pretty little time bomb [ozzy]

[Deleted]

How the hell did you even go about using chloroform? Maybe he was out of her league.

The Iceberg was to close its doors in a matter of moments and only a handful of customers still lingered with their appropriate servers. Summer’s hands were shaking as she constantly looked over her shoulder, paranoid more and more with each passing second. One woman stood in her way: Linsey. She seemed to be the woman in charge this evening, her pointy face not bothering to crack a smile once as she came down from her tower hourly to correct some of the girls’ mistakes. She was a thin woman, though she towered over the young reporter despite the fact she was wearing heels that were nearly six inches. The woman was currently on her head piece as the rest of the staff worked to clear out the nearly-vacant building. Summer moved through her routine of closing, the heartbeat echoing in her eardrums being her main distraction

If there wasn’t a ticking time bomb placed over her head, she wouldn’t be rushing like this. However, there was no time to be doubtful. She knew she couldn’t fully trust Edward and that it was a matter of time before the Penguin discovered the misplaced reporter in his venue. Her nerves were multiplying by the second, and while her original plan was to attempt to break into the Penguin’s office – she now had developed a new game plan. Hack the cameras, get to the third floor office, distract Lindsey and secure the files off one of the computers. While it would not be all the information she managed to acquire, it surely would be enough to expose the Penguin and his malicious doings.

One hour later…

Security cameras emitting a perplexing image in the control room, she knew it was only a matter of time before they managed to restore the images. Lindsey was nowhere to be seen – but then again the building was currently closed with the only lighting provided being that from the exhibit of hungry seals. Summer quickly hurried to the third floor with a drawstring bag hanging off her back containing various amounts of supplies. To silence her footsteps, she had placed her heels in that bag; a bottle of what she assumed was chloroform, an old rag, several flash drives – one containing the program she had used to hack the security footage as well as many other things that she assumed might come in handy.

As she started down the dark hallway, she squinted in the darkness to make out the labels on the doors. She didn’t expect them to be open – but she was sure she could find a code from the finger prints. However – the sound of heels clicking against the marble floor grabbed her attention. They seemed hurried, and the ghostly white face of Linsey round the corner. Heart pounding, Summer rustled through her bag for the bottle, allowing some of the liquid to leak onto the rag before she leapt toward the woman.

The catfight ensued, but Summer had not expected the older woman to be significantly stronger than her. “Ahh” The redhead groaned as she was slammed into a wall, the woman’s forearm at her throat and making it difficult for Summer to breath. She certainly wasn’t cut out for this, though it was far too late to go back now. Sending a forceful knee to the woman’s abdomen so that she buckled, Summer moved behind her, grabbing a handful of the woman’s hair so that she was forced backward. Pressing the drenched rag to the lower half of the woman’s face, it was a matter of moments before her struggling seized and she fell limp in Summer’s arms. The young reporter was surprised as her success, gasping to catch her breath as she crawled out from under the woman, grabbed her badge and started toward the office.

Throwing her bag down once more, she pulled out a list with a series of number combinations she had narrowed the access code down too. It had taken a week to obtain it, but thankfully her back towards the camera during the process saved her from being caught then and there. After staging an emergency, she had followed the woman to her office and used her finger prints to obtain the four numbers used. After making a list of each possible combination, she now had narrowed endless amounts of combinations down to a list of sixteen. Summer attempted the first one, only to find it wrong. Then the second - still wrong. Thankfully, the lock color switched too green and the door opened.

Just as she managed to open the door – Summer was tackled by the woman once more, who had cleverly managed to con the young woman by a simply play of possum. The redhead felt foolish, though she had never chloroformed someone before – you should have seen the efforts she went to obtain the liquid. Summer’s head hit painfully against the desk and knocked off a various amount of items from its surface. A groan of pain left her red lips as the woman pinned her to the ground and muttered something into her headset.

Fighting as dirty as she could, the ambitious reporter attempted to get up as the woman clamped a large hand around her throat. In addition to the blossoming pain in her forehead and struggling for air, Summer frantically ran her hands against t the carpet in hopes of finding something she could use to distract the woman. Her manicured fingers found something heavy, and she quickly moved it upward to collide with Linsey’s head. The adrenaline helped add to her strength, and before she knew it- Linsey was slumped over once more and collapsed to a pile on top of Summer.

“Oh my god.” Was she dead? Summer began to panic. She frantically felt for the unconscious woman’s pulse and after a few seconds she found it at a slowed rate. The woman was just unconscious, and Summer didn’t take the time to make her comfortable. Her time frame had just been cut in half and she now needed to download the files from her computer and find a way out without being caught. Summer swore to herself, feeling very foolish. This whole operation was sloppy and needed much more time than allotted, but she wasn’t giving up so easily. Seizing one of the healthy flash drives from her bag, she instantly stuck it into the computer and began to work as frantically as she could.


outfit: click for outfit

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Unfortunately it wasn't as simple as sitting at a computer and having every scrap of information Oswald had just sitting there in a folder on the desktop. There was however an interface program. Without some very smart software there was no way to pull all the files out of it but get inside and there were search boxes, lists of names that with a simple click would access everything the users level of security would allow. At the highest level on the file of a person of importance someone could get address, friends, family, phone and medical records, bank records, known scheduled and request even more. The average person wouldn't get as much detail it, all depended how much Oswald cared about their lives. To access anything though required a password. The computer requested it the moment she tried to do anything.

Far off in the security centre meanwhile the call had gone out to monitor everything. All but the most important of tasks were set aside as every eye turned to the centre of the Penguin's empire. The lack of customers in the building only made it easier to locked all the doors and begin a deep background check on all the staff in the building. Staff outside would come later but the first job was to secure the building and a few puzzling over why the doors wouldn't open when they tried to leave was the least of their concerns.

The brief message from Linsey was practically lost in the flurry of chatter as every room was flicked through to secure peoples locations. A fault in some of the cameras grabbed the attention of one operative and as he quickly started a work around for Summer's program and tried other hidden cameras before Linsey finally served another purpose for it was hard to overlook an unconscious body lying on the floor while a waitress sat at one of the computers "Possible sighting"

The security team would not overlook the possibility that there was more than one spy to be found, nor would they allow such a clear breach.

The doors silently lock, containing Summer to the room but nothing on Summer's end appears to change except a small message pops up in the corner 'Unknown device detected. Searching for drivers' It looked a normal windows error message, the kind that meant it couldn't read something, like say a flash drive. The light on the drive was still on and happily flickering to say it was working but this was because security was coping the contents to a secure, contained place before it wiped the drive completely and hoped she'd try again with another one.

No alarms sounded, no gas came from the ceiling or armed men through the door the computer just waited for her to do something else before it again threw up the message 'Password required'. The box patiently waiting for her to enter whatever password she's managed to get hold of so they know who to investigate for potentially helping her. All to waste time while they altered what she would find.

No matter what she typed this time in it would allow her access as the operative on the spot altered her access. She got a list of names for the most boring, deceased people they had on file, namely he locked it to everyone on their list on a level one clearance who'd died of natural causes just to give her something to look at and waste time with. Innocent bystanders who once witnessed something that never went to trial, elderly grandparents of someone more important, none of them had been researched enough to have anything past a name, address, few contact details and family connection if relevant. While there was an option to click on the more important family member to go to their file it always came back with the message 'Insufficient clearance' and give her the option to go back and try looking at something else only to repeat the process.

They were stalling her while they worked out what she'd been doing and got instructions from Cobblepot.

Orders came shortly afterwards and were quickly put into action. Just off the screen, waiting for her to scroll down and find it a file was placed. It said 'Summer Gleeson'

Oswald waits, letting her discover it herself as he watches her movements until she makes any move to open it before the speakers of a few computers in the room come to life "Do you want to see what's inside?" Overhead a projector whirrs into life and a picture flicks into life on the wall of Oswald, staring down at her from what looked like his car, on the move somewhere. He wasn't going near this situation until it was controlled "Well my dear?" He questioned as the computers in the room all flicked off their screen-savers and displayed the feed for the half a dozen cameras in the room that could see her right then, her own computer flicking onto a close up image of her face from the webcam sat on top of the monitor "Is this what you came here for?" His hand was forced with the methods he could use, he'd have to introduce her to the reason it was wrong to cross him.

[Deleted]

Summer wasn’t stupid; she knew she had made several critical errors. It would have been wise to bolt and evacuate Iceberg as soon as possible – never to step inside the venue again. However, there was something that bound her to that computer. The possibility of knowledge and success and a small amount of greed kept her eyes glued to the screen. The pop up in the corner of the screen should have been her first sign, but instead she slammed a small fist on the keyboard before fumbling in the contents of the bag for a different flash drive, careful to avoid the flash drive that contained the virus. She shoved it in the allowed slot and tapped her fingers quickly against the desk impatiently as she waited for it to register. “Come on, come on, come on.”

The young reporter couldn’t help but smirk when the password option popped up. She had memorized the possible options based on her close observations regarding the unconscious woman still sprawled out on the floor. Peering over the desk to insure that her former manager was still motionless, she then quickly typing in the assumed password and within seconds she was granted access.

This was it – it was really happening. This was working! There had been a couple snags in her spur-of-the-moment plan, but things still seemed to be progressing as she had hoped. She quickly skimmed through the information and files, though none seemed particularly significate. Retired politicians, deceased members of Gotham and things that didn’t exactly seem relevant were the only things to grace the presence of the screen. Biting her lip in frustration, she quickly tried a different approach, positive that there was something else here that she could easily obtain…maybe she just wasn’t going about this the right way? She took a splits second before she developed a new game plan, continuing to type away as she further penetrated the Penguins system….or so she thought.

It wasn’t until a small file in the corner popped up did she stop typing. Freezing completely, a horrible feeling washed over the ravishing redhead. For a moment she simply starred at it, fully aware that this was all far too convenient. She was discovered. He knew she was here. Summer looked up at the door and prepared to sprint toward it, though the file seemed to hold her curiosity. She knew it was a trap and that it couldn’t be real, but it was something to hold on to in order to distract her from the real fear that had overcome her hour-glass frame. She took a step back from the monitor as if it were a hungry shark, not bothering to remove her flash drive.

“No.” She said to herself, so quietly that even she didn’t hear it. Then again, the only noise that was registering at the moment was the pounding of her heartbeat. Jumping as Cobblepott’s voice rang through the speakers next to the monitor, it basically sealed her fake. A horrible feeling hit her, causing an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she recognized his voice. Though they had avoided conversation for her entire duration in Gotham City, it seemed as though her luck had just ran out.

His face flickered onto one of the monitors, though his location didn’t resemble anything that matched the interior of the club. He wasn’t here? How did he find out? Had her altercation with Lindsey been the dead giveaway that she had feared? Had he known prior to this evening? The only other individual that knew of her position at Iceberg was Nigma, which also seemed to put a sour look on her face.

She tried to remain confident, though it was hard to ignore the look of both worry and shock on her face that he had been so quick to react. Her eyes moved from the other monitors in the room, all displaying a live feed of her from different angles, still dressed in the signature, scantily-clad Iceberg outfit. Though Summer wasn’t sure why, she hadn’t expected there to be a file of herself anywhere in his system. While she was a well-known socialite and familiar face in Gotham City, she didn’t consider herself particularly worth obtaining information on.

What did the file contain? Her life growing up hadn’t been necessarily interesting. She had just been a girl from a small town with big dreams to move to a larger city. Her parents had now retired from their family business and moved to live in Florida. Even once in Gotham she kept her relationships very limited. Only considered a handful of individuals ‘close’, most of her once cherished relationships now help no significance at all.

Still, her eyes darted from his gaze and looked back to the file. Moving back toward the screen she clicked on it. The stirring of the once unconscious woman on the ground began to stir, seizing the woman’s attention. Despite her undying curiosity to see what her file contained, she still had some absurd idea that she could escape. A groan fell from Lindsey’s lips and Summer moved quickly, bounding toward the door. Her fate still had not sunk in as she reached for the handle, attempting to rip it open and evacuate. Of course….it was locked.

It was time to accept her fate.



outfit: click for outfit

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Oswald showed no reaction to the constant stream of information he was getting through his earpiece but every bit was mentally organised so he knew exactly what resources the security team had already cleared and deemed safe to use. Summer wasn't deemed a high psychical threat but two thugs had been sent outside the door to await further instructions and more were slowly starting to sweep the building. Cameras were being tested and fixed, cell phones were being blocked, no one and nothing was coming and going from the lounge without first being cleared.

A small, cold, grin appeared as the Penguin watched her start to panic. How predictable. These reporters were all so loud and bold out in public but lock them in a room and they always showed their true colours. That she didn't try to escape straight away was almost admirable but curiosity could kill more than just cats.

Oswald released a dark chuckle as she clicked on the file, only to be surprised by Linsey and bolt for the locked door, letting her try it and fail before he spoke up again "You wouldn't like what's on the other side. Perhaps you should sit back down while we have a little chat"

A sudden sour look was snapped at Linsey as she raised her head enough to see what was going on "I'll deal with you later" That did not make the woman happy and she snarled at Summer from the floor.

The fake smile returned as Oswald looked back at Summer "What are we to do with you? Trespassing, perhaps I need to see another member of the press charged with harassment. You seem to be forgetting the last few reporters who tried to spread false information about my business" he sounded almost reasonable and jovial, as if he was about to give her a slap on the wrist and send her on her way. The burning eyes that glared hatred at her said differently as on the computer screen someone unlocked her file and begun opening details.

Address, phone number, email, place of work and typical hours to start with, showing the basic stuff before it went into more detail. Recent credit card history, bank accounts, paycheck details. Contacts, her parents details, friends, co-workers. She was indeed a prominent reporter but more information on her had been researched in the last ten minutes than ever before. She would get a chance to do things Edward's way, simple and painlessly. When that inevitably failed he had other methods in mind. Knowledge could silence any threat and he intended to ensure she would never speak of him again, one way or the other.

[Deleted]

Her heart was pounding so quickly, she was sure it was noticeable. Summer felt light-headed and was still trying to convince herself that this was just one of the many nightmares that she had endured over the matter. For months now she would wake up from horridly vivid dreams in cold sweats and screams after she had just plummeted into a pit of jagged ice and hungry carnivorous seals.

The redhead pounded both of her fists angrily against the door before turning around to face Linsey, who glared daggers at the smaller woman. Summer couldn’t exactly blame her. Her body still ached from their struggle earlier. In fact, the ambitious reporter had been half convinced that her mission was going to end with the woman’s claw-like hands around her neck. Little did she know that she would actually encounter Oswald Cobblepott himself.

Adrenaline still coursed through her petite frame as she returned to the front of the monitor to meet his gaze. A repeated pain reminded her how hard she had hit the door as she curled her hands back into tight fists. “Right, let’s chat then.” She said in all effort to hide the fact that she was shaking. She wasn’t scared – but the overwhelming mix of emotions was sure to explain the trembling. Summer Gleeson did not take too well to failure.

Avoiding any eye-contact with Linsey, she could still feel the woman’s glare from across the room. Taking a seat back at the desk, her eyes moved to the file that had opened; the one labeled with her first and last name. “Anything I am charged with would be nothing compared to what they get you for. I’ve been at this for months and the illegal operations at Iceberg are far from false information and should not be ignored any longer. So what do I think you should do? Let me leave – because holding someone against their will is only going to help my case and hinder your own.” She wasn’t sure where this courage was coming from, but the sentence trailed from her lips before she could even surrender to silence.

She wasn’t giving up – not after all of her hard work. Even if she couldn’t fully hack his computer she had exceeded her own expectations for this mission. She had managed to temporarily hack the security and the surveillance systems. She had replaced the planted camera in her uniform bowler hat with one of her own and had recorded nearly every shift she spent at the Lounge. There was enough evidence and materials collected to win this – all she needed to do was get out of Iceberg.

Still, she wasn’t going to let him know that. It would take a lot to change her mind when it came to exposing Iceberg, but while she knew the infamous figure she was up against – reality still hadn’t.

Her attention focused on the screen as she tried to withhold the obvious surprise, shock and terror that played on her pretty features. The file basically contained her life on a screen, as well as enough information to bring it crumbling down. After months of time at Iceberg, she had avoided being recognized entirely – surely he hadn’t known the whole time. This development was recent if anything or else she would have been confronted and kicked out sooner with her achievement to replace some of the live feeds with looped ones. One question burned in her mind and mananged to escape her lips before she could even try to catch it. “How did you find out?”



outfit: click for outfit

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

The Penguin's grin grew when she did as she was told and sat back down "Good girl" She had to be starting to realize just how backed into a corner she was. There was no where to run and the idea of letting her go because holding onto her would get him into trouble almost made him laugh. Wasn't she just saying she had information on his illegal activities? What's one more to add to the apparent pile? She'd never be able to prove it anyway.

That's what it came down to with Oswald Cobblepot. Ask any vigilante or cop in the city and they'd say there was no chance the Penguin had gone straight. Everyone heard the rumours, connected the dots and knew where to point the fingers but there was nothing they could do about it because they could never prove it. On paper he was a fine, upstanding businessman who paid his taxes and gave his employees fairly generous health insurance (A policy Summer would be removed from very shortly, alas just when she might need it). Insisting otherwise could cost someone their job.

Oswald chuckled darkly at her attempts to sound threatening, he found her amusing, that was in her favour "You have no escape, you've made no call for help. How can you make your case if you never leave this building?" Not that a call for help would work, Oswald had connections and their communications blocking equipment he'd had built into the new lounge was covering the possibility of a backup plan. He didn't believe anyone would be stupid enough try and break into his building without telling someone. He just had to work out who knew where she was and then take care of the problem. Edward didn't say anything about not hurting them.

He just looked smug when she asked how he knew what she was doing "I could invite your parents out to dinner tonight and you question how I know something? You're not as good at this as you like to believe Miss Gleeson. It was simply a matter of waiting for you to push things too far. A pity, your performance reviews weren't bad and your conversation with Ivy was quite entertaining to listen to" He wasn't going to mention Edward, having to be told he had a spy was an insult to his competence that someone was going to get 'fired' for. He'd also never listened to the conversation with Ivy but security had simply because it involved a rogue and they were relaying the jist of it as he typed instructions back, out of view of the video feed to Summer.

"I sense you are perhaps too young and idealistic to really appreciate this situation but you amuse me so I feel bound to give you one chance. Think carefully my snooping little snitch, what will it take for you to hand over your recordings and walk away?" He hated every word that came out of his mouth. He should be able to simply kill her and send out clean up to her apartment to remove the evidence, he shouldn't have to make deals. Edward really needed to learn his place. Perhaps though she could be useful for that.

Linsey meanwhile picked herself off the floor and seemed to have stopped glaring. She was trying to resist the urge to push her earpiece back in place as she strained to listen to the orders coming over it, Oswald's orders, relayed through security. She braced herself against one of the desks, seemingly still unsteady from her earlier knock out. She did truthfully have a splitting headache and felt the desire to throw up but really she just wanted to get her hand closer to something bunt. The desk organizer was closest. Wait until she rejects the offer security said. No one expected Summer would take it. As soon as she refused to be reasonable Oswald could say he tried and then Linsey could try and knock her out and he could finally do things the hard way.

[Deleted]

Starring past his image in the monitor, Summer was doing everything she could to appear composed. Her heart was pounding so quickly that she was sure it was going to explode in her chest. Sitting rigidly in her seat, her gaze occasionally swept over toward the disgruntled Linsey, just to insure that she was maintaining a comfortable distance from where Summer sat. “And why would I do such a thing? I’m sure you went through the effort to disturb any cellphone service, the doors are locked…and the windows…” She said with a deep breath. “I’m not going to scream and carry on when there is no one to hear me.” Though, she was considering sending the chair through the window. How high up was she? Would it be possible to climb down? Her green eyes moved toward the thick glass that overlooked a potential freedom

His words stung, but it only fueled her anger more than anything. “That still doesn’t tell me how you found out. That conversation with Ivy was nothing more than a bit of gossip and I know I am good. I covered all of my tracks excellently. I tapped into your security system within weeks and you didn’t seem to notice, and if you did why would you let me continue to gather my information for the following months?” Had someone told him? Someone she had confided in about her operation at Iceberg. Ryder? Nigma? Surely neither of them would have ratted her out unless they wanted something in return. Her face grew red at the thought of it, were either of these men above selling her out for their own personal gain?

To say that she wasn’t considering his offer was a lie. She pondered it, even though when she had rehearsed something like this happening she had assumed she would stand her ground and say no. After a matter of moments, she cleared her throat and prepared her answer, trying to appear as confident in her choice as she possibly could. “My expose of Iceberg Lounge and your legacy is scheduled to air tomorrow morning with or without me. Maybe you should tune in, you might find out who else is screwing you over.” Nose in the air, she opened her mouth to say something more, when the woman opposite her, lurched toward her with the desk organizer in hand.

A scream flew from Summer’s lips as she hastily attempted to move out of the way, though despite her struggles the redhead found herself painfully pinned to the ground in a matter of moments. The older woman had caught her off guard, giving the misleading assumption that she was seconds away from toppling over when really it seemed as though she had a second wind about her. Her sharp knees pinned Summer’s arms to the ground, as Lindsey raised the desk organizer high over her head. Summer’s eyes grew wide as the woman all too eagerly moved the object downward quickly. The last thing the redhead could remember was the grin on Linsey’s face before everything went black.




outfit: click for outfit

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Summer's response to Oswald's questioning her calling for help was considered almost smart, except that if she knew this sort of thing was going to happen she should have planned for it. Oswald would have. He didn't entirely trust that she didn't have a back up plan but he wasn't going to sit there and wait for her to put it into action, even if he was quite confident he could handle anything.

"No, it doesn't" Oswald replies dryly to her objection to being kept in the dark about his methods of information gathering. He wouldn't have got far in his line of work if he gave away his sources every time someone asked. Particularly when it came to reporters, the less they knew the better. He allowed her to defend her conversation with Ivy, to claim her competence, to question his motives and he didn't respond. He didn't have to explain himself to her. The truth wasn't something he cared for in this case anyway and it was more important to see how she behaved and let her brag. The more she said the easier it was going to be for his team to track down everything she'd done.

Her rejection of his deal was inevitable but important. Firstly it was important to be able to say he tried. It wasn't his fault if people were unreasonable and wouldn't cooperate with him. Secondly it told him two very important things. One was that other people were apparently screwing him over and he wanted to see her research. Two, he had until the morning to put a stop to all this nonsense or call his lawyers and PR team. He considered all this silently as he watched Linsey bludgeoning her out of conciousness.

For a few seconds Oswald was silent and actually glanced away to look out the car window and see where Mike had driven to while they had been wasting time with Edward's foolish ideas. He wanted to get this sorted quickly now they were finally getting somewhere but there was so much more to do and if it came down to Summer disappearing he needed the alibi "Take the next left" he told Mike before bothering to address both Linsey and the security team again "Sedate her, there will be a car to pick her up shortly" he didn't trust anyone in the club to tell them exactly what he had planned.

Twenty minutes later and Oswald had settled into the theatre to watch a play having pulled some strings to get to get a private box seat, in full view of everyone if they bothered to look. It was important he be seen no where near the club that night, that was after all quite likely to be the last place Summer was confirmed to be. He stayed for the entire two hours, laughed at appropriate times, even had a drink and mingled during intermission. It appeared to be a very calm evening's entertainment where he was in no rush to be anywhere else, it was only to those who knew him well there were certainly hints that he was only going through the motions. For instance, usually it would be treated as a perfect excuse to take out Lola but he was in no mood for entertaining tonight, he was far more interested in the constant stream of chatter going on in his earpiece which he occasionally muttered a response to.

Back at the club Terry, Oswald's secondary big thug, turned up with a few men to take Summer away through the back entrance. Security was already editing the footage from the obvious cameras, using recordings from previous days to make it look like Summer already left after her shift ended, just in case someone came looking.

Three hours later and finally everything was in place, all evidence clearly pointed towards Oswald having returned home after the play and none of it showed him leaving again, going to west Gotham or meeting up with his men in what appeared to be a small storage room in the back of some abandoned building.

The location was chosen specifically, the occasional traces of blood on the floor mixing in with the dust gave some hint that this was not the first time Oswald had brought someone here to have a little chat. The windows were all boarded up to conceal the location and to stop nosy people looking in. The only light in the room came from a couple of battery powered camping lights, one of which sat on a table next to a slightly battered looking laptop and a quietly ticking clock that, while difficult to see from Summer's perspective, falsely claimed it to only be about 40 minutes since they first knocked her out.

While Oswald had at least ordered Summer be provided with a set of overalls everything had been taken from her bag to her uniform and was being examined for recording devices. They'd searched her in the process but the majority of the time she's been sedated has either been in the back of a van or tied to a chair, which is where she is when Oswald finally gives the order to administer the drugs to wake her up again.

Cobblepot barely seems to be paying attention to her while one of his men woke her up, he was standing several feet away, his phone pressed to his ear as he silently listened to the latest progress on his backup plans.

[Deleted]

Summer hadn’t stirred from the moment that she was rendered unconscious by Linsey. She had no idea of what Cobblepott’s intentions were, where she was being taken, how she was going to get there, who would be assisting in the process or any specific details. She knew of most of his assistants, having technically worked for the man for the last few months of her life. Only two other’s knew of her efforts to expose Cobblepott and his lounge that was filled to the brim with secrets. Her inability to fully hack into the computer system rendered her useless in regards to the location that they might take her. For all she knew, that information was completely false. Still, she did have her facts and enough valuable information to bring he man to justice. A great deal of it resided in the comfort of her lavish office at Gotham Live Studios, but her captor was sure to obtain any and all of the proof that she had on her person at the time.

Unknown to her, she was out cold for hours and oblivious to what was happening to her. There was the jab of a needle in her arm, though the redhead felt nothing. After several moments her eyes flickered open. The room was a complete blur and spun around her. She blinked in attempt to help her distorted vision. Her body felt heavy and numb. She struggled to keep her head up at first but eventually accomplished the feat. She looked to her left, where a man in a crooked smile looked down at her with a needle in his hand. She had been drugged. For how long? Where had they taken her?

The room was dark with limited light and a handful of figures. She took one sweep
around the room before looking drowsily down at her body, bound tightly to a chair. It was all starting to come back to her now. Her clothes had been changed, causing her to blush slightly as her strength slowly returned to her and drugs wore off. She flexed her fingers as the sensation returned, giving a bit of a struggle to test the strength of the ropes that restrained her. A dull, radiating pain reminded her of her head injury, causing her to wince slightly as she shifted in her seat. Her body was tired, weak and she was rooted tightly to the chair. She didn’t make a scene, knowing that it would be foolish for her to think that she had any chance of escaping from the thin coils of rope that bound her.

Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she scanned the room once more. It was nearly impossible to stifle the panic that continued to swell inside her with every second. Surely it would be noticed, or at least her attempts to hide it. She caught sight of a cloak and squinted to make out the time. Not much time had passed. She hadn’t been out for too long. No one would notice she was gone yet. After flashing the man with the crooked smile a disgusted look, her green eyes fell upon Cobblepott himself, The Penguin.

He was on the phone, back turned to her. Her questions only multiplied. It may have been rude to interrupt someone on the phone, but it was also rude to drug someone and restrain them against their wishes. Clearly, manners were something that didn’t matter at this point. “What’s this Cobblepott? Have I already taken up so much of your time that you have to put me on hold?”


outfit: click for outfit

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

As Summer spoke up Cobblepot merely glanced back at her, his face twisting into a sneer before he looked away again and finished his phone call. She had indeed taken up far too much of his time and so rudely spoiled his entire day but to hurry may be to do something foolish, his temper was already far from calmed though he for the moment had it under control.

Seconds later though and without a word Oswald finished his call, hanging up and removing instead a cigarette from his pocket as he mentally put everything in place. He'd lost track of how many her little stunt had caused him to smoke so far tonight, it was because of people like this he firmly believed he would never be able to quit entirely.

Finally he looks at her and pauses just long enough for the fires of rage to simmer down to a steady hatred before he picks his words "Quite the predicament isn't it? No rescue to be seen, no one has come looking. I'm honestly a little disappointed, insulted even, at the ineptitude of this little escapade of yours" He commented as he strolled to the table and moved the camping light to better see the laptop keyboard before he began typing and setting it up as he wanted as he ranted on "I have tried to be reasonable with your kind in the past. Perhaps if you hadn't all hounded me day and night I could have stuck to my word but it's always about the story isn't it? Someone always has to provide the entertainment"

The typing stopped and Oswald looked up at Summer, straightening up to his meagre little height as he stared down his nose at her "Consider your current situation very carefully and tell me, just how much do you want me to be the bad guy?"

In terms of Oswald's staff three were currently in the room, Mr Creepy with the needle looked almost giddy with excitement as he retreated away from Summer to dig into his toolbox and select a pair of pliers that he carefully considers, every so often glancing back to Summer like a painter choosing his tools for his latest masterpiece. The second guy just seemed to be there to hold a gun and stand by the door but the third was Terry. Mike was busy dealing with some other possible security problems but loath not to have a large thug around Terry had taken his place. Terry was considered the nice guy in Oswald's inner circle, the guard which flirted with the waitresses and regularly stopped by the kitchens for a chat. He didn't exactly have the looks but had the personality Mike lacked and if you were on his side he was good. Few really understood why he was so close to the head of the organisation. Right now he looked pissed.

[Deleted]

Summer began to lose the feeling in her fingertips, a concern which quickly gained her absolute concern. Shifting her wrists amongst the ropes, the scratchy material scraped against her delicate skin. The ropes were too tight and would quickly cause her to lose all the feeling in her hand. She struggled desperately to loosen them at least that particular encasing. A small whimper fell from her lips, though she had succeeded in both loosening the tight restraint and giving herself a painful case of rope burn. Blood rushed to her fingertips and she continued to rub her wrists raw hoping that she could exhaust the rope a bit more to the point where she could free herself when the opportunity would arise.

That was – if it did arise. He could kill her at any second, though it seemed as though he had something more long term in mind rather than a quick and merciless murder. The thought of death was one that quickly caused the denied fear to return. What if this was it? Would she never see her friends or family again? What about her job- her life? Was this it? Was she going to be just another number that had fallen to the Penguin? Summer began to quickly question everything she was doing. Standing her ground was honorable, but would it do anything? If she was dead she couldn’t stop him, but if she was alive…there was a hope. Not now, but maybe later down the line.

The pain encircling her wrists occupied her as she relentlessly continued to loosen the bonds. It wasn’t until the audible click of Cobblepott hanging up did she stop. By this point her wrists were practically raw though she was convinced that it wouldn’t take much more effort when she resumed the horrible task. “It’s only a matter of time before all that changes. It won’t be long until it is noticed that I am missing.” There was a great deal of truth to her words. Only three knew of her self-appointed mission at Iceberg and she was a stable enough figure in their lives for them to instantly take action when she fails to show up for work the next morning. Before long, her disappearance will be a state-wide known fact and Gotham will start to wonder where their beloved host has gone. Still, she didn’t bother with the details, assuming that it was mutually known fact that Summer Gleeson was not just a nobody.

She looked down for a moment, a horrible pang of pain surfacing from her earlier injury. However, this entire experiment hadn’t been conducted for the entertainment factor. While yes that was sure to be an added bonus once the story did air, the accomplishment itself was one that she was searching for. To think, taking down one of Gotham’s biggest crime lords who hide his illegal doings behind the front of a restaurant wasn’t an everyday feat. “My only intention was to provide my viewers with the truth.” She stated plainly.

The redhead leaned forward slightly. “You already are the bad guy.” Summer was beginning to get frustrated and began her twisting once more. It hurt even worse this round now that the wounds had time to fester. The sound of the man rustling through the contents of sounded to be a toolbox made it hard to hide her trembling. How did she get out of this? Would he really let her go if she turned over all of her findings? Did he seriously trust her to willingly hand over all of them and not secretly keep any behind?

outfit: click for outfit

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Oswald's mouth twisted into a cruel smile when she said he was the bad guy. Excellent. He rounded the table and strolled calmly towards her before going to grab her firmly by the neck "Do you know what the bad guy would do right now?" He leans in close, his cigarette dangerously close to her face "This isn't a cartoon where the damsel gets rescued by some hero at the last minute" A quick puff of smoke into her face and he released her and started to retreat back to the laptop, only to turn back and swing his umbrella into her face with enough force to knock her and the chair over.

The gentleman act entirely gone, she wanted the bad guy then fine, now he's the bad guy "This is my world, if I say you die then you die. If I say you live then you work for me for the rest of the miserable little life I will have allowed you to keep" He yelled at her before going to hit again with the umbrella, aiming for the legs, before he retreated to the laptop and snapped at his men to pick her up off the ground.

He sneered at her, there was so much desire to just end all this nonsense. Not shoot her now but instead to beat her until she breaks, she had earned that. Curse that green question marked freak for making him play his game again.

"You've made a lot of poor choices so far, your lack of self preservation would marvel a lemming. I expect so little but I can see why you would consider your life so entire pointless given how little you've done with it. Perhaps though you'll try harder to think about the consequences your choices are about to make when it is not your idiotic excuse for an existence on the line" he finally turns the laptop around to show video feed from three buildings on it. The studio building where she works, the building she lives in and her parents house, as viewed from inside the house across the street.

It was still dark enough that she shouldn't be able to tell that the clock on the table was lying about the time. It all looked so peaceful in the middle of the night "One of them is going to explode. I want you to choose which" It wasn't stated as a threat, it was a simple fact. Oswald didn't smile or laugh about it, he would kill people and he would make it her fault.

[Deleted]

A sharp gasp was the last thing to leave her lips as his hand wrapped around her neck. The tight grip made it difficult to breath, causing her mouth to fall open in the desperate attempt for air. Summer did everything she could to look past him, unable to think of a response where she didn’t feel completely foolish. Even without words the feeling still managed to accompany her. He was right. No one knew she was here and no one would know until the next morning. Her obsession with her own career and success left little of a social life. The young redhead lived alone in the city and her friends were so used to being blown off by the ambitious reporter that they had not even bothered to ask her out in the past few weeks, knowing her answer would be a quick ‘no’ with little explanation. The only ones that would even know she was here would be Edward and Ryder, but she wasn’t holding her breath for either of them to come to her rescue.

Wrinkling her nose as the smoke drifted closer to her face, the distinct smell was enough to make her stomach churn. She gasped as he released her, taking in too much of the smoke as she desperately inhaled. Coughing as he retreated from her, she looked up just in time to see his signature umbrella slicing through the air. It didn’t take long until she realized that she was the target. Her tough act didn’t last long as it forcefully collided with the side of her face. There had been nothing that she could do to avoid it. Her whole body turn in attempt to escape it, but the force of the blow was enough to send her and the chair she was tightly bound to clambering to the ground. A cry of pain left her red lips. Her eyes quickly filled with tears as she did everything in her power to dismiss them.

Half of her face was pressed to the cold concrete. Angled awkwardly as she was still restrained, there was nothing that she could do other than remain there. Her face stung with even the slightest expression. Every time she blinked she was quickly reminded of the pain. His ultimatum didn’t appeal to her whatsoever. If she was to spend the rest of her life working for Oswald Cobblepott, part of her wanted to die. The uncomfortable position quickly reminded her of her earlier injuries from her struggle with Linsey.

She gasped, doing everything that she could do to withhold the tears. The familiar sight of red informed her that she was bleeding. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the umbrella once more slice through the air. This time she braced herself to the best of her ability, though a painful shriek fled her mouth before she could even try to capture it. Summer did everything she could to distract herself from the pain. “No.” she finally managed as she was returned quickly back to an upright position. A moan of pain, she raised her head up with a bit of difficulty. Her chest rose and fell rapidly underneath the coveralls. Was a meager ‘no’ all that she could manage? Was that all she had left?

Her irregular, rapid breathing had only proved that she surrendered to her own fear. Her vision was blurry from the tears that she had tried so desperately to blink away. The task of refusing to cry seemed to be a good distraction. His words were in and out, but she could put the pieces that she was missing together as she gazed upon the screen. Squinting, she was reminded of her pain but blocked it out. It didn’t take her long to recognize each of the locations that were being displayed.

The fire returned, rising inside her. “Is that-what is this?” This only made her realize how much of a challenge that she had taken on. Did he have her parents? Or someone from her work place? Fighting against the cord-like ropes once more with this newfound passion, she quickly realized that her mistakes were not only going to come back to bite her. Her eyes grew wide at the new information. “What? No! No you can’t!” She screamed, though her mind quickly began to consider her options. The studio could possibly still have people inside and without a doubt the building where she lived had dozens of families inside. Then there was her parents’ farm house. Sacrificing the lives of two people seemed to be much more feasible than killing dozens – but those were her parents.

Still losing a fighting battle against the ropes, she did find them getting significantly looser after the recent events. “You c-can’t expect me to actually choose.” Her voice cracked. The tears that she had so desperately tried to hold back were starting to escape. The redhead tried to quickly blink them away once more, only several managing to escape and slide down her face. “You are willing to kill innocent people?” And it was all her fault. She wasn’t sure why this was so hard to wrap her mind around. “I’m the one who hacked your system, infiltrated your building, recorded endless illegal activities and planned to expose you on live TV. The people who live in each of those building did nothing to you. J-just leave them alone. Please!”

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Heh. The pitiful begging was pleasant but Oswald doesn't smile, his expression is completely dispassionate as if her pleads mean nothing for that's all they would accomplish. Once more they under estimate him. They push and assume he will cave and crumble under their attempts to bring him down. How many supposedly innocent people had they forced him to re-purpose as teaching instruments?

"I thought you had been investigating me? Can it be you over looked something important? You never stopped to consider the consequences of your actions when you decided to target me? I will not allow another member of the parasitic press to tarnish everything I have built and this" He hissed the word as he gestured to the laptop "Is the result of your lack of forethought"

It wouldn't be the first time Oswald would target innocent people, far from it. To control a man you need merely control what he cares about. For the most part pay them and they will work but when they decide they want to break free, or threaten their way to a better deal the family and friends become leverage, their business or reputation, their life, whatever it takes. An accident here, an unfortunate series of events there. Have them sent to Arkham or Blackgate to watch from behind bars as he un-picks their life bit by bit. Irritate the Penguin and at worst he may kill you. Make him angry and he will destroy you until you wish that he had.

"Choose...Or all three will explode" Oswald finally smiled "Unless you have something valuable enough to trade for their lives" One last chance to do things his way, to do business. Sell her soul to the devil or watch her world burn.

[Deleted]

Her eye shifted back and forth from screen to screen, contemplating which one she might choose. This mission had challenged her in many more ways than one – though this seemed to be the hardest dose of reality that she had suffered yet. Practically, choosing her parents’ house would have been the best choice. Living out in the middle of no-where on a large plot of land, the destruction would likely only effect two people. However, those two people were her dearest mommy and daddy.

Almost forgetting to blink, her eyes continued to focus on the screens, a helpless expression playing on her pretty features. She wasn’t as good as she thought she was. Clearly such big actions were not only going to affect her, but the world around her. While she cared what happened to all of those people within each landmark – he didn’t. Though her lips were parted, no words came out. A horrible, numb feeling overcame her. She wanted to die then and there, anything that would allow her to avoid making such a decision.

“I will give you everything.” She said finally, after a long length of silence. Her bound hands trembled uncontrollably behind the back of the chair. “I’ll give you every single bit of proof that I found and destroy any drafts that I have composed to publish my findings. Please.” Her voice hoarse, “I will do whatever it is you want as long as you leave those people alone.” She finally surrendered – eyes still glued to the screen in fear that the moment she looked away, something terrible would happen.