Gotham Imagines and Preferences

The Only Way

"Penguin wanted me to keep an eye on you for him. Says he's really worried about you."

"Who's Penguin?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at him. "He's about ye high," He motions how tall he is, "Walks with a limp, has a really bad temper, black hair..."

I interrupt him, "Oh, yeah." Shrugging, I say, "Well, I guess that was nice of him. And you're the guy he apparently trusts the most with this type of job?" He smirks, "Mmm hmm, with about every job, really."

I bite my lip nervously, "So, you're supposed to follow me around all day?" He thinks about it, "Well, I don't really have to, but I figure I should."

"Well, my name's Y/N, in case you wanted to know." He keeps a straight face, "I didn't." I narrow my eyes and get up from my seat. I start to walk away.

"Where are you going?"
I chuckle, "To the bathroom."

A few days go by of penguin being outrageously nice to me and the bald man following me everywhere.

One day I am walking towards the dining area where I hear music playing and a man talking over it. 'That's really odd.' I think to myself and when I go to turn the corner, the bald man grabs my arm to pull me back.

"Hey! Let go-" He covers my mouth with his hand. "Shut up, the Pyg is in there. And he's been assigned to kill you and only appear to kill your brother." I furrow my eyebrows, "Why?"

He takes a deep breath, "Well, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but Sofia is doing it to try to take over this city. And to do that, she has to make Penguin weak."

"So Penguin actually cares about us? And Sofia would have kil-" A man peeks around the corner and the bald man pulls me down to the ground behind a couch. The man scans the room, but goes back to the dining area when he sees nothing.

"Yes and yes." He whispers. "And why didn't you go along with the plan?" He doesn't answer and after a minute or so, I hear gunshots.

"Sounds like Jim's here to save the day." He stands up, "See ya!" He starts to walk away but I grab his arm to stop him, "Where are you going? I thought you were going to protect me." His eyes dart away from me, "I was," He looks back at me, "... but now you're safe." He walks away without another word.

I stare after him until I hear someone call my name from the other direction. "I'm so glad you're okay!" It's Penguin.

"I was so worried about Martín that I almost forgot about you! Did anyone hurt you? What are you staring at?"

This gets my attention. "Oh, nothing. I'm just a little shaken up over all of this." He smiles softly, "I'm sure we all are." I see Sofia and she tells Oswald, which I'm guessing is Penguin, to follow her, leaving me all alone.

The next day, I wake up to find a note on my bedside table.

Don't come downstairs.

It doesn't say who it's from. 'Why can't I go downstairs?' I wonder, but slip on my house shoes and make my way there anyway. I'm not very good at listening and, besides, I need to eat breakfast, right?

I open the fridge, but stop when I hear footsteps behind me. I see the bald man, which I learned from the librarian that his name is Victor, walk into a room as if on cue. It sparks my interest, so I listen in on the conversation.

"But now I finally have proof," Oswald says to Sofia angrily. "... that you are my enemy." He takes a deep breath, "You lied to me. You told me you hated Gordon. You are his lover. Martín saw you kissing him after the party."

Sofia laughs, "That's... that's ridiculous. I'm not sure what Martín thought he saw, but I can assure you it was no kiss-"

"Enough of your lies." I walk a little bit further until I am at the end of the wall, placing my face on it so no one can see me. This must be why I wasn't supposed to come here.

"Our entire friendship, the intimacies we shared, they were nothing more than a pathetic charade-" Sofia interrupts, "I swear, I swear, I care for you deeply. I-"

"Oh, I wish that were true." He then goes on to say how Gordon took a trip down South shortly before Sofia arrived.

"Coincidence? I think not." Victor adds and Sofia stares at the floor, ashamed. Oswald thinks he will get another mouthful of lies, but Sofia surprises both him and I, "Bravo, Oswald. Do you know I swore you as a mastermind? Turns out you're an easy mark. It is truly amazing what you can accomplish with Goolash and a good foot rub."

'Wow, that's harsh.' I think to myself. "Now I see the real you." Oswald sniffs, most likely feeling used by Sofia's confession. "I was blind to your manipulations." He tells her what he is going to make her tell him while she rolls her eyes, avoiding all eye contact with him, as if he is lower than her.

"Bring him out!" Victor cues 'The Dentist', as Oswald calls him, and a creepy old man walks into the room. They take Sofia to a different room and I turn to walk away, only to run into Victor.

"I told you not to come down here." I take in his face and when I realize that he probably won't hurt me, I say, "Why do you care so much? What makes you want to help me? I thought you were this dangerous assassin who doesn't give a crap about anyone but himself."

I take a step closer to him. "I would watch my mouth if I were you." Instead of pushing his limits any more, I laugh and pat his shoulder. "I'll see you around... Victor."

That night, I am sitting in my room when Oswald comes in, sounding frantic. "Y/N, I don't know how you feel about this, but Sofia is planning to kill you. Victor and I talked it over and we both agreed to this. I need you to sign these papers so that you can be my adopted daughter and maybe that will throw her off of her plan."

I sign the papers.