"What's that look for?" Penny asked, looking up from Elena's shoulder. "You have that 'I'm about to meddle' look on your face."
"I was just thinking of finding a girl for Sheldon. Wouldn't it be fun proving to Sheldon he is wrong?" Elena asked with a twinkle in her eyes.
Penny laughed, a genuine, mischievous sound. "Oh, that would be better than fun. That would be a miracle. You really think there's a woman out there who wouldn't run screaming after five minutes of his 'fun facts' about trains?"
"I think," Elena said, her mind already wondering how to approach Amy, "that for every specific lock, there is a very specific key."
The cool, recycled air of the new elevator was a quiet luxury Elena never tired of. As the doors hissed shut in the lobby, she leaned back against the brushed steel, enjoying the hum of the high-speed motors. It had been a productive day; her "mobile game" revenue was peaking because Angie's addon for multi languages opened a bigger market. And the last of the server hardware had been delivered and secretly moved into the first finished room on Sub-Level 6.
She was in an exceptionally good mood. She had a bottle of expensive wine in her bag and a plan to take Penny up to the roof for a private night under the stars.
The lift dived upward, a smooth surge of motion that reached the fourth floor in seconds. But the moment the doors slid open, Elena's smile vanished.
The hallway wasn't silent. From behind the door of 4B, the sound of raw, jagged sobbing cut through the air. It wasn't just a "bad day" cry; it was the sound of someone whose world had just collapsed.
Elena didn't hesitate. She didn't bother knocking. She directly stepped inside.
The apartment was dark except for the light of the hallway behind Elena. Penny was curled into a ball on the sofa—behind a blanket she could see her still having patches of gorilla fur glued onto her. It just looked pathetic. Her makeup was a ruin of black streaks across her cheeks. And the vodka bottle on the table did nothing to improve that view.
"Penny?" Elena's voice was low, vibrating with a protective instinct she rarely showed.
Penny flinched, looking up with bloodshot, puffy eyes. When she saw it was Elena, her face crumbled all over again. "I'm a failure, El," she choked out, her voice raw. "I'm just... I'm fired from that horrible gorilla movie set. I'm a waitress playing actress that no one wants."
Elena dropped her bag and was across the room in two strides, sitting on the edge of the sofa and pulling Penny into her arms. "Breathe. Tell me exactly what happened."
Penny pulled back, her eyes wild with the memory. She explained that she had been in the cage, rattling the bars, trying to find that "monster" energy, but she felt she could do better. She asked for a second take—a simple, professional request.
"Then he offered to 'talk about the scene' in his trailer," Penny spat the words out like they were poison. "At first, I didn't catch on. I thought... maybe he actually wanted to give me notes. But then he made it perfectly clear what he expected in exchange for that second take. Said I was trash that doesn't deserve better then this trashy movie. I should learn to work for it… I told him to go to hell."
Elena's expression didn't change, but her internal temperature dropped to sub-zero.
"Afterward we came back to the set, he didn't continue or commented on what really happened. He made it look like I were to stupid to learn from him. Insulted and fired me in front of the whole crew," Penny whispered. "He said I was unwilling to learn and uncooperative. In the end it would be better for me to quit acting if I couldn't even survive on a set for such a garbage movie. He said he'd make sure I never got another job because nobody wants to hire someone so 'difficult.' He made me look like the problem," Penny's story shocked Elena, the dark side of Hollywood that her girlfriend just described, reminded her that the world is not just and as Penny continued new sobs came, "while I only tried to improve on a cheap and stupid movie, just to have something in my resume that shows the world what I can do."
Elena smoothed Penny's hair back, her voice dropping into a tone that was terrifyingly calm. "He used his power to use you and as that didn't work, he tried to break you. That isn't being stupid or difficult, Penny. You genuinely wanted to improve on your acting and that is great. And faced with such a choice – sex for a career choice or getting fired – you did stand strong. And I am proud of you. If you had given in, you would have lost something more."
Elena caught herself before she went too deep into the "assassin" talk. She sat back down and took Penny's hands. "Listen to me," Elena said, her thumb tracing the back of Penny's hand to ground her. "I have the capital to invest a bit. I don't have enough for a full-length feature film yet, but a series of high-end, live-action trailers for the comic and the game? That I can afford easily."
Penny blinked away the last of her tears, listening in astonishment. "What?"
"I know, it may not be strictly necessary, but shooting these scenes in real life with you as the face of 'Lucy'—instead of just using pure CGI—creates suspense for my game and that is something the fans will obsess over. It builds speculation – who would invest in actors, if for something that could be done by ingame animation or a comic book artist? It builds a fan base. And if – well with me and Angie working at it, I should say once – the game is a global hit? Launching a movie with you already established as the lead will be child's play." Elena's eyes flashed with a cold certainty. "You don't need small-time creeps like him for your career, Penny. You're going to be the reason people buy the tickets."
"But where would we even do that?" Penny asked, her voice still a little shaky but the spark of ambition returning. "Those studios cost a fortune."
"Angie found a lead on a decommissioned studio on the edge of the city," Elena explained. "It's mostly an empty shell right now—just a massive green screen and some old lighting rigs—but with a bit of cash, we can outfit it. It's private. No 'directors' with trailers and egos. Just you, I think Stuart should be with you and maybe I'll hire someone who knows action stunts. Maybe let Angie be there through cameras and speakers and you guys can work at your pace and create some nice trailers."
Penny let out a long breath, finally starting to believe. "That sounds wonderful."
After the fallout at the movie set, Elena didn't let Penny go stay in her empty apartment. Instead, she took Penny with her and led her into her bathroom.
"Penny, you're my queen, and tonight my queen is about to get pampered," Elena murmured, turning the heavy chrome dials on the deep, freestanding soaking tub.
As steam began to curl into the air, Elena added essential oils—lavender and cedarwood—to the water. She helped Penny remove the remains of the killer gorilla costume and into the warm water, watching as the tension finally began to bleed out of Penny's shoulders. While she left to get Penny a drink she quickly asked for Angie's help. "Get me the schedule of her director and look for one Amy Fouler she should have a dating profile somewhere. Try to set up a date with her and Sheldon on Monday, something simple like Coffee. But keep me searching for that director quiet."
A day later, the mood was quiet. Penny was draped across the sofa in Elena's apartment, wearing her oversized and cozy black hoodie. She was staring blankly at the TV, the spark of ambition still struggling to reignite through her sadness.
"Success," Elena said, coming out of her lab. "Angie just confirmed a Date for Sheldon Cooper with his, according to a dating website, ideal mate. The Date is on Monday 5pm at a coffee shop near the university."
Penny blinked, a small smile finally tugging at her lips. "You really found someone? For Sheldon?"
"Well, a dating algorithm did," Elena replied. "Now, come on. I bet he is in the basement doing his 'Laundry Saturday' ritual. It's the perfect time to strike."
On the way down, Penny was jittery, but in a good way. The cruel words of the director—the "cooperation" comments—seemed to melt away, replaced by the sheer, mischievous adrenaline of what was about to happen.
The elevator doors hissed open with a soft, mechanical chime. Elena's recent upgrades had finally extended the lift's reach, turning the previously grueling trek down the stairs into a seamless transition to the basement.
The laundry room was a sterile, fluorescent-lit bunker, but tonight it felt particularly like Sheldon's private sanctuary. As the girls stepped out, they were greeted by the comforting, humid scent of freshly dried clothes—warm cotton and the sharp, clinical tang of Sheldon's unscented detergent.
Sheldon stood with his back to them at the long folding table. He was a study in rhythmic perfection. Flip, fold, click. He lifted a warm shirt, held it to his nose for a precise three-second quality-control sniff, and then laid it across his plastic folding board.
"Sheldon," Elena announced.
The sound of her voice echoed off the damp concrete walls like a command, breaking his concentration. Sheldon's shoulders stiffened, but he didn't turn around yet; he finished the sleeve he was currently aligning.
"We have news. You have a date on Monday."
The plastic board clicked rhythmically one last time before Sheldon finally stood upright. "No, I have not," he said to the wall. "Monday is 'Thai food' night. Furthermore, as I have stated often enough, my girlfriend is Science. I will not betray her."
"You really do have a date, Sheldon," Penny said, leaning against a vibrating dryer. She was trying to sound serious, but Elena could see the sparkling in her eyes – she enjoyed this moment. "You need more contacts and we already set it up. Her name is Amy. She's a scientist, just like you."
"I refuse," Sheldon snapped, finally spinning around to face them with a look of pure, clinical disdain. He clutched a perfectly square-folded undershirt to his chest like a shield. "I will not waste my time on a social ritual that serves no purpose other than to potentially expose me to a stranger's bacteria."
"Oh please. Science is not a girlfriend," Penny argued, her confidence growing. "And you waste time on multiple things, like comic books and space movies. If you would try and engage with a human that is on your level, you might even progress faster in your science-y things you do."
Sheldon just huffed. "Penny, please. No one is on my level. Therefore your argument is moot."
Penny looked at Elena, silently asking for help. Elena didn't move. She stood perfectly still, her shadow falling across Sheldon's pristine folding board like a solar eclipse. She gave Penny a tiny, encouraging nod, signaling: You take this. You have the power here.
Penny took a deep breath, searching for leverage. She looked at Sheldon's perfectly organized piles of laundry and then at the locked door. She struggled for a moment, her brow furrowed as she searched for a "Sheldon-specific" nightmare.
"Sheldon, let's talk about the next three months," Penny started, her voice gaining strength as she found her rhythm. "You and the boys are going to be in the Arctic. Elena and I? We're staying here. And we have total access to your apartment."
Sheldon's eyes narrowed, darting to Elena. "I have a deadbolt. A high-security cylinder."
Penny looks to Elena tilted her head, her voice a silky, dangerous hum. "Please, as if Leonard wouldn't let us into your apartment."
Sheldon's posture stiffened. He looked back at Penny, sensing the pincer move.
"Here's the deal," Penny said, a mischievous, predatory grin finally spreading across her face. "You go to the date on Monday, or we turn your apartment into a storage facility for our... unmentionables."
Sheldon scoffed, though his hand hesitated over a pair of socks. "And why would I care where you store your laundry? My dresser is locked."
"Because," Penny said, stepping fully into the light, her eyes sparkling with the thrill of the hunt, "we're not talking about clean laundry, sweetie. Every time we get all sweaty we will save our undies. Once we have a collection of used gym socks, damp workout leggings, and unwashed sports bras..."
Elena watched with pride as Penny leaned in, closing the distance.
"...we won't leave them in the hamper, Sheldon," Penny added, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "We'll hide them. One sock inside some of your comic books. A damp headband tucked deep inside your pillowcase... so the scent really matures while you're away in the cold."
Sheldon's face went through an incredible journey: from confusion to realization, and finally to pure, unadulterated horror. He looked at his perfectly folded t-shirt, then at Penny, who was now looming over him like a harbinger of biological doom.
"That... that is a violation of every health code in the state!" Sheldon shrieked, clutching his laundry to his chest. "That is biological warfare! The bacterial bloom! The human dander!"
"Think of it as a three-month fermentation process," Penny countered, crossing her arms. "Every time you sit on your 'Spot' when you get back, you'll be wondering... is it under me right now? And even if you manage to find everything, the smell will stay a while. It will take ages to be gone and all the time you will wonder, was that all? Did I miss something?"
Sheldon began to hyperventilate. He looked at Elena, but she just offered a thin, vacant smile that promised everything Penny said was true.
"Monday?" he squeaked, his voice two octaves higher than normal.
"Monday at five," Penny confirmed.
"Fine!" Sheldon threw the rest of his laundry in the basked, grabbed it and bolted for the door, nearly tripping over his own feet. "I will meet her! But I am documenting this as an act of extortion!"
As the sound from the stairs vanished, Penny collapsed against Elena, her laughter echoing off the tiled walls. The heaviness from the movie set had vanished, replaced by the sheer high of the win.
"Oh my god," Penny gasped. "I blackmailed the great Sheldon Cooper with our dirty undies."
"You were magnificent," Elena whispered, pulling Penny into a firm hug. "You have the range, Penny. You just needed the right audience."
---
The following evening, the atmosphere in Apartment 5B was a world away from the dusty, cramped aisles of the Comic Center. Stuart had managed to set up a few basic pieces of furniture, but the centerpiece of the room was a sleek, high-end display case. Inside sat a limited-edition "Lucy" figurine, a perfect, hand-painted – well, painted by Angie's robotic arms – likeness of Penny in neon-accented tactical gear.
Stuart had already placed one in his shop and sent others to neighboring stores as promotional rentals, and the buzz was already generating a steady stream of secondary income.
The air was filled with the smell of pizza and the uncharacteristic sound of Stuart laughing. For the first time, he was the host, not the guest.
"I... I just wanted to thank everyone for coming," Stuart said, standing in the center of the room with a soda in his hand. He looked at Elena, then at Penny, his eyes shimmering with genuine emotion. "A few months ago, I was sleeping on cardboard boxes in the back of my store and ate in the food kitchen with the homeless. Now, I have a view, a comic that people actually care about. I feel incredible grateful to have you here with me and share this success with my friends."
He took a shaky breath, looking down at his hands, which weren't trembling for once. "I even went for a check-up yesterday. My doctor said my blood values have improved so much he thought the lab had swapped my samples. He told me that whatever I'm doing, I should keep doing it. And what I'm doing is being here, with all of you. Elena, Penny... thank you for believing I was worth the effort."
"Hear, hear!" they all cheered, voices thick with pride and happiness as they clinked their glasses.
Leonard stepped forward, holding his signed copy of the Cyberpunk 2077 premiere issue with the kind of reverence usually reserved for a Gutenberg Bible or a mint-condition Action Comics #1.
"Seriously, Stuart, the art in this is incredible," Leonard said, his eyes scanning the cover again. "The way you captured 'Lucy'... it's got this weight to it. It doesn't feel like a normal comic; it feels like a blueprint for something bigger. We're all really proud of you."
He paused, looking up from the page with a grin of pure envy. "I mean, honestly? As a collector, I can't believe I actually know the creator of such a genius work. And to have one of the first editions signed by the artist himself? This is going in a UV-protected Mylar sleeve the second I get back to my apartment. It's going to be the centerpiece of my collection."
Stuart's face turned a shade of red that actually looked healthy. "Thanks, Leonard. That... that means a lot coming from you. I know how picky you are about your 'Modern Age' staples."
"Even I like the idea of replacing subpar human parts with mechanical ones," Sheldon added from his folding chair.
He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized the "Lucy" figurine on Stuart's desk. "The integration of neural-link technology with synthetic muscle fibers is a fascinating concept. One has to wonder, Stuart... if the biological vessel is entirely replaced by resilient, self-repairing alloys, could immortality finally be achieved? Or would we simply be creating a very durable ghost in a machine?"
Stuart's eyes widened, his face paling slightly. He immediately opened his mouth to shush Sheldon, terrified that the physicist's relentless questioning would accidentally stumble onto the plot ideas for the future.
But before Stuart could utter a word, Elena caught his eye. She didn't say a thing; she simply pressed a single finger to her lips and gave him a slow, conspiratorial wink.
The gesture worked instantly. Stuart felt his heart rate slow down as he realized there was no reason to panic. He took a breath and turned back to Sheldon with a newfound, playful confidence.
"You know, Sheldon," Stuart joked, leaning back in his new chair. "That's a pretty deep question for a pizza party. Maybe we should sit down and talk ideas about the plot at some point? I could use a 'Technical Consultant' for the next volume. Though I can't promise you much—maybe an occasional limited-edition variant."
Sheldon looked genuinely considered. "That is a tempting proposition. I shall take it under advisement."
The conversation drifted through the night until the pizza boxes were empty. Penny, leaning back against Elena's shoulder, looked over at Leonard. "So, any updates on your big trip?"
Leonard's face lit up, that familiar spark of "Science Leonard" taking over. "Oh, it's more than a trip, Penny. It's an expedition. Maybe even a once in a lifetime chance. The gear is already ordered, we will leave on Monday in a week."
"We search for magnetic monopoles," Howard explained full of enthusiasm, though he looked more nervous than excited. "Three months. Isolated research station. Constant darkness in a frozen hellscape with Sheldon. To be honest, I still think going with Sheldon is a terrible idea."
Elena took a slow sip of her drink, her eyes tracing the room. "Three months in the Arctic," she mused aloud, her tone supportive but internally calculating. "That's a massive commitment, Leonard. Are you sure you're ready for that kind of isolation?"
"We have to go," Leonard said firmly. "If we find evidence of monopoles, it changes everything we know about the early universe. It's Nobel-level stuff."
"Well then," Elena said, raising her glass. "To the North Pole. May you find your monopoles and not lose any toes to frostbite."
"Alex and Bernadette will miss you," Penny said, winking at Leonard and Howard. "Maybe you should think of something nice to do for them before you go."
---
As the door to 5B clicked shut behind them, the muffled sounds of the boys still arguing about what entertainment they should bring to the northpole. Elena and Penny walked the short distance to 5A, the silence of the hallway a welcome relief after the high-energy party.
Once inside, Penny kicked off her shoes and slumped onto Elena's sofa, letting out a long sigh. "Okay, now that we're away from the geniuses... what the hell is a monopole?"
Elena paused, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You were sitting right next to the four experts, Penny. Why didn't you ask them?"
Penny rolled her eyes, pulling a throw pillow into her lap. "Oh, please. If I had asked any of them the explanation would have been so... passionate and unnecessarily complicated I would not have understood a thing. I just want a simple version of explanation without my brain melting."
Elena laughed, a genuine, warm sound. She moved to the kitchen to pour them a final glass of water. "Yeah, you're right. They really do only speak scientist."
Elena sat down next to her, leaning back comfortably. "Okay, here is the short, non-melting version. You know how every magnet you've ever seen has two ends? A North and a South pole?"
"Right," Penny nodded. "Like a battery."
"Exactly. Even if you break a magnet in half, you just end up with two smaller magnets, each with its own North and South. A monopole is a hypothetical particle that is just one of those—a magnet with only one pole. It's like a coin that only has a 'Heads' side but no 'Tails'."
Penny blinked, processing it. "Okay... that actually makes sense. So why are they going to the North Pole to find it?"
"Because the theory says they were created at the very beginning of the universe, and some might be trapped in ancient Arctic ice or affected by the Earth's magnetic fields there," Elena explained simply.
She took a sip of water, her expression turning slightly more cynical. "On one hand it's a very big thing, if they really find something. But to be honest? I don't believe they will. It's a needle in a haystack, and the 'needle' might not even exist. I think they're going to spend three months freezing their butts off in the dark, only to come home with a lot of data about nothing."
Penny grinned, leaning her head on Elena's shoulder. "Well, at least I understood that part. Do you think that monopole thingy exists?"
Elena shook her head slowly, her gaze fixed on a distant point as if she were already looking through the walls and into the lab below.
"Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't," she said, her voice dropping into a more direct, pragmatic tone. "But in my opinion, before you go trekking across a frozen wasteland to search for a needle, you should probably try to prove the needle could exist in the first place. They should be back at the university, working on building a needle from scratch. Only once you've proven you can create one does it make any sense to go out and search for one." Elena took a deep breath. "Although that is also not a neutral answer, you know? From the point of a theorist, it is a legit reason to go. From the point of an experimentalist I would say it's not."
Penny leaned back, absorbing that. "But in the end, your opinion says 'waste of time'?"
"Completely," Elena replied with a sharp, knowing smile. "They're chasing a myth because someone with too much money gave them a chance to. People like Sheldon, who is trying to solve the unified field theory—think of it as the cheat code for the universe, the answer to everything—cannot say no to such a chance. If they find something, he would know he's working in the right direction. So it's a bit of a bummer, because I can understand his motivation."
"But real progress—the kind that changes the world—happens when you stop asking 'where is it?' and start asking 'how do I make it?'" Elena laughed softly. "But then again, maybe this is just the engineer in me talking. Sheldon would go through the roof if he heard me say that. To him, the math is the truth; to me, the result is."
She turned to Penny, her expression softening even as the intensity remained in her eyes. "If they spent the energy they're using on this trip just focusing on the engineering of a synthetic monopole, they wouldn't be coming home with cold feet; they'd be coming home with a patent that would make them the most powerful men in science. It is astonishing in how many ways a monopole could change our lifes, Penny. Total revolution."
"Well," Penny said, a sleepy, mischievous grin tugging at her lips as she snuggled closer. "I'm glad I have the smart girl in my bed tonight. Maybe she can tutor me on a few more things."
Elena smiled, feeling how much she cared for the woman beside her. "I think I can manage that."