New Digs and First Job

"So this is the place? Kinda a dump."

"That's the idea Harley."

The pair of criminals had dropped onto the roof of a building and made their way in through a rusted skylight. This was the Black Rose that Reya had talked about. A two story building. The upper floors were offices and private rooms while the ground floor would have held the kitchen, dining room and theater. In fact that's where they stood currently. It was a wide semi circle platform with the curve extending out towards the tables where guests would sit... if there were tables left. A few shards of wood were left and a couple crates had been used in their place.

A quick search of the building showed no signs of habitation. Along with the speakeasy. It was honestly really easy to find, a hidden door built into the wall of the main office on the ground floor. Right behind the stage. However there wasn't anything in there; the entire operation was ripped out it seemed either by the police at the time or scavengers over the years. And the tunnel to the underground passage ways was completely blocked up.

It was a hideout but..., the place didn't do the stories justice.

"Shame. I had hoped this place would be a little bit..., classier." Ivy muttered as she ran a hand over some rotting wood.

The pair had returned back to the main office and summoned the imps... save for Allison. She needed some rest was the excuse. Ivy had been looking over a large damaged desk had been left behind, with about a fourth of it missing. Not broken just... gone. Reya gave a sly grin as she looked over her old 'work'.

"Dear me..., I thought you knew a flower never bloomed unless under the right conditions." she snapped her fingers and Sami stood at attention, "Would you be a dear?"

"ON IT BOSS!!"

She jumped and raised up her heavy glove towards as she rocketed off towards the speakeasy tunnel. Only for a whip of smoke to wrap around her leg and pull her back down, hard, causing the imp to slam face down into the ground. Reya swayed over to her minion and picked her up, giving her a little pat on the head and coo'd to her.

"Dear, you know I both love and hate your go get attitude. No what I meant is here." she explained, pointing a finger at the desk before pointing downward.

Her task clear, Sami slammed her gloves together and with a single punch, wrecked the desk and the concrete below it. When the dust and fragments settled, a staircase was visible. Reya took a few steps before waving for the others to follow. Her imps did but Ivy faulted till Harley gave a shrug and went down. Groaning, Ivy followed, glad that at least one of the imps had a light power of some kind.

It was a short flight of stairs that ended at a large pair of double doors. Sami moved to smash it only to pause, look at Reya and the sheepishly step aside. The head imp nodded as she moved her hand into her cleavage, fishing out something from within. A small rusty key appeared from her 'hammer space' as the kids called it. With that, she walked to the door and put the key into the hole.... then took it out and snaked some of her smoke inside first.

"So many years of rust and cobwebs..., and there we go." Reya announced before using the key again.

There was a large 'ca-chunk' and the door creaked open. Using a large smoke hand, she opened it all the way and invited everyone inside.

It was.... a dump. It was still a dump. One Hundred years of being stuck underground with no doubt a connection to the underground sewers and water ways of Gotham; that sort of environment wasn't the best. The was a foul smell in the air, and lots of gunk and mildew that had built up. Several of the tables were decaying or showed signs of vermin damage. Most the glasses on the wall behind the bar were full of dark oily like liquid, and none of the lights worked.

However unlike the above ground there was a sense of ... lost majesty. Six pillars stood in the middle of the room, standing oppiste in pairs of twos. Each one was perfectly carved from the rock of the cave, with a base and pedestal bottom carved with rose like decor. The bar itself was also carved from the stone too, and seemed to still be perfectly smooth to the touch if dusty and a little grimy. One could easily make out where the gambling tables would be, and the main stage on the other end of the room from them invited thoughts of long forgotten bands and flapper girls.

"So the other one was..."

"A fake? Yes Miss Ivy. This is the true face of the Black Rose; granted it's seen... better days." Reya announced as Sami and Katlyn started to light up the place, "I figured I might as well show you my cards and invite you into my proper home."

"Wooooooooow....., wait... home..." Harley gasped as she put it together, "YOU'RE THE DAME THAT OWNED THIS PLACE!"

"Correct. Back in the day. Allison was going to tell you but... I might as well do it myself, Boss Harley." she lept on top of the bar counter and spread her arms wide with a spin, "And well, given that you are my owner now... I suppose this all belongs to YOU now. Welcome to the Black Rose, dears, I hope you enjoy the stay."

"I have to say, this is a lot... more impressive than the fake room." Ivy said as she looked the place over, "Lot of room to grow down here but... not really for my darling plants."

"I'm sure you can make do here, far better than you could in that awful cell." Reya said as she moved to sit on the counter's edge, one leg hooked enticingly around the other, "That said it's out of sight and out of mind .... which reminds me. SAMMI, Katlyn!" she clapped her hands and her imps stood at attention, "Head back up stairs and hide the floor entrance again. We don't want visitors."

The imps nodded and ran out of the chamber, each one trying to get ahead of the other while their bosses chuckled. Ivy rolled her eyes and voiced why they broke in like that in the first place. Reya countered that by worried of the mechanism to open the passage would be far too rusted over. That made... sense but she was still annoyed.

The next few hours were spent on moving in and cleaning up. The main chamber spun off into a few other chambers, complete with a ruined kitchen, the main office for handling the speakeasy and a series of private rooms. The beds had to be tossed but Reya did ask if the last master bedroom could be left alone for now. It seemed she still had a bit of connection to her old life and she wanted to deal with that herself.

Still, with supplies from the Imps and Harley's own last base belongings, it was a pretty decent fix er upper. At least enough for the short term and was cheaper than one of those hotels. Though they DID have to rig up some repairs to get some water back into the pipes.

The rest of the night and following day passed without a problem. Harley enjoying herself exploring the hidden rooms while Ivy kept grilling the Imps on their abilities. After all it was the first time they'd be working together; she wanted to know what they could or couldn't do. Allison gave little but she was still working on what she could do. Katlyn and Sammi were more open but Reya was like pulling teeth. Unless Harley ordered it, the Head imp was stubborn or round about in her answers.

Still she got enough info to form a basic plan.

Smoke slowly exited a vent before making a beeline for the door. It slowly worked the handle before a 'click' was heard and it was opened. Ivy and Harley darted inside and closed the door quickly. The smoke was already darting down the hallway and turning a corner. The pair followed, taking time to hide in rooms or around corners as a watchman came around. Harley was annoyed they couldn't just go in guns blazing but she listened to Ivy's advise. They were too weak currently for a big deal.

Soon the pair made their way to where they wanted; the security room of Stagg's Industries. Signaling on the door, it cracked open and they ducked inside. The four imps were already there. Sammi and Kathlyn dealing with the two knocked out guards while Allison checked the cameras. Reya bowed in greeting as the women walked up to the computers.

"How are we doing?" Ivy asked.

"Two minutes behind. But that shouldn't be a problem." Reya announced as she coiled the smoke around her into a chair, "We have a bigger problem than our own time frame."

"LOOK LOOK!" Harley quitely shouted and pointed at a screen in the corner.

Ivy flicked her head to look but only caught the shape of a guard being dragged out of sight. A few keystrokes from Allison and a few more cameras pulled up but they showed either static or nothing; the guard that should be there absent. In all about eight screens were showing problems.

"Someone else is here." Ivy said, bitting her nail in thought.

"It can't be Bats can it?" Harley asked a bit of fear and excitement in her voice.

"Unless he's investigating Stagg, probably not." she replied before turning attention to Allison, "Any sign of where they're heading?"

"They... don't seem to be going for the chemical storage. At least not yet." the techy said, "But I can't be sure if they won't pivot."

"So.... Mistress and... Co Mistress..." Reya said as she shook her cigarette holder and lit a new one.