That night, Sheldon couldn't sleep. Dressed in his robe and pajamas, he scribbled furiously on his whiteboards in the living room, trying to come up with some algorithm that might explain this mysterious artifact. He hadn't missed the fact that Agent Latimer had used the term "magic" to describe what they did, and his keen hearing had overheard some very interesting conversations between the warehouse agents. From an intellectual standpoint, it was utterly fascinating, but Sheldon gave little thought to the more abstract theories that one might draw from this new realm of science. He was desperate to save Penny. For years, he had tried to keep everything in his life predictable, scheduled and organized; and what had it gotten him? Sabotage, betrayal, and a conviction that his so-called friends only stuck around for whatever benefit they could glean from their association with him.
He had always looked down on Penny's sub-par intellect. The fact that she had continued to be his friend without gaining anything from his "beautiful mind genius" had always baffled him. Now he saw her actions in a new light. She must have truly cared about him, much more than any other of his putative friends. He felt an acute and very unusual feeling of guilt for the number of times he had implied she was either stupid or promiscuous. The truth was that she was neither of those things, and his words would have driven away anyone of a less generous or forgiving nature.
Just then, he heard a noise out in the hallway. Startled out of his musings, he realized that the sun had risen and morning had begun hours ago. He strode quickly to the doorway and opened it to see the three agents from yesterday, standing outside of Penny's door.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
Claudia turned her head and placed a finger across her lips, motioning him to silence. "We picked up some unusual readings starting about an hour ago, then everything died down... almost flatlined, you might say," she whispered.
"What does that mean?" Sheldon whispered back as the two senior agents cautiously entered Penny's apartment.
Claudia shrugged. "We'll find out in a minute."
They followed Myka and Pete and found that Penny's living room was empty. The agents had their strange-looking weapons out and at the ready as they searched the rest of the apartment. Soon, Pete poked his head out from the bedroom. "She's in here," he called softly. He went back inside. Seconds later, there was a high-pitched shriek, and a thud followed by a masculine grunt. Myka rushed into the bedroom with Claudia and Sheldon close behind. There was
another shriek from the very confused and frightened blonde who was wielding an aluminum baseball bat.
"Who are you people?" Penny quavered. "And what are you doing in my bedroom?"
Sheldon elbowed past the two female agents and pulled Penny into a tight embrace. She dropped the bat and clung to him tightly. He could feel that she was trembling. "What's happening? I'm scared," she whispered in his ear.
"There, there, Sheldon's here," he murmured, stroking her hair. He half-turned to face the bewildered agents. "As you can see, your assistance is unnecessary and unwelcome. Penny has recovered on her own. Now get out."
"That's right. We need some privacy," Penny said, giving him a look that he only half understood. Her intent was obvious, though, as she twined her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. He stared at her in confusion, then quickly disentangled
himself from Penny's clinging embrace.
"I'll... uh... I'll be right back," he told her. He walked out of the bedroom and the agents, clearly sensing that something was wrong, tagged after him.
Once he was out of earshot, he whispered frantically, "That is not Penny."
"I knew something was fishy," Pete grinned triumphantly.
Myka glared at him, then turned her attention back to Sheldon. "Why do you say that's not Penny?" she asked.
"We are friends, and have been so for years. She would never attempt to... to initiate coitus with me. If she were to choose anyone for that function, I think it would be Leonard. He has been attempting to 'get into her pants', I believe is the colloquial term, for three years, albeit without much success."
Claudia stared at him aghast, while Pete tried not to laugh. Myka compressed her lips into a thin line, clearly unimpressed by her colleague's unprofessional behavior.
"I've never seen anything like this before," Myka said with a frown. "Maybe there are some clues to her behavior in the history of the artifact. Artie says that in Norse mythology, Freya was the goddess of love and fertility. That might explain her unusual reaction to you."
"Yeah, and the artifact was also known as the Orb of the Valkyries. Weren't they, like, minor goddesses that represented justice and vengeance?" Claudia chimed in. Pete raised his eyebrows at her, and she shrugged nonchalantly. "Sometimes I read stuff, you know, in old files... when I'm bored."
"So that must be why she made some connection with Sheldon, because he wants vengeance on his friends for betraying him on his field trip!" Myka cried, grinning hugely. She was obviously proud to have put the pieces of the puzzle together.
"I don't—" Sheldon began.
"Hey, wait! If Penny liked this guy Leonard before, maybe he can help her fight off whatever influence the artifact still has on her," Claudia said excitedly. "You know, it could be like true love's kiss or whatever. You did say Freya was the goddess of love."
Myka looked over at Pete, who shrugged, saying, "Your guess is as good as mine. I'm flying blind here. If this guy Leonard is willing to help us out, maybe that's our best bet." He looked over at Sheldon.
"Leonard has certainly made no secret of his attraction to Penny. He's been mooning over her like a lovesick calf for years," Sheldon said. What he failed to mention was how she had responded when she heard about Leonard's trick with the can opener.
After he got the call from the warehouse agents, Leonard arrived at his former abode in less than twenty minutes. Raj and Howard were trailing behind him like his own personal entourage. He preened at the attention he received from the agents, tilting his head up and to the side like he was presenting his best angle for an imaginary photographer. He couldn't believe it. He was
going to rescue Penny like a hero from a fairy tale. All he had to do was... well, he wasn't quite clear on that part, but he had been in love with Penny for so long. She had almost kissed him when he'd gotten back, before Sheldon had ruined everything. He was certain she returned his feelings. He stuck his thumbs in his belt loops and swaggered over to Penny's apartment.
For several long minutes, there was no sound, no hint of what was going on across the hall.
"So do you think they're getting nasty? Doing the horizontal mambo? Playing hide the snake?" Howard asked with a leer.
"Eeew... where'd you find this guy?" Claudia said, clearly repulsed.
At that moment, they heard a horrible, drawn-out scream. Raj whimpered in fear, while Howard paled. Pete cursed, and Myka unholstered her tesla.
"Wait." It was Sheldon. All eyes turned toward him in a mixture of astonishment, disbelief and curiosity. "Let me attempt to reason with her before you do anything rash. I am well aware that I do not harbor any romantic feelings toward Penny, but we have a very strong bond of friendship, which is a kind of love. Also, she seemed favorably disposed toward me earlier, and I do feel a sense of responsibility toward her. None of this would have ever happened if I hadn't brought that orb back home with me."
"Absolutely not," Myka said quickly. "We don't know what we're dealing with here. We don't know if Leonard is even alive or not. It's too dangerous."
"I don't know," Pete said slowly. "He's kind of got a point. I mean, we all saw how she was all over him earlier."
"So what, he's just the next willing victim?" Claudia asked incredulously.
"Of course not. But until Artie comes up with another plan, we're stuck, unless our Plan B involves drowning Penny in neutralizer. And I don't like to leave her possessed by the
artifact," Myka said. "The longer she remains under its influence, the less likely it is that we'll be able to break its spell over her."
"I hope to keep my distance and converse with her, rather than woo her as Leonard doubtless tried to do," Sheldon said.
Myka glanced over at her teammates before she sighed in defeat and re-holstered her tesla. "Okay, fine. We'll try it your way. Just promise me you'll get out of there at the first sign of danger."
"Indubitably," Sheldon replied. With an enigmatic glance at Howard and Raj, he left, crossing the hall and entering Penny's apartment.
Sheldon's heart was pounding as he opened Penny's door. He forced himself to forego his usual knocking pattern, since he wasn't certain who or what he would be facing. He held out one hope, and that was the memory of those few moments earlier when Penny had seemed like her
normal self. Of course, she had attempted to seduce him immediately afterward, but he hoped he could somehow get through to his friend.
As he swung open her bedroom door, he found Penny in a slinky black negligee, preening before a full-length mirror. There was a sooty, person-shaped discoloration on the carpet at her feet.
She turned toward him. "What do you think?" she asked in a husky voice, running a hand over her curves.
He swallowed hard. "I would like to speak to Penny… the real Penny."
"What, are you saying I'm not her? That your Penny would never try to seduce you? Hmm… in that case, I guess she wasn't quite the slut you always claimed she was," she drawled lazily, turning back to her reflection.
"I... was mistaken about that. I believe I misinterpreted several of her personality traits in an unflattering light," Sheldon said.
She looked back at him, holding his gaze with an amused smirk. Then she slid the spaghetti straps of the gown off of her shoulders and let the silky garment slither down her body onto the floor. With uninhibited grace, she selected another garment from the pile on the bed, ignoring Sheldon's gasp of shock. This gown was ice blue, made of some kind of material that shimmered in the light, and was so thin as to be almost sheer.
Once Penny had arranged the gown to her satisfaction, she turned back to Sheldon. "I think you should say you're sorry," she prompted teasingly.
"I'm sorry," Sheldon parroted, but then he added, "I would take back every uncomplimentary word I ever said about Penny if it would bring her back."
"Too bad; she's gone," was the callous reply.
His insides felt like they had turned to ice, and he desperately tried to ignore what she had just said. There was no evidence that this entity, who was wearing Penny's body the same way she donned the negligee, was telling him the truth. He just had to keep her talking and perhaps she would reveal some weakness. Penny was a fighter. She had always been so strong and passionate about life. He had to believe that she was still in there somewhere.
He glanced down at the dark spot on the carpet. "You killed Leonard, didn't you?" he asked.
She shrugged. "He wasn't worthy to kiss my feet. He wasn't worthy to kiss hers. That sycophantic ninny actually thought he could win me over with his paltry blandishments and inept romancing."
Sheldon noticed she had adapted his multisyllabic vocabulary and wondered what it meant. Under different circumstances, he might have appreciated the change in her demeanor. There was a time when he had tried to modify Penny's behavior. He used chocolates to try to train her out of what he considered to be some of her more annoying habits. Now he longed for the woman who was obsessed with designer shoes and sang off-key and pumiced her feet in his living room. He silently vowed he would do whatever he had to do to get her back.
"So if you don't want to be romanced, what is it that you do want?" he probed.
"Oh no, I want what every woman wants," she replied, picking up a hairbrush and running it slowly through her hair. She closed her eyes and gave a little sigh of pleasure. "To have every man fall at my feet, and every woman fear and envy me." Her eyes popped open again. "You don't adore me. You stand here bandying words with me. Why is that?"
He eyed the stain on the carpet again. "Despite your claim to wish to have all men worship you, you reacted rather unfavorably to Leonard."
She laughed, a little trilling sound of delight. "Leonard's fault was not that he didn't fall at my feet; it was that he dared to reach for more."
Sheldon considered carefully. "Penny wants to be an actress. In our world, the most successful actresses are worshipped and envied. Perhaps there is a way for you to work with her so that both of you could get what you want."
Her gaze sharpened as she focused on his face. "What makes you think I would cooperate with any scheme of yours to even the slightest degree?"
He fought to keep the excitement from showing on his face. She was still acting superior, but the fact that she was willing to listen to him was promising. It was time to put his plan into action.
"There are several agents next door, persons who deal with mystical events such as this one. Actually, their word is 'neutralize'. I don't imagine that's what you want, but I think if you had any real power over people, you would have used it by now. You would have turned Leonard into your devoted minion instead of killing him. It has been thousands of years since humankind worshipped beings such as Freya and Odin. You need people to idolize you in some fashion to solidify your power. So for now, you are powerless. If you kill me, eventually those agents next door will find a way to stop you. You will end up either dead or imprisoned again, just as you were for all those centuries inside the orb." That last comment was just an educated guess on Sheldon's part, but he seemed to have hit the mark as her eyes flashed angrily.
"You are indeed as clever as she thinks. I may not kill you after all."
"Is Penny still a part of you then?" Sheldon asked.
"Yes, but not in the way you imagine. I cannot return her to you as she was. Her mind has... expanded to accommodate me, and without my presence, the emptiness of that void would crush whatever is left of her. But I can allow her personality to... rise to the surface, so that to most people, she would still seem to be the Penny they know."
Sheldon still wasn't sure if he could trust her, but she seemed like she was willing to negotiate with him. He'd never been much of a risk-taker, so he decided that it was better to try to work with her than attempt to exorcise her from Penny's body. If this being, Freya or whoever she really was, could give Penny back to him, then he was ready to defect to her side.
"I have a plan," he said. "I believe that with your assistance, I can convince the agents that your hold over Penny has been broken. They have already neutralized the orb. If Penny appears to be restored to her original state, they would have no reason to remain. With your powers, whatever they are, and Penny's knowledge of the acting profession, you should find it easy to attain your goal."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "There must be something you want in return."
"What I want is scientific knowledge and the acclamation of my peers, which I believe is not something you can provide. And I want Penny back, or as close to Penny as you... she can be."
"You ask for much, mortal," she commented with a scowl. Then her expression cleared and she looked at him with a speculative air. "But I have occasionally bargained with your kind for a price. I require something of yourself as proof of your commitment... a sacrifice."
"What sacrifice?" he asked apprehensively.
She walked toward him, hips swaying, and brushed her fingertips along the back of his hand. A feeling of intense heat and cold swept through him, leaving him aching with a nameless need.
"I can sense that you are untouched," she said, gazing up into his face. "What more fitting gift could you offer me than your innocence?"
Her eyes were fathomless pools of darkness, and Sheldon reeled, feeling like he could lose himself in their depths. He felt torn between his mysophobic tendencies and his need to have Penny restored to him. "I have never wanted to engage in coitus with anyone," he said hesitantly. It was more of a statement than an objection.
She reached out again and took his hand in hers. Sweet fire burned through every nerve in his body. Then she let go, and the loss of that sensation was like a physical pain. He staggered, putting out a hand to keep from falling.
"I can ease your fears," she said softly. "I can make you feel such desire as you have never known. But I will not compel you. A sacrifice given unwillingly is meaningless."
There was no other choice he could make, no other one he wanted to make. "Yes," he rasped.
The moment he spoke, a change came over Penny. She blinked, and he saw confusion and understanding warring in her expression.
"Sheldon?" she asked. There was a startled awakening in her eyes, and then she looked at him with an expression so full of love and longing that even he could not mistake it for anything else. He suddenly understood what Freya (or whoever she was) had meant. The Penny he knew had never wanted him or thought of him as anything other than a close friend. This woman, who smiled at him like Penny used to and spoke his name just like she did, desired him. It was more than he could have imagined. Later, he could never sort out in his mind who was the first to reach for whom. They came together in a cataclysm of fire that seared Sheldon's soul, marking him, changing him. In his surrender, he discovered the truth that had hidden in the deepest recesses of his soul: he loved her.