The penguins ran after Marcus. He was really good at digging. He literally tore through the dirt with his flippers at breakneck speed, leaving the others behind in the dust. The others were running just to keep up with him. Marlene and Brook stayed in the very back, doing their best not to get dirt on their coats.

“Can’t we just go home?” Marlene whined

“Negative, Marlene. Without putting an end to Smith’s tyrannical reign, we will be forced on the lam from our own people.” Skipper replied to her, smiling to himself

“Oh… bạn know, you’re getting as bad as Kowalski.” she retorted

“If we don’t stop him, we’ll have to run for our lives.” They continued running. Eventually, Marcus began to run out of steam. He stopped digging for a few seconds, and then began digging upwards. Sunlight tore into the dark tunnel, briefly blinding all of them. They all jumped up into the room above. The dirt was right behind Smith’s desk, and had

“Alright, we’re looking for any documentation that could do it in for John Smith. Smuggling, passports, anything.” Joey debriefed. In a dash, everyone was in separate parts of the room. Since everything was chim cánh cụt sized and not human sized, it was much easier to di chuyển around with.

A few phút later Skipper yelled “Status report!”

“Nothing.”

“Nope.”

“Not one thing.”

“There’s nothing here!” were the common replies. In fact, the only replies. Everybody just agreed and watched Skipper and Wheeler. Skipper put his flipper on his chin, thinking it over.

“All right. Let’s –“But before he could finish, the doorknob began turning. The door creaked open. The động vật scampered, searching desperately for hiding places. Skipper found one, but seeing Private couldn’t find a spot, he let him in his; which left Skipper and Wheeler to face the animal behind the door.

The door had paused for a few seconds, a shadow of movement moving down the floor light and back up again. The door opened the rest of the way, and Smith stepped through. Seeing Skipper and Wheeler, he flashed them a smile.
“To what do I owe the honor, boys?”
“Umm… We are here… to give bạn a Happy Birthday!” Thank goodness Skipper’s eyes had drifted to the calendar, where the word Birthday was marked in red pen. Skipper and Wheeler both started singing.

“Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday John Smith,
Happy birthday to you!”

“Awww, thanks guys. But something tells me that’s not all bạn came here for.”

“Well, no. We’ll get to the point. We have reason to believe bạn have been having secret dealings with the Red Squirrel.” Wheeler admitted. Skipper glared at him.

“And whatever gave bạn these ideas?”

“I cannot say, as my nguồn is highly powerful and befouling his name might get all of us in some very bad business.”

“Fair enough. What kind of business do bạn think I am having with him?”

“The usual spy work – defense, secret weapons, etcetera.” Skipper finished. There was a moment of silence, and then – to everyone’s surprise – Smith burst out laughing.

“AHAHAHAHA! Oh that is just too good! bạn think I would have dealings with that treacherous scum? Oh, this is too good. The irony of it all. If this is all that brought bạn here, you’re sadly mistaken.” Wheeler walked calmly over to his desk. He tapped the side, and up popped a green button. He pressed the button as he spoke, and walked over to the wall, where another lever had appeared out of the wall.

“I do not deal with that scum anymore.” His tone darkened, and he pulled the lever. All the động vật were pushed out of their hiding places – pots, filing cabinets, bàn drawers and the like. All of them in the center, a green net of lasers cropped up around them.

“You did have work with him, fiend!” Private demanded

“Yes. I did. And it was poor judgment on my part. Hear me out, I beg you.” Smith said

“Says the chim cánh cụt that has us trapped in a net of strange lights.” Marlene muttered

“It’s not what bạn think. I was working on a peace negotiation with him. He goes back to his country, never bothers us again, and we let him go. End of story. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. He lấy trộm, đánh cắp some of our best weaponry while in this facility. It was my mistake, and I did not want to admit it. So I let him go, and tried to get rid of all the evidence.”

His words made sense. The pieces all fit, but something didn’t seem right. Maybe it was just Skipper’s infamous grade-A paranoia rubbing off on everyone. Suddenly, the door opened and a nerdy – looking owl stepped through. He wore wire rim glasses and held a clipboard in his hand.

“Mr. Smith, the nanobots are ready. The Red con sóc, sóc is demanding feeding.” The owl looked up. “Oh, are we having a party? I always liked light shows.” And with that, the owl ran to jump in with the others in the center of the laser net (let’s shorten it to a LAT). Everybody watched as his body hit the lasers and bounced off, sending shockwaves across his body.

“He always was a bit of an idiot.” Smith đã đưa ý kiến “Anyway. I’m sorry bạn all had to go and get yourselves involved.”

“Wait! What did the owl mean bởi nanobots! And the Red con sóc, sóc is still here!?” Kowalski demanded

“Like I said, I’m sorry bạn all had to become so involved. Ys, Red is still here. I told bạn I had to hide all evidence of my mistake. And the nanobots? My own creation, with a little help from some friends. Intelligence in a parasite, taking over the consciousness of a being and turning them into a total slave. Mine own to control, and mine own to destroy.”

“Now, I have some very important business. Be good. Oh, and the rooms are sound proof. NO one can hear bạn scream.” And with that, he left the room. Briefly pausing as he stepped over the owl, he locked the door behind him and whistled off.

“So now what?” Marlene wondered aloud.

“We wait for a break. They’ll make a mistake eventually. No matter how long it takes, we will always be ready for action! We…” Skipper started another speech. Private could feel it coming, an incredibly exhaustive speech that would leave them gasping for mercy. He looked around for an idea, anything. His stomach rumbled.

“I could do with a đậu phụng, đậu phộng bơ winky right now.” He thought to himself. Then he remembered. He had a snack cake in his pocket! He could use the foil to deflect the lasers, like they had done in their one escapade with Blowhole. Skipper was still rambling on about courage and patience, and he never noticed Private take out the snack cake. He used the foil to reflect the laser onto the door, leaving a hole large enough to fit a flipper through and unlock the knob. The tiếp theo to be annihilated was the box on the side of the wall. Once it was blown, he focused it on the tiny green button. The button blew into the air, leaving a smoldering corner of the desk. The LAT around them shimmered, and disappeared. Skipper stopped in the middle of his speech and looked around.

Everyone smiled; his rant was over – for the time being. “Um. Okay then. Everyone di chuyển out!” They ran to the door. Luke paused to open it, and they ran down the hall. A crowd of động vật running forced everyone else to the side.

It didn’t take them long to find the Science wing. They burst into the room, ready for action. Everybody in the room (there were only two, a Spanish chim cánh cụt and a tall Scottish penguin) stared at them.

“What are bạn doing?” they asked simultaneously.
“We’re shutting this operation down!”
“What? Our babies? NO! They took so long to create!” The one, the thêm Scottish like one, began bursting. The other just rolled his eyes. “The nanobots? Why?”

“They’re being used for malicious intent! I don’t know what sick kind of mind games he’s played with you, but Smith is using these things for world domination!”

“Oh, well in that case.” The Scottish one stood up calmly. “Let’s get ready then.” He walked over to a computer beside them. Noticing Kowalski out of the corner of his eye, he looked over. Turning his body, he stared longer.

“Say, haven’t I seen bạn before?” He queried. The other one, the Spanish-looking one, walked over beside him. “Yeah, he definitely does. Oh, what was his name!” He started making snapping noises with his fingers (how he did it without fingers, I don’t know.)

“I can’t say, although bạn look familiar as well.”

They circled each other for a bit, a trio of mad scientists in a frustrating game of recognition. Then it them.

“Kowalski!” The Spanish one exclaimed. “Yeah, that was it! Kowalski! Private, Skipper, Rico! Everyone’s here!” The Scottish chim cánh cụt đã đưa ý kiến excitedly

Their mouths hung open. “Manfretti and Johnson?!”


And another cliffhanger to keep bạn all waiting in the dark! Well, that’s it for now. I’m leaving, but don’t forget to review! Ta – Ta!