dark places | wayne

twenty-two :: farewell

9:06 pm
Arkham

"Evening," she greeted the same night guard. "I have a gift for you."

She handed him a takeout bag, the bomb inside.

She carried on towards the visitation cell. It'd become normal, the little routine. She stepped inside the concrete cell. Jack sat behind a metal table, his hands cuffed.

"Ready?" she stuck a pin into the lock and it released his wrists. He gripped a hand at a time onto each wrist.

"Sweet freedom," he grinned and stood.

"Wait," she commanded. An explosion rumbled the floor. "Let's get out of here."

They left the block and down the hall, away from the dead guard. They hurried to a back door marked 'emergency exit only.'

She reached it first, opening it with all her force and taking a two-story leap. She rolled on the grass of a glum, fenced-in courtyard.

He followed her.

They made a run for the fence. She drew a gun and fired at the padlock, which shattered like glass.

They were free.

A car pulled up.

"Get in," a man in the driver's seat demanded. They got in.

"Jack, meet Reyes," she paused. "My chauffeur."

"A chauffeur?"

"I've got big plans, Jack. I'm going to be huge," she smiled at the street as they made their getaway.

He watched her.

"Any news on Harley?" he asked after a silence.

"She skipped town. No one's heard from her," she explained.

"Who's 'no one'?"

"Oswald, Zsask, Selina..." she yawned.

"When did you start talking to them?"

"I lost my Don," she looked to Jack. "I had to become the Don. I had to gain connections. It's business."

"I'm still your Don."

"Not if you insist on keeping in touch with Harley. I will not associate with her any longer. Besides, it's time I take my role in Gotham."

"So just like that," he looked at her steely eyes, "You're leaving?"

"I'm sorry to see it end," she confessed. "You've had an extraordinary influence on me."

They reached his small apartment building and Reyes parked the car, a silent guardian.

"And you on I," he said with a straight face. He opened the door and climbed out. "You'll burn without me."

"I've made it this far, haven't I?"

He slammed the door.

"Take me to the property," she instructed Reyes. He nodded.

"Of course, my Queen."

He drove to a large, lavish mansion in the countryside. A 30-acre estate with few, quiet neighbors. She stepped inside to see large, marble pillars and granite counters.

Gorgeous class.

"It's lovely, my Queen," Reyes spoke beside her.

"It is, isn't it?" she smiled at the property. When the tour was over, she sat down at a long oak table in the dining room with the real estate agent.

"I'm glad you like the estate so much," the agent smiled softly, eyeing the guard in the corner.

"I'm glad I like it too," Winnie agreed and finished signing the papers. "Reyes, the money please."

Reyes set the briefcase on the table and opened it. $2.5 million dollars in hundreds lay before the realtor. Her eyes widened.

"When can I move in?"

"It's all yours."

"Thank you, you may give me my keys and leave," Winnie stated and the realtor closed the briefcase. She handed Winnie a pair of keys and hurried out the door.

When Winnie was sure the door was closed, she turned to Reyes.

"We did it," she smiled confidently. "And I'm out from under Jack's thumb."