Operation Snowstorm, Chapter One: A Threat In Town

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Koloway

ALASKA, CP Army Hub Headquarters, Original Stories Office – The Army Hub is proud to release the first chapter in our latest original story, written by Scorpion: Operation Snowstorm.

Chapter One: A Threat In Town

Magnus awoke to the sound of his alarm clock. He pressed the buzzer down, but the beeping didn’t stop. He glanced at the clock and saw it was 3:40 am. Suddenly he realized it was not his clock but his EPF Phone that was ringing. He quickly picked it up and activated it. The screen showed a message from the Director: “All Agents, unusual activity has been reported at the Pizza Parlor. You are requested to investigate the situation as soon as you can.” Magnus jumped out of his bed, put on his spy gear, and hurried to the Plaza.

The cold air breezed against his face as he ran to the Plaza, under the starry, dark sky. The Plaza was already a hive of activity despite the early hour. Penguins were waddling around, talking to their friends, or trying to figure out what was going on. Magnus noticed Dot the Design Gal talking to a penguin wearing a chef’s hat and a Pizza Parlor apron- the owner of the Pizza Parlor. Dot was actually a popular secret agent of the EPF. He walked up to them, and overheard the owner saying, “…. and they just pushed me outside! My own shop!” Dot waved to Magnus, and said, “Hey Magnus!”. Turning to the shop owner, she said, “Don’t worry, the EPF will handle it for sure. They will get here soon!”

As though on cue, a rhythmic throbbing sound was heard and Jet Pack Guy landed in the Plaza. Magnus’s phone beeped with a message. It was the Director again. “Agents, you must form a team and go into the shop. There are some penguins in there who have broken in for unknown intent. Your mission is to arrest them.” Magnus said to Guy, “I’m sure we can catch them.” Two familiar voices intoned together, “We can also help.” It was Bruce and Ian, two of the agents who patrolled the island at night. Bruce was a heavily-built dark blue penguin with brown hair and wearing a teal EPF Agent uniform, while Ian had tousled red hair and color and wore a normal uniform. Magnus and the duo had been trained together and were close friends.

Guy gave them the signal to move in. As Magnus moved towards the door, he suddenly got a strange feeling that something was out of place. He glanced back at the scene in the Plaza, and noticed Guy putting on his sunglasses, which he almost never removed. He managed to see his eyes before he put the glasses on. ‘That’s crazy’, he thought. ‘Never knew that Guy had blue irises’. They cautiously moved into the building.

The power of the room had been cut off and it was completely dark in the room. Magnus slipped on the night vision goggles Gary had given to him, and scanned the darkness. The clock on the wall was stuck at the three hour mark. He could discern two blurry heat signatures behind two tables towards the far end. He made a motion to alert Bruce and Ian. As they got closer, he announced in a clear voice, “You are surrounded and outnumbered by the EPF. Please surrender yourself!” The two penguins stood up and tried to move towards him, but instead flopped on their faces. Ian cautiously helped them up, and one of them muttered, “Where am I?”. “You both are arrested for breaking and entering into the Pizza Parlor,” Bruce growled. “What? No! Why would I ever do that? I’m innocent!” The other penguin cried out. Magnus looked at Ian, and he shrugged. “Let’s take them to the HQ.”

They met Jet Pack Guy outside but Dot was nowhere to be seen. “I’ll take it from here, Agents. You have done a commendable job.” Suddenly, there was a series of colossal explosions in the distance, and the now pale morning sky lit up with firecrackers! “What is that?” Bruce cried out. “Let’s go and see!” Ian replied. They ran to the Town, while Guy took the thieves to the EPF Headquarters. A huge crowd had already gathered in the outer part of the Town by the time they got there. More penguins were streaming in, curious to see the source of the unexpected show. A white penguin stood on a wooden stage that had not been there the day before . He had golden hair, and was wearing a simple black hoodie and black pants, with white tennis shoes. The strange thing about him was a pair of blue-tinted wide glasses strapped on to his face. “I’ve seen those glasses before, but I can’t remember where,” Magnus contemplated. Ian frowned when he realized that no other agents were to be seen other than him and his friends.

“Welcome to the beginning of a new chapter on this Island, my fellow penguins”, the penguin on the stage said. “I am glad to see so many of you are here today to witness this historic moment, when this island is finally freed from the clutches of the incompetent organization known as EPF, and brought under the rule of one person- me.” Penguins began talking to each other in confusion, and one of them laughed and said in a loud voice,” Nice joke, but who are you to-“ “ I am your new King. You need not know about me, and if you need any proof that the pitiful organization you trust in is no more, it is right here.” He made a gesture with his hand, and a small group of people made their way from behind the stage to form a line in front of it. Magnus felt his beak drop when he saw who they were.

Three of them, standing in the center of the line were some penguins he had never met before. But the other penguins on either side were very familiar faces to him. The Director (fortunately wearing a black disguise), Gary, Jet Pack Surfer, Dot, and so many other agents. He noticed that Rookie was the only one missing. The penguins gathered in the Town gasped, while others stared in surprise. Magnus was simply speechless, and so were Bruce and Ian. Suddenly, Ian nudged Magnus and said, “I think I recognize that guy. He’s a former EPF agent who got injured in Operation: Blackout- Blaine Stonewall.”

A purple penguin made her way through the crowd towards Magnus. It was Zebra, a reporter who often wrote articles on the EPF’s activities to keep the island safe and was friends with lots of EPF Agents. She whispered to Magnus, “Those glasses that dude is wearing, they look just like the device Rookie told me about last week, at the Dance Club!” Magnus looked at her, perplexed. “Rookie knows about him?” “I don’t know, I haven’t seen Rookie since that night. But he told me Gary was working on a hypnotizing device to interrogate suspects. We were at a party, so a lot of people heard him.”

Just then Blaine spoke again on his mic, “All of your agents are now under my control, and are ready to serve me. And if you don’t believe me, just look at me….” The truth hit Magnus like a thunderbolt, and he only did what he could have done. “DON’T LOOK INTO HIS EYES! ”, he yelled. However Blaine’s amplified voice washed over his, and only some of the people around him were able to hear what he said. The others looked at Blaine, and suddenly went rigid. All of them mumbled, “Glory to the King”, in one voice. Magnus shouted, “Run, everyone! Don’t stay here!” and began pushing a way for the others to go through. All the penguins who had listened to him and not been hypnotized followed him, but two of them were reluctant. Bruce grabbed them around the shoulders and propelled them forward, keeping the same pace as the others despite his load while the penguins protested ineffectively. Blaine noticed them trying to leave and instructed, “Surround those penguins and bring them to me!” The penguins around them tried to surround them, but they were already close to getting out of the crowd. Bruce forced his way through the crowd, and the others followed him with no time to lose. Blaine howled, “Don’t let them escape! Follow them, and bring them back here.”

“We can escape them if we go into the Forest, they won’t follow us there!” Bruce bellowed, “Magnus will lead the way there, don’t lose him. Let’s go!”

More than 50 penguins had responded to Blaine, but only 12 of them continued the hunt into the Forest. All of them had blue-ish eyes. Magnus, in his hurry, lead straight towards a cliff with no escape except the way they had come. He was about to return, when Zebra picked up two snowballs, turned around and hit a penguin in the face twice. The penguin staggered backward and fell. Magnus noticed his eyes return to their normal black color. Bruce noticed it too and said, “Hit them with snowballs!” Everyone began throwing snowballs at the enemies, and whenever they ducked for cover under a bush or a rock, Bruce went around them to hit them point blank. Soon all of them were down.

It didn’t take long for the first penguin who had fallen to wake up. “Wha- where am I? What’s happening?” Magnus responded,” Don’t worry, you are safe now!” Soon they had each one of the penguins out of their confusion. While Ian and Zebra explained what had happened in Town to all of the penguins, Magnus searched and found a well-hidden clearing in the Forest to set up a camp in. Bruce convinced Magnus to let him handle the entire work, and built a camp within an hour. It was early evening by the time they were settled in around a cozy campfire.

“So what do we do now?” a penguin named Gerry Days asked. He was one of the penguins who had been hypnotized, and he still felt a bit dizzy. From the news and experiences they shared, it seemed that the only penguins free from the control of Blaine were those who had escaped from the Town. Among them were two penguins who had work clothes on and claimed to be mining when they rushed in to see what the explosion was about. The others who had been rescued by them were members of the Wilderness Explorer group. Maybe that was the reason why only those 12 had followed the escapees into the Forest. Magnus glanced demurely at Ian, and was sure that a really tough and dark time lay ahead. What would happen now? How could he return peace and order to the island?