Raven and Clarke rushed back to camp, hollering for people to wake up. Her dad was one of the first people on his feet, hurrying over to her side. Jaha, Wells and Finn were fast approaching.
"Clarke, what's happened?" her dad asked urgently, eyeing the lack of restraint and bloodied bandages. "Is it the scavengers?"
"Worse," answered Raven for her. "Murphy and his goons tried to kill Clarke."
"What?!" exclaimed her mother, above the general din this announcement had caused. She was now examining Clarke's face, running her hands over her arms...
"I'm fine, mom," she said impatiently, not liking being fussed over. "He didn't hurt me."
"Did you...did you hurt him?" Abby asked nervously.
What she was really asking was if Clarke killed him. She had been sorely tempted to, but to do so when he was knocked out would have been little better than cold blooded murder. And she was planning on not killing anyone for as long as she could on Earth. Based on everything she had seen so far through Lexa's eyes, she knew it wouldn't be long before she made her first kill. The idea put her stomach in knots.
"I defended myself...but he's still alive."
"Too bad," said Raven under her breath, more to Clarke than to Finn, who was holding onto her protectively again.
"Oh thank goodness," said her mother in relief, which annoyed Clarke.
Jaha had been silently watching their encounter a few feet away. He stepped forward and ordered an 'armed' group to go out and collect the boys so that they could face suitable punishment, whatever that would be now that they were on Earth...and Jaha wasn't the Chancellor.
Flashlights and old pistols in hand, the group followed Clarke and Raven to the scene of the would be crime. But by the time they got there, it was clear that the boys had fled North, half dragging Murphy with them. They hadn't had any supplies on hand and consequently wouldn't last long on their own. While it could be risky to pursue them at night on unknown terrain, it was likely that they hadn't gotten far, so Jaha urged them onward, even further away from camp.
After a couple of minutes the search party spotted dark shadows a little ways from the dune they were currently occupying. They were about to pursue, when a loud bang and burst of flame brightened the moonlit sky. Bits of something rained down over the crater in the sand.
"Was that..."
"Did they just..."
"Couldn't have done it better myself," murmured Raven darkly.
It was nearly impossible to keep himself together after communications with Carl ceased. An opportunity presented itself to stop the deal, and Cage had eagerly given the go ahead to assassinate the commander.
That was five hours ago now.
Two possibilities had immediately presented themselves to Cage, neither of which were pleasant. Either the savages had captured Carl and taken away his walkie talkie...or they had killed him. Both options made him tremble in trepidation and rage. If he were currently still alive, he wouldn't be for much longer. By his calculations, Carl would have just barely enough oxygen to get back to the bunker in time.
The loop having been terminated, Cage knew they were watching him and he didn't want them to know what was coming. So he was forced to bide his time and pretend like nothing was wrong while his insides seethed and wait for the opportune moment to strike.
Finally that moment was here, and when the guard came in with his supper, Cage grabbed the man's gun and pistol whipped him. The trays contents spilled to the tiled floor as he fell to the ground. Stooping, Cage retrieved a key card and slipped through the door, double checking that his own walkie talkie was securely in place on his belt.
They would be after him soon enough so he could not waste a second in getting to his destination four floors up. After what seemed an eternity, the blasted elevator arrived and he stormed in, jabbing at the seven, heedless of anyone else's presence. When he thought to look, he saw that he was indeed alone and began mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do. Even if he was successful, he would probably be locked up for the rest of his life. But Cage knew that Carl would do the same for him and he wasn't going to back down.
By some miracle, no one was waiting for him outside the elevator doors. Without further thought, Cage sprinted towards the control room, encountering only a couple of startled on lookers, which he ignored.
Using the key card, he accessed the bunker's mainframe, gun at the ready. It being meal time, only one person was on duty, and he had been slacking, reading a book instead of paying attention to the monitors.
"Get the fuck out!" ordered Cage, startling the man badly, making him drop his reading material.
"Sir?" he said stupidly in answer to the gun in his face. "What are you doing, sir?"
"I won't ask a second time!"
The guard gulped, nodded and evacuated the premises. That irritation accomplished, Cage quickly made his way over to the main console and locked the door, setting his stolen gun down on the dash. Having never done this before, it took awhile to locate the correct protocol to run, but once he did, he didn't hesitate to initiate, inputing the applicable access codes that he had learned some months ago. Without a man on the ground, he couldn't pin point the exact location he wanted to target, but the general area would suffice to do some serious damage. Satisfied with the marker, he set the timer for the absolute minimum.
The countdown read T-minus one minute.
Preparations complete, he yanked off his walkie talkie and barked into it. "This is Cage Wallace. If Carl Emerson is still alive, respond." He waited a few seconds, intently listening into the electronic hiss for any other sounds whatsoever. There were none. The rage and urgency rapidly accumulated, eliciting a death threat right out of the gate. "You have ten seconds to respond to me or I will blow your fucking village to Kingdom Come!"
Again, only static was heard.
"Okay then bastards!" he yelled to no one. "Prepare to be annihilated!"
Cage roared in frustration when he realized the countdown had only reached the half way point. As far as he could tell, there was no way to make it go faster, and he slammed his hands onto the dash, making the gun jump.
And then to make matters worse, people were pounding on the door, hollering and trying to get in. Cage wasn't concerned, there was no way they could break in in time, not without-
A small explosion rocked the area and knocked the door off its hinges, violently scattering across the floor, leaving rude scratches. Reflexively he ducked down, covering his face.
Sixteen seconds to go.
"Shit!" he muttered to himself, reaching up for the gun. It wasn't where he had left it. The shock waves had dropped it to the floor a short distance from his current huddled position.
Three guards swarmed in through the cloud of dust and concrete, their own weapons pointed at him. "Not so fast, Cage!" warned Lovejoy as he attempted to pick up the gun.
"Step away from it, or we'll be forced to shoot!"
Cage did as he was told, pretending to be upset but smirking privately to himself. There were only seven more seconds until sweet revenge. The guards swept in further, kicking the gun away and turning to the console just in time to see the launch initiated. They couldn't abort it now even if they tried, which they did, frantically. Realizing that it was too late, they zapped him several times until he fell to his knees and then hand cuffed him. Lovejoy dragged him over to the centre of the room, where his father was now standing, his own suppressed rage just beneath the surface.
"He's bombed Tondc," said Lovejoy expressionlessly.
Before one word was uttered between the Wallaces, Dante slapped Cage hard, leaving behind an ugly red welt that was all the more startling due to his excessively pallid skin tone.
"Are you so intent on getting your way that you would ruin us all?!" his father demanded, voice strangled in anger.
"They deserve to die!" he yelled back, fighting the tears. "Every last one of them!"
Dante's nostrils flared. "What else did you do?" he asked astutely, as if the missile strike wasn't bad enough.
Cage didn't immediately respond and Dante grabbed him by the shirt collar, shaking him. "What did you do?!"
"I ordered Carl to kill her."
He got far too much satisfaction at the bug eyed look his father was now bestowing on him.
It took a few seconds for Dante to control his ragged breathing enough to utter his next query. "Did he succeed?"
Cage's glance away was response enough. Suddenly Dante understood why his son had acted even more rashly than usual. "Emerson's dead, isn't he?"
Cage couldn't help the tear from escaping and Dante momentarily felt for his son. Losing a loved one was one of the worst possible things that could happen to a person.
But practicality soon squashed this empathetic response and he forced himself to become The President, and not a caring father. The only reason his son's lover was dead was because they had both acted in a traitorous manner. Attempted assassination and a bombing spelled disaster. Perhaps if his son had stuck with only the former, the commander might have been willing to overlook a rogue action and uphold their deal, but now, now there was no chance of that. In his grief and madness, Cage had gotten his wish, and also ensured all of their deaths in the process. Sooner or later, what was left of the commanders army would come for them...and now they knew a way in.
Even if they stopped the army from gaining access, by blocking the tunnel, they would effectively be trapping themselves as well. Their emergency blood stores would soon dry up without further donations, given willingly or not. People would get sick again like his mother and sister...like his wife...and start systematically dying. It might take years, but eventually they would all be dead.
The crushing realization that there was nothing he could do about any of this, that there was no way he could fix the impossible situation his idiot son had placed them in sent Dante into a head spin.
"You..." he started, and stopped abruptly. A massive weight pressed on his chest, severe pains radiated outward from his heart so that he couldn't breathe. He clutched at Cage before collapsing on the floor, dead even before he reached it.
"Commander! Commander!" yelled various warriors around her, rousing her immediately to her feet, even though it pained her to do so.
"What is it? What's happened?" she asked of Indra, who was closest, who had also been resting from her various injuries. Indra was even grimmer looking than usual. "Speak!"
"A burning light just flew through the sky towards the village."
No. Dante wouldn't...
Lexa couldn't contain her surprise and displeasure at yet another blow to her people. Everything was happening at once. It was just too much. She couldn't handle any more death today. Her frazzled mind tried to find an alternative explanation.
Maybe it's not what they think it is? Another Skaikru ship?
Indra quickly dashed her hopes.
"I have seen its like before, when I was only a girl," Indra continued, the hatred clear in her eyes. "It is one of my first memories. My clan was just outside of the blast range. Those that were not immediately blown apart, burned alive, in terrible agony. I will never forget that day, never forgive."
Lexa was almost surprised that Indra had not attacked her upon learning about her deal with the Mountain Men. Apparently her top General had more restraint than Lexa gave her credit for.
There was nothing that she wanted to do less than to go to Tondc and deal with the fallout. But her people needed her, now more than ever, and she would simply have to find the strength to carry on. She gave orders to everyone present to prepare themselves for the journey back. No one would be left here with the likes of the unpredictable Skaikru. As preparations were under way, she relocated to a private location and ushered herself to Clarke, pleased when she appeared in the desert, if not a little confused. Not that long ago Clarke had been asleep. A number of others were awake as well. What had disturbed their slumber? Scavengers?
"Clarke? Has something happened?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle," Clarke said somewhat detached, which only alarmed Lexa further. For the moment, her own fears were pushed aside. "Clarke."
Clarke rubbed at her tired and weathered face and sighed, dully informing her that three of her own tried to kill her in her sleep. Lexa bristled at this development. Her people considered such tactics to be the lowest form of murder, even below that of poison. The victim had no chance to defend themselves and there was no honour in that. Clarke was very lucky to still be alive. If Lexa could have gotten her hands on the perpetrators right then, she probably would have killed them all over again. As it was, she simply gave Clarke what she hoped was a reassuring hug.
Something about their proximity, about the never ending trials of the day, smashed through her invisible armour and pierced to her core, and she broke down in Clarke's arms. Lexa had never shown such weakness and vulnerability to Clarke before, but Clarke did not judge her, or ask any questions. She just held Lexa as tightly as her wounds allowed, kissing the top of her head and whispering words of comfort as she gently rocked her back and forth. Lexa grieved for Costia, for her people, and for everything else that had been lost on this day. The terrible burdens thrust upon her lessened considerably in this uncharacteristic outpouring of visible emotion. She knew it wouldn't last, that the weight of grief and responsibility would be returning all too soon, but for the moment she could breathe easier. For the moment, she was almost free.
My babies! What is wrong with me? Ahhh!
Lol, they're dropping like flies these last few chaps...Poor Dante. *cue Demi Lovato song*