DC Genesis

Neal just stood their for a moment as Rose made her comments, at first making him feel like complete crap in regards to his decision. Was it so wrong to not want to get involved with something that you had nothing to do with? Was that really what would make him a coward? Despite these thoughts, it was the last comment she made that had Neal looking at her with a surprised look.

So she knew about him, or at least knew that something was going on. It seemed like they had the same suspicion of each other. Rose had something different about her, just as Neal had something different about him. HE had never met anyone like him, not that he knew of at least. This made Neal even more nervous at first, wondering what exactly Rose was.

"Damn it all," Neal said before turning and running after Rose a few seconds after she kicked the door down and made her way inside. He soon pushed after her, not wanting to fall behind. Just as Rose moved to fight a guy, another one showed up from a door on Rose's other side. Neal quickly moved forward, appearing to be invisible to the man. Neal launched a punch right in to the man's throat before launching another at his face. Much like Rose, he succeeded in knocking his man out.

He shook his hand a little, as if the impact had made his hand sore. "Got it," Neal said as he moved down the hallway with Rose. It seemed like they were going to have a lot of questions for each other, but now was not the right time.

So maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all. She wouldn't have figured him the type, but he had taken down that other thug quite handily. Whatever that special gift of his was, it seemed pretty useful. As they made their way down the hallway, Rose's ears started to pick up some voices coming from behind the door at the very end.

"I told you, bend over," a man said, his voice sickeningly creepy. And Italian. "And you, Holly, get in front of her. I want to see her between your legs. That's it... good, yes."

"Selina..." a timid voice responded. Holly.

"Just do it," Selina replied. She sounded forceful, and yet at the same time her tone carried quite a bit of regret with it. "The sooner we start the sooner it's over."

The creepy Italian voice spoke again. "Alright, now stuff her mouth, Frankie. I'll handle Selina... heheh."

Neal continued to move forward, not knowing what was going to happen next. They didn't even know how many more people were going to be here, they might be facing like twenty more people any moment. Neal moved forward though, knowing that this was still the right thing to do.

As they moved forward Neal heard the voices along with Rose, hearing both Selina and Holly from behind the door, along with the people that most likely owned the club. What they were doing sounded bad and Neal quickly looked to Rose. "Mind kicking the door down again?"

"Don't mind if I do," she said, taking a step backwards and turning her body. With a thunderous kick, she caved the door inwards and ran inside. There weren't quite twenty guys inside, more like five, all gathered around the main even in a circle. Selina and Holly were there, being forced to... take care of each other, while another man stood in front of Holly, and another, presumably Mac, standing behind Selina, both... well, taking care of the girls.

"Hey, assholes!" Rose shouted, lunging in at the first two guys in front of her. She took them out with swift kicks to the jaw, sending them flying over furniture.

Neal allowed Rose to do her work, kicking the door down with those legs that couldn't even fit in to his jeans due to her muscles. It was an impressive bit of work, and he soon moved inside after her. He saw Selina and Holly, each about to get to work. "Oh god," Neal said before realizing that the fighting really needed to commence. Rose got to work on her two, leaving about three others for Neal.

He quickly ran forward, each of them getting ready to fight Neal as he approach. However, once he got closer he suddenly vanished, forcing them to just blink and look around to see if he had somehow gotten around them. On the first guy Neal went for the neck again, before the second guy got a kick right in the crotch, and the last guy got several punches to his face. Nealy did whatever he had to do to knock them out, though his fighting was nowhere near as proficient as Rose's.

"What the hell is this?!" Mac shouted, backing away from the two psychos attacking them. "Don't just stand there, shoot them! Shoot them!"

The other few guys started drawing handguns, aiming to fire at Rose. Unfortunately for them, they didn't know who they were dealing with. She leaped over them, bashing a couple of their heads together on her way by, then landed behind them and swept their legs out. All three men fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, where she promptly knocked them out cold. She looked up to find Mac scrambling for another gun nearby on a table, but she cut him off, grabbing him by the shirt collar and then slamming his head into the glass table.

"So, you you do this to all your girls, huh?" She smashed his face int other glass again, this time shattering it. "Slimy prick." Then, she threw him across the room, where he lay motionless, but breathing. Even though he was bleeding heavily from the face, he was still alive.

Once everything was silent, Rose held her hands to her hips and breathed outwardly, turning back to Holly and Selina. "You two okay?"

Almost instantly, Selina jumped back to her feet and moved straight in front of Rose. "What the hell is the wrong with you?!"

"Uh... you're welcome?" she said, glaring intently at her.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?!"

"Clearly not getting appreciation for saving you asses..."

Neal saw that some of the men were drawing handguns. Oh boy that wasn't good at all. Rose might be tough, but if she was shot he imagined that she would still bleed out like anyone else. Granted he had no idea what she could do, but there was no sense in risking that. As she went in for the attack, Neal quickly made the men's vision go dark so that they wouldn't be able to see what they were aiming at. It would make an easy assault even easier for Rose.

Once Rose dealt with those men and Mac, Neal took another look around the room to make sure that no one else was coming or was around. It didn't look like it, but he stayed on the safe side. He moved towards the door they had come from and looked outside, not wanting to be surprised by any more thugs.

As Selina began to get upset Neal couldn't help but glanced back. Something was wrong. Sure they had probably lost their jobs, but that was better than what they were being forced in to right? They were basically raping those that worked for them, it didn't really sound like the ideal kind of life.

"So...what did we just do?" Neal asked simply as he looked towards Selina and Holly and hoped for an answer.

"You just ruined months of work, that's what you did!" Selina shouted. "Do you have any idea how long we worked to get here?"

"To get to... what? Being some creepy dude's gangbang toys?" Rose said, lifting an eyebrow at the woman. "Gee, so sorry it didn't work out for you."

"We were undercover, you idiot!"

Rose blinked, tilting her head slightly to the side. Now she was just confused. "Wait... you're cops?"

"Wh- no, we're not cops," Selina said. "We're.... working girls. Or, we used to be. But I wanted to get Holly out of that life, off the streets."

"I'm still not following... how was this any better than whoring yourself on the streets?"

Selina's gaze narrowed coldly. "Watch your mouth, kid. We're not here because we want to be, obviously. We here because we learned from some of our old friends that a lot of the girls were going missing. Young girls, too. Disappearing from the streets, and nobody seems to no where they went. But Holly and I picked up a trail, which led here to this creep." She motioned to Mac, bloodied and unconscious in the corner. "So we put up with him and the things he made us do so we could get inside and learn what happened to our friends, to find them. But you just screwed everything!"

Neal listened intently as Selina and Rose spoke to one another, quickly becoming engrossed in the story. So, they were undercover and working to check where a lot of the young girls had ended up. They weren't here under orders, they had willingly put themselves through this kind of a life just to figure out where a lot of the girls went to. It was brave and impressive, and Neal felt like complete crap for ruining all of this.

Neal pulled himself away from the door, looking towards Selina and Holly. "Well....sorry about that," he said as he looked at all of the men that they had just trashed. "But you still have the guy right here," he said as he motioned down to Mac. "Is there any way that we can salvage this plan of yours?"

"Not unless you can force him to talk," Selina muttered. She glared at the unconscious man for a long while before turning away in disgust. "It's all gone to shit now. All to shit."

"It's okay, Selina..." Holly said, slowly putting her clothes back on. "We... we'll figure something out. Won't we?"

"I don't know, Holly."

Rose frowned, looking back at Mac. He still wasn't moving, but it looked like he was starting to come around. He was groaning, at least. "Give me five minutes alone with him."

"What?" Selina said. "Why?"

"Because," she said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a small pocket knife, flipping it open. "I'm... I might be good at getting people to talk."

Neal just stayed silent, glancing down at Mac as Selina continued to unleash her frustrations out on them. They had blown the plan to save the girls and he couldn't blame her for being mad at them. Neal and Rose had saved two people from a night, but Holly and Selina were trying to figure out what happened to a large group of girls.

As Rose spoke up, Neal watched as she pulled the knife out of her pocket. He didn't want to see this, despite the fact that he knew this was necessary. They needed to make this man talk, otherwise those girls weren't going to be found. It was a needed act of evil. "Don't even give him time to scream," was all Neal said before walking out of the room and in to the hallway despite whether Holly and Selina followed.

And yet, scream he did. While Selina, Holly, and Neal waited outside the room, Rose did her job inside. For every wrong answer he gave, she started poking with the knife. She started off mild at first, but then started going for the sensitive areas. He talked eventually, and she was glad when he did, because it meant she could stop. It wasn't like she enjoyed these kinds of interrogations... the kind she had learned from her father. She only did it because she needed to. After all, what was one cruel act when it led to a righteous end?

"The docks," she said, pushing her way outside the room. Her hands were covered in bright red, still dripping onto the floor. "He said he sold the girls to some guy who was going to take them to the docks for transport next weekend. Pretty sure that means they're being trafficked cross the globe. Don't know if we can find the ones they've already shipped away, but we know when the next group is getting there... so we can stop them there, I guess."

Selina lifted an eyebrow, looking genuinely surprised. "That's... I see. Thank you."

"Whatever," she muttered, staring down at her bloodied hands.

"So... so we really don't have to do that anymore?" Holly asked, as she looked to her friend with hopeful eyes.

"No... I guess not," Selina said, with a small nod.

Holly was practically in tears. "Oh my god... oh my god, thank you! I... I hated that... I've always hated it..."

Neal just sat down, listening to the screams as Rose went to work. Hearing the man suffer almost brought a smile to his face. A man like that didn't deserve to live, and yet he had so many people and laws protecting him despite the advantage that he took of it. It wasn't right. Clint had been open with Neal for some time about men like this, and how they openly got away with so many acts. Neal hated how they got away, and he was glad that at least this one was getting some justice.

As Rose came out, Neal stood up and looked to her, seeing the blood cover her hands. He walked over to one of the thugs that they had beaten up earlier before ripping off a sleeve and handing it to Rose. "Here, clean your hands off," Neal offered as he gave the sleeve to Rose. Whether she used it or not was up to her.

As the information came, Neal listened in silence as it was revealed that the girls were likely sold in to sexual slavery across the globe. It was a shame that the ones sold off couldn't be saved, but at least they could stop this before it got any worse.

It was Holly's thankful plea that she didn't need to work for Mac anymore that seemed to make him the most happy. At least she would be getting out of this life, and she would be free to do whatever she wanted next.

"So, now that you know where this is going down what are you going to do next?" Neal asked curiously as he looked to Holly and Selina.

"Now we'll prepare for the right day," Selina said, with a slow nod. "And then we'll free ou girls when they arrive at the docks."

"But... but what if they change the date?" Holly wondered. "Mac just told us the date... but he could tell the guys he's working for about it just as easily."

"No, he won't," Rose muttered, as she wiped the blood from her hands. She'd probably need to hit the washroom soon to get the rest of it off, though. "He won't be telling anyone else anything again..." Another little nugget she'd received from her father, not just getting someone to speak up... but how to silence them. Permanently. On that note, she tossed the rag away and started heading for the door.

Selina watched her leave for the time being, then let out a soft breath. "Guy like Mac had a lot of enemies. No reason to think it wasn't just one of them doing him in... they shouldn't change the date on a whim. But in the meantime, I think we're done here."

"Yeah, I think that we are," Neal said as he watched as they all moved away from the door. However, once everyone had left, he couldn't help but turn around and look back in to the room to see the damage that Rose had done to Mac. The blood was over him, as the blade had done the work that it was meant to do. Neal just shook his head. "Piece of filth," he uttered before turning and moving in order to catch up quickly with everyone else.

"Are you going to tip the police off that something is going down at the docks?" Neal asked as he arrived back with the rest of the group. He knew that he and Rose had just taken down these guys, but everyone at the docks would be a lot more on guard. If anyone saw what they were doing, they would go to jail for a very long time after all. So, Neal couldn't help but wonder what exactly Selina and Holly were planning on doing. Selina seemed tough like Rose, but Neal doubted that Holly could even hit anyone if she had to.

"And tell them what?" Selina said. "We have no proof of anything that could get them to come investigate at the right time. All we have is one man's word, and we can't exactly tell them how we got the information, now can we? They probably wouldn't believe us, anyway. Nobody listens to a couple of ex-prostitutes. But it doesn't matter... I know some people who might be able to help."

When they got back to the parking lot, Rose was already waiting for Neal in the car. She didn't feel like going back into the strip club, or really much of anything right now. She just wanted to leave.

Selina gave Neal a small wave, as she and Holly headed for their own car. "I'll see you around. And thanks, again."

"See you," Holly echoed, waving to him.

"Suppose you make a point," Neal commented as he listened to Selina talking. Well, he hoped that their friends would be able to help them. After all this was a very worthy cause, but Neal felt like he had risked his life enough times tonight. He didn't want to lose his neck to something like this. At the same time he hoped that nothing bad happened to them either.

Neal waved to both Holly and Selina, mainly waving at Holly as she left. "Yeah, see you two later. And be careful," Neal added before turning and moving towards the car that Rose was already in.

He got in and quickly started the car, already taking off at a drive to head home. It was a good five minutes before Neal glanced at Rose. "So, are you okay?"

"I just killed a man," she shot back, without looking at him. "What do you think? Contrary to popular belief, that's not exactly easy. I mean... it's easy, but it's not..." She looked down at the floor, staring a hole through it. Finally she closed her eyes. "It's not easy. My dad used to make me do it... I never wanted to do it, but he..." Trailing her words off, she turned to look out the window, sinking back in her seat. The snow sure was pretty... "Never mind." About half a minute later, however, she snapped her gaze back to him. "Please don't tell your dad. It wasn't like I'm... I mean I'm not bad. Not bad person, I... I don't try to be, I'm... I'm just... please don't tell him. Or anyone."

Neal didn't say anything, not really knowing what to say. Clearly this killing had made Rose not okay with herself, and she wasn't taking it well at all. He wasn't quite sure what to say when Rose mentioned that her father had made her kill people, it just made him wonder what exactly Rose had done before Neal had met her.

It was when she snapped back at him that Neal actually glanced back at her. "Relax Rose I am not going to say anything about tonight," he said as he locked eyes with Rose. "I know that you don't agree with what you did but I don't look down on you for it. The man is clearly a monster, it's okay," Neal said as he gave Rose a nod. "Don'y worry, what happened here stays between us."

Rose looked away again, bowing her head. She had tried so hard to forget all those things that her father had taught her, to not kill anyone, and yet she had slipped right back into it tonight, and for what? Because the guy was a rapist? The world was full of rapists, but that didn't give her the right to murder them all. Still... it had felt good at the time, knowing she was ridding the world of someone like that.

And that was the part she hated most of all.

"Thanks..." she muttered, looking back out the window. "You know, you're kind of calm about all of this... for technically being the accessory to a murder and all."

"I could flip out if you prefer," Neal said before glancing over at Rose. He thought about how to phrase this next part. "Look my dad loves his job but sometimes it gets to him. He always has to talk it out with people, and I volunteered to listen to some of the stuff that he had to go through, they were some pretty bad stories at times," Neal muttered. "He always told me about guys like that Mac asshole. The things they do to people, how they just throw away human life like it's gum in a wrapper....it's despicable,' Neal said flatly.

"I'm glad that you're a bit torn up by it to be honest...but I still believe that you did the world a favor tonight."

Rose lowered her gaze, a heavy sigh brushing past her lips. "If I did the world such a favor, then why do I hate myself so much for it?" It was meant to be a rhetorical question, as she soon followed it up with something else. "I know I come off as... wild, I guess you could say, and I'm rough around the edges, believe me, but... that person I was back in there? I... don't want to be that. I might never be the easiest person to get along with--hell, most people I meet think I'm a bitch--but I'm not a killer... not really."

After a few moment's pause, Rose then looked down at herself, examining the dry blood still caked to her hands. "We should go do something, you know... someone will investigate the scene eventually, and it could lead back to us. We should go somewhere, build an alibi or something."

Neal was about to answer Rose rhetorical question before she continued to push forward with another statement and continued expressing her emotions. Neal immediately shut his mouth, not wanting to really interrupt Rose when she was in a state like this. It was only when she finished that Neal spoke up. "Look Rose, you may be direct and blunt but that doesn't make you a terrible person. There are far worse people than you in the world."

At the idea of an alibi, Neal gave a nod. There was a death after all, there was no way that those thugs were going to perfectly cover it up and make it look like nothing happened, no matter what illegal activity they were up to. "What kind of an alibi should we make? Head to a bar and drink for hours? Or do you have a better idea in mind?"

"Far worse people... yeah, I know," she muttered. "Believe me, I know..."

She stopped to think a moment on alibis, though really she didn't have anything very specific. Eventually, she just shrugged and let out a sigh. "I don't know, but a bar wouldn't work. No way to prove we were there. Some place with a lot of cameras would be best, or a place that keeps records of when people enter and leave... although to be honest, it would be great if we could fool them into putting down the wrong time, but I guess we'll have to settle for getting there fast. The longer we take, the greater amount of time there is between when we left the scene to when we got to our alibi. But I still don't know where. You know this city, what do you think?"

Neal thought about it for some time, thinking about what they could do. She was right, they needed to find a place where there would be plenty of evidence that they were there. As Neal's mind continued to think, only one spot came to mind. "Well....I can think of one spot," Neal said although he sounded very hesitant about it. "A couple blocks from here, there's a fairly nice hotel there with cameras and they make you check in and mark the time that you enter," Neal said as he cautiously glanced at Rose.

He couldn't help but wonder what she was going to say.