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Skipper’s yelling broke the silence of the early morning base, waking everyone on the floor up immediately. It likely woke up the floor above him too, with how loud it was. Classified had been woken up by it and came running, worried someone had managed to breach the base and break in. He didn’t even bother throwing on a jacket or anything, he just raced out of his room still in his pajamas. He skidded to a halt in front of Skipper’s room, typing in the override code on the lock in his panic. He threw open the door, fully expecting to see Skipper under attack.
Instead, upon opening the door, a small wave of water spilled out into the hall. Skipper was standing in the middle of the room, soaking wet and staring at Classified in confusion. His bedroom was flooded with a good foot or two of water, soaking the carpet and bed sheets. Part of the ceiling had fallen in on the other side of the room, and water was still pouring out of the hole. It looked like Skipper was trying to move some non-water safe items out of harm’s way, and several things had been placed on the desk in a haphazard manner. The sound of running water raged in the background of the chaos.
Skipper pushed wet hair out of his eyes, giving Classified an awkward look before gesturing at the damaged ceiling.
“Sorry for the commotion Wolfie, let’s just say I had a rude awakening.” He chuckled, trying to make light of the situation in any way he could.
“Wha- What the blazes is going on in here pegwing??”
“I don’t know Classy, if I did I don’t think I’d be having this problem.”
Classified rolled his eyes at that, gingerly trying to make his way into the still-flooding room. Wet carpet was not something he was fond of in the slightest, he found. Water and fleece wasn’t a nice combination either, but he wasn’t going to complain about it just yet. They had much bigger things to worry about.
He followed Skipper over to the gaping hole in the ceiling, holding up a hand to the water and finding it was hot. Why was hot water falling out of the ceiling? Squinting and looking up through the hole, despite being warped by the water, Classified could almost make out the floor above them. It looked like a bathroom? Did someone on the upper floor leave the bath on or something?
Splashing could be heard from behind them, and the two turned around to see the other three Penguin operatives entering the room. They all had been in attack poses, clearly expecting someone other than Classified, so they were rather surprised to see him calmly standing there. By this point, Skipper and Classified were both soaking wet and looked rather ridiculous. Skipper laughed for a moment, before waving his teammates to stand down.
“False alarm soldiers, it’s just a technical issue. You can go back to bed.” He chuckled, squeezing some water out of his hair. Kowalski started to object, before looking at Classified and immediately turning to the other two and ushering them out of the room. Classified was a little confused why his presence would make them leave, and he would have mused on it longer, if Skipper hadn’t splashed him with the water still pouring from the ceiling.
Skipper was clearly holding back laughter at Classified’s reaction. After a moment’s contemplation, he grinned and splashed Skipper right back. Skipper finally burst into laughter and it turned into an impromptu water fight.
“How long had you been waiting to do that?” Classified said through his laughter, shaking himself off.
“Since you first walked in,” Skipper chuckled, “just had to wait for the right moment.” Classified stuck his tongue out at him briefly, still grinning. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and took a second to look around the room. Thankfully, not a lot got damaged when the ceiling fell. Sure, there was water everywhere and the furniture the ceiling fell on was destroyed, but it didn’t damage any electronics. A quick glance over Skipper’s shoulder showed that the plush he gave Skipper last Valentine’s Day was also safe, sitting on the desk with the rest of the haphazardly rescued items.
There was still about a foot of water in the room, and a few stray articles of clothing were floating around. Sudden footsteps could be heard on the floor above, grabbing both of their attention.
“I’m so sorry about your ceiling!” A young woman’s voice said, yelling over the still rushing water. “I left the bath running and I think a pipe burst. I am so sorry!”
“It’s fine! It could’ve been worse!” Skipper yelled back. He turned to Classified. “This is covered by North Wind’s insurance right?” Classified shrugged, he couldn’t actually be sure off the top of his head. He looked down for a second, before getting an idea and grinning at Skipper.
“Well, if she can get the water stopped, since your room is in shambles right now, you could come stay in mine for the night.” Skipper perked up at that, smiling at Classified. He followed Classified out of the still flooded bedroom stopping briefly to grab Mozart from where he had been tossed on the desk. When they opened the door again, water continued flowing out into the hall, and one confused looking intern stared on at the situation from the background. It wasn’t really like anyone could do anything about the water until morning anyway, so it was just going to keep flooding the room and hall till someone upstairs could turn it off.
The two of them walked through the corridor, a slight puddle of water creeping slowly behind them. This was definitely something they would have to deal with in the morning. Classified stayed close to Skipper as they made their way back towards Classified’s room.
