So the background of Chessie's in this chapter... will be a lie. Please keep in mind that unless it's Chessie talking directly to one of our favorite two vigilante's, any information about her past is most likely a lie. I'll set up a forum to help you guys keep track of the true and false for the next chapter.

Anyhow, enjoy!

66. Traps

Chessie had screened out the part where she'd run away and changed it to look like her father had chased her and her brothers out of the house, and naturally she left out the part where she was now staying with the one who'd rescued her. However, she mentioned that she'd been rescued by a man in a suit, but was completely unable to remember what he looked like aside from that. Her excuse was that she had been hurting too much and that she'd had trouble seeing because her brothers had given her a black eye each.

She did mention that the stranger had taught her how to fight a two on one battle against them before dropping her off at her friend's house to get the medical attention she'd needed. The rescuer and friends all remained anonymous, since she didn't want to implicate anyone or put them in any danger from her father. When asked why, her only reply was that her father had eyes, ears, and foot-soldiers seemingly all over the city and she didn't feel safe anymore.

Carter and Fusco were visibly scowling and seething at her brothers and father, and so was Finch from behind his computer screens. They were angry, and understandably so, since no man, woman, nor child should ever have been afraid of their every surrounding for any amount of time, much less for ten whole years.

"What made you think it was your father?" Carter asked gently as Chessie took a ragged and deep breath and wiped her eyes with her hands.

"He-he swore that he'd hunt me if I betrayed him and left them," she rasped, "He swore that if I ever left them for a better life, he'd kill me. The woman – she looked like me from before. Small, petite, no curves – I'd been a vagrant for so long that my body had frozen itself in time almost."

"Malnutrition," Carter said firmly. "It does a lot of damage. You've been staying with your friend for a while then?"

"Yeah, I've been alternating homes for each friend every few days, but nothing too concrete so my dad doesn't find me. They've been trying to teach me self-defense, but I'm more used to running than anything else."

"Do you want to learn self-defense?" Fusco asked, "We'd be more than happy to teach you in our free time if you'd like."

"Fusco!" Carter hissed.

"No, I'd like that, really," Chessie said quickly as her eyes lit up with what the two knew was hope and joy. "But-would we be able to do it somewhere hidden? Somewhere my dad couldn't find?"

"I'll find you anyways, Chessie," Finch murmured. "You know that."

"But if your dad is so smart and all-powerful, how have you been staying hidden with your friends for so long?" Fusco asked confused.

"One of them has a gun and showed me how to use it," she answered honestly. "But-I don't want to, but I will if I have to. I've never shot one before, though. And besides that, once all this is over, I want to go to my Uncle's house – I haven't seen him in a long time."

"What? Why haven't you been going to his house, then?" Snow asked.

"That would be contra-contra-contra… Hm… Counterproductive, that's the word! That would be counterproductive to my purpose," she said calmly. "I have been trying to keep my uncle safe from my dad, not put him in harm's way."

"Does your uncle have a name?" Snow asked.

"All I know is that his name starts with an H, that's what we call him," she shrugged until he leaned towards her.

"Tell the truth!" Snow snarled, and she backed off and almost onto Detective Carter.

"Hey, she's my witness, now leave her alone," Carter snapped. "In case you've forgotten, it takes a lot of guts to come in as a witness, and even more to actually talk about it as much as she did!"

"I did tell the truth," she piped up and found herself rammed against the wall with a gun to her chest.

"Answer me," he snarled, and she blinked.

"That won't work, my dad's done that so much I don't get phased by a gun anymore unless it's by him or my brothers," she said shakily, "They're the ones hurting innocent people, aren't you supposed to go hunt them?"

She barely flinched as he rammed his stun-gun onto her, and she held firm during the electrical current that raced through her. This astonished all of the ones who had seen Snow's purposeful attack, and most especially Harold Finch the billionaire, whose jaw dropped in shock. He hated watching violence.

"Nice toy," she said as though almost nothing had happened. On the inside, though, she was in pain, although her body had become so used to the pain that the pain receptors in her brain had begun to shut down at the sight of a gun or stunning device for her.

"You little-!" he snarled.

"Freedom of speech, amendment one of the constitution," Chessie pointed out blankly, thinking it would protect her.

"You little brat!" he yelled before going to strike her.

But before he could, another body got in the way – one Detective Carter. Chessie had cringed backwards as much as she could, and now Snow had rammed his fist against the side of the Detective's head. Five sets of eyes widened at the reaction, and Snow snarled before storming out in a rage. Chessie was visibly shaking, although Reese (who'd shown up behind Finch to watch the end of the show) was able to tell that it was not an act. Chessie looked up at Carter disbelieving of what had just happened.

"Are you okay?" she asked the young woman, who nodded shakily.

"Sam and Joe used to do worse to me," she said matter-of-factly, "But-but-he…"

"I'll be fine, and we can press charges if we wanted to," Carter huffed. "Do you?"

"N-no, he'll counter-charge by saying I didn't tell him the truth, but I did!" Chessie said fearfully as Carter took out a piece of paper and began filling it out. "I'm scared… I don't want to go to jail…"

"Easy, kid, you won't," Fusco said coming over to her. "You did nothing wrong, you were just pointing things out and defending yourself verbally. Technically, he assaulted you inside a police station, two strikes against him. If you're less than eighteen years old…"

"I'm not," Chessie said quietly.

"He used a government issued stun-gun, though," Carter grinned. "We can ram him with that. Leave the charges be for now and wait a little more to see how he reacts, yes? Tell him that you're in training to become a cop, or having a career shadowing month for college."

"They do have a course like that, actually," Chessie said thoughtfully. "I think it's allowed. Isn't it?"

"I'll talk to our boss and see what we can do," Carter smiled. "In the meantime, why don't you go back to your friend's house and put some ice on that painful spot?"

"Got it," she smiled weakly as her system began returning to normal. "I've spent the last few years building up immunity to stunning objects…"

"No kidding," the two detectives muttered as the kid left. "Trouble magnet, that one is, but she'd be a good asset in catching that shooter."

Chessie smirked as she went back to the penthouse. She'd won, but it was a hollow victory that would show more fruits in the long run. She was more than happy with the trap that she'd laid out, albeit she was also badly hurt, both physically and emotionally.

The information given out in this chapter was a lie, by the way. Well, for the most part.

Please review! I'll set up the forum within a few minutes and post it with the next chapter!