𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, DICK GRAYSON

─ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

"We just wanted to keep her here. Keep her safe, that's all. Where no one could hurt her and she couldn't hurt anyone," Sister Catherine explained to us, tightly grasping Kory's hand. She quickly rose up onto her feet. "There's no stopping it now."

"Stopping what?" Dick questioned.

"There's no stopping it now," she repeated, starting to look agitated as the paramedic returned to escort her inside the ambulance. "God, forgive me. God, forgive us all."

I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated at the current situation. Rachel was once again missing, all thanks to these nuns who thought locking her up was the best option to protect her from herself and the others.

"Why did you leave her here?" Kory asked, following after the detective who's also looking frustrated as he headed in the direction of the car.

"In a convent full of nuns? Yeah, seemed real dangerous," Dick replied in sarcasm, stopping his tracks then turning around to face her. "You know, you're the one who stole my car and drove off."

"Yeah, I thought you could handle her for a few minutes, but I should've known better considering you ditched her in D.C."

A sigh escaped from Dick's lips. "I didn't mean to ditch her, okay? I was trying to—"

Kory interrupted him. "You just couldn't handle her, so you left her with your friends. It's pathetic."

"Look, before this argument turns into a heated one, let's press pause for a moment," I interjected into the conversation, looking at both of them. "Because right now, we have a missing girl and the last thing she needs is to have you two fight over who's at fault."

"She's getting more powerful," Kory commented as we resumed walking to the car.

"Yeah, but she's still a kid," Dick reminded her, opening the car door. "Alone and scared and on the run."

We left St. Paul's but soon arrived at Covington's police station. It didn't look busy despite today being a weekday.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not coming," Dick said to Kory the moment she unbuckled the seatbelt and reached for the picture of Rachel from the dashboard.

"What? Why?" she asked.

"You're not exactly the definition of blending in," he subtly implied the outfit she currently had on as it spoke the opposite of what we're trying to do, which is not bringing attention to ourselves especially when it came to the police.

Kory took a quick glance at herself, seeing no wrong about the outfit. "I've blended in just fine," she argued, frowning at the insinuation.

"I've got the badge. I can find out if anyone's seen Rachel faster without you."

"Not to mention, you're wanted by the police," I added, looking at her, "or did you forget?"

"Hurry up," she huffed out.

Dick climbed out of the car with Rachel's picture and headed inside the building.

Silence quickly fell within the compact space as I leaned forward, picking up the duffle bag off the ground then placing it on my lap. Opening it up, I checked everything inside especially the silver box hidden underneath the spare clothing.