CARMEN, riverdale.

' admiral '

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   THE YOUNG Murdock stared at the few voicemails that appeared in her inbox. Her eyes squinted against the darkness as she listened to the first one.

"Carmen, you're probably tired, or asleep, or out risking your life again. You never called, but I waited, I waited all night. You never did and I got worried. Are you okay? How are you holding up? A lot had gone down, and among all that, I just realized that I practically know little to nothing about you, but you know everything about all of us. I just want you to come home safely, and that promised date is still waiting."

The voicemail abruptly cut off by the beeping, Carmen sighed. She then proceeds to listen to the second one.

"Yeah, it's me again. Sorry. I found a dead body, just thought you should know. Since, you're always worried. Nothing happened, don't worry. But, Jughead's dad, FP, was arrested. No, he wasn't the one who pushed you into that fire back at Jason's car. And we, uh, we found it. That video, evidence, of Jason's death. It was his own father, Clifford."

Annoyed that the voicemail kept cutting off, Carmen proceeded to the last of Veronica's voicemails.

"Come home soon, will you, Carmen? I miss you, we all do. I'll be waiting, I'll be your middle ground. And Apollo's still out, but he's recovering nicely. Come home safe and alive, Carmen, that's all I ask."

Carmen sighed, bowing her head. Veronica's wish had a 50/50 chance, there's a big possibility that Carmen might not survive it. But if it was all that it takes to finally put an end to Novak's torments was this, a silent war, then so be it.

She stared at the voicemails she got from the rest, even Cheryl and Kevin, and shut her phone off. She had been so, so involved and focused into putting an end to this that she forgot to even live a normal life, try to have a normal one, at the least.

And because of the same reason, she was possibly never going to have the chance to do so.

She pulled herself from the bed, sighing heavily. All her decisions weighed down on her body, was it worth it? She could surrender herself now in exchange for her father and end this all, but why couldn't she?

Carmen sat at the age of the bed, her head in her hands as she clenched her hair between her fingers. "Goddamit," She cursed quietly, alternating between breathing heavily and struggling to do so.

Her eyes flickered to her laptop, had been left open the entire night when she fell asleep through the partial process of investigation and digging for possible leads. There was another email, god forbid it might even be Novak. Her suspicions granted correct upon opening the email, but this time, it was an ominous-sounding message.

Carmen rolled her eyes, shutting it down and removing it from her line of sight. "This is ridiculous."

"What is?" Carmen jumped, snatching the gun off the dresser to point it to the unknown person, only for it to be Sweet Pea. He had raised his hands in surrender, his expression to be harmless. She scowled once more before screams plagued their silence.

The source came from Carmen's right and the two were running towards it as quick as it came. There laid Wynona, sweatily thrashing against her threats as her arms moved in a way that was to ward off anyone attempting to attack her. Carmen, having known how it felt to have a nightmare and not have anyone to hold, climb into the bed and proceeded to soothe the crying girl.

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   "HE KNOWS." Elliot deadpanned as he strides into the room.

"Well goddamn it, there's gotta be a mole here." Wynona threw her hands up in the air, evidently pissed.

"No, he knows you're not in Riverdale, we have to go lower," Liam interjected.

Carmen closed her eyes, "Shit, if that's the case, we can't let him know I'm here, atleast until the sixth day."

"What do you mean sixth? You said so yourself, seven, and now you're deducting it?"

"Deception is an art in war, Sweet Pea. If he's smart, I need to be smarter," Carmen said coolly. "I need to make a damn call."

A picture of pain was painted into Liam's eyes, hearing the words as if he'd heard the same from an old friend.

Upon grasping her burner phone, she immediately forwarded a voice call to Veronica's contact.

"Use the payphone from now on if
you want to contact me, Ronnie. It's Dowsabel."

She couldn't risk Novak tracking down her contacts, immediately encrypting and putting up a firewall in her personal phone and proceeds to use her burner phone.

She was afraid, even if she never wanted to admit it loud, not to anyone that wasn't her father.

She stared at his wallet, one she had managed to retrieve that night of the reunion when he disappeared. It was ajar and a picture tucked into it, the one of him, her mother and her brother. Carmen set her eyes on it and she lost count of how many minutes she did, it wasn't so much as a simple thing and that scared her more to the bone. What if there was more to her mother and brother's deaths? And if Walsh was indeed telling the truth, would she really see her brother again if Robin allowed it?

Her eyes snapped from the picture to the gun that she had unknowingly took out, not knowing what for. She had a plan. She always did. Carmen folded the wallet back and tucked it in her back pocket, striding back to the other room where they were practically throwing strategies at each other, not resuming their literal congregation until Carmen had entered once more.

"Where does Jack Lind stand in all of this?" Carmen snapped loudly, silencing them almost immediately.

"Jack Lind? What could you possibly want with that dumbass?" Elliot gave her an indignant look, not at all understanding her mindset and her plans.

"He knew my mother, my father, hell, even possibly my brother. And he has a strong connection with Novak, the strongest out of all the others. So where does he stand?" Carmen answered back.

Liam nods slowly, "A traitor. You want him in on this."

As if Carmen couldn't get anymore annoyed, "Tell me what, Liam, why is he even a traitor in the first place?"

"He loved your mother, Carmen. Many did, but he was the one who loved her from the start until your father came along. You can guess just what happened. And as for Novak, you already know that."

"Because he killed mom," Carmen nodded. "Then he wouldn't really have the heart to decline a deal from my mother's daughter, no?"

"What deal, Carmen?" Elliot demanded.

"You said so yourself, many did. I looked a lot like her, if he wasn't going to believe that mom had a daughter, let alone, a son, too, then what if I dress up like her and lure him somewhere? I'm not saying we lead him here, but we could knock him out—" Carmen starts.

"No." Liam immediately shut down.

"What? I think it's a good idea." Elliot snapped.

"And what? What are the chances that Lind does not buy it and believe her, what, he leads Novak right here? Right where Eliana's daughter is? Think about this harder," Liam retorted.

"Why are you so against this?!"

"You think I'll be able to take it, losing another friend, let alone losing the daughter of the one person that took me in as her brother? You think I'll be able to take another betrayal?" Liam ferociously snapped back.

"Betrayal is inevitable, Liam! You can't avoid it even if you want to, and I'm going through this plan, with or without you."

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