I own nothing but Nicki.

CHAPTER 22

"The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief."

Oswald was counting money at one of the tables. Trying to anyways. Nicki had been added to the chain of performers and was currently learning a dance routine from one of the other girls, clad in a strappy and revealing black outfit and fishnets. The ensemble was definitely…distracting… all on its own, Oswald had to admit. He decided this was especially as she dipped and shimmied her body in it, but was surprised as he realized it was made even more so when she would drop the sultry act and nervously laugh, running her fingers through her hair. She was sexy with a darkness to her, but there was still that inextinguishable light that you never saw in Gotham. The whole sight was simply enchanting and he found himself captivated by her.

"I imagine it's hard to count all that money without looking at it," a low voice said in his ear.

With a gasp, Oswald jumped and turned, finding himself within inches of Victor Zsaz. The terrifying man's pale face was blank as he stared down at him and Oswald felt himself shiver in fear, his whole body going cold. Victor's face broke into a wide grin that did nothing to slow the pace of Oswald's racing heart. The horrifying hit man backed away, chuckling, and Oswald realized he had been holding his breath, all of it rushing out in one heavy exhale.

"You're the one who helped her out that night? With the Russian?" There was nothing menacing in his expression or voice, but Oswald still felt his own voice catch in his throat. He could see Zsaz's lip quirk slightly in amusement, but his eyes remained dead and cold, making for an extremely disturbing image. He managed to nod, a sort of quick, jerking motion.

"I thought so," Victor said slowly. "Well you'll be pleased to know that he's been taken care of."

"Did you…?" Oswald managed to say. For all the terror he felt, his curiosity was stronger. He couldn't bring himself to finish the question though.

"Not…exactly…" Victor let his response hang in the air, his lips twisting to one side, as if it were the punch line to a joke that Oswald hadn't understood. The dark haired man gulped, unsure of how to respond, but terribly thrilled by the statement.

"I appreciate you looking out for her. But I would be very angry to hear that you did it for any kind of…ulterior motives…" Victor's head cocked to the side and Oswald felt as though his heart had stopped.

"I-I-I-W-would nev-never-"

"Vic!" A frowing Nicki had hopped off the stage and was making her way between the tables towards them. Victor's face suddenly lightened as he leaned against the table, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Vic!" he imitated in a high voice, raising his eyebrows. She punched him in the arm weakly.

"Stop scaring people," she scolded, pointing her finger at his chest.

"We were just talking," he said flatly, his eyes suddenly much more alive.

Oswald found his voice and did his best to play along, if only to save face. "Yeah, talking."

She gave them both a skeptical look. "About?" she challenged. Victor turned into a blank wall, offering no answer. When her eyes shifted to Oswald he panicked. Was he not supposed to say? He glanced nervously at Victor who stood still as a statue. Then looking back at Nicki he saw that she was staring him down, having obviously picked up on the fact that he was the weaker link.

Too embarrassed to admit that he was being threatened for staring at her, he blurted the next thing that came to mind. "Neeko."

He caught Victor's shoulders sag out of his peripheries and immediately knew he had said the wrong thing. Nicki's eyes widened and her head snapped at her brother. "Victor…did you kill him?"

He paused. "No."

She looked skeptical. He sighed. "I broke his arms and legs…and then he may or may not have gone for a swim."

"Victor!" She started to yell but he was already on the defensive.

"I fished him out after a few minutes. It's his own fault that he couldn't hold his breath any longer. If he wouldn't have gulped in so much water-"

She growled and started into a rant that made Oswald cringe. Victor wasn't nearly as impressed and contended himself to lean back against the table again, his eyes fixed on the ceiling with a bored expression. After a solid minute of furious words such as "how could you" and "direct disrespect of my wishes" and many other things he finally fixed her with his cold eyes and very softly, almost inaudible over her raging, simply asked, "Did he hurt you?"

Oswald saw her pause for only a moment, surprise interrupting her anger. It only took a second to return but as she opened her mouth again Victor held his hand up to silence her. "Can he hurt you now?"

The simplicity of the statement stirred something deep inside of Oswald. Nicki rolled her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples. "What brings you here Vic?" she sighed, changing the subject.

The uncharacteristic grin was back in a flash, lighting up his bare face. "Why to wish my little sister a good first day of course."

Her face warmed as well. "Thanks," she said sweetly. "Really." He reached up to put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. Oswald suddenly felt as though he were intruding on the familial moment and turned his attention back to the money.

"I'm really glad you're here now. It's nice to not have to only see you on game day or when there's an…issue."

Oswald stole a glance at them. Game day? Nicki caught his look and exchanged it with one of her own that seemed to say, I'll explain later.

Suddenly a ringtone cut through the air. Funky town? Oswald was shocked to see Victor pull a ringing phone from his pocket. He almost would have laughed if he hadn't known better than to laugh at this man.

"Yeah boss?" Victor was all business and Nicki ducked her head, allowing him to walk off to talk in private.

"Game day is a little something we've been doing since we were kids. The two Dons cooked it up so they could test how we were growing as…you know."

Oswald nodded. "So you guys?"

"We have to bring back a drop of blood. Go in for the kill you know? See who wins? We're pretty tied up right now."

"Because she cheated." Victor cut back in. Nicki scoffed but he ignored it. "I gotta go to work."

Nicki nodded. "Where is he sending you?"

Victor suddenly seemed overly nonchalant, shoving his hands into his pockets and shrugging. "The East end," he muttered. Oswald almost expected him to break into inconspicuous whistling. It was a strange persona that the assassin had taken on, almost reminding the short, darker-haired men of the scamps he had read about years ago in school….Tom Finn? Or Huckleberry Sawyer? Something like that. He had loved learning and reading in school but that particular book had made his IQ drop just from reading the dialogue in it, he was convinced.

Nicki frowned. "In this traffic? I hope you don't have to get there anytime soon."

"In a half an hour," he replied, more to the ceiling than to her.

She gave a small laugh as if she expected him to laugh along. When he didn't crack a smile (or remove his eyes from the ceiling, Oswald noticed) she looked confused. "You don't really think you can make it there on time."

"I will," he said slowly, and then pausing before saying much more quickly, "becauseI'mtakingyourbike."

She glared at him as if he had just told her he would be taking her wallet, or her left foot. "No. You're not."

He bared his teeth into a grimace and nodded his head in a mock apologetic fashion, sucking air in through his teeth before admitting in a strained manner, "Yessss I am."

She crossed her arms and pouted. Oswald couldn't help but think of how cute she looked, all the premature age that Gotham stacks on a person falling away to the youthful light that permeated in her. "I'm not giving you the keys…"

Victor gave her a condescending look. "Oooookay."

It occurred to Oswald that neither of the two were probably very concerned about keys of any nature, whether they be for bikes, cars, or buildings. It also occurred to Oswald that the Vicor Zsaz he was witnessing was very different from the cool voiced, blank faced man that most people saw. There was something playful in his manner, and not even in the malicious way that sometimes was apparent when he was dealing with his victims. It was as if that youthful spark in Nicki was contagious. The air was alive with a challenge between the two of them, the tension crackling, but it seemed more as though they were playing a game than anything. This wasn't cat and mouse, it was two lion cubs rough housing.

And then Oswald was snapped out of his reveries as the "rough housing" really began. Victor Zsaz had rolled backwards over the table and was running for the door, Nicki hot on his heels. She slid over the table herself and sprinted after him both of the sibling dodging furniture and people as they went. Victor tripped up a server who was polishing glasses and Nicki caught the two falling cups and sat them on the table before snagging the metal tray from his hand and darting past the man. Victor's hand was on the door when she caught up to him, sliding the metal tray across the floor and jamming it under the door with her foot, causing it to catch and Victor to crash into it as he had attempted to race through. He let out a groan and rubbed his forehead, glaring at her. She laughed, but was cut off as he, in one swift motion, slipped his suit jacket off and wrapped it around her, tying the sleeves to the door handle and trapping her against it. Then with wink and a pinch of her cheek, he was out the door.

Nicki let out a growl of frustration as she struggled against her confinement, but this only seemed to make the knot tighter. Finally resigning herself with a sigh, she turned her eyes to Oswald and gave him a lopsided grin. "A little help here?"

With a small chuckle, Oswald made his way across the room and moved to untie the complicated knot. How could he make this so quickly? he thought to himself. After finally freeing her, he was met with grateful eyes, a tantalizing kiss on the cheek, and a suggestion that made his mouth water.

"Do you want to grab some Chinese food before the club opens?"