Chapter Nineteen: Blowhole's Reveal

When Skipper finally came to, he was alone.

His head was throbbing with an ache mirrored by his back and shoulders. He groaned softly as he stretched and opened his eyes, but was only met with darkness. It took an extra handful of seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dim, practically non-existent lighting - he could tell that he was in a tunnel, probably underground. And judging by the grimy odor and heavy atmosphere, it wasn't just any underground tunnel. It was a sewer. With a grunt, he sat up and rubbed his pained forehead. How long had he been out?

It must've been awhile, if his sluggish demeanor was any indication. Luckily, he didn't have to look very far to realize that he wasn't alone at all. A few feet away laid Maurice, unmoving and face-down. Skipper immediately stumbled over and checked his pulse. He sighed in relief when he felt that Maurice was clearly alive, just unconscious, as Skipper had been mere moments ago. Glaring, he realized that they - him, Maurice, and most likely Kowalski, Rico, Private, and Julien - had been knocked out by sleeping gas. Non-lethal, but only because whoever did it wanted to keep them alive. He'd been naive not to listen to Julien's warning immediately.

Skipper himself didn't have any injuries, aside from a sore back and a kink in his neck - and there was what looked like a small gash in his leg -, which could hardly be considered more than an inconvenience. Nothing he couldn't just ignore. He examined his unconscious companion; at first, nothing was out of the ordinary, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was something strapped to his chest. Skipper cursed himself for not having noticed it right away.

He pulled it off of it's velcro holding and discovered that it was a tape recorder. Skipper frowned as he felt over it - it was still intact, thankfully. So that was why they were kept alive - for the purpose of some sort of sick taunting. He quickly pressed the play button, and was alarmed at what he heard. Not that he honestly should've been, all considered.

"Hello Skipper, it's good to see that you've been well." The smug, prerecorded voice came out.

"Blowhole," Skipper snapped viciously. "That fiend - I should have known!"

"Yes, yes, I know, you're so very happy to hear from me again." Blowhole chuckled, having known that Skipper would've reacted the way that he did. "I can only imagine the look on your face right now!"

Skipper rolled his eyes, hoping Blowhole would get to the point already.

"By now I'm sure you know that I was behind all of this." Blowhole practically boasted. "But believe it or not, you were a very important part of my plan… And you played your part very well, Skipper."

Skipper glared at the tape as if it were Francis Blowhole himself, snarling mentally. What devious trap had he fallen into?

"Really, don't tell me you thought it was a coincidence that you and I were both involved in this incident! How could you be so thick? Anyway," he drawled. "As I said, you did your part perfectly. It was Julien who screwed up."

The way he spat Julien's name with such malice made Skipper's scowl deepen. Great - another reason to hate Blowhole.

Blowhole went on. "The original plan was to have you 'accidentally' uncover that Julien was behind Clemson's murder, leaving Parker off the hook and out of jail... Only for Julien to later be proven completely innocent. Too late, though, because Julien would have been killed by another inmate. To think, a misunderstood, innocent man was sent to prison and then murdered, all because some nosy private investigators couldn't do their job right! Of course, this would put Penguin Eyes out of business for good."

Skipper gasped and growled, narrowing his eyes. So that was Dr. Blowhole's game! He knew that he had some sort of ulterior motive, something to benefit himself - he always did. He would never go out of his way to willingly help someone else, let alone someone like Clemson Gidro. Skipper had to resist smashing the voice recording before it finished; he would have punched Blowhole right in his mechanical eye if that heinous villain was present at the moment. The fact that he, Clemson, and Parker had so carefully planned for his downfall was infuriating beyond all belief. How dare he? Skipper had tried his best to not interact with him for the last several years, couldn't Blowhole just let his insubordination go?

Their rivalry hadn't even been that extreme. It wasn't like Skipper had been as at odds with Blowhole as Nigel had, or even Hans for that matter. Hans hated Blowhole, but that was mostly because Nigel had made Hans work for him on certain missions when Nigel wanted Skipper for his own missions. Hans would constantly complain about Blowhole's overbearing behavior and sometimes relentless cruelty. Hans was also part of the reason Blowhole was relinquished of most of his power. After Hans and an entire cruise ship disappeared on one of Blowhole's missions, the CIA wasn't particularly happy. He lost a lot of his privilege, and then he wasn't given much liberty but to command his red officers around. The CIA honestly only kept him because he'd been around for so long, but they treated him as if he didn't exist.

But then, maybe that was part of it. Maybe Blowhole was still bitter about having lost his privileges, and since he couldn't take it out on Hans, he wanted to take it out on the next closest thing. The only remaining remnant of Hans' life: Skipper.

Luckily, Blowhole had a knack for dramatic pauses, which had been enough time for Skipper to contemplate as much as he did.

"But like I said, Julien just had to ruin everything. I knew that idiotic loudmouth couldn't keep the plan to himself. Of course he didn't want to go to prison, and Clemson was dumb enough to think that threatening Maurice's life would be enough to stop Julien from opening his mouth. Apparently he didn't realize that Julien's just as selfish as he is stupid, so of course, Julien told you what was happening in hopes that he could save himself. Foolish… As if we wouldn't find out!" Blowhole continued his tangent, sounding both exasperated and prideful.

Skipper really wished, right then, that Blowhole was telling him this in person, so that he could strangle the corrupt police chief for slandering Julien with such awful lies. Julien, idiotic? Selfish? Stupid? Francis Blowhole was the one who...

"Lucky for me, I had a back-up plan." Blowhole went on, interrupting Skipper's furious thoughts. "Since Julien was a blabbermouth and told you all what was really going on, I thought, what better way to fix up his mess than to just kill him and blame you for his murder altogether? Saves me a lot of trouble, don't you think? That way I won't have to worry about Parker or Clemson… And you'll be behind bars before you know it."

Dr. Blowhole cackled eerily as Skipper drew in a sharp breath. He glanced around quickly - as he'd concluded before, it was just him and Maurice in sight. He was a bit less worried about his brothers, because he knew that they could handle themselves in most situations, but Julien… Julien was Blowhole's target (or rather, Skipper was, and Blowhole was going to get to Skipper through Julien). Which meant that Blowhole and Clemson most likely were in possession of Julien at that very moment. For all he knew, Julien could already be dead.

"Skipper, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity. It wraps everything up quite nicely, doesn't it?" Blowhole taunted him with foul mirth. "With you, Kowalski, Rico and Private out of the picture, Nigel will be devastated enough that he'll step down from his job, which means that I can finally get mine back… And then there won't be anything to stop me from taking down the Red Squirrel for myself. Au revoir, Skipper!"

A resounding click concluded his dastardly reveal.

Skipper's eyes narrowed as the recording ended. So that was the brunt of Blowhole's angle… Revenge against Skipper, Hans, and Nigel, getting back his job, and getting the glory of taking down American enemy number one: the Red Squirrel. The only enemy that Buck Rockgut himself couldn't take out. Of course they were all selfish reasons. That was the only thing Blowhole understood; greed. And, as apparent through his convoluted plot, he'd do anything he could to get what he wanted. No matter who he destroyed.

The only question that left him with was, why did it take Blowhole so long to go through with this? Why did he wait eleven years to go through with this plan?

Even though Clemson's turmoil was the foundation for his ploy, he could have found another way to enact his immoral, vindictive scheme. Why wait? Was it dramaticism, or was it something more? Skipper knew Blowhole was crafty and theatrical, but he was also impatient. Which one outweighed the other?

Suddenly, he heard a soft beeping sound. He squinted, and sure enough, there was a little red light coming from the tape recorder. His eyes widened and quickly, he threw the bombed device into the sewage, where it promptly detonated. He pulled himself and Maurice back just in time to miss the spray. Well, there went all the evidence of Blowhole's involvement in this plot… Of course he wouldn't simply leave behind a taped confession. He was dramatic, not stupid.

"What in the queen's name was that?" He heard the distant voice of Private exclaim.

"I don't know," an equally far Kowalski replied. "Let's go check it out. Rico, stop digging through that trash, come on!"

Skipper was relieved to know his men weren't too far away, at least within the reachable vicinity. One (or rather three) less things to worry about. He would have gotten up to meet them halfway, but beneath him, Maurice groaned into consciousness. Skipper stared down in alarm and helped the process by shaking him slightly. Maurice sluggishly swatted away his hands.

"Maurice?" He questioned cautiously. "Are you awake?"

"I am now," Maurice's responded groggily, before shifting out of Skipper's arms and sitting up. He rubbed the side of his no-doubt aching head and scrutinized Skipper. "What was that bang? And…" He cast a glance around. "Where are we?"

Skipper frowned grimly. "We're in the sewer system, hopefully still beneath New York. That explosion you heard? A now-gone voice recording that Dr. Blowhole left me, that no-good, scheming…-"

"Dr. Blowhole?" Maurice echoed, blank for a moment before he recognized what was going on. "He - he put us in the sewer?"

"Affirmative." Skipper grunted. "Probably just to rub salt in the wounds."

Maurice's eyes darted around frantically as he realized what Skipper was getting at. "Where's Julien?"

Skipper stood up and faced the direction he'd heard his brothers, still just as solemn. "Hopefully still alive. Blowhole said he wants to kill Julien and then frame me and my boys for the murder - or maybe just me, he wasn't really too clear - to put Penguin Eyes out of business for good and ruin my reputation. Maybe put me in prison, too. Which means we have to move now if we want to save him."

"Skipper?" Kowalski's call echoed down the tunnels, his silhouette emerging on the other end. "Is that you?"

"Yes!" Skipper shouted back. "I have Maurice with me!"

He went to approach them, but Maurice stood and held onto his shoulder. Skipper sent him a slight glare. "Did you miss the part about us moving now?"

"Skipper," Maurice spoke dryly, seeming anxious and troubled. "I…"

"What?" Skipper demanded. They were short on time, and he wanted to do whatever he could to save Julien.

Maurice's steady gaze turned almost cold.

"I know about Hans."