The world's a harsh place, picking on the sane of mind and twisting the nicest people into the most cold and ruthless monsters you could imagine. Gotham is full of those people, filled to the brim with filth and backstabbers. Rose knew better than to trust them but she couldn't help it, after being on the streets for two cold nights and long gruesome days she needed help. There was only one option of all the villains she could think of. The king of madness himself, only he would be insane enough to help her, that is without doing unspeakable things to her.
Word on the street is he was looking for someone to carry on the destruction, since he got the idea from Batman and Robin. Every part of her heart and mind screamed at her to go back, to run from the madness but she knew of no other option. The building ahead of her looked like a skeletal hand, waiting to grab her and drag her under the ground to the darkness for the rest of eternity. A crash sent her heart crazy, and made her stomach convulse. As dread filled her she watched a figure much larger than her slink out of the shadows in the decrepit alleyway.
"Hey kid, don't you know better than to stray from mommy?" He sneered, smirking as he stepped closer with a sharpened knife raised into the air. Rose pushed Austin and Alex further behind her, grasping their hands tighter while trying to still her quaking knees.
"G-go away!" With a quivering voice she tried to sound and look brave, which just turned out to be a nervous stutter and a grimace.
"I don't think I will. What're you gonna do girlie? I think after I kill you I'll take those two kids and sell them, might bring in some good cash," Coming forward with a dangerous glint in his eyes, the thug grinned revealing stained, yellow teeth.
Time seem to slow as he lunged, blade glinting in the rusty moon light, her life flashing through her mind piece by piece. The next thing she knew was a searing pain from her cheek down to the right corner of her lips. A scream echoed into the chaos of the city, a regular sound of the night. Falling onto the ground she immediately put her hand on the pain, hoping to dull it. A throb went through the regular pain, causing her to whimper and clutch her wound tighter.
"Sit still brat, I promise I'll kill you rather quickly," he demanded, aiming for her throat. She ducked her head just a millisecond before he would've hit her Adam's apple, causing another piece of skin to be torn away by the knife. Droplets of blood pattered onto the cement sidewalk, staining it red. The man had lunged with force causing him to end up falling onto the ground, the knife slipping out of his clenched fist.
"Damn it!" He hissed, clutching his head where he hit it, causing him to be dazed for a second. That second was all Rose needed to act on instinct. Her brain instantly sent her to grab the knife and the thug in the back of the neck. His eyes widened and he gasped, inhaling his own blood and choking him. Grasping desperately at the knife in his neck he tried to pull it out, only causing more blood to rush up and into his lungs.
Rose backed away in horror, staring at her hands covered in the metallic smelling substance. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she stared at the man she had killed. Backing up slowly she bumped into something solid.