Episode 1: Licensed to Dress to Kill

Harcourt sighed; slightly distrusted by the unsporting way Dick had dealt with the two guards. He pulled the uniform off the second guard, picked up his cane, and slid it down his back out of sight. He could walk without it, at least for a little while.

Once both were suited up they headed to the lift and activated it.

The life came to a halt and both men glanced round at where they had arrived. They were in a gleaming metal corridor, one wall oddly sloped. Windows on the walls showed views of labs and monitoring stations. Whatever it was that was going on here, it wasn’t about penguins.

“Now, where do you think they’ll hide the secret information?” Harcourt asked in hushed tones. “I think we’re looking for the room with the biggest doors.”

Which would mean the one at the end of the corridor. The two men walked up to it and, surprisingly, it opened automatically. Inside was, of all things, a fully furnished comfortable office. No one appeared to be inside.

John let Lory get on with Dr. Bob as they passed through the cave-like office into a long hallway. If Dr. Bob had a soft spot for beautiful women, then Lory was just the girl to get all the right information out of him. He found himself walking by Lady Reckondwyth, not entirely by accident.

"Your employer must be very special to secure your attentions," he said to her as they walked a little ways behind Dr. Bob and Lory.

"You have no idea," she said, cryptically. He tried another tack.

"Listen, Amanda--"

"Oh? We're using first names now, Luke?"

"I'm always more comfortable with first names." He put his hand around hers and whispered, "I believe you might be in more danger than you realize."

"The good doctor can see to all my needs."

"Really? All of them?"

She raised an eyebrow, but they could say no more, because Dr. Bob and Lory had stopped to wait for them at a door at the end of the hall.

"Welcome to my observation deck," he said, and opened the door.

Beyond there lay a huge lounge with an impossibly high ceiling and lavish furnishings. To the right, the wall made entirely of glass allowed one to see into an underground cave which connected to the water. Penguins were frolicking about happily, apparently able to enter and exit the cave by swimming to it, though John thought he could see a few beams of light which indicated holes in the rock which led to the volcano's surface.

To the left, a scene more readily caught John's eye. The wall was also made of glass, or something like it. But instead of holding back water, the wall held back molten lava. An entire waterfall of lava, in fact, bubbling away beyond the wall. John and Lory stared.

"Makes bird-watching seem a little dull sometimes, doesn't it?" Dr. Bob said with a hearty laugh.

"How do you--?" John asked, until he realized that Dr. Bob was speaking with what looked like a member of the staff. As John spoke Dr. Bob turned back to him and smiled.

"I'm afraid I'll have to leave you for a moment. One of the humidity gauges in the penguin cave is reading unusually high. Lady Reckondwyth, would you mind getting our guests some drinks?"

And with that Dr. Bob left, appearing to be in quite a rush.

John looked over at Lory, then glanced at Lady Reckondwyth.

He made his move.

Before he could lay a hand on her Ladyship she turned around, knocking him in the jaw and bowling him backward into a couch. In an instant she had grabbed his throat.

"I advise you not to try something like that again," she said smoothly, handing him a glass of whiskey. "I am a woman to be--ah ha--reckoned with."

"I should say so," John said. He was quite calm, and running his hand over her Ladyship's leg.

"I could snap your neck," she said, squeezing his neck a little harder. John cleared his throat.

"Oh--you wouldn't want to do that..." John said, and smiled as Lory's gun appeared over her Ladyship's shoulder, pointed at her head.

Lorelai looked down at Lady Reckondwyth. “You know how much I agree with you and strangling him, I would very much appreciate if you let him go. And I’m a terrible shot and always nervous, I might accidently pull the trigger so you should really let him go so that he can hold the gun.”

Lady Reckondwyth looked at John annoyed who kept smiling. “She is right.”

Lady Reckondwyth sighed and let go of John’s neck. “I could have snapped it and killed your girlfriend.”

“Not his girlfriend.” Lorelai said quickly sounding a little cold before she continued more calmly. “Now why don’t you sit down and tell us what your dear boss wants with an island. It is sure that he not wants a penguin resort.”

Dick surveyed the office with a critical eye.

Two filing cabinets. Three smaller desk drawers. A comfortable chair that looked like it was hiding something. A bookshelf that might be ordinary enough. No obvious booby traps.

And a security camera.

Harcourt had just enough time to cry out, "No, wait! They'll hear!" before--

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

--which, all right, echoed quite loudly in this small space. Harcourt was glaring at him, fists clenched as if he wanted to strangle him, actually.

Dick shrugged. "I suggest we search quickly."

The guards led Liam through a corridor with windows that allowed a direct view into the labs, which, of course, made him more than curious, but unfortunately he didn’t have time to look what was inside. Liam had a hard time remaining quiet, but he knew that he shouldn’t annoy the guy who pressed the gun against his back any more than he already did. Well, maybe he could ask one little question, just one tiny one…He was just about to ask if they would be so kind and introduce him to the inventor of the robot penguins, when all three of them froze. There came a sound from the room at the end of the corridor.

“You two go and check it out”, the guard said to his colleagues while wrapping his arm around Liam, pointing the gun at his face. “And you better make no sound, kid.”
The other two guards approached the room carefully, their guns pointed towards the door. The other guard followed them, pushing Liam who tried to think of something pleasant, but all he could think about was the decomposition of the human body.

“Freeze!”, the two guards shouted.

Dick and Harcourt turned around and saw two guards pointing guns at them. Dick already had his gun in his hand and was about to take some action when he saw the third guard with Liam.

“Hands up!”

Harcourt slowly put his hands up but Dick didn’t react.

“Put your gun down or I’ll shoot the boy”, the third guard yelled.

Liam stopped thinking about decomposition. He was more concerned about Dick’s reaction when he told him how he was captured in the first place.

Hey, as always I didn’t think of any consequences and just ran off to look at the robot penguins…I hope you’re not mad.

He was screwed, and he knew it. If the guard wouldn’t kill him, then Dick would do the honour.
As soon as Dick put his gun on the floor the other two guards ran into the room, took every other remaining weapon from them and pushed them into the corridor. Liam wanted to say something but it was definitely not the right moment. They were cuffed and led into an empty white room without any windows and a steel door.

“Our boss will decide what happens to you”, one of the guards said. He didn’t even bother to hold back a grin. “He’s full of surprises…”

As soon as they closed the door Liam turned to Dick to start explaining, but then he hesitated. Dick looked mad. Really mad. People who didn’t know him thought he always looked like that, but Liam knew when he actually was mad. And right now he was, Liam could tell.

“Hello…” he tried to sound calm but it didn’t really work. He avoided any eye contact with Dick and looked at Harcourt instead. “Nice to see-“

“Why the hell are you here?”, Dick asked.

“Ahem...”

“Where are the others? If you’re here, why aren’t they?”

“Um…see…they actually don’t know that I’m here…”

Dick huffed. “I told Hubris to bloody watch you and-“

“It was my fault!” Liam held his breath for a moment before he continued. He really did get himself into this situation, and John was not responsible for this. “I saw those robot penguins, and I went to check them out. I mean, have you seen them? I really have to find out who built them, because whoever came up with this idea is bloody brilliant and -“ Liam shut up immediately when he looked at Dick. That man was not happy. Not at all.
Liam lowered his gaze. “I’m sorry, Dick…I know I should have been more careful this time…”

“This time?”, he repeated sarcastically. “This time? How many more times are there going to be until you get yourself killed because you’re so bloody reckless!”

“Gentlemen!”, Harcourt said, realizing that this definition didn’t particularly fit to either one of them. “I think we should focus less on how we got ourselves into this and more on how we get out of here. “

Dick fumed.

He wheeled on Harcourt. "You. Silence." This conversation wasn't over until it was over.

He turned back to Liam. "And you..." he faltered at that. The kid sort of cowered, rather pathetically. It frustrated him that his hands were behind his back, and not only because he wanted to use them to beat some sense into the little leprechaun. He sighed. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Liam shook his head, still looking terrified.

"And you did what exactly to get caught?"

"Well, I thought I would gather some valuable intelligence on..."

Dick glared. Liam sighed and stared at the ground.

"I was curious."

Dick ground his teeth.

"You learn anything?"

"You mean like 'curiosity killed the cat'?"

Dick couldn't supress a chuckle. "No, I meant--ah, forget it."

The Kid's eyes brightened. "You mean you're not mad?"

"No, I guess--ooh!"

Liam took the opportunity to rush him, and before Dick could react a pair of skinny arms were around his middle in an embrace. "You're the best, Dick!"

"Sure. Look, kid, let me go, all right?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry!" Liam said, letting him go.

"At least there aren't any cameras in here," Dick grumbled as he dropped to a crouch. He spent some time twisting and shifting and straining his body until his cuffed hands were in front of him--the work of a few minutes, in all. "That's better," he said, and crossed to the door.

For the first time he looked at Harcourt.

"Now we figure out how to get out of here."

"If your name really is Amanda...what's your middle name?" John asked.

Lady Reckondwyth backed off, and at Lory's direction she sat down on one of the couches. "Bernadette," she said, haughty and annoyed.

"Figures. Alright, Amanda B. Reckondwyth. Answer my grad student--what does Dr. Bob really want with this island?"

"I'm not telling you anything," she snapped.

John couldn't help but grin as she tossed her luxurious hair back. He reached into his jacket. "Now, my dear Lady, are you sure you wouldn't reconsider and HAHA!"

He had pulled a small aerosol can out of his jacket and sprayed her in the face with it. She shrieked and wiped her face quickly.

"What--what the hell was that?!" she yelled.

"It's a *truth* serum!" John said triumphantly. "Now, you'll have to tell us, and you won't remember anything..."

"Eugh! Too strong, too strong!"

"What?"

Lory sniffed. "I think you just sprayed her with your cologne."

"Oh. Sorry, wrong can..."

As John searched his pockets for the correct drug, Lory rolled her eyes and grabbed the still spluttering Reckondwyth by her neck. "Look, just tell us, or I'll let him pour his aftershave on you!"

"No! No! Alright, I'll talk!" the woman was trembling in Lory's grasp. "The base--he's using it to hide..."

"Hide what?" John demanded.

"It's--it's a weapon--you wouldn't understand how it works--"

"Try us."

"Alright, I don't understand how it works either," she confessed.

Lory waived the gun toward the door. "Alright. You can just show us, then."