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Gary was the first missing. He didn’t show up for his scheduled Club Penguin Times interview, and the last anyone saw of him was the day prior; working hastily on removing a virus from the Field Op controls.
So, here Guy was. He stared up at the frozen scientist, angry and confused- it wasn’t the first time this week he had felt like this.
Not fifteen minutes ago he’d had been ambushed by the crab army, who pulled him into their base with nothing but their overwhelmingly strong claws and an order straight from Herbert himself. Long, chilling corridors were no match for the thermal plate Guy hid in his suit, but he had a terrible feeling about his capture. If only he could ask the crabs what Herbert would do to him.
Rookie could have translated, had he been there and not encased in ice.
Gary, Rookie, and Dot. The strongest agents at the EPF, all frozen within glass chambers, mouths open in protest and bodies against the glass. They were all there, besides the Director… not that he thought Herbert could even get to the director, much less kidnap her the same way he did Guy. He rolled his shoulders one last time against the claws and knew his fate wasn’t a happy ending.
“Well, well, well,” A booming voice laughed, “What do we have here? Another pesky agent that decided to get in my way.” Guy knew exactly who it was. He had spent hours memorizing this single voice, looping back Field Ops audio in case anything like this sudden ice age happened.
“Let them go, Herbert,” he growled out. “You can’t keep them trapped forever.”
The bear laughed, placing a spread paw over his stomach and wiping imaginary tears with his other. “Oh, can’t I? It looks like you’ve already lost, agent- you, and the rest of the pathetic Elite Penguin Force. Soon you’ll join them.”
Jet grit his beak. “You won’t get away with this!” He struggled harder against the crabs as they pulled him towards the tubes. He could see his friends’ faces now, the way Gary’s glasses were knocked askew and Dot’s dress was torn. The desperate plea Rookie’s face was permanently frozen in, the way Guy had never loved and hated those knock-off sunglasses so much before as they blocked Rookie’s eyes and the ice was so thick, so deep that the only thing visible behind those glasses were shadows.
Herbert was talking to someone off to the side, and Guy craned his neck towards them. “Nah, the ice’ll just freeze all the jet fuel anyway.” The crab clicked something back. Guy knew the EPF should have booted Klutzy off the island the moment Ace caged it.
And then he was shoved into a remaining chamber. Rather forcefully, like he was some sort of nuisance they were done dealing with. If only there was a way to show Herbert how much of a nuisance he could be, but the cell was filling up with air so fast and so frigid it sealed his lungs and his limbs felt numb but still, he had to try, so he rammed his jet pack into the chamber door with what little strength he had left-
It wasn’t enough.
God, he should have listened to her. Where was Aunt Arctic now? Was she safe?
His last breath was filled with thoughts of what the headline would be on the newspaper tomorrow, how Gary would never have the chance to make those adjustments on his water converter machine, how Dot would never plan the next party with Cadence, how he would never get the chance to see the dimple in Rookie’s grin, the one that always silenced him and the one that always led into nervous laughter, of “What’s with that look?”, of-
Ace, if you’re out there.