"You look like shit." Selina said when Ivy keyed into her apartment, barely looking up from the piece of the T-Bird she was working on. She'd been spending so much time with Bruce that the old workshop was starting to feel neglected, and with everything that was going on, Selina figured it would be safer taking the work home with her. The last few weeks had been trying, but somehow they had fallen into a routine. Selina and Ivy were battening down the hatches. Calling in favors, drawing up plans, making promises, threats, anything that would get results. They made contingency plan after contingency plan, and at the heart of each was trying to prove that Falcone had fired on his own people. If they could prove that, then Falcone would be run out of town and they'd be in the clear.

Selina spent most of the day hiding away, trying to find anything that could prove that Falcone was a traitorous bastard, or meeting with the members of her old homeless crew. She hadn't told them everything, but they were on alert, knowing that when Selina was this amped about something, it had to be important. Information rolled in daily, but none of it was useful. For her part, Ivy was building an arsenal. Poisons, bombs, stealing guns and knives and anything she could get her hands on. When she wasn't with Ivy, Selina was with Bruce. Ever since that night, she'd stayed overnight at the mansion more often that she did at her own place, and she was starting to get used to it. Bruce was running himself ragged, him and Jim Gordon tag-teaming to find as much information as they could. Selina might have gagged at the thought at involving the police, but Falcone needed to be stopped. She didn't care if it was by way of iron bars or a bullet in the brain. He had to go down before this whole thing erupted and the entire city tore itself apart.

"I told Harley," Ivy mumbled. Selina nearly dropped the engine piece she'd been fiddling with.

"You did what?"

"I told Harley," Ivy said again, eyes cast downward. "About me. About what's going on. I left you out of it but she might still suspect. I'm sorry."

"Why?" Selina ground out, still trying to wrap her head around the epic stupidity that was Ivy telling her girlfriend about the shitstorm she was involved in. "Ivy. Why would you involve her?"

"I love her," Ivy said miserably. "I couldn't lie to her anymore."

"So…she knows? Everything? God, V, what did she say?"

"She didn't say anything. Then she told me to get out, and I did. I just…" Ivy trailed off, her voice breaking. Tears shone in her eyes. "I didn't know what to do. Maybe…maybe it's for the best. At least now she's out of the line of fire."

"No she's not." Selina said, something occurring to her. "You need to make up with her. Talk to her, do something."

"You don't understand." Ivy said miserably. "She hates me. I lied to her about everything. Who I am, what I do, all of it."

"You lied to her to keep her safe," Selina said. "And she's still in the crosshairs, only now she doesn't have us to protect her."

"I'm the one who put her in danger in the first place," Ivy protested, sounding moments away from tears. "I can't go back there, Sel. At least now she knows." Dense was not a word that Selina had ever thought to use to describe Ivy before, but dammit if she wasn't being incredibly dense in that moment.

"Oh yeah, you opened her eyes just in time for someone to put a bullet between them," Selina snapped. Ivy flinched backwards like she'd been slapped, but Selina wasn't done. "Ivy, this is war, and she's someone you care about. What the fuck do you think is going to happen if all of this goes to shit and someone finds out that you – Falcone's favorite poisoner – were dating a civilian?" Ivy went pale, her hair shockingly bright against her skin. Her mouth dropped open, but Selina was already moving, snatching her coat off of the hook and blowing out the door.

"Where are you going?" Ivy shouted after her.

"To bring back your girlfriend," Selina replied. Ivy was too emotionally compromised to see it, but if Harley knew the truth now and anyone found out about them, both she and Ivy were in danger. There was a reason people like them didn't date civilians – they could be used as leverage. Selina was completely aware of how hypocritical that was, what with her own relationship with Bruce.

Selina had never been to Harley's apartment, but it wasn't hard to find. She lived in one of the many nondescript apartments in the neighborhood outside of Gotham University. No one stopped her, or asked where she was going, and Selina realized that she fit in with this crowd of badly dressed, incredibly stressed students milling about. She could have been one of them, had her life gone differently. If her mother hadn't been a drug addict that had been murdered and if Selina hadn't run away from the orphanage to live on the street, there was a good chance that she could be one of the over-caffeinated barely-adults that swirled around her in packs.

"Hello?" Selina said, knocking on the door. "Harley?" Selina heard footsteps inside, but no one answered. "Harley, answer the door, I know you're in there." She didn't have time for this. Swearing under her breath, Selina knelt by the lock and quickly jimmied it open.

"Jesus Christ!" Harley swore, nearly jumping out of her skin when she saw Selina push into her apartment. "Selina?" Realization dawned in her eyes and she backed up slowly, staring at Selina like she was going to gut her then and there. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you about Ivy." Harley's pretty features turned icy.

"There is nothing you can say that will make me forgive her," she said severely. "She lied to me. Everything she ever said to me was a lie."

"She didn't lie about loving you," Selina said, trying to inject as much sincerity into her voice as possible. There wasn't a lot of time and Harley had to believe her. "Look. You and I don't know each other that well and it's my fault. I was kind of busy being a criminal and dealing with the consequences of that career path. It's a little hard to get drinks with your best friend's girlfriend when mobsters are trying to kill you." There was a hiss as Harley inhaled quickly, her eyes going wide. Selina ignored it, plugging on. "But I do know Ivy. And don't get me wrong, she lied to you. About everything. Who she was, what she did, who I am. Probably how we met but I don't know if you two got into that story. She lied because that's what we do to protect ourselves, but then you became more important than her own self-preservation. Ivy told you the truth because she loves you, and I love her."

"What, you're here to convince me to take her back?"

"I'm here to convince you to come back with me, because if you get killed, it will destroy her." Harley's face drained of blood at the mention of being killed. "There's a war coming, Harley, between the crime families. Ivy and I are in the middle of it and that puts you there too." Selina dragged a hand down her face, exhaustion and stress fighting one another and bubbling to the surface. "Harley, I like you. I do. You make Ivy happy and she's better since she's been with you. But the thing is, I don't give a shit if you live or you die." Harley sucked in another shocked breath. "I don't. I don't have the time, the energy, or cardiovascular health to worry about anyone else. But Ivy…Ivy is a part of me and I would die for her. You're important to her. Chances are, no one knows who you are and no one cares. That's good for you. But I'm not taking that chance. I don't care if you hate her, I don't care if you forgive her, but I do know that you love her."

"So what? If I die, what does it matter that I love her?" Harley breathed, her voice little more than a whisper.

"Because death doesn't happen to you. It happens to everyone you care about and who cares about you. You're gone, and everyone else has to figure out how to deal with the gaping hole you left in their lives. I can tell you firsthand that Ivy has never loved anyone like she loves you. And if something happens to you, I don't think she'll survive it." Harley didn't answer for a long time, obviously considering everything Selina had said.

"Fine," she said, her mouth set in a grim line. "I'll come with you." Selina nodded, feeling some of the tension lifting off of her chest, before her phone vibrated in her pocket. Shit, Selina said, recognizing the number.

"Hello," Selina said coolly.

"Who's – " Harley started before Selina shushed her.

"My darling Selina," Fish said, purring as usual. "It's been far too long since you and I had a chat. Why don't you come by my nightclub? Say, half hour?"

"I'll be by," Selina said, feeling wary. Sure, Fish liked her, but this was unexpected.

"Oh, how wonderful. There's someone who would very much like to meet you." Something shifted and suddenly there was an edge in Fish's voice that hadn't been there before. Whoever she had waiting at the club, Selina would bet they weren't friendly. Worst-case scenarios started flashing through Selina's mind like some kind of hellish slideshow, making her heart pound against her ribs. Selina knew that she was Fish's favorite, but so had the Penguin, once.

"Looking forward to it." Selina said and hung up. "New plan," she said to Harley. "Meet Ivy at her place."

"Who was that?"

"Not a question you want the answer to. Ivy will be there, and you two can figure out what to do from there."

"Where do I tell Ivy you are?" Harley insisted and Selina shot her a sideways glance. It sounded like she was actually worried. Either that, or dropping Ivy's name was one hell of a manipulation technique.

"You tell Ivy I'm taking care of some business." Selina said, biting off the end of each word. "And that I'll be home soon. When you go, make sure no one follows you." Selina didn't wait for agreement, just blew out the door, slipping unnoticed through the throngs of students until she found a cab. The ride seemed to take much less time than it should have, and Selina wasn't prepared. Whatever Fish had cooked up for her, it wasn't good, and she didn't have a lot of options. For a moment she thought of calling Bruce, saying goodbye – if this was going to be goodbye – before she thought better of it. There was a chance that this was nothing and she didn't want to worry him for no reason. And if not…well Bruce had always known the risks, and he knew all about the war. He had to expect that one day she just wasn't going to show up.

Sucking in a breath and summoning as much courage as she could, Selina walked into the nightclub, eyeing the exits and noting the security posted at both doors, as well as the three that were milling about and overall failing to look casual. She didn't like her odds against the five of them.

"Selina!" Fish said from a booth, beckoning her over. "You made wonderful time. There's someone here who'd very much like to meet you." A white-haired someone turned in the booth to look at her and Selina felt her mind go blank. Falcone. Carmine fucking Falcone. Here. Looking at her and smiling like he was a kindly old grandfather or something, and not a mass murderer. The mass murder. The one who'd killed his own people in order to frame Maroni and incite a war.

"Selina Kyle," he said, his voice rough and old and ordinary. "I have heard so much about you. Please, sit."

"Mr. Falcone," Selina managed to grind out through clenched teeth, sliding into the chair opposite him. "All good things I hope."

"Oh yes," Falcone replied, sounding almost kind. "Fish tells me that you're her current favorite. I must say that it's a rather precarious position to be in."

"Not if you do your job and stay on her good side," Selina replied evenly, flashing Fish a winning smile. "I assume you know by now that I'm very good at my job and on her good side is where I intend to stay."

"See Carmine, I told you she was a pip." Fish said, tapping her nails together and sounding pleased.

"It seems you were right." Falcone agreed. His approval made her teeth hurt, like nails running down a chalkboard. She didn't want approval from the man who'd gunned her people down in cold blood. Children. They were children, all of them, and now six of them were dead at the hands of the fucking bastard who was smiling at her across the table. "Selina, I know that you have been groomed by one of my lieutenants, Gerard." Selina's world snapped into fast forward, throwing everything into sharp relief. "And it has come to my attention that you and a Mr. Oswald Cobblepot have been conducting business." Falcone paused, reaching out to take a long sip from the wineglass in front of him, letting her stew. To her credit, Selina managed to keep it together, despite her worst nightmare playing out in front of her. Even as Falcone finished his drink, Selina was planning the best way to slit his throat and take out as many as his staff as possible before they gunned her down. There were five hulking men, plus Fish and Falcone, both of whom were undoubtedly armed. At this point, she knew that there was no way she was making it out of there alive. She just wanted to take as many of them with her as possible.

And a tiny part of her was cursing and screaming that she should have called Bruce. She should have said goodbye. Now he was never going to know what happened to her. Selina was no stranger to near-death experiences, but she'd never had so much time to think before the violence started. But Falcone was taking his sweet time and Selina was left wishing that she had a chance see him one more time and apologize for turning his life upside down before vanishing just as quickly, criminal bravado be damned to hell.

"Now." Falcone said, patting off his lips. "You seem like a smart girl, Selina. And as you well know, Mr. Cobblepot isn't one of us any longer. Fish here made sure of that. So the question remains: Why would a smart girl, a good reaper, who has done nothing but work to benefit this organization, also work with a Maroni man?" For half a second, Selina considered turning Gerard in. Spilling everything in an attempt to save her own skin. But somehow she knew that it wouldn't do anything. If she accused Gerard and Falcone didn't believe her, she was dead. Even if he did believe her, there was a good chance he'd off her just on principle. So Selina settled for clenching her jaw and glaring Falcone down. She wouldn't show him fear, she wouldn't. If this was it, she was going to take him with her. Selina braced herself, every muscle pulling taut for the moment violence erupted.

"Unless, darling, you weren't working of your own volition," Fish said, her red painted lips curving up into the shark's smile. "Carmine and I have had our suspicions about Gerard for some time now. He's a slippery son of a bitch, make no mistake, and it wasn't surprising that he involved you. Gerard never could do anything on his own. Not anything good anyway. And Oswald is an unpleasant man, he always has been. It's a shame that you got caught in the middle of the two of them." Selina just stared at her, not daring to hope. Not even daring to breathe. What was she saying?

"Fish, just look at her," Falcone said, smiling benignly and speaking as if Selina wasn't there. "The determination. And look at those eyes. Such fire. She was going to try to kill me if this went badly."

"I wasn't going to try," Selina hissed through her teeth. "I was going to succeed."

"I admire your confidence. But do tell me, after you'd killed me, did you expect to get out of here alive?"

"No."

"A girl who knows her limits. That's refreshing. So many young people these days thing that they're invincible. Nice to know that some of you have retained your common sense." Thanks for the lecture on Generation X, Selina wanted to scream at him. Are you going to shoot me or not? He better make up his mind soon because Selina didn't think her heart could take much more of this. She felt like she'd aged ten years in the last ten minutes. "I don't blame you. You were coerced and manipulated by men more powerful and connected than yourself. You did what you had to in order to survive. I respect that. However, you did betray me, and that cannot stand."

"What this rambling old man means to say," Fish translated, "is that Gerard is a problem we can no longer afford, and we think that you are in a perfect position to do something about it."

"You want me to kill him?" Selina asked, her stomach turning at the thought.

"Very good." Fish pursed her lips. "And I don't think it needs saying, but if you don't kill him within the next ten days, you and your redheaded friend will take his place in the morgue. Ten days, Selina." Selina could only stare, a cold weight settling in her stomach.

Ten days.