Chapter 11 – Difficult decision

A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner. I had to rewrite this chapter THREE TIMES! The first two versions were good but they were too complicated so I had to write another suitable one. I hope you like it.

~PoM~

At the break of dawn, Skipper and his men assembled in front of the zoo gate to discuss their next move. They also brought Maurice and Marlene for back up. "All right everyone!" he spoke while pacing in front of them, "As you all know, Weston and his henchmen will be arriving soon for the Key, but we can't let them have it, we need a plan!" He turned to Kowalski who was staring at him blankly. "Kowalski, options!" he demanded.

Kowalski didn't respond.

Confused, Skipper tried again. "Kowalski, give me options."

The scientist grumbled something under his breath and finally pulled out his note pad. "We can try to ambush them. We will have both the element of surprise and number advantage." he suggested. Ever since Skipper told the truth about his past nothing felt the same anymore. Kowalski would glare at him and even Rico would hesitate at following orders. Private was only one who acted normally around him now.

"Excellent plan, Kowalski!" Skipper muttered. Suddenly, they saw agent Buck Rockgut coming their way. He no longer had those bandages tied around his torso. "Buck, what are you doing here?" he asked him.

"I've heard about what happened so I've come to help you lollipops with the fight" Buck stated, placing his flippers on his hips. Once the penguins began working on the plan, Marlene shifted her gaze around in boredom.

"Hey, where's Mort?" she suddenly asked, noticing the lemur's absence.

Maurice smiled. "Relax. He's still asleep back in our habitat. It's too early for him to wake up so I've left without him, besides, I don't want the little guy to get in the middle of a fight with those evil penguins" Maurice explained. The otter nodded in understanding. After finishing with the plan, Skipper began giving them their positions.

"Kowalski and Private, you two will hide behind that bush along with Marlene and Maurice. Buck and Rico you will stay behind the light pole." He said quickly.

"What about you Skippah?" asked Private.

"I'll talk to Weston and try to distract him. When I give you the signal which is when I say 'Now!' all of you will charge and try to weaken them as much as possible." He answered. Everyone nodded and did as they told. Buck however raised an eyebrow, feeling familiar with that name but shook the idea immediately.

"Be careful," Marlene said in concern.

"I will." He replied and watched her join the others. He then stood with the small box in front the zoo gate for minutes that felt like hours. Finally after long wait, the three penguins arrived. Skipper glanced around to make sure everyone was in position.

From his position, Buck's eyes widen in realization. "It can't be..." he thought.

"So, we meet again Skipper. " Weston said. "Do you have the Key with you?"

Skipper nodded, holding the box, he showed them the light blue sphere inside. "Free Nigel and Ringtail and I'll give it to you."

"Or, I can just take it from you. As you can see we outnumber you" Weston stated.

Skipper grinned. He had expected this from him so he raised his flipper and shouted. "NOW!" but to his surprise, no one came "Where are they?" the penguin thought. Suddenly, a giant snake emerged from the bush with his two teammates, Marlene and Maurice being squeezed by its tail.

"Savio!?" he muttered, then looked over again and saw Buck and Rico pinned to the ground by Hans and Clemson.

"W-What….How!?" Skipper stammered.

Weston smirked. "Did you really think I wouldn't see this coming? I knew you wouldn't just hand over the Key easily so I've asked some help from the Hoboken zoo"

Skipper's eyes widen in disbelieve. "So that's why Hans and Clemson showed up at the market the other day" he thought.

"Now then, give it to me and none of your friends will get hurt"

Skipper didn't know what to do next. If he didn't give him the Key then his friends will be harmed, but if he did then everyone will be in danger. He was stuck between a rock and a hard spot.

"S-Skipper!" Private whimpered as Savio began squeezing harder on them.

"NO! STOP!" he cried in concern. "Here take it, just let them go!" he tossed the box to him. Weston caught it and grinned in triumph.

"Should we finish them off now?" Hans the puffin asked.

"No, I want them to witness the weapon in action" the cyborg answered. He turned around and left with his henchmen. Savio then let go of the four animals and soon followed the Hoboken animals to the exit. Skipper took the chance and hurried to check on them.

"Is everyone all right?" he asked.

"I think so" Maurice answered, feeling sore in his body. Private stood up and rubbed his head.

"Sorry Skippah, he caught us off guard" he apologized as lowered his head.

"It's not your fault. Weston set the whole thing up. He was planning to force me to hand over the Key and keep your uncle and Ringtail as prisoners so we wouldn't get in his way." The leader explained. He looked back and saw Buck and Rico coming their way. The agent had thoughtful look on his face. "Is something wrong, Buck?"

"That penguin…he was my teammate" Buck stated. Everyone gasped.

"What!?"

"You too!?" Kowalski added.

"Yeah, before I started chasing after The Red Squirrel I was a team leader in a penguin unit like you Skipper. One day we were sent to infiltrate an enemy base but things didn't go as we planned. Somehow there was an explosion and the place began to collapse. The three of us managed to escape but we couldn't find Weston so we assumed he couldn't make it out in time, but now I know we were wrong about that."

A moment passed in awkward silence until Marlene spoke.

"Wow, this Weston guy is connected to so many people" she noted. Skipper frowned. He couldn't shake the feeling of guilt for letting all of this happen on his watch. There may be a chance that they won't see Julian or Nigel again.

Suddenly, a familiar was heard shouting. "Hello penguins!" Everyone turned around to the zoo entrance to see Nigel and Julian coming their way. The lemur was waving both of his hands in the air in excitement. Skipper's eyes widen and beak dropped in shock and so did everyone else. "Ringtail, Nigel?" he muttered in surprise.

"Uncle Nigel, you're back!" Private said as he hurried to hug him.

"You're Majesty!" Maurice exclaimed, giving him a hug. "It's good to you see you again!"

"Yes. It is good to be back to my kingdom. The penguins' place was terrible if you ask me" the lemur king replied.

"But how did you escape?" Kowalski asked.

"I used one of my spy tools to cut through the cell bars. Lucky for us the penguins who locked us weren't around so we took the chance and escaped the building." The spy answered.

Skipper who still had a hard time comprehend what just happened smiled and his expression soften. He was happy the two were back safely, but he still knew there were things to be done. "As much as I'm glad to see everyone back together I believe we still have other things to worry about."

"What do you mean?" Nigel asked.

"Now that Weston has the Key with him I'm sure he'll be heading to his base to activate the weapon." Skipper stated.

"And where is exactly is his base, Skippah?"

"It's in Antarctica."

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A/N: That's it for this chapter. Skipper and the others are going back to Antarctica! XD

And now for the messages!

The writer story: Thanks for the compliment.

Mikadaphne28: Yes, Marlene will have a big role in the final mission.

Please review!