One Love & Two Sociopaths

Chapter 12

*One month later*
  A lot had happened within the timespan of a month, the fight between Arielle and Maroni was just the beginning. Shit hit the fan for the entire underground of Gotham causing the city to pay heavily. But it had only just begun, very few knew that very soon the whole city would be torn apart worse than it ever had been before. The people that knew were the ones planning the whole downfall, the man behind it all. Oswald Cobblepot or The Penguin. The truth had come out that he had been working for both Falcone and Maroni which would ultimately cause the two sides to go to war. But for now things were semi peaceful in the underground, but there was the fact that Fish Mooney was gone. So as to be expected, there were some problems still. With Fish gone that meant her club would pay dearly unless someone took over. And somebody did. Oswald Cobblepot. Falcone left him in charge of the business, Penguins plan actually worked.
  It was an uneventful Friday night for Arielle, her and Victor had continued seeing each other in private. The only person who knew about their 'relationship' was Falcone, they decided they'd rather keep it a secret from the rest of the underground. They weren't official but they weren't just friends, that was made clear on one of their first dates. If someone were to flirt with Arielle, well you can imagine what Zsasz would do. And vice versa. Arielle sat at the bar in Oswald's club, The Iceberg Lounge. Arielle decided she'd spend this lonely, boring Friday night drinking until they'd stop serving her. Even though her life was starting to get better, the pain of her past still haunted her. She still carried so much which is what caused her to act out so much. Drinking was the only thing she felt she could turn to, it took away the pain momentarily. Though she always wished the pain could disappear forever she knew it wouldn't happen. But for once in her life she found something that dulled it and it wasn't destructive. Victor Zsasz. Sure being around him made her violent tendencies come out to play more often; he managed to make her feel something and it wasn't pain.
  "Arielle are you listening?" Oswald had been talking to her for about five minutes now without receiving a response. "Sorry, my head isn't exactly here at the moment." She rubbed her bare face and glanced over at the frustrated man sitting next to her. "Is it ever?" The two laughed momentarily until Oswald spoke again, "What's going on with you, ever since you started working for Falcone you've acted different. Not that that's a bad thing I just," Arielle grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. "Don't worry about me Ozzy, I'm fine. Just work, a lot has happened since joining the family." He understood, how could he not when he caused most of the problems people faced in the underground. Nodding knowingly he stood up and faced her, "I've noticed you've been hanging around Victor Zsasz a lot recently, I don't think he's the best to be around. He's a sociopath, not to mention terrifying." Arielle giggled, "You find him terrifying Oswald?" Oswald grabbed a glass of wine from the bar and began walking away. "Yes but don't go telling people that." All she could do was laugh, she was relieved to hear that he wasn't suspicious of their relationship. But then again there was the fact that he noticed how much they've been together recently. Did that mean other people could tell?
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  Arielle woke up around 1 in the afternoon the next day, Saturday afternoons were always uneventful. She used this as time to do things around the apartment, today she decided to work on making some new gun holster and fixing her old one. After grabbing everything she needed she sat down on the couch and turned on the tv. Before taking care of the holsters she began repairing some articles of clothing, one of them being one of Victors vests. As she began to stitch the hole in the vest up, a loud knock erupted from outside her door. Inhaling deeply and sighing she stood up and walked over to the door. On the other side was her favorite hitman holding two milkshakes, when she saw this she nearly threw the door off it's hinges. "I guess this milkshake makes up for the lack of Zsasz this week." Arielle plopped down on the couch and took a sip from her milkshake, "I've been busy, Falcone gave me a very important job." She nodded and patted the space next to her. He walked over to the couch and sat down next to her, staring at her with wide eyes as she continued fixing his vest. "So are you going to tell me about it?" Victor smiled and leaned in close to her, "I'd rather show you."
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"Why are we going to the basement of your apartment complex? If you wanted to do something different than last time we could've still done it in your.." Arielle's Jae dropped when the reached the center of the basement. "Oh my God!" Butch was hand cuffed to the wall in the basement. All around him were different weapons and strange torturing devices. You could Victor was proud, his face said it all over. "This is the job he gave you?" He walked over and stood next to Arielle, placing his elbow on her shoulder and slightly leaning into her. "Yep! I gotta take him to Penguin tonight. You're welcome to join." Arielle removed his shoulder and walked closer to Butch, "What'd you do to him?" Victor just stood and watched her like a hawk, "little of this, little of that. He'll do whatever you say. Falcone didn't want to throw him away, Penguin sucks when it comes to running a club. But Butch here knows all about it, so he can help him out." Butch was currently taking a nap, she couldn't blame him. After a week of going through Zsasz' torture and brainwashing, she'd want to sleep too. "Still no word on Fish?" Arielle had a very small soft spot for the woman but she'd never admit it to anyone, not Oswald, Falcone, or Victor. "My guess is she's left Gotham. Why?" Arielle turned around and put on fake smile, "Just curious is all." As far as she could tell he bought the act, that or he decided to be quiet.
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When the three arrived at the lounge, Arielle went straight to the bar. Instead of her usual she went for the hardest thing she could find. Seeing all the alcohol made her realize she could care less about whatever was about to go down between the men. She had been too busy drinking to hear the conversation but she did overhear Victor saying he sucked. "Arielle disagrees, right Ari?!" Her eyes went wide when the two men looked at her, she had a bottle of rum to her lips. She swallowed quite loudly and shrugged, "I mean..." The two turned back around and in cake Butch causing Oswald to trip and hide behind Zsasz causing Zsasz to laugh. Arielle couldn't help but swoon at the sight, she loved that laugh. She loved watching anything he did really, especially when it came to his work. She'd sit and listen all day and would give up an arm and a leg just to hear that laugh. Realizing all this made her drink even more, she knew what was happening. She knew she had to face the truth, she had serious feelings for one of the men in front of her.
  While the three men discussed the club Arielle took this as an opportunity to leave the building. The weather had turned cold and dark, the wind was absolutely horrible. Although she hated storms, she felt good about this one. It was her favorite weather in fact but when the thunder and lightning appeared it all ended. With slight trembling hands she raked her long skinny fingers through her already faded blue hair. Emotions were such a handful, what's the point? "Rough night?" Arielle looked up and saw none other than Jim Gordon. 'Play it cool Arielle don't fuck this up,' her mind was all over the place and she knew she couldn't show it. "No, just needed to get some fresh air. I drank a little too fast, just trying to escape the occasional bad memories ya know?" Jim understood and knew the feeling all too well. "The club is closed right now correct? Why are you here?" Arielle thought he asked too many damn questions, typical cop. "I'm a family friend, I come here and calm my nerves quite often. Penguin is kind of busy right now, I could go see if he's available for you?" Jim frowned and then gave a slight smile, "That'd be great." Arielle smiled back and walked inside, the boys hadn't moved in inch. "Ozzy, you mind explaining to me why Jim Gordon is here to speak with you?" They all looked at her dumbfounded, "that's our cue to leave, I'd rather not deal with his cocky attitude tonight. Cmon Arielle, the cars around back." Zsasz started walking to the back door, "I'll be there in a minute," he hesitated but listened to what she said. "I told him I'd check if you were busy, you wanna talk to him?" Oswald made his way to the front of the building but not without patting her shoulder. "Go ahead and go, I'll be calling you later to check up on you. Don't even bother saying nothing is wrong dear friend." Arielle sighed and walked out the back door, she was getting real tired of the men in her life.
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  Arielle and Victor were back at her apartment, the two were standing outside on her small balcony. "It looks like a storm is coming." The slightly older man looked down at the young female next to him, "yea I was enjoying the breeze earlier but was interrupted by Jim." The two stared out at the city, "did he say or do anything to you?" Arielle tore her eyes away from the dark sky and looked up at him, "no he just asked how I was, how I knew Oswald, and if he was busy. You know I'm not as famous as you so don't worry so much." She grabbed his hand and held it in her much smaller one. Suddenly a crack of thunder erupted causing her to jump back behind him like Penguin did earlier. He chuckled much to her disappointment but what he did made up for it. Victor moved her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her, she was pressed tightly against his chest. "It's okay, nothing can hurt you. Nothing will ever hurt you when I'm around. That is if you'll let me, just tell me if you don't want me around." A small tear fell from her right eye and in a whisper she answered his question.
"I want you around. I need you around."