Several hours later, four penguins wait outside the zoo with a couple of boxes of pizza and a pie.
Bridget hasn't arrived yet, but in her defense, the penguins have set up 5 minutes early. Kowalski double-checks his clipboard for the small present he has and puts it back on his feet.
"You think she'll like it? It's last minute, but I put lots of care into it." Private whispers to Kowalski, slightly nervous.
"I'm sure she will, it's very nice." Although not certain himself, he pats his head reassuringly, which made Private smile.
In the distance, they hear the sound of roller skates approaching. The four look over, bearing relieved expressions that she did actually come.
She was really a human of her word. As if that's not the only noticeable thing. The ginger wore a nice purple flannel and some long blue jeans. Yeah, she still wore a gray tank top, but hey, she wasn't wearing completely baggy clothes.
And her hair even looks brushed... slightly.
Kowalski wags his tail as he notices this. "You did dress up!"
"Yep," Bridget awkwardly rubs the back of her neck, and then points at the food.
"Where ya get that?"
"The pizza? That was delivery." Skipper shrugs.
"The pie we made." Private smiles.
Nodding, their caretaker bites her lip. "K, we ready?" Although sounding impatient, she was simply on the slightly anxious side. The penguins nod and show her the way to the museum.
"Ya want me ta carry somethin?"
"Nah, we've got it." Skipper shakes his head. "But you could give someone a boost to unlock the door when we get there."
Bridget nods and then glances away nervously.
They waddle up to the museum. Rico gets out a paperclip.
She looks down at him and tries to think of a way to pick him up without it being weird. She's never really picked them up during this entire time.
Seeing her awkwardness, Kowalski clears his throat. "Just put your hands together like you're giving someone a boost and he'll hop up."
"O-Oh," Sheepishly biting her lips, Bridget bends down on one knee, doing as her Padre instructed towards Rico, and then gestures her hands at him when she's ready. Rico hops up with a nod and starts picking the lock.
'WOAH OH SHIT, THIS FEELS WEIRD. FUCK.'
It wouldn't be a lie to say she squirmed lightly at first, which made Rico wobble and grumble at her. It doesn't last but a moment as he quickly gets to work. The door clicks open with Rico hops down. She shakes her hands afterward.
"I could've picklocked it," Bridget grumbles.
"You could have spoken up." Skipper glances at her.
'... Fuck me I could've'
She peers away from them, deadpanning as she unlocks the door to allow them in. The four penguins waddle inside.
"Welcome to the museum after hours. Please watch your step until I get the alarm turned off." Kowalski says before sliding off.
To not set off anything, Bridget stood silently still by the front entrance, tapping her foot patiently and impatiently.
However, it would be a lie to say that she didn't already find herself intrigued by the museum. From what she was able to view so far, it looks incredibly impressive.
She's only been here less than a minute and the freckled lady has found her favorite place in Manhattan.
'Oh woah... this is so cool... I wonder how many exhibits they got here...'
The back of her pants felt itchy but... she was too distracted by her curiosity to notice or mind much. After a few minutes, Kowalski returns with a nod. "Alright, it should be good to move around now."
Her skates start moving forward, as now she grows closer to the displays that interest her.
"Cameras are off too. You can touch exhibits just be careful not to break anything." Kowalski nods. But she didn't really hear him. Bridget is off venturing around. She looks so fascinated by the place.
The penguins follow after her. Though they pause a moment to set the pizzas and pie down on a table.
As they do that, their caretaker is gliding around the place, checking things out. Could've sworn she has a smile on her face. Kowalski smiles a little smugly to himself. So far so good.
A museum all to themselves after hours. So many exhibits they could visit, but where to start? Bridget looks around at the guide signs before an upstairs exhibit catches her eye: South America.
Bingo. That's the perfect starting point.
Not wasting another second, that's where the redhead hastily heads off to, an excited gleam in her eyes as she skates up the stairs...
How one does it without accidentally slipping is a complete mystery.
Seeing their human taking off upstairs, her penguin entourage hops up the stairs after her. Well, if anything she seems excited about the museum and they are getting in a little cardio at the same time. Thankfully the exhibit she's heading to is only on the second floor and not the third.
Getting to the second floor, Bridget rolls down to the Hall of South American Peoples. She observes the room's casings of historical relics; preserved artworks, appliances, photographs, totem statues, and tribal banners.
'Oh shit, this section is filled with so many artifacts! This is amazin!'
The penguins follow behind her still. Had they ever really been down this hall before? Not to any of their memories at least. It never seemed like one of much interest to their needs. However, looking around, it was full of some pretty cool stuff.
"Is that a knife?" Skipper asks, waddling over to one of the displays.
The ginger turns her attention to where he is, rolling over to observe the object.
"A weirdly shaped one, but yeah. I think these knives come from Moche culture, which is well known for their pottery work,"
She nods, then grabs out her glasses to better see the description. "Oh, these are ceremonial knives. Also known as Tumi."
"Almost resembles a dolphin's tail at a glance." Kowalski muses, looking at it.
"Or a pizza cutter." Private nods.
The older three glance at Private and Skipper gently pats his head. "...Yeah, for uh... ceremonial pizza parties."
"... There was no pizza—" Bridget with wide eyes, instantly catches herself. Okay... maybe Private didn't need to know what exact ceremony those knives were for.
"— CAUSE, t-they had fugazzetas! Which are basically mozzarella-stuffed pizzas. S-So they actually had ceremonial fugazzeta parties," She loudly cleared her throat, biting her lip a bit.
"... Although, fugazzetas came from Argentina, and the Moches lived in Peru but close enough." She mutters that last sentence under her breath.
Private looks curious at this. "Fugazzetas? They sound kind of like calzones." He chuckles. Rico nods as well, licking his beak.
Skipper and Kowalski quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
"Don't they have a lot of llamas over in that area?" Skipper then attempts a subject change. Something softer so Privates learns no near-brutal history lessons.
Bridget, quickly picking up on the cue, glances over at the mentioned area. She nods while rolling closer. "Ya mean the Inca section?"
"Is that where the llamas are? Incas?" He asks, glancing over at her.
"Oh yeah," She couldn't help but smile a little, as she prepared herself for another historical ramble.
"In fact, Incas practically worshiped llamas, as they were the single most important animal to them," The redhead gestures to all the llama artifacts.
"Provided easy sources for food, fertilizers, wool, even religious sacrifices."
Skipper scratches under his beak as he considers this. "Well, at least some humans acknowledge some animal superiority... But I question the choice in llamas."
"But llamas are cute and fluffy." Private looks at Skipper with a slight frown.
"That's alpacas." Kowalski shakes his head. "Llamas are like the guard dog version... Complete with kicking and spitting abilities, and moody tempers alongside it." He grumbles.
"... Did ya encounter a llama once?" Bridget couldn't help but peek over at her Padre, raising a brow.
"There's one at the zoo."
"You mean Sunny?" Private tilts his head. "But Sunny is a sweetheart."
Kowalski glances at him but opts to instead turn his attention to the exhibits. "You know, there are some South American varieties of penguins, alive and extinct. I've often wondered how they were so lucky to be in such a warmer environment than the Antarctic."
'... I don't know if I should be surprised that there is a llama, or if I need to strangle that llama'
Biting her lip, the redhead shakes the thought off with a huff. "Well, I'm sure they envy y'all cold environment penguins," She shrugs.
"From what I remember, I think one species make lil mud burrows as nests... and bats attack them at night."
"Vampire attacks? Huh, sounds like they need more combat training in their neck of the woods." Skipper raised a brow. "Maybe some wooden stakes too, heard those are helpful."
"... Wouldn't a stake to the heart kill anything though? Not just vampires?" Kowalski furrowed his brow at this. "But I don't think she means actual vampires, sir, only native bats."
"Still, could bring some garlic to lob at them." He grinned, rubbing his flippers together. "Garlic bombs even."
Bridget squints at him... before rolling her eyes with a shaken head.
"Let's not go attackin a buncha flyin moles."
"Oh come on, it'd be fun. I bet they're in cahoots with the molemen anyway." Skipper crosses his flippers, looking around the museum.
"But Skipper, we never saw evidence of—" Private starts.
"—YET. We haven't yet, but we will because they're out there."
Everyone takes a moment to roll their eyes or shake their heads.
Private then waddles closer to Bridget, gently tapping her good leg. "Do you like history, Bridget? You seem to know a lot about it." He smiles.
"... Uh,"
Their redhead companion goes silent, sheepishly turning away. Crap, was she rambling too much? She was. Dead giveaway.
'Just say no. Deny. Deny it'
However, facing him again, all she could see were the wide-puppy eyes Private gave her, almost begging her to admit it.
Which, Bridget didn't have the nerves to lie... and realized she was fucked.
"... Yes. Yes, I... I like history." She shyly nods, biting her lip as her cheeks turn pink.
The small penguin smiled wider. "History has lots of cool things...Like unicorns."
Skipper rolls his eyes at that. "It has cool artifacts, like swords, plus the military strategies. Classics, like the Trojan horse."
"Still say that's a cliché," Kowalski grumbles, then turns to face his redhead daughter. "Are you ready to meet someone extinct?"
Bridget eyes Kowalski, nodding. "So... what species are they?" She nods.
"A dodo bird." Skipper sighs.
"... And how is the dodo bird connected ta y'all?" She raises a brow. Bridget knew the drill. Pattern-wise, it's very likely they're behind the reason why a dodo bird in the modern day exists. Very chaotically typical of her boys. Besides, how would've they known of one existing? It's just a little too obvious.
"... Skipper grabbed the wrong feather back when I had a cloning machine," Kowalski grumbles.
"Hey! Not my fault. There were feathers everywhere. It was an honest mistake." Skipper crosses his flippers.
Kowalski quietly stares at his leader before he clears his throat. "But if you're ready to meet Dode, he's in the extinct bird hall."
However, the redhead's attention is still on the inventor. "You... made a clonin machine?" Her eyes widened.
"I did." He sighs. "But when it gave out, I lost my Higgs boson particle so I can't rebuild it."
'... A Higgs Boson Particle... How the fuck did he get a God particle holy—'
"... Well uh... sorry ta hear... that?" She couldn't help but squint slightly.
Kowalski nods. "We even checked Rico for another, but alas, there wasn't."
On cue, her eyes flickered to the Mohawk penguin with the same look.
"...K, how does his stomach work?" Bridget no longer cared if it was classified information. She needed to know. This mystery has provoked her mentality too many times and her curiosity demands answers.
"Honestly...we have no idea." Kowalski looks at Rico. "But he has a hammerspace in his gut."
"He was born this way." Skipper shrugs and pats his back. "Extremely useful."
Cue Rico smugly grinning, puffing his chest out with a chuckle.
"... Right," She nods, admitting in defeat she hasn't solved him yet.
These penguins get stranger and stranger... yet more fascinating. The ginger just deadpans before looking over to Kowalski.
"Ya know where the extinct exhibit is?
"It's downstairs." He nods, before gesturing for her to follow him. "So we need to go back this way."
"Right. I'm ready now."
With a unison nod from the penguins, they start to lead the way down the stairs. Skating after, her eyes search for the exhibit along with them.
"It's really too bad that particle thingy got lost." Private then mumbles. "We could have gotten the right feather this time to fight extinction."
"I'm sure one of these days I'll crack cloning again in a different way." He ruffles Private's feathers.
Skipper looks up. "You better, I still want to bring back an army of Waitaha penguins."
As they all start heading downstairs, Bridget shoots him a look. "And what do ya plan ta do with an army of extinct penguins?"
"... You know, I never really thought it out that far." He glances at her. "I just want to spit in the eye of extinction. It keeps trying to take too many penguin casualties."
The gang swiftly approached the display of two dodo birds, who intensely stared at each other...or, at least one of them was.
"Good Evening, Dode. Do you think you can put your staring competition on pause?" Kowalski asks.
"Can't now, dude. I think I'm about to win ." The dodo whispers, his eyes squinting at the lifeless stuffed animal in front of him. Oh yeah, he's about to win for sure.
Skipper rolls his eyes. "Meet Dode. Competition-obsessed daredevil dodo."
Bridget's eyes widened, staring at the dodo with slight fascination. "...What is he doin?"
"Staring contest."
"It's the only thing we could think of to make him stand still." Private nods.
"Does he get hurt a lot?" She whispers to them.
"Worse, he died a lot," Kowalski grumbles. "A bazillion dodos was not what I pictured cloning."
'Oh shit'
The ginger winces. "Jesus. I know dodos are fearless, but weren't they supposed ta be intelligent too?"
"He literally has no sense of self-preservation." He shakes his head.
Bridget then squints at the daredevil who refuses to stop looking at the fake double. "...The last one alive... and he's an idiot." She deadpans.
"According to him, they were all like him," Skipper says.
"Meaning idiocy drove them to extinction," Kowalski adds.
"How unfortunate."
"Shush! I'm trying to concentrate dudes! I don't need distractions, Jackson." Dode squawks at his visitors.
"Well, you've seen the dodo; we can see the rest of the museum now." Skipper rolls his eyes. "Like the hall of cursed weapons."
Her eyes flicker away from the no-longer-existent bird, turning her head around for the section curiously. "That's a thing?"
"Oh yeah, it's my favorite section." He nods.
'Huh. Who would've known Captain Paranoid was inta cursed objects? This keeps gettin more interestin'
"Well, I'd like ta see it." Bridget nods, smiling slightly.
"Follow me." He nods and slides ahead, leading the group down the hallway. Many old pieces of weaponry and ancient vestige, some have an oddly glowy look to them. Following along, Bridget slowly couldn't help but become giddy, as she couldn't help but study each on-display relic in wonder.
"We've actually got some history with a few of these bad boys." Skipper grins, leaning against a marble pillar. "Used that sword up on the wall."
"Well, actually, we used it, broke it, reforged it, and then returned it," Kowalski adds in, though Skipper waves him off.
"Point is, we've used it."
"Normally I'd be one against people usin precious artifacts outside for researchin..." Her smiling black eyes then shift down to them. "But what the hell did ya Moonsquawkers use it for?"
She didn't know that her birthday involved getting free classified information. If she knew this, she wouldn't really mind today after all.
"Well...Princess Self-Respectra accidentally knocked an urn off a pedestal." Private rubs the back of his neck.
"Which unleashed Kuchikukan, the destroyer of worlds," Kowalski adds on.
"Which would only be defeated by the sword of General Shingen." Skipper grins. "... Though kinda sucked Sad Eyes broke the sword so he got possessed by the awesome ghost." He sighs.
Rico chuckles while Kowalski gives him a look. "Anyway, we trapped the destroyer of worlds in a vacuum cleaner."
Processing the bestowed adventurous tale told to her, Bridget provides them an all bewildered face.
A part of her didn't want to believe it. A pony plushie possessed by an apocalyptic demon. The penguins then vanquished it with a sword and imprisoned the deity...in a vacuum cleaner. It seems ridiculous, like something out of a cartoon.
Yet... she couldn't instantly discard it. It became apparent to her that these guys have saved the world many times. That automatically translates to assuming they've defeated various types of enemies... and yeah, she's not one to believe in ghosts or the supernatural.
But after everything they've endured and the space squids she's been told of, perhaps she should lay off the salt with these beliefs.
So perhaps they actually have conquered an evil spirit.
"... A vacuum cleaner?" She finally responds, raising an amused brow at them.
"Well, yeah? What else can you use to suck up a ghost with?" Skipper looks at her.
"Touche." The redhead shrugs...before a small snicker comes out of her. "Although I'm sure for him...it must've sucked."
Kowalski and Private both snicker at that. But then quickly Bridget clears her throat. "But in all, I'll admit...that's pretty impressive." She bites her lip.
Skipper nods. "It was a good mission."
"And I got extra credit for a report I did on Kuchikukan for my class." Kowalski grins.
Her head looks down at her Padre. "Ya took a class?"
"I've taken a few online college classes." He nods. "You'd be surprised how many you can find for free online."
"Ya plan on takin more?"
"Maybe." He rubs his neck. "At the same time, taking random free online classes doesn't exactly denote much forward progress towards anything."
Bridget bites her lip. "...That's fair."
'I guess penguins don't get a lot of opportunities...I would say animals but...that Blowjob guy doesn't really fit the category. But still...'
Rico's stomach growls and he looks back towards the food longingly.
She blinks at him. "Uh... maybe we should take a break and eat?"
"I second that." Skipper nods and starts waddling back that way. The others nod and follow.