You know, I sometimes have bad timing. At the beginning of June, I had a minor pre-planned surgery on my head (removal of an epidermal cyst) and after my sick leave, my two vacation weeks began. I had once again, against my good judgment, let my friends rope me into a hiking vacation, this time in southern Bavaria. Since the floods of early June had already receded, we didn't cancel the trip but after a week of hurting my feet, the rains set in again and parts of Germany were flooded again.
It didn't happen where we were, but we spent my second week of vacation helping. I wasn't looking forward to hauling hundreds of heavy bags of sand around but I was surprised what they were using. Instead of using sandbags, they were handing out stacks of box walls. These things are freaking amazing. No more hauling of heavy bags filled with sands but rather comparatively thin sheets of plastic shaped like chairs without legs. Click them together and create a wall that allowed water to be redirected (if the water level is not too high)
And I have to say, it felt good. Not the work itself but knowing that what me and my friends did helped other people. Before this one, I could never appreciate how lucky I am living where I live because I had never experienced a natural disaster of any kind except for the occasional strong winds and a single F0 twister that destroyed some trees and took the roof off a supermarket in a neighboring town.
And to anyone who is asking, I have been writing for WCHB. However, chapters for those take a while, so I put this down so you wouldn't think I had died.
Edit after posting. Apparently, the notifications still don't work... Or aren't working again.
Enough of that, enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.
"Wake up." a soft voice pulled her from her exhausted sleep.
"Leonard." she mumbled into her pillow. "We made love all night, let me sleep."
"Come on, we have to go on our run." he laughed and pulled the comforter off of her, revealing her naked backside.
"Fine, but you have to do me froggy style, I'm not moving." she huffed with her eyes still closed.
"Penny, wake up!" Leonard said a little louder and underlined his command with a mild slap on her ass, shocking her awake.
"What?" she looked at him. "What happened?"
"Get up." he chuckled. "Run time."
"Ugh." Penny dropped her head back into the pillow. "Can't we do it later? We have all morning."
"Actually, I was thinking of going to Aberdeen earlier, so we have time to scout out the surroundings." Leonard said. "I'd rather not walk into an ambush."
"You think there will be one?" Penny asked, now awake and turning around, showing him her naked front.
"I'm almost sure of it." he nodded.
"Yeah, me too." she nodded. "For all of Alfred's assurances, I don't trust that Sie woman."
Still tired, she got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She rejoined Leonard in the bedroom and put on some comfortable cotton underwear and her running clothes before copying Leonard's stretching. When they were done, they walked outside where the dogs were already waiting for them.
Penny whistled and they all started running. The dogs stayed at their sides, even when a squirrel or other small animal was running away from them, only occasionally leaving it to do some peeing but always coming back. After about forty minutes of running over the beaten running path on Leonard's property, they entered the forest Leonard co-owned with Alfred and they ran along the public path, occasionally crossing another person walking with their dogs, the owners rarely reacting since they all knew Leonard and his dogs.
Another eighty minutes later, they arrived back at the house, both breathing hard. The dogs were panting as well, even though they mostly trotted alongside them, only running when they had marked territory and had to return to their sides. After another twenty minutes of stretching, they walked into the house and went to the master bathroom. Both undressed and stepped into the large shower stall, bringing in the dogs with them. They washed the dogs together, Leonard using the shower head while Penny did the cleaning with the special soap for their fur and after enduring the shaking, Leonard stepped out and used a towel on Major to dry him off while Penny did the same with Tyson.
Penny gave him a sultry look and stepped back into the shower stall, moving in a way that made her butt sway invitingly. Leonard understood the invitation and stepped in behind her and for the next seven minutes, Penny found herself pushed against the wall tiles, feeling him pound her in what she might even coin 'aggressive intimacy against a vertical surface'. Following that, they finished cleaning up and got dressed in comfortable clothing before beginning to pack.
"What do you want to take with us?" she asked.
"Bodygloves and weapons." Leonard told her. "Changes of regular clothes, we don't know how long we might be there."
"Do we take them?" Penny pointed out the window, to the two dogs lounging on the grass.
"Yes." Leonard nodded.
"So, dog food?" she looked at him.
"We can take some." Leonard agreed. "Also, their backpacks."
"What should I pack?" she asked. "My bodygloves haven't arrived yet."
"Right." Leonard realized and picked up his phone. "Hey Howard. You're on speaker."
"Hey Leonard." Howard's voice replied after Leonard put him on speaker. "You're on speaker too. Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine." Penny said after stepping to Leonard's side.
"How's your dad?" Bernadette's voice asked.
"Hey Bernie." Leonard greeted her. "Dad got injured, he's being medically examined in the hotel in Montpelier."
"Thanks for telling us, we were sitting on coals here." Howard said.
"Howard, there's another reason for my call." Leonard got to the point. "We're about to head out to South Dakota to hopefully confront the man responsible for the attack. Did you already sent out Penny's gear?"
"I did. I sent it directly to your address via organization transport." Howard confirmed. "It should have arrived already, depending on where the helicopter landed."
"If they landed in Montpelier and drive by car to here, they could be arriving this morning." Penny suggested.
"Thanks Howard, I guess we'll wait then." Leonard nodded and ended the call.
They finished packing the weapons and two of Leonard's bodygloves, leaving the bags open for Penny's stuff. Leonard led her into a room that she had never stepped foot in and Penny grinned when she saw several shelves full of comic books on two sides and another shelf full of collectibles. He stepped to the comic book shelf and removed an entire stack of them, placing them on the table situated in the middle of the room.
Then then opened the glass door on the collectibles shelf and took what looked like an action figure of Batman before pressing a hidden button where the figure had been standing. She could hear a click and he put the figure back. He then returned to the comic book shelf and she noticed that the part of the shelf board that he had removed the comic books from had dipped downwards. He pulled the part out and pressed another button set into the back of the shelf, which caused another click, this time from the floor.
He first put the board part and then the comic books back before moving the table out of the way and pulling the small area rug away. All she saw was a solid hardwood floor but Leonard knelt down and pushed a part of the hardwood in, causing it to tilt and she had to chuckle when he removed a piece like from a puzzle, revealing a floor save.
"Okay, explain something to me." Penny stopped him from his work. "Why do you always do these complex things to hide safes?"
"Safety." Leonard shrugged. "Imagine someone breaking in here and stealing all this stuff. They swipe the action figures into a bag and accidentally manage to press the button under Batman hard enough to unlock the book shelf. Even if they see the button behind the board, they would hopefully not find the safe. Putting the safe behind a painting would be way too easy."
"Point taken." she accepted.
"But there's also a quicker way to open it, if I ever needed the guns in that safe." he chuckled. "But that would involve punching through the wall at a certain spot to reach the emergency button."
Leonard pressed his hand on the reader and entered a long code, the safe clicking open when he was done. He opened it and lifted out a vertical coin holder, Penny seeing a bunch of golden and silver coins along with two guns set into two side pockets, easy to just grab and fire, and a bunch of cash bills on the bottom. He lifted ten golden coins out of the folder, as well as a bill of cash and put the holder back into the safe before closing it and putting the rug and table back.
"I thought you had more coins." she mused.
"I do." he chuckled. "I'll show you once..."
"Speak of the devil." Leonard said after looking through the monitor of the intercom and hitting a button on it. "Yes?"
"I have a special delivery." the man at the gate said.
"I'll come down." Leonard said and grabbed the coins, waving to Penny to follow him and together, they walked to the gate and the waiting man.
"From Lord of the Gear to Penelope." Leonard said.
The man nodded and opened the back of the van, revealing several boxes. Leonard opened the gate and helped unload them, placing them inside his property. Once the unloading was done, Leonard handed the man the ten golden coins along with a hundred dollar bill, which the man thanked him for with a nod.
Leonard stacked two of the boxes and grabbed both while Penny carried the third before both went back to get the remaining two, both heavy. They reentered the house and he used a pair of scissors to open them, revealing her bodygloves and several cases of varying sizes that contained all the weapons she had Howard make for her. Without loading it, she took one of the guns and held it in her hand, the weapon feeling like an extension of her arm. She noticed that she could lift out the gun and knife insert and she found two long blades underneath. Gingerly, she took them and, after stepping back from Leonard, she spun them around in a figure eight, marveling at the perfect weight distribution.
"Howard can forge swords?" she wondered.
"No, he outsources that." Leonard chuckled. "These were actually the largest part of the cost you paid for your weapons."
"They're beautiful." Penny gasped when seeing the blades themselves and some of the inscriptions on them. "What do these means?"
"Strength, courage and dedication." Leonard translated the signs. "It's Kana, one of the Japanese alphabets."
"One of?" Penny looked at him. "How many do they have?"
"Three." Leonard chuckled again. "Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana."
"Fuck me." Penny wondered how even Japanese kids could learn the language, much less foreigners.
"Already did that." Leonard replied, completely serious. "Now we have to pack."
"Alright, I think I will leave the swords here." she said. "Bodygloves, knifes and guns. You got some silencers?"
"I do." Leonard nodded.
"And then show me your coins." she demanded with a grin.
"Is that some assassin version of 'Show me the money'?" he laughed. "Very well, grab one of those boxes."
He grabbed one of the heavy boxes and she took the other one, making her wonder what was in them. Leonard led her into his basement and unlocked the secret door that led to his shooting range and gun collection. After the lights had turned on, he put the box down, Penny doing the same with hers.
In the middle of the gun racks was the safe, not hidden at all, though Penny knew this was because the room itself was hidden already. He opened it with a similarly long combination like the floor safe upstairs and revealed a stupendously large amount of coins, both gold and silver. He pulled out the holder which looked like a row of connected cylinders and revealed even more coins. Based on the first stack, she estimated that Leonard had at least twenty thousand golden coins as well as ten thousand silver. He knelt down and pulled out an empty coin holder, more connected cylinders and pointed to her box.
He opened the one he had been carrying and she opened hers, revealing her coins. Together, they placed them into the holders until there were fifty coins of each left, which he took upstairs and placed them into a smaller coin holder inside his floor safe. Giving her a kiss after closing it, he went back to his suitcases and together, they finished the packing of the gear.
They drove to the airport and parked the car in the hangar Leonard rented for his plane. They transferred their gear into the plane and Leonard rolled onto the tarmac, talking to the tower so they could leave. It took ten minutes before they could lift off but soon enough they were in the air.
"We got to make a stop first." he said and turned southwest.
"Where?" she asked.
"Pittsburgh." he told her.
Leonard let the autopilot fly most of the route. Three and a half hours later, they apparently reached their destination because Leonard went back to attention and put his headphones back on, hitting some switches on the planes controls.
"This is LH zero zero two to AGC control." Leonard spoke into his headset microphone.
"AGC control, acknowledged." came the reply.
"Request permission to land."
"Acknowledged, LH zero zero two, slow down to speed two fifty and land on runway one, then proceed to berth fourteen."
"Acknowledged, speed two fifty, runway one, proceeding to berth fourteen." Leonard repeated the instructions before turning to her. "Strap in."
Penny put on the seat belt and just relaxed as Leonard started the landing procedure. He turned the plane thirty degrees to line up with the runway, cut the speed and lowered the nose of the plane to lose altitude. Having done it a lot before, the process was smooth, the wheels touching down without any problems. Leonard then rolled onto the smaller runway next to the big one to taxi to the berth that was designated for him.
"What exactly are we doing here?" she asked.
"We need to get something." he shrugged. "Might come in handy."
"Bad feeling again?" she wondered.
"Yep." he nodded. "Sie gave up these information too easy. And if I had been in her situation and called my employer, I would have used codes to relay information that I can't say directly."
"That's true." she conceded as they walked into the airport administration building. "I trust your instincts with this."
"Hello." Leonard greeted the woman sitting behind the desk and handed her his ID and some documents. "Leonard Hofstadter. Owner and pilot of LH zero zero two."
"How long are you staying?" the woman asked after processing the documents.
"A few hours at most." Leonard said. "Just have to pick something up in Pittsburgh."
"Alright." the woman nodded and stamped another document before handing it to Leonard.
Leonard pulled out his credit card and swiped it through the machine. Penny assumed it was a landing and berthing fee for this airport and she wondered how much they were charging. Once he was done, he led her out of the airport and to a nearby rental car place, where he rented a car for the duration.
She joined him and he drove her towards Pittsburgh but not fully into it, rather staying the outskirts, driving past a lot of warehouses and shops. He stopped at an old brick building with a sign saying 'TOY FACTORY' where he got out, waving at Penny to join him. She looked around and saw a single car on the lot, a pick-up truck that looked as old as the one her dad had but nothing else.
Leonard led her into the building and walked through rows and rows of shelves with lots of stuff on it. She could hear soft music coming from a back area and when they rounded the last shelf, she could see an older man working on what looked like a miniature mannequin showing the organs of a human through a transparent skin, like those that often stood in offices of doctors or in medical schools, only a lot smaller.
"Mister Fischer?" Leonard got the man's attention.
"Leonard!" the older man smiled and came to hug him before noticing Penny. "And who is this stunning beauty?"
"This is my girlfriend Penny." Leonard introduced her.
"Enchante." the man said as he took her hand and dropped a kiss on it.
"Still a gentleman I see." Leonard chuckled.
"And I told you before to call me Roland." he older man told Leonard.
"Sorry." Leonard shrugged. "It's weird for me to do that."
"What are you making here?" Penny asked.
"I tinker and invent things." Roland smiled at her and pointed to the mannequin with the organs. "This is a phone."
"I'm sorry?" Penny was surprised.
"Well, it rings and you can pick it up." Roland showed her and pulled the stomach and chest part out, revealing flip phone. "People can take calls on this and say 'I'm colon you back.'"
"Uh..." Penny could only stare.
"Get it?" Roland smiled.
"Yeah." Penny hesitated, thinking that it was quite a stupid thing.
"Oh, and this one." Robert led them to what looked like a miniature tennis court with two action figures holding rackets and a ball sitting in a small bowl. "Made it myself."
"What's so special about it?" she asked.
"It uses geometrical principles to play the game." Robert said proudly and pressed a button.
The ball was catapulted towards the left player and the action figure spun the racket to hit it. To her surprise and amazement, the ball flew towards the other figure, which then played it back, creating a back and forth that didn't seem to end.
"Wow, that's cool." Penny exclaimed.
"Of course, any gust of wind and this gets ruined." Robert admitted, catching the ball that the sharp exhale of breath close to the left player had knocked out of its path.
"Still amazing." Penny was genuinely impressed.
"So, what brings you to my humble workshop?"
"I need a remote controlled car and drone that are completely silent or as quite as possible." Leonard told him. "And as small as possible."
"Is it for...?" Roland started, giving a side eye to Penny. "A job?"
"She's one of us." Leonard clarified. "And yes, something of a job."
"Leonard, I've retired from this work years ago." Roland sighed. "I just make toys now."
"Roland, my dad got attacked in his home by mercenaries." Leonard told him.
"Oh my god, is Alfred okay?" Roland gasped.
"He's fine." Leonard nodded. "He's in the hospital, getting tested."
"What do you need the RC for?"
"The leader of the mercenaries told us where their employer was supposed to receive Alfred." Leonard explained. "It's a warehouse in Aberdeen, South Dakota."
"And you expect a trap?"
"Yes. I need this car and drone to do canvassing from afar." Leonard nodded. "I don't know if our target knows what me and her look like but we don't want to risk being close to the warehouse to case it."
"I think I have just what you need." Roland nodded and went to one of his cabinets.
He produced a box, opening it up and producing a small remote controlled car, looking smaller than the regular remote controlled cars that Penny had seen in stores. Robert pressed a button on its bottom and put it on the floor, then used a handheld controller to drive it around. To her surprise, the car barely made any noise when driving around, the only sounds heard are a very low hum of the electric motor and the noise of the car's tires on the floor.
"Can a camera be mounted on it?" Leonard asked.
"There's already one inside it." Roland smiled and hit a few buttons on his laptop keyboard until Penny could see her own shoes, the screen showing a picture from the perspective of the car.
"Nice!" Leonard was impressed. "What's the range?"
"The car can be controlled by wireless, bluetooth, as well as four and give G, depending on what's available in the area." Roland told him. "If you have cell reception, you can control this via the cellular network. Five G would be best because of its ability to transmit video easier. If you don't have that, you might want to drive slower to avoid screen tearing and frame skips."
"Understood." Leonard nodded. "You have a flying drone as well?"
"Lydia, can you come in here with the drone you made?" Roland spoke into an intercom on his workbench.
They waited for two minutes until the door opened and a very beautiful woman entered, making Penny self-conscious for a moment about her own looks. She carried a similar box to the one that Roland had produced the car from and put it on the table before turning to Leonard and Penny and sticking out her hand.
"Hello, I'm Lydia." she introduced herself, even though Roland had said her name before.
"Leonard." Leonard shook her hand.
"Penny." Penny felt comfortable giving her name since Leonard had done it.
"So, you are in need of one of my drones?" Lydia asked and opened.
"You made that?" Leonard asked.
"Yep." Lydia smiled.
"She's a chip of the old block." Roland smiled as well, from pride.
"Does the drone work the same way as the car?" Leonard wanted to know.
"Pretty much." Lydia nodded. "It's very quiet, has an implemented camera and can be controlled the same way dad made this car."
"How long do the batteries last in both?" Penny asked.
"The car, when fully charged, can be used for about three hours, longer if you don't use the camera all the time." Roland stated. "Lydia?"
"The drone lasts between two and four hours, depending on environmental conditions." Lydia told them. "Meaning, if you have strong headwinds, it's shorter, longer if you have strong winds from behind."
"Got it." Leonard said. "How loud is it?"
"Hear for yourself." Lydia grinned and used her remote to turn it on, the drone lifting up and sounding like wind.
"That is so cool." Penny gasped. "How did you make this?"
"It's all in the material, especially when it comes to the rotors." Lydia winked at her.
"How much are they?" Leonard asked. "I'm sure this will be with cash and not coins."
"Cash." Roland confirmed. "Remember, I'm out of the business."
"Uh, should we..." Penny pointed to Lydia.
"What?" Lydia looked at her. "Talk about your business of assassinations?"
"She knows." Roland told her.
"Okay." Penny accepted.
"I trained to become like you." Lydia sighed. "But it turns out that I don't have what it takes to do the messy parts of the job. And since I always had an aptitude for making things, I decided to join my dad."
"So, essentially she's like Howard?" Penny looked at Leonard.
"Pretty much." Leonard agreed. "So, are we paying you with coins then?"
"No, I'll take cash as well." Lydia chuckled.
"I can't imagine these are cheap, do we even have enough on us?" Penny wondered.
"I don't even know what to charge." Lydia shrugged. "It's not as if we have sold them before."
"How about I give you ten grand for each?" Leonard suggested. "You'd have to accompany me to the airfield though, I have the money on my plane."
"Sounds good, I can do that." Roland nodded.
Leonard and Penny carried the boxes with the car and drone and put them into the trunk. Roland got into his own car and drove behind them back to the airport, where they handed the car back to the rental place after taking the boxes out of the trunk and Roland parked his car on the airport parking lot.
They walked to Leonard's plane and entered it after Leonard unlocked the door. He opened one of the overhead compartments and pushed a fake wall aside, revealing several stacks of cash. Each stack was fifty one-hundred dollar bills, so Leonard took four of them and handed them to Roland.
"Thanks Leonard." Roland said after putting the stacks into a bag. "I wish you luck for your endeavor."
"Thanks." Leonard nodded and shook the man's hand.
"Can you give me Alfred's number?" Roland asked. "I'd love to talk to him."
"I never give his number away." Leonard shook his head. "If you're willing to give me yours, I'll give it to him and he can call you."
"That sounds good." Roland nodded and wrote his number on a piece of paper, handing it to Leonard. "Goodbye."
"Bye, Roland. And thank you." Leonard said and waited until Roland had left the plane before pulling the stairs back in and closing the door.
He got back into the pilot's seat and after doing all the procedures for it, they soon rolled down the tarmac and lifted off into the air. And this time, they flew straight to Aberdeen and hopefully, to the soon ending problem with a man who had hurt the father of the man she loved.
If possible, she would put a bullet between Patrick's eyes before Leonard could.
Sorry again for the long wait. I'll try finishing Chapter 92 for WCHB before the next one of this.
Review please :)