Chapter 7 – Solace at Zero
Bentley's Lab, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 12:21pm 28th April 2022
All light is too bright for her, being stuck in sleep for more than 2 days really concentrates the lenses in the eyes. Naturally, Penelope tries to get up, but she is bound to a table, and not just any table. It's an Extricator 3.4 with the special add on water torture device. She slowly regains her surroundings and realises what had happened before she has knocked out by a long lasting sleep serum. There is no pain in the ankle where it entered; it's designed to be that way.
"Bentley!" She shouts at the top of her lungs still in her yellow tracksuit combo she always wears. She squirms, hoping that the metal clasps will break against her defiance but to no avail. "I'm going to get you for this, two can play at that game Bentley, if you're not going to let go then can do the same, when I get…" She apostrophically shouts towards anywhere she can turn her head with her arms and legs strapped down. Her shouting is broken by the unlocking of the door that further bars her exit.
"I can't believe that serum lasted that long." Bentley mutters to himself as he enters into the room. "I'm such a genius."
"It would take someone monumentally stupid to do what you have just done." Penelope shouts once again with no sign of tiring.
"Please be quiet, you're making me deaf." Bentley asks casually.
"You rotten green ball cased in shell!..." She says as she thinks of every possible insult she could shout to drag him into pain. Bentley goes over to this brand new torture table and brings out of it, using the control panel on the side, some nitrous oxide. The automatic arm places the mask onto her resisting face that frantically turns away from it but her head is locked in by some more metallic arms so she has to accept it. The mask is placed over and the gas is pumping, she goes limp.
"When I implicated you in giving away their position, I may have been a little presumptuous." Bentley explains, worried on the inside about his very bad mistake. "I don't want to sound stupid or anything but I, I. I was wrong." The words choke him like a piece of food that won't go down the oesophagus. Bentley becomes closer and closer to breaking down into tears; the longer the pause, the more intense urge becomes.
"How can I ever make up for something like that?" He asks himself more than Penelope. A green light flashes on the table, indicating that the correct amount of N2O has been pumped. He slides his finger down on a virtual tab that turns of the nitrous flow and lowers the arm. "So, what can I do? Anything?" Bentley pleas.
"Anything you say?" Penelope says, unaffected by the gas that was being forced down the tube. Bentley is also confused how she has not gone under the effects of laughing gas, but he nods while giving a small smile in hope that this could wash away this mistake. "First you can unchain me from this wretched table." Penelope instructs. Quickly, Bentley obliges; rushing to fulfil her desires. Once the metal clasps retract into the smooth table, she gets up although rather stiffly as the effects of not having moved in two days are becoming apparent to her. She walks out slowly, ignoring Bentley who's tiny smile turns into concern; concern that he isn't adequate anymore, that this is the last straw for her and she is now gone forever. Bentley thinks momentarily of all the things that he is seeing literally walk out of the door on him. He would return to being a complete loner, the first time since the orphanage and for someone who was as shy and socially awkward as him, that's an achievement in itself.
"Wait! I can make it up to you." Bentley despairingly pleas while wheeling his wheelchair from the makeshift torture room into the main area. "I can give you money, contracts, secret technology; anything." Penelope continues the ignorance as she walks quickly into her own room, leaving Bentley trailing behind desperately.
"Just say what you want and I'll get it, please, just anything." Bentley begs as the door to her room is shut and locked. He waits outside in a heap of constant despair that finally breaks down into it's most basic form, tears, and lots of them. Penelope can't hear from the inside as it is sound proofed but if she could, she would hear Bentley slowly moving into this sad state. A small sniffle starts it off and the salty water comes from the tear ducts automatically in drops. It grows like the suns heat in summer, becoming overwhelming to the point that it is the only things that he can do. All of his knowledge accumulated is suddenly forgotten and seemingly replaced with infinite tears that last and last as long as she is stuck in that room. After 15 minutes of straight crying, the rubbing of the eyes makes them sore enough to finally cut through the water and he can actually see whats in front of him. Many trails of water roll down his cheeks and underneath the chin, down the neck and dampening the grey undershirt that becomes tainted with even more darker tones when combined with the anxious sweat that was prevalent leading up to this moment. It is only when he can concentrate on something else that he realises that Penelope is taking a long time, this gives him the opportunity to make an apology, to convince her that they can both co exist together. Once Bentley works up the courage, he knocks on the door. Bentley waits, psyching himself up for this occasion which could make or break his relationship with her permanently. He has never met someone so smart and at the same time, so perfect.
Time passes and no response. Maybe she is ignoring him he thinks as he waits in his soaked shirt that stands out from the gleaming wheelchair filled with gizmos, one such gadget is a sonar scanner that he uses to check to see if she is indeed inside the room. Bentley checks again, hoping that his machine has messed up, but of course it hasn't, Bentley has built it. Bentley knocks again, but this time with more purpose and confidence. He doesn't want her to leave now; otherwise she will slip out of his grasp forever it seems. Bentley becomes desperate and takes out the skeleton key he has for every single room. He didn't want to use it before, because surely she would be so outraged that she would cannibalise him if he tried to invade her space. Now he fears the worst as he turns the key and opens the door. She is not there.
Penelope may not have been as youthful as she once was but that doesn't mean she isn't as athletic. The mouse opens up the grate on the roof that allows her to exit out of the venting system that she used to climb out of it. The drugs do not affect her at all, nor has she been drugged at any point during this encounter. Simply holding her breath was enough to beat the mask. But she is not thinking about the past, now she is thinking of what to do now. Get away from here. She had time to even put on a disguise while Bentley cried outside her window. She dons a wig with short black hair that covers her natural long blonde hair. She has tucked away her normal tracksuit combo outfit into a backpack that also contains everything she needs to get away; a fake passport, bundles of euros and a holographic tablet computer. What she wears now is not her style at all; she would never be caught wearing this purple t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Fashion is not her desire, but what she is wearing certainly turns heads. Enough even that one person walks straight into someone else with his head turned the wrong way.
She doesn't know exactly where to go, but she knows roughly her destination. She takes out the tablet and opens up a map; she lowers the holographic distance using gesture control to move the hologram closer to the tablet and pinches to make it smaller. She has only seen pictures of this place before, so she scours the map physically, dragging the aerial photos until she thinks she has the correct address. She saves it and shuts it down. The first thing she needs is a train ticket.
Notice (27 November 2013)
Do you have any predictions for the 5th Sly Cooper game?
I'm compiling an armchair bingo list of possible things that may happen in the game both in the story and about how the game will rate. If you have any suggestions, from the plausible to the utterly ridiculous, then PM me with your ideas and a points allocation if it happens. There are only two rules.
It must be a yes/no type question.
The chance of it happening must be rated from 1-10. With 1 being almost certain and 10 being almost impossible.
