Fair warning, this chapter is a definite M-rating.


WE MADE PLANS TO KISS THE SUN AT NIGHT

HOPELESS DREAMERS, HOPELESS TIMES

SHEDDING SKIN YOU SHOW YOUR BEAUTY SCARS

DON'T FORGET ME, OR WHO YOU ARE

Aerrow slid the door open as quietly as possible, the single coandite sword he had taken with him once again making light work of the century-old lock. Poking his head inside, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the room was empty.

None of Jaha's people were anywhere to be seen. Although he liked his chances of fighting them off better than Jasper's, he still didn't want to run that risk, not with his body in the state it was. He brought his hand to his mouth to try and muffle the fit of coughs that wracked him – more and more of which had been happening since the duel.

Once he had recovered, he wasted no time closing the door behind him, leaving Cleo to watch the entrance while he made a beeline for a specific control panel.

He pried it open with his sword and there it was! Just as Raven said it would be, the thrust conductor sat nestled among a mess of wiring, stripped and tangled from the re-entry to Earth. Thankfully, the conductor itself seemed to be intact but that presented another problem: It was still hooked up to the Ark's power grid.

Aerrow bit his lip and swore. There was no way he would be able to remove the conductor while it was still 'hot', and that meant he had to get the battery first. This was something he absolutely did not want to do. The moment he disconnected the battery, every single one of Jaha's men would know where he was.

He clenched his fist. He had no other option.

Jasper barely held back his cry of joy when he found the box. He remembered at the last second that he was being hunted and instead stared wide eyed at the three chunky silver wristbands.

"Well hello there… Never thought I'd see one of you again…"

Really, it should have been the last place one would think to look: a decrepit old storeroom full of rusted junk, but Jasper knew better than most. In fact, he was pretty sure he and Monty had once hid a particularly good batch of herbs in this very room.

He felt his eyes moisten at the memory. Those days were so much better…

His reminiscence was cut short however when the lights around him flickered for a moment before stabilising, although they were now only half as bright. In the distance an alarm sounded.

"Oh man… that can't be good…" he muttered.

After double checking that he hadn't been seen, he gathered the box of wristbands in his arms and headed back to the workshop, hoping to god Aerrow had been as successful.

Dammit… Bastards couldn't have picked a louder siren… Aerrow thought as he examined the battery in his hands.

Disconnecting it had been easy enough – his mother had been the Raven of her generation after all – but now he had another problem:

Everyone knew where he was.

He had to move fast! Tossing the battery aside, he raced back over to the conductor. After wasting a few precious seconds struggling to disconnect the wires by hand, he gave up and just used his sword to slice through them. He grabbed the fallen conductor and was reaching for the battery when suddenly he heard Cleo hiss.

Stilling instantly, he looked up to see what had alerted her, and his heart stopped beating.

Jaha and two of his people were blocking the doorway.

Aerrow closed his eyes and sighed. Crap…

Still hissing loudly, Cleo slowly backed away from the three men towards Aerrow, who grabbed the battery and held it along with the conductor behind his back as Jaha sauntered towards him.

"I'm going to need those, Mr Eroxin." The dark-skinned man said slowly.

Aerrow eyed him, wary of a surprise attack. "That's too bad…" he said defiantly, "You can't have it."

"You can't fight this Aerrow." Jaha told him, "The City of Light cannot be stopped, not even by you."

Aerrow glared at him and bared his teeth. "Want to bet?" he growled.

Jaha just looked at the men beside him. "Take him, destroy the devices."

The two obeyed immediately and advanced, but Aerrow was faster. He hurled his sword with every bit of energy he had, hitting one man directly in the chest. Clutching the blade imbedded in his heart, he coughed and gargled before falling, already dead.

Aerrow meanwhile stumbled around the other side of the control panel in an attempt to escape the second one, but he was too slow and weak, and the chipped man cut him off and pushed him forcefully backwards, sending him somersaulting over the control module in the centre of the room.

Incensed by this attack, Cleo scurried away, crawled up the loose wires where Aerrow had disconnected the conductor and leapt onto the man's head. Raking her claws down his face, she opened up hideous vertical slashes in his cheeks. Horrifically, the man did not even scream. He didn't seem to feel any pain whatsoever as he grabbed the big Lace Monitor and tossed her away, but not before she took her claws straight to his eyes, blinding him and rendering him all but useless.

Jaha himself then moved forward calmly, picking up both the conductor and the battery from where Aerrow had dropped them.

"No!" Aerrow cried, hauling himself over the module and rushing at Jaha. The man simply batted him away as if he was a fly though, and he crashed into the exposed power circuit.

He then placed both devices on a flat table and picked up a nearby hammer.

Breathing heavily, Aerrow saw him do so and was filled with a sense of dread. Jaha was going to destroy them! And if he succeeded, there was no way to save Raven!

He couldn't let that happen, but he was also far too weak to be able to stop him. He searched desperately for something to help him fight back, and then he saw it.

"Like I told you, Raven is ours now." Jaha said as he raised the hammer, "Nothing, and no one is going to change that."

He brought the hammer down-

-Just as Aerrow sprang forward with two separate sections of wire in his hands. In a desperate last-ditch jump, he sailed over the battery and jammed the wires down onto the separate poles in mid air with one hand…

…and stabbed the opposite ends into Jaha's skin with the other!

The man convulsed as electricity flooded his body – nowhere near focussed enough to fry the chip, but enough to make his eyes roll back into his head and he slumped to the ground.

Coughing and wheezing, Aerrow picked himself up off the metal floor as Cleo licked his face to make sure he was okay. He wasn't, but at least the battery and conductor were safe. For now…

Reminded of that fact, and without stopping to check if Jaha was dead or alive, he regathered them along with his sword and staggered out of the room, back to Raven.

"Thank god!" Raven exclaimed when his face reappeared in the doorway. She practically yanked him inside and shut the door again. "Did you get them?"

Aerrow nodded breathlessly before dumping the requested items on her table and collapsing next to them. Out of the corner of his eye, he was relieved to see Jasper had also made it back, and he could see in front of him a wristband already disassembled and ready to go.

"Good! We're running out of time!" Raven said as she got to work mating the conductor to the band.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked

"I can feel her in my head…" She answered, "She's anxious, she doesn't want me to disconnect. Jaha's gathering her followers to look for me."

Aerrow exchanged a worried look with Jasper, before he fixed Raven with a serious look. "Close your eyes, cover your ears." He ordered.

She did so, and he pulled Jasper close. "They don't know where we are, but it won't stay that way for long." He whispered, "One of us needs to lead them away."

Jasper nodded. "Alright, you go, I'll stay and help."

Aerrow jerked as another hacking round of coughs shook him. "I can't…" he panted, "Whatever's wrong with me… it's getting worse. It has to be you."

Jasper didn't look like he wanted to act as bait, but a quick glance at Raven seemed to convince him. "Okay… okay."

Aerrow grabbed his wrist and squeezed it gratefully. "Thank you." He said, "Make your way to the garage. Once we're done, we'll meet you there and escape in the Rover. This place isn't safe anymore."

"Where will we go?"

"We'll have to think of that later, just go!" Aerrow said urgently, flinging the door open. After a cautionary glance outside, Jasper exchanged a final look with his fellow delinquent and then bolted down the hall.

Aerrow quickly closed the door behind him and turned his attention back to Raven. At the feel of his hand on his shoulder, she opened her eyes. "We'll get you that last part you need." He gave her a look.

Understanding what he meant, she thanked him and got back to work.

Aerrow helped where he could, cutting and stripping wires while Raven soldered them to new ones. The entire thing looked horrendously complicated to him but he trusted that she knew what she was doing and piece by piece, her theory became a reality.

Suddenly though, everything changed.

He had just pulled a resistor from a pile of scrap, in case the battery short-circuited when behind him Raven let out a bloodcurdling scream.

He was on his feet in an instant and raced over to her as she clutched her head and dropped to her knees. "Raven? Raven what's wrong?" he asked frantically, but the mechanic was unable to reply.

She just kept screaming, thrashing her head violently side to side. He grabbed her head in an attempt to restrict her movements and calm her, but it had no effect. She was hyperventilating terribly and beads of sweat had begun to form on her forehead.

"Talk to me Raven!" Aerrow begged her, no idea what was going on. It was like she was in pain, only a pain beyond anything even he had experienced.

She seemed to regain just enough control of her senses to focus on him, but then another wave of agony hit and she hunched in on herself, screaming horrifically. She threw her arms around his neck, squeezing so tightly her nails stabbed right through his skin.

"Make it stop… please…" she sobbed into his shoulder.

Aerrow didn't know what to do. He realised suddenly that it must have been the chip somehow! Jaha had said it could take away pain. What if it also worked the other way?

Oh god…

He paled at the idea, before hurriedly clearing a space on the table with his free hand.

Raven was shaking and shivering against him. He could feel her heart racing, and sweat had plastered her clothes to her body as he laid her down on the workbench. Looking into her eyes, he was taken aback. They were wide open, her pupils dilated. She looked absolutely terrified. He turned away and continued wiring up the resistor.

Despite his own physical ailments, he willed his quivering hands to work faster as he heard Raven's screams intensify. The poor girl was in agony. Whatever this AI was doing to her… it was perverse and horrifying in equal measure.

And then, suddenly, there was something else.

"I submit."

Aerrow stopped what he was doing immediately and turned back around. Small and weak, it had definitely come from Raven, but he couldn't figure out why she would say something like-

Unless… Unless she was giving in the chip!

He couldn't let that happen! She didn't deserve that… she didn't deserve any of the pain she was going through. But what could he do? The device wasn't ready, and by the sounds of it Raven was about to give in. He whipped his head around, scouring the room frantically, desperately seeking a solution, but none presented themselves.

Then, time froze as an idea formed from nowhere in his head.

No… that was crazy… no way would that work…

His mouth dry, he slowly turned back around to look at her.

God… what would the aftermath do to her?

Raven whimpered and curled into herself, her slim shoulders bucking as tears flooded down her cheeks and sweat pooled on the cold steel beneath her. In that instant, Aerrow's decision was made.

Whatever happened… it was better than the torture she was going through. He had to try…

He walked back over and stood beside her, as she opened her mouth a final time.

"I sub-"

She never finished the sentence. For it was at that moment that Aerrow took a deep breath, leant down…

And he kissed her.

He gave no time to think of the consequences, he just plastered his mouth against hers and hoped to god it worked.

He held the kiss for several agonising seconds before he pulled away guiltily, expecting to be faced with the blank eyes of someone who had completely surrendered to the chip. Instead, he was met by familiar chocolate brown, identical to Raven's in every way except one: they were wide open.

He didn't move a muscle as Raven stared at him. Then her pupils focussed slightly and her eyes narrowed as he saw the faintest hint of realisation in her eyes.

Then he felt her hand grab the back of his neck before she pulled him back to her and kissed him again, as hard as she could.

Knowing he couldn't hold back if this was to work, and forcing himself to ignore her tremors and squeals of pain, he cupped her cheeks and deepened the kiss, jamming his tongue into her mouth. She responded with equal vigour as she clenched her hand within his hair.

The device they had been building screeched in protest as it was shoved aside when she leant back, pulling him on top of her and wrapping her legs around his waist like a vice. She was still in agony but now had just enough sanity to understand what his plan was.

Aerrow ran his hands down her body, feeling the firm flesh under her clothes while she raked her hands through his hair, pulling at the knotted tangles roughly.

He broke contact with her mouth just long enough to pull his shirt off and rip Raven's open, uncaring for the torn fabric which was quickly discarded, followed by her bra. Grinding his hips against hers, he felt blindly for her leg brace. Finding it, he unlatched the crude device and it clattered to the floor just as Raven tilted her head back and screamed once more.

Aerrow squeezed his eyes shut. This was wrong on so many levels. Barely lucid, she had virtually no idea of what he was doing to her, no way of stopping him or even consenting. But it was the only way he could think of he reminded himself as he yanked her pants and underwear down.

Despite the agony she was in, he was unable to stop himself from freezing at the sight of her naked, toned body. He was ashamed of the way his body reacted at the sight of hers. Raven Reyes was fit.

Resigning himself to dealing with his guilt later, he undid his own pants and climbed back on top of her.

He squeezed her small, firm breasts roughly with one hand while with the other he found her entrance. After rubbing her sensitive button briefly, he slammed two fingers into her, angling them sharply upwards to heighten her pleasure as he fingered her rapidly.

Raven arched her back and raked her nails down his, drawing black blood as he withdrew his fingers and placed himself at her dripping opening.

He couldn't help the tear that dripped from his eye, falling and landing between her heaving breasts. "I'm sorry Raven." He whispered.

Then he plunged into her.

He gasped reflexively at the sensation of her tight flesh gripping him, while simultaneously her body went rigid at the intrusion.

He gave her the barest moment to adjust before he started sawing in and out of her, increasing his pace until his hips were a blur, all the while kissing and massaging every bit of exposed skin he could reach. Her rough, angry scars from being tortured at knifepoint scraped along his identical ones as they moved tightly against each other.

Aerrow hated himself. This was probably the single most fucked up thing he had done in his life. He'd committed some atrocious crimes, but nothing like this. This was perverted in every sense of the word and unlike every other sexual encounter he had ever had, even his rape by Ontari. As far as he was concerned, what he was doing to Raven was no better than what those Flamekeepers had been doing to that little girl.

In a weird, messed up way he had Ontari to thank for enabling him to go through with this. Although completely evil, she had shown him that sex could be so much more than an intimate union. It was also a tool, one that could be used just as effectively as any blade. Still, the only thing that kept him from stopping was Raven's flighty gasps of pleasure mixed in with the screams.

This had to work… it had to…

Although her mind was still being ravaged by ALIE, Raven could feel her pleasure building. Could feel the onslaught of memories fading. Slowly, her wails of pain were replaced by those of ecstasy, and she rolled her hips against him as best she could.

It was all building. The pressure in her core and her head escalated, building… building… building…

Aerrow sensed her climax approaching as her cries intensified. He did his best to block them out and instead sandwiched his hand between their bodies, strumming her furiously.

Her legs began convulsing, her walls spasmed around him and she threw her head back, screaming harder than ever as her orgasm hit, just as ALIE disappeared from her mind and she collapsed.

And then was silent.

Aerrow was off her in an instant, entirely uncaring for his own release. Breathing heavily, he couldn't believe that his crazy plan had worked.

Sensory overload. But of a different type to what she had been trying earlier.

In combating her pain with pleasure, he'd been able to stimulate her brain more than it could physically handle, and so in self defense it had shut down and she had passed out. Checking her pulse to make sure, he let out a deep sigh of relief when he found one, then quickly put his pants back on and went back to work on the EMP.

He needed to work fast, there was no way of knowing when Raven would wake up again. Fortunately, most of the assembly was already complete and – thanking his mother for all the times she had shared her expertise with him – just a few minutes later he had it finished and ready to go.

Not even taking the time to dress her again, he snapped the bracelet back around her wrist, making sure the biometric needles were in securely. After double checking all of his connections, he hovered his hand over the switch and held his breath as he stared at her face. She looked so relaxed and peaceful in her unconsciousness – a complete opposite to her agony only moments earlier. For the first time, he began to have second thoughts.

What if it didn't work?

What if she was wrong, and the EMP damaged her brain beyond repair?

Could he forgive himself?

Then Lincoln's face flashed in his mind and he was starkly reminded that he was already beyond forgiveness.

He flipped the switch.

The device whirred into life, emitting a sharp buzzing sound. The bracelet blinked and Raven's body jolted and then-

Nothing.

Silence.

Raven remained unconscious.

Aerrow checked over the device once more. It had been put together exactly how she had drawn it on the board. But would it have worked exactly how she had planned?

He realised he wouldn't know until she woke up – if she woke up – so all he could do was re-dress her and sit beside her, tenderly stroking her hand, lost inside his own head.

That was why he never heard the door behind him creak open.

Never heard soft footsteps approaching him.

Never felt the needle go into his neck until it was too late.


This was another scene I had envisioned a long time ago. As messed up as it is, it was still kinda fun to explore a different writing style, and it is an important scene. Although I could have just written Raven being rescued from the City of Light as it happened on the show, it would have slowed the narrative up and this was just more fun. Furthermore, it is another emotionally traumatic experience for Aerrow, but they all serve a purpose. They are all necessary for the conclusion I have planned – which is what the story will be working towards from this point onwards.

Hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you thought and stay tuned for the next one. I'll try get a new chapter out every week or so until the end.