MS - Rav's newest story

[Ravynlee]

I'm wondering how long it will take you to realise that there was a very big sexual connotation in my two comments ago comment (again I don't even know if that makes sense ouchies my eyes >.<). I think you have, I am not even sure what Nightwish song I'm listening to anymore, that's how out of it I am....

Good. Make it remain that way. I never hurt Mikey and Mikey never hurts me.

 

Night.

xxx

No I got it... I just didn't have a response to it, that's all. Ask sis, I only think lewd stuff, I don't publicize it (much) :-|:lol: *cough*liar!*cough* *grumble*

 

And thanks for the feedback. I'll do my best to make sure Mikey never hurts you. Of course he may have his own ideas, I can't stop him, he's his own person, so make no promises... yeah... hahaha

 

Night to you too

X

[Greyfoxx]

Wow, this is getting SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good.....

 

*smirks* More pwease, and OH! I'm working on mine...as much as i can.

[Ravynlee]

Wow, this is getting SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good.....

 

*smirks* More pwease, and OH! I'm working on mine...as much as i can.

About freaking time! Yay! And glad you liked. Again, welcome back

[Pheonix791989]

update when you can mum. I'm glad you got ideas although what I'm not sure of...... oh be expecting a wedding invitation in the near future and by near future I mean in like the next 1-5 years lol. Just thought I'd throw that out there for ya. *cries* but i like benji so much..... eh oh well. I got my programming exam at 10:45 its all good and yeah I do blame Robbie for my non existing social life. gotta keep kicking the dead horse if you know what I mean. I actually had an idea for a story that I'm working on and might just type up and post on here. sorry if it seems like im doing a pogo stick ranting... didnt mean to though. n_n... update????!?

[woodyloveslinkin]

update when you can mum. I'm glad you got ideas although what I'm not sure of...... oh be expecting a wedding invitation in the near future and by near future I mean in like the next 1-5 years lol. Just thought I'd throw that out there for ya. *cries* but i like benji so much..... eh oh well. I got my programming exam at 10:45 its all good and yeah I do blame Robbie for my non existing social life. gotta keep kicking the dead horse if you know what I mean. I actually had an idea for a story that I'm working on and might just type up and post on here. sorry if it seems like im doing a pogo stick ranting... didnt mean to though. n_n... update????!?

 

What can I say? She must like DS heaps.

[Ravynlee]

update when you can mum. I'm glad you got ideas although what I'm not sure of...... oh be expecting a wedding invitation in the near future and by near future I mean in like the next 1-5 years lol. Just thought I'd throw that out there for ya. *cries* but i like benji so much..... eh oh well. I got my programming exam at 10:45 its all good and yeah I do blame Robbie for my non existing social life. gotta keep kicking the dead horse if you know what I mean. I actually had an idea for a story that I'm working on and might just type up and post on here. sorry if it seems like im doing a pogo stick ranting... didnt mean to though. n_n... update????!?

Well, if you give me five years I reckon there's no excuse for me not to fly over and be there now huh? If I can't save a few grand by that time something's wrong... keep me informed. Would be freakin' sweet beyond belief to see ya walkin down that isle (even if I am a virtual online 'mum' of sorts... not sure what your real life family would make of it, but we'll deal with that ) But awesome none the less. I'm grinning like an idiot thinking about it; you down the isle business. Aww. :'( Haha. Noice!

As for your story totally, can't wait! What's this one about? You're almost as bad as me as starting ideas and not finishing them. You have what 3 still going now or something? I know you're busy and all, no pressure, just... hell as long as you're writing I'm happy. I'm a great advocate of the literary arts if you couldn't tell so I'm all for encouraging it in others. Some have the gift, some don't, you my girl have it, use it I say... look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Sarah, yes I am a DS fan. Took me for freakin' ever to catch up but now check back for regular updates.

As for my updates? None today I'm afraid. Have written a chapter as such but will pen a bit more before I post it. You know I usually post a fair update when I do it, make it worthwhile if you know what I mean So sorry to disappoint, but soon. Promise. Gotta stop watching so much Sopranos lately. Must be subliminally influencing me. I don't want that, I don't wanna re-write a done thing, but it is one of my fav all time series. Gotta love that show. I do. Awesomestness

Anyway, going now to pen a bit more before bed. Work tomorrow. Should have something ready for you by then. Enjoy your studies ladies, pity I couldn't take my own advice and do mine. Later.

Thanks <3

[andrea]

First of all, all I want to say is that I'm still reading this story. Took me a while to caught up, but I finally did. I really love what going on with everyone, and of course especially Rashell. I do feel sorry for Mike that it had happen but I'm kind of glad it did cause he really need that wake up call. Now I just hope that after this is all over that Rashell doesn't really lose the baby. She needs to sick it to Mike on that issues, lol. Can't wait for more when you manage to do so.

[Ravynlee]

Thanks Rashell! So glad you were able to catch up, I know you're busy too so am just happy knowing you're able to follow along and so far seem to be enjoying it. Of course it's a pleasure knowing the people I write about are also into the stuff I write, but I'm just as happy knowing anyone reads it and keeps coming back for more. Happy too of course you're liking your character's story line. To be honest wasn't quite sure how you'd take it, but yes, Mike needed a BIG shake up in his life to get himself back on the proverbial track as it were, so that was the plan at least. See how we go with the rest of it

Thanks again.

 

More following very shortly.

[Ravynlee]

Well as promised here it is, long overdue but hopefully worth the wait. Have almost 20 Microsoft Word pages to post here so prepare yourself for one hell of a lengthy update. Have been writing all day today and read it through, hoping now as we draw closer to the end that all the loose ends I'm attempting to tie together are all making as much sense as I hope they do. After close to 500 pages and still going I am sincerely hoping that what I write now bears at least some sense of order as it should have had at the beginning. Soon see I guess. As explained it keeps changing in my head so even I have no idea from one day to the next what I'm writing let alone where it's all headed. As for the final chapters, they're still a way off, but we are getting there - getting to a point where ultimately the two foes meet up and sort their grievances out once and for all. Anyway that's not today's update. Again, apologies for the wait, but have been busy. Here's what I have for you today so far. Enjoy, and again, issues and feedback most appreciated.

Thanks,

~Rav

 

Oh - and it's worth mentioning (if you weren't already prepared for it) that the following chapters include some suggested sexual content and a few verbal vulgarities, as to be expected in mostly anything I write - so don't say you weren't warned. Tried to keep it as PG as possible :-P Enjoy!

 

 

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There were eyes in the darkness she could feel it. Hefting herself up Sarah hesitantly made her way over to the window. The blinds were drawn, the window closed. Why then could she feel a cool breeze caressing the side of her face and back of her neck if there was no possible source?

Feeling residually on edge and tense as she awaited word on her missing daughter, Sarah froze sensing another person now in the room behind her. Fear and shock rooted her to the floor. Her insides had instantly turned to liquid. Faintly she could detect the scents of cigarette smoke and sweat and on impulse closed her eyes. She shuddered feeling his breath on her face. Then her lips. She wanted to cry but couldn’t, she was struck numb by the sickened anticipation, waiting for his mouth to touch hers. It was like being kissed by a ghost but Sarah was unable to respond or to react. The taste of his breath, of his lips, pushed her senses into overdrive. In a heartbeat she could feel his fingers trace her hair, then her neck and the exposed flesh of her collarbone. Gasping for breaths she balked feeling another’s tongue enter her mouth. She jerked her head back and found she was unable to move.

“Where is she?” he murmured against her face.

Sarah cringed but still refused to open her eyes. She knew if she did she would have to face the reality she could suddenly feel glaring at her. Instead she drew herself backwards, bringing her shoulders up and sinking down against them, making a strange kind of whimpering ‘don’t hurt me’ sound. The noise was severed as he wrenched her forward by the back of the neck closer against him. His breaths were hot and vicious against the side of her face. Sarah mumbled incoherently only to be shaken again. She sobbed with her lips quivering.

“I’m s-sorry-”

“You fucking will be,” he snarled against her pallid cheek.

Sarah was practically shaking all over now feeling his fingers caress her hair like a lover. They could have been the bony fingers of a corpse and she wouldn’t have known the difference. She was too terrified to move at all feeling his breath on her face, teasing the corner of her mouth and against her lips as he slowly, softly kissed her. His hands were tracing her from behind, roaming freely, exploring, dominating territorially. Feeling him nuzzle into her neck Sarah gasped and let the last of her inhibitions go, losing herself to it. The force of his passions both tantalised and terrified her as he conformed himself completely against her back like some human blanket. He seemed to be everywhere at once, dominating her, holding her captive as much as she was a willing to slave to it – she had never known a lover like him that had pushed her to her very limits.

Outside she could hear herself gasping and moaning drunkenly as she surrendered to his kisses and his firm touch but inside she could feel herself sinking. She felt dirty, that this was somehow wrong, she felt scared beyond any measure of words, and yet her mind seemed to be reeling in a blinded bliss miles ahead of her. The passion came out of nowhere and grew so fast and heavy that Sarah was quickly overcome. By the time she felt his fingers snaking inside the waistband of her pants Sarah froze up like a statue again and finally opened her eyes.

An empty room surrounded her.

She gasped exhaustedly and turned around, her breaths now ragged. The motel suite’s double bed, mini bar fridge, modest table and chairs and wall mounted television set were all as they had been mere moments ago. There was no one else here and worse still no signs that that there had ever been. To Sarah’s shimmering eyes the vision of a shadowed motel room scared her more than what she had just endured – even if it was nothing but fractured memories and figments of her overwrought imagination. Sniffling miserably Sarah swept her eyes and scanned the room just to reassure herself that he wasn’t there. Haunted by the sound of traffic and the rest of the word imposing itself out there on the other side of her closed door Sarah cupped a hand to her mouth and began to cry as she lowered slowly on weakened knees to the floor.

A sudden sound on the door drew her tears to a shaky stop. She heard a decisive knock, then another a few seconds later.

“Ma’am,” she heard the man say. She almost choked in relief when she realised it wasn’t Chester. It was a cop; one of them assigned to keep an eye on her while the others trawled their net over the city in search of her missing daughter. Hurriedly scampering to her feet Sarah swept her eyes clear and called back to him. Her heart was still in her mouth along with the bitter tears of her past mistakes as she made her way across the tiny apartment to collapse against the door. She blinked through the peephole.

“Ma’am, I just got a call from dispatch. Sounds like they’ve had a sighting of your little girl. If you don’t mind could I-?”

“Oh my god, Ava,” Sarah intercepted as her fingers fumbled with the door locks. “You’ve found her? My baby, where is she? Tell me, where-?”

With a clatter she reefed the door open only to be faced with a man in the familiar black garb of the NYPD. He was smiling at her. The look on his face was not at all trustworthy. He was familiar to her though Sarah was certain she hadn’t seen him before. She was almost as certain he was not a police officer by the way he was looking around out of the corner of his eyes quickly as if scoping the immediate area for threats. Sarah froze with her hand on the door. Something about this whole scenario was wrong, she just couldn’t put her finger on what, if anything, it could have been.

“Officer,” she greeted, gripping a little too tightly to the door handle. “Where’s my baby? Where’s Ava?”

[Ravynlee]

Outside over his shoulder she saw the marked squad car parked at the curb as if the officer had walked over to her apartment door casually, not rushed over in any sense of dire urgency. Blinking out at the busy populated street the young doctor felt a sense of security knowing there was so many people about to hear her yell of there was something wrong; she wasn’t alone. Safety in numbers or so the saying went. Forcing a smile Sarah prompted him for answers all the while struggling to absorb every detail about him unable to quite put her finger on what was out-of-place with him. He was big, imposing, and didn’t seem to fit into his suit properly with the buttons pulling a little at the seams. Thinking solely of her baby Sarah’s mind was a jumbled mess of panicked thoughts and possible terrifying scenarios. She had worked ER too many years and had seen all manner of things that her memories seemed to bleed over into her conscious thoughts. When she heard the officer urge her to step inside Sarah went to move then hesitated. The look the officer was wearing sent a fearful chill up her spine. Still, for Ava, she agreed.

“Where is she?” she asked as she watched him step past and seem to impose her enough to make her take a few steps backwards back into the dingy little motel room in front of him. She watched him survey the street again before he pulled the door to a close all the while smiling in his strangely unsettling way.

Feeling anxious now, more afraid that he was being sensitive and was about to deliver her some crushing news Sarah leant against the nearby kitchenette bench to steady herself. Her eyes, raw from lack of sleep and too many helpless tears, implored him desperately. Days without proper food, without the will to eat, to sleep, or to do anything but pace, Sarah felt like she was dying inside. They had never been apart like this, not ever, and as a trauma doctor Sarah well knew the chances that finding her daughter in any fit state was slipping further and further away with each passing second, she watched TV and she knew how procedure worked. If this was a courtesy call Sarah was preferring that he just tell her outright that Ava was dead than keep dragging it out like this. But still the officer smiled at her. That’s when, suddenly, Sarah realised something was very wrong with the officer’s demeanour.

“Where’s my daughter?” she asked now a little more firmly. She stepped forward and went to bypass him. “I have to get out of here. I have to find her. My baby, she needs me, she could be in-”

She was silenced as the cop grabbed her by the bicep and pushed her backwards across the carpet a few unbalanced steps. Sarah balked. Immediately alarm bells started ringing in her head but she was too stunned to respond, as she should have. She moved forward again, driven towards the door in pursuit of her daughter that was out there somewhere and in danger without her. Half way through asking him what the hell he thought he was doing and reminding him they had to get out there and follow the lead provided by dispatch Sarah felt her cheek explode and a force like a brick pound against her face sending her backwards with her limbs flailing. It took her a second longer than it should have to register just what had happened as she heard the sound of the slap ringing in her ears and its echoes fading quickly into the stillness of the room around her. She gasped cupping a hand to her face and whimpering at the stinging contact. She slid her eyes up to look at him through wet eyes whimpering louder.

“Ava…?” she murmured.

Stripping his jacket off the cop seemed to be smirking as he revealed his shoulder holster and drew the weapon from it to lay it menacingly atop the bench top. When he blinked up he was looking into Sarah’s wide eyes menacingly.

“What do you want?” she blubbered.

The cop continued to stare at her as he cocked his head to the side and flexed his arms out, shaking loose tight muscles. Slowly he approached like a predatory animal on wounded prey. Sarah could only watch him having nowhere else to go and still reeling from the punch with her bottom lip once again quivering.

“You and me,” he murmured in his ever-so-confident drawl, “we’re gonna to have a little conversation. And you’re gonna tell me everything from the start, while we wait it out-”

“Wait? Wait for what?”

“For your boyfriend to show up. You know he will eventually. You two had something once, right?”

Sarah shook her head blankly. It was one night and it had happened so long ago, what could he possibly hope to get from her now?

“I don’t know anything,” she sniffled, nursing her throbbing face as the cop was rolling up his sleeves. “Tell you what? I don’t know anything.”

“Then it looks like we’re going to get better acquainted,” the cop said as he tossed his hat aside and smirked at her. He cracked his knuckles as he stood barely a metre away from her watching her eyes widen with realisation.

Fearfully Sarah’s eyes slid aside to stare at the gun sitting exposed on the other side of the apartment before she rolled her eyes back to face him. Ryu’s smirk darkened. He seemed to be daring her to pick it up. He was practically anticipating she would. Feeling trapped and terrified, and thinking frantically of her daughter, Sarah began to sob repeating aloud some barely coherent plea about him not hurting her. She knew it was inevitable he was going to, she just could not mentally comprehend why. He was meant to be an officer of the law, he was meant to protect her, this is what cops were there to do, but what was happening now was beyond all measure of comprehension for the traumatised doctor. Thinking now only of survival and allowing a modicum of her training to seep through Sarah put her hands up and signalled that she wasn’t going to cause further upset if she could at all help it.

“Please, I just want to find my daughter,” she sniffed miserably.

The cop by now had come to a stop less than a metre away from her. He seemed to just stop and stare. Sarah whimpered again.

“That makes two of us,” he assured. “M wanted me to make sure you got the message, I’m here to see that it gets delivered, that’s all.”

“What- what message?” Sarah fumbled blankly. M? As in MS? Mike Shinoda? She didn’t even know him, what the hell could he possibly want with-?

Sarah saw the fist swinging towards her but was too frozen rigid in fear and confusion to do anything but recoil inside her skin and take it. The sound of knuckles pounding against flesh reverberated throughout her entire body, sending shockwaves through her to numb her from the worst of her pain. Curled up on the floor Sarah cowered with her arms clenched over her head and her knees drawn up as the blows reigned down upon her. The last thing she heard was a name before shock and darkness finally took hold and overcame her.

“Chester,” the brute in the cop uniform demanded. Obviously he was hoping Sarah was going to lead them to him. Thinking this Sarah almost smiled inside of her skin taken by the sheer absurdity of the moment. A sudden fierce jolt later and she wasn’t thinking anymore. She wasn’t even moving.

“A-va,’ she gasped.

Then there was nothing.

 

---

[Ravynlee]

---

 

Closing the front door Mel groaned as she turned the lock. The glock at her back was heavy, weighing her down. Her eyes were downcast. The look on her face was jaded. With some effort she forced a small smile and turned around, surveying her apartment with a weary sigh. The living room was lit but there was no one in it. Same as the kitchen. Same as the bathroom. In the bedroom Mel stormed over to her closet and reefed open the doors. His clothes were gone as were his shoes and hats. The only clothes in the drawers were hers. Huffing through clenched teeth Mel hurried to the bathroom and snapped on a light. The note tacked to the mirror made her balk and take a sudden step backwards. Peering through the overhead light she craned forward when she recognised the hurried scrawl as belonging to Shwag. Her previous fear gave way to rage as she ripped it down and quickly read it. There were just a few simple words telling her that he had had enough, he was gone. With her eyes misting over Mel reread it until the words lost conformity and became nothing but blackened smears on the page. With a growl she crumpled it up in her fist and sniffled. She wanted to cry but her rage wouldn’t let her. This was the last thing she expected tonight on top of everything else that she wasn’t prepared for it. After dealing with Mike in the hospital and the news that another ambush had taken out Lupe Fiasco in an apparent drive by a few hours earlier Mel’s head was already a jumbled blur of memories both fresh and painfully raw from her past. The last thing she expected when she came home just now was that she would have to deal with any of this alone. Smearing her eyes with the heel of her fist Mel huffed out a sound and slumped on outstretched arms over the basin.

Why? Why now of all times? She cursed internally. This wasn’t fair. Rage was slowly giving way to something else as she felt her limbs shaking. Thoughts of coming home and crawling into his comforting arms were all that kept her sane sometimes, it was what drove her, it kept her grounded, as much as he pissed her off sometimes with his petty complaints that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, she needed him, she needed his normalcy, that sense of boring old sameness that came with living a ‘normal’ every day simple life – he was her anchor after days and nights of living her double life as she did. Even now in the absolute silence of her little bathroom Mel could still hear the sound of bones breaking as she slammed her foot down on the back of some dumb junkie’s head from hours ago. His dried blood still clung to her pant legs like red tears, his impassioned cries of ‘no’ echoed still inside her spinning head. Shaking her head Mel squeezed the note harder and slowly summoned her eyes up to face those in the mirror.

She was a killer and she knew it. In no way did she deny her life outside these walls, having long since accepted the dark streak inside of her that allowed her to kill and maim and bludgeon with a predatory coldness that only the most seasoned warriors could achieve. She was blessed with this gift as much as she was cursed by it. Even growing up she walked a fine line and always had, and only her mother had seen the goodness in her before the world had stripped her away from Mel’s life when she needed her the most. Life had done nothing but fuck her over, first by taking her mother, then by leaving her with a fragmented family in her wake that was all too easy for Mel to turn her back on by moving to college. But the same old pain still lingered, the pain of abandonment, of loss, feeling that the only good thing in her life had been ripped away from her along with the best parts of her bleeding soul – all that remained now was what stood staring back at her on the other side of that tinted glass. She was a monster of her own creation and she had allowed the darkness in her to take over to the point where she no longer seemed to smile anymore and mean it. Mike had seen it in her and had coaxed it out. Maybe Shwag had seen it too? Maybe he hadn’t left her so much as left what she had become? But as Mel stood there staring into the mirror she stopped asking such menial questions and started seeking answers. So she hadn’t been able to share her other life with him, what should it have really mattered so long as she came home to him every night and told him she loved him? Only that was the problem now too wasn’t it? She didn’t know whether she loved him like she once used to or not. Mel had spent so long living this double life, hit man by day, loving fiancé by night, that she was no longer sure what where the boundaries truly lay. Had she been too abrupt the last time they were together and somehow threatened him or had she let her guard slip with the wrong person and now was left feeling anxious in the pit of her stomach every time she thought of him? Did she truly ever love Dan or merely the idea of him, the notion that she had someone to come home to, to escape to, to let down her hair with and just be herself around, or had she merely used him to keep the loneliness and isolation at bay until a kindred soul like Mike Shinoda happened her way?

Tossing the note away Mel stormed from the room and left the tiled cell behind her in darkness. Outside in the bedroom she jerked open the top drawer in her dresser and fished out the box inside. The ring that he had given her, down on bended knee in the middle of Times Square New Years Eve so many months ago glimmered between her fingers like a teardrop immortalised in crystal. At least he hadn’t taken that too. With a grunt Mel slipped the ring and box inside her pocket and thudded the drawer to a close. Snatching up her keys she made her way to the door before she stopped and turned around. The bed that they had shared remained empty and untouched on the other side of the room like a shrine of the love they had shared and now never would again. Sniffing back tears that she wouldn’t even allow to the surface Mel clenched her jaw and turned her back drawing the door to a close behind her.

 

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[Ravynlee]

---

 

“Burning the midnight oil again, Friðbjörn?”

Blinking up into Benji’s smiling face Frib nodded tiredly. His desk was lost beneath folders and papers and reports spilling out from boxes piled up in an empty seat beside him.

“What you got there?” Benji asked, positioning himself on the edge of a nearby desk and folding his arms across his DMCA tee shirt.

Frib sunk back in his chair rubbing his face and eyes exhaustively. Though he had been staring at them all for so long now and could recite much of it by heart he could only shrug back vaguely still wearing that tentative smile. The Sun-Ledger newspaper half open atop the pile wore the headline ‘Gangland war escalates’ in big bold unavoidable letters. Benji leant closer to peruse it before shifting back on his perch with a snort.

“Can you believe this shit?” he wondered aloud.

Again Frib shrugged. The picture of Lupe Fiasco, local rap artist and known associate of Mike Shinoda’s crew stared back blankly from the cover page.

“They make it sound like we’ve stepped back into the 1950’s or something, all this talk of turf war and shit. It’s been going on since the dawn of man, I’m sure of it. Only the papers would have you believe Jimmy Hoffa’s behind it, or John Gotti. Now those were the days. Now its like everything’s a war, just waiting in line for a cab is war is some neighbourhoods. The media thrives on creating panic and drama, huh? Kind of reminds me of half the women I know, take my ex for example, Sophie.”

“Sophie? I thought you two were back together again?” Frib asked, twisting his pen between his fingers thoughtfully.

Benji smiled and shrugged watching a clerk pass with a wayward gaze before confessing something to his younger teammate in a less than interested murmur. “You know how it is, I wanted to settle down and have kids, naturally she didn’t.”

“I thought she was the one that wanted to get married and do all that?”

“No, that was last time. Thing is we wanted the same things but never at the same time. Now she’s got this deal with Elite modeling or some shit,” Benji dismissed with his hand. “Who needs it? Besides, now Joel’s settling down I can get all the happy families vibe through him without actually having to live it myself.”

“Joel’s getting married?”

“Yeah. It’s still supposed to be a secret but half the people in here know already. One look at that dorky look on his face gives the guy away, he never was good at keeping secrets from me.”

“Twins, I guess,” Frib offered with another shrug.

Benji s******ed in agreement.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hey, that reminds me, the guys and I are getting together a little party for him on Friday over at that bar on east, you know, that one where we went not long after we first met. You should come along, get your head out of this shit for a while and have a break. Never know, you might hook up there, get a nice little piece of ass you so desperately need.”

Pursing his lips at the little jibe Frib scoffed at his friend and quickly gave him the finger. Though he was instantly a tad self-conscious and withdrew back into his seat with his arms folded the sound of Benji’s laughter made him smile back amusedly.

“Hey, if you’re lucky, her sister might have herself together in time and you too could get together.”

Frib groaned and flopped his head back. “Enough of playing matchmaker. Damn you sound just like my mother.”

“I hope I don’t look like her.”

Rolling his head forward Frib continued to stare at his friend with that dour and equally amused pout.

“I’m just saying-” Benji reasoned with a shrug. His arms were like tree trunks covered in graffiti as he relaxed them either side of him to loosely grip the edges of the desk.

“Well I appreciate it, but I don’t need the help, thanks all the same. And who’s sister anyway? Sophie?”

“You wish,” Benji scoffed. “No, Joanna’s sister. The nut who just flew out of the cuckoo’s nest back at Green Meadows.”

“What’s that, a convalescent home or something?”

“No you dick, pay attention. Joanna’s sister, the writer, the one with the strange name and the wide load on both ends, she got pinched a few weeks ago along with that Stenners kid on that pharmaceutical heist in Jew town.”

“Jesus Christ,” Frib muttered. He wasn’t so much insulted by the notion his colleague was trying to hook him up with some crazy fat aging hippy from an old folks home in the rough end of Jersey, but by the sudden realisation that he knew exactly who Benji was referring to, and just what it all meant now in hindsight.

“Rob’s ex wife?” he asked, all trace of frivolities dashed. “She’s into drugs now?”

“I don’t know the whole story. I just know what Joel told me. And she’s Rob’s ex- ex wife, technically. Or his widow’s sister at least.”

“You mean to tell me Joel’s marrying Rob’s ex? Our Rob? The one that used to work here before-?”

“Before he took that extended swim up in the northern states? Yeah, I know, small world isn’t it?”

Shifting forward over his desk again Frib nursed his face in his hands as Benji lent forward and gave his shoulder a clap.

“Cheer up, buddy, sure she’s as hot as hell, but her sister’s not that bad from what I know of her. If that doesn’t do it for you, you know what they say, there’s always plenty more fish in the-”

“It’s not that,” Frib muttered through his fingers. Feeling Benji clap his shoulder again Frib sat up and sifted through the papers in front of him with renewed vigor. He ignored Benji’s stirring remarks about finding a date in the police reports and let the rest of his words fade off into obscurity. He grunted a sound in response watching in his peripheral vision as Benji bid him goodnight and strode away. Now once more figuratively alone with his thoughts Frib rifled through the pages until he found the one he wanted and spread it flat beneath his palm to trace the relevant details with his finger.

Matt “Stenners” Woodlands… and patient at Green Meadows drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility… Nick Stahl (aka “Bully”), alleged drug runner for organized crime syndicate… links to Meaghan “Greyfoxx”… and Chester Bennington…

“What the fuck?” Frib wondered aloud at the paper.

[Ravynlee]

Searching the folders he found a photograph and studied it intently, tracing the apathetic mug shot of another face holding the board beneath her chin with her name and number immortalising her in criminal infamy.

Redfern, Jeanne M., it said. The name on her report said the name ‘Jammer.’ It was none other than Mike Shinoda’s one time girlfriend, and Rob’s ex-wife Ravyn’s best friend, caught in a surveillance picture with these underlings of Chester Bennington’s unlawful and ill-fated crew. So Jammer had known Chester, that wasn’t impossible given her line of work that left her with a veritable laundry list of petty charges and arrests all in one way or another relating back to solicitation and drugs, two things someone with excess was known to indulge in. Now it seemed Ravyn had ditched her civil past and had taken up in Jammer’s footsteps, meeting up with Chester’s crew right now when the refuted king pin was out, and the world – not to mention Friðbjörn’s department – seemed intent on wiping all trace of Bennington and his criminal past off the proverbial map and into the pages of history.

“What are you doing?” he asked incredulously, as if all the answers he so desperately sought would come to him.

He stared at the pictures, at the faces of those arrested and those stopped in their tracks by various means and those with a single execution style gunshot to the head, all laid out side by side, the past and their untimely end, like a visual epitaph of the war between his conscience and sense of duty raging on inside of him. Haunted by memories of his times with Rob and since, as the NEU escorted other law enforcement officials in and out of suspected drug rings and factories dictated only by the words ‘extreme prejudice’ and ‘deadly force,’ the young detective sat nursing his head in his hand lamenting the promise he had made months ago to a now dead man.

“No matter what happens, no matter what you hear, promise me you’ll look after Jo and Haily for me. Rave too,” Rob had said. How haunted he had looked when he uttered those words – and with good reason too. Faced with such insurmountable odds it was no wonder he had taken his own life, and again Frib was left wondering just how much more his old partner had known and had spared himself the burden of sharing. Flicking his eyes up Frib stared at the glass wall of Captain Goren’s office and frowned at his reflection. The open blinds seemed to cut his face into segments dividing pieces from the rest, rendering his face incomplete. Frib scoffed, realising how appropriate that observation was to his current situation, and to his frame of mind.

 

---

 

“Where are we?”

Standing in the shadow of what looked to be a large imposing warehouse type building Ravyn gave a nervous smile before gripping to Nick’s hand a little tighter. Nick smirked and gave back a little chuckle.

“We’re in Hell’s Kitchen, babe,” he said.

Reaching down he pulled back a section of fence that had come away from its support post to let her through. Creeping in on all fours Ravyn came up at the other end dusting her hands on her thighs. They were in a vacant allotment and it gave her the creeps. Patches of dead grass and red dirt seemed out of place in such a crowded urban setting. Though the streets around them buzzed with activity this patch of abandoned earth growing old in the heart of the meatpacking district seemed eerily still – like a step back in time. Sniffing at the warm dusty air Ravyn grimaced and flinched a little as the high windows caught the suns rays and flashed blindingly into her eyes. The smell of old construction and rust and dirt tantalised her nostrils. To her left a series of tall steel beams, resembling ribs of some futuristic dinosaur, reached high into the sky. They were obviously remains of expansion work yet to be completed. In a city like this there was always something being constructed, overhauled or torn down to make way for redevelopment, there was nothing odd about it, but it was the lack of people around that really stood out. Though the construction didn’t look that old there was no one manning the site as they approached, not even so much as a guard dog minding the site – she hoped. Following Nick through the jungle of dried grass and palates of unused building materials, Ravyn surveyed her surrounds with a child’s wonderment. There was still something totally captivating about the way the sun seemed to dance on every surface and the way shadows seemed to bleed out like separate identities. Feeling Nick’s hand slip from hers again she came to a complete stop. They were at a door now that was painted red. Cadmium red. The colour of fresh blood. After several knocks he stepped back and surveyed the surrounds again. Was he looking for someone? Ravyn thought she asked him but got no answer. She wasn’t even sure what day it was anymore or if the colour of the sky was heralding the new day or the end of one just gone. Rubbing her face with the heel of her sleeve she stifled a yawn before the sound of a creaking door caught her attentions.

“What do you want?” a voice muttered through a gap in the door.

“We’re here to see the Chemist,” Nick said.

“He’s not in. Fuck off.”

With a thud the door closed and Nick clambered back up on to the landing to pound the wood with his fist a second time.

“I think we should go,” Ravyn suggested.

The sun had dipped behind a cloud or had disappeared altogether behind some tall buildings she couldn’t see it anymore. Cuddling herself against the onset of a sudden chill she stepped closer to urge him to follow but was stopped as the door swung open again. She squeaked. The sight of a gun at the end of the man’s arm made her recoil instinctively in fear.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m a friend of his, alright,” Nick urged, raising his hands submissively. “He’s expecting me.”

“He’s not expecting anyone,” the man with the gun and glib scowl was telling him. “And I told you before, there’s no one here by that name.”

Breathless from shock and unable to move Ravyn shifted her focus from the gun trained on Nick to the man wielding it. He looked familiar but Ravyn couldn’t place who he was. Even in spite of the warmer weather he wore a green army jacket and scarf and a hat that seemed like the kind she saw the skater kids wear sometimes on the pier over near Chelsea. He wore dark glasses that hid his eyes but despite that, just on his cheek, near his nose Ravyn noticed a dark smear like a mark or a mole that did not move with the rest of the contorting shadows. Narrowing her eyes in recognition she balked when she realised the gunman was also studying her.

“Yo, what the fuck are you lookin’ at?” he quipped.

Ravyn opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t. It was then it that moment where time seemed to stretch on forever that she heard a voice beckoning from inside.

“Enough, man. Shut the door already.”

[Ravynlee]

The gunman seemed to scowl before withdrawing the gun back inside his jacket from where it had obviously come from. He stepped back and still holding the door open motioned them inside. Still glowering he watched them pass and closed the door with a sure click and clatter behind them. The darkness inside, where the sun could not penetrate, was deep and absolute. It took Ravyn a few seconds for her eyes to adjust and was glad to feel Nick’s hand around hers again, leading her inside. The stench of dust here was incredible but it was mixed with something else too. It wasn’t until her focus had settled that she saw the glowing red light flickering in the distance and realised that their company was smoking a cigarette. White grey ribbons curled lazily towards the high ceilings and caught in the shafts of sunlight streaming in through the windows above. Squinting up at the blinding light Ravyn sniffed and let her eyes wander uncomfortably where they could amidst shadows.

“What do you want?” a dry voice croaked from far away.

Feeling Nick’s hand give hers a reassuring squeeze she looked ahead into the centre of the room. Though she couldn’t make out exactly where they were as the shadows distorted the true proportions of the room, she could tell they were in some kind of storage area. Illuminated by a small central light atop a cluttered coffee table she could make out a small gathering of chairs, a desk, filing cabinets and wooden crates all cluttered with papers, loose chords and general cluttered detritus left to grow old amid the dankness. Light fixtures and more cords coiled perilously along a nearby wall and another with a stack of wall-mounted speakers. Directly beside her in a cardboard box Ravyn saw the glimmer of sequins flash in the dim light and knew with a quick inspection in her peripheral vision that they were old costumes. They had to be behind some sort of stage or low-grade production playhouse. Leaning closer, subconsciously trying to hide herself away behind Nick as inconspicuously as she could Ravyn peered ahead watching the gunman approach and start patting Nick down with a disgruntled grimace.

“Who’s that?”

“It’s okay, she’s with me,” Nick said, forced to let go of her hand. He smiled at her slightly over his shoulder as the other man finished his weapons search like they did in the movies – like a cop. Watching on, Ravyn made a pathetic attempt to smile back until she saw him approach in a step and slapped at her shoulders between his two hands. With a muffled shriek she back peddled and cowered on the other side of Nick.

“Hey! Hey! It’s okay, it’s okay,” Nick assured his trigger-happy associate who was reaching for his piece again. “She’s not armed. Neither of us are. We just made our way over from Queens, alright? Jesus, we were staying at the same place there,” he explained tactfully. He even seemed to be a little embarrassed as he briefly met her eyes and abandoned them for the scowling man in the army jacket, who, despite the fact they were inside, still refused to take his glasses off and expose the upper portion of his face.

“She’s harmless, okay?” Nick assured them a little breathlessly. Looking from the gunman to the man on the other side of the room Nick took a step forward and squinted into the shadows.

“She’d better be,” the man said. “It’s not just your ass on the line now is it?” Though he spoke so quietly his voice still carried across the cramped and cluttered storage room with clarity and authority.

Peering through the shadows Ravyn could just make out the small squared face of a man taking a drag of his cigarette before crushing it out in the overflowing ashtray.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” the man said, smiling in such a way that could be heard with as much sarcasm as amusement to his tone.

Ravyn stared feeling her breath being forced out her lungs as if by forcible means as she stared across the room, steeped in darkness and squinting into the dull light, into the face of a man she had never laid eyes on before save for a black and white photograph on a screen or in the newspaper.

“You know who I am?”

“You’re… Chester Bennington,” she gasped.

The man seemed to scoff and that as he finished stubbing his smoke in the ashtray. With legs crossed and arms loosely draped across them he looked laid back and casual, but something about his tone of voice, his averted eye contact, indeed his whole general appearance was tight with defensiveness. When he looked up his dark eyes were staring straight into her.

“Once, maybe,” he uttered, before he swept down and slipped another cigarette into his mouth. “Why, you want a fuckin’ autograph?”

“What the fuck are you doin’ here man? The whole city’s out there looking for you,” Nick said, making his way over.

“I know. It’s this shit man. There’s eyes everywhere. Have to keep moving around. You know how it is.”

“But here of all places? This is ballsy. Then again, you always had more guts than the rest of us, that’s what made you the best.”

“Please, those days are over kid, that shit’s overrated. I don’t do that shit anymore.”

“You’re still the Chemist man, anything, anytime, anywhere, any price.”

Chester snorted dismissing the attempt at flattery with something of a wan pout.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m hiding out here in plain sight like some germ under a fucking microscope. Goddamn, I hate it. It’s the only place where we knew he wouldn’t think to look,” he confessed.

Still sitting in his seat he peered through the curling smoke watching Ravyn approach to Nick’s outstretched hand. Her skittish movements betrayed her fear as she delicately lowered into the seat beside him, her eyes locked onto Chester’s as he smirked at her. It was hard to decipher much in the poor light but his face was bare, clean-shaven and painfully solemn without the nerdish frames that had once been something of his trademark look. He was thin, drawn and badly malnourished, nothing at all like she expected the man that once ruled this city with an iron fist would. In fact, he looked so opposite of what she had expected having her opinions over inflated by the media and other secondary sources that she couldn’t stop herself from staring. She lowered her eyes submissively when his intense and unwavering stare became too much for her. Just sitting there in his presence less than a few metres away the reality of all that she had read of him, and written over the years, was all too overwhelming for her burgeoned little mind to deal with as she felt herself shaking.

Chester snorted derisively.

“Aren’t you worried someone’s gonna walk in and find you? I mean it is his club still isn’t it?”

“Please. Mike couldn’t find his dick in the dark. Besides, I’ve had help.”

Chester smirked as he drew his eyes up towards his friend conspiratorially. His narrow shoulders lost beneath the loose folds of some plain long sleeved button up shirt rose and fell in a nonplussed shrug.

“You really think I’d go all this time without someone watching my back?”

“He works for the other side?”

“Hey, there is no other side here, okay?” Chester corrected. “And… watch what you say, okay? If you don’t watch it you’re likely to get all of us shot.”

“Yeah, but how can you trust him?”

“How can I trust you?”

“Come on, man,” Nick said, giving the other occupant in the room dangerous looks with a less than confidant tone of voice, “I’ve known you for years. We’re friends. I’ve always had your back, you know that.”

“Please, what are you gonna do, you and your tweaked out girlfriend over here. She got a name? Hey, princess, you speak English?”

“She’s fine, she’s just a little… freaked is all.”

“Yeah,” Chester s******ed. “I seem to remember having that effect on people. Been a while though.”

Nick was half way through explaining their escapades the night they escaped rehab before he was interrupted and silenced as Chester uttered a sound of irritation.

[Ravynlee]

“Look, get her out of here, man, okay? I have enough on my plate to sort out,” he muttered. “Having some bitch OD in front of me is the last thing I need, man.” Watching the other man approach from the other side of him he shifted on his seat uncomfortably and took a long drag on his cigarette.

“Man, we just need a place to crash for a while,” Nick pleaded. “People are looking for us.”

“I have my own problems to deal with right now,” Chester muttered dryly as the man stooped close to whisper something into his ear.

Nick sat tensely as Ravyn slumped against his side, equally as nervous. Something about this meeting, about her dusty surrounds cut off in the half-light, amidst strangers and one with a gun had her insides knotted and frozen in fear. Even the idea that she was sitting here in the same room as the elusive Chester Bennington was all too much for her to process on any level so she sat like a child in a room full of monsters. It was like holding an audience with royalty, if not God. There was nothing she could say, considering the wrong thing would most probably leave her with a bullet hole in her head thanks to his armed counterpart, so she said and literally did nothing. It was a calculated effort to breathe and blink as casually as was possibly normal.

Clearing his throat Chester pondered the tip of his cigarette before he mentioned something about them having to leave. Darkness would be upon them soon and the place would fast be crawling with people. If they wanted to blow their cover all they had to do was sit around a while longer and wait.

“Alright, you can tag along, but only for now. They’re looking for one person not a whole group of us,” Chester said quietly.

When he stood his joints creaked and popped like that of an old man. Even amidst the shadows the way his clothes hung from his limp frame made Ravyn’s frown darken with sympathy. Chester Bennington was far from a well man in spite of the picture the media painted against him. He was no beast; he was just a man, and a sick, sorry, shadow of one at that. Granted he had once blown away another for reasons she as yet didn’t know but rather than fear him, she also empathised with him, with the sorry figure he now represented. It wasn’t until she saw his dark eyes flashing at her angrily that Ravyn realised she must have said something and obviously loud enough for everyone else to hear. Rather than say anything she merely sat there shivering against Nick’s arm now wrapped loosely around her back.

“What did you just say?” Chester demanded. “What do you know about what happened? Why did you bring it up now? Fuck, that shit happened years ago man, enough already, haven’t I paid for that enough already?”

“He needs to die for what he did,” she said.

Rather than look appeased Chester glowered at her like he was half a heartbeat away from snatching his friend’s gun and silencing her outright with the mere click of a trigger.

“What?”

“Chas, man, ignore her, she’s just- she’s been through a rough time lately. She doesn’t know what she’s saying-”

“He tried to kill me and I want him to die too,” Ravyn said.

“That’s it,” the man at Chester’s side said. In a flash he was reaching for his pistol before Chester motioned with a glimpse to keep it where it was.

In the ensuing silence as the tension wound down and the sounds dwindled off into memory Chester took his time in finishing his cigarette before he stubbed it out and swept the lingering smoke away with the edge of his hand. The dust and smoke swirled lazily in the sun’s dying rays as they wafted up towards the darkened ceiling.

“Let me tell you something,” Chester said, shuffling closer to crouch down in front of the woman’s cautious face. “I don’t care about what you want. I don’t give a flying fuck what he wants. That name means nothing to me anymore. Let him have his little war, I don’t want no part in it. All I’m interested in is finding out what happened to my little girl and her mother and getting my shit together man so we can all get on with our lives. That’s all I want right now. That’s the only thing that keeps me breathing right now. If you’re smart you’ll do the same. Drop it, for your own sake, save what’s left of your fucking sanity.”

“If you step out there he’ll kill you,” Ravyn said.

She looked back at him with tears in her eyes, not so much in fear for herself but because she could see her only chance at salvation slipping away with each passing second. Chester stared at her. Ravyn stared back. They were only inches apart but the gulf between them was immeasurable in terms of pain and torment and memories that would never be put into words or be shared aloud.

“Please,” she sniffled. Her fingers were dancing towards her collar. Delicately she pulled the material down. The fine sliver of scar tissue scored into her flesh in a hot pink line was exposed in the dim light. Self-consciously Ravyn scooped a tear from her cheek and stifled back the others. “I want him to suffer like I did. I’ll do whatever it takes. You’re the only one that can help me.”

Shifting his eyes from the scar on her neck to her face Chester’s expression seemed to have stiffened rather than soften in the wake of her plight. His thin lips were pursed neither in a pout nor a smile as he just crouched there staring at her, by all outward accounts looking right through her.

“First of all it’s not my problem, okay? I didn’t do this. I certainly don’t advocate it. But if you want revenge on him for what he did to you I suggest you take a minute to stop and think about it, really stop and think about what you’re saying here, man, don’t be so quick to condemn someone else to death. There’s enough shit going on in this world without you or me making it worse,” Chester said, getting once more to his feet.

Ravyn watched him stand with her helpless tears making way for a seething look of frustration and hate.

“Let the cops handle it.”

“They won’t. They wouldn’t even try. They’re too afraid to touch him. The whole city’s too afraid to touch him.”

“And you think I’m some kind of fucking super hero do you? Look at me!” Chester snapped poking himself in his chest with dramatic flair. “I’ve just spent two years in hell for some stupid fucking mistake I should never have done in the first place, do you hear me? Are you hearing what I’m telling you?”

He had been making his way out and following his friend from the room when he stopped within a few mere steps to return again, still stooping over her as if emphasizing his point impassionedly.

[Ravynlee]

“I was dumb and stupid, man, I thought that kind of shit wouldn’t happen to someone like me. I never wanted to take a life! I never wanted to see anyone get hurt at all! I was just trying to make a little money, you know, I was just… there… and then the shit happened and I got locked up, and don’t think for a second I haven’t spent every minute of every day since thinking about what went wrong. Sometimes I can’t think of anything else. I wish I could take it back, believe me, I would if I could. Man, I still remember the look in his eyes that very minute that I-” Chester said. His voice cut out in a strangled kind of wince. It was clear there was more he wanted to say but his conviction, like his time ticking down on his associates wristwatch pointedly, was fast escaping him. Huffing out a heavy sigh Chester rubbed at his face and his head full of short dark hair and quickly recomposed himself.

“Don’t be so quick to judge,” he said, flicking his eyes aside like some admonishing parent. “And don’t go making promises you can’t keep. Despite what you might think killing a person is easy, it’s the living with it that’s the hardest part, trust me on that,” and with that he was making his way around the table again to join his friend now waiting impatiently with his hand outstretched on the closed store room door.

“If you help me do this, maybe I can help you,” Ravyn said, merely because at that point she had nothing left to lose.

Chester scoffed but Ravyn just rolled her head aside to look at him.

“Oh yeah? How? Doing what? Look at you, you’re nothing but a dumb cunt with a lust for killing, that’s all you are.”

“I used to… be a reporter. I still have a few contacts. If you help me I can reach out to them, Mike will never know. We can look for your daughter that way. Covert, like.”

Chester paused. His interest, or his desperation, was immediately peaked at the mention of his missing offspring. Chewing the inside of his cheek he stopped again to look at her. He seemed to think about it for a very long space of time.

“Chas, man, we’ve got to go,” the other man urged. “Tak’s gone be here any minute to open up. We can’t be seen here when he does.”

“I know,” Chester nodded at him. His attentions were now firmly fixed on Ravyn.

“Reporter huh? Anyone I might of heard of?”

Beside her Nick went to speak as he stood but Ravyn gripped at his hand and silenced him, covering the faux pas with a coy smile.

“No. Not that famous I’m afraid,” she said.

Chester kept staring at her a moment before he shrugged it off and told her that it was too bad.

“Well, I guess it’s for the best. Can’t risk overexposure can we?” he asked in a less than convinced tone of voice.

As the man in the army jacket and glasses stood waiting and watching his wristwatch with irritation, Nick and Ravyn clasped hands as he led her past Chester towards the exit door. With a rusty groan it creaked open allowing a gap of sunlight to stream in, briefly blinding all those inside. Feeling Chester pass her Ravyn sensed something in his presence as he studied her out of the corner of his eye and kept moving. It was gone in a flash but the impression it left on her suddenly racing heart and frantic mind was clear.

“You wouldn’t happen know anyone by the name of Bourdon would you?” he asked.

“Me? No. No… oh on TV,” Ravyn stammered, her mouth suddenly dry.

“Yeah,” Chester lamented with his eyes trailing the steps beneath him.

Briefly relishing in the warmth of the sun they made their way around the corner of the building until the other man told them to wait while he went to fetch the car. Feeling nauseous now and unsure inside herself why she had lied as she had, Ravyn stood reeling with her arms locked around herself and her back to the cold brick, trying to block out the sight of Chester standing beside her inside her peripheral vision. As Nick kept an eye out and a lazy breeze swept at the tufts of dead grass swishing about his ankles, Chester drew in a sigh and picked at a dried leaf, pulling it apart slowly between his fingers.

“You know I used to dream about getting revenge on the cop who sent me away in the first place,” he said, as if thinking aloud yet distantly to himself. “Then I found out he topped himself a few months back. Drowned apparently. They say it’s a peaceful way to go but I don’t buy it. Suffocating… doesn’t sound very peaceful to me. What would I know, huh? I just know the world works in mysterious fuckin’ ways sometimes, doesn’t it? Payback’s a bitch, man, then apparently you really do die, just like the saying goes. Justice, don’t you think?”

Feeling his dark beady eyes stare at her Ravyn swallowed a snagging lump in the back of her throat and forced a limp smile, hoping it came off convincing.

“I guess,” she whispered.

Chester smirked at her and threw the shredded remains of the leaf away.

“Here’s Bam with the car. Come on,” he said and began to walk away.

Dutifully Ravyn followed for once not taking Nick’s hand as they piled, three of them, into the waiting vehicle. Watching as he closed the door she couldn’t help but feel that she was being trapped inside like some fly in a giant web, and the web was getting harder to escape from, of her own volition, with each passing second.

 

---

 

SO, that's it for today. Hope, as I said before, it all makes sense to the rest of you. Different for me, I know this, I live this crap in my head everyday, I am GOD in the MS world (forgive me, it's like 3:15 or so in the morning and I've been staring at this screen for so long my eyesight's going along with what's left of my brain ) so I'm ranting. But anyway, if it doesn't make sense I'm sure it will eventually. So now you know at least who the double agent is, should make Mel's life a tad more interesting when she finds out huh? Anyway, yeah... will try to write more tomorrow but don't hold your breath. If I devoted as much time to my studies I'd be a straight A student by now, time to get my head back into reality for a while.

Hope you like and more when I manage it.

Comments and feedback appreciated. Thanks again.

Night

X

[Pheonix791989]

ahh nice update mum. I can't wait until the next update. you gotta do it soon since I'm out of school and eagerly awaiting your updates. and props on the shwag bit. its great.

[woodyloveslinkin]

Ok. Some things I've noticed that cracked me up and made me sit on the edge of my bed (as I've moved my laptop off my desk and onto my bed). I had to stop listening to Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy while reading this story, as I thought the music was increasing my adrenaline intake a 150% more than intended.

 

* Fuck that cop seriously. I so didn't see that coming, I was like "come on you dumb c*nt help that woman!" I think my landlady, who's currently downstairs, doesn't like me saying the C word outloud now because of that part. I would smack that cop senseless or until he fucking bled to death cos I ripped his dick off (daniel told me that it only takes seven minutes for them to die that way ). I don't care if he's male, regardless of his sex, he should've remembered she's Ava's mother and she would risk her own life to save the child she went through hell to bring into the world (especially if she's the result of a one night stand between Sarah and Chester and I've heard from my sister that labour's pretty painful). Poor Sarah as well. She's ripping her hair out because Ava hasn't been returned....aww poor thing, I hope she's found alive and not limp dead in a gutter....

* Chester. And you thought Azem was chilling to read and his actions in December's Shadow. Oh god, Chester...I don't know which one I wanna smack to kingdom come first, him or the cop (and I've been told I can smack people pretty hard). Chester...chilling Chester...reading his name just wanna makes me wanna yell at my computer and tell Chester to go back to jail and chuck the foulest of words at him!!!!

*

“Please. Mike couldn’t find his dick in the dark.

:lol:

Solely reminded me of Daniel and how he couldn't and still can't find half of my shit I've been leaving at his place. And oddly, reminds me of what brother said to me once, true story, very gross. In fact, he did say that to me once. Morbidly disturbing.

*

Redfern' date=' Jeanne M.[/i'], it said. The name on her report said the name ‘Jammer.’ It was none other than Mike Shinoda’s one time girlfriend, and Rob’s ex-wife Ravyn’s best friend,

Hmm...I thought Jammer liked Mr Hahn when she was on LPF? I remember she had a Mr Hahn avy and sig. And was this by any chance a sort of twisted biatch attack at her? Remember, you told me what happened between you twos in real life.

Sooo, in conclusion, my dear. Kudos x10! You're the Queen of Suspense. Like a shorter/opposite sex/different time era Alfred Hitchcock.

Ok.

I'm gonna shut up now. >.<

*turns Prodigy back on*

[Friðbjörn]

and we watch rav and chaz get their groove back! hopefully

 

 

and death to MS =)

[crazy robster]

Hey I've got my interenet back for good (hopefully) so I can read and rant again like I used to!! :D

 

Awesome update sis, freakin awesome!! Even the writer of the most successful detective story in the world would envy you for this!!! I can see inspiration is working overtime these days right my sweet? I LOVED every single word of it! I love the opposing sides the sisters are taking, I love how the pieces of this huge puzzle and so artfully put together in every update I read! The suspence, the tension is just unique! Oh and...couldn't help but lol and shake my head at the same time reading this: "some crazy fat aging hippy from an old folks home" So typical of you and your amazing self-esteem right sis? LOL Oh and thanks for the "Hot as Hell" part that made me blush <3

 

Of course, I agree with Sarah and I second what she said. Kudos x10!! *thumbs up*

[Ravynlee]

Thanks guys - have my internet connection on tentatively for tonight, was cut off, so don't know how much longer I can stay on. Issues. But no matter. Just wanted to let you know I am still writing, can't update yet, but just read your comments. Love them, made me all :rofl::thumbsup:, so thanks!

Let me do my best in commenting to your comments.

 

and we watch rav and chaz get their groove back! hopefully

and death to MS =)

Simple answer - No.

No Chas & Rav torrid love affair in this one. Period. Sorry to disappoint. If I was eluding to this scenario then I apologize, not intended in the least. He's a means to an end, not the end itself. As for Mike's demise? Hell I write this shit and even I don't know how he's going to come out of this yet! haha, I'm going along for the ride as much as you guys are half the time! It's great! haha

 

So typical of you and your amazing self-esteem right sis? LOL Oh and thanks for the "Hot as Hell" part that made me blush <3

Yes. You know me well. And you're welcome It's all true <3

Thanks for the praise. Don't know about 'most successful' whatever, I don't see it that way, but still thanks all the same. I enjoy what I do. It's kind of overtaking everything else, but no matter, wanting to get this done so I can concentrate on studies (which I have been neglecting, sad) and maybe another story of some sort. I don't know what yet, just want to finish this while the iron is figuratively hot. As for liking our opposing sides as sisters that was the idea, glad you like You make ME blush, calling me artful etc. Aww :o shucks. Thanks again. PS, glad you're back, cross fingers my net connection holds out so I can come back again. Miss talking to my sis in real life :'( *hugs*

 

ahh nice update mum. I can't wait until the next update. you gotta do it soon since I'm out of school and eagerly awaiting your updates. and props on the shwag bit. its great.

You're welcome More already in the works. Don't know how he'd take it (real life Shwag) but no matter, it all fits in. No offense to the real life man of course. Seems nice. And tell him I apologize in advance

 

* Fuck that cop seriously.

Yes, but he's not a cop. It's Mike's buddy, Ryu. Man dressed as a cop = not actually a cop. He just used it as a disguise to get to you. Sorry. It's intimidation tactics. He's trying to flush out Chas and using you as his kid's mama as bait. Poor you. Sorry.

* Chester. And you thought Azem was chilling to read and his actions in December's Shadow.

Yes. Chilling. That's the idea. I used that 'flashback/visual' as a way of telling us what the Chas you once knew was like - or at least what YOU thought he was like - you're carrying over these past fears, which is natural, seeing as you had a tumultuous fling with this guy that was once upon a time a real bastard. I don't know. It wasn't real what he did to you in that hotel room (prior to Ryu's attack), it was part past memory, part present fear all rolled into one. You've been scared of Chas coming back to you since he went away and now he's out of course and your kid's missing naturally you're mentally... unstable. Anyone would be. I don't think he's chilling per se, but your past impressions cloud your judgment. Can't says I blame you for that

BTW, that whole listening to The Prodigy there cracked me up hardcore. Of all the songs it had to be THAT one?! haha wow FATE or what?! haha awesome. Great visual, thanks

Hmm...I thought Jammer liked Mr Hahn when she was on LPF? I remember she had a Mr Hahn avy and sig. And was this by any chance a sort of twisted biatch attack at her? Remember' date=' you told me what happened between you twos in real life.[/quote']

Actually she DID like Joe Hahn but Mike was always her number 1. My walls used to be covered in Rob and hers in Mike pics, basically. Joe was a 'side' thing like Chas is to me. It's not a bitch attack, in spite of everything Jammer and I used to be great friends, we had a falling out and it happens. I still treasure what we had and miss her but accept the fact things are the way they are now, being petty for the sake of it isn't just dumb it's an insult to our collective intelligence. We're adults not 5 year olds. We just grew apart I think. That's all there is to it really. As for the sig/avy, I should know, I made them for her at her request

 

 

Well I have plenty more coming. Should have another 2 chapters up (around 10 pages?) if my net connection holds up tomorrow. If not you'll have to wait a bit longer, it just means by the time I update you'll have a crap-load more to read than usual huh?

Huge thanks again - y'all made my day. 'Specially the rants. Haha. Aww memories *sigh*

Just love watching that viewed count number rising :clap: Yay!

 

More later

~Rav

[Pheonix791989]

lol and here I was hoping for an update.... well no matter XD just take your time.

[Friðbjörn]

haha I didn't mean getting their groove back that way silly

 

I just meant getting their mojo again, getting on their feet, lol

[crazy robster]

I hope you get your internet back too sis... I had it back and then couldn't log on all day yesterday, it sucks dog's balls!! I'm on today, dunno for how long, it's a day-to-day thing...grrr One thing's for sure, when we DO manage to talk again I'll be over-excited! I miss you so much *quivering lip*

 

As for the story, what I said is all true, you're just too modest to admit it *hugs*

[Ravynlee]

Haha awww thanks guys :o

Sis: I know! :clap:

As promised - here's more.

 

---

 

“Can you believe this? It’s like 45 degrees out here or something.”

“What, afraid your rub-on tattoos are going to melt in the sun or something?”

Ignoring the twins jibes Oded stirred on the spot, his broad shoulders shifting beneath the sombre black jacket.

“We’re paying our respects. As we’re supposed to,” he grumbled.

“But so many of us? He wasn’t one of us, man, he was a gangster so far as we know.”

Looking down at his younger counterpart Karl frowned in reprimand.

“We’re here because a man’s dead,” he said seriously.

Raising his eyes up the focus shifted across the rolling lawns to open grave and the mourners rallied stately in a sea of black behind it. The solemn face of Mike Shinoda, minus his wife still recovering in hospital, surrounded by his entourage was the focal point to which seemingly everyone stared – while they pretended to look at the coffin. The funeral service was large and it seemed like anyone who was anyone, at least in the local music scene, was there in attendance. The rolling green lawns were awash with people clad in black, complete with hats and dark glasses to shield their eyes as much as they could from the invasive stare of cameras whirring on the other side of cemetery gates. Against the backdrop of sobs and sniffles and the priest as he continued on his sermon, a bevy of newscasters and onlookers gathered as close as security would allow, all under the close scrutiny of the NYPD and patrolling dog squads. Snipers were positioned in key areas atop nearby rooftops and plain clothed officers mingled amidst the crowd of mourners with perfectly stern faces giving their cover away. With a steady sweep of their eyes the NEU officers standing united at a respectful distance also remained on high alert. Even with his own form of protection patrolling the grounds amid uniformed officials it was clear that Mike Shinoda was taking no chances after his recent botched assassination attempt. While his decision to attend had been hotly debated and no doubt a cause for much concern - not just to the city at large but also his influential friends, some of which had stayed away for fears of their own safety in the wake of recent escalating violence - it was obvious that Mike was sending out a clear and concise message: He wasn’t afraid. He was making a point. There was nothing that was going to rattle him from atop this perch he had built for himself. Go ahead and try, he seemed to be goading, do it on a broader-scale and for a global audience so the whole world watching on can see it and condemn you.

Staring ahead across the closed casket of Lupe Fiasco and the rainbow of wreaths that surrounded it, Frib studied Mike with his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Did you hear she’s awake?” he heard someone ask.

Frib frowned as another nudged him in the ribs with an elbow.

“Who?”

“His wife. Rashell. Heard from one of the girls on desk earlier she came out of her coma. The kid’s good too apparently, all things considered.”

“No, I didn’t know. That’s great,” the young detective murmured.

“I still can’t believe the man’s going to be a father,” Joel seemed to wonder with a dubious pout.

“Talk about a kid that will want for nothing,” Benji agreed.

“You talk about the second coming, this is the shit right here, Mike’s kid won’t just walk on water, man, look at who he has as a father. He’s set for life.”

“What are you jealous or something? You want to have a little cry about it?”

“No, do you?”

“Jesus Christ.”

“My point exactly.”

“Would you listen to yourself?” Benji teased. “You sound like one of his groupies. Sure you don’t want to go over there and kiss his ass too? Maybe you want to have his love child? Settle down and have a whole bunch of little Joely-Mikes or something, little half-Jap-tattooed freaks-”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck me? You mean him, right?”

“Guys,” Karl warned.

Benji and Joel exchanged a guilty glance and skewed smirks before both throwing their eyes to the ground. Noticing Captain Goren watching on from a few feet away Frib also dropped his eyes and only glimpsed up again when he heard the priest resume after a pause in his sermon.

“Amen,” he said.

“Amen,” the crowd echoed. Beneath the dark classes he saw Mike join in reticently.

Mourners were sobbing as the casket began its mechanical decent down into the bowls of the earth. Frib scoffed noticing no change at all to Mike’s stoic façade.

“Wonder who he prays to?” he wondered under his breath.

“What’s that?” one of the team asked him.

Frib hesitated.

“Nothing. I’m just thinking aloud is all.”

“About?”

“About… what a farce this is. Look at it. Doesn’t it seem a little over the top to you? He and Lupe weren’t even all that close so far as we know. They were just friends. Anyone would think he was burying one of his family or something.”

“Well, a few days ago that would have been true,” Karl commented.

“What about Giovanni Ribisi’s service, you remember that, the car bombing last year?”

“What about it?”

“I’m just saying,” Frib said feeling his team mate’s eyes falling upon him one by one. “It almost seemed like a non-event, and we know they were close, he worked at his club, remember? Compared to this, you know-?”

“Think he’s playing favourites?”

“No, I just think what he’s doing is dangerous.”

“And what exactly is he doing? He’s attending a friend’s funeral. He’s showing respect.”

“He’s showing something alright,” Frib muttered.