"Ha! Take that!" Manfreddi yelped, he slapped the log that Tom had put into their habitat earlier for the to play with. Skipper scoffed; play with, what a stupid idea. Still, the two younger penguins seemed to enjoy trying to replicate the moves Skipper had used on the dog. It had already been three days since Tom had placed Skipper into the zoo's animal count, and Skipper already had the passcode to that system, all he had to do was wait until the zoo closed.
Truthfully it was fairly amusing to watch them slap and kick at the log, but he had to admire their persistence at trying to learn.
"Aw, look at the little penguins" A couple of kids were drooling over them. Skipper rolled his eye, and jumped into the water. He did a couple of tricks he'd done at Seaville, and the kids cheered. They even threw him a couple of fish, which he easily caught. Despite the fact that he hated being caged up, he found he actually enjoyed the free food and shelter as well as the company. Sure, the two younger penguins could be annoying at times, but they weren't have bad.
"Alright everyone, head out! The zoo's closing!" Skipper jumped back onto the island and watched as the zookeepers waved the crowds out of the zoo. Perfect he thought. He silently slipped into the water and out between the bars of his habitat.
"Where you going Penguin?" someone asked lazily. Skipper turned around to see the over-confident and self proclaimed king of New York, Alex the lion watching him.
"None of your business cat" he told him.
"Aw come on, we're neigbors, and you might as well get used to it pen-uh what's your name?" Alex tilted his head to one side.
"It's Skipper" Skipper thought for a moment, how could he get this lion to leave him alone, suddenly an idea popped into his head. He waved both his flippers in front of his wave then said:
"You didn't see anything", then he belly slid off towards the zoo's main office leaving the lion staring after him in confusion. As soon as Tom entered the main office, Skipper slipped underneath his feet and belly slid into the room, before jumping onto a file cabinet.
As soon as Tom was directly in front of him, Skipper punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out.
"Five minutes, that's all I need" Skipper muttered, he jumped onto the table and typed in the password and moved the mouse over to the file he wanted before clicking on it. He silently found the penguin file and clicked on that, then decreased the number of penguins in the zoo back down to two. It slowly started to load.
"Hurry up" Skipper mumbled under his breath. It was at fifty percent.
"Skipper get down!" Suddenly Johnson and Manfreddi slammed into him, knocking him off the table, a second later another man walked into the room.
"What happened to you Tom?" he said, crouching down beside the unconscious man.
"Hoover dam!" Skipper hissed furiously, he turned back to the other penguins.
"Sorry Skipper" Manfreddi apologized, "we weren't going to follow you but then we saw Bruce heading towards the main office, and we came to warn you". Skipper watched them for a moment,
"Well look like you warned me just in time" he said, impressed, not that he would let them know that.
"What do we do Skipper, if they see us, we're all dead" Johnson asked, nervously glancing out from behind the table to watch the two men.
"We'll sneak out" Skipper told them, "but you'll have to follow my orders got it?" Both penguins nodded.
"Good" Skipper said, "Johnson, is Tom awake yet?" Johnson peaked out from behind the table again,
"Nope" Johnson replied.
"Alright here's what we're going to do. I'll distract him, and you two make a bolt for the door, as soon as number two's out, we'll figure out how to open it, got it?" Skipper instructed.
"Got it" they replied. Skipper grabbed a book from the nearby book case and flung it towards the file cabinet. The second man, Bruce looked up and walked over to it.
"Go!" Skipper told them, bolting for Bruce. He leapt onto the man's back, who was crouched, picking up the book, and punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out.
Manfreddi and Johnson were waiting for him at the door. Skipper swiftly joined them.
"What now?" Manfreddi asked, his eyes serious. He'd make a good commando if he had the proper training Skipper thought then he snorted, they both would.
"Watch" Skipper leapt up and grabbed the door knob, putting all of his weight into it, a moment later, the door swung open and they bolted for their habitat. Easily avoiding any other zookeepers.
"Hm, not bad you two" Skipper told them when they were safely on the island.
"Thanks Skipper" Johnson said happily.
"Thanks Skipper" Manfreddi echoed. Skipper's gaze rested on the log that the two penguins had been attacking earlier,
"You know what, maybe I do need a team" Skipper said, and instantly the other penguins' eyes brightened.
"You mean you'll train us?" Manfreddi whispered, excitement blazing in his and his brother's eyes.
"Yes"