Chapter 15
"It can't wait, and you sure as hell aren't leaving me here," Clarke argues from the bathroom floor.
Clarke had started to feel sick a night ago, they were in an unknown to her state and she was pretty sure she was only going to get worse. When they'd gotten back to the abandoned run-down building they were hiding out in, she emptied her stomach and hadn't stopped since.
They'd planned on attacking Pike later that night. They were held up just 15 miles from where he was staying. With Clarke only getting weaker with all the puking, Lexa had mentioned the blonde staying behind while She took over the attack.
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"I gotta say, never thought we'd be working a case together."
Bellamy looked at Roan from the side of his eye, with his partner gone he needed someone who was ready to go and he could trust to assist him. Roan was a faithful soldier, no matter what Bellamy thought of him.
"You weren't my first choice."
"Guess you couldn't do this one alone." Bellamy shook his head. "Your sabbatical hadn't been a secret, everyone knows you've been on a personal vendetta."
"I haven't done anything I wasn't assigned to do. I was charged with the protection of Clarke Griffin, she is not protected with Pike still calling the shots."
Roan chuckled, "If that's your story."
Bellamy worked his jaw but stayed silent.
"We are walking into the lion's den. If you were doing this out of duty you'd have more than just me for backup.
"Miller could have hacked it." Bellamy sniped.
Roan nodded, "What's the plan?"
"Lexa had taken Clarke, from what I've been able to pull up on the plane ride, it seems the two have been working together. Taking out Pike's men and others along the way." Bellamy got madder the more he had looked into what Clarke had been doing. "And we do have back up. Bravo team is already surrounding Pike's place, no matter if we get there or not, he's being taken down tonight."
"Just so I'm clear, are we here to get your girlfriend back or kill Pike?"
"Both. Now shut up and do what I brought you here to do."
Roan focused on the map in his lap, while Bellamy drove toward his Princess.
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Sliding her third gun into the belt loop of the outfit Lexa had given her at the beginning of their journey. Taking a couple of deep breaths she held back the bile trying to make its way up her throat. After fighting with Lexa about not staying behind, Clarke found the will in herself to get off the cold bathroom tile and pull herself together.
"Sunset is in two hours. I'm going to make sure we are all packed up, be ready to go in 20 minutes."
Clarke nodded, double-checking to make sure all her knives were in place.
"Remember who you are doing this for, he killed your mother and slaughtered your father. Repeat that to yourself."
"Why?"
"For strength." Lexa walked fully into the room.
"No. Pike is your father." Clarke said, not understanding."You're just going to let me kill him."
"I told you what he did to my mother."
"That's all it takes to get you to turn on your own blood?"
"He was a monster! He still is, I've lost more than just my mother Clarke! Friends and the life I could've had if he'd not taken me away."
Clarke watched her, the expressions flying over Lexa's face. Pain and anger.
"Okay," Clarke said simply. "I'll meet you downstairs in 10 minutes."
Collecting herself, Lexa nodded, turning and exiting the room quickly.
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"Pike has a couple of safe houses, but the closest to his place is exactly 15 miles from his home base. I think Lexa would choose that one."
Bellamy nodded agreeing. "They won't make a move till it's dark, Lexa grew up in places like these. Knows all the ways in and out. If we don't get to Clarke before they're on the move we'll never catch up to them."
"Take your next left, from there we will be 23 minutes from the safe house."
Pushing his foot down gave more gas, 23 minutes was a long time. The sun was already starting to go down.
.
Clarke could feel how weak she was as her legs hardly supported her weight. Lexa had left her bike 7 minutes from where Pike was, she didn't want to be seen by any of his men.
"How much longer?" It was dark now, which meant Clarke stumbled a lot more.
"15 minutes, more like 30 with the rate we're going."
Clarke stopped, leaning against the back of someone's home. Her breath laboured.
"I'm sorry that I've spent a month doing everything you've asked, I've killed people and used them and let you use me in every way. I didn't care as long as it lead to Pike. Now I just need a couple of extra minutes and you can't give me that!"
Lexa rushed toward her, palm going out to cover Clarke's mouth.
"Keep your voice down." She growled. "All I've done is let you release all the pent-up anger you've been storing. You didn't do anything you didn't want to."
Clarke ripped Lexa's hand from her mouth. "You think I wanted to kill that guy? He wasn't even a part of this."
"Yes, he was. No one is innocent."
(Flashback)
Clarke stood in the backroom of some local restaurant, Lexa had a guy tied up. It was only their first week on the road together, but it wasn't the first time they'd tied someone up for questioning. Before they could leave the country Lexa had to know where to start. Her father had a lot of safe houses in many countries.
"I'm going to ask you one more time before I get rough," Lexa growled, grabbing the old man by his hair. "Who delivers your drugs?"
The man groaned as his hair was pulled but kept his lips tight together.
"Dad?"
Clarke gasped, she turned quickly. She hadn't heard anyone come into the restaurant and now there was another body involved in what they were doing. The intruder looked to be in his late teens. Clarke watched as the young boy pulled a gun from his jacket, cocked it and pointed it at Lexa.
Lexa smirked at him, throwing his father's head back as she released her hold and turned her full attention to the boy.
"To get out of here." His father warned.
"No no." Lexa mocked. "Why don't you stay for a while, take a seat."
Ty didn't listen to her, instead, he spread his feet and steadied his gun with both hands. Then he fired.
"Lexa!" Clarke yelled, the bullet hit her partner in the thigh.
The boy clearly hadn't noticed her before, turning quickly he aimed the gun at her. Clarke froze, her gaze zoned in on the barrel of the gun. She heard the cocking sound and so did Ty.
Clarke watched his eyes do a quick survey of her, he seemed to come to the conclusion she had no gun and wasn't a threat. Slowly he turned toward Lexa, who now had her gun at attention.
"Big mistake," Lexa growled.
The boy went to fire again, but when he did the gun jammed. Lexa charged him, they both moved quickly backwards. Clarke stepped to the side, never being the one to handle the violence. Ty had reached out when he started to fall, his fist caught Clarke's shirt. She felt with them.
The knife in Clarke's hand was cold one second and warm the next. The guns started to go off, she noticed Lexa who'd been on top moments ago dripping to the ground. Moving on to split-second decisions, Clarke swung her knife, it sliced through Ty's neck.
The blood flow was immediate, along with the screams of the young boys' father. Clarke couldn't look away until she felt a hand on her shoulder, Lexa had gotten up at some point and made her way over the couple.
Dragging her eyes off the body only when Lexa's gun went off for the third time, this time ending the tied-up man's life and stopping his screams.
(Flashback)
"Innocent people don't carry guns."
Clarke closed her eyes, she could still feel the blood heavy on her hands. The thought made her stomach roll.
"Let's move," Clarke commands, it was time to put up or shut up.
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"Fuck!" They'd missed them. Clarke had been here though, he could feel it.
"They left nothing behind," Roan told him.
They both walked swiftly back toward the car, "If they haven't already gotten to pike they will soon. Update the team." Bellamy handed a sat phone to Roan.
Once in the car Roan placed the call to the Officer in charge, they were to be on the lookout for the girls. If inside the building went live they were to intervene immediately.
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Clarke was in the lead now, her feet moving fast over the unfamiliar ground. Lexa had them going down an ally between houses when they came across a guy, who was armed with a shotgun.
"Lexa, welcome home." The guy raised his weapon.
Clarke froze, the barrel 9 feet from her face. She swore she saw the flame as the ground was fired. Screaming Clarke flinched, but when she felt no contact or burning sensation, she quickly looked behind her.
Where Lexa should have been standing was nothing, when her eyes drifted south the girl she'd been with for the past month laid. The bullet had gotten her between her wide-open eyes.
"You're father said to give that to you." The guy chuckled.
Sliding the knife from her belt, Clarke prepared to fight as she turned around. A gun would have been more useful, except for the fact that the guy was already on her. After she was quickly disarmed, knives and guns were stolen off her person Clarke fought back as the man dragged her in the direction she and Lexa were moving in.
"He'll be happy to see you again. How's your father by the way?"
Clarke gasped, was this the man who'd killed him?
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By the time Bellamy and Roan made it to the Bravo team, the leader Marcus stepped forward.
"Anything?" Bellamy asked him.
The guys hadn't seen any sign of the girl. Even when they ditched the car and jogged the last two miles on foot.
"Come with me," Marcus told them.
Bellamy held his breath as he followed, he prayed he wasn't about to see his worst fear come to light.
"We came over when we heard the gunshot. It was one of Pike's men for sure. Killed one girl and took the other into his boss's house."
At this point in Bellamy's mind, it was 50/50 as to which girl was shot. He had to say he knew the dead girl was Lexa the second he laid eyes on her, but his relief only lasted for a second. If Lexa was the girl in the ally, that meant Clarke was now inside the building with Pike and his men.
Marcus continued to explain, "The blonde fought the whole way in, we weren't sure which girl was on which side."
Bellamy pointed toward Lexa. "She's Pike's daughter. You better get your tactical guys ready. I want to breach that front door in the next 3 minutes."
Marcus nodded, leaving Bellamy alone to prepare his men.
"You're 9 lives are running out Princess." He muttered to himself.
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The man who shot Lexa dragged Clarke into a nice-looking living room. Clarke had long lost her ability to focus and was shaking with the effort she was putting in just to stumble along on her feet.
"Wait here." The same snapped, letting go of her arm.
Clarke dropped to her knees the second he lost contact, her eyelids heavy. She couldn't help but think she'd been in one of Pike's houses before. The beach house had been smaller and less nice than this, but each was cold in its own way. Neither place looks like someone living in the home.
"I didn't quite believe it when one of my men told me."
The hairs on Clarke's arms stood up at his voice, her stomach turning and burning with pure hate.
"Would that be the same man who killed your daughter?" Clarke wanted the words to be biting, but in her weakened state, she wasn't very successful.
Pike watched as the blonde stumbled, hands bound in front, getting to her feet.
"I must say, you've looked better." He taunted.
"Becoming an orphan can do that to you."
Pike smiled at that, "My daughter has been reckless. I taught her better. As soon as the bodies started to drop I knew she was planning something. She was weak that way. Let her feelings control her."
"Humanity, Having feelings, that's called humanity. You've clearly never heard of it."
"Oh Clarke, you are rather lucky. I'm in a good mood tonight. You looked dead on your feet, perhaps you'd like to attempt whatever kind of showdown you and my daughter had planned after a little rest."
Clarke squinted at him, this man confused the hell out of her.
"Why? So you can set another bomb then run away like a coward?"
Pike sighed and licked his lips, "Fine, guess there's no real reason to drag this on." He drew his gun.
But Pike's was not the gun that had been cocked. Clarke gasped feeling something brush her hair before seeing the barrel come over her shoulder. Hand wrapping around her waist. Bellamy. she thought with a smile.
"Wow, isn't this a turn of events?" Pike's smile dimmed.
Bellamy had entered the room with 8 other guys backing him up. He's seen Clarke's slumped form, suddenly his stealthy plan turned into a fly by the seat of your plans non-plan.
"Drop it," Bellamy demanded.
Clarke wanted to lean into him badly, to take comfort in the fact that her fight was over. But she couldn't, not till Pike had a bullet in his head.
Looking at his chances Pike's finger didn't make a move to ready his gun, but he never lowered it. Seeing his reluctance to lower, and knowing there was only one way out for him, Clarke raised her left hand to cup Bellamy's. Her hand was now 'holding' the gun too.
"Do it," Clarke whispered.
"Together." He whispered back.
BANG!