Penelope

It was why I was here. And after Jinx, I wanted nothing to do with the Batfamily until I absolutely fucking had to. Ms. Kane was probably just a supplier, it’s not like Batman could have a factory to build his weapons, he’d need suppliers and support besides his agents.

That might be useful to us too, but pushing was just begging to draw their attention and my security wouldn’t stand up to that, I was sure, not yet at least, not with Skin still working to set it all up and no fucking excuse for it. Once the project was more visibly underway and Firefly was out being a superhero, we’d have all the excuses we needed for high security.

But for now, nothing. And I’d want to do some sort of background investigation before I made any approach. If she turned out to be Batgirl, or Batwoman, or something, then I’d be really fucked and not in the fun way.

So, instead, I slipped away to rescue Penelope. The woman’s voice rose for a moment, then slipped back down to normal volume as I approached. She looked furious, and though her volume was appropriate, her tone sure wasn’t, “Those are wildly outdated and immoral actions. Note, I do not dignify them with the label of ‘treatment.’”

The oldest woman leaned on a cane and simply smirked back at Penelope, “Bah, soft and weak. In my day, we’d have just given the Joker the lobotomy he needs and that would be the end of it.”

“That would be nothing less than ****, and has no place in the mouth of a doctor!”

“This is what’s wrong with the younger generation of doctor’s, no sense of the bigger picture--”

I slid into the group like a knife into the back of an someone who deserved it, and smiled, “Doctor Young” the older woman snorted a laugh at Penelope’s name and started to snap something, but I smiled at her, as apologetically as I could, adding “excuse me ladies,” and MIDF did its work and the woman simply gave me a slight look, rather than targeting me the way she clearly was Penelope. “you’re needed,” I started to escort her away and the older woman muttered something that was clearly impolite, but also inaudible enough it could be ignored.

Not that Penelope would, she tried to turn, but I had a hand on her arm and kept the petite doctor from turning and half walked, half dragged her away. “Stop struggling, or you’ll draw attention,” I ordered and she instantly turned it into a walk and a +4 SP (Penelope: +26).

I couldn’t look at the pop-ups now, pushing them aside to focus on her. “What the hell are you doing, she was--”

“Winding you up and wasting your time.”

“That was Doctor Whistler, she used to work at Arkham, I need to correct--”

“She was pushing lobotomy as a solution, I may not be a doctor, but I know when someone’s being bullied and that was what that was.”

She glared at me. “Smile. We’re friends, I’m not **** you, Doc.”

She glared at me and smiled. +3 SP (Penelope: +29). More progress in five minutes than usually in a week, she was really out of her element, which made her more receptive.

“You’re here to network, not be tortured by assholes.”

“Same thing,” she muttered, but followed me as we headed towards Diamond and Andre, as Jasmine had successfully cornered Mr. Kane. Possibly because he was too polite to fight back, but probably because his daughter had ditched him and was heading the same place we were. Fuck.

I couldn’t angle off. The only other people I even recognize were Max and one of the blondes in his life. At the distance and angle, I genuinely couldn’t tell if it was wife, daughter, or sister. And avoiding her would look suspicious.

“Diamond Jackson, CEO of Gotham Insurance, Detective Andre Jackson, GCPD IA, this is Doctor Penelope Young, Chief of Medical at Arkham Asylum,” Katherine arrived and I continued as seamlessly as I could, “and Katherine Kane, who probably has quite a few titles, but I don’t know what they are.”

She laughed more than the joke deserved, it got barely a smile from Diamond, though Andre grinned like an idiot. I was starting to think he as actually in love with me, but that was a concern for later. “Socialite, Philanthropist, but before you get excited, most of my time is given to the Gotham Rainbow Society and the Women’s Society. And please, call me Kate.”

“Then why are you here?” Penelope asked bluntly.

Kate blinked, but reacted instantly, with a smile that seemed far more genuine that the laughter she’d given my joke and she was eyeing Penelope with approval and more than a hint of attraction, though Penelope didn’t seem to notice. “My dad is looking to offer to consult on security at Arkham and I’m just along to round out the numbers and have a pleasant evening. Speaking of, Gotham Rainbow Society is holding it’s annual banquet next month, you should come!”

As feelers went, it was unsubtle, but Penelope totally missed it to my amusement, “No time. When I’m not at Arkham, I’m working treatment plans, or grant proposals. This is the first time I’ve been out in six months.”

Kate smiled, “Come on Penelope, can I call you Penelope?”

”Uh…sure.”

“You need to get out more, you’ll do better work if you have some downtime,” Kate pushed.

I nodded. “She’s right, doc. When’s that boyfriend of yours coming back? Maybe he can take you out on the town?” I put a slight emphasis on the word boyfriend to try to warn Kate. She caught the warning, for a moment she looked annoyed, then…one of the perks, I couldn’t tell which, as I didn’t know her age, when compared to mine, did its work and she gave me a slight, grateful nod.

Penelope gave some excuse as Kate mostly lost interest in her…which unfortunately let the woman turn her attention to me. She’d clearly been briefed, same as her father had on the attendees and knew who I was. No surprise, I probably was the most physically threatening person here, besides them.

”So, what ended up happening with that supervillainess?” Kate asked in a tone which suggested she knew more than she was saying, just from the fact that she knew the gender of the criminal. If she worked with Batman she may well have known a lot more. Though he hardly seemed big on information sharing…

“Batman caught her, I heard,” Diamond cut in.

“Alone? That’s impressive.”

“Zatanna helped him,” Diamond added. We all gave her a look, me slower than everyone else and she blushed a little, though it was mostly invisible on her dark skin, “I’ve been following the stories about it, just in case she escapes or something.”

Andre moved to hug her close, which was my instinct too, but would have been inappropriate here. Diamond let him, then shrugged it off, “But we’re here for Arkham, not me.”

Penelope’s therapist senses were clearly tingling, but she recognized a blow-off when she saw one, as did everyone else and no one was quite dumb enough to push at a fundraiser.

“What about you, Mr. Cain?” Kate asked.

“Eli, please.”

“What about you, Eli?”

”Sorry, what’s the question?”

“Why are you here? Given what dad said about your position, I doubt you’re here to donate.” She mostly managed to make that not insulting. Diamond bristled a bit, as did Andre, amusingly, though Penelope just nodded.

“Ms. Jackson’s grateful, so she’s trying to help my career. I had a bit too much pride to just take a senior position in her Foundation’s security, so now she’s trying to help me network. Can’t complain about that.”

”Yes, you can,” Diamond said, with a smile.

“I shouldn’t complain about that,” I corrected myself. “Free food, free drinks, free suit…ah, shit, I’m gonna have to report all this as gifts to the Chief…now I can complain.”

“So, you must be working for Arkham?” Kate asked.

“Security, yeah, but sorry, if your dad wants an in, I’m not it, I’m new and work in the library.”

“That must give you some interesting stories,” Kate pushed, but Jasmine swept in at that point.

“Yep, which he’s saving for folks who are actually here to donate! Come on, Eli, oh, and you’re Doctor Young, right?” Penelope nodded and Jasmine easily pulled her onto her arm, as she pulled me onto the other. “Don’t worry, I know you’re a medical expert, not a fundraiser, I’ll take care of it, you just answer questions, look like the genius you are and remember that Eli’s responsible for all of this, so really, he should be put somewhere he doesn't get knocked out by Harley Quinn, right?”

“Uh, I don’t assign--”

”Oh, Doctor Whistler, so good to see you again! How’s your daughter doing at that clinic? I was happy to help out!”

Jasmine pulled us through a whirlwind of people, gathering them around her as she knew them all and introduced us to them all and them all to us. No way I was going to remember most of those names. A few pretty women stuck, but otherwise, with Alyce not yet present, the only group which stuck in my head was Max Shreck, Diamond’s enemy and therefore mine.

He was an older man, still fit and confident, despite his age and retirement. He shook all our hands firmly and gave Jasmine a slight patronizing smile, “Surprised to see you managed to get Diamond here, she was never one for the socializing side of the business.”

Jasmine laughed, “Well, it’s part of her new job and she’s always done her job!” Max was too controlled, but I thought I saw a flicker of annoyance at that, whether at the implied slight, though Jasmine didn’t know about Max dumping his mistake off on Diamond, or because Jasmine and Diamond didn’t historically (or even now) have the world’s best relationship.

“Indeed, that’s why we on the Board are so happy she’s our new CEO,” he said, clearly articulating the hierarchy as he saw it, to Penelope’s obvious and Jasmine’s hidden confusion. “Anyway, this is my--”