DC Genesis

A few minutes later and they were driving back home, heading back in the car that they had come in. They were going in silence, and Neal wasn't entirely certain what he should say. He knew that he should say something, but part of him still felt like Rose was going to bite his head off if he said anything to her about Zoe. She had basically made herself be alone since the incident after all.

"So, you're certain you want to work with Batman? Just because I want to doesn't mean that you have to."

"Fair enough," was all that Neal said before they eventually made their way home. They parked the car and Neal made his way inside, quickly giving Jordan an excuse as to why he and Rose went out. He merely said that they went and grabbed some food and talked. Jordan didn't really question it, since she knew that Rose was going through such a hard time right now.

Now that they were home, it seemed like now they would just have to wait.

Jordan glanced up as a knock came at her door. She was so unaccustomed to it that she legitimately had no idea who it was at the door. Rose had never come to Jordan's room before, not while Jordan was here at least. When she saw Rose her eyes widened for a moment. "Rose," was all that Jordan managed to say before realizing that she was being rude. She quickly closed the book that she was reading and threw it over on her nightstand by her bed.

"Yeah we can talk, is everything okay?"

Jordan quickly nodded as Rose spoke, wanting to show that she clearly understood. "I've never lost anyone except my mom," Jordan admitted as she looked over at Rose. "I know that I can't help you much, but I guess I just wanted to remind you that you're not alone. We're all worried about you and want you to be happy," the girl said as she looked up at the older one. "I know you've only been here a few weeks, but you should know that we all care about you here."

Jordan just sat there as she wrapped her arms around her knees. She listened as Rose spoke, and she pretended like she didn't notice that Rose was rubbing at her eye as if she was about to cry. Jordan figured that Rose wouldn't want to be seen like this, so the least Jordan could do was pretend like it didn't happen. When Rose brought up her mother though, Jordan's head shot up for a moment. She had no idea that Rose had gone through anything like that. She hadn't said anything after all. Jordan felt like she should say something, but Rose was having a hard enough time as it was, so she would say nothing for now.

"It's okay Rose. Just remember that we might not be able to do much, but we have your back. We're here for you as long as you need us."

Neal was in the bathroom while the entire exchange between Rose and Jordan had taken place. He just finished washing his hands and walked towards his room. He opened the door and blinked for a moment as he saw that Rose was asleep on his bed. Dang, the girl must have really worked herself out from earlier. Neal wasn't quite sure what to do, as he still felt like things were strange between him and Rose. He moved over and gently moved the blanket before laying it over Rose. Afterwards, he walked back out to the living room and laid down on the couch before setting his alarm to nine. He wanted to make sure that they had plenty of time to get to where they were going after all. With that done, he closed his own eyes and was out soon afterwards.

Rose wasn't the only one that seemed to be stunned by the layout of where they just arrived at. As the blindfolds were taken off, Neal's eyes probably grew twice in size as he looked around at the place. Just where the hell were they? This looked like something from a futuristic movie or something. Neal could hardly believe his eyes as he looked around at everything. The car, the gadgets, the costumes, all of it just looked incredible.

"My god, it looks like this place has everything," Neal admitted as his eyes were still taking it all in. Hell, they even had a dinosaur in the cave for some reason. Neal couldn't help but wonder what kind of value that had for being down here.

Neal was surprised as Batman said that he had looked in to Neal's medical records in order to figure out how to make a costume that would fit him. Neal wasn't sure what kind of an answer to expect from Batman, but that wasn't it. Still, he was thankful that he didn't really have anything to hide or anything embarrassing.

When Batgirl made the comment about what Batman might have done to Rose, Neal was torn between nervousness and laughing. He assumed that Batgirl was kidding, but a part of him really wasn't that sure right now. Batman was they type of person that would do something like that. Perhaps Neal would have to watch his back more often from now on. "So, where are these costumes exactly?"

At first Neal was going to side with Rose when it came to picking out their own costumes, but it was Batman that cut Rose off by explaining that they could only design their own costumes by earning it through their experiences and successes. When Batman spoke like that, Neal was quick to shut his mouth so that he wouldn't receive a verbal lashing.

"Your old one?" Neal questioned curiously as he thought about what Nightwing was exactly implying. He glanced over at Batgirl and gave a bit of a chuckle. "I hope that doesn't mean I'm getting your old one."

"Good to know, if it did I'd have a few concerns," Neal said with a smile as he walked with the others. Eventually he took the container that held his costume and looked at it curiously. He couldn't help but wonder what was in it, but he decided to just go with it. He took a deep breath before heading off to the various changing areas to see how well the costume fit.

---

It fit surprisingly well. Batman didn't mess around when he took measurements and made this kind of stuff. He knew that this was armor that was supposed to protect him, but at the same time it felt like it was specifically designed for him and no one else. First came the layers of clothing and protection, than the hood and the mask that further covered Neal's face. He couldn't deny that he liked the look. He felt safe, but also light enough that he felt like he could still run at normal speeds.



Neal walked out of the changing room as he placed the gloves on and made sure that everything fit properly. "Okay, now this is cool," he admitted as he looked himself over. As he looked up though he glanced over at Rose and saw what she was wearing. "Nice look Rose. Red is clearly your color," he said with a small smile upon his face.

Neal just saved his comments to himself once again. Rose clearly hated the outfit that she had been given, and apparently she was annoyed about the one that Neal got in comparison to her. Perhaps Batman was just big on saving material and reusing it, who could say? Still, he was glad that he got this one while Rose had gotten her Robin one. He had a feeling that if he brought it up again that she would punch him in the face though.

"Training sounds good," Neal admitted as he tried to quickly change the subject and help Batgirl get the situation moving forward. "So how do we start?"

"Good luck out there," Neal called after Batman. It was only after he said it that he realized just how dumb that really sounded. He was freaking Batman after all. He was probably the one person that didn't need any luck to get his work done. Neal soon turned to Batgirl and smiled. He was actually looking forward to starting to train with these guys. He had a feeling that this would be really rewarding.

---

There was rewarding, and than there was pain. Right now Neal was feeling the latter much more strongly. Neal had thought that what Rose did was extensive, but it was nothing compared to what these people were asking of them. Once again, Neal wasn't the fattest dude on the block, but he certainly wasn't prepared to start on this level. He did the best that he could, but it would be obvious to everyone that he wasn't as ready as Rose was for this. He had a long way to go.

Once they finally called it quits, Neal quickly just fell on his butt so that he could sit down. He felt like he could hardly move. He was breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from his brow. This costume was definitely going to be good for protection, but damn if it didn't make the world twice as hot. Still, he didn't say anything. He had been the one that was so eager to volunteer after all.

By the time that Batgirl dragged Nightwing away, to obviously stop him from seeing Rose in her current condition, Neal started to change as well. "Well, I'm not sure what I was expecting but this is a lot harder than what was going through my head," Neal admitted as he took his uniform off and stripped down to his boxers. He looked down at the costume for a moment. "Did they say what they wanted us to do with these?" Neal asked as he honestly couldn't remember if they had said or not.