Chapter 7 – Rude Awakening

A/N: Rude awakening: means to be awakened in uncomfortable way.

~PoM~

"So you're saying that you found him on the street?" a male voice asked.

"Yeah" a female voice answered.

"But how did he get there?"

"How should I know!" the female muttered. Buck slowly opened his eyes due to the noise only to be greeted by a bright light. His vision was blurry at first but then became clear. He was in a strange white room- in a cage to be exact, surrounded by two humans. One of them was a man wearing a white coat while the other was the red-haired woman wearing green and yellow garments.

"Look doc he's waking up" Alice exclaimed as she moved closer to the cage he was in and looked down at him curiously followed by the doctor.

"Hello little fellow, how are you feeling now?" the doctor asked as he touched the penguin's head with his finger. The agent immediately slapped his finger away and growled.

"Cranky little fella aren't you?" the doctor chuckled and wrote some notes down his note pad.

Buck touched his own body that was wrapped in bandages and realized what happened. The red-haired woman took him to some hospital to receive proper care. He couldn't help but to feel grateful to her for saving his life even though he doesn't trust non-penguin.

"Where do you think he came from?" Alice asked.

"I can't say for sure. Penguins don't live in cities so assume that he has an owner"

"But I found him injured on the sidewalk with some other animals that fled when they saw me"

"Hmm…that's strange" The doctor stated as he rubbed his chin.

"Welcome to my world, doc" the zoo keeper shrugged. "So... what should we do with him now?" she asked.

"I recommend that we keep him here in the zoo hospital until he fully recovers or until his owner comes looking for him. I'll check on him every two hours to see if he's making progress" The Indian man answered.

"I guess I should call the other zoos and see if they're missing any penguins" the redhead offered.

The doctor glared back at her and smiled. "Thank you Alice" he said and they both went outside, leaving him alone in the room.

Just then, four penguins and an otter jumped from hidden. "Coast's clear!" said Skipper and they jumped on the table where the rock-hopper was.

"Skipper, what're doing here?" Buck asked in surprise.

"This is our home. Alice brought you here after she found you injured near the park. We heard her mention you this morning so we've come to visit" explained Skipper. Rico walked in and opened the cage's door. Standing up, Buck slowly walked out of his cage and hissed when he felt the pain in his back again. His wound didn't fully heal yet. Marlene who was hiding behind him waved for Buck.

"H-Hi I'm Marlene. We've met before" she said nervously, forcing a smile. She didn't trust the rock-hopper after he had thrown her into a detention cell along with other zoo animals.

Buck simply nodded in response.

Private walked in, "We've also brought you some fish. I hope you like it" he said and passed him a plate of fish.

"Thanks cupcake" Buck said and munched a fish. Private however raised a brow in confusion.

"Why do you keep calling us nicknames Buck, don't you know out real names?" the cadet asked.

"Of course I do!" The agent exclaimed with his beak full of munched fish. "You're Private and he's Skipper. The crazy one is Rico and the smart guy is….eh" he trailed of at the scientist.

"My name is-"Kowalski said but Buck shushed him with a flipper.

"Don't tell me, don't tell me. I can do it!" he pressed on his forehead to remember. "It has an 'O' and an 'L' in it right? Cola. Lola. Koala-something" he said randomly, everyone else in the room held back a laugh.

"Kowalski" the scientist said, a bit annoyed.

"I knew that. I was just teasing ya" he lied and ate the rest of the fish.

"So…how did you ended up there?" Skipper asked to change the subject.

"The Red Squirrel escaped."

"Again!?" the leader muttered.

"Yup and they sent me to capture him again. The British spy Nigel tagged along me," Private smiled, "but we kindda got separated during the chase" his smile then sank.

"Anyway, once I had Red where I wanted him, some penguin came from behind and stabbed me in the back, that's when the red-haired lady came and took me here" he touched the bandages where the wound was and then back to the group and noticed someone was missing.

"Hey, where's the crazy one" he asked the group. They looked at each other and then back to him. They immediately spilled the beans of what happened lately, from their mission to the market, to Julian's disappearance, Kowalski's invention leading them to the city, the abandoned crown, and the cyborg penguin attack.

Buck nodding in understanding. "That's some story"

"Do you think the penguin that Buck as the same one at the alley, Skippah?" the British penguin asked his leader.

"Maybe but we still can't jump into conclusions yet Private. There's still some much that we don't know, but I assume that they're somehow connected. Anyway, we need to leave before the doctor comes back" Skipper said and the others nodded in agreement, they said goodbye to the agent and soon left the room.

Buck was alone in the room again. He returned inside the cage even though he disliked it but didn't want the zoo keeper and the doctor to get suspicious. Laying down, he stretched his muscles and fell asleep.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Skipper and the group made their way out of zoo hospital and walked away from it. Maurice then emerged from over a wall and jumped down to them followed by Mort who slammed his into the ground.

"Ouchie" he said in daze.

"Are you guys all right? Did he attack you?" the lemur asked in concern.

"Well no, he didn't. Actually, I don't think he's gonna hurt anyone" said the otter.

"Are you kidding me? That guy's insane! We can't let him stay here in the zoo" Maurice muttered.

"Well we can't make him leave; he's injured and needs a place to rest in and besides, he can't try anything due to his injury even if he wanted to" Kowalski countered.

At this the lemur sighed. "I guess you're right." And he turned to go back to their habitat. "Okay see ya guys later!" he and Mort waved.

Kowalski kept taping his beak in thought "I don't understand why Special agent Buck Rockgut forgot my name, I mean WHY ME!?"

Skipper sighed. He just won't let that one go.

A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter; it took me a long time to come out. Sadly, I'm not posting anymore chapters until I finish my final exams. See you guys in a few weeks!