Chapter 135

[Third Person's PoV] 

Nightwing was perched on top of a water tower, his two green escrima sticks sticking out from his back as his brown hair flowed with the wind.

He tapped the side of his ear as he asked, "Alright Aria, what's new?"

In his eye mask HUD, he saw multiple security camera feeds appear before it focused on one and zoomed in. It showed a little kid kicking and screaming as he watched his father get beaten up and the kid thrown into the back of a white van.

"Show me the location…" Nightwing said before he dove off the water tower and landed on the next building.

He arrived by the father of the boy, who was on the ground bleeding. "Are you okay, sir?"

"My boy… they got my boy," the man groaned out in a pained voice.

Nightwing rapidly provided first aid. "Don't worry about your son. I'll get him back for you, that I promise. In the meantime, go to the hospital. You have a few broken bones and a fractured rib."

The man looked at Nightwing and pleaded, "Please save him."

Nightwing nodded. "You have nothing to worry about," he said as he webbed up towards the nearest building and followed after the white van.

As he ran alongside the van on the roof, he was able to see one of their faces, which was highlighted before his criminal record was shown.

'Human trafficking, illegal organ trafficking, assault and battery, fraud, money laundering… This can't be good… I have a bad feeling about this… I better follow them back to where they are taking the kid,' Nightwing thought to himself as he stealthily followed the white van.

The white van arrived in a dark alley in the middle of an apartment complex where they couldn't be easily spotted.

Nightwing was perched by the ledge of the apartment building, viewing everything. He watched as the men opened the van and pulled out multiple children, rushing them inside.

'There were more… I should have guessed,' he thought as he watched them all enter.

Afterward, Nightwing snuck in through one of the open windows, but as he entered, he was bombarded by a strong odor which sent his senses into a frenzy.

He covered his nose with the back of his hand. "Oh God, what is that… I can taste it… Yuck… At least I know why the windows are open," he muttered.

When he looked around, he saw that the room was empty except for two doors: one was metal, and the other was made out of wood.

The wooden door led to the hallway while the metal door was too thick for his 3D lenses to work.

Nightwing opened the metal door and was blasted by cold air. "Is this a freezer?" he muttered.

He entered and began looking around, seeing blood bags on top of shelves, with containers next to them. He was confused until he reached for a large container and opened it.

"Holy shit," he couldn't help but curse as he saw what was inside. It was a heart, surrounded by ice cubes in a bag.

Nightwing felt his own heart start beating quickly as he started breathing heavily, his hands shaking alongside his voice as he asked, "Aria… why is this so small…"

"Please don't make me say it…" Aria replied.

Nightwing closed the container and looked up while closing his eyes. He took a deep breath to calm himself, but that was a big mistake.

"I think I'm gonna be sick…" he muttered as he started turning a bit green. Then he heard the door to the room open.

"That's weird, why was cold air blasting underneath the door… WHO LEFT THE DAMN FREEZER OPEN? DON'T THEY KNOW THE PRODUCT WILL GO BAD!!"

As the man made his way towards the freezer, he froze as he saw Nightwing's muscular back.

He reached for his gun and pointed it towards Nightwing. "Who the hell are you?!"

The man watched as Nightwing slowly turned his head to look back at him and saw a single tear running down his cheek as he held the container in his hands.

Nightwing set the container to the side, and the man immediately began firing. Nightwing didn't dodge; the bullets hit his back before they fell to the ground.

Nightwing turned towards the man and began slowly walking towards him. The man grew scared and started taking steps back as he kept on shooting.

The bullets hit his face, turning it red, but due to his thick skin and healing factor, the redness went away.

The man ran out of bullets and fumbled to reload. But Nightwing was already in front of him, staring him down.

The man felt small as Nightwing looked at him coldly. The man reached to his side, ready to take out his knife, but Nightwing raised a hand and backhanded him with enough force to send him flying back, smashing through the wall and ending up in the hallway.

His teeth were broken as blood escaped his mouth. Hearing the commotion, more men began to appear, all wielding guns.

As Nightwing saw them coming, he grabbed two balls from his utility belt and threw them at their feet. A smoke screen started appearing, obscuring their vision.

"I can't see anything!"

"He's in front of us; just start shooting!"

Every time they shot, the sparks illuminated the smoke screen before they heard the sound of screaming and impact, causing them to become scared and start acting more frantic.

"AHHHH!"

"Ugh!"

"Oof!"

"BTTTTZZZZZ!"

"No! No! I'm sorry!"

As the smoke cleared, it revealed bodies everywhere, with Nightwing in the middle of them, holding his escrima sticks. They were covered in blood alongside his knuckles. His hair was down, covering his face as his knuckles tightened around his weapons.

He heard more footsteps coming up the stairs, so he rushed towards them. As they appeared, he held onto the railing and kicked them back down, taking them all out.

He watched them all roll down the flight of stairs before jumping over the railing and meeting them at the bottom.

One of them quickly got back up and took out his knife, flipping it in his hand before going into a fighting position. He rushed towards Nightwing, but Nightwing slammed his escrima stick on his wrist, making a crunching noise and causing him to drop the knife and scream in pain as he held his broken hand.

Nightwing put the escrima stick to the man's neck and electrocuted him, knocking him unconscious.

Someone jumped on his back and tried to stab him, but he reached back, grabbed the back of their shirt, and flipped them over to the ground before kicking them unconscious.

Nightwing saw the men he had previously taken down getting back up. He joined his escrima sticks together, creating a bo staff, and started twirling it around before dashing towards them, beating them unconscious. Blood flew out of their mouths with every hit.

Nightwing cleared each floor with maximum efficiency. No matter how many came after him, he handled them with relative ease until he made his way down to the basement.

He stood in front of another metal door with a trail of bodies right behind him. Although it was sound-isolated, Nightwing was still able to hear what was happening inside due to his enhanced senses.

"So did you wash them? You know they need to be clean since we are selling these for a high price."

"How long do you think we've been doing this? Of course, I washed them. You know how many orders we get."

"Good, bring in the first boy of the new batch."

"Yes, sir…"

"NO! LET GO OF ME! PLEASE! DADDY! DADDY, HELP ME PLEASE!"

"Strap him to the chair and cover his mouth so he shuts up."

"I already said we've done this a million times. I know what to do."

"Yeah, yeah," the man replied before the sound of a chainsaw started up.

As Nightwing heard muffled screaming, his cheek tightened over his mouth as veins protruded from the side of his face.

He punched his fist towards the door, expecting it to go flying back, but all it did was punch a hole straight through the metal door.

The two men inside stopped what they were doing and looked towards the door in shock until they saw the hand pull back. They then saw a face peeking out from the hole he created.

"Oops," he said in a monotone voice before grabbing the opening of the hole and ripping the door completely open.

"It looks like I added a little too much strength to my knocking. I hope you guys don't mind if I let myself in," he said with an emotionless look on his face.

"Shit, who is this freak? Gabe, get him!" the man with the chainsaw commanded.

Gabe was a large, burly, bald black man who was strapping a child down in a black leather chair with the floor around it covered in dry blood.

Gabe reached into his back pocket and pulled out two knuckle dusters. He cracked his knuckles as he put them on before rushing towards Nightwing. He held a boxing position, covering his face with one hand before punching towards Nightwing with the other.

Nightwing easily caught the fist with one hand and looked towards him with a head shake. "You should have quit when you had the chance… Gabe."

Gabe was still stunned by Nightwing catching his fist. Nightwing twisted Gabe's arm, causing him to scream in pain while his knees buckled slightly.

Nightwing kicked Gabe's knee, causing him to kneel. Gabe used his other hand to punch Nightwing, but Nightwing maneuvered his way behind him, got on his shoulders, and snapped his neck.

Gabe didn't have a chance to react as he fell face-first to the floor, unconscious. Nightwing got off him, his body reflexively rolling to the side in time to dodge the chainsaw.

The man holding the chainsaw clicked his tongue as he missed. When he turned to look towards Nightwing, he saw he wasn't where he rolled to. He looked to both sides in confusion until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He quickly turned around and swung his chainsaw down, but there was no one there.

That was until he saw a shadow to his side. He saw Nightwing with his back before punching him so hard he went flying off and smashing against all his utensils, his teeth flying out of his mouth and his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

He slumped against a table with his head down, blood dripping from his mouth with the chainsaw still on and in his hands.

Nightwing went and unstrapped the child from his seat. The kid practically jumped into his arms and began to sob.

Nightwing, seeing this, was surprised before smiling sadly and patting the boy's head. "There, there, it'll be alright. I got you now. Come, can you take me to your friends? Let's get everyone away from here."

The kid nodded while still crying, holding Nightwing's hand as he started guiding him towards where the other kids were. "Aria," Nightwing called, tapping his ear.

"I have already informed the police of everything that is going on. They are arriving in a few seconds," Aria informed him.

Nightwing safely released all of the children and guided them outside, where policemen were taking everyone into custody.

When they saw Nightwing with the children, some officers tipped their hats towards him.

The kids hid behind his legs and looked towards the cops with a hint of worry. Nightwing turned towards them and got on one knee, patting their heads as he said, "Go with the officers; they will help you reunite with your families."

Some had tears in their eyes as they nodded their heads before they all rushed and tackled him into a hug, taking him by surprise.

After they were done, the captain of the unit nodded towards Nightwing. "We'll take them off your hands now…Nightwing~" he said in a teasing tone.

Nightwing grew embarrassed as he scratched his cheek. He stood up and nodded his head before his expression grew serious. "Have you found…"

The captain's face grew serious as he nodded. "Some pretty disturbing things, I dare say… I don't think some of my men are going to be able to sleep well tonight."

Nightwing rubbed his face. "Tell me about it."

The police captain just patted his shoulder. "Great work out there…"

Nightwing nodded. "Just make sure they are all reunited with their families," he said before he started jumping towards the walls and parkouring onto the rooftops.

As he watched them take the kids away safely, Nightwing tapped the side of his ear. "Hey man… I think I could really use a friend right about now…" he said with a solemn voice.

…

Meanwhile…

The Scarlet-Spider was sitting on the edge of a building with a little spider in hand. "You know, before, I thought you guys were scary, but now I think you're really cute little critters," she said with an awkward smile. 

"I now feel bad for killing my little spider… I wonder if we could have become friends like I'm doing with you fuzzy little guys," she added, patting it with her finger.

Suddenly, she turned her head to the side and sighed. "That's the fifth domestic abuse case in an hour…"

'I guess it goes to show how much it happens and how much people keep quiet about it… It's not like I have any room to talk,' she thought.

"Come on, little guy, we have someone to save," Scarlet-Spider said, putting the little spider on her shoulder.

She grabbed the ledge she was sitting on, flipped off of it, and swung towards the location of the reported incident. Turning invisible, she arrived to witness the scene.

A man walked into a room with a beer bottle in hand. "You… You know what to do… Undress… Since your mother left ME! That just means it's your job to take care of my needs," the man slurred.

The girl on the bed started shaking, holding her arms and tucking herself into the covers with tears in her eyes. "Please… Just for tonight… Don't do this…"

The man dropped the bottle and grabbed the sheets with both hands, yanking them off. "I SAID TO UNDRESS!" he shouted, climbing into bed and starting to undo his belt buckle.

Suddenly, the window was smashed open. Scarlet-Spider deactivated her invisibility and punched the man's head into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"AHHHHHHHH!!" the girl screamed before turning towards Scarlet-Spider.

"Wait… I'm here to help you," Scarlet-Spider said, raising her hands in surrender as the girl picked up her covers and shielded herself.

The girl looked towards her unconscious father, then back to the intruder in her room. She didn't know why, but upon seeing the Scarlet-Spider, she broke into tears. Scarlet-Spider sat on the girl's bed and pulled her into a hug.

The girl cried, gripping Scarlet-Spider's outfit tightly. Scarlet-Spider patted the girl's head and hair to calm her down, reassuring her, "Don't worry, I'm here to help you. We'll get through this together…"

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