In Between 'Hattan and Brooklyn || A Sprace Story

Chapter 78 - "Racetrack Higgins... what have you done now?"

- Chapter 78 - For timeline sake (just so you all know), Race was kidnapped during the day, the last chapter (77) took place overnight, and this one is the next night after Sling was found by the Brookies earlier in the day -
Warnings: mentions of kidnapping, abuse, injuries, crying, anger, fighting, drunk people on the street
Third Person POV

All was calm in the Brooklyn Lodging House.

All was quiet.

Eerily quiet.

It had been silent in the room for about ten minutes now.

It had been ten minutes since Jack stopped yelling at Spot, but the yells still rang through his ears.

"I left him with you so he would be safe, Spot Conlon!"

"How could you let him get kidnapped?!"

"You promised me he'd be safe!"

Guilt crept up in Spot's chest, as if it hadn't visited him enough already since Sling was found unconscious.

How could he let this happen?

The one day he let his guard down just a little bit to let Race sell with someone he wanted to sell with, and the boy was gone...

Spot slammed his fist against the wall. He gritted his teeth in anger and pain.

Ace quickly jumped up and grabbed him, holding his hand. He stared into Spot's eyes, clearly not approving of his impulsive action. "I know you're mad, I know you feel guilty, but you do not get to go punching walls and hurting yourself," he told him, quietly and sternly. "We're not going back to past habits."

Spot swallowed hard. "How could I do this, Ace?" he muttered. "It's not like Sling is weak. It was one day where he wasn't with one of us or Cloth."

Ace frowned. "I know." He shook his head. "I don't... I don't know how or why today, but we can't think about that." His eyes flicked over to the couch, where Jack, Blink, Albert, and Finch sat. "We need to start looking immediately."

"We've been looking, Ace," Hotshot joined the conversation. "Brooklyn looked all day today, that's how we found Sling," he reminded him. "And Sling doesn't know anything. It sounds like he was knocked out first and he didn't see anyone."

"How..." everyone turned to look at Specs, who swallowed, "how long as it been since anyone last saw him?"

Ace frowned. "Over twenty-four hours," he answered quietly.

Jack clenched his fists. "It's gotta be Revenge," he told them. "How can you have any doubt that it isn't? He's been threatening all of the boroughs for months," he reminded them.

Red swallowed. "Well... um... we thought that too, but we found evidence that it may not even have been Newsies," he informed him quietly. "Sling had shards of glass on him when he was found and- and he was found in the back allies where the drunk old men play poker... the ones Race bets with all the time."

Jack felt something in him shatter. "What... what does that mean?" he asked quietly.

"Even if he didn't bet with them because he hasn't been able to for a while, Race may have gotten into a situation with some of those drunks," Red explained quietly.