Sorry for the wait. My wrist is still bugging me and now my doctor has told me that it may not be aftereffects from my bike accident after all but might rather stem from issues with my neck, which I injured 15 years ago when my computer chair collapsed and my head slammed against the radiator.

Still, enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.


"Does this look strange to you?" Mark asked, but Kenta only grunted.

Mark looked at his companion, wondering where he came from. Kenta hadn't said a single word during the entire trip, his replies only coming in grunts or nods or head shakes. He knew that Kenta could talk, he had seen him converse with the boss but other than that, Mark didn't even know what his voice sounded like or even if he spoke English at all.

Focusing back on the task at hand, he looked at the warehouse complex. The two guards who were usually on duty at the gate were absent, replaced by another that looked the part of what anyone would imagine the gate security guard at a warehouse containing few things of high value. A retired cop, looking bored and completely unsuited for his job if anyone ever seriously attacked the place.

"Keep any weapons concealed." Mark told Kenta and got out of the car. "And no violence until I tell you."

"Can I help you folks?" the guard asked them as they approached, his cop training making him look warily at Kenta.

"We have business dealings with the people renting this warehouse." Mark said, pointing to the warehouse in question. "Are they in?"

"Sure, go ahead." the guard waved them through.

"How these guys aren't robbed all the time is beyond me." Mark muttered, the guard not even having asked for any identification or calling the warehouse to see if they had a meeting there at all.

The insides was looking like a regular warehouse, several workers bustling around, driving forklifts and moving merchandise into a waiting truck. It was different merchandise than the air conditioning units or any of the other things Owain usually used as cover for moving the drugs around. The door to the upstairs office was open, someone moving around in there as well. Mark walked up the stairs, nobody even questioning their presence and a few seconds later, they stood outside the office, an unknown person working in it.

"Who are you?" the man asked, when he finally saw them.

"I could ask you the same." Mark said. "I was looking for Owain Brostin, he normally runs this warehouse."

"Were you a business partner of his?" the man wanted to know.

"We were waiting for the merchandise we purchased two months ago." Mark lied before the wording of the man's question fully sank in. "Wait, you said 'were', as in the past tense."

"Haven't you heard?" the man looked confused. "Mister Brostin and his entire workforce died about two months ago."

"Died?" Mark tried to understand and more importantly, how to deliver the news to the boss. "How?"

"According to police reports, he and his friends had a barbecue in this office and the gas bottle of the grill leaked." the man told him. "Though how they didn't smell the gas is beyond me. Maybe they were too drunk."

"Thanks for the information. Sorry to bother you. " Mark said and turned around.

"It's no problem, have a nice day." the man called after them.

"Dammit." Mark cursed when they were outside. "The one thing I know is that Owain never touched alcohol."

"Call." Kenta said with a voice as gravelly as an avalanche, the first word Mark has heard him speak on the entire trip.

"Speak." his boss said after the call was established.

"Boss, I..." Mark hesitated.

"Mark, just tell me." the boss sighed the same kind of sigh he did before shooting Greg.

"Apparently, Owain and his crew are dead." Mark told him, to be met by several seconds of silence.

"How?" came the terse question.

"According to the guy who's running the warehouse now, he and his gang asphyxiated from a faulty gas bottle in a barbecue." Mark told him. "Though I think that didn't happen."

"That does sound made up." his boss agreed. "What did you find out?"

"Nothing." Mark sighed. "The new people seem to be a legit business and the manager also didn't know about Owain's real business, so either the cops didn't find out or they keep it under wraps."

"I'll contact my connections in the FBI and LAPD." came the statement from his boss and Mark could feel from his voice that he was barely keeping it together after learning about the death of his son.

"What do you want me to do?" Mark asked.

"Stay in the city." the boss ordered. "Get to a hotel, lay low. Tell Kenta to spread his feelers. I'll contact you again later."

"Acknowledged." Mark nodded and looked at Kenta while ending the call. "The boss said you are to spread your feelers, whatever that means. I'll be at the Glendale."

Kenta just nodded and left to wherever he would go to get information. Mark took a last look at the warehouse and wondered how much blood would be shed before this was over.


"So, you're ready?" Leonard asked while helping Penny get into the leather suit.

"Very relaxed." she giggled. "Hope you liked my new pre-mission tradition."

"Very much." he chuckled. "Though it was kinda like mine, only with you on top."

"Your point being?" she looked pointedly at him.

"Here's hoping for a lot more missions for you." he laughed and dropped a kiss on her lips while pulling the suit over her shoulders.

"Jesus, this is tight." she groaned. "I always feel like I gained weight."

"Don't worry, when you get your real bodygloves made, they'll fit better." he told her.

She gave a last scratch to Tyson and left the apartment, Leonard following her out. As he drove them to the university, Penny went over the layout in her head. This time, she had studied the plans fastidiously, both the floor plans and the camera placements that this time had added sound sensors to mimic guards that could hear an intruder.

She had formulated a plan, though she didn't know if the way she wanted to do it was an oversight by Sheldon when drawing the course or a design choice. Either way, she would do it and see if Sheldon accepted the result or if he would make her run the course again a different way.

"Lets go." Leonard said and led her across the campus to the building.

Down the stairs and through the tunnels, they arrived at the hall, Leonard using his key card to unlock the door. Inside, Howard and Sheldon were waiting, Raj and Amy nowhere to be seen. Sheldon sat at his desk, looking over some documents while Howard made some last minute adjustments to the course.

"Are you changing something in the course?" Leonard asked.

"No, just making sure that all the cameras and sensors are running." Howard said and turned back to the microphone. "Hit it!"

"Oooh oooh." a high-pitched noise suddenly came from within the course. "OUCH!"

"Okay, the paint guns are working." Howard nodded.

"You could have warned me!" Raj complained, exiting the course with a paint splotch on his hip.

"Don't be a baby, I got hit with hundreds of those." Penny snickered while taking off her sweatpants and sweater.

"Come on, there's padding in that leather suit." Raj argued.

"I didn't have that padding on the first day and was hit with dozens of them, so stop whining." she laughed.

"Are you ready?" Sheldon asked.

"Yes." Penny nodded. "So, what's my job?"

"Your target is in the back office." Sheldon said. "Take it out and return here without being noticed."

"How?" she wanted to know.

"However you like." Sheldon said. "Choose a weapon and go."

Knowing that sound would make her fail, she picked a knife, knowing that in real life, it would be a pretty bloody affair. Leonard joined the guys at the desk and nodded towards her, giving her the go. She looked at the course and then simply walked around it, going to the window of the office where her target would be.

Using the knife, she opened it a tiny bit, then pushed it up, making sure that the window made no sound. The dummy was sitting on the chair, the two sound sensors on its ears showing no alarm at her actions. Using the acrobatic training she had learned with Albert, she lifted herself silently through the windows.

She controlled her breathing, making sure that she wasn't inhaling and exhaling too loud from the momentary exertion. She realized that in real life, a living target would have most likely noticed the sudden rush of air coming into the room but Sheldon never specified those conditions so she continued to close in on her target, quickly slashing the knife over the side of the dummy's throat, just the way she had learned it.

Without the sound sensors on her target's ears being active anymore, she just slipped back out the window and closed it once more, then walked back to the desk where the guys were looking at her. Sheldon looked like he bit into an onion, Howard and Raj looked impressed and Leonard gave a her grin and a thumbs up.

"Impressive, you saw it right away." Sheldon nodded.

"Yeah, though I get that in real life, this wouldn't work." Penny said.

"Why not?" Sheldon asked, seeming genuinely confused.

"If you sit in a room with a window and it suddenly opens, then air will rush in. So anyone sitting there would notice the sudden draft and also a possible temperature change, depending on the outside conditions." she explained. "And even if the temperature is the same outside as it is inside, and there's absolutely no wind, another danger would be animal sounds, be it birds singing or crickets chirping. The target would notice the change in volume."

"Huh, I hadn't even thought of that." Sheldon admitted. "Well, nevertheless, you finished the second course successfully. I will have to redesign the third one to account for what you just told me and then we will build it but it will take several weeks."

"I don't even dare to think how difficult that one will be." Penny shuddered.

"Very." Sheldon nodded. "Now, lets tear that one down. This time, Penny, you can help."

"Okay." she accepted and walked behind the divider to change into more comfortable clothes.

Leonard again helped her out of the leather, Penny putting his hands on her breasts again for a few seconds before putting on her bra and the clothes she had worn over the leather suit. Once she had changed, she and Leonard joined the others to help them tear the course down, even Sheldon helping with the physical labor, though his contributions were limited.

"So, what now?" Penny asked after they were done, several hours having passed.

"Now we'll be having lunch and then you can go home to give the dogs their exercise." Leonard told her. "We have to get back to work."

"Hey, I can use the gym here now, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"So, when is a good time to use it?" she wanted to know.

"Any time, really." he shrugged. "It's only for faculty and most members don't use it anyway, so it's never full."

"Good to know." she grinned. "Does the gym has an open space?"

"It has relatively large room where some members sometimes to yoga together, why?" he wondered.

"I thought that we could use that to do a little sparing, don't you think?" she winked. "I mean, going through the motions at home is a bit basic, right?"

"True, good idea." he nodded. "Well, if you're back until then, we can do an hour or two starting at four."

"I'll be here." she nodded. "I'll wear out the dogs before."

"Good." he chuckled. "Lets get some lunch."

"I must say, the way Penny managed to immediately solve the second course was quite impressive." Sheldon mentioned on their way to the cafeteria.

"Did I just hear Sheldon complimenting another person, a non-scientist even?" Howard gasped.

"I only give credit where credit is due." Sheldon corrected.

"You never do that." Raj pointed out.

"He's probably afraid that Penny will hurt him." Leonard laughed.

"She would not do that." Sheldon argued but glanced at her nonetheless.

Inside the cafeteria, nobody gave them a second glance beyond the usual greetings, Penny's presence having become a fixture in the past few weeks. Even the students who had at first stared by now learned that she was off-limits. Since she would be doing some sparring later, Penny chose pasta, again, for lunch, given that she would have several hours to digest it enough to not hinder her too much.

Once lunch was over, the guys returned to their labs to work, Howard to begin assembling some of the extra items they'd need for the final course. Penny drove home, where she was exuberantly greeted by the two dogs. She quickly put their collars on and led them out of the apartment, down the stairs and to the dog park, where the canines ran into the fenced area at full speed, greeting the other dogs with enthusiasm.

Penny nodded to several of the known faces, saw some unknown ones and generally kept to herself. The two Malignois ran hard and fast, shedding the energy they always seem to have in their muscles. She knew it was because of her that they couldn't run all times of the day if they wanted because back in Vermont, they could have left the house to run around Leonard's property whenever they wanted and Leonard also would take them on long walks at least three times a day.

A few minutes after four, she whistled loudly, causing the two dogs to stop playing and run to her. Without any protests, they let her attach the leashes to their collars and followed her home, both doing some toilet business on the way, making her pick it up with the bags she always kept with her when going out with the dogs.

Once the canines were back in the apartment, Penny cleaned them from the dirt and sweat they built up. When she was done with that, she packed her gym bag and also several training weapons, just in case she needed some. A rather long drive through rush hour traffic later, she parked the car again and walked across campus to his lab, finding him leaning over his desk and going over some equations.

"I'm here." she announced herself, putting her gym bag down. "What are you working on?"

"Some stuff for Sheldon." he said. "How was your afternoon with the dogs?"

"They had fun, I hope. Ran a lot." she chuckled.

"Good." he nodded. "I hate that I can't walk them as much as I'd like."

"You're looking forward to going back to Vermont, don't you?" she asked.

"Of course." he nodded. "It's my home after all."

"What about me?" she wanted to know, feeling unsure suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Can I... um... come with you when the time comes?"

"Of course." he nodded. "Why? Are you unsure about our relationship?"

"No, of course not." she shook her head. "It's just... I don't know."

"You are very welcome to live in my house in Vermont, if that's what you're asking." he tried to reassure her.

"Good." she smiled. "Now lets go and beat the shit out of each other."

"Ah, no better way to prove how stable our relationship is by hitting each other with sticks." he laughed and followed her after picking up his gym bag.

Once they reached the gym, they both went into their respective changing rooms, Leonard faster in changing his clothes than Penny and already being out when she arrived in the training area. She joined him at the treadmills, both starting to jog at a fast but easy to keep pace, sweat already beginning to pour after only a few minutes.

Fifteen minutes in, Raj and Howard joined them. Whereas Leonard was dressed in sweatpants and a shirt and Penny with yoga pants and a sports bra that showed her belly, Raj was completely covered in long sweats and a sweater while Howard wore the most ridiculous getup she had ever seen a man, tight spandex pants and an equally tight shirt, making him look like a human chicken wing.

Raj began running next to them, setting a punishing pace that had him panting and sweating in minutes while Howard just sat on a stationary bike and looked as if he was taking a leisurely ride through the countryside, the TV hanging in front of him even showing that scene. Another fifteen minutes later, Leonard stopped and began stretching his muscles, Penny joining him but placing herself in a way that would hide her physical features from Howard and Raj as she stretched.

"Raj, slow down, you're not doing a track and field race here." Leonard counseled him.

"I'm... fine." Raj gasped but kept running at that pace.

"He's been doing that for a while now, who knows why." Howard shrugged.

"What kind of training will we do today?" Penny asked.

"Well, you can decide what you want to do, for me, it's chest day." Leonard said and went to the bench press area, loading the bar with some light weights and just doing repetitions to get the muscles going.

"Fine with me." Penny nodded and joined him, switching places with him whenever he was done with his set.

Soon enough, she learned how punishing it could be when every exercise was focused on a certain body part. They did several sets of bench presses, her weights lower than his, but she did the same amount of reps, feeling her muscles burn. After the bench press, he went to the butterfly, doing again several sets of progressively heavier weights.

Butterfly was followed by dumbbells, several different exercises with those. After roughly an hour, Penny felt as if her arms would fall off, her chest muscles burning worse than even when Albert had put her through the ringer. She followed Leonard's example of chest stretches, copying what he did and she did feel the burn lessen.

"We're done." a sweating Raj proclaimed, his clothes looking largely soaked through.

"We're still going to do some sparring." Leonard told him. "We won't be joining you for dinner later."

"Alright." Raj nodded. "Sheldon will probably throw a fit."

"I don't care." Leonard shrugged.

"Okay, see you later then." Raj said and he left with Howard.

More stretching followed before Leonard and Penny walked into a large, but empty room, where Leonard got into a fighting stance and waited for Penny to do the same. Once she nodded, he attacked, his hands seesawing forward in the style of Wing Chun, which consisted of attacking mostly straightforward, his arms never going in wide circles to give her an opening.

She defended vigorously, moving his attacking hands aside but just as she had finished formulating a counterattack, he suddenly incorporated Krav Maga into his attacks, his hands now smacking harder against her defense and breaking through, smacking her chest, arms and belly a few times, hard enough to feel it but never too hard to be painful.

"Damn!" she cursed when they separated. "I got to comfortable."

"Yes, you did." he nodded.

She grabbed two sticks, swirling them in a figure eight before going into her fight stance. Leonard eyed her with suspicion and grabbed a single stick, holding it with two hands like he would a sword. She gave him exactly eight seconds to prepare himself before launching her attack.

This time, she had Leonard on the defensive on a massive scale, her boyfriend swinging his stick hard to block some of her attacks while moving his body with a cat's grace to avoid others. However, she had a marked advantage, her ability with dual weapons giving her an extra weapon to use.

The moment came seven minutes after the fight began. Leonard tried an attack by pushing his stick forward like a fencer, but she caught it and rolled her left stick over his, holding it down while she smacked the right stick against his wrist, causing him to help and let go of his weapon. Before it had hit the ground, she shoved her right stick between his leg and pushed, adding a kick of her leg to bring him down, his body hitting the ground with a slap. A small bend of her knees and she was sitting on his chest, her sticks crossed over his throat but not actually touching it.

"Wow, you're really good with dual weapons." Leonard said, very impressed.

"I know, right?" she giggled, unable to stop herself from gloating a bid.

"But there's one thing you did wrong." he sighed.

"Which is?" she wondered.

"You sat on your opponents chest." he said and suddenly, his legs shot up and his feet were crossed in front of her chest, pulling her upper body down and suddenly he was on top of her, his fingers pushing against her throat. "Never gloat over a downed enemy unless they're dead."

"Noted." she chuckled and slapped his fingers away before using her leg to sweep him over, turning them around once more but this time, only her right leg was on his chest, her right arm waiting to block his legs coming up again.

"You learned well, young padawan." he laughed.

"That's from Star Trek, right?" she looked at him innocently.

"You're begging for a thrashing, aren't you." he said in an exaggerated British accent.

She offered her hand and pulled him up, then went back into a fighting stance. They continued the sparring for another hour, using various forms of weapons, Penny going for one stick and Leonard for two and back to unarmed. She held her own, but Leonard had the advantage of experience while Penny had never fought for real, unless she counted the tussle against the obnoxious guy who had tried to hit on and then assault her outside the gym with his friends.

Sweat pouring, they stopped and went to stretching. They helped each other with some of the stretches, Penny using her knees to push Leonard's upper body forward while he sat on the floor until he grunted. He helped her with some of her stretches as well and she desperately hoped that this gym didn't have bathtubs with cold water laced with ice cubes in it.

Gym clothes now sticky with cold sweat, they went into their respective changing rooms again. Penny undressed, grabbed her towel and shower gel and walked into the shower room, where she was surprised by the presence of six separate shower stalls with nontransparent walls instead of six shower heads in an open room.

"Huh, seems college professors don't like to shower with others." she mused to herself and climbed into the middle stall on the left.

After almost shrieking at the sudden burst of cold water, she quickly readjusted the water temperature to a comfortable setting and enjoyed it. She quickly soaped up and cleaned the sweat off of her body. The running water covered the sound of the shower room door swinging open and close and the only sign she had of someone having joined her was the door to her stall opening, the colder air from outside hitting her body.

"Jeez!" she cursed and turned her head before smiling. "Forgot something?"

"You can say that." Leonard chuckled and joined her inside the stall.

"What if someone comes in?" she asked as his arms came around her, his lips touching her neck and the fingers of his right hand moving between her legs, making her moan.

"Doubtful, few female members of the faculty ever use the gym." he said. "And should one come in, we can be quiet."

"You may be able to do that, I might have some trouble." she hummed and grabbed behind her, reaching for his manhood whose position she could discern from where it was poking her against her right ass cheek.

Then he surprised her. Instead of entering her like she was expecting, he knelt down and buried his face between her cheeks, his tongue running over her folds and making her shiver despite the warm water hitting her from above. This kind of lovemaking was still somewhat of a novelty for her. The only other people who ever went down on her were two of her earliest boyfriends and both did it more as experiments how it tasted than a genuine giving of pleasure. None of her clients ever did it when she was forced to work as a prostitute by Kurt.

Leonard was the complete opposite. She had no idea how many women he had had in his life before they met but he was good and he was more interested in giving her pleasure than chasing his own. Due to the risk of getting caught, he didn't do it for long and a few minutes later, he stood up again and lined himself up, entering her in one smooth move soon after. He thrust into her, slowly and gently, making her feel good but she didn't know if he was being careful because of the noise levels or because he didn't know how she would feel if he went stronger.

"Leonard!" she took the initiative. "Harder and faster!"

"Are you sure?" he asked, stopping his thrusts for the moment.

"Harder and faster." she repeated. "Fuck me like you mean it!"

"Alright." he chuckled and really went for it.

Her hands and head slammed against the wall, the sudden inrush of pleasure almost overwhelming. Her grunts and moans were drowned out by the slapping sounds of their wet skins hitting each other and his own groans of effort and pleasure. His right arm moved around her waist, holding her close as he thrust forward, causing even more pleasure for her and it didn't take long for her to unravel with a scream that echoed from the tiles of the shower room.

At that moment, she didn't care one bit if someone heard her but she didn't have to fight to keep it down any longer because Leonard soon climaxed as well, pulling out just before and unloading against her leg and the floor. For a few seconds, he leaned against her back as if trying not to collapse but soon after, he disentangled from her and started chuckling.

"So, it may not have been post-course sex but at least the same day." he grinned.

"I never had shower sex in my life." she admitted. "It was a pleasurable first."

"Good." he chuckled.

"Next time though, lets do that at home." she said. "I want to really let go during sex."

"Noted." he laughed and gave her a gentle slap on the ass. "Now it's high time I leave, otherwise it may become hard to explain should a female colleague frequent the gym."

"Alright, see you in a few minutes." she nodded and gave him a hard kiss.

After he was gone, she hummed in contentment while she finished her shower. Once she was done, his caution was rewarded when a cleaning lady entered the changing room, nodding towards her and then walking into the shower room with her cleaning supplies. Penny quickly finished getting dressed and left the gym, meeting Leonard outside and both drove home.

On the way home, she reflected on Leonard's assurance that they would be living together after her training was over. She wondered, if their relationship would ultimately go all the way and if so, if their kids would grow up safely or with the constant danger of someone who might have it out for either him or her. It made her even more determined to become the best assassin she could be, so that nobody ever would know she was one.

And if somebody learned and did something about it, she would make sure they would rue the day.


Chapter ends here. Again, sorry for the long wait.

Review please :)