This was mostly done before I went away so y'all are getting it earlier than expected...or like a day earlier anyway. :p

Lexa was in the midst of showing Clarke how to operate the cash register, Costia looking on in clear dislike, when her phone began to buzz. A cursory look told her Raven was on the other end. She gestured to Clarke to follow her upstairs, Costia's eyes following them all the while, narrowed in suspicion.

With the apartment door closed behind them, Lexa answered the call, putting it on speakerphone again. "Hey, Raven. I take it you have an update on Carl Emerson?"

"Yeah. He's not our guy."

"Wow, that was fast," said Lexa, quite impressed. "Even for you."

Clarke, however, looked inscrutable.

They moved over to the living room to sit down, Clarke across from her for once. Lexa placed the phone between them, on the coffee table.

"How do you know?"

"You mean besides the fact that he's on crutches right now, one arm in a cast and his neck in a brace?"

Raven sent her a picture for good measure. She certainly wasn't exaggerating. He definitely looked like he'd been through the mill.

"He could be faking...to give himself an alibi in case the police came around." Lexa knew it wasn't likely Raven had overlooked this possibility herself, but she still had to ask, especially since Clarke seemed to be deep in thought and not inclined to speak just yet.

"No," replied Raven right away. "I checked. A still unidentified hit and run driver nearly killed him about three weeks ago."

Lexa looked to Clarke, a bit worried about her reaction to this news. Incidents involving cars were not exactly her favourite topic, considering her own father was killed in one. Her concern was unwarranted though. Clarke seemed utterly unaffected by this discussion. Perhaps it was only because Emerson was involved.

"He couldn't exactly afford an extended stay at the hospital, so he checked himself out against doctor's orders, like the next day. He's been medicating on rum and whiskey since then."

"Guy has pretty shit luck," concluded Raven.

Lexa was about to respond when Raven continued. Sometimes she never stopped talking. "You know...all of that unnecessary aggression he was displaying at work...I think it coincides with when he didn't get proper justice and compensation after his wife died. He really did get screwed over by the company that killed her."

Finally Clarke spoke. She looked stricken. "I didn't know that. About his wife." Her hands fidgeted in her lap. "I didn't know."

"It isn't your fault, Clarke," reassured Lexa.

"Not unless you crashed into him," supplied Raven unhelpfully, which earned her a glare from Lexa that would go unseen by the intended target. "You did say your car's been in the shop."

"Raven," warned Lexa, "I'm sure Clarke had nothing to do with that."

There was an uncomfortably delayed response, though Lexa thought it had more to do with her mental abstraction than any form of guilt.

"No, it wasn't me. My car just stopped working one day, like a switch was flicked. They can't seem to figure out what's wrong with it."

"When did this happen?"

Clarke thought for a bit. "I'd say it's been in the shop for about a week and a half by this point. Why? Do you think this has something to do with my murder?"

"Probably not but I don't want to rule anything out just yet. What kind of car you got?" asked Raven.

"Lexus GS."

Lexa was slightly taken aback by the brand of car Clarke had decided to own.

"Hmm, that's pretty unusual for their company, for any company really. Mind if I take a look?"

That gave Clarke more pause. "You know how to fix cars?"

"Raven likes to think she knows how to do everything," said Lexa with a faint smile and eye roll.

"Only because it's true," boasted Raven smugly. "I'm a genius. A certified child prodigy-"

"Who once got outwitted by a hump happy Jack Russell Terrier."

Surprised, more by the random turn of the conversation than anything else, Clarke laughed. That had been Lexa's intent. She was glad it worked to lighten Clarke's mood a bit. Besides, if Raven can tell embarrassing anecdotes, so can she.

"Way to ruin my rep," grumbled Raven on the other end of the line. "You could've helped me out instead of laughing and filming it. That little bastard wouldn't take no for an answer."

"And made you trip over your own feet," added Lexa. "And then he tried to hump your fa-"

"Okay!" exclaimed Raven quickly. "That's enough!"

"You filmed that?!" Clarke asked, hysterical, practically in tears. "Can I see?!"

Lexa was grinning widely now, further pleased with herself. "No. Raven, deleted it before we even made it out of the park, I'm afraid."

"More like obliterated," said Raven, tersely. "Anyway, can we please move on from the childish antics now? Goddammit, Clarke, stop laughing! That was the worst day of my life!"

(Which in fact, it was not. It did not even rank in the top ten worst days of Raven Reyes life. Most recently and notably, when her best friend nearly killed her.)

This of course only served to make her laugh harder, if possible, and with a few rapid phrases in Spanish, Raven threatened some very horrible things on them. Surprisingly, she stayed on the line until Clarke finally calmed down.

"All good, dead girl?" said Raven.

Clarke didn't seem to be offended. A smile was still in place. "Yeah."

"Text me the location of the shop. I'll go take a look right now."

"Sure...but how are you going to get access to it?"

"Don't worry about that. And don't tell her anymore stories about me, Lexa, or else!"

"Or else what, Raven?"

"Or else I won't make you that sex suit."

Clarke caught her eye and Lexa glanced away with an embarrassed cough. Then Lexa witnessed Clarke doing something she had barely ever done. She apologized. It was such a rare and unusual moment that Lexa almost wished she could have caught it on video.

"Sorry about being an ass, Raven. It wasn't very nice of me. I'm sure Lexa feels bad about breaking your confidence too."

She glared at Lexa, then looked to the phone. "Yes, sorry, Raven."

Clarke must have really wanted that sex suit made. This knowledge made Lexa very glad to have the distraction of her shop down below, which as soon as the call was concluded, she returned to.

Some hours later, Raven made a physical appearance, front door announcing her arrival. The day had been unusually slow, so Lexa was almost glad for the continual interruptions. Clarke was a rather slow learner, though that seemed to be because she was distracted by something. At first Lexa had flattered herself, thinking she was the cause, then she thought it was because of Costia's frequent ill natured looks in her direction, but now she wasn't so sure. Every time she went to ask her if everything was okay, she would come out of her shell and smile and ask a mundane question about one of the products in Grounders before she could.

Upstairs, in the kitchen again (Raven was rifling through Clarke's junk food), Raven gave them her next update. "So basically, the onboard computer was fried. One tiny chip to be precise. You're lucky that happened right when you started it up. Otherwise you probably would've been in an accident."

"Do you think someone sabotaged Clarke's car?" asked Lexa.

Raven bit into a white chocolate chip cookie and chewed thoughtfully. "It's possible, I suppose. Though it's still far more effective to cut someone's breaks if they want to cause an accident."

"But not nearly as discreet," pointed out Lexa. "Even the mechanics didn't know what had happened to it."

"That's because they're lazy fucks," replied Raven scornfully, as if she were personally affronted about the idea of mechanics with poor work ethic. She shoved the rest of the cookie into her mouth and chewed aggressively. "They were backlogged up the wazoo. Hadn't even taken a look at Clarke's car yet. Otherwise, any simpleton would've known the computer was shot. A basic diagnostic would've told them that."

Raven looked to Clarke. "I'm guessing you didn't notice anyone breaking into your car before this happened?"

Clarke shook her head, still in thought like she always was during these discussions.

"Could someone have triggered this sort of thing remotely?" said Lexa.

"If they did, they have shit timing." Raven took a sip of beer that she had popped open barehanded a couple of minutes ago. "Honestly, I don't think anyone tampered with it. There were no signs, no residue, no nothing. It was just a freak thing. You just happened to pick a lemon, Clarke."

Lexa and Clarke shared a look at the mention of lemons, a look Raven didn't miss, but didn't bother commenting on.

"Anyway," continued Raven, "since Emerson was a no go, who's your next most likely suspect?"

It was awhile before Clarke responded. "Well...there was this woman one time who threatened to kill me-"

"And she wasn't first on your list?" interrupted Raven incredulously. "Why the fuck not?"

"Because it was awhile ago, Raven. Like half a year ago."

"Fair enough. What happened?"

"Well, one of her recent recruits-"

"Recruits?" wondered Lexa.

"She's a gang leader," clarified Clarke. "I'd seen her in the hospital enough times with her people to pick up on that. Anyway, the injured girl, I think she was about seventeen or so, was hurt pretty badly. Multiple shots to the torso and arms. Multiple organ failure. Bleeding out rapidly. She should've been rushed straight to surgery but there were no operating rooms available."

"Why?" Lexa again.

"There had been a seven car pile up a few hours earlier. There wasn't enough time to transport her to another hospital...so I tried to save her myself..." Clarke sighed, "but I couldn't." She was silent for a bit. In a comforting gesture, Lexa placed her hand over top Clarke's. "Afterwards, the gang leader cornered me with the bloody scalpel I had just been using and said she'd slit my throat if our paths ever crossed again.

"She must be dangerous if she's a gang leader...but I thought she was just acting out because her, I guess, friend had just died. People's emotions run high all the time in hospitals." Clarke shrugged. "I didn't really think much of it afterwards. Sure I was a bit shook up, but that passes pretty fast in my line of work. It has to, or we can't do our jobs effectively. If you can't compartmentalize your feelings, you won't last long."

Despite Clarke staring at her while she said that, Lexa didn't think this last part was directed towards herself. Or rather, she hoped it wasn't. She needed there to be a day when she could finally express herself fully, when she could finally release the tidal wave of emotions that were always just beneath the surface. Sure, she had lost control that first night, but those had been extraordinaire circumstances. She couldn't make that mistake again, not until she could actually touch Clarke in a satisfactory way.

For now, Clarke's advice was absolute. It had to be. Love was weakness when a single moment of forgetfulness caused instant death. Lexa's mother knew this well. And up to now, she had followed in her footsteps. Avoiding real relationships. Avoiding getting close. Avoiding touching strangers. For if there were more people out there like her and her mother and aunt, there was no telling just how many were once dead. Lexa did not know if the two touch rule applied to those individuals, should they exist. One murder on her conscience was enough, thank you very much.

"What was her name?" said Raven, breaking through yet another of their many longing looks.

"Who?" replied Clarke, a bit dumbly.

"The girl who died."

"I think it was...Trix...no, Tris. Yeah, Tris. The gang leader though...I think they called her Heda once...I don't know what her real name is...and she didn't exactly stick around to fill out any paper work."

"Okay, well, can you at least tell me the name of the gang they were in together?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Oh, I don't know, Clarke," scoffed Raven sarcastically, "maybe so I can investigate the dangerous criminal who threatened to give you the closest shave of your life?"

"My throat wasn't slit though."

"It's a fucking expression, Clarke," barked Raven, arms crossed. "Why are you being so dense?"

Clarke hesitated quite a bit before answering. "The Trikru. The gang is the Trikru."

"Was that so hard?" frowned Raven.

Raven wasn't the only one frowning. Clarke was definitely acting strange now.

"Trikru..." contemplated Lexa, "those are the people who speak that bizarre code language, right?"

"Yeah," said Raven, still giving Clarke a strange look. "Trigedasleng. They think it's so fucking brilliant but it's actually pretty easy to follow once you break it down into its root parts. Heda for instance means...head of."

"Surely not all of their code is so easy to crack?" asked Lexa.

"No, not all of it, but it wouldn't take much effort even for the more obscure words." She tapped her head. "You just have to use your noggin a little harder. Something the police can't seem to do. Otherwise they'd all be behind bars by now."

Lexa wasn't sure if she was just boasting again or if she really could figure out the code with little effort. It was probably a combination of both.

"Anyway, they don't have much of an online presence, so I guess I'll have to go check out their terf."

This declaration sent Clarke over the edge, nerves bristling.

"What are you even going to do?" blurted Clarke. "Confronting her directly isn't likely to give you any answers. That is, assuming you can even get access to see her. What's the point?"

"Relax, blondie," said Raven, eyebrow raised. "I'm just going to scout the place out, see if I can get the low down of the area." She smirked, "Why? Were you worried about my safety, Clarke?" The smirk grew. "Or were you just afraid I'll never finish that sex suit if I get myself killed?"

The thought hadn't even crossed Lexa's mind, and she hoped that wasn't Clarke's reasoning for not wanting Raven to go into Trikru territory. Thankfully her mind was put at ease soon enough.

"It's too dangerous," reiterated Clarke. "You don't know them like I do. You haven't seen first hand the damage they can inflict. You can't go there. At least not alone."

Lexa caught on first, her heart rate speeding up. "You can't go with her, Clarke. You might be recognized." Lexa steadied herself and her mind. She knew some basic self defense moves if it came to it. "I'll accompany Raven."

This suggestion was even less appealing to Clarke, if her face was anything to judge by. It seemed to have frozen in place.

However, Raven spoke before the ice could crack, flinging pointy projectiles in all directions. "If you two are that concerned for my well being, which I'll admit is touching in a fucking sappy way, I'll ask one of my ex-military buddies to tag along." Raven patted her sidearm. "No way they could take the two of us if it came to that, which I doubt it would since I'm not even going to engage them."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it. You guys stay put. I got this."

The Trikru territory was marked on all sides in the form of skeletal tree graffiti. Not figuratively sparse, but literally designed out of bones and skulls. Arrows riddled the ribs and tibia's and all the rest, giving the tree more substance in most places. They fanned out like pine needles on a Christmas tree. And indeed, the faintly glowing skull on top was like a macabre version of the North star. Whoever the artist was, and it was the same person - as designated by the illegible signature - was pretty talented, even if the artwork was fairly ominous. It wouldn't be the first time Raven had entered into dangerous territory, and it wouldn't be the last - she hoped anyway.

Scouting the place out was honestly pointless, she wasn't going to learn anything other than a few of the 'guards' movements. Slipping past them probably wasn't going to happen anyway. Stealth was never one of Raven's strong suits, never had been (especially wasn't now that her leg was less than stellar). Mentally, Raven was well equipped to be a brilliant tactician if she so chose, but she never had the patience for such things. She always preferred to attack head on, to make things go boom as often as possible. It gave her a thrill. She was somewhat of an adrenaline junkie. It's why she joined the military in the first place. Well, that, and she needed the money.

"Sorry, Clarke," she muttered as she stood up from her hunched position, cringing at the sharp pull in her damaged leg.

She almost got up to the large warehouse door before being slammed into it by a massive bearded and tattooed guy. He literally had muscles bulging out of his muscles.

"You're a little lost I think, girl," said the man in her ear, hot breath ghosting over her neck, making the hairs rise. Under different circumstances, she would probably be turned on.

With one arm pinning her face first, he pulled her M9 out of its holster. "And a little too well armed for coincidence."

Raven couldn't make out the camera watching them anymore, but she knew it was still there and would hopefully catch everything she had to say.

"Oh, you got me," snarked Raven, voice fairly muffled as her face was squished. "I'm not just another silly lost tourist. I want to speak to your leader, to Heda."

"Not gonna happen," he growled, shoving her even harder into the roll up steel door, making it flex with the force. "Outsiders aren't authorized. No exceptions."

Raven thought for a moment and then said as loudly and clearly as she could, "Yu sleng ste foto. Ai fis em op." Your language is bad. I can fix it.

The guard tensed against her and then roughly turned her around. "Whatever you're playing at girl, it's not going to work. Heda doesn't speak to outsiders." He shoved her away from the building, keeping her gun in hand. "Get out of here before I break your neck."

Raven stood her ground, then looked to the camera dead on. "Teik ai sis au yo." Let me help you.

The guard started to advance on her and she prepared to run, but it wasn't necessary. The warehouse door started to rise of its own accord. Another tattooed guard armed with a machete stood just behind it.

"Heda will see you now," she said expressionlessly, though there was a flicker of curiousity behind her blue eyes.

Raven took a step forward but the big bearded guy got in her way again. He thoroughly, and none too gently, searched her person, taking her disposable phone away. She had purposely left her primary phone, keys and wallet back in her car, which was parked some distance from here. She didn't need these people knowing her real identity or where she lived.

And so the easy part of her harebrained scheme was accomplished. Whether or not Heda (or someone affiliated with her) was guilty of killing Clarke, getting out alive was the real test.

She was excited for the challenge.

Raven's a silly billy. But this should be interesting. ;)

The translations probably aren't perfect, but they're good enough.