This is my first humanized story and my first story with any kind of Skileen, don't worry, plenty of that in future chapters. this will be a slightly longer story than my last one. I'v made private far too young to join the army, but that will be explained later.

Three men, and a boy who looked about fourteen entered the house next door. They were her new neighbors! Marlene gave them an hour to settle in before knocking on the door. She looked forward to welcoming the new additions to the neighborhood.

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private exited the car. "Just smile and walk boys, we're a normal family remember," Skipper whispered, reminding them of their cover. However, as soon as they entered the house, the smiles and the normal family behavior disappeared. "Alright, men. Our mission is to discover any information we can about Blowhole. Private will join the local school, Kowalski has a job at the JulianTech labs, I'm posing as Private's father and will be working for a law firm called Hans and Savio. Rico will be working as a demolitions expert in the construction firm Clemson PLC. All these companies and schools are suspected of assisting Blowhole in ways which you have already been briefed on. Any questions?" Private raised his hand, "I didn't know you have a law degree, Skippah."

"Technically, no, but thanks to a four day crash course on the internet and Kowalski's hacking skills, I do now. Anything else? Oporation: unpack these boxes is a go." They were about to start unpacking when they heard a knock at the door.

"Hi," Skipper opened the door to see a young woman, with long chestnut brown hair. She was wearing jeans and a summer blouse, and holding a box of chocolates. Skipper knew from the dossiers he had read on the various people who lived in the area, that her name was Marlene Drew, she was 27 years old, worked as a receptionist at Hans and Savio, and loved Spanish guitar and oysters, "Well, you're my new neighbours, so I decided to bring a small housewarming gift. Oh, by the way, my name's Marlene." Then marlene realised they still might be unpacking, "Oh... Um... I didn't come at a bad time, did I? I know you guys have a lot of unpacking..."

"Now's fine, come on In." Skipper replied. As he led the way to the living room he stepped on a hidden button on the floor, which signaled the others to get into character. Private sat lazily on the couch and began to play a videogame, Kowalski turned over a new page on his clipboard, but otherwise acted like himself. Rico hid the various weapons he was cleaning in his backpack. Skipper and Marlene walked into the room.

"Hi, guys," Marlene greeted, everyone but Private looked up at their guest, hiding their analytical and paranoid thoughts hidden behind welcoming smiles.

"Right, this is Marlene, our new neghbour. My name's John, John Henderson," Skipper began his introductions, "This is my cousin Conner," Kowalski shook hands with Marlene. "This is my friend Rico, he's staying with us until he can get his apartment sorted out," Rico also shook hands with their guest. "And this is my son Thomas." Private gave Marlene the classic teenage sneer then returned to his video game. Skipper pretended to be embarrassed by Private's rude behavior. "Thomas, put the game down and say hello to our new neighbors." Private passed the game to Kowalski. The electronic device was actually an infra red scanner, that had been checking Marlene for guns or bugs, anything to indicate she was working with Blowhole. Kowalski switched the game off, which was a signal to Skipper that Marlene was clear of anything harmful.

"So you're a demolitions expert?" Asked Marlene. Rico tried his best to reply, despite his speech difficulties.

"Aa. Na emson ruction." Marlene looked sligltly puzzled.

"He has a speech difficulty," Skipper explained, "He meant to say that he has a job with Clemson construction."

"Oh, that company that just finished the Hans and Savio building. I work there."

"So do I," Skipper replied, "I'm starting the new corporate crime division."

"I thought your name sounded familiar."

After about half an hour Marlene excused herself, "Well, its been great to get to know you all, but I gotta be at the office early." Marlene stood up. Skipper walked back to the door with her and opened it.

"Nice to get to know you too. I guess I'll see you at the office." Skipper replied. Marlene nodded.

"bye." Marlene left the house and started to walk home.

The next day, Skipper woke Private up at 0630. "First day of school, soldier," Skipper shouted when Private buried his head under his pillows trying to get a few more minutes sleep, "I wont have you arriving late." Finally Private dragged himself out of bed. He followed Skipper downstairs where the leader had made pancakes. Kowalski and Rico were already downstairs. "You have ten minutes to eat and get ready. Meet me outside in the car at 0642." Skipper ordered passing Private a plate full of pancakes.

"Skippah," Private asked cautiously, "Do I really have to act so rude and nasty to everyone? I know its my cover, but cant I just act that way when I'm at school?"

"Manfridi and Johnson asked a similar question back when we were infiltrating BADGER, back in Alaska. They wanted to allow an inconsistency in their cover to impress a girl. Their heads were sent back to me via room service the next morning." Skipper glared at the younger penguin, after recounting his former teammates' misadventure.

Skipper had arranged for Private to be seated next to Archie Bennett during math, the lesson in which he was most likely to misbehave, giving Private a better chance of earning his favor. Skipper believed Archie had some kind of connection to Blowhole, but wouldn't reveal his source. Archie threw an eraser at the boy seated next to him. "Welcome, newbie," He sneered. He followed this with a kick to Private's ankle. "Oi!" Private elbowed the other boy in the ribs. The teacher turned around, "Bennett, Henderson, see me after school."