Disclaimer: Penguins of Madagascar and all related characters are the property of Nickelodeon, DreamWorks, and any or all related affiliates. Characters of my own creation are my property and may not be used by others without express permission. This fiction was created for the purpose of having fun and being creative, no money is being made in any way from its creation and posting.
Hell Hath No Fury
Chapter 17
By
Wildgoose
(The blues circle in a wide orbit around the bunker while still attempting to break through the interference preventing communications. There has been no sign of resistance to their barrages against the bunker and radio contact has still not been established.)
Mel: I'm still just getting static on Yankee one's channel.
Digger: (Sighs) I'm open to suggestions people. Let's hear some ideas.
Nigel: We could stop aiming at the edges of the complex and take a real chance. Maybe we're just not punching holes close enough to them.
Digger: That would be a complete crap shoot, we have no idea where they are inside.
Nigel: That's why I said it was a real chance. (Pause) Hey, …if you've got a better idea then now is the time for it.
Digger: (Looks about hoping for a better suggestion.) I guess it's the last option. Babs, bring us to bear on the bunker and put three shots in a line right across the middle. If that doesn't do it then we're just going to have to brave a search party. (Babs positions the aircraft to bear on the bunker and Mel gestures to signal that the GDO is armed and ready to fire.)
(Cut to a room not far from where Loki and Sarah were recovered out of the ceiling vent shaft. The squirrel leading Skipper and company bursts through the door with everyone else close behind, in the room are seen Loki, Yoshi, and Sarah tending to Hannibal who is lying on a table top looking fairly pale. His fur is heavily stained despite efforts from his sibling to clean him up. As the others enter the room Hannibal turns his head to acknowledge them.)
Hannibal: Hey dad, …I'm glad you made it out of there okay. (Pause) I'm not feeling so hot, …I could really use some help here. (Shivers) Somebody tell me there's a way to turn on the heat in here, It's so cold…
Skipper: (Looks Hannibal over quickly) Oh my God, Hannibal! (Pause) I'd heard that you took down the Red Squirrel, … what happened?
Hannibal: (Shivers again) I guess being Ms. Kitsune's student can inflate one's ego, …I thought of myself as being almost as good as her. (Smirks weakly) I guess I still need training. (Pause) Red is dead however, …Margot can rest now. (Hannibal looks away)
Kowalski: Well, ..that's all good for her I guess…(He is cut off by Skipper)
Skipper: We'll worry about that later. Right now let's get you fixed up ASAP. (Stares at Heidi) Well come on woman, make with the medicine!
Heidi: (Scoffs) Oh sure, let me just pull out my magic pill. (Shakes her head) Idiot… (Gestures to the squirrel) You know where my quarters are, right? (The squirrel nods) Bring everything from the large black cabinet, you can't miss it. Also, have your people bring me a lot of water, and anything that can be used for bandages. Go now! (The squirrel leaves with haste and shortly after his subordinates arrive with buckets of water and strips of cloth to be used as bandages. Heidi makes her way over to Hannibal while guarding her side.) Okay friend, …let's check you out. Hopefully this just looks worse than it really is.
Hannibal: Heidi, right? (Heidi nods) So you were really with us the whole time? You weren't just being compassionate?
Heidi: I'd like to think I was both. Look, we'll talk details later. For now anybody in this complex who isn't a crustacean is trustable. (Looks back at Hans) Even my sob story brother behind me.
Hannibal: (Turns to Glare ay Hans) Your BROTHER? (Groans) If I were you I'd think about disowning him, he tried to have us killed.
Heidi: Look I know you've been through a lot. (Looks Hannibal over) Seriously! (Pause) But for the time being give him the benefit of the doubt. He was misled and victimized just about as bad as you were. (Pause) I give you my word; he's on the up and up now, so to speak.
Hannibal: (Grumbles in pain and points at Hans) When this is all over I'd better get to hear one heck of a story or I'm going to send you to MEET your kid in whatever after life there is. (Hans looks insulted and is about to reply when he is cut off by his sister.)
Heidi: LIKE I SAID, …we'll talk details later. Now like I was trying to suggest earlier, let's hope we're astronomically lucky and all of this blood is just from one doozy of a paper cut.
Hannibal: Red stuck me with a big knife.
Heidi: (Rolls her eyes) Never mind, …you just tossed that hope to the wind. (Loud sigh) I need assistants to help me out here. (Gestures to Yoshi and Loki) You two are his siblings, right? (They nod) Fine, you're drafted. We need to clean him up so I can see what I'm doing, use water to try to rinse the blood from his fur; don't worry about making a mess on the floor. It's going to get messy in here no matter what if I have to operate which I suspect that I probably do. (Yoshi and Loki begin pouring water over Hannibal's fur in light amounts and dabbing with pieces of cloth until the other squirrel arrives with Heidi's medical supplies. )
Hannibal: (Shivers) Why am I so cold?
Heidi: (Looks Hannibal's fur over and then at the table.) It looks like you've lost a fair amount of blood, your body is trying to conserve whatever energy it can to stay alive. (Once she has the supplies she sorts through them until she finds a set of cordless hair clippers and begins to buzz the bloody fur from Hannibal's abdomen and lower back.)
Skipper: What are you DOING? You're supposed to be helping him not giving him a haircut!
Heidi: Do you want this kid to survive? I need to be able to see what I' m doing, now pipe down or get out!
Kowalski: Interesting how suddenly she's become so forceful.
Private: I'm not sure if I can stand the sight of blood, Skipper. Permission to leave the room? (Skipper is about to deny when he is cut off by Hans)
Hans: Listen, I know I'm the last one anybody wants to hear from right now but we should all head out and stay out of the way, …my sister does know what she's doing.
Skipper: I'm not going anywhere, I've got a man down and I'm staying put to see to it he pulls through. (Once Heidi has removed as much fur as she can she has the pups rinse with water again and then begins to examine the wound prompting Hannibal to yell out in pain. Skipper bolts into protective parent mode and tries to pull Heidi away from his son.) What the cod are you doing to him? Forget it, …we'll get him the heck out of here and to a REAL doctor who actually knows something about pain management!
Heidi: (Gestures to the squirrels) That does it! Get them all out of here now, except for these two! (Gestures to Loki and Yoshi) …And for your son's sake I'll pretend I didn't hear your comments.
Skipper: (Struggles as he is dog piled by squirrels that enter the room at the moment's notice and who after a few moments carry Skipper and escort the others out) Let go of me, …I need to be with my son!
Loki: (Once the room is quiet) WOW, …I've never seen dad freak out like that.
Heidi: Now you know why family gets kicked out of the room whenever something important needs to get done at a medical facility.
Yoshi: …But WE'RE family.
Heidi: True but I need someone to help me and given that I'm associated with the guy who had you abducted, I figured your brother could use someone he can trust in the room with him.
Loki: …And you didn't want that to be our dad?
Heidi: Are you kidding? You saw the way he acted, I wouldn't be able to get anything done in here and your brother would just get worse. (Hannibal groans in pain as Heidi continues to check him out.) I'm sorry kid, …I don't have a general anesthetic available. Do you have any allergies at all, especially to medications? (Hannibal thinks for a moment and then shakes his head) All right, I'll see what I can do for the pain shortly. (Heidi begins to quickly sort through her equipment and set it out on another table in the room. Amongst the equipment Heidi takes out a syringe and takes a sample of Hannibal's blood, then with separate syringes she approaches his siblings.)
Loki: Whoa, ..what's with the needles?
Heidi: Well any idiot can tell just by looking at your brother that he's lost blood and is going to need a transfusion soon. I need to know if either of you are compatible blood types.
Loki: (Looks queasy) So I guess now would be a bad time to bring up the fact that I hate needles?
Heidi: (Rolls her eyes) Do me a favor and smack your brother for me. (Yoshi complies with a smirk on her face.) Suck it up, Kid! Your brother needs you right now.
Hannibal: You know, I am awake here. I can hear you guys talking about me. (Hannibal's comment is ignored and sometime later Heidi comes walking out into the hallway to talk to Skipper.)
(Snap to the hallway as everyone stands about including an ever increasing squirrel presence as word spreads about Red's death.)
Skipper: (As Heidi comes into the hallway) YOU! You're just lucky that you're not s member of my outfit lady or I'd have you court marshaled!
Heidi: (Unimpressed) Are you done yet? (Pause) Good, …look I understand how you feel. You're a parent and you don't know what to do to protect your kid. So here's what I've got to say that will help things along.
Skipper: How is my son, …what have you done so far?
Heidi: I've barely had a chance to touch him. Now If you don't mind, I was talking.
Skipper: (Grumbles) All right, sorry.
Heidi: Don't be sorry, be quiet.
Hans: (Low tone) Consider yourself lucky, Skipper. I had to grow up with her. (Heidi scowls at Hans who quickly looks away)
Heidi: Anyway, ..here's the deal. Your son needs my undivided attention or it's likely he's going to die. Dr. Blowhole needs YOUR undivided attention or the rest of the world is going to die. So leave me alone to do my job and go save everybody else. I promise I'll do my best to help him.
Skipper: (Sighs) Kowalski, suggestions?
Kowalski: The puffin does seem to have a valid point, Skipper. It will likely take all of our collective brain power to produce a viable solution that will counter Dr. Blowhole. He appears to have learned from at least some of his past mistakes.
Private: Oh dear, perhaps he's been as intelligent as he claims all of this time after all.
Skipper: (Ignores Private) I think you're overestimating Blowhole's capabilities, Kowalski. We shut him down the last time he did something like this and we can do it again.
Kowalski: Except that this time we're thousands of miles away from him and he has devices at both poles.
Skipper: Don't give me the facts, Kowalski; I'll make up my own. I need you to come up with ideas, how can we beat this guy?
Kowalski: (Thinks for a moment) It would seem likely that he would have to operate the devices remotely to maintain absolute control over them. Knowing Blowhole as we do it's easy to assume that he wouldn't trust anyone else anyone else to control them so If we could isolate the satellite uplink frequency he's using and crack his encryption codes then we could take control of the devices and shut them down.
Private: It's probably a good bet that it would take more than Mort jumping up and down on all of the controls to shut it down this time.
Skipper: Leave sad eyes out of this, Private. Not that dancing on the controls wouldn't do any good but where you have one pesky annoying lemur you always seem to find the others close by.
Hans: Yes, and if I might add that my equipment doesn't take kindly to being trod upon. So no jumping!
Heidi: It sounds like you guys are well on your way to saving the world already, so go do your thing. (Pause) Oh, and one more thing. (Gestures for Loki to leave the room and come into the hall.) Take this guy with you, …I get the feeling I'd have to pick him up off of the floor before long. (Gestures to Sarah) I've seen that you have experience with injuries.
Sarah: Just minor first aid stuff.
Heidi: It's an improvement over what I had; you can help the other otter assist me.
Sarah: What was wrong with Loki?
Heidi: He doesn't really have the stomach for this sort of thing, I took a pint of blood from him and then I had to treat him for dizziness. It turns out they all three otters have the same blood type and I still need to grab some from the sister, I'll need your help with that.
Sarah: Yoshi.
Heidi: What?
Sarah: I've heard them call her Yoshi.
Heidi: (Shrugs) Whatever, we have work to do. (Heidi guides Sarah back into the room and suddenly the complex shakes a few times after being hit by the blues. As everybody wonders what's going on the com piece in Skipper's ear begins to crackle and a voice is heard over the ear piece.)
Skipper: Everybody hold on a minute! (He waits until the voice is heard again. After a moment Skipper recognizes the voice as being Mel's) It's the blues!
Private: It's about time, it's been ages since we've heard from them. I thought they were going to back us up when we first made out way in here.
Skipper: Blue squadron, we read you. What's your situation?
Mel: (Over the com) We can say the same thing, we've been trying to reach you since insertion. We had to punch holes in the complex to break through the interference. The situation is this, external defenses appear to have been neutralized with one WMD having been destroyed shortly after launch. (Skipper looks confused for a moment)
Skipper: (Over the com) Alright, you can fill us in on that one later. Our situation is this, the bad guys are scratched a major player with another having jumped the fence but as a result we have a man down with serious injury. We have medical personnel on site but our guy is going to need an evac from here to the nearest medical facility. Land if it's safe to do so and get down here to assist, local forces will escort you to us.
Mel: (over the com) Understood, we'll enter through one of the new skylights we made. Blue squadron out.
Heidi: Blue squadron, …who are those guys?
Skipper: They're a specialized search and rescue team; they flew us in here to find the kids.
Heidi: (Thinks for a moment) Do any of them have any kind of training? First aid, CPR, or anything else like that?
Skipper: Hold that thought. (Skipper gets back on the com with the blues and relays the questions. A response is quickly recieved and Skipper gets back to Heidi) Affirmative, Don and Toby are medic qualified.
Heidi: (Clasps her wings together) Hannibal's situation is getting better already. Get them in the other room as soon as they get down here. (Turns to Yoshi) I mean no insult but I need the best qualified people to help me in there. As soon as I can get what I need from you then you're relieved. Until then, come with me. (Heidi leads Yoshi back into the room where Hannibal stares at them from his position on the table. Once inside Heidi has Yoshi take a seat and gets her set up to donate blood.)
Hannibal: (While Yoshi is donating Heidi goes through her stuff and finds a drink box of OJ for her to drink.) I could hear what you were saying out there.
Heidi: Like I said, no insult intended.
Hannibal: It's okay, but I need to set things straight before you get to work on me. My dad is used to giving the orders but I don't think the squirrels would listen to him after having given their allegiance to me.
Heidi: Really, …they DID that?
Yoshi: I was there and saw the whole thing, it's for real.
Heidi: After Red, I didn't think that they would want to take orders from anybody. So what do you need with them?
Hannibal: That guy who seems to take authority over them, the one who keep coming in here. I need to talk to him, and to my dad. (Heidi looks reluctant but then moves to bring them both back into the room. Hannibal looks at the squirrel first and addresses him.) I don't think I ever got your name.
Squirrel: Beowulf
Hannibal: (Long pause) You're kidding, right?
Beowulf: My mom built her nest in a tree just outside an English teacher's classroom window and took a liking to a lot of the stories and poems she heard. Let it go okay, she could have gone with something Shakespeare. (Yoshi snickers under her breath for an instant prompting a glare from Beowulf)
Hannibal: No problem, …listen as you can see I'm pretty laid up here. You're going to need to take your orders from another person. As I tried to tell you before, Yoshi is a great tactician and has leadership qualities. I'm ordering you to follow her.
Skipper: Now wait just a cod picking minute…!
Beowulf: I think I agree with the penguin, you're the one who took down Red. We handed the reins to you for the time being.
Hannibal: Look, I'm no good to you lying on a table. Yoshi is the one for the job, she'll listen to what you have to say and she'll be able to work with my dad without conflict. (Looks at Skipper) Right dad?
Skipper: I'm not sure if I like your tone there, mister. I'm the only one in command around here and that's that.
Hannibal: Two teams are better than one; even Kowalski would tell you that. Let Yoshi lead the squirrels, you lead the penguins and together you'll tear the dolphin a new blowhole.
Skipper: ...And as your father what if I put my foot down and tell you that we're going to do this my way and that's final?
Hannibal: That's why I want Yoshi in charge, dad. She'll at least listen to what they have to say if they have suggestions or advice to offer. You only know how to do things your way. (Shivers after a long moment of silence)Look, I'm on this table already dad. Don't make me lose faith in you and leave this world in disappointment. (Skipper opens his beak as he searches for the words to reply with but finds none. Instead a tear rolls down his cheek feathers, and a moment later another, and then another. Before long Skipper closes his eyes to prevent the coming deluge but cannot find the strength and the tears begin to flow down his feathers in a waterfall to the floor. Skipper turns away to hide his face from his son.)
Beowulf: Wow, …way to slam the door on your old man kid.
Hannibal: I didn't have the strength to keep up an argument. (Pause) So what do you say guys? Share the reins for a change, dad?
Beowulf: (Looks at Hannibal and then at Yoshi taking her paw to shake it.) It's a pleasure to serve, ma'am.
Yoshi: So what do you think, dad? Give a girl a chance to be a chip off of the old ice block?
Skipper: (Wipes his eyes and looks at Yoshi) I guess you had to grow up sometime, …I just would have preferred it not to be in the middle of a crisis with your brother threatening to die on me if I don't at least try to be open minded. (Offers a salute) It will be an honor serving with you. (Nudges Yoshi's chin with his flipper just before a knock comes at the door and a moment later other squirrels escort Don and Toby into the room with whatever supplies they brought along.)
Toby: (At seeing Hannibal) Bugger, …how big was the Croc that got YOU? (Hannibal doesn't respond and a moment later Heidi removes the catheter from Yoshi's arm.)
Heidi: All set, you could just be a life saver with this. (Yoshi smiles and get s up from the chair)
Skipper: (Offers a quick smile to Hannibal and then turns away) Alright people, let's let these guys do their jobs. (He begins to head for the door but notices that nobody else is moving.) I said let's go.
Beowulf: (Looks at Yoshi) Orders ma'am? (Yoshi smirks at Skipper and then gestures towards the door, after which Beowulf and any other squirrels in the room begin to head out.)
Heidi: (After the others have left and the blues begin to unpack their gear) Do you think that was wise?
Hannibal: I think the squirrels would sooner listen to Yoshi than my dad. He's very authoritative; it might remind the squirrels of Red a little too much.
Heidi: (Thinks for a moment) So you made your sister the intermediary to get them to work together. (Smirks) Nice!
Hannibal: It was her idea, …I could read her face.
Heidi: You guys are THAT close?
Hannibal: (Shivers and sounds tired) You have no idea.
Heidi: It must be nice not to have sibling rivalry. (Heidi sets up a syringe of painkillers and begins to administer it to Hannibal.) This is morphine; I don't have a general anesthetic available so I have to give you a pretty large dose of this stuff. It won't knock you out but… (She notices that Hannibal's eyes have drifted closed and his head starts to tilt to the side. Toby quickly checks Hannibal's vitals and respiration.)
Toby: Pulse is rapid, breathing as well. It looks like he lost consciousness before the medication could take effect.
Heidi: That sounds about right all things considered, I think it's about time we got some blood into him before he runs out. All of that tension moments ago must have been enough to keep him awake.
Don: Are two pints going to be enough?
Heidi: Not hardly, we'll have to be creative. Do you know how to mix up a five percent saline solution? (Don nods) You'll find what you need in my bags, get to it and make a lot. We can use it as filler to give his heart enough to keep pumping what he's already got. Um, …other guy! (Toby states his name) Right, …go into the large bag and break out my portable ultrasound equipment.
Toby: (Slightly confused) Um, …you know he's a guy right?
Heidi: (Dry) You're funny. (Pause) I need to get a look inside and we don't have the resources to do exploratory surgery. I'd give my right wing right now for an MRI, a CT scanner, or even a portable x-ray machine but this is what I have to work with. (Without another word Toby goes to get the equipment.)
(Cut to The helicopter as Mel sits at his station attempting to use a satellite internet uplink to research any vet hospitals in the area.)
Mel: I can't make heads or tails of the Danes public internet, the only vet clinics I can find are for farm animals. There's no actual hospital, the Doc, goes to the patient.
Digger: There has to be one, the Yanks aren't the only people on the planet to keep "exotic animals" in captivity.
Mel: Tell me about it, but for the life of me I can't find anything. Maybe it's the browser software we're using, it was made in the USA, maybe it's biased.
Babs: (Shakes her head in her seat) That doesn't even make sense, if it were biased then why would it give you information on Denmark at all?
Mel: I only said it because I don't have a better explanation.
Nigel: What about that Yankee ship that sent the tanker to refuel us? Aren't those things supposed to be cities at sea or something?
Babs: What's your point?
Nigel: Well they have to have a medical facility, don't they?
Digger: For humans, Nigel.
Nigel: So what, most of the equipment can still be useful can't it?
Digger: Wouldn't a human hospital around here be closer
Mel: Probably, but with them we'd have to sneak in, take out a few people and then work on the patient in hopes that we're not discovered. That's not an easy thing to do if you have to run between floors to use stationary equipment. The Yanks were willing to help up before, maybe they will again and we won't have to worry about making some kind of media circus with our arrival or departure.
Babs: Mel has a point, ….I think humans would notice a helicopter landing on them.
Digger: We've never been noticed by humans before.
Babs: Because we usually operate at night in an area where people regularly dismiss the unusual. (Digger spends several moments in thought before responding)
Digger: All right, Mel see if you can raise the Yanks again on the com and express our situation. If they won't help then we'll have to try our luck with the locals.
(Cut to the Central Park Zoo where Kitsune has brought Ming back to break the news to her mother. She runs through the entire story of what she knows while leaving out her own personal discoveries. Marlene's face has taken on the appearance of a blank slate as she listens to Ming's account, the others respond with questions. Some of the questions from Jr. are quite involved which seems uncomfortable for everyone else.)
Jr.: So you've been watching all of this in your head without having to sleep? (Pause with a grin) That is so AWSOME!
Astrid: Explain to me why that's awesome, Jr.?
Jr.: Well, we don't have to camp around her with monitoring equipment like before. Ming can do her thing and talk to us while she's seeing stuff.
Erin: You're making her sound like a piece of your monitoring equipment. Try not to lose sight of the fact that she's a scared little kid who is being required to watch some very unsettling stuff for our benefit.
Ming: (Tries to interject) Um, …I'm really not so much the kid that I used to be. I, …I think I might have grown up a little lately.
Syron: Of course you have, ..you've taken great strides in the past week.
Pepper: You have to admit though, …you're still pretty clingy. If not to Hannibal then it appears to Kitsune. Look at you; you're practically on top of her foot. (Ming looks down to notice her position and then tries to relocate a short distance away while looking back with uncertainty.)
Ming: I'm working on it, okay?
Erin: So do you have any more word on Hannibal? What's going on with the people holding him? I would have thought he would have taken them all out single handed by now. (Looks over at Marlene to see that she still has the blank slate look) Right Marlene? (Pause) Marlene? (Approaches her to shake her shoulder) Marlene?
Marlene: (Blinks with a single tear rolling down her cheek) Somebody's trying to kill my kids… Additional tears begins to flow) …And Skipper's not even there to help them.
Ming: Dad is there, mom. He's trying to save Hannibal right now.
Marlene: What do you mean trying to SAVE HIM? Don't you mean RESCUE THEM?
Ming: (cringes and mumbles at first) Ooh, ….I shouldn't have put it like that. Forget I said anything, mom. They're all going to be fine, I'm sure of it. (Starts to turn away)
Marlene: (Closes the distance between herself and Ming) What are you not telling me?
Ming: I shouldn't… (Marlene clutches Ming by the shoulders and turns her to look Ming in the eyes.)
Marlene: Ming, ..please. I need to know, ….has something happened to Hannibal? (Pause) Is he alright? (Pause) Please Ming…?
Ming: (nervous) I, …I mean, …(Long pause as Marlene looks at her) Hannibal, …took on the Red squirrel, …and from what I can tell eventually killed him.
Marlene: (Studies Ming for a moment.) …But that's not all?
Ming: (More nervous) No, …Red hurt Hannibal in the process,… badly. Dad and the others are with him now trying to get him medical attention. (Marlene backs away a few steps as the tears flow down her cheeks and after a moment sits down on the floor and curls herself up into a sort of worry ball.)
Syron: As if that whole hoop of heat thing we've been hearing on the news hasn't been bad enough. At least now we know who's behind it. But Hannibal…(Pause) Erin, I need options. Is there anything we can do from here to help the situation.
Erin: We can't get to this Blowhole guy, there's no way to modify the flight packs for that kind of range. There are no flights going to the North Pole so we can't do an airdrop.
Syron: What about Hannibal? Is there a way to help him so that Skipper can turn his attention back to Blowhole. Chances are he's in a position to be able to do something. I'm not sure, we have no means of direct communication with him and the technology for Jr.'s transporter idea is still well out of reach.
Jr.: Hey, …I'm working on it okay! It's just going to take a while.
Syron: I don't think we have that long to wait, Jr. What other ideas do we have?
Jr.: We could try to contact the zookeeper and tell him what we know. Maybe there's some way he can get help to Hannibal.
Syron: He's in Florida, I don't see what effect he could have from there.
Jr.: Communication is something at least. Who knows what could happen, ..maybe he can think of something. Maybe command can help.
Syron: I listening for any better ideas. (Silence follows) All right, Erin and Pepper get on the radio and send a message to the Zookeeper. Ming, …try to calm your mother down. Give her some good news if you can.
Ming: I didn't want to give her the bad news in the first place but I thought she deserved to know what was going on.
Elisa: You didn't do anything wrong, Ming. She's just in shock at what's been happening with her being powerless to protect her children. You did the right thing, …that was brave of you to be able to give her the bad news even though you knew how she might react.
Ming: It didn't feel so brave, …it felt like I hurt my mother as bad as Red hurt Hannibal. (Elisa puts a flipper around Ming and tried to cheer her up as the scene fades out.)
(Cut to a room inside of Han's bunker, Hans has created a schematic from memory of the layout of the bunker with emphasis on the control room and the likely positions of Blowhole's lobsters.)
Kowalski: How accurate is your knowledge of the enemies' positions?
Hans: Hours old since I was stuck in that room with the lot of you. However I believe the numbers to be accurate.
Skipper: It will have to do, so what options do you have for me, Kowalski?
Kowalski: I'm still working on it, Skipper. Getting to the control room should be easy enough once we neutralize the enemy troops. The problem will be hacking Dr. Blowhole's control of the heat devices.
Yoshi: That will be your primary concern, Kowalski. Focus all of your energy on that. Dad, you and the others will watch Kowalski's back while he does his thing.
Rico: (Grunts in surprise) Come again?
Yoshi: My forces are greater than yours and Kowalski's objective is critical so our best people need to watch out for him.
Skipper: (Stern) …And just what do you think YOU'll be doing young lady?
Yoshi: Getting your butts in there. (Chuckles) This is so cool, …I've always wanted my own army.
Skipper: (Scoffs) You won't be able to pull off anything without a plan of action, …I don't suppose you have one do you?
Yoshi: (Leans back in her chair placing a baby carrot that she'd found in cafeteria room where Hannibal fought in the corner of her mouth like a cigar.) I think I've got something in mind. (Pause) The question is, are you ready to trust me dad? (Skipper looks on with a conflicted expression)
Chapter 18 coming soon.
MRI: Magnetic Resonant Imager
CT scan: Computerized Tomography
Ultrasound: a technique that uses high-frequency sound waves for medical diagnosis and treatment, e.g. to create images of internal organs, to treat deep tissue disorders, and to break up kidney stones
Comments and suggestions are always welcome.