#6

Ain't I nice? I'm giving y'all a chapter eighth after saying I wouldn't. It really gives a light on the type of person I am huh? Anyway, read it.

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So Ozzy's buying my weapons? It's been a while since I last saw my favorite mobster in all of Gotham. He mentioned not wanting my 'craziness' around him, but I'm sure that's a mistake in my otherwise perfect memory.

"Welcome, Mr. Cobblepot is waiting." Oh hey, I know this chick; she's that secret agent from that awful movie nobody liked but everyone watched.

"Thanks," I said, ready to open the doors to meet the kingpin of New Jersey.

"Only the nurse is permitted, Dr. V. You're allowed to enjoy yourself at the bar," the secretary said with some edge.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at her with my best cold stare and a 'really?' expression, which she probably didn't catch because of the mask.

"Mister Cobblepot is still very wary of you, sir, but he agreed to meet as long as you don't do anything," Evelyn said, passing me and entering.

Damn, alright then. Might as well get drunk. Wait, I'm underage; damn, this is not going to end well.

Turning my back, I went to the counter and ordered some water, deciding it was best to let Evelyn do the talking while I enjoyed the easy parts of being a mastermind.

"I should up her pay," I murmured while drinking through the mask. But then again, she owes me, right?... Yeah, I'll give her a raise and a vacation; that'll probably be the best.

"Hey, aren't you that doctor who kicked Pyg out of business?" Oh great, hired thugs to either force me to cause a scene and give Oswald an excuse or to be humiliated by and lose my carefully built reputation.

"I believe I am. Who are you?" I said with a neutral tone, not wanting to throw away whatever Evelyn went through to get this meeting.

"Name's Matches Malone. I heard you're quite the inventor." Hey, wait a minute...

"Sorry man, if you're looking for a delivery, go through the right channels." This isn't Ozzy's plan, which is a relief, but now I have a different kind of problem on my back.

"I'm quite sure we can come to an agreement, Dr. V. I'm more than willing to pay." Damn man, don't you have a tall building to brood on while it's raining?

With a sigh, I looked at 'Matches' face and almost immediately noted the things you'll find in a disguise. Yeah, now I'm sure, I just committed the one mistake you should never do in Gotham... Got Batman's attention.

[POV change? gasp Bet you didn't see that coming]

Dr. V, a rising star in the underbelly of Gotham after he took out Professor Pyg and his Circus of Strange and gifted the territory to the Penguin, who paid back by recommending him to whoever might need his services.

At first, I ignored the small rumor of a new mad doctor in town, something this city has in spades. But when Laszlo Valentin was delivered to the GCPD's front door screaming like an actual pig, and the sudden return of hundreds of his victims unharmed and without recollection of what happened, I had to intervene and find out what happened.

At first, I looked at known villains capable of this, but my work was cut short when Oswald so kindly announced Dr. V as the one responsible. Then it was a simple task of keeping eyes on him, or so I thought.

V was smart, frighteningly so. I saw how he effortlessly solved one of the Riddler's conundrums just so he could repurpose the pieces onto a van, all the while giving Nygma pointers on why and how he did that. The worst part? Since then, any riddle I encounter is harder than the last, all because V proved Riddler wrong and actually convinced him.

Then came his assistant, Evelyn Black, or Nurse as he calls her. She's the feminine version of a mashup between Alfred, Lucius, and Barbara, with all their qualities seemingly completing each other. And because of that, I lost track of him, only catching whatever he left behind.

It's frustrating, but I got word of him showing up at the Iceberg Lounge. I also heard of a massacre in East End underground tunnels and have a feeling this is all connected. But to confirm my suspicions, I have Robin analyzing the crime scene while I approach him as Matches Malone.

...

And now we're here, with him clearly irritated with something, unaccompanied by Evelyn, who I know is in a meeting with Penguin. He obviously didn't like being left out of the dealings of his own weapons.

"Look, Matches, I bet you're a good guy and all, but I won't do it. If I did, everyone would want the same." He sounds reasonable, different from what Oz is saying about him right now.

"Alright, fine." I falsely gave up and looked around with feigned curiosity. "Hey, where's the chick who's always following you like a shadow?"

"She's busy," he said with a sigh and looked in the general direction of Oswald's office.

Perfect. While he's distracted, I dropped a small tracker device in his... water? Which he drank through his mask. I ordered something and let the silence sink in for a while.

"You work with arson, right?" he suddenly asked.

"That's right. Why?" I asked, the perfect opportunity to better know him.

"Nothing, just got bored," he said, taking a notebook from his satchel and opening it to a blank page.

He then started writing and drawing something on it, ignoring everything else, even Evelyn when she eventually came back.

"Hello, Mr. Malone, I hope Dr. V treated you well," she complimented me with a slight nod of acknowledgement.

"Pleasure's all mine, Ms. Nurse," I said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

Before we could talk any further, we heard the sound of paper being torn. "Done. Evelyn, please make sure Mr. Malone pays for the formula of an easy-burning fuel that is less expensive and could be used on most cars," V said before getting up and leaving.

"What?" I was actually surprised. Did he spend all this time on this?

"It seems he got bored, Mr. Malone. Now please, let us talk business," she said, taking the torn paper, neatly folding it, and giving it to me.

...

After a quite tiresome negotiation with Evelyn, I made it into the car and opened the paper. In it, there were schematics for said fuel, but on the back was something that caught me off guard.

"Magnetorheological fluid?" I read out loud. This thing was ahead of its time and could be incorporated into new versions of the batsuit.

Was this a slip-up or a sign that he knows? I'll need to up my game with him.

"Oracle, start tracking Dr. V," I said over my earpiece, receiving a 'Roger' from her.

Who are you, V?

[Back to the one who matters]

"I think we need to go under for a while," I told Evelyn after revealing my talk with Matches and the gift I left him.

"You think?" Now is this how you treat your boss? I'm so proud of how far you've come.

"Well, let's treat it like a vacation. We've been doing this for a year now; we deserve some rest," I said, not actually worried about this whole ordeal.

As for the tracker he made me drink? I spat it out and fed it to some random rat.

"A vacation sounds nice," Evelyn said, dropping me off in front of the orphanage. "But we'll need to do it right. No sudden disappearances. We need to act professional, after all," she added. "Also, yes, I'll accept the raise, and I'd like to go to the Bahamas." And she was off.

With a shrug, I got inside, took off my Dr. V outfit, and drank the blue potion to return to being a ten-year-old child.