Chapter Text
The plane ride went faster than anyone expected. Skipper decided that the group would stay at a hotel for the night. Eva was going to pick them up in the morning after they ate breakfast. Private enjoyed the blueberry pancakes.
"I got a text from Eva, she's going to pick us up and take us to base." Kowalski looked down at his phone. Kowalski looked more dressed up than usual; he smelled of heavy cologne.
"Chico amante!" Rico snickers as he lights a cigarette.
"Kowalski, that's a lot of cologne" Skipper wrinkles his nose at the smell of the strong scent.
"The reviews were nice, Skipper. So many five stars on Jungle!" Kowalski protested.
Private wrinkled his nose as well.
"Did you have to use the whole bottle?" Private complaints.
A white BMW pulled up at the hotel. The license plate read. A woman with a platinum blonde pixie cut, aquamarine blue eyes, her thin lips forming a small cupid's bow smile. Almost like an owl's beak. She was wearing a cyan turtleneck sweater and tight white high-rise jeans, the outfit hugging her glass bottle figure. Dangling from her ears were a pair of white feather earrings.
"Hello stranger" she greets Kowalski and she starts to chuckle. Eva gave Kowalski a quick peck on the cheek.
Kowalski started rubbing the back of his neck.
Rico makes kissy noises teasingly.
"Come on, put your bags in the trunk, we have lots to discuss." Eva pushed a button opening the trunk.
The group put their bags in the trunk. Kowalski took the front seat. On the seat was a brass frame with a picture. Kowalski took a look at the photo.
The picture was of a family in a rose garden. A woman who looked just like Eva was wearing a pink satin dress and was standing next to a man. A stoic look was on the woman's face. Her husband. The husband who had shaggy brown hair and green eyes and was wearing a brown suit had a great big toothy smile on his face. On the woman's lap was a little girl who looked to be three or four. She had her hair in two twin braids. On her body was a green cotton frock. She was almost a carbon copy of her mother. Standing beside the husband was a boy who was six. He was wearing a navy blue sailor suit. He looked like the husband in the photo.
"Is that your family Eva?" Kowalski asked.
"I don't know how that photo got into the vehicle." Eva picked up the photograph and placed it under the driver's seat. She didn't bat an eye at the photograph or even care that Kowalski was interested in the photo.
"A little advice, leave your past at the base doors. There is no need to remember it. We need our agents to remain in the present" She said with no emotion.
Eva puts her key into the car ignition. And drove off with the new agents inside. Eva pushed another button meant to soundproof the vehicle.
"Kowalski, I was told you'd be working in the IT department. You start at 9:00 and you leave at 5:00. You'll have to discuss payment with Barbra Sterling." Eva didn't sound too happy when she mentioned Barbra's name.
"You don't sound happy about that." Kowalski noticed putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Barbra is quite a piece of work," Eva states.
"When did she show up?" Kowalski inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Classified is on probation. For his handling of The Dave incident. Barbra is from the high commission set to supervise him. The old hag better not have a listening device!"
They drove on a road through the suburbs. The houses all looked the same. Houses with red roofs white fences and an equally white populace. Kids were outside drinking juice from pouches or chasing each other with water balloons or water pistols while their mothers gossiped. The people living in the neighborhood are not aware of the base in the outskirts.
"Ugh must be an HOA neighborhood, thank god I don't live here" to everyone's surprise Eva stuck her tongue out.
"I don't recommend home owners associations those patsy's think there problems are so bad."
The suburbs slowly turned into the countryside rolling by slowly. Private peeked out the window from the car door and he saw vast meadows containing yellow lazy-eyed susans, blue and purple cornflowers, and tall white mayweeds standing tall alongside red poppies. So many flowers in different shades. The flowers and grass swayed in the wind. The sky was blue with fluffy white cumulus clouds accompanying it.
"I hear lots of school children in the area use the meadows as a shortcut to get to school," Eva remarks.
"Speaking of which, Private school starts in a week. Are you excited?" Eva asked Private.
"Not really." Private said glumly.
"Starting a new school can be stressful and scary. You know
Skipper was glancing out the window. He sees three children. The children were following the vehicle. The three kids consisted of two girls and a boy. The boy is ten and the girl eight.
The boy had shaggy brown hair, he was wearing a black shirt with a white wolf printed on it he like his two sisters had striking blue eyes. On his feet were red high-top sneakers.
One of the girls had chestnut brown hair as well as tied into two pigtails wearing a cotton dark purple dress. The dress had a wolf embroidered on the skirt with white socks and black Mary Jane Shoes.
The other girl had long black hair. She was wearing a denim blue overall dress over a white shirt. A wolf was embroidered on the pocket of her overalls.
Eva stopped the vehicle near the kids.
"Speak of the devil."
She opened the door.
"Need a lift?" Eva asked the boy.
"Yes Eva that would be nice, thank you." The brown-haired girl climbed into the car. The two other kids follow the brown-haired girl.
"Private, this is Shaun, Luna, and Cassandra." Eva introduced the three kids.
"They are living with Classified." She elaborated.
"Hi, I'm Shaun. Are you the new kid?" Shaun took something from his pocket. It was a lollipop.
"I hope you like the butterscotch lollies. Those were the only free ones near the bank." Shaun offered.
"Do I?!" Private happily took the lollipop from Shaun. He happily ate the candy.
"You like old lady sweeties?" Shaun bluntly asked.
"If it is old lady candy then yes I like it." Private unwrapped the lolly and placed it in his mouth.
"So that makes you an old lady!" Shaun taunts.
"I'm not an old Lady!"
"That's enough Shaun!" Eva scolds giving Shaun the glare. It got Shaun to shut up.
The brown-haired girl took out a cup for Eva.
"Thank you, Cassie," she said graciously.
"I'm Luna! She's Cassie!" Luna points towards the black haired girl gathering a bouquet of queen anne's lace.
"Come on Cassandra let's go, we're going home."
"Hmm? Oh yes ok we're going. Hello new kid." she hopped into the vehicle.
unlike Shaun or Luna's cockney accents Cassie's accent sounded like she was from Cambridge or Oxforfshire like Classified.
"Hi Cassie, I'm Private." He stuck out his hand for a shake.
Cassie gave Private one of her queen Anne's lace.
"You're not penguins, your people."
"Of course they are not penguins Cassie. The penguins are the name of the group." Luna
Eva started the vehicle once again.
They were almost towards a forest when the car suddenly stopped.
"What the Hell?!" Eva was quite startled as was everyone else accept Cassie.
She went out of the car to see what the cause of the sudden bump in the road was. She peered underneath the vehicle to see a dead deer.
"Ugh, a stupid deer left on the road! Probably died yesterday, looks like we'll be taking a different road." Eva got back into the vehicle. Eva kicked the dirt in frustration.
"Deer are dumb, just the other day I was watching a deer when a wolf in a black robe on its hind legs walked towards it. He had big red glowy eyes and it was white. The wolf-whistled and the deer walked towards him and the deer just died when the wolf touched his head. The wolf didn't take the deer with him to eat. He just left it there." Cassie recounts as she pulled her fingers. She was saying this as though she was recalling a playdate with a friend.
"Wolfs don't stand on their hind legs Cassie you're making it up!" Luna told Cassie.
"Don't be stupid Cassie, it was probably just a man in a wolf costume that likes to run around scaring kids." Shaun retorts.
"I'm not making it up, I saw a wolf in a black cloak whistling!" Cassie protests. Cassie pursed her lips copying the wolf's whistle.
"Like that"
Skipper freezes for a bit. He has heard that whistle frequently. He once heard the whistle during the incident in Denmark or when Dr. Blowhole left him to drown in the Atlantic ocean.
"Cassandra we've been over this! Going near wild animals is very dangerous! That wolf could have eaten you!" Eva scolds.
"I wasn't worried about the wolf eating me. Because wolves do not eat people. Wolves eat deer, rabbits, beavers, elk, bison, and moose. The grown-up wolf eats up to 20 pounds of meat. That is true." Cassie didn't see what Eva was complaining about.
"Well, Cassandra sometimes wild dogs attack humans when they have rabies. To test a dog for rabies it has to die. So we can take its brain. Please Cassandra be a little bit more careful when you explore." Eva said a little more softly as she took a sip of her coffee.
Rico heard that whistle before as well.
"Silbato de muerte" was what Rico whispered to himself. He really wanted a cigarette.