A.N.- Hey, everyone! Here's chapter 17! :D I hope you enjoy ;)
Chapter 17: I Think You're Hot
"Come in." Commander Harold gruffly says as he puts some things from his desk into a box. Pedro silently opens the door, nervously. "Well? Is that criminal in his cell yet?" He asks.
Pedro silently looks at the floor and shakes his head. "No, sir." He says quietly. "Last night he knocked me out while I was keeping watch and he picked the lock and escaped. He was long gone by the time I regained consciousness. I do not know where he has went." He says.
Harold mutters some swear words and looks at Pedro. "You flipping kipper idiot! How could you have let him do that!? Haven't I told you enough that you must always have your guard up?! Especially at night!" He shouts.
"Yes, sir...You have..." Pedro replies silently, looking only at the floor.
"And yet you didn't and he's gone!" Harold growls, slamming his flipper down on his desk. Pedro doesn't even flinch. "I should dismiss you for you being such a freaking stupid, kipper flipping, salmon moronic idiot!" He shouts. "I'm getting tired of your failures!"
Pedro looks at him. "But you're not?" He asks silently.
Harold gives an irritated sigh. "No, but I wish I could." He growls. "I would, if I hadn't have been discharged first."
"You got fired?" He says, surprised with widened eyes. "Why? Who's the commander then?"
"That's none of your business, Agent Mateo. Just get your flipping tail feathers out of my sight!" Harold shouts.
Pedro nods. "Of course...Good luck then, with your office clearing." He says with a hidden smirk.
"Shut the kipper up and GO ALREADY!" Ex-Commander Harold says, throwing a pen at him.
Pedro grins and ducks the pen as he leaves the office, feeling a bit better now than when he had first got to the base. He still, though, feels horrible about how he had just left Adriana out in the forest. He hopes that the jaguar or something hasn't shown up and eaten her or something. "And if she's eaten, then so is my wallet…" He mutters and shakes his head some as he waddles to his locker. He just looks at it for a moment as he tries to get his mind focused. His thoughts are so scattered at the moment that he can't even remember his combination. He then tries to figure it out. '7, 30, 21' He thinks as he turns it. He tries the locker and frowns to find that it is still locked. 'Or...I guess it might be 15, 38, 2?' He tries this and again it remains locked. "Or maybe that was Bobby's..." He murmurs thoughtfully.
"Maybe what was mine?" Bob asks curiously as he comes up behind Pedro with his flippers crossed.
Pedro jumps a little in surprise and looks at Bob. "Locker combination number." He says and looks at his own locker again.
'Ro sure has seemed awfully jumpy lately…' Bob thinks and looks at him concerned. "Try 26, 8, 17." He says and looks at his friend. It was not like him to forget his locker number, seeing as how he's had this same locker for over a year now.
"Oh...Yeah, gracias." Pedro says with a small, slightly embarrassed smile as he unlocks the locker. He gets out a thing of ammunition for his favorite gun out and his spare security clearance card.
"So...How'd it go with Commander Harold?" He asks, leaning back against some other lockers, with his flippers still crossed.
Pedro shrugs a little. "I didn't get fired, if that's what you mean." He says and looks at Bob. "But he did!" He grins. Bob looks at him with an open beak and Pedro nods. "He wouldn't tell me who the new boss is or why he got canned, though." He says.
Bob is still surprised but then grins widely. "Well, it's about time he got the pink-slip." He says with a small, low chuckle. "Can't say he's going to have many fans missing him."
He nods in agreement. "Too right, Bobby, toooooo right." He shuts his locker and looks at Bob. "So, bar now, verdad?" Pedro asks, with a small and forced smile.
"Sure." He nods and stands up straight from the lockers. They both then start out from the base.
Adriana slides up to a small house with Pedro's address. "Sooo...This is where Copper lives…." She mumbles with a small, rather pleased nod. "Not too shabby…" She then waddles up to the door and takes out a knife and a paperclip from the backpack and begins to pick the lock on it. She soon has it unlocked and waddles inside. "Really? No alarm systems? And a lock that easy?! Pedrrrrrro, it's almost like you want to be robbed." She mutters, clicking her tongue with disapproval. "No, you need to fix that. I could come murder you in your sleep if you don't." She laughs.
She now waddles throughout the house, glancing at the different rooms, curiously. The house has a kitchen, a living room, two bathrooms, a master bedroom, and a spare bedroom, with each having a closet, another closet in the hall, and an attic. Adriana curiously opens the hall closet. Nothing interesting is in there; just towels. "Huh…" She mumbles and closes the closet back. She then goes to the master bedroom.
The room is not very large itself. The bed is nicely made up with blue covers, white pillow cases on the pillows. There's a medium sized TV in the room, a small dresser in the corner, a picture of a younger Pedro, his brother, that girl from the wallet, and two other adult penguins hangs on the white and green striped wall. Adriana waddles over to it and looks at it, thoughtfully. "Maybe that chick is his sister, not his novia?" She mutters thoughtfully. She then waddles over to a bulletin board on the wall, near the bed. On it is a calendar, a missions' schedule, more pictures of Pedro and that big penguin, and a few pictures of snakes. Adriana looks a little more around the room before going curiously to the other parts of the house.
The spare bedroom looks like for the most part that it hasn't been used, except a terrarium. She goes over to it and looks inside of it. A dark green snake looks back at her and flicks his tongue. "And who are you?" Adriana asks with a smile as she picks the snake up and out from its home. "You have your own room?" The snake says nothing and just slithers around her flipper, flicking his tongue out now and then. She pets the snake a little before putting him back into his terrarium. She looks around the room and finds the snake food. She gets out a couple of mice and drops them into the terrarium, too. The snake slithers happily to them and eats them and Adriana watches with a smile for a couple of minutes before going to explore more of the house.
She next goes to the kitchen. Adriana waddles past the small, round, wooden table, over to the refrigerator. She looks inside with a frown. "Jeez...He must not eat at home much…" She mutters as she sees that there isn't much inside of it but a few different alcoholic beverages. She looks then at the freezer section, which has a large amount of frozen meals. "Or, when he is home, he must not cook much…" She says and shuts it back. She continues to look around at Pedro's dishes and things and meanders to the living room again.
Now, Adriana actually pays attention to the living room. It includes a couch, a couple of chairs, a TV, small coffee table, and a bookcase with a small, empty terrarium on top. 'I wonder if he had anything in there…' She thinks as she looks inside of it with a small frown. She then shakes her head a little and starts looking for her knife that Pedro had taken.
Adriana waddles back towards the bedroom. "Oof!" She grunts as she trips over a rug in the hall. She glares at it and gets back up, but as she does so, she sees that there is a door there, hidden beneath the rug. "What's this?" She pulls back the rug completely and opens the trap-door. Adriana then takes out the flashlight from the backpack and starts climbing down the stairs into the dark. Once she has reached the floor, she looks around the room with the flashlight. "An empty, unused basement?" She mutters and looks around. "Wouldn't be a bad place for a hideout...Could re-carpet the hall floor to make it look like this really isn't here...Maybe bring the rest of my knives here, oh! And my revenge plans! Maybe put a desk here!" She says, somewhat excitedly as she explores the basement. She waddles over to a wall and knocks on it curiously with her ear-hole to it. "Maybe even I could make an escape tunnel! Ha! I'd like to see those coppers try to find me if I hid out here!" She laughs, but then is thoughtful and shrugs. "I'm sure Pedro would get used to me living here. His house needs a woman's touch, anyhow. None of stuff matches...I mean, how the heck can he stand that!? The colors completely clash!" She says a bit irritated as she climbs back up the stairs and closes the trap-door.
She now goes back to the bedroom and starts opening the doors and drawers of the room as she searches for her beloved knife.
Pedro and Bob sit down at the bar and each order a drink. Once they get their drinks, Bob looks at Pedro. "So? The truth?" He says and takes a drink of his drink.
Pedro continues to look at the bar silently for a moment and finishes his first drink fairly quickly and orders another. "You remember that señorita I told you about? Adriana?" He asks silently as the bartender passes him his next drink.
Bob thinks for a moment and nods a little. "I remember you saying something about some hot girl with that name, yes." He says and then looks at him curiously. "What about her?"
"And...You've heard of the phrase 'if you love something, let it go'?" He asks as he starts on his second drink.
"Yep…" Bob says, nodding slowly, slightly confused as he doesn't see what that phrase has to do with some hot chick.
Pedro finishes his second drink and orders a third just as Bob has finished his first. "Well...I had to say adios to Adriana...Not verbally, but physically…" He says slowly and looks at his drink some.
Bob looks at him, still not understanding. "Ro...You've lost me…" He says and takes a sip.
Pedro sighs a bit and drinks half of his third drink before saying anything. "Adriana Estrada is a very hot and cold señorita." He says. "I love her. She did not seem to love me back." He sighs. "I was forced to leave her when I didn't want to because of the criminal La Sombra." He says, stretching the truth. "And in doing so, my heart was panging with loss and I was not thinking straight. La Sombra used my time of emotional distraction to knock me unconscious, steal my wallet, pick the lock, and escape with the map." He lies, but not noticeably. He finishes his third drink and orders a fourth.
"Oh…" Bob says quietly and mulls this over for a moment as he drinks some on his second drink. "So...You aren't seeing the hot chick anymore and some criminal stole your billfold?" He asks, much simplifying it.
"That's exactly what I am saying, Bobby." Pedro says with a nod as he quickly drains his fourth drink. "But...The thing is, is that I really want that girl." He sighs and rubs his face with his flippers. The bartender passes a fifth drink towards him and Pedro gets it.
Bob looks at his friend for a moment and then at his glass in thought. "Well…" He starts and then rubs Pedro's back a little. "I saw this not-so-bad looking chick at the shooting range today." He says, with a small shrug. "She was a pretty good shot, not as good as me, of course." He says. "Since, I'm definitely the best shot around. I mean, I got a higher accuracy percentage than Ex-Commander Harold! Anyway, this girl seemed single..."
Pedro gives Bob a slight look. "Bu-ut, Bobby! You're married with a chi-ick! You can't go cha-asing after good-shot seño-oritas!" He exclaims. "What about Rise-ette and little E-dmond?!" He hiccups as he starts on his fifth drink.
"Pedro! That's not what I was trying to hint." Bob says as he face-flippers and shakes his head a little. "I meant for you! I'm not in the market for a woman, you're right. But, you're a single, heart-broken guy who might be interested in one." He shrugs.
"Ooohhh!" Pedro says with a small giggle. "I thou-ought you were be-eing a bad ma-aria-ado*." She says, slurring a little bit now with his hiccups.
"A bad what?" Bob asks, confused, and not completely understanding Pedro's slur well.
"Hu-usband!" Pedro says with a giggle as he finishes his drink. "Li-ike you were looooooki-ing at o-a-therrrrrr woma-ansssss."
Bob looks at him and shakes his head. "Nope. I'm not." He says and sees how Pedro is about to order another drink. "And you're not having any more tonight, either." He says pulling his flipper down from waving for another.
Pedro looks at him with his beak a bit open. "Buuuuuuuuut whhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy?"
"No buts." Bob says firmly and pays for their drinks.
Pedro giggles and Bob looks at him weirdly. "You said bu-utts."
'Oh kipper.' Bob rolls his eyes and starts leading him towards the door. "Come on, Ro." He says. "I'm going to make sure you actually make it home…" Pedro giggles and gets lead by the shoulders out of the door of the bar towards his house.
Bob helps Pedro up to his house and opens the door for him. "I'll talk to you more tomorrow, Ro." He says. "Maybe we can find you that good-shot chick tomorrow at work." He says with a small smile.
Pedro nods a bit. "Bye, Bo-obby." He hiccups. Bob nods and slides off and Pedro waddles, unsteadily into the house and shuts the door. He waddles towards the main bedroom, swaying just a bit and almost tripping over the rug in the hall. "Who-oops." He hiccups and giggles as he accidentally bumps into the wall as he walks to the room. He enters it and then stops and blinks. "Adrrrrrri-ianna?"
Adriana looks up from a book she was reading on the bed and looks at Pedro. "Yes?"
Pedro just stares at her and shakes his head some. "I mu' be hallu-ucina-ating." He says and rubs his eyes some.
"Yeah, sure, I'm just a figment of your imagination, Copper." Adriana says and rolls her eyes, clearly unamused.
Pedro looks at her and nods. "Yup." He says. "Because Adria-ana is on her wa-ay back to Spain." He then staggers more into the room and lays on the bed.
Adriana looks at him and pokes him. "You're sure I'm not actually right here? Maybe wanting back the knife you stole from me?" She says poking him again in the chest.
Pedro's eyes widen as he feels Adriana poking him and pokes her back, shocked. "You are here!"
"Ring-a-ding-ding! Someone give Captain Pedrrrrrro Obvious here a price!" Adriana says very sarcastically and rolls her eyes. "Now, the knife." She says and holds her flipper out for it. Pedro looks at the flipper for a moment and then takes the dark-blue hilted knife from behind him and puts the hilt in Adriana's flipper, but doesn't let go. Adriana looks very unamused and tugs some on it. "Okay, you can let go, Copper." She says.
"No…" Pedro says, shaking his head. "Then you'll really be gone…" He says and pulls the flipper and knife back towards him.
Adriana just looks at him with a small frown. Then Pedro leans forward and kisses her on her beak. Adriana looks surprised at Pedro and quickly pushes him away. "Hey! Whoa! And what the atún do you think you're doing?!"
"Kissing you." Pedro says with a small shrug, but releases her flipper.
"Why?" Adriana asks, still keeping him pushed away from her with a flipper as she puts her knife away with her other.
Pedro shrugs a bit and looks at her. "Because I think you're hot and I lo-ove you."
Adriana just looks at him a moment. "And you're drunk…" She says, rolling her eyes.
"Nah." Pedro says, trying to get close to her again.
"Yes, you are. Why else would you love me?" She says, pushing him further away.
Pedro tries to think about this. "Because you're hot and stuff." He says, shrugging.
Adriana looks at him, curiously. "What kind of 'and stuff'?" She demands.
"I think you're bea-utiful, and hot, and sassy, and smart, and hot, and sassy, and hot." He says. "And I want you to be mine." Pedro says. "You comple-ete me, and I'd gladly get fli-ipper-cuffed to you again any-ytime."
"Really?" She says silently, looking at him. Pedro nods with a goofy, drunk grin. Adriana looks at him still and smiles a bit wickedly. "Okay then." She says and retracts her flipper. Pedro immediately gets closer to her and starts trying to kiss her again. This time, Adriana lets him and kisses him back, putting her flippers around behind Pedro's neck and getting much closer to him. Pedro rubs Adriana's sides with his flippers as he kisses her and pushes her back down upon the bed.
Translations:
*Ma-aria-ado (mariado) - husband