Hey guys. 2 things:
1. Super sorry for the late update. And to make things worse, even after working on it for over a week now I still hate this chapter. I was gonna double post to make up for it but I can't see myself getting another one written quickly and you've waited long enough. I will still post another chapter this month though, so don't worry about missing one :)
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EDIT: I FORGOT TO MENTION! Grayceene on deviantART drew fanart! It's amazing! (grayceene. deviantart art/ The-Night-of-Stualness- 509490313)
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Agent George
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There was something terrible happening across the world. Maybe not quite as bad as Pitch's attempts for world domination and the destruction of everything good, but it was pretty damn close. Someone, or something, was stealing penguins.
Jack had barely managed to force himself to stay long enough to hear the entire broadcast before he'd shot off towards Antarctica. It seemed like the targets were only penguins in zoos, but how could he be sure? Was there even anyone monitoring wild penguins? Would it be noticed if they were taken too? The thought of anything happening to his colony was completely unacceptable.
He made it in record time, and was beyond relieved to see that his penguins were still there, waddling around, huddling together, lazing about, just like always. They all perked up as he came in to land amidst them.
"You guys okay?" he asked, trying to check them over even as their attempts at a physical greeting made it difficult. "No suspicious people or anything come after you?"
They made their usual noises at him, which he tried to copy, and he took that as a sign that they were fine. He started to relax and let himself be swarmed by them, until he realised there was one face in the crowd he couldn't see.
"Where's George?" he asked, straightening up and trying to peer over the heads of the ones closest to him. "George?! You here, buddy?!"
But George didn't reply. He wasn't there. He was gone.
Panicked, Jack grabbed the nearest penguin. "Where'd he go, Beth? Do you know?!"
Beth squawked.
"What does that mean?!" Was it a yes or a no? Was it something else entirely? Why hadn't he tried harder to learn penguin?! "I have to go look for him!" He turned to go but froze. What if he left now and the penguin thief got the rest of them? But what could he do? He couldn't stay and search for George! And he wasn't going to take them with him if he was going anywhere near the penguin-thief.
An idea struck him. Pressing his fingers to his mouth he let out the loudest whistle he could muster. The penguins chorused in response, much to his amusement. Now he just had to wait.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before he spotted Frostwind flying towards them, and moments later he was landing just beyond the mass of penguins.
"Frostwind!" Jack flew over to join him. "Hi, sorry, I have a big favour to ask you." When Frostwind huffed in acknowledgement, he continued, "I need you to keep an eye on these guys for me, okay? If anyone or anything suspicious comes, chase it off. And if you can't or it's too dangerous, come get me immediately. Got it?"
Frostwind nodded his understanding. And just as well, because he was quickly swept up in a crowd of interested penguins.
"Okay," Jack muttered. "You guys be good for Frostwind! I'll be back as soon as I can!" Hopefully with George in tow.
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It had been a while since George had been called for a mission. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about it; he'd been enjoying kicking back and relaxing in his quasi-retirement. But if they needed him, he would always answer the call.
He'd been given his mission brief on the way: an octopus bent on revenge against penguins, whom he blamed for his poor treatment, was stealing penguins from zoos across the globe. There was already a team from the North Wind on the case, but George's agency had felt the need to send in one of their own. And for good reason. So far, the North Wind had failed in all their attempts at stopping this… Dave.
The transport dropped him off at what had been identified as Dave's base: a remote island covered in forest. The only sign of activity was at the port, where a large submarine had been docked. This was exactly what he was looking for, but it would be senseless to go in without a plan. The North Wind team were supposedly around somewhere; perhaps it would be best to rendezvous with them.
George glanced down the ridge to the bay. The octopi looked to be preparing to set off. He would need to act fast. Making a split second decision, he shot off towards it. Hopefully the North Wind were already aboard. If not, well, he'd never needed them before.
With the octopi preoccupied with last minute checks, it was a piece of cake to slip through one of the open hatches and sneak inside. Now all he had to do was find the imprisoned penguins and stop Dave before he could go through with whatever it was he intended to do with the Medusa Serum. The agency hadn't quite gotten that far with their intel.
The hallways were crawling with Dave's minions. If he'd been a smaller penguin it might have been possible for him to just slip by, but as it was he was forced to leave a trail of knocked out octopi in his wake. It simply meant he would have to move faster if he didn't want to get caught.
George picked up the pace, rounding a corner, and nearly fell over as he skidded to a halt to avoid crashing into another creature. It was a penguin: small (tiny compared to him), kind of dopey looking, but with a determined glint in its eyes.
The tiny penguin blinked up at him in surprise. "Hello," he said.
"Hello," George replied.
"Sorry, can't stay and chat," the little penguin told him, already navigating around him, "I have to save my friends!"
Well, this could prove useful. "You know where the penguins are being kept?" George asked, hurrying to catch up to him.
"Yes, it's just up this way!"
"What about Dave?"
"I dunno," the little penguin frowned. "Probably nearby."
It was a start at least.
"I'm Private," the little penguin introduced after a beat, then looked up expectantly at George.
On a mission, it was standard protocol to use fake names or code names. It seemed this kid was either in a similar line of work to him, or whoever named him had weird tastes. "George," George returned. It wasn't his real name, but it was the one Jack had been addressing him with for his entire life, so he supposed it was simultaneously the truth and a lie.
Private nodded in satisfaction, uttering a pleasant, "Nice to meet you, George!" just as they cleared the bend and came across a swarm of octopi.
George slapped his wing over Private's beak and shoved them both back in time to avoid getting spotted. There were too many for them to take on. They would need a diversion if they wanted to slip past unnoticed.
He turned to Private. "If I distract them, do you think you can sneak past and get to your friends?" he whispered.
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine. I'm a professional." He poked his head back around the corner. He was fairly confident he could outrun them. "As soon as the way is clear, get to those penguins and find a way to free them. I'll handle Dave."
Private gave a sharp, determined nod. George decided he liked this kid. Without wasting another second, George jumped out into the open.
"Over here, you walking seafood platters!" he called. As he'd hoped, the octopi snapped to attention. "Come and get me!"
They charged, and George shot off in the opposite direction, sliding along the polished floor on his stomach. Good luck, kid.
Private watched them go for a long moment before hurrying off to do his part. He would not let his brothers or his new friend down.
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Jack had looked everywhere. He'd swung by Jamie's place just long enough to gather all the information on the thefts they could find on the internet, and then Jack had taken off again, checking all the zoos he could think of, and all the places a penguin-napper might stash them, but he'd found nothing. No penguins, no thief, and no George. The world was a big place. By the time he would manage to search the entire planet, well… it would certainly take him much longer than the average penguin's lifespan.
With a dejected sigh, Jack slumped down on the edge of a store roof. It was warm here, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "Damn it, George, where are you?" he muttered. What if he couldn't find him? What if he couldn't find any of the missing penguins? It seemed an impossible thought that George would just be gone.
"If you're out there, buddy, I could really use a hint."
Across the street, the TVs in the electronics store all shifted to display breaking news. It was hard to see from that distance, but the reporter looked ridiculously excited. Interested despite his concerns, Jack flew over for a better look.
There was no sound, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Jack quickly took in the caption (Live: PENGUINS CRISIS), the excitement of everyone on the screen, and knew exactly what was going on.
"But where is it?!" he cried, pressing his palms against the glass. If it was showing on a local station that meant it couldn't have been too far away. The video feed showed a park-y-looking area, and a waterfront. So that meant a coastline, presumably. A park on a coastline. So that just narrowed his options down to too many.
Desperate times, he grimaced and barged into the store. The cashier looked up as the door opened, staring uncomprehendingly as they failed to spot any customers. Jack ignored them, hurrying over to the TV he'd been watching and fiddling with the side buttons until he found one that unmuted it.
"What a weird thing to say!" the reporter said. "I'm so excited!"
But even with the sound on there was no hint as to where it was. The cashier frowned at the TV.
Jack started flicking rapidly through the channels, trying to find another news station. MAD24 News couldn't be the only one covering it. He found one quickly but accidentally skipped past it and had to back-track.
"-found by Dr Octavius Brine, who is, as we speak, bringing them here to New York's Battery Park," the reporter said, grinning but nowhere near as excitable as the man from MAD24 News had been. "Th-"
The sound suddenly cut off again, and when Jack looked up it was to find the cashier pointing a remote at the TV. But it didn't matter now. He had what he needed.
.
.
Battery Park was in an uproar. While he'd managed to escape the hoards of octopi, George had failed to save the penguins or stop Dave before he could execute his plan. And from the looks of things so had Private. He just hoped it wasn't too late to revert the damage.
Mutated penguins were running around all over the place, chasing screaming humans and being chased by exterminators. It was chaos. And George had no idea what to do about it. The first step was probably to stop the trucks before there weren't any penguins left to save.
Surveying the scene, he spotted what looked like Private over by an abandoned hot dog stand. There were three other penguins with him – all mutated – but they seemed saner than the others. Knowing at this point he could use all the help he could get, George hurried over, dodging humans and exterminators as he went.
"George!" Private exclaimed as George finally reached them.
The other three looked between them in blatant confusion.
"You know this guy?" the one with the crab claw asked.
"We met on the sub."
"We can do introductions later," George cut in. "Right now we have bigger fish to fry."
"Right," Crab-claw agreed. "We need a plan."
"I've got one!" Private chimed in. Without waiting for a reply, he rushed off to the nearby bushes. His three companions were more confused than before, but George was willing to hear out any plan at this point.
Private was already removing a large canister filled with green liquid from a large machine by the time they caught up. Presumably the one that had caused this mess.
"You stole Dave's ray?" Crab-claw grinned.
"Well, I figured, if we could reverse the ray, we could turn everyone back to normal!"
It was… actually a surprisingly good idea. The kid might have been dopey looking, but apparently he was smarter than he looked.
"We'll need something to replace the Serum," George said.
"It's impossible! It would have to be something of almost immeasurable cuteness!" Snake-arms added.
Their faces fell. "Immeasurable cuteness? Where the heck are we supposed to get that?!" Crab-claw asked. He looked utterly defeated.
But Private had already thought of a solution to this, too: himself. And regardless of his friends' protests, he would not be dissuaded. Sometimes, George knew, sacrifices had to be made. Even at the cost of butt-hands.
Of course, nothing was ever allowed to be easy. Faced with an army of octopi, and a button press away from victory, all that stood in their way was a flat battery. With the most manic looking one – Rico – sent off to get new ones, it was up to the rest of them to defend the ray until he got back. But, again, nothing was ever allowed to be easy.
"George!"
George recognised that voice. Smacking the octopus that had been attacking him away, he spun around. Jack was hovering above, looking like he didn't quite believe what he was seeing, but there was nothing but relief on his face when his eyes landed on George.
"I've been looking everywhere for you!" He swooped down, landing in front of him and hugging him tightly.
"What are you doing here?!" George demanded, allowing himself to be hugged. He always allowed it.
"College debt," Jack grinned at him.
George resisted the urge to groan. Jack had taken it upon himself to try and mimic them – had been doing it for years. Unfortunately, he was terrible at it. It was normally endearing. Right now it only added to his stress.
"We've got bigger problems to worry about," George told him, trying to impress on him the seriousness of the situation. The octopi were heading straight for them.
"Irritable bowel," Jack said. He glanced at the chaos unfolding around them. "I'm glad you're okay, buddy. Mind filling me in on what's going on?"
An octopus was creeping up behind him. George shoved him out of the way and knocked it back.
"…Okay. The octopi are the bad guys. Got it."
Without warning, he took to the air again. At least he'd be safe up there. Not that the octopi were really targeting humans. But did Jack really count as a human? George wasn't sure (the colony had been questioning it for years), but he didn't want to take the risk. Satisfied that he wouldn't have to worry about Jack, George threw himself back into the fight. Crab-claw and Snake-arms – Skipper and Kowalski, he'd managed to pick up from conversation – had been pressed up against the ray and looked like they could use all the help they could get.
A blast of ice struck out from above, cutting George off before he could reach them. The octopi closest to the ray had all been frozen solid.
"What the heck was that?!" Skipper gaped.
Kowalski looked up, easily spotting Jack above them, and whacked his friend to get his attention. Jack narrowed his eyes and his handwork, gave a sharp nod of satisfaction, and moved on to the next wave.
"Who the heck was that?!" Skipper amended.
More octopi were quickly replacing the ones Jack had taken care of.
"Questions later!" George called back, diving out of the way to avoid an extermination truck that got a little too close for comfort.
"Stay away from my General Penguin!" Jack snapped, and with a wave of his staff the vacuum was filled with ice, no longer functional. The human controlling it exclaimed angrily at his machine's sudden failure to function, as if he hadn't even noticed Jack's intervention. Interesting.
An ice cream truck barrelled out of seemingly nowhere, taking out a swarm of octopi on its way to Dave's ship. The occupants jumped out in time to avoid getting caught up in the explosion. The North Wind, George figured. About time they showed up.
It was all rather impressive until they promptly got sucked up by one of the exterminator's trucks. George shook his head and turned away. Well, that explained why the agency had felt an extra pair of wings was in order. Hopeless.
George looked back at the ray. Skipper was standing on top of the glass dome, remote in hand. Dave the octopus was quickly gaining on him. Kowalski was nowhere in sight. George ran towards them as fast as his legs would carry him, dodging the octopi's attempts at grabbing at him, and using them as springboards whenever the opportunity arose.
Ahead, he could see Rico flapping frantically towards the ray. Skipper turned towards him as he coughed up a pair of batteries. But George could already tell that even if Skipper managed to catch them, it would be too late. Dave was already upon him.
The remote went flying out of Skipper's grasp, beyond his and Rico's reach. Both were quickly snagged by Dave and tossed towards the extermination trucks. But then Jack was there, snatching them both up before they could be captured.
Skipper and Rico looked up at him in shock.
"I don't know who this weird flying guy is but I'm sure glad he's on our side," Skipper said.
Jack glanced down at him with a small smile. "Insurance claim," he said.
Skipper and Rico stared at him. A second later they were gently deposited on the ground and Jack zoomed off towards Dave, who was starting to break through the ray's glass.
"Anyone who wants to hurt these penguins is going to have to go through me!" he shouted. Dave looked up in shock as Jack approached, but had no chance to react before he was suddenly whacked away from Private. Frost seeped around him, freezing him to the snow globe-covered end of the ray just as George reached the fallen remote. Without a second's hesitation, he pressed the button.
Pink light exploded outwards. The extermination trucks rattled, pink seeping from the seams in the metal, until they finally burst open. Penguins jumped out by the dozen, all back to normal. Mission success.
Jack was suddenly right next to him. "Man, I have no idea what the heck just happened but, uh, good work team?"
George smiled up at him. "Thanks for the help."
"Cathedral," Jack said.
George sighed. Maybe one day Jack would figure out penguin. Today was not that day, but he had hope.
The other penguins and the North Wind were gathering around the ray. George started pushing his way closer – made easier by the fact that he towered above the other penguins. Having Jack with him also didn't hurt. At the centre of the mob stood Private's three friends, all of whom now looked decidedly less monstrous. In front of them was a large egg-like thing. From the sad murmurs coming from the three, George felt it safe to presume that Private was inside that chrysalis. Poor kid.
Jack crouched down beside them, warily eyeing the members of the North Wind but otherwise unfazed. He remained silent, as if he too sensed the heavy atmosphere.
There was a crack, quiet but like a gunshot in the silence. The chrysalis exploded, showering everyone close to it in goop. And then there was Private – bright pink and with an impressive pair of antlers – but alive.
"Well, that's… something," Jack said, tone heavy with disbelief.
George couldn't help but agree.
"Alright, I've got some questions," Skipper said, turning to George and Jack after all was said and done.
George nodded. It was understandable. "I'll do my best to answer them."
Skipper jabbed a wing at Jack. "Who the heck is this guy?"
George glanced up at Jack, who seemed obliviously amused. "His name is Jack," he began. "He has been a member of my colony for decades; long before I was born. He comes and goes as he pleases. The latter often for long periods of time, but he always comes back eventually."
"And the flying and ice thing?" Kowalski asked.
George shrugged. "We don't really know. We've gotten better at understanding him, but he doesn't really know how to speak penguin so we've never been able to get answers to our questions. But he's not like the other humans. Sometimes we doubt he even is one."
"Cash register," Jack added, grinning at them.
George sighed. "He tries."
Jack turned away towards the entrance of the park, where George quickly spotted the humans returning with some of their earlier enthusiasm, though it was significantly less than it had been. It probably wouldn't be long before the penguins were all rounded up and returned to the zoos they'd come from.
"We should probably get going before we get swept up in the crowd," he noted at the same time Jack said, "Let's go home, George."
"Alright, penguins," the leader of the North Wind (George hadn't caught his name) piped up. "We'll give you a lift."
"Jetpacks!" the penguins cheered.
The wolf rolled his eyes but didn't comment.
George blinked as Jack's arms suddenly wrapped around him. The boy in question grunted with the effort of trying to lift him, but was ultimately forced to give up.
"Man, you really need to lay off the fish," Jack told him fondly. "Looks like we're taking the fun route."
George shook his head in exasperation. Honestly, if Jack hadn't been there he could have just slipped off and had the agency provide transport. He only didn't because there would be no way to explain it to Jack. And, well, he'd be lying if he said the fun route wasn't aptly named.
"This is where we part, then," he said to the penguin quartet, who were starting to follow after the North Wind.
"Will we see you again?" Private asked sadly.
"Who knows?"
The humans were starting to take photos, and the authorities were closing in. It was time to go. Jack nudged him with the end of his staff and gestured towards the water.
"Come on, buddy; the others are waiting and if we stay any longer I'm going to have to bust you out of a zoo. Bye, cute tiny penguins!" He waved, the penguins waved back, and then he took off for the ocean. George was close behind.
George didn't hesitate to throw himself over the edge. A platform of ice formed beneath him before he could hit the water, extending as Jack paved the way home. It would be a long trip, and they'd probably make a fair few stops, but he didn't mind. Maybe they could do some sight-seeing along the way.
Guest Review Responses:
Jacklyn Frost: I've been calling it a series, but whatever works XD Thank you!
Guest: Good question! I think for the most part it's okay (especially given it's Mrs B) but I could see the potential for problems to arise from adults believing...
Guest: To be fair, I would too haha
Painapple: Same probably :P
Crazy Fan: Espero que Google Translate no arruine esta traducción XD ¡Sí, habría dolido mucho! Ahora están abiertos, pero por favor, lean la nota del autor cuidadosamente al comienzo de este capítulo antes de enviar uno :) ¡Muchas gracias por su comentario!