DC Genesis

"Suppose you're right on that account, but I'm tired of the indulgence of society's understanding being the reason that people get off when justice needs to be given," Zoe said as her eyes stayed steady with Rose's. There wasn't anger or hatred in her eyes, no, rather it was pain. Whatever pain it was from Rose couldn't tell, obviously it wasn't from killing the man that had just threatened him. She made it very clear that she wanted him dead, and she got what she wanted.

"And for the record I don't give a damn what his motivations are. It's his actions that determine who that man was. He was a thief and a man willing to threaten two girls to get money, meaning as far as I'm concerned he's a fucking piece of shit." Zoe got quiet for a moment before reaching up and lightly rubbing her eyes. It would be hard to see, but Rose's eye would notice that Zoe was wiping away a single tear that was coming to her face. "I'm sorry....I'm angry and I'm taking it out on you. That's not fair," she said before reaching in to her jacket and feeling around for something.

Eventually, she pulled out a folded piece of paper and slowly opened it up. As she held it up for Rose to see, she would see a young and beautiful woman, and right next to her was Zoe. "This was mother, just two years ago. She was happy, healthy, everything that I could have ever hoped she would be," Zoe said as she pushed the picture closer so that Rose would get a good look at who they were. "And do you know what happened to her? She was walking home from the store one day when some bastard put three bullets in her head. Was it a mugging? Some sort of personal revenge? No, none of that. He did it because he was paid to," Zoe said under her breath as she took the picture back and put it back in her jacket.

"They did it because of what my father did to him. They did it because of what he took away from them."

"It's funny how everyone has their own way of justifying their actions isn't it?" Zoe remarked as she pulled her coat tighter around herself. She hated conversations like this, why couldn't they just go and get their scones and hot chocolate? Why couldn't they just have had a nice and quiet day? It had gone so well so far only to come crashing down around them. Zoe took another hard breath as she glanced up at Rose. "I didn't look for him, he found me and threatened the two of us. And to be honest Rose, I don't really care what anyone thinks of me."

After this she just put on a small smile as her eyes locked with Rose. That look in her eyes was almost frightening to Rose now that she saw it in light of these events. The experience behind them was now made clear as to what it really was. She slowly looked down at her hand that had pulled the trigger, and both of them could see just how badly it was shaking now.

"You said that you got off this path...you make it sound like you were once like me and you changed. Tell me....how did you do it?" Zoe asked as she looked towards Rose, the tears starting to form again. "I know that I'm sick...but I don't know what to do. Part of me feels like I was born to do this, but at the same time I hate it and I don't know what to do...so how did you do it? How did you ever stop?"

"You say it like it's so easy," Zoe said with a weak laugh as she looked over at Rose. "I've been doing this ever since my mother died. My father wanted me to learn how to protect myself. One day some men really did attack me and I was able to put them down before they even landed a single hit on me...it felt so good to not be weak, to take them down before they even touched me," the girl added as she once again seemed to clutch her jacket tighter around her body.

"My dad isn't the problem. He taught me how to shoot the gun, but I've the one that's been using them ever since," Zoe added before leaning back against the nearby wall. "I'm scared that I'm just some insane person. Some days it really bothers me...and some days I really just don't care about whoever I kill," she uttered weakly. "It scares me, not knowing what's going on in my own head."

Zoe was successful it seemed, as a small smile did come to Zoe's face as Rose spoke. Seemed like she was getting through to the girl a lot better than she originally thought. Never before had Zoe had someone in her life who listened and actually cared on the same level that Rose did. After what Zoe did most people would turn and run, as if they were afraid Zoe would pop them next. Rose was different though. She wasn't afraid.

Finally, Zoe leaned forward and gave Rose a firm hug as she rested her cheek on Rose's shoulder. "Seems like I got really lucky when I found you Rose....you're a good friend to have around."

"You and me both," Zoe said before turning and starting to walk down the alleyway once again. She just stopped suddenly before turning to her right and seeing a trash can by her. She was wearing gloves and she knew that there was no way they were going to trace the gun to her. She quickly reached in to her jacket before pulling out the small firearm. She only looked at it for a moment before dumping it in to the trash and putting the lid back on it. "Let's go."

---

It was a couple of hours later when Rose finally returned home. Neal was sitting on the couch, whistling to himself as he was reading a book in his hands. It was one that Clint had gotten him for Christmas, and now that it was the day after Neal had some time to dig in to it. As Rose came through the door he glanced up. "Ah, the prodigal daughter returns!" he said in a joking voice before pushing himself up in to a sitting position. "I hear you made a new friend."

Neal glanced over at Rose as she made herself comfortable on the couch. He wasn't sure what it was, but something just felt off about the way Rose was acting. She had been out all night, doing who knew what, and yet she came home and gave only the very base and vague details of what was going on. Something was off, Neal just had a feeling. "Hey...everything okay?" he asked as he kept his gaze steady with Rose's.

"Alright alright calm down," Neal said defensively as Rose responded the way that she did. "Just thought that something was wrong, guess I read it wrong. Sorry," he said sincerely before allowing a bit of quiet time to be had between them. "So, at least tell me about the girl," Neal said as he gained his small grin back. After all, he had heard Rose specifically mention that this friend of hers had been a female. He bet that there was quite the story behind there.

"Even if you don't wanna share details, at least tell me how she looks, scale of 1-10?"

Neal gave a low whistle as Rose revealed that this girl was probably around a solid ten or something close to that. It was only when the offer was placed forward that Neal raised a real eyebrow of interest. "Damn, a ten in your book is probably like a twelve in mine," he said jokingly before scratching his chin. "I know I've gotten around before but I've never actually tried a threesome before.....count me in," Neal said as he smiled at Rose. "I look forward to meeting this chick, she sounds interesting."

At that point, Jordan walked in to the room. "Neal," she began before looking to Rose and smiling at her. Jordan had slightly opened up more with Rose, mainly due to Rose enjoying the gift that Jordan got her. "Dad just shot me a call. Apparently there's some sort of a meeting for his squad that he heeds to go to. So he's going to be a little late tonight."

Neal nodded. "Alright sis, thanks for letting me know. I'll just order us a pizza or something since he's gone," he said to which Jordan quickly agreed before returning to her room. "So when do I get to meet this girl?"

Well, he hadn't seen that one coming. Course, knowing Rose as Neal did it made complete sense that she would put that kind of a requirement on something like this. Guess he'd just have to work something out, though he had no idea who he was going to do this with. "I guess that's fair, though I'll make sure that you approve of the guy before we actually meet up," Neal said with a smile. The deal was made it seemed.

"Now, is there anything specific you'd like for dinner. I told Jordan pizza but she's fine with anything. We can just drive and go pick anything up if you have a craving for anything."

"I figured that was one of those unspoken requirements," Neal said with a bit of a laugh. Man, this new friend of Rose's was apparently going to just add another interesting character to their life. It was going to be interesting to see how this went. Neal slowly stood up after that and went to grab his jacket. "Well I better go pick up some food. Do you wanna come with or just hang out here? You've been gone all day so I'll understand if you want to just relax here while I'm gone."

"Sounds fair enough, I'll be back soon," Neal said before slipping on his jacket, grabbing his keys, and eventually heading out the house and shutting the door behind him.

It was only ten minutes later that the house phone began to ring. It was answered quickly, most likely by Jordan in her room. It could have only been twenty seconds later that Rose would hear Jordan's door slamming, only to see the girl herself run out with a look of extreme worry and panic on her face. She looked around as if wondering if Neal was there before realizing that Rose was the only one in the room. What came out of Jordan's mouth next was only barely audible, as the level of fear and tears in her voice was great.

"Dad's been shot. They've taken him to the hospital!" she barely got out before collapsing to her knees.

To say that Jordan didn't reply well was an understatement. She always knew that there was a chance of her dad being hurt on the job, but that was different, it didn't actually happen in her mind. He hadn't called himself, it was one of the doctors that was working on him to remove the bullets from his body. He was going to be okay, at least she knew that much. Why? She just knew.

"Okay, it's Gotham General. I don't know what room he's in or what they're doing but that's where he is," Jordan said as she looked to Rose. She jumped on to the seat and quickly wrapped her arms around Rose. Rose would hardly feel the thin arms of Jordan around her, but they would be secure enough to get her to the hospital.