This story was written using the general plot from webuiltthepyramids' list of "Send me a ship and a number and I'll write a short fic.", number 45.
The Lab Accident Mission
Penny struggled with the climb, it wasn't that she couldn't do it, physically she was up to the task, it was mental aspect of it that got to her, because they were not training anymore, this was real. If those thoughts weren't bad enough, then there was Leonard, who was below her working hard to keep up, she hadn't really wanted him there with her, and as she looked down at him it obvious he was trying so much harder than her to make the climb. The sight of him struggling only made Penny more angry at him, she had no sympathy for the exertions he was making to keep up, because he brought it on himself, and if she had it her way she would leave him behind.
They both climbed for the next half hour, the small boat they had taken to get to the island, now looking even smaller as it sat below them roped to a rock. Penny would have been at the entrance level long ago if it wasn't for Leonard, her taking three stops already just to wait for him to catch up. She still thought he shouldn't be there, and as she made the climb up the final few feet to the top, she briefly wondered if she should push him back down into the water. However now looking how small the boat was below and she knew if she had wanted to do that it was already too late.
While Penny waited on the level area to the entrance of Sheldon's fortress, for Leonard to catch up, she thought how it had now been three years since the accident and yet it seemed like the world had been under Sheldon's thumb forever instead of half year it had actually been. The accident had started it all, both Sheldon's increased mental capabilities and his personality change, also his disregard for any other human life, except his own, which in part was the main reason he ended up here. It was not like he became a different person, it was more like all the bad traits he had, arrogance, selfishness, and his own self importance were amplified, along with his increased mental abilities when it came to science. It turned out to be both amazing and terrifying to the world, especially when he started to make demands, like now.
Penny's thoughts back to the accident, also included Amy, she was probably the saddest victim of all of this, her only crime in it all had been she had loved Sheldon too much. She had surrendered to him when the primate experiments showed success and allowed him to talk her into doing the experiment on him. Sheldon had been stalled in his theories, and since the primates showed increased intelligence after the treatment, Sheldon was convinced the treatment would give him the boost he needed to surge ahead with his work. However it almost killed him, Amy staying by his side the whole month he was in hospital in a coma, blaming herself and promising anything if he would just wake up.
Sheldon did wake up, and only a week later was solving problems he only a couple months ago thought were unsolvable, also new problems he now made for himself, that he wanted the answers to. He developed the death ray he had dreamed of as a child and then a force field to protect against it, however these discoveries were kept to himself. He even got Amy to help him to develop a mind control chemical and soon he had minions to serve him and serve him they did.
Sheldon had become dangerous, and the government knew it, so when they sent people to pick him up, Sheldon made them realize how really dangerous he was. Hundreds were killed, both authorities and minions in the mix, then finally Amy as she shielded him in his final escape, her own promise to herself to protect him if he woke up making her willingly sacrifice herself so he could get away. Sheldon now was not only gone but seemed to completely disappear, off the face of the earth, until six months ago.
Now everyone knew what happened, Sheldon had gone to a South American country, then drugged its dictator so he too was one of Sheldon's minions. It took over a year, but on a small island, owned by the dictator's country, Sheldon's fortress was built in complete secrecy, thousands of men first recruited then drugged by Sheldon to complete the work, their health and welfare lost as completing his fortress being the primary command in their minds. Again hundreds died, but Sheldon's fortress was completed, and the world then learned the power of Dr Sheldon Lee Cooper.
Sheldon first used his death ray to pacify the immediate few thousand miles around him, killing several million in the process, then when the major nations went to punish him, they learned about his force shield and the true power of his death ray. Sheldon used theories he developed on bouncing his ray off the ionosphere and soon could hit any country in the world, punishing any of them who attacked him or didn't do what he demanded. Tens of millions now died, until the nations governments finally left him alone and started to bow to his commands.
That is why Penny was now coming to him, he had ordered her there as both a courier and she believed to become one of his servants, she truly believed she would never leave this place, alive. Leonard coming only made things worse, Sheldon had no use for him, so Penny expected Leonard would die before her, she also knew he was thinking the same way. It made her hate him for coming, sacrificing himself when she told him specifically that she didn't want him along.
As Leonard finally pulled himself on the level entrance, that Penny stood, he was huffing and puffing, wore out from the exertion, so he immediately pulled out his inhaler from the belt pouch it was secured. He lifted the breathing mask off his face then took a huge breath as he pushed down on the spray button, relief evident on his features as the mist took its effect. "That's better." he softly said as he returned his mask to his face.
"Leonard you shouldn't be here." Penny stated with more than a little aggravation, she had been mad at him about this the whole week and seeing him being so physically wore out only made her anger worse.
"I told you, you were not going alone." Leonard snapped, he was tired and resuming the argument was not something he cared to do, especially now.
"He only asked for me!" Penny shouted, partly because she wanted to heard over the wind that was picking up and partly because she was so mad.
"Enough Penny, you have been saying the same thing since he requested you and I told you I was coming too. The command even said that you weren't going alone, so arguing now is just stupid." Leonard told her with a little edge in his voice.
"So now, I'm stupid, you asthmatic dumb ass." Penny glared at him then turned and walked to the large armored door they needed get in to enter Sheldon's lair.
Leonard shook his head and started to follow her, she was too angry to reason with and he knew anything he said would just set her off again, so he decided to just stay quiet. They both walked up to the door, Penny glaring at the door and then at Leonard, "He will probably not let me in because you are here. I told you, you being here would screw things up."
However suddenly the door opened automatically, Leonard's shaking of his head and smirk infuriating Penny even further, as she felt she should just knock him cold and leave him outside unconscious. Leonard though seemed to be reading her mind as he stepped aside and motioned for her to lead the way. So Penny walked in the brightly lit interior, followed closely by Leonard, to see and empty corridor with lights lit in only one direction. "I guess we go this way." Leonard nodded to the lighted portion of the corridor.
Penny still angry looked at him. "Sort of obvious isn't it."
The two of them really didn't have to search for Sheldon, they just walked down the corridors that were lighted, they were obvious being lead to him, and since he was who they wanted to go to, it was silly not to follow his lead. They walked for almost 10 minutes, both amazed how large and complex Sheldon's fortress was until the finally came to a great chamber and stopped. It was all lit up and it was obviously their final destination so they both took cautious steps in looking around and finally seeing the object of their search.
They now both now crossed the floor towards their destination, the man sitting in a chair, that reminded Leonard of the captain's chair on the bridge of the Star Ship Enterprise. Sheldon sat in that chair and just like the captain's chair of the Enterprise, buttons controlling different functions lined each armrest, only Sheldon's buttons really worked. They were over half way to him when they heard Sheldon's voice, amplified by some hidden speaker system, "STOP!" Leonard and Penny stopped in their tracks.
"Why are you both here? Penny was invited, you were not Leonard." the voice was Sheldon's, the tone was someone else's, the man they were now looking at, the man who now terrorized the world.
"Sheldon we wanted to talk to you…." Leonard began.
"SILENCE!" again the enhanced voice spat out.
"Sheldon please, don't act like this." Leonard pleaded.
The voice now softened. "Leonard after all that has happened, you still don't know your place. My instructions are exact and have no room for interpretation, I have made that perfectly clear." there was a slight pause. "Penny if you are here because of my invitation, why did you bring him?"
"I had no choice, they wouldn't let me come here without him." Penny glanced at Leonard to make the point about who she was talking about.
"Fine. Leonard, you will never learn." Sheldon then hit a button, on his armrest, making a panel in the ceiling open up extremely quickly and a beam shooting out, hitting Leonard square in the chest. Leonard hit the floor about six feet where he was standing, he didn't move again, after being hit with Sheldon's death ray.
Penny looked impassively at the motionless flesh that just a moment ago was a walking talking Leonard. She knew this would happen, she had told Leonard he would die, but even now seeing him like this gave her no satisfaction that she was right. She only looked at him for a couple seconds, then turned to look back at Sheldon. "Was that necessary?"
"Are you upset." Sheldon's voice was now more normal and casual.
Penny looked down back at Leonard, mentally noting the time, then she visibly shrugged, looking back at Sheldon. "No not really, I really expected it."
"Good." then a second later, "Did you bring what I ordered?"
Penny nodded, then reached down into her belt pouch and brought out the large vial of the silvery liquid, holding it up for Sheldon to see. "I have the Adamantium that you wanted."
Sheldon chuckled, "I knew those bastards had it, it just took destroying a state to finally make them give it up."
Penny nodded then started to walk towards Sheldon with the vial, "STOP." she heard making her stop dead in her tracks.
"Penny dear, even though we are friends, it will take some time to build trust, so if you don't mind." a platform then came up on the floor, with what looked like a scanning table on top, just a few feet in front of Penny. Penny knew what she was suppose to do, so she put the vial on the scanning table. The table top glowed for a few seconds and Penny saw Sheldon look at a screen built into his chair.
"So finally no tricks, they decided to give me what I told them I wanted, it is really Adamantium. Maybe they are trainable after all." Sheldon's voice now full of arrogance.
Sheldon now looked at Penny, "Bring it to me."
Penny was about to take the vial off the table, when she heard "Wait." making her again stop in her tracks.
"Penny, Penny, Penny, do you have any weapons on you?" The question was laced with suspicion
"No." Penny truthfully answered.
"Like I said trust will come with time, but we are not there yet. I need you to strip naked so I can be certain." Sheldon's last sentence an order.
Penny just nodded and proceeded to quickly take off all her clothes until she was completely naked. She then watched as a cage type device came up from the floor close to the table. "Penny I want you to put your clothes about 20 feet behind you, then step into the cage. The cage can detect anything non organic on or in you, so kitten, leave anything you are hiding with your clothes or I will have to leave you in the cage…for a very long time." Sheldon's tone was threatening.
Penny took her clothes to the spot Sheldon designated, she had told him the truth so didn't have anything to leave with them. Penny then walked back and stepped into the cage and waited. Sheldon had watched everything Penny had done through his screen built into the chair from several cameras around the chamber they were in. He was impressed she didn't have a weapon hidden on her, and he began to believe she actually wanted to be there. His quick scan using the cage sensors only confirmed that what he was looking at was all Penny and nothing but Penny.
"Okay Penny, you can step out." Sheldon ordered. Penny stepped out and the cage lowered back into the floor. There was silence for a moment as Penny stood their nude waiting for Sheldon's next order.
"Penny turn around slowly." Sheldon ordered and watched as she quickly complied. He wanted to look at her body, she was truly beautiful and was hairless except for her head, it was how he liked his women. Sheldon had relations with Amy before he completed his death ray and found he liked it, sex had turned out to be something he actually enjoyed. Amy had a nice body and a brilliant mind, but she was dead now, collateral damage in his goal to rule the world and to be honest he missed her and the sex. Sheldon was convinced that Penny always liked him more than Leonard, even held a secret love for him, plus she was beautiful, so she was the first one he offered the chance to be his queen and it didn't surprise him she accepted. The lack of emotion she showed when he killed Leonard only confirming his suspicions it had only been him she desired from the beginning. Actually now that he thought about it, he was happy Leonard came along, because it proved his theory and eliminated him in one single action.
Sheldon smiled as he looked at his future queen. "Penny tell me why you are here?"
Penny blinked in confusion, "You invited me."
Sheldon smiled even wider, he loved toying with people. "You know why?"
Penny nodded, "To be your concubine."
Sheldon almost chuckled. "Yes, that too, but you are to be my Queen. Queen Penny."
Penny smiled then curtsied. "I like that my king."
Sheldon felt his pants tighten, he really enjoyed the admiration she was giving him right now. He knew he would have to have her that night, even though he still didn't completely trust her yet, so he would drug her. He smiled again to himself, having sex with a drugged Penny would still be better than no sex at all.
Sheldon chuckled. "And what would my queen do for her king?"
Penny curtsied again, "Anything my king."
"Dance for me my queen." Sheldon ordered.
Penny immediately began to dance, putting her whole mind and body into the dance for Sheldon to please him the best she could. It seemed to work because only thirty seconds later he stopped her, the pressure in his pants getting worse as he thought he would have her earlier than that night than he first planned. He just had to accomplish something before he bedded her, he needed to secure the Adamantium. "Penny bring the vial to me."
Sheldon watched closely as his nude goddess picked up the vial and slowly walked towards him. He smiled as he realized two of the most precious things he wanted were now coming to him, it was good to be king. He would secure the Adamantium, then make Penny drink a drug laced drink, so he could have his way with her. The next day, after being satisfied, he would then analyze the Adamantium so that he could adapt it to himself, he would go from being just a king to being a God.
Sheldon let Penny get within 10 feet of him before he made her stop, one reason was because he didn't fully trust her and the second because he wanted to look at her close up. He licked his lips as he gazed upon her breasts then let his eyes travel to her hairless crotch, bringing his hands together to rub as he thought about what he would do to her in a few hours. He was so engrossed in her body, he didn't see her eyes, it was his big mistake, a mistake he would understand in just a moment and regret for the rest of his life.
Penny had been waiting for this very moment, a moment where all her training for the last two years could be put into effect. Sheldon had a invented a force field, it encased his island fortress and it encased his chair, only right now it was down. It would only take the push of a button to reactivate it, so she had to wait till she was close and his hands were the farthest away from the button like now. It was now or never so Penny reacted with her training moving lightening fast as she launched herself across the distance between them while hitting the small button on the vial. The needle shot out of the end of the vial and as Penny lunged she sank it deeply into Sheldon's thigh, the liquid quickly injecting itself into his body.
It happened so suddenly, Sheldon was taken by surprise, his hand almost to the force field button when the excruciating pain of the large needle in his thigh, stopped him from moving at all. He was now panicking, "What did you do?"
Penny looked up at him from the floor she landed on, at his feet, when she lunged to pierce him with the needle. The wind was knocked out of her and she was sore from hitting the metal floor so she slowly tried to stand her bruised body up. She had done what her and Leonard were sent there to do, she didn't care anymore what happened to her and she had always expected to die it the end anyway.
"You are going to die for this." Sheldon screeched and he moved his hand to the armchair buttons to activate his death ray, but then he noticed his arm barely responded to his command and started to feel cold. Terror immediately filled him as he now looked at the leg the needle and vial were stuck in, it didn't hurt anymore and his leg was starting to take on the color of the liquid metal in the vial, it even was starting to look solid, like metal. "What have you done!" he shrieked.
Penny had gotten up to her knees, wincing with each movement of her sore body. "You wanted Adamantium, so you have Adamantium. The only problem is that you have to be very careful with it, it doesn't react well with organic tissue."
"What are you saying!" Sheldon was terrified, his pale skin on his arm, on the same side as his punctured leg, now starting to turn to the same color as the liquid. He could not move it anymore and as he looked at his other arm, it was getting hard to move and turning cold too, as was his other leg, Sheldon was in total panic at what was happening.
Penny now stood up on shaky legs, "Adamantium hardens when mixed with live tissue, they haven't figured out how to prevent that yet. The tissue becomes a brittle metal, needless to say it also dies."
Sheldon's eyes went wide, he couldn't feel his legs, both his arms were almost completely numb and he was having a lot of trouble breathing. He looked at her wide eyed, "You killed me!" The wild eyed expression with his mouth agape then seemed to freeze on his face and his skin started to change to the color of the liquid that had been in the vial.
Penny just looked at him with indifference, he was basically dead, the liquid metal just having to finish the destruction of all his cells, but his enhanced brain was already gone. She looked at him for only a couple seconds to verify he was completely gone, before she turned and limped as quickly as she could to her clothes. She had to hurry and even now she may be too late as she dug into the belt pouch and found the other vial, then limped over to her husband who was not breathing.
Penny knelt down on sore knees, not even registering the pain as she struggle to open the protective suit that encased Leonard. It was thick and was composed of millions of grounding circuits made to try to absorb the power of Sheldon's death ray and allow the wearer a chance to survive. It weighed almost 200 pounds and Leonard had trained for two years to be able to get this far with in on, but now getting it open so Penny could help him was taking too long.
"Dammit, you stupid fucker, open up." She screamed as tears fell down her cheeks, "Leonard please hang on baby, don't leave me." Penny said to him as she unlaced the electronic wiring that held the breast plates together. It was taking too long, way too long she thought, killing Sheldon had just taken too long and Leonard was paying with his life.
The suit had prevent Sheldon's death ray from burning up Leonard on the inside but the energy shock to his system had still shut his body down and Penny had to get him restarted. It was like a person who drown, she had only a short time to revive him and she feared she had taken to long already. Leonard had been breathing almost pure oxygen the whole time they had made their way to Sheldon's chamber, it was suppose to super oxygenate his body, keep his brain alive for a little longer. However, it was all theory, because they weren't able to test it and now as Penny desperately worked to get the suit off she prayed the doctors theory was correct.
Penny stopped for a second to look at him, she wanted to scream, but in that second she saw the knife on his belt and grabbed it. It was a knife he always kept with him in training, not as a weapon but as something to calm him and she knew he would just sharpen in when he was nervous. He had been nervous a lot lately so it was razor sharp, but was it sharp enough for the wires. Penny put the blade to the wires and it cut them, so she worked like mad to get the breast plate off him, then cut the front of his shirt off to expose his chest. Without even thinking she hit the button on the vial, releasing the needle, and drove it into his chest, seeing his whole body convulse a moment later as the drugs took effect. She then gave him CPR, felling his body respond only after about thirty seconds, it gave her a little hope. Now she would have to wait, she could see his body take shallow breaths and she could feel a pulse, but that didn't mean his brain survived, she would only know that if he woke up.
Penny sat on the cold metal floor, Leonard's head in her lap, as she ran her hands through his hair. "Baby please come back to me, I need you with me. Sweetie we completed the mission, we are done, so we need to leave now, baby wake up so we can leave." Tears dripped down Penny's cheeks as she looked down at him, trying to will him to wake up. She hated herself for being mad at him the last few days, she knew he only wanted to protect her and give her a better chance, and it didn't matter that he would probably die, he just wanted her to live. But now seeing him laying there was making her despise herself for not spending their remaining time together just being happy and letting him know how much she loved him.
A couple more minutes passed by and Penny was fearing the worse, saying a silent prayer to herself then looking down at him. "Leonard my love, please I need you." She then looked up from his face and closed her eyes. "Honey, I didn't tell you before we left because I knew you wouldn't let me go and we were the only ones that could stop him, but…Honey, I'm pregnant." Tears now poured down Penny's face, one of the tears falling on Leonard's face, as Penny kept talking. "Baby I just found out the day before…I need you Honey, I can't do this without you."
"You're pregnant?" Leonard whispered.
Penny's eyes shot open and she looked down at her husband's half open eyes that were looking up at her. Penny nodded quickly, a huge smile on her face, "I'm pregnant Sweetie, you're going to be a daddy." Penny then leaned down to try and kiss him, her being still naked, made her breasts contact his lips before her own lips and getting a soft quick "Penny" from him, which made her jump up.
"Let me rest a second before you ravish me." he whispered, trying to joke with her.
Penny blushed, "Rest Sweetie, I'll hit the homing beacon." Penny then hit the switch on the radio located on Leonard's belt that signaled the all clear. She knew it would take them a little while to get to them, because Sheldon had made his fortress in a way to not allow quick access, to protect himself.
So Penny sat there with Leonard's head in her lap for the next 10 minutes, both of them talking quietly to each other, until Leonard wanted to stand up. "Sweetie you sure?"
Leonard nodded and then in his normal voice. "Yeah, I'm feeling better." Penny then helped Leonard to a sitting position, and once sitting on his own gave him the kiss she wanted to give him ever since he woke up. They slowly stopped the kiss and just sat there, their foreheads touching before Leonard spoke again. "Honey, you are amazing nude, but aren't you getting cold."
Penny had forgot she was completely naked, she had been so worried about Leonard, she didn't even notice that goose bumps covered her whole body from being cold. "Yeah a little. Are you going to be okay while I get dressed?"
Leonard smiled, "I don't know, I've always found you just as stimulating when you're putting clothes on as when you are taking them off."
Penny smiled. "When we are done here, I'm going to take you to a reclusive beach cottage for a week and never put anything on the whole time."
Leonard gave her a fake shocked look, "Please Honey, I'm trying to recover here." as he put his hand over his heart.
Penny giggled and slowly walked limped to her clothes, quickly getting dressed, then turning back to Leonard to see him watching her. "You are terrible." she giggled.
Leonard didn't smile, "Honey how is your leg?"
Penny got serious, "I banged my knee and shin pretty bad but I don't think anything is broken or torn. I'll be fine Honey." She noticed he was still serious. "I didn't hit my belly, Sweetie, the baby is fine."
Leonard nodded, "Can you help me out of this and up." Penny was going to protest, but she could see the determination in his eyes, so she surrendered and helped him cut the suit off him, leaving him only in light coveralls when they were done. She then helped him stand up. "God, this feels so good to be out of that."
"Are you feeling okay, Honey?" Penny was still concerned.
Leonard smiled at her, "Yeah, I honestly feel stronger every minute, and getting out of the suit makes a world of difference." He then looked over at the chair and nodded to her. They then both limped and shuffled over to where the now semi-metal sculpture of Sheldon Cooper sat.
They both stood there and looked down at Sheldon, sitting in his chair, terror frozen on his face, it moved neither of them. "How many people did he kill." Penny absently asked.
"I heard almost 50 million." Leonard responded.
"And Amy." Penny added.
Leonard nodded, "I never understood how he could sacrifice her just so he could get away."
"He was selfish, no one came first before him, especially after the accident. Remember when he started to say humans were nothing but minions to Homo Novus?" Penny responded, Leonard just looked at her and nodded. "What do you think they will do with him?"
Leonard looked at her, confused, "Probably put him on display. Why?"
"Then his memory will go on for all to see in some museum." Penny answered.
Leonard looked at her then noticed she had her rock climbing hammer in her hand. "Penny what are you going to do?"
Penny looked at him, "Destroying all traces of him."
"Penny you can't." Leonard protested.
"Honey, who makes that decision? A bunch of politicians or us, the people who actually knew him?" Penny reasoned.
Leonard couldn't answer her, finally just looked at her, "Okay."
Adamantium mixed with dead tissue was very brittle, Penny's first swing with her hammer busted the sculpture of Sheldon into a hundred chunks. Penny then with her hammer and boot turned what was left in piles of small grains scattered all over the floor. Penny then got the original vial, opened it and discarded the needle, filling the container with grains of Sheldon and Adamantium. She then got the second vial, the one with the drugs that saved Leonard and did the same thing, looking at he husband when she was done. "They can verify it is Sheldon when they do a DNA check of the dead tissue in these vials."
Leonard looked confused. "Why can't they just use this on the floor?" Leonard then pointed to all the grains of Sheldon all over the floor.
"Because it won't be here Honey, after we blow this place up." Penny explained.
Leonard looked at her wide eyed. "What?"
"Sweetie think about it, who gets the death ray or the force shields?" Penny looked at him waiting for him to understand. Leonard was a very smart man, it was one of the reasons why she loved him, so it only took a couple seconds for him to understand, and after he nodded to her, she continued. "I don't want our baby growing up under the fear that someone or some nation could do what Sheldon did."
Leonard nodded again, "But how?"
Penny smiled, "The self destruct system silly."
"What makes you think a someone like Sheldon, who values his own life over everything, would put in a self destruct system." Leonard now asked.
Penny smiled, "Because all you guys are so conditioned, by comic books and movies, on what the proper way it is to do things when something like this happens, that is what you all would do." She looked right into her husband's eyes. "Am I wrong?"
Leonard sighed then nodded, moving over to the chair to look at the armrests for something like Penny described. The red button cover was so obvious and its label, 'SELF DESTRUCT' seemed redundant. Leonard looked at Penny, "Penny we can't push this, we'll die."
"Sweetie, wouldn't Sheldon put in a timer to get away?" She reasoned.
Leonard nodded, he then opened the cover and almost jumped out of his skin. "Self destruct system activated, enter the password and time sequence for self destruct." the computer blurted out while the screen showed a display to enter the password.
Penny sighed, "Damm, I was hoping there wasn't a password."
Leonard thought for a moment, then punched in a password. "Password confirmed, time sequence for self destruct now required," the computer responded as it showed different times to pick.
Penny looked at Leonard with surprise, "How did you know?"
Leonard shrugged, "I just used the password they used for self destruct on Star Trek. Sheldon used it before when he blackmailed me and Priya."
"Remind me to have you tell me about that sometime." Penny told him. "What are the time options?"
They both looked at the computer screen, "Sheldon wasn't taking any chances, he even has one week as an option." Leonard commented.
Penny nodded, "It took us and hour climb and another thirty minutes to get here, so since we are tired and recovery will not get here for another hour, I say 4 hours. Okay with you, Sweetie." Leonard nodded, then selected 4 hours on the screen, then hit enter.
"Fours hours till self destruct." the computer responded then started to count down. Penny and Leonard took one last look around then headed back the way they came.
Penny and Leonard were on their rescue ship for less than an hour when the island went up, it was actually a sight to see. All ships and aircraft were well away from it, when they told them an automated self destruct sequence started as soon as Sheldon died. Penny turned over the large vial of Sheldon's remains to the mission commander, who was very impressed that Penny had the foresight to recover the remains so the UN could positively verify that Dr Cooper was dead. The next hour, Leonard went through a physical and Penny was checked out to make sure she was only bruised, also that her baby was alright. The two of them then went right to bed, falling asleep almost immediately wrapped in each others arms.
It was a week later Leonard and Penny stood over Amy's grave, staring down at the tombstone marking it. "I was wondering why you didn't turn over the second vial." Leonard said to his wife.
Penny sighed, "She loved him, even till the end. I think she didn't even mind dying for him. She deserves to have him buried with her." Penny took the small garden hand shovel she brought with her, then dug a hole with Leonard's help, to bury the second vial in the grave that held their friend. When they were done, they just stood there for a few minutes, both saying silent farewells to their friends, it was a sort of closure for both of them. They then both finally left, returning to their car to leave the cemetery and that part of their lives behind.
"Where do you want to go?" Leonard asked.
"If we hurry we still can easily pack and catch the plane." Penny held up two tickets to Leonard.
"Where are we going?" Leonard asked in surprise.
"I found this resort that has secluded huts over the water, with glass floors so you can watch the fish." Penny told him. "Also, it is secluded enough that there is no need for us to wear clothes the whole time we are there." Penny winked at him.
Leonard gulped at his seductive wife. "Okay" was all he could respond with, which put Penny into a fit of giggles as they hurried home to pack.
The End.
Note: Number 45 was "pretending to hate each other au"