The Throne of Flame: Chapter Twenty Six
Shortfuse was practically leering behind the scope of the rocket launcher while Eva remained indifferent. Shortfuse's flippers tightened around the trigger, and Julien's hand clenched around his wing. If they didn't act fast, they would be dead in a matter of seconds, but Skipper had been so close to death moments before that he wasn't about to let his safety go to waste. He was just about to turn to Kowalski for options, but he didn't get the chance - not before Eva and Shortfuse were stopped in another way.
"What in the hell are you doing?!" Classified's voice rang out, slicing through the atmosphere like a knife.
The husky landed on the branch with his North Wind members, along with Corporal and Clover. The three of them looked livid and very much so scruffed up. Definitely post-battle, but Skipper couldn't imagine who they'd have fought. He wished he'd been there - a good fist fight would do him good. On the other hand, Skipper had never been more happy to see Classified in his entire life.
"Boss!" Shortfuse exclaimed in surprise, jumping back from his cannon. "Uh-"
"Explain, now." Classified demanded, his voice short and low in a growl.
A moment of silence passed, and Classified took a step forward, his expression becoming altogether threatening. His paw inched menacingly towards the gun on his belt. Though he was most likely bluffing with it's mere presence, his team knew better than to toy with his temper. The two assassins shared a look, but they knew that the gig was up. They'd have to come clean - there was no way to salvage the situation for the two of them.
Reluctantly, Shortfuse seemed to deflate. "...Me and Eva took up a mercenary job. It was supposed to be a quick, secret job to get rid of King Julien XIII, and then collect five million from the guy who hired us."
"Five million dollars for King Julien?" Private sounded incredulous, but one nasty glance from Kowalski shut him up.
"How dare you…" Classified snarled, his eyes burning with rage. He had half a mind to backhand his soldier, and would have, if not for the fact that Shortfuse was still a minor. "You went behind my back for an assassination job? Do you realize how many rules that violates?! And on top of that, you continued on even when we took up the mission of stopping exactly what you were doing?!"
Clover was not so kind. She launched forward and just about punched Shortfuse, but before she could, Eva swooped forth and stopped her arm with her talons. She looked between them, growing concerned and protective.
"Eva, I've always respected you, but I won't hesitate to rip out your talons if you don't let go." She ground out in a heavy malice.
"We didn't mean for it to get like this," she attempted to appeal, her voice for once showing sincere emotion. "I know that what we were doing was wrong, but please reconsider hurting Shortfuse. He's still only a pup."
Eva fluttered backwards, letting Clover ease up. The lemur was not at all pleased, but she allowed it with a begrudging glare in Eva's direction. Shortfuse looked horrified by it all - normally he'd object to being an exception to anything due to his age, but for once, he let it slide, being that it was in his favor. He sent Eva a grateful glance before he ran a flipper over his face. Meanwhile, Corporal began to cry softly.
"Why would you do this?" The polar bear asked, sniveling.
"Corporal, it was five million dollars!" Shortfuse explained, his tone full of woe. "We… We need a way to replace a lot of the things that get destroyed from your… Habits."
Corporal buried his face into his paws, and Clover patted him on the leg gently. She was staring down the two assassins with such intense hatred that it almost physically pained them. If looks could kill…
"I gave you my trust!" Classified yelled - Eva and Shortfuse shrank backwards against his wrath. "You gave me your word, your oath, that you would only try to help others! You've compromised this team, you've endangered civilians, and for what?! Money?!"
Shortfuse looked about ready to cry and Eva, despite her normally stony cold demeanor, seemed just as regretful. The two of them turned away in shame. Kowalski was cringing beside Skipper - he'd once had a thing for Eva, so to have seen that she wasn't the perfect woman he'd thought she was certainly wasn't pleasant for him. Rico, who most likely noticed this, patted his shoulder in solace.
Skipper chanced a look in Julien's direction. The lemur king was stoic, now having recovered his mask of professional strength in apathy. He looked upon Eva and Shortfuse with his chin raised, no doubt as a subtle approach at superiority. His leg was bent in the back so that his ankle didn't touch the ground, and only then did Skipper even notice that the king was leaning on him for support.
He wrapped his flipper around Julien's side and squeezed to show that the two of them were safe now, that they didn't have to concern themselves with getting shot by a rocket or falling to their deaths, but Julien didn't openly react. All he did in response was flick his tail along Skipper's back, blinking slowly. He obviously didn't agree, even if he was thankful for the support. Skipper understood; he knew that they weren't out of the woods yet, even if the two North Wind agents who'd been out for blood were apprehended. He could feel it, in his gut. There was still more to the situation, still more to uncover, still more to evade.
"Six assassins." Clover muttered. "At least six people were trying to kill Julien all at the same time."
"Seven, actually," Kowalski piped up. His expression fell into remorse briefly. "Counting me, Private, Rico, and Maurice, plus Shortfuse and Eva - and then there's whoever hired the two of them."
Skipper felt as though the entirety of the situation was bordering upon ridiculous, though he was still in awe of the fact that they were still somehow alive. At the beginning of the situation, he couldn't have imagined anyone trying to seriously assassinate King Julien. Oh how he had learned. Seven individuals out for the king's blood - and he hadn't taken the mission seriously, not at the beginning, even with his rampant paranoia. Sure, he'd known that Julien was in a dangerous position, but he hadn't factored in that it could result in something so convoluted.
"Who was it, then? Who hired you?" Classified growled. "If you help us locate them, I'll make sure your punishment won't involve the two of you being discharged from the North Wind altogether."
Eva heaved out a dismal sigh. "We never met him in person. He sent me a private message - I did try to trace it, but it led me nowhere. He didn't tell us much, but he did say that once Julien was confirmed dead, we'd receive our money."
"Yes, but who was it?" Julien urged, not at all perturbed by the fact that they were speaking of his death in the same breath.
"It was signed by a Dr. Blowhole." Shortfuse mumbled.
Skipper felt as though the branch collapsed beneath him and outright gasped. Recollecting himself from this staggering news, he could almost feel his blood pressure rising. What in all hell was going on?
"Blowhole!" He practically shouted. "He was in on this? What did he want with Julien's death?!"
"He never said, we never asked." Shortfuse seemed slightly alarmed. "You know him?"
"Bluhuh," Rico heaved for a moment before he hacked up a somewhat damp picture of a dolphin with a prosthetic eye, and showed it to the rest of them.
"Dr. Blowhole is penguin enemy number one." Kowalski explained, his tone wavering as he expressed just as much shock as Skipper. "He's never once shown any inclination towards the lemurs - I mean, yes, he did run into Julien once, but…"
The penguins shared a perplexed look, but Julien appeared deep in thought. He ran a hand over his forehead, shifting his crown, and he slumped down.
"I don't understand," he muttered, slightly vexed.
Neither did Skipper. Dr. Blowhole was a vengeful being, but he hadn't been interested enough in Julien to so much as remember his name - and though Julien certainly did screw up his well crafted evil scheme, he was sure that the evil dolphin would have blamed that on the penguins altogether. No, there was more to it than that. He raked his thoughts for a clue, but came up short. All he could do was grapple at the factual evidence that he did have.
Dr. Blowhole was rich. Very, very rich. This explained why he could spare five million dollars to the North Wind for killing King Julien, of course. Could it have to do with money? Julien's communist tactics certainly would affect the economy, but doubtfully on a global scale. In any case, why would Dr. Blowhole even know of lemur politics? One had to pay great attention to get an idea of what was going on.
He'd heard before, from Kowalski, that people kill for three reasons. Love, fear, and greed. He himself thought there were outlying factors, but Kowalski said that the only other thing might be a chemical imbalance, something biological.
Maurice had tried to kill Julien out of love - somehow, it had made sense to the internally conflicted lemur. His men generally followed orders out of obligation, but there was a fear factor involved. Never did they want to get on his bad side, so that could be attributed for why they'd act upon what they thought were his orders, no matter how morally incorrect... Eva and Shortfuse had attempted out of greed.
Dr. Blowhole had tried to kill the penguins, many times, and after figuring that he only had three options, Skipper could narrow his intentions down to greed. His greed for revenge, that was - an addictive rush that consumed him, fermented from his own traumas. But why Julien? What did Julien have to do with Dr. Blowhole? Where was the monetary benefit for Blowhole? What was Skipper missing from the situation?
"I've heard of Dr. Blowhole before - notorious billionaire who tries, frequently, to take over the world, and often fails. The North Wind did not spend much time on him. I couldn't have imagined him having been on this… Oh! That certainly does offer an explanation for the lobsters that attacked us." Classified cut in, almost clinical in tone.
"Lobsters? Wh… That fiend!" Skipper shot up. This at least meant Skipper could make sense of why Clover, Corporal, and Classified were post-battle upon arrival.
Kowalski's eyes narrowed as he processed the implications of this statement. "If his henchmen are here, that means he can't be far."
"Why would he be here himself, though?" Classified countered. "If he has two assassins, why come at all?"
"He's an enigma that even Kowalski has yet to crack." Skipper sighed and looked pointedly at his scientist, who rolled his eyes.
"I still don't understand why Blowhole would be wanting to kill me so much…" Julien's voice was disquieted and solemn, a sort of unfathomable confusion that caused them all to be silent.
As if on cue with Julien's sentiment, the fire crackled in the distance as a reminder of it's growing destruction. Before they could so much as fully comprehend that yes, it was spreading down to their area, a maniacal laughter tore through the night. The awful, heinous sound echoed through the branches as they all looked up.
Above them, amidst the flames, was the shadow of a very disheveled lemur, dark and sinister as he cackled. Evil radiated off of his entire being. In a moment of growing horror, the penguins and Julien all collectively recognized him.
"...Clemson?"
