It was dark again by the time Kowalski was on the sub and heading back to the penguin HQ. It had been a day filled with stress, fear and exhaustion. The fun and jokes the penguin and dolphin had once made now completely forgotten and pushed aside.
Kowalski was not looking forward to getting back to the zoo and having to withstand Skipper's wrath. He was in for hell since he'd been missing 2 full days. What if someone else had come to attack the HQ while he was away? Hans, Savio, officer/zoo keeper/fishmonger/exterimanor X or even that pigeon that gave the commissioner a hard time? Kowalski couldn't bear the thought of something happening to his penguin brothers at this time either. Then he would truly be alone.
His stop came all too soon and suddenly he was back at the zoo and not a minute later he was up top staring down at the fish bowl hatch. Nothing seemed amiss in the zoo, so the team were no doubt down there waiting for him to come home.
Putting on a brave face, he opened the hatch and jumped inside. The team were there, wide eyed at Kowalski's sudden appearance.
Private wailed and quickly ran over to Kowalski, wrapping his tender little flippers around him and sobbing slightly.
"Kowalski! You're back! Skipper said you've been down in the dumps lately, went for a walk and never came back! But you're back! We all love you, ok?"
Kowalski wasn't quite sure what to think for a moment. Everyone looked genuinely worried. Skipper even waddled over with a sympathetic smile. He wrapped his flippers around the little Private anyway and just got lost in the feeling of bliss for a moment before he was pulled back to reality after Skipper placed a gentle flipper on his shoulder.
"Everything ok, Kowalski?" Skipper asked.
Kowalski breathed in sharply and squeezed his eyes tight trying to think for a moment, clear his mind.
"Skipper, there is something I have to tell you and you have to listen to me. No interrupting, no questions until the end and you have to let me explain everything before you can rip my throat out."
Skipper perked a brow and locked his flippers together behind his back in an attentive stance. He had never seen Kowalski quite distraught and he sure as hell didn't like the sight of it.
"Alright, explain," Skipper said plainly.
Kowalski breathed in deeply and thought for a moment about where to start. The story had so many details and turns and events that he was sure to miss something important. Perhaps he should have made a speech beforehand.
"Ok, well, it might be- no, it will be hard to listen to and you may think some of my actions were treacherous but I'm sorry. I'm sorry and its haunted me for weeks."
"Explain," Skipper said firmly but without anger.
Rico grabbed Private from around Kowalski's waist and pulled him back so the 2 penguins could have their talk. There they watched the situation unfold, listening intently to the conversation and feeling worried for what Kowalski wanted to tell them.
Kowalski took a step back, then thought better of himself and took a step forward.
"It's Dr Blowhole, Sir."
Skipper scowled at the mention of the name but kept his oath of silence and nodded Kowalski on.
"It was a few weeks ago, I was meeting Doris when I accidentally stumbled across his lair. He kidnapped me and blackmailed me into becoming his errand boy. I couldn't tell you. I wanted to but I couldn't because he implanted a device in my leg that would kill me before I had the chance to tell you."
Skipper looked shocked already, but compared to what the rest of the story comprised, this part of the story was very uneventful.
"I learned what Blowhole had been working on," Kowalski continued. "He's been working on a virus to destroy humanity. It's called the Behemothvirus. A hybrid of his diabologizer and the humans common cold. He intended on slowly infecting the humans and watching them spread the disease and slowly turn into monsters until there was no one left. He had me help him... but things backfired. Blowhole himself caught the virus and now he's slowly turning into a monster as we speak. I've taken it upon myself as my duty to the world to stop this development. We're conducting an investigation into how this happened and we're developing a means to kill the virus before it can destroy Blowhole any further. Sir, I returned from the lair to tell you everything that's happened. Blowhole has no other choice but to surrender to the entire team so I can help him. Things are very serious all of a sudden."
Kowalski didn't think Skipper's eyes could open any wider. The look of pure shock told Kowalski everything that was going through Skipper's mind. He felt angry, he felt confused, he felt betrayed and he felt concerned. Skipper's flippers had long since slipped forward from behind his back and he stood now with a perplexed expression.
Rico and Private stood back with the same expressions. Except Private's was a little more empathetic.
"That is a lot to take in," Skipper said after he took a moment to shake himself away from his trance.
Kowalski merely nodded and looked into to Skipper's eyes for the honest first time in weeks.
"So, long story short... Blowhole is turning into a monster on account of a virus he made and wants help to fix it?"
Kowalski nodded again.
"And that's what you've been doing these past few days you've been missing?"
"Yes, Sir."
Skipper looked to the ground with a thoughtful gaze and began to pace. There was very little in the world that could shock him anymore. He had seen everything. Even Manfredi and Johnson's ashy corpses.
"How long will this cure take? Will you be able to cure Blowhole?"
Kowalski looked down, his eyes filled with sorrow as that was a question he had found himself asking often.
"My estimates are, with what we currently know about the virus, a couple months should be sufficient in creating the 'cure'. But vigorous tests of the virus have shown it to transform its victim completely in days. Calculated to an animal the size of Blowhole, only a few weeks until his mind is lost. He first started showing symptoms a few weeks ago."
"So there's no hope for him?" Skipper asked, absent of the slightest care for the dolphins quality of life.
Kowalski couldn't bring himself to say it, so just nodded.
"The virus, where is it?"
"Secured completely. All test subjects and equipments in contact with the virus have been incinerated."
Skipper nodded and looked Kowalski straight in the eyes, with no remorse he said his next order with the usual authoritative tone.
"The virus will be destroyed along with everything else. We can not let this thing get out into the world. We will dispose of Blowhole too. He knows there's no saving himself so I can't imagine he'll go down fighting. This operation will run smooth, quick and without need to spend months developing a cure. And we'll have one less villain to worry about."
Kowalski's eyes shot up fast, piercing through Skipper as he started to turn to Private and Rico. Kowalski shook his head, clenched his flippers tightly and without thinking, performed his first act of deliberate treason.
"No!"
Skipper stopped, turned back around and looked at Kowalski with a questioning brow.
"No?"
"I refuse to give up. I will cure Blowhole. No one has to die."
Skipper raised his head and stared down at Kowalski, who had now slouched down in fear.
"Kowalski, Blowhole is a murderer. Our lives nearly lost at his flippers. You owe him nothing and you will obey my commands."
Kowalski closed his eyes. Bearly able to stand the sight of the world he lived in. Skipper had every right to be angry and was indeed very logical in his orders but Kowalski felt his logic failing him more and more as the days went by and he found his heart hailing the truth. Kowalski would not become a murderer as Skipper was insisting when he could put his own blood, sweat and tears into working to free Blowhole from this nightmare.
"Skipper, Sir. You are the best commanding officer I could have dreamed of. But now it's time I become my own commanding officer. There's someone in need and I'm going to save them."
Skipper could not believe his ears. He would have let his heart fill with pride if it weren't for the circumstances. Kowalski was a smart penguin but he was gullible and he so often fell victim to a love struck heart. He would do anything to protect the ones he cared about and that was admirable. But Blowhole was still a murderous villain.
Skipper lowered his head, but kept his keen eyes on Kowalski.
"You make that cure but the second Blowhole's mind turns, there will be a bullet with his name on it and you will not get in it's way."
Kowalski could have cried. Skipper was by no means pleased with him and in fact would punish Kowalski very harshly once this was all over, happy ending or not. But his tears would never be happy ones. He knew there was no way a cure would be developed in time. Killing a virus without killing everything else in the body was an incredibly hard thing to do. Blowhole would turn into a monster and Kowalski feared until then that developing the cure would just be a distraction for Blowhole as he inched closer to losing his mind and death.