Lie To Me

Raven

Raven pressed herself against the door, and then her neck felt bare, exposed. Looking down, Raven saw a pile of dark locks, her dark locks, lying on the ground around her heels, and bit back a string of curses at her miscalculation.

Glancing around to make certain that there were no more projectiles hurtling her way, she stepped away from the door, one hand twisting the knob. Raven entered the room with a cautious step, walking noiselessly up to the bed where a figure lay motionless, supine under the covers.

And then the form sprang at her, limbs a blur of movement, but Raven was ready. Grabbing one of the figure's arms, she twisted it behind its back, wrapping one of her legs around the torso to hold her attacker in place. Flicking the wrist of her other hand, she brought her hand up to the figure's throat, a razor-sharp knife gleaming dully in her fingers.

The lights switched on.

"It seems that there is a need to update my security." Kieran's voice came from the other end of the hall. "You may walk back now, while they're reloading."

Raven, untangling her limbs and letting go of her unknown attacker with professional ease, strolled back down the hallway to stand next to Kieran, her newly-bobbed hair swinging around her face.  Raven was careful to keep her face free of emotion, but she wasn't quite overjoyed about her impromptu haircut.

"Good job." Aidan grinned easily at her.

A sardonically dismissive glance thrown his way was the only acknowledgement she gave him. 

"And the hair doesn't look terrible, though it is a bit of a shock," he continued.

Irritation and curiosity growing in equal measure, Raven turned to him, causing him to trap his next sentence between shuttered lips. "Good luck."

Aidan smiled crookedly at her. "I'll need it." However, his grin held a cockiness that belied his words.

Raven didn't reply, but she watched Aidan as he stepped up to the doorway. The only warning before he broke into a run was the slight tensing of his shoulders, and then he was propelling himself over the stakes, landing in a crouch as razor-sharp wires shot out towards his neck. He jumped up, zigzagging through the plummeting spears and executing a perfect front flip over the trip wire. He wove with surprising agility through the vertical wires, gaining speed as he went, and then he dropped flat on his back, feet planting in the door and momentum forcing them, and him, forward through the doorway. The shuriken streaked above his body, slicing his ballooned shirt into ribbons as the door splintered with a loud crack, and then Raven switched her attention to a screen on the side of the wall.

Not bothering with stealth, Aidan jumped to his feet and sprinted to the bed, grabbing the figure in a choke hold before the form had a chance to do much but gasp. And then the lights switched on and Aidan stood, letting the figure slide to the floor. He turned and sauntered back down the hallway towards her and Kieran, and Raven noted a slight hesitance in his step.

"Injure yourself?" she asked, voice neutral.

Aidan flashed another lopsided smile, one that would have enchanted any other girl, as he briefly raised his lacerated shirt to display several thin, long slices across an abdomen rippled with muscle. "Don't worry, I won't die." His grin widened. "However, you are invited to exercise your bedside manner on me." 

Raven resisted the answering smile that rose, surprisingly quickly, to her lips. "Your offer is appreciated, but I'm afraid that I'll have to decline," she replied, a hint of amusement weaving its way into her cool tone. 

Aidan inclined his head smoothly, grin still tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Another time, then."

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A/N:

Oh Aidan, I love you! Really, I do--he's such a fun character to write. All of the characters are close to my heart, but there's something about Aidan's outgoing personality that I'm really enjoying; perhaps it's the contrast between his easy familiarity and Raven and Kieran's colder miens. Tap that star if you're having as much fun as I am and, as always, feel free to drop a quick thought in the comments or PMs!