A\N: Thanks for reading this, xDD.
He couldn´t believe it. Skipper couldn't believe he had found them. Well, not yet but he had found a clue. Cause if Blue´s there, Private would be too. The penguin let out a shaky sigh of relief, then gripped his sword tight as he searched around the room. The voices came right below him. New strength and hope surged into the penguin.
"Now what Uncle?" Blue asked as he secured the little Brit. Drakus walked over to Private and tested his bounds.
"Well done. Now, bring me that black box over in the corner."
Blue looked behind him and saw a black metal container sitting in the corner. It looked light enough, but weighed tons.
"What´s-in-here?" The lemur asked as he dragged it toward his uncle.
"Something crucial for the continuation of this operation." Drakus said, as if this explained everything.
"Okay…" Blue placed it in front of the older lemur. "Excellent…" Drakus said and looked at Private.
The penguin had had enough. He straightened up as best as he could and shouted. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!"
"Shut up!" his captor growled angrily. "HELP!" Private yelled again. Drakus raised his paw and hit the little penguin. Private slumped back, half-conscious from the power of the hit. Drakus turned back to the box and opened it. He reached in and dragged something out.
Private´s eyes widened in confusement.
Skipper tensed. He wasn´t dreaming was he? No, wait that was really Private! Skipper felt his heart stop then start beating hysterically. They came from the back of the room. The penguin stumbled over the knocked out soldiers and threw them all into a pile with so much force that even if they had woken up again, they would´ve been knocked out. Skipper slid back to the place where he had heard Private´s voice. He pressed his earhole against the floor. Just barely, he could make out voice.
One was familiar. Blue. Which means that his hostage AKA private was down there. But how on earth is he supposed to get there in time? It was impossible to find the stair case and the room underneath him before Drakus and Blue with him did something terrible to Private. Skipper glanced desperately around the room. Then he had a crazy idea.
Private gazed confused at the cables in Drakus´ paws. They were long, thick and black. They had two ends, one was like those USB cables, and the other one had long thorns with hooks. They looked like the end of a fishing rod. Drakus and Blue attached the USB–like ends to the weird machine that Private was chained to. The machine made a whirring sound and began shaking. The cables began to glow dimly.
Skipper drove his sword in the ground so long till it broke, then threw it into the pile with the other broken blades and grabbed the next one. He was doing this at a frantic pace, trying to create a hole in the ground so he could get through to rescue Private. His mind was set on Private´s rescue and that only.
"Wh-what´s happening?" Private whimpered, but got no answer. "Blue, get back and stand in that nook." Drakus said hoarsely. Blue looked over to see a small nook at the far end of that room. "What? But I want to watch!"
Drakus flashed him a dark look. Private thought he was going to force him with some creepy black magic or something, but then the evil lord nodded. "Alright, then. But stay in one place and don´t move around." Blue nodded excitedly.
Drakus slowly moved over to where Private was lieing. The small penguin was quivering.
´This is the end.´ He thought, closing his eyes.
´Well, at least I can see Skippah again.´ That calmed him down a bit.
He couldn´t wait to see Skipper again. But then, what about his friends and Uncle Nigel? They´ll probably cry. He didn´t want that. His thoughts were interrupted by searing pain. Drakus had jammed the cables in his shoulder. They had long sharp points at each end and the worst part, they had hooks, making it impossible to get them out again.
He cried out.
"Shut up." The lemur growled in a low voice. Private didn´t know what made him shake more. Fear or pain.
Skipper heard it too. Private was crying out in pain. His eyesight went blurry for a second, but then he forced himself to calm his fury for now. There was a time for that later. First, he had to get through. He wedged the sword into the floor again. This time, though, he heard a loud CRACK!
Everyone downstairs heard it too. Blue, Drakus and Private looked up. "What was that?" Blue whispered. "We need to move fast." Drakus said and jammed the rest of the cables into the quivering penguin. When he was done, Private was covered in blood from his wounds. The red fluid shocked him. Sure he had seen blood before, but not pouring from holes in his body. Drakus´ eyes sparkled evilly at the sight of fear and blood. ´This is why I love my job´. He thought as he saw Blue´s hidden horror and Private´s nauseas look.
Skipper jammed the sword´s tip into the submitting tiles. They were cracking and breaking apart. Sharp projectiles sprang up when the blade hit them and flew against the wall and the penguin. He barely noticed them. His mind was set on getting through this floor, killing whoever dared to lay his dirty paw on his soldier, and saving his Private. Tears of frustration blocked his vision as he heard the small Brit below him cry out in pain.
Blue didn´t even want to speak anymore. Blood was spilling on the floor and Drakus wore a sinister smile as if the torture amused him. ´It does.´ He thought. His uncle was cruel and heartless. Speaking of his uncle, said lemur was just going to the controls. He smirked, then flipped some switches on. Immediately, white-hot pain beyond anything Private had ever experienced in his young life washed over him. He felt like someone was burning him from the insides. The small penguin screamed in agony.
Blue couldn´t stand this any longer. "What are you doing to him?" He shouted. Drakus gave him a mild amused look. "I´m doing my job. Now shut up. Just lean back and enjoy the view." "WHAT?" Blue backed away from his uncle. Drakus suddenly reached forward and grabbed him.
"You wanted to be evil!" He laughed. "So don´t run away or I can´t mentor you!" "I don´t want to be mentored by you!" Blue screamed and tried to twist free. But his uncle had an iron grip. He continued to watch with a crazy grin on his face, and held his young nephew in place, forcing him to watch the scene.
Private was squirming around, trying to escape the torture and pain. Tears ran down his face and mingled with the blood. Suddenly, something sharp hit his cheek. But he was too much in pain to look up. Drakus didn´t notice, nor did Blue. The blue lemur had closed his eyes, but couldn´t escape the tormented cries of the prisoner.
All of the sudden, a blurry shape flew past them and landed on the floor. Drakus turned sharply and glared at the penguin. He hated interruptions.
Skipper jumped to his feet and glared extra-sharp-daggers-that-are-on-fire-and-are-filled-with-poisonous-acid at the black lemur. Drakus pushed Blue back and stepped forward. "What do you want?" He hissed. "I. Want. My. Soldier. Back!" Skipper sprang forward and flew into Drakus.
The lemur lord was surprisingly strong for his appearance. He wrestled Skipper to the floor, but he wasn´t fighting against feathers and blood. He was fighting against love, hate and father-ship.
Blue ran over to Private. He didn´t know what to do, he didn´t mean it to turn out like that. "Hang on!" He yelled, his frightened voice gaining a few octaves in his panic. Private didn´t hear him. he wanted to pass out, but couldn´t. The pain left him dizzy and nauseous. By now the small Brit was covered in sweat, tears and blood.
Drakus struck out at Skipper, catching him by surprise and knocking him down. "Forget it, bird. The boy´s as good as dead!"
Blind fury drove into Skipper as he lunged forward, picking the lemur up and throwing him against the wall so hard, that it cracked. So did the lemur´s skull.
Skipper took a deep breath and finally turned toward the terrible scene. He spotted the troublemaker who started it all. Blue was pressing buttons frantically, but he couldn´t find the off switch. He stopped when he felt a firm flipper on his shoulder and turned.
"Let me do this, kid." Skipper said and pushed the blue lemur away. Blue nodded collapsing on the ground and started crying and apologizing.
The penguin looked over the buttons and pressed each one. Nothing helped and Private´s voice was getting weaker.
"Hang on there, soldier!" Skipper commanded, choking down the overwhelming fear of losing his youngest recruit. "I need something to shut this damn machine off!" He cried angrily and kicked it. "Ere." A gruff voice said, followed by a gag and a chainsaw was put in his flipper.
"Thanks, Ric- He quickly glanced over his shoulder to see his three friends staring there. Rico suddenly lurched forward, grabbed the chainsaw and drove it through the control system. He growled something at the machine, which was drowned out by the sound of the dying contraption.
"Blue!" Martha ran forward and hugged him. Blue broke down and started crying again, sobbing something barely understandable. Ted joined the two, looking rather shaken up.
Skipper ripped the cords out of Private, wincing when he screamed as bits of flesh went with the hooks. Private fell out of the chair and into Skipper´s trembling flippers.
Immediately, the leader´s grip secured around the small penguin, holding him against his chest. "Private…Private…" He kept on saying.
"If I´m in heaven, why does it hurt so much…?" The small penguin mumbled, trying not to spasm. He opened his innocent, arctic blue eyes to gaze at Skipper. His leader raised a flipper to wipe the tears from his eyes. "You´re not in heaven, Private. You´re not dead. Every thing´s okay now."
"But you´re dead! I saw you die, get crushed underneath the wheel!" Skipper shook his head.
Private then suddenly remembered Blue´s deception skills. He stared at Skipper, his beak quivering.
"Now, soldier, don´t-" The other said quickly, but Private buried his head into Skipper´s soft, warm chest and began to cry heartily.
"Oh Skippah! I missed you so much! I´m so sorry for reacting the way I did back at the zoo. I never wanted to be rude or disrespectful!" The Brit sobbed.
"I missed you too, Private, and forget about what happened. I´m just so glad to have you back!" Skipper cradled the young rookie in his arms, tears springing to his own eyes. He tried not to cry and be strong, but he was just too exhausted to fight anymore. Rico jumped forward and hugged his teammate, the rare sight of tears dripping down his beak. "Private!"
Max patted the small penguins back while Kenny strode over to Drakus. He reached down to feel a pulse. "He´s dead." He muttered, then kicked the corpse. "About time."
The puffin quickly flew over to Skipper and shook his wing. "Nice seeing you again, old friend. And congratulations on your victory, but I have to spread the word! Drakus is finally dead!" "Bye Kenny and thanks for your help." Skipper said, squeezing his flipper.
The Dane nodded and flew out. His voice echoed throughout the castle. "Drakus is dead!"
Skipper smiled and turned back to Private. The boy had been sobbing heavily, but now he calmed himself and was falling asleep in Skipper´s secure flippers.
Ted, Martha and Blue stood by. Blue was hanging his head. He never meant for it to happen like that. He let go of Martha´s paw and trotted over to Skipper.
"Skipper?" The leader looked up. "I-I just wanted to say sorry for all this trouble I caused. I never really thought it would turn out like this." The penguin wanted to be angry with him, but the little lemur was sincere and on verge of tears as he recalled the terrible scene that had happened before him. Skipper laid a flipper on his shoulder. "You were very lucky, Blue. It could´ve ended out worse." Blue nodded, choking back tears. "How about finding a different hobby?" Skipper joked mildly. "
Yeah, like…you can join a band with me!" Ted suggested and immediately, Martha Blue and Private groaned. The other crossed his arms. "I would like to know what you have against my singing!" Private struggled to sit up. Blue apologized to him too, but the small penguin, as forgiving as he is, stuck out his flipper.
"Friends?" "Yes!" Blue said happily and took it. Skipper laughed quietly and shook his head. "Young naïve Private!"
Private never thought he´d ever been so happy to hear those words again.
A\N: And? What do you think? Ps, story´s not over yet! xD R&R! And if you spot any flaws, please tell me! ;)