My legs tried to keep a steady and casual pace as I walked down the alleys and streets of East End, My usual suit and tie were replaced with a ratty jacket and baggy pants.
I would have looked homeless if it wasn't for my clean-shaven face and well-kept hair.
Fortunately for me, Nobody but the higher-up lieutenants in Penguin's Gang know about my identity, so I should be good to walk around as long as I don't get identified as Rose.
Unfortunately, that means I need to wear these horribly itchy clothes and walk back to my apartment.
At least I can walk around without the threat of being hunted down for my association with Penguin.
"Welcome to Bonjour Barista, How- Richard? Dude you look horrible!" I smiled as I entered the Cafe and Bakery, hearing Jacques exclaim at my dirty clothes.
"I feel horrible," I smiled at him as I walked up to the counter.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jacques asks as he moves to take my order.
"Nah," I wave him off and he shrugs, "I'll be taking an Omelette Sandwich and an Espresso, medium size, I'll be sitting here," I gave him my order, and he raised an eyebrow in response.
"Not taking your usual?"
"I haven't slept since last yesterday, I need something heavier," I smile at the man and move to grab a seat at the mostly empty Cafe.
Not a lot of customers come to Bonjour Barista thanks to its location in the crime-riddled streets of East End, and with The 100 making a move into the territory, the local businesses have been taking a massive hit.
The only ones that are keeping themselves afloat are those who are also working as Fronts for Penguin, or the lucky few like Bonjour Barista who managed to escape the gang war and not get involved.
East End is a hellhole, it's a horrible place to live, with Drug dealers hanging around every corner and with cops too corrupt to stop the crime, Once the sun sets, this place turns to shit.
But it's also where I spent the last few years of my life, I hate it, but this is where I met Delilah, Where I got my first apartment, my first Job, where my new life in this world started. And I was happy with it.
Was it hard? Of course, It took me months to find a landlord who wouldn't try and scam me, A Job that wouldn't get me killed, and an employer who was willing to hire me. But I got them.
I can't just let Tobias Whale take this. This corner of Gotham full of some of the filthiest people, It might be shit, but It's mine.
And now I need to take care of Rose, Her School is starting in only a few weeks, I can't raise a kid in these streets while a Gang war is blowing everything up.
I finish my breakfast and chat a bit more with Jacques, listening to how he got a new girlfriend named Malinda Sawyer.
"What about you Richard? Do you have a girl like that in your life?" I huff at his question.
"I'm too busy, With both Delilah's Kid and the new job, I don't have time for Romance," Maybe when the Gang War quiets down and I get more time for myself, I could try and start searching, but right now, I have too much on my plate.
I paid for my food, tipped my friend, and left to continue walking around.
I can't return home until 19:00 in an effort to keep low.
I just hope that Rose is doing fine.
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Rose Forrest was not doing fine.
After receiving the call from Richard in the morning, she blacked out, only to wake up hours later in her bed, her body sore and tired, with a bruise forming under her right rib.
She noticed her hair was wet and the door to the bathroom was open, meaning she must have showered while she was gone.
She hated it, Not being in control of her body, Waking up tired and sore with no recollection of what happened.
She wanted to tell Richard, maybe he'd get a psychiatrist to look at her, and figure out what was going on, but she knew he was already overworked with both Penguin and taking care of her. She didn't want to put even more on his plate, he was too nice for her to ruin his day.
Rose hated it, She was out of the hospital, she was supposed to start a new life with her Grand-aunt, and instead, she's with her dead Grand-Aunt's employee, blacking out in the middle of the day while he's forced to work for a gangster.
Rose Forrest hated it, She just wanted a normal life, Go to a normal school and get some normal friends. Get a normal education, study archeology and get a normal job, grow up to live in a normal home and live a normal life.
Instead, she's wondering what the hell her body is doing thirty percent of the time while she's blacked out, waking up tired and hurt, while more and more Ninja equipment shows up in her room, forcing her to hide them under her bead in case Richard finds them.
Rose tiredly crawled out of her bed, entered the living room, and balked at the sight of snacks strewn about on the couch, the living room looking like a mess, a bowl of popcorn thrown on the floor.
Rose Forrest released a tired sigh before moving to grab a broom to start cleaning up the mess she made when she wasn't in control of her body.
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"Detectives! You're here, What do you think?"
Walking up to the crime scene of an old busted-down Hotel, Detectives Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya took a look at the scene of the crime, noticing the bullet-ridden bodies on the floor and the broken bottles from the bar shattered on the wall.
"I think someone wanted someone dead," Harvey Bullock said as he walked past the officer and took a closer look at the bar itself.
"Do we know who these guys are?" Renee asked, gesturing at the bodies on the floor.
"You remember that Metahuman thug who popped up not too long ago and did a series of robberies before disappearing? Called himself Tusk," Harvey told Renee as he put on his gloves and opened the door to enter where the barman stood.
"You think this is his doing?" Renee walked closer, putting on her own gloves as she joined her partner to see what he was looking for.
"No." Harvey Bullock crouched down, having found something beneath the bar before he stood back up holding a document of purchase, "I think this is his place," He called over an officer and told him to bag the document for evidence.
"So Tusk owns this building, And I'm going to guess the people on the ground are his men in that case," Renee tried to deduce.
"So it seems, Which gives us three questions," Harvey raised his fist so Renee could see.
"One," He raised his thumb, "Who did this?"
"Two," He raised his finger, "Why did they do this?"
"And three," He raised his middle finger, "Where is Tusk?"
"Where's Tusk? Not where's the perpetrator?" Renee raised her own question, causing Harvey to shake his head.
"Tusk isn't here, He's a big man, hard to miss, Which means whoever attacked either took him with them, Or he wasn't here in the first place," Harvey told her, walking outside through the back door on the other side of the hotel so he could take a smoke without interrupting the investigation.
"And if Tusk was taken," Renee nodded as she caught on.
"Then they wanted him alive, And if we're quick we might still find him alive. And if anyone knows who did this, it would be him, And I can tell you this Renee, Finding an Elephant Man is much easier than finding another criminal with a gun,"
"There are hundreds of crooks with guns in this city Harv," Renee raised an eyebrow at the older officer's wording.
"I mean a specific criminal! It's like searching for a needle in a haystack," He waved her off, "It'll be much easier to find an elephant in that same haystack,"
Renee clicked her tongue at Harvey's weak attempt to make a metaphor, turning her head away from the older detective, only to pause as she spotted something in the alleyway on the other side of the street.
"Hey Harv," She grabbed his attention by patting his shoulder before pointing at what she was looking at, "You think those saw anything?"
"Huh?" Harvey Bullock turned to look at what she was pointing at, only to smile as he slapped Renee on the back, the younger Detective almost tripping over, "Good Eye Renee, If anybody exited through this here door," He pointed a thumb at the back door behind him, "Those definitely would have seen them,"
"Let's just hope they caught anything," Renee said as the duo got back to work.
Walking across the street to check on some Security Cameras.