Grand Theft Auto: The Innocent Rose.

Chapter 14: Rosa's Passion.

Hours after returning from their shopping trip having returned with enough food to last them months, clothes for both Marco and Lucas, basic incidentals such as hygienics and multiple packs of cigarettes for Marco, but Rosa had noticed that when they'd stopped for lunch at a popular café that often served celebrities that Marco had made himself scarce and hadn't returned at all.

Rosa laid on top of the sheets of her bed alone while dressed in a simple pair of stonewash jeans and a polka dotted t-shirt; her thoughts a mess of what was happening in Vice City now that Douglas had taken over, why hadn't The Police gotten involved in The Battle of Starfish Island? What happened to Ryder? Angelo? And Sarah?, all these thoughts spiralled in her mind until Marco's voice called her nickname from the hallway..

"Hey Princess! Can you come out here we got a surprise for you".

"Ugh… didn't Mom ever tell you that I don't like surprises!" Rosa shouted back out into the hallway; partly relieved that Marco had returned and sounded healthy apart from his raspy voice from smoking for so many years, pulling herself up from out of her bed and following Marco out into the driveway where Marco and Lucas stood waiting.

"Took your sweet time girlie; TA DA!" Marco spoke with a grin as he stepped to one side revealing that he'd been standing in front of a gleaming Nemesis Motorcycle; the bike had been painted a shiny metallic green, its model and make similar to that of her previous Sanchez but with much better handling and speed.

"You got me a Motorcycle! And it's a Nemesis!" Rosa moved so quickly towards the Motorcycle that she briefly vanished from Marco's and Lucas' fields of view, kneeling down and inspecting the engine, the tires before her fingertips touched the key left in the ignition.

"Yes I did; it's not exactly the fastest model or biggest brand in the city but it'll do the trick" Marco spoke with a wide smirk; having sneaked away during the shopping trip to meet a contact and purchased the Nemesis Motorcycle.

"How much did this set us back by exactly?" Lucas questioned shooting Marco a questioning look when money was a cause for concern in their present predicament after spending so much money of food, clothes and incidentals but they still lacked guns or means to defend themselves if found by The Haitians.

"Well if you win the ten-thousand dollar prize for coming in First Place then we earn back the cost and some extra cash on the side for a big victory dinner or party" Marco spoke with a wide grin that showed the effects of smoking on his teeth; expressing his knowledge that Rosa planned on entering The Motorcycle Race in a month.

"A Nemesis Motorcycle… it's gorgeous! Can I ride it right now?" Rosa span on the spot; gazing at Marco with glittering gleamy eyes.

"Sure; I don't see why not" Marco shrugged his shoulders; thinking that letting Rosa have some fun with something other than Lucas would improve her mood even further and keep her mind off Vice City's current state.

"I do! We're supposed to be laying low" Lucas cut in; drawing Marco's and Rosa's attention to him instead of the shiny Nemesis Motorcycle.

"Lucas… let the girl have some fun" Marco spoke so casually that his words disarmed any worrisome thoughts that Lucas had in mind about their protection and prevention of being discovered by their enemies.

"Marco… has this been modified?" Rosa spoke with a wide smile cracking across her face; having been examining the engine while Lucas and Marco spoke.

"It sure is baby-girl! You got yourself there an EMS Engine Upgrade, All-Terrain Tires, Sport Brakes and Transmission, I also had it repainted green like your old Sanchez" Marco smirked a little wider upon hearing Rosa's question and felt impressed that she noticed the modifications having planned to reveal them to her after she'd tested the vehicle.

"No Turbo?" Rosa spoke as she only turned her head to meet Marco's own eyes, a look of brazen audacity in her gaze that he'd dared to leave out something like a Turbo Boost.

"Nope… tell you what, you win and I'll add Turbo" Marco shrugged his shoulders for having overlooked something so vital if she was going to win The Race but he still had faith in her abilities to handle a motorcycle since he'd witnessed her successfully evading gunfire on Starfish Island while on a Sanchez.

"You got yourself a deal Marco" Rosa cracked an excited smile; swinging her right leg over the seat and straddling the Motorcycle upon gripping the handles to get a feel for it and finding it remarkably similar to her old Sanchez.

"Why not take it for a test drive? You did want to ride… didn't you?" Lucas finally spoke up; giving his approval though he had a feeling Rosa was going to take that Nemesis out for a drive regardless of what he thought.

"You know… I think I will do just that!" Rosa spoke to highly that she almost yelled; her fingertips traced the ignition key before gripping and turning it.

The engine hummed to life as soon as she turned the key in the ignition; seating her butt in the seat and feeling the lively machine under her hips, as soon as her hands touched the throttle it felt like the touch of an old friend come back to greet her and once she revved the engine and the bike sounded like a laughing hyena.

Glancing up from her bike to the windows of the penthouse next door; Rosa spotted Franklin gazing down at her with a satisfied smile before vanishing behind the curtains, a wordless exchanged had been passed between the two; the gauntlet had been thrown down and she was going to steal the win in The Race from Franklin, revving the engine into life and the wheels began turning whipping up a small cloud of smoke before taking off down the streetlamp lit roads.

"I'm impressed you let you go in the end…" Marco spoke as the smoke from the screeching tires dissipated; taking a cigarette from a box in his pocket and lighting it up before taking a long drag.

"I still don't think this is a good idea; this event is televised nationwide, even Vice City gets the broadcast" Lucas spoke bluntly; making it clear of his disapproval of letting Rosa take part in this nationwide event, knowing that it was Franklin who put the idea in her head no less made him feel jealous.

"I understand your concerns regarding that brat that Douglas groomed into being his little lackey; Ryder knows that Rosa loves her bikes" Marco spoke after taking a second drag; recalling the young man who'd been with Rosa at Washington Beach and at The Malibu Nightclub but had revealed himself as a no-good underling to Ender at The Vercetti Estate, Marco had seen many young men like Ryder before and knew too well the fate that awaited them.

"Yeah; but it's not just him; Douglas knows too! Remember how he sent Haitians after her on that night she rode out to Starfish Island?! We had to make ourselves known that night" Lucas spoke lowly so Franklin might not overhear them from his own house; speaking on how they'd had to reveal themselves as Rosa's Bodyguards to her when they'd supposed to have been undercover and out of sight as per Mercedes' instructions.

"Ah yes… that was when everything leading to now began… but we have nearly a month to prepare an disguise for her" Marco whistled as he finished a third long drag and dropped the burnt out cigarette from his lips to the ground; also recalling the same memories of their first meeting with Rosa and having to reveal themselves as they foiled The Haitian's drive-by-shooting, "And we left almost nothing to give them clues as to where we went".

"I highly doubt that a disguise will fool them for long" Lucas spoke low as he turned to return to the house; only stopping when Marco spoke to him after a long pause.

Marco slipped his cigarettes from his pocket to his dry cracked lips with one fluid motion of his right hand before lighting it with the lighter held in his left; inhaling and puffing out a cloud of smoke that typically relaxed him before finally speaking in a sombre tone, "Doesn't matter right now; The Princess has made up her mind and we'll deal with it, that's the job that Boss Vercetti left us with".

Lucas glanced over his shoulder before returning into the house; he knew Marco was right about their job being the last assignment that Tommy Vercetti would ever give and he had a duty to protect Rosa not only for her parents but because of how he felt about her, but allowing her to follow her own passion for riding Motorcycles was something he would have to let slide.

Marco grinned as he took a puff from his cigarette; he'd laugh in Lucas' face but that wasn't a necessary course of action when Lucas wasn't exactly wrong in his concerns regarding the televised broadcast as it was a concern that might give away their location but Douglas was not concerned with live sports events as Marco well knew from the sordid history they shared.

Streets of Los Santos.

With the midday sun still high in the sky and the booming bustle of the city around her as she raced around street after street atop her new Motorcycle; smiling from ear to ear as she rode at high speed only slowing and halting when the traffic lights shoed red or green, the feeling of the wind in her hair felt liberating after the frantic last couple days.

Rosa's train of thought came to an abrupt halt as she ran a red light only to be met with the honking horn of a dirty red Bodhi Pickup Truck that swerved the a sudden halt sending two men in Shipping Yard Uniforms out of their seats with one who had a face full of piercings face-first into the back of the driver seat while the other merely looked scared out of his mind.

"I'm so sorry; are you all ok?" Rosa spoke; getting off the bike and rushing to the side of the scared looking man who remained quivering in fear in the back seat of the Bodhi Pickup Truck.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" roared a gruff and violent sounding voice as the driver of the Bodhi came into Rosa's view; a man dressed in dirty tattered jeans and a grey t-shirt that had clearly once been white, his scruffy hair and beard clearly hadn't been washed in a very long time but his wild eyes was what scared her.

"Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that bitch?!" The Driver snapped at her; his right hand smashing off a side-view mirror out of unbridled rage.

Rosa didn't answer for the mere smell of the man before her wrinkled her nose; for he smelled strongly of not only mud and dirt but also sweat and sex, his dirty ragged jeans and once-white and now grey t-shirt reeked of more unpleasant odious smells.

"Well?! Who the fuck are you?! Or do you not speak?" The Driver yelled again; punching the driver-side door and leaving a bloody dent as the skin on his knuckles broke and bled though he barely seemed to even feel it.

"Umm… Trevor, I don't think this is a good time to…" spoke the middle-aged man in the passenger-side seat; his glasses making his eyes bigger than they were and he wore a pair of baggy trousers with a grey shirt and a red jacket.

"Shut the fuck up Ron" The Driver revealed to be named Trevor snapped with the same ferocity he spoke to Rosa herself with; showing he had no concern or manner for his friends nor those he met on the road.

"I said I was sorry now if you don't mind… I'm going to continue riding my Motorcycle" Rosa finally answered though her mind screamed at her to not speak to Trevor as once she did Tremor smiled as he's succeeded to getting a response from her.

"Oh you're gonna ride something but it won't be that bike!" Trevor spoke loudly until the random bystanders on the sidewalk began muttering between themselves while others took out their cell-phones and began recording the confrontation.

Rosa raised an eyebrow as Trevor made his statement; instantly noticing the dirty look he was giving her as it reminded her of the lustful looks Ryder gave her during their beach date and the night at The Nightclub: The Malibu, "I don't think so…".

With a flick of her wrist Rosa reactivated the engine on her Nemesis; the engine hummed to life as she took off with a sudden burst of speed as the modifications on her engine gave her the burst of speed that she needed to tear down the street leaving the onlookers gasping in her wake.

"You fucking bitch! get back here!" Trevor yelled as he ran back into his Bodhi; revving with engine with one hand and taking a 9mm Handgun customised with an extended clip and barrel into his other hand.

"Can't believe this is happening again!" Rosa muttered to herself; wrenching back on the throttle as the engine roared back to life as she felt the upgraded engine purring under her seat; the rear wheel spinning and whipping up a cloud of smoke before she took off down the roads towards the Beach.

As the roads of Los Santos sped by as Rosa rode her Motorcycle away from the red Bodhi driven by Trevor it became apparent that she had no idea where she was going; unlike Vice City where she knew where each road led and what routes to take to get to either her destination or to get home was easy but she was now in a totally unknown road network and all she had to go on was the roads back to her house but she couldn't lead Trevor back there.

Her mess of thoughts and confusion clouded her mind as she rode into a downhill road that sharply dipped causing her bike to lift off the road and hang in the air for several seconds; Rosa screamed as she'd broke into some lift with Trevor sharp on her heels, the Motorcycle's wheels hitting the tarmac and allowing her to speed forwards with the gather momentum and race towards the beachfront.

"The hell? She handles that thing like the kid does…" Trevor muttered to himself; recalling how Franklin could masterfully handle both his white Fugitive Car and green Bagger Motorcycle to slide through even the tightens of gaps between vehicles only to witness Rosa performing the same feats as she took a sharp turning that any other driver would fall off a motorcycle making while she stayed perfectly upright in the seat.

"Why doesn't this guy just give up?!" Rosa shouted as the ocean winds blew back her hair; taking another corner as a black-painted Tailgater swerved away from her as she realised she'd run a red light, biting her lower lip in frustration as the driver blasted the horn at her as she slid by as the tires screeched her to a halt on the side of the road.

The sounds of screeching tires filled the air as many bystanders either fled or stopped to watch as both the Bodhi and the Tailgater blocked Rosa off from the road ahead and to her left boxing her in; forcing her to stop as the wild-eyed Trevor got out from his Bodhi and advanced towards her when a suit-wearing man with thinly cropped dark hair got out from the Tailgater.

"Trevor! The hell you doing?" shouted the suited man in an irritated tone of voice.

"Michael! You fucking dead man! The fuck you doing getting in my way?" Trevor barked with such ferocity in his voice that Rosa thought he was going to turn his customized Handgun onto the suit-wearing Michael and shoot him there and then.

"Seeing a shrink… needn't worry as its nothing to do with you… maybe a little" Michael spoke solemnly; evident that his therapy session might have gone well but the look in his eyes did not seem relieved to be within Trevor's presence.

"Dead man?" Rosa muttered to herself; realising that she's not only seen these two men together on that ridiculous Fame Or Shame show and that something had taken place between these two to drive them apart and lead Trevor to believe that Michael was dead, she wondered in whatever had happened between Marco and Douglas Ender was in a similar vein.

"You Franklin's girl? You fit the description, white skin, dark hair and pretty as a gold bar but I left out the spicy ass" Michael listed off the description that Franklin had apparently given about Rosa; she didn't mind hearing that she was pretty but took issue with the implied sexual attraction Franklin had towards her.

"You know Franklin?" Rosa spoke; pushing the matter of her description to the side for now as she'd discuss it with Franklin himself later.

"Yeah; she's the girl alright" Michael glanced at Rosa and giving her a once-over look before answering Trevor; his nonchalance at Rosas situation leaving her slightly aghast.

"You mean to tell me the pretty little piece of sweet candy knows the kid?!" Trevor barked loudly with no less hostility towards Michael than before; his gun-hand pointing his weapon at Rosa with his finger pressing down on the trigger so to fire without so much as a warning.

"Yes; so hands off the asset!" Michael barked back right up in Trevor's face; though unarmed and Trevor wielding a customized Handgun made Trevor back down and lower his weapon.

"Excuse me! But what the actual hell are you two talking about? Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Rosa shouted so loudly that Trevor and Michael glared at her with a mixture of intrigue and annoyance; the two men sat in Trevor's Bodhi remained as they were: belted in and staying quiet.

"Just who are you exactly?" Michael asked; his matter-of-fact tone of voice proved that he wouldn't take any fake name that Rosa could think up.

Rosa opened her mouth to backtalk Michael like she would have done her Mother or Ryder back in Vice City before pausing; silently questioning herself whether to use her true family name or the name of her mother that she'd used since as far back as she could remember.

"Just spit it out already bitch!" Trevor shouted; slamming his gun-toting fist down on the hood of his Bodhi with such force that the Extended Clip of his Handgun left an impressive dent in his vehicle.

"I'm Rosa Vercetti! Asshole" Rosa blurted out her true name before she thought her actions through; her cheeks turning red as she became flustered with thoughts of what these men might do now that they knew she was the daughter of a former mob boss.

"Vercetti… I've heard that name before but Lester will know more about it" Michael thought for a few seconds while Trevor merely looked confused by the family name, a spark of realisations flaring in Michael's eyes as he spied Rosa's resemblance to Tommy Vercetti in her black hair and eyes.

"Can I leave?" Rosa spoke after a full minute of dead silence; feeling uncomfortable as Michael appeared to know who she was or could venture a guess as to why she was in Los Santos.

"Sure you can; we'll be in touch when the time comes" Michael answered; turning his attention to Trevor as he got back into his Bodhi and drove off whilst leaning out of the driver-side window and flipping them both off.

"I'd rather you didn't but I guess I don't have a choice" Rosa spoke lowly; knowing that she'd agreed to what she'd assumed was a challenge to a race from Franklin was truly an invitation to become involved in whatever these men had planned for the near future.

"You always have a choice… just try not to make the wrong one" Michael answered again; grinning slightly as Rosa's comment about not having a choice amused him.

"Which did you make?" Rosa asked with a straight face but her eyes gave a questioning state as he line of sight shifted from Michael as she straddled her Motorcycle once again; starting up the engine as it purred back into life.

"That does not concern you" Michael spoke as the friendly look in his eyes darkened much like how Marco's did whenever Rosa brought up his past with Douglas Ender.

"Marco said that too…" Rosa answered back; revving her engine and speeding off without giving Michael a chance to answer.

Michael stood alone on the side of the road for several seconds after Rosa had left when his phone rang; answering it and grimacing as he got back into his Tailgater and drove off to attend to his own problems.