Darkest Blood – part 2

Picking up Aden from school was a very weird concept for Lexa. On one hand, she'd gotten used to her new sidekick being there every evening and every morning, and on the other, she'd never imagined she would have a kid at home, especially one whom she'd never known as a baby or seen grow up. Aden was very mature and autonomous, but he also smiled brightly every time he saw her waiting by the school's front gate.

That afternoon she'd taken him to the park, and she'd bought ice cream for the both of them. They'd sat on a bench, and Lexa would have been happy if things stayed this way longer. Aden, however, was excited to start his training of the day.

"So, what are we doing today?" he asked with a partially numb tongue.

"Today is a very important training day. It's 'let's be a kid' day."

Aden frowned.

"I'm a kid. You're not a kid, though."

"First of all, true. But second, like you pointed out, you are a kid, so you need to have fun from time to time. That means today is a no training day."

The boy pouted.

"That's not fun. I like training. See, I think training is fun, so if you want me to have fun, we should be training."

Lexa glared down at him. It wasn't her most menacing glare, though, and Aden didn't seem to care for it.

"What did I tell you? Crime-fighting isn't supposed to be fun. It's a life or death situation most of the time. You know that already."

"Well, train me then. That way you know I won't die."

"Are you guilt-tripping me right now?"

He shrugged and returned to his ice cream. Lexa's gaze turned to the park. Most of the children playing there were younger than Aden, but she could see a few installations here and there he could still enjoy if he gave them the chance.

"You sure you don't want to play?"

He shook his head.

"I'm eating ice cream."

She smiled.

"Alright fine. Tell me about your powers. How did you find out about them?"

Aden licked his ice cream one last time before he answered:

"So, you know this animated show about this super strong guy?"

"Yeah, Super..."

"Yeah, that one. Well, I was watching the show one afternoon, when I was, like five, and I wanted to do the same. So picked up the table. Only you're not supposed to pick up the table with one hand when you're five, right?"

"That's an understatement," Lexa agreed. "So wait, you can even imitate powers from fictional characters?"

"From what I found out, as long as some form of powers is being used around me, I can copy them."

"So you are completely useless on your own."

Aden shrugged.

"Well, if you train me, I won't be completely useless."

"Let's hope so."

Lexa focused once again on her ice cream when she heard something beeping in the pocket of her coat. She pulled it out. It was the portable telephone Raven had given her. That girl really did invent amazing things. She flipped it open and picked up.

"Hello?"

"Lexa? It's Clarke. I have some bad news."

Lexa's smile upon hearing the blonde's voice fell when she heard the rest of her sentence.

"Did something happen?"

"You could say that. Can you meet me at my base as soon as possible?"

"Hum, yeah, sure. Do I need my costume?"

"Possibly."

"Okay. Oh, hum... Aden's with me, too."

"You can bring him with you, don't worry."

"Alright, I'll see you soon."

Clarke hung up without another word, leaving Lexa pouting and with a strange hollow feeling in her chest. She then looked down at Aden, who'd been hanging on her every word.

"Training is cut short, we have an emergency."

"Yes!"

Aden jumped off the bench, almost dropping his ice cream. Lexa rolled her eyes and pocketed the phone once again. However, the hollowness in her chest didn't disappear, and it turned to sour bitterness as she walked back to her car. Something was awfully wrong.


The entrance to Wanheda's secret headquarters was in the parking garage of the city's Central hospital. Lexa parked on the fourth sublevel and exited her car. Aden jumped out excitedly. He was fussing, skipping behind her. It wasn't his first time in the secret base, but it didn't seem like it. Lexa didn't try to refrain him. They walked up to the staircase and Lexa pulled out the portable telephone. A small key was attached to it. She used it to unlock the metal door blocking the access to the inferior level. Once Aden was through she closed it off.

"You think my super suit is ready?" he declared, so loudly his voice echoed in the empty staircase.

"Who knows? Maybe Raven works fast."

He ran ahead, disappearing around the corner as the staircase continued to circle deeper and deeper down. He was already in the main room, talking to Raven when Lexa entered the hallway.

"Sure, it's ready, maybe I can show you."

Raven was seating on her usual desk chair, her injured leg stretched under the desk, a whole bunch of blocky computers and pieces of papers scattered in front of her.

"Show him what?" Lexa asked as she arrived.

"My super suit! It's ready!"

Lexa frowned and looked at Raven.

"Already?"

Raven shrugged.

"I was pretty bored this week. I also made a few upgrades for yours, by the way."

Lexa crossed her arms.

"Thank you, but no, thank you. I made my suit myself, I like it just the way it is."

Once again, Raven shrugged. She input a few commands on her computers.

"Suit yourself."

She pushed herself up, using her desk as leverage.

"Come on, kiddo, I'll show you how cool you're going to look."

"Yeah!"

Aden disappeared down the hallway. Raven picked up her crotch, which had been held against a headless training dummy, then turned to Lexa.

"She's in the med-bay, by the way."

Lexa nodded. She followed Raven slowly. The med-bay was a small room stuck between the previous room full of computers, and Raven's workshop. As she approached the med-bay, Lexa felt her heart beat just a bit faster than usual. She mentally chastised herself. This was a serious matter, no time to swoon.
In the med-bay, Clarke wasn't alone. An older woman which looked a lot like her – Clarke's mother, Lexa remembered – was observing the person on the table in the middle of the room. The other bed had been pushed against the wall to make more space.

"Lexa, hey."

"Clarke, I'm here."

They both turned to Clarke's mother.

"You seem to be healing well, miss Woods," she commented.

"In big part thanks to you, Doctor Griffin."

Lexa came to stand beside Clarke, and looked down at the person. She recognized her quickly, though she was much paler.

"That's... Ontari? What happened to her?"

"She's dead," Clarke explained. "I found her in one of Alie's base. They experimented on her, and it killed her."

Clarke nodded to her mother, who closed the mortuary bag.

"I'll take her to the morgue and let you two talk."

Abby rolled the bed out of the room, leaving Clarke and Lexa standing there.

"I tried to save her but she died before I could get back here."

Lexa offered a comforting smile.

"It's not your fault."

"I know. It's Alie's. I was this close to catching her this time, but she ran away. But it's not the worst part."

Clarke pursed her lips as if contemplating whether to tell her the whole truth or not. Finally, she explained:

"Alie is experimenting with a serum which is supposed to give people superpowers. This was just the beginning. She'll continue to experiment on tests subjects until it works."

"We'll stop her together, just let me help."

"This isn't the worst part, Lexa."

Clarke let out a breath.

"The worst part is, they used your blood to synthesis this serum."

Lexa was stunned. Her mind went blank for a minute. An icy dread fell down her throat. Clarke's words echoed in her mind without seeming to make any sense.

"My blood?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? How... How would she..."

"Probably during the fight against the Ice Queen. You lost a lot of blood then. If Roan or another one of her minions picked some up afterward... You had no way of knowing."

Lexa felt the cold feeling in her chest boil away, as anger seethed through her veins. How dare they use her blood to kill people? She was going to find Alie and rip her head off if she had to.

"No one could have known..." Clarke added.

"We need to stop her before she kills someone else."

Clarke nodded. Lexa was about to walk out of the room when Clarke got a hold of her wrist. This stopped Lexa dead in her track. Her anger disappeared completely, melting away by a single touch of Clarke.

"We're doing this together, okay? These people are dangerous, and after what happened with the Ice Queen..."

They almost died. Neither of them dared say it, but it was true. Lexa had almost died, and even Clarke had almost died. Aden's intervention had saved them both.

Lexa turned around to face Clarke. Her jade eyes found Clarke's sapphire ones. She hesitated for a second, before finally closing the distance between them. She pressed a kiss on Clarke's lips, quick, just enough to reassure her.

"Together," she declared after they parted. "Plus Aden, because there is no way he's going to stay put here."

Clarke smiled and chuckled.

"Alright. Let's change, and meet up in the computer room."


Once dressed, Lexa left the empty med-bay and found Aden waiting with Raven. He was wearing a dark green chest-plate, over a black bodysuit, with a golden brown sash around his waist. Knee and elbow guards completed the ensemble. He was holding his domino mask in his hand, a smaller version of hers. He smiled brightly at her and jumped off the stool he'd been seating on when he saw her.

"So? What do you think?"

"It's nice."

He was stunned.

"Only nice? I look super cool!"

"If you say so."

"You sure you don't want to upgrade?" Raven asked again.

"Nope. My suit is just what I need."

Lexa's suit was all banged up and covered in marks and scratches, unlike Aden's brand new one, but it always felt right when she put it on. Black bodysuit, with metal shoulder-pads and breastplate, as well as forearm and leg protections. Her red cape was hanging behind her, somehow always looking new and pristine, without a single hole through it. He sword was hanging at her belt. Her braided hair was falling down her back. She was holding her black mask in her hand, a piece which covered her eyes with black streaks falling down on her cheeks.

"Alright, let's do this."

Clarke walked into the room in costume and ready to fight. Dark blue bodysuit, with black protections, and navy-blue cape and hood. The only thing missing was her pristine white skull-shaped mask, which she was holding on to.

"What do you have, Raven?"

"Well, unfortunately, not much."

Clarke glared at her and turned to the giant television screen which took most of the wall beside the hallway.

"Surveillance camera brought back nothing, if only there were more of these around, maybe I could get a better result. Octavia did a little round, ruffled up some people, but she couldn't find anything either."

"Tell her to be careful. These people are very dangerous."

"Oh, she knows. Anyway, like I said, nothing for now."

Lexa thought for a second.

"Can you do a little cross-reference for me?"

"Hum, sure? What do you need?"

"Places with a lot of vegetation, possibly a strong light source. My powers are stronger around trees. Maybe she'll try her experiment closer to nature. Maybe a place isolated."

"Hold on a minute..."

Raven mumbled a bunch of scientific mumbo-jumbo only she understood, and soon enough, the map of the city change, and shifted. Finally, it stopped above a big warehouse in the middle of the woods, up the hill overlooking the city.

"Bingo. It has to be hers."

"Are you sure, Raven?"

"Did I ever send you to the wrong place? Seriously?"

Clarke rolled her eyes then turned to Lexa.

"Let's go."


A/N: Hi guys! I'm happy to see you guys seem to enjoy the story! More badass good girls coming next week, I promise!