"Fuck!"

Croc roared and threw yet another Falcone thug through the wooden table. The Blue moon had become a warzone, and Killer Croc was throwing broken men in suits around like rag dolls. He snarled with rage, ignoring the fresh bullet would in his shoulder as he sank his fangs into the neck of another goon, and coated himself and the floor in arterial spray. He panted, his amber eyes gleaming with blood lust and the crimson elixir dripping from his jaws.

He squared up to Eric and snarled. The poxy little shit had managed to use every one of his hirelings to prolong his life thus far, but now it was just him and Killer Croc. "Fuck, Croc I'll pay you double what my uncle is-"

"You stupid shit." Croc spat to one side, blood and salvia hitting the wooden floor with a wet noise. "You tried to do a coup? Against the head of the family? You're 7th in line you fucking idiot. No one's backing a shit like you." Croc took hold of a table and threw it with a snarl. It collided with the stage, and Eric's hand trembled as it aimed a pistol at the monster. "You know I work for the Head of the snake, not the arsehole currently shitting itself all." Croc pulled a pistol of his own out and cocked the safety back. "Your assets are seized. Your properties taken. The money is gone. You have nothing but your life left. And even that's about to be taken from you, you stupid shit."

"Oh? Is it?" Eric trembled, but a smirk came to his face. "I shouldn't do anything too hasty there big guy. You forget, you used to frequent my fine establishment a lot. I know you."

"Balls on this little ant? Why are you still talking?" Croc seemed to ask himself, rather than Eric. He closed one eye and aimed at Eric's head.

"We have Catherina."

Croc snapped both eyes open wide and examined just how confident Eric sounded. "If I don't turn up alive, and in one piece, my boys will have such fun with her. You remember Denny right? He's hoping you kill be so he can fist that pretty bitch. Apparently he's turned on by the fact she's ready to pop at any minute. Congratulations by the way."

Croc lowered the pistol. Catherina had been escorted to a doctor he trusted, at night, and in secret. He even took her round a back entrance to see her mother. The rest of the time she'd been on house arrest since finding out she was pregnant. Croc didn't think his doctor would be so stupid as to blab, and her mother wouldn't knew who the father was to tell anyone. If Eric had used Catherina's mother, he would have said she was a hostage too for more leverage.

No. They must have her, to know she's pregnant. This was exactly what he was afraid of. But he didn't anticipate it would be a Falcone turncoat piece of shit that took her. one of his other enemies he gained working for the Falcone. "Good. That's the right choice. Now you're going to get me safely and in one piece to a drop point. My boys will get me and my family out of Gotham for a while. Once I'm safe, I'll call my boys and they will call you with her location. You can then live happy monster families as much as you fucking want. Well, except that my uncle will be pissed that you didn't carry out the hit on me, but then again that's not my problem."

Eric sheathed his weapon and walked up to Croc with a wary smirk. "Shall we Croc?"

"One day…I'm going to hunt you and your family down…and I'm going to carve you all into tiny little fucking pieces for laying a fucking finger on my woman and unborn child." Croc snarled and fisted at the front of Eric's shirt. He looked like he was seconds away from simply bringing those jaws down on Eric's head instead.

"Croc? How much do you want your 'woman and unborn child' back in one piece? More, or less than you want to kill me?"

Croc roared and shoved Eric to stagger towards the back door. He seethed and shook with rage.

Much to the confusion of the main body of the Falcone family, Croc came out all claws and fangs, throwing them around and protecting the traitor he'd been sent to kill. He manhandled Eric as much as he could, getting some good bruises into him as he shoved him out of danger and into walls. Down the floor. Kicked away from a knife. He was bloody sore by the time they got away from the battle field of Gotham's streets. He winced and gingerly walked to an underground junction, where black vans were waiting for them. The side door opened and Croc saw a woman with long blonde hair and she held an infant to her chest. A toddler by the way he stood unsteadily and clung to his mother without speaking. He also didn't seem to understand what was going on around him. "We're here. Your part is done. Once I'm on the road I'll-"

"Oh no you fucking don't." Croc wrapped a colossal scaly hand around Eric's throat and ignored the four men that ran over with guns aimed at him. "You fucking weasel. You're going to call up your boys on loud speaker. Get them to tell me where she is and order them to give her to me. Then I'll walk away."

"Boss?" one of the goons looked to him for orders. Eric narrowed his eyes on Killer Croc and saw how much the beast wanted to kill him.

"Alright. But I'm going to tell them to only release her once I call back. that way, you're well on your way to the location whilst I'm on the road. I'll then tell them to release her, and we both get what we want. Everyone lives happily ever after."

"For now." Croc hissed and tightened his grip on his neck. "Nice wife and kid you got there. I won't matter where you go in the world Eric. Anything happens to Catherina and my baby, and I'll hunt you all down and gut you one by one with my bare FUCKING HANDS."

He heard the woman cry out and out of the corner of his eye he saw her cling to the boy tightly.

"Fine." Eric nodded. "I don't mind playing fair with you Croc. After all? Once I'm gone your going to have to protect your woman and little freak-ling from the head of the Falcone family, and his vengeance. You'll have your hands too full to worry about looking for me and my kin. Good luck with that." Eric pulled a black cell from his coat pocket and flipped it open. He conducted himself like he didn't have Killer Croc's hand around his neck. "Denny?"

"Yes Boss?"

"Croc's playing nice. You will take Catherina Mendez to the docks and hand her over. Unharmed."

"Erm…she's kinda harmed already…"

Croc roared and gripped tightly at Eric's neck. The sound of all the safeties coming off didn't deter Croc. Eric flustered.

"What do you mean? I gave explicit orders not to hurt her."

"Sorry boss. The bitch made a run for it and broke my damn nose. I backhanded her and she's got a busted lip, but nothing else I swear."

"So she's mostly unharmed." Eric stared at Croc who eased his grip and turned his head to speak to the phone.

"Denny? You had better not be there with my Catherina when I get there, or I'm carving my FUCKING name into your FACE."

"…shit…"

"Oh and that's just for starters. Tell her I'm coming to get her. Tell her she's going to be alright and to follow you so she can come home to me. I swear to God if she's not at the docks by the time I get there I'm coming for you Denny. And I'll kill you slowly you stupid fuck."

"You will release her once I tell you I'm on the road." Eric snapped the cell shut, ending the call, and dared to tap at Croc's wrist at his neck. "Shall we?"

Croc leaned so close to Eric the bloody spittle from his sharp teeth mottled over his face as he hissed at him.

"One day Eric. You'll regret this day."

"I'm sure. But for now? I think our business is concluded. Word of your betrayal should already be reaching my dear uncle's ears. Do you have the tame to waste here?"

Croc snarled and shoved Eric down to the floor. He was panting with rage, but knew Eric had a point. Right now his only hope of getting to Catherina first to stop her being taken by another Falcone high roller to please the Don, was to move quickly.

"The second you are on the road you call."

"I will. You have my word on that. And unlike my uncle, I keep my word." He nodded and stood with his head high. "Come on. Let's not waste Killer Croc's time boys. He has somewhere to be." Eric turned with flourish and used a handkerchief to get the blood off his face before stepping up into the car. He embraced his wife, kissed his son's head, and looked back out the open door of the black van. He stopped one of his men from shutting the door when the van started to move towards the surface. Looking at Killer croc he opened his cell and showed him he was making the call. "Denny? Let her go."

"Yes boss."

"Safely."

"…yes boss."

Eric watched as Killer Croc seemed to nod, like he'd read his lips, and launched himself at a manhole. He vanished into the sewers and Eric pulled the van door shut. He turned to his whimpering wife and clueless child.

"It's alright now. We're going to be safe. I have contacts who will give his shelter. The old man's days are numbered. If we give outside support to the next don, we'll be able to come home with all our capital returned."

"I just want to be safe first." His wife whimpered and kissed her son's head desperately. "And then I want a divorce."

He ran so hard his chest hurt to breathe. He threw the manhole cover off at great speed as he clambered out onto the surface. Croc exhaled and felt the strength from his bones leave him, sending him to his knees as he saw her.

"Croc!" Catherina was stood in the same blue maternity dress and leggings she'd been wearing that morning when she kissed him goodbye. Her left hand was handcuffed to the railing looking out to the docks and she reached for him desperately. Croc clawed at the floor to return to his feet and he ran towards her like he couldn't survive another moment without her in his arms.

"Catherina." He wrapped his arms around her and sobbed. "I thought they'd-I thought-I…"

"I'm ok." Catherina whimpered and used her free hand to stroke his face. "I'd kiss you mi amor, but you're bloody from the bastardos that took me, Si?"

Somehow it was Croc who was weeping and Catherina who was enraged. "Mi amor?"

"I…you…" Croc rubbed his mouth on his coat sleeve and got as much of the blood off as he could. "Did they give you a key?" he pointed to her wrist cuffed to the railing.

"Over there." Catherina pointed to the bench and licked her busted lip. "I tried to get away Croc. I really tried."

"I know you did." He chuckled sadly as he retrieved the key. He unlocked her cuffs and she immediately threw her arms around his neck. "He was still weeping as he inhaled her scent. Trying to burn the signature forever into his nostrils. He looked over her shoulder as he held her and saw various cruise ships. One had the Spanish flag on the side… "…my fearless senorita."

"I knew you'd keep us safe. I knew you'd come and get us mi amor." Catherina held his cheeks, which had dried flecks of blood on them now and looked to him with adoration and the truest of love. "I never doubted you."

Croc pinned and looked over her shoulder to the cruise ship again. "Croc?"

"I can't keep you safe." He felt sick as the words left his mouth. "I can't."

"…what do you mean mi amor? You're here. Come on, let's go home and-"

"No." Croc swallowed bile and didn't try to hide the tears as they fell down his scaly face. "You can't come home with me."

"What?"

"I had to betray the don today to safe you from Eric and his goons. A reckoning is coming. I'm going to have to pay the price for my betrayal." Croc lifted Catherina up into his arms with a huff, from her girth and the wound in his shoulder he wouldn't be able to ignore for much longer. "You are my weakness."

"Croc? What are you doing? Where are we going? Stop this." Catherina tried to wriggle and get down, but Croc snarled at her, making her still in his arms.

"Don't you get it? You were taken today because I care about you and my unborn child more than anything else. That makes you my weakness. Today Eric took you. As soon as the Don learns of my betrayal, he might take you."

"But-"

"Eric took you for leverage. The Don could order a hit on you. Straight out killed to punish me. You and our baby…"

Croc wasn't the only one crying now. "You have to go. Don't tell me where. Just go somewhere far away and never come back." He staggered, from the pain of heart breaking, as he lowered her to her feet by the ramp to the cruise ship. "I have today's forward pay on me." He sniffled and took an envelope from his bloody jacket. "5k, untraceable. Take it. Go onboard and pay your way to Spain. Stay there. Move on. Just don't come back here. Ever."

"N…no Croc. Please don't do this." Catherina sobbed and threw her arms around Killer Croc like he would disappear at any moment. He closed his eyes and held her back with one hand, and her stomach which she pressed to his with the other. "Who will teach our daughter how to swim, and trim her claws, and be kick ass?"

"You'll have to Catherina." Croc kissed her hard on the mouth, both crying and neither caring that he tasted of blood and tears. "I wanted this. I wanted you and the kid. I really did."

"I know you did mi amor." Her heart splintered as she realised he was right. She couldn't stay here and keep their baby safe from the fallout of this gang war. Croc lowered to his knees and held either side of her stomach, which trembled with the force of Catherina's crying.

"And you in there? Be good to your Ma for me. I think…I think I really would have loved you kid." He then laughed through his crying. "If I'd had the chance I'd have tried." He sobbed and Catherina held his head, licking her lips and trying to stop her own sorrow from spilling over any more. She committed this moment to memory, knowing it would be the last time she ever saw her beloved Killer Croc. The last time her daughter would hear his voice. The raw pain echoed from his voice to her chest. "I'm a murderous hit man for the mob, and I'd have been a terrible influence, but I'd have loved you. Like my parents never loved me. At least I'll know your mother will love you enough for the both of us."

"I will mi amor." Croc kissed her stomach, and then stood to look her right in her lovely dark eyes. "I will tell her of the sacrifice you made today. The truest act of love."

"No she can't know. She needs to think I didn't want her. That-that you left me because you feared I'd hurt her or some shit like that. Think of something creative."

"…what?" Catherina furrowed her brow and held either side of his head and looked for the reason behind his crazy command in his amber eyes. "Why the hell would I tell her that?"

"Because she can never come back here." Croc kissed her forehead and took a step back from her. "Neither of you can. If you tell her about her father and let her get this romantic idea of meeting me, she could come here and get herself killed. It would be better for her to hate me. To never come back to Gotham."

"…I see." Catherina held her stomach and already felt too far away from her beloved. "Couldn't you come with us?" A spark of hope flickered in her heart.

"We'd be hunted. No where in the world would be safe for you if I was with you. No. I have to stay here." The spark died, and she bit her lips together. "…you should go." Croc held his hands in fists by his sides and closed his eyes. "Every minute that passes, is another minute that the Don is sending his elite hitmen after me. I need to see you get on that boat before I can go. Just…get on Catherina."

With her feet feeling like they each weighed a ton she shuffled onto the ramp up to the boat. She held the envelope of money in one hand and the railing in the other. She stopped after a few steps and turned with tears in her eyes to look down at Croc.

"Angelica."

"What?" Croc looked up with his deep pain in his eyes.

"Her name." Catherina patted her stomach with the money envelop. "Our bebe. I'm going to call her Angelica."

"…" Croc just smiled and nodded to her. That was so Catherina all over. To make something beautiful of something hideous. Like the love she drew out of his monstrous heart. To name their abomination an Angel and fill it with such love. "…a beautiful name. Thank you for telling me."

"I love you. I'll keep our bebe safe. You keep yourself safe, ok? Promise me mi amor?"

"I promise." He lied. Now was not the time to let Catherina know he would likely die before the end of the weak with the Don's full ire aimed at him. No one crossed the Falcone Don and lived. "Right back at you, ok?"

"Si. I promise to keep us safe."

Finally Catherina turned and walked up the rest of the ramp. Croc watched from behind a brick corner as a member of staff tried to direct her back off the boat, only to accept a wodge of money and usher her aboard eagerly. One thing you could always rely upon in Gotham, was that everyone would take a bribe if you made the right offer. Croc exhaled deeply once she was out of sight and he turned to press his back against the wall. He didn't want to leave her, but he knew he had to. It was a minor miracle that no one had opened fire on him yet. The further he could get from Catherina, the safer she and the baby would be.

"…Angelica…I hope to never meet you…keep her safe Catherina. Far away from Gotham...and me."

The end.

Author's note: or not? This was after all only a back story. If you want to find out what happens to Angelica, you now need to go and read The Black Jester. I hope you enjoyed this backstory. Thank you for all the reviews ^.^ DD