Summary:Batman tracks down Rose Wilson, trying to get some information on her father, Deathstroke. Log Info:Storyteller: N/A |
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Rose Wilson had been minding her own business. It'd been some time since she'd parted ways with her father, and now he was with the Thunderbolts. And she? Well. She was still on her own. She hadn't reverted to contracting again - yet. She'd been out. Out for drinks. Booze. Pick up a guy. Except the guy she'd picked up had said the wrong thing. And that's probably why her hand is caked in blood right now. So she was walking home, mouth set, firm.
The shot rings out, loud, in the alley, and it rips through Rose's shoulder and causes her to spin. Another shot fires, but Rose is already twisting and moving out of the way of where the shot -will- be. Instantly, too, she knows where the shot has come from and she's already running, straight for the man with the Glock pointed directly at her. He fires again. And, again. And again.
Each time she's moved. Evaded. Like she knows where the bullet is going to be, before it is. Then she's on him. Disarming him with effortless motion, twisting the gun away and putting him onto the ground, mercilessly.
The gun is pointed at his head. "Before I kill you," she says, darkly, "Tell me. Why is your pathetic ass trying to kill me?"
The man sneers, "I know who you are. I know -what- you are. Deathstroke took something from me. I was going to do the same to him." Hate, and vitriol are in his eyes.
And in Rose's? Not a shred of pity. "Too bad. You couldn't have killed me if you trained for another ten years. Loser." Her finger moves to pull the trigger…
Ever since he'd heard through the grapevine of what happened at the Apollo, Batman has been on the move. It's one thing when a new hero makes an emergence. But when a criminal - even one that's more mercenary than true villain - has his attention. And he needs information. Tracking Slade would be a task in of itself. He's good. Damn good at covering his tracks.
But everyone has a weakness, something that can be used. Or to be found for information.
In this case, much like himself, Slade has a child.
One that apparently has had a little too much fun tonight. He had followed her from the rooftops of the club. He had planned to track her down before she got back to her apartment with her date, but when that went sour, he held back. Just in case she went to her father instead.
However, because that did not happen, he finds himself in the alley, when Rose is shot the first time.
His hand reaches for the Batarang at his side. And then she starts to react. This brings him pause and observation as he watches her obvious pre-cog going to work to defeat the mugger. Eventually, easily, she takes the uper hand. But, the observation has come to an end, and it's a call to action.
There's a brief flash in the darkness as the flat part of the Batarang strikes Rose's hand, while the metallic tip jams itself in the slide mechanism.
"That's enough, Ravager." comes the voice. Dropping from the darkness almost as if he was a piece of it himself, the figure lands in the middle of the alley in front of Rose, keeping the would be assassin between himself and her. "He was sloppy. He can consider that in prison. We need to talk."
The fact that Rose even holds onto the gun when the Batarang hits it speaks to her own personal training. The fact she didn't see it coming? Well. That's probably what the downturn of her lips is about, and the half-silent curse that comes from her lips. She tosses the weapon away, her monocular eye narrowing, harshly, at Batman.
She cracks her knuckles, one-by-one, as she sizes up the Dark Knight. Assesses her chances. She doesn't have any of her weapons with her, just now. Batman has a full arsenal. The sour expression stays on her young features. "No. We really don't. But if I ever see his face again? I will kill him." She says this as much for Batman's benefit, as for the thug's.
Then, Rose turns, and moves to walk off, apparently giving Batman the very cold shoulder. She's not running, though. But it's clear she's washing her hands of the entire scene, at this point.
Where has Bruce heard that one before. Rising to his full height, the other man in the alley looks towards the figure and stammers, "You're dead! You're supposed to be dead!"
The Bat doesn't have the time or inclination to play into the man's fears. Instead, he's on him moments after Rose turns away, taking down the criminal and leaving him tied up in the alley for the police to come after. However, her threat towards the man is ignored, as his own footfalls follow after hers.
"Deathstroke has taken on a new job. He's kidnapped Harley Quinn. I want to know why." he growls out. "You give me that information, I walk away." His hand reaches to his utility belt. Another batarang?
No. This one is a first aid kit with zip-tie sutures. Tossing it to Rose, he makes sure it's noise. To alert her.
And to test her reflexes, as well as catching her expression as she turns towards him. "What do they have on your father to get them to do their dirty work?" He doesn't say who /they/ are.
Rose hears the noise, effortlessly catching the first aid kit with the very arm that'd been shot. She looks at it, even as she pauses in her footfalls to turn her head and her singular eye back to the disguised man in cape and cowl whom she doesn't seem to be the least bit afraid of. "Maybe he wanted a new girlfriend," Rose snarks back, dryly. "Men like those gymnastic girls, don't they?" She pointedly looks at Batman, as if to put this stereotype directly onto him, too.
It's unlikely she is going to make this easy. For either of them.
There's a small huff from the Bat. "Just as stubborn as your father." comes the response. Whether or not that was meant as a compliment is not made readily available to the woman. "Simply saying you don't have a clue would be enough." And that's to play on her abandonment issue.
He doesn't seem to be worried about whether or not that Ravager is scared. He stands there impassively, the lens of his cowl settled upon the platinum haired teenager.
"It could also be that he's looking for someone to replace someone that came up short. It would not be the first time, would it?" comes the Batman's question to Ravager. His tone is dry. No compassion. No pity. Just a simple address of the facts of the matter. "Someone who doesn't get themselves in situations like this."
The blue eye narrows again, her muscles tensing more and more with each word Batman speaks. Oh, he hit a nerve alright. At the last statement, her temper gets the better of her - this isn't a fight, and she's had a REALLY bad night, and she needs something to hit. It just so happens that the 'it' is one of the most renowned hereos in the world who happens to be in front of her.
Rose doesn't care. Rose doesn't care about anything. That's what she tells herself, at least.
The punch comes, calculated, hard, and fast - as hard as anything Batman might have ever taken from Deathstroke. "Go to hell," Rose snarls at the Dark Knight. Whether it hits, or is blocked, it's the only one she throws.
"You want answers about Deathstroke, go talk to him. I don't know what he's doing. Why the hell do you care, anyways? Quinn's insane. Now she's off your plate."
He watches her tense and prepare. As he moves to the side when she throws the punch, Batman's reflexes are quick - even if he's as old as he's rumored to be under that cowl, he's quick enough to deflect her. But there's no move to strike her back. Even if her wounded shoulder is well within the range of his grasp, he doesn't move to take it. Instead, he moves aside, letting Rose pass him by.
But of course, this also means she needs to go /through/ him in order to exit the alley. "We can do this all night, Ravager." he responds to her. "And I don't have all night."
"He didn't take her as a prisoner. He's recruited her." he says finally. "I don't have the details yet - but someone used your father to bring her in. And not take her to Belle Reve, Arkham, or any other facility."
"You're young. You're still telegraphing. You anger easily." he critiques her strike as he settles himself into position - though he still looks like he's just standing there, Rose knows better. "It'd be easier to go to the source. Probably wiser. But I'm not one to leave someone unprepared. And that is what you need to be…" he pauses for a few seconds.
"…Rose."
So. FRUSTRATING. So. Damn. FRUSTRATING.
Her teeth show as her face twists, the inner rage that he was just speaking about is visible on her features. It's exacerbated by the recent separation between her, and her father which is very much a sore point.
"You already know more than me. I haven't seen him in weeks. Maybe longer. Go. Ask. Him."
She takes a step back, jaw set, and she folds her arms. Sure, she angers easily. When someone is pressing all her buttons. "You know what you need to be? Less concerned with other people's business."
"Other people's business, when it's a threat to all, is my business." Batman responds, a corner of his lip giving an uptick. "If Deathstroke already has Harley, what else could they be looking for. They have the doctor, and the tactician. Who's next?" he points out to her, before he gives a single shake of his. Not disapproval. Something else.
"You could be much more than what you are now, Ravager, if you pull yourself up and stop trying to live in his shadow." Taking out a communicator, he tosses it towards her. "Secured frequency. You hear from him, you let me know." he offers to her. "And I'll let you go back to this…" he gestures to her condition.
Slightly inebriated. Angry. Pissed off. And not getting lucky tonight. His hand raises into the air as if to wave, and there's the hiss of pressure, before the line goes taunt and yanks the cloaked figure upwards, disappearing into the darkness from which he was borne.
Rose Wilson watches the Batman leave. She mutters under her breath, "Asshole," and moves to throw the communicator down on the ground with a careless toss and crunch it with her bootheel into oblivion. Then, at the last moment, she squints her eye, shakes her head, and the hand instead stuffs itself into her pocket. When it comes out? The communicator isn't there. At least for now, it seems Rose is willing to consider it. Or maybe she just thinks a secure channel to The Bat is something worth keeping.
She doesn't look back. Not even to the unconscious thug the Bat tied up. She walks back through Hell's Kitchen, back to her single apartment, already having made up her mind she won't go unprepared any longer. A few knives. A gun, perhaps. Next time, she goes out armed.