Chapter 5: Never Better
“Sir?” Private looks at Skipper as he waddles behind him. “Why are we going to Tennessee? Is Kowalski needing to borrow one of the top-secret thingies from a military base there again?”
“What?” Skipper glances weirdly over his shoulder at him and shakes his head. “No, Manfredi hid something there and we are going to go retrieve and analyze it.”
“Oh.” The private nods.
Skipper nods and grabs a few things and tosses them to Rico. “Kowalski, ready the hologram. I doubt we’re going to be back anytime soon.”
“But we are only retrieving the thing, aren’t we?” Private asks.
“There is no telling what we’ll do after that, all things considering…” Kowalski says and clears his throat.
“All things considering what?” He asks.
Kowalski pats him on the head. “We’ll explain when you’re older. You’re much too young to hear about that mission besides that it happened.”
“What mission?”
“Guatemala…” Skipper sighs. “And we all would have loved to have forgotten that mission.”
“Except a certain Skipper who started re-reading the file.” Kowalski mutters under his breath to Private.
Skipper gives him an unamused look and then looks away for a moment and clears his throat. “I can’t help that certain parts of the mission were worth reliving…”
Rico mutters something unintelligible to Kowalski and then snickers.
Kowalski struggles to restrain himself and nods. “Quite possibly, Rico, quite possibly.”
“What?” Private asks.
“N-nothing, Private.” The scientist giggles.
Skipper rolls his eyes. “Are you guys going to continue gossiping like a bunch of capricious nancy cats or can we move on?” He snorts.
Kowalski and Rico nod, but still stifle giggles.
“We’ll take the subway to the airport and then stow ourselves on a nonstop to Tennessee. Once there we will reassess our travel possibilities.” He says. “Now, move out.”
The four penguins slide off to the metro where they slide down the escalator rails down to the bottom. For a moment they hide themselves behind potted plants until a lady in a long dress walks by. Skipper motions and all four slide under her dress. He keeps his flippers over Private’s young, curious eyes as he has Kowalski keep watch on their position in comparison to the metro. They are in luck that their long-dressed compadre just happens to be boarding the metro that they need on. The four then roll under the seats and lay there on their bellies among the discarded bubble gum and feet of the crowded metro car.
While they sit there, Skipper contemplates the file. He thinks back on the mission itself, the traumatizing thrills, the heartbreaking romance, the fighting...He frowns. The fighting, there shouldn’t have ever been any fighting. He had set the rules and the only one above his rules would have been himself.
Skipper shakes his head as his thoughts drift from the Guatemala mission to what Marlene would say to him being above his own rules. No matter how hard he shook his head, she continued her tirade. He should have followed his own rules. He should have set a better example. She wasn't worth what she nearly led them to. She was trouble beginning to end. He shakes his head harder.
“Skipper?” Kowalski looks at him softly. “Are you okay?”
“Never better.” He says and stops shaking his head. ‘Yes, I get it, Marlene, drop it already!’ He thinks irritatedly. ‘If you weren’t dead, if you had left the bunnies to us, maybe I’d listen. But I don’t listen to figments of my imagination. Been there, done that.’ He mentally scoffs.
“Skipper, it’s our stop.” His lieutenant interrupts.
“Right then. Men, roll out.” He orders and the four roll themselves out of the subway car. “Kowalski, Rico, scout out a map so we can figure out where we are.”
“Aye aye, Skipper.” Kowalski nods and he and Rico separate, leaving Skipper and Private standing behind a trashcan.
Private looks at Skipper thoughtfully. “What happened in Guatemala, Skipper?”
Skipper tenses up and glances at the young private. “Too much to explain, Private...But in all unclassified simplicity, there was a mission. The five of us became sidetracked. There was a brawl that no one won. Then we came to our senses and came home, leaving the mission incomplete.” He looks off into the distance. “It was a dark time for teamwork.” He sighs.
“Incomplete?”
“Yes, but it was better leaving it unfinished than the team breaking apart and going our separate ways.” He nods with a frown.
“Are we going to finish it now?” He asks with a smile.
Skipper glances over at him tiredly and pats him on the head. “We’ll see, young Private. That will depend on many things….Many classified things.”
“Oh…” He looks at Skipper again. “If we do try to complete it, do I get to know what happened then?”
The skipper looks at him with a small, amused smile. “Ah, young sweet, naive Private, if we all had this demanding curiosity of yours, we'd be dead.” He shakes his head with a chuckle. “Some things are better that you just never know, Private.”
“Fiddlesticks.” Private murmurs and crosses his flippers, disappointed.
Skipper just chuckles a little to himself and watches as Kowalski and Rico side back to them. He had to admit, he had missed this. The thrill, the focus, the teamwork. Just the four of them, like it had been before Marlene...But still it just didn't feel the same, more bittersweet.
“Sir, we should be able to slide to the plane without issue.” Kowalski says, taking out his clipboard and showing him the brochure map he has borrowed.
“Great.” Skipper nods. “We’ll hide out in the cargo hold.”
“But what about the pets aboard, sir?”
Skipper looks at Private. “You're the one always going on about friendship and diplomacy, you figure them out once we’re aboard.”
Private swallows nervously and Kowalski pats his shoulder. “Plus they’ll be in cages anyway, no worries.” He whispers.
“Oh...Right.” He smiles a little relieved.
Skipper has already started sliding and stops to see his team not following. “Come on you lollygaggers! Planes run on schedules!”
