A/N: Please read note at bottom, it is very important!

"I want to see Mr. Campbell."

Kenny made eye contact with his brother who was leaning on Rico for support.

"I'm sorry for the way I've been acting, everything was just too much and I…"

"We understand." Rocky said. "Would you like me to take you?"

Kenny nodded. "And I want Kowalski to come."

"Are you sure?" Kowalski asked.

"Yes, you're my brother and I'm not letting you get away from me this time." Kenny said.

"That's settled then." Skipper announced. "Rico, Private, and I will go talk to Nicole and Kowalski, Kenny, and Rocky will head to Mr. Campbell's house. You do need to explain what really happened that day."

Kenny's eyes widened in shock. He looked at Private who turned pink.

"Sorry." Private said. "He made me."

The others looked confused, but Skipper said he'd explain later.

…

After Skipper left with Rico and Private, Rocky managed to find out the contact information of Mr. Campbell. Kenny said he wanted to thank him in person for everything.

Kowalski was still weak, but Kenny wanted him to go too. The two of them went in Rocky's car. They drove for an hour and a half until Rocky slowed down. She was searching a street.

"That car looks familiar." She said. "Is that Coach Merrick's?"

"Yes." Kowalski said. He turned to see his confused brother. "She drives to swim practice. The lot is practically empty by the time I get out and I see her near that car."

Rocky found a spot to park and the three of them got out.

"You don't have to come." Kowalski said.

"Well, I have nothing to do and I'm as much in this as you are." She replied.

Kowalski felt it was useless to argue and accepted this as the three walked towards a house.

Kenny hesitated when he got to the door.

"What if he hates me?" He said.

"What? Why would he?" Kowalski asked.

"I'm the one who bailed on the first semester final…and I didn't tell him what was going on…"

"It's not your fault." Kowalski sighed. "If anything, it's on the Penguins. They were after an agent, not you."

Kenny nodded. "But I couldn't help…"

"Sometimes you can't." Rocky said. "Sometimes you just have to let other people handle things. Just like when you called us, you put it into our hands and we got you out of there."

Kenny took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

"Besides, he's probably grateful that it's one of his quieter students visiting." Kowalski said. "I imagine he wouldn't want Mort visiting at the moment."

"Or ever." Rocky said.

They heard a lock click and the door opened.

"Hello, Coach." Kowalski said.

"Taro, what happened to you?" Coach Merrick asked, taking in Kowalski's injured appearance. "When I said keep up the hard work during the summer I meant practicing and exercising, not fighting with a kangaroo."

Rocky laughed. Kenny let out a small chuckle. Kowalski grinned widely.

"Don't worry, I know what happened." Merrick said. She let them in. "I was visiting my brother, but I wasn't expecting any visitors."

"Kenny wanted to talk to Mr. Campbell."

"Ah." She led them to the living room and invited them to sit on the couch. "I'll be right back."

She went into another room as the teens sat.

Rocky and Kowalski chatted while Kenny looked around the room. It was clean, probably because Coach Merrick had been there; a remote was wedged into the cushion of a chair. He could see the kitchen from where he was and it smelled good.

The swim coach came back into the room, shaking her head as she threw away a bag of chips.

"I was eating that!" Mr. Campbell grumbled as he limped down the hall. It was odd seeing him in sweatpants and a Beatles t-shirt as he usually wore professional attire at school.

"I'm a coach; I have to make sure everyone in my team is in top shape. That means no junk food for any reason; I excuse birthday cake and events such as that. But chips are a thing to eat in moderation. I do not accept laziness, right Taro?"

Kowalski jumped. "Er…she doesn't." He said.

"But I'm injured."

Kenny laughed as he saw his math teacher pouting.

"You're on the mend, which means you have to get back into shape." Coach Merrick said.

"You couldn't have let me finish my chips?"

"I could not. And if you try to fish them out of the garbage, I will put you on THE diet again. You heard me, not just a diet, THE diet. Now, one of your students is here to chat." She helped him to the chair.

"Hey, Kenny!" Mr. Campbell greeted cheerily. "Nice to see you two as well."

Rocky and Kowalski smiled.

"Hi." Kenny said.

"So, who did they get to cover my classes for the rest of the semester?"

Kenny groaned. "Her name was Rhonda and she was awful! She literally just sang a song over and over, threw used tissues at Allie, kept calling Ramona 'Miss Bell Monster', gave us pop quizzes on random things, and told Barry he should see a doctor. She also insulted basically the entire country of England in front of Private and kept trying to get him to convert to 'American' and thought I was a foreign exchange student from Norway and called Raj something offensive."

"Did you tell anyone?" Mr. Campbell asked.

"Yes, and Marlene came to see what was going on, but Rhonda grabbed her sweater and used it as a tissue…Marlene was still wearing the sweater…" Kenny shuddered. "This went on for the entire week. Then she just didn't show up for the last full week or finals. Allie and a couple other students tried to help us learn the last two weeks of material. We told Ms. Petrie, but she couldn't find us a substitute or supervisor for two days. We were by ourselves…literally."

Both teachers' jaws dropped.

"There had to be someone who could cover." Mr. Campbell said.

"The only teacher that could was on paternity leave." Kenny said. "We would have been fine with a janitor or security supervisor sitting at the desk while we tried to teach ourselves."

"How did you get anyone to supervise?"

"I brought the subject up to Rico and he was okay with sitting in the classroom." Kowalski said. "He's in Geometry so he already knows sixth grade math."

"It also helps to have smart kids like Private, Ramona and Allie to volunteer to help." Kenny said.

"Kenny you know you're smart, right?" Mr. Campbell said.

Kenny avoided eye contact. "I probably barely passed the final…"

"You took less time than last time." Rocky said. "Private and the others said you were really focused and asked if you needed help."

"But I'm useless." Kenny said. "And I couldn't help…" he trailed off.

"Couldn't help me?" Mr. Campbell asked.

Kenny nodded.

The math teacher sighed. "That's not your job, Kenny." He sighed. "No matter what or who those guys were after, it's my job to protect my students. I chose to fight them and probably I should have locked the door, but I was overconfident. No matter what happened, it's not your fault or Private or Barry or anyone else's fault. I got hurt on the job, but I was able to protect you somewhat. It wasn't your job, it was mine. I was supposed to keep you kids safe."

"You did." Kenny said. "We're all okay. Private managed to scare the other one off and we locked the classroom until it was clear. And then the paramedics came for you."

"I was in the hall, right?" Mr. Campbell asked.

Kenny hesitated. "N-no…Barry, Lee, Marvin, and I dragged you back in while Private kept watch."

The adults stared with wide eyes. Rocky's jaw dropped.

"You went back out?" Kowalski asked, shocked. "W-why would you do that?"

"Our teacher was in danger!" Kenny said.

Everyone sighed.

"What's wrong with wanting him to be safe?" The youngest asked. "He was unconscious, but still breathing."

"I know it's scary to think about, but what if I died?" Mr. Campbell asked. "I know I got hurt pretty bad and was bleeding. I could have been dying…I would rather you left me in the hall so you didn't have to see that. From what I heard from my sister, it was an hour and a half after they backed off that they called off the lockdown."

"We used your jacket to stop the bleeding." Kenny said. "We wrapped it around you and tried to keep you in a horizontal p-position…" He caught his teacher's expression.

"Kenny, I appreciate you and the others for trying to look after me and caring so much about someone you only knew for a year, but…" The teacher sighed heavily. "You scared yourselves by bringing me back in. I know I could have died, but I rather that you didn't have to see me dying…that was brave but foolish."

"Did you know that Paramedics probably could have responded faster if he was in the hall?" Kowalski asked. "It was an hour and a half until the lockdown was called off, but the whole thing was two and a half hours. It took an hour for the attack to begin, finish, and one of the guys to be captured. They did a quick search of the school halls and grounds for any casualties. That took ten minutes."

"Ten minutes to search the entire school?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah. Skipper and Rico were fighting two of the intruders in the ladies room. Skipper had been texting Marlene who was taking care of a sick classmate. The police checked the doors in which they saw damage done. The others were assumed to have been untouched and locked."

"It's hard, I know." Coach Merrick said. "It's hard to let someone be hurt and not be able to help them, but leaving someone alone in a situation like this is probably best."

"Then should I have let my brother die?"

The others looked at the young boy.

"Should I have left it to grownups to find him? I tried to fight back…"

"I think that whatever happened is in the past." Rocky said. "And we should just learn from those experiences and move on."

"Don't beat yourself up, kid." Mr. Campbell said with a smile. "I'm alive now and I don't hold anything against you kids. I should have told you to keep the door locked until the student body was addressed."

Kenny nodded solemnly. "Are you mad?"

"Naturally, yes." Mr. Campbell said.

Kenny smiled.

"Of course not, I didn't give clear instruction and you guys did what you thought was best. I feel bad that I didn't know you when you were in fourth grade. I hadn't started teaching there yet." Mr. Campbell said. "I started teaching at Central Park when Skipper entered the middle school."

"Good old reliable Randy?" Kenny asked.

"That's me."

Coach Merrick shook her head. "Yeah, whatever you have to tell yourself."

"Thank you…for everything." Kenny said.

"You're welcome." Mr. Campbell said. "As I said, it's my job to keep students safe and not only in the classroom. Feel free to talk to me any time about anything. Even if you're not in my classes, you can come to me."

"Do you think the email made Private's mom change her mind?" Kenny asked.

"Well, I think that was a big part." Mr. Campbell answered. "But it was also you and Private talking to her and her listening. You did tell me that she agreed to listen to opinions. She's just a mother, a bit too protective, but a mother. You were amazing. You still are amazing."

Kenny blushed.

"Hey, I agree." Kowalski said. "I love you, bro."

"Aww, and I love you sis." Mr. Campbell said, turning to the swim coach.

"Nice try, you're not getting those chips back." Coach Merrick said, rolling her eyes.

The math teacher pouted again, causing a round of laughter from the teens.

Kenny brought up the fact that Mr. Campbell was working for the same people as the Penguins were. Mr. Campbell was surprised at this. Kenny and Rocky both expressed the desire to join, wanting to help make the world a better place. Everyone agreed with the suggestion that Kenny could help by keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. It took twenty minutes to convince Kenny that this really was the best plan. He asked if PARK B could work with The Penguins, Kowalski's response being that as long as they were out of the danger zone then it should be okay. They still would have to discuss this with the rest of the team. Rocky said that Skipper wouldn't be too happy with Allie, Ramona, and Barry learning about this.

Kenny also added how the class had literally stood up for Mr. Campbell by climbing on their desks in protest of Rhonda. Mr. Campbell grinned and told him that he was proud of all of his students.

…

Meanwhile, the other three Penguins arrived at a huge house that was set apart from the others. They had been told that three families lived there now.

"Hello boys, nice to see you in person." A man greeted them as they approached. "Agent Simms." He added to their confusion. "Be careful when you go in, this happened very recently and they're still distressed."

Noise surrounded them as soon as they entered. Somewhere upstairs, a baby was crying. Two children ran by them, shouting to one another. Someone was talking loudly in the next room.

A small child was coming downstairs, but froze at the sight of the boys.

"Hello." Private said.

Agent Simms closed the door behind them.

The child appeared to be around the age of four or five. She squeaked and ran back upstairs.

"Poor girl, she was moved here recently with her siblings." Simms said. "Their mother is in the hospital and their dad was kidnapped. I believe they're the same people you're looking for."

"I think so." Skipper said.

"Well, come on in for some tea." He led the three boys and Andrew to the kitchen.

Two women were chatting at the table, but stopped when the newcomers entered.

A man was drinking tea at the table. He didn't seem to notice anything.

"Are these our guests?" One of the women asked.

"Yep, they came to talk to one of the new kids." Simms told her.

"Nicole's my friend." Private said.

"I'm sure they'll be delighted to see friends." The other woman said.

The boys sat at the table as they were served tea and cookies.

"Look alive, Agent Garnett!" Simms said. "You're supposed to be doing a routine check, not sleeping on the job."

"So, I'm graced by the presence of Andrew Davis." The man called Garnett said. His face split into a wide grin. "I suppose this is your son?"

"My name's Private." Private said. "Who are you?"

"I'm surprised you don't know, you did grow up with a story about me." Garnett looked at Andrew with a frown. "Don't tell me you didn't tell the story? It was wicked awesome! Okay, I admit the parts with me in it weren't so awesome…and the fact that Nigel almost died…but the ghost girl story was insane."

Rico and Skipper were exchanging looks, trying not to interrupt what might be a reunion. They were really unsure.

"Yeah, not your finest moment." Andrew said. "But I did tell him about Russia."

"So, you're the…" Private trailed off, not wanting to offend.

"The good for nothing ditcher, yep." Garnett sighed.

"Wait, so you really did ditch Nigel?"

"Yeah, I admit that I wasn't proud of it. Though, I say it was all Herbert's fault."

"Herbert was the other teammate?" Private asked. Garnett nodded. "I met him on our mission to Africa…he said that Nigel went crazy."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Andrew looked at his son in confusion.

"You knew I was going to Africa." Private said, equally confused.

"No, I meant about running into Nigel's old teammate." Andrew said. "Did you think that we lied to you?"

Private bit his lip and looked over to his teammates.

"That's what we heard." Skipper said.

"The story's true." Garnett said. "I can't be sure what exactly happened in the abandoned ice village, but I can be sure that we left our teammate. It was a slap in the face for me; I'd never been so disappointed in myself. I vowed to make myself better in the hopes that I could redeem myself in Nigel's eyes. I really did look up to him…I still do. Herbert though, he's the one going crazy with jealousy and bitterness. Really, he's just mad that he got in trouble…such a big baby."

Private felt better about this. The boys started discussing information with the older agents. There were things that the teens weren't ready for yet, but they could handle some sensitive information. Apparently, Blowhole had been capturing some important people. He was trying to infiltrate the schools.

Skipper brought up the incident that happened at the Valentine's dance. Agent Simms thought that the person might have been targeting Mr. Campbell, but the math teacher hadn't been able to make it.

They were about to discuss this further when the kitchen door swung open and a blur came flying at Private.

"Agh!" Private said as the person squeezed him.

"I'm so glad to see someone from the outside!" Nicole squealed. She released Private. "Tell me what's going on? If you're here, that means you got my note. Did you find my uncle? Is he safe? What about my aunt? They won't let us out to see her."

"First off, here's your phone." Private said. "We made sure it didn't have any tracking devices planted on it." He gave her the phone. "Second, I have no idea where your uncle is. Sorry."

Nicole sighed. "Thanks for the phone." She said. "So, how did you know to come here?"

Private hesitated, not wanting to spill any secrets.

"Remember what I told you about our organization?" Garnett asked. Nicole nodded. "Well, you're looking at three of the youngest agents we have."

"You moved here from Britain less than a year ago and now you're part of a secret organization that's trying to stop a madman and generally keep the public safe?" Nicole's eyebrow rose as she stared at Private.

"Er…yes?" Private braced himself for a tirade.

"Well, okay then."

"Huh?"

Nicole smiled and shook her head. "This is all too crazy, but if you can save people then that's cool. Besides, I'm not really too important to their plans. They did take my uncle, but is my aunt okay?"

"She's recovering in the hospital." Simms said. "As soon as she's cleared by the doctor, we'll make sure she comes here to be with you."

"Do you remember if your uncle was acting odd or anything?" Skipper said.

Nicole turned pink. "No, but I-uh…well, I overheard something one night. Uncle Pete was talking to my aunt about strange emails he got from this doctor guy. He was just saying that it was weird that this guy knew we needed a substitute teacher before the school board was notified. Uncle Pete accepted it, but when he emailed the creepy guy to complain about the substitute, he just got a message that he didn't sent the best one. My uncle stopped contacting the guy. I was going to see if any of our classmates knew anything, but they didn't. Allie did point out that something strange was written on the bottom of her test, but she couldn't figure it out."

"Allie?" Private asked. "What does she have to do with this?"

Nicole shrugged. "Beats me." She said. "I promise I won't tell anyone about this, not even Megan."

"Thank you." Private said.

They were able to hang out for a while before the boys had to leave.

…

Private, Rico, and Skipper were fine with the compromise reached about Kenny. As predicted, Skipper was unsure of letting Barry, Ramona, and Allie in on the secret.

PARK B gathered in the Sorenson house with The Penguins late in the afternoon.

Ramona's parents said that as long as a responsible adult dropped off Ramona and Allie at their house by ten, then the girls could stay. The girls had told their parents that they wanted to see how Kenny and Kowalski were doing. In reality, they had been invited after a mysterious message from Private.

Barry told his foster parents he was visiting Kenny. He had gotten the same message too.

Private made them promise to hold all questions until the end and that they couldn't tell anyone. PARK B was attentive and quiet as they listened to Private.

At the end of the explanation, they were staring at Private with stunned expressions.

"So, basically, you're a secret agent and we can help by keeping an eye out at school?" Ramona asked.

"That's the short version." Skipper said. "Do you promise not to tell?"

"We promise!" The younger kids said.

"Rikki and Kenny found out when they got kidnapped by Blowhole. We wanted you to know because you're closest to Private and you'd ask a million questions about disappearances. You could also help cover for us." Kowalski said. "We were hesitant about this because we didn't know how you'd react or if you could keep secrets."

"Don't worry, we'll be quiet about it." Barry said. "I promise I won't do anything stupid ever again." He looked at Rico. "I swear I won't do anything stupid."

"Barry, we already forgave you." Private said.

"You did, I didn't." Barry said.

"If you don't forgive yourself, it'll just eat you up inside." Kowalski said. "By telling you this now, we obviously trust all of you. I know you're afraid of messing up, I am too, but you just have to learn from your mistakes and move on."

Rico put his hand on Barry's shoulder.

"I forgive…not mad…" The older boy said with a smile.

"We're all on the same side, so let's be a team." Private said.

"Are we all in agreement on this?" Skipper said.

Everyone nodded.

"Allie, are you alright?" Private asked. "You haven't said much."

"I'm just tired." Allie said softly.

"Me too, it's late." Ramona said with a yawn.

Skipper's mother drove the girls to Ramona's house. Barry and Kenny retreated upstairs to play videogames. Private said he'd be up in a minute.

"It's only eight." Kowalski said. "Did Allie look a little pale to you?"

The other three nodded.

"Did you all tell your secrets already?" Skipper asked.

"I think so." Private said. "Mine was about our team, we know what Kenny's was, Ramona's was about her sister, and Barry's was about being in a foster home. On the bus back from the Lake, Ramona told me that Allie's half-sister is Doris and Doris has a half-brother. I'm not sure if that's the secret."

"No, she's definitely hiding something else." Kowalski said. "I have a feeling that she knows something."

"You don't think…Kowalski, what's Doris's last name?" Skipper asked.

"Douglas." Kowalski answered. "I've already asked her if she had siblings and she just said she had a sister but they don't live together."

"There is something odd though, they have a relative that they don't talk about…I can't remember his name though." Private said.

"There could be many reasons for disowning him. Possibly he stole money, took people for granted, committed too many crimes to forgive, etc. Allie seems to be the type to not want to talk about that sort of thing. Let's wrap it up for tonight." Skipper said. "We'll pick this up again another time."

"Okay." Private said. He went off to join Barry and Kenny.

Barry was picked up by Jackie an hour later.

Private and Rico stayed over for the night.

…

Private had to leave the next day, saying that he would still think about everything and try to keep an eye out in England.

Rico left a few days later because his friend had invited him to Disney World and was forced by his teammates to take up the offer. It wasn't that he didn't want to go, he was concerned about money. He and Rikki deserved to go somewhere nice and now they couldn't refuse since all the plans were set.

A/N: I feel that there has been a lack of Rico lately, well that's about to change! We've seen Private's first year with his new friends, learned more about Kowalski's side of things, and now we need to delve more into the life of our favorite pyrotechnic! We'll get to see of the latter half of his vacation and how he spends it.

I am not going to write about Rico, Rikki, and friends in Disney World, though…mostly because I have never been there and I don't think I could correctly portray it, sorry if you wanted to see that, but I don't think I could do it justice.

Now to the one thing I have always tried to avoid saying…this story is going to be on HIATUS. Now hold on- wait there…WAIT! Before you get the pitchforks and torches, HEY-you there on the left, third from the back, put that chainsaw down! I know I didn't update in the story and I'm sorry about that. Long updates in profile. I know that doesn't excuse having missed a year of uploading this without warning in a timely manner, but I really wanted one of the stories finished and I chose Camaraderie. I know that story has been done for about six months but stuff happened (check profile) and lo and behold, I had no time for my remaining stories. I quickly realized that I had bitten off more than I could chew, trying to write four lengthy stories at the same time. Yes, I should have put an update in the last chapter or an Author's Note chapter to ease your worries and I am very sorry that I did not do that. Rest assured that in some way, shape, or form, this story will have an ending. It will NOT be abandoned forever. Trust me; I know how it feels to find an incomplete treasure… I have made the heartbreaking discovery before (many times, unfortunately) that a story I was reading hasn't been updated since 2003 or earlier and often without the author saying anything.

I have said it before and I don't mind repeating, I will not leave a story unfinished. Even if I have to write paragraphs of description instead of dialogue to finish a story, I will finish it. One way or another, no matter how long it takes, or what I have to do to finish it, it will have an ending.

For WATP in particular I have so many ideas and so much I want to do, I don't think it's going to end soon, but I wanted to give you a sort of satisfying chapter to pause on. Pause, not stop, because I have so much planned in my head that it hurts not to spill it all now…but alas, for you and me, patience is key. This has been one year in the lives of The Penguins and I intend on covering at least four more years if that says anything. I have not grown tired of this story at all, trust me, I got you.

-TK who loves you all very much and is very sorry for neglecting my stories.