AN: Even if she won't probably see this, this chapter is dedicated to my online BFF whose grandma, recently, passed away due to an ictus.
I wished I was closer to you for these days... Thank you a lot for always been there for me.
When the motor of the vehicle stopped, every child, teenager and young adult fell silent. Because, yes, Damian had observed that with the exception of Dick and another one, the rest of the people present were in their teens or children.
Everyone waited trembling and squeezing until the doors opened with a slum and Damian squinted his eyes, the light of the building hitting everyone. All the group of persons were dressed in the same way and had the same pin: their clothes were red, and their pin was a white cracked mask that almost matched with their white painted faces.
"Out. All of you!" one said.
"But t-there are p-people t-that d-didn't wake up yet" a teenager mentioned, babbling.
"We'll deal with that. Now get out!" he pushed the teenager out of the vehicle.
Dick seemed to bite his lip at that, looking behind his shoulder to look where Tim was in the van, together with some other people that were still out.
Damian followed the rest of the people that were awoke and all of them had to follow another group of that people inside the building where the van had stopped. Some of the people in robes caught the people that were faint and follow the group from behind. If he wouldn't know better, he would say they were covering the exits.
Looking from side to side carefully, he saw that the building had to be abandoned since it looked too empty. Its lights were turn on, which helped them at least follow the group without trouble. They passed through a lot of doors that were closed and didn't stop walking until they reach a big door which head to what looked like a big living room, though there was only two sofas and a bookcase that only had three books. They were all forced and pushed to enter inside there.
Both Dick and Damian had to refrain themselves from attacking the group of people. If they weren't posing as normal civilians, they would have probably launch at them in less than three seconds. As it was, they were unable to do anything and to just watch knowing too well the risks on showing their identities like that. It was frustrating as hell watching them leave the living room and letting themselves be incarcerated inside a freaking room among the rest of the young people that had been taken at the gala, all of them frightened as a group of kittens.
Huffing and trying to kill some stamina on the way, he observed the group of young people, peeking through his eyes that Dick was trying to wake Tim. He stopped his tracks when he recognized in the group a familiar face and he opened his eyes, in shock.
"Rick!"
"Damian!" this one tried to get up, but his legs wobbled and he let himself fall to the ground again.
Damian winced as his friend fell to the ground and went to him "Are you okay?"
"… I could be better" he answered "What this people will want?"
"Better case scenario… Money" he shrugged.
"Worst case scenario?" he asked in a whisper, a bit afraid of even ask.
"… Well, this is Gotham" he replied and looked briefly at his friend "You don't recognize them, right?"
Rick shook his head "If there are members of the Court of Owls or Dark Cross, I can't know with all the painted faces… And I don't know that many in any case"
Damian accepted that answer with a little nod, looking over to see that Dick had managed to wake Tim up. He saw his brother analyzing the situation and the place in just one second, asking a few things to Dick and looking over the people of the group that had kidnapped them. He could feel Rick's eyes silently asking him, but he shook his head.
"No" he heard Dick saying to Tim softly.
Damian approached them in silence, feeling the eyes of the kidnappers in his head "No to what?"
"He's plotting" Dick answered him.
"Well, that's nothing new"
"It's not about that. It's that it's too dangerous… There are many innocent people in here, we can't risk anything" he warned them.
"If we do nothing, you'll be dead in the next two hours" Tim stated.
"If we do something, we all will be dead in twenty minutes" Dick replied.
"You're both right" Damian stopped them "So the thing is that we have to find a way where no one is dead"
Tim sighed at that, looking over the place.
"Have you got anything?" Damian couldn't help but ask him.
Tim shook his head "I don't know this people. The group that existed with the same clothes was from ages ago and the members should be either too old or dead by now. However… If they want the same thing that the older wanted—and assuming by the people around I would say it is that way—, then maybe we can do something"
"You recognized the group?" Dick raised his eyebrows.
Tim shrugged "The group was called White Face and appeared at the forties… They were obsessed with creating the perfect soldiers and race from the riches, so they could control the world easily" Dick looked at him, surprised and Tim blushed a little "What? I was half interested in every type of news, you know that…"
"Yeah, Drake, thanks for being the geek and nerd of the family" Damian huffed "So how can we stop them from killing Dick and brainwashed us?"
"Well, we kind of need two fronts. One is us. The other should be Bruce… The thing is we have to find a way to contact him without calling their attention" he responded "In our case, we can only recollect information of the place and the people around… From what I can see, I can say that this group is not the old White Face and is probably more related to both our famous groups leaded by the rich parents"
"So some people behind that masks are parents of the same rich children that may be around here" Damian concluded.
"Yes and no. The real members of the White Face are probably the parents of the children here… This people here, however, are the fall guys. You can see that watching how they move" Tim explained in a hushed voice "Now… What can you tell me about the place and the people?"
"We obviously are in the periphery, since there were no many buildings in the area" Damian answered "This place has been abandoned for years… My approximation would be ten years ago. From what I've been able to see, it was used for electronic machines, particularly kitchen stuff. This room was probably the storage, but it has been cleaned up rather recently… The only windows are outside, there is at least one floor above us and, as much as I've seen, one entry"
"Well, it could be worse… Dick?" he turned to him, expectantly.
"The children are too scared to know anything about this… In the case of teenagers, it depends. Some seem to be aware to some degree and others have no idea what's going on. I can almost assure that, not counting both of us, all the young adults are very aware of the situation and knew that this would happen" he stated.
"Seriously?" Damian asked, shocked.
"Some agree with their parents and help with the kidnapping while being kidnapped as well" he nodded.
"Which means we have to be aware of the ones wearing the clothes and the people kidnapped" Tim sighed.
"This is going to be impossible" Dick noted.
Tim shook his head, looking over the place "Nothing is impossible" he turned to look to both "Take out your comm. And prepare your knife"
"Why would I have a comm?!" Dick almost looked at him as if he was crazy "Don't you think I would have contacted them if I had one in my ear? And a knife?!"
"I wasn't talking to you" Tim said.
Damian sighed at that, taking out one of his shoes carefully, watching in case they would come. He slightly turned to look at Tim "How did you know?"
"It wouldn't be you if you hadn't taken some before leaving" he explained "You're the only one that knows where to hide things probably better than Bruce" Dick looked to the ceiling as if he was asking for patience "Pass me the comm. If anyone comes, I can make myself as if I'm delirious. And see if you can convince them to let you go to the bathroom in any way. Let's see if we can do this with the clock against us"
&&& Yes, two chapters today, what can I say? Anyway, hope you have liked it until now.
As always, comments, kudos, favorites, follows, bookmarks, etc... are welcome! ^^
Thank you everyone (specially NawmiS in the last one in AO3 who sent me some love) for all the support! It helps a lot in constructing this crazy story :) Lots of love everyone and see you soon, I hope! &&&