Chapter 5: Applying for Grayson Inc.
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Raven slammed the keys on the table and tried to find Agent.

"Raven, I'm sorry! I swear I saw what happened!" Matthew said apologetically.

"Well then where the hell were you? You were supposed to stay in my car dammit! Watch for something! Anything!". Her temper flared.

"I was watching. Just...not from the car. Heh." He scratched his neck. She grabbed the blue ball violently and flipped open the hatch and started fiddling with the wires.

"Where could you have been that would possibly be better than where I told you to stay?!"

"I figured it was a better spot?" She noticed it sounded more like a question, but she was too angry to question it. She shut the hatch on Agent and stood up to face him.

"Didn't we just go though that whole trust thing? If we're going to finish this mission we need to be clear, and not pull BS stunts like you just did!" She slaped him as a punishment.

"Ouch! What the hell?!"

"Good! I hope it hurts!" And she slaps him a second time. For good measure.

"Ow! Dammit Raven, quit that!"

"This is why I never work with other people. They always think they're right and never want to cooperate with anyone! Then when they almost die they come crawling back to me for help!" Her anger grabbed hold of her and Matthew began to become a little frightened by her. Her teeth were gritted together and her fists were already prepared to punch the daylights out of him. Her eyes had genuine fury in them and were sharp enough to cut diamonds.

And to both of their surprise, her eyes quickly flashed red and she stopped her angry rant to gasp.

"What was that?" Matthew asked promptly, ready for whatever she threw at him in response. Literally or figuratively.

"N-nothing." She stated. Her mood had changed entirely. From livid to diffident in a matter of seconds. Fearful, frantic, worrisome, out of all the states for him to see her in this was not one that he had in mind.

She took a deep breath and returned to her familiar monotonous state: "Nevermind Matthew. Just don't do it again. I'm sorry, I flew off the handle there."

"Uh...its...ok. But what just happened?"

"My anger got the better of me that's all." She replied with a shrug.

Did I just imagine that or—? No, she reacted to it! There's no way I imagined it!...Or maybe I did...

"Evening, Ms. Roth. Who may this man be?" Agent asked after rebooting himself.

"This is Matthew. He's a work partner. You'll see him quite often for the next few weeks." She explained.

"Welcome, Mr. Matthew." Agent greeted.

"Hello, Agent. I've got the same model, except she's yellow." Matthew tried to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, cool. Anyway–" She disregarded his attempt only to be cut off by Agent.

"Which division of  the Wilson Corperation do you work in, Mr. Matthew?"

"The Wilson Corperation?!" Damn robot. She thought. "Raven!! How are you going to–" She covered his mouth with her hand, inadvertently (or maybe advertently) slapped him in the face.

"You can't just say anything around these robots, Matthew." She whispered into his ear.

"Agent, Matthew and I will be in the office. Do not bother us unless it's important ok?"

"Understood Ms. Roth." The little ball droned away to the kitchen and began to wash dishes.

"Let's go." She dragged him to the back of her rather large appartment to the large office at the end of the hall.

The office had a big desktop computer, various paintings, a long mahogany desk with a charging laptop on it accompanied with a desk chair, and a black leather chair. All of which looked to cost a bit more than your average officeware.

"Got a little extra cash to spare?" He grinned slyly.

"Not the time, Matthew." She was obviously not amused.

"Fine, then I'll just get back to what I was saying. You work for Slade?! How are you gonna take this job as an assistant in your rival company without your boss noticing? Slade isn't stupid and neither are you. So I don't get why you thought that was a remotely good idea."

"When it comes to positions, my only boss is Slade himself. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I took off a few weeks. He hardly pays attention to anyone lower than him anyway. Narcissistic bastard."

Matthew leaned up against the wall looking skeptical.

"I've taken off for a whole month before. Slade only handles the big things, I'm the one that fires people. Plus it's not like I haven't earned it."

"Raven, I'm sure you've earned it. But what are you going to say? 'Oh I'm investigating something have fun bye'?"

"I'm going to call my intern and have him relay the message to everyone else." Matthew cocked his head.

He didn't understand how she could be so smooth. So planned. She knows what to do at all times but can put up an act to convince anybody. She doesn't let any of her flaws faze her. If she even had any.

"You have a plan for everything don't you?" He asked. She sat down at her desktop computer and started going through her emails.

"I guess you could say that." She couldn't help but smile to herself. Just a little bit.

She tapped away at the keyboard and worked on her computer. Then she picked up her phone and dialed a number, then sat and waited for an answer.

"Hey, Roy. It's me. I'm going to be taking off again. ......... I told you last time and I'll tell you again, Wilson doesn't care. ...... I'm doing some scouting. Got a new product in mind. ... Yeah. Ok. Bye, Roy." She hung up the phone.

"Oh I get it now. You must regularly do recon for new projects out in the field." Matthew realized how dumb he sounded.

"Sure, you could say it like that. Or you could say it without sounding like a guy in a video game."

After rolling his eyes, he continued to question her: "How much of it is illegal?"

"You really think I'd pull some strings like that just for a project? I only break laws as Nightengale. Raven doesn't need that extra attention."

"Fair enough."

"Now get out."

"What?"

"I said leave. I've got a few things I need to do." She said forcefully, clearly still upset.

"What things? Raven this isn't just your mission. I'm here for a reason you know."

"From what you've done so far, I see no reason for you to be here. The one thing, one thing I asked you to do, you failed. I don't need you for this mission, especially if you're just going to get in my way. I know what I'm doing. What can you do that I can't handle?" She didn't look away from the screen and tried to keep herself calm.

"Have you ever been in that building, Raven?"

"No." She answered him promptly.

"Yeah I actually work there. I saw the plans when it was being built. I know all the secret rooms. I know the layout of the entire place. You need me just to get around the damn place."  She didn't answer him and she stopped typing.

"Get out of my office."

"Raven–"

"I said get out. If you want anything just ask Agent." She resumed her work.

Matthew shook his head and left with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Is everything alright, Mr. Matthew?" Agent asked in response to Matthew's pout.

"Sure." He brushed past the little bot.

"That does not sound like a concrete answer, Mr. Matthew."

"Its fine, Agent." Agent moved on and engaged his 'small talk mode'.

"I gather you are a new associate of Ms. Roth's?"

"I guess. She doesn't really like me." He replied normally.

"If she does not like you, Mr. Matthew, why did she invite you here?"

"We– ah!" Just then, a fuzzy ball of black fur pounced on him and stalked across his lap.

"That is Lucy. Ms. Roth's kitten."

"She has...a cat?" He relaxed a little. "She doesn't seem like a cat person. Or an animal person...in general..." the little kitten looked up at him.

A cat with purple eyes huh? I knew they existed, but I haven't seen one in someone's home yet. So cool...

"I do still try to live a normal life you know." She crossed her arms and gave him her deadpan face. "Here, Lucy." She called. The little kitten then acted like Matthew wasn't even there and ran to her owner. Raven petted the cat on her head and she purred in delight. Seeing that his presence was no longer needed, Agent hovered into the next room and disappeared.

"Are you...uh, done with whatever you were doing?" The atmosphere was tense.

What should she answer? Should she kick him out? She really wasn't in the mood to have him in her house. She still was uneasy about him. He was being way too friendly and he was prying just a bit too much.

Funny how she spoke so adamantly about having trust between them when she knew that she herself had trust issues. The last time she had a partner is when her ability to trust was shattered completely. No matter how much she tried, trust was no longer one of her strong suits. Matthew probably thought she knew what she was doing. She did, but at the same time she didn't.

"Yes. I'm done. The little prick sent me the information to be their assistant." She said as she sat on the couch next to him.

"Who? Robin?" She rolled her eyes and nodded. She continued to pet her little cat to keep herself, and the animal, calm. "You don't like him do you?"

"I don't like any of them. They all infuriate me. They all think they're so great, Dick with his stupid business, the Tangerine being famous by association, Tin Man for his so called 'skills', and the green one...he's just...annoying." She couldn't find the right word to describe him.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't just because you work for Wilson?"

"Because it isn't, but it's also none of your business." She stared down at Lucy and didn't look back up. "I start tomorrow."

"So what's the plan?" Matthew asked.

"Huh? Oh right. The plan."

Did she like...zone out for a second?

"I'm going to go in as Rachel Chase. Since you work there, you do your job and collect information while I spend the day with them. I think Slade is looking for personal information, and/or information on their tech. However, I need personal info to be able to execute my part of the plan properly. So both would be sufficient." She explained.

"Right. And I report anything I find." He said blandly.

"Don't be smart with me, Matthew." She let Lucy down. "Agent! Send Matthew my number!" She called to him from the other room.

"Certainly, Ms. Roth. I simply require his phone."  He stated as he floated in.

Raven held her hand out to him waiting for him to give her his cell. He didn't hesitate to do so and Raven then handed it off to Agent, who then grasped it with it's little, metal, robotic arms and plugged it into a slot that opened on the top of it's...head? Agent then returned Matthew's phone to him, now with Raven's number in it.

"Delete that as soon as this is over."

He nodded. He stood up from the couch and headed to the door: "I think we're done here." He placed his hand on the knob, but didn't turn it. "Raven, I really want this to work." He stated after turning around.

She didn't.

"Whatever I can do to get you to trust me, I'll do it."

"Get out, Matthew." Despite her words, she didn't sound angry.

Matthew sighed, "See you tomorrow, Raven." He left the appartment.

Raven sighed and looked at herself in the mirror across the room. She got up and walked towards the mirror. She didn't see herself when she looked at the mirror. She saw Nightengale. She stared into her own glowing purple eyes was entranced. She frowned.

"I can never escape this can I?" She asked herself.

"No. You can't." Her reflection replied to her.

"I cannot trust that man. I just...can't."

"Trust issues or not, you have to control yourself. This is one of the reasons it ended like it did last time." Her reflection informed.

"I'm trying! But whenever I try it backfires in one way or another. Matthew's stupidity is going to drive me over my edge on its own." Suddenly, her reflection changed to something else. Something different. Something she never wanted to see again.

"Then why keep him around?" She kept composure.

"Because I have to..." She stormed off into her bedroom, leaving her reflection behind. She quickly switched into her pajamas — a black camisole and baggy sweatpants — and jumped into her bed, covering herself entirely with the blankets. "Agent, lights off." The lights shut off promptly. "Agent, night guard mode on."

"As you wish, Ms. Roth."