The world felt different, as though everything had been put on hold. It wasn't just the world that felt different, either.

She didn't recognize this long orange beak, black appendages that felt so weird to use as she curled them and bent her flippers. It was only a matter of time before the landscape caught her attention. As she walked around slapping her webbed feet, she spotted tall skyscrapers and architecture she remembered from the Central Park Zoo. Now, she had a faint idea where she was, but not much else as a strange mental fog kicked in.

Without consideration for who might hear her loud walking, to her right the grating sound of a metal hatch disguised as a feeding bowl caught her attention. Out peeped a penguin head, disgruntled from a morning routine thrown out of whack.

"What in the name of Scarlet O'Hara is going on up here?" The chubby penguin plooped up onto the concrete plateau, and two others followed. They were much taller, one had a rounder head, and the other's ruffled and scarred.

"Skipper, It appears there is a new penguin addition to our habitat." They remained in their combative stances as the short and flat one put his flippers on his sides to scrutinize the sudden new penguin arrival.

"Last time I checked there were no incoming crates. Wouldn't we have known about this months ago?" He narrowed his eyes to glare at the suspicious new penguin.

"Grup -yap yap. Hhhuught-" The wild looking penguin heaved up a flamethrower and aimed it at the newcomer.

"Woah now, Rico, stand down!" He put a flipper to the crazed one's chest. "We don't yet know if this is a friend… or a foe."

"It's true. Come to think of it we haven't met a penguin that wasn't cute or cuddly." The intelligent one slinked out of his combat pose as he looked from the leader to the strange one across the way.

"You, newbie. State your name and business." His flipper moved from Rico's chest to point at her.

The woman hesitated before opening her beak, still wondering why it felt so out of place.

"I'm Jo-"

"Joe as in foe?" The leader reinvigorated his fighting stance.

"No! Jo as in-"

"As in-filtrating our headquarters!?"

She snapped her beak shut and looked from the leader, to the nutcase, and then finally to the only one who had said any sensible thing yet. He darted his eyes back to the pair next to him, then to the new penguin.

"Skipper, I really don't think it is necessary to intimidate another penguin. After all, birds of a feather…?"

"Oooh. The 18th amendment to the penguin credo. Kowalski, what would I do without you?" Skipper eased his stance and put his flippers behind his back to puff up in response.

"Spontaneously combust, or destroy the coffee maker, or commit several war crimes, or-" The tall and rounded bird received a quick slap.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"Alright Joe, for the time being you're bunking with us." He leaned forward a bit, looking the oddball up and down. Rico gulped his weaponry down again, smiling from Skipper to the new member.

"Yeah! Joe!" He spoke in a gruff holler, nodding his head as his scarred beak bobbed.

"Skipper, would this make Joe the newest private recruit?" Kowalski posed the question to his leader.

"Huh, yeah, good thing Private is already private first class. Maybe we will need to give him a new nickname, like Classy, or Firstly." The pair next to him exchanged a look of 'that sounds like a horrid idea' while they thought their leader wasn't looking. "Speaking of, where is the young Private?"

As Private fell out of bed, the soft thud of his chubby form landing was accompanied by a British grunt. The slippy slaps his feet made on the concrete below became clearer and less distant, turning into metal chimes as he climbed the ladder. After a moment, a groggy round short penguin peeps up as the three above ground look down at him.

"Aye Skipper, I'm here." He saluted for a moment before taking notice of the other penguin. With a smol gasp he spoke again. "Another penguin!"

As he became more awake, Private jumped up, waddling quickly to offer a flipper shake. "Hello! It's nice to meet you!"

"Oh, hi!" She reached out, taking the shorter penguin's flipper and awkwardly trying to shake as if they had hands. "I'm Joa-"

"-and he is our newest private recruit." Skipper finished her sentence, as Private looked back in awe.

"So we will call him Joe since I'm Private?" They had this problem in the past, when Mort was instigated as a private recruit for a mission, and this time Private was getting it squared away.

"It's been a while since you've been promoted. Not to mention you have proven yourself as an important and valued member of the team… It's time you became corporeal."

"-Corporal" Kowalski interjected to correct the mistake.

"Wha-great news! I'm a Corporal now!" Private hugged the stranger. She hugged him back, happily. It was the best hug she had received in a long time. He was adorable, and his blubbery chubbiness made the hug so soft and warm. "Oh thank you thank you thank you!"

As Private pulled away, the new penguin pulled her flippers up close to her chest.

"We'll still call you Private. Corporal will be implied just like the first class used to be." Private stopped hugging the stranger, smiling as he nodded back to his Skipper.

"Aye sir!" He saluted heartily.

"Alright men, time to get back to work." Skipper was happy for the celebrations, but needed to stay firm to show the new recruit that R&R was earned and not given away frivolously. For her, she wanted to clear up a major misconception quickly.

"Actually, I'm a-"

"-Astonished at how fast we can get back to our stations?" She looked at the short cocky bird, a bit miffed that her important revelation had repeatedly been interrupted.

"No, what I'm trying to say is that you've got it wrong! I'm a g-" In an instant, she was alarmed to be slapped across the face. Standing before her now was an angered Skipper.

"There are two things you will learn very quickly if you are going to become a part of our team. As the leader of an elite, feathered task force I must be given due respect. 'No' should seldom leave your beak, and I am never wrong."

Skipper was lucky Kowalski was not there to make the correction that he is not wrong most of the time… She felt her cheeks burn underneath the new sensation of tightly packed feathers that radiated from her beak.

"What? Have you never had any military training?" She shook her head. "Fine, first lesson. After being addressed by anyone on the team -especially me- you should salute and say 'yes sir' with gusto."

"Yes sir!" She quickly put her flipper up to her forehead, puffing out her chest and looking down at her new commander.

He pinched the bridge of his beak with a sigh before correcting her wings from a wrong flipper salute to a right flipper salute, and she felt like a complete buffoon.

"PRIVATE!" Skipper barked down towards the latch, and within a few moments this time the small round penguin arrived for duty.

"Sir!" He saluted.

"I want you to show Joe around, give him the ropes, and make sure he is up to speed in case of sudden missions." In a moment he leaned in, covering his beak with a flipper while speaking at the same volume. "With the element of surprise, test his combat training. I want to make sure he can fight like one of us and not some little girl."

It was hard to tell whether the gesture was a joke or if he really thought just putting a flipper up would prevent his voice from carrying. Private replied with a nod before the pair returned to looking at her.

"Well, I'm off to finish my morning routine." Skipper checked an oversized clock device Kowalski had made for him. "Blast! I'm 30 minutes off schedule!" He nodded to Private before slooping back through the hatch.

Now out in the open as the other three were sealed below, Private giddily turned to her with a big smile and a giggle.

"Its so wonderful to have a new penguin recruit!" Private bounced and radiated joy. "Alright, Joe! It's the perfect time to show you around the outer habitat. That hatch is what Alice thinks is just our food bowl. I'll show you the feeding times when we get to the big schedule downstairs."

"Yes sir!" She saluted, just to be on the safe side of respect. Private beamed at the taller penguin.

"That's the first time I have ever been called sir!" The smol bean bounced up and down at her.

He was adorable, but she resisted smiling after the wake up call from Skipper earlier.

"Oh, come now, you don't need to be a stick in the mud all the time." Private nudged her arm. "How about an ice-breaker? Follow me!" He glided on his belly off the side farthest from the front of the enclosure and splashed into the water.

For the first time, she was alone since arriving from wherever she had come from. It slipped her mind, now, as she quickly gained her sea legs -er, webbed feet. Following Private's lead, she dove on her belly, and was immediately astounded at how smoothly the oily feathers allowed her to glide. With a bit too much momentum, she slid across and slapped into the side of the small pool that created a moat around their habitat.

"Golly, are you aright?" Private put on his cockney accent as she resurfaced, realizing quickly how to steer her feet like little rudders.

"I'm fine, just trying to get my bearings. Been a while since I was… swimming." She loved the water but for so long hadn't had any opportunity to just dive in.

"Don't worry, I can only imagine how long you must have been cooped up while being delivered here."

She had been cooped up, but being in the water felt so free. Her new big webbed feet gave her precision after eons of design for use underwater. Resurfacing, she had trouble recalling much of the details about her mysterious arrival. Still, she knew that it wasn't a delivery from a crate.

"Cooped up for sure." In the moments afterward, the pair started a gentle lap around the small fenced in island, the early morning sun barely shining on any of the plaster and painted snow. Real snow would have had a blue effect to the surroundings, and she missed that refracted light effect.

"Don't be so glum! When Alice isn't around we can go wherever we want to." Private had noticed the other penguin sadly examining the surrounding enclosure. "Plus, the Central Park Zoo is one of the better ones to be in!"

She smiled at Private, before continuing to float in the lukewarm water. Below, she could make out the observation windows for zoo patrons to observe the animals and watch them swimming. Private was about to speak up when a deep, muffled explosion interrupted.

"Crikey! That's no good." He dove to porpoise out of the water, and she did her best to follow suit.