A/N: The next chapter! Yeah! This is a pretty great achievement for me as this is the longest chapter I have ever written for any story! I went into a lot of detail, which surprisingly wasn't as hard as I thought. So, please enjoy!
Chapter 3:
A Special Set Of News
It was a busy day at Central Park Zoo.
Crowds of visitors piled in and out of the zoo, the occasional group of students on a field trip trekking along with them. It was one of the zoo's busiest days, which wasn't an uncommon sight. What was uncommon was the fact that it wasn't just an average, everyday zoo. This zoo housed a certain rookery of animals who have sworn to protect it and the world.
"Just smile and wave boys," a voice loomed from the habitat in the center; the main attraction of the place. This voice, however, was not understandable to the visitors in any way. To them, it was a bunch of random bird sounds. The reason? Well, because it came from a penguin.
The zoo's main attraction were four male penguins, the forth in his late teens and the rest full-grown adults.
They were all the same species; the rare Classic Penguin, also known as Classified Penguins. Their species' colour-scheme only included the basic colours of a penguin; black, white and orange. Their size never surpassed the height of an average two-year old human boy; an average height range of about one to three feet.
The voice, stern and authoritative, belonged to the leader of the rookery; a short, flat-headed penguin who goes by the name of Henry Skipper Jackson. He had ocean blue eyes, the common eye colour of this species. Other colours included a less frequent green and a pretty rare brown.
Skipper was a proud leader, but not in the usual 'penguin leader' status, but the status of a leader in his team of highly-trained commando penguins. Crazy right? Well, that is why they work in secret, making sure no one else knew. If the American government knew of their existence, they may be seen as a threat, much to Skipper's worry, when in reality, they are the thin line between the forces of good and evil.
He was the third tallest in the rookery, one shorter than him and the other two taller. The shortest in the group, who was also the youngest, was an adorable and chubby penguin who went by the name of Private Riley Goodwin.
Private had a high-pitched voice, but not high enough to be mistaken for a girl's voice, that had a distinct British accent embedded in it. A dark ocean blue colour painted his eyes, much similar to Skipper's. He carried the rank Private 1st Class and was in charge of Special Operations.
A big-sized penguin took his place as second tallest in the group. He had a signature feathery mohawk that laid on his slightly flat head and a long scar that spanned along the left side of his beak. His eyes were medium ocean blue and he spoke with grunts and poorly-pronounced words due to an old accident. Even so, he was still understandable among his team mates.
He possessed the ability to literally swallow and regurgitate anything, be it fish or rocket launchers. He held onto the rank of Sergeant 1st Class and the title of 'Weapons Expert'. He had a slight addiction for explosions as well as a hunger for destruction. Skipper and the team always help him keep sane and not go on a craze-driven rampage.
The tallest of the rookery went by the name of Alfred James Kowalski. He had medium ocean blue eyes and had a burning passion for science. He wore the rank of Lieutenant 1st Class and was the team's official scientist. He owned a personal lab where he would usually stay in for hours tinkering and inventing an assortment of gadgets that the team used often on their missions. He also had a gigantic crush on a bottle-nosed dolphin he had met some time ago named Doris Young.
Fish was thrown over to the penguin as the crowd cheered loudly at their performance. The four gave them their classic 'smile and wave' as they picked up their prize. This is how they got their lunch each day, besides Sundays, where the zoo would be closed.
When the crowd dispersed to the rest of the habitats, the four penguins gave each other high fives, signaling a good day's work. "Twenty-nine fish. Wow! That's a new record!" Skipper commented. He glanced over to his subordinates and gave them an impressed look.
"And you all know what that means."
Rico raised his flippers in the air in excitement. "Snowcones!" he grunted happily. The other two gave a happy look to each other before nodding.
Whenever the team got a new record for either their performance earnings or timing for cleaning their HQ that was situated secretly beneath the concrete ice flow they stood on, or if Skipper approves it, they get rewarded with the sweet, icy treat the world knows as snowcones.
Happy for their achievement, they had barely noticed the approaching presence of a female Asian Otter named Marlene Summers. She was the only otter in the entire zoo but even so, she has made friends with just about everyone and understands other's problems with relative ease.
Marlene was considered a great friend to the penguins, so great that on many occasions, they allow her to tag along on their missions. She hated some of them, but most were very memorable. But her friendship has never been stronger than with the leader penguin.
Skipper also considered her as his best friend, even though he goes by his quote of "Friends are just enemies who haven't attacked you yet." Plus, he considers her as 'smart', though he wasn't very fond of mammals and often marks them as dumb.
On many occasions, they have shown great trust in each other and sometimes even show that their great friendship, may actually be more than just friendship.
"Guys!" Marlene called out as she climbed onto the concrete ice flow, waving her paws to try and get their attention. They turned around and instantly returned the greeting.
"Hi-dee ho Marlene!" Skipper greeted happily. He usually tells her off for barging in on their 'covert operations', but when he is in a good mood he would be all nice and such, which was a whole different side to Skipper.
"Guys...I need...to tell you...something important," she staggered breathlessly.
"Sorry Marlene, but we need to go on a snowcone run," Skipper said apologetically. "Can you tell us later? It wouldn't take long," he requested. Marlene nodded as she caught her breath.
"Sure. I'll be right here."
"Alright boys, move out!" ordered Skipper. The four waved goodbye and vaulted over the fence into a belly-slide towards the park. They exited through one of their secret entrances/exits and carried on while avoiding detection from the humans strolling around the park.
They hid behind a tree trunk as they waited for the snowcone cart to pass by, which was just a few feet away. Suddenly, a slight, inaudible grumble escaped Skipper's belly.
"Hmm, my gut's trying to tell me something," he thought to himself. He called this skill 'gut instinct'. He said that only the best can follow gut instinct flawlessly. "Something about what Marlene had to tell us," he added.
"Mark!" Skipper ordered, snapping out of his thoughts. They jumped at the vendor and knocked him out. Surprisingly, no one saw what just happened, so they four collected their treat and Rico left some money on the cart.
Back at the Penguin HQ, which can be accessed via the fishbowl entrance hidden under, well, their fishbowl, sat Marlene. She had really meant it when she said she would stay there as the zoo was closing anyway and Alice, the zookeeper, never bothered to make sure the animals were in their habitats by then.
Marlene was a rather social otter. She would make friends with just about anybody, well, at least try to. She had a hazel brown eye colour that practically summarises the colour of autumn. Her right foot had a patch of white fur instead of the usual brown, but that made her special. She spoke with a sweet and understanding voice that could easily be marked as angelic.
A scraping sounded through the room, signaling that the penguins were back from their 'mission'. "Marlene!" Skipper said surprised. "Wow, you really meant it when you said you would stay right here."
He gestured to Rico to give her the extra snowcone they got as soon as they got off the ladder. She took it from his flipper and gave it a taste. "Mmm..." she said. "Thanks guys, but you really didn't have to. "
"Nah, my treat." Skipper's gut grumbled inaudibly once more. "Oh yeah, what did you want to tell us?"
"Yeah Marlene. You ran like a maniac to our habitat earlier on," Kowalski supported. It took her a few seconds to process their fast-paced talk.
"Oh that! Yeah, get this! I was just swimming in my pool when I overheard Alice mention the words 'new arrivals'," she explained, taking a few licks of her snowcone as she did. "She also said that they, the new arrivals, were penguins!"
Skipper's face went into 'poker-face' mode while Kowalski started checking his clipboard. Rico and Private simply cheered.
"New penguins! Oh goody!" said Private.
When Skipper processed the info, he turned to Kowalski for any confirmation. "You must be mistaken Marlene, because I don't have anything here that says there will be any new arrivals," Kowalski countered.
Marlene glared at him skeptically. "Yeah, nothing on your clipboard says there are, cause she just got the news today."
"Are you sure about this info Marlene?" asked Skipper. She simply nodded in reply. "Well then, we need to find out if what Marlene found out is credible, so..."
"You're going to check Alice's computer," Marlene completed.
"Exactly. Men, move out!" ordered Skipper.
In Alice's office, a quiet, enclosed room that only contained a desk, a roller chair, a computer and a water dispenser, the penguins were searching through the papers and the computer for any signs of transfer papers. They may not know how to read, but they have memorised how the transfer papers look like. Plus, they know a few human words, enough to read them.
"Marlene's right. It says right here in Alice's email that she was sold two penguins, one male and one female, today," Kowalski read.
"Wait, did you say female?" asked Skipper, who popped out of the desk's drawer that held various papers.
"Yes sir. The first female penguin this zoo has ever gotten it seems," confirmed Kowalski. "It also says that this female is attached to this male penguin, thus the reason why they were sold together."
"Why'd Alice buy them then?" asked Private.
"They were sold for only two hundred dollars it seems."
"That seems a bit suspicious, don't it?" asked Skipper. "They could be spies working for Blowhole or Hans or something for all we know."
Kowalski shook his head. "Highly implausible sir. It says they were shipped straight from Antarctica."
Skipper snapped his flipper, well, looked like he snapped his flipper. "Blast! Darn pirates and their no good ways." He sighed. "Ok, I'll take it easy on them, but I'm still watching them in case they try anything funny."
Private then interrupted. "When are they going to arrive Kowalski?"
"Three days from now."
A/N: Ok, this was a pretty long chapter, for me that is. The chapters will be changing POVs; one for the penguins, the next for Allard or something. I'm trying a Cudabear approach to this, cause I learn from the best! R&R!