Longanimity | GOTHAM

fourteen | the anvil or the hammer

From where he sat across from Oswald at one particular table in the nightclub, Connor asked him, "You're sure... the guns are there?"

Oswald told him, "Butch placed them himself. Do you remember what to say to Mikaelson and Maroni before you do the deed?"

With a mere tilt of his head, Connor said, "I never saw the point in telling a man something right before you're gonna whack him, but you're not the first to ask for it."

With a chuckle, Oswald said to him, "I appreciate you humoring me."

It was then that Connor asked him, "So how do you know Mikaelson and Maroni are gonna be in this bar on this exact day?"

With a mere shake of his head and raise of his eyebrows, Oswald told him, "I follow current events."

Then he folded over the newspaper and slid it over towards Connor, who picked it up to see the words 'Notorious Hitman Tommy Bones Released Today' on a part of the newspaper that was visible to him.

* * *

After watching Tommy Bones step foot inside of Lidia's, Salvatore Maroni said, "There he is. Tommy freakin' Bones. Nine years up the river, and you get better-looking, you big animal."

Tommy replied, "I took care of myself." Then he slightly bent his knees and pointed a single finger at Salvatore as he said, "I was hoping you'd remember."

With a laugh and his arms spread wide, Salvatore quickly made his way over towards Tommy as he said, "Come over here. Huh?" After the two wrapped their arms around one another, Salvatore patted one of Tommy's arms before he stepped away from him and said, "Listen, you leave the joint, you come to Lidia's for dinner. That's tradition."

While Tommy only chuckled to himself, Salvatore said to him, "Welcome home." Then he turned to Lidia and yelled, "Lidia! Look who's here."

From where she silently stood beside Salvatore's lieutenants, Annabelle watched as Lidia and Tommy wrapped their own arms around one another before she raised her eyebrows to herself.

It wouldn't be until after Tommy and Lidia had pulled away from one another that Tommy looked over at Annabelle and said to her, "Mikaelson." When Annabelle had only raised her head at him, he said to her, "You're still here."

With a nod of her head, she said to him, "I'm still here."

After taking a couple of steps in her direction, Tommy asked her, "Would it be smart of me to think that you've still got beef with Zsasz?"

With a bit of a smile on her face and a mere tilt of her head, she said to him, "Why, of course. There's only room for one hitman in this city to be my favorite, and he isn't it." After slowly making her way over towards where Tommy stood in the room, Annabelle eventually stopped in front of him and merely tilted her head at him some more before she said to him, "You seem to have gotten much taller during the time in which you've been away, Tommy Bones."

In turn, he said to her, "Wish I could say the same about you, Mikaelson, but you're still just as small as you were when I got locked up."

As she narrowed her eyes up at him, she said to him, "Funny."

For a moment, the two of them were silent as they stared at one another and refused to take their eyes off of one another.

It wasn't until after Annabelle had let out a sigh that she nodded her head at him before she said to him, "It's good to see you, Tommy Bones. It's been far too long since we last saw one another."

In turn, he said to her, "Hmm."

Then, before Annabelle had the chance to get away from him, he scooped her up into his arms and held her tightly up against him, which only made her force out a chuckle as she said, "But I will admit that the one thing I hadn't missed was these damn hugs of yours."

In response to Annabelle's words, Salvatore and his lieutenants simply laughed to themselves, while Annabelle only sighed to herself before she found herself wrapping her own arms around him the best that she could, due to just how tightly his arms were wrapped around her.

* * *

The partial smile that Annabelle had on her face was soon enough to quickly fall off when one of Salvatore's men had said, "Whoa, fellas, private party."

After hearing those words, Annabelle was quick to look in the direction of where the man stood to see Connor– one of the hitmen that Carmine Falcone used and one she had seen only a handful of times during her time of working for Salvatore Maroni– standing with a member of his crew as he said to the man, "Just here to pay respects."

It was then that Salvatore said, "Connor from the wild northeast." As he quickly made his way over towards Connor with Annabelle close behind him, Salvatore asked him, "What's that old man Falcone want now?"

Connor told him, "Don Falcone sends me with his respects, and a small gift for you and Tommy Bones on this happy day."

While Annabelle only eyed Connor with narrowed eyes, Salvatore said with a nod of his head, "Cheech." While Connor and his man were each patted down, Salvatore said to them, "Forgive my suspicious nature."

Connor replied, "Of course. Can't be too careful."

Then Salvatore said to him, "Come here. Let me see this." After being handed the bottle, Salvatore said, "Madre di Dios. My favorite. You tell Falcone I appreciate the gesture."

Connor told him, "Don Falcone knew it was a special occasion."

As he looked around at those in his family, Salvatore said, "We got time for a drink." Then he turned his head and yelled, "Lidia! Clean glasses, please."

After Salvatore had turned to look back over at Connor, Connor said to him, "The gift comes with a message."

Salvatore replied, "Oh, yeah? What's that?"

Connor told him, "He wants you to know that it wasn't easy for him to decide to kill you."

The moment that both Connor and his men had their guns pointed at Salvatore and his men, Annabelle's veins had come onto display as she looked between the both of them with a scowl on her face.

With a scowl on his own face, Salvatore said, "Son of a bitch."

Then Connor said to him, "But business is business."

It was then that both Connor and his man attempted to shoot their guns at Salvatore and his men, only for no bullets to come out of the guns that they were holding.

It wasn't long after that that Salvatore's lieutenants repeatedly shot their guns over at the man that was standing by the jukebox.

It was then that Salvatore grabbed Connor by his hand and forced him onto the floor before he turned to Tommy and asked as he looked back at those that worked for him, "You believe it? You both jammed. If that ain't a sign from God, I don't know what."

Connor started to say to him, "Please..."

Then Connor let out a groan when Salvatore had twisted his arm before he yelled, "Shut your mouth! You're gonna take Don Falcone a message from me. You're gonna let him know that you messed up... and you're gonna let him know that I'm coming for him." After Connor had repeatedly nodded his head, Salvatore told him, "Of course, you don't need to be alive to tell him that."

Then Salvatore glanced over at Tommy as he said, "Tommy, do the honors."

Tommy glanced over at Annabelle, who had only waved a hand at him with a mere raise of her eyebrows.

It was then that Connor started to say, "Wait..."

And then, just like that, Tommy shot a single bullet into Connor, which did nothing to help with the current and overwhelming rage that she felt building up from deep within herself.