Seeing that Liz was truly exhausted, he helped her into the base and set her onto a cot that was in the back of it. While she drifted off, they spoke some more about what they needed to do for tomorrow’s meeting and she fell asleep. Covering her with a blanket, he turned around to the tables and set to work. First thing he needed to do was do a full repair on her broken crutches. 

This was a simple task and James set the now repaired crutches near her for when she woke up again. Then he turned his attention to making a gift for her. Collecting the parts, he needed he built a very simple robot prosthetic leg. It wasn’t pretty to look at, but there were no exposed wires or anything. Plus it worked and could be upgraded later on. Wrapping it up he set it near Liz as well.

He wrote a full letter explaining how to put on the leg and operate it. He also explained that he was offering this to her not to say she needed it, but to show that he was supporting her whatever she decided to do. She was fully capable of doing whatever she wanted, and he was there for her.

Satisfied with that, he went upstairs to let her rest. He found a plate of cookies from Mrs. Dabb in front of his door and took them into his apartment. While eating them, he examined his phone and found that it had gotten water logged. He did a quick clean of it by rubbing the screen with his shirt and got it operational again. 

While surfing the net to relax a bit, he thought about what had gone down last night. He went from the emotional high of awesome sex to the fear of encountering She-Bat. These things had shifted his views somewhat, and he needed to adjust. Overall he still had the goal of figuring out what had happened to him. Yet his pressing desire to return home had slightly diminished. It was still definitely there, he felt a longing to see his friends and family again. 

Yet at the same time he could feel that he was growing close to people here as well. This was forcing him to evaluate what he was doing with himself. Taking a closer look inward he found that he had changed far more mentally than he had first thought. Looking back at his actions since coming here, he was almost too calm. Things that would have terrified a normal person, just passed over him. He still had a wide range of emotions, but they felt a bit disconnected. Or rather they were under far more control then he used to be.

Considering that he may need to see a therapist about this, he was startled by his phone ringing. It was from Ioana and he answered it swiftly. “Hello Madam Ioana. What can I do for you today?”

“I need your services for this afternoon. Please come upstairs in a few hours in your best clothing. I will be taking you out to some shops so please wear something appropriate.”

“I will do so.” James said.

A few hours later James rang the doorbell on Ioana’s door wearing one of the suits from Liz. He hoped it was alright for what Ioana planned. A few moments later Adeline answered it back in her maid uniform. She gave him a once over and then said “Madam Ioana is in the living room. Follow me.”

Doing so he found that on the couch Ioana was biting on the end of a pen while staring intently at a series of papers. On one part of the coffee table was a large blueprint of what James thought was the building. Glancing up as he approached she said “Great James you are here. I have some things I need… wait, is that a Brioni suit you’re wearing?”

He nodded and said “Yes, I got it from a friend.”

She gave him a look and said smiling “Well I have to say it suits you.”

“Thank you, though you look astounding yourself.”

She snorted and said “Take a seat, before we head out I need to go over some things with you.”

She pushed two papers next to him one was a sketch of what looked like some club and the other was a strip club. “After speaking to my designer, I’ve made the decision to turn the basement into a full VIP club slash Strip Club. To that end you will need to clean it out before the contractors arrive next week.”

“I can do that, but what do you want me to do with all the old furniture and junk in there?”

“I’ll set up a storage unit. Keep everything that might have some value and toss the rest. We might be able to use some of it in the future.”

“Okay, so have you been able to settle on a theme for the brothel?” James asked.

“Well after some discussions I’ve narrowed it down to three possible choices. The first is a fantasy themed one, but I dislike it. The next is my designer's favorite of a mediterranean experience. The last is, however, what I think would work well in Gotham. A superhero,villain themed brothel.” She said happily.

“What?” James said, confused.

“Oh, not actual heroes or villains. Though if I could get one that would be great, I meant that the girls would dress up as them.”

James frowned and said “Well I guess that would appeal to some people. I also see some danger in it. If we do this, the girls cannot wear these costumes outside this building.”

“Yes, I can see why that would be ill advised. But I think we can make it work.”

She went over several more documents then said “Alright. That should do it for now, Adeline get the car. We are going to head out to the stores to look at some things we need for the brothel.”

“Yes Madam.” Adeline said and left the penthouse.

When she was gone, Ioana looked at James and said “So I need some advice. Do you mind if I ask you some personal questions?”

“No go ahead, but I can’t tell you some parts about myself.”

She nodded and said “I heard from Adeline that she saw you this morning carrying in a nearly nude woman into the apartments. Is she your lover?”

“No, she is a friend's mom. I was helping out. She wasn’t feeling too well so I carried her.”

“I see. Are you seeing anyone at the moment?”

“Well there is a woman that I am casually seeing at the moment, but it isn’t serious. Can I ask why you are interested in my love life, Madam Ioana?”

Frowning, she leaned back into the couch and said “Recently it has come to my attention that several of my family members, including my Uncle, are plotting to get me into an arranged marriage with another family. They think to ally themselves before a gang war erupts. This is against my wishes, and to be honest I have never had a relationship before. So having one forced upon me rankles me.”

“If it bothers you, then don’t do it.” James said.

“That is easier said than done. If I refuse, my power in the family will be stripped from me. My Uncle has certain ideas of what a woman should be like. Sentiments that I don’t share.”

James countered by saying “What use is that power if you have to be unhappy to even use it? I would suggest you look for leverage. Then you can seek what you truly want.

Her eyes flashed and she nodded grinning. “You are right. So you are just casually dating at the moment? Have you had any previous serious relationships?”

James shrugged and said “I had two serious ones. The first was when I was in high school, and it ended really bad. To the point I had to leave the state. My second one was far better and ended amicably, though that was not a normal relationship.”

“Oh? Why wasn’t it normal?” She asked.

“Because it was a polyamourous relationship. I met this woman at my college who was dating another woman at the time. We grew close and with the blessing of her girlfriend we began dating as well. For a time it was a sort of V relationship, though it evolved to a Triad at the end. It came to an end when they decided to move to London and I stayed. It was still an amazing experience.”

She blinked surprised and said “So you were in a relationship with two women at the same time? Are you polyamorous?”

“I’m not entirely sure about that either. I know that I am more open to it than I was before it. Plus it was somewhat enriching to have a connection to two different women.”

“Would you be okay if your woman slept with other men if she was Polyamorous?”

“That… I’m not entirely sure. Since my first polyamory experience was with a lesbian couple and neither of them were interested in pursuing a man outside of me, I don’t know how I would feel. Though from what happened with my first relationship… I don’t think I would like it very much. It left me with several emotional scars.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”

“It’s alright. It happened a while ago. I was… Naive to say the least. I thought my first girlfriend was the one I was going to marry. I went to take her to prom night only for her to feign sickness. So I went alone. I came to find out later that she slept with half the football team that night. I have no clue why she did it. It crushed me, and the way she told me was even worse.”

“How did she tell you?”

“She sent me a DVD in the mail saying that I should watch it with my parents. She had gone for a camping trip, so I thought it was just her way of doing something romantic for me. So I put in the DVD labeled happy memories only to find she had made a video of her getting railed by several jocks in a row. That was the worst night of my life.”

“Holy fuck, that sounds like a real bitch.”

“Yeah. It nearly destroyed me. I couldn’t stay in that place, so I went to a college across the states. I’m sorry, I’m probably not the best person to ask for relationship advice.”

Even though it happened years ago, he could still feel the sting of it in his heart. Ioana got up and went to the kitchen bringing back a glass of vodka. “Here, I’m sorry for bringing up bad memories.”

“It’s alright. It’s part of my life, and I have to deal with it.” He took the glass and drank it down.

Ioana’s phone rang at that moment, and she said “It’s Adeline. Let’s head down.”

A short time later, James found himself following Ioana as they toured various shops. They went to several fabric stores comparing samples where she agonized over several different fabrics that looked almost identical. She only stopped when James suggested that she simply got samples of each and speak with her interior designer to see which would go better with her themes.

Then she took him to furniture stores where she purchased four sets of furniture for the rooms that James had fixed up on the second floor. They would be used by the woman that Ioana had coming next week. After that she took him to a nearby mall and stopped by several clothing stores to get some sense on what would look good for the girls. She also stopped by a costume shop to see how much it would cost to get several custom made costumes done.

Ioana also made it a point to stop in places that she thought James would like. Maybe it was her way of apologizing for digging into his past, but she bought him a few sets of casual clothes that he liked the look of. It was exiting one of the these stores where Ioana suddenly said “Fuck!”

“What is it Madam Ioana?”

“It’s that bitch Sofia Falcone. She’s a thorn in my side, and she just fucking saw me. Ugh. I don’t want to deal with her now.”

Glancing ahead of them, James saw a woman strutting towards them wearing what had to be the tightest dress he had ever seen on a woman. She was being followed by a man carrying several bags and was looking exhausted. James recognized John, the punk from earlier. He looked like he was a nervous wreck constantly glancing about. When he saw James, he let out an audible squeak of terror.

He basically tried to hide behind Sofia Falcone as they approached. She stopped in front of them and said “Ioana.”

“Sofia. What a pleasure to see you.” Ioana said with an edge to her voice.

“It has been a long time since we met Ioana. Are you still sore about that gift I gave you on your birthday?”

“I had it destroyed.” Ioana said.

“What a shame. You had such a stick up your ass, that I thought you would see the humor in the statue. Out shopping are you? I thought your family was having cash flow issues.”

“On the contrary. My family has placed me in charge of a new project to breath new life into our finances.”

“I see.” Sofia sniffed and then glanced towards James. He didn’t care at all for her look, like he was just a piece of meat. “So is this your boyfriend?”

“No. He is my manager.” Ioana said, her voice going hard.

“Is that so? I’m always in need of capable workers, so Mr. Manager, if you come work for my family I’ll pay you double whatever she is paying.” 

“Sofia.” Ioana said glaring at her.

“It’s his decision.” Sofia said. “Don’t worry about her. She knows she can’t do anything about my family. If you come over, you’ll also enjoy my company.” 

“I am afraid I will have to pass on that.” James said. “I am quite happy where I am.”

She cocked her head and said “Pity. The offer is there if you change your mind. I’m always in the mood for a new boy toy, and this one is broken. Isn’t that right Johnny?”

“Yes. I’m whatever you want me to be.” John nervously glanced back and forth from her to James. 

“Right now I want you to go and buy me that Gucci bag I saw.”

“Of course.” John turned and ran.

Sofia shook her head, “What a pathetic loser. I thought he had potential, and then he became a spineless wimp a few days ago. Still it’s fun to torment him. Toodaloo.” Sofia said waving goodbye to him.

“Wow, that was insane.” James said “Is she always like that?”

“Yeah, she and I went to the same private school. God she was a nightmare to be around. Not only is she super manipulative, she is a sadist who gets off seeing the suffering of others.” Ioana said, frowning. Then she turned to James and said “Thank you for not hesitating to decline her offer.”

“Like I said to her, I’m happy working for you.”