Bullets and Brainpower

Thank You, Ms. Mooney

"So you're the little girl who's been causing all the fuss," she says. I say nothing, not fully sure what to say. There was a decent chance I was gonna die on this rooftop. "I honestly admit, I expected you to be a bit older. How old are you, anyway?"

"Old enough." What? I'm not gonna be nice to her! She smirked.

"So, young. Good to know." I narrow my eyes.

"What do you want?" She smiles.

"Right into it. Alright, well, I heard about your fight with one of my men earlier, and I came to...talk." I smirk pettily. I've been doing that a lot today.

"I doubt that," I say. "You don't ever just wanna talk." She shrugs.

"Well, you can think whatever you want," she says. "All I want is to talk." My eyes remain narrowed, but I move to sit on the bed. She smirks and sits in front of me, so that I'm at one end of the bed, and she's at the other.

"So what do you want?" I ask, not wasting time. "And if you say 'to talk', I swear to God I'll wipe that smile off your face."

"Oh, I don't doubt it," she says. "That's actually what I want to talk about." I tilt my head in confusion. "You're quite the fighter." I nod, leaning back on the wall behind me and crossing my legs and arms.

"Yeah," I say. "So what? I've been fighting on the streets for three years." She nods.

"Yes, but before, you hadn't fought and taken down a man twice your size, much less one of mine." I shrug. "Do you know what injuries he had when he got back?" I shake my head. "A busted lip, broken nose, and two bruised ribs, not even mentioning the other cuts and scrapes he had." I smirk. "I need someone like that." I narrow my eyes in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, dear, I've been having a little trouble finding, and keeping, good work-"

"I'm gonna cut you off right there," I say. "I don't work for people, 'specially not Carmine Falcone." I stand up, grab my backpack, and start walking towards the fire escape.

"Did I mention I'll pay you?" I freeze. She really knows how to get a girl's attention. I sigh, slightly annoyed that I'm even thinking about doing this, before walking back to the bed and sitting down. "You get free access to my club and whatever you find, including any food you might happen to stumble upon, and I will pay you...forty dollars a week." I narrow my eyes.

"Seventy," I say. "Ten a day." She narrows her eyes to match me.

"You know how to deal," she says. I smirk. "Fifty."

"Sixty."

"Fifty-five." I think about it.

"Deal." I hold out my hand, and she shakes it.

"Fifty-five dollars a week." She smirks. "Not bad for a fifteen year old street rat." I shrug, and she stands up. "Why don't you come with me?" I stand up, hesitant to go with her, regardless of what I just signed up for. "I'm gonna have to get used to your skepticism. Do you want to get out of the cold for a while or not?" I nod without hesitation this time. "Then let's go." We make our way down the fire escape (I get down quite a bit faster than her since I'm not wearing heels) and we head out of the alley.

"Now," she says, "I'm going to be putting you through a series of tests, to see if you're really the girl for this. This is the first." I look at her in confusion.

"What test?" She holds out a piece of paper. I take it and look down at it. It's a quickly drawn map.

"This is how you can get to my club." She walks up to a car parked across the street. "Make it there in the next twenty minutes." I look down at the map, then up at her.

"How am I supposed to get there?" I yell across the street.

"Well, run, of course." I look at her dumbstruck.

"How far is it?" She just shrugs, gets in the car, and it drives off. I look between the map and the street ahead before wrapping my arms around myself.

"I should've grabbed my jacket," I say to myself before running off. I have twenty minutes to make it to the club, and I don't even know how far it is. Better get going. I run down the sidewalk, glancing down at the map every now and then to make sure I'm going the right way and once stopping to retie my shoe.

By the time I reach my destination, I'm dripping with sweat. I reach the door and attempt to pull it open, but it's locked. I knock on the door and lean back on the wall, panting. After a minute, the door opens, and a large man looks down at me. He says nothing and instead gestures for me to follow him as he walks back inside. He leads me around a corner, and Fish is sitting on a stool at the bar. There's no one here except the two of them and a man not much taller than me with jet black messy hair standing behind Fish.

"Ah, Cassidy, dear," Fish says. "Very impressive. Two and a half miles, and you make it here in just over fifteen minutes. Six minute mile. Not bad." She picks up a bottle from the counter and holds it out to me. "Do you know what this is?" I shake my head. "I want you to drink it. Tell me what you think. I imagine you're quite thirsty." I nod and take the bottle. I take a large drink, and my throat burns as it goes down. I pull the bottle away from my lips and grimace before taking in the taste. It burns, but it's a good burn. I take a few more gulps before the large man steps forward.

"I don't think-" Fish holds up a hand to silence him.

"Hold on, Butch," she says. "I'm curious." He nods and backs off as I drink half the bottle. "Keep going, Cassidy." I take a deep breath and finish the bottle in a few gulps. "How do you feel?" I shrug.

"I mean, that stuff packs a punch," I say. "It's good." She nods.

"Do you know what that was?" I shake my head. "That was an unopened bottle of beer, and you finished it in less than a minute with no side effects." I freeze. "You are a very special girl, Cassidy." She smiles. "Welcome aboard." She holds out a bronze key on a silver bracelet. I look up at her in shock, a smile spreading across my face. I admit I'd had my doubts, but I think Fish was genuine in her desire to help me.

"Y-you're serious?" I ask. She nods, still smiling.

"If you're gonna be here on a regular basis, you might as well have a key. You're welcome here whenever you want." I smile.

"Thank you!" She nods again and gestures for the man with the black hair, who'd remained silent up until this point, to step forward. He walks up to us.

"Cassidy, this is Oswald," she says. "He's going to take you home, if you're going back there." I nod.

"I go back there most nights." She nods and goes to sit down, but stops.

"Oh, and Cassidy," she says. I look back at her, and she holds something out. It's a cellphone. "Take this. If I ever need you, I'll need a way to contact you." I walk over and slowly take the phone from her. I look up at her.

"Th-thank you, Ms. Mooney," I say. She shakes her head.

"Darling, please," she says. "Call me Fish. And it's no problem. Now, you better get going. I expect it might rain soon." I smile and nod, turning to leave with Oswald.

I do not own Gotham or its characters. I do however own Cassidy Alexandra, Ice, Gracelyn Ventura, and their plot, so don't steal. It's not nice.