June 5th 1976

"Private!" Kowalski exclaimed. Private bit his lip, realizing what Julian had seen, "Give me the tape."

"No." Private replied defiantly. He stood up from his chair, no longer hiding the tape recorder. Kowalski drew his gun, pointing it at Private. The nightclub erupted into screams at the sight of the fire arm. Manfredi and Johnson merely stood staring at the scene unfolding in front of them.

"Give me the tape." Private shook his head, taking a few steps back, the tape recorder in his hand. Kowalski then altered his target, aiming at the tape. Immediately, Private moved the device, holding it in front of his heart.

"Sorry, Kowalski, I'm not letting you shoot the tape like you did in '44," Kowalski stared at him, astonished.

"How did you… Why…"

"I overheard my professor saying that you had something to do with the Penguins. There was an ad campaign about the city, saying if you knew anything, no matter how small, about the Penguins, you should contact the Captain Jones, though you probably know him better as Private…"

June 3rd 1976

"So you overheard someone sayin' your guardian had somethin' to do with the Penguins?" Lieutenant Rodger Park clarified.

"Yes, I don't know if it would be any use to you."

"What did you say your name was, kid? Just for the record, I like to make sure my notes are correct."

"William Grant."

"William Grant?" a man with an English accent asked, poking his head out of his office.

"Yes?"

"Come in," The man motioned for him to enter his office. Private complied. Once the door was shut, the man continued, "I guess you're the Private now."

"Um… how do you know all this?" Private asked suspiciously, "Who are you?"

"Captain Timothy Jones. You're my replacement."

"Replacement?"

"Yes, I was the Penguin's Private back when your father was alive."

"The Penguins? My father had nothing to do with…"

"So K'walski never told you," Private shook his head, "That is rather like K'walski."

"What has K'walski got to do with the Penguins?" Private was honestly confused at this point.

"Well…" Then Captain Jones stopped, and changed his mind, "No, I'll let him tell you the story, he'd do a better job than me," The older man reached into his desk taking out a tape recorder, "Ask him about the Penguins," Private Sr. handed him the tape recorder, "Just make sure you get it all on tape…"

"You're asking me to record K'walski?!" Private exclaimed incredulously, "I'm not going to record my own family without a decent explanation."

"Alright, the next time you see him, ask about the Penguins. I know you're already curious. If he admits, I win, you record him. If he asks you if you've been reading too many detective novels, you win, and you find a decent excuse to back out of the conversation. Fair?"

"Private?! You aren't going to…?" Kowalski exclaimed,

"You made a full confession," Private replied, trying to keep the waver out of his voice, "and I'm going to give it to Captain Jones." Kowalski's gun was trained on the tape, despite it's close proximity to several vital organs.

"If you think I won't shoot because you're my ward, you're wrong," Kowalski threatened, "and you wouldn't be the first."

"Doris? She dived in front of the bullet meant for her father. It killed both of them," Private answered. Captain Jones had given him a few 'spoilers' just to make sure he went through with it, "I don't think that counts. You nearly shot yourself the moment her pulse stopped."

"Give me the tape, Private." Kowalski growled, his gun never wavering from the tape. The look in his eyes was one Private knew well. It was the look he always had when he'd leave his soundproofed study, and a few minutes later, a large, vaguely human shaped object under a sheet would be taken from the room.

"No."

June 5th 1986

"So what happened next?" Private Percival Nelson asked, gripping the edge of his bunk with anticipation. William Grant, code named Skipper, stared off into space, lost in the past as his hand ghosted over a long gone wound, "Did he…"

"Do I look dead to you?"

"No."

"He shot me in the shoulder. When I still didn't drop the tape, he had no choice but to run. Captain Jones and his men were already entering the building," Skipper replied bluntly.

"So what happened to K'walski?" Private asked.

"I'm right here," the scientist looked up from his work.

"I meant the evil K'walski," Private clarified.

"Jones and his men managed to seriously wound him, but he hotwired one of the cars in the parking lot and got away," Skipper took another sip of his coffee, "I haven't seen him or even heard of him since."

"Oh." Private looked down at his feet. Private was beginning to regret asking to hear the story. He'd wanted to know where his leader came from, but he'd expected that he'd say something less violent.

"Skipper?" Kowalski looked up from his circuit boards.

"Yeah?"

"I've got one question: why did you name us after the Penguins if you hated them so much?"

"It was the heat of battle," Skipper replied, "they were the first names I could think of," Skipper cast a glance over his team, "I guess you reminded me of the story." Skipper had to admit, his team was eerily similar. His greatest fear, though he would never admit it, was that 'like father, like son' would ring true for him, and that his team would be dragged down too.

"We'd never become like them." Private answered skipper's silent query.

"And I swore I'd never do a lot of things, most of them I probably did yesterday," Skipper countered, "I always thought what the original Penguins did was horrific and inexcusable, but now that years have passed, and we've essentially taken their place in Department D, I'm starting to almost understand them. There have been a lot of times, especially with Dr Blowhole Jr., that I've almost made the same decisions." The room fell silent.

Suddenly, Skipper stood up, walking towards the ladder.

"Just because I've told you my family's horrific backstory," Skipper smirked, breaking the silence, "Doesn't mean you get you out of morning training."

"Skippah!"

"Come on all of you, up to the training ground!"

"A'right." Rico muttered as he climbed the ladder. Skipper looked on proudly as his men passed him on the way to the rooftop training ground. Before Skipper could follow his men the phone in Kowalski's lab began to ring. Skipper answered the phone, "Hi Agent Jones…A mission?… A join and destroy?... No, we'll take it."

The End