The soothing sound of the water gently flowing was all he needed to hear. Inhaling deeply to take in the morning mist, he allowed himself to shut his eyes. Standing, surrounded only by water trickling around him, so care free that even the metal fencing could not contain his spirit. The heat was a welcomed arising as the sun emerged from its cloud of slumber to beam down on the small penguin's neck. A gentle breeze accompanied the sky furnace's arrival, ruffling his feathers like fingertips running through a young scamp's hair. At peace, he grinned at life with empty joy, not needing a specific reason to be content. How could he be so serene? In the centre of such a busy city yet managing to single out the pleasant calls of nature to drown out those of urban life. At last, he opened his eyes along with his heart to appreciate what gift had been bestowed to him once more; the gift of a new day.
"Private!" A sudden screech disturbed his harmonious morning, forcing the little penguin back to reality. With the fish bowl hatch shoved to the side, the owner of the voice appeared.
"Oh Skipper" Private sighed in admiration, "Isn't it such a peaceful morning?"
The commanding penguin didn't need to strain his ears as the thunderous racket of cars polluted his canal instantly.
"Why, sure Private" he humoured, before rolling his eyes, "It's the same as every other morning".
The little penguin ignored his commander's insolence and took in another huge inhale.
"And the air, so pure, so still, so-"
"Contaminated?" Skipper choked, wafting away invisible fumes from his air space. Private frowned, before uplifting his mood even more so, dancing over to the edge of the habitat's island.
"But Skipper, don't you see? All the things we feel is nature calling, the soul yearning to be placed as one with the Earth".
"I feel no yearning. Other than the part of me that wants to pound the hippie right out of you" he confessed, folding his flippers tightly to his chest.
"You can't feel it?" Private asked, his voice soft like the heavens on Earth of which he desired, "Not at all?"
Skipper stood for a second, silenced by the younger's questioning. The little penguin displayed a hopeful expression, letting himself believe that his captain may finally be coming to terms with inner peace.
"Nope" the leader eventually announced, nonchalantly, with a shrug "Nothing at all, except the hunger in my stomach".
Private bowed his head, his eyes cast down to the floor, forlorn with Skipper's closed mindedness. Shaking his head playfully, Skipper made his way to the smaller penguin's side, placing a flipper around his shoulder, roughly pulling him closer as if a younger sibling.
"Private" he started, instantly giving the signal to the lower ranked that he was about to be lectured, "Naivety is your speciality, okay? So I'm going to set things straight. There is no such thing as 'peace'".
The little penguin sharply pulled away from his superior.
"You're wrong Skipper! It's all around you, if you would not just look with your eyes, but with your heart you'd be able to see".
"Now you know that's illogical, Private," Kowalski's voice suddenly arose from the hatch, before peering up as intrigued as an alerted meerkat, "It is anatomically impossible to 'see' with your heart when that organ, and none of the other organs, have vision capabilities".
The taller penguin made his way over to his team mates.
"I was speaking metaphorically.." Private muttered, sulkily.
Skipper slapped him hard on his back in a manly attempt for comfort.
"Come on Private, no one actually believes all that sap. Now let's go eat!"
"Yeah, erm... About that..." Kowalski hesitated, awkwardly shifting his weight.
"What is it Kowalski?" the commander groaned, as if to already predict such a disaster to happen.
"Well, because Private wasn't there for breakfast, Rico ate it. Then you left to retrieve Private and Rico ate yours" the analyst paused for a second to allow himself to slip out a nervous chuckle, "And you know what Rico's like, once he's had more fish than expected, he goes a bit over the top..."
"So what your saying is that we have a fish crazed psychopath going berserk in our HQ?" summarised Skipper.
Kowalski blinked at his superior's sudden understanding of the predicament.
"Yeah, pretty much".
"Right" the captain sighed, heading towards the hatch with Kowalski following him closely, "Let's sort this out. Private, you coming in?"
They looked over their shoulders to see Private slump down onto the cold surface, his feet dangling over edge as he stared into his reflection, displayed by the water.
"Why bother?" he mumbled, resting his head into his flippers.
Skipper and Kowalski exchanged a concerned glance to one another, before a series of loud metallic clanging noises caught their attention below. They disappeared into the HQ to deal with the more insane version of Rico, worse than his usual self anyway.
The youngest penguin, now alone topside, seemed possessed by the water flow. In a trace like state, his deepest emotions plunged out into words.
"If I was to being to bawl right now, there would be no difference anyway. My tears would simply fall into the water, creating a mere droplet in such a wider space. It wouldn't make any difference to add to it though, no one would noticed extra water in a pool at such a capacity. Though, in saying so, rivers burst their banks when overloaded with so much water. Maybe I'm the river that needs to be dredged in order to cope in holding more emotions inside? Such a huge world, so why would my troubles make an impact?"
Philosophically pondering, Private picked up a pebble. He lightly tossed it into the water, intrigued and watching like an over curious child at the effects.
"Though only a tiny stone, the pebble still creates ripples when it hits the water before sinking deep without leaving a trace. Perhaps this would be my outcome? If I voice my opinions to the others and try and teach it to them, the effects will go out many ripples away from me. Peace would impact everyone one around me, making it a better place for all to live." Private go up to his feet, feeling more optimistic. "I can prove Skipper wrong. I just hope that after proving my point, it all just doesn't sink away, letting everything fade out, like the ripples with the pebble..."
A shadow casted Private into darkness, blocking the sun's heat and making his blood chill. The little penguin turned around sharply.
"Very poetic, sweetie, I suppose you're a Shakespeare fan" a mysterious sounding voice poured out of the stranger's beak. She stood before Private, tall and proud, her posture faultless. The female puffin tucked her flippers behind her back, tilting her head to the side an inch as she smiled. Private blinked at her beauty, steadily managing to block out her allure to respond.
"Skipper doesn't let me read Shakespeare anymore..." he sighed, stubbing the dust up from the ground with his foot, nervously.
"Skipper?" she recited, the once sweet look in her eyes suddenly changing to those like serpents, "He's the one I've come to see".
With her voice in a more serious and manipulating tone, Private simply gave a nod and lead her into the HQ.
"No, don't do it! Bad Rico! Bad!" Skipper scolded, taking cover behind the flipped over table from the psychotic penguin's wrath.
Rico continued to slap the ground with a frying pan in frustration, with intervals of throwing plates at his superiors.
"Just settle down now Rico" Skipper soothed, slowly peering up from the table edge, "I think you've had enough fish".
"FIIISH!" the mohawked penguin craved, laughing manically and tossing a plate at his captain's head, who instantly ducked for cover.
"RICO! Take your paddy outside, don't take it out on destroying our home! Go destroy Ringtail's possessions. YES. I strongly insist that you go destroy that boom box of his".
Rico relaxed, looking up and into the distance as if he was contemplating life, but pondering over this matter instead.
"Hmm... Okay" the crazy penguin confirmed with a grin.
However, just as he went to stroll across the room to get to the ladder, the just as mental scientist burst out of his lab and zapped his teammate with an invention of which had in his grasps.
"Kowalski!" Skipper groaned in disbelief, putting a flipper to his forehead, "You freeze rayed Rico!"
"Well you didn't have a plan. Besides, the effects will wear off in thirty minuets" the analyst explained, casually throwing his device back into his lab.
"Yeah, but he was gonna smash up that boom box... Being able to sleep through the whole night, without being disturbed by that party freak's congaga-ing... That chance has been taken away now, all because of you Kowalski!" Skipper snapped, raising his voice to the end, making the taller penguin flinch.
The little penguin made his way down into the HQ.
"Skipper, there's someone here to se-.. Woah, what happened?!" Private suddenly gasped.
"If you weren't in pixie land Private, you would have heard Kowalski explain about Rico's prompt fish crazed madness".
Private withdrew his thoughts to snap, positively remaining close to subject.
"Someone's here to see you Skipper".
"Wha'? Who?" the leader frowned, screwing up his face in confusion.
With a cue to now make an appropriate entrance, the puffin slipped in through the hatch.
"You say it as if it's a visit" she chuckled slightly, in a more mocking manner than jokingly.
"Sorry, doll face, we get straight to the point around here. What do you want? Are you in need of penguin assistance?" the captain smirked, widening his stance and placing his flippers on his hips.
She smiled.
"Cute, but I'm here on business" the puffin announced, marching forth toward Skipper, pulling out an identity card with a shield badge attached to it, "Officer Elvira, apart of the PPF".
"PPF?" Private questioned.
"Penguin police force" Skipper informed the youngest.
"Puffin police force in her case, Skipper. See, by the unusual colourful markings on her beak, she is indeed a puffin" Kowalski lectured over his correction.
"I got it Kowalski!" the leader snapped through a gritted beak, once more making the lieutenant fall silent, returning to the back of the HQ to lean on the block of ice that imprisoned Rico. The officer frowned as she saw the frozen penguin, yet was able to shake it off and convince herself it was better off not to ask.
"Skipper" she began, casually going behind the captain and grabbing his flippers before cuffing them, "You are under arrest for trespassing into territories from which you have been banned".
Her preaching of the law was poison to their ears.
"What?!" Private gaped.
"Skipper, you haven't been to Demark recently" Kowalski insisted.
"We've had confirmation from the guards in the building that he penetrated that it was indeed Skipper who vandalised the top secret and heavily protected item in stored away" Elvira elaborated, restraining the leader.
"You're arresting me for putting an American flag on a sandwich?!" Skipper scoffed.
"I told you, you're under arrest for trespassing into Demark. Don't think that we didn't notice that you'd destroyed your own files, now move it miscreant" she ordered, shoving him forward. She pulled out a walkie-talkie and contacted other police officers to take him, who jumped into the HQ immediately.
"Wait, Skipper, you can't possibly be going with them?!" Kowalski voiced over the ruckus.
"Sorry boys, it's the law, I'll do my time and be straight out" admitted Skipper, sounding more defeatist than usual, but probably for the best. The other police puffins marched Skipper out of the HQ, who went obediently and dignified. Elvira turned to the remaining penguins.
"Don't miss your Captain too much, it's just to keep the peace" she assured, seeming innocent enough. The officer made her own way out through the hatch.
"...Peace?" Private whispered to himself, under his breath, "Skipper is wrong already".
Silence fell over the HQ.
"So..." Kowalski disrupted the soundlessness, "What do we do now...?"