Alright, as usual, this took a while. Can't be helped unfortunately. Also, for eight days now, I'm suffering from gingivitis, which causes pulsating pain around my upper right wisdom tooth. This really sucks.

Egamer25: Don't worry, Yorinobu will show up again :D

Enjoy :)

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


"How is your hip?" Leonard asked after Penny returned from the bathroom. "You were going pretty hard."

"Good." she grinned. "Feeling a slight pull but nothing else."

"So, you being that rough in bed was a test?" he chuckled.

"I distinctly remember hearing you say that I should go even harder." she poked out her tongue. "But yes, it was a test."

"Come here." he waved her over and with a smile, Penny did and was about to climb on his lap when he stopped her.

"What?" she wondered.

"Lift up your shirt." he told her.

"Oh, already ready for another round?" she giggled and took her shirt off completely.

"Stop." he stopped her again when she was about to take off her bra. "Stand right in front of me."

"What are you doing?"

"Okay, looks good, it's not protruding or anything." he examined her wound. "Lift your arms up straight."

"Right now, I'm wondering if you don't find me attractive anymore." she moped. "I was about to throw myself at you and you keep stopping me."

"Honey, I'm not in the mood." he joked while she stretched her arms into the air. "Any pain? Even the slightest?"

"Not that I can feel." she said, concentrating on the task at hand, accepting the necessity.

"Good, then I think we can start with the measurements for your bodyglove and the weapons fitting." he nodded. "You can put your shirt back on."

"You better do, you're not alone yet." an appearing Albert said, making Penny scramble for her shirt.

"Sorry if we kept you up last night." Penny apologized.

"Well, I slept in worse conditions." Albert chuckled.

"Me too." Leonard added.

"You're not making a good case for this line of work." Penny squirmed.

"Yeah, because we always told you that it would be a breeze." Albert rolled his eyes.

"Did the dogs do their business?" Leonard asked, since Albert had walked them.

"They did." Albert nodded. "And now they want breakfast."

"What do you want for breakfast?" Penny asked Tyson.

In response, Tyson walked over to the cabinet which he simply pulled open with his mouth. He bit into the bag with the dry food and carried it to the living room, where he dropped it and sat down next to, wagging his tail.

"What the...?" Leonard looked surprised. "I never taught him that."

"I did." Penny giggled and ruffled the canine's head.

"Nice." he nodded in appreciation. "Then feed them."

"Okay." she nodded and grabbed the bowls, filling both with the appropriate amount of food.

She put the bag away and grabbed the bowls, placing both on the floor. The two dogs sat in the living room, clearly ready to go but too disciplined to just dart for the food. Penny got up and turned away, calmly walking back while the dogs sat there, staring at the bowls with food and even drooling on the floor.

"Go." Penny gave the command with a smile and both dogs darted forward, burying their heads in the bowls to get the food out of them.

"I'm very impressed." Albert nodded. "Leonard, don't forget, we have to leave in a few minutes."

"I know." Leonard nodded.

"Where are you going?" Penny asked.

"Home." Albert said. "He has to take me to the airport."

"Oh, you're leaving already?" Penny was surprised.

"Sure, I miss the Vermont air." Albert smiled. "And my work is done here. You're an assassin now, Penelope."

"Thank you." she smiled back.

"And I hope to see you soon again when you and Leonard move back home."

"I hope so." Leonard interjected. "I also miss the air there. I have nothing against Pasadena but I prefer to do my morning run in a crisp, chilly air and not in what sometimes seems as perpetual summer."

"If you weren't wearing hoodies all the time, you wouldn't sweat so much." she grinned.

"So, you want me to wear shirts and shorts to show off my lithe, trained body?" he looked at her.

"Okay, not so much." she admitted. "Also, you would kind of stand out even more because of your scars."

"That he would." Albert nodded. "Leonard?"

"I'm ready." Leonard said and grabbed his car keys.

"Want me to come with you?" Penny asked.

"No, you need to go to Howard for the measurements for your suits." Leonard told her.

"Right." she accepted.

When Leonard and Albert had left, the latter giving a long goodbye to the dogs, she took their now empty bowls and washed them before putting them away. She grabbed her keys and walked outside, doing what Leonard had taught her and not even acknowledging the dogs as she left so they knew that they had to stay. She walked the stairs down a floor and knocked on the engineer's door, Howard opening after a few seconds.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Leonard told me we'd do the fitting today." she said.

"Where is he?" Howard leaned out of the apartment to see if Leonard was in the hallway.

"He's taking Albert to the airport." she told him.

"Very well." Howard nodded and Penny didn't like his sly smile.

He led her down into the basement, several chambers showing numbers belonging to the various apartments. He unlocked the one belonging to his apartment and led her inside, the area nothing but a comparatively narrow chamber with tool racks on one side of the wall and the far wall and two bicycles leaning against the other.

She was sure that there was a secret door somewhere and she was quickly proven right. Howard put his hands to several hanging tools and turned them in an apparent haphazard fashion but which was anything but. When he finished entering the weird combination, the tool rack at the back wall rumbled and moved to the side, revealing a short and dark corridor.

As they walked into it, lamps turned on, showing the way to go, with the lamps turning off again when they were out of reach of the motion sensors attached to them. Twenty feet in, they reached another door, which Howard opened by first using an obscenely large key, which he put into what seemed a random hole in the wall, which revealed a pad where Howard put his hand on, the device reading his hand print and opening the door.

"Wow." Penny commented on what she saw inside the chamber.

The room was quite large, several worktables along the walls, each one containing pieces of gear, weapons, tools and other stuff. Howard pulled a curtain aside, revealing a smooth plate on the ground and an equally smooth wall, with several lights and outlets of laser pointers one a frame worked into the contraption.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"You stand on that and the lasers will take your measurements." Howard told her.

"Okay." she nodded and moved towards the plate.

"But first, take off your clothes." he said.

"WHAT?" she gasped, putting her arms around her chest as if hiding already naked breasts.

"The laser needs to scan you without obstructions. You're not wearing clothes under the bodyglove." Howard explained.

"Um, okay." Penny grudgingly accepted and started lifting her shirt.

"HOWARD!" a high-pitched, angry shout stopped her and him.

"Oh, um... Bernie." Howard stammered. "I was about to take her measurements."

"I told you that I will do the measurements for the women." she growled. "Out! Now!"

"Yes, dear." Howard said and walked out with his head hanging low.

"I'm sorry about him." Bernie shook her head.

"It's okay, not your fault he's a creep." she chuckled.

"Yeah." she sighed. "Now take off your clothes."

"Um... what?" she was surprised.

"He was right when he said that you have to be scanned without clothes." Bernadette explained. "But you don't have to be fully naked."

"What can I leave on?"

"You should wear what you would wear under the glove on a mission. Whatever it is, it should be tight, nothing flapping around." Bernadette said. "Otherwise, the tightness of the glove would cause severe chafing after a while."

"Can you give me a few more minutes?" Penny asked. "Then I will go upstairs and change."

"Sure." Bernie nodded and Penny quickly left the basement.

She hurried up the stairs and entered the apartment, the two dogs greeting her happily. She ruffled Tyson's head as she passed him and went into the bedroom, rummaging in her drawers for the pieces of clothing she was looking for. She chose a tight-fitting pair of underwear and a sports bra, putting both on and using the floor-length mirror to make sure that they were in fact tight to the skin.

Nodding to herself, she put on a pair of sweats and a shirt and returned to the basement, knocking at the security door, which Bernadette opened for her. Penny took off the shirt and pants, along with her socks and stood on the plate. Bernadette hit a switch and the lasers activated, Penny only seeing the dots on her skin.

"Spread your feet a bit and spread your arms wide." Bernadette ordered

"Like this?" Penny did as Bernadette said.

"Yes, now stand still." Bernadette nodded and hit another switch. "You could have left the socks on, by the way."

"Now you tell me." Penny chuckled and then stood still.

The frame with the lasers started moving, the pointers moving up and down. The device did multiple circles, the lasers scanning every surface of her body, creating a 3D image of herself on the computers for Howard to work with. It took almost five minutes for the process to finish and when it was done, Penny looked at the final image, seeing a perfect copy of herself on the screen.

"Damn, I am hot." she giggled. "Tell me, what do other assassins wear under their bodygloves?"

"Well, Leonard wears tight shorts." Bernadette told her. "We had others here, men and women, who went fully naked, some women wore panties but no bra, we had both genders where some wore even a tight shirt. One was essentially wearing something like a pajama, only skin tight."

"Okay." she shrugged.

"Now Howard can make the bodygloves. How many do you want?" Bernadette asked.

"I think I'll take three." Penny nodded. "By the way, how do I pay? With coins or with real money?"

"The bodygloves, weapons and the gear Howard makes for you are paid for with coins. Any extra gear that can also be bought on the free market can be paid with money." Bernadette explained. "And don't worry, you won't be fleeced by the traders."

"Thanks." Penny laughed.

"Howard, you can come back down." Bernadette spoke into an intercom.

While they waited, Penny put her clothes back on. When Howard arrived, he checked the computers and nodded, hitting a few buttons and then leaving it. He led her into another room with more scanning equipment, where he pointed at a rather small device.

"Put your hands in there like this." he showed her how.

"What's this for?" she wanted to know.

"This device will laser-scan your hands so I can make you some fitting guns." he explained. "Later, we'll do some grip strength tests."

"What for?"

"To make sure that you get the right grip and that the gun isn't too heavy." he continued. "In a bad situation, you have your gun in your hand for hours and when adrenaline is flowing, you also tend to grip it too hard. If the handle isn't right, you can actually hurt your hands."

"Okay." she accepted and let the machine do its job.

Once the scanning was done, Howard led her to the next stage, where she gripped what looked like anti-stress balls, pressing them for a second or even for a minute, which was harder for her than most training Albert put her through. Lastly, he handed her a list with various gear and weapon suggestions for her to take. She checked most of the boxes, on top of the list being the bodygloves and guns, but she also chose several light-enhancing glasses along with some smaller items of gear.

"Okay, when this is all finished, that'll be a hundred and fourteen golden coins and roughly two grand in cash money." Howard said after counting everything together.

"Jeez." she gasped. "That expensive?"

"Don't worry, this is just because it's your starting gear." Howard chuckled. "Anything else you order, be it from me or from someone like me in the organization, you only pay for that."

"How long will it take you to make all this?" she asked.

"Between two and three weeks." Howard replied. "The gloves I can do in a day, however, they have to cure for two more days."

"Cure?" she wondered.

"Yes, because of the glue." he nodded. "I take the material, cut it correctly, use the really bad smelling glue to put it together and then put it into a curing chamber, where the glue can dry out and lose its excess."

"Excess?"

"Sure, there's always a little too much glue." Howard confirmed. "And when the glue dries and hardens, it can flake. Those flakes are quite toxic and small enough for you to breath in. Therefore the suits are cured, so the excess glue can dry out and flake off before it's used."

"Okay." she accepted.

"While the suits are curing, I will make the weapons. Since I now have your hand measurements and grip strength, it's easy to do. Most of the parts I already have. And you only listed a few handguns and a shotgun."

"I'd love to have a sniper rifle but it wasn't on the list."

"I can make you one, but that takes a lot longer and requires several fittings." he explained. "Leonard's took six months."

"Jesus!" she cursed. "Still, I want one. I can use the time to perfect shooting on it."

"That's a good idea." he nodded. "Unless you need anything else, you can leave now."

"Nothing comes to mind." she shrugged. "Thanks, Howard."

"No problem." he said and went to work.

She returned to the apartment and found it empty, except for the dogs, showing that Leonard wasn't back from the airport yet. She took the collars and leashes and whistled, both dogs jumping up in expectation. She put the collars on and led them outside and downstairs, putting on the leashes before leaving the the building.

While walking the distance, she wrote a text message to Leonard telling him where she was going and she arrived at the dog park half an hour later, where she nodded in greeting to the other dog owners she had met before. After entering the enclosure, she took the leashes off and whistled, both dogs running off as is shot out of a cannon to mingle with the other dogs.

As the dogs played, she noticed one particular pitbull being overly aggressive to Tyson. Her dog, going with his training, tried to de-escalate, since he hadn't gotten a command to do otherwise, but the pitbull continued his aggressive behavior towards Tyson, even when Major interfered with loud growls.

"Whose pittie is that?" she asked into the group of other owners.

"Mine." a guy she had seen once before lifted his hand. "Why?"

"Well, are you going to pull him back from his behavior?" she asked and pointed to the dogs where his pitbull was still agressively going after Tyson.

"He's just playing." the man shrugged.

"No, this isn't playing." another dog owner supported her.

"Buddy, pull your dog back or I'll tell mine to not hold back anymore." she told him.

"Was that a threat?" he looked at her as if she had just told a joke.

"A promise." she corrected.

"By all means, lets see what your dogs will do." he shrugged again.

"Your choice." she rolled her eyes and gave a whistle command.

Upon hearing her whistle, Tyson, who had been running defensively next to the pitbull, suddenly reversed. Instead of running again, he confronted the pitbull, showing his teeth and growling. The pitbull, not knowing about the two malignoi, started fighting back and when he and Tyson were both on their hindlegs, Major came running in and tripped the pittie's legs, causing the dog to fall over with a yelp.

Tyson quickly reacted, sinking his teeth into the pitbulls neck like a mother dog would do with a puppy to correct it. Major laid down over the pitbulls hindquarters, blocking the legs while Tyson kept his teeth in the dogs neck while the pittie mewled at the sudden reversal of fortunes.

"Hey!" the owner yelled. "Get your dogs off of mine."

"What are you harping about?" Penny asked. "You told me to do that."

"You did." another owner confirmed.

"Shut up!" the guy shouted. "Tell your dogs to let mine go."

"Sure, but you should tell your dog to behave." she countered and whistled again, Tyson and Major letting go and trotting over to her.

"Screw this." the guy moped and called his dog over before leaving.

"Damn, your dogs are good." the owner who had supported her mentioned.

"They are." she smiled proudly and gave both a treat which both wolfed down before running back to play to burn off the energy this breed seems to have in abundance.

"Hey." Leonard's voice surprised her.

"Hey." she smiled and gave him a kiss.

"Any problems?" he asked.

"There was one overly aggressive pitbull." she shrugged. "I told the owner and when he refused to do anything, I let the dogs loose, so to speak."

"Injuries?"

"No, except some hurt pride, I guess." she chuckled. "Did Albert's plane lift off okay?"

"Yep." he nodded. "Also checked on my plane. Still sitting in its hangar."

"Would have been crazy if it hadn't." she laughed. "Imagine that, someone stealing a plane."

"Has happened before." Leonard shrugged. "Though I doubt those had the security measures mine has."

"Like?"

"You need my fingerprint on the remote to open it or a special key that's hidden on the plane's outside, and to start the engines, you also need my biometrics."

"Neat." she grinned. "By the way, any way that I can also learn to fly a plane?"

"Sure, just go to a flying school." he said. "You have money."

"Right." she realized. "Nothing clandestine about that."

"Nope." he grinned. "Did the fitting go alright?"

"Yeah, Howard and Bernadette took all the measurements." she confirmed. "Howard said it would take up to three weeks for everything to be done."

"That's normal, depending on how many guns you chose." he said in a quiet voice, mindful of the other people around them.

"What do we do in the meantime?" she asked. "Do we go back to Vermont or stay here?"

"I've no problem with either." he told her. "Lets finish up the week and then decide."

"Sure." she agreed.

An hour later, they called the dogs to them and returned to the apartment, both canines breathing heavily after their exertion. Penny took them to the bathroom and cleaned them in the bathtub, washing their paws and drying them off. She could tell from the dogs' body language that they didn't like it but accepted nonetheless.

They spend the afternoon training in the university gym, it being a Saturday meaning that nobody was there. They used the opportunity for combat sparring, doing unarmed combat and with sticks, honing their skills that Penny hadn't been able to show during the fight against the thugs when they dealt with Robert and Kenta.

Thoroughly spent, they showered and returned home, the dogs greeting them happily. Penny again put the collars around their necks and both took them on their evening walk. Doing Rock-Paper-Scissors, they decided who would pick up the poop.

Leonard lost.

Shrugging, he went to business and soon held two baggies in his hands, waiting to reach a waste bin to drop it off. When they were done, they returned home and Penny took over feeding duties, wanting to do it at least once alone. She took the turkey patty and cut it in half, putting one into a bowl each. Since it was an even day, she added three chicken feet each, along with a couple of blueberries. A squirt of salmon oil rounded out the meal and she put both bowls on the floor, the dogs sitting in the living room, their ears high in expectation.

"Go." she smiled and the two dogs went to the bowls to feast.

She had learned that Tyson absolutely loved chicken feet and he ate them first, while Major dug into the meat. As the dogs ate, she and Leonard watched the news, her love trying to catch anything regarding the situation with Robert but apart from a small mention about a gunfight at the address where it happened and the anchors mentioning that it was a police operation, nothing suspicious was said about it.

After taking a shower, she went to bed and started perusing her phone, starting the game app and logging into the jobs board, just to see what was offered at her level while Leonard took his shower. She saw a couple of jobs paying a few hundred dollars, nine that demanded taking out some criminal from a gang member to a thief and three more that wanted the removal of a former partner, one from marriage and two for business.

"See something you like?" Leonard asked when he entered the bedroom.

"Only the stuff that you mentioned, low level criminals, one ex spouse and two former business partners." she told him.

"I bet if you hit refresh, you see either less or more of it." he chuckled and joined her in bed.

"Um, Leonard?" she said after refreshing.

"Yeah?"

"Didn't you say that seven figure contracts are only ever offered at tier six or seven?" she wondered.

"Yes, why?"

"Why am I offered a two million dollar contract?" she asked.

"What?" he was confused and scooted closer to her to look at the screen. "Oh my god, it's back."

"What is back?"

"I first saw that contract five years ago on tier seven." he explained. "It was taken but three months later, it was posted again with some more information about the target. It was taken again and two months later it reappeared on tier six that time."

"Archangel lowered the tier?" she wondered.

"Probably because of the two failures. It was taken again, then nothing happened for six months, the assassin that had taken it never heard from again." he continued. "The next three contract takers ended up dead and from then, the contract regularly reappeared on the board but the tier was lowered all the time."

"Nobody finished the contract?" she couldn't understand it. "Did you ever try?"

"No, look at it." he pointed.

"Wow, it's a lot of information in it." she remarked when opening it.

"Yes, whenever an assassin fails a contract, they give any information they have collected to Archangel who includes it into the next contract." he explained. "And since this one has been failed for so often, its information rate has grown quite a lot."

"Is the target so elusive?" she asked and looked closer at the contract. "A religious cult leader?"

"Yes." Leonard nodded. "And one extremely well guarded at that."

"It says here that he's highly paranoid." Penny read. "Am I reading this right? His compound is thirty acres of marijuana fields?"

"Oh yeah, it's a pot farm hiding behind religious freedom." Leonard nodded.

"Wow, this is horrifying." she continued reading. "The cult members have to tattoo the word serve on their arms, they have to work from the age of six, no schooling?"

"And he decides who gets to marry whom." Leonard added, having read the contract before. "He and a close group of fellow elders, for lack of a better term, marry dozens of women."

"Ew, they engage in incest?" she was disgusted. "One married his own daughter and had another daughter with her?"

"Apparently." Leonard shrugged. "Yeah, he's quite horrible."

"Why is it so hard to kill him?" she asked. "Wouldn't a sniper be able to do it?"

"Keep reading." he pointed at the phone.

"Ah, I get it." she understood. "Only leaves his compound for a specialized, unknown medical treatment in the nearby city every two months and otherwise once a week to eat at a specialty restaurant in town, for which the entire restaurant is closed for him. Has cult members with him at all times to test any food he eats and is always surrounded by armed bodyguards."

"Yeah, sometimes, the contract is too much of a hassle." Leonard nodded.

"Leonard?" she smiled and hit a few buttons on the phone.

"Yes?"

"What would you say to a nice vacation in Fulton?" she grinned.


Okay, stopping the chapter here.

Did Penny just accept her first contract? :D

Review please :)