Chapter 12: Uncovered
"What would Batman say if he knew this was happening?" M'gann questioned, worry in her voice.
"Try not to think about that. We'll deal with it when it comes to it," Robin muttered, spinning slightly in his chair.
After Stevie said that she was coming, most of them agreed to it even though they knew it would get them into some serious trouble with Batman. She would've gone with them even if they didn't agree, mainly because this mission was about her family. Not anyone else's. And Robin thought she would be able to handle herself with a little bit of help. Him and Artemis were the ones who strongly supported her going along. So once everyone had come to a decision, she changed into some more suitable clothes and slipped onto the plane before any of the adults would notice.
They were on their way to one of the League of Shadow's smaller locations. She couldn't help but fidget and twist in her seat, impatient to get there.
"Did...did you guys find a picture of them...?" she asked suddenly, shifting her green eyes between them.
"No. But the events that this couple are tied to leads Batman to believe that they are your family," Kaldur explained.
"Okay so...what's the plan?"
"Well...we're going to need you to get into the security footage. It would be easier and less risky to do that instead of breaking into the office. When we get the footage, you can figure out where everything is and go from there. It would make sense to assume they are hostages and to look for them where the hostages are kept," Robin added.
"Okay..."
Her fingers curled around the arms of her seat and she took in a deep breath. Would this be the day that she would see her parents? She didn't even remember what they looked like or what their names were... Her past was a mystery to her, shrouded by the block the Shadows used to keep her from remembering. She just wished she could remember.
"We should arrive shortly. We're going to have to jump out and head in on foot because of their security," M'gann said, turning the ship.
Everyone started to stand and she followed suit, biting her lip. Robin handed her a parachute and she took it, knees getting weak at the thought of jumping out of the plane. Trying to push the thoughts aside, she strapped it on her back, going to stand with the others as they waited for M'gann to get the ship in place.
"All you're going to have to do is jump and pull the switch when the rest of us do. You'll jump with Artemis," Robin assured.
Stevie closed her eyes and nodded. She blinked them open when M'gann gave them the signal and a hole appeared in the bottom of the ship. Artemis took a step forward and grabbed onto her sleeve. The looming darkness beneath them shoved her feet backwards, but the next thing she knew, she was being shoved out of the opening and she and the blonde were free falling. She did her best not to scream as her heart crawled up her throat and her stomach rolled around inside her abdomen.
Artemis pulled the switch and she was right behind. The falling sensation disappeared and the ride became much calmer as they floated down to the trees. Her heart was beating a million miles a second and she held onto the ropes of her parachute tightly. Glancing up, she saw a few of the others not far behind, with Connor and M'gann coming down on their own without parachutes.
It didn't take long for them to land and once they had, she unclipped herself from the parachute, trying to steady her heart rate.
"We need to move," Robin urged, taking the lead because stealth was his forte.
They followed in a slightly spread out group, keeping eyes and ears out for anything suspicious. As they neared the treeline, Connor motioned for them to stop. She crouched down behind a bush, watching him carefully.
"There's a large patrol coming this way," he said after a moment, looking between them. "They just came from the east side and they said it was clear."
Artemis pitched an idea, "a few of us should make a distraction on the east side, draw them back over there and then the rest can sneak in and get Stevie to the security room."
Wally put his goggles over his face. "One distraction coming up. Care to join me Miss M?"
The two took off, the latter camouflaging herself.
"Superboy, I think you should join them, make sure Wally stays focused," Robin informed.
With a small grumble, Connor darted out of the trees after them, leaving them in the dust. Artemis used this opportunity to take a peak and see where the patrol was.
"I got eyes on them. Talking over the radios. Wait, they're turning around. They're heading back. We should move up," she said.
Like a pack, they slunk forward, entering the courtyard. Her mind sensed technology nearby and she stopped, looking up to the corner where a camera sat mounted on the side of the building. Her surroundings went dark for a moment and bits of technology fluttered through her brain. Sparks flew from the camera and she was brought back to the real world as the piece of tech died out, no longer useful. The others had gone a bit further and she hurried to catch up, pressing her back to the wall when they suddenly stopped.
"Got the one by the door?" Kaldur asked Robin.
"On it!"
The boy practically disappeared from sight and the next thing she knew, he had engulfed the guard in a cloud of smoke with a smoke bomb and knocked him unconscious. He turned, motioning for them to follow and he opened up the door.
The four of them moved down the halls, only stopping to let her disable the cameras when they came across them. After turning down several hallways, the feeling of an abundance of technology overcame her and she stopped, trying to determine where it was coming from.
We're to the right. Not far from you. We'll guide you.
Opening her eyes, she blinked. Never had technology spoken so strongly to her before. She could hear the occasional word or two they muttered, but this whisper was stronger than ever. It made her a little uneasy. Did the Shadows do something that would draw her out? Was this a trap?
Even if it was, she wanted to find her parents. They could figure out what to do if it really was a trap. In the end, she would do whatever it took to get them back. She needed to know them, needed to know a past part of herself that she couldn't seem to remember. Besides the team, she had nothing else left.
"It's this way," she said, pointing down one of the darker hallways, determination in her eyes.
Stevie didn't give them a chance to contradict her and she moved quickly, focused completely on the hum of technology that grew stronger and stronger each step she took. She could practically feel her mind vibrating as she stopped in front of one of the heavily sealed doors, and she put her hand on it.
"I can't open it, it's not sealed with tech," she murmured, turning to the other three.
Kaldur took a quick look at it, examining the locks. "Stand back."
She took a couple steps back, giving him ample room to do his thing. His tattoos started to glow as he took out his water-wielders, turning them into hammers. A well-placed whack had the lock splintering and then another had it shattered. Kaldur grabbed the edge of the door to pull it open and revealed exactly what they had been after. Computers and cameras and cabinets of information.
"We'll look through the paper stuff, you go through those computers," Artemis said, moving to one of the cabinets.
Stevie took in a deep breath, closing her eyes and starting with the nearest computer attached to all of the security screens. Everything around her faded and she found herself within the computer's mainframe, rummaging through files and images and data. Going through all of the saved video files and data would take too long, but there had to be a blueprint of the place somewhere in here.
Something about this technology felt welcoming, and it was as if it wanted her to find exactly what she needed, because she had it within seconds. She scanned her eyes over the digital pages, quickly finding their location and then looking for anything else of interest. A lot of the rooms seemed to be basic ones, and she even found the place where they had kept her. She focused on that area, but unfortunately not finding anything that seemed of interest. However, she paused at the other corner of the map, noticing that there was a set of unlabeled rooms that were lined up next to each other, almost like prison cells. That was something worth checking out.
Taking another deep breath, she blinked and the world came back to her, shutting out all the technology and letting her come to her senses. Everyone was still quickly sorting through files and trying to find something, but she knew what needed to happen now. They had to investigate those rooms. There was no way it wasn't something important.
"I know where we need to go," she said, sharing a look with Robin.
"You found something?" Kaldur asked, putting down one of the folders.
"Sorta. I found a blueprint of the building. There's something. An area of cells. I don't know what else it could be."
"Can you get us there?" Artemis asked.
Stevie nodded her head, moving toward the door again. "Follow me."
Kaldur moved ahead of her, opening the door slowly and peeking out. It must have been clear because he moved aside to let them out, and she jumped to the front, thinking hard about the blueprint and where they were in relation to those rooms.
She turned them down several different hallways, her heart beginning to beat more rapidly as they neared. Could this be it? It couldn't be this easy, could it? It was as if this thought manifested reality.
The next hallway they turned down, they finally bumped into some of the guards they had somehow avoided for so long. There were three in total, but the League of Shadows had trained their army well, and three would be a lot for them to deal with. While she had begun to learn some fighting skills, she would be nowhere near skilled enough to fight any of these.
It was as if Robin read her mind, because he was the first to jump into the squabble. Everyone else began to fight too, and for a moment she felt very small in comparison. Something about seeing them brought back horrible memories of being subdued and it made her feel powerless and paralyzed. They had tied her to chairs while she was experimented on. They had been the ones to drag her back to her cell as she kicked and screamed. How was she supposed to fight them?
Her thoughts had wrapped her up tightly and kept her rooted to the spot, until one of the guards tried to grab her. The motion kicked in her reflexes that had begun to sharpen over the past few weeks, and she stumbled backwards out of the way just in time. He didn't let up, moving toward her again, and she put up an arm to block him.
His hand latched onto her arm, and for a moment she wasn't quite sure of what to do. But instinctively she lashed back, using the force he had on her arm to lift her feet in mid air and plant them firmly on his groin in a powerful kick. Immediately, he dropped her and keeled over.
Stevie stared at him in bewilderment for a moment, processing the fact that she had actually defended herself. Kaldur swooped in and knocked him out with a nice blow to the head. The other two guards were already unconscious, and she took a deep breath.
"Nice job, Stevie," Robin praised, smirking.
"Thanks," she murmured breathlessly, glancing around. "We should keep going. I think we're almost there."
The three of them nodded and she started down the hall again, at a slightly slower pace. Her legs felt jelly-like and her nerves were making it difficult for her to keep from shaking, but she kept moving, eyes sharply scanning ahead of her.
After two more hallway turns, they came to a large metal door. This entire thing seemed a little off-brand for the Shadows, but she didn't care.
"I think they're behind there," she breathed, looking at the heavy metal blocking them from whatever was on the other side.
Artemis was the one to take the lead, and she shot an arrow at the hinge, which exploded with foam that seemed to eat away and corrode the metal. It didn't do the job right away and it took two more arrows, but it got them through.
The door fell to the floor with a loud thud and the darkness loomed in front of them. Stevie moved without thinking.
Robin tried to stop her, but she didn't listen, stepping into the darkness. Her eyes took a moment to adjust, but after she could see rows of cells, all of them seemingly empty. Kaldur stopped beside her.
"Spread out and look in each cell for anything that could be a clue," he ordered, moving to the first one.
Everyone dispersed to quickly search each cell. Stevie eyed all of them for a moment before deciding to move to the furthest one, all the way down at the end. She kept her gaze locked on it, almost feeling a pull toward it, or maybe some hint of familiarity. As she reached it, she moved the door enough that she could get inside.
Her stomach dropped.
The walls were covered in pictures and scribbles. In the far left corner, there were tally marks that covered the entire length from ceiling to floor. Some of the scribbles on the walls were words of encouragement, others were unreadable.
Finally, her eyes landed on the pictures. There were several that were of her. Most were poor quality, printed on printer paper and torn to size. She noticed a couple were of two adults, a man and a woman. But there was one in particular that she grabbed for.
It was a family photo. Out of all the pictures, it was the only one that was an actual photo and still glossy. Five were seated on a blanket in the grass, with lunchboxes and food strewn around them. The man and woman were huddled together in the back, smiling and trying to hold onto the two young boys that seemed to be trying to crawl away. The mom had shoulder-length honey hair, with kind eyes and a gentle smile. Meanwhile, the dad had shorter brown hair and a goofy smile that showed his teeth. In the corner of the blanket, was herself. There was no mistaking it.
Stevie let out a gasp, almost dropping the photo as her heart rammed against her ribs, trying to get out and release the anxiety that pooled in her limbs. She didn't have any time to process it. Robin came running inside, shouting that they needed to go quickly.
He latched onto her shoulder, causing her to jump, and she let out shaky breaths as she spun to face him. She could see him quickly scanning the walls and he lunged forward to snatch a picture of just the parents off the wall. Her parents.
With a gentle but firm grip, he led her out of the cell. She clutched onto the photo tightly, not wanting to lose it, and she took one step forward. This couldn't be happening, could it?
Her vision started to blur, and she could hear shouting, but the blurriness faded into darkness, and the last thing she felt was hitting the floor before everything turned black.
A/N: Hi everyone. I know I have no excuse for not updating, but I do wanna explain. The past few years have been really rough for me mentally. A lot happened and I kinda lost my passion for writing. Currently I am back in school after having taken a year long break, and I am also working. However, I finally feel that I am in a better place emotionally and have started to rediscover my passion for writing and have the desire to pick it up again. I'm also majoring in English with intentions of becoming an author one day so I wanted to start writing again to continue to strengthen my skills. Right now, I am planning on updating my stories in a cycle. I started with this one since I had a chapter 3/4 of the way finished so I wanted to crank it out. I'm going to update all the other stories that I have half-finished chapters for. After that, I'm going to update each story in the order they are listed on my profile. I want to make sure I give attention to all my stories equally.
Finally, I want to give you all one more treat. I have made playlists for a lot of my stories and made them public on Spotify. My username is iluvrocknroll7. If you go to my profile and find the story, you can listen to the playlists that I have created for my stories and characters. I hope you enjoy them!
Thank you guys so much for everything and for continuing to stick with me through all of this. I hope you enjoy my writing and know that I appreciate and love all of you so much :)
