REUNION


Author Note:

This story is based off the idea of the cartoon series 'The Perils of Penelope Pitstop'.

BUT:

This story is written as a modern day reboot of the old ideas from the cartoon, with a spin on the plot and written as if the characters are 'live' instead of anime.

It is set in 2012 and has a different take on the situations of the characters, has a solid background history to the story and is a drama/suspense/romance.

So it's not 'the cartoon' it's based off the idea of the cartoon, and is written for grown ups who enjoyed the cartoons and would perhaps like to see an adult, modern day take on the ideas from the cartoon put into a story set in modern times.

The pairing in this story is Penelope/Sylvester – and yes, it IS romantic.


Rated: T.


Disclaimer: I own nothing at all; this is a fan work, written for love of the fandom.


Summary:

(The Past):

At the age of seventeen, Penelope Pitstop's wealthy parents were shot to death by a hooded intruder who robbed the family safe.

After this tragedy, Penelope went to live with her guardian Sylvester Sneekly – her late father's young and brilliant business partner.

But Penelope was still traumatized by her parent's deaths and her dreams were haunted by terrifying images of a hooded man breaking into her bedroom.

When she confided in Sylvester, a shy young man of twenty five who could barely hold a conversation with pretty young Penelope, she told him all about the 'Hooded Claw' of her nightmares.

Sylvester was sympathetic - but unknown to Penelope, suffered from strange blackouts. During one of these blackouts he 'became' the man from her nightmares and abducted her – she escaped unharmed and Sneekly was sent to jail.

While in jail it emerged that Sneekly was seriously ill at the time of the incident – and hewas telling the truth when he claimed he had no memory of what he did.

And when his lawyer begged Penelope to consider helping to get his sentance reduced, Penelope refused, although later regretted her decision when she learned how dangerously ill Sylvester was.

Penelope put the past behind her and got on with her life.

Sylvester struggled to cope in prison and after suffering debilitating affects of life saving surgery, decided to give up on life. But he had a friend in his cellmate Frankie Sparks, a former mobster, who vowed to help him because young Sylvester reminded him of his late son...

The story begins after fifteen years pass:

Penelope's nightmares have faded. She is living in her late parent's house and owns the family's lucrative shipping business and now only dreams about the Hooded Claw of her nightmares when dark stormy clouds and heavy rain remind her of the night of her parents death.

She is now in a relationship with Clyde, a former member of a local street gang called the Ant Hill Mob, who uses Penelope's business to earn his own living – but Penelope has no clue how Clyde really earns his money. She also has no clue that it was Clyde, fifteen years before, who as a sixteen year old kid who had nothing but a loaded gun, sneaked into her parents house disguised by his baggy hooded top and shot them and robbed the safe to launch his business - a business that has led Clyde to become a big time drug dealer..

Then Sylvester is released from jail – and he is a very different man for his time in prison - and when Clyde finds Penelope has reached a point of understanding and forgiveness towards him, and realizes there is even a hint of attraction between the two of them, he reacts by making Sylvester's life hell and then hatching a plan to 'become' a living, breathing version of The Hooded Claw - Clyde's own version of Penelope's nightmare man - a scheming sadist who will have Penelope put through a series of terrifying traps to shred her confidence, to push her into marrying him so that he can have her committed to a mental hospital, to enable Clyde to take over the Pitstop business and fortune...

Can Penelope ever see through the veil of deceit?

Will she ever realise that Clyde is not the sweet loving boyfriend she imagines him to be?

And can Sylvester save her from her fate...and will true love find a way for two people who are very much in love, but both too afraid to admit the truth?


Chapter 1

It was raining again.

Not the kind of fresh morning shower that ended with sunshine and birds singing in the trees; this was the kind of downpour that constantly drenched the world, making it look as if the windows were melting and turning to water.

The skies were blackening and the light, airy bedroom where she slept was darkening to shadow as the clouds gathered.

Thunder sounded, a flicker of lightening snaked across the sky and the rain fell harder.

She was tossing and turning beneath silken sheets, trying to escape the dreams the stormy weather always brought with it.

Lightening flashed in her mind as she saw it again:

She ran in the rain while the storm rumbled overhead, fighting to get past the crowd of shocked on lookers as two bodies were brought out of the front door of the house in closed body bags..

The lightening flashed again.

She was sitting in the interview room and the cop was talking to her.

"I'm sorry Miss Pitstop, but it was a brutal robbery. An armed man broke into your parent's house while you were out. He went up to the bedroom and shot your parents dead in their beds and then he robbed the safe. We have little to go on, except a neighbour saw a man in a hooded top running from the scene of the crime..."

Two more flashes went off in the dark, this time from the killer's gun as her parent's bodies jerked with the impact.

Penelope blinked.

Daylight...

After the funeral:

She got back into the car and he sat beside her. He was a young man in his mid twenties, her late father's business partner, a shy man who could barely glance at her through the lenses of his thick glasses as he patted her hand and then quickly let go again.

"Don't worry, my dear." Said Sylvester Sneekly, "I'll take care of you..."

The darkness fell again.

The hooded man rose up from the shadow as if he were made of it; he strode towards her and his voice sounded rasping and cold as the graves where her parents rested their bones:
"I'm coming to get you Penelope!" He roared, lunging at her with a machete in his hand.

He landed on top of her and they were fighting and fighting...

Then the light came on and Sylvester was standing in the doorway looking tired and pale and staring at Penelope.

"What's happened?" He said in a shocked voice.

She sat up in bed and sobbed as she told him of her nightmares.

"I'll get you a therapist." He said gently, "It might help."

The storm was still raging but sleep would not let go of Penelope Pitstop.

She was back in her room again, back then in those dark times, afraid to sleep even though the therapist had told her the hooded man was a psychological reaction to the way her parents had died.

She dreamed of him every time she fell asleep, he stalked her dreams, always pouncing out of the shadows, moving like a blur, one step, another and another and then he was on her and she was fighting him as he tried to bring down that blade and slice her in two...

Hooded Claw.

That was the name she gave her boogeyman...

The scene switched to a quiet afternoon on the sofa, Sylvester sat down beside her. He rubbed his aching temple and put a handkerchief to his nose as he tried to stop yet another nose bleed.

"Maybe it would help if you told me about this...hooded what?"

"Hooded Claw." Penelope whispered, then she took in a breath and spoke quietly:

"He comes out of the shadows all in black. I never see his face but he's got this deep, horrible voice. And he pins me to the bed and that's when I see it, he's got a machete in his hand and I know I'm dead..."

And Sylvester winced as his headache pounded and got up quickly, leaving the room before his handkerchief soaked through with blood.

She knew it was coming as soon as she saw herself back in the kitchen while yet another storm rumbled overhead:

Penelope tried to wake up because this was no easy trip down memory lane; it was more like a nightmare fairground ride on a horrible ghost train that she had no escape from...

He came out of the shadows.

He was breathing heavily.

She dropped the glass of milk and as it slipped from her hand she heard the glass shatter but her gaze would not leave the figure who stood draped in black by the doorway, blocking her exit...

"I have you now, Penelope..."He murmured.

Something silver glinted in his hand, catching the moonlight and as her eyes grew wider she screamed, seeing this was not a machete; this was a carving knife taken from the knife block here in the kitchen.

And this was not some fictional nightmare man in her dreams; either – this man was real.

She knew by his voice that it was Sylvester. She knew it as sure as blood began to drip on the floor from yet another of his strange nosebleeds that he just couldn't get under control.

He grabbed her; they fell hard onto the floor together as he raised the knife and brought it down.

Penelope shifted and the knife slammed against the floor.

He pulled it from the woodwork and she raised her knee, smashing it into his groin.

As he rolled over in agony, she pushed him off and scrambled to her feet, dashing from the room, not caring she had stepped in broken glass to reach that doorway.

Her hand grabbed the lock.

She pulled, twisted, unhooked the latches, pulled down the second lock and wrenched open the door just as he got to his feet and started to run.

Penelope ran across the lawn, screaming loudly for help as he chased close behind her.

She ran into the road, cars screeching to a halt as they skidded to avoid the screaming young woman in a short pink night gown who was being chased by a guy in some kind of Halloween costume.

Penelope saw the patrol car and threw herself against it as the cops got out.

One of them grabbed her and sat her on the back seat while she sobbed and cried about Sylvester going crazy.

The other cop chased him across the lawn, brought him down to ground and disarmed and cuffed him.

"He tired to kill me, he tried to kill me!" She sobbed over and over.

And then the dreams of the past let her go.

Penelope woke up with a sharp gasp as she snapped her eyes open and found herself far from the past that had just played out inside her head.

But all the same as the morning storm clouds hung black over the world and the rain poured down, yesterday seemed as close as the next room and she sat up, heart pounding as she took some deep breaths...

"I'm sure that was the worst dream I've had for a long time!" She said loud, taking another deep breath.

Then she closed her eyes and spoke aloud again.

"It's the year 2012. The past is over. OVER, Penelope..."

Then she opened her big brown eyes and nervously scanned the room just in case this was still a dream and that shadow man, that figment of her imagination, might jump out at her again...

But the curtains shifted in the breeze and the rain continued to fall.

The storm was passing over now.

Penelope got out of bed and headed for her pink bathroom, where she was sure a shower would wake her up and help to put her nightmares and dreams of the past back into perspective.

"It's just a stupid old storm!" She said as she slipped off her night gown and stepped under a jet of warm water, "Just a storm..."

And she closed her eyes as the water danced over her flesh and warmed her skin and washed through her long blonde hair.

As she showered her thoughts briefly switched to the man who had gone crazy that night, becoming the Hooded Claw...

But now Penelope felt no fear.

It had been different back then, when the memory was fresh and she still felt raw with the shock of it.

That had been her reason for not speaking up for him in court when he appealed his sentance; back then it hadn't mattered to Penelope that he was sick at the time of the attack, that it was the blackouts that had caused him to turn into something out of her nightmare- he could have killed her and that was all she had focussed on at the time...

Afterwards, when she knew the truth, when it was too late to help, she regretted that decision:

Sylvester had no memory of attacking her.

He had suffered severe seizures after his arrest.

But they hadn't found out about the brain tumor until after he had gone to jail.

She gave a sigh as the water danced over her skin:

Poor Sylvester...

Then she put the past firmly out of her mind, because the sun was coming out, it was shining through the bathroom window as if the storm had never happened and this bright new start only served as reminder to Penelope that she had a life to be getting on with; she didn't like to linger in the past too long – not in a past with such terrible memories, a past that seemed to have monsters lurking at every turn in the dark winding corridors of her mind...


By eleven that morning the sun was still shining and by now the sky was flawless.

Melanie Love, Penelope's closest friend since her college days, was sitting at a table in the outside area of the restaurant because eating outside had seemed like a good idea, until it grew later and later and it dawned on her that she might well be eating alone if Penelope didn't show up soon...

The short, dark haired woman in the polka dot dress checked her watch again and frowned.

Then she called a waiter over to the table.

"Excuse me," She said to him, "I'm waiting for my friend. I'm wondering if she might have gone inside instead of coming out here- you might have seen her...tall, blonde, white boots...likes pink? Have you seen her?"

But the water just shook his head and walked off towards another table.

Then she heard the sound of a zippy little engine and she turned her head, seeing Penelope's pink Mini Coupe with a number five painted on the side of it turn into the parking lot.

Penelope parked the car and got out, then hurried over to her table.

"I'm so sorry I was late!" She exclaimed, "I had a million things to do this morning and I almost forgot about you!"

Melanie looked at Penelope and wondered if some of those million things she had to do were anything connected with her outfit...

She glanced at her tight, short pink dress and those white boots she loved to wear and then she saw what else she was wearing and she gave a sigh.

"Why oh why are you wearing that pink helmet?" She asked her.

Penelope smiled and took it off, giving her blonde hair a shake.

"It's retro! You know me, if it's retro I've gotta have it!" She exclaimed.

Then she sat down at the table.

After they ordered lunch, Penelope fell silent.

The waiter came back and placed their drinks on the table but Penelope was still silent. She just sat there lost in her own thoughts watching the bubbles rise in her glass of mineral water.

"That was some storm we had this morning." Melanie remarked, making a guess and as Penelope looked at her and she saw the haunted look in her dark eyes, she knew that she was right.

"Bad dream again?"

Penelope nodded.

"I had bad dreams that covered just about everything! I saw it all again - my parents getting shot, me getting the bad dreams and then Sylvester turning into the Hooded Claw... I don't think I can ever forget that, not really. I mean, its one thing to have a boogeyman in your dreams – but to have a trusted friend turn into the boogeyman in real life? I can't forget it, I wish I could..."

"But he was sick." Melanie reminded her, "He didn't know what he was doing. That's why he got a reduction in his sentance. That's why they changed it from a whole life term to a minimum of fifteen years. He could be out soon."

Penelope's eyes had clouded with worry as she looked back at her friend.

"And then what?"

"And then let's hope the poor guy can get on with his life –let's hope he's still got some kind life to look forward to."

Penelope gave a sigh and she sipped the mineral water.

"I wish, I really wish I'd never called that hospital to see how he was doing!"

As she spoke she recalled the day she had gone off alone to a public phone booth to make a call that no one else could know about:

By then Sylvester had been sent to jail and was in the hospital recovering from surgery and Penelope had been staying with Melanie's family. At the time she hadn't dared to tell anyone she had made enquires about his welfare, not after the way he had attacked her when he went crazy- but eventually, years later, she had told her best friend and now there were no secrets between them...

"But you did it because you know it wasn't his fault." Melanie reminded her

"But I didn't support him when he wanted to get his sentance cut. I couldn't. I don't know, Melanie- maybe I should have done. But it's too late now; he's been in jail fifteen years. I can't take that back."

And Penelope thought about it some more, recalling that phone call when she had been told the bad news that Sylvester had suffered complications, that he had lost the use of his left arm, that it would take him a long time to make any kind of recovery. She was told he was depressed, that he was finding everything so hard to accept.

She had wanted to visit him, but instead she had stayed away because it was easier just to get on with her life and draw a line under the past.

But it did not stop her thinking about him.

"It wasn't his fault." She stated, "I know that now! Why couldn't I have seen things differently back then?"

Her best friend looked into her eyes.

"Penelope," She said carefully, "How would you feel if Sylvester walked in the restaurant right now and came up to you?"

Penelope stared at her.

"What...Here? Now..."

She sounded scared.

"He traumatized you." Melanie told her, "Even if he had no control over his actions, even if he knew nothing about it because he was sick- he still did those things! So don't feel bad about him doing time for it! "

Then the waiter came back with the food and as they ate lunch together, the subject was dropped.


Penelope had almost finished lunch when a big shiny white sports car rolled into the parking lot with the top down and the sound system up so high the walls of the surrounding buildings began to shake.

As the car engine turned off it killed the music and Melanie uncovered her ears.

"I see why he calls that car ChuggaBOOM!" She remarked.

Penelope watched as the blonde guy in the casual street clothes with luxury designer labels walked towards her and she smiled at him.

His heavy good chain glinted in the sunlight just like his bracelet, and the gold rings on his fingers did the same.

"Hey babe!" He exclaimed, standing behind Penelope's chair and putting his arm around her as he kissed her cheek, "Wanna come for a ride?"

She looked up at Clyde, with his short bleached out blond hair and thought how handsome he was- but he could have taken the time to shave... that guy always looked as if he had run out of razor blades a couple of days before...

"I was intending to spend sometime with Melanie today."

His smile vanished.

"And I was hoping you and me could take a ride up to the coast, Penelope. I wanted to open up the Chuggaboom on full throttle."

"Sorry Clyde, maybe another time. I'm busy today."

Clyde leaned down and gave her a kiss and looked back at Melanie and smiled.

"I love this girl!" He said warmly, "I can't wait for the day she marries me! She's worth a lot."

Then he squeezed her tighter, adding: "A lot me."

Melanie stayed silent because Penelope was in love and it wouldn't come across as fair for her to say she had never liked Clyde; he had grown up down town and spent his youth in a street gang called the Anthill Mob. She looked at him sometimes and wondered if Clyde loved Penelope at all; he was impatient to move in, impatient to marry her, too...

But thankfully Penelope had held off on that kind of commitment and Melanie was relieved - because although she couldn't prove a thing, she had always had the feeling that Clyde could not be trusted and that maybe his main attraction to Penelope was the fact that she had inherited her late parent's vast fortune and their shipping company a few years back...

But she had no proof, so saw no reason to voice doubts based on thin air that could hurt her best friend's feelings...

Clyde kissed Penelope again then he let go of her.

"Okay babe, I'll leave you and your friend to have lunch. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'll call you!" Penelope promised, blowing him a kiss as he headed back to his car.

Moments later the music started up and the walls shook to the sound of hip hop turned onto full volume, the music only faded away as Clyde drove off and took his monster sound system with him.

As they turned back to finish lunch, the rain began to fall once more.

Penelope looked up and saw clouds had gathered heavily once more since her arrival and she wished she had taken her pink umbrella from the back of the car because she usually took it everywhere with her when it looked like rain – but it was too late now, lunch was over.

"Shall we go back to my place?" Penelope wondered.

"Good idea." Melanie replied.


It was his last day in jail.

As he stood in front of the mirror and straightened his tie, Sylvester knew this was a day that most people would want to celebrate:

He was getting out of here, he was a free man, his time had been served- his sentance was over...

And Sylvester felt nervous as he thought about it:

He was going back to the world outside, back into a world that wouldn't understand that he had been in jail so long because of circumstances beyond his control...

He had never thought this day would come.

It only seemed like yesterday he had been twenty five years old and thrown into jail over a black out that had cost him everything:

He had no idea that he was sick.

He had known nothing except that he would lose time and wake up feeling confused.

Sylvester could still recall waking in a police cell, to be told he was being charged with attempted kidnap, attempted assault, attempted murder...

He had known little about the time that followed.

The first time he had met his cell mate, a big, strong guy names Sparks, he had expected to die because he had been grabbed by the throat and slammed up against the wall as Sparks had told him he didn't want a pervert who abducted teenage girls as his cell mate. He had protested his innocence and tried to explain he couldn't remember what had happened...

Then after a massive seizure Sylvester knew nothing else, waking up in a hospital with pain in his head and paralysis down his left side as a doctor explained to him he had needed emergency treatment to remove a brain tumor.

Sylvester had felt just about ready to give up on life.

But a few weeks later everything had changed when he had an unexpected visitor:

Frankie Sparks had walked into the room handcuffed to a guard.

He had glanced at the guard and spoken to him quietly.

"You could at least take the cuffs off, didn't I pay you enough?" He had remarked, and the guard had unlocked his cuffs and then stepped out of the room for a moment, and as he sat there in his hospital bed Sylvester had recalled how much Sparks had hated him and looked at him fearfully:

Sparks was someone important in jail. He was feared by other prisoners and respected by the guards. He always bribed his way into getting anything he wanted, too. Rumor had it that he was a business man who had been mixed up in organized crime and been jailed for shooting a rival...

Sparks walked over to him and grabbed a pillow off a nearby chair.

"I heard." He said quietly,"Because I'm the kind of guy who gets to know about everything. I know now -you were telling the truth- you were sick, that's why you don't remember what you did..."

As he came closer with that pillow, Sylvester blinked back tears and wondered if Sparks had come here to smother him with that thing.

But as he spoke again his voice was gentle.

"I can see you've been through a lot. I heard the surgery was complicated. And I know you didn't deliberately go after that girl – it was because of the brain tumor. That's why I'm calling my lawyer to see if we can get your sentance reduced."

And he placed the pillow across Sylvester's lap and carefully took hold of his paralyzed arm and rested it on top of it.

"That's how you need to support your arm." He told him, still looking down as he adjusted his arm for him, "I know about this stuff - my son was in a car accident and he ended up..."

Sparks paused, finally meeting Sylvester's gaze. One look at him told him all he needed to know:

He had a big scar across the top of his head, his arm was paralysed and by the look in his eyes he guessed this guy who had nothing to look forward to but going back to jail had just about lost the will to live by now...

"He ended up...like you." Sparks said, "Except his injuries were caused by a car crash. He died. He was my oldest son and I lost him. He would have been about your age, too. I'm going to help you Sylvester. I'll help you get through this and get through jail and I'll do everything I can to be a friend to you –I want to. I had a feeling when I met you there was more to your story. I know about bad guys and I've known enough of them in jail - and you just don't come across that way at all."

Sylvester's head had felt sore as he slowly turned and looked tearfully into Frankie Spark's eyes.

"You want to help me?"

Frankie ignored the tears running down his face and took hold of his paralyzed hand.

"Try and squeeze my hand."

"I can't do it."

"Sure you can." Frankie said, "Just try. That's all I'm asking you to do, I'm asking you not to give up. Can you do that for me?"

Sylvester had concentrated on the hand that felt like it didn't belong to him any more and his fingers weakly moved.

He was barely gripping his hand but it was enough for Sparks.

"You can do it." He promised him, "And things will get better for you, I'll make sure of it. Everybody needs a friend, Sylvester. You've got one now, you've got me."

And Sparks had kept his word.

He had got him a lawyer, he had helped to get his sentance reduced.

He had taken him to the gym every day on his return to prison and at times Sylvester had felt like the guy was his torturer more than a friend as he had stood over him and taught him how to lift weights, making him work out until he did get the use of his arm back.

Sparks had taught him how to cope with prison life, too.

He had got him through everything just like he had promised.

And thirteen years into his sentance, Sparks had been released...

Sylvester stepped back from the mirror and ran his hand down his immaculate, brand new dark suit: it was a gift from Sparks.

Then he took a final look at his reflection, seeing a man looking back at him who looked nothing like the man who had arrived here fifteen years ago; he had changed so much he was barely recognizable now:

The workouts in the gym had done more than give him back the use of his arm; his body was athletic and toned now.

His brown hair was shorter and cut in layers to fall in such a way that it would hide his scar - and it suited him, too.

His eyes were bright blue and he looked better for not wearing his thick glasses any more; after the operation he had suffered problems with his weakened vision and had needed laser surgery, so now he could see perfectly well without glasses.

Sylvester was forty years old now and looked good for it.

He adjusted his tie.

The prison guard walked into his cell.

"Ready to go, Sylvester?" He asked him.

"You bet I am." He said quietly, and then he walked out of the cell, following the guard towards the series of locked gates, knowing as each one unlocked he would be a step closer to freedom.


When the gate of the prison finally closed behind him, Sylvester stood alone looking at an empty road.

He was sure he had never felt so alone in his life.

He thought about the one thing that had been burning in his mind since the day he was arrested:

He wanted to find Penelope and apologize to her, to tell her it had not been his fault, he had been sick at the time.

He never would have hurt that girl, he had cared about her – he had been so young back then so shy and unsure of himself, so shy around that beautiful young woman...

It broke his heart to think she probably hated him for what he had done, but he still felt the need to find her and apologize, even if she couldn't forgive him.

He felt tearful as he recalled how half his life had been wasted and destroyed; his illness hadn't just physically crippled him, it had caused him to lose his liberty, too...

Then he heard a car horn blare out loudly and he turned around.

A limousine pulled up.

The driver got out and opened the passenger door.

Frankie Sparks got out and looked at Sylvester, standing there in a new suit and looking like a new man; he was nothing like the scared guy he had met fifteen years before, the change in him was remarkable...

"How does it feel to be a free man?" He asked him warmly.

Sylvester briefly smiled.

"It feels good, Sparks."

And Sparks gave him a hug.

Then he got back into the limo.

"Come on," He said,"Let's get out of here, Sylvester."

And he got into the limo and the car pulled away from the prison gates.

As they drove away Sylvester still felt nervous to be back in a world he had long been absent from, and he still wanted to see Penelope too, no matter what her reaction –but he knew there was one thing he was certain about as the car drove on and put a distance between him and the prison forever:

Everybody needed a friend – and he sure had a good one in Frankie Sparks...