Chpt.16
"Livy… It is you… isn't it?" Max questioned. Livy looked away, trying to get her hands free so she could get away.
I don't need this right now. Livy thought in frustration.
"Livy… what happened to you. Last time I saw you, you hardly had the guts to throw a punch." Max stated, looking at her with shock.
"Because every time I threw a punch I could count on about fifty more coming my way." Livy grumbled. "And at the time, I was a malnourished eight year old."
"Livy, last I heard about Jacob was from Tom. Apparently he was hospitalize. He was messed up pretty bad."
"That was thanks to a friend of mine. He didn't like how Jacob was treating me and then took the situation into his own hands." Livy informed. "Then I started to live with him."
"So you were adopted by some guy?" Max questioned.
"Yeah. You might've heard of him. His name's Red Hood." Livy informed with a smirk. She needed to keep talking, and now she was close to being free from the ropes.
"Whoa, so you… you got stronger. Livy… you don't know how happy I am that you got away from Jacob."
"You know, I always used to wish that once Jacob kicked you out, you'd come back for me. I knew that you wouldn't, but I always hoped." Livy informed and Max sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry for not coming back for you. But my life hasn't been much of a walk in the park… my mom died."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Livy whispered. He always loved his mom. God, he used to talk about her all the time. "Max… you know she wouldn't want you doing this. Just let the girls go." Livy stated, but Max shook his head.
"Livy, the girls will be safe here. And they can keep being prostitutes and I can make some money. It's a win win situation." He said with a small smile.
"It's wrong, Max."
"I'm keeping them safe."
"You're imprisoning them here!" Livy exclaimed, and Max's face hardened.
"If my mom had a safe place to be, she wouldn't've been killed! And even if she was killed here, I'd be able to at least find her murderer!"
"Max, you don't understand. I was protecting them-"
"Protecting them!? I grabbed them pretty easily! Your "protecting them" obviously isn't good enough!"
Livy's bindings were finally loosened and she slipped her hands through, freeing herself. She quickly went to punch Max, but he blocked her blow.
"There's no need to fight, Livy. You can help me. You can be the muscle for this place." Max stated.
"No. This is wrong and you know it. Just let them go and give up on this." Livy stated, but Max shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Livy, but I can't do that."
With that, Max kicked Livy in the gut, and tackled her to the floor.
~*~*~*~*~Elsewhere~*~*~*~*~
Damian blinked his eyes open to see that he was tied to a chair in what appeared to be the basement.
"Tt. Just rope?" he mumbled, and quickly got out of his binds, and made his way up. He started opening doors searching for Livy.
The first few rooms were empty, however, he then started to reach rooms containing scared women.
"Get out of the building and run to your homes." Damian stated. He ran to each door, kicking it down, and telling the women to run home.
"Are you… are you Robin?" one woman, Meg, whispered when Damian kicked her door to the room down.
"Yes, however, the only reason why I'm doing this is for my idiot acquaintance, Little Red." Damian grumbled.
"Red." Meg whispered with a small smile. "She's the greatest."
"Just get moving!" Damian exclaimed, and the woman ran off. All the prostitutes that Livy was looking for were accounted for in Damian's head, except for one.
He kicked down one more door to see Lancy.
"Where is Red?" Lancy questioned when Damian kicked down the door. Damian was a bit miffed that the girl had no thanks towards him, but he brushed the comment away.
"She's probably with Maxwell. Now I suggest you leave."
"I'm not leaving until I know Red will be okay." Lancy stated as she started looking around for where Livy and Max could be.
"Look, it's dangerous. Little Red will want you to get out and be safe." Damian stated.
"I don't care, if she needs my help, she'll get it." Lancy informed, and Damian pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to stop a headache.
"Go home!" Damian exclaimed.
"No!" Lancy shouted back.
"Difficult trollop." Damian grumbled, but Lancy was already looking for where Livy was and Damian followed.
~*~*~*~*~Elsewhere~*~*~*~*~
Max placed his gun on the side of Livy's head as his other hand held her hands down.
"What are you gonna do? Kill me!?" she exclaimed. "Last time I remember, some jobs you didn't want to do for Jacob because they involved killing. Didn't you have something against that?"
Max glared at Livy, however he moved the gun from her head to her stomach.
"This won't kill you, but it'll weaken you." He stated. "I'll take care of you and keep you alive. You'll be my hostage in case the cops wise up about this place." Max smiled.
"I took a bullet to the stomach before. Not fun." She grumbled, then kneed Max in the crotch, getting herself out of his hold.
She swiftly kicked the gun out of his hand, catching it herself. She held the gun up, aiming it at Max's head.
"I won't hesitate to kill." She growled. "Now, hands in the air." Max slowly obeyed, just as Damian kicked the door down.
"Red!" Lancy exclaimed happily as Robin went behind Max and started to handcuff him.
"I'm happy to see that you're okay." Livy smiled as she hugged Lancy.
"You're welcome, Little Red." Damian grumbled as he patted Max down, making sure he wasn't concealing any more weapons. "By the way, I released all of your friends. This one insisted on seeing you. And also, your mask is off."
"No shit, Robin." Livy stated as she picked up the mask and placed it back on. She then looked at Lancy.
"You didn't see that."
"Got it." she then giggled a bit as she straightened the mask on Livy's face. "It was crooked." Lancy informed.
"Thanks." Livy smiled, then turned to Damian. "I'm gonna walk Lancy home. You take Max to the police."
"Since when did you give the orders?" Damian questioned.
"Since I became a vigilante." Livy stated. "Now get Max to the police." Before Damian could shove Max out of the room, the man started talking.
"Li…" Max looked over at Lancy. "Little Red… look after them. Keep them safe." He stated. His eyes were wide and watery. "Please."
"Will do, Max." she whispered. Livy looked over at Lancy and wrapped her arm around her friend as Damian pushed Max out of the room. "Let's get you home."