"No!" Penny exclaimed. She knew she was to blame, not Barsad.

Bane turned his head around to face Penny and raised his eyebrows. "What?" he asked her.

"Don't punish him. It's my fault, I wanted to go with him" Penny explained, rubbing her hands together nervously.

Barsad seemed speechless. Penny figured none of the men were used to someone standing up for them. She felt like she needed to stand up for him, if someone needed to be punished, it was her.

"Barsad should've known better" Bane spoke.

"He did know better, but I kept on pushing him" Penny continued. "Eventually he gave in, but that was all my fault. I should've known better. You told me not to get into trouble, but I did…"

"You are not making this better for yourself"

"No, maybe not. But I'm making it better for Barsad" Penny turned her head to look at him. He was probably a lot smarter than her by keeping his mouth shut and just accepting his punishment.

Bane chuckled. "His punishment would be severe. Are you willing to take that on yourself?"

Penny doubted for a moment. She didn't know what Bane meant exactly with a 'severe punishment'. Would he really harm her?

"Yes" she finally said.

"Very well then. Barsad, leave us" Barsad's eyes met hers. He nodded gratefully but deep inside she could see that he was nervous and so was Penny. What was Bane going to do to her? Her face had hardly had the chance the heal, she hoped it wouldn't be made worse tonight.

Bane gestured that she were to follow him, which she did. Penny didn't want to give him any reasons to be even more angry with her. They ascended the stairs up to the level where her own room was situated and apparently also Bane's room.

It turned out that Bane's own room was only a short walk away from her own. He opened the door and waited for Penny to also enter. His room was exactly the same as hers had been, but after all they were in the sewers, you could not really expect any luxury.

"What were you thinking?" Bane snapped once he had closed the door behind him aggressively. His aggressiveness made Penny shudder, this time it was her who had caused this anger and not the Batman.

"It's just that… I was so bored. I wanted to do something" Penny replied honestly. There was no point about lying right now.

"You were bored?" Bane raised his eyebrows. "And you thought engaging on a dangerous mission was going to solve that problem?"

"Well.. It did solve it if you actually think about it" She had spoken the words before she even had time to think. Penny broke lose of his stare and moved her eyes to the concrete ground, knowing she shouldn't have said that.

"From now on you will only stay inside your rooms" Bane started. "You may only leave with my permission"

"What?" Penny exclaimed, moving her eyes from the concrete back to Bane's eyes. "I just wanted to help"

"You did not help, Penelope. You just made things worse"

Bane's words stung, but Penny tried to shake them off.

"Look, you have to understand that I feel useless now we're off the farm" Penny explicated. "I have nothing to hack or to decode, nothing to do around here. No one except Barsad paid any attention to me since you were gone. I wanted to feel like I was a part of something, I wanted to feel like I mattered."

Penny could see Bane thinking of what to say next. The fact that she made him a little bit speechless meant that she did something right, or something horribly wrong.

"You will matter, Penelope. You will matter once we need you again. You do not belong on the battlefield and I don't want you anywhere near that again."

"Why? Are you afraid I might die? I'm sure you could get another hacker who is far more capable and skilled than I am within three seconds" Penny snapped back. There was so much more to her than just a simple computer hacker. "And am I ever going to get my end of the deal? Or was that just a stupid lie?"

"You will get your end of the deal, once you are ready" Bane replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You didn't reply to my question"

Penny was surprised by her own feistiness, and by the looks of it, Bane was too.

"I did reply to your question"

"Are you afraid I might die?" Penny repeated slowly.

Before Bane had a chance to answer, the door slammed open, revealing Barsad in the opening. "There have been some complications. Daggett wants to see you" Barsad said, before disappearing again.

Bane turned back to Penny and moved closer to her. "If you are that desperate to prove yourself. This is the only chance I am going to give you"

Penny knew this was her one and only chance to prove herself. Messing this up would mean she was to be imprisoned in her room, and to be honest she wasn't planning on that.

The car stopped in front of a large office building in downtown Gotham. Before Penny got out of the car, Barsad told her to not fuck this up. Bane remained silent and just gave her a nod before she climbed out of the car.

The plan was simple. Get in, steal John Daggett's phone, get out. Barsad had come up with the plan, and Bane had agreed it was the best they had. Penny thought the plan was quite unconventional, but given this was her only shot, she agreed to do it.

Bane had spoken to Daggett earlier and it turned out he was quite upset about not getting the rights to Wayne Enterprises. Penny didn't know what it all exactly meant, but Bane suspected him of contacting other mercenaries behind his back. This was were Penny had to step in.

She was wearing a short black miniskirts with black tights. Her white blouse and red stilettos finished the look. She didn't know where they had gotten all these clothes from so quickly, but she had decided not to ask any questions. Bane had also given her a red colored wig, to protect her from getting identified as someone.

Knowing the bruises on her face would give her away, Penny had slapped on foundation like never before. A hot girl coming to one of Daggett's fancy parties wouldn't be so convincing with a bruised face.

It felt weird wearing these fancy clothes again. Penny had almost forgotten how it felt to look sexy and confident. Although she had to admit the skirt was very short.

"Go straight to the desk and ask for Daggett's office" Bane told her through her earpiece. This way she could remain in contact with him while he could also give her any extra instructions if necessary.

"I got this" Penny replied softly, hoping no one saw her talking to thin air.

Her stilettos tapped against the beautiful white marble floor of the building. Trying not to look suspicious, Penny immediately walked to the front desk.

"I'm hear to see Mr. Daggett" she told the lady while casually leaning against the desk.

"Ah yes" The lady replied, typing something in the computer. "He'll be expecting you, he's at the top floor"

Penny flashed a smile. "Thanks" she said and turned to head over to the elevators, passing all kinds of business men in expensive suits. She paid them no attention and lifted her head high. Penny knew she had to act her way through it, luckily she had always been an excellent liar, so this wouldn't be too difficult for her.

"He's in the penthouse" Bane said.

"I know. The lady just told me" Penny replied annoyed. She knew she could do this, but apparently Bane doubted that.

Penny waited patiently for the elevator to come down. Fortunately it was empty, that gave her some time to go over how exactly she was going to portray this character. She heard Daggett often had parties and quite liked having women around him. The choice was easy.

Daggett was already waiting in front of the elevator when Penny entered. "I have been expecting you" he said cheesy. He totally practiced that line…

"Hello" Penny said, batting her eyelashes.

"Please come through, the party is in the back" Daggett softly pushed her towards the right direction by putting his hand on the small of her back. Carefully Penny put her one foot in front of the other as she walked, while swinging her hips.

They walked through the entrance of the penthouse right to the back of the living room. The place was furnished in a very modern way and Penny had to admit she quite liked it. Trying not to break character, Penny looked around her and noticed there were also several other girls. This made it a little bit more difficult. She had to get Daggett's attention and get him alone.

"Who are they?" Penny asked a tad arrogant.

"No one, you should worry about …." Daggett didn't seem to remember her name.

"Victoria" Penny answered, smiling slightly.

"Victoria, right. Well you are not threatened by them, are you?"

Penny narrowed her eyes, taking a sip of the glass of champagne that was just handed to her. "Of course not"

"Good" Daggett smiled. "Please, sit"

Penny sat down on the large suede couch, crossing her legs elegantly. She could feel the eyes of the other girls burning on her skin, but Penny figured this was a good thing. They were threatened by her.

"Get him alone" she heard Bane say in her earpiece. Penny sighed, but didn't dare to reply in a room full of people. She knew the plan, but Bane had to trust her and give her her time.

Daggett seemed to be quite amused with all the attention he was getting from the ladies present in the room. It was quite obvious that they were all here for his money as they were all basically throwing themselves at him.

Penny knew this was her time to strike. If she waited a little longer Daggett would leave with one of the others girls and she couldn't let that happen.

"John?" Penny asked sensually, placing her index finger on his shoulder to draw his attention. "Could we get a moment alone please?"

The other girls looked at her furiously, but Penny ignored it. If they wanted to be alone with him so bad, they should've acted more smartly.

"Yes, babe" Daggett said. Penny turned around and headed towards are door that leaded to a bedroom. Perfect.

"Don't do anything stupid, Penelope. Just get the phone" Bane said. If he'd just shut up…

"What did you want to talk about, Victoria?" Daggett asked once they were both in the room. Just like the living room, the bedroom was also furnished in a very modern way.

"I have no desire for talking" Penny said in her Victoria voice. The act was going better than she had even hoped.

A smile formed on Daggett's face. "Then what is your desire?" he asked. Penny took a step forward to get closer to him, letting her body touch his.

"This" she said before she'd let her lips meet his. Penny knew this was the only way she could get his phone without him noticing.

Eagerly Daggett kissed her back and tried to take over by pushing her on the bed. "Not so fast, John" Penny said, breaking off the kiss. If she was positioned on the bed, it would be a lot harder to retrieve his phone.

She could feel Daggett's hand slide down her back onto her ass while his other one stayed at her neck. Penny wasn't enjoying this. She wasn't enjoying this at all, but she knew she had to do this in order to successfully complete this mission.

"What are you doing?" Bane said. Penny tried to ignore his voice, as this was the moment she desperately needed to stay in character.

Penny moved her head sideways to let her mouth meet his again. Figuring he had his phone in his pocket, Penny now also let her hands slid downwards. She hoped she could get the phone without him noticing, so she had to distract him a little more.

Slowly she opened her mouth while Daggett eagerly did the same, allowing their tongues to meet. Stay in character. Try to act like you are enjoying this. Just act like he is Bane. But Daggett was not Bane, far from it. Where Bane was strong and manly, Daggett was a little boy of twelve years old.

While still passionately kissing Daggett, Penny carefully reached in his pocket. A sigh of relief went through her body. The phone was there. She grabbed it with two fingers and slowly pulled the phone out. Daggett didn't seem to notice anything.

It was done. She didn't have to pretend to like him anymore. Penny quickly pulled herself loose from him. "That's all you are going to get today" she said, hiding the phone in the sleeve of her blouse.

"Was this all?" Daggett said indignantly. "This is not what I've paid you for"

"Too bad" Penny said, before quickly leaving to room to head to the elevator.

"You've made a mistake, Victoria! Your boss will hear about this" Daggett shouted from the bedroom.

I'm pretty sure my boss has already heard about this.

Luckily the elevator was already waiting for her and once she was inside Penny was finally able to be herself again. She smiled. I did it. I knew I could do it.

Since she was alone she was finally able to contact Bane again. "I got the phone" she simply said, but she didn't get a response. "Bane?" she said once again. The elevator stopped on the ground floor and it was only moments before Penny would sat in the car again and she had proven she could do this.

"Penny?" a voice said.

Fuck.

Penny kept walking towards the door, hoping the person who just called her out meant somebody else.

"Penny!" the voice said again.

Penny couldn't ignore this and turned around to see who had recognized her.

"Katie?" Penny said in disbelief.

"Oh my god, it's really you! We all thought you were dead" Katie said, hugging Penny tightly.

Penny was startled, she knew Bane could see everything of this as the car was just parked outside the building.

"I'm not dead!" Penny smiled nervously. How did Katie even recognize her with this wig and these clothes?

"Well thank god! And did you do something different to your hair? We totally need to catch up over dinner, I haven't seen you in so long and you have to tell me everything you've been up to!" Katie rambled.

"Get rid of her" Bane said dryly in her earpiece.

Penny loved her friend and she really wanted to see her more often, but this simply wasn't possible. She wanted to find out who her parents were and this was not possible with Katie in the picture. "I have to go, I'm so sorry" Penny apologized, before turning around to walk out the building as quickly as she could.

Once outside Penny took in a deep breath of fresh air. She did not plan to see Katie again. Seeing her brought back so many memories and suddenly she began to doubt if this life she was living was what she wanted.

"Get back in the car, Penelope"

Penny took in another breath and opened the car door. Once seated she noticed that both Barsad and Bane were staring at her. Barsad was even smiling slightly. "I certainly didn't expect that" he said.

"What?" Penny asked. She thought her plan was quite logical. What other was she to do? Kill Daggett?

"Barsad, drive" Bane said, before turning to face Penny. "What have you done?"

"I got the phone like you asked me to" Penny handed Bane the phone.

"You made a mistake, Penelope" Bane said. She could clearly read the emotion in his eyes.

Oh my god, was he jealous that I kissed Daggett? Penny couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Author's Note: I'm quite happy with this chapter. I'm really enjoying writing this story again, but of course school has to be an ass and give me little to no free time. So I cannot promise when the next chapter will be up... Please enjoy this chapter and as always, review! Have a nice day!