The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 21 – Missing
MARLENE WALKED DOWN THE DARK PASSAGEWAY OF THE SEWER.
Only faint light come in from grates and cracks in the ceiling to guide her way. She figured it was from the moon or overhead streetlights. Marlene used her night vision to make out which way to go, cracks in the ground to avoid, and any possible threats. The otter breathed heavily; she had started off at a run but now she grew tired and slowed her pace to a walk.
She was thankful that she knew the sewers so well from her trips down here with the penguins. She knew exactly where she was going and where she would end up. She was headed for the first place she thought of going: the penguin's HQ. After Sarge and his henchmen told her that they had been 'dealt with' she became frightened that they might be dead. The thought of seeing Private, Kowalski and Rico lifeless on the floor made her stomach turn and almost made her not want to go to the HQ. After all, she knew that the penguins had been fooled by Sarge and followed him back to the Headquarters where they were presumably ambushed. She had no clue where Skipper was, for that matter. She hadn't seen him since the night before the party. She worried that maybe Sarge's henchmen got a hold of him. She wondered if maybe he'd gotten away. Sarge was still asking where Skipper was after he'd captured her, so that seemed like the more likely answer. The otter continued on through the sewer. praying with every breath that the penguins were unharmed. As she was walking she found a sharp piece of rebar sticking out of the concrete, and after rubbing the rope that bound her hands together on it for some time she managed to free her hands, although the ends of the rope were still tightly tied around her wrists.
The otter continued walking. She had no idea where Sarge and his lackeys were, and for this reason she periodically checked over her shoulder. She didn't think that they would be following her, at least she couldn't think of a reason. Better safe than sorry, she thought. It was quiet down in the tunnels, the only sounds she could hear were the flowing of the thick water beside her and the occasional squeak of a sewer rat. The only thing Marlene was listening to though was the sound of her own thoughts. She continued replaying Sarge's words in her mind, the words she was to tell Skipper, where ever he may be.
The Sun will rise again.
What could those words mean? Was he talking about the literal sun? No he couldn't, thought Marlene, that would be silly. The sun rises every day, of course it will rise again. He must have been talking about some sort of hypothetical sun, she thought. Maybe he was referring to himself? Maybe he was some sort of fallen leader and he was attempting to get back on top? The possibilities were endless for such a vague statement. Eventually, Marlene just gave up on trying to figure it out and decided to wait to ask Skipper, provided he was still alive. Marlene gulped down her fear.
The otter reached an access drain that went from the sewer to the Zoo's tunnel system. She paused for a second before continuing, though. She had no idea what time it was. She presumed she had been knocked out for only a few hours because of the moonlight still coming in through the sewer grates, but she had no idea if it was nearing morning. It could be nearing time to open and employees would be using the tunnel system. She didn't want to get caught down there, so she peered into the passageway before continuing. Not a soul in sight, so she figured it was still too early and continued on.
It was a short walk to the entrance of the Penguin's HQ. It was a porthole-style door about as big as person that the zoo keepers used to access the inside of the penguin's HQ, but they didn't often. Marlene reached out and pushed the door open a crack, but then froze. There were no sounds coming from the inside of the concrete structure. Fearing the worst, she couldn't stop herself from hyperventilating. She tensed up as she pushed the door open a little further. It wasn't until she heard a familiar voice come from inside that she calmed down.
"If only I could reach a little further... Gah! It's not worth it!" came a deep voice that could only be Kowalski's.
"Aww..." growled Rico.
"C'mon K'walski, you've got to try harder." ushered Private. "If we can't get these ropes undone then we're done for!"
"I've tried, Private, for the last four hours!" shot back Kowalski, obviously becoming frustrated.
Excited to hear all three penguin's voices, Marlene flung open the hatch door, making the three penguins jump. Marlene scanned the room, noting all three penguins tied to something. Kowalski's foot was was tied to the ladder beside the penguins' bunks, and he was flat on his stomach, reaching for a small fillet knife that was only inches out of his reach. Rico and Private were both fastened to the ladder that lead up to the fishbowl entrance. All three penguins looked like they had been in a fight; their feathers were ruffled.
"Marlene!" Private shouted, surprised.
"Huzzah!" yelled Rico.
"You don't know how happy we are to see you right now, Marlene." Kowalski said.
"Same to you guys," returned the otter, relieved. "What happened here?" She asked, walking over and picking up the knife.
"It's a long story," Kowalski began. "We followed the penguin that we presumed was Skipper at the party and he led us back to the headquarters."
"Didn't you notice anything strange about him? I mean, that he wasn't really Skipper?" asked Marlene, beginning to cut at the rope that secured Kowalski's foot to the ladder.
"He looked quite a bit like Skippah," answered Private, "And it was awfully dark out."
"I noticed that he was acting strangely when we got closer to the headquarters, and based on Skipper's strange behavior over the last week I concluded Skipper was merely tired." Kowalski said, rubbing the spot where the rope had been on his ankle. Marlene continued to free Private and Rico. Kowalski continued, "When we reached the light of the HQ and the impostor turned to face us, it became clear that he was not Skipper."
"At that time he yelled, 'Now!' and two penguins jumped out of the dark and tackled myself and Rico." told Private. Rico growled, rubbing his wrists. "We put up a bloody good fight, but they had the advantage of surprise. The smaller of the two also had some sort of," Private shivered, "rifle, or something."
"He almost shot Private, but I barely succeeded in throwing off his aim," Kowalski pointed at the porthole window, which was cracked and slowly leaking. "But then the Skipper impostor tackled me and tied my foot to that ladder."
"Yeah, and then tha' Skippah look-alike yelled at the penguin with the rifle for shooting at me while he was still holding me. While they were distracted Rico managed to break away from the larger of the two henchmen." continued Private. Rico made a motion of biting something.
"Rico began to attack their leader, but the larger henchmen recovered and slammed Rico into a wall. Rico proceeded to loose consciousness from the blow." said Kowalski. Rico made the action of passing out.
"I struggled and I think I even got a few hits on the little one that was holding me, but they tied me and Rico to th' other ladder." explained Private.
"What happened after that? I left the party shortly after you guys did, and I was ambushed in my habitat. So there couldn't have been much time between when you were attacked and when I was. They must have moved quickly." said Marlene.
"You were attacked, too?" both Private and Kowalski asked, surprised.
Marlene held up the rope that was still tied around her wrists and then began cutting it off.
"What happened?" Kowalski questioned.
Marlene continued to tell them all that she had found out while she was being held hostage. She continued in telling the penguins what Sarge had said to her. She finished by adding that Sarge was the same penguin who had attacked her in her habitat a few weeks ago.
"So the lil' one was Gier, the fat one was Thurgo, and their leader was Sarge?" Private summed up.
Marlene nodded.
"'The Sun will rise again.'" Kowalski repeated to himself. "What could it mean?"
"I have no idea," responded Marlene. "The sun rises every day."
"He must have been referring to some other type of sun." wondered the intellectual penguin.
"That's just what I was thinking, but what?" returned the otter.
A few moments of silence passed between the group before Private said, "I'm sure the Skippah will know, after all, you are supposed to tell him."
"That means that Skipper and this Sarge are connected somehow," observed Marlene.
"I already concluded that," returned Kowalski. "After those penguins tied us all up they asked us a few questions, mostly about Skipper."
"We didn't tell them anything, though." added Private.
Kowalski said, "The one you say is Sarge got frustrated and slapped me a few times." The tall penguin rubbed the side of his face, "but eventually they ran out saying they had some other business to attend to. I had no idea they were coming after you, Marlene."
"Why would they be after you, anyway?" asked Private.
"I have no clue," responded the otter, "but I guess they think that I'm somehow more closely connected to Skipper then you guys."
"That makes no sense," wondered the intellectual, "Perhaps they were misinformed?"
"Not sure," said Marlene, "but lets just go with what we do know. We have no idea where Skipper is, where this Sarge is hiding out, or why he's after Skipper. This Sarge penguin is well armed with two henchmen, and he could pop out at any moment and attack us or Skipper again."
"We need to find Skippah," concluded Private, "but where did he go?"
"Perhaps he fled the scene after he noticed there was a threat?" wondered Kowalski. "Although he never did show up at Julien's party."
The penguins fell silent for a while while they thought of where Skipper could have possibly went. A few moments later, a familiar voice finally cut in.
"De king knows what happened to your fishy penguin." said King Julien, standing in the open doorway. Maurice and Mort were standing near him. Marlene offered him a penetrating glare as soon as she laid eyes on him. Noticing, he added an awkward, "Uh, hi, Marlene."
"What happened here?" said the darker lemur, Maurice, looking around the ruined HQ.
Kowalski explained the story to the lemurs as he had told Marlene. All the while, the otter glared at the lemur king standing across from her.
"Julien," she finally said when Kowalski finished the story, "why did you leave me?"
"I, uh," he began awkwardly. "De king, was, uh, scared of de fishy penguins in de sewer. I was outnumbered and had to get, uh, backup!" Julien patted Maurice on the shoulder.
"We went down to the sewer to come help you, but you were already gone when we got there." explained Maurice.
"I was scared for you," added Mort, curling his tail around him.
Marlene nodded in understanding. "Sorry for getting upset at you Julien, I thought you just abandoned me to save your own hide."
Julien waved a dismissive hand. "So do you want to hear what happened to your fishy penguin or not?"
All three penguins and Marlene nodded.
"Well," began the lemur king, "You see, the night before my party I came to talk to de penguin and I caught him trying to run away."
All three penguin's eyes grew wide. "What?" gasped Private, "Why?"
"De king does not know, de fishy penguin would not tell me. But de king does know that I stopped him from leaving that night. Skipper said he wanted to stay for de king's party."
Kowalski rubbed his beak. "So he must have used the cover of the party to slip away sometime last night."
"Is it just a coincidence that we got attacked by that rouge penguin on the same night?" Marlene asked.
"I don't know," Maurice said.
Marlene began pacing the room. "Why did Skipper leave? Or why would he want to leave?"
The tall penguin thought for a minute, and then said, "I have a theory."
"What?" said Marlene.
"We were attacked by a penguin, or at least we thought it was a penguin, some days ago. Now, it wasn't the same penguin that attacked us last night, but it invaded our HQ and almost stabbed Skipper, and then ran off. Skipper mentioned something about recognizing the penguin and that he wasn't worried about it attacking us again. Perhaps he ran off to go find that penguin? It seemed like it was an old friend of Skipper's."
"Why wouldn't the Skippah tell us?" Private wondered. "I would have went with him to help him find his old friend."
"That is precisely why he didn't," explained Kowalski, "He didn't want us to come with him. Skipper is someone who likes to deal with his own problems by himself."
Maurice shook his head. "This whole situation is getting out of hand."
"Especially what happened to Alice!" said Mort.
"That's right, Mort, thanks for reminding me." the wide lemur returned. "On our way back from the sewers we found Alice unconscious in the middle of a zoo path."
"So this penguin Sarge even attacked a human?" Private wondered.
"That seems to be the case," returned Kowalski. "These penguins aren't even afraid of people."
"Then we've got a serious problem on our hands." Marlene said, still pacing.
Private sighed. "I can't believe Skippah would just leave us without even saying goodbye. Now we have no way of even knowing where he is."
Suddenly, Rico yelped and shivered as electricity coursed down his spine.
"Maybe we do," explained Kowalski. All the other animals in the room directed their attention at him. "There were GPS tracking chips embedded in us recently. If we can find the device that shows were each of the locations of the chips are, we will be able to identify where Skipper is located."
"Where do you think something like that would be K'walski?" asked Private.
"Assuming the whole operation is run by Alice, it would be in her office."
"Well then it's settled, we've got to get that device." concluded Marlene, who had stopped pacing. She looked at the lemurs. "Can you guys come with us in case we need your help?"
"With one less fishy penguin around it smells so much nicer. Do you think de king would help you bring the smell back?" Julien said to Marlene, who frowned. Realizing his mistake, Julien smiled and said, "De king was only kidding. Of course we will help you find your locater thingy."
Marlene raised a brow. "Okay then. Maurice, did Alice look like she was going to wake up soon?"
"No, she was out cold and looked like she had been for some time."
"Good. It's still early and there will be no zookeepers around for a while. Its a great time to go get that device."
/AN: Wahoo writing is fun. Remember when I said if you don't review a puppy dies? I lied, a puppy doesn't die. But I'll give you $5 if you do. :AN\