A Chance of Talenny

Ouch

Talon was dying to make a witty remark about Brain, but he held it in. He looked around his surroundings as much as he could, partly due to curiosity and partly to find a way out once he healed. Penny's sitting room looked like any other normal sitting room. Sofas and a couch, a television, a coffee table and framed pictures hanging from the walls. He smiled a little when he saw a portrait of Penny smiling. Wow, her smile's really pretty, why doesn't she smile more often? The windows were draped with curtains, and just wide enough for him to open it and slip out. Penny returned with a first-aid kit.

"If you want to turn me in, then how come you care so much about my injuries?" Talon watched as Penny fetched a roll of gauze and medicated oil from the sterile white box.

"Uh, t-that's because HQ has a strict acceptance policy for captured villains!" Penny was temporarily caught off guard, but she blurted out the first thing she made up in her head. "Can you at least attempt to move your arm?"

With a lot of effort, Talon propped his arm up on the arm of the sofa, and Penny inspected his elbow. She groaned, Talon had skinned his elbow very badly, the blood streaming down his arm and staining his trademark purple hoodie. She was surprised he hadn't noticed the red cloud forming on the side of his hoodie. Talon winced yet again as she rubbed the medicated oil onto his wound, and bandaged it with gauze. Gosh, he looks so cute when he's injured. Focus Penny! Penny tried to apple pressure onto his leg to test where he was injured. "I think you have a sprain..." Penny lifted the cuffs of his pants, revealing his purple, swollen ankle.

"Least it matches my outfit now," Talon said through clenched teeth as Penny bandaged his ankle too. She went to put the first-aid kit back. I didn't know Penny could be so gentle, Talon thought. His bracer rang. "Uncle Claw?"

"TALON! Where are you?!" Dr. Claw's voice boomed through the speaker. "I haven't had my hot bath ready!"

"I'm injured, Uncle Claw," Talon whispered back. "I barely got away from the fuzz!"

"Have I ever told you what a terrible villain you are, Talon?" Dr. Claw scolded. "I hope you haven't failed your mission as well."

"No, Uncle Claw," Talon remembered. "I have retrieved the goods, but it'll be a few days before I can deliver it to you."

"What's the use of having an evil nephew if he can't even do anything right?!" Dr. Claw snapped at him. "Now I have to give MadCat a bath myself!"

Dr. Claw ended the call abruptly, and Talon fumbled to shut off his bracer when Penny emerged from the kitchen with a plate of sandwiches and soda. Talon was eyeing the food hungrily as she set it down on the table. "I assume you can feed yourself, so dig in?" Penny shrugged.

"How are you so sure about that?" Talon winked, and Penny tried to hide her blushing cheeks. She turned away. "Hey I was just kidding Pen," Talon wolfed down the egg mayo sandwiches in one gulp.

Penny's Codex rang. "Kayla?"

"Hey Penny!" Kayla squealed. "Guess where I am?"

"Not home?" Penny replied. "I've been calling you the whole day and you didn't pick up!"

"Well I'm on a junior spy training course in Hawaii!" Kayla squealed in excitement. "I've been having SO MUCH FUN and wait, WAIT, oh my gosh IS THAT TALON CLAW YOUR CRU-"

Penny muted the call before Kayla could reveal her secret crush. She went into her room and shut the door before unmuting the call. "You've got to tell me EVERYTHING!" Kayla squealed.

So Penny recounted the whole situation, Kayla listening attentively. "You've struck the jackpot, girlfriend!" Kayla grinned stupidly. "Got to go, have fun!"

Penny ended the call and walked out, only to find Talon channel surfing with remote he swiped from the coffee table. He looked extremely fascinated as he fiddled with the remote.

"I like how you seem to regard the remote as the most fascinating invention in the world," Penny quipped.

"Well, I can't help it if Uncle Claw doesn't allow me to have cable in my room, I hate to admit it but this is only the second time I've ever used a remote," Talon shrugged.

"Well what was the first time?" Penny was a bit surprised.

"When my parents used to let me watch television all the time," Talon said. "That was before they went missing of course."

Penny immediately shut up. She couldn't help but feel sorry for Talon, even if he was a villain's nephew.

"By the way, why were the police chasing you?" Penny suddenly remembered.

"Why should I tell you?" Talon snapped at her.

"Well, we can use any incriminating evidence against you so you might as well confess now," Penny said.

Sighing, Talon fetched a small object from his pockets. It was a thumbdrive. "Well, Uncle Claw wanted me to hack the system of the local electric company so he could obtain the codes for shutting off the electricity and control the city."

It was either the most harebrained scheme Penny had ever heard of, or the smartest. Her bet was on the former. Penny snatched over the card, much to Talon's protest. "HQ will be needing this," she declared, and she swung off into her room.

The rest of the day was uneventful, except for when Talon spotted his wanted picture on the telly, to which he made a huge fuss of. Otherwise, when night fell, he drifted off to sleep on the hard sofa.