Chapter 8 – Reunited (Skipper's Story)
It was yet another beautiful day at the Central Park Zoo. However, instead of spending the day outside like most of the other animals are, the penguins decided to spend some time doing surveillance.
Now, they weren't actually spying on the rest of the animals. The penguins remembered quite clearly how angry everyone got before Kowalski's Amnesia Spray came into the picture, and they didn't want to have to go through that again.
So, after Skipper carefully selected targets that he felt needed to be watched, Kowalski somehow managed to get into the security systems for each of them, and the team was split up to handle each target.
As Kowalski, Private and Rico kept watch, Skipper began pacing, anxiously waiting for any news of suspicious activity. When none came, he decided to take matters into his own hands, walking over to where Kowalski was at work.
"Kowalski, any suspicious activity from Hoboken?"
Kowalski turned his head around to face his commander.
"No sir. The animals are in plain sight, but none of them are doing anything suspicious."
Skipper opened his beak to reply, only to be interrupted by a thought Kowalski suddenly had.
"I do admit, though, that this would probably be due to the fact that there are still humans walking around the zoo."
Skipper paused, thinking about what Kowalski said.
"Good point. Make sure that you're watching whenever that blasted zoo closes."
"Will do, Skipper."
Kowalski saluted before returning to his surveillance.
Skipper, meanwhile, decided to check on Private next, walking over to where he was stationed.
"What about you, Private? Anything going on at Seaville?"
Private turned around to face Skipper before replying.
"Nothing yet, Skippah! I'm sure I'll find something eventually, though."
"Great work, Private! I like your attitude. They've got to be hiding something."
Private smiled before turning back around. Before Skipper could check on Rico, the young penguin suddenly cried out.
"Skippah! I found something!"
Skipper immediately turned back around and rushed to Private's station.
"What is it, Private? Is Blowhole planning something?"
"It's not Blowhole. I definitely think you should see this, though."
Private moved off to the side, allowing Skipper to man the controls of the camera. He couldn't find anything unusual at first, so he turned towards Private.
"Where is it? I don't see any weapons or anything."
Private walked over and pointed at two specks that were inside a large glass enclosure. Skipper squinted, unable to make out what they were.
"What, those two specks? They don't seem very important to me."
"Switch to another camera. You might be able to get a closer view." said Private.
Skipper did so, switching through each camera feed, before he finally found one that was closer to the enclosure.
"Oh look! It's more penguins!" said Private as he looked at the screen.
Skipper, meanwhile, was looking at the screen in bewilderment. He took a few seconds to collect himself before speaking.
"They're not just any old penguins, Private." said Skipper as he faced the young penguin.
By this point, Kowalski and Rico have abandoned their posts and walked over to where Skipper and Private were.
"What do you mean, Skippah? Do you know who they are?" asked Private.
Skipper sighed before replying.
"Yes…I do. I never thought that I would see them again, but those two are Manfredi and Johnson."
Private's beak dropped open, not expecting this kind of revelation. Rico, meanwhile, just stared blankly at Skipper.
"But Skippah, how are they still alive? I remember you telling me how they died multiple times!"
Before Skipper could answer, Kowalski nervously coughed. When Private looked at the analyst, Kowalski tried looking away, but his expression betrayed him.
"Wait, you knew too, K'walski?"
"Not immediately. Skipper mentioned those two to me once in passing."
Private waited to see if Kowalski would elaborate, but when he didn't, he decided to speak up.
"Well, why don't we go rescue them? With them here, Blowhole won't stand a chance next time he tries to do something!"
"What are you trying to say, Private? Are you telling me that the team that I put together isn't good enough to take on someone like Blowhole?" asked Skipper.
"Well, um…no. I'm just saying that bringing Manfredi and Johnson to the zoo would make our team that much better."
Skipper paused as he considered what Private was asking.
"Well, I suppose there's nothing wrong with giving it a shot. Team, we're heading off to Seaville!"
Private beamed once he realized that they were going to have two new teammates to work with. But as the four of them made their way towards the ladder, Kowalski leaned over to whisper in Skipper's ear.
"Skipper, are you sure you want to do this? You do remember why you guys parted ways in the first place, right?"
Skipper was well aware of that fact, but he waved it off.
"Nonsense, Kowalski. I'm a firm believer in second chances."
"I'm pretty sure that they're probably on their…"
Kowalski pulled out his abacus and quickly did some calculations.
"67th chance, at least at this point in time."
"Well, my point still stands, either way. Besides, they might just surprise me."
Kowalski sighed, but he decided not to argue as he followed the rest of the team out of the HQ.
A few hours later, the penguins arrived at Seaville, having taken the submarine. Before Kowalski could direct the sub to the surface, Skipper put a flipper on his shoulder, signaling for him to stop.
"I want to make sure that no one surprises us when we surface. Private, take a look through the periscope and see where we are."
Private saluted and jumped up, pulling the periscope down. Unfortunately, his short stature combined with the height the scope was at meant that the young penguin's feet didn't reach the ground.
"Um…can someone give me a hand here?"
Rico immediately rushed over and kneeled down under the periscope, allowing Private to stand on his back.
"Oh…thank you, Rico."
"S'alright." said the weapons expert as he held Private up.
Private finally took a look through the periscope, turning the scope around while being careful not to cause any strain to Rico.
"I don't see anything suspicious, Skippah."
"As I figured. They wouldn't be dumb enough to have a trap in plain sight. What about our targets, Private?"
Private spun the scope around once more as he looked for any signs of Manfredi and Johnson. Eventually, he spotted their enclosure, as he excitedly pointed his flipper towards their destination.
"It's over that way, Skippah!"
"Use your nautical terms, Private!"
"Oh, sorry. Targets off the port bow, Skippah!"
Skipper stared at Private for a second.
"What in the heck are you talking about, Private?"
"I believe that he is referring to the left side of the sub, Skipper." said Kowalski.
"Oh…of course. I knew that."
Skipper nervously coughed into his flipper before directing Kowalski to head to the left. Once he felt comfortable enough, he signaled to his second-in-command, who began surfacing as Private hopped off of Rico's back.
When they finally surfaced, the team immediately jumped out; ready for anything that would pop up. Nothing came, though, so Skipper signaled for them to move, and they jumped one by one off of the submarine, swimming their way over to the enclosure.
Manfredi and Johnson were busy trying to keep themselves entertained, considering they had nowhere to go. Manfredi was playing on his harmonica, while Johnson was bouncing a ball off of the side of the enclosure. Neither of them were paying attention to what was going on outside, so they both jumped when they heard knocking on the glass.
When they turned around, they were caught off guard when they saw four penguins standing right next to the glass.
"Hey Manfredi, isn't that…"
"Yeah, it is!"
The two of them rushed as quickly as they could to the side of the enclosure, considering their current states.
"Skipper, I can't believe it's really you!" said Manfredi.
"What are you guys doing here, anyway?" asked Johnson.
"We're going to break you guys out!"
The thick glass muffled Skipper's speech, so they were unable to understand what he was saying.
"What? Speak up! We can't hear you!" said Johnson.
Skipper rolled his eyes before placing his flippers around his beak to make him sound louder.
"I said we're going to get you guys out of here!" he yelled.
"Did you hear that, Manfredi?"
"I did! We can finally get out of this godforsaken place!"
While Manfredi and Johnson celebrated their impending freedom, Skipper went to work, using one of Kowalski's tools that allowed him to cut through the glass separating the team and the other two penguins.
"I don't like how quiet it is, Skipper." said Kowalski as he, Private and Rico stood guard.
"I know, Kowalski. There's nothing we can do about it, though."
Skipper finally cut through the glass, successfully pulling Manfredi and Johnson out of the enclosure. However, once the two penguins set foot on the ground, the alarms immediately went off.
"We've been made! Everyone back to the sub!" yelled Skipper.
The security team was there within seconds, but thankfully all of the penguins made good time getting to the sub. However, Manfredi and Johnson ended up being the only ones left who haven't gotten into the sub already, which forced the other four penguins to pull the two of them in, which wasn't easy considering they both rivaled Rico in sheer girth.
Just as the security team was about to reach them, Manfredi and Johnson were finally pulled in, and Kowalski immediately sent the submarine into a nose dive, with Skipper barely managing to close the hatch in time.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief once they were out of range of Seaville. Before anyone else could speak, Manfredi stood up, slowly making his way over to Skipper and shaking his flipper.
"Thanks for saving us, Skipper. I don't know what we'd do if we had to be in there any longer."
"Anything for a couple of old friends, Manfredi."
"Say, I was wondering. How come you guys didn't get us the last time you were here?" asked Johnson, curious.
"Well, um…we actually had no idea you guys were here back then. Heck, I thought you guys were dead! I was making up stories about how you two died to my team ever since then!"
Johnson was satisfied with his answer, and both he and Manfredi sat down in a couple of free seats on the sub. This allowed Kowalski to take a look at the two of them while he didn't need to handle the sub. What he saw wasn't very pretty.
Both of them were covered in bruises, and they were both sporting eye patches. Manfredi was missing a leg, while Johnson had a broken flipper. He didn't think that they would be suitable for field work, but he knew better than to try and convince Skipper to ditch them, especially when he never really saw what they were capable of.
After finally returning to the zoo, Private and Rico decided to give Manfredi and Johnson a tour around the HQ, which allowed Kowalski to voice his concerns to Skipper.
"Skipper, you do realize that Alice is going to ask questions when she sees two more penguins show up in our habitat out of the blue, right? Especially with how banged up they are! They're going to think we had something to do with it!"
"Well, all we have to do is keep them in the HQ while the zoo is open, and no one will know. Problem solved."
Kowalski sighed in exasperation before replying.
"Look, as much as I want to trust your judgment in this, Skipper, I would like to respectfully point out how unfit Manfredi and Johnson look for active duty. I mean…for god's sake, Manfredi only has one leg!"
"Don't worry about it, Kowalski. We'll figure out a way around it." said Skipper, waving the analyst off.
Little did Skipper know, his faith in Manfredi and Johnson was entirely misplaced, as the team went through a long string of painful missions, mostly due to their accident-prone natures.
For instance, during one mission where they were tasked with watching over Eggy, Manfredi and Johnson were thrown around quite easily by the duckling, forcing Skipper to split his attention between Eggy and those two so that they don't get more hurt than they already were.
Another more dangerous incident they ended up in was when they had to go into the city to rescue Max the Moon Cat from the pound. Manfredi and Johnson ended up blowing their cover by knocking over a lamp, and they had to rush to get Max out of his cage and out of the building. The others even had to carry Manfredi and Johnson considering how badly they were lagging behind in their escape.
Even a simple snack run became an ordeal for them, as Manfredi and Johnson's weight was knocking over shelves, costing them even more money with all of the broken stuff they had to get.
Manfredi and Johnson's ineptitude was starting to get on the nerves of the rest of the penguins, so they convened a meeting after getting the other two penguins out of the way.
"Alright, let's just get straight to the point. As much as it pains me to admit it, Manfredi and Johnson are holding this team back. We've been unable to get anything done considering how we've needed to make sure those two don't blow the mission."
Skipper looked around the room, finally landing on Kowalski, who was giving his commander a smug look due to being proved right once again. Skipper gave the analyst a dirty look in return before facing the rest of the team.
"Anybody have any ideas on how to get rid of them? I don't want to just send them back to Seaville. It makes Hoboken look like the French Riviera!"
Skipper repressed a shudder at being reminded of Hoboken. As he looked back at the team, he found that Kowalski already had his notepad out.
"Well, we could just send them to Alaska. We would need to find a box that could ship them, though."
"Good idea, but let's file that as a last resort. We don't really want to throw them to the wolves unless we need to. Anyone else?"
Private raised his hand.
"Yes, Private?"
"How about we get them on a boat that's going to a tropical island? It'd be like a vacation for them!"
Skipper rubbed his beak as he considered Private's idea.
"You know, that might just work. The only problem is that there's no telling how long they would actually stay there."
"I think I might have an idea on how to fix that, Skipper."
Skipper looked over at his second-in-command and beckoned for him to continue.
"All we would have to do is pretend that we're the travel agency and tell them every so often that their vacation has been extended for no charge. Judging from our experiences with those two, I doubt that they would complain about more time on vacation."
"That's brilliant, Kowalski! That might just get those two out of our hair for good."
"Hey, what about me?" asked Private.
"Oh, sorry about that, Private. We appreciate your input as well."
Private wasn't entirely happy with Skipper's enthusiasm, but he decided something was better than nothing and remained quiet. This allowed Skipper to give out his orders.
"Kowalski, head over to Alice's office and find me a boat that is heading for someplace tropical. Make sure that they don't have any policies against penguins. Private and Rico are staying with me to work on the steps for our plan. I want to make sure this goes off without a hitch, or we're going to be stuck with those two for an eternity."
Kowalski saluted and headed off to Alice's office. The rest of the team sat down at the table and began formulating the details to the plan.
Kowalski returned to the HQ a little while later with the information, successfully avoiding Manfredi and Johnson, who were on their way back as well.
"I managed to find a good boat to Hawaii heading out of the New York harbor that should get Manfredi and Johnson there. The boat ride should get rid of them for a much longer time than usual."
Skipper opened his beak to congratulate Kowalski on his find, but the analyst interrupted him.
"Ssh, they're coming! We need to be ready to greet them."
Kowalski quickly rushed over to the table and sat down just as Manfredi and Johnson made their way down the ladder.
"Hey Manfredi and Johnson, I've got some great news for you! We've just received a note that said you both have won a trip to Hawaii!" said Skipper.
Both of them turned to face the other four penguins, curious.
"I don't remember entering a contest. Do you remember anything, Johnson?"
"No, I don't. Are you sure it's for us, Skipper?"
"Of course. Take a look at the note and see for yourself."
Skipper walked over and showed them the note, which was crudely drawn with crayon. Thankfully, just like everyone else, neither Manfredi nor Johnson were able to read, so they just assumed that it was legit.
"Wow, I didn't think we'd ever win a trip to Hawaii!"
"So, when are we leaving?"
"According to the data from the ship that you guys are going to be on, it leaves in about an hour. That should give us enough time to drive you guys over and get you on board."
"Sounds great. Let's go!" said Manfredi.
A little while later, the penguins arrived at the New York harbor with about ten minutes to spare before the boat left.
Not wanting to waste any time, Skipper started pushing Manfredi and Johnson up the ramp into the ship.
"You seem eager to get rid of us, Skipper."
"Don't be silly, Johnson. We just wanted to make sure you guys are safely on board on time."
"Oh…okay. Thanks for that, Skipper."
By this point, it was getting close to departure time, so Skipper began walking off, but not before saying his goodbyes.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye, you two. Have fun in Hawaii. I'm sure you'll have a great time!"
Skipper quickly rushed off of the boat just as the ramp was pulling away, dodging the humans as he made his way back to the rest of the team, who were all waving goodbye to Manfredi and Johnson.
"I'm going to miss them, Skippah! They may have been nothing but trouble, but they were the sweetest guys you'll ever meet."
"I know, Private. I didn't want to have to do this, but sacrifices had to be made to keep our team in top form."
The penguins spent the next minute or so waving goodbye to Manfredi and Johnson before heading off to their car, not realizing that the boat was heading north instead of south, filled with large quantities of fish.
And yes, I'm leaving where they actually ended up open to interpretation. Needless to say, we won't be hearing from them again.