Simms told them that the situation was above his position, so he set up a call with Sarah Kent. Unfortunately, she was only available during school hours. So, Skipper called in sick while Private and Kowalski went to school.
Rico took pride in being independent and a force to be reckoned with. But even he admitted when he needed help.
Sarah Kent didn't waste any time. "Boys, our organization has always tried to keep out of trouble and out of the public eye. That being said, we do have a safe village in Madagascar. It is now our business to inform the FBI and let them handle it from there. We will send some operatives to check on the village once we have the go ahead."
"We can check on the village." Skipper said.
"That's a negative. You've already done more than enough with the capture of Agent Twelve and everything around Toby. You're needed here. If you all go off to Madagascar, there aren't enough operatives here to keep watch."
"You have Agent Campbell, and my brother and his girlfriend. Brian and Jackie are good at what they do-"
"I have no doubt about that, Skipper." Sarah said. "However, I have sent your brother on a mission. Jackie has accompanied him. They should be back shortly before Christmas."
"We went to the village in Africa. How much harder can Madagascar be? Julien has family there and he's going to visit them during the thanksgiving break, he's leaving the week before. He told me he's going with Maurice and Mort and there's only Clover to protect the three of them."
"What would you suggest, then?"
"We've trained our friends in self defense classes. We trust they can take care of themselves. And we'll be back before too long."
"Skipper, you're still in school."
Skipper groaned.
"Me." Rico said.
"What?"
"Send me."
"A solo mission? No way!" Skipper said.
"You have told me that Clover is trained." Sarah said. "Why not let her team up with Rico?"
"I...a mission without us? Rico, are you sure?" Skipper asked.
"Yup."
...
It took a lot of convincing, but Skipper grudgingly allowed Rico to go on this mission the week before Thanksgiving. They'd be back by the time the break was over. Rico put in earplugs once they got on the plane. Mort was telling a story about a dream he had where he was an evil ruler bent on destroying everything.
It would have fascinated Rico if he'd not already heard it five times. He didn't tell the boys his true mission and all Clover needed to know was Rico would slip off to check on someone.
It was harder than it sounded because Mort became attached to everyone and consistently followed them around, asking questions. Luckily, he was mostly attached to Julien.
"Mort, get...off!" Julien complained once they got their luggage.
Julien was shocked that his grandma lived in such a normal house. Rico looked at it happily. The other three were content. Rico helped out in the kitchen, he couldn't wait to bring new recipes back home.
"You'll be on cooking duty for the next month then." Kowalski joked once Rico called the team to confirm he wasn't feeling as tired.
"Don't worm your way out of cooking." Skipper said. "Alright, ready to meet the village tomorrow?"
"Yup." Rico said. "Whassup wi' you?"
"They've alerted the proper authorities and now we just wait for them to tell us when it's clear. I guess you just have to make sure the village isn't threatened."
"Aye, cap'n."
"It's been quiet here." Skipper said. "Too quiet. I've been out on recon seventeen times already, but I can't help it. My gut tells me there's a storm coming."
"Skipper, it's almost winter, of course there could be a storm." Kowalski said.
"Just keep your guards up."
"Yes sir!" Kowalski and Rico said.
"Private, sound off."
"Hmm?" Private said sleepily
"Perhaps Rico should have called us a bit later or earlier." Kowalski said. "I forgot to remind you about the eight hour time difference."
"Jet lag." Rico muttered.
"Indeed."
"Take a break and meet the village the next day." Skipper said.
Another day of resting to gather his energy later, Rico was ready to go to the safe village. He woke up early, let Clover know he was leaving, and left the house before anyone could notice.
He found himself in the deep jungle, hearing wildlife sounds. He tried to call the team for directions, but there was no signal. He started to feel worried.
At least there were fruit trees. He'd made sure to go over with Kowalski what he could and could not eat. Luckily, he liked and could eat mangos. There were a lot. He plucked one off a tree and heard a chittering noise.
"Hm?" He turned to see a ring tailed lemur staring at him. He imagined Julien's crown on its head and laughed. The animal seemed startled, but then put its hands out for the fruit. "Uh-uh, mine."
It lunged for the fruit. Rico screamed. It stared at him in shock and he growled at it. The lemur screeched and ran off. Not wanting to stick around for any friends it brought, Rico hurried in the opposite direction.
Pretty sure he was getting lost and now done with his fruit, he discarded the seed and tried his watch again. Nope, no such luck. He knew the general direction, but now had no idea where he was.
He supposed he could try to find a trail and see if anyone would come along, but then he heard running water. Excited at the prospect of people, he hurried to the sound. It was a giant waterfall. He refilled his bottle and splashed water on his face and arms.
After having tossed another few mangos in his bag, he sat on a rock and pulled out his emergency snack rations.
"Ee?"
He saw a lemur again. Was it the same one? It held out its hands for the snack. Rico shook his head and pulled a mango out of his bag, tossing it to the animal. The lemur had flinched and waited for Rico to snatch the fruit, but the human didn't do anything.
"Yours." Rico said.
The lemur hesitantly picked up the fruit, keeping a close eye on Rico. It started eating the fruit, still being wary. Rico decided to call the lemur Julien 3. He swore he felt eyes on him from the trees. He wondered if this was the beginning of him going insane.
Suddenly, Julien 3 let out a loud screech. The bushes and trees rustled and out popped a bunch of lemurs.
"Oh, come on!" Rico grumbled, standing up. He tossed out the other two mangos and put his hands up. "No more! Got nuthin'!" He snapped.
The lemurs regarded him curiously. He growled at them. One brown lemur panicked and screeched, causing the others to screech and run around.
"Oi! Stop!" He shook his head and looked at Julien 3. The lemur looked at him and looked back, screeching. The panicking lemurs stopped. Julien chittered and the other lemurs seemed to listen.
Yup, I'm definitely losing it. Rico thought.
"Um. Humans?" Rico asked, gesturing to himself. "Where?" He mimed looking for them.
The animals chittered amongst themselves. Rico sighed and shook his head. He just followed the river south, pretty sure that's where he came from. He stopped when he felt a paw on his leg.
"Hm?" He felt the urge to kick, but didn't want to make them angry. So he looked down to see Julien 3, hoping he wouldn't bite.
The lemur sniffed him, then pointed east. Rico shrugged, worst case scenario was that he'd get more lost than he was already.
"Thanks." He told the lemur. He swore he saw the lemurs waving goodbye to him as he went into the brush.
He arrived in a clearing when he heard his watch beep. He turned it on.
"Oh thank goodness!" Private said. "Skippa, he's alright!"
"Rico, speak to me, man! What happened?" Skipper asked. "We've been trying to contact you, we lost your position."
"You appear close to the village, just keep going forward." Kowalski said.
"Got lost." Rico said. "Julien help." Why did I say that?
"Julien's with you?" Skipper asked. "Clover said he's with her."
"Ringtail lemur." Rico hoped it was too dark for them to see him blush. It sounded ridiculous and he's the one who experienced it.
Kowalski inhaled, but Skipper cut across him.
"Let's just be glad Rico's alright and not go on a tangent about how illogical that sounded." Skipper said.
Kowalski sighed in disappointment. "Okay...fine..."
"I see." Rico said, showing them the edge of the village as he stepped through the thick brush.
"Good. I'm giving you instructions to create a detailed map before you leave and remember, you have a compass."
"Comp-ohhhh...ah-heh..." Rico mumbled something to himself.
"Did you think I'd let you go on this adventure and get lost in the forest without a compass? The trees are tall and shady, you can't always see where the sun's coming from."
"Yeah-yeah. I know."
"What's with this team and weird animal hallucinations?" Skipper asked. "First, Private with the penguins and dancing lemurs and weird dream, then Rico with the helpful lemur."
"N' friends."
"Friends?"
"Big group."
"A large group of wild lemurs and they didn't tear you apart...geez, Rico." Skipper shook his head. "Even though I'm still having reservations about you being out there on your own, I still don't think that's what my gut's worried about. There's something else-"
"Hello?" Someone said.
"Hi. Here to check." Rico said.
The young man looked a little older than him. He looked suspiciously at Rico.
"What does that mean? How did you find this place?"
"We work for the organization." Skipper's voice said. Rico showed the man his watch. "Sorry about that, Rico's a man of few words and the team couldn't make it. He's making sure this village isn't a target."
"Oh. Well I don't think so." The man said. "Follow me."
Villagers looked cautiously at Rico as he passed by. He concluded it was because of the scars.
"RICO!"
Rico, the man guiding him, and several others were startled. They looked around to see a teen boy run towards the newcomer.
"What are you doing, boy?" A gruff voice called out.
The boy ignored it and hugged Rico, sobbing. Rico was extremely confused, he didn't recognize the younger teen who looked to be about Private's age. The kid obviously knew him so he wracked his brains.
"What's going on?" Skipper asked.
"I-I dunno."
The boy released Rico and looked around. "I-is Skipper here?"
Rico shook his head and showed his watch with his teammates on it. The boy's face looked familiar.
"You don't recognize me, do you?"
"Sorry." Rico said.
"Figures." The teen smiled. "Last time you saw me, I wasn't even thirteen yet."
"Raj?!" Private gasped.
"Hey, Private."
Rico mentally kicked himself. He knew it wasn't his fault for forgetting, the teen did look a little different and never really hung out with Private that much. But he thought he would have remembered the faces better especially after Agent Twelve had been there.
He knew that Raj had been found after Toby's confession. Toby had known where they took the kid, trying to get information out of him and his family. After that, they'd ended up in the safe village in India that was attacked a few months later and everyone had been relocated. The Penguins had been asked not to spread that around for his safety.
"How's everyone?" Raj asked. Rico took off his watch and handed it to the younger boy. They sat on a bench and the older teens let the younger two chat.
"We haven't seen you in years and you're asking about us?" Private said weakly.
"Last I heard, Principal Taylor went missing and no one heard from Nicole. Then we got attacked...did you hear about-?" Raj's voice hitched.
"I'm so sorry about your brother. We also heard your dad was taken, did he make it?"
Raj shook his head. "Almost." He sniffled and tried to focus. "Did you ever find out what happened to Mr. Taylor?"
"We found him last year." Private said. "He's in a coma, but his likelihood of survival isn't too high. The rest of the family is safe and in hiding like you are."
"Oh good. Are you guys hanging in there?"
"Yeah there's-" Private's face turned worried. "Well, I'll be honest. There's only seven of us from Campbell's math class. Possibly just six next year. I hear Megan's parents are thinking of taking her out of school."
"What happened?"
"The kidnappings didn't quite stop there. Stuff's happened and parents panicked. At first, it was PARK B, Marvin, Megan, Frank, Lin, Bailey, and Danielle." Private explained. "Then the latter three were withdrawn at the end of seventh grade. Stuff happened with Hans and Skipper and the parents freaked out. I think Marvin's deliberately keeping information from his parents because he says 'everyone's cool'."
"He would do that." Raj chuckled. "What did you guys come here for?"
"Well, we're uncovering a potential coup by Julien's uncle."
"Wow. You guys are like detectives or something."
"We work for the organization. Have done so since Private accepted his nickname." Skipper said.
Raj's jaw dropped. "T-they let a twelve year old..."
"Yeah, they weren't supposed to do that, he's a special case."
The mood around Rico and Raj changed. Someone had translated the potential coup part and Julien's uncle.
"Sorry to interrupt your reunion." The man who had brought Rico said. "Are you talking about the Makyhira family?"
"Yeah, why?" Skipper asked defensively.
"Dominique Makyhira is not a good man. We don't know much of his brother who prefers to keep to himself, but Dom has been known as an anarchist."
"Anarchist? He doesn't want to bring the monarchy back?"
"I don't know what he's been telling his brother and nephew, but if he does, then only he wants to be king."
"So a dictator." Kowalski said. "I propose that he resents the French colonization, an event happening several decades before he was born, and potentially resents his own name. He resents the fact that his grandparents decided that this wasn't their 'fight' anymore and have accepted that what happened happened and they should just live the best lives they have now. Claire, Julien Sr's wife, has had her conflicts with Dom. He doesn't like that she's a French citizen and his brother and nephew have French names. That would explain why Agent Twelve was in France at the time Hans was recruited."
"Wait, this connects to Hans?" Skipper asked. "But what about Spain? Hey Rico, take this somewhere discreet."
The people around him dispersed. Raj pointed to a house, saying that's where he lived. Rico went to the edge of town, making sure the area was secured. Rico gave the all clear.
Kowalski thought about it. "Spain...I think that's a story Agent Bone has to tell us one day. Blowhole's targeting on an international level."
"Wait-Blowhole now?"
"Always has been."
"'Walski, 'splain."
"Okay. Basically, I believe Blowhole is using the Makyhira family as a distraction. He didn't expect only one of us to go to Madagascar. He was hoping to unleash Clemson and whatever plan he had while we were gone. Agent Twelve was known to have been international too. She heard of what happened in Denmark and observed Hans, then that led to her having the ability to enter the school. Hans was supposed to give the all clear for the intrusion into the school so they could catch Campbell off guard, so he did that discreetly. Rhonda getting kicked out of the school meant they needed someone else, so they planted Clemson. I'm willing to bet that Julien, having had a good relationship with his uncle, told him about the sixth graders wacky teacher that year and when Hans disappeared. That was what set the wheels in motion. Dominique probably wasn't sure if he could entirely trust Blowhole, so he hired Clemson, who he didn't know worked for Blowhole as well. As far as Dom knows, Clemson's a con artist who has a very tight lip and 'connections'. The 'benefactor' Julien and Clover heard about was most likely his uncle referring to himself."
After several moments of silence while they were processing this information, Kowalski spoke again.
"I would suggest doing your mission as quickly as possible and returning to Julien."
"Is he in danger?" Skipper asked.
"Uncertain, but his parents may most certainly be."
"You heard the man, Rico, don't dawdle."
"Yes sir!"
They ended communications and Rico went around the village. Having taken French in high school, he tried his best to communicate in his already broken voice. They eventually asked someone to go with him to translate because he started to get audibly exhausted.
Raj's family was surprised to see a friend of his, but happy that he wasn't forgotten. They were very obviously traumatized, but trying to make the best of it. Rico stayed the night with them and woke up early with a bad feeling.
"Sometimes the spices don't agree with everyone." Raj's mother said.
Rico shook his head, he had an iron stomach.
"Mom, he can eat that terrible tuna and like it." Raj shuddered at the memory. Rico laughed.
Rico made sure to write down Kowalski's explicit instruction along with digging the compass out of his backpack and putting it in his pocket. He texted Clover to let her know he was on the way back.
She didn't respond.
"That's concerning. She's prompt even if it's just a 'K' and we know she's ready around the same time as us." Skipper said. "We can't wait around for her response. Get going, I'll try to contact them."
