Time to check the App.

I pulled it open. And announcements appeared:

Submission Increase: Penelope Young: -53 (+4)
Submission increase: Francine Boles: -36 (+2)
Target Acquired: Harleen Quinzel: +14 (+14)
Achievement Unlocked: Points Earned
Achievement Unlocked: Positive Values
Achievement Unlocked: Target Tamed I
Mission Acquired: Payback's a Bitch
Mission Acquired: Apologize

I **** myself to click through in order. The first two didn't change anything except the point number. The third brought up a new profile.

Name, age, picture, and that was it. She was insufficiently aroused for additional information, which given that she was **** wasn't a surprise. But it did suggest that the cut-off for 'insufficient submission' was 0. It was also interesting that she'd started at 0. I guess she was such an agent of chaos that she might obey or not, as she pleased.

And the jump was massive. Maybe she was naturally submissive? Might explain what had happened with her and the Joker. Or, maybe it was because she technically 'took an order' from me as part of her mission from the Joker?

Regardless, I clicked through to the next announcement.

Achievement Unlocked: Points Earned:
Congratulations, you increased someone's submission. Besides all the inherent benefits of this, those submission points can be spent in the app store. You get 1 credit per 10 submission points earned. For now. Rate changes dependent on credits on hand. The more you've saved up, the more it costs to convert.

Okay, so that was obviously intended to incentivize buying lower cost items? Upgrades? Whatever? First. And I should, based on some simply math, have 2 credits. Which made it a bit of a surprise when I clicked the 'open store' button and saw that I had 4.

Hmm...maybe the other announcements would explain. I clicked the next, before I started reviewing the store.

Achievement Unlocked: Positive Values:
Congratulations! You brought a target into positive submission for the first time! You get one credit. Don't expect that sort of reward every time.

Okay, straightforward enough.

Achievement Unlocked: Target Tamed I:
_Congratulations! You increased a targets submission by 10 the first day they were registered in the app. You get one credit and the What even is a 'Touch'? Perk.

The fact that it was 'Target Tamed I' suggested there might be tiered achievements. Usually those go 10-25-50-100, but that was just a guess, and I definitely wasn't getting 25 points the first day I unlocked anyone in Arkham, so this was probably moot. I quickly hit the 'show me' button and shifted screens again, a new tab, perks. I should have only had one, but two showed up.

What even is a 'Touch'?
And so are you.

I clicked the first and it opened up:

What even is a 'Touch'?:
'Touch' for the purpose of registration now counts all items you, or the target, are holding, or have thrown, so long as the touch occurs within three seconds of release and before the item hits the ground.

Well, that could be useful.

I clicked the second

And so are you:
You got knocked out by one punch. From a girl. Six inches shorter than you. Until you complete either Payback's a Bitch or Apologize, you will not be able to win any physical confrontation.

Shit. Fuck. I'd sort of assumed that there were no penalties, or downsides to this...but it didn't look like that was actually true. This could be devastating. What would it count as a physical confrontation? Also, what was with the name?

So, I quickly went back to the announcements and opened up the missions. Oh, duh, it went with 'Payback's a Bitch.' That was...well, I hadn't really thought this was just a coded thing.

Mission Acquired: Payback's a Bitch:
You lost a fight, like a bitch. Win a fight against the person who made you their little bitch. For the purposes of a fair fight against this person, the perk 'And so are you' will be disabled. Rewards: Disable Perk And so are you! and --------

Well, double fuck. At least it wasn't literally impossible. But there was no way I was winning a fair fight against Harley Quinn. The second reward was greyed out, no information about what I'd get. I hoped it would be good, given the difficulty of that one. I opened the second one.

Mission Acquired: Apologize:
A target attacked you. That's not how this is supposed to work. Get them to apologize! Rewards: Disable Perk And so are you! and --------

Okay, that was a lot more doable. Not likely. And she definitely wouldn't mean it. But from what I'd figured out earlier, it didn't look like intent really mattered. If I gave an order and they did it, it counted, even if they'd have done it anyway. Obviously the diminishing returns would limit that. I wasn't getting a bunch of points by telling people to 'breathe' or anything, but she might well sarcastically apologize if ordered to, or as part of her 'rehabilitation.'

I needed to take care of that ASAP...but Harley wasn't going to be allowed into the library anytime soon...

Well, that only left one tab free to explore.

AN: There was a suggestion to have the app update mentally, I like that in the branches of this story I've read, but here as you'll see tomorrow, it's not automatic, because the app is a little more...malicious? Towards all parties. Loves itself some micro-transactions, challenges and attitude. There are reasons for this, but they won't be revealed for a long time, assuming we get there. This is an option for later, but at the start, Eli gets a lot less information and has to feel his way through.