Warning: Harsh Twists Ahead.
Chapter 19
The train ride from Paris, where the Zeta Tube was, to the South of France, where the CS Coyote docked, felt far longer than he had expected. Wally loved that they could walk around on the train, and spent quite a bit of the time pacing to burn off his nervous energy. The rest of the time, they reviewed the information they did have regarding Robin's case.
The information included a copy of the ransom video, pictures of evidence from the scene where the ransom was made and the original crime scene, the camera evidence from the port in Savannah that showed Richard Grayson being forced inside the warehouse, although the evidence of him leaving was foggy, the testimony of several crew members and the Captain, several of their false leads, and pictures of other children still missing and believed to have been related to the case. There was plenty more circumstantial evidence there as well, but overall, the file was the most important thing they carried, even if it was all copies.
"Can we go over the evidence once more?" Wally asked, poking his head into the compartment the two had rented for the journey.
"Alright, my friend. Would you care to begin?" He entered and plopped down on the seat opposite Kaldur.
"Sure, sure. So, the ship finished docking at approximately 8:30 am and began unloading boxes at 9:00. The Captain testified that the box he believed may have had a child in it was off the ship by 9:30 am, and the truck carrying it left before the rest of the children finished loading the bus, which left at about 9:45."
"We know that the ransom was a fluke. And there were children, probably connected to the same company, in Le Mars, but they were long gone even before Richard-"
"Dick."
"Sorry, they were gone long before Dick was kidnapped. So far, that has been a dead end, but it may be prudent to return there if our current lead does not pan out."
"Yeah. We should do that."
"Arriving in Marseille in 10 minutes," A voice chimed over the loudspeaker. Wally groaned, and got up to pace again. Aqualad caught his arm.
"Perhaps we should take this time to make sure we have everything. It should not be far to the Port, but we cannot forget our identification documents, or the terminal operator may not give us the data we need."
"Can't we just say we're with the Justice League? They should know Aqualad and Kid Flash."
"Wally, we are not exactly the most well-known heroes and these operators may not keep up with foreign news. They probably only know Batman and Superman and possibly Wonder Woman or Martian Manhunter because they appear on the news the most often and have the closest relationship with the UN."
"Oh. Well then."
After making sure they had everything, the two teens left the train and went down to the port. They pulled aside one of the terminal operators and told him why they were there. He led them to the surveillance and records room and turned them over to the manager in charge.
"What do you mean you no longer have the tapes?" Kid Flash demanded.
"We keep them for 90 days under the law, before they become obsolete and we destroy them. It's mostly the same thing, boxes being unloaded and loaded for hours. If we have any reason to be suspicious within those three months, we'll keep the tapes and give them to the proper authorities, but, if not, we destroy them. The tapes from the week the CS Coyote came in were considered obsolete over two weeks ago. We actually kept them for over an extra week— we had a back log—but it's still too late. I'm sorry. We didn't know to keep them, and extra room can be loaned to more ships to earn more money for the port."
Kid still looked upset, but the reasoning was sound. Aqualad addressed the lady helping them. "Thank you for the assistance. The records should be enough, for now. May we hold onto these?"
"I'd prefer we kept a copy on record, company policy and just in case, but we have two copies. You can take one of the copies for evidence. I hope you find the missing kids."
"We will do our best. Thank you again. Can you show us the way out, please?"
"Yes. This way." She led them out after locking the records door behind them.
"It is not a complete failure," Kaldur assured Wally once they were on their own again. "These records may be able to lead us to the company. If we can even find a figurehead company, we may be able to track down the real company, and Dick and the rest of the missing children from there."
"Yeah. I still wish we could have at least gotten confirmation that he was alive."
"Even if we had been able to see the tapes, chances are we would not have seen Dick. Captain Warland admitted they didn't open the crate for anything, and he wasn't even sure there was someone in there. That includes when they were off the ship. They probably removed him from the crate outside of Marseille, far away from the port."
"I still have trouble believing that anyone could be that cruel. Dick hates being enclosed, and you know how he is around people.
"Yes." Kaldur sighed. "Dick thrives on attention and he is so young. I am afraid we are searching for a broken bird."
"Hey! Don't give up on him! Dick may have bounced back. He's probably taken over and is waiting for us to arrive so he can laugh and ask what took us so long."
Dick plunked down in the seat next to Roy, without looking at him and put his head in his arms. "Is everything ready?" Dick spoke under his breath. "Did you account for Logarithm? He's been around a lot more recently." Roy put his chin in his hand, covering his mouth in a pretend yawn.
"Almost. It'll be ready by tonight. Logarithm is leaving at 5." Roy hissed back. He subtly examined his friend's head to check the progression of the white streaks. They were fairly more prominent now, but Dick probably hadn't noticed them yet. "Good name, by the way. I think he got a promotion or something. Find a way to stay out of your room. When you can, sneak away and get to the control room. Knock out any bluemen in the control room. You'll be in charge of unlocking all the doors and looping the footage. Keep the situation away from Logarithm's ears as long as you can. Alex will get everyone out of the Special Order unit; I will distract and get the kids from the Target Dump. Charlie will clue the rest of the kids in to what's going on, and grab some help to get as much food as he can, leaving out the kitchen. We move at 5:20."
"Are you sure you should distract? I mean, shouldn't we-?
"Yes. I'm sure. Just take out the security."
"Fine. What about Dami?" Roy spread his arms as he yawned and slipped a chip into Dick's crossed arms before putting his head down on his desk as well.
"Take him with you. He can be your lookout." They were silent for a couple minutes. Dick closed his eyes to take a nap until the teacher came in to start the class. Roy shifted. "Make sure you get out, too. They won't be gentle if they catch us, and I'm not about to let them kill you."
"Aww. You do like me."
"Unfortunately."
"I have to go to the bathroom," Dick said to the bluemen who were leading him, Alex, Dami and Batkitty down the hall. He looked at Damian.
"Me too!" The kid got the cue instantly. Dick resisted the urge to smirk proudly. "I have to go to the bathroom, too!" The bluemen exchanged glances.
"You have to go, too?" One of them asked Alex. He shrugged.
"Not at the moment, but I can, so I don't have to go later."
"Fine," They switched directions, going to the bathroom.
As they entered the bathroom, Dick turned to one of the bluemen, rolling his eyes as they were followed inside. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have the time, would you?"
The blueman snorted. "Of course, I have the time. It's 5:13."
"Awesome. Thanks." They took their time. As Dick washed his hands, he calculated the positions of everyone in the room. Damian and Alex were both tense, on the other side of Dick, waiting for him to do his thing. The blueman inside was fidgeting, impatient, and not truly paying attention to the three in the room. The other blueman was just outside the door. Perfect.
He took the blueman out with a flying kick to the head. He grabbed a paper towel from the holder, balled it up, and shoved it into the man's mouth, then quickly shoved him in a stall and braced the door so it would be difficult to open. Dick stood up and nodded to his two slack jawed roommates. They closed their mouth, switching their expressions to determined and nodded back.
"Hey, what's going on in there, Paul?" The second blueman entered the room, and looked at the three boys standing there. "Where-?" Dick sprang forward with a punch, followed by a sweeping kick, knocking the man's legs out from under him. He jumped on top of the man, and shoved another balled up paper towel into his mouth. He grabbed the coil of rope the blueman kept for trouble makers, and used it to tie the man's hands up and secure the gag, and then shoved him into a nearby stall as well. He grabbed the man's ID card before shutting the door and bracing it.
"Woah." The slack jawed faces were back. Dick gave a little bow.
"Let's go."
In retrospect, keeping Charlie and himself out of their dorm had been relatively easy. All he'd had to do is stumble and shake. The bluemen didn't know what was going on, but it brought the focus on him, allowing Charlie to slip away towards the lower levels and the kitchen. Once his comrade was clear, Roy stopped shaking and lay still on the floor, quietly slipping off the slippers because they would only impede his progress from this point. A blueman leaned down close to him, and he flipped the man onto the floor, quickly relieving him of his weapons and starting to fight everybody who came near him. He held back until one of the bluemen had called for help and then went all out, bringing all the attention he could to him.
When the bluemen started to get too big of an advantage in number, he flipped over the group, stepping on heads to gain distance, and ran down the hall away from the outer doors. He broke windows and crashed into walls, putting as much into his distraction as he could. Even more bluemen appeared to try to cut him off as he led them away from the cells.
As more began chasing him and he began to slow down with all the turns in the maze, losing some of his pursuers, the dodges got narrower and narrower. Luckily, he soon ran into the exact thing he was searching for: the stairs. Three flights down to the Target Dump, he thought to himself, jumping over the railing and hopping down the bannisters to move faster. He shoved the door closed on the right floor and braced it best he could at a fast pace, and then shot off in the direction he believed the Target Dump was.
The corners were tough on his bare feet, but Roy managed. Before long, he crashed into someone coming out of the Target Dump and leapt into battle mode.
Dick snuck down the hall, closely followed by his little brother, using every stealth move he knew. He heard clanging indicating Roy's distraction was doing its job around the time he reached the control room. He indicated to Dami that the kid should stay outside, slipped in, and made quick work of the three inside. He tied them up with their own handcuffs and gagged them with duct tape that happened to be in there. He opened the door for Damian, who instantly took up position to keep a good watch while staying hidden, like they'd discussed. Apparently, the Shadows had taught him some useful skills. Batkitty was tucked into Damian's waist belt so that he wouldn't lose the toy.
Using the ID card, and the fact no one expected someone to break into the control room for some reason, Dick had security down in next to no time. He unlocked and opened one of the outer doors. On one of the monitors, he saw Alex start to open the Special Order doors. Dick continuously had to refresh the unlock feature so that they stayed open long enough for him to get the whole hall out. As he kept an eye on the situation, Dick got to work downloading all the data he could onto a flash drive he'd nicked from one of his classes, compressing it so more could fit. It wasn't really a part of Roy's escape plan, but it gave him something to do while ensuring the other kids got out okay. Plus, the data would help bring the organization down and prevent them from just getting new kids and starting someplace new.
Within a couple minutes, the drove of kids, both special order and regular, was shoving their way out into the crisp, early spring air. He saw that Charlie had been quick in his task and was racing out through the kitchen door with a good half the kitchen loaded into bags by him and his companions. Dick made sure to deactivate all the alarms near the back door as they left. It looked like the escape was progressing enough that he and Damian could go join the main group.
"They're coming," Damian cried from his spot at the doorway.
"Rahat," Dick hissed as the security system got a sudden boost from an outside source. "Damian, get inside, shut the door, and lock it. Then, come over here." He heard the kid do so. Dick removed the flash drive and fisted it. He felt arms go around his leg, and quietly slipped Damian the flash drive in a slight of hand.
Not even a minute later, there was a bang against the door. Dick quickly erased the security tape of the past hour and made sure cameras would stay down for the next half an hour. Then, he started breaking everything he could, so they couldn't electric lock the outer doors and stop the tide of escaping kids. "When they open those doors, we're going to have to run." He told Damian in Arabic so the tied up guards in the back of the room couldn't understand. "We're going to have to force our way past them. If I get caught, keep going. Catch up with the crowd. I'll join you later."
The arms around his leg tightened, but before Damian could say a word, one of the guards who they'd thought was secured lunged at Dick, having found his handcuff key. Dick let out a yelp as he fell across the control table and his leg was wrenched from Damian's grasp. The shock at the unexpected action was just enough for the blueman to get a good grip on the young teenager. The door burst open as the blueman screwed Dick's arms up behind his back so that his fingers touched his shoulder blades. "Run!" Dick cried in Arabic to his shell shocked little brother. Damian snapped to attention and raced out the door, dodging the bluemen.
"Well, that's one." One of the bluemen entering said, pulling out a bit of rope to secure the struggling child. "What took you so long?"
"Brat has some skills there. He knocked us out and tied us up with our own handcuffs. Just woke up and had to wait for my vision to clear and to get the handcuffs unlocked before attacking. Did you catch the little one?"
"No, but he was probably coerced into helping. He'll be punished, no doubt, but this one…" Dick whimpered. The blueman speaking examined him with a sadistic gleam in his eyes. "This one we can give over to the boss to do with as he sees fit."
They dragged the two boys to the wooden poles in the corner of the cafeteria. The smaller boy was bucking and screaming, fighting with everything he had, but ineffective against the strong arms, which grasped him. The taller, older boy went along calmly, seemingly accepting of his fate. They shoved the two boys to their knees and grabbed their arms, undoing the rope around the smaller one just enough so that they could handcuff his wrists behind the pole. They cuffed the older one's upper arms tightly, winding rope around to keep them in place. The smaller boy squirmed, prompting them to tighten the ropes so that he couldn't move.
All the other children who'd been recaptured were shoved into the large room as well, polluting the air with their fear. There were maybe 60 or 70 left of the nearly 150 subjects who had been there before the escape. The far door slammed open, causing many of the children to flinch in fear. Logarithm stormed in, positively steaming, dragging another child behind him, one who he practically threw into the crowd.
"How many?" He demanded, picking out the nurses in the crowd.
"Sir-"
"How many brats got away?" He roared.
"Eigh-eighty-three, sir."
"Eight-three? EIGHTY-THREE ESCAPED?!" A small, proud smile appeared on the face of the young boy behind him while a smug grin grew on the face of the older boy.
"Yes, sir." Logarithm turned around to face the culprits. The smaller boy's smile instantly faded to be replaced by subtle, almost hidden fear as the furious look focused on the two of them. The older boy glanced at his friend and scowled slightly, but seemed more defiant than scared. Logarithm took a couple deep breaths to calm down before marching to the corner. He stopped directly in front of the younger, more impressionable boy, who was squirming again. He bent down so that he was about two inches from the kid's face glaring directly into his eyes as the kid shrunk away. Logarithm slowly wrapped a hand around the back of the kid's head, causing him to still; a trick which never ceased to work.
"You planned the escape, didn't you? You, the little rich brat and the one armed orphan." His voice was soft, yet deadly, carrying to the entire room.
"I resent that," the older boy stated. "I'm only missing a little under half my arm."
Logarithm ignored him, and removed a pair of red googles from the smaller boy's head and tossed them away, causing the kid's breath to catch. Logarithm put a hand on his shoulder and then finally took a step back from the smaller boy, not letting go. With his other hand, he searched the older boy and pulled out a red arrow shaft complete with feather from the older boy's sleeve.
"Sir, we suspect these two of being the masterminds, but they've both been relatively successful in their respective projects. It would be a waste to kill them, especially after losing so many," One of the braver nurses spoke up.
"Is that so?" Logarithm whispered silkily, turning to face the nurse, while still keeping his hand on his captive's shoulder, lightly rubbing it. Fear sparked through the boy's eyes again. The nurse nodded.
"Yes, sir," the nurse took a deep breath once the gaze moved away from him.
"One more child gone would not make that large of an impact in comparison to eighty-three," Logarithm observed relishing in the expression on his impressionable victim's face. He smirked, and then stood and walked away from the two boys. He grabbed a gun from one of the nurses and spun to address the crowd of failed escapees.
"Attempts to leave are unacceptable behavior here, and the punishments for such behavior are extreme. Doubtless to say, these two 'geniuses' will be taught their lesson. One will live to tell the tale." The tension in the air was delicious and invigorating, refreshing Logarithm as he spoke with a sadistic smile.
"Now," He glanced back at the smaller boy. "You're from Gotham City, aren't you rich brat?" The kid was shaking, but managed to give a small nod in response to Logarithm's glare. "I heard there's a villain there. Name's Two-Face, I believe. Perhaps you've heard of him?" The boy's eyes widened. All the color that remained drained from his face and the shaking increased, complete with him shaking his head. The older boy finally stiffened, before starting to attempt to comfort the smaller boy.
"You have? Good. I've heard he likes chance, allows chance to decide who lives and who dies. Well," Logarithm pulled a coin from his pocket with a flourish. "Heads, the rich brat dies. Tails, the one-armed orphan," Logarithm grinned and threw the coin into the air.
The whole room could hear the clink, clink, woooooooo, as the coin hit the ground, bounced, and spun to a stop. Logarithm leaned forward to look at the coin. The tension in the room climbed to an all-time high. He faced the two boys, his grin as wide as it could get. Satisfaction leaked from his tone as he aimed his gun.
"Well. What do you know? It's heads?"
"NO!" Roy shouted.
BANG!
A/N
ASV: Is it still s'mores weather? In the original author's note for this, one of the few I wrote in advance, we had the s'mores pit all set up, so…
Inky: Also, we'd like to apologize for the cliffhanger. Yes, the author is cruel. Believe me; she is well aware of that fact.
ASV: Is this my author's note now? That was a question for you… And I gave them an extra-long chapter!
So, I'm not sure if the next chapter will be up before NaNoWriMo starts, but I won't make you wait until December for it. Please favorite, follow, and review. I want to hear your thoughts.