Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar and all related characters are the property of Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, and any or all related affiliates. This fiction was created for the purpose of having fun and being creative, no money is being made in any from it's creation and posting.
Paternity Pursuit
Chapter 9
By
Wildgoose
(The penguins awoke the next morning with a hard thump onto a solid surface followed by the loud bang of metal doors nearby. They were no longer together in a cardboard box but separated into cages and placed into the back of what looked like a cargo van. The temperature was drastically different inside he vehicle then it was last night when they went to sleep, Is extremely hot as the only windows are up at the front of the van and they are wound all of the way up. At the moment there is no one else inside the vehicle.)
Skipper: Kowalski, report!
Kowalski: Unknown Skipper, …I woke up about the same time as everybody else.
Skipper: Unacceptable Kowalski, what good is having a go to guy if I can't go to you for the information I need?
Private: Where are we…?
Marlene: Um Private, he already told you he doesn't know. What part of that didn't you get?
Kowalski: These appear to be large pet carriers, perhaps we've been picked up by animal control while we were sleeping.
Skipper: Impossible, we holed up in the most secure location we could find.
Kowalski: Then I guess they're just not making cardboard boxes like they used to. But the more intriguing question is how did they find us?
Skipper: I still don't think that it's animal control that compromised our position, it's not like them to just go around kicking over boxes looking for animals. Not to mention animal control would never lock an animal in a sealed unventilated automobile to sit for an undisclosed amount of time.
Marlene: Well however we got here, we'd better find a way out quick before we all cook to death. I can feel it already that it's getting hotter in here by the minute.
Skipper: Agreed, Kowalski I need options.
Kowalski: Well if we could make ourselves a window then an air-conditioner would spruce the place up just nicely. (awkward pause) Sorry, sorry….I'm still trying to wake up here. (pause) We can't use explosives until we get out of these cages or the concussive force would kill us all at such close range. (Rico regurgitates his blow torch and begins to cut into the metal bars on door of his cage.)
Skipper: Excellent work, Rico. We'll be out of here in no time. (a moment later the torch sputters out)
Rico: (grunts) Out of gas.
Skipper: Blast, …what else have you got Rico? (Rico regurgitates his flamethrower and is about to use it before Skipper yells over to him.) Wait man, you'll cook us all.
Kowalski: Not to mention he may set the vehicle itself on fire in which case our deaths would be much more agonizing. (Rico re-ingests the flamethrower.)
Rico: Awww. (Before they can decide what else can be done, the front doors on the van open and two men get in. They shut the doors, start the engine, and begin to drive down the street.)
Skipper: Definitely not animal control, these guys look like a couple of thugs.
Marlene: (begins to panic and rattles the door on her cage.) I don't want to be part of somebody's coat!
Skipper: Calm down, Marlene. It's not going to happen, we'll figure a way out of this mess don't you worry. (As he continues to try to calm Marlene down the humans driving the vehicle begin to converse with each other.)
Driver: So what do you think the boss will want to do with these animals?
Passenger: How should I know, …we're usually supposed to find the guy dogs for the fights. However, he seemed incredibly pleased that we happened to find a bunch of penguins, in Camden of all places. I thought these things only liked freezing weather.
Driver: I don't know, maybe their place finally melted. You know, all that global warming stuff. Anyway, the boss pays the bills so we've got to do like he says and bring them in.
Passenger: I know, but doesn't that guy give you the creeps? Nobody ever see's him, he just communicates by radio and he's always got that funky laugh. I Tell you, the guys got more than a screw loose.
Driver: Hey, as long as the pay is right then who cares. Let's just do the job and be done with it already.
(The scene focuses back onto the animals.)
Kowalski: Good lord, these guys apparently go around searching for stray animals so they can be made to fight each other for monetary gain.
Skipper: What, like betting?
Kowalski: That's part of it, the humans do the betting on which animal will win. The animals have to fight it out to the death, the only gamble for the them is who lives and who doesn't.
Private: But you heard them, they usually look for dogs, what do they want with us?
Skipper: It's looking like we're going to find out, Private.
Marlene: Um Skipper, …I DON'T WANT TO BE SOME DOGS CHEW TOY EITHER! (Starts shaking the cage door again trying to get it to come loose.) Rico, …come on. Turn your stomach inside out if you have to but find something to get us out of here.
Skipper: Calm down, Marlene, getting out of here should just be a matter of patience. Sooner or later these guys will have to open these cages for one reason or another and when they do we'll do to them what we did to the zoo keeper.
Private: You mean we're going to mug them too? Honestly Skipper, I don't really think I'm very comfortable with living a life of crime. I like being a good guy.
Skipper: We're not going to mug them we're just going to beat the snot out of them.
Private: Isn't that almost the same thing?
Kowalski: Would you rather end up as some dogs chew toy?
Private: (long pause) Right then, …I'll take out their knee caps.
Marlene: What about me guys, …what do you need me to do?
Skipper: You're the only one of us who has teeth, Marlene. Bite them where it counts, ..hard. (The other members of the team cringe and experience a cold shiver.)
Rico: (grunts) I didn't need that image. (The cages slide to one side of the vehicle and collide with each other as the van makes a sharp turn without slowing down. The entire group expresses their discontent with the addition of a small amount of liquid that trickles from a small hole at the bottom of Marlene's cage.)
Kowalski: Oh dear, …uh Marlene you didn't by chance just break your water did you?
Marlene: No, ..no, I'm fine. Well not really fine, ….I uh….I peed myself.
Rico/Skipper/ Kowalski/Private: EEEWWWW!
Marlene: I'm scared and I was already holding it when speed racer up front made us ram into each other. Pardon my anatomy, Okay?
Skipper: Consider it pardoned. (The group continues to converse as the scene fades out.)
(The scene comes back an hour later as the two men who caged the group carry them down to the lowest level of the building which happens to have water way access and a slip large enough for one sizable boat. The men place the cages one next to the other in single file so that they are all facing the boat slip and then they leave mumbling to themselves about why their boss would want the animals brought all the way down here.)
Skipper: Does anybody else have a bad feeling about this besides me? (Everybody raises an appendage) Oh good, ..for a moment there I thought I was losing it. (After several moments longer a grey fin can be seen gliding through the water advancing toward them.)
Kowalski: Déjà vu?
Marlene: What?
Kowalski: The intense feeling that you've done something or been somewhere exactly like this before. ( as he says this an all too familiar voice echo's through the boat house.)
Voice: Penguins! (followed by a high pitch stuttering laugh.)
Skipper: Yup, ….déjà vu. (A bottlenose dolphin emerges from the water on a waterproof variation of a segway and begins to circle about the group several times before stopping in front and staring at it's captives.) Well what do you know, command's intel was right. If it isn't our old nemesis, Dr. Blowhole.
Marlene: Wait, …this guy is real? I though you guys were just telling some bogus story to boost your ego's.
Skipper: Of coarse he's real, and has skin that is surprisingly pleasant to the touch.
Marlene: So, …you guys really are commandos?
Private: Marlene, do you mean to say that all this time you've been doubting us? After all we've been through?
Marlene: (grins with embarrassment) I just thought that all penguins were paranoid, and psychotic, and creative, and….
Blowhole: Enough! Who cares if she believed you or not, what matters now is I've got you. I'll admit I was surprised when I found out it was you my henchmen had brought before me, I was certain it was that group of girls from Philadelphia minus the crazy one.
Skipper: Even if we were the other team, what makes you think they would leave one of their own behind?
Blowhole: Wouldn't you? That girl is a loose cannon, she beheaded one of my spy's I sent to infiltrate their operation. Beheaded, …who does that anymore?
Skipper: Right, …I can almost see what you're talking about. Kowalski, when we get back home send a message to Antarctic command recommending Kitsune for a medal.
Kowalski: Understood, Skipper.
Blowhole: Let's get things straight, Skipper. There is no going home, not this time. There's no annoying double agent lemur coming to your rescue, and there's no elaborate incarcerating apparatus for you to escape from, and no lobster troops for you and your teammate to plow through while attempting to thwart my plans. You're in plain and simple cages, locked cages, and this time your feathered butts are mine.
Skipper: I don't get it Blowhole, if you're no longer using lobster troops then who are you using to do all of your dirty work?
Blowhole: Humans! (high pitched stuttering laugh) They're so much more capable then those crustaceans, and just as easy to manipulate. They don't care if your intentions are to blow a hole in the world, as long as you pay them enough.
Kowalski: So, …these humans that you have working for you KNOW that you're an evil dolphin hell bent on world domination?
Dolphin: Of coarse not, if they knew I was an animal they'd assume I was stupid and try to rip me off left and right. I am NOT stupid, ..I've said it before Kowalski and I'll say it again. My brain is bigger than you're whole body.
Kowalski: That doesn't necessarily have a direct correlation to intelligence.
Blowhole: Excuse me?
Kowalski: Look at humans, their brains are equally as large if not larger and yet research shows that they use only a mere ten percent of it.
Blowhole: And now you know why they act as they do, Kowalski. (long awkward pause)
Skipper: What are you waiting for man, keep that wit flying.
Kowalski: Actually Skipper, …I think he's got me on that one.
Skipper: (sighs heavily) Fine, …let's just get down to it then. What do you plan to do with us?
Blowhole: I'm so glad you asked, Skipper. My plan is to use you and you're little penguin buddies as food for thought in one of my dog fights. I'm sure the humans will pay a hefty penny to watch your carcasses get ripped to shreds.
Private: So you really are forcing animals to fight each other to the death? Do the humans really pay money to watch something so horrid?
Blowhole: Of coarse they do, they pay LOTS of money. How else could I afford all the spendy equipment at my disposal. I've even got human celebrities who come to bet on my attractions, and when I toss the four of you into the mix just to watch you get torn to shreds the human will shell out more money than ever to see which animal eats you first. (high pitched stuttering laugh)
Skipper: You keep mentioning my team, ..should I assume that to mean that you'll let the otter go?
Blowhole: (looks thoughtful for a moment) Um, …no. I think I'll have my people throw her to the dogs outside of the fights. The winners deserve a chew toy for their victories, after all they bring me so much money they should be rewarded.
Skipper: (looks conflicted for a moment) The otter is pregnant, …if you kill her than you doom her children also. Are you so evil you've become a monster as well?
Blowhole: (looks surprised as he glances back and forth at Skipper and Marlene several times before speaking again.) Really,… are they yours?
Skipper: Why does everybody keep asking me that? I'm a penguin, she's an otter, do the math for gods sake!
Blowhole: Very well Skipper, since you insist. I believe the math I shall do involves, …subtraction.
Skipper: Curse you Blowhole!
Blowhole: Be careful Skipper, …or I just may make you watch. (Blowhole taps the side of his monacle and begins to speak.) The animals are ready, take them to an isolated room and then lock the door until tonight's fights begin. (Taps the monacle again) I'm going to enjoy watching your demise, penguins. (Blowhole drives his segway back into the water and disappears from view just before the two men who had brought the group in enter through the door and carry the cages out to an unseen location.)
Chapter ten coming soon.
Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
If any who are following this story are apt at computer art I would greatly enjoy seeing some artwork based on the story.