"Skipper, watch out!" Amber shouted.

The flat-headed bird looked up but, by how fast the sharp shard of metal was coming down, he wouldn't make it. He clenched his eyes shut and held onto Amber tightly, staring at her mournfully. Wanting nothing more but to die holding her and being the last thing he ever saw.

She was startled when Skipper was suddenly thrown away from her and the metal plate landed right in front of her a millisecond later. She just stared at her reflection in the smooth metal that would have cut Skipper in two. She slowly turned her head, still in shock, and looked at where Skipper had been thrown over too. Her eyes widened even more, if it was possible, because in front of her were Zero and Skipper.

"Zero?" Amber gaped.

Said penguin looked up at her and smirked. "This your new boyfriend or something, sis?" Zero teased and chuckled.

Ambers surprise and shock was washed away by her anger and embarrassment. Her face turned a bright shade of red underneath her feathers. "He's not my boyfriend! And aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Zero was about to say something, but he snapped his beak shut when a large amount of penguins started coming down the hallway.

"Sweet mother oh crud," Amber muttered. She shielded her face from the panicked and frantic stomping of webbed feet. She cracked her eye open enough to realize that these were the colony penguins. They are all alive! she thought in surprised relief. Her conscious started to fall in brief peace.

She was able to recognize some of them like: May, Jackson, Daniel and many others. They ran past her like a full blown army. She watched as the final penguins' came down the hall. They had completely ignored her, Zero and Skipper throughout, being too concerned about themselves.

Once they all disappeared, Zero made a move to speak again. "We'll talk later; we got to get you out of here." He got off of the dazed Skipper and went to help Amber out before it was too late. He started to attempt to lift the metal but it wasn't much use. "This won't move," he grunted.

"Here," Skipper grunted and joined Zero. It didn't give much of an effect but a slight shift that only hurt Amber more. She cringed at the pain.

"We're here! No need to panic!" a voice shouted down the hallway. Amber turned her head slowly and was able to make out four penguins. She grimaced when she identified Bella, Jenny and Terra, but she was shocked when she saw Madison, who carrying a rather large white sack with her.

"What are you doing here?" Amber hissed.

"Trying to save your life, duh." Bella rolled her eyes.

Amber ignored her tone and tried to rip herself out of the metal as the other four penguins came over to help lift it up. Amber smirked when the metal was slowly lifted up with their combined strength. "Need some help here, Skipper," she told the leader penguin.

Skipper stopped pulling up the metal for a second and took Amber's flippers in his. He gave a powerful tug, and Amber popped out of the metal just as it crashed back down. The unfortunate sight of some left over feathers and blood made Skipper cringe. This only added to his rising concern for the silver penguin.

"SELF DESTRUCTION IN ONE MINUTE! SELF DESTRUCTION IN ONE MINUTE!"

But then again, there were more pressing matters.

"Let's get out of here!" Zero shouted and ran out of the HQ from the giant hole Rico's dynamite had made earlier. Bella, Jenny and Terra not far behind. Madison, Amber and Skipper stayed behind, however.

Amber had finally fallen unconscious, which was a problem now. Madison grunted and nudged a rather dazed Skipper. His head snapped around, and he glared at Madison. "Traitor!" he shouted accusingly.

She rolled her eyes and put the sack in-between her beak. She grabbed Amber and Skipper's flippers and started hauling them outside. Skipper caught on and started running by her side. He managed to grab Amber from the mute avian and held her in his flippers. He wanted to keep an eye on her and avoid Madison from handling her in fear that she might try something that would harm her.

The two penguins continued to run for their lives, hoping to get out of range of the soon coming explosion. They ran quickly and, before they knew it, they had ran a mile. They approached a large boulder, where they could here multiple voices were coming from. They reached the boulder and veered around it to see what was behind.

It was the colony penguins, his team and more. At least a hundred flightless birds were there. Skipper surveyed the large crowd, panting heavily. A large amount of the penguins he couldn't identify but some were familiar to him. Zero, Max, Ness, Danny and of course his team, along with Flora and Sara hanging around close by.

Skipper looked at the penguins nearest to him and was thankful it was his own team. Kowalski, Private and Rico saw him and got relieved expressions to see him safe. He strode over to them and carefully sat Amber next to Flora and Sara, who were still out cold.

Kowalski relaxed when Skipper approached. "There you are," he sighed, relieved.

Private looked at Skipper and hugged him. "We thought you two were goners…" the young bird whimpered.

"So, when do you think the place is gunna-" Zero started to say but was finished by Rico. "KABOOM!" the maniac shouted excitedly. "Yeah that," the Yellow-eyed penguin said, unfazed.

"We just have to wait," Kowalski murmured.

With those words, those quiet words, everyone fell silent and watched the HQ, waiting. They waited. And waited. And waited. Well you would think that a HQ that had less then a minute before exploding would happen real fast, right? It felt like forever to them. It felt like hours before the adrenaline pumping sensation of the explosion went off.

It was like it was in slow motion.

The HQ was engulfed in flames and, a millisecond after; it sent a powerful wave of sound and extreme damage toward them. It was like a sonic boom that would not only hurt your ears but rip you apart but it was far much worse. Much, much worse. The HQ turned into a large nuclear mushroom. Thousands and thousands meters high, looking like it was touching the stars. The heat of it was terrible. It would kill you if you were close enough, but the penguins were at least at a miles distance. The explosion was still felt and it was hurting them terribly. The penguins thought they would never hear again. Their eardrums were ringing in their heads. The unconscious penguins were spared at the time. Their hunger and lack of water made it impossible to wake them. Which at the time was a good thing.

The nuclear mushroom was still a spectacular sight. An array of so many different colors. Reds, oranges, yellows, blues, greens and even purple! It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. The heat of the mushroom slowly evaporated. The mushroom itself slowly disappeared and left only ash covered grounds. The HQ was completely destroyed and there was no doubt that most of the lobsters had perished in the explosion, but they didn't know if Blowhole and Satan had the same fate. They didn't see them escape and, if they were close enough, they would have been destroyed. But they could care less if they died. For what they did was unforgivable.

All around them, ash came down like rain. It was minutes of silence after the explosion had long died, before someone spoke and broke the unbearable silence they had been in since they waited for the explosion.

"Whoa…" Rico could only say that to explain the rush, excitement and the awesome, destructive explosion. And yet…that was enough.

"That was…wow," a colony penguin murmured.

Madison let out an impressed whistle. It was at that time that all the penguins acknowledged her presence. They turned toward her and the air became tense. Madison started to get uncomfortable and took a step forward to her friends. That was a mistake on her part.

"Not any closer! You're a traitor!" Skipper pointed an accusing flipper at her. She froze in her position and looked at Zero for help.

He nodded and stepped up in front of her, ready to defend her actions. "Look, she's not a traitor alright?" Zero told them.

"Really?" Skipper snarled disbelievingly. "She joined Blowhole! She left us there to die!"

Zero rolled his eyes. "No, she helped you guys. She pressed the self destruct button, cage release button and the shackle release button, so you guys could escape," he explained.

Skipper eyed him skeptically. "How would you know this?" he asked.

"She freed us," Zero explained slowly, like one would to a small child. It was obvious he was annoyed. "And betrayed Dr. Blowhole and Satan when she found out that we were still alive."

"How?" a voice croaked out. Skipper whirled around and, there in front of him, was Amber who actually appeared very weak all of sudden. "I thought you were betraying us."

Madison hesitantly waddled to her leader, pushing Skipper aside, still holding that large white sack of hers. For once, she seemed rather timid. She looked nervous, like Amber was going to slap the crud out of her, which was something no one wanted of course.

Madison stood in front of her exhausted leader and bravely shook her head. She never really intended to betray her friends. Sure, she wanted freedom, but even she knew she didn't have the brains to help free them. She just needed a little help. And Zero was that kind of help.

Amber sighed. "Look, I don't really forgive, but you're still part of my team, so I guess…you're forgiven."

"I knew it," Sara muttered groggily. She had woken up, and Flora had as well. She got up, with her leaders help, and smiled at Madison. "I knew you wouldn't betray us." Sara had always kept her faith in Madison, even if she didn't show it.

Madison, despite everything that had happened, smiled warmly at the young penguin. At least one penguin had believed in her. Even if that hope was close to being crushed to pieces, she was thankful that Sara held onto the belief that she never betrayed them. She hugged her tightly with a tear trailing down her cheek. Sara returned the hug weakly, happy to have Madison back, who was very much like a sister to her.

"So you were never really going to betray us?" Flora asked, her voice getting hoarse from lack of water. Madison nodded quickly. The dehydrated second in charge was suddenly filled with anger. "You know how hungry we were? That doesn't excuse your actions of just abandoning us there!"

She frowned when her friend's stomachs rumbled loudly, as if to emphasize Flora's point. Madison opened up her sack and opened it to show a pile of fish. Her friends didn't hesitate and dug into fish without any questions. Except one penguin. Rico. The two just stared at each other.

It took all but a moment for the two to realize that the whole colony was watching them.

"LEAVE!" Rico's voice boomed against the crowd.

Everyone stared at the psychotic penguin, wide eyed at the sudden hostility. The colony didn't bother questioning it and went deeper into the forest of Coney Island. Their voices finally arose and they started talking to themselves again with Zero leading everyone out. All the remained were the two teams of penguins.

Rico turned back to Madison and was rather surprised when she was suddenly next to him. They stared at each other with their belly feathers brushing together gently. The other penguins decided to ignore them and continued gorging themselves with fish.

Madison then gave the psychopath an apologetic look, Rico gaining a thoughtful one in the process. Madison sighed at this. She looked at the ground but instead found the slightly noticeable scar on her chest she had gotten many months ago. She shivered at the memories of glass bottles battering against her body. Suddenly, her memories came back to her. All involving Rico. The time he showed her firecrackers, the many times she hugged him and…that wonderful first kiss of hers. It was the best moment of her life by far. It was the first and so far the only time she had kissed him, surprisingly.

She slowly raised her head back up and stared at Rico's eyes. She just couldn't get over those eyes. Or his mohawk. The two continued to stare at each others eyes. Madison wanted to end the silence and awkward tension. Now. She leaned in and pressed her beak against Rico's roughly. Just like their first kiss, Rico was caught off guard, just like last time, but he smiled through the kiss and happily returned it.

Rico wrapped a single flipper around her waist and one on the back of her head for a much deeper kiss. Madison placed her flippers around the back of his neck and then the two were at full bliss and forgiveness once again.

The other penguins knew what was going on but decided to ignore it and talk to themselves while Rico and Madison enjoyed each others company.

Amber licked her beak but she was still unsatisfied with her thirst, which she and everyone who had been captured needed. "I'm glad to be out of there. It sucked like hell," the silver avian said after she swallowed another fish. But I've been through worse.

Sara shivered and curled up into a ball. "I hope it never happens again," she whimpered.

"Don't worry Sara, it wont," Private reassured.

Amber scowled slightly. That was the third time she had been captured. There are no limits to how many times it might happen to Sara or anyone else.

"I hope it doesn't," Sara sighed. She looked at her leader in the eyes. There was some emotion on them like…depression. Realization hit her hard. Her heart sank when she remembered that Amber was going to leave them. "You're…still not leaving are you?" she asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

Amber winced but composed herself. Sara had to bring it up now. "Well-" Amber was abruptly cut off by Sara herself.

The young bird threw herself onto Amber and gave her a death hug. "Please don't!" Sara cried. "We would never be the same without you!" Amber looked around awkwardly at the penguins watching her. Even Rico and Madison stopped kissing to look at them.

"Look, can we handle this later?" Amber asked quietly to Sara.

Sara looked up and faintly scared Amber with the pure fury and anger in her eyes. "You can't just leave! We've been through so much together!" she wailed. Then she added more quietly, "Why do you need to go anyway? Your past doesn't change anything, the present is what counts."

Amber's eyes softened. Those were wise words, considering it was coming from Sara's beak. "I…I…" she swallowed. She was a lose for words. It felt extremely awkward for her. Everyone was watching with pure interest and anticipation. Amber sighed in defeat. "I guess I'll stay." Sara smiled and gave a harder hug. "Sara stop!" Amber gasped. "I can't breathe!"

Sara immediately let go, which Amber took a large gulp of air. She looked up at her leader sheepishly and murmured, "Sorry…" Amber flattened the ruffled up feathers on her chest and just grumbled to herself but amusement shined in her eyes, as it often did with Sara's actions.

"I'm glad you're staying." Flora smiled. Madison grunted in agreement and nuzzled Rico's neck feathers.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Amber smirked. "I'm going for a walk," she announced. The silver bird got up, leaving the other penguins behind. Or so she thought. When she entered the large forest of Coney Island, she had only taken a few steps before Skipper was at her side. "Sweet salmon!" Amber screamed in surprise and slapped him. Skipper's face was red from where she had slapped him, and he was rubbing the painful spot.

"What was that for?" Skipper shouted, a bit shocked.

Amber didn't seem to want to apologize and simply decided to justify her actions. "You surprised me. I don't do surprises! They scare the crud out of me," she answered, looking flustered again.

"Well you could have told me that!" he glared.

Amber sighed, "Well try not to do that again."

Skipper grumbled to himself but still followed Amber when she waddled off again.

They waddled around tress, rocks, rotten debris and fallen ash from the explosion in silence. It was a while before Skipper spoke up. "It's a good thing you decided to stay with your team," he told her.

Amber spared him a glance, before looking forward once more. "Well, I guess it wouldn't have been the same without them. I don't know what I was thinking. It was probably all that pressure or something."

"It wouldn't have been the same for me either." Skipper spared her a glance too. "And my team," he added quickly. His slip up went unnoticed to his silver feathered companion.

"Well…I would have missed you," Amber admitted. She was completely aware of how she worded her sentence. And she meant every part of it.

"Hey Amber!" Zero shouted from a distance. Both penguins mentally cursed in their heads.

"Later Skips," Amber chuckled, before going off to find her stepbrother. She was just able to hear Skipper complaining about that nickname before she was out of earshot.

Skipper found himself smiling slowly as he saw her retreating silver back disappear. Amber was back. And he wasn't going to let go this time.

"Sorry if I was interrupting something," Zero teased, knowing she had been spending time with Skipper. Amber glared. They weren't related and were only step siblings, but they acted like family all the same. And they hated and loved it every second.

Amber folded her flippers over her chest. "What do you want?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Are you going to come back to the colony with us?" Zero asked bluntly. "With Flora, Sara and Madison of course."

Amber was slightly taken back at this. The sole purpose of her mission a couple of months ago was to go back to their colony to protect them again but they weren't there, so they came back to New York. But now that they're alive and going back…what now?

The silver avian hesitated before speaking. "Look Zero…I want to go back and everything, but I just...can't," Amber told him truthfully. She expected him to be understanding, but Zero just looked enraged.

"What?" he hollered in her face.

She was glad they were alone in this part of the forest. She didn't need any spectators or more pressure to add to the situation. She had enough of that already. "I can't go with you. I can't do that to my team. They really like it in New York," Amber explained, slowly growing irritated from her stepbrother.

Zero continued to glare. "But what about us? I thought family came first!"

Amber glared at her stepbrother. "Zero, I got to keep my promises," she told him slowly. "You promised to protect us! Well you broke that promise didn't you?" Zero snapped harshly.

That snapped Amber's beak shut. She felt her rage boil high. Her temper was kicking in and you could just see it in her eyes. They were alive like the fire they were. It was just scary, but it didn't seem to intimidate Zero one bit. He was use to it.

"You think I wanted to get captured on purpose?" she screamed. "I was forced to go to New York, forced to stay there till a boat came, and I was convinced to come back and find the guy I thought had murdered my colony in New York! I did my best to keep my promise, and I did what I could to finish my mission and heck, I say it's completed and done!" Amber was steamed. You never questioned her responsibilities or your head would be ripped off in an instant. The only exception was her friends and family, and even then she would probably slap you.

"We need you back at Antarctica," Zero hissed and continued to press her into coming back with him. Her shouting didn't faze him one bit. Which was something that annoyed the female avian greatly.

"I need to stay in New York." Amber steamed. She took a deep breath to calm herself again. Something Sara suggested she'd do when angry or frustrated. She usually didn't do it though, which explained most of her harsh actions now that she thought about it.

In a much calmer voice she said, "Zero, you I know both know what you're capable of. Just get off the lazy butt of yours and help the colony. Teach them to fish, protect them from seals, conquer Canada, I don't care! I'm just staying in New York," Amber stated firmly.

Throughout the time she was stuck in that prison she had a lot of time to think about some things. One was that she was going to stay in New York. A second involved Skipper, but she would save that for another time. For now.

Zero stared at her. His anger seemed to vanish. Most of it at least. "You're a stubborn penguin, you know that?"

Amber smirked. "Not the first time someone's said that."

"But…you do know it's going to be tough right?" Zero inquired to her hesitantly, still trying to persuade her.

"Well you're a tough penguin." Amber poked his chest, making him scowl. "I think you can handle it. Besides you've always stayed on the sidelines, so I think its time you stepped up and take care of the colony."

"Fine," Zero growled bitterly. "In a way I respect your decision," he admitted. "But I'm still not happy about it."

Amber smiled up at him. "I expected that much. Now I'm going to find some water. My team really needs it." With that said, Amber left without another word being spoken on the subject.

Several Hours Later

It was getting late and dark. Every single penguin was hanging around a large clearing, lit up faintly by the full moon. They were much too exhausted to start back home or do anything for that matter. The New York penguins' had to find food and water for all the others. It was grueling work but at least they could finally rest now.

Kowalski rolled his head to Flora's direction, who was right next to him, keeping him warm with the flipper resting on his stomach. "Is this what you had to go through at Antarctica?" he asked, while laying on his back.

"Yes…" Flora groaned, cuddling up next to Kowalski to get some sleep.

"It's harder then I remembered," Sara moaned against a tree. "To you know, do everything for them cause they are so scared."

"It's because were exhausted. That's why it feels hard, but it's really like the same thing," Flora explained pointlessly but was muffled by Kowalski's feathers, since her face was buried in his chest. Kowalski placed a flipper over the back of her head and brought his beak to her forehead.

Sara cuddled up against the tree with Private a little bit off to the side of her. Madison and Rico were sleeping on a pile of leaves they collected. Rico coughed up a blanket and wrapped it around the both of them, making Madison shuffle closer to him. Everyone else was too tired to ask for any.

Then silence fell in the air once more. Slowly, everyone fell into a deep asleep. But the two commanding officers of the commando penguins' refused to fall victims to the night's wistful lullaby. The wind was blowing faintly in the trees and the comforting drum of other living animals nearby like crickets chirping and breathing.

"Skipper?" Amber turned to get his attention. Skipper hummed, signaling he was paying attention, with his eyes half closed. "Why did you try to save me? You would have left your team without a leader as well as mine, and you really had no gain in it at all. So why?"

Skipper cursed in his head. He didn't want to be asked that kind of question. Before he could stop himself, his beak opened to answer. "I don't know," he answered quietly and closed his eyes for some sleep.

"You don't know?" Amber chuckled, which irritated the stubborn penguin. She got close to him for warmth which, at this point, didn't bother either of them. Skipper wrapped his flippers around her for protection to the cold, at least that was what he told himself he was doing. "You're a mystery to me Skipper."

Man that was long for me. But I enjoyed typing it up. Please review.

Kowalski: Review the chapter, please.

Sara: Pretty please!

Private: With a cherry on top!

Me: …

Amber: That's pathetic. That's not how you ask for reviews. This is how you ask for reviews.

Skipper: REVIEW OR I'LL SEND RICO ON YOU!

Rico: Muhahaha!

Amber: See?

Me: Ok…uh, review?

Skipper: I'm dead serious about Rico.