~Location: Penelope's Apartment - Paris, France~
~Date/Time: Present Day, Morning~
"Headquarters, respond. I need prisoner transport and a medical unit here immediately." Carmelita called back via her radio; the dispatch responding and giving no response other than static.
"He's... okay, right?" Penelope said with a soft squeak as she had her hands cuffed behind her back, forced to sit where she had been sitting.
"No pulse. Pupils are dialating. Irises are... grey... They weren't grey before, right?" Carmelita went through a routine examination, checking vital signs. It wasn't looking very good.
"N-No... They were ocean blue..."
"Inspector Fox? Did you find them? I... I guess you did find them." Bentley took a moment to look around as he wheeled himself into the apartment. His eyes met Penelope's and hers met his.
Time felt like it stopped as they were able to secretly converse through body language. Bentley let his gaze linger on her figure for too long and she blushed, blowing a rebellious strand of hair away. The mouse bit her lip as she tried to fix some untidy things about her appearance, but Bentley gave her a stern look until she stopped along with a small smirk to compliment her again. The mouse blushed again and perked her ears questioningly. Bentley sighed and shrugged, the mouse now sulking in her chair until she quickly felt a need to make a verbal retort.
"Took you long enough to figure it out... I thought the note would've been easy for a genius like you." The silent conversation went unnoticed until she spoke and attracted Carmelita's attention.
"Well, you were stupid enough to go this length just to leave an obvious clue. I can't believe that you actually went through with kidnapping and-"
"Murder... His vitals are not responding... I can't do anything else for him." Carmelita sighed and brought up her radio to call in a DOA but still only received static.
The rest of the room was in a stunned silence, Bentley shooting Penelope a facial expression that made the small mouse cower.
"Cause?"
"S-System-wide s-shutdown... His b-body must've failed him." Penelope said softly, figuring the noble course of admitting to what she didn't intend to accomplish. "I... never meant for this... Bentley... Grimm had a hate chip."
Two of the four other people in the room gasped and immediately knew the significance of those two words together. The third person was still motionless on the couch and the fourth was kneeling by his body. A fifth person was Murray, but he entered the room at a moment too late to know..
Bentley wheeled himself close to her chair, looking into her eyes. "Are you certain?"
"Yes. Of course! His story was that Clockwerk made a stunt-double, right? He needed to put a hate chip to give Hund that ability." Murray got the idea now but stayed silent.
"Where was H- Grimm's hate chip discovered?"
"His necklace. It was placed separately so that he was vulnerable and can be discarded."
"Like how Paradox used you?"
Penelope was struck silent, so Diana chimed in. "Stop calling him names like that! He wasn't disposable like some garbage! He was very important to me! He kept me from ending my life after my accident and I loved him." Diana made a soft squeak as she tried to stand. When she let go of his arm and started to pull away, Diana still felt a resisting force pull her back. "He... He's alive!"
"Bentley... The monitors are all out... All my equipment that I used in him is disabled." Penelope said in her soft mouse voice.
"My radio... I contacted Bentley when we were asking for the room number. It worked just fine... But now..." Carmelita had a hushed tone, kneeling to inspect the wolf's body.
"Is he coming back?! Someone give me answers!" Diana cried out, alternating between looking at all the stunned faces and looking down at Grimm.
No one said anything and just waited for what was beginning to happen to perform.
The blood on Grimm's open paw shifted and arced into a serpentine form. The red snake slowly turned navy blue and slid up Grimm's arm. Any red on the wolf's lips was quickly fading. Bentley opened up his holographic prompt and wasn't surprised to discover a faint signal.
"I- I don't know what it is... It's rewriting its own source code as I try to access it." Bentley's typing was more and more frantic as time passed.
"He's... He's coming back! I can feel it!" Diana cried, watching as Grimm's eyes opened. The irises were blue and rotating, now shifting and alternating in direction as if to eliminate the possibility of moving in a specific pattern.
The three monitors on Penelope's make-shift work station blinked on the heart rate monitor emitting the same dull tone while Grimm's brain activity lit up like a kaleidoscope. The laptop showed no foreign signal but Bentley's screen showed lines of code that rained over his screen like a waterfall.
The power surged violently and Grimm's body jerked in alert. The heart rate monitor was active once again; Grimm's heart was beating. The data on the brain activity monitor had become unreadable and Grimm's pulse was steady and normal.
The wolf drew a long sigh, slowly moving his limbs as if testing if he was a statue or not. Bentley's monitor displayed a command prompt with foreign characters written and a single line of legible text.
"The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped and exploited."
And then Bentley's screen showed no data. Everyone was watching as Grimm slowly sat up on the couch, his eyes still open as mechanic blue color faded. It was replaced with a new color, the honey-yellow tint of a natural wolf. Grimm finally blinked and fell forward, Diana catching him and helping him sit on his own. The heart-rate monitor was the only thing giving updates on Grimm's condition.
Diana was closest to Grimm, so she was the one to talk to him.
"G-Grimm? Are you okay?"
"Yeah... Just a headache... This isn't the hotel room, is it?"
"N-No... it's not. Do you remember what happened?"
"I... remember waking up here... earlier... I remember her." Grimm slowly pointed to Penelope with a less-than-steady hand.
"And what happened? What did she do to you?"
"It's... day, isn't it? I survived the night."
"Y-Yeah..."
"She fixed me. No... She... I fixed me... She... You..." Grimm was glancing at Penelope before getting up and kneeling in front of the timid mouse.
"You freed me. You did it... What did you do?"
Penelope slowly looked around as all eyes were on her. "You had a piece of circuitry that controlled your body. I wirelessly disabled it, but it had some effects. The hate-chip was attempting to control you and when I attacked it, it attempted to destroy you. It must've been some back-up protocol that could be deactivated on command and eliminate any trace of the system."
"I see." Grimm took steady breaths and then turned to Diana, taking her hand. "I should've told you... I did get an answer. All they knew was that my body was destroying itself and I had a month to live. Then we discussed PTSD stimuli... The smoke in the air... It triggered and accelerated the process. I would be dead before the week was out... Wait, why is she handcuffed?"
"Well, I um... kidnapped you. Drugged and dragged you here." Penelope admitted, Carmelita's radio blaring a loud warning. "Inspector Fox, respond. Back-up is on route. Acknowledge."
"Inspector Fox reporting. Belay the back-up."
"Inspector, what the hell happened to you out there?" It was Barkley's voice on the radio.
"Radio jammed. Updates on the case."
"Likewise. You first."
"Suspect is in custody and the kidnap victim has been... recovered."
"Excellent! Condition?"
"Alive and well, thanks for asking, Jimmy." Grimm huffed out, Carmelita blinking in response and her boss barking out how he disliked that name. Barkley eventually cooled off and gave orders to arrest Penelope on charges of Prison Escape and Kidnapping if Grimm and Diana were to press charges.
Bentley and Penelope collaborated in another silent conversation, the mouse showing watery and pleading eyes to the turtle. Bentley scoffed and turned away but couldn't hold a tear at what Penelope would have to suffer through. She gazed again with her begging look and Bentley sighed.
Penelope hung her head down but perked her ears and spoke up as Grimm and Diana were debating about the kidnapping charge. "I know where Sly is!"
The room went silent and Murray now stepped forward, towering over the mouse. Bentley was even stunned by her words and had a wide-eyed expression. He earned a small giggle and blush from her and responded with a blushing and a knowing smile.
"You're bluffing..." Carmelita huffed, twirling the handcuff keys. Grimm tried to stand and failed, falling into Carmelita with a nervous chuckle. Diana had lunged forward to help Grimm but was too slow and helped Grimm sit back down with her on the couch.
"I'm not! Grimm saw it!" Penelope begged.
"Impossible." Carmelita muttered, straightening her coat and slipping her key ring into the inner pocket.
"How would he have seen it?" Bentley inquired.
"Because Clockwerk saw it and shared his memories with Grimm! Wherever Sly is, he started everything about Clockwerk because that's what the bird had scarred into his own memory! It's gotta be that!" Penelope squeaked out a reply since the cuffs were a bit tight on her wrists.
"So when did Clockwerk first become Clockwerk?" Murray asked with an almost dazed expression.
"I still don't trust her. She could be lying to get out a prison sentence. We can't go groveling-"
"Inspector... Can I add something?" Grimm caught her off guard from her thought process. The inspector heard Diana giggle at something.
"Yes, what is it?"
"I have your badge. As of this moment, you have no legal responsibility." Grimm showed her real badge, Carmelita looked around the room to see if anyone noticed and only Diana had a sheepish grin. "You need to not let your job cloud your mind. Speak freely. The wolf smiled and agreed.
Carmelita slowly switched off her radio before folding her arms on her chest and sighing. "Look... Penelope... There's nothing I can do for you. I caught you. You aided a criminal mastermind and escaped prison."
"Oh come on... Since when are there laws in regards to time travel?"
"There never were any, but there is a law against breaking out of prison and escaping scot-free."
"F-Fine... I... I'll tell you where he is."
Carmelita was about to question a change of heart, but Bentley shot a quick glance.
Penelope gave a short and sweet answer and two of the three collected parties were ecstatic with the news. The third party was a duo of canines flirting with each other and thereby exempt from the conversation.
"I read the Thievius Raccoonus hundreds of times. Why didn't I see anything before?"
"Is it my turn to speak?" Diana chimed in and all turned to hear. She was blushing and now sitting in Grimm's lap, the wolf wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling her neck. "Some people like to believe that their future is influenced by what I tell them and it's true in some right. Others believe that the future is set in stone. What if you haven't noticed anything because it was exactly the same as you first saw it. Like it was meant to happen and set in stone?"
"Bentley... If Clockwerk saw and remembered Sly and Sly did start it all..."
"Then he was supposed to go back in time. It was all predetermined. It was written in the book! Right there under our noses!"
Diana squealed, meaning that Grimm did something embarrassing to her before he spoke. "But he would've died had I not stepped in. Inspector Fox would've been in danger as well."
"That's right... I took a bullet... But I was there and with the gang for the most part when they went back." Carmelita huffed, her tail proving her earlier anxious feeling.
"That's true. Inspector Fox had played a critical part in the recovery of Sly's ancestors. If she or Sly never made it to the final battle..."
"Then there's a good chance that Sly would've never gone back, had he been killed or broken-hearted."
"But that's a paradox. Those are bad and could tear the universe apart."
"But it was on our side..." Diana had just returned a kiss to Grimm's cheek, finishing her thought. "It brought Grimm to you and to me so that everything could be fixed."
"So that explains those odd things that happened when we all first met Grimm. He was supposed to help Grimm that day. If he never went, then..."
"I'd be dead..." Diana exhaled softly and Grimm did something to make her squeal and cheer up.
"And then Sly wouldn't be there either, so he'd be safe." Carmelita pointed out, the others remaining silent until Murray spoke what everyone was thinking.
"And then no one would have saved you..."
The room had now fallen silent save for the sounds of the two canines still flirting with each other. "We've decided to not press charges." Diana was able to say.
"Well, that solves that problem. And we have half of another problem left." Bentley smiled wide, turning his chair to the door. Murray took a cue and ran ahead to start the van. "All interested parties can follow us and rescue Sly."
Carmelita huffed and dragged Penelope out by her cuffs, the mouse with her head hung low.
"I can't let her go or say she slipped away. I'd get fired. You and I both know what she's facing when I turn her in."
"Inspector! You left your badge!" Grimm rushed out, passing the badge over to the fox. Carmelita chuckled and pulled the wolf aside to talk to him. Diana got up and walked over to where Bentley and Penelope were about to have another silent conversation.
"Hiya." Diana had a cheery disposition and Penelope sulked in reply. "I'm not mad at you, you know."
"I can see that. Might I ask why?"
"You saved his life. Grimm never did tell me how much time he had and he would've been lost at the start of a relationship. I don't think I could've handled that."
"So what now?" Bentley huffed and leaned back in his chair.
"Oh come on, guys... You can't fool someone who reads body language as part of her day job. I know you two had a thing."
Both Bentley and Penelope blushed, so Diana smiled. "I still got it after all! Now... What Grimm has told me was that your gang calls the law as a collection of guidelines more than actual rules. If that's the case, then..." Diana reached into her back pocket, pulling Carmelita's handcuff key into view.
"Where'd you get that?"
"From when Grimm fell on Inspector Fox and took her badge. I snuck forward and unclipped her key. She probably noticed. I'm just gonna... drop it right here..." That's just what she did, 'accidentally' dropping the key in front of a handcuffed suspect...
The key remained where it was for a moment, so Diana went over to where Grimm was. Bentley finally picked it up and held it for a moment, looking at Penelope.
"Bentley... Please..."
"She's right... We don't usually follow the law, do we?"
Penelope went a bit further and straddled Bentley, leaning down to kiss him. They whispered to each other for a moment before Carmelita turned to take Penelope away.
"Send a message when you know exactly where and when Sly is..." The fox said, solemnly.
"Will do..."
Murray and Bentley left in the Cooper van and disappeared. Grimm and Diana followed Inspector Fox to close a kidnapping case. Both Diana and Penelope were shocked to see that Carmelita was sorting through her keys to free the mouse while Barkley and Grimm chatted like comrades.
"Tell no one, you too... If we rescue Sly... I'm leaving the force. My job is conflicting with my personal life and I'm making a choice. Where is my key..."
All three ladies found a giggle as Penelope was freed and the key was returned. Technically, Penelope 'stole the key and made her escape' after everything that Carmelita was present for was taken care of. As far as Barkley knew -or he knew more than he was showing and just decided to write it down in the report a certain way- Carmelita was off-duty when Penelope had made her escape. Penelope was given instructions to follow by Bentley and followed them to the letter, knowing what possible futures that weren't set in stone.
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