Penguins of Anarchy IV: Endgame

Three

A lone wolf carefully sniffed the cold Siberian air as it slowly plodded through the snowy forest. It had left its pack in interest of going off on its own; now it let out a long, sad howl, wishing it had never left its pack behind.

The wolf perked up its ears at the sound of a buzzing in the distance. As the sound got closer, the buzz transformed into a roar. Before the wolf knew what was happening, a gunship scraped the tops off the trees over its head as it soared past it, its engines sputtering. Like a crippled animal, the gunship finally smashed into the ground two hundred meters away and grinded across the snowy landscape, smashing any trees in its path to pieces, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Finally, the gunship came to a stop in the middle of the expansive Siberian forest. The boarding ramp was already halfway pried off from the crash.

Two penguins woozily emerged from the crashed vehicle. "That was some landing, Camo," Drake growled with a frown. "I'm glad you managed to keep the landing unnoticeable," he added as he gazed at the uprooted trees and trenches of dirt stretching behind the gunship's crash site.

"I'd like to see you do better, when you have no fuel and no open area to land on!" Camo retorted angrily.

Drake whistled. "All clear!" he called. Gostt appeared from the gunship, supporting Dreemo's weight as the latter hopped forward. Glyphton then emerged, helping Riker walk. Finally, Felly peeked outside and then slid to the ground, a look of despair on her face as she gazed at the vast wilderness surrounding them.

Glyphton sat Riker down against a large rock and then trotted over to Drake. "I can't be the only one getting a sense of déjà vu, can I?" he asked. Drake grunted as he recalled crashing into a similarly snowy Canadian forest just a few days ago with Glyphton, Larikos, and Celtic, just after they had lost Nekron and killed President Agamemnon. Glyphton looked back at the gunship, with its wrecked boarding ramp and smoking stump where the left wing used to be. "I seem to remember your crash to have gone better."

"You said we'd have enough to refuel!" Felly exclaimed angrily.

"I didn't say we'd find a place to land in time before we ran out," Glyphton countered. Drake noticed he seemed rather sheepish, and there was no irritation in his voice.

"I'm just glad we made it overland before the fuel ran out," Gostt stated. "It's better than crashing in the middle of the ocean."

"You seem to be missing the point, Masky," Camo hissed irritably. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, and no matter how much fuel we have left, we don't have a plane to use it on anymore!" He gestured at the ruined gunship.

"At least we're in Asian territory," Gostt said. "The Alliance hasn't penetrated Russia's defenses yet, last I checked."

"Your optimism is really making me want to punch your teeth out," Camo growled menacingly.

"I'm not being optimistic," Gostt replied calmly. "We're probably as good as dead. But at least we didn't crash in the water, and we're in friendly territory."

"Gee, I feel a lot better now," Glyphton remarked.

"Yeah, as if the Russians would even hesitate for one second before they shot us to pieces if they saw us!" Camo snarled. "We don't exactly look much like cavalry if you ask me!"

"Calm down, Camo," Drake warned.

Camo whipped around to face his brother. The feelings he had been holding back since Drake had first rescued him from Waff suddenly exploded from him. "Don't tell me to calm down! This is all your fault anyway! Out of all the penguins in your task force, how could you choose to make a secret plan with Gostt, and not even tell me about it?! How could you not tell your own brother, the penguin that you've fought and almost died with since we were teenagers, about your idiotic plan to destroy the Alliance?!"