The Throne of Flame: Chapter Ten

Skipper bolted into the main control room, only to be greeted with utter chaos. Which, respectively, he didn't mind. The only time it was something he couldn't stand was when it interfered with a mission - as it was at that very moment. Aside from the ship rapidly trembling, the now red lights turning off and on, and the alarms blaring at top volume, Kowalski and Private were slamming down on multiple buttons and controls furiously. To make matters worse, they were in the midst of a heated argument. Which was odd, considering how often the two of them ever got into so much as a debate. AKA, never.

"Darn it Private, I said it was too soon for this! I told you it was!" Kowalski snapped as he yanked a lever, and the submarine shuddered, causing the three penguins to shift to the side slightly as the ship tilted.

"You knew I didn't want to go through with it, Kowalksi!" Private countered, his flippers going over multiple buttons - it seemed as though he didn't actually have any idea what he was pressing, but instead was acting upon panic. "I thought the whole idea was a rotten one, I just wanted to get it over with!"

"Well, maybe you should've stuck to the plan! Now look at the mess we have to clean up!" The scientist hissed out, boiling with anger.

Skipper hadn't the faintest clue of what they were bickering about, but he knew it needed to stop asap. They couldn't afford an argument at a time like this.

"Boys, explain what the doozy is going on here!" He demanded, voice stern.

They turned to him both in surprise, before exchanging a glance. It was clear that they hadn't known he'd entered the room. Immediately, they dropped any crossness they'd had towards each other. Kowalski went back to the controls, his expression fading into blankness, working with purpose while Private looked almost slightly relieved to be away from the machiinery. Even so, he was apprehensive to face Skipper, reluctantly tapping his flippers together in a sheepish manner. Neither of them seemed to be keen on answering Skipper's question.

Skipper grew impatient. "Well?"

"Ah, well, Skipper… You see, the ship is flooding." Private admit timidly, offering a meager smile.

As if on cue, a bolt from the wall shot out of it's place, whizzing only centimeters away from Skipper's beak. In it's wake, water began to spurt out violently and without any intention of stopping. Skipper cursed under his breath and grabbed the bolt, before he got to work on tightening the leak. Not an easy task, considering how strong the water pressure was. With Private watching faintly and Kowalski working on controlling the ship, it was evident that Skipper needed an extra pair of flippers. Luckily, they had just the man for the job.

"Rico!" He called out.

The weapons expert poked his head out from the other room, dropping a cupcake platter he'd been holding for some reason or another, and saluting. Skipper pointed to the various leaks that were beginning to sprout from the wall. Nothing more was needed to be said. Nodding obediently, Rico heaved, before he regurgitated bolts and metal sheets like a machine gun. Dangerous, but effective, as each metallic object pierced and/or covered the leaking holes, closing them up. Skipper was thankful for Rico's seemingly perpetual usefulness. Crazy as he was, he never let Skipper down.

The leakage problem was solved after several moments. Sure, their floor was a little wet, but they could deal with that as long as their ship wasn't sinking as it almost had just moments ago. The alarms turned off at that, and the lights returned to normal. Well, the chaotic part was over with. Stepping back from where he'd been holding a bolt in place, Skipper glared at his men. Specifically, the two he viewed as responsible, who seemed uneasy under the hot eyes of their commander.

"Kowalski, explain how this happened." He growled.

Kowalski and Private explained yet another surreptitious glance, before the scientist shrugged pathetically and scratched his head. "Uh - a structural malfunction, sir?"

Skipper stared at him for a moment, his glare only seeming to harden further as he examined his second in command. It seemed like Kowalski and Private were hiding something from him - a feeling he didn't like. The two of them almost never did such a thing, which made it all the more discontenting. Upon further glowering, he came to the conclusion that they were probably only embarrassed over having been careless enough to make such an enormous mistake like almost letting the ship flood, and didn't want to go into detail on the matter. As long as they weren't conspiring for mutiny, he wouldn't dig too far into it.

"Don't. Let it. Happen. Again." He seethed, satisfied yet still thoroughly annoyed, before he leaned in to accentuate his firmness. "Understand, soldier?"

Kowalski nodded, stepping back with a meek expression. "Un- understood, Skipper."

"Good." The commander confirmed. "Now, let's get this mess cleaned up. We've got a schedule to-"

"SKIPPER!" Julien barged in, eyes wide with terror.

Skipper turned to see the king, holding his arm - which, on further inspection, was damp with crimson. Blood, to be specific. Julien looked mortified as he stumbled closer. Maurice was right behind him, looking just as concerned as he fidgeted, twisting his own tail.

"Navy Jones!" Skipper exclaimed (Rico immediately covered Private's ears so that he wouldn't hear the curse), rushing over. "What in the name of smoked salmon happened, ringtail?"

Skipper bent and lifted Julien's quivering hand to peek under for a damage report. His suspicions were confirmed; the large gash wasn't too deep, thankfully not deep enough that it pierced anything vital. In fact, despite the amount of blood pouring out, it was mostly superficial. It only needed to be put under pressure and it would be fine in no time. He couldn't imagine it not hurting, though, at least at that moment in time. Once Julien calmed down, however, he was sure the lemur would forget about the cut altogether.

"I-I was attacked," Julien breathed heavily, clearly on the verge of a panic attack. "When the ship got all confused with its loud noises and lights, someone attacked me!"

Skipper looked back up to him, and before he could stop himself, he had a flipper stroking down Julien's side to calm the lemur. It worked, as Julien's breath evened out. His fingers tightened around Skipper's wing, which came as a mild surprise - Skipper had forgotten he was holding Julien's hand to begin with. He didn't let go.

Their eyes locked for a moment or so, and the emotion of relaxation was translated. Julien's gaze was soft and almost sad, and Skipper felt an urge stronger than he could have imagined - the compelling need to comfort Julien, to protect him. Not only because he felt obligated, or because Julien was a sense of normalcy in Skipper's crazy world, but because he genuinely wanted Julien to be safe. He found himself tilting his head, wanting to convey this, only for Maurice to pipe up and interrupt the moment they were sharing.

"That's right," the aye-aye said, his tone showing that he was very aware he'd cut into a personal moment. "When… When it got dark, there was this trap that went off, and a hook came and cut open his arm!"

"Oh my," Private keened. "The sight of blood makes me a bit… Woozy…" With that said, the smaller penguin hid himself behind Kowalski, who patted his back - all turmoil seemingly forgotten.

"Relax, young Private." Skipper ordered. "It's not a serious wound. It missed any vital targets, thank Rockgut. All it needs is to be bandaged up."

Julien seemed to relax entirely at this, and he nodded somberly. His eyes connected with Skipper's once more, and for a moment, Skipper himself shared the relief the lemur felt. It was hard not to feel in tune with him, when his intense eyes seemed to mellow out in the way they did. Once again, it almost seemed as Julien was leaning forth, and Skipper was so caught up in the moment that he didn't even notice when Kowalski looked between his leader and the king with a suspicious glance.

Kowalski stepped forth. "Uh… Yeah. All right. I could-"

"No," Skipper winced at the volume of his own voice, before he quieted it down and cleared his throat. "Sorry Kowalski, but I need you here at the wheel. As long as nothing compromising happens again," he shot an accusatory glance at Kowalski, who shrunk back, "I don't exactly feel comfortable leaving ringtail out of my sight. I'll be medic this time around, soldier."

Kowalski seemed taken back, opening his mouth to object at first. When he caught the look of determination on his captain's face, however, he nodded with a mute sigh and turned back to manning the vessel. Private sent them one last glance of curiosity before he too got to work. Rico, seemingly oblivious to any tension, hacked up some standard first aid bandages and alcohol wipes. Skipper took them with a thankful nod, before he turned to Maurice. The aye-aye was staring at him expectantly.

"Maurice, you'll stay here with my men to make sure they behave." He rose a brow at Kowalski, who groaned softly in evident embarrassment. They all knew Skipper had a tendency to not let things like that go.

Maurice's eyes widened, and he almost sputtered out a response of his own, but before he could so much as get the first syllable out, Skipper was already leading Julien out of the room and into the one the king and his advisor had been in prior. He caught one last mutter of disapproval from Maurice before they were out of earshot, one Skipper regarded with a peeved huff. He had to learn that he couldn't have the king all to himself, especially when he couldn't protect him. Even after swearing to just before the alarms went off, he'd managed to allow Julien to be hurt again.

In Skipper's book, that was unacceptable. He didn't exactly want to be mad at Maurice, but he couldn't quench the feeling as it rose within him. Not keeping your word the first time was one thing. Promising again and then failing right after that? That was just plain carelessness.

Julien seated himself on the floor when they entered, obviously exhausted. His stare was trained on the penguin commando, but Skipper's eyes were focused on something else. He saw the hook that Maurice had mentioned, lying on the floor. The tip of it had been coated in blood.

Something was off. It didn't look like it had been attached to anything, so Skipper had difficulty seeing how it could have been a trap. To make matters more frustrating, it was only luck that Julien was still alive. Had it hit Julien a little more to the left, and with a bit more force, it could have easily taken the king out, a thought that made Skipper shiver with discomfort. He was lucky that the one time he chose to be careless by letting Julien out of his sight was the time that the assassin messed up.

Skipper stepped forth to examine the hook. It wasn't something that he recalled bringing on the ship with him, but he supposed one of the others could have thought it useful for one reason or another and kept it. How it got there was one story, but how it came into motion was another. It couldn't have been a spring trap this time around, because there was no trigger in sight. Which meant the trap had to have been activated manually, wherever the rest of it was. The evidence pointed to a serious conclusion regardless.

Whoever wanted to kill Julien was on the ship with them.