The penguins sneaked on the subway heading for Queens Zoo. The time was 7pm. They hid underneath a newspaper, hoping that no one would pick it up. It was very stuffed under the newspaper, and Emma was getting annoyed because Tom's foot was on her head. She was pretty pleased that she was tiếp theo to Kowalski though. They caught each other's eyes and smiled. Chris and Sam started arguing, their quiet voices slowly getting louder. Skipper rolled his eyes, and slapped them both.
"Pack it in bạn two, someone might hear us!" Skipper told them sternly. The bickering siblings shut up, and gave eachother dark looks.
I can't believe they still argue like little kids, they're adults now. Emma thought, shaking her head. Private lifted up a corner of the newspaper cautiously, and saw that no one was around except for one human on the ghế, chỗ ngồi opposite them. The human suddenly got up, and made his way over to the newspaper.
"A human's coming over!" Private whispered, his voice urgent. Rico slipped out of the newspaper, and slapped the guy on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. Sam's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Emma tried not to giggle at this, as she watched Rico điểm thưởng the guy back onto his seat, and putting a newspaper from another ghế, chỗ ngồi into his hands, making it seem like he fell asleep. Rico then sneaked back under the newspaper chuckling to himself. Skipper looked pleased, and they kept as still as possible. Luckily no other humans came on, and the 8 penguins slipped off silently. They made their way out of the subway station, and tried to figure out where the were.
"Okay, according to my calculations, Queens Zoo should be just around the corner." Kowalski told the team, whilst looking at his clipboard carefully. Skipper slid up to the đường phố, street corner, and gestured for the others to follow. They slid over to Skipper who peered around the corner. He nodded to the team, and all of them, turned the corner, and slid up the street, towards the zoo. Emma looked up at the zoo. It seemed pretty normal. But then again, so did the Hoboken Zoo, and that turned out to be a place of horror. Her gut kept protesting, which was really starting to annoy her. She had also noticed a voice at the back of her head telling her what her gut kept telling her. She rolled her eyes, and sneaked into the zoo with the others. It looked very different compared to the Central Park zoo. The bricks were white and black, the floor a white pebble like surface. The habitat's were big and spaced out, and some of them had cages surrounding them. Chris spotted a zoo map and he pointed it out to the others. They gathered around, and scanned for a reptile house, hoặc a snake habitat.
"There's the snake habitat!" Tom exclaimed pointing to the hàng đầu, đầu trang left corner of the map. Emma's eyes fell on it, and she looked at the 'You Are Here' spot.
"It's just north of here." She realised. The penguins quickly slid towards the snake habitat. (Though the pebble like surface was a bit rough on their feathers) They reached a large enclosure filled with massive trees, and leafy ferns. The team entered cautiously. Emma couldn't help but think that the trees reminded her of her nightmare. Her gut was still protesting, telling her that it was 'mere coincidence.' She ignored this feeling and walked on through the habitat, coming to a the centre. Savio was sleeping, making a strange snore that sounded like a hiss. Emma signalled the others, and hid behind a bush.
"Emma, I want bạn to stay here with Kowalski, Rico, and Chris. Keep an eye on Savio, and the rest of bạn come with me to find Ashley." Skipper ordered quietly. Then him, Private, Sam, and Tom went to look for Ashley, disappearing into the trees.
Emma felt a bit frightened, something that Kowalski noticed instantly.
"Em, it's going to be ok, we'll get him back in no time." Kowalski whispered to her reassuringly, squeezing her flipper. Emma smiled at him, and looked phía trước, chuyển tiếp again. Savio's eyes had opened, and he looked around suspiciously. Chris's eyes widened as he realised how long Savio was. Rico looked ready to fight, and he was about to step out when Chris stopped him.
"It might be best if we wait until Skipper gets back. If they have Ashley then we can leave quietly, if they don't then we'll câu hỏi him." Chris told him, lowering his voice. Emma looked at her older brother, a surprised look on her face.
"Pretty impressive thinking bro." She whispered.
"Thanks." He replied, his eyes on Savio. Emma's tim, trái tim skipped a beat when Savio's eyes fell on the bush. The 4 penguins held their breath as he slithered a little closer. His eyes were narrowed, as he scanned the bụi cây, cây bụi, tổng thống bush carefully. After a tim, trái tim stopping 10 giây he turned away and slithered back to where he was sleeping. Emma sighed with relief, and glanced at the team. Rico's and Chris's eyes weren't leaving Savio, and Kowalski's were focused on the bushes behind him. Emma followed his gaze, and saw the bụi cây, cây bụi, tổng thống bush rustle a bit. As it did, she noticed a flash of back and white. Skipper poked his head out cautiously. Savio had just closed his eyes again, so Emma showed herself to Skipper. She signalled him, asking if they found Ashley. Emma's face fell when Skipper shook his head gravely. She then gestured for them to come over to the bụi cây, cây bụi, tổng thống bush where she was. He slid over, making less sound than a mouse.
"Did bạn find anything at all?" Emma asked, looking disappointed.
"Negative, the whole place is clean, there's no evidence that Ashley is here hoặc has ever been here." Skipper replied sadly. Private and Tom looked really upset, and Sam seemed worried.
"What should we do?" Sam asked, watching Savio nervously.
"Estionhim?" (Question him?) Rico suggested. Skipper nodded in approval, and Rico hacked up some weapons and some runny bơ in a tin. Tom looked at the bơ curiously.
"Last time Savio attacked, he was defeated bởi butter, because it makes him body too slippery." Kowalski told him. Tom's face cleared and he nodded. Skipper and Private tipped the bơ out and it filled the clearing, and surrounded Savio. Everyone then grabbed a weapon, and surrounded him, staying outside of the bơ circle. Rico threw a rock at him, and he woke up suddenly. He looked around at the penguins and he laughed.
"Well well well, how cute, my little enemies have come to me." He taunted, slithering towards them, only to slip on the butter. His face darkened, as he looked at the bơ circle. "Why have bạn come into my habitat, and why are bạn at my new zoo?" He asked, looking annoyed.
"We'll be asking the các câu hỏi Savio, now where is our friend?" Skipper replied, a hard look filling his eyes. Savio looked confused and he stared at the bơ circle.
"Who?" He asked, looking genuinely surprised. Emma noticed this, and her gut tried to speak up again.
I tried to tell bạn it wasn't him, but bạn wouldn't listen.
"Oh don't play dumb with me Savio, we know it was you!" Skipper shot back, anger filling his voice.
"I have no idea what bạn are talking about." Savio replied. Skipper was about to reply to that, but Emma stopped him.
"Skips, I... I don't think it was him." She piped up, watching the snake.
"You were the one who thought it would be him in the first place." Skipper argued.
"I know, but ever since I suggested this, my gut has been telling me otherwise." She admitted looking at the floor.
"Well why didn't bạn say something?" Skipper asked, looking extremely irritated.
"Because I didn't believe it and the other villains with red eyes wouldn't have been able to pull this off." Emma replied, slowly. She then looked up at Savio, and she put a flipper to her face. "Oh that's right, he has yellow eyes." She realised. "Hehe.." She added sheepishly. Skipper sighed in exasperation, and turned to Kowalski.
"Hit him with the memory wiping ray." He ordered. Kowalski nodded and pulled out a ray, and shot it at Savio. Savio looked very confused, and Rico put down a smoke bomb The penguins then disappeared.
Meanwhile....
Ashley sighed with relief when the figure finally went away for the night. He looked down at himself, and his stomach churned horribly. He was covered in cuts, and red patches, staining his feathers. The pain was one of the worst thing he had ever felt. He closed his eyes, and cried silently. He missed his friends, his new home, his family, and his old home. He had never been so scared and homesick in his whole life. He opened his eyes, and looked into the darkness.
Somewhere out there, my Những người bạn are trying to find me, and they will, I just know it. He told himself, trying to feel reassured. A thought crossed his mind. I hope no other poor people are being hurt in here. He'd rather have this happen to him, than to another innocent person. I have to stay strong. He thought. I won't let this evil guy break me.
Skipper looked up at the time, which was now 11pm. He then turned to the worried team.
"I think we'll have to get some rest now." He told them, a troubled look on his face.
"But what about Ash?" Emma asked desperately.
"Sis if we don't get any sleep we won't be focused, and we won't be able to work as well, do bạn think that will help find him?" Skipper replied, looking at his sister questioningly.
"No." She sighed sadly. She headed to her bunk and flopped down on it. Chris and Sam walked up to her.
"Emz, we don't want to, but we have to leave tomorrow." Sam said, a little sheepishly.
"Why?" Emma asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Because our zookeeper is coming back from his holiday, and he's really strict." Chris told her sadly. Emma's stared at the floor, and made a quiet unhappy sound.
"Sorry Emz." Sam apologized hugging Emma.
"It's ok it's not your fault." Emma replied trying to hide her disappointment. Chris hugged her too, and smiled sadly at her.
"Do bạn want to sleep in the lab again tonight?" Sam asked, her eyes falling on the silver door.
"Yeah, ok." Emma replied quietly. Sam went ahead into the lab, and the others went to bed. All of them except Kowalski. He went up to Emma and hugged her comfortingly. Emma returned the hug, feeling instantly warmer, and calmer. Kowalski stroked her hair feathers softly, and ran his flippers down her neck, making a happy shiver course through her body. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. He lift her head up gently, and looked into her eyes.
"We will find him Em." He told her, his flipper caressing her cheek.
"But what if we don't.." She began. Kowalski put his flipper over her beak softly, making her blush.
"We wil find him." Kowalski repeated, closing the distance between them, and kissing Emma on the beak. She went redder, and she kissed back, running her flippers down his neck to his waist. About 10 giây later they pulled away, and Emma hugged him gratefully, and smiled up at him. He smiled back, pushing a bit of Emma's hair behind her earhole. "Goodnight Em." He whispered, giving her a little Kiss on the beak.
"Goodnight Kowalski." She whispered back, before heading to the lab. She looked back at him, catching his eyes, and smiling. He smiled back and hopped into his bunk. Emma opened the lab door, and slipped in. Sam was already in her sleeping bag, and looking up at her.
"Hey Emz." She greeted, trying to look cheerful.
"Hey Sam." Emma replied, giving her a small smile. She crawled into her sleeping bag and snuggled down.
"Do bạn want to talk tonight, hoặc go to sleep straight the way?" Sam asked.
"I think I just want to go sleep Sam, part of me wants to talk, but after everything that's happened I just need time to think." Emma answered apologetically. She turned the light off in the lab, and closed her eyes. She had made sure that they had put down tons of traps and security measures, so she wasn't too scared, though she was a little frightened that someone might be able to get through them. Her mind drifted to Kowalski, and she smiled and thought about what had just happened. He always seemed to know exactly how to make her feel better, even in an extremely sad time like this. Emma felt so lucky to have him, he just seemed perfect. She felt herself getting drowsier and she started to drift off to sleep. But what she didn't know was that she was about to have one of the worst nightmares ever...
The room was almost pitch black, Emma could only make out a darker figure in the corner of her eye. She turned around,and tired to walk to it. He got stopped abruptly, and she realised that she had chains on her arms and legs. Her stomach flipped over in her stomach, making her feel scared and queasy. Someone flicked a light switch, and Emma saw Ashley strapped to a table, his feathers stained grey and red. He had massive cuts and scratches all over him, including a nasty looking one on his eye. Emma struggled with her chains and used all of her strength to try and break them. When she had no success, she tried to call to him. Panic filled her when she realised that she couldn't speak. She had no gag hoặc tape on, but no noise was coming out of her beak. Emma saw a red glow in the remaining shadows, and she heard someone sharpening a knife. She felt sick, when she saw the shiny metal cut through Ashley's left flipper, making him screech with pain. He turned to Emma, tears in his eyes.
"Emma, help me!" He pleaded, his voice full of pain, despair, and fear. Emma tried to answer back but she couldn't. She started crying as the dao, con dao cut across his stomach, making a shallow wound. Ashley screamed, and moaned, tears rolling down his face. Emma struggled with the chains desperately, wishing that this would all end. She sat there helpless, for what felt like hours, watching the little chim cánh cụt being tortured. She knew it was a dream, but this could very well be what was happening to him now. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that didn't stop the screams. She finally woke up, her head pounding painfully. Her tim, trái tim was beating abnormally fast, and she had been sweating. After a few phút her tim, trái tim calmed down, and she glanced around the lab. She realised that it was only 7am. Even though she wanted to get up now, she knew that it would do no good. Her eyes fell on her sleeping sister who was snoring contently, and curling in her sleeping bag. Emma watched her for a few phút before closing her eyes again, feeling fearful. She didn't want to have nightmares, and she hated her brain for giving her them whenever something was wrong. She eventually fell back asleep, a single tear falling from her eye as she did.
Ashley opened his eyes, on what he thought might be the tiếp theo day. He tried to look for the villainous scum, (or big meanie as Ashley called him) who tortured him yesterday. The room was a bit lighter today, and realised he was in a massive room, the walls covered with millions of weapons ranging from big to small. There were poison vials, machine guns, grenades, and even an old fashioned súng thần công, pháo in one corner. Ashley gulped, and his breathing quickened. The lights suddenly went out and his stomach lurched as he heard a horribly evil laugh coming from somewhere in front of him. The laugh echoed off the walls, making it hard to figure out where it was coming from now. But he heard the laugh getting louder, and closer. His eyes were wide with fear, as he stared into the darkness that consumed the room.
"Hello again Ashley." A familiar voice greeted voice greeted. "Are bạn enjoying your stay?" It added, mockingly. Ashley didn't answer, and his eyes became thêm accustomed to the dark. He could just make out the figure of the person who tortured him yesterday. He closed his eyes, and his tim, trái tim pounded fearfully. "Aren't bạn going to answer me?" The figure asked, his voice growing angry. Ashley still didn't answer, and the figure became thêm and thêm angry. "Well if you're going to be like this......" It began taking out what looked like a small piece of metal attached to a wooden handle.
"W.. what's that?" Ashley piped up, his voice barely audible.
"You'll see soon enough." The figure replied, holing the wooden handle, and pressing the metal against Ashley's feathers. He yelped in pain, and began to wriggle and squirm. "This metal is coated in burning hot acid." He told the young chim cánh cụt proudly. He pushed it even harder against Ashley's feathers making him screech. He kept this up for about 10 phút then left. Ashley teared up, and began to sniffle. Why did he have to be taken? Why did this villain have to kidnap anyone? Why does he have to be evil? Ashley asked himself these các câu hỏi over and over again, trying to keep his mind off the pain. He noticed that the figure had left the metal stick behind. Ashley tried to grab it but his flippers were too far away. He stretched his feet and tried to reach it with his toes. Finally his little feet grasped around the wooden handle, and he flung it backwards, making it land in his flipper. He looked at it wondering what to do. A thought struck him, and he began to sharpen the end with the edge of the bàn he was on. It was hard work but he knew that he had to do it. After about half an hour, the end was sharp and pointy. He then looked at the metal rings that were strapping his flippers and legs to the table. He put the pointy bit in the screws that were holding the rings around his flippers on and twisted, trying to make the screw loose. It eventually fell to the floor, and he sat up, un-screwing the metal rings around his feet. They fell off and he sneaked over to the door. The door was open just a crack, and he saw the villain looking at a colossal screen, with video clips of the chim cánh cụt HQ on. Ashley guessed that theses were the video camera's that he was talking about, His eyes fell on one camera, which showed Emma and Kowalski. Kowalski was hugging Emma comforting, and Emma looked close to tears. He watched them, losing concentration on what he was doing. Suddenly, the villain turned around and his face darkened. Ashley looked up at him, a frightened feeling in his stomach, and rushed down a corridor, hoping to find an exit. He saw a door which was hanging open. He ran as fast as he could over to it feeling excited, he saw daylight for the fist time in a few days, and he smiled. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back, his vision became blurry and he slowed down. He tried to keep running but he couldn't move. The little chim cánh cụt flopped to the floor his eyes barely open. The daylight seemed to be fading away, as his eyelids drooped. He reached out a flipper, trying to crawl to the door.
"No...." He whispered, feeling all of his energy disappear. Then everything went black.
Meanwhile, at the Central Park Zoo, Emma sat in the lab with Kowalski, curled up in his flippers. Sam and Chris had gone back home, and she was feeling pretty depressed. Which wasn't normal for her, she was always cheerful, and able to look on the bright side. But she saw no bright side to this. Their only lead had been proven innocent, and her nightmare didn't give them any details on the culprit. She sighed, and leaned her head on Kowalski's shoulder, closing her eyes. Suddenly she heard a little buzzing sound coming from Ashley's rucksack. She opened it curiously, and saw his phone vibrating. She took a look at the caller ID, which đã đưa ý kiến mum. She bit her beak, and looked at Kowalski.
"I think you'll have to answer that Em." He told her gravely. Emma nodded and pressed the receive button.
"Hello?" She đã đưa ý kiến into the phone.
"Who is this?" A woman with an intense Scottish accent asked.
"I'm Emma, I'm one of Ashley's new Những người bạn at the Central Park Zoo." Emma replied.
"Well, I'm his mum, and I'm wondering why he hasn't called us in a few days. Can bạn put him on the phone please?" She asked. Emma tried to think of what to say.
"Well Ashley had a little accident, and he's in the zoo hospital right now." Emma lied, trying to sound convincing.
"Bloody hell, what happened?!" His mum asked, panic filling her voice.
"He fell into the water, and bumped his head as he did." Emma told her. "He's ok but we're not sure when he's going to be out yet, it could be in a few days hoặc a few weeks." She added.
"Well, can bạn give him my love, and tell him to call when he gets out?" His mum asked, sounding a bit less worried.
"Ok, I'll tell him." Emma reassured her.
"Thank bạn lass." His mum said, before hanging up. Emma put the phone back in the bag, and looked up at astonished Kowalski.
"Did... did bạn just tell a massive lie to someone Ashley knows?" Kowalski asked disbelievingly.
"Well I couldn't just say, 'Oh xin chào your son's been captured bởi a crazy villain and is probably being put through unimaginable pain and torture.' can we?" Emma snapped. She gasped and covered her beak with her flipper instantly. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry Kowalski I didn't mean to.." Emma began before Kowalski stopped her.
"Hey it's not your fault Em." Kowalski told her gently. "You're just a bit stressed, which is normal." He added, hugging her tightly. She hugged him back, even tighter. That was the first time she had ever snapped at Kowalski, and she didn't like it one bit. She closed her eyes and relaxed in his flippers, letting her problems slip away for a moment. Sometimes she wished that she was completely carefree, but she knew that that could never happen. She pulled away from the hug a few phút later, and managed a small smile. Kowalski smiled at her sadly, and they made their way back to the main room. Emma had a bad feeling that they weren't going to find Ashley. That feeling scared her. Would they ever see him again?
A few weeks passed by, and still no clues to where Ashley was. Emma was desperate to find him, but she was beginning to lose hope. There was nothing that could help find him, they didn't know where most of their villains were and they had no idea which one of them had took him. She sighed and crawled into her bed. It was now the 20th of August, and the days were a little shorter but it was still light until 8:30pm. It was 12am now, so everyone was heading to bed. Emma pulled the covers over her head, and stared at the wall. She had been having the same nightmare for a while now, even though she had a dream catcher. She guessed it was because her brain was trying to tell her about Ashley. Emma had figured out that with her dream catcher she only got nightmares if what was going on in them was happening, hoặc would happen in real life. So parts of it must be accurate. She sighed sadly and closed her eyes.
She appeared the familiar room, but something was different. The room had thêm light in, and she noticed weapons on the walls. She couldn't see Ashley. And a horrible feeling filled her stomach.
He's probably tied up in the shadows. She tried to reassure herself. She then saw something different in the shadows. There was one glowing red eye. Her tim, trái tim pounded, and she heard a familiar, high pitched evil laugh. She heard a very Ashley like scream from one corner of the room, and she then saw the pair of red eyes that always appeared in the dream. Her eyes fell on the one red eye and her eyes narrowed. Her jaw dropped when she realised who it was. I've gotta wake up now. She told herself, trying to force her eyes open. In the few weeks that she had been having this nightmare, she had developed a new skill. If she really wanted to get out of a nightmare and wake up she could actually make herself wake up. She closed her eyes and tried to force them open. She then felt a strange sensation of being half awake and half asleep. If she looked up, she was in her dream, if she looked down she could just make out her bunk. She kept looking down, and she tried to sit up, but she couldn't move. Emma guessed it was because her muscles were still in dream/sleep mode. She mustered up all the strength she had and moved her head sideways making her dream vanish, as she woke up completely. Her muscles were a bit slow as she woke up, but she was proud of herself. This new skill would be quite useful if she ever had nightmares. She glanced at the time which was now 6am, and she practically jumped out of her bunk, and shook Skipper awake.
"W... what's going on?" He muttered, looking up at Emma.
"I know who has Ashley, for sure this time!" Sh told him, her voice urgent. Skipper's eyes widened, and he woke up fully, and woke the others up. Skipper told them what Emma told them, and they got out of their bunks immediately.
"Owdoyouno?" (How do bạn know?) Rico asked skeptically.
"I don't know I just...." Emma trailed off. She looked around suspiciously. For a while now, she had felt like someone had been watching them, and that feeling had just intensified. Her eyes fell on the Private first prize fish, and she noticed something different about it. There was a tiny camera installed in the eye. She went over to it and pulled it out.
"What the deuce?" Skipper exclaimed, taking the camera from Emma and looking at in in astonishment.
"How many of these are in our HQ?" Kowalski wondered, looking around worriedly. Emma rushed into the lab, and got out the villain detector, a scanner that could find villain technology. She turned it on and began to scan for any thêm cameras. She found two cameras in the lab, and 3 thêm in the main bit of the HQ. She luckily found all of them. She handed them to Kowalski who started to analyse them.
"So sis, bạn were about to say bạn knew who had Ashley?" Skipper said.
"Yeah, it's Blowhole!" She told them.
"What makes bạn think that?" Tom asked.
"Because in my dream, there was only one red eye, like Blowhole only has one red eye. And I heard Blowhole's laugh" She told them. "He might be working with someone though, because there was two other red eyes there too. " She added, practically buzzing with information. She realised that her gut was agreeing with her.
"Are your dreams always right?" Private asked.
"I think they might be." Kowalski answered, holding up the camera. "Look what it says on the back." He told them, pointing to small nghề viết văn with his flipper. Emma took the camera.
"If found please return to Doctor Blowhole at 234 Charnwood Street, New Jersey." Emma read out.
"Well that's easy." Tom said, looking surprised.
"Too easy....... I think it's a trap." Emma said, looking suspicious.
"I bet it is." Skipper agreed.
"But we have to get Ashley, so I think we have to go." Emma admitted. The team nodded and the got ready to go.
Meanwhile...
Ashley had Mất tích all hope. He had no idea how he was still alive, and even thinking hurt him now. He didn't know if the team couldn't find him, hoặc they just didn't care. All he knew was that he was never going to escape, no one was coming to save him. He had Mất tích faith in happy endings and he had Mất tích faith in everything he cared about. There were no thêm Giải cứu thế giới in the world, no one who devoted their lives to protecting their Những người bạn and others, and no one, who would put down everything to find them. He was all alone in this dark world, of villains, pain, and greed. He began to close his eyes, feeling himself starting to slip away. He thought about his parents, and his sister who he never got to meet. He wondered what she was like. Then his eyes closed fully.
The six penguins didn't waste a second, and hopped into the car. With Rico at the wheel they would get there in no time. Rico put his foot down, and the car sped off into the city. Emma looked out of the car and up into the sky. It was early morning and the sun was barely over the horizon. Birds chirped in the distance but the city was strangely quiet. Fluffy white clouds dotted the landscape and Emma tried to make shapes out of them. She saw one that looked like a dragon and pointed it out to Kowalski, who was sitting tiếp theo to her. He smiled warmly, and wrapped a flipper around Emma, making her blush.
"So when we get there, how are we going to save Ashley?" Private asked.
"Kaboom?" Rico suggested hopefully.
"Well stealth is the key." Skipper began. "If we go in there, súng blazing, and kabooming everything, then Blowhole might kill Ashley before we find him." He told them. Rico looked disappointed, and he grumbled something under his breath.
If he isn't already dead. Emma thought sadly. She mentally slapped herself, and told herself off quietly. Hey he's going to be ok. She told herself. We'll find him, then bring him back, and it'll all be ok.
"How are we going to get in?" Tom asked curiously. Kowalski whipped out some blueprints.
"We'll get in through this vent here, and then we can begin searching for him." He explained to the younger penguin. Tom nodded in understanding, and looked ahead.
"How long will it take to get there?" Emma asked, feeling slightly impatient.
"If Rico keeps going at this speed, it should take about 2 hours." Kowalski told her. Emma sighed and plugged her headphones in, and tried to lose herself in the music. The two hours dragged slowly, and they eventually entered New Jersey, and Kowalski pulled out a map.
"So where's Charnwood Street?" Emma asked, taking a closer look at the map, and turning her âm nhạc off.
"About half a mile away." Kowalski replied. He then turned to Rico. "Rico, make a left at the tiếp theo corner." Kowalski told him. Rico nodded and turned the corner. Kowalski gave him thêm instructions on where to go and in about 10 minutes, they reached a massive abandoned factory. It was a grubby dark grey, and felt unfriendly. Rico parked their car in a hidden spot, and hacked up six grappling guns. Skipper fired his at the roof, and the hook shot out of the gun and grasped onto the roof. He began climbing it, and the others did the same with theirs. As they reached the top, Kowalski pointed to the air vent, and they scurried into it.
"So where now?" Private asked, looking into the darkness ahead.
"Well this air vent should give us a good view of some of the key spots of the factory, so just look out for Ashley through the little grates, that are dotted in the vents." Kowalski explained, pointing to one. Emma peered through it and saw what looked like a computer room, Blowhole was sitting in there, a devious smile on his face. Emma took a closer look at one of the screens, and her stomach flipped.
"Guys, there's a camera in this vent, Blowhole knows we're here!" She gulped, her voice becoming urgent. Private and Tom looked scared, and Rico, and Skipper's face's became serious. The penguins slid down the vent as fast as they could, checking through the little grates every now and again. Suddenly, the floor disappeared beneath them, and they tumbled out of the vent. The lights around them switched off, and they heard a high pitched laugh in the distance. They got into fighting stance, and stared into the blackness, hoping to see some movement. They heard the laugh again, this time much closer, and they scooted closer to eachother.
"Show yourself Blowhole!" Skipper yelled angrily. A few of the lights turned on again, and Emma looked up. Blowhole was right in front of them.
"Well well well, peng-uu-ins, nice to see bạn again." Blowhole taunted, hiển thị his sharp teeth. Skipper took no notice of this, and looked up at his foe bravely.
"Where's Ashley?" He demanded, his face dark with anger.
"Ashley's gone." Blowhole told them simply. Emma's stomach churned horribly, and her tim, trái tim pounded at those words.
"What do bạn mean gone?" Kowalski asked, a nasty chill going down his spine. Blowhole just smiled, and the floor fell beneath them again. Blowhole remained at the top, and looked down at them. They were in what looked like an pit, hoặc an arena. It was almost pitch black, and Emma tried to find Kowalski. She grasped his flipper, and huddled closer to him. A massive light flashed on in the middle of the arena like pit and Blowhole watched his little foes. Emma heard what sounded like a growl coming from a shadow, at the far end of the pit. She turned in that direction, and she froze in fear. There was a pair of glowing red eyes in the corner, and they began to di chuyển closer to the light. Emma's breathing sped up, and Kowalski watched her worriedly. "What's up Em?" He asked. She pointed a flipper in the direction of the eyes, unable to speak. The others followed it, and gulped at the eyes.
"W.. what is that?" Tom asked, nervously.
"Peng-uu-ins, meet Nightshadow." Blowhole announced. Nightshadow came out of the shadows and Emma gasped in horror. Nightshadow had glowing red eyes, feathers sticking out all over the place, massive cuts, and wounds all over his blood stained, blackish grey feathers, and cuts all over his face, beak, and eyes. Part of him was so badly wounded that bạn could actually see the bone. Emma looked at his feet and saw claws growing from them and the flippers. She looked over the size and shape of Nightshadow, and a cold shiver ran through her entire body.
"A..... Ash?" Emma managed, her eyes wide with fear. "What did he do to you?" She asked, looking at him in shock. All she got in response was a growl. The penguins instinctively moved backwards, away from what used to be their friend. Skipper looked up at Blowhole, full of rage.
"You know, your friend was hard to break, he was a fighter." Blowhole remarked. "But he broke in the end, they all do." He added proudly.
"Change him back bạn freak!" Emma yelled feeling angry and scared all at the same time.
"Oh he can't be changed back, he'll be like that forever. Anyway, he only responds to my commands now." Blowhole told them smugly. He looked down at the former team member, and smiled evilly. "Nightshadow. Kill." He told him. Nightshadow smiled, blood dripping from his beak, and he began to stroll over to the team calmly. Skipper and Rico stood in front of the others, trying to protect them. They heard something from Blowhole, and they all looked up. "Kill the girl, and the tall one first." He instructed. Nightshadow's cold eyes fell on Emma and Kowalski, and Emma cowered. Her feet anchored to the ground, and she couldn't move. The others formed a vòng tròn around the two penguins, and Kowalski stepped in front of Emma protectively. Nightshadow charged at them, and flung Tom and Private to the other side of the room with ease. Emma's brain came out of panic mode, as she saw her little brother struggle to get up. She tried to run over to him, but Kowalski stopped her.
"Em if bạn go over there, Nightshadow will try to kill bạn and Tom might get hurt in the process." He told her.
"Good point." Emma sighed, turning her attention back to Nightshadow, who was being fended off bởi Skipper and Rico. Skipper now had a big gash down the side of his face, and Rico had just been hit where his scar was, making it reopen. Emma winced at this, and she and Kowalski got into battle stance, incase Nightshadow got through Skipper and Rico. Emma could barely watch, she had to help her brothers, but Kowalski wouldn't let her. Pat of her was angry at him for this, but she knew he only trying to keep her safe. Emma glanced over at Private and Tom to make sure they were ok. They were just getting up, and they were about to go over and help. Emma gestured for them to keep down, she couldn't bare to see them get hurt too. A few giây later she saw Skipper fall to the ground, and Kowalski couldn't stop her this time, and she rushed to his side.
"E... Emma." He managed, looking up at her. Emma looked at his wounds with panic, and her mind went blank with fear. "It.. it's ok sis, they're only minor wounds, I'll be ok." He told her weakly. Emma doubted this, and she examined a large scratch that went across his chest. "If.. if Ashley's still alive, after what's h.. happened to him, then I know I'll be ok.." He told her. Emma knew this was true, but she still didn't want to leave him. But her attention got caught bởi Rico, who had just been flung against the wall. Skipper told her to go to him, before passing out, and Emma nodded, rushing over to Rico. Rico was already unconscious, but he was still breathing. Emma looked at his scar, and saw that it was larger now. Kowalski ran up to her, and lifted her face up from Rico, making her look at him.
"Em, we're the only ones still up." Kowalski told her gravely. Emma looked up and realised that Kowalski was right. Skipper and Rico were unconscious, and she had told Private and Tom to stay down. Nightshadow stared at them, growling as he began to make his way over to them. Kowalski stood in front of Emma protectively.
"Aww how sweet." Blowhole remarked mockingly.
"Kowalski, what are bạn doing?" Emma whispered to him, urgently.
"Trying to protect you." Kowalski answered simply.
"I don't want bạn to get hurt." She told him, trying to step around him. Unfortunately for Emma, Kowalski was a little stronger than her, so she didn't get very far.
"I don't want bạn to get hurt either." He whispered to her. Emma's tim, trái tim skipped a beat at this, and she wrapped her flippers around him from behind.
"Just please don't go running in trying to attack him." Emma pleaded, hugging him tighter. He sighed and nodded. Nightshadow got even closer, and they eventually got cornered. They slid down to the floor, and Emma looked up at Nightshadow fearfully. Her eyes fell on Kowalski, who was watching her sadly. "Do.... do bạn think this is the end?" She asked him, tears forming at the back of her eyes.
"Maybe." Kowalski answered, looking a bit scared himself. Emma looked up at Nightshadow, and back at Kowalski. A wave of bravery swept over her.
"Well if it is, then so be it. My only dream has come true." She stated, hugging Kowalski lovingly.
"What was that?" Kowalski asked, looking curious.
"That we were together." She answered, squeezing his flippers. Kowalski's stomach filled with bướm and he hugged Emma tightly, closing his eyes, a tear falling form one of them.
"I tình yêu you." He whispered to her, stroking her hair.
"I tình yêu bạn too." Emma whispered back, resting her head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. They looked at eachother one last time, and closed their eyes, awaiting their fate.
"Pack it in bạn two, someone might hear us!" Skipper told them sternly. The bickering siblings shut up, and gave eachother dark looks.
I can't believe they still argue like little kids, they're adults now. Emma thought, shaking her head. Private lifted up a corner of the newspaper cautiously, and saw that no one was around except for one human on the ghế, chỗ ngồi opposite them. The human suddenly got up, and made his way over to the newspaper.
"A human's coming over!" Private whispered, his voice urgent. Rico slipped out of the newspaper, and slapped the guy on the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. Sam's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Emma tried not to giggle at this, as she watched Rico điểm thưởng the guy back onto his seat, and putting a newspaper from another ghế, chỗ ngồi into his hands, making it seem like he fell asleep. Rico then sneaked back under the newspaper chuckling to himself. Skipper looked pleased, and they kept as still as possible. Luckily no other humans came on, and the 8 penguins slipped off silently. They made their way out of the subway station, and tried to figure out where the were.
"Okay, according to my calculations, Queens Zoo should be just around the corner." Kowalski told the team, whilst looking at his clipboard carefully. Skipper slid up to the đường phố, street corner, and gestured for the others to follow. They slid over to Skipper who peered around the corner. He nodded to the team, and all of them, turned the corner, and slid up the street, towards the zoo. Emma looked up at the zoo. It seemed pretty normal. But then again, so did the Hoboken Zoo, and that turned out to be a place of horror. Her gut kept protesting, which was really starting to annoy her. She had also noticed a voice at the back of her head telling her what her gut kept telling her. She rolled her eyes, and sneaked into the zoo with the others. It looked very different compared to the Central Park zoo. The bricks were white and black, the floor a white pebble like surface. The habitat's were big and spaced out, and some of them had cages surrounding them. Chris spotted a zoo map and he pointed it out to the others. They gathered around, and scanned for a reptile house, hoặc a snake habitat.
"There's the snake habitat!" Tom exclaimed pointing to the hàng đầu, đầu trang left corner of the map. Emma's eyes fell on it, and she looked at the 'You Are Here' spot.
"It's just north of here." She realised. The penguins quickly slid towards the snake habitat. (Though the pebble like surface was a bit rough on their feathers) They reached a large enclosure filled with massive trees, and leafy ferns. The team entered cautiously. Emma couldn't help but think that the trees reminded her of her nightmare. Her gut was still protesting, telling her that it was 'mere coincidence.' She ignored this feeling and walked on through the habitat, coming to a the centre. Savio was sleeping, making a strange snore that sounded like a hiss. Emma signalled the others, and hid behind a bush.
"Emma, I want bạn to stay here with Kowalski, Rico, and Chris. Keep an eye on Savio, and the rest of bạn come with me to find Ashley." Skipper ordered quietly. Then him, Private, Sam, and Tom went to look for Ashley, disappearing into the trees.
Emma felt a bit frightened, something that Kowalski noticed instantly.
"Em, it's going to be ok, we'll get him back in no time." Kowalski whispered to her reassuringly, squeezing her flipper. Emma smiled at him, and looked phía trước, chuyển tiếp again. Savio's eyes had opened, and he looked around suspiciously. Chris's eyes widened as he realised how long Savio was. Rico looked ready to fight, and he was about to step out when Chris stopped him.
"It might be best if we wait until Skipper gets back. If they have Ashley then we can leave quietly, if they don't then we'll câu hỏi him." Chris told him, lowering his voice. Emma looked at her older brother, a surprised look on her face.
"Pretty impressive thinking bro." She whispered.
"Thanks." He replied, his eyes on Savio. Emma's tim, trái tim skipped a beat when Savio's eyes fell on the bush. The 4 penguins held their breath as he slithered a little closer. His eyes were narrowed, as he scanned the bụi cây, cây bụi, tổng thống bush carefully. After a tim, trái tim stopping 10 giây he turned away and slithered back to where he was sleeping. Emma sighed with relief, and glanced at the team. Rico's and Chris's eyes weren't leaving Savio, and Kowalski's were focused on the bushes behind him. Emma followed his gaze, and saw the bụi cây, cây bụi, tổng thống bush rustle a bit. As it did, she noticed a flash of back and white. Skipper poked his head out cautiously. Savio had just closed his eyes again, so Emma showed herself to Skipper. She signalled him, asking if they found Ashley. Emma's face fell when Skipper shook his head gravely. She then gestured for them to come over to the bụi cây, cây bụi, tổng thống bush where she was. He slid over, making less sound than a mouse.
"Did bạn find anything at all?" Emma asked, looking disappointed.
"Negative, the whole place is clean, there's no evidence that Ashley is here hoặc has ever been here." Skipper replied sadly. Private and Tom looked really upset, and Sam seemed worried.
"What should we do?" Sam asked, watching Savio nervously.
"Estionhim?" (Question him?) Rico suggested. Skipper nodded in approval, and Rico hacked up some weapons and some runny bơ in a tin. Tom looked at the bơ curiously.
"Last time Savio attacked, he was defeated bởi butter, because it makes him body too slippery." Kowalski told him. Tom's face cleared and he nodded. Skipper and Private tipped the bơ out and it filled the clearing, and surrounded Savio. Everyone then grabbed a weapon, and surrounded him, staying outside of the bơ circle. Rico threw a rock at him, and he woke up suddenly. He looked around at the penguins and he laughed.
"Well well well, how cute, my little enemies have come to me." He taunted, slithering towards them, only to slip on the butter. His face darkened, as he looked at the bơ circle. "Why have bạn come into my habitat, and why are bạn at my new zoo?" He asked, looking annoyed.
"We'll be asking the các câu hỏi Savio, now where is our friend?" Skipper replied, a hard look filling his eyes. Savio looked confused and he stared at the bơ circle.
"Who?" He asked, looking genuinely surprised. Emma noticed this, and her gut tried to speak up again.
I tried to tell bạn it wasn't him, but bạn wouldn't listen.
"Oh don't play dumb with me Savio, we know it was you!" Skipper shot back, anger filling his voice.
"I have no idea what bạn are talking about." Savio replied. Skipper was about to reply to that, but Emma stopped him.
"Skips, I... I don't think it was him." She piped up, watching the snake.
"You were the one who thought it would be him in the first place." Skipper argued.
"I know, but ever since I suggested this, my gut has been telling me otherwise." She admitted looking at the floor.
"Well why didn't bạn say something?" Skipper asked, looking extremely irritated.
"Because I didn't believe it and the other villains with red eyes wouldn't have been able to pull this off." Emma replied, slowly. She then looked up at Savio, and she put a flipper to her face. "Oh that's right, he has yellow eyes." She realised. "Hehe.." She added sheepishly. Skipper sighed in exasperation, and turned to Kowalski.
"Hit him with the memory wiping ray." He ordered. Kowalski nodded and pulled out a ray, and shot it at Savio. Savio looked very confused, and Rico put down a smoke bomb The penguins then disappeared.
Meanwhile....
Ashley sighed with relief when the figure finally went away for the night. He looked down at himself, and his stomach churned horribly. He was covered in cuts, and red patches, staining his feathers. The pain was one of the worst thing he had ever felt. He closed his eyes, and cried silently. He missed his friends, his new home, his family, and his old home. He had never been so scared and homesick in his whole life. He opened his eyes, and looked into the darkness.
Somewhere out there, my Những người bạn are trying to find me, and they will, I just know it. He told himself, trying to feel reassured. A thought crossed his mind. I hope no other poor people are being hurt in here. He'd rather have this happen to him, than to another innocent person. I have to stay strong. He thought. I won't let this evil guy break me.
Skipper looked up at the time, which was now 11pm. He then turned to the worried team.
"I think we'll have to get some rest now." He told them, a troubled look on his face.
"But what about Ash?" Emma asked desperately.
"Sis if we don't get any sleep we won't be focused, and we won't be able to work as well, do bạn think that will help find him?" Skipper replied, looking at his sister questioningly.
"No." She sighed sadly. She headed to her bunk and flopped down on it. Chris and Sam walked up to her.
"Emz, we don't want to, but we have to leave tomorrow." Sam said, a little sheepishly.
"Why?" Emma asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Because our zookeeper is coming back from his holiday, and he's really strict." Chris told her sadly. Emma's stared at the floor, and made a quiet unhappy sound.
"Sorry Emz." Sam apologized hugging Emma.
"It's ok it's not your fault." Emma replied trying to hide her disappointment. Chris hugged her too, and smiled sadly at her.
"Do bạn want to sleep in the lab again tonight?" Sam asked, her eyes falling on the silver door.
"Yeah, ok." Emma replied quietly. Sam went ahead into the lab, and the others went to bed. All of them except Kowalski. He went up to Emma and hugged her comfortingly. Emma returned the hug, feeling instantly warmer, and calmer. Kowalski stroked her hair feathers softly, and ran his flippers down her neck, making a happy shiver course through her body. She leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. He lift her head up gently, and looked into her eyes.
"We will find him Em." He told her, his flipper caressing her cheek.
"But what if we don't.." She began. Kowalski put his flipper over her beak softly, making her blush.
"We wil find him." Kowalski repeated, closing the distance between them, and kissing Emma on the beak. She went redder, and she kissed back, running her flippers down his neck to his waist. About 10 giây later they pulled away, and Emma hugged him gratefully, and smiled up at him. He smiled back, pushing a bit of Emma's hair behind her earhole. "Goodnight Em." He whispered, giving her a little Kiss on the beak.
"Goodnight Kowalski." She whispered back, before heading to the lab. She looked back at him, catching his eyes, and smiling. He smiled back and hopped into his bunk. Emma opened the lab door, and slipped in. Sam was already in her sleeping bag, and looking up at her.
"Hey Emz." She greeted, trying to look cheerful.
"Hey Sam." Emma replied, giving her a small smile. She crawled into her sleeping bag and snuggled down.
"Do bạn want to talk tonight, hoặc go to sleep straight the way?" Sam asked.
"I think I just want to go sleep Sam, part of me wants to talk, but after everything that's happened I just need time to think." Emma answered apologetically. She turned the light off in the lab, and closed her eyes. She had made sure that they had put down tons of traps and security measures, so she wasn't too scared, though she was a little frightened that someone might be able to get through them. Her mind drifted to Kowalski, and she smiled and thought about what had just happened. He always seemed to know exactly how to make her feel better, even in an extremely sad time like this. Emma felt so lucky to have him, he just seemed perfect. She felt herself getting drowsier and she started to drift off to sleep. But what she didn't know was that she was about to have one of the worst nightmares ever...
The room was almost pitch black, Emma could only make out a darker figure in the corner of her eye. She turned around,and tired to walk to it. He got stopped abruptly, and she realised that she had chains on her arms and legs. Her stomach flipped over in her stomach, making her feel scared and queasy. Someone flicked a light switch, and Emma saw Ashley strapped to a table, his feathers stained grey and red. He had massive cuts and scratches all over him, including a nasty looking one on his eye. Emma struggled with her chains and used all of her strength to try and break them. When she had no success, she tried to call to him. Panic filled her when she realised that she couldn't speak. She had no gag hoặc tape on, but no noise was coming out of her beak. Emma saw a red glow in the remaining shadows, and she heard someone sharpening a knife. She felt sick, when she saw the shiny metal cut through Ashley's left flipper, making him screech with pain. He turned to Emma, tears in his eyes.
"Emma, help me!" He pleaded, his voice full of pain, despair, and fear. Emma tried to answer back but she couldn't. She started crying as the dao, con dao cut across his stomach, making a shallow wound. Ashley screamed, and moaned, tears rolling down his face. Emma struggled with the chains desperately, wishing that this would all end. She sat there helpless, for what felt like hours, watching the little chim cánh cụt being tortured. She knew it was a dream, but this could very well be what was happening to him now. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that didn't stop the screams. She finally woke up, her head pounding painfully. Her tim, trái tim was beating abnormally fast, and she had been sweating. After a few phút her tim, trái tim calmed down, and she glanced around the lab. She realised that it was only 7am. Even though she wanted to get up now, she knew that it would do no good. Her eyes fell on her sleeping sister who was snoring contently, and curling in her sleeping bag. Emma watched her for a few phút before closing her eyes again, feeling fearful. She didn't want to have nightmares, and she hated her brain for giving her them whenever something was wrong. She eventually fell back asleep, a single tear falling from her eye as she did.
Ashley opened his eyes, on what he thought might be the tiếp theo day. He tried to look for the villainous scum, (or big meanie as Ashley called him) who tortured him yesterday. The room was a bit lighter today, and realised he was in a massive room, the walls covered with millions of weapons ranging from big to small. There were poison vials, machine guns, grenades, and even an old fashioned súng thần công, pháo in one corner. Ashley gulped, and his breathing quickened. The lights suddenly went out and his stomach lurched as he heard a horribly evil laugh coming from somewhere in front of him. The laugh echoed off the walls, making it hard to figure out where it was coming from now. But he heard the laugh getting louder, and closer. His eyes were wide with fear, as he stared into the darkness that consumed the room.
"Hello again Ashley." A familiar voice greeted voice greeted. "Are bạn enjoying your stay?" It added, mockingly. Ashley didn't answer, and his eyes became thêm accustomed to the dark. He could just make out the figure of the person who tortured him yesterday. He closed his eyes, and his tim, trái tim pounded fearfully. "Aren't bạn going to answer me?" The figure asked, his voice growing angry. Ashley still didn't answer, and the figure became thêm and thêm angry. "Well if you're going to be like this......" It began taking out what looked like a small piece of metal attached to a wooden handle.
"W.. what's that?" Ashley piped up, his voice barely audible.
"You'll see soon enough." The figure replied, holing the wooden handle, and pressing the metal against Ashley's feathers. He yelped in pain, and began to wriggle and squirm. "This metal is coated in burning hot acid." He told the young chim cánh cụt proudly. He pushed it even harder against Ashley's feathers making him screech. He kept this up for about 10 phút then left. Ashley teared up, and began to sniffle. Why did he have to be taken? Why did this villain have to kidnap anyone? Why does he have to be evil? Ashley asked himself these các câu hỏi over and over again, trying to keep his mind off the pain. He noticed that the figure had left the metal stick behind. Ashley tried to grab it but his flippers were too far away. He stretched his feet and tried to reach it with his toes. Finally his little feet grasped around the wooden handle, and he flung it backwards, making it land in his flipper. He looked at it wondering what to do. A thought struck him, and he began to sharpen the end with the edge of the bàn he was on. It was hard work but he knew that he had to do it. After about half an hour, the end was sharp and pointy. He then looked at the metal rings that were strapping his flippers and legs to the table. He put the pointy bit in the screws that were holding the rings around his flippers on and twisted, trying to make the screw loose. It eventually fell to the floor, and he sat up, un-screwing the metal rings around his feet. They fell off and he sneaked over to the door. The door was open just a crack, and he saw the villain looking at a colossal screen, with video clips of the chim cánh cụt HQ on. Ashley guessed that theses were the video camera's that he was talking about, His eyes fell on one camera, which showed Emma and Kowalski. Kowalski was hugging Emma comforting, and Emma looked close to tears. He watched them, losing concentration on what he was doing. Suddenly, the villain turned around and his face darkened. Ashley looked up at him, a frightened feeling in his stomach, and rushed down a corridor, hoping to find an exit. He saw a door which was hanging open. He ran as fast as he could over to it feeling excited, he saw daylight for the fist time in a few days, and he smiled. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back, his vision became blurry and he slowed down. He tried to keep running but he couldn't move. The little chim cánh cụt flopped to the floor his eyes barely open. The daylight seemed to be fading away, as his eyelids drooped. He reached out a flipper, trying to crawl to the door.
"No...." He whispered, feeling all of his energy disappear. Then everything went black.
Meanwhile, at the Central Park Zoo, Emma sat in the lab with Kowalski, curled up in his flippers. Sam and Chris had gone back home, and she was feeling pretty depressed. Which wasn't normal for her, she was always cheerful, and able to look on the bright side. But she saw no bright side to this. Their only lead had been proven innocent, and her nightmare didn't give them any details on the culprit. She sighed, and leaned her head on Kowalski's shoulder, closing her eyes. Suddenly she heard a little buzzing sound coming from Ashley's rucksack. She opened it curiously, and saw his phone vibrating. She took a look at the caller ID, which đã đưa ý kiến mum. She bit her beak, and looked at Kowalski.
"I think you'll have to answer that Em." He told her gravely. Emma nodded and pressed the receive button.
"Hello?" She đã đưa ý kiến into the phone.
"Who is this?" A woman with an intense Scottish accent asked.
"I'm Emma, I'm one of Ashley's new Những người bạn at the Central Park Zoo." Emma replied.
"Well, I'm his mum, and I'm wondering why he hasn't called us in a few days. Can bạn put him on the phone please?" She asked. Emma tried to think of what to say.
"Well Ashley had a little accident, and he's in the zoo hospital right now." Emma lied, trying to sound convincing.
"Bloody hell, what happened?!" His mum asked, panic filling her voice.
"He fell into the water, and bumped his head as he did." Emma told her. "He's ok but we're not sure when he's going to be out yet, it could be in a few days hoặc a few weeks." She added.
"Well, can bạn give him my love, and tell him to call when he gets out?" His mum asked, sounding a bit less worried.
"Ok, I'll tell him." Emma reassured her.
"Thank bạn lass." His mum said, before hanging up. Emma put the phone back in the bag, and looked up at astonished Kowalski.
"Did... did bạn just tell a massive lie to someone Ashley knows?" Kowalski asked disbelievingly.
"Well I couldn't just say, 'Oh xin chào your son's been captured bởi a crazy villain and is probably being put through unimaginable pain and torture.' can we?" Emma snapped. She gasped and covered her beak with her flipper instantly. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry Kowalski I didn't mean to.." Emma began before Kowalski stopped her.
"Hey it's not your fault Em." Kowalski told her gently. "You're just a bit stressed, which is normal." He added, hugging her tightly. She hugged him back, even tighter. That was the first time she had ever snapped at Kowalski, and she didn't like it one bit. She closed her eyes and relaxed in his flippers, letting her problems slip away for a moment. Sometimes she wished that she was completely carefree, but she knew that that could never happen. She pulled away from the hug a few phút later, and managed a small smile. Kowalski smiled at her sadly, and they made their way back to the main room. Emma had a bad feeling that they weren't going to find Ashley. That feeling scared her. Would they ever see him again?
A few weeks passed by, and still no clues to where Ashley was. Emma was desperate to find him, but she was beginning to lose hope. There was nothing that could help find him, they didn't know where most of their villains were and they had no idea which one of them had took him. She sighed and crawled into her bed. It was now the 20th of August, and the days were a little shorter but it was still light until 8:30pm. It was 12am now, so everyone was heading to bed. Emma pulled the covers over her head, and stared at the wall. She had been having the same nightmare for a while now, even though she had a dream catcher. She guessed it was because her brain was trying to tell her about Ashley. Emma had figured out that with her dream catcher she only got nightmares if what was going on in them was happening, hoặc would happen in real life. So parts of it must be accurate. She sighed sadly and closed her eyes.
She appeared the familiar room, but something was different. The room had thêm light in, and she noticed weapons on the walls. She couldn't see Ashley. And a horrible feeling filled her stomach.
He's probably tied up in the shadows. She tried to reassure herself. She then saw something different in the shadows. There was one glowing red eye. Her tim, trái tim pounded, and she heard a familiar, high pitched evil laugh. She heard a very Ashley like scream from one corner of the room, and she then saw the pair of red eyes that always appeared in the dream. Her eyes fell on the one red eye and her eyes narrowed. Her jaw dropped when she realised who it was. I've gotta wake up now. She told herself, trying to force her eyes open. In the few weeks that she had been having this nightmare, she had developed a new skill. If she really wanted to get out of a nightmare and wake up she could actually make herself wake up. She closed her eyes and tried to force them open. She then felt a strange sensation of being half awake and half asleep. If she looked up, she was in her dream, if she looked down she could just make out her bunk. She kept looking down, and she tried to sit up, but she couldn't move. Emma guessed it was because her muscles were still in dream/sleep mode. She mustered up all the strength she had and moved her head sideways making her dream vanish, as she woke up completely. Her muscles were a bit slow as she woke up, but she was proud of herself. This new skill would be quite useful if she ever had nightmares. She glanced at the time which was now 6am, and she practically jumped out of her bunk, and shook Skipper awake.
"W... what's going on?" He muttered, looking up at Emma.
"I know who has Ashley, for sure this time!" Sh told him, her voice urgent. Skipper's eyes widened, and he woke up fully, and woke the others up. Skipper told them what Emma told them, and they got out of their bunks immediately.
"Owdoyouno?" (How do bạn know?) Rico asked skeptically.
"I don't know I just...." Emma trailed off. She looked around suspiciously. For a while now, she had felt like someone had been watching them, and that feeling had just intensified. Her eyes fell on the Private first prize fish, and she noticed something different about it. There was a tiny camera installed in the eye. She went over to it and pulled it out.
"What the deuce?" Skipper exclaimed, taking the camera from Emma and looking at in in astonishment.
"How many of these are in our HQ?" Kowalski wondered, looking around worriedly. Emma rushed into the lab, and got out the villain detector, a scanner that could find villain technology. She turned it on and began to scan for any thêm cameras. She found two cameras in the lab, and 3 thêm in the main bit of the HQ. She luckily found all of them. She handed them to Kowalski who started to analyse them.
"So sis, bạn were about to say bạn knew who had Ashley?" Skipper said.
"Yeah, it's Blowhole!" She told them.
"What makes bạn think that?" Tom asked.
"Because in my dream, there was only one red eye, like Blowhole only has one red eye. And I heard Blowhole's laugh" She told them. "He might be working with someone though, because there was two other red eyes there too. " She added, practically buzzing with information. She realised that her gut was agreeing with her.
"Are your dreams always right?" Private asked.
"I think they might be." Kowalski answered, holding up the camera. "Look what it says on the back." He told them, pointing to small nghề viết văn with his flipper. Emma took the camera.
"If found please return to Doctor Blowhole at 234 Charnwood Street, New Jersey." Emma read out.
"Well that's easy." Tom said, looking surprised.
"Too easy....... I think it's a trap." Emma said, looking suspicious.
"I bet it is." Skipper agreed.
"But we have to get Ashley, so I think we have to go." Emma admitted. The team nodded and the got ready to go.
Meanwhile...
Ashley had Mất tích all hope. He had no idea how he was still alive, and even thinking hurt him now. He didn't know if the team couldn't find him, hoặc they just didn't care. All he knew was that he was never going to escape, no one was coming to save him. He had Mất tích faith in happy endings and he had Mất tích faith in everything he cared about. There were no thêm Giải cứu thế giới in the world, no one who devoted their lives to protecting their Những người bạn and others, and no one, who would put down everything to find them. He was all alone in this dark world, of villains, pain, and greed. He began to close his eyes, feeling himself starting to slip away. He thought about his parents, and his sister who he never got to meet. He wondered what she was like. Then his eyes closed fully.
The six penguins didn't waste a second, and hopped into the car. With Rico at the wheel they would get there in no time. Rico put his foot down, and the car sped off into the city. Emma looked out of the car and up into the sky. It was early morning and the sun was barely over the horizon. Birds chirped in the distance but the city was strangely quiet. Fluffy white clouds dotted the landscape and Emma tried to make shapes out of them. She saw one that looked like a dragon and pointed it out to Kowalski, who was sitting tiếp theo to her. He smiled warmly, and wrapped a flipper around Emma, making her blush.
"So when we get there, how are we going to save Ashley?" Private asked.
"Kaboom?" Rico suggested hopefully.
"Well stealth is the key." Skipper began. "If we go in there, súng blazing, and kabooming everything, then Blowhole might kill Ashley before we find him." He told them. Rico looked disappointed, and he grumbled something under his breath.
If he isn't already dead. Emma thought sadly. She mentally slapped herself, and told herself off quietly. Hey he's going to be ok. She told herself. We'll find him, then bring him back, and it'll all be ok.
"How are we going to get in?" Tom asked curiously. Kowalski whipped out some blueprints.
"We'll get in through this vent here, and then we can begin searching for him." He explained to the younger penguin. Tom nodded in understanding, and looked ahead.
"How long will it take to get there?" Emma asked, feeling slightly impatient.
"If Rico keeps going at this speed, it should take about 2 hours." Kowalski told her. Emma sighed and plugged her headphones in, and tried to lose herself in the music. The two hours dragged slowly, and they eventually entered New Jersey, and Kowalski pulled out a map.
"So where's Charnwood Street?" Emma asked, taking a closer look at the map, and turning her âm nhạc off.
"About half a mile away." Kowalski replied. He then turned to Rico. "Rico, make a left at the tiếp theo corner." Kowalski told him. Rico nodded and turned the corner. Kowalski gave him thêm instructions on where to go and in about 10 minutes, they reached a massive abandoned factory. It was a grubby dark grey, and felt unfriendly. Rico parked their car in a hidden spot, and hacked up six grappling guns. Skipper fired his at the roof, and the hook shot out of the gun and grasped onto the roof. He began climbing it, and the others did the same with theirs. As they reached the top, Kowalski pointed to the air vent, and they scurried into it.
"So where now?" Private asked, looking into the darkness ahead.
"Well this air vent should give us a good view of some of the key spots of the factory, so just look out for Ashley through the little grates, that are dotted in the vents." Kowalski explained, pointing to one. Emma peered through it and saw what looked like a computer room, Blowhole was sitting in there, a devious smile on his face. Emma took a closer look at one of the screens, and her stomach flipped.
"Guys, there's a camera in this vent, Blowhole knows we're here!" She gulped, her voice becoming urgent. Private and Tom looked scared, and Rico, and Skipper's face's became serious. The penguins slid down the vent as fast as they could, checking through the little grates every now and again. Suddenly, the floor disappeared beneath them, and they tumbled out of the vent. The lights around them switched off, and they heard a high pitched laugh in the distance. They got into fighting stance, and stared into the blackness, hoping to see some movement. They heard the laugh again, this time much closer, and they scooted closer to eachother.
"Show yourself Blowhole!" Skipper yelled angrily. A few of the lights turned on again, and Emma looked up. Blowhole was right in front of them.
"Well well well, peng-uu-ins, nice to see bạn again." Blowhole taunted, hiển thị his sharp teeth. Skipper took no notice of this, and looked up at his foe bravely.
"Where's Ashley?" He demanded, his face dark with anger.
"Ashley's gone." Blowhole told them simply. Emma's stomach churned horribly, and her tim, trái tim pounded at those words.
"What do bạn mean gone?" Kowalski asked, a nasty chill going down his spine. Blowhole just smiled, and the floor fell beneath them again. Blowhole remained at the top, and looked down at them. They were in what looked like an pit, hoặc an arena. It was almost pitch black, and Emma tried to find Kowalski. She grasped his flipper, and huddled closer to him. A massive light flashed on in the middle of the arena like pit and Blowhole watched his little foes. Emma heard what sounded like a growl coming from a shadow, at the far end of the pit. She turned in that direction, and she froze in fear. There was a pair of glowing red eyes in the corner, and they began to di chuyển closer to the light. Emma's breathing sped up, and Kowalski watched her worriedly. "What's up Em?" He asked. She pointed a flipper in the direction of the eyes, unable to speak. The others followed it, and gulped at the eyes.
"W.. what is that?" Tom asked, nervously.
"Peng-uu-ins, meet Nightshadow." Blowhole announced. Nightshadow came out of the shadows and Emma gasped in horror. Nightshadow had glowing red eyes, feathers sticking out all over the place, massive cuts, and wounds all over his blood stained, blackish grey feathers, and cuts all over his face, beak, and eyes. Part of him was so badly wounded that bạn could actually see the bone. Emma looked at his feet and saw claws growing from them and the flippers. She looked over the size and shape of Nightshadow, and a cold shiver ran through her entire body.
"A..... Ash?" Emma managed, her eyes wide with fear. "What did he do to you?" She asked, looking at him in shock. All she got in response was a growl. The penguins instinctively moved backwards, away from what used to be their friend. Skipper looked up at Blowhole, full of rage.
"You know, your friend was hard to break, he was a fighter." Blowhole remarked. "But he broke in the end, they all do." He added proudly.
"Change him back bạn freak!" Emma yelled feeling angry and scared all at the same time.
"Oh he can't be changed back, he'll be like that forever. Anyway, he only responds to my commands now." Blowhole told them smugly. He looked down at the former team member, and smiled evilly. "Nightshadow. Kill." He told him. Nightshadow smiled, blood dripping from his beak, and he began to stroll over to the team calmly. Skipper and Rico stood in front of the others, trying to protect them. They heard something from Blowhole, and they all looked up. "Kill the girl, and the tall one first." He instructed. Nightshadow's cold eyes fell on Emma and Kowalski, and Emma cowered. Her feet anchored to the ground, and she couldn't move. The others formed a vòng tròn around the two penguins, and Kowalski stepped in front of Emma protectively. Nightshadow charged at them, and flung Tom and Private to the other side of the room with ease. Emma's brain came out of panic mode, as she saw her little brother struggle to get up. She tried to run over to him, but Kowalski stopped her.
"Em if bạn go over there, Nightshadow will try to kill bạn and Tom might get hurt in the process." He told her.
"Good point." Emma sighed, turning her attention back to Nightshadow, who was being fended off bởi Skipper and Rico. Skipper now had a big gash down the side of his face, and Rico had just been hit where his scar was, making it reopen. Emma winced at this, and she and Kowalski got into battle stance, incase Nightshadow got through Skipper and Rico. Emma could barely watch, she had to help her brothers, but Kowalski wouldn't let her. Pat of her was angry at him for this, but she knew he only trying to keep her safe. Emma glanced over at Private and Tom to make sure they were ok. They were just getting up, and they were about to go over and help. Emma gestured for them to keep down, she couldn't bare to see them get hurt too. A few giây later she saw Skipper fall to the ground, and Kowalski couldn't stop her this time, and she rushed to his side.
"E... Emma." He managed, looking up at her. Emma looked at his wounds with panic, and her mind went blank with fear. "It.. it's ok sis, they're only minor wounds, I'll be ok." He told her weakly. Emma doubted this, and she examined a large scratch that went across his chest. "If.. if Ashley's still alive, after what's h.. happened to him, then I know I'll be ok.." He told her. Emma knew this was true, but she still didn't want to leave him. But her attention got caught bởi Rico, who had just been flung against the wall. Skipper told her to go to him, before passing out, and Emma nodded, rushing over to Rico. Rico was already unconscious, but he was still breathing. Emma looked at his scar, and saw that it was larger now. Kowalski ran up to her, and lifted her face up from Rico, making her look at him.
"Em, we're the only ones still up." Kowalski told her gravely. Emma looked up and realised that Kowalski was right. Skipper and Rico were unconscious, and she had told Private and Tom to stay down. Nightshadow stared at them, growling as he began to make his way over to them. Kowalski stood in front of Emma protectively.
"Aww how sweet." Blowhole remarked mockingly.
"Kowalski, what are bạn doing?" Emma whispered to him, urgently.
"Trying to protect you." Kowalski answered simply.
"I don't want bạn to get hurt." She told him, trying to step around him. Unfortunately for Emma, Kowalski was a little stronger than her, so she didn't get very far.
"I don't want bạn to get hurt either." He whispered to her. Emma's tim, trái tim skipped a beat at this, and she wrapped her flippers around him from behind.
"Just please don't go running in trying to attack him." Emma pleaded, hugging him tighter. He sighed and nodded. Nightshadow got even closer, and they eventually got cornered. They slid down to the floor, and Emma looked up at Nightshadow fearfully. Her eyes fell on Kowalski, who was watching her sadly. "Do.... do bạn think this is the end?" She asked him, tears forming at the back of her eyes.
"Maybe." Kowalski answered, looking a bit scared himself. Emma looked up at Nightshadow, and back at Kowalski. A wave of bravery swept over her.
"Well if it is, then so be it. My only dream has come true." She stated, hugging Kowalski lovingly.
"What was that?" Kowalski asked, looking curious.
"That we were together." She answered, squeezing his flippers. Kowalski's stomach filled with bướm and he hugged Emma tightly, closing his eyes, a tear falling form one of them.
"I tình yêu you." He whispered to her, stroking her hair.
"I tình yêu bạn too." Emma whispered back, resting her head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. They looked at eachother one last time, and closed their eyes, awaiting their fate.