"Truth is like fire; to tell the truth means to glow and burn."

- Gustav Klimt

>>>·<<<

CHAPTER TWELVE

>>> Trillium's P.O.V. <<<

"What the hell happened in there?" I ask, as soon as Aspen and Barry hop into the back of the patrol car a block away from Torres' apartment.

Aspen shakes her head. "Maria Marcus, Frank Torres' girlfriend, she has a son. He lives with them. How could a man do all he did and make it back in time to have his girlfriend's child not know anything about it? How could he kidnap a child when he has a child in the room next door?"

Joe sighs, driving the patrol car away and back towards the station. "You see the best in people. Some people can do extreme evil, even with loved ones that close by."

Aspen crosses her arms. "I don't know...just doesn't feel right."

"The patrol car that interviewed your mother came back," Julian adds, rolling his eyes. "That woman is almost as bad as mine."

"What did she do?"

"Threatened to sue the CCPD for malicious prosecution if we didn't leave her alone since she had no idea where your daughter was. I say we rule her out as a suspect."

I scoff, leaning back in my seat. "Worth a try."

"Let's just see what Cait and Cisco found before we jump to any conclusions about Torres' innocence or guilt," Barry suggests, bringing the conversation back to its origin. "Joe, can you meet us there once you get the task force working at the station?"

Joe nods as he continues to drive. "I'll wrap up here and head over as soon as I can. You keep working on the slightly illegal angle. Maybe even try the Meta angle."

Barry nods, turning to Aspen. "I can run us all there a lot faster than we could drive."

Aspen nods, and in a flash, Barry has her out of the car and miles away. Moments later, he's back. "You two up for a ride?"

>>>·<<<

When we all get to S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco meets us in the Cortex, Caitlin right behind him. He pulls up the specs that Aspen and Barry got when they were in Torres' apartment. He points to the screen, showing us an outline of the apartment building and everything inside. I see heat signatures of bodies, cold spots, and a vague outline of everything inside.

"So, we have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" Cisco asks, sarcastically. "No takers? Okay, bad news it is. Bad news is that I didn't find any heat signatures that could be children, not in any place that he would've kept them secret. I don't think he has them in his apartment."

I roll my eyes, leaning against the door frame of the Cortex. "Great. What's the good news?"

Cisco laughs dryly, and Caitlin continues. "The good news is that we think we have an idea where they might be, but you're not going to like it."

"At all."

Aspen steps closer, asking, "Where?"

Caitlin pulls up a visual of the underside of the apartment. It seems to be hollow underneath the structure. "Does anyone remember what Central City was famous for in the Civil War era?"

"Being a small town with a lot of cowboys?" I suggest, sarcastically.

Cisco points at me. "Yes, and it was also a huge stop along the Underground Railroad on its way from Texas to Michigan and Wisconsin and, eventually, Canada."

"Central City helped smuggle slaves to Canada?" Julian asks, surprise in his voice and on his face. "I had no idea."

"Not many do," Caitlin replies. "It's not something taught in schools often."

I scoff. "Civil rights vigilante's history being smothered? Shocker!"

"So, what's your point, Cait?" Barry asks. "You think they're under the apartment? Are those tunnels even still there?"

Caitlin nods. "They are, they're just never used. I can see a tunnel down there, but not much else. I've confirmed its an old underground railroad tunnel from old maps that the city has digitalized. The only other thing I can see is that there are cold spots down there. Very cold spots."

"That could just be from geologic freezing," Barry says.

Caitlin shows the cold spots on the monitor. "In perfect squares? I doubt it."

"You think they're cases of some sort?" Aspen asks. "What, like a freezer? You think my child is stuck in a freezer?" Aspen's hands clench, and the green mist starts billowing out of them again. She closes her eyes, and Barry attempts to calm her down. She repeats a foreign phrase under her breath until she calms down, only tears in her eyes.

Caitlin corrects herself. "I think it's more like a metal box of some sort. It's probably just cold because of the cold earth it's surrounded by. I can't tell if there's a heat signature inside or not." She turns to Barry and me with her brows pulled together in a typical worried Caitlin way. "There's only one way to find out."

"So, it's decided," I say, pushing off the door frame and walking towards the area where we keep our masks. "We break in."

"I agree," Aspen says.

I turn, slowly, on my heel. "Did you just agree with me about breaking the law?"

"Yeah, well, he broke it first." She looks to Barry. "I'm coming with you, so don't try to convince me otherwise."

Barry gives a boyish grin to my older sister, replying, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Cisco snaps his fingers. "You're gonna need a mask." He grins widely as an idea comes to him. "You seem to me like you're a waking, talking, live-version of a Lord of the Rings elf. I have some prototypes of a costume the Arrow wanted me to make for him. One of them might just work for you if you give me ten minutes to trim it to your size."

Aspen nods, and she and Barry follow Cisco to another room for her costume. I shake my head with a smile and grab my face paints from the cabinet  Julian follows me as I head towards the bathroom to suit-up. He stops me with an hand on my arm before I get there. "Are you sure you want to do this, love?" he asks. "I know you're a superhero and all, but this isn't a Metahuman, not that we're aware. He's just a creep who's taken children. Are you sure you're not too close to this?"

I brush off his hand, replying, "Julian, I appreciate the concern, but trust me. If there's a mission going on where my niece's life is at stake, I'm on the front line."

He nods, looking at me with worry in his blue eyes. "Okay. Please, be safe. I...I just got you back. I don't want to lose you again."

I smile and lean up to place a lingering kiss on his cheek. "You won't. Have faith in me."

He chuckles, handing me a new pair of metal paint brushes. "I do, Łizhin."

I grin at the mention of my alias and close the door to the bathroom as Julian walks back towards the Cortex. I quickly change into my light brown, long-sleeved shirt and black pants that Cisco made. They're lined with flexible armor, in case of hand-to-hand fights, and with trackers, heat and coolant systems, and other kinds of cool tech. On my chest, Cisco designed an exact replica of the yellow sun insignia that resides on the Great Seal of the Navajo Nation. I wasn't able to get dressed last time we headed out, when Aspen had a meltdown, because we were caught off-guard. The only thing I was able to do was put on my face paint.

I look into the mirror and pull my long, black hair into a high ponytail. I braid the remaining hair down to my chest. The first face paint I apply is black, which I paint in a thick line that covers my eyes and eyebrows, the bridge of my nose, and my temples. This is used to distort my face, and the color black in face paint means strength, power, and victory. A scarlet red covers my brows up to my hairline, covering my entire forehead. This color represents energy and success.

Next, I use bright yellow to paint a straight line from the top of my cheekbone to my cheek, then turn it down towards the back of my jaw. This creates a sideways triangle, which I fill in with the yellow pigment. Lastly, I paint a white line down the center of my nose, on top of the back. White, in Navajo face paint, means death; I paint this single line to represent my Dad, who died a few years ago.

After I finish, I take a deep breath and stare at my reflection in the mirror. "Okay, Łizhin. You got this. Let's go save your niece."

END CHAPTER TWELVE