Chapter 1
2014 - 5 Years ago
100 km South by South East to base in Afghanistan
-
First Lieutenant Alexandria Jasmin Woods is on her last mission before she’ll be honorary discharge from the Marines after serving 6 years. She’s 28 years old and she had been wanting to start a family with her wife who is waiting for her back home in Arkadia. She doesn’t get to video call home often since internet signals are hard to come by from where she was normally deployed. But the last video call she had with her wife a month ago, is when she was told the good news. The IVF finally worked and that her wife was 3 weeks pregnant.
Lexa had been married to her wife, Clarke for 5 years now. They met during their freshman year of college when they were assigned as roommates. The both of them got along really well the first time they met. They literally went from strangers to best friends and to lovers. They also went from being roommates in their dorm room to living together in a one bedroom apartment for the rest of college.
Lexa joined the army straight out of college to follow in her father’s footstep at the age of 22. Even though both Clarke and her mother protested at first, they did in the end relent and decided to support her choice instead. After all, she is her father’s daughter. After a year of serving, she came home for a week to celebrate Christmas with her family and a few of their friends. And that night after dinner, she proposed to Clarke in front of everyone present which earns her a squealing ‘yes’ from the woman she loves even before she could finish popping her question.
The both of them shared the same lost of a family member; their fathers. Clarke was 16 when she lost Jake due to an accident at work while Lexa lost her father, Alexander when she was 12 while he was on tour in the army. And both of them had a really good feeling that their fathers would be so proud of them from wherever they may be.
Instead of planning for a wedding in the near future, they decided to get married the day before Lexa had to leave again with their mothers as their only witnesses. They didn’t care for a big fancy wedding; they just wanted to be married to each other as soon as possible. Their friends only found out about their marriage when Lexa told them through one of her video calls with her wife a few months later.
Then 3 years into their marriage, they decided to try and have a baby. They went through the process and the plan was to plant Lexa’s embryo into Clarke and get a donor. They were really excited about it but it didn’t work out for the first 2 times they tried.
The first time when it happened, Lexa was with Clarke; crying together and them holding on to each other for comfort. Lexa whispered sweet nothings into her wife’s ear that sad day and told her that everything’s going to be okay one day. The second time when it didn’t work, Lexa was miles away serving in God knows where and she couldn’t comfort her wife. She felt helpless on the other side of the world but Clarke stayed strong for her. She told her that she will be okay and only asked of her to return home safely. And now, their third time is their charm. She couldn’t wait to get home and have her pregnant wife in her arms.
She is now currently on her very last mission. This mission was supposed to be a safe one; just an easy sweep around the area. Lexa and her unit of 4 others were sent to check on an old ruins of a construction site in the middle of the desert. It was supposed to be just a final check through to see if it is clear then report it in and then they could all go home.
“Ma’am, permission to speak freely?” One of her unit member, 21 year old, Pvt. Artigas Lucas asks.
“Art, you know you don’t have to get formal with me when it’s just us. But permission granted anyway.” Lexa replies light heartedly.
“Right. Uh... Well... So... There’s nothing here. So why were we sent here to investigate this dump anyway? I mean, it’s like a ghost town here. There’s like literally nothing here.” He complained as he kicked on sand and a few stones around.
“That’s because our platoon captain hates you. And since you’re in our unit, we have to tag along to make sure to hold your hand before you cross the road.” Another member, their medic Sgt Caris Campbell teases while the rest of the members laugh at Artigas’ pouting.
“Har har... very funny guys.” Artigas replies.
“Alright, alright people. The sooner we clear this place, the sooner we can get back home. Sounds good?” Lexa told them with a smile and a shake of her head as a chorus of ‘good’ came from her four comrades.
Everything seemed to be in order. There were no signs of anyone or anything suspicious and it looks pretty much clear. But just as Lexa and her unit was about to turn back around and leave, a shot was fired and the next thing they knew, Artigas was on the ground with a bullet hole to his head.
“Take cover!” Lexa shouted to the rest of them. The rest scampered around to find cover but it wasn’t much so they pretty much had to squeeze together behind a cinder block wall that is large and thick enough for them to hide from the shooter.
Lexa tried to peek from the side of the wall but another shot was being fired to their direction. “Can anyone see the goddamn shooter?!” Lexa asks her unit through gritted teeth but all of them shook their heads ‘no’ frantically.
“It must have been from somewhere on the North West of us. It sounded like it.” Cpl Cal Stevens, another member of her unit offered.
“Dammit.” Lexa cursed under her breath since the direction of North West is open with no covers at all. She then reaches into one of her pockets for her Airsoft sniper rifle scope which she always kept with her. It belonged to her late father. He was a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines and a damn good sniper shooter until he was bested by the enemy’s sniper shooter. With it, she slowly peeks out and tries to spot the shooter when they suddenly went silent. She quickly scans the place and spotted the shooters. There were two of them.
“I see them.” Lexa said as she leans back against the wall.
“Them, ma’am?” Caris asks.
“Two of them. They are approximately on our 11 o’clock and they are about three feet apart from each other. I’m gonna run and draw their fire out.” She then faces her GySgt. Tristan Josephs. “Don’t miss, Sargeant.” Tristan nodded his head with conviction.
He lay down on his front and slowly leans out of the other side of the wall before taking aim at the direction Lexa mentioned earlier. When he sets his eye on the targets, he gave a single nod to Lexa. The brunette took a deep breath before standing up and running East in a zig zag manner; as fast as she could.
The snipers began their rounds of shots but misses every time. While they were busy raining fire on the running Lexa, Tristan took his aim and relaxes himself before taking a shot at one of them. His aim was true and he got one of the snipers right through the left eye.
But just as he was about to aim at the second sniper, the guy delivered a shot that went through the left side of Lexa’s neck and out the front. As she drops to the ground, Tristan finally took aim and shot him right in between his eyebrows. When he gave the all clear, the rest of them ran towards their fallen leader.
Lexa was holding onto her bleeding neck with tears brimming in her eyes as she struggles with the pain. Her mouth was open gulping for air as she chokes on her blood. Caris reaches her first and turns her to her side; relieving the pressure so that she could breathe easy. Blood sputters out of Lexa’s mouth as she coughs.
The medic then proceeded to reach into her own med kit and pull out a packet of clotting agent. She tore the packet open and pours the content on to Lexa’s bleeding neck before reaching in her med kit again for a diazepam injection. After injecting Lexa with it, the medic finally wraps the neck wound with bandages. She then presses firmly on it to stop the bleeding.
While their medic was doing her job, Lexa was looking around her, frantic and scared. She thought about Clarke and their unborn baby. She was so close to being back home with her wife and now... She thinks she might not even make it back home alive. Cal saw the scared look in her eyes so he grabs hold on to her bloody right hand and held them firmly in both of his. “Everything’s going to be alright Lexa. You just need to hold on for a little bit longer, okay?” He reassures her. Tristan was keeping an eye out on their surroundings as he called into his radio for help all the while taking worried glances back at his team mates.
Just when everything seemed to be going fine, one by one her unit members were shot dead. Lexa’s eyes went wide in shock as she saw her comrades fall lifelessly on to the ground with bullet wounds in between their eyes. She was whimpering and crying for them but she can’t seem to be able to get the words out. She tried to move to get to them but every movement she makes seemed to amplify her pain.
Then a figure came up to her and blocks her view from her fallen people. The person was followed by 4 others with automatic rifles in their hands as they surrounded her and the person before her. She couldn’t really tell who they were since they were not wearing the typical camo outfit like regular soldiers do. Instead, they were all wearing black long sleeved shirts, black gloves, black kevlar vests, black army pants and combat boots. They have gun holsters strapped onto their legs and they were all wearing sunglasses and throat microphones around their necks. They looked professional and they came in prepared; to say the least. But the one thing that could identify them is the logo on the left shoulder of their sleeves.
A white handprint with a mountain on the back.
The figure that came before her is a woman with sandy blonde hair neatly tied back into a tight bun with her hat tucked underneath her left forearm. The blue of her eyes were cold unlike Clarke’s bright warm blue ones. She’s wearing a US marine’s officer’s uniform with two silver stars on her shoulders; a Major General. Different ribbons adorned her left chest of her coat and badges just below it. The woman had a soft gentle smile on her face but Lexa doesn’t trust her even when this woman was clearly a high ranking officer.
Afterall, her friends are all dead because of her.
But before Lexa could apprehend what was going on, the woman draw out her hand gun and aims it at her. “Don’t worry soldier. You won’t remember anything after this.” That was all the woman said before she pulled the trigger on Lexa.
~
3 days later back at home; Arkadia
-
“How are you feeling today? You said you weren’t feeling well a few days ago.” Raven asked when she had settled in on Clarke’s couch.
“Oh, I’m fine. It’s just heart burn that’s all.” Clarke answers coolly. Raven who knew Clarke since forever, knew that she was lying but chose not to push. And the blonde on the other hand, chose not to tell her brunette friend about the sudden heart pain she’s been feeling since 3 days ago.
“So anyway. Are you excited that she’s coming home?” Raven decided in changing of subject is in order. Raven had a day off from work so she’s spending her time with her pregnant blonde best friend instead.
“Of course I am. I can’t wait for Lexa to see this little one on the sonogram next week.” Clarke said smiling at the thought of Lexa’s face when she would finally see the baby for the very first time. “But I wonder why she hasn’t called yet. She promised me she would after she gets back from her final mission...”
“Maybe she’s just trying to surprise you. Who knows, she might be knocking on your door at any given moment with that ridiculous grin on her face.” Raven teases. Just then a knock really did come from the front door. Her best friend and Clarke shared the same wide eyed expression before they both let out a chuckle. Clarke quickly got up to answer the door with a smile. But it slowly falters the moment she saw a man in service uniform with a solemn look on his face on the other side of the door instead.
He slowly removed his hat and said, “Mrs. Griffin-Woods, I am Major Titus Neil. I’m here on behalf of the Marine Corps to inform you that your wife, First Lieutenant Alexandria Jasmin Griffin-Woods and her unit were killed in action 3 days ago. They were...” The officer continues on but Clarke wasn’t listening after she was told that her wife was killed in action.
'First Lieutenant Alexandria Jasmin Griffin-Woods... killed in action... Lieutenant Alexandria Jasmin Griffin-Woods... killed in action... Lexa... killed... in action... ’
It keeps playing over and over in her head. She felt like she was under water and Clarke suddenly felt weak on her feet. But before she could crash onto the floor, the man stepped forward and caught her just as Raven rounded the corner to see what was taking Clarke so long at the door only to be met with her best friend looking daze in the arms of a Marine officer. Raven put two and two together and quickly helped the man in bringing Clarke into the living room couch.
While the blonde was still in a daze like state, Raven talked to the officer to get the full information on what had happened to Lexa. She was told that Lexa and her unit didn’t return on time so they sent out another team to the place where Lexa and her unit was supposed to do a simple sweep but they found the place left with explosion residues instead; leaving nothing else at all. After he had finished explaining, he slowly stepped towards Clarke who was just staring at nothing in front of her.
Whether or not she could hear him, he gave his deepest condolences to her anyway. “I’m so sorry for your lost, Mrs Griffin-Woods. Alexandria was a fine soldier. I am proud to have known her.” He finally offers to Clarke after a few tries to get her attention. He then stood up straight and saluted to the now widowed woman and then giving Raven a solemn nod before making his leave from the premises. Everything after was a just a giant blur.
~
2019 - 5 years later; Polis
-
“Madi, are you ready yet?” Clarke called out to her little girl from the kitchen. “Come on sweetie, you don’t want to be late for school!”
After receiving the news of Lexa’s death 5 years ago, Clarke lost her spark. She would physically be there in front of her friends and family but mentally; she’s miles away. She would cry every single night when she’s lying on their queen sized bed alone on Lexa’s side of it. She still does on most nights. She doesn’t go out with her friends anymore; choosing to rather stay at home alone. She doesn’t get excited about things anymore and she wouldn’t talk much. The only thing that kept her going was the baby growing inside of her. Even then, she moved on autopilot.
Raven, Octavia and Lexa’s mom, Aria took turns staying with Clarke so that she won’t be alone through the pregnancy. Most of the time, they just let Clarke be. They learned not to push the blonde after that one time where they pushed her a little too hard and Clarke ended up locking herself in her and Lexa’s room before collapsing after 3 days of not eating anything. It took Aria having a deep conversation with Clarke the day after she returned from the hospital for the pregnant blonde to finally change her ways.
**
Aria went into her daughter-in-law’s bedroom and saw Clarke lying facing away from the door in a feotal position. From where she stood, she could hear soft sniffling and knew that Clarke had been crying again. The older woman took a deep breath and slowly closes the bedroom door before making her way to the bed. She sat down behind the crying woman and then gently places her hand on Clarke’s shoulder to get her attention.
“Clarke, honey. I hate seeing you like this. You have got to start looking after yourself. It’s not just you now, you have a life growing inside of you.” Aria begins. “I know what it feels like to lose your other half. I was there before and I was in the same exact position you’re in right now. But back then, I didn’t have my own Octavia and Raven. I was all alone.”
Clarke slowly turns and faces the older woman. Aria notices that she had blood shot and puffy eyes. After a moment, Clarke decided to ask the woman, “H-How did you...” The question trailed off.
“How did I make it through? Well, I had Lexa. She is the whole which consist of half of me and half of my late husband. And when I look at her, I see him too. Did you know she has her father’s eyes?” Clarke nodded because Lexa told her that before. “Even though I lost my Alexander, I had my little Alexandria.” Aria then places her palm on Clarke’s belly. “This baby is half of you and half of her. Both of you made this happened. So don’t destroy her memory by being careless with your health and the baby’s.”
Clarke sat up against the headboard before looking down to her barely there swollen stomach. She then laid both her palms on her stomach when suddenly new waves of fresh tears stream down her face. Aria moves closer and pulls the blonde into her arms and held her as she cries. Clarke kept repeating the words ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again until Aria managed to calm her down.
**
Ever since then, Clarke got herself better. She apologizes to her two best friends for being difficult and she finally accepted the help from them and her mother-in-law. She took great care of herself and her growing baby inside until December came. The three women were by her side at the time of the birth when her own mother apologizes for not being there because she was celebrating the holidays with her step father’s side of the family. She didn’t care. She never did.
The moment she laid eyes on her baby, everything changes. For the first time since Lexa died, she had a big genuine spark adorning her features. Her baby had her eyes and her hair but who knows, it might change later on in life. And since then she knew that she had to be strong for her baby girl. Lexa would want her to.
When her friends and mother-in-law asked her what the baby’s name would be, she answers without hesitation and without looking away from the newborn in her arms, “Madison Alexandria Griffin-Woods.”
A year after getting used to being a single mom, she decided to move to Polis to start fresh. Polis has always been a dream of hers and Lexa’s and she feels like it’s a good time as any to make that dream a reality. It’s also a bonus point that no one will know her there. She’s just finally have had enough of the staring and pity looks from the people in Arkadia.
Arkadia is peaceful but it’s also a small town and everyone practically knows everyone. Even though they don’t down right point fingers at you or talk about you to your face, still she notices the whispers and looks of sympathy the people would give her for being a widow to a dead soldier who died in action and with a newborn baby to raise all by herself.
And when she’s out and about running some errands, with or without her baby, there isn’t a time where someone wouldn’t come up to her to give their condolences to her or how they sympathizes Madi for not knowing her other parent.
As month’s progresses, people still gave her sympathetic looks. Some even started offering their sons, daughters or grandkids to try and help Clarke with daily things. And Clarke is sick and tired of it all. So to her, moving seem like a good way to start. And she’s doing this in memory of her late wife in mind anyway. Of course everyone understood her decision apart from her own mother, Abby.
**
“Why do you need to move away from Arkadia anyway? You could just move to a new house if it’s too much for you here?” Her mom said one evening.
“I need a fresh start mom. I can’t take it that everywhere I go people still gave me pity looks. It’s like losing the love of your life wasn’t depressing enough. I don’t need their looks to keep reminding me of that lost since I’m already just starting to get the hang of being a single mom.”
“Just ignore the looks then. Or better yet, find yourself a new partner. And why can’t you just start fresh somewhere close to home instead? What about your job? You can’t just up and leave everything.”
“I don’t need a new partner, mom.” Clarke said while rolling her eyes at her mother’s suggestion. “All I need is a fresh start. Besides, Polis has always been a dream of ours; mine and Lexa’s. Polis has lots of opportunity and I’m sure I can get a job at a hospital there; even if I have to start from the bottom. And I won’t be up and leaving just like that. I’ve already talk to the Chief about it and he’s already started to transfer most of my patients to other doctors. I’m nearly all set.” Clarke said with a shrug as she moved about in the kitchen to prepare dinner for the both of them.
“I just think that it’s a bad idea.” Her mom mumbled but Clarke clearly heard her.
“Yeah well, I don’t need your permission to move, mom. I can make my own decisions.”
“Yeah and you’re making the wrong one. You forget that I lost your father too. I know how it feels.”
“Yeah? And it took you what? A whole year to start dating again. Back then I’ve learned to understand that you need the chance to start being happy again. But my love for Lexa is nothing compared to your love for dad because unlike you, Lexa was it for me. Always has and always will. I couldn’t even imagine myself dating let alone being with someone else other than Lexa.” Clarke replied. “And besides, you didn’t lose him before I was born. So no, you don’t know what it feels like to live through the rest of the pregnancy and raising your child alone.” She knew saying those things will hurt her mom, but she didn’t care at this point.
That night, dinner was spent with awkward silence.
**
Her mother wasn’t always this overbearing. It only started after Lexa died when she found out about Clarke’s mishap the night when she ended up in the hospital after not taking care of herself. From then on she started planting ideas in her daughter’s head that all she needs is a person to pick up where Lexa left off. Her mother needs to realize that her daughter isn’t her. Clarke won’t easily move on from Lexa and until she realizes that, their relationship will always be strained.
A few months after her move, Raven and Octavia broke the news that they were moving to Polis along with Lexa’s mom as well. She’s definitely happy that her two best friend and mother-in-law decided to move to be closer to her. After all, the three of them were the constant in her life. Aria has been more of a mother to her than her own biological mother.
But her happiness didn’t last because a year after she had moved to Polis and working at the general hospital there, her mother called and told her that she had an offer to work at the same hospital where Clarke works. Even though Abby telling her was supposed to be good news, Clarke wasn’t happy about it. Here she is trying to stay as far away from her mother as she could and Abby just had to come along. Of course they argued about that too. So Clarke had no choice but to avoid her mother at all cost; even though sometimes that proves to be impossible. But she tried anyway.
Back to the present.
The patters of tiny feet could be heard coming down the stairs. Soon a tiny figure came running into the kitchen and sat down on the chair before starting on her breakfast of one tiny pancake with berries and honey on top. They never had maple syrup because Lexa preferred honey over her pancakes and Clarke still bought things which her late wife favours because she has learned to love them too. And when Clarke decided to try maple syrup on Madi’s pancake, her little girl scrunch up her face and say that she didn’t like it. So now, they just stick to honey.
While Madi is eating her breakfast happily, Clarke had a mug of coffee in between her hands that’s resting on the dining table. She had a small smile on her face as she took this moment to study her daughter’s features.
Her light hair she had when she was born has now grown into long brown waves; exactly like Lexa’s. Her daughter’s eyes and round shape face; she shares them with her but the girl’s mannerism and way of speaking were an exact carbon copy to Lexa. Oh, and she detests onion, just like Lexa. “They make you fart big time.” Madi would say. It brought a smile to her face when she thought of the similarity between her daughter and her late wife.
She was deep in thought when her little girl’s voice snaps her out of it. “Okay mommy, I’m done.” The little 5 year old said with a grin as she swings her legs happily on the chair. Clarke smiles brightly at her daughter’s adorableness as she got up and grabs the empty plate before placing a kiss on top of her daughter’s head.
After rinsing the plates and putting it in the dishwasher, she told Madi to sit on the bench by the foyer. She then helped the little girl put on her shoes before grabbing her daughter’s mini school bag and her handbag before leaving the house and driving them to school. Once they were there, Clarke opens the car door for Madi who automatically grabs hold of her hand when she has stepped out of the car. Even after getting used to going to school, Madi is still very much shy once they arrive every day.
She walked them to the front double doors of the school where Madi’s teacher was waiting for her students. When they were close to the teacher, Clarke knelt down to her daughter’s height and gave her raspberry kisses all over her face which lights up a series of giggles from her daughter. She then waves to her little girl goodbye until Madi turns the corner towards her classroom away from her sight before she turns around and getting into the car and driving on to work.
Life is that simple for Clarke and she’s content with it.
~
Somewhere in Polis
-
Waking up at 4.30 am on the dot every morning, goes on a 10 mile run, comes back and does more intense workouts, takes a cold shower right after and then does breakfast. Like clockwork, that’s how she has been living in this one bedroom apartment for 4 years now. She moved here to Polis right after a year of rehabilitation in the secret base where she first woke up after her ‘accident’.
She didn’t know why she picked this particular state to live in. She reasons that it’s because it’s closer to the secret base which she has to report to if she was called upon but in truth, she actually felt like she needed to be here in Polis somehow. She didn’t know why that is, only that it’s a feeling that she couldn’t explain.
5 years ago, Lexa woke up in a medical lab of sorts, lost and disoriented. She couldn’t remember why or how she got there; only was told by the doctor present at the time that she survived an explosion and she was in a very bad shape when she was brought in. When she asked what this place is, their answer was the rehabilitation centre. Where specifically? They didn’t say. They then explained that they had to do a major surgery on her to save her life. They showed her what they had done to her and from the looks of her x-rays; every bone in her body has been... changed. She knew that she should freak out about it but somehow she couldn’t so she just lay there and listened to the doctor explaining the whole procedure to her.
They explained that her bones have been cover with titanium plating that was designed specifically to fit her bones perfectly. It is also made light so that it won’t hinder her movements at all. But they didn’t stop there, no. They also added a mind drive called the M.A.D at the back of her neck. When she asked them what M.A.D is, she was told that it a mind advancement device.
It’s true that with the mind drive in her, her mind is advanced than a normal human mind. But in truth, the M.A.D really is a mind altering device. She didn’t know about that at first but now she was beginning to.
With it, Lexa’s mind has the ability to absorb vast amount of knowledge that has been downloaded into the mind drive. She could basically learn anything within minutes; be it from just seeing like a photographic memory, downloading it straight into her drive or just by the old fashion way; reading. She is currently an expert in hand to hand combat, a master in hacking any known computer, familiarization with any known land, sky or water vehicles and has advance knowledge in every weapon this world had to offer. All of that plus her strength and durability; it makes her a very formidable soldier.
It seems to be going very well for the organization. Or so they thought.
You see, about a year ago, Lexa had been having sudden flashes in her mind; flashes of a blonde haired woman with warm sky blue eyes. That was all she ever saw of the woman. Even though she didn’t flash the rest of the woman’s face, but those blue eyes seemed familiar to her. If only she could remember who it was exactly. Of course, like a good soldier, she voices her recent developments to her superiors. But instead of telling her the truth, she was strapped down to the examination chair and was given a serum which they injected into the base of her skull.
She came to learn that the serum they injected her with is a neural serum. A serum that is supposed to allow her to be unresisting to orders and it’s also to keep her past memory suppressed. But the one thing that they miscalculated with creating the mind drive is that, it has already bonded with her mind. So no matter how they tried to erase or alter or even suppress her past memories with the serum, the mind drive has already downloaded whatever little flashes that her mind had produce before the alteration.
When the serum doesn’t work and Lexa remembered everything they did to her, she became distrustful of the people who claimed to have ‘helped’ her. So she began doing her own research on this secret organization that she is working for. And what she found out was against everything that she was told they were trying to achieve. She was led into killing innocent people and stealing their works for their own benefits.
Lexa learned from hacking some of the organization’s data files that the woman she killed, Dr. Becca Franco who created the first proto type of the mind drive, (which she called, The Flame) created it in hopes to help people like her mother who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The mind drive could help enhance their mind and memory so that it won’t deteriorate altogether. But the organization claimed that the doctor was going to weaponize it and control whoever uses it. But the irony of the whole thing is that that is exactly what they were doing to her.
She also found out that there were also codes for everything just in case she went rogue; codes to redirect her objectives, codes to put her to sleep and most importantly, codes to reboot her mind drive. So the first thing she did was over ride those codes to render them useless for the organization to use. Of course she covered her tracks so it won’t lead back to her.
Right now she was seated in her living room couch with her laptop on her coffee table as she digs deeper into the organization’s systems for more information about them. But every file she encounters in the system, there were pass codes that she needs to over ride in order to download everything that is in those files. And she can’t do it from her laptop. What she needs is a supercomputer which she kept in her safe house.
As she was looking through their system, her concentration was broken by a phone call from her doctor telling her that she is needed in for her regular check up. She sighs and closed her laptop before getting up and getting ready.
She rode her Honda CBR400R to the secret base in the middle of nowhere which she managed to get to in an hour and a half. And as usual, when she step foot out of the elevator that leads to the underground base of operations, she was greeted by her ‘doctor’, Dr. Lorelai Tsing. The doctor led her into the examination room and was told to sit down on the examination chair in the middle of the room while the nurse was told to strap her down.
Firstly, as always, the doctor had a couple of IT people come in to check her mind drive to see if everything was in order. Even with the wire attached from the back of her neck to the computers and the IT people who claimed to be geniuses, the flashes that she had stored somewhere in her mind drive was left undetected by them. And when the doctor seemed satisfied that everything was in order, she injected Lexa with the neural serum on the base of her skull next. “It’s just protocol.” The doctor would say with a fake smile. The serum burns but it goes away after exactly 20 seconds.
Once the burning settles, Dr. Tsing had the nurse un-strap her before running the basic tests, like blood pressure, temperature and pupils check. All the while Lexa just sat there, back ramrod straight and stares ahead at the wall in front of her; unblinking.
“Alright. You’re all good. What’s your given serial number soldier?”
“211216301, ma’am.”
“Good. How do you feel soldier?” The doctor continues with her ‘protocol’ questions as she writes onto the paper on the clipboard she’s holding.
“Fine, ma’am.”
“Did anything else come to you recently?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Alright. Everything’s seemed clear. You may proceed to Major General’s office. She’s expecting you.” With a nod to the doctor, she left the examination room and made her way through the hallways straight to the Major General’s office.
As she got closer, Lexa ignored the flirty receptionist who is currently winking at her and twirling a few strands of hair around her index finger; as always. She walked right past her and stood before the Major General’s door. She knocked three times and waits for the invite before stepping through the office.
The office is huge with a floor to ceiling window that illuminates the whole room from the daylight outside. While the place isn’t fully furnished, it does hold a wardrobe cupboard to the right of the desk where the Major General is sitting and two file cabinets side by side to the left. To the right as you enter the office sat a three seater modern looking black leather couch with a small coffee table in front of it.
Lexa walks into the office and towards the front of the desk before saluting the woman and standing at attention. The Major General smirks before she begins. “Ah. First Lieutenant, nice to see you. How are you feeling today?” The Major General Nia Queen asks with faux care.
Nia Queen is a Major General in the US army. She has been working with the Mount Weather Corp from the beginning and have been stealing and selling the military’s classified secrets to them. And doing all of those without the military knowing about it. This woman really does have the means to do things and getting away with it. But Lexa hoped that she won’t this time.
Mount Weather, their name at the time, consists of people who despised the government. They then recruited soldiers who were dishonorary discharged from the army, IT kids who don’t know any better who were looking for a quick buck, disgraced doctors and mad scientists to work for them in exchange for a very large amount in their pay checks. They became bitter men and women who joined them and their leader, a man by the name of Cage Wallace.
Cage and Nia worked together and with the Major General by his side, Nia became their sole connection to the classified files and weapons of the US military. A handful of Nia’s soldiers followed her and together, they are now known as The White Mountain Corp; an organization that are planning to dominate the country. They’ve created a base of operations under snow covered mountains; a place that no one would ever think to look. They have a whole floor dedicated to IT analysis people working for them and their job is the main and most important one. They are the ones to keep an eye out for any worthy projects for their organization to steal and make it their own and then reap the benefits when they sell them to the black market.
That’s how they found Dr. Becca Franco’s mind drive project.
The goal was to create augmented super soldiers like Lexa with a mind drive put into them so that they would have an army of formidable soldiers at their command. And since everything works perfectly for Lexa, they have been trying the same procedures on other worthy candidates. But the candidates never made it through the titanium plating procedure. They always ended up dying on the operating table before they could finish it. Some did make it through only dying after it was done. Somehow Lexa is the only one of her kind and she cannot even be control. That is something the organization will soon find out.
“Fine, ma’am.”
“Good, good.” The Major General smiles softly at her. “I have another assignment for you, soldier; another doctor. I want you in, terminate the subject, bring all of their paper works to me and get out. Understood?”
“Yes ma’am. May I ask the reason why, ma’am.” Lexa can’t help but ask because the thought of killing really doesn’t sit well with her anymore after knowing what their true intentions were.
“It’s the same as always, we found out that they’re going to weaponize their work. So do us a favour before innocent people suffer the consequences. That’s an order, soldier.” Nia simply said with her fake concern.
“Yes ma’am.” Lexa said with a nod.
“Get the file of your target from my assistant. You have 72 hours before I send in the cavalry. You’re dismissed.” Lexa salutes before turning around without another word and left the office. Once outside, Nia’s flirty assistant stood in front of her with a hand on her chest; halting her.
“How about after this assignment of yours, we could go out for drinks? I could show you a good time; get you to... loosen up a bit.” Her voice was unnecessarily sweet as she traces her pointer finger all over Lexa’s chest. The soldier kept her eyes on the wall ahead of her as she works her jaws. Then with a huff and without answering the woman, Lexa snatches the file from the woman’s hand before walking past her and away from the place.
With the file of her assignment grasp tightly in her hand, she left the secret base without looking back. She hated the flirt, she hated this place. All the lies that they kept feeding her is making her angry by the minute. She might decide to bomb the whole damn base. ‘Maybe that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Definitely, should keep that in mind when all of this is over.’ She muses as she rode back to her apartment.
She studies the file straight away once she settles in on her couch. The first page is the target’s basic profile; name, age, occupation, name of the hospital they worked at etc. But when Lexa read the name of the doctor, suddenly the familiarity of it hits her hard. Clarke Elizabeth Griffin-Woods. So with quick hands, she grabs the laptop that was on the coffee table and hacks into the hospital’s system. And as soon as she pressed the enter key on her keyboard, a picture of the doctor is staring right back at her. Lexa froze as she stares into the same warm sky blue eyes she kept seeing in her mind. Only this time, she has the full visual of the woman’s face.
She is beautiful.
When she snaps back to reality, she picked up the file the organization gave her and read through the doctor’s descriptions and the project that she is currently working on. But of course, Lexa doesn’t trust the organization’s version of it all so she uses her laptop and searches for this doctor’s current work.
And like all her previous targets, this doctor seemed innocent. Clarke is a Haematologist. Why would Nia want the works from a doctor who specializes in blood related illnesses? As far as Lexa could tell, the organization wanted to create super soldiers. Unless...
Lexa read the doctor’s file from the hospital’s database and read through it closely; word for word. One part caught her eyes though.
It says that she’s been working on creating a serum of sorts that could help heal people with any type of blood related diseases. The serum can help fight any abnormalities that lie within the blood and it could even help people heal quicker if they have any form of blunt trauma. The serum can also work as both an antigen and as an antibiotic. ‘Of course, they could alter it so that their soldiers could have fast healings.’ Lexa thought. The soldier looks away from the screen with a sigh. Well now, she’s definitely not gonna let the organization have their hands on this work.
She has already made the decision that she is not going to kill for them anymore. And so, she will not be killing this doctor. But instead she wants to find out more about her. She opens a new tab on her internet search and types in the woman’s name on the search bar. Not much is found but she does have an Instagram account. When Lexa found that her page is private, she uses her hacking skills and hacks into the doctor’s page. She knows that she’s violating the doctor’s privacy but she felt the need to know more about this woman.
The doctor only had about a hundred pictures uploaded and the recent one being only just 3 days ago. It’s a picture of the doctor and a little brunette girl with bright blue eyes; much like the doctor’s. The caption reads, “First day of school for this little bug. I’m so proud of her.” Lexa analyzes the picture; feeling connected to it somehow. The little girl is beautiful. She stares at the picture for another moment longer before scrolling down onto the next one and the next and so on.
Surprisingly, most of the pictures are of the doctor with two brunette women, whose names she found out were Octavia and Raven. One picture showed the doctor in a hospital bed with a newborn baby in her arms with her two best friends and another older woman who look familiarly like herself standing on each sides of the bed. She felt like she’s supposed to know the older woman but she can’t remember anything about her. The caption reads, “I still remember the first time I held you in my arms. Happy 4th Birthday, Madison Alexandria Griffin-Woods.”
“Madison Alexandria...” Lexa whispers out loud. ‘She has my name’. The soldier thought.
Lexa was told of her first name but the organization never told her of her last name. The only way they call upon her is either by her serial number or by her rank; never by her name. Seeing her name given to the girl who she found herself connected to pulls something in her. And knowing that the organization wanted the doctor dead, gives her all the more reason to find this woman and protect her.
As she scrolls down to the very last picture, her breath felt like it’s been sucked right out of her. The last picture had her staring at her own self with the doctor in her arms. She was in her military uniform, her arms around the doctor’s waist while the doctor had her arms around her shoulders.
Both of them were smiling with their eyes close and their foreheads pressed against each other while both Octavia and Raven stood at the background with a sign that says ‘Welcome Home’. The picture was posted 2 years ago and the caption reads, “It’s been 3 years since you’re gone. I’d like to imagine that you’re still overseas serving and that you will come home to me soon. I know that you won’t but... a girl could dream, right? Happy anniversary, baby. I love you, Lexa. Always and Forever.”
‘Lexa’. The soldier tries to remember that name but it was difficult. It felt like she was close to holding on to the memories; to the familiarity of it all but it kept slipping away. She sighs and logs out of the doctor’s Instagram page. She sat back on the couch and stare into space thinking about the blonde doctor. ‘Who am I? Who is the doctor to me?’ And while she was lost in thought, her mind drive alerted her of the command code that’s been sent to her. She knows what the code wanted her to do but now that she had full control of her mind drive, it can’t command her anymore. So she accepted the codes but not acting upon it. Now, she has made a new mission for herself.
Save Clarke Griffin by all means necessary.