We Were Born Sick • Gotham Fanfiction •

I: Morning Glory

"I had learned early to assume something dark and lethal hidden at the heart of anything I loved. When I couldn't find it, I responded, bewildered and wary, in the only way I knew how: by planting it there myself." ― Tana French, In the Woods

~()~

"I still care for you deeply, but I don't believe you care for me anymore." Fish Mooney said as she leaned over one of her former employees named Raoul.

With an agonized cry that echoed through the alleyway he tried to back up to get away from the repetitive blows from the metal bat that Fish had been using on him for the last several minutes; each of which had felt like an eternity.

Blood from an open wound on his forehead dripped into his eye, leaving a crimson red cloud over his vision when he looked up at her.

"I c-care for you..." He stuttered out, his voice broken between his cries and gasps of air through the pain.

"Then where's my money?" Fish questioned, leaning in towards him as she held the bat at her side waiting on his response.

"I don't..." He heavily breathed, wiping the blood from his eye, "I didn't-"

Fish's eyebrows raised wondering if he'd actually be brazen enough to try and deny he'd been stealing; her voice raised with anger gracing every sharp syllable when she asked, "You didn't what? You don't have my money or you didn't take it in the first place?"

There was a long beat of near silence, the air filled with the sounds of rain and cars passing on the street out in front of the popular dive bar.

"Bird, I believe Raoul here is calling you a liar." Fish said, looking over to the young woman who stepped forward upon hearing her name being called.

Her dark waves hung heavy against her scalp from the weight of the rain water that left her shivering beneath her favorite black leather jacket.

"I told you what I saw." Bird stated, pulling the dark hood of her thin under-jacket up and stepping up next to her boss as she clarified, "He's been stealing from you. Saw him with my own eyes."

Raoul looked up fearfully, wondering if this is how he'd meet his fate. Drenched in rain with a chill that ran deep into his bones, in an alley behind where he used to work. Surrounded by unfriendly faces and emotionless stares, he hardly felt that the punishment fit his crimes.

Fish eyed her youngest employee, seeing her jaw locked in a tense hold, hands down at her sides with her fingers curled and locked into tight fists; the same hungry, revenge seeking look in her almost vacant eyes that she'd been wearing since her parents were murdered just a few nights before.

Holding the bat out to her, Fish nodded in silent permission that she was now taking the lead in retrieving the money that had been stolen from her boss. Reaching into her sleeves, she pulled the fabric of her inner-jacket cuffs down over her hands before taking the bat and using the dry fabric to get a better grip on the rain slicked handle.

An emotionless, void glaze slid over her dark brown eyes as she pointed the end of the bat at a cowering Raoul and questioned, "Are you calling me a liar?"

No longer was the sole purpose of this beating to teach him a lesson and retrieve the club profits he'd stolen, it was now about respect. About her reputation and there was no backing down.

Before he could even get his mouth to form an answer, Bird swung the bat until it collided roughly with his shoulder and he could swear he felt every bone in his arm shift upon impact.

Another loud crack of the bat against his body, and he was down on his knees without being sure of how he'd gotten there.

"Stronger than she looks, isn't she?" Fish questioned, with a dramatic laugh. He didn't dare look back up to see any of their faces, but he could hear the twisted smile in her voice as she spoke.