Lechuza | L. Vikander ✔

[3.1]

Lavina could never forget the day she heard about Alan Wayne's sinister death. It felt like the second worst day of her life, the first being the day they had been attacked in Cranbury and Romilda had died.

Hearing that Alan was no more either had made her feel terribly defeated.

The case was all over the media and even though they had very little contact with the outside world back then while staying at the Anders Academy, it was so widely discussed that she too came to hear of it.

She knew instantly who would be responsible for murdering him and it took all her willpower to restrain herself for the time being. Because to the world, she apparently had no link to Alan Wayne so she couldn't do anything that would risk the reveal of her identity as well.

And then not long after she had first heard people talking about that death, Alfred had come to fetch Bruce Wayne, giving an application to the authority for granting him leave due to family reasons. It was so that he could go home and attend his Uncle's funeral.

She had stood there at the end of the hall, looking at Alfred silently as if waiting for him to ask the caretaker to let her go as well.

But he said not a single word. In fact, he refrained from even acknowledging that she was there.

He left with only Bruce but those wide owl-like eyes were following him painstakingly until the window no longer showed the car parked out there.

Lavina did not even know where they had buried Alan as she couldn't get a chance to go to his grave.

It hurt her, to say the very least.

She might not have seen her biological father, but Alan was the person she had thought of as a father figure. For her, not being able to say goodbye to him was painful in itself.

And not being able to even pay her last respects to him was even more painful.

But she understood why she had been kept out of it. If Alfred had asked the caretaker to take Lavina with him, it would only have complicated things.

Bruce would have asked why she was coming along and there couldn't be a justifiable answer for that. In all her time at Anders, she had tried her very best to stay away from Bruce because she felt that getting close to him would put her under too much attention.

Similarly, her presence at Alan's funeral would gather unwanted attention from the press who was always looking for scandalous news to expand on.

What reason could they have given to the press for her presence at a Wayne family member's funeral? As far as they knew, she was a nobody, just a student that Thomas Wayne had sponsored.

A nobody who chose not to meet up with the Waynes again until or unless it was absolutely necessary. So when Thomas had visited her to tell her about Alan and probably take her to his grave, she had refused to meet him.

She knew any connection to her would taint Alan's image further and she did not want that. So she just sent Thomas a note saying that she understood why he was there and she was sorry for his loss but there was nothing else she could do.

And then years passed in that bland monotony.

She kept going with her life because her heart was still pumping blood through her arteries, her breathing had not come to a stop and she was scientifically alive.

Alive but without purpose.

Because the only purpose she could think about was to get rid of Silas March; the man who had used the Court of Owls to destroy everything she held dear.

Her parents, their friends, the people they trusted most, and their happiness. It had all been taken away from them just due to one man's insatiable greed.

Lavina strongly felt that he should pay for his sins. And she had faith that she would be the one to make him pay his debts that had accumulated over the years.

So she had started to prepare herself for that purpose she thought she had to serve on fate's chessboard.

After Anders, she was enrolled into Hamilton Hill High School from where she graduated, and then left Gotham for higher studies.

But by the time she returned to the city, a lot had changed.

She was no longer a girl who needed to be protected under a false identity. 

Lavina Vikander had grown up to be a woman who took what she wanted without fear or submission. A woman who was going to pluck the eyes out of all her enemies who had dared trespass on her territory.

The first step she had to take for that was to establish herself as the rightful Vikander heir, claim her family's status, and build her position in the society to rise so high up that even the likes of Silas March would have to think twice before laying a hand on her.

Her case for claiming her family's title and inheritance was in the city's High Court and she had Christopher to testify for her. She had also brought forth Anna, the woman who took care of her when she was a child, as another witness to prove that she was indeed Alastair and Romilda Vikander's daughter.

The reopening of that case set fire to the rumors that had almost been forgotten by then and Alan's name was being thrown around all over again, pointing him out to be Romilda's lover who had run away with her.

And that was when she decided that she had had enough.

If the Gotham High Court would not give the decision in her favor soon, she might have to resort to other measures.

It should have been common knowledge among them all that once a Vikander decided to adopt other measures, it could never turn out well for their opposition.

They were just about to learn it firsthand.

"Jeremy, same place same time," she picked up the call and then hung up shortly after.

She was returning from yet another hearing with the High Court that was somehow bent on delaying the case. She was tired but she wanted to bust some steam off.

And what better way than to take out all her frustration in the only way she knew would work for her?

Ever since the past five years, she had been trained by Christopher in the same way a Talon should be trained. And from then onwards, his son Jeremy and Lavina often trained together.

She reached the hotel she was staying in for the time being because she wasn't allowed to go to Vikander Mansion before the High Court gave the decision in her favor. But after waiting for some time in her room, she changed into a dark suit that would help conceal her identity and then discreetly left without even taking her car.

Jeremy Hendricks was waiting for her in an old estate that belonged to Cassius Vikander's sister and no one else knew its whereabouts. That was the place they had chosen for their training sessions while in Gotham.

"How was the hearing?" Jeremy asked, handing her the daggers he had kept safe for her.

"I wanted to stab someone," she replied but her frustration did not break the outwardly calm exterior.

"In that case, I have something you would like to see. But after training."

Jeremy was a few years older than her but the two had gotten close over time. Since they trained together, they had a very synchronized way of tackling the problems sent their way. Just like Christopher had been a trustworthy support to Alastair, Jeremy had become one for Lavina.

"Let me guess, you found a way I could get back at Silas."

"Even better," he replied, and that piqued her curiosity, "but you have to promise to wait till the right time and then strike."

She nodded, knowing very well that haste only ruined moves, "I know. Let's get done with this first then show me all you've gathered on him."

***