"Does anyone besides me feel an odd sense of déjà vu?" asked Kowalski.

"I do," detto Skipper.

Rico nodded vigorously. "Uh huh!"

"Just a little," noted Private.

"I take it you've all been here before," I said. "Turn left!"

Skipper turned left just in time. The rest of us followed. "Thanks for trusting me," I said.

"Instinct," replied Skipper. "Years of military ordering programmed me to obey a direct order on the first thought."

"Really?" detto Kowalski.

Skipper glanced back at him. "Don't even try it, o I'll give te maintenance duty for a month."

He turned my gaze to me. "May I ask why te chose left?"

I shook my head. "Gut instinct."

He nodded. "I'll take that."

"Right!"

My order was well received da Skipper. "Second latch!" I added.

We all stopped at the designated place and looked down. We were on superiore, in alto of a room full of cages. "Good work on your gut instinct," commentato Skipper.

I rolled my eyes but detto nothing. Rico kicked the latch open, and we jumped down. All the other animali in the room looked at us in surprise. One of them gripped the bars of his cage tightly. "Do te have a death wish o something?" he hissed. "What are te doing here?"

"Saving a friend," replied Skipper.

"And the rest of te too," added Private.

They all started cheering. "Quiet down!" I shouted. "Do te want to bring the officers here?"

Hearing the threat of the rescue over before it even begun, everybody quieted down immediately. Skipper turned to Private. "Private! te and Kowalski stay here to unlock the rest of these cages. The rest of us will continue on. Once you're done, allow all of them to be loose. That will create panic. During the confusion, sneak into another room and start all over again. The rest of the times, though, allow animali to leave as soon as they're free."

"What if we get caught?" asked a cat. "We don't want to end up back here again."

The other animali mumbled their agreement. Skipper glanced sharply at the cat who had spoken. "We'll break te out again," he said. "Comprehende?"

With that, the rest of us flipped back into the vent again and started sliding to the successivo room. After we dropped Rico off and got some paper clips to act as lock pickers, Skipper and I were left. We came to a crossroads in the vents. We stopped. "I go left, te right?" I suggested.

He nodded. "Works for me."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Listen, about our argument–"

He waved it away. "No worries. What has past has pasted."

I smiled at him. "So, partners?"

He shook my flipper. "Partners."

Skipper looked at me in the eye. "I want te to promise me something."

"What?"

"If I get caught da X, leave me behind and take my boys to safety."

I looked at him and could tell that he was serious. "Fine, if te promise me that if I tell te to go, te take everybody out."

"Deal."

We went our separate ways, each with the other's promise still fresh in his head.

****************************************

Nathan: Practice makes perfect, te know.

Me: What does this have to do with anything?

Nathan: te know deja vu? te do it many times then te get it perfect.

Me: *stares*

Nathan: Maybe that's just me...