Kidnapping Skipper ch. 2

by

Mastermindhunter

Private woke up, with a sparkle in his eyes. The outside birds were chirping up a storm. It was the sort of sound that was nice to wake up to. He felt all rejuvinated, and alive. It must have been the spring spirit. He looked down at the others, below. Kowalski was twitching his wings, and little orange feet. He was obviously dreaming. Rico groweled in his sleep. Apparently his dream was not so pleasant. Skipper wasn't in his bunk. He must have still been on recon. The stone concrete of his bed was smooth, and very comforting. Maybe if he was fast enough, Skipper wouldn't be able to see him sneak out of the zoo, and take off to the Bronx zoo. There would surely be no harm. Especially if Skipper didn't find out. When he jumped from his bunk, he saw the picture that Skipper kept from his eyes. He quickly snatched it away. maybe someone from the bronx zoo knew who it was.

He sprayed some fruity smelling bodyspray on himself, and looked in the mirror straightening his feathers down against his rounded head. When he sprayed the fruity smelling cologne, a loud squirmy, slimy sound was eminating from Kowalski's lab. He figured it was just his own imagination. When he seemed presentable, he slowly snuck up to the top of the HQ, and moved the bowl aside. The air smelled sweet and refreshing. He could have swore that if there was ever a way that they could get the scent of spring in a spray, he would definitly get it. The sun was not up yet, but the glow of blue was showing that it would be soon. He made his way toward the gate, keeping his back close to the walls. He tried to spot Skipper at the top of the clock tower, but he still couldn't see him. He figured that was pretty strange.

He hopped up to the tower, and looked around. He was nowhere to be found. Did he head back to the HQ to sleep in? He would have passed him eventually, and Private would have gotten in trouble real fast! If he spotted suspicious behavior, he would have alerted the team. What had happened to the commanding officer? Was this a test to prove their loyalty? He looked all around the large bell. He was definitley gone. He didn't come back, and he was no where to be seen. Private had come to the conclusion that Skipper was kidnapped!

Private was totally panicking. He ran back to the habitat, to tell the boys that Skipper was gone. He was frantically trying to run as fast as he could. He stumbled over his feet, and tripped half way there. He didn't know if he could get up. He was in too much shock. His own commanding officer gone, without a trace. He covered his face with his wings, and just kept shaking his head. "No. He's gone, he's gone. No he can't be gone. No no! Please NO!" He saw the two boys slowly waddle up to him, staring at him with a puzzled expression. Rico looked at his scraped up knee, and helped him up. Rico was trying to brush his knees off, but Private wouldn't hold still. He was still in hysteria. Kowalski of course noticed his eratic state.

"Private? Are you all right? You seem rather frightened." Kowalski laid a wing on his shoulder, and lowered his face so he could see him in the eyes. Private looked up to Kowalski and Rico.

"It's Skipper!"

"WHUH" Rico was utterly confused. He looked up at the clock tower where he was supposed to be. He figured he was behind the clocks bell. Private's body language said differently.

"What about Skippper?"

"He's gone!" Private whimpered. The two others were gasping with adrenaline pumping through their systems. They all scaled the large tower to set up the necessities to indicate that the top of the tower was a crime scene. The yellow tape was up. Rico was sniffing for any trace of a suspect, or trace of direction that Skipper might have ran away to. Kowalski got out his investigative detective headgear. He strapped on his magnifying glass helmet, and scanned the area. Private was on look out, checking to see if the captor or Skipper may have returned. So far no such luck. It seemed hopeless, as if he had dissappeared without a trace. "Have you gotten anything yet guys?"

"I think Rico's got something!" Kowalski ran over to Rico who was sniffing the floor. He took a big whiff, and pointed to the floor. It seemed that there appeared to be visitor there that night. Rico followed it, but just started going in circles. How could Skipper leave only one spot of a trail? However he left, he didn't leave by land, so he definitly didn't go alone. He must have taken to the air. The visitor could apparently fly. Rico then sniffed a spot next to the previous spot. He gently smelled it, and Suddenly Rico just fell to the floor. This confused them. Kowalski took a sample of the liquid on the floor. He put a stopper on it, and tried to help Rico up. Rico woke up, coughing at the smell.

"What was that?"

Private walked up to Rico to get him to his feet. "Cloroform. It's a chemical that people use to knock their victims out. Whoever was here with Skipper, was not friendly. This furthers investigation." He lowered the magnifying glass on his hat, and marched along the cieling of the tower. He stopped at the trace of footprints. "Hmm I calculate that these are the footprints of whoever took Skipper." They were webbed feet, and were actually quite small. He took out a tape measure and measured the footprint carefully. He then scribbled something in his notepad. Private looked around, and suddenly put his flippers over his ears when the giant bell started ringing. it was simply skullshattering. When he stared at the clock, there was something on the minute hand. It was bound onto the hand by a ribbon, which also held the rolled up paper closed. Private waddled over to it, slid the note off.

The paper was a warm dirty biege white color. "What's this?" He untied the finely crafted ribbon, and stared at the paper. It had no words or even any numbers. it had but only a lone stamp in the upper right hand corner. it was a basic ink stamp of a glacier, and shattered piece of glass. This didn't make any sense. He handed the page to Kowalski. Kowalski took it ready to analyze it. He looked at it, then his face softened. The only thing he stared at was the spot that had a stamp on it.

He woke up to the feeling of steel on his wings and feet. "Oh, my head. I feel horrible." Were the only words he could make out. His head was throbbing, and he felt like it was ready to explode. He gazed out to the only trace of light. It was on the arctic tern girl he thought needed help. Apparently her wing was not damaged at all. Her face was stern and cold. She glanced over to Skipper, and smirked at him with a huff of her nose holes. "I've never met a bird as gullible as you. Seriously now." She started acting all helpless and feeble as she did that night, only it was emphasized. "Oh my wittle wing. Help me, help me." She then let out a loud raspy laugh. The feathered fiend's gaze shot back to whoever it was that was hiding in the shadows. There was only light in that one spot. There was no indication of the size of the room. "I told you I could get him. Now about my pay. You know the deal, my own weight in Porcelain anemone crabs. I'm returning the prey if they aren't cleansed of the anemone poison."

There was suddenly a swift bag tossed her direction. She snatched it right out the air with her mouth. She opened the small bag, and grasped a tiny centimeter long porcelain crab out of the bag. It's eyes were frightened, and pleading. She rolled him around in her wing to make sure that the poison was cleansed off. She looked at him disgusted, and shoved the tiny morsel back in the bag. Her look of aggitaion shot towards the darkness. "This is far from my weight in crabs. this is merely half of my weight."

"Exactly. I'm paying you only half now. You will get the other half when and if the target decides to come after this fool." Skipper heard the voice. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite figure it out. It was as if the voice was from long ago. He didn't know why exactly but it sent a cold chill down his tiny spine. Whoever it was, was not a friendly foe. Who could this mad man be?

"I don't know what it means. It could mean anything. Maybe it's the insignia of Skipper's captor. Well the first thing I should do is rule out the only suspect we have, which would be Blowhole." They swung off of the tower, and landed into their habitat. Kowalski typed a bunch of buttons on his board. A recognizable lair showed up on the screen. Blowhole was being fed fish by one of his little lobsters. He looked over to the screen, and raised an eyebrow. He then frowned to the three boys in front of him. He slid over to the screen on his sageway, smiling to the boys with his sharp teeth showing in the glow of his cave.

He smiled mainly at little Private, who scooted back, with a small whimper. He laughed his jagged laugh, and smiled coldly rolling his eyes "Well hello little pengyouins, and what do I owe the non pleasure?" He snickered. Rico growled, and headbutted the television. After walking back to the boys, he kept a stern face.

Kowalski walked up to him, with his wings behind his back. "Alright, bottlenose. Let's talk this out like reasonable geniuses."

As if by shear rudeness, Dr. Blowhole answered with a crusher. "Where is the genius on your side?" Kowalski just stared at the cycloptic dolphin. Blowhole just sat there, and let the penguin continue.

"If you haven't already guessed, Skipper is missing from our rukery. We have no clue as to where he is, and we believe you have penguinapped him." Blowhole just sat there, and chuckled his annoying laugh. Kowalski got angry at this, and sneered.

"A tip of my dorsal fin, to whoever captured him, but be aware that it was no wrong doing of mine." He laid a flipper on the side of his surprisingly pleasing to the touch skin. Rico raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head. Private didn't believe him. he shoved kowalski out of the way, and held up the note with the stamp.

"You're lying! We know for a fact that you did it, and you left this stamp to prove it." Blowhole squinted his eyes, and tilted his head. His face suddenly lit up, and slowly shook his head.

"It doesn't belong to me, but rather someone else who surpasses me. I give you my word as a villain, that the fiend that stole your Skipper has worse things in store for your Skipper. And it's probably worse than anything I could think up. All I kow is that he was a competitive villain, who holds a lair far to the west. I will say no more." he bowed his head, and rolled away on his sageway, with his head down.