Sidestory: Weaver in Gotham 2

Batman frowned as he stared at the computer, replaying the interview with the terified criminals.

“Maybe the Scarecrow is moonlighting…” Robin asked.

“No. Their accounts are too similar. Fear Toxin is more personal…”

“A new vigilante? Perhaps the spirits are coming to Gotham?” Alfred said.

Batman shook his head. “No. I doubt that a spirit would care much for a crime. Look at the interviews. Whoever he or she was, they were playing on the criminal’s fears.”

“Oh, we’ve never heard that playbook before.” Robin grinned. “So why are they here?”

“I don’t know. I’ve checked all records, and there’s never been a vigilante with this exact MO, and yet… This was too well done, too pat. This isn’t someone going out for their very first night. Trust me, I know.”

“As do I, Master Bruce. Fortunately, my first aid skills were able to compensate for your early lack of showmanship.”

“Now I have gotta hear that…” Robin said.

Batman just looked at him.

****

The good news about a city like the Bay was that there were plenty of abandoned buildings to find. I also found a few drug stashes, including money, a few weapons and a couple of notes.

As with any criminal underground, the street level wasn’t noted for being smart.

The technology was very curious. It looked… clunky, even if it was mostly equal to the Bay’s, although cell phones were not in evidence. That was helpful. It meant fewer eyes on me.

But this world wasn’t like Bet. There were fewer parahumans, and most of them seemed to be relatively low powered. Mr. Freeze looked like a Tinker with a severe handicap, while Clayface had a powerful, but limited changer ability.

No flyers, save for rumors of an Alexandria Cape in Metropolis.

There were other stories, of ghosts and demons, aliens among humanity, but I could write most of them off.

It seemed like Earth Bet, at the very dawn of the age of superheroes.

On the other hand, no Endbringers, no S-Class enemies, no containment zones.

But right now I had an issue. I’d learned a lot in my walk through the city, but I was still in the dark. I needed a place to stay, where I wouldn’t be remarked on, and could learn what I needed to know…

And the very lack of the disasters of Earth Bet meant that the longer I was on the street, the better the chance of a hostile encounter with the police. Or the Bat, who was, depending on who you asked, a parahuman, myth, or demon empowered by the blood of the unrighteous.

They’d also talked about some of the criminals in the city, when they thought nobody could hear them, their voice disguised by everyone else talking.

One in particular…

I took some time dirtying my face, looking like someone who has been on the street far too long. And then I headed for the Iceberg Lounge.

Everyone I’d heard talk about it mentioned that it was a good place to get a hot meal. If you went in the front they’d throw you out, and no bums hung around the parking lot where the expensive cars were, but in back…

In back there was a long line of men and women, waiting their turn as ladles of stew were put out, along with coffee and coke. I estimated he was feeding at least a few hundred every day.

A few hundred people who would have cause to thank Oswald Cobblepot for a full belly. A few hundred people who would take anyone trying to bring down his business very personally indeed.

I’d seen some comedy routines about the “dumbest of the villains” and noticed one thing. You didn’t tend to make fun of the Slaughterhouse Nine, but Leet, because Leet was less likely to try and murder you. From what I’d seen, he was a criminal, but controlled enough, unlike some in Gothem, that he didn’t default right to murder.

Although I wonder if the location of the Iceberg Lounge was intentional, being right on the border between the good part of town and the slums. A message from him that he lived in both worlds?

Or just cheap rent?

But I got in line for the food, and while it was simple, it was good.The Penguin was not a fool.

Which, of course, made him more dangerous. But when I got to the end, finished my food and put my tray away, I walked up to the plug ugly at the end of the line. “Sir… Thank you so much, but… Do you know if there’s any place I could get a job? It’s getting colder out and I’m afraid of the street…”

The guard just shook his head, but someone behind me put their hand on my shoulder and gave me a shove. I was ready for it.

“Hah! Look at this twig. Don’t you know Penguin likes his girls with meet on their bones?”

I don’t say anything. A terrified runaway wouldn’t defy a bigger man. But It looked like this is—

“Don’t you know sir, that I consider the ill-treatment of the farer sex to be a great sin.”

“Uh—oh, Mr. Cobblepot! I was just having a joke!”

“One in poor taste.”

Cobblepot is, as his pictures showed, fat, but he’s moving with a certain grace. And he’s pointing a ridiculous umbrella at my former bully—which, if the rumors are true, could kill him in a dozen different ways.”

“Since you seem to be so eager to play to the crowd, I think the for the next month, you should find your meals elsewhere.” He gestured and the man ran for the exit to the lot.

Most of the other people didn’t pay any attention.

“My dear I am sorry,” Cobblepot says, as a minion lifts me up. “You were saying?”

“I… I was just looking for a job, but I don’t want to be a trouble, since you fed me…”

Flattery works on just about anyone.

He pauses, looks at a woman who is far prettier than I will ever be, and murmurs to her.

“Can you read?”

“Yes’m.”

“Can you wash dishes?”

“Pa always liked his dishes clean!” I say with complete sincerity while every insect in range is freezing. Believe me, believe me…

“We have a bunk room for people who don’t have a house and haven’t found a rental place yet. You’ll make minimum wage. I’ll keep half of it and put it into an account for you, until you can rent a legal room. Come in drunk, miss a shift, get into fights, you’re out. Also, what you see here stays here. Can you do that?”

“Yes Ma’am!”

“And there you go, my dear. Meredith, show her to the shower room, and… I am feeling expansive. Do not deduct the cost of her uniform from her paycheck.”

“Of course, Mr. Cobblepot.”

Part of me considered looking up the man who knocked me over, but now… I’ll give him a pass. Without the blow to the Penguin’s unspoken protection of those enjoying his charity, I doubted he’d be so inclined.

There weren’t many bugs in the club. It was very well taken care of. But no place could be completely free of bugs, and so I’d soon be in a position to learn everything I needed about the underworld in Gothem.

A heated room wasn’t too bad either.

With that, I followed Meredith into the rear of the lounge.