Private's Predicament
A/N: I AM SO SORRY! I fell out of my POM phase for far too long, but I recently got my wind for the series back, at least enough for this chapter and the next one. This chapter is pretty short, and I apologize for that. Really. But I hope it makes up for the long- two years WTH!- gap that was there. I apologize if anyone thought that I had abandoned the story. I really didn't mean too. But I'm hoping to get you a few more chapters before I fall out of the phase again. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a bit more of a filler while I work out the next part of the plot- however some of the plot does advance in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 5: Introductions and Leads
The group were deep in thought after relaying their reports. "So we have the broaches and rats on the lookout for any of the criminals. And we even have a general direction for their locations." Private gave a small sigh. "Not much to go on. But more than we had, so it's something." Private looked up to the ceiling in thought. "We can't do much more for now until we get more intelligence." he muttered, rubbing a flipper along his beak. "I suggest, since the three of you will be here for the next few days, we introduce you to our zoo friends. They'll be curious about you guys, and we won't be able to hide you. There's another meeting tonight, so I'll introduce you guys then." he said, leaving no room for argument from any of the two groups.
"Aye Private. As you wish." Barrage said with a small smile. Private had gotten much more confident since his time in New York. And his new team was doing wonders for the boy. This move had been good for Private. And his new team was a good one. They cared about Private a great deal, and Private was doing well under their guidance. Barrage figured he could accept them. Eyre and Nigel though, were another story. Barrage knew their overprotective instincts were screaming at them to take Private and run. He was just glad that Private hadn't forgotten them and was still Pyre even with a new name. "So, what do we do while we wait for this... meeting of yours?" he asked, everyone's eyes on the youngest of the group.
"I'm going to teach you the card game spades, but with some different rules than normal." Private grinned. He knew he needed to get the two groups into some semblance of camaraderie. What better way at the moment than force them to play a card game involving teams- and forcing them to team up with someone in the opposite group. They looked at him uneasily but went along with it, knowing how the boy was. In the end, Rico and Barrage were teamed against Kowalski and Eyre, and them against Skipper and Nigel.
It was a disaster. It truly was. But Private was amused with the entire thing. Rico and Barrage were getting along the best, unsurprisingly. They were the more accepting out of either group when Rico's blood thirst wasn't overflowing. Kowalski and Eyre; well, they were doubting the others count, so making up more or less to cover. Nigel and Skipper seemed to have forgotten the rules of the game, because they were so busy trying to outdo the other. Normally Nigel was more in control, but it was clear that his extreme dislike of Skipper outweighed that, so long as no actual danger was present. Besides, neither could just willingly throw the round if the other was going to get the win for their team.
"MOMMY! MOMMY!" A shout of excitement came from above the exit of the HQ towards the end of the final and more disastrous game. Private knew that voice.
"EGGY!" Private said excitedly and willingly abandoned his teams. The others followed him quickly to the surface to see Private cuddle with a small duckling.
"Did that duckling just call you mommy?" Barrage asked in disbelief.
"He did call Private Mommy. One of our zoo friends, Marlene, found an egg in her habitat and asked us to look after it so we did." Kowalski said.
"And you're okay with that Agent Nigel?" Eyre asked, knowing how Nigel was when it came to his nephew.
"Of course I am. At the old aquarium that I raised Pri in, Pri was the one who took care of the abandoned and orphaned eggs and chicks that came in. He has been called many things: Mommy, sister, brother." the older penguin shrugged. "I am not surprised that he gained a child in this city." He admitted. "So long as he wasn't actually involved in its creation." He added, sounding a lot more like the Nigel they all knew and only partially tolerated for Private's sake.
"That explains a lot." The others muttered.
"So what are you doing here Eggy? Where's your mother?" Private asked, deciding to ignore the six animals behind him for now.
"Oh. She's at the pond talking with Mrs. Squirrel." Eggy replied.
"Oh?"
"Yup. She said that you found her little one and returned him to her yesterday. Tommy was upset when I told him that you're our mommy." Eggy sighed. Private chuckled lightly at that. "I think he wants two moms too." That wasn't a surprise considering how children loved the young penguin.
"I see. And why are you here instead of with you mother and siblings. You know how worried she gets when you decide to run off like that." Private said.
"Mrs. Squirrel was talking about how she needed to speak with you again, so I offered to come get you." Eggy replied with a grin before looking at the three new animals. "Um... Who are they mommy?" he asked.
"Right! Eggy, these are some old friends of mine from when I lived far away. This is Eyre. This is Barrage. And this is actually my Uncle Nigel. You three, this is Eggy. One of my kids." Private introduced them.
"Does that mean he's our uncle too?" Eggy asked excitedly.
"Well, I suppose that does make Uncle Nigel your guys' Great Uncle." Private conceded.
"Cool!" Eggy said.
"Which means you're my great nephew. Nice to meet you Eggy." Nigel said with a small smile sent to the duckling.
"So, your mother's friend wanted to talk to me?" Eggy nodded. "Alright, lead the way Eggy." Private encouraged. With a nod to the others, their group headed to the pond in the park. There they found M.D her chicks, Mrs. Squirrel, and a crow, by the looks of it. A friend of Mrs. Squirrel's they assumed. "Good afternoon you guys." Private called, quickly getting tackled by the other chicks. "Samuel, Romona, Bradley." He chuckled at the two boys and the single and oldest girl. Then the baby squirrel he had helped yesterday had crawled into his flippers and refused to be put down, causing the ducklings to pout at that since they knew Private couldn't hold all of them. Much to the adults' amusement. "Hello M.D. Mrs. Squirrel. Um..." he realized he didn't know the crow.
"Just call me Judy." Mrs. Squirrel laughed. "This is my friend; her name is Abby." Judy answered with a chuckle.
"Nice to meet you, Abby. Oh, these are my friends." Private said, remembering his manners as he introduced his friends.
"Nice to meet you all." the three female animals replied.
"So, Judy was telling me how you returned Tommy to her so first I'd like to thank you for that." Abby said.
"I was glad to help. I'm really glad he hadn't been hurt too badly." Private assured.
"Anyways, she was telling me about the reason for the move that resulted in her and Tommy being separated. And it was hearing this story that I remembered that I had actually seen the stranger that caused it." Abby said.
"You did?" Private asked.
"Yes. There's this really old, abandoned part of town in the north. And I remember seeing him there."
"Can you give me a specific building or location?" he asked.
Abby thought before nodding. "Yes, actually. There's this old grocery store on North Elm. Like I said, it's one of those really old, mostly abandoned areas that humans don't go anymore." Abby answered. "I hope this helps you with whatever you need him for."
"It does actually. So thank you very much." Abby nodded.
"Anyways, I need to head off. My mate and eggs are waiting for me." With that the crow gave one last goodbye and flew off.
"I need to get Tommy home as well. It was good seeing you again. Come on Tommy, let's head off." Judy told her son, who reluctantly let go of Private, much to the ducklings' joy. "Goodbye." Judy and Tommy said, getting goodbyes from the others. They watched her head off before M.D turned to the Zoo animals.
"I actually need to say bye as well. Me and the chicks are going to visit my sister for a couple weeks, so it'll be a while before we see each other again." MD told Private and the others.
"Alright. Tell Maddy I said hi. And thank you for sticking around long enough to let us know this and introducing us to your friends." Private told her. With some final goodbyes and hugs, Private and his group saw the family off.
"Looks like you have some good friends here." Eyre said with a smile as he thought over Private's interactions with the three females.
"Yup. It's nice. Anyways. We have a new lead." Private said seriously. The others nodded. "It is however, getting late. We have that meeting tonight so we can introduce you guys to our friends. They do not know about us and our profession. Though admittedly, they have gotten caught in a few of the situations we've found ourselves in." Private thought out loud.
"Like what?" Eyre asked in curiosity as they made their way back to the zoo.
Private shrugged. "Honestly, they're probably going to reveal some of it anyways." Private sighed. "So I'll just explain those situations later. Tomorrow, we'll call on the broaches and ask them to narrow their search to the area Abby gave us." Private decided, then blinked. "We're going to need to find you lot some things to sleep on." he realized. Especially if they were going to be staying with them while they were working on this mission together. His team couldn't quite hold back their groans at the realization that they had to play host. That was more Private's thing and only ever for Nigel that one time. "Eh, not like the base isn't big enough for all of us." Private decided.
"You don't have to worry about that. We actually have a safe house near the zoo that we can stay in." Barrage said, laughing at the obvious relief Private's team had at not having to host three animals that they barely knew. Private, Eyre, and Nigel all pouted at that but agreed to it in the end.
-Private's Predicament-
The group arrived a couple minutes late to the meeting. And of course, the three extra animals immediately grabbed everyone's attention. "Hey fellas, who are the newcomers?" Burt asked. And introductions passed around and the meeting went on as usual.
"Still no humans for another three days." Mason translated. "All systems are still operational. Huh..."
"What is it Mason?" Private asked in concern.
"We don't have any incoming animals, but I believe it says there's an outgoing animal." He sounded concerned.
"What?" Everyone cried, surprised.
"Are incoming and outgoing animals not common?" Eyre asked his friend.
"No. In the last five year, we've only had three animals come in, two of which were supposed to be permanent."
"Does it say who's being sent and where?" Skipper demanded, getting their attention before Eyre could ask for a clarification.
"Oh dear... the animal is being shipped to Madagascar... And it says the youngest penguin within the zoo, which is Private." Mason said, and silence fell over the room. Private tilted his head.
"Does it say when and the reason for it?" He asked, realizing that this was most likely the work of their current enemies. He didn't doubt Bastion told Trapper and Scales about his presence here. And this would make a good cover for getting rid of him.
"In a week for diversifying reasons." Mason answered.
"Kowalski." Skipper sighed.
"I'll work on it tomorrow, first thing in the morning." Kowalski assured.
Skipper nodded. "That's that then."
"Should you really interfere with a transport though?" Burt asked.
"Like we're letting Private go somewhere without any of us." Kowalski snorted.
"In addition, I don't think this Zoo would last a day if Private got transported to a different zoo or aquarium." Marlene added, several others nodding in agreement which made Private smile softly at his friends' words.
"Not permanently that is." Maurice added. "If he was just going to visit family for a week, then maybe the zoo wouldn't be burned to the ground when he got back. Otherwise, it'll just be a repeat of that whole jungle law disaster from two years ago." he added. The others sighed in agreement.
"So long as you don't leave Ringtail in charge again, you'd be just fine without us here." Skipper replied.
"I am feeling the offended, you bossy penguin." Julian gasped in offense.
"You were in charge for ten seconds and the zoo was on fire, and almost everyone was in a primitive mindset." Skipper replied dryly. It had been only half a year ago that the zoo learned the truth about that particular night.
"Any ways." Mason interrupted. "If that bit is going to be taken care of, then that's all for the official Zoo report. Time for the extracurricular report. When do Private's bandages come off? And how long are they visiting. Not that we're not welcoming you. But we've had three animals here in the past five years, and only one was actually decent. Out of the other two, one was rude and disruptive while the second was a boa constrictor that ate several of the zoo inhabitants including Private, so we're just a tad weary." Mason assured.
"YOU WERE EATEN!?" Nigel, Eyre, and Barrage cried in shock.
"Just a little." Private replied. "And they come off tomorrow." Private answered Mason's question before Kowalski could, which got him an exasperated look from the brainy penguin.
"Pri... You don't just get eaten a little." Eyre said in disbelieving resignation.
"Really, not a big deal." Private tried to reassure his friends and family.
"I mean, he has a point. There was that terrorist ex of his. The one that threatened to blow up the zoo if Private didn't accept him back or something." Marlene added thoughtfully.
"Terrorist ex?" This time Nigel was the one who spoke, and he sounded both livid and like he was going to faint at the notion.
"Marlene, do you even know how you make it sound?" Private groaned. "Kid and I were rivals on the mini-golf scene. He wanted a rematch because our last match was unsatisfactory to him." Private tried to clear up the misunderstanding he just knew his uncle had. That was honestly one of Private's biggest fears when it came to his uncle; Being grounded for life if he had a mate and hadn't let his Uncle Nigel psychologically break them first.
"Then there were those human criminals that broke into the zoo after they stole a priceless diamond necklace, right?" Maurice added, silently enjoying the situation.
"Do not forget our adventure to Antarctica! I was not treated with proper respect during that trip." Julian said, sounding offended at the memory.
"The penguins were almost eaten by sea lions!" Mort added with his slightly unhinged giggle.
"You know what, just change the location of the transport back to London Aquarium." Nigel said, sounding faint, serious, and a little upset at the news.
"Really, they're not as bad as they sound." Private assured. "The biggest problem was that lunacorn apocalypse after we awoke a centuries old vengeful spirit." He spoke honestly.
"THAT WAS BECASUE OF YOU GUYS!?" Barrage shouted in absolute disbelief. "Lunacorn dolls came to life everywhere! They had laser vision and super strength." Barrage almost fainted at the memory.
That was how the rest of the night was spent- with the zoo animals relaying the adventures that they knew of, which was quite a few though never any that involved the true occupation of the four penguins. As for said penguins- one was worried about how much trouble he was in for never reporting these things in particular to his uncle. While the other three wondered, distantly, if they were going to live to see the next day. Once the meeting was over, the four penguins found themselves being interrogated by the most feared agent in the business for several hours about their risky activities.
Eventually, Barrage had taken pity on the four penguins and reminded said agent that they had a mission, and everyone needed to get some sleep before daybreak. With a firm promise about how they would continue the talk after the mission, the three visiting animals retreated for the night with an agreement to meet back in the penguins' HQ after dawn the next day. Private and his team fell into their beds thanking Barrage over and over again for his sympathy.
A/N: There we go. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If I have any mistakes let me know where they are and I'll try to fix them. Otherwise, I hope you lovely readers will let me know what you thought. And again I'm sorry for this long wait. I hope I'll make it up to all you readers sufficiently.