"Skippah!" Private exclaims, "What happened to you?!"
"What, what, spit it out!" Skipper demands. Kowalski limps over, keeping his weight off the foot that had yet to be treated- not that he was concerned about it now, Skipper was far worse.
"Brahe's Boxers, you look terrible!" He says, cautiously poking and prodding at Skipper. "You look like you'd taken that explosion head on!" He motions for Private to come closer with the flash light, and Skipper sees Private grimace as he does.
"Goodness! Cuts, bruises, burns, swelling, and I'm almost positive there's some broken bones-"
"Well that explains a lot but that's not my concern." Skipper says, "What about the mutation?"
"Skipper, I hardly think that's our more pressing matter-"
"I don't want anything surprising me," Skipper says sternly, "this night is a wreck enough as it is, now I demand to know my mutation!"
Kowalski gives a defeated huff. As long as they could address Skipper's injuries when he was done, then he suppose they could ignore them a moment longer. It's been a couple of hours by now anyway.
"I... I don't know." Kowalski says, examining Skipper, "I can't really see, everything appears normal. Private, Rico, come help me."
Skipper couldn't help but feel a little awkward with the three of them poking and prodding at him.
"Oh dear, I was hoping these would all just be physical mutations as that's what the Molecular Organizer effects; I do hope no mental ones slipped through- or internal physical mutations for that matter. That could cause serious problems." Kowalski says, worried.
"Oh, I found it!" Private says, the points to Skippers head. "Look! Feathers!"
"Fascinating," Kowalski and Rico look to where Private was pointing. "Feathers mixed with mammalian hair. I'll confess, I was hoping this mutation would supply some sort of insight into your personality, Skipper, but I'm just as baffled as ever. I'm not sure what could cause this one."
"As it should be." Skipper says, nudging the three away from him, now that he'd gotten that out of the way.
"Skipper, now that we've gotten that covered, we really need to address these injuries, some of them could be quite serious." Kowalski insists.
"I'm fine-"
"You most certainly are not- uh, sir..." Kowalski clears his through. "I think we've all learned our lesson after that broken flipper, Skipper."
"Skippah, I think we need to get you to a doctor." Private says with concern.
"Absolutely not."
"But-"
"Actually, Private, this time Skipper is correct." Kowalski interrupts. "Unfortunately. Humans operate on a complex system. We have no money and no identity..." Rico cracks his knuckles.
"Looks like we're going to have to take care of this one ourselves!"
"I am not going to get used to that." Skipper says, taking a step back.
"Ah, ah, Rico I'm afraid we don't have the proper supplies. Or knowledge for that matter, though I'm sure I could make due."
"That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence."
"The point is that we don't have the proper medical supplies or a sterile place to work. and for that, we need money."
"Can't we just get it like we normally do?" Private asks.
"Negatory." Skipper says. "We're far more noticeable now. Kowalski, how much could we make selling some weaponry?" Rico's eyebrows go up.
"Wait what?"
"None I'm afraid, Skipper, humans don't take too kindly to weapons. We'd be more likely to be jailed than profitable."
Rico sighs with relief.
They all pause to think. They had to find ways to earn money, Skipper was obviously in terrible condition. Not life threatening it seemed, but urgent none the less. And if left untreated it could escalate into worse.
"Mhm... Well. Do you feel abnormally tired, at all, Skipper?" Kowalski asks.
"Less so than you three I'm sure." Skipper says, crossing his arms, and Kowalski just nods.
"Very well. I have an idea but we won't be able to put it into effect until morning when the people are about." They were the ones who had money after all. "If... that's okay."
Skipper nods. "Very well, then. Men, let's turn in for the night. We'll take shifts keeping watch; I'll take first watch."
"But Skippah, you're the one who needs rest."
"If I take first watch, Private, then it means I can sleep uninterrupted until morning." Skipper says matter of factly, and Private taps his chin in thought.
"Oh... Okay then~"
All of them settle down for the night- after treating Kowalski's foot- rather uncomfortably. The ground was still wet, and for penguins who were used to the fat that they no longer had, it was quite cold. But they'd dealt with worse.
Skipper sat up late into the night, much longer than his shift should have been. But he found himself far too anxious to sleep. Something had happened to him and his team and none of them could remember exactly what. While it could have been a simple Kowalski disaster as usual, his paranoia told him otherwise.
That, and he was concerned for the other zoo inhabitants. They'd left so quickly in a panic, none of them had even thought of the rest of the zoo, and he couldn't help but kick himself over and over now for it. He'd certainly never forgive himself if something had happened and his team had just abandoned the place, but he couldn't go now. His boys have had a long night and needed their rest.
As if the universe had heard his concerns, Kowalski suddenly woke with a start, breathing heavily in a panic. He spots Skipper looking at him with mild concern.
"Uh," He huffs, "Sorry Skipper, just a bad dream... It appears some memories are trying to break through."
Skipper nods with a small grunt, understanding, and Kowalski shakes his head.
"Nothing to shed light on our situation, though, I'm afraid." Just the feeling of fear.
"I'm sure we'll figure it out." Skipper says. "Kowalski, I want you to take the next watch. I've got business I need to attend to."
"Business, sir?"
"I'm making a run back to the zoo." Skipper says gesturing. "We might have acted a little too quickly. Or at least I want to be sure."
"I'll come with you." Kowalski says with a nod.
"No. You three need your rest and someone has to keep an eye out for these two while they're sleeping."
"Ah, but, with all due respect you know the credo. Never swim al-"
"Kowalski, don't argue with me."
"I'm afraid it's necessary. You're contradicting the one rule you teach us, and you're in no condition to be doing this in the first place. I'm respecting your authority by not waking the other two so that they can side with me."
Skipper just looks at Kowalski unamused, and Kowalski half smiles glancing at Skipper from the corner of his eye. He knew he'd won.
"Alright, alright." Skipper sighs. "Wake Rico up I guess. We'll just have to be quick about it, there's still a little night left."
Kowalski nods and heads over to wake Rico up. Rico's eyes snap open with a little nudging, and though he said nothing and appeared calm, the look in his eyes suggested he was having the same nightmares.
"Sorry Rico. We need you to take a shift. Skipper and I are running recon at the zoo to make sure things are okay."
Rico grunts and sits up- then remembering he can speak, "Alright. Private still sleeping?"
"Yeah, we're going to try and be quick so you can get back to sleep." Kowalski pauses. "Remember anything important...?" Rico shakes his head.
"Naw. Jumbles of things."
"I thought as much." Kowalski stands up again, brushing himself off and extends a hand to help Rico up. "We'll be back soon."
Kowalski and Skipper head out. The zoo wasn't far, so with luck they'd be back within the hour. That accounted for the walk there and back and scanning the entire zoo in stealth to be sure all was well.
Kowalski glances at Skipper.
"When we get back we are forcing you to get some rest."