Characters/Pairings. HaleKat

Disclaimer: Heist Society © Ally Carter

Going for Broke

By sakuracherish814

This life of a thief has never been an easy one. Never. There are people who get caught because they were carless enough to have allowed it. There are people who get away with things because they were careful enough not to fail. Then there are people like my family—people who eat, breathe, and sleep it. Who are born and live for it. For us, thievery comes as easy as breathing.

But, in the long run, all that comes back to you. Somewhere along the way, details slip through the cracks. Even the greatest thieves hit snags every now and then.

Some snags are just much more dangerous than others.

"Not so elite now, are you, Katarina Bishop?" one of the large hooded men taunted.

I looked up, trying to see through the thick wall of rain. There were about seven silhouettes total, unless more were hiding. Cowards.

"How do you know me?" I asked, simply because I needed to stall. But, in all honesty, I was curious.

"Everyone knows of you, Katarina," a second voice, also gruff and booming, informed. I suppose I should've been flattered on some level. The way he said it suggested I was famous—a legend. However, it was a little hard to feel anything other than searing pain when you have a bleeding gash in your side. "Taccone speaks highly of you—guess he was wrong."

Despite everything, that aroused my curiosity. "You know Arturo?"

"We did a couple jobs for him," a third answered.

"And the most interesting thing he's told us," another went on, "was that you—a fifteen-year-old girl—robbed the Henley."

I felt myself smiling. "That's the one."

"Impossible," someone growled furiously. Jealous, much?

"It doesn't matter now, now does it?" the first one, obviously the leader, spoke up again. "Your end is here."

"How're you going to get yourself out of this one, eh, Katarina Bishop?"

I smirked. "With a little help, of course."

Then I laughed.

They had no time to question me or my sanity because only seconds later, my backup arrived. Right on time.

A roaring and shrieking sound very close by—car tires screeching furiously against the drenched pavement—shattered the silent midnight air. That same car skidded to a stop at the opening of the alley, and two larger silhouettes emerged from the driver's and passenger's sides. The men who'd cornered me began cursing, frantically trying to escape by sprinting towards the wall at the other end of the alley.

But they didn't get much farther as grappling equipment clattered to the concrete, and six figures seemingly slid along the sides of the alley, surrounding them.

"Get her out of here!" I heard my dad's voice angrily yell, instantly recognizing him as one of the two men from the car—the other being Uncle Eddie.

Strong arms were holding me seconds later, and I turned my head away from what was probably going to be a nasty fight and found myself staring into the eyes of W.W. Hale the Fifth. "Oh, good," I said breathlessly, attempting to, despite the situation, lighten the atmosphere. "You got my call."

But he wasn't having it. His eyes locked onto the gash on my hip.

I swore I saw murder flash behind his eyes.

He looked over at the men that the rest of my family was in the midst of taking care of, and his hand curled tightly into a fist around my forearm. I flinched.

He immediately released his grip, scooping me into his arms—it stung, I'm not going to lie—and heading for the car.

As soon as he got me into the passenger's seat, and he in the driver's, he stepped on the gas, maneuvering us back around and speeding away from that alley. In the back of my mind, I wonder whose car this was; it couldn't have been ours or else it would've had our things strewn all over, so it was obviously stolen. I hope they didn't mind blood on the black leather.

Hale's driving slowed slightly as we swerved onto an empty street, and his eyes were on my gash again.

"It's nothing," I said, even though I knew the answer to that would be—

"Are you insane, Kat? You could've been killed!"

"We all agreed on this, remember?"

"No, none of us agreed to this," he corrected.

"You all knew I was the best candidate for this job, right? You knew the consequences."

"It doesn't change anything, Kat." His hands curled around the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. "They almost got you tonight."

I was beginning to feel angry. Did he think I didn't know what I was doing? So I just argued back, "But they didn't."

"But they could have."

"But they didn't."

"Because we came to your rescue!"

"Because I sent the distress call!" I snapped. "Hale, do you think that I didn't consider that they were dangerous—that I didn't know they were going to come after me?"

"That doesn't matter, Kat, look at you!" he growled. "God, if something had happened to you, Kat, if something happened…"

Something about him made me stop. I held my breath, biting my tongue to keep from arguing back. I studied him. His eyes were furious, but scared. His fists were tight but trembling. His breathing trembled as he inhaled and exhaled. And, maybe I'd been too angry to realize it a few minutes ago, but his tone wasn't just angry, it was desperate. It was panicked. It was afraid.

He'd been afraid of losing me.

I sighed, but not at him; at myself. I should've known that's what this was all about.

He seemed to feel my shift in demeanor because he didn't press on.

The remainder of the car ride was spent in silence. He cranked on the heater, so I was starting to thaw out, and the pain in my side seemed to be subsiding. I closed my eyes, starting to feel sleepy, and rested my head against the headrest, trying to shift to a more comfortable position.

I wasn't sure how much longer we drove, or where we were going, but after awhile, I felt the car slow to a stop—he was parking.

I reopened my eyes and tried to see something, anything; but it was still pouring rain and dark out.

So instead I looked back at Hale. He was calm now, and staring back at me.

I tried to picture how this must look—the two of us, drenched from head to toe, just staring at each other in a dark car in the middle of nowhere. I smiled.

He arched an eyebrow at me. "What?" he asked.

"We must look ridiculous," I told him.

He chuckled lightly. "Typical."

"Typical what?"

"It's typical you would find things amusing after a night like tonight."

I closed my eyes again as he reached over, moving the strands of hair stuck to my face away. "Old habits die hard."

He chuckled again, and I felt the warmth of his hand against my cheek as it lingered there, fingertips grazing my jaw.

"Don't scare me like that ever again," he said, serious once more. "Ever."

I sighed. "I can't promise that."

"Kat—"

I held up my finger, and he stopped.

"I can't promise that because it's just how it goes," I explained. "We're thieves, Hale. Not superheroes."

He was peering at me curiously now. "What do you mean by that?"

"'What goes around comes around,'" I quoted. "If you do bad things, bad things will come back to get you. It's how life works."

He looked at me strangely. "So, you're trying to blame all of this on karma?"

"I'm saying," I explained, "that this kind of life has consequences every day. What happened back there is only the beginning. I've already tried to leave once, but it's obvious that this life is my life, and I've accepted that. But you"—I poked his shoulder lightly with my index finger—"can do so much better."

"It sounds like you're trying to get rid of me," he said, placing a hand over his chest, trying to sound thoroughly offended. "You're such a bad girl, Kitty Kat."

"I am," I whispered as he chuckled at himself. "That's why I don't want karma to take you away from me."

He stopped abruptly.

It was silent for what felt like seconds, then minutes, then hours.

Despite the heater being on full blast, I wanted to shiver. Even the rain had faded into a low thrumming in the background.

He stared at me for the longest time and I looked away. Me and my big mouth—I shouldn't have said anything.

"Kat, I thought I told you," he finally said, and my eyes flew back to his. "I didn't choose this life, either. Not in that sense. I chose you."

"But you enjoy this life," I pointed out.

"And you don't?"

"No, of course I do," I corrected and, until I had said the words aloud, I hadn't realized how true that actually was.

He shrugged, looking at me as if that explanation were enough. "So what's your problem?"

I sighed. "We're talking about your problem."

"Me?" he asked. "I don't have a problem, other than you." I hit him for that. "Jeez, okay, I was just kidding, Kitty Kat. But if you're concerned about me and my soul, you can save it. I chose you, and this life came with it. Don't get me wrong—I kind of love what we do."

"A little too much," I muttered.

He rolled his eyes. "You know you love it too. And if going along with you means riding the highway to hell, then karma can bring it."

And, despite everything, I laughed. "That's not right. We both love our punishments." Then my smile widened. "We're both going to be damned, aren't we?"

He laughed as well, murmuring against my skin as he answered, "Probably."

I shook my head, laughing one last time before pulling his face to mine, our lips locking in a hungry kiss. This is so wrong, was all I could think. Not so much the kissing, but the whole concept of it all, really. As consequence for all of the things I've done (whether intentional or not) in the past, I got stuck with this life. For choosing this life, he got stuck with me. And we both loved it.

Well, if we're going to hell, might as well go for broke.

A/n.

Eh. It was okay, I guess. I loved writing in Kat's perspective, so hopefully I wrote her in character so I could right her more often. The idea sort of came to my head when this prompt was chosen—see if you can find the concept of mercy in the fic. Sorry if the ending sucks so horribly; I kept writing and re-writing the ending and for some strange reason it just wasn't satisfying me. Eventually, I settled for this one.

So you read it. Love it? Hate it? Please review it!