Talk Nerdy to Me

Chapter 28: Nineteen

Summary:

Ra begins the process of recording her witness statements, and lets the emotions of the night lead her down a new path, not able to fight the attraction any more.

Notes:

I am trying to be intentionally vague while also underscoring the severity of the trauma. I did my best not to describe anything in detail. Still, CW for this one. I will put a bunch of stars above the part where I think it won't be triggering anymore.

Chapter Text

Ra sat up with her shoulders squared in the chair, her back straight, perched on the edge of the seat. Chris and Han and Changbin were arrayed to either side of her, though Chris' masked face was the only one on camera. His hand was sitting on her knee in a comforting way.

Liz had appeared for the meeting, a warm, motherly Hispanic woman with her hair in a tightly controlled bun. She smiled at Ra, tender, and she walked Ra through a mental exercise that involved putting all of her trauma into a container. Ra was sleepy when she finished, but she had thrown everything into the thing. Liz asked her what it looked like.

"It's the ghost containment unit from Ghostbusters." Ra blushed, a little embarrassed to admit it was something nerdy in front of the two older folks.

"That's a large container," Liz said, making a noise of sympathy. "So what we're going to do now is start going through the container one task at a time. C, I would like you to keep an eye on Ra. If she is in too much distress, we'll need to help her ground and feel safe again. Can you do that?"

Chris nodded. "I can."

Liz shuffled papers around, and shared her screen, making her floating head small. On the screen was a list of names, most of which Ra knew. Her father and brother were at the top, but so were several church leaders at multiple locations. Next to it was a list of about twenty women's names - all women Ra had helped escape the abusive marriages imposed on them by the church.

"We've spoken with these ladies during the investigation," Liz said. "All of them pointed to you, though they used a pseudonym down to the last. Angel of the Sun Chariot, or more simply the Sun Angel."

Ra nodded. "I don't use my name for it, and up until ten weeks ago, my name wasn't attached to them."

"Smart girl," Liz said. "We haven't tracked down who ratted you out. When this goes to court, we'll be sealing your identity.

Ra nodded, perusing the list with narrowed eyes. "You're missing Kevin, Cory, and Jackson, just off the top of my head."

"Kevin Morris, Cory Good, and Jackson Joy?"

Ra nodded again. "Kevin is the one who returned me from Tennessee. Cory from Georgia. Jackson from Maryland."

Liz added the names to the list, typing in notes.

"Where do you think it best to begin?" Liz asked.

Ra pressed her mouth into a thin line, considering the question carefully as she did everything. "What is going to get the most of them ensnared the fastest?"

"If we can get the majority jailed for sexual assault, we can get enough time to file on the big brush strokes," Ross said. "The trouble is that if you don't want them released on bonds, we need the sex trafficking filings to stick. We haven't filed any of it yet because if we do this wrong, we might miss some, or the charges won't stick."

Ra nodded to herself, lost in thought. She had done enough research into law to have a fair grasp of what they were saying.

"Then I'll start with the one's who either assaulted or assisted in assaulting me, and then go from there." Ra said it with a straight face, grim but steady.