I own nothing but Nicki
CHAPTER NINETEEN
"I do desire we may be better strangers."
Nicki dropped soundlessly out of the window onto the piece of tarp lying on the fire escape. She had seen it in the alley on her way in and had thankfully thought to drag it up with her, just in case. She crept down the fire escape, moving as quickly as she could while still doing her best to tread lightly and avoid the horrible ringing noise the metal made when you weren't too careful. Truth be told, her steps already will feeling light.
Oswald hadn't betrayed her. She felt like a weight had lifted from her chest. She wasn't as completely alone as she had thought. Unless he's lying, a voice in her head nagged. But she brushed it away. Of course he could be lying. It was more likely than not that he was. But in this moment, she was happier being wrong than hopeless.
Finally reaching the bottom, she slowed her pace and sauntered up the alley. She was in no hurry to get anywhere, truth be told she didn't really have a place to stay the night. Home was out of the question now, and she would really rather not stay in the new apartment that Falcone had procured for her. Not yet anyways. It was a silly act of defiance, childish even, but she didn't feel herself to be above it currently.
The lights made the city glitter a little. Gotham was awful pretty at night when the dark covered up all the dirty ugliness. Ironically it was when the "bad guys" normally came out to play, but she was well aware that few of them were much worse than she had been, or was, whichever you prefer, so she continued to take her nighttime walks anyways.
She could remember slinking around with Victor when they were still on the streets, nicking wallets and committing minor robberies. Whatever they had to do to eat and feed all of the hungry mouths that always seemed to gravitate to them. The other street kids of Gotham had done that from the start, or at least as far back as she could remember. At the time, she had thought it a little odd that they had chosen her and her brother of all people, especially since many of them were actually older than she and Vic had been. Now, however, it made perfect sense. A stray cat will hang around anyone if they put food out for it.
She cut across the street and a car stopped at the crosswalk. Looking up she noticed that the light was green and frowned as she saw what made them pause. The window had rolled down and a hand holding a few bills appeared from it. A low whistle came from the person attached to the hand and she felt her blood boil for a second before realizing that he had made a reasonable assumption given her current attire. With a sigh she waved him on, shooting him a wink and telling him that he was barking up the wrong tree and had better try his luck somewhere else.
"C'mon," the voice attached to the hand coaxed, waiving it even more. Starting to get annoyed, she sauntered over to the car.
With a smile she cooed, "Looking for a good time sugar?"
She had planned to treat him like Neeko. Be a little friendly, get close enough to slap his face or throw the money back at him, something along those lines that bruised the most sensitive part of most guys, their egos. Unfortunatly, the guy holding the money had his own surprise waiting for her.
As soon as her hand lifted to reach for the cash, there was the bleep of blue and red sirens coming on and something cold around her wrist. Nicki immediately tried to jerk away but the other handcuff was around the wrist of the man in the car. "Ah, ah ah," the voice belonging to the hands tsked at her. "Gotcha lady."
Nicki groaned. Well, she thought to herself, it looks like I don't have to worry about finding a place to stay tonight now.