Giving in to Demands [Linsey]

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

It was early, long before the lounge opened it's doors to the public. Word was Oswald hadn't gone home that night and that he'd been sat up in his office on the top flood all night. That Mike had retreated to an empty booth once the lounge closed to catch a nap seemed to support this as typically he or Terry would drive Cobblepot home.

The sound of gunfire suddenly disturbed the peace of the upper floors, the sound proofing kept it from going further but an automated call of "Red alert" went out over the radios, going to security staff and the small group of head staff set off by the secretary who sat outside the door of Oswald's office when she heard the noise.

Mike sprung in to action, suddenly awake and running for the doors to the back of the lounge, security swarmed for the stairs and then suddenly everyone stopped as the security centre, those hidden somewhere in the country in an office watching all the cameras, tuned in to Oswald's office cameras and declared on those same radios "Situation normal, stand down" meaning there was no situation.

The two messages so close together usually only meant one thing, there was no intruder but something had made Oswald very angry and he was taking his anger out on the room. The security staff warily retreated to a safe distance but Mike continued on upstairs to check on things regardless.

It was half an hour before the gun shots stopped, a few explosions had occasionally been added to symphony and a whole lot of shouting. A few minutes after that staff were summoned. Linsey, Mike, Terry, even Mort was expected. Mike took the elevator back down and waited for the others, leaving Oswald to brood and calm down. Terry arrived quickly and was quick to claim his innocence to Mike "'ey, wasn't me this time" He'd made Oswald mad before but he couldn't think of anything he'd done this time. Mike merely grunted and grumbled out a "No" he agreed, this was much worse. Mort took several more minutes, he was not typically based at the lounge, he didn't need to be and he creeped people out when he was with his impassive, calculating stare. Calmly, and slowly due to two knee replacements, he walked through the lounge, ignoring all the staff and without a word he joined the others and stepped in to the elevator.

Oswald's office looked like a bit of a war zone, he'd mostly focused on one corner where one of the very expensive paintings was still partly on fire and a couple of chairs were little more than kindling thanks to the bullet holes. The Penguin himself sat at his desk, his chair turned so he could glare out the window at the city below. He was smoking, he had a scotch and he looked rough, like he'd been up all night already and he wasn't even trying to hide it. What little remained of his hair on his balding head stuck out at angles and his top hat was still on the floor after it had fallen off during the tantrum.

[Deleted]

Oh this would be fun.

Linsey’s heels clicked against the pristine tiles as she started toward the elevator. One arm cradled the high-tech tablet that was practically glued to the woman’s hip. Glancing down at it only so she would not be forced to make eye contact with her co-workers, Linsey joined the group in the small vessel. She scoffed at their ignorance, but said nothing too them. Instead, the redhead merely slipped out of the evaluator and informed them that she would be taking the next once. “You’re all idiots.” She claimed, pushing the button that would close the door and send the trio in the direction of their angry employer.

Her paranoia began to double. She was still recovering from Oswald’s last foul mood after the reporter and the encounter with the clown. Still, she couldn’t very well avoid him. With the other right-hands mostly likely arriving, she requested the elevator and waited, taking advantage of the sweet and desirable silence that surrounded her. Now stepping into the empty elevator, she took a deep breath and arrived quickly at her destination.

She tried to display little emotion as she entered the office. The place had been ripped to shreds and she she was simply relieved that he had directed the anger on the interior rather than herself. Oh this was going to be bad. The others were almost pale in compaction, though the group eventually made their way into the room and abandoned their rigid posts in the doorway.

Linsey tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t be laced with sarcasm or intercepted in such a way. She moved toward the bar where several bottles of very expensive liquor were now smashed and dripping onto the floor. She did she best to arrange them so that the noise would no longer be a distraction and then turned to her employer. “What is going on?” She asked, trying to fathom what could bring on such a tantrum. Whatever it was, it wasn’t looking good for the group.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

Linsey's attempt to see to it that the others arrived first by sending up the elevator was met with an unimpressed stare from Mike and a small snort from Mort but a yell from Terry "Hey! You're the one who's goin' t'be late!" his shouting becoming muffled as the door closed and the elevator left. "Idiot" Terry muttered as elevator rose and silence took over the small rising box.

There was something to be said for safety in numbers when it came to walking in to a room when the Penguin was angry, mostly because he would rarely shoot everyone when just killing one would provide the message, however which one he picked on could be entirely random but it would typically be the one who annoyed him most or whoever was the least important.

Everyone attending this impromptu meeting had some level of importance. Even angry at Linsey she still provided brains and a very useful ability, Mike was loyal muscle. Mort covered technically knowledge and evidence removal though it could be argued that he had passed on most of his knowledge by now and his usefulness could be drawing to a close. To the unknowing Terry was clearly the least useful, most people only saw him around to cover Mike's job when Mike was busy but he actually also knew near enough every gang in the city and was on friendly terms with several. Unless one of the four really angered him if Oswald was inclined to shoot anyone he'd probably call someone in specially.

Now hurting them in less serious methods was always a possibility.

Mike hung back a little so Linsey wouldn't be noticeably later than everyone, he had already been up so he didn't have to worry about Oswald much and he tried to keep both her and Terry out of trouble with Oswald even if ultimately he would turn on them if ordered.

Though they surveyed the damage and entered the office none of the others dared sit or anything and it was like they were waiting to see who would speak first for fear of attracting Oswald's attention.

When Linsey tidied the bottles Terry quickly snapped in to action and started patting out the painting fire with his hand and a small grimace. He wasn't the brightest bulb but he was eager to please and keen to also look useful and busy.

Oswald snarled at the question but took a few seconds afterwards to calm his irritation again so when he spoke it was just in a low growled tone "They're taking the lounge" There was a reason he was glaring out at the city, they were trying to take his seat of power from him and he had spent the night trying and failing to stop them.

[Deleted]

This was a rare occurrence, which couldn’t mean that Cobblepott was calling them in to discuss pay raises. When she finally slipped in, she noticed Mike lingering toward the door. Though she didn’t thank him, she gave him a brief nod as a substitute for the sentence. She knew what he was doing and he had provided her with a subtle entrance rather than commanding the scene by being the last one to arrive. They could all assume with ease that their employer was in a foul mood and no one single being wanted to be the newfound target of the Penguin’s rage.

Linsey turned her head quickly with his simple utterance. With the rumors circling paired with the information she had taken the initiative to acquire in one of her variant forms – she could only assume. The Lounge bordered on the dimensions that the city had been discussing for this new advancement, though it was a problem that Linsey wanted to ignore until it was a present issue. Of course they wanted to attempt to trap Cobblepott inside. The redhead swallowed, immune to the others in the room for a moment while her mind raced. For a woman of few words, she seemed to have so many questions racing around her pretty head.

“So it’s inevitable.” Linsey both stated and asked. Surely at this point there was no escaping such a fate. He wouldn’t have gathered all of them if he hadn’t exercised nearly every possible option. She paused with pursed lips, hoping that one of the others might speak up voicing some sort of suggestion that might pacify Cobblepott’s anger. For once, she felt as though she didn’t have answers but only questions. Finding a voice once more amongst the rest of the staff, she looked out the window as well as if attempting to find her employers focus. Just as she had opened her mouth she heard one of the others chirp, “Do we have a plan?” That seemed to be a universal question. What was to happen next? Or was that what they needed to decide?

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

As if Oswald would give more than one person a pay-rise in the same month let alone the same day! He preferred bonuses offered for work completely above expectation anyway, as his expectations were high so few ever got them and it encouraged good work. Raises were only for those he considered important enough to want to keep, had she not messed up recently Linsey might be due a raise, as it was she would have to get back in his good books first.

"Without an extreme show of force it appears to be" Oswald's voice still had a growl to it as he responded. He could go to war and blow up half the city, kill everyone in charge and ensure every cent of funding went on rebuilding Gotham for the next twenty years but without months of careful planning it would ultimately lead the cops right to his doorstep and then it would be significantly harder to profit off of anything not just Arkham City "My contacts have failed in their usefulness in spectacular fashion" He gestured with his cigarette behind him to his desk "There is a list that will need taking care of. I have suggested methods. Space the incidents suitably, I expect a detailed plan to review in two days" Some very angry scrawling had gone in to that list of names but each had several bullet points to note the picking apart of their life and ultimate end to it but they would still need planning to avoid suspicion coming back to Cobblepot. While Mort had a quick glance at it it was clear the others were considering that Linsey work and keeping away from that responsibility.

"They expect me to sell for mere pennies" as if that made it even worse Oswald's glare continued out the window but he had taken out a lot of his anger between the room and the list, if nothing else riled him up he could think "Suggestions?" He had thoughts of his own but he needed ideas to fight the temptation to call in the assassins on the Mayor and Dr Arkham.

Mort gives the others a glance but tries to be quick to get his point out before someone else can steal it "The city can't get this place, they'll search it the moment they own it and then there'll be no hope of staying outside the wall" The contents of the lounge could easily land Oswald in jail again but the police required a warrant and Oswald hid rooms well, it was not however well enough that an observant cop could notice that the outside of the building was larger than the visible rooms inside.

To date Oswald's plans for the Arkham city had comprised of recruiting from the builders and sending his own men out in hard hats and high vis to monitor the construction and plan his own ways in. He'd had men mapping the sewers and even left a very large cargo ship at the docks that was being modified to provide an underwater entrance into it's hull. This development changed things though, if the club was to be part of the city there was no question of where he would place his seat of power, he just had to ensure it remained his first.

[Deleted]

There were many different options that the crew currently had, though it really all depended on the goal that Cobblepott had in mind. They could go out with a bang – though it would foolishly blow the cover of many operations and facades that the members of the Penguins allegiance currently cloaked themselves with. To think that even the members of Gotham’s government that had ties in their doings had failed to find a solution where the Iceberg would be exempt from these borders – was astounding. It was a rare occasion they faced an obstacle so large, so apparently unbeatable.

Sucking in her cheeks, she could already assume some of the commands that Cobblepott’s list would contain. Linsey was unusually quiet. Iceberg was her home away from home. To say that she had an attachment to the building and everything that it was would be a complete understatement.

She listened intently, though she appeared distant. “There has to be a way we can use this development to our advantage. They plan on piling half of our clientele into this section of the city.” Mouth slightly open, she dropped the rest of her comment, as if still trying to contemplate the right words to say. She gave others the opportunity to speak, playing off her words and others as she returned to her tidying.

“It’s the club itself that leaves me baffled. If the city takes the building and discovers what is inside, the lot of us land ourselves a spot in the city. We might as well not even leave. Obviously that isn’t an option.” She said with an obvious edge to her voice. She wasn’t serious about staying by any means, but she was eager to begin working to prevent such things from happening. Cobblepott had provided her with a new beginning as Linsey Finch. How suitable that working for him now could be the reason her freedom was once again stripped away.

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

"They cannot take the lounge" Oswald repeats, his words still growling. That much he certainly agrees with or perhaps it's just stubbornness talking "I will not give this place up" The urge to shoot things was clearly rising again but thankfully instead Oswald turned his chair away from the window, his fist slamming down hard on his desk as he faced his little crew, the bang causing Terry to jump and flinch a little but Mike and Mort seemed unaffected, at least on the outside.

Oswald's eyes flicked between the four as he calculated how hard his rage was willing to fight for the chance to hurt someone but ultimately he took a breath and sank back in to his chair, the worst of his anger had been taken out on the room, they were lucky.

There was a long uncomfortable pause before Oswald felt calm enough to carry on with the discussion "Taking advantage of those inside is a simple matter of supply and demand. Getting the supply in and whatever they can pillage out while protecting our assets has always been the issue...The lounge is better suited to the task than any other site but it will have to be modify to become a base within the city. Increase the defenses, the entrances will need modifying" A list of things that would be helpful, planning and plotting as he should be. Perhaps he could install a distillery in one of the store rooms, keep a running supply of drinks when routes to smuggle things were cut off. Perhaps the floor may be modified to allow better access to the sharks that swam underneath it, barracks to allow staff to sleep on site so they wouldn't have to leave.

Planning helped Oswald focus on what he could do, it helped him feel like he had the power to do something about it all. He slowly looked between the four of them again, his plotting turning towards them "The men will need to be split, the lounge must not fall and business must continue outside the walls...I will need a new building outside the limits of Arkham" If he no longer had the lounge on the outside he'd need somewhere to base his operations and have his meetings out there, somewhere he could control and be safe to work in. It would never be the same as the lounge but one day he would get it back. They city might win this battle but the war was far from over.