Welcome, reader! I'm sbartist357 and I'm back with an all-new Penguins of Madagascar story! (cue the boisterous applause) :D Alright, now that I've introduced myself (kind of), please enjoy this first chapter! :D

"Okay, boys, here's the plan: We sneak in, grab the stuff Kowalski needs for his latest invention, and leave." Skipper said. He and his team were standing in an air shaft in the ceiling of a top-secret facility somewhere in Manhattan. The others nodded in reply. Skipper kicked open the grate below him and they dropped down to the floor.

The penguins were now in a long hallway outside of a laboratory; the items they needed were inside. They waddled over to a keypad next to the double doors. Kowalski squinted his eyes as he studied it.

"Hmm. . . This doesn't look too complicated. Rico, give me a boost." The mohawked penguin stood against the wall and cupped his flippers in front of him. Kowalski was then lifted above Rico's head so he could start unlocking the door.

"Okay, let's see. . ." The lieutenant entered 1-2-3-4 on the keypad. It flashed red and beeped two times, indicating that what he entered was incorrect. He continued trying different combinations.

Meanwhile, Private wandered a few feet away from the others and stopped in front of the double doors. Out of curiosity, he pushed on them. They swung open and the young penguin fell flat on his face. He quickly recovered and ran inside as the doors shut again; Skipper and Rico were too busy watching Kowalski to notice.

Several minutes passed. The lieutenant had given up on pressing random buttons and decided on using a different approach. He pressed 0-0-0-1 on the panel. When that failed, he tried 0-0-0-2. By this time, Skipper was growing impatient and Rico's flippers were starting to feel numb from holding Kowalski up. Finally, Skipper couldn't take it anymore.

"Come on, Kowalski! We don't have all day!" He yelled, throwing his flippers in the air. The tall penguin stopped and looked down at him.

"Sorry, Skipper! I'm trying my best!" Just then, Private popped his head out of the laboratory and looked at them.

"Guys, the door's already open. Are you coming?" Skipper face-flippered.

"Private, next time, it might help if you bothered telling us sooner."

"Sorry, Skippah." Kowalski glared at the keypad and placed his flippers on his hips.

"You mean this thing isn't even a lock? What is it, then?" He suddenly noticed something he hadn't before: On the LED screen was a small, O-shaped symbol; the panel was a thermostat. Kowalski repeatedly slapped his forehead.

"Ugh! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Skipper rolled his eyes.

"You can finish slapping yourself later, Kowalski. Let's just go in and get what we came here for." He walked over to the doors and followed Private into the lab.

Rico's flippers completely went numb and he tossed Kowalski off him. The tall penguin landed flat on his back a couple of feet away. Rico rubbed the feeling back into his flippers and entered the room, not bothering to help his teammate get up. Kowalski peeled himself off the floor and entered the laboratory as well. Skipper, Rico, and Private were waiting for him.

"So, what exactly are we looking for, Kowalski?" Skipper asked.

"I need some Macguffium-239, copper wire, and bromine. Bromine is a dark red liquid; it should be in a test tube." The team split up and began searching. The first two items didn't take long to locate, as they were sitting on a countertop in plain sight; the other one wasn't so easy to find.

As the other penguins continued searching the countertops, Private tried searching near the floor; after all, sometimes the item is in the last place one would think to look. The young penguin started opening and rummaging through various drawers. Once he checked all the drawers in one cabinet, he went to search somewhere else.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. He waddled over to the corner of the room to investigate. In a thin nook, between the wall and another cabinet, was a small metal charm, like the ones typically seen on charm bracelets. It was about the size of a nickel and shaped like a unicorn, with a sparkly sapphire crystal for its eye.

"Hmm. . . I wonder what this is doing here?" Private reached into the small gap and pulled it out. It felt cool in his flipper. As he studied it, he heard Kowalski's voice.

"Okay, I found it!" The lieutenant was standing on top of a table on the far side of the room, holding a test tube filled with bromine. Skipper smiled.

"Excelante. Come on, men, let's head back to HQ." He, Kowalski, and Rico jumped down to the floor and headed to the exit.

Private looked back down at the charm he was holding. Should he take it? It didn't appear to belong to anyone. Besides, he felt there was something special about it. Skipper's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Private, come on! The zoo will be opening soon!" The young penguin looked up.

"I'll be right there!" He quickly covered the charm with his flipper and rushed over to join them. They stepped out of the lab and went over to the air vent where they entered from. Rico hacked up their grappling hook, shot it into the air vent, and the four penguins climbed up.

"As soon as we get back, I'm going straight to my lab to finish my invention!" Kowalski said excitedly as he and the others crawled through the maze of tunnels. Behind him, Skipper rolled his eyes.

"It better be worth all the trouble we went through for it; I don't want to go back to our HQ just for you to blow it up."

"Don't worry, Skipper, I promise this one won't explode," The scientist replied. "I triple-checked my calculations."

"Oh, well, in that case, I guess the chance of it exploding is only fifty percent."

"Ha-ha, very funny."

Finally, the penguins reached another grate, this one leading to the garage of the building. Rico, who was in the front, pushed it open and dropped down first. The others followed him to their car and climbed in. Within seconds, they were on their way back to the zoo.

The ride was quiet, except for the occasional sounds of early morning traffic. Private snuck a peek at the charm he found. It was very pretty, but a bit dusty from sitting in that nook back at the laboratory; he decided he would clean it once they got back home. Private was happy that he found it. He smiled, looked back up at the road, and covered the charm again, not noticing that the crystal had flashed a deep red.

Well, there you have it, folks: It's cursed (although, technically, I did imply that in the summary, but this just proved it). ;) Like Skipper says, "Glowing red eyes. . . That's almost never good." (from "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge"). XD As for references, Kowalski entering 0-0-0-1 and 0-0-0-2 into the keypad was based on what he did in "High Moltage" (with far fewer zeros) and Macguffium-239 was shown in the episode "It's About Time". Anyway, what sort of problems will Private's seemingly-innocent charm unleash upon Team Penguin? :O We shall find out in the next chapter!