2457/Proposition for a Penguin

Proposition for a Penguin
Date of Scene:	14 September 2017
Location:	Iceberg Lounge, Gotham City
Synopsis:	Thursday enlists Penguin to supply her with a detailed blueprint of Wayne Tech Headquarters not accessible by the public or without duress
Cast of Characters:	Penguin, 1392

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Penguin has posed:
The Iceberg Lounge is hopping tonight, with a swing band from Puerto Rico on stage, dancers occupying the central dance floor moving about in graceful yet jagged cants of the hips and poses of the hands. The Lounge is crowded to the brim, with the incoming end to the financial quarter on the 22nd, burning some energy early with a night carousing before a Friday predicted to be triumphant in the markets. An overseas delegation is here from Russia, occupying several tables along the rear edge of the circular dance floor, large men paired with slender pretty women, some of them men of honor in the Russian Bratsva, some of them corporate aristocrats, and a scientist or two present for good measure. At the bar, a line of salesmen hobknob with the Russian delegation, placed there by Penguin to draw in contracts for a project in Hungary he has recently become involved in.

Penguin sits in his central VIP booth up above, his leather gloves beside a plate. The plate features a metal crock dish, white hot, with breaded and buttered lobster inside. A dish from Massachusetts, the 'Lazyman's Lobster'. He's presently gorging himself on it, a glass of grenadine and seltzer next to him to cleanse his pallatte.

A bouncer stands at the stairwell in the rear hallway to the booths, guarding the way up to Penguin's dwelling. He has a small black clipboard with a list, in case anyone has called ahead to visit.

Ruby Thursday (1392) has posed:
Ruby Thursday enters the lounge not in any manner of disguise. Lots of times when she brokers deals with men like Cobblepot she alters her appearance and scams them before they realize what happened. It was easy to run the racket on men who do what Cobblepot does. However, Thursday was no fool and new that Cobblepot was a man of considerable repute and ability. The type of man that good business meant more than cash. So to that end there was no disguise, no falsity or lying tonight.

  Thursday wore her normal attire save for a long luxurious fur coat that rides high on her shoulder and frames her strange malleable plastic head. To say she drew the crowd for one reason or another would be a lie. Her body was perfect, almost a masterpiece in it's own right. Then the oddity of the spherical head simply took it to levels of strange.

  Thursday approaches the guard to the vip booths after picking up a drink at the bar. She decided to carry it in her real hands to her displeasure. Getting any manner of read on this woman from Penguin's perch was impossible. "Evening sir, My name is Ruby Thursday and I have come with a lucrative business proposition for Mr. Cobblepot. Do be a dear and send someone to inform him of my arrival and please advise him of the great benefit a meeting with me will bring." Her voice was sultry and where it came from was a question no one could likely answer.

Penguin has posed:
The bouncer appraises Ruby Thursday, non-plussed by her appearance. "Ruby Thursday?" He turns about and presses his finger to his ear, muttering into a throat mic for a few moments, before stepping aside and motioning at the stairs. "You may see Mister Cobblepot, Miss Thursday," he says with a Swiss accent, his back with military posture. He slips out a small menu from beneath the paper on 'the list', and hands it to Ruby Thursday. "To pair with your drink," he says with a smile, an honest one.

Ruby Thursday (1392) has posed:
Ruby Thursday offers a courteous hand gesture of thanks, taking the menu in hand. She seems to set it in the opposite hand with a custom carved wooden box and looks to the guard flashing him the site of fine quality cigars on the inside. Ten Gurkha Black Dragon cigars sealed and labeled. If any who knew of cigars and appreciated them would easily know of this specific brands reputation. "You may as well tell the men up top it is pointless to check me for weapons.... if you insisted on taking them from me... well then that would be equivalent to taking me hostage." Taps her spherical head and a tendril with razor sharp end writhes about a moment looking incredibly deadly. "I shall play nice... this is me laying my cards out on the table as a courtesy you see.

  Thursday walks up the stars and approaches Cobblepots table making alluring movements and gesturing toward Cobblepot in respectful flare. "Mr. Cobblepot, thank you for meeting with me. Please may I sit?" she gestures beside him and waits with quiet respect.

Penguin has posed:
"Please, call me Penguin," Cobblepot says, without any polite manner to it, a thinly friendly demand rather than a cordial assurance of familiarity." He slowly sips his drink, before he pushes his plate forward an inch and rests his forearms in front of it, folded cross him as he leans forward. "Ruby Thursday, eh? I have not heard of your name specifically, but that's not important." He appraises her quietly, squinting his eye behind his monocle. It's not a gesture of focusing on her, however, rather it's his computer-like mind working, observing her calculated seduction and her comparative synthetic nature.

He gestures towards the seat to his left, so she is forced to offer him the right side of her face, even if it may not do much with her artificial nature. "Thank you for coming to my club, Ms. Thursday. Gotham City is a wonderful place at night, I find." A slow grin slips across his face, testing to see if she understands a personal in-joke.

Ruby Thursday (1392) has posed:
Ruby Thursday says, "Oh indeed. And you have a wonderful establishment and your private boxes. I must admit very well designed to discuss matters of business in private. I do expect that you are recording this conversation to turn evidence on me if the need ever arises? Don't worry Penguin, I am fine with this they have tried keeping me behind bars before. If my proposition should run a foul then it is a acceptable risk." Thursday sets the box on the table reaching in and pulling out two cigars. A sharp blade comes whirling out of her head cutting the ends of the pair and recedes back into the sphere. "But, first a gift." she pushes the other reaming eight cigars and one of the cut ones atop the box toward Penguin. She raises a hand from inside her fur coat and lights the cigar in her hand. Slowly Thursday takes a drag from it as if savoring it's rich flavor. No smoke fumes leave the sphere; but, she is clearly smoking. "Care for a light, Penguin." she offers her thin long fingered hand with gold plated lighter in it. Thursday snaps the flickering flame on for his use if desired."

Penguin has posed:
Penguin slides the box to the opposite side of the table. "Not with lobster, dear," Penguin says, gesturing at his lobster plate, still incomplete. "But thank you very much for the party favor." He sips his grenadine and seltzer, to clear his tastebuds of Ruby's smoke.

"I am not recording a thing, the police work for me, not the other way around. So, tell me, Ms. Thursday. What can a bird do for a mink?" he asks, stroking his chin quietly as he appraises her, head tilted upwards to avoid his eyes catching on her chest.

Ruby Thursday (1392) has posed:
Ruby Thursday says, "Of course," she pauses, "It was not the police I was worried about. It was The Bat. I have heard rumor when he is concerned he has spared you and your business if you aid him in catching the bigger threat. And well, my current task in which I desire to enlist your aid may in fact earn The Bat's ire." She adjusts her casual smoking as she sees your action with cleansing your palette. She tosses the cigar inside her head and seems to savor a substance in intervals much as one would smoking normally.

  as the server approaches Thursday touches the menu on the Salmon and slides the menu their way, "This dear. And do be a doll and try to give me extra capers on it." The server nods and leaves. "So, where was I... oh yes Ire of the Bat. I am in need of your expertise in the City of Gotham. You have run rackets beneath the gaze of The Bat and assisted others in doing similar. I have the skill, knowledge, and ability to steal that which I desire. However there are too many variables for any of my plans. A unacceptable circumstance so I outsource to you to fill in the gaps, provide a monochrome of muscle, and perhaps provide me insight into our dark knight." She pauses and sips from her drink.

  "The target is Wayne Tech experimental computer science lab in Wayne Tech HQ. If you are interested I will happily provide more information regarding what item of interest we will be stealing. And of course with a venture like this I will pay you in cash." She laces her arms cross another and rest the base of the sphere on an open palm. "Are you /interested/ Penguin? I can be a rather /enjoyable/ ally to have in many regard. I think we could become fast associates.""

Penguin has posed:
Penguin toys with a piece of viral red lobster on the end of a fork as Ruby lays down her pitch, before he eats it as she finishes. He chews, slowly, looking out across the club. She demonstrates knowledge of his affairs he isn't comfortable with her having. Her request is easy enough, particularly the portion regarding knowledge of the Batman, since Penguin is the only one that deals with Batman in anything resembling a social manner, save the relationship Dent used to have with him. Her target, however, is suicidal, even for someone that demonstrates Ruby's abilities. Unless, of course, she represents a dangerous factor to the Bat. Which could be a dangerous factor to him as well. And with Joker on the loose, that is a poor combination of factors.

He swallows his lobster, having made a decision. "For five thousand dollars, I will provide you with blueprints of the building. Security systems, out of the question, that would require I perform a building breach, and Wayne Tech does contracts for the United States military industrial complex. I hope you already knew." He quietly affixes his leather gloves to his hands, one by one, flexing his meaty fists into them. "We will see how you perform on your trial by fire in Gotham, dear. I only enjoy games, not playing them. It is always unwis to mix pleasure, with anything. I am a gentleman, after all." He offers her a congenial smile, as if he was a parent, although the rest of his face makes it look rather menacing.

Ruby Thursday (1392) has posed:
Ruby Thursday seems to contemplate and there is a serious of lights flashing for a moment within the sphere. "This could easily make my increase ten percent. And I could always enlist my own thugs.... or make my own rather. It would add time. Very well on the terms I will not discuss with you my true target, though you will learn of it after it is stolen. It is bad enough you know the location." she sips at her drink. "Very well it is a considerable bargain to be sure. However, how much would a consultation on The Bat cost me. Surely word of mouth runs no risk to you?" Thursday pauses knowing full well from the map alone she could know everything about Wayne Tech headquarters in minutes, as she was an excellent hacker. Not to mention her organic circuit computer was most likely higher grade then the quantum wave computer system which she planned on stealing. It was the theoretical tamperings of Lucious Fox that the devise presented and the systems ability to run computational analysis she truly desired.

Penguin has posed:
"The Bat comes for free. Consider it a service for coming to Gotham to lighten up our lives." Penguin takes another bite of lobster, swallowing much more quickly this time.

"Batman has the logistical resources and perserverence of a professional government operative. He may in fact be beholden to the United States government, we don't know. He works with the Gotham City police, as a rogue element, that is resisted by much of the entrenched power structure. His stated mission is to save Gotham from corruption, however, he much more typically manages to cause the situation to become unstable by increasing his poker states. Visualize Batman, and his allies, as poker players attempting to take a large sum from a tournament, and us, the supervillains, as park chess players trying to get several disruptive chess lawyers to leave the park, with our various means. Now, you understand Batman."

Ruby Thursday (1392) has posed:
Ruby Thursday considers The Penguin's words. "Very well... then here is a number to contact me on when you are prepared to make the exchange. In the mean time I will construct something to keep the Bat busy. I do appreciate your hospitality Penguin. If you ever need my services I am always for hire. As I stated earlier I am a rather useful ally." she leans back in the chair and eats more of the Salmon that was brought out as you spoke. "That is, if I survive Gotham's trial by fire."

Penguin has posed:
Penguin rises from his chair, nodding. "Of course, Ms. Thursday." He takes a final sip of his drink, before he sets the glass down. "If you'll excuse me, I need to make the rounds downstairs." He turns about and steps to the stairwell and moves down them, to the ground floor.

Penguin spreads his hands as there's a rousing shout of Russians to greet him, grinning and slapping his hand on his belly. "Well well well, gents, I see you've decided on the blueshell crab rather than the caviar! Americans already, eh?"

Ruby Thursday (1392) has posed:
Ruby Thursday gets the information for the exchange from one of The Penguins associates and stands finishing her entrée just before leaving. She could not help but think more planning will likely have to go into this endeavor to increase her success ratio to the acceptable 85% ratio.

  Thursday would stand and make her way to the club proper. As she descended the stair well she shifts her face to that of a beautiful honey blonde woman. If the Penguin cared to notice she would pick up a gentleman connected to the Gotham Transportation Department by nights end. From the man's demeanor it was clear he would be celebrating this Thursday in a far superior way.