Penguins of Anarchy III: Edge of Disaster

Eight

Drake entered the cafeteria. All the other prisoners abruptly went silent and turned toward him, wonder in their eyes. Even Felly was staring at him; Drake hoped that his little act of generosity toward the big white penguin and the muscular one might have helped win her back to his side and make her realize that he was still the good guy.

He was the good guy, right?

The lunch lady poured glop onto his tray, nearly spilling some on the counter because she was staring at him bewilderedly. Drake looked at his reflection in the glass separating him from the bins that the lunch lady scooped the glop out of. He had scratches and scabs all over his face and arms; even more wounds were covered by his clothing. Drake sighed; he hoped it had been worth it.

He got his answer when he sat at an empty table and the white penguin and muscular penguin joined him. "Well, I survived," Drake remarked bluntly, taking a small bite of glop and managing not to make a face.

"Why did you do that?" the big white penguin asked in a deep, low voice. He had a shaved head and a long horizontal scar under his left eye. "You could've been killed."

"If I hadn't taken the rap, we all would have been killed," Drake replied coolly. Now it was just a matter of politics: winning these two promising prisoners over.

"What do you care what happens to us?" the muscular penguin asked. He was an aqua-green color with brown flattop hair. "Around here, it's dog-eat-dog."

"Not for me, it isn't," Drake said darkly. He glanced across the room and saw Larikos holding a tray of glop, looking around for a place to sit. Drake and the former president of Argentina locked eyes, and Drake motioned him over to their table.

Larikos cautiously took a seat beside Drake, opposite the other two penguins. Drake looked at the new arrival in wonder; months ago he had led a mission to end peace talks between Argentina and the Martial Alliance. Things went bad when Bledsoe Much revealed that he was a double-agent for Omniscion and Dreemo's leg was shot off. Bledsoe Much then managed to get away with Larikos, while Omniscion was taken into Antarctican custody—though he didn't stay long. "Fancy seeing you here," Drake remarked.

Larikos was light green with brown hair and was balding. He looked very uncomfortable sitting next to Drake. "Same to you," Larikos replied stiffly, with a thick accent. "Who would've thought we'd both end up here?"

"So you remember me?" Drake asked.

Larikos nodded grimly. "You're the soldier who tried to rescue me from Omniscion." He lifted his head and looked around the prison cafeteria, to make a point. "Nice going."

"Things go wrong," Drake replied. "Not every mission is a success."

"But some go better than others," Larikos countered. "When Omniscion's second-in-command captured me, I was taken to an Argentinean prison for a while as the Americans overtook my country like a flood. Then I was transferred to Alcatraz, and here I am."

Drake grunted. He said in a low voice, "Well, I guess, in a way, you could say I'm still in the process of rescuing you."

The white penguin and muscular penguin perked up when he said that. "What's that supposed to mean?" the muscular aqua-green penguin asked.

Drake leaned back and stared at the two penguins sitting opposite him. "Names."

"Huh?"

"Names; give me your names."

"CelticCC," the large white penguin said.

"Glyphton," the muscular penguin said. He spoke in a lower voice, "Do you have an escape plan?"