The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

230 Girls’ Cry

The next day, all the members of the Black Swan gathered at its headquarters. Rachel and Kathy had heard about what had happened. Therefore, Kathy came to check the computers at Poppy’s ballet studio.

“Someone actually deleted the file.” Said Kathy who was sitting before the computer with Emma, ??Rachel and Poppy behind her.

“Can’t you appear it back?” Emma asked.

“No need to ask, Emma. It’s a piece of cake.” She answered with her ten fingers that didn’t stop dancing on the keyboard.

Before long, a video appeared in the previously empty folder. Kathy managed to bring back the deleted video.

“The cops protect the criminals. That means the criminals must be related to a big gang of gangsters.” Rachel said.

“Big enough to bribe the police to shut up.” Emma nodded.

Then Kathy opened the video. “Let’s see if there’s a clue here.”

“I’m so worried about Crystal. If it’s true that she was caught by people like them, what do you think will happen to her now?” Poppy said. She imagined when she was being made a porn star by a gangster. She didn’t want any other girl to have the same experience as her.

.....

“Could it be the sale of human organs?” Kathy said, suppressing her voice.

“That means.. Crystal could be dead by now, right?” Poppy gasped as she covered her mouth with both hands.

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. That’s why we have to quickly check this out. I’m sure there have been enough victims.” Emma said.

Kathy highlighted the time when the kidnapping took place. Then the four of them watched it carefully.

“Wait!” Poppy exclaimed. Immediately, Kathy pressed the button on the mouse to pause the video.

Poppy narrowed her eyes as she brought her face closer to the computer screen. Then her finger pointed at a small white dot on the collar of one of the men’s jackets. “Look at this. Could this be a logo?”

“Can you please zoom it in, Kathy?” Emma asked.

Then Kathy nodded once before pressing a few buttons until the picture started getting bigger and bigger.

“That’s an emblem of a logo,” Emma said straight away.

Kathy nodded, “But the picture is broken. We can’t see the logo clearly.”

“When I was a prisoner of Hell Gate, I saw that each of its members had the same tattoos. And some also used pins or small batches on their clothes.” Poppy said.

“I’ll save the video and search the internet for a similar image of the logo.” Kathy stabbed her black flash disk into Poppy’s computer and copied the data into it.

“Today, Linda and her friends are coming to practice self-defence. I hope you guys can come along.” Emma said to Kathy and Rachel.

“You told them?” Kathy’s eyebrows rose high.

Emma nodded. “There’s something more important than covering up this ability. I have to teach the girls to protect themselves as much as possible. You can see from the video, can’t you? The men decided to run away because Poppy was there to fight them back. They didn’t even hesitate to hit Cecil. They still didn’t let Linda go even though they saw the other girls step in. It’s clear that they underestimated women.”

“Haha.. They must not have expected Poppy to be able to beat them back. Good job, Pops!” Kathy gave a high-five to Poppy.

“It’s a wise decision, Emma. If we can’t continue to be on the streets helping people, at least we can teach them to help themselves.” Rachel said.

“They’re here!” Poppy said as looking at the glass door which was opened from the outside by Linda.

“Hi!” Cecil and Britney greeted them.

“You guys gathered here?” Linda asked.

Kathy nodded. “We always practice martial arts here.”

“Gosh.. So it turns out that this place is not only a ballet training studio, huh?” Britney said.

“Shh!” Poppy quickly put her finger on her lips. “No one knows this.”

“Is it?” Britney immediately lowered her voice.

“You’re keeping this a secret?” Linda asked in a whisper.

“Well, kind of,” Emma answered in a low voice and an awkward chuckle.

“For real, you guys..” Linda shook her head.

“There’s still training for the children upstairs. Looks like you’ll have to wait,” Poppy said with an awkward smirk.

“Oh really?” The three girls looked a little disappointed.

“That’s fine. We still can talk here.” Linda answered.

“Sorry, girls. But I have business tonight. Maybe we can practice in another room to save some time?” Emma said.

This made Rachel, Poppy, and Kathy look at each other in bewilderment. “What do you mean?”

Emma nodded at Kathy’s question. “We can practice on the fourth floor. All the equipment is there, isn’t it?” She said with a big smile, provoking her three friends to smile too because they just realized something.

On the fourth floor, Emma taught martial arts to her friends. She did not expect that she was so talented at teaching others. If Poppy was talented in teaching ballet, then Emma was talented in teaching martial arts. And she surprisingly enjoyed it.

“What’s that?” Linda pointed to a white cloth with a black abstract painting that formed a symbol that hung on the centre wall of the room. She narrowed her eyes as she thought for a long time. “Is that a picture of a swan?”

“It’s the symbol of our group,” Emma answered.

“Your group symbol?” Britney laughed amusedly. “Are you girls not too old to create a group that even has a symbol?”

“Your friendship deserves my thumbs up,” Cecil added.

“Age won’t stop us from doing what we love,” Emma answered.

“A lot of adults still like to play with dolls. That’s fine.” Kathy added.

“But what adults do has a higher value than just playing. A lot of adults are buying toys and turning them into collectables that have high selling points. We’re just taking it to the next level.” Poppy said while stretching.

“That sounds interesting. Feels like you guys are doing something here.” Linda replied with an overly suspicious expression.

Emma laughed. “We do practice here. It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Well.. That’s right too,” Linda nodded.

“You’re awesome, Emma. I didn’t expect you to be this good at martial arts.” Britney said while packing her dirty clothes.

“Those are just some basic techniques. But you have to remember: don’t come into danger just because you’ve learned martial arts techniques. You shall use them in critical situations only. You understand what I mean, right?” Emma asked.

“I know. No need to worry.” Linda answered.

“Um.. Guys. Pardon interrupting. Can I ask you please not to talk about our activities to others? I don’t want people out there to know that we’re having martial arts training here, because this studio is basically only for ballet training. That’s also what I wrote on the report for business registration in Handway City.” Poppy said.

“Oh.. You’re afraid of our gossiper’s mouths, aren’t you?” Linda replied with a crooked smile.

“Of course we have to. You all could spread a whole gossip in just a day. That’s terrible.” Kathy shrugged. She had heard that she had been hit by gossip because she once had a small talk with Marcel at the café.

“All right.” Linda nodded. “Of course we won’t do wrong the people who have helped us.”

“That’s right,” Cecil added. “Although we like to gossip, if we have to keep a secret, we are also experts at it.”

***

The yellow-lit room was getting dimmer because of the maroon paint on its walls. It was a soundproof room. From outside, no one could hear the cries and whine for help from the dozens of girls who were confined inside.

Although the room had been made soundproof, outside it was guarded by a group of men. They were men who had excellent fighting skills. That was because they were a mix of former students who used to be active in various martial arts studios.

A man clad in a white coat walked into a building that looked like a warehouse. He wore sunglasses, even at night. When he opened his mouth, his two canines were covered with gold.

The man’s arrival was greeted with respect by everyone in the building. He stepped in steadily and the sound of his soles tapping made his arrival all the more dramatic.

“Boss!” Exclaimed all the men inside with their backs bowed respectfully.

“Where are my girls?” The man asked.

“They’re inside, Boss. There are fifteen of them.” A dreadlocks man answered. His name was RB or Rude Boy. He was in charge of the building.

“Show me,” The boss ordered.

Two men immediately brought a single sofa and placed it behind the man in the white coat. He sat there. After that, he opened his lips slightly, and then another man immediately pinned a cigar between his lips and lit it with a gas lighter engraved with a bear logo.

RB slightly ran with some of his subordinates in front of a black wooden door. When they opened the door, the cries and screams of the girls immediately heard heartbreaking.

“SILENCE!” RB snapped by pointing a knife at the girls. They immediately closed their mouths, although they couldn’t stop crying.

“Take them out now. Don’t get the slightest scratch on them.” RB ordered his subordinates.

There was the sound of chains shuffling across the floor. The voice grew clearer and made the golden tooth smile widen. Behind the smoke rising from his cigar, he could see a group of beautiful girls lined up in front of him with their legs and wrists chained.

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