Peabody's howl vibrated inside the WABAC, but Sherman was too busy cheering himself to notice. He steered the WABAC toward the ground where the NYPD police officers and the Peterson family stood.
They had done it. They had fixed the spacetime continuum. They were both so happy.
Peabody however quickly grew quiet. A habit borne from years of time traveling experience, his mind began immediately working on the future. His jowls went into a downward spiral as he realized Ms. Grunion was probably still down there, and despite the three presidential pardons and a unanimous affirmation by everyone else that he was valid, he seriously doubted that would sway her.
There was only one thing to fix now. Everyone except his and Sherman's memories.
He was prepared for it, of course. Shortly after completing the WABAC, he had implemented a feature that would erase the memories of everyone who had witnessed the WABAC that shouldn't have and disrupt any electronic recording equipment, such as cameras. One can never be too sure in the age of shady corporations and greedy business tycoons, he could never let anyone know about the WABAC.
But Sherman was overflowing with joy his idea had worked he didn't even notice Peabody's crestfallen expression. He beamed at Penny as he steered them both over the gathered police force and did a little flyby. Sherman flew further into the sky when he noticed his father out the corner of his eye.
"Mr. Peabody? What are doing?!" his sharp turn to look at his father caused them to veer right which he quickly corrected.
Peabody was busy pressing buttons and entering commands into the WABAC. But Sherman knew what he was doing.
"I am preparing the WABAC to erase the memories of everyone involved, Sherman. You know that. We cannot let anyone retain their memories of the past 15 minutes." Peabody said, not looking at him.
"But what about Penny?!" Sherman's eyes widened in fear. "We can't do that to her!"
Peabody finally turned to him, his brows creased in concern. He understood why Sherman was so distraught. "I have to, Sherman. No one can remember the WABAC except you and myself."
"But…but- but she's my friend now! If she doesn't remember, then this all will have been for nothing! If she doesn't remember, she won't be… herself."
Peabody sighed, realizing the Penny would indeed regress back to her bratty, spoiled self if he performed the memory wipe on her.
Peabody's eyes met Sherman's as he pleaded with him to not erase the friendship that had blossomed throughout their time travels together. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the time Sherman had spent with Penny meant more than he knew.
He relented. "Alright, we will go and pick up the entire Peterson family, and they will be excluded from the memory wipe."
Sherman smiled wide.
"However," Peabody stared pointedly at Sherman. "I must still erase the memories of her parents, Penny is the only one who can know. I am trusting her for your sake, Sherman."
Sherman nodded solemnly as he piloted the WABAC back down to the gathered crowd. Peabody gasped as he noticed that the local news station had got wind of the event and sent a camera crew.
They landed and Sherman got up from his seat, but Peabody stopped him.
"Wait in here, Sherman." He said, holding a paw up. "There's a camera crew out there."
The seriousness in his voice was so great Sherman didn't question him as he sat back down. He knew his father didn't liked his face being publicized.
He exited and again, a cheer erupted from the crowd. Peabody quickly looked around among the sea of blue for a bright pink but became perplexed when he couldn't find it.
The Petersons came walking over and approached Peabody.
Paul spoke first. "Peabuddy! That was quite a show with your flying ball there, is it for sale?" he joked, but Peabody didn't take it as such. This was the very thing he was worried about that required he remove all knowledge of the WABAC from everyone.
"No, it's the only one of its kind-" he answered absently. "Where is Ms. Grunion?" he added quickly.
"Oh, that Agamemnon guy grabbed her just as he was sucked up into the wormhole with all the other history guys so I'm not sure…"
On the one hand, Peabody was relived she was nowhere nearby, but also that began to worry him. Who knows the havoc she could inflict on history. He mentally facepalmed as he realized they might have to go get her eventually…
Before either could say anything else, the news crew came walking up that consisted of a newscaster and her cameraman.
"…-yes it appears Mr. Peabody has returned, and I'm hoping we can get a few words with him." She noticed Peabody standing there and quickly motioned to her cameraman who panned to him.
She swiftly strode over to Peabody and shoved her microphone in front of his snout. "Mr. Peabody, what happened here tonight? Could you please explain for everyone at home?"
For a split second, Peabody wondered what to say, but then realized none of it mattered. None of them would remember anyway. His worry abated and he was quickly able to fall into his academic persona.
He smiled. "Certainly. I realize that there is no hiding it now. I have created a working time machine…"
The newscasters interview finally ended and they left along with many of the other police officers that were now dispersing.
Paul, Patty, and Penny walked up to him again. "I'm sorry we weren't able to finish that dinner party Peabody." Patty remarked, frowning at him.
"On the contrary, Patty, I would be honored of we could conclude it." Peabody smiled warmly up at her.
"I'm up for it." Paul said excitedly "If it means we get to take a ride in your flying ball… does it have a name?"
"It's called the WABAC."
"WAB-? Oh, because it travels back in time huh? Clever, I like it." He smirked.
"Well let's go." Peabody said, gesturing with a paw towards the doors.
Paul and Patty walked towards the doors, which automatically opened, and they stepped inside.
Penny was following her parents, but Peabody quickly grabbed her before she could walk inside.
He pulled her aside as the doors closed again. "Mr. Peabody? What are you doing?" she exclaimed.
"Ms. Peterson, you must realize that I cannot allow you or anyone else to retain memories of these events, yet I am letting you be the exception because it would be detrimental to yours and Sherman's friendship. However, I cannot allow your parents to remember, so I am preparing you now, so you are not caught unawares. I hope you understand my reason for doing this and the immense trust I am placing in you. You cannot ever tell your parents about this."
Penny was quiet for a second but then she nodded gravely. She could now recognize the trust that Mr. Peabody was placing in her and didn't want to disappoint him.
"I understand."
Peabody smiled back and they both walked into the WABAC. Sherman was in the middle of animatedly telling Paul and Patty, who were now sitting crosslegged on the floor, how it worked.
Peabody and Penny took their own seats, and Sherman took off.
Once they were high enough in the sky, Sherman cloaked them and Peabody began to type on the keyboard.
"What are you doing?" Paul asked.
"I am preparing to wipe the memories of everyone who encountered the WABAC tonight, I have kept this secret for the past 7 years, and I don't intend to break that record." Peabody replied, reaching up to adjust a virtual dial.
"Smart, but what about traffic cams?" Paul asked.
"This will take care of those too. A properly configured EM pulse combined with a low-level brainwave should be enough to alter the memories of everyone involved."
He pressed the enter key and immediately reached into the middle and pressed the big red button.
A rather loud Fwoom! sound could be heard, and outside the WABAC they could see a large sphere of blue light had emanated from it and was traveling away from them at a rapid pace.
It kept going until they could see it no more. Patty spoke. "But we will be unaffected?"
"Yes, anyone inside the WABAC will be unaffected, but it should cover most of Manhattan island." Peabody said, absently looking at a holographic map of the island.
"That's remarkable." Paul commented. "This really is an amazing piece of technology, Peabody."
"Thank you." Peabody smiled. "Now," he looked back at the group. "How about we finish that dinner party?"
"That would be great." Patty smiled.
Sherman flew them back to the penthouse and parked them successfully.
He and Penny jumped up and ran out the door, eager to get back, Paul and Patty followed after them, and no one noticed Peabody grab a small pistol shaped device from under the WABAC's control panel.
He quickly manufactured a black apron from the WABAC, put it on, hid the device in its pocket, and recalled Penny's pink clothes she was wearing from the clothes tube.
He joined them across the red bridge platform and made sure it retracted and the vault door shut.
Paul whistled. "You have got quite the security on this thing, Peabuddy."
"One can never be too careful Paul." Peabody answered as he handed Penny's clothes to her.
They took the elevator up and stepped out.
Peabody turned to Penny. "Why don't you go put your clothes back on, the bathroom is down the hall to the right." He said as he looked at her pointedly.
She nodded and dashed down the hallway.
Everything needed to be right, the Petersons had to be standing the closest to where they were before, and they needed a drink…
"Why don't we go back into the living room and finish our drinks?" Peabody suggested, smiling.
He turned back to Sherman and the Petersons assented and walked into the living room towards the wet bar.
"Sherman, in 3 minutes, come into the living room with Ms. Peterson." Sherman nodded and dashed down the hallway.
Peabody walked into the living room and jumped up onto the platform behind the wet bar and picked up his drink.
Before the Petersons could say anything, he spoke.
"I'm terribly sorry, Paul, Patty, but I cannot allow you to remember tonight's events either." Peabody said.
They both looked at him, alarmed. "What do you mean?" Paul asked but got no answer.
Peabody quickly pulled out the device from his apron and pointed it at them, pulling the trigger. There was a bright flash of light, and then the Petersons were standing there, blinking their eyes.
He quickly hid the device in his apron again before they could notice.
"Peabody, this is really good!" Patty said, taking a drink.
"Thank you, I pride myself on my bartending skills." Peabody smirked.
"When's dinner? I'm hungry." Penny asked, emerging from the hallway wearing her pink clothes, Sherman following close behind.
"I second that, the smells coming from your kitchen are yummy!" Patty exclaimed.
"What have you kids been up to?" Paul asked.
They looked at each other for a brief second before looking back up at the adults and answering. "Playing hide and seek." They smiled in unison.
"Well then, let's eat." Peabody hopped down from the platform and led the way into the dining room.
The dinner party proceeded without a hitch, and the Peabodys and the Petersons became fast friends, and Peabody was relieved no one other than he, Sherman, and Penny remembered the day time travel was exposed to the world.
However, one thing still nagged at him. It had to do with Sherman, but it would have to wait until after the Petersons were gone…