Caged and Buried [VerMillion]

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Offically Warehouse 3 was just one of a group of buildings owned by Oswald Cobblepot and it's entire stock is made up of cheap and tacky tourist items waiting to be sold to those foolish enough to visit Gotham City. Despite being in a rough area it remains quite secure, in part as it appears to be a place simply not worth stealing from, particularly as it would bring about the wrath of the Penguin.

From the ground floor the building looked exactly as it was supposed to. A token security guard patrolled the area, protecting boxes of 'I love Gotham' t-shirts and very little appeared to happen there aside from the vans coming and going, apparently moving around stock, sometimes they even did just that.

The reality was drastically different for below, within a hidden basement in a guarded cell block, Oswald kept the few people he wished to make disappear without killing them. The majority of real security for the area was taken care of by one of Oswald's gangs that had been set up in the building across the street and weren't known for liking others on their turf but left Cobblepot's warehouses and men alone.

A elevator, hidden beneath a section of the warehouse floor was the main way into the lower levels which contained all that was needed to keep at least a dozen prisoners in relative discomfort in small simple rooms with the only view outside to the corridor through a small barred window in the door for as long as Oswald desired. Guarded round the clock by six heavily armed guards in body armour that were replaced twice a day by the next shift who came in concealed in the vans with the stock from the warehouse the place was not designed to be noticed.

Up until a few days ago there had been just five people hidden in the cells, these consisted of a mother and young daughter who were currently being held for blackmailing purposes. A middle aged man who never said a word and that none of the current staff had been employed long enough to know why he was there. A young man who woke up screaming more than once a day because he'd been in the same cell for nearly a year and he was going mad and finally there was another young man who, when the guards hadn't beaten or sedated him, liked to spend all his time shouting abuse at the guards, which never went down well.

A few days ago though, after a very long night, the cells got a new prisoner. Heather Glass, aka VerMillion, radio host, somewhat of a celebrity and more recently associate of the Scarecrow. A woman who it appeared had been left forgotten since she she was dumped in the cell after Cobblepot caught her in the process of exacting his revenge upon Dr. Crane.

Forgotten is not the right word though. Oswald doesn't forget. Biding his time while he follows other leads he has been patient with the idea of speaking to the woman, hoping that time where her fate is uncertain will make her more willing to talk but there is only so long Oswald can wait for answers and finally he decides to pay a visit.

The loud, abusive prisoner marked Oswald's arrival quickly with a string of curses and insults shortly followed by a loud crack and a howl of pain as the arm he so foolishly stuck out the window in his door is swiftly broken, hooked onto by the handle of an umbrella. As soon as he's silenced Oswald ignores the man, letting someone else deal with fixing the break as he heads straight for Heather's cell and waits for the guards as they quickly move in to forcefully get VerMillion handcuffed and sat on the bed before taking up a place either side of her as Cobblepot entered the cell "Miss Glass, I don't believe we have had the time to properly become acquainted"

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

The past few days have been hell. One would think that the brave toxin would have made this experience easier on her, but actually Heather suspects that it might even out. At least she suspects that it would have been a lot less boring - this strikes her as a place that she might have found scary and she knows that when she's scared she passes a lot of time worrying about ridiculous things.

The first day was the worst. She'd hardly appreciated being brought here, and the guards had hardly appreciated the fact that she expressed her displeasure by flooding her cell instead of fearfully huddling in the corner like a good prisoner. Nor did they like how she cursed at them when they took issue with that, or that she also cursed at them each and every time that they used violence to try to convince her that she ought to stop cursing at them. That resulted in a vicious circle in which she ended up severely beaten in that instance, but eventually they noticed that their method was ineffective and actually quite pointless since she stopped the moment they did. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so prolonged if she hadn't seemed to think that it was funny when they got angry, but she couldn't really help that.

Since then things have been more or less peaceable between her and the guards, if only because once her initial anger cooled she stopped trying to actively cause them any trouble. She still glares and curses at them if they attempt to interact with her but, as any attempts to punish her for that only result in her cursing at them again and laughing if they lose their temper, most of the guards find that simply ignoring her is far more pleasant than to try to get her to stop. She's quickly chalked up by most of them as being crazy, but at least less trouble overall than the one who won't shut up unless he's drugged.

And really, the only reasons why she does it is because she's extremely frustrated by her situation and it's probably the closest thing that she can get to entertainment around here. While it's certainly not pleasant being hurt, though she's intellectually aware that they would stop it if she'd keep her mouth shut, she's not afraid of being hurt again and being able to make them lose their temper gives her at least some sense of control over the situation. Of course she hasn't been here nearly as long as most people would have to in order to be that desperate for entertainment, but she's a person who craves a lot of stimulation on a drug that makes that craving harder to satisfy in a place where there's practically nothing to do. She'd rather watch Jon working in his lab for hours on end than be here.

Of course, that's partly because if she was able to watch Jon working that would mean that she was with him rather than here by herself. She hasn't the slightest idea where Jon is now, but the last time she saw him he was very badly hurt. And that memory is easily enough to keep her anger raging inside of her, even if it's not being expressed so much. Though she has another hobby outside of messing with the guards and fuming internally - the thought of escape has crossed her mind. True, she's no escape artist and this place looks rather well put together for a private prison, but at least it's something to keep her mind occupied.

Having a very good memory for people, it didn't take her long to become familiar with all the guards as they rotate through their shifts even though most of the time her only way to see them is through her little window. Unfortunately they took everything but her clothes away from her when she arrived, including her watch, so she has no way of accurately measuring time, but their changing shifts and mealtimes follow a pattern that isn't difficult to figure out. She hasn't the slightest idea yet how to use that knowledge to make an escape plan yet, but she hopes that she'll be able to in time.

Yet even that doesn't keep her occupied enough that she doesn't get instantly curious when the cursing of a certain other prisoner suddenly varies enough from his usual rants for her to know that he's not simply inviting the guards to beat him again but reacting to something different. She heads over to her door to peek out the little window, not really put off by the man's screams of pain. But no sooner does she get there then she's forced back by a couple of the guards. She doesn't bother to curse at them this time, if only because she's curious about what's going on, and she doesn't resist getting handcuffed.

However, once she's seated on the bed and sees the man who came to visit her, her compliance with the situation ends. She knows him instantly, just as she knows any prominent figure in Gotham. True, she doesn't know as much about him as many others, but she knows quite a bit. But though she hasn't the slightest idea why this man did what he did to Jon and herself there's not an excuse he could give her that she would be satisfied with. So unless he's here to tell her that he's letting her go, she's definitely not happy to be talking to him. Her first impulse is to want to injure him somehow, but the brave toxin does not make her unaware that the guards standing next to her are probably here to prevent that sort of thing.

But the brave toxin does make it so that she sees no reason not to make it extremely apparent exactly how she feels about him right now. Her face contorts into a look of utter disgust and hatred as her eyes lock unflinchingly right onto his. "I know who you are, Penguin," she replies, "Fuck you!"

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Oswald doesn't look impressed but having received a less than flattering description from the guards he wasn't expecting the woman to be pleasant and doesn't get more than mildly annoyed. It's one of the guards stood beside her that reacts to her words instead, aiming a heavy slap at her face with the back of his hand.

"I see that you didn't exaggerate" Oswald idly comments to one of the guards before looking down his nose at VerMillion and speaking to her once more "I would prefer 'Mr. Cobblepot'. I'm certain you cannot be unaware of the current situation Jonathan Crane has landed you in, I assure you it's quite serious. You are here for as long as I wish you to be and I shall only keep you for as long as I consider you useful. How long that becomes and how comfortable your stay depends upon you my dear" It also depends upon how much Jon wants her back but Oswald prefers to paint the illusion that she has some control over her fate.

The guards stand by to hit her again if she starts up, they might consider ignoring her to be easier but while the boss is around they're keen to show off how tough they are and leap in for the slightest reason. Oswald isn't about to stop them either, so long as she's alive and mostly in one piece they can do what they want.

"You have spent quite some time around Jonathan it seems, you are going to tell me about his work or I am going to break your fingers, one by one until I have to consider a more imaginative way to encourage you to speak" Oswald's nice guy act slowly drops as he turns a sharp, piercing glare onto her. He doesn't have to be a nice guy here, if he has his way she'll never get out alive to tell anyone what happened. It's just too bad he doesn't know about the brave toxin yet.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Perhaps the first thing that becomes immediately apparent is the fact that Heather's spirit hasn't been broken has nothing to do with any resistance to feeling pain. Though everything that Jon has ever taught her about absorbing blows has come in rather handy lately and she's had a lot of opportunities to practice - in fact she suspects that Jon would be rather pleased by how well she can do that now - the blow to her face is easily strong enough to cause plenty of pain even in spite of that. A back-handed slap hurts more than it damages actually, and for a moment Heather's face contorts from the pain: either she's an extremely good actress or that really hurt.

Yet another thing that she's been learning quickly is how to handle the pain from blows like that - the key is to keep your focus elsewhere. And in this case she manages to shake it off after a moment by turning her focus right back to the Penguin as he rambles on. Whether she actually hears his threats or is too busy glaring at him with undisguised hatred to listen is uncertain since she doesn't react to either them or the hint of her slight ability to control her situation. She heard them all right, but the threats seem completely unimportant since they simply don't feel at all... threatening. And though, in a different mood, she might have latched onto the idea of making her 'stay' more 'comfortable', right now she simply doesn't care enough.

In fact, she doesn't care to say anything at all until he's speaking. Normally she would have cursed at the guard who hit her, but like them she's acting just a bit different since the man actually responsible for this is present. Instead her expression remains completely unchanged even when the Penguin actually gives her details about how he intends to hurt her in an attempt to extract information she doesn't think that she even has. Yes, she spent a lot of time around Jon, but she didn't exactly pay much attention to any of his lab work.

The glare he directs at her is just as useless as the threats. Her own is rather intimidating in its own right, at least coming from someone who is completely unintimidating in every other way, handcuffed, and surrounded by guards. Mainly it's because there's a certain uncanny creepiness about the fact that she's not merely faking confidence but is instead incapable of feeling any of the emotions that might have otherwise crept into her expression and eased it slightly. She's more confident and comfortable in this situation than the Penguin is, never mind that she's the one sitting here in handcuffs, ignoring her latest injury, and facing the prospect of more misery in her future while he could leave and go back to living in luxury at any time.

"Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell a fat, ugly, midget bastard like you anything," she replies, before her face suddenly twists into a mocking smile. "I'm not afraid of you!" she adds in the same teasing sing-song a child might use to tease another.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

The girl's confidence is almost noted but her insult causes Oswald's anger to flair dangerously. His lip twisting into a snarl he swings out his umbrella, the handle aimed to hit her in the face "You should be!" He has her at his mercy, surrounded by his men, hidden away in his prison. Even those idiots at school wouldn't be brave here! She should be afraid...she should...be.

Oswald took a moment, ignoring her as he ran through the options and the evidence "Brave toxin..." he muttered, considering her behaviour. He doesn't know what she's usually like but this didn't match up with what he'd heard of the events surrounding her kidnappings.

Darn Jon and his blasted chemicals!

Well that could certainly explain how anyone could stand to be around the creepy doctor for that long.

Dealing with brave toxin required different tactics, if it was true she couldn't be threatened or bullied into talking, such a pity, Oswald would have preferred it but everyone has to do things the hard way it seems. It was worth a try, at worst he would simply have to leave her in here a while and return when it wore off or her spirit finally broke.

A gesture to the guards and they relaxed back a little, confused but obeying the order to stand down "Perhaps we can make a deal Miss Glass. I'm certain you have heard little in your time here so I shall assure you firstly that Jonathan is alive and free" after years of practice Ozzy has the appearance of going from absolute rage to polite gentleman in the blink of an eye down to an art form.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Though she sees the blow coming, Heather makes no attempt to avoid it. She only moves with it to ease the strength of it somewhat. That only helps so much though, as the handle of an umbrella has a lot more sting to it than someone's hand or fist. Still, though she hisses against the pain and feels a welt rapidly growing on her cheek, when she turns back she's laughing in spite of the pain. Yes, here she is at his complete mercy and yet a few simple words on her part and he's enraged enough to have to hit her himself. It gives her a certain odd sense of power over him.

She laughs again, louder and turning smug when she hears him quietly identify the toxin in her veins. "Figured it out, huh?" she asks, "You're not as stupid as you look." Her laugh dies to a self-satisfied grin when with a gesture the man tells his guards to relax. Good! While she can't fear them and can ignore their threat if she wants to, she does find them to be rather unpleasant. Ultimately useless in convincing her to do anything, but unpleasant.

But what he says now causes her grin to get a little bigger as she says, "Oh, I know he is. If he weren't alive you'd have no reason to keep me. And if he weren't free he would be soon and without my help. But that means you can't terrorize, intimidate, or even make me worry. Or bribe me - you have nothing that I want. If you want to make a deal then there's only one I'd take: you let me go right now and I'll ask Jon not to factor me into however much revenge he's planning. And it's a good deal, since I'm worthless to you - if Jon wants me back he'd sooner break in here and get me than negotiate." Or at least, that would be decidedly unlike him and she knows that he has the skills required to find her and get her out of here.

She laughs a little to herself, watching the Penguin steadily enough for it to count as staring. If he's going to in any way convince her that she ought to listen to him, then he has his work cut out for him - she's really, really angry with him for what he did to Jon, to the point that it completely overshadows the additional rage she'd have felt about how she's being treated. It would take far more than a little bit of politeness for her to not want to refuse anything he says simply out of spite.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Well that's certainly all the confirmation Oswald needs for now, though he could have done without the insult. Knowing it's not his problem and she's just drugged out of her mind helps. He can imagine that without the brave toxin she would be suitably afraid right now. Perhaps he will revisit once it's worn off too, it would do his ego good to watch her cower respectfully. Unlike Jon he saw fear merely as a tool to be used to get what he wanted.

Luckily his already angered temper is kept under control by the fact he finds her little speech amusing. A short squawk of laughter and he shakes his head "You have spent more time with the good doctor than anyone in years, you will have seen something even if you no doubt fail to understand it just as you fail to understand this. Jonathan is not coming for you my dear because I declined to pass on the information that you are still alive" he didn't say she was dead either mind but he wishes to cast doubt upon the idea of rescue.

"I am certain I have two things you may desire. Firstly, is naturally your freedom. Secondly though, I know exactly where Jonathan is currently hiding out and it would be a simple task to finish the job and destroy him completely. Since you seem so keen to protect him and have no care for your own well being perhaps you will care for his" Oswald didn't pay attention to her staring, any bravo she showed now he'd blame on the brave toxin and he was busy lighting a cigarette. Eventually the rogues were going to kill him just through smoke inhalation.

As soon as he's got the thing lit he starts talking again "Crane broke a business deal and was made an example of, as is the way things are done between people such as us. Considering how easily he was overwhelmed do you not imagine I could have done worse?" as far as he was concerned it was a perfectly rational reason to have someone taken out and beaten by twenty armed men.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Continuing to stare while he talks, Heather nevertheless looks a little bit bored while she listens. What he's saying doesn't really matter, though she does take a few mental notes on how he's trying to convince her. Mainly so that she can say, "Well, I take it back - you are as stupid as you look. You know what drug I've taken, but you don't have a clue about what it means." Her tone becomes patronizing and even a bit disappointed in him for that last bit, though then her expression lights up slightly, "Maybe if I explain it then you'll get it!"

She smirks as she says, "I'm not afraid that Jon doesn't know I'm alive, not afraid that it's even true, not afraid that he won't come for me, not afraid of staying here, not afraid of you knowing where Jon is again, not afraid of you attacking him again, and not afraid of him dying. In short, I'm not afraid at all for myself, and I'm not one iota more afraid for Jon. Though I doubt that he cares for your justifications for attacking him, and neither do I."

Her eyes are completely full of amusement as she finishes off her 'lesson' by adding, "You have no ability to scare me, so you have no power over me. Isn't that a bitch?" And she laughs again, though this time she does so by mimicking, as well as she can, his own squawking laugh - only with a few overly exaggerated squawks thrown into it for good measure. Why, yes, I am mocking you. And her eyes haven't left him the entire time.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Oswald keeps his temper in order by mentally calling the woman stupid and ranting about the man who would invent such an infuriating drug that would cause a girl to mouth off like that. Her bored impression is met with one of his own as he waits for her to finish but it's the squawking that gets to him. It's subtle, a little darkening of his expression, a tightening of the jaw and then, not so subtly, he shoots her with his umbrella, aiming for her leg.

His tone is perfectly calm afterwards as he ignores any reaction to her getting shot at and just quietly explains it for her "I am not asking you to be afraid my dear, I am asking you to be logical" He will make her life hell when this toxin wears off "I'm certain you cannot be as stupid as to enjoy being in this situation. You have other emotions and a brain, kindly remove your focus on your lack of fear and use them. You are angry with what I have done to Jonathan but will do nothing to keep it from happening again simply because you do not fear it. I find it fitting that one of his toxins can turn on him again" He steadily gets more irritable as he goes on, ranting a little. His patience was wearing thin "How anyone could like a man like Crane to begin with is beyond me, the man is repulsively creepy, obsessed about one thing. He doesn't care about people. The only thing he cares about is his work. Help me and I could provide you with a life far better than he ever could. He is an insane scientist with a limited bag of tricks who has just lost everything. I am capable of building a place like this under the nose of an entire city, there is no comparison between our power, you could be so much more than a lab rat and his...girlfriend" there's a little sneer at the thought of anyone being with Jon but that's the information he got from Edward.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Pain suddenly shoots through Heather - it actually takes her a moment to realize that the source of it is her leg, and then a moment longer to realize that she's been shot. "Oh, God, that hurts!" she exclaims, though after a moment the sensation dulls from an all-consuming agony to a very sharp but localized burning. But aside from mentally trying to deal with the pain, she doesn't do much - partly because her hands are cuffed behind her back so she can't do much about it anyway, but also because she's not afraid of things like bleeding to death. The only part of it that's really on her mind is the pain.

Though she does find herself also listening to the Penguin's words when he speaks again, even though they really don't matter to her. "And what if I don't feel like being logical?" she asks him once the pain eases enough to allow her to talk back, though it lingers in her voice, "What if I'd rather piss you off?" Because that's the real problem that the Penguin is facing her right now - the only actual reason why she's even talking to him is because she wants to upset him and not because she really cares about anything that he has to say.

Though when he starts ranting about how much better he is than Jon, she can't help but speak up. "You forgot to mention that he's ridiculously handsome, intriguingly mysterious, breathtakingly powerful..." she lists off, her eyes going unfocused as she pictures him in her mind's eye. The thought actually seems to slightly lessen the pain in her leg. "But what makes you think I'm his girlfriend?" she asks him with a laugh, "Oh, I wish! I really do! But I think the only reason why he keeps me around is because he needs me for something."

Though then the condition he was in the last time she laid eyes on him comes to mind, and her anger returns. "You're just a short, fat, balding old man with money who should use some of it to get a nose job. And I don't want anything from you," she adds, her eyes refocusing back on the Penguin and her stare returning, though there's a hint of pain in her eyes, "The best part is, I'm not even afraid of being shot again." Her lips twist into a smirk, then she very deliberately squawks at him again, just to underline that fact.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Oswald's sneer turns into a little smile. People might not like to tell you things but they loved to contradict you. He'd finally gotten something out of her that might at least be vaguely interesting. Either Edward had simply been mistaken or he had a reason to want this girl out the way. Considering she did seem to be the first girl Crane had kept around for any length of time he wouldn't dismiss the idea that it was a mistake but using Oswald like that would be very like Edward.

Her insults wash right off his back with the promise of progress at last. Besides, the woman liked Crane, no-one could rely on judgement like that. He even smiles when she squawks again but there's a dark twist to it "An unfortunate twist to the drug. Good" and he shoots her again since she's practically asking for it. Same leg, different spot, far easier to clean up that way. It wouldn't accomplish anything to get her to talk but it made her attitude almost bearable and Ozzy's happiness was important. While he was happy he was far less likely to have her killed out of spite. He just had to make sure he didn't accidentally kill her from blood loss.

"Edward Nigma, I presume he paid Jonathan a visit?" he puts on a mocking tone as if he feels sorry for her though he looks like he finds it funny "Probably stole all your beloved Crane's attention away from you"

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Heather is actually completely oblivious to the fact that she told Oswald anything. And especially when he quickly shoots her again she doesn't have enough time to speculate about why he's smiling. Instead she can only exclaim, "Goddamnit!" The pain hits her again, and it actually seems to surprise her - she may have been asking for it, but that doesn't mean that she really realized that she was asking for it.

This time as the initial shock of it eases, she's still breathing hard due to the pain. But the pain is the only part of it that concerns her, as the other troublesome parts of being shot would require fear for her to be really bothered by them. Yet based on the blood stains of her jeans neither shot hit any important blood vessels, though she'll need some first aid shortly to stop the blood loss - she's a small, thin young woman and can only handle so much of that.

But as soon as her mind adjusts to the pain she's smirking again, and comments, "You know that's really kind of pathetic, right? I mean, I'm sitting here handcuffed in wherever the hell this is, and you still feel the need to shoot me even though you know it won't do anything. Did I hurt your feelings?" She gives him an exaggerated pout, as if being sympathetic, before she bursts out laughing and adds, "I'm not answering any of your pathetic questions, little man."

The smile she gives him now is vaguely triumphant, even though there's a lot of pain behind it. Because she can't fear him, she feels invincible. Not that she believes that she can't be hurt - obviously she can - but she's able to ignore that worry, ignore all threats. He can't do any harm at all to her mind, only her body - and she has no concern for her body.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Oswald looks smug and rests his umbrella on his shoulder, tucking the other hand in his pocket as he files away all the insults for later, he wanted her alive so he could extract a suitable revenge later, the information she could provide was almost second to making her regret her words once that stupid drug had worn off.

Still, there was something he could still try and could prove at least entertaining "Yes, I bet he did" Oswald continues with his mocking as if he hadn't heard her words "As if anyone would pay attention to something like you when someone important like Nigma comes to visit. I can't imagine Crane would even look up from his work for you" a deep chuckle and he steps out the door, ordering one of the guards outside as he disappears out into the hall "Bind her wounds, I have something I wish to try"

The guards liked to break prisoners, as their orders are to also keep them alive though there's always some level of medical competence in the facility so they can keep fixing things again. They've also become quite used to prisoners using it as an excuse to get close enough to try and do some damage. As a guy with a very well stocked medical kit enters the guards with Heather move to hold her still, the handcuffs might still be there but considering he's working on her leg they don't want her going and kicking the guy so while one moves to lock an arm around her neck to keep her top half still the other grabs for her ankles. Considering most of the guards are probably nearly twice her size they're not predicting a whole lot of trouble but she's already proven herself to be a pain in the neck.

When Oswald brought the syringe of fear toxin with him it wasn't originally with the intention of using it on Heather, her connection with the Scarecrow had been enough to bring it in case he needed it but he had been instead saving it for something special. That Heather had gotten him to change those plans was a show of just how angry with her Oswald really was and how well he hid it behind his fake smile. Having fetched it Oswald reappears about the time the guard's finishing up with Heather's leg and he offers it to the guard. As a rule Oswald leaves injecting people with things to people who understand doses, that they had a very limited idea what a correct dose would be for fear toxin and that the guard had none at all didn't matter "A small dose, I wish to see if it will work against the brave toxin" he'd happily use the whole thing on her if not for the fact he'd still like to keep some for another occasion.

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

As the man continues to look pleased with himself and talks more about the Riddler, Heather's smile fades somewhat. It's not that his words really bother her at all - she doesn't currently feel any reason to be concerned about however much attention Jon gives the Riddler, and she's gotten him to look up from his work a number of times anyway - it's that, since he seemed rather unbothered by her words, what he's saying in general doesn't seem very important to pay attention to compared to how much her leg hurts. If he's not going to freak out because she's hurting his delicate little feelings, then he's boring and the pain of being shot twice is enough to make her not want to put forth enough effort to do so again. Instead she's content to simply sit there with a slight smile still on her face - just in case that look will get to him after awhile.

Though when he leaves and the guards start moving around, she sighs when they restrain her to care for her leg. She doesn't resist as they grab her, though it's largely because they do a good job of restraining her and she doesn't see the point of struggling just to struggle. If they'd left her the option to kick someone, she definitely would have - never mind that they're attending to her wounds. She's not afraid of them going unattended, after all. If it didn't hurt so much she'd probably have been in the mood to curse at them the whole time, but instead she confines her epithets for the parts of the process that really hurt.

When the Penguin gets back, she's in a mixed mood. On the one hand she feels like she's had her entertainment for the day and would like to be left alone, but on the other hand the fact that they haven't yet seems to promise that there's more to come and she ticked off enough to want to triumph over whatever he chooses to dish out. Though when she sees the syringe, she recognizes the substance inside of it and that causes a reaction. But it's only to scowl at Oswald - not because of the drug itself, because in spite of her memory of just how bad the experience is she's unable to fear the repeat, but because it's Jon's and she doesn't like him having it. Though after that her eyes become distant as his man prepares the dose - where is Jon right now? She's been missing him a lot the past few days.

She doesn't try to fight being injected, recognizing yet another situation where struggling would be pointless. Though it only takes a few moments for the drug to take effect. It's hard to explain what happens in her mind at that moment - one powerful drug is forcing her to feel an emotion that another powerful drug is already is preventing her from feeling - they're mutually incompatible. She suddenly collapses, and for a few moments she twitches as if the fight between them is being played out in her movements.

But then relief from the problem comes in an unexpected way; even before she met Jon she tended to dissociate a lot. It was actually why such a normally mild mannered young woman could play the part of a somewhat obnoxious radio show host so easily. And her previous experiences with the brave toxin caused that part of her mind to distance itself from the rest of her even further. So by now it's really only a little step further for that part of her mind to break itself off from the rest of her completely. And when that happens, it's a simple thing to resolve the conflict between the two drugs by allowing the new piece to hold onto the brave toxin that it already has an affinity with, and that allows the fear toxin to play havoc with the rest of her as it normally would.

Her movements abruptly stop, and she blinks - her eyes focusing on something ahead of her that only she can see. "Jon?" she says weakly, in a small, scared voice. Which abruptly becomes a scream, "JON?! WHY?!"

---

Meanwhile, something else is happening in Heather's mind - the piece that broke off is coming to grips with the fact that it... exists now. Weird... And what is that screaming for? She doesn't see anything scary going on. But it's her screaming... No, that's not her, it's some other mind... Again, weird But what is she doing screaming like that? She shouldn't be screaming in front of the Penguin - he'll probably like that and she's angry at him right now. She shoves the other mind aside and takes over.

The scream abruptly cuts off, only to be replaced by her suddenly looking at her leg and saying, "Oh my God that hurts!" It's as if she's feeling the pain there for the first time. Which she is, but Oswald wouldn't know that.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

The only thing the guard's medical kit doesn't seem to have a lot of is pain killers but they've never wanted to stop the pain a prisoner is going through and they don't intend to start now. It was their way of reminding people not to mess with them, though some of them just really liked to inflict pain. They didn't get the job for being nice.

The guards back off as soon as the injection of fear toxin is done, none of them really know what to expect from the girl next and they don't want to be too close when they find out just in case.

Oswald ends up in the doorway, half behind one of the guards, ready to use him as a shield if things get unpleasant but relaxes somewhat when Heather collapses. Well, perhaps that's not unexpected for injecting people with random quantities of unknown drugs. Maybe she'll die from it. Woops, oh well, no big deal. Some part of Oswald would be happy with that outcome but alas it's disappointed when she seems to regain control of her movements.

Ah. Screaming. How unpleasant but apparently the fear toxin is working then. Good, perhaps he won't have to wait to make some progress.

...But then she stops. Oswald frowns as she seems to be focusing on the leg and not panicking again...A war between the drugs perhaps? Maybe she will swing back around to screaming again. How fortunate that Oswald won't have to stay and listen to it "Thoughts?" Ozzy curiously asks the guard with the medical kit.

The guard shakes his head "I...don't know, sir" Neither did Cobblepot but he wasn't going to be the one to admit it.

Oswald fixed Heather with his best glare to test things out "Are you going to behave now girl?"