Hi. So, this may or may not be the first of a segment of short stories based off of the main female character presented. Enjoy!

Dangerous Woman

July 10th 2016

"Good morning Dr. Eisenhower," the small prisoner said as she offered him a toothy smile. The doctor, Dr. Eisenhower, was surprised by her voice as he had been talking to a guard when he entered the interrogation room. "Be careful of her tricks," the guard had warned him. "She may look cute and cuddly on the outside but on the inside she's a stone cold killer." The doctor hadn't thought much about the guard's advice. When he had looked over the young woman's file earlier, he'd made all the conclusions he needed about her. He thought he believed that she was in fact a heartless killer who carried no feelings or remorse. He believed she was just as much of a psychopath as her partner was. In the mug shots given to him with the files, she was always sporting a toothy smile with her wide eyes filled with amusement. He had thought she looked crazy. Yet, as he looked at her then in reality, he couldn't help but to not see what the information had made her out to be. She was petite in size with noticeable curves and long legs. Her skin was pale from the lack of good nutrition, some of her blue veins visible on her arms and face. She had a mane of curly pink hair and bright green eyes that sparkled even under the poorly lit room. Dr. Eisenhower admitted that she was pretty with her wide eyes, curled eyelashes, plump pink lips, and naturally arched eyebrows. He thought she had a look of potential, though he knew better otherwise.

"Ms. Rose," Dr. Eisenhower replied as the shock from her beauty began to wear off on him. He took a seat across from her at the table in the center of the room. He offered her a smile back. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine, sir." Her voice contained a strong southern city accent, warm and thick. Yet, there was also a softness in her voice that lay under her accent. She sounded almost motherly. "I've heard you're the new big doctor around this hell hole," she continued to speak. "I was expecting some old man with thick rimmed glasses and a belly the size of Texas." Dr. Eisenhower let out a soft laugh as he adjusted his glasses on his nose. "You're pretty young…and handsome." The doctor coughed as blush threatened to creep up his cheeks. He had dealt with many convicts before in his few years as the psychiatrist in the nationally known prison, but never did one make him feel the way he did then. She was intimidating in a strange way. She wasn't mean or rough or empty-eyed. She didn't fit the bill that other psychopaths he'd come across had set for him. She actually seemed normal.

"Rosalinda Anne Rose is your full name, correct?" She perked up, her eyebrows raising in surprise.

"How do you know my birth name?"

"Missing persons was able to help us with discovering your identity…your true identity that is."

"So you have information about my sister?" Her eyebrows crinkled together in worry as she fidgeted in her chair. The doctor noticed that her hands were bound together in front of her on the table. The chains around her wrist didn't bother him but the faded scars on her skin did.

"They have located her," he admitted. "They've told me that she's doing well." The smile returned on her face as she let out a sigh of relief.

"Good…good. I haven't seen her in years." She fidgeted again as her green eyes looked down. "I suppose she doesn't wish to see me."

"I'm not up to date with their communication with her, unfortunately." She nodded, her eyes returning up to meet the doctor's. "We should get back on track." The doctor reached down into his bag to pull out a notebook, a recorder, and her hefty file folder. He clicked on the recorder before beginning to speak. "Ms. Rose, you are aware that this is a psychological examination that could either earn you a lighter sentence or the sentence that the prosecutors are shooting for."

"What sentence is that?"

"The death penalty." The woman held his gaze as the silence ensued after his reply. She didn't seem afraid or worried about what he'd just said. In fact, she didn't seem to have a reaction at all. She just continued to stare at him with her wide emerald eyes. "Are you aware of the circumstances of the examination?"

"Yes."

"Good." He opened her huge folder. "Where shall we start, Ms. Rose? Do you wanna talk about your childhood, the abduction? Or do you wish to jump right into your relationship with Mr. Delgado?"

"Wait, what exactly are you asking me to do? I'm not…I can't tell on him. You don't know what he'll do if I tell…" The woman, Rosalinda, curled up into herself as she said this. Her thick accent became frail and filled with fear. The doctor couldn't help but to want to comfort her. He was aware that some of the things listed in the file were not things that she'd done willingly. He made sure he was fully aware of the abuse she had faced during the past eight years. He wanted to make himself fully able to examine her with everything taken into consideration. While he wasn't endorsing that maybe she was just a victim, he wasn't completely convinced that she was as cold-hearted as the crimes made her out to be.

"Everything you say will not be new to me, Ms. Rose. You don't have to think that you're telling on him. You're simply retelling what's happened from your point of view. You don't have to be afraid of talking openly. He's not going to hurt you anymore." Rosalinda's green eyes held the doctor's for a moment before she slowly nodded.

"My childhood doesn't matter much in this situation. My sister and I were raised in a good Christian home in South Carolina. Our parents loved us very much. They rarely yelled at us and only beat us when we deserved it. They were good people. My sister and I weren't abducted until I was about thirteen and she was ten. We were…we were waiting for our parents one night after an evening mass at church. Amy wanted to go outside since some of her friends were out there and I followed her to make sure she would be alright. We didn't even wander five feet away from the church before the men scooped us up and stuffed us into a car. It happened so quickly that Amy and I didn't know how to handle it for the few years following. I like to think I had it a lot worse than she did considering I was older and they could put me to more use for their…customers. But my sister had it bad too. I wasn't around as much as she needed me to be because they'd take me away and make me do what they wanted. At night she'd cry in my arms, praying to God that things would get better…that this was all one bad dream. She stopped praying after a year, and eventually she stopped crying too." Rosalinda shrugged. "She lost hope."

"How did you take the adjustment?"

"I didn't have the room too, Dr. Eisenhower. When you have a ten year old crying in your arms and yelling about wanting to go home and not being able to provide that her…not being able to protect her like a big sister is supposed to… Doctor, there is no room for reaction. I had no choice but to be strong for my sister. I was all she had and I had to set an example."

"How long were you with the Marrioti business for?"

"Six years," she answered quickly. The doctor scribbled in his notebook.

"Can you describe your experience with the Marrioti business?"

"It wasn't terrible," she admitted as her fingers tapped each other timidly. "Boss let us live in an apartment complex he owned with all our own apartments. He kept our food supply stocked, and he gave us half of the share of money we made off customers. Most of the girls used the money to pamper themselves. They'd get their hair done, nails done – the full spa treatment. Amy and I put ours in checking accounts in case we ever got out."

"And your captor allowed you to do that?"

"Boss let us do a lot of things. We weren't prisoners, Dr. Eisenhower. We were just his workers…his whores if that's what you wish to call us. We were free to roam around the city as we wished and do what we wanted as long as we always showed up for our shifts at the club. He wasn't a controlling man. Even his son, Sonic, didn't keep a short leash on us. He was the one who was in charge of us for the most part, and he didn't care what we did a good half the time. They knew we'd have nowhere to go. It's not like we could turn them in without going down ourselves."

"Mr. Marrioti's son, Sonic…you mentioned him to one of the other psychiatrists."

"Yes," Rosalinda replied cautiously.

"You mentioned that he was one of the first to sexually assault you," the doctor read off of her highlighted file. He glanced up at her to see that she had fidgeted.

"Yes," she murmured, her green eyes once again shooting down to her cuffed hands before her.

"How did you feel the first time a man touched you against your will?"

"Disgusting," Rosalinda said as her mouth curled up into a grimace. "I tried to fight back against him, but he was stronger, and I was supposed to comply. He kept whispering in my ear to be good or else he was going to make it worse." Her hands curled into small fists. "He gave me no mercy the first time. His father must have done something to tick him off – they fought often and sometimes Sonic would take his anger out on us. For a sixteen year old boy, he was filled with so much rage. It only got worse as we all got older." She sighed. "I used to be thankful that he was usually sort of nice to my sister and I. He never hit us or assaulted us more than once. I don't think he ever did anything to Amy that she didn't want."

"They were beginning to have a relationship when Mr. Delgado took you away, correct?"

"They were having sex," she spat. "I wouldn't exactly call that a relationship." Rosalinda looked up, her bright green eyes entrancing the doctor. Something flickered in her emerald orbs as she spoke. "Look, I know I'm getting off topic and you say that you're not up to date with the government's communication with her. But, if you know something – anything about how's she's doing then I'd really appreciate it if you would tell me." The doctor sighed deeply.

"She's doing well," he admitted. "She's married now…to the Sonic you mentioned. From what I've been told, they both left the sex business behind and made something new of themselves. Sonic is now CEO of a major marketing firm, and your sister is a nurse. They also have a little baby girl. She's very happy." Rosalinda smiled widely, her shoulders relaxing. The doctor wasn't lying about her sister. Amy had gotten married to the Sonic who'd once been an abuser to the girls his father captured. The boy had happened to be unnaturally smart and got away from his father as soon as he'd gotten his master's degree. Amy had gone with him, and they'd started a new life. Dr. Eisenhower had gotten the chance to talk to her privately about her sister. She was very nice and spoke very highly of her sister despite all the horrible deeds she'd done. Her sister promised to even testify in her favor when her case went to trial. Amy was sure that Rosalinda couldn't have done the things she did by her own will…or in her right mind.

"Thank you," Rosalinda said, her smile softening as she contained her relief. The doctor returned the smile before coughing to hide it.

"After Sonic assaulted you, did you feel the same way when other unfamiliar men did?"

"Yes, but after a while I kind of got used to the feeling. I think I just started to ignore the disgust in my stomach whenever they'd do what they wanted. I'd just imagine going home and taking a long shower to make myself feel better. I'd stay in there for over an hour sometimes, just standing under the water and wondering if I could accept what I'd been made into."

"Did you ever accept that girl…the one who was one of Mr. Marrioti's most valuable girls?"

"Yes," she murmured. "When you've been told you're something for so long, you just start to believe it rather than willingly accept it. I never wanted to be a whore. I never wanted to be a killer. I never asked for anything this life has thrown at me. My life, as you can see, has been forced on me from the time I was taken up in that van. I have never gotten the chance to make a real decision for myself."

"You never chose to run away with Mr. Delgado?" The doctor raised his eyebrow. In her file, her sudden absence at the Marrioti club was described as more of a disappearance – a runaway girl. At the beginning of the night, she was at the club working, but by the end of the night she was gone without a trace. Mr. Marrioti had tried to track her checking account but it'd been drained completely the morning before she disappeared. That little piece of information made it seem as if her leaving was intentional and premeditated.

"Not exactly," she admitted. The doctor scribbled in his notebook again, his eyebrows pulling together in thought.

"Alright. Start from the beginning. How did the two of you meet?"

"Well, I was working one night and I was hiding in one of the rooms behind the bar doing some math problems out of one of the textbooks some college kids left behind. Sonic found me and told me to deliver a drink to a customer at one of our pool tables all the way in the back. The customer happened to be Scourge."Her hands began to shake a bit as she mentioned his name.

"What did you think the first time you saw him?"

"I thought he was beautiful," she said as her lips threatened to pull up into a small smile. "He had those light blue eyes that made me feel all mushy inside when he looked at me. His hair looked so soft and curly. And his body…he looked like he was sculpted from the gods themselves." She blinked as her smile widened. "He joined me to play pool with him, and I accepted. We played, and drank for a while before I started getting tired. I'd been up prepping the club all day so I was worn out by one o' clock. He gave me his number, and he promised he'd see me the next day."

"And did he see you?"

"Yes. We started hanging out for the next month or so. He would show up to the club early, pay for my company for the entire night, and we'd spend time together. We'd talk, play pool, get drunk, make out…but we never had sex. Sometimes he seemed a bit reluctant to even touch on me when we'd make out in a corner. After experiencing so many men being so eager to grope on you, it felt nice to have someone who was considerate of their pace and paid attention to your needs. I thought he was a real gentlemen, as stupid as that sounds."

"What happened when he began to have to share you with the other customers?" Her smile immediately fell, her eyes shooting back down to her hands.

"He wasn't very happy when other customers bought me before he could. At first, he was never directly mad at me. He would be a bit irritated, but not at me. But when it started happening more frequently, he began to get really upset. He would never express it directly, but he would hold me tighter and his kisses were less gentle. He started to become a bit possessive in the way he handled me. About two weeks before he got me out of the business, he dragged me into one of the bedrooms and fucked me so hard. I know it sounds inappropriate, but I don't know how else to explain it. He definitely did not make love to me. I know how that feels from the other times we've slept together after that happened, and it felt nothing like that. He was rough, merciless, and dominant. He tied my wrists up, and he kept gripping me up by my neck. I will admit that I'd liked it, but I couldn't help but find it a bit strange when he kept telling me to repeat that I was his and to call him certain names that implied possession. He disappeared for a little while before he came back. I'd thought he left me behind, but I was so happy when I saw he'd come back. Though, he was different when I saw him after our intercourse. His eyes had a darkness in them that I'd never seen in him before, and his face was so cold." Her small shoulders shuddered. "I never thought I'd be afraid of him," she murmured. "That night, one of the other customers had bought me before he could. I wasn't sure what I was expecting out of him, but I know I didn't expect for him to pull out a gun and shoot the man in cold blood. Hell, I wasn't expecting for him to shoot up the whole entire club."

"What did you do while the shooting went on?"

"I tried to run…to find my sister. I knew she was around somewhere and I wanted to make sure she was safe. I found her hiding under the bar. She was crying…like the ten year old she used to be. I tried to convince her that everything would be okay, that we would get out of there safely." A lone tear fell from her eyes. "He found us hiding back there behind the bar along with some of the other girls. He shot them without a second thought. He…he pointed the gun at Amy and I…" Amy began to shake, her memory of the fear showing clear on her face. "I remember shielding my sister with my own body, and begging him to let us live. He lowered his gun and motioned with it as he told me to come to him."

"And did you go?"

"He told if I didn't then he'd kill us both," she replied quickly as she looked back up. "I couldn't let my sister down…I couldn't let her die so I crawled over to him. Amy kept trying to hold on to me, She was crying, and pleading for me not to leave her. I forced myself to pull her off of me and tell her to be strong. He left without harming my sister. He took me to a hotel he'd been staying at over the past month, and left me alone in the bedroom so that he could wash the blood off of him. I laid in that bed and cried harder than I ever had." The doctor felt his stomach twist up as more tears fell from Rosalinda's emerald eyes. She had looked away again, her fingers wrapping around each other. "I think I cried myself to sleep, because when I woke up it was morning and he was gone. I tried to get out, but he had tied me to the bed. I had no choice but to lay there and wait until he got back."

"And what happened when he did come back?"

"He gave me a new pair of clothes and shoes to wear. He gave me a huge bag of cash that he claimed was from the checking account I'd told him I had. He promised that once we were out of Jersey, I'd be able to use it to get some new clothes and such. He was so nice to me… He apologized for the scene I'd had to witness, and he promised that I'd get used to it. I asked him who he was…why he did what he did."

"And what did he say?"

"He told me that he always gets what he wants." She fidgeted in her seat. "He got me a new ID, a passport…a new identity. We went to New Mexico…far away from my sister and my old life. He let me explore around the city as I wished at first. He let me shop for new clothes, and get a new hairstyle. I was a blonde for a long while. He didn't want to risk someone finding me off of my red hair. He was still nice to me for a while. He took me on dates, made love to me, talked about a future with me…a normal future. He made me forget about the night he shot up the club. I fell in love with him during that first year or so."

"How did his behavior start to change after your first year together?"

"It was subtle, at first. Usually, he'd be very irritable and bossy. Then he started to be more demanding, and he'd hit me when I didn't do what he'd asked."

"How did you feel when he hit you?"

"I felt like I deserved it. I mean, he wouldn't hit me over sexual things or anything. He'd ask me to run errands for him or clean the house or something little like that. Sometimes I'd just forget and he'd hit me for it. I felt like a kid who was just being punished for not doing their chores." She sighed. "We went on like that for a little while. But, I'd do a lot of things on purpose to make him angry. I used to be a feisty little thing before he broke down whatever spirit I had. I'd argue with him, physically fight him sometimes, and I'd attempt to leave on a daily basis. He'd beat me all the time, but I got used to the pain. Honestly, I began to enjoy the pain. Most of my life, I'd become accustomed to sexual pain and my body was lacking the lingering feeling of disgust. So, my body fed into his angry rages towards me and the negative emotions he'd push onto me. I used to swear that I'd hated him and that he hated me. Even when we'd have sex, it wasn't what it was the first year. It was similar to that of our first intercourse." She shook her head. "Once he instilled some of the anger he had into me, Scourge began to train me in combat and gun use. He used to make me fight him every other day, leaving us both with bruises and cuts everywhere. He taught me how to shoot a gun, how to kill without leaving a trace, how to lay low… He had a bachelor's degree in Criminology so he basically knew his whole way around the criminal justice system. He trained me in everything he knew before he had me perform my first kill for him."

"Can you describe that experience to me?"

"He had me break into a girl's house and stab her to death. The trick to it was that the girl and I were friends. Her name was Brittany…she was my first friend down in New Mexico. When Scourge first told me what he wanted me to do, I refused and called him crazy. She was my friend… Of course, he didn't care. He beat me until I agreed. So, I snuck into her house and seduced her in a way. She was a lesbian, and I knew she had some feelings for me." A small smile came upon her lips. "Hell, I might have had some for her too. But then again, I think I'd have feelings for anyone who was genuinely nice and cared about me." She shook her head. "Anyway, I seduced her and coerced her into sexual actions with me. A part of me did it to make Scourge angry, but another part of me liked the deceit. Brittany didn't know what was coming, and that thought excited me. After we were finished, I'd gone downstairs to grab a knife and some beers from her kitchen. When I got back up to her room, I seduced her again but this time when I got on top of her…I began to seriously choke her. I gave her a fair chance to fight for her life…and she took it. She fought back against me. Hell, we fought for a good ten minutes before I took advantage and stabbed her."

"And then you stabbed her seventy-two times, correct?"

"Yes," Rosalinda admitted, her voice turning frail. "I hadn't realized how much anger had built up inside of me. Everything that I'd been holding inside since my sister and I got kidnapped just came out. With every jab I took, I felt my anger rise. I didn't want to stop, honestly. I felt exhilarated, liberated, and angry…I felt so angry." Another tear left her eye. "Scourge had to grab me to get me to stop. I almost stabbed him too, if he hadn't calmed me down. He held me tight in his arms. He kept murmuring how proud he was of me. I hadn't heard that phrase in so long that I guess I just opened my will up to him more because I wanted to be something good in someone's eyes."

"And he made you feel as if you were appreciated…loved?"

"For the most part, yes. Doctor, I will be honest with you…I know what we did to all of those innocent people was wrong. I know that they didn't deserve to die and I know that we don't deserve to live. But, there were some people…some really bad people who Scourge gave me the chance to get back at for both of our sakes. We did kill some sex traffickers to free some young girls, we did kill some drug lords who killed a lot more people than we did…we did do this world some justice."

"The key word, Ms. Rose is 'some.' The two of you killed 'some' people who were doing bad things, and that's only because they got in your way. Mr. Delgado and you, Ms. Walsh, killed a lot of innocent people. The number is over a hundred due to your mass shootings and bombings. The two of you were more than just serial killers; you two were cold blooded maniacs who killed for the thrill of it. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Do you understand, completely, why Mr. Delgado is the way he is?"

"He was severely abused as a child and then his parents were murdered in front of him. He told me the sob story a long time ago."

"No," the doctor replied with more gruff than he intended. While clearly, Rosalinda had been knocked off her rocker long before Mr. Delgado came along, he still felt anger towards her. She admitted that she knew what she was doing was completely wrong and immoral yet she did it anyway for the sake of having someone care about her. He didn't know whether to pity her due to all the abuse she'd faced for the past fourteen years of her life or to be angry that she uses the abuse as an excuse to play the victim. "Mr. Delgado is a classified psychopath; he is violent, aggressive, manipulative, and has no ability to feel any type of emotion. He was never abused, Ms. Rose. He grew up in a family similar to yours. His parents were Catholics who went to Church every Sunday, participated and donated to community events, and worked with people directly. His father was a doctor and his mother was a school teacher. From their records and interviews taken from their family and friends, they were the sweetest people you could ever meet. But, their son…their son was cut from a completely different cloth. The neighbors said that he was a bit strange…not very sociable or talkative or friendly. He stuck to himself for the most part. His parents took him to a psychiatrist to have him examined after his violent behavior at school began to get worse. The doctor x-rayed and studied his brain to find that he is biologically a psychopath. Not even a month after the doctor discovered this, his parents were found dead – beaten and stabbed to death and Mr. Delgado had disappeared without a trace. Do you understand what I'm saying Ms. Rose?"

"I think so," Gabrielle replied, her eyebrows crinkling together in confusion. "You're saying that Scourge was born this way…?"

"Yes. He's severely mentally ill. His parents were getting ready to have him get treatment in a psychiatric ward. The detectives assume that's why he killed them. There's also the theory and proof from his psychological examinations that he generally hates every human being and their decision to send him away caused him to snap completely."

"But…but he cares about me," Rosalinda said weakly.

"No he doesn't. Mr. Delgado does not carry the ability to care about anyone…not even himself." Dr. Eisenhower raised his eyebrows as Rosalinda began to sob softly in front of him. She leaned her head down into her hands, and cried loudly. She kept shaking her head, murmuring "I'm sorry" and "God forgive me." The doctor sighed as he got up from his seat and made his way over to her. He knelt down beside her chair, and lightly hugged her.

"Shh," he murmured into her shirt. "It's alright now."

"No it's not," she croaked. "I killed all those people…I did it all for him and he was just using me to help him fuel whatever anger he has against humanity. I was just his pawn…his stupid sidekick. The fucking newspapers even called us the real life Joker and Harley Quinn." She shook her head. "I just wanna be good for someone. I just wanna be good…"

"You are good, babe," an unfamiliar voice said from the now open doorway. Both the doctor and Rosalinda shot up from their positions. Rosalinda's eyes filled with fear as her body began to shake. The doctor could only stand there, staring down the very man who'd caused the poor girl's demise. He was holding a gun, his stolen guard clothes covered in blood. The doctor's first response was to press the button under the table to call for the guards. The man chuckled from his spot as he walked closer. "Your little guard dogs are dead, doctor," he told him. He raised his gun. "And you will be too if you don't give me what I want."

"Please," Rosalinda whimpered as she stood up. She stepped behind the doctor, pressing her arm against his. "Please don't make me go with him. I'll be good, I promise."

"What do you want," the doctor asked cautiously.

"Don't play dumb," the man yelled sharply. "I want her. I would've left this shithole by now if I didn't have to come back for her."

"Why did you come back," Rosalinda asked. "You can't care about me so why do you keep me around? Why don't you just kill us both right here and be done with all of this?"

"Because you're too useful to me. Now come here or I'll hit you so hard in the head with this gun that you'll have brain damage." Rosalinda hesitated. "I said come here," the man yelled, his voice causing the small woman to flinch. She took a step towards him, but the doctor grabbed her arm.

"You can't go with him," he whispered to her.

"If I don't, he'll kill you."

"Why does that matter to you?"

"Because you're a sincere man, Dr. Eisenhower. You don't deserve to die like this. I couldn't save all of those other innocent people so I might as well save you." She leaned up on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek. "I have to go now." She slowly walked towards her boyfriend who wrapped his arm around her and pulled her tight against him. The man, Scourge, eyed up the doctor slowly before holding up his gun again. "Scourge no," Rosalinda said.

"Shut up," he growled at her. "We always said no survivors." With that, he shot the gun though it made no sound with the silencer on it. The doctor heard Rosalinda's soft scream of protest as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. The last thing he saw was Scourge's blood lusting smirk and the humanity in Rosalinda's eyes fade into a darkness as cold as the one he slipped into.

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