*Warning, contains scenes of graphic violence and a character being held against her will.
When Dutch was still being trained by Khlyen one of her most important lessons Khlyen taught her was how to get out of restraints. It was a valuable lesson because throughout her career as a Killjoys, and as an assassin for Khlyen, she had been captured more than she would have liked. Without knowing how to get out of the chains that bound her she would have died a long time ago.
Khlyen started the lesson by drugging her dinner and kidnapping her in her drug induced sleep, this was just another typical day for Dutch seeing as Khlyen was constantly "testing her skills".
Dutch woke up and looked around to try and figure out where she was. The room she was in was almost like a cave, the floor and walls seemed to be wet and uneven. She couldn't move her head to see the rest of her cell, part of her immobility was caused by the drug's effects, which had not worn off yet, but more than that she could feel cool metal on her wrists.
She didn't know who had taken her. It could have been a number of people; Khlyen, Khlyen's enemies, professional kidnappers looking to extort her family for money, or anyone else who might have a problem with her or anyone related to her. This was unfortunate because she couldn't use her kidnapper's identity to her advantage. The only thing she could do right now was to try and escape.
She would have to wait until all of the drugs were out of her system, she needed to be able to run and fight to the best of her ability. The next thing she had to do was find a way out of the cuffs, they were too tight around her wrists to slip and she couldn't pull the bolted chains out of the wall. She had no idea how to get out of this mess.
Over the next several days no one came to care for her, she hadn't had any food or water since the dinner she had before she was kidnapped. That was bad because if she didn't get any water in the next day or so she would die. Her captors not feeding her meant that she was expendable, that either whomever her kidnappers were trying to extort refused to pay for her release (which wasn't unthinkable considering her family) or it was another one of Khlyen's "lessons" and if she didn't get out herself he would let her die.
It would be so much easier if she didn't have thumbs! Without them I would be able to slip the restraints, dang it."This is going to hurt" she thought as she snapped her thumb bone. With her thumb broken she could pull her thumb out of her cuffs, that hurt too. Her broken thumb was pushed further into her hand as it dragged along the cuff. She used her free hand to snap her other thumb more cleanly and pulled that hand out too.
When Dutch found the door and ran out of her cell she saw Khlyen, "you took too long, little bird, again." he said as he used a device from his pocket to instantly heal her thumbs. He then locked her hands into another set of chains attached to the door she had just exited from. He made her do it again and again, working with different restraints each time so that she would learn to dislocated shoulders, break thumbs and toes to escape whatever held her.
Flash Forward to the Present (Takes places in 1x01) -
Dutch and Johnny were working a warrant, they both knew the risks when they accepted the job. When Johnny was captured he was beaten in an attempt to pull the location of the ship they "stole". Dutch was dragged to where Johnny was being held, her chains jangling in between her wrists as she was moved. She hated being chained, especially when she could have easily disarmed the men holding her, but this was a necessary part of the con. Coren Jeers, the criminal they were hired to apprehend, had to believe that Johnny had no other choice but to tell them what they wanted to know when he saw that his "team" had been captured.
They were wrong of course, Johnny knew that this was all apart of the plan and that she was safe. That didn't change the real concern in his voice when he asked if she was "okay". He knew her story with Khlyen and she had told him one night after a tough warrant when he asked her, "how she escaped the cuffs?"
She didn't like talking about it, but with Johnny it wasn't as bad as when she thought about it on her own. He pulled her out of her own head, she trusted him to hear her secrets and not destroy her when she was vulnerable.
Johnny knew exactly what he was asking when he asked if she was "okay" and the truth was, yeah, she was. She was leaving her past behind and building a future as a Killjoy with Johnny,