll end up in the ocean. It's the nearest way out. We'd have to go upstairs for the main entrance and I can't be bothered. So you'll have to get wet."
Kowalski didn't waste another second before he hopped into the water and looked back to Blowhole one last time incase he wanted to spring another trap. But the dolphin just waved with a smug look on his face that ruffled Kowalski's feathers and made him want to punch something.
"Farewell, Pen-gu-in. I'll be in touch."
Slipping beneath the surface and coming out on the other side, Kowalski finally breathed a sigh of relief as he flopped onto the stone floor of the run down dock. To say his date didn't go as planned was a huge understatement. He had no idea what the future was to hold but he was sure he wasn't going to enjoy it. At least it was still dark though, he could make it home in time for defence drills.
-
Of course Kowalski had not made it back for his curfew and of course the fish bowl hatch was locked. Kowalski had suggested getting keys but was shot down when he learned penguins dont have pockets to keep them in. So, he lay on the little island habitat and tried to rest until morning.
Sleep would not bless him with its release though. He was far too riled up and worrying for his life to sleep. He could not let the rest of the team know about his truce and treaty with Blowhole. No matter how much pleasure he would feel from double crossing that villain, his own life was on the line. Once again, he was backed onto a wall.
"So, you didn't make it home on time."
Kowalski opened his eyes and yawned. Perhaps he had fallen asleep for a minute or two. He turned over to see a stirn looking Skipper looming over him.
"Sorry, Sir. I lost track of time," Kowalski bluffed.
Skipper waddled back to the fish bowl and kicked it aside.
"Make sure it doesn't happen again."
Kowalski followed Skipper inside and found the other 2 penguins eating breakfast. He finally got to look at the time to find it was 6:30. He sighed and sat down, his eyes still straining from how tired he was.
Skipper waddled over, his coffee mug in hand as he stirred the liquid with a fish. He raised a brow as he stopped in front of Kowalski and looked down at his leg.
"Something happen last night, soldier?" Skipper asked.
Kowalski looked down and remembered his bandages. He scrambled his brain for a moment for an excuse and blurted out, "I had a little fall down the side of some cliffs by the shore. Nothing to worry about."
Skipper nodded and shrugged as he waddled off again back to the table where Private was eating. As much as Kowalski's stomach rumbled, he couldn't find it in himself to eat something. His worries had flipped his stomach upside down.
So, he completed all of the defence drills on an empty stomach and didn't so bad if he did say so himself.
Throughout the next week everything was nearly normal. Missions were simple enough, where the most dangerous thing he had to do was rewire a fuse box out in the rain. Still, he never quite let himself forget that Blowhole was probably watching his every move.
Every night he sat alone in his lab he chewed his pencils until they were sawdust just waiting for the evil maniac to contact him. Blowhole liked to keep him on the edge of his seat in suspense. Until the day finally came.
Kowalski was working on an old project of his in the mid morning. All was going smoothly, until he heard a strange noise. It was like white noise, weird and static and no matter where he went it seemed to follow him.
"Kowaskiiii."
He looked around but no one was there. The white noise continued and fizzled through his brain. It was mildly annoying.
"Hey, bird brain."
It sounded like blowhole but he couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from. It wasn't coming from any of his electronic devices like his computer or his radio. It was like it was coming from him.
"Are you going to answer me?"
Kowalski stilled and awkwardly looked around. He didn't know where to look because he didn't know where Blowhole was talking from.
"Ah, yes. Where are you?" Kowalski asked doing a quick spin to make sure he didn't miss anything.
Blowhole chuckled.
"I've implanted a speaker into your leg. Pretty clever, right?"
Kowalski sighed and looked down to his leg. Of course that was where the noise was coming from. Soon enough with the amount of things in his leg he was going to become another Rico. Though, it didn't feel heavier and no matter how much he felt around he couldn't really feel the devices in their either.
"So, are you ready to commence your services to me?"
Kowalski sighed again and crossed his flippers.
"I suppose. What is it you require?"
Blowhole gave a quiet giggle before lowering his voice. Kowalski knew he probably had a camera or two around here but he also knew he wouldn't want to change having the other penguins hear him.
"I need a blood sample."
"A blood sample? Couldn't you have taken one when you had my leg open?" Kowalski huffed.
"No, not from you. I need a human blood sample," Blowhole growled.
Kowalski stomped his foot, as if that was going to hurt the dolphin. Instead it just gave him weird whiplash.
"We agreed no human was to get hurt."
"No human has to! How many hospitals are in America with coolers filled with donated blood? Just snag me a bag."
Kowalski shook his head. He couldn't possibly steal from a hospital! Sure that wouldn't directly hurt anyone but it would indirectly cause a chain of events. One less bag of blood could be the difference between a life saving surgery and death to an innocent human.
Kowalski growled again and leaned on the table to think. What a mess he had gotten himself into.
"Listen, Kowalski," Blowhole started again. "It doesn't have to be hospital blood, doesn't even have to be from a living human. Go to a morgue and get me a sample from a dead guy, I don't care. Just make sure I have it by tonight or you know what'll happen."
Kowalski shuddered as the white noise dissipated. Blowhole had cut the connection and left his last line of speach open so Kowalski would probably overthink about it and worry for the rest of that. Blowhole was a very smart dolphin because that's exactly what Kowlaski was doing.
Pacing back and forth in his lab he wracked his brain for what options he had. The safest thing for him to do would be to grab some already harvested blood. Poseidon knew what the dolphin wanted it for but Kowalski didn't want to think of it. So he came up with a plan. Visit a nearby clinic in the city, donate what money he had left in his invention budget to make up for it and make the ego maniac dolphin happy.
Finding a clinic wasn't going to be so hard, what was going to be hard was getting past Skipper. He opted for just casually strolling past and nearly made it to the ladder before Skipper took a side glance from his seat around the table.
"Where do you think you're going?" Skipper asked.
Kowalski had one foot on the ladder before he sighed and stepped down.
"I just need to go buy some supplies real quick."
Skipper nodded.
"Nerd stuff?"
Kowalski sighed again and turned back to the ladder. Skipper knew how to get on his nerves and he deserved the cold shoulder Kowalski was giving after all he had been through.
Kowalski climbed up the ladder and away from the other penguins. He made his way across the city and found himself in a clinic. It was clean and very white. Very boring looking. Nurses and doctors walked past in their blue and white uniforms, wheeling trays and carrying large patient files. Since this was just a clinic and not a hospital Kowalski wouldn't be directly or indirectly hurting anyone. He still felt deep shame for even doing this in the first place though.
Blowhole hadn't specifically stated what volume of blood he needed and Kowalski knew he couldn't take an entire bag of blood. It would be awkward to carry on the subway and he cringed to think what would happen if the bag split. Instead, he had taken a small glass vial with him and filled that from one of the bags he had found in the highly secured cooler room. Or, it wasn't so secure, they couldn't keep a penguin out.
Kowalski didn't enjoy the subway ride this time. He wasn't going to get to see his angel Doris and instead had to see her devil of a brother Dr Blowhole.
Upon arrival Kowalski could see the dock in its daylight glory. It wasn't as run down as he had thought in the dark even if there were a few abandoned boats and a brick wall that really stuck out. Kowalski decided to waddle around and try to find the main entrance to Blowhole's lair, which he spoke about previously. So there were different levels to his lair. He supposed that was a new feature as all the previous ones had only been one story.
The only thing Kowalski found was an old shed like building beyond the wall that would be used to store small boats such as speedboats, lifeguard boats and maybe boats such as canoes. This would have looked normal and not suspicious at all if it weren't for the brand new door separating Kowalski from the inside. The wall and now this door. Perhaps that was all Blowhole's doing. Kowalski bet his left flipper that this was the main entrance to Blowhole's lair. Somewhat camouflaged in the dock.
Kowalski stood before the door and knocked. Because he certainly couldn't think of what else he could have done. A minute passed and no one came to the door. Kowalski suspected he was meant to go to the door below the water but he took pleasure in being a thorn in Blowhole's side.
Another minute of waiting later Kowalski grew tired and hopped onto the wall again. The last he had been here Blowhole had seen him on the wall and done something about it. Perhaps something would happen again. Though, Kowalski hoped this time he wouldn't be knocked off the wall head first.
"Pen-gu-iiiiiin," Kowalski's leg said.
Kowalski sighed and rolled his eyes. He hoped his talking leg wouldn't continue to become a frequent thing. He'd actually start believing his leg was talking to him.
"Let me in bottle-brain," Kowalski growled at his leg.
Suddenly, he heard the clank of bolts and the door to the beat down building slowly opened. As much as Kowalski didn't want to enter the lair he hopped down and waddled to the door anyway. He just hoped this would be a quick drop in and then he could leave again. But knowing Blowhole Kowalski would find no such luck.