Private realized his mistake when the video started towards the end of Social Studies, a class he had with his four friends. He was gripping his desk, determined not to yank out the earbuds, when he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes. Paranoia and the music in his ears caused him to tear his eyes from the projector screen.
Both Allie and Kenny had gotten up. Private turned to see Barry and Ramona standing too. No one said anything. No one told them to sit down either. Private stood up carefully and looked down at his feet, struggling to keep his eyes from the screen.
"Purge the device." Barry said in monotone. His eyes were blank.
Is that what we look like when we watch it? Private thought.
"Take down the boy." Ramona said in the same tone.
Private whimpered as he backed up towards the front of the classroom. His friends were trying to corner him.
"Guys, come on. We're PARK B. We don't do this to each other, come on. Remember who you are, you're my friends."
He noted the stunted movements. They were almost zombie-like. He realized they were trying to restrain themselves.
"Kill him if you must." Kenny said. Tears had sprung to his eerily blank eyes.
"You can't stop us." Allie had tears running down her face.
Private hurried out of his classroom, hearing his friends chasing him down the hall. The earbuds had fallen out of his ears, but he knew he was safe from the mind control outside the room.
THUMP
"OW!"
Private had forgotten how much faster and agile Kenny was than him. Private managed to push Kenny off of him and stand up, only to realize that he was on the second floor without an escape. Ramona and Allie blocked the stairs while Kenny got up and blocked the hall with Barry.
"Oh boy…please…guys, it's me." Private said. "We've been through so much. Kenny, don't do this. You wouldn't hurt people. You're not like your father." He felt guilty when Kenny started shaking.
Barry started advancing on Private. The agent sighed and gathered his courage. "Barry, I promised I wouldn't abandon you. I won't. No one will abandon you again."
Barry was taken aback. Private spoke to Ramona next. He felt physical pain as he thought fast of a surefire way to catch her off guard.
"M-Mira. Your sister…she'd be in second grade now. W-what if sh-she'd be in your position now?"
Ramona stared, shocked.
Private couldn't waste a second. He took advantage of the shock and low kicked Barry and Kenny to knock them over. He hadn't known a way to get to Allie, but he swiftly dodged as she ran toward him.
Ramona was still in the middle of the stairway. Private squeaked, gathered his courage, and slid down the bannister. Allie ran down the stairs after him.
"Rico! Help!" He yelled into the watch communicator.
"Private!" Ramona yelled. She ran towards him with Kenny behind her.
"Ramona, Kenny, I'm so-"
"Apologize later! Where's Allie?" Ramona said.
"I guess I lost her." Private said. "Or…she heard me call for help. Oh no! We have to help the others, where's Barry?"
Kenny looked around. "He went after Allie."
The three of them hurried towards the high school.
…
SCREE
Skipper was never more grateful for Julien's music. The desk skidded as Kowalski bumped it. He squinted at Skipper's form.
"Alright, Kowalski, wanna dance? Let's dance."
Whether Kowalski was aiming for his glasses, the recorder, or the MP3, Skipper didn't know. All he knew was that he had to get Kowalski out of there before anyone got hurt.
Skipper went the long way around to Julien's desk and dropped the device. He grabbed a paper and pen nearby and wrote: Here's your music player, don't touch it and don't talk, got it?
"Music player? This-"
Skipper pointed urgently at the message again, staring at the clumsily advancing Kowalski.
"Ohh. Yes, thank you for my MP3 back." Julien said, nodding.
Skipper ran past Kowalski.
"Come and get it." Skipper said. Kowalski growled and ran for him. They both hurried outside to the quad. It was empty. He tapped his watch. "Rico, I need backup. Kowalski's gone rogue."
Kowalski growled again and tried to jump Skipper. He dodged and roundhouse kicked. Kowalski stumbled and got back up fast. They stared each other down and then Kowalski jabbed wildly, trying to get in a punch. Skipper grunted as he blocked them.
"Come on, man, you're gonna have to do better than-OOF!" Skipper wheezed as the air was knocked out of him. He had failed to notice Kowalski's footing and the preparation to knee the leader in the stomach.
Skipper coughed as he stumbled backwards. Kowalski shoved him to the ground, staring at him emotionlessly.
"K-Ko-" Skipper's stomach hurt too much to continue. He tried to defend himself with his feet, but Kowalski grabbed his left ankle and twisted.
"AGGGHHH!" Pain shot down his leg. He tried to ignore the pain when Kowalski stomped on his right shoulder. Skipper screamed again.
"'WALSKI STOP!"
Kowalski turned around to see Rico in fighting position. Rico heard Private's call for help, but he couldn't respond. Skipper took this moment to use his other foot to knock Kowalski off balance.
It worked, but then Rico gasped. Skipper looked to see Allie running towards them.
"What's wrong? Is Private ok?" Skipper asked, trying to ignore the pain coursing through his body.
She didn't respond as she approached Skipper. She stared down at him. He shakily prepared his left arm to defend.
"Allie, you're being brainwashed…" Skipper wheezed. "I don't want to hurt you."
With surprising speed, she grabbed his wrist, yanked his arm away and punched him in the ribs. Skipper yelped. Rico was too busy fending off Kowalski to help. Allie looked at Skipper's head.
"Don't…Allie, please…don't." He watched in horror as she stood and prepared to kick his head. For a moment, her face was equally horrified, but she winced as if someone yelled and her face was blank again.
"ALLIE!" Barry yelled, startling her.
Barry grabbed her from behind before she could continue doing anything. He dragged her backwards, holding tightly. She struggled, but he was stronger.
"MUST KILL LEADER!" Allie screamed.
Skipper's eyes widened in shock. Meanwhile, Kowalski had gotten up and sped towards Rico.
"Hey!" Rico snapped as he dodged his teammate.
"Skipper!" Private yelled. He knelt down at his leader's side. "What do I do? How do I help-?"
"PA…music…" Skipper said weakly.
"Right. Ramona, stay here in case Barry needs help. Kenny, follow me!"
Kowalski and Rico were growing tired. They were visibly sweaty and panting, but they couldn't knock each other down.
"Skipper, can I help?" Ramona asked.
"J-Julien…get Julien." Skipper groaned.
"He's staring out the window." Ramona signaled for the silver haired boy to come.
Julien ran outside and took in the scene before him in shock.
"No time…" Skipper gritted his teeth and shakily pulled the MP3 out of his pocket and held it out. "Music…mash…"
"Skipper wants you to go to the front office and play your music with Private's." Ramona explained.
"Please…" Skipper's voice cracked.
"Okay!" Julien grabbed the device and hurried to the office.
"WAH!" THUD
Kowalski had caught Rico in a moment of weakness. He'd faltered and ended up side kicked onto the ground. Rico groaned as spots appeared in his vision, the back of his head hurt. He saw Kowalski in front of a terrified looking Skipper. Ramona tried to intervene, but Skipper told her to stay back. Kowalski was too strong for her and Skipper didn't want anyone else getting hurt. His breaths were short and he had no voice as he looked up at his teammate. Kowalski's foot hovered above Skipper's head and then-
"NO YA DON'T!" Rico yanked Kowalski back. He brought his teammate to the ground and pinned his legs down with his own. Rico held Kowalski's arms down at the wrists.
They both panted. Rico tried to see emotion in his friend's eyes. There was nothing. Kowalski struggled, trying to use his head to hit Rico.
"Ko-wal-ski." Rico said softly. "Safe."
Kowalski stopped struggling and looked at Rico. He seemed to recognize the older teen.
"Safe. With me. With team."
"Kowalski…please-" Skipper dissolved into coughs again.
"We care." Rico said. "Family. Friends. We love."
"R-Rico?" Kowalski whimpered.
"Hi 'Walski." Rico smiled.
SCRRRR
The PA squealed, then started playing two different songs. They'd finally figured out how to use it.
"Ugh…my head…" Kowalski groaned. Rico got off him and helped him to his feet. "W-what- SKIPPER!" He gasped. The two of them helped their leader up. Skipper leaned on Rico. "I-I am so sor-"
"Uh-uh. Nope. No apologizing. You were literally brainwashed." Skipper said, ignoring the excruciating pain through his entire body. "Can you extract the files from the front office?"
"I can edit it, actually." Kowalski said.
"Good…I need an ice pack."
"You need medical attention." Ramona said.
…
Skipper's ankle was only twisted instead of broken. It still was painful and he had to try to stay off it as much as he could for the next twelve weeks. He was given crutches, but could only use the left one for a while. He dismissed any attempts by Kowalski and Allie to apologize.
The school was extremely confused on what happened. There was no given explanation except a strange illness that disappeared. The only ones who were told, besides the agents, were Rikki, Rocky, and PARK B. Mason, Phil, and the rest of the DHH kids were asked not to investigate and they all happily agreed.
The official excuse for Skipper's injuries were that he and his friends were practicing self-defense and he went overboard trying to do some sort of move involving a tree.
Kowalski joked about no bounce house party for Skipper's sixteenth birthday. Skipper responded with just wanting a nice day with his team on the tenth of November.
Kowalski not only managed to edit the audio, which featured Julien and Private's playlists, but he managed to extract the original file and delete it off the school system. He sent it off to the agents who would take it from there.
"Just how did they know to ramp it up like that?" Kowalski wondered aloud in HQ one day.
The team waited for him to explain.
"It doesn't make sense. It started out in a few classrooms in our school and the elementary school and went on for a month, then all of the sudden you take Julien's music player and get better sleep. Better sleep led to better focus on the brainwashing video. Then there was the plan. They activated certain sleeper agents, myself being one of them. But why didn't you get activated, Skipper? Or Julien or Private?"
"Julien barely pays attention to anything, so I get that." Skipper said. "But it had been a few weeks after I took his MP3 before the mission."
"Remember sometime last year when we thought there was a spy in our school? What if they said something and that's why they were trying to brainwash us?"
"It couldn't be Julien, could it? I'd blame Hans or Savio, but they were just as hypnotized."
"Skipper, he made everyone except Alice aware of you taking his MP3. It was obvious by him glaring at you and then he loudly begged for it back."
"Point taken. He did help us and said he wouldn't ask questions, which is weird for him."
"He thinks we're trying to be teen detectives." Private said. "I asked him yesterday and he said he thought the punishment for telling was death. I didn't bother to correct him." The youngest smiled cheekily.
"Sneaky and smart, Private… I'm so proud." Kowalski said.
Private turned pink and mumbled something about the weather.
"My turn!" Rico said excitedly. "Teach…um…hmm…" He thought about it.
"Don't worry, you got a lot to teach us eventually." Skipper said. "Though one thing I'll never understand is that backpack space. It's not even one of those big camping bags, it's a hiking backpack, but even those don't have the weird space yours does. It's like cartoon or videogame logic."
"Not even my logic can define it, Skipper." Kowalski said.
Rico burst out laughing. The others joined.
…
Allie Carson came to them the week of finals to tell Private her secret that she promised to tell. He'd forgotten she was the last one. She also still felt bad about Skipper's injuries even though he assured her that she was in no way to blame.
She told them that she had just let Kenny and Barry know and that Ramona technically already knew. Kowalski surprised them by saying he knew. They forgot he literally worked in the front office sometimes and looked up some files.
He mostly wanted to see if there was any connection with Allie and Zander, but there hadn't been any. He did find out she and Doris were half-sisters, sharing the same mother whose maiden surname was Douglas.
When asked why Allie was so reluctant to say so when she seemed to get along with the older teen, the younger said she didn't want people to compare them. Doris, being older and more popular, made her feel she wasn't good enough should anyone find out.
"Out of curiosity, do you know why her father adopted your mother's maiden surname even after the divorce?" Kowalski asked.
"No." Allie avoided eye contact. She said she was going to study in Ramona's room and left.
"Something's up with her." Skipper said.
Private bit his lip. "Skipper, surely you're not suggesting Allie had something to do with this, are you?"
"You tell me, does Allie care about popularity?"
"Well, no. But I suppose she still feels awkward at least. I mean Doris is a cheerleader and guys like her." Private indicated Kowalski who blushed.
"She gave me the 'let's be friends' talk a few days ago." Kowalski mumbled dejectedly.
"That's rough, buddy." Skipper said. "Chin up, at least she's still willing to be friends with you."
"Yeah, I'll take that."
"Back to Allie. Did you tell her much besides the day of the plan?" Skipper turned back to Private.
Private thought about it. "Well, we told her why Julien was mad. She doesn't live in the apartments, remember? Once Barry found out, he insisted we had to tell Allie."
"I doubt she's the only one outside the apartments to know." Kowalski said.
"Doesn't mean she's not a suspect." Skipper said. Private frowned. Skipper felt bad. "I meant just because she doesn't show outwardly her feelings on popularity, doesn't mean she's lying. I'm just saying she's acting very odd. Maybe family's just a touchy subject sometimes."
Private looked thoughtful. Something sounded familiar. But then it was gone.
"I swear I had something I was thinking about, but I forgot it. Sorry." Private said.
"No worries, kid. Let's get back to studying. Marlene said she doesn't trust my study schedule even though I'm not focused on a girl." Skipper said.
…
Skipper accompanied Kowalski and Kenny to Jeffery's apartment for Christmas Eve. They had a silent, but pleasant time. Jeffery and Skipper made small talk, trying to include the brothers. Kowalski did his best, but Kenny was absolutely terrified to say anything.
On Christmas Day, Skipper invited Jeffery, Kenny, and Kowalski to his house. When questioned by his teammate on where his brother Toby was, Skipper said his second eldest brother had gone on a mission. Of course, this question was asked away from Jeffery. They didn't want him to worry about his cousin even more.
The four of them arrived at the apartments at the end of break to find Alice in a huff. She had neglected to tell certain rooms to get ready for the new arrivals so everyone was in chaos.
Kowalski reminded his team that the study program was this upcoming semester and now they only had days to prepare. Luckily the Penguins didn't have to do much, not that Skipper could while still recovering.
…
It turned out that fifteen new students came in the second semester, most of them looking at colleges in the area or close enough to New York that they could get a sense of how the city was. These students were given rooms in the apartments, much to Alice's dismay. Since most of the rooms were full, Alice had to rearrange the rooms that were not quite full. She bent the rules a little by letting a group of five boys in one of the empty rooms and a group of five girls in the other.
The two girls who were left had decided to split into two different rooms. One of them, a senior, went into a room shared by Rikki, Rocky, and another senior. The second girl, a sophomore, didn't mind where she was placed and Alice gave her a room that Marlene, Nat, and Hunter shared. The three remaining boys were all seniors and pretty serious about their studies, they had requested their own room.
Since Leonard had his parents take him out of school due to the events of the previous year, Izzy had a room to himself while Barry and Kenny had shared the other. The noisy boys of room 4Q also had three in their room since Maurice graduated. However, Julien refused to point blank to give up his room, and Alice played favorites, the other room was required to move.
Barry complained, but was quickly shut down by Alice. Expressing his frustration with sighs and grumbles, he packed his things and hauled them, with the help of his friends, up to 4Q. Skipper made Julien accept this since he'd already refused to leave.
Kenny brought his things down to the Belmonte boys' rooms. Ramona's brothers shared their room on the second floor with an eighth grader, but all of them were more than happy to accept Kenny. Izzy, meanwhile, was placed elsewhere on the third floor and wouldn't tell them who his roommates were.
…
"Ugh, I do not get it." Julien complained a week later as he headed towards the elevators with Mort next to him. He spotted the Penguins and new roommate, Barry. "Are you really okay with this?" He sighed.
"Rooming with you, barely. Having to move my room mid-year, no." Barry said. Izzy met them when they stopped on the second floor for Kenny. He'd gone down to see how the younger teen was doing.
"I see the appeal of wanting to come to New York, for whatever reason everyone has." Kowalski said. "However, it is rather inconvenient to move students in the middle of the year like this. Wow, this is a large group." He looked around at the nine of them as they got off the elevator in the lobby.
"That is what I am saying! Why do these stupidy people have to come and be all like 'oh hey, I'm gonna come take over the room here' and then I'm like 'no, I like my room to myself' and then they go like 'well, I don't care, we're stupidy peoples and we need to do stuff' and then I-mmph!" Skipper had slapped a hand over Julien's mouth.
They had rounded the corner to find Marlene, Nat, Hunter, and their new roommate standing there.
Marlene and Hunter were shaking their heads at Julien, Nat's eyebrows were raised and the fourth girl was looking at him with a hurt expression. Skipper lowered his hand.
"I forgot to mention, Julien says stuff off the top of his head without thought and a lot of it is garbage." Nat said.
Usually, Julien would have said 'hurtful', 'ouch', or something along those lines, but he couldn't find the words to speak.
"I like to get to know someone before passing judgement." The girl said.
"Sorry about that." Skipper said. "I'm Skipper, by the way. This is Kowalski, Rico, Private, Barry, Julien, Mort, Kenny, and Izzy." He pointed to each one as he said a name and they waved, except for Julien. "I'm going to hazard a guess at you knowing these three ladies already."
"Yep, I'm Josephine, most call me Josie." The girl said. "Nice to meet y'all."
A/N: Happy, Julien?
Julien: YES! More me, more- wait Josie? Like, my Josie from the other story I can't pronounce?
Camaraderie. Yes, Julien.
Julien: My excitement has increased!
This is still a penguins story, mostly about the four boys.
Julien: Yeah yeah, whatevers. As long as I am in it being awesome
Skipper: Who let you in the author's notes?
Private: Sorry, I left the door open.
Kowalski: We should probably stop here before Julien spoils either story.
Rico: See ya!