Hi everyone!
Here a few notes before you read the chapter:
1: In the chapters that take place during occupation, you will see each section begins with what month our characters are currently in. This is just to keep a clean, concise timeline going for y'all so things are evenly spaced.
2: This chapter is a pretty relaxed chapter for the most part. I know y'all have been waiting for something exciting and I promise it's coming, but keep in mind that Gotham was under occupation for about 5 months. I didn't want to rush through that time period, but I also did not want to linger for too long on individual months. This chapter just serves to show sort of what their daily lives are like for the most part. But most importantly, exciting stuff is coming I swear.
3: Thank you so much for all the love, follows, favorites, reviews and so on. Your support is everything to me and I love you all so so so much!
Now that that's out of the way, here's the disclaimer: I own nothing.
Onwards!
Chapter 35:
September—October
"People of Gotham do not be easily deluded by Bane's promise of freedom.
For his idea of freedom is a far cry from what you may believe.
If Bane wished to truly liberate us, why have we been cut off from the rest of the world? Why have we been threatened with complete decimation if we try to communicate with the rest of the world? Bane says he has come here to liberate our city from the corrupt, but in his wake he has only released the evil of criminals and chaos back into our streets. What liberation is this? Gotham, he does not wish to liberate us from the corrupt—in his eyes, we are all the corrupt, and as such, he will rid the world of us.
True, Gotham has never been perfect, and more often than not we have let crime and corruption drive our city. However, we have always had people—brave people—who have risen up to answer the call of chaos with overwhelming sacrifice and goodness.
But it has come to a point where those people cannot bear that burden alone.
If we, as a city, are guilty of anything…it is the fact that we have taken our heroes for granted.
They need you. Every man, woman and child—you must stay strong and you must always believe that there is good to be found even in the darkest of times
This is our city. Our home.
By now, we must be better than what we suffer…"
"Hold on."
John drew his eyes away from his copy of the deceivingly simple, black text of "The Silencer", a bit of pride in his chest for Lucy, and turned towards the small collective of out-of-uniform police officers standing around him, cramped together inside the empty backroom of a non-descript grocery store they had appropriated after it had been ransacked.
"What?" John asked Lieutenant Johnston, a particularly skeptical old-timer, but a good friend of Gordon's.
"Why are you even reading any of that?"
"You don't think there's any truth to be founded in here?" John challenged.
"I think whoever wrote that is a brave one." Another officer chimed in, to which some of the other officers nodded in agreement.
"There's a fine line between being brave and being crazy." Johnston countered.
"So they are crazy for trying to say what no one else will?" John said, trying to keep his annoyance at the Lieutenant's doubts at bay. This was his sister's work and he so wanted to defend Lucy, but he knew, for secrecy's sake, that he needed to pretend that he had no idea who wrote "The Silencer".
"No, they are crazy for expecting so much from the people of Gotham." Johnston stated, "Crazy for trying to tell civilians they can fight back against armed criminals who would have no qualms killing them."
"They are trying to move people off Bane's side, Johnston," Gordon's voice piped up from the back of the room, causing every eye to look his way. Despite the revelation made from Gordon's letter by Bane, the police officers, who had worked with Gordon for years, still held high respects for him, continuing to see him as their stalwart commissioner and not for the coward of a man that Bane tried to paint him to be.
Gordon walked over to John, shooting pointed look at him, before taking the paper into his own hands, "These people…these Silencers, whoever they may be, are lending strength and hope back to the people, and if you ask me," Gordon paused to adjust his glasses as he read over the paper, "That's exactly what we need. We need to have at least some leverage against a demagogue like Bane."
"Though, why hasn't Bane gotten a whiff of this?" Johnston questioned.
"The Silencers seem to be very selective and precise about distribution. Delivering right on doorsteps, either slipping them into mail slots, or under doormats, cracks in windows—obscure places. Plus, it seems people are being really good about keeping the papers to themselves, not taking them out in public," John explained, recalling Lucy's very detailed explanation of her and Will's delivery methods when their first issue went out a few weeks ago.
"Do you think it's a group of people or one person?" asked another officer.
"Does it matter?" Gordon posed, "One person or one hundred people—they are getting people talking. That's all that matters."
Handing the paper back to John, who folded it up and tucked it away in his coat, Gordon moved on to the next subject up for discussion: the bomb. As per Lucy's suggestion, John and Gordon were able to locate Lucius Fox as well as the rest of the Wayne Enterprises board hiding out in the national bank, and the former CEO was quick to explain the real dire circumstances surrounding the bomb. Now, in layman's terms, Gordon relayed the same information down to his fellow policemen.
"We aren't dealing with just a bomb with a single detonator," Gordon, emphasized, "It is a time bomb. That will go off with or without a detonator in about five months' time."
Fear and doubt immediately settled into the men's faces, each of them shifting nervously from foot to foot. John could easily tell that most of them were becoming rather uncertain about their purpose, wondering if there was any use to their moving up against the tide.
"So how do we stop it?" Johnston asked.
"Fox says if we can get the core—the bomb—back to the reactor and reconnect it, he'll be able to shut it down." John answered.
"And this is where we come in," Gordon interjected, "Now, Fox doesn't know where Bane is keeping the bomb. My guess is that he's keeping it moving to lower the chances of anyone getting their hands on it."
"The bomb is big so they are probably moving it around in eighteen wheeler trucks," John pointed out, "They'll probably have more as a diversion. Still, when you are out there, look for any trucks that might have slightly more mercenaries on it, or anything that tells you which truck is transporting the bomb."
"Also," added Gordon, "Look for patterns in the streets they take and at what time do they take it. That'll help us trap the truck when we figure out which truck holds the bomb."
With clear instructions set out, they divided them all up into scouting groups and gave each pair them particular parts of the city to scout. Then, they sent them out, reminding them to always keep their walkie-talkies on in case something happens to anyone. When the last officer crept out the back door of the store, John turned to Gordon.
"How long do you think it'll take us to find the bomb?"
Gordon shrugged, "With our luck we'll probably cut it down to the wire…That's why I think we should get in contact with Special Forces."
"Special Forces?" John echoed, "But sir—"
"Let's not be too romantic about this." Gordon said, "We are the underdogs. Clearly. It's good that we've got the number of men that we do, but when it comes down to it, we are still outnumbered. We may have enough men to hunt down a bomb, but we are going to need a whole lot more to move it and to try and save thousands of our police force at the same time. We need to get more help, son."
At John's still uncertain look, Gordon tried again, "We have to at least try."
Sighing deeply, John shrugged yieldingly, "I can't really argue with that. So how do we do it?"
"Gotham is not going to last five months, let alone three months, without food or supplies. My guess is that, in order to keep things under his control, Bane is going to allow some means of providing rations for the people. When that happens, we slip in a note for Special Forces to sneak in with the next shipment of rations."
Wrinkling his brow, John could only muster a nod. He wanted to say that it was a fairly straightforward, simple plan—fool proof even, but he didn't want to speak too early and push their luck—as if they weren't doing that already.
Late October—November
It had been a little over a month since the first distribution of "The Silencer" and Lucy couldn't be more on edge for the delivery of the second issue. After the first distribution, they waited a few days before starting on another issue, wanting to gauge reactions. However, there was no uproarious reactions, and while she was partly thankful for that, she found the silence they got in return a bit more unsettling. It made her feel as though she wasn't making the right impression.
"People must think I'm crazy," She had told Will, while they were in the Teacher's Workroom, stacking up the hundreds of copies of the second issue of "The Silencer" and preparing them for delivery.
"It's too early to judge, Lucy." Will had said to her, trying to ameliorate her worries, "People are probably wondering if "The Silencer" is more than a one off deal. Look, we'll get this second issue out and see what happens."
And hours later after that conversation, Lucy kept that in mind as she stood at the mouth of a grungy alley way, her satchel heavy on her shoulder from the huge stacks of "The Silencer" she was carrying.
Cautiously poking her head out of the shadows of the alley, Lucy squinted through the blinding sunlight at the quiet neighborhood across the way. It looked peaceful and almost picturesque, but Lucy knew that it was just because people had the sense to not leave the safety of their homes to roam streets crawling with murderous thugs, freed criminals, and mercenaries. They were between a rock and hard place—die in the streets at the hands of violent, immoral criminals or die in your beds at the hands of a bomb.
Shaking her head at the thought, Lucy pulled her head back into the alley before tugging her beanie over her hair and wrapping her scarf around the bottom half of her face, working to conceal her appearance as much as possible.
Then, after checking that the streets were empty, Lucy slipped out from the alley and began trekking through the neighborhood as casually as she could manage, stopping at each house to swiftly and quietly trot up the steps and leave a copy of "The Silencer" at their door. As per their delivery rules, she slipped copies through mail slots, stuck them in window grates or left them sticking halfway out from underneath doormats—never on the door for the rest of the world to see. Also, each household only received one copy of "The Silencer" so that there was less chance for a copy to get loose and into the hands of a mercenary and by extension Bane. Delivery dates were varied and routes were never taken more than once. Lucy and Will were going to take whatever precautions necessary to not leave a trail and to keep Bane out of their hair for as long as possible.
And these guidelines—as stingy and particular as they were—applied for every single neighborhood Lucy was responsible for covering.
As she came to the end of her tenth neighborhood near the center of downtown, Lucy saw that the next intersection over crossed into the more affluent parts of downtown…and perhaps, an even more dead part of downtown. There appeared to be no life whatsoever inside the tall, pristine townhomes and as Lucy grazed her eyes over the street, she figured out why. Whatever life that had existed inside the town homes was scattered out on the street—suitcases, clothes, furniture, porcelain dishes, broken champagne bottles, food…as if every bit of existence was violently blown out the front door.
The powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests and cast into the cold world the rest of us have known and endured…
Bane's cold condemnation seemed to linger over the street, whistling in the cold wind that carried in the highly manicured bushes and trees and brushing over ripped coats on the ground. Narrowing her eyes, she could see it now. Masses of armed mercenaries and prisoners marching through downtown, arms raised high over their heads as they stormed into the expensive apartments. Over their barbaric victory cries, she could hear the screams of the unsuspecting tenants as they are dragged out onto the streets—their homes ransacked.
Lucy sighed deeply, shutting her eyes against the discomforting images. She was not raised with a silver spoon in her mouth and her life was humble, not grand in any way. So did she ever harbor any hard feelings towards the wealthy for their ostentatious way of living, or for the way some would turn their noses up at her? Perhaps. But she would never wish upon anyone the fate that Bane pressed upon the wealthy.
Courts will be convened…the spoils will be enjoyed…Blood will be spilt.
She had heard from John about Bane's kangaroo court system, despite his efforts to edge around the ugliness of the topic, and how it was supposed to be the new form of justice in Gotham. But it was no justice system. There were no unbiased juries, no real judge, and no innocent until proven guilty. In reality, Bane's new court system was nothing but the up and down swing in an executioner's axe, pausing only for the next victim's head to slide into place.
Who was supposed to survive in these conditions? They might no longer be under the oppression of the wealthy and corrupt, but they are now under the oppression of fear.
But then again…things are only as scary as one makes them out to be.
Finding comfort in that thought, Lucy tore her eyes away from the ruined street and back toward the neighborhood behind her. She realized she had lingered out in the open for far too long and she hoped that no one had seen her. But before she could move along, her walkie-talkie buzzed to life at her waist, Will's voice calling out her name. Ducking out of sight into an alley between two townhouses, Lucy dug her walkie-talkie out from her waistband and brought it to her lips.
"Yeah Will?" She answered back quietly, pressing her back up against the brick wall.
"Hey how far along are you on your route?"
"Erm, just finished with the houses off 10th. Why?"
"Remember today's the day we're going to the orphanage with John?"
"Oh! Of course." Lucy breathed, running a hand over her face in recollection. "What time were we going again?"
"In two hours."
"I've only got a few more neighborhoods to visit. I should be done in a half hour or so."
"Ok. Meet you on the corner of Royal and Eldridge?"
"Sounds good."
As she tucked her walkie-talkie back into the waistband of her jeans, Lucy wondered how it slipped her mind that they would be seeing not only John but also the orphanage today. After all, she and Will had been looking forward to it since John mentioned the trip to them a few weeks—well probably Will just a tiny bit more than her from the eagerness she had heard in his voice. Though, it wasn't hard to guess why; this was the first time he'd be seeing his sister since he went M.I.A. a while ago.
Either way, not wanting to waste any more time, Lucy straightened up her coverings and went to slip into the daylight, the image of red-cheeked children clambering around her legs motivating her to work quickly. How As such, she finished up her last four neighborhoods of the day in good time and was soon well on her way to meet Will at the corner of Royal and Eldridge.
She didn't see Will when she got to the spot and decided to wait for him underneath the awning of a bookstore that sat on the street corner. As she moved to settle against the store front, she noticed that this was the very same bookstore she visited on her way to the stock market all those weeks ago. Sidling up to the window, Lucy cupped her hands against the glass and peered inside. It was dark inside, but it looked wholly unbothered, as if it were just another day and the owner had simply locked up for the night. She was glad to see that the bookstore was left untouched because it felt like, despite everything that was happening around her, there were still pieces of her old everyday life for her to pick up and hold—their apartment, St. Cecilia's, and now her favorite bookstore.
Just as she raised herself onto her tiptoes to look at the stacks of books inside, she caught a flicker of movement in the window's reflection. She whirled around quickly, her heart leaping into her throat as she thought that her wandering mind had screwed her over.
However, her anxieties were quickly put to rest as she realized that it was only Will standing behind her, wearing an awfully amused look.
Taking a deep calming breath, Lucy strode over and socked him in the arm, positively concluding his laughter. "You're too light-footed for your own good."
"And you can be so easily taken by surprise," Will said, good-naturedly, "Besides, what were you even looking at over there?"
Lucy shook her head, "Just a place that I used to visit a lot, that's all."
"One of the few places still standing after the city got overrun," Will added, looking over the largely untarnished storefront.
"Well, I don't suspect Bane's mercenaries and criminals have much use for books." Lucy shrugged.
"No…I suppose they don't," Will laughed before gesturing toward the road, "Now, come on. We best get a move on before anyone sees us."
They set off down the road in the direction of the two orphanages. Despite the quiet maintained all around them, they happily entertained themselves with small talk about their respective delivery routes. Though, not particularly exciting, they still liked to discuss how different parts of the city were holding up.
They were laughing over Will's near run-in with a particularly mean-spirited German Shepherd when they saw the huge wrought-iron cross and stone steps of St. Cecilia's straight ahead. As they made their way past two more intersections, Lucy saw John standing in the doorway of a stop-n-shop a few doors down from where they were.
"Oh!" Lucy pointed out to Will, just as her brother caught sight of them and began to wave them down, "There's John!"
They hurried over and Lucy wasted no time in gathering John up in a tight hug. It hadn't been a particularly long time since she's seen John, but Lucy wasn't about to waste any moment with her brother, especially now. Every time she saw him now would not just be another visit, it would be assurance that he wasn't dead.
Once pleasantries were set aside, they moved their attentions back toward the orphanage. Lucy noticed that John had a couple of boxes sitting at his feet.
"What are those?" She asked.
"Food and supplies." John answered, handing one to her and Will, "With all the kids running around, they exhaust stuff pretty fast."
"Where'd you get all of it?" asked Will, taking a peek at the contents.
"Some of the people in the neighborhood were nice enough to hand over some of their stuff for the kids. I just went around and collected as much as I could," John explained.
"That's awfully kind of people," Lucy commented, to which John could only shrug and nod rather in a way that seemed like he couldn't quite validate what she said before leading them to St. Cecilia's.
They trotted up the steps and John knocked on the door, knowing it would be well barred against the terror outside. There was no answer for a few minutes and Lucy stepped back to peer up at the establishment, trying to see or hear a glimmer of the warm life inside. That's when she heard a frail voice through the wood of the door.
"W-Who is it?"
It was Mrs. Wilkins, the lady who worked the front desk.
"Mrs. Wilkinson. It's Detective Blake." John said, "It's alright. You can open the door."
There was another beat of silence and Lucy began to think that Ms. Wilkinson didn't believe John. However, just as she thought that, she heard the tinkling of a key followed by the sliding of a lock. Then, the door creaked open, revealing the familiar face of Mrs. Wilkins—who, by the way, appeared to be taking on much worry from Bane's occupation. Her white hair was a bit wild and her usually sweet, cheery disposition was marred with frightened eyes and a bit of pasty complexion, as if she were always expecting the worst.
However, thankfully, once she opened the door and saw that it was indeed John standing the front stoop, she relaxed a bit. But once she let John inside and saw Lucy and Will standing there, something seemed to light up in her face as she gasped rather loudly.
"O-Oh…A-Am I…Oh my goodness," She stuttered, glancing almost disbelieving in between them.
"Hey Mrs. Wilkins." Will greeted simply, wearing a soft smile.
With a teary laugh, she waved them inside, and after quickly shutting and locking the door behind them, wrapped the two teens in a tight embrace.
"Oh my…" She said, pulling away and clapping her hands together, "Everyone is going to be so happy to see you too. Come, come! They're right upstairs."
She readily waddled past them and up the stairs, where Lucy could make out voices and the sound of little feet shuffling around upstairs. John went up after Mrs. Wilkins, and Lucy made to follow next, rather eager to see everyone. However, midway up the staircase, she noticed that Will wasn't behind her.
Shuffling back down a few steps, she saw him still standing at the foot of the stairs, staring up at the ceiling hesitantly.
"Hey," She caught his attention, "You alright?"
Will shrugged and nodded unconvincingly, "Fine. Just a little bit nervous."
Lucy nodded her head understandingly, "There's no need for you to be nervous, Will."
"But…but what if Lily—"
Lucy immediately cut him off, knowing what "what-ifs" can do to one's nerves and confidence, "Don't do that to yourself, Will, okay? Lily…she loves you and I'm sure that will outweigh whatever worries you now. She just wants to see her brother again. Alright?"
He let her words sink in, and once Lucy could see the tentativeness melt away from his face, she inclined her head towards the staircase, suggesting that they go on up. Nodding in acknowledgment, Will took a deep breath and pulled himself together before following Lucy up the stairs.
When they got to the top landing, they saw John talking to Mother Superior, who looked every bit of the stalwart, wise and well-worn head of the orphanage she and Will grew up with. However, once they came up the stairs, a tenderness, like a mother seeing her child after years apart, came to Mother Superior's face. John turned around then, realizing the attention was drawn away from him, and seeing Lucy and Will behind him, he stepped off to the side to let them greet Mother Superior.
"Oh my dears," She said, gently folding them in an embrace before pulling away to appraise them, "I'm so glad to see you two are safe—especially you, Will." She added with a pointed look that made Will look shamefacedly at the floor.
"Mother, I'm sorry…" Will began before Mother Superior raised a hand to quiet him.
"It is not me you need to apologize to."
"I know," Will sighed, knowingly, "Where is she?"
"Where she usually is." She replied simply, gesturing down the hall.
With permissive and understanding looks from Lucy and John, Will put his box down on the floor and made his way down the hall to the play room, where Lily was sure to be sitting in her spot by the window. When he reached the door to the play room, Will's hesitance returned and he immediately glanced back at Lucy for support. Despite the box in her arms, Lucy still gave him a double thumbs-up and an encouraging smile.
After Will accepted her gestures and mustered his courage to step inside the playroom, Lucy turned to Mother Superior. "So how are things going here since…"
"We manage." She replied, "Thankfully, there haven't been any…unsavory characters coming around to bother us."
"That's good." Lucy said.
"I was just telling her about the donations of food from the neighborhood," John added.
"It's very nice to know that, in the state that we are all in, there are still people exercising kindness and generosity." Mother Superior said.
"It is but," John interjected, "I don't know how long those sentiments will last. So, whatever we've brought you all and the children needs to be used as sparingly as possible because I don't know when we'll get as much as we have now."
Mother Superior nodded understandingly, if not a bit grimly.
"Would you all like to stay for dinner? It's in a half hour." Mother Superior offered after Lucy and John had deposited the food and supplies in the kitchen and had emerged back out the main hall.
Lucy and John shrugged at each other, seeing no reason why they shouldn't. After all, they could spare some time to be with people other than themselves, even if they were children…as a matter of fact perhaps it was better that way. At least there was a relaxed air about being around children.
"We'd love to stay for dinner." John told her.
Lucy was about to offer her help in the kitchen, but stopped short when she heard a sweet, gleeful voice call her name.
"Lucy!"
Spinning on her heel, Lucy turned around in time to catch the small tornado of a little girl that came barreling into her arms, nearly knocking her off balance. Catching herself, Lucy looked down to see that it was Lily who had wrapped herself like a little koala bear around her.
"Hey sweetheart," Lucy said, wrapping one arm around Lily and brushing her hair away from her cherubic face with the other.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lily repeated excitedly in her ear, hopping up and down in her arms.
"Thank you for what, love?" Lucy asked, as she saw Will come up behind them, a warm smile on his face.
"You brought him back!" An awestruck look gleamed in her eyes as she rambled on, "I-I didn't think you would…BUT you did! And he's here! You brought him back to me…you're like a superhero!"
Lily's excited prattling brought laughter to the four adults, while Lucy merely smiled at Lily's compliment. She was no super hero, but she was a promise-keeper and she was more than happy to have done right by Will and Lily.
"Well, you are very welcome." Lucy said to Lily, smoothing down the girl's hair to calm her down a bit.
"Are you and Will going to stay with us here? Can you?" Lily asked, looking hopefully up at them.
"Erm…" Lucy bit her lip and peered up at Will and John for some help. However, it was Mother Superior who piped up first.
"They cannot stay with us, Lily." She said.
"But why?" Lily asked, her voice suddenly growing smaller and the eagerness in her face quickly slipping away.
"Because," Lucy started, seeing tears start to collect in the corner of Lily's eyes, "There are bad people out there Lily—people who tried to take your brother away—and we have to be out there fighting and protecting the city…protecting you and all the other kids from getting hurt. We want to stay with you, love, we really do, but superheroes have a job to do. Right?"
Sniffling a bit, Lily wiped at her cheeks and slowly nodded, putting on her brave face. "I understand."
"There now," Lucy said, smiling kindly down at Lily while brushing her hand over the back of her smooth hair, "We do get to stay for dinner. What do you say—you wanna help with the cooking?"
Instantly, Lily seemed to perk up a bit at the suggestion. "Ok!"
After Lily wound her arms around Lucy's neck, Lucy stood up and led the way back to the kitchen, Will and John trailing behind them ready to lend their hands as well. Shedding their outerwear at the door, the four of them scattered around the kitchen to give help where it was needed. For tonight, the sisters' decided on making around forty individual sized shepherd's pies for everyone living in the orphanage along with some chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
John had gone to help cut up the vegetables while Lucy, Lily and Will had settled for dealing with the mashed potatoes that would top the shepherd's pies. Lucy and Will did most of the peeling and cutting, but Lily enjoyed standing on her little stool and tossing the potatoes into a ginormous pot for them to cook. Once they were cooked, Lily loved it even more when they let her mash up the potatoes, often getting pieces of potato, splashes of milk and butter on them rather than in the pot. But it didn't matter much to them—if anything, it just prompted a short, but dangerous game of flicking mashed potatoes at one another, which ended when Mother Superior peered into the kitchen.
After everything was cooked, Lucy, John, Lily, Will and all the sisters working in the kitchen lined up around the biggest worktable in the kitchen and began to load up small baking pans with the hearty beef and vegetable mix and top it with a good plop of potatoes before putting them in the oven to finish cooking.
This is nice. Lucy thought to herself as she unrolled her sleeves and watched everyone kick back for a bit until the food was ready.
It was nice that she could do something with her hands that didn't mean life or death…just that a child was going to get to eat a good meal. It was a good break from what she had been working on for the last month or so and will continue to work on for months to come, and she was almost tempted to take up Lily's offer of staying there.
However, like she had said, they had work to do that just couldn't be ignored. In reality, Lucy had a much bigger reason to not stay. No matter how much distance she was putting between bane and herself, she was still had the slightest worry that Bane would somehow pick up on her trail and come after her. Regardless of what she had said before, that fear, as small as it has become, will remain in the back of her mind until the day his reign ends and he is gone.
Until that day…she would not put anyone in danger by merely associating with her.
She was brought out of her thoughts when a pleasing smell tickled her nose and she realized that the pies were ready to come out of the oven. Oven mitts were distributed around the kitchen and everyone started to unload the trays of pies one by one and carry them out to the dining room.
Once all the tables were set, the rest of the children were led into the room. However, excitement overtook hunger for a brief interlude when the children caught sight of Lucy and Will and rushed over to smother the teens with hugs, greetings, and many questions. But with one stern look from Mother Superior, the dining room was brought back under control and everyone promptly took their seats.
After a small blessing was uttered over their food, everyone dug in and Lucy made sure to savor the warm, familial air of the room and every sweet smile sent her way. Times like these would give her the best motivation to keep on fighting.
Dinner passed without much more incident and it soon came time for Lucy, John and Will to depart. After saying their goodbyes to the majority of the orphanage in the dining room, Mother Superior, John, Lucy and Will, who was carrying Lily along with them, picked up their belongings, went downstairs to tie up loose ends and to bid one more bittersweet goodbye.
"I wish you two the best," Mother Superior said, resting a cool, weathered hand on Lucy and Will's cheeks, as if they were children again.
"Thank you, Mother." They answered.
Mother Superior smiled encouragingly at them before going to share some last words with John. Meanwhile, Lucy and Will moved off to the side so that they could talk to Lily one more time.
"I don't want you guys to go." Lily mumbled meekly, aimlessly playing with the lapels of Will's jacket to keep herself from falling into sadness again.
"We know, love, but we have too." Will said apologetically, trying to console his little sister, "I promise that I will come back to get you."
"That we will come back to get you." Lucy amended, rubbing Lily's arm soothingly.
"Okay." Lily sniffed, before wagging a finger from Lucy to Will, "But you have to take care of him, and you have to look after her."
Lucy and Will shared a look before telling Lily in unison, "We promise."
At their pledge, Lily reached out and hugged Lucy around her neck. Then, she turned to her brother and locked him the in an equally, if not more, tight embrace. Lucy stepped back and ducked her head, wanting to give the siblings their privacy, but still managed to catch the fierce look in Will's eyes as he clutched his sister to his chest, his face buried in her neck, as he murmured a few more last minute promises in her ear. A short moment later, they released their hold on one another, and Will pressed a kiss to her hairline before carefully setting her back down on the floor.
At that moment, Mother Superior and John broke from their conversation and rejoined them by the door. Seeing that their goodbyes were said and done, Mother Superior offered her hand to Lily, and slowly, albeit with slight reluctance, Will transferred Lily's small hand over to Mother Superior.
And with one last wave, John, Lucy and Will were back out onto the streets of Gotham. As they climbed down the steps, Lucy hooked her arm through Will's and squeezed it comfortingly, seeing the temptation to stay lingering in his eyes.
Turning back toward the city, Lucy could see that night was setting very quickly and they needed to start heading back to the high school before any of the corners and alleys got too dark for their own handling. They parted with John a few blocks down, with another promise of talk to you later and see you soon. Once they saw John disappear around the corner of another intersection, Lucy and Will set off for the high school, making sure to stick close to one another and keeping an eye on their surroundings.
"Everything's going to be okay, you know," Lucy reminded him, midway through their trek home.
"I know. It's just…It sucks that I get to see Lily after being away for so long, and have to leave again."
"No, I understand. But…truth is, I don't know how often I can go back for a visit." Lucy admitted.
"What do you mean?"
"I have this…" Lucy swallowed, "This fear that Bane is going to hunt me down, and he will start with the orphanage."
"Lucy, he is not going to find you."
"I know. It's not like this is an all-consuming fear." Lucy finally voiced her thoughts from earlier, "It's just an itching thought in the back of my mind and it's not going to go away until Bane is gone."
"And you don't want the children to become collateral damage if that happens." Will clarified.
"Exactly. I feel like the best way I can protect people is by being far away from them." Lucy murmured.
"Well, even if that's true, don't think you are getting rid of me that easily."
"I just feel like it isn't fair for me to keep dragging you into the line of fire. I'm in too deep and you don't owe me anything." Lucy rambled unthinkingly.
Will stopped short and grabbed Lucy by the shoulders, shaking her slightly, "Lucy, what the hell are you talking about? I owe you everything. Yeah, am I helping you because you saved my life? Of course, I am, but more than that, I am helping you because you are my friend, Lucy."
Lucy heeded his words and cursed herself for even letting that doubt take over her thoughts for a moment. It was just a moment where she lost a hold of herself.
"Besides," Will shrugged, letting go of her, "I've invested too much in the paper, and I know that it's going to work out, Lucy. I don't doubt you. So don't doubt me."
Lucy blew a flustered raspberry, threw her hands up into the air, "I don't doubt you, Will. It's just…would it kill the higher powers to send me a sign that something is working in this convoluted plan of ours?"
"You mean like that?"
Lucy whipped back around, brow knitted in confusion, "Like what?"
Will was standing at the edge of the sidewalk, pointing at one of the brick buildings across the street, astonishment clear on his face. Lucy moved over to stand next to him and scanned over the face of a building, wondering what in the heck he was staring at. The building looked like an apartment complex, nothing too fancy. Like all the other buildings, it looked completely dead inside, not a single light on. That's when her eyes drifted over the four windows of the building. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about them other than the fact that all four had screens drawn over them and on those four screen, roughly reproduced in white paint was…
"Oh my goodness." Lucy breathed, eyes wide as she looked up at the screen-covered windows like they were flags waving for their cause.
"That is…"
"Impeccably well-timed."
Sooooooo it's my birthday this weekend and feel free to send me twice as much love…I'm joking you don't have to do that. However, I just want to give you a heads up that I'll be pretty busy these next two weeks, but I will do my best to get another chapter up and running.
Sneak Peek: everyone's favorite masked man is coming back!
But until then…
Follow, favorite, review, whatever your heart desires!
Till next time, lovelies!