Disclaimer: I do not own Danger Mouse or any characters featured. They are the property of Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall.
Notes: This is my very first Danger Mouse fic. It serves as a bit of a follow-up to the events of the five-parter The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse. There are some spoilers. Events leading to the kidnapping are headcanon, we only find out about it actually happening right at the start of the episode, no flashbacks about it. There is no slash this time, just friendship and brotherly love. The characters might be a bit OOC as this is a first attempt at writing for them, but I have done my best.
I hope you enjoy this story!
(Linebreaks hate me, so I am using DMEP to substitute)
DMEP
London; the capital of the country England, the home of Big Ben, the Thames and the well-known London Bridge that children sing about. We can see in the skies above this fair city a small, yellow vehicle flying gracefully. The pilot of the flying car, the Mark III, is noneother than Danger Mouse, the world's smallest, yet greatest, secret agent. Sitting in the passenger seat, curled up and having a doze, is his faithful, if cowardly, assistant Penfold.
Danger Mouse stared ahead, his thoughts going through the events of the previous days. Very soon, we'll be back home and we can put it all behind us. The question was, would they be able to?
It had started with Danger Mouse being out while Penfold tended to some duties in their pillar-box home. The White Wonder had faith in the security system set up, and hoped Penfold would remember not to open the door to strangers. After all, you never know who they could be. Unfortunately, Penfold had been tricked into letting someone in, and the next thing anybody knew, he'd been whisked away, a note left behind by his captor.
When Danger Mouse returned to the headquarters, he quickly noticed how quiet it was. He was expecting Penfold to greet him with a chirpy welcome back, Chief, fancy a cup of tea then, eh? or something to that effect. He was expecting a joke that would have him groaning a good grief! before having to tell his assistant to shush. But, none of that had happened. "Penfold? Hm. Could be taking a nap, I suppose." Before he could make a move towards the hamster's bedroom, he spotted the note.
Danger Mouse, we have your assistant in our grasp. Do not attempt to rescue him, or he shall suffer the consequences. Await my demands, I shall contact you momentarily. Baron Silas Greenback.
"The fiend! Kidnapping Penfold from his own home!" Danger Mouse was not happy, to say the least. He knew what he had to do. He immediately got in touch with Colonel K and informed him of the situation. He was reminded by the colonel that he would have to wait for contact from the wicked baron. Sleep refused to come to him, all he could do was pace back and forth in front of the telecommunication system, hoping that he would soon hear what Greenback demanded of him. He tried staying calm, but all he could think about was what was happening to poor Penfold. What if Greenback was torturing him? What if he was scared out of his wits? While that wouldn't be unusual, this time he wasn't there to help him find that little bit of courage hidden deep down. What he wouldn't have given to have heard Penfold make a bad joke or chatter on about some form of nonsense. He wouldn't even tell him to shush, no matter how grating it got.
By the next morning, the press had heard of the abduction, and it was front page news.
Danger Mouse shook his head. Of all of the news to make the front pages, it had to be the reminder that his best friend was taken away by his worst enemy. He cast a quick glance to the slumbering hamster, noting how at peace he appeared. "No doubt he was unable to rest well in the conditions Greenback left him in," he muttered before turning to face ahead again. They were nearing home.
He remembered after finally arriving at Greenback's lair with his new friend, just how relieved he felt at seeing Penfold was still alive. He couldn't exactly express it though, it would be a sign of weakness if shown in front of his nemesis. He remembered after saving Penfold, the little hamster had jumped onto him, clinging on for dear life while repeatedly kissing his cheek in gratitude. It certainly wasn't the thank-you he had expected. He quickly put a stop to it though, reminding Penfold that they are British.
He cast another glance at the still slumbering rodent and smiled tenderly. He really was glad to have Penfold by his side, safe and sound, once again. Of course, he'd probably still be quick to shush lame jokes or nonsense spoken at inappropriate times. He returned his gaze to the sky ahead and nodded as he recognised the area. "Ah, we're home now."
Penfold stirred at the sound of his boss' voice. He opened his eyes and stretched. "Are we home yet, Chief?"
"We're preparing to land right now, Penfold." Danger Mouse pressed a button and pulled back a lever, causing the winged car to descend.
DMEP
The report had been made to Colonel K, as was the usual for the wind-up of yet another successful mission. The chinchilla had expressed his relief at seeing Penfold was back with them, looking none the worse for the wear. They'd shared a few laughs at jokes, Penfold had been shushed when he started speaking nonsense...yes, everything was back to normal in that Mayfair pillar-box on the corner of Baker Street.
As the screen changed to static before going blank, Penfold noticed there was something different about the floor. There was a hole near their feet. It looked to be about knee height for his boss, so almost as deep as his own height. "Cor, Chief, there's a big hole in the floor! How'd that get there?"
The White Wonder didn't want to answer. He didn't want to claim responsibility for the newest addition to their living room.
"Right in front of the screen too! Crumbs, Chief, it's as if someone was walking back and forth there the whole time and eventually wore a hole right in the floor!"
"Yes, Penfold, it does seem like that, doesn't it?" Danger Mouse turned and went to sit on the circular sofa. He could finally relax, knowing Penfold was home once again.
"Well, since I wasn't here, it must've been..." He turned to his boss and friend. "DM?" He followed him and sat beside him on the sofa. "Were you worred about me?"
There was no hesitation from the secret agent. "Well, of course I was worried, Penfold! I didn't expect to come home to see you weren't here, instead all there was a sign of was a note explaining you had been taken away!" He didn't mean to shout; he wasn't angry with his small friend, just felt he needed to vent. It should've been obvious he would've been worried; Penfold was more than his assistant, he was his best friend!
Penfold frowned and looked down at his paws. "I'm sorry, Chief. I didn't mean to worry you. If I weren't so weak, I could've fought back and then I wouldn't have been taken away. I shouldn't have answered the door to begin with, but they claimed to have a package for you."
He softened his one-eyed gaze. "Oh, Penfold." He shifted closer and pulled the tiny hamster into his arms. They were in the privacy of their home, so there was no need to keep up the reserved behaviour. It was fine to show his emotions more openly. "I want to make it perfectly clear to you right now that what happened was not your fault."
"But, Chief..."
"Penfold, shush." Unlike his usual usage of that line, the delivery was much softer. "The one responsible for this whole affair was Baron Greenback. He was the one who orchestrated the nefarious scheme. I don't want you putting the blame on yourself when you are not the one at fault." He pushed aside his own thoughts of besides, I should've been here. "How bad was it there? Did Greenback do anything to you?"
"Just locked me up in a cold, wet cell, didn't feed me too good and allowed bugs to come in. I couldn't really sleep, DM, my bed was hard as a rock."
At least he didn't try torturing him any further than that mistreatment. "So, you must be hungry then."
"Still kind of sleepy too."
"I understand. Considering what happened, you may have the day off from your usual duties as my assistant."
"Are you sure, Chief?"
"Quite." He smiled gently. "Welcome home, Penfold."
The hamster relaxed against his taller friend's torso, sharing in the friendly embrace. He was smiling too, his eyes closed. "Thanks, DM."
It wasn't long until Danger Mouse heard Penfold quietly snoring. He had to admit he felt tired too. He could rest at ease knowing Penfold was by his side once again. He closed his eye, still holding Penfold for both of their reassurance, and allowed himself to finally drop off to sleep. They'd need to be well-rested for their next mission.
DMEP
What will their next mission entail? Will anybody try separating these two once again? Find out, in the next exciting adventure of Danger Mouse! (Honestly, they should've told me that this would just be some sweet story about friends being together again, I could've been on a holiday for this one. But, no, they still asked me to come in and serve as the narrator for this. Oh well, better than the usual nonsense of this series.)
DMEP
After-notes: There we have it. As this is a follow-up, I did have the timeskip between their arrival and the end of their transmission with Colonel K. I had to write some friendship fluff after seeing this one, I just had to! After seeing how worried DM was about Penfold (that part about pacing back and forth until there was a hole in the floor was not headcanon, that was shown in the episode!), I had to get something out of my system and wound up coming up with this.
Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it! If you'd like to leave a review, please feel free to do so. If not, that is fine too. I do ask that you not flame this or leave harsh criticism.