In the few days after the station job, two things happened. One: six reapers were killed. Falcone's reapers, gunned down in the street or on assignments. And two: White Hill was bombed.
Things had been getting back to normal. Selina was all settled into her new apartment. It was still stocked from furniture from its previous owner, and Selina hadn't had to buy a thing. Jobs were rolling in from Gerard and Fish had even invited her back to the nightclub for lunch. That had been a very strange meal, but Selina had been playing the role of self-assured mobster for years, she was good at it by now. And in an odd, scary kind of way, Fish was actually fun to be around. She was terrifying, undoubtedly, but Selina had fallen into her graces, and that was a very good place to be. Ivy, especially, couldn't believe that Selina had been swapping stories and laughing with Falcone's second. Selina could hardly believe it herself.
When she wasn't on jobs or at Ivy's – either sparring, or just hanging around – Selina was logging hours in her workshop. Her T-Bird was almost finished and she'd be able to drive it within the next few weeks. It was perfect timing, really. If there was ever a need for a getaway car, it was now. But despite all of the insanity hanging over her, Selina was finally able to walk outside without constantly ducking her head and waiting to be shot. Under the protection of bulletproof windows and several locks on each door, she was sleeping more soundly, with only a few nightmares per week. Selina had even managed to push Wayne to the back of her mind, shoving him into a corner where she couldn't feel the warmth of his touch or the piercing scrutiny of those dark eyes.
Everything was, for lack of a better word, good. And then Selina got a phone call.
"I already took my dose today, V," Selina said, pressing her phone to her ear and speaking around the pencil she'd been chewing on. "You don't have to call every day to make sure. What you do have to do is up the potency on this stuff because I'm starting to look like a heroin junkie." As per Ivy's instructions, Selina had been injecting the serum into her bloodstream once a day and it was starting to leave track marks. If Gerard started doing random drug tests she was in trouble.
"Selina shut up." Ivy's voice was high and strangled. "Where are you?" The pencil dropped out of her mouth and Selina straightened, everything flashing onto high alert.
"What's going on?" she demanded. "What happened?"
"Selina are you in your house? Are you safe?"
"Ivy you're scaring me. I'm home, I'm safe. What's going on?"
"They got shot." Ivy ground out. "It was an attack."
"Who got shot Ivy?" Selina asked, trying to be patient. This was Gotham, people got shot all the time and nobody batted an eye, least of all Ivy.
"Andre, and Piers, and Monica…and Sam. Oh my God, Sel, Sam got cut down right in front of me. There was so much blood and he was screaming…" Selina went cold, running through the names in her head. "They're not the only ones. Julio and Dmitri are dead too. One of your contacts called me, they said that they couldn't get ahold of you…Jesus Christ, Sel I thought you were dead too." It took Selina a moment an embarrassingly long time to figure out why Ivy had panicked. All of the dead were reapers, every one of them. Reapers like her.
"Holy shit they're killing us," Selina whispered, stumbling into a chair. She knew everyone that Ivy had listed; she'd even worked with Piers and Dmitri on a couple of jobs. "V are you okay?"
"I'm fine, they weren't aiming for me, but Sam…. they sheared him in half."
"Shit." Selina said, thinking of Ivy standing in the street covered in blood and feeling ill. "I'm coming over."
"Don't you fucking dare," Ivy snarled. "They're killing reapers, Sel. Stay where you are until all of this blows over and don't leave for anything. I'll call you when I hear that it's safe. But until then, lock yourself in and don't move. Promise me."
"I promise. Be safe."
"You too." Ivy hung up and Selina held the phone in shaking hands. Jesus. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying not to let her imagination get away from her. She was safe here. Nobody knew where she was. Ivy was okay. Shaken up, but okay. Breathe, she told herself. Just breathe. Despite her self-assurances, Selina still jumped when the phone rang again.
"Darling," Fish's voice said over the phone, cool as ever. "I'm glad you picked up."
"Yeah me too, considering that reapers are dropping like flies. What the hell is going on?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out," Fish replied calmly. How could she be calm? These were her employees, her people. "Are you safe, Selina?"
"I'm fine but the body count is high. Six of us, Fish. Six." And she could have easily been any of them. "Who did this?"
"No one's taken credit yet. But when we find out they're dead, believe me. Stay where you are until then, will you? I don't want my favorite getting herself shot. Ta." The line went dead and Selina dropped the phone. Selina paced around the apartment, unease and fear churning inside of her. It had to be Maroni. There was no one else who'd benefit from taking out so many members of Falcone's organization. But why reapers? There was something to be said about taking out bangers; they were the lowest of the low when it came to crime and there were plenty of them. Getting rid of them would send a message. Or going after higher-ups, to prove that Falcone couldn't protect those close to him. But reapers? They were middlemen, unimportant in the grand scheme of the family but independently skilled and paid very well. There was no definite message to be said by killing them, no obvious benefit. Why the hell would Maroni go after thieves? And how had his people known where to find them? None of it made any sense.
Twitchy and paranoid, Selina sat on the couch, switching on the television to try to calm her nerves. Not likely. The news stations had already picked up the story, and for once murder in the poorer part of the city had everyone's attention.
"A coordinated attack that left six dead," one news anchor said, a blonde woman with teeth so white that they hurt Selina's eyes. "Authorities are still investigating exactly what is was that connected the victims, each of whom was killed between three and three-ten this afternoon." Shit. Whoever had coordinated the attack, they'd been good. Professional. Even more evidence that Maroni had a hand in it. "Every victim was under twenty-six, the youngest being seventeen, although it is unclear whether or not their young ages had anything to do with the murders."
"They're reapers you goddamn moron," Selina snapped at the TV. Of course they didn't have any connections. Reapers were independent, operating separately of the families. Sure, they pledged loyalty for protection, but most didn't just work for the mob. The only way to know reapers was to be a reaper, which was how they'd been able to avoid attention from the police for so long. And it wasn't as if they went around with group chats in their phones labeled "Thieves." If they even had any contact at all it was via burner phones. The only contact Selina had ever had in a real phone was Ivy's.
The newswoman continued blithely, and Selina flipped through the channels. She waiting for Ivy to call, but her phone didn't ring again except for once when Leo called to tell her about some guy who was hanging out around her old place. Selina didn't think much of it; if creeps or pervs knew that there was a girl living alone, sometimes they'd hover under she proved that she wasn't an easy target. He'd be gone in a day or two. After that it was just silence and the news as she watched the hours pass and the sun dip under the horizon. It was going to be a long, long night.
Selina was woken up by an alarm blaring on the television, shattering the calm of the early morning news anchors' soft-spoken discussion.
"Jesus shit," she swore, startling awake. The screen was brick-red, with black block letters scrolling across it, screaming: ATTACK ON WHITE HILL. The message relayed itself over and over while Selina sat, frozen, on the couch. After what felt like an eternity, the screen vanished and a man appeared, holding a microphone as smoke rose in the background. "Oh my God," Selina whispered, panic spreading through her like poison. It was real. Someone had set a bomb off on the Hill. The man started speaking, but Selina was already moving, grabbing her hoodie and racing out the door.
Don't be dead, Selina prayed, running down the street and shoving onto the first Hill-bound bus she could find. Goddammit, please don't be dead.
It was only twenty minutes to White Hill but it might as well have been an eternity. Selina tapped her fingertips on her leg, clutching the knife in her pocket in the other hand. Come on, come on, come on, she thought over and over like a mantra, trying to keep the frantic fear at bay, fear that she couldn't control, much less understand. Overwhelmed with the smell of smoke the instant she stepped off of the bus, Selina felt her heart pound as she weaved through the crowd of people that had amassed. News vans were already crowding the barrier that the police had set up and firemen were rushing everywhere, trying to put out the fire that was licking at the sky and spitting smoke into the air.
"Someone bombed the Blakes," someone whispered behind her and Selina exhaled, dizzy with relief. "It was the Blakes' mansion." She turned and ran away from the crowd, slipping through a hole in the back fence of Wayne's property that wasn't monitored by security cameras. Selina picked the lock of the back door and burst into the house, running through the halls without thinking. She was so wrapped up in her own mind that she didn't notice the figure in the hallway until she'd run into him.
"Selina?" Wayne said, grabbing her shoulders to steady her, his mouth dropping open. "What the – you're alive?"
"You're okay," Selina said. "Oh my God, you're okay." For once she didn't shrug out of his grip, too relieved to see him standing in front of her, tall and dark and alive.
"I'm okay?" Wayne repeated, his voice thick with disbelief. "Six of your people get gunned down in cold blood and you're worried about me?" He paused, realization dawning on his face. "You were worried about me?"
"You know about that?" Selina demanded, ignoring the strange look that had come over his face. "How do you know about that?"
"I saw it on the news, and I've been researching the families…I tried to find you yesterday – "
"That was you?" Selina gaped, thinking of Leo's phone call about the prowler last night. "Jesus it's like you want to get yourself killed. Wait, why were you trying to find me?" Wayne paused, blushing red.
"I was scared. For you. I was worried about you and I wanted to make sure that you were okay and then you weren't there and I was even more worried." He stopped for half a second before going on, speaking even faster than before. "And how the hell did you get past the police? They've got a barrier and there are cameras and – " His words cut off as Selina lifted herself onto her toes and pulled his head down to meet her halfway, kissing him into silence. Partly because he was rambling, and partly because he'd never been attractive to her until he was blushing, and suddenly she couldn't remember why. He didn't freeze this time, kissing her back immediately and Selina melted.
"I'm a criminal, you idiot," she said, a little breathlessly, when they broke apart. "Barriers and cameras aren't going to keep me out." She kissed him again, shorter and sweeter than the first, still trying to pretend like she hadn't been thinking about him since the police station. Since before the police station. "I'm glad you're not dead," she whispered against his chest. "Don't you ever die on me."
"I'll do my best," Wayne replied softly and even without looking up Selina could see his smile.
Short but very important so I hope you'll forgive the length! Let me know what you think :)