Why Did You Do It, Penelope? - Chapter 3
Penelope couldn't believe her luck; her closest friend was here, in Paris! Maybe things could turn around, maybe she would finally have an ally. She quickly went through the door, trying to hide her face as much as possible. The night breeze hit her face, chilling her considerably. The effects of her drink had already worn off.
So much for that, she thought. She watched the rabbit wander down the street, and noticed an alley was ahead of her. It would be the perfect place to drag her aside and talk to her without being spotted by the police. Her brisk walk turned into a jog as she tried to catch up with Mona. She didn't dare calling out her name out of fear of attracting unwanted attention. Jogging was a risk in itself. She finally caught up with the woman, grabbed hold of her arms and dragged her into the alleyway.
"What the-?" Mona cried, preparing to give her attacker a right-hook to the jaw as she struggled against the arms holding onto her. The grip loosened, and Mona looked at the foe.
"Mona, it's me, Penelope!" The mouse whispered, while beaming brightly. Mona's jaw dropped.
"Penelope? What are you doing here? I heard you got arrested! What's going on?" Mona stammered, unsure of how to react to Penelope's sudden appearance.
"It's a long story, but I'm so glad to see you." Penelope said, tears welling in her eyes. She gave Mona a tight embrace, unwilling to let go. It had been too long since she'd been in friendly company. Mona hesitantly returned the hug, still in a state of disbelief. She quickly snapped out of. Despite the awful things she had been told, she was really glad to see the little mouse. She hugged her even tighter. "I need your help. I need a place to lie low for a while. As you can see-" She gestured at her tattered, torn and faded yellow jumpsuit. "-I've been living rough. Can you help me out?" She offered a weak smile.
"Yeah, of course I will!" Mona replied, offering a weak smile. "Anything for you. We'll head back to my place, get you cleaned up, and order a pizza, sound good?"
Penelope nodded weakly. Mona noticed that her friend had been crying slightly. She could see a single track where a tear had run, removing the grime from her dirty face.
"I've missed you Dougie."
"I've missed you too Penny."
Penelope loved those nicknames, and smiled. It felt strange, she hadn't smiled in months. She hadn't smiled since she left Bentley. Why did she leave Bentley? She couldn't remember, no matter how hard she tried. Her memory failed her.
Penelope was about to hug Mona again, when she noticed that, for a split second, the rabbit's line of sight flickered to a spot behind the convict. She suddenly got the feeling that something was very wrong. Then a familiar voice from behind confirmed that very fact:
"Don't move."
"Inspector Fox." Penelope growled, before feeling a shock pistol against the back of her head. She rose her hands in surrender. She felt a sudden and unexplainable wave of anger stir inside of her, the intensity of it boiling her blood. She wanted to attack the police officer, and the woman who she viewed as a sister. She wanted to break their faces. But she was trapped. "And you," Penelope snarled at Mona. "I should have asked why you relocated here. I should have known, you're a cop!"
"No, not even close Penny." Mona replied sadly, while Carmelita put Penelope in handcuffs. The use of the nickname, which only seconds before have filled Penelope's heart with happiness, made a white-hot wave of rage sweep her brain. "I heard all about your affiliation with Le Paradox, what you did to Sir Galleth Cooper, what you did to Bentley. I know everything." She continued. "So we're gonna have a little chat about things, see if we can make it right." She shrugged. "And this next thing that's about to happen; I'm sorry."
"I'm not." Carmelita smirked.
Penelope felt a crushing pain on the back of her head, and everything went black.
The mouse crumpled into a heap on the ground. Mona looked at Carmelita with an expression of concern; that was a violent swing. She was surprised Penelope wasn't bleeding.
"You'll get the boot open?" Mona asked.
"Boot?" Carmelita questioned.
"Trunk." Mona corrected, laughing at her English terminology. The fox nodded and headed to the car. Mona delicately scooped Penelope off the concrete, and carried her over to the car. She looked at the unconcious mouse, and felt a pang of disappointment in the pit of her stomach. She thought back to when she met the shy mouse, and how soft-spoken and sweet she was. The thing she was talking to when Carmelita held her up was a sick, twisted monster. She'd seen it with her own eyes now, Bentley was right.
She gently placed her in the trunk. She really didn't want to do this, but they all agreed that if she regained consciousness while in a passenger seat, things could get ugly. She took one last look at her before slamming the door down.
She walked around the left side of the car, and sat in the driver's seat. She started the ignition, put the car in gear, and released the handbrake. She pulled out into the road- the right side- and started to head back to the safehouse. She changed up to second gear, to which Carmelita noticed was done clumsily.
"Are you new to driving?" She politely asked. After all, Mona had only just bought this car.
"Nope. Been driving in the UK as soon as I returned. I'm just not used to left-hand drives you see." She replied, concentrating as she changed up to third. "I'm not used to using my right hand for the transmission, always left." She laughed. "Notice I'm not stalling? I have clutch control, I can drive, honestly."
Carmelita saw the rabbit's grinning face and let out a small laugh too. "I noticed Mona." Carmelita hadn't laughed since Sly disappeared. She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, which quickly died at the thought of Sly. If they ever found him, she knew she would have to make it up to him.
"Just sit back and relax, I'll get us there in one piece!"
Mona pulled up to the safehouse, took the car out of gear, put on the handbrake, and cut the engine. She and Carmelita got out the car and checked down the two streets looking onto the safehouse. No one was nearby. Mona popped the trunk, and saw Penelope was still out cold. With great care, she scooped up the mouse, and carried her inside, leaving Carmelita to lock the car. Mona was greeted by Bentley and Murray staring at the unconscious woman.
"She looks..." Murray started, drifting off as he was unsure of which adjective to use.
"Awful." Bentley finished, his face displaying a miserable expression. She looked dreadful and it killed him. Despite the terrible thing she did, Bentley still loved her. He couldn't let go, despite the rationalising from his intelligent brain. He loved her too much to give up on her, but his trust in her was completely shattered. But Mona's suggestion of bringing her in lit a tiny spark of hope in his heart.
"Yeah, well," Mona started, resting their visitor on the sofa next to the door. "she's been living rough for a while now. No one looks good after that. You can see she hasn't been eating properly for months, I've never seen her like this before." Her face was stony, as she was trying to hide how much seeing Penelope was crushing her. "She'll come around at some point, Carmelita hit her pretty hard." She crouched down to the mouse's level, and stretched out her hand towards Carmelita.
"What?"
"Keys, for the cuffs."
"No way, I am not removing them." Carmelita argued, scowling at Mona. "She could run for it."
"I've seen how she is, all this running has reduced her to a scared little girl at heart." Mona stated, slightly irritated by Carmelita's refusal. Reluctantly, Carmelita placed the key in Mona's outstretched hand. The rabbit then unlocked the cuffs, and removed them, freeing the unconscious Penelope. She brushed the lock of blonde hair dangling over Penelope's face out of the way, and removed her glasses. She delicately placed them on the coffee table she'd nearly concussed herself on. She grabbed a chair, pulled it over to the sofa, and sat on it. She was going to watch over the mouse.
Penelope began to regain consciousness after twenty minutes. She gazed around the room, looking at the various blurry shapes and colours, but not taking in where she was. She saw a fuzzy figure sat across from her. As she sat up, she was handed her glasses. Although smudged, putting on the glasses brought Penelope's world into a sharper focus.
"Welcome to the world of the living." Mona joked, with a smirk. "How's the head?"
Penelope's lips flapped uselessly. "How.. where... what? Where am I?" She rubbed the back of her head gingerly. A slight lump had formed, but it would heal. She gazed over to the handsome turtle sat in the wheelchair. Her heart skipped a beat, and then sunk to the pit of her stomach.
"Just relax." Mona reassured. "We just want a chat, we'll keep it nice and civil, okay?"
The mouse barely acknowledged Mona's words, instead fixated on the love of her life. She couldn't remember what caused it to fall apart.
"I'm going to ask you this one more time." Bentley said flatly. "Why did you do it, Penelope?"
Penelope looked blankly at the the turtle. What did I do? she thought. "I don't know what you're talking about." She whimpered.
"Sir Galleth Cooper? Medieval England? Moat Monster? Any of it ringing any bells?" Bentley queried, raising his eyebrows skeptically.
"I... I don't remem-" Penelope started, before a skull-splittingly agonising headache shot through her head like a never-ending bolt of lightning. She grabbed her head, forcing herself into a foetal position on the sofa, and started screaming. The sudden change forced Mona to leap to her feet, before turning around to the others.
"What do we do?!" She yelled, frantically gesturing at Penelope in a panic.
"What even is this?" Carmelita cried, unsure of what to make of the mouse's screaming fit. "Migraines?"
"She's never had any before." Bentley cried, his voice cracking with concern as he watched her start to writhe uncontrollably. Murray watched helplessly, mouth hanging open in shock. She thrashed off the sofa and landed on the floor with a dull thud, still screaming at the top of her lungs and clutching her head. Mona sprang back, knocking her chair flying with a loud crash.
"Make it stop!" She screamed, tears running down her face. "Please, make it stop!"
Then, without warning, it stopped. The thrashing and the screaming ceased. Mona dropped to her knees.
"Hey, are you okay?" The rabbit asked, voice quivering anxiously.
After a few moments, she slowly picked herself up, shoving Mona away from her. When she was on her own two feet, she glared at the others in the room.
"I'm still mad about my Moat Monster." Penelope sneered. "And I remember everything, you tragic Robin Hood wannabes."
Bentley's chest tightened. Mona was wrong, she was responsible. The sweet and smart mechanic he met was gone forever.
"Penelope," Mona said, taking a step away from the mouse. "what's gotten into you?"
"I trusted you to keep me safe, and instead, you drag me here?" Penelope spat. "You're just as pathetic as these guys." She spread her arms out to gesture towards Carmelita, Murray and Bentley.
"Your father would be ashamed of you Penelope. He'd be ashamed of what you've become." Mona said sadly. "His beloved little pinky has become a self-absorbed, greedy and twisted woman. You were right Bentley, this is her now. The Penelope we knew is gone. Pieter would be so disappointed."
A wave of anger filled Penelope. How dare Mona bring her papa into this? How dare she! Penelope clenched her fists.
"Screw you." She said menacingly. Before anyone could react, she swung at Mona. The rabbit quickly sprang back, dodging the blow, before ducking and tackling the mouse. They both crashed onto the sofa, the force of their fighting causing the piece of furniture to topple over. Penelope wriggled on top, grabbing the scruff of Mona's t-shirt in her left fist. The former boxing champion moved automatically. With her free hand, she swung at Mona's face, once, twice, three times. The fourth swing was interrupted as Mona grabbed the mouse's arm. Before the mouse could register what had happened, Mona dealt a harsh punch to Penelope's face, shattering her glasses. The splinters of glass embedded themselves into the rabbit's knuckles, and one shard caught Penelope's head. Before Penelope could recover from the punch, Mona flipped the mouse off of her, before springing up and trapping her in a headlock.
Penelope struggled, but was no match against the data processor. Her eyebrow was cut, and blood trickled down her face. Mona looked no better, as the left side of her face was a bloody and bruised mess. Her hand was dripping blood too.
"Don't worry guys," Mona panted. "I've got this. Anyone got some rope?"
