Kintsugi

Chapter 14

More like summoned us here without a choice.

"Red Robin has been researching a human trafficking ring that has been a problem here in Gotham for about 6 months now. With help from the GCPD, Oracle, and a few Justice League members we have traced the location of where they are taking all of the girls they're kidnapping. We are stopping it. Tonight. Here is the plan. Ryuko and Sting, you two are going to be our lookouts, take out the guards quickly and silently." He emphasizes silently and looks at Chloe. 

This is going to be a heck of an introduction to Gotham. 

"Huntress, you're going to be our eyes. Keep an eye out and let us know about any danger that you see. The rest of us are going to go in as teams. Lucky and Zala, Nightwing, Red Robin, and Spoiler, Orphan and Red Hood, Myself, Batwoman, and Catwoman. Ivy and Harley you two will guard the exits. Should anyone who is not of the group standing right here come out of the building they need to be taken care of quickly. Nightwing, your team will go in first. Get to the main command center. Once you two have control of the cameras, I will send in Zala, Lucky, Sting, Ryuko, Orphan, and Red Hood - those six will subdue all of the guards and get down to where they are holding all of the girls. Catwoman and I will go after the leader of the whole thing. Here are the blueprints, memorize them if you can - take a picture or download them if you can't." 

I take a quick scan with my yoyo. 

"Are you ready to proceed with the plan?" He nods his head at Nightwing, who nods back after a quick glance at his teammates. 

"Then let's do this." 

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The plan had gone perfectly for the first half. Nightwing and Red Robin had successfully messed with the cameras, making it so you couldn't see us as we crept through the dimly lit hallways. The guards had all been paralyzed, Sting making sure they venom wouldn't wear off too soon. We had made our way down to where they were currently holding the girls they had stolen.

Or so we thought.

⚠️This is where I start to go into detail (not graphic, but I'm warning you all the same)

We got down to the basement level and were met with rows and rows of beds. All had stains on the sheets and handcuffs to all four wrought-iron posts. The stains that covered the fraying sheets made my blood boil. 

How dare they.

I walked farther into the room to get a better look at the lingering evidence of atrocities committed. The cuffs were rusty, the insides caked in dried blood. The sheets were brittle, old. They obviously hadn't been washed - ever. There was a tapestry of different stains all over each bed. Brown and yellow and red. Some were recent. The red all to similar to the color I donned not two weeks prior.

How. Dare. They.

I didn't even need to see the girls to know what had happened to them in this very room.

It was sick.

They were sick.

I was going to be sick.

I held back my urge to puke as I crossed the room, a metallic smell stinging at my nostrils as I cautiously opened the door on the other side. The scene somehow made my currently rebelling stomach even angrier.

I had found the girls.

"I am going to kill whoever is behind this." Damien muttered from behind me. I wanted to argue. I wanted to. I really really did. But as I looked at the walls I couldn't find it in my heart to disagree with my partner.

Cages.

Cages.

Cages.

Lining the walls, three rows high. Teenage girls, completely naked, sat inside each one. They didn't even have enough room to sit up straight. The room smelled like death, and not one girl was clean from her own filth. I met a few of their eyes as they looked up at us and my heart broke.

They looked so hopeless. So utterly done with their lives. Whoever had ruined them like this deserved complete destruction. Worse than whatever could be given through legal means. The law would never be enough for the "big man" behind this perversion. 

My stomach knotted at the knowledge that these girls would never fully heal, never get true justice for their situation. Never experience a true, calming peacefulness.

Spending their days on display, treated like dogs at a shelter. Waiting to be chosen for some person's horrific idea of a good time. 

I swallowed down the burning bile.

I looked to my teammates. Orphan and Red Hood had caught up with me and Damien, and their looks mirrored my betrothed. Hatred. Burning fiery unadulterated hatred. Between the four of us, someone getting hospitalized would mean showing heavy restraint.

"We need to get them out of here." I turn to Red Hood and Orphan. They nodded their agreements.

"You two start over there, get the girls out and Zala and I will start over here. Ryuko and Sting be our lookouts. There is a door that leads out right here. It must be used for new shipments." I spat out the word shipments like it was poisonous. 

Orphan pulled open the large door and started opening cages, slowly helping each girl out and helping them to the ground outside, after we gave Ivy and Harley a quick update about what was happening.

We had reached the last row of cages when Batman's voice crackled into our ears.

"You better be done soon because he is walking your way." I panic and start opening cages faster, but there was only so fast a girl who had been kneeling in a cage for days could go. about 5 minutes goes by of Ryuko stepping in to help us get everyone out when I am on the last girl. She is the smallest by far and I need to pick her up to get her out of the top cages. As I set her down something on her neck made my blood run cold. 

She had a hickey. Someone flipping gave her a hickey. It wasn't enough to defile her so, but to mark her also? To give her a reminder of the hell you had put her through? The sick, slimy, good-for-nothing-

My thoughts are cut off by a 'hurry up' from Zala, and I slowly put my arm under hers so I can help her to the door. She tenses at my touch, and I feel tears start to prick at my eyes. I keep my movements slow and deliberate as we make our way out of the building.

⚠️ You're good now

"I am so sorry you had to go through this. So so sorry we weren't here sooner. We should've been here sooner." My voice breaks and I whisper the last part of the sentence as I look into her eyes. Her broken, hopeless eyes. 

"It will get better. You just wait and see." I continue walking to the door and just as her feet touch the ground I hear a shout.

"Who dares steal what is mine?" 

Icy hot fury runs through my veins as I turn around to face the captor of these poor girls. 

I didn't know about my partners, but I wasn't going to pull my punches.

This bag of slime was getting dealt some bad luck tonight, and fortunately for us;

Luck is on our side.

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Word count: 2357

edited 7/26/23