Gotham's Unknown 3 Predator and Prey

Chapter 20: Corporate Vipers

Oswald decided that his first order of reclaiming his throne was to start running the Iceberg Lounge once again or at least until Daniel came out of hiding. He showed up at the Lounge, hours before opening time expecting the place to be empty but he found a young woman with long blonde hair tied up in a bun, a black pantsuit, and black rectangular rimmed glasses. She looked completely out of place in the setting of the Lounge so he stepped up to her. "Excuse me, what the hell are you doing in my lounge?" Asked Oswald as she didn't even look up from the paperwork she was doing.
"I am doing inventory Mr. Cobblepot, is there something you need?" Asked the woman in a cold tone.
"Wait, you work here?" Asked Oswald as she finally turned.
"In a manner of speaking, for legal purposes let's say I'm your son's financial advisor, call me Ophelia." Said the woman as she looked at him.
"So what exactly, speaking illegally, did you do for my son?" Asked Oswald as she grabbed her clip board and continued doing her work while she talked with him.
"Well that is a very long list of things but I believe the most important task I regularly did for your son was clean up." Said Ophelia as she went behind the bar.
"Clean up?" Asked Oswald as she nodded.
"If there was one difference between the Penguin and the Black Dog, dogs don't clean up after themselves. He leaves quite the trail of bodies in his wake either on purpose or accident with those powers of his so he needed a person under his employment to get the messes cleaned up before the cops found them and were able to charge him." Said Ophelia as she started counting the bottles under the counter.
"I still don't understand why he chose that moniker." Stated Oswald as she looked at him.
"He chose it because of you actually. I was there when he came up with the idea, he knew that you had chosen The Penguin because it was a nickname people used against you and tried to make you be less than you were so he decided to do the same. Since people called him your lap dog, he decided to put a spin on it and call himself a black dog because in a lot of legends a black dog is seen as a bad omen and a sign of death so since if Daniel walks into a room in a bad mood the weakest person in the room will surely drop dead from his constant static charge." Said Ophelia as she walked around the bar. "I think we're ready to open." Said Ophelia as she turned to Oswald.
"Wait, I have one last question." Stated Oswald as she nodded. "How much was my son paying you?" Asked Oswald as Ophelia sighed.
"Well it should put your mind at ease that he wasn't." Stated Ophelia as she started wandering away.
"He wasn't paying you?!" Asked Edward in shock as Oswald was also appalled.
"Mr. Penn may have tried to kill me out a psychotic break I... probably caused him to have but my point is that I still paid him!" Said Oswald as Ophelia didn't seem to feel entitled to a paycheck.
"You do all this work for him and he doesn't pay you a dime?" Asked Edward as Ophelia sighed.
"Mr. Van Dahl and I have our own agreement so you need not worry about my payment, Dr. Ivory will be taking care of it as she always has." Said Ophelia as Oswald was furious to hear that.
"Absolutely not! I will not have her pay my employee." Said Oswald as he walked over to her. "Whatever she's paying I'll double it." Said Oswald firmly as Ophelia looked at him.
"Mr. Cobblepot, I can assure you there is no amount of money you can pay me that will match what she is paying me." Said Ophelia as she walked away but Oswald took that statement as a personal challenge.
"I think I make far more than a psychiatrist on payroll!" Said Oswald as Ophelia stopped and turned to him.
"She doesn't pay me money and that's all you need to know about our agreement." Said Ophelia as Oswald didn't like the situation but it was obvious that she wasn't going to bend to him because he wasn't her boss. Oswald laughed a little and smiled at her in a very fake way.
"Fine! Stick to the agreement that you have with my son and his wife. That is fine by me." Said Oswald as he turned and went to the office.

Their first night of opening under new management, things went well enough until Edward went into the men's room. As he stepped inside he saw that one of the sinks had residue in them like someone had washed blood off their hands and he noticed that a foot was sticking out of a stall. He went over and kicked the foot but noticed that the stall was open so he peered inside and saw a corpse completely drained of its blood with two little bite marks in his throat and the skin around the bite marks had turned grey. Edward knew Oswald needed to know about this before the police did.
"Oswald." Stated Edward as he stepped up next to Oswald at the bar.
"Hm?" Asked Oswald as he sipped a glass of champagne.
"There's a dead body in the men's room." Said Edward as before Oswald could react Ophelia sprung into action and went that direction. Both Oswald and Edward noticed this and followed her. She gathered two lackeys and told them to follow her. They went to the restroom and she started instructing them on how to dispose of the body.
"What's going on here?" Asked Oswald as Ophelia turned.
"Finding a body like this isn't exactly out of the ordinary here. Mr. Van Dahl is very close with a certain kind of clientele and he provides these people with a kind hunting ground where they easily blend in." Said Ophelia as the men took the body out of the room. "Take it out the back and dump him in the river." Said Ophelia as Oswald followed her out of the room.
"Who exactly are these clients of Daniel's?" Asked Oswald as Ophelia continued walking away.
"They're a group of contract killers called the Viper Squad, they get hired to kill people quietly and Mr. Van Dahl has offered them a clean up service and in return they pay him 15% of what they earned from each kill." Stated Ophelia as Oswald grabbed her arm.
"Why is Daniel risking his neck for these people?" Asked Oswald as Ophelia stopped and looked at his hand. She started breathing kind of heavy and he finally noticed that even though he grabbed her blazer he could feel how cold her skin was through the coat. He let go when he saw her mouth slightly hanging open and he could see the glimmer of fangs in her mouth. She suddenly corrected herself and turned slightly to him.
"Ask Dr. Ivory, she's very involved in her husband's criminal affairs. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go home now." She stated as she went to her office. Oswald looked at Edward with a look of concern and fear.