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"Oh? And.... what sort of "mutually beneficial situation" would we be referring to?" Cobblepot asked carefully. As far as he knew... Vandal had only been involved with Miss Ravengraves and Dew today. As far as it FELT... he was about to ask to buy off another one of his employees.

Which... he hoped was not the case. Rebecca was fine. That was a good business move on his part. But Natalia or Emily? Two of his best employees? One whom he trusted taking care of more sensitive business and the other who he trusted to clean up anything that needed to disappear?

Penguin did his best to hide is... disapproval of the little deal. His frown deepened, but his face remained professional. As much as it could be anyway. "I suppose so. As you said, she is a... very valuable with her gifts. That given with the fact that I brought her in off the streets of another continent... I may find it quite hard to let her go." he replied.

VERY hard was more like it. She was too useful for disposing of bodies.

Penguin frowned and leaned back in his seat. Name his price? That was... a very, very tempting offer. Especially coming from someone as wealthy as Savage. But...

"As much as I would enjoy naming my price... I'm afraid Natalia is far too good at making those I need disappear. No money trails from purchasing what I need to get the job done. No trips to the dock, or anything of that sort. Simply need to clean up the blood from the basement or wherever Natalia decides to dine for the night." he replied.

Cobblepot grew quiet for a moment, and his expression became thoughtful. His hands clasped together, and slowly drew up to his chin. A few free jobs, and name his price? Of course... after she began working for Vandal, she could jack up the cost of her services if he needed her again.

.... though... if he asked for enough, he could put away part of that and only get it out to hire Natalia again.

".....that seems reasonable." he muttered, then looked over to the computer system behind him. "I'll consider the offer. Give me a few moments to figure out the... expenses I made to get Miss Ravengraves to the point she's at today." he said, then swivled his chair around to start up his private computer. He had files on everything, so it shouldn't take too long to find.

Natalia turned her head towards Vandal and gave him a little grin in return. The look on her face made it clear that she at least thought things were going well. And, as far as she knew they were. Any one else would have offered this and Penguin would have had them removed from his office. This was... going very well to her.


For Emily, however, this was giving her mixed feelings. Vandal still had blackmail over her, but having Natalia... not here anymore... that might make things easier on her. Though, she had no idea what Vandal could make her do should he need to make something happen to Emily.

Taking advantage of Cobblepot facing the opposite direction, and the two love birds focusing on each other, Emily decided to creep her way closer to the door. She had to go as slowly and quietly as she could. The stealth would keep her virtually invisible, but it wouldn't be hard to see a ghost in the room if someone did look her way and she wasn't creeping along.

It took Cobblepot a few minutes. There were several files and screens up on his computer by the time he was finished calculating everything together. The printer next to his desk whirred to life, and a few papers soon slid out. Penguin shut off the screen of his computer, then turned and plucked the papers from the printer. He looked over them each twice, then took out a pen and circled something on the very last sheet of paper.

"This should cover all of the expenses I paid for Natalia to get her to the Lounge, as well as eradicate any traceable evidence of her existence prior to coming to America. As well as expenses paid to give her the solid identity she has now, language classes, clothes, her room, and other expenses." he said as he handed the file to Vandal. "I have also added what I would ask for in return for... removing her from my employment."

Oswald's brow arched at his reply. If he had set out to surprise him, Vandal had succeeded. "That little? Well, I had tried to make the price as fair as I could. I'm glad to see that it won't be a problem for you to handle." he replied, trying to keep his tone as professional as possible.

Natalia, though already knowing the man's history, couldn't help but look back at the papers with wide eyes. Not at the price, but that Vandal had no problem with the price. That was... well beyond anything she had ever seen here.


Emily couldn't help but feel surprised too. Here she thought she had found one of the wealthiest people in Gotham. If Savage was unmoved by that... then there really wasn't anything he wouldn't be able to buy. And that could mean trouble for her if she wanted to try and get out from under him.

"By all means." Cobblepot replied, turning towards his computer. All he needed to do was unlock the computer, and activate his security. It would allow Vandal to use the computer, but block anything that was sensitive information from him.