A/N (Disclaimer) The Penguin does not belong to me; neither does Batman or any other of Bob Kane's characters. The Penguin in my story belongs to Tim Burton, who has created this new type of Penguin. Corrine Beaumont© and everyone else are mine, of course.
Chapter 6- One Month Later
Corrine looked at herself in the mirror of her bathroom, not believing how different she had looked. Her eyes had changed from her light blue to a piercing green, thanks to her new colored contacts.
Her hair, her hair had become completely unrecognizable. She was so used to having in a pixie-cut for so long, it had taken a while for her to remember the feeling of hair down her back. Now, it was long flowing curls to a few inches past her shoulders. She was completely amazed at how long it had become in such a short amount of time.
Not only lengthwise was her hair different, but also the color was completely different.
Now, instead of being her usual dark raven color, it was now completely silver-blonde. She refused to let the hairdresser make it regular blonde, it would go for everything she was against. So, she had chosen a more silver type of color, and she actually liked it a little. But, as soon as this ordeal ended, she would change it back, if she could.
Corrine quickly did her make up and left the bathroom. She put on a pair of jeans and a white-laced camisole. She grabbed her black leather jacket and put it on over the cami. Corrine turned off all the light and locked her apartment door after she closed it behind her.
Tonight she had her first, well, technically third, meeting with the Batman. She had no idea why, but he just said to be outside the Gotham City Bakery at ten-thirty sharp. Of course, she couldn't object, she'd rather do this that rot away in a jail cell for 20 years. This seemed to be the best way.
Corrine was met with an icy cold wind when she walked out of the apartment complex. She shivered and wrapped her coat around herself more tightly, hoping to shield herself from the vindictive winter.
She continued walking until she was at an intersection, she ran across the busy street to the other side and was greeted by angry horns. She stopped and took a deep breath, and looked up at the small building in front of her, it read Gotham City Baker. She checked her watch, and it blinked back 10:29, she was a minute early. She stood there in a silence.
She abruptly heard the loud screech of tire on pavement coming from a distance away. Corrine looked in each direction, but couldn't see anything, but as she thought that, a long black car came out of nowhere and stopped in front of her with a long shriek. The top of the beast rolled backwards to reveal Batman sitting inside of it.
"Get in," he said gruffly a Corrine jumped off the curb and into the front seat. The top rolled back on and they sped away.
She looked around the car in amazement, "Wow, this thing is huge," she peered at all the blinking buttons on the dashboard in front of him. It took all her will power not to touch anything.
"Yes, it is big. It's the Batmobile," he said it slowly as if speaking to a child with no knowledge of the outside world.
"Hmmm, how creative," she said sarcastically and sat back in her seat, pouting slightly. "Where are we going, exactly?" She asked as she looked out the dark, tinted window, watching the city drive by with unbelievable speed.
He ignored her and just kept driving. They sat in silence for the next few minutes, until he got a bag and handed it to her.
"Put this on," he demanded rather then asked. Corrine made a face and looked inside he bag. She reached in and pulled out an outfit of some kind. It was tan, like it was made out of a hide.
"Umm, where do I change?" She looked around the automobile and saw that it was impossible to change with the pleasure of privacy.
He grunted, as if this was a chore for him, like a brother driving around his kid sister, "Go in the back, I'll put the shield up.
She raised her eyebrows, but responded, "I'll change when we get there," she said smugly as she put the outfit back in the bag. "Wherever it is," She mumbled.
He ignored her, which she took as a yes to her statement.
She was almost starting to fall asleep when she felt a sudden jerk in the car as it stopped. Her head was thrown forward and almost hit the airbag holder if not for her seatbelt. "A little warning would be appreciated," Corrine said sarcastically as she rubbed her forehead.
Holding the bag tightly, she stepped out and her high heels came in contact with gravel. She looked around, there was nothing for miles but a poorly constructed road made of broken up chunks of concrete mixed with dirt. She was confused, where are we?
Corrine turned around as was greeted with many flashing lights on top of a wide, small-roofed building. The neon sign spelled out with cursive letting Night Lights. Underneath it in subtext was written, Hot Girls, Wild Times, Live 24/7!
She read the flashing illuminations in horror, and dropped the bag in her hand and backed away towards the Batmobile.
"No, no freakin' way, I am not doing this, Batman. This completely crosses the line." She turned around and walked in long strides to the long car. Corrine felt her hand being grabbed and she whipped around to meet eye to eye with the Dark Knight. She stared at him defiantly, but he stared back harder then she ever would.
His dark eyes yelled at her, telling her that this was her only chance… her last chance. They were telling her to swallow her pride and get this ordeal over with as soon as possible.
She groaned, and said grudgingly, "Fine, whatever, let's get through this." She stooped toward the ground and grabbed her outfit. Corrine strutted, her head held high as she walked toward the building. Batman was one step behind her, silent, but happy knowing that he had gotten through to her.
Corrine stared at herself in the mirror and sighed. The dressing room smelled of alcohol, cigarettes and cheap perfume, and it was poorly lit. She sat on a barely put together chair and was peering at herself in a dusty mirror. She applied a lot of make-up on her face; she was trying to be as unrecognizable as possible.
She heard cheers come from outside the dressing room and loud music, so loud that she couldn't determine the type of music it was, let alone they name of the song. There were a few other girls in the room with the same outfit on that she had. Two were talking about how much money they were hoping on making that night.
There was a dark-skinned girl two seats away from hers; she was staring at a picture that was taped to her own dusty mirror. She took in a big sigh and started applying make-up on her eyes. She took black eyeliner and almost completely covered her eyes with it. Even though it was evenly put on, it was obvious that it was too much. She continued to put it on until she was finished.
She lifted up her head and caught Corrine's eye. Corrine quickly felt embarrassed that the girl found out she was staring at her. But she gave Corrine a small smile, and she got up out of her seat and sat down in the one next to her.
"You're new here, aren't you?" She said in a weak voice.
"Yeah, today's my first day," Corrine answered.
"What's you're name?" She asked.
"Estelle…" Corrine lied hesitantly, she didn't like lying to people, but the Batman told her to tell people a fake name, just in case.
"That's not your real name, is it? It's okay, we all have stage names, and mine is Rose. But my real name is Angelique, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a large, white smile.
"Thanks, but I'd rather not—"
"No, it's okay, we just met. I understand, I'm sorry, I always jump into things, it's just the way I am," She lowered her head and looked down at her hands on her lap.
Corrine felt guilt surge thru her body at rapid speed, "Hey, I'm sorry, I don't trust people I just met, that's just the way I am. Nothing against you," She apologized.
"It's okay," Angelique responded as she looked up and smiled at Corrine.
Corrine smiled back, she felt awful, and she decided to change the subject, "What's that picture of?" She asked her as she pointed to a photograph taped on Angelique's mirror.
"Oh," She walked over and pulled it of her own mirror, "This is my son, Jacob, he'll be three next month," She handed Corrine the picture.
She looked at it; a small dark skinned boy was looking back up at her with dark eyes, her heart melted. He was holding a sipee cup and had on a dirty white tee shirt. "Oh, he's so cute," she handed back the picture.
"Thanks," she taped it back on her mirror.
"Ladies!" A slicked back man walked into the room, his skinny arms in the air.
"Johnny!" They all chanted.
Immediately, the all the girls in the room stood up, Corrine and Angelique did the same. "Ladies, it's almost show time! Aaaand, we have a new addition to out little party, this is Estelle, and she will be doing the table dances!" He walked over and put his arms around Corrine's shoulders and started twirling her silver blonde hair with his greasy finger. There was mild clapping throughout the room.
"Ugh!" She ducked underneath his arm and jumped away. He didn't seem to notice her not being there, so he continued on giving his little speech anyways.
"Okay ladies… you on, in five, four, three, two, one…." The girls in their uniforms immediately followed each other thru the old curtains into the room with all the men in it.
Corrine and Angelique were last out of the room, "Where do I go?" Corrine whispered the question to her.
"To those tables over there, just pick one, I'm on those, too," Corrine followed her to some booths with tables with a long pole extending upward from each of them. There were about five booths all together and in two of them were men.
Corrine racked her memory to remember what Batman said about the man she was looking for. Really big… baldhead… tiny eyes, luckily, there was a large man and a very tiny man in the table next to his. So it was obviously easy to choose from.
"I'll take the big one," she whispered to Angelique.
"Oh, thank you, he comes in here every Friday, he is very rude, not afraid to 'pet the animal', if you know what I mean," She whispered back to Corrine.
Great… she thought, but proceeded to that table.
He grinned at her when he saw her walking towards him, "Heyyyy girrrrll," He slurred, obviously he was a little drunk.
Corrine chose not to respond as she stepped up on the table. She sighed inwardly, and thought that if she did this as quickly as possible, the faster she would be out of here and the faster she could place this as just another forgotten memory.
She grabbed the pole and started to dance with it, moving up and down with her own rhythm. She climbed up to the top of it and hooked her legs together and hung upside down, her long silver hair touching the surface of the table. Corrine smiled at him from that odd angle and he smiled happily, like a child excited to get candy from his aunt.
Corrine flipped over slowly and tossed her hair back; she squatted down at him, making eye contact with him. He stopped smiling for a minute, completely mesmerized by her bright green eyes. She winked at him, and crawled on her knees closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Hey, big boy," She leaned back and grinned at him again.
He suddenly took a large gulp from his beer and then accidentally dropped it on the ground; it shattered into a thousand pieces. He didn't care, though; he had never lost eye contact with her.
"I have a little question for you my friend," she said seductively as she stood up again.
"Whatever you want my little princess," he said, he was still completely mesmerized.
Ughh, she shuddered, that is gross. I'm here for 6 minutes and he already has a nickname for me.
"Do you remember a man named, the Penguin?" She asked and she danced more in front of him.
He looked at her strangely, "What does a pretty girl like you want with a freak like Cobblepot?"
She inched closer to him and whispered in his ear, "Maybe I'm looking for him," she seduced him.
"Oh, I see, he owes ya somethin'?" He whispered back.
"In a way…" she said. She inched closer to him, "Didn't you used to work for him?"
"Yeah…" he laughed, like he was under the impression that that impressed her. He was too drunk to wonder where she got that information. "Yeah, I was in that freak show gang of his a couple years back." He swayed a little, "They called me the world's fattest man," He snorted a little after he said that.
"You!" She faked a gasp, "No, not with all this muscle!" She squeezed the fat on his arms tightly.
He blushed, and she felt more confident now that she could get all the info out of him without a problem.
"So, Muscle Man, are you smart, too?" She asked flirtatiously.
"Well, I did finish the 9th grade…" He giggled, still drunk.
"Soo, do you know where that Penguin is hiding out, then?" She asked, moving towards him a little closer
"Yeah! Yeah! I do! He's at the factory!" He said loudly, and happily.
Corrine looked at him queerly, "Umm, could you be a little bit more specific then that?"
"Yeah, he's at that music factory! The one by the pier!" He exclaimed.
She racked her brain, trying to figure out what he was talking about, then, it hit her. "Burdocks? Burdocks factory, the one that has been abandoned, that used to make pianos?"
"Yeah! That one!" He said drunkly.
She sat back and breathed a sigh of relief, it was over. She had finally found out where he was. She smiled a little.
"Soo," He leaned in closer to her, his breath reeking of alcohol, "Do I get a reward for helping?" He grinned.
She stared with him with disgust, and then she decided to give him one, "Yes, now, close your eyes, and pucker up."
"Oh! A kiss, do I get a kiss!" He puckered up happily and closed his eyes.
She smiled viciously, "Something like that."
Corrine jumped off the table and reared her fist back, then, with all her known force, she punched him square in the eye, completely knocking him backwards off the chair.
"Ahh!" He fell back, clutching his eye.
"Have fun with that, Tiger." She said, and stormed out of the club, never to return.
A/N Hey, this story mayyy be a little long, but bare with me. Reviews are HIGHLY APPRICAITED! Please! They rock!