Chapter 3
A couple of weeks passed with no word from Penguin. During this time, the team still worked on formulating their own leads. One morning, after you had dragged yourself down to the kitchen for an early breakfast with a couple of your teammates, your cell phone started ringing and the call was from a number you didn't recognize.
"Hello?" you muttered sleepily.
"I can be written, I can be spoken, I can be exposed, I can be broken. Who am I?"
Only one person would call you at daybreak with a riddle.
"Ed, it's too damn early for this," you groaned into the phone.
Natasha's head perked up when she heard who you were talking to. You couldn't help but be reminded of a family dog coming to attention at the sound of a possible threat lurking around outside.
"Come on," Edward said. "This is important."
"Tell it to me again."
"I can be written, I can be spoken, I can be exposed, I can be broken. Who am I?" he repeated, slower this time.
Rubbing your hand against your eyes, you thought about it for a few minutes before saying, "I don't know...the news?"
"Correct!"
In your opinion, he sounded far too happy.
"Are you trying to tell me you have news for me?"
"Yes! Good news....well, depending on how you define good news.... Oswald made contact with your arms dealer."
"That's great!" you said, perking up as much as you could. "When is the meeting?"
"Uh, we're not that far along yet. This guy is extremely paranoid. Guess it explains why you haven't been able to get a lead on him. Anyway, all he did was talk to him on the phone. Said he'd have to do a background check to make sure Oswald was on the up and up, which ticked him off, of course. You know he thinks his reputation is supposed to precede him wherever he goes."
You let out a humored snort. He was certainly right about that.
"So, what's the plan?" Edward asked.
Looking across the table at Steve, you said, "I'll have to tell Cap what you've told me. Then, he'll decide how we should proceed."
"Cap?" he asked, the distaste evident in his voice. "You're still letting other people tell you what to do? When are you going to realize that's not you?"
"That's rich coming from you. I saw how Penguin was bossing you around the other day."
He was silent for several moments before saying, "For reasons I am unsure about, you are alternating between acting intimidated by, and hostile towards, me. I don't know if it is something in my behavior causing this fluctuation. I will be awaiting your call."
Then, he hung up. Right there at the end, he had sounded a lot like the sweet, nerdy, downtrodden man you had first met. It made you feel guilty.
You must have been staring forlornly at your breakfast, because Steve asked gently, "There was something you needed to tell me?"
"Yeah, um, Oswald heard from him. He's in the process of getting checked out now....they say he's really careful, bordering on paranoid."
"Alright, pack what you need. We're leaving today. If he's that nervous about getting caught, he might be unpredictable. We want to be close by in case he doesn't give much notice. Did you find out if we could stay at that place you were telling me about?"
"Yeah, he's eager to help. We're welcome to show up at anytime."
"Good," Steve said. "Let's get moving."
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"Miss y/n," Alfred said with a nod of his head after he'd opened the door. "How wonderful to see you again."
"It's good to see you, too," you said, giving him a big smile. "Where's Bruce?"
"Right here," Bruce replied, hurrying down the stairs.
As Harvey had said, Bruce and Alfred always had a habit of somehow getting involved in everything that went wrong in Gotham. That's how you had met them. You'd think a billionaire child would live in a pretty secure little pocket of the world. Tony had, anyway.
"Look how much you've grown!" you said, looking the handsome young man over. He had just been a little boy when you met him. Now, he appeared to be in his early teens. He had grown several inches and his voice had deepened.
"Thank you, sir, for letting us stay here," Steve said to Alfred as he came through the front door.
"Well, I am happy to assist in anyway that I can, but that was actually Master Bruce's decision."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Steve said, directing the statement to Bruce.
"It's alright," Bruce said with a smile.
After the introductions were over, Alfred offered to show everyone where they would be staying.
"Tony Stark isn't coming?" Bruce asked you in a disappointed tone as he watched the team walk past.
"Not unless we need him. Pepper is trying to keep him home more these days."
"I wanted to talk to him. Someone with our resources becoming a superhero is very intriguing to me. There are so many things I'd like to ask him."
"I'll have him call you," you said, patting him on the shoulder. He seemed to brighten at the idea.
"Are you sure you can trust Penguin to live up to his word?" He asked as you climbed the stairs.
"Normally, I would tell people not to trust Penguin farther than they could throw him.... of course, in Steve's case that would be pretty far," you said, catching a glimpse of his broad expanse of a back at the top of the staircase. "But, Oswald and I have a good history."
"You saved his life. I remember."
"Even if he isn't feeling sentimental, he's smart enough to know that it's in his best interest to stay on our good side."
"Jim Gordan is coming over tonight," Bruce said when you'd reached the bedroom you'd be staying in. "He's not happy about this plan. I think he's going to try to talk you out of it."
"A lot of upset over a guy making a few phone calls," you muttered to yourself. "Thanks for warning me, Bruce."
"Of course. Penguin is a criminal, but this guy must be a lot worse to land on your radar. I think you should do whatever you think is right."
Bumping him playfully on the chin with your fist, you said, "You know, you're alright, kid."
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For your first evening in Wayne Manor, Alfred insisted on serving all of you a formal sit down dinner. It would have been lovely, if not for the unwelcome presence halfway through the meal.
"What the hell are you thinking trusting Penguin with this?" Jim Gordan growled from his spot across the table from you. "If he betrays you, his thugs will have access to weapons that will unleash a new kind of hell in the streets of Gotham."
"This is Penguin we're talking about, not Jerome Valaska. He's a businessman, first and foremost. Crime just happens to be his business."
"Captain Rogers," Gordan said, turning his attention to Steve, "This is a bad idea."
"I trust y/n's judgment," Steve said simply. His tone was polite, but firm enough to end any discussion of the matter. You'd have to make sure to thank him later.
Gordan let out a defeated sigh before saying, "You know Nygma is working with him now?"
Staring down at your food as you pushed it around the plate, you said softly, "Yeah, I know."
After a few quiet moments, you asked, "How did he get out of Arkham?"
"Penguin threw his weight around with one of the doctors.... had him declared sane."
"What's Arkham?" Sam interjected from his spot at the table.
"An asylum for the criminally insane," Gordan began. "Nygma got sent there after killing a cop and chopping him into little pieces.... a witness, too. Penguin also did some time there.... for murdering our mayor."
For the first time since Gordon arrived, you let a small smile form on your lips.
"As I recall, Jim, Oswald didn't kill Galavan. At least, not the first time."
With a small huff, he got up from the table and headed towards the door. Stopping just before leaving the room, he said, "I hope it works out. Let me know if you need anything."