In Chapter 31 and 32 of my "The Chris Expansion" story, a reader showed in his reviews that he really doesn't understand what fan fiction is. Since he reviewed chapters that were already online for a while, I ranted about it in Chapter 37 and wrote that if I wanted to write Leonard as an assassin and Penny as a prostitute, I could. From that day on, this particular scenario kept ghosting around in my head.

So, I decided to write a story with that premise in mind.

Just to avoid people drawing their own comparisons, I love the John Wick series with Keanu Reeves. So this story will draw some ideas from that movie franchise. I also took some aspects of another character I created for my Castle fanfic.

Hope you enjoy :)

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

"Is that all?" came the question from Kurt, stabbing into Penny's heart.

"Yes, that's all." she nodded, disgusted.

"How many did you have?"

"Five." she told him.

"I counted six." Kurt looked at her threateningly.

"I left the last one when he brought out the chains." Penny shrugged but was suddenly rocked back when a hand smacked into her face.

"I expect the money from six customers!" Kurt shouted at her. "Get cleaned up and get back out there again and don't come back until you got the money!"

Shoving her into the wall, Kurt left the small apartment she had. Penny slid down and sighed heavily, then got back up again and headed into her bathroom. She undressed and stepped into the bathtub, opening the faucet and letting the water hit her skin. As she so often did when showering, she cried heavy tears of sadness and desperation. As her body went numb from the cold water, she asked herself a question she asked almost every night.

How did it happen?

She used to be a young girl dreaming of being a famous actress. When she met Kurt, he had been a great guy, nice to her, promising her to take her to Los Angeles so she could be a movie star. But after she had left her family and moved with him to Los Angeles, everything had gone downhill. Unfortunately, acting jobs didn't come and Kurt had suggested a different source of income.

At first it had been innocuous. Playing on her natural beauty, he had suggested her being an escort to make some money. For the first months, that what she did, playing arm candy to wealthy people who wanted a young woman at their side. She couldn't even remember when she had let Kurt convince her to have let the first man have sex with her. Four years later, she was forced to do that regularly and Kurt not only was her pimp but had hooked several more girls, all of whom he kept in line with fear.

And for the millionth time since she got here, Penny sat in her bathtub and cried.

"Hey there, looking for a good time?" Penny smiled at the man through the car window, a man with glasses and who looked rather short and a lot different than her usual clientele, much cleaner for one.

"You'll do." he nodded, pointing his head at the passenger seat.

Disgusted with herself, she walked around the car and got into the passenger seat, the man driving away. Expecting him to stop somewhere so he could do her in the car, or maybe a cheap motel, she was surprised when he drove into midtown, stopping at one of the most prestigious hotels in the city.

"Put this on." the man told her and handed her a small box.

"Why?" she asked, seeing a ring in it, then noticing how he put a same-looking ring on his finger.

"Just do it." he turned his head to her, the look in his eyes making her follow his command immediately.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, a bit fearful.

"Just play along." he said and got out of the car, opening her door like a gentleman and waving over a busboy to take a couple of suitcases out of the trunk.

"Welcome." a receptionist greeted them when they entered the hotel.

"Smith." her new fake husband smiled at the receptionist, a complete transformation from the serious man that picked her up.

Also smiling, playing her role as his wife, she hung on his arm and walked with him into the elevator, the busboy pushing the trolley with the luggage. The elevator brought them to the floor their room was on and the man led her into the honeymoon suite where the busboy unloaded the luggage and held out his hand, the man giving him a ten dollar bill as tip.

"So, what's your name?" she asked.

"Call me John." came the reply, while John was opening a bag and took out a cloth roll.

"John Smith?" she looked incredulous. "That couldn't sound more fake if you wanted to."

"It's enough for now." he shrugged.

"So, what happens now?" she asked, wondering when he would do the thing he hired her services for.

"Enjoy the minibar." he shrugged and opened the cloth roll, revealing a large amount of knives and other cutting equipment.

"What the...?" she shrieked and jumped up, grabbing the first item she could reach. "Stay away from me, you maniac!"

"If you intend to kill me with this scalpel, you're holding it wrong." John said, his face even breaking out in a very small smile.

"What?" she was confused and subsequently disarmed when John hit her arm three times at certain points, making her lose the scalpel and lean backwards in fear.

"If you want to kill someone with a scalpel, you need to hold it like this." he said, holding the scalpel at its end alongside his wrist. "And then you can slash forward. With the way you held it, you would have to move your arm away from your target before attacking him or her, giving your target time to defend him- or herself."

"Seriously, who the hell are you and why did you hire me?" she asked nonplussed.

"Lets just say I have a job to do and I need this room and you for reconnaissance." John replied, unpacking another cloth roll, revealing a number of gun parts. "And I couldn't reserve the honeymoon sweet alone."

"So, what exactly can I do?" she wanted to know.

"You just stay here, do whatever you like. Use the Jacuzzi, take a bubble bath, empty the minibar, order room service, whatever you want." he shrugged again and began cleaning the equipment he brought.

Mollified for the moment that he wasn't going to use those knifes for some form of violent sex thing, she headed to the bathroom and gave an almost silent squeal at the sight of the huge and especially clean bathroom, a large bathtub and Jacuzzi greeting her. She opened the faucet to fill the tub and perused the available bath soaps to add to them, deciding on a lavender scented oil.

"This is heaven." she hummed after lowering herself down into the water.

As she soaked in the scented water for minute after minute, reality hit her. This was a job she was hired for, not really knowing anything about it while not even sure how much she would be paid. Her usual fee normally was for thirty minutes or less, so if this John guy essentially bought her for several days, would he pay her for that amount of time? Would she be brave enough to demand it from him, given that he seemed to be able to take her down easily?

"Finish in there." John's voice and his hand banging on the door startled her. "We got work to do."

"Be right out." she called back, quickly getting out of the bathtub and wrapping a towel around her body before leaving the room. "Want me to be on top or bottom?"

"What?" he looked her confused. "No, not that."

"What then?"

"Put that on." he pointed to a large cardboard box on the bed.

She took it into the bathroom and opened it, seeing two more cardboard boxes, which she unpacked and opened as well. One contained a plethora of high-end makeup while the other's contents made her gasp. She took out the most beautiful dress she had ever seen in her young life, holding it against her and almost weeping at its beige beauty.

She administered a healthy amount of makeup and put on the dress, marveling at how well it fit, not a spot on it too tight or too lose. It hugged her curves in the most accentuating manner, making her wonder what kind of work he had in mind for her. For all she knew, it could be just a fetish of his, maybe a Pretty Woman fantasy he wanted to bring to life, though the disassembled weaponry didn't fit.

"You look beautiful." his voice surprised her when she came out, seeing one of his eyebrows raised in an appreciative manner, which was until then the most direct display of emotion she had seen from him.

"You clean up nice." she commented, looking at him dressed in an elegant tux which somehow, for some reason she couldn't pinpoint, made him appear even more dangerous. "So, what is this job?"

"Information gathering." he replied. "On my part, you're job is to look pretty and stay at my side."

"I can do that." she nodded.

"Lets go." he said and held out his arm.

Arm in arm, they left the room and rode the elevator down to the ground floor. To her surprise, he led her out the backdoor, where a limo was waiting, opening the door to let her in and get in behind her. Without a word being spoken, the driver started the car and began driving away from the hotel, only to turn around and take another route back to the hotel, where they stopped at a red carpet on the other side of the road.

"This is high brow." she commented.

"Yep." he nodded and they left the car when a valet opened the door.

He put out his arm again and they walked along the red carpet, photographers taking pictures of them. She smiled widely, feeling like having the career she always wanted to have, managing to hold it until they were past the cameras where her face fell again when reality hit her. John handed a ticket to the man at the door who let them into the building.

The noise level made it almost feel as if she walked into a wall. There were tuxedo-clad men everywhere, pretty women on their arms who chatted with each other while the men did the same, just with different topics. A large finger food buffet was waiting to be picked, champagne flutes were brought through the crowd by waiters clad in starched uniforms.

"Here you go." John said, handing her a flute.

"Thanks." she smiled and gladly took it, sampling the bubbly liquid, finding it a much better quality than the crap she usually had to drink.

She accompanied John around the room, watching him speak to several people, his demeanor changing with every single person he talked to. With some, he was aggressive with his words, with others, almost demure. But what every person he talked to did was talk back, saying a lot of things she didn't quite understand. It must have been something good though, since John walked away from those people with a slight satisfied smile on his face.

Several hours later, the two exited the gathering, this time simply walking across the street into the hotel instead of taking the limo again. Penny was slightly buzzed from all the champagne she had consumed, while her partner hadn't even sipped from any flute he had taken. If that was all she had to due while being with him, it would be an easy job.

Unbeknownst to her, a pair of eyes was watching her as she entered the hotel.

"Whoa!" she gasped when she exited the bathroom, seeing John get dressed, standing with his back to her wearing only a very tight pair of shorts.

It wasn't his lean figure she was mesmerized of, or the muscles in his arms what spoke of a wiry strength waiting to be unleashed. It was the array of scars on his back and his side that made her gape at his appearance. He turned around to look at her, presenting his front and more scars that looked as if he had been shot a hundred times, along with stabbings and other injuries. Other than that, his skin also had a complete lack of tattoos or piercings.

During the last five days, they had spent every minute in the suite. John had stood at the window and watched the building on the other side of the road, mostly looking at an empty office while she spent her time watching TV, eating every meal the hotel offered and a prodigious use of the Jacuzzi and bathtub.

At first, they had barely spoken, John simply cleaning his weapons and putting them together before taking them apart again and do some form of slow martial arts exercise daily. On the third day, she had convinced him to at least play a few of the available board games with her and to her surprise, he had agreed.

During that time, she had learned a few things about him. For one, he was almost frighteningly knowledgeable about everything, which came out during their game of Trivial Pursuit, where he answered every single question without even having to think about them. They had played monopoly and poker, where she had won games and even Yahtzee, during which he surprised her by rolling all sixes every time, to which he admitted cheating by throwing the dice in a certain way.

He surprised her even more when he agreed to teach her a few tricks, though it would probably be a long time until she could roll all sixes with five die. It already worked with two though, a fact that made her really happy. He also taught her how to use a knife more efficiently, expanding on his small lecture about the scalpel, giving her hope that she may deal with Kurt one day when he again wanted to beat her.

She had also told him about her life, her decision to become an actress and moving to California with Kurt, who then rented her out as an escort to make money which led to prostitution and a life she couldn't get out of. John never commented on it, simply listened to her as she poured her heart out.

Thinking of her real life made her sad again, a fact that John had quickly picked up on. He never pried though and Penny wasn't sure if she was glad that he didn't say anything or sad that he wouldn't inquire to give her a chance to vent about it.

"What happened to you?" she asked quietly, pointing at his skin but not knowing if she could approach the subject.

"Everyone has a past." he replied vaguely.

"Well, duh." she huffed. "What happened to you that made you do what you do?"

"What do you think I do?" he asked her while putting on a tight, black body suit.

"Given your... uh, tools, I'd say you're some form of hitman." she guessed. "Though I never knew a hitman to attend high class fundraisers and chatting to millionaires."

"Close enough." he shrugged and zipped up his body suit.

"What is that suit you're wearing?" she wanted to know.

"It's called a bodyglove because it gets fitted to your body to be as snug as possible, so nothing flaps or is too tight." he explained. "It shields your body heat from thermal sensors or cameras and combined with a mask can be used to hide in shadows."

"Cool." she had to admit. "Is that leather?"

"No, it's cameoline."

"Never heard of that." she said, touching the material, which felt smooth but thinner than leather.

"It's not available on the market." came his humorless smirk as he added knifes and a gun to his arsenal, somehow stowing it away inside the bodyglove without making it bulge.

"Where are you going?" she asked as he turned to leave.

"To do my job." he replied vacuously and left.

Shrugging, she turned on the TV and perused the cable offering, deciding on some HBO. After watching an episode of a show she has never seen before and had no idea about the content, she got up and walked to the windows, watching the street at night. People went to and fro, the more affluent parts of the citizenry enjoying their evening out.

She picked up the binoculars that John had used sometimes and looked straight out, noticing a light on in an office, seeing an older guy sitting on a couch, his eyes closed and his face peaceful. Thinking that he must have fallen asleep, she tried to place the face of the man, knowing that she had seen it somewhere before.

Unsuccessful in digging up the memory, she turned off the lights and went to bed.

The next morning, she got up at nine and took a long shower before brushing her teeth. When she got into the main room, she turned on the TV and checked the news, hearing a segment of a millionaire who died of a heart attack last night. At first she wondered why that would make the news until the host told the story of how this old man was under investigation for allegedly raping dozens of underage girls over the years.

She stopped cold when they showed the man in question, Penny recognizing the man from last night. He was the old man who she saw sitting on his couch in the building across the street and now she wondered if John had something to do with his death. As she pondered the implications, she noticed that all his stuff was gone, except for a gym bag sitting on the table with a note on it. She walked to it and picked it up, reading what seemed to be a note from her erstwhile employer, his penmanship beautiful to behold.

'Your payment is in the bag, along with some bonus. Cover story for the concierge is family emergency, so nobody should be suspicious of you leaving on your own. You should leave town. Don't go home again.' she read, then put down the note to open the bag.

"Oh my god!" she gasped after pulling the zipper, finding it full of cash.

She took one of the bundles and unwrapped it, counting the bills. After finishing and re-wrapping it, she counted the bundles and multiplied it, reaching a sum of money she had dreamed of possessing once she made it as a movie actress. She couldn't believe it. John had left her a five million dollar payment for a week of her time which she spent in luxury without ever having to get naked for him.

She sat back and cried. Whereas before, she had cried tears of sadness and despair, this time she was crying tears of joy. With this money, she could start a new life, away from Kurt and doing what she wanted to do. She dried her tears and sat back down, calming herself before going to wash up to get the red out of her eyes and packed the dress into the bag with the money, covering it up.

She left the hotel, the concierge nodding to her and wishing her parents-in-law well, making her wonder why until she remembered the family emergency cover story. She thanked him and left the hotel, wondering where she should go now and apprehensive of carrying millions of dollars with her.

She called a cab and gave the driver her address. Despite the advice that she shouldn't go home, she needed to get her passport and ID and some keepsakes before leaving town. After handing the driver a bill and telling him to keep the change, she hurried into the building and up the stairs, unlocking the door and quickly grabbing the documentation she needed.

"There you are!" a voice she dreaded thundered from behind her, making her drop the bag she was carrying. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Kurt, I'm done!" she shouted at him and turned away again, which was a mistake.

"You're not done until I let you!" he shouted back and pulled her around, pressing his right hand against her throat and pushing her against the wall, a knife in his right hand.

"Kurt..." she croaked, his hand cutting off most of her air supply.

She should have listened to John. She shouldn't have come back to her old apartment. She should have taken the money and left the city, trying to make it somewhere else, build a new life, away from the man she once loved and who now treated her like his property. But like when her parents warned her about Kurt, she just had to have her own way and now she would be paying the price.

"You think I'm simply letting you walk away?" Kurt growled. "You disappear for hours and then I see you walk into a high class fundraiser with a man on your arm and then you still don't come back for a week! Do you think this is a movie?"

"Let me go!" she tried to kick him.

"Lets see how this guy feels about you after I'm done with you!" Kurt threatened. "Maybe he'll... argh!"

Before Kurt could follow up on his threat, he felt two sharp kicks hitting the back of his knees, causing him to drop down. Gasping for air once his hand was gone from her throat, it took her a minute to realize what was happening. John was standing behind Kurt, his right arm holding Kurt's own right arm at length, the knife dropping to the ground when John pinched a certain spot in Kurt's wrist.

John's left arm was snaked under Kurt's armpit and his left hand rested on Kurt's throat, his middle finger pressing into the skin. What surprised her the most was the fact that Kurt had a foot of height and at least a hundred pounds over John, yet the smaller man held him easily. Kurt wasn't even fighting to get up, the pressure John put on his throat apparently enough to dissuade her pimp from doing anything.

"Is this him?" John asked, nodding down to Kurt.

"Yes." she sniffed, wiping a tear away.

"I told you not to come back here." John said accusingly.

"I know." Penny nodded. "And I should have listened to you. But I'll leave now."

"I'll find you wherever you go!" Kurt growled, finding some courage despite being held immobile.

"I don't think you're aware of your situation right now." John said calmly, easily keeping Kurt down despite the struggles he now put on.

"You can't hold me forever!" Kurt snapped back. "As soon as I'm up, I'll break you in half."

"No, I won't hold you forever." John said, still calm, which quickly made Kurt shut up. "But depending on her, I won't have to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kurt asked, his voice displaying apprehension.

"Do you want him to die?" John asked Penny, looking her straight in the eye.

"No, please!" Kurt begged, his precarious position suddenly dawning on him fully, his body starting to struggle even more but still easily held by the smaller man. "Penny, please, remember the good times we had."

"I do remember those." Penny nodded, Kurt relaxing a bit upon hearing that. "But I also remember how you rented me out for other men to have sex with me and beating me when I brought in less money than you expected or not doing the sick things some of the clients wanted." she screamed loudly.

"Penny, please!" Kurt whispered.

"Kill him." she told John, looking at him.

Without breaking eye contact with her, John moved his left hand, snapping Kurt's head left, his neck breaking audibly. He let go and Kurt's slack body fell to the floor, his empty eyes staring up accusingly at Penny who looked down at his lifeless corpse with a small amount of regret and a lot of satisfaction. From now on, she would be fully free of him to start a new life.

"In thirty minutes, three men will arrive here." John told her after using his phone and handed her two intricate coins. "One will introduce himself as George. Give him these and they will take care of the corpse."

With those words, he turned around to leave. With another look at the corpse of her pimp, she felt a freedom she hadn't felt since she was a kid. In her bag was enough clean money to buy her twenty new ID's, and have enough left to live life on her terms, as long as she didn't buy everything that struck her fancy. She could go back to Nebraska and reconnect with her family, apologize for not listing to them and figure out what to do.

"Wait!" she stopped him. "Could you at least tell me your real name?"

"My name is Leonard." he said after several seconds of looking at her. "Live your life."

Yeah, she could to that. She thought about it as she watched him leave her apartment.

Or she could something completely different...

Well, this is it. No idea yet if this will be a one-shot or a multi-chapter story, it will depend on the reaction.

For those who also read my other stories, I'm still writing those even with the difficulties I have currently.

Review please :)