I knew this took a long time but it couldn't be helped. When I got the keys for my new apartment, it was dirty. They renovated it the week before but because the owner of the landlord company is cheap and his daughter, who is my go-to person, is either criminally incompetent or just lazy, they send the crew in only a week before the due date.
The end result was a severely dirty apartment. Window sills, window frames, the floor, all filthy. And since the landlord company apparently hasn't paid the cleaning company, they didn't lift a finger when the work order came to clean my new apartment. So I spent two days cleaning it and then two more weeks to put my new furniture together (and move the one that I had kept from my old apartment). While I had internet access a few days in, I had to put my computer on my clothes cabinet in my bedroom so I could at least watch some shows while lying in my bed.
Egamer25: Hope you feel better, that doesn't sound nice.
Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.
"Why do we have to be there this early?" Penny yawned while Leonard parked the car. "It's not even six yet."
"Because I have no idea when Robert will be here." Leonard told her. "Dad?"
"I'm off." Alfred nodded and left the car.
"Why are we staying here?" Penny asked when Leonard's dad had left.
"Dad's gonna make sure that Robert's not in there already." Leonard explained. "Before you ask, he volunteered."
"Why didn't you bring the dogs?" she wanted to know.
"This is no place for dogs." he said. "The risk of them getting killed is too high."
"And yet you had them when you got my ass out of trouble." she pointed out. "And you were willing to come here alone."
"I go on my jobs alone." he shrugged. "I don't endanger my dogs needlessly. Yes, they're trained to fight and kill if needed but I want to avoid putting them in danger in the first place."
"We're good to go." Leonard said, nodding towards the building from where Alfred gave a thumbs up.
They got out of the car and walked to the building. Alfred led them into it, pointing at various areas where places to hide were situated. A few old shelves, stacks of wooden boards and stacks cinder blocks as if the building was supposed to be renovated but the work stopped. Leonard took it in, planning on where to be when Robert came in and where Penny and Alfred could be without being seen.
"Penny?" he looked at her.
"I would wait here." she pointed to the area Leonard had chosen for himself. "While my companions could hide behind either those wooden boards or the shelves. One for each, I'd say, to keep the angles covered."
"Good." he smiled proudly. "I will be here. You two are going to keep yourself out of sight."
"I will go upstairs and keep an eye on the road." Alfred said. "In case Robert comes with a car, if you have to kill him, then we'll have to get rid of the vehicle."
"Okay." Leonard nodded. "No talking from now on."
"Good luck." Penny said with apprehension and gave him a long, hard kiss.
She stepped behind the wooden boards and waited. Having learned the art of patience from her three day observation period during her exam, she settled down, stacking two of the cinder blocks against the boards to sit on and lean against. She took out her phone and began reading, deciding against playing a game to avoid the sound alerting Robert if he came in without anyone noticing and she also turned down the brightness of the phone screen to avoid the light giving her position away.
It happened at ten-fourteen. Two sharp bangs from Alfred's shoes hitting the floor announced Robert's arrival outside. Penny put her phone away and stood up, staying behind the stacks but trying to peek around them. The door opened and a man came in, a man who had a close resemblance to the guy who threatened her and her family over a year ago.
Her blood began to boil at the memory, how Caspar had pointed a gun at her parents and sister while his men had looked for Leonard. She fought hard to not just walk out and end the guy and hoped that Leonard was right in his assessment that Robert would not just shoot him.
"My my, John Smith, as I live and breath." Robert said smugly.
"Do I know you?" Leonard said, playing dumb.
"You will." Robert grinned what Penny surmised was an evil grin and brandished a large knife. "You killed my brother."
"Do you even know what Caspar did?" Leonard sighed.
"So, you do know who I am." Robert smiled, still waving the knife.
"Answer my question." Leonard said.
"Why should I care?" Robert scoffed. "You still killed him."
"One, he tried to kill me." Leonard began. "I don't know about you but I take offense at that. Two, he also threatened a civilian family."
"So?" Robert shrugged. "Their lives are meaningless."
"Meaningless?" Leonard was nonplussed. "Are you insane?"
"Insane?" Robert yelled. "I know full well what I'm doing."
"Are you?" Leonard kept him talking. "Did your brother tell you why he wanted me dead?"
"Of course. You got a contract for over fifty million!" Robert shouted. " Have you any idea how many of those scrap contracts me and my brother get we would have to do to get that kind of money?!"
"First of all, I got that big contract after Caspar was dead, so that wasn't the reason. Second, of course I know how it is at the bottom!" Leonard shot back. "Do you think that I didn't have to do those scrap contracts when I started? Why would you think that me being dead would give you better contracts?"
"How else?" Robert still yelled. "Unless you and the others are gone, we will never get access to those contracts!"
"You're an idiot." Leonard shook his head, repeating what he said to Aaron. "Do you even know how the organization works?"
"Of course!" Robert said and Leonard could see him get more and more worked up, the opposite of what he wanted to achieve. "Contracts get posted, and you old guys get first crack at those, leaving us with the rest."
"And that's where you're wrong." Leonard sighed. "Your father didn't teach you how this worked?"
"His father never went past the second access tier." Alfred interjected as he came down the stairs and faced Robert. "And you know why?"
"Who the hell are you?" Robert asked Alfred.
"Family." Alfred simply said. "Your father was a bad assassin."
"Bullshit!" Robert growled through clenched teeth.
"In the span of his career, your father did a bit over one hundred and fifty contracts. "Alfred continued, unfazed by Robert's outburst. "And he did them so badly that the organization couldn't give him access to the higher contract tiers."
"Watch what you say about my father, old man!" Robert almost frothed at the mouth. "He was a great man who got held down by the organization because they were scared of his skill!"
"That's what you think?" Leonard could scarcely believe what he was hearing.
"Your father rarely did a contract without human collateral damage, he constantly brought the attention of law enforcement to his jobs and he was seen by bystanders on more than a few occasions." Alfred continued. "Had he gotten access to higher tiers, he would have been killed on a job long ago."
"Enough!" Robert yelled and waved his knife around. "Lets end this."
"Robert, last chance." Leonard stated. "Walk away from this insanity."
"Thanks, but no chance." Robert smiled a crazy smile. "Draw your knife."
"You do realize that there's two of us here." Leonard said, pointing to Alfred.
"So?" Robert shrugged. "What is an old man supposed to achieve here? When I'm done with you, I'll gut him as well."
"What about three?" Penny couldn't stay hidden anymore.
"Who the fuck are you?" Robert sneered at her.
"I'm the woman whose family your brother threatened." Penny told him.
"Good to know." Robert chuckled. "Once I'm done with all of you, I'm going back to finish the job."
"No, you won't." Penny shook her head before drawing her silenced gun and putting a bullet into Robert's chest, the man looking down at the blood coming out of the wound, disbelief in his eyes.
"Wha...?" was the only thing Robert could get out of his mouth before he collapsed.
"That was... surprising." Leonard finally said, after a minute of no one saying anything.
"He's dead." Alfred confirmed after he had put on a rubber glove to check Robert's pulse.
"Why do you look disappointed?" Penny asked Leonard after seeing his expression.
"Because after all this buildup, the end was a bit anticlimactic, don't you think?" he chuckled.
"And you're not disappointed because I shot him?" she wondered. "He threatened my family."
"No, I'm actually proud of you for that." Leonard smiled. "No hesitation."
"So, what do we do about the body?" Alfred asked. "Did Antoine know about this?"
"He does." Leonard nodded. "I'll call him to see if we can use the hotel to dispose of his body and..."
"Well, well, well, this was a fun thing to watch." a fourth voice interrupted them, accompanied by a slow, mocking clap.
"Now what?" Penny rolled her eyes, then saw the dozen people standing at the large doorway that led to some of the other rooms of the building. "Who the hell are you guys?"
"Kenta." Leonard recognized one of them.
"John." Kenta gave him a nod, still using Leonard's fake name.
"We've been looking for you, John." the man said. "My boss is very interested in talking to you."
"About what?" Leonard stalled for time, having an inkling who the man was talking about.
"The death of his son." the man told him. "Kenta, do your thing."
"Do you have it?" Kenta stepped forward.
"I do." Alfred nodded and reached under his sweater, pulling out a folder.
"What is that?" the man asked.
"Give me a minute, Mark." Kenta told him and took the folder, opening it up and reading the documents inside.
"Kenta, we don't have time for this." Mark said to him. "What can be so important?"
"It's an unredacted, complete autopsy and police report about the death of his sister." Alfred looked poignantly at Mark.
"Kenta, put that away and bring them in, that's an order!" Mark shouted but got ignored by Kenta, who kept reading quickly, turning page after page.
"You weren't lying." Kenta said to Alfred, handing him back the folder.
"Kenta, I gave you an order." Mark shouted, his agitation making his men more alert, some even reaching for their weapons. "KENTA!"
"MY NAME IS YORINOBU SAKURAI. SON OF TAKASHI AND ASUKA SAKURAI!" Kenta yelled and reached into his coat. "BROTHER OF YUA SAKURAI! AND I WILL AVENGE HER!"
"KILL HIM!" Mark ordered frantically and stepped backwards to give his men a clear shot.
Before any could even lift their guns, two knifes flew out of Kenta's hands, impacting in the hearts of two of the men. As both fell, one of them clenched his fingers on the trigger of his submachine gun, the weapon discharging its magazine in ten seconds and its bullets hitting three of his own who went down with bloody wounds in their bodies.
Penny was in awe at the next set of events. Kenta ran forward and jumped, his legs hitting one of the assailants with a drop kick while his sword carved bloody ruin into the chest of the one next to him. Almost in an afterthought, he ran the end of his blade across the throat of the man he just downed before running towards the next who was already firing his weapon but not hitting him.
One of the men on the other side lifted his gun, preparing to release a shot that would kill the Asian assassin but before he could pull the trigger, Penny lifted her gun and put a bullet into the side of the man's head. As if being woken up by her action, Leonard and Alfred started moving as well, her love stepping behind the back of one of the thugs and quickly snapping the guy's neck, grabbing his gun before the guy hit the ground.
Alfred pulled a blade from his cane and hurled it, hitting another attacker in the side of the throat, blood squirting out of the other side. Faster than she thought possible, Alfred reached yet another guy and pushed the end of his remaining cane against the man's back, causing that one to convulse and collapse. To her shock, Alfred simply stomped on the man's throat, crushing the windpipe. She shot two more of the group just as Kenta finished off the last one and ran towards the door.
"KUSO!" Kenta shouted and came back.
"He said shit." Alfred answered Penny's questioning look.
"Kenta, are you alright?" Leonard asked, seeing some blood on the man's arm.
"Kenta is dead." he stated.
"Yorinobu then." Leonard smiled, glad that the assassin had seen reason and glad that his dad had brought a copy of the report.
"We should..." Yorinobu began but was interrupted by sirens.
"Shit!" Leonard cursed. "They're here fast."
"They stopped at the exit." Penny said with alarm, seeing two squad cars outside the door they had come in.
"They're also blocking the other side." Alfred pointed to the windows that the attackers had apparently used to enter.
"What do we do?" Penny wanted to know.
"Dad, hide upstairs!" Leonard ordered. "Yorinobu!"
"Wakarimashita." Yorinobu nodded in understanding before he hid his knifes in his clothes and threw his sword to Alfred, hilt first, which Alfred caught and quickly carried upstairs.
"Let me do the talking." Leonard told them as the doors crashed open.
"LAPD!" several voices shouted as men with guns rushed in. "GET ON THE FLOOR!"
"FBI!" Leonard called back, holding his FBI cover badge in the air, which thankfully caused the police officers to hesitate and relax a bit.
"Who are you?" the what looked to be the ranking officer asked and looked around. "What the hell happened here?"
"I'm Agent Breslau, this is Agent Riley." Leonard introduced him and Penny, using their fake FBI IDs.
"I'm Agent Wang." Yorinobu also flashed a badge. "And you are?"
"I'm Lieutenant Richards." the officer replied. "The NSA is involved as well?"
"Undercover operation." Leonard told the man, hiding his surprise that Yorinobu had a NSA ID. "One that went horribly wrong."
"I can see that." Richards nodded. "What exactly went down?"
"We were supposed to do a weapons buy from one of the local triads." Yorinobu cut in. "But then these clowns showed up. Words were exchanged and they started killing each other."
"They're not from the same gang?" Richards wondered.
"If they were, they had a falling out." Leonard told him. "Fuck, our boss will be pissed."
"I can relate to that." Richards nodded. "My captain will have lots of questions."
"They will need to be left unanswered." Yorinobu cut in. "This operation is under the jurisdiction of the NSA and classified."
"I don't think my boss will care about that." Richards said. "He will simply call your boss."
"He can try but the only thing he will get is a denial that this operation even existed." Yorinobu stated.
"Well, either way, not my problem." Richards shrugged. "We better call the coroner."
"No need, we will take care of the cleanup." Yorinobu said. "As I said, this is classified."
"Whatever." Richards rolled his eyes and turned around to face his men. "We're leaving! It's out of our hands."
"Can you make the call?" Yorinobu asked once the cop cars were driving away. "I need to leave."
"Of course we will." a returning Alfred said and handed Yorinobu his sword back. "What will you do now?"
"I will go back to my former boss and kill him." Yorinobu stated. "That man had my sister murdered and tricked me into working for a criminal. My honor demands his death."
"I doubt Patrick will remain where he was once the guy who ran calls him." Alfred told him.
"Then I will find him." Yorinobu shrugged.
"In that case, un ga yo sogiru, Yorinobu." Alfred said and bowed his head to the younger man.
"Arigatõ." Yorinobu bowed his head and upper body in return and handed Leonard fifteen golden coins before turning around and leaving.
"Hello, I wanted to order food for thirteen at the following address." Leonard spoke into his phone after calling a number.
"Called the cleaners?" Penny asked.
"Yes." Leonard nodded and sat down on one of the smaller stacks of wooden boards and looked at the corpses. "One good thing about this, at least."
"Which is?" Penny smirked.
"At least both situations are resolved now." He pointed to Robert and then the door. "I don't have to worry about him and Yorinobu knows the truth now."
"That's something." she nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder. "So, what will happen now? I mean, with the organization."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Will you get in trouble for killing him?"
"No, I told Antoine all about it and he told me that they would stand behind me if it came to that." he reassured her.
"So, now it means that I have to heal so I can get my gear and we're off to the races, so to speak." she smiled and a small part wondered how she could be so content right now, given that they were surrounded by over a dozen corpses.
"They're here." Alfred proclaimed and walked to the door to let them in.
"Hello Alfred. Long time no see." the lead man greeted him by taking of his hat.
"George." Alfred shook the man's hand. "They're in there."
"Hello John." George greeted Leonard. "And you too, young lady. I remember you."
"Hello George." Leonard greeted him.
"Been busy, I see." George smirked and waved his men forward, the six men getting to work.
Like she remembered from the crew back at her parents' house, this group of dour looking men worked silently and efficiently as well. She wondered how they got into this line of work, if they had debts or if there was something else that turned them into cleaners for scenes of excess death. The team seemed to be functioning well, everyone apparently with their own job.
Like the other crew, these ones too wrapped the corpses into several layers of stretch foil before bringing them into the two vans they had brought. Once four of the corpses had been taken care of, only two of the six kept wrapping the other bodies while the other four started doing something else. Two grabbed cleaning supplies and began wiping the blood and gore that had been spilled during the fight, most of that coming from the sword and knife wounds that Yorinobu had caused.
The remaining two collected all the detritus that came from the fight. The weapons were dismantled and the parts put into a large, non-transparent plastic box while one of the two began sweeping the floors, collecting all the shells that had fallen down. His job was done more quickly then the others, only few shots having been fired during the fight, given how quickly and efficiently Yorinobu and them had dispatched their enemies.
After a bit more than an hour, the job was done. The place looked cleaner than before, no drop of blood seen anywhere and not a spent shell to be found. Leonard handed the fifteen gold coins to George, who thanked them and then put his hat back on, Penny not even having noticed that he had kept it in his hands since he took it off when the cleaners arrived.
"We should leave." Leonard advised. "While the Lieutenant believed us, I don't want to risk his captain getting suspicious and wanting to investigate."
"Agreed." Alfred nodded and they headed out, Alfred again using his cane as if he needed it.
They moved quickly, trying to appear as if they haven't just been in a shootout and moved along the pedestrian way on the other side of the street. Most people were still gone, having fled when the shots rang out, only a few store owners already back. Alfred even stopped at a few, buying a few snacks and trinkets, attempting to appear as if they just came by but after passing the alley that Alfred had killed the two men in two days ago, with some of the police tape still there, they got into their car and drove off.
"I have to make a small detour." Leonard said after stopping at an apartment block and scribbling the words 'It's done' on a piece of paper.
"Who's that for?" Penny asked.
"Robert's former accomplices, just in case they're not here." he told her and got out of the car.
He went into the building and took the stairs to the third floor, walking down the long hallway to find the apartment he was looking for. He knocked on the door, and after no reaction for a few seconds, knocked again and louder, which finally caused someone to move inside. The change in light behind the spyhole told him that someone had looked through it and he heard the telltale sign of someone quickly walking away before a heavier set of feet came back.
"Is it done?" Aaron asked after opening the door.
"It is." Leonard nodded. "You can come back now. I will talk to Antoine so you won't have to face any repercussions for your part in this."
"Thank you." Aaron nodded and stood there for a while even after Leonard had left.
"Were they there?" Penny asked Leonard once he was back in the car.
"Yep, at least Aaron was." Leonard nodded and started driving again, this time home for real.
"I called Antoine while you were up there." Alfred said. "Told him about what happened and that Robert is dead. I omitted Yorinobu's presence."
"Thanks dad." Leonard said and concentrated on driving.
"Wanna pick up some dinner?" Penny suggested, surprising herself with this display of nonchalance, given that she had just been in a fight that led to over a dozen deaths.
"Sure." Leonard agreed. "Dad, you want anything special?"
"Nah, whatever you choose is fine."
"Well, it's Thursday, so it's pizza night." Penny said.
"You have special food days?" Alfred wondered.
"We don't, but Sheldon has." Leonard shrugged. "Easier to just go along instead of fighting about it all the time."
"So, does he always order the same pizza or does he vary that at least?" Alfred wanted to know.
"Nope, a medium pizza with sausage, mushrooms and light olives." Penny chuckled. "Every time. But the rest of us switch it up."
"Hey, Howard, it's me." Leonard spoke into his phone after calling his friend. "Yes, it's done and we're fine... Listen, we're going to get dinner, any special wish for your pizzas?... okay, just send me a text."
"Are they already home?" Penny asked.
"No, but they were just leaving the university." Leonard replied.
"Do I have to take pizza?" Alfred squirmed.
"Of course not." Leonard said. "If you want, we'll cook something for us."
"Well, we don't have to go that far." Alfred laughed. "But some Italian sounds nice. Hadn't had chicken Parmesan for a while."
"The Italian place we usually get our pizzas from should have that." Leonard nodded and took the turn to get to it.
They stopped and got out, all of them entering the diner. The men behind the counter greeted them warmly and with an exaggerated Italian accent and Leonard ordered the pizzas for the guys and himself, while Penny choose hers and Alfred got himself a small lasagna and the chicken Parmesan he wanted.
When their order was ready, Leonard paid and both Penny and Alfred carried it to their car. Once the drive home was finally finished, they went up the elevator to the top floor and entered the apartment, where the two dogs, who Amy had taken care of for the day, greeted them happily. They placed the food on the table and sat down, Leonard leaning back and breathing a sigh of relief that this whole ordeal was finally over.
"So, Penny, any contracts taken already?" Amy asked.
"No, I don't have any gear yet." Penny shook her head. "And I also don't have access yet."
"Why not?" Alfred sat up at hearing this. "You should have it."
"Well, it still says that I don't, I guess I need to choose a name before."
"Oh yes, you need to do that." Alfred nodded. "Which one will you choose?"
"I don't know yet." she shrugged. "I was thinking Penelope, like the queen in Greek mythology."
"That's an interesting choice." Sheldon spoke up. "In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope was seen as a faithful wife to Odysseus who refused a hundred and eight suitors while waiting twenty years for her husband to return from the Trojan War. In Penny's case, she had the over a hundred suitors before finding Leonard."
"Thanks, Sheldon." Penny rolled her eyes, suppressing a shudder at the memory of her past.
"You could name yourself Dark Mistress." Bernadette grinned.
"I don't think I have the personality to be a dark mistress." Penny chuckled.
"Oh, I can see you dominating men." Bernadette winked. "Wearing sexy clothes, tying them up, whipping them while calling them names before killing them, all the while they're filled with desires for your body."
"Bernie, you need help." Penny shook her head.
"I would go with Penelope." Alfred counseled. "It fits you and you also shouldn't take that much longer. If you want to get somewhere within the organization, you need to take jobs."
"Alfred, if Leonard took a job that required two, would I get points for that as well?" she wanted to know. "Or whatever measure is used."
"Yes, you would." Alfred nodded. "Not as many as Leonard, but you would. But you need to do some on your own too. And you know what the first tier of jobs looks like."
"I do." she sighed. "At least there are plenty of criminals in need of killing."
"Here, here." Bernadette raised her glass. "And if any of them is a rapist, tell me and I will mix a poison that will make their dick fall off."
"Yeah, you really need help." Penny laughed.
While she wasn't looking forward to those menial jobs, at least she would have another week of calm before she was healed enough for her fittings.
Chapter ends here. Again, sorry for the long wait but the move took a while. I still have to paint my old apartment before handing it over to my old landlord company.
Review please :)