Disclaimer: Do not own Marvel, DC or The 100
WolfHowlRunner61's Her Guardians tribute
Warnings for attempted rape, past attempted gang rape, trauma, alcohol abuse, torture, murder and the discussion of victim blaming.
Your baby is safe
As they watched Clarke Griffin be under the blanket of the bed they had put her in, having been recently hydrated as they had poured water down her throat, they were assured that she was asleep and not going anywhere.
The two vampires who had returned Clarke safely to her dorm, Natasha Romanoff and Maria Hill, were just relieved that they always kept an eye on Clarke.
If they hadn't tonight…
Thinking of what those two young men, Ryan Alton and Craig Benson had tried to do to Clarke, made both vampire women's blood boil.
They had tried to rape Clarke. They had tried to violate her as she had been too inebriated to refuse or to struggle.
Natasha and Maria both knew that all three Anastasia, Helena and Sable, would kill Alton and Benson as lowly as they pleased.
And that meant that it likely wouldn't be until morning, when at last, Helena, Sable and Anastasia decided to give both young men the mercy of death.
And why shouldn't it be till morning?
Those two vile creatures, had tried to rape someone, and what was more, had tried to violate the vampires' mate.
The twenty-five vampires that were Clarke's mates, had been killing sexual predators around campus now, for almost years now, since Clarke and her siblings had begun to attend this school.
But they had a certain special rage regarding Alton and Benson, for what they had tried.
They hated all sexual assailants, but they had gone after Natasha, Maria and the others' mate.
So, their hate was a particularly type of scalding hot.
"I imagine many of the others are having fun watching Alton and Benson be tortured to death," Maria commented, snickering.
"Probably," Natasha chuckled, smiling down at the sleeping Clarke.
Across campus, Ryan Alton and Craig Benson, the two would be sexual assaulters of Clarke Griffin, were struggling, grabbing desperately at the grass they were being dragged along, and away from the campus, pleading into the darkness, not seeing who was dragging them.
"Please!" Benson gasped out as he was dragged by his legs, "We weren't going to hurt that girl, we swear!"
"Yeah!" Alton yelled, "She wanted to get fucked! We were just doing a girl a favor!"
A snarl came out from nowhere above Alton, and a hand came ramming down, crashing onto Alton's back, where his ribs were.
Alton screamed, his eyes clamped shut as tears began to stream down his face, feeling his bones crack in seconds.
But that was just the beginning of their torture.
The vampires around Alton and Benson grinned as they tortured their prey.
They would tear more and more pain from these two young men.
They would never be able to hurt Clarke Griffin again.
Back in Clarke Griffin's dorm room, Natasha and Maria remained in the room with Clarke.
No one would ever find Alton and Benson's remains. No one.
Natasha smiled sadly, recalling Clarke's question. She had asked what would happen to Alton and Benson.
"What happened to those two guys?" Had been Clarke's sleepy question.
Natasha knew that Clarke would not remember this night. She was too drunk for her to remember.
"We should leave before she wakes up," Natasha said.
"I know," Maria agreed, "But we should call the Bartons first."
"I know," Natasha agreed, nodding, and pulled out her phone, turning it on and calling the Barton home.
Half of the Barton family, was here at this campus. But the other half, consisting of Clint and Laura Barton and their remaining children at their house; Lila, Zachary, Jessie and Nathaniel, were back in the national forest.
And Laura and Clint both needed to know that Clarke was safe.
Clarke had spoken on the phone to Laura Barton, before she had hung and had begun to drink.
Laura might have thought that Clarke would be fine after the call, but both Natasha and Maria knew better.
Laura and Clint knew Clarke too well. They knew that Clarke likely wasn't okay.
Because today was the day. The anniversary of the death of Dax Summers.
There was no way that Clarke could be okay today. Because she never had been okay. On every single day that had been the anniversary of Dax's death, annually for the past two and a half years, since Dax's death, Clarke had not been okay.
Natasha raised her phone to her ear and waited as she heard the ringing.
She heard the ringing stop and she heard Laura's voice.
"Hello, Natasha?" Laura's voice sounded friendly, but also, confused.
"Laura," Natasha greeted, "I wish I could be calling you under better circumstances. But you need to know. Clarke? She's safe. I promise you she is. She's asleep now. But before? She got drunk. Extremely intoxicated. Two young men tried to…well, we stopped them. Those two men will not be a danger any longer. We will take care of it. But we returned Clarke to her dorm room."
She waited and heard the thick and harsh silence.
Then at last, as Natasha expected, she heard short, shallow breaths, then came the small, quiet weeping sounds.
Natasha closed her eyes, heart clenching at the sounds.
She had known that Laura had been dreading this all day. Dreading hearing that Clarke had done something which would put her in inevitable harm's way.
"It's alright, Laura," Natasha said, "She's safe. Your baby is safe."
Still, Natasha heard Laura's crying persist.
"I'm sorry," Laura said at last, causing Natasha to open her eyes, "I know the twenty-five of you would do anything to keep her safe. Thank you. It means so much to us. Thank you for keeping her safe. I just…I don't know how to…," she sniffled and Natasha knew what Laura was talking about.
Laura didn't have to say it.
Laura was saying, even if she couldn't fully say the words, that she and Clint just didn't know how to keep Clarke safe. How to bring her peace. How to give her the proper comfort she needed.
"It will be alright," Natasha assured Laura, "You know we'll do everything to keep her safe and to take care of her. We'll look after her, until it's time to turn her into a vampire. And then, no human will be able to take advantage of her again."
Natasha knew that her words were meant to be reassuring, but she knew also that it would take more than that to comfort Laura or Clint.
Clarke's pain ran deeper than just being able to be healed just in one night by her mates killing two thugs on campus.
No, she would need years and years more of protection and healing than that, for her to at last, stop putting herself in danger like this.
Natasha and Maria, and all of Clarke's mates, understood that of course, Clarke was not at fault in any way, for the things that had happened tonight. It was all Ryan Alton and Craig Benson's faults.
But they all knew Clarke.
They knew her. They knew that she knew that there were some dangerous young men on campus, and they knew for certain that she had gotten drunk, with the intention of seeking them out.
It was a repulsive and disgraceful thing to ever so much as suggest a rape victim or a near rape victim, "got themselves into that situation." It was horrific and disgraceful to so much as ever suggest that.
But the thing was, they knew Clarke. They knew her so, so well. And they knew that she had done this deliberately, hoping someone or something would hurt her, trying to kill off the pain she was already feeling, remembering Dax and his death, every second of her life.
Natasha and Maria and the rest of Clarke's mates, would in seconds, tear anyone apart who ever blamed a victim of something like rape. And they certainly would if anyone blamed Clarke for what had nearly happened tonight.
But they knew Clarke. They knew what her intentions had been tonight. They knew that she had wanted someone to hurt her. To numb her.
People blamed victims of rape, saying that the victims were just trying to ruin some "man's life."
They would never ever say that. Firstly, again, that was an unquestionably vile thing to say to a rape victim or a near rape victim. And even if someone had said that about a complete stranger who had experienced that sort of assault, they would tear the person who said something like that, to bloody shreds.
Secondly? They knew what Clarke had been trying to do. This was all about how much Clarke wanted to hurt herself.
And it made them almost weep as much as Laura was currently doing.
It was even worse knowing that Clarke was in this much pain, because of Natasha, Maria and the rest of Clarke's mates. They were the ones that had killed Dax Summers and his friends.
They didn't regret doing it. Because Dax and his friends had been intending to gang rape Clarke.
They had done what they had needed to, to keep Clarke safe. But that didn't change that it had hurt Clarke immensely and had left her like this. Constantly searching for something to numb that pain up.
"Just please never stop looking after Clarke," Laura begged quietly, her voice strained, "Please."
Natasha again felt her heart hurting for Laura, and she didn't have to look at Maria, to know that the other vampire was wincing, her heart also hurting for the mother that was terrified for the safety of her most willful and most stubborn child.
"You know we never will leave her," Natasha assured Laura, meaning her every word, "I promise, we'll keep making sure she's safe. We won't leave her. Your baby is safe."
Laura sounded like she wanted to burst into tears again, likely in a combination of all relief and fear and pain.
"Thank you," Laura said again, "Thank you. I can never thank you enough. I'm sorry. I have to go. I need to tell Clint."
"We understand," Natasha assured Laura, "Goodnight, Laura. We promise, we'll keep your baby safe."
Laura sniffled and said, "Goodnight," then she hung up.
Natasha put her phone away and faced Maria.
Maria, of course, had heard every single thing.
Maria and Natasha met each other's eyes.
They felt for Laura and the rest of the Barton family.
The Bartons had been their good friends for a long time now, even before they had discovered that little girl, Clarke, years ago, in that window with the bars on it at the Griffin house, and realized that she was their mate.
They knew that hearing all about this, about what Clarke regularly did to herself, was painful.
Natasha and Maria turned back to the sleeping Clarke. Their darling mate.
Natasha had meant everything she had said to Laura. She had promised that she and the others would never leave Clarke and that they'd keep her safe.
And they would.
Natasha smiled sadly as she watched Clarke sleep. Soon enough, they would show themselves to Clarke, help adjust her to the realization that they were all her soulmates. Hopefully they could help her move on.
For now, they would just have to watch over her and protect her, as they had done tonight.
Natasha smirked. Well, one good thing came out from tonight's happenings. Two sexual predators; Craig Benson and Ryan Alton, would never be able to hurt anyone ever again.
They would meet the same fate as Dax Summers and his friends had, years ago.