"You know, this is getting ridiculous. How the deuce is EVERYONE out of stock on silver jewelry?" Skipper huffs.
"Besides earrings." Kowalski nods.
The flatheaded penguin gives him a look. "Oh yeah, like we can just put on a pair of those. WE DON'T HAVE EXTERNAL EARS, KOWALSKI."
"Skipper, hey, hey, there's no need to shout at him. It's not his fault everyone's out of silver." Marlene gently scolds him, shaking her head.
Kowalski then sighs. "Maybe lunch will help us think of other places to check."
From morning to late afternoon, our gang of weirdos had bust after bust of shops, politely informing them (or well, mostly Bridget) that all of the silver they owned was sold out, and that their shipments too weren't going to be in for a while. And with this strange repeated pattern of failing growing under their skins (or feathers and fur respectively), it was mutually decided that they should have their lunch break.
You know it's bad when they had to search all the way till Queens just to find some accessible silver.
At that time, Bridget, with Private who accompanies her by her shoulder, comes around with a huge tray of fish tacos. While Kowalski may have wanted to buy the silver, he didn't say she couldn't buy them lunch.
"Alright, this should tide us over." The caretaker nods, setting the food down on the table with the others waiting by. She doesn't have to tell them twice. The hungry animals dive in for their late lunch.
'I should've fed them earlier. Would've stopped Rico from tryin ta gnaw those fish decorations from the last store'
Sitting down afar from the others (not far away, just two seats spaces away. Just to give them personal eating space), Bridget then grabs her veggie taco to munch on.
Nibbling his taco, the penguin leader sighs. "Alright, so we can't find silver. Just means we can go to the matinee showing tomorrow instead."
"Silver is gone missin around two boroughs of New York, and it's the movie you're focused on?" The ginger stops mid-bite to ask with a look.
"It's not just a movie, Freckles, it's Commodore Danger."
"I don't even know the series—" She rolls her eyes and tries to get them back on topic. "But regardless, is it not strange that in a matter of weeks that not only yours but everywhere in New York is out of one specific metal?"
"How can you—" He starts before rubbing his flippers down his face. "Yes, it's suspicious."
"But suspicious of what? Who could possibly know of our condition enough at this point and also be aware that we need silver?" Kowalski sighs.
"Could it be the same person who keeps stealing our silver? Maybe they stole their silver too." Private suggests.
Bridget thinks on this for a moment, pondering on certain factors Kowalski brought on the tables, as well as Private's.
'… Someone that knows the penguins, their condition, and wantin ta mess them up… It couldn't be… well…'
"… Could it be that Blowjob guy?"
The penguins make eye contact for a moment.
"He would fit the situation rather well..." Kowalski frowns.
"Of course!" Skipper hops to his feet. "He's stealing our silver so that we can't go to the movie premiere just to tick me off."
Marlene face-palms behind him.
"… Sure." Bridget nods with a squint, letting him believe what he thinks.
As much as she wishes to argue, she's starting to feel drained from all the traveling around, even with food storing her energy. It's not worth the headache. Not worth the argument. And as she glances at her watch, they're running out of time.
Finishing her food, she clears her throat. "We should get goin."
"Last ditch suggestion, we could check a grocery store," Kowalski sighs. "Don't they usually have a cheap accessory aisle? "
"… Is there a Wally World nearby?"
The penguin fiddles on his phone and then nods. "Yes, two blocks on the left."
She nods at him, and gestures to her bag. "That'll work."
The animals then hop back into her bag. Bridget throws away their trash and stacks the trays among others.
"There may not be a movie tonight, but we can certainly get some silver." She nods at them before rolling off to Wally World.
"Maybe a little grocery shopping too." Private nods.
"Oh right. We'll do that as well."
0000000
"Okay, I suggest everyone partner up. This is bigger than the corner stores, we don't want to lose anyone." Skipper says before they enter Wally World.
Everyone nods, subconsciously choosing an individual to look out for specifically.
Bridget grabs a shopping basket and cautiously searches around the store. "Einstein, do ya have a grocery list?"
Kowalski flips through his notes and nods. "Yes, right here."
Her hand reaches back— No. Her hand curls and backs away from the bag. She then clears her throat politely. "Can ya uh, pass it to me please?"
"Of course." He holds it out for her.
Bridget nods, smiling slightly at her correction. Taking out her glasses from her pockets, she reads the list.
"… Do ya fellas really need 3 cartons of blueberry swirl ice cream?"
Skipper gives Kowalski a look. "Not usually."
She glances at the list more, shaking her head a little.
'Most of this is junk food, the only nutritional thing I see on this list are the fish and scallops'
"Wait, did I remember milk and eggs on the list?" Kowalski peeks over her shoulder.
'Okay so four nutritional things'
"No, but I'll remember it."
"Sorry, I meant to add that this morning after the waffles." He sighs.
"You're good."
Taking a mental note, she starts rolling through the store's aisles. As the six of them roll down the first aisle, Bridget collects some of the first few requested items. She would read the nutrition facts before making a judgment call about how many the boys really needed.
While she does this, the others start sneakily adding in random treats that weren't on the list, without her noticing for a while. Finally deciding on getting the black beans, Bridget places two cans of it in the basket…only to see the things already collected.
"What the hell!" Her eyes widened. "Where did all of this come from?!"
"Shelves?" Skipper shrugs.
The caretaker deadpans at him, rolling her eyes as she checks through the basket. "Who grabbed the cotton candy packs?"
"I did." Marlene raises a paw.
"… Keep two, put the rest back," She instructs gently and then glances at the other things.
The otter sighs but nods and scatters off to put the rest back.
"Whoever put in button candy, know that's the only sweets you're gettin, and—" She stops at the Lunacorn CD, her eyes slightly averting at Private.
As Rico groans, Private bats his eyes with an innocent look.
"...Fine, it stays."
Skipper gives her a look. "Since when did you become our mother?"
Bridget stops. There's something about that tone that made her question herself for a moment, hesitating to slightly answer even though… It wasn't a hard question.
The ginger felt memories replace her thoughts… happier memories that only feel bitter.
"I… I'm the one buyin here. Kowalski's gonna get the silver, I'll buy the food. And as your zookeeper, I need ta make sure you're… well cared for… " Her black eyes then glanced away, biting her lip.
Skipper eyes her and then nods. "Fair enough."
Slightly nodding, she clears her throat a bit, and rolls on.
Kowalski clears his throat. "I don't mind covering the extra items, you know."
"… Ya worry about the silver, k?"
The penguin nods and watches the aisle signs.
Along the way, Bridget stops by some cake mixes. "Hey kiddo, pick out what cake flavor ya wanna bake first." She addresses Private.
He climbs up onto her shoulder for a better vantage point. "Maybe the one with the sprinkles there?" He points past her.
"The funfetti cake?" She grabs the one he pointed at.
"Mmhmm! It looks fun and tasty!"
"Funfetti it is." She nods and adds it to the basket.
Private smiles and hops back into the pack.
Bridget looks back while he does so and— Wait.
"… Where's Kowalski?"
"Huh?" Skipper looks around. "Smoked salmon. He must have wandered off again."
Bridget rolls around the area she stands, peering around for the kumquat-shaped penguin.
"Probably went silver hunting. He tends to wander after what he's thinking about."
"… K, ya guys continue gettin food, I'll go get him," She places down the basket and bag so they can easily jump out.
"Eggs, milk, and some ice cream. I'll catch up with ya on the fish." She hands the list to Private.
"Okay!" He nods, getting the list, as Rico carries the basket along with Skipper and Marlene's help.
"Jeez this is heavy."
"Eh, I carried heavier."
Bridget puts her bag back on, and rolls off to find her Padre.
Meanwhile, Kowalski has found himself in the accessories aisle. He finds that their luck has changed, as finally, there's some wearable silver, some perfect for penguin size…He'll just need a small ladder to grab them. Or maybe he can climb up the prongs other jewelry is hanging on?
He grins to himself and decides to give that a try.
Try is the keyword.
"Padre?"
Kowalski looks over from where he's clinging to the display. "Oh hello there, Bridget."
Bridget gives him a look. "Ya left us."
'Hangin—no, too soon'
He blinks at her. "I went to find silver?"
"But ya didn't tell us that?"
The penguin looks thoughtful, now holding on with just one flipper as he rubs under his beak. "I didn't even think about that part." His flipper then slips from the display.
Bridget is quick to catch him. "Careful. Ya need a lift?"
"Oh please." He nods and points upwards. "And I did find silver."
"I know," She sighs with a little tired smile, and lifts him up to where the silver is.
Kowalski picks the little bracelets from the rack with a nod.
"Good thinkin on the cheap silverware. If it is Blowjob then he wouldn't have thought of robbin the jewelry here." The ginger nods at him.
Kowalski smiles at the praise. "I doubt he does his own grocery shopping anyway."
"Very doubtful. With how rich he seems," Bridget chuckles a little, shaking her head.
"K, let's rejoin the oth—" But before they could continue on, a familiar obnoxious voice interrupts her.
"Ah-Ha! Look Maurice! The smart one has found all the shiny!"
Kowalski whirls around. "JULIEN—?!"
Indeed, three tired lemurs stand beside them, Maurice squatting on his knees to rest as Mort has his face on the ground. So really the only one standing is Julien. 'How?' will never be explained.
"Hey!" He then jumps high to snatch the silver bracelets from the lanky penguin. "You don't mind if I wear this really quick, right?"
"Actually I do mind, very much! Give it back!" Kowalski jumps from Bridget after Julien.
The lemur laughs, dodging the lieutenants' attempts to take back their findings. "Oh, are we playing chase now?" He runs around him before a giant leg gets in his way.
"Hey, dipshit. Quit it, won'tcha?"
Julien gasps, glaring angrily at her. "Oh, you're one to talk!"
He points at Bridget. "You just show up out of nowhere, and suddenly a zookeeper lady replaces me!"
"What in Da Vinci's name are you talking about replacing you?" Kowalski squints at him as he snatches the silver back.
Maurice then walks over. "Julien thinks because he wasn't invited on your 'silver hunt' that you've all replaced him with Miss…" He glances up at her.
"… Bridget."
"Miss Bridget."
Julien crosses his arms. "And I thought what we had was special. But FINE, I get it, I guess our friendship wasn't real. It's not like I care!"
The next following moment involves Julien then dramatically ugly sobbing as his face is turned from the others.
Bridget, despite frustration, uncomfortably rubs the back of her neck, glancing away. She couldn't tell how she should be exactly feeling.
Kowalski gives the lemurs a look. "We rarely ever invite you on our missions, usually said missions have been retrieving you from the disaster you have caused or you decided on your own to follow us, like you have this evening."
He crosses his flippers. "I'm mentoring Bridget, so she's hanging with us more because of that. It has little to do with Skipper and more to do with problems I myself have caused."
"So… I'm not replaced?" Julien turns back towards him, peeking through his fingers.
"No. Not unless at some point in your life you thought I adopted you." He rolls his eyes.
The ringtail then beams, as if none of his worries or sadness happened. "HA! You see Maurice! We are still close neighbors!" He grins, placing an arm on his head.
The aye-aye just sighs, shaking his head.
"… Do I cause ya problems?" Bridget gazes down at him.
"Huh?" Kowalski looks up at her. "No no no. Never. I am the frequent cause of problems."
"What? Ya haven't caused any—" Sudden loud screams echo through the store in a panic, causing the ginger to twist her head in that direction. As if things couldn't get any worse.
"... We probably need to check on that."
Hesitantly, Bridget glances down at Kowalski before nodding. "You take lead."
Kowalski quickly waddles ahead of her, carefully not too fast so she couldn't keep up. He rounds the corner of the nearest aisle and stops in his tracks. "Newton's knickers!"
Just before them is a swarm of sewer rats, collecting loads of food sources off the shelves and fridges into a giant trash bag.
The vermin menacingly terrorize nearby humans who attempt to shoo them away. Once the humans were scared off, the rats rottenly snicker in victory and return to their thieving.
Bridget in horror and disgust furrows her brows at the sight. "What the hell?!"
Kowalski motions for her to follow him down a nearby aisle. "We have to get back to the others. Skipper needs to know that the rats are here."
Hesitation comes back to her pacing, glancing between the penguin and the horde of rodents that keep chasing off humans to fill up their bag of goods.
This wasn't exactly a good time to pause and question whether or not she'd call herself 'heroic', but despite all her courageous moments, despite her helping the penguins out, the truth still stands true.
Bridget is not a hero.
"I uh…"
"… Just stay right here or somewhere out of sight. Where the rats are, their king isn't far." Kowalski nods before sliding away.
The caretaker, biting her lip, awkwardly watches him go, as she continues to hide behind the aisle.
It's probably best to stay out of this, huh? This wasn't her battle or enemies, judging by Kowalski's behavior towards the intruders.
Her boys are capable of themselves if this isn't their first rodeo with them. Way more capable than her.
They'll handle the rats and she'll be out of the sun.
"Eh, why did you not go with him? Did he not say 'we'?" Julien's voice pops up behind her. "I'm pretty sure 'we' is like, a two person thing."
Her shoulders flinch a bit. "He thought I was comin, but it's… best I'm not there."
"But wouldn't it be better if you fought with them? A human can be pretty handy to have in a fight." Maurice adds in.
Bridget bites her lips harder. "Not really. I'm a big walkin target. I wouldn't be able ta get a kick in before I'm swarmed. I don't do fightin or danger." She crosses her arms.
"Fighting or danger? Silly zookeeper lady, that's what the penguins are." The king then jumps on her shoulders, much to her dislike and grunt to him.
"Hey—"
"Tell me, zookeeper lady, if you can handle the penguins and their wackiness, then who doesn't say you can't handle some sneaky rodents?"
"…They are… chaotic."
"Chaotic? That doesn't even begin to describe those penguins. They're psychotic!" The aye-aye proclaims.
"But… they try to do what's right… in their own crazy way."
"… And why are ya encouragin me?"
"As my new subject— Who is not replacing me—" He then pats her head to her dismay. "It is my kingly duty to ensure my people are not discouraged by small obstacles. Tell me, are you a zookeeper or not?"
Bridget pauses, thinking for a moment. She can feel the uncertainty weighing her down. For all she knew, she could end up getting in the way, or cause more problems if she ends up getting captured…
But.
'… He has a point. I… I can still help somehow. I'm their caretaker. It's my job ta protect them. I've handled a dog and two grown men. A couple of rats shouldn't be too much of an issue. So their battles are mine… even if I don't like it'
Slowly, a determined look across her face broadens, her fist clenching as she glances up.
"… I am." She sternly nods, a feeling growing in her chest.
Julien grins at this turnaround attitude. "Good! Now my new subject—"
"Don't call me that."
"Zookeeper lady. What are you going to do?"
Biting her lip, she studied the rats from afar in ponder. "… I got an idea. But first—" She glances at the lemurs.
"I need distractions."