Blackened Heart {Rose Wilson}

Two

Rose cursed as the spotlight reflected off her blade. There was no time to clean it.

"Come on, let's go!" Slade's voice growled through the filters in his half-black, half-orange, one-eyed mask.

Rose slid her bloodied sword into its sheath at her back and grabbed Tara's arm, pulling her after Slade and down the darkened hall, away from the windows.

"I told you we shouldn't have taken a job to steal from Lex Luthor," she hissed to her father.

"I make the calls here. I decide what we do." Slade said.

Rose rolled her eyes so that her father wouldn't see. Obviously her father's decisions weren't the best if he was the one who made the decision about the long white ponytail sticking out the back of his head that declared their presence like a flag.

They could hear the footsteps getting closer.

"Up on the roof, now." Slade said, jutting his promethium sword blade up into the ceiling to carve a hole.

"That'll expose us!" Rose hissed back.

Before Slade could argue back, the door of the room they had been hiding in was pushed in, and several Lexcorp guards in full body armor trained their guns at the three of them.

"Roof. I got it." Rose agreed quickly. She deflected the first wave of bullets with her sword as she gave Tara a boost out the hole. She leaped up, catching onto Tara's hands so that the blonde girl could pull her up too. Rose was halfway through the hole when Tara gave a squeal of surprise and was suddenly yanked back, dropping Rose's hands.

"Tara!" Rose cried. She stopped herself before she fell back on top of Slade and pulled herself out, scrabbling for a grip in the slippery gravel of the roof.

Another guard, similar to the ones Rose had seen just downstairs, held Tara with an arm around her neck, the barrel of his gun to her head. Tara yanked at the guard's arm with all her strength, trying to free herself, and Rose stabbed another guard who tried to grab her.

Slade finally pulled himself out besides Rose and took in the scene. At least two dozen guards in front of them, all with plenty of guns, a helicopter shining a spotlight on him and Rose, Tara trapped, and a dozen guards downstairs with at least fifty on the floor below.

He nodded at Tara calmly. "You know what to do."

Tara gasped for breath, tears squeezing out the corners of her eyes as she shut them, her hands balling into fists. The guard looked at her in surprise as she began to calm down.

Suddenly, Tara's eyes shot open, glowing a bright yellow-white even in the light from the helicopter. The wind from the chopper's blades picked up, lifting the rooftop gravel into the air, forming hazy shapes against the dark of the night. The gravel squeezed together, forming a big rock that shot out and hit Tara's captor in the face, sending him tumbling back into his comrades and almost over the edge.

Rose reached out and grabbed Tara, pulling her close as she stumbled forward.

No one moved, the guards seemed incredibly confused.

Then, slow clapping echoed through the night.

"Well done, Slade. Terra's abilities perform as advertised."

Rose had never heard the voice, but she recognized the face as he stepped out from behind Lex Luthor's guards.

Slade stepped up in front of Rose and Tara, facing Vandal Savage.

"Exactly, as advertised." He enunciated. "And so do I."

Rose watched in horror as Slade took the Lexcorp chip the three of them had worked so hard to steal and tossed it at Vandal Savage's feet. That had been their next paycheck!