Nia's Second Move
Chapter 43 : Nia’s Second Move
Song : South Georgia by Adam Young
Monday morning and Clarke was turning and turning in the sheets, unable to sleep anymore. Too much things were on her mind; today, it was Ayden’s first day back at school, and to say she was worried about him was hiding the truth with a transparent blanket. Well, she was not worried about him, but she didn’t know what to expect. Would Ayden like to go to school again; or would he make a fuss about it and be upset at Clarke for sending him back there? Clarke sighed, and woke up Lexa doing so.
“Clarke” Lexa yawned, turning herself to face the Blonde, “Why are you thinking at loud at six in the morning?” she asked with her sleepy voice Clarke had grown to love so much.
Clarke smiled at her girlfriend’s comment. It was true Clarke wasn’t a morning person; it was indeed weird she was awake at such an early hour.
Lexa adjusted herself on her elbow as Clarke wasn’t answering, and ran her hand on Clarke’s arm to calm her down. They couldn’t explain it, but their touches were always soothing the other one.
“Love, I know you’re worried about Ayden” Lexa said, “but you know he will be fine. He needs friends his age, he needs to see people. He can’t be raised into a cave, you know that...” Lexa tried to persuade Clarke with her gentle voice. Yes, she had told the Blonde she wanted to treat and care for Ayden as her own son, but she was still not very sure of how she should act when it was about the boy.
Clarke sighed, knowing Lexa was right. As ninety percent of the time. “I know, I know”.
Lexa lightly kissed Clarke’s forehead. “I’ll call Titus to say I will be a bit late at work this morning. We are going to bring him to school, together. Is this ok with you?”
Clarke smiled. “Yes, I’d like that”.
“Ok then” Lexa flashed her dimple, getting up and going towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.
“Lexa?” Clarke asked before Lexa was out of sight.
“Yes, Clarke?” The brunette turned herself to look at her girlfriend.
“I love you”. Clarke sincerely said, smiling to Lexa.
“I love you too, Clarke.” And Lexa was gone into the shower, a smile stuck on her face as Clarke was grinning in their bed as a teenager.
In her office, Nia White was reviewing documents she had read almost a thousand times each. All of them were saying the same thing. Arcadia Building was not hers. Meaning, Lexa’s new interests were still in her life, safe and sound, while Lexa was glowing with happiness. And happiness was not the emotion Nia White wanted the Woods bitch to feel. Far from it.
“Ontari!” Nia yelled into the speaker on her desk, “Come over here!”
Not one minute later, Ontari was entering the office, trying to mask the fact that she was out of breath. Which was actually normal, since her personal desk was three floors under Nia’s, with the other secretaries. Ontari knew she should talk to Nia about it, ask for a desk closer to the woman’s office, but she was a bit scared by how Nia could react that she was settling for running into the stairs with record speed every time Nia was yelling for her into the microphone.
“You asked for me?” Ontari asked, still out of breath.
“Yes” Nia answered, “show me the board and the pictures from last time.”
Ontari internally sighed; the board was literally in the same room as them; Nia just had to get up to turn it around to be able to see it. Ontari did as asked anyways. As she was turning the board, Echo, a new secretary, entered the office.
“You said you wanted to see me, my Queen?” Echo respectfully asked, bowing her head as a greeting.
“Yes” Nia waved at her, “Echo, meet Ontari” Nia introduced the two girls to each other. “Echo, Ontari would most likely succeed me if I were to die or disappear. Ontari, Echo will be now in charge of our intel service.”
Both girls nodded at each other.
“If I may, my Queen, what is this for, all those pictures on the board?” Echo asked.
“Ontari, tell us why do we have to put up with those stupid pictures” Nia asked, sighing.
“Those people are Skaikru” Ontari started to explain, only to be cut off by Echo.
“Impossible. Skaikru disappeared years ago” Echo raised a brow in surprise.
“Not all of them apparently” Ontari said, continuing her explanations, “those people are the last living members of Skaikru we recently discovered”.
“And why do we only know about them for a couple of weeks ago, Ontari?” Nia asked again, anger all over her; not against Ontari, but against the time they had lost. All this time they had guessed Skaikru was no more when there were still Skaikru people alive.
“Because we lost the Skaikru’s members list, my Queen” Ontari answered. “Stolen from us a few years ago. Without this list, we were unable to know if there was still Skaikru members alive.”
“Now, tell the good news to Echo” Nia smirked.
“Our technicians were able to recover the list in the servers” Ontari smirked in turn, “Meaning we will have very soon the list of every Skaikru who was ever born”.
“Present the board to Echo” Nia ordered as Ontari was nodding.
“Those are the remaining Skaikru we believe live all together in Arcadia building Lexa failed to deliver us” Ontari gritted through her teeth, naming every one of them.
“This blonde one” Ontari pointed at Clarke’s picture, “Is Clarke Griffin. And yes, she’s Abby and Jake Griffin’s only child” Ontari added as recognition was dawning on Echo’s face, “We believe she would be the most dangerous of all. She seems to lead the group, alongside this boy,” Ontari said pointing now at Bellamy’s picture, “But we don’t think he is Clarke’s child’s father”.
“Griffin Junior is a mother” Echo raised a brow.
“Yes” Nia smirked again, “A five years old boy, it seems. Ontari, tell Echo the other good news”.
Ontari smirked too, and gave Echo a picture. Echo’s eyes widened when she took a look at the picture. “This is Lexa Woods in this picture. With Griffin and the boy”.
“Yes, it is” Nia said, her creepy smirk still on her face, “Seems like Woods fell in love with them” Nia said with disgust clearly written in her voice.
“And we are going to use that against her” Echo stated, giving the picture back to Ontari, slowly understanding Nia’s plan.
“I see you’re smart” Nia waved her head at her, “and you’re absolutely right. Ontari, enlighten our friend about Lexa’s past lover”.
“Costia was her name” Echo didn’t let Ontari answer; “Died under weird circumstances” Echo smirked at her own words. Before applying to Azgeda, she had done some researches on her own; to be sure she knew what she was putting her feet into.
“Weird circumstances, indeed” Nia smirked back, as Ontari could only grit her teeth at this new girl who was stealing her all the fun.
“What’s the plan, then?” Echo said, looking at Nia and ignoring the dark stare she was getting from Ontari.
“The plan is to take them down, all of them, one by one” Nia menacingly pointed at the pictures, “To be sure Skaikru Company never rises again.”
“Because if they do so” Ontari started, only to be cut off by Echo again,
“If Skaikru Company is brought back to life, they have enough dirty secrets of ours to take us down for good. Plus, they would be a great ally to Trikru and Coalition Corp, strong enough to make us look weak and we would never be able to take control of it by force or coup” Echo concluded.
“Exactly” Nia nodded. “I like how your mind works Echo kom Azgeda” Nia smirked.
“Only to serve you, my Queen” Echo answered, tilting her head to the side as a sign of respect.
“The thing is, we can’t just kill them all” Nia sighed, pointing to Clarke and Lexa. “Those two are smart. And the older Woods, Anya, leader of Trikru? That bitch’s smart too. And they seem to have resources. Which ones and from whom, I still don’t know and I don’t like waiting. The people working on it are incapables” Nia said through gritted teeth.
“I’ll do my best to find what I can, my Queen” Echo said.
“You better” Nia sighed again, “but that can wait a bit more. Today, we are proceeding to part two of the plan”.
“First phase being...” Echo trailed off, not up to date about everything yet.
“Phase one being intel gathering, of course” Ontari snapped at Echo as if she was stupid.
Echo just glared at the girl, wondering was her problem was.
“Echo, you were a cop before appointing to Azgeda, correct?” Nia nonchalantly asked. But both girls knew better; there was something between her innocent looking question.
“Yes my Queen, I was” Echo answered nonetheless.
“I’ve got a special mission for you” Nia smirked, getting up to put her long vicious finger on one of the pictures pinned on the board. “This one, Bellamy Blake, is a cop working at Polis’ police station”.
Echo nodded, taking the information in, wondering what Nia was going to say next.
“You will apply to the police station today. You’ll be affected in his service – I’ve got someone on it – and I want you to get close to him” Nia said, a smirk obviously on her face.
“Close to him. Like...” Echo trailed off, wanting to be sure.
“Yes. Close.” Nia confirmed, “I want you to incorporate their group. To be our inside man. Or woman. I don’t really care. But I want you to learn everything you can about them. How they work, as a group. Who leads, who takes the major decisions – even if we know it has to be Griffin’s daughter – what they are planning about Skaikru Company. Anything that can help us tear them down”.
Ontari discretely rolled her eyes. That was a mission she could have accomplished on her own. No need for this Echo girl. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, so she got out of the room to answer it.
There she was, Echo thought about Nia White. She has to be honest, what the woman was suggesting was a good plan. None of them had already seen her before; they wouldn’t get too suspicious of her when they’ll meet her. The only thing was that, for Echo not to raise suspicions; she would need time to gain Bellamy’s trust first. They looked like smart people; she couldn’t rush the thing or they would feel something was off.
“I can do that” Echo finally nodded, “But I will need time. To gain their trust and not raise suspicions from the group”.
“You will have some” Nia acquiesced, “We have things to take care of first. We have to take Lexa down.”
Ontari came back into the room. “My Queen, one of our spies just called to say Griffin and Woods would bring the boy at school together this morning”.
“It’s useless if they are together” Nia huffed.
“The good news is” Ontari continued, “Clarke will be alone to go fetch the boy in the afternoon around four thirty. Lexa has a meeting with Sandkru and Trishanakru ambassadors at the same hour” Ontari smirked as Nia was doing so too.
“That is very good news indeed” Nia White nodded.
Lexa and Clarke were in front of Ayden’s new school as the boy was excitedly clapping his hands with joy.
“Can I go now, Mommy?” He said, pointing at the other kids playing in the playground.
Lexa threw a look at Clarke, who wasn’t moving. So the Brunette kneeled at Ayden’s level, taking both his hands in hers.
“Be kind to your teacher and your new classmates, ok buddy?” Lexa asked as Ayden was smiled at her.
“I will” he promised very seriously as Clarke was watching their exchange with tender eyes, “Will you be there when I’m done with school?”
“I don’t know” Lexa sighed, “But your Mom will come to pick you up, and I’ll try to get out of work the sooner I can. Does this work?”
“Yes” Ayden smiled, hugging Lexa and then waved goodbye at Clarke, “Bye Yexa! Bye Mommy!” he yelled, running towards the teacher who was handing her hand for him to take as she was waving goodbye at Lexa and Clarke.
“Bye, my sweet tender boy” Clarke whispered so low Lexa almost missed it.
They stayed still for a few more seconds until Ayden was inside the school and out of sight. Lexa intertwined their fingers, gently running her thumb on Clarke’s hand.
“He will be ok” Lexa said, “He will be happy”.
Clarke hummed, not sure. She was feeling so much stuff right now; she knew it was good for Ayden to go to school, but it was somewhere Clarke couldn’t be with him and protect him. As if she had done a great job at protecting him in the past.
“Clarke” Lexa called her to get her out of her thoughts, “You are a good mother. He has everything he needs”.
“Yeah, but that’s your doing” Clarke huffed, frustrated with herself, “You’re a better mother to him than me”.
“Clarke stop it right now” Lexa said with an authoritative voice that surprised Clarke, “Nothing will ever replace you in his eyes. You’re his mother, Clarke” Lexa added with a gentle tone, “He loves you. When he is upset, or tired, or when he’s scared, he goes to you first. You did a great job with him. And you’ll continue to be a great mother. Actually, I kind of wish you were my mother” Lexa said with a grin.
It made Clarke chuckle at Lexa’s silliness. “Where are your parents, anyways?” Clarke then asked, realizing she didn’t know about Lexa’s parents. As if Lexa knew about Clarke’s.
“Hum, they died” Lexa stated.
“Lexa, I’m sorry” Clarke quickly apologised, “I didn’t mean to...”
“It’s ok” Lexa smiled, kissing Clarke’s forehead, “it was a long time ago. But as much as I’d like to talk about parents and stuff, I have to go to work” Lexa said, “I’ll see you tonight?”
“Yes” Clarke answered, hiding the fact she hated not seeing Lexa for a whole day. And that she was going to be alone at home.
“Bye, Beautiful” Lexa lightly kissed Clarke on the lips, before walking away.
Clarke sighed, and made her way back to Lexa’s loft.
Octavia, Indra, Raven and Anya were standing in front of the computers in the secret bunker. Raven was taking her marks with the system – although she had already taken them the all weekend- as Indra was explaining the new missions the agents would be assigned to. Raven was focusing really hard to understand the teams’ dynamics; as far as she could see, there were tiny groups of people, working as separated units. But something was different about Octavia’s team, though; first, they didn’t have the same outfit. Octavia and her seven teammates were all dressed in black, but not any black; this black you would not see, a black like a shadow one. Well, Raven obviously couldn’t explain well how the fuck their clothes were made, but it was like it could change colours with the environment or something.
Of course, Raven knew Octavia was different. Well, that her team was a different one; ghosts, she had said. Nothing could be found on them, and as Raven was thinking about it, she hadn’t seen Octavia’s name on the list. Suddenly, Raven’s eyes widened as Indra was speaking in the background. Octavia hadn’t been on the list Anya and she had read. But Octavia was born before the fall of Skaikru Company, it was impossible for her not to exist on that list.
Raven tugged at Anya’s sleeve, making the other roll her eyes.
“Reyes, what do you want?” Anya asked, annoyed.
“Octavia is what you call a ghost agent, right?”
“Yes” Anya sighed, raising a brow at Raven, waiting for her to make sense.
“So there’s nothing on her” Raven stated what she already knew, “Any data that might have existed on her is now inexistent, correct?”
“Yes, Raven” Anya nodded again.
“But there was data on her, right?” Raven continued, sitting at her desk and typing on the keyboard, “but now there’s nothing.”
“I don’t see the point of this, Raven” Anya huffed, beginning to get annoyed with the brunette.
“Yes you do, just focus!” Raven exclaimed, “Look Anya” She said, opening once more the Skaikru members’ list, “there’s not Octavia’s name on that list”.
“I can see that” Anya answered not hiding her frustration anymore.
“But she had to be on that list before!” Raven said, “She was born way before Skaikru’s fall, she was registered in that list, like Bellamy, her brother” Raven explained to Anya, “but now she’s not on that list anymore”.
“Obviously she’s not on the list Raven” Anya huffed, “She’s a ghost it’s like she was never born!”
“That’s exactly my point!” Raven said, “She was on the list and now she’s not. Someone erased her existence when she became a ghost! We could do the same for all of us, make us disappear! And if Azgeda still have the list, we would be off radar and safe!”
Anya was ready to protest, but stopped herself as Raven’s words were sinking in. “Actually, you might be right!” Anya said, typing on the computer in turn, “I wasn’t the one erasing Octavia’s files but... wait” Anya frowned, “No. We can’t do that”.
“Why not?” Raven asked a bit surprised.
“Because we would have to get into Azgeda servers” Anya sighed, preparing herself for the discussion she already had had with Raven.
“That’s easy” Raven protested, “I will only take me a few minutes and then...”
“Raven” Anya interrupted her, “I said we were not going to enter Azgeda servers last weekend, today my words are not different”.
“Right” Raven said, closing the list and busying herself with something else. It surprised Anya; Raven didn’t seem like a girl who would obey to orders if she didn’t agree with them.
“Right?” Anya asked, confused.
“Yes. You said no. End of discussion” Raven shrugged. Anya raised a brow again, but left Raven alone since she needed to talk with Indra.
At her desk, Raven patiently waited for Anya to be gone, threw a glance across the room to see if anyone was watching her, took a USB drive from her pocket and put in into the computer.
Clarke would have done the same, Raven thought as she was copying secret classified documents on the drive, my turn to protect our family.