Chapter Seven

In Safe Hands

"Well, will she live?"

"Yes, but she plenty of care will need."

"Don't worry Professor; she's in good hands here…"

"DM, you're a hero."

"Merely doing my job, Colonel…"

Penfold stirred in his sleep restlessly; he wished the voices would go away, they were disturbing his dreams filled with sherbet lemons and fruit drops… He knew that he should have gotten up hours ago, but the when the alarm had sounded earlier that morning, he had decided to try and trick DM into thinking he was still too fast asleep to have been of any help; somehow it had worked and his boss had gone off without him. Now that he was back, Penfold was waiting for that dreaded time when he'd have to get out from underneath his warm bedcovers.

Unfortunately for poor little Penfold, that was time was already upon him.

"ERNEST PENFOLD, GET YOUR ROTUND LITTLE SELF INTO THE LIVING ROOM PRONTO, I KNOW YOU'RE AWAKE, AND THAT YOU WERE IN FACT AWAKE FOUR HOURS AGO WHEN I LEFT! SORRY TO SAY THIS, MY DEAR ASSISTANT, BUT I WASN'T BORN YESTERDAY!"

Penfold hated mornings… and afternoons… and anytime that he wasn't in his bed; reluctantly he began to poke out his chubby toes from underneath his duvet, then his feet, and then his legs until the whole of his chubby little self emerged and landed with a dull thud upon the carpet. The hamster rubbed his tired eyes as he waddled over to the wardrobe in the far corner and opened its doors; he reached in and pulled out his usual blue suit and yellow tie combination and proceeded to fight his way into it.

After a few minutes of struggling, Ernest decided that he looked reasonably presentable; as ever his shirt collar refused to sit neatly and he found his stomach bulged a little more so over his trousers than usual - but Danger Mouse was not one to be kept waiting any longer than he had to be and Penfold was already four hours late from bed - as his dear Chief had reminded him. Rushing from the room, the hamster picked up his thick rimmed spectacles from the dressing table and prepared to face the Chief.

Gingerly, Penfold waddled past DM's bedroom and headed for the living room, but stopped abruptly when he noticed that the door to his room was open slightly and the lamp inside was on; Ernest was admittedly a little confused as he often was, but he was quite certain that DM had been in the lounge when he'd called for him and he wasn't exactly someone who left doors open – DM did like his privacy. Yet as he peered through the small gap curiously, he could just about focus on a white figure lying in bed – was Danger Mouse actually having a lie-in?

The very idea made Penfold chuckle – what a ridiculous notion.

Still, there was someone in his bed and the poor hamster would have to check – just in case it was DM…

He pushed the door open, slipped in and walked over to the bed in the centre of the room; but as he neared the sleeper who coincidently was a mouse, his eyes widened and he gasped in horror as he focused on their body. There was something strange going on, and something very wrong had happened to his boss.

Now, admittedly Penfold had had very little experience with the female race but he was well aware of some certain physical differences between the two genders; and it just so happened that these physical differences were quite literally staring Penfold in the face…

… or he was staring at them, he couldn't really help himself.

Was this some kind of evil plan of Baron Greenback's? Penfold knew there was only one way to make sure.

"DANGER MOUSE, WAKE UP!" he cried, "You've… turned into a… a GIRL!! WAKE UP!! Danger Mouse!"

In the hallway there was a sound of pounding feet and suddenly the door behind him burst open to reveal a worried Danger Mouse standing alert scanning the room for danger, Penfold could just about manage to gawp at him, wide-eyed. DM frowned for a minute as he surveyed the situation and then turned to look down upon his little assistant.

"Penfold, what is it? What's happened!?"

Penfold continued to gawp.

"Penfold!?"

Slowly the hamster swallowed and raised a pointed finger at the sleeping mouse in the bed, "I thought you'd been turned into a girl…"

There was silence for a minute, the hero rose an eyebrow, trying to make sense of what Penfold had just said and then suddenly, he burst into hysterics, laughing heartily. "Oh Penfold, you crack me up sometimes! Turned into a girl - the very idea!"

"Well then," pouted Penfold, arms folded and his face a storm of embarrassment and disapproval, "Who on earth is that in your bed? And why hasn't she woken up? I made enough of a racket…"

At once the look of joy erased itself from DM's face and his expression hardened as he looked upon the sleeping rodent, "She hasn't woken up Penfold because she's unconscious not sleeping – after all, no ones as heavy a sleeper as you… Her name's Angel Mouse, I rescued her from one of Raspus's lairs earlier this morning, you know, that mission you got out of?" Penfold blushed a little here. "Basically she'd been working there undercover but her disguise was unearthed and they attacked."

"You mean she was ratted out Chief?"

"This is no time for jokes, Penfold!"

"Sorry Chief," Penfold muttered, catching the angry tone to DM's voice, he looked away in shame but then turned to the sleeping Angel and wandered to the bed to take a closer look at her. His eyes widened in both shock and wonder at the sight before him, she was a pretty creature and considerably younger than DM; her cheek bones were prominent and her features smooth and delicate, messy brown hair flowed over her eyes, shoulders and ears and the end of her nose was a pale pink and almost heart shaped. She was rather thin but her arms were well built and she was apparently physically fit; still, for all of her flattering features, Penfold's eyes were drawn to the cuts and bruises that plagued her skin, bandages covered her whole chest and most of her arms and just under her ears Penfold could see a line of stitches.

"We've cleaned her up as best as we could," reported Danger Mouse from behind, walking round to her other side, "thankfully Sqwarkencluck knew what he was doing – she's got a few broken bones and there was a bullet lodged pretty deeply in her side but it's been removed now. She'll live but at the moment she's too frail to be moved again, so it looks like she'll be here for sometime."

As DM spoke, Penfold moved the hair from over Angel's face and stared intently, eyebrows furrowed. "What is it Penfold?" questioned the chief, seeing his assistants puzzled expression.

"I don't know Chief, I was just thinking about her eyes…"

"Her eyes??"

"Yes, I mean, I don't know why… but I just get the feeling that they must be absolutely beautiful…"

Danger Mouse didn't say anything to this, instead he too looked down at the peaceful expression on the young Angel's face, reliving that moment in the sewer as they were about to die and that flash of startling blue…

***

Time passed as it always did in the Pillar Box, Danger Mouse saved the world, rescued his bumbling sidekick and defeated his megalomaniacal foes every day just like before; then they'd return home and Penfold would clean and cook whilst DM cared to Angel's wounds. They healed well, even the scars faded and her fur finally began to grow over those that were more obvious and yet, despite all this progress, Angel did not wake up, she merely lay there, never moving…

Four weeks went by. Until...

It was a Friday night, the end of a long and tiring week and it was very late; Penfold was already in bed, shattered after a run in with Professor Crumhorn who'd attempted to launch him into space attached to a rocket – DM had obviously saved the day but his little sidekick was now suffering from exhaustion, presenting such symptoms as snoring very loudly – how the White Wonder longed for his tufts of cotton wool.

Danger Mouse couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if Ernest had been jettisoned into outer space, a lot quieter surely; sound couldn't travel in space… oh the temptations…

The agent was sat beside Angel's bed, he didn't know why, he just felt drawn to her; beside her things often seemed at peace, he felt it, the calming aura about her – just like the one she'd created down in the sewers when he was lost, and when Crusher had nearly killed them both. She too looked at peace, her breathing slow and almost silent; all DM wanted to do was just look at her, trying to take her all in but for some reason it seemed impossible.

The first time he'd helped to bathe her, Danger Mouse had found an odd birthmark on her stomach just above the bullet wound, her fur there was grey instead of pure white and formed the shape of a crescent moon - it had fascinated him; so, in fact, had the silver necklace around her neck shaped like a pair of feathered wings – Sqwarkencluck had asked him not to remove it and he had obliged, but these two things had somehow created the same sense of awe that her eyes had done. It was as though they were all linked, telling the same story of who she was and what she'd done in her life and where she'd come from.

He was pondering them now, creating another story in his head of her childhood, her parents, her role in the service – reliving the day he'd first come into contact with her. But as he nibbled his lip, picturing those moments in Raspus' hideaway before he had gotten there, Angel stirred. For a split second Danger Mouse was about to tell her to be quiet as he focused harder, but then he fell sideways off his chair in shock, watching wide eyed; Angel's hand tenderly moved to her forehead as she let her throat rumble to express her discomfort and her expression became pained, she rubbed her temples gingerly for a moment and then slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the light above her.

DM was on tiptoes, leaning practically right over her; finally, Angel opened her eyes wide enough to focus properly and then looked directly at the White Wonder… finally he could see them… the wondrous set of eyes that had plagued most of his thoughts for the past month.

They were a deep blue, but contained glittering streaks of silver and a turquoise that mixed together and gleamed in the light, Danger Mouse's mouth dropped open; Angel's expression was very much the same, and neither rodent said anything for a few seconds as they each stared gormlessly at the other. Angel's expression was a mixture of amazement and horror; she was staring at a handsome mouse with a golden eye and black eye patch and whose face was young and perfectly formed, she was staring at the World's Greatest Secret Agent…

"You're awake!" the hero exclaimed gleefully.

"And you're you!" Angel cried in reply, she lifted a slim finger to his face and brushed his cheek; "I thought I was dreaming when you were in that tunnel with me…"

Danger Mouse beamed proudly, he couldn't help pushing his chest outwards boastfully: "Well, you know," he said in an offhand manner – (or as offhand as he could muster, as really he was lapping up all the attention he possibly could) – "I was doing my duty; not one to let a fellow agent, and dare I say a beautiful fellow agent, down."

This compliment had the desired effect as Angel's snow white cheeks turned a pale rosy shade in a matter of seconds, her eyes dropped to hide her expression and she managed to suppress her smile; as her gaze returned to the hero her smile widened. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Well," the young agent replied, "I believe I have you to thank for saving my life? I'm forever in your debt, Danger Mouse. Now, for a formal introduction…" she held out her left hand carefully, clearly still a little stiff and the White Wonder took it lightly. "Agent Angel Mouse, sir, willing to serve."

"It's a pleasure, Angel Mouse."

***

Another two months passed before Angel was ready to get out of bed and walk around, her bones had mended incredibly quickly and her wounds and scars were practically invisible and so she'd taken to helping around the Pillar Box in order to begin showing her gratitude for DM saving her life. Penfold took to her immediately and followed her around night and day, talking endlessly about his courageous nature and his dedication to his job; Danger Mouse hadn't been able to resist of course explaining to Angel the reason for his codename being 'Jigsaw' much to Ernest's horror, but the young female had only turned back to him to ask how he'd fought off big foot with only an odd sock and the little hamster had continued boasting about his heroic deeds.

Sqwarkencluck had visited the day after she had woken and given her some clothes and soon she fell perfectly into the daily routine, always up before DM in the morning and always waiting for them to arrive home after their missions with hot mugs of cocoa to welcome them back. This became the norm and Angel was practically one of the team, she was a bouncy and good humoured character, but patient and attentive too; DM was amazed at how well she could put up with Penfold's consistent complaints and Penfold was amazed at how she could listen to Danger Mouse's explanations of the schematics to every piece of technology the agent had in his possession without falling asleep. It seemed that the young agent created a perfect balance of happiness and silence; she could advise and listen, plan and think off her feet… but the one thing that made her presence so noticeable was how things had changed since her arrival…

Unfortunately for Angel, not everyone rejoiced in this matter, and without knowing so, for his own selfish reasons, Danger Mouse was to seal her fate himself – sometimes there is more to people than one first realises…