Homecoming (Complete)

Chapter Five

Shade arrived at the yacht basin in time to watch a big truck pull up and start unloading big crates of 'art'—art that was sending the faint muffled sounds of crying to her on the breeze...art that occasionally needed to be told to 'shut up'—and she was now crouched on the roof of the empty security building trying to decide on her next course of action. As she sat there watching the men cart crates from the truck to the yacht, and trying to pinpoint the person in charge—the one most likely to have the kill switch—she saw first Batwoman, then Batgirl, and finally Batman, swing in from various directions and onto the roof across from her.

All three! She had hoped for all of them, but hadn't really expected it. If this had been a simple case of smugglers or drug dealers she would have just taken them out herself, but there were innocent lives at stake and she was hoping that with help she would be able to take these guys out before someone could trigger the failsafe that would kill the women.

She dropped silently to the ground behind the security building and quickly scaled the wall to the roof of the building where the trio stood in the shadow of the water tower, barely visible unless you knew where to look. They were watching the truck being unloaded below and didn't hear her approach.

"Where is this Shade, Batwoman?" Batman rumbled, barely above a whisper.

"Here," Shade said quietly from a crouch at the edge of the building behind them. All three spun to face her, ready for a fight. "Sorry," she held up both hands, "I didn't mean to startle you." They all stared at her for a moment.

"Batwoman says you sent her a message...," Batgirl started.

"I don't care if Batwoman trusts you, and I don't care why. I'd like to know how you cut into her coms to send that message," Batman growled over Batgirl. She shot him a look. "There's something big going on down at Tricorner Yards tonight and..."

"Please," Shade said, holding up both hands again. "I promise I'll explain the coms later. The Tricorner Yards thing is a diversion—I believe it was purposely leaked to catch your attention and try to keep you occupied at the other end of the city. I sent the GCPD there. We don't have much time. That truck down there is loading what I believe is at least two hundred women and girls—the ones that have been reported missing in the past four months since the last time the yacht was in town."

"Two hundred?" Batgirl asked. "I've been investigating the women who've gone missing from Amusement Mile and I didn't find that many..."

"Not just Amusement Mile," Shade cut her off with some urgency. "From the whole of Gotham, and surrounding areas—some shipped in from as far away as Metropolis. That yacht is going to smuggle them out of the country and overseas where they'll be dumped into the sex trade, or thrown up on the auction block. Probably a bit of both."

"How do you know this?" Batman demanded. "Batgirl has been looking into this for the past couple months and she's turned up nothing like this. All I see is a bunch of crates..."

"Dammit!" Shade cut him off through gritted teeth. "You can mistrust me all you want but those women will die if you don't help me," she enunciated each word with a quiet force as she unfolded to her full height and took a step toward him. The movement was so sudden, and her voice so intense, that Batman took a step backward in surprise, bringing an arm up automatically to fend off the attack his instincts told him was coming. Shade ignored his reaction and strode past him to the edge of the roof, stopping just before the edge of the water tower shadow so she wouldn't be seen by the men working below.

"Listen," she said sharply, pointing to her ear without looking back at the trio. "I assume you have a way of amplifying sound in those masks you wear—they look pretty high tech—so listen. Since when do crates cry?" She whirled to face them, her eyes, the only thing visible behind her mask, flashing with barely contained anger. All three fought the urge to step back under the force of her look. "And if that's not enough for you, there's a woman complicit in making sure this place was abandoned tonight—Therese Adams. She's holed up in her apartment not far from here waiting for someone to come kill her to 'tie up loose ends.' She can corroborate that something is going on down here tonight." She put her hands on her hips and glared at them. "But if you want to check my story I'm not waiting around—those women won't be here by the time you decide I'm not deceiving you."