Ugh, wanted to publish this on Sunday. Uploaded it but forgot -.-
Still, enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.
"You seem better." Leonard mentioned when he entered the apartment with the dogs, returning from his early morning run, and seeing Penny doing stretching exercises.
"I feel better." she nodded, turning her back to him and bending forward to touch her toes, knowing full well what she was doing.
"Very nice." he commented with a smile. "The discoloration is almost gone."
"That's what you see when I bend forward?" she shook her head in exasperation.
"Did you want me to see something else?" Leonard chuckled as he began taking off his sweaty clothes so he could shower.
"What do you think?" she grinned and walked into him, dropping a kiss on his lips. "Today, I'm gonna ace the course and afterwards, I plan on reenact the sex scene in that vampire movie whose leading lady's suit I'm wearing during the course."
"You do realize that the actors didn't actually have sex in the movie, right?" he smiled.
"Well, duh." she rolled her eyes at him again. "Why would you think I thought otherwise?"
"Because given the difficulty you have in putting the suit on and taking it off, getting sweaty from sex might make it even harder to put it back on." he pointed out.
"Meh, let me worry about that." she giggled. "Not to mention that when I finish the course, I don't have to put the leather suit back on."
"Good point." he nodded with a smile. "Something to look forward to."
"Gee, you could sound more excited at the prospect of sex with me." she huffed.
"Sorry, but while appreciate your optimism about the course and of course your eagerness for sex with me, you were optimistic of finishing the course before and it never happened." he shrugged.
"You will see." she poked out her tongue. "Now go shower, your sweat starts to stink."
"Yes, dear." he said with pursed lips before whistling to have the dogs follow him into the bathroom.
After spending last night studying the camera plans, she had gone to sleep but was somehow too excited to sleep. When Leonard had left for his morning run, she had not been able to fall back to sleep and gotten up, doing some indoor exercises and stretches to prepare for her run through the course.
While Leonard was in the bathroom, she put on a robe, then went into the kitchen and made breakfast, preparing french toast and the breakfast for the dogs, taking care not to mix anything up, like the salmon oil into the toast. Since it was an even day, she put sprats into the bowl with the meat instead of chicken feet, then added the blueberries and the salmon oil. When the toast was finished, she quickly piled it onto a plate and washed the pan.
"Something smells good." a returning Leonard commented, both dogs walking after him with their fur still a little bit damp.
"Yeah, I just made breakfast for the dogs." she winked.
"Ah, the nice bouquet of raw meat patties and fish." he hummed.
"But I made french toast for us." she pointed to the plate.
"I wondered where the burnt smell comes from." he mused.
"Hey!" she huffed after it took about ten seconds for brain to process what he had said.
"I'm kidding." he laughed and walked into her back, hugging her from behind and pressing his lips against her neck before poking his fingers against some of her remaining bruises. "What's the pain level?"
"Negligible." she shrugged. "I mean, I still feel it but it's not as bad as it was in the beginning."
"Well, the next course is more difficult then this one." he said.
"Hey, did you ever have to do a mission while bruised like this?" she asked.
"I vaguely remember flying through a glass windows with a shard ending up in my shoulder and a few seconds later having a grenade splinter embedded into my hip during a mission before I was involved in a shootout with a dozen people." he nodded. "I think you saw me in action."
"Right." she shuddered. "Though I really hope that I will never get into that situation."
"With the right planning, you lessen the risk but it will never go away." he nodded again. "Always expect the unexpected."
"Lets eat." she said and took the two plates to the kitchen island, where Leonard was already pouring their morning tea into cups.
"So, you sure that you'll finish the course today?" he asked.
"Very." she nodded. "I'm not saying I will do it on the first attempt, but I now know how to do it."
"How?"
"By using the plans you gave me." she nodded to the blackboard on the other side of the room. "When you and the others said that I have everything I need to solve the course, you were right, I just wasn't looking at them correctly."
"Good." he smiled.
"Don't you want to know how I found out?" she wondered.
"No need, I already know." he winked.
"How?" she gasped. "Do I talk in my sleep?"
"No, but you were on the phone with my dad last night and after I took over the call, you were glued to the blackboard for hours." he chuckled.
"Hmpf." she huffed. "And here I thought I could wow you with my insight."
"When you finish the course, I'll still be wowed." he said. "Just knowing how to do it is only the first step, doing it is a different beast."
"True." she accepted. "Hey, in your jobs, how often did your plan was being ruined by something you didn't expect?"
"Hm, when I started in the business, about six of of ten cases went awry in some way, usual a small thing. You have seen my assortment of scars." he said. "In the past four years, most cases went exactly as I planned, except a small handful, one of them being the one in Omaha."
"What about that case in Los Angeles?"
"That went perfectly." he shrugged. "I mean, I scouted out the place with your help, used surveillance to get an overview of his habits, made a plan on how and when to kill him and when the time was right, I enacted it and fulfilled the contract. The target was dead and nobody suspected foul play."
"By the way, how exactly did you kill him?" she asked. "They said on the news that he died from a heart attack."
"During our week-long stay at the hotel, I found out that he enjoyed a regular nightcap, in his case, a glass of expensive whiskey on ice." he explained. "He drank a finger's breadth every night before going to bed."
"So, you used some poison that induced a heart attack?"
"Yes, Bernadette made it, it was delivered and I used it."
"What, you guys have your own delivery service?" she giggled.
"Yes, we do." he nodded, making her stop laughing. "Though in this case, there was no need. Bernadette simply ordered a bike messenger. A lot cheaper than using organization assets."
"Aren't you afraid they could have traced that back?"
"How would they?" he smiled. "It's not as if I left the bottle with the poison lying around in his hotel room, much less the envelope it came in."
"What about security footage?"
"Howard." came the one-word answer. "And don't forget, he died from a heart attack, brought on by a concoction that doesn't turn up in any blood work after death. Which means any autopsy will not reveal anything beyond the heart attack he died from."
"Nobody would find it strange that he had a heart attack?"
"He was an old man, and he did have a heart condition." he smiled. "When it comes to choosing the death of a target, I try to find out as much as I can about them. Old man with a heart condition? Heart attack."
"So, if they have a specific disease or condition, you exacerbate it?" she asked.
"Pretty much, if it's feasible." he nodded. "There are conditions or diseases you can't exacerbate artificially, like cancer, or that wouldn't necessarily cause the death of a person. Few people who get a common cold, even a serious one, can be expected to die from it."
"I guess." she accepted. "You know, your dad taught me how to kill someone in a lot of ways, but most involve firearms, as well as blunt and sharp objects, but all require direct action which kills immediately. Will Sheldon teach me those other ways, the ones you use?"
"Unlikely, Sheldon is quite squeamish when it comes to the brutal side of our business." Leonard shook his head. "But I can teach you some ways too. My dad also only taught me the art of killing using guns and knifes and clubs."
"There must be hundreds of ways." she chuckled.
"Actually, only a few." he winked. "Poisonings and mechanical failures causing accidents. Plenty of variations of those though."
"So, if your dad taught you only the same things he taught me, how did you get your expertise in these other methods?" she wanted to know.
"Self-taught." he shrugged. "As I said, after that particular job with the cartel that caused several thousand civilians to die, I started to be more strategic in my approaches and from there, it evolved. And given that the guys had agreed to help me if I need them and Bernadette had just started her job at that biotech company, poisonings became a more feasible method."
"And mechanical failures?"
"Howard's influence." he told her. "Since he's an engineer, he gave me advice on one of my jobs, which led to more jobs being done using things he does."
"Can you teach me that?"
"I could but a better way is for you to come up with ways and then ask for help doing them." he said. "It's like when you learned martial arts from my dad. At some point, you have all the moves down but you need to start inventing new ones and mix them up."
"That makes sense, I guess." she accepted. "When do we leave?"
"In a few minutes." he said. "Do you have an idea about what to do after you finished that course?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we still have to build the next one, that means a few days with me and the guys being busy but you can't be there, since you're not supposed to see anything before it's ready."
"Huh, either I spend my days with the dogs and when just go to the university gym to keep fit." she shrugged. "Or, I could sweep out your lab."
"Yeah, because that takes hours." he laughed. "Come on, we should get dressed."
"Ugh, I get the powder." she sighed and went into the bathroom.
She grabbed the talcum power and put it on her legs before squeezing her legs into the tight pant legs. One it was up to her hips, she took off her shirt and bra before putting more powder on her arms and hands, which she then pushed into the arms of the leather suit, the material squeezing her arms together until it adjusted to them. Last, she lifted it over her shoulders, closing the long zip at the end.
"You are so incredibly beautiful and sexy." he commented when she came out of the bathroom, tying her hair up in a loose bun to fit under the cap.
"You saying that when I'm wearing this particular suit, I can't help but feel as if you're imagining me as someone else." she mused.
"What did you say, Kate, I didn't get that." he said.
"Kate Beckinsale?" she rolled her eyes while putting on sweatpants and a sweater and putting her bra and a shirt into a bag. "Are you trying to get a rise out of me because it's working."
"Lets go finish that course, shall we?" he laughed and opened the door to let her walk through.
"First you fantasize about me being a different women and now you're being a gentleman again?" she sighed and walked past him, only to feel his hand gently slapping her ass.
"Because I am a gentleman." he said, completely serious.
"Sure you are." she laughed.
"Good morning, Leonard, Penny." Sheldon said as he descended the stairs, with Amy in tow.
"Penny is sure to finish the course today." Leonard told him.
"It would be about time, it was becoming embarrassing." Sheldon commented as they went down the next flight.
"Gee, thank you." Penny huffed.
"If you do finish, then we can finally tear down the course and then build the second one." Sheldon proclaimed. "Howard will have his hands full then."
"With what?" the aforementioned Howard asked as he stepped out of his apartment, Bernadette standing behind him.
"Penny is sure that she will finish the course today." Amy told him.
"Oh good, it was becoming embarrassing." Howard nodded.
"If anyone else says this, I'll smack them." Penny grumbled.
"Morning Raj." Leonard said as they arrived on the first floor.
"Morning, guys." Raj smiled. "Why does Penny look so pissed?"
"She's sure that she'll finish the course today." Howard told him.
"About time, it was becoming embarrass... OW!" Raj couldn't finish his original sentence due to Penny's palm slapping onto the back of his head. "What was that for?"
"I made a promise." she shrugged. "And pretty pissed that everyone seems to think that I won't be able to finish the course."
"Because your track record says otherwise." Raj shrugged.
They piled into the two cars and drove off, snaking their way through morning traffic on their way to the university. As they closed, Penny became more and more nervous, her mind going through the motions of how to get through the course this time. While she was sure that she could do it, she was worried that if she failed the first through times regardless of her new knowledge, her nerves would make her fail all day.
"Are you all coming?" Penny asked when they walked towards the training hall, every part of the group with her.
"Yes, if you truly manage to finish it early, we can start changing the course for the next." Sheldon said.
"Okay." she sighed, her plan to have celebratory sex with Leonard after a successful run falling apart.
Leonard unlocked the door and opened it, allowing everyone to go in. As he closed the door behind him, Penny took off the sweater and sweatpants, revealing her leather-clad body and Raj could not help but gawk at her until she noticed and glared at him until he averted his gaze, only to resume gawking once she looked away.
"Go ahead." Leonard told her and gave her a kiss for good luck.
Penny took a deep breath and approached the course. Using what she had memorized, she entered the hallway, keeping to the wall and slowly moving forward towards the first room. Counting to eight, she slipped inside and behind the table, crouching towards the end of it and waiting once more, counting to twelve and then doing a quick jump forward to get behind a second table from where she then moved against the wall and to the exit, back into the hallway and from there right into the next room.
Dredging up the camera placements and angle from her mind, she felt safe for the moment, standing up and walking to the side door of the room. She produced a small mirror on a stick and held it out into the hallway to see how the camera was moving and once it was turning away from her direction, she quickly headed into the hallway and stood directly underneath the camera. She looked up and watched it turn into the opposite direction again and once its arc was far enough, she quickly squeezed against the wall and moved into the next room.
Only one more room and she would be able to claim the prize she had never laid eyes on before. She knew that the cameras allowed only a very short blind spot and after making sure of how the camera were looking at, she counted down to the right moment and when it came, she made a dash across the hall to finally get into the last room and claim victory.
"You've got to be kidding me." she couldn't help but laugh when she saw the action figure in its original package. "That's the price?"
"What did you expect?" Sheldon's voice came from a speaker somewhere. "Gold?"
"Well, no." she admitted. "So, did I do it?"
"Almost, now you have to bring it back out." he told her.
"For real?" she shrieked.
She mentally steeled herself for doing another flawless run, this time with a package but before she could do the dash across the hall, she noticed the window in the room. Wondering if it could be that simple, she tried opening it and to her surprise, it did. Since this fake setup wasn't anywhere high, she simply rolled out the window and got up, walking around the set and approaching the guys who were sitting with their backs to her,.
To her surprise, there weren't any monitors that showed her, only a speaker that would relay any words she said in there, plus a microphone that Sheldon talked through. She threw the package over Sheldon's head and it landed loudly, making everyone but Leonard flinch, Raj even issuing a girly scream as he jumped up in shock.
"There you go." she grinned.
"How did you get out?" Howard asked.
"There's a window in the last room, even though it wasn't on the blueprints." she replied. "Had I known it was there, I would have walked around the building and climbed in there."
"You put a window into the office?" Sheldon turned to Howard.
"I used the available walls, and that one had a window in it, what do you want me to do?" Howard shot back.
"Fine, you win this one." Sheldon addressed Penny. "But the next will be more difficult."
"What will it be?"
"You will see when it's done." Sheldon said and stood up. "Chop, chop, lets tear down this one."
"All of it?" Amy wanted to know.
"Only the inner walls. We can keep the outer walls." Sheldon told them.
"What am I supposed to do now?" Penny asked.
"What do you mean?" Sheldon looked at her. "You help with the tear down."
"Alright." she nodded. "But I have to change first."
"Need some help?" Raj grinned.
"Sure." Penny nodded, much to Raj's surprise. "Leonard, you wanna give me a hand?"
"That was so mean!" Raj whined as Leonard followed Penny behind some dividers, laughing as they did so.
She undid the zip and pushed the leather away from her chest, Leonard holding the leather while she pulled her arms out. He pushed the fabric down to her stomach and gently cupped her breasts, rubbing his fingers over her nipples and making her shudder. He pushed her onto a seat and she leaned backwards while he pulled at the leather again so her legs could be freed of the right confines.
"Stupid friends." she mumbled. "If they weren't here, your dick would be inside me by now."
"There's always later." he chuckled.
"Ugh." she grumbled and put her bra on, followed by the sweatpants and sweater she had worn when coming in.
Once dressed, she and Leonard joined the others and began to deconstruct the course she had spent the better part of two months to finish. She wondered how much more difficult the next one and the one after that would be and how much time it would take her to finish those. She felt a pang of guilt since her inability to do them quickly made Leonard stay longer here than he might have wished.
With the seven of them working, even though Sheldon just stood at the blackboard to draw the plans for the next stage, the tear down took only three hours until all the furniture and inner walls were out. Penny wiped the sweat from her brows and took a big swig from a water bottle, handing it to Leonard who seemed similarly exhausted.
"So, what now?" she asked.
"Now, we'll start building the new course." Howard told her. "Sheldon has the the rudimentary shape done, so we can put the inner walls back in."
"And for that, you have to leave." Leonard told her. "Why don't you head home, do your walk with the dogs and come back later so we can go to the gym together."
"That's a good idea." she nodded and gave him a kiss. "See you later."
"Bye." Leonard smiled and then turned around to help Howard and Raj heave one of the inner walls into the course again.
She headed out and got into the car she and Leonard had used to get here. The drive home was uneventful and as soon as she entered the apartment, the two canines were upon her, both showing how happy they were that she was back. She put the collars on both and grabbed the leashes before getting the dogs into the elevator. A minute later, they were on their way to the dog park so the two boys could spend their energy playing.
The place was less crowded than usual, since it was late morning but a few familiar faces and dogs were present. She couldn't find Katie this time but Major and Tyson were just as eager to run and play with the other dogs at the park. She was surprised how gentle the two were with the smaller dogs of the pack, never doing anything more than light pushing and chasing without running them over. A few times, Tyson rolled around on his back while a smaller dog was jumping on top of him, nibbling at his mouth.
And as she watched the dogs play, she just hoped that the next course would be less exasperating to finish than the first one.
"What's wrong with these numbers?" the boss asked his lieutenants sitting in front of his table.
"We still haven't gotten any new numbers from our Los Angeles branch." one of them told the boss.
"And why did nobody here think it would be important for me to know that the Los Angeles branch doesn't send us money for two months?" the boss growled.
"You said that we should trust your son." another lieutenant said. "The last time he didn't send any money for more than two months, he was expanding his territory to encompass almost all of the city."
"Did he say what he was doing now?" the boss wanted to know.
"We, uh..." the first speaker hesitated. "We haven't been able to reach your son or anyone in his office."
"Greg, when did you first try to contact him once it was obvious that money wasn't coming in from LA?" the boss sighed, his underlings knowing that this particular sigh was more threatening than a sigh usually was.
"Two weeks ago." Greg replied, quietly, and the boss looked at him for six seconds before lifting a large caliber revolver and putting a round through Greg's chest.
"Two weeks." the boss looked at the others, who were staring aghast at the corpse with the large hole in its chest in their midst. "My son hasn't send any money to us for over two months and hasn't contacted anyone here for just as much time and nobody deigns to tell me that he has gone radio silent? Does anyone else here think that this is something that should have been kept from me?"
"No, boss." all of the others said in unison.
"No." the boss nodded. "Mark, you're taking Greg's position as liaison to the west coast groups. Get on a plane and to Los Angeles and make sure that Owain hasn't stepped out. Take Kenta with you."
"At once, boss." Mark said and stood up, looking at the large Japanese man who stepped forward and gave a nod. "If it turns out that he did step out, what is my authority in dealing with him?"
"If it can be ascertained that he betrayed us, he is to come back here with you. If he refuses, you are allowed to use force, if necessary." the boss told him. "Killing him is the last resort, however. He is still my son."
"Acknowledged." Mark nodded and left the room, Kenta right behind him.
"Now, Vega, tell me about the progress of the Texas operation.
And chapter ends here.
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