AN Here is Chapter 2. Thank you for the feedback, follows and favs. FYI my plan is to post once a week however I am heading away tomorrow and will have no WIFI so here is an early posting but the chapter is super short. Hope you enjoy, and nothing is mine.
Regina took another four days to get enough decent shots to put together a reasonable collection to send back to Misthaven. It wasn't her best work and there certainly wasn't anything in there that would earn her that Pulitzer Locksley was always teasing her about but it was good enough to earn her the money she needed to go looking for a new contact. Though like a taxi there was never a contact around when you were looking for one. After spending a cold and somewhat drizzly morning scouring the Green Quarter for information Regina huffed into Granny's on the phone with her editor ready to just go back to bed and wait for a new day to start.
"It's not like I'm on retainer Gold," she sassed as she walked through the diner door, bell dinging irritatingly as she entered. "You don't like what I'm sending you don't print it and you don't have to pay me."
"Well I could just wait for Robin Locksley to publish his photographs Regina and I'd get the same drivel you're sending me for free!"
"It practically is for free," she murmured.
"You want the big bucks Regina, get me the big story!"
"Fine!" she growled at him before swiping her phone to end the call and signally Ruby to get her a coffee. "You know Granny," she said as she caught the old woman's eye, "Sometimes I really miss a good old telephone – it's a lot more cathartic slamming the handset down than it is to press a button on this thing!" She stuffed the phone into her bag.
Granny chuckled then walked closer to where Regina sat. "You got that right," she said. "Couldn't help but over hear," she continued more quietly. It was mid-afternoon and there was hardly anyone around, but still, one could never be too careful and Granny didn't want her diner burned to the ground by Arthur's crony's if word got out she had helped Regina Mills, photographic journalist and major pain in Arthur's butt. "You need an exclusive." She said looking over her glasses at Regina.
Regina narrowed her eyes. Granny had never offered her anything before and if it was one thing Regina didn't trust it was free information. But still, she did need something big and soon…
"I don't know anything," Granny continued quickly at the sceptical look in Regina's eyes. "But Zelena West was in here last night talking with that assistant of hers, Walsh. Said she's meeting someone at a protest rally today. I don't know if there's anything to it but thought you might want to check it out anyway. Those rally's are a good place to get a feel for where things are at and you might even see something of how much support there if for Fergus on the Camelot side…" Regina had heard about the rally, it was pro-Fergus, the President of DunBroch but the rally was being held in Arthur's territory and would be crawling with Camelot soldiers. There were always hundreds of photographers at those things and she hadn't planned to attend thinking she would be unlikely to get anything unique but if Zelena West was 'meeting' with someone – that could be a scoop. Regina had always wondered how low Zelena would go to get an exclusive… perhaps it was time to find out?
"Regina," Ruby began in a warning tone. "You can't go to the rally – it's being held at the Old Town Square." Regina grimaced, she really couldn't catch a break today.
She bit her lip as she looked out the diner window thinking. The Old Town Square was outside the Green Quarter and since her last expose on Arthur she hadn't been outside the Green Quarter. Regina had put together a collection of pictures of Arthur meeting with a number of leaders of drug cartels in Camelot and more interestingly in DunBroch. When Gold refused to print them she posted them online herself. Once it hit social media the collection went viral, it caused an uproar in Camelot and put Regina at number one on Arthurs hit list. He was enraged and had immediately put a bounty on her head. All off the record of course, using the very underworld contacts she had photographed him with to get word out that should Regina Mills set one foot outside the Green Quarter he would have her head on a spike.
What irked Regina most was that he managed all of that without getting his hands dirty and two news cycles later her expose was all but forgotten and she was a wanted woman with some very unsavoury people willing to pay a decent sum to get information on where she was. Leaving the Green Quarter would be dangerous… On the other hand she needed a new story and a good contact so if following Zelena around all day could give it to her she would do it.
"Thanks Granny," she said, ignoring Ruby and picking up her phone while she moved to the door.
"Regina, you can't," Ruby began in an imploring tone as Emma stepped into the diner, cricking her neck to relieve some tension as she pulled up a seat at the bar. Emma was also a reporter but unlike Regina and Robin she worked mainly on feature stories. She would spend weeks with one person – sometimes someone in the government, or a nurse working on the front, or a villager – and tell their story. It was amazing work and Emma loved her job – it was also less dangerous than what Regina and Robin did, less competitive too, which suited Emma fine.
"She can't what?" Emma began and Regina glared at Ruby.
"She's going to the DunBroch rally," Ruby said and at Emma's blank look she said more pointedly, "at the Old Town Square." Emma just rolled her eyes.
"Seriously Regina? You've got a death wish. That place will be crawling with Camelot soldiers and if Arthur gets his hands on you I'm not going to be breaking into Camelot Prison to break you out." Emma's voice was flat. She knew she wouldn't be able to talk Regina out of this but as her friend Emma felt the did need to point out the stupidity of what Regina was proposing to do.
Regina huffed, "Like you'd be able to break into Camelot Prison in the first place," she sassed before continuing more seriously, "I've attempted crazier things – successfully I might add. Besides Emma, I think there is something to this…" she didn't want to tell Emma of her suspicions regarding Zelena, not until she was sure.
"Of course there's something to it, but every man and his dog will be covering this story Regina. Gold isn't going to pay you for pictures of a rally that are already on Instagram."
Regina shrugged exchanging a look with Granny who gave a discrete nod. "You just be careful girl." Her sombre tone brought a soft smile to Regina's face, it had been a long time since anyone had cared...
"Always," she said as she slipped off her bar stool and walked out of Granny's quietly closing the door behind her.
She pulled her collar up and kept her head down as she made her way to the Old Town Square and arrived there largely without incident. It never ceased to amaze her the way the human mind could be conditioned. She was no longer anxious at the sight of soldiers everywhere, and hardly even registered the constant sound of gunfire in the distance. As she approached the centre of town there were upturned vehicles, rapid shouting and dilapidated buildings before chanting could be heard in the distance. "One with DunBroch!" was the cry and Regina couldn't help but roll her eyes. She was sick of hearing these chants, the sound of people blindly following the latest rhetoric. "Down with Camelot!" While she didn't like the Camelot regime sometimes it seemed like people wanted to hate simply because they could…
Turning her mind to the task at hand she scanned the crowd from her position in the shadows against a building facing the Square. Finding Zelena would not be a problem, the red head certainly knew how to stand out in a crowd. Most reporters tried to be discrete, there was always a target on the back of a reporter, but from what Regina had heard Zelena's employer had made significant contributions to both Arthur and Fergus's governments so Zelena's safety was all but guaranteed at events like this. Regina stuck to the shadows and made her way around the Square. It had been almost 40 minutes before she finally caught sight of Zelena. She was walking quickly and surprisingly Zelena was alone. Regina followed her as she was walked past the rally and towards what looked like an abandoned building but it was way too out in the open for Regina to follow so she set up her camera out of sight and watched to see who else came or went from the building – the photo's wouldn't be significant on their own but a little re-con certainly couldn't hurt and she had come all this way. She sighed a little and brought the camera up to her eye to take some shots of the building's exterior when a hand came over her mouth and pulled her roughly back behind a wall surrounding the Old Town Square.
"Are you insane?" Robin Locksley was suddenly in her face, blue eyes bright and his voice thick with anger.
"What are you doing here?" she asked in confusion.
"What am I doing here? What the bloody hell are you doing here? This place is crawling with Camelot soldiers and I've got it on pretty good authority that Arthur has given orders for you to be taken dead or alive!" He started dragging her away from the square, barely giving her time to get her camera back in her bag.
"What are you doing?" she demanded trying to shake him off her.
"Getting you back to Granny's – hopefully in one piece!" He said equally hotly. Robin walked quickly, sticking to back roads and alleyways, and while he kept his head down Regina could feel the anger rolling off him in waves as she had to walk at an almost job to keep up with him.
"Back to – " Regina groaned. "Ruby told you where I was." She said, rolling her eyes.
"Of course she told me. She was worried sick about you, she wanted me to keep an eye on you."
"And you decide to take me home like a child who has snuck out after curfew!" Regina's temper rose and she pulled free of his hold as he all but dragged her along another street and through a car park behind an apartment block.
"If you stopped behaving like a child Regina I'd stop treating you like one!" Robin said just as angrily as he took her hand in his once more and continued to pull her along.
"I'm behaving like a child?" Regina screeched incredulously. "How dare you!"
"How dare I?" Robin had given up walking and stood facing Regina, seething. "How dare I what, Regina? Care? How dare Ruby care about what happens to you?" He walked towards her, putting his hands to her shoulders and shaking her gently in an attempt to get through to her, "when are you going to stop this recklessness and realise there are people who care about what happens to you!"
Regina took in a sharp breath at his words and she opened her mouth to speak but something over his shoulder gave her pause, "Locksley –" she said more quietly.
"No Regina!" He said cutting her off as he dropped his hands from her shoulders. "Enough talking we have to get out of here." He went to start walking again but Regina called out to him bringing him to a stop.
"Wait!" she said forcefully. "Locksley wait!" something in her voice made him turn around to face her again, though as he looked into her eyes the fear that he saw had him turning around, following her gaze to where he saw Zelena up ahead of them – with soldiers in Camelot uniform behind her.
