"So, what're those bracers for?"

I blink, turning to Selina up from my book. "The what?"

"Those." She points up to the bookshelf, just above the television. Directly at the Spellfire Bracers.

Shit, I thought I put those in my backpack after I'd washed them. Think, think, think, what do I say?! "Oh, uhhh, they were a gift from a friend back in New York."

"Really? What for?"

"Birthday. I think I was looking into archery at the time, but it never really went anywhere."

"Really? Why not?"

"Mom filed for divorce a few months later, and money's a bit too tight for something like archery lessons on top of all the bullshit lawyer fines Dad had to pay off."

"...You've taken to your situation remarkably well, considering you got cheated out of a pretty large inheritance."

"Ahhh, dad told you, huh? Yeah, mom's got a nice job as her new husband's secretary, and got her squad of lawyers to leave me and dad with basically nothing with how long the case went on. But to be honest… she never felt like arealmom, you know? Sure, she'd smile and everything, but she only ever looked at me instead of seeing me if that makes sense."

Selina shifts on the couch, furrowing her brow. "...you don't see me as a mother-figure, do you?"

I blink, looking at her like she was speaking Deep Speech. "Selina, I've seen you black out drunk on your floor, wearing only underwear, with your small army of cats cuddled around you like a nest. If anything, you're like the really drunk cat lady aunt we don't talk about at family dinners because she's not sharing grandma's family fortune."

Selina laughs at my overly-specific metaphor. "Hahahaha, yeah, I'm not exactly motherly material."

I shrug. "You'd make a better one than mine."

"Thanks, I guess." Selina said with a small smile.

"No problem, besides calling you mom would be weird since I plan on marrying you in a few years." I said with a shrug.

Selina had to do a spit take while trying not to cough up her lungs at my statement.

--

Wake up, shower, eat cereal, glamour myself into Adrien White, dead tired and overworked accountant, maybe bump into Selina if she had something to do for the day, and then off to pickpocketing from the tourists and businessmen of Gotham.

That was my usual schedule anyway. But today…. I grabbed my Spellfire Bracers.

It's been a while since I've experienced real combat.

But now that I have someplace clean and safe to patch myself up…

I can start taking some risks.

--

"Now, if I was a crime lord, where would I set up shop…" I mused as I looked over the map of Gotham.

"Ummm, in the slums, m'lord?" Herb suggested, not quite sure where else to begin.

I shake my head. "A good guess, Herb, but the slums is where most of the gangs make their criminal money. Drugs, brothels, illegal slave trade, extortion, protection rackets, all that stuff. But the crime lords… if they're successful they won't set up shop in the slums. No, they'll be hiding amongst the rich merchants and investors of the city. Buying and setting up companies and making clean income sources that they can shuffle their ill gotten gains in. Or at least the veneers of clean companies."

Herb tilted his head. "Apologies, M'lord, but are we looking for the leaders of gangs or their operations?"

"Their operations. Things like smuggling, human trafficking, money laundrying, and black market auctions. If we can find and target these places, it'll be easy picking considering they only have mundane weapons."

"M'lord, if you only intend to rob them, why do you have those bracers on?"

"Just in case. I don't intend on having to resort to murder, considering I don't want Batman on my case, but I will."

"I understand, m'lord. Still, how are we going to find such operations? Even the criminals of this city would keep their secrets guarded and hidden."

"You're going to be looking for them while I pickpockets. Once you find a place and know the location of the money, you'll contact me and we'll make a plan to proceed from there."

"Understood, m'lord. I shall not fail you."

And with that, I sent my little sprite into the dark, metal city of Gotham to find me a place to rob.

--

After around four hours later at around two in the afternoon, Herb finally contacts me. M'lord! I've found a location that appears to hold a very large vault! I can't get inside it, but you should be able to easily teleport in and out after taking whatever you desire!

It's not another bank, is it?

A sting of embarrassment from Herb. N-no, M'lord. It appears to be a gentlemen's club? Or some odd equivalent.

I find a bench to sit down on, and close my eyes, allowing Herb's gaze to come to the forefront of my mind.

Huh, that's quite a bit of ice…and animals I don't even recognize. What's this place called again, Herb?

Herb's gaze shifts as he flys out of the front doors, allowing me to see the sign above my first heist target.

The Iceberg Lounge, M'lord.

--

"So, it's a gentlemen's club, but instead of just men, anyone with enough money and clout can get in. Mr. Copperpot is the owner, and after hours, the Iceberg Lounge serves as his headquarters as an information broker and weapons dealer as 'The Penguin'."

"In summary, yes M'lord."

I nodded, replaying the meeting that Herb had allowed me to listen in to in my mind.

"It sounds like most of the criminal areas of the lounge like the armoury and the back rooms are locked with a special keycard, and nobody's allowed in during the day to keep the criminal side more separate from the legitimate lounge business. And you said there were cameras, but with my glamors we can easily throw them off our trail if we get caught."

Man, stuff like this was always better to do with people who could act as a distraction...

"...I'm gonna put a hold on my usual stuff. If this pays off, it could get me enough cash to start traveling."

At least if my hunch of Copperpot being the head of the local underground is right… I mean, who else would make his headquarters such a public location if he thought there was anyone powerful enough to go against him?

And if that's the case...should I really target him? I mean, as far as I can tell, the only prominent thieves who would be able and willing to pull this off would be me and Catwoman. And if I do this, it could start a manhunt through Gotham for me to get his shit back.

God dammit, if Vilis was here she would've had three fences already eating out of her claws! But no, I can't steal from an art gallery or museum because I don't know the first fucking thing about sniffing them out!

I groan, and slam my head against the table. God, Vilis would've been such a fucking godsend in this fucking city. So much crime… though she would probably have cut a bloody river of red through the underworld before going international.

Valan would be able to make food and water without having to steal shit, and bring me back if I died. I miss his fur…

Kuch… it's probably a good thing he's not here, considering. He'd have gotten himself indebted to some crime lord and become an enforcer.

Ashryn… would've taken up Batman on his offer, if only for the resources. They always were practical.

Alibra would just… gamble her way…

Oh my god, am I that fucking stupid?!

--

Gambling.

The act of putting money on the table, playing a game, and either losing or gaining it all.

Or slots, apparently. The slots looked like fun, but I should probably stick to what I know.

They had playing cards in this world. They even had the same suits and everything.

Poker, blackjack, roulette, dice, pachinko.

I entered the Onyx Rose, a high rolling casino in Gotham, not as the dark haired Adam or even Adrien White. No, I'd chosen a completely new face for this one.

Borrowing a bit of from the sidekicks I'd captured, I chose Superman Jr. as a base. Different eye color for starters, wine red with just enough brown in them to keep you guessing which one it is. I turned the black hair blonde, mixing in a few white strands as highlights. Made the cheekbones a little more pronounced. A slightly smaller nose… And a beauty mark at the corner of my left eye.

And wow, this form looks good. Maybe I'll use it again sometime.

I walked into the Onyx Rose as Jonathan Black, and I was about to ruin this casino's entire day. The black suit and tie I appeared to be wearing was only illusions with the glamore, since I didn't want to go through the hassle.

I walked in with five thousand dollars, exchanging the cash for casino chips with the logo of a black rose, making sure to quickly memorize the chips with their respective worth.

Queen of Spades, Seven of Hearts...Ace of Clubs, Three of Spades...Eight of Clubs, Jack of Hearts… Herb was a great help with cards, telling me what the other people had in their hands.

The first week, I played a game of poker, and suddenly I had twelve thousand.

The next week I found myself playing a few games of blackjack, and I tripled that to thirty six thousand.

But I couldn't just play cards, or else people would suspect me of cheating.

The week after that, I placed money on red-twelve, black-fifteen, black-six, and twenty on-red. Forty four thousand. Roulette was a game of pure chance, and I only had to place my chips down, and the rest would follow.

People recognized me. I introduced myself to a few people, made small talk, turned down any food or drink.

The fourth week, I went back to poker and walked away with a hundred four thousand, three hundred and seventy six dollars richer.

Why past-me even bothered with settling for a few hundred dollars a day by pick pocketing is beyond me.

Then, Selina found the duffel bag full of hundreds wrapped in nice little bundles of a hundred bills each.

--

I opened and shut the door to my apartment, having taken a break from the casino to keep myself from developing an addiction to the satisfaction of gambling. Just a quiet day at the library, studying up on where I could go and other such news.

She was calmly drinking from a teacup that I recognized from her little selection of china. On the coffee table was a small pile of rubber bands.

The rest of the coffee table was covered with my money.

"Adam. What the actual fuck?" She's disturbingly calm for someone who just found out I was rolling in cash.

"..." How the hell did she find it, I always locked the door and windows when I left.

"Adam, this is a little over a hundred thousand dollars in cash." She takes a sip of her tea. "Where did you get it?"

Oh god, is this what it felt like being punished by your parents? I take back everything bad I ever said about being an orphan.

"Who's money is it?"

"It's mine."

"Then where did you get it?"

"Onyx Rose."

"Onyx… the casino?"

"...Yes?" I asked more than confirmed.

"...there's no way you made this much money just from a game or two every day over a month."

"Selina...I may have a tiny confession to make?"

"Ya think?!"

--

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

I thought confessing was supposed to relieve the tension?! This is way more tense then being put into a guillotine!

"You're...Paws."

"Yes."

"Adam White is Paws."

"Indeed."

She leans back into the couch, staring at the ceiling.

"Does your father know about this? No, why isn't he sending you to school like a normal parent would?!"

"Selina...have you ever seen us in the same place at once?"

"...get out.No way in hell you played me for that long."

"For what it's worth, I felt really bad about it?"

She just starts laughing.

--

I stare down at the WayneTech phone in my hand. "...I don't think this is a punishment, Selina."

"It's not you little brat, it's to make sure I can reach you. How the hell have I never realized you don't have a phone?! When I found that bag of money, I thought you were working as a drug mule. Or holding onto it for some gang leader. How the hell did you turn five thousand into a hundred thousand in a month?"

"I'm very good at bullshitting people. And I'm lucky."

She snorts. "Think you can give me some of that magical luck bullshit?"

"No, it's mine."

"God, you're such a teen."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

--

"How do you not know how to use a phone?!"

"Don't yell at me, I've been living on the streets for most of my life, some things just slip away!"

Broooooooooooooooooooo-droooooooooooooooooot!

"SHUT UP AND TURN THE VOLUME DOWN!"

"THE WHAT?!?"

--

"Hey, Selena? Can you hear me?"

"..."

"I'm sorry if we're deaf now."

"..."

I turn my head to look at Selena, and she's gone. Something taps on my shoulder.

I turn around, and see Selena holding up a piece of parchment.

Little shit, you blew out your own eardrums.

"...Oh. That's not good."

--

"Wait, you've never had chinese takeout?"

"I've done the math, it's cheaper just to make my own food."

"...Well, at least we know what we're getting for dinner."

--

I'm crying. Tears pouring down my face as I taste the boneless chicken covered in a sauce I don't know the name of.

So this is what Drano food tastes like... "Ish shooooo guuuuuuuuud."

Selena was just smirking as she ate her paid tie or whatever.

After ordering chinese food from a place down the street, she'd insisted that we eat at her place. Well, in addition to the demands for me to move in so we could split the rent.

She's already moved all my shit into her apartment without telling me.

Knock, knock, knock.

I frown, turning to Selena. "You expecting someone tonight?"

"Nope."

She grabs a whip from under her chair and slowly begins prowling towards the front door.

Yup, she's definitely not a mistress. Her brothel matron better be giving her her fair share or else I'd be tempted to bring her with me on my travels.

A magic circle forms itself on each of my hands, ready to let my casting of Eldritch Blast to fly at the first sign of trouble.

"Oh my god, Ives!" Selina threw the whip backwards and wrenched open the door, pulling a shapely ginger in from the hallway.

"Ow!" I complain as the whip slams into my face. "That hurt!"