Look! Chapter 3 actually made it on the Net!

I can't believe none of you could guess who it was. I thought I left enough clues…maybe I'm just horrible at hinting. *fails*

Again, I'd like to thank Illyria Lives, Ultimate-Kowalski-Lover, Eppo-pink-skuller-fly-fangirl-XDXDX, rosi345, MagicGoodsGenie, and Lockeroo for their reviews. Couldn't have made it without them. Thanks a million, guys.

And because someone asked…no, I don't take OCs. I want to stick to the original cast as much as possible. Besides, I'm worried I might screw up with the OCs and make them veer off how they were supposed to be by their respective creators. Sorry.

This chapter is based loosely on Gone in a Flash and partly on What Goes Around. Yes, if you've noticed, I am no longer going in order.

Disclaimer: If this belongs to me…well, what are you reading this story for? You're already in an alternate universe!

Chapter 3: The Chase

"Rico! Get out of here, now!"

Rico snapped up at the urgent command from his leader. He didn't hesitate as he sped toward the entrance. When Skipper gave an order in that tone, you generally did it first and asked questions later. As he neared the door, his heightened senses picked up danger and he whipped out his combat knife on reflex, successfully blocking the blade that was flying in his direction.

He quickly glanced at the small, black sharp-edged metal that was now lying on the floor. It took him about one second to realize what was happening.

Oh no. He thought with slight horror. Not him.

He now understood why Skipper was so frantic. He decided to pocket the black blade before running again. He needed to find Skipper, and fast.

Kowalski was trying continuously to regain connection with Skipper. When he finally did, he almost wished he didn't.

"What?" Skipper demanded rather loudly. Kowalski flinched. "Is everything alright, Skipper?"

"Sure! We're running for our lives from that 0.1% you were so unsure about, of course everything's alright!"

"How on earth did someone that dangerous turn up on the scan along with Maurice?" Kowalski asked more out of curiosity than anything.

"Oh, I don't know. African American, stocky body build, clean shaven head…any of that ringing a bell?" Skipper yelled, causing Kowalski to wince. Realization dawned upon the scientist, and his eyes widened. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Skipper said.

Kowalski thought quickly. This was bad. This was really, really, bad. They needed to act. Now.

"Kowalski? What's going on?"

Kowalski almost jumped in surprise. He'd forgotten all about Maurice. This made things a little more complicated. "Maurice, we need to get out of here. Get ready while I go get Private."

"What?" The stout black man wasn't answered as the taller operative rushed off to where Private was. Maurice watched as Private pouted up at Kowalski, clearly upset that he had to go. But then Kowalski said something to him, and the boy's eyes widened considerably and he jumped up from his crouching position and ran back with the strategist. They didn't stop as they passed him. The only reaction from them was Private waving him on. "C'mon, Maurice!"

Maurice blinked before running up to catch up with the two.

"What's going on?" Maurice tired again when he neared them. Private looked back at him apologetically. "I'm so sorry you're here when this is happening, Maurice. We're going to run. A lot."

"Run?" Maurice asked, now running up alongside the two Penguins. "Don't you usually take out whoever that's after you?"

"Well, we can't do that this time because he's a-"

"Private!" Kowalski cut him off sternly. The boy quickly clapped a hand over his own mouth and winced. "Sorry."

Maurice, completely bewildered by this exchange, decided either the Penguins don't trust him, or that he just really didn't want to know.

"Skipper!" Rico warned. Just in time, too, as the moment Skipper halted, another black blade embedded itself into the floor in front of him. If he had kept going, he would've been hit.

There was no time for gratitude to be shown, and the two ran on. Skipper activated the link to Kowalski again. "What's your status, Kowalski?"

"Running."

"Well, I wouldn't have guessed." Skipper replied sarcastically. "Who would've known that you are running?"

"I meant, we are nearing the Running Point." Kowalski clarified. "It's the nearest rendezvous point from here."

"Right. And you couldn't have told me that in the first place." Skipper half growled.

"There's another thing, Skipper."

"What?"

"We have Maurice with us."

It was then did Skipper remember the reason they were in this mess in the first place. He made a mental note to kill Maurice when they met up and quickly replied, "Take him with you. We can't be sure if he knows only about us or the whole Secret Ops. If Maurice was captured, that could mean trouble. Rico and I will try to lose him. Wait for us."

"Roger that. Kowalski out."

Before Skipper could muse on the fact that that was the first time they've been able to end a transmission properly since this whole mess started, he was forced to jump to avoid yet another black blade. He shook his head in disbelief. "Just how many of these things does he have?"

Rico's only response was a quick shrug. He had heard the entire exchange and knew what they needed to do. The two shared a nod before simultaneously turning in the opposite direction of the Running Point.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Maurice asked for what felt like the hundredth time. He and the other two Penguins are now in an ally that he's pretty sure looked like a dead end. Private was about to answer him when Kowalski beat him to it.

"I'm sorry, Maurice, but Skipper made it clear he didn't want anyone not involved to know about this."

"Look, you've dragged me into running with you guys, so I'd say I'm as involved as any of you are. I think I'm entitled to at least know who it is we're running from." Maurice pointed out.

"He has a point." Private said quietly. Kowalski opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. He repeated this about two more times before sighing. "Fine."

"Great. I'm glad you can finally trust me." Maurice said almost grimly. "Now who on earth is it that has your team running for your lives from him?"

"He could be counted as one of our enemies." Kowalski said. "But, he's not exactly our enemy, either. He's just doing his job."

"What? You mean he's like a bounty hunter?"

Kowalski smiled bitterly. "I wish he was. It would've made things much easier."

Maurice felt his head spin. If the person being a bounty hunter actually made things easier, he couldn't think of anything else more complicated.

"You see, Maurice," Private continued. "That person is a police officer."

There was a pause as Maurice blinked several times to soak in what was just said. "What?" He finally managed.

"He's a police officer, which makes it impossible for us to hurt him because then we'd be assaulting an official, which is illegal. And if you haven't noticed, we've been trying to get on the PD commissioner's good side." Kowalski explained.

"So how did he find out about us in the first place?" Maurice asked.

There was nothing but silence as the two Penguins exchanged a look.

"Actually, we don't really know." Private finally said. "All we know is that he knows about Secret Ops, and he knows particularly about the four of us."

"Skipper's not really happy about that." Kowalski added. "We've been trying to avoid him whenever we could, but he sometimes finds us on his own. Or in this case, we accidentally found him."

"Does this cop have a name?" Maurice asked.

"I've been trying to find out." Kowalski admitted. "But as of now, we know him simply as Officer X."

X still remembered the day the Commissioner called him into his office.

"See this here, X?" The Commissioner had said while showing him a very blurred photo of four men standing among dozens of fallen ones. "They're part of a group called Secret Operations. I want them found."

"For what crime?" He had asked. The Commissioner sneered. "Vigilantism."

X had blinked. He hadn't expected that. "Pardon me for asking, sir, but if they're fighting the wrong, wouldn't it be better to work with them? They do appear to have the skill."

"No!" His superior had yelled. "We stand for the law. We enforce the law. And vigilantism is against the law! I don't care if they take down the worst possible crook out there, they're doing it illegally! They're not government-funded, and that's enough to put them a good few years behind bars."

He hadn't said anything as the Commissioner took a deep breath to calm down. "You're a good officer, X. The best in my department, really. That's why I'm giving you the task of finding them." The Commissioner glared up at him. "Don't disappoint me, X."

"Yes, sir."

That had been a year ago. The following six months had been clustered with research, undercover work, and other various investigations to at the least find out the identity of the four men in the blurred photo he was given. When he finally found out, it was more of a coincidence than anything. He just happened to be nearby when the four man team took out a branch of gun smugglers. That was their first encounter.

He remembered running a clearer photo he had of the four in the PD's computer, only to find out with shock that there was no match for them in anything. Not even the most basic civilian files. You couldn't find them on any database in any country. It was like they didn't exist.

But that was it. He couldn't find out anything more about Secret Ops. He only knew that this organization was apparently made up of people who weren't supposed to exist. He didn't know anything more. He didn't even know what the names of the four men were.

There was an upside to all this. He didn't believe in fate or anything, but it seemed that for the past six months, he met the team more and more. Each time, he was able to find out a bit more about them. He now knew that they appeared to be called Team Penguin, and which one the leader was. The tallest one was very smart. The shortest one was young, but one heck of a fighter. And the scarred one was dangerous, period. Still, none of that helped him get any closer to finding info on Secret Ops. The Penguins, he found, were very careful with their words and how to use them.

When he heard their leader's voice in his private training area, he almost thought he finally lost it. But upon hearing the person's reaction to his blade gun, he knew immediately he wasn't hallucinating and gave chase. How many times do you find your target in your own quarters? It's almost too good to be true.

Now he was chasing the leader and the scarred one. He found it odd that the smart one and the boy weren't with them, but decided to worry about that later. He could ask then when he catches them. If he catches them.

The two Penguins had taken the chase out of the docks and into the city, and X swore. It was nearly noon, which meant there will soon be people everywhere, either selling or buying lunch, which in turn meant that he wouldn't be able to use his blade gun openly. The fact that the two weren't wearing their usual black and white uniform didn't help. He could only blame himself for not having the transmitters with him, thought he knew the transmitters will only work as long as the Penguins didn't know they had them on them, which, he learned from experience, wasn't very long.

It didn't take more than five minutes for the first wave of people to start coming out of various office buildings and houses. Soon, the roads were filled with people and cars pushing around. The crowd pushed the Penguins out of his vision, and X frantically scanned around to see where the two had gone. He finally spotted them heading towards a subway entrance, apparently wanting to escape with the transportation.

Not on my watch. X thought grimly before rushing after them.

"Is he following us?"

"Yup."

"Good."

Skipper chanced a look behind him. Indeed, the black officer can be seen in the crowd behind them. Barely visible, but still there.

"Skipper!"

The Penguin leader snapped his head back at this warning, and cursed inwardly when he saw that his lack of attention in front of him caused him to miss the crowd that was now heading out of the subway. He tried to stop, but still rammed into the first few people.

"Hey, watch it!" A man told him angrily. Skipper rolled to his feet and shot them all an apologetic look before running off again. He didn't have time for this. But still, even as he ran, he could feel people glaring daggers at his back.

"You could've at least apologized!" A young woman called out a he ran past her, but Skipper chose to ignore her. The young woman glared at his retreating figure. "Jerk." She said before turning and walking away.

Skipper's eye twitched, annoyed by the comment. If she knew I was running for my life here, she wouldn't have said that. He thought bitterly as he caught up with Rico. The taller Penguin looked at him, concerned. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Skipper waved him off. "Now let's get going before Officer X catches up with us."

Rico nodded. The two then tried to dissolve themselves into the crowd again.

A couple of feet behind them, X tried to push his way against the flow of the people. When he finally did, he quickly scanned for the two again. The worst that can happen now was if the two had gotten onto the subways, which would make it even more difficult to track them down. He was quite relieved when he saw the Penguins going up another entrance. He quickly gave chase.

Once outside, he scanned around again. This time, he saw them making their way up a fire escape. The roof? Seems like an odd place to escape to. Nevertheless, he went after them.

Maurice twitched in annoyance. They were still in that alley. "How long are we supposed to stay here?"

"Until Skipper and Rico get here." Kowalski replied without looking up from his Notepad.

"And we can't go back to HQ first because?"

"Because, it'll be suspicious if we came back with you but without either of them."

"Wait." Maurice narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, suspicious?"

Kowalski winced like he was slapped. "…Nothing."

"I thought we were done with secrets." Maurice crossed his arms across his chest and sent the tall Penguin a mild glare. Kowalski did a very good act of pretending not to notice. It was Private who finally broke the silence. "We did drag him into this mess with us…"

Kowalski looked up at the boy to tell him his negative answer, but as soon as he saw the look on Private's face, the words swallowed themselves. He suddenly had an urge to bang his head against something hard. Really hard. But that's not really an option right now. Instead, he put his head in his hand. "…it'll be suspicious, because we never come back from missions separated." He finally caved.

"Why don't just tell Tom that we ran into Officer X?" Maurice asked.

Again, he was met with silence. This time, both of the Penguins had uncomfortable looks on their faces. Private nervously fingered his bandaged arm, and Kowalski busied himself righting his glasses. Maurice's eyes shifted back and forth between the two before something clicked.

"…wait. Please tell me that Tom actually knows about this."

Silence. But the looks on their faces told the Lemur that he had hit the nail on the head. After a few more seconds, Private looked up at him with a sheepish smile. "I could tell you that, but then I'd be lying."

"Do I even want to know the reason you're keeping this from Tom?" Maurice asked warily.

"No." Kowalski replied curtly, focusing again on his Notepad. "And that's the end of that."

The chase had taken the other two operatives and the cop to a more remote part of the city. X had run out of ammo for his blade gun, so now he could only chase after the Penguins. Rico was absolutely fine. He could do this all day if needed. Skipper, on the other hand, was annoyed. Very annoyed.

"That guy doesn't know when to quit!" He said angrily. Rico hid a smirk. Sounds familiar, no?

"You can't escape this time, Penguins!" X yelled after them, now that there were less people around to hear it.

"Well, yeah? Remember what happened the last time you said that?" Skipper yelled back over his shoulders.

"That won't happen again!"

"You said that the last time, too." Skipper muttered under his breath. Looking down the street, he saw that there was a truck coming their way. He gestured at Rico, and the taller operative caught his message. The two did a silent count to three before dashing across the street, hoping the truck would slow their pursuer down.

As it turned out, X was so focused on the Penguins that he just followed them. He didn't notice the truck until the driver blared the horn at him.

By then, it was already too late.

X's eyes widened behind the shades he had on. In that instance, he saw a good half of his life flash with the headlights. He couldn't possibly avoid it.

Tires screeched. Someone shouted. But all that was lost to him. All he could see were the headlights shining into his eyes.

I'm sorry, Vanny. He thought before he was sent flying through the air.

"What's taking them so long?" Private asked.

Kowalski sighed. "I'm sure they're fine, Private. You know how insistent Officer X can be. I'm sure that they just have yet to find a way to lose him."

"I don't know, Kowalski." Private said uncertainly. "I just got this feeling…like something bad happened…"

Kowalski said nothing. While Private's "feelings" weren't accurate all the time, they had proven to be trustworthy in several occasions. Kowalski just hoped that this wasn't one of them.

He hit the pavement, his eyes closed.

Strange. X thought. It doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would.

He opened one eye slightly, afraid of what he might see. To his surprise, there was no blood. He pushed himself up on his elbows. Oddly enough, there was no pain. Only a few sore spots from where he hit the ground.

It wasn't until he saw the Penguin leader sitting on the floor next to him, panting heavily, did he finally realize what had happened.

"You…" He said, trying to place his thoughts into sentences. "You saved me."

"You're welcome." The operative said dryly.

"Why?"

The younger man placed a hand to his chin, striking the famous thinking pose. "Hmmm…I don't know. I just figured no one wanted to see a dead officer lying in the middle of the road. Why else did you think I did it?" He replied, his voice coated heavily with sarcasm. X couldn't suppress a chuckle. "Are you always this cynical?"

"Maybe."

X chuckled again. He let his eyes wander over the scene, and saw that the scarred operative was dealing with the truck driver. They were too far away for X to make out their conversation, but it was clear that the scarred one was winning whatever argument they're having. A few moments later, the driver practically jumped into the truck and fled. The scarred one then made his way towards them.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." Both X and the leader replied at the same time. They looked at one another before both smirking.

"Well, I guess I owe you Penguins one." X said.

"I guess you do." The leader replied.

"I think I know how to repay you."

"And I think I know what the way that you think you know to repay us is."

There was a brief silence. Then the leader suddenly stood up and offered X a hand. X looked at it for a few second before accepting it.

After they were both standing at their full height, they converted the hold into a handshake.

"Only this once." X warned.

"Believe me, officer." Skipper chuckled. "This once is more than enough." He then nodded at Rico, and they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

They didn't really need to do that, as they all knew that it didn't worked the way it was supposed to against X. But X let them go this time. It was a sign that signified the beginning of…

Of what? X wondered. He wasn't sure. But he knew they weren't enemies anymore.

"Kowalski! I see them!" Private said as he stood up excitedly. Kowalski and Maurice looked up from what they were doing to kill time. Indeed, they could see the other two members of Team Penguin running in their direction. They both stood up with Private to greet them.

"Skipper! Rico!" Private called out as the two neared them. He then did the supposedly impossible task of hugging them both at the same time.

"Whoa, slow down there, Private." Skipper said with a chuckle. Rico grinned wide and ruffled the boy's hair. When it was clear that Private refused to let go, Skipper looked up at Kowalski for help. The strategist only gave a lopsided smile and a shrug that said "what you gotta do?" Maurice stood back, watching this heartfelt moment with a small smile.

It took about ten minutes to finally pry Private from his two almost-brothers.

"So what happened?" Private asked when he finally let go. "I had this bad feeling, and I was so worried that Officer X got you!"

"Well," Skipper smirked. "I don't want to go into the details, but I guess you could say that we have one less enemy to worry about."

The three that weren't at the scene looked at each other, not sure what to make of the statement. Skipper chuckled.

"You know what? Never mind. Let's just go home."

(Later that day…)

In his lab, Kowalski leaned back into his chair, frowning at his Notepad screen. He was trying to get into the NYPD database to find out more about Officer X, but he had failed. Again.

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Hacking wasn't really one of his strong points. He was more into physics and chemistry. Those two fields of science were enough for him to build and make what he wanted.

But there was someone he knew who could help. And getting in touch with her was fairly easy. Why not? He thought as he pulled up a chat to that specific person.

Vanessa? He wrote. The reply was almost instant.

What is it, K? The reply said.

I need a favor. He explained.

Of course you do. Why else would you contact me? "Vanessa" wrote. Kowalski chuckled quietly. Touché. I need information on someone.

And that would be? She prodded.

I need to know about a person called Officer X.

There was a slight pause, then, Care to be more specific?

All I know is that he works in NYPD and he's African American. He wrote.

It was strange. Of all the times he had asked Vanessa for info, she had never hesitated or asked for more specific descriptions. Why was she asking now?

Vanessa? He asked when she didn't reply. There was another long pause before a reply finally came.

I'll see what I can do. The screen said.

Thanks, Vanessa. I know I can count on you. Kowalski wrote and ended the chat. Though he only knew this Vanessa via the Internet, he knew he could trust her. If there was anyone who can get info on almost anyone, it was Vanessa. She was one of the best hackers in the world.

Besides, letting Vanessa do the hacking gives him more time to work on his project, which was slightly behind the schedule he had set up for himself. He had a lot of work to do.

To be continued…

Rushed chapter is rushed.

But at least it's finished. Finally we have a chapter that sort of doesn't end with a cliffhanger.

Here we have the introduction of Officer X, "Vanessa", and another character that I'm not going to point out right now. Kudos to anyone that can find and guess correctly who this mystery character is. "Vanessa" is not an OC. She's an idea that I borrowed from another fellow writer that I'm not going to reveal until "Vanessa" gets more parts in the story. If I did, you'd be able to guess who she is, and it won't be fun. Yes, I'm twisted like that.

I'm sorry if the plot twist was too sudden. I just realized how long the chapter was getting, and I didn't want to delete anything, so I kind of rushed it. Hopefully, I got you all thinking that X really was hit by that truck. If I didn't…*fails again*

On another note, arts of the rest of Team Penguin and Julien are now up on dA. Again, you can find the links in my profile. All comments on the arts go on dA unless you don't have an account there. Then you can comment on them here.

Yada, yada, yada…yes, I am looking for ways to make my Authoress' Note longer than it should be. *is brick'd*

Next chapter is going to be fun. I've already planned most of it and just need to type it out. Look forward to it!

~ruth~