New York - Central Park Zoo – 16:20

Another crash of thunder caused the little Private to turn to the nearest window and let out a submissive squeal that was indistinguishable from neither fright not surprise. Either way, Skipper was not happy. He glanced up from his cards: "Come on, Private. Don't the Lunacorns ever teach you anything useful?" He asked, hoping that it would remain rhetorical. Noticing unease in his young, plump soldier he tried comforting him, "like how thunder is just the echoes of a distant battle? Oooooh, I hope there's high stakes." As usual, his vivid fantasies were at risk of being dashed as he was interjected by Kowalski: "Actually, Skipper. Thunder is caused by a combination of differences in air temperatures, air pressures and the water vapour that makes up the clouds getting excited, usually through the friction created when they rub together. The charge created is then attracted to ground, or in this case, THE ground. This produces the flash of lighting and the sound of the thunder."

Skipper was only half-listening: he had grown to expect this sort of thing off the team brainiac by now who figuratively had more intelligence than he knew what to do with. Skipper was a lot more focussed on the hand in his flippers and the distant battle that was going on with all the brave, fallen soldiers. After all, the Commander could only focus on so many things at once and knowing all that useless, science junk would only displace some useful commando knowledge.

This poker game was almost his, the leader thought as he looked greedily at his own pile of fish and then that of those surrounding him. He gave his Second-in-command what he thought was a convincing, 'thank you' before he pushed a few more of his fish into the centre of the table. He could see this jerked a brief, nervous reaction out of the weapons expert and Private just looked on, lost as ever. Yeah, Skipper knew he had won this game.

All of the eyes around the table were on Rico as the maniac tried to decide what to do. Not that he gave it much thought - man thinking was hard. Eating fish wasn't though, so he instinctively matched Skipper's raised bet with one last glance at his cards and a hopeful stomach.

Private, however, gave a defeated sigh and folded: he was too scared to lose any more fish. He needed all the fish he could get after all, he was still growing. The boy's gaze turned back to the window, really wishing the weather hadn't changed their plans.

His mind was invaded by the heavenly textures and tastes of the snowcones they were going to eat while bathing in the sun, in the most famous park in the world. Well, as bathed in sunlight as 4 stealthy, penguins can be when they're hidden from every prying eye of the public, in the winter. But still, Private was yearning for anything beyond these four walls.

Just then, a damp otter came bursting in, almost as if on cue. Skipper flinched at the sudden intrusion. However, he had conditioned himself to dial back the paranoia and had accepted that evil villains were not likely to just burst through their front door during zoo opening times. But, you never know….

"Guys! I need your help." This earned the otter every eye in the room as they all momentarily forgot about the game of poker – again. "There is a dance coming in the zoo. Something to do with Christmas and celebrating the New Year. Everyone is invited. Even Fred and those from the outside. Aaaaannnddd I have no one to go with." She then narrowed her eye contact from all 4 of them, to just Kowalski. And he so knew what was coming. He would just hate to let her down. "Kowalski, could you do me a huge favour?" She stared at the tallest member of the team, eyes beaded, paws clenched in desperation: "Could you please re-invent-"

"Say no more Marlene. Although I am flattered that I was your first choice, and you must've seen me shaking my tail feathers once or twice, I just do not feel like it would be ideal for us to go to the dance together. Plus, if everyone is invited from outside, I have a lucky mammal already in mind -"

A confused look on Marlene's face caused his ears to catch up to his deflated ego: "Just kidding," a nervous and humiliated Kowalski started, "you were saying?"

An unconvinced Marlene continued, saving the scientist the embarrassment of dwelling on his outburst of confidence. "Uh huh. Yeah, so, anyway. There's this dance coming up and I can imagine it's going to be magical. There's going to be stars out, there's going to be fireworks. And I want there to be sparks. I want to make sure I go with the right one. You know – THE one. I was wondering if you could give your Luv-u-lator another go?"

Kowalski was hit by a large range of emotions that overwhelmed him: Pride that someone finally, actually remembered something that he had invented; serious thought as to whether it could be fixed; but mainly, just shear awkwardness from his outburst. His beak was moving before his, usually-active, brain could think. Trying to get out of the situation as fast as possible. Working on reflexes. "Well, I do have a few other projects on the go at the moment that need my attention. But I'll see what I can do."

"Oh. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Marlene found herself wrapped around the tall scientist as he began to fluster and rethink what his ego had claimed earlier. But before he had time to think, the hyperactive otter was already on her way towards the door.

The metal thumped as the door was shut and secured automatically. Skipper apathetically looked back at his hand, disappointed that something had come between him and his fish. Even if he had to admit, he did like conversing with the mammal from time to time. "Come on men, are you going to play this hand? Or am I going to have to forcibly take the fish out of your naïve flippers?" The prompted 'men' picked up their cards and an "apologies Skipper" was cast in his direction. Kowalski matched Skipper's bet and it was time for the reveal. Skipper had two pairs, he went to reach for the fish but was stopped by an "Ah, Skipper. I believe three of a kind, beats 2 pairs." Skipper was in disbelief as he stared at the pair of Aces on the table and the ace in his Tactician's hand. (Well, flippers). Kowalski reached out and took the fish out of the centre and added it to his pile. "Well, this has been fun. Can never have too much Omega-3 and all that. But from the sound of the recent events, I have a lot of projects to work on along with a few of my own. I can't deny the call of science. She knows all languages."

Private, given the opportunity, chose to leave. Scared to lose any more fish. Hoping that the TV would offer some solace after the crushing disappointment of the weather. On cue, a new episode of The Lunacorns sprung into life across the TV and a smile reciprocated across the Private's face.

Rico, wasn't sure why, but recently he had taken more of an interest to Kowalski's work. He didn't understand any of it, maybe that was what made it so fascinating. That he would watch his teammate as he screwed the occasional bolt, welded the occasional metal and hours later a weapon of destruction was created. Well, they were not originally intended for that purpose but the scientist had a knack for endangering the whole planet and causing a lot of danger. And risking his life, is what made the psychotic bird feel alive. So, he followed Kowalski in tow into the lab.

Skipper was at a loss. First his fish were taken from him, then his team. He decided it would be best to go for a walk. Technically the zoo was still open for a few more minutes but he doubted any visitors would still be around for closing time in this weather. Especially if the ill-tempered zookeeper was in charge of ushering everyone out. Anything was better than the Lunacorns after all. "Oh Selfrespectra, you do get yourself in some frightful situations." Skipper heard Private say to an unresponsive TV as he climbed the last few rungs. That settled it. Skipper embraced the winter chill and the power of the wind, and set off. His first foot making contact with the hard, concrete floe as the Antarctic fowl fought against the very thing that Mother Nature created with all other birds in mind.

Back in the lab, Kowalski was surprised by his company: he was used to long nights alone with just his music, his brain and his mistress. But real company was much better than a list of personified metaphors, he had to admit. "Ah Rico. Care to help me with my latest invention?" A loose tongue flopped against the air as the enthusiastic head of the penguin nodded. "Ah good. It's a tractor beam. I've seen a lot of these in science fiction films but I knew that I could make it science… non-fiction" Kowalski was taken aback at his lack of articulacy but his company didn't notice. "All I had to do was give the light mass so that it has momentum and is therefore able to move objects, no matter their size. As light speed is as fast as is possible and momentum is just speed multiplied by its mass." His speech seemed to have been lost on his second. As he seemed fixated on tractors and therefore food but also perplexed by the thought that light could have a speed.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I'm almost done, I just need you to acquire me a few more bolts from somewhere. And I noticed that there's a billboard in the zoo that is just nothing but an inconvenience and an eye sore. So..."

The look of ecstasy was almost off putting as the psychotic bird only had one word to reply with: "kaboom?" And the scientist could reply with one word also: "precisely." And with that the exchange was over. The weapon expert was off and ready to obtain these bolts by any explosion necessary. He meant any means necessary. All he wanted was to explode things and make sure Kowalski finished his experiment so he could see some more explosions. He belly-slid off across the floe in search of the 'eye sore'.

Skipper could smell trouble from a mile away, he could also hear trouble from a limited distance and something in his underfed gut told him that the last crash of thunder was premature and different to the rest. He knew this could only be bad news. He changed the direction and pace of his relaxing walk to get to the crime scene as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.

Upon arrival, it was clear to no-one but Skipper that this had been the work of his team. The debris and smoke that gently hung in the air told the story of a penguin dismantling a sign with such expertise it could've almost fooled Skipper. He had hoped to catch Rico red-handed but had no such luck. The stout penguin had no option but to admire his teammate as he decided that, like the billboard, he had had enough wind and loud percussion for one day and headed home.

Rico was first to arrive and bypassed an entranced Private and headed straight for the lab door. Not even giving the TV as much of a glance. He, however, did wonder if that time spent getting advice off ponies could be good for the little fella. It's hard to be the best of the best when you're most worried about forgetting manners.

In the lab, Kowalski was taking a break. Well the avian didn't really know the definition of a break, he was more working on a different project, one that required more mental strain than a physical one as the tall bird, sat hunched over a cardboard box with the illustration of only a small explosion on: his collection of only minor failed inventions.

As Kowalski found the fruit of his searches, a metal box comparable in size to a sardine can. He glanced at the screen and noted it was out of charge, but besides that and a bit of dirt from his rescue from the zoo trashcan, it was in pristine condition for one of Kowalski's inventions. Marlene's sample might have even been in the pink hub from the last time he used the invention.

The scientist's mind started to wander as he recalled the last time this invention was in use. He had invented it to prove that him and Doris were meant to be but had only added another tally to list of failed inventions and signs it was never going to happen. This thought caused a slight lump at the back of his throat as the wish to be alone to recover, and never be alone again conflicted in his head.

"Er… K'waski?" Rico made his presence clear to his teammate, showing a little concern for the tall bird who was sighing in desperation, but also felt slight disappointment that Kowalski had ditched the food, tractor, speed thing that he had just gone out in the rain to help him complete.

Kowalski span around to greet his teammate with forced enthusiasm: "Ah, Rico. You're back. I hope that getting those bolts wasn't too much to your inconvenience?" The addressed penguin just shook his body ferociously in an attempt to dry himself and reclaim his Mohawk, but at the same time showed a smug grin as he began wheeze and cough and presented Kowalski with an abundance of screws, bolts and washers. Some still attached to bits of the billboard which spoke volumes of Rico having fun outside.

"Thank you, Rico. This should be more than enough to finish the invention. Could you please place them in the box labelled 'Screws' please while I take a look at this?" The word "labelled" was used inappropriately here as the penguins could neither write nor read so Rico had to just go with what drawing looked the most like a screw.

Having given it his best efforts, he joined Kowalski at the bench of the lab as he tried to recall where he had seen the box, which Kowalski was currently at work on, before. Something told him it was not fish. Then a brief fraction of a memory entered Rico's mind and he remembered exactly what it was. After a string of sporadic syllables and charades.

Kowalski, was too reminded of the other half of the story of the Luv-u-lator. How the sample Marlene gave led straight into the park and to a very dim squirrel named Fred. The locating on that device was far from the only thing a little wrong with that invention: it had said that Marlene and Fred were the perfect match. Even just that memory forced the sides of Kowalski's beak to curve upward beyond his control. And then this turned into a full-blown smirk as he recalled the rest of that day. How Marlene naively mistook Fred's expelling of internal thought as his humour; how it had enraged King Julien with Jealousy and how they had 'fought to the death' over her. Maybe science hadn't forsaken Kowalski after all, maybe it was just the mistakes of a mere, mortal scientist.

This new take on the failed situation spurred the genius on in his quest for love as he tore open the radar sardine can and inspected the wiring. Although this was fascinating for the scientist, the other bird's attention was slowly draining away. He could only sit and pretend to try and understand what Kowalski was doing for so long. And this altering of wiring inside of a sardine can was well and truly a one man job.

The weapon's expert's mind was then filled with a dancing devil as he thought up ways in which he could mess with his teammate without causing any serious harm or hindrance – well… ways to mess with the scientist. He started off by just pulling faces at Kowalski, just within his peripheral vision in the hope he would be able to convince him that he was just seeing things. However, the tall bird seemed completely immersed in his inventing and did not even seem to register that Rico was still present.

So, with slight disgruntlement, the hefty bird dropped to his feet and started touring the lab. One thing that caught his eye was a beaker in which a liquid was spinning about. And once one liquid was added, it turned a ruby red. Once the other was added, it switched to green and then blue. Instincts told him that sort of magical, colour-changing soup could not be good for you. Despite the inventory he housed within his own stomach.

Moving on, within the lab he was also presented with a test tube rack on the side in which several mean-looking liquids sat with bongs to contain them. And finally he moved onto the boxes with illustration on. Kowalski surely wouldn't mind if he went through the box of only mildly-failed inventions now he had the luv-u-lator surely?

His question was answered almost immediately, he cast aside such inventions as the anti-gravity socks, the stop watch and shrink ray before this caught Kowalski's attention. "Rico, may I ask what you're doing?"

As the bigger penguin reached for the next item in this box, he replied in his own way. Kowalski could sense the slight frustration in his voice and knew he was one more harmless invention away from leaving to Mrs Perky for the night. However, Kowalski didn't really see the need for him to stick around so didn't fight to keep him there. After all, he needed to be as in tune with his love of science to be able to successfully achieve his real love of his life. Doris.

With a grunt and a dismissive wave of loss of interest, the weapons expert returned to the main living quarters. He went in search for his girlfriend in his bunk as he heard his name being called by an unimpressed leader. "Rico. Did you '86' that sign just outside the chimp habitat? I did not give you permission to do that soldier, this is a direct example of insubordination. What if the humans get suspicious?" The weapon's expert could only reply with a sheepish, "heh, heh…" "Don't expect your morning drills to be easy." and with a stern look the leader dropped it as he had much more important matters to attend to, the base was almost ready to lockdown for the night.

"Commence operation: Lights out." As if the bellowing leader did not give them enough notice, the flashing red light, alarm and artificial voice giving them a running, depleting of how much R&R time they had left would suffice. Private left the TV quite content with the knowledge of how best to say 'Thank you', Rico tightly embraced his doll before climbing into his bunk and Kowalski returned hesitantly from his lab: He always hated leaving inventions half-finished but Kowalski knew from experience that to directly disobey another order off Skipper was unwise.

Within moments the flashing lights and alarms stopped and the HQ was sense-deprived. Perfect for the soldiers to get their much-needed shut-eye.