Chapter 15 – Trapped (Skipper's Story)
It was a slightly dreary day inside the Central Park Zoo. Nobody was visiting today due to the weather, so Alice decided it was probably best to close the zoo early and finish all of her jobs before heading home.
As for the animals, whoever had a roof over their heads in their habitats were spending their free time under said roofs. The other animals were unfortunately out of luck, so they ended up having to either huddle under a tree, deal with the rain if it happened to come or, in the case of the lemurs, hide behind the smoothie bar.
The penguins, meanwhile, were inside their HQ huddled in front of the TV as they watched the weather report.
"…There is a 40% chance of a thunderstorm coming through New York City, which is expected to stick around throughout the night, so I would suggest for everyone to stay inside. This thunderstorm may cause some damage, so don't put yourselves at risk."
As the weatherman finished his report and Chuck Charles appeared on the screen again to continue the news report, Skipper turned towards the rest of his team.
"It looks like today's mission is gonna have to wait, boys. Too bad Mother Nature didn't want us to go beat up Blowhole again."
"I'm pretty sure Mother Nature doesn't have a grudge against you, Skipper. Frankly, I'd be surprised if she can hold grudges." said Kowalski.
"Oh, don't you worry, Kowalski. I'm keeping my eye on her."
Skipper accentuated his last statement by looking upwards and giving the ceiling an evil eye.
"I see you up there, Mother Nature. I'm gonna figure out a way to stop you."
Kowalski sighed and shook his head before attempting to change the subject.
"So, does anyone have any ideas about what we can do? The weatherman told us that we can't leave the HQ until tomorrow."
The four penguins paused to think for a moment before Private perked up.
"Ooh, ooh! I know! There's gonna be a Lunacorns marathon starting pretty soon! All we need to do is change the channel."
None of the other penguins were interested, especially Kowalski and Rico after the last time they had to endure that show, but neither them nor Skipper really wanted to disappoint the young penguin, so Skipper attempted to compromise with him.
"So, how long is this marathon you speak of?"
"Six hours." said Private.
Skipper winced, realizing that letting Private watch the whole marathon was gonna drive Rico to suicide. However, before he could try and figure out a way to prevent the auditory torture, the hatch suddenly popped open, and to the penguin's surprise, Buck Rockgut hopped down the ladder.
"All right, one of you is going to tell me where the Red Squirrel is right now!"
The penguins stared at Buck confused.
"Hang on, Red Squirrel? I thought you were after White Widow!" said Private.
This earned Private a glare from Buck.
"Well, it turns out that your intel was once again wrong, and 'Newfakeplacesburg' also isn't a real place. It's a good thing that I received word that the Red Squirrel once again escaped, or I'd have a real problem with you."
Private was noticeably nervous after hearing that vague threat from the unhinged special agent, but thankfully Skipper was there to help out.
"Listen Buck, you'd better not be threatening one of my men, or you're gonna have to answer to me!"
Skipper gave him a stern gaze, but Buck was completely unfazed.
"Know who else would harbor someone who wouldn't tell me where the Red Squirrel's base is? The Red Squirrel!"
Buck then charged at Private, attempting to grab him so that he could get some answers out of the young penguin. Skipper was there to hold him off, as he tackled the former special agent.
Buck was still putting up a fight, though, so as Rico joined in to help subdue him, Skipper began leading him towards the ladder out of the HQ.
"You're out of here, Buck! No one attacks my men like that and gets away with it!"
Private, feeling sorry for Buck, stepped in front of Skipper and blocked his way.
"What is the meaning of this, Private?"
"Oh come on, Skippah! Just because he tried to jump me doesn't mean he's all bad. Besides, you know how long he's been in that vault! That can drive anyone bonkers!"
Although Skipper gave Private's words some thought, he continued pushing Buck towards the hatch.
"While I do see your point, I really think that he needs to go, at least for all of our sakes."
However, before Skipper could finally kick Buck Rockgut out, there was a flash of lightning, and rain suddenly starting pouring through the still open hatch.
"We've got a breach! Kowalski, double time!" said Skipper, still clutching Buck's flipper.
Kowalski immediately hopped over to the ladder and flipped up to the top rung, slamming the hatch shut and stopping any more rain water from getting in.
"The hatch is secure, Skipper." said Kowalski as he rejoined the rest of the group.
"Good work, Kowalski. Now, back to business. What are we gonna do with Senor Crazypants here?"
"Hey, I heard that, twinkletoes!" said Buck.
Although Skipper was slightly offended at the girlish nickname, he chose not to say anything about it. Before he could figure out a solution, though, Kowalski piped in.
"Well, we can't just kick him out now that the storm's here. He's gonna have to stay the night."
"That is not happening, Kowalski. We are not having someone who can out-psycho Rico in the same vicinity as all of us. It'll be a madhouse!"
Rico piped in himself with a string of gibberish, as he was offended that someone was even crazier than he was.
"Nonsense, you two. All we have to do is keep Buck's mind off of you-know-who and everything will be alright. And once the storm passes, we can send him on his way."
Skipper paused, unsure if keeping the possibly unstable Buck Rockgut around was a good idea. Unfortunately, he didn't really have much of a choice, as it started to thunder, and it became much too dangerous for anyone to be outside.
"Alright, fine. He can stay, but if he starts destroying the HQ, I'm tying him up. Comprende?"
The other three penguins nodded, and Skipper let Buck go, letting him join the others.
As Private led Buck off towards the television, Skipper began to wonder if he was going soft. Sighing heavily, he decided that he really needed to put his foot down one of these days so that the others don't get any ideas.
The night thankfully started off pretty smoothly, as Buck was actually behaving himself for once. Still, Skipper remained on guard.
However, things began to go south, as Private sat down and turned the television on, and changed the channel to the Lunacorns marathon.
"Private, what are you doing? You know what that does to Rico!"
Skipper glanced over and grimaced at the look of fear on the weapons expert's face.
"You see? It's not every day when something can make even Rico cower in fear."
"B-but…you never told me I couldn't, Skippah!" said Private, attempting to defend himself.
Skipper was about to reply to Private's point before he realized that he never did say no.
"Hey, that was only because Buck showed up."
However, after seeing the disappointed look on Private's face, Skipper knew he needed to do something. He walked over to where Private was sitting and placed a flipper on his shoulder.
"Listen, Private. I understand that you'd want to watch your little TV show, but it's unsafe for us to go outside. Rico's not gonna have anywhere to go, especially for how long you said this was supposed to be."
Private paused for a second to think before replying.
"Well, what about K'walski's lab?"
"Uh, no offense, Private, but I'd rather not have Rico anywhere near my equipment, especially after the last time I let him in." said Kowalski from across the room.
Rico simply chuckled before returning to brushing Miss Perky's hair.
As for Private, he sighed, realizing that Skipper was looking out for the interests of everyone, especially with what they were going through currently.
"Alright Skippah, I understand."
He turned towards the TV to change the channel to something else, only to see Buck standing in front of the control panel for their surveillance equipment and pressing as many buttons as he could get his flippers on.
Private immediately went over to where Buck was and attempted to pull the rockhopper penguin away from the controls, but with Buck's commando training, he was easily able to throw the penguin off and return. Private tried to pull him off a couple of more times, but each attempt failed.
"Someone tell me how to work this thing! I need to use this to find where the Red Squirrel's hiding."
Kowalski was about to launch into a blow-by-blow explanation about how the surveillance worked, but a look from Skipper told him to keep quiet. Disappointed, Kowalski tried to keep himself busy by doodling in his notebook, while Skipper and Rico made their way over to Buck and pulled him away from the panel.
"You don't need to worry about the Red Squirrel right now, Buck. All you need to do is just sit down and relax. We're gonna be here for a while." said Skipper as he dragged Buck towards a chair.
"Traitors! You're aiding and abetting Penguin Enemy Number One!" yelled Buck before he was sat down in said chair.
Buck thankfully didn't immediately go right back towards the surveillance equipment, which gave Skipper and Rico time to discuss the situation.
"I think it's about time we tied him up for trying to access unauthorized equipment. What do you think, Rico?"
Rico nodded vigorously in agreement. However, before he could retrieve the rope, Private stepped in.
"Hang on, Skippah! Don't you think you're being a bit harsh on Buck? Outside of what just happened, he's largely been pretty well-behaved."
Skipper paused for a moment, a look of amusement on his face as he looked at Private.
"Well, this is a surprise, Private. What's with all this support all of a sudden? You were completely against him when we first got him out of that vault."
"Well, um…that's true, but that was before you three figured out that he was…you know…"
"What are you getting at, Private?" asked Skipper impatiently.
Private nervously glanced over at Buck before pointing one of his flippers and spinning it in a circle, giving the universal sign for 'crazy'.
"Oh, of course." said Skipper, slightly embarrassed that he forgot about that part.
"Besides, I'm one of those penguins who can usually see the good in most people. Isn't that right, K'walski?" said Private as he looked towards the analyst.
"Yes, that is quite true, Private." said Kowalski, even though he wondered exactly why Private needed him to corroborate his story.
"Okay, Private. I understand. I'll let Buck go for now, but that's strike one for him. He gets five strikes, he gets to spend the rest of the night hogtied on the floor. You know how that old saying goes? Five strikes and you're out?"
"I believe it's three strikes, Skipper." pointed out Kowalski.
"Alright Kowalski, we'll give him a couple of extra shots." said Skipper, slightly annoyed.
Beaming, Private grabbed Buck's hand and led him over the television.
"Come on, Buck, let's see if we can find something you'll like!"
Although Buck was slightly turned off by the manner in which Private led him (he was skipping), he willingly let the young penguin lead him to the television and sit him down in front of it.
Despite the sun coming down for the day, the storm was just as vicious, which meant that there was still no chance of the penguins being able to leave the HQ. Unfortunately, being stuck inside and not being able to search for the Red Squirrel meant that Buck's rampant paranoia lead to the special agent beginning to see things.
Kowalski came out from his lab after performing a few experiments to pass the time, he noticed Buck sitting at the table, scribbling furiously on a piece of paper while also glancing to his right and left every so often so that no one sneaks up on him.
At first, Kowalski wasn't too worried about Buck's mental state, but when he noticed the wild-eyed look on the rockhopper penguin's face, as well as the fact that he was shaking, he began to get worried.
Nervous, he slowly began walking over to where Buck was, wanting to see if he was okay while at the same time wanting to avoid setting off the short-fused penguin.
"Uh...Buck, are you alright?"
Before Kowalski could react, Buck had him up against the wall, one of his flippers up against the analyst's neck.
"You need to tell me where the Red Squirrel is right now, or things are gonna get very messy."
"I don't know where he is, Buck! You need to calm down!" said Kowalski despite barely being able to breathe.
As Kowalski desperately tried to pry Buck's flipper off of him, the special agent stared at him blankly for a moment before speaking up, having realized what was going on (at least in his mind).
"I see how it is. You must be working for the Red Squirrel, aren't you, Egghead?"
"No, I'm not working for him! Honest!"
"That's what they all say. Know who else would say that they don't work for the Red Squirrel? The Red Squirrel!"
If Kowalski didn't already have his airway restricted, he would have involuntarily gasped. Instead, he desperately began looking around for Skipper, Rico, or Private, hoping that they would have noticed, but it turns out all of them were watching a monster truck rally, which was just loud enough for them not to hear the scuffle.
Knowing that he wasn't going to get any help, Kowalski turned towards Buck and attempted to reason his way out of his predicament.
"Please Buck, you have to understand. I would never work for someone like the Red Squirrel! He's Penguin Enemy Number One!"
"A likely story! What are you? A squirrel in a penguin costume?" asked Buck as he gave Kowalski a wild-eyed stare.
Kowalski spluttered for a few seconds before emphatically saying that he wasn't one, but Buck obviously didn't believe him. Surprisingly, though, Buck relieved some of the pressure on Kowalski's throat, but before the analyst could jump to the conclusion that Buck did believe him, the agent dragged him towards Private's first-place fishing trophy, pushing it aside to reveal a bamboo cage inside the hole.
"Oh, come on! How did you even find the parts to build this?" asked Kowalski, annoyed.
Buck didn't answer, as he threw Kowalski inside and locked the cage door behind him. Once Buck shut the trophy in front of the hole, there was no chance for Kowalski to be heard over the monster trucks now. That didn't stop the analyst from trying, though.
"Help! This maniac has locked me inside a cage!" Kowalski yelled, before coughing as he recovered from the chokehold.
"I hope that Skipper notices that I'm gone soon. I don't like it in here."
Unfortunately for Kowalski, Skipper was too engrossed in the monster trucks to be any help. Private, however, was different, as the rampant destruction and loud noise was starting to get to the young penguin.
After standing up, Private attempted to explain where he was going.
"I'm gonna go…um…check on K'walski and Buck."
Neither penguin answered, so Private decided just to go ahead and do what he was planning on doing. He walked over to the other side and saw that Buck was back at the seat he was in originally, once again furiously drawing on his paper.
"Oh, hello Buck! Where's K'walski at?" he said cheerfully.
"Who?" asked Buck as he looked up from his work.
"You know…tall…says a lot of words I don't really understand."
It took a few seconds, but Buck finally figured out who Private was talking about.
"Oh, Egghead! Haven't seen him."
Although Private was slightly suspicious with the way Buck brushed off his question, he decided to leave him alone and find Kowalski himself.
However, he was unable to find Kowalski in his usual places, which puzzled Private.
"I wonder where K'walski could've gone? He can't have just left us. He's gotta be somewhere in the HQ!"
Before he could continue his search, though, there was a sharp pain in the back of Private's neck, and his vision went white.
When Private finally came to, he found himself inside a dark room. Confused, he looked around only to find Kowalski inside the room with him.
"K'walski? What happened?" he asked, slightly woozy.
"Apparently Buck must have thought we were working with the Red Squirrel, so he captured the both of us and put us in here. Don't worry, though, we're just behind your fishing trophy."
"Oh…so, what now?"
"All we can do is wait and hope Skipper or Rico find us in time."
Unfortunately, just as Kowalski said that last sentence, the door opened again, and Rico was roughly thrown in to the cage before the lights went out once again.
Rico immediately went to the cage door and started shaking it as hard as he could while babbling incoherently.
"It's no use, Rico. Skipper can't hear us in here over the monster trucks. All we have to do is wait."
Rico was undeterred, though, as he hocked up a paper clip and began to work on picking the lock. Excited, Kowalski stood up and made his way over to the weapons expert.
"Good thinking, Rico! We can pick our way out of here and then make sure that Buck Rockgut doesn't cause any more trouble for the rest of the night!"
Rico nodded in appreciation before focusing on the task at hand.
Back in the main HQ, the monster truck show has just finished, and Skipper stood up, intending to stretch his legs, only to find that outside of Buck, the HQ was completely empty.
"Where in the heck is everyone?"
Confused, he began looking around the room, trying to find the other three penguins while also calling out their names to see if they would answer.
Buck's paranoia made him begin to think that Skipper was also part of the covert operation to take him down, so he slowly began making his way over to Skipper in an attempt to take him down and put him in the cage with the others. However, Skipper was ready, as he grabbed Buck's flipper mid-chop and flipped him over his shoulder, only for Buck to land on his feet.
"Alright Buck, what have you done to my men?"
"Your men? Don't you mean the Red Squirrel's men?" asked Buck, his mind unable to process the reality of the situation.
Skipper was about to continue speaking, but he soon realized that it was pointless to reason with someone as unstable as Buck Rockgut, so he decided to drop the formalities.
"Well, if you aren't gonna tell me where they are, I'm gonna just beat the answers out of you!"
With that, Skipper and Buck began to fight, but it wasn't long before Buck got in control due to having much more experience than Skipper.
Thankfully, before it could get any worse for Skipper, Private's trophy on the wall burst open, and the other penguins immediately jumped into action. With Buck caught off guard by the sudden escape of the penguins, he was easily tackled to the ground.
As Rico and Kowalski held down the struggling Buck, Skipper leaned down to face Buck.
"Take this as a lesson, Buck. This is why you don't mess with my team. Rico, rope!"
Thankfully, there was some rope already on hand, so Rico didn't have to hock it up from his stomach again. When Buck was finally hogtied, Skipper turned around to look at his men.
"Another job well done, men! Up high!"
The penguins did their normal high five routine before Skipper spoke up once more.
"Alright, lights out everyone! Hopefully the storm will pass in the morning."
"Shouldn't we at least help Buck be comfortable?" asked Private.
"Alright, I suppose we can at least give him that. Rico? Help him get to sleep."
Saluting, Rico picked up Buck and set him down in a more comfortable place on the floor before suddenly hocking up a mallet and rearing back. Before he could knock him out, though, Skipper held the weapons expert back.
"Too harsh, Rico! We're trying to help him sleep, not knock him out."
Disappointed, Rico tossed the mallet away before picking Buck up and rocking him back and forth, quickly mumbling a lullaby before placing him back down on the ground.
"Good enough. Alright boys, let's head to bed." said Skipper.
The four penguins hopped into their bunks, somehow able to get to sleep just fine despite the storm raging outside.
The next morning, Skipper woke up to find the area around him was much quieter than what he was used to. He quickly checked over his shoulder, thinking that someone was about to ambush him, but thankfully there was no one there.
Hopping out of his bunk, Skipper looked around the room, only to suddenly realize that the spot on the floor where they left Buck hogtied was empty except for the rope that he was tied with.
Realizing that he must have escaped, Skipper slammed his flipper on the alarm button, causing Rico, Kowalski and Private to nearly fall out of their beds in fright as they were jolted awake. Thankfully, they still managed to stay upright and prepared, adopting their battle postures.
"We have an escaped penguin, men! I want a search team out in the zoo on the double!"
However, instead of immediately beginning the search, the other three penguins noticed the silence coming from the area around them.
"Hey, it looks like the storm's finally passed!" said Private, smiling.
"So? That just means that Buck could be anywhere now!" said Skipper.
"I'm pretty sure that there isn't going to be a need for a search party, Skipper. The most likely thing that happened was that once Buck found out that the storm passed, he left to continue his search for the Red Squirrel." said Kowalski.
"Well, good. Now that we've gotten rid of that psycho, we can finally get back to work." said Skipper after awkwardly coughing.
"That's kind of a shame. I would've loved to have spent a little more time with Buck." said Private sadly.
"He was a good soldier. It was too bad that his never-ending search for the Red Squirrel led him to become this." said Kowalski, bowing his head for a moment.
"Never mind that. Come on, men. It's time for morning exercises."
And so, the penguins headed up top, having somehow managed to survive being locked inside of the HQ with Buck Rockgut, hopefully having learned something in the process. However, it seems unlikely that was the case.