Chapter 9
Raven lies on a couch with her fists clenched beside her body. She has no idea how she got there and whose house this is, but she has far more important matters to focus on.
She vaguely hears Lexa on the phone with someone. Clarke doesn't seem to be here. And Lincoln? Raven spots him on the floor with pen and paper. She furrows her eyebrows in confusion and gets up.
Lincoln immediately notices her and carefully tears the page he was working on off and slips it in his pocket. "Are you OK?"
The words spoken seem alien to Raven. No one is taking any action and it hurts. It hurts Raven to an extent she didn't think possible. Her heart breaks for Octavia and she has to refrain from lashing out.
Before Raven can say a word, either good or bad, Lexa ends the phone call and addresses them. "Cops are on the way here and up Raven's. Clarke notified me that she isn't home nor at work, and well, Lincoln tried all of O's friends and coworkers we had numbers of but to no avail." Her voice is level and even to the untrained ear, but Raven can hear the slight tremble and maybe a hint of anger in it.
Raven opens her mouth to ask a question but Lexa beats her to it. "She left probably 10 minutes before you all arrived. Said she received a message from you," Lexa nods to Raven, "and she said that she needed to speak to you, so I let her go."
"I never sent her a message," Raven trails off. She takes out her own phone and goes through her messages, just to be sure.
"-So either Octavia lied, or someone lured her away," Lexa finishes the sentence. "Looking at the pieces of her phone over there, I'd say the latter. I would've suspected you, if not for the fact that Clarke can vouch for you."
Raven definitely deserves that last remark. She has been a terrible friend to all of them. She doesn't even know Lexa at all, other than that she is Clarke's girlfriend and Lincoln's sister. It is sad, really.
But she can't cope with sadness. She can, however, cope with anger fairly well. Anger, rage, aggression; those are things she can spar with. So, her being her, she charges at Lincoln.
"You came back, and everything went to Hell."
Lincoln lets himself be pushed up against the wall, he lets himself get cornered and he will take any blow that Raven would give him, no retaliation whatsoever.
But she doesn't.
She lets him go, a weak 'sorry" leaves her lips and she remembers what Lexa just said. The police were also going to her house; why?
"My place? Why are the cops coming to my place?"
Lexa narrows her eyes at her, figuring out whether she's for real right now.
"The bug? Also, why would there be a bug in your apartment Raven? What have you gotten Octavia into?!" She raises her voice and this is a big deal as she rarely ever does. Raven wouldn't know about that, though.
Right.
"Wait! I gotta get there first," Raven says more to herself than anyone else and is already halfway through the door before Lexa can grill her with questions.
That person watching me. Maybe it wasn't my imagination after all. I know I saw something. I'm going to kill them.
**
Lincoln rushes after Raven whose walking toward the subway station. "I've got Lexa's car. Come on."
He starts to walk away in hopes that Raven will follow him. She stands still in the middle of the road, thinking about why Lincoln is so nice to her while she has been nothing but aggressive toward him. She knows that he doesn't deserve it. That he was just trying to help back then, as it looks like he's doing right now.
She decides to put her pride aside for Octavia and joins him in the car. The ride back to their apartment complex is silent. There are things that need to be said but neither think that this is the right time for it.
It looks like Lincoln is contemplating on what to say. Going in the same direction as Lexa and ask about how Raven is linked to Octavia's disappearing or try to pry information out of her by showing signs of support.
He chooses the latter as he finally asks his question when their apartment complex comes into view. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," Raven breathes out.
She doesn't have a plan, really. This is nothing but pure adrenaline. She jumps out of her car and hesitates on what to do first. She wants to call them out by using the bug, but she also wants to know whether that neighbor is in on it or whether it's just her stupid imagination. She decides that it's best to get to the bug first before the police confiscate it.
When they enter her apartment she immediately ushers Lincoln over and points toward the apartment on the opposite site of the street, that basically looks straight into hers. She whispers to be as hidden as possible and look for any kind of movement.
As he nods to follow her command, she goes to sit on the couch and look at the bug still attached to the flipped over coffee table. She sighs, where should she begin?
"Give Octavia back. Evidently, it's me that you want. Me, in exchange for her. Call me."
Raven doesn't see Lincoln furrowing his eyebrows as this new information washes over him. She says her phone number two times slowly and hopes it will ring. When it doesn't and is about to smash the damn device or do something equally as stupid, Lincoln demands her attention by jumping in his place.
He points to the apartment but Raven is too slow to see anything. She matches over to the apartment instead with Lincoln in tow. Her leg is starting to hurt but she focuses on filtering the pain out.
Lincoln asks her what's going on, as he's confused over why he had to keep a lookout and why they're going there now.
Raven doesn't answer him.
Just as they exit the elevator and walk through the hallway toward the right apartment, some guy exists it in a hurry with an envelope in his hand.
Raven grabs him by the collar without a word and backs him up against his own front door. Lincoln starts to intervene by reaching out until he notices that the guys' feet aren't touching the floor anymore.
He's stunned seeing her strength. "Raven? What... What?" Lincoln stammers out. Raven is too preoccupied to even hear Lincoln's awe.
"Tell me where Octavia is," Raven spits out in the guys face.
Some incoherent sounds follow as Raven is effectively blocking off his oxygen flow. She loosens her grip so he can touch the floor by standing on his tippy toes.
"I.. I.. Don't.. Know."
She lifts him up again, even higher than before.
"You know, what Octavia did to your friend isn't even close to what I'll do to you."
Lincoln finally realizes that they know each other somehow.
"Messenger. I am. Have message." is what Lincoln thinks the guy is saying.
"Let him speak. He isn't of use when he's out cold," Lincoln says.
Raven snaps her head back at him for butting in. She wants to tell him off and again wonders what the hell he's still doing here. Instead, she breathes in and out a few times and tries to make her anger dissipate, if only a little.
She releases the guy but stays on him so he cannot escape.
He inhales deeply and starts to cough. Raven gives him a few seconds before she would hit him in the abdomen or something.
"I'm just the messenger. I don't know anything. They said to give you this." He slowly reaches for the envelope that fell to the floor when Raven lifted him.
She gives the envelope to Lincoln and asks him to read it out loud.
If you ever want to see her again, go to the docks alone. Friday, 2.30PM
She knocks the guy unconscious with a single blow.