บท 95: The Iceberg Lounge #95
"This way, if you please," The Penguin henchman said as he led us inside the club, and I paused for a second to take in and appreciate the fancy interior design.
The place looked luxurious, almost exaggeratedly so, with waiters in elegant black suits running around while carrying trays of champagne and every expensive alcoholic beverage you could imagine.
The tables and seats were all mahogany wood, and their over-the-top posh appearance was only emphasized by the dim lighting, the countless sculptures, the giant golden chandelier hanging from the roof, and relaxing piano music playing in the background.
"Place is even fancier on the inside..." I casually remarked as I started moving after a second of looking around, quickly catching up to the henchman, Richard, and Benjamin.
"Looks like overcompensation if you ask me..." Benjamin said with a scoff as he shook his head at no one in particular, causing me to chuckle while Richard merely sent his friend an admonishing look.
The henchman heard Benjamin's words and likely understood the jab at The Penguin's appearance and froze, but quickly cleared his throat and kept walking as if the dark-skinned man didn't just insult his boss.
He'd probably be reporting the insult to The Penguin, and the situation might escalate, depending on how the mob boss would react, but there was no use worrying over it right now.
I honestly didn't dislike The Penguin. He was a breath of fresh air when it came to Batman's rogue gallery since he was probably the only one who wasn't bat-shit crazy.
While most of the caped crusader's villains would spend their entire lives brooding on how to get back at Batman, Penguin wanted nothing to do with the guy and always tried to fly under his radar.
He was just a mob boss, sometimes a sympathetic, fiercely intelligent, and cunning one with a comic appearance, but he was merely a mob boss in the end, nonetheless, and that was a good thing in this crazy city.
I'd prefer not to get into a conflict with him if possible, but I will stand by Ben if it comes to it. Hopefully, The Penguin isn't petty enough to call him out on it, and it won't be necessary.
"Hmm? Who's that...?" I remarked, halting my steps as I noticed a pale white woman with black makeup over her eyes, dressed in a very conspicuous outfit with a penguin henchman escorting her inside the club.
'Is that a gender-bent Lobo...?' I mused to myself as I noticed how much she resembled the intergalactic mercenary from the comics, causing me to frown under my helmet.
"That would be Crush," The Penguin henchman explained as he stopped and turned to where I was looking. "She had been fighting in underground rings all over America for a while now..." he went on as he resumed moving, and I followed along, listening intently.
"Her presence was an unexpected but welcome surprise to the boss," the henchman concluded, prompting me to hum while keeping my eyes on the girl.
She seemed to have sensed my stare and looked at me before turning a corner, giving me a challenging smirk before disappearing into a hallway, to which my frown only deepened.
'That can't be good...' I held back a sigh as I shook my head and resumed following the henchman, but my teacher seemed to have caught on that something was wrong.
"Something wrong with that girl...?" Richard asked as he turned to me, raising an eyebrow, to which Benjamin gave me a quizzical look of his own, seemingly curious.
"She looks like someone. Someone who's bad news," I replied with a sigh as I shrugged my shoulders. "And I mean Superman level of bad news," I added, waving my hand to the side, much to the two men's confusion.
"What do you mean?" Richard asked, his tone concerned as he frowned after hearing my words, and Benjamin looked just as confused and concerned as he was.
"She looks like a female version of Lobo, the alien mercenary who fought Superman and almost won more than once," I replied with a sigh, toning down my voice so that the henchman who was trying to eavesdrop wouldn't hear me.
Richard was about to reply, but the henchman interrupted him as he stopped in front of a room with a sign that had the word Wraith on its door after we climbed into the club's second floor.
"Looks like you were expected, after all, kid," Benjamin said, raising an eyebrow as he proceeded to ignore the henchman's presence and open the door to go inside.
Richard and I followed along into the room as impressively decorated as the rest of Iceberg Lounge, and the henchman waited for us to go inside before he started speaking.
"The tournament will start in two hours. We will send someone to find you when the time comes," The henchman said as he cleared his throat to get our attention.
"You are free to roam the Iceberg Lounge and enjoy its services, all of which are on the house, of course," he added as he took a step back and reached for the door.
"If you need anything, then feel free to approach any of the servers and ask them," the henchman remarked. "Now, if you will excuse me..." he concluded, pausing as he inspected our faces, and we nodded, prompting him to close the door and leave.
"That girl—" Richard said as soon as the henchman closed the door and left, and I quickly cut him off as I stood up and asked him to wait with a gesture.
I began checking the room for bugs, and after three minutes, I was standing in front of my teacher with a handful of microphones and listening devices that were hidden in almost every corner.
"Now it's safe to speak," I said with a shrug as I closed my palm, crushing the listening devices into countless pieces that fell on the floor as I relaxed my hand.
"The girl, do you think you can beat her...?" Richard asked, frowning as he watched me move to the couch and make myself comfortable by helping myself to the refreshments.
"If she's as strong as Lobo, then my chances are slim to none," I honestly replied with a sigh. Lobo was shown to have Superman-level strength on more than one occasion and was even capable of destroying planets.
"It's not a problem of winning or losing, though. I'd prefer not to fight the girl.." I added while shaking my head as I took off my helmet to take a sip from a soda can in my hand.
"It would be a lose-lose situation for me whether I win or lose. I'd have to go all out if I was to have any chance at winning," I explained as I drained the drink and threw the can into the trash.
"Even then, I'm not sure I would..." I concluded as I put my helmet back and leaned on the couch to contemplate my options. Richard understood my reluctance as I'd already explained I wanted to keep my super strength under wraps for now.
Still, I couldn't back out since Richard's pride was on the line, and he'd look like a chump in front of Lady Shiva if someone else disqualified me before I even got the chance to fight Cassandra.
"I wouldn't put it past Lady Shiva to have arranged for me to fight Crush before Cassandra to get me disqualified, considering what she did to get her daughter to get her here," I remarked as I turned to my teacher for confirmation as he knew her better than me.
"Sandra might go to surprising extremes to get what she wants, but even she has her honor," Richard replied, speaking matter-of-factly as he firmly shook his head in denial.
"She would not go this far," Richard concluded in an assured tone as if my worries were unfounded and I had to believe him since he knew the crazy bitch better than me.
"I might end up fighting Crush before Cassandra either way, so it doesn't really matter," I said as I got up. "Guess I'll have to deal with it when it comes," I concluded as I walked towards the door.
"I'll take a walk and scope out the competition. You need anything before I go?" I asked, my gaze alternating between Richard and Benjamin, who shook their heads.
"Well, call me if something comes up," I remarked as I reached for the door's handle but stopped as I heard knocking coming from the other side.
I opened the door and raised an eyebrow as I saw the same henchman who brought us here standing on the other side of the door frame with his hands behind his back.
"Mr. Cobblepot has asked me to invite you to his office," the henchman blankly said as he looked at me. "Please follow me if you are not preoccupied," he politely added to clarify he was merely asking.
...
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