Please comment below if you want to see Kowalski and Rico in the later chapters, there has to be three "Yes's" for this to happen otherwise I will not include them in this fanfiction.
"You should ask her out Skip" Flippy said, they were swimming around in Flippy's habitat before the park, which Skipper had was named Seaville, opened.
"I don't have a crush on her" Skipper replied, before ducking below the surface,
When he resurfaced Flippy replied "You've been mooning over her since she got here Skipper"
"Have not"
"Yes you have" Flippy replied.
"Shut up!" Skipper spat, flustered, he had never had an interest in any female before, probable because at the time he had been young, but now at around three years old . . . No, I don't have time for girls.
"I have to complete my mission first" Skipper added, turning away to head back to his own habitat, Flippy rested a flipper on Skipper's shoulder, effectively stopping him.
"What are you going to do when you complete your mission Skipper, this mission won't last forever" Flippy pointed out, voicing Skipper's worst fears aloud, what would he do? This was all he knew.
"Not if I encounter anymore hippies" Skipper muttered darkly.
"Flippy!" a female voiced called out, Skipper's head jerked up and he and Flippy glanced in it's direction.
In the pool swam a young and very beautiful female dolphin, she's was probable only a few months old at most.
"Who's this?" Skipper asked, grateful for a change of subject.
"This is my baby sister Doris" Flippy said introduces him, "Sis, this is my comrade Skipper"
"Hi" she said shyly, then noticed Flippy's new eye-patch "what's that?"
"My eye-patch" Flippy said proudly. Skipper had told his friend that he could use the devise if he disabled it as a new eye patch so it would look cooler, and it did. Skipper had been impressed when the young dolphin had in fact done it by himself, without any assistence from Skipper.
"Hey sis, do you have any dating advice for Skipper here, I think he needs some" Skipper felt the blood run to his cheeks in embaressment as soon as Flippy said this.
"Do not" Skipper mumbled half heartedly.
"It's ok to be nervous, just find a good time to ask her out" Doris told him.
"Come on Skipper, if not for yourself, then do it for Doris and I" Flippy said.
"Fine" Skipper gave in, it wasn't worth arguing about. " I'll go ask her right now".
Five minutes later in penguin habitat . . . . . .
Skipper stood watching Karen, the beautiful young penguin that had stolen his heart, would she break it and throw it away as Hans had done? He glanced back at the dolphin habitat as soon as Flippy noticed this he waved Skipper on. What if she makes fun of my name? Several animals that I've met have done that, they said it was childish, and a name for a coward. No, come on Skipper, get a grip! You've taken on one of the world's fearsome assassins, you can ask a girl out.
"Um, hi, Karen is it?" Skipper said nervously addressing her.
"Huh? Oh hi, I haven't seen you around a lot, uh what's your name?" her voice is like honey.
"I-I-um I'm-uh" She gave him a weird look when he stammered, so he quickly blurted out "Two-bit-Hood-Jack the Knife!"
"Oh, well isn't that a nice name" she looked a little scared by his name.
"Uh, my parents had a lot of kids, and they ran out of middle names, so they called me that, but uh my friends call me Jack" Skipper hated lying to her, it felt like something was stuck in his throat, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Jack" she smiled at him, it was warm smile and it melted his insides.
"Don't go soft on me Solider!" he could almost hear Slade saying. Just ask her out, that's all you have to do, what's the worst that could happen?
The world could explode. Skipper mentally slapped himself when he thought that. You're just being paranoid.
"Yeah uh it's was nice meeting you two Karen" Skipper subconciously scratched the back of his head when he added, "Um I was wondering if you know, if you would go out on a date with me". He braced himself for the worst.
"Sure, I'd loved too Jack" she said, smiling shyly. Skipper breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ok, I'll pick you up for our date at your cave, be ready by six" he said, smiling. She nodded and walked away, she paused at the entrance to her cave and looked over her shoulder and called to him:
"I'll be looking forward to it Jack!"
"So am I" Skipper murmured happily, then he belly slid over to Flippy and told them what happened:
"Well, bad thing is you lied about who you are, but I'm sure you can tell her the truth later, better start getting ready Skipper, it's four-thirty" Flipper said when Skipper had finished his tale.
"Excuse me" Skipepr spun around to see someone he hadn't expected to see again.
It was Peirce, the cat who'd helped him get back to Seaville after he was injured.
"P-Peirce?" Skipper said in astonishment.
"Can we talk privately for a second?" Peirce nodded towards a quiet area of the park, Skipper nodded numbly and followed him silently over to the area.
"Are you trying to throw everything you've worked for away Skipper!" Peirce exclaimed, his eyes gleaming furiously.
"What? Wait, how'd you know my name, I never told you!" Skipper took a step back warily.
"You're not the only one who has sources they can go to, and my boss after hearing about what you did, thinks that you would make an exelent spy" Peirce explained.
"This is all about being a spy? Well you can tell your boss that I'm not interested, I may have lost my old team, but I'm not looking for a new one, ever. I have my own missions, my own plans and I like my freedom thank you very much, I'm not someone's personal puppet" Skipper started to walk away but Peirce jumped in front of him and snarled savagely.
"I heard your conversation with the dolphin and truthfully he's right. You have to start thinking about what you're going to do when you catch that murderous lemur, you can't go back to a normal life Skipper. You will never be normal, you've stepped onto a path, one you can never escaped, and you can't ever be rid of. Even if you somehow manage to act normal and find a nice place to settle down, you'll long for this life, the action and excitement will call your name. My boss is giving you a future worthwhile, and commandoes like yourself never last long after completing their sole mission, if you haven't noticed Skipper, you're no longer a hatchling, a youngster, an apprentice just trying to learn the basics, you're dangerous, and if you made a wrong move could make yourself an enemy of my organization, Fifty-two Fangs, and a possibly dangerous foe is something my boss and council will not overlook. It's join an organization or die"
"I'm not going to join your Fifty-two fangs just because you'll threaten me, who says I won't find something else to do after I defeat Deadshot?" Skipper snarled back, fury rising in his throat. He dug his feet into the ground; it was all he could do to keep himself from screaming and slapping the stupid feline.
"Make your choice wisely Skipper, I'll be back to hear what your choice is when you've healed fully, think about it Skipper" Peirce said, walking away. Leaving Skipper glowering at him in sheer disgust and fury.
When the cat was out of earshot Skipper snarled under his breath "I will never join an organization that threatens to kill me, even if it means going into the shadows for a while, but the blood of the innocent that is spilled by Deadshot when I'm in hiding, will be on their paws and flippers, not mine"
Later that night . . . .
Skipper adjusted his bow tie that Flippy had insisted he wear for his very first date. It was six and he was standing outside Karen's cave, a moment later she appeared, looking absolutely stunning in the moon light, her black feathers looked silver in the moon light and the mascara she'd put on brought out her beautiful emerald green eyes.
"You look . . . beautiful" Skipper told her, offering her his flipper, she took it and they headed away from the penguin habitat, towards the gift shop where he had set up a small area that would be perfect for their date, it was salmon and lobster, he hoped she would like it, after words he'd hoped to take her dancing or at least to walk her home.
"So Jack, where are we heading?" she asked.
"You'll see" Skipper told her smiling. Despite being extremely excited for his very first date, he was still furious about what Peirce had said, and what Skipper had said to him, well he'd meant every word.
When he'd brought her to the perfect sized table, light by candle-light, and had scooted her chair out for her and had taken his own seat, and revealed the night's dinner, Karen spoke:
"This is really nice Jack, I love salmon" she took a bite of hers, as did he.
"So Karen, what other zoos have you been at?" Skipper asked, from the thirty minute lecture Flippy and Doris had given him about dating, it was important to engage in small talk.
"Oh, I've been at lots of zoos, mainly because I was in route to different zoos until I was an adult, I've lived in zoos in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Colorado, even Hawaii" she said, her eyes batted at Skipper, melting his heart. Who says after I've caught Deadshot that I can't live a normal life, sure I won't be able to pretend the last three years of my life didn't happen, but that doesn't mean I can't be happy with someone I love, someone like Karen, I could settle down, start a family, and I'd be able to protect them too. Sure, I would miss the action and adventure, but I would still be happy.
"How many have you lived at?" she asked, curious. This question sent a prick of alarm through him, he had no intention of revealing his secret identity to her, he had started to realize that he needed to be more careful about what he said to others that he barely knew, once she gains my trust.
"Oh, I lived at a zoo in Nevada, you know near Las Vegas, Topeka's zoo, a few in Montana, one in Virginia, and then here" he said, it wasn't truly a lie, he just wasn't telling the entire truth, he had been to those places, sometimes in a zoo, but mostly when he had lived with Slade and been tracking down Deadshot.
"So what is the story behind your name Jack, I mean Two-bit-Hood-Jack the knife is an impressive name" she leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with interest.
"Well it's not much of a story, my parents were kind of you know drunk when they named me, I'm just glad they didn't name me something weirder, like Princess Precious" Skipper chuckled at his own joke, and Karen laughed. Suddenly a slow song came on the radio and Skipper turned to look at Karen, she offered him her flipper.
"Want to dance?" she asked.
"I-I-I don't know how" Skipper admitted softly.
'I'll teach you" she took him away from the table and had him put his flippers around her waist, she put her flippers onto his shoulders and they rocked back and forth until Skipper spun her around and then went back to rocking back and forth.
"This is really nice Skipper" she murmured, "thanks for tonight"
"You're welcome-" he stopped midsentence and stopped dancing and stared at her in shock.
"Wait! I never told you my name was Skipper, I told you my name was Jack" he narrowed his eyes at her.
"I-um heard the dolphin call you that. I thought it was a nick name" she said nervously, glancing around. Skipper felt his heart break in that instant, felt it shattering into a million pieces, wetness stung his eyes, but he forced the tears back, it had been too good to be true.
"You're lying, you're not a normal penguin, you're a spy working for Fifty-two fangs organization" he took her flippers off him and stepped back. She bowed her head in sorrow.
"I'm sorry but yes, they sent me on a mission to gain your trust and convince you to join, I'm really sorry Skipper, I really do like you, and I don't want them to harm you, I still ove you, I didn't think you'd be as nice or a gently man, or as handsome. Can we please forget the spy thing and just enjoy the rest of our date?" she asked, he wanted to believe her, but his heart couldn't find the pieces of itself to repair itself, somewhere in the back of his mind a voice told him she was lying, she didn't care about him, she didn't love him, and because he'd been foolish enough to think that she actually liked someone like him, he'd paid the price with his broken and bleeding heart.
"No, we're done, goodbye Karen" he left her standing there in the gift-shop, as he entered his habitat alone, he felt tears slipping down his face, no matter how much he wanted them to just go away.
"I shot for the stars, and missed a thousand miles, and now I've paid the price" Skipper murmured, "and now I realize that maybe just maybe, love's too high a risk to take, maybe I'll try again, but for now, it's time to find the pieces to my broken heart and put them back together.
What do you guys think of this chapter, special thanks to Aquade for stating in the comments that Skipper had a secret identity as Two-bit-hood Jack the knife, hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Please comment on what you thought.